I brought my skeleton over and put the Leather Vest +2 on it and felt a decrease in my mana regeneration. The heavier the summoning, the more mana it required to keep it stable I reckoned. I gave it the Iron Short Sword +3 and again, I felt another sudden decrease in mana regeneration. Lastly, I placed the Leather Helm +1 upon its skull which brought my mana regeneration to a crawl.
PAIN
Damn Skelly. Eating all of my mana now... Ha, I'll call you Skelly from now on. Is that good Skelly?
His raised his arms and danced around. I ordered him to do so but I pretended he did it on his own. I needed a little company to prevent myself from going mad. I made my way back over to the ashes belonging to Cain and received, Mage Robes, and (Fire Affinity) Tiara +0.3% Fire Output which was cool because I was able to unseal it by sight alone.
The Mage Robes were useless because it did not have any magical enchantment. If I was a tailor, I might have been able to craft some clothes out of it.
The (Fire Affinity) Tiara +0.3% Fire Output was still useful despite the horrendous enchantment. It was directly linked to the spell Fire and increased its output by .03% which is minuscule but can make a difference if I was fighting with all of my mana.
I folded the Mage Robes and retreated back to the first room which I claimed as my own. I toss the robes down and headed back out into the vast room in which I called the Chamber. I went around the Chamber and collected all of the items to bring back to my room. I felt certain that there were no other vampires lurking within these ruins but I wasn't so sure nothing else was.
My room was the safest place because I could flee into the river and let it carry me around down stream. Wouldn't that be fun? After retrieving all of the items from the Chamber, I eyed my collection within my room. I had gathered, 7 Tiny Phials of Healing, (red sparkling liquid in tiny bottles), 11 Tiny Phials of Mana, (blue sparkling liquid in a tiny bottle), Dark Robes, (useless), 2 Mage Robes, (useless as well), Leather Boots +1.5, Wooden Shield +.05, 17 Ceramic Oil Phial, and a Map. I stared at the map and couldn't make any sense of it.
PAIN
Come over here Skelly!
Skelly came to the door and waited. I placed the leather boots in front of him. One foot at a time, he placed his bone feet inside. It didn't fit because he no flesh. Well, that was stupid. I gave him the shield and felt my mana regeneration come to an almost complete halt. I was able to feel a fragment of my mana regenerating. My stomach churned and the hunger pangs came quickly.
My adrenaline had died down and I began to feel tired. I grabbed one of the Tiny Phials of Mana and chugged it hoping to quench some of my hunger but my mana rose by a tad bit. I shattered the empty phial onto the ground and soon after, my stomach growled like an agitated beast. I rushed through my room, through the exit, dropped to a squat and let loose into the raging stream.
It was the potion. I do recall Cosmo informing me that his potion was pure and it had no side effects. Furthermore, his potion was a green health potion and mine were all red. What color did pure mana potions come in? I couldn't come to a conclusion nor could I think of what would make a potion pure. Pure mana maybe? I began to wonder why potions would cause issues.
As I posed there, I watched the moon slowly forming into a sun. It hovered upstream over the gorge. It dawned on me that I had no clue where I was nor the kingdom this land was a part of.
I looked down stream and saw that the river did not let up. The gorge walls also steepen further down. I then looked upwards and felt sick from how steep the gorge walls were. I couldn't believe I actually fell from that height.
The sun reached half moon and I noticed how lucky I was. If this gorge had been flowing east to west, I would've been forever in the dark because the walls would've blocked the light.
Either way I was stuck here for now. I had to go further into the ruins and seek another way out. Despite being done a while ago, I sat there and buried my head into my arms and allowed my Recall Memory to run wild. I've been through some crap.
I cupped water from the gentle side of the river blocked by the platform and proceeded to clean my ass. The water was freezing despite the hot day. Once I stood I felt liberated and realized why those vampires felt the need to be nude. I loved it!
Unfortunately, the feeling left as quickly as it came and I took myself back inside slightly ashamed. Skelly greeted me with an absentminded look and then I wondered, could he survive outside? Only one way to find out and so I ordered him outside. The light rays barely reached him before he combusted into flames. I pulled him back in and put out his flames with the useless robes stocked in my room. My mana began to drain to heal Skelly's injuries.
PAIN
Well, that sucked.
Either way, I wasn't able to leave through the River Door, a new name for the door that lead to the river. So I decided to head back into the Chamber with Skelly close behind. Everything seemed to be the same as I left it. Then I heard something. I jerked my head to the right, towards the direction of the sound. It was a faint scuffing sound.
For a full minute I stood still waiting to hear it again but nothing. I decided to go through the Dark Corridor first and inspect where the door led to. After waiting in silence for a good minute, I came to notice how annoyingly loud Skelly's movements were. I put up with it until I reached the door and ordered him to stay put while I crept through.
It was pitch black. I created a small ember within my palm and waited. I heard nothing nor saw anything moving ahead. I couldn't see too far and wasn't proficient enough to throw a ball of fire. I was however, able to make out this was a small hallway.
Despite my ability to cast Fire, I was not at all immune to the heat. It was also draining my mana at a rapid rate. I needed to find a torch—
Just as I was thinking about it, I saw it. There was an old unlit wooden torch on the wall, I grabbed it and lit it ablaze. It was time to creep further into the abyss and along the way, I lit more of the old torches along the wall. As I went further in, I noticed the gradual increase of webbing. Most of it was a light brownish color. It was not sticky at all and felt more like rubbery rope. Arachnid webs are valuable and I was hesitant to burn it.
These weren't as fine as the Black Forest Webs in the Kingdom of Fire. Nevertheless any kind of arachnid webbing were hard to come by.
Arachnids were not domestic by any means nor were they easy to approach. The arachnids in the Kingdom of Fire all lived in the woods and in great packs. It normally took a squad of adventurers to approach the outer edge of a Black Forest Arachnid nest, not a small gang of insects commanded by a spoiled noble.
To make matters worse, unlike the webbing here, Black Forest Webbing never turned color when it lost its adhesiveness which made it difficult to gather. If the adventurer picked the wrong one, he could say goodbye to the skin on his hands.
I incinerated the sheets of web that impeded me and ran into three baby arachnids. With my confidence catapulting, I incinerated one of them, and then chased down the other two and turned them into ashes. Being on the other side of the food chain felt good.
I eventually came to an oval room. In the middle was a worn out desk and the walls were carved into stone shelves. I inspected each and every gap in hopes of finding something useful.
It was all junk save for a few parchments. I decided to cut my losses and go back with 5 Parchments. I would give spell-writing a go only if I were bored out of my mind. I didn't even have anything to write with... what a pain.
Back in the Chamber I took a left and went through the north door and caught myself after tripping down a small flight of stairs. I walked around the dark room and inspected it little by little. I couldn't find any torches along the wall but soon came to see that this was an old library. There were several small round stone tables at the center and four shelves on either side.
I spotted some old wax candles on the ground but they were worn down to the nub. I decided that I would put them together and make the work with some dried webbing.
I also found a burnt out campfire made of old books. After a few minutes of searching, I found a partially cooked Rat Meat, 7 Charcoal, 2 Flint Stones and 5 Parchment.
I hauled the goods to my room and took a cringe worthy bite out of the rat before heading back into the Chamber. The last door was where the vampires came from. My heart was beating out of my chest and I decided to take Skelly along but kept him trailing me at a distance.
There was a flight of stairs leading down and the area was lit by torches along the walls. Did vampires need light or do they tire of having to use only their night vision? After I reached the bottom of the stairs, I noticed several entryways on either side of the corridor.
I cautiously peeked into one of the rooms; an old classroom with stone seats and tables. I moved across the corridor and peeked into the next room; another classroom. I was more confident and made my way down the corridor. Each room, sixteen in total, was an old classroom. The last and final door was open and I could feel a small breeze coming from it.
I peered in and saw that the room was circular. Nobody was there and noticed that at the center of the room was spiral stairs that led upward. My heart skipped a beat. I could finally get the hell out of here! Yes!
But then reality hit and I questioned what I would do if I had left this place. Get eaten again? Attacked by adventurers? Eat poison berries? My excitement faded and I took a closer look at the room.
It was actually vast and well lit. These vampires must have needed light. Something new to note I would guess. I counted three separate sleeping areas, one large one in the middle that was damped with white—that was semen. It was definitely semen and another thing to note. Great. Could they poop too? So much for being completely undead.
After realizing that these ruins were on the smaller side and I was alone, I quickly made my way up the spiral staircase. It took only a few moments to have all of my hopes of an easy exit taken away. I ran into a wall of debris that had collapsed down onto the staircase.
It had not collapsed on its own because I noticed some burn marks upon the debris. I thought about it for a second before heading back down. The area damped with semen was actually made from worn out clothing. This explains why they were naked. I also noticed a broken hand-pushed wagon at the bottom of the stairs.
These vampires were being chased by someone or something that they deliberately trapped themselves in here. What could vampires be afraid of?
PAIN
Other vampires?
I thought out loud. Or a fierce beast... On second thought, I decided that staying in the ruins might be safer.
For the next few minutes I inspected the wagon and saw that it was beyond repair. So instead, I began my back and forth trip of hauling all of the useful belongings from the Tower to my room and hummed to myself to pass the time.
After I got everything back to my room, I had collected, 14 Random Books, 17 Tiny Phials of Healing (these were red too), 10 Tiny Phials of Mana (these were blue like the others), 7 Dead Rats (still fresh...ish), 1 Decaying Rat (this one was better than the other decaying four I saw), 3 Sleeping Rolls, Collection of Wooden Spoons, Clay Pots, and Bowls (these vampires were picky about food I assumed), and 2 Spell Book: Summon Undead Ritual.
PAIN
Summon Undead? Aren't you undead Skelly?
Since I had two of them, I decided to open one and learn the spell. Once again, the book floated in front of me before crumbling into dust.
Active
Summon Undead Ritual
I'd say I had about seventy five percent chance of learning this spell. After I learned the spell, I quickly understood that the ritual required fleshy organs and bones. Plants wouldn't do nor would tiny bugs, critters or animals. It had to be, at the least, large as a rabbit.
The longer the creature had been dead, the weaker Summon Undead Ritual becomes. I noticed that after eyeing the other few decaying dire rats. Furthermore, the amount of mana it would require was absurd. I knew I'd have to get rid of Skelly to even attempt Summon Undead Ritual.
I decided I need to train my mana endurance and should also workout while I am at it. I could increase my mana pool by constantly draining it. Skelly was already helping with that by just being here. Thinking back, Abigail had about seven skeletons summoned. Summoning must be a great way of increasing mana. Though necromancy was frowned upon by numerous individuals despite the recent common use of it by notable officials; it's practically free labor.
I decided to start training in the Chamber and for about an hour I cast Fire into the air. Instead of running out of mana, I became hot, stuffy, and sweaty. I remembered the breeze I felt at the Tower and so I decided to train for several hours on the debris.
I gave myself a challenge; to train every day until I was able to blast through this debris. After depleting my mana, I went back to my room, opened the River Door, laid down with a book and allowed the cool breeze to cool me down.
It was quite difficult to read due to my stench but I refused to get into that ravaging stream for a bath. Besides, pouring water on a stinky hot object just made it a stinky wet object because I had no soap.
Bane of Winter Fort was the book I had began to read. Winter Fort was an old grand fort in the Kingdom of Ice many years ago. That was all I knew about that name. According to this book, a low class knight from a peasant family who fought on the front lines against the Kingdom of Fire became a hero. He was able to sway the decision of his Captain's battle strategy allowing them great victories. After losing his Captain he was voted to become the new Captain and eventually turn the tide of war.
His Commander did not like him and believed he murdered his own Captain in order to take command. The Commander placed a trap for this new Captain in an attempt to get him killed or caught by the Kingdom of Fire but the new Captain was several steps ahead.
He took the proof of the corrupt Commander to the Noble reigning over him who refused to believe it. He tried his luck with Nobles and Judges but to no avail. He felt used and decided not to help a kingdom who didn't seek justice. He and a small platoon of trusted knights defected to the Kingdom of Fire and aided them in taking down Winter Fort.
With his command, he was able to order his three thousand kinan army to become victorious over a ten thousand kinan fort in one night. The Kingdom of Fire offered him Nobility and riches but he decline, set the entire fort ablaze and committed suicide on the peak of the fort.
PAIN
Wow, what a warrior.
After finishing the book, I noticed my mana was replenished only halfway so I picked up another book. The Journey was a smaller book and was quicker to read. A vastly detailed and gruesome book about the elven author being an orc slave for two years.
Elves were a race with a slightly lower mana intellect than kinans. They are considered one of the most beautiful creatures back in the Kingdom of Fire.
In the book, the author and his entourage were caught while on a trade route and brought into an orcan cave where all the females were raped to death. Afterwards, the orcs sought out the males for pleasure. He was raped and tortured and was even forced to watch others receive the same treatment.
Many of them died in the struggle but he held on. In the end, his escape wasn't all that glorious. I threw the book against the wall after reading that he used several fellow elves as bait to escape. What a damn fool,
PAIN
Fucking piece of shit! Some journey that was!
That book annoyed me and I needed to release some anger. My mana was full and my body was stiff. Time to loosen up and so back at the Tower, I blasted the debris with fire. Recall Memory kept activating and I couldn't get the book out of my head. I realized Recall Memory could be a curse if I didn't learn how to control it.
I did my best to keep my mind off of it and decided to practice controlling my fire. Mages who could cast and throw balls of fire or create streams of flames learned by perfecting mana control. In simple terms, it meant I needed to have a perfect picture in my mind
and practice controlling my fire to mimic that image.
Recall Memory made it simple to bring the image to mind and so all I needed to do was practice. I ran out of mana after a few tries and decided to jog ten laps around the Chamber. I knew that wasn't a good idea because I could smell my body odor afterwards but I had no choice. I had to stay fit and physical exercise was a must. Petty Regeneration Lv 1 was amazing despite being petty. After ten laps my fatigue seemingly vanished but at the cost of the food in my belly.
Back in my room, I cooked up a dire rat and made sure it was well done. It tasted bland but felt good going down. I was thankful I didn't pass out into a coma from poisoning. I opened the River Door and saw that night had fallen.
I eyed the door across from me and wondered what that could have possibly led to. A den full of arachnids? A pit of griffins and lions? An enchanted tomb full of the walking dead? I did my best to put it out of my head, then sat down and pulled out a book; Plight of Souls.
The name made me hesitant but I began to read it anyway. A couple of dozen pages in and I understood that this was a story about someone was banished from society for being a necromancer.
Life was unfair, I thought. I took a break and thought about it. I was a mage right? But the two spells I learned accepted my mana quite easily. But I was certain my class was Mage. It was also possible to have multiple classes but the more I have, the harder it was to attune my magic to a different type.
The way it worked was, the more necromancy I did, the more my mana would become attuned to it and vice versa. For some, no matter how many fire spells or ice spells they cast, they would always be attuned to necromancy. Was I becoming a necromancer? Was that why I couldn't create a fire spellbook or spell scroll?
Thoughts eventually gave away to sleep and I experienced the most annoying dream I had ever had. I was in an underground mine as an Orcan Slave reliving every word from that damn book. Recall Memory was indeed toying with me.
Monarch- the Elementalist Page 3
