Legend of the Spellthief

Logan recounted coin and experience as his guildies handed in the components, clubs, and evidence of killing the goblins during their training. In all, the whole group had their quest notches updated with an additional 20. It was one of the biggest bursts of power and wealth for seven-dayers, easily putting them in safety against the ethereal timer.

The idea of “boosting” lower-ranked guildies like this wasn’t new, but it was extremely rare for a guild to build up rank 1s without some form of ulterior motive. While Logan did have one, it wasn’t as sinister as other guilds. The Spellthief mostly just benefitted in the form of experience and money added to the guild coffers, the former a more important point for his relic creation.

If the natives had a better understanding of experience and levels, they could utilise this strategy better, but their minds were on other aspects. Logan’s own thoughts moved swiftly onto new endeavours as he had one more task to undertake to finalise the preparations for the relic he had in mind.

Returning to the guild house for the evening, the guildies slouched on the couch or hunched over the counter as they awaited food from Advelt. Waerell was quick to ferry drinks around and take gear to the tired teen’s rooms.

Logan had a quick conversation with Advelt about a visitor who came by while they were gone. Sirn Alton had come around to work out some merchant deals, however, while Advelt was a foyer attendant, he didn’t have enough “ownership” of the building to grant the vampire entrance. Instead, Alton had carved out a piece of wood for Logan to attach to the doorframe.

It was the usual symbol, a combination of the letters Y and K coloured red. It was similar to a 6-pointed start that missed the bottom-left line, and all the connecting lines in-between. Logan bit his thumb and let two droplets of blood drip onto the wood. The brown oak quickly turned a reddish hue, creating a contract of sorts.

Nailing this to the outside of the door to the guild, the symbol would act as an intermediary for Logan’s permission to enter. They would still need allowance past the barrier that Logan had set up, however, so Advelt was still required. Logan would have set this up before, but he didn’t know too many vampires who could meet him quickly, and half of this symbol required a vampire’s blood.

The rest of the evening was Logan’s drawing up plans for the combination of the two new buildings with the main one. It was easier to get an idea of it with a physical picture than one only in his head.

The next morning, Logan and Marcus returned to the G-Hall to look over the quests as usual. Adventurers nodded to Logan as if to say “Morning” like he was in a close-knit neighbourhood, more and more. His fame continued to spread and was close to painting him as part of the furniture, tomorrow signed the 150th day in Avanar so it was easy to bet that they’d see him another day.

With the outside getting colder and colder, people were bundling up with warmer furs and scarves. Logan didn’t need them just yet, but Marcus had adorned a similar scarf to his neck.

Picking a piece of parchment from the boards, Logan scanned it quickly to see it fit the bill nicely. A mission to go far north to a patch of desert that housed the next monster that when defeated could be Harvested for the final piece. It would be a bit weird with the temperature change, but that’d be the least of their problems.

Teleporting across the skies, Logan teleported close to 200 miles. With his vaskt eyes and eyeglass, he could spy up to the 68 miles allowed by his Dimensional Jaunt. With the starter jump and landing included, it took 5 jaunts. While further east than normal, Logan was close to the border of Helm just like Lightbeam had been previously to tackle a mobile dungeon.

Soft sand rolled underfoot as the pair landed just shy of the sandy change from dirt to yellow specks. Marcus quickly doffed his scarf, while Logan felt the heat batter against him in his coat. Taking a few crystal droplets from his inventory, Logan and Marcus crushed one each in their teeth. Just like the heat gravel, these frozen tears helped to fight back harsher heat.

“Deserts here aren’t so different from my world”, Logan thought aloud.

“As far as I could gather, the desert rolls on for several hundred miles from south to north, covering the eastern side of the border between Gauntlet and Helm. The eastern tip ends in tall mountains and sheer cliffs into the ocean. At the northern end, we might even be able to see the capital Helm.”

“Several dungeons here absorb the moisture in the area, with many within the mountain itself. That’s reason enough for a strangely shaped desert I suppose.”

“We’re better geared than most to survive here”, Marcus laughed, “we can just magic up some water or store it within other spaces.”

“Keep an eye on mirages. The monsters here can conjure them up just as we do mundanely. I don’t want to be teleporting into a trap”, Logan recounted as he looked over his System map.

“We’re to fight a trio of sand vice, right? The nearby settlements can’t exactly fight them without magic.”

“Right, a dozen or so miles to the north-east.”

Another teleport had the pair land atop a tall mound of sand, giving them a wide-reaching gaze over a countless distance of sand. With most foes hiding underground, Logan’s Echo Radar did little to alert them to foes ahead of time. Instead, Logan resummoned his elementals to act as bait for their quarry.

It didn’t take long for the bait to bore cactus fruit. Three massive creatures burst from the sand underfoot, chomping down and dragging the elementals into the air. The crunching of rock and ice sounded the destruction of two elementals, while Servoir flowed between teeth and fell back to the floor.

“Identify.”

“Sand Vice - Spirit Beast. Level 18: 204/204 HP, 32/32 MP.

This spirit monster feeds on the fading thoughts of those lost within deserts, sending visions of oases to then kill them as the victims dine on sand illusions. Made up of sand and vapour, these creatures resemble a mix of centipede and scorpion, with sixteen black and blue eyes dotting their face and four large mandibles. At 20' long, these creations are massive when compared to other threats in the sands.

Just like the sands, this monster's body shifts and flows, making it hard to land a solid hit.

Skills: Open List ↓. Warning: First-level spell immunity.

Spells: Open List ↓.

Reduction: None.

Resistance: Damage 50%, Earth 50%, Fire 50%, Holy 0%, Ice 0%, Lightning 0%, Shadow 25%, Water -10%, Wind 10%.”

Marcus and the rest of the elementals charged after one of the vices, while Logan warped to the sky. Aiming an arm at the other two, Logan chanted, “Aqua Second Shot”, sending out a simultaneous jetstream at the spirit beasts. Logan had changed out his usual Flame 2nd for Aqua 2nd in the morning.

Logan began to fall slowly with the two spirit beasts he had antagonised with their weakness. They dealt 72 and 75 damage each, after the 10% increase for their vulnerability to the water element.

One of the vices flew through the air in a serpentine manner, cutting apart wind with sharp noises. Mandibles clashed together as they ate the space where Logan just was, having teleported higher up and behind the foe.

Waving his arms around, Logan chanted, “Aqua Second Skystrike”, forming balls of blue on either side of the beast, shooting them like bullets at the monster. However, this time, the spirit beast’s body waved and phased in and out. Both spells went through their non-physical body and missed.

Logan cursed and tutted, his hair and coat flying up as his body began to fall again. The second vice then charged for him. Bundling up into a ball, Logan chanted, “Air Blast”, to fire a shockwave that spun his arms and legs around, rotating his body over the top of the next beast, diving his frozen lord edge into its chitinous hide to fly with it.

The Spellthief’s body flopped around with the velocity of the vice’s flight, but he quickly steadied himself on its body. Making a claw, Logan moved to grip the monster with his other hand, however, it phased out as he attempted it, falling off his mount as he tumbled backwards.

Spying the first beast as he spun in the air, Logan warped behind it, fixed his velocity, and spun as he appeared upright and still.

Throwing his dagger into his cloak, Logan aimed with one hand and pulled back with the other, “Aqua Second Skystrike”, he chanted, an orb of water forming in his hand and another in front of the beast. Shooting them at different distances, the water in the beast's face went through its body as it phased out, however, it phased back in as the Shot variant hit it in the back.

Before Logan could continue his attack though, several mounds of sand started to vortex around him. Creating cutlasses of sandy death, they swerved and swiped at Logan.

With a Silentcast Haste, Logan caught each spell and mentally commanded, “Spell Absorb”, collecting eight charges of Gaia 2nd, gaining mastery in the spell.

As the spells continued to hail him, Logan warped away to dodge the last ones. Aiming his hands downward to the second beast, Logan chanted, “Gaia Second Shot”, four times, letting his own volley of eight earthen spikes hail down on his foe.

Only three landed, dealing 46, 47, and 48 damage. His mastery allowing the spell to still do a sizeable chunk against his foe.

As the second sand vice began to fall to the floor, the same as Logan as his body slowly descended, the first came charging for the Spellthief again.

Changing his usual tactic, Logan orientated himself to face the massive maw of the beast and aimed his hand into the gaping mouth. Silentcasting another Aqua 2nd, a quick beam of water cut through the beast’s gob, puncturing through the top of its head and causing the monster to fall underneath Logan.

Warping to the floor near his ally, Logan looked at Marcus and his elementals who were checking that their own beast was dead. The Spellthief was previously more adept at aerial combat due to his multitude of teleports, but Marcus had also gained the ability to fight in the air due to the coat that turned to wings, made up of harpy feathers.

Logan rubbed a piece of cloth over his face to remove the sweat as he investigated the bodies. Harvesting them was easy enough, it just had a time limit similar to the silversteines so long ago.

With another fight behind them, Logan found his resources continuing to be challenged, though this time more on his spell rings. His MP fought through with 27 remaining.

Logan made use of his final ring, then his signature slots, and eventually some MP to warp away from the desert and back to Gauntlet.

However, as the pair and remaining elementals warped away, their spot was hit with a massive blast of wind. A tall 6’7” creature garbed in brown robes held long bone blades in their white-clawed hands appeared in their place.

The creature roared and hissed, glowing green eyes showing a deep-seated hatred within them. “So close, another plight or two and I’ll cut them! If only I still had my resources”, the being scorned, her mouth dripping saliva to the floor through serrated teeth.

Stabbing a blade into the sand, the creature grabbed at the air, a visible purple line imprisoned in her grasp. “Track thine foe, hunt them so. Follow those I despise, so that I may grant them their demise.”

The purple lines then turned a sickly green and as if cut they bled to the floor.

“Ahren may not leave, but you’ll do.”

As Logan landed outside of Gauntlet he felt a twinge in the back of his neck. Reflexively, he darted around and looked for what he believed was spying on him. But nothing but the cold wind met his eyes.

“What’s up? Hear something?” Marcus asked as he looked around the leafless trees.

“No… it just felt like I was being watched”, Logan replied, “Did someone just scry me?” he added as if thinking aloud.

“They’d need to be quite strong, or doing some form of ritual for that”, Marcus answered off-handedly.

“I’ll have to find a way to counter it, if it’s more than a feeling.”

Returning to the G-Hall, the pair picked up their four gold each before taking a trip to the bookshop. Logan and Marcus both purchased quite an array of tomes, for knowledge, skills, and spells.

The next few days were going to be spent reading and preparing for the new year. Though Logan did have to find out who had been looking at him.

The following day, Logan had finished a tome that allowed him some better foresight into those putting their sight on him. However, he would have to ritual cast it as it was currently outside of his grasp.

After spending a good ten hours chanting, but mostly meditating, Logan was eventually able to cast the spell.

“Reveal Sensors”, Logan ended his chant.

A wave of green and yellow flowed from Logan and filled his bedroom, gleaming over the objects within it and piercing through his glass window into the outside. As the light dimmed, grey eyes with red irises appeared around the Spellthief.

Focusing on the oldest-looking one, by its decayed lines all over, Logan found it was cast by a level 9 Wizard. Several factors painted the man clearer and clearer, until Logan visualised the image of Darius, though Logan had already guessed it belonged to him.

This was probably the first sensor ever placed onto Logan, though at this point it was just a remaining ghost of past deeds. It was easy to tell the sensor hadn’t been active in some time, so Logan grabbed it and mentally commanded, “Spell Absorb”, vortexing the eye within his palm.

“Spell Absorption successful. The spell was too weak to gain anything.”

“At least it’s no longer there”, Logan accepted.

The rest of the sensors stayed around, though all of them were dormant within Logan’s protective guild barriers. It would take quite a bit of upkeep to have them constantly active regardless.

The second sensor had the visage of a monster, one of several eyes, fanged teeth, and an immense pain that stopped any further deduction. Logan surmised this had something to do with the bastarn coven he had fought back in the Silver Bastarn Mines near Tinte. The eye hadn’t decayed, but it was old. Whoever made it was most likely still alive, but unworried of Logan’s life.

The third was that of an older gentleman, in his 40s… Logan quickly understood it was Jirango from the Gerro Guardhouse. He had already been informed about this one, as a precaution for new hunters and slight rumours of Logan being a traitor himself. This had been deactivated on Jirango’s side and would cause no issue.

The fourth and fifth belonged to Lurne and Eighther. Lurne was the abrasive plate mail-wearing man who approached Logan in the aftermath of the goblin invasion, though his sensor failed. Eighther’s sensor had succeeded but went dormant a week or so after, it wasn’t a shock the caster’s one had succeeded.

The sixth and ninth belonged to Xican, a wide range of times. The sixth had been deactivated but had seen use over a long period. The ninth was much closer to the current date.

The seventh and eighth were the most concerning. Logan couldn’t identify figures at all. But the powers were monstrous, one was close to him, but the second eye had two users who had an intensity that made him scared to his core.

A tenth sensor showed Logan that Quayvan had an extra eye on him all the time he was working, though how much of that time was active was hard to tell.

There were three others that Logan couldn’t identify, and then the fourteenth was the same as the seventh. While the seventh seemingly was used by other creatures over time, the newest had only one owner that Logan could differentiate.

It wasn’t difficult to absorb all the sensors, though those who were still alive might have been alerted to the fact they had gone. At least half left Logan with no worries, but the most recent, and most likely future, sensors would be hard to detect or find their owners.

Logan would have been flattered with all eyes on him, but these were of creepy intent. He’d need to work on some more defences against scrying, but it seemed that not all would work against him. Logan had anticipated a few more sensors than this, but it was a nice surprise.

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