Mioda Yusa awoke inside a small cell within a dungeon. As his vision focused, he found the area silent and empty of chairs, beds or people. The young caster had dark-brown hair, hazel eyes and dressed in mere rags. (What happened...I can't remember anything before a moment ago) Looking down he found himself wearing a black and red mage clothing. "Seems I'm some kind of wizard, though I can't remember any spells that could defend me in case something tried attacking me...I won't get anywhere sitting here, I might as well find a way out of here"
Mioda slowly made his way over to the bars of his cell, he could feel his body hurting as if he had just been in a bad accident. (I can't think of any spells and I don't have any of my belongings. I'm sure I had maybe a spell book. Rarely any magic caster can go without their book of spells. Maybe it's in a nearby room"
Placing his palm against the locked door, he gathered what minor mana he had left to pick the lock. With a click he manage to step out of his cell. Still badly hurt but managing to walk he found himself down a long-darkened path, light faintly filling the hall. He carefully checked each room, slowly opened each door. After two or three door he could feel the mana emanating from his spell book.
The young magic user slowly made his way into the small room. It had a red carpet with an open window in the middle of the wall. Mioda found what he assumed to be his wizard robe folded on a small desk with his spell book right next to it. Putting his black and red robe on, he felt his energy began to return a green light outlined his body before vanishing.
"Health Auto-recovery" An A.I voice announced. "Heath auto recovery?" Just then He realized the small HP bar on the bottom left of his sight. "Hmm, if this is some kind of MMORPG game, leveling up should increase my health bar" That's when a group of armored knights could be heard entering the halls nearby. "Hmph, hopefully they'll be just what I need to power myself up"
He stepped out into the hall, his mana nearly full from holding his spell book in his bare hand. "Halt! A group of knights in silver armor came charging toward him, swords in hand. His spell book began to give off a faint golden light. Mioda looked down to see the book fly open to the first page. A spell appeared. "Hmm, these seems to be a new spell even if it's the only one I know for now. "Force of the mind!" With an abrupt wave of force, the group of men went flying backwards, crashing into each other as they landed on their back.
(This spell is useful against crowds, but isn't the offensive type, therefore I'd only slow them down. For now, seems I'll have to find a weapon to actually fight back) Looking down at the floor he spotted a sword one of the knights had dropped mere moments ago. Quickly going for it, Mioda dove right for the blade. The group of knights prepared to attack but even in his weakened state, Mioda managed to keep up with the knights, clashing with them.
With an abrupt slash Mioda managed to fatally wound one of the knights in the abdomen. "Let's try this, force of the mind!" Throwing his blade, he used his magic spell to laugh the blade at a fierce speed, piercing through two of the three knight's chests. They hit the ground as he reached his blade covered in blood.
LEVEL 2 ACHIEVED
Yusa suddenly felt healed, all the soreness had vanished. (Yes!) Dashing full speed, the caster unleashed a barrage of sword strike right for the foe. Noticing his target was keeping up, he kicked a blade up into his hand now dual welding two swords attacking as fast as he could. "Force of the mind!" As the man got sent back across the hall, Mioda Yusa rushed past him, slashing past him. The foe fell to the ground dead.
With a deep breath he dropped the blade. He noticed something laying on the ground, it was a silver necklace with a red gem in the center. Putting it on he slowly felt stronger. (Hmm, what effects does this equipment have?) Just then the items info popped up. "MP regeneration boost, good that will make using spells a little easier"
He finally got outside of the dungeon where all he saw was a forest. Having no other choice, he decided to venture through the forest with many different color leaves floating in the wind. Just then he noticed his spell book was glowing in his robe pocket. Pulling it out he watched as it once again opened to reveal the 2nd spell: "Lightning magic: Lightning strike"
"Good, as I gather more spells it'll be easier to defend myself against anyone that tries to attack me. The only issue is trying to find the nearest city or even village. Maybe if I was able to sense mana from others this would be a lot simpler but for now, I'm basically going in blind at this point" Mioda continued through the forest when he was spotted by a black wolf. Mioda could see the level of the animal right above it's head.
"Hmm, level 4. Higher but not really something I should be too worried about. Lightning magic: Lightning strike!" A bolt of lightning fired from his index finger at immense speed, the wolf jumped attempted to evade the coming attack but was struck in the back leg, electricity racing through it's body.
The beast's health was now at half but still could fight back. It released a howl with such force it sent the magic caster staggering backwards into a tree. He saw his HP go down but knew if he got one more shot on the creature, he would win the fight. "Lightning strike!" The bolt laughed right for the target just as the wolf leapt over it right for the man. It brought it's claws out when a loud slice rang out through the forest.
Mioda looked to see a man with blonde hair dressed in a blue mage outfit. He slit his katana to his side before turning to his friend. "Well then, good thing I showed up. Otherwise you could've been malted by a dark wolf. My name is Sokia Kinyoda, I'm a magic caster hoping to explore the world and go on great adventures. Who might you be?"
"My name is Mioda Yusa. I'm hoping to become a powerful magic caster" The man looked at the stranger's level: "15 hmm, no wonder he managed to defeated the wolf so easily. How strong is he just at 15?"
"I can see you're merely a level 2. If you're going to become a powerful caster, you're going to have to boost your level and learn more skills. At this level you should gain enough EXP fast. Allow me to help with a little training session" Mioda was unsure but knew he needed all the help he could get.
"Whenever you're ready" Sokia responded. Taking a deep breath the low-level caster fired a bolt of electricity from his index finger right for the combatant. Instead of attempting to dodge, Kinyoda pulled out his blade, stopping it with the tip. The single strike of lightning reflected of the sword into three separate blasts going right past his target.
"What!?"
"If you're having trouble figuring out how I did that, not only is my speed far higher than yours, my blade reflects any magic level five or below. So your magic would be useless against me in a real fight. But since this is a practice match, I won't even use it" The swordsmen tossed his sword behind him, landing in the grass planted in the ground. "Sometimes levels aren't important, why don't you show me!"
Kinyoda charged forward without a weapon at super-human speed. Yusa used force of the might slowing him down. His opponent was sent backwards for a moment before landing on his feet unharmed. "Heh, was wondering when you'd use that. But seems it's not effected enough. If you wanna survive long enough to work your way up you'll have to use melee attacks at some point, not all magic-users can rely fully on magic"
The young novice caster nodded advancing right for his mentor. He threw a punch but missed, giving his opponent an opening to strike back. Mioda was struck across the face, causing him to fall and land on his back. He watched as his HP went from half down to the red. He took a deep breath standing back up as his HP slowly replenished itself. However, it was so slow it would be a while before it would be full.
"Hmmm, you have the technique, but because of your low level, your speed and power are limited. Once your level improves you should be a great fighter" After his health was restored, they ventured across the forest until they reached the city. They decided to stay at an inn and looked for a hunting party to join so they both could level up and improve.
An aqua blue haired woman dressed in white sat at a desk in a large lobby. "Welcome to the Aguwa guild registration center. My name is Suki Casuwa. Here you can find a hunting party to venture out and collect items to keep or come back her to sell for gold. First we should test your power using this device. It reveals an estimate of your hidden power"
Both warriors looked to see a large triangle made of a shiny glass-like material. Sona placed his palm against the device, it began to vibrate with a blue outline glowing around it.
"POWER: 10" The device announced in a robotic voice. "Impressive, 10 is the highest power number there is. This means you have a long way to go before you reach your full power" The front desk woman responded. Mioda slowly placed his palm against the device as the number began to go from 0 all the way to 10. Suddenly the device shook violently as the number reached 11. It cracked reaching 12 before shattering apart.
The desk attendant stood there in shock with Kinyoda with a similar expression. "W-what...how could this be? That's never happened before!" She cried still shook by what she had witnessed. "You're only a level 2...how could you weld such power!? Hmmm, you should go see the city's sage, he's an intelligent caster that can awaken power that's hidden away. If the power device was right, you have a near god-like power within you far greater than an average warrior"
"Ok, I'll go see this...sage" The pair decided to head over to the outer-part of the city where they found a large temple by itself. They made their way through a long narrow hallway with blue flame torches on the wall. Mioda walked into a large stone room with a red-rugged floor and royal banners aligned.
"Welcome young warriors, have you come to unlock your true power?" Yusa nodded walking up to the man. He had long gray hair with a long beard dressed in a purple-hooded cloak. Mioda nodded walking up to him. The elder aims his left palm in the direction of the young wizard while holding a wooden staff in his other hand. "Hmmm, seems there's immense power deep within you...Awaken your true power!"
Light covered Mioda as his level reached level 10.
LEVEL 10 achieved
Mage Level acquired an A.I voice commented. "Hmm, seems your true power is choosing to remain dormant for now, seems it's waiting for something, that click you'd expect to awaken your full power. However, that's all I can pull out for now. Come and see me again and we'll see if that changes"
"Thanks for your help elder:" Yusa responded. Before walking back out into the city. "Would you like me to awaken your power as well young man" He asked. Kinyoda shook his head responding: "No thank you, I prefer my power to reveal itself naturally, why bother being lazy when you can train your body and push it farther and farther with each session. I got my power all on my own, I didn't need it awakened"
"It's your choice sir, but getting help with awakening your power isn't lazy as long as you still work hard to exceed your limit" With a sigh Sona followed Mioda out into the city. As night began to fall Sona managed to pay for the room with some silver coins he had. Since he only had enough for one room they had to sleep in one bed together. Mioda had trouble falling asleep, he started at the wooden ceiling in the dark room with slight moonlight coming through the window on the other side of the room.
He walked over to the window and sat down next to it looking out on the city from the second floor of the inn. He saw rows of small shops, taverns and houses that filled the city. The structures were in rows with the circular wall protecting the city. The wall was high made of what he seemed to be a thick layer of stone.
"Why...do I feel like I'm forgetting something...all I can remember is waking up in that dungeon, wounded, weak and no memory of anything before that. Yet I've retained my knowledge of magic as well as knowing I had belongings. Then again, that could've just been an assumption since most magic casters have some kind of magic belongings. Well, whatever my life was before this amnesia...I'll have to make the most of it"
Sona awoke to see Mioda asleep on the wooden floor by the window. He walked over and put his hand on the sleeping caster gently shaking him. "Hey it's time to wake up, we're going to go questing or hunting which ever term you want to use for it" The young mage opened his eyes as sunlight shined in his face. Rubbing his eyes Mioda slowly got to his feet brushing himself off from sleeping on the floor. He saw his HP was refilled and he was ready to level up and grow stronger as a mage.
They walked into the guild lobby where Suki greeted them. Welcome back you two. Are you ready to go on your first quest?" She said with a smile. Sona nodded as she placed a paper down in front of them. "Your target is a basilisk that's been attacking the Villagers who leave the walls of the city to gather food and materials. The bounty of such a creature is 5,000 silver, a great start for a beginner adventurer such as yourselves. Normally D-rank warriors can't take on such a quest it requires C or above, but after that display with the power estimator I'm sure you can handle it. Just don't let anyone know I did this for you. Oh, one more thing"
Suki placed a black wand down in front of her desk. "I've had this item for quite a while yet it was never bought so I've just held onto it for years. With such stats I'm surprised no one ever bought it, then again most adventures around here are of the warrior class, you don't see many magic users" Picking the wand up he analyzed it...(ATK boost, faster MP regeneration with faster cool down of my spells. This will be very useful in battle)
"Thank you Suki Casuwa"
"Please just call me Suki and you're welcome. Defeat that basilisk for not only me but all the Villigers who have been killed by that monster" The pair headed out of the city north where they were told the creature remained. They walked on a long dirt path with the city behind them as they reached a narrow path covered in trees on both sides. That's when they spotted statues of people in fear.
"What is this, why would statues be here in the forest?" Mioda commented. Just then the ground shook. Both warriors leapt out of the way as a large creature rushed past them cutting down any trees in it's path just by ramming into it. They realized they had found their target.
"So this is a basilisk, hmm, a massive snake with sharp teeth. So then, let's see if my theory is correct. Pulling out a throwing dagger he threw it right for the serpent's face when it suddenly spat out a green venom that slowed the projectile down, landing on the ground. However, the once steel dagger was now made of stone. "As I thought, this serpent's venom causes anything it touches to turn to stone!"
"Well then, that's certainly annoying, but I'm sure we can handle this monster" Aiming his wand, he felt it's power flowing through him, "Lightning barrage!" A blue magical symbol appeared beneath his feet as a fierce barrage of lightning strikes hit the beast head on causing it to fall on it's back.
Feeling a little tired he noticed the new attack had used a large portion of his MP. (Hopefully that did a number on him. It'll be one or two minutes before my MP is refilled, not to mention my bar can't currently hold that much. If I use it again I'll be drained of all my MP for nearly 5 minutes) Just then the serpent opened it's eyes letting out a loud screech that echoed throughout the forest.
(Shit, I need to use a different spell) Mioda focused his power as a skill list popped up on his screen. He only had four spells:
•Force Of The Mind
•Lightning Strike
•Lightning Barrage
"Darn it!" That's when the basilisk released a shot of it's venom right for the young caster. Having no time to think, Mioda aimed his wand right for the coming attack. "Force of the mind!" Sending a boosted version of his force spell, caused all the serpent's venom to repel back onto the beast causing it to turn to stone. Sona quickly threw a shuriken right for the creature's mouth causing one of it's teeth to break off just before it's entire body could become stone.
Sona caught the large tooth with a smirk as Yusa put his wand back in his pocket. "Well than, I'm surprised that worked, you'd think the creature would be immune to it's own venom" Kiynyoda commented as they made their way back to the city. Suki was surprised to see them back so soon.
"Wow did you really beat the basilisk that quickly!?" Both nodded as Sona pulled out the monster's large tooth. She stared at it in shook for a moment before clearing her throat. "Well, you completed the task so here's your payment of 5,000 silver. There's 2,500 silver in both so don't fight thinking one of you got more than the other" She said handing them both a small back of coins.
As they prepared to leave a party of four warriors walked in. There were two warriors and two magic casters. The one that they assumed was the leader had short light-brown hair with green eyes. He wore brown battle armor with a sword at his left side. He walked past Mioda purposely bumping into him.
"Hey watch where you're going!" Yusa responded. The man quickly pulled out his long thin blade pointing toward the young caster just inches from his throat still facing the desk with his back to his target.
"Would you like to repeat yourself?" He said in a calm but menacing tone. Mioda looked above the man's head to see he was a level 40. As much as he wanted to say something, he knew his level was far below any threat. He looked at the warrior's party and saw the rest of his party's levels were in the 30's.
(Even if I did match his power, I'd still have his team to deal with. I'll have to just sit on the sidelines...for now)
"That's what I thought, now don't bother me while I'm here"
"Hello Belimius, what can I do for you?
"I've brought back hide and meat from animals and want to exchange them for gold" Suki went over the quantity and quality of the materials and replied: "I can give you either 3,000 silver or five gold pieces"
Belimius slammed his fist down on her desk. "Five gold pieces!? It's worth far more than that!"
"I'm sorry but that's just how much they're worth. I don't set the price of items in this city I only sell and buy. You'd have to speak with the king about any problems you have"
"Fine I'll take the 3,000 silver" She handed it to him as he swiped the bag from her stomping out of the lobby. Suki sighed putting her head down on the test rubbing her head.
"Be careful you two, Belimius is one of our A-rank heroes but he thinks just because he's one of the best he thinks he's better than everyone"
CHAPTER 2 A Need Or Want?
As they sat in the tavern part of the lobby which was a small area on the left side of the room, they decided to give themselves a few minutes to rest before they took their next quest. After about 10 minutes they walked back over ready for the next challenge.
"Well, this next one is a C-rank mission while your first one was B-rank since it became such a priority to kill the basilisk. This one is for the growing population of goblins deep in the forest. We're unsure how many goblins there might be or even it's exact location so I suggest you gather two more members for such a task. Not sure why they'd put this at C-rank but I can't do anything about it. Good luck"
"That reminds me, if Belimius is one of the strongest warriors of this city, why didn't he go and defeat the creature? I didn't read it's level but it's defense wasn't as strong as probably people make it out to be" Mioda asked still drinking a cup of water.
"Who knows, as I've said, the safety of the citizens isn't really priority for him. He won't really do anything if he feels he won't gain anything from it" With that they set out into the city to look for two members for their party. Just then Mioda spotted an empty house. He saw a currency amount by the house that said 2,000 silver. He had only used 50 of his 2,500 from their quest so he looked at the floating number. It then asked if he would like to buy or not. Pointing towards yes the house lit up with light before it faded. He walked inside to find it partly furnished.
It had two bedrooms with neatly made beds and a couch in the living room. "Not much but it's sure better than having a single tiny bedroom on the second floor of an inn" The young caster assured them brushing his hair out of his eyes. "In time we'll find an even better place to live" He told Sona before they headed to the battle arena where a lot of warriors trained. They were sure to find party members there.
They walked into the arena where they saw many adventurers training. They walked up to a woman dressed in black who seemed to be in the assassin class. She had long black hair with hazel eyes. "Hello, I'm Mioda, this is my friend Sona. We're looking for two adventurers to join us for our next quest"
"Sorry but I don't quest with low-level trash" Mioda clinched his fist but took a deep breath calming himself. He looked at her level: (45) (Man, is every level 40+ warrior in this world a jerk?) Sona told him to forget about her and find someone else. That's when they spotted two warriors training. One was a warrior while the other was a healer.
"Wow, that's the first healer I've seen since I got here" Mioda commented. They approached the two and stopped just far enough not to interfere with their fight...
"Here I come Kaisoma!" One of them said. He had blonde hair, blue eyes and was dressed in golden armor. His opponent wore a white robe and had long black hair with hazel eyes. The gold warrior gripped his blade tightly charging straight for his target. "Duplication!" Yusa watched in surprise as three clones of the warrior were now running right for the healer. The trio jumped into the air coming down for a slash attack. Just then the man in white aimed his hand toward the coming assailants creating an invisible barrier between him and the coming attack.
His combatant struck the barrier with all three duplicates causing the barrier to shatter like glass. Fragments of mana went flying before vanishing in wisps of light. "Shards of light" Kaisoma announced holding his arm straight up creating sharp projectiles of gold light. Above him. The warrior prepared himself as the projectiles went straight for him. He jumped backwards evading two of the shards as they struck the ground while four still came his way. He swung his blade right at one getting closer even with him moving at great speed. When they connected both the shard of light and his blade went flying in different directions. He watched as his blade struck the ground too far to get to.
"Damn and there's still three left" As he tried to dodge once more, one of the projectiles hit his leg causing him to slow down and get hit with the remaining two. Both Mioda and Sona watched as the blonde warrior rolled across the rocky terrain before laying there motionless. They waited a few moments when the warrior finally rose to his feet bruised but walking around. Mioda walked over to them.
"Hi, my name is Mioda Yusa, me and my partner Sona are looking for two adventurers to join us on our next quest to raid a goblin camp"
"I'm a little low on HP, I can't help until my health is back up" The gold warrior commented. Just then Kaisoma used a healing spell to get his partner's HP back to 80%. "There, now that my health is near full I'll join you on your quest to rid this city of the goblin scum"
"I'll do my best to aid all of you on the mission the healer responded. By the way, my name is Kaisoma, this is my friend Kinosaki. I'm hoping to help those in need and learn stronger spells"
"I hope to protect this city from any monsters that intend to harm anyone"
"Alright let's head back to the guild center to head out on the quest" Sona responded before walking back...
"Wow, great to see you found a full party Mioda! Good luck on your task" He nodded before making his way out of the city toward the forest. Not long after entering the forest, they noticed smoke rising through the trees not far from them. They carefully made their way towards the smoke while Sona jumped onto a tree branch, moving tree to tree at great speed. Mioda slowly pulled out his want as the campfire came into view. They saw dozens of small goblins standing around mumbling in a gremlin-like tone.
(Let's get this started) The assassin pulled out a small grenade and tossed it over to the center of the camp. The party covered their eyes just as the blinding flash filled the forest. The monsters ran around screaming, blinded by the flash grenade. With that the mercenary descended down from the tree decapitating two goblins at once. All four of them jumped out of the forest attacking them head-on. Mioda unleashed his lightning barrage defeating 10 monsters at once, Kinosaki pulled out his sword with a gold handle and charged the horde of creatures.
"For Akuwa!" He cried in a heroic tone. With his great speed he slashed his way through many of the small goblins. That's when their vision finally came back. An arrow came flying right for the golden warrior's head when he managed to break it with his blade moments before it hit him. "Heh, nice try, it'll take more than a puny arrow to stop me"
"Grrrr, for the goblin king!" One of the creatures cried out in a high voice. A group of goblin archers came out from the bushes, firing a volley of arrows in their direction. Their healer quickly created a barrier around each of them as the arrows broke on impact.
"Hmmm, seems they're arrows are low level and can't break Kaisoma's barrier" Mioda looked at the levels of each of the targets and saw they were all level nine. "Hmm, they're low level, but in large groups they could make up for that" Once more Yusa unleashed a lightning strike, taking out half of the remaining foes. That's when one of them let out a strange scream that echoed throughout the forest. The caster looked at Kinyoda who shrugged before they looked back at the monster. That's when the goblins began retreating into the cave.
Before the party went after them, they felt the ground began to shake. "This can't be good" Kinosaki responded. "When is ground shaking ever good news!?" Mioda told the warrior before looking at the cave. They watched as four large trolls stomped out walking towards them. Each of them where level 18 so it was going to be a slight challenge. The trolls had gray skin, three where fat while the fourth was built with an angry look on it's face.
"Humans, leave now or we'll crush your bones and use them as toothpicks!" Mioda walked up to them holding his blade tightly in his grasp. "Why don't you make us, we've already defeated, your horde of gremlins"
"RRRggh, don't taunt me!" The tall troll threw a punch down right at the caster. Kaisoma created a barrier around Yusa just as the blow made contact. A wave of force rushed past them as the barrier shattered from the one blow. With an opening Sona threw several shuriken right for the large brute. Mioda used the last of his MP to connected the projectiles with lightning turning it into a net. The shuriken pierced the troll's gay skin right before he was electrocuted.
The group of trolls watched as their boss collapsed on his face out-cold. "Better make sure he can't get back up, chains of imprisonment" Chains made of green mana formed around the monster's throat, arms and legs pinning him to the ground. "There he won't be able to get up for a while" Kaisoma Torogami responded. Mioda watched as the three trolls bowed down to them in submission.
"Now that we've defeated your leader, don't kill anymore humans or we won't hesitate to kill you" They nodded in fear running back into their cave. "Alright team, let's head back to claim our reward"
"What about the troll leader?" Kinyoda asked. Yusa told them to just leave him, the other trolls won't dare free him since they know the party were stronger than them...
They reached the guild center where Suki welcomed them back. "Well done, that must've been a hard fight"
"It would've if the trolls are fought us all at once, but since only their leader attacked it was rather easy" She clapped with excitement as she gave them 8,000 silver and they thanked her before heading back to Mioda's house.
LEVEL 18 ACHIEVED
They stepped inside and looked around while Mioda sat down on the couch looking outside as the sun began to set. "Wow this is a nice place, surprised you were able to afford such a nice place" Kinosaki commented looking at the two bedrooms.
"Yeah, good price on it. Hope to save up money and find a place that's even bigger so I can start on a guild"
"Guild headquarters are very expensive; it'll take a lot of effort to even get one" Kaiosama said standing in the corner of the room. Mioda told him that nothing was going to keep him from rising from a low-level caster into a high-level guild master. "You both can wait here, I'm going to see what are next quest is" Kaiosama sat on the couch holding his staff while Kinosaki passed out in the corner of the room, his legs and arms crossed as if he were meditating.
Mioda and Kinyoda walked back over to the center where Suki was gone and in her spot was a young man with white hair and blue eyes. "Welcome back adventurers, Suki is gone for the night. How may I help you? Oh, by the way my name is Kusuo Sukomoto"
"Hello Kusuo, my name is Mioda and I've come to see what other quests are available right now" They desk clerk nodded looking through files with letters on each one from S-D-rank. After a minute or two of going over the files, he pulled four out and aligned them on his desk.
"Alright, I've found four tasks that are currently available, a vampire by the name of Genisis has been drinking the blood of are farm animals. Normally we'd just let it go, but our livestock has been shrinking to the point we barley have enough meat and milk for the city. The reward is 100 gold pieces which is equal to 10,000 silver pieces and 100,000 bronze pieces. Once you complete the task you have the choice of which coin type you want as your payment. Next, we have a disturbance in the forest near a city north of us. However, the location is a little far, it'll take about an hour or so to reach the city to the north so I'd suggest you'd wait till sunrise to take the job. 3rd we have strange holes appearing all over the city. Since it's within the wall we'd normally have the king's soldiers handle it but they said they don't see it worthy of their time. Lastly, we just need someone to travel to Musukami, the city south of us and have their leader join our side. The king is offering them a pound of gold for their alliance and the adventurer would get 1,000 pieces of gold if they agree to the allience"
The pair thought about it when Kinyoda said: Since it's night I'm sure the vampire should be coming out soon so we should take that one first, the other are more daytime quests" Mioda agreed and they took the task. Kusuo wished them luck as they headed back to their house. "Alright, we found a quest and we're heading out now" Kaiosoma used his staff to help him up off the couch.
"Alright let's go" The healer said with a yawn. All three of them looked over at Kinosaki who was still sleeping against the wall. Mioda didn't bother waking him and they made their way down the long dirt path like their other quests, this time they turned right instead of going further where the goblin camp had been. They found a bolder in the shape of a house with a fancy wooden door in the entrance hole.
"Well then, a fancy-looking door attached to a weird looking door. Yea, that's not suspicious" Sona commented. Mioda pulled out his wand as they slowly approached the home. As he reached the door, it suddenly swung open, knocking the mage off his feet landing on his back. He looked up to see a pale woman in a black dress with red eyes that lit up in the night.
"How troublesome, why are you humans here, I've done nothing wrong...yet"
"We were told you've been drinking the blood of the city's livestock and they're getting low on animals, therefore low on milk, meat and other materials that come from the animals they have" Yusa answered aiming his wand toward the woman slowly getting up while not talking his eyes off her.
"Hmph, they're just dumb animals, why waste your time fighting me when I haven't hurt anyone?"
"Lower food, higher chance of villagers going hungry or even dying of hunger. So in a way you are harming humans. So then, will you give up? Or does our fight begin?" Mioda said with a serious expression. After a moment of silence the vampire dashed right up to the caster with super-human speed. Mioda fired a lightning bolt right as she moved out of the way. His attack struck her house as she grabbed his wrist pushing him back with immense strength. The young caster hit an oak tree as his HP shot down to 40%
"Hmph, the poor caster isn't strong enough to take a hit" She commented. Just then Kinyoda came down gripping his blade tightly for an aerial attack but was stopped by her hand catching it.
"Poor man, what good is a mere blade against a creature of the night as strong as me?" Even with the warrior forcing his blade down it wasn't enough to overtake her immense vamperic strength. That's when she pulled the blade forward, head-butting Sona in the face causing him to lose his grasp on his sword.
The level 17 warrior hit the ground slighting a few feet, his HP now at 70% "Well now, you're not amazing, but seems you can take a hit" Mioda looked at her level, she was a 35.
(Damn it, her level's as high as Bilimius' party members, this might be troublesome. She hit me once and already I'm less then half my HP. what's going to happen when it hits zero!?)
"Before you die, my name is Vensula, the vampire queen of the forest" She slowly walked up to the injured magic caster. She had her fingers straight out using her long red nails as claws. Her nails were three inches long and were as sharp as razor blades. "Now for the first kill!"
Vensula advanced the injured caster once more preparing to stab him in the throat with her nails, that's when an abrupt flash of light filled the forest. The undead creature cried out in agony as sunlight emanated from Kaisoma's staff as smoke began to rise from the vampire's body. After a few seconds Mioda signaled him to stop.
The healer did what he was told and lowered his staff. Vensula stood there shaking with burns all over her body. "Are you ready to submit? Mioda responded fixing his bruised wrist.
"D-don't think, it's over for me just yet"
"Kaisoma use the trap spell" The healer raised his staff once more, this time walls of yellow light formed around their target. She found herself within a large cube of mana. She clinched her fangs in anger, "Your weak barrier can't hold me!" She threw herself against the wall of the barrier toward the healer but found herself burning the moment she made contact.
"Crap, this barrier must be made of artificial sunlight like before"
"That's right, and if you continue to resist, Kaisoma will have no choice but too shrink your cage until you're burned to death" The young caster lashed back still holding his wand if needed.
"We should end her here. If we prolong this too far she'll try to trick us in releasing her" Kinyoda suggested. With a sigh Mioda agreed and had their healer compress the barrier to the point the barriers of sunlight were burning her from all sides. Her cries echoed throughout the forest until they were finally silenced. Sona seemed unphased by it while Mioda felt a little sorry for her. He hoped the guilt would eventually fade and he'd be fine.
They made it back to the center once again and let Kusuo know they had finished the job. "Well done, surprised you three managed to defeat such a powerful foe. Here's your payment"
LEVEL 21 achieved
He gave them their bag of 100 gold pieces and they went back to their house to sleep for the rest of the night. They found Kinosaki outside practicing with his sword while they went to bed..
They awoke the next morning with their stats back to 100%
SAGE acquired
Mioda noticed he had reached Sage-level magic. Opening his grimoire it flipped through pages with a purple aura around it. Several new spells appeared in his book. "Wow, I've never seen so many spells acquired from a specific level-up"
He yawned before getting out of his queen-sized bed. He sat there for a moment, as his eyes slowly adjusted. He made his way out into the narrow hallway that lead to the stair's balcony. He looked down to see Kaisoma still asleep when he heard the other two member's voices. He made his way down the wooden stairs out into the small alley-like area to find Kinyoda and Kinosaki sword fighting, their blades clashing.
"This is an unfair fight even if it's merely training, Sona is level 20 while the golden warrior is only a level 17. Small gap it may be, but a gap is still a gap" He watched as Sona kept up with the swordsmen's strikes almost easily. That's when Sona found an opening and elbowed him in the abdomen.
Kinosaki hit the city's wall before landing on his stomach. "Darn it" He looked up to see the warrior standing over him, his blade pointing toward his throat. "Fine, you got me. The fight was to see who could land the first head-on blow. Though i say your higher level is why you got me. If we were equal level you wouldn't have been so lucky"
"Enough excuses, leave it at that. If you had come with us to kill the vampire we would've been either equal or you might've even surpassed me in stats"
Kinosaki struck the ground in anger but said nothing more walking back into the house. Mioda gathered them up and they headed for the deep forest to figure out the strange things pepole have been hearing.
After an hour of walking they noticed a fog-like mist filling the area. All the trees were dead along with the grass. They saw a deer that looked at the brink of starvation. It's stomach was empty to the point they could see it's ribs through it's skin. Mioda Yusa stopped his part keeping them behind them as they looked at the dead forest.
"This must be the work of dark magic"
"How can you tell?" Kaisoma commented gripping his staff a little uneasy. "Look, the mist seems to stop right at our feet like some kind of barrier. Natural fog won't just stay perfectly still at one location. It'd ether vanish or continue through the open forest. Also, look at the trees, all are dead within the fog, yet the rest are alive so long as they don't touch the fog"
They waited as he pondered what to do... "Kaisoma, do you have in nature spells or spells that summon animals?"
"Yes, I have "Power Of Nature" It's a spell that allows me to manipulate any plant within 10 feet"
"Perfect, use it to move a branch into the mist and see if it's affected by the fog"
"Yes sir, power of nature" His staff glowed green with his body outlined and green mana as well. The party watched as the healer manipulated a large branch from a nearby tree, causing it to grow out until it entered the mist. That's when the half of the branch inside the fog began to rot away until it broke off the healthy half.
"I knew it, seems someone really is using dark magic to kill anything that enters a certain part of the forest. We need to find a way through this corroding curse so we can stop the monster behind such a horrible trap" Mioda slowly moved his hand into the mist and it became a bony skeletal hand. He quickly yanked it back and watched as the black mist faded away and his hand went back to normal.
"Shit, seems if a human even enters their body corrodes into they're nothing but bones" (Maybe one of my new spells can help) he read through multiple pages of spells but none seemed useful in this situation. He turned back to his healer and asked him to put a protective barrier around him.
Once more Kaisoma nodded casting his protection spell on his party leader. A blue barrier formed around Mioda like pixels. He took a deep breath and slowly walked into the mist. He didn't feel anything, he saw dark mana around his shield but wasn't getting through.
"Can you shield us all from the dark magic Kaisoma?" Sadly he shook his head. "Since I don't know how long it will take for you to reach our objective, I'd prefer we only send one inside. If I protect more than one person, the duration of my spell will be half as long and will probably put you both in danger"
Taking a deep breath to hold in his anger, Mioda told Kaisoma to use his spell of protection once more. Once the barrier was up, he ventured inside. After just a few steps they couldn't see him anymore. Mioda felt as though his barrier would break or he'd get out of his healer's range. However, even after sevreal minutes the spell was still active. He found many kinds of animals dead on the ground, socum to the curse.
Suddenly he dripped over something and fell down a flight of stairs. Luckily the barrier prevented him from taking any damage. However, the moment he hit the floor his shield shattered.
(No!) After a moment of panicking, he realized he was still alive. "W-whoa, seems i'm out of the decaying curse range. Now to see who's behind this chaos" He found himself in an underground hallway with tourches alligning both sides of the wall. A large room came into view with a red fire in the center. A group of pepole in black hooded-robes could be seen.
Mioda noticed a dark symbol on the floor around the fire. He saw each person was level 20. He new four on one would be near impossible, but there was no turning back or calling for help. He looked through his spells once more and found a 5th Tier spell that might turn the battle to his advantage.
Slowly the sage walked toward the group of hooded men who were praying around the fire. "So then, who's in charge around here" Mioda called out as he prepared to use his wand.
"Intruder!" The group of cultists unleashed a barrage of dark magic that looked like black flames with red mana swarming around it.
"Mana Asborbtion" Yusa's body lit up with wisps of blue light as the tip of his wand lit up. The entire combination of dark magic was siphoned into the caster's wand, the dark mana eminated from his body as he shook holding in far more MP than his bar could hold.
"Devil's lightning!" Combining the dark energy with his lightning strike, he unleashed a barrage of red lightning, utterly one-shooting the entire horde of necromancers. Steam and electricity surged around his body as his assailants laid motionless in front of him.
LEVEL 23 achieved
His body was sore, but his MP was back to 100 from leveling-up. "It worked...somehow I knew my absorption spell would protect me. Surprised it was strong enough to one-shot all of them. The fact there were several of them was enough to level me up" After stretching his sore muscles he made his way through another hallway where he found himself in a throne room.
The floor was a diamond-tiled floor with a man sitting on a golden throne at the end of the room. "I assume you're the one in charge here?"
"That's correct. But you're foolish to think you any chance at beating me. I'm a level 30, 7 levels above you therefore you chances at victory are slim. If you leave now i might think about sparing your life. Unless you'd rather die where you stand"
"Because of your stupid mist i can't leave even if i wanted to, so my only option is to duel you right here and hope i win this fight"
"What blasphemy, I was not named Arkitus the death sage for nothing. I've sent many challengers to the grave and you will be no different" Without another word Mioda unleashed a lightning strike from the tip of his wand head on. The caster watched as his ranged attack hit an invisible barrier that nullified most of his attack's damage. "Heh, what uselessness, allow me to show you a real spell...Eye of mana essence"
Arkitus's right eyes glowed pink filled with a magical aura around his iris. "I assure you, with the eye of mana essence you won't be able to beat me"
"We'll just see about that! Duplication!" Yusa created a clone of himself made out of his own energy that was equal power to him but would only last a few minutes. "Take this!" Both him and his doppelganger casted fireball and lightning barrage simultaneously. They watched as the pink mana eye turned red as a rift opened between Arkitus and the coming attacks.
"W-what!?"
"Heh, eyes of mana essence, with this eye I can create a rift that absorbs any trance of magical source within 10 meters. So as I've said before, you have no chance in beating me"
(Damn, my duplicate won't last much longer. I'll have to have it use all it's MP in one attack in hopes it'll give me an opening) His clone holds his wand straight up using the rest of his MP to create a sphere of fire filling half the size of the room. Shaking the throne room with it's vast amount of mana lighting up the room with orange light. "Go!" His clone threw his wand down aimed right for the assailant as the massive ball of flames drifted right for it's target. Arkitus rose from his throne, focusing the eye of mana right for the coming threat.
Mioda's duplicate vanished in a flash of light while an even larger rift began taking in the entire fireball. The room shook violently as it slowly began to be compressed into the rift. With his opening Mioda charged his foe full speed toward his target planning his next attack on the spot. "Magic illusion: Mind field!" Pointing his want toward the floor while running he covered the entire room in magical minds that were invisible to all but the caster and only went off when another source of magic or person made contact with them.
Once the sphere was finally gone, Arkitus set his sights back on Yusa. A smirk appered on the young casters face. "You're turn" The sage said with confadence. The villian pulled out his own wand preparing to cast a spell.
"Undead summon" The hero watched as a horde of undead crawled out from a magic necromancer circle glowing on the ground between them. "I doubt you have much MP left, do us both a favor and give up"
Mioda retaleated, firing force of the mind straight for the group of undead skelatons. The sheer force of his attack caused all the undead to break into a pile of bones. Arkitus crossed his arms with a sigh. That was your final chance to submit to me" Aiming his black want at the pile of bones, they floated up, spirialing into one giant undead. It let out a deafning scream looking down at Mioda.
"Kill him" the villian said with a cold exspression. The collosal skellaton threw a bunch right for him. Luckily Yusa back jumped out of the way, causing his target to strike the ground with fierce strength. Mioda looked up at the ceiling seeing a slight crack. That gave him an idea.
This will take most of my remaining MP but it should work. He fired lightning barrage in three diffrent directions; the dark caster, the undead monster and the ceiling. Arkitus moved to the side attempting to evade it when he accadentlly stepped on one of the magic mines, causing him to lose his footing, rolling across the floor. "W-what is this!? I should be able to see any kind of magic!"
That's when the ceiling began to break apart. A large piece fell right for the assalient but he managed to dodge it until touching yet another mine. It blew up in his face and he landed on his back injured. Another piece came falling from the ceiling, crushing the man's legs.
"D-damn it! How could I fall for such a trick!?" Arkitus gave in to his wonds as his HP reached zero. The undead vanished as well. Yusa walked over to the dead boss and took his equipment. He gained a nercromancer grimwore giving him access to new spells. He put on the black caster clothing that multiplied all his stats along with lowering spell cost and cool down rate.
Level 25 achived
I did it! I beat him single-handed and with his grimwore giving me access to more spells and his wand that boosts my ATK and range, i can take on even greater enimies. Which reminds me" Mioda opened his original purple spell book and read one of his new spells he had unlocked by never used: "Magic Fusion - This spell with fuse two sources of magic into one source permanentlly. I should be able to merge both grimwores into one"
He held both spell books in sepreate hands and said: Magic Fusion" Both books floated into the air within a sphere of blue magical energy. The black and red spell book and purple and silver book spiralled around each other until the two sepreate orba became one in a flash of light.
The light faded as a white and silver grimwore floated down into his hands. Both his spells and the ones taken from the dark caster were merged into one book. "Now to take the barrier down"
Meanwhile....
He's been gone for quite awhile, what should we do?" Kaisoma commented. Kinyoda pointed to their party stats on the left of their vision. "Stop complaining, Mioda's health is still there so he's still alive. Since it hasn't gone down for awhile i'd say he won the fight and is looking for a way out"
Back in the underground lair Yusa came across a large purple ball that glowed with purple mist floating inside it. He lifted it off it's mantle and it stopped glowing. Yusa put it in his inventory as he walked back up the stairs. Holding his hand out he realized the mist was gone. He smiled and rushed back to his team.
They were glad to see he was ok and suprised to see hin wearing all new clothing. They got their reward and relax in the tavern...
(TO BE CONTINUED...)