The night before.

“Run! The fucking hunter is coming!” a bandit yelled at the top of his lungs.

Several boots stampeded through puddles, skidded across mud, and clambered over stone. Bandits of varying heights and classes were retreating through a rainstorm in the lower quarters of Gauntlet.

“Take this!” one of them yelled, aiming her arm backwards, shooting off sparks of azure as Lightning danced down a dark alley.

Even the startling light of the spell did little to bring brightness to the darkest parts of the city. Clashing with a silhouette, the lines of blue warped into a hidden palm, out of sight, out of mind.

The familiar voice rang in Logan’s head as he absorbed the spell.

“Spell Absorption successful. Lightning charge stored. Lightning has progressed to tier 8.”

“What’s it gonna take?!” another bandit yelled as they threw a white crystal into the sky.

A bright flash of light filled the dark corridor of buildings and rubble. Rats scurried away from the light as well as the stampeding feet running from a hunter stalking its prey.

Several thugs turned around and fired bows or threw daggers. Logan stepped left to right, moving forwards with each leap, dodging the attacks one after another.

Others aimed their arms at the Spellthief, arcs of fire and electricity danced through the air towards him, only to hit the floor behind him as he left in a warping of the air.

Appearing behind two bandits, Logan gave solid kidney punches, knocking both to the floor unconscious as two Backstab texts floated over them.

“Bastard”, one bandit yelled.

“Fucker”, another added.

Two cutlasses came swinging at Logan’s sides. Jumping to the left, Logan grappled one of the bandits, grabbing his opponent’s arm and stabbing the man in the back as he disarmed the bandit.

Dropping the foe to the floor, Logan jumped over the next, grabbed onto his shoulders, and kneed him in the back.

An arrow came singing through the air as it pelted into Logan’s arm, though it bounced off of his higher-level armour as if it were steel. Returning the favour, Logan aimed at the archer and chanted, “Force”, sending a grey orb that pelted the bandit into a wooden crate, smashing into it.

The criminals barged through large double wooden doors, the rain rushing inside the building and soaking the floor. Boots skidded across the slippery surface as they tumbled inside and shut the door behind them. Keeping out the rain, and the hunter that was on their tail.

“The fuck?! How’d we get found out?” one woman demanded.

“We got a parrot amongst us?” a man questioned.

“Shut up, put these on!” another man shouted as he dug rings out of a bag in the building.

The bandits formed around the loot, sliding rings onto their fingers as quickly as they could.

“Damn, this one was already used!”

“How’re you meant to use these things again?”

“Just aim and think.”

“Don’t put two on the same finger!” one shouted at another.

Though their pleas were too short, the two rings vibrated and sparked like exploding fuses, eventually, they shot towards each other on the man’s finger and tore it from the man’s hand. Yelling out in pain as his finger and blood splattered the floor, similar yells erupted in the dark building.

Wind blasts left and right were taking out the criminals, their bodies being Forced to the floor, or pulled into the darker reaches of the walls and corners.

“Fire everywhere!” one woman yelled.

With her command, the criminals started flailing their arms in all directions. Flames, lightning, icicles, scythes of wind and water, countless spells bashed against the containers and walls of the building, shaking it with each blast.

Every so often, a spell warped into a single point, Logan absorbing out of view.

“Spell Absorption successful. Lightning charge stored. Lightning has progressed to tier 9.”

Rings were torn off fingers and thrown to the floor as more were worn to continue the colourful display across the interior.

“Spell Absorption successful. Flame charge stored, Lightning charge stored. Lightning has progressed to tier 10.”

With messages in his head and visible windows in front of him, Logan made sport out of the attacks that were meant to hit him. He could only get mastery for a particular spell once per target, so the sheer number of foes using rings like this made the normal 70% of learning the spell a guarantee.

Before reaching his max charges, Logan let loose the spells in return, though with much harsher effects than the criminals would ever be able to produce. Zapping and burning his foes into unconscious piles that let off steam and smoke to fill the room even more with dark patches.

With the final bandit hitting the floor, their body jittering from an overcharge of electricity, Logan walked out from the darkness and into the light of nearby glass windows. The rain continued to batter the building, the tip-tapping on the window creating quite a naturistic atmosphere to contrast the blood and searing smell in the air.

“That makes… forty-eight. Should be one more in this band”, he thought aloud as he looked at the unconscious bodies.

Safecasting allowed his foes to breathe another day, though at the end of which it only gave him a better reward. He could have easily killed all of these wanted men and women.

Walking to and crouching to inspect the bag of rings, Logan used Identification as well as his own grasp to check them.

“They used quite a few here… no non-spell rings though.”

As he continued to search, thick water started to seep through the ceiling. Dripping onto the floor, it coalesced into a larger form. Reaching over 4’ tall, the watery mass had dark holes where its eyes would have been staring at the back of Logan’s head.

Approaching the Spellthief, the watery mass clasped his shoulder, “The outside has been cleared, their screams were delightful”, it said with a wavey voice.

“Servoir, good job. There’s one left though.”

“Not too long ago, I heard a commotion eastward. I wager these cask-warmers have taken a hostage to prolong the last steps of their life.”

Logan sighed as he stood, “Lead with that next time.”

“I apologise, shall we go?”

“Yeah, this battle isn’t over yet”, Logan replied as he looked upwards.

Spying a crack in the ceiling, to the pitch-black skies, Logan mentally commanded and warped into his centre with Servoir in tow. Apparating in an outward blast of wind, pushing away countless rain droplets, they landed on the roof of the building.

Logan clicked his fingers, the water droplets painting his map dirty with shifting grey outlines. He couldn’t effectively use Echo Radar in these conditions, but “eastward” gave him a good heading to find the last bandit that was within a wide red circle.

Looking further into the sky, Logan had to blink away the rain to get a good enough view. Warping out again, the pair appeared high up in the sky, with their bodies aimed at the floor. They both darted their heads around to spot the final bandit, which Servoir did.

“There”, the watery creature spoke as he pointed a washy arm at two humans.

Teleporting again, the pair appeared on the floor behind the bandit. Grasping out at the cloak of the man, Logan started to ignite it, but only ignited the air as the man teleported similarly away.

Facing the Spellthief and elemental, the bandit had another man in his grasp with a knife to his throat.

“Far enough! One false move and this one dies!” the bandit ordered.

The captive in the bandit’s grasp was shaking all over. Fear and the chill of the rain doing horrendous things to his mind and body.

“Alright, alright”, Logan replied as he held his hands up in a withdrawing stance.

“Dismiss the summon”, the man ordered again.

With a wave of Logan’s hand, Servoir turned into a puddle on the floor.

“Good, now take those rings off.”

Logan did as ordered, though left his ring of immediate summons on. The bandit saw this and pointed the blade at Logan.

“That one too!”

Logan took the opportunity and warped inwards, appearing in front of the bandit and his captive. Grabbing the criminal's outstretched hand, he circled around and pulled it straight to the side, twisted it, and flung the bandit to the floor.

The captive screamed out as he jumped to the side, falling to the floor on his side as if trying to dodge an attack.

Placing his hand on the back of the bandit, Logan chanted, “Lightning Grasp”, and lit the man up with electrical sparks.

Experience numbers started to float over the unconscious, muddy, man beneath Logan as well as in the distance.

“--ter”, the victim called out, drowned out by the heavy rain.

Standing up and looking over to the scared man, Logan approached without any sign of antagonism. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“Phasing hunter, is it safe?” the man said with a trembling voice.

“Yes, he was the last criminal in that bunch. Are you uninjured?”

Standing up, the man faltered a little on the leg he landed on, “Nothing I can’t sleep off. Thank you, sir.”

Picking a vial from his pocket, Logan handed it to the man, “Drink this, the criminals won’t miss it.”

“But”, the man started, though as he looked at Logan in the rain it seemed he was insistent on it.

Taking the vial, the man uncorked it and drank it with a few drops of rain. His posture became straight and more defined as his minor injuries were healed.

“Thank you, a hundred times”, the man prayed as he made two fists over his stomach in the sign of Pondress.

“You can thank me by spreading the good word of the mages”, Logan returned with a smile.

Servoir came up from behind, his form shifting into a slightly taller variant, “Shall we get the guards to do their duty?”

“Yeah. Can you inform them? I’ll take this man home”, Logan asked.

Servoir nodded before floating away.

“You need not do that sir”, the victim spoke.

“It’s fine. The nighttime rain washes away a lot of crime. Where do you live?”

“On the main road, about a block away.”

“Alright, point to where it is in the sky.”

The victim responded with a bemused look before pointing off in a direction.

“Good, that’s on the way to the guardhouse. You don’t mind me teleporting you, do you?”

“What? No, of course not!” the man replied with excitement in his voice.

Placing his hand on the man’s shoulder, they both warped into their centres and appeared in the rainy night sky. The man clasped onto Logan’s arm out of fear from the approaching floor, but they warped quickly to a smooth landing, spooking some passersby.

The man breathed in heavily, the shock of teleportation doing a number on him. “Wow. So that’s what it’s like to be an adventurer.”

“I take it I was on point?” Logan asked as he looked around at the nearby houses.

“Yeah, just a few doors down.”

“Head home, this rain will do a number on you.”

“I shall do so, sir”, the man replied before walking off towards his house.

“Servoir’s first hunt is done with that. Jumped up from level 1 to almost 5”, Logan began to think to himself, turning to walk to the closeby Gerro Guardhouse, “Looks like the most recent one gave me a new title.”

“You have gained the ‘Phasing Hunter’ title.”

“Phasing Hunter: Your countless uses of teleportation to undertake your hunts has caused many to refer to you as the 'Phasing Hunter'. A unique title, there are few others that people would think of when mentioning you.

Your mastery in Dimensional Jaunt and Teleport has increased by one each. You have gained 1 skill point to distribute.”

“Been a while since I got a title for something that wasn’t a great feat. Last time was aiding those gashriek back in Tinte”, Logan thought to himself, “Fol, progress Summon Horde to tier 4. It’s too pricy to buy a book for, and my current Spellthief skills don’t need any points.”

Logan had read a tome for tier 3 earlier, allowing him to summon Servoir, but with this skill point reward for his title, Logan maxed out his next skill. With five summons at once, using Charge Transfer, he could reduce his experience gain by 50%. This title gave Logan another avenue to improve his power, condensing it within a level 16 frame.

The wording was a tad misleading since it encompassed a few other spells too and was generalised to match. In the case of Summon _ Elemental, Logan could only summon a stock of summons up to a max of what he could have active each day. He could create an elemental for each element, but if he had summoned four he couldn’t dismiss them and change his mind to summon a different type of elemental on the same day.

A great benefit of Fol was this reasoning capability. Outside of his normal uses of tracking everything for Logan.

Opening the door to the guardhouse, Logan was greeted by Jivvy, Jirango’s first cousin twice removed. “Chaotic night ay, Logan?”

Placing his hand in front of him, Logan chanted, “Clean”, his body being brushed over with a quick wind that dried him instantly. “Chaotic indeed. Got some hunts to hand in”, he continued as he walked to the counter, “marks and loot are on their way.”

“Alright, hand me the contracts and I’ll sort out your pay”, Jivvy replied.

It had reached a point where Logan’s word was just taken immediately without any mention of waiting for proof. Updating his signet to show he had completed eighty hunter quests, far more than any other variant. Even before fifty, he was regarded as trustworthy, and each one after made that a concrete state of mind.

Jivvy handed back the signet with a whistle, “Give you another week and you’ll reach Wolf hunter status.”

Logan smiled as he placed the signet back over his neck and under his tunic, “Gotta keep the streets clean, and your desk messy.”

“Jirango thanks you for keeping me busy. He hates lazybones.”

The man placed a few pouches on the desk for Logan to take, his pay without any bonuses. Logan would need to wait for things to get processed properly for anything above the normal payment, but he was used to it.

“So, anymore for tonight? The rain is quite heavy out there, so good hunting weather for you. Right?” Jivvy asked as he looked over the papers on his desk.

“I think I am done for the night, spells are getting low”, Logan informed as he glanced at his character sheet.

“That’s expected. Alright. I’ll send word to the inn when we have interrogated those ring hoarders. We should be able to get word of their suppliers, and if they are Harvesting mages to make them under the counter.”

Logan clenched his fist at the mention. He had been tracking some hunting contracts and people of interest for the past few days. The large group he just took down were the sellers and stealers of such spell rings. However, their stock numbers were so abhorrently large that he and Jirango suspected they might be taking said items from magi… like Darius tried to do with Logan.

“Where are Gaemo and Sincollo?” Logan asked.

“Out on hunts beyond the walls, should be back in a few days. Getting their assistance?”

“If they are Harvesting magi, they may be able to interrupt my spells. I’d like a non-caster backup in case that theory is a fact.”

“Good thinking. I’ll let them know if I see them before you do.”

“What about my request to meet with the Royal, Eventa?”

“They’ve accepted it. Your work in saving Castore some time ago has sweetened his image of you. You can meet them in about a week’s time.”

“Good.”

Eventa was a royal man of Gauntlet, basically a high-echelon amongst the populace. They were one step below the monarchy, but most people thought of them as one and the same. A royal had a single vote in congress meetings, where laws were decided, as well as steps taken towards threats to the kingdom.

If Logan was to change the laws, he’d need to make his way through the political landscape and make friends in it. As a guild, he could garner a vote, as guilds held the same station as a single royal due to their power, but Logan had to wait a while longer before going down that route.

His most recent research into the duelling laws led Logan to learn that they were established before the rise of the Bandit Lord, and were used much more by the royalty and monarchy. It eventually bled into normal life after the Bandit Lord was killed, twisting into its current form that has become more rampant over the two hundred years since.

Since the populace was being downtrodden with the law or subjugated into service, many didn’t come forward with issues. With a classed-being of rank 15 and above bringing it to their ears, it would spark a law overruling and possibly abolishing. Logan just needed enough votes to see it to a full enactment.

“I shall see you another night, then, Logan”, Jivvy spoke as he shook the Spellthief’s hand.

“You too. I’ll make sure to let Jirango know of your hard work”, Logan replied with a smirk.

Falling back into his chair from exhaustion, Jivvy said, “Maybe he’ll give me some extra days off.”

Shutting the door behind him, Logan opened it back up almost immediately as he saw guards walk towards him with unconscious bodies slung over their shoulders. A few nodded, and some acknowledged the Spellthief with a passing, “Logan.”

Looking to the sky through blurry vision as the rain started to flood his face, Logan saw a dart of light in the black clouds. A low roar rumbling caressed the city of Gauntlet, setting Logan’s hair up and his skin to prickle with goosebumps.

“Just like the night that took me”, Logan thought to himself wistfully.

Just then, another dash of azure cracked through the clouds and stroked downwards onto Avanar in the distance, another roar following it shortly after, and the thumping of Logan’s heart in his ears, a ball of toughness in his throat. A window appeared to the side of where he saw the lightning strike.

“You are currently viewing a PC.”

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