Path of Light

by A P Gore

  “Miraha, what brought you here?” Jon asked, ignoring her questions.

  “I was passing by when I sensed your aura, so I came to visit, but I didn’t think you would be in such an interesting situation.”

  Jon glanced at the Black Castle, thinking hard on his options.

  “Please excuse me for a moment. I have something to discuss with a friend.”

  Miraha shrugged.

  “Maggie - what’s the condition? And what is this Demolition Tower?”

  As far as he knew, there was no such tower in the town management menu. The girl had wasted one thousand BP on two towers.

  “Lord Jon, that’s a defense tower. Can we talk later? I’m in a middle of battle. But don’t worry. The village won’t fell unless I die.”

  Worry ate at his mind. Should he die and go back to his village? No, that would take at least five hours to revive. By that time, the battle would be over.

  But what the heck was happening in the village? Why didn’t Maggie tell him?

  With a hundred thoughts running through his head, he glanced at the town management menu. Thank God, nothing looked amiss. Every building had full HP.

  He rubbed his forehead, tension gripping his shoulders. What kind of battle was the girl in? And did the guards reach the village?

  “Grimish.” He initiated a video call. As his slave, he could video chat with him anytime.

  “Master, where are you? I’ve finally found the soul orb with five hundred souls.” Grimish seemed to be sitting in some inn.

  “Forget about it for now. Just collect as much as information about the Death March guild as you can in the next couple of hours. Also find five or six low-level diseased animals.”

  “Animals? What are you trying to do?”

  Jon frowned. “Do it as I say.” And he cut the connection.

  Turning to face the heavenly druid priestess, he flashed a handsome smile. “Sorry about that.”

  “Who were those immortals?”

  Jon sighed. It would be a long story if he started at the beginning. “An enemy group which I have to take care of.”

  She squinted her beautiful eyes. “Ohh. Have you gained enough power to do so?” Her eyes spanned wide as she studied him. “You must show me the item that let you hide your status from me.”

  Jon smiled. “In due time. First, can you answer a couple of questions?” Seeing her nodding in response, he continued. “Do you remember when we talked about darkness resistance and how you defeated my soul spell?”

  Twisting a little at her perfect waist, she tapped her staff on the ground and a stone chair raised from it. “Yes.” She sat on the chair like a princess, placing her hands on the foot-thick chair arms.

  Wow! He must learn that magic.

  Jon shook his head. Focus, dude!

  “Does the same principle apply to light magic?” Jon asked. A few days back he’d had a lengthy conversation with Miraha on how the darkness worked, and how could he kill all the high-level players with his vine.

  “Yes,” she said. “Darkness and light are two sides of the coin. Though they are elements of this world, like water, fire, and wind, they are different from these basic elements. They are primal forces of nature, and hence all living things have no resistance to them. Other elements have forty percent innate resistance.”

  Something to ponder.

  “Is that why my damage doubled with my darkness spell? Would it work the same with the light element too?”

  Miraha shook her head. “You deal forty percent increased damage with those spells.”

  “But how can that work for things many levels above me? Isn’t there level suppression?” Every other game he’d played had had level suppression. A level 5 player could never do damage to level 11+ player.

  “There is some. Your common spells won’t do much damage to those level 24+ immortals, but your darkness or light spells can. Because those immortals have no innate resistance to those elements that scales with their level.”

  Jon pondered for a moment. Was it an OP magic? “Then these are world breaking elements. Even a level 1 player can kill a level 100 player if he has sufficient darkness power and time.”

  Miraha giggled, looking cuter than ever. “No. That won’t work. Even with the darkness and light spells, your spells won’t deal much damage to the monsters or immortals 20+ levels above you. Don’t be a fool and run into a high-level area with those measly powers of yours.”

  Rob said something about darkness resistance items. “So... Is it hard to gain resistance to these elements?”

  Miraha nodded. “At least in this part of the world. There is the Continent of Light and Continent of Darkness where these items are in abundance, but they are constantly at war, so you can’t take any items out of those areas. The gods don’t permit that. And there aren’t many dungeons on our side of the world that drop these items.”

  Jon squinted. For an NPC, Miraha had high Intelligence and had answers for the world around her so perfectly.

  “But you have light magic, don’t you?”

  Miraha smirked. “Not quite. I have light healing magic, and then I have this.” She pulled out a small crystal illuminated with white rays from her bag. “This crystal allows me to convert some of my damage to light magic.”

  Spellgem of Light Conversion

  Tier: 2

  Socket in a spellsocket to convert 60% damage to light element.

  “This?” Jon pulled his crystal out of his bag.

  Spellgem of Light Conversion

  Tier: 3

  Socket in a spellsocket to convert 60% damage to light element.

  Miraha’s eyes shone with a strange light as she glanced at the crystal in Jon’s hand. “Do you practice Fortune Magic?”

  Jon stared at her dumbly. “Fortune magic?”

  She swiped her hand through the air like a real human. “Never mind. It’s a good spellgem. Would you sell it to me for two thousand gold?”

  Jon rolled his eyes. “What the heck is this thing?” Two thousand gold. “Why is it so costly?”

  Miraha sighed, a visible sigh that embarrassed Jon. He knew he was acting like a noob. Heck, he was noob.

  “What level are you?”

  “12.”

  “Yet, you’re planning to take on those level 24+ immortals. But I guess you can do it with your darkness spell. Did you unlock it?”

  Jon shook his head. “Not yet. But soon enough.” Grimish had what he needed. If he had his Vine of Darkness out right now, he could have killed these bastards easily.

  “Open any spell you have. You should have a socket enabled to it. Now insert this spellgem in that socket.”

  “Wait, will it work in my formation flags?” Curious, Jon pulled out his Hurricane formation flags. The main flag had a socket in it. With shiny eyes, he placed the Spellgem of Light Conversion in it.

  Formation of the Hurricane

  Once set up, the area inside the formation transforms into a small hurricane, repeatedly dealing 100 wind damage to 25% of the area of the formation. The damage area shifts every five seconds. 60% damage converted to light element. Time: 5 minutes. Cost: 400 spirit.

  Let’s see the magic.

  Placing 4 flags at the corners of a medium-sized area, Jon activated the Hurricane formation.

  Zoom-zoom-zoom. In a corner of the formation area, wind rose in the air and formed a small hurricane. The hurricane grew larger and stood three-yards-tall in less than two seconds. Attracting dust and soil around it, it zoomed around, changing places and making a whistling sound. It rotated so fast that dust sprayed in every direction. A couple of small stones hit Jon, and they hit like boulders.

  Damn painful.

  The hurricane traveled to another area, and a white light flashed through it intermittently. It must be the light element.

  “This formation!” Miraha’s mouth hung open. “Jon, have you advanced in your Formationist class?” Miraha’s eyes shone like she had found a full tub of ice cream in
side the freezer. Was she going to eat him?

  Chapter 57

  Jon shook his head, resulting in a disappointed look on Miraha’s beautiful face. He hated to disappoint her, but he was far away from becoming a formation adept.

  “How sad that you don’t know the power a Formation Master can display in battle. At level 12, I doubt you know what a Formation Master can do.”

  Jon rubbed the back of his neck. “I know a bit.” The spirit guardian of Shenron Mountain had shown him what a formation god could do. That was scary stuff. “Anyway, would you sell me that spellgem?” His light vine had no attack power like his darkness vine. If he could attach this spellgem to one of his spells, it would help him.

  Miraha smiled. “Sure, for two thousand gold.”

  “What? Yours is one tier less than mine, and you wanted to buy it for two thousand gold.”

  “How do you think a trader makes money?”

  “But you’re a...”

  Miraha rolled her eyes while her fingers tapped on the stone chair’s arm. “A priestess, yes, but can’t a priestess trade an item? I’m a righteous faction druid, and it’s not blasphemy to trade with others.”

  “Do you have any other items for sale?”

  A small window appeared in Jon’s vision. Rows filled with various items sparkled before him.

  Taking a deep breath, Jon went through the list and studied a few items that seemed useful.

  Spellgem of Light - 2000 gold.

  Scroll of Teleportation - 1000 gold.

  Tier: 2

  Required Level: 10

  Allows the caster to teleport back and forth once to a designated town. The player must have visited the town previously.

  Seed of Sleep - 200 gold.

  Class: Rare

  Grows into a tree of sleep. Produces a fruit that can induce deep sleep for ten hours. Used in many recipes as an ingredient.

  Wand of Light - 4000 gold.

  Class: Unique

  A wand made from the wood of the Hundred Light tree. Increases light magic potency by 10%.

  Innate Skill 1: Ball of Light

  Class: Rare

  Cast a ball of light to illuminate the darkest place that can’t be illuminated by any other light.

  Innate Skill 2: Light Purification

  Target an opponent to suppress its darkness type attacks for 10 seconds.

  Sword of Bleeding Demon - 1500 gold.

  Class: Rare

  Damage: 50-80 Physical

  A sword made from the tendons of a blood demon. When sliced by this sword, the receiver bleeds for 1% blood loss every minute.

  Skill book of Forked Underground Vine - 1000 gold

  Tier: 2

  Required level: 10

  Class Restriction: Druid

  Teaches a level 2 Forked Vine skill.

  Wow! All the items looked fantastic, but he chose only three for purchase: Spellgem of Light, Teleportation Scroll, and Seed of Sleep. When he read about the Teleportation Scroll, an idea surfaced in his mind. An evil idea, actually.

  “What does this Forked Underground Vine do?”

  “That’s an upgraded version of Underground Vine. An Underground Vine splits into two vines and attacks the enemy, while the Forked Vine splits into three vines and attacks. It even does more damage.”

  “Can I learn both skills?”

  “Of course you can. As an Arch Druid, you can learn any druid spell, be it the righteous druid faction or the wicked druid faction.”

  Jon smirked. “I’ll buy that one too.” His druid class never failed to amaze him at times. “Do you buy things as well? Or only sell?”

  Miraha giggled. “Of course, what kind of trader only sells things?”

  “Then what about these items?” Jon pulled out the Primal, Thinking, and Timil herbs. These were herbs he couldn’t sell at the Seed World shop because of the politics around the herbs. Unfortunately, he had around one thousand five hundred Excellent quality herbs gathering dust in his bag. Due to the monopoly of Herb World’s business in the current continent, he didn’t dare sell them elsewhere and attract suspicion from others. But he could sell them to Miraha. She was an NPC and a druid. With her, he didn’t need to worry about arousing suspicion from others.

  Miraha licked her lips. “Excellent herbs used in spirit potion making? How did you get these?”

  “Another secret.” Jon smiled sheepishly. Maybe he really had too many secrets. Well, he didn’t intend to hide them, but if he didn’t, with his current powers, it would lead down the path of destruction.

  “I can offer you three gold for each stem. How many do you have?”

  “Fifteen hundred, combined.”

  Miraha took a deep breath. “Fine. I’ll buy them.”

  So, in all Jon spent four thousand two hundred gold and earned six thousand gold. This trip ended in a net profit of one thousand eight hundred gold.

  Next, he used the Skill book of Forked Underground Vine and a spell appeared in his character menu. Then he placed the Spellgem of Light in the first socket of the Forked Underground Vine

  Forked Underground Vine

  Conjures a vine that sneaks through the land, making it difficult to detect by normal creatures. It attacks the target for 125n damage, where n is spell level. Vine dies after 2 attacks.

  Conjures 3 vines at a time.

  Socket 1: Spellgem of Light Conversion

  Converts 40% damage to light damage

  Cost: 300 spirit

  A wicked smile played on Jon’s face. Though he wanted to prevent it, it was now time for revenge. “Thanks for your help, Miraha. I have to go now.”

  Miraha arched her brows. “Where are you going? Into the dungeon?”

  “No, to Chinari. It’s revenge time.” Before Miraha could reply, Jon left the garden.

  Chapter 58

  Zoom!

  Jon opened his eyes to find himself in the town square, situated in a corner of the city. The square was a huge empty ground where many players teleported in and out. A hundred guards surrounded it, carefully observing every player.

  Jon had come to this place for the first time, but thanks to the mayor’s map he’d determined his position easily.

  He called Grimish. “Grimish, where are you?”

  “Master, I’m outside of the slums. I’m done buying the information you asked for.”

  “Does this slum shop sell spell scrolls?”

  “Not here, but there’s another shop that sells items and scrolls.”

  “Items too. Great, wait for me. I’ll be there in a jiffy.” Consulting the map, he gauged it would take about ten minutes to reach the slums. Indeed, the city square seemed to be a good location to teleport in and out.

  For the next ten minutes, Jon zipped through shadowy alleys and headed toward the slums.

  Slums. The name said it all. While the high street and other areas could be called beautiful, as shown in the game trailer, the slums had the look of a prison planet from the real world. Closely packed shops that looked straight out of horror movies. Three-story houses that looked gloomy even in the evening light. Hooded people traveled in and out of the slum gate, and they all had scary gazes.

  With his first step inside the slums, an intense weight pressed down on Jon’s heart. Gloominess crept inside his mind, making him feel irritated. Hidden dangers snickered at him from the darkness of the alley.

  “Master, you are here.” Grimish stepped out of a dark alley. Today, he wore a gray hooded cloak and similar trousers, hiding his real appearance. “Please wear these.” He handed Jon a gray hooded cloak. It seemed like the dress code of the slums. “You can’t walk around here showing off your dazzling appearance and luxury clothes. Danger lurks in every corner.”

  Indeed, even the air smelled dangerous here.

  Quickly, Jon put the cloak on over his crisp white shirt. As his trousers were low quality, he didn’t have to worry about hiding them.

  Five minutes later, they stood in front of an old bui
lding. A black board hung over the entrance, telling them the name of the shop: Rimi’s Hidden Treasures.

  “Don’t go by this fella’s name. The shop doesn’t have any hidden treasures, only normal items and scrolls.”

  A beautiful woman with a black mask welcomed them. She had revealed much of her curves, but the red eyes behind her mask warned them to not trifle with her. Of course, Jon had no plan of doing that.

  “Esteemed customer, what do you want?”

  “I want shoes that increase my movement speed and scrolls that grant me a concealment spell.”

  “Master, why are yo—” Grimish shut his mouth after Jon’s glare.

  A shop window opened in front of Jon’s vision. There were around thirty-five items, but Jon only focused on the shoes, and from them he chose the Shoes of Cheetah.

  Shoes of Cheetah - 500 gold.

  Class: Magic

  Required Level: 10

  Defense: 40

  Durability: 20/20

  Shoes made from the Cheetah’s skin. Provides a boost to movement speed. +10 movement speed.

  Jon didn’t have a number for his own movement speed, but this was the best item he could equip at this moment. Something was better than nothing.

  Then he accessed the scrolls and found two concealment spells.

  Shadow Concealment - 30 gold.

  Tier: 1

  Required Level: 10

  Conceals you in the shadows for 10 seconds. Concealment ends if wearer moves.

  Useless.

  Shadow Movement - 20 gold.

  Tier: 1

  Required Level: 10

  Conceals you in the shadows for 5 seconds. Concealment ends if wearer casts a spell.

  Though the first scroll gave him a ten second advantage, he couldn’t move. With the second scroll, he got only five seconds of concealment, but he could move freely.

  Without a second thought, he bought fifty Shadow Movement scrolls.

  “Master, why did you buy all these things?”

  Jon smirked. “We’re going to steal something from the Death March guild. Did you get the location and the defense information for the guild?” When he stayed in Chinari, he’d researched the guilds after Maggie talked about stealing the branch guild core. Every branch guild had a guild core inside it. It was the heart of the whole branch. Without a guild core, a guild couldn’t open a branch guild house. This guild core also contained the BP of the local branch house. If someone got hold of this core, he could use it for own use, and Jon was planning to use it for his own village.