The First Archmage

The fairy begins to cast his spell.

“Magic Bolt,” I summon a Magic Bolt, and he moves, probably to keep me from being able to focus on him.

I watch him as he casts his spell. He’s fast already, his lips and that language moving quickly to form the spell. I sense the magic surrounding him shift, sense the spirit appearing beside him.

Then fire the spell.

The fairy dodges.

The spirit tries to, realizing only too late that the boy wasn’t my target when the second Magic Bolt passes through it, the boy’s magic dissipating. His Spirit Pool is still lower, though.

He stares at me in shock, but only for a moment.

Then he lunges at me. He’s fast, I’ll give him that. But without his spirit-enhanced speed, I’m twice his speed.

“I can’t tell what happened!” The announcer calls out as I dodge the fairy’s various martial attacks. He’s good – better than me – and he dodges my Magic Bolts, too. “But the new challenger somehow disrupted the Champion’s speed spell!”

The fairy suddenly jerks backwards, his lips forming that language again, and this time, he does his best to keep the spirit from being struck by my spell. I listen, trying to make out what he’s saying, and when he finishes, having dodged all of my Magic Bolts, he gains the same burst of speed he did in the other fights.

He’s barely slower than me, now. It’s likely a difference of a single point.

But that single point is all I need to continue to dodge his strikes, barely able to spare a glance to the message that appeared as I listened to his spell.

Skill Gained!

Silvar Spirit Language 1/10: The primary language of communication to spirits, used to cast spirit magics

His spell lasts for five minutes, and by the time it wears off, both of us are starting to breathe heavily.

He begins to chant another time, dodging my assault of Magic Bolts.

Until he doesn’t notice the one aimed at his right leg. It strikes him just before he finishes the chant, and he drops to the ground, clutching his leg. He glares at me, rolling away from my next assault of Magic Missiles, a new chant forming on his lips. He requesting for tougher skin, I think, and my attacks on the spirit miss.

He gets back to his feet once the spell completes, and take one of my Magic Bolts directly to the chest right after, the spell catching him off-guard.

It throws him back, and when he stands again, he’s got a massive bruise and burn on his chest. He looks to be in pain, but he’s swallowing it for the fight. That did a number on his body, I’m sure of it. This spell felt weaker, somehow.

It takes me about a minute to realize he can only sustain one spell at a time, though his last one has faded by then, another speed one active.

We’re both nearly exhausted. His Spirit is high, though I doubt he’s ever really had to cast more than one or two chants in a battle before.

The announcer won’t shut up, and that’s distracting me.

The fairy gets in my guard, far more used to fighting longer battles than I am, his focus stronger than mine.

“Magic Bolt,” I hastily summon another one just before his fist connects with my face.

I’m thrown to the side of the ring, my ears ringing, head pounding. The crowd – and the announcer – are silent.

My body feels so weak. He took out a lot of my Health with that one, speed-enhanced strike, and he’d already worn down my Health a little bit with various strikes he’d given me.

Gritting my teeth, I stand back up and brush my clothes off, pushing the pain to the back of my mind.

Skill Gained!

Pain Resistance 1/10: Pain tolerance

Ever helpful with your descriptions, System.

+0 CHA!

Nice sarcasm.

+0 CHA!

I look at the fairy, whose eyes are closed as he rests in the rubble of the wall. He took the Magic Bolt directly to his chest, and it gained a Level during the fight. That, combined with my INT and his CON, meant he took a lot of damage. I’m surprised it didn’t kill him, but perhaps that’s because I wasn’t trying to kill him?

+0 INT

No modifier at the end of that…

After a few moments, the fairy’s eyes open, and he looks down at his chest, which is now covered in an even larger bruise and burn, and he sighs, leaning his head back and looking relieved.

He’s relieved that he lost the fight?

“It looks like,” the announcer calls out. “Warren has conceded this fight! Never before has someone managed to interrupt his magic, and never before has someone survived this long in a match against him! Magician – congratulations! You’re now twenty gold richer!”

The crowd cheers.

I look up at the announcer.

“Take the gold,” I say, and the crowd falls silent. “And shove it where the sun don’t shine. In exchange, I’ll be taking the fairy.”

“Ha!” The announcer laughs. “Sorry, but the slave isn’t for sale. We do have a fine selection of other slaves, if you’d like, though-” a Magic Bolt slams into an invisible barrier in front of him. It figures he’s protected. “Hey! You can’t do that!”

The fairy quietly begins another chant, and I look over at him, wondering what he’s doing as the announcer tells me that I’ve forfeited my right to a reward.

The fairy’s chant finishes, and all of his remaining Spirit drains away as my body surges with power, my INT doubling.

“Magic Bolt,” I summon another one, and it feels far, far stronger than it should just from a doubled INT. “The fairy will be leaving with me, free.”

I fire off the Magic Bolt, and it slams into the barrier, shattering it and blasting past the announcer’s head, slamming into the wall behind him.

Not one sound is made for a solid minute.

“The owner has signed the papers granting Warren freedom,” the announcer hastily informs us. “He may leave.”

I turn and make my way out of the arena, the fairy following behind me. Once we’re a fair distance away, I stop walking and look at him.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” I say. “But I rescued you for entirely selfish reasons.”

“I will fight you every moment of it,” he says, causing me to wonder what else people do to fairies.

“You see,” I say. “I need to talk with Oberon, your peoples’ king, at some point in the future, except he doesn’t particularly like my people. He has something I want. I figure that rescuing a fairy isn’t a bad way to attempt to get on his good side. I do have to ask, though – with magic like yours, how did you get caught?”

“I was caught when I was five,” he glares at me. “My spirit spells weren’t as powerful back then. Father always told me to use the Gift of Speed in a fight against human, because the extra speed deals extra damage, and humans have to be strong Adventurers to really be able to counter it. I haven’t met one yet who could. How did you hit the spirit?”

“I could sense it hovering beside you as you chanted.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he shakes his head. “Spirits aren’t a part of this realm, you shouldn’t be able to strike it. And rescuing me won’t put you in his high regards, especially if it was specifically to get ‘on his good side’, as you put it. You should have just taken the twenty gold. Now I’ve access to the System, it’s only a matter of time before I’d be strong enough to break my way out of there and kill every last one of those bastards.”

“We can come back at some other point for that,” I say.

“We?” He snorts.

“There are Adventurers even stronger than me,” I state. “Would you rather be on your own as you make your way back to the fairy lands? Or train with another Adventurer, and have some semblance of safety when you eventually feel strong enough to make the trip alone?”

He doesn’t respond, and I send him a Party Invite. Not even a moment later, he’s accepted it.

“Where are you staying?” He asks.

“I only have six silver,” I shrug. “I don’t think that’s enough for us to get a room for the night. What say we go check out a Dungeon and grind out some loot? With my 34 LUK, we’re bound to get a few things if we grind long enough, no?”

“Even with your absurd regeneration,” he says. “I really don’t think we’ll be able to grind long enough for loot we can use to pay for an inn tonight.”

“We can find a cheap one for tonight,” I say. “I’m sure we can find enough loot to afford that. Then, tomorrow, we can grind out more loot.”

“It takes me – like most – over an hour to restore a single point of any resource,” he says. “An hour and a half per point, for me. Several days to restore to full. I drained all of my Spirit to fight you, then buff you strong enough to allow you to break through their barrier.”

“Thank you, for that,” I say.

“I only did it so you’d scare them enough they’d free me.”

“See?” I smile at him. “We’re both doing things for selfish reasons. Let’s go grind the shit out of a Dungeon.”

“Whatever,” he mumbles, and we start walking. “Since you’re clearly new here, why don’t I just give you information on the Dungeon?”

“You know about the Dungeon?”

“Prisoners talk,” he says, irritation clear in his voice. “Yes, I know about the Dungeon. The one you can enter is mostly a combat one. The first stage is a cavern with ten kobolds in it. The next part of the first Stage is the beginnings of a mine filled with kobolds. Blocking the entrance to the safe area is a Boss kobold. The second Stage is a continuation of the mines, with the second portion being another cavern, though you can’t see all of it when you enter. That room simply has a single Boss in it, another kobold. Much like the first kobold Boss, it’s massive compared to the others. The rest area can’t be accessed unless you beat the Boss – it’s blocked off by a gate that doesn’t exist until the Boss is dead. People have tried to break through, but fail. The third and final Stage continues the mines, the second part of the Stage essentially being the same as with the Second Stage.

“Of course,” he continues. “The monsters and Bosses get harder the further down you go. All monsters, Bosses included, respawn after a minute. Sixty seconds. Are you really restoring a point of Mana every two minutes and eighteen seconds?”

“Yes,” I do my best not to laugh at his sudden switch. “Why?”

“I can sense your Mana,” he says. “It’s a trait inherent to fairies. If you train hard enough, you may, eventually, gain Magic Sense. Mastering that will grant you Mana Sense.”

“I already have Magic Sense Level 9,” I say. “I’m looking forward to Mana Sense. I didn’t realize it was an inherent trait.”

“Indeed,” he nods. “So is Magic Sense. It’s how I know you’re powerful, and how I know you’re strong. You might be able to grind out the first floor, but there isn’t much useful loot in there. Mostly, we’d be hoping for loot from the monsters themselves. Later into the Dungeon, we could mine items, if we had the gear and enough people to protect us while we did. In the final cavern, there are some pretty nice crystals people use in jewelry and some weapons. Most Dungeons are filled with undead, and the crystals have holy properties to them, affording some protection and effectiveness.

“Of course,” he says. “That would require us being strong enough to even make it down there in the first place. Make it past the first part of Stage 1, in the first place. As long as we stay near the entrance-”

“Or just peg the kobolds in the face with Magic Bolts,” I say. “That worked in the forest. Unless they’re stronger kobolds. Then it might take two or three. Once my Mana drops, we can leave so I can rest up, then we can go back in. We’ll probably not get much sleep tonight, unless we get enough loot quickly enough.”

“Alright,” he says, and we finish the walk to the Dungeon in silence.

We rest for a few minutes, then I ask him if he’s ready.

“It’s not like I’m not used to fighting,” he shrugs. “I just can’t cast any more Gifts right now.”

“Want me to set Party Experience to Shared?”

“Shared?” He frowns.

“It splits Experience evenly between all members of the Party, even if they didn’t help with that particular kill.”

“No,” he shakes his head. “Inhuman creatures have an Experience penalty, so the rare points of Experience you’ll gain will just be wasted on me.”

“Alright,” I say. “Let me know if you do.”

“I just remembered something,” he looks at me. “But the longer you’re in an area training, the more monsters that will spawn. We may have to leave before you restore to full.”

“Alright,” I say. “We’ll never know until we go inside.”