The Academy

by Colin Daumen

  "Good morning you two. Had a nice night?" Favian asked, a huge grin on his face. He couldn't wait to share with his friends that he'd advanced already. Of course, he'd omit everything about the return of Elon.

  "Morning bro, why so smiley?" Dunkel asked, confused as to how weirdly happy Favian was this morning. Usually, he wasn't overly happy or sad but just 'Favian', Dunkel thought. After giving his friend a deeper inspection, Dunkel displayed a face of shock. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Yo-You've advanced already? What kind of a monster are you?"

  Favian rubbed his head as he laughed, not answering any of the questions asked. Licht was similarly stunned by this development, unable to believe that Favian had already surpassed her this quickly. He'd been the least powerful member throughout their days in the beast range, at least in terms of offensive capabilities, and now he was the strongest of the group. It was a tough pill for her to swallow and simply ignited her drive to progress as fast as possible.

  'I won't get left behind by your cultivation speed!' Dunkel and Licht simultaneously thought.

  The group spent the next few days with the same routine, however, now Favian would hunt some more powerful beasts on his own, as the lower-ranked ones weren't too useful for his cultivation. He would go out to hunt by himself once he'd already helped the other two for half of their hunting time, and would always keep his shadow with them. He'd want to be able to close the distance instantly if they needed protection.

  By now, Favian had become able to assassinate magic beasts of strength similar to that of a Level 1 Mage, as long as their main strength wasn't the refinement of their own body. It was simply too difficult to use his hit and run tactics to kill off those types of beasts, and instead, he stuck to sneaking up on ambush predators. Dune snakes, Desert Leopards and the like were his main source of prey. One time, he'd tried to defeat a sleeping Sand Bear in one hit, however, his daggers weren't even able to sink more than 2 inches into the bear's thick skin. He'd been lucky to escape by teleporting to his shadow, or else that bear would have easily mauled him with his weak defenses.

  In regards to Time Stop, Favian was saddened by the realization that he could only use it once a day. This hadn't been present before he became a true mage, as the spell was a weaker version of it, limited in distance and time, but only shackled by his mana output. Now, he'd be able to keep up the locking of time for over an hour at a time, but it was limited to only one use a day. Therefore, he'd be keeping that spell in his pocket for escape purposes as much as possible.

  One day, as the group was routinely hunting beasts, Favian felt some sort of imbalance in the arcana in the area. It felt like the tremors of an earthquake were rumbling underground a couple of kilometers away. Favian was the only one able to notice this.

  [DING! Would user like to receive quest 'The Tomb of the Pharaoh 1'? Rewards: 25000 experience. Legendary reward available upon completion.]

  Chapter 30 - Tomb

  "ROAAR!"

  A primal scream boomed across the sand dunes, with a minor sandstorm making its way towards the party. The scream sounded like it came from a monstrosity, at least the size of multi-story buildings. There was no evidence of any beast on the horizon, however, the scream was enough for the trio to know that something foreboding was at the location they were walking towards.

  "What the hell was that?" Licht said in alarm. She looked into the sky trying to figure out where the noise came from, but to no avail. 'The noise must've come from really far away,' she thought.

  Dunkel furrowed his brows, before saying, "THAT was our cue to leave." He then proceeded to turn back around to walk away, before being stopped by Favian's hand, which gripped onto his shoulder.

  "Let me check it out, I have a feeling that it's something useful for us," he said.

  "Useful? The hell is wrong with you? That sounded like the biggest bundle of nope I've ever heard," Dunkel replied, wanting nothing to do with it.

  Favian figured that the disturbance in the arcana and his system giving him a quest all had to do with that bestial noise. He couldn't tell his friends why he wanted to check out the commotion, so he decided to just 'scout' along with his shadow. He'd use his communication trinket to signal to them if it was safe to come over. Licht and Dunkel were both unwilling to let Favian go alone, however, had to relent when they saw he wouldn't change his mind. He was after all the strongest in the group at the moment, and therefore had the best chance of returning unharmed. Also, Dunkel and Licht trusted that his ability to escape was the strongest they'd ever seen.

  "Okay. If I don't send you a message within two hours, then just prepare for the worst and run away," Favian said before he left.

  Favian ran through the blistering heat of the desert, with the sun at its apex glaring down at him. He was unaffected by the heat due to his improved constitution, and now that he had his World of Exile game system back, he could utilize the upgraded spell barrier, which was now a toggle function. It would only drain 5% of his total mana, but he'd gain that back if he turned it off. The spell barrier protected him not only from the harsh heat rays, but also from any sand particles that tried to splash onto him.

  Wherever he looked, Favian could only see more desert. The only differences he could tell when looking in different directions were the differently coloured sand dunes. The sand he was running towards gradually turned dark brown, whereas it had been yellow where he'd just come from. There was rarely any wildlife in this section of the Kalari Desert, with a single cactus being the only plant he saw for the past 30 minutes of running. There had been a few magical beasts on the way, however none strong enough to be worth a fight. He did come into a close encounter with a swarm of blood beetles, who's large numbers were more fearsome than their individual strength, however, he was able to completely avoid them because he used his shadow to scout up ahead.

  After another half an hour of running, Favian was finally able to see what had caused the great commotion in the desert. He was currently standing on a sand dune with very high elevation, whereas his object of interest was at a pretty low elevation, laying about 10 kilometers away.

  A gargantuan sand dragon had its head protruding through the ground, with its mouth wide open. The shrill scream from earlier must have been the last cry the dragon made before it's death, Favian believed. Only its head was exposed, but that already seemed to be about 100 meters in length. There were large scales on its face, covered in a red liquid which Favian assumed to be blood. The dragon's eyes were slits like those of a snake or lizard, and they seemed weirdly life-like. Favian was certain that the creature was dead, however, he didn't dare to approach it yet.

  'I should probably wait until the others get here before exploring that. System, can you scan the dragon to see if it is dead?'

  [DING! Host needs to get within a 1km distance from the object before it can be scanned.]

  'Great,' he thought. Instead of thoroughly examining the beast, Favian quickly messaged his group, after which he proceeded to run back to bring them to the location. He could have let them run to him by themselves, but he felt the need to protect them.

  "So what is it that you found?" Dunkel asked as he ran through the desert, wiping away sweat from his forehead.

  "You won't believe me anyway, so you'll just have to see for yourself," Favian replied.

  Licht was running at a faster pace than Dunkel, but wasn't perspiring as much as him. 'It seems that her stamina and vital stats are extremely high,' Favian thought.

  After about an hour and a half of running, the group reached the top of the sand dune which looked down onto the dragon head. Favian could cover the distance quicker than the two but slowed down to their pace.

  The moment Favian's companions saw the dragon, their mouths opened wide, as their minds were blank from shock. It took minutes before the two calmed themselves, with Dunkel being the first to break out of his stupor.

  "That's a dragon? Right? A dead dragon. Do you have any idea how rare they are? There are
probably only a couple hundred people on the continent who've been able to witness the sight of a true dragon, let alone a dead one," Dunkel said, his voice more shrill than usual. He couldn't believe his eyes, and wanted to flee more than anything. His instincts told him to get as far away from here as possible, but for some reason, Favian's confidence that radiated through the air stopped these thoughts.

  "FAVIAN! You can't be serious, we need to get away from that. Who knows what beasts are going to come to plunder from its corpse. We for sure won't be a match for them," Licht said as she became irritated when Favian tried to convince them to join him to assess the dragon.

  Favian knew that his quest related to the Tomb of the Pharaoh was certainly related to the unearthing of this dragon. He couldn't tell Licht that there was a treasure trove inside the dragon without letting her know about Elon. Or could he?

  'Here goes nothing!' Favian thought.

  "Licht, actually, I haven't been completely honest with you two. I already went to scout the dragon, and it's connected to a tomb. I'm certain we'll be able to find some treasures inside it, and who knows, maybe you'll get some rare resources to help you break through your current bottleneck," Favian said, hoping this gamble would pay off. Hopefully, the allure of treasure would be able to convince Licht to join him.

  An argument ensued, with Favian unable to convince Licht, who was most definitely correct in not wanting any part of exploring the dragon. The only reason Favian himself was drawn to it was because he knew that his game system wouldn't give him a quest that'd just lead to his death. That'd be the worst system ever created if that happened.

  "Okay well Dunkel you get the deciding vote," Licht exclaimed, stomping her feet in anger. She wasn't convinced by Favian at all and didn't want to risk her life here of all places.

  "We explore!" Dunkel said, having been persuaded by the allure of treasures and adventure that Favian kept referring to.

  It took only half an hour for the trio to make the ten-kilometer distance that was between them and the dragon head. Favian always kept his shadow 1 kilometer in front to scout for any potential danger, which there fortunately wasn't. The dragon head was huge up close and radiated a powerful aura. The scales which looked tiny from far away were as tall as each member of the group once they were able to examine it up close.

  The dragon's mouth was wide agape, its teeth somehow missing from the corpse. Once near the mouth of the dragon, wide stairs could be seen descending downwards, with candles and torches hung to the sides. The stairs were huge, as wide as the dragon, and they descended infinitely, or at least Favian couldn't make out how far down they went. The imbalance of the arcana was becoming more and more evident to Favian, which confirmed to him that his quest began once he descended these stairs.

  The air smelled rancid once they moved inside, and it was a lot warmer than outside, despite the weather outside being that of a smoldering desert.

  "Well that's not something you see every day," Dunkel joked, trying to loosen the tense atmosphere.

  "Let's just be really careful here, there could be traps around." Just as Licht said this, the dragon mouth closed up behind them.

  Chapter 31 - Tomb 2

  "I hate you Favian. I really hate you so much right now," Licht mumbled under her breath. Now it was too late to turn back since their only exit was firmly blocked off. She didn't even bother trying to open the mouth, since she knew there was no way that she'd be able to pierce through dragon scales or even open up a big enough pathway out.

  In the meantime, Dunkel went around the cavern, touching and licking things randomly, or at least it seemed like it was. Dunkel kept doing this until he reached an area close to the stairs, and with furrowed brows he said, "Guys, we aren't the first to get here." He pointed at a set of footprints that went down the stairs. The prints were covered in the same sand near the entrance of the dragon mouth. There were 2 distinct prints from shoes.

  'System, scan the surroundings and tell me if there are any enemies in the vicinity,' Favian said.

  [DING! Scanning area around host... No hostile forces detected in the vicinity. Unknown error detected.] Elon replied.

  'Hmm so there's nobody here right now. Maybe these prints were preserved from another time,' Favian thought.

  Favian gave the footprints a closer inspection and said, "We've got no other option but to go down anyways, let's just be extra careful. If you see anything just give me a heads up."

  The group finally made their descent after carefully inspecting the stairs, making sure that they were stable enough to carry all of them. As they walked down, Favian noticed that there were various symbols and paintings depicted on the walls of the spacious cavern. Some of the symbols were simply the heads of different animals, including crocodiles, scarabs, snakes, and birds. Other symbols were too worn out for him to be able to see what they depicted. The most striking features on the walls, however, were the paintings.

  Large regions of the wall were painted showing some sort of war, with warriors fighting each other. The main weapons that could be seen were khopesh and spears, and the warriors holding these weapons were shown to have human bodies, but animal heads. Again, Favian noted that the most frequent animal heads were those of the crocodiles and snakes, who were shown to fight against the scarabs and birds. From what Favian could make out, this war between the four animals could have lasted for a very long period of time, as every painting on the wall portrayed a different war in a different setting, but always the same faces.

  'I wonder what they were fighting over.'

  There were no other interesting things to look at on their way down the stairs, only the breathtaking paintings. The whole descent was very well lit, and the party didn't need to use their own torches. After an hour of walking down the stairs, they finally reached the end.

  The floor in front of them was made out of granite, and instead of there being numerous tiles, it was one whole entity. There were two doors ahead, one a large oak door, and one a smaller door made out of metal. Both doors were plain, with no pattern to help with their choice. When they tried to open either door, they wouldn't budge, no matter how much combined force they tried to put into it.

  "Hey do you see that?" Dunkel asked as he pointed to a row of braziers in the corner of the room.

  The braziers were burning in different colors, and each had an animal head depicted on them. There were 8 braziers in total. The group walked up to them, trying to figure out what their use was.

  "So many braziers aren't needed just for lighting purposes," Favian said. He carefully inspected each of them, before a thought clicked into his mind.

  Favian started to extinguish the braziers, to his party's dismay.

  "What are you doing?" Licht asked, unsure what the reasoning behind his actions was.

  "Just give me a sec, I think I've figured something out," he replied.

  Favian continued extinguishing the braziers, until only two remained. The flames that remained grew brighter until they both turned completely yellow.

  *CLICK* *CLICK*

  They all spun their heads around, looking back towards where the doors were. The smaller door was now opened, but what awaited them through the door was just darkness. The group walked towards the newly opened door, inspecting it for any traps.

  "How'd you do that man?" Dunkel asked curiously.

  "The paintings on the walls. There would always be four animal heads depicted in all of the paintings. A crocodile, a snake, a scarab, and a bird. So I first extinguished all of the braziers which didn't correspond to those four animals, but nothing happened when I did," Favian said as he pointed their attention to some of the paintings overhead.

  "That's when I figured that if I extinguish two more flames, one door will open. At least, that would make sense, right? The paintings showed the crocodile and snake as allies, and the scarab and bird as allies, so I believed that I'd have to extinguish one of those pairs. Of course, I'm going to remove the crocodile and snak
e, those just seem inherently evil."

  Dunkel shrugged once he heard the explanation. He'd been paying more attention to the surroundings and looking for traps, so he didn't notice the distinct features of all the paintings on the walls. Licht on the other hand, looked at Favian in awe. She felt that he was leaving her even further behind in the dust. He'd already become a Level 1 Mage, and now he just seemed so much smarter and more perceptive than herself.

  "Shall we?" Favian asked, as he was raring to enter the opened door. He quickly removed a torch from his spatial pouch and asked Licht to light it on fire for him, as he obviously was unable to use fire magic.

  After entering the room, Favian started to feel dizzy. He looked around to check on his companions, however, they were both out of sight. He tried to move but found that he couldn't use his limbs. He could hear wails and cries of different animals, and a chilling aura was protruding through the atmosphere around him. Suddenly, something whispered into his ear. Favian's head jumped towards the direction it came from, but he couldn't tell if something was there. He hadn't been able to fully make out what the whisper was either.

  'System, what is happening?' he frantically asked.

  [DING! Host has been placed under an illusion spell. No courses of action available for the system to implement.]

  Once Favian was told that he was placed under an illusion, he knew exactly what to do. He had been taking classes on illusion magic back at the academy, so he knew that he needed to temporarily shut down his arcana core to purge the illusion from his mind. Illusions were tricky because the only way for an individual to escape them was to either be much more powerful than the caster of the illusion, or shut down their arcana core for a moment, which would leave them completely defenseless. Luckily for Favian, he had two cores, and therefore didn't have to worry as much about becoming defenseless for a couple minutes. It would take at least 5 minutes for his arcana core to reboot.