Spell 09 : The Conflagration

I logged in early the next day, and just as I expected, I found all my friends offline. Those pigs usually don't bother setting alarm clocks to force themselves to be on time for things anyway. Benedict, for one, has thrown 3 alarm clocks that his mum bought for him out of his window so his family decided it was useless getting him alarm clocks.

The marketplace was even more lively today, since today was a Saturday. Players of all races walked about, asking for this and that. I followed the crowd, pausing occasionally to look at interesting wares. Up ahead, the crowd parted where there seemed to be some sort of performance going on. Naturally, I went ahead to have a closer look.

A ring of onlookers formed up around a lone performer, who was evidently, a troll. Instinctively, I clenched up my fists to prepare a spell but before I could do anything, his performance began.

First, he held up three huge rings and with scarcely any effort, threw them up. The rings spun up to the sky, and neatly arranged themselves into a single row. To this, the crowd gave applause. I merely smiled, sensing levitation magic being used. The troll began brandishing his staff around and after a series of complicated twists, he pointed his staff towards the first ring. It burst into flames while spinning, turning into something like a flame wheel. Next, he pointed to the second ring. Ice immediately covered up the ring and as it spun, snowflakes fell from the edges of the ring. Lastly, the troll pointed his staff at the last ring, and it cackled with electricity. The crowd broke into applause again. The troll held his staff low, clearly not finished with his act. I looked at him expectantly.

With inhumane speed, he twirled his staff and swung it down. All three rings collided in the center, forming a single ring that was frozen with ice and burning with fire at the same time with electricity running around it! This, I was deeply impressed. The crowd cheered and applauded loudly. It was a sight to behold!

I clapped along too, while studying his work. Clearly, this was no second-rate magician; at first it seemed like he was using Invocation abilities, but as I looked closer at his ring, I realised he was using another method to blend all three elements together. First, he made two rings disappear, and the one left behind he set it on fire, freezing it with ice and shocking it with electricity at the same time on equal thirds of the ring. As a result, while the ring spun at a great speed, the effect created was similar to blending ice, fire and electricity together. At the same time, he must have used some spell-strengthening ability, like Mana Manipulation, to strengthen all three elements at the same time so that one does not cancel out the other. This alone takes tremendous effort already.

He was beginning his next act. The troll had an array of rocket-shaped objects placed right in front of him. After gesturing the crowd back to a safer distance, he began his dexterous twirling again. Like the rings before, he pointed his staff at each rocket, and with loud bangs, fireworks were launched into the sky. It did not end there though. Each flare and spark did not die out; instead they flew together in the sky and coalesced into large, fiery flowers. Every hue of color was present and it was a spectacle to behold. The crowd cheered again, clearly demanding more.

The magician did not disappoint. With a wave of his staff, the fiery sparks flew around and formed images. First, they formed a face of a beautiful Human girl. Then the crowd were shouting for what they wanted to see. The king's face appeared. Then came an image of Mjollnir, the legendary hammer-type weapon in the game. A full-bodied dragon appeared next. My eyes lit up at the wonder of the magic displayed right in front of me. The troll was smiling to himself. It seemed the final act was coming up.

He waved his staff around his head repeatedly and the fireworks flowed along like the Milky Way above him. Soon, the sparks were aligned as though they were constellations in the night sky, setting the stage for a vision to be played. Sure enough, as we gazed into the scene forming, we could see a battle forming. As some members of the crowd shouted excitedly, others were clueless as to what this battle was. From the gathered whispers from the crowd, I found out that this was the legendary battle of Huoduo. Apparently, in the Oriental part of the continent, warlords raged wars against each other in order to claim bigger territories. This was one of the most famous battles because this was where all the heroes of that part of the continent clashed in deadly duels. As we watched the sparks forming the battle, we were all enthralled by what was right in front of us. The troll had managed to somehow reanimate the sounds of the battle into his performance and we were all heckled by the blood-curling war cries from the battle.

When it ended, the sparks dispersed and giving one final sparkle before they all died out. The troll bowed deeply, and the crowd gave their greatest cheer yet. Everyone threw coins into his cloth bag, which was initially empty but now full to the brim. I threw in 3 gold pieces, having enjoyed his way of handling magic. At that moment, I felt a powerful presence searching into my very core and I looked up, only to see the troll magician resting on his staff while he looked at me. I slowly looked up, and returned his gaze. He tipped his top hat down and at that moment, the crowd closed up. I pushed my way past the people and when I came out of the crowd, he was gone. His bag had vanished too.

Oh well. I thought I could get him to teach me something...

I went to the church again and waited in the small clearing behind it. We did agreed to meet here at noon today, but clearly none of them knew the concept of punctuality. As I grew bored of waiting, I thought I should try out my new spell and see how powerful it actually was. I choose a small patch of grass as my target.

'Cast Sunflare!'

A single pillar of concentrated heat shot down directly from the sky vertically downwards into that particular patch of grass. The area got burnt pitch black and a small crater was formed. Clearly, this spell meant heavy Fire business.

Let's see what I'll get if I Invoke it...

'Cast Luminous Light!'

'Cast Sunflare!'

I figured using this combination of spells to Invoke was the safest. I couldn't risk having Sunflare hit myself as I hold onto something like Frost Bolt. At least, I could threw that ball of light out...

*DING*

[p=center]Gained new spell : Lights of Heaven!

Lights of Heaven Beginner Level 1

You summon from the heavens swords of fiery light that pierce your enemies, holding them in place. To break out of stasis, your foe must break all the swords. Breaking of swords deals damage to the foe. Number of swords summoned depends on level of Luminous Light. Damage received from breaking each sword depends on level of Sunflare.

Mana-cost : 750

Cool-down : 600 seconds[/p]

Not bad, this spell will help to turn the tides against a single, powerful foe. I suspect this spell is a remodel of a typical magician's act where the magician inserts himself into a box, and his assistant will run the box through with swords.

'Bravo, bravo, mon! Dat be umpressive, young'un of Ghanda!' A heavily accented voice came from the rear.

I turned around, and was surprised to see the troll magician from earlier, with his bag slung over his shoulders. I noticed, his bag was now considerably less full.

'Aye, I've been seeing you, mon, at me magic show just now and hoodathunk it? I seen the Mark on you, mon. You be offspring of young Leyla now?'

'No. I am merely just Ghanda's apprentice.'

'Nay, mon. You be apprentice no more! You magician of ya own might when you got that ring!'

This guy knows Leyla and Ghanda? He must be another mage of a higher calling then! Could he be...?

'What are you doing here?' I asked.

'Here? Mon, might be I ask you da same question, ya? Dis be my rest grounds. I be closing my eyes and sleeping on dem tree when my eyes see the bright light. Mon, you called the heat from the sun, no? Dat is powerful magic, indeed. Though, not as powerful as I!' He then laughed.

'Who are you? And how do you know Ghanda and Leyla?'

'Me, mon? Aye, I be knowing them since while back. We be going way back. But I never forget, mon, I be owing Ghanda a favour when he helped me out of pinch once! Pity, I nay be visiting dem 'cos their people be hating us trolls! I could nay been setting a foot in dat damned forest! But I could repay the debt I be owing to you, mon! Fortune smiles on us today, mon!'

'I am grateful for your offer, but I must decline. The debt you owe is to my master, not me.'

The troll chuckled, then took out his staff.

'Pish! Ghanda may be da one I be owing da debt to, but he would learn nothing from me! What I know, he knows better! I be repaying no debt if I be doing him a service and he gains nothing! You, mon, on the other hand have much to learn from me!'

'Alright, then. I see your point. I do have a question to ask though, which has been bugging me ever since. Are you the priest that everyone has been talking about?'

'Priest? Dat be my old calling, mon. The spirits abandoned me when I was young, mon. I could nay be shaman even if I wanted to! The path of the druid nay excited me. So I chose to be da priest! So priest I became. But disappointed I was to become too, mon. The church taught me nothing but lies!'

'Lies?' I asked.

'Lies, indeed! All of dem! It is said one uses spiritual force to aid one's allies, but if dat be so, why do priests and paladins still be using mana to cast Holy spells? And why is it that the holy spirits abandon you when you run out of mana to be healing your allies? If da holy spirits nay be wanting to heal, you should be using Faith to call upon them, and not da magical essence that which be mana! The church be scared dat I teach their secrets, but they just be scared I expose their lies!'

'Come, now! I be blessing you with Holy affinity. And after dat, I be teaching you da real use of Faith!'

*DING*

[p=center]You have gained new trait : Holy Affinity

You are able to cast Holy spells as though they are elemental spells.[/p]

'Listen, mon, for I shall repeat no further two times! Remember what your master has taught you? Dat it be through the mage's will that spells be cast? I be adding on something to dat! There be two ways of empowering your spells with your will! One is with Intelligence, the other be with Faith! You magicians be casting spells using your wit and Intelligence. Using your knowledge, you know what spell be cast and your cleverness be dat source of will you need to cast your spell. For us priests and paladins, it be different! Right enough, we be using Faith to empower our will, to cast spells with conviction to smite our enemies and heal our allies! We do not possess the Intelligence you mages have, but we be using our Faith to give ourselves strength and conviction to fight and cast spells! When our Faith be stronger, we trample on those with weaker convictions!'

I took a while to absorb everything he was saying, especially with his annoying troll accent. So basically, what he was saying was that magic users can be split into two kinds. One was the mages who uses Intelligence to add spell power into their spells and thus causing their spells to dish out damage. The other one, like the priests and paladins, uses Faith to add conviction to their abilities and spells. In other words, Holy spells, in essence, do not require Faith to be cast. It was just that the church relied on Faith so much that they misunderstood its use, thinking that only their school can use Holy magic when they too fail to realise that without mana, they are also unable to cast any spells or use any abilities. As long as you have mana, you can cast any type of spell. You just have to use either Faith or Intelligence to empower it. This was also why he, as a priest, could cast elemental spells like the ones he used in the performance just now.

'I understand now. Thank you for imparting this knowledge to me. I shall make wise use of it.'

'Dat be music to da ears, mon. The hour is upon us, mon. I be leaving before the church realises I am here, mon. Ahh, before I go, I be giving you this staff o' mine. I picked it up on my travels here. It be nothing but a toy to me. It rests better in your hands instead, mon.'

*DING*

[p=center]You have gained new item : Monkgar's Staff

The troll, Monkgar, picked this up while he was in the Shadoroon Village. The staff does not have much magical potential on its own, but a bit of Monkgar's power still lies in the staff, making it more powerful.

Restrictions : Level 20, 50 Intelligence or 50 Faith

Stats : + 10 Intelligence, + 10 Faith, + 15 Wisdom, - 25% Casting Duration, + 5% Spell Power

Note : Casting Duration does not affect Mana Manipulation.[/p]

Alright! New gear! Just what I needed! Although I do not have much use of the Faith stat, the rest of the stats were pretty decent. At least now that I have a weapon, I have better control over my spell trajectory. Previously, it was difficult to aim using just my palms but at least now with a magic weapon, it will be easier.

Just then, the guys logged in one by one. Apparently, they were late because they all decided to grab some lunch at the mall opposite the school before playing the game. Benedict was supposed to ask me along too, but like his alarm clock, he probably threw his responsibility out of the window and forgot about it.

'So... Crow. Sorry we're late, but... It wasn't intentional I swear!' Saber said.

'Well yeah, after we waited at the mall for you and Benedict for half an hour, we thought you two wouldn't be coming. We texted you both too. So we headed to the food court and honestly, you should have seen the dumbfounded looks on our faces when we saw Benedict already there with a plate of Japanese curry waiting impatiently. Anyway, Jay and I got our food and we sat down together at the table. As we were eating, I asked Benedict why you weren't coming and from one look at his stupid face we deduced he completely forgot about asking you this morning. So yeah, lunch was apparently more important for him.' Cluck said.

I took a deep breath, and exhaled. Rather audibly. Like you know, the pissed kind of audibly.

'Hey Crow, I'm sorry alright! I really am! I mean, you can't blame me! They suddenly aired a television special of Doraemon at 9am thi-' Bambsie bambled but I never really gave him the chance to finish.

'CAST FIRE STRIKE!'