by Ivan Kal
“So, we doing this or what?” Morgan asked.
“You can still turn around and walk away, boy. I won’t hold it against you. Go and come back once you’ve leveled up a bit,” the man told him seriously.
“Thank you for the offer, but no. I would really like to see what someone like you can do.”
“You have no idea, do you?” The man shook his head. “All right, then. You are a ranged class, yes?”
Morgan nodded.
“Fine. I’ll move away and you try to hit me. If you succeed in drawing blood, you win; if I come near you and touch you, I win. Clear?”
“Clear,” Morgan said as he drew an arrow and nocked it. The man jumped backward, doing a flip and landing about fifty meters away. Morgan just looked at him with his mouth open. The man had no weapons in his hands, and wore only simple clothing—but there was something about him that just made him seem powerful He noticed a notification appear in the corner of his eye and he brought it forward.
Duel terms agreed upon: fight until first blood.
“Ready?” the man asked from across the clearing. Morgan swallowed hard and glanced behind the man to the walls of the city. He could see more people there now, and not only guards. They had all come out to watch.
Morgan was certain that this man was stronger than him, and the reason as to why the man wanted to have a duel didn’t really ring true to Morgan—not entirely, at least. But Morgan wasn’t about to ask him why he wanted to fight. What Morgan did need was a plan of action. Firing arrows from afar was an obvious course, and he did have a few ideas about how to try and hit the man, but he needed a plan of action in case he failed.
He took a long minute to think about his options, and then when he had a semblance of a plan, he glanced back to the man.
Morgan raised his bow and yelled out, “Ready!”
He immediately let the arrow fly. It flew straight at the man, but he didn’t even move. As soon as it was within his reach, the man grabbed the arrow from the air and threw it aside. Then he started walking forward, slowly. Morgan quickly let loose another arrow, followed by a second. The man caught the first one, and then as the second one reached him he quirked his lips and the arrow simply disappeared.
Morgan blinked at that. It had been flying through the air one moment, and in the next there had been a slight shimmer and it was gone. He cursed inwardly; that last arrow had been an Arrow of Binding. He hoped to have it distract him once he caught it in his hands and its branches and roots grew out, but his opponent had obviously been able to tell what it had been.
The man was still far away, and he was walking slowly. Morgan didn’t waste any time—he nocked two arrows and let them fly, then followed up with more. Each of the arrows was either an Arrow of Binding or Arrow of Decay, but as the arrows neared the other ascended, they started disappearing. Morgan noted that they didn’t disappear at a set distance, nor did they disappear at the same time. Regardless, he didn’t think that that piece of information was as useful to him at the moment, and he was nearly out of arrows.
He nocked another arrow and infused it with his power in the pattern for the Rain of Arrows ability and let it loose into the sky. The man didn’t even pay it attention as it exploded in the air and started raining smaller energy arrows down on the man. The energy arrows didn’t disappear; instead, the man just stepped to the side and twisted slightly to avoid the ones that were a threat.
Morgan frowned, wondering if there was a reason for why the man hadn’t made the energy arrows simply disappear. I guess I should test that out. He nocked another ordinary arrow and infused it with power, then fired it in the air again. Quickly, Morgan formed an Energy Arrow in his hand and fired it straight at the man. The energy arrow had very little drop, so it flew faster than the others. He saw the man tilt his head as the energy arrows fell from the sky and another flew straight at him from the front.
Then the man disappeared, his Rain of Arrows fell on the empty ground and his Energy Arrow flew through the empty air. The man was then standing a few meters closer and still walking forward.
Morgan grimaced. He was out of the arrows—well, he had more on the cart, but he couldn’t really move now or he would risk losing connection to his energy. Over the last few days, as he’d practiced with his Energy Manipulation, he’d tried to develop a new attack. He still hadn’t gotten a new ability, but he could feel that it was only a matter of him executing it at least once perfectly, which was why since the duel had begun he had been sending strands of his power into the earth and spreading them in the direction of the man, about halfway between them.
So far the man didn’t seem to have noticed, and Morgan’s Energy Manipulation was already making his head pound. But he had to keep the man busy in order for him not to notice, and so he fired a few more energy arrows at him. The man simply moved out of the way. His ease of doing that as well as his speed made Morgan suspect that the man had at least twice as much agility and strength than him. He wondered how strong that made him.
As the man got closer, Morgan decided to risk splitting his attention. He attempted to use Arcane Mark, but for some reason he just couldn’t. His energy would be blown away the moment he tried to have it touch the other ascended. Then the man reached the halfway point, and Morgan turned his will to what he wanted to happen.
A moment later the man paused and looked down, then spikes made out of roots exploded out of the ground and stabbed toward him. Morgan could he his eyes widen as he jumped into the air, avoiding the spikes and then turning his head to look at Morgan—only to see his bow raised and aimed at him with an Energy Arrow pulled all the way back. Morgan let the arrow fly and it shot toward the other ascended, whose eyes had now narrowed.
Morgan watched in anticipation of it hitting, but instead a wave of force exploded out of the man and his arrow dissipated. The air around him shimmered and he appeared only a few meters away from Morgan. Reacting immediately, Morgan pointed his left arm, the one that carried his bow, and sent energy into his gauntlet. A small bolt of violet energy shot forward at the other man, who again just moved out of the way impossibly quickly.
The man’s hand shot out toward Morgan to touch him and end the duel, but Morgan had planned for this. He knew that the man would reach him, and so as his fingers were just about to touch him, Morgan activated his Arcane Shift. The man’s hand passed through Morgan’s shoulder with no resistance and the man leaned forward, off-balance. The man’s eyes widened in realization as Morgan twisted to the side as fast as he could and his right hand swiped toward the man, his Energy Blade forming mid swing.
The man recovered and leaned back, Morgan’s blade missing him only by a thread’s width.
Morgan stopped as he realized what he had done. His muscles were burning, his breathing ragged from the exertion of his energy. He had depleted it completely and the recoil was punishing him. And he was shaking, but not from the exertion, but rather from the realization that he had attacked this man with the full intent to kill. His Energy Blade had nearly taken the man’s head off.
The man stood only two steps away from Morgan and was looking at him with a blank expression on his face. But Morgan could see in his eyes that he knew what Morgan had done. Yes, the man had been powerful enough to avoid and survive the attack, but that didn’t change what Morgan had felt in the moment.
The man raised his hand to his cheek and touched the thin scratch there that had only now started lightly dripping with blood.
“I’m so—” Morgan started to apologize, but the man interrupted.
“That was Arcane Shift and Energy Blade. A good combination,” he said. “It seems that what us ascended are always being taught still holds. A single mistake can cost even the most powerful their life.”
The man held Morgan’s eyes. “Remember this lesson once you reach my level of power. We often confuse ourselves with the gods, believing that we are invincible.” He pulled his hand from his cheek and looked at the smudge of blood on his
fingertips. “But gods we are not.”
He stood there in silence, looking at his own blood. Morgan nearly spoke, but he was still in shock. His mouth was dry and he was still shaking.
“You won,” the man said. “I underestimated you.”
He then extended his hand to the side and it disappeared into the ripple that appeared in the air all the way up to his elbow. Morgan blinked at the strange sight, and then the man pulled his hand out along with a small blood red pendant.
“Here, your reward. It will help you grow,” he said, offering it to Morgan, who slowly reached out and took it.
With that, the man turned around to leave. “If your Guild wishes to trade, Heddos will open its gates. We have some good weapon crafters that should help you in your coming fight. But we will not fight with you; the goblins are not a threat to us, and I do not wish to be responsible for the entire valley. Come find me if you survive this goblin invasion. We’ll talk more then.”
“Wait!” Morgan said as the man took a step. “What’s your name?”
The man turned slightly and peered over his shoulder to look at Morgan. “I am called Azil.”
Morgan watched the man walk away, the pendant tightly grasped in his hand—and then fell to his knees from exhaustion.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Are you all right?” Ves asked as she ran over to him.
“Fine,” Morgan wheezed out. “I depleted my energy.”
The root spikes had taken most of it, but both the Arcane Shift and Energy Blade had required a lot of energy as well, at least relative to what he had available. He could feel the core inside of him burning, as it was now empty. He shouldn’t have done this, as he knew that depleting his energy completely was dangerous. It would take longer to replenish like this, and it hurt like hell.
Ves helped him up. Morgan cast one last look at the man as he was allowed into the town. Azil, Morgan thought to himself. He was strong. What kind of ability did he use to appear and disappear like that? Morgan knew that he would be spending the near future thinking on this fight and trying to figure out what his opponent’s abilities were; but as Ves guided him to the cart, he couldn’t help but grin. He had won the duel. Sure, he was probably no match for Azil, and he’d only won because of the terms—but it had still been enlightening. It filled him with something that he couldn’t yet quite grasp, an exhilaration. Was this what Oxy was talking about?
Clara helped Ves get Morgan up on the cart, and Ereden climbed up at the front and took the reins in his hands. Quickly, they were on their way. Heddos didn’t want them here, and Morgan would respect their decision.
“What do you have there?” Clara asked, pointing at his hand.
Morgan turned his eye to the pendant in his hand. He had almost forgotten about it. It had a black string, with the pendant itself being a silver base with a blood-red gem in the middle that was unlike anything he had ever seen. He was just about to use his Inspect on it when he noticed that he had notifications pending. He frowned, but brought them forward. The first one was about the duel.
Won the duel — 1000 exp
Morgan frowned at that. He knew that the Guiding Force allotted all the experience in this world—though he was still not sure what experience really was—but he wondered if she was watching over everything herself, and giving out experience as she saw fit? She was something like a god, so it was possible; Morgan just didn’t know nearly enough about what kind of beings Oxylus and her were. He was leaning more toward there being some kind of a monitoring system that did that for her, though. He remembered her saying that she had received a notification when the skeleton dungeon had been cleared. He shook his head, dismissing the thoughts before looking at the next notification.
He blinked as he saw that his Energy Manipulation had leveled up to level V, his Energy Blade to level II, Rain of Arrows to II, and his Energy Arrow to IV. Then, seeing that he had no more notifications, he used his Inspect on the pendant.
Boon of the Blood Drinker (Rare) LVL 20 — every death directly caused by the user feeds the Blood Drinker, sapping a small portion of the energy released upon their death. Once full, the Blood Drinker grants an extra attribute point for the user to spend. After the point is used, the Blood Drinker is spent and can be filled again. (Amount of energy granted on death depends on the level of enemy and the user. If the user is a higher level than the Boon of the Blood Drinker, the amount of energy harvested drops considerably.)
Morgan’s eyes widened as he read what the pendant did. This could allow someone to grow much faster, Morgan thought, provided of course that they are constantly exposing themselves to danger.
He told the others about what it was and what it did.
“Wow,” Clara said. “That’s a real ascended item.”
“And it is useful only for the people who are lower level than twenty…” Ves said.
Clara nodded. “Things are different among the other Guilds. My people stay away from them for the most part, so I don’t know much, only what word the other ascended orcs send back. But things are very different there. The children of ascended have such items from the moment they ascend. It makes their growth substantially easier. This is also why most of those who ascend on their own without the support of a Guild or a family die. It is hard for an ascended to grow without such help.”
“We’ve managed it,” Morgan said. Truthfully, he had been surprised a bit at how much he and the others had managed to grow in such a short span of time. Yes, they had been put in life-or-death situations, had nearly died a couple of times—but still.
“You’ve been extremely lucky, Morgan,” Clara said. “Most others are not.”
He pondered on that a bit, then turned to Ves. “So you think that I should use this?”
“Of course, you won it. It is yours.”
Morgan looked uncertainly at the pendant. He wanted to turn over a new leaf, become someone who was a true leader in every sense, and a part of him knew that meant sharing his gains. Ever since he’d arrived here he had been hearing stories about the other Guilds and how they funneled all their loot and resources into a few people, and he did not want to operate like them.
“Don’t be stupid, Morgan,” Ves said as she figured out what he was thinking about. “You won this on your own, and it is not like you are hoarding all the loot that we have won. There is an entire hold filled with items to be redistributed to other ascended back at Reach. And we are bringing even more.”
Morgan glanced at his bag of holding near the rest of their stuff on the cart. Ves, was, as usual, right. Morgan sighed and put the pendant on. He felt a shiver pass through him, and that was it. He studied it for a moment longer and then tucked it into his shirt.
“All right, let’s head to Karon and then back to Jarul to pick up our new recruits,” Morgan said.
Ereden called out with a, “Yes, sir!” and they were on their way. Morgan settled in with his head in Ves’s lap and tried to sleep. His body was still feeling a bit weak, and his core ached, but he knew that it would get better with time. He had overdrawn his energy once before when he had just started experimenting with it, so he knew that it wouldn’t last forever—but this time did hurt a bit more.
As the cart was rolling and Ves gently brushed his hair, Morgan let his mind wander, and then he finally drifted off to sleep.
It took them a few days to reach Karon, but they didn’t stay long. The town had decided to join them immediately and they left the same day, having added another town to their domain. They started their way back to Jarul, and arrived several days later to the image of an orderly formed caravan. Karissa was moving from group to group making sure that everything was ready for their departure, making sure that all the important things they wished to take with them were packed and so on. Morgan looked on at the developments, impressed by her organizational skills. It took the entire town of Jarul barely two hours to get everything ready, and then they were on the road, back to Reach.
It wa
s slow going; some of the people were on large wagons pulled by oxen or horses, and some were walking next to them. The elderly and children among them were sitting in the wagons, while most of the rest walked. Thankfully the people of Jarul had brought enough food supplies with them to survive until Reach. I doubt that I could hunt enough for all these people, Morgan thought to himself as he looked back at the procession following him. Morgan was walking at the head of the caravan, while Ves and Clara were somewhere in the middle, and Ereden was bringing up the rear. The roads this far south had been safe on their trip here, but they didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
Karissa walked next to him at the head of the caravan, which again surprised Morgan as he would’ve thought that she would have preferred to sit in the wagons.
Finally, tired of the silence surrounding them, Morgan decided to speak out. “So, I know that it might be a bit too late for me to ask, but are you really sure about this? You are abandoning your entire lives, your homes, where many had lived for generations.”
Karissa nodded immediately. “We have discussed this. Well, not this exactly—we didn’t know about you until only a few weeks ago—but we have been thinking on moving for a while. Our crops have been yielding less and less every year, and there is less game for hunting in the forest. Staying would’ve meant certain, if slow, death.”
“I can understand that,” Morgan said. “But you know that you are going into danger now. We mean to fight the goblin horde.”
“If you don’t win, the horde will get to Jarul eventually. We would have nowhere to go.”