City of Krustomp, it can barely be considered a city, but because of it's location it is considered such. Krustomp is a strategical point for kingdom of Askonia, through it the reinforcements and supplies travels to the island fortresses, so for those purposes the city has enormous amount of ports, warehouses and quite big military base, which can house almost half a million of soldiers, with the facilities to boot. This city can be even considered a city-state, if not for the lack of resources. Actually eastern part of the Askonia has quite poor soil, low amount of animals and fish, and even those are usually mutated, therefore are not safe to eat. Reason for it is miasma, which is one of the reasons for the large amount of warehouses and lodging facilities. The city is protected by magical barrier that stops miasma from corrupting the citizens, but it is rather costly to maintain. Therefore the provision is brought here from all around the Askonia, or more like it's southern parts.

There are mines in the vicinity of Krustomp, but they do not contain the common metals like copper, iron, or something else, but they do contain some demon crystals and demon ore. The demon crystals are miasma infused mana crystals, regular mana crystals are commonly mined from the magically powerful areas and are used for enchanting and alchemy, while demon crystals are similar to the purposes, but have more 'charge' as some magicians claim. Demon ore, or demonite, is similar in properties to mithril, however it's heavier and easier to process. Demonite armor is much stronger than steel, however it costs much more than it, still less than proper mithril or orichalcum armor, only nobles and high ranking military commanders have full sets, while some officers may have breastplate and sometimes a helmet made of it. Weapons are also made from demonite, but due to it's properties most items are staffs for magicians, or maces and hammers for soldiers. One such staff was now on sale at the blacksmith shop, where some heroes shopped.

Pyro: “So this thing is good for magicians? And can be used in battle?”

Shopkeeper: “Yes, it's quite-” and so the shopkeeper started talking about the properties of demonite and how it is good for the magicians.

Ken: “I understand, but why does it cost 70 gold?” for that amount of gold you could buy a full plate armor and a weapon of choosing, all made of steel.

Shopkeeper: “The demonite is only produced on miasma filled lands, it's quite dangerous job just to mine it and the ore must be smelted in special smelters with the help of a fire magician. Then-”

The smelting point of demonite was around 2'500 Co and for reaching such temperatures the help of a magician required. Also when smelting the demonite it consumed vast amounts of surrounding mana, and the more it consumed, the stronger it became. The forging process was similar to the regular iron, but instead of cooling it down via water, was used the water essence infused water, the more magic was in the water, the stronger would be the item crafted. The more mana the item consumed during the forging, the more charge the item could have, the charge could be used to cast spells or empower them, while also lowering the total mana cost if the item was powerful enough.

Pyro: “Come on Ken! Buy it. No magician is complete without some powerful staff. Also we need to find some sort of magician shop, where we can add some gem on top of it.”

Shopkeeper: “For the true magician staff I would recommend setting the demon crystal.”

Demon crystals are catalysts for the spells, just as mana crystals. Mana crystals lowered the mana cost of spells and slightly increased the power of said spells, not as much as elemental crystals, but it worked for all types of spells. Demon crystals however increased the power and mana cost of spells, so it was a great catalyst for powerful mages, but not for the magicians in training. Ken with his magic oriented stats, as well as class, was considered only a level below archmage, by the human standards that is. With 3000 mana and 80 mana regen per minute as well as Sage class he was considered the strongest mage of the heroes, if you exclude Pyro that is. Sage class is a fully magician class, which encompasses the Magician, Priest, Summoner and Puppeteer. It increases the power of the spells and mana regeneration, however to fully unlock the class boons you must have been level 15, currently Ken just entered the level 10 and was lucky to have enough points for the fourth tier class acquisition. The Sage had cost him 500 points, which is a large amount for any hero. He was again lucky when Pyro told him about quests and some really interesting rewards, however the quests he completed gave up to 30 points, and a lot of them were rather tedious. Fortunately for him he had loyal companions, who actually thought of him as mate, and so they mostly fought instead of him in those quests, after they were told about the plan. They eagerly agreed as the stronger their master (mate) will be, the more time he could spend (cuddling) with them. Besides they wished to be stronger, and what is better than real fight for those purposes?

Ken: “Listen Kuro, I don't-”

Pyro: “OK, I will buy it, and upgrade it, then gift it to my strongest pupil.”

About a month ago Pyro started training Ken with the motto of 'Monster girls are cute', first motto however was 'Monsters are the best', but due to political reasons it was discarded. The reason however was the boredom of Pyro. After he sent his minions to the arachnees for establishing an 'embassy', or HQ in their territory, he became quite bored, so he started his own training regime for the heroes, which resulted in somewhat ridiculous incidents.

Pyro: “Besides I can always say that it was a necessary expense. Shopkeeper! I will take it, and tell me the place where I can buy and add the demon crystal on this staff.”

Shopkeeper: “Certainly sir. The magician shop is located at-” basically it was located next door, right across the smithy.

Pyro: “Say... are the owners relatives?”

Shopkeeper: “Why? Well actually yes, but how did you-”

Pyro: “Intuition?”

After the smithy they entered magic shop. There they were met with quite busty lady in the thirties.

Magic Lady: “ Hello, how may I help you?”

Pyro: “I got this staff, which I want to modify. I need two demon crystals catalyst and a few mana crystals, they all must be installed in it, while the largest demon crystal will be on top of this staff, the lesser one should be installed in the back of the staff. Mana crystals should be rather small and installed in the handle. Oh and-”

ML: “I understand, I will tell my master about it.”

Ken: “Master?”

ML: “Yes, it's her shop, I am just an apprentice.”

Most mages would be apprentices until the age of fifty, as only after they can pass their master's test, they would become full fledged magicians. Usually they started learning magic at the age of 5, then they would study the magic in specialized college or, if they are lucky, academy, after that comes the apprenticeship, which lasts as long as forty years. Most of the time they can be considered magicians at the age of forty five, give or take few years, some geniuses become magicians at the age of thirty, while some not that gifted or lazy may be considered mages at the sixties. Magicians usually live a bit longer than the regular non-magician of their race, which can range from 1.1 of the lifespan to the 3.5, it all depends on the amount of magic their bodies can contain. Someone like Ken for example would live almost three times the normal human would, while Pyro, if he was human, would live for a few thousands years, but as he's not a human, but a homunculi he could live up to ten thousand years, longer than most elves would be able to.

While they waited for the owner to show up, they browsed the items on sale. The items ranged from some ingredients and potions, to orbs and robes. Orbs are items which can be considered expendables. When magician infuse mana in the orb, it starts glowing in the corresponding color, and when it breaks it will explode in the torrent of the energy. Alternatively it can be used without breaking, but they become a weaker version of [Essence Bolt] spell, though they can be used a few times, and then recharged. Usually orbs are used by magicians which lack mana capacity or as a sidearm/grenade.

As they browsed through the items, apprentice and her master came back.

Owner: “So you want me to make a magician staff?”

Pyro: “Yep. Demon crystals on each end of the staff, and few mana crystals integrated in the staff.”

Owner: “Crystals on both ends? That is doable, but mana crystals can't be inserted in this staff.”

Pyro: “Why?”

Owner: “They will become inert. Demonite sucks mana from the crystals, you can inser the essence crystals though.”

Pyro: “Hey Ken, what are your affinities again?”

Ken: “It is fire, water, air, earth, light, darkness, ice, lightning, nature, shadow and illusion, but I don't use illusion, so it's those 10.”

Owner: “Clearly you are jesting. Most of the mages rarely have more than three-”

Pyro: “So everything besides illusion? OK.” he then turned to owner “Gramps have four affinities, JJ has 6, Ken is the most magically oriented from our bunch, so he has 11, others... yes about others have at most 3 affinities.”

Owner: “6? 4? Say are you students of the Vertgass academy?”

Pyro: “No, but we are often taught by them. Gramps still gets annoyed when I try new spells.*Sigh*”

Owner: “Gramps? Wait is-”

Ken: “Professor Ozelot is annoyed? You mean-”

Pyro: “How many times I must tell you that Gramps is Director, second he's annoyed from the regular destruction of training grounds.”

Owner: “Ozelot... Ozelot Muromsk? You are his pupils?”

Pyro: “Only Ken, I am more of a Jack-of-all-trades than someone specialized.”

Apprentice: “Are you heroes?”

Pyro: “Interdimensional mercenaries are more like it.”

Ken: “Yes, we were summoned. Why?”

Apprentice: “Really? Then-”

Owner: “That old bastard still teaches? I thought he became too good for it.”

Pyro: “Nah, he's fun sometimes. Though I hate his training regime. He could have made it a bit easier of training. Who tries to train ice affinity by sparring with the fire sprite?”

Owner: “As usual. Say are you ice mage?”

Pyro: “Yep. Basic elements, advanced elements and space-time. Oh and mana affinity, negative holy however.”

Owner: “Yes, that old bastard told me about you. How you frozen the sprite that his star pupil summoned.”

Pyro: “That sprite was weak. Who summons some weaklings? He should have summoned fire elemental, or prime one. I still can't summon primes though.”

Owner: “Elementals? So you are a summoner then?”

Pyro: “Summoner, mage, warrior and rogue. Though I prefer to use magic.”

Owner: “Yes, you are hot-headed hero.”

Pyro: “Yep. With slight anger issues and fiery temper. So what about the staff?”

Owner: “Yes, I can do what you asked, but it'll be around three days and will cost 190 gold along with the materials and my work.”

Pyro: “OK.” he got his 'purse' from which he took two royal coins. “How much for the orbs?”

Owner: “One inert orb is 50 silver, charged one depends on the affinity.”

Pyro: “20 inert orbs please.”

After the transaction and the time when the staff will be ready heroes left.

Apprentice: “Mother? They father's pupils?”

Owner: “Only the robed one, Ken. The other one, Kuro, is already magician.”

Apprentice: “How old is he?”

Owner: “He said that Kuro is in his thirties. He should be rather long-lived.” slowly her apprentice started smiling.

Apprentice: “Do you think he liked me?”

Owner: “Don't know. However if you want to make him your's he must pass a test.”

Apprentice: “Mother!”

Owner: “Don't mother me! You full well know what happens to those who are weak. Don't you remember the reason why we moved here?”

Apprentice: “I know, but he's suitable partner! He could-”

Owner: “He's a Hero you idiot! If he dies then not even your father could save you!”

Apprentice: “Uh... fine. But that time it was not my fault! You remember, right?”

Owner: “I never approved it. Your demon linage is dangerous. And if the heroes will know the truth, they will probably-”

Apprentice: “Fine! I will wait.”

The daughter then run upstairs. Despite being in her late twentieth she still acted as a teenage girl sometimes.

Owner: “I never approved his idea. Stupid husband. Willingly make your own daughter a demon. At least it saved her.”

And so the shop owner started on her order. If everything goes favorably the heroes won't know about her little secret.

Meanwhile in the Pyro's mind...

*****

So that girl was a demon?

Yes. Seems like it. What will you do?

Not aggressive, cute, and a magician. Hope she's succubus.

Oh brother...

Status Alert!

Status V3.519

Name: Pyro

Race: Homunculus

Variant: Esper

Class: Polymath

Variant: Xenomorph

Level 14

Experience 11%

Health: 9000/9000

Regeneration: 750 H/hour

Mana: 9000/9000

Regeneration: 240 M/minute

Stamina: 9000/9000

Recovery: 900 S/minute

Weight

36.2 kg/1200 kg

Titles *active

Traits

Weapon Master

Alchemist

Pyromaniac

Master Assassin

Living Shadow

One-man army

Lone Wolf

*Hero

Firestarter

Distrust Gardener

Space-Time Apprentiece

Wielder of Curses (New)

Twisted Genius

Parallel Processing

Enhanced Regeneration

Indefatigable

Tough Skin

Know it All

Discerning Eye

Prodigy

System Enhanced Assistant

Polymath

Shape-Shifter

Psyker

Archmage

Harbringer

Illusionist

Vampiric Origin

Void Walker

Overlord (New)

Legendary Strength 100

Legendary Vitality 100

Legendary Vigor 100

Legendary Endurance 100

Legendary Agility 100

Legendary Speed 100

Legendary Dexterity 100

Legendary Perception 100

Legendary Processing Power 100

Legendary Intelligence 100

Legendary Willpower 100

Legendary Magic 100

Legendary Charisma 105

Luck 100

Unallocated points 6'968

Coins 100'000

Stored Life Force 5'500

Tokens 9 Common

7 Uncommon

3 Rare

Affinities

Fire 100

Water 15

Earth 25

Air 10

Light 10

Darkness 52

Lightning 20

Nature 10

Ice 25

Blood 25

Shadow 54

Illusion 15

Void 10

Time 10

Space 10

Psychic 100

Mana 10

Chaos 30

Death 10

Life 10

Weapon Masteries

Defense Masteries

Magic Masteries

Utility Masteries

Dual Wielding – MAX

Hand-to-hand – MAX

Dagger – MAX

Throwing – Expert

Archery – Expert

Whips – Expert.

Short blades – Expert

Long blades – Expert

One Handed – Expert

Two Handed – Expert

Axes – Competent

Hammers – Adequate

Spear – Novice

Heavy Armor – MAX

Medium Armor – MAX

Light Armor – MAX

Evasion – Expert

Dodging – Competent

Blocking – Competent

Counter – Competent

Enchanting – MAX

Mana – MAX

Psychic – MAX

Illusion – MAX

Shadow – MAX

Darkness – MAX

Light – MAX (up)

Fire – MAX

Water – MAX

Earth – MAX

Air – MAX (up)

Ice – MAX

Lightning – MAX

Nature – MAX (up)

Blood – MAX

Death – MAX

Life – MAX

Chaos – MAX (up)

Void – MAX

Time – MAX

Space – MAX

Necromancy – MAX (up)

Hexes – MAX (New)

Sneaking – MAX

Camouflage – MAX

Alchemy – MAX

Swimming – Expert

Survival – Expert

Traps – Expert

Hunting – Expert

Cooking – Adequate

Herbalism – Adequate

Crafting – Adequate

Fabrication – Adequate

Fishing – Trained

Smooth Talker – Novice

Intimidation – Novice

Flesh Carving – Basic

Active Skills

Passive Skills

Magic Skills

Buffs

Debuffs

Slash

Assassination

Hide

Penetrating Strike

Devour

Blink

Mimic

Charm

Bind

Pain Resistance

Fear Aura

Appraisal

Evil Eyes

Physical Resistance

Magical Resistance

Inventory

Last Stand

Polymath

Magic Control

Poker Face

Elemental Manipulation

Life & Death

Blood Pool

Magic Stabilization

Creation

Enchanting

Infusion

Transmutation

Mana Blast

Personal Dimension

Mind Devastation

Domination

Living Shadow

Shadow Puppeteer

Shadow Clone

Dark Domain

Dark Mist

Meteor Strike

Fire Rain

Icy Flame

Dehydration

Blizzard

Rain

Metal Manipulation

Magma Manipulation

Ice Age

Tazer

Lightning Strike

Blood Strike

Blood Sacrifice

Blood Exchange

Life Steal

Touch of Death

Deadly Premonitions

Life Giver

Resurrection

Reality Slash

Gravitation Control

Time Control

Teleportation

Gate

Seed of undeath (New)

Fly (New)

Tornado (New)

Nature Blessing (New)

Laser (New)

Blessing of Chaos

None