Seth arrived at the gate disguised in a grey hood, cheap leather armor, and an unimpressive plain sword on his back. With a bow strapped to him, he watched the peculiar scene with a curious gaze.
The number of adventurers and merchants at the gates had doubled since the night before. Small groups of chattering mages gathered near the tall stone walls of the city. Their discrepant voices melded into a singular voice that gnawed at his ear.
He slowly waded through the small clusters until he found a few familiar faces huddled around a burly, fair-skinned man. Seth approached the group with specific goals in mind. All information about the blood mage he'd welcome, but he'll give preference to intelligence based on actual sightings.
The caves had three confirmed entrances. He'd learned that from further study of the map after the meeting the night before. From the recording on the crystal, he'd already determined that the blood mage struck at night.
Now, he only needed to get a general time frame and plot their advance into the caves. "I need to find scouts who actually survived an encounter with the mage." According to Germo, Ren, and the mercenary population of Grechit, there were no survivors, but he still held out hope. "Maybe I'll run into someone who knows something."
The man that stood at the center of the group was almost as large as Brick but twice as boisterous. He regaled all that would listen with tales of his bravado and might.
"...I took down ten Blight spiders with my ice lance," spittle stuck to the grains of his beard as he boasted. "Adepts might be common in Grechit, but I am no ordinary Adept. How often do you find an Ice mage?"
He didn't wait for an answer, "Not common, is it? Lucky for all of you, there are openings in my party for five new members. We ran into a pack of Rank three blight spiders on yesterday's hunt. Nearly wiped out the entire team, only John and Henry survived." he lowered in eyes in grief and earned a few hushed condolences. Two men came up to him and rubbed his shoulder. They looked comically small compared to him.
His full beard veiled his smile as he continued, "the forest is dangerous; I think every adventurer here can admit that much. I can promise that we won't run into another rank-three pack, but I can promise is that I'll try my best to keep you all safe," his voice peaked at the last sentence.
A few cheers and murmurs erupted after he finished his speech. Seth's eyes scanned every person in that gathering. "Maybe the Ice mage or those running whatever trick they have lined up." At first glance, no one in the group looked sleuth or cautious enough to have survived, but his mind changed when it met a slight man dressed in a vest at the edge of the group.
"Unfortunately, there are more mages than we need, so we can only take the strongest six," the Ice mage said, quieting the murmuring crowd. "We would take everybody if we could, but we have to be powerful and quick. It'll be harder to keep everyone safe if there are too many of us."
The excited voice quieted down at his words. A few of the weaker mages protested, but ultimately they sighed in concession and departed with lowered heads, leaving only six people. Seth was one of them. All other mages that left aside from himself were neophytes, so they were technically weaker than he was.
As the group shrunk, the slight man he'd laid his eyes on approached. "The name is Garond, Apprentice Fire mage." He was squinty-faced, with slick jet black hair, a dark red leather vest, and a longsword strapped to his waist. Seth took his hand with a humble smile. "Atreus. I'm just a humble hunter."
'Garond' had saved him the trouble of approaching him. The night before had been fruitful, and from the handshake, he'd gotten an inkling of the man's true power. 'Adept,' he thought. 'Rushing things will make gathering information harder. I'll start slow and light.'
Seth glossed over their introduction and sparked up a conversation like they'd known each other for years. Garond was a bit put-off by this but turned around as the conversation progressed. 'Atreus, the hunter. What a peculiar man.'
Garond was not the only mage that noted Seth's faux name and disposition. Across from them, a certain white-haired mage who went by Emily couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as she heard the name, much to her suitor's displeasure.
"Phineas Rothshire. Son of Edwin Rothshire, the Fire mage," he bowed and pressed his lips on the back of the glove of the cloaked dark-skinned woman before him. Her face was well hidden beneath her hood, but he had an eye for beauty. She smiled graciously and, with a returned bow, introduced herself as "Camille Alister." Her white eyes glittered as he spoke: Phineas' heart thumped.
"Perhaps, after this little hunt his over, I could bother you to visit the Rothshire estate. I'm sure you'll…"
Phineas words trailed as he watched her eyes shift, and with it her attention. They were planted on a hunter who casually conversed with Garond, and Nilia, a wind mage. His anger flared, and his grip tightened around her wrist. She was ignoring him like every other woman he knew. They'd fawn over him until they laid eyes on one of his genius brothers. She acted like they did like he wasn't even there. The anger he buried around his family bubbled, and his hand tightened around the woman in front of him.
"Don't you ignore me…" He was about to break off into speech when he saw her smile twist to hate, and her eyes shine. His eyes flared in regret and surprise. Her hand blurred right before they dug into his tubby abdomen. The force of the strike knocked the wind out of him and sent him tumbling. He landed on his arse, wrenching in pain, with Garond, Nilia, and the hunter starring at him.
Seth's eyes fell to the red-faced panting noble and then to the woman who'd struck him. 'Why did Tula hurt him?' Curious as he was, it was hardly worth his attention. The conversation with the mages was far more important.
"So, you only use a single spell?" Seth asked Vilia.
His questions pulled her from the noble who'd just recovered enough to look up to them. "Air fusion is more dynamic than you think. In fact, all elemental spells are." she thumbed her glasses. "Since you are not a mage, you might not know this, but all spells have complex manipulations sequences that are reinforced by words. Once you master those sequences and the words behind them, you can, in theory, cast spells."
Garond nodded in approval at her explanation. He loved Vilia for her brilliant mind. Though both hardly knew each other, they bonded over their mutual love of theoretical magic.
"However, that is just the beginning. An individual spell sequence holds so much promise. Once you know a sequence and study them for long enough, you will grasp the fundamental nature behind it, and you can, in theory, modify it as you see fit. In fact, most high tier spells build on the basic spell sequences in each element."
"So it is possible to form your own spells and advance higher without aid," Seth asked, thinking about his rather limited spell library for basic tier one and two spells.
Villa frowned, "While yes, it is possible it's not the smartest or the most efficient way to the top. You will have to reinvent the wheel yourself and settle for inefficient and expensive spells. Not to mention, there are dozens of various basic spells in all elements, both old and new. You could not possibly study every basic spell. No matter how you look at it, you'll be less flexible than your peers."
"Then why did you choose this path?"
"Because I wanted to. Understanding the basic sequences of each spell gives me a deeper understanding of the wind element itself, something that simply memorizing the sequences and pronouncing it won't allow." Vilia proudly said. Seth admired her scholarly spirit.
"She also can't afford a tier two scroll," Garond added with a snide grin, which earned him a wind blast from Vilia. He deftly dodged while giggling. "What? It's true. Not everyone can afford a spell tome worth 10 gold coins."
"Spell tome?" Seth always thought spells were compiled into a singular book and sold as a collection. "Don't you mean spellbooks?"
Garond laughed, "You must be from Brightmont or one of those cities with magic knight academies. It's much harder to get your hands on a single spell as a mage. Same way it's difficult to get good enchanted bombs."
Seth nodded like he was completely aware of everything Garond just said. 'Why didn't I think to ask of any of this from Tula and Ren?' Without much thought, he answered, 'because I couldn't. Not without arousing more suspicion.'
"Since you've both hunting been hunting in the forest for a while, both of you must have heard about the blood mage. Coming from a place so distant, do you think their spells work as ours do?" He was confident they were familiar enough with each other that his questions wouldn't seem too strange or out of place.
"Looking to gather information before you try hunting the blood mage yourself, eh?" Garond grinned. Seth blinked at Garond's words. "How did you know," Seth admitted with a bashful smile.
"You're not the only one who has thought about making it big hunting down the blood mage," he smiled.
"My guild sent out our top mages to gather information about the blood mage. I was supposed to be one of the scouts, but I got pulled out at the very last minute..." his voice turned somber. "I might not have known it at the time, but I was lucky. None of them came back. Men I trained with for decades."
A silence settled between them. "Don't go looking for the blood mage, kid. Anything you find won't be worth your life." All joy had disappeared from Garond's face by the time he'd finished. Vilia, too spoke no words. She fumbled with the hem of her dress with a flushed face.
'She too was thinking about the blood mage. I will get nothing from simply talking to them. Tula's right. We are all here for the same thing.' His eyes scanned the individuals in the party one last time. His eyes traveled from Tula and Sera, who were cloaked, to Gus and his partners, and then back to Garland and Vilia.
'Did the other fire mage leave?' he asked, noting that they were one member short On his sweep back, he found the missing teammate. He was on the floor of all places, growling at him with an unsettling rage in his eyes.