Chapter Eleven – Branching Out

A faint afterglow covered the horizon in crimson, coloring the clouds in red, making the sky blush as the sun slowly hid behind the horizon..

The first stars appeared in the sky and soon after them the moon became clearly visible in the darkening skies. Looking down, Jon saw an impenetrable blackness which reached all the way down to the bottom. He would need to descend the tree almost blind, but the prospect didn't discourage him in the least, on the contrary, he welcomed the challenge. He took another long glance at the crimson sunset trying to memorize the beautiful sight that marked a new beginning for him. The sun had already disappeared behind the horizon but a bright line of orange and red still separated the world from the black sky.

Grabbing the handle of his knife he jumped and began to slide down the tree trunk. He drove the knife into the wood to slow his descent, and although the palms of his hands became white from the strain and his shoulders threatened to pop out of their sockets, except for a scratch or two he managed to get back down safely.

He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when he noticed that the closer he got to the ground the brighter everything became. However, when his boots felt the comfortable hardness of the ground he saw that the entire clearing was illuminated in a multicolored glow.

The weird flowers he saw during the day were now shining softly and since there seemed to be thousands of them, it was almost as if the sun hadn't disappeared behind the horizon but instead, had fallen down here into the clearing.

A smile spread on Jon's face as he touched a flower, glowing pink, next to him. In response to his touch it spit out pollens that floated randomly to the grass, shining all the way down.

He was laughing inside. This was the reason he came back to Royal Road, this feeling of wonder and surprise. He never expected this and the beautiful sight before him made him thank the creators of the game for implementing a camera option.

Jon pushed a bunch of flowers, sending spores to the air. The spores looked like fireflies as they slowly fell down on the water. There, they floated in one place, turning the water into pools of multicolored light. As the colors mixed together and more and more spores were added it looked to Jon like rainbows.

He set up a camera menu, stood before the rainbow pools, spread his arms apart, and took a picture of himself.

-'I'll show this to Gorge later.'-

The tower he saw was in the south and that was the way he went.

The glow from the clearing disappeared after a few minutes, hidden amongst tall trees and wide bushes. The second the darkness became complete, buzzing sounds surrounded him.

He felt things land on him but couldn't see what.

A few muttered words summoned a mana ball that shone a circle of light around him. Clear blue light fell on hundreds of insects in all shapes and sizes.

From very small bugs that traveled together in a buzzing cloud, to insects as big as Jon's fist whose wings flapped at incredible speed to keep them in the air.

He lifted his knife to defend himself but saw the futility of it. He wished he had learned a fire spell but remembered he had something else that could work.

Leaving the ball of blue light to hover over his head, he chanted a spell and spread his palm which started to radiate a faint light. A large, ugly bug was heading his way so Jon moved his hand to greet it and activated the spell.

Snow began to form between his fingers and was sent flying forward in the shape of a large cone. The cold air struck the bug and slowed it down. The bug's wings froze and it fell to the ground together with a multitude of other, angrily buzzing, insects..

Jon continued on his way, the cone of frost moving from side to side. Most of the insects fell to the ground while the smaller ones died from the spell. He looked at his Mp bar and calculated that he could keep the spell active for about twenty five minutes but then the bugs will tear him to pieces.

Imagining his body being sucked dry and eaten by thousands of those critters fastened his heartbeat. Taking deep breaths, he slowly calmed himself down, and when the sound of his own heartbeat didn’t echo in his ears anymore, a small icon appeared in his peripheral vision. A small square positioned itself over his MP bar, and was a sign that the meditation skill was active and his MP would now regenerate faster. It gave him a little more room for breath, but in an hour all of his Mp would be gone.

The annoying buzzing was getting louder. It looked as if every bug he got rid of was replaced three more.

-'They have to end at some point…'- Jon was waving around a sword with his free hand, trying to squash as many insects as he could with the flat sides of the blade. Drops of sticky green liquid flew around with every swing. The blade became covered with so much insect shells he had had to stop and wipe it off on a tree. More than once.

He didn't know how far it was to the tower he saw, but at the speed he was going, he doubted he would reach it before morning. Hastening his steps didn't help much, since he had to battle his way through walls of bugs.

Jon was getting dangerously close to running out of mana but the amount of bugs refused to decrease.

-'Where are they all coming from?'- He was starting to get desperate,

He refused to die on the day he opened a new page in his life, it would be a bad omen and mean bad luck from now on. His whole soul cried out and a miracle happened. A large cloud spread in front of him, blocking the light from the mana ball the swarm of small, mosquito resembling insects, looked like a pitch black beast that was awoken from its slumber and being famished it was now after Jon.

His spell froze them but there were just too many. He saw them land on his skin and block it from his eyes. To save himself, he lifted his arm over his head and let the freezing engulf his whole body.

The insects didn't give up and resumed their assault on him, only to freeze to death.

Level Up

Each bug gave an almost unnoticeable amount of experience points as it died, however hundreds of them froze to death from his spell and hundreds more were smashed to pieces on his sword. Together they managed to raise a small amount of experience he needed to level up.

Jon breathed out loudly once he knew he was out of danger for now.

When leveling up, Hp and Mp are fully restored, and negative effects are removed.

Jon was tired and sweating heavily. The uncomfortable way he was forced to walk in and constant sword swinging were tiring him fast. He wasn't hungry but his throat was parched. Looking around as he was moving he didn't see any water, only sticky, shiny ooze that dripped from his sword.

-'I wonder…'-

He was using already magic , so another one would make little difference.

Jon sheathed his sword and after chanting a few lines an icicle formed in his palm. It floated patiently, waiting for the one who conjured it to choose a target and send it flying.

Control Magic Levels Up

Intelligence Rises by 1(+1 Int)

Instead of shooting it at the annoying buzzers around him, he grabbed hold of it and put the tip in his mouth. He feared it would freeze his face but with the spell canceled, all of the magic left it and it remained a simple, although sharp, piece of ice. Sucking on it, the scratching in the back of his throat began to fade.

He took out the sword again and returned to insect massacre.

Jon would have died in the forest that night if not for four things that happened.

"Cone of Frost" Spell Levels Up

Meditation Skill Levels Up

Sword Mastery Learnt

Sword mastery affects your ability to use swords efficiently.

The higher the skill level, the easier it will become to perform powerful and elaborate techniques.

Level 1: Attack Power +5%

Attack Speed +5%

And the fourth thing, which was the one that really saved him from the onslaught of bugs, was finding out the reason they were following him.

Some of the pollens, from the shining flowers in the clearing, were stuck to him and they attracted them to him. His mana was just about to run out when he saw the light from the mana ball over his head being reflected at him.

The light came upon a small pond and spread on the peaceful water, coloring the water and making it look like a glass floor. Without a second thought he jumped inside and rinsed himself from the pollens. A few insects still circled around him when he came out, but these were just normal mosquitoes that were looking for a chance to suck his blood.

Now he had some time to think and as he increased his pace, Jon couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't encountered any animals except the bugs yet. The sun was beginning to show its presence, coloring the sky above him an orange tint that seemed to be fighting the black of the night, yet still he didn't see any animals.

He heard them but when he looked at the direction the sound came from, the noise died off and the creature that made it was gone.

It became easier to move around so he walked faster.

With no need to protect his life he cast the Swift buff on himself and sped up even more. The distance between trees was growing smaller and the leaves above him were lowering. The bushes and wandering roots that blocked his path a while ago were becoming rarer and from time to time, he thought he heard city sounds.

The sun was high in the sky, scorching Jon's skin even through dense cover of the foliage above him. Animals started to appear all around him. The first he noticed were the birds, whose wing flap he could hear as they passed from one tree to the next. Small sets of eyes looked at him from everywhere as he made his way through the forest. He heard fighting noises and began to run.

The trees opened, letting a view of the citadel walls penetrate their natural, green curtain. He stepped onto the wide grassland that circled Serabourg and felt his strength return to him. It was a long night and he was tired and dirty. His entire body was sticky from the bug's insides that splattered on him and he was wondering where he could wash it off. The mages' guild dormitory came to mind and that’s where he went, ignoring the shocked players around him.

The way he popped out of the forest surprised some of the low level players enough to make them drop their weapons.

In Royal Road, all a player had to do to clean himself up was re-log into the game. When a player logged into the game, his avatar was cleaned up and ready to battle. However, there was a timer that prevented logging back in immediately. The average waiting time was ten minutes, but sometimes it was as long as an hour.

As he walked through the street stalls near the gate he looked at them as if seeing for the first time. He never noticed how many people were actually playing Royal Road at any given moment, but now he noticed the crowd he had to push through stretched to the citadel center square, where a large fountain with a statue of Freya was placed.

Suddenly, a flashback of his first moments of the game flashed before him when he saw the spot where those three players attacked him.

-'I wonder what's happened to them?'-

He didn't know that those three players took part in the war, and that they were among the first players to die.

Jon stepped into the shadow cast by the mages' tower. He looked up at its twenty-one floors and saw a man flying out of a window. He followed him until the man disappeared over the citadel wall and wondered if that was the guild leader. It was hard to tell what the man was wearing since he was moving so fast, but Jon thought he saw a chainmail on him which stroke Jon as weird. Mages rarely wore anything but robes. However, looking down at his hard leather armor he smiled as he understood there were always exceptions.

The mages guild was bustling with activity.

There were at least a hundred mage trainees at any given moment inside, learning and practicing magic. Together with dozens of Npcs and about a hundred of other players, there was hardly a place where one could be alone in the building.

As a member of the guild Jon could use all the facilities it had to offer and was entitled to a bed and a chest where he could store his things. Showers were open to him as well and as each dormitory floor had a few, he climbed the stairs to the fifth floor where the rooms started.

As he passed the showers he heard voices inside and ignored the room, heading to the next floor where the beginner mages were stronger but fewer.

Each floor he passed seemed to be arranged in the same way. Eighteen rooms were spread in the middle, surrounding the staircase. Narrow corridors passed between every pair of rooms with a window at the end. The showers and toilets were placed on both sides of each floor, at the far ends of the largest corridor that seemed to split the floor in half.

The lower floors had three or four beds in each room, with the fifth floor having six beds in every room but starting from the tenth floor each room seemed to be reserved fortwo players.

On the fifteenth floor the sounds of the street could no longer be heard and silence was deafening. The few people he passed glanced at him in wonder but didn't bother with him.

Each step he made echoed in the stone corridors and when he opened the door to the showers of the sixteenth floor its hinges squeaked loudly, startling him and sending his hand to search for the hilt of his knife.

He looked behind to see if there was anyone to discern him but the brick corridor was empty. Only a few spiders moved on their spider webs that hung from the ceiling and a flick of a rat tail that disappeared from view in one of the rooms.

There were six shower stalls, separated from the rest of the bathroom by a wall. Sinks and toilets were on the other side of the room and that was where hooks and benches were laid out. Most of what Jon wore was made out of leather and he washed it first in one of the sinks. The water turned green and yellow as the leather became cleaner. He gave his sword a quick rinse and left everything to dry on the hooks.

He found what looked like a bottle of soap that had an unfamiliar smell on the bench in the shower room and used it plenty. Soon steam filled the room and the fragrance of the soap hung in the air. There must have been some magic system involved, because there were no visible pipes and the shower head simply hovered in the air. Two crystals were embedded into the wall, one red and one blue. Touching them changed the temperature of the water according to the crystal color.

He lost the track of time while he was standing under the stream of hot water, his mind raced imagining different scenarios and how he could fight in them. Motivation and determination filled him but he knew that with his current skill levels it was impossible. He needed something like the mana ball to raise his magic mastery and be useful at the same time. He remembered reading about something suitable in the cleric book but couldn't remember the specifics.

He turned off the water and stepped out to the other room.

Fresh and Clean Bonus

Your mind and body are rested and you feel good.

Stamina, Mp and Hp fully restored.

For the next three hours the chance of spells failing is reduced by half.

He didn't have a towel so he opened one of the windows and let the wind dry him while he enjoyed a view of the citadel spread beneath him.

A loud squeak from the door announced to Jon that someone joined him and he turned around to look who.

By his robes it was clear that he was a mage, and like most mages he was on the short side. He seemed about twelve and was pretty chubby. Acne and barely visible whiskers covered his face. A rat sat comfortably on his shoulder but after one look at Jon's nude body the rat jumped under the boy's robe and started shaking.

Jon was taller than most people and would usually stand out in a crowd.

Years of hard physical hardships had left their mark on him and turned his body into a mountain of muscle with no visible fat. His lean and muscular body type didn't show much strength when he wore clothes but standing naked next to the window, his wide shoulders and large chest plates looked huge to a small flabby kid.

The light of the window lit Jon from the side and weak shadows cross his flat stomach , making the squares of muscle that ran along it stand out.

With his long arms and legs and his straight posture that used all of his height to look down on the boy, he could have been mistaken for an angel, lit by the sun that made small drops of water on his body shine like jewels. However his long dark hair and scars that covered his entire body made him resemble a demon and when he smiled, the boy interpreted it as an evil grin. Without a word said the boy jumped out of the room and hurried down the stairs.

The glare from Jon's eyes, which were hidden behind his brow line, lodged itself in the boys mind and made him forget to breathe. The boy had never left the citadel before and for the past few months had dedicated his entire time to mastering magic. The leather armor and a sword that hung from the hooks put him on guard and the sight of Jon caught him by surprise making him imagine monsters where there were none..

He ran to the first Npc he saw and explained to her about a monster that sneaked into the guild.

While Jon was putting on his armor he noticed that it had a few large tears on it which started breaking apart in few places. The repair skill didn't work and he wondered where he could fave it fixed, or better yet learn to fix it himself.

Jon liked kids, and usually they liked him back. He didn't intend to scare the boy and was looking around to see if he could spot him while on his way to the library on the lower floors. There was only one staircase so they couldn't miss each other, and like he hoped, Jon met the kid on the flight of stairs that separated the sixth and seventh floors.

The boy was hiding behind the skirt of a stern looking woman, a mature woman, with a wrinkled face and an all knowing look in her eyes.

"You see?" she spoke to the boy. "There was nothing to be scared of. The man is your fellow guild member; apologize to him for acting rude."

She had to push the kid forward Jon, but eventually the boy looked at Jon's face and lowered his head in an apologizing gesture. Jon gave him a piece of cheese from his inventory to give to the rat. No words were said since none were needed. The boy took the cheese, bowed again and ran off with his pet rat up the stairs.

"I'm very sorry, sir." she turned to Jon when the boy disappeared behind a corner. "He's a sweet boy. Came to my dormitory a few months ago and hasn't left the building ever since." She straightened with her hands the place on her skirt that the boy crumpled when he was grabbing her.

"You see… he can't speak and somehow that has made him scared of anything that is unfamiliar to him. He's very bright for his age and has been learning spells mages much older than him are struggling with, but unless he goes out he will never get a chance to use them."

They were walking down the stairs and Jon had a suspicious feeling that someone was looking at him. He turned his head quickly and managed to see the boy hide himself behind the wall. With a smile he took out another piece of cheese, he had stocked his inventory with ingredients before quitting his position as kitchen hand, and nibbled on it for the boy to see. He left another piece on the floor and made a shape of whiskers next to his nose with his fingers, trying to tell the boy it was for his pet. The boy popped his head out for a second to look and hid again, waiting for Jon to continue down the stairs.

"He conveyed to me on paper," the woman talked about the boy as if he were her own child, "that he wanted to learn telepathy magic so he could speak to others. It's a great goal but there are a few master wizards that can manage that spell."

They separated on the fifth floor and Jon heard her voice a few moments later yelling at someone about some mess.

The library was filled with people as usual.

Unlike the citadel library, where Unknownadd kept silence as close to a crypt as possible, here groups of players were chatting leisurely and comparing notes with each other. Jon had never gone to school but that was what he imagined it might look like.

The librarian greeted him with a friendly hello and asked what book he could get him. Jon sat down in an empty armchair and looked around while he waited. They didn't notice him but the two girls that had taught him about magic, Irene and Romune if he remembered correctly, were busy reading next to a growing pile of books on their table. A large group of players were weaving a spell together, trying to hold open a portal of some sorts. The librarian blocked Jon's view as he passed him five books and by the time he left the portal was gone and the group looked disappointed.

He looked at the book titles and picked one at random. With a gulp of "Scholars Brew" and some help from the swift buff that to Jon's surprise worked on reading as well, the first book was finished in three hours.

You Have Completed the Book: "Air Is Everywhere"

Wisdom Rises By 1 (+1 Wis)

Air Affinity Acquired

Knowing that air is not an empty vacuum but is made out of countless atoms, particles and even living beings, the mage can use his mana to manipulate the air around him to his needs.

Magic of this affinity is the hardest to control as air changes depending on where you are standing. However spells of this affinity are consume the least amount of Mp put of all spells.

Affinity: 1%

He wondered how strong he needed to be to fly in the air and was relieved to know it only required an intermediate level of magic mastery.

"Back Wind" Buff Learnt

By manipulating the air around you force it to turn into a gust of wind that continuously hits you in the back and pushes you forward.

Affects: Movement Speed Rises By 5%

Duration: 10 Minutes

Cost: 150 Mp

The incident with the bugs made him understand that learning an affinity was pointless if he didn't learn any spells of that nature. If he had had a fire spell at that time he could have lit a branch on fire and would've had a much easier time. You learn from your mistakes and Jon was back in the mages' library to learn.

The next three books were ones he had already read but they still had many spells in them that were left to learn. He chose one from each.

"Burning Touch" Spell Learnt

With the use of mana you can create a small flame and spread it around your palm. While the spell is active the mana channels the fire affinity and protects your skin from harm while at the same time raising the temperature of the fire until the palm of your hand glows in an almost white light from the intense heat.

Cost: 5 Mp every second.

Jon cast the spell to see if it was what he hoped it to be and in his carelessness his leather glove combusted into sudden flames and was burnt into ashes in less than a second. He could feel a sudden warmness all over his body which felt nice and comforting. He touched a finger to a wooden table and smoke started to lift from it immediately. He applied a little force and his finger began to slide into the table as if it were butter, small flames licked his palm like orange tongues. He lifted his hand and canceled the spell.

The smell of burnt wood spread through the library and a black hole in the table looked like an eye, staring at Jon angrily.

'This will do!'- The spell worked just like he hoped it would and this meant the other two spells would be the same.

"Chilling Grasp" Spell Learnt

While the spell is active the temperature around your hand lowers drastically, creating liquid dioxide which is then spread around your hand like a glove.

Your skin is protected from the freezing cold but anything touched by the liquid will freeze.

Cost: 5 Mp every second.

His hand was slowly surrounded by swirling mist. A chill ran through his body and his skin covered in goosebumps. He canceled the spell after looking at the hypnotizing movement of the mist. There was no need to test the spell on anything as he had already read what the effect would be like.

Done with the book he put it away and stretched his muscles. A few knacks escaped from his joints when he stood up to do that. Jon dropped back into the armchair and was surprised to see how fast the time went by.

Outside the window it was already dark. The moon was visible and the first stars were appearing in the night sky. He looked up at the ceiling and saw magic lanterns that mimicked daylight.

-'Maybe I should learn how to cast that…'- an image of a man appeared in his mind and he leaned back into the pillow of the armchair, nibbling on a Grezgler's tail he took out of his inventory. It reminded him a little of cinnamon as it slowly melted in his mouth. The short black tail was halfway gone when he recalled where he had seen the man. He was the one that he had met right before he entered the Rogues guild for the first time. He said something about recasting the magic in the shooting range.

-'I wonder how much he got paid?'- The tail was almost gone. –'If it's a low level spell I could help them with that… they hardly have any funds as it is.'-

He took out the flask Unknowadd had given him and took another gulp. The brew inside made noises as it moved. Some of the players were looking at him enviously, moving their eyes from his face to the flask he was holding.

Most of the library funds came from profits of selling the special brew. Jon even saw a player trying to bargain for the brews recipe but after offering ten thousand gold pieces and still getting no for an answer he gave up and left in anger.

Jon would be more cautious with the flask if these weren’t docile trainee mages. The shortage of brew has made the life of mages twice as hard and made the price of mandrake roots skyrocket.

The roots gave the same affect as the brew but were rare and pricy to begin with. Now with Unknoadd no longer selling the "Scholars Brew" only the richest mages could allow themselves the luxury of a bonus to reading speed.

-'Not much left… I better hurry.'- He secured the cork and put the flask back into his inventory.

"Static Hand" Spell Learnt

The spell amplifies the electric signals in your body and directs their energy to your hand.

The mana stores the extra electricity around your hand and releases it upon touch.

Affects: 3% chance to stun your opponent.

Cost: 5 Mp every second.

Strands of electricity were jumping between his stretched fingers. The hairs on his arm stood up and a weak crackling sound came from his hand. He knew he couldn't get electrified by his own spell so there was no hesitation when he reached to his knife.

Before his hand even grasped the hilt, the electricity visibly jumped to the metal knife. He held the knife up and saw the electricity arc from his hand to the tip of the blade. He looked around to see if there was anything to try it on but the only things that were suitable were other players in the library. He thought about it for a moment, even found a target, but in the end decided not to hurry.

-'Now that I'm a mage I need to drop my fame… hmm…'- He knew a quick way, but he needed to wait for night time.

Good thing he still had a book to read, the timing was perfect. He ignored the group of players trying to hold a portal open again, took a gulp of scholars brew and opened the book.

You Have Completed the Book: "Earth, Dirt, Stone, Mana!"

Wisdom Rises By 1 (+1 Wis)

Earth Affinity Acquired

Specializing in large scale spells, practitioners of earth magic can summon a force of nature itself and transform the face of the planets surface.

By sending mana down into the ground and using the earth itself as a conductor, earth spells do not suffer a distance penalty like other spells.

Affinity: 1%

He didn't have any particular interest in this field of magic, but since it was the last affinity available for him until his magic mastery reached intermediate he took the time to acquire it. Luckily it came with a reward.

New Achievement

Five Out Of Five

You've earned this achievement for acquiring all five element affinities available to beginner mages.

This had to be completed before magic mastery skill rises to level six for the achievement to count.

Bonus: +100 Mana

He also gained knowledge of a spell that would be very useful if he ever wanted to raise his alchemy level. However it was a spell that required level seven magic mastery and ice affinity. The latter wasn't a problem but he almost died while trying to cast a high level spell and he was a bit hesitant of trying again. This time he wouldn't have the dragon meat bonus to protect him if anything failed.

-'My stats are much higher than those of my level… should I try?'- Jon knew already he would try to cast the spell but he still tried to convince himself otherwise, even as his hands were turning the pages to that of the spell.

To lessen the risk as much as he could he took out an apple from his inventory. Food didn't rot while it was inside the inventory and could be held fresh indefinitely. Jon peeled the apple and cut it to pieces with great care.

His level five cooking skill and his level three alchemy skill were applied to the fruit so when he ate it the bonus was amplified.

Apple Consumed

A simple red apple one can find in any grocery store or food stall.

Considered the fruit of wisdom after its important role in the biblical story of Adam and Eve.

Effects: Wisdom +10

Intelligence +10

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

It wasn't much but fifty more Mp could mean the difference between life and death. He hoped the effects would last long enough for him to complete the spell. If it was as long as the healing rain chant the apple would have served as nothing more than a tasty snack.

Breathing deep, Jon blocked out the sounds of the room and concentrated all of his attention on the correct pronunciation of the spell. He read page after page ignoring the sweat that began to form on his brow.

Wrinkles appeared and deepened on his forehead as he progressed with the spell. It turned out shorter that the healing rain spell but much more complicated.

Maybe it was because he hadn't read any books on the subject like he did on healing magic, but it felt to him that he just couldn't understand how the spell worked at all. Why and how did the spell wield his mana to get the desired effect were lost on Jon and because of that the end result was disappointing. It took seventeen minutes with the help of the scholars brew to finish casting the spell and as soon as the last word was uttered his Mp bar began to shorten.

Sprout Spell Learnt

With the use of mana, an earth mage who has knowledge of ice or water magic can force a plant or seed to grow at an accelerated rate.

Unless the mage knows everything there is about the plant, the adult plant will not be able to compete with an original one both in size and offered effect.

Cost: 500 Mp

Jon aimed the spell at one of the apple seeds on the table and as his Mp was consumed a glow appeared around the seed. When half of the mana required for the spell to work was invested the seed began to glow. All was going smoothly when suddenly, without any sign or notice, the mana that was used up was expelled from the seed and thrown back to Jon. He wasn't given a chance to react when all of the mana entered him with such force that he felt like he was being torn apart. As the sudden pain dissipated an uncomfortable feeling of prickling needles was left in his body. His arms felt bloated and the tips of his fingers, toes, ears and nose felt as if they were burnt.

He was sitting half way down the armchair, with his legs and arms extended forward while his head was stretched back almost to the point of breaking the neck.

The mind slowly recovered and began to work again although with some delay, making his thoughts stutter. The body however was unresponsive and stunned.

This was a problem as his Mp bar was empty, while his Hp bar had only eighty three points left. If a spell backfired like this on a battlefield he would have died for sure.

It made no sound when it happened so other inhabitants of the library didn't notice and kept to their own business. Jon couldn't move and had nothing to do but sit and watch the others while feeling was slowly returning into his numb body. The system notice refused to disappear on its own and was blocking some of his field of vision.

Magic Capacity Levels Up

One guy looked back at him and smiled knowingly. He came to Jon and offered a glass of water at which Jon looked suspiciously.

"Drink. It will help," he said cheerfully.

Carefully Jon held the glass with both of his hands. His fingers refused to close and remained extended making the glass shake slightly. The first mouthful sent a wave of relief through him. His stiff body relaxed and he managed to sit back into the armchair comfortably. The man looked at him and left, giggling quietly to himself.

As he downed the last drops from the glass he was feeling like his body belonged to him again. Only a burning sensation at the tips of his ears refused to leave. He touched them gently to see if they were okay and since they felt fine to the touch he ignored them and concentrated on regulating his breath.The icon showing the meditation skill was active appeared at its usual place over the Mp bar. He waited until he had enough to heal himself.

-'I'll need to take some time to train the magic capacity skill… it probably saved my life this time.'-

He thought about trying the spell again but saw that the sun had already set and didn't really want to miss his opportunity because he was stunned in his chair.

It was still a bit early so to while away the time he browsed through bookshelves, reading book titles without any particular agenda. He wondered if it was possible to finish them all.

-'Maybe if I had an extremely concentrated dose of scholars brew…'-

One of the books, a really dirty and torn one, piqued his interest. A soft book with no hardcover, this book had clearly gone through a lot. Fingerprints covered every page and some of the pages were ripped and crumpled. The title said "Miscellaneous Spells for Adventurers", it didn't have a description on its back, so Jon skimmed through it.

It was a useful book but not for mages. It had spells that didn't require magic mastery to cast. These spells were useful for other classes, a warrior or a rough. It had spells for lighting fire, condensing water out of air, making a light orb, conjuring a magical rope and many other daily use spells.

Jon wondered though what player could use this unless he was a mage. Even the simplest spells required an absurd amount of Mp. The lowest number he saw was on the "Fresh Air" spell, a spell that got rid of bad smells, and it needed four hundred and fifty Mp to cast. A spell with the same affect and name from the wind affinity book cost only ten Mp.

Flipping through the pages the book opened on a spell called "Guiding Light". The book explained that the spell taps into the divine power of the gods to show an adventurer a general direction of where the goal of his quest was. This was an unbelievably useful spell, but needed five thousand Mp to cast.

-'I saw some of these spells in other books… maybe this one has an equivalent as well?'-

There was a different librarian during night time but he managed to find the book just as fast as the other one.

"This is the one with the spell you wanted," he handed Jon a medium sized book called "Searching and Exploring With the Help Of Magic".

"But you'll need these to learn it." He held up two more books.

"It's fine." Jon took the first book and looked for the spell. It was there and here it required only eight hundred Mp. A little bit more than he had but he could still cast it without too much risk as the magic mastery needed was of level five.

"Ohh… I guess you already have an affinity with the holy element."

Jon looked at the time in his main menu and saw it was the middle of the night. It explained why the library was so much quieter now. It was what he was waiting for but he wanted that spell.

"I'm borrowing the book." Jon stated to the librarian.

"No problem." He picked a thick book from his desk and handed a quill to Jon. "Just sign here."

"Good. You can have it for one month but I rather you return it sooner. We only have two copies of this one." He filled out the rest of the details like the title, author and condition by himself.

"If you don't return it after a month we will find you and take it from you. There will be a very high fee to pay then."

The librarian glanced over Jon from head to feet and added a simple warning.

"Don't think you can hide from us. Even the best rogues don't stand a chance against our seekers."

The librarian was trying to scare Jon and was a little annoyed when he was ignored. He closed the log book with more force that was needed, making dust fly out of it, and put it back in its place. Jon left the library while he was doing that.

Jon opened his stats menu and put the book in his inventory for later.

Stat Window

Avatar: Jon Type: Chaotic

Level: 15 Class: Mage

Title: Leader of the Pack

+10 Charisma

Taming animals is 20% easier and faster.

Life: 1066 Fame: -82 Mana: 530(+250)

Strength: 98(+5) Dexterity: 97 Vitality: 61

Wisdom: 48 Intelligence: 74 Focus: 13

Leadership: 0 Perception: 3 Luck: 0

Offence: 9 Defense: 10

Resistance to Magic:

Air: 1%

Cold: 6%

Earth: 1%

Fire: 3%

Holy: 1%

Lightning: 1%

Affinity to Elements:

Air: 1%

Ice: 6%

Earth: 1%

Fire: 3%

Holy: 1%

Lightning: 1%

-'It's time.'-

He was stretching his body and loosening his joints as he walked. Purple colored magic mesmerized him when he started playing and tonight he would fulfil the condition for its use.

All he needed was to kill twenty one people. A simple task when they arrange themselves like sheep for the slaughter.