The First Archmage

Warren leaves as Michael and I make our way downstairs, and I find the innkeeper arguing with a customer about the rates for the room.

“I want to pay for two rooms for five nights for twenty silver a night each,” the customer says. “And don’t tell me it’s an issue because we’ve got ten people for two beds, some of us can sleep on the floor.”

“It’s against the policy,” the innkeeper says. “To allow more than two people per bed. I am not budging on this. In addition, you are wanting me to allow extra people to sleep while paying less. Not happening. Either pay for the appropriate number of rooms and beds, or get out.”

“That answers that question,” I tell Michael, then look at the Innkeeper. “Sir, can we upgrade to a room with two beds, and pay the difference for what we’ve already got reserved? A member of my party arrived in town unexpectedly, and can’t afford his own room. We were going to see if he could just sleep on the floor, but since that’s not allowed, we’ll upgrade our room. We’ll have to get Michael to pay you when he gets back, though, I don’t have enough for the full eighty silver on me, since I paid for lunch, too.”

“Pay an extra five a night,” the innkeeper says. “And you can keep the room. If you want to upgrade to a second bed, then I’ll need the full fare, and will get it from the fairy when he returns.”

“Bed?” I look at Michael.

“It’s been a few months,” he shrugs. “I haven’t been interacting with people much, and have grown accustomed to sleeping on the ground. I don’t need one.”

“Very well, then,” I look at the innkeeper and count out forty silver. “Here you go.”

“Do you ever take anything in high silver?” He asks. “You always pay in regular silver.”

“There’s no fun in high silver,” I grin at him. “Thanks!”

“This isn’t exactly fair,” the other customer says. “You’re letting a kid with beastborn and fairy scum sleep in a room with a single bed, but won’t let good, hardworking human Adventurers? This place is shit – that’s probably why your prices are so cheap.”

“If they’re so cheap,” I say. “Then why are you trying to get a discount and cram ten people in space that can barely fit eight?”

The Adventurer grabs me by my collar and pulls me up to his face.

“Listen here, child,” he says. “You have no idea what it’s like to be an Adventurer, how difficult our lives are, and-”

“Brian,” I say. “Level 2 Human, Level 5 Squire. You’re pretty weak. Status share.”

He falls silent, staring at the window that’s now in his vision, eyes wide in disbelief.

“I know exactly what it’s like to be an Adventurer,” I tell him. “Now you are going to set me down, you are going to pay for three rooms with two beds at their full price for five nights, and you are not going to cause any more problems. Do so, and the Level 8 Squire and Level 3 Wolf Beastborn who drew his sword the moment you reached for me will probably let you off with your head still attached. I’d deal with you myself, but that would get messy, and I’d rather not have to deal with guards when I have some magic lessons to attend to in a couple of hours, and still need to eat dinner.”

The Adventurer gently sets me down, pays, and then takes his team upstairs as they inquire why he didn’t just say ‘screw it’ and teach us kids a lesson, and I look at the innkeeper.

“Let us know if they bother you again,” I say. “He knows the difference in power between the two of us, and so it shouldn’t be too hard to keep him behaving.”

“Thank you, Gavin,” he says. “And don’t think anything of your discount – it’s the least I can do for one of my calmest customers. I don’t get summoned up to your room at all hours of the evening for noise complaints, and after the initial issue with you screaming, Collin arranged for someone to put up a sound barrier. I’m glad you’ve recovered from what ailed you.”

“I lost 2 LIF from that,” I grumble. “It was all my own fault, too.”

“What happened?” Michael asks, and I look at him as he sheathes his sword, then tell him. “I’ve heard of the technique used to make Mana denser, but it was only theoretical. You don’t have a Skill for it?”

“No,” I answer. “The System’s weird about what it grants Skills for.”

-0 CHA!

“You still make that face,” Michael smirks. “The System’s harassing you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I say. “And it’s only been a couple of months for me, not over a year.”

“Right,” he nods. “I do find it weird that you’re viewed as calm.”

“Compared to some of the other Adventurers, he is,” the innkeeper says, and Michael jumps, looking at him. I snort. “He doesn’t cause problems here – it’s outside where he causes them. And the couple of times he’s passed through here when there was a problem going on, there wasn’t when he got to the stairs or the door.”

“Ah,” Michael nods, then looks at me. “So your plans, for until dinner?”

“Condense my Mana some more,” I make my way upstairs, Michael following. “Then rest a bit.”

“Okay,” he says.

I work on condensing my Mana until I gain another point in it, then switch to expanding my Mana Pool, stopping when my brain starts to get foggy, then I try to get some sleep.

When I wake up, Michael is sitting with his back against the bed, his sword beside him. Warren is relaxing on a magically-constructed bedroll, though he doesn’t look too relaxed.

I guess having a beastborn who doesn’t like you and will stare at you to make sure you don’t hurt his ally will make you uneasy.

Thinking that, I then wonder why, exactly, Michael agreed to join my party so readily, without much explanation. We barely even know each other, and that was more than a year ago.

“What?” Michael looks at me, and I stare at him back. “I could feel you staring at me, Gavin,” I tell him what I was thinking. “I was ordered by both King Wesley and my father to protect you and Tyler. Tyler has refused my protection, stating he is no longer a noble of any sort. You, on the other hand, have readily accepted it. I will protect you until the orders from my father change, or until such a time as your own actions lead me to no longer determine you as worth protecting.”

“You were ordered to protect me?” I ask, having not detected any lies.

The wolf side of him makes him as fiercely loyal to his tribe as I am to my kingdom. If he is ordered something by his alpha – the chief of his tribe – then he will see it through to the end.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“My tribe remembers the last Wizard to walk this world,” he answers. “Archwizard Christopher was his name. Powerful being. Wizards effect powerful change in the world, and you are but a pup. Father has ordered me to protect you until you reach maturity and are no longer needing of protection.”

“I can protect myself.”

“A trio can do what a single cannot,” he says. “In a Dungeon, if you run out of energy and are trapped, you rely on your team for support. I will be that support. I have already informed him what Kade told me – that you are determined to restore Jozan to power. My father will lend you the support of our tribe, when the time comes.”

I’m an asset to his father.

There must be something in Jozan he wants, and Michael isn’t aware of it. It was probably some deal he made with the king, and it involved Michael training in the Jozan military.

“Okay,” I yawn, then look at them. “How long was I asleep for?”

“A couple of hours,” Warren answers. “The stuff is in the corner, it cost me ten silver for each set.”

Three bedrolls, three pillows, and three thin wool blankets. Cheap, but they’ll do the trick for now, and it’s warming up, so we can get thicker blankets later. That, and it’ll be awhile before we’ll be sleeping outside, so it’s not like they’re all immediate needs. I put two of the sets into my ring, then stretch.

“Let’s go eat dinner,” I slide off the bed and slip my boots back on.. “You’re paying, though, because I had to pay extra so Michael could stay in the room.”

“I figured,” Warren stands up. “Michael told me that the innkeeper let us stay for just an extra five a night.”

The three of us head to the usual restaurant, and we dig in for just seven silver. We could probably go somewhere with a bit more food, and with the way Michael digs in and I desperately want to, we probably should from now on… the more a magician uses their power, the hungrier they get, and Michael probably needs to eat a ton because of his muscles and stuff. That, and being part-wolf.

After dinner, the three of us head to the magic school and locate Professor Temp in her classroom, along with a boy our age wearing a threadbare tunic, pants, and nothing on his feet. It’s not really common for anyone to have something on their feet before they’re done growing, unless they’re wealthy, because of the cost.

My village is one of those exceptions, because we all travel through the woods a ton, and it’s safer for us to wear them, and we can kind of make them on our own.

“And who’s this young man?” Professor Temp raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

“This is Michael,” I answer. “A member of my team.”

“Why do you have a fairy and a beastborn on your team?” The boy asks. “Don’t you know they’re not safe?”

“Don’t you know it’s rude to speak when the nobility are?” I ask him, and his face turns red in anger, and he clenches his fists. “Professor Temp, Michael is one of the three original members of my team. He’s also the son of the chieftain of one of the most powerful beastborn tribes.”

“Understood,” she says. “Gavin, this is Blake, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t act so rudely to him.”

“I’d appreciate it if he wasn’t rude to the members of my party,” I state. “I’m not an ordinary magician Adventurer, I’m a Level 10 Wizard who just realized that he had an experience penalty to Scout and Human the last couple of visits to the Dungeon, but Wizard somehow had a buff.”

+0 INT!

“Shut the fuck up, System.”

-0 CHA!

Michael snorts behind me as Professor Temp raises an eyebrow.

“So why are you introducing me to someone who insulted my party members?” I ask.

“He’s my best fire adept,” she answers. “And he just gained access to the System during class. He has the novice Class available, and has gained the three spells you will be learning today. Candle Flame is at Level 6, Firebolt is at Level 8, and Fireball is at Level 6. He’s been training in fire magics for only three years, and likely has an invisible boost to learning fire magics.”

“So are you wanting to see just how good I can do fire?” I ask.

“No,” she answers. “We were simply discussing the System when you three arrived. He doesn’t believe me that an unfair existence such as a Wizard as a Tier I Class doesn’t exist. Why don’t you try and use Candle Flame, now?”

I hold up my hand, my index finger pointing up, and focus on my Mana.

“Candle Flame,” I activate the magic runes I formed, and a small flame forms above my finger, then burns me, and I release the flame as I wave my finger around. “Ow! Hot!”

“Don’t dismiss your notifications,” Professor Temp. “Focus on Blake and think or say ‘notice share’, so he can see them.”

“You can do that?” I ask, and she nods. I look at Blake. “Notice share.”

Skill Gained!

Candle Flame 1/10: A small flame useful for lightning candles or starting a campfire

Skill Gained!

Fire Resistance 1/10: The ability to resist the effects of fire

Skill Gained!

Heat Resistance 1/10: The ability to resist the effects of heat

“How did you know I gained more than one?” I ask.

“Your boost to Skills,” she answers. “Though it seems like you have a larger passive buff than you can see, I’d say that you would gain resistances quite easily. Now practice Candle Flame until you run out of Mana.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I sit down at a desk and start to work on the first fire spell I have learned, the fire taking on the violet hue of my regular magic as well.

That’s a curiosity, and Christopher said, when I asked him, that it doesn’t have to do with me being a Wizard, but he said that my twin’s magic is violet as well. I wonder if it’s related to my Bloodline.

+0 INT!

Turning those thoughts from my head, I get to work on training Candle Flame.

I only use up 100 Mana before I reach Level 9 with it, and then I focus on casting it without chanting, as well as manipulating the amount of Mana within it and the fire within it, using the former to control the power of the flame and the latter to move it around and make it change shape. It only takes me another 8 Mana and ten minutes.

Candle Flame is now Level 10!

+10 Wizard Experience!

Fire Resistance is now Level 2!

Heat Resistance is now Level 3!

Mana Manipulation is now Level 2!

Skill Gained!

Fire Manipulation 1/10: the ability to manipulate the element of fire

“I’m not surprised,” Professor Temp says when I tell her. “Candle Flame is arguably easier than even Magic Bolt. The other two spells probably won’t be so easy or fast for you to master. Let’s move to the other side of the classroom, and begin working on Firebolt. Since you already know Magic Bolt, it’ll be a little bit easier for you to perform than Fireball.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I say.

“Stop when you’re around twenty Mana,” she instructs me. “We’ll attempt Fireball at that point.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re going to have him learn Firebolt without protective gear?” Blake asks.

I raise a hand, visualizing the runes for Firebolt, knowing each and every one of them and what they do, how they interact with each other.

“Firebolt!” I summon the burning version of Magic Bolt, the flames violet in color. I can already tell that controlling it will be difficult, and fire it off immediately. “Firebolt!”

I keep summoning Firebolts. They cost 5 Mana each. I cast sixteen of them before the cost goes down, and one more puts me to 20 Mana.

Firebolt is now Level 5!

I guess, unlike Magic Missile, this one won’t be going under a single point of Mana for each cast, since it decreased in cost at the same first point, and costs two points more.

“Now try Fireball,” Professor Temp tells me. “It costs 8 Mana, so if you get it immediately, you’ll be able to cast two, if not, you might barely have enough for a second cast, or you might not.”

I nod, then raise my hands, forming the runes for Fireball in my mind, and with a single chant, the violet-flamed fireball forms in my hands. I throw it at the target, and when it hits, it bursts, flames spreading out a little bit. I cast a second one, then look at Professor Temp.

“And that’s all my Mana,” I say. “Apart from what I’m about to restore, and ignoring what I burned up to cast the spells.”

“Good,” she says. “Tomorrow, when you return, we’ll work on advancing them up to Level 10. I expect it will take you three days, at most, for each. Once they’re mastered, I’ll teach you a Tier III spell I saw in your Grimoire.”

“Not a Tier II?” I ask.

“No,” she smiles. “None of the Tier II’s I have are as impressive as that Tier III, and I expect you’ll have the minimum INT of 40 recommended by that.”

“If I can gain two more Wizard or Human Levels,” I say. “Or one of each, I’ll hit it.”

“If you don’t,” she says. “I’ll teach you the planned Tier II spell instead.”

“Sweet,” I grin at her, then stretch. “My mind’s a fair bit foggy after all of that and working on expanding my Mana Pool, so I’m heading back to the inn. See you later, Professor Temp, and it was nice making you stand there and stare in shock at the amount of spells I could cast, Blake.”