The First Archmage

(Gavin)

The moment I'm out of the Rift, I revert back to my human appearance and look around the room I arrived in. It's my bedroom, from the minimansion I bought forever ago. The room looks exactly as I left it back then.

After the quick assessment of my room and hearing an argument going on downstairs, I make my way to the source of the commotion. Eli and Dylan are arguing over a runic theory.

I sit down and wait for them to realize I'm here. It takes them eleven minutes.

"Gavin!" Eli notices me, then starts. "Why are you shirtless?"

"Because wearing a tunic would result in its destruction," I stand, my brothers looking thoroughly confused. "I Advanced to the next Tier of Human, and it included the addition of wings. Passing through a Rift causes my wings to manifest themselves, and I have to actively conceal them. Since I'll be returning through a Rift again shortly, it would be a bother to put a tunic on just for the time I'm spending here."

"I feel inadequate," Eli tells Dylan.

"About what?" I ask.

"Uh… that," he gestures to me. "We're identical twins, yet you're clearly the superior in terms of looks. I wish I had a body with that much muscle on me."

Ah. The typical thing where men like having muscles, and feel inadequate around others with more than them. I suppose us being identical twins affects him worse.

"I have over eight hundred STR," I state. "And am fairly active with my body. In addition, I have have six hundred CHA, which only accents the appearances of my body's perception. If you can find a Natural Rift to pass through, as well as start working your Dekami Bloodline, then you will be able to reach this. However, it would also require you to exercise your physical muscles, and not just your magical ones, and have a high determination to get stronger and work towards a goal.

"Now," I look between my brothers. "I was wondering if you two had any Mana Expansion Techniques or other Expansion Techniques that you would be willing to write down the methods for. In addition to that, I have taken on an apprentice, another Wizard. This is his first time encountering magic.

"Due to that," I say. "I am requesting that you two write up a tome on the basics to magic. I will return anywhere from three to six months from now to collect it. He'll be a bit past the very beginning by then, but I'm sure the later portions of it will be useful in his education. In addition to that, it would be good to know what tips you two have for learning magic. It will be a good step in the direction of-"

"The Order's mission of education of all sorts," Dylan nods, walking over to a bookshelf. "Eli and I already thought of that. You said he's a Wizard? So that would be magic based in Mana. Basics, basics, basics. Here we are."

He pulls a tome off the shelf and walks over to me, holding it out.

"This is a tome we titled 'Introduction to the Magic of Mana'," he informs me. "We have two copies of it, aside from this one, as well as the original."

"Can I see your wings?" Eli asks, and I stare at him. "Please?"

I manifest my wings, stretching them out. It feels good to have them out and stretched. I may have spent longer in the Rift than I should have to stretch them and fly around, but since time doesn't pass while I'm in there, it's not really a problem.

That, and it allowed me to kill a shitload of monsters, which boosted my Level quite a lot. Three hours in the Rift allowed me to gain two Levels to Ascended Human, putting me up to Level 10.

There were a lot of monsters, and Ascended Human benefits from butchering. The more I'm butchering at a time, the bigger the boost. So the more I slayed, the faster I gained Experience.

If I were an Ascended Human when I was killing those Elves… I'd probably have been able to go from Level 1 and 0 Experience to able to take on the Advancement Quest by the time I finished it.

That was a fun war. It's a shame I didn't have my wings back then, I could probably have dealt with it faster if I relied on my flight magics through my wings than through manipulating the air to fly around.

I shift my wings for a moment, then release them, returning to my more human appearance. I hold out my hand, and Dylan stares at me for a moment before realizing that he'd dropped his down to his side, the tome still gripped in his hand.

My brother holds the tome back out to me, and I send it into my ring.

"Thank you," I say. "How are things going for the Order here?"

"Well," he answers, looking around. "We've been collecting information about magic – what we can, anyway – and compiling it into these tomes here. We haven't written down any of the Expansion Techniques we know, though if you give us about an hour, we can write them down."

"Alright," I say. "While you're doing that, I'm stopping elsewhere to see if they have any as well. It's a place of Aura users, and what I'm looking for are primarily Aura Expansion Techniques, though any and all would be appreciated. Also, please inform your students that I'm not the bogeyman."

With that, I draw a finger through the air, opening another Rift and stepping through it. Hearing the whispering coming from the other room was bothering me a little, and I don't think the students were aware that I was the brother of their mentors.

This Rift is a strange one, a swirling mass of colors and darkness, though no monsters or civilization this time. I fly straight ahead, focusing on something that was, at first, simply at the edge of my perception.

As I fly, it becomes clearer and clearer, turning out to be exactly what I expected: the other end of the Rift I opened. I fly through the Rift, touching down inside the shrine I built to Nies as Marty and releasing my wings.

Three Adventurers were kneeling in front of the altar when I arrived, and they're now staring at me in both awe and fear.

"Relax," I tell them. "I am Gavin Jakran, Blessed of Nies. I use an unconventional method of traveling."

A very unconventional method of traveling.

Nies?

The looks on their faces were amusing. Do it again.

Will you allow me to channel a small portion of your power so that I can grant them luck on their Quest?

That's so much effort, though.

You're squeezing a tiger again, aren't you?

They're durable enough to withstand my puny strength.

May I? These three are powerful Adventurers, judging by their appearances, ages, Classes, and Levels. If they are praying to you for luck, they probably need it.

I was going to give them a small boost. They gave me good sweetcakes. They're delicious.

A quick glance at the altar reveals it to be empty.

You're eating them now?

Yeah, he sounds like he's talking to me with his mouth full.

Even though this is telepathic communication.

Sure, I'll let you. Though it's really Marty who should be doing it, as he's my Paladin, not you.

Oh, hush.

He huffs, then I feel the flowing of his Divine Energies coursing through my body.

"By the power of Nies," I place a hand on the head of the closest man, and he flinches. "I bid you good luck on your journey."

A crimson glow flows from me, then into him, fading after several seconds. I repeat the blessing with the other two, then Nies's power fades from me.

Thank you, Nies.

You owe me one.

I built you a shrine.

That won't work forever, he gives his usual response.

I smile, turning and leaving, making my way into town, then to the temple. It takes me much longer than it should have, because the people who lived here before I left recognize me as the Blessed of Nies and want to ask how things have been and for my blessing.

It really is the Paladin's job to do the blessings, not the Hero's. Our job is to, well, deal with other shit.

I do manage to reach the temple, though, and once inside, I track down my old Sensei. He stares at me for a few moments.

"Gavin, Hero of Nies?" He questions.

Oh, right. He knows me as Marty. I'm in my True Form.

"Yes," I say. "I was wondering if there were Aura Expansion Techniques – that is, a way to increase the size of your Aura Pool by applying runes to them, or some other method similar to that."

"There is," he nods. "Follow me."

He leads me to the library within the temple, then looks through several sections before pulling out a slender tome.

"We know of twenty-three different methods," he shows me the tome. "However, it requires a knowledge of the Dekami Runic Language, at at least Level 3, in order to perform."

"Mine is at Level 7," I state, and he starts. "I believe I'm nearing Level 8."

"As to be expected," he collects himself. "Of the Hero of Nies. Do you know how Marty fares?"

"Quite well," I answer. "He's about to encounter a number of… people you probably know not the meaning of. They are heavy with the usage of aura, though do have a number of magical abilities as well. May I copy down the techniques? They will assist both of us greatly."

Especially Marty, as he has a harder time acquiring more Aura than I do. If I somehow manage to up my Formshift Skill a few more Levels, I'll be able to apply my Bloodline bonus to it. Unfortunately, I doubt I will manage to reach that in the near future, and if Nahor is to be believed… that means never.

Sensei allows me to, so I spend the next ten minutes hastily copying everything down. My PER and AGI are high enough to allow me to move hastily, but still write and draw meticulously, essentially allowing me to create a second, nearly-identical set of notes.

"Thank you," I use my magic to dry the ink, then send everything into my ring. "Good luck, Sensei."

"Good luck, Hero Gavin," he gives me a bow.

I return the bow, then make my way back to the shrine and open another Rift, passing through it quickly while ignoring the odd monsters within it. They are creepy, and I don't like them.

How did Dylan and Eli even make it through so many Rifts?

I reach them in no time at all – quite literally for my brothers – and step out of the Rift, reverting back to my human appearance before heading downstairs, where they are arguing over their runic theory again.

I sigh, waiting for them to finish. There's a woman around seventeen or eighteen sitting in one corner, studying a tome intensely, and it takes her about three minutes to notice me sitting down, despite my powerful aura. Her eyes widen when she sees me, and her face reddens.

Then she looks at my brothers, who are still arguing about the tome. A few minutes later, a boy around fourteen enters the room, carrying two jars of regents, stopping when he sees me. He looks between Eli and myself, then widens his eyes, his mouth forming an 'O'.

As he drops the jars. I gesture with my hand, the jars stopping before the hit the floor due to my application of Air Manipulation.

"Careful," I say. "Don't want to waste resources."

My brothers look at me.

"You're back!" Dylan exclaims, then runs off into another room.

"O...kay?"

"He went to fetch the papers," Eli informs me.

That explains it.

"Okay," I say. "You were arguing about that before as well. What is it?"

"Oh, right," he says. "We're theorizing that there's at least one more runic language out there. At least, that we mortals can use and understand."

"Why are you two theorizing over this?"

"He is theorizing this," Dylan returns to the room. "There is no evidence of such a thing existing, and in all worlds, realms, planes, Rifts, and whatever that we've been to or through, they all used the Dekami Runic Language."

"I really do believe there's another Runic Language out there," Eli tells me.

"Why?" I ask as I accept the papers from Dylan, sending them into my ring.

"Because," he walks over to a shelf, pulling out a thick tome. "Of these."

He sets the tome down on the table and starts flipping through it, showing me spell after spell, enchantment after enchantment.

"This is," he says. "A compilation of all of the spells, enchantments, and other things that use runes that I believe may be from another Runic Language. In other words: literally every spell, enchantment, and other shit that use runes. Period.

"Each of these spells," he continues. "Become noticeably improved when replacing the noted runes with ones that I believe are from the Dekami Runic Language and that work for the same purpose those runes are supposedly there for. They're also runes that no amount of research has yielded unto us the knowledge of. In addition, I cannot figure out how to work them into spells together, despite knowing what they're supposed to do in the spells they're for."

He walks over to a shelf and pulls out another tome, from beside the one the first one rested, then pulls a tome from the other side, setting them both down on the table.

"This one," he opens up the first tome, flipping through its pages. "Consists of all of those magics, but with the runes replaced. The spells become far more stable when used with this version than with that one, yet all I'm doing is swapping out the unknowns for knowns that perform the supposed function of the unknowns. In addition to that, they're easier to use, have shorter cooldowns and lower Resource costs, and I actually managed to Level several of them or obtain them easily, compared to what is the norm.

"This one," he opens up the other tome, which is much slimmer than the two spellbooks. "Contains all of the unknown runes, as well what they supposedly mean. The reason I believe that there might be more than one is because, of the one hundred, eighty-six different runes, I have found three that supposedly mean the same thing as another, meaning there might be a third runic language, in addition to this one."

"And I'm telling him," Dylan closes the spellbooks. "That he's overthinking things. Odds are, these are just advanced Dekami Runes that are far beyond the understanding of our current Dekami Runic Level. We receive the same headaches from reading them for too long as we do any other runes that are too advanced for us to understand."

"Yet their design is different," Eli looks at his brother. "Subtle differences in the design of the runes indicate they might be from a different language – or character set – altogether."

"Or they could just be some moron who didn't know how to do the runes properly," Dylan says. "Fucked it up, and then the runes spread. It's a completely viable excuse. Hell – it could've been the Dekami themselves screwing with things so that 'mere mortals', in their eyes, don't get too powerful."

"Eli," I say. "Do you mind if I take the tome with the runes? Or is it your only copy?"

"You can have it," he tells me. "It could do me some good to write them down again. If they are another language, it'd benefit me heavily in acquiring the Skill for it."

"Which there isn't," Dylan says. "Because there aren't other Dekami Runic Languages. That bastard would've talked about it before if there were, and you know he'd know. The whole damn order would've known about any other Runic Languages that existed."

I flick my wrist, the jars I was supporting with my magic floating up to the apprentice, who accepts them and thanks me. Then, I look at the female student sitting in the corner.

All of their apprentices are youth, judging by the sounds of the people in here right now and who were in here before. Somewhat understandable, as it can be easier to teach someone younger than you than it is to teach someone older.

Older people often don't like younger people telling them what to do.

This will be useful to remember, for when we're ready to build our headquarters. We'll have to be extremely selective of which adults join us at first, to ensure things go a bit more smoothly, as much as I'd rather just let people in from the start.