Hello all, since the last chapter was short I decided just to do another release today. Hope you enjoy!

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After talking to and accepting the quest Julius motions me to enter his house for the more in-depth story of his heretic shenanigans when he was still with the Holy Order. It’s as follows:

“When we weren’t keeping the noble’s in line most of the day I would usually stay in the library and study old texts and documents from hundreds of years ago. However as the Church believes they are all-powerful most of their information was skewed to show the “mighty” deeds they did for the people and kingdom.

But all of the High-Priests (10 in total), including me, knew there were cruel methods employed to shift more power over to the Church to solidify its position. Those were written down in special scrolls apart from the others many centuries ago after the Church finally became supreme.

Thus the old bastards kept those documents in a safe place with a magic lock on it. The lock had a seal which would only open if a special set of 10 scrolls were put together and dipped in a vat of holy water.

The reason there was 10 is so each separate scroll would be kept by the 10 High-Priests. At the time it seemed like a good idea but that was just their shortsightedness, since the “dark” documents needed to be out of sight the idea was rushed. Given more time they could have come up with a foolproof plan but didn't want to take any chances of the kingdom catching a whiff of the corrupt religious rear-end that stank of anything but holy.

Also to make sure the magic techniques would not be spread to others the previous generations of High-Priests always made the adepts learn them. Of course the adepts were more than happy to be of help to the Lord and excelled at the dark magic and when their jobs were done the High-priests would use dirty methods to keep their mouths shut. Even resorting to poisoning, that is, if the person was lucky enough to get a quick end.

When I was a part of that awful group and read about those heinous crimes I couldn’t just do nothing. So for many years I plotted to steal the scrolls from each of those crotchety geezers and open the seal to document room. After opening the seal I slipped into the room and took the documents before anyone could realize, then closed the door on the way out. They were none the wiser.

After translating the documents and reading them for myself I realized that there was no way I could use these. Because of my decades of training in the ways of the Light the body has gotten attuned and merged with its type of mana and cannot control other elements. Only a few other in the Church that I know have reached this level. Considering Light needs faith it is much easier to use the affinity you are born with. Furthermore being born with the light attribute hasn't been seen yet, but I digress.

Those events where I stole the documents was 5 years ago. Just recently one of the High-Priests found that his scroll was missing. Damn my bad luck, I had to flee from the temple and head to this hideout to lay low.

Now that I have found someone who can use the power of the Dark to give those old grouch’s a run for their money I’m more than happy to let you have them. However there is only a small bit of the series found. You will have to find the rest on your own.”

Well that’s the gist of his holy escapade. Still it doesn’t clear up some other questions.

“Is there any way I can find other Adepts that might have also went AWOL like you and could help me?”

“No I’m sorry, they are either dead or still alive and have their families held hostage to keep secrecy. It’s best you give up on that hope.”

“Where do I look for the next pages so I can unlock more power?”

This is one of the main issues, the other being I need to level up ASAP. No telling what kind of corrupt nobles or clergy I could meet and have their own small army try and hang me like the Salem Witch Trials. If I can’t hold them off then I’m afraid I won’t be a Master of anything by the end of the day.

“If you keep heading south and cross the Blackfoot Mountains, you’ll reach the Kingdom of Flaste. I will warn you though, do NOT take the mountains lightly. It can be hell itself.”

Lyra behind me snorts and I stifle a laugh. Oh, if only he knew.

But I must congratulate GlobalDome again for their lame names. Flaste? Did someone mix flaming toothpaste together in their mind while half-baked? I’ll make a note to myself to get my father to tell me what is going on with their employees.

“Anyways, where do I go after that and can you hand me the documents?” I say, a bit impatient.

“Ah, of course, when you reach their capital city (Flaste Capital City) you need to look for the dungeon near there that used to be a sacred temple, called Onyx Domain. It’s actually quite popular for adventurers such as yourself. The Darkness should guide you from there. Here are the documents.”

That sounded pretty cryptic. Isn’t light supposed to guide people? Well I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Also the name Onyx Domain sounds ominous. If I take the literal meaning of the name then it means it’s the territory of some honest-to-god monster (no pun intended).

Julius then got up and walked out of the door to go chop some more wood. Is he planning on building a lumber business or something?

“Master hurry up and look at papers and see what you can do, maybe there is a special spell for the bedroom that can heighten our orgas-“

“Okay Okay, I get it just give me a second.” Seriously, she can say some volatile stuff around a man.

Unrolling the scroll to take a look at what is there the candles in the room suddenly blow out and it takes on a whole new type of darkness I have never experienced before, sending shivers down my spine and the hair on me stand on end. Then the words appear as if smoke slowly forming distinct letters coming together to make words and finally sentences.

-Darkness and light have been at odds since the dawn of time each holding equilibrium. These documents teach you how to harness the element of Dark without tipping the balance of the scale and burning all life into ashes without discrimination. Should you learn these spells be warned that the darkness can consume you, damning you to a place equal in pain to Hell. An abyss with no mercy for souls no matter how pure. Use these spells at your own discretion-

Hey hey, that’s one hell of a pre-game pep talk right there. Seems like Hell is a field of flowers compared to the residence of Abyss. This should be fun.

The clouds of words are whisked away new ones are formed:

-“Reap” the benefits (Passive, lvl: 1)-

Monsters killed in dark areas give bonus stats to agility, added at the end of each level. Conversion rate: 40 monsters killed = +1 agility. It can be stacked every 40 monsters in between each player level.

-Quite a sight to swallow (lvl: 1)-

Target a player or monster and use darkness to swallow their eyesight for 1 second. Each skill level adds extra .2 seconds. Every 2 levels cooldown reduces by 5 seconds. Mana cost: 60 Cooldown 60 seconds.

Wow 2 skills is more than I imagined for sure. One that’s always active and one that is similar to a flashbang, albeit hilarious to watch as they would bump into walls. If I level up the second one it could definitely be of use on a higher level monster when there is a stalemate in the fight. Or I could use it on an enemy archer and hope for some friendly fire, hehe.

Apparently that is all the scroll has to show me, because the darkness finally starts to dissipate. I almost needed a night light it was that creepy. Lyra stands there looking at me with worried eyes and ran over to hug me almost knocking me off my feet.

“Master I was so scared you were gone, all of a sudden the candle wicks blew out and you weren’t there! What was I going to do, I was freaking out so much, so scared I thought I wouldn’t be able to have your first time before you dissappea-“

*Bonk*

I karate chop her head, while I see hints of a grin appear on her face.