by Ivan Kal
Then, as morning came, the people of the town started moving about. Vall was the first to come to the training area, followed by Ves, who made her way to him.
“You didn’t sleep last night?” she asked him as she gave him a hug.
“I ascended, it took care of my tiredness.”
The look on her face was almost priceless, Morgan had been right—she had forgotten. “I…I was so tired I could barely think. It didn’t even occur to me.” Ves shook her head.
“So did you ascend?”
“Level 12 Eldritch Knight, reporting in!” She gave him a mock salute with a fist to the chest and Morgan grinned. Somewhere in the distance, Vall groaned in exasperation.
Then Lucius arrived, and Morgan stood. The plan for the day was for the two of them to scout some more of the surroundings, while Vall and Ves trained the militia.
“Ready?” Morgan asked.
“I am,” Lucius answered.
Before setting out they headed to the storeroom where Ves had catalogued the loot from the battle. The entire room was as large as a midsized stable, and it was filled with loot. Most of it was trash, and most of that they had decided to leave for the people of Terbon to repurpose or sell to the other towns. But at the end of the room was a table with a few items that Ves had picked up for the Guild. She had taken up the Inspect skill as well after Morgan told her how useful it was.
There were a few weapons there and some armor, mostly recovered from the chieftains and the shamans that they killed, and Morgan used Inspect on them.
Great Sword of Strength LVL 9 (requires 20 Strength) — +2 to strength.
Fire Battle Axe of a Goblin Leader LVL 8 (requires 18 Strength) — cuts sear the wound.
Mace of Crushing LVL 12 (requires 20 Strength) — attacks send small shock waves through the impact point.
Short Sword of Frost LVL 10 (requires 20 Agility) — has an aura of frost, dealing frost damage on hit.
Long Sword of Winds LVL 12 (requires 25 Agility) — sword can store wind energy and unleash it into a gust of wind.
Staff of Fire Shaman LVL 11 (requires 20 Intellect) — fires bolts of fire when given energy of a Domination alignment.
Staff of Accumulating Power LVL 10 (requires 20 Will) — staff can store energy to be called upon later.
The weapons were at least ones with effects, whereas most of the armor was not. But Morgan didn’t worry about that; he figured that he could enchant those pieces. He grabbed one gauntlet, a light piece with small plates covering it. It didn’t have the other gauntlet—either the goblin who had worn it hadn’t had the other one, or they hadn’t found it. Still, it was a nice piece of equipment, and Morgan pulled it on his right hand and fastened it. He would experiment with enchanting or warding it later.
Lucius grabbed the Long Sword of Winds and put down his old gladius. He already had a good weapon, the Short Sword of Flowing Blood which they had found in the dungeon. Morgan switched his short sword for the Short Sword of Frost, as there wasn’t anyone in their group who carried short swords other than Lucius and Morgan, and Morgan only did in order to have something as a last resort. Vall and would probably choose between the battle axe and the great sword, and Ves would take the mace.
Lucius looked over the armor but didn’t take anything new. “These are great weapons,” Lucius said as he secured his knew swords.
“I know right,” Morgan waved his short sword around, looking at faint blue aura shining around the blade. He wondered what it would happen if he stabbed something.
“I must admit, I am eager to try them out,” Lucius said with a smile.
Morgan grinned back. “Well, let’s go and do that!”
With that, they left the storeroom and then the town.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Their route took them in a long circle around the town area, and mostly they just walked and paid attention to their surroundings. They had to make sure that all the goblins in the area had run off, and that there were no stragglers.
As they walked, Morgan realized that he had known Lucius for a very short time, yet he still knew quite a bit about the guy. Lucius was always holding himself straight, with composure—his family seemed to have been something like the equivalent of nobles for this world. At least until they had been betrayed.
“You know,” Morgan started, “I just now realized that I haven’t spoken much with you about the ascension process.” Morgan had asked the twins when they’d first met. But they hadn’t known much, as most of what they knew they had hobbled together from their parents’ stories and books that they’d left behind.
Lucius raised an eyebrow. “What do you wish to know?”
“Well, your family were all ascendants? Right? I guess I just wanted to know how much you knew about it. I must admit that I am stumbling along as I go. I mean I have some knowledge from my old world, but it doesn’t apply to everything.”
“Ah.” Lucius nodded. “Yes, I have learned some from my father.”
“You said that your grandfather passed away, but you didn’t mention your father before.”
“Aye, when my brother betrayed us, my father had been the Guild Master. Our grandfather had died fighting in the Tower, and my father wanted to pass on his duties as a Guild Master to my brother so that he could focus more on the Tower himself. When my brother betrayed us…his conspirators killed most of our family. The 13th Legion had been started by my grandfather, and he had many children and grandchildren. My brother killed them all save for my parents and me. We escaped in the night, but my mother…she died along the way. The only ones left were my father and me.” Lucius’s eyes got a faraway look to them. “Father… He became a shell of the man that he used to be. My mother’s death hit him hard. We reached this valley, and we found a home in a small town down south. I wasn’t an ascended, I was too young for that, barely seven years old. But I remembered what we were, what we had. I tried to get father to tell me how to become an ascended, but he didn’t want to hear about it. He forbade me to even try it. Still, over time, I got some tidbits out of him. Enough that I realized what I had to do.”
“I’m sorry,” Morgan said—he couldn’t imagine it. “It must’ve been hard. You said that your father was ascended? Is he?”
“He lives still,” Lucius said. “He was the head of one of the greatest Guilds in the world. He has quite a lot of life accumulated, enough that I never saw him hunt. I don’t know how long he has now, but, well…”
“So he agreed to help you ascend?”
Lucius gave him a sad smile. “No, I ran away and ascended on my own.”
“Ah, so you don’t know much about the best ways to utilize your points and such?”
Lucius shook his head. “I know only that you shouldn’t spread your attribute points too widely, at least at the beginning. When you hit higher levels… Well, you approach heights where you are almost god-like in nature.”
“Huh, well, thanks for the tip,” Morgan said. He had already known that, but still. Goddamn god-not-god person and lack of manuals!
“This is why ascendants join Guilds. To gain access to guides and trainers who have already been through the leveling process. Or to trade for guides from other Guilds or powerful ascended.”
“Yeah, I’ve figured that out,” Morgan agreed. Making one’s own way was not at all fun. “Uh… Don’t tell Vall that I said that.”
Lucius chuckled, but didn’t comment. Oh, he is so going to tell him. Crap.
“Hey, do you know what the max level is?” Morgan asked as it occurred to him. Nowhere had he seen it stated.
“Well… No one really knows,” Lucius said.
“What? Wait, so no one has ever reached max level?” Morgan asked in disbelief.
“No. The highest that I knew of, when I was a child, were Ulvor and Reana Stormheart. They were amri to each other, and were over level 60. They were the celebrities of Amon’Tor, until they entered the Tower one day and never came back out. But I have been away fr
om the affairs of the Guilds for a long time. Who knows? Someone might’ve beaten their levels by now.”
“Huh, what’s Amon’Tor?”
“A city; actually, it is better described as the city. It is massive, surrounding the entire Tower, stretching for leagues in every direction. You could walk for days and still not get from one side of it to the other.”
“Whoa, that sounds…impressive.”
“It is. All the important Guilds have headquarters there and all are bound by the contract of peace. There is no war in Amon’Tor. Even the guilds that are the greatest of enemies would not dare break the peace of Amon’Tor.”
“So, if we keep expanding our Guild, eventually we will need to go there?”
Lucius nodded. “Amon’Tor is in the shadow of the Tower. It is the most important place in the world.”
“What levels do you usually enter the Tower?”
“The first floor of the Tower is usually attempted by people who are levels 25 and up. But the tower is not like a dungeon; it is far more dangerous. It requires greater groups of people to beat, and still many do not survive.”
“Well, at least we have time to level up until then.”
They continued walking through the forest. So far they hadn’t encountered anything dangerous, and had seen no sign of any goblin stragglers. They must’ve all run away, Morgan said to himself. And as the world was completely focused on proving him wrong, a small rustling sound was the only indication they had that something was wrong.
Then several shapes jumped out of the bushes, snarling and stabbing at the two of them with their weapons. Lucius drew his swords in a single smooth motion, cutting an arm off a goblin in the process.
Morgan unsheathed his short sword in a move far less graceful and he barely managed to get it in front of his face to block a swipe from a goblin. As soon as he blocked, Morgan jumped backward, flying through the air and back farther than any ordinary human could’ve managed. As he dropped down he pulled out a Binding Arrow and threw it like a knife at the goblin rushing at him. It didn’t stab the goblin—instead, it hit him with the blunt end and then tumbled to the ground, stabbing into the ground and activating. The roots expanded from the arrow and rooted the goblin and two more who were behind him.
Morgan unslung his bow and put arrows through their heads. A bit away from him, Lucius had just finished another goblin when a large goblin chieftain rushed at him with two swords in his hands. This one seemed to be carrying a bit heavier armor and had burn marks all over the skin of its neck and the arms. Morgan fired of an Arrow of Decay at him, which just bounced off the plate on his shoulder. Lucius was evading the chieftain’s attack and cutting shallow wounds when he got the chance to jump in and do so without much risk.
Morgan pulled another Arrow of Decay and pulled the string on his bow as far back as it could go. Then, using a trick he had learned from the Piercing Shot ability, he let the arrow fly with a slightly increased spin to it. The arrow struck the goblin’s chest and punched through its armor.
It turned around and roared at Morgan, but that only left it open for Lucius, who ducked in and put one of his swords through its armpit. It swung widely at the Roman as Morgan started firing energy arrows at it. The strikes didn’t penetrate its armor, but they were hitting the goblin hard, making him stumble every time he let an arrow loose, allowing Lucius opportunity to dart in and inflict more wounds on him.
Soon it was visibly looking tired, both from the loss of blood and Morgan’s decay effect, and he missed a step, allowing Lucius to put a sword through its neck. The goblin dropped to the ground, dead, and a few moments later it disappeared.
“And that’s how we do it,” Morgan said. Lucius sheathed his swords, and they looked through the loot, taking the crystals and leaving most of the rest, aside from the chieftain’s two swords. They weren’t as good as the ones they had found after the battle, but they were solid.
Morgan took a look at his notifications.
GROUP EXP GAINED!
5x Goblin Warriors killed = 25 exp
2x Goblin Scouts killed = 2 exp
1x Goblin Chieftain killed = 10 exp
Morgan Newton LVL 12 — EXP 2131/4000
They barely even got any experience for that. But Morgan wasn’t about to argue; they’d had mostly an easy fight. They looked around some more and then finished their patrol. Tomorrow they would start bringing people from the militia with them, both to get them some experience and because they figured that it was safer now. They didn’t think that there would be much more of the goblin stragglers around.
As the sun was coming down, they headed back to Terbon.
Later that night Vestella and Morgan were in their room getting ready for sleep.
“You know,” she said as they got in bed, “I’m glad that you ran up on us that day, in that clearing.”
Morgan remembered. It seemed like it had happened so long ago, but in truth it had been only a few weeks. Still, he had lived more of a life in this world than he ever had on Earth. “Yeah, me too. I remember that moment when you saved my life by killing that goblin. I thought that you were a goddess.”
“Really?” Ves asked.
“Yup, you were standing over me all redheaded and beautiful, the light peering through the branches framing you all brightly and stuff. I mean, what else could you have been?”
Ves started chuckling, and Morgan frowned at her.
“What? I was in pain, and I had hit my head!” Morgan said, and she only laughed harder.
Morgan jumped on her and they wrestled for a while—and then they did something else for a while.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
They spent the next two weeks in Terbon, training the militia and setting things up with the Mayor and the various craftsmen in the town. Morgan had convinced one of the town’s two smiths to relocate to the Guild Hold, and he had trained with the militia for the ascension. He had also convinced a few support staff, cooks and cleaners and such.
Out of the rest of the militia, only ten people had agreed to ascend—seven men and three women—but they would need a bit more practice to do that. So they, too, would be coming with them to the Guild Hold. They had purchased food, and had taken some more common items that they were missing at the Hold. They had also made arrangements for a team of lumberjacks to come up to the hold in a few days to get them some building materials. They needed to upgrade the Hold, but the less refined materials they had the more energy it cost, and they didn’t have high-quality ascension crystals anymore. Not to mention they would run out of materials quickly if they used up everything around the Hold. There was a large enough forest around Reach for their needs.
Before they left, Morgan had spoken with the Mayor, asking him to send word to the other settlements and see how they would feel about coming under the Skyreach Guild’s protection. After that, they left the town.
And so they found themselves on the road with two wagons with all the goods they needed pulled by two oxen. They set as quick of a pace as they could, but with the wagons and the non-ascended, it was slow going. Morgan took the opportunity to scout the woods some more and hunt. On the first night he caught a deer, which pushed his Hunting skill up a rank. It was a strange experience, now that he had the time to dwell on it, to just have knowledge in his head. He had figured out a few things, and had some theories on others, about how things worked in this world. He knew that Sabila was something like an implant, fashioned out of a piece of his soul, but he also knew that there was more to it. There had to be. She could just download information directly into his head, adjust his body, make it better, stronger.
It all begged the question: Why? He knew that Oxylus said that this was an experiment, but Morgan couldn’t figure out what it was for. Every ascendant was supposed to try and conquer the Tower, yet many died in the attempt, as far as he knew. Still, the promise of a great reward from a being that could create his own world was a tempting proposition. Morgan just didn’t know ho
w much he could trust the god-not-god.
He didn’t let himself dwell on these thoughts, though; he had more than enough on his plate right now.
“What is it like, being ascended?” Herda, one of the new recruits, asked, her friend Anera walking next to her.
Morgan looked around himself for a moment, and then he realized that they were talking to him. Right, I’m the leader. “Well… It’s strange. You can learn things far faster than normally possible, and depending on how you spent your points you can be stronger, faster, and just better than an ordinary person in every way.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Anera wistfully.
“You’ll see for yourself once we get to the Guild Hold.”
“I’ve heard a lot about Guild Holds,” Herda said. “But I’ve never seen one.”
“It’s small, a single large structure with some supporting structures. Not much larger than Terbon’s Town Hall. Although we have a manticore.”
The two women looked at him in horror. “A manticore?” Anera asked.
“Don’t worry, Rann is a good boy. He is the guardian of Skyreach,” Morgan told them. A good boy to our friends, and a nightmare to our enemies.
Two days later they finally arrived at Reach, and climbed up the mountainside. We really need to upgrade this road, Morgan thought to himself as they barely managed to get the wagons up the road. Once they parked the wagons in front of the Hold, Morgan frowned as he noticed that the doors of the Hold were open.
“The hell?” Morgan said and started walking up the stairs. Ves, Vall, and Lucius noticed as well and followed behind. Where is Rann? Morgan pushed the door all the way open and stepped into the Grand Hall. Inside he saw tables turned over, some with holes in them, benches broken, walls scorched. And in the middle of the room on the ground sat Rann, looking intently at something cowering against the wall.
