by Rae Nantes
It only took thirty minutes to make it to the town. The people called it Wellen. It was small, similar to the one with the ferry to Nisa. Empty fields of out-of-season crops, dozens of humble brick houses, taverns and shops, a stable. We went there first.
The stable smelt like hay and manure. Some of the horses were out in the field, trotting around, and others were locked inside here. A young girl with a wide-brimmed hat approached us. "Can I help ya?" she asked. Her voice was bright.
"Uh, h-how much for a horse?" Tae stammered. His ears were turning pink. Was he smitten by this girl?
"Depends on what you're after," she said. She looked him up and down. "What'll ya be usin' em for?"
"Oh, you know," he said. "Just riding around."
I tried to suppress my smile, and I could tell she was doing the same. This boy of pure heart wasn't fooling anybody, especially not while standing in the stables in a full suit of armor.
"Take a walk around," she said, "and if ya find one ya like, let me know."
He did. I followed him around for a minute before I realized he had no idea how to value a horse. Truth be told, I didn't either. Another minute passed, and he decided to stroke the mane of one. It didn't protest - seemed to enjoy it even. A simple brown horse with a black mane. "How much for this one?" he asked.
"It's 950," she said.
"Oh." Tae looked sad in the eyes. It was almost contagious.
I moved closer to him for a whisper. "Tae, how much money did you bring?"
"I only have like 600." There was utter defeat in his voice. We both knew the girl wouldn't give a horse away for that much, no matter how bad we felt for the kid.
I sighed and looked at the girl. "Deal."
"What?" Tae said. "I don't have—"
"We have enough. Besides, I'll need a ride back." I took the 600 from him and made up the difference. She counted it, handed 100 back and smiled.
"Gimme about ten minutes an' I'll have 'er ready for ya."
"Thanks," Tae smiled.
I took him by the hand. "We'll run to the general store, we'll be right back," I told her. She nodded.
It took a while to get him to stop thanking me, and a while after that to get him to stop feeling sorry for himself. The entire time he was following me around in the general store like a sad little puppy as I picked up the things I needed: soap, a towel, a cooking pan, literally any kind of seasoning, coffee beans, and enough candy to get me through the week. I could hardly stuff it all in my bag by the time I was done. We left the dusty old store and hopped back across the street to the stables.
There was an argument inside.
We arrived to find the stable girl standing cross-armed at a belligerent customer. He was much taller than any of us, wore black armor with a sword and shield, and had a boiling temper.
"That is way too much for these crappy horses!" he shouted. "I'm not doing 1300!"
"You'll take it or leave it," she said.
"No, you will take it or leave it," he demanded. He took a step closer to her, threatening in his posture.
Tae stepped forward, but I stopped him. This wasn't really our place to get involved, and I could tell this person was a higher level knight. His gear was a much better quality than anything I'd seen a player wear. A sturdy short sword and a thick shield that bore a green and red insignia.
"You'll take 700," the guy demanded.
"I ain't gotta take nothin'," she said. "You can leave."
He took another step closer and brought his finger up to her neck. "Listen here you little nipsy shit. You should be thankful we don't just burn this whole place to ash."
"That's enough," Tae said. He spoke more calmly than I expected him to. "You clearly need to work on your bartering skills."
The guy turned and stared daggers into Tae. "How about you piss off, runt." This guy looked like a convicted felon. It was as though the player went to great lengths to create the edgiest bad-boy avatar he could make but screwed up so terribly that he ended up looking like a science experiment. He had a skull tattoo on his cheek, but from the stretching, it looked more like the face of a squid. A dirty goatee that went out of fashion a millennium ago. Designs were shaved into his head, but he apparently didn't expect uneven hair growth. This was a sociopath kid who tried way too hard to be bad in a way he never could in his world.
Tae took another step. "No."
I was already bored of this. "Guards!" I shouted. Then, it was as if I were hit by a truck. My entire body was shoved aside, slamming through the stable door and into the street. I slid across the ground and gravel and came to a stop. My palms were burning. What happened? I struggled to my feet and looked up, back into the stables. There was screaming, shouting, weapons being ripped from their scabbards, a stray dog barking at the commotion, and metal clashing against metal. Soon, Tae was thrown out next to me, but he landed gracefully on his feet. He darted off to the side, my eyes followed, fled back to the stables, and saw the player mid-leap toward me - his sword risen above his head to strike.
I didn't react in time. In my panic, I instinctively raised my staff to block it. The sword cut right through, slicing my hair just inches from my face. He kicked me away and made chase for Tae. I almost died just then.
I had never seen Tae fight before, let alone anyone who took the title of Lancer. Tae lurched forward and thrust his spear at our enemy's center mass - but it was soaked by the shield. Thoonk. Tae thrust once, twice, three times to break the man's defense, but it didn't happen. The player swatted away the fourth one and came in with a counter. Tae dodged it, swept at the man's feet, but the blades clashed again.
Some of the townspeople were pouring out to bear witness to the noise, some to complain, others to watch. I was still frozen in shock from my near-death experience. Perhaps I would do better to just pick up bureaumancy and live a quiet life in the countryside. Then I saw them. About three or four more knights were running from up the road, bearing the same green and red insignias our enemy had. I knew if they tried to gang up on Tae, I would have to step in somehow.
They did. Without even trying to understand what was happening, the other players went right to work at making strikes at him, putting Tae on the defense. Some even started laughing, using the sport to aim at his ankles.
I felt the anger return. It rose up through me like electricity that sparked out and strengthened my resolve. I took a step forward and raised my broken staff at the group. Sorry, Tae, I hate them more than I like you. With conviction, I yelled out. "Fire!"
"Contain!" a gruff voice shot out.
Just as the blast of flame erupted from the end of my broken staff, an orb of light gripped around the spell, halting it. When the fire extinguished, so did the orb. "What?" I noticed movement in the corner of my eye. A familiar suit of armor - a guard ran into the fray, and one-by-one countered, disarmed, and kicked away each of the players, including Tae. The last enemy player focused on the guard, coming fast at him with a downward strike. The guard tossed his own sword aside and caught the attack with his armored glove. The glove pulsed in light, shattering the man's weapon, then pulsed again as it connected to the player's face. I heard his face crumple under the force.
The guard stood around the players as they groaned and writhed on the ground. "Get lost. All of you."
The enemies scrambled to their feet, picked up their wounded comrade and rushed back up the road. Tae stood up and tried to thank the man, but the guard swatted away his attempt at a handshake. "You should've run," he said. His face was hidden under the iron helmet with only his stubbled tan chin peeking out.
"But I didn't," Tae said.
The guard looked over at me, and I could feel his piercing glare. My body felt as though it were screaming at me to sprint away and never look back. As my eyes were darting every which way for a route of escape, he came upon me. "And you."
"Y-yes?" I squeaked out.
He slapped the broken staff out of my hand. I jolted back in fear. "Don't you ever fig
ht a player." I looked up at him to see the abyss of his eyes stare into the abyss of mine. His soul was reaching into me. "You would never win. Ever."
Chapter 13
The Scientist
I sat behind Tae on our ride back to camp. The horse was happy with her new owner, Tae was happy to be a genuine lancer, and I was just happy to have not had my throat crushed by that monster of a guard.
"Tae," I said. "What happens when you die?"
"What?" he said. "We respawn. Don't you?"
I felt that he regretted saying it as soon as it left his mouth, yet I answered anyway. "No."
We rode in silence for a while. I thought about what happened to my fire spell, and I was glad I was stopped. That ass of a player threatened to burn down the town, but I was just about the one to do it. The voice that commanded the spell belonged to the guard. Contain, I thought he called it. "What level were they?" I asked.
"They were all above 20," he laughed. "I did pretty well, considering I'm only level 14."
"And the guard?"
"Oh, that guy? He was 112."
"Holy shit," I said. "What's the level cap?"
"Level 100 is the soft cap," Tae said. "But you can go further beyond."
It seemed unobtainable, that strength. Like some uncrossable gulf was between here and there. I felt hopeful for how far I could go - and helpless for how far I was behind. "I guess we both have some training to do."
***
The next week was busy. Most of the new members were back and forth questing and leveling. Smith would stay in the leader's office for hours a day, drafting blueprints and organizing the guild. Simone transformed our empty cabin to a proper guild house, packing it full of comfy furniture and soft beds. Trell made his trip to the capital for XP at the start of the week, then split our existing high-level quest contracts into bite-sized duties for our lowbies. Relce and Tae acted as mentors for our now slow stream of new arrivals, and Leila was left building defensive emplacements around our base.
I spent the entire week training. Since I was still only level 5, at least legally, I was falling far behind my peers. This was the time I needed to perfect my skills and to experiment with new ones. With any luck, I'd be able to ride with Trell on his next trip and get my certification - and new upgrades - then.
I worked on fire first. I started the usual fire spell but focused on restricting the cone of flame. After trying various combinations of mental focus and how loudly I shouted the command, I was soon able to get some freedom. I conjured fireballs, straight lines of pin-point heat, tidal waves of flame. From a wand - just a stick I plucked from somewhere - I was able to recreate the welding technique I saw from the construction crew. A pure, focused flame that was hot enough to make rocks glow. It was white hot.
As my fire training progressed, I was able to dip my power to create the faintest of blue hues. These flames I could not bear without my fire robes, and I would absolutely need a better staff. The first long stick I tried erupted into splinters when I conjured it. Another afternoon spent allowed me to bring all my forms of fire into the blue level of heat.
From there, I played around with my other spells. Water could be expanded to create a makeshift shield against some magic types. Wind was still weak as hell, not to mention super boring. Ice was neat, but I would have the same effect as throwing rocks at people. Sneaking up on someone to freeze them in place would be useful. Lightning was really fun, but I had a problem controlling the arc. Too often it would not hit my target, but instead run into the closest conductor it could find. I would avoid metal when casting it. Earth just created a rock that fell from the end of my staff - it didn't even go far, it just dropped, stayed a while, then disappeared. With some practice, I could create dust, or just really big rocks if I yelled super loud. Not useful.
Shadow was interesting. All I noticed it do was dim the area I pointed it at, which by contrast, light did the opposite. I figured that's why rogues learned the skill early - to manipulate both to create a trick of the eye. I couldn't quite figure it out, so I left them alone until I could ask Trell more about it.
The second half of the week I experimented combining spells. For the longest time I wanted to give it a shot, like mixing water and fire to make steam, but now I had the chance:
Fire + Water: Steam
Fire + Ice: Water
Fire + Wind: Hot air
Fire + Earth: Hot rock
Fire + Earth dust: Dusty fire
A devilish idea came to me. Somewhere in my past, fake life, I had a memory. I read somewhere the dangers of tiny combustible airborne particles and what happens when they... combust. Rock dust wasn't very flammable, so I ran back to the guild and raided the kitchen for powders. I could only bring back small portions before being caught by Simone.
Back in the forest, I took a pinch of baking soda, tossed it up, and cast a weak fire on it. Nothing. Another quick test told me baking soda wasn't even flammable - but the sugar was. I took a pinch and tossed in the air. A flick of fire and the air around me erupted. A quick heal spell to mend the burns and I was back to giggling like a lunatic.
And so I came to the question of how to make the sugar properly disperse. Throwing pinch fulls into the air like a fairy princess was not viable in combat. I tried using a weak wind spell to spread out a handful, and that worked wonderfully, but running around a battlefield with handfuls of sugar would be unbecoming of a lady. There had to be a better way.
The best solution I could come up with was a brilliant one. It took an entire day perfecting the Earth spell - which is lame by itself - so I could manipulate the rocks I could make. With careful casting and well-placed whispers, I was able to form a multi-layered, hollow rock orb. In its core, I filled it with water and plugged it. The hole on the other side opened to the next layer, which I filled with sugar.
I set the grenade down and ran behind a tree. As if aiming a rifle, I pointed my wand at it and conjured the hottest pinpoint fire-laser I could muster. The rock heated, brought the water past the boiling point, then exploded - throwing shards of rock throughout the forest, dropping tree limbs and debris all around. The echo traveled far.
Where was the flame?
As I tried to debug my work, I realized the entire thing just wasn't very practical. Not only do dust fires not last long enough to cause much damage, but the whole process was cumbersome. Now that I could make containers out of rock, I'd do just as well to make a steam cannon. That was an idea, but an idea for another day.
The week was winding to a close, and I was confident in my new abilities. I begged Smith to let me go to the capital with Trell so I could level up and before I knew it, I was standing yet again in the Mage's Quarter of Nisa.
Chapter 14
The Noob
The bells chimed as I pulled open the door. The now-calming aroma of smoke and ash wafted out and hit me. I stepped inside. The walls were packed with colorful posters, signed autographs, and framed scrolls - likely keepsakes from some unknown time. It felt like walking into a hip music store. There was a bearded old man asleep at the counter.
The door shut behind me, bells chimed. "Um, excuse me," I said.
No reply. I walked closer. The old man was wearing what looked like a robe stitched out of potato sacks, a half-eaten salad pushed beside him on the counter, and he was... snoring. Was he a fire mage or just a homeless guy? "Excuse me," I said, a little louder this time.
He snorted but didn't open his eyes. I felt my patience burn away before I spotted the bell - ring for service scrawled beneath - and slammed my fist hard on it. Ding!
He jolted awake. "Hmph! Yes?"
"Hi, I'm here for training," I said.
"Yes?"
"For training?" I repeated.
"Yes. Yes, okay. Good, good," he said. He grunted as he stood up from the chair, stretched, and wiped his eyes. "Yes, yes, follow me to the fire room." He grabbed a folder and creaked open a side door that led downwards.
We walked down the
dark, narrow steps and into a basement area. Here I found a room that was coated in a strange, bubbly material. Much of it was charred black. On the far end of the room sat a metal folding chair. The old man reached in a nearby chest, dug something out, and dropped a stuffed animal in the seat. He shuffled back with feigned urgency.
"Do I burn it?" I asked.
"One second," he said. He was pulling papers out of the folder, struggling to keep it all in his arms as he licked the tip of his pen. "Your level?"
"Uh, five."
He nodded. "Okay, go ahead."
I took a deep breath, aimed my wand, and focused all my energy to create the most potent flame I could conjure. I felt the spirit of fire rise inside me, set my soul ablaze, and steam from my mouth. I shouted as if it were my warcry. "Fire!"
The room itself erupted, bathing us both blue flames before I panicked and clicked it off. A half second more and we would be incinerated as the stuffed animal had been. Steam was rising from the walls.
The old man whispered to himself, casting microbursts of water to dampen his clothes. "You realize," he said, "that to attain level 10 you must present a pale flame." He eyed me as a teacher would when correcting a pupil.
Was I about to fail? In a hurry, I mouthed my lips in a whisper and clicked my fingers like a lighter. From my thumb, a pale flame danced before I felt the heat burn me. I shook it away.
He nodded at this. "Your name?"
"Alex."
He scribbled down in the folder, waited a second, then watched as the rest of my information faded onto the paper. "Ah yes, a student of Priestess Malla. Perhaps she didn't tell you the leveling track."
"No, sorry," I said. "I didn't ask."
He bobbed his head with every other syllable. "Pale at 10, blue at 15, arguments at 20, and then you start the trials."
"So, did I pass?"
A faint smile crept across his face. "You're level 15 now." He went back to writing in my file. "Once you master the arguments, you will be level 20, and we will teach you explosion."