THE FIRST BUNCH OF ENEMIES AND MICHAEL’S FIRST ACHIEVEMENT

Liera thought the tracks she was following were a little strange. She was definitely following Goblin tracks, she could tell from the long four-toes and rare ragged shoes they had on. Twenty-six sets of feet were distinct as they ran all the way to the bottom of the south mountain range and the both of them had reached a broken down mining entrance. What Liera thought was strange was the lack of human tracks. The woman they had talked too should have left at least a few tracks but Liera didn’t find any and that meant that she could have lead them towards a Goblin nest instead of a secret cave. Michael didn’t seem to care as he equipped several throwing daggers and repaired his sword and main dagger.

While Liera was still a little concerned about the chances of entering the wrong cave, she decided not to tell Michael. He obviously wanted to enter any kind of dungeon and she decided that a goblin cave was as good as any.

[/hr]

When the two started to enter the cave complex, they immediately heard a soft sound. It was reminiscent of drums and under that was the clash of steel. Michael and Liera took off towards the sound and was met with a large body of goblins trying to crowd into a closed room. Several goblins seemed to be hitting drums to a rhythm and each hit brought forth a new clash of attacks. ‘Signals?’ The goblins were facing away from the duo so Michael motioned Liera to the side.

Michael shifted his sight and focused deeply. He wasn’t able to find any plant life at all so he rejected using any Green Magic in the cave. Michael focused a little more deeply and was able to discern different colors in the walls and ground. Brown, black, grey, and even minute traces of yellow. He didn’t know which was which but he didn’t need to. Michael concentrated on the entire ground before him and started to break down the area he needed. Then Michael saw a goblin turn around and notice them.

On the other side of the crowd Michael could see an armored man holding back the onslaught of goblins. He also noted the slight whitish glow that encompassed the man from time to time and he heard the slight twang that accompanied the arrows that flew from inside the room. About 5 goblins could stand side-by-side in the hallway and the humanoid wall was repelling them. Between the room and Michael was about 180+ goblins.

Michael had to work fast. The goblin had shrieked in surprise and the other goblins around it turned too. Then they all ran forward. By this time however, Michael had already finished his preparations and was pushing as much of his mana as he could into his creation. What he had done was break the section of ground beneath the goblins and separate it from the wall. It was a rather large section but he finished it rather quickly and then proceeded to sever the singular piece 2 meters below. What was left was a 2 meter tall platform that encompassed the distance between Michael and the room. Michael then raised the platform a few feet and shook it.

Goblins fell over themselves and their comrades as they flailed about in utter chaos. Michael himself didn’t feel the shaking since he wasn’t on the platform, but he could see the wild movements the goblins had. Blood flew when a goblin hit the ground or wall hard and some even fell between the floor and the separate wall. Several of the goblins’ weapons also flew around and killed their owners or others and created an incredibly bloody scene. Michael’s mana abruptly ended and the platform crashed down with a roar. Michael didn’t notice it since he was under a Mana backlash. He hadn’t paid attention to his Mana and didn’t cut the spell off at the right time.

Michael wasn’t able to replicate the ‘Quake’ spell Harold had used on him before. For starters, the skill required knowledge of the land being used and the ability to stabilize it. Since the stabilizing part was impossible to learn as Michael couldn’t see or feel the effects of doing so, he ended up with a ‘Quake’ that went out of hand and caused wanton destruction. What was decided was to cut a piece of land out of the ground and then shake it using ‘Quake’. While it was longer and used up more Mana, the resulting spell was much easier to control and didn’t need a stabilizing spell at the end. The ‘platform’ would fall back to the ground and stabilize with the rest of the area around it. As a bonus, there was the fall damage the opponent would face as well.

Michael was on his back, groaning and clutching his head. His head felt like it was splitting apart and there was nothing Michael could do to fix it. What was worse was that his loss of concentration made his muscles lose tension and the restraints he had sprung his hands down to his side. Gravity assaulted him too causing another groan out of him.

What had happened was that Michael had ‘dried’ up his Mana. When a spell was draining Mana the user had to keep an eye out for it and make sure to cut off the spell before he wiped himself out. Since Mana represented a sort of mental energy, using too much of it and emptying the entire stash you had caused pain in the brain. This was a very well known problem and curses like ‘Mana Drain’ were greatly used in order to create this effect. A dizzy and nauseous Mage was a very easy kill.

Michael thought he still needed to get used to his rapid use of Mana as he forced himself to sit up properly and straightened his back. Meditation came very slowly but once he had it, he fully focused on it. After a few minutes of doing so his Mana started to regenerate and his headache lessened.

“Phew. Liera, if you don’t mind can you check on the people in the room ahead of us? There should be a Knight, a Cleric, and an archer of some sort. Just tell them t-.”

Michael didn’t open his eyes as he asked her but he did hear her move from her previous spot. He instinctively ducked and opened his eyes to see a foot retreating back.

Liera didn’t say a word as she looked down on him. She had grown only two feet since they had first met and at around 5 feet 2 inches, or a metre and a half, she was quite short. Her slim body did reveal curves in all the right places and she was definitely a beauty to behold with her slightly tanned complexion. She may have had the height of a child but no man could ever think she was too young to make advances on. The Fey were renowned for being as beautiful as their elvin cousins.

Right now Liera did not have any expression on her face as she stared down upon Michael. He didn’t know exactly what she was thinking about but he assumed that she didn’t want to be too far away from him. He mentally examined himself and agreed that he would be incredibly weak against any attacks at the moment.

“Ah, nevermind about what I said. I guess I wasn’t thinking. If you don’t mind, I’ll just continue to meditate and recover my Mana.”

Michael gave his best try at an innocent expression. He closed his eyes after speaking and concentrated in order to speed up the recovery. He fortunately (unfortunately?) missed Liera’s slightly red cheeks as he focused on the information boxes that he ignored since entering the cave.

You have entered the dwelling of ‘Inutian’.

[p=left]Due to a dark spell placed a long time ago, the cave has the properties of a dark night. All monster’s stats are increased by 30% and exp is boosted by 10%.

Blessing of Janira has increased your stats by 30% while inside the cave. Exp boost is nullified.[/p]

You have gained +2 Wisdom

You have gained +1 Willpower

You have killed 147 Goblins with ‘Quake’. Leveled up x20

Elemental Manipulation has leveled up. Elemental Manipulation has reached Expert ranking.

Elemental Manipulation. Expert level 1. (1%) Active skill.[p=left]This skill allows for one to manipulate mana to control the elements. This skill then allows for the user to create various types of spells based off the different ways the user manipulates the elements.

You have been granted the ability to perceive and control the elements of Light and Darkness. You will need to practice in order to create spells.

Mana is decreased proportionate to the amount of manipulation done to the element.

Mana is constantly decreased proportionate to the power used in manipulating the element.

Can use different types of elements to form compounded spells.

Can change sight from the physical realm to the Mana realm with greater ease.

Spells you have learned/created.

Fire Tornado (Fire + Wind + Water)

Quake (Earth)

Lightning Shower (Wind + Water + Fire + Earth)

Forest wall (Nature + Earth + Water)

Fireball (Fire + Wind)

[/p]

You have gained an understanding of ‘Space of the Night’. Further study is needed in order to recreate this spell.

No more mana for connection to ‘Silven Plant’. Because of the composition of the plant the plant has started to absorb your stamina.

You are under the effects of ‘Mana Backlash’.

You have gained +4 Intelligence

It only took about 15 minutes for Michael to recover most of his Mana and he opened his eyes to see an approaching group of people. He was a little surprised to see 7 people in the party but was happy to note he was correct on the fact that there was a Knight and a Ranger. What he thought was one Cleric was actually two, a brother and sister by the looks of them, and the other two members appeared to be Miners of a sort, both of them carrying a pickax. Michael decided that the two Miners were probably craftsmen since it was rare to see full time Miners around.

What surprised him the most was a female Dwarf walking at the front of the party. She was dressed in a brown silk vest over a blue blouse and both were heavily embroidered with gold fixings. She had on divided skirts that reached her shoes and she also had a sword at her hip. Well used.

Michael had never seen a dwarf before. He had heard of several appearing in Bellen over the years but he never really had an interest in them before. Most of the books he read only described the race as short and good with their crafts. Some dwarven men and women did become continental heroes but Humans rarely had books on heroes from the other races.

Since Michael had never seen a dwarf before he just made mental assumptions and pictures about the race. He imagined short people with stocky limbs and really hard craggy faces. The men had beards and mustaches that could reach overwhelming lengths and the woman weren’t that different in appearance, just lacking the beard. This really detailed image of the race had Michael thinking he met some before but forgot.

Michael had to change his image of them after he looked at the dwarf in front of him. She was definitely short, about 4 feet in height. What Michael had to change was the appearance. The dwarven woman was not stocky in the least. Her limbs were thin and slender and her body was proportionate to that. Her bosom was considerate but not enough to capture every man’s eyes for too long and her movements looked like a dance that Michael hadn’t participated in before. This basically made the woman look like a miniature Human woman although with an above average figure and aura. The dwarven woman’s looks were decidedly pretty as her long lashes framed coal-black eyes and her lush lips were slicked red. Her calculating look however made Michael’s wariness rise.

While the party was still crossing the destroyed hallway ground (an aftereffect of Michael’s version of ‘Quake’), Michael decided to distribute his stats. He decided that his Mana was depressingly low at this time since his spells cost too much, so he split the stats between Strength, Vitality, and Intelligence. He was a little disappointed that the stats would always be halved and weak but he did like the increased Health, Stamina, and Mana he got when he added stats to Vitality or Intelligence. It didn’t mean he would always add to those stats, but it did raise his spirits.

Michael also read and liked the new effect of ‘Elemental Manipulation’. The skill had leveled relatively slowly the past 10 years but it seemed that effective use of it to kill enemies greatly increased its level.

“Hello traveler! Many thanks for the help back there. Was that a spell or a scroll that was used. If you’re a Mage then thank you, if it was a scroll then I hope to compensate you for it.”

In the world of Gaia it was incredibly hard to find or create Spell Scrolls. The reasons for it was costs, time, and overall usability. The costs to make a scroll are expensive because it uses two rare ingredients, ancient oak that is either given or taken by the Elves and Fey, and blood from a magical creature - the stronger they are, the more powerful the spell - in order to supply the ink. Then the mage needs to channel a great amount of Mana into the scroll, usually by pouring 3/4s of their Mana pool first then pouring a steady amount that equals their Mana Regeneration. The Mage must keep a clear mind throughout the process, as well as channel his magic as if he was manipulating the spell. The scroll would absorb the magic and record the channeling of it so that when it is used, the scroll can use the spell without any help from the user. The writing on the scroll also serves to help channel the Mana. Several ancient words written are used to direct the Mana properly and saying a specific set of words can control the magic, thus allowing for the user to aim and fire the magic if needed. For instance, a fireball spell requires a mage to gather and compress air into a ball before igniting it in some way. A burst of friction requires more mana so the 3/4s Mana the mage used before would all go towards these two actions. Then the steady supply of mana will be used to direct and launch the ball of fire forwards. If the user knows the right words, the Fireball can be aimed anywhere the wanted and could even be sped up, like a Mage could do regularly. A scroll is basically an object that interrupts a Mage’s mana manipulation until a later time and allows non Mages to experience using magic. The last reason for a lack of scrolls was the usability factor. A fireball scroll was rather easy to make compared to other spells but it was a rather weak spell when used only once. Mages would use several Fireballs at a time during a battle but using that many precious scrolls would be an incredible waste. So scrolls would only be used for the incredibly powerful spells or spells that affected a large area.

Scrolls were VERY expensive. A simple Fireball spell actually costed 100 gold each, which again made the actual use of it rather useless. A ‘Quake’ spell, obviously that was what the other party thought he used, could go upwards of 2000 gold.

‘She is probably a merchant...’

Michael was brought up to be wary around Merchants. A long time ago, the Merchant class wasn’t a favorable class since the group needed a great deal of money to run their projects and hire guards from mercenaries. Mercenaries themselves weren’t to be trusted with pricey trade routes so Merchants actually didn’t make much money. That all changed with the coming of the God-ranked Merchant Rashan. A dwarf, Rashan paved the way for armed Merchants, a type of Merchant that could guard their own items using their own power. Rashan himself was said to be as strong as a Master ranked swordsmen and Rashan used that strength to trade expensive products all over the continent. He reached a God-ranking in his ‘Mercantile’ skill using that method and he was said to only deal with the Nobility and high-ranking members of various Churches.

There were various stories about Rashan, but the ones that Michael was brought up on were the ones that said Rashan destroyed several countries and even Churches just by using their economies and that he even caused several large-scale wars. Since Dwarves could live up to 300 years of age, Rashan could probably do all that and more in his lifetime.

Of course, Michael always thought that Rashan was a heavily bearded Dwarf that probably had immense strength with an axe, but now that he saw the woman in front of him Michael decided to revise that thought. He changed his view of Rashan into a miniature man with good looks, powerful build, and a quick sword. Heroes are supposed to be good looking…

“Ah, no I did not use a scroll. As you can see I am meditating to replenish my Mana. That spell took more out of me than I thought.”

The dwarven woman smiled at his words, then gave a signal to her companions. Michael’s wariness paid off and he activated ‘IA’.

The other party had probably thought that Michael hadn’t finished recovering his Mana. Liera didn’t look like a threat and since Michael seemed to be just a mage...

Michael’s thought process sped up and everything around him seemed to slow. He saw the Ranger lift up his bow and reach for an arrow in his quiver. The Knight still had his Tower Shield out and he removed a Longsword from behind it. The two Miners threw away their pickaxes and both of them took out daggers with one hand while wrapping their heads in a scarf with the other. ‘Assassins...’ Expert knife users that excelled at one-hit techniques. The miner disguise was probably part of their array of skills and the scarf was used to both disable the disguise and cover their faces. Michael already had a tough time trying to remember how they looked. The merchant quickly ran to the back of the group during these few seconds.

The only people that didn’t seem to know what to do were the Clerics. On closer examination the two were worshippers of Ket, the Goddess of health and recovery. Members of that church followed strict rules that forbid assaulting any race under negative goals. Basically they either hunted down criminals and monsters or defended themselves. The fact that these two were associating themselves with the other party probably meant that the group itself had never done things like this. Or they were new.

All this Michael gathered in about 20 seconds of ‘IA’. He used the skill a lot since the upkeep was getting negligible as his Mana grew.

Michael switched sights again and gathered the air around him. He condensed as much as he could without choking himself and Liera. When he managed to form three balls of air he ignited all three and launched them forward. One went towards the Ranger who still hadn’t drawn the string back from his bow, the second hit the rushing Knight’s shield and exploded, knocking him back, while the third went flying towards the two assassins.

The Ranger immediately threw his bow towards the Fireball. The Fireball burst when it hit the bow and the Ranger ducked to the side to avoid being burned. The two assassins agilely dodged the Fireball and rushed towards Michael, only to be blocked by Liera. Michael didn’t see the Merchant but he had more to worry about since the Knight got back up and was charging at him while the Ranger took out a long knife.

Arming himself, Michael charged the Ranger. It was best to deal with the easiest first and the Ranger seemed better with the bow than with a knife. This failed however when several knives flew towards Michael and stopped him. Blocking the knives, Michael mentally cursed when the Knight managed to situate himself in from of the Ranger and defend him. Now Michael had to deal with a combo from those two plus randomly thrown knives from the Merchant.

Michael went to work and assaulted the Knight. Each of his blows rang as he forcefully pushed the Knight back. Each blow was a hammer due to his strength and boost from ‘High Champion’s Combat Mastery’ and the Knight’s shield started to bend under the strain. The Knight himself was shocked at the power since he thought Michael was just a mage. Blocking took all of the Knight’s concentration and strength and he had no opportunity to attack back.

When a knife flew towards Michael both the Knight and the Ranger charged him, hoping to catch him as he was distracted. They were wrong however as Michael ignored the knife and let it hit his side. This allowed him to get into the shocked Knight’s guard and cut off his shield arm, right through the armor, flesh, and bone. The Ranger’s leg was chopped off next and Michael moved beyond their range and calmed. He pulled out the knife before surveying the hallway. Liera had already disabled one of the assassins and was focusing on the last. She didn’t have a scratch on her.

Michael looked down the hall to see the Clerics just standing there, both of them seemingly unwilling to break their oaths and help their team. The female Cleric was looking in the direction of Liera and frowning. ‘Did she not like Liera? Or was it the fact that two assassins were fighting her?’ Michael was incredibly relaxed. He didn’t seem to care that he crippled two people, and he didn’t since they attacked first.

Searching the rest of the hallway only revealed the corpses of the fallen goblins. A few groups of those seemed to also still be alive but Michael knew they wouldn’t be a problem. The Merchant woman seemed to have run away as well. Since Michael and Liera were placed at the only entrance, it was highly unlikely that she had slipped past them and out of the cave. The last option was that she entered deeper into the cave...without her guards.

A grunt told Michael that Liera had finished the last Assassin off. Michael turned to the two Clerics and examined them. Both wore robes of grey and purple, colors of Ket. The necklace also had an emblem of their Goddess and they were equipped with a few rings and a circlet. The man had a staff and when Michael shifted sight he saw the leakage of Mana from it. The girl didn’t have a staff but a cane that also emitted Mana. ‘Rings and Circlets seem to take in Mana. Mana regeneration items? And the staffs....Mana storages? Good items for magic healers...’

“What are you two going to do?”

The two looked at each other and the woman raised an eyebrow. The man seemed to understand and nod his head in agreement. The woman took the lead and spoke.

“My brother and I follow Ket (of course) and will not challenge you. Our...teammates seem to desperately want the cave and its treasures. We will heal them and my brother will take them back to Kiryun. If you do not mind, I shall accompany you and help you for the time being. It’s the least I could do for the problems they caused. Especially after you saved us.”

The man was already moving towards the fallen men and starting to heal them. A complex creation of white Mana that did not seem to be from any of the surrounding Mana, surrounded the man and he used that to heal the wounds. Michael saw him reattach the leg of the Ranger. Liera’s opponents only had broken limbs so they didn’t need healing as much as Michael’s foes.

Michael went to Liera to confer about the offer.

“Liera do you want her to accompany us? A healer would be very useful as we search the cave.”

Liera only looked at Michael before she turned away and walked to the other end of the hallway.

“I will stand by your decision.”

‘Good enough.’

Michael was a little confused at Liera’s attitude but he turned to the female Cleric and nodded. She sighed in relief before moving to the Knight and trying to find his arm. Michael and Liera waited as everyone was healed and moving out of the cave. The male Cleric took a last look at his sister before leaving. The female Cleric turned to Michael and Liera.

The female Cleric was beautiful, similar to her brother in looks and demeanor. The two had gold hair, medium length for the man and long for the woman. The man was only a few inches taller than his sister and an inch shorter than Michael. So the woman was taller than Liera, which made Liera frown slightly. The man didn’t seem to have much of a physical presence but his looks were a little above average giving him a look that screamed ‘I need protection’ to women who were into that kind of man. The woman was also slight but her small curves just added to her innocent and pretty appearance. The two together would have tested a person’s will as they looked like they needed to be protected from everything in the world.

The woman walked towards the pair and opened her mouth. A torrent of words seemed to spill out as her eyes watered a bit.

“I am called Catherine and that was my older brother Glen. We are twins and we are only Deacons of the Goddess Ket. This was supposed to be a simple protection job in order for us to be promoted to Priests and Priestess but…Me and my brother joined the other group as last minute additions. Since we are only Deacons we came along without pay and the group seemed to be quite experienced. The Merchant from before payed good coin in Kiryun and managed to hire the Knight and Ranger. The two...Assassins seemed to have already been under her employ and stuck to her. I thought it was strange that she kept close company with Miners. When the Goblins came I thought we were doomed but Nellend, that Knight, rushed us to a closed off room in order to keep the goblins at bay. We had been fighting for almost half a day and were getting exhausted. When the goblins started to rumble and toss around I thought....”

Catherine seemed rather embarrassed about what she was going to say. When she saw that Michael and Liera were also staring at her, she blushed and rushed to finish her story.

“Uh-umm the merchant from before, Lerisa, didn’t want you two to explore the cave. Since she thought you guys were very powerful and could take the cave from her she told us she would try to buy you off. When everyone started to arm themselves though...Me and my brother couldn’t go against our oaths so we decided to not do anything.”

The Knight doing so was also a surprised. However it was rather hard to acquire Honor during the first 20 years since you were very young. As an adult your decisions could easily lower Honor but helping the right people gave enormous amounts of it. A Knight could easily murder and then just do a few jobs to get back the Honor lost. Knight masters were people with 0 infamy and their job was to recruit Knights that strove to be Just, but a few did squeeze past the early detection work.

“Yes, yes. I noticed you two not raising a hand. Lets just start the exploring and deal with…Lerisa when we find her.”

“Y-yes.”

Catherine seemed relieved at what Michael said and she immediately went to heal his knife wound. Liera just gave a silent glare at the both of them.

[/hr]

The cave they had entered was nicknamed ‘Iron Mount’ by the miners of old and didn’t have an underground area. As it was based at the bottom of the mountain, the miners seemed to have instead been aiming to hollow out the inside of it. The cave was a source of Iron for Kiryun for many years and when it dried out, the miners just put up supports to keep the mountain from collapsing and then left.

This was before the Mad King’s War. Between the abandonment and the war, several dozen people had taken residence in the mountain for different reasons. There were mages or researchers, tinkers and even people of nobility, banished to the mountains for reasons lost. The Mad King’s War resulted in them losing their lives, and the many items they left behind was taken by different groups who owned the caves. Bandits at one point. Then Trolls. Witches, demonic worshippers, cursed beings.

Lastly the goblins took it over. Hundreds of thousands infesting the mountains, none of them wishing to show themselves to the world and starting a massive hunt on them. They hid much of the evidence of the Cave and avoided the eyes of travellers. They also avoided the very top of the mountain, where a person is said to have dwelled for the last 300 years…

[/hr]

Michael was having fun in the Dungeon.

A few corridors after the party moved from the bloody scene, they had started to encounter traps. A few had already been set off and there were a few splashes of blood here and there. Lerisa seemed to be having a rough time.

Most of the traps seemed to be around rank 5 traps so Michael easily found them with just a glance of the corridor. Arrow traps, poison dart traps, even a few hard-to-set-up boulder traps were all set up to be activated when a person steps on a tile or trips over a string. Traps made by goblins weren’t very good. Each and every one was temporarily highlighted in green when his vision first passes and if Michael focused he could see the telltale details that showed the traps and allowed them to pass through. The other two girls seemed to be getting more anxious as the traps got worse and more hidden; Michael just started to get a little excited.

The first room they found seemed to originally been a Miner’s rest station from a long time ago. The troublesome thing was the obvious treasure chest in the center of the room. It was obviously placed there recently since the metal trimmings were still gleaming and had no dust. The chest practically screamed ‘TRAP’ to anyone that saw. Michael however just laughed out loud and walked over to the trap before kicking it open. The door shut in the face of the other two girls leaving Michael trapped inside the room. To make matters worse, the ceiling was lowering.

Now, a normal person would panic a bit; maybe scream a curse or two, or even start praying for help. Michael just stood there and continued to laugh. ‘This is an adventure.’ The homeschooled poor man was slightly addicted to his change of life.

Michael waited until the ceiling was a foot from his head before he used ‘IA’ and switched his sight. Michael tried to view the area beyond the lowering ceiling to find some kind of mechanism for it so he could stop it. He was blocked however. The lowering ceiling, ground, and four walls around him didn’t allow his sight to penetrate at all so his use of Magic is nullified. Michael groaned a bit. Then he took out his Blacksmiths hammer and walked towards the door of the room and started to beat on it. After a few hits a shield appeared over the door and Michael ‘saw’ that it was made from the same mage that used Magic to cover the room.

Michael was getting a little frustrated when the ceiling finally touched his head. An idea formed as it did and Michael backed up so he can get some running space. He lowered his body before dashing towards the direction of the door, hammer raised. He noted that several more shields had been erected over the door.

Michael charged at the door and kept his direction until the last minute, then he turned slightly and crashed into the wall beside the door. He broke through since the shield only blocked the door and the walls were regular walls. He emerged into the hallway and glanced to his side to see Liera and Catherine staring wide eyed at him. They each had a pickaxe - taken from the Assassin Miners from before it seems - and were in the process of breaking through the door before he appeared. Michael just smiled and started to walk down the hallway, his excitement actually rising instead of diminishing. Liera and Catherine shared a look before packing away the pickaxes and following; it was highly doubtful they would try to rescue him again.

Several more corridors and rooms were ignored and passed before the trio saw an automatic elevator. There was no platform on it which led Michael to believe that Lerisa had taken it for her own use so Michael took out his sword and sliced through several of the mechanisms. There should be a manual way to the top and Lerisa should not have a chance to come back down through this way. When Michael finished his destruction a noise from the elevator prompted the three to back up. A few seconds later the platform came crashing down, making a noise loud enough to wake a sleeping Dragon. They continued on.

A tunneled stair rising up finally appeared a few minutes after walking. Their speed was rather quick since each of them knew that treasures were unlikely to appear in the lower levels. Michael’s sight also revealed a lack of living beings in the rooms they passed. There was no more sign of the Magic from the trapped room he was in. When they reached the top of the stairs they were met with a small group of goblins. MIchael shifted his sight long enough to tell that this level was infested with goblins.

Before he could do anything though, Liera motioned him to stop. With the goblins rushing forwards Liera said a simple,

“Let me handle this,” before rushing off. Michael told Catherine to keep an eye on her and then he took out a few health vials just in case. He eyed the battle just in case she needed help but he judged she could handle a few dozen of them with the help of a healer.

Catherine herself seemed to look at Michael skeptically. Liera was a few inches shorter than Catherine and looked so cute and innocent that Catherine wanted to...later. Catherine was rather envious of Liera’s independence and her fighting skills didn’t help to diminish that freedom.

Liera felt free for the first time. She had only had to fight three goblins before and the two assassins weren’t really a threat. They had bad coordination compared to Serena and Aaron Kane so Liera didn’t feel any danger when she fought them. Melee combat against 26 goblins though…

Liera wove through each goblins that came at her. Group charges were relatively mindless as most people never try to use coordination at all. Especially when against a single person. Liera ducked, turned, and jumped away from every blow coming her way and her fists were reinforced with metal spikes to deliver heavy blows. Faces caved in, chests exploded, legs and arms torn off. Liera was a reaper with her fists and her enemies had no chance against her.

Liera was definitely not a normal Fey. As Fey, most of them had an animal form that they used to enhance their abilities and fight with. Wolves in particular were known for their use of claws and teeth and coordination with the pack to bring down larger and stronger foes. The social interactions between wolves were close to Humans and they were very well versed in the quantity over quality approach to battles. Liera was different though. She was barely taught how to fight in a pack as she was still young and the Humans she lived with for years never fought in the same style. Instead she was taught by experts and masters in the way of fighting solo or doubled and her training was basically a dialed down version of Michael’s. She was usually never in any dangerous situations but she did become exhausted by the end of the day. Serena’s S tendencies didn’t seem to reach over to females.

Liera’s battle didn’t look like a dance. Her movements flowed into each attack and her strikes always hit but it didn’t look like a dance. Instead it was reminiscent of a choreographed battle. Enemies rushed her and she didn’t even look as her strikes made them fall. No waste of movements. No missed strikes. It was as if she had practiced the battle so many times that she barely even cared about it anymore. Her lack of expression as she fought would have made the hairs stand from Human or other similar races but goblins didn’t notice it. A lady of Death on a stroll.

Michael shook himself from his reverie of her fight when she finished. Catherine was also staring at Liera since her movements were so graceful. Catherine also had nothing to do as a Cleric so she was fine just watching. Liera didn’t suffer so much as a scratch. Large groups of enemies were much easier to kill than smaller groups; the 3-man group she faced outside gave her more trouble since they had some coordination and used lots of feints and skills to try to take her down.

As he walked to Liera, Michael took out a large cloth from his pack and proceeded to wipe the blood off Liera. She gave a shocked expression before ripping the cloth from him and doing it all herself. When she gave it back she had a glare ready for him but Michael pointedly ignored it as he placed the cloth back in his pack. Catherine also had the same glare but Michael was already continuing his exploration.

Several more groups were seen and each of them attacked Michael and co. as three people looked like easy targets. Liera dealt with them all and her fatigue was cured by Catherine. Catherine didn’t expect the skill ‘Morning’s Wake’ to be so useful and its rising level made it more efficient to use. With her fatigue lowered, Liera dealt with more and more enemies. At the entrance to the 5th level, Michael called for a stop. 4 levels and many battles all done in a single day.

Michael was pleased at the rate they were going and was hoping to do more tomorrow. Liera was supposed to be incredibly exhausted from all the fighting but her Wolven constitution and constant fatigue magic from Catherine limited all of that. A good night’s rest would allow for her to continue her one-sided fights. The only grumpy person was probably Catherine. She thought that the two were monsters since she was exhausted as heck and her pride didn’t allow her to use her fatigue magic on herself. She didn’t actually fight in any way and her healing was useless since Liera didn’t take wounds. Catherine was rather disappointed in how much she had done as a member of the group.

Her worries were unfounded. Michael and Liera both had a high opinion of her array of skills. Having a healer was a good precaution since anything might happen inside a dungeon and Michael also knew that their progress would have slowed had she not lessened Liera’s fatigue. Michael did not think he would be allowed to fight as long as the other group had less than 50 in it since Liera had stared at him when he asked after the first dozen battles.

[/hr]

2 days of exploration later, the party finally reached Lerisa. She had taken the elevator to the second last level and had barricaded herself inside a room when the goblins saw her. About 700 goblins had fallen to Liera and Michael knew that there were at least 200x more of them in the surrounding mountains. A goblin had creepily told them that bit of news before dying and Michael hoped to find some treasure before he had an entire race after him.

Michael had continued his use of shifting his sight to the Mana realm to look for ambushers when he noticed a slight bit of mana inside a room. The Mana was moving around which meant it was a live person and when he focused deeper he could make out individual parts of the being. He led the group to the door of the room and then took out a Hammer to use. Only 2 strikes allowed him to access the room and when he entered he saw Lerisa’s small shape huddled beneath blankets. She jerked when Michael entered and her bedraggled state looked like she had been running for weeks instead of just a few days. Michael smiled down on her.

“Well lookey here. The grateful woman that I saved has finally appeared. I only got a ‘Thanks’ before you decided to kill me out of greed. What do you have to say for yourself, miss?”

Michael’s jolly tone had deadened by the last word and Lerisa’s already white face had paled. She had hoped to camp here for only a few days but the crash of the elevator told her that her quick way out was destroyed. Still she didn’t expect this group to appear so soon and she was starting to panic at her awful decision.

“I-I-I’m sorry? I only wanted to make a name for myself and this cave was supposed to give me that. I didn’t want to kill you two, only frighten you off. But you attacked us before I could tell you to go.”

“Excuses. Don’t take out weapons unless you’re willing to use ‘em. Anyways the sorry was all I really wanted. Now if you'll excuse me.”

Lerisa’s mouth hung open as Michael walked out of the room. She did manage to get it working before he got out of sight.

“Wait! I-Is that it? You aren’t gonna do anything else?”

“Well...yea? I already took care of your group and this dungeon still has riches for me to collect. I don’t really need to kill or punish you since me and Liera weren’t even hurt. And Catherine here has been a fine help for the last few days. So yea. Bye.”

Catherine had perked up at the words spoken by Michael. Her complexion was very bad since she was still stubborn about not using healing on herself, but her smile made a person ignore that. Liera saw and glared a bit at Michael but his back was to them and he didn’t notice either of their looks.

Lerisa was still on the ground and shocked at the situation, but she picked herself up quickly and ran out of the room. She wanted to get out of this goddess forsaken mountain before doing anything else. She was shocked to see that all of the goblins on every floor had been killed and she shivered at the monsters she had met. Still, she couldn’t help but smile a little at what the other group was heading towards. Lerisa doesn’t give up grudges nearly as quick as Michael.

A few minutes of travelling saw the group to the entrance to the next level. Since they were very close to the top the levels had gotten smaller and smaller and fewer enemies had been found. The level they were on only had a few warriors and most of those ran away from Michael’s group. Liera killed the few courageous ones that charged but she didn’t needlessly pursue the runners.

When Michael took a step on the stairs, an information box forced itself in front of him.

Congratulations for clearing ‘Iron Mount’ of the goblins infesting its halls.

[p=left]Telling people the tale of this adventure will reward fame. Go to the nearest mercenary base and report the completion of this dungeon along with the location of the entrance to receive rewards.

You have gained +100 Fame.

You have gained +10 Charisma.[/p]

Michael read the rewards he had obtained and was extremely disappointed by them. ‘Only Fame and Charisma...maybe the treasure is better...hopefully it’s better...’

A second box came when he took his second step.

You are entering the inner sanctuary of ‘Inutian’.

[p=left]Beware traveller and turn back. For death awaits all who enters.[/p]

Michael smiled and continued his climb. He pointedly ignored the dreary feelings of his companions.

Start of Adventure

End of the Iron Mountain!

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Well...I had hoped to completely finish the mountain dungeon in only 1 chapter but after a few days of writing I decided to split it into two. The second part will include the final boss of the place and then the progression to Kiryun. It may take long since I suck at writing Dungeon scenarios. You only find out these sort of things as you go.

So Liera and Catherine...I really don't know what to do with these two in relation to Michael. If you wish to have Catherine join up with the pair, please comment reasons. If you don't...Haha. Catherine was just a character I made on a whim. Her brother can join as well or instead if people prefer him. I don't have a personality for him at all.

So the final boss...yea I got nothing. I'll figure it out as I go.

Liera is pretty tough huh? Michael only knew her fighting abilities when they sparred but it seems that even he is shocked at her skill...

For people who believe in eternally passive Fey, Liera is not like that. She is a Fey Guardian and guardians don't usually let others walk all over them. She can kick as much ass as Michael. Tongue twister...

So...Michael seems to use alot of magic huh? Still he does have some fight scenes, just nothing that strained him. I also suck at writing about traps. Did you notice?

Anyways I hope the next chapter can be released soon. I may be busy with some studies since I have an assignment due next week and an exam next wednesday. I haven't started on either...busy busy. I'm still rather lazy so...