“Yes, but do you have access to the person’s mind?”
I shook my head. “What about Lilith’s unnatural attraction ability she can turn on and off?”
“That’s not magic. The succubi are born with the ability to give off a chemical that certain races are attracted to. The rest comes from her looks and body language. Once again, her ability affects you from the outside. She never gains control of your mind, but the ability I’m about to use will require access. It is only possible if you allow it.”
“What will you be able to do while you are in there?” Travis said. He seemed more curious than bothered.
“I will have access to many things, but you will be aware of anything I do and can repel me at will. That is another reason the mind isn’t often attacked directly. Except in cases of torture and the interrogation of spies, I can’t think of any other situation where it’s commonly practiced by the ruling races.”
“Torture, great,” Travis replied with a sarcastic grin.
“Sounds like fun,” I said, nudging him.
His upper lip twisted up in a snarl as the werewolf currently hiding deep inside him made known its distaste. It was only there for a moment before he regained control.
“Let’s get it over with,” he said, shaking his head.
“Close your eyes. It sometimes makes it easier to relax your mind,” the lich instructed.
I watched Travis close his eyes before I did the same. I felt a cold boney finger rest gently on my forehead a moment later. A cloud of smoke appeared in the darkness under my eyelids. It expanded from a tiny artifact until it took over my vision entirely.
“You will feel a small pressure as my mana enters your mind. Let it in,” the lich said.
I was about to ask how exactly I was supposed to do that, when I found it far easier than I’d suspected. I just had to will it.
Lord Darius appeared before me as if he were standing only a few feet away. I nearly jumped back, but that would break the lich’s connection.
What exactly was he showing us?
The zombie army that had arrived with him during his visit with the Head Mistress was nowhere in sight. It was just the vampire and the lich descending a long flight of stairs that had to be fifty feet wide. I could tell that the staircase wasn’t lit, but through the lich’s perspective I saw the area clearly through the mana realm that shone in a dark shade of purple. Dark Mana was everywhere.
The lich and vampire descended for another minute before they finally reached the bottom. They were immediately greeted by two guards. There was no doorway blocking them, only the largest pillars I’d ever seen standing on either side of the passageway. Each pillar had grotesque monsters carved into its base on every side. It made gothic art look tame.
From the shadows, out from behind the two guards, dozens of soldiers stepped up to create a path of honor guards. Each soldier wore obsidian mail under cloaks of darkness. Only their pale blue and grey skin gave away what they were—a whole company of vampire soldiers.
The lich’s voice sounded in my head as if he were standing right next to me. “To reach the Cavern Level in the Vampire Realm, this is the path you must take. It is guarded by sixty vampire warriors. These are members of the Tammaro family that have been in charge of defending the southern gate for the last few centuries. They’re not as formidable as the greater families, but they have large numbers and the least powerful among their ranks will be level 5,000. Most of them will be closer to level 10,000, and there will be at least one in their ranks, their commander, that is twice that.”
He held the image for a few seconds longer, before removing his finger from my head.
Out of reflex, I ramped Mana Sight up to full power and watched Travis blink away the images we’d just been shown. The tension in his jaw was plain as day.
Letting my time perception return to normal, I asked the obvious question. “How are we going to sneak past them?”
Travis began nodding as he tried to comprehend how we were going to pull it off.
“You aren’t,” the lich said. “You’ll have to kill them.”
We both froze as if we’d been slapped across the face with an electric eel.
“Come again?” I replied.
“There is no sneaking past the Vampire Gate. For all the Tammaro family’s failings, even their children are proficient enough to spot us trying to sneak through. Stealth and tracking are their specialties. You’ll have to trust me that killing them is the only option. Do you now understand why I’ve told you there are things we must do before attempting this quest of yours?”
“This is going to take years…” Travis said.
“No. But it will take time. First, we must decide which school of magic will best suit you.” The lich motioned to Travis. “Then Elorion must decide if he will choose to learn the same element, or if we will search for another. The first school of magic you choose will be the most important decision you make behind your stat placement. Travis, for a person without any magical talent, it will define what you will become. In one sense, unlocking your First will give you a much larger jump in power than it will Elorion because he already has magic proficiency. You will be able to reach a full 80% mastery of whatever element you choose. Elorion will only be able to reach a 60% mastery with an element, or virtually 0% mastery with Dark Magic, according to Coddlehead. Although, this is where I’ll disagree with the werecat. It’s practically more like 20% mastery, and through a few Blue Magic tricks, you can push that as high as 40%. Such a jump will take years though to reach. So, before we leave, Travis, which school of magic would you like to pursue?”
He began scratching the side of his head, glancing in my direction. “Honestly, I like the idea of many of them, but it seems impossible to choose. Metal would make me really durable and I could create my own spear. I could also make it to my top speed and run into things like a wrecking ball.”
“Werewolves do seem to have a thing for heavy metal,” I said—unable to help myself.
He snickered but shook his head. “I also like the idea of being a fire-wolf, or maybe a magma-wolf after seeing your giant cat form. Or maybe lightning… I just don’t know how things will actually work.”
We both looked to the lich. He hummed almost like a cat might purr before answering. “There are no wrong choices. Each school of magic will have strengths and weaknesses, not to mention unique uses. One drawback to searching for a school of magic now and not waiting, is that it’s impossible to know what your true form is, or if you even have one. Normally, it presents itself within the first 2,000 levels for most creatures. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make an educated guess. Your talents are in tracking and piercing weapons, yes?”
Travis nodded.
“Humans are scarce, and their history has been mostly lost, but you share much in common with dwarves and elves. Dwarves usually have a single strong talent and elves have many weaker ones. Humans fall somewhere in between. If we use their transformations as an example, though, then there are a few possibilities. You may develop Regal Senses. You won’t be able to see into the mana spectrum as a mage can, but your sight, hearing, or smell might be so enhanced that you won’t need to. Often it is only one of your senses that is heightened, but in rare cases it’s more than one. Being paired with a Piercing Talent is an interesting mix. Multiple talents are usually refined into a more singular focus during a transformation that mixes all of them. Yours might grant you Extreme Velocity or Space Tearing if you had piercing proficiency alone, but together it makes me think you’ll have some kind of enhancement to your aim—likely while you’re moving at high speed. Of course, I could be entirely wrong.”
I studied my friend as he took it all in. He already had what I considered some extreme abilities that he could pull off with his spear. If he did transform and it took all his observation skills and honed them to further improve his aim at high speed, that was certainly a positive.
“Will he receive an enhanced body?”
I said.
“Yes, but it won’t be anywhere near as powerful as someone who has a talent in a physical stat like Strength or Dexterity,” the lich replied.
I saw my friend grimace out of the corner of my eye, but I knew it wasn’t as bad as it might sound. Eventually, some of our Dex fighters might surpass him in all-out combat against multiple enemies, but, if I was interpreting what the lich was saying correctly, against one monster, like a dungeon boss, his damage per second was going to be unmatched.
When we didn’t have any follow up comments, the lich continued. “Once your Werewolf Form is mastered, it will go a long way to make up for where you are physically lacking. Now, there are certain limitations on what schools of magic we have access to. Most of the oldest ones are on the Cavern Level and are protected like shrines by whichever race rules in that region. Those down here in the Dungeon Level are a bit trickier. The veins with the rarest elements have mostly been claimed or are currently being fought over. Either that, or they’re too far away from the races that would want access to them and have been overrun with monsters. There are a few close to us that would prove the easiest to gain access to. They’re veins of the most common elements: Earth, Water, and Dark. All three would be a powerful choice. Earth and Water would be good defense enhancing choices. Dark would be limited compared to the others but enhance your stealth ability. But I think your instincts are right. Fire or the sub-element Metal would both greatly increase your damage output. Magma isn’t a bad choice, but you’d need to greatly increase your Intelligence and Wisdom to get the most out of it. My recommendation would be Metal, for you could quickly form additional piercing weapons for offense and also harden your body to improve your defense. It’s the best of both worlds.”
I watched Travis’s mouth twitch into a grin. When he finally looked up from his contemplation, he had already decided. “Let’s do it.”
The lich stretched out his arms to the side then bowed. “I’m happy to be of service. There is one problem though. Metal is a rare sub-element and the only one close to us is going to be occupied by a tribe of a few thousand orcs. Do either of you have a Metal Magic Compass? We can search for another option.”
I shook my head.
“No,” Travis added.
“No matter. I do have the ability to track such veins, but a compass just makes the job more precise. The second closest Metal vein I can pinpoint is faint and to the south. A compass would give us a clearer signal and more information about other veins that have been discovered recently.”
“What’s to the south?” Travis said.
“It is open territory claimed by no one. Meaning it can be extremely dangerous at your level.”
Not liking the sound of that, I challenged him. “I thought you said that the Dungeon Level is like a bunch of rats fighting over scraps.”
“It is. Have you ever seen how big a rat can get after hundreds of years of eating everything in its path?”
“Fantastic!” Travis replied. “Rats the size of grizzly bears.”
“No.” The lich pulled back his hood to reveal his skull. His rainbow colored eyes of mixed mana were staring right at me. “Rats the size of dragons.”
Involuntarily, I whimpered.
Chapter 5 – Heading Out
Little Flaps was going strong. I was in my Crimson Incubus Form with wings outstretched and beating the air to stay about a meter off the ground. We were about to begin the first leg of our journey, but there was something that had been nagging at me since I’d been banished from Sanctuary. It had gone on the backburner because there were other more important things, but I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
Stretching with surprising mobility, Travis had just finished getting into his new suit of crimson platemail. It fit tightly against his body with no artistic flare that might restrict its movements. Seeing that I was giving him a curious look, he responded, “Russ’s doing. He repurposed some of the minotaur armor and added a 50,000 HP bonus—and it naturally has high fire resistance, so I’m less likely to get cooked while fighting at your side. The best part is it moves like cotton and is super soft inside.”
I inclined my brow in question.
“Well it is,” he replied.
“Are you ready?” the lich said, refocusing our attention.
Both of us replied in the affirmative, but I took the chance to ask about what was bothering me. “I’m concerned about Sanctuary while we’re gone.”
“Don’t be. Your friends now have Head Mistress Lilith’s protection.”
“Of course. But I’m more concerned about the projects we’ve started.”
“I can reassure you that she will provide them with all the resources they need.”
“I’m sure she will help them make sure everything is repaired, but I’m not sure if she can help with what I have in mind. At least, not unless she plans on staying in Sanctuary instead of returning to her palace.”
“Go on,” the lich said, floating up a few inches off the ground until he was eye level with me.
“I’ve been enhancing our crops with Light Magic which gives them Light Magic buffs. Feeding this grain to our Cave Swine has also given them Light Magic properties. I’d planned on creating a system that would provide our fields with Light Magic while I was gone…”
“If your dungeon doesn’t have access to a Light Orb, how were you planning on creating such a system?”
I suspected he already knew the answer. “Arcane engineering.”
The lich spun, bringing his boney hand to his hood-covered face. He flew back and forth like he was pacing and began talking out loud to himself. “Having an advanced food supply is common enough for large settlements, and especially rich ones. Light Mana is usually used by the monster and beast races as a drug, but for Light Magic humans—the benefits could be uncommonly good, even better than Dark Magic delicacies for the Monster races…”
He turned back to me and his hood flew off. “What kind of buffs were you getting?”
I explained to him the positive effect it was having on our stats, and how, even if they were limited by time, the longer the cave swine fed on the Light Mana infused grain, the more their buffs improved.
He tapped his boney chin. “Do you know the materials you need?”
“Not exactly.” I explained to him that I’d learned what I knew about the different kinds of minerals, metals, and crystals from my first visit to the wraith’s tomb.
“Even so. If we ran across the right materials, do you think you’d know them if you saw them?”
“Yes. And I know how to test them.”
He rocked to and fro. It was his version of nodding. “Then we will search for these materials as we go. I fear they’ll not be easy to find though. Just as Light Magic veins are among the rarest in existence, I’m assuming so are the Light Magic materials we need. Mining isn’t exactly my area of expertise. I do have a suggestion though. There is a fire vein that is on our way. It is much closer than the metal vein, but not officially in anyone’s territory—making it more likely to be cleared fairly often and not as dangerous. I was going to recommend we stop at a few dungeons anyways to increase both of your levels, but now we can kill two elves with one swing of a hammer, as the dwarfish saying goes. There’s no guarantee that what we need will be in the fire vein’s dungeon, but it’s the most likely place to find some beside a genuine light dungeon because of fire’s close relationship to light.”
Looking at Travis, I saw that he had no objections.
“Then let’s do it,” I said.
The lich floated back down closer to the ground and took his place at the lead. We would follow him on our journey, but he expected us to do all the fighting. When we did run across something, he’d stop and let us take the front.
“Do you want a heal?” I called out to Travis as the lich began to float as much as run across the ground.
“Not yet. I’ll let you know,” he replied with a wave as he raced after the lich.
I brought up the rear, finding it easy enough to follow the pace. After running around with Aeris, this was nothing.
***
I saw it perched upside down on the ceiling above us at over 100 meters away but didn’t say anything. I was still trying to get a gauge on how the lich spotted mobs, and what his limits were. It could be assumed that he used something similar to Mana Sight because he was a creature of magic. His entire existence was bent on searching for it in all its forms. It wasn’t until we halved the distance that he swung off to the side and let us continue on.
It wasn’t the first time we’d faced a monster or group of mobs since we’d left. This time was no different than the last dozen times. In a sense, the lich did warn us that something was there by moving out of the way but offered no other explanation. Each time, I’d let Travis lead the way and we’d run over most of the poor creatures that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, crushing them with overwhelming power and speed.
The approach was nearly perfect for Travis since we were already running. Before he had simply sped up and impaled whatever we’d run across. I only took care of some of the stragglers that happened to be out of his range. We’d only briefly slow down to loot and I’d toss a Drain into the air to take what I could. I hadn’t received any stats from what we’d faced so far, but I couldn’t ever stop Draining or the stats I’d gained would eventually fade and no longer belong to me. Such was the life of a Blue Mage with Vampire’s Touch and Devour.
The creature hiding above was different than those that came before it. I’d only run across the same mob one other time. I watched Travis as he scanned the area. He was having trouble spotting it.
It didn’t surprise me. The Drakyrd was like a mix of a lion and a dragon, black as night and sitting completely motionless. I was able to spot it well enough because of Mana Sight, but I also had learned from my first encounter with the monster. It had the ability to disguise its mana as if it was dead—its mana was wispy and failing, completely unlike a living creature.
Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series Page 3