by Ivan Kal
Lastly, he had three stats to place: two from ascending and one from his pendant. It had been a long time since his pendant had netted him a point, so Morgan had been thinking that it was time to take it off and maybe get some other piece of gear to replace it that was more useful. He placed two points into will since he needed that for the ring they looted—assuming that he got it, of course—and the last point he put into constitution. He had decided to slowly bring up his strength and constitution, at least enough that he could use his Gravitic Stomp ability without needing to use his phasing ability.
STRENGTH
20
AGILITY
34
CONSTITUTION
23
INTELLECT
30
WILL
34
WISDOM
13
CHARISMA
10
LUCK
10
With everything finished, he turned back to Sabila and waved.
“Bye, Sabila,” he said in a singsong voice.
“Bye, Master,” she responded in the same way.
Morgan exited his soul space and found himself looking at the mage, who looked at him expectantly. Morgan remembered he had asked about returning to the town, and so he turned to the others and setting out on their way back to Al’Valor.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Vall? He really did that?” Gravough, Last Vanguard’s resident dwarvar and all around loudmouth, asked.
“Ha! You should’ve seen him fly straight into them, he pulled like half the dungeon!” Morgan, Sky Force’s resident idiot, was perhaps just a bit drunk—but that didn’t stop him from throwing Vall under the bus.
The table exploded in laughter, and Vall, fuming, jumped to his feet. “Shut your mouth, Morgan! I did not pull half the dungeon, and I did not fly straight into them, I was thrown!”
The laughter only intensified at his outburst and he scowled and sat down, muttering something to himself as he realized that there was no point in trying to defend himself. After the laughter died down, Jelara, the Sassakra shaman, leaned close to Morgan.
“So how did your new plant do?” she asked in a whisper.
Morgan leaned back to the lizard lady and cast his eyes around, making sure there was no one close enough to overhear. Keep one’s abilities a secret was a prudent thing to do, especially since they were in a tournament. The Last Vanguards were friends, however, and their teams had went out on bounties and contracts together. They didn’t know everything about one another, but they knew enough.
Jelara herself was a healer that utilized herbs and various potions, although that was not her main focus—she was mostly into spirits like Ves’s bear, only more suited to her healing and support role. She did know a lot about plants, though, and the two of them had been exchanging notes, so to speak.
“It performed great against the dark-iron enemies, but I don’t think it will be as useful against things that don’t have armor,” Morgan admitted. In his mind the De-armoring Plant was somewhat of a failure; it might be able to melt metal quickly, but in combat it was not so simple to use. Most of the monsters didn’t wear armor, as most were beasts of some kind, and the few that did might be better dealt with in other ways. The plant had its uses, perhaps in his other experiments, but there were other more suited to his needs. He had been trying to turn the acid more dangerous to flesh, but he was not having any success. He had started with a plant that was only slightly acidic to flesh as a defensive mechanism and somehow he had mutated it into an acid that worked only on metals, probably because he allowed his metal affinity to taint his efforts at mutation.
Still, with his new class and the perk he’d received he couldn’t wait to start experimenting.
“Perhaps not, but if you keep making changes who knows what you will get,” Jelara said.
Morgan agreed with her, and he fully intended to keep making changes. The party continued; the two team had both conquered their assigned dungeons and were waiting for the results, which would be announced in the arena in five days.
Finally, after drinking well past midnight, both teams decided to go and get some rest. The Sky Force team retired to their suite and quickly separated into their own rooms. Once they came back from the dungeon they hadn’t had much time to talk amongst themselves before Borodar swooped them up and announced that they would be drinking. But Morgan knew that all of the others had leveled as well, and they had agreed to hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss what they had gained. Of course only Ves and Morgan had reached level 30, so they were the ones with most to say.
As Ves and Morgan entered their room, he couldn’t help but feel the slight tension in the air. He knew what it was about and decided that he needed to address it.
“Ves,” he said as she walked over to the bed and started undressing.
“Mmm?” she hummed without turning around.
“We should talk,” Morgan said.
He heard her sigh, and then turn around keeping her head down. “I’m sorry.”
Morgan chuckled and walked over, cupping her cheek and raising her head. “You don’t need to be. I worry about you, too. But we are ascended, and this is what we do. You are in the front line every time we fight, and I feel scared for you every time you raise your shield.”
She didn’t respond, just closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. Morgan understood her feelings, and knew the source was her abandonment issues. Her parents leaving when she was so young, without her knowing what the reason was for that decision, or even if they were still alive, made her feel scared of others who were important to her leaving her. It was only natural. Morgan wasn’t any better than her, really; they were both just a tad bit broken. Morgan was working hard on fixing himself, though, and Ves was a big part of that. He didn’t know how he could take it if anything ever happened to her.
“I know, Morgan. I just love you, and I am afraid of a life without you.”
“Well, we picked the wrong professions if we wanted to be safe,” Morgan said with a smile.
A weak one appeared on her face as well and she opened her green eyes. “That we did.”
Morgan leaned down and gave her a light kiss. There wasn’t more to be said—this was not something that could be resolved with a single conversation, Morgan knew. They were tired, they undressed and lay down in bed, holding each other.
And when Ves cried, he pulled her closer, and whispered into her hair.
* * *
The next day they all sat in their common room with some snacks on the table, all of them in a generally relaxed mood. They had done their best with the dungeon, and whether they passed into the next round or not was not up to them anymore. Morgan was satisfied with how they performed, so all there was to do was wait and see if his satisfaction would be mirrored in the results.
“Lucius, maybe we can start with you?” Morgan asked.
The Roman nodded and started speaking. “Nothing really new. I gained a level and am about halfway to level thirty,” he said. Morgan nodded—they had gotten a lot of experience from the Eternal Watch dungeon.
“I didn’t get any new abilities or skills. I just leveled my already existing ones. My Aerokinesis, for example, has increased by three levels.”
That was a good gain. In Morgan’s opinion, leveling their kinesis skills was of utmost importance. They were slow and energy hungry, but they allowed them a lot of freedom to adapt and act in many different ways.
Next was Vall. He had reached level twenty-nine and like Lucius had gained a few points in a handful of his abilities and skills.
Then it was Clara’s turn. She had reached level twenty-eight and gained some points like the others, but she also gained a new ability.
“I got the Mend Bones ability,” she said proudly.
Morgan was especially glad for that. She hadn’t gotten the ability when she had repaired his broken bone a while ago, but working on his leg this last time had to have been enough to
get her the ability. It was a good thing, too—with an ability, the process would be faster and less energy consuming, and perhaps even less painful as she leveled it up.
When it came to Morgan, he relayed what had happened and which path he had chosen for his class, including his new skills and abilities as well.
Finally, it was Ves’s turn.
“I evolved my class into Indomitable Eldritch Conjurer. I got two skills: Pain Tolerance, which gives me an ability to take more punishment, and Spirit Link, which allows me to share damage between myself and my bear.”
Morgan grimaced. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her being able to suffer through more pain, as he hated seeing her hurt, but he did understand that that was her role in their team, and that she was good at it.
“I also got an ability called Eldritch Shout. It should attack my opponents’ minds, making them weakened. The perk I got from my new class is to be able to conjure an eldritch spirit once a day,” she said and then explained what the spirit was and what it did. It was basically a spirit that could make anything that was lower level than it run away in horror. It wasn’t useful just yet as it had a smaller level, but once Ves managed to level it up it would be a good addition to fights against many smaller opponents.
Morgan was actually surprised that she had received such a useful perk—it would help greatly in their future adventuring, he knew.
With everyone finished, Morgan moved over to a discussion about the dungeon run itself and what they could do better, what the problems were, and how they could fix them. It was a standard practice for them by now, as they always looked for room to improve.
The discussion lasted a few hours and by then they remembered that they had agreed to meet with the Last Vanguards for a game night, and so they tabled the few last issues for later and left for the common room to meet up with their friends.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A few days later all the teams were gathered in the arena again, the platform was again occupied with the ascended from the two Great Guilds and Ta’elara. Ragnor took the front stage as the crowd looked at him in silence. The tension and anticipation could be felt in the air. Morgan himself was playing with his new ring, the Ring of Broken Promises, as he tried to calm his nerves. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous; sure, he wanted to do well in the tournament, but it wasn’t like his life depended on it.
The giant man, Ragnor, took a moment to study the arena with his dark eyes, even passing over Morgan for a moment. He shuddered when the man’s eyes connected with him—there was something eerie about him, a sense of power. Morgan could just feel an intensity that made him feel cold in the bones. But as Ragnor’s eyes moved on, Morgan felt the feeling leave, leading him to believe that perhaps it was not just a feeling but rather a skill or ability. Morgan didn’t know, but he was sure that Ragnor was not someone to be messed with.
Then, finally, the man spoke.
“The first stage is over. Our teams have reviewed your dungeon attempts. Some of you failed to finish them, some of you lost people, and some of you breezed through with no problems at all. Everything was taken into account. Now, we will be announcing the ones who have lost. If you did not make the cut and will not be making it to the second stage, please leave the arena.” Ragnor turned to Ta’elara and nodded.
The woman stepped forward, her pale skin making her striking eyes stand out. Probably because they’re glowing, Morgan thought to himself. She raised her hand and a piece of parchment appeared in it; then she made a gesture and it went out in flames. For a moment there was nothing, and then commotion cascaded across the arena. People were murmuring, some turning around in disappointment and walking out, while others called out for answers. Morgan didn’t quite catch what was happening, and he looked next to him to Borodar. He found the tanned man looking at him with a curious expression, but then he saw something in Morgan’s eyes and smiled.
Borodar reached out and clapped him on the shoulders. “Looks like we both passed.”
That made Morgan realize what had happened. The others had to have gotten notification informing them that they didn’t pass through. As the commotion raised in intensity and some teams started getting angry, Ragnor stepped next to Ta’elara and just looked at the crowd. Something passed through them as all of the ones making noise suddenly quieted. Morgan felt nothing; whatever the man did only affected people he wanted to affect. The losing teams started walking away, and quickly they shuffled out of the arena, leaving a lot less people inside.
The teams that were left looked at each other. There was an understanding there: all of them had passed, and that alone was achievement enough.
“First, there is the matter of winners,” Ragnor continued. “The three guilds that accumulated the most points are as follows. Third place—Fjordstar, from the Northern Caps Guild. Second place—Harbingers of Fate from the Omen Guild. First place—Thunderer’s Edge from the Azure Dynasty Guild. Now, the rewards will be given out by my dear friends from the Erthirium Riders, Kalrak and Evermou.” He indicated the human and the elf respectively.
Kalrak and Evermou walked up to Ragnor and looked over the arena. The elf was pale, with his eyes just a bit too large for his face. His long blond hair fell down his back, creating an almost perfect image of the popular-culture “elf” from Earth. The human man was tanned—if Morgan was on Earth he would’ve probably placed his heritage as Latino, but here it was not that simple. Regardless, his features did not match exactly with what Morgan had seen on Earth. Very few people he had seen here matched what he knew from Earth, as almost every human he had seen looked to have some kind of mixed heritage. Morgan himself was the same, since his mother was Latina but his father was a god, so he wasn’t really sure what he was. He looked more like Oxy, Morgan thought; his skin tone was tanned but not overly so, and his features looked almost exactly like Oxy’s did. The problem was that he had no idea what Oxy could be considered.
It didn’t really matter—not here, where there was an entire range of people all mixed up across the world, from humans to other species.
Evermou on the platform spoke out. “Fjordstar, if you would come to the stage,”
After a bit of shuffling, a group of five people came up on the stage. They didn’t have any humans in the group. The person who appeared to be the leader was an Úlfriir, only he had all-white fur and carried heavy armor that covered most of his body. Behind him came two giants, looking similar to the giant Morgan had briefly encountered when they went to register for the tournament. Both had bland facial features, but by the shape of their bodies he could tell that one was a woman and the other a man. Their skin tone was pale, almost white, and their horns were completely black. The last two were a brown-skinned orc man and a Nel, almost gray skinned, with his tail trailing behind him.
Kalrak opened his hands and a chest manifested in them. He opened it, and showed the team that it was filled with long bars.
“Platinum,” Lucius murmured. “That is a fortune.”
Morgan could tell. He didn’t know how much one bar was in gold coins, but one thousand gold coins could be exchanged for a single platinum coin. For a moment he was surprised that they would show it so publicly, but then he remembered that theft was extremely difficult on this world. You couldn’t steal something from a bag or ring of holding, and they were bound to their owners.
The Fjordstar team bowed their heads and put the chest in their inventories, then retreated from the stage.
“Harbingers of Fate, approach the stage,” Evermou said.
Again there was some shuffling, and then a team walked out. Morgan grimaced as he recognized them. It was the team of the orc Emily, and by the look of it she was the leader. Emily walked in front, with the giant walking just behind her followed by the two Úlfriir and the elf. Kalrak again took out the reward from his inventory. He opened the chest and showed them an ornamental staff. Morgan tried to use his Inspect on it.
Staff of Shielding LVL 38 (???) — ???
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br /> Huh, I guess it’s too high of a level for me, Morgan thought. But he could tell that it was powerful. The Harbingers took the reward, bowed and walked back to the crowd. Then Evermou called the winners.
Morgan looked at them, his first thought being that they didn’t seem like much. Their gear looked well made, but it was used; clearly, it had been damaged before. They had the air of a competent team, but there was nothing really impressive about them. The leader was a short, dark-skinned woman dressed in robes, with the other members being a Sassakra and three Gnolls. Kalrak offered them a chest, and when he opened it to show the contents a gasp filled the arena. The Thunderer’s Edge team seemed shocked as well. Morgan was confused for a moment—the only thing he saw were six small glass bottles filled with liquid: three red, and three blue.
“Healing potions,” Clara whispered from next to him, and then Morgan understood. What they had offered the winners had almost no price. There were many types of health elixirs and remedies on this world, things that could help you regenerate wounds, but they all worked on the principle of enhancing the injured or sick person’s own body and helping them heal. A true healing potion was rare: it was an achievement that only the most powerful alchemists were capable of. A true healing potion was recognizable by its bright red color, and it healed anything. As long as the person was not dead, it would restore them completely, as if they had ascended, but even better. Ascension did not regrow limbs; it did not restore what was no longer there. But a health potion did it all: it restored the person to their most optimal state, and it did it in an instant. It was a reward that was worth a true treasure.