NOVEL WEB Chapter 63 - Return
Novaris. Sax (June). 905. AGC.
Nodel. Waxing Crescent 🌒. Day 6.
The chat with Jasmine ended with her best friend telling her that she would not be able to meet her for the next two days, as she had some problems to deal with. Rose had questioned these problems and asked if she could help, but Jasmine said that they were issues caused by her nature, and Rose would eventually come to learn about them. Still, they planned for Rose to approach the Church of Knowledge and Magic and try to figure out who this individual from their empire was. Rose would then try to convince this individual to help Jasmine after getting a good handle on whether the person was decent enough.
The following day, after their chat, Rose went to the Church of Knowledge in search of this individual, whom she quickly learned was called Alyx. However, she was informed that Alyx was out on Adventurer Guild business, so she would have to wait until he returned.
Rose was lucky that she even got that at all, as she assumed that if she hadn't gone fully dressed in her armor, showing that she was a follower of Sol. The cleric at the front desk wouldn't have given her the time of day. Even then, she had to leave behind her full name and the reason why she was looking for Alyx, which she promptly did. After all, it wasn't a lie that she was looking to help someone with a soul-related matter. Thankfully, the cleric told her that once Alyx made it back to the temple, he would be informed of Rose’s request and that a message would be sent back to her if Alyx wanted to meet up.
So, having done all she could for the moment, Rose had left the temple and gone back to do her usual thing around the city. As the days passed, she got another message from Jasmine stating that everything was okay and to leave a message back in the room at the inn explaining what she had learned about the individual from the Magus Empire. Rose had done so on the exact date she had gotten the note from Jasmine, and now they both just waited for this individual to get back from whatever it was they were doing.
The night of the fifth was spent in the guard tower as they would be leaving for the city the next day. It was fairly early in the morning when they went downstairs and officially completed their Adventurers Guild quest. The city was responsible for contacting the guild, which would be done by the day's end so the quest could be removed from the party and marked as completed. Of course, just to make sure that there was no foul play, the party also gained a receipt of sorts from the Guard Captain of the tower. The paper was officially stamped, and it said that the party had completed their one week of patrol. Finally, the party was also paid the 100 gold that had been promised when they took up the quest, and all of it was given to Tesilim.
Naturally, Tesilim also got the notification.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Congratulations! You have completed the goal: Patrol. You have gained 1 Chaos Point.
🔷
After completing all that and with the decision made the day prior, the party took off and sprinted towards the city as they wanted to get there by the end of the day. They could have walked and taken longer, but that also meant camping somewhere for the night, which was not something that Tesilim was on board with.
Not encountering any issues as they ran through the forest by scaring any monsters that got too close, the party made it to the Tesilim’s chaos-dedicated spot an hour before sunset. Tesilim hadn't used his Chaos Mana during the last few days, and it had built up, so he needed to release it as it was getting a bit high. They could have waited until the following day as they would have a 24-hour grace period, but they decided that they wanted to rest one or two days in the city and would rather deal with any shenanigans at that moment than get interrupted mid-way through their rest.
This time around, and on Alyx’s behalf, Tesilim decided to use the chant for his summon water spell.
"From the Water Realm, I call to thee;
Summon forth, vast and free;
Flowing currents, heed my plea;
Bring your waters unto me."
As he chanted, Tesilim poured 75 points of his Chaos Mana into the spell. He also envisioned the water appearing some distance from them as he would probably summon a lot of it and didn't really want to drown in it himself. Additionally, and like they always did, they all summoned their shields not only to block any of the water that did come their way but just in case an explosion happened due to Tesilim’s chaos.
Soon enough, he finished the spell and, like always, got the notification.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
Warning! Chaos Event Imminent, prepare yourself.
Rolling d20. 4. Rolling d20. 12.
🔷
Then a couple of things happened. First, some distance from them, a vast amount of water came into existence and rolled into the forest like a small tsunami. Tesilim had placed the summoning spot around 400 feet from them, a calculation only possible thanks to the intricacies of magic. He had honestly believed it would be more than enough to keep any real issues from hitting them. He was wrong, though not completely.
The water that gushed into existence brought down some trees and eventually did disperse, but even so, a decent amount hit their shields and was easily rebuffed as it wasn't a magical attack at all. It was honestly still surprising how much his Chaos Mana boosted spells. Of course, the other thing that Chaos Mana did was cause random crap to happen, and they all felt magic forcibly cast on them, causing all of their emotions to come down from the excitement of seeing so much water destroy the forest. The effect didn’t last long, but it left a lasting impression.
“That was domination magic,” Alyx commented calmly, though definitely not due to the spell. Looking at the gnome, he was looking around, his gem-like eyes glowing softly.
“Yeah. It seems like some sort of spell to calm emotions.” Lili added on, also studying the area as if nothing had happened, which was beginning to worry Tesilim.
“Uhhh, guys, you okay? Shouldn’t you be freaking out or something?”
“Why?” Both of Tesilim’s companions answered in unison.
“Because! Weird mind magic just happened! I feel that should be spooking you or something!” Tesilim exclaimed, getting annoyed as Alyx and Lili met eyes.
“Tesilim, your magic opened a portal to the Scorched Realm,” Alyx said.
“It also turned you into a goat. A goat!” Lili continued.
“If we didn’t know you had just used it, we would definitely be freaking out but considering everything. It’s just part of the course now.” Alyx finished.
Sighing, Tesilim couldn't deny their accusations and decided to take a look at his status as his two companions went about their investigation.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Status Screen 🔷
- Name: Tesilim Telsy.
- Race: Chaos Elf.
- Age: 24.
- Rank: Low D.
- Progression to Next Rank: 20% to 25%
- Chaos Meter: 24/100.
- Arcane Mana: 700/700 to 750/750.
- Arcane Regen: +4 Per Minute.
- Pure Arcane Mana: 350/350 to 375/375.
- Pure Arcane Regen: +2 Every Minute.
- Order Mana: Locked.
- Magical Sense: - Unlocked.
- Chaos Points: 5/100.
- Boons: Blessing of the World Crystal.
- Afflictions: None.
- Abilities: 9.
🔷
Tesilim had to admit he was happy seeing how much he had grown during the last week of fighting. It hadn't been much, but it was still something, and every little bit helped in his goal of reaching C Rank. As he stood there looking at his status, Alyx walked up to him.
“Oh, wow, that is rather nice.” The gnome spoke as he stared at Tesilim’s screen.
Eventually, Lili also joined in, and after a minute or so of looking at his progress, they decided to get back on the road to the city proper. By the time they made it back to the city, it was already nighttime, and they decided to call it for the night and reconvene the next night at Lili’s place.
Heading back to the inn, Tesilim only thought about getting a bath massage from the dryads and then going straight to bed. Of course, just because he thought about it didn’t mean he was actually going to do it, as he had only done it when he was in goat form and wasn't sure how to feel about being naked in front of multiple tree ladies. He knew he would probably eventually do it because the temptation was too strong, but for the time being, he would rather avoid any possible incidents with his friend downstairs. So he quickly made it to the inn, and after taking a nice warm and long shower, he entered his room and quickly passed out.
As Alyx headed back to the temple of his patrons, he thought about Tesilim. No matter how much he researched, he had yet to figure out how the elf’s powers worked. He had been watching very attentively every single time Tesilim imbued his chaotic mana, at least when it was safe to do so. However, he had yet to find any sign that the mana was actually causing the events directly. Anytime that the mana was used, it would simply merge with Tesilim’s regular mana, empowering the spell, but it wouldn't show anything happening in the ambient mana that might trigger such effects, even earlier during the day when the domination spell had happened. He had been looking around and had noticed that the spell just manifested.
There was nothing that he could point out as to spell forming. It didn't even show a magic circle or anything. The magic had simply appeared, taken effect, and then dispersed once its effect had been accomplished. The only thing that he could see was the after-effect of the magic, which left behind residues of domination magic and its deep pink color. Still, even if he hadn't seen anything yet, he still had plenty of years to study the elf and his odd mana.
Eventually, he made it to the temple and was greeted by the cleric like usual. It wasn't always the same cleric, but they all knew who he was and what his connection to their gods was, so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary—at least until the cleric handed him a note.
“What is this?” Alyx asked, a bit puzzled.
“A follower of Sol, one that seemed to be a paladin in training, passed by a few days ago asking for your help in a soul-related matter. They left a note hoping you would reach out.” The balding cleric answered, his voice surprisingly soft for his outward appearance.
“I see, very well then, thank you,” Alyx answered before heading towards his room in the temple.
Entering the room, it wasn’t anything lavish; it was just a spot for him to set up his magic door, something he quickly did. Once in his room proper, he opened the note. The note was written by someone named Rose, who was indeed a paladin in training. She spoke of having someone with a rare soul issue that she truly hoped he would be able to help with.
Alyx wasn’t sure how to feel about it, as it was all too vague, but he had to admit that his curiosity had been piqued as it always was when dealing with anything soul-related. Plus, it helped that it wasn’t like he had to commit to anything, so he should at least hear this Rose out.