Maxwell

After we returned to the settlement, I excused myself from Rowena and made for my tent. I had leveled up and a few notifications were vying for my attention. She seemed to understand and waved me off. She said she planned to check a few things out and would be back in a bit.

In my tent I went over the notifications. The first and foremost one was my level up. It was very basic in that it said I leveled up to level two, gaining some more mana, I had twenty now, and that I had unlocked my first specialization. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited. I tapped on the next screen.

—

Choose a Specialization

Necromancer – Requirements: Dark

Pyromancer – Requirements: Fire

Warden – Requirements: Earth

Reaver – Requirements: Dark, Fire

Dark Lord – Requirements: Dark, Lord Class

Wizard King – Requirements: Lord

Warlord – Requirements: Lord

…

—

The list went on for quite a while. I had a sinking feeling that it was just as long as the initial class list that I was presented when I created my character. I went ahead and eliminated all the non-magic classes. Even before I chose the architecture of my village, I wanted to focus on magic.

I was worried that I would be choosing blind, but when I focused on one of the specializations it gave a short description. I focused on Wizard King as that was appealing. Wizard King – You are a master of the arcane arts. +500 mana. Must be a lord of a village. Class will be locked if territory is lost.

I pursed my lips. I hadn’t expected there to be such a drawback. That meant the others will likely have similar issues. I would need to choose carefully. The next hour or two was spent checking each specialization. They all had their issues. Necromancer caused you to be hated by everyone with a pulse. Warlord increased the chances of races seeking battle to find you.

Taking a deep breath, I clicked on my choice. Void Lord. The pros were great, and the cons were focused on my person. Void Lord – The void is at your command. +500 mana. Signs of the void touch are on you. Those with the knowledge of this fact might be antagonistic toward you. The knowledge of two minor spells formations rushed into my mind relieving one worry I had about taking on an unknown magic.

With the decision made, I felt like a small weight was off my shoulders. I rubbed my hands together and opened my status to check out my new stuff. I mean, who could resist checking out a new toy when they got one. I chuckled at the thought.

--

Name: Maxwell Orfen

Level: 2

Race: Dark Elf

Class: Lord

Specialization: Void Lord

Total Mana: 520/520

Abilities:

Dark Sight

Elemental Magic – Dark, Earth, Fire

Void Magic

Basic Sneak

City Management

--

I rubbed my chin in contemplation. That was a nice chunk of mana. It would let me get the village up and running in no time. Combined with Rowena and the other elves, I would even be able to afford the village wall. We would just need to gather the resources. I really wished I could log off and check the guide sites, but alas that was not possible.

Moving onto the next article, I focused on Void Magic. The two spells I got were Lesser Teleportation and Spatial Tear. The teleportation spell used a tremendous amount of my mana to move me anywhere I could picture within ten kilometers. It would be a godsend for managing my territory later down the road.

Spatial Tear turned out to be an attack spell. It basically sent a line of matter that I visualized to the void thus separating one section from the other. It was terrifying to think that spells like this might be used against me in the future. I was suddenly determined to raise my level as soon and as fast as I could.

Standing up, I moved outside. With everything going on, the night was nearing its end. There was probably another hour before sunrise. That also meant the night felt particularly dark as the moon was getting close to the horizon. I turned to look at the small mountain that was against our backs.

Small might be the wrong word. It rose well into the sky. I had been to Rocky Mountains once before on a camping trip. This peak felt to be about the same if not a little higher. Toward the top, I spotted a ledge. Man, I loved Elven eyes. Deciding that it might be nice to take in the sunrise from such a vantage point, I held out my hand.

A purple sigil formed over my hand. The circle grew until it was nearly a meter in diameter. This was a minor spell, and it was already this extreme. Part of me couldn’t wait to learn more Void magic. When nearly half my mana vanished, I felt my body get squeezed as if through a tube.

The pressure vanished almost too quickly. I stumbled, barely catching myself before I fell off the ledge. Breathing deeply in relief, I turned around to observe my new world. Beautiful. That was the only word that came to mind as I took in the majestic forest that stretched as far as the eye could see which was quite far.

Looking down, I spotted the tents of the settlement. They were barely a speck compared to our surroundings. Merely a drop in the ocean of this world that felt untouched. I found a small boulder and sat down. The scene was just too amazing as well as too overwhelming.

Realization that this was my permanent home now started to sink in. Rather than sad or angry, I felt joy. To be honest, I didn’t quite enjoy my life back in the real world. Money was always tight. I had no family, well, I had a father that I hadn’t spoken to in damn near five years. My attempt at college had put me deeply in the hole. Maybe this had been a blessing in the form of a curse.

I sat there until the sun had risen. I had expected the sun to look like the sun from Earth, but I had been wrong. While it was still an orangish-yellow ball, there was a massive magic circle that seemed to glow over the orb. One of the creators must have wanted to add a bit of flare to the daytime.

Standing up from my seat, I decided to turn this place into my private look out in the future. Using my teleportation skill again, I returned to the village to find Rowena had returned. I found this out because I nearly face planted into her as my spell put me down. I threw my arms out and grabbed her shoulders to keep from falling.

“Max!” she gasped a little surprised.

“In the flesh,” I replied with a grin. I corrected my posture. “Welcome back.”

“Thanks. I see you specialized. Teleportation at level two. There are so many people that are going to be mad if they heard that.”

I shrugged and replied. “I was surprised at how many options there were. Not to mention how many cons.”

“Ah, yes. My drawback is that I have to spend three hours a day communing with the forest.”

“Doesn’t sound too bad,” I replied.

“I’m left completely defenseless. It won’t be too bad once I get some true beasts to protect me, but until then for three hours I’m little more than a sitting duck.”

“Damn. Is that what you were taking care of?” I asked.

“Yep. Did you always look like that?” She asked scrutinizing my face. “This is the first time I’ve seen you in full light.”

“What do you mean?” She pulled a mirror from her storage then held it out. I took in my face with some shock. My eyes which had just been normalized before had gained a purple tint. Small crack ran from the corners into my hair that glowed slightly. My hair which had been black before had gained a purple tint. “While I admit that I think it looks cool. I fear that people with some knowledge are going to be on my bad side.”

“Ah. One of those. Necromancers have it the worst from what I hear. I’m not sure if it will last given what has happened, but there is a Necropolis in the Under Lands. They usually make their way there just to have a place to buy and sell.”

“A city full of necromancers. Sounds lovely.” The people of the village started emerging from their tents at that moment. Without an order from me the smell of breakfast started to fill the air. My stomach suddenly roared in anger at the delicious smells. “I guess we need to eat in this world.”

“Yep,” Rowena replied with a wide grin.

~~

Rowena and I had been surprised when we took in the villagers. Whatever had changed me had affected them as well. Their changes weren’t as pronounced as mine but it was clear they had been touched by the void. After a small breakfast of some dried meats and a few berries from the nearby woods, I went to work on the actual city managing.

Being that the village was a monarch, I had to build a castle before I could technically order the villagers to do anything. They would do what was needed to survive, but if I wanted one of them to go harvest iron for the village, there was a chance that they would just ignore me.

The good news was that there were a dozen different types of castles to choose from. I could create a towering structure that reigned supreme over the forest, or a simple manor. All of which could be upgraded at a later date. I selected a manor. The founding having given me just enough materials for its creation along with my now impressive supply of mana.

Rowena and I spent some time looking for a good spot. We both agreed that toward the back of the village was best, but where exactly was still up in the air. Finally, we settled on a spot a few hundred meters from the entrance to the cave. While placing the building, I found that I could change some of the details. I played with it until I had a four bedroom and one washroom structure. Two of the rooms would be for me to sleep and an office, while the other two would be guest rooms. Rowena, of course, getting one of the rooms.

Once I settled on everything, the resources vanished from the small stockpile near the tents. A white sigil appeared floating in front of me. I tilted my head at it but figured it must be for the mana. I placed my hand on it and moved the energy like I did when I was casting one of my spells. A few seconds and roughly a hundred and fifty mana later, the manor started to grow in front of us.

I had been curious to what it would look like. Magic-works sort of gave that glowing and energy feel when I tried to imagine it. It turned out that I was both right and wrong. The building assembled in front of us looking like a stone manor, only made from metal. It had been iron but had somehow been painted or colored purple. After the building was completed, blue bands of light started to carve their way in various patterns over the metal. It was quite impressive.

“Nice!” Rowena commented once everything settled down.

I nodded in agreement and walked inside the building with some excitement. While it was bare, a few furnishings had been provided. Mainly there was three beds, a desk and chair, and a few tables here and there. The beds were made from wood, with blue lines pulsing on those as well. We would need to acquire the materials to make proper mattresses, but for now, we could place our sleeping bags on them.

“Now we can get started,” I said placing a hand on the desk. I wanted the wall done before nightfall. That meant we needed to start gathering some resources. It was going to be a busy day.