The Crimson Warlock

by Paulo Meireles Junior

  I kept to myself while I ate at the inn, sure, I knew the names of the innkeepers. John ran the inn along with his wife Teresa, but neither were really talkative and I’ve been so overwhelmed by this change of world that I mostly kept contact only with Mega, the majority of the people I chatted with were either strangers or acquaintances. Not that I had an aversion to making friends, but in my mind the only thing that mattered at the moment was the mission’s completion. Mega thought that making contacts at the guild would help us and since we didn’t know how many artifacts were created by the malign artifact that the wicked god brought to this world, I... well... I am a little apprehensive about just wandering and making friends while this world has a chance to descend into complete chaos.

  I still had a lot of ground to cover so I teleported back at 5:37 on the third day and ran to my destination without even eating breakfast, the plan was to stop for a few minutes while on the road to eat after a couple of hours of running. I did just that and at 14:27 I was almost there…

  “Stop” said Mega.

  “What?” I said stopping immediately.

  “Can you feel that? Focus your senses in the sky”.

  I tried doing as he said and it took a while but eventually I felt it. There was a powerful malign aura in the sky, I couldn’t pinpoint its exact location but I knew it was there. I tried to look around, at this point we were about forty-five minutes off of the capital using 『Improve』 and this aura in the sky bothered me. It was so close to Sunnara... I then remembered something.

  “Mega, remember what Luna mentioned? There are monsters appearing near Elistera and Sunnara, do you think this aura has something to do with it?”

  “I don’t know but this is suspicious… This aura is not natural, someone or something is behind it. Only those most proficient with magic are able feel this aura without looking for it, whoever is behind this dark aura is planning something nefarious” That thought had me worried.

  “I don’t like this… I think we should stay at the capital for a while and try to get to the bottom of this…” I didn’t like the idea of leaving the people at the capital defenseless. It’s not like we can tell anyone about it.

  “I agree, we should keep a low profile and watch the capital’s movements, at least for a while… I suggest that we don’t take too many quests, at least for a few days”.

  “We can certainly do that”.

  I looked around again and at ground level there were only plains as far as my eyes could see. The sky was as azure as ever, a few white clouds could be seen in the direction of the capital, but to an untrained eye there was nothing wrong with this scene, great plains, a wide road, a clear sky. I noticed something though, there were no animals nearby. None, no monsters either, that was definitely strange. There weren’t even birds in the sky.

  I shrugged and continued on my way to the capital marking the spot in my mind so we could investigate it later. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of not knowing what was going on, but my best option was to stay near the capital. Although I had no idea why, I had a feeling in my gut that this could be connected to the artifacts I sought.

  Sunnara was beautiful. Even looking from a distance... I could just see the towers of a castle located behind the ramparts that protected the city from the outside. This was by far the largest city I’ve seen in this world and I looked forward to exploring it. The ramparts were really high and I saw the soldiers on the lookout as I approached and reduced my speed. I couldn’t point out the materials used to construct the wall, but they faintly shined under sunlight which was kind of mesmerizing.

  The guards were posted in the entrance checkpoint of the city, wearing well designed armor, I think the armor was made of iron. Even though this was the capital, mithriill was a really expensive material to make armor out off, so iron was a safe bet for most guards.

  “Good afternoon traveler. I’ve never seen you before, what business do you have at the capital?” asked one of the guards as I stopped near them.

  “I’m an adventurer. It’s the first time I’ve seen this city. I’m looking for challenging quests” I said shrugging “Oh, sorry… Here’s my 『Guild Information』”.

  “Gold rank? I see what you mean… Well then, welcome to the capital sir Hunter” the guard bowed and went back to his post. I wished them a good day of work and entered the city.

  The wide road in front of me extended as far as I could see and I knew that this was the shopping district because of the amount of people wandering and the amount of shops that could be seen. Wherever I went, I saw people talking with each other, buying supplies or just looking at prices. Humans, elves and beastkin talked. Some of the shops weren’t even owned by humans, it was the most diverse city I had seen until now, which was not surprising since it was also the biggest city. The capital was lively, I saw a few sad people but the general citizen seemed happy which I found interesting.

  Looking at the sky and trying to feel the dark aura again, I was happy that the aura was not present in the skies above the city, I could only sense a large amount of mana accumulated in the skies above us, I felt the mana in chunks all around the city, it was a good thing that there was a big open area outside the city, not only because of the mana slowly moving away from the sky above the city and into the wilderness, but the city had a really good vantage tower in the castle that could probably detect an enemy invasion from miles away.

  I found a five story inn near the guild building and realized that this was more my approach, the air was not polluted which was the best, but what interested me was the size of the city and the population that contributed to my recent nostalgia in regards to Earth. Entering the inn I noticed its interior design and in stark contrast to the inn I was staying at Elistera, this establishment had style. The people who designed this inn knew what they were doing, from the unique tables and chairs to the artful drawings neatly painted on the walls of the first floor, the wooden desk that lined the right side of the inn shined and its color reminded me of a mahogany table I had at my apartment on Earth.

  “Hello, welcome to Sun’s Blessing, I’m Clara” said a woman smiling at me from behind the majestic desk of the inn, she had a long blond hair and her smile seemed genuine, the woman, Clara, appeared to be in her thirties, she had an average build and wore a simple clean blue dress.

  “Hi, I’m James, I would like to stay at this inn for a while” she extended her hand as I approached and I shook it “do you have rooms available?”

  “We certainly have, business have been good lately and we get numerous tourists but mostly adventurers like you” she commented “oh, I didn’t mean to jump to conclusions but you are an adventurer, are you not?”

  “I am, what gave it away, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Oh, it was just how you move, adventurers tend to be really independent and you seem to be very observant from how you looked at our establishment when you entered the building, I just assumed that you can take care of yourself, that and this inn is close to the guild so a lot of adventurers rent rooms here with us. It was a safe assumption”.

  “I see” I chuckled “very well, I’d like to rent a room for a couple of weeks, I have business at the guild and some study to get done”.

  She charged three copper coins a day, which was a little more expensive but given the inn’s location I was fine with that, I never thought I was going to get to the point of looking at money and dismissing price changes. I could always complete one quest a day and earn gold that way, I just hoped that they had gold ranked quests here or I would have to teleport back to Saurian or Elistera to do some quests.

  With my housing situation resolved, I went upstairs to my room and teleported back to the inn at Elistera to get my backpack. I thanked John and returned his key, I then left the building and teleported to my room at the inn in the capital. I wanted to take a bath so when I thought of leaving to find a bathroom, I noticed a door inside of the bedroom and it was a bathroom, which made me real
ly happy, needless to say, I made good use of it.

  Forty minutes later I left the inn and went in the direction of the guild that was just down the road. Entering the building I saw the familiar structure with chairs and tables on one side and the big board of quests in the other, except this place was a little more organized, the posts were pinned in sections indicating their ranks and luckily there were a few gold ranked quests for me to complete. I looked and chose one of them which was a critical quest, I was interested in the Thunderbird, well, more interested in the eleven gold reward to be precise.

  “Mega, do you have information on Thunderbirds?” I whispered.

  “Yes, I do. Are you taking this quest?”

  “I’m planning to”

  “Okay, let’s go to the library so I can scan their books and I’ll show you information about the Thunderbirds”

  I then removed the post from the board and went in the direction of a free clerk to ask for the quest. He informed me that there was a city located in Largos that used Thunderbird feathers to make potions, so if I killed the beast I should collect the feathers and sell them to the guild. That was more than fine by me, with that, I got the beast’s location and asked the clerk to use their library.

  The guild’s library in the capital was far bigger than the one from Elistera, which meant that Mega would take more time to scan all of their books. Since we were just killing time and I was planning on heading to the monster’s location the next day, I just waited for Mega to complete his scan while I got a parchment and made a list of things that I needed to do in the city. First I needed a robe or a mantle that had magical properties so I could fight better, then I needed more casual clothes, especially for the winter that apparently was just around the corner even though it didn’t looked like it was. I would need to find a house that I could either rent or buy, I didn’t want something extravagant and I wouldn’t be able to afford a big house because it was expensive. Well, in the future I would be able to afford it, but not now. I wanted a place to store materials, clothes, food and souvenirs and a small house could give me a good place to store those items but a big house was more attractive because I could play with spells and the like. I also would have space and room for guests, not that would have guests but it was good to plan ahead.

  I was lost in thought when Mega called my name. He then told me all about Thunderbirds. First: they were fast, really fast… That meant that I would need to focus with 『Improve』 to make sure that I wouldn’t get hit, even though I was faster under the spell, it could still be really hard to anticipate an attack that I wasn’t prepared for. The bird was lighter than the Cerberus or the Golem but that made it faster and more unpredictable. Its attacks were all lightning based, which fell under the light magic category. 『Arcane Shield』 could protect me but I could still take the hit and that could snowball into a bad situation. So… Getting hit was a no go, 『Aerial Slash』 could kill the beast but I needed to hit the target, yeah, even doing that while using 『Improve』 would be challenging.

  I mentioned that to Mega and he informed me of a couple of spells that could help me if I had problems.

  『Camouflage』 could work although it is not recommended to use in case the monster you are fighting has a good sense of smell. This spell would make the user virtually invisible as long as they weren’t moving, they would blend into the environment.

  『Whirlwind』 creates a tornado that can be controlled by the user, this spell is useful to damage airborne monsters and if used with more mana, it can be devastating.

  『Light Barrier』 creates a white barrier of light in the shape of a dome that protects the target against spells and magic attacks. This spell is supper effective against corrupted artifacts, dark and light spells. The spell also protected the user against dark and light elemental attacks from monsters.

  Mega then told me about a spell he just found with the scan. 『Purify』 worked against cursed individuals, dispelled Ghosts and killed Ghouls. But the most important function for us would be that this spell could destroy simple malign or cursed artifacts, I would need to focus more mana into it but I think it could also work on the most powerful artifacts that we are seeking to destroy. He also mentioned about 『Levitae』 that could be used to make objects levitate, the spell also worked with people or monsters. This was going to be useful, so I wouldn’t need to touch a cursed artifact.

  He proceeded mentioning that there was a support spell and I found it interesting but couldn’t think of a practical use for it. 『Spell Boost』 boosted the effects of another spell, but the problem was that the spell only worked if I use it to boost spells conjured by someone other than me. I couldn’t fortify my own spells with it.

  Since Mega took long to scan the books in the library, I decided it was best to not continue the exploration of the capital, it was already dusk and I ran for a while to get to this place, there would always be another day for exploration.

  Dinner was good, the cooks that made meals for Clara’s inn were really talented, the turkey that I ate was by fair the best meal I had since I arrived in this world, accompanied by potatoes and vegetables… I ate a lot.

  The sun was rising when I woke up and I was surprised by the people already eating breakfast at the canteen. Beth, the chef, told me that since business opened early at the capital, people were accustomed to waking up earlier than in neighboring cities. With a belly full of food, I explored the commercial district of the city and memorized locations that interested me.

  Twenty minutes after walking mindlessly through the city I felt better, so I left the city to look for the Thunderbird. I needed to thank god if I ever saw him again, this map was the best.

  The monster was in a hill located a few hours of distance from Sunnara, the reason for the quest to be classified as critical was that the beast was killing monsters and animals around the place. Two civilians were also killed by the beast while they were collecting herbs somewhere around the place that the beast was scouted. The staff at the guild was also worried because the beast could have made a nest, which would further complicate things for the people of the capital in the long run.

  As I neared the hill, I invoked 『Arcane Shield』 on myself. The slopes weren’t difficult to navigate but fighting there could prove to be a challenge, I felt the creature before I saw it, and in anticipation of the battle I conjured an 『Arcane Saber』. As soon as the Thunderbird was visible, I knew there was no way I would get a surprise attack seeing as the beast was looking directly at me. As if in slow motion, probably by the effects of 『Improve』, I saw the creature take flight and go high as clouds gathered and started to darken, after a moment or so I jumped as I felt an attack coming and a bolt of lightning landed where I was standing just a few seconds ago. The bird descended from the heavens in high speed and tried to run me over, if I fell I would have to get up the hill again so I tried to lure it down slowly jumping to lower parts of the hill in hopes that the creature would take the bait. The bird seemed pissed off at me, so I easily led it down the hill to a more favorable fighting area, as another lightning bolt came in my direction, I jumped and used 『Aerial Slash』 but the attack missed because the bird moved faster than my spell. That proved to be a problem because the bird seemed to be enjoying using lightning based attacks to keep me jumping from place to place and one of the attacks I narrowly avoided by jumping at the last second, sparks flew in my direction and were killed off by my shield. I knew that I could eventually kill the creature, but its velocity was my biggest hindrance.

  I decided to use 『Whirlwind』 and I don’t think it was a good idea, as soon as I used the spell, a tornado formed so strongly that even I had trouble controlling it, the vortex pulled the beast to the eye of the storm violently knocking it from side to side and finally to the ground in the center of the tornado. The lightning in the clouds probably powered the spell making it more powerful than I anticipated, so I canceled and immediately cast 『Aerial Slash』 in the direction of the beast’s n
eck just as the winds calmed, the spell hit the bird with full force severing its head and making blood spatter near the creature.

  I sat down and looked at the scenario in front of me, that spell was devastating, a tree on the bottom of the hill had been completely pulled off from the ground, several boulders shattered and flowers were destroyed, the Thunderbird laid there in front of me as I contemplated about these overpowered spells that I was able to use.

  There was a way to safely pluck the creature’s feathers off without damaging it but it was slow and boring, nevertheless, I still did it because I wasn’t in the habit of wasting all the money that I gathered, even though I could always complete more quests, I felt that collecting the materials not only helped me get some more cash but it would eventually help others that needed said materials to turn them into something else. It was also good practice for me.

  Thirty minutes or so later, I teleported back to my room and emptied my backpack to put the feathers inside it since I didn’t carried a bag to collect materials, then I went back to the place I killed the Thunderbird and put all of the feathers inside the backpack before I collected my kill proof and headed up the hill again to look for a nest, I found a simple nest where the beast was when I first arrived but there were no eggs there, I spent fifteen minutes looking for another nest with 『Improve』 on and couldn’t find anything near the place where the beast was. With that, I teleported back to the entrance of the guild and tried to find the same clerk that attended me yesterday.

  He wasn’t in the guild, so I went to another clerk and he confirmed the quest’s completion and gathered the materials, as soon as I put my hand on the desk so the clerk could apply the points I gained from the completed quest, he noticed my name and his eyes widened.