by Jamey Sultan
Realization hit James like a truck load of bricks. Forgetting about his sore muscles, he hopped to his feet, ignoring the cacophony of creaking. While he was in the air, James sent tendrils of Essence out to explore the floorboards.
His newfound sense flooded his brain with data—most importantly, the sturdy spots in the floorboards. When James landed, it was silent.
Karim clapped, but James ignored him, extending his Essence from every part of his body. As he stretched his Essence, he felt everything within his sphere of influence. Before James could explore further, an ice pick stabbed through his brain and he collapsed, holding his head. His vision swam white and James could see his Essence bar flashing dangerously low. With an effort of will, he pulled all of the Essence tendrils back to himself and lay on the floor breathing heavily.
A notification blinked in James’ vision and he opened it when he was able to move again.
You have created the spell: Sphere of Influence
Sphere of Influence (Level 1):
You are able to extend your Essence to sense everything within a sphere around you.
Range: Unknown
Cast time: Instant
Cooldown: None
Cost: 10^(Radius/10) Essence per second
New Achievement: Baby Steps
Baby Steps:
+ 3 Intelligence
+ 3 Wisdom
You created your first Spell. Congratulations on taking the first step toward truly understanding magic.
“Are you okay?” Karim asked, placing his hand on James’ shoulder and startling him.
James groaned, “Food.” His Essence was still dangerously low.
As Karim rushed off to get James some food, James sat up still clutching at his head. He pulled a Weak Health Potion out of his bag and quaffed it.
Instantly, his Essence jumped up by 231. It was still flashing dangerously, but much slower. James had come within milliseconds of dying.
As his headache subsided, James realized what happened. He’d extended his Sphere of Influence so much that it had drained almost all of his Essence in an instant.
Karim returned, out of breath with a plate piled high with food. Nidra and Arik were with him, both looking worried. James waved away their questions as he devoured the plate of food. “I’m fine,” he said through mouthfuls. “Just used too much Mana.” At Arik and Nidra’s confused looks, he nodded toward Karim, who didn’t know he used Essence.
Once they’d made sure he was okay, Nidra and Arik left the room.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you would have that reaction. What happened? I’ve never seen anything like it,” Karim said.
James shook his head. “It’s not a big deal, just a small problem with my class.” He was feeling a lot better after eating all the food Karim brought. The food was clearly made from higher quality ingredients, because the meal had restored another 271 Essence.
Ignoring Karim’s protest, James stood up and tried to cast Sphere of Influence again. This time, he only extended his Essence tendrils a meter from his body. It was exhilarating; he could feel everything around him. He laughed and ran through the room without triggering a single sound.
Even at its minimum distance, the spell drained James’ Essence fast. Even though his Arcane Mastery Ability reduced its Essence cost by 22%, it still cost a total of 7.8 Essence per second to maintain a one-meter sphere around himself.
James tried to reduce its cost by only extending Essence from his feet, but nothing happened.
Karim approached James again, a worried look on his face. “How many points have you put into Endurance?”
“Barely any,” James replied. He was lying. In truth, Endurance was his highest base stat but Karim didn’t know about his Essence and he did not want to give too much away.
Karim groaned in disappointment. “I forgot you probably wouldn’t have a lot of Stamina as a caster.”
From that, James made the not so difficult assumption that Karim probably had an ability that cost Stamina which led him move silently. James didn’t have Stamina, he only had Essence. As far as he knew, nobody else could manipulate Essence like he could.
“It’s fine. Just do what you can, I’ll grab you some Stamina potions and we’ll practice.”
Karim left the room and returned a few minutes later with two glowing potion vials containing a green liquid with yellow swirls.
Major Stamina Regeneration Potion:
Rank: Rare
This potion will massively increase Stamina regeneration.
“Keep that one for the mission and we’ll practice with this one now,” Karim said.
James nodded and drank one of the potions immediately. It tasted like watered down cranberry juice, but sweeter and left a pleasant aftertaste after he’d finished it.
You have drunk [Major Stamina Regeneration Potion].
- Duration 05:00:00
- You have no Stamina
Essence regeneration increased to 10/second for one hour.
James whistled appreciatively; he’d be able to use his new Spell indefinitely while the potion was active. Also, since his Essence was effectively his health, he’d be unstoppable if he drank the potion. James slipped the second potion into his pouch.
For the next hour, Karim subjected James to a series of escalating challenges that culminated in a game where Karim snuck a flag into someone’s pocket and James had to retrieve it without them noticing. But finally, he hit Skill Rank 25 in Stealth and got the notification that prompted him to choose his Journeyman bonus.
Congratulations! You have reached the Journeyman rank in Stealth.
As a Journeyman, you may choose one of the following bonus Abilities
Fade to Black
Embrace the night and call to the shadows to cloak you.
This is an active ability that costs one Essence per second. While it is active, you will be 20% harder to detect in dim lighting and 50% harder to detect in darkness.
Feline Footsteps
Walk with the grace of a cat. This Ability muffles 50% of your noise while in Stealth.
Graceful Oaf
Created especially for James, this Ability grants + 200% Dexterity, but only while falling.
Maybe you won’t land on your ass so much now…
James sighed when he read the Journeyman bonuses. Whatever the system was, it seemed to take joy in messing with him. The worst part was that the Graceful Oaf Ability was easily the best option. Still, something inside of James rebelled against choosing the Ability when it was clearly an insult to him.
Even though he knew he was going to take the Graceful Oaf Ability, James decided to at least consider his other options.
Fade to Black was a good option, and the Ability Karim wanted him to choose, but James wasn’t a Stealth fighter. He mostly fought straightforward fights. Plus, he glowed whenever he used Arcane magic, which would definitely mess with the Fade to Black Ability. He wondered if the Ability had some way to compensate for magical effects. Not for the first time, he wished for a tooltip that could explain more details to him.
Feline Footsteps was, in James’ opinion, the least useful Ability option. He’d just spent a day working on literally that exact thing. Maybe it would be good for someone without the Sphere of Influence Spell, but it wasn’t particularly useful to him. Sure, it didn’t cost any Essence, and it muffled all noise, but it was clearly the worst option.
With a sigh, James selected the Graceful Oaf option. The system made it seem like a joke, but the Ability had some interesting implications. Not only would it help James land better, but a higher Dexterity would improve his ability with thrown weapons, as long as he was falling.
Journeyman Stealth Bonus
Graceful Oaf:
+200% Dexterity while falling.
You’ve tripped so many times in such a short period of time that the system has decided to give you some pity. This Ability was created specifically for you.
“Hey Karim,” James ca
lled. “Can you trip me really quick?”
Karim raised a questioning eyebrow but nodded. James opened his status page as he sprinted toward the Dwarf.
As he passed Karim, the Dwarf kicked him in the side of the leg.
James’ sprawled toward the ground, but as he fell, his Dexterity tripled. He could feel his muscles tightening and his body reacted before he could. He turned his fall into a handspring and landed back on his feet.
“Nice one,” Karim said, and then he frowned. “You still took the Fade to Black Ability, right?”
James rubbed the back of his head. “Well…” He explained his options and that he had decided to go a different way. After a bit of swearing, Karim agreed he’d made the right decision, but was still annoyed because it would make the mission much more difficult.
Before they went to meet up with the rest of the group, James wanted to try one more thing. He opened up his stat sheet and jumped. When he reached the peak of the jump and started to fall, his Dexterity jumped. He let out a triumphant shout—this was the real reason he’d been so excited about this Ability.
Now, as long as he was in the downward swing of a jump, his aim and damage with throwing weapons would be boosted.
***
Back in the library, Nidra greeted James with a yawn. “Lucien and Branden are almost done,” she said as she stretched and stood up from her armchair.
“I’m glad you two are having fun,” James grumped, looking between Nidra and Arik, who had been relaxing by the fire.
Arik waved a lazy hand toward James, his eyes still shut. “We’re resting before our big part in the plan.”
James looked at Nidra who nodded. “Wait, are you guys coming with us too? Is your Stealth high enough?”
“It’s not,” Nidra said with a grin. “We’re the distraction.”
Chapter 17
“This,” James hissed to Lucien, “is a terrible plan.”
They were hidden behind some bushes outside of the House Gilden manor. Like typical Dwarven construction, it was a sprawling flat compound. The buildings were all made from a rich dark wood with gold trim. James was beginning to see that each Dwarven House had its own color scheme. The gold and wood of House Gilden were more subtle than the blue of House Fractus, and the buildings were designed much less practically, for aesthetics rather than defense.
Their target was the largest building, a three-story structure with a balcony running around each floor.
Even though the compound didn’t seem particularly well-defended, James and Lucien had picked out archers on the rooftops of the nearby buildings. Rather than trying to take out the archers themselves, they were waiting for Nidra and Arik’s distraction.
An explosion ripped through the air on the opposite edge of House Gilden land. Chunks of burning metal rained through the air as a burst of flaming arrows arced over the walls, setting a few of the outlying buildings on fire. Screams came from the burning building as Dwarves evacuated.
Soon, acrid smoke filled the air.
Guards rushed toward the source of the attack, some half-dressed, others ready in full armor.
James and Lucien took advantage of the chaos to dodge between buildings until they reached the edge of the main house. There, James cast Arcane Teleport and clambered up to the first story balcony. There were two guards on the balcony, but when time resumed, James sliced through both at once.
You have killed Axel Runn (Level 21 Dwarf Guard).
+ 131 experience points
You have killed Medi Alta (Level 25 Dwarf Archer).
+ 187 experience points
You have gained 1 Skill Rank in Swordsmanship.
You are now Skill Rank 32.
James ignored the notifications, swiping them out of sight. He quietly lowered the dead bodies to Lucien, who dragged them into a nearby bush. The fact that there wasn’t enough time to loot the corpses annoyed James, but they needed to get to the patriarch, retrieve the information they needed, and leave before anyone realized that the smoke and fire were a distraction.
Once he’d hidden the bodies, Lucien joined James on the balcony. Their hope was that anyone who looked toward the balcony would assume the missing guards had gone to help with the fire.
Branden had drawn them a basic floor plan of the house, since he’d been there to meet with the patriarch a few times. They could see that the patriarch’s sleeping quarters were on the third floor.
Instead of going through the house, James and Lucien scaled up the other two balconies. Branden had tried to insist that they go through the house, but James had refused. He didn’t want to kill any more people than were necessary. While there was more of a chance they’d be seen on the balconies, there was a much higher risk of running into noncombatants if they went through the house.
When they got to the third floor, they tried to open the balcony door, but it was locked. James slid Tyrfing through the crack, cutting through any locking mechanism that was holding the doors together.
They entered into a dark room. It took a second for James’ Night Vision Ability to activate, and when it did, it seemed strangely muted. He could just barely make out the large shapes of furniture, but nothing solid.
Lucien grabbed James’ hand and pulled him forward, deftly dodging his way through the room. James stumbled blindly after him, trying to mimic the teen’s movements.
You have gained 1 Skill Rank in Night Vision.
You are now Skill Rank 10.
The door out of the room was locked. James stepped forward with Tyrfing, but Lucien shook his head and pulled out a set of lockpicks. Within a few seconds, there was a click and the door popped open, revealing a dimly lit hallway.
There was a small child directly outside the door. The child opened his mouth to scream, and James cast Arcane Teleport again. He checked his Essence. He’d cast Arcane Teleport four times, which had drained over 600 Essence. He had a little over 2000 left.
James put his hand over the child’s eyes and mouth, muffling his scream when time started up again. There was a flash of reflected light and James reacted instinctively, pulling the child out of the way as Lucien’s knife flashed through the air. The knife passed through directly where the child’s throat had been.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” James whispered angrily as the child struggled to free himself.
“Me?” Lucien hissed back. “You’re the one jeopardizing our mission.”
“I’m not gonna let you kill a child,” James said, pulling some cloth out of his pouch and using it to gag the child and bind his hands and feet.
Lucien angrily slammed his dagger back into its sheath. “Fine, but if we get discovered, it’s your head.”
They put the tied-up child in the room they’d just come from and closed the door, silencing his muffled grunts for help.
They’d specifically chosen to enter on the south side of the house because it was closest to the patriarch’s room, and it didn’t take long to reach his door. It was unlocked.
James entered first, followed by Lucien. The room was dark, but there was some movement from the bed nearby. Lucien closed the door and locked it as James shook an alchemical light. A harsh alchemical glow spread through the room, revealing an elderly Dwarf asleep in bed.
Name: Tensi Altav
Race: Dwarf
Level: 49
Class: Protector
As the light washed over his head, the Dwarf blinked in confusion. He was old, one of the oldest-looking people James had ever seen. His hair and beard were both pure white, although his beard had beads of gold woven through it. His skin was white and paper thin; even from across the room James could see lines of blue and purple veins running across his hands. His eyes widened as he realized what was going on and darted it to a bell next to his bed.
“Don’t even try it.” James said, looking at the Dwarf curiously. Something was wrong. The Dwarf looked exactly like a portrait they’d seen of their target, but the patriarch’s name was Kend
on. According to Branden, he was a level 139 Lord of Coin, not a level 49 Protector. His eyes widened. “That’s not him,” he said to Lucien.
As James looked at Lucien, Tensi dove toward the bell. Lucien threw a dagger at him, just as James cast Arcane Teleport. He loved his Arcane Teleport spell. It was like cheating. James strolled to the frozen Protector and grabbed his wrist, pulling backward with all his weight.
As soon as time resumed, James flew backward, carrying the Protector with him. When they hit the ground, Tensi’s features shifted to that of a much younger Dwarf with black hair and amber eyes. The two of them struggled on the ground, but it was clear that Tensi was much stronger than James. After a brief struggle, James found himself on the ground with the Dwarf sitting on his chest.
The Dwarf raised his head to shout, but a knife came out of nowhere and slit his throat. Blood gushed across James’ face and the now-dead Dwarf slumped to the side, revealing Lucien. He wiped his bloodied dagger on the Dwarf’s shirt and pulled James to his feet.
“Shit,” James whispered. “What do we do now?” Luckily, the decoy hadn’t managed to pull the lever and alert anyone of their presence.
“Help me with this body.” Lucien gestured to the dead Dwarf. “Someone might’ve heard our struggle.”
Together James and Lucien dragged the Dwarf back onto the bed and pulled the covers over the corpse. Hopefully that would prevent any panic if someone happened to look into the room.