Donis was finally alone for longer than 30 seconds. His family had reluctantly left his side to continue on with their lives, with their jobs and such. They didn't want to not take care of their baby boy after such a traumatic experience. They left only because Etheria had been out the entire time, cuddling him and, in their eyes, giving him the comfort he required.
Reviewing the whole ordeal in his mind, his thoughts had grown cold. He now knew the dark side of the world he's inhabiting. His previous world was also dark, but nothing like this had ever happened. It was a mind bending experience.
He still had so many questions, such as why was he targeted in the first place, or how they managed to steal the carriage without anyone noticing, or how it took Norris so long to find any tracks. Either way he had no answers, but he may find some clues with the parchment he had stolen from Raul.
Donis had no way to explain to the others how he had taken this, nor could he explain how he had hidden this from everyone. He'll have to figure out a way how to tell either Corvig or Norris, or even the Archmage, Lorenzo.
Opening his [Inventory], he could see a slot being used up by a piece of parchment. It even had a title.
[Mourning Hive Request]
Anxiety rising, he willed the item into his hand. He was greedily scanning the parchment for the info the [System] deemed as incriminating.
"A noble from the city of Castan requests the Mourning Hive to kidnap Donis Laurent. He is not to be killed as our intel tells us he has a rare blessing. Mutilation is preferred to be kept to a minimum, and the final price will be dropped down if he is in no working condition. The buyer wants him to be loyal to the Magisterium of Castan, therefore when he is sufficiently broken, we will come in and 'save' the boy. This will net you extra Erzi, and will be negotiated upon successful capture."
After reading this piece, Donis seethed with anger.
'They wanted to kidnap me, torture me, and break me so that I would be fucking loyal to another Academy? Are these people fucking insane? Do they not want to try and tempt me with offers like a normal academy would?'
Ding!
-Side Quest+: Find more evidence on the person who bought the [User]. Multi-Part Quest.
Reward: [25SP] per completion. -
'Oh I will. Thank you system, I will find out who did this to me and my family,' thought Donis angrily.
Donis went over to his parents, in hopes of letting him set up a meeting with both Norris and Corvig. He told them that he wanted to say thank you to the people who saved him, and he wanted to see his hero, Corvig.
Hearing Donis call Corvig his hero, Korrins mouth twitched a little, but he couldn't deny it. Corvig was a hero to the family, and he felt like he was useless. Morissa noticing this about her dear husband, squeezed his hand and brought him in closer. She knew that every dads dream is to be the hero for their kids, so she could empathise with his pain.
The parents of course didn't deny his request, it was only fair and they also wanted to see the heroes. They will be forever grateful to them, unable to ever repay the debt they owe in their hearts.
Korrin went into his study and brought out a luxurious looking parchment of paper, one that looked the exact same as what Donis had in his [Inventory]. This made Donis incredibly nervous, but Korrin only took it as excitement in the lads eyes.
"Now son, this parchment here is pretty valuable. It is used for so, so many things. If you write messages on them then the owner of the exact copy will receive exactly what you wrote on it. I gave my copy of this parchment to Corvig already, in case our family ever needed to contact him. He at first didn't want it, but understanding out predicament he took it," Korrin continued.
Donis's eyes shot open, realising that Raul wrote something on the parchment before locking it means that the document in his possession is directly linked to the one the buyer has.
After asking his dad to contact Corvig, Donis wanted to be left alone. He walked into his room, and closed the door.
Not thinking of using [Ocular Inspection] on the parchment he stole from Raul before, he cast it now, and just as he feared, it was the same type.
-Pigeon Parchment-
[Grade: Rare]
[Special Property: Allows the transfer of instant messages between people, writing of unchangeable contracts, and to allow communication between merchant and buyer without altering the original contract unless both parties agree.]
'Yup, it's the same,' sighed Donis deeply.
He had too much to think about, and too much to do now. He needed a second to just take a breather. It was still so fresh in his mind, even though it technically happened a month ago. His parents told him he was out in a trauma induced coma for an entire month, and the [System] informed him that it was actually forced hibernation, to fully recover his mental state before allowing him to wake up.
'Fuckin system, sometimes I wonder if you are sentient and are just messing with me,' thought Donis.
As if suddenly realising that quests exist, he remembered that he survived. Which means he gained [400SP] and the [Innate Void Knowledge]. Checking his stats, he found out to be right! A small bit of happiness burst out of him, as his greed for knowledge and power began surfacing again.
He first checked out his [Innate Void Knowledge], sifting through his pseudo memories of all the new info. He could sense the small tugs of the Void Mana around him. He could now perceive gaps in space, he could actually understand some of the more basic intricacies of the power behind such things. He was lovestruck. It was addicting.
He spent an hour sifting through the new info, the new sensations and experiences that he could perceive. Even his [Void Sense] leveled up to level 3, he noticed after checking his full status. He cast it immediately and what he saw with his eyes closed was a much more clear image of the room he was in. Not only that, but he could now see outside of the room too. It seems the range of the ability had tripled, now able to sense everything to within 15 meters of himself, albeit blurrier the further away it was.
He tried casting it at the same time as his eyes were open, and the result was weird. He could not only see, but feel the things he was looking at. It was an odd sensation to describe. Yet what was even odder, and better, was that it let him mildly perceive things through walls. It wasn't like he could see through them per se, but it gave him a weird concept of x-ray like perception. Not quite being used to it just yet, he turned it off. It was starting to give him a headache.
Next is going to be opening the [System Shop] one more time to check out his options, maybe he'd have some new options of magic since he has [400SP] and since last he checked, he'd gain more options with more SP.
Yet he was disappointed. He still only had the same options as last time when it came to magic basics, as he's learned to call them. If he willed the [System Shop] to show him any magic skills, the list was monstrous. He knew, though, that he had to get the basics for a solid foundation and to be able to actually learn the monstrous list of skills.
[Mana Breathing] – [40SP]
[Innate Elemental Knowledge] - [120SP]
[Mana Charging] - [40SP]
[Innate Etheric Knowledge] – [200SP]
'I'm going to get myself a maxed out foundation, so that when I learn higher tier spells, no one will be my match. System, give me all of them,' thought Donis, determination present in every thought.
A familiar euphoric feeling filled Donis, this time, he was able to indulge in that moment, to feel the new, yet overly familiar memories flood his mind.
[Mana Breathing 1/40]: Imbues the casters breath with mana, allowing for more precise control from within and outside the body.
[Innate Elemental Knowledge]: Gives the [User] basic knowledge on all aspects of elemental magic.
[Mana Charging 1/500]: The caster can charge up mana in their system, storing it away for later use.
[Innate Etheric Knowledge]: Gives the [User] basic knowledge on all aspects of ethereal magic.
'Oh my god it's addicting'