Above the alleyway where Mike was currently fighting off the hitmen, Dike was standing in the sky, using one of his various spells, while holding on to his badge as he just received a call from Grand Wizard Grosso. "Well for starters why don't you tell me why against your own ramblings of not wanting an apprentice you decide, out of the blue to get an apprentice. Care to tell me why?" The image of Grosso says as he crosses his arms with a mocking tone that is very evident.
Dike forces out a smile at this as he recalls how he would often decline to take on an apprentice to train with the reason being that he did not want the distraction or energy wasted to help train someone inexperienced in magic. So he left that to the other royal wizards who were looking for something to take up their time.
"Well if you met my apprentice you would understand why I chose to make him mine. Heck you might even force me to make him your apprentice"
"I highly doubt that right now Dike. However, I wanted to know how things are going right now with the investigation, you still remember why we sent you out their correct? Or are you too busy getting new apprentices as an excuse to spend more time away from other duties?"
At the mention of the investigation Dike looks down to see that Mike has already dealt with the second guy on the ground and was making his way onto the roof while dodging crossbow bolts.
"Well currently my apprentice is dealing with a group that may know something that can help us"
"Wait... your new apprentice is dealing with a group of people that are involved in it?"
Dike simply just nods at this.
"YOU IDIOT HE IS AN APPRENTICE AND FROM WHAT YOU ARE TELLING ME HE KNOWS USELESS MAGIC SPELLS TO FIGHT THEM AND HE IS FACING THAT GROUP OF PEOPLE SENT AFTER YOU!"
Dike cringes away from the hologram of the Grand Wizard as he feels the anger from in the capital from the hologram's rampage.
"What is so wrong with that?" Dike asks
"What is wrong, you idiot?! Well for starters he doesn't have any magical items, no high-level spells, is facing a group that is probably more experienced than him, and his only backup decided to leave him! So tell me what is not wrong?!" The Grand Wizard explodes in fury unleashing a torrent of reasons that what Dike had done was wrong and probably unethical in the Royal Wizards.
Now that Dike thinks about it a bit more he realizes that letting Mike fend off an unknown group of assailants sent after him, in particular, was probably not a good idea, to begin with. Now Dike wished he did not act so rashly before to see how Mike could handle himself in unexpected situations.
"Well I am going to step in if Micheal is in trouble"
"You better or else you won't have to deal with just me"
The image of Grand Wizard Grosso disappears after the threat as the call is ended with Dike standing in the sky above the fight, with a visible sweaty complexion and pale face as he knew who he would have to deal with even more terrifying than the Grand wizard.
...
Twang!
Another crossbow bolt goes flying past Mike's location on top of the roof. He had been able to knock out Richard, one of the hitmen on the ground, a lot faster than Jacob before he used the cantrip Enlarge to get up on top of the roof and take cover where he could. Two of the crossbowmen were on roofs on the other side of the street while one was on the same side as Mike.
Enlarge allowed Mike to take the molecular structure of a non-living object and make it bigger or smaller with magic if he touched it. Since Mike came from another dimension where science and logic reigned supreme be had a better idea of how to control the growth of an object than most other magic users who used it. Now he could not enlarge an entire house but he could enlarge and change the bricks that made up the house by either shrinking or enlarging it entirely or just a surface. So by casting the spell Mike enlarged only the faces of the bricks to make a set of temporary stairs leading up and onto the roof.
He currently was hiding behind one of the enlarged bricks on the roof that he made for cover from the crossbow bolts. If all three of them shot at the same brick it would break from the impact made by the bolts, but he would easily make a new cover before they could reload which lead to a stalemate. Now the spell had drawbacks as the object would go back to its original shape after 30 seconds so it was not viewed as a great spell in general, so not many wanted to learn it.
'Wait I can make any non-living object grow in a sense so what about my sword' Mike looks down at his shortsword as he realizes the implications of his thoughts, before attempting to using Enlarge on the sword. As he casts the spell he makes it so the blade elongates slightly
'It worked!' Mike was relieved at this since the implications for this spell could be limitless with other weapons
However, the problem only problem is that Mike is adding more weight to the blade so he would need more strength if he wanted to increase the blade of the short sword to something more like a longsword or something else. It would be an option in the future but for now, when Mike was in close combat it could be used to catch the enemy unguarded which is what he planned to do.
Mike uses Dash to get a running start and leaps onto the other roof with one of the hitmen that had been shooting at him. Seeing that Mike was now on the same roof as him the hitman throws the crossbow and Mike catches it with his off-hand before it disappears going into Mike's inventory. The hitman used the time Mike had to catch the crossbow to draw his dagger. Now normally a dagger would not be a great choice to go against a shortsword but Mike did not have any formal training with a sword. That was evident and the guy was pretty confident he could take Mike on since he was not killing anyone thus far so he assumed Mike was yellow-bellied, meaning he did not want to kill.
Their blades meet together in a clash of metal and then stop at the hilts before Mike aims the blade at the guy's face and casts Enlarge on the blade.
20
The blade extends and stabs the man in the eye and penetrating his brain following through and penetrating so that the tip of the blade extends through the back of the skull killing the man instantly as Mike rolls a critical hit.
'Ding'
...
Mike rolled a critical hit and has dealt maximum damage multiplied it by two dealing 22 damage
Mike has gained 10 exp from killing Roger
...
Mike's vision goes hazy and he feels woozy as his grip on the shortsword falters before eventually, he lets go with Mike's shortsword and the body of the hitman whose face is stuck in an eternal look of surprise as he did not expect the sword to suddenly change length. Mike just looks down at his hands which he had just used to kill someone else with.
Twang
The first crossbow bolt flies towards Mike who was in a stupor and a loud snap is heard and a yelp of pain follows soon after from the guy who had just shot at him. A second bolt follows soon after and penetrates deep into Mike's thigh blinding him with pain as stars flash in front of his eyes and he falls forward onto the body of the guy he just killed.
'Ding'
...
Brian dealt 6 piercing damage to Mike
Mike is now injured in the leg and thus his movement speed is lowered
...
"Oh... god" Mike quickly checks his health while going through the pain.
Health: 23/40
He was almost at half health and the pain that he was feeling was not the best, to say the least. Mike snaps the bolt shaft in half and tosses it away before taking out his new crossbow. He pats the body down looking for where the bolts are.
19
Mike finds six bolts and loads the crossbow with some difficulty due to strength requirements and never using one before behind the cover of one of the enlarged bricks. Eventually, he has it loaded and takes aim before firing at the guy who hit him before.
16
The bolt flies through the air straight and true as it strikes Brian in the chest penetrating through any type of armor that he had underneath his outer clothing.
'Ding'
...
Mike has dealt 6 piercing damage to Brian
...
Name: Brian
Level 3 Hitman
Race: Human
Health: 10/16
Skills: Lucky and Fury
Weapons:
Crossbow (6-8 piercing damage)
Dagger (3-4 piercing damage)
...
When Brian gets hit by the bolt Mike shot he looks at Mike before yelling at him and drawing his dagger. He runs towards Mike and jumps from a roof across the street and lands on the roof Mike was on. That jump what about 10 feet in order to get onto the other side and he made it look easy even though he did not do a running jump. The guy runs over to Mike and the other guy across the rooftop tries to do a running jump across... he doesn't make it.
Mike heard a loud snapping sound and a man crying out in pain from below. Mike could not pay attention to what happened to the other guy as Brian held his attention. He stabs at Mike with his dagger aimed with deadly precision, but Mike dodges while throwing the crossbow behind him and attempts to punch Brian. Brian catches Mike's fist and holds onto it as they are in a stalemate since mike used his other hand to grab the one with the knife and point it away from him.
"Don't suppose you will tell me who sent you huh?"
"Argh... die!"
"Now you forgot to say the magic word" Mike taunts
Mike then uses his meager strength to attempt to push Brian closer to the edge.
18
They both are now at the edge of the rooftop and now instead of a look of rage on Brian's face, he now looks frightened as he realizes that he is at the edge of a drop of about 20 to 25 feet is below him and there is nothing to break his fall. Mike once again tries to push Brian over the edge this time.
12
Mike pushes Brian over the edge as he feebly attempts to go against Mike and falls over the edge. Before he falls in a desperate last attempt he tries to grab hold of Mike and pull him down into the fall. As he falls Mike feels Brian's hand grab his foot and they both fall over the edge. Mike tries to grab the edge of the rooftop as he is pulled down.
5...
He continues to fall with Brian into the alley below. Seeing no way out of it Mike grabs Brian's body and puts it under him to break his fall. They both hit the dirt in the alley below with a puff of earth and an audible thud accompanying them.
'Ding'
...
Mike has taken 4 fall damage
...
Mike thankfully did not take too much damage from the fall since Brian was underneath him to take most of the damage. Brian was knocked out from the fall and Mike quickly gets off of him. Getting up Mike sees the other guy who tried to jump to the other roof but ultimately fell. He had propped himself up against the wall and was currently attempting to treat his broken legs both his legs looked like he fell on them hard that now they were bent the wrong way which made Mike feel really uncomfortable just looking at due to the fact that he was still dealing with the fact that he killed someone with his hands just now. Moving over Mike goes over to the guy and takes away his dagger, the guy did not resist seeing as he was vulnerable right now and further struggling would not benefit him all and Mike tries to help with the guys leg problem.
18
Mike sees with the roll that the guy's legs needed splints for each leg and that he would not die from the wounds but did need help from a professional if he wanted to ever walk again that is. Mike breaks down an empty old barrel that was in the ally and uses the planks to make a rudimentary splint with some cloth that the knocked out gentlemen on the ground so generously donated to Mike. A few minutes later and Mike has made two splints and applied them to the guy so that way he would not cause anymore damage to his legs or feel anymore pain which causes him to pass out.
Mike walks out of the alley hoping to find Dike some where nearby, but is instead met with six more hitmen waiting for Mike who just exited the alley.
'Well should have seen this coming' Mike thinks to himself since the quest did not say complete and it did say to take out the leader which none of them thus far were.
Mike produces his shortsword from his inventory and brandishes it once more to the best of his ability as he steadies himself for the fight. Mike opens up his spell list and takes a look real quick to see what could turn the tables on the situation of being outnumbered.
...
Lvl 0 spells learned: 8 (All level 0 spells don't cost mana but mana can be used to improve the effects of the spell if the caster so desires)
Ice Blast [Expand]
Enlarge [Expand]
Flavor (Self-explanatory so I will not give it a description) [Expand]
Tremble [Expand]
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Gust
You summon a gust of wind that can blow out a torch, candle, or small campfire. (The higher the spell mastery the more powerful the gust)
Spell Mastery: 0/500
Mana cost: 0
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Increase
You can increase the limits, effectiveness, or duration of another spell for a few seconds.
Limits: Increases range of spell by 2.5 feet
Effectiveness: +1-3 damage to any spell
Duration: +2 seconds to any spell
Spell Mastery: 0/500
Mana cost: 0 [Mana cannot be used to increase spell effectivness]
This spell will only last for one attack
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Supply
You give yourself a small amount of temporary health that will be depleted instead of regular health.
Effect: +3 temp health
Duration: 2 minutes
Spell Mastery: 0/500
Mana cost: 0
If mana is used on this spell an extra 3 health shall be given per 5 mana
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Lock
You magically create a lock, or cause two things to be closed, that can or cannot be seen that will hold two things together
Duration: 15 minutes
The maximum amount of locks: 2
Spell Mastery: 0/500
Mana cost: 0
_____________________________
No other level of spells are available for the user at this time
...
Mike takes a second and casts Supply giving himself a slight boost in health which makes him feel slightly refreshed and better than before. Mike reluctantly walks forwards to face these new foes since retreat right now would be difficult and plus with how the system worked he would be able to find out with the information provided if they could chase him or not. However in order for that to happen they need to be in combat so mike instantly casts [Lock] on two of the combatants legs and closes them up. Seeing Mike take two of their men down those still up draw their weapons with a man wielding a great axe leading the charge.