by Jez Cajiao
As she stepped inside, I discovered that the safe was lined with shelves. One side held stacks of books, while the others held various items, small and large, from tiny rings to swords and breastplates. I looked around slowly, my mouth going dry as I tried to see everything at once. I started to follow her, and a ward flared to life before me, pushing me back hard enough that I staggered and fell to the floor.
“What the hell?!” I said, scrambling to my feet to see a glowing wall of sparks filling the space where I’d tried to walk. Xiao had spun at the flare of magic and quickly stifled a faint smile. “Apologies, Jack, I didn’t expect you to try to follow me. Only the Baron and I can enter the vault.” She walked through the glowing wall a second later, carrying a handful of books, and set them down on the desk before casually closing the vault again and shutting off my view of what must have been a hundred or more books left inside.
“Sooo…” I started, looking back at the vault, but Xiao cut me off quickly.
“No, Jack, there are no other spells you can choose from. Yes, there are magical items inside the vault, and no, as far as I know, you are not intended to have any. The Baron has said he believes you will be able to defeat the other houses’ progeny without, as he put it, ‘expensive baubles.’ He was very clear; you will not have anything besides the weapons and armor you have been training with.” I started to curse him, and Xiao went on quickly.
“These spells are more than enough for you to win with Jack, but even if they weren’t, the Baron will not relent.”
“Aye, because he’s…”
“If you wish my help, Jack, you will not badmouth my liege lord in front of me again!”
I glared at her and she glared back, but eventually I managed to get control of my temper again, rationalizing it as I’d had no idea that any of that stuff in the vault existed a little while ago, so I’d lost nothing. It didn’t help much, but it did help.
I shrugged and turned away from her, taking my seat and drawing the first of the books to me. Examining the cover, I saw one word emblazoned across it…Firebolt!
I cracked the book open, feeling the parchment it was written on. It was thicker than any paper I’d ever felt, and it seemed almost alive with energy. I glanced at the symbols and words that made it up, and seconds later I was lost, reading about the essence of fire and seeing strange circular symbols ringing the page from the center and radiating out. The first one, the very center seemed almost familiar, and I recognized parts of its symbolism from ancient texts that I’d seen on shows on the discovery channel, but these were slightly wrong. Then with a slight change in perspective, I realized it wasn’t wrong, the shows were wrong. If I linked this symbol with that one there…. the resulting collection reminded me of a flame sparking to life. As I moved through the symbolism, I started to make more connections. This bit here meant ‘fuel,’ so this must mean ‘air,’ and maybe this was mana?
As I lost myself in the book, an hour passed in the blink of an eye. As I finished the final line, I felt that I knew why fire burned, the primal forces that it came from, the desire that was linked to it, and why people associated the element with moods like passion and rage; they were all linked! I could feel the life flooding through my body as I moved, much like I could feel my blood as my heartbeat. I stretched my right hand out and, looking at the far wall, I pushed the feeling of life in my body to run down into my palm, focusing it into as tight a ball as I could, and spoke the words.
“Ignis Lacta Scopum!” I whispered, thrusting my open hand forward and willing a firebolt to hit the wall. A flicker of fire burst to life, growing in a second from a tiny spark to a ball the size of my closed fist. It hurtled across the intervening few meters, the room filling with a whine as the air marked its passage, then a loud crack as the Firebolt hit the spot I’d targeted. A wash of flames burst out across the wall before guttering out and dying. Xiao yelped with surprise, and West reflexively shielded his eyes with an arm, shooting me a warning glare as he lowered it again.
“Hell fucking yes!” I gasped, looking down at my right hand in shock. “It worked, it actually worked!” I realized that even while casting, I’d been expecting something bad to happen, for the spell to fail somehow.
But I hadn’t failed. I‘d cast a Firebolt, for god’s sake! I’d actually done magic, real freaking magic!
“Well at least you show a modicum of talent then, even if your Wisdom is so pathetic, a child of ten could outthink you,” Xiao muttered before swallowing hard as I glared at her.
I pulled out the second book, ‘Cleansing Fire,’ and read that too, followed rapidly by ‘Summon Water,’ ‘Weak Healing,’ ‘Weak Lightning,’ ‘Identify,’ and finally ‘Raise Weak Skeleton.’ By the time I was finished reading them all, I had a cracking migraine and my head was spinning. I wanted to test each one, but my head let me know that it would be a mistake to cast any more magic yet. I instinctively knew that this wasn’t something that ‘Weak Healing’ would help with, either. I’d overdone it, straining my brain, but some sleep would set me right.
I sat back in the chair, rubbing my eyes, and blearily tried to focus as I looked around. I staggered back to my room, barely aware of Xiao helping me to the door, or my two guard’s efforts while half dragging me along.
The next morning, I awoke early again, with my head seemingly two sizes too small. I crawled from my bed, gulping down the water someone had left on the bedside table, and headed to the shower. After a long soak and some food, I felt almost human by the time Xiao came and found me.
“Learning new spells is always hard,” she said, almost kindly, “but seven at once? I would not wish for your head right now! We shall practice meditation this morning. This afternoon, you are back with West and his musclebound goons. Meditation will help. Come.” She helped me to my feet, and we went to her office. I caught a glimpse of a burnt mark on one wall, and as I stared at it, it all came crashing back.
I’d done real magic! I could still feel the mana coursing through my body. I checked my mana bar, finding, to my surprise, that I’d recovered thirty-seven points of mana in total now, enough for three Firebolts! I almost cast another, just to be sure I could, when my head pulsed painfully and I thought better of it. Xiao sat me down on a mat and sat down opposite me. She folded her legs under herself like one of those meditating monks on TV, but when I tried to imitate her, I quickly gave up. I did not bend easily!
She ignored it and directed me to focus on my breathing. We spent the next few hours focusing on getting my breathing right and relaxing my muscles, working from the top of my head down to my toes, and everywhere in between. All too soon, it came to a halt as an alarm on the desk went off, reminding me that I was due to meet West in the training area.
I was surprised as I got to my feet. My body didn’t ache as much as it had when we’d started, my headache was gone, and my mana bar had jumped more than I had expected. When I asked her about it, she said it was normal, and that the relaxation eased blocks that allowed me to regain my mana at almost double the speed I would normally.
I spent the afternoon in the training rooms, being beaten soundly by my instructors. They each had an opinion on the best choice for my extra points, it seemed, and all were intent on showing me why I should have picked anything else but Intelligence. I soundly cursed West for sharing that information around.
I settled back into a routine. I would rise each morning at six, eat and then study with Xiao until noon. I couldn’t cast spell after spell, as I’d run out of mana after two casts, and it took days to recover the mana, but I followed the method Tommy had used, according to West. I would summon the spellform again, feel the mana build, and say the words, but just before the spell was ready to release, I would instead pull it back into myself, reabsorbing the mana. I spent the first half of each lesson using this practice casting method, and devoted the other half to meditation.
The afternoons were spent on physical training, mostly in martial arts now, but eventually weapons w
ere introduced again. It seemed that West had a very definite idea for my training, but all he would tell me was to work hard. Eventually, I gave up asking. I was told that all the exercises, the training, and the practice would enable me to level up, but West made me promise not to do so yet. I was to learn how to do everything with my body at its lowest level. In the final few days before the arena, I would be allowed to activate the level up, allocate my points however I chose, and improve myself. He swore it would give me a better chance in the actual tournament, so eventually I agreed, and gave my word. To remove temptation, I dismissed the notifications marker from my vision as well, knowing if I saw it, I’d want to do break my promise and level early.
After two weeks of further study, I had learned all of the basics of magic that Xiao could teach me in the allotted time, and that lesson time was reallocated to more weapons training. Xiao almost seemed sad by the end, as we had, if not each other’s friendship at least a grudging respect by now. One of the last conversations Xiao and I had was on the subject of professions, and it rattled around in my mind for a bit.
“You’ll have the chance to pick your profession as well, Jack,” she’d said in response to my questions about the UnderVerse and its differences. “You may not wish to, but you must consider them carefully!”
“I consider things!” I lied, blushing at the long look she gave me.
“Yes, Jack, I have heard. Trying to trick the guards out of hard earned wages by playing dice when you could be practicing. That is your choice, though. More importantly, we need to discuss modifiers.”
“Ah, okay?” I replied, settling back in my chair for another long-winded explanation.
“What profession will you follow, Jack?” she asked, causing me to frown as I sat up straighter.
“Well, I don’t know. I was going to find Tommy and get back here; that’s all I’ve been thinking about, really…” I said, the words sounding foolish as I heard them come out of my mouth.
“Really? You will survive a totally alien world, filled with monsters by just fighting, then? No trading, no repairing your armor, no earning funds of any kind?” The flat stare she gave me let me know what she thought of that idea.
“Well, no. I’ll do something, obviously…wait, when am I going to be trained in a profession? I thought we were stopping these lessons now?”
“We are, Jack, and it is not my responsibility, nor any other member of the Baron’s staff, to give you a profession. We are teaching you to survive! A profession may make that easier and as such you will be given some small basic training, but that is all. I’m trying to help you to understand the difference it can make to you.”
“But…”
“No!” Xiao slapped her hand down on the table hard, making me jump. “It is not our place to do this. I am giving you free advice, Jack. You can waste it with complaints or listen!”
“I…I’ll listen. Sorry, Madame Xiao,” I said, swallowing my annoyance that I wasn’t being handed everything on a silver platter. Time to man up, Jack. Just listen and learn. This shit could be important!
“Very well. I cannot cover everything today, since it is our last lesson, and I have too little time. The basic concept is this: everything you do is subject to situational modifiers. I can explain it no better than that. Think about a surprise attack; think of the difference in damage it does, compared to a straightforward fight. While there is the potential for a quick kill in either, a knife striking when the target does not expect it is far more deadly. No knotted muscles to stop the blade, no heightened awareness or adrenaline-fueled response. This is true of all aspects of life.
The humble blacksmith will learn as he grows in his craft. With each new level that he reaches, his creations will be greater. It is quantified as a one percent increase in quality per level he possesses, but this is not the whole story. If he mined the ore himself, used his skill to make the iron, and then used this above-average iron bar he is already familiar with, the improvement would be greater.”
“Wait, he can be a miner and a blacksmith?” I asked, confused.
“Of course…wait, explain why you look confused.” Xiao looked at me askance.
“Well, how many professions can you get? Most games I’ve played, it’s like two, or four at most…” I said, my voice trailing off as I heard the words.
“Most…games? I see. You think this is a game?” Xiao gave me a look that made me remember Morpheus and Neo fighting in the dojo…’You think this is air you’re breathing…’
“Well, no, of course not. I just…look, people have levels and shit! I didn’t know if this was real as well?”
“Indeed…Do you want to take a minute to think about what you just said, Jack, and why you continue to prove to me, every day, that you are an imbecile?”
“No.” I snapped, my face red with embarrassment.
“I will make this very simple, as I grow weary of this conversation. If a blacksmith has a level of twenty-five in blacksmithing and a level of fifteen in mining, his creations will have an average situational modifier increase of forty percent. This is not a guarantee, however! Sometimes, he may do everything just right, which might make it fifty, or even sixty percent. Other times, he may make mistakes, creating something that is less. I say this so that you understand: the more areas you are skillful in, the more your chances of survival increase, and more importantly, the better the chance you will have to get us through the portal!”
“Okay, well in that case, what if I…”
“No, Jack.” She cut me off with a raised hand. “You have proven yourself again to be a fool. I have given you the information you need. Meditate for the remainder of the lesson; think on what I have told you, and you may find a way to turn it to your advantage. What I tell you is what I have gleaned from the Baron and others I cannot explain how and why the UnderVerse works like this, any more than I can explain why a bee can fly. It just can.”
That was the way of a lot of our conversations. Sometimes, she was good and patient with me; other times, she swore repeatedly in Mandarin and refused to answer questions, but then I’d find a note slipped under my door, explaining as best as she could. She was a pain in the ass and hated being questioned, but she wasn’t all bad.
My trainers began to treat me with grudging respect, pushing me harder and making me fight for their approval. One by one, I began to see a change in all the men and women I interacted with. They began to smile, nod, and generally approve as I threw myself into my training wholeheartedly.
I spent most of the nights in the arms of my maids. There were two maids on days and two on nights, and both sets were equally willing. I tried to protest, but in all honesty, I didn’t try that hard.
With each week, there was a new theme for my training. Weapons took up the majority, but other strange skills were introduced: cartography, tailoring, even alchemy and blacksmithing. I was taught to maintain my weapons and the armor I trained in, to fix the damage, and how to spot weaknesses in others. I wondered at the reason behind training in these various skills, until finally, months after my arrival and imprisonment, I was summoned to see the baron again. In all this time, I had occasionally caught glimpses of him, heard his voice from a room as I passed, or received orders that came from him via my trainers, but I had not met with him again in what seemed like ages, yet it was still not long enough.
It had been almost six months since my arrival when I was taken from the training room, still clad in heavy leather armor and dripping with sweat as my chest heaved with exhaustion. I was taken straight to see him, but my weapons were taken from me first, unfortunately.
As I entered the drawing room where we’d first met, I came to a stop in front of him. I noted that I wasn’t being offered a drink, or a seat. The Baron met my eyes casually, holding a snifter of brandy in one clawed hand and tapping his foot as I growled internally and bowed alongside his guards in deference.
“Much better, Jack. Seems you can be house trained after all. I’ll m
ake this brief, as your stench turns my stomach. This weekend, your training is at an end, the Great Tournament is here, and in four days’ time, you will either be in the UnderVerse or dead. I recommend the former. You will be sent through to our home, and you will begin your first quest. We have no way to be sure of the point of arrival, although the spells on the portal ensure you will arrive at a point that has generated a portal previously. This is likely to be a place that was a seat of power in our time. As such, it may still be in use now. If it is, I want you to kill whoever is there and take control of the surrounding area.” He paused to take a drink, and I spoke up quickly.
“Kill them? What if they’ve got guards? Hell, what if it opens into a maternity ward? You said you have no way of knowing where it’ll open!”
“No, Jack, I said it will open at a place that previous portals have opened in the past, not just anywhere. Portals structures are highly expensive to build, and as such, they were all built in secure locations in my day. Wherever the portal opens, that area will serve you well as a base, but if you’re too foolish to understand that, then it’s no great surprise to me. Once you arrive, you will need to secure the area as a base to work from, and level your skills as quickly as you can. I’ll allow you to make the decision between setting off immediately or waiting a bit, but certainly not more than a few days after you arrive, you will head for Dai’Amaranth. It is the capital city of the Empire, and the location of the Great Portal. Once there, all you need to do is to place this Glyphstone..” he held up a small two-inch-long rod of black stone covered in silver symbols. “…in the repository. It will activate and suck the stone inside, creating a link to the Portal here in my grounds. I will march through with my soldiers and assume my rightful place as Emperor. Once I am through, I will allow you to make a choice. Either you will serve me as my right hand, swearing allegiance and becoming a prince of the Empire, or you may return to this realm and live out your days as a very rich man. Perhaps I will even deed this citadel and all my possessions here to you; I am, after all, a generous liege.”
