“Yes.”

Hina did not shout or whisper into the capsule like the others but spoke normally. Speaking normally and acting normal was the best way not to attract too much attention. But in this group there are several people that will stand out no matter what. Hina sighed as the capsule transfer her consciousness into the white space which was used to make a character to play.

— The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?

“Yes.”

Hina wanted to get this over as fast as she could be there may be some information that she may miss if she did. As a result of wanting to know everything she may need to know to help the others, she is forced to go through this normally.

— Select the name of your avatar.

Hina already thought out a name during the time she waited for the AI to finish its talking. This was simply a few seconds but that time was all she needed to think up of no less than a hundred different names she would not revolt being called.

“Miriel.” was all she needed to say for the AI to get to the next bit.

Hina was feeling a bit annoyed that the AI for the character creation was dumbed down for the majority instead of being more precise and accurate like games in the past where they simply gave you all the options at once instead of this slow drag.

'This is like going to school all over again!' she thought irritably. While Hina was 16 and was considered by normal standards to need at least one more year in school until she was ready to go into society, she already finished her studies in the high school level long ago. The Ministry of Education gave her a free scholarship into a much higher university level study at the age of 13 when she proved in front of her school that she was indeed what people would consider a genius.

However Hina never thought of herself that way despite all the rumours she did.

'I am simply a slightly smarter person than you. At most a prodigy among people. A true genius transcends the understanding of humanity and can only but shunned. I am not completely shunned from humanity so I am not a genius.' were the words Hina spoke when someone tried to link her to being a genius no matter what age.

— Select your gender from male, female or neutral.

“Female.”

Hina felt a slight disgust on anyone wanting or actually playing as the opposite gender but had no problem with the neutral gender since its the middle grounds and barely acceptable in her eyes. She has read many things about the neutral gender and it was honestly more useful than it looked at first. You may not have any advantages or disadvantages in terms of the stats that may increase or decrease at times but you would have the power to attract the attention of both males and females to your side which is one of the most important things as a person with ambition. But Hina did not any kind of ambition at all.

She long lost hope for humanity as a whole but not as individuals. She knew that there was good among the mud known as the common folk. She knew that people at times were better than what they seem. But this thought repeated too many times and lost in the end. Trusting others was a foolish idea. However you can trust someone when their fate was tied with yours. This was the case with the other 5 right now.

'Perhaps I may enjoy being with them unlike the others'

— Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine.

Hina had also thought about this as well. Hina wanted to have a character more focused on magic than physical aspect and what other choice was there than being an Elf. Naturally drawing attention was not a good idea when searching for a person but this choice would influence the rest of her life in game....until she is fed up with it and restart. Hina however already researched what kind of character she would want in game and decided her race based on the stats it gave.

As a result she said, “Night Elf”

While they were a bit weaker in the physical and magic department overall, they gave a good bonus to others things that outstrip mere single bonuses that the other races had.

— You may alter your appearance

“Show me my appearance.”

Hina was still a girl and wanted to know and alter her appearance to not look ugly. In front of her was a dark skinned version of herself with pointed ears. Hina frown that her skin looked bad with her face.

“Change skin colour to same as mine.”

The AI did its job and a almost perfect replica of herself was standing in front of her. The pointed ears surprisingly looked good with her black hair and eyes but she wanted to change it a bit.

“Change eyes to golden.”

Her eyes now golden in colour looked well in contrast with her hair. Luckily she didn't need to do anything with her hair which only went down couple of centimetres below her shoulder. She looked rather plain but the Elfish nature of looking good made her look better than she did. Satisfied with her look she said, “Done.”

— Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road. Please Select a city and kingdom you want to start.

“Witchhelm”

'I will hit the person who dares say that they almost forgot about the name of the city we will start in!' she had such thoughts before the light took her into a new life.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Miriel opened her eyes to see the city that would house her for the next 4 weeks and immediately made her way to where the fountain was to wait for the others. However on the way she saw a certain short young girl who looked quite lost.

'Is that Grace?' Miriel looked closer and indeed it was Grace except that she was wearing the cheap looking clothes that all newbies wore. 'God am I wearing such a thing as well? Damn I can't complain right now...' thinking of ways that she may get new cloths as fast as possible she didn't realise that Grace was tugging on her arm.

“Help...me...” Grace plead like a puppy that was just found starving and vulnerable.

Miriel smiled and said, “I'm Miriel, what are you called?”

'I need her name before anything else' she thought but Grace had other ideas. Grace suddenly let go of her and moved a couple of steps away.

“Are.....you....Hina or not?.....” she muttered out. At this sight Miriel sigh and pinched Grace's face causing her to make a funny noise while struggling to get free. 'What an entertaining person.' she thought to herself.

“Yes I am but I’m called Miriel here so get used to it.” replied Miriel. With those words Grace once more started clinging onto her saying, “I'm Serena here.” in a whisper. With that the two walked to the fountain where they found both Mark and Ian were standing next to each other without saying a word. Mark had the same look while Ian changed his hair to black as well as his eyes.

The two waved at the two at the fountain and Miriel said to Mark, “So you two got here early” which shocked him for an unusual reason. Miriel laughed in the inside no showing it on her face, 'Did he really not realise that Ian was next to him?'

Then a couple of seconds later Peter came donning his slightly longer hair which was dark blue saying casually, “Is everyone here yet?” looking around for traces of Maria.

'Now I think about it, that brat isn't here yet. And I told her to meet here quickly as well!'

A bit pissed off on Maria, Miriel almost shouted “Maria isn't She's late!” with an irritated voice. Peter made a wry smile at her words while Serena was getting frightened by her sudden bad mood moving closer to Ian almost by instinct.

“So are we going to introduce ourselves while we wait for Maria?” Sain asked the rest of the group.

“We might as well” sighed Miriel saying her thoughts out loud, “Anyway I'm called Miriel now so call me that. I'm a Night Elf.”

“Raven, Human” said Raven after herself.

Serena struggled but still managed to speak to the rest of the group, “I'm called....Serena...a Half-Elf...”

Ian simply said the words, “Shadow, also Human”

Sain smiled knowing all of their new names now and introduced himself.

“I'm Sain also a Human. Anyway we should friend each other while we can. Um...how do I do this?” Sain said with confused on what to do.

'He doesn't know? I better demonstrate then.' Miriel sighed and said quickly, “Send Friend Request to Sain, Serena, Raven and Shadow.”

The other four were a bit shocked of something that appeared in front of them. Then one by one a message appeared in front of her indicating that could see the friend request in front of them.

Sain has accepted your friend request

Raven has accepted your friend request

Serena has accepted your friend request

Shadow has accepted your friend request

Then the rest also had the pleasure of figuring out how to send it to the rest of them.

“Send Friend Request to Serena, Raven and Shadow.” said Sain quickly after Miriel did.

'At least he's quick with his mouth.' she thought seeing that he did not even know some of the basics.

This took a minutes and judging by what Raven was doing with his finger and the fact that he did not say one word, the others sent him a friend request before he could even speak 3 times in a row. Miriel was amused on how helpless Raven seemed to be compared to the rest, even Serena. However her good mood did not last. Maria was still not here and she was unconsciously tapping her foot on the ground hard.

Eventually a certain person appeared after what seemed to be hours with a smile and was waving at them. It was indeed Maria and she was also an Elf but not the same kind.

“I'm here~” she cheerfully said. Something cracked when she heard those words. Miriel moved in and immediately went up and hit Maria's head with her fist.

“Ow! Wait, what's this message I'm seeing?” she cried in exclamation.

'Even now you dare act....' Miriel was almost certain that her mood would drop low whenever this person was near her doing something stupid.

“Your late!” shouted Miriel in rage. This was one of the few times she lost herself in anger and quickly recollected herself.

“Anyway sent a friend request to everyone of us. No, tell us your name and we'll friend you. It'll be much quicker that way.” said Miriel while leaning over Maria with force. Quickly, Maria turned her head and said in a quiet voice, “ My name is Lyndis, a normal Elf.”

Soon enough everyone sent her a Friend Request and introduced themselves in front of her.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“First of all you guys know how to open your inventory right? Just say open Inventory and a window saying what you have will appear which should be 10 pieces of Rye bread and a Canteen of Water. You can refill the Canteen using a Fountain like this but you have to buy Rye Bread for 3 Copper each. Try it out.” she commanded.

“Open Inventory Window.” the rest of them said at the same time. Miriel also opened her inventory window to check if things are in order

Inventory

- 10 Pieces of Rye Bread

- I Canteen of Water

- No Money

The rest of the group soon opened up their inventory pointing at things that everyone else did not see.

Then Sain took out what was the most basic of foods, the infamous Rye Bread. It was essentially a hard dry piece of bread that everyone hated.

'This looks....very hard to chew', everyone thought seeing the Rye Bread in Sain's hand.

“Anyway next is the Status Window which you will see all of your stats and such. Same thing as the inventory, just say Open Status Window.”

“Open Status Window” said the 5 again.

Once again Miriel also opened her Status Window which was a bit different from the others.

Status Window[quart=Name,Alignment]Miriel,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]1,None[/quart]RaceNight ElfTitleNoneHealth80Mana100[quart=Fame,Infamy]0,0[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]9,11[/quart][quart=Intelligence,Wisdom]11,10[/quart][quart=Vitality,Stamina]9,10[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Offense,Defense]10,10[/quart]Magic Resistance0%Elemental Resistance[quart=Light,Dark]0%,5%[/quart][quart=Fire,Ice]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Earth,Lightning]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Wind,Nature]0%,0%[/quart]Bonus- 10% Stat increase in the dark or in dungeon

- 5% increase sight in the dark

The Dark Elf Race had the usual characteristics of being better in Agility and Intelligence than in strength or Vitality. However the Night Elves also have the bonus of having slightly better slight in the dark and more importantly an increase in stats when in a dungeon. This along encouraged Miriel to pick the class.

“Okay now that you know your status window, we have to talk about distributing stats. Know that it is better to be a master of one than a master of many. However don't let it stop you since its your character and we don't need to be something like the strongest. Now let's go our separate ways and find a class in these 4 weeks we have. Don't aim for the hidden classes since they may take too much time to get and don't just resolve yourself on being one of those common classes people get. I'll see you guys here in 4 weeks time.” said Miriel before running off.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Miriel headed start to the library since it was the best place to study for what she wanted to be. The class Mage was one of the most common classes but one of the most effective ones as well. There was also sub classes among Mages, such as the Fire Mage, Ice Mage and so on. Miriel figured that there was some sort of support type mage class somewhere and intended to get it. If there wasn't then she would make the class through the system. Another feature of Royal Road was the near infinite amount of classes you can choose. It was not that these classes all existed at once from the beginning, players who have done certain actions and learnt certain things unintentionally create new classes for themselves. Soon enough many people intentionally did this to get their preferred class. However these classes are often less balanced then the standard.

'If I remember correctly, the library was here somewhere....'

Miriel made a left, right, right again and headed straight for another couple of streets before going left once again.

Miriel stared in awe in the sight. It was indeed a library but the scale that it put other national libraries in shame. It was not only multi-storied but it had a certain charm to it as well. The outline of it was made from high quality stone and marble and took up the most space in the entire city. You could say that this was the gem of the city and it represented the city. Moreover it spanned almost a hundred metres across the road.

Miriel looked up to see the name of this library.

The Sleeping Sheep Centre

'Ah.....what a crappy name....but that would explain most things since it was owned by that guild. Still the name is pretty crappy'

Miriel could see the massive crowd going in the library being seemingly teleported to where they want to be. The teleporter was located near the entrance in the inside of the library.

According to what Miriel knew, teleportation was really difficult to achieve and requires several high levelled mages at once. However Miriel could see no mages at all conducting the teleportation. This meant that it was done via a magical artefact. Such a thing was extremely expensive and would easily sell in the hundreds of thousands of Gold for one.

'I'm more surprised that no one decided to try and steal it' thought Miriel still looking around at the great sight.

“Get out of my way!!!”

Hearing some sort of commotion Miriel and everyone else in the area turned to look at source of the noise. It was some sort of robber in cheap clothes that was partly ripped apart. The man came out of one of the teleporter carrying some books. They were most likely something of value and the guy was trying to steal it. Or it was someone not of value and this guy was an idiot.

[System Defence Activate]

Some sort of mechanical voice resounded in the area. Miriel had no idea what it was but knew that something bad will happen to the man that was running away. And this showed in the man's actions as well.

The thief started panicking then and ran opposite to where Miriel was which had less people compared to the other side which was crowded with people. As the crowd dispersed something Miriel did not expect to happen did.

Tree roots appeared and bind the man to the ground. The books he carried disappeared in a blue light.

'What just happened.....?' thought Miriel pondering what was going on in this place.

Soon enough some guards appeared and took the man who was screaming for some sort of help. Miriel immediately ignored the screaming and shouting of the man and headed inside of the library.

The entrance of the library was also large and looked more like a large shopping mall considering the large amount of people combined with a large amount of stuff that are being sold including food and other items. At the top was three giant signs.

The one to the left was labelled 'Magic Related Books.'

The one to the middle was labelled 'Common Books'

And the one to the right was labelled 'History/Rare Books'

Naturally to the nature of these books, the next entrances to the left and right each had a set of guards and mages on standby. The middle entrance had no guards and frankly no one was going there at all. At the end of each entrance was a teleporter and some stairs as well. Miriel presumed that the teleporter would be the faster option but would cost money to use.

'Why would no one go to that section? From what I know reading helps increase intelligence and wisdom which is the most important thing for magic related characters.'

Thinking this, Miriel did not go to the Common Books section but stood in line for the Magic Related Books section which was crowded. However it was not as crowded as the History/Rare Books section which even had people thrown out of the line due to their cutting in habits. Everyone here was patient. And there were still some annoying people around her.

“Hey, want to join my guild? We will make sure you're geared and fed properly” said one annoying guy.

“Wait! I saw her first! Join my guild! We're one of the best guilds in town!” said the second annoying person.

“Pfft. There are only so many guilds in this city and only one of them is an Independent Guild. Every other guild besides my one is trash.” said the third annoying person.

“Take that back!” shouted the first and second annoying person drawing their weapons. The third annoying person smiled and in an instant several knights came over and dragged the first two out of line and started beating them up saying, “You know the rules and break them. So we'll break your bones when you break our rules!” in rhyme with their hits.

Then the knights looked over to the third annoying person and dragged him out as well. Miriel saw the shocked and confused expression he had and felt no pity for him.

“Wait! I can pay. Donnnnnnnn't!” he plead. But the knights ignored him and started beating him up as well saying, “Rule number 14, never be the cause of conflict and be caught.”

When Miriel heard those words, she smiled for the first time in a while. She literally interpreted the words to mean, 'If you're going to do something wrong, don't get caught!', As a result Miriel was feeling some sort of respect to the person who made these rules in the first place.

Miriel then looked at the first two annoying people to see that they were healed by some priests. They were thanking them until they said, “The fee for this service comes to 4 Gold, 17 Silver and 87 Copper.” which left the two in shock. They took out their money to find that their combine wealth lead to exactly 4 Gold, 17 Silver and 87 Copper.

'So rule breakers get beaten up and robbed of their money at the same time. What a nice system'

The two seeing this started to complain which drew the attention of the knights.

“Rule number 15, if caught complaining about medical fees, then you will be beaten up.”

And so the two got beaten up again. Seeing this, the third annoying person immediately paid all his money to the priests and left this place immediately. After another couple of seconds of healing the priest healed them again and said, “The fee for this service comes to 8 Gold, 35 Silver and 74 Copper” which was now double of their combined wealth.

Miriel chuckled at this sight seeing that the system of scamming people was made well.

Seeing that those two people started fighting in order to be the one to survive, the knights immediately said, “Rule number 5, fighting will result in death.” and so the knights promptly killed the two, looted their money and whatever they dropped as well. It was an almost perfect system made to exploit the first wrong doing.

As such seeing that she might as well see what was in the Common Books section since she could not be bothered to wait in line for a couple of hours as a beginner who has no money, Miriel went out of line and headed straight into the Common Books section. In there Miriel proceeded to read and learn as much as possible of this city.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Wisdom has increased by 1

Miriel just finished another book and this message appeared again. In the past 3 hours, Miriel has been speed reading several books at once which resulted in her gaining 2 Intelligence and now 3 Wisdom which was a really good amount of stat gain in just a mere few hours.

Miriel checked her Hunger bar.

Hunger at 55%

According to what Miriel read, in most cases you would need to eat once every couple of hours each day in order to survive and not die from starvation. The hunger bar also decrease based on the amount of stamina you use. The more active based players who run a lot more naturally have to eat more as well, but a person who does not do this often such as magic characters don't.

“That's strange, who knew that a person who come in here. Its more than often abandoned since the other two sections are much more popular and overall more useful.”

Miriel turned in shock to see a relatively young woman, that looked no more than 25 behind her in purple robes with some strange symbols on them carrying a short staff with a gem on it.

“Who...are you?” asked Miriel a bit shy since it has been a while since she needed to respect a complete stranger in order to not to piss them off...again. As such Miriel was trying to act out a nice character for this woman to like her in order to get something that she has no idea but would most likely be useful in the future.

“Me? I'm Jenny. The person who runs this section of the library.” she said with some confidences if not for the fact that she and Miriel were the only people in this section of the library in the first place.

'Perhaps she can answer a couple of questions I wouldn't otherwise ask someone else for.'

“In that case, can you answer a couple of my questions concerning this place?” asked Miriel as nicely as possible.

“Of course!”

Miriel smiled.

“What's with the really really bad name for this library. Sleeping Sheep Centre? Is that the best name for....” Miriel couldn't say the last bit, however the person named Jenny took over as if she heard this question a million times.

“Such an impressive piece of work? Yeah...the person who funded the project named it and no one rejected it...at the time at least. Made and named in memory of an old friend that died during the Haven-Kallamore War. You should know it, its otherwise known as one of the climaxes of the guild wars. Millions died, often only defending their homes....even my....”

Jenny seemed to be lost in her memories and Miriel felt that it was a bit disrespectable to interrupt her right now. A few seconds later when Jenny seemed to snap out of it, Miriel asked her second question.

“So is it true that, that infamous guild is in this city?”

Jenny raised an eyebrow and said, “Yes, it is true, though I recommend that you don't get involve for your safety. Don't ask why, its better if you don't know that as well”, Jenny sighed near the end of her answer and waited for Miriel to ask another question.

“Who are you?” Miriel asked considering that this was the most important question so far and left it to last.

“Ah! That's an easy one. I'm Jenny, and I am a Bard Magician. Think of the support abilities of a Bard and add in the concept that I'm a mage as well.”

“...”

'I never thought that such a class would just appear in front of me. And its a support class as well! This may be my lucky day'

With a scheme to get that class no matter what since it sounds perfect for her use, Miriel started sugar coating her words as the conversation continued. Eventually it got to the point where Miriel thought it was best for her to be taught by this Jenny person.

“Can I ask to become your apprentice?” asked Miriel looking a bit shy even though she was using all possible means to get what she wants.

Jenny smiled care freely and said, “Of course!”

You have become the apprentice of Sound Maiden Jenny

- You will live with her until your apprenticeship finish

- You will be fed food

- You will be given training directly from her

- Will gain the title 'Sound Maiden Apprentice'

You have gained the title 'Sound Maiden Apprentice'

- Intelligence will increase by 1

- Wisdom will increase by 1

- 5% more spell effect for Sound based Spells

Feeling a bit excited that she actually got an apprenticeship from what seemed to be a reputable person, Miriel smiled gleefully.

“Well that took longer for you to ask me about being my apprentice” said Jenny calmly looking away. Miriel saw a smile from the edge of Jenny's face and immediately knew that she conned into the effort she had used to sugar coat all her words.

“Did you really need to lie through your teeth about everything you talked to me about? I mean, who likes the sound of nature or that crap these days? Anyway I intent to train you as much as possible in four weeks.”

'4 weeks?'

“What happens in 4 weeks?” asked Miriel ignoring the fact that she was played quite skilfully as a new player in this game against an experienced person. Miriel knew this person was a NPC since she clearly had the intention of teaching Miriel and a player wouldn't take the time to help someone for that long.

“Not telling. Anyway come with me, I'll show you the true worth of this library.”

Jenny got up and Miriel followed closely behind. Jenny headed for the back of the library where there was a door. It was an old rusty wooden door but....it felt off for some reason.

“A combination of illusion and sound based magic was used on this thing. Normal people and even the most skilled mages and thieves won't even tell that this thing is here, let alone what's behind it.

Miriel took out an equally old key and unlocked the key and dragged Miriel through it. Inside was...a teleporter? No, there were several teleporters in this room and each of them had a sign above them like the ones at the entrance of the library. Both Miriel and Jenny went through one of them which teleported them to another room which was....another library with all the shelves and books and such.

“...”

“What's with that look? These books are even more rare and powerful then the ones shown to certain individuals in the public! This is where I'll teach you everything you need to know and plus, the teleporter is fitted all around the library as well so you can go anywhere you want in this place.”

“Won't that take a lot of mana to sustain? The teleport devices.”

“Well...a while back someone invented a way for cheap short ranged teleportation but it wasn't useful in combat so it was used for this. Most castles of major cities have the same system we have. Its useful and cheap to use but its really hard to install into buildings in the first place and expensive to boot.”

'A cheap service which also was really hard to install and expensive at the same time....that's kinds contradicting the purpose of this thing right.....? Well I can't complain that there's a shorter way of getting about this place.'

“Can't this system be installed in a whole city at once?” Miriel asked a bit curious on whether it can be done or not.

Jenny shook her head much to Miriel's disappointment and said, “In theory yes, but the practical sense hundreds of people getting off at certain points would just make traffic worse. Plus it already cost half a million gold to install this system into a major building, it would several tens of millions of gold to do the same city wide and you have to have people maintaining the device and making sure half a person is missing when they teleport. Lots of problems that can only be solved on the small scale of things. Any other questions?”

“Well, what exactly can you do?”

Hearing that question, Jenny headed beyond the mini library she had and into a sort of open area. By open area, its more open compared to the mini library behind Miriel. It was a small 5 metre by 5 metre part of the room which was cleared out.

“As a Bard Magician, I have control over the domain of sound and other similar elements such as illusions. Naturally I can use other, more common magic but the key magic would be turning illusion magic to affect the real world.”

Jenny pointed her staff to the small space and created some sort of transparent shield.

“Right now this is a mere illusion. But when I solidify it....”

A small burst of mana went through the staff and into the fake shield and it....felt like it was there, not that it already did.

“Honestly this is the most you can do with this kind of magic. Its much easier to just learn or create the spells you want to use. However key part is that I can amplify spells using this.” Jenny pointed to her staff and the gem on the end glowed and let out a light that made Miriel think it was a light bulb for a second.

“You may not see it, but the shield just became a lot stronger. There are also spells that allow you to increase the speed of spells and even let out a second spell from the caster moments after they cast a spell or attack. Its all very useful if you know what you're doing. I can try to teach you everything but we're both smart enough to know that you need some of the basics first so start learning quickly. There should be some books on the basics of magic and how to sense mana properly.”

With those words, Miriel almost ran to the mini library and pulled out books that didn't seem to complicated for her to understand. Miriel knew that she was doing what Jenny wanted but she also knew that this was the fastest and more effective way on gaining that class she wants. After Jenny's demonstration and explanation, the class seemed more and more perfect than before.

Miriel opened the book labelled, “Magic and how they work 101” and started reading making sure to note down the key points in her head.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Sometime later on...

“Oh Jenny it seems like you finally got an apprentice at last~” said a person in a one piece white dress. However there was something wrong since that same person was covered in blood and had a person swung over his shoulder.

At this voice, Jenny immediately paled and started heading towards the teleporter to escape immediately but a firm hand on her shoulder literally stopped her as he pushed her to sit back down. Jenny stared up at the pitch black eyes that said 'Don't you dare escape' which immediately glued her to her seat.

“It...been a while Eden....also, who is that person?” asked Jenny trying to look away.

“Ah, this person I saved a while back. I was going to give his one here to you as an apprentice but it seems like you already found one! I guess I have to give her to Mel then” said Eden in a humorous manner.

If you look closely you could see 3 line going down Jenny's face. She would never admit that it was due to her inability to properly face one of the most powerful force in the continent alone. It was not her alone, even her comrades would have similar or worse reactions on seeing this person.

Perhaps it was only Mel and Anna and that pervert Ron who could handle him at all. Out of those Jenny knew, they were the most abnormal. Everyone else including herself who had a bit of common sense were scared shitless when meeting Eden.

“Anyway I'm thinking of joining her and her friends to the guild, what do you think as her master?” asked Eden kindly though there seems to be a spiral of hell awaiting them soon enough.

'Besides the fact that I fear for their immortal lives?'

Jenny was a native to the land and therefore could die. But freemen could come back even if they die which made 'certain' methods more effective than you think. As such, Jenny swored in her heart that she would at least protect her apprentice from the worst that could happen.

With a forced smile Jenny said, “I think it would be lovely for them to join.”

With that Eden disappeared from her sights. Jenny sighed out loud at what she ultimately did. She remembered the times when Eden 'trained' her in the art of magic.

“Maybe I should tone down the training I have planned out for Miriel.....”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“There are two ways you can train someone. The first is the one I'm using, which is train the basics then give the extras later. And the second which some people may employ is give the extras first and train the basics later. Both in the end give the same results but the methods are very different. Tell me why I'm using the first method Miriel?”

“It is because you will make less mistakes if you have the basics down.”

“Yes and no.”

“?”

“Its true that if you have the basics down, you can possibly have a better start when using skills and spells. But experience does the same thing and often better. An old saying is that a single live battle is the equivalent to 100 days of training. Naturally if you battle too much, the effects will dim out and the chances of having injuries that will affect you later will increase, the benefits are best done when both training and battles take place. But...you have a 4 week restriction on you. So we have to focus on the basic use of skills and your stats which comes second.”

“I see Master.” Miriel nodded her head even though she knew all of this already. Miriel also had a feeling that Jenny was repeating this information to Miriel intentionally.

“Half the practise will be done on skills and the other half will be on you gaining stats. I believe you have enough knowledge to know what to do and what your role is. Now, its been 3 days, show me your stats.”

Miriel opened her status window for Jenny to see.

Status Window[quart=Name,Alignment]Miriel,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]1,None[/quart]RaceNight ElfTitleSound Maiden ApprenticeHealth80Mana130[quart=Fame,Infamy]0,0[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]9,11[/quart][quart=Intelligence,Wisdom]17 +1,15 +1[/quart][quart=Vitality,Stamina]9,10[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Offense,Defense]10,10[/quart]Magic Resistance0%Elemental Resistance[quart=Light,Dark]0%,5%[/quart][quart=Fire,Ice]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Earth,Lightning]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Wind,Nature]0%,0%[/quart]Bonus- 10% Stat increase in the dark or in dungeon

- 5% increase sight in the dark

- 5% more spell effect for Sound based Spells

Over the last three days, Miriel had been reading so much that her intelligence increased by 7 and wisdom by 5.

“....”

Jenny was silent. She had expected that Miriel would easily increase her stats by over 10 each in intelligence and wisdom.

“Show me your skill list,” ordered Jenny suspecting that Miriel was doing something else in her time.

Skill Window

- Magic Mastery Beginner 1 (15/100)

- Magic Bolt Beginner level 1 (35/100)

“...Miriel I did tell you to learn all you can right?” asked Jenny with her mouth twitching.

“Yes you did master, that is why I learned some basic skills.” replied Miriel calmly.

'This....brat. Not listening to me....well its fine since it saves the trouble of me teaching her that part.' thought Jenny thinking next on what to do. 'Oh yeah....I would like some good food for once.'

“Miriel, your next task is to cook for me.” said Jenny with sparkles in her eyes.

“...”

“...”

“Eh?”

Obtain the Cooking Skill

Jenny has requested for you to cook for her.

Time Limit: 3 Hours

Reward: Unknown

'What the hell is this?! Why am I getting this quest?! But at least I know how to cook.....where's the kitchen?'

Jenny clicked her fingers and a room slide into view which was....a kitchen with tons of ingredients. Miriel almost ran into the kitchen to start but Jenny stopped her from doing so.

“I want to eat...something nice. Make something nice for me!” said Jenny confirming her intentions to use Miriel to cook food for her.

“Master what is the point of this?” asked Miriel who was very concern of what was wrong in the head of her so far respectable Master.

Jenny looked at Miriel like she was crazy.

“Good Food is everything! Once you have good food, you'll be sick of the horrible food is have! The cooking skill is one of the most respected skills you can have! Now cook!”

With those words Miriel was forced to cook for the next 3 hours trying to get the cooking skill.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

You have generated the Skill Cooking

Cooking Beginner Level 1 (0/100)

Allows you to cook better.

Dish Effectiveness: 1.1 Times

Bonus to Vitality and Stamina: 5%

Quest: Obtain the Cooking Skill was completed

Collect Reward from Jenny

Miriel looked at both messages as she was finishing off the food she was cooking. Funnily enough, Miriel was the type to be good at almost everything which included cooking. However Miriel noticed that she only gained 40% experience from this quest for some reason. Miriel was at level 1 which means all quests give tons of experience for her but this was so minor that she didn't even gain a level.

Miriel looked at Jenny who was consuming down all the food Miriel had made in quick succession like a starved dog.

“More food!” she shouted when she saw that Miriel wasn't cooking.

'Does she have a black hole in her stomach where all the food goes?' sighed Miriel as she got the remainder of the food and made some more dishes. 'It looks like I have to wait for my reward later then.'

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Several moments later when Miriel finished using all of the ingredients to feed Jenny who had a very large....I mean delicate meal, Miriel asked what was the reward for finishing the quest.

“Oh, wait”, said Jenny as she took out something purple and handed it to Miriel.

“This is a robe I designed for you. I know how hard it is to wear...that.” Jenny pointed at Miriel's beginner rags and Miriel agreed that the clothes that she was wearing was pretty bad. Miriel changed her clothes right there and found that the robes were really comfortable. She checked the stats of the robes.

Purple Mage Robes Durability: 20/20 Defence: 2

Unknown

However there was only the details of the durability and the defence and not anything else.

Miriel looked at Jenny and said, “Master can you give me the identify skill?”

“Hmm? Sure.”

You have gained the skill Identify

Miriel then identified the Purple Robes using the skill she just got.

Purple Mage Robes Durability: 20/20 Defence: 2

Made with fine materials that grants extra comfort.

Options: Intelligence +1

The robes that Miriel were given were not that great but it granted the bonus of +1 Intelligence. While it was minor, if you stack several of these effects with similar items such as rings and necklaces, you can have the equivalent effect of a rare item.

“Master how come you can just give me skills and spells out of the blue?” asked Miriel who was a bit more concern that such a system was illogical.

“Oh....you don't know about the teacher-apprentice system yet. Well I'll explain it for you then. This system was made in the mind that the apprentice, namely you will quickly gain the skills from the Master, me. On one hand, you can't gain any intermediate or advance skills and spells I have but you can gain some of the more basic skills. However this can only be done with skills I have learned and mastered so I can't pass you skills that I have not mastered. The only exception are certain skills such as blacksmithing and tailoring which you can pass on when you reach the advance level. Also, most skills require you to be proficient in them or at least reach the minimum requirements to even learn them so it really just boils down to whether you're fit to use them at all.”

“In that case, can I learn skills before I gain a class?” asked Miriel.

“Yes you can but you don't get the bonuses from the class. Anyway since you've fed me enough” Jenny patted her stomach and continued, “I'll teach you some basic sound and illusion magic. Come with me.”

Jenny led Miriel to the original space that had nothing there when Miriel saw it for the first time in 3 days. Now it had a table and a line of small weapons on it. Miriel was confused that a mage like Jenny would even use weapons. Jenny picked one of the small weapons that looked like a dagger and it disappeared in her hand and reappeared later.

“The basics of illusion magic is to disguise things or turn them into something else.” said Jenny before chanting another spell that caused her to turn into a young child and back to normal.

“Illusion spells are very weak in the beginning but are one of the deadliest type of magicks when a skilled person use them. Combined with Sound Magic, you can sneak in plain sight and even other mages won't notice you. Of course this is only effective on humans since most animals and monsters have a good sense of smell. Also you can do this as well.”

The space around Jenny distorted and another her appear next to her mirroring her exact movements. Miriel was a bit excited that she was going to learn this type of magic but Jenny stopped any thoughts of that.

“Unfortunately you won't be able to do this since its very advance. However I can get you to the start where and will go down and learn more and more skills and spells that will eventually lead you to where I am and some place else. The purpose of the Master-Apprentice relationship is not to create carbon copies of yourself but to past down skills to let the younger generation to learn and evolve on their own. As such modern magic is much more different from ancient magic in its use and power. Let me tell you this early, when you face a ancient magic user, run. Don't think, just run. They are so powerful that even veteran mages have trouble with them. Average and slightly gifted mages can't match them at all.”

Miriel smiled at this last bit.

“Then what happens if a genius face against them?” Miriel did not consider herself a genius but only a slightly gifted person. But she was curious how a genius would fare against these ancient magician.

Jenny looked at Miriel with wide eyes and said, “It'll be still be difficult. There are many types of ancient magicians with skills you cannot imagine.” She emphasise the last bit to Miriel.

“In that case, are there any ancient magicians in this city?”

'Perhaps I could search for one to see what they're made up. Of course I only want to see their spells and such and not fight them.'

“Yes. One....maybe two if that person comes to visit again. Both are beyond me and any other magic user in this city....no continent. One controls nature and the other controls destruction....or at least brings destruction with her spells she creates.” shuttering on the thought of seeing such magic again.

“Spells she creates?” asked Miriel. Miriel heard that creating spells were only given to mages that were up to their second class advancement. There, they had the chance to try and learn an ancient spell or make one themselves. They only have one chance to do this as well since such a thing was so rare that most people just try to find an ancient spell to learn.

“Yes. She's classified as one of the most ancient spell users by the fact that she can freely create spells of all variety to use. No restrictions else by only her imagination and mana. She also has a hobby of trashing other mages by copying their spells and improving them to perfection which is highly annoying when that happens to you!” said Jenny annoyed by the memories this person gave her.

“But what does that mean? Does that person have no weakness?” asked Miriel again. Honestly she did not understand how a person could learn and create spells almost endlessly like how Jenny described it.

“Well...the only weakness is that person has to create the spell again every time she uses it. Normally when a person uses Fireball they already learnt the spell and its show in their skill window, but she can easily use a Fireball but the spell doesn't show up on her skill window. I believe she described at once point to giving commands to the spell including what element they were. Its very confusing at times but you can see the flexibly you have when you can do that and its limitation. She cannot cast spells rapidly in close combat.....no, she can't cast high levelled spells in cost combat. Mid level and low level spells are fine for her no matter what the situation is....”

In the depths of Jenny wondering off in her memories, Miriel decided to read a book about how to better her control over her spells.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Right....I suppose I do need to teach you some skills. But on the other hand I should give you the basic class at least.”

You have been offered the class 'Magician'. Do you accepted?

Magicians are the most basic magic based class there is. They can learn almost any type of magic but often specialise in one or two branches. They then split into their specialisation type magic.

“I do.”

Class has been changed to 'Magician'

Intelligence and Wisdom increase by 10

You have gained the skill Mediation

With the change of her class, Miriel also got the skill Mediation which she believe all mage characters got when they gained a magic based class. Nevertheless, Miriel still checked the skill to see if she was right just in case she remembered wrong.

Mediation Beginner level 1 (0/100)

Rest and concentrate to recover Mana

Mana recovered per minute: 50

Cool Down: 1 Minute

Miriel looked at the skill carefully and found that her information was correct. According to the information, when using this skill you don't feel anything that was happening around you but also increased the pain and damage you would take in this state. In other words, you need people protecting you in a dangerous place in order for you not to die from the sheer pain itself.

“Here” said Jenny giving Miriel a book. Miriel was confused, why did her master give her a book instead of giving her a skill?

“Its easier to use a skill if you directly learn it. Also you'll find some more details on the more advance aspects if you read it as well.”

Miriel looked at the title of the book which was 'Basic Illusion Magic'

Miriel thanked her master and went off to read the book.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

When Miriel finished reading the book, it disappeared into light particles and a message appeared for Miriel.

You have learnt spell Clairvoyance

You have gained the skill Illusion Magic Mastery

Miriel checked the two recently gained skills quickly to see what they did.

Clairvoyance Beginner level 1 (0/100)

Shows the path you must take.

Distance shown: 10 Metres

Mana Cost: 10 Mana

Cool Down: 1 Minute

Illusion Magic Mastery Beginner Level 1 (0/100)

Powers the ability to create and manipulate illusions

Illusion Magic Strength increase: 10%

Decrease in cost of Illusion Magic Spells: 1%

'Clairvoyance seems a bit too useless right now but...it will be useful when doing a quest. I should use it as much as possible when I have the chance. Illusion Magic Mastery is the standard when you learn a new type of magic for the first time.'

Miriel went to Jenny who was relaxing on her own and said, “Master, I've learnt the skill Clairvoyance from the book.”

“Ah good. Here's the next one. Its for sound magic.”

Jenny threw Miriel another book that was similar in size and colour of the previous one. However this one had the title 'Basic Sound Magic' on it which was really similar to the previous book as well.

“But before that, make me something to eat.”

“...”

“What? Why did you think I made you learn that skill. Don't worry, everyone will love you later thanks to this.”

And so Miriel made a couple of things for Jenny and herself and then started to read the next book that would give her a skill. Several hours later Miriel finished the book and go the next skill.

Melody of Sound Beginner level 1 (0/100)

Creates a Melody that will increase certain stats of the party. Can only play one active song at a time. More songs will be available as the level of the spell increases.

Melody of Strength: 10%

Melody of Agility: 10%

Melody of Vitality: 10%

Melody of Stamina: 10%

Mana Cost: 100

Duration: 10 Minutes

Cool Down: 30 Minutes

Sound Magic Mastery Beginner Level 1 (0/100)

Powers the ability to create and manipulate illusions

Sound Magic Strength increase: 10%

Decrease in cost of Sound Magic Spells: 1%

'So this is the so called support magic Jenny had been telling me about. I can see that its powerful itself....to powerful. Wasn't there suppose to be some sort of basic spell that I should've learnt sometime before. Something like controlling sound or something like that.'

Miriel placed those thoughts behind her and told Jenny that she finished with the book as well.

“Right, there's only one more spell I want you to learn, but that comes after you gain some proficiency in magic. And for that I need you to train your skills so I'm going to give you a quest.”

Find the Books

Jenny in order to increase your skills in magic has requested you to find certain books all over the library.

Requirements: Apprentice of Jenny

Reward: Skill proficiency will increase at twice the rate during this quest.

“I recommend that you use Melody of sound to increase your speed since this library is really big. Also there are no books in this hidden place but there are at least once book each in each section. I made sure that you have full access to all areas. Finally, don't go off reading during this time. I will give you the time later.”

Miriel listening to all of that decided to start immediately but Jenny stopped her for some reason.

“Oh Miriel, you can only search after my lessons are done.”

And so Miriel was forced to stay for the lessons from Jenny which more than often involved her own experience with her friends and some other people.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Miriel was sitting with Jenny who was talking about...well her future.

“So you are with 5 other people in a group right?” asked Jenny.

“That is correct.”

“And I suppose you all have gone to each get a class on your own and they seem to somehow become the apprentice of my former comrades....”

“...”

“This is certainly a twist of fate. To think that you 6 are so similar to us to the point that you all become our apprentices. However I do hope that you don't meet with those three?”

“Those three?”

Jenny sighed at the thought of them and said, “Those three and me and my comrades are part of the main combat branch of the guild. You heard of the term Independent guild right? Right now there are 2 dozen official members of our guild but we also have a information network that has thousands of people in it as well that doesn't count so we're a very small elite force. And I put the elite part forward to the point that it turns into the word monster. Anyway I can tell you that we intent to invite you and your friends into our guild which brings the number a bit more and a third sub section of the guild.”

“Sub section?”

“Well...sometimes guilds can make smaller groups in their guild. Some of the larger guilds that have smaller guilds serving them place entire guilds as a sub section. It really does nothing but allows better management of the guild overall. Anyway, as you know the guild I am in is a bit different since its normally quantity over quality in most guilds that want to thrive and we are managing this entire city, plus several more on our own. I can tell you that me and the other 5 which should be masters of your friends are in charge of this city and its safety. The other three are responsible for the rest on their own. The rest are spread out across the continent.”

“But how can three people manage an entire region on their own? And how do these regions work?”

“In this continent there are 256 sections for the safe areas and the 10 restricted zones have their own system and code names. We are in section 53 right now. The section works as a way for the royal courts to better see the state of the continent and the benefit of the region. The lower the number the more important the region is. This number is based on many many factors which include the military, culture, economic and the Independent Guilds that reside in each of them and their achievements. This region used to be section 1 at some point due to a certain event which we were no a part of. And when I say we, I mean the 6 of us not the other 3. Ever since then our 'rank' had slowly decreased but sometimes jump a bit higher at times for reasons that many do not know.”

“Master, if if there is only one Independent Guild in a region, then why doesn't another Independent guild invade?”

“They do try but they are repelled. According to the law, it is illegal to do such things as force someone out but it is also illegal to prevent someone to settle into an area. That is why some of the smaller insignificant guilds are popping up out of nowhere. They do eventually get kicked out by the system since they laze around doing nothing significant to their names.”

“But what happens if a large Independent guild tried to?”

“Well...for some reason none of the larger or medium size Independent guilds ever tried.”

“...”

'I think I know why but I rather not say it....'

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Serena how was your week?”

Those were the first words Miriel said to Serena after they had split up. Miriel was rather fond of Serena since she was similar to some of the younger children in the orphanage but it was mostly due to her kind nature that attracted Miriel to be close to her.

'She's not like those people....she won't betray me as well' such a thought echoed in her mind as Serena proceeded to hug Miriel. Miriel tried to get rid of the thought but Serena did the job for her since Miriel was being hugged to death by Serena.

“Serena you're going to....”

Miriel was losing more and more air from her body and at this rate she was going to be killed by Serena. Miriel tapped Serena rapidly which caused Serena to wake up from her trance and blush from embarrassment.

Moments later they were conversing on what happened to them and the others though they had no idea what Shadow and Lyndis were up to since they haven't seen them yet. Miriel also told Serena that their masters were acquaintances and everyone was their apprentices one way or another.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Miriel had followed Jenny to the barracks where apparently one of her friends had collapsed from exhaustion. Miriel was a bit worried since it was one of the people she was going to use....be friends with for a very long time due to the common goal they have. Miriel had hoped that it was not Sain since...well he was suppose to be the leader and nothing more and nothing less. Miriel had absolutely no other feelings than that.

BANG

Hearing a loud noise when they arrived, Jenny got an old man in a knight's armour, one that looked like a middle aged man and another mage in green clothes to lead the way to where the sound was.

“...”

There Miriel saw Serena on top of Sain who was being tied up to the bed.

'What in the world.....' Miriel could feel some sort of emotion that she couldn't describe. It was not love or anything associated with it such as jealousy but it was some sort of tingly feeling. Was this amusement?

“Do you two need some space?” said the middle aged man smiling at the two of them.

Serena blushed heavily and managed to stutter out “It...it...it's not...wha..what..it...look...likes” before running out of the room where Miriel and the other two women chased after her however Serena was faster than they thought and only the woman who was Serena's master ran further since Jenny stopped Miriel from following them.

“You should talk to the other one back there.” said Jenny leaving Miriel to follow her orders. When Miriel got back to the room, she found that Sain was all alone....confused on what happened.

“Oh, hey Miriel....what just happened?” asked Sain who was absolutely tense for these kinds of things.

Miriel sighed and said, “Figure it out on your own.”

Miriel eyed Sain who really did not understand and asked, “So what happened was out of your control right?”

Sain nodded and said, “Yes. I tried to get off the bed and Serena tried to prevent me which....led to 'that'.”

“Anyway how are you going for your training?” asked Miriel wanting to know what happened to him in the past week. It was up to Miriel to track what happened to everyone since Sain appeared to be too busy for this.

“Finished the Theory Part in a Week, up to the Physical Part.” answered Sain immediately.

“Hmm....I heard from my Master that your Master Gen is really tough on his apprentices. Apparently most of them drop out after spending several months on the Theory Part. What was the theory part about anyway?” she asked again more curious than before.

“It was mostly him talking and the Simulation battle things.” Miriel was deep in thought thinking on what this simulation battle thing was until a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“For someone to complete that in a week. Impressive.”

It was Jenny. She walked in the room where Sain was still on the bed and Miriel sitting next to him and gave a small grin to Miriel as if she knew something was up.

'I know what you are thinking but you have it wrong master.' thought Miriel staring back at her Master.

“What exactly is this simulation thing Master?” asked Miriel.

Jenny replied, “The simulation thing is a sort of a game where you control small figures that move against enemies though your thoughts. I know this is difficult since I made the damn thing. Only Gen was able to perfectly use it until now. I suppose you were able to go 6 on 6 against him and win to get to this part of your training right? Gen was complimenting you all the way when we went drinking the other day. Even Park found you impressive because of yesterday.”

Sain was becoming red behind the ears. He was not used to such straightforward compliments.

'So he's the type to act like that when complimented. Perhaps I should as well....'

Miriel for some reason was getting a bit more pissed than before. She did not know what this feeling was but she was sure to vent it on someone.

Noticing this Jenny said quickly, “I believe Park and Gen are looking for you now.”

'Why would you say that? There's nothing wrong with me' However Sain followed Jenny's words and Miriel had no way to tell Sain to stop without Jenny's misunderstanding to increase. When Sain finally left the room which seemed to be hours for Miriel, she immediately shot at her Master.

“What was that about?” said Miriel in a very irritated tone to someone she should respect.

Jenny frowned and said, “Well I thought I was doing you a favour and let you at least get some sort of start with that boy. As an elf, you have a small advantage against that half elf” in an equally irritated tone back to her apprentice.

Both of them started into each others' eyes for a few moments and then both sighed at the same time.

“Seriously, you really do remind me of myself when I was younger. Let me tell you that it gets harder later on when you truly know about your feelings” said Jenny grazing at the ceiling.

“I still have no idea what you're talking about.” replied Miriel.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Some time later, Jenny told Miriel to meet with Shadow and Lyndis whom where near the area which the barrack was. The instructions that Jenny gave her were good enough for her to find the place. Right now, it was around 2 and a half weeks since they have been in this game non stop except for the occasional good food that was waiting in the real world.

Since then Miriel was trying to finish the quest that Jenny had given her which was mainly finding books. Miriel had found that when she used the spell and was holding the object or was near it, the object would glow a blue colour. However the problem was the range of this effect. The spell Clairvoyance to begin with only had a range of 10 metres in the distance from the target and could not narrow down which object was the target and instead gave a slight blue aura around the area which the object may be.

When Miriel arrived it looked like Shadow wasn't here but Lyndis was. She was wearing brown leather gear and had an iron sword. She looked like a slightly more experienced player compared to the various new players whom were running around in this city.

Lyndis also saw Miriel come in and stare with hatred at her. Likewise Miriel did the same to her and they had a staring contest full of hatred. However both of them sighed at the same time seeing their actions.

'I don't have the time nor the energy to spare for this fool'

“So what kind of class have you obtained?” asked Miriel.

“Something similar to magic swordsman. According to my Master I can focus on one element to increase my power so I'll choose fire since it has the most power and range. What about you?”

“Support type mage. I focus on illusion and sound based magic. I can enchant your stats among other things.” replied Miriel.

Miriel looked around again to find that Lyndis was all alone. There were various training tools around and it looked like Lyndis destroyed more than a few judging by the large pile of burnt scrape on one corner of the place.

“Where's Shadow?” asked Miriel.

“Right here.” he answered.

'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! When did he get there?!'

Miriel turned around in fright to find Shadow who was wearing dark gear almost bended into the surroundings even though he was standing right in front of him. He also had a half mask that covered the bottom half of his face as well to prevent sound from coming out of his mouth easily. Miriel noticed that Shadow wasn't carrying any weapons on him....or was it that she could not see the weapons.

“You.....don't do that again.....” mumbled Miriel.

“Don't bother. I've been telling him that for 2 weeks and nothing changed. Well at least he's a good assassin.” complained Lyndis seeing that Shadow appeared out of nowhere again.

“I am a Rouge not an assassin.” said Shadow a bit annoyed that Lyndis is still making this mistake.

“An assassin specialise in killing people and have high damage along with some other skills to back them up. A thief specialise in stealing stuff and not battles and rather run away when confronted with enemies. A rouge is both of them, specialising in neither but both at the same time.” answered Miriel extracting her knowledge from the time spent researching on classes.

“Correct.” said Shadow confirming Miriel's words.

“Anyway I wanted to know what you two could do but that's Sain's job not mine.” said Miriel.

“Then why are you here?” asked Lyndis.

“I test out my spells.” Miriel raised her hands and said, “Melody of Speed!”

A soft sound echoed throughout the area and a gentle light surrounded Miriel, Lyndis and Shadow.

Melody of Speed is Active:

- 10% more agility

- Last 10 Minutes

Miriel looked at the skill window and it said that there was 30 more minutes before Miriel could cast the spell again.

“Wow! I can't believe you got something like this up your sleeves!” exclaimed Lyndis in shock. She was thoroughly impressed that Miriel could do this. Shadow on the other hand remained silent and....disappeared.

Miriel looked around and found Shadow jumping around on what seemed to be a training course to improve agility. Shadow moved smoothly around the various objects that moved to block his path.

'It seems their training is going well....though I haven't seen what Lyndis could do yet. She probably can just combine magic with swordsmanship like those like her.'

Seeing that she could help them with their training and they can help her improve her skills, Miriel went to one of the target practised place and shot out Mana Bolts at them for the rest of the day before leaving to head back to the library.

xXx

“Clairvoyance!”

A blue path appeared in front of Miriel. Right now she was surrounded by other players and NPCs looking for books. With the help of her spell, Miriel could track down the remaining book she had to get to roughly a relatively small section of a bookshelf.

Miriel headed left then straight for another 10 metres which the spell's range ended. She would have to wait another minute before she could use the spell again but decided to head forward a bit more. If she pasted the book she needed to find then she could backtrack but otherwise she didn't want to waste too much time over and over again using the spell for a mere 10 metres. The library was hundreds of metres long and it would take hours to just get into the general vicinity of the book if she did such a thing.

A minute passed and Miriel said, “Clairvoyance!” again bringing up another blue path for another 10 metres.

Miriel was sure that she was at least close to using this spell for a hundred times now. It wouldn't make sense that the skill wouldn't level up. According to what she knows there are various types of skills that level up differently.

There was the passive skills such as sword mastery which levels up by percentage bit by bit until it overall ranks up into intermediate or advance. Then there was some skills and or spells that level up via use over a certain amount of time. The stronger the spell or skill, the more times you have to use it over and over again. The final type was the condition type which almost all advance skills are which you must clear a certain condition to level the skill up.

Frankly Miriel was lucky that the beginner skills were the easiest type to use and she was sure that Mastering Clairvoyance would unlock another more powerful version of it. Certain skills will unlock another skill when they reach a certain point. Whether these spells or skills will automatically give you the next stage was dependent on several factors. The skill Repair would not automatically give you the blacksmithing skill but sometimes other skills may.

An hour later Miriel managed to track the book down to a large section and she would have to start grabbing books to check if they are the right one to take.

“Clairvoyance!”

The book she held did not glow so she placed it back and the section it was in de highlighted making the search radius smaller than before.

“Clairvoyance!”

It was a miss again.

“Clairvoyance!”

It was a miss again.

“Clairvoyance!”

It was a miss again.

“Clairvoyance!”

It was a miss again.

“Clairvoyance!”

It was a miss again.

“Clairvoyance!”

It was a miss again.

“Clairvoyance!”

The book she held was glowing a blue colour. Miriel knew that she got the right one now.

Quest, Collect the Books had been completed

Give the books to Jenny. Collect reward from her.

You have levelled up

You have gained the title 'Bookworm in Training'

- Reading speed increase by 2%

- Book searching speed increases by 3%

- Intelligence and Wisdom +1

Miriel placed the book in her inventory which had the other books as well. In total there were 20 or so books she had collected as well. She surely must have used the spell Clairvoyance over a hundred times. Miriel then decided to check her skill window.

Skill Window

- Magic Mastery Beginner 2 (78/100)

- Illusion Magic Mastery Beginner 1 (38/100)

- Sound Magic Mastery Beginner 1 (2/100)

- Magic Control Mastery Beginner 1 (96/100)

- Mediation Beginner level 1 (14/100)

- Cooking Beginner Level 1 (13/100)

- Identify Beginner level 1 (1/100)

- Magic Bolt Beginner level 2 (2/300)

- Clairvoyance Beginner level 1 (46/100)

- Melody of Sound Beginner level 1 (13/100)

'What the....it looks like the Clairvoyance spell only increases when I find an item that I'm searching for. I have 23 books and the experience I gain is doubled so its 46 then.' thought Miriel analysing the situation she was in right now. 'I levelled up as well didn't I?'

Miriel opened up her status window and added the 5 points into Agility, Intelligence and Wisdom in a 1:3:1 ratio.

Status Window[quart=Name,Alignment]Miriel,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]2,Magician[/quart]RaceNight ElfTitleSound Maiden ApprenticeHealth110Mana200[quart=Fame,Infamy]0,0[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]9,13[/quart][quart=Intelligence,Wisdom]23 +12,17 +12[/quart][quart=Vitality,Stamina]10,11[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0,0[/quart][quart=Offense,Defense]10,10[/quart]Magic Resistance0%Elemental Resistance[quart=Light,Dark]0%,5%[/quart][quart=Fire,Ice]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Earth,Lightning]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Wind,Nature]0%,0%[/quart]Bonus- 10% Stat increase in the dark or in dungeon

- 5% increase sight in the dark

- 5% more spell effect for Sound based Spells

- Intelligence and Wisdom +12

- Reading speed increase by 2%

- Book searching speed increases by 3%

Miriel was slightly pleased with her progress and headed back to where Jenny was. There Jenny congratulated Miriel and collected the books she had gathered.

“Take this. Its the third spell I promised.”

Miriel took what seemed to be another spell book and started reading it. When she finished a message popped up.

You have learnt the spell Cracked Barrier

Cracked Barrier Beginner level 1 (0/1000)

Creates a Barrier on the target which will negate a certain amount of damage for the first two hits.

Damage Negated: 30%

Mana Cost: 50 Mana

Cool Down: 10 Seconds

Miriel was surprised since this was a intermediate level spell that was designed for mages over level 100 at least. Such a spell would be useless to a low levelled player like Miriel since she could not use this spell too often without the risk of losing all of her mana in one go.

“Master this is....”

“A gift for the future when you really need it. Negating 30% of damage may one day save the lives of your comrades over and over again when facing powerful foes. Now I believe you have a meal to cook for me.”

xXx

And so a week and a half passed by. It was time for Miriel to graduate from Jenny.

“Congratulation for surviving the 4 weeks. Here's a gift for you.”

Jenny gave Miriel a staff that was the length of her arm. While it was not was fancy as Jenny's own staff Miriel could feel that it processed some sort of power.

“Identify!”

Rod of Sound Durability: 30/30 Damage: 2-5

A rod made from wood with some enchantments to increase the power of sound based spells.

Restrictions: None

Options:

- Sound Magic effect +3%

“And now for you to graduate.”

You have Graduated from being the Apprentice of Jenny the Sound Maiden

Fame +10

You have levelled up

You have levelled up

You have lost the title 'Sound Maiden Apprentice'.

All Bonuses from the title will be removed

You have gained the title 'Sound Maiden'

- All Stats increase by 1

- 10% more spell effect for Sound based Spells

Miriel allocated her stats again.

Status Window[quart=Name,Alignment]Miriel,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]4,Magician[/quart]RaceNight ElfTitleSound MaidenHealth140Mana245[quart=Fame,Infamy]10,0[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]9 +1,15 +1[/quart][quart=Intelligence,Wisdom]29 +13,19 +13[/quart][quart=Vitality,Stamina]10 +1,11 +1[/quart][quart=Leadership,Luck]0 +1,0 +1[/quart][quart=Offense,Defense]10,10[/quart]Magic Resistance0%Elemental Resistance[quart=Light,Dark]0%,5%[/quart][quart=Fire,Ice]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Earth,Lightning]0%,0%[/quart][quart=Wind,Nature]0%,0%[/quart]Bonus- 10% Stat increase in the dark or in dungeon

- 5% increase sight in the dark

- 5% more spell effect for Sound based Spells

- Intelligence and Wisdom +12

- Reading speed increase by 2%

- Book searching speed increases by 3%

Miriel bowed to Jenny and said, “Thank you for teaching me and goodbye.”

Jenny smiled back and said, “Its not goodbye. I will see you later for that event soon enough. Make sure you get stronger.”

With those words Miriel set off to the true start of her journey.

Unknown to her, Jenny had planted something into her as an experiment.

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Chapter RSS About the author 4 Fictions 13 Posts 2 Threads lin4t Follow Author Thursday, August 7, 2014 1:02:01 AM Wednesday, November 12, 2014 5:27:43 AM

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