A Mage Rising: (The Chronicles of Herst 2: A LitRPG Saga)

by Thomas Whipple

  Man, the courtesy in this shop has much to be desired. Then I notice she is not wearing anything below the waist. Don’t worry, I didn’t see old lady junk or anything. Her lower half was covered in curly fur. It hits me then. She isn’t a beastkin, she is a satyr. It’s the first time I have seen one so I’m probably staring to long because she clears her throat at my examination. She also looks grumpier than when she first saw us come in. “My apologies. You are just the first of your kind I have seen. Marcus from The Pony recommended we visit here if we were looking for spell or skill books.”

  For a second she just stares at me like she is trying to determine if I’m telling the truth or not. Finally she just comes out with it. “And why should I believe you? You sure don’t look like the type that Marcus would associate with.”

  “If you mean that I look like some spoiled noble kid that got his pick of the most beautiful slaves to purchase as some kind of entourage then looks can be deceiving” I tell her. The three women with me are practically glowing their smiles are so big.

  Looking us over again her eyes sharpen. “That still doesn’t answer my question as to why I should believe you.”

  Giving a frustrated sigh I shake my head in disbelief. “How do you expect me to prove it then? Marcus didn’t give us anything that can be used to prove our identities.”

  The infuriating woman just smirks at me and I can tell she is enjoying my frustration. “If you don’t got anything then leave. I have things to do.”

  I’m about to do just that and look for other locations when an idea comes to me. Loud enough for Deloris to hear I turn to Azzaria. “Lets go. I was hoping to find something that would help us get Maka back, but obviously this is a dead end.” Then I start to open the door leading back into the main shop.

  “Wait! What did you just say? You know about Maka?” Deloris comes around the desk to stop us from leaving and rapid fires the questions at me.

  Turning back to her now that she has come close I answer her. “Yes we know about Maka being married to Marcus and the mother to Rin. And I said we are going to get her back for her family. Now can we take a look at what you have or should we stop wasting our time with you?”

  Giving me another hard look she nods as if to herself. “Alright. Come this way.” Then she leads us through the door on the other side of the room. The next room is small, about twenty feet to a wall with a table and chairs in the center of the room. There is a door to the left and the walls are lined with shelves of books. They are all skill and spell books. I can tell there are many duplicates here for the lower level books but almost no copies of the higher level ones. In the center of the table is also a short wide bowl. Considering the content of the room I think the dish is for the book remains after someone uses it.

  Spreading out we all take a look around. Most of what is in here are spells I already learned or have the book for. I do find a few new things though. The utility spells that I pick up are Spark, Frost, and Turn Back Damage. For combat spells there is a good number higher than I can use at the moment or for magic types I don’t have access to. For those I don’t buy them right away since I can now travel anywhere I have been in an instant. There is one that I grab because I only saw one copy and I didn’t want it to be picked up by someone else before I could use it.

  Spell Book: Summon Elemental Avatar: Call the elements to you and form an avatar from them to fight with. Size and strength of the Avatar are determined by INT and average Elemental magic type level. Class: Mage only. Average level of Elemental magic 25+. No Elemental magic type can be below level 15.

  I don’t meet the current requirements for the spell and I have a ways to go before I can learn it, but it sounds powerful. Other combat spells I grab are Forked Lightning, Summon Salamander, Summon Water Snake and Summon Lesser Earth Elemental. Seems that one way mages shore up their usual weakness to close range combat is through summons. I didn’t see any of those at Bolden’s shop, but they all require a minimum of level ten in the respective magic type. Having extra help in melee combat could help take the pressure off Timbre in a fight.

  I go to Deloris who asks for a total of 276 gold for the lot. It was 200 Gold for the avatar spell, 20 gold for the Forked Lightning spell, 10 gold for each of the summons, 10 gold for the time spell, 5 more for Frost and Spark only cost 1 Gold. She looks at me surprised when I just hand over the money without blinking an eye. While the others still look through the shelves I take a spot at the table and start learning the spells I can at the moment. Six spells learned and plenty of dust added to the bowl in the center of the table when I’m done. The headache is not nearly as bad as it was the last time I used this many books, but I still take a second to rub my temples to help relieve the pressure. A minute later I look up to see Deloris watching me with intense eyes as I recover. When she sees me looking at her she turns away like it’s nothing. While the others make their final decisions I check the specifics on the spells I just learned.

  Spark is a Fire type spell that lets me create a candle sized flame for five mana and that will last up to five minutes. It only required the correct magic type to be unlocked in order to learn. Frost is a Water type spell that lets me chill something I am holding or project frost in front of me in a cone. It costs ten mana to cast and required a level of two in Water. The last one was the only time spell I found but it was convenient. It allows me to repair the damage on inanimate objects like it never happened and is a channeled spell so I have to keep feeding mana until the damage is fixed. This required level ten in Time to learn.

  Forked Lightning would cast a lightning bolt that forks from my original target to hit anyone within five feet. It also requires a level of fifteen in Air magic to learn, but I’m getting close to that. Summon Salamander is a fire spell that brings forth a lizard imbued with fire, using it to attack for the caster. The descriptions are almost the same for the different summons except for the element that they are summoned from. Each costs 100 MP to cast and lasts for 5 minutes. There is also a 10 minute cooldown for each summon, but I don’t think it’s shared for all of them, meaning I could summon them all at the same time.

  Done reviewing my new acquisitions I look around. Azzaria and Timbre are carefully looking through the books on the shelves. They are looking through the skill and spell books so it has been taking them longer. They also have to read the tag when I can just use Identify to get the same, maybe even more, information. Timbre looks like she is finished and comes to take a seat at another chair next to me. When Deloris tells her it is 30 gold for the three books she has I go to pay the money. I’m caught off guard when she does so herself. This surprises me a little since I didn’t even know she had any money. Her and the other girls must have taken some from the treasury one of the times I went in there to drop off or pick up money.

  Before Timbre can use them I check what she is getting. There is one skill book for Rush. It dramatically increases speed to allow her to close with an enemy almost instantly. The other two books are spell books from the Death type magic. They are Imbue Siphon and Curse of Weakness. The former allows the caster to imbue a weapon to take HP and MP from the target when it makes contact. The later spell will allow Timbre to curse her opponents and reduce their STR so they won’t be able to hit her as hard and reducing her damage taken. As she starts to use the books she purchased I look around. Azzaria looks like she isn’t finding much to her liking and Thia is standing off to the side waiting for us to finish.

  As Timbre finishes Azzaria comes over with a spell book of her own. She pays 20 gold to Deloris and sits to use it. Identify tells me the spell book is for Life Bolt and requires a level of fifteen or higher in Life type magic. The description says that it fires a bolt of magic that causes damage to the target, and twice the damage to undead. When she is done we all stand and approach Deloris. “Thank you” I tell her. “You have been a great help.” I am even able to say it without sarcasm to the grumpy satyr. I take the two spell books that I’m unable to use ye
t and place them into the bag at my hip, though they really go into my storage space, and we leave out the way we came in. We wave to Merl on the way past and soon we’re on the street once again.

  I look around upon our exit to see if there is any obvious observers. Not seeing anyone at the moment I leave and start making my way back to The Pony. We weave our way through the streets and keep an eye out for anyone following us, but it looks like we are in the clear. Entering the front door to the inn I see Rin wiping down tables in preparation for the dinner crowd and wave hello to her. It isn’t long past noon so there is only a couple people enjoying a late lunch. I have a late night planned for us though so I lead us all up to the room we have and we all lay down to get some rest before our night’s planned activities.

  Chapter 15

  When I wake up it is dark. Looking around I see that there is no light coming in from the windows and I can hear people from downstairs in the common room. Knowing there is no time to waste I gently shake the girls one by one until they stir from our nap. Getting up I go to the window and look out. The sun has just set and I can still see a little light in the sky but it will be fully dark soon. Good. We can have dinner and then head out to the gambling house. Turning back to the bed I see the girls getting dressed. “Sleep well?” I ask them.

  “Always when you are there” is Azzaria’s response.

  I smile to her at the comment and focus in on what we have to do tonight. “Time to get some dinner. Then we will be heading over to the gambling house to do some looking around. I want you three to be well covered and just follow my lead. Also, I don’t know if slaves are allowed inside or what they are expected to do if they are so keep a look out and just do what the others are doing. If you are expected to do something untoward then say I have forbade it and we will leave. I’ll come back on my own at a later time if that happens.”

  Timbre speaks up now. “We won’t let you go unprotected.”

  I shake my head no to that. “You girls mean the world to me and, trust me, if something happens to you or they abuse you while we are there then I will be causing a far bigger scene. I will be laying low and if I do come back alone remember that I have multiple ways to escape and defend myself until I can. I prefer you to be there but I won’t risk any of you.”

  They all smile brightly at my statement and Thia speaks into the silence. “Then lets make sure this goes smoothly tonight.” The others nod to that.

  After our little huddle we head down to the common room where Rin rushes over as soon as we sit. Before sitting I surprise her with a hug. She stiffens in my embrace for a split second and then something odd happens. She purrs. I didn’t know she could do that. It’s kind of cute but not why I hugged her. Leaning into one of the ears on top of her head I whisper so only she can hear. “We are heading out to find your mom after we eat. I will help you see here again.” The last part I say with more conviction than I meant to. Something about this shy polite girl being ripped from her mother just touches a primal part of me every time I think of it.

  At my words her purr increases in volume and I can tell the other girls can hear it now. “Trying to add to your Harem master” says Thia to me through the bond. I can tell she is joking and she used master to irk me a little on purpose.

  Pushing my thoughts through the bond myself I answer in kind. “No. I just wanted to reassure her that we are going to help her and Maka. The purring surprised me though. I didn’t know she could do it.”

  “It’s cute” she says and I can hear the little bit of mocking in her voice, but it’s also accompanied with a sincere feeling so I know she really does think it’s cute. Before I can say anything about it Rin asks us for our order.

  A few minutes later we have a hearty stew and some bread in front of each of us. During our meal I think about the plan for tonight. I want to scope out the place to see if there is a way we can sneak in or what other alternatives there might be to extracting all the slaves. I’m sure I will need to do some gambling there in order to blend in so it is good that I have plenty of money. I don’t even know what kind of games they gamble with on this world. Whatever happens while I’m there I will just have to keep on the look out for opportunities.

  We eat quickly and leave the inn on our way to our destination of entertainment for the night. I swing by the house that Marcus pointed out to me this morning to see the lights are on but I don’t stop, trusting in Marcus about the person that lives there. Following the fastest route I lead my group to the gambling house. Above the door is a sign with a gold colored egg on it. “This is the place then. The Golden Egg.” I chuckle a little at the thought of a story with a golden egg from Earth then enter the front door.

  It’s a little smoky inside but I don’t get farther than the door before an arm blocks my path. Looking to my right I see a burly human that is standing just inside. “I haven’t seen you before. We play with gold here so show me the color of your money or get out.”

  Not surprised by the treatment I raise my hands and put them together in front of him. Bringing a coin from my storage in between them I remove the top hand to reveal a platinum coin. When he looks at it he looks back up to me with a raised eyebrow. I can tell he is trying to figure out who I am but I’m not offering any information. I cover the coin once again and make it disappear. The bouncer removes his arm then to let me pass. “Welcome to the Golden Egg” he tells me in his gruff voice as we walk by.

  I only went to Las Vegas once, years ago, but this place strongly reminds me of the gambling pits of the large casinos there. The carpet is a rich crimson with circles at even intervals of navy blue. In the blue circles are tables for different games of chance. I can see dice games and games using tiles. Then I get near the back and there are card games. These seem a little less popular than the others with less people filling the seats so I linger to see what is being played. The girls stay at my back and I find a table near the edge of the room to observe so they can stay out of the way. I notice there are other slaves along the walls as well so it seems this is where they wait for their masters.

  The girls also see this and take a position next to the slaves nearby to wait. I notice, but I’m focusing intently on the game they are playing at the table next to me. I can feel the increase of my mental stats keenly at that moment. My thoughts are clearer and I’m catching onto the rules of the game much faster than I would have before I came to this world. I can tell that other tables have different card games but the one I’m looking at is much like Blackjack. The deck is different than what I have used in the past though.

  There are four suits like back on Earth but instead of spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts they are swords, shields, wands and crooks. There is also no ace. Just a one through ten cards. The high cards are princess, prince, wizard (Mage?), queen and king. The king is worth 11, always, and the rest of the face cards are 10. Like blackjack the game is to 21, but unlike back on Earth the dealer hits until they win or bust. Now I can see why there are fewer people here. With the player having to stand first then there is an even bigger chance to loose when the dealer just has to beat you and not go until he is at 17 or more. There is also an advantage here though. With enough people at a table it means the dealer has to beat the best hand of all the players.

  Looking to the players now I can see they are all wearing expensive looking clothing and shiny jewelry. Even still, they are only betting a few gold per hand. Deciding to give it a try I take a seat at a nearly full table and set ten gold in front of me, pushing two to the betting circle outlined on the table for my seat. Looking at the dealer I see it’s an elf slave. He pays little attention to me but starts to deal the cards. My first card is a nine and the dealer has a prince showing. Next card is a queen for me and stays down for the dealer. Looking around the table I see the next closest hand to me is an 18. A few people hit and stay, while one of the people after me busts, loosing his money. The dealers turn, he flips the down card to show an eight. Having to hit since my hand beats h
is, he pulls a seven and busts so the rest of us win.

  I continue to play and there are a few losses but overall I am winning. Increasing my bet every few hands I’m amassing a good sized stack of gold. My ability Get Lucky even levels up a couple times as I play. As I continue playing I look around some and see that drinks are being served by slaves. I also notice all the dealers are slaves too. After a while I notice that there is a man in the back keeping an eye on me. When the servers or even some of the patrons come near him they treat him with deference. A few hours into playing I see a tall slender woman with raven hair and matching ears sticking up from the top of her head. Looking over occasionally I finally get a glimpse of a black cat tale behind her as she serves drinks. That must be Maka.

  I’m drawn from my people watching when the man that was watching my table steps up to the dealer. He doesn’t say anything but the dealer begins to shake a little at his presence. This might be the owner of this establishment. I have amassed a couple platinum worth by this point and am betting over a hundred gold per hand. Not surprising that management has noticed since winning at this game usually means the whole table is doing well. Forgetting my plans to observe and move on this place later I think about this opportunity. Making a decision I push 500 gold into the betting circle.