Path of Darkness

by A P Gore

  Jon set about cleaning a small area in his hut before unrolling the bedroll Kron had given him. The hut was littered with grass, weed, and spiderwebs. He didn’t have a broom, but he knew the basic design. So, he went outside and collected few overgrown waist-high useless plants and created a makeshift broom for sweeping up the dust and spider webs.

  In the real world, Jon had lived on an industrial planet where every person was given an apartment when they turned twenty, and those apartments had automatic cleaning systems. Though he was a farmer, he’d worked in a large greenhouse divided into multiple farms for the people living on the planet.

  But he had seen a broom design in a history book, and it came in handy here. Still, he wished he had a utility skill to clean up.

  A chuckle slipped from him when he imagined what would happen if he cast Mold Earth inside the hut. It would crumble to pieces.

  In the end, he just cleared a portion of the hut with his shovel and the makeshift broom before placing his bedroll. The sheets were old, but it was still better to place his butt on the soft cloth than on the hard dirt.

  When he’d settled himself, he took out the journal and flipped to the page he had left off on.

  “Formationist

  Learn and master the following formations:

  Amplification Formation: A formation that will amplify the effect of things inside the formation. It can be used to amplify damage, Mana or Spirit generation, healing, or any utility function.”

  So, the journal wanted him to become a Formationist. Flipping to the next page, he read on.

  “I’ve imbued this paper with some of my magic so you can receive the Formationist base class. Pour some of your Spirit into the symbol below and absorb the class. But you have to have your first or second class empty. If you don’t, the class absorption might kill you.”

  There was a weird-looking symbol below the text. It looked like two circles intersecting each other, and a letter of an unknown language was drawn in the intersection portion.

  Jon scratched his days’ worth of stubble. Technically, his second class was empty, but it was locked. What was the worst that could happen? It might kill him, but he’d respawn.

  Why not?

  In a game where the only consequence of death was pain, why wouldn’t he use his life to gain advantages?

  Without another thought, he placed his palm on the page and willed his Spirit to enter the page.

  Nothing happened.

  Something was wrong. Whenever he cast a spell, he always felt the Spirit leave his body through his palm, so why wasn’t it working right now?

  He tried again, but nothing happened.

  This was weird. Placing the book in his Bag of Holding, he rose and started walking toward Kron’s hut. Kron had mentioned something about charging his flags with Mana, and that sounded a lot like what he was trying to do with Spirit.

  He found Kron in the field, planting seeds by moonlight. When Kron spotted him, he dropped his shovel.

  “Jon,” Kron said.

  “Do you need some help?” Jon said. “I can mold the land for you.”

  Kron rose, wiping his hands on his gray trousers. “That would be great.”

  Jon smiled and then cast Mold Earth.

  The land shifted, bringing the lower layer up and pushing the upper layer down. In the process, it swallowed Kron’s shovel.

  “Oops.” Jon laughed and cast another Mold Earth. The shovel came back up, but Jon was out of Spirit.

  “That’s enough.” Kron let a rare smile play on his lips. “As long as I’m not standing there.”

  Jon looked away. It was embarrassing. Next time, he should be careful about where he cast his spell.

  Kron patted his shoulder. “Are you hungry?”

  “No. I want to learn how to imbue the flags with Mana.”

  Kron raised his brows. “Mana manipulation? Why?”

  “I need to level up Spirit Cycling for my spells, but I don’t know how that works, so I guess learning to imbue Mana would work similarly on Spirit too.” He omitted the fact that he needed to learn for the journal and a new class. It would be dangerous to tell anyone that, and he didn’t even know if the information was legit.

  “Okay.” Kron nodded and walked into his hut.

  Jon followed. Once inside, Kron pulled his flags out and handed two to Jon.

  Once again, Jon had those flags in his hand, and this time he carefully observed them and compared them to the blank flags he had. Curious, he cast perception on the flag.

  Fortunately, it succeeded, which he didn’t expect.

  Amplification Formation Flag

  Creates a temporary formation to enhance plant growth. The flag can be used once in twelve hours.

  Quality: Low

  Level: Tier 0

  Mana: 20/50

  “Does this increase shovel strength too?” Jon asked.

  “No.”

  But Jon had seen Grimish using his flags to increase his hit power too. Was it an illusion, or were his flags different?

  “Watch carefully.” Kron placed one flag on the palm of his left hand and placed his other palm on top of it. “Mana is in your heart. Imagine pushing it to your hand. Once it’s in your hand, push it into the flag.”

  “Do you know where Spirit is? Is it in your heart too?” Jon asked, staring at the flag. The flag had Mana in it, so there was no point in trying to push the Mana into it. So, he pulled a weed seed from his seed bottle and placed it on his palm.

  “I don’t know.”

  He knew nothing. But that was expected. Jon would bet Kron had never stepped out of the outpost area in his two hundred fifty years here. But that wouldn’t be the case for Jon. He had to step out and see the beautiful world he had seen in those game videos.

  Jon closed his eyes and pondered the issue. When he cast the spell, the initial pull emerged from somewhere near his heart. Maybe the source of Spirit lived next to his heart.

  To test it, he cast Elemental Shield. It was the only spell he had that wouldn’t result in an attack or major changes. A jolt of power emerged from the right side of his chest and spread through his hands to slip out of his palms and create a semi-transparent shield of air around him. With his eyes closed, he could spot the small air elements gathering around him rapidly.

  “There it is.” Jon opened his eyes and found Kron staring at him with a weird expression.

  He pointed at the shield around Jon’s body. “What’s that?”

  “Just a spell.” Ignoring the subtext in Kron’s question, Jon closed his eyes again. He had important matters to handle.

  After Kron left, placing his hand on the right side of his chest, he again initiated the Elemental Shield. A light green spark emerged in his chest, beneath his hand, and flowed toward his hands.

  After casting the spell, the spark disappeared and darkness prevailed.

  Jon once again cast his spell. The spark shone and vanished, but he didn’t spot its origin point.

  For the next hour, he cast the spell again and again, constantly searching the darkness. On the fifteenth cast, the spark shone brightly, and a thin line of green power emerged from it and shot toward his hands.

  Your Elemental Shield has reached 100% progression. Elemental Shield advances to level 2.

  The next time he cast the spell, the spark shone with brighter intensity, but that was it. He still couldn’t find the source of the Spirit nor a way to push it out his hand.

  Jon continued casting his spell and emptying his Spirit for one more hour. The spark remained at the same intensity, and his spell didn’t level up. He did, however, get +1 to Wisdom for his relentless effort. Apparently, the game liked him continuously emptying his Spirit reserve and filling it back up.

  At least something came of it.

  A hand touched his shoulder, so Jon opened his eyes.

  Kron had come back, and sat next to him, worry evident in his eyes. “Are you all right? You’re sweating.”

  Jon sud
denly realized he was drenched in sweat. His clothes were completely soaked through. His back hurt, and his legs were numb.

  “Sorry. I was trying to see my Spirit. It initiates from the right side of my chest, but no matter how much I try, I can’t figure out how to increase my Spirit Cycling level.” Disappointment laced Jon’s voice.

  “That’s unfortunate. It takes time. When I first tried. I would empty 10 Mana instantly. After many days, I learned to cut it down to 1 Mana.

  “Cut it off after one drop,” Jon muttered to himself. What if he cut the spell he cast in half? When the spell had backfired, some green energy had slipped out of his palm. Hadn’t it backfired from cutting the spell in half?

  A sudden crazy thought occurred to him, and he sat down, ready for the next spell backfire.

  Chapter 19

  Before Jon carried on with his experiment, he cast a Healing Space below himself. Spell backlash was intensely painful, so he’d better be prepared for the worst.

  Kron gave him a strange look as he observed the energy radiating below Jon’s legs, but he asked nothing.

  Smiling at him, Jon closed his eyes and repeated the Elemental Shield spell, but this time when the Spirit line dashed toward his hands, he willed the spell to end.

  Boom.

  A sharp pain—muscle-tearing pain—jolted through his hands. This was the second time he’d felt this, but it didn’t dampen the intensity of the pain. Gasping for breath, Jon almost lost it, but thanks to the healing spell, his pain was dampened a little.

  Suddenly, a surge of green energy flew from the green spark, pushing the smaller thread forward, and it came like a flood, destroying the muscles in Jon’s hands.

  Again, the Healing Space’s healing effect spread through his body, recovering twenty Health. As the muscles tore, they re-patched together. However, the push of the spell backlash was so strong that it eventually surpassed the healing rate, resulting in immense pain.

  “Jon!”

  Jon heard Kron cry out as he gasped for breath. Sweat poured all over him, but the healing rate again overtook the spell backlash, and the pain slowly reduced, letting Jon breathe properly.

  This was no joke. Spell backlash could easily kill him if not for Healing Space.

  In next few seconds, he recovered his lost Health thanks to the Healing Space effect. But seeing Kron’s are-you-crazy look, he realized he should do something like this in the privacy of his own hut. Seeing torturing himself, Kron might think he was a crazy dude.

  Heck, he would happily turn crazy if that gives him all advantages available in the game.

  “Let’s have dinner.” Jon smiled, trying to deflect Kron’s suspicious gaze.

  The result was positive, and with few more tries he would get enough Spirit out of his palm to imbue it inside the book.

  An hour later, Jon sat on his bedroll holding a weed seed in his palm, ready to continue his experiment.

  After casting his Healing Space, he cast Elemental Shield once again. This time, he stopped it when the Spirit was about to slip out of his hand.

  The pain shot across his body, but his heart soared at the same time, seeing a thin thread of green energy slipping out of his hand and entering the seed on his palm.

  System: Are you crazy? Who in the world asks for spell backlash like you do? Due to your hard efforts, you gain +1 to Spirit Cycling.

  Ignoring the message, he focused on the changes happening in the seed. The usually gray seed glowed with green energy, like it would burst with the energy any time, but the glow faded after a few seconds.

  The whole process brought a smile to Jon’s face.

  Casting perception on the seed, he checked its properties.

  Weed Seed

  Quality: Normal

  He pulled out another seed and cast perception.

  Weed Seed

  Quality: Low

  So, the Spirit infusion had increased its quality. What would happen if he planted this and used Land Heal on it?

  The possibilities were endless. Just thinking about it gave him goosebumps. But he put his focus back on the task at hand.

  The journal.

  With his heart trying to jump out of his chest, he once again opened the journal and flipped to the page that had the weird diagram of two circles intersecting.

  The circles had a profound meaning, and he was about to find it out.

  Holding his breath, Jon cast his Elemental Shield and then cut it just before the spell took effect.

  After a bout of pain, the thin thread of green energy shot out of his hand and entered the page. The energy rotated along the circles and then vanished inside the book. His heart slammed against his chest in joy.

  But before he could rejoice, a black thread of energy shot out of the journal and touched his palm.

  A black prompt filled his vision.

  System: Do you want to accept the Formationist class as your second class? Accepting it will trigger an Epic quest. Spirit Cost: 1200 Yes/No.

  Error, the player level is too low to accept a second class.

  Error overridden due to Unique Class.

  Without reading everything, Jon clicked on yes.

  Damn, he shouldn’t have.

  The black thread cleaved into hundreds of smaller threads and stabbed into his palm. Pain followed it, rendering Jon incapable of doing anything.

  The Spirit spark in his chest sparkled with a dazzling light, and a finger-thick thread shot from it toward his palm. The Spirit thread was too powerful and big for his hand, so it literally plundered every muscle in his hand and devoured them to pass through.

  Jon shouted in agony, but the assault on his palm continued as the black threads sipped spirit energy from his palm.

  With all his might, Jon tried to pull his hand away from the black threads, but it didn’t work. The black threads remained attached to his palm, and the counter below the weird diagram increased slowly.

  10 - 20 - 40 - 60.

  If it wasn’t for the Healing Space effect, he would have died. Thank god it was replenishing his life to keep it at full.

  Not for long.

  As soon as his Spirit bar emptied, the black thread started devouring his blood. His life went downhill.

  220 - 200 -180 - 160. It only stopped when his Spirit source refilled.

  He gasped as the pull shifted to his Spirit source, and his life started refilling.

  But it ain’t over until it’s finally over. As soon as the Spirit source emptied, the pull shifted to blood again. And there was another thing to worry about. In a few seconds, his Healing Space effect would end.

  Damn!

  Sweat and blood ran over Jon’s mouth. His nose was bleeding. The effect and pressure of this process had become too much for him, and now he was afraid he would pass out before it ended.

  Maybe that wouldn’t be too bad, but what if he died in the middle? No, even the thought made his whole body shudder.

  The pull shifted to his blood once again, and the Healing Space effect ended two seconds later.

  The blood veins on his chest popped up and broke. Blood oozed out of his chest, and the pain went straight to his head. It was too much to bear, and he wanted it to stop.

  God! He screamed in vain, but nothing saved him.

  Healing Space. He shouted, casting the spell on the ground. His half-filled Spirit source almost emptied, but his pain eased a little. The 20 health regeneration effect was holding him back from going insane, and he needed it.

  Nearly crying, he glanced at the counter on the book.

  401/1200

  God it wasn’t even filled halfway.

  The cycle of pain and agony continued for almost an hour. When it stopped, he dropped dead on the ground. Well, not dead, but on the edge of passing out.

  What the heck did the book accomplish by turning him into a bloodless, spiritless corpse? The game surely had its own methods of torture, and he had fallen for one. Jon was still gasping for breath when a golden light shot fro
m the book and entered his body.

  System: Congratulations you have obtained the unique class Formationist. This class allows you to learn Offense, Defense, and Utility formations. This class can be upgraded to Formation Adapt after fulfilling certain conditions.

  Global System Alert: Jon has obtained two unique classes from the ancient races, and hence he has been awarded 5000 experience and 10 gold.

  What the f-k!

  System: Congratulations, you have reached level 3. You gain +3 skill points and +5 stat points. You can also choose a new spell.

  Congratulations, your intense pain and pressure has improved your Spirit Cycling.

  +1 Spirit Cycling.

  +1 Wisdom.

  Chapter 20

  Devon was sipping apple juice in his office on the top floor of the Laxania corporation building when the red dot followed by an intense beep attracted his attention.

  “Boss, it’s Denis again. He says it’s urgent.”

  Devin turned to face his assistant, Max. “Not again.” Denis had already given him lots of trouble. The mess that had happened with Jon Bacardi wasn’t nearly over. What was it this time? Had he let another player get a class?

  “Now what, Denis?”

  “Boss!” Denis’s face was darkened, almost black.

  “Spit it out. What did you do this time?”

  “Boss, that bastard Jon has received another class, and this time another unique class.”

  Devon’s hand shook violently. Some of the precious apple juice that had cost dozens of chips splashed out. “How? For the devil’s sake, Denis. How in the world did he get two unique classes in less than four days? What the heck were you doing when he obtained them?”

  Denis smashed his head on the small table he sat in front of. “I don’t know boss. He’s just too strange. And now all the players on the farms know, and they will soon start asking.”

  A vein in Devon’s forehead throbbed in pain. This player was really a pain in the ass. How in the world did he get his hands on those two classes? There were billions of players in BlackFlame Online, but only thousands had a unique class, and only a few dozen had found two unique classes. The possibility of it happening was too small. So, how had he done it?