Date: 2016-12-09 05:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Magic; Adventure
Description: Edward Monteger has grown up in a family of scribes learning about the world around him through books in his family’s shop. Not wanting to be consigned to his fate scribbling away all day or managing a shop, he takes matters into his own hands. Striking forth into the wide world, he makes friends on his journey, and experiences the joy of victory to the agony of defeat. Set in a Fantasy LitRPG world there is balance of all aspects one might expect to find from crafting, mana, and fighting. Discovering the forces that control his world Edward is a scientist at heart without knowing the word or

BLURB

Edward Monteger has grown up in a family of scribes learning about the world around him through books in his family’s shop. Not wanting to be consigned to his fate scribbling away all day or managing a shop, he takes matters into his own hands. Striking forth into the wide world, he makes friends on his journey, and experiences the joy of victory to the agony of defeat.

Set in a Fantasy LitRPG world there is balance of all aspects one might expect to find from crafting, mana, and fighting. Discovering the forces that control his world Edward is a scientist at heart without knowing the word or even the concept behind it. Struggling against monsters, humans, and the forces of necromancy, he overcomes hardship to grow as an individual and as an adventurer.

ADVENTURES OF A SCRIBE

MICHAEL DEYHIM

Adventures of a Scribe

Version 1.0

Copyright ©2016 by Michael Deyhim

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-0-9984473-0-8 (E-Book, MOBI)

ISBN: 978-0-9984473-1-5 (E-Book, EPUB)

ISBN: 978-0-9984473-2-2 (Paperback)

Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

CONTENTS

About the Author

Disclaimers

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

My name is Michael Deyhim and I am your author, feel the power of my almighty pen! First I want to thank you for reading my book. I have been working for over a decade to improve my ability to write well. There have been great successes and I count this book the foremost among them.

I enjoy reading, writing, chess, Supreme Commander, and hiking. I have an older and younger sister and two loving parents. I dislike e-mail, anything that requires upkeep, and mushrooms. They are a fungus and I am strongly anti-fungus. My dream for the future is writing for a living.

I would also thank Royal Road Legends. They got me off to a strong start and the support from their community has been a light in the darkness. Next I would like to thank Deanna, my amazing sister who took the time to go through and help edit. She gets a big thank you for putting in the effort to make this book great.

Finally I would like to thank my father who despite driving me off the wall at times with his lectures has always wanted the best for me. Thank you.

DISCLAIMERS

The world I have built in this story is what one would call a Fantasy LitRPG. LitRPG stands for Literature Role Playing Game. It takes elements of the RPG genre and the fantasy genre to make something new and exciting in a story setting. There are three issues I would bring up about this book that would rate it PG-13. There is no book rating scale but I the movie rating system in America works well enough for my purposes.

First there is violence. While violence is not the center of the story it is part of the action. Unfortunately in a fantasy setting things are done with swords and other weapons that are similar in nature. Unlike phasors from Star Trek this makes things a bit messier. It is not overly graphic but it is enough to give a heads up for sensitive readers.

The second issue concerns age. I bet the majority of people never realized the age of majority was around twelve until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Now the age is from sixteen to eighteen, twenty one if you consider being able to drink here in the US. Due to in story elements this age of twelve is reinforced. I don’t have a problem with older protagonists but it makes no sense in this setting when people die far sooner than eighty. When the lifespan is short, it is all about living in the moment.

The third issue concerns alcohol. The setting is medieval. While there is mana and other things that can ensure the safety of drinking water, it is mostly ale. This is still common across Europe to a certain degree. In America it was prohibition that really nixed the idea of drinking alcohol. It wasn’t for getting a high, but rather insuring safety of the drink. People literally dumped their shit into the water supply so…yeah.

I hope you enjoy the story.

CHAPTER 1

“Edward Monteger.” My mother yelled. I winced at her harsh tone, knowing nothing good was going to happen. I stood up straight and smoothed out my shirt as she closed the shop door. “What were you thinking when you asked Priest Hendric about his healing chants?” My siblings gave me a quick look before quickly fleeing out of the room.

I didn’t say anything, it would just make the situation worse. I kept staring down at the counter top as the silence stretched on. I glanced up and saw her glare. I gave in to the force of it and spoke up, “I just was curious about how they work.”

“Edward, I understand you are curious, but you don’t ask about skills like that. At least it isn’t as bad as asking for someone’s status.” She let out a small sigh and looked away from me. “People are talking. We haven’t lost any business yet but we might.”

“I won’t-“

“No. This time there will be consequences. For the next ten-days you will not work in the shop but instead work at the chapel under Priest Hendric to learn respect.” She normally put me to work around the shop as a punishment but apparently she was hoping that someone else would straighten me out. At least it was better than the beatings some of the other kids got for getting into trouble.

“But my studies. I am almost done with the Alsarian Tome and it is leaving in three days.” With my parents being scribes I often read manuscripts waiting to be picked up while manning the counter. I really wanted to finish this manuscript since it described why chants were necessary in relation to skills. It was one of the few books I had seen that broached the topic.

“You should have thought of that before you caused so many problems. That is why it is a punishment. Next time it will be for three ten-days.” It was so unfair. I clenched my jaw so I wouldn’t cry. There was so much to learn and mother just didn’t understand.

“You start at dawn tomorrow, and work till sunset or when Priest Hendric dismisses you. Do you understand?”

“Yes mother.” I said quietly. I knew from past experience that arguing would only make things worse.

“Good. Now you put me behind on the Callow manuscript. I want you to dust the whole shop, even the rafters.” I looked at my mother. “Don’t give me that look. I want this place shining. Today Edward.” I walked over and grabbed the bucket underneath the counter.

I followed my mother as she went to the back room. The light runes gave off a warm glow as she took her seat at one of the work stations. My father was absorbed in his work and didn’t look up. My two older brothers and sister gave me a quick look before focusing on their tasks. Being the youngest and not yet of age met I got to mind the shop and do all the chores while they improved their skills.

I went by them and out the back door to the courtyard. It took a short time to pump out the water into the bucket. Then I made my way back to the front of the shop. No customers had come in so I went and grabbed a lemon from the chill box in the kitchen. Using the knife off my belt I cut out the citrus smelling fruit into the water and stirred it up.

With that completed I began the very boring process of wiping down every surface in the shop. There were four main items we sold in the shop. First were all the tomes. Most of them were custom jobs for nobles or rich merchants, but we kept a couple of religious and historical texts up front. Nothing fancy or unique, but they clearly showcased what the shop was about. There was a fully illuminated manuscript in a glass covered case on its own stand that was one of father’s better works.

A laborer would earn about five to ten coppers a day. There was about a hundred coppers to a silver, depending on the coinage and if the coins had been shaved. Though the hundred to one exchange rate was what most people used. A basic tome with a hundred folios cost twenty silver. A full manuscript like the one on display cost around two gold pieces or two hundred silver.

The exchange rate was based on the demand for the metal. Most of the demand came from various mages and how well mana could flow through the metal in question. There wasn’t a hundred times more silver than gold out there. The purity of metal for various types of mana experiments was the driving factor behind demand and was what determined the exchange rate.

The second item we sold were maps. The price ranged wildly and this was where my siblings and I first learned the art of scribing. All the master copies were kept in the back and my mother was the one who routinely dealt with people selling off other maps or information. I took a small jar of oil and carefully wiped down all the leather carrying cases we sold as well.

The third item the shop sold were raw supplies. This included ink, parchment, bindings, and a number of other writing implements. Since the shop bought in bulk and insured quality, almost all the people who wrote stuff down on parchment came to a scribe shop to save the trouble of accumulating everything themselves. This tended to be nobles and scribes working for guilds for the most part.

The final item we sold were runes. Those were my mother’s specialty. She would carefully write down the rune and then imbue it with mana. The most common one she made were light runes and cost twenty copper each. There were heat and cold runes also. The runes would last half a year to a full year when she charged them and were one of the biggest sellers.

My mother knew a couple of other runes but their utility was low and the mana required to imbue one was high enough that most people didn’t want to pay her extra to perform the task. That was the entirety of Illumination a medium sized scribe shop in the best merchant district in Azalon.

I carefully wiped down the shop windows. Glass was expensive and if broke a single pane I would definitely be feeling it on my backside. Though my parents normally didn’t beat my siblings or myself they had made an exception when Galric had broken a pane of glass. I wiped the windows down while I thought over my punishment. The punishment wasn’t too bad, but it was still annoying. My mind went back to one of my favorite manuscripts that was originally written by Philosopher Phillius.

He had written about the proper way to think. One must let go of emotions and look at the facts, only then will truth be revealed. No one was going to help me with my research and my efforts to learn about mana. That was a fact and after getting yelled at so many times that was just the way it was. Knowledge was guarded incredibly closely, especially everything to do with skills which were the foundation of all abilities.

I wanted to understand mana, the world, and everything else. Where did mana come from? How was the status table used? What were all the skills out there? That last question was particularly frustrating. There were a large number of common skills which related to various jobs, but there were also quite a few that were hidden or had unique requirements. The nobles and people who learned these skills kept this information locked tightly away.

The mages were even worse than the nobles in maintaining their monopoly. The laws in place were incredibly harsh for attempting to steal skills. One could share their own skills with others, but outside of family or apprenticeships it was a huge taboo. The church often gave out sermons on the dangers of sharing skills with those unprepared and it had taken root at all levels of society.

I remember once when my father had to copy a unique skill book and had to do it at the noble’s estate. The risk of letting a skill get into the hands of other people was considered a disaster. Even working under my parents at the Illumination didn’t get me that much information on skills. Phillius was right about one thing. The only way to be sure about something was to observe it by oneself.

The big thing I wanted to learn about was the blue panel of the Gods. There were a couple of texts on it, but there were two facts about it that mattered at the moment. The first was that humans unlocked the panel at age twelve naturally and was considered a coming of age point in people’s lives from being a child to an adult. The other way to unlock the panel was to fight a number of monsters alone and survive.

The risk wasn’t seen as worth it by most people, even by nobles. By training beforehand one would naturally raise their points when the panel was finally unlocked. It was also a taboo to talk about ones panel and status, the same as talking about skills. It had been stupid of me to ask about the healing chants Priest Hendric used, but I didn’t see the harm since it was healing and I had thought he would be understanding.

Phillius also noted that there were never losses, only missed opportunities and one just had to look. He had mentioned about how a war had broken out near his home. While he could have trembled in fear he used the opportunity to learn how injuries affected people and worked to heal them. I needed to do the same thing. I would turn this punishment into an opportunity. I would unlock the blue panel of the Gods and know my status.

The only place where there would be things to fight and kill were the sewers if the rumors were to be believed. Since Azalon was built on a hill the sewers descended in levels from the Dukes castle all the way to the docks where they unleashed their filth into the bay. There were large rats and other things the deeper one got and the closer one came to the docks. In addition I had read that the city had been rebuilt two hundred years ago after an invasion with the current sewers being built on top of and replacing the old system after the war was over.

I would prepare for the next nine days and then on the tenth day I would ask to leave early and apologize to Priest Hendric so he would let me go early. That should give me enough time to go into the sewers and kill some monsters to unlock my status panel. I needed equipment and a plan if I was going to survive and not get found out. My mother was scarier than any monster I had read about.

***

“Priest Hendric, may I have a moment of your time.” The older priest turned towards me.

“Yes child.” He had a gentle smile on his wrinkled face. His white beard matched his gold and white robes he wore.

“I wanted to apologize again for my rude behavior ten-days ago and thank you for giving me this opportunity to repent.” I bowed my heads toward him as a sign of respect and submission.

“Hmmm. It is good to learn humility. The Gods of Light and Order show us the way. You might not think it, but I was a trouble maker like you when I was younger. Even served the country for a while which helped me put that urge to rest.” I lifted my head gave the old man a look, since I found that statement hard to believe. “Don’t look so surprised. Us old people used to be young once. I have noted how hard you have been working and to apologize again this morning, you want something.”

I blushed in embarrassment, since my simple plot was discovered. Hopefully he wouldn’t realize the rest of my plan. “I wanted to ask if I could leave early today since everything has been wiped down and cleaned in the chapel.” It was looking incredibly nice and smelled pleasant as well. The next time I came for one of his boring sermons with my family it would smell nice at least.

“Hmmm. I suppose you have learned your lesson and nine days of work is good enough. Very well you are dismissed for the day. I hope I don’t see you back here as a punishment.” He patted me on the head. I was tempted to swat his hand off by that would ruin everything.

“Thank you Priest Hendric.” I gave a short bow and quickly left the chapel. It was still early morning which was perfect for the rest of my plan. I shouldn’t have been surprised how easily he saw through me. The old man was cannier than he appeared. I needed to remember while I had book smarts other people had experience and not to underestimate the benefit such experience could give.

I made my way through the church complex to the sewer entrance located near the kitchen and living area. I had stored my gear in a closet there with the cleaning supplies. The first item I had hidden was a simple set of worn out clothes I had bought from one of the other kids on my street for a couple of coppers. I said I was going to use them as cleaning rags. I didn’t dare foul up my actual clothes in the sewers. I also wrapped a spare shirt around my nose and mouth to hold off the smell.

I tucked the two light runes into the cloth around my head. I had managed to take from the shop and get activated by one of the older boys in the neighborhood for two copper. Mana only became unlocked when one’s blue panels became unlocked, which was a big reason for attempting this. Mana was the key to many abilities and I needed it if I was going to learn about it. The light runes would only last for a couple of days with the mana the boy could infuse into them, but that was more than enough.

My leather shoes were replaced with slightly large worn boots to keep the filth off my feet. I had a small pouch on my side with a single healing potion and room for any loot. The last and most valuable item was a short sword with a scabbard. To me it was heavy and long, but all the cleaning had not left me weak. I had read two books on sword fighting and felt moderately prepared.

I knew books weren’t a substitute for experience. The advice for amateurs was to keep to simple slashes and jabs. Overhead blows were a good way to get one’s stomach cut open and anything fancier was more risky for me than anyone else. Keep moving and stick anything I came cross with the sharp end.

I had spent all two hundred and fifty copper I had to gear up for this adventure. I had to succeed. That was entire savings I had from my time manning the shop and gifts from my parents. I gave my sword a few practice swings after attaching the scabbard to my side. It would have to do.

I left the closet where I had smuggled in my stuff and went down into the sewer grate. I made sure to close it after me to hide my entry to the lower region of the city. It was incredibly dark but thankfully the smell wasn’t so bad yet. The light runes on either side of my head provided illumination for about ten feet before quickly dropping off into darkness. I set off down the tunnel. The good thing about this entrance was that the church complex was placed in the upper middle of the city. I just needed to head straight and I would be fine in getting back to where I had started.

I did make sure to use my dagger at every intersection to leave a clear and obvious mark. No matter how good my sense of direction this was one of the common sense things listed in a manuscript detailing good practices for adventuring and the reasons behind them. It was probably the most useful book I had read so far since it was all practical advice which I had planned to follow.

It was hard to tell time without seeing the sun but I didn’t increase my pace for fear of tiring myself out. I needed all my energy if I had to fight. I passed by a number of grates that let in illumination into the slightly sloping tunnel and I heard the noise of the city above. I almost screamed when someone dumped a bucket of waste and water through one of the grates. That scare definitely took a portion of my life. Thankfully it hadn’t been dumped on top of me.

I finally came to something interesting. The sewers had a small ledge to walk on and a deeper channel for the rest of it which the waste traveled down. There was a passage that branched off from the ledge with no corresponding channel. That was definitely something new, since normally the channel followed where the ledge went.

I marked the turnoff and went down the side passage, sword at the ready. It quickly began to angle downwards and the floor was very slick. I had to make sure I didn’t lose my footing and slide down the rest of the way on the angled floor.

Taking a deep breath of the putrid air I continued forward. The passage quickly leveled out and then opened up into another sewer system, one that didn’t looked used by the mold on the sides of the walls and lack of water. This was probably the lower sewers I had read about. It probably only got water from leakage and overflow from the main sewers. I heard movement in the darkness other than the occasional dripping sound.

I saw movement at the edge of my light. My back was still to the passage I had come down with the tunnel going either way to my left and right. While the movement came from my left I didn’t want to leave by back exposed. That had been a key point in the manuscript I had read, always keep your back safe and be patient. It also helped since I had met an adventurer who had sworn by the manuscript when he dropped it off to be copied for a friend, real life evidence was always the best kind of evidence.

I had read a couple of history manuscripts that contradicted each other. Manuscripts were written by people and people didn’t know everything. That is why I asked so many questions that got me into trouble. I needed to focus on the here and now. I kept looking either way but nothing was coming out of the darkness.

Counting in my head, I would go to one hundred five times before moving. That would mean the creature went back to get help or would attack. Either way I wasn’t going to advance forward. The monster lost its patience first. A creature burst out of the darkness towards me, bone club in hand. It was about my size and had vicious looking teeth. I panicked and stabbed out in fear and the creature impaled itself on the blade through its head. It swung its club and hit me on the side causing me to lose my grip on my weapon and stumble back.

The creature collapsed as dark blood pooled beneath it. I pulled my sword free and looked the creature. It was a kobold, a lizard looking monster that stood on two feet. I heard a noise behind me and turned around. There were two more kobolds advancing on me both with bone clubs. They were completely naked like the first creature and by the white of their eyes, completely blind as well.

I grabbed up the bone club from the dead kobold and threw it off to the side. Both the approaching enemies turned towards the sound. I moved forward as quickly as I could while not slipping in the slick moss. I swung my blade into the neck of one of the kobolds. I managed to keep a grip on my weapon and pulled it free unleashing a spray of blood onto the third kobold.

It let out a guttural noise from its throat and grabbed its companion, biting into him and tearing away flesh it began to chew on. I backed away as blood and flesh were scattered about the mossy sewer tunnel. I had seen the butchers at work before, but nothing this violent and primal. The kobold began to slow down in its feast and I moved in. With an overhead swing I drove the edge of my blade into the kobold’s skull. It shook once and then collapsed on the ground dead.

I looked around and listened but didn’t hear anything approaching over my pounding heart. I backed away from the corpses and wiped my blade off on the moss. My heart rate increased again when I got another scare.

I read the blue panel floating in front of me over and over soaking in all the information. Reaching out I tried to touch it there was nothing but air. It flickered once and then disappeared. I had done it. I had really done it. It seemed almost like a dream. I needed to get back home quickly. It was tempting to look at more blue panels but now was not the time. I left the corpses and made my way back up the sloped passage to the first level of the sewers.

It was beyond tempting to check the rest of my panels now that I was a bit safer, but I knew once I started I wouldn’t be able to stop and I needed to get home before my absence was noted. I reached the top of the passage and made a right. My pace was faster than before but I made sure to confirm all the markings I had made at each intersection.

I reached the sewer entrance under the church complex gasping for breath. My side was killing me from rushing back and my injury from the bone club. I wanted to see the exact effects of my only health potion but now wasn’t the time for experimenting unfortunately. I stripped off the rags and swallowed the potion. The pain instantly faded and the bruising disappeared. That was a hundred copper well spent. I carefully climbed out and made my way to the closet unspotted. I stripped off my sewer clothes into my regular outfit and tossed everything but the boots into a sack.

With that completed I made my way home just as the midday bells from the church rang out. I let out a sigh of relief. I left the sack and my boots in the rear courtyard we shared with other shops along the street and then went to see my mother. Each shop had their own area in the courtyard and my family never went out here except to get water from the pump and toss stuff into the sewers. I wasn’t worried about anyone stealing the bundle and I didn’t want to bring anything smelly into the house where it would raise unwanted questions.

I waited off to the side of mother’s workstation until she was finished writing whatever it was she was working on. By the look of it, it was a detailed map. After a short time she set down her brush and turned towards me. “Hello dear, back early?”

At least she was in a good mood. “Yeah. Priest Hendric was happy with me so he let me out early. If I can have lunch and clean up a bit, I can watch the shop this afternoon.” That would also give me time to go over my panels and I knew she would tell me to do that anyway. It was better to volunteer and earn credit for that rather than even trying to get out of chores.

“That sounds good dear. Don’t take too long.” I nodded and went to the back courtyard. I rinsed out the clothes and the boots and left them off to the side to dry. No one should notice them during the day and I could hide them in my room tonight. The sword I oiled and then hid in my room along with the empty vial of healing potion. The glass vials were worth twenty five copper by themselves. With that done I washed up and grabbed a piece of bread from this morning’s breakfast to scarf down.

“What took you so long? It was torture standing around all day.” My brother Galric complained.

“Just cleaning up. You think the shop is dirty the chapel was a lot worse and huge.” I said. He just gave me a look and then rolled his eyes.

“Well at least you are back. I have to finish up a series of maps.”

“More adventurers?” I asked.

“Their guild placed an order for twenty basic maps of the surrounding area. A bit too many people getting lost.” Sometimes larger orders were placed but they weren’t common.

“Hmm, good luck with that.” He went off to the back of the shop. It was quiet and there I was behind the counter alone, finally. “Status panel.” I whispered out loud. Panels couldn’t be seen by others but I had caught a couple people staring off weirdly at something or waving their hands. If anyone came in I would have to close it immediately so as not to arouse suspicion and get asked tough questions.

I smiled as I looked over my status panel. I compared it to what I had read. My name and age were displayed, which was a good thing. Some people received a nasty surprise when finding out their true name. Then there was my level, which is a sign of overall skill and experience from what I had read. People gained levels from either adventuring or improving their skills. Adventuring was faster but the mortality rate was incredibly high to make most people turn away.

Title had N/A which stood for Not Available. Titles were incredibly rare. I had heard a rumor that the king had a title but it was only speculation. To gain one was the stuff of legends and if anyone knew more about titles they weren’t sharing.

Health was a product of vitality, mana a combination of wisdom and intelligence, and stamina endurance. A second was the time it took to say ‘By the Gods’. I had read an entire book on the exact nature of a second and how the measurement of time was precisely determined.

I heard there was an artificer in the capital that made clocks and that the duke had one. They could tell the time based on the second. The main issue was the insane cost. A single clock cost at least ten gold due to their mechanical nature and was out of reach except for the nobility. My values didn’t have decimals so I couldn’t see their progress in regenerating.

That was annoying and doing some mental math I realized that health and mana recovery was insanely long like my books said. A lot of research had been done into the second. It was one of the few things that was common knowledge and shared with people. There were 86,400 seconds in one day. Mana would take a little over three days and health would take about a day to regenerate fully. This made sense, since the healers almost always dealt with permanent conditions like broken bones or illness rather than cuts or scrapes which healed in about a day which made sense to my personal observations.

That meant I had wasted the health potion and a huge chunk of my saved up money. At least I know they worked. I should have waited until I could see my health and what effect the potion had on regeneration. The alchemy shop listed it as a grade one, the cheapest for minor injuries only.

It was so exciting to finally have my status panel. I was looking it over I couldn’t stop a grin from growing across my face. I had points I could spend but I was hesitant. One could raise the points on their page which represented their skills through hard work. It was explained as a slow and tedious process but provided far greater benefits long term when one could not naturally raise them up any further or it was too difficult to do so.

I had read two books speculating on what changes one’s points gave in various areas. Vitality was directly linked to health and it had been proven that people with higher vitality could survive greater injuries before dying. There was speculation that it was linked to life span as well but no one had ever managed to determine if that was true or not.

Strength was easily figured out. One merely needed to work on lifting various sized weights to see the effect of strength increasing. Endurance tied directly into stamina. I would need to experiment with various actions to see how tired I became but that would be simple enough to figure out.

Dexterity was tied in with balance and reaction time but it was near impossible to determine its exact effects. Supposedly people with high dexterity had perfect balance and fine muscle control. I smiled at my high wisdom and intelligence. Unfortunately their effects were near impossible to determine similar to dexterity. Charisma was tied in with social interaction but beyond that it was also impossible to determine any more.

“Close, skill panel.” The one panel closed and another one appeared.

I blinked in surprise. I had expected Scribe and Rune Crafting since my parents had those. It was common for children to inherit their parents’ skills especially when they had previously worked in the same profession before unlocking the blue panels. The big thing was Loremaster. I had never even heard or read about that skill. A unique skill already. I let out a shout of triumph on the inside.

“Loremaster.” I whispered quietly in anticipation.

I looked at the % symbol and sighed. No one knew what it meant but it was suspected that it stood for percentage. Anything to do with Truth Detection was never a bad thing. It was passive so there was no easy way to determine if it was working without an active ability demonstrate success. Skills had ten ranks per level, which went from Beginner, Experienced, Advanced, Senior, and Master. My father was only a Senior Scribe and he had been working at that job almost his entire life. To achieve a Master ranking in a skill was a huge deal.

I closed the blue panels as a customer entered. It took only took a minute to address their needs since they were only purchasing a stack of blank parchment and some ink. I put the money away in a strong box and marked down the sale in the sales book. I then got back to thinking. The main problem was time. Sure one could reach Master rank after forty years of work, but that would be their entire life.

If I was going to unravel the secrets of this world, time was the most precious commodity. The only things that didn’t die were the Gods and the undead. The bestiary I had read once described a lich, a mage who had taken the undead powers inside of themselves to become undead and live forever. That was always a possibility, but nothing was without a cost and I suspected any mage who became a lich had some heavy penalties. The fact that it was listed in a bestiary did not help my opinion of the undead. Also the church was set completely against them.

Healing wouldn’t work either since age was not a condition. The priests often said that each person was gifted with a life by the Gods at birth which we burned through with our passions. The only other thing I could think of was someone using time mana in some way to stop or reverse aging. It was claimed by mages that with enough learning and training mana could accomplish anything.

The problem was mana regenerated slowly and didn’t scale as ones mana pool increased. This meant that mages couldn’t use their abilities to solve every little task. The big problem was that all mage skills were tightly controlled. If the nobles were bad the mages were an absolute fortress of secrets. Rogue mages were punished heavily and anyone using mana had to register and pay fees to the Mages Guild.

This included my mother. She had to pay ten silver a year to be approved by the Mages Guild. Rogue mages were hunted down with a passion by both the guild and the church. The only exception to being a mana use by priests who specialized in healing and light mana. They worked hand in hand with the Mages Guild to crush rogues. They actually had their own scribes to copy books for their use and they were sworn to secrecy on penalty of death.

Some nobles had speculated on mana in their writings, but it was more of a passing fancy than detailed discussion of how using mana based abilities actually worked. I had come full circle, I needed information on mana but I couldn’t ask anyone. The few times I had seen Priest Hendric heal it was always with a chant and then there was a golden glow around his hands and the person’s injury.

I would need to develop my own field of mana, chants, and everything else if I was going to succeed. The one thing I was sure about skills, was that repetition was the key to unlocking them. The big question was what I could try in order to unlock time mana for visible results. I wasn’t crazy enough to practice on myself since combining mana and people was considered incredibly dangerous for all mana.

Dinner finally came and we all ate together. That was a family rule. Breakfast and lunch, were a do it yourself kind of thing while dinner was prepared by mother and we ate together every night. If that wasn’t the case I would probably never see my father. It was beef stew with fresh vegetables tonight. I always liked things with meat.

“Edward has finished his punishment at the chapel today.” My mother said to father.

“Hmmm, that is good.” He gave me a look and I smiled.

“Priest Hendric forgave me for my rudeness and I definitely learned my lesson.” I said. No need to go into my adventure under the city. My father paused in his eating and looked at me directly.

“That is good. While times aren’t tough, we provide a luxury service. One does not need manuscripts or maps to survive. It is good to remember this, since we live at the whims of nobility.” My father looked around the table. He was often prone to such grand statements. “Clarissa, have you given any thought to what we talked about?” My father asked my sister.

“No father, can’t I work in the shop?” My sister had a pained look on her face.

“Clarissa, tomorrow you and your mother will speak with Matchmaker Ulnera. Now that I think on it, you will speak with her too Rothgar.” The last part was directed at my eldest sibling and brother.

“What!” My eldest brother said. My father glared at him.

“The Monteger family line goes back over five hundred years to the Master Scribe Gegorivan Monteger. Our line will continue. If my father had not pushed me to marry, I would have spent all day scribing and never have met your wonderful mother.” He looked at her and smiled.

“Thank you dear husband.” She gave him a smile back. Father then turned back towards Rothgar.

“You will get married. You are young and talented, so you can pick a good match. You will also be inheriting this shop. I will let you have your say as long as you accept you are getting married. Understood.” Both my brother and sister gave affirmatives. I could tell my sister was not happy though.

“Galric you are a bit young but I would like you to think about what you want to do in the future. I can begin asking the nobility or one of the guilds if they are in need of a scribe.” Rothgar was going to inherit the shop. As the younger children we had to find our own way but father would definitely help. None of that mattered to be though, I was going to make my own path in the world.

“I will give it some thought father.” Galric replied.

“Good. You all better remember this when you have kids of your own. This grey hair comes from somewhere.” He gestured at the white stands intermingling with the black on his head. The rest of dinner past quietly. I ran my hand through my hair hoping I wouldn’t also get a bald patch as well when I was older.

***

I woke up incredibly early the next day, before dawn. Most of the time my siblings and parents woke up with the dawn to start work since they stayed up later to keep scribing. After getting up early to go to the church for ten-days and do my morning chores I was used to waking up earlier. I got my worn out clothes and boots and spent the morning jogging around the back courtyard, stretches, push-ups, sit-up, and squats. I needed to increase my points as much as possible through hard work if I wanted to strike out on my own. Just as the first rays of dawn began breaking in the sky my body was aching and my stamina almost empty.

I doused myself with a bucket of water and hung my clothes to dry while I got changed. There was no improvement on the status panel but there was still more to do. One of the skills I could work on constantly was Toughness. I went to the water pump in the courtyard and took my knife out. I then held it up to my forearm and made a small cut.

It really hurt and I noted that my health had dropped by five as blood dripped out and I gained the status effect Light Bleeding which stopped my regeneration. I kept washing off the blood and after a short while the bleeding stopped and I began regenerating my health. That was enough for today, but I would increase the amount I cut myself every day. I had read that sometimes adventurers did this as training and I would take every advantage I could get and unlock all the useful skills I could and I knew about. Unfortunately that list was very short.

With that done and my shirt hiding the wound on my arm I went out to grab fresh bread for the day. My mother set out the coppers to buy bread every night and I would grab them off the table in the morning to go get some loaves from a couple of streets over. I always loved the smell of fresh baked bread. I grabbed three loaves for eight copper and made my way back.

Normally it was three copper a loaf of bread, but the baker gave a discount to shops nearby for three loaves for eight copper. It wasn’t the best bakery but my mother counted every copper, especially for long term expenses. The larger shopping she did on her own every five days, but bread was purchased fresh each day.

I got home to the shop and carefully cut up the bread into equal slices and retrieved the cheese and sliced fruit from the chill box in the kitchen. Next I got a pitcher of water from the pump outside and mixed in lemon pulp. My brother Rothgar was the first down and grunted good morning. None of my family were morning people expect me. We ate in silence as the rest of the family trickled down. Once I was finished I left the table and went to open the shop.

The good part was that the last person to eat had to clean things up in the kitchen. Normally this was my father since he was always up late working. I unlocked the front door and pulled the curtains away from the front windows. Two older looking men entered the shop just as I was standing up behind the counter. “Mother customers.” I shouted. I then turned to the two customers. “Good morning, what can I do for both of you?” I asked politely.

It was the rule that if two or more people were in the shop I was to call out ‘Mother customers’. While thieves weren’t common, we had too many expensive items on display so it was the rule to call for assistance if there were more too many people to watch. Also with our prices we needed to provide individual service. This was also important since our shop was frequented by nobles. The few that had come in wanted personal service immediately.

“Looking for some maps.” One man had come up to the counter to tell me what he wanted.

“Anywhere in particular? We have maps spanning the entire continent and even some from overseas.” I replied neutrally. By his gruff and worn appearance, plus the fact he was wearing a gold medallion with the number four engraved on it meant he was an adventurer. I had never seen this man before and this presented a unique oppurunity.

“The Wastes of Nuremar.” The man said. I thought about that for a moment. Azalon was on the east coast of the continent in the kingdom of Aurulian. The wastes were at the south end of the continent and were mostly desert and relatively uncharted.

Thankfully my eldest brother came into the shop from the kitchen and went to assist the second man who also appeared to be an adventurer. I walked to the map rack and pulled out three maps and brought them back to the counter. “The first one here is of the kingdom of Yorek. The wastes are to the North West but there are a number of surrounding features.” I placed wood blocks that were kept under the counter to hold the map flat.

“The second map is focused on the central mountains and contains the far side of the wastes compared to the previous one. Not as detailed, but it is hard to get an accurate map with so few people traveling out there. The final map is of the continent, but that has almost nothing about the Wastes of Nuremar itself.” The man carefully looked over all three that had been laid out before him.

“Better than anything I have seen. Are you sure these are accurate?” He asked.

“We do our best. The cities and major land marks are accurate. Terrain and small towns are harder. We often purchase local maps from adventurers and compile them into these larger maps. Our shop has maps going back over five hundred years which we use to compare and make sure the maps are as accurate as possible.” I explained.

“How much for the first and second one?” He asked. He was definitely interested, I had him hooked. It was time to go for it.

They were the basic map with no fancy calligraphy. I could tell Galric had done these. They were okay but not great. “Two silver and fifty each. We also sell traveling cases for seventy copper.” I gestured to the leather cases off to the side. I was also over charging on the maps by a silver each, but this guy looked interested and had his money pouch in his hands. I also needed to earn back the money that I had spent on my recent adventure.

“Expensive, you can’t help me on the price any?” He asked. It also helped he was not a local. I would never get away over charging nobility or regular customers.

“Four silver and fifty copper for both maps and the case.” I was allowed to take ten copper off the map case for every map purchased. It was one of the few discounts my mother allowed. The rest of it was me marking down my own upcharge on the maps.

“Three silver and fifty for all of it.” I thought it over for a moment.

“Four silver and twenty. My mother will beat me otherwise.” I said. He looked at me and gave me a grin with his stained teeth.

“Hmm. Worse than bandits.” The man muttered. He counted out the money and took the maps and a case. “Come on we are leaving.” The two men left and my brother looked at me. Thankfully he had been far enough away to not see the whole transaction and the extra money I had made.

“That was painful. So many questions on runes and their uses. Pulling my chain the whole time. Have fun.” He said and went back to the work shop.

I marked down the sale and kept seventy copper for myself. Traveling adventurers didn’t often come to the shop, but when they did it was always good for some extra money. I cleaned the shop the rest of that morning since Galric couldn’t be bothered to wipe things down the past ten-days and I didn’t want a scolding from mother.

With that done I grabbed one of the finished manuscripts from the store room and began reading. Normally my father quoted a longer time than was needed to copy a manuscript in case something happened or there was a rush job he needed to complete. The finished items were kept dry in the store room with carefully marked notes of who they were for and when they should be delivered or expected to be picked up.

Watching the shop was incredibly boring and I spent the majority of my time reading. Despite unlocking the blue panels I was still stuck here. I set the manuscript I had taken from the storeroom carefully on the counter and began to read. As long as nothing was damaged and the shop in order my parents didn’t say anything. They probably knew their kids would go nuts just standing around all day with nothing to do.

That night I did everything but jogging until my stamina dropped into the single digits. After rinsing myself off with a bucket of water I went to bed. It took a ten-day before I saw any results.

When I checked my status panel first thing in the morning, my strength had gone up by one. That was the confirmation I needed that what I was doing was working. I purchased a couple of pieces of parchment from the shop and began to make keep a record of how long things took and what I was doing. I was hopeful that if I could track my progress I would unlock some secret behind the panels to increase my points even further.

I also stepped up with the stabbing. My left forearm now had a long thin scar from the continual cutting every morning. The best way to lower my health without causing anything worse than light bleeding was to do a long and shallow cut. I had to get up earlier so I had time to do everything before my family woke up but I was confident the pain would be worth it.

The biggest achievement was finally figuring a way to practice mana. I bought a pot with dirt and planted grass in it. I kept it on a shelf in my room next to the tiny glass window. Every night I would attempt to affect the grass with various chants I made up. The worst part was that I repeated the same chant multiple times before giving up and moving on, since I didn’t know how many times it would take to unlock a skill. I also kept careful track of all the chants I did.

Mana wasn’t that simple unfortunately. While I could push mana into a rune that didn’t feel like anything. I saw the numbers drop on my status panel and a slight glow around my hand and the piece of parchment but that was it. There was no mana sense that told me it was being used. I wouldn’t have known unless I looked at my status panel. There was no such thing as raw mana manipulation as far as I knew.

It was right after I turned nine, almost a year later, that I finally succeeded. “By my command of space and time, exceed your limits, advance forwards through time with haste.” I wasn’t expecting anything but the grass suddenly seemed to move in the air for a moment and I could see it glow along with my hand. I quickly checked my mana and saw it had dropped by fifty. I then checked my skills.

“Yes!” I stopped myself from shouting at the last moment and made my cheer a whisper instead. “Haste.” I said while gesturing at the plant. There was a blue glow around my hand and the grass and it seemed to move in the stillness of my room. I then carefully wrote down the chant in my notes and my observations of what the ability did.

Chants were used to unlock active abilities that used mana. The priests probably kept up using the chants themselves so as to remember them and pass them on or to confuse people. Mages definitely hoarded their chants and used the short hand the panels provided to use their abilities.

I still couldn’t get over how I finally had my own mana ability and one I had never heard of. I just needed to figure out the rest of the active abilities. The main issue was that some of them couldn’t be unlocked until the skill was a higher level. That was where prior knowledge was incredibly powerful. Knowing the chants and what one would have to do as a prerequisite would definitely shorten the learning time needed to unlock abilities and level ones skills.

I made sure my mana never dropped below seventy and practiced haste whenever I had enough mana not to drop below my self-imposed limit. I didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t have enough mana and tried to use an ability, but it ranged from nothing happening to very bad. I kept observing the grace to see if there were any ill effects from my mana.

My oldest brother Rothgar was about to get married to the daughter of a fairly well off merchant. Also my other brother was becoming a scribe of the Merchants Guild since he had reached Experienced in terms of being a Scribe. He would still live at home for the next couple of years, but would not be working at the Illumination during the day.

This meant my parents were hiring someone to watch the store while I learned from them full time rather than on and off. They had decided I was mature enough to handle simple tasks. I had asked a couple times during the past year for more instruction or work and was glad I would finally get the opportunity.

My joy was a contrast to my sister was giving my parents no end of grief. Everyone was unacceptable to her and the word on the street was that she would be a spinster before she was married. There had been some shouting matches during dinner which never ended well.

***

The wedding finally came and the ceremony was incredibly boring just like all the others I had been to. The ceremony was a simple affirmation to the Gods of Light and Order and between the couple themselves. The one thing I hated was wasting time not improving my skills and this was the kind of situation that fit into that category. I let my mind wander on various chant combinations I could try during the ceremony.

The reception, held in the dining hall of the church complex was a bit more engaging thankfully. I was at the main table along with the rest of my family and the bride’s family. Once the meal was finished and people began to mingle and dance I saw my father speaking with one of the few nobles that had attended the wedding.

Baron Hartsforth, that was his name as I recalled based from a couple of visits he had paid the Illumination. He was fairly young and his line only went back to his father who had earned his peerage for valor in combat as a knight. This Baron had recently been doing very well in mining for a town he controlled out west and had been commissioning my father for a number of jobs. I also had noted his servants buying up quite a bit of parchment and other supplies from our shop.

I stayed nearby quietly sipping my drink. I made sure that I was looking at the dancing and not staring at both of them. While I wasn’t normally prone to intrigue, any conversation my father had with a noble would be interesting and definitely informative.

“A fine wedding Gelric.” The Baron said.

“Thank you Baron. Reminds me of my wedding day.”

“Have you given any thought to the matter I discussed with you?”

“Yes. I am loathe to do it. She is so wild, I don’t know where she gets it from.”

“All women are wild, they just need guidance.”

I walked away so it wouldn’t be obvious that I was listening in. So my sister was going to be forced to marry. It was unfortunate for her, but there were a lot worse options than Baron Hartsforth. He was fairly young, still in his early twenties. He had a slight belly but his face was smooth and clean shaven. He was also a noble which basically outweighed everything else. Clarissa really should just accept the match instead of being so difficult.

That thought made me smile since I was planning to run away once I became of age. It would probably be a minor scandal, not as much as if Clarissa did something like that, but still a scandal. I could only hope she didn’t kill the Baron in his sleep.

I didn’t talk to anyone as I walked around the hall. I needed to work on my charisma a lot more based on my points but I had a hard time relating to kids my own age. I ran into other kids during the morning or when I was running errands but I never spent time with anyone specific. While I had increased everything else on my status page, charisma was still stuck at four. Well there was no time like the present.

I kept chanting to myself, no fear, no fear, as I walked up to a group of kids. “Hello.” I said. They all looked at me for a moment. “I’m Edward, but you can call me Ed.”

“I’m George this is my sister Helen and then there is Terrance, Jake, and Hern.” I looked at all the kids.

“You work at the butcher shop right?” I asked Jake.

“Yep, hack and slash all day.” He grinned.

“At least you get to do something. I get to watch the shop all day.”

“Scribe right?” Hern asked.

“Yeah, the Illumination.”

“I really like the light runes.” Helen said. “I can do my hair early in the morning.” She did have very nice hair.

“You are always doing your hair too much. Can’t wait till I am of age, I am going to be an adventurer.” George said with excitement.

“Our parents will skin you alive before that happens.” Helen said and sighed at her brother. “Most adventurers die, I don’t want to lose you big brother.” She grabbed onto him and fake sobbed. He looked a bit embarrassed at her antics.

“I think I would like to be an adventurer also.” Everyone stared at me like I had grown a second head. “Traveling, seeing the world, it seems much better than staring at maps every day and reading books about places I will never travel to.” What I didn’t say was that people grew much stronger and improved their skills far faster against monsters than studying. I was not going to waste my life sitting around.

“A companion for my journey.” George said with a grin.

“Oh Gods preserve us, another one.” Hern muttered.

“Sword, bow, or mana?” I asked George.

“Bow probably, my aim is pretty good. It also helps my parents are fletchers.” He grinned.

“Sword for me.” I said.

“You any good?” He asked.

“Not terrible, but I won’t be winning any prizes.” I replied.

“Your parents will skin you alive also.” Helen said.

“Probably, but I would rather live my life than die standing around forever.” George nodded at that.

“What do adventurers do?” Jake asked.

I was about to reply when Hern cut in. “Mostly die. The ones that do live, purge monster dens, kill rogue mages, explore ruins, and act as support for the local army. I had a couple of uncles who became adventurers, let me just say that I no longer have any uncles.”

“How can it be that dangerous?” I asked Hern. I didn’t realize how dangerous it was, but one kid’s experiences was not enough for me to change my decision. I knew there were dangers but nothing like Hern was implying.

“It is a simple matter of ability. Most new adventurers have no ability and die quickly since they rush off to get levels and improve their skills. So for every ten that go out, one survives to come back. For those that survive they run into situations they can’t get out of. Monsters aren’t stupid. I don’t know if they have adventurers themselves, but they do have skills.” Hern took a long drink of light ale from his mug.

I had read about that. Monsters with skills and mana. It was concerning but I didn’t really think about it in that context. It was always about learning skills, not what I would be up against. “That matches up with stuff I have read.”

There was a moment of silence when Helen spoke up. “Well one of you better dance with me.” All the boys looked at each other wondering who would speak up first.

“It would be my pleasure.” I said. No fear, no fear, no fear. I took her hand and we went out onto the dance floor. I only stepped on her feet twice, which was a huge victory in my opinion.

***

I was turning twelve tomorrow. I looked over my panels.

I had only unlocked one more active ability for my Chant of Time skill. Slow was exactly like its name. It slowed things down. I had used it on a number of animals and it looked like they were caught in water for a brief period. Haste had the opposite effect where they quickly sped up. At most I would only be able to cast my abilities three times with the mana I had and that was one of the main reasons I was considering investing a lot of points into wisdom and intelligence before I left. Once I left the Illumination I would not get the chance to read and improve those points for intelligence and wisdom.

Also there was the issue of improving my Chant of Time skill to unlock new abilities. I needed to practice and that meant I needed more mana. On the other hand my regeneration had not improved and I couldn’t think of anything to improve my mana regeneration. There had to be a skill out there, but whatever the skill was, it was most likely protected and not written down.

I was actually very pleased with the points I had. A book I had read listed that having fifteen points in any area at the age of twelve was considered very good. Ten tended to be the average. This meant that charisma was the only area I was below average, which I wasn’t too worried about. I also had five skills while most people coming of age only had one or two.

In the three years since I made my decision to become an adventurer I had been preparing. I had a pack with basic cook set, two blankets, an outfit, sword, two canteens, journal, writing supplies, two health potions, and my map case with maps I had copied from the shop. I had about two silver left in change, which should be enough to survive on for a while. I did have some other minor things like a whetstone, vial of sword oil, and rags, but nothing that was critical.

The most challenging part was getting the runes stitched on my blankets and backpack. That alone took over a year to get them just right and well made to withstand being charged again and again. At least they would repel water and keep stuff dry. They had to be stitched in a precise order like how the runes were written or they wouldn’t work. Thankfully I had seen my mother do custom work like this before, but it was not common.

Mother had refused to teach me more about runes until I came of age and could practice charging them. I did work on my own based on the designs in the shop but my progress had been slow and frustrating. I couldn’t reveal I had mana without being questioned. I thought about staying to learn runes but that would just mean making the decision to leave even harder.

George had already turned twelve two ten-days ago and was waiting for me to come of age before we registered with the Adventurers Guild and set off. I was worried what my parents would do. There was definitely going to be a lot of shouting. Killing monsters was the best way to advance one’s skills and points. I had only gained about a single level a year while an adventurer could expect far more.

I went to sleep and woke up the next morning mentally preparing myself. I walked down the stairs for breakfast. My mother had already prepared a larger breakfast with eggs and grilled ham to celebrate just like she had done for my siblings before the ceremony at the church.

“Good morning mother.” I said.

“There you are, all grown up.” She said.

“Yes, the status panel was very interesting.” I said. I used my brothers’ and sister’s reaction to come up with my own.

“Well both your brothers should be by and I kicked your dad out of bed a while ago.” She smiled at me. The rest of my family soon came in. Rothgar’s wife was staying with their two children at their apartment. They wanted their own space for a bit until he could take over the Illumination. Clarissa was stuck with her husband the Baron and rarely ever left his estate and wouldn’t be coming.

Her marriage had been a quick and quiet affair. After the marriage I had only seen Clarissa once and only for a brief period. I noted that the Baron had assigned a knight to accompany her when she left his estate. I would have been worried but she looked fine and there was no bruising or other injuries that I could make out.

“I remember the first time I saw my status panel. I was shocked at how low my strength was.” Rothgar said.

“You are just weak.” Galric replied. “My endurance is awesome over ten you know. Got to keep the ladies happy.” Mother sent him a glare and father ignored the comment. I couldn’t tell if the glare was for the ladies comment or sharing about his points.

“So little brother anything you want to share.” Rothgar asked.

No time like the present. “I am becoming an adventurer.” There was a long moment of silence and then Galric burst out in laughter. He went on for a bit and then began to slow down.

“An adventurer, hahahaha, oh brother that was, hahaha, hilarious.” He gasped out.

“I am not joking.” I said. Galric stopped laughing and the mood plummeted. It annoyed me quite a bit to be thought of as a joke.

“Edward. What would possess you to do something so foolish?” Mother said.

“I plan to live my life and not stay cooped up. I want to see the world I have read about. Visit the places on the maps I have written down.” I replied. I didn’t mention seeking power, gaining knowledge, and cheating death so I could unlock all the secrets of the world.

“Son, you can join the Merchants Guild or even work for a noble if you want to travel. Adventurers don’t last long in this world.” Father said.

“I want to see the world my own way.” Mother and father shared a look. There was a long moment of silence before father turned towards me.

“Your mind is made up?” Father asked giving me a stern look.

“Yes.” I said with all the determination I could muster.

“Very well. If you do, you better survive.” I was shocked silent at that response.

“What?!” My mother yelled out. “You can’t let him. I forbid it. No, he will die. Absolutely not.”

“His mind is made up.” He then looked at me. “I take it you are prepared?”

“Yes, I have a pack all made up and everything.”

“Brother this is madness.” Rothgar said.

“Thank you for the excellent breakfast mother. I will try to find you something nice on my travels for you when I return. We should get to the church for the ceremony.” I stood up and left, ignoring all the other comments. I went up to my room and changed to my traveling outfit. I then picked up my pack and went down to the front door, where my family was waiting for me.

They all stared at my sword and pack in shock. It appeared I had managed to keep quite a bit secret. I couldn’t tell if it was from my own cunning or my family’s obliviousness. Thinking on it for a moment I realized after I had received my panels I had become the well behaved child. Rothgar had a temper when he was younger. I never saw it, but Galric had told me. My other siblings had their own problems.

“At least you are prepared.” Father said. We left the house in a somber mood and made our way to the church. I set my stuff to the side at the back of the chapel and we made our way to the front. I had asked for a small morning ceremony rather than the larger celebrations my siblings had. While I had made some friends, I didn’t want to leave everyone in a down cast mood. Better to keep it simple and leave quickly.

The stained glass windows, the statues of the Gods, and various other items made of gold were laid out near the altar at the front of the chapel. Priest Hendric looked us over, paying attention to my traveling clothes. “Welcome. Edward come up here with me.” I walked up to the old priest. The rest of the family hung back at the pews.

“Kneel with me.” We both knelt at the altar. “Now repeat after me. Gods of Light and Order please watch over me.”

“Gods of Light and Order please watch over me.” I said after Priest Hendric.

“I swear to stand against the Dark and Chaos.”

“I swear to aid those in need.”

“I swear to protect my family, city, and kingdom.”

“Now rise Edward Monteger.” I stood up and my family came forward and hugged me. The earlier turmoil was forgotten. “I am pleased to see you have grown up well, but your clothes are a bit surprising.”

The mood plummeted again. “I am becoming an adventurer.” The priest looked at me in shock and there was a long moment of silence.

“I see. Well, remember your vows to Light and Order. For out in the wilderness the monsters will tempt you with the Dark and Chaos. You must forever be vigilant against such corrupting influences.” He gave me a hard stare.

“I will Priest Hendric. I will keep your words close to my heart.” He nodded. Power was power and I planned to take it. My main concern was that someone had an ability to sense my mana and what I could do with it. Since no one had ever said anything since unlocking the blue panel of the Gods and the Chant of Time I wasn’t too worried. I would cross that bridge when I came to it and not worry about the Dark and Chaos.

I gathered up my belongings and we made our way to the front of the church complex leading out to the main street. “Good bye son.” My father hugged me and whispered, “Be careful.”

Rothgar was next and looked me over. “Always the quiet ones that are causing trouble. I guess with all your morning exercise I shouldn’t be surprised. Remember the pointy end goes in the monster not in you.” He tussled my hair a bit and then Galric pushed him out of the way.

“I better hear a couple of bards singing about you so I can tell all the women that is my brother.” He punched me on the arm and I moved on to stand in front of mother.

“I will pray each day for you and ask Priest Hendric to pray as well.” She gave me a hug. It went on for quite a bit before she finally released me. “I love you Edward, be safe and write if you can.”

“Yes mother. Take care.” I left them and made my way over to George’s place.

As I was coming down the street he stepped out of the shop and the door slammed behind him. “Not go so well?” I asked.

“Nope, but they should calm down in a couple ten-days. Hopefully.” We started walking towards the Adventurers Guild. “So after we register, where to first?”

“Well I was thinking about heading towards the center of the continent. But that might be too much. You have any ideas?”

“We can head towards the Gilleth Forest to the northwest. I heard goblins set up in the ruins up there. Nothing major enough for an expedition but a number of adventurers bought supplies to head up that way.”

“That sounds good.” I was content to follow his lead on this. While I picked up on things the other kids and adults talked about, I wasn’t the most social of people.

“I honestly can’t believe we are doing this.” George said.

“Me either. Just watch, we are going to find a mountain of treasure and enchanted items and be famous. I will get my name in a couple of books instead of just reading them.” I said.

“Hah. Our names, with mine first of course.” He had a grin on. I rolled my eyes a bit.

“Of course.” We walked through the streets as Azalon slowly came alive in the early morning. It took a bit of time to walk to the lower level of the city to where the guild hall was. It was a large three story building and had a huge footprint. We walked into the building. There were a number of tables and a bar.

“Not open yet brats.” A woman behind the bar said. I saw two men sitting at tables give us both a quick look before turning back to their drinks.

“Not looking to drink. We want to register.”

“Did you just come off your mom’s tits? Go back home and play with your dolls.” She was certainly a rude person. I guess I couldn’t expect refinement or the politeness I was used to any more. I took a deep breath before replying.

“Shut your mouth hag face. We are here to register, so either point us to who can or shut your mouth.” I then sent her my best glare.

She gave me a grin. “Alright then. Can’t let every brat go off and die. You won’t believe how many people complain when their kid runs off. Now it is not a rule, but your parents know you are here? I won’t have them come asking around if you registered.” We both gave an affirmative.

“Good, hate bitchy parents. This is how it works. You sign up, get your name down and a piece of parchment. I hope you both have a silver on you, not a charity here. You get marked down as a rank one. This means you get to come to any guild hall look at the notices and requests and take rank one requests. Nothing higher brats. Requests are marked at a difficulty you should be able to handle. Keeps deaths lower at any rate.” I could tell even she didn’t believe the last part of what she said.

“Ranks go up to five, so show respect to your seniors. You get moved up on the number of jobs you do, level, and what other adventurers say about you. There are some annoying bastards around that don’t get moved up since no one wants to work with them, got it.” A simple system but I wasn’t expecting anything that complicated.

“Got it.”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Now when you go to other guild halls to report in from a mission tell them you are based in Azalon. They will forward completed missions here and we keep a record of you here. For a fee you can change where you are based. Doesn’t matter much until you get to rank three, if you even do.” We both nodded. It seemed odd they didn’t keep everything at the main guild hall but there was probably a reason. I was tempted to ask but it wasn’t that important and hag face looked like the person to take pleasure in pissing people off.

“Alright that is the basic stuff.” She pulled out two pieces of parchment. “You will each need to write your name down. Copy it from your status panel.” I looked over the parchment. “It just says you will not kill other adventurers except in self-defense, twenty percent of all mission rewards are kept by the guild and bounties, keep guild secrets, and that you will respect the laws of wherever you go. If you break the rules that line will turn red and there will be problems. I don’t like problems.”

“How is that possible?” I asked. I looked over the pieces of parchment. I couldn’t sense any mana and there were no runes that I could see. Both of those things meant nothing since I had never sensed any of my own mana and there were a lot of skills out there that didn’t require runes.

“Contract mana. Once you sign I will mark the parchment with the guild stamp and you are all official. Get to enter any town where the guild is recognized and most guild halls act as an inn so you aren’t over charged.” I signed my name and I could tell George was copying his down from his status panel. Once we were done she whipped out a stamp behind the bar and slammed it onto the parchment right after our names.

“Done and done. Now one silver a piece.” We both handed over the money.

“Shouldn’t you have collected the money beforehand?”

“And send some brats off to be debt slaves, whatever for.” I glared at her. “First lesson brat, pay attention, since no one else will. That one is on the house.”

“Any other useful information for us?” I asked.

“Hah, well I might be able to remember for a couple coppers.” She said grinning. I pulled out five coppers and placed them on the counter. “Alright then, first up is the party panel to share experience from killing monsters. Guild secret, so don’t spread it around. Say create party and then the name, and then say the name of who you want to invite. As long as they are within a mile or so you can see the status of your party members if they are alive, injured, or dead.”

“Create party Azalon.” A panel popped up with the party name and my name. “Invite George Fullbent.”

“Uh, yes.” George said.

“Party panel.” George said after seeing me look at mine. “Huh, neat.” I closed the panel and looked at the woman. She rubbed her fingers together and I sighed. I then pulled out fiver more copper.

“Don’t keep paying people for tips.” She grinned. “Also the request board is over there. Oh and before I forget, here you go.” She handed over a copper medallion on a string with the number one on it. “Shows your rank. If you lose it you will have to pay for a new one here. Show it if you want service at a guild hall. Good luck.”

We walked over to the request board. “That was interesting.” George said.

“A rip off, but whatever.” I looked over the board.

“Um, I can’t read.” George murmured. I cursed mentally, but resigned myself.

“If you want I can teach you.”

“Really?” He asked.

“Yes. Everything on the board is rank two or higher. Nothing we can accept. Mostly bounties or guarding caravans. Might as well head towards Gilleth Forest while we have day light left.” We left the guild hall and purchased jerky and bread for four days before exiting the city.

“You know where we are going?” George asked. He was looking more and more helpless as this went on. No wonder why most new adventurers died.

“Yeah. We can go over the maps at lunch when we take a break. It should take about two ten-days to reach the forest. There are enough towns along the route to stock up supplies.”

“A horse would be nice.” George said as he shifted his pack.

“When you find the gold piece for one let me know.” A horse wasn’t that expensive, but they weren’t cheap.

“You ever see one?” He asked. It took me a moment to realize he was asking about a gold piece and not a horse.

“A couple of times, but my parents always handled those transactions.”

We walked in silence for a bit then George spoke up again. “I may not know much, but how is it you are level four after just coming of age?” He asked.

“This stays between us, got it?” I asked.

“Definitely, now share.” He grinned.

“So when I was eight, I managed to get this sword and head down into the sewers.”

“Ewww.”

“Yeah, it was gross. Anyways, there are sewers under the sewers and there I fought and killed three kobolds.”

“What?! You have to be joking?”

“Nope. They were blind and weak. The first one impaled itself on my sword. The next two showed up. I cut the neck of one and the slammed my blade into the brain of the last one. That was enough to unlock my status panel.”

“By the Gods, you really are trouble. Any other adventures?”

“No, I was lucky no one found out. My mother would have skinned me alive if she had.”

“I bet. Any combat skills?”

“Nope, you?”

“I have Archery, which increases my accuracy a bit. No active abilities.”

“I can do some utility runes but that is it.” I wasn’t going to share my mana abilities. “Light, heat, chill, repel. Nothing offensive and setting them up takes time. What is your range on that?” I gestured at the bow.

“I can shoot up to hundred feet with accuracy and three hundred at the most.”

“How does that compare to other people?” I asked.

“Well someone who is a good shot can shoot around five hundred feet with accuracy and thousand if they really go for it.” I could run a hundred feet in about ten to fifteen seconds. So he could get two accurate shots off in a fight.

“Guess we both have room to improve.” I knew goblins often traveled in groups from what I had read. They preferred swarm tactics and had limited levels of self-preservation.

“Yeah.” He looked a bit more depressed but there was nothing I could say to make things better. Midday finally came and we stopped to refill our water canteens from a nearby creek and to have some dried bread and meat. I pulled out the map for the area and unrolled it for George.

“This is Azalon and these lines are roads. In three or four days we should reach Horth and then after that comes Millicent and finally Jopel at the edge of the forest.”

“Huh, that is definitely a ways to go.”

CHAPTER 2

“Finally, Jopel and a bed. My feet are killing me.” George said as I looked over the tiny town. It only had a wood wall and a wood tower at each entrance. Probably no more than a couple hundred people at most.

“Come on, let’s see if there is a guild hall.” We walked up to the entrance.

“Business?” The guard grunted. I pointed at the medallion we both wore.

“Adventurers, guild hall is at the town plaza.” We went by him and into the town. The stink and dirt roads were a far cry from Azalon with its sewer system. We walked through the town to the center. A guild hall was there, but it was only two stories and made of wood.

It was before midday so I only noted two people sitting about inside which wasn’t that surprising. The guild hall was a mix of restaurant, bar, and meeting place. We walked up to the bar, which also seemed to be the reception desk at places like this. “What do you want?” The old man tending the bar grunted.

“Room for the night and a meal.” He gave us another glance.

“Newbies huh. Well welcome to Jopel, the town of dreams.” At the last bit the other two patrons let out a shout. “Five coppers for a room and eight for a meal for both of you. If you want to take a shit or piss, outhouse is behind this place.” The room was fairly cheap as well as the food. I handed over the money.

“You get room three on the second floor.” He pulled out a key from behind the bar and put it on the counter. “Meal will be a while. Looking for anything here in Jopel?” He asked.

“Nope, but any news you have about the goblins would be appreciated.”

“Polite one, well good luck with that. Gilleth is teeming with the things, but not much money around these parts to bump up the bounties. A copper for every two ears you bring back. Three coppers for every two warg ears you bring back.”

“Why two?”

“Otherwise people cut two ears off of one monster and claim for both of them. Anyways, there is not much else around here. I am Boron.”

“Edward.”

“George.”

“Welcome, so where you come from?” He asked.

“Azalon?” George said it more as a question than as an answer.

“That is a distance. Well if you buy a beer for one of your seniors I am sure they can tell you a few stories to warm up your blood.” He said.

“I got stories for you kid.” One of the two people sitting down called out. He was a middle aged man and I saw a gold medallion with a three on it.

“Three ales then.” I said to Boron. I had only had watered down ale growing up. This made the transition to adulthood seem far more real than anything I had said to my parents.

“Hah, don’t go to fast. Three coppers.” I placed the money on the counter and he placed the ales down. George grabbed one and I grabbed the other two. We sat at the table and set our packs to the side.

“I am Yonson.” The man said.

“Edward.”

“George.” We all took a sip of ale. It was bitter and I made sure to drink slowly.

“Thanks for the ale. Now for newbies like you, the best thing is to watch out for grumpkins and snarks.” He said with a smile.

“I was thinking we needed to look out for ents and elves in the forest.” I replied. I already knew he was making up fake monsters. Reading that bestiary my father copied had been one of the more exciting books, especially the pictures. I knew it didn’t have everything but I wasn’t about to fall for a trick so easily.

“Not in Gilleth. Though elves sneak into camp and night and bite off your toes and steal your stuff.”

“So how do you deal with them?” I asked.

“Large parties are always good. Got to keep watch. Always be careful with the mages especially the low level ones. I am talking about in your own party.” He took another sip of ale. “They are all one and done. They blow their load and like a cheap woman you are left wanting for more. Half of them can’t keep a decent watch. They meditate and keep their eyes closed and don’t pay attention.” He had a much larger sip of ale this time.

“One time I was out, large party, sixteen of us. Ass hole of a mage and me were keeping watch on separate sides of camp. Well the idiot got stabbed to death by a gnoll and the camp over run. Ten dead, ten good people dead because of an idiot.” He drank the rest of his ale.

“Just be careful. We would try and put you with other rank ones but a pack of them just left a ten-day ago. You can wait, but who knows when they will come back if ever. Or you can wait for others to show up. You might tempt me if there were enough of you to help out on your first expedition. Just would need more ale, a lot of ale.”

“We will think on it. I want to rest up a bit, see you later.” I said.

“I am going to stay for a bit.” George said.

“You can have the rest of mine. I should be down in a bit otherwise grab when the meal is ready.” George nodded and I headed up to the room while the two continued chatting about bows and shooting things.

The room had two wood beds and that was it. I pulled out my blanket and laid it on top and then laid down, using my pack as a pillow. Meditating, huh, so that was the secret to mages and getting more mana. It was just the start of being an adventurer and already it was paying off big time. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my mana without using it. I tried willing it into me and filling me up. After a while I checked my skills and there it was.

This would greatly increase my ability to regenerate mana, this was huge. I wanted to bang my head against something for not discovering this sooner. Something so simple was the key to mana. No wonder why the priests stayed still all the time praying. “Meditate.”

The world dimmed and everything seemed to fade into the background as I lay there. I could move but there was a certain calm to remaining still. My eyes slowly began to shut and it was incredibly difficult to resist the downwards pull. I forced them open and the effect was broken. I figured it was a safe guess that the mana regeneration stopped at the same time.

That was annoying. I would be near defenseless while recovering my mana. It made sense though in regards to the story I had heard. I left my pack in the room and locked the door. I then took the time to relieve myself in the outhouse and returned to the guild hall.

“Perfect timing Ed.” George said. I noticed there were a couple more people sitting in the hall and another young man at the table. Yonson was nursing a beer. “This is Bran, Bran this is Ed.”

“Pleased to meet you.” I took a seat and saw the one medallion he was wearing along with the sword and shield he had.

“Same. George says you two are headed into the forest.” Bran said.

“Yeah. Seems good for a first expedition. So where are you from?” I asked.

“East from the coast. Little town called Fish Guts. I know, stupid name, nothing I can do. I was wondering if we could team up, safety in numbers.” He seemed well built and didn’t have an attitude that would make it hard to spend time with him.

“I don’t have a problem.” I looked at George and he nodded. “We are leaving tomorrow morning at dawn. Probably spend at least a ten-day out there, so pack for a little bit more. Full name?” I asked.

“Why?”

“Party invite, guild secret.”

“Oh, so you know about that?” Yonson said. “Someone is spilling guild secrets.” He had a grin on his face. That just made me really annoyed at hag face for swindling some copper off me.

“Branier Bigfish.” I looked at him. That was a crappy name.

“Invite Branier Bigfish. Just say yes. You can look at the party by saying party panel.”

“Yes.”

“How?” He said looking me.

“I am special.” I replied.

“Oh, something interesting?” Yonson asked.

“He is level four.” Bran said. I kept my face calm despite being really annoyed that my secret was being spilled

“Level four already, aren’t you the overachiever. Well at least you guys should survive. Just don’t get swarmed, swear that is the only thing mages are good for. You get a swarm coming and then BAM!” He slammed his mug down but didn’t spill a single drop as the ale leapt above the rim. He was either very lucky, skilled, or was not as drunk as he appeared.

“Get some mana and then spray fire over them monsters. The screams are hilarious. Don’t try eating monsters though. You can get cursed and then stuff is really hard to remove.”

“Cursed?” Bran asked. I had read about this from my reading but didn’t say anything since I was curious what Yonson would say.

“That is where you start transforming bit by bit. Knew a guy who ate wargs since he hated carrying food, swore by it. On double full moon he transformed, half man, half monster. A werewolf. One of the toughest fights of my life, thing just wouldn’t die. So no eating monster meat.” Corruption of the flesh and mind to Chaos was the way the books had put it.

I knew the church approved all animals to be consumed but I never realized why until now. I just hadn’t made the connection. They probably wanted to avoid people becoming cursed. I wondered if eating a dragon would let me breathe fire. It would probably give me scales on my butt instead.

“Ever find any treasure?” George asked.

“Treasure you say? Hah! Maybe if you kill all the monsters to get to their stash. But that is like an extermination. You need a large party or some rank five people. I did go with a rank five ice mage once. There was a minotaur camp in the mountains. A number of other rank threes, but he was the only rank five.”

“We killed a few patrols, nothing serious and then we came to the main camp. Twenty adventurers against two hundred angry minotaurs. Now I am not a coward, but that was a damn scary sight as they charged at us with axes. Now mister mage was doing nothing so far the whole trip but when that swarm came at us…” We all leaned in, even I couldn’t help myself.

“He wiped them out. Ice spikes shot out of the ground impaling their hooves and legs. Then an ice cold wind bit down on them. Out of two hundred only eighty reached our lines and those were injured and exhausted. About the only good mage out there I say. Anyways the loot was good. A lot of metal weapons but nothing enchanted. Most monsters don’t use mana except what they have naturally. I definitely would run the other way if I saw an enemy mage.”

“Almost never a rank one mage in the guild. Normally they go straight to rank two since they spend years training. Even then, very few ever sign up with us. Too much risk. Once they blow their load they are useless as shit, even more so I would think since you can’t leave them behind to lighten your load.” We all let out a laugh at that. I followed along but the humor was a lot more rural than I was used to. It also didn’t help that I considered myself a mage.

Food finally came out and we ate. A small piece of bread and some stew. Not as much meat as mother used to make it or as good, but it was fine. Definitely chicken by the way it tasted. The rest of the evening was spent sitting around telling stories about our lives. Nothing too serious but it felt nice to relax a bit after traveling so much.

***

I was up before dawn and made sure to stretch out. While I didn’t exercise or cut myself since we had started this trip I made sure to stretch out every morning and evening. I figured it would improve my dexterity and I didn’t want to lower my stamina with other exercises. Once I was done I meditated until George woke up. He finally got up and I stopped meditating. I was pleased at the hour I had gotten in, increasing my mana by five.

We went downstairs and Bran was also up. We left our room keys on the counter and went into the town. We purchased enough bread and dried meat for fifteen days each. It was a fair amount, but I didn’t want to starve or forage excessively.

We then exited the town and turned off on a small path into the woods. “So what is the plan?” Bran asked.

“Find and kill stuff. We get paid for goblin and warg ears. Equal split between the three of us. Also I would get your weapons out.” Bran looked at me with my sword in my hand.

“Ah, good idea.” I was surrounded by idiots. The guild really should have a training class or something.

“George can get his bow strung and an arrow off in ten seconds.” I said. Keeping a bow strung all the time would ruin it, which was unfortunate. Thankfully George was quick enough at it that he wouldn’t be useless.

“Yeah, so please protect me.” He said.

“Also no talking in the woods. On the road it is one thing, but I don’t want to fall for an ambush.” They both nodded. “Alright, we will stop for lunch and couple of hours before dark we will set up camp.” The rest of the day was quiet and uneventful and boring.

We stopped by a stream and set up camp. Bran at least knew how to set up some snares while George and I gathered firewood. We had our bread and dried meat and sat near the fire relaxing. “So how long do you think it is till we see something?” George asked.

“At least a couple of days. The Gilleth ruins at the mountain near the center of the forest are at least a ten-day from Jopel and none of the villagers have seen any goblins.” I replied. “I was thinking instead of directly heading for the ruins we make a long loop around it. Probably take two ten-days but that shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Could work, we have to catch some stuff though. I have seen signs, but nothing else.” Bran said. I had also noted the distinct lack of forest life during the day.

“Well if we find a deer, George can shoot it.” I said.

“Yeah definitely.” George said.

“I have to ask, what is in that weird pouch?” Bran gestured at my map case. I opened it up and pulled out a map.

“Maps, let me see if I can find Fish Guts on this.” I gave him a grin. I looked over the map and eventually spied the tiny script that labeled the town on the coast. “Here it is.” I pointed out and Bran came over to look. I showed him his town, Azalon, and where we were.

“Huh, never seen a map before.” He replied and sat back down and I put the map away. “You do a lot of stuff like that?” He asked. I had talked about growing up in a scribe shop a little bit last night.

“I grew up in a scribe shop, I actually copied all these maps myself. If you want I can make up a sheet so you can practice reading.” I offered. He looked at me for a bit. “I did the same for George.” He gave me a sheepish grin and pulled out his sheet to go back over his alphabet he had been working on during his travels.

“Sure.” I spent the rest of the night drawing a sheet of letters and numbers and going through them with him. We stopped as the light began to fade. “We will rotate watches. George you take first, I will take second, Bran you can get third. We will rotate each night.”

I lay down for the night with my sword at my side. This was the first time I was in the wilderness, without any civilization around. I went to sleep meditating. It only felt like a moment before I was shaken awake by George.

“Nothing interesting.” He whispered. I felt like I hadn’t gotten any rest at all. Meditating was definitely not the same as sleeping. That was really annoying.

“Sleep well.” He then lay down. I got up and tossed more wood on the fire since it was dying. I spent my watch by slowly walking around the edge of camp, sword in hand. If I sat down I knew I would fall asleep. I counted out 14,000 seconds, which I estimated to be my length to keep watch.

With that done I went over to Bran. “Bran wake up.” I hissed at him, he wiggled a bit but was deep asleep. “Bran wake up.” I nudged him with my boot. He stirred a bit. “Bran wake up or I am kicking you hard.” I said and nudged him some more. He opened his eyes.

“Already?”

“Yeah. Nothing happening, have fun.” I lay down on my blankets as he got up. I immediately fell asleep.

***

It was our third day in the wilderness that something interesting happened just after midday. I held up my hand and stopped. The other two stopped as well. A couple pre-planned hand signals could go a long way. We could all hear grunting and movement ahead of us. I waved my sword a bit and they got the message. Bran moved next to me while George strung his bow.

We advanced past a small rise and saw five goblins and a warg traveling perpendicular to us. “Warg first, let them rush up to us I whispered.” They both nodded. George nocked an arrow and stood up. He fired an arrow and it hit the shoulder of the warg and it went in. The animal let out a yelp and the goblins spun towards us. They were small green creature with big ears.

The warg, which was a large vicious wolf that was used by other monsters as a pack animal or cavalry rushed towards us. The main difference from a wolf was that its teeth were much larger and it had dark black fur. It was a good forty feet up the hill from their position to our group. Two goblins had bows but they were charging forward as well to get a better shot.

“Slow.” I whispered and gestured at the warg. My hand glowed blue briefly as did the warg, but in the bright day it was barely noticeable despite the shade of the surrounding forest. The next arrow George shot went into the creature’s eye and it collapsed on the ground.

“George focus on their archers. With me Bran. For Azalon!” I yelled out. The goblins closed the last bit of distance. They had crude swords, and one of them had a plank shield. “Slow.” I whispered and gestured at the goblin I was fighting with my left hand. With that done I easily moved past its guard and cut open its neck. I looked around and managed to dodge an arrow that one of the archers loosed in my direction.

Bran was holding his own against two of them and George had wounded an archer. I rushed the other archer down the hill. He loosed an arrow that went wide. “Slow.” I said again. I was on him quick enough and he was easily dispatched. The other one was trying to limp away but I stabbed it through its head.

With that done I turned to head back up the hill and saw George put an arrow into the back of one goblin’s head. Bran slammed his shield into the other one and stabbed it a couple of times. “Gods.” George whispered.

“Hah, we did it.” Bran said.

“Any injuries?” They both shook their heads. “Good. We need to search them and recover George’s arrows.” With that we got to work. Their weapons were shit, barely worth more than scrap metal if anything. They were basically strips of metal with sharpened edges and some cloth on the end. They weren’t even properly forged. The arrows and bows were also complete shit as well. George gave them one look before throwing them aside in disgust.

We removed all the ears, which put us at eight copper for their bounty. The remains were put in a burlap bag that Bran would keep hold of. We all went up a level which was nice as well. I looked at my points and dumped all twenty five of them into wisdom to bring my max mana up to two hundred and seventy five. Slow was just too powerful and I wanted to be able to cast it more than three times in one battle.

“Five goblins and a warg. Definitely real adventurers now.” George said.

“We weren’t before?” Bran asked.

“We were, but now it really feels like it.”

“We definitely kicked ass, but that is probably our limit.” They both looked at me. “If there were any more goblins or wargs we would have had big trouble. Bran was able to hold off two but it was all defensive.”

“Yeah, it was hard keeping up with them and got getting stabbed.” We left the scene of battle.

That evening we stopped a bit earlier than usual and set up camp. Bran got to work gutting a hare his snare had caught the previous night. Both George and I watched as he got to work. It was a learning experience for us city boys. “Not much meat, but you said you had a pot?” Bran asked me.

“Yeah.” I pulled out a pot and set it to the side. I also dug out a small package of spices I had. It had cost fifteen copper, but what was life without enjoying the small things. “If we fill the pot up with a tiny bit of water I can toss some spices in and we can marinate the meat.” They both looked at me.

“I learned how to cook before coming. Though I will defer all fish related cooking to Bran.” He stuck his tongue out at me. He really didn’t like fish.

“Sure, master chef.” Bran said. Soon enough the hare meat was cut up and tossed in the pot. I added a small bit of seasoning all over and then activated the heat rune at the bottom. The rune was cast in the metal and was one of the more popular runic items that sold in Azalon. “Going to put it on the fire?” Bran asked.

“Runes. I put a bit of mana in and the pot heats up.”

“Really?” He looked at the pot with wide eyes.

“It is cast into the metal at the bottom. Looking at the workmanship it should last about two hundred charges and then the pot would need to be recast at a forge. Wood is really expensive in the city, so it is cheaper to buy a rune pot than it is to buy wood. They cost about a silver and you can resell them for fifty copper, so it isn’t that bad.”

“Nothing like that in Fish Guts.” Bran said. George looked away a bit embarrassed. Apparently he never was involved in the cooking at his home.

“Well you know how to skin a hare, so you definitely have me beat there. George is good at firewood.”

“I resent that. I will have you know I am very good.” He huffed out as he dropped more wood by the fire. “I also start an awesome fire.”

“I wonder what happened to the large group that left before us.” I said as we waited for the meat to cook.

“Probably heading straight into goblin land and to the Gilleth Ruins. What were there sixteen of them?” Bran said.

“Yeah I think so, but can you imagine a fight with that many people and monsters. It would chaos.” George said. “Even with just us you can’t shoot over people easily.”

“Probably flank around.” I said.

“Flanking?” Bran asked. I charged the heat rune again and shook the pot. I then grabbed a stick and drew two circles in the dirt next to the fire.

“Imagine two groups they come at each other. Now flanking is when one group goes to the side and attacks the other group.” I drew smaller blob next to one of the larger ones. “So here at the corner you have two people fighting one person. It helps wins the fight more quickly.”

“Huh, that is clever.” It was common sense. I checked the meat and it was done. We each used bread to scoop out chunks of meat covered in the seasoned water that had simmered to become thicker. “This is amazing.” Bran said.

“Yeah, definitely keeping you as cook.” George added. I didn’t even have a cooking skill, but I was pleased they approved of my efforts.

***

The following day we heard a lot of movement from the other side of a stream we were following. We got our weapons ready and saw sixteen goblins and three wargs moving on the far bank. We let them pass and looked at each other. “We almost died there.” George whispered out.

“No shit.” Bran said. My heart was slowly calming down from where it had been pounding in my chest.

“They are heading away from the ruins if I am guessing. I suggest we turn back and ambush them at night.” I said.

“The wargs are the big issue. They have a decent sense of smell.” George said. “What? I remembered some of the stories Yonson was telling.” I was doubtful of those stories. The wargs never even glanced at us as they passed by.

“We are dead if we screw up.” Bran added. I had about a hundred and seventy five mana, only enough for three casts. I would be up to 200 by tonight so four if we ambushed them. I racked my brain for anything that could be used to even the odds. I had done some experiments with runes back home and that did provide an option.

“I can write up a light rune, one shot, will purge almost instantly. We hit them late at night and kill what we can. If they all get up I call out the rune, we close our eyes and then they should be blind for at least fifteen seconds. I tried this before, you can’t look at this or you will be seeing spots.”

“Could work. The wargs are still the issue.” George said.

“We need to set up a place to retreat to.” Bran added.

“If you follow this stream it should take you north of Jopel at least out of the forest.” I said.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Bran said. We crossed the stream where there were some large rocks and began to quietly follow the goblin party.

Once we were on the trail it was easy enough to follow. Night began to fall and we stopped when we saw the glow of a campfire in the distance. We retreated a bit and I got to work on the flash rune. It was a simple light rune, but the trick was to make it defective to let off all the light at once. It had been something I had come up with when trying to experiment with the mana flow in runes.

The rune itself would only last a single charge as it would quickly decay. George decided to sneak off slightly to the side with Bran while I would go in and try to ambush as many as possible. Once they woke up I would shout out to get their attention and activate the rune and the other two would attack.

Once the rune was done we all got up and laid down on top of a nearby hill to watch their camp. I kept watch while the other two dozed. Two goblins and a warg stayed awake to keep guard. One of the goblins had a tent while the rest slept around the fire pit. The other two wargs were by the tent.

The problem was that the sentries sat near the fire looking out. Finally one of the sentries stood up and looked around. After a moment he began walking off into the woods, the problem was he was heading off to the side of the clearing and not towards us.

“Wake up.” The other two quickly came awake. “One of the goblins is going to take a piss. I am going around to ambush him. Get ready.” They both gave affirmatives and I was off.

I made it just as the goblin was finishing up. He was facing back towards the camp and I came up behind him and to the side. I swung with all my strength and decapitated him. His body collapsed and his head rolled away. The other goblin that was awake was facing away while the warg was laying down next to him shaking its head from time to time.

I made my way out in the open rushing to cover the distance. I passed the sleeping bodies by and came up on the goblin and the warg. “Slow.” I gestured at the warg hoping the fire would cover my actions and swung my blade to decapitate the second goblin. The goblin died and the warg tried to stand up when an arrow went into its neck. I drove my blade into the top of its skull, finishing the job.

I made my way to one of the wargs by the tent and killed it without alarm. The problem came with the third warg. It managed to let out a yelp right as I stabbed and everything began to stir. After I was finished drawing out my blade out of the corpse, I kicked over the nearby tent. The goblins by the fire were already making noise about their dead companion and the one in the tent was shouting.

“Over here!” I shouted to get the monsters’ attention. “Three, two, one!” I pulled out the rune parchment with my free hand and looked away while also covering my eyes. I could almost feel the flash through my skin it was so bright. I tossed the crumbling parchment away and saw that all the goblins were staggered. Bran was rushing out of the tree line as another arrow flew by and into a goblin.

Between us we managed to kill five goblins before they recovered, leaving nine for us to face. “Over here!” I shouted again and held up a second piece of parchment. It was blank but the goblins didn’t realize this. Most of the goblins looked away and Bran and I managed to kill another one each before they wised up that it was a decoy.

I used slow three more times to kill off the goblins I was facing quickly while Bran and George finished off the remainder. We were sweaty, tired, but completely exhilarated at our flawless victory. “We did it!” Said George as he let out a manic laugh.

“Yeah, by the Gods, we did it.” Bran said.

“Let’s get to work, also once you are done getting the ears. Toss the bodies in a pile so we don’t check them again.” It was slow going and we piled up all the blades off to the side. One goblin had a pouch of fifteen coppers which was a nice find. None of us wanted to touch their food or clothing so that all got tossed in the fire.

When dawn finally came around I finished cutting off the ears of the goblin in the forest and returned to the camp. “So that makes thirty three copper in bounty, fifteen in coin, and by the looks of that metal another twenty five or so.” Bran said. He sounded tired and looked tired. I probably wasn’t much better.

“Yeah, I am done for this expedition also.” I added.

“Two levels for us and one for you, I can’t believe it.” George said. “We kick some serious ass.” We bundled up the weapons in our packs spread out between us while Bran hauled the bounties. With that done we set off for Jopel.

***

Five days later we made it back to Jopel late in the evening. “Alright, first let’s find the black smith and sell the loot.” I said. There was no disagreement so it was easy enough to find the man in his forge.

“What do you want?” He asked.

“Selling weapons for scrap or whatever.” He gestured at an empty work bench and we began to lay them out.

“Almost raw iron with other crap in it. These two look better, but still crappier than what I can make. Twenty copper.” He said.

“Thirty two, you probably don’t get much around here to work with.”

“Even less to sell to and even less money around here, twenty two.”

“You wouldn’t take advantage of innocent children would you? Twenty five.”

“If you are innocent children then I am a goblin. Yeah I know where this kind of crap comes from. Twenty four, just because you are cute.” I gave a glare back but nodded. “Good.” He reached under the counter for a bit and then laid out the copper. After a quick count I scooped them up and we left.

“You haggle worse than an old fish wife.” Bran said. I shot him a glare.

“If you don’t like it I am more than happy to keep the extra copper I got us.”

“No, no, oh wise master Ed. Your power knows no bounds, why I shall let you haggle for everything in the future.” Bran said.

“Still shitty. We spent thrity copper each for food and we only made…how much?” George asked. I couldn’t tell if their behavior was based on a low wisdom score, poor upbringing, or both. How anyone could not keep track of money was beyond me.

“Seventy two.” I said. “The big thing are the levels and maybe we can pick up one or two more people at the guild hall.”

“True, just was hoping to have a lot more. Only got about eighty copper left.” George said with a sigh.

“Fifty copper here not counting what we made.” Bran added.

“A hundred and fifteen. So you want to stay for two nights in town or one?” I asked.

“One.” George said.

“Two.” Bran said at the same time. They looked at each other, then at me.

“Why two?” I asked Bran.

“I need a break and some real food.” I looked at George.

“Two days sure.” George said. We set off for the guild hall and came in. The crowd was fairly large, with six people sitting around. I didn’t see Yonson as we all made our way to Boron.

“All alive and returned. Now did you run away or do you have anything interesting?” Boron asked.

Bran set the sack off to the side. “Bounties worth thirty three copper. Four wargs, rest goblins. I want the sack back.” Boron walked over and looked in.

“Alright, not bad at all. Be right back.” Boron took the sack into the back room and returned with it empty and handed it back to Bran. “So you want that on a tab for rooms and meals?” He asked.

“One room for the three of us. I can sleep on the floor.” I said the last part in response to the others stares. “Two nights and meals for tonight and tomorrow.”

“Twenty nine copper then.” Boron pulled out four copper and handed it over to me along with a key. “Room two. Meals will be out in a bit, grab a table. Oh, almost forgot.” He began to fill up three mugs. “First drink is on the house for ones. Got to have something to look forward to for living and making it back.” We took our drinks and thanked him.

We found a table near the fire place and sat down. “A toast, to friends and victories.” George said and raised his mug.

Both Bran and I repeated the cheer and raised our mugs and then all drank. “That is just what I needed.” Bran said as we all relaxed.

“Just get back?” A slightly older teen came over and asked. He had the beginning of a beard and a sword at his waist.

“Yeah, so many goblins. It was touch and go but we did it.” Bran said.

“I am Talon.” I looked at his medallion, silver and a two engraved on it.

“You are welcome to join us.” I said. He sat down on a nearby chair.

“Thank you. So goblins. I just traveled here from Azalon.” Talon said.

“We grew up there, not a half bad city.” George said.

“Really, I will say that the place did not stink of complete shit, a rare change of pace.” Talon said.

“The sewers are really well built, run under the entire city.” I replied. George grinned at my comment.

“So what brings you out to Jopel, the town of dreams?” Bran said the last part loudly and everybody in the dining hall let out a shout. I still didn’t get it, but it was the apparent local custom. Talon smiled at that.

“Traveling mostly. My last group…had quite a bit of bad luck so I decided to move on. Ran into a bunch of elves. Don’t ever get shit started with elves, those bastards have a mean streak a mile wide. Hate just about everything and won’t help you to save themselves.” He took a large drink from his mug.

The conversation continued from there about our most recent adventure and how there was a lack of news about the large group of new adventurers that had left before us. The speculation was if they were just lost or had died horrifically. Our meals came out which consisted of steamed vegetables, bread roll, and a very small cut of meat. I got up and went to talk with Boron with things slowing down.

“Boron, you got a moment?”

“Hmm, what is it. Problem with the food?” He asked.

“No, the food was great. Give my thanks to the chef.”

“My wife will be glad. So what is it?”

“I was wondering if you know anyone who would be interested in a map or some light runes, last about a month.” I said.

“Hmmm, what kind of prices?”

“Around a silver for a map and twenty copper a light rune.”

“A bit pricy, don’t know who would want that. Figure you want to draw them up tomorrow?” He asked.

“Yeah, you can also pass on that I am an Experienced Scribe.”

“Really now. You should register that.”

“Ah, the fees are quite high…” It cost ten silver to register a skill. Most people didn’t even bother until they were at the level of senior. It only mattered for people who needed to prove how skilled they were, like a scribe. It wasn’t used for unique skills but for the common ones used by craftspeople it was common.

“I mean with the guild. We can verify skills, costs a silver but you get a small medallion with a skill symbol its level.” That price was a lot more affordable.

“Really? How does that even work? Like contract mana?” I couldn’t help my inquisitive nature from coming through at this new piece of information.

“Exactly. The coin is enchanted to form to what skill you call out. Most people don’t bother since they like to keep their combat skills a secret. Just our guild employs all the contract mages. Anyone else and they are charging you ten silver.” That matched up with what I knew. Joining this guild was turning out to be an even better choice than I imagined.

“Well if you can find me work I will purchase one of those medallions.”

“Alright, stop back here just before midday and if I find anyone I will tell you.”

***

I slept in a bit the following morning which meant waking up a bit after dawn instead of before. I stretched out and went to relieve myself at the outhouse. With that done I returned to our room and began to sort through my pack. I divided up the remainder of our money from the trip and set up three piles on the floor.

With that done I carefully sorted through everything and made sure mold wasn’t taking hold. The other two woke up and stumbled out of bed to go take a piss. When they got back I gave them their copper and repacked my bag. I took all my stuff down stairs and began writing in my journal about my observations of my skills and status.

The main thing I noticed was that my Chant of Time leveled up a lot faster when used in combat than when I had been practicing it on my pot of grass. That was good to note. It made me wonder how one would practice Scribing while in combat. I let out a giggle trying to imagine my father trying to slay a goblin with a brush or a quill.

Once I was done I dozed in the chair until I heard someone come up to me. “Boron, any news?” I asked.

“The only one interested is Ternor who runs the Merchant Guild. Like I said, no one else can pay what you are asking. He does want to make sure you have the skill you claim though.” I let out a sigh and handed over a hundred copper. Goodbye sweet money, how I will miss you.

“Don’t worry I am sure you will make it back. Just not a lot of scribes as adventurers you see and he has been tricked before.” Boron tossed me a blank copper medallion. “Now just hold that tight in your hand and state your name, skill, and level in that skill.”

“Edward Monteger, scribe, experienced, one.” I said. There was a heat from the copper medallion and I could feel it shifting. After a bit I felt it stop shifting and Boron said I could look at it. On it was engraved my name on one side and Scribe Experienced 1 on the other.

“Well the merchant guild is two buildings down from us. Has the most glass of any building here.” Boron said and knew which one he was talking about.

“Thanks, see you in a bit.” I said and left after grabbing my stuff. It was a short walk to the merchant building and I entered. A thickly bearded man was sitting near the entrance looking over a number of parchments. His hair was also a bit wild, definitely different than the merchants I had seen in Azalon.

“What do you want?” He asked.

“Boron sent me. Said there was work here. I am Edward the scribe.” I held up the medallion.

“So you really are a scribe. Sit, let’s talk business.” I sat in the chair in front of his desk. “Light runes, you say they work for a month?” He asked.

“Yes, I can charge them for a month.”

“What about others charging them?” He asked.

“Without the skill they can only put in so much mana. So probably three days at best.”

“Hmm, no wonder why no one sells them. You write them on parchment?”

“Yes.”

“Maps?” I pulled up my carrying case and opened it up.

“I made all of these myself.” I handed them over one at a time. Three of them he told me to set to the side and the rest I put away.

“Not bad at all. Not the best I have ever seen, but alright.” I gave him a look and he continued unabashed. “I need four light runes and I want a copy of those maps. I can supply the parchment.”

“Fifteen copper each for the runes and a silver each for the maps.”

“Three and sixty is a bit pricy especially with the parchment being included.”

“Ink is pricy as well, especially knowing the right mixes so it lasts.”

“I can supply you with ink stones. So how about two silver for everything.”

“Now I know why this is the Merchant Guild, its cutthroat here. Three silver since I am going to have to stay an extra day in town to finish everything.”

“Old Boron can’t be charging that much so two and thirty.”

“Two and seventy five, my parents would be ashamed at how I am selling myself.”

“Two and fifty.” It was less than I wanted but enough to make the task worthwhile.

“Done, I will stop by tomorrow morning with everything.”

“No extra day?”

“I will just work through the night, light runes are good for something.”

“Hah, see you tomorrow, not too early mind you. Let me unlock the cabinet.” I looked through his inventory and took parchment for his request and ground up a large bottle of ink from his supplies. With that completed I left and returned to the Adventurers Guild and thanked Boron.

I then set up a corner and got to work. I ended up making two light runes for myself to see properly as I drew away. Some people came over and took a look and then went on their business, I ignored them as I kept working. I just finished the second map when Bran and George returned to the guild hall.

“Keeping busy I see.” George said.

“I have to keep in practice. Feel free to grab another table, I still have one more map to finish.” They pulled up another table next to mine and sat down.

“How much are you selling them for?” Bran asked.

“For three maps, four light runes, it is two silver and fifty copper, but I was given the parchment and ink.” I said.

“That much, why even be an adventurer?” Bran asked as he looked at my work.

“As fun as it is, I don’t plan to sit my life away in some back room drawing and writing things my entire life. That would drive me insane. I want to see the world, learn, and discover new things. You can’t do that in a back room scribing all day.” I said.

“Huh, I wanted to become an adventurer so I could live the big city life and relax in my comfortable back room.” Bran said. I could tell he was grinning despite not looking at him.

“I also like the challenge of scribing with all the background noise. Steady hand, calm heart.” I said.

“Become a fletcher, mistakes happen all the time. This village is crap, not a decent fletcher around. I mean one of my arrows broke but the quality here is terrible.” George said.

“Better than Fish Guts. Only an Adventurers Guild and a three room building at that. Everything else is about fishing. Nets, boats, sails, and so on. I swear I still dream about fish.” Bran shivered at that.

“You know I read that you can get your name changed by a status mage.” I said.

“What really?” He asked.

“Probably expensive though, since I only read about it and never heard of one in Azalon. Probably need to go to the capital or at least the Mages Guild. I would say anywhere from ten silver to a gold piece.” I said. I had never considered a name change, but for someone named Branier Bigfish it was understandable.

“So unfair.” Bran groaned.

“What did you do today anyways?” I asked.

“Walked around town, relaxed.” George said.

“Same, but I had a spar with one of the guards. He beat me, but at least it wasn’t crushing.” Bran said.

“I was wondering if there was anyone else who wanted to join us when we head back out on the next expedition.” I said.

“Talon already left on his own and I haven’t seen anyone else who is a one or our age. I swear this place is a massive sausage fest. Where are the ladies, the sexy breasty warriors in skimpy outfits?” George said with a sigh.

“So is that how they got you to sign up?” I asked. This was a hard life style and would take a hard woman. I couldn’t imagine any of the women I knew becoming an adventurer. While my sister had the spirit, she was a city girl. She would never sleep on the ground or any of the other hardships one had to endure.

“I just heard some stories from my uncle before he passed away. There was this one about this warrior in tight metal and cloth armor with a huge bust, so the armor was curved to its shape and open at the top.” He began gesturing with his hands which I ignored to keep my eyes on the map I was drawing.

“She also didn’t believe in undergarments either and for a cloth skirt with metal studs that went to her knees. The problem was she liked to kick a lot during combat so her skirt would lift up and every one would take a peak. My uncle said two men died that way, probably the happiest moment of their lives.”

“I will believe it when I see it. In a dream would be nice.” Bran sighed as well.

“I am not even asking for all of that. I just want one woman adventurer. Is that too much to ask.” George said. It probably was too much to ask for.

The conversation continued as I kept working. Bran and George both said good night before heading to our room promising to leave the door unlocked. I finished the last map and let out a sigh. There were two minor mistakes, but nothing serious. My hand was cramping after working so long and my pride would just have to take the hit. I carefully washed out my brushes and the almost empty ink jar.

I could easily do the runes in the morning. I left the two light runes I made on the table and went up to bed. I crashed on my blankets on the floor and went to sleep.

***

I woke up just before dawn and stumbled my way out to relieve myself. I really missed indoor plumbing that went straight to the sewers. With that done I grabbed my pack and returned to the dining area where I ground up a small batch of ink and finished off the four light runes.

“Stay up all night kid?” Boron asked.

“Nah, just finishing up the last bit of it. Here you can keep these, should be good for about a month.” I handed him over the two charged light runes.

“Huh, well next time you come back there will be a drink on me.”

“Thanks.” I went back upstairs and woke the other two up. They were definitely spending all their money on ale the way they groaned and scrambled outside to take a piss. I shook my head at that. I went back downstairs and waited for them. It took a bit but both Bran and George finally dragged themselves down.

“Never drinking that much again.” Bran said.

“Never drinking again period.” George added.

We packed up and left to go buy supplies. Once that was completed I had us detour to the Merchants Guild. “This should only take a moment.”

“All done?” Ternor asked.

“Yep, here you go.” I pulled out the maps and runes. “Do you want me to charge the runes now?”

“Yes please.” I did that while he looked over the maps.

“Hmm, good enough.” He pulled out a small money pouch. “Two and fifty, don’t spend it all at once.” I counted it out and it was the right amount. I nodded and we left the merchant guild. With everything done we made our way back into Gilleth Forest.

***

On the sixth day we ran straight into a goblin patrol. We were both stuck in a narrow valley with steep hills on either side. Eight goblins and two wargs against the three of us. I could cast slow six times and it lasted about five seconds after each cast. I wasn’t too worried since I had my mana.

George let lose an arrow hitting a goblin in the shoulder sending it sprawling on the ground. “I got the wargs, keep them off Geroge.” I called to Bran and moved to intercept one of the wargs. “Slow.” I gestured and then struck out with my sword a moment later. Blood poured out of the monsters neck. “Slow.” I cast again at the other warg. Two goblins moved against me but I managed to slash across the warg’s eyes before turning to meet them.

The spell wore off and the monster collapsed to the ground howling in pain. “Slow, slow.” I cast it at both goblins and attacked them. The first one was decapitated and the second one was stabbed through the eye and into its head. I looked over and saw that Bran had killed one goblin and George another. Bran was holding off three including two with arrow wounds while a forth one chased George who didn’t have time to get a shot off and was running away.

I rushed up behind the goblins Bran was facing and it was short work after that. The goblin chasing George tried to run away after seeing the other goblins killed but an arrow in the back and a lot of boot stomping on the face from George stopped it from escaping.

“Ug.” George said as he wiped off his boot in a nearby stream.

“By the Gods. That was close. You have to have some secret sword skills to go with those scribe skills. Two wargs and two goblins.” Bran said. He was giving me a look as if he didn’t know what to believe.

“I would rather not say, but I can’t use it all that often.” I said.

“Hah, I get it.” Bran replied as we got to work. The lack of sharing about skills was working in my favor for once. “Six shitty metal swords and fourteen copper worth of bounty. So call it twenty.”

“You know, if we hide the corpses and set up camp just on the other side of the hill we can use this as an ambush point. We won’t be able to light a fire, but we could just camp out here as patrols come through.” I said.

“Not a bad idea. I really don’t want to walk into another group like that.” George said as he came back over to help with the looting.

With that decided we dragged all the corpses behind a couple of large boulders and covered up the blood with leaves and dirt. With that done, I took up watch at the top of the hill on a rocky ledge while the George and Bran set up some snare to catch food. I was able to work on my Meditation as I lay there making sure to break it and open my eyes back up every so often.

It went up another rank which meant I was able to regen my mana a lot faster. I really wish I knew about this skill a couple of years ago. Stupid mages with stupid secrets. I did have time mana, which was insanely over powered. I hadn’t used haste on a person yet. Despite my curiosity I was not about to try it out on a goblin.

The sun began to set and I made my way back over the hill to where we had set up camp. George had managed to find some wild potatoes and Bran had snagged another hare. It was a veritable feast as I cooked up the meat and vegetables in my pot.

Washing it out was simple enough and then we set up our turns at watch. It was another boring night in the forest. The next day Bran would work on setting up more snares and teach George while I kept watch. While learning survival skills was useful I needed to work on leveling Meditation and restoring my mana so I had excused myself from the activity saying I would be watching for goblins.

They both came back around midday and we had lunch while lying down on the ledge. Nothing had come by in the morning. “This is much better than walking through the forest.” Bran whispered.

“I agree. I enjoy the endurance and strength increase, but adventuring is not about suffering.” George said. He was definitely a city boy at heart based on that comment. I just lay there, keeping an eye out down the length of the narrow valley.

“You hear that?” I asked. Bran and George both quieted and listened.

“Definitely coming from that way.” Bran pointed at the way the Goblins had come from. We lay there waiting in suspense of what would show up.

That was when we saw five people, young teens by their slightly size and lack of facial hair. They were stumbling down the valley in quite a hurry. They looked completely exhausted. I saw that they were wearing medallions. George made to stand up but I quickly put my hand on his back. “No, listen. There is more noise behind them.”

That was when we saw six wargs in front of twenty goblins. No way could we take that many. “We have to help.” George whispered.

“And die? No way we can kill that many. The wargs alone would run us down. If you have a better idea then dying I will listen.” I said. They had nothing to say. “I do have a plan, sort of. Let’s grab our stuff and follow them.” We scrambled back and then went to get our gear. We then followed at a distance to the large group while I explained what we would do.

“We follow them and ambush them at night. They have been probably chasing those people for a bit, like a game. They aren’t running and could easily catch up. Also those wargs were being held back my rope so they won’t run off. I am not fighting that group in the day. Our best shot is at night with a couple of flash runes and taking out the wargs like we did before.” I said.

“That many will be tough. I don’t think I can hold off two wargs.” Bran said.

“Well then George will just have to shoot them all in their eyes won’t he?” I replied.

“Yeah, I will do that.” George said. He didn’t sound confident about that level of accuracy at night.

“I do have something if things go to shit, but don’t count on it. I have two healing potions.” I said.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” George asked.

“Because they are expensive and they won’t save you if you are dead. They are in my side pouch on my pack. They cost a silver each, like I said, not cheap.” I said.

“Got it, no dying, no counting on expensive health potions.” Bran said.

“Trust me, the mana and stamina ones are even worse. Ten silver for mana and five for stamina.” I said.

“Wow.” Bran muttered. The day continued on and we caught occasional sight of the goblin group in front of us but made sure to keep back for the most part. They went right up until it was almost too dark to see and then set up camp.

This time all the wargs were sleeping around the outside of the fire pit while the goblins slept next to it. They didn’t keep sentries but every once and a while a warg would lift up its head and then settle back down.

I wrote up flash runes while we hid in the forest as night dragged on. “Okay, I think I can get most of the wargs before they wake everyone up. George you need to aim for the eye. Shoot the one to my right while I work my way to the left. Kill a second one if you have the chance. Bran follow me, if they wake up I will use the flash rune. If there are still wargs alive we retreat, if they are all dead we attack. Meet up spot is our camp at that valley if we get separated. Questions?” They both shook their heads.

“Okay let’s do this.” I began to walk into the clearing while Bran followed me. I positioned myself in front of him just before we came up on the wargs. “Slow, slow.” I whispered at the one I was aiming for and the one George was shooting at.

I stabbed my blade straight into its skull while George landed his shot perfectly through the eye. Bran was moving onto the next warg and I went onto the fourth. The last warg almost got off a yelp but George managed to land a second arrow perfectly in its eye silencing it. With that done we started on the goblins. After killing three Bran missed with a shoot and wounded one, waking the rest up as it screamed.

Once that happened we killed two more before I called out the flash rune. “Three, two, one!” I yelled out and looked away. The flash of light went off and the parchment crumpled. With that done Bran and I killed four more and George a fifth before they recovered.

That left ten goblins. I used slow another time and was out of mana. George saved the battle by keeping up an arrow every ten seconds. Most of them were only wounding shots but it was enough to break up the goblins from overwhelming Bran and I. He definitely had an easier time with his shield while I was forced to keep backing up and swinging my blade to keep them off of me.

By the end of the fight I had taken three light cuts and Bran had been stabbed in the thigh. “Little pieces of shit, that hurts.” Bran cursed. I handed a potion to him. “You don’t-“

“If that gets infected you will lose your leg and it is deep. I am not hauling your fat ass out of the forest. You can buy me an ale when we get back. Now drink it after I yank out the dagger.” I said and handed him the health potion.

“Thanks, you aren’t th- AHHHHHHHH.” He out a shout and downed the potion as I yanked the dagger out. “Thanks.” He said. I took the glass vial back from him.

“Come on, let’s loot these bastards.” We got to work cutting off ears and checking over the corpses. The big find of the night was an actual decent short sword. It was about the same quality as mine and Bran’s. Despite Bran coming from the shit end of nowhere he actually had decent equipment. As we were finishing up I heard movement in the forest.

“Ambush!” I called out and we all readied our weapons.

“Hold, hold, we mean no harm.” We relaxed a bit. “Coming out, don’t shoot.” It was one of the people from before that we had seen the goblins chasing. He stepped out into the clearing and the light of the camp fire. “My name is Riven also an adventurer.” He held up his medallion, copper so a one.

We were all silent and kept staring at him. “Umm, well I wanted to thank you and I was wondering if we could party up until we get back to Jopel.”

“You just happen across us in the middle of the night and want to party up. I think I can safely say that is a bit suspicious. So you can either be truthful or you can just turn right around and leave.” I said.

I heard more movement and the other three people from before stepped out. “You are an idiot Riven.” One of the others said. There had been five before and now only four, that was incredibly suspicious. “I am sorry for our party leader. I am Oxfort. These goblins were chasing us, thank you for stopping them.”

“Not a problem. Anyone else hiding back there?” I asked.

“Unfortunately that group was killing one of us a day letting the others run. There used to be eight of us after we were ambushed.” Oxfort let out a sigh. “They took our weapons so we had no way to fight back.”

“Alright, my group is going to discuss this over for a moment.” I said. I turned towards George and Bran while still keeping one eye on the other group. “I don’t like them. They are idiots especially that Riven guy.”

“Just escort them back, no party, no loot sharing.” Bran said. We looked at George.

“Okay.”

“Alright but one of us stays on watch the whole time…” I turned towards the group and saw Riven advancing on us. “What are you doing?” I held up my sword.

“Just getting back my blade.” He gestured at our pile of loot we had been sorting.

“Nope. That is goblin loot. We killed the goblins hence it is our loot.” I explained to him with a smile.

“That is my sword!” He shouted and began advancing to take if off the ground. I stepped forward and slashed him across the arm he was reaching to grab it with. He cried out and fell backwards scrambling away.

“I think Riven just wore out his welcome here. The three of you are welcome to stay, but he has to leave.” I said. After that came a lot of shouting. After a couple of seconds I ignored them and gestured to Bran and George to help sorting out the loot and pack it up. I made sure to put my shiny new blade in pack while keeping an eye on the rest of them.

Once they realized that we were ignoring them the shouting got worse. We then pulled out our rations and enjoyed bread and dried meat. The rest of them kept looking on as we sat near the fire waiting for dawn. They probably hadn’t eaten in quite a bit but I wasn’t going to share with assholes. George looked at his food and I shook my head.

I am not an asshole, but I am not going to be walked over. We saved them and we all knew it. They had also said the goblins only took their weapons, not their money. I could see one of them had a visible money pouch. With our meal done and dawn finally breaking, we all got up and left. I kept to the rear while Bran led us through the woods. I only said directions once or twice to keep us heading towards Jopel. Every once in a while I saw the four of them struggling to keep up. We weren’t setting a grueling pace but they were clearly exhausted and on their last legs.

Learning how to navigate in the wilderness had been a complex task from just books. The sun always rose in the east and set in the west. As long as I got my bearings around those times it was fairly simple to keep to a direction most days.

CHAPTER 3

Four days of hiking and we got to Jopel just before midday. Surprisingly the four of them managed to keep up with us. Probably helped they had no packs. The first thing we did was go to the guild hall, I knew these were the type of people to start complaining the second we got back.

Boron was there like usual and smiled when we came in. “Back again and still alive. Anything interesting?”

“Two things, eight wargs and twenty eight goblins for the bounty being paid out, fifty two copper. Just make a tab for us. Also we ran into another group. We saved them from pursuing goblins but when we were discussing if we would escort them back here one of them tried to steal some of the loot and I cut his arm. He claimed the sword was his, but had no proof and it was taken off a goblin.” I pulled out the blade and put it in front of Boron.

“Hmm. Well normally the guild hall resident resolves disputes like this, which is me. I am guessing you just want to keep the blade and leave it at that?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, well let me hold onto until I hear their side. If I don’t hear anything by tomorrow you can keep it.”

“Thanks, so one room two nights and double meals today and tomorrow.” I said. We had discussed this the previous night and we all agreed we wanted some large meals and two nights off here in town.

“Big spenders then. That is fifty three copper.” So the bounties didn’t cover it.

I pulled out elven copper. “Start up a drink tab with the rest, I think we will need it.” I said. It was perfect timing as Riven and this three friends stumbled in the door. The two adventurers sitting at tables gave them a look and turned away.

“He stole my blade and let us starve.” Riven began to move forward while the rest of his group trailed behind him.

“Those are some serious accusations.” Boron said and picked the blade off the counter and inspected it. “Not a unique design, but not cheap either. So can you explain how he stole it and let you starve?”

Riven looked confused for a moment before speaking. “I am Riven Auxilla, my word is enough.” He was definitely a noble. Probably a third or fourth son if he was running off to be and adventurer. Unfortunately for him the guilds were as powerful or more so than any noble. We were all adventurers so it would be for the guild to handle.

“You see that doesn’t work in the guild. You can be the crown prince of Aurulian himself and that doesn’t mean shit.” Riven look like his world fell away. I held back my grin over being right in my assumptions. “All adventurers are based on their rank. So if you were a rank five that would be enough, but since you are both rank one you have to explain yourself.”

Riven spoke slowly, like he was tasting something bitter. “My group was ambushed after killing many goblins. Once that happened we were forced to flee and I dropped my weapon in combat. These three arrived and killed the remaining goblins and then claimed everything.”

I put my hand on George’s shoulder since he seemed ready to explode at the lies. “Uh huh.” Boron said. He then looked at one of the other guys. “Tell me how things went down.” After that it quickly became obvious that Riven was lying as Boron pressed them for information and they started contradicting themselves.

After a bit he told them all to shut up. “I have heard both sides of this. If you disagree you can appeal to the main guild hall in the capital. I don’t recommend that since they can and will fine you for being stupid. You all were clearly captured since none of you have weapons or packs. Any idiot can see that. Therefore the goblins had the sword and the other group reclaimed it by killing the goblins.”

“As for letting you starve, they were willing to help the others if you left. Since you didn’t that just compounds the problem. It wasn’t nice, but there is no rule about sharing in the guild. They get the sword and if I hear of any of you making trouble in this, then you will be getting fined ten silvers each. Yes, I can do that. I sense some of you are the revenge type. Thank you for sharing your names and where you are based out of. I am sending a note back there to keep with your file. Just a warning, but make sure those don’t add up.”

Boron then handed me the blade and a key to a room. We left up the stairs while the other group gave us glares. With that nonsense done with we had to try a couple of rooms before the key worked on room six the last one up there. There were four beds and a table in the middle of the room and four chairs. An upgrade, that was totally awesome and I wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor. Boron was an alright guy for sure.

We all began to unpack and settle down. “So do either of you really want the sword?” I asked.

“I do, can’t keep relying on my bow for everything.” George said.

“I don’t mind, but the lack of money is hurting. Without that blade, we will probably only get thirty copper from the metal. I won’t have the funds to head back out and I owe Ed a healing potion.” There was a moment of silence.

“I will pay for our food next round out.” It hurt to give up money like this.

“Really?” George asked.

“Yes really. It can’t be a regular thing and like I said Bran, just save my life and we will be good.” I was more concerned about gaining levels and increasing my skills than anything else. Working with these two, I could kill far more goblins than by myself. Also if things got bad I could run away and leave them to die while I made my escape.

“No problem. I already did that three times on the last expedition.” He smiled at me.

“Three I only counted one and a half. You get that half since you stink so bad you distracted the goblins.” I said.

“We all stink. Ed please, please, please.” George looked at me. I looked back at him. I wasn’t inclined to waste money on something like a bath and clean clothes but I did feel disgusting.

“Clothes washing and a bath. If you can find a place then yes.” I said.

“I will never insult the noble profession of scribe ever again.” George said.

“You both better learn to read. That way you don’t have to ask me every time.” I said.

“It melts my brain. Like fish guts in a barrel.” Bran said.

“How does that even work? Fish guts melting in a barrel?” George asked. I really wish George had not asked that. There were some mysteries better left unknown.

“Well you see after you gut the fish you toss the guts in a barrel with salt water and stir it up real good. Then after a ten-day it sort of all oozes together into a meat mix. Then you bring it on the boat and start tossing it over to attract larger fish. Why do you think my town is called Fish Guts?”

“No offense, but I never want to see that or think about that again.” George turned towards me. “Ed if I ask Bran about fish, stop me.”

“Got it. So, shall we grab dinner?” I asked. We all went down stairs and saw the four sulking in a corner we chose a table further away from them. There was no need to start a fight. I note that their eyes went to George who had the sword on his hip.

“I wonder when we can get rank two?” Bran asked.

“Probably at level ten from what Yonson said. I mean rank is about respect and capability. I think we are all rank two material but just need a bit more time to show others. These people sitting around, the other adventurers they probably talk to Boron to give him their opinion.” I said.

“Yeah probably. I am not sorry for missing that group though.” George said.

“What a disaster.” Bran added.

“Oh and both of you are buying your own bowls tomorrow.” They looked at me. “Don’t give me that look, I am getting a ladle so next time I cook we don’t all have to eat out of the same pot. Savages.” I said to them and they both grinned.

Boron brought out the other table’s food first, single servings for each of them. It was annoying but not enough to make a deal about. The way they ate they were clearly starving. “Huh, that’s how goblins eat.” Bran whispered. George and I had to stop from bursting out laughing. It took a bit to calm down and I had to make sure not to look at the other table.

“Can you give us some light? We were in the dark for so long.” George asked.

“Not really, I don’t like mixing up ink if I have to and it will clue that group into my skill. Also I am not made of money. It costs about ten copper to draw one up. Just think about all your fancy sword skills you will learn now.” I said.

“You have any?” Bran asked.

“No, you?”

“A shield one. I give up stamina and mana to enhance my shield.” He said.

“I was wondering how it just kept going and going without being hacked apart.” I replied.

“It makes me wonder how you are so good at killing things. Like they sort of lock up just before you attack.” Bran gave me a smile. “So what is it?”

“We can talk about it later, alright?” I really didn’t want to get into it but they probably wouldn’t stop asking.

“Sure, not trying to pry, but it is really bugging me.” Bran said. “I mean you kill the wargs and goblins so easily. I thought I was good.”

“Later.” He nodded at that.

The food finally came, double portions were the best thing along with a mug of ale. I noticed the other group just staring at our larger servings. Riven was about to get up and complain but one of the others put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. After the meal we went upstairs.

“Let’s go to sleep and talk in the morning.” I said forestalling any conversation when someone could be listening in.

***

The next day we all got up and talked to Boron about where we could get breakfast and a bath. He explained that the only inn in town offered baths and served breakfast, which was perfect. We made our way over there along with our packs. It was tempting to leave them in our room, but I didn’t trust the other group not to attempt something.

“Hello, what can we do for you three?” A middle aged lady looked at us and asked.

“We want to pay for a bath and breakfast.” I said.

“That is six coppers each for breakfast and each twenty four for the bath.” She said.

“You each better kill twenty goblins on the next expedition.” I said as I pulled out a silver piece. I turned towards the lady. “Can we get our clothes washed for the remainder during our bath?”

“I will have to call in some help but I suppose.” I pulled out twenty more copper.

“That should ensure our clothes are clean and patched and good servings with breakfast.” I said looking at her. I saw the greed in her eyes. If we were doing this, we were doing it properly.

“Of course. Right this way.” She led us to a small elevated stone room with a drain in the middle. She had picked up three baskets when I wasn’t looking. “Just place your clothes in here. One for each of you. I will have someone bring in two buckets of warm water each and sponge. There are towels sitting on a rack outside. Once you are cleaned off just head to the private room across the hall and breakfast will be served.” She left after that and we all began to strip.

Now I wasn’t shy, but I always had my own room growing up. I only hesitated a moment before stripping completely. Thankfully there was nothing to be embarrassed about. If anything I was in better shape than George with my daily exercise despite being a scribe. A male servant brought in two very warm buckets of water with a sponge in each and then left. Bran and I began washing ourselves down while George waited for the last bucket which was brought in a few moments later.

The servant then brought us each a second bucket of water. We all rinsed off and made our way outside. The towels were there and we wiped down and then covered ourselves before we went into the next room. There was a four person table and we took our seats.

The same servant brought three large platters of cooked vegetables, eggs, and a few strips of meat. “I want to live like this every day.” George said with a wishful sigh.

“You better learn how to be a noble since no one else could afford to do this every day.” I replied.

“A Nobles Guild, now that would be hilarious.” Bran said.

“Come now my fellow nobles, we have to yell at everyone else some more.” George said and I let out a chuckle.

“Don’t be silly, we just need to find absurd ways to spend all our gold.” I countered.

“I don’t even touch gold. I have my trained goblins to do it.” Bran said.

“Trained goblins, why that is so exciting. Perhaps I shall sponsor a goblin festival.” George said. It just devolved from there as we kept exaggerating how nobles would act and absurd ways to waste money. Just as we were finished stuffing ourselves and sipping the watered down ale our clothes were brought in. They were still damp, but smelled a lot better and the holes were patched.

Even the boots had been scrubbed and washed out. The matron returned. “Is everything acceptable?” She asked.

“Definitely. Excellent service, just give us a few moments and we will be on our way.” I said and the hostess left.

“Time to go.” George let out a sigh after we had eaten our fill. We all got dressed and then left the town to lay next to the river just outside the walls. The sun was nice and we all took off our boots to let them dry out properly. We all made sure to keep our blades nearby but it was relaxing just drying off in the cool breeze.

“Winter is coming soon.” George said.

“Hmm.” I replied.

“What are we going to do then?” He asked.

“First we need to make some real money. I think our next expedition we should really push hard on the ruins.” Bran said.

“There has to be at least a thousand there. Probably another thousand support goblins. Say about a three hundred wargs. That is a lot to kill.” I got up and looked around and didn’t see anyone else. “So my skill you were asking about. You can’t say anything ever. Not as joke, story, or anything. If you can’t handle that let me know.”

“It can’t be that-“

“Yes it can. So think carefully. After being a party this long I hope we are friends but this is a big deal.” George went silent.

“I can keep a secret.” Bran said.

“I am not sure. I don’t want to get into trouble.” George said looking off to the side. “I mean, I trust you. On the other hand I don’t want to create more drama for myself. On the other hand you just paid for everything, but I don’t want to make a mistake. I am a low stress kind of guy.”

“You are low stress and became an adventurer?” Bran asked.

“I wanted the ladies and the money. Oh whatever just tell me so I won’t go crazy, and yes I will not say anything.” George said.

“I use time mana.” I said.

“Time mana, but, wait, but…” George said.

“So?” Bran asked.

“Are you an idiot? He is an unregistered mage…that’s a big deal.” George whispered.

“I still don’t get it.” Bran said.

“All use of mana must be registered with the Mages Guild. They certify mages and have the authority to declare ones that don’t certify as rogues and hunt them down. There is a standing bounty of one gold piece for any rogue brought in alive.” George explained.

“Why not register then?” Bran asked.

“It is expensive. Ten silver a year. Also the type of mana I use is unique and may cause issues.”

“Wait time mana, so what are you doing?” George asked.

“I am slowing them down. I can also speed things up, but I haven’t used that on a person.” I said.

“That’s it?” George asked. “I was thinking you were teleporting through time and…I just thought it would be a bit more than that.”

“I can slow down seven times at full mana and it takes a couple of days to regenerate.” I said.

“So that is how you keep getting more kills than me. Makes me feel a lot better. I thought I was a complete idiot swinging a sword.” Bran said.

“Once we get out of town I would be interested in trying to speed one of you up and I can slow you down if you want to experience it.” I offered.

“Never been hit with mana before. Why not.” George said. “Oh if my brain explodes, I want a freaking gold statue of me made.”

“Same here.” Bran added. I was glad they didn’t freak out. It was nice to have actual friends. I had a small smile as I watched the various clouds. We spent the time on the river bank until later afternoon when we put back on our dried out boots and other clothes we weren’t wearing. We also cleaned out our packs. It is amazing all the dirt and crap that kept accumulating. With that done we made our way back to the guild hall for dinner.

We were sitting around and enjoying our meal when Oxfort came up to us. “Excuse me.” He said. We all stopped talking and looked at him. “I was wondering if I could join your party for your next expedition.”

“Nope. First you tried lying with Riven yesterday and also sent us a number of mean glares. I can’t have someone with me I don’t trust. I don’t trust you.” I said. George and Bran remained silent.

“I see, sorry for wasting your time. Good luck out there.” He turned and left.

“A bit harsh.” George said.

“I am not being nice about it after what he did. I can’t keep my eye on him and on the enemies we are going to face. What happens if he shares information about us with Riven? He wasn’t very nice yesterday.” I said.

“True, just he looked like a sad puppy.” George said.

“More like a fish. Fish go in barrels.” Bran said. It made we wonder what other things went into those barrels and got mixed up with the fish guts. With our meal done we stuck around looking at the other people in the guild hall. Oxfort had left and I didn’t see any of the others. I got up to take a look at the request board for anything a rank one could handle.

Rank One, Open

Goblin raid on caravan that held daughter. Lost black opal necklace to goblins. Attacked near Jopel, goblins came from Gilleth Forest.

Posted by Earl Marcount Helith the Third

Reward: 5 Gold

I carefully took the request off the board and went over to Boron. “Aw you saw that did you?”

“Yeah, rank one?”

“Well sometimes, the nobles just want revenge or action so they post a large rewards at a low rank. Everyone will be out after that thing. All requests like this cost extra to put up since we use a contract mage to make sure it is the truth as they know it. No nonsense missions. But the goblins could throw it away, trade it to some other monster or who knows what. Also if the main stash they have is ever claimed, then this necklace can’t be sold elsewhere without causing a fuss.” Boron said.

”Do we need to register for it?” I asked.

“Nope, since it is open, just leave it up there. Anyone can attempt it, going to be a blood bath.” Boron muttered the last part. I put the bounty back up and returned to my seat.

“Good news and bad news.” I said. They both looked at me. “A rank one mission went up. Reward is five gold. That is the good news. The bad news is that goblins took a black opal necklace and the mission is open. So anyone can go for it. Boron thinks a bunch of people are going to jump at the chance and the odds of recovering it are low.”

“Well if we find it, we find it.” George said.

“Yep.” Bran said.

“You…you both know how to kill my excitement.” They laughed. I had been wanting a mission instead of just killing goblins.

“You just looked so eager, like a puppy.” Bran said.

“With big eyes.” George added.

“I hate you both. So did you find anyone else to add to our band?” I asked.

“No, those two are clearly old timers who just hang around since they have been here every time we have stayed here. That guy in the corner is seriously scary. A wicked scar on his right cheek and just glares. The other people are just passing through one way or the other.”

***

After selling our metal scrap and buying food for two ten-days money was low, very low. We set off into the forest once again to kill goblins. On the fourth day we ran into another group. There were five of them including Yonson.

“Hello and well met.” He called out. We lowered our weapons and the other group did the same.

“Hello to you as well. A pleasant day out here isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yeah, teaming hordes of goblins and wargs.” Spat out an older man. “Let me tell you kids, that ruin is a death trap. Need at least fifty rank threes to clear it out, probably twice that.”

“I am afraid my companion is right. A funded expedition may be put forth soon once we deliver the information back to the guild hall. Maybe even the Royal Army will be brought in.” Yonson said.

“We will keep that in mind. Thank you for the warning. We are working on their patrols at the moment, no plans for the ruins.” I said.

“A good choice. I won’t warn you to be careful since you already survived out there and if my count of days is correct at least twice. Fair well.” They left and we kept going.

“Well that was a nice encounter for once.” George said after a while.

“They looked worn down. I saw the sack the big one was carrying. There was probably two hundred pairs of ears looking at the size.” Bran said.

“Probably killed more but had to retreat. My guess is they made an attempt on the ruins. We are staying away for sure.” I said.

“I liked setting up that ambush spot from before.” George added. Bran and I agreed and made our way back to that location from the previous expeidition the next day.

It was easy setting up behind the hill and on the ledge. It was the middle of the afternoon when we saw a group heading through the narrow valley between the two hills. I counted two wargs and six goblins, which seemed small. It was similar to the first group we faced, but still small.

“Let’s do this.” I said and we moved down the hill. George put an arrow into the back of one of their heads and it collapsed on the ground. By the time the rest were turning around and raising their weapons both Bran and I let out war cries as we rushed them. I cast slow on the warg rushing at me and easily dispatched it.

Bran was hard pressed to hold off two goblins and the remaining warg while the last two goblins rushed me. I hit them both with slow and a couple of seconds later their heads were leaving their necks. George had covered for Bran and managed to kill the other warg. The last two goblins were easy to kill between us.

It was already a routine for us to loot and cut off the ears once that was done. We dragged the bodies behind some rocks and returned to our overlook point to wait for the next group. I meditated while those two relaxed and kept an eye out at each end of the narrow valley.

“Come on, day’s over.” George said. I opened my eyes. “I kept an eye on you that fight and I will say this. That time mana stuff is totally shit. I mean they just stand there, like please kill me, please. And then you chop off their heads.”

“I am glad you appreciate it. Think of all the experience you are getting off me.”

“Yeah, still complete shit.” George said. Bran had checked his snares but nothing had been caught. We spent the night eating cold dried meat, stale bread, in the dark. Not the best but definitely not the worst. It was too risky to start up a campfire in case goblins were in the area and saw it. After we ate we climbed to the top of the hill but didn’t see any campfires to investigate.

The following day a large group moved through around mid-day. Sixty goblins and ten wargs. We all rejected ambushing them. No fires spotted that night, but we had a nice fox stew with wild potatoes. The next day a group of five goblins and a warg were heading towards the ruins. It was simple enough to ambush them and finish them off.

As we were waiting on the ledge I was getting nervous. “I think we should leave, right now.” I said.

“Why, this is a great spot?” George asked.

“I have a bad feeling. That under powered group makes me nervous. What if they were sent out to patrol this area? When they don’t return that large group will know where we are. Goblins are monsters but they aren’t stupid.” I said.

“No hurt in leaving. We rested up enough anyways.” Bran said.

“Fine, but I think you are worrying about nothing.” George said. Bran took down his snares and we left. We traveled the rest of the day and set up a new camp by a stream. We didn’t make a fire that night and nothing happened.

The next day we kept up the same route that edging us around the ruins at a great distance. It helped they were near a mountain which was easy enough to spot when a clearing opened up. After another day of travel we turned around, making our way back, closer to the ruins and mountain.

A deer quickly ran by us barely sparing us a look. “Ambush.” I hissed out and we readied ourselves. A couple of seconds later we heard the yelp of wargs and saw three chasing after the deer. George shot one and I slowed the other two allowing Bran and I to finish them off. We quickly cut off the ears and retrieved the arrow before continuing on through the forest.

As the afternoon dragged on there was no more excitement until we started to hear a lot of noise. Moving through the trees and up a hill we saw a town. Not a human town but a goblin town. They had a wood wall set up and fields next to a river. I saw goblin kids and baby wargs in the encampment. By my count I put it at least fifty goblins and twenty wargs who could fight and another hundred goblins and ten wargs that appeared to be freshly spawned from wherever monsters came from. That was just an estimate since they all kept moving about.

We watched for quite a while and the sun was beginning to go down. “What do we do?” Bran whispered.

“It’s a lot to kill. I will just get tired cutting them all down.” I replied.

“The wargs are kept in a pen. As long as they don’t get loose it shouldn’t be too hard.” George said.

“No way there are too many. My arm will get tired from cutting off so many heads.” Bran said. We all looked on in silence at the small goblin town going up. I thought about using fire, but at best it would prove a minor distraction. “We head back, ambush some more patrols and recruit people to help crush this place. I figure three more at least.”

“That could work, but they will fight even fiercer for their home here.” Bran made.

“Being an adventurer is such shit.” George cursed quietly. I couldn’t disagree with that.

“Come on, let’s get out of here before they see us.” I replied. We scrambled backwards and then retreated into the forest. We walked quite a ways from the goblin town before we settled down for the night.

***

When we returned to Jopel our rations were completely exhausted. The good news was things had gone much better after finding the town. We were able to ambush a large number of patrols. Entering the guild hall we all had smiles.

“Our heroes return once again.” Boron said.

“Hey, fifteen wargs and forty goblins.” I said.

“Not bad at all, not bad. Take a seat and have one on me.” Boron poured us each a mug and then took our ear sack. We sat there quietly drinking while we waited for him to return. He came out of the back room and Bran took the empty sack. “So that means eighty five copper. How long will you be staying?”

“One night. Double servings for dinner.” I said.

“Only one?” He asked.

“No money….” George sighed.

“That is why being an adventurer is tough and most never make it past rank one.” Boron said. “Don’t look so surprised. Bounties are low on purpose since there are so many goblins. Only when there are not that many and the monster is very dangerous do bounties go up. If bounties went up taxes would have to go up as well and no one can afford that.”

“Anyone interested in maps or light runes?” I asked.

“Hmm, Ternor will probably want some more. Anyways you get eighty five copper minus twenty nine for the meal and the room, leaves you with fifty six.” I took all the money he passed over and gave out ten to both Bran and George. I had been voted official treasurer of the group so I got to take and distribute all the money.

“I will be back in a bit.” I said wearily as I got up and made my way to the merchant guild. I entered and Ternor looked up.

“Oh, perfect timing. I could use some more of those light runes. Six more, with supplies, sixty copper.” Ternor said.

“Done, just give me a desk and I can have them done by midday.” He opened up his cabinet and I took the ink stones and parchment. I then pulled out my carefully wrapped brush set and got to work. I finished up easily enough without any mistakes and then charged them.

“Excellent. Sixty copper.” He handed over the money. I gave my goodbyes and headed back to the guild hall. The rest of the day was spent cleaning out my pack and writing in my journal. I had been making some progress, but most of this goblin hunting seemed to have become pointless or mind numbing at the very least.

I wasn’t learning anything new and while I was leveling up I wanted to expand my skills more. Learning Meditation and improving my Chant of Time were both good but they weren’t new or answered any questions I had. Where did the panels come from? Why was mana called a chant when I could use a single word after learning or figuring out a chant? Increasing my wisdom didn’t make me wiser as far as I could tell, so what did it do besides increase mana?

There were even more questions but it was all incredibly frustrating. Then there was our current situation. While not bad right at this moment it was looking more and more so. Our gear was wearing out. I had two nicks on my blade and my pack straps were becoming frayed. To get everyone geared back up we would need to return to Azalon and have at least six silver.

While I had been named the official keeper of money, it also meant I was the leader responsible for all this stuff. Even with the thirty pieces of metal we sold to the black smith for forty copper, it was a struggle just to cover our food costs. I had no idea how anyone managed if they didn’t have a support skill like Scribe or Rune Crafting to bring in extra money.

I looked at my blanket and how the repel rune stitched into it had failed. That had been a miserable night, and a wet morning. Jopel wasn’t large enough to have enough demand for a full time scribe. It was a miracle there had been any demand at all.

The only good news on the trip had been testing out my ability haste which made the person see the world in slow motion for five seconds. It was like a slow on the entire world. The problem was it just sped up reaction time not physical reactions while slow lowered physical reactions and left reaction times the same. Slow was definitely better.

I thought back to my experiments on animals and how they had appeared to speed up when I used haste. They had always been that fast but never acted on it. When haste was used on them they naturally moved to their maximum capacity. I wanted to smack my head against a wall for missing something so simple and not testing the ability on myself to find out more.

We all gathered downstairs for dinner. “So almost level ten.” George said.

“Yeah, we are getting stronger.” Bran added.

“I looked for the mission board. There are guard, mapping, and some bounties for rank two.” I said.

“Is the pay any good?” George asked.

“The guard requests normally pay five copper a day and food and lodging provided on the trip.” I said.

“That sounds like a last resort. Never make any money that way.” George said.

“Mapping pays a lot more, but the request is for a detailed map of the forest. The request is offering ten silver.” I said.

“That is more like it. You can do a map easily.” Bran said.

“I copy maps from already made maps. Actually mapping and charting an area is different. Normally a mage is used to chart the distance and elevations. Towns are easy, but in the wilderness it is hard to judge distance or know exactly where you are.” I said.

“Bounties?” George asked.

“Some bandits to the north of here, the leader is worth a silver. They just steal food and basic supplies and not all of it either. Probably poor peasants rather than bandits.” I said.

“So what you are saying is that all the missions are terrible.” Bran said.

“Pretty much. Winter is coming up in a couple of months and we need new gear. At least six silver for the gear and I don’t know what to do for winter.” I said.

“I guess guard work then.” George said with a grumble.

“Well we have about three months before winter, so say two months then or six ten-days. That is two or three expeditions. We just need to kill a lot of goblins. I am sure we could work something out with Boron to hunker down during the winter, but paying for food would be the big expense.” I said.

“Well there is a group over at the other table.” Bran made a subtle gesture. “They might be interested in teaming up.” I gave them a look over. They didn’t look as worn down as us. I also noted the rank one medallions.

“Fresh from somewhere. With all the same type of outfit I would guess somewhere near the capital?” I said. Clothing styles were not my specialty but there was a tailor next to us and I had picked up some things during my childhood.

“Would they actually help or cut into how much we are making?” George asked.

“If they are at our skill level or better, then we make more, if they are weaker, then less. Also depends on how well we work togeather.” I said. George let out a sigh. Apparently our observations didn’t go unnoticed as the group stood up and approached us. I kept taking small sips from my mug.

“Hello. My name is Falkerk and I am the leader of my group. May we join you?” He asked.

“Sure pull up a seat. I am Ed, this is George and Bran.” I replied. The other group pulled up a table next to ours and sat down. It worked out where both Falkerk and I were at opposite ends of the adjacent tables with our groups sitting on either side of us.

“This is Devon, Max, and Sam. We signed up to the guild recently from our home village Yakscoss. We would appreciate any support you could give us.” Falkerk inclined his head slightly.

“Jopel seems a bit out of the way. Why come all the way out here?” I asked.

Falkerk rubbed the back of his head. “While we could have started closer to home we wanted to travel a bit…unfortunately the bigger cities are more expensive.”

“Everything is expensive.” George muttered.

“Well, all we have goblins and wargs in the forest. There is a bounty for every pair of ears you bring back to Boron here at the guild hall. The ruins are crawling with them, some higher ranked adventurers recommend staying away.” I said.

“Would you be interested in teaming up?” Falkerk asked.

“Levels?” I asked.

“Why would you ask us-“ Devon began.

“I am level two.” Falkerk cut off his teammate.

“If we partied up we would have found out anyway. We are all level nine.” I said. They looked at us and I could see their eyes going wide. “You don’t seem like assholes like the last group of rank ones we met. I am open to the idea but how would this work?” I asked. They had looks of confusion. “If we party up we will share experience for any monster any of us kills. Then there is the issue of loot.”

I kept going seeing as no one spoke. “I don’t mind sharing the kills, loot will be divided equally. If you guys are terrible or cause issues then we go our separate ways. Problems?” I asked.

“No, that sounds reasonable.” Falkerk said. “So how long have you been doing this?”

“It feels like forever.” George said. “Three expeditions into the forest and it is tough. I am an archer what about you guys?”

“I am also an archer, we will have to see who is a better shot.” Devon said and George gave him a grin back.

“I perform the Chant of Healing on behalf of the Gods.” Max said quietly.

“A healer? That is awesome. Any fighting skills?” Bran asked.

“No, but I can shield a person for a short while.” Max said.

“I will have to think on that. Probably best to stay in reserve for healing.” I said.

“I am a fighter.” Sam said. After a moment he continued. “I prefer my axe.” I had noticed the large two handed axe. That was definitely overkill.

“Also a fighter, sword and shield for me.” Falkerk said.

“Alright then, I need your full names and I will invite you.” I said.

“Invite us?” Falkerk said.

“Secret of the guild. After you give me your full names just say yes and then party panel.”

“Falkerk Rosen.”

“Maxen Horn.”

“Devon. It is just Devon.”

“Smert Saln.” I then invited everyone to the party.

“Huh, you weren’t joking.” Devon said.

“Welcome to Jopel the town of dreams!” I called out. Everyone let out a shout in the dining hall and I saw Boron give me a grin from behind his counter.

“What was that?” Sam asked.

“Local custom around here for the new people.” Bran said.

“Is your name really-“ Sam began to say.

“Yes it is. I come from the town of Fish Guts. It got old and swam away a while ago.” Bran said with an obvious sigh.

“Trust me I know. I swear my parents cursed me by naming me Smert.” Sam sighed. Everyone began to break into their own groups to talk and I went over to Falkerk and pulled up a chair. Max stayed nearby to listen in as well.

“I am guessing childhood friends?” I asked.

“Yeah, we all grew up together and swore to kill monsters.” Falkerk said. I was sure there was more to the story but I left it at that. I pulled out the best map I had for the area.

“So this is Jopel and over here is the capital and there is Azalon.” I said.

“Hmmm, so this entire region is the forest?” Falkerk asked.

“Yeah, the ruins are near this mountain and we have seen goblin patrols up to here and a settlement around this area.” I pointed out things with my finger.

“So about four days in then?”

“Good guess, more like five since the terrain is so rough. The biggest problem is that there isn’t much game in the forest. My guess is the goblins scared a lot away. That makes foraging difficult.” I explained.

“Devon is a fairly good hunter and tracker.” Falkerk said.

“Even so I recommend your group stock up on food tomorrow morning. Us three are normally able to take on around ten to fourteen goblins and wargs. With your group I am hoping to double that at the minimum.” I said.

“That many?” Falkerk asked.

“Patrols run anywhere from eight to eighty. We are going to have to kill quite a bit if we are going to make any coin with this many people.” I said.

“Probably us fighters in the front with our archers on the flanks then.” He said. I was glad someone had an idea of tactics. It gave me a lot of hope for working with this group.

“Well you and Bran both use shields. I was thinking you two take the center while Sam and I take the flanks. The size of that axe makes me not want to be anywhere near it and my fighting style works better with movement.” I said.

“That could work. How tough are the goblins and wargs would you say?”

“You could win one on one easily, the problem is their numbers. The goblins are short and have shit metal blades and almost no defense. Sometimes one will have a plank of wood or bark as a shield. The wargs are slightly larger wolves with lots of teeth. They should always be our first target since they are so fast. We have our archers take out theirs and then support where they can.” I said.

“What is your limit on shielding and healing?” I asked Max.

“Four chants every three days.” Max said. I frowned at that. I was tempted to tell him about Meditation but I didn’t want to draw more attention to my mana than necessary.

“You need something more than just the Chant of Healing. If anything makes it by the rest of us you need to be able to defend yourself. That is why George has a sword.” I said.

“Don’t worry about it Max, just give it some thought.” Falkerk said. Max got up and went upstairs to the rooms. “He had a bad experience when he was younger and has a hard time with blood and killing.”

“He is going to die. I say this as clear as possible so there is no misunderstanding. He needs to get himself mentally prepared.” I said.

“Hopefully he comes together after a fight.” Falkerk said. I put my map away and sipped from my mug again thinking the situation over.

***

Fifteen goblins and five wargs stared at us from across the small clearing. “Wargs first, attack!” I yelled out. I went to the right and I was glad to see Sam heading to the left. Arrows flew by and into the patrol. “Slow, slow, slow.” I said and killed two wargs and a goblin that were rushing at me. I came up on the archers and cut both of them down as they were focused elsewhere.

I saw Sam in trouble. A warg had managed to bite both his an arm and a leg and his was swinging wildly to keep the three goblins and warg off him. He had managed to kill a goblin but that was it. Thankfully both archers were preventing him from being overwhelmed. Falkerk and Bran were holding off the remaining wargs and goblins and seemed to be doing alright.

I closed up behind Sam’s attackers and savaged the warg’s rear. It let out a yelp and the goblins spun around. One of George’s arrows took a goblin in the head. Sam finished off another one with an overhead blow splitting its skull but his axe became stuck it its body. Overhead blows were risky and I could tell he had no experience with his axe from that single attack.

“Slow.” I then finished off the last goblin. I kept slicing at the warg killing it. I then I looked around. The archers had helped Falkerk and Bran overcome their opponents. The battle was quickly over. I let out a long sigh to catch my breath.

The only one wounded was Sam. “Max.” I gestured at Sam and he hurried over and began chanting.

“By the light and the power of order. Heal this one to his previous state whole and well.” I made sure to remember the chant to practice on my own later. It made no sense why he used a chant when he could just say heal and be done with it. Probably misdirection from the Church which made me want to scream in annoyance.

“Anyone else hurt?” I looked around and no one answered. “Good, everyone on looting duty.” The experienced adventurers showed the new guys how to cut off the ears, gather their weapons, and check for anything else of value. There wasn’t anything worthwhile which was unfortunate but not surprising.

We left the sight of the battle and traveled a ways before setting up camp. “Keep the fire small tonight.” I said. Everyone looked at me. “It is too obvious from a distance and I would rather avoid a night ambush.” Sam looked unhappy but no one said anything. Bran set up snares while Devon went hunting in the area. He hadn’t had any luck but I was hopeful.

Max gathered up wood. He was also responsible for the bag of ears and the metal. Falkerk tried to protest, but since he wasn’t fighting he got to carry more. Bran and Devon returned without any luck and we gathered around the fire. I kept going over in my mind what I wanted to say.

“Well first off, good job everyone. You survived your first battle.” I said. “Congrats to Devon and Sam for earning a level. So our formation kind of worked. I think Sam should stay close to Bran and Falkerk next time. If I hadn’t got there in time you would have died.” I looked at him. He seemed about to object but then snapped his mouth shut. There was a long moment of silence.

“Thanks, I didn’t expect to be overwhelmed like that.” Sam mumbled.

“Well thankfully Max did a great job of patching you up and you stayed on your feet and kept fighting. So George, how did Devon do?” I asked.

“Not bad, he hit his target all six times during the fight but five were wounding and only one was crippling.” George said.

“I know it is harder, but from experience, shooting to kill is better. If you make four shots out of six and they all are head shots that is much better than wounding a bunch of them. Goblins and wargs don’t feel pain easily and will keep fighting unless put down. Probably not the case for all monsters, but aim to kill with these ones.” I said.

“Got it. I was aiming for their hearts I thought.” Devon said.

“I looked a corpse and their insides don’t match a person’s. The wargs are also different from dogs or wolves. I haven’t found a book that deals with monster biology. After the next fight we can cut one up and take a look.” I had been wanting to do some exploratory cutting to check their insides and this seemed like a great time to bring it up.

“What about having Max shield Sam before the fight?” Falkerk asked.

“Good idea. We will do that next time. So we made about forty copper from that fight.” I said.

“That little, huh. No wonder you guys keep complaining about money.” Devon said.

“Well that is why we made Ed here our official money handler.” George said.

“Money handler?” Devon asked.

“Well he is also a scribe so he helped earn some extra money to keep us afloat in Jopel.” George said.

“Really a scribe. I wouldn’t think of that the way you cut through them out there.” Falkerk said.

“I wanted to see the world and learn about it rather than read about things in books and maps. The world is full of surprises.” I replied.

“That is why you have all those maps.” Falkerk said.

“I drew them myself.” I replied.

“How much does a map sell for? I am curious because I would like to have one.” Falkerk said.

“About two silver. The supplies would probably cost around fifty copper.” I said.

“That much, we are in the wrong line of work.” Devon said.

“Tell me about it. At least he helped me and Bran here learn how to read a bit so we aren’t completely helpless.” I smiled at that. Teaching George and Bran had been an on and off again process but they knew their letters, numbers, and could sound out words. They weren’t good, but at least they weren’t completely useless.

“Only Max here knows that stuff.” Devon said.

“I needed to read the Chant of Light in order to be ordained as a priest of the church.” Max said.

“Is there an actual skill for the Chant of Light?” I asked.

“Yes, but one must be an anointed paladin of the church or a cardinal before learning the skill.” Max said. That wasn’t surprising. Another way to lock people into specific skills and keep others out. Anyways I had the Chant of Time which beat all the other stupid mana that no one would share.

“I read a story about the Magus Galroth once. He was a dark mage, Magus is what is called a master of mana. He used to rule this kingdom about fifteen hundred years ago. He called forth shadows and the darkness itself to consume peoples’ flesh so that their skeletons could fight for him. Eventually Delin the White confronted him. In battle or in an ambush the book didn’t say.” Everyone was closely listening to me.

“Delin’s Chant of Light pushed back the darkness and caused the monsters of shadow to crumble to dust. There they killed each other in their final battle. Delin’s three disciples went on to found the church and vowed to forever hold back the darkness that seeks to consume all humans.”

“That seemed pretty short for something from a book.” Falkerk said.

“I figured you didn’t want to listen about all the children Delin saved and people he helped. There was an entire folio dedicated to describing the stitching on his battle robes and how it was sewn in by his loving admirers. Whoever wrote it left the final battle as an afterthought.” I said.

“Why I have never read about this?” Max asked.

“It has been a long time. Also the Church doesn’t want to talk about a time before the Church. I bet you learn about him if you advance as a priest.” I said.

“We could definitely use some battle mana. Just wipe out a large group.” Devon said.

“One of the senior adventurers I talked to in Jopel, Yonson was his name, told how most mages are one and done. Once their mana is used up they are worthless.” George said. Everyone glanced at Max.

“It is true. I need a sword if I am going to survive.” He said.

“Are you sure?” Falkerk asked.

“Yeah, for defense.” Max said. At least that situation had resolved itself. I looked at Sam who was still in a mood but hopefully after the next battle he would be better.

For keeping watch at night, people paired off with one person getting to sleep the full night. It rotated around to be fair. It was tempting to keep only one person on instead of a pair, but I did not want to get ambushed at night.

The next day, Bran had snared a hare in one of his snares which was great. He decided to skin it that night and we set off through the woods. I got to take point and kept a reasonable pace. In the past we had swung to the east and north of the ruins. This time I was taking us more to the south and west of them.

I began hearing noises over the hill and gestured at everyone to stop and be quiet. We made our way up the embankment and looked over. Down a sharp drop was at least a hundred goblins clearing a patch of forest. I also noted the twenty wargs nearby.

With the larger group I had to pull us back so we could all talk about what we saw. “That is a lot of them.” Devon muttered.

“It looks like they are building a settlement.” Bran said.

“I got around a hundred goblins and twenty wargs, anyone disagree with that?” I asked. No one did. “Alright then, I say we wait for night and then ambush them in their sleep. Kill the-“

“That is dishonorable.” I looked at Falkerk. “A night attack on sleeping monsters would demean us.” I could see Sam agreeing with this along with Max. Devon just looked off to the side.

“Honor? Are you shitting me? No, don’t answer. I don’t know where this even came from. It is kill or be killed out here and you talk about honor. Get out of the party.” I said. There was no way I was putting up with this shit.

“What?” Falkerk asked. He honestly looked surprised.

“You are going to say leave and then party. The other choice is to take your shit honor and leave it behind. I am serious, there is no talk of honor in this group. That is the kind of nonsense that gets a person killed. I don’t mind that Max is a priest and not a front line fighter since that was clear up front and he is working to better himself. Will honor stop you from ambushing your opponent, torturing them for information, or even killing baby monsters?” I asked.

“Ed, you don’t have to be so harsh.” Bran said.

“Yes, I do. I am not dying out here. Every story I have ever read with the word honor ends with people dying. The more honor, the more horrific the deaths. I don’t plan to be one of those people.” I said.

“Take that back, my father was a knight and he had honor.” Falkerk said.

“By the past tense, he is clearly dead as well. Leave or cast your honor aside.” Falkerk looked like he wanted to explode and everyone was looking between us. I honestly didn’t pick up that type of attitude from talking to him. I saw him place his hand on his blade. “If you draw that, I will cut off your arm.” I said.

I kept my arms crossed and stared at Falkerk. He let go and everyone let out a sigh of relief. “I don’t like night attacks. My father and our village was wrecked in one. The people screaming and…and…just everything.”

“It is okay. Let’s put some distance between us and this place and come up with a plan.” Everyone agreed to that and we spent the afternoon moving away and setting up by a stream. I worked on three flash runes while I was waiting. I was running out of ink and spare parchment which was annoying.

“What are you working on?” Devon asked.

“Flash runes. I place a bit of mana into them and they light up with a bright flash.” I said. They really were just poorly designed light runes, but saying flash runes sounded a lot better.

“Is that why you wanted to do a night assault?” Falkerk asked.

“Partially. The main reason is that there are a lot. Everyone we can kill in their sleep is one we don’t have to face. I can fight five, but fifty? No way. We also won’t make enough money to pay for the supplies we bought unless we take out that settlement.” I said.

“Can I offer a bit of advice?” I asked Falkerk. He gave me a wry smile and gestured for me to continue. “I read a passage once of a knight that served in the Blood Letting War. It went like this, I stare out on the field of death and see the empty eyes of my friends. For but a moment I held hope that we would triumph unhurt by the forces arrayed against us. Let me forever remember their names and faces so that my honor will carry them forward.”

We sat in silence for quite a bit. “I get what you are saying. Friends first, not the enemy.” I gave him a smile and nodded. At least he wasn’t an idiot and that crisis was resolved.

***

After some hare stew we trekked back to the settlement just as it got pitch dark. They had set up three fire pits and were sleeping around them. We set up at the top of the steep hill about two hundred feet away from their settlement location. The incline was about forty feet vertically over ten feet horizontally with lots of loose dirt and small bushes. There were a couple of trees, but not much for cover. All the trees had been cut down at the foot of the hill for the settlement.

We had Max hoisted up into a tree overlooking us along with all our gear. His job was to keep watch behind us and to the flanks in case a group tried to sneak up. Devon and George would stand at the top of the hill and shoot at anyone climbing and the rest of us would deal with them when they got up here.

I volunteered to sneak down and kill as many as possible before retreating. I would use the flash runes to make my escape. Once everyone was in position I snuck down the hill. I made sure to look back and pick out a good route to get back up. I then made my way towards the camp. There were a couple sentries but they were spaced far enough apart they weren’t looking at each other.

I could use slow five times, but I wanted to keep that for when things became really desperate. I moved through the grass and darkness between two of the sentries until I had made it past. I then snuck around behind one and drove my blade through the back of its head, killing the goblin instantly.

Catching the body, I lowered it to the ground gently so not to make a sound. I then made my way around the camp killing all four remaining sentries. I then began working my way through the camp stabbing goblins in the head. I got eighteen before the wargs stirred and realized something was going on. I killed three more and began running away with the wargs moving to chase me.

“Three, two, one!” I shouted out and turned for a moment. The wargs that were on my heels let out yelps of pain and I kept right on running. I reached the hill and began scrambling up it. I heard the snarls and yells from behind me. “Three, two, one!” I shouted again and activated the second rune. The flash staggered my enemies and I kept climbing. I reached the top gasping for breath.

As I caught my breath I could see George and Devon loosing arrows down the hill. The wargs had a much easier time climbing up with their four legs and bodies closer to the ground. Unfortunately there was almost no cover and they were easy to shoot. The couple who did make it up were easily killed by the fighters.

“A large group circling to our left! At least fifteen” Max called out. I had made sure to tell him to try and say numbers rather than large, small, or whatever. The hill dropped off that way so it would be easier to climb up and flank us.

“Bran with me, we will take the left.” I called out. Bran pulled back and we began to walk along the ridge to our left. “I have one flash tag. I am going to use it right off.”

“Got it. There they are.” The goblins were charging through the trees up the small incline.

“Three, two, one!” I called out just a few seconds before they got to us. After that we both managed to kill three each, leaving eleven. I was forced to use slow five times to even up the numbers to make it six on two. I took a stab wound in the arm and leg and Bran took one in the calf. When the last goblin dropped dead I let out a sigh.

We made our way back to the group. “Not good. About thirty to forty left.” Falkerk said. “They retreated and staying out of bow range.”

“Anyone injured?” I asked. “Max, I need a heal and so does Bran. By my count twenty five in the camp, twenty in the woods so twenty and the wargs on the hill. Not bad.” I felt the healing mana wash over me and my wounds close.

“We each have about ten arrows left.” George said. I looked at the goblins and at us. Max and I were both out of mana. Everyone looked exhausted but we weren’t injured.

“I think we attack. There are seven of us, so that is five each. They are probably exhausted and afraid. They have lost over half their numbers and all the wargs. Let’s rest up and recover stamina a bit, maybe some water and food. Then we attack at dawn.” I said.

No one objected but there were worried looks as Max came down from the tree he was in with our gear. We all had some water and food. Max and Falkerk kept watch and I meditated while pretending to rest. By the time dawn would break I would have enough mana for one more slow. In terms of stamina, everyone should be recovered.

The people with higher reserves hadn’t had to do a lot of work at the top of the hill. I was probably the worst off at the moment. Dawn began to break and I got up. The goblins had made a makeshift fort with the wood they had. It was cute in a hopeless sort of way.

“Alright, everyone. Let’s start looting the corpses below. Start at the top, cut off the ears and roll the bodies down the hill. Make sure to recover our arrows. Metal chuck down the hill and other loot keep on you.” We got to work in a line moving down the blood soaked it. It took a while to get everything but the two archers looked a lot happier.

“Bran and Falkerk remain with the archers and Max. Sam and I will kill any that make a run for it. Just shoot the ones in the fortress.” The two archers got five before they all huddled behind the wooden barricade. I let Falkerk and Bran handle moving forward. The goblins got a couple of shots off but after three were taken out by our archers they stopped.

They advanced some more and reached the barricade. Eight goblins leapt up and tried to hack them. The archers were ready and nailed two. It was easy when you are only thirty feet away. Three goblins tried to rush me from the fort. I slowed one to easily kill it and began fighting the other two.

After I killed them, I noted Max had moved up to assist Falkerk and Bran. Sam had killed two. They were probably more scared of his large axe. With their numbers depleted we attacked their fort and it was a simple matter of cutting them down. We looked around and all the goblins were dead. “YEAH!” I yelled out. Everyone else let out a cheer with me.

CHAPTER 4

The rest of the day was slow going. We managed to find ninety six goblin ears and twenty one warg ears. The large amount of metal scraps added up to sixty seven. The big finds were a decent city forged sword and axe. Sam didn’t want the axe and the sword was the same quality as the ones we had.

After some discussion, Max was given the sword since he had killed a couple of goblins, so he didn’t have to use one their pieces of raw metal. We had about three and a half to four pieces of silver worth of loot. The biggest thing was all the extra status points I had earned, level, and the skill increase.

I didn’t unlock any new passive or active abilities with Toughness, but I was happy with how I had progressed. While people sorted out the loot I began to carefully work on dissecting the goblin and warg corpses at the base of the hill. It took most of the morning but my hunch finally paid off.

I had to go through twenty corpses, carefully cutting them open and removing various bits and pieces. I tossed away the goblin knife I had been using and cleaned off my hands in the nearby stream. “Any luck?” Asked Devon.

“Get the others, might as well tell all of them at once.” Everyone gathered around a goblin corpse. “So the heart is located here.” I gestured at the gut. “Right in the middle. There is a boney plate between it and the skin, so you would need to pierce it or come in at a steep angle.”

“The wargs?” Devon asked.

“No idea. They didn’t have anything that looked like a heart. I think their whole body acts like one.” I said. I had some knowledge of how a human body worked but nothing appeared to be similar except that their brains were in their heads.

“What does the heart do again?” Bran asked.

“It moves the blood around your body. It gets injured and you die.” I said. Bran began looking over himself.

“Where is my heart?” He asked worriedly. I heard a couple of snickers and rolled my eyes.

“On your left side right here behind your ribs.” I tapped his chest. “Put your ear on my chest and you can hear it beating.” He did that.

“Oh wow, I can hear it. Thump, thump. Huh.” He said.

“Alright, anyone else want to stick around here?” I asked.

“No, let’s get going this place stinks.” Sam said. He was in a much better mood after the battle. We began to trudge out of the half built, completely wrecked goblin settlement. I kept our general direction for Jopel.

We stopped a bit early that afternoon and rested. After helping to gather firewood I dozed. I still felt exhausted from last night. It was tempting to meditate, but it wasn’t actually resting and I needed rest. Meditation was more of a floating sensation, but it didn’t let me relax my tired brain and body.

“Ambush!” I heard a shout, probably Brans. I grabbed my sword laying at my side and quickly stood up. It was dusk, only Max and Sam were in camp with me.

“That way.” Sam said and gestured at the forest. We all moved into the woods at a jog. Bran had his back to a tree and was surrounded by eight goblins and two wargs. “AHHHH!” Sam yelled out and decapitated a warg. While he was shouting I cast slow at the other warg and quickly finished it off.

Bran took the chance to attack the remaining goblins along with Max. It was over shortly after that. “I held them off, Devon ran.” Bran gasped out. Blood was coming out from a wound in his shoulder. Max went to heal him.

“No. The others may be worse off.” I said. Max looked at me and then nodded.

“Where is Falkerk?” I asked.

“Said he was going to try and find some wild vegetables.” Sam replied.

“Everyone to camp!” I shouted as loud as I could. “No chance of trying to fallow Devon in the dark. George?” I asked.

“He was here, probably went with Devon.” Bran said. We all quieted but couldn’t hear anything.

“Back to camp.” I said. We quickly made our way back and Falkerk and Devon were both there.

“George?” I asked Devon.

“He was right behind me. I don’t know.” He whispered the last part out.

“Shit.” I cursed. “Leave everything you don’t need here. Party panel.”

“You can’t mean to go after him.” Sam looked around.

“As long as he still is alive we are going. We leave in thirty seconds.” I said. Everyone scrambled around and they soon gathered up.

“Devon, show us where you last saw him.” We followed Devon in the dark as we made our way through the woods.

“I looked back here and didn’t see him.” Devon said and we followed him. It almost looked like he was crying but it was too dark to tell.

“Wait, see all these bushes and leaves are torn up.” Bran pointed to the side. We followed the trail. I kept checking on the party panel and it said the same thing. I had never checked the range and cursed myself for not doing that. We rounded a boulder and saw a campfire through the trees.

“Wait here. I will check it out.” I said. I moved up and made sure I hid in the tree line. Twenty eight goblins and eight wargs. George had been stripped naked and left near their fire pit. Two of the larger goblins were pointing at him and arguing. I went back to the group.

“He is in bad shape. Twenty eight goblins, eight wargs.” I was out of mana and those were shit odds, especially with a person down. “I think they are debating whether to eat him or do something else.”

“Flash rune?” Falkerk asked.

“All my supplies are back at camp.” I said. I cursed myself for not making some beforehand, but I had been in a rush to rescue George and they took time to make. The odds were six to one, which was terrible. “Just have to man up and do it.” I looked around. Everyone looked nervous. “Get your weapons ready. Charge with me, no mercy.” I pulled out my sword and turned around and advanced on the camp.

Once we got within twenty feet I rushed out. Thankfully the others followed me. In that moment before both sides clashed I realized how stupid I was being. I was risking six people for one person. It would be a miracle if we all survived, if any of us survived this. I was probably going to die.

I beheaded a goblin just as an arrow flew by me to take out another one. “AHHHHH!” I yelled out and began slashing away. I felt a blade pierce my side. I punched out with my free hand knocking the goblin down. A warg leapt at me but I twisted out of the way and drew my blade along its flank.

I didn’t have time to finish it off as an arrow hit my left shoulder. I stabbed out and impaled a goblin through the head that had been rushing at me. A warg bit onto my right leg. I shifted my blade to a reverse grip and stabbed down, killing the beast. I tried to pull my blade free but it was stuck. A goblin let out a little shriek as it stabbed at my gut.

I slapped the blade out of the way with my arm, leaving a gash. I then kicked out with my good foot and hit its heart plate. Its eyes went wide and it collapsed to the ground gasping. I slammed my boot onto its head and the skull caved in a bit. I grabbed my sword again and managed to pull it free. Looking around I saw Max in trouble.

I rushed over as my injured leg and gut throbbed in pain and killed a warg and a goblin from behind. I left him the last goblin to deal with as I looked around again. Bran and Falkerk were still standing but didn’t look good but were finishing off their opponents. Sam was on the ground heavily wounded on the brink of death. I pulled out my only remaining health potion and poured it down his throat.

Color returned and a number of his wounds closed up a bit. I looked around for Devon and George. George was still lying on the ground but I couldn’t see Devon. “Devon!” I shouted. I went back to where we had come from the forest to attack. There lying behind a bush was Devon. I checked the party panel and it said he was critically injured.

“Max, we need some healing.” I looked over at Max.

“I used it up to shield myself. I didn’t want to die.” He got quieter and quieter as he spoke. I quickly dropped to me knees and ripped off my shirt. I began to rip up strips to wrap the worst of the wounds. “Anyone have a healing potion.” I called out. With the fight over everyone else gathered around.

No one said anything. The problem was his left arm. It was completely mangled. There was no way to completely bandage it. I needed to stop the blood flow. I grabbed a nearby stick and wrapped a large piece of cloth right above his elbow. With that done I put the stick through and began turning the stick to tighten it. Thankfully the bleeding stopped.

This was a procedure of last resort to stop someone from bleeding out. If left on for more than a quarter of a day then the limb could die. At least he wasn’t bleeding out.

“Max, do whatever you need to get some mana. The longer that stays on the more likely he will lose his arm.” I said.

“What about…” He gestured at me.

“Get me next, leave the arrow in, otherwise I will bleed out. I help me sit up against this tree and rest.” They remaining people moved me up against a tree next to Devon.

“Someone check on George. I am going to close my eyes for a bit.” I said and dosed off.

***

I woke to pain. I let out a gasp and opened my eyes. “Still alive?” Falkerk asked.

“I don’t want to see your shitty face if I die.” I let out a sigh.

“Good news is, no one died. Bad news is that even after a heal Devon is still pretty bad. We undid the bandage around his arm and bandaged the arm up, but it isn’t pretty. Also George won’t wake up. We can’t tell if it’s poison, mana, or something. Then we got you fearless leader who looks almost dead.” He gave a pointed look at my injuries.

“Status panel.” I whispered. My health was holding at seven. I was almost dead. “Yeah, a poke would kill me.” I also had the status effect crippled and wasn’t regenerating any health.

“Can you walk?” He asked.

“Slowly. Very slowly.” I said.

“Good enough. Bran is going to carry George. We did manage to find his bow and quiver but his clothes…well he is going to be letting it out for a bit.” I smiled at that since it would be a great thing to make fun of him about in the future. “Let’s get going. Don’t trip.”

It took a while but we all managed to get up. Falkerk and Sam were carrying the gear for everyone else and they had looted the corpses. At least we got a couple of copper. I didn’t feel very excited about that. The walk back to our camp was agonizingly slow. Thankfully the path was fairly clear with the goblins and then us making mess last night.

“I can heal again.” Max said once we arrived at camp.

“Devon first, try and save the arm.” I said. Max nodded and proceeded with his chant. The arm did seem to get a bit better.

“Still listed as crippled.” Devon said with a sigh. “Also, I can’t move it much.”

“Just needs more healing. Some food and water would help out a lot.” I said. With access to our packs we had stale bread and hard jerky. “Lift his head up and give him water, should help clear his system.” I said when everyone looked at George. We sat around all day. Bran went to check his snare and loot the goblins and wargs we had killed before.

Max healed me next so I could remove the arrow and recover a bit. I noted his chant gave me fifty health back. I didn’t feel great, but at least I felt like I wasn’t going to die. Night came and went and Max kept healing Devon and George still wouldn’t wake up.

“We should get going.” I said. “I don’t think we will survive another serious fight.”

“Carrying George is going to be a problem.” We all looked at his naked and unconscious form. Thankfully I had covered him with one of my blankets. The things I do for teammates. “Devon how is the arm?” Falkerk asked.

“Better, but still listed as crippled. I can move my fingers a bit. It definitely gets better after each chant.” That was unfortunate. We only had one healer and he was needed to fix Devon. Letting injuries sit was a good way to allow them to become permanent. I looked at George. Could I sacrifice a man’s arm for a chance to heal him? The answer was no, but it still hurt a bit inside to admit that.

“Bran you have a long shield. Lay him on that, and you and Sam carry him. Max and I will take your packs. Falkerk you can take Devon’s pack. I guess I am also taking George’s pack as well. We should be set then.” With that we moved out. It was slow and tedious. We had to keep stopping to rest since so many of us were overburdened and I felt like shit.

After two days Devon was no longer a cripple and Max tried healing George. I received another heal during that time from Max and lost my crippled status thankfully. We all waited and George stirred a bit. “Whaaaaaaaa…..” He groaned out before drifting off again.

It was on the following day after two more heals that he finally awoke. “What happened?” He groaned out.

“Quiet, slowly drink some water.” I gave him some water making sure he didn’t drink too quickly. I then explained everything that had happened. “You all came back for me?” He asked.

“Yeah you lazy ass. I swear, if I have to carry you one more foot or see your naked body…well don’t let it happen again.” Sam said.

“Glad you are finally awake.” Falkerk said.

“Wait, where are my boots? Pants?” George seemed to suddenly realize he was only covered with a blanket and lying on a shield.

“The goblins burned it all.” Bran said with a grin.

“Oh shit no. Ahhhh, so tired, falling asleep…..” He said clearly faking.

“You can keep the blanket to cover yourself. Keep it forever. Oh and if your feet get injured from walking, Max can work on healing you at the end of the day.” I said.

***

“Welcome back boys, you look like you had an adventure.” Boron said. We strolled in Jopel just after dawn. We had tried to make it the night before but it was too dark so we all just collapsed until morning.

“Beds for seven, two nights, and double meals also. We have a hundred and forty seven goblins and thirty six wargs. So two hundred and fifty five copper by my count.”

“Well a hundred and thirty two copper for the room and the food.” Boron said. He then slid across a pouch with a hundred and twenty three copper after counting it out in front of me. I pocketed it and picked up the keys. Falkerk and George came with me. Falkerk to help sell the metal and the George to buy some clothes.

With a hundred and two chunks of shitty goblin stabbers I managed to get a hundred and thirty copper. The axe sold for seventy copper, putting our reserves at three hundred and twenty three copper. That meant everyone got forty six copper with one left over.

I gave Falkerk the money for his group and went with George to buy clothes. That ended up costing a silver, leaving the three of us thirty eight copper. “Thanks man. I owe you one.” George said.

“Well we are officially broke. With what I had before I have just fifty copper.” I said

“No bath…” He trailed off.

“We shouldn’t even have done that before. Now we are completely poor. Maybe you should just run around naked and become a whore. At least then you will get a bath.”

“How dare you. I would get three baths and four, no five meals a day if I took on that profession.” George said.

“Only from the blind and the monsters. Who knows what depraved acts they did with you. Maybe in nine months a little baby goblin will pop out.” I said.

“Ouch, ok, got it. We are poor. Need lots of money.” He said. We returned to the guild hall. I got us both a mug of ale and took a seat.

“Looks like you kids took a real beating out there.” Yonson came up to our table. I was surprised he was still around.

“Well it went like this.” I started weaving a tale of our daring exploits and soon all the other patrons had gathered around. The rest of our group slowly came in and everyone was listening in. There was a large round of cheers when I described rescuing George and laughs about hauling him naked through the forest. I didn’t think anyone could turn that red.

“I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.” Yonson said. “A round of drinks on me for the returning heroes.” A cheer went up. Yonson then disappeared for a moment to return with a lute and began playing some lively tunes. He didn’t sing but the atmosphere was definitely a lot warmer than before. It was quite late before I dragged myself into a bed and passed out with a smile on my face.

***

“Good morning.” Bron said.

“Morning.” I mumbled out.

“I am guessing you and your friends are at least level ten.” Bron said.

“Yeah.”

“Well here you go then.” He passed over a medallion with a two on it. “You made it, not a fish anymore.”

“Fish?”

“A joke some old timers use. They flop about, you gut them, and they aren’t good for much except as food. Like ones.”

“I got it. At least I can take a guard mission, killing goblins doesn’t earn enough money.” I said.

“True. There is probably going to be a formal expedition next spring to clear them out. Possibly get the army in here and they might post up requests for scouts and so on.” Boron kept cleaning out mugs behind his counter as he spoke.

“If I am in the area I will consider. I just have seen enough goblins to last a life time.” I pulled out a copper.

“A bit early, don’t drink your life away.”

“Give me two mugs and water them down. I just want to drink.”

“Save the other one for later?”

“Sure.” He poured water and then ale into a mug. “Ahh, thanks.”

“No problem. Ternor was asking for you when you returned.” I finished off the mug and left. It was simple enough to go to the merchant’s guild.

“Hey, morning.” I said after entering. Ternor looked up at me.

“I heard you were back, excellent. I am in need of a decent scribe.”

“What kind of job?” I asked.

“Copies of account books. I was wondering if you could remove some things.” I looked at him as my brain slowly kicked into gear.

“How many books, how long, how many changes?” I asked.

“All business, I like that. Two books, around a hundred and twenty folios each. Five days, counting this one. I want to show that iron is selling at about a third less and food selling at about a quarter less.” He said.

“Why not change the originals?” I asked.

“I am under a contract not to alter them myself. So with a traveling scribe in need of money.” He looked at me. The laws of the land focused on stealing and killing. This kind of crime should not be picked up by the contract I signed since I was only altering books. Contract mana was good, but it had huge weaknesses. I wasn’t stealing and Ternor was keeping accurate books. Listening to various stories at the guild hall had definitely paid off where my reading hadn’t.

“Let’s talk price. I hope you have the materials?” I asked. He nodded. “My guess is that you are getting around a gold. I am not going to be greedy, five silver.” I stared at him.

“True, I expected you to charge more actually.” He said.

“You probably post the missions for caravans, I want three spots, for me and my two friends.” I held up my rank two medallion. “Good spots. I have heard people talk about how it can range from shitty food and a moldy blanket to sleep under to something a bit nicer. Not expecting a bath every day, but something nice. I also need two silver up front to pay for my room to stick around.”

“Hmmm, that is fine. My replacement will be here and I will be off to the capital to deposit guild earnings and transport supplies.” Ternor said.

***

The entire group gathered around a table as we had our dinner. Bran, George, and I were all congratulated on earning rank two. “I have a couple things to say.” Everyone looked at me.

“I am done going after goblins and am taking a guard mission in six days. Bran and George I was able to reserve you both spots if you want to come along.” They looked at each other.

“I wanted to stay actually.” George said. It took me a moment to notice the glance he shared with Devon sitting next to him. I knew they were sharing a room, but I hadn’t realized it had gone that far. I had heard about such things, but they were often frowned on and not talked about. Children were needed to carry on the family line and it just was never talked about when two men got togeather.

“I want to move on. This place, well it’s shitty like a barrel of fish guts.” Said Bran. Everyone chuckled at that.

“Well then, I hope you survive. Next time I see you, you better be a rank five.” I said to George.

“Yeah, yeah I will.” He replied. It seemed odd that the one guy looking for women had become a sword swallower. I almost couldn’t believe it but I had seen the same look between my parents and other couples. All the times they went off into the woods together and the number of times they placed a hand on the other’s shoulder.

That night I stared at the ceiling trying to match what I knew about George and what I had found out. It was annoying me to no end that I had completely missed the entire thing. I let out a long sigh at that. It wasn’t the fact that he was into other guys it was that I didn’t realize it. All the times we had seen each other naked, was he turned on by that? I hated having questions I didn’t know the answer to. I decided to leave the whole thing alone rather than causing a scene.

The party split up the next day, leaving Bran and I. Thankfully Boron employed him to clean the guild hall and help cook while we hung around. It would ease the financial strain we were under. It was brutal copying those two accounting books and making sure all the numbers I had changed added up correctly. Ternor reviewed my work very carefully. Only one folio had to be ripped up after I made an error with my sums.

I finished on the fifth day around midday. I let out a long sigh. That had been completely and totally exhausting. “Perfect, they have time to dry before tomorrow.”

“Wait.” I looked at the new and old accounting books. “The oldest one is worn. These look brand new.” Ternor looked between the two.

“That is not good.” He said quietly.

“Get a small barrel of small clean stones. It won’t be perfect, but if we seal the book in the barrel and shake it, that should wear it down a bit.” It was a trick forgers used. My father had mentioned it once in passing. It wouldn’t fool a master scribe but it should pass casual inspection.

“You are a clever one. I can handle that easily enough. Swing by early tomorrow with your companions.”

“Just one other. George decided to go kill some more goblins.” I said.

“No matter.” I was tired and left after he had paid me the remainder of what he owed me.

“Welcome adventurer!” Bran said as I entered.

“Adventure me a mug.” I said. He poured one out for me as I sat down at the bar. “We are set. We should earn about a silver each just coasting with the caravan.” It was five coppers a day and our expenses were covered. Two ten-days to there, so a silver each.

“It was nice just pouring drinks for a bit and learning to cook. Boron got some time off with his wife, so it worked out.” He said.

“Wife?” I remembered vaguely that Boron had mentioned something about his wife being in back.

“The cook, she can’t stand most adventurers and just stays in back. Not missing anything trust me. People come and go, no one above rank three though.” Bran said.

“What is required for rank three? You ever find out.” I asked.

“Yeah, finally remembered to ask. Rank three is level twenty five at least and ten completed missions.”

“Probably to earn money for the guild. They get one in every five pieces of copper we earn from missions. Four and five?”

“Rank four is at least level fifty and fifty completed missions. Rank five is level hundred and a recommendation of at least two other rank fives.” Bran said.

“So to reach the top would take a lot of goblins.” I said. I couldn’t even imagine how much mana I would have at that level. That was insane as a requirement but understandable in a way.

“Yeah, there are only seven at the moment. From what Boron told me, they mostly hang around the capital and only take special requests.”

“Well their skills are probably Master ranked. You heard Yonson.” I said.

“Yeah. Couldn’t imagine being that strong. Wonder if one will come to purge the goblins.” He said.

“Maybe, who knows? We have a long way to go before we get that far.”

“Yeah, got to change my name when that happens.”

“You would be so strong, people would piss themselves first.”

“True, but I am not going around with the name Bigfish. I was think more along the lines of Branard Belleron.”

“That is actually not bad. I was thinking you would pick, Bumpkins Munchalot.”

“You wish.” I sat there in silence while he wiped down the counter. “I was surprised about George staying.”

“Well with him and Devon.” I waved my hand in the air.

“What do you mean him and Devon?” Bran asked.

“Well…”

“What is it?”

“Their together.” I whispered.

“What do you mean, of course they are in the same party.” I was hoping I didn’t have to spell it out.

“How do I put it? If there were two beds and they were sharing a room, only one bed would be used.” Bran looked confused for a moment and then it hit him.

“No way.” He whispered out in shock.

“Yep, the way they were looking at each other. The time they spent alone in the forest.”

“I thought he was giving him archery tips…” Bran mumbled.

“Or another kind of tip.” I muttered into my mug.

“Then the noise I heard from their room the two nights they were here. No…..no…..way.”

“Trust me, it was a surprise also.”

“How does that even happen?”

“Don’t look at me. My books don’t mention that. No one even talks about it that I know of.”

“If either dies, it is going to be tough.”

“All relationships are like that. Well I will say a prayer for him and wish him good luck in his future.” I took a long drink from my mug.

“No drinking on the job, but cheers all the same.” Bran said.

The next morning we both grabbed our weapons from the blacksmith who had managed to repair them. My sword looked all shiny and smooth again. Bran and I made our way to the merchant guild. In front of it were ten wagons with men standing around and other men who looked like drivers hitching up the horses.

“What do you want?” One of the guards looked at us. His face was scarred and he looked like a warrior from one of the stories I had read. He was huge and his arms were the size of small trees.

“Guard duty for the caravan. Ternor contracted us.”

“Runts like you. Whatever, not my money. We rotate watch even in town to protect the wagons. There are nine of us here so we do shifts of three. I am Karn and run the guard detail. I have a clean record. So if I catch you touching, thinking, or evening dreaming about stealing you will wish to your momma’s tits that I kill you.”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

“Good, now we take turns walking up front, the rear, and riding on the wagons. Groups of three again. First time guarding by the look of it and twos also. You both will be with me. Peps and Ratface get over here.” Two men quickly hurried over.

“You both are running a shift, I am taking on two ducklings. Work out the men between you two and not next to my head either, got enough of a headache.” The two went off arguing about who would go with who. “Meals are handled by the drivers and tents are packed away. Don’t expect anything great in the towns we stop in. Also you will get paid at the end. The pay for adventurers is five coppers a day right?”

“Yeah.” I replied.

“Good. We are all a long term crew, you are just extra. So if shit happens, you better pull your weight. Oh, we pay you but you better pass on the cut to your guild. Almost forgot that. What else did I forget?”

“Is their bonus pay for combat?” I asked.

“Shit no. You get a really good meal the next stop if you don’t piss yourself.” He grinned at both of us. Some of the scars on his face stretched in bizarre ways. “Anyways that is it. For now you can put your packs on the rear wagon, keep your weapons and anything else you need during the day. No touching the wagons once we get going. Once we start moving, you stick with me.” We both gave an affirmative and started to look around.

We put away our packs but kept our canteens and weapons. I saw Ternor talking with two other nicely dressed people. They all shook hands and Ternor and one of the other men got on the lead caravan. He gave me a nod which I returned. I saw Karn up front and we went up to him.

“Good, we are at the rear, come on.” We followed him to the last wagon. “Not many attacks from the rear but I have seen it happen since people don’t expect it. You just sit in the wagon and keep a look out to the rear, left and right. You can talk, but if I see your eyes not on the road there will be trouble. I will be with the driver. If you see anything just yell. If you need to take a piss let me know. Hop off, run ahead piss where I can see you, then hop back on.”

We both got in position and moments later the wagons set off. “Better than walking.” Bran said.

“You and me both. No pack either, my feet are loving me.” I replied.

“Our points won’t increase.”

“I am okay with that for two ten-days. George is probably fighting for his life against goblins and making shit for money. I don’t blame him, but this is a great time to take a break from the fighting. Go to the capital, work a bit, earn some money, and buy new gear. Then we can get back out here.”

“Yeah, at least Karn knows what he is doing. Can you imagine if everyone just came together to guard the caravan.”

“Probably chaos.” I said. We were quiet for a bit as we left Jopel the town of dreams and began traveling towards Antioch, the capital of the kingdom. With the eighty copper at the end of this, I would have a bit over four silver. Bran would have about a silver. That would be more than enough to get us started, hopefully.

“HALT!” Karn cried out. The caravan slowly ground to a halt. “We leave shortly, so move your asses!” He shouted out. Some people went to the side of the road to relieve themselves while Karn gestured at us. “We are up front. Follow me.” We went past all the wagons and Karn talked to Peps and Ratface. We walked out in front of the lead wagon.

“One of you stay out in front, you see anything you shout it back to me and the other one. If you get to close I will tell you to move your ass. A tree across the road, a pit, or even a shitty beggar you tell me right away. Got it.”

“Yeah I got it.” I said.

“You going up there?” Bran asked.

“Yeah, watch my back.” I went about sixty feet in front of Karn and Bran. I stood around until the wagons got going again. It took a bit but I finally found my pace I needed to match the wagons. It was a fast walk, and I definitely would be completely exhausted if I did this all day. We went past farms, forest, some streams, but nothing interesting came up.

A bit into the afternoon Karn called a halt and we moved to the center of the caravan. “I will be sitting on the wagon in front of you two. You can sit up front on that wagon. Keep an eye out left and right. See anything shout.” We sat up with the porter.

“Names Han.”

“Ed.”

“Bran.”

“Welcome, to wagon six. One way trip to fame and glory.” We looked at him.

“EYES! ON THE FOREST!” Karn shouted and we quickly looked away. “I owe you a copper Han.”

“Two, I got two to look away.” Karn grumbled at that.

“That wasn’t nice.” I said.

“You know how shit boring this is. I have spent my whole life sitting on a wagon traveling around.” Han said.

“What do you get paid? Must be good.”

“Three coppers a day, but food and lodging are paid for. They keep everything in the main guild hall in the capital we can withdraw money at any time. We also are guaranteed work for so many years regardless of what happens. So if things go to shit, or a village burns and I sit around, I still get paid. Same as Karn and his men. You two though get kicked to the side of the road.”

“Huh, interesting system.”

“Yeah. Most bandits don’t bother with the porters or even fighting either. If they show up with enough men the caravan master just pays them off with some food and supplies. Monsters are the big issue, definitely when we come out to the little towns.”

“I heard a necklace was lost?”

“Oh that, ha. It was huge when it happened. I heard it from a porter who was there. So the noble girl had decided to ride up front and not stay in her carriage. Well no one was going to tell that idiot no. I mean those carriages can take a beating and stay locked. Most monsters just give up before they can break in so the nobility loves them.”

“Anyways, the girl was up front all la de da and the caravan was attacked. The contract guards are normally veteran soldiers who don’t want to settle down and get some exercise. So they weren’t just about to run away. During the fight one of the goblins breaks past the guards and charges the lead wagon.”

“Well the idiot girl had taken off her necklace for some reason. Heard it was a real beauty and mana also. Anyways she was playing with it in her hand when the attack happened and threw it at the goblin in a panic. Don’t you know the thing grabbed it and ran off into the forest. The fight ended, but the girl demanded the guards get her necklace.”

“The caravan master paid extra and five of them went to search. The goblin had run straight off without stopping and they came back empty handed. I heard that there was a lot of shouting in the guild hall when they got to the capital and the caravan master was fired. Should have kept the girl in the carriage.”

“Wow, so that is how a priceless necklace is lost.” I said.

“Yeah, five gold to find it.” Bran let out a sigh. The porter let out a snort.

“That thing is worth at least ten times that, probably more.” Han said.

***

There was only one alarm on the entire trip when I called out a man resting by a tree on the side of the road. Karn shouted at everyone to be on guard and then called out to relax once we were past. He even grunted a good job at me.

It took twenty five days to get to the capital. I wasn’t that concerned. The food was okay and we got to sleep under the wagons to stay mostly dry when we weren’t in a town. Rooms were cheap and shared at the Merchants Guilds we came to. Mostly it was one large side room with a lot of wood beds and a large table in the middle of the room.

Coming up on the capital, it was a city of towers and a massive wall at least forty feet tall. We were in the front but Karn let us all walk together. “No bandit has the steel balls to attack this near the capital, also it is all farms.” He had said. There were no good spots to ambush the caravan.

We came to the large gate and got stuck in a line of people waiting to enter while other people streamed out. “Shit, just had to be a line. All right you shits get the tarps off and folded, I don’t want to stand around here all day with my thumb up my ass.” The porters got to work while the caravan master smiled at Karn.

“You two did okay. At least better than some other shits I have seen.” He frowned at that. “Stay with us to the guild hall and you get paid. Probably mid-day at the rate these slow guards are moving through the Gods forsaken line!” Karn bellowed out. Everyone looked at him and he looked right back not caring one bit.

When we finally came up to the gate all the guards looked at Karn. One even said, “Oh by the Gods, he is back.”

“Caravan, coming from little shit villages to the glorious capital.” They all looked at him. “You don’t expect me to remember the name of shit towns. Now pick want you want to check. Move it soldiers, daylight is burning!” The guards rushed off to inspect the wagons for whatever they were looking for while their Sargent just looked at Karn.

“Really?” He asked.

“What, I know how boring this shit is. Probably the most excitement in a ten-day.” Karn said.

“You wouldn’t be wrong about that. If you ever have an open spot let me know. I think I have a brain leech on me from doing this.”

“Tell me. I keep hoping for something, but shit cursed monsters seem to smell me coming. Now it looks like your boys are having trouble opening a crate.”

“Come on, you can yell at them for me.” Bran and I followed a ways back. It was a lesson in cursing and yelling and I wouldn’t be surprised if Karn had a skill in both. By the time he was done, the inspection was over but all the guards were doing push-ups. Their Sargent silently laughing.

“I want to be like him.” Bran whispered.

“I wouldn’t say no.” I replied. We got to the guild hall. Karn told us to talk to the man inside. We went in and up to one of the tellers. I showed the document that Ternor had given both of us the first night and the teller stamped it and then passed us two silver and fifty copper and the document back.

“Adventurers Guild?” I asked the teller.

“Out the main door and take a right. You will come to a fountain. Guild hall is nearby you can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.” The man was already ignoring us and we left. It was like Azalon but far more packed and the buildings were three stories instead of two.

“Wow, so much.” Bran whispered. His wide eyed look betraying his rural upbringing. We followed the directions to the guild hall. It was a massive building and even had a tower that spiraled up attached to it. We entered and looked around. There were a desk off to one side with a bored looking woman. The rest of the floor seemed a mix between dining hall and bar and it was busy. I counted at least thirty people.

“What do you want?” She sighed.

“Turning in a mission.” I held out the parchment. She looked it over.

“Congratulations, another mission. Yeah.” She said all that in the most bored tone possible. “Punishment detail, three ten-days I need to sit here. Remember that if you ever think of doing something stupid. You owe fifty coppers, take your parchment and money and head up the flight of stairs behind me to the second floor. A door will have the word Mission Completion on it. Just knock and enter.”

“Thanks, hope things get better.” Bran said.

“If you want to start a fight, I won’t complain.” She said with a slightly more interested voice.

“Come on.” I pulled on his arm and we left. “Don’t fall for the first pretty face. City rule number one. City rule two, is keep your coin purse hidden.”

“Got it.” I found the mission room and entered. A man was sitting behind a desk and there was a lot of parchment all over.

“Yes?”

“Mission.” I handed over the form.

“Everything is in order, payment?” I handed over fifty copper. “Edward Monteger and Branier Bigfish correct?”

“Yeah.” Bran was much more sullen in his reply.

“Good, don’t want to make a mistake. Since you are new. Anyways there once was someone called Mouth Onsword. So it isn’t as bad as it can be. Now leave.” We quickly left and made our way back down and went back to the woman. Bran had a slight smile on his face. I just shook my head

“What do you need? Someone to wipe your bottoms?”

“We are looking for a cheap place to stay and work.”

“Cheap. Cheap is here. Common sleeping room is four coppers a night each and no complaining about snoring. Go through that door and ask for Hilda. What kind of work?”

“Bar tending, cleaning. If you…require, I can work with fish.” That last part seemed to pain him. I held up my scribe medallion.

“Well don’t worry about the fish. Ask Hilda if there is work around here. Won’t pay much. You can try your luck in the city, harder to find a job but you will make more. An experienced scribe. Don’t often see one adventuring. Well, it is the same thing. Hilda handles all hiring here and manages the floor day to day. If you want to find other work you can look in the city.”

“Oh, don’t cause trouble either. That is what landed me here. Just a warning.” She closed her eyes and put her feet up on the desk. Bran and I looked at each other and shrugged. We turned towards where the lady had mentioned.

“Probably look in the city for work for at least a couple of days first.” I said.

“I want to work here. Learn what is going on. This seems like the place to be.” Bran said. He enjoyed talking with people a lot more than I did. During the time we had spent with the caravan he talked with the other guards at night while I spent my time working on chants I could practice to try and unlock abilities.

I did keep an ear open while scribbling in my journal for anything interesting but most of the conversations were about various women they had met in various towns. It was very disappointing I wasn’t able to get another easy success like I had with my Meditation skill.

“Up to you.” I said. We went through the double doors and saw a hallway. There was an open door with an office and an older looking woman.

“Excuse me are you Hilda?” I asked.

“Yes.” She looked up from her book. I noticed that there were quite a few light runes around this place.

“We are looking to stay in the common area and food.” I said.

“New?”

“Yes.” I said.

“Common area is at the end of the hall. Wood beds, you handle your own blankets. It is four copper a night and you pay up front. No free loaders. Don’t leave anything you don’t want stolen. Most people won’t but we don’t deal with that. Food is six coppers a meal. Don’t give me that look. Everything has to be carted here. You are lucky it is that cheap. We do breakfast and dinner out front.”

“Um, I was also wondering if you had any work.” Bran said.

“How long you plan to be here for?” She asked.

“At least two ten-days, probably more depending on how things go for me.” She gave me a look. “I am a scribe, I am going to try and earn some money in the city.” I held up the medallion.

“Well, you won’t find much here for scribes, got our own staff. Don’t know anyone either.” She then looked at Bran. “You know how to work?”

“I grew up in a fishing village. All it was is hard work and fish. Please no fish.” He said. I almost laughed.

“Maybe some cooking? You can cook.”

“Yeah, I won’t ruin anything and can listen.” Bran said.

“You get paid ten copper a day. Not much, but we don’t like people living here. You can probably find work in the city for fifteen copper if you are lucky.”

“Free bed.” She looked at him. “I need to save a bit up.”

“Nope, take it or leave it.” Hilda replied.

“Take it, I can find some money. But you better make sure I like your cooking.” I said, knowing he liked to be around other people to listen to all their stories. Bran smiled at me.

“Pay up front for your beds. You start work tomorrow. Mid-day until dinner is done, you will be helping in the kitchen or serving.” Hilda said. I paid for both of us for two ten-days, which was eighty copper each and gave her our names.

“You have beds six and seven.” With that we checked out the common room. We saw a number of other adventurers, some of them looking pretty heavily wounded and were just lying there. I wondered why they didn’t get healing but wasn’t about to pry into their injuries. There were forty beds all spread out in the large room. We made our way to our beds and sat down.

We took off our packs, but I kept my map case with me. “Bran, if you go out there make sure you know your way back. It can be more confusing that the forest, since carts move, people change. Also stick to the main streets, don’t go through the back narrow streets.” He looked at me.

“People will ambush you there out of sight of the guards and other people. Also it is easy to get lost. Sorry, no map.” I said. I heard the jokes the city kids made at idiots who bumbled around the city when I was growing up. I didn’t want Bran to be one.

“Thanks Ed. Don’t worry.” With that we both set off into the capital and parted ways. I made sure to follow my own advice as I slowly made my way to the wealthier neighborhoods. I kept my turns to a minimum and repeated them in my head.

I found my first scribe shop, The Writ. I entered the shop and I saw a young girl at the counter. That could have been me suffering. It actually was the case just a couple of months ago. “Welcome to The Writ. What may I help you with today?”

“I would like to look over your maps please.”

“Any specific area?”

“Gilleth Forest.” I said. She frowned. I pulled out one of my maps and showed her. She then grabbed two from the shelfs behind her and rolled them out. I looked them over. Neither had as much information as mine. I got the price and gave them a final look over. “Thank you, I will consider them.” I then left the shop.

I visited another shop with similar results. I even asked around and made my way to the leading scribe shop, The Standard. I entered and a bell chimed. A younger woman looked at me.

“Welcome adventurer, how may I assist you?” She was clearly much more observant than the others.

“I am looking for maps of the Gilleth Forest. I would like to just look at your writing implements while you get the map.” I said.

“They are all available to view on the table there.” I walked over to the table and everything was neatly laid out so it would be obvious if something was taken. The brushes were excellent quality. Mine were becoming worn and the parchment also looked good.

“May I feel a parchment?” I asked. This kind of shop and dressed like I was, it was always better to ask.

“One moment.” She said. She had laid out of the maps and then brought out a parchment behind the counter. I went over and felt it between my fingers. It felt rough and looked lesser than what was on the table. I then looked over the maps. They were good, amazingly good. They even had freaking Jopel and I hadn’t seen it on the other maps from the previous scribe shops.

It was a matter of writing small enough to put all that information down. Some map makers just put dots to signify a small town instead of writing out the name. This was even better than my mothers. “How much?” I asked.

“Ten silver.” At most we charged around eight and the lesser maps two. Well they probably had to be at least high Senior level, probably Master. It would probably take a ten-day to copy such fine detail and even then the chance of a mistake was very high. I looked for the mark and saw the name Master Scribe Illitver. I didn’t recognize it, but it confirmed the skill level of the craftsman.

“A true work of art, but I think I will stick with ink stones and parchment for now.” The sales lady quickly put the map away. “I would like five large sheets, five by five, and ten ink stones.”

“Forty copper a sheet and ten per stone.” I winced at the price. Ink stones should be half that. That would be three silver, which was almost all my remaining money.

“I want the good quality parchment then. Not this rough nonsense you had me feel.” She gave me a long look and then snorted. Soon enough I had what I wanted and left. I made it back just as it was getting dark. I had a simple plan. I would find people who wanted good maps made and not at insane prices. With what the shops I had visited were charging, I could charge four silver a map and completely undercut them with my quality.

The middle ranked shops charged around four and six silver and I was confident in my skill and training. I could go down to three silver each and still make fifteen. Minus my expenses, that would mean eleven silver of profit all the way up to sixteen silver if I got lucky.

I made sure to sit near the center of the room. I pulled out my maps and set them on the table. “Got quite a collection there kid.” A rank three, older looking. Perfect, my first customer.

“Drew them all myself. Trying to figure out where to go after I leave here.”

“Aren’t we all. Say can you show me where Handort is. A mining town west of here. Grew up there you know.” I pointed things out and other people came over. I made sure to keep mentioning I made them.

“Not bad quality. How much for a copy?” One man asked.

“Four silver, it would take a full day.” The man looked one of the maps over.

“Four is quite a bit.” He said.

“The cheapest I saw here in the capital was four and of lesser quality. When I make a new map, you can choose between that one and the one I have.” He gave me a grin.

“Three and a half and I will spread word around. Probably get two or three more people lined up little scribe.” He could be lying, but other people were watching and I needed a sale to start things rolling. It also wouldn’t be good to appear greedy.

“Deal, which map you want copied?” I made sure to get their full name and when they could get back to pick up their map. I made sure to write the information down on a spare piece of parchment. After that I got three more orders at three and a half silver each. I wanted to jump for joy.

I met up with Bran at our bunks and shared stories with him. He had a fun time looking around and even visited the Mages Guild. Their entry way had floating orbs of light and waterfalls. Definitely a lot different than a bar slash dining hall.

The next day I woke up and got breakfast. I then set myself up out of the way and made two light runes so I could clearly see. While there were some posted around the guild it wasn’t a lot, just enough to see through the gloom. I then got to work. Some people came by to take a look and I explained what I was doing and let them look over my maps at the table next to me.

I finished in the middle of the afternoon and it looked amazing. I let my hand relax for a bit and bought a mug of ale. I finished off the ale and got to work on the next map. I had said one map a day since I didn’t want to rush. I could probably do two a day, but it would be exhausting and I would probably make a mistake.

The man who had purchased the first map came up to the table. “Wow, it really is good. Not bad kid.” He handed over the money and took the map.

I ended up getting a total of seven orders all together before there was no more interest. I made about eighteen silver in six days after taking away the cost for supplies. I gave Bran two to help him out and paid for both of us to get new clothes and a bath which cost a silver. My scheme had worked and I finally had actual money.

With fifteen silver left, feeling clean, and with decent clothes I made my way to the Mages Guild. I needed to register. It was too big a risk not too and I had the money. It was just as mesmerizing as Bran had said. Floating lights and waterfalls gave the place a pleasant feeling. I made my way to the circular desk in the center of the atrium. An older man looked at me before he spoke.

“Welcome adventurer what do you require?”

“I wish to register as a mage.” He gave me another look.

“Who is your master young mage?” He asked.

“I don’t have a master.” He stared at me for a bit as if working out a puzzle.

“What school of mana do you practice?” I wasn’t sure about that question so I answered the only way I knew how.

“The Chant of Time.” I said. He really stared at me after that.

“If what you say is true, then Magus Kaller will speak with you.” A soft chime echoed upwards. “You may take a seat to the side there. I will call you when the Magus arrives.” I took a seat and waited. It was a good thing the atrium was so pretty because it got boring real fast. No one else showed up the entire time I was waiting.

“The Magus is ready for you.” I went back to the desk. He placed a small metal block in front of me with a number of runes carved into it I didn’t recognize. “This block will teleport you to his waiting chamber. When you wish to return use the same block. Don’t lose it. Push mana into to activate it.”

I pushed mana into the block and in the blink of an eye I was in another room. It was a small circular chamber with only a single door. A couple seconds after I appeared the door opened on its own. “Come in, come in.”

I entered the room and it was filled with books, metal trinkets, and lots of parchment. In the center was a large desk and a large glass window behind it showing a view of the sky. An older man was sitting behind the desk. “Sit.” He said and gestured at a chair in front of the desk. I took a seat.

“I am Magus Kaller.”

“Edward Monteger.” I replied.

“Your family owns a scribe shop in Azalon? I always did love a bakery nearby, the way they put berries into pastry now that is true mana.”

“Yes, my parents do own a scribe shop, The Illuminator.” I replied. It was surprising he knew about the shop. Was he reading my mind or did he really know his scribe shops?

“I see you are an adventurer. A scribe, an adventurer, and apparently a mage as well.” I began to get nervous what would happen. I had no chance against someone like this. “Don’t worry. You are here to register. Now there are a couple of rules and things I need to explain.” He began looking through parchments on his desk.

“Haven’t done an introduction in over thirty years. Ah hah! Here it is. Have to read this you know, they make me. Anyways you need to register so we are sure you don’t use dark mana as per our agreement with the Church. If you do use dark mana it will be sealed.” He then looked up at me. “Yours is gray, maybe pink. Depends on the season.” I couldn’t tell if this old man was insane or just having fun at my expense.

He then looked down at his parchment. “You may not practice your mana on other humans unless you have their willing consent. You may not experiment on humans in any way. Finally you may be called on in the defense of this tower of knowledge but that has never happened. Knowledge my left butt cheek. Idiots wouldn’t know anything if it bit their…” He looked at me. “Well you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Oh, I am your mentor. If you have powerful abilities that could destroy the kingdom, world, or anything that all life needs to survive be sure to speak with me before you use it. Now I just mark here that you understand that all. You did understand that right?” He asked.

“Yes. Don’t use dark mana. Don’t practice on humans unless they say it is okay. Don’t experiment on humans. Defend this tower of knowledge if under attack. Don’t destroy the kingdom.” I repeated back.

“Excellent. Now I need to see an example just once. Do you need a medium?” He asked.

“What?”

“A target.”

“Just something that can move. I will cast on myself. Slow.” I was moving my arm and everything got a lot harder to do. After five seconds it was over.

“Fascinating. Well that is good enough for me. I will mark you town as belonging to the School of Space and Time. Don’t worry about the fee either.”

“Uh, I don’t want to get in trouble.” I said.

“Hah! Well you have a lot of common sense. But it doesn’t really matter since the fees go to the leader of the school which is me. So no fee. Everything is paid for around here. Also as an adventurer you will need all the money you can get. Oh and here.” He handed me a small plate, I couldn’t tell what metal it was made out of. It looked the same as the teleporting block from before. “That shows you belong to this school. Don’t lose that. It is platinum.”

I almost dropped it. Platinum! That was incredibly rare. This plate was probably worth two hundred gold. The pure metal was one of the few non-living things to channel mana perfectly. This man was insane giving me such a fortune. “I…” Looking at the Magus, he smiled.

“Trust me, I have a bunch of them. Anyways, just put mana into it and it will display your name and school as proof of your registration. It is your pass back here if you ever want to visit, so don’t lose it.” He said.

“You call this a school, can I learn.” I looked at all the books, tearing my eyes away from the fortune in my hands.

“A true scribe at heart I see. I see you are familiar with the adventurers and their silly ranking system. We do things differently around here. People like you are Novices. You are registered and can use your mana and we don’t care. Once you reach the threshold approved by the head of your School of Mana, me, then you become a Learner and can stick around.”

“What are your requirements?” I asked. This was it, the chance I had been dreaming for my entire life. A powerful Magnus to help me unlock the secrets of mana. Ancient knowledge and skills to improve myself.

“A thousand mana minimum and the ability to regain all of it in a quarter day. Otherwise it just isn’t worth my time to teach you.” That was a huge requirement. Even if I mastered Meditation I didn’t think that was possible. “Yes, it is insanely hard. That is why I have no students. Kind of relaxing that way. If you do manage to succeed and learn from me I would name you an Apprentice when you graduate. Once you have a Master level skill in your mana you would be named a Magnus. Simple.”

“Thank you for answering my question.” Manners first, thank you mother for hammering that into me. “I was wondering if you have any advice. I already know Meditation.” If I could regain my mana more quickly then everything would start falling into place.

“A basic start. Hmmm, what would I tell myself? Well, if you make it back before you are twenty then you are doing really well. So work hard young scribe adventurer mage Edward Monteger. Time to go now, the next person will be showing up soon. No time for more questions.” I wanted to ask more but clamped my jaw shut. I would be back. I held up the rune covered block and tucked the plate away into my clothes. I was then yanked away back to the atrium.

“Welcome back.” The old man at the desk said. I handed back the block and left in a bit of a daze and frustrated. I looked at the plate and it had my name and the School of Time and Space on it. Magus Keller had said the School of Space and Time. Was it a clue or the ramblings of an eccentric? I tucked the plate away and spent the rest of the day buying equipment while thinking on how weird that entire experience had been and if I could learn anything from it.

CHAPTER 5

The rest of the time in the capital I spent time at the library. Thankfully registered mages were allowed in at a discount, only ten copper a day instead of twenty five. It had been founded almost a millennium ago by a noble who had no heirs. He left his vast library and fortune to the people. The king of the time had made it a library.

The fees they charged were to pay to have manuscripts copied and the building preserved. A number of the librarians held classes on various subjects but nothing on mana or skills. A number of the nobility and wealthy merchants sent their children here to learn to read and write.

The only sorting system in the place was a general grouping by subject, but even that was only a vague guideline. There were over ten thousand manuscripts stored here and I just needed to find one that would point me in a direction I needed to unlock more skills. Loremaster went up by two during the time I spent there. It was almost a shame to be leaving. I hadn’t found anything on mana or gathering it quickly which was unfortunate.

There had to be something on top of Meditation that raised mana recovery. The nice thing was that I didn’t have to hide my mana anymore if I used it. I began working on the healing chants I had heard Max use, but didn’t unlock any skill from the effort which was annoying. I also spent time constantly trying to come up with new chants for the Chant of Time and using it constantly. It went up to beginner ten, but I didn’t unlock any new abilities.

Since I didn’t have to pay the fee at the Mages Guild, I got a new everything. I even got a fresh journal and copied everything useful into only twenty folios from the first one so I didn’t have to carry around so much. I had enough parchment for a number of runes, new brushes, ink stones, and the list went on. Bran was a bit more conservative and paid for leather armor and a new larger shield.

I saw him painting on it a couple of mornings, but he had asked me not to look until he was done. The morning we were to leave it depicted a giant mouth with teeth. Since it was a tower shield that was almost his full body height it was actually a bit scary. “What were you thinking when you drew this?” I asked.

“A great monster biting on its prey.” I looked at the shield again.

“Okay, it definitely is shocking looking like that.” I said.

“Exactly what I wanted.” We both walked over to the mission board. It was divided up into regions and there were a lot of missions posted. They were also divided up into ranks four, three, two, and general. I noted that the necklace one was still up there.

“Back to goblins?” I asked.

“No. They are as bad as fish.” Wow, he really had an intense dislike for them. “What about this?”

Rank Two

To scout and mark the location on a map of a cockatrice nest located in the Urtan Mountain Range.

Posted by Alchemists Guild in Antioch

Reward: 20 Silver

Extra: If a live cockatrice is captured and returned, a reward of 1 gold.

I pulled out a map and looked over where this exactly was. “That is about four ten-days from here and winter is coming on. Let me see if there is a caravan mission.” I pointed out the locations to him and looked over the other missions.

“Well there is one listed for tomorrow about two towns shy, or a five day walk.” I said.

“Perfect, we will make loads.” He said with a grin.

“I also noticed it was in the mountains.” He kept on grinning. “Alright, but we need winter cloaks and gear.”

“Best teammate ever.” He said. With that I grabbed both slips of parchment and went to the bored woman at the desk.

“Still here, I though you would be finished?” I asked.

“I live for punishment. Just give a girl a good whipping and I just roll right over.” She looked at the pieces of parchment. She then pulled out other piece of parchment and made some notes on it. With that done we got our mission parchment back. “Good luck. Oh and if I am still at this desk when you get back, please kill me.”

“Thanks, bye.” I said.

“Good luck getting out of here.” Bran said. Her feet were already up on the desk and her eyes closed. We made our way to the merchant guild.

“So, caravan duty to all the way up there. Well it leaves tomorrow. Show up at dawn. The guard leader is Edward.” Well this would be interesting. We thanked the teller and left.

It took a while to find a store for heavy winter clothing. “Come in, what can I do for both of you?” The sales person asked.

“Winter clothing. Going up in the mountains.” I said.

“Adventurers, well this is the right shop for you. Heavy cloaks, that tie off. The wind will try and blow them open. And a heavy kilt. Let’s you move and keep the important bits nice and warm. I also recommend getting an ice axe.” Bran and I looked things over while I considered what would work.

“I like the cloak, but the kilt seems like it would come lose too easily.” I said.

“I do sell pants, but they tend to be too bulky for what adventurers like.” The salesperson said and showed us a pair. “See, thick. Good quality sheep’s wool but you won’t be dashing around or kicking anything.”

“What do you think Bran, kilt or no kilt?” I asked.

“I like being warm.” Bran said.

“Two kilts and the cloaks.” I said.

“A silver and twenty.” I gave him a look that said are you kidding me.

“Can’t go lower. Not a high demand for this stuff here at the coast. Only nobles travel much and you are welcome to go to that shop and pay three silver for the same thing with fancy stitching.” He said. I handed over the money completely out haggled. “Come again.”

The kilts went in the packs, while the cloaks open and hanging over them. At least they both were a dark gray and not red or something silly. “So what now? I want to hold onto the money I have in case we need it.”

“Well we kind of left all dressed up, I really don’t want to go back to the guild hall.” I rolled my eyes at Bran.

“Fine, but you are treating me everywhere once we finish this mission.” I said.

“Deal.” We found a decent inn by the gate and for ten copper each got a nice meal and another twenty copper got rooms with real beds. I couldn’t even remember the time I last slept on one that wasn’t just a plank of wood.

I almost didn’t wake up since they were so comfortable, but I managed and kicked Bran awake. We then wandered over to the meet up with the caravan. Wagons were being hitched and I looked around. “Hey we are looking for Edward.”

“That is him over there.” We walked over to the man he pointed us to.

“Edward, we are signed up for this caravan.” He looked at us, while I gave him a glance over. He looked in his twenties and had an unstrung bow and quiver. So an archer.

“How far you going?”

“All the way to Pentsworth.” I said.

“Huh, so the whole way out. You do this before?” He asked.

“With Karn.”

“Ouch, so he broke you in. That man is a menace. Well things run pretty much the same way. Got another adventurer heading out, so you three get to be team four. Work out who is in charge and let me know who to yell at.”

We walked over to the older man leaning against a nearby wall. I saw a three medallion around his neck. “Twos huh. So what did boss man say?”

“Wants to know who is in charge, said we are team four. I am Ed, this is Bran.”

“X, yep that is my name, don’t wear it out. I guess I am running this pile of shit. Just don’t make me look stupid.” He said.

“Sure.” He got up and walked up to Edward they talked a bit and he came back.

“We are in the rotation, going to be a bit off with three guard times and four groups but it is simple enough. We start at the front, rear, middle rear, middle front, and so on. Watches will rotate also, we got middle watch tonight, then last one tomorrow, figure out the rest.” X said and walked off.

With that we set off towards the mountains in the west to locate a nest of a cockatrice. The heavy cloak really came in handy as the nights started to get colder. The caravan was like the last one, boring. I kept working on my chants when I was walking on the road. I still wasn’t making any progress.

I figured I needed a specific goal rather than pushing together a lot of words about time. Stopping something seemed like the next obvious step and I focused on that. A wide area of effect slow would be useful, instead of just one enemy.

X stayed to himself and the guards were friendly but I wasn’t going to risk my money gambling with them. They were all close friends and I had never gambled before. I preferred to keep my hard earned money so declined and meditated and worked on my mana. Bran took the time to look around the towns and chat with people if there was an Adventurers Guild. He also lost twenty copper gambling and I refused to lend him any money.

By the time we reached three ten-days that was when we saw the first snow. Bran was in shock at the sight. I guess living next to the ocean he never saw any. I saw some once when I was young. Just a small sprinkle before it melted in the sun that day.

We reached Pentsworth and collected our two silver each in payment. It had been a boring trip but I wasn’t complaining. We bought some food and then began to make our own way up into the mountains. It was cold, windy, and I felt the chill through my entire body.

It was tempting to make a heat rune for each of us, but I knew they would only last a day each for them to have any effect against the biting cold and I wanted to save that for emergencies. We finally reached a little shit mining town with no guilds or walls all way up in the mountains. We stumbled into the only inn, freezing our asses off.

I pushed the door shut and took off my ice covered hood and let the heat wash over me. “Ahhhhh.” Bran sighed loudly.

“Well I am guessing you want a room and a meal.” We looked at an older man.

“Yes please.” I said.

“Well hang up your cloaks there and you can leave your packs by the wall. Make sure you keep all the snow by the door so you don’t make a mess.” We listened and carefully put our stuff to the side and made sure that almost all the snow was brush off.

“Take a seat. I added some more to the stew. No bread though.” We each got a bowl of slightly thin vegetable stew. “Not the best, but not much call for anything up here. So why you come out all this way?”

“Trying to find a cockatrice nest, maybe even capture one.” Bran said.

The old man looked at us then started laughing. “Hahahaha, oh my, hahahahaha. Capture, hahahaha, a nest…” He kept on laughing for quite a bit before finally calming down. “I almost died there, that would be the way to go. Do you even know what one is?” He asked.

“Part dragon and chicken.” I recalled the bestiary I had read that my father had copied when I was younger.

“A good description, that sounds about right. The thing is they like to live way up there near the peaks.” He gestured above his head. “Fierce too. Saw a full grown man ripped apart. Tried to touch a little one you see. The parents are very fierce. Capturing one, I don’t even know how you would do that.”

“How big is a young one?” I asked.

“About the size of a dog. Gellert might have a cage that size, but the parents will rip you apart. They got mana you know. Never saw it but there are stories. Heard too many not to believe them. Freeze a man into stone they say.”

“How much for a room and the meal?” I asked.

“Oh yeah. Twenty five copper and that includes breakfast.” He said. I looked at him and he just wiggled his hand for the money. It was robbery but we needed a place to stay for the night. I handed over the money and he smiled at us.

“Room is the door to the left of the fireplace. If you need to take a shit or piss, out house is out that door about thirty paces. I don’t recommend trying in the dark. Freeze your ass to the seat.” We took our packs and cloaks to our room since they had dried off and left our boots by the fire place.

The beds were hard wood, but the cloaks and blankets we had helped a lot. I took the time to write up ten heat runes. Breakfast consisted of a mush up grain and some water. It tasted bland and wasn’t the most filling. I could tell the old man was hoping we would say something, over charging us for this shit food.

Thankfully the weather was clear and we went over to Gelllert’s house. “A cage you say? I got an old one for my guard dog, mighty fierce that thing was.” We looked at the cage. It was large and would take both of us to carry.

“We may need it when we come back. How much?” I asked.

“Well, I suppose I could part with it for fifty copper.” This town should change its name to Scam from whatever it currently was.

“We will pay the money if we need it when we come back.”

“Alright, no problem with me. What you plan on putting in it.”

“A monster.” Was all I said and we left. Climbing up the snow and ice covered mountain was hard work.

“Bran I am picking the next mission, lots of sun and nice women. I swear if I hear you complain about your mission I am kicking your ass down these rocks.” I said.

“This is a great mission.” Bran said in a sarcastic tone. That was when the wind hit. It was brutal and cold and threw up all the snow. I could barely see. I stopped and pulled out a rope from my pack and tied it around my waist. After a bit of shouting over the wind Bran did the same with the other end.

We set off again. How we were even supposed to find a stupid cockatrice in this storm was beyond me? The wind lifted in the afternoon for a bit. I could see the village in the distance below and we were ascending and circling around the mountain we were on. “Look around for any chicken dragons.” I said to Bran.

“So…ooo…oooo….co…..old.” His teeth were chattering.

“Suck it up and look.” I scanned the path ahead and saw a cluster of boulders in the distance sticking out of the snow. The wind picked up again and we lost sight of everything. We started walking and eventually reached the boulders. Stepping in between them the wind cut off thankfully. I looked at Bran and he didn’t seem to be doing well. I struggled to move my fingers and pulled out a heat rune. I activated it and put it under his clothes.

Bran let out a small sigh. It took a lot of effort to pull off our packs and lay out our blankets. We sat against a boulder next to each other with a blanket behind and under us and another one over us. Our packs rested on either side to block out any drafts.

“I don’t like this mission any more Ed.” Bran said. At least the heat rune was kicking in. I could feel some of it.

“I was an idiot to take it as well. We push on for two more days and then turn around and go back to the village to that shitty old man stealing our money.”

“Hah yeah. I wouldn’t even mind a fish.” I looked at Bran.

“You better not die on me.” I said.

“No, just I don’t like snow, ice, and the cold.” He said.

“Well if we survive you can tell all your kids about this amazing adventure and how they got white hair.” We kept our canteens next to us so the water melted and drank. It was cold but bearable. The only other warmth was from chewing dried meat and stale bread we had bought in Pentsworth.

The night was long and cold. Thankfully we didn’t freeze. The next day we got up. I could tell the heat rune was still working which was good. We then set off through the snowy wilderness. It was clear every so often when the wind died down. Just after midday I saw something.

“Look that peak there.” I pointed.

“I see it, there seems to be a ledge and couple of boulders.”

“Great for chicken dragons. You want to try and take one?”

“If you can slow it, it should be killable easily enough. Just kill both parents before taking any children.” Bran said.

“If we head down there, it should be doable. Getting back up will be painful.”

“This is a great mission, suck it up.” It was too cold to snort so I just shook my body a bit to show my annoyance. We set off down the mountain to go up another one. I slipped once but thankfully Bran was able to grab onto a small tree in time as the rope caught me. The ice was killer and I understood why the sales person offered small ice axes.

We ended up stopping at the base of the second mountain in a small grove of trees and spent the night huddled there. I was forced to activate a second heat rune after the first burned out. It was a tough night and I ended up activating a third rune by our feet so they wouldn’t completely freeze over.

The next day I put that one inside my clothes and felt much better. We made our way up the treacherous slope to the nest. I scrambled up first onto the small ledge and then helped Bran up. After some wiggling we both freed our swords from their frozen sheathes. We made our way to the group of boulders where I heard movement. A large chicken looking head looked around the boulder at us.

“Slow.” I cast and we rushed forward. I stabbed at the head while Bran circled around to get at its body. My blade bounced off its feathers. “Slow.” I cast again and aimed for its eye.

“I can’t cut it!” Bran called out. My blade went through the eye and into its head. A moment later it collapsed dead.

“Aim for the eye.” I said. I freed my blade and cleaned it off before the blood could freeze. We walked about the dead cockatrice. There was a nest with three small cockatrices in it about the size of an actual chicken. “Three…” I trailed off.

“I can’t see the other parent.” Bran said while scanning the skies around us. The chicks were making bleating noises which made it hard to focus or hear anything. “What do we do?”

“Stay on your guard and keep an eye on the sky.” We kept waiting for an attack but nothing came.

“Maybe daddy left for a prettier dragon chicken.” Bran said.

“Yeah, and they just might break up and he decides to visit his old lady here.” I gestured at the dead cockatrice. “We can’t wait around here forever. Three is better than one, but it will be a lot harder.”

“Just take one, in case the other parent comes back it will stay here.” Bran said.

“Fine.” I went over to the nest and slammed the flat of my blade on the back of the head of one of the chicks. It collapsed and I tucked it under my arm. I looked over at Bran and he had plucked a bunch of feathers from the dead cockatrice and stuffed them into his pack. Probably something he picked up from talking to other people.

We left the ledge and made our way back to the grove of trees by the time it got dark. “How do we even control this thing? The moment it wakes up it is going to be screaming and causing a problem.”

“Tie it up. Use the actual bandages we have and cut off the tips of its claws with a sword.” I looked at Bran. “What? You learn that kind of thing living in village and not reading books all the time.” I was tempted to ask which fish had claws but restrained myself. Once the baby cockatrice was contained we settled in for the night.

“Got to take watch. I will go first.” I said. It was the hardest watch of my life. Sitting there in the cold and dark it was so tempting to go to sleep. I counted out the seconds until it was halfway through the night and then woke up Bran for his turn.

Morning came all too quickly and we set off again. The baby cockatrice finally woke up and began to struggle in my arms while it made noises through its wrapped up beak. I had been hoping to make it back to town but we just barely made it to the boulders. At least the stupid monster kept struggling during the night which definitely kept me awake during my watch.

The next day it was a simple matter of descending the mountain and we reached the village. I covered the thing with a blanket and we went straight to Gellert’s house and bought the cage. We started immediately down the mountain to Pentsworth.

We kept the cockatrice tied up so it wouldn’t cause any issues. Also we didn’t want to attract people if we could help it. We weren’t worried so much about people stealing it, but asking questions and causing problems could easily happen. The first night I carefully freed the bandages holding the beak shut and fed it water and dried meat with Bran’s help.

I didn’t know what the thing ate, but it was dried meat or stale bread as the only two options. I figured jerky was the safer option. Thankfully it ate what we gave it and then we tied it back up. We ran out of food a day before Pentsworth but toughed through it.

Thankfully there was an Adventurers Guild here. “Welcome, names Brock.” The man behind the bar counter in the Adventurers Guild said.

“Need a room for the night and a meal for two. We also need a plate of meat preferably raw.” I said.

“Not a monster are you?” He asked. Giving the cage we had carried in a look.

“No just a creature we are transporting. It is in a cage and we will keep it in our room.” I said.

“No problem.” After that I paid twenty copper for it all and we lugged the cage up to our room and locked it in there. It was a relief to put that thing out of sight for a bit. Taking a seat in the dining area, no one else was here.

“Not much going on around here this time of year. Too cold for most folks.” Brock said as he brought out the food. “Mind if I join you?” He asked.

“Not a problem.” I replied and he grabbed a plate and pulled up a seat for himself.

“Where did you come from?” He asked.

“Up in the mountains, way too freaking cold.” Bran said.

“Well, you are welcome to stay.” Brock said.

“Thanks. We just want to get back to Antioch. I didn’t see any caravans headed that way on the mission board. How much would a wagon and horse cost?” I asked.

“No caravans. Get one or two a year, last one came through about a ten-day ago. Problem is, that the roads can snow over. Also you sometimes get yetis, cockatrices, and other things that come down from the mountains. As for a wagon or a cart. Probably thirty silver at least.” Brock said.

“It can’t be that much. A draft animal is at most ten and a cart five, maybe ten if well crafted.” Bran said.

“You are right, but times are tough out here. Rule among people is charge everyone double if you want to get by.” Brock replied. We ate in silence a bit before he spoke again. “If I am not mistaken you just want to get that creature you have back with you?” We both nodded at that.

“Well you could probably buy a kid’s sleigh for sixty copper. Sell it when the snow clears and buy a wheel barrow. Not the best, but it is an option.” Brock said. That was actually not a bad idea.

***

“Why…am…I…pulling…this?” Bran gasped out.

“Your mission, you get to drag the mission prize back. Also you need more strength and endurance. I got super mana to save my ass.” I said with a grin.

“You…are….full…of….shit.” Bran gasped out.

“Well you and Cocks seem like a great pair.” I said with a pointed look at the monster he was transporting.

“No…name.” Bran was apparently giving up full sentences.

“I think you mean to say, please use your heat runes so my Cocks and I don’t freeze to death.” I was just being evil now. Bran just sent me a halfhearted glare as he kept dragging the sled through the snow.

It wasn’t always this bad, but this snow was light like a fine powder and the sled just sank right through it most of the time. The stuff up in the mountain had been thicker for the most part. Along the roads with the empty fields, the wind would get going and push up huge drifts of snow we had to plow through. Some of them even went over our heads.

Bran was the official sled dragger. His mission choice, his problem. It was gray most of the time and when it started to get dimmer we called a halt and pulled off the road to the next farmhouse we saw. I went up to the door and knocked.

“Whose there?” A man called out.

“Two adventurers looking for a place to sleep in the barn for the night. Some warm food also. We can pay copper.” I heard stuff moving behind the door and then it opened a crack. An eyeball was visible and it scanned us. Normally we could sleep on the side of the road, but it was starting to get insanely cold at night and I was running low on heat runes.

“You can share dinner and then sleep in the barn. Twenty copper.”

“Ulric, don’t go being mean to these two. We are people of the Church, helping those in need.” A woman’s voice said from inside.

“Ten copper.” He grumbled out.

“Thank you.” I said. We set up our prisoner at the side of the house. It was covered by a blanket and had a warming rune, it should live. We brushed ourselves off as best we could before entering the house. It was warm and cozy. I noticed the couple from earlier and four young kids. Ranging from a boy around our age to a girl who had to be about six.

We set our packs to the side and took off our cloaks. “You poor dears you look half frozen. Now just sit down, supper will be ready in just a bit.” I pulled out the copper and handed it over to Ulric when his wife turned away. He gave me a nod.

“So are you really adventurers?” The boy asked.

“Yes, been so for a while now.” Bran said.

“You must have seen some exciting things. Fought monsters and who knows what else.” He said excitedly.

“Well it has been tough. Not even a year. We did fight monsters, lost some friends, tough to make a living.” I said.

“You worry too much about the coppers.” Bran said.

“That is because you like to spend everything I make.” I replied.

“So what are you two doing out in the middle of winter? Most folks just close up shop during this month or so.” Ulric said.

“A mission up into the mountains. Trying to get back to the capital now.” Bran said.

“The mountains, eh. Past Pentsworth?” He asked.

“Yeah, up to a small no name mining village.” Bran explained.

“All the way up there, well you certainly have gone through the worst of it. Probably another three days on foot until you drop off the plateau and the snow clears up.” He said.

“Plateau?” I asked.

“This whole area rests on a large plateau. You might have noticed road getting steep for quite a bit when you came out this way. We get the worst snow up here. Lots of land though and no nobles to shit all over you.” Ulric said.

“Language Ulric.” His wife shouted out and he grimaced.

“Do you mind if I make a light? It is a bit dark in here.” I asked.

“You use mana or something?” Ulric gave me a look.

“Runes.” He gave me a nod and I got my supplies. A short time later I had made two light runes and charged them. We kept one in the main room and I took one back to the kitchen to his wife as a thank you.

“Thank you dear, just a little bit more for dinner.” I could already smell the food.

“That is awesome.” The boy said and his siblings agreed.

“Helps make things easier and the least I can do. They should last a bit over month and then after that they will stop working.” I said.

“Now my wife will be after me to get these all the time.” Ulric grumbled. There was a roar from outside cutting off any further conversation. “Kids get to the cellar, now!” Ulric said. He grabbed an old beaten sword from above the mantle while Bran and I tossed on our cloaks.

“Any idea?” I asked.

“Could be a yeti, snow worm, or some other monster.” He gave us a look as we both drew our weapons. I quickly went and grabbed both light runes and Bran and I tied them off with a piece of string to our arms.

We left the house into the dark night. The wind was heavy and it was impossible to see anything with the snow blowing about. “This way, it came over from the barn.” We began moving through the snow when I thought I saw something ahead of us.

“SLOW!” I yelled out. “Move!” We all scattered and I saw a giant white beast streaked red with blood. It blended in with the snow and had to be at least fifteen feet. It swung a massive tree truck at where we had been standing. Despite being a few feet away I was hit with a shockwave of snow and freezing air.

“Slow.” I called out again and moved in to strike. I drew a cut but the wound on its leg quickly sealed by the line of blood freezing the wound shut. “Slow.” I called out again and stabbed forward. My blade pierced about two inches before stopping. I couldn’t pull it free as the blood froze around the blade. It was only when the monster moved was I able to yank it out.

“Can’t hurt it!” Bran called out.

“Slow, fall back.” We retreated away from the monster and caught our breath. It began lumbering towards us.

“Can’t get to its head it is too tall.” Bran said.

“A yeti…Gods preserve us.” Ulric whispered out. He looked in complete panic but I didn’t have time for that now.

“Our right. I keep hitting it with slow and we dry and hack its leg off.” I said. It was a terrible plan but the only one we had. Another roar hit us and its club was coming straight down. “Slow.” I had enough mana for four more.

We both hacked at the leg. “Slow.” We just couldn’t cut deep enough. “Slow.” A small chunk of flesh and fur was hacked off. “Slow.” Suddenly the hardness gave way and the wounds stopped freezing. “Slow.” That was it, I was out. But the damage was quite severe now and blood was flowing out of the massive wound without freezing. “Get back!” I shouted

We retreated back. The yeti went down to one knee as it roared in pain. It swung its club sideways and the reach was quite long. Bran, who was two steps behind me and closer to the attack spun and brought up his shield. The shield cracked in half and Bran went flying into the darkness and I lost sight of his light rune.

“Bran!” I shouted.

He did manage to stop the club and save me. The monster let out a roar and turned and limped away. I was tempted to give chase, but I was exhausted and Bran had been smashed. I wandered around for a bit until I found him lying in a pile of snow. Red was sprinkled all over. “Over here!” I yelled out.

Ulric came over and helped me get him out. He looked bad and I didn’t need a party panel to know that. We carried him back to the house and Ulric cleared off the table and we set him down. His left arm was twisted at a horrible angle and his chest was caved in. I went to my pack and dug out both health potions I bought at the capital.

I poured one down his throat and his wound seemed to heal a bit. The arm jerked but stayed twisted. “Hold him, I need to straighten out his arm.” I said. Ulric looked at me and nodded. It took a bit of work but it was laid out straight before I fed him my last health potion. His chest definitely rose and the arm jerked about once before stilling.

The party panel still listed him as crippled. “Is there a priest nearby?” I asked.

“In the next town, three days walk from here.” Ulrik said. That would be pushing it if I wanted to get the injury healed before it set in.

“What is going on? Is it over….oh.” The wife said after coming up from the cellar.

“A yeti, Bran took a heavy blow but they managed to drive it off.” Ulric said. We all looked at Bran in silence.

“Help me bandage him up and get this mess cleaned up.” We cleaned up Bran and lay him on some blankets in front of the fire place. The kids came up but dinner was a subdued affair. They offered to let me sleep here in the main room with Bran which I gladly accepted.

I woke up with a start when I heard a groan. “What happened?” Bran said. I gave him some water and explained what happened last night.

“I gave you two healing potions but your arm is still messed up and your breathing doesn’t sound good.” I said.

“That thing hits like a whale. I don’t think I can stand, my hip hurts.” I looked under his clothing and saw heavy bruising there. “What about my shield?”

“Snapped in half.” I said.

“I liked that shield and I painted it also.” He mumbled.

“So there is a priest, but he his three days from here. I can’t drag you both all the way there.” I said.

“So is my life worth a gold piece?” Bran looked at me. I could see the worry in his face.

“I would have to leave your pack here anyways, but I don’t think they will keep it fed and watered.” I sighed.

“Problem?” Ulric had come up on us and I didn’t even notice.

“We have a valuable creature with us. We need it alive…” I said.

“So you are asking me to feed and water it, what is it?” He asked.

“A cockatrice.” I said. I prayed that Ulric would help us out.

“Gods…” He muttered. “Alright, I assume that that is what is in the cage and under the blanket?”

“Yeah, tied up as well.”

“Least I can do, probably have to keep it in the cellar. Come on, help me move it before everyone wakes up.” With that we lugged the cage into the house and down into the small earthen cellar. I showed Ulric what I had done and explained what we had been feeding it. I made it clear that only its mouth should be untied when he fed and watered the monster and it should be tied back up afterwards despite being in the cage.

With that done we looked outside and the barn was completely destroyed with only the remains of some animals left. There would be nothing to help pull the sleigh. We loaded Bran onto it and wrapped him up in blankets. I set off right at dawn after a quick breakfast.

“Who is the sleigh horse now?” Bran wheezed out. It was painfully slow and exhausting to drag him along and I had to take frequent breaks. I kept going into the night until I couldn’t tell where the road was.

The next day was the same. We did pass other farm houses but I didn’t bother to stop. If Bran was going to recover he needed to get to the priest. I wished I could use the Chant of Healing for the hundredth time as I put another foot in front of the other. No one else was traveling, but there were marks in the snow that let me know where the road was.

The tree line and other features also helped. I had been hoping to make it in two days but it wasn’t possible. I finally reached the town, mid-day of the third day. I came up to the closed wooden gate. “Open up please!” I shouted. A guard looked over the top of the palisade.

“What do you want?”

“My friend is severely hurt and we need a healer.” The guard gave us both a look and then disappeared. The gate was swung open and we entered.

“Church is in the center of town.” He said. I dragged Bran all the way there and knocked on the Church doors. It took a while but someone finally came to open them.

“Yes?” A younger looking man said.

“I heard you were a healer, my friend needs help.” The priest looked at Bran and then me.

“Bring him in.” The priest said and opened up the door. I dragged the sleigh inside. “How old is the injury?” He asked.

“Not even three days.” I said.

“I shall try. By the light and the power of order. Heal this one to his previous state whole and well.” It was the same chant as Max which increased my hope to learn it as he repeated it again and again. A gold glow surrounded the priest’s hands and Bran. It made me wonder why healing was a gold color while the Chant of Time was blue.

After the fifth time he stopped and I pulled the blankets and bandages off. Checking the party panel confirmed he was no longer crippled, only injured. “He should be fine now. Might I suggest a donation by the alter up front, a prayer wouldn’t be remiss either?” The priest gave me a look. “I will look after your friend for the moment.”

I nodded and went to the front of the chapel. The symbol of the sun was hung there and a couple of light runes adorned the place. I pulled out twenty copper and laid it on the alter and said a quick prayer of thanks to the Gods of Order and Light. With that done I made my way back. Bran was already standing up, but still looked shaky.

“Thank you, come on Bran.” Bran gave his thanks as well and we left with the sled and blankets. I found the Adventurers Guild and paid for a room and meals for both of us.

“Thanks.” I looked at Bran. “I mean it, thanks. You saved my life. If I was crippled…I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Those health potions are coming out of your share. I should have you drag my ass on that sleigh back to the farm house.” I said. Bran let out a weak chuckle.

“By the Gods that thing hit hard. I think I prefer goblins.”

“Or fish?” I asked.

“No, never fish. Well, maybe. That hurt way too much.” He rubbed his chest a bit. The next morning we set off back to the farm.

***

Cocks had survived and Bran had fully recovered by the time we returned. We began the walk back to the capital. We ended up trading the sleigh for a wheelbarrow right after the town with the priest and continued on our trek. The main issue was money. We had enough for two ten-days but the trip back was looking at least three ten-days. That was with sleeping outside and careful spending.

Having to feed the stupid monster was expensive since it only ate meat. We had tried to feed it vegetables but it spat those right out. Stopping to try and find scribe work would just make more problems since we didn’t want people to know about our prisoner in case someone tried to steal it.

“You have to do it, for the good of the mission.” I said looking at Bran. He just glared back.

“Fine!” He finally gave in. This part of the road ran next to a river. Thankfully the snow and ice weren’t too bad and Bran got to fishing. I was tempted to ask how he knew how to fish on a river when he grew up next to the ocean. Looking at his face I decided I liked living and he wouldn’t take it too well.

“Six fish, two for each of us. That should get us an extra two days.” Bran said when he was finished. He had to go fishing three more times in order to get us enough food to make it. When the capital was in sight he muttered a prayer of thanks that the mission would finally be done with.

We came up to the gate and the guards gave a look at the wheel barrow. I had dug out the mission parchment that morning and held it up for them to see. They all looked at the cockatrice a bit confused. “We need to keep the monsters out. I don’t want to be fighting that thing when it breaks loose.”

“But it is in a cage and tied up. Also we can’t stop a sanctioned mission.” Another guard said.

The arguments kept going back and forth until someone went to get the Commander for this gate. An older man came out of the gate house and walked over to us. He looked at the monster and then at our parchment. “You and you, escort them to the Alchemists Guild. They can pass.” With that we went through the gate house into Antioch.

The soldiers took us to the guild hall and we went inside. The two guards left after we entered. The atrium was richly decorated, showing clear signs of wealth. Paintings and tapestries adorned the walls. “What do you two want?” A young woman looked at us in disgust from behind a large counter.

I pulled out the mission parchment. “This mission.” I said. She looked at the cage and then us.

“You are in no state to meet with a Master Alchemist, you need to clean up a bit first.” I just looked at her.

“Listen shit face. Getting this stupid thing here has been a pain. If you don’t get someone with more brains than you I am going to kill it and tell my guild how your guild is a piece of shit and we won’t work with you anymore. Probably won’t happen, but it will piss a lot of people off and get you in trouble. So shut up and do your job.”

“Guards.” She called out. “These two are threatening me.” Four burly looking men came into the room.

“We aren’t. Just telling her to get someone in charge since we completed a mission.” I held up a piece of parchment showing it. “Now we are here on official business and I don’t care what we look like.” The room was quiet as both sides glared at each other.

“Remove them, take that thing as payment for giving me trouble.” The woman gestured at the wheel barrow with our cage and cockatrice. I drew my blade.

“The first one to touch me or that monster is dead, that is my word as a mage.” The guards stopped advancing. Bran also drew his sword. “Just get someone more important than shit face.” I said while gesturing at the woman.

“How dare you! I am-“

“I don’t care who you are, do your job or shut up. She is an idiot.” I said the last bit to the guards and saw two of them grin.

“Kill them!” She screamed. Still no one moved and she kept screaming death threats.

“What is all the racket?” An older looking man came into the room. Everyone started talking at once. “Silence! You first.” He pointed at the woman.

“These two vagrants came in here and demanded to see a Master Alchemist. They are clearly troublemakers and I called the guards. They then drew their weapons and threatened to use mana against me.”

“Alright and now you.” He gestured at me.

“We have a mission from your guild. To deliver a map and that. Here is the mission parchment. Shit face there told us we needed new clothes and then called in guards after I refused to leave. She then ordered them to attack us and I held them off with the threat of using mana. I am a registered mage.” I said.

The old man let out a sigh. “Miss Goldenfich, please remember that we get all sorts here. Adventurers tend to be a bit rough around the edges. Next time just get a Master and don’t make a fuss. Now everyone put away your weapons and you two come with me. Bring the cockatrice as well.” We followed the old man through a couple of hallways to room with a pit with a cage over it.

“Can you help put the monster in there?” He asked. It was a simple matter of untying it and tossing it in. “Excellent, we have been needing one for a while. Now come with me and we can sort out the payment.” We followed him to an office, Bran brought the wheel barrow and cage with us.

“I also have this map.” I handed over a piece of parchment detailing where the nest was. “There were two other baby cockatrices there.”

“Hmmm, maybe another expedition in the spring. Well I don’t mind. Getting the cockatrice this soon is excellent.” He went into his desk and pulled out a small pouch and a single gold coin. “Twenty silver and one gold. Now just wait a minute while I write out a note for your guild. Nothing bad, just saying you did quite well.” He sealed the parchment with some wax and a ring he was wearing.

With that completed we left with huge grins. We quickly sold the wheel barrow and cage for forty copper to someone on the street. Less than what they were worth, but it didn’t matter now since we were rich. We made our way to the shops where we had gotten clothes before. We purchased new clothing and then made our way to one of the nicer inns.

It cost four silver but was worth every bit. A haircut, bath, large dinner, and the comfy beds. I felt clean for the first time in forever. We had a nice breakfast and then we made our way to our guild hall.

“Still here?” I saw the same woman as before. “What exactly did you do?”

“Punched an idiot for asking idiot questions. Now what do you two want?”

“Mission completion.” I held up the parchments.

“Huh, just make your way upstairs.”

We made our way up to the Mission Completion room. The same old man was there surrounded by parchment. “Yes?”

“These two missions.” I handed over the parchments. “Also a note to pass on.”

“You owe eighty copper from the caravan and four silver from the mapping.” He said and then opened up the note. “You also captured one. So twenty four silver and eighty copper.” I handed over the gold piece and was sad to see it go. He put it in his desk and quickly pulled out a pouch and tossed some copper into it.

“Already pre-counted for seventy five silver. Good job, nice to see young folks working hard.” He said.

“Yeah, it was definitely hard-“

“I am old and don’t have time to listen, get out.” That was a quick change of attitude but we left and went to find Hilda.

“So you two are back?” She said looking at us.

“Yeah, common room for two, ten-days.” It was tempting to get something nicer but I wanted to save money instead of spending it all.

“Successful mission?” She asked.

“Yeah, it went well.” Bran said.

“If you have a lot of money, the guild can hold onto for you. Fresh clothes and smelling nice. You clearly just had a good mission and decided to celebrate. This old lady has been around for a while. Second floor, room labeled Savings. Now that is an eighty copper each for those beds.” After paying her we made our way back to the second floor and found the room.

I knocked on the door. “Come in.” A voice called out. We both entered. The room was completely plain except for a large steel door embedded into a stone wall. If I had to guess that was the tower attached to the guild hall and I noted a number of runes carved on the door. The man was middle aged and well dressed, sitting behind an almost barren desk.

“I am Murdoc and my guess is that you want to store some coin?” He asked.

“Yes, how does it work?” I asked. I knew my parents kept a secure room to house the money they made. This was probably similar but for the entire guild.

“Quite simple. You can store twenty five silver at a time and the guild takes one silver as payment. Whenever you want money you can withdraw as little as a silver to your entire account, no charge. You also will write a will, a document saying who gets your money if you die. If you don’t write a will the guild will keep it.” Murdoc explained.

“What is to keep you from running off with our money?” Bran asked.

“Trust. There are a large number of protections on the vault, but it is trust between you and the guild in the end. Our senior members keep upwards of a hundred gold each here. There are other services we offer once you have more than ten gold pieces stored.” Murdoc said.

“Can we store seventy five silver but spilt it between the two of us?” I asked.

“Unusual, but not a problem. That would leave thirty six in each account and three as a fee.” We gave our names and handed over the silver. I willed for mine to be left to my two brothers. Bran did the same thing listing out his family. I split up the remainder of the coin between the two of us and we left the room.

“So much money…” Bran said.

“Huh, yeah.” We went downstairs and cleaned out our packs.

“I forgot about these.” Bran held up a cockatrice feather he had stored in the bottom of his pack.

“Got something there?” A man walking by asked and looked over.

“Cockatrice feathers.” Bran said.

“They sell about five copper each to an alchemist.” The man said giving them a look.

“That much?” Bran asked.

“Well, maybe, maybe not. Depends on quality, age, and so on. Try the Brews shop past the plaza and towards the Alchemists Guild.”

“Thanks, I’m Bran, this is Ed.” I gave a friendly wave and noted he was also rank two. A bit older than us but still a teen.

“Carl, so just get back?” He sat at the other end of the wood bed from Bran.

“Yeah. Don’t like the snow, that is for sure.” Bran said.

“Tell me about it. That is why I spend winter here and do caravan duty the rest of the year. Not a lot of money but the odd job during the winter helps.”

“You don’t go on other missions?” I asked.

“Hah, no. There are two types of adventurers. The lazy kind like me who just like to relax and enjoy life. By the time I get older I will be rank three and be able to retire and manage a guild hall. Then you got the people who like excitement all the time and take the harder missions. Most of those people die, but the rare few make it to rank four and even rarer rank five.”

“Don’t get me wrong it is fairly boring, but I also run errands. Those are simple missions. Get paid a couple of silver to deliver some ones will, take a message somewhere, and other things like that. I am the kind of person that keeps things running around the guild. If I get really lucky I might get a reserved spot on the upper floors, but normally those go to retired rank fours.”

“Never thought about retirement.” I said. I wanted to live forever, but I wasn’t about to tell people that. I also had never really considered what other adventurers did when they got older.

“That is why you will end up rank four probably. You are still young. After your party gets killed off then you will understand. It is hard to come back from that.” Carl said.

“Hear any news about an expedition to Gilleth?” Bran asked.

“Yeah, that is happening in about three ten-days when winter breaks. Two thousand soldiers at least from what I heard. A lot of people are already planning to go in with the army. Mostly scouting and harassment. I wouldn’t recommend going. I went on one before and the mana those mages start throwing around is insane, since they all combine their efforts.”

“We have friends out that way, just wondering if they are okay.” Bran said.

“Oh that is easy enough to check. Room on the second floor where everyone’s medallion is registered. If you die, the medallion turns gray and then crumbles to dust a couple days later.” Carl said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yep, that is how they keep track who is in the guild and who is dead.” We finished going through our packs and then followed Carl up to the second floor. The room was labeled Active Members.

We went in and an older man looked up at Carl. “Carl, good to see you. What brings you up here?”

“They wanted to check on their friends.” Carl said.

“Ah, of course. Their full names.”

“George Fullbent, Falkerk Rosen, Maxen Horn, Devon, and Smert Saln.” I said.

“Just check the walls, Carl knows how things are ordered.” We looked over the walls and found the medallions for everyone but Falkerk Rosen. He went back to the old man and there was a sinking feeling in my gut.

“Hmm, he died seventy two days ago.” The old man replied after looking in a large book on his desk.

“Sorry about that.” Carl said.

“He was a good person.” Bran whispered. We left the room and went to have some dinner and a strong drink. We were sitting in silence when Carl spoke up.

“It is tough. My first group is all dead. Thought we could take on a wyrnn. It was a complete disaster. Beth, now she was a great shot. She died first. The monster swooped in and bit off her head. Terrance was next. He was in love with her you see, well more than the rest of us. The tail shattered his back. He lay there chocking in his own blood for the rest of the fight.”

“I will admit I pissed myself then. I didn’t run but I was scared out of wits. I managed to sink a single arrow into its leg. The wyrnn didn’t like that and a blast of air from its wings sent me tumbling down some rocks and unconscious. When I woke up, the other three members of my group were dead. Don’t know what happened to them, but they were probably eaten.” He took a look drink from his mug. The mood was somber after that.

CHAPTER 6

I spent the rest of my time going to the library and practicing the Chant of Time. It finally paid off when it became Experienced at the end of the two ten-days. I worked out the chant and learned stop. It would completely freeze something in place for a single second. With this I could target a weapon and cause an enemy to lose his grip or disorient them as everything seemed to leap forward by a second. The thing that was stopped was also immune to damage. So I wouldn’t be able to stop something and kill it in that state.

While I could use slow on a weapon, it wasn’t sudden enough to break ones grip. I had experimented with this and it was always better to target the monster or person rather than the weapon itself. For something like the yeti, stop would have been helpful. I tried it on myself and I couldn’t tell I had been stopped. There was no blackness or loss of time.

If I didn’t know I had cast the spell and was paying attention to minor things that were moving about it could have been easy to mark it as a mental distraction. It was more expensive in terms of mana, but I was pleased just to be making some progress. It also made whatever was stopped invulnerable as far as I could tell. If I had sank my sword into the yeti and used stop on the sword it might have cut itself apart.

I had kept placing points into wisdom, letting the other ones level up naturally. My mana was the key to all my fights and I wanted as much as possible. I still had not figured out how to recover mana more quickly and I despaired of ever finding an answer.

This was the morning we were going to look into another mission. Bran had purchased a new shield and sword. He had also purchased two health potions for himself after telling him I would charge him two silver a potion if he didn’t buy some and got injured. It seemed almost silly not to keep a couple of them on hand, but the price was prohibitive. I was tempted to buy a mana potion but ten silver was way too much.

We stared at the mission board. “Nothing really that great up here.” I said.

“I was asking around, apparently there are some slimes coming out of the swamp to the south past Azalon.” I looked at Bran

“No, just…no. No swamps. What about a bounty?” I asked.

“Can you track or have some mana to do it?”

“No…” I mumbled out.

“Having trouble?” Carl came up and asked.

“Nothing good is up here. Some action, but not in a shit hole.” Bran said.

“It is tough when you are rank two, no guarding some nobles while they poke around ruins.” Carl said.

“I know, that actually looked interesting. This one then.” I pointed at a request.

Rank Two, Open

A detailed map is needed of the goblin settlements in Gellith Forest by mid-spring.

Posted by Royal Army

Reward: 2 Silver per settlement mapped out

“Goblins, really? Bran asked.

“We did well enough before. Plus with my map making skills it shouldn’t be that bad. I figure we sneak up to the top of the mountain in the center of the forest and I can draw out the whole thing easily.” I said.

“That is where they are all camped out, in the ruins there.” Bran replied.

“Well the ruins are at the base of the mountain. I figure there are at least thirty surrounding settlements, probably more. Also we never saw settlements high up on the mountain.” I said. Carl just looked at me and shook his head.

“That is definitely a rank four attitude.” He said.

“You really think that we can get through all of them?” Bran asked.

“If not we just turn back. It is listed as open, so no worry if we fail. They are probably hoping they get a bunch of maps to compare.” I said.

“Alright, but if this goes badly I am blaming you.” Bran said. We looked for a caravan headed out that way but there was nothing.

“Good luck you two.” Carl said. We gave our goodbyes and set off.

“So why did you really want to do this?” Bran asked.

“I am actually kind of curious about how everyone is doing. We know they are alive, but did they stick around Jopel?”

“Money would be tough, but they might be able to handle it. Thank the Gods, we won’t have to worry about that for a while.”

“Yeah, so you want to see something really amazing with mana?” I asked as we exited the capital.

“What?” Bran said while giving me a worried look. I picked up a pebble and tossed it in the air.

“Stop.” It froze in place. Bran reached out to poke it but the mana wore off and it fell.

“Huh, that is pretty cool.”

“I was just thinking and I figured I could use it on weapons so people would drop them but then I realized something. I stop something in the air and people run into it like my sword, but I could use other things.” I said.

“It doesn’t move?”

“For an entire second. Can’t be damaged either. I have some thread so you tie it between two trees and use the ability…”

“How bad could thread be? It isn’t sharp.”

“It is thin and hard to see, which is what matter. If it is at neck height and you ran into it.” I drew my hand across my neck. “Have to test it, but you wouldn’t be walking away.”

“You are scary.”

“Says the person with that on their shield.” It was a maw of teeth. The detail work with the hanging bits of flesh was amazing.

“Yeah, too bad that yeti was too stupid to notice.”

“Don’t worry I will figure out the mana to breathe underwater, just think of all the fish you could scare.” Bran looked at me. “Why that shield might even be known as….Bigfish.”

“That was old months ago.”

“Still funny.”

“We are going to Azalon after this and I am getting all the embarrassing stories from your family.” Bran said with a grin.

“No….you wouldn’t dare!” I said in horror.

“Oh yes I would. I bet your brothers would love to share. Got to have something to talk about at the guild halls.”

“Anyways, did you ever learn what they are doing with a cockatrice?” I asked to change the subject.

“Potions are made with monster parts.” I gave him a look of horror. “I felt the same way. They are purified and as long as you aren’t drinking ten a day you should be okay. The blood is used for stamina potions.”

“Makes sense, kind of. What about the feathers?” I asked.

“Special type of armor. It is insanely expensive, like a hand full of gold expensive. Apparently it resists most weapons and mana.”

“So if you could buy one item you wanted, what would it be? I would probably go for a platinum sword that is forever sharp and is flaming.” I said.

“Something that would let me fly or at least float over the ground so I didn’t have to walk. I would also be above everyone else.” He added.

“Did you ever look into a name change?” I asked.

“Yeah, costs a gold.”

“That much, doesn’t seem like a big deal.”

“It is a good way to get out of contracts. When your name changes everything goes like the guild medallion.”

“Makes sense, sucks for you though.”

“Tell me about it.”

***

“I see Jopel the town of dreams.” Bran said.

“Where dreams go to die.”

“Well we made it.”

“Let’s go see Boron and get the word on the street.”

“The word on the street is mud, ice, and shit.” Bran said. We walked into the town. It was just like always, quiet and sad. We made our way to the guild hall. It was a bit before midday so I wasn’t expecting too many people. There was no one there except Boron behind the counter.

“Hello…welcome back you two.” Boron said with a grin.

“Good to see you as well. A mug for each of us.” I laid out the copper and he gave us each a mug. “So what is happening in Jopel the town of dreams?”

“The usual. People show up, they leave. Lots of goblin activity. There are patrols within two days of the town. Army can’t get here soon enough.” Boron said.

“What about George and his group?” I asked. Boron looked away for a moment.

“Tough times for them. Got low on money and had to live outside of town. Can’t run a charity here. They lost their leader too, Falkerk. Hit them all pretty hard. I think they are on an expedition right now.”

“Sounds rough out there.”

“A lot of people are dying, even lost a whole party of rank threes. The town guard isn’t much here. Only six men and a shitty wood wall. Things look good for both of you.”

Bran and I then started telling of our journey after leaving Jopel and everything we did. We finished talking later in the afternoon as a couple people came in. It wasn’t anyone I recognized but they were rank ones. Bran and I paid for double servings and took seat near the fireplace. Out clean clothes looked a world of difference from how beat up the other group looked.

“Reminds me of us.” I said.

“Yeah.” We both quieted down as one took a bag up to Boron.

“Bounty, fifteen goblins and three wargs.” That wasn’t much at all. Only twenty four copper. “Put it for a meal for all of us.” The young man went and sat back down with his group.

“Remind me why we ever did that again?” Bran asked.

“Money.”

“Ahh, yeah, now I remember. Good times.”

“If you had to guess how many goblins and wargs do you say you could take on?” I asked.

“Two and win, after that it is tough you know. Though the large shield will help.”

“You should put metal spikes on it so you can slam it onto people.”

“I thought about that, but they break off easily and the shield doesn’t last as long.” We sipped from our mugs looking at the other group while we waited for our food.

“Boron will probably serve them first, the bleeding heart.” I said.

“Probably right, he did the same for us.”

“Well I am going to make four flash runes. I don’t want to have to worry about it later.” I said.

“Good idea. Those are insanely powerful. You really are ridiculous.”

“Say that before I shove a health potion down your throat.”

“Point made, point made.” Boron did bring food out to the other group first and they ate like starving animals.

“Tell me I was never that bad.”

“Thankfully no, but the rest of us were.”

“I do agree visiting Azalon is a good idea after this.”

“What? Where did that come from?” Bran asked.

“I don’t know enough runes, only the ones I copied from the shop. I need to sit down with my mother and learn how to make some more. I have heat, chill, light, repel, and flash which is just light improperly drawn.”

“I can finally read some actual books to get some practice in.”

“You could have always gone with me to the library.” Bran just looked at me like I had gone crazy. “Okay yeah, I got a bit obsessive.”

“A shark eating fish is a bit obsessive. You were nuts. I thought you were taking some Twilight for a while there the way you were smiling.”

“Twilight?”

“This is why I hang around the guild so I know these things. A powered drug, you sniff it and everything gets better. Food, women, everything.”

“You try it?”

“No way. First, it is expensive. Second I learned what potions are made of. That stuff is probably made of monster parts.” He gestured below the table making it clear which parts he thought the drug was made from.

“Yeah, you don’t want any half human half monsters running around.”

“Don’t joke about that. It will give me nightmares. I keep thinking my beautiful wife having a fish baby. Just no.” Boron brought out our food thankfully and put an end to that conversation.

“Boron’s wife sure knows how to cook.” I said.

“She is amazing. Even the people at main guild hall were impressed with me from what I had learned from her.”

“Probably since you know the right way to hold a knife.”

“Excuse me.” We looked up from our meal to see one of the rank one adventurers from the other table. I waited a bit but no one said anything.

“Yes?” I said.

“We were wondering if you would be willing to team up with us and all.”

“Uh huh.” I looked at the worn down group and back to the one that had come up to us. I looked at Bran and he shrugged. That wasn’t any help. It was kicking a kitten. I didn’t mind doing it but it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

“There are two main problems. The first is you are all broke and probably can’t afford any supplies. Let me finish. Second you are probably of low ability. So the one question I have is why should we help you guys out? If it involves words like compassion or charity try again.” He looked even more down when I said that.

“Everything we find you can keep.” He said.

“No Robert-“

“Shut up Gar, we need help.” I went back to my meal taking the time to carefully partition my food into small portions while their group had an argument. Bran just copied me, not saying anything. After a bit they finally stopped and Robert came back. “Please help us.”

“Sit, I don’t like people hovering over me while I eat.” Robert pulled up a chair and the rest grabbed nearby chairs. “What is the problem?” I asked. They all started speaking at once. I held up my hand and thankfully they got the message to shut up. “Gar, tell me about the last expedition you went on.”

“Well we just ran into the patrol. I managed to kill a warg but Terry here was bitten and then the goblins were on us. Ern and Jorn both got stabbed. We managed to win but we were all wounded.” Gar said.

“What are each of your rolls in your group?” I asked.

“Well I am a fighter. So are Robert and Jorn. Terry and Ern are both archers, but we are running short on arrows.” I let out a sigh at this. There was no one with mana.

“All from the same town?” I asked.

“No, we met up along the road and here in Jopel.” Gar said. I looked over at Bran and he gave me another shrug.

“Why not just go home or get other jobs?” I asked.

“I ran away.” Terry said.

“Orphan.” Ern said.

“Same here.” Robert added.

“Forth son.” Gar said.

“Third son.” Jorn said. I was quickly realizing that being an adventurer was used to kill off a lot of extra people that had nowhere else to go.

“What about the army?” I asked. “At least you get meal and a bed.” They all looked surprised at that. “I recommend you head out and go sign up with them.

“But we spent all we had to become adventurers.” Ern said. It was a more of a whine than anything.

“Well you all fail. If I helped you then you would learn nothing and still be weak. If you can’t make it even with this many people, tough luck.” I finished the last of my food and left the table with Bran. We went into our room and I let out a long sigh.

“That was brutal Ed.” Bran said.

“I know. I am surprised they aren’t dead yet. Idiots playing at this. It isn’t a game. Also I am not wasting my time on them. If they were any good they would have left that sad group.”

“True but harsh. At least I am not useless.”

“You can trap and are good at things like getting information and talking to people.”

“You aren’t that bad except when you go on a rant like that.”

“Don’t blame me, blame how this is all set up. I mean they take in adventurers and most of them get killed. Probably helps keep people from killing each other. No one gets proper training or help.”

“Well night, see you in the morning.” I was a bit annoyed at him for not saying anything. He was the people person not me.

“Night.” I said. It was obvious there wasn’t training so most of these type of people would die. It was the Adventurers Guild not the Caravan Guarding Guild. They needed people to be independent and competent to complete missions. It still annoyed me at how wasteful it all seemed.

***

The next day we left the guild hall and purchased a fair amount of supplies. With that done we set off into the forest. We had only just got started when the five of them from the night before came out from behind trees.

“Give us all your stuff or else.” Robert said.

“You started it you finish it.” Bran said.

“Next time don’t shrug your shoulders. I will give you all one chance, back away or else.” An arrow flew by my head and hit a tree behind me.

“We are in chargeeeeeee…” I hit all five of them with slow. I moved out of the way of the way of where their arrows were aimed and proceeded to chop off the heads of two of them. The rest let out screams and I hit them with another slow. It was a simple matter of killing the last three.

“That was scary and brutal.” Bran said looking at the corpses. We took their medallions and took all their weapons. Only one sword was of decent value. After gathering everything up, we went back to Boron.

“Had a problem outside of town.” I then dumped the five medallions on the counter. “They attacked us and I killed them.” Boron let out a long sigh.

“Well the best thing is to leave their stuff with me in case there is a will. There probably isn’t since they are ones and attacked you. You can pick it up when you get back or you can stick around for two days.”

“We are heading out.” I said and we left.

“That was terrible.” Bran said.

“Idiots, but they were desperate.” As we walked in silence I considered if I should have been nicer. It was an option but that would just lead to more problems further along. I wasn’t their family. They had to earn their place and not depend on me to carry them through the tough times.

That is what I liked about Bran. Sure things were shitty for him but he pulled his weight. If that group just had a hard time killing enough goblins and was a bit low on funds that would be one thing. They were completely useless. Well they did kill some, but I just didn’t care.

“You are sighing quite a bit over there.” Bran said.

“I could have done more, but I just didn’t want to.” I said.

“Adventuring is like fishing. You have to learn how to do it. If you have someone fish for you, you will never learn. Sure you helped me out a lot, but I would have been fine without you. Maybe, who knows, but people just have to make their own way.”

“I still don’t get why they didn’t go for the army.”

“The age for entry is set at sixteen and they probably had their hearts set on being adventurers. Imagine going back a failure. Most people would rather die.”

“Death is permanent, failure isn’t.”

“Embarrassment is for your whole life.” Bran replied.

That did make me feel a little better but not much. The rest of the day we spent walking through the forest and I got my head back together. I was no one’s stepping stone. Either people could get in line or out of the way.

On the fourth day we heard a goblin patrol. We took cover behind some trees and they passed right on by. It was obvious that wargs didn’t have a sense of smell. Probably from the overwhelming stink of the goblins or poor breeding. It could also be that their teeth were messing things up in their snout. The patrol was only seventeen large, but we didn’t want to carry loot to slow us down.

Getting the map made and getting back was far more profitable and any fighting would bring unnecessary attention. We made our way more carefully now, taking our time to be silent. There were no idle conversations. Even breakfast and dinner went by with quiet chewing. We passed another patrol on the fifth day and two more on the sixth.

We only barely avoided the last one, but thankfully goblins were not quiet when moving through the forest. We had taken to a ridge and spotted the mountain in the distance at the end of the day. This area of the forest was like a bowl that lead to the mountain. I was hoping the far side was the same way, but there was no way to know. There just wasn’t anything tall enough and close enough to get an accurate map of goblin settlements in the area.

The seventh day we passed by a settlement. It was fairly large, with a second palisade added on to the side of the first to expand the space for huts for the goblins to live in. I did note that there seemed a small number of fighters compared to goblins just doing random tasks. That was a good sign. They were probably hoping the patrols intercepted any people and their walls would hold in an attack.

The eighth day we saw our first armored patrol. All the goblins up to this point had been in rags. These ones were clearly dressed better and had horribly made metal plates over parts of their body. I also noted that they carried spears as well as swords. It was hard to get any sleep that night even with Bran keeping watch.

The ninth day was a big one. We took our time to not make any noise as we moved forward through the forest. We saw two patrols, I had no clue how they didn’t see us. Probably weren’t expecting anyone this deep into their territory. We reached a tree line near the base of the mountain and saw hundreds of goblins moving in and out of tunnels leading into it. Huts were scattered everywhere along with fields.

Looking up, about a fifth of the way up there was nothing, just more trees and no goblins. That was good and confirmed that the upper reaches of the mountain were unmolested. That was the main reason I thought we had a shot at this. We retreated back and we waited for night fall. It helped that since patrols were so common they were forming their own paths through the forest so it was easy enough to stay away from them.

When night finally came the goblins seemed to settle down. There were no sentries posted either. We moved through their fields and past their homes. We then began ascending the mountain. Nothing called out and we easily got into the far tree line. With a relieved breath we began climbing very carefully up the mountain in the dark.

Dawn came and we weren’t at the top. “Shit, this is massive.” Bran said his first words in days.

“Yeah.” I whispered back.

We kept on climbing until we heard a noise above us. Ducking behind a boulder we peaked out. A large griffon swooped in with a dead goblin in its claws and landed on the ledge above us. We quickly went to the left to avoid the monster. Fighting would only draw attention and it was clear the griffons were keeping the goblins away from the upper reaches of the mountain.

As we continued our ascent we noticed two more griffons flying about. Nowhere near us, but their presence was worrying. We reached the peak late in the afternoon and thankfully there were no griffons all the way up here. The sky was clear and we looked out below us. “Alright I am going to need to barrow your shield.”

“Don’t mess up the paint.” Bran said. I walked along the ridge making a map with the mountain at the center. There were a couple large rivers, the goblin settlements I could see, and we even observed Jopel in the distance. We rested the rest of that afternoon and I repeated the same process when it got dark, just putting small x’s where the settlements were based on the lights we could see in the forest.

“So how many?” Bran asked.

“Let me clean my brush and put my ink away.” I said. They were expensive and I didn’t want to ruin them. “Okay, at least the starlight is good and we got a half and a quarter moon. I had a vague estimate, but when I was finished counting the number was huge. “I have sixty eight, not counting the super settlement at this mountain.”

“Wow, that is a lot of money.” We carefully packed the map away and then rested that night. Escaping the next day wasn’t a problem either. I was surprised, but the goblins clearly weren’t the smartest monsters out there.

The only exciting thing was when we were about two days out from Jopel and heard fighting early in the morning. “Go?”

“Might as well take a look.” We hurried through the woods to the battle. I saw George and the rest of the group from before minus Falkerk plus three others. So they had seven and the goblins still had twenty standing but all the wargs were dead. The main issue was that a number of them had taken wounds and were clearly exhausted.

I looked over at Bran. “If you shrug I am punching you.” I told him.

“Fine, let’s help. After you.” He said.

“For Azalon!” I let out a cry and ran towards the rear of the goblins. I saw faces light up at our arrival. “Slow, slow, slow.” I cast and quickly struck out beheading three goblins. Bran slammed one with his shield sending it flying into a tree with a bone cracking sound at the end.

“Slow, slow.” I cast again and two more goblins fell. The other party rallied and it was soon over.

“Good to see you two.” George called out.

“You as well, a fine day for a stroll.” I replied.

“Everyone alive?” George called out. Everyone gave an affirmative. “Loot them and let’s get moving.”

“So you are in charge?” I asked.

“After Falkerk…well yeah. Things seem to be going well for both of you.” George said.

“See the world, kill new things. I did develop a strong dislike for snow.” Bran said.

“You will have to tell me all about it. We can discuss a split later for your help here if that is okay?” George asked.

“Don’t worry about it. We were returning from a mission and heard the battle. I honestly wasn’t expecting to run into you guys.” I said.

“I swear the goblins breed faster than we can kill them. At least we don’t have to walk that far to find some. Wanted to hit a settlement, but just too many. We missed you.” George said. We both embraced and I promised myself not to make it awkward.

He then embraced Bran. “Looks like everyone is done. Come on, we can talk and walk. Everyone this is Ed and Bran. They were with us before but decided to find adventure somewhere else.”

“Good to see you guys again.” Devon said.

“Come back to join the fun?” Sam asked.

“Don’t worry about that, it is good to see both of you.” Max added.

“The new guys are Pete, Galon, and Kek.” George said. We exchanged hellos. “We will actually get some real food this time, right guys!” A cheer went up. George certainly had a way about him.

“So just killing goblins?” I asked.

“Yeah, a great way to get some experience.” I did note that they were all rank two. “I am level fourteen now, which is great. Hard part is that my arrows are low. Devon is already using poor ones. Hard to make any money out here.”

“I am surprised you stuck around.” I said.

“Eh, I enjoy it. When the army comes I will probably relax for a while. Travel a bit. So what have you been up to?”

Bran proceeded to tell him of our adventures up to this point and going all the way to the mountain. “Wow, you really went all the way. I tell you guys, Ed is nuts but he somehow always pulls through. I am guessing you registered?”

“Yeah, that is all taken care of.”

“Well I won’t say that isn’t useful, but it is totally shit.”

“Yep.” Bran agreed.

“Hey, it is a mystical and mysterious skill.” I countered.

“Still shit.” Bran said and George agreed with that.

“So where are you headed now?” George asked.

“Azalon. Neither of us wants to stick around for the army and I wanted to learn more about runes.”

“I also need blackmail material from his family.” Bran added.

***

It was tempting to go to sleep, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I covered my pack with my cloak to make it look like me and lay down in the woods completely still after people settled down. It was incredibly boring lying there but I had seen the couple of glances Kek had shot my way and Bran’s.

They already had their watch rotation and George had offered for them to handle it as a thank you for our help. It was a bit suspicious but I wasn’t overly worried. The problem was they were incredibly poor and viewed themselves as strong. There was a key point I remembered from all my reading, caution is a trait that must be kept at all times in order to survive.

Pete and George finished the first watch and then Sam and Kek took the second watch. Unfortunately they went off into the woods to talk nowhere near my location. I sighed to myself, this was not looking good. I didn’t want to be right. They both returned quite a while later and quietly woke up Pete and Galon.

They all went off into the woods. I hoped they were all swallowing swords since the alternative meant there would be actual swords shoved into their necks. They came back and one went to where each person was sleeping except Max.

I had no idea how they planned to get away with this with the contract mana in place. Probably didn’t think that far ahead. I got up and stepped out of the woods. “You know trying to kill people in their sleep is never nice.” I spoke loudly and they all spun to look at me. “What was it, money? That won’t change weakness.”

“Shut up. You just dance on in here acting all high and mighty while we have bled and our friends died.” Pete said.

“I will give you one chance, you know I give all humans one chance. That should be my nick name. Anyways one chance. Throw away your weapons and I will spare you. Otherwise you each will be losing an arm. I decided to try not and kill everyone that crosses me. But crimes must be punished so I settled on an arm.” I thought that was a good compromise between safety and not killing everyone.

There was silence. “You move we kill Bran.” Kek said and moved his sword against Bran’s neck.

I rushed forward. “Stop.” I cast it on the weapon and Bran rolled out of the way. Pete tried to intercept me. “Stop.” Pete froze in place and the sword hit the blanket Bran had been on. I cut out and my de-arming attack turned into a gruesome chest slash as Kek tried to move out of the way. Kek collapsed to the ground.

“Nooooo!” Galon shouted out.

“Slow.” I then casually chopped off an arm and he collapsed to the ground screaming. Pete finally recovered his bearings after being stopped and rushed me. “Slow.” I then cut off his right arm. He collapsed to the ground screaming as well. I looked around and everyone was in a standoff.

Sam had Devon and had a dagger right up against his neck. “Any of you do anything he dies.” I ignored him and slowly walked forward. “Stop or else!”

“If you kill him, I will kill you. If you drop the dagger I will count to three before chasing you. I will start now. One.” I swung my sword, flicking blood off it. Sam looked worried. “Two.” He dropped the dagger and ran. “Slow.” I raced up behind him and cut off an arm.

“Ahhhhh, you liar, you cursed liar. Ahhhhh.” He clutched his stump, kneeling on the ground. I kicked him in the face knocking him out. I then wiped my blade off on his clothes and sheathed it. With that done I picked up his cut off arm.

“What…what are you doing?” Max asked.

“Feel free to heal them, but I am burning their arms.” I made my way around collecting arms. Kek was dead which was annoying. Idiot should have stood still instead of freaking out. I tossed all the arms into the fire pit and put on some more wood.

“Bran, I am leaving. I don’t feel like sticking around this mess.” I said.

“Yeah.” He looked at George who seemed completely lost with over half his group either missing an arm or dead. “Sometimes you just got to leave the shit behind.” We grabbed up our stuff and left the camp. “Really surprised you didn’t kill them.”

“I wanted to make an example. You have your shield, I have my criers.”

“Well, they won’t be able to heal that unless they got a lot of gold.”

“Wait you can heal a missing limb?”

“No, you see they take a limb off a dead person and heal it to you.”

“What…What! How does that even work?” I had never even heard of this.

“I just heard it around the guild hall in the capital, but the alchemists can do it along with a rogue priest. Costs like ten gold but you can fix it.” So it wasn’t sanctioned by the Church or other groups.

“Oh, good. I was worried there. The way you were talking you make it sound like a common thing.”

“No, just got to talking after our mountain adventure. Wanted to know if I did lose an arm if that really was the end. Though I heard that if you have like a hundred gold they will give you a monster arm instead.”

“That should cost less, not more.”

“Think of the yeti, or any number of monsters. Wings, I would definitely pick wings.” Bran said.

“Flame breathe like a dragon. Just roast all enemies before me.” There wasn’t anything to talk about after that and we soon stopped, since it really was dark.

Thankfully I got some rest and the next day we made it back to Jopel. We went to the guild hall. “Hey.” Boron said.

“Trouble?” I asked.

“No, just dealing with all the mess you caused. Sword and the rest are yours.” He passed it over the counter. “Just try and not kill any more adventurers.”

“I actually made a resolution in that regard. If people come after me, I don’t plan on killing them.” I said.

“Good to know.” Bran started chatting with Boron and I went over to the mission board. I grabbed the request for mapping.

“Hey Boron you know where I can turn this in?” I asked.

“There is a supply camp set up about a day’s walk along the east road.” Boron said.

“Thanks, can I keep this?” I asked.

“Make a copy.” He said. I let out a sigh and pulled out a piece of parchment to make a copy. With that done we said our good byes and left. I didn’t want to be around when the other group got back to town. They could explain what happened and I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble.

We spent the rest of the day walking to the Royal Army camp. We got there at sun down and saw a large palisade with wooden towers off the side of the road. Men were in the wooden and at the gates. There was even the beginning of a trench being dug outside the wall. We went off the road to the gate.

“Halt and state your business.” All towns employed their own guards under the authority of the nobles who ruled the area, but the royal army was under the direct control of the king. I had seen some in the capital but I never learned their ranks based on their uniform, which was clearly an oversight. I looked at Bran and thankfully he stepped up.

“Sargent we are adventurers and have completed a mission on behalf of the Royal Amy in regards to mapping the forest and goblin settlements.” Bran said.

“Corporal, show these men to Major Hutch.”

“Follow me.” One of the men said and we followed him into the camp. There would wood buildings going up in neat rows. It was like a town, only a lot more organized with less shit covering everything. We were led to a large building in the center of the camp. The soldier stopped outside where another two soldiers looked at him and us. “Corporal Tern escorting two adventurers on mission completion for Major Hutch.”

“Let me check if he is free.” One of the soldiers at the door entered. Their uniforms were all leather and metal. Big sturdy leather boots, red grey kilts with leather with studded metal, and they also wore a light gray shirt with leather forearm guards and chest plate with the royal symbol stamped on it. They all had swords, shields, and spears. A leather cap finished off the uniform. The only difference I noted were small pins in various styles over their heart.

“The Major will see you now.” We entered the building, which was well lit with light runes. There were a number of tables with maps and parchment. We were led to one side with an older soldier looking for maps.

“Major, the adventurers.”

“Dismissed. So you have a map?” He asked. I pulled out the map and the mission request and set them down. He unrolled the map and was silent for a long moment. “How did you get all this.”

“Ed and I snuck to the mountain at the center of the forest. The goblins don’t go up since there are griffons up there which eat them. Ed here is a scribe and makes some very good maps. Anyways he drew up the features and what he could see during the day and when night came we could make out their settlements by the fires.

“What about the area around the mountain?” Major Hutch asked.

“Like a massive town that has engulfed the whole base. There are loads of tunnels leading in and out of the mountain which the goblins use. Also we noted that some of them had armor and spears closer to the mountain.” The Major was quite for a long while as he stared at the map.

“Probably the best we have gotten or will get. I am guessing you want to get paid. Wait here for a moment.” He left us and I took time to look over their maps. The quality was really good as I would expect.

The Major finally returned with a pouch. “A gold and twenty silver. Some of the settlements may not be settlements but large patrols.” I wasn’t inclined to argue about a couple of silver. Even if he was keeping the remainder it wasn’t worth it to make an enemy like this. It annoyed me but there was nothing I could do about it that was worth the couple of silver.

“Thank you sir.” Bran apparently agreed with me and took the money.

“I know you may not think it, but joining the Royal Army opens up a lot of doors and opportunities. If you are interested tell them Major Hutch recommends you.” He scribbled his signature on the mission request I had written and also wrote down the amount he paid to us. “We could use good people like you. There are a lot of things out there like these goblins we need to fight off.”

“Thank you, we will think on it.” Bran said.

“Dismissed, just head back to the gate you came in. No wandering about.” With that the Major turned back to his maps. We walked out of the building and out the gate. No one stopped us. We both stopped on the road and looked at the fort.

“To Azalon?” I asked.

“Azalon it is.” Bran said.

***

“My home town.” I said.

“Your mana is terrible. You should have teleported us here.” Bran complained.

“Uh huh. Anyways let’s turn in the mission and we can go see my home and if my parents try and kill me.” We went into the city and made our way to the guild hall.

We walked in and there was the same woman from when I registered. “Hello hag face.” Bran let out a snort.

“Who are you calling hag face brat?” The woman turned and looked at us. Some of the adventurers sitting around gave us a look. “Your back, causing quite a lot of trouble I hear. Who is your friend?”

“Bran, meet hag face.”

“Names, Emerald brat. Nice to meet you Bran.”

“Nice to meet you Emerald.” Bran said, traitor.

“Turning in a mission.” I put the parchment on the counter.

“Not bad, you really are earning your keep. I will send this on to the main hall and the fee?” She asked. Bran handed over a pouch with twenty four silver. “Perfect, so you staying or what?”

“Going to go visit my family. We might be back.” I said.

“Good luck with that.” She went and began pouring a mug for someone else. We left the guild hall.

“Hag face?” Bran asked.

“She was rude when I went to register so things may have gotten a bit heated. So yeah, hag face.” I said.

“Well at least she looks nice. Might have a dream about her.”

“Come on. We got to go up the hill.” We began to climb.

“How rich are your parents?” Bran asked.

“Rich enough not to ask. My sister actually married into nobility.”

“Wow, now that is something.” We finally reached the Illumination and we entered.

“What can I do for you two today?” An older lady was behind the counter I didn’t recognize.

“I would like to speak with Galric Monteger, we have much to discuss. You can tell him Edward is here with a companion. We can wait outside if you desire.” She gave us a look.

“That is fine you both can stay.” She turned and left.

“Nice shop.” Bran said as he looked around at everything. Soon enough my father came out along with the store clerk.

“Edward, you are still alive and have all your limbs.” He looked me over and then grabbed me in a hug. I saw the look of shock on the clerk’s face for a moment. He let me go. “How are you? What has been happening?”

“I am well. This is Bran father. He has been with me for quite a while. Maybe we can sit down?” I asked.

“Of course, of course.” We followed him to the kitchen.

“Grenda has been such a help out front. I thought about a younger woman, but your mother stopped that right away. Said it attracted the wrong sort. Anyways sit. I know your mother will be starting dinner soon, so let me gather everyone.” He left and soon returned with Rothgar and mother. There were hugs and introductions all around.

“So tell what you have been up to.” Father asked. I started telling my story and soon Bran jumped in a couple of times. There were a lot of worried glances and looks exchanged at some of the more dangerous parts of my story.

“So you are a mage?” Rothgar asked. I reached into my shirt and pulled out the platinum plate and set it on the table. There were gasps.

“The School of Time and Space. By the Gods.” Mother said. I put the plate away.

“What is that exactly?” Rothgar asked.

“It is the registration of a mage. I have one for the School of Runes put away somewhere. Just that, there aren’t many people who are in that School of Mana.” Mother said.

“Want to see a trick.” I then tossed a plate into the air. “Slow.” Its descent slowed down and I held my hands under it. Just as the mana wore off I caught it.

“Well it has been fun brother, but I need to get home before there is yelling.” Rothgar quickly left.

“I am glad you are doing so well and have such a great friend. You both can stay the night, we have enough rooms upstairs so don’t worry. Bathroom is down the hall here and there is a pump outside in the back courtyard.” Mother said. I could tell Bran was a little bit overwhelmed.

“So how long do you plan on staying?” Father asked as mother served dinner.

“I wanted to ask for training on runes. I have been sorely lacking. Bran here was hoping to read a bit to improve himself as well.” My father looked at Bran.

“Is that so?”

“I grew up in a small fishing village. I always wanted to make more of myself. Ed taught me quite a bit, but don’t have much call for reading or writing.” Bran said.

“We do have some spare parchment and a few spare books. I am sure Ed will be more than willing to help you continue your studies.” My father said.

“Of course.”

“We also have a large order of light runes. I am sure you can draw them out.”

“Yes father.”

“There is also a manuscript that needs to be copied. I was going to do it, but since you are here you can help out.”

“Yes father.”

“I also think the shop, no the house needs a good cleaning. Why don’t you do that also?”

“Of course father.”

“Good.” I could tell this was his way of punishing me for running off. There was also the chance he just wanted me for me free labor. Once dinner was over I showed Bran where everything was and showed him his room.

“Wow, this is better than an inn.” He said. I just nodded. “How did you ever give this up?”

“I am complicated.” Bran just shook his head.

The next day I set up Bran with a book to read on the history of the kingdom. It was one of the more popular ones with lots of action. I suspected that this was the book nobles used to get their kids interested in reading. With that done I set to work scribing out the light runes and then planned on the manuscript.

During the day my mother came over with a thick tome. I looked up from my work. “Edward, this has been passed down in my family and contains all the lesser runes that we know. Lesser runes are common and used for mundane tasks.”

I took the tome and opened it up. There were the light, chill, repel, and heat runes listed out along with variations. I also noted a dry, breeze, chime, detection, and other runes that had minor uses. “The thing with lesser runes is that they cannot harm. All greater runes are based off of these, but those are only passed down from a master to an apprentice.”

I looked up at her. “My older brother was named the next master in my family, so I can only teach you lesser runes. I do know that greater runes are based off of these. Now I looked over that flash rune you had made up. It is impressive and the reason I will let you copy this. Remember to be careful. You are not guiding the mana the rune is.”

“I understand.”

“I don’t think you do. Imagine if you made a rune to stop something like your mana and place it on your arm. What would happen if only your arm stopped?” The images I conjured up were not pleasant. “Be very careful. It is said a master would only invent a single new rune every three years of work that could safely be used.”

“I understand, no playing with runes and doing something stupid.” I said somberly.

“Good.” She left and I went back to work. The problem with runes was there was no language. Sure there were key points like an activation design and a release design but the main part that generated the effect was different each and every time.

One needed to draw a series of interconnected symbols and the order mattered in how they were layered on the parchment to contain the mana. The flash rune just changed the discharge portion to let all the mana out at once. Regulating the out flow was a way to determine the power of a rune and the period of time it was used over.

The insides of a rune were insanely difficult and each one unique. I had try to find some common language or system in the runes that I knew but had given up. With this information it might be possible. I looked at the tome and let out a small sigh. I had to finish this manuscript and then clean the entire place. If I started going over it I would never be pulled away from my studies.

***

“That was surprisingly relaxing.” Bran said.

“Yeah.” We were making our way down to the guild hall. It had been a ten-day since we arrived and I had done everything I wanted at my home.

“I did learn that you liked to nibble on quills.” Bran said with a grin.

“Oh no.” I moaned.

“Also that you used to actually rip up an entire manuscript to ‘make it pretty and snow’.” Bran continued.

“You are not nice.” Stupid brothers sharing stories.

“What about the time that you fell asleep in Church and when you were woken up you farted.”

My face was slowly turning red. “We are going to Fish Guts next.”

“Alright, alright, point made. I did like your brother Galric. He wasn’t that bad.” Bran said.

“He has his moments.”

“I noticed we didn’t visit your sister, the one married to a noble.”

“The marriage is unhappy, my sister was always on the wild side. I don’t know where she got it. Her husband, Baron Hartsforth, doesn’t like us visiting unless she is behaving.”

“You can’t just go visit?” Bran asked.

“It would cause problems for my family. Most of their business comes from the nobles so we can’t annoy them. I also heard that she is kept at his home outside the city.” I didn’t know where it was. Whenever I asked I was told it was too far to visit.

We were both silent after that until we entered the guild hall. It was fairly empty for the morning. We went over and looked at the mission board. “Nothing good up here.” Bran groaned. He had gotten a lot better at reading after a ten-day of solid practice.

“I am not going back to kill goblins, there has to be something else that we can kill.” I said.

“We need to get to rank three.”

“I have an idea, come on.” I left the guild hall and Bran followed me.

“Where are we going?”

“I have an idea, if we can’t get a mission, get someone to request one.”

“Now who is going to do that?”

“Galric, should know something in the merchant’s guild. Bandits or monster attacks.”

“I knew there was a reason I kept you around.” I chose to ignore Bran’s comment. We got to the merchant’s guild and made our way to Galric’s desk.

“Bran good to see you again.” Galric said with a grin. I knew he was trying to annoy me.

“Brother, we were hoping you knew about something exciting. A mission we could take. If a caravan is high risk and needs some more guards.” I said.

“No way. Mother would kill me if she found out.”

“If I have to ask around I may have to let slip about that time with the loaf of bread and-“

“Okay, got it. We are still trying to put a caravan into the mountains to the west. Lost the last one with no word back so this is considered high risk. There is a combat bonus attached to it in addition to the standard rates.” As Galric talked he wrote out a note.

“You will probably get two silver if there is fighting. Now take this note to Karn, he is in charge of security for the caravan. It is a waiver letting you two on despite being rank two. Don’t die, it will make me look bad.”

“Thanks Galric.” We left and made our way out back and saw a familiar face.

“Karn.” I called out. He spun around and glared at both of us. “We are coming with you. Make sure the combat bonus is really good.” I handed over the slip of parchment. He looked at it, crumpled it up, and then tossed it in my face.

“You two, well I suppose there could be worse. The caravan master is over there, sort out your contract. We should be leaving in two days. If you know anyone grab them. We need more bodies.”

“What about your regular crew?” I asked.

“Covering another caravan. I was rushed back here just to sort this mess out.” We nodded and then went to the caravan master.

“Karn approved you two? Huh. So combat bonus of two silver will be paid out if anything happens.”

“Three, each. The fact that you grabbed Karn to come sort this out tells me this is all going to go wrong.” I said.

“Three, done.” He marked up two parchments and we both signed them.

“Why does no one want to go?” I asked.

“Idiots say this route is cursed. Bah.”

“Curse? What of it?”

“We are transporting back raw gold, of course people say it’s cursed when it is just bandits. Just that ten years ago a caravan was attacked and the sole survivor had gone mad. Probably wanted to get out of trouble for running away. Now that we lost another caravan everyone is on edge.” That made sense.

“Thanks, we will see you in two days.”

“Hopefully, we need more guards.” The man muttered. We left and wandered back to the Adventurers Guild.

“Room and meals for two nights.” I said to Emerald.

“Alright brat. So what you slumming it down here for.” I handed over the coppers and got us two mugs of ale.

“High risk caravan. Was wondering if anyone else around here might be interested in getting in on it.”

“High risk, hmmmm. Well stick around and if I hear anyone looking for something like that I will let you know.” She said.

“Thanks.” We took our mugs of ale and sat down at a table. Bran and I just sat talking about whatever came to mind.

“Hey.” We both looked up and saw Yonson.

“Nice to see you again.” I said.

“Pull up a chair.” Bran added. Yonson sat down with us.

“So it looks like things are going well for both of you.”

“Yeah, had a couple of good missions.” I said.

“Let me tell you, I don’t like snow. Way too cold.” Bran added.

“True, it reminds me the time I tracked down a snow worm across three ice covered peaks. It was nice to have a fire mage for that trip.”

“Let me tell you that Ed’s runes here kept me warm. Things were a miracle. Ran into a yeti though. That thing was insanely tough.” Bran said.

“Natural mana. Some monsters just have natural skills from birth they can use. Yetis are really tough, but there aren’t that many. They are solitary creatures. Now goblins or orcs, those things breed like crazy.” Yonson said.

“Yeah we saw, did a mapping of the forest.” I said. We kept chatting back and forth about various adventures we had. It was nice to see a familiar face even all the way out here.

“So there is a caravan headed west-“ I began to say.

“Ah the cursed caravan.” Yonson said with a nod.

“What? How did you know that?” I asked.

“Because loads of people die on that trip. The mining town is walled up like crazy, but everyone knows this. So the bandits attack on the road to and from the town. For the food being shipped in and the gold shipped out. There is possibly other kingdoms helping them out, maybe even a rogue mana user or two. The merchant guild tries to keep how many caravans they have actually lost from spreading around.”

“I just heard they lost one caravan ten years ago and one recently.” I said.

“No, no. It is much higher than that, but for the gold it is worth the risk. I am guessing you two idiots signed on?” We both nodded. “Well good luck. Don’t even ask me to go. That is dangerous. I don’t mind a little action, but I pick my targets very carefully. Can’t spend money if you are dead.”

“Any advice then?” Bran asked.

“You won’t run into trouble until near the mining town. Nothing else around it five days in any direction. Just forest, monsters, and bandits. If whoever is running the show knows what they are doing they will realize that also. It isn’t just monsters either. Night ambush is high if bandits attack. There are some tough monsters in that area too. Only reason people are there is for the gold.”

“It is said that the dragon Milthanforendor lived there since all the gold in the mountains’ roots. The scars of the battle to drive the dragon off still dot the land today. Well that is what is said. All I know is that the town Goldtown has been there a long time.”

“At least the town name is accurate.” Bran said.

“Oh you bet.” Yonson added.

“Why don’t they just teleport the gold or something other than a caravan?” I asked.

“Teleportation mana is based on distance. I asked mage that once myself. Even with gold it just isn’t worth it. Also teleportation mana is rare, only ever seen one mage use it and that was just for short distances. There was talk of sending the Royal Army in to clear out the surrounding land, but the monsters keep pushing back.”

“You got Ents, Fairies, Ogres, and Creepers. I even heard there is an Elf raid from time to time. Pointy Eared bastards. Anything done to the forest just makes all those things even madder. So Goldtown got a giant wall and some idiots have to protect the caravan going to and from the town.” Yonson gave us a look.

“I don’t know what possessed you to go on the cursed caravan.”

“Excitement and adventure?” I said quietly.

“You will get that and die probably.” Yonson swirled his mug and looked down at it. “If things go to shit and you survive….well good for both of you.” He looked back up. “You have had a really lucky run so far. Getting that cockatrice was nothing short of a miracle. Then the map. I know you probably think courier missions are boring but like caravan ones they normally are the best route to go until something better shows up.”

“But you went into the forest as well and your stories-“

“Are just stories.” Yonson rubbed his hand through his hair. “I knew goblins are easy enough to kill. That is the only reason I checked things out. But I knew enough to get out of there. There is going to come a time when your luck runs out. When that happens, there will be a lot of death and blood.”

“Yeah, but this is the path I want to walk down. You don’t become strong sitting in a library all day.” I said.

“I don’t know Ed. I…I don’t think I can keep up with you.” Bran looked away from me. “I try, but with the yeti and now this. I need to slow down a bit.” I looked at him in shock. I had not been expecting that.

“Your life, your choice.” I apparently didn’t know Bran as well as I thought I did.

“It is not like that. I…after the Yeti I was really scared. I only did the mapping mission with you because you saved my life. I need a break.” Bran got up and went to our room. I sat there in shock.

“It happens. Better he says this now before he breaks out there in the wilderness.” Yonson said. I gave him a glare.

“This is your fault. Scaring him off.”

“I told it like it is. Go or stay, it doesn’t matter to me. If he really wanted to follow you, he wouldn’t have walked off. When people get hurt…it changes them. Nothing physical but there is a mental wound. You can’t heal that with potions or chants.” Yonson let out a sigh. “Good luck out there.” He got up and left.

I sat there long into the night feeling angry and frustrated over Bran’s betrayal after everything I had done for him.

CHAPTER 7

“I heard your friend dropped out.” Karn said.

“Yeah, too much risk.” I replied as I looked over the growing collection of wagons. It was time to look at the future and not be stuck in the past.

“Well this is just shit. That makes six of us.” Karn spat to the side. “Alright gather up you piss covered maggots.” He roared out. Everyone from the caravan slowly gathered around him. “If anyone runs, I kill them. I have done it before. So if you want out, get out now.” No one moved.

“Good. I am Karn. I am running this show to Goldtown. Now we are transporting goods to the town. We don’t want to lose them and we want to make it back in one piece. All the porters you know how to shoot bows and were chosen because of that. You are getting paid more just for that.”

“Now there are only six of us guards so we are running three groups of two. First is me and Mage Karen here.” He gestured at a pile of robes that could be a woman. “She is a lightening mage and our heavy hitter. She stays at the middle wagon with me to keep an eye on things the whole time. She also won’t be taking watch and shut your complaining mouths before I shut them for you!” He roared the last bit.

“Next we got Ed who is a good fighter and Harold our scout. You two get the get the front. You will all still need to keep your eyes open. Harold is good, but there are better things out there.” I gave a nod to the older man who had a huge longbow covered with runic script.

“Last two are Priest Gregson and Michael. Michael will handle protecting the priest who will protect us and heal us. So be nice to him. Also he is off watch duty. The rest of you will take a rotating shift while I will take watch when I think necessary.” No one made a noise.

“Now we got a noble coming with us. Baron Hartsforth will be traveling with us in an armored carriage. You leave him alone and he will leave you alone. If there is an issue get me and I will deal with it. He knows not to give me any shit on this trip. Now we won’t be expecting trouble until the last bit, but that is what they want us to think. Now let’s go.” My brother in law was here. I should find time to talk to him.

We all moved to our positions and the caravan set off. “So you are good and an adventurer.” Harold said as we both sat on the front wagon. I was tempted to walk but he had beckoned me to sit. The aged porter chose to ignore us.

“Yeah, I also use time mana. I had a spar with Karn the other day and managed to impress him.” I said.

“Really. Knew him back in the army. That man is scary but good. I heard his strength is over two hundred.” Harold whispered. I looked at him in surprise. It was the first time I ever heard someone mention a number in regards to someone’s status. I also noted he hadn’t started asking about my mana right away.

“Don’t look so surprised. It was the talk of the army when he ripped a gnoll’s arm off and beat it to death with the same arm. Like me, the merchant guild sends him to trouble areas.”

“Surprised his team isn’t here.”

“They won’t take this job. Only reason I am here is that I got a son in Goldtown.”

“Really?”

“Yeah one of the prisoners there. Fell into debt and put to work to pay it off. I am going there to pay it off and get him out. Goldtown is also the biggest prison and slave camp in the kingdom. The walls are there to keep the monsters out. They actually allow a single person to leave each day if they want to. The screams normally deter any others. If they complain the guards just go into the fort and lock it and let a few monsters over run things.” I looked at him in shock. I knew people could become debt slaves but I never realized it could be that bad.

“I heard they haven’t had to do that for years, but I am getting my son out of there. So time mana, that must be a neat trick.”

“Watch.” I leapt off the cart and grabbed a stone. I then returned with it. I then threw the stone ahead of us. “Stop.” It stopped in mid-air. A second later it dropped.

“Wow, that is not something you see every day. I could see how that would be insanely overpowered in a knife fight. Just keep things off of me and I will put an arrow in them.” Harold said.

“You ever make this trip before?” I asked.

“No, the losses are high and only the desperate make this trip.”

“Tell me about it.” The porter muttered but we ignored him.

***

The Baron had remained locked in his carriage and refused to see anyone. I had tried meeting with my brother in law but his servants had explained that he did not want to be disturbed. I guess he would have to come out when we got to Goldtown. It was annoying but I wasn’t overly concerned. Everyone else did their own thing and the only one I really ever spoke to was Harold.

Nothing happened until we past the last village before Goldtown. The tension had definitely increased as I walked in front of the caravan, keeping an eye on Harold in the distance. “Ambush!” He shouted out as a flight of arrows flew at his position. He dodged out of the way.

“Ambush!” I shouted back to the rest of the caravan and looked around. A barrage of arrows flew out of the forest. I really needed a wide area of effect slow or stop ability. Thankfully the arrows were shot at an arc for range rather than straight for speed. I moved out of the way as they thudded into the dirt road.

I saw movement in the forest but it was hard to make out. A quick glance showed Harold shooting into the forest and I heard a couple of screams. A group of five haggard looking men ran out of the forest with swords drawn and closed on my position. “Slow!” I shouted out and sliced the man across the stomach, letting his guts fall to the road.

“Maaaaaaaggggg-“ I cast slow on the next one and sliced his throat. A spray of blood decorated the ground while I moved out of the way. The other three backed off a bit at that looking between me and their fallen comrades. A bright light suddenly entered my vision and there were three charred and smoking corpses.

I looked around for any more opponents but the attack seemed to be over. The caravan was fine and the only one injured was Harold who had an arrow in his leg. “Gregson see to that. Good work everyone.” Karn said.

I began looking over the corpses the blades were fairly nice. I began collecting them. “Loot is loot.” I said when people looked at me. Karn just let out a booming laugh.

“All loot will be split evenly between us six.” He looked at me and I nodded. Sure the priest wouldn’t contribute much in the fight but if I got injured I would want healing. “Good, now let’s get moving before monsters come looking for their dinner.”

We traveled until it was utterly dark and stopped at a small clearing on the side of the road. The wagons were drawn in a circle around our campfire.

“How many you think there were?” I asked.

“Probably twenty. I got three, I think.” Harold said. We hadn’t bothered looking for corpses in the forest.

“So almost half of them, not bad.” Michael added. “Good job spotting the ambush, didn’t get much work in the back, but probably for the best.”

“That’s what I am paid for. Just glad we have a priest, so hard to heal without one.” He said nodding at Gregson.

“It is no problem.” Gregson said.

“Alright, clear the road and get this shit show rolling. I don’t want to be here at night with my pants down.” Karn yelled out. Everyone got to work ignoring his brash comments and soon we were moving again.

That night as we stopped in a clearing and set up camp there was a heightened sense of fear in the air. I had always been concerned for my own wellbeing but was confident in my skills and knowledge to carry the day. As I sat there staring into the fire I realized that I was feeling a small sense of what Bran had been feeling.

“Problem?” Harold asked.

“No, just realized why my teammate Bran didn’t want to come along. Afraid of dying.” I said.

“Those didn’t look like your first human kills.” Harold replied.

“No they weren’t. There is something in the air. I am-“

“What do you mean the air?” Harold asked.

“I am feeling afraid and I realized what Bran had been feeling.” Harold stood up and looked around.

“Karn, we need you.” Karn came over with an annoyed look on his face. “Something in the air. Don’t you feel it?” Harold asked him. Karn was silent as he slowly looked around.

“Yeah, something in the air. Shit. Mage Karen come here.” The mage quickly came over from where she had been meditating off to the side. “We need to burn the forest around the camp, airborne attack. Can you do it?”

“I won’t be able to do anything for at least two days after that.” She said.

“Do it.” Karn replied. Mage Karen stepped off to the side and whispered a few words. I looked away and could feel the light through my skin like my flash tags. There were a boom that echoed through the clearing. When I opened my eyes the foliage was on fire all around the camp.

“Stay calm!” Karn boomed out. “Make sure the wagons don’t catch fire and watch the horses. Everyone else stay alert.” The fire died a bit later burning a charred circle around the clearing were in. I no longer felt any fear gripping me. That had been a surreal experience.

“How did you know?” I asked Harold as we stared out at the smoldering embers.

“Experience. There was no reason to feel fear now. You have experience so I didn’t think you were afraid of the dark that much.” I looked off to the side not knowing what to say. “Don’t feel bad. Karn and I weren’t affected. The problem with high points is that you can miss the small things. The porters would have gone mad before we realized something was wrong.”

“Thanks, I feel a bit better, kind of. I was weak enough to sense the attack but didn’t recognize it.” I grumbled.

“Happens to everyone sometime. Why do you think we travel in a group? We cover each other’s weak areas. I could never hope to beat you in a straight up fight and you probably have no clue how to shoot a bow.” Harold said.

“Yeah, I guess. Well I am going to get some rest before my watch comes up. Night.”

“Night.” Just as I was about to drift off I heard some noise and woke up. In the dim light I saw movement past the wagons.

“Ambush!” I yelled out. I was up with my sword and the camp burst to life. I heard the snap of bowstrings. I grabbed up my blanket and tossed it up like a shield above me. “Stop!” I called out just as the arrows slammed into the center of the campsite. I heard a couple of people scream out. The blanket fell to the ground having protected me from the arrows.

A figure rushed at me with a slightly gleaming sword. “Slow.” I slashed out and opened up their guts.

“Die you assholes!” Karn roared. It was impossible to see anything. I went for my back and pulled four light runes and one flash rune I had prepared a while ago. I made my way across the campsite and past the wagons.

“Slow.” I hit another charging figure and slashed open their stomach. A wound like that was crippling and their screams would hopefully demoralize their friends. I activated and tossed a light rune down. I made my way around the wagons dropping the remaining light runes and slaying two more of the enemy I came across.

That was when I was rushed by four at once. Their blades gleaming in the darkness. I activated the flash rune and then attacked. They were stumbling about like the drunken sailors I had seen on the docks. One had even dropped his weapon. There was still screaming but the sounds of fighting had died off.

I went back inside the ring of wagons and it was carnage. Karn was covered in what could only be described as a lot of blood. I went to my pack which had thankfully survived. I pulled out the last of my light runes and began putting them about the camp. The extra light only made the grisly scene even worse.

Blood and guts were strewn about. Priest Gregson was moving from person to person making sure they lived. I looked at the enemy. They were dressed in green with fair looks and pointed ears. “Shit cursed elves.” Karn had come up to me. “Good job with the light.”

“Thanks.”

“You did good kid. You are alive, killed some of these ass holes, and haven’t puked out your guts yet.” Karn said.

“I will get to work on looting them.” I said.

“Make sure you cut off their ears. Bounty is ten copper an elf and they hate seeing that. Drives them mad with grief seeing corpses cut up like that. I need to find some water, their blood is going to make me stink like a freaking tree.” Karn walked off.

It was a long night as I gathered up their swords and ears. I managed to collect twenty five ears and eighteen blades. Despite being monsters they knew how to make good weapons. Probably sell for at least a silver or two each judging by the quality. Karn ordered all the elf corpses tossed into the forest while the rest were burned.

Six of the porters and one of the Baron’s two servants were dead along with Mage Karen, and Michael. Harold survived but was still crippled. He had been hit with a number of arrows while on watch. While he had avoided any fatal blows he had been turned into a pin cushion in the initial attack. Priest Gregson had managed to keep him alive, but he wasn’t going to be doing much for a while.

I went over to check on Mage Karen. She had died in her sleep hit with arrows. No one was paying attention as I discretely checked her robes before dawn came. I left the money bag alone and her necklace. The eagle pendent would be too obvious and I was looking for information, not trinkets. I moved onto her pack and found a bound manuscript. I took it and placed it in my own pack. Thankfully no one had seen me and I went back to sorting out the campsite.

The biggest problem were the horses. Two thirds of them had been lost, which was a complete disaster. We started with twenty two had now we only had eight. Karn got everyone together during breakfast except the Baron who refused to leave his carriage.

“We are abandoning four wagons. The caravan master will drive a wagon along with Priest Gregson. Two horses are needed to pull the Baron’s carriage. You porters will move the supplies to the least damaged wagons.” Karn glared at everyone daring them to disagree.

Everything was moved and the four wagons were burned so that no one else could steal them. The dead bodies of the other people on the caravan were also burned with the wagons. Their packs were tossed on the fire and anything of value was added to the general loot pile. It was a grim group that left a towering pillar of smoke behind that morning.

***

The following couple of days as we continued traveling were incredibly tense. I kept worrying about an attack any moment. Priest Gregson finally managed to completely heal Harold. Unfortunately the older man had been severely shaken by his near death experience. He was quiet and withdrawn. Even Karn bellowing couldn’t rouse him from where he had mentally retreated to.

We reached Goldtown without further incident, but once reaching the walled town the gates were strewn open and the smell of death hung in the air. We entered through the gates, Karn leading the way. Inside the town there were bodies everywhere, both slaves and soldiers alike. I glanced at the large fortress embedded into the nearby cliff face.

Huge chunks of stone had been ripped out exposing various rooms and passages. The fact there were more corpses littered about it did not bode well for the fortress. “By the Gods.” Priest Gregson said and I couldn’t find anything to disagree with him.

The Baron finally got out of his carriage and looked around. “What is the meaning of this!” We all looked at him.

“Well I would say everyone is dead. Hard to tell what did it. Most of these people have died from brutal cuts, but that could be a sword or some sharp monster claw. Could even by mana.” Karn said as he looked at various corpses.

“Baron was my sister here.” I went right up to him.

“You can’t question me-“

“Is my sister here, brother-in-law. Answer.” He looked distinctly uncomfortable and we only got a couple of looks before people turned away. Baron Hartsford looked around nervously like he wanted to escape. I put my hand on my blade and kept staring at him.

“Yes, she was living here under the protection of Knight Ralin. The top of the fortress.” I turned away from him and followed his gaze. The top of the fortress looked relatively intact. I pulled out my blade and set off.

“Where are you going?” Karn yelled out.

“The top of the fortress.” I didn’t stop moving. He started yelling at the others but I wasn’t paying attention. I entered through the shattered main doors of the building and found a stair case that was solid enough for me to ascend. I began my climb past the ruined stonework and corpses. Something had come in here to kill these men and that worried me.

It was five flights of stairs to the top. I began searching each room but there was nothing but death. At the next to last room I pushed open the splintered door and looked inside. There on the floor with a cut across her neck was my sister. Her face was etched in terror and I could see she had been pregnant.

I walked over and stood above her. I never liked Clarissa that much. She was so bossy and rude but there was that one time I had gotten sick and she made me soup every day and fed it to me. Clarissa the wild one as my family liked to call her. I leaned down and closer her eyes.

“Gods of Light and Order see Clarissa’s soul to peace and rest.” Not much of a prayer but I didn’t feel like much either. I looked her over once more in her light blue green dress now stained a dark purple with blood. I noted something under her left hand and gently lifted it.

She had written on the stone floor in her blood. ‘Death’ was the message. I looked around the room, but besides the shattered armor and the remains of knight inside of them there were no others. I walked over to a nearby desk and searched it. It didn’t take me long to find a journal, a habit instilled by our mother. I kept mine for research but Clarissa liked to record things about other people.

I flipped it open to near the end for any kind of clue of what happened.

Knight Ralin is so frustrating. I just wanted to walk outside a bit but he had me lay down instead. I am going to kill Hartsford the next time I see him for getting me pregnant. My body hurts and is all wrong.

I skipped ahead.

Something interesting happened around here besides a monster attack. A cavern was discovered in the mines and that could open up the avenue for more wealth. I won’t see any of it stuck in bed like this.

The remainder of the entry was about the various servants and how much each of them annoyed her. I smiled a bit as a tear rolled down my cheek. I brushed it off and took the journal. I then turned back to her corpse. It took a fair amount of time as I carried it down the tower and back outside. Karn came over and looked her over.

“Your sister?” He asked for confirmation.

“Yes, and the Baron’s wife. I am going to burn the corpse.” I said quietly. He walked away. I began drawing up heat runes and left them damaged similar to the flash runes so they would expel all their mana at once. Once that was complete I went back into the fortress and found a storeroom with barrels of lamp oil. I cracked open the top of one barrel and took an entire bucket.

Returning to my sister’s corpse laid out on the ground I covered her with oil. I noted that Karn was dragging the Baron over. “You are going to watch your wife’s funeral. If you want to get me in trouble for that go ahead.”

“She is already dead and I need the safety of my carriage.” Karn just held him nearby. Priest Gregson came over.

“Can you say a prayer for Clarissa?” I asked.

“Of course. Gods of Light and Order hear me now. Clarissa has passed from this world, now protect her soul and guide her to salvation.” He gave me a nod. I activated the runes and the corpses went up in flames. We stared at the burning corpse for a while as the dusk slowly settled over the ruins of Goldtown.

“How touching.” A raspy voice wheezed out and we all spun. The person could only be described as a pile of black robes with a face hidden in darkness from the hood drooping down over it. I had an uneasy feeling and drew my sword.

“Who are you, or should I ask what are you?” Karn said. He pulled free his massive two handed blade.

“I have been known by many names. A common one was the Shadow of Aurulian.” Those words struck fear in my heart and I took a step back. A necromancer of great evil who had been cast down over seven hundred years ago. “I see one person recognizes that name.” He said looking at me.

“A necromancer from long ago.” I whispered out.

“A necromancer, a mere necromancer-“ Karn moved in an instant cutting off the robed one’s speech. His massive sword hit the black cloak at the waist in an attempt to bisect the creature in front of us. The black robes collapsed and white dust poured out from beneath them. Karn quickly backed off.

“Priest cleanse this taint.”

“By the Gods of urrrkkkk…” Priest Gregson let out a death gurgle. I spun towards him and saw one of the corpses lying about the area standing up and with a sword extended into the priest’s chest.

“I am no mere necromancer.” In the fading light the black robes began rising back up looked far more sinister. “I am Magnus, an immortal, and so much more.” The hood fell back and revealed a white skull with glowing red eyes. It could only be one thing, a Lich. An undead abomination of the foulest nature.

All the corpses began to rise up around the area. “Karn we need to leave!” I shouted as sweat began to run down my face despite the chill in the air and not exerting myself that much at the moment.

“No. I may not be soldier anymore but I have my honor and will defend this kingdom. Come puny monster feel my strength!” Karn let out a roar and charged. The Lich called up a blade of darkness and began to deflect and block Karn’s punishing blows with apparent ease. I thought I could even feel the ground shaking with each blow.

I raised my hand, “Slow.” The Lich raised his free hand as I had used my ability and there was an orb of black light that quickly dispersed. The Lich had countered me perfectly without a care in the world. This was beyond me and I needed to escape. I grabbed my pack that I had brought over for the runes and I quickly began running back towards the wagons and the rest of the group.

They were being swarmed by the undead. While slow, they could take a beating. Harold’s arrows along with the remaining porters had little effect. There was a ring of at least three deep around the surviving members of the caravan. Harold looked at me a moment before the undead swarmed him and he was ripped apart screaming.

I heard muttering from the carriage nearby. “Not me, not me, not me.” That was probably the Baron locking himself away in his metal box. A servant was banging on the door as undead began ripping him apart.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” I heard Karn let out another loud roar. I went for the horses but they had been killed as well. The undead were slowly encircling me. I had to escape, I couldn’t die. I couldn’t die. My heart was pounding in my chest.

I ran for the gates. I had to get out of this death trap. A number of corpses were blocking the way out of Goldtown. “Stop, stop, stop, stop.” I yelled out. The corpses in my path halted and I quickly darted past them out onto the road and kept running. I looked back and the corpses were pursuing me at a walking pace. I had no idea how necromancy even worked to have a clue on what I should do.

I stopped my hurried pace and kept up a brisk walk. I had a half filled canteen, no food, and my pack. Looking back I could still make out the undead following me. There was no doubt in my mind Karn was dead. Everyone was dead. I took a drink from my canteen. An actual Gods forsaken Lich, the Shadow of Aurulian himself.

The stories said he had been killed but that clearly wasn’t the case. Or was it? He was undead so that meant he was no longer living. I shook my head, what mattered was that there was a Gods forsaken Lich. I needed to lose the undead following me. I didn’t know if the Lich could track me through them but I didn’t want to take any chances.

I could go into the forest in hopes of losing them and not being eaten or I could try and put as much distance between me and Goldtown. Looking at the darkened forest on either side of the road, I wasn’t tempted in the slightest. It was too dark for me to spot any monsters or an ambush in the foliage and I was out of light runes.

I just had to keep walking and not get caught by the undead trailing after me. The night was long and I kept my sword drawn the entire time. When the overcast sky began turning slightly brighter I felt a bit better. I was finally able to count my pursuers. There were ten undead following me. I kept walking, I didn’t have enough mana to comfortably take them all down without risk. I also needed food or I wouldn’t be able to make it. I could go a day, maybe two, but after that I would be in trouble.

As the sky became a gray blur instead of a black blur the undead seemed to slow down. I had read about day and night playing a role in certain mana but I had never seen it before or heard anything outside of one book I had read.

Turning around I looked at my opponents. I moved to the side so I would only have to face them one at a time. I hacked off one limb at a time as I slowly cut down the undead. Once separate from the main body the arms and one leg stopped moving. The ones I decapitated also collapsed like a puppet cut from its strings. I moved away from the corpses and sat in the middle of the road for a bit to recover and think about my next move.

Food remained the issue. I needed to go back to Goldtown to get food or I needed to try and hunt something down in the forest. Both options were terrible and I couldn’t think of a third. I pulled myself up and began my trek back. The overcast sky made it impossible to tell the time of day which was concerning.

As I walked I thought back to what the Lich had done. It had intercepted my ability. I didn’t even think that was possible. The mana flowed from my hand and targeted something within its range near instantly. I couldn’t send my mana through solid objects or liquids. Also I never saw my mana moving from my hand to my target. I had always assumed it was instantaneous but clearly that wasn’t the case.

The Lich had sensed my mana and countered it with an ability of its own. I doubted Karn had won either since the undead had chased me the entire time. It was a fact that when a person died their mana died with them. It was how the guild kept track of who was alive. I made it back to Goldtown.

There were no corpses that I could see but scattered bits of flesh from the people and the horses that had been ripped apart. The entire place had an eerie feeling about it. I made my way to a wagon and quickly began stuffing dried meat into my pack. I needed to leave but I also didn’t want to go back empty handed.

I searched the wagons and found the chest the caravan master used to cover expenses on the trip. I searched the ground around the wagon and found the key in the bloody clothes of what had been the caravan master. I unlocked the chest and took in the sight of number of documents and a large pouch of silver, at least seventy pieces. I took the silver and left the rest. I made a quick survey of where Karn had been fighting the Lich but there was nothing there, not even a corpse.

I heard movement from the nearby carriage. I looked over and saw it was dented all over and covered with blood stains but still secure. “Hello?” I said aloud.

“Someone there? Who is it?” The voice was clearly Baron Hartsford.

“Edward Monteger.” I had an internal debate for a moment. It would be a pain to bring this man back but I could shift everything onto him. “I am leaving. You can get out and come with me or stay.”

“There are monsters out there.” The fear was clearly etched into his voice.

“They are gone right now. I am leaving. You want to come along or not?” I asked. A panel opened in the door and I could see his blood shot eyes looking out at me. The door finally opened and a disheveled Baron came out.

“What happened?” He asked as he looked around.

“We can talk while we walk. I don’t want to be here when night comes.”

“I can’t walk, it is dangerous.” I just stared at him in disbelief.

“There are no horses. Like I said I am leaving.” I turned and started walking away. After a moment I heard the Baron catching up with me.

“What….what happened?” He asked as we left Goldtown. I debated on what to say. It wasn’t so much that I was planning to lie but what I would focus on.

“There was a Lich.” I began but was then interrupted.

“What is a Lich?” Baron Hartsford asked.

“A Lich is an undead monster that used to be human. A Magnus that has used their powers as a necromancer to cheat their natural life and become a skeleton that retains its mana.” I explained.

“What?! Why was it in Goldtown?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Regardless everyone else perished. I was barely able to escape while undead chased me.”

“You mean those people who came back to life.”

“They were never alive. The mana of the Lich animated them somehow.” We walked in silence for a bit after that. “Why was my sister there?” I asked. The Baron was silent. “I will have an answer.”

“She was managing the town in my stead. My family was granted the town as our holdings and I had left her to manage it while I managed my affairs in Azalon. It wasn’t meant to be like this. Gods, I am ruined now.” He sounded incredibly sad and pathetic but I could care less.

We passed the place where I had killed the undead that had been chasing me. The Baron looked like he was going to be sick but didn’t say anything. The sky wasn’t clearing up as it slowly got darker. It appeared the day was coming to a close. I stopped at the side of the road next to a stream.

The water was clear and free flowing. I normally didn’t boil my water, but there was a risk drinking the water when there had been so much death in the area. After a quick debate I got out my metal pot and began heating up the water to purify it. I wish Priest Gregson had survived, this would have been infinitely easier to purge the water of taint if any existed.

Next I got out some of the dried meat and began chewing a piece. “Ummmm, can I have some.” I looked at the Baron in his fine clothes. I had heard the jingle of coins on him and was tempted to ask for a piece of gold. I handed over some meat and shared the water was it had been heated close to boiling for a bit.

I pulled out my blankets and lay one on the ground and used the other as a pillow. I made sure to keep my sword nearby just in case. There would be no fire tonight. “Do you have an extra?”

“No. The next couple of days are going to be difficult. I need proper rest if I am going to fight.” I began meditating. I needed mana and my reserves were so large it would take almost a month to regenerate naturally. With meditation it would take close to a day to regenerate my reserves if they were fully depleted. I didn’t have that much time to spare but all the mana I could recover would be highly useful.

I lay there while the Baron quietly cried. Despite being a noble he was still a young man and clearly not used to difficulty or hardship. I gave up on meditating after a while and dozed off. It was a restless sleep and the few images I did remember consisted of the Lich staring at me with its glowing eye sockets.

When I woke up I saw the Baron propped up against a tree looking completely miserable but asleep. I relieved myself and then got food and water. “Wake up.” I said.

“Whaaaa!” He shouted out and leapt up.

“Quiet.” I hissed out. “Have some water and meat. We have a lot more walking.” We set off again and I slowly chewed on a piece of meat as we traveled along the road. There was nothing to talk about or do except trudge along in silence.

***

We finally reached Raftin. The town was a sight for sore eyes. The Baron was dead on his feet which had blisters and were quite sore. “Halt.” The guard said as we approached from atop the wall. We both stopped. “State your business.

“Survivors of the caravan to Goldtown. This is Baron Hartsford.” Nobility had their uses like getting us quickly ushered inside the town. I took the Baron to an inn and left him in the hands of the hostess. He seemed to spring back a bit when he was put in a chair and given some food. After eating I took my leave while he was taken to a bath.

I went to the Adventuers Guild. “Hello there.” A middle aged man said from behind the customary bar counter.

“I have urgent news from Goldtown. Can you gather anyone of importance from Raftin?” I asked.

“Sure, but what is going on.”

“Goldtown is no more.”

“What!” The man shouted while the other three adventurers sitting around looked at me.

“Yes, now I need to speak to everyone who matters. Now.” A short time later I was taken to a large house where a number of people had gathered.

“What is it Yalner? Why have you got us all togeather?” A large burly man said.

“I asked him to call you all.” The five men and one woman all turned towards me. “I am Edward Monteger from Azalon. I was part of a caravan to Goldtown. We were attacked twice along the way by bandits and elves and suffered casualties. When we reached Goldtown the place was wrecked and everyone had been killed.” There were gasps at that.

“There is no way-“

“I am still speaking.” I cut the man off. “I discovered my sister was dead, the wife of Baron Hartsford. I burnt her corpse. That was when…when a Lich confronted us as night fell.” The room was deathly silent. “We attempted to defeat it but it countered my mana and caused all the dead from Goldtown to rise and attack. I barely escaped with my life and was pursued by the undead.”

“When dawn broke I slew the pursuing undead and returned to Goldtown to gather food to make it here. The corpses were all gone with only some mutilated pieces of flesh scattered about. I found the Baron Hartsford we had been escorting still alive in his carriage. I then escorted him back here. He is currently recovering in the inn near the west entrance.”

“A Lich, surely you must be joking. How would you know what a Lich is? You probably saw something and got scared.”

“I know what is a Lich is. It spoke and had mana. I am a scribe and am well read. I have warned you all of what has transpired I am leaving tomorrow and not coming back to this accursed place.”

“What proof do you even have?” Another man spoke out.

“My word and you can ask Baron Hartsford. While he probably did not see much he clearly heard the screams of the dying outside his carriage as they were ripped apart.” I turned and left. Yalner the individual running the local Adventurers Guild followed after me. I was done with all of this.

“Wait up.” I looked at Yalner over my shoulder and paused for a moment. “Not as young as I used to be.” He let out a breathe and we continued on towards the guild hall together. “A Lich you say?”

“It claimed it was the Shadow of Aurulian, but that necromancer is from seven hundred years ago. It claimed it was a Magnus and from what I could tell in the brief period I fought, it was definitely skilled in the use of mana. I am leaving and not looking back.” I said.

“You won’t stay and explain things to expeditions that come through?” Yalner asked.

“Like I said, I am leaving. I reported what occurred in Goldtown. If that Lich showed up here could anyone defeat it?” I asked already knowing the answer.

“No, but that is why we all need to work together. I am sure a request will be made for a rank five to come out here and deal with things.”

“Let me put it another way for you. I have fought goblins, wargs, yetis, cockatrices, elves, and undead. None of those things scared me. Sure I had some close calls but there was never a chilling despair that I had absolutely no hope. I made an effort to kill the monster but I need a break. That Lich is bad news and I am running away. Call me a coward, but I would rather live and be a coward than die.” I said. We entered the guild hall.

One of the adventurers came up to me. I noted he was a rank four from his medallion. “What happened?” He asked looking between me and Yalner.

“A Lich apparently, wiped out Goldtown.” Yalner said. The man looked at me.

“Really?”

“Really. Feel free to chase after it if you want. I need a room for the night and a meal for two.” I told Yalner. I handed over some copper and locked myself away ignoring all the curious stares. They could go question the Baron. I began unpacking my pack. I had quite a bit of money from the looting I had done and my last mission. The real prize were the two gold pieces.

The forth night in the wilderness Baron Hartsford had collapsed when we stopped in exhaustion. It had been a simple matter to take the two gold pieces for services rendered. Saving his life could easily be worth far more, but it would also be a hassle to call in such a debt if he didn’t acknowledge it. Now that we were back in civilization I didn’t think he would be that generous, hence the reason I took the two gold as payment.

I could live in the capital for fifteen copper a day. Another ten copper a day to spend time at the library. A single gold piece would easily buy me an entire year of free time. The rest of the money could be used to spend money on parchment and supplies to further my studies on runes.

Putting my money away I took out the mage’s journal I had taken a while ago. I hadn’t bothered to look at it during the trip in case anyone saw and was too exhausted to look at it while rushing back here to Raftin. I flipped it open and began to read what Mage Karen had written down.

It was a detailed list of everything in regards to the Chant of Lightening. The chants themselves, their uses, and even speculations about how the skill increased in level. It was very similar to my own personal journal and I rated it more valuable than all the money I had gathered during this trip.

As I read it became clear that she was at the senior level for the Chant of Lightening. I would definitely be learning this as soon as possible. While the Chant of Time was great it lacked direct combat applications for my mana. There was something about throwing a fireball or shooting beams of energy that was far more satisfying than slowing things down.

Later on in the manuscript it talked about mana. There was a section on Meditation but there was nothing I hadn’t already figured out. There was a brief mention of trying to absorb back the mana after it had been cast forth as an ability. I read that part again and grinned. I had never considered that in my attempts to gather mana more quickly. I would have to consider it in my future experiments.

I put the journal away and returned downstairs for dinner. I ate quickly and returned to my room. I did not want to speak to anyone. I kept going through my pack and cleaning it. The last item was my sister’s journal.

It was painful to read. Her marriage was an unhappy one. She did go to Goldtown on her own to manage the Baron’s holdings and to travel a bit. Reading between the lines it had been a compromise between her and her husband. There was still the passage about opening up a new caravan but other than that there was no clue how the Lich came to be in Goldtown.

I would need to head to Azalon to report the news to my parents. I definitely did not want to do that but I had to. I really had to tell them. How am I supposed to say that Clarissa is dead along with their unborn grandchild? I lay there in bed tears coming down my face until I had no more to shed.

CHAPTER 8

I chose to walk back to Azalon. It would take over a month but I needed the time to come to grips with what had happened. It also gave me a chance to work on the Chant of Lightning. I only had a single active ability Shock which allowed me to shock whatever I was touching.

My hand always felt numb after using the ability. It was fairly useless but the only one I had managed to unlock after gaining the skill. I kept working on the chants but none of the other abilities were unlocked. I was probably missing some form of understanding and just kept working on that one ability. If I could increase my level in that skill hopefully I would be able to unlock more abilities.

Thankfully no one tried to stop me from leaving Raftin or pursued me. It had been a good choice to bring back the Baron to take attention off of me. I always liked to acknowledge which choices I made were good and which were bad so I could learn from them. Going on this caravan was a bad choice. I got lucky once again by surviving but everyone else had died.

The more I thought about it the more lucky I realized I was. The Lich targeted the priest first probably as the greatest threat. Then Karn came in and fought the monster while I made my escape. If it weren’t for both of them I probably would never have made it out of there alive. I was thirteen now and level thirteen. I had missed my birthday but it didn’t seem that important.

I looked at my rough hands. While I had fine control, swinging a blade around did not keep my hands soft despite how hard I tried. Already a few callouses was developing. I had noticed that while my hands grew used to the hard work of swinging a blade I had been lost a bit of feeling. I wondered if there was mana for keeping one looking amazing. Beauty mana, that almost made me laugh out loud at how silly it sounded.

I knew mana was claimed to be capable of anything but I still found the idea hilarious. The mage with that mana would probably make a lot of money though. All the nobles would definitely pay for the service especially the women. I wouldn’t argue with some way to use mana to clean myself from the dirt and grime that continually seemed to find and stick to me.

It was just another thing separating me from my past life. I wanted to become strong and develop my skills and while I had made tremendous progress my life was hanging by a thread the entire time. “For a road traveled is a risk taken and a lesson learned.” I murmured the quote out loud from my favorite philosopher, Phillius.

Thinking back on it, there had been a number of warnings that I had ignored. I had been lucky and Yonson had been right. It was painful to even admit that. I was alive and was moving forward that was what mattered.

***

I got to Azalon late in the afternoon. The overcast skies that had followed me mirrored my mood and the conversation I was about to have. I reached the gate to the city just before they closed it for the night. I walked up the hill to the Illumination, each step heavier than the last. I had reviewed what I wanted to say a hundred times while returning to the city but I still felt at a loss.

I reached the shop just as Grenda was leaving the shop after closing it up. “Grenda.” I spoke up.

She spun around and was startled slightly. “Edward was it?”

“Yes, I was hoping you could let me in to speak with my parents.” I said.

“I suppose I could let you in.” She gave me a look.

“Thanks.” I wanted to say more but we were just acquaintances. She let me in the shop and walked me to the back where the kitchen was located.

“Clarance, Edward is here. I am heading out for the night.” My mother spun around and looked at both of us.

“Thank you Grenda for letting him in. I will see you tomorrow.” Grenda gave a slight nod and then left. “Edward what is it.”

“You should get father.” I said. She looked like she was going to interrupt but then left the kitchen. I took a seat at the table. A few moments later both my father and mother came into the kitchen and took a seat.

“What is it Edward? Why are you back?” My mother asked. My father just stared at me quietly.

“I…Clarissa is dead.” There was a long moment of silence. “She had been living in Goldtown managing her husband’s holdings there. The entire town was killed. I had gone there as part of a caravan. I barely managed to escape alive.” I looked off to the side. I pulled out the journal from my pack. I put the journal on top of table. “This was her journal.”

My mother burst into tears and let out a sob. I bowed my head. “How did she die?” My father asked. His voice cracked at the end.

“It was a Lich. It called itself the Shadow of Aurulian. It countered my mana while fighting a strong swordsman. The corpses…the corpses came back. I managed to escape, barely.” I said. My mother got up and left the kitchen in tears. My father just sat there in silence.

He finally picked up the journal and began looking through it. Despite the thicker and insulated walls the building had that blocked out sound, I could hear my mother sobbing. “I thought the Shadow of Aurulian was a necromancer.” My father said.

“That is just what the Lich said. I know he used to be a necromancer.” I said. My father looked up from the journal and stared at me. “I had no chance. If Karn hadn’t been fighting it, I never would have survived.”

My father got up suddenly and gave me a hug. “I am glad you are still with us.” He whispered. After letting me go he went back to the journal. I went to tend to the half-finished dinner mother had been making.

I made sure the stew was properly cooked before placing the pot on the table with ladles and bowls. I ladled out a bowl for father and myself and ate. Mother came down, here face clearly streaked with tears. She got a bowl of stew and sat down.

“We should have a funeral.” Mother said. Father looked up at her.

“Yes, we should. We can go talk to Priest Hendric tomorrow morning. No matter what else she was a Baroness.” Father said.

“What happened to her husband?” Mother asked and looked at me briefly.

“I saved him. I had to get food so I went back to the town. The Baron had been with the caravan and had remained in one of those secure carriages the nobility has. I took him with me back to Raftin. I warned the people there what happened but I don’t know anything else what happened after that. He was probably delayed arranging for transportation back here and answering questions.” I said.

“He locked the carriage and didn’t let anyone in. It was terrible. People were ripped apart I… I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” I had another spoonful of stew and felt ill and it wasn’t from the stew. I got up from the table and went upstairs to my old room to fall asleep.

***

“Hello Edward.” I spun around in the darkened room and a pair of glowing eyes were staring at me. “You have been a naughty boy.” The skull shaped visage seemed to appear from the darkness itself. I tried to speak but my tongue refused to obey my commands.

“You ran away. Why did you do that? I just wanted to eat your soul, just a taste.” I screamed and screamed while the Lich slowly came towards me.

I woke up gasping for air. Just a dream, just a dream. I kept repeating that mantra to calm myself down. I had survived through the wilderness, the nights, and various monsters. I just needed to breathe. I wasn’t going to die. I was safe in Azalon and in the Illumination.

I got out of bed and relieved myself in the bathroom downstairs. I then walked outside to the pump in the courtyard. It was still before dawn and no one was up yet. I cleaned myself off and washed out the worst of the dirt on my clothes. With that completed I made my way into the city to buy some bread.

Thinking about what I was doing, it appeared my life had come full circle. I let out a small snort and shook my head. I purchased the bread from the bakery and made my way back home. “Edward?” A voice called out. Spinning around with a hand on my sword I saw Helen, George’s sister.

“Helen, it is good to see you.” She definitely looked very nice. Her auburn hair she had always taken pride it was particularly impressive. If she had on a nicer outfit she could easily have been mistaken for a noble. I took my hand off my sword and gave her a smile.

“So where is my good for nothing brother.” I could tell she was part joking.

“He was around Gilleth Forest fighting goblins and wargs the last I heard. He probably stayed to assist the Royal Army if he hasn’t come home yet.” I wasn’t going to share everything, but I could at least pass on news that he was alive.

“That is good. He better treat me to a nice gift.” Helen said while giving me a look. I had two older brothers so I knew what she wanted and decided that spending some time together may be just the thing I needed to take my mind off my troubles. Something completely different that wasn’t about mana or death.

“I would love to escort the Lady to an event worth of her consideration.” I said in a formal tone. “Any suggestions?” Helen put a finger up to her lips and made a thinking face.

“An evening for a meal at the Eternal Light.” She gave me a grin. While not the most expensive restaurant in the city it would definitely cost a couple of silver.

“Two days from now, I shall come by your parent’s shop later today to escort you.” Helen smiled and then turned to leave.

“I will see you then Edward.” She walked away. I shook my head and returned to the Illumination. I went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast as I had always done.

“Brother!” I spun around and saw Galric.

“Rothgar, it is good to see you.” I replied. We grabbed each other in a hug.

“So what brings you home?” He asked and my mood plummeted. I explained what had happened to Clarissa. At the end of it his smile had departed.

“That…that is a story. At least you didn’t let her become an undead.” He looked away.

“Yeah, that is all I could do. I was a coward.” I said. Rothgar grabbed my shoulders.

“No one could stand and face such a thing. I am glad you are still with us, otherwise we would never have known what happened. I am glad she was put to rest.” Rothgar said. Our parents came downstairs and we had a quiet breakfast.

“Rothgar, why don’t you take Edward to go meet up with Galric. Your mother and I are going to take the day off.” We both agreed and left the store.

As we walked down the hill towards the Merchants Guild I talked to Rothgar about some of my travels. He smiled a bit when I talked about Bran and his intense dislike of fish. The walk was far too short as we came to Galric’s apartment.

Rothgar knocked on the door and it opened to Galric and a younger woman who was hurriedly putting on some clothes. “This is a surprise.” Galric said. The woman finished getting dressed and rushed out. “Sorry about the mess, I was having a lot of fun last night.”

“We can tell. Sit, there is important news we must discuss.” Rothgar said. I told my story to my last family member and there was an oppressive silence. Galric got up and got out three mugs and a large jug.

“I was saving this for another time. But this seems as good as any.” He opened up the jug and poured us all a finger width of amber liquid. “Don’t ask, just drink. For Clarissa, the girl who stole my brushes and painted on my face while I was asleep. The sister who…” He then drank and we followed right after. It burned my throat going down and I let out a cough.

“Little brother, you need a greater tolerance.” Galric poured us all another drink. “We just will need to build it up.” After that it was a blur of drinks, singing, and fanciful stories. Thankfully Rothgar kept a saner head and was able to get me back to the Illumination in one piece.

The next morning I woke up and felt like I had gotten into a fight. I managed to drag myself out of bed and clean myself up. I stumbled my way downstairs, mother had already prepared breakfast. “I am glad to see you are alive. Drink this.” She handed me a mug of water. I drank it and felt a bit better.

“Thanks.”

“At least you didn’t do anything stupid and Rothgar was there. There is a ceremony after breakfast.” She said and I just nodded.

Going to the church and listening to Priest Hendric talk about Clarissa and offer her blessings for having moved on made it seem so much more real. It was a small ceremony. I ignored everyone who wished me well and made my way home. I just lay in bed only getting up for meals and some quiet conversation.

It was just after mid-day following the ceremony that I pulled myself out of bed and made myself presentable. I then made my way out into the city and purchased a single flower. With that done I made my way to see Helen. She met me outside her parents’ shop, she really seemed to have an extra sense to be ready when I was. I wondered if it was a skill of some kind. “Edward, I see an amaryllis. So dramatic.” She smiled at me and took the flower from my hands.

“Hello Helen.” I said.

“I heard about what happened. I never knew her really well, but Clarissa had the nicest green eyes. I was always jealous of them growing up.” Helen said.

“She had too much of a temper.” I said.

“Hmmm, well she married very well. To a Baron no less. I wonder what chances the daughter of a fletcher might have.” She said while leaning against me and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“A bit forward of you.” I replied while trying to contain my blush.

“My parents are asking around to find a good match. I am not happy with my prospects.”

“So you want to marry me? An adventurer?”

“A scribe and a successful adventurer.”

“I never really thought about things like that. I just wanted to…do something different.”

“Boys, that is why you need a woman to help manage things.” She gave me a smile.

“So what do you want to do? You were always the prettiest one of the kids our age, but what do you want to do with your life?” I asked.

“Travel a bit, manage a household. Maybe wear some expensive dresses.” She gave me a grin.

“My money pouch is not that deep.”

“Honestly, this is just a bit of fun. Matchmaker Ulnera is looking into prospects but I can only hope for someone as good as you.”

“Your beauty should have men falling over themselves.”

“But not you?”

“I can see a flower in a forest, but I can cast my gaze beyond the flower.” I was glad for everything I had read so I could handle this conversation. I had never remembered Helen being this intense.

She grabbed onto my arm and leaned into me so she was whispering in my ear. “Let us just enjoy this moment.” I smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever.

***

I left Azalon the day after to make my way towards the capital Antioch. I had enjoyed the evening I had spent with Helen. It was calming in a weird way to just hang out and go on a date. Something so pointless and normal helped settle my head. Life would go on, I just had to keep moving forward.

I reached the capital. It was a simple matter to rent a room for myself for an entire year and get two meals a day for fifteen copper. That meant over the three hundred and sixty days in a year I would be paying fifty four silver. I also worked out a permanent pass to the library instead of paying the daily fee for twenty silver which would hopefully save me quite a bit.

I had made sure to get a room in a half decent part of town, but where I would be left alone. There was an older man who rented it out to earn some extra money and a tavern was next door for easy meals. It wasn’t the same level as comfort as my parents’ home in Azalon but it was decent enough.

While I had a lot of money, I had learned the importance of keeping it. I deposited a gold into my account at the Adventurers Guild and then I got to work. I kept up with my exercise every morning. Despite living in the city I didn’t plan on going soft.

While there was daylight I spent my time reading at the library. I had attempted to meditate at the same time but with the world fading into the background of my perceptions and my eyelids closing, it was near impossible to read and meditate at the same time.

When it started to get dark I would return to my room and work on Toughness by cutting myself. I would let the blood go into a bucket, which I would empty really early next morning and repeat the process. While I was healing and working to recover I began to work on my chants or meditate if I was low on mana.

My work at the library was centered on runes and attempting to devise a language or system for them. The problem was that I had no understanding of anything about the language. I had fifteen runes to work from. The order of writing the symbols mattered as well as the symbols. There was nothing in common between any of the runes except the charging and discharging portions of them.

The swirls, lines, and other markings were all different and there was anywhere between three and five layers in the rune as it was written on the paper. It was frustrating and aggravating. I scoured the books in the public library but once again the wall of hidden knowledge kept me locked out. There were history books and various pointless manuscripts on trivial things, but nothing on mana or skills that would be useful.

I did learn that the Mage Guild was divided into various schools of learning. Magnus Kaller would not see me unless I met his requirements and no other schools would accept me. There was a hierarchy of the various schools in the Mage Guild. It wasn’t clear how they were ordered but the School of Space and Time was at the top of the pecking order.

No one else would teach me or help me without Magnus Kaller’s approval which he would not give. He wouldn’t even meet with me to discuss possible avenues of research. The other mages in the capital stayed at their guild hall so I wasn’t even able to meet with them for a casual conversation.

My only solace was the journal I had taken from Mage Karen. I kept working on my Chant of Lightening. The abilities at the higher level would give me far more confidence when fighting with mana. I also worked on developing a new ability for my Chant of Time. I needed an area of affect ability to stop arrows or other similar attacks.

I wanted to learn the ability to deflect mana attacks like the Lich had done. Counter mana or negation mana would be incredibly over powered. The key defense listed for mana based attacks was not to be near them. Mages were contained by line of sight. Another way was to use enchanted items.

When I first read about that I considered enchanted items I looked into them. There were two types. The first was made from various monster remains and were inordinately expensive. Potions fell into this category and the armor Bran had sold his cockatrice feathers for. The second category were items that had been infused with mana by mages like the bow Harold used.

Looking into using mana to make enchanted items I was able to look over a couple of items in one of the shops that sold those items for the Mages Guild. I was only able to see runes etched into a single item. It was a cup that was supposed to check for poison. The runes were etched on the rim of the cup. The script was small and they were engraved into the metal itself.

Could a mage be writing out runes and then another mage containing their specific mana in order to make it work? The simple runes I had learned may just work with raw mana while other higher level runes required other skills to infuse a specific mana into them. I had no idea where to even begin with such research or writing out such runes.

After three months I gave up on the library and spent my time focusing on Toughness, Meditation, and my two chants. I also learned a new ability bolt. I could shoot a small lightning bolt that would shock a person and do damage. I tested it on myself once, but the flash and the crack was too much too remain unnoticed in the city.

I kept using shock on my arm to hurt myself. The damage stayed at fifty health each time I used it. The biggest success was gaining a new skill.

I could actually see the interaction between the two abilities as I used them constantly on myself. At most I could gain a fifty percent resistance which would be incredibly useful if I ever learned the stronger Chant of Lightning abilities. That is if the progression remained the same for skill increase in relation to the passive abilities. Something I would keep an eye on.

I also went up to level fourteen from all the skills I had improved. I wished there was some actual progress bar for my skills. Looking back on my notes there was no clear relation between gaining a level and improving my skills. I had made small gains in my points from my morning exercise, but nothing impressive for three months of work.

After my morning exercise I went to the tavern next door to have breakfast. “Did you hear, Morack has been attacked!” The morning crowd all spun to look at the man who had burst into the tavern. I recalled my maps and the city was fifteen days west of Azalon. It was a decent size and even had a stone wall from what I remembered. Everyone began shouting and talking.

“Quiet, what else is there?” The tavern keeper shouted. Everyone quieted to listen to the man who had rushed in.

“I heard there was a dragon and a large army came out from the mountains nearby and the city was besieged.” He didn’t have anything else to say and everyone in the tavern broke out into conversations. I finished up my breakfast and returned to my room to continue my work. I had originally thought of riding back but there was nothing I could do. The Royal Army and the nobles would sort things out.

It was tempting to rush back home but that wouldn’t accomplish anything. I had devoted a year to improving my skills and that is what I planned to do. Thinking about what would be a good compromise, I decided to write a letter and explain what was going on and what I was doing. That should put any fears they have to rest and make me feel better as well.

I did sit down and write a letter detailing where I was and I would be in the capital for another nine months. I went to the Adventurers Guild to post a mission to take the message to Azalon. I walked into the guild and saw the same girl from before sitting at the desk near the entrance.

“Still in trouble?” I asked.

“My name is trouble.” She said with a sigh.

“I need to get a message delivered to Azalon, how do I post a mission?” I asked.

“Oh something I can do. Do you have the message?” She looked at the sealed parchment in my hands and took it. “Good, now who and where do you want it delivered to?” She asked me a number of questions and filled out one of the parchments I had seen posted to the mission board.

“Now that I got all the information, two silver. While a bit much it looks like you want it delivered quickly.”

“Yes.” I handed over the money reluctantly and she filled out the last bit on the parchment.

“All set. Stop back in a month and you can pick up confirmation of the mission. It is filed under your name.” She said.

“Thanks.”

“Whatever.” I turned and left the guild hall. That was one problem solved.

I made my way back to my room. I began thinking over my Chant of Lightning and Lightning Resistance and how those two skills complimented each other. Did that mean there was a Time Resistance skill to compliment the Chant of Time?

The more I thought about it the more excited I became. If I became immune to time, would I simply cease to age or age more slowly? I had been practicing my Chant of Time abilities on other things and not myself. I should probably begin using slow and stop on myself in order to create a resistance.

***

A year had finally passed since I had decided to remain in the capital. It had been a long and tedious year, but I had made solid progress. I looked over my status panel with a smile. While the number of points I had gained had been small, they had been gains. I suspected I was reaching the limit of what my training could give me.

The biggest success I had made was figuring out the chant for slow all. A large glowing sphere around ten feet in diameter would appear where I willed and gestured for it to come into being. Anything caught inside was slowed.

It wasn’t just the portion of the object inside but the entire object. It was similar to how slow couldn’t target just an arm or a portion of a blade but targeted the entire thing that the ability came into contact with.

The biggest challenge was that I would be slowed as well if I came into contact and I had not developed any time resistance skill either. Despite the high cost it wasn’t completely impractical either. My Meditation skill had increased enough to regenerate all my mana in half a day.

I had high hopes after working out the chant for the ability I would figure out a system for the chants. Unfortunately each chant was strangely unique just like the runes. I was sure there was a common theme somewhere but it was another road block on my quest for knowledge.

I had grown a bit as well and took the time to buy new clothes. I still had quite a bit of money left and planned to stock up appropriately with potions this time around. It would be incredibly silly to die with a pouch of silver and gold when a potion was needed out in the wilderness.

Morack had been the topic of conversation. The city was currently under siege by the Royal Army. All sorts of rumors were coming out but the only facts that people were sure about, was that a hostile force had taken the city, there were lots of undead, and there was a bone dragon flying around. The rumors went all the way from experiments gone wrong, to a Lich had taken over.

There was probably more truth in the last statement than anyone knew. I went to the guild hall to get information and to find a place with monsters I could take down, definitely not goblins. I entered the guild hall and the same woman was still sitting at the desk.

“I think you actually like it there.” I told her.

“Maybe I am just that troublesome.” She replied.

I walked by her and went to the mission board and began looking over it. There was nothing at rank two that was interesting and I began looking over the higher ranked missions. “Ed? Is that you?” I spun around and saw Bran standing there in metal armor.

He had definitely become a lot bulkier but still had the same shield from the last time I had seen him more than a year ago. “Bran, good to see you again.” We clasped arms and smiled.

“I thought you had died, but the guild showed you were still alive.” Bran said.

“It was scary for a bit. That caravan really was cursed. I was the only one to survive.” I said.

“I heard, there were rumors everywhere for a while.”

“Let’s sit and have a mug of ale. It is quite a story.” We sat and I told my tale about the Lich and how everyone was killed.

“Only you Ed would survive something that insane.”

“So what have you been up to Bran?” I asked.

“I traveled with Yonson for a bit. He mostly does scouting work in the wilderness. His favorite thing is looking for dungeons.”

“Reading about those they always seemed like abandoned ruins.”

“Sometimes, but it is when a dungeon heart comes into being. They are incredibly rare but discovering one is incredibly valuable. If you can reach the dungeon heart and kill it, high level mages can craft some amazing things from it since it is almost pure mana.” I had read about them. They seemed like fanciful tales that a child would tell. Apparently dungeons were actually real which was surprising.

“Really? Did you two discover anything?” I asked.

“No, since most entrances are surrounded by monsters. There is no chance of getting through without a large group. Even then things are dangerous. Normally he spends his time looking for newly formed ones, which are the easiest to get to. He has only ever found one with another large group, but the payoff can set you up for life or at least a couple of years depending on how you live.” I gave him a look at that and he let out a small cough to cover his embarrassment at spending my money so much.

“So what then? Are you still with Yonson?” I asked.

“No, I did some caravan work to earn some copper. This metal armor isn’t cheap.” I looked him over and could easily guess it cost him about a gold. “The defense helps a lot. Don’t have to worry about arrows or glancing blows as much.”

“I can see that. You looking for a mission also?” I asked.

“I got in a couple days ago with my last caravan. We made a run past Morack. Place is a complete mess but everyone is heading there. They hope to retake the city. That place is just trouble.”

“I wish them good luck with that. What about Gilleth Forest and the goblins?” I hadn’t heard anything and was curious. If anyone would know it would be Bran.

“All wiped out to the last one. It was a nightmare clearing out the caves from the people I talked to. I heard they sealed off all the entrances they could find and then mages flooded the place with fire mana to deal with it at the end. The entire mountain actually collapsed down a bit as the caves were destroyed.”

“Wow, that must have been something to see. You ever here about George?” I asked.

“No, nothing except that he is alive. You?”

“No, he didn’t return to Azalon the last time I was there.”

“So what level are you?” Bran asked. I gave him a look since it was a taboo question. “If you don’t want to answer that is fine. Just curious since we are about the same age.” He wanted to know how he measured up against me.

“Fifteen.”

“Nineteen here. I had to fight off a couple of things with Yonson.” He had a slightly smug look. I was tempted to ask him to a duel but decided I didn’t need any ego stroking.

“Like what?” I was really curious about the monsters he had fought.

“Well we went to the swamps to the south. There are a lot of nasty things there and the bugs. Uck, it was terrible. The worst were the giant leeches. I saw three of them leap onto a man and he was completely drained of blood by the time we killed them and got them off. Yonson was sure there was a dungeon in the area but we never had any luck.”

“What about going back?” Bran gave me a look. “Don’t look at me like that. We could find the dungeon ourselves. The main thing for me killing some monsters and improving my skills. You seem to know what you are doing.”

“It is tempting. The gold alone for finding one is quite a bit.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “We could put together an expedition. It will be difficult.” Bran gave me a look.

“I do have some other skills. Like the Chant of Lightening.” I held up my hand. “Shock.” Sparks shot off the ends of my fingers. He seemed mildly impressed but did not reciprocate by sharing his improved abilities which was annoying.

“Place is a death trap and we would need others. Supplies won’t be cheap.” He gave me a look and I let out a sigh. Everything came down to money.

“How much?” I asked.

“Twenty silver, for food and lodgings. That is not counting the both of us. I figure four more people should do it. There is a lot of risk and we are rank two. The big draw will be a chance at finding a dungeon. Just need to cover basic expenses to get anyone decent to come along.”

“How much does the information sell for?” I asked.

“At least a twenty gold. Don’t look so surprised. A dungeon heart is pure crystalized mana and the value of that is over a platinum.” Thinking about pure mana, there were clearly some uses for it. Mana was normally produced by one’s existence. For there to be dungeon hearts forming from mana that must mean there is mana in the air. If I could get my hands on one, it would definitely open up a new path in my research.

“I can fund twenty silver. But you sure you are up for this?” I asked, remembering about how he backed out before.

“I can handle myself just fine.” Bran said.

“Just checking. You seemed worried before.” This time he was the one who looked annoyed. That was good since I was still a bit mad at him for not joining me on the caravan to Goldtown.

“It was a matter of experience to risk. That is something I have learned quite a bit about and learning to survive.”

“If you say so.” There was silence between us as we thought about what was just said.

***

“I think a round of introductions are in order. I am Branier Bigfish, just call me Bran. I like my shield and sword and you can count at me to hold the monsters back.”

The only woman spoke up. “Carol Gilly. I am an archer. I am also handy with a dagger so keep your hands to yourselves.” She gave a glare to the group. The fact that she had a long scar running down the left side of her face added a level of intimidation.

“X, just X.” We all looked at him and he continued reluctantly. “I use a long blade and a shorter one in my off hand.” He was the only rank three of the group and definitely the oldest out of all of us. I remembered him from the caravan into the mountains over a year ago. A quiet standoffish guy.

“X here will be taking apart any monsters we kill for salvage since he knows how. Also since he is rank three, he will be getting six out of ten shares due his rank, tracking skills, and knowledge. There shouldn’t be a problem with that right?” Bran asked. That was annoying since I had been hoping to work on my Anatomy skill a bit. I would watch him and hopefully learn something. Bran took our silence as acceptance and waved at the next person to go.

“Oglethorp Mallion. Just call me Mal. I am a priest and can use the Chant of Healing. I also can defend myself.” He put his hand on a spiked mace.

“I am Edward Monteger. I a fighter and registered mage. I use a wide range of mana.” I said. The rest of the group looked at me. “A wide range.” I repeated.

“Alright, since introductions are done. We are going to head south to the swamps. Specifically the Jockel Swamps at the south boarder of Aurulian. We will not be going into the kingdom of Yorek on the far side. The goal is to find a dungeon. The trip down there is being paid for and we will each receive an equal cut if we find one. Questions?” Bran asked.

“What is in the swamps?” Mal asked.

“Mostly vine monsters, giant bugs, giant leeches, and other monsters. There are no elves down there and I haven’t heard or seen any undead the last time I was there. Just vicious monsters.” Mal didn’t look that relived about the final comment Bran had made. No one else spoke up.

“Alright then. I will form a party and we will set off.” Bran invited everyone to the party. I took a look at everyone else’s levels.

X must have gotten a name change unless he had terrible parents or no parents. I was going to go with name change since no one would naturally end up with the name of X. We all grabbed our packs and set out from the Guild Hall. Bran had done a great job of gathering people together and making sure everyone was prepared.

Both X and Carol were the silent types and Mal had ended up staying near Bran to talk with him. That left me alone to think about the expedition ahead. There was one fact that made me incredibly excited about looking for a dungeon.

They were said to be natural gathering spots for monsters. There was even speculation that monsters formed from the dungeons. This meant unlimited monsters to kill. They would hopefully be harder than the goblins, which would allow me to gain levels quickly.

I had ninety three points in wisdom and sixteen in intelligence. I needed a combined amount of two hundred so I would have a thousand mana. That meant I needed at least nineteen more levels if I didn’t gain the points naturally. Learning from a Magnus would be the greatest way to gather knowledge and that meant I had to meet his insane requirements.

***

“So Carol, how do you know Bran?” I asked her while when we were a ten-day into our journey.

“I have been with Yonson and Bran to the swamps before. Not the most pleasant but it is good experience and I want to reach rank three as soon as possible.”

“Same here.” I said.

“So you use mana, care to share?” She asked.

“Nothing too dramatic, I just slow my enemies down.” She gave me a long look.

“That is not common, but it will be useful.” She turned away clearly implying the conversation was over.

I walked over to Mal who had drifted away from Bran. I would hopefully have better luck with him than everyone else I had met. “Mal, have you been a priest for long?” I asked.

“For a while, since I came of age. I know I look young, but I just have to wait for my beard to come in.”

“Don’t feel bad, I am the youngest here and we are the same level. We also both use mana.”

“That is true. I am curious about what you can do.” That was the opening I was hoping for.

“I use the Chant of Time, I can slow things down including monsters. It allows me to strike them easily. My abilities cost a lot of mana.”

“A common problem. From my observations you appear to know Meditation?” He asked.

“Yes I do. Any advice for me?”

“Not much. The senior priest I trained under always taught us to use the time for prayer and reflection.”

“What are the requirements to become a priest? I know the path isn’t taken lightly, but after losing friends I would like to be able to heal them.” Mal gave me a look.

“The skills of my order are guarded to protect from chaos and darkness.”

“I am just interested in healing.” No I wasn’t, but any information was helpful. “I would be willing to share the Chant of Lightning with you in exchange for the basics of the Chant of Healing.” Since skills weren’t learned instantly, people could lie to each other. There was also the desire to keep a monopoly on one’s skills to pass down to their family or group.

My hope was that both the Chant of Healing and the Chant of Lightning were common enough to overcome this issue. If I had offered the Chant of Time there would have been no way Mal would have believed me.

“I can accept your reasoning. Very well then.” I grinned and pulled out a sheet of parchment I had written up.

“This has the basics for the Chant for Lightning.” I handed it over. “I use this to review my skill.” Mal looked it over and then pocketed the parchment.

“The basic healing chant is simple. By the light and the power of order. Heal this one to his previous state whole and well.” I frowned at that. It was the same chant I had heard before.

“I already know that chant, I don’t like being tricked.” Mal looked at me in surprise and then away. “What is the actual chant?” I said.

“I can’t share it, it is forbidden.” He said.

“I gave you information on my skill in good faith. You will either make this right or else.” I put my hand on my blade. Mal began to look around for help. “If you go to the others then we will have issues. Now the actual chant. I just want to heal, I don’t plan on spreading it around.”

Mal let out a long sigh. “By order and by light, heal this being to a whole state.” I repeated the chant and unlocked my new skill. I guess all the practicing from before had paid off.

Mal walked away from me after that with a frown on his face. I wasn’t too worried, I would just make sure to keep some mana in order to heal myself. I could finally heal. I wanted to shout for joy. After the Chant of Lightning and Lightning Resistance I had learned there was a synergy between skills.

The Chant of Healing would work well with Toughness and any other resistance skill I was learning. While I had potions it just wasn’t the same thing. If I received an injury that would cripple me I could fix it myself now. The priests were a bunch of ass holes in my opinion for keeping this sort of skill secret but to each their own.

Mal would need to run into an accident on this trip. This was one skill I wasn’t going to let anyone know about. The Church was powerful, incredibly so. They were second only to the nobles and even then they were not trifled with. Healing was a commodity just like gold and silver. To lose that commodity would have them seek to punish me.

The laws on this were a bit vague since Mal had willingly taught me the skill. Unfortunately in the stories I read the world was never fair and just. My own experiences backed that up. If the Church knew I had broken in on their precious monopoly they would brand me a heretic and have me killed.

CHAPTER 9

We finally reached the edge of the Jockel Swamp. The air was hot and humid with a putrid smell lingering about. We had also stocked up on supplies the previous town. “X will take the lead as our tracker and most experienced person. I will stay near Mal and Carol in order to protect them. Ed will take the rear and watch for any surprise attacks.”

“We also have to go to a two person watch from now on. So one person gets double duty each night. This place isn’t a joke. You think there is a problem you speak up.” Everyone gave an affirmative and we began moving through the damp grass towards the mist covered swamp.

I had my sword in my hand ready for anything. The mist made it hard to see and I wished I had an ability to push it out of the way. It was like the snowstorm only a lot wetter and hotter. The bugs swarmed around us but the plant paste Bran had made us all buy and use in the last town kept them off of us.

Thankfully for all that X was silent and anti-social he was very good at picking out a stable path through the swamp. I would not want to be trudging in waist deep muck. Thinking about it, my boots would probably have to be burned after this. “Blood crows, incoming.”

Everyone looked up while Carol quickly strung her bow and notched an arrow. A moment after X’s warning I heard the whistling in the air and saw a number of red shapes begin to circle overhead. I counted nine of them. The circle was tight enough I could get them all at once with slow all. The problem was it would also slow down arrows shot at them.

I decided to wait. We all stood there listening to the slight whistling their wings gave off. Carol still had not shot an arrow yet. The mist and their height was likely to throw off her aim and she only had so many arrows. There wouldn’t be any easy recoveries in this swamp.

“Mal can you do anything?” Bran asked.

“I could light up the area briefly but it would be limited.” Mal said.

“I have an idea. Don’t look, will use ability on three. One, two, bolt.” I used my ability and the bolt of lightning flew from my left hand and into the sky and I missed. “Bolt, bolt, bolt.” I cast three more times in quick succession and managed to hit one of the blood crows. It fell through the air and hit the wet ground nearby with a plop.

The rest of the monsters let out harsh caws and flew down towards us. Carol released an arrow. “Slow, slow.” I hit two of the monsters coming for me with my ability and then drove my blade through their bright red feathers and into their bodies. I noted their beaks were incredibly sharp and pointed and they had vicious looking talons.

I looked around at the rest of the group. X had received a wound on his arm which was already being healed by Mal and nobody else was injured as far as I could tell. Three of the monsters had survived and were flying off.

“Good job everyone. Nice work Ed.” I nodded at Bran. I began gathering up the corpses and laying them on a dry patch of ground while X got to work. I carefully watched what he was doing. I noted he was focusing on removing the beaks but leaving everything else.

After he tossed the first blood crow to the side. I had seen enough to understand how he was separating their beaks. I got to work on dissecting the ones he had finished with. “What are you doing?” Mal asked. He sounded ill as I gutted the Blood Crow with a knife.

“Looking into how this monster is made up so I can kill them more easily. Their bones are hallow, so they would probably shatter under a blunt enough attack. Also their eyes are on the opposite side of their head and stick out a bit so they would be able to see quite a bit.” Mal turned away as I kept up my dissection.

Having an extra damage boost from my Anatomy skill was huge. It applied to all damage both from my blade and mana. There was also the chance I would learn something really interesting, perhaps understand their natural mana abilities and skills. When X was done taking the beaks I stopped as well and we all left. I was tempted to say that we should use the corpses of the blood crows as bait but I wanted to get a better sense of how dangerous the monsters were in the swamp first.

The blood crows seemed incredibly easy, but I was also part of a group that knew what they were doing. If I was by myself the blood crows could have easily swarmed me. This was exactly the reason I wanted to travel with a group, they would stand between me and overwhelming numbers.

As the sky began to get slightly darker, Bran quickly called a halt and we stopped on a small patch of dry land that had a couple of trees and bushes. X was actually able to get a fire going from some of the plants and some tar that was bubbling up nearby.

We all ate in silence. No one wanted to tell a story or lighten up the mood. I looked at Bran but even he seemed depressed in this swamp. I had first watch along with Mal. It was simple enough as we both waited in the dark listening to weird noises in the distance.

When the second watch was up. I meditated a bit before falling asleep. I had used two hundred and thirty six mana in the last fight and I wanted to be near my capacity in case something happened. I would need around a quarter of a day of meditation to recover what I had lost. I didn’t manage that but every bit would help.

The following day the ever present mist clung to everything once again. This place was incredibly miserable. I really needed a Chant of Drying to keep the dampness off of me. While my journal and spare parchment was carefully wrapped up in wax paper to keep out water I wouldn’t be able to use runes. The dampness would ruin the parchment they were on very quickly.

I did know how to write a rune to dry things out. I figured it was worth the risk. The following night when I was on watch I pulled out three sheets of parchment and mixed up some ink that morning. I then charged the runes and put one in my pants, one in my pack, and other in my shirt. The dampness was repelled and I let out a small sigh of relief.

Based on my earlier tests they should last around a ten-day. They weren’t strong enough to keep solid water off, but it was enough to repel the mist and keep my clothing dry. I made another one and removed the limiters similar to the flash rune. I would be interesting to see what happened. I put in mana and the entire area around the rune instantly went dry.

I even felt my eyes and skin feel dry after that. The ground was no longer damp, but actually hard and the air had lost the ever present humidity. A couple of seconds later it came back but it gave me an idea. If I ever met with a water based monster I could dry them out.

***

The third day we encountered another monster. “Hold up. We have to back track. Everything sinks into the swamp around here.” X said. I looked around for any sort of path and saw movement.

“Something is there.” I gestured with my blade and everyone began scanning the area.

“A vine monster or possibly a lizard of some kind.” X said.

“I am going to try and force it out. One, two, bolt.” I called out. The bolt struck the water where I had seen movement and the area around exploded in an explosion of steam. That was followed by a roar as a large figure leapt out of the swamp water.

Bran had moved in front of it incredibly quickly and slammed his shield directly into the beast. He slid back a couple of feet but didn’t lose his balance. It was a massive lizard covered in muck. “Slow!” I yelled out. An arrow flew into it and both X and Bran stabbed the monster. I moved in to assist. “Slow.” I used my ability again since it clearly wasn’t dead. I stabbed it once and then repeated, “Slow.” It had two arrows in it and a large number of stab wounds.

Bran had been especially brutal at its head while X had been aiming at its flank similar to me. I let the ability run out and the monster collapsed. “By the Gods.” Mal whispered. I didn’t blame him. The monster was at least eight feet long not counting its tail which added another four feet.

X poked it a couple of times with one of his swords. “Definitely dead. Probably a mud grabber if I had to guess. Never killed one before.” He looked it over. “I think the teeth might be useful.” He got to work removing the teeth, Carol worked on getting her arrows back, and I worked on cutting the monster open.

Its skin was thick, but not impossibly so. Most of the insides were completely new to me. I couldn’t figure out the function of a number of organs. Like the goblins from before this one was completely different from anything that had been recorded about humans and how our bodies worked. I had some ideas, but there was also quite a bit of damage from all the stabbing we had done which made things harder.

“All done.” X said. I stopped as well and cleaned off my dagger. We back tracked a bit and found another way through the swamp. I did note I had gained a level. It was annoying that it was impossible to tell how much came from killing monsters and how much came from raising Anatomy up to beginner two.

When we stopped for lunch I decided to ask a question. “X, if we are looking for a dungeon why don’t we head to where the monsters are the most present.” He let out a small annoyed grunt and turned towards me.

“The problem is the large ones drive the small ones away. So while the area near a dungeon might have more monsters unless they are all the same type and get along it is impossible to tell. The only reason people suspect there is a dungeon in the swamps is the number of high level and varied monsters like that mud grabber.” He turned back to the dried meat he was eating.

“What about a boat?” I asked Bran.

“People have tried, but it is impossible to fight on a boat. If that mud grabber came up from below and ripped the thing in half we would all be dead. That is why we are stuck to these dry patches.” Bran explained. I had thought it would be a good idea, apparently not.

I thought about trying to drain the swamp but then realized it acted as a natural buffer between Aurulian and Yorek. The Wastes of Nuremar also helped as well. That was probably the reason why the two kingdoms got along, they never had to deal with each other that much. I knew there was a road by the mountains and the coast, but both routes were easily guarded from a large army.

So the swamp remained since no one cared enough to remove it and it was large. As long as all the monsters didn’t get up and leave the area then no one important would care about this place. It was unfortunate but the Kingdom of Aurulian had other problems to deal with and had no need to create new ones.

We continued on walking through the swamp. I said a silent prayer of thanks to my mother for knowing about runes. Being dry made this entire experience bearable instead of a lesson in suffering. I thought about offering the others my services, but since no one wanted to share their skills with me, I wouldn’t share with them either. The fact that no one asked how my clothes and pack were dry just reinforced my decision.

Vines suddenly burst out of the water around us. “Slow, bolt!” I hit one of the large vines with both abilities. Only the one vine slowed and then it was burned slightly from the bolt. The vines swung in towards us wildly without a clear direction. I was able to dodge out of the way as the slammed into the ground.

“Find the center!” Bran shouted out. From previous conversations I knew that the vine monsters had a center which was a mass of vines surrounding a heart of some sort. If that was damaged then the vine monster would die. The hard part was finding it in the chaos.

I cut a vine that was swinging at me and green sap went all over me. The vine quickly retreated beneath the water. I pulled out a dry rune and slapped it on the next vine that swung past. I pushed mana into it. After thinking on my runes for a while I had made the activation portion delay while the discharge portion of the rune would release all the mana at once.

I had been dried out slightly before and I did not want that. I also had the effect be more narrow in focus. The rune activated as the vine was in the air and it stopped moving. The vine began to spasm as it was dried out but more sap was pushed in to compensate. I noted that only half the vines slowed down and pulled out another rune.

There had to be a second monster and slapped it on one of the more active vines. The first dry rune crumbled away but that had given my group the advantage they needed. As more vines were hacked apart the monsters had to come closer to use their thicker vines and that finally exposed their hearts. Carol put an arrow into each one killing the monsters.

We were all covered in sap and chunks of vine littered the ground around us. “Well that was nasty.” Mal said.

“This is never coming out of my hair.” Carol complained about the sap. Cleaning up from the battle took longer than the battle itself. The water from the swamp had to be filtered and then heated to prevent illness. Cleaning off all the sap was a slow and tedious process. Even when we were finished, I still felt sticky.

I also took the time to look at the heart of the monsters. It was basically a pulsating mass of plant matter with vines wrapped around it. X didn’t even bother looking at the monster, apparently it had nothing valuable. We made camp a short distance away from the battle.

***

“Ambush!” I immediately grabbed my sword and looked around. It had been Carol who had shouted out the warning. I quickly got up along with everyone else. “I definitely saw something moving out there.” She pointed the area out, but the darkness was heavy.

X immediately tossed more stuff on the fire to bring it up more. “Mal we need light.” Bran said. A moment later an orb of light hovered over the camp illuminating the area. A number of giant moths were circling the camp. Each one was about the size of a person. Before I could get an accurate count they began to release a gold cloud from around their bodies.

“Don’t let that stuff touch you.” X shouted. Carol released an arrow killing one of the moth monsters. The gold cloud it had been releasing quickly disappeared with its death.

“Bolt, bolt, bolt!” I shouted out. I struck three separate moths. They weren’t killed but the golden clouds quickly disappeared when they were hit. It was definitely some kind of ongoing mana ability they were using.

Carol kept shooting arrows while X made sure they were killed off once they hit the ground. I stayed back with Bran and Mal ready to use bolt. The battle ended and Mal looked exhausted. Holding that light up had probably drained him of mana. Thankfully the campfire was big enough now to provide illumination of the area.

“Freaking night moths.” X cursed.

“At least we are all alive.” Bran said.

“I am out of mana.” Mal added. While we had won the situation looked grim.

“Nothing we can do. I need to get the venom sacks off these monsters.” X said. I followed him as he got to work. I had never dealt with giant bugs before. Their blood was green and they seemed a lot more fragile than other monsters.

I looked for any mana producing organ and even glanced at the venom sacks X was pulling out. There was nothing I could tell, but my knowledge was next to nothing. I was hoping that some innate sense or some bit of luck would lead me to an answer.

Thankfully dawn wasn’t too far off and we left the ruins of the camp to find a new one. From what I could tell we were making a half loop through the swamp. With the mist and the bleak terrain I was glad X was here to scout out which way we needed to go.

Chant of Lightening had increased to experienced one. I was now able to use infuse lightning. From Karen’s journal it had explained that it would infuse a weapon with lightning for a short period of time until it was struck against something and then release the power of around three bolts combined. She had noted that the ability worked only with metal objects like swords and one shouldn’t touch the blade when it was infused.

Metal arrows would be insanely expensive and I didn’t use arrows anyways. It would make for a nice extra boost to my weapon but slow was still far superior as an ability. Maybe against a tough opponent like the yeti it would be useful. A mana ability to counter the natural mana the monsters used.

***

“We have a problem.” It was the seventh night in the Jockel Swamp. Thankfully after the moths we rested the next day so Mal could recovered and I took the opportunity to do the same. Nothing attacked us. We had some more encounters after that but nothing overly difficult.

Everyone turned to X as we sat around the campfire. “Something is blocking my ability to sense directions. I had hoped it was something local and we could move beyond it but it has kept up all day.”

“A monster?” Bran asked.

“Most likely, but my direction skill is based on my ability to sense the distance to marked points. Either something destroyed the objects the ability was tied to, the mana was consumed, or something is blocking me from using my skill.” That was interesting but incredibly worrying.

“Can you set another point here?” I asked.

“I tried that when we stopped at mid-day. A short time after we left the area it disappeared.” X said.

“What about this area? Could the dungeon be here and is blocking your ability?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I can’t tell the way out of the swamp anymore. Without a clear sky there is no way I can tell which way is which. We could end up going in circles.” There was a long silence at that statement.

“We could back track.” Bran said.

“The land changes slightly. The way we came has sunk while other portions have risen.” I was really surprised at that. “That is another reason to suspect a dungeon exists in this area. A dungeon heart can control the land around it to a certain extent.” X added at my surprised look.

“Anything you can do Ed?” Bran looked at me. I thought about it for a bit.

“How far away were you when your marker disappeared?” I asked X.

“About two hundred feet or so.” X said.

“If X sets a new marker I can prepare a number of runes to let out a huge gust of wind. Two hundred feet would be tough, but if it is a monster we should catch it and have a better idea what we are dealing with.” I said. No one had a better idea. It was an uneasy night but I prepared the breeze runes that would act like my flash runes, but releasing all the mana at once.

We left the camp and our formation played to our advantage. X was in the front and I was in the back. “Now.” He said. I spun around and activated the runes that rested against my body. A large gust of wind erupted out from me to the sides slightly, above me, but most of it was in front of me.

The mist was pushed back. We all raced back towards out campsite as the mist was cleared out in front of us. I caught site of the monster first. There was a group of kobalds, lizard monsters. There were eight of them. One was standing back from the rest and appeared to be a mage of some sort. Three were archers and the rest were armored up and had spears.

“Kobalds!” I cried out. “Slow all!” I yelled as the group began to move towards us. A shimmering blue sphere encircled them all and my mana plummeted to almost nothing. An arrow flew from Carol and struck the edge of the sphere where it stopped. X and Bran were already rushing forward past me. The sphere collapsed and the arrow hit a kobald in the chest, staggering it.

Unlike the two I met in the sewers, each of these were the size of a grown man. They had good gear and were clearly organized. The breeze runes crumbled as the mana was consumed. Bran had slammed one of the monsters with his tower shield and was holding another two off. I moved out of the way as arrows flew towards me.

Their mage made a gesture and the ground around both X and Bran began to sink as the swamp water rushed to cover the area. The long spears the kobalds carried immediately became a much deadlier threat. While X was able to back up to more solid ground Bran was forced to keep fending off spear attacks and was sinking with his heavier armor.

“Three, two, one!” I yelled out. My teammates knew enough to look away from what I was doing. I activated a flash rune. Carol took the opportunity to land an arrow in the shoulder of the mage kobald. Bran also took the chance to pull himself out of the sunken portion of ground. The kobalds retreated back into the mist.

Mal rushed forwards and began healing Bran who had taken a number of stab wounds. “Ow, that hurt.” He moaned.

“Whatever their mage was doing it is permanently erasing my makers.” X said. That meant their mage had some sort of mana sense as well as an ability to counter mana.

“We need to get out of the swamp.” Carol said.

“Yeah we got that but how?” Bran asked. There was silence.

“Can you use that breeze ability more? I was able to spot the sun in that direction for a moment.” X said.

“No, I don’t have many more spare pieces of parchment left. I also am low on mana.”

“Those kobalds are clearly organized. They have to have a settlement nearby, maybe the dungeon.” X added.

“Carol managed to wound two including the mage. Without him you can place a marker and we can head straight away from here. If the sun was in that direction, then north should be that way.” I said while gesturing.

“Best idea yet. We better get moving.” Bran said. We set off with X leading the way.

***

It took two days and another three monster encounters before we managed to leave the Jockel Swamp. The last fight against some blood crows had pushed me up to level seventeen. I held up increasing my wisdom to one hundred points. I was hoping that I would unlock a skill or an ability by increasing it to such an amount and wanted to savor the accomplishment in peace.

“Thank god, proper land.” Carol lay down on the grass.

“No more mist.” Mal let out with a sigh.

“Come on, let’s find a town and rest up.” It wasn’t too hard to find a road and then a nearby town and the Adventures Guild. We had traveled quite a ways through the swamp. I took the opportunity to mark up one of my maps with the estimated route we took.

X came back to the table we were all sitting around. “I spoke with the local Merchants Guild. I sold the monster parts for a sixty silver.” That was a considerable amount. This expedition paid a lot better than goblins but was far more dangerous. X handed each of us six silver. I was annoyed that I had missed that transaction. It would be useful to have known how much each part went for. I had spent the time resupplying and cleaning out my pack.

“The big question is if we are going out again?” Bran asked.

“I would be up for it.” I said.

“It definitely was a challenge. We would need to talk about the shares though.” She said.

“Since you all are capable. I would be willing to agree to four and you each get one and a half.” X said.

“That seems a bit unfair.” Carol said staring at him with a glare.

“I am a rank three and can navigate through the swamp. I also know which monster parts to harvest. If you have the skills you can ask that much.” X said with a small grin.

“Fine, but that is only monster parts. If we run in the kobalds or the dungeon it is an equal split.”

“Of course.” X said.

“I would be up for it.” Mal added.

“Good, let’s rest up tomorrow and head out the day after. I know I need a bath.” Bran said. The one good thing about being rich is that I was able to afford my own room. That was probably a big reason everyone was willing to go out again. They wanted to earn some money or gain some levels.

That night as I lay in bed I opened up my status panel. I dropped two points into wisdom to bring it up to one hundred.

A panel suddenly appeared. A notice, like one I had received when I first unlocked my panels. I quickly went to my skill panel and pulled up the new skill.

I was at a loss for words. This skill and its ability opened the possibility to so much but at the same time it was incredibly limited. Would I be able to Observe mana, humans, or object?. The way the ability read it definitely was a possibility. The real question was if I needed to keep increasing my wisdom or if there were chants to unlock this skill more.

I would stick with wisdom until it reached two hundred. That meant at least another twenty levels. The slowness of reaching my goals was frustrating. I looked at the mana cost and sighed internally. It was as expensive as my other mana abilities. I made notes in my journal and put the last three points into wisdom.

I had too many skills that used mana. There wasn’t much of a choice since I kept putting all my points into wisdom. I knew there were skills that used stamina. Unfortunately just keeping up with everyone else and fighting used up a good portion of my stamina. If I had a shield skill like Bran I would probably run out much more quickly.

I had experienced running out of stamina before and it was never pleasant and something I didn’t want to happen while fighting. I was faced once again with the issue of mana regeneration. Potions were tempting but the sheer expense of them was a huge turnoff. The lowest mana potion, a grade one, only restored fifty mana and cost ten silver.

The best one had I seen for sale was a grade three and cost a gold. The shopkeeper told me it restored five hundred mana in one go. I guess in the heat of battle the extra time needed to drink ten potions versus one created the difference in cost. There was also the weight and how easy it was to get to them.

I could easily regain that mana from Meditation, I just couldn’t do anything else while meditating. I decided to meditate a couple of hours to restore my mana before going to sleep.

***

“AHHHHHH!” A scream woke me from my sleep. It took me a moment to realize that I was on a wood bed in the town of Tork. I heard more screams as I picked up my blade. This was an attack on the town rather than something isolated. I put on my clothes and boots. I was in a hurry but running out half naked was a good way to die.

I also grabbed my pack. I had restocked my previsions yesterday. The main things were food, parchment, and ink. I heard shouting from the first level of the guild hall. I definitely picked up Bran’s voice in the commotion. I stood back from the doorway and then opened it. There was nothing going on in the hallway.

I made my way downstairs. I heard the moans from some wounded. I quickly brought up the party panel to see get a better sense of what was going on and how bad things currently were.

Apparently things were very bad. I passed by the wounded people not sparing them a thought. I only had so much mana and I wouldn’t be wasting it to heal random people. Outside the guild hall the town was in chaos. Kobalds were fighting people in the street and it appeared the town was being completely overrun.

“Leave party.” I wasn’t going to be giving any experience to people who were wounded. I also suspected that X had fled the town. Anything I killed I wanted the full credit for.

A least a quarter of the buildings had gone up in flames and there were twice or three times as many kobalds as humans. Also most of the people fighting weren’t fighters, they were shopkeepers or other soft targets. I began moving towards the north edge of the village. I suspected the kobalds came from the swamp so I wanted to head away from that direction.

“Slow.” A kobald had rushed out towards me. I cut it down easily and kept moving. A man and a woman ran by screaming as three kobalds chased them down the street. I stepped to the side in the shadow of the nearby building and let them pass by before I kept moving. I was thankful I had also restored most of my mana by meditating before going to sleep.

After my experience with the Lich I had decided I always wanted to be able to flee easily. Going back to Goldtown had been a huge risk. I was thankful my preparation was paying off. I could use slow fourteen more times before running out of mana. “Slow, slow.” Twelve more times as two kobalds fell to the ground dead.

I saw the wooden wall ahead and there was a large group of kobalds at the gate. I counted ten and one of them was dressed like the mage we had met in the swamp. There were also four archers. Unfortunately they spotted me as well and three of their fighters rushed at me while arrows were loosed in my direction.

I ducked back behind the building I had walked out in front of. Arrows hit the corner of the building and the ground where I had been standing. A fighter rounded the corner, spear at the read. “Slow.” I stabbed the monster in the face and backed up as its companions rounded the corner as well.

“Slow, slow.” I cut out at both of them, killing them where they stood. A moment later they collapsed spilling their life blood on the ground. Just nine uses of slow left. I heard movement behind me and spun around. It was a human, and they had a sword and were in their underwear and boots. That could easily have been me if I hadn’t taken my time to prepare myself.

“Team up?” He asked while trying to catch his breath.

“Sure. There is a large group at the gate with a mage.”

“Shit, the east gate is blocked as well.” The man said.

“We can go over the wall.”

“No, a group of us tried they have archers around the town to pick people off.” More screams echoed in the distance along with the rabid cackles of the kobalds.

“We can’t just stand around here.” I said.

“Shit.” The man cursed. That wasn’t helpful but summed things up nicely. I looked around the corner. The seven kobalds were still standing around but they were much more alert. They definitely weren’t all going to leave their position and the longer we waited the chance increased that more would come to reinforce or overrun us.

“We rush the gate. If they are waiting there, they probably don’t have archers beyond it. If we get past, we should be able to escape.

“Shit.” The man said but he nodded. I picked up a shield from a dead kobald, he did as well. We rushed around the corner. Arrows were loosed but the shields took the impact. I threw the shield to the side and kept running forward. The man held onto his.

Their two remaining fighters rushed us. “Slow, slow.” I hit both of them with my ability. I killed one and kept moving, trusting my new companion to kill the other. The archers panicked scrambled away. The mage raised his hands but I was already ready with my hand raised. “Stop.” I wasn’t going to take any chances.

I moved out of the way of its gesture and by the time it unfroze my blade was swinging towards its neck. I decapitated the mage ending the threat. My companion had killed one of the archers and the other three had retreated.

We rushed through the ruins of the wooden gate to the road and the fields beyond the wall. After a couple minutes of running we slowed down to a fast walk. I was gasping for breath and the man next to me didn’t look that much better. He had a slight belly and his hair and some white in it.

We kept moving in silence as the glow of Tork as it burned was left behind. I wished I had used my new skill Observe, but I hadn’t wanted to waste the mana. Even now, each bit of mana was precious. Our fast walk slowed down to a calmer pace as the sun came up.

“Shit.” The man said. He had his sword and the shield he had stolen from the kobald but other than that he had nothing else except his modesty. “Whatever you did to the kobalds, thanks. Name’s Uther.”

“Ed, I am a mage.” Uther gave me a look. “I use a different kind of mana.”

“No complaints here. Shit, all my stuff is back in Tork.” Uther let out a long sigh and gave me a look.

“I put on some clothes before going out.”

“And grabbed your pack. Adventurer?” He asked.

“Yes, rank two.”

“I am an alchemist. Lots of stuff comes in from the swamps and I get to look at it first and sell it back to the Alchemists Guild. So much lost, ahhhhh.” He rubbed the side of his arm against his head.

“You want to go back?” I asked as a joke.

“No, no. Just everything I had was back in that shit hole of a town. I have nothing.” He waved his sword about to emphasize the point.

“It could be worse. At least you have your modesty.” I replied.

“Ha, ha. You don’t have anything to spare do you?” He asked. I gave him a look.

“Do I look like a charity? A trade, a skill for ten silver. My clothes won’t fit you. You are a foot taller than me.” I said.

“A skill, that is worth at least a couple of gold.”

“I will throw in food until we reach the next town. I think it is three days away?” Ulther let out a long sigh.

“Twenty silver.”

“It better be a useful skill then.”

“Can’t teach you any of the Alchemist ones or the guild would have my head. I have a personal skill, Danger Sense.” Now that sounded incredibly useful. “Only reason I woke up in time. The way I unlocked it was to be attacked during the night.”

“I need a bit more. I have been attacked in the night as well.”

“Well you need to be relaxed. Just looking at you I can tell you keep a sword at your side all the time.” I nodded at that. “If you are relaxed and then attacked it should unlock the skill.” That sounded like a terrible idea and said so.

“That sounds like a terrible idea.”

“Why do you think it is not more common? It is hard to let your guard down, be attacked, and survive.” I glanced over at him and realized something. This man was going to kill me. I had forced him to reveal a valuable skill. I would note it down and attempt to unlock it and it would be an interesting challenge. Regardless of the skill, he was going to kill me. There was a look in his eyes. There was an anger there, a deep anger and it was directed at me.

“Slow.” I then cut his stomach open. I moved back as the ability wore off. He let out a scream as his entrails poured out of him onto the road. That was twenty silver saved right there. While I had money saved up, that was a lot of money. I also had an opportunity I didn’t want to waste.

“Heal.” The man healed slightly. “I can heal you. Now tell me about all your skills. Each one you tell me about I will cast heal on you.”

“Go…to….hell….” He coughed up blood.

“Well that is unfortunate.” I left Uther there in the middle of the road. I went off to the side of the road and climbed up a tree.

I watched the man slowly die as I meditated to recover my mana. I hadn’t been planning on killing him but I wasn’t going to waste my hard earned money. He should have been grateful for saving him and getting him out of the town. I got hatred instead of gratitude and repaid it in kind.

It was time to take a chance. A chance for power, a chance to pursue my dreams. I would be returning to Tork. Not the town itself but the surrounding area to kill the kobalds. Hopefully I would be able to track them back to their home if they had left the town. It would also give me a chance to loot the town.

If they stayed to occupy it, all the more for me to kill. If I could raise my Chant of Time to advanced one then a slow would only cost me thirty mana. I would probably have around seven hundred and fifty mana by then. This would translate to being able to use slow twenty five times.

It was unfortunate that the skill would most likely increase slower when I used weaker abilities but I wasn’t too worried. It was the sheer number of times I could use my abilities that mattered. The best synergy between skills would be by slow all and something similar from the Chant of Lightning. There were large area of effect attacks. I could slow a group and then hit them all with a massive blast of lightning. That would be the best for increasing both skills.

I knew it was foolish and risky. But the chance I now had wouldn’t come again any time soon. I had the mana. I knew where the monsters were. I would do this carefully but passing up this chance would be foolish. I needed to seize the opportunity to turn a failure into a success.

A bit before mid-day I had recovered almost all my mana. Uther had long since died and nothing had come to check on his body. I had been hoping that a kobald or two would have chased us. Apparently they were smarter than that. The fact that they had mages raised their threat level considerably. No one else had passed by along the road either.

I climbed down the tree and made my way back towards Tork. I took time my time, carefully scanning the trees and the edge of the Jockel Swamp when the road swung close. I saw smoke rising in the distance and knew that was the town. I left the road and began making my way through the nearby fields towards the ruined village.

There was no movement that I could see. That didn’t mean anything since the kobalds were clearly intelligent and if I were in their place I would lay a trap. There were no kobald archers hiding in the fields and there was no movement on top of the wall after I watched for quite a while. They could have all left after pillaging the place.

I crossed the distance to the palisade. I didn’t run, but kept a slow and steady walk while keeping a look out for any attacks. I reached the wall without incident. I wouldn’t be able to climb over it. I slowly circled around the wall towards the ruined gate while listening for any kobalds. I did hear movement and mentally prepared myself.

I reached the gate. The main problem was if I could see them they could see me. I raced towards the gate. Two kobalds were leaning against spears “Slow.” I slowed one down and killed the other. Yanking my blade free from its neck I spun and killed the one I slowed. Both kobalds collapsed to the ground dead. The Chant of Time really was completely ridiculous and overpowered.

I left the corpses where they lay and entered the ruined town of Tork. I could use slow sixteen more times. Once it hit eight I would make my escape. I checked a house near the gate. It was completely wrecked and from the looks of things the two kobalds sleeping inside had eaten the people living there. Blood and bits of viscera were scattered about.

I killed the two sleeping monsters and grinned. They were clearly exhausted after the attack. This was probably the same as pre-dawn for most humans. After such a victory they probably weren’t expecting anyone. I had hoped for this but now I was really excited. I left the house not bothering to search it and made my way to the next one.

A number of the buildings were empty but I did manage to find and kill ten more sleeping kobalds. Dusk was slowly taking over the town and none of the ones I had found were mages. I made my way to the Adventurers Guild which was one of the biggest buildings left standing. I heard some noise inside. I went around to the back where there was a second door.

It wasn’t locked and I entered. I stared straight at a kobald and it stared straight back. “Slow.” The surprise was still etched on its face as it collapsed in a death gurgle with its throat cut. I made my way through the backrooms of the guild hall, catching another kobald unawares.

I then took a quick peek in the main dining hall. Five kobalds, three of them appeared to be passed out. I rushed into the room. “Slow, slow.” I killed the two of the kobalds sitting at a table eating what could only be described as human remains. I then turned my attention to the ones passed out and stabbed them in the head.

With that completed I went upstairs. I didn’t waste any time as I yanked open the doors and checked the rooms. I found two more kobalds sleeping on beds covered with various human clothes. It was disturbing and I quickly put the monsters to a more permanent kind of rest.

With the guild hall clear I exited the main door and saw a group of three kobald approaching. “Slow, slow, slow.” I got all three as quickly as I could but the last one managed a half shout. I killed two and had to hit the third one with a slow again before finishing it off.

It was time to leave. I had managed to kill twenty six kobalds. I left the town the way I came in and hid up a tree out of sight of the walls. I meditated for a while to recover my mana. When darkness finally started to cover everything I took out some dried meat and water from my pack and ate it in silence.

Sleeping up in a tree was incredibly difficult but I managed somehow without falling off. When morning came I stayed up there eating breakfast and meditating to recover the rest of my mana. With my mana recovered I went towards the town again.

This time it was completely deserted. Apparently all the kobalds had left during the night. I searched around for a horse but all the ones in the town had been killed or were taken by the kobalds. That limited how much I could take. I went to the Merchants Guild first. The place was completely trashed with a number of the barrels and crates having been broken open.

I ignored those and searched the various desks. The stack of blank parchment hadn’t been touched along with the ink stones. I quickly put those with my supplies. Parchment was expensive at around ten coppers a sheet or so. A stack of a hundred folios was the same as ten silvers. I found five hundred blank folios.

There were no money pouches so I expanded my search. I finally found a metal strongbox secured to the floor in a back room. There were a number of dents and scratches which showed that the kobalds failed to open it up. It clearly required a key of some kind and I had no skill at lock picking. I tried moving it but it was either bolted to the floor or too heavy.

I set to making some ink and pulled out a brush along with a couple pieces of parchment. I drew out the rune for dampen and stuffed the parchment into the locking mechanism. I then made two more parchments for chill and placed them on either side. When water turned to ice it expanded slightly. I had seen it on my trip into the mountains and it had confirmed what I had read.

My hope was that by filling the locking mechanism with water and then freezing it, the strongbox would burst open. It was the only idea I had for opening the strongbox. I activated the dampen rune. I had damaged it like the flash rune so the mana burned through all at once. I then quickly activated the chill runes with the same issue. I yanked my hands back as they became suddenly cold.

In moments the water stopped coming out of the lock and frost was covering the front of the strongbox. I head metal bending and the occasional twang from something breaking but I saw nothing move on the outside. The frost stopped spreading and I tried to pull open the lid. It came up a bit but something was still catching near the lock.

I didn’t want to risk breaking my sword and found a pry bar used to open the various crates and barrels. I wedged it in the crack and kept working to open the strongbox. I could feel the metal giving and it finally opened. I let out a relieved sigh and dropped the pry bar.

Inside the strongbox was a large and small money pouch, stack of documents, and a ledger. I ignored the papers and checked the money pouches. The large one held silver and copper. Probably around fifty of each if I had to guess. The small money pouch held three gold pieces and a single red gem. I put the large pouch in my pack and kept the small pouch on my person.

While there certainly was a lot more to look through in the town I didn’t want to be caught looting and asked difficult questions. With everything secured I made my way out of the Merchants Guild. I looked around me and my heart skipped a beat.

CHAPTER 10

There was at least thirty kobalds. I counted ten archers and three mages. There was a large gray one standing a bit back with a halberd instead of a sword or spear. “Sooozzz humanzzz youzzzz arezzzz herezzz.” The large kobald said. Each word came out more as a hiss but I understood the monster.

“Do you really think you can beat me?” I said with false bravado. I was still trying to wrap my mind around that these monsters could speak to me.

“Yesss. Killzzz humanzzz.” I ducked back into the guild hall. Arrows flew through the open doorway hitting the stone floor. I swung the door closed and dropped the wood beam to bar it. They had three mages and I knew this door wouldn’t hold them. In my earlier search I had found there was no back door. The place was like a fortress, only one way in and out.

The second floor was made of wood. The problem was if I tried to break out the kobalds would easily catch me. The entire building suddenly shook and I stumbled. Dust rained down from the rafters but nothing else happened. I made my way to the store room. There was a half a barrel of lamp oil that had the top smashed open.

I carefully maneuvered it back to the main door trying not to spill any. I began to pour it out around the floor taking up most of the room. Once the barrel was empty I retreated back the doorway that led to the storeroom. It appeared to be the most stable place as the building shook again.

I saw the stones around the main door slowly begin to turn. The wood supports for the second floor and the archway for the door began to splinter. The main door was suddenly hit with a tremendous force and the brace cracked. The door was struck twice more. On the third strike the brace completely broke in half.

Arrows were unleashed through the open doorway. Then five kobalds rushed in with swords drawn. None of them were the large gray one that spoke. I had to lure more inside if I wanted my trap to work. One of them noticed me and let out a hissing sound. They hung back and I saw two mages come through the main doors along with eight more kobalds surrounding the two mages.

“Bolt. Slow all.” The bolt struck the oil while the bubble of slowed time was placed at the ruins of the main door. The kobalds all began to let out hissing screams and rushed to escape. The first couple collided with the area that was slowed and came to a sudden halt. This caused the kobalds behind these first few to collide into them.

I shut the store room door. This room was all stone and there was no second floor above it. Once the door was shut I used the remains of a crate to brace it. I then retreated back and wrote out a number of dampen runes. I then placed them on the door and activated them. Hopefully the water should keep the door from burning down.

With that completed I went to a corner and prepared some runes for the coming battle. After that was done I began to meditate. My earlier actions had taken almost half my mana. I needed as much as I could get for when the fire stopped and had to get past the rest of the kobalds. I broke out of my meditation every once and a while to make sure I could still breathe the air and that the door wasn’t broken down or burnt down.

I did note that it became charred in some places and smoke had filled the top of the room but it was survivable. I was broken out of my meditation a final time by a loud roar. Apparently their leader had seen the excellent work I had done killing monsters.

I had wiped out thirteen if all the ones in the guild hall had been caught. Well they were dead or heavily burnt at least. I also got two mages which I considered the biggest threat. Sure the large gray kobald may be physically tough but against the Chant of Time he would be helpless like every other monster. I got up and readied myself. There was movement beyond the door and I had no doubts the kobalds would come rushing in.

Just like my younger self. Rushing head long into danger for more power. In one hand I held a piece of parchment in the other my sword. I guess I was fighting monsters with the powers of a scribe. I almost broke down laughing at that.

My personal amusement was cut short as the door exploded inwards as splinters and kindling. I was off to the side and avoided the wooden barrage. Four kobalds rushed in and I activated the flash rune. While they were blinking the spots out of their reptilian eyes I darted in and managed to decapitate one.

I didn’t stop moving and left the store room to the charred remains of the guild hall and the kobalds I had caught in my fiery trap. “Stop!” I shouted at the halberd that was about to decapitate me. I ducked under the weapon as the gray kobald stumbled. “Bolt.” I hit the monster right in the face and he let out an enraged hiss.

I activated my second flash rune and ran out into the main plaza. There were a number of kobalds milling around but they clearly weren’t fighters since they were packing up a number of carts with stuff taken from the town. I ran past all them towards the gate I had originally entered from. There was loud hissing as the kobalds panicked.

“Slow.” I slowed the kobald at the gate and left a deep gash across his leg as I ran past. I kept moving as quickly as I could away from the town. I spared a glance behind me and saw at least ten kobalds in pursuit. They weren’t going to let me go so easily. I guess they were upset about their fellow monsters.

With my pack I wouldn’t be able to get away and cursed to myself. I ran off into a nearby grove of trees. I dropped my pack and waited behind a large tree. I heard them as they ran up to my pack. I spun around the tree. “Bolt, slow, slow.” I hit one of the kobalds at the rear of their formation with the bolt and the two near me with slow.

I managed to kill one and wound the other before the rest realized what was going on. I kept using slow to get in and wound them but they were quick to cover for each other unlike goblins. I managed to kill six by the time my mana ran out and the other four were wounded. I had a number of small cuts but nothing too serious.

The fight had taken thirty seconds at most, but even that was too much. I could hear more kobalds approaching. I grabbed my pack and ran. The wounded kobalds were in no position to chase me. They weren’t dead but the cuts I had managed on them were fairly deep. I made sure to back track once in hopes of throwing off any trackers they might have.

I kept moving over the rough terrain not stopping for anything. I finally came to a stream. I made sure to leave tracks leading into the woods on the far side before heading back and walking in the water downstream. I dug into my pack and pulled out my only two stamina potions. If there was ever a time I needed them this was it. I chugged them down. I felt energy flow into my body and my muscles feel a lot better.

When dusk finally came I collapsed in the woods. I fell into a deep sleep, completely exhausted having used up all my energy twice in one day.

***

I woke with a gasp. I was alive and there were no kobalds. Dawn had already come and my body was sore from sleeping with my pack on. I dragged myself up and began moving through the forest. I had done it. I was still alive and level nineteen.

Checking my skills, a number of them had increased. My smile faded a bit since I still hadn’t managed to use Observe. I was in no rush now. With the gold I now had, I could live comfortably for at least two years. If I didn’t spend everything I could easily make it four or five. With the gold I had in my possession I could look into acquiring some of the skills I had read about.

Stealth, Focused Senses, and now Danger Sense would all be useful to have. The first two were known by enough people there were training halls dedicated to teaching a skill. They were expensive in order to maintain their monopoly and the fact they were run by second and third sons the nobles had. They would never reveal any abilities beyond experienced, but just having the skills would provide a boost.

My mind turned back to the large gray kobald that had spoken to me. It seemed like a dream or even a nightmare but it definitely was real. It was said that dragons could understand the human tongue and even speak it. There was also speculation that kobalds were part dragon based on their appearance.

They had to have captured a human and forced the poor soul to teach them. There was a much more grim realization I also considered. There could be a follower of chaos and darkness who was allied with the kobalds who had taught them. I didn’t even want to consider it but the danger was real. Everything I had read explained how humans who allied with monsters worked to destroy their own kind and brought nothing but suffering and despair.

Even using monsters like the Alchemists Guild did was at the very edge of heresy. If potions weren’t so useful I was sure the church would have shut them down. Even taming or teaching monsters was forbidden in case they learned how to use humans’ skills against them.

Until the kobalds I had never really considered learning from monsters. The goblins were complete idiots and the rest were savage beasts. It was something to consider at a much later date. The one thing that was never mentioned in the books was all the walking. I swore that if there ever was a monster I could learn from or tame, it would be one that could fly.

Edward the Dragon Rider had a nice touch to it. It was a long way back to Antioch. I wanted to know what happened with Morack. It took another day walking the forest before I came across a road. Looking at my maps and the sun it was easy enough to figure out which way to go. I reached a small hamlet.

It wasn’t a real town or village with a wall. Just a collection of houses surrounded by farmland. I began to walk up to one of the doors when someone shouted out, “That is far enough.” I saw a man with a bow and arrow. While the arrow was notched he hadn’t drawn it yet.

“I apologize. I was going to ask for some food and shelter for the night.” I said. The man gave me a careful look.

“What is with all the blood covering you?” He asked.

“Kobalds. The town of Tork was overrun. I have been traveling through the woods to escape. It would help if you could tell me where I am.”

“Between Tork and Overrun.” Overrun was to the north of Tork which was the way I had wanted to be heading. I really need some sort of directional skill besides my maps.

“Thank you. About some food and shelter, I am willing to pay.”

“You can stay outside. Fifteen copper for a meal.” I let out a sigh. Worse than bandits.

“A big meal then.” I pulled out the copper. He unstrung his bow and set it to the side and took the copper.

“I will bring it out.” Not the most pleasant of people but at least he was willing to talk. It slowly became dark. The man finally exited the house with decent sized bowl filled with stew. I took it from him and ate slowly savoring the taste. The man watched me eating which was annoying.

“Thanks.” I handed the bowl back. He gave me a nod and returned to the house.

I left the hamlet. No need sleeping here if the man wasn’t going to let me sleep somewhere half decent. I was feeling tired. I wandered through the fields towards the forest. My eyes were feeling heavy. My mind immediately went into a panic.

I had stayed up late before and while I had felt tired a number of times it was never like this unless I was really exhausted. “The food was drugged.” I hissed out. I pulled out my canteen and began to drink as much water as I could.

I moved into the forest. My limbs were starting to feel numb. I wouldn’t be able to climb a tree in this state. I was careful not to break any branches and made my way into the middle of some bushes and collapsed.

***

I woke feeling sore all over. I was still in the bushes which was a good thing. It was light out, but I couldn’t tell the time of day. Everything refused to move. This was not good. That was when I cursed to myself again. The problem with so many new skills was that I wasn’t used to using them. “Heal, heal, heal, heal, heal.” I used the ability five times.

The weakness fled my body and I took a deep breath. I should have done that last night. I also had healing potions I could have used. I let out another long sigh at my sheer idiocy. I thought about going back to the hamlet and killing that man but it wasn’t worth the trouble. I went back to the road and kept moving.

I made it to Overrun just after mid-day. The place was a mix of subdued and panic. I went to the guild hall. “Ed!” I turned and saw Bran sitting at a table with two other people I didn’t recognize.

“Bran, it is good to see you.” I said.

“Sit, sit, I can’t believe you made it out of there alive. This is Ogren and his wife Melon. I met them on the road and am letting them share a room with me while they figure out what to do.”

“Let me go reserve a room and order some food. I could definitely use some ale.” I said. Bran gave me a grin. I walked up to the bar and placed my orders. I also paid for ale for the entire table. It was only a couple of coppers and Bran was always useful for information.

I sat back down with the small group and some fresh bread and butter. Dinner wouldn’t be for a while. I had bought enough that there was some to share. “Thanks Ed, a good guy I tell you. So what happened?”

“I heard the screaming. I got dressed and took my pack. Thankfully I had bought supplies the day before. I saw that Carol was dead and Mal was crippled. I left the group and made my escape. I was pursued by a large group of kobalds and ran into the woods. After that it was me wandering around until I found a road to make it here. What about you and X?” I explained while a buttered a chunk of moist bread.

“It was a madhouse. I stayed up late drinking and heard the screams. I rushed out and managed to kill a couple of kobalds. They were everywhere. A number of us rushed towards the south to help defend the town. That was when the arrows came flying in and a number of people with me went down. It wouldn’t have been that bad since Mal was with me, but their mages hit us.” He took a long drink at that.

“The earth collapsed under a number of people. Mal’s legs were shattered and he was passed out. These two here were running for their lives and I helped them escape while fighting free of the town. I did see X briefly. He was fighting a large gray kobald. The thing truly was a monster and had a massive halberd. It stood at least eight feet tall.”

“Did you see anyone else?” Melon asked.

“No, I didn’t see anyone alive.” I said. Melon let out a sob.

“I was hoping our son escaped, but it appears he didn’t make it.” Ogren said quietly.

“So what now?” I looked at Bran.

“Well things aren’t looking so good. Word came in yesterday that the attempt to retake Morack from the undead failed. The rumor is that a rank five died in the battle and the undead have left the city. The Royal Army has been defeated. They say a draft will occur soon and everyone will be called up.” Bran said looking far more depressed than I had ever seen him.

“Where are they headed towards?” I asked. Bran didn’t look at me. “Where?” I raised my voice slightly.

“They are headed towards Azalon.”

“Why not the capital?” I asked.

“No idea.” Bran said.

“How old is this news?” My heart was beating faster.

“About a ten-day.” I pulled out a map and quickly began to calculate the distances. It would probably take fifteen days for the army to reach Azalon. Ten days were gone. I was two ten-days from Azalon by foot. If I took a horse and rode the animal to the death it would only take about five days, which was when the army would be arriving.

“Have my meal. I am leaving.” I stood up and Bran stood up as well.

“You can’t do anything. There are things beyond even you.” Bran said quietly.

“I know, but I lost my sister I am not losing the rest of my family.” I left him standing there as I exited the guild hall. It didn’t take long to find a decent horse. It cost forty silver, but it was definitely worth the expense.

I hopped on the animal and set off from Overrun at a gallop. I had only ridden a few times before and never this fast. I held on and made sure to keep kicking the horse in the sides so it would race down the road.

***

The animal let out a pitiful wail. It had done well. I stabbed the horse in the head to end its suffering. I was a day away from Azalon on foot. The horse had lasted four days before collapsing and frothing at the mouth. I set off at a fast walk along the coastal road.

The large hill Azalon sat on came into view as I turned around a corner in the road and could see across the bay. Smoke was rising from some of the lower parts of the city but the upper areas still looked intact at a distance. I noted a large number of boats fleeing the city as well. A small rowboat was fairly close to the shore.

“Hey!” I shouted out and waved. The two men aboard turned course slightly towards me. “I want to buy your boat.” I called out.

They looked at each other for a moment before one spoke up. “How much?”

“A silver.”

“Three.”

“Done.” I pulled out three pieces of silver and held them up. They landed on the beach and I tossed them the money. “Another six if you row me back to the city.”

“No way, it is a sinking ship.” His words were oddly prophetic as I saw a giant bone dragon circling outside the walls.

“Good luck kid.” The two men ran off down the road. I hopped into the rowboat and began making my way towards Azalon. It was tough rowing the boat but thankfully the water was calm.

I had to swing out from shore since I noted a large number of undead standing around. I didn’t want to be caught by their attacks. I saw people frantically building boats from anything that could float at the docks. A number of them were looking at my rowboat.

“If you let me get off you can all have the boat. I don’t want to fight anyone. I am a mage. Bolt.” I shot off a bolt into the water off to the side. Thankfully the people got the message and let me get onto the docks before a large fight broke out.

I ignored them and rushed up the streets that were covered in debris towards the Illumination. The shop came into sight. I ran up to the front door but it was locked. I banged a number of times. “Mother, father!” I shouted out.

The door opened and father was standing there. “Edward, what are you doing here?” He was in shock. “The city is under siege. We need to-“

“There is no time, the city is going to fall.”

“A number of Magnus have come from the Mage Guild, Azalon will be protected. The Duke will see to it.”

“Father, the city will fall.” I wanted to shake some sense into him. The Lich was unstoppable. It didn’t matter if there was one or ten Magnus here.

“This is my home, I can’t leave.” I wanted to strangle the stubborn man.

“If not for you, then mother and my brothers. We are leaving. A shop can be rebuilt.” We engaged in a silent staring contest. I wasn’t going to lose my family.

“Who is that dear?”

“Edward.” Mother came into the doorway and I looked at her.

“We need to leave now. You can rebuild a new shop.”

“It has been in our family for over five hundred years since Master Scribe Gegorivan. It survived the great fire of Azalon two hundred years ago. It will survive again. I will not abandon it.” Father said. I really wanted to strangle the man. Mother looked between us and grabbed father so he turned towards her.

“Dear, shops can be rebuilt. Do you really want Edward to carry on the family name?” I didn’t know what that was about but father let out a long sigh and appeared defeated.

“How are we going to escape? All the boats have left.” Father said.

“I know of a way. Pack only what you can carry easily. Wear traveling clothes, nothing fancy.”

“We don’t have any packs.” Mother said.

“I will go find some. Sort out what you will bring only what is absolutely necessary. Where are Galric and Rothgar?” I asked.

“Galric is at the Merchants Guild and Rothgar is with his family at their apartment.” Mother said.

“Alright, I will get Rothgar, the packs, and then Galric. I need you two to buy some bread and dried meat to pack. I will be back shortly. Watch my pack for me.” I left my pack inside the store and took off. The few people I saw were rushing about like I was. I found a shop with packs. Twenty silver later I had four packs and three more swords. I stuffed them all into one pack and kept moving.

I reached the Merchants Guild. Parchment was scattered all over the floor as people were yelling. I saw Galric behind one of the counters. “Galric!” I shouted out. He looked at me and his eyes went wide. He left the counter and made his way to an empty one where no one was standing.

“Ed? What are you doing here?” He asked.

“I need you to come with me now. Right now.” I said. He looked at the people who were staring at us.

“Brother, the guild needs-“

“Your family needs you. Now come on.” He climbed over the counter and there was more shouting as we left the guild hall. “We need to go to Rothgar’s place. Can you take me there?”

“I know the way.”

“What was all that back there?”

“People wanted a way out of the city and supplies and everything you can imagine. All the higher ups left on a ship this morning.” He gave me a worried look.

“We are going to survive. We need to get to Rothgar now.” He heard the urgency in my voice and picked up his pace. We reached a building and Galric led me up a flight of stairs and knocked on a door.

“Rothgar open up. It is Galric and Ed.” I heard movement and then the door swung open.

“Galric, Ed. What is it? Why are you here?” He asked.

“We are leaving.”

“My family.” I saw his wife and his two boys behind him.

“Don’t worry. Pack only what you need and both you wear these swords.” I pulled out the extra packs and swords. “Now! We don’t have time. We need to leave now.” Thankfully my brother wasn’t as stubborn as my father.

“Wass ur aim?” The older of the two boys asked. I had been put in charge of watching them while the two packed. Galric had run home to get his stuff with a promise to meet us at the Illumination as quickly as possible.

“I am your uncle Ed. Don’t worry I will protect you. I have a nice story. It is about a brave young boy who went on an adventure. Do you want to hear it?” They both nodded. “Well the boy decided that he wanted to be strong and set off into the sewers beneath the city.” I told them about my journey into the sewers while I left out that it was about me.

I finished the story as Rothgar and his wife Hilda came out to the main room. He was wearing the pack and had the sword on. “We are leaving. I will carry Greg.” He was the eldest but I was sure my strength was greater than Hilda’s. I picked him up and we left the apartment.

We hurried across the city and arrived at the Illumination just as Galric did. Mother opened up the shop and we all entered. I handed her the last two empty packs after taking out the final sword. I felt a slight tremor through the floor of the shop which meant nothing good. “Hurry.” She left the room and I turned to my two brothers.

“We are leaving through the sewers. Find some rags to wrap around everyone’s nose and mouth.” I commanded. They gave me a look but Galric ran off. “If you want anything from the shop take it now.” Rothgar looked around in regret but began to carefully pack away the more valuable items. I went and grabbed two of the map cases and went to the backroom. I began placing all the maps into the two containers.

By the time I returned to the main room, everyone was assembled. “We are leaving through the sewers. Everyone will need to stay quiet. I know there is an over flow tunnel that leads south of the city. We need to find that and make our way out.”

“You don’t know the way?” Galric asked.

“I have been in the sewers before.” I grabbed up the stack of light runes. “Put this in your clothing so you can see in front of you. Mother you and Hilda will need to carry the children. I will stay in the front. Once you are down there keep your swords at the ready and no talking.”

It was amazing how they all listened but the tremor through the ground probably helped convinced them as well. We went over to the sewer grate in the courtyard and opened it up. I leapt down and looked around. Everything appeared to be clear.

I then helped the rest of family get down. “This way.” I whispered and we set off. I had lost Clarissa, I wasn’t going to lose anyone else. No matter what we would escape. I had made it here just in time, we could do this. We kept heading down the tunnel in a straight line until we came to large tunnel that was perpendicular to the one we were in. I made a right in order to head south and everyone followed.

I was glad that when this sewer system was built it was made in a grid pattern with the roads. We came up to another intersection and I heard movement ahead. “Stay here.” I whispered. I went on ahead and what I saw was soul crushing. Undead were moving through the tunnel up into the higher portions of the city.

I quickly retreated and the undead ignored the light my rune had given off. They had probably came in the same way I had wanted to escape. The city really was about to fall. I had honestly hoped that it wouldn’t. “Undead are coming into the sewers from the overflow tunnel. We are going a different way.”

It took a bit of maneuvering on the narrow ledge but we managed to turn around and head back the way we came. I had no idea what to do. The main tunnels led out into the ocean from a cliff face. I had seen it a number of times. It was also a popular sight after a rainstorm to watch the water pour out.

I kept going straight and was heading north from where we had turned off before. We came to another intersection and I looked around. There on the corner of the passage was a mark on the stone. It had faded quite a bit, but I remembered it.

I turned around to look at everyone. “We are going to head to the lower levels. My hope is to find a way out of the city through them. There are monsters down there so be ready.”

“Monsters…” Galric said. Fear was etched into his face.

“Just focus on defending. I can easily kill anything we run into. Don’t panic and run away. That is how you die.” I turned around and made a turn to my right to head down the tunnel.

The side passage to the lower levels had been walled up since the last time I was here. I kicked it once and the wall crumbled easily enough to reveal the passage behind it. It took a bit but soon it was wide enough to enter. “Watch where you step and don’t fall.” We entered and made our way downwards.

I never expected to come back here. It was just like I remembered. The sloped downwards ramp and then the mossy tunnel. I didn’t see the corpses from before or any bones. Clearly something else had come and taken the remains and it probably wasn’t human. The main question was if I should lead us up or down.

Up would probably take us under the Duke’s castle which was where the undead were going. Down would lead to the ocean. Decision made, I turned right to head downwards. We traveled through the damp moss covered tunnel. I was at full alert scanning everything and anything with my sword at the ready and slow at the tip of my tongue.

I made sure to look up as well. If there was anything else down here besides blind small kobalds it would be an ambush predator. Probably from the ceiling where the other monsters would have a harder time sensing it. We came to an intersection. “Stay back, this is a good ambush point.”

Everyone else stopped as I advanced. Three kobalds from each side passage rushed at me. Compared to their cousins from the Jockel swamp these things were puny and had no equipment. I rushed the group on my left. I cut the first one down and then cast slow on the other two. I spun around and deflected a crude club.

“Slow, slow.” Two more kobalds lost their heads. The last one tried to run but I stabbed it down and through its chest. It slid off my sword with a gurgle. Another stab finished it off. Looking down both side passages I didn’t see any other kobalds or other monsters. “Come on, this way.”

I could see the worry, fear, shock, and a number of other emotions rush across all their faces. There were definitely grimaces as they went by the corpses. We all felt the ground shake again and some dirt rained down from the ceiling. “Keep calm, we need to keep moving.”

The tunnel kept heading downwards. There were more turn offs but no more ambushes or any other monsters. The tunnel finally came to a dead end that was just water. “Going to go to the last intersection and then head south.” There were some whispers but I ignored them and kept going forward.

At the last intersection we passed there was a group of monsters. I counted seventeen kobald and leading them was a gnoll. Unlike the kobalds its eyes were not milky white. It also had a proper sword unlike the kobalds who only had bone weapons.

“No fear, we are going to survive.” I said. I made sure to keep my attention on the monsters. “For Azalon!” I yelled out and charged forward. The blind kobalds rushed forward. “Slow.” I struck out and decapitated one of them. “Slow.” I drew a long gash along another kobald’s stomach. It collapsed screaming.

A number of them rushed by me but there was nothing I could do. I killed one after another until I was in front of the gnoll. A gnoll was a large furred monster with the head of a dog and double jointed legs. “Slow.” The monster had been paying attention and was quick. It actually dodged my ability by leaping to the side.

I didn’t dare use bolt since that would hurt my family far more than the blind kobalds. It swung its blade and I blocked. The attack was heavy and I was pushed back. “Infuse lightning.” My blade sparked for a second and then the gnoll let out a howl and staggered back as the mana traveled between the blades. I didn’t give it time to recover. “Slow.” I struck out and cut across its unprotected throat.

It collapsed to the ground choking on its own blood. I moved away from the soon to be corpse and saw that all was not well. Rothgar had a nasty gash along his side and my father was bruised. At least they managed to kill the kobalds, five of them. I went into my pack and pulled out two health potions and handed them over.

“Drink, quickly.” They both did. While the wounds disappeared, Rothgar looked unsteady.

“Thanks.” Father said.

“We are not out of this yet and my mana is very low. We need to get moving.” I was out of mana actually, which was far worse. My sword skills weren’t anything impressive. It was only the Chant of Time that allowed me so many easy victories.

Everyone moved out and I took the lead once again as we moved through the tunnels. We came to an intersection and I scouted out the other tunnels. I saw a number of other people looking at me in surprise.

“Who goes there?” One of the men from the other group called out.

“Edward Monteger, who are you.” There was a moment of silence as there was some shuffling about.

“I am Knight Sinclair Albetross.” There was a moment of silence.

“I would hope that we can escape the city together?” I asked. The knight looked conflicted on how to answer that. “I am a mage and an adventurer. My family is with me, but I can hold my own in a fight. You are trying to leave the city right?” I asked.

“Yes.” My family had come up behind me after hearing a conversation rather than fighting. His face lost its grimace, probably from seeing the women and children. “You can travel with us.” I counted five other soldiers, another knight, and a small boy. They all had multiple light runes attached to them like we did. I also noted all the soldiers were carry very large and full packs.

“Thank you. I shall follow your lead.” I said and the knight nodded. He gave orders for three of his men and the other knight to take the rear. I stayed up front with Knight Sinclair as he made his way through the tunnels. I didn’t say anything, either he knew where he was going or we were no worse off than before. I also saw the relieved looks my family had from the other group’s presence.

We reached a dead end and I looked over at the knight. He began scraping the moss off the wall. I assisted him looking for a lever or a latch of some sort. “What about this?” I said. There appeared to be a handle in the stone wall.

“Yes, good job.” He reached over and grabbed the stone block. He then twisted it as hard as he could and then pulled it out. He let the stone cylinder he had pulled free drop off to the side. There was a moment of stillness before the wall in front of us slowly began to drop into the ground. It got half way down and then stopped. I looked over it and into the dry stone tunnel beyond.

“All clear.” I climbed over and looked around. It was just a tunnel and nothing else interesting about it. Everyone began to make their way over. For both the knights in plate armor it was especially cumbersome. Once everyone was over we continued up the passage.

“Where does this lead?” I asked.

“South of the city to a small outpost.” Knight Sinclair said. We continued along the passage until we reached another stone wall, this time without moss. The knight pulled out another stone cylinder and this time the wall sunk fully to the ground. We entered what appeared to be a cellar of some sort.

“This place stinks of death and the supplies here are untouched.” I whispered. The knight drew his blade. “Quiet.” I hissed out and everyone went silent. I heard movement from above and pointed upwards. The knight’s face went back into a grimace.

“You two stay here and protect him and the civilians.” He told two of the soldiers and gestured at the child they were guarding. “The rest of you with me.” I followed behind the knight as he climbed up the stone steps. He opened the door and charged out sword at the ready.

I followed behind him and was confronted with a number of corpses, just like Goldtown. “For Azalon!” The knight roared and decapitated two of the corpses with a single sweep of his blade. If I wasn’t fighting a corpse myself I would have stopped to stare in awe.

The knight swept through the room quickly killing or re-killing the undead that were in the building. With the last one dead and unmoving I followed the kight to the top of the watch tower. We both looked at Azalon in the distance. I could see fire burning a large portion of the city. The bone dragon from before was perched on top of the Duke’s former castle at the top of the hill.

“So Azalon is no more.” I whispered in reference to a quote that Phillius had made. The bone dragon lifted its massive head and looked at us despite the great distance. It then settled back down. I let out a long sigh. The second greatest city in the Kingdom of Aurulian had been lost.

While I knew escaping the city had been hard it meant nothing for what was to come. With the loss of Azalon and the Royal Army the kingdom would crumble. It wouldn’t fall unless Antioch did, but there were forces on the outside like the kobalds from the swamp that would take the outer towns.

I turned to leave but Knight Sinclair was still staring at Azalon. “There is nothing we can do.”

“But we live to see another day as the sun rises once more.” I looked at him in surprise as he finished the quote I had started before. “I am well versed in the works of Phillius.”

We both kept staring at Azalon. I knew we should get going but Knight Sinclair kept watching. Not watching, he was waiting. The ground shook and kept shaking. “What is happening?” I asked.

The knight did not answer. I looked back at the city just in time to see the top of it explode. The explosion consumed the bone dragon, the Duke’s castle, and a large chunk of the hill Azalon rested on. Fire and rubble exploded outwards enveloping the entire city and even going outside the walls.

“A trap for a monster.” The knight turned away and went back down into the watch tower. I lingered for a moment. Looking at the smoking crater that used to be my home before following the knight. I was still alive and tomorrow the sun would rise once more.