The Kobold Thief

by Constantine Noble

  The Accidental Mage Serial:

  The Kobold Thief

  Constantine Noble

  Copyright © 2017 Herrin Enterprises LLC

  All rights reserved.

  The next book in The Accidental Mage Serial will be released in early March 2017. If you enjoy reading, we’d love for you to leave a review on Amazon!

  For updates and sneak peeks, feel free to subscribe to my email list at http://eepurl.com/cwEJbf

  The Accidental Mage Serial: The Orb of Agner (Episode 1)

  January 2017

  The Accidental Mage Serial: The Kobold Thief (Episode 2)

  January 2017

  The Accidental Mage Serial: Death’s Chasm (Episode 3)

  January 2017

  The Accidental Mage Serial Episode 4 k12

  Coming March 2017

  Chapter 1

  The orc thumped his chest with one fist, while the other gripped his battle axe.

  Lorcan quietly watched the spectacle before him without moving. He had taken a few wrong paths while trying to get back to Drax. Time was somewhat of the essence, and he preferred to not fight the level 8 orc.

  “I know you enemy mobs don’t always have to fight players they run into,” Lorcan said with a steady voice. “I recommend you step aside, and choose another traveler.” He almost surprised himself with the calmness in his voice while talking with the orc, as a few days ago he would have been in a very different position. Namely, hiding behind a rock or tree, stuttering away, while Jacob took care of anything that posed a threat. Perhaps he had been relying too much on Jacob the last month or so of training and now was able to grow into the player he was meant to be. Perhaps it was because he was in a rush to get to the Temple of Myra. Or, perhaps it was because he was starting to get a grip on his newfound ability.

  “Huh, huh, huh,” laughed the orc. “Me thinks you die now. Me always fight. Me always crush!”

  The orc dashed at Lorcan with shocking speed and swung down his axe. Lorcan narrowly dodged it by jumping back and casting a firebolt at the orc’s chest.

  120 or 130 HP remaining.

  Hmm, the orc has surprisingly more HP than expected, Lorcan thought. He still hadn’t gotten a good grasp on how to tell a creature’s HP before fighting, and needed to open up with attacks early on to understand the gravity of the situation. Fortunately or unfortunately, Lorcan was getting in a good chunk of combat experience over the most last number of days. He hadn’t payed much attention to the paths Jacob took when they went out to the ogre camp to level up, which was posing some issues for Lorcan. This led to him traveling down multiple wrong paths, and encountering a handful of enemies. While none had been as strong as the orc, Lorcan was sure of himself.

  “Silly Mage, you can no defeat me! You weak.” The orc swung again while Lorcan rolled under, spinning around and launching three more firebolts in quick succession.

  90 of 130 HP remaining.

  Lorcan sighed. This was starting to take longer than he thought it would. It was time to finish this.

  The orc growled in annoyance more than pain as he turned back to Lorcan.

  “Stop dancing, runt!”

  Lorcan closed his eyes and thought back to the image of the cloaked figure holding that blade, dripping with Jacob’s blood. His hand started to spark with electricity. He thought of Jacob collapsing down and remaining motionless. The electricity intensified. Lorcan opened his eyes as the orc was less than a yard away, the battle axe on its way down.

  “No time for dancing now!”

  The orc was right, there wasn’t any time left to dodge. However…

  The battle axe stopped a foot away in the air from Lorcan, as his electric blade blocked upwards.

  “Wh… what?” were the orc’s final words.

  Lorcan shoved off the axe and rushed in. The orc’s confused expression never left his face as Lorcan cut the orc in two, from his left hip to his right shoulder.

  0 of 130 HP remaining.

  The orc collapsed into a heap on the ground as the lightning dissipated from Lorcan’s hand.

  “I told you.”

  Lorcan picked up the 20 gold on the orc and continued on his way.

  Shortly after the encounter with the orc, Lorcan ran into a few other players coming from Drax and heading out to farm some mobs. He warned them of the handful of orcs up ahead, and they told him how to get back to town. A few hours of sneaking past giant spiders and wild boars later, he finally made it back to Drax as the sun was setting.

  Lorcan yawned.

  He wanted to go to the Lame Duck and Temple of Myra, but figured he was in no shape to convince people to group up with him in his current state. He hadn’t slept for several days as he was making his way back, and needed to rest before finding people to help him. The voice of Instructor Morrison sprung to his mind.

  During his schooling, Lorcan had learned that each of the training areas would house their members for free. All of the major cities had these class training centers, and even some of the small villages and towns found in between. Lorcan had made a good amount of gold over the past month and could afford a nicer place to stay, but wanted to save as much as possible. He assumed hiring a Tracker wouldn’t be cheap.

  He made a beeline for the Mage’s Hall.

  Chapter 2

  The electronic buzz signaled the end of the school day. The doors of Jefferson Elementary flung open as kids ran out, ready for the weekend. In a previous generation the streets might have been packed with cars and awaiting parents or guardians. With the exception of a handful of school security guards, however, there were no adults to be seen.

  Eight year old Lorcan was one of the last students to leave the building. He had nothing to look forward to on the weekends, so was in no rush to get home for the weekend. He was a new kid and hadn’t done a great job of making friends yet. His family had just moved to the area because, as usual, they were kicked out of their previous home.

  His dad and mom were both factory workers, and would get jobs wherever they could find them. Neither of them played Hyperion’s Keep as they both lost a parent to The Game, and didn’t like the risk involved in playing. They typically worked long and odd hours, and when they were home they usually just wanted to sleep. Lorcan rarely saw them, and spent most of his time reading.

  As he made it around the corner, he looked up to see two teenagers leaning against a wall just a few yards away. They were alone on this street and stopped talking when they noticed him. Lorcan paused for a moment, wondering if he should turn around and take a different street. Unfortunately, he didn’t know another way to get home, and tried to just quietly walk by them.

  “Hey Thom, look who it is, some lonely little kid.”

  Lorcan kept his gaze fixed on the ground and quickened his pace.

  “Right you are, Xander. He seems to be in some kind of hurry all of the sudden!”

  The two teens got off of the wall and stepped into the middle of the sidewalk, blocking Lorcan’s way.

  “Where are you goin, little man?”

  “I-I-I’m just trying to get to my house.”

  The one who was called Thom widened his eyes and made an exaggerated expression.

  “Well, well, well! His family has a whole house! You guys must be pretty rich to afford a house!”

  “N-no, we are just renting o-one,” stuttered Lorcan. He hated that he stuttered whenever he got nervous.

  “Still, though. Xander here and his family live in a teensy, tiny apartment. My family lives in a bigger one, but only slightly.”

  “Yeah kid, we are people in need. You should uh… give to those in need.”

  Lorcan started to shake slightly. “B-B-But I-I don’t have any Credits.”

 
; Thom and Xander both frowned. The leaned in close and whispered to each other.

  “Maaan, he ain’t got any Credits. What a waste of time.”

  “Hmm…. Maybe he is holding out on us? If we beat him up, then we can go through his pockets and know for sure.”

  Hearing their not-so-secret plan, Lorcan tried to make a run for it. Right as he was about to make it past them, Thom kicked out Lorcan’s leg from underneath him. Lorcan crashed onto the sidewalk as Thom stood over him.

  “Did you actually think that would work?”

  Lorcan fought to hold back tears as the two chuckled to each other, both popping their knuckles menacingly. The chuckling stopped when a rock came flying from out of nowhere, and knocking Xander’s head forward.

  “Ouch! Who…. Who threw that?!”

  A boy from Lorcan’s class walked towards them with both hands in his pocket.

  “Hey kid, did you throw a rock at us?”

  “Yeah. I did,” said the classmate. He was a few inches taller than Lorcan, and not much smaller than the teenagers. Lorcan remembered overhearing kids talk about him. Apparently, he was a new kid as well. His family had to move to this side of town after his dad disappeared. “Two on one didn’t seem very fair.”

  Thom took a step towards the newcomer as Xander remained stationary, rubbing the back of his head.

  “Ha! You think you can handle one of us?”

  The classmate didn’t slow as Thom came forward with him fist cocked back. As Thom swung down, the kid circled to the teen’s left and threw a kick that landed square in the groin.

  “I think I just did,” muttered the classmate, as Thom crumpled to his knees. Xander took a couple of steps back and raised his hands as Lorcan approached. “Go pick up your friend and get out of here.”

  Xander ran over to Thom, and the two stumbled off to their small apartments.

  The victor stopped and smiled down at Lorcan.

  “Hi. My name is Jacob. What’s yours?”

  “I-I-I’m Lorcan,” stuttered Lorcan as he got back to his feet. “T-Thanks for helping me.”

  “No problem. That’s what friends do for each other, right?”

  Lorcan was taken aback.

  “F-friends?”

  “Yeah, I was a new kid a few months ago. I don’t have any friends right now, and you look like you could use one too. What do ya say?”

  “Sure! I’d really like that!” Lorcan smiled as his stutter faded away. He rarely made friends at his previous schools, no matter how long his family stayed in one spot. Jacob protected him, and now he wanted to return the favor. As he just learned, that’s what friends do for each other.

  The sky became dark gray as laughter came from behind him.

  Lorcan and Jacob turned to see a tall man with a black hood, laughing. They stood wide eyed, frozen in place.

  “How cute, a young friendship is formed before my eyes.”

  A blue glowing dagger peered out at them from inside of the man’s cloak.

  The man disappeared.

  “Lorcan, help me!” Lorcan spun around to see the cloaked man slowly walking away, carrying Jacob over his shoulder. Jacob was trying to wiggle his way free, hand reached out towards Lorcan.

  “Help me, Lorcan! Help me!”

  Lorcan started to run after them. He was going at a full sprint, but no matter how hard he ran the cloaked figure stayed the same distance in front of him. This seemed to go on for hours, with Jacob calling out to him the whole time. Why wasn’t he catching up to them? He missed a step and tripped. As he slowly fell to the ground he heard Jacob’s cry one final time, before…

  Thud.

  “Ow.”

  Lorcan opened his eyes and found himself back in the Mage’s Hall’s sleeping quarters. More precisely, he found himself on the floor, next to his bed. He checked his game clock. He had slept for nearly 20 hours! He hopped up on his feet and stretched out. Since he was already here, he might as well go see Kaelin and see if he can learn any new spells before heading out.

  Chapter 3

  Lorcan made his way through the Mage’s Hall to Kaelin’s room, and found the elf looking through one of his telescopes. He wondered to himself if NPCs ever slept, or if they were always working on something.

  “Hey Kaelin, I’m back for some training if you’ve got any available.”

  Kaelin turned around and seemed genuinely happy to see him. As genuine as an NPC could be, anyway.

  “Welcome back, Lorcan! Of course I’ve got some training available for you, you’re level 10 after all.”

  “I-I’m level 10?!”

  This caught Lorcan by surprise. He hadn’t checked any of his stats while he was searching for the correct path back to Drax. He hadn’t leveled while he was walking or fighting the handful of mobs, since he would have noticed the green light circling him. He took a moment and checked his stats.

  Kaelin was right, he somehow was level 10! How was this be possible? He had assumed he was still level 7, but this would explain why he was able to take that level 8 orc 1 on 1 without too much trouble. He thought it was just because of the power of his electric hand.

  “I’ve got no idea how I’m level 10. I never received a notification when it happened for levels 8 through 10…”

  Kaelin walked over to him with a smile.

  “Oh, I bet I know what happened!”

  A mysterious, ethereal substance appeared in front of Lorcan, shot into his pocket, and pulled out the Orb of Agner.

  “You must have activated the Orb of Agner,” said Kaelin as the orb floated over to him. He inspected the item momentarily, before the strange cloud returned it to Lorcan. “It looks as though it has been activated at least once. If I had to guess, I would say that you met with a large group of higher level enemies that you couldn’t handle on your own, and activated the orb as a last ditch effort. Since this automatically sets you to 1 HP, I wouldn’t be shocked if you passed out briefly. As you probably wiped out the entire group, you gained all of the experience in one fell swoop. This brought you from level 7 to level 10 all at once, and while you were passed out.”

  Lorcan nodded. When he woke up back in the Forest, the entire gang of thieves had been defeated. Kaelin must be right, and he had reached level 10 before waking up.

  “How… how did you even know I had the orb?”

  “What you have in your possession is one of the rarest legendary items in Hyperion’s Keep. With the power that shoots off of it, some NPCs as well as those accustom with radiant magic, will recognize its presence. They may not necessarily know what the item is if they hadn’t encountered it before, but they will sense the power. Some may even be able to sense it from far away. This item allows people to level at a very quick pace, as you have done, and therefore it is highly sought after by those who know of its existence.”

  “It would be wise to avoid encounters with other players who can sense radiant magic. They will not only try to take it from you, but also attempt to take your life in order to cancel the attunement you have with the orb. If they do not kill you, or convince you to break the attunement of your own free will, they will be unable to activate the orb on their own.”

  “Yeah, I think my friend and I found that out the hard way…” Lorcan mumbled. His hand started to spark with electricity again.

  Kaelin’s eyes widened and his smile slipped away.

  “Lorcan. Your hand.”

  Lorcan glanced down.

  “Oh, sorry about that.” With some strain, he slowed down the electrical current to a halt. “I’ve been able to do that since Jacob was taken, and while I’ve gotten better at activating it I can’t always control it unless I focus. I take it this must be a spell I unlocked by turning level 10.”

  “No, Locan,” replied Kaelin quietly with a shake of his head. “No it’s not.”

  Kaelin thought for a moment, and invited Lorcan to sit down with him.

  “Even as a NPC, I am well aware that the Mage class is looked down upon by all
the other players. We appear to not have much power, and are weak in both health and armor. This being the case, most of your predecessors have not found success as adventurers, and many have met untimely deaths.”

  “However, there have been a handful that have unlocked special abilities that even we trainers know little or nothing about. One of the more successful players to do so was a man who goes by the name Gamebreaker. He has become a legend, but rest assured he exists. He came to me once, and showed me an ability he learned that harnessed lighting to his hand in the shape of a sword. He called this the Electric Blade. You are the only other person I have seen be able to use this spell.”

  Lorcan remained silent, captivated by what he was hearing.

  “He believed,” Kaelin continued, “that this ability is unlocked when the player comes to the brink of death, but manages to survive. I think by activating the Orb of Agner and surviving the encounter, you were able to unlock the Electric Blade. You would do well to focus on controlling this power, as while it is powerful, requires the user to be very close to their enemy when using it. Do not assume this strength will erase the weaknesses of our class.”

  Lorcan nodded. “I think you’re right. I was becoming a bit reckless on my way back to Drax.”

  “Well, I’m glad you made it back either way,” said Kaelin as his smile returned. “On to the next topic. Now that you are level 10, you must choose a Mage specialty. The options are mostly self explanatory, and each path will provide bonuses as well as unique spells moving forward. These include: Fire, Frost, Illusion, Lightning, and Radiant. I’ve talked your ear off long enough, so I’ll you decide now. Once you’ve chosen one, I’ll teach you a new spell or two.”

  Lorcan thought about this for a few minutes. While he never intended to become a Mage, he knew the pros and cons to most of the class specializations. He could choose Lightning, which would further increase the power of his Electric Blade. The Orb of Agner utilized radiant damage, so Radiant could probably increase its usefulness. Even Fire would help make his baseline firebolt spell more beneficial.