Arthur was laying on his back on the ground, recalling something about silver and gold being great conductors for electricity. His body was stinging and numb at the same time and he noticed that his skin was still damp from his shirt. He held his hands up by the elbows and slowly opened and closed them. He groaned in discomfort. He noted that getting knocked out caused the rage status to stop. Even if he wanted to blame the healer for almost killing him and to stay mad, he just couldn’t summon the will to do so at that moment. Filantriam had given him dozens of excuses and apologies throughout the process of casting restoration magic on him. Arthur rose into a sitting position and looked at the corpse of the slime. Now it was just a big lump of gold in an awkward U shape.

Enchanted Gold

(42 pounds)

An extremely rare metal that is only

produced by living magical sources.

This metal his highly sought after by

Enchanters, Crafters, Smiths, and

by Bankers.

Treasure / Crafting Material

Arthur felt the joy of inner greed being fed in great excess. “Wow…” He stood up and walked over to the newly made riches. After prying it off his club he just admired the giant nugget of precious metal; even with his insane new strength Arthur could tell that it was considerably lighter than normal gold would be. Filantriam stood shoulder to shoulder with him and did the same. “More than enough to pay both of our debts.” He was wide-eyed. Arthur recalled something at the mention of debt. The necromancer that had horribly triggered his fear of heights had mentioned that Arthur had no debt record. Arthur kneeled on the ground and set the treasure down. He slid one of the knives from his belt and began stabbing at the metal, creating deep gouges in the middle until there was a hole he could pry wide. He succeeded and the knife snapped in half. Considering the situation any annoyance was quickly drowned out. With a considerable amount of effort he managed to cut the gold into two equal halves with the stub of the blade. They both picked up one half, Filantriam struggling somewhat with his. “Does this mean I’m rich now?” Arthur pondered aloud. And the healer snickered, then cackled for a long moment. “Yes. Yes we are.” Arthur gave him a concerned look. He sounded extremely evil when he laughed. Arthur thought maybe it was just a warlock thing.

Butchard insisted that Arthur took the last mana potion out of his bag to make space for his gold. A short time later he was back in Mung’s shed. Arthur had avoided any other people on his way back, becoming paranoid about protecting his new wealth. Apparently Filantriam felt the same way because he had followed him. Arthur managed to carve off a chunk of gold the size of a finger digit to pay mung for more hard liquor. He choked on his first shot as Vulwin burst through the door to Mung’s great annoyance. “I was told you were interrogated by an archmage?” He seemed to forget where he was when he laid his eyes on the metal that glowed softly; standing up straight and hitting his head on the low ceiling. “How could you have possibly gotten that?” Arthur wiped his mouth after properly finishing his shot. “Yes to the first question, I think my luck for the second.” Vulwin visibly struggled to decide what to ask next. Arthur almost panicked when Vulwin began casting a spell, but relaxed after no combat notifications presented themselves. He reached into thin air and his hand disappeared for a moment, and when he pulled it back it reappeared clutching two books the size and shape of light novels. “I have a trade offer.” Mung glanced over as Filantriam was clutching his fist behind his back to cancel a spell, tiny sparks getting snuffed out as he did.

Trade Offer

You have been offered :

1 Soul Summon Tome (Epic rank)

1 Spell Book: Burning Hands (Rare rank)

In return for :

25 grams of enchanted gold

Spell Book

Burning Hands

elemental imbuement

This spell allows you to create a great

amount of heat from your hands.

This spell has been greatly modified to suit

melee fighters after most mages agreed

that it had limited use in its original form.

Melee class requirement:

Berserker class is compatible

10 Mana cost

per second

Soul Summon

Summons a powerful familiar that most

greatly serves the needs of your soul.

The type of familiar received is vastly variable

and entirely dependent on the summoner.

If the soul familiar is lost another spell tome

Is required for a resummon.

Requirement:

No active soul familiar

Arthur was tired of intaking new information. He felt awful despite all the healing magic that was used on him. He almost declined just because he didn’t want to think about it at that moment. The descriptions of the items forced him to pay attention. He liked the way the spell sounded, and a dedicated ally would make him feel much less cornered in a land that he didn’t know the rules of. He decided to accept the offer when he realized 25 grams wasn’t that much more than what he had given Mung for liquor. He also realized just how much he overpaid the smug goblin.

He nodded to Vulwin. “That sounds fair.” As soon as he finished speaking the books hopped out of his hands at Arthur, and a small perfectly cut cube of popped out of the lump of gold. He jerked his hand up with a reaction time that startled himself. At the same time each item landed in its new owners' hands. Arthur looked at the reddish cover of the first book. The same description appeared, but with a new box accompanying it.

You do not have any of the required

skills to study this book

Using this book will allow you to learn the spell

but will destroy the book in the process

Arthur had no idea what the difference between studying the book and using it entailed. He promised himself to increase his intelligence stat along with trying to boost his health. He used it and the book immediately turned to ash. He was startled for a second until he saw the glowing red letters and runes of the pages had come to life and burnt away the bound paper shell that contained the true power it held. They floated apart and together in a memorizing way, Arthur lifted his hands and they spun around them. His hands began glowing, and steamed as any sweat or skin oil instantly evaporated off his hands. The runes suffused into his hands and he clenched his fists and stretched his fingers. He pinched the surface of his gold, he could feel the heated metal soften between his digits. He pulled some of it away and rolled it between his red-hot hands. He formed a long thin piece which he then pushed back into the main mass of metal and let cool. He felt the burst of new knowledge that came from absorbing the spell, and it felt amazing. He wanted to feel that rush again. He rotated his wrists and flicked his hands, the motion canceled the spell. He picked the tome and Vulwin hastily stopped him from using it. “Use the summon tome outside. We have no idea how large your familiar will be.” Not wanting to hurt his source of alcohol, Arthur left the shed and prepared to use the next summoning book.

“I’m pretty interested to see what kind of creature you summon.” Filantriam said. Vulwin stood nearby, always ready to take notes. “I certainly am.” Arthur turned to him. “Is there anything I should know before I use this?” Vulwin rubbed at his chin, despite having no facial hair to speak of. “In my experience, specialized familiars like soul summons say an incredible amount about the personality of the summoner. Those who want to protect others get resilient familiars with a high defensive potential. On the other end there are familiars who have horrible destructive abilities. I want to see what your soul desires.” Arthur looked back at the gilded book in his hand. He wondered the same thing himself. It was different from when he used the spell book. The book turned to ash, and the runes began floating with a beautiful royal purple color. But instead of filling him with outside knowledge, the runes formed a wide ring that pulled radiant wisps of the same color from his body. Arthur instinctively knew it wasn’t stealing the information from him, but instead was reading his very soul. A portal formed in the ring of runes. It glowed brightly, mist slowly rolled out from whatever plane was breached to create this gateway. Something floated out of the portal. It was small, stark white, and it looked fluffy. Arthur went wide eyed as the portal closed behind the small creature. It levitated towards him and he gently picked it up out of the air with both hands. It woofed happily.

You have summoned a Soul Familiar

Phantasmal Canine

A ghostly hound that excels in

tracking and detecting threats. Has high

potential in using illusionary abilities.

Their non-physical nature makes them

immune to melee attacks and highly

resilient to most magical attacks.

Your connection to your familiar allows you to

physically connect to them.

Your familiar is currently a

non-combat type

“Oh my god, you are so damn adorable!” It looked like a small Samoyed that was partially made of a shifting mass of dense fog. Arthur pet his new dog, the fur felt impossibly soft and silky. The dog licked his face and he couldn't stop himself from giggling like an idiot. Filantriam and Vulwin looked at each other, and back at the cute little canine that had floated right out of Arthur's hands and straight through him. Leaving a little plume of mist before emerging from his back and running around in happy little circles, on the air itself instead of the ground. “Did you expect something really scary?” The warlock asked, somewhat quietly. “I did. I guess this is a pleasant surprise.” Brielle then arrived, smiling wide when she saw the little ghost dog. “Who’s this little guy?” At this time the pup was running in wider circles, straight through Vulwin and Filantraim. Arthur watched as he tried to run through Brielle, but was instead caught up in her hands and petted with enthusiasm. Even the dog seemed surprised for a moment. “You can touch ghosts?” She shook her head. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, dogges will always have a place in the heart of any good hunter.” She raised her palm to her forehead, and it glowed a faint yellow. And then she applied that hand to the head of the phantom pooch. “May the hunt light your path.” and his cute little eyes glowed for a moment.

Your familiar has been blessed

by an apostle of the Great Huntress

Blessing

Sense for the Hunt

Your tracking abilities are

moderately enhanced and you

are less likely to lose tracks and

trails left by scents

"Apostle?" Arthur asked. And the dog in her hands barked.