Elsewhere

Duke clamored to his feet in Baslin’s tower as the portal winked out. Thankfully, this time there was no message notifying him that his TELEPORTATION had been messed up.

“Hi, Baslin. How have you been?”

“I have been well, Duke. But it seems like you have had an eventful week. Was that the Grand Arena I saw? And you are bleeding all over my carpet.”

“I don’t know how grand it was, but it sure as hell was an arena and sorry about the blood. I’ll stop bleeding in a moment.”

“And you fought there?”

“That I did. It was complete bullshit, but yes, I fought there. I lost friends there.”

“I get the sense that there is more to the story than just fighting in the arena. Are you sure you do not require healing?” Baslin knew he was leading Duke on but was rather enjoying the turn of events. Duke surely would help him now that he saw how bad a state the city and the kingdom were in.

“Healing? No, I’ll be fine shortly. As for what happened this past week, well, that is quite the story.”

Duke relayed the events of the past week, leaving little out. Baslin listened along, nodding and responding as appropriate. When the tale was complete, he had a simple question for Duke.

“So, after all of that, do you see why I asked for your help in tearing the kingdoms down?”

“I do. And I am near ready to get started. My friends died to entertain those assholes. I haven’t had a minute yet to process my feelings around that, so I’m going to need a bit to get through that.” Duke could feel the grief and anger boiling below the surface of his emotions, waiting for release. This was far worse a feeling than he had anticipated. Losing a member of the squadron was bad, but this…this was more personal and tangible. He could still see the look in Lasandra’s eyes when the fatal blow descended.

“I understand. Why don’t you retire to your room and do what you need to do. I will teach you the REPAIR spell in the morning so we can set everything back to rights after you are done ‘processing’ your emotions.” Baslin’s gaze was filled with empathy as he escorted Duke to his room. “Don’t concern yourself with any damage your grief may cause. We’ll fix it in the morning. If you wish to talk about it, I will be in the library for most of the night. Sleep has eluded me for decades now.”

Duke did indeed retire to his room as Baslin indicated. By the time he got there, the emotions he had been holding back unleashed themselves and he both cried and raged. The first victim was the desk chair. It deconstructed itself against the far wall. The next victim was the desk that went with the chair. Duke attempted to lift it and throw it just the same as the chair.

His rage grew as he discovered that he could barely lift the desk off the floor. He growled and strained, unable to do more than lift it a few centimeters off the floor. As his rage boiled, he slammed his 6 free Characteristic points into Strength, bringing it up to a score of 21. The desk moved more easily now. He still couldn’t throw it but lifting it up past his knees and slamming it down repeatedly served to eventually break it enough that he could toss the pieces into the pile of wood he was accumulating on the far side of the room.

The bed was to be next, but Duke’s hands, slick from drying blood and sweat from the effort of destroying the desk and chair, slipped off the thick rounded bedpost causing him to stumble and faceplant on the bed itself. The bed struck him as comfortable and comforting. It molded to his frame with just enough resistance to keep him on top of the mattress. The oddly out-of-place feeling of comfort disrupted his rage-fest. In moments, his exhaustion took over and he fell into a magically restful sleep.

***

Duke awoke the next day feeling strangely rested and flooded with system messages.

*** Well, that was quite the fight! You took on four enemies that far outclassed you. Or so, they thought. For defeating these four enemies, you receive 11,000 experience points. For doing so in such a creative and spectacular fashion, you receive an additional 5,000 experience points. Congratulations! You are now level 6 and have 18 free Characteristic Points to spend as you see fit.

Your Skills and Abilities also continue to grow!

You receive 2 points in Blades, bringing it to Novice 1

You receive 1 point in Spears, bringing it to Untrained 1

You receive 4 points in Dodge, bringing it to Initiate 10

You receive 8 points in Brawling, bringing it to Initiate 9

You receive 6 points in TELEPORTATION, bringing it to Initiate 18

You receive 4 points in TONGUES, bringing it to Novice 16

You receive 4 points in AURA CONCEALMENT, bringing it to Novice 15

You receive 4 points in LGHTNING, bringing it to Initiate 10

You receive 2 points in BOLT OF DARKNESS, bringing it to Novice 10

You receive 2 points in MENTAL RESISTANCE, bringing it to Novice 7

You receive 5 points in REGENERATION, bringing it to Practiced 20

Now, you did all of this while directly pursuing your PURPOSE. Since this was the first time you have done something so spectacular in this pursuit, your rewards will be enhanced. You receive an additional 10,000 experience and your TELEPORTATION Ability has been advanced one rank to Practiced. This brings you up to level 7 and you now have 24 free Characteristic points to spend. Spend them wisely and quickly.

We are entertained, but it seems you have made some powerful enemies this day. Well, powerful from your perspective. We do so look forward to seeing how this continues. ***

Duke reluctantly got out of the incredibly comfortable bed and padded to the bathroom. As he performed his morning routine, pleasantly surprised that Baslin had similar cleansing enchantments as were available in the Leviathan area, he contemplated what to do about the 24 points waiting to be assigned. Even with the training he had received in the past week, he was still unsure how he wanted to build his capabilities out from here. The only thing he was sure about was that TELEPORTATION needed to be a major part of whatever he decided upon.

Although he fought with both magic and physical abilities, it seemed to him that his magic was the superior route. Most likely since he continually failed to properly fight with weapons other than his bare hands. This realization helped form the decision that he would focus on magic in the future but for now, he was going to bring all of his Characteristics up to at least 20. This left him 9 free points which he poured into his Psyche.

Baslin’s voice interrupted him immediately afterwards, carrying across the room. “Duke, when you are done in there, put on the robes I left for you on the bed and come out and join me in the library. We have much to go over and I’m not sure how much time we have to do so.”

Duke put on the robes the wizard had left for him and made his way to the library. It only took him six wrong turns and eight different rooms filled with books before he found the actual library. It was a room that seemed far too big to fit into the tower. The ceiling stretched at least a hundred meters into the air, and it was easily three hundred meters across. There were bookshelves upon bookshelves ringing the entire room and countless additional shelves filled with tome after tome. He guessed that this library could hold millions of books.

Seated in a well-stuffed, leatherbound chair was Baslin with a rueful smile on his face as he watched Duke gawk around the room. “Impressive, isn’t it? There’s no better collection of tomes in all the kingdoms. Come join me.” Baslin gestured to a matching chair next to him. Duke sauntered over and joined the ancient wizard.

“This is more than I expected. Are these all books on magic?” Duke still looked all around the room, trying to take it all in.

“Oh, no, not all of them. There are at least a few hundred history books in here somewhere. And novels. Well, thousands upon thousands of novels dot these shelves. But, yes, there are so many books on magic here, it would make even me jealous. Thankfully, they are all mine!” He gave Duke a mischievous look and continued, “I should cackle madly now, right?”

Duke smiled in response. “Sorry about the furniture. I kinda lost it last night.”

“I told you not to worry about it. You are my apprentice and I’ll teach you how to fix it with a REPAIR spell.”

“About that, I don’t learn spells like everybody else. Things are a bit different with me.”

“Oh?” Baslin raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Yeah, spells become Abilities after I learn them, or in some cases when I experience them. I probably shouldn’t share that with other people, but since you are going to be teaching me, I figured you had to know, or things might get a bit weird.”

“Too right, my son. That is indeed something I have never heard of before. How exciting! This is something we will explore together. But first, let’s get to the two most important spells for you to learn, REPAIR and CLEANSE. These two spells are not particularly powerful, but they offer significant convenience and every mage should have them in their arsenal.” Baslin handed Duke a pair of books with a smile. “I prepared these just for you while you were gone. They contain the first four spells that I want you to learn. Besides REPAIR and CLEANSE, there are IDENTIFY and SENSE MAGIC. These four will give you a solid foundation that we can build from. Go ahead and try to learn them on your own while I gather more for your training.”

Duke greedily accepted the books and went right to the CLEANSE spell. He already had experience with the spell so he figured it might be easier to learn and absorb. He read the spell information that included all sorts of descriptions of hand gestures and magical theory. According to the book, one needed to form their intention, draw upon the magic of the world, and shape it using your will to cast the spell. The hand gestures allowed the caster’s mind to focus their will and intention towards the spell’s effect. If any of the three elements were not focused properly, the spell would fail.

Duke creased his brows as none of the magic he used worked remotely like in this description. He turned to ask Baslin about it, but the mage had wandered off to a different section of the library. Well, what have I got to lose. Might as well try it.

Duke stood up, placing the books on the table with the first open to the CLEANSE spell instructions. He focused his intent and performed the hand gestures as described, surprised at how dexterous his hands had become since adding his Characteristic points to Agility. He tried to connect to the magic of the world and shape it with his will.

There was a momentary feeling of resistance in the air followed by a small flash of light and a wonderful feeling of “cleanness” that washed over him. Duke smiled as he was greeted with a system notice.

***Congratulations, you have learned the spell CLEANSE. As you leaned this from an instructional manual specifically made for you, your grasp of the spell is stronger than most.***

***The Spell “Cleanse” has successfully been absorbed. You may now use it as an Ability at will for a small cost. ***

Duke checked his Abilities and sure enough, there was the CLEANSE Ability listed at Novice 1. He smiled as he realized that he had skipped the entire Untrained rank. Then he delved further into the other books, eager to learn as much as he could as fast as he could.

It took him nearly an hour to get the initial gestures down, but he managed to cast, learn, and absorb all four spells before Baslin returned with another armload of books.

“So, Duke, how is it going? Have you encountered any difficulties or need anything explained more thoroughly?”

Duke laughed, “Nope, this seems to be going just fine. I’ve got all four spells absorbed and ready to use as Abilities.”

Baslin raised an eyebrow, shook his head, and finally smiled. “Truly, you are a strange one, Duke. I have brought more books for you to study but I am concerned that they will not assist you as much as the spell tomes would. How, exactly, do you turn Spells into Abilities? It is something I, in all my years, have never heard of, let alone encountered.”

Duke smiled sheepishly with a shrug. “I really can’t explain it much. It just happens. Sometimes just having a spell cast on me causes me to absorb it. Sometimes, it has to be a number of castings. But learning them from the books seems to be the fastest method.”

Duke paused for a moment before continuing with a question of his own. “Baslin, how many spells do you have to teach me for me to fulfil your apprentice quest?”

“Apprentice quest? Interesting way to put it. Never thought of it that way. Perhaps if I had, I could…No. Mustn’t stray so far in my thoughts.” Baslin shook his head as if to shake stray thoughts away. “I do not know if there is a set number of Spells that need to be learned. There surely is a threshold in the number, but it is the mastery level that I believe matters more. If you were to get at least one Spell up to Master rank, I expect that would be enough to fulfill my obligation. What is your highest rank Spell?”

“That’s not exactly easy to say. All my Spells have been made into Abilities. My highest Abilities are TELEPORTATION and REGENERATION. They are both at the Practiced rank.”

“Practiced? What is that? That is a rank I am not familiar with – and I should be familiar with all of the ranks. Another mystery to unravel. Anyway, how long have you been using them?”

Duke gave a pained smile. “About two weeks.”

“Two weeks! How is that possible?”

“I’ve only been in this world for two weeks. Feels like some sort of a curse to say it out loud though. Like I might bust the illusion and bad things will happen.”

“Bust the illusion? The illusion of life?”

“Something like that.”

Baslin visibly forced himself back on topic. “You really mean to tell me that you have only had these Abilities for two weeks? Truly?”

“Yes. I’ve only been in this world for about two weeks now.” Duke had a feeling he was sharing a dangerous level of information with Baslin, but he did share more than he had planned with Gefolich as well. He was starting to wonder if he was being too paranoid. It’s not like anyone could hurt his non-existent family back home. No one knew his real name so what power could they hold over him knowing that he came from another world?

“That is remarkable. Would you…Would you be willing to allow me to see your character sheet?” Baslin seemed tentative for the first time since Duke had met him.

Duke pondered for a moment and asked a clarifying question. “You won’t reveal any of this information to anyone else?”

“On my honor, I will not.”

“OK, you have my permission to see my character sheet.” It was an odd sensation as Duke felt Baslin’s eyes penetrate below the surface and read his character information.

After a full two minutes, Baslin sat back down limply in the chair next to Duke. “Astounding. So many questions. So many Abilities! And no class? And what race is this Seeded?”

Duke shrugged. “I don’t have too many answers for you but when I came here, I was told that the rules of this world wouldn’t particularly apply to me. I think that is why Spells become Abilities for me and why I don’t have a Class.”

“There is likely some truth to that postulation. Have you tried to take a Class?’

“Never been an option.”

“Hmm, I see. And your Characteristics are so closely balanced besides Psyche. They are significantly higher than I would have expected for your level.” He paused in mid-thought. “Again, levels without a Class. So odd. So fascinating.”

“I know, right?” Duke couldn’t resist.

Baslin’s eyes snapped back into focus and locked onto Duke’s. “Does anyone else know any of this at all?”

Duke shrugged again. Doing way too much of that. Where’s your spine, your decisiveness? Get with it. “Gefolich, the magic trainer for Leviathan knows that I am from another world but doesn’t really know everything else.”

“I see. That’s manageable. He is known to me and bears no love for the regime either. Few of that faction do. They are trapped in service to the whims of the king and his nobles. I don’t know what the king has over them all but, my understanding is that it is extreme leverage. It would have to be to hold such strong individuals captive.”

Duke perked up. “I know what it is for some and I imagine that it is similar for others. He holds items of power and loved ones hostage against their cooperation. It’s truly evil.”

“As I told you from the start.” Baslin responded with some heat to his voice. “Now, study those books for the next few hours. After that, I am sending you out into the forest to hunt. You need to get your Abilities up as well as your Level. You will need to be at least Tier Two, but Three would be better, before you will be ready to confront the king’s lackeys. They may be the pampered nobility, but they have training and resources that would make your head spin. They gain levels in days that would take others years. It is a good thing they are lazy and don’t truly pursue more than the basics that their increased levels and bought Skills and Abilities give them. Now read. I’ll be back for you when it’s time for lunch and your ‘outdoor’ training.”

****

Duke was deep into his fifth tome on magical theory when Baslin came back for him. “Did you learn anything?”

“Honestly? I have no idea. My experiences with magic don’t seem to align with the theories in these tomes. I am learning how it is supposed to work here, but I can honestly tell you that it doesn’t work that way for me.”

“Intriguing. Care to explain?” Baslin absently placed Duke’s lunch on the side table between chairs and sat down leaning forward with his full attention.

“Some of it is pretty basic. For instance, spellcasting. Everything here says you have to make the proper gestures to cast a spell.”

“Yes, somatic components are foundational knowledge. Knowing the somatic groupings is as basic as knowing the schools of magic.” Baslin nodded as he explained.

Duke chuckled. “You see, that doesn’t quite work for me. I can be sitting here like this,” Duke disappeared without a single motion, reappearing in a chair a few meters away. “And without anything more than a thought, I can be over here. No gestures, no grand connection to the magic of the world, no awkward forming of intent. I just think about it, and it happens.”

Baslin continued to watch as Duke TELEPORTED all over the library with no pauses between, and no gestures needed. “This changes so many things. While I feel it is still important for you to understand how magic works for the rest of us, you can simply ignore the rules. It must be tied to your use of magic as Abilities rather than Spells. Do you know what this means?”

“Um, it means I can cast spells faster than anyone else.”

“Precisely. You have no gesture lag. There are Abilities that reduce gesture lag but even I still have to make the proper gestures. You break such fundamental understandings that you will perplex any other mage you come up against. This works tremendously in our favor.”

Duke smiled broadly. “Now that’s what I wanted to hear.”

Baslin gestured to the tray on the table. “Eat your lunch and meet me in the entrance foyer. And be quick about it – it’s even more imperative that we advance you quickly! And for you, particularly you, gaining levels and practical experience with your Abilities is the best way to do it.”

Duke quickly ate and joined Baslin in the entry foyer.

Before Duke could even speak, Baslin started handing him things. First was a jade ring, then a gilded headband with an enlarged eye carved in the front of it. Finally, an amulet on a black leather cord.

“What’s all this stuff?”

“Oh, I’m not going to tell you.” Baslin answered with a smirk.

“Oh, really?” Duke canted his head.

“Well, no, not really. But I thought it might be funny. Do you have any idea how long it has been since I have had someone I could jest with? Anyway, the headband is really for my benefit. It pairs to another that I will wear and will allow me to see what you see. The amulet is an emergency shield should you encounter something far beyond your ability to handle. And finally, the ring is one of my favorite creations. It is the Ring of Rooms.”

“Ring of Rooms?”

“Great name, right? It’s a ring that can store room after room of things. Really, you could store everything in this tower within that ring.”

“That’s pretty amazing.”

“I like to think so. I have been stuck in this tower for a very long time. I used to be quite the alchemist as well, but there are only so many ingredients I can gather from such a small area around the tower. You, on the other hand, can go collect all sorts of things out in the forest. Please collect everything that seems odd or useful. Definitely toss the corpses of everything you kill in there. It’s willpower-based and with your Psyche, you should have no issues controlling it.”

“You bet. I’ll toss everything into the ring, and you can make all the potions you like.”

“You have no idea. Now get out there and go kill something!”

“Just go out and go on a killing spree?”

“Precisely. There’s no one around for at least a hundred kilometers. There are many monsters out and about in the area. Go find them and use your abilities to kill them. If you can find some way to do so with your TELEPORTATION Ability, that would be ideal. As it is your highest ranked Ability, we should focus on getting it to Master as fast as possible.”

“I’ll try and come up with something. TELEPORTING up and dropping people seems to work pretty well. Maybe I should do more of that.”

“Until you run into something that can fly, glide, catch themselves on a tree on the way down, or is just too heavy for you to TELEPORT. But, yes, by all means, stick to what you know works. Once. In a controlled arena setting. While being enhanced by an additional mysterious Ability you really know nothing about.”

“Point taken. I’ll experiment.”

“Good, now go out and wreak havoc!” Baslin gave Duke a not so gentle shove towards the door.