Dark Nights

Once the introductions were done Al insisted that they spend the night at his inn, it wasn’t often that his old friends came to town and he wanted to make the most of the occasion.

“Come on guys, you must be tired from travelling here and besides Sammy would kill me if I let you leave without popping in to say hello.”

Sammy was Al’s companion and worked as the cook at Al’s inn, Fi watched on with some amusement from her position in Kyle’s hands as he looked up to his parents with shining eyes. Sammy always spoiled hi rotten when he visited the inn, and there was no way he was going to give up on that easily.

Jerald and Emma looked at each other, they too wanted to see their other friend but were hesitant to impose upon Al’s hospitality, it was hard to run an inn when the people staying under your roof weren’t very welcome.

Kyle, noticing his parents’ hesitation, acted with the guile only a small child could possess, placing Fi gently on his shoulder, he reached up and tugged on his mother’s skirts as Fi wrapped her body loosely around his neck as she settled in to watch the show.

“Ooh can we mum, please?”

Emma looked down at her son, before sighing, “Dear, let’s take Al up on his offer, it’s not very often we get the chance to spend the night in town after all.”

Kyle strained his ears as his father started grumbling under his breath but was only able to make out two words; ‘Denzel’ and ‘fields’, rolling his eyes at his father’s stubbornness he once again attempted to get his way.

“Daaad, you never let me stay the night at Uncle Al’s, can we? Just this once?”

Fi noticing his plight attempted to help by placing her head against Kyle’s and assuming the cutest expression she could, staring up at Jerald with wide eyes.

Confronted by the sight of these two working together, Jerald’s willpower crumbled, and he sighed briefly before agreeing to the arrangement. It looked like the fields would have to wait till tomorrow, he just hoped that Denzel didn’t try to cause any trouble.

Al chuckled at the sight of his friends, though powerful adventurers quickly losing this battle to their son, crouching down he lifted Kyle up onto his shoulders, much to the little boy’s delight.

“Oi! Not thinking about leaving me out of this are you?” cried Thomas a small grey owl swooping down and landing on his shoulder as he approached.

“Of course not Thomas, we were just waiting for you to finish, weren’t we Kyle?” Al quickly replied as he grinned at the older man, Kyle nodded with a giggle. “Besides it’s not like you actually know how to cook old man so I don’t know why you would think we would try to leave without you.”

“I’m not that much older than you,” Thomas grumbled to himself as he followed the boisterous man out onto the street, where the sounds of children playing with their new-found friends created a festive atmosphere throughout the village.

“Ahh, it’s always nice this time of year,” Al sighed as he looked around. “Look even Denzel’s got a smile on his face!”

The man in question having heard his name turned towards the group, the smile that had been on his face quickly being replaced by his usual sneer.

“Or not…Oh well.”

Walking past the man, they continued down the street to Al’s inn, upon walking into the bar that served as the main room Al shouted at the top of his voice, “Sammy! Come see who I brought with me!”

A crashing sound came from behind a door behind the bar followed by muffled cursing before the door opened and a monkey came through its brown fur covered by what appeared to be flour.

“Al!” It shouted, “Why do you always do that!?”

“Sorry Sam didn’t realise you were busy,” said Al.

However, the smirk that adorned his lips put the lie to these words and Sammy growled at him as he returned to the kitchen to clean himself off.

Al chuckled to himself as he lowered Kyle to the ground, looking around he saw that the others had disapproving looks on their faces.

“What?”

“Never mind,” the group chorused before sitting down at a nearby table, they had long gotten used to the childish man’s antics in their years of knowing him and knew he was never going to change.

As the adults started talking Kyle moved off to another table and started to try and figure out what the things on his status screen meant.

“Fi what can you tell me about my stats?”

Fi uncoiled herself from his neck and dropped down to the table.

“I’ll do you one better,” she replied with a look of concentration on her face, “I’ll show you.”

As she said this another blue screen appeared in front of Kyle and he started reading.

Help-Basic Attribute information.

HP (Health Points)- A measure of your current and maximum health.

MP (Mana Points)- Resource used to cast both Arcane and Divine magics.

SP (Stamina Points)- Resource used to activate Active skills such as special attack and perform strenuous activities such as running and climbing.

Str (Strength)- Increases the damage you deal with most weapons, as well as the amount of weight you can carry.

Dex (Dexterity)- Increases your accuracy and the damage you deal with some weapon types.

Agi (Agility)- Increases movement speed and reflexes.

Con (Constitution)- Increases HP by 10 and HP regen by 0.1.

End (Endurance)- Increases SP by 10 and SP regen by 0.5.

Int (Intelligence)- Increases MP by 10 and the effects of Arcane Spells.

Wis (Wisdom)- Increases MP regen by 0.5 and the effects of Divine Spells.

Will (Willpower)- Increases resistance to damage and negative status effects.

Exp to next Level- Acquired via defeating enemies. (Class must be unlocked first.)

While the attribute total can be increased by Levelling up, distributing Status Points and through equipping enchanted items, the base attributes can only be increased through training.

Kyle blinked, even the basic information was complicated for an eight-year-old, but he thought he understood most of the information and besides, he could just ask his parents if there was something he really needed to know. “Uh, ok and what about my Fast Learner trait, how much has it decreased?”

Fi hesitated briefly before replying, “It just means that you gain skill experience slower, you still get the same number of extra skill points when you level up.”

“Ok I think I get most of this now, can I have a look at my Skills now?”

Fi nodded and brought up the desired screen.

Skills (Expanded)

Class Skills

N/A

Non-Class Skills

N/A

Racial Skills

Mana Manipulation- Mastery (Trait based Racial Skill)

Level 1-0% to next Proficiency Level

Mastery Skill that unlocks Magic Schools. Related Sub-Skills can also be unlocked

Current Bonuses

Unlocks Magic Schools Slots-2 Slots available

Unlocks ‘Mana’ School of Magic

Magic School Slots-1/2

· Mana -Basic Magic School Unlocked by the Mana Manipulation Skill

· None-Please Select a School

Sub-Skills

None

Skill Slots-0/5

Skill Points-2

Class Skills- Skills that your class specialises in. Class Skills are unlocked automatically upon receiving your class and do not use Skill Slots.

Non-Class Skills- Skills not related to your Class that can be unlocked using Skill Points upon learning the basics of the Skill. These Skills take up Skill Slots.

Racial Skills- Special Skills unlocked by your Race and Variant. These cost Skill Points to unlock but take up no Skill Slots. Certain Non-Class Skills may be treated as Racial Skills if the required trait is present.

Sub-Skills- Active or Passive Skills that can be unlocked upon levelling certain Skills.

Skill Points- Used to unlock new Skills, and upgrade Skills every 5 Skill Levels. 1 Skill Point is gained by increasing Level (+1 from Trait) and by increasing the Proficiency Level of Skills.

Kyle pressed his fingers to his forehead, he was thankful he only had the one Skill as he was starting to feel that most of this was too much information to deal with.

Fi smirked up at him, “Don’t worry Kyle this is the expanded skill list, there’s a simpler one that we can also use, but the information it shows is limited.”

Kyle sighed in relief at this revelation, only to groan again as she continued.

“I also have my own Skills if you want to take a look.”

“Can you just tell me?”

“Alright, as a companion I have access to quite a few Skills that are otherwise difficult or impossible to come by. Such as my Identification Skill which allows me to show some basic information about monster and items as well as my Inventory Skill which allows me to store some items in a small dimensional pocket.”

“Dimensional Pocket?”

“Just think of it as a place where I can store items,” Fi replied with a sigh.

“Ok.”

“I can also show you your own information in detail, and fly. Later, I’ll be able to develop other Skills but that’s about it for now,” she finished as Sammy, who had finally finished cleaning the flour out of his fur came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of candied fruit.

Promptly forgetting to ask Fi any further questions, even the one about her being able to fly Kyle leapt up and ran over in Sammy’s direction.

“Ooh, can I have some? Can I?”

Sammy grinned toothily at Kyle’s enthusiasm, “Alright, but not too much, you don’t want to spoil dinner now do you?”

“Fiiine,” Kyle pouted as he grabbed a few handfuls of the sweet treats before running back over to share them with Fi.

Fi sighed to herself as she nibbled delicately on a piece of candied apple, it looked like learning about Magic Schools would have to wait.

As the day continued Kyle played with Fi and the other companions as the adult were still wrapped up in their conversations and by the time dinner had been finished Kyle was worn out from the excitement.

Looking over at her drowsy son Emma had just decided it was time to send him to bed when suddenly, the sound of a horn being blown echoed throughout the village.

“That’s the warning signal,” said Thomas with a frown.

The sound echoed several more times causing all those within the inn to stand up. This signal meant there was a large group of powerful monsters approaching Farholt.

“Sul go scout ahead we’ll catch up.”

The small owl nodded before launching himself into the air and flying out the door.

Kyle watched as glowing lights appeared around his parents, solidifying into their adventuring equipment that Ai and Digby summoned from the spatial pocket that their Inventory skill created.

Kyle’s father was now wearing a set of plate armour made of a dark grey metal that suited its simplistic design, a large shield was strapped to his back and a spiked mace hung from his belt as he placed a winged helm made of the same metal as his armour on his head.

Kyles mother was dressed in a sleeveless outfit made of tan leather with a silken hood that hid her azure hair from view. She appeared to have no weapons, but a sparkling mist quickly surrounded her as glowing blue lines appeared on her skin.

Al was also sporting a new look with blackened chainmail covering his large frame a massive axe held in both of his hands.

Thomas didn’t have to change anything as he was already wearing the robes that marked him as a priest.

The companions also glowed briefly as they activated a Skill which allowed them to take on their larger battle forms, Emma turned to Kyle as the former adventurers headed out the door intending to help the guards if they needed it, despite the uproar they knew Denzel would cause.

“Kyle stay here,” she said with a cold voice that fitted her nickname, before turning and following the others.

Kyle nodded at her words with a serious look on his face that was replaced with a wide grin as the door closed behind her

There was no way he was missing out on this.

After waiting a while to make sure they didn’t notice him following them he picked up Fi who wrapped herself around his neck once again.

“Kyle what are you doing?” she hissed ass he snuck out the front door. “Your mother told us to wait here.”

“So, I want to see,” he replied as he ran down the street.

Fi sighed as she realised she wouldn’t be talking him out of this anytime soon, tightening her grip on his neck slightly, partly in irritation and partly to prevent herself from being thrown off.

As he approached the wall surrounding the village he slowed down and crept up to the base as a shouting match broke out at the top.

“I don’t care, I’m not letting you out!”

“So, you’re just going to leave those people to die, are you?”

“I’m the Guard Captain! My job is to protect the villagers, not random merchants!”

“That’s why we want to go out and help you idiot!”

“I’m not endangering the village by opening the gate!”

“Fine then, we’ll do it ourselves!”

After this exclamation there was a crashing sound as though something heavy hit the ground on the other side of the wall, followed by a series of dull thuds.

“Well, looks like they gave up on the idea of expecting any help from Denzel,” muttered Kyle, and used the moment of surprise caused by his parents’ actions to sneak into a small watchtower next to the gate, so that he could see what was happening.

As he reached the top of the tower, he peeked over the wall that ran around the top and was greeted with an impressive sight.

A small group of cowering people were surrounded by many slavering hyena-like monsters that were wreathed in a shadowy mist. Kyle’s father was sprinting towards them him armour crashing like cymbals has he ran.

Suddenly one of the larger beasts leapt at one of the people only to be stopped by a ghostly shield that resembled the one on Jerald’s back, followed by a spike of ice that flashed across the distance from Emma’s outstretched hands.

Snarling the beast’s turned towards the ones who had killed one of their number and as one, charged towards them, leaping over the cowering merchants.

As they approached the occasional monster would disappear in a cloud of dust, as they fell into pitfalls that Digby was busy creating.

“Fi,” Kyle whispered. “Can you tell me anything about those monsters?”

“Fine,” she replied activating her Identify Skill.

Name

Barghest

HP

???

Level

55

Monster Type

Pure Blood

A powerful monster that can obscure its form with the mist that covers its body allowing it to perform surprise attacks on the unwary. This monster hunts in packs led by an Alpha, some Alphas are powerful to have hundreds of Barghests under their command.

“How exactly do they expect to defeat so many of those!” Fi hissed in Kyle’s ear. “As far as I can tell that one’s a low level for this pack and there are hundreds of them!”

Much to her surprise Kyle continued to watch with a calm expression on his face, instead of the worry she was expecting.

“They’ll be fine,” he stated. “Just watch.”

Fi turned back to see the small group literally massacring Barghests left and right, phantom suits of armour that resembled Jerald’s both appearing around the merchants that watched on, but also amongst the monsters causing chaos as they struck out with the maces held in their gauntlets.

Emma danced between the monsters, stabbing out with two icicles she wielded like daggers in each hand as shards of ice that floated around her tore others to shreds.

Al was also in the thick of the action, his massive axe producing powerful shockwaves that sent the broken bodies of the beasts flying with each swing.

Thomas had several screens open in front of him seeming to direct the others as Sul and Ai flew overhead providing the priest with information and occasionally getting in a few attacks of their own, lightning and blasts of pure sound that Fi could feel from the tower sending groups of enemies flying. Sammy adding even more cover fire in the form of overgrown thorns that he ripped from massive brambles that sprouted at his feet.

Soon the poorly lit plains surrounding Farholt soon resembled a warzone, as the corpses of the once terrifying beasts littered the landscape, only a few stragglers remained including one massive specimen that watched on with eyes that glowed a sinister red.

“That’s the Alpha Kyle, it’s nearly Level 80!” Fi exclaimed as the beast moved.

The mist surrounding the monster roiled as it charged towards the adventurers, a low roar escaping its jaws, as it approached it seemed to dissolve flowing into a puddle of darkness that was barely visible in the flickering light of the torches lining the walls.

Jerald shouted to his friends who quickly crowded around him, those who could casting summoning magical lights that would aid them in finding the monster’s location as more phantom warriors surrounded the group, showing his mastery of the Conjuration School of magic along with his own skills as a tank making him one of the more well-known adventurers in the kingdom, known as ‘The Phantom Warlord’.

Sul continued to watch from on high his night vision was far superior to Ai’s who had swooped down to land on Emma’s shoulder. Digby stayed below ground as the Barghest couldn’t reach him there, and Sammy threw out a few seeds causing a tangle of brambles to surround them, adding another layer of defence to their position.

Apparently unable to appear in the presence of light the Alpha quickly gave up on its ploy as it launched itself from the shadows trying to leap over the defences to attack the member of the party that appeared the weakest.

Thomas smirked as he brought up his right hand which flared with a blue light as he struck the monster on the chin with a brutal uppercut sending it flying back into the brambles. As the beast tried to extricate itself from the offending plants Al stepped up, rock shards sprouting from the ground and attaching to his axe as he wound up for a powerful attack.

The monster’s struggles increased as the axe slowly grew as it was covered in layers of rock before Al slammed it down with great force rending its body in two.

The onlookers watched in awe as the adventurers escorted the merchants back to the gates, not even a single injury among them.

Kyle ran down the stairs of the tower, completely forgetting that his mother had told him to stay put, as he charged towards them with a massive grin on his face, “Mum! Dad! I want to be an Adventurer!”

“Kyle!? I thought I told you to stay put!?” Emma yelled as Kyle leapt into her arms heedless of the blood that covered her.

Jerald shook his head, “Well I guess I’d better start working on a training routine,” he muttered ruefully.

Kyle grinned at his father’s words, he was going to be an Adventurer and nothing was going to stop him!