“God damnit Inkler!” I swore as I walked into chaos. Chairs were knocked over, plates were shattered, food was everywhere. Inkler was in the kitchen, staring at a specific spot on the wall and licking his lips. He didn’t even turn in my direction, until I thumped him in the forehead. “We are guests here, and look what you did! I swear, I will do something most unpleasant to you if you hurt that brownie that was supposed to be cleaning for us.”

“I’m ok sir, thank you for your concern.” A high pitched voice from the wall called out. Inkler immediately started tracking the source, getting another thump in the forehead from me.

“That’s it, no more lazing about for you. You will be attached to my hip for the rest of this trip, just so that you keep out of trouble. I’m sorry for all the trouble he has caused, rest assured you will have the entire afternoon free of him.” I spoke to the wall. Shrugging at the lack of an answer, I headed to the table to see what could be salvaged. There wasn’t much, but I did manage to cobble together a decent snack for myself. Inkler got another thump on the head when he tried to muscle in on my food. “Nope. You knocked plenty of it on the ground, you can eat some of that. Better hurry, we have an important meeting in a little while." Tucking back into my food, I kept an eye on Inkler as he batted around some different dishes before settling on what looked like a fish at some point. Just as I finished up, I heard a gong sound through the apartment.

“The headmaster is ready to see you know sir.” The guard from earlier said.

“One moment.” I replied, turning to shout back into the apartment, “Inkler! Time to go. Don’t give me that look, you’ve had plenty of time to eat. Time to go.” Eventually he slunk towards us, and the guard’s eyes widened in shock. “I think we are good to go.” I said, and he turned and led us past the training yard to the towering academy on the other side. The guard strode through the main greeting hall, and groups of drow wearing different colored robes cleared the way for us. I didn’t pick up most of what they were whispering, but I wasn’t particularly paying attention either. I simply kept my head high and eyes straight, easily keeping pace with the guard as we made our way over to a magic elevator. Once inside, he pushed a series of buttons and we started moving. The ride was incredibly smooth, and in far less time than I would have thought we reached our destination.

“The Adventurer Angus MacG, here to see the headmaster.” The guard said to a receptionist, who oddly enough was wearing leather armor. While he was talking to her, I kept my eyes on the hidden guard in the corner under some form of invisibilty.

“What are you looking at Angus?” The receptionist asked after a bit of silence.

“Hmm? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I asked what you were looking at?”

“Oh, just the invisible guard in the corner there. Is the headmaster ready for us?” As I asked the question, the guard dropped her invisibility.

“Follow me please. Might I ask how you managed to pierce my stealth? Professional reasons.” She explained, leading us down a hallway filled with motifs of magic and spiders.

“Mystic vision allows me to see concentrations of mana. While normal and dark vision would probably be fooled by your skill, it still takes mana to use it. That’s what I was seeing.”

“Ah. Thank you, I will look into this vulnerability.” She said, holding the door open for us. We walked in, and there was the oldest looking drow I had ever seen. Black robes with gold trim hung off his frame, his face covered in wrinkles and his head shaved. Despite all this, his eyes were still incredibly alert as he looked me up and down. Dismissing me, his brow furrowed as he inspected Inkler despite the fact that Inkler was using his optical camouflage.

“An interesting specimen. His invisibility is inferior to our enchantments, though he doesn’t seem to be requiring mana for it. How did you acquire him?”

“He evolved from a nightliger.” I explained, taking a seat. “This is Inkler, and I’m Angus.” I said, extending my hand as Inkler dropped his invisibility and sat down next to my chair.

“Headmaster Zalban.” He said, shaking my hand. “Oh? He’s a variant as well? I’ll pay 500 platinum for him.”

“Sorry, not for sale. Inkler is more than just a battle pet to me.” I was saved from further discussion by another drow entering, who seemed to be rather nervous.

“Apologies for being late.”

“What are you doing here, clanless?” The headmaster practically growled.

“Are you the Drul’kaath representative?” I asked, getting a hiss from the headmaster and a nod from the new drow. I turned to explain to the headmaster. “It’s ok, I asked for him. They recently purged the stain upon their family honor, and are eligible to be a clan again.”

“Indeed. Our clan owes much to Angus, and are very much looking forward to his dungeon. I am Catod Drul’kaath, representing the Drul’kaath for this meeting.” He said, taking a seat across from me.

“Very well. If you aren’t selling me the beast, what are we here for?” The headmaster asked, getting annoyed.

“Well, I have two new spells to register. I was hoping to craft a spellbook for them, and see if the Drul’kaath could turn them into an enchantment. I also wish to set up limited exclusivity.”

“Harumph.” He grunted, staring at me for a few uncomfortable seconds. “Display the spells, tell me their ranks.”

“Very well. Before I show the first one, could you stand and start throwing some punch combinations Catod? It’ll be relevant in a minute.” Once he complied, I let him go for a few seconds so that Zalban could get an idea for his motions. “[Disco strobe].” I said calmly, setting the spell above the middle of the table. Catod kept his movements the same, though the strobing light was making everything seem incredibly disjointed. I let him go for about ten seconds before cancelling the skill.

“Right now it is at beginner level one, and switching vision modes will render it useless.” I explained.

“I see. I can set that up, what did you have in mind for exclusivity on it?”

“Well, I plan to use it at select points in my dungeon. Best scenario? Let the Drul’kaath turn it into an enchantment and allow them to use it in areas where there won’t be any adventurers for the next month. After that, we can set it free on the market. Same for this next one. Before I activate it, do you have the trap detect skill by chance?” Both drow nodded, and activated their skills. “Thank you. Now, if you check, the table here is obviously free of traps. Now, for my new spell. [False traplight].” A wave of my hand, and a rectangle of red light appeared on the table.

“Devious. Your light will show up and make a rogue doubt their skills. Can you tell me how you want it set up?”

“Sure. This one is rankless, and again I would like to set up exclusivity with the Drul’kaath for the next month. I’m hoping for them to develop two enchantments. One with a toggle trigger, activated by a phrase. For the other, could you set a conditional trigger based upon skill usage?”

“Hmm.” Catod furrowed his brow for a second. “It would have to be limited to one skill, but we could do it.”

“Excellent. Then I would love it if you could set it to activate with the use of detect trap.” I answered with a smile.

“That is a very drow usage.” The headmaster replied with a chuckle. “May we also have this installed in areas we aren’t expecting adventurers?”

“I’m fine with that. And when the adventurers are through with my dungeon, you are free to release the spell on the market.”

“Excellent. What would the Drul’kaath require for creating these enchantments?”

“It would be best if we have at least three enchanters with access to the skills. Other than that, nothing.”

“Very well. Standard compensation, ten percent royalties for the first six months on both spells. These are support spells, and are often overlooked for battle. The guild will pay ten gold for each spell.”

“Those royalties start after the spells go to market, correct?”

“That’s correct.” He said with a chuckle.

“And what will you be charging us?” Catod asked.

“Sixty percent royalties for six months. You can set the price for the enchantment and determine who you sell it to after the initial month.”

“Any requirements to share this enchantment with the enchanter’s guild?”

“Not really.” I said with a shrug. “Since you will be doing the adaption, if you wish to maintain a monopoly on it for as long as possible that’s fine with me. Just know that as soon as they are able, you will likely have adventurers creating their own enchantments. It would probably be best to register it as soon as you can.”

“Then we have a deal.” Catod said, shaking my hand.

“I find myself in agreement as well.” The headmaster said. “If you want, we can start with transferring the spells to me. I’ll make the copies for the Drul’kaath, and also commission their first enchantments once figure it out.” I nodded, and he walked around behind me. Placing one hand on the top of my head, and one hand on top of my right hand, he said, “Go ahead and activate one of them.”

“Very well. [False traplight].” As I activated the skill, I could feel the headmaster’s mana sampling mine. The skill seemed to take a slight bit longer to activate.

“Excellent. Now the other one.” The headmaster ordered, and I quickly complied. Again the skill took a little bit longer to activate, and the headmaster grunted when it was done. “I didn’t realize that was simply a modified magelight spell. Impressive. If you’ll give me a minute, I will write out orders for the receptionist to pay you. As for the Drul’kaath, I’ll have three skill books delivered by the end the day tomorrow. Is that acceptable?”

“I’m fine with that.” I answered.

“We are as well.”

“Perfect. Here you go.” The headmaster said, handing me a sheet of paper that he had scribbled something down on. “Present that to the receptionist, and she will get you your twenty gold. The mage guild thanks you for your contribution, and looks forward to working with you in the future.” Shaking his hand and taking the sheet, we headed out and back towards the receptionist.

“All finished?” She asked with a chipper voice.

“With the headmaster. He gave us this, but I was also wondering if I could purchase a few low level light spells. Preferably some with attack capabilities.” She nodded, and started looking rummaging around in her desk. “These are all we have, I’ll take their cost out of your twenty gold.” I looked them over really quick, then nodded at her. I left with seventeen gold, and headed down to the training yard to practice the two new skills I had bought. By the end of the afternoon, I was fairly happy with my progress.

Light bolt

Beginner level 4

A weaker spell, it makes up for the lack of damage with its ability to be spammed.

Damage: 15-30

Cost: 5 mana

Cooldown: 1 second

Lance of light

Beginner level 3

An upgrade of the light bolt spell, it does more damage though it does have a longer cooldown.

Damage: 75-100

Cost: 10 mana

Cooldown: 5 seconds