Sean’s POV

The icy stone of the dungeon dug into my back, leeching the heat from me. I welcomed it, calming myself to actively absorb the ambient mana. It wasn’t as good as meditation, but it worked since I couldn’t quite grasp that annoying skill. This was the first time that I was challenging the final floor of the goblin dungeon in Shineheart, and I was determined to win. I had been venturing several times a week, both to gain experience and boost my skills. Turns out, gaining class experience works fastest against actual enemies. And with goblins, I could really cut loose.

We had been in town for three months, and it had been a time of rapid growth for me. The first thing after our little dust up with the gods, Gareth cornered me. “Sean, I been meaning to talk to you. You do realize that your training has been thoroughly lacking something important, right?” When I denied it, he pointed out all the things that could and would go horribly wrong when I ran out of mana in the middle of a fight. So he had graciously taken me under his wing, and offered me some training. Knives were out, as if I was out of mana then I had likely already lost the element of surprise. Swords took a lifetime of learning to excel at, but it hadn’t taken long for him to give up on training me. So that left the spear.

A simple weapon, he didn’t think I needed much in the way of a fighting style. Instead, I learned quick, brutal attacks. Jabs, slashes, and smashes with the iron shod butt of the spear, it wasn’t pretty. It was useful. A quick trip to the enchanter had only enhanced the lethality. I could already imbue any element I had access to, and my mana could enhance the edge, which were the two most popular enchantment. So I channeled my frustrations with the college, and went with the most brutal enchantment I could think of. The central portion of the blade had a very simple enchantment. Push. Anything more than an inch from the edge was violently shoved away while the enchantment was active, it didn’t matter what side. Piercing thrusts left gaping wounds, as the flesh was thrown back within a six-inch radius. It was gory, but effective. Though the goblins respawned, they must have been able to retain highly traumatic memories, as merely seeing me with the spear coming their way usually ended in shrieks of terror in the hopes that reinforcements would arrive.

That forced me to adapt my skills. Telekinesis turned into my own version of the force choke, silencing goblins before they could scream. Despite their gangly nature, they had a decent defense. Mana blades just didn’t have the force to cut deep enough. Until you add a lead core to the mana blade, giving it a lot more mass. That was one of the best things to come out of the college, I learned to combine mana types to achieve some of the higher elements. Working with several of the masters, I had put together a nice little chart. The top row was the major component, while the side was the minor one.

Earth

Air

Fire

Water

Light

Dark

Earth

Dust

Lava

Mud

Crystal

gravity

Air

Sand

Enhanced flame

Rain

Haste

Slow

Fire

Metal

Smoke

Ice

Gamma

Weaken

Water

Clay

Mist

Steam

Cleanse

Poison

Light

Magnetism

Pristine

Lightning

Rejuvenate

Void

Dark

Curse

Miasma

Black flame

Black ice

Dispel

I checked my mana, glad for the higher ambient mana in the dungeon. While I could wait an hour outside to recover, in here I could absorb it in fifteen minutes. Standing up, I stretched to make sure I was still limber, and headed into the final chamber. Hopefully this would put me at the level cap, as I was sick of grinding against the goblin bastards.

The chamber was one massive room, with six occupants. Two normal goblins on top of wolves, and their chief on top of his own monstrous wolf.

“Ah, at last I get to meet the one who has terrorized my underlings with his spear.” The chief spoke, but I ignored him. Instead, I prepared for battle. Not liking my attitude, the chief pointed his massive axe in my direction. Idiot.

“Kill him!”

“Gravity boost. Magnetism. Mana enhanced edge.” I burned through a good bit of mana, but the results were worth it. The tripled gravity on the edge of the axe dragged it downward, boosted by the magnetic pull. The mana enhancement I added to the edge allowed it to split deeply into the skull of the chief’s ride, killing it. “Slow. Bog down. Miasma.” One of the riders and his wolf got caught in the slow spell, and were further split from his friend by the bog his wolf suddenly found himself in. Before they could escape, a purple cloud of noxious gas surrounded the wolf’s head. Unable to avoid breathing it in, the wolf started convulsing as the poisoned air did it’s work. The lone charging goblin was now a lot less sure of himself.

I crafted two stone spikes to corral him, and he smiled as he thought my spell missed. Instead it was a support pillar for the telekinetic tripwire that suddenly snared his mount’s front feet, sending both sprawling. He never got a chance to figure out what killed him, as my spear pierced deep into his chest. His mount had fallen badly, and broken its neck.

“GYYAAAAAAAHHHHH!” The slowed goblin had abandoned his mount, and was charging straight at me with his own spear held over his head.

“HeYah!” I shouted, shoving my hand forward. I didn’t activate any skills, but the goblin was far too scared of my power to not react. It went into a decent forward roll, but the spear got tangled as it tried to come to its feet. My thrust didn’t miss. I gave the spear a half turn, and ripped it out sideways so the poor thing would bleed out faster.

“You make me kill Fur Face. Now you die.” The chief promised. I would have been more impressed if it had actually tried a strategy other than charge straight forward and die. Mid charge, I pointed my spear towards it and used it like a wizard staff. Lightning shot from the tip, electrocuting the chief and killing his coordination. As he struggled to recover, I dashed forward and used the fifty mana needed to activate my enchantment. Though he managed to deflect my thrust down a bit, that just meant his stomach was now a massive wound instead of his chest.

“How?” It squeaked out as it desperately tried to hold in his guts. It died shortly thereafter, and I finally managed the final level up. Smiling, I compared my stats to what they were when I arrived in Shineheart.

Name: Sean O’Carrol

Age: 32

Titles:

Chosen of Ariana (hidden)

Blessed by Lokir (hidden)

Otherwordly traveler (hidden)

Summoned Hero (hidden)

Attributes:

STR – 6 (+2)

AGI – 5 (+4)

DEX – 7 (+3)

INT – 27 (+18)

WIS – 28 (+18)

CON – 10 (+3)

END – 10 (+3)

Health: 115/115

Mana: 3,625/3,625

Health regen: 0.082/min

Mana regen: 80.48/min

Spirit: 10/10

Spirit regen: 0.42/hour

Class: celestial sorcerer (4,00/10,000)

Available classes: priest (0)

Secondary class: Penta-elementalist (5,000/5,000)

Unfinished classes: 2/10

Profession: Camp Cook (13)

Available professions: slave master

Secondary profession: none

Finished classes: Aeromancer, photomancer, shadowmancer, geomancer, hydromancer, penta-elementalist

Level: 18/25

Exp to next level: 20%

Name: Sean O’Carrol

Age: 32

Titles:

Chosen of Ariana (hidden)

Blessed by Lokir (hidden)

Otherwordly traveler (hidden)

Summoned Hero (hidden)

Attributes:

STR – 6 (+2)

AGI – 12 (+4)

DEX – 7 (+3)

INT – 27 (+21)

WIS – 28 (+21)

CON – 15 (+3)

END – 12 (+3)

Health: 140/140

Mana: 4290/4290

Health regen: 0.090/min

Mana regen: 91.66/min

Spirit: 23/23

Spirit regen: 0.96/hour

Class: celestial sorcerer (5,500/10,000)

Available classes: priest (0), Advanced elementalist (7 subs), mender

Secondary class: Advanced elementalist (VII) (4,290/35,000)

Unfinished classes: 4/10

Profession: Camp Cook (13)

Available professions: slave master

Secondary profession: none

Finished classes: True elementalist

Level: 25/25

Exp to next level: NA

“Not a bad haul.” I muttered, before bending down to collect the mana crystals from the dungeon. They weren’t very large or pure, but they were perfect for the low level potions that the Temple of Bruin produced with the help of the Alchemist’s guild. Healing potions weren’t miraculous, they just massively decreased the time the body took to heal from injuries. Most low level ones reduced the time by about 25%, but the higher ones could go up to a 60% reduction. Patients had to be carefully monitored from there, as that would burn through a bodies reserves incredibly quickly.

Once I had everything, I headed towards the teleportation circle only to freeze just before I entered it. There was something, odd. I stepped back, and waited. The teleportation circle felt and looked normal. Eventually it hit me. The barest hint of divine energy. I think I had found out where Lokir had hidden the bits of divinity he had stolen from the other gods.

I finally entered the teleportation circle and warped back to the beginning safe zone, and finally allowed myself to relax. I ignored the groups that stared at me, instead looking around for Elendria. Bless her, she never failed to wait for me at the dungeon. I heard the whispers though. How I was insane for not only venturing solo into the dungeon, but also because I refused to carry a torch. It was worth it though, as I had changed mana exploration into mana detection, a master level spell and I was well on my way to mastering it.

Frowning, I pulled off one of my bracers. Beneath it we had a small enchanted bracelet that allowed us to find each other and know the general status. Elendria was in one of the nearby alleys? That wasn’t right, especially if I could sense the panicked emotions leaking through. Groups cleared my path in a hurry as I strode through the area, making a bee line for the alley. Who knew that the best crowd clearing option was to have a pissed off expression while you are covered in goblin viscera? My rage flared when I heard a slap and a whimper.

“STUPID BITCH BIT ME!” Rage took me as I took in the scene. Elendria was on her knees, head turned to the side from the blow. Two humans with magic college robes were behind her, holding her arms at an awkward angle. Her shirt was ripped open, exposing her breasts, and another human student sneered at her.

“Looks like I’ll have to remind this slave bitch exactly where her place is. I think this is a great start.” He sneered, pulling a slave collar from his robes. Still running on adrenaline from the dungeon, and the rage at the scene before me, I lashed out. The leading tentacle of mana immobilized the wrist with the slave collar, while the next three each gabbed a human by the face, preventing them from speaking. The last one grabbed the lead core that gave weight to the axe blade of mana that I created.

“MMMMFFFFFFFFMMMMMM!!!!!!” A muffled scream barely escaped from the bastard threatening Elendria, as he was now missing a hand. Unfortunately, a spray of blood shot onto Elendria’s cheek, and she scrambled backwards now that her hands were free.

“Heat metal.” I growled, heating the lead up until it was white hot. I slammed it into the bastard’s arm, cauterizing the wound with no care for the agony he was in. Luckily for him, he passed out almost immediately. I let the body fall to the ground, and turned to the other two. Their faces were pale with terror, and they had matching dark spots on the front of their robes. “Take your friend and go.”

They scrambled to obey, dragging their friend behind them as they left as swiftly as possible. I stormed down the alley.

“No! Master I’m sorry!” Elendria cried, slamming into the wall behind her and curling up into a ball as she sobbed. “I didn’t wanna, I’m so sorry.”

That cut right through the rage, and I rushed to her side. Pulling her into a hug, I started stroking her hair. “Shhhh, it’s ok hun. I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at what they were trying to do to you.” It took nearly a half hour, but I slowly calmed her down, whispering reassurances in her ear the whole time. The rage I felt I shoved into a little box, as she sobbed and shivered in my arms. I put the hand still clutching the slave collar into my inventory.

“I’m. So sorry. Sean.” She cried.

“Shhh.” I said. “Are you ok? Can you walk?” I asked, pulling a spare shirt of mine out of my inventory. It fit terribly, but would do until we could get her better clothes.

“I’ll. I’ll be fine.” She said, finally managing to stand with a sniffle. “I’m sorry.”

“Enough of that now.” I said, pulling her into another hug. “I know that you wanted no part of that, and I’m sure we’ll get the story. But something tells me those guys aren’t done making trouble, so we better be prepared. Let’s stop by the temple of Bruin first, and see if Lodrano is available to help with truth detection. Then we’ll head to the head of the academy, and see which student is suddenly a hand short.”

“You aren’t mad at me? But?”

“Shhhh.” I interrupted. “He seemed to know you were a slave, and hit all the triggers to send you back to that place where you were abused. That you resisted as much as you did is commendable. Trauma like that doesn’t go away, and I’m proud of you. Now come on.” I pulled her into a side hug, finally getting a bit of a smile out of her. We kept to the alleys, avoiding the main roads.

“Shouldn’t we be running?” Elendria asked me when we were nearly halfway there.

“Not at all.” I answered. “Looking out of place will draw attention. Right now we simply look like adventurers walking toward the temple for some healing potions. If we were to rush around with all this blood on me? Well then the guards would notice. Running people are in a hurry, which means emergencies. Emergencies are things that need looking into.”

“Huh. That, makes a lot of sense.” She said, dropping back into silence. We remained that way until we arrived at the temple.

“Oh my, are you two injured?” One of the attendants said. “Wait, Sean?”

“Hey Corey.” I said. “We’re fine, just a bit of goblin blood from the dungeon. Do you think you could see if Lodrano would be willing to meet with me for a second while I turn in the crystals?”

“Sure, that’s fine. Did you do it though?”

“Heh, yep.” I said with a grin. “Managed to take out the final boss all alone. Pretty sure he won’t point at me with his axe again though.”

“Oh? What did you do?”

“Tripled gravity for it and put a magnetic attractor at the top of his mount’s skull. It got enough momentum to kill it straight off.”

“Well, congrats on that. I’ll go get Lodrano, and keep tomorrow night clear. We’ll have a bit of a party for you.”

“Thanks Corey, you’re the best.” I said, and he ran off.

“First dungeon clear? You didn’t tell me you managed that.” Elendria said.

“Sorry, had other things on my mind. Like a friend of mine in trouble.” I said, getting a grin from her. We walked up to the head of the temple, where there were several people measuring things that people brought in and paying them.

“Hey Fareth.” I said as we finally made it through the line. “How’s business?”

“Same old, same old. So what brings you to our table?”

“Eh, managed to grab a few crystals in the dungeon. Figured you might wanna take a look. By the way, this is my friend Elendria. Elendria, Fareth.”

“Pleasure.” Elendria said.

“Pleasure’s all mine. I finally get to meet you! Sean told us a lot.”

“Most of it good.” I said with a chuckled. “Anyhow, here’s the loot.”

“Hmmm.” Fareth said, immediately going into business mode. “Let’s see, a hundred thirty-four lesser goblin cores. Seventy-five elite cores. And. WAIT A MINUTE!” She looked at me. “You did it! You got the hobgoblin boss!”

“Heh, yep. First time solo clearing it.”

“Fantastic! And you got a B- grade drop too. Congrats you lucky devil.” She chuckled. “Since you managed to brighten my day a bit, I can give you a good deal. Ten copper per lesser core, fifty per elite. And the boss core will net you a whole gold. Brings you up to one gold, fifty silver and ninety copper.”

“Sounds suspiciously like the normal rates there Fareth.” I chuckled. “I thought you said it was a good deal?”

“Not my fault that our normal rates are a good deal. Take it?”

“Of course.” I said. “Arguing will just waste time and put you in a bad mood. Why would I do that?”

“Good man.” She nodded, handing me over the coins. “So how goes your mending training?”

“Not too bad, but I gotta get going.” I said. “I see Lodrano over there, and I need to meet with him really quick. Keep tomorrow free though, I hear Corey say he was wanting to put together a little celebration for me beating the dungeon.”

“Sounds like fun! You going to cook something?”

“We’ll see.” I said, before turning away so she could help the next in line.

“She seems nice.” Elendria said.

“All the girls are fun like that.” I said.

“You needed something Sean?” Lodrano asked.

“Hey Lodrano. I have a feeling I’m going to need you to act as a truth detector.”

“Oh dear, and you are still covered in blood. Please, tell me no more. I don’t want to be unjustly influenced. Lead on then.”

“Thanks Lodrano.” I said. “Sadly we need to head back to the academy.” Lodrano nodded, and we headed off. The mood was much more subdued, but that was fine. I was glad we stopped by to pick up Lodrano. There was a squad of guards waiting for us.

“Sean O’Carrol and the elf known as Elendria. You are under arr-“

“We demand to see the headmaster of the academy immediately.” I interrupted him. “We will come peacefully and without restraints, but we will get this taken care of now. I have brought Lodrano from the Church of Bruin to act as a truthsayer. He knows nothing of the incident.”

“I can’t all-“ The guard started again, only to be interrupted again.

“Well, I had heard you were one to come prepared, but I hadn’t expected you to be this swift about it.”

“Headmaster Urixi!” The guard immediately saluted. The blond gnome gave him a nice smile before turning to Lodrano.

“Looking good Lodrano! You should get out more.” She chuckled. “Relax captain, I’ll handle things. I think two token guards will be enough.” Turning to the rest of us, she got serious. “If you will follow me? I hope we can have this taken care of swiftly.”