Book 1, Chapter 10: Two Weeks Later

[Alen]

Alen flipped open the next page of the book, the nearly faded black text being scanned by his eyes as he reached the end of the second volume of Magic Theory, piles of book relating to magic and mana types that he’d read over the past two weeks surrounding him as he read.

…The Schools of Magic are numerous and new branches are discovered by the decade. Type is merely the nature of the user’s mana; constant and capable of adjustment. A mage with nature-type mana can channel flames from the school of Evocation, mana of holy alignment may cast curses, etc. An example of this is the Chilling Flame spell, one of the most basic melded magic created used by novices to practice their control. This spell takes the freezing properties of ice-type mana and mixes it with the explosive, rampaging properties of fire mana to create a blue flame that sticks to surfaces as if burning; spreading frostbite in place of burns…

He flipped to the next page and sighed, closing the book as he read the last few sentences that summarized all that was explained in the old pages. Alen gazed out the window and squinted his eyes as he looked down at the watch on his wrist. He’d taken this thing with him when he arrived in this world, and it had been a great friend to his scheduling.

Returning the book to its respective shelf, he walked out of the library to a cozy-looking restaurant a few minutes away. As soon as he entered, the smell of freshly baked bread and the clicking of spoons and forks greeted his senses. Alen smiled as he saw an orange-haired warrior sitting alone on a table.

“Yo,” Alen said, sitting down across the warrior and raising a hand in greeting.

“Yeah,” Roland muttered, looking through the menu in front of him. “Pork shoulder or Genn’s hound stew?”

Alen shrugged. “I haven’t tried either of those, so I suggest you go for the true master race; Rudwing sandwiches, which is the actual deific manifestation of food.”

“If there was an actual god of food, you’d have been smited by now.”

“If that was the case, the cunt would’ve lost a perfectly good worshipper.”

As the two of them exchanged idle chatter, an elf walked into the restaurant, attracting a few curious glances due to her snow-white hair. She pulled on a chair and sat down in between them, letting out a tired sigh as she fixed her messily assembled ponytail.

Roland raised an eyebrow at her as Alen in front of him called a waitress over to their table.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m a mess,” Lynn said, snatching the menu from Alen and browsing through it. The necromancer ordered the Rudwing sandwiches, which were essentially glorified square-shaped burgers, along with some juice, before looking at her as the waitress took Roland’s order.

“The fuck happened to you?” Alen asked, resting his chin on his palm to give her a look.

Lynn sighed. “Well, when you dragged me around the city yesterday night to look for new equipment, I forgot I had a request to finish from the Commissions House. I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night trying to finish it.”

Roland set down his menu. “Did you, though?”

“Yes,” She nodded, smiling. “I have enough money to buy that Waterwood Bow I’ve been eyeing since I got here now.”

“See, I’ll help out with your commissions next time. It’s a great way to leech off of your XP, Lynn. You should’ve messaged me man,” Alen grinned and took a sip of the juice the barmaid had set down in front of him.

“No no, not again,” She said. “You already beat me to the fifth threshold three days ago. My only consolation is Roland’s… what was it? Leveling speed?”

Alen nodded. He’d been using gaming terms so much over the past week that the two had begun to use them as well. Roland meanwhile, let out a sound of complaint. “Those ghouls are really fast you know? They aren’t something I can beat easily, so I’m still stuck fighting zombies that don’t give as much XP.”

“If you guys give me another chance to touch a Ghoulbear, I can cast Dominate Undead, and we can finally kick Roland out of the party. Ghoulbear best tank,” Alen grinned.

Roland drank from his mug and grinned back. “I think you’re forgetting how many times I’ve saved your ass from ghouls that slip past your undead, Alen. Though, I’d expect nothing less from a necromancer that doesn’t raise his Agility rating.”

Alen let out a snort. “Pfft. I have Lynn for that. Instead of getting XP, I’m delegating her to the role of my personal ass-saver.”

“You do realize I’m the party leader, right?” Lynn laughed.

The necromancer in front of her snapped his head towards her. “Shut up you white man. Take your privilege somewhere else.”

“What does that even mean?” She shook her head and took a drink.

Time passed idly, and as the food arrived, Roland stabbed his fork into a piece of meat and shoved it in his mouth. He looked at the two around him who were doing the same and opened his mouth to speak. “You’ve both dropped out of the expedition, right?”

“Yup.”

“I never intended to join in the first place.”

Roland nodded and swallowed the bite he had taken. “I’m planning on dropping out too.”

“Whoa dude,” Alen grinned, biting into his glorified burger. “You’re finally succumbing to your urges and joining the male escorts in the red light district? ‘Grats, man. Really proud of you here.”

The two chose to ignore him completely, something they managed to figure out in the two weeks they’d known him. Lynn took another sip and spoke up. “What’re your plans, then? As you two already know, I’m leaving the city in three days.”

“I plan to do the same after I settle all the requests I’ve taken here. Draenys isn’t the kind of place I’m looking to stay long in, especially this early into my journey,” Roland said.

Alen swallowed and pointed at them. “See, you’re leaving, and you’re leaving. I plan on leaving for the western side of the continent,” He pointed to himself, then pointed to the two again. “We’re all leaving, so why don’t we leave together?”

Lynn looked up at him. “Sorry, I don’t need someone to leech off the mana I assimilate.”

Roland nodded, grinning. “I’m tired of saving you repeatedly, you know? Plus, the smell that hangs around your undead is beginning to stick to you.”

The elf followed up. “Speaking of which, do you mind moving a few tables away from us? Preferably outside, actually. Shoo, shoo,” She did a shooing motion in his direction.

Alen stood up. “You two wanna fucking fight? Fight me.”

The two in front of him laughed and Alen sat back down, crunching on the ice inside his drink. “Seriously though, you guys down?”

The orange-haired warrior shrugged. “Sure. I don’t really have a destination anyways.”

Lynn smiled sweetly at him. “Buy me one of those expensive drinks and I’ll consider it.”

“Fuck you. Do you realize just how many boxes of chicken jerky you’ve eaten from my stock? If you start eyeing Cuck, I’ll actually fucking fight you,” Alen glared at her as he finished his sandwich, taking a gulp from the drink in front of him.

She laughed and shook her head.

The three of them stayed inside the restaurant for another hour, and as they left together, it was settled. The group aptly named Lynn’s Party would be staying together, even after Draenys. Though, Lynn’s plans were going to be delayed by a day or two, as Roland still had commissions to finish. The three of them left the city, walking towards the forest leisurely with their new equipment.

Alen let loose a Blightbolt, his mana gathering at the tip of his Rotwood Staff and exploding out in the form of a bolt the size of a fist. It exploded against the leg of a zombie that was sneaking up on Roland, who was now clad in full iron armor. The undead’s leg was completely rotted away, degrading even parts of the bone as it fell to the ground and flailed, the effects of Alen’s improved spell and new equipment showing their potential.

Roland glanced back at him and bashed his shield against an undead, smashing its skull in as he advanced towards a zombie that was larger than the rest. Arrows made of ice swished past him, slaughtering any stray foes that tried to hinder his advance.

As he advanced, Alen looked down on his body that was covered in a thick, black robe designed for mages in cold climates, with leather armor layered above it. He slipped his hand into a pocket on the side of his robe and brought out a handful of teeth. Tossing the six teeth around him, they immediately began to surge out and expand, forming into six Bone Wolves as the mana inside the teeth fueled the creation of the skeletons through the properties of the Restoration School.

The six wolves Eilynn had helped him hunt a few days ago finished turning into skeleton wolves within a short fifteen seconds, immediately bursting into action and turning black as Empowerment was cast upon them. The wolves tore into the giant zombie’s legs and torso, knocking it down before Roland could get through the nearly dozen zombies that continued to block his way.

An arrow of frost, one with a serrated edge, sunk into a zombie, and exploded from the inside, tearing the undead apart as sharp points of ice pierced out from the inside of its body from within to make it look like a porcupine. The spikes impaled five more zombies nearby, killing four and incapacitating one as Roland ran past, stabbing a zombie through the chest and decapitating the next as he ran up to the large undead. With a grunt, his shield glowed with a soft gray light as it shattered the leg of the giant zombie. It fell to the ground as the bone wolves tore it apart. Eventually, Roland managed to land the killing blow by stabbing it through the eye as it flailed about.

He heard Alen cursing at him from the back and grinned, facing forward and raising his shield as he faced the group of ghouls running towards him on all fours. The bone wolves surged forward, matching, and even surpassing some of the ghouls in speed before engaging in a mess of teeth, claws, and rotting blood.

A ghoul ran past the wolves and jumped at Roland. He stepped back and twisted his body, bashing it to the side with his shield. The ghoul screeched as it hit the ground and jumped again, its claws scratching against his softly glowing round shield. His shield pulsed with a gray light before his mana exploded out from the enchantment Lynn and himself had engraved into the metal. The ghoul was thrown back, the fragile bones in its body shattering as it flopped to the ground, dead.

Above him, the trees rustled as Lynn jumped from branch to branch, her thick hide coat fluttering behind her as she drew her bow. The blue crystals on its surface glowed, and an arrow of frost formed, which she immediately released. Another formed, and then another as she released them in quick succession.

Five arrows flew, the first two killing a single ghoul as the last three pierced through the neck, head, and chest of three more.

The six bone wolves, now not as busy as before, tore apart the four remaining ghouls. As three died, Roland saw Alen step past him and point his staff at a fleeing ghoul. Mana condensed on the tip of his staff as he increased the value of the mana variable of one of his new spells; Rotfire Bolt. It exploded forward silently, hitting the ghoul in the back as it exploded in a torrent of necrotic mana, enveloping it like a flame as its flesh was eaten away by the black-green fire.

Finally, the forest quieted down as the wolves came back to Alen in order to surround him protectively. The three felt the mana flow into them, and Alen opened his slightly modified status screen to check on his mana.

Status:

Name: Alen

Race: Human

Type: Necrotic

Health: 100%

Stamina: 91%

Mana: 83%

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 14

Agility: 12

Constitution: 14

Vitality: 14

Resistance: 12

Intelligence: 20 (+)

Wisdom: 25 (+++)

Control: 25 (++)

Skills:

Mana Programming, Dominate Undead, Blightbolt, Lesser Undead Empowerment, Numb Senses, Summon Skeletal Minion, Rotfire Bolt, Deathchill Touch

Alen sighed. He really needed to improve the efficiency of his new spells. Rotfire Bolt alone, due to it being a melded magic utilizing two types of mana, cost him an entire seven percent of his mana on a normal cast. Since he increased the output, it had even cost him nine percent this time. He suspected it would cost nearly double that had he not passed his fifth threshold, and even more if he didn’t have his staff that was crafted from the trees in the area that had soaked up necrotic-type mana for years on end. The spell’s power was no question though, which was why Alen continued to use it.

Roland looked at him and Lynn, a weird expression on his face. “Your new spells are overkill. I’m surprised you still have mana, Lynn.”

The elf jumped down from the tree and wrapped her coat tighter around her as she let out a breath that turned into faint white mist. “It’s a lot easier to cast it when the weather’s this cold. Plus, my third highest attribute is Wisdom, so my mana reserves are still good.”

“That spell cost me like, nine percent of my mana,” Alen paused. “Though the sticky black fire-jizz is worth.”

The warrior shook his head. “If you ever get into a duel with a mage from a noble house, do us all a favor and don’t call that spell ‘fire-jizz’ in front of him.”

“Or us,” Lynn chimed in. “Ever.”

Alen grinned at her. “Come on, Lynn. We all know you laughed the first time I called it that. And don’t even try to pretend, Roland. You know you want to see more of daddy Alen’s sticky fire-jizz.”

“Please don’t say that ever again,” Roland said, walking forward with a sigh and leading the way as the two behind him started laughing.

As they walked, the elf behind him urged them to stop as she jumped down from a tree and began to examine a corpse nearby. After a few moments, she raised her head. “Claws ripped this zombie apart. It’s either a giant, cannibalistic ghoul that hates zombies, or Alen got his wish and we’re near a Ghoulbear’s territory.”

Alen stopped, and went silent. Roland looked at him and lapsed into thought, until Lynn’s voice rang out again. “I say we go for it.”

The necromancer in front of her considered it for a few more seconds, glancing around at the wolves following him before looking up and nodding, a serious light in his emerald eyes. “Yeah, alright. I agree. I have to confirm something about my Dominate Undead spell, and we’re long due a new mount.”

He looked at Roland. He’d be facing the most danger out of the three of them, and they wouldn’t be able to beat the bear without him. He looked up and shrugged. “If we can get this Ghoulbear, my requests can be finished faster. My shield enchantments could barely stand up to its attacks last time too. I want to see how far I’ve gotten since then as well.”

Lynn smiled and sat down. “Well then. Let’s start planning boys.”

Alen coughed. “Strategizing sounds cooler.”

The elf waved her hand to the side. “Yeah, yeah,” Lynn patted the ground beside her. “Just sit down already.”

The ground thumped as a colossal figure towered over the shrubs and rocks, its claws sinking inches into the ground with each heavy, powerful step. One of the bone spurs that protruded out of its white fur, covered in black, rotten blood, glanced through a tree, the single spur completely shredding the wood as it passed by. Its nose sniffed at the air, but only few knew whether it was to search for prey, or merely an impulse left behind by its original form.

The Ghoulbear was larger than the rest. It had thrived for years within the dead forest, hunting, killing, eating undead and filling its body with the cold decay of necrotic mana. Few dared to venture into its territory, but none would know why, as it had devoured every single party that had crossed its path.

It was even smarter than the rest, hiding into a secluded cave full of bones whenever the forces of the city passed by in their yearly expeditions. It was powerful, but the priests and dwarves were more so; with their weapons and spells of holy and radiant mana eradicating the rest of its kind as easily as it did the ghouls and zombies of the forest. It gazed deeper into the trees, in the direction of the forest’s heart, feeling fear in its heart as it remembered the undead—undead leagues above itself that resided deeper within.

Tearing into the corpse of the ghoul below it, wet, crunching sounds left its mouth as it savored every rotten bite, filling its body to the brim with ambient necrotic mana.

Soon, it would become stronger, more powerful. Then, it would enter the deeper sections of the forest and devour the scourge of bone and rotten flesh in armor that had previous cowed it, and finally sink its teeth into their throats. From there, it would only go on to devour more.

More, more, more. More, until it—

An arrow of crystal ice sunk into the ground beside it.

Bang!

With a loud hissing sound, ice exploded out in all directions, the spires of sharp ice mostly shattering against its thick hide, but a few, brighter and more powerful than the rest, successfully impaled a large portion of its front side. Black blood spurted out and covered the ice as the bear roared and swiped its paw, completely shattering the attack in front of it.

Suddenly, a flash of black was in front of its face. The massive Ghoulbear’s eye was ripped out of its socket as the Empowered bone wolf ran past it, nearly a dozen more following up as their teeth tore into its flesh. Thigh, foot, chest, neck, arm. The bear roared and destroyed nearly half of the wolves with a single, well-timed swipe. It raised its head as rocks pelted it, skeletons perched atop the trees throwing the little pebbles at it to incite its rage.

The Ghoulbear charged and decimated the trees, felling the dead wood and taking the skeletons and bone wolves with them.

More arrows came, sinking into its flesh and the area around it and freezing parts of its white fur. The bear looked at the direction of the arrows with liquid malevolence in its eyes. It sprinted through the trees, using them as cover from the arrows as ice and destruction covered the area in its wake. It swiped at the trees, knocking them into the air and into the direction of the arrows. It heard a surprised shout and its animalistic face almost seemed to display a grin as it rushed in that direction.

Its vision began to tunnel, hungry for flesh, and for that, it paid the price. A gray glow exploded out from the corner of its vision as a heavy sheet of metal crashed into the side of its face. Its nose twisted in the wrong direction as it let out a pained growl. The Ghoulbear felt something sharp sink into its side, before it twisted its body to kick at the attacker with its hind legs. It hit the glowing shield once again, and it pulsed once more, sending a powerful shock down its hind legs as the attacker grunted and was sent flying into the distance.

Strange ghouls immediately rushed at it, emitting a black-green aura as they tried to climb onto its body. The bear rolled on the ground, the light splats under it giving it a sense of satisfaction. Three more ghouls came, accompanied by a hail of frozen arrows. The arrows all pierced through a tree before hitting it; each of the twelve arrows turning into chains that temporarily locked it in place.

Movement came from the trees above it as it struggled, and it saw a white-haired elf carrying a young man with emerald green eyes over her shoulders. Mana bubbled in the young man’s hands as he approached, and the bear shivered as it felt the presence of his kind within the spell. It was as if the spell itself would rob it of freedom, making it acquiesce to its will.

The bear roared powerfully as the smaller spurs on its back suddenly ejected, shooting out in all directions with a trail of its own black blood and decimating the surrounding trees.

It moaned in agony as it limped into a sprint, jumping and shredding apart the trees in front of it. The elf and the human fell, covered in wounds and scratches, but before the bear could attack them, a sword covered in soft grey light cut into its leg, causing its knees to buckle. The Ghoulbear turned, the spurs covering its arms shrieking against the shield once again. The pulse of energy came, but it was weaker than before. The warrior side-stepped and punched with the shield, the round edge immediately glowing as the gray mana formed into a blade.

The blade on the shield’s edge sliced through its hide cleanly, black blood showering out and covering the warrior in front of it.

The elf and the human retreated, shouting at each other.

“Why the fuck is this Ghoulbear so big!?”

“I don’t know! Just focus on killing it. I don’t think I can get you close enough to use your spell on it!”

The human covered in black cloth and leather cursed as he gripped his staff, pointing it at the bear as it bit towards the orang-haired warrior. Immediately, black flames filled with the aura of decay splashed onto the side of its face, some entering its mouth and rapidly decomposing its already corroded maw. The bear roared madly and shook its head, its vision shrouded by the black-green flames.

It felt a force strike the back of its hind knee, causing the limb to bend and making the giant Ghoulbear unsteadily lurch to the side. Arrows pierced its skin in quick succession, spreading ice and frost throughout the bear’s fur and bloodstream. It bashed its head into a tree in an attempt to extinguish the black flames, but it only earned its attackers a few more free attacks. Immediately, it toppled to the side and destroyed more of the surrounding shrubbery, roaring from pain and anguish the whole time.

Finally, the flames died out, and the bear regained its vision. It glared hatefully at the three in front of it and gathered the mana in its body, channeling it towards the base of its remaining spurs, ones that were as large as a human torso.

The human a good distance away from it, the one covered in black cloth and leather, flinched. Immediately, he began to back away, shouting to his companions as he ran.

“It’s going to do something, get the fuck out!”

As soon as the two other humans leapt away, the Ghoulbear let loose a powerful roar as the spurs all over its body exploded, shooting shrapnel laced with the deadly properties of necrotic mana in all directions. The trees around it were shredded to mere splinters, and the ground below it was dug out as deep as half a meter from the sheer force of the attack.

It immediately took this chance to leave, bursting into a limping sprint as it disappeared into the forest.

Not even half a minute later, the elf and the two humans followed suit, covered in scratches and wounds that smelled of rot. The elf took out a glass bottle of water and poured the contents all over her wounds, hissing as the resulting steam wiped away the spreading decay. Alen followed behind, his mana absorbing the properties of death as he tightly clutched onto a bone wolf as it sprinted towards the bear. Roland couldn’t keep up, and was left trailing behind as Alen grit his teeth.

“Lynn, can you go any faster and cast that ice shackle spell again!?” Alen said, enduring the sharp pain of scratches all over his body.

Eilynn rolled under a fallen log, bursting into a sprint once again as Alen’s wolf jumped over it and followed her. “I need to see the bear, and I need time to aim. There’s no way I can cast it under these conditions!”

“Shit,” Alen sent more mana into the bone wolf, prolonging the effect of Empowerment as he clutched his staff tight with his other hand. Eventually, they were forced to stop as they reached a certain part of the forest. Just sixty meters away, the trees suddenly got thicker, and the gray of the forest transformed into a foreboding darkness. Some trees inside were knocked down, signaling the passage of the bear.

The elf stopped, panting as she motioned for Alen behind her to stop. “We can’t go any further. Undead past that point get a lot stronger than the stuff we kill here,” She said, and Alen groaned and fell off the skeletal wolf, his back to the ground as he shouted in indignation.

“God, fuck my life,” He finally said, closing his eyes as Roland stumbled into the place behind them. Alen heard him talking to Lynn and stood up after a few moments, supporting himself against a tree as the light headache from using too much mana settled in.

He glanced at it, and saw that his mana was around twenty percent. Alen sighed and walked towards the two, taking out three tusks from his side pouch and tossing them to the ground. Three large bone lizards slowly formed, their skeletal mouths full of teeth that protruded outward like tusks. They had six legs, and were the size of a large motorcycle, complete with weird camel humps made of bone. Alen climbed on top of one and tossed more teeth out, summoning six bone wolves and five skeleton gorillas.

“Let’s go find another Ghoulbear after I recover my mana,” He told them tiredly, watching as the two climbed onto the lizards. “For now, these guys’ll let us go around the forest without worrying too much. As long as we don’t encounter a large group or another one of those stupid ass bears, we can rest.”

Lynn nodded and leaned back on the lizard, resting her back against the hump-like protrusions of bone that poked out from its merged spine. “I want to go back already. My mana’s almost completely drained from using so many of my spells.”

“Yeah, same here,” Roland muttered, closing his eyes as the group of undead moved forward. “Your spells are just too convenient, Alen. The fact that you can compress mana into those teeth ahead of time to summon your undead is cheating.”

Alen shrugged and gave directions to his undead. “I mean, the way I handle magic is much better than the vague, visualization, and carving crap you two do.”

“Can you make a shockwave-shield? I think not,” The warrior glanced at him questioningly.

“Can you make sticky black fire-jizz? That’s right. Fuck you.”

“Undead up ahead,” Lynn interrupted them, raising her torso as she looked at the group of ghouls and zombies that rushed towards them in a frenzy. As if fate was laughing at them, the group was exactly at the size where their necromancer’s undead couldn’t handle them alone.

Alen prepared his spells as Roland stood up and sighed.

He kind of wanted to go home now too.