Seeds of Discordia

Liam made his way through groups of people who were either standing around, talking, or heading to the make shift dance floor. His destination was the counter where the bartender was.

After he successfully maneuvered through the crowd, he noticed three individuals huddled together. It was Alicia and two of her teammates.

He decided to walk up to them since it looked like there was a long line to get the bartender’s attention.

Alicia noticed him approaching them from the corner of her eye and greeted him with a smile. “Hey, were you looking for us already? Done talking with your team?”

“For now,” Liam started. “I promised one of my teammate drinks. I saw you guys here and thought I’d come talk with you while I wait for that to die down a bit.” He hiked a thumb towards the bartender who looked to be overwhelmed.

Liam noticed Octavius and the red-haired girl turned to look at him. Octavius had a stoic look while the young lady had an aloof smirk on her face.

“Good luck waiting,” the red haired girl said. “That line will just continue to pile if you wait.” She placed a finger to her lips as she looked to be staring at something off in the distance.

To Liam it looked like she was staring at a notification screen or maybe her internal clock, since that was the look many gave when looking at them.

“A couple more bartenders should be arriving soon,” She stated as she looked back at him.

“Oh? Got their schedules memorized?” Liam asked with a perplexed look.

The red-haired girl giggled. “This place is my favorite to grab a drink. It’s only natural to know when it gets busy and when back up arrives.” She reached a hand out to him. “I’m Olivia.”

Liam returned the handshake as he gripped her hand back. “Liam.”

Olivia’s expression turned serious as she asked, “So, you’re from Earth too huh? What part? Did you belong to a faction?”

“Olivia,” Octavius chided.

Olivia raised a hand up to stop him from saying anything as she explained, “No. It is only right to know. Little Ali here might have a good feeling about him, but he’s a mystery to us. After all, depending on his answer might tell us if he was a part of that family.” She spat the last two words with a scowl.

Liam knew the drill. If you came across random people, whether they were alone or in a group, it was customary to ask the faction they were in.

After the government left the citizens to fend for themselves the world became chaotic. Killing, stealing, and all criminal acts became a daily thing. It basically became a dog eat dog kind of world.

Two Factions were formed during this time. The Rampart Faction, which appeared to protect the citizens who couldn’t protect themselves. They acted like police and tried to keep the peace when the actual police were nowhere to be found.

The other was the Fatal Faction. This faction appeared around the world seizing control of cities and countries. They painted themselves as the new government officials.

Liam knew Olivia’s concern about whether he belonged to a faction was just. Both were corrupt and were just a cover story. A cover story made by a certain powerful family that capitalized on the chaos and confusion left by the old government.

This family used the world as a training ground for their younger generation. What kind of training? The kind where you have each member fight and kill other members to see who is stronger while growing a faction. Sometimes it wasn’t just the members of the family. Majority of the younger generation went on mass murder sprees, killing both Fatal Faction members and innocent civilians.

After too many civilians died the family made the Rampart Faction to guide the citizens out of harm’s way before a major battle happened. After all, they needed the civilians alive to keep making essentials.

“To answer your first question,” Liam started as he stared at her. “I am from a small country town around the central valley in a state called California in the U.S. And to answer your second…I wasn’t apart of either Factions.”

Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “California was full of Fatal and Rampart Factions. If you weren’t part of any faction, then how did you survive?”

“I have no obligations of telling you,” Liam countered. Before Olivia could respond he added, “I did you the courtesy of answering your questions out of respect for…” Liam looked at Alicia and with a teasing smirk.

Alicia noticed the smile and frowned as she realized what he was about to say.

Before she could stop him, Liam continued with mocking tone, “Little Ali.” His smirk then turned serious as he added, “Now you must do it in return. If you don’t then I’ll treat you as a Rampart member and won’t be kind with each encounter. And if you decide to never tell me then I will treat you as a Fatal member. I don’t care if you’re a member of Alicia’s team or not.”

To an outsider, his words might seem a little harsh, but those who hated the factions knew they had to be. If you didn’t make it known where you stood, then there was always a chance you could end up with a knife in your back.

Olivia stared at him, returning his serious look with one of her own.

Alicia looked uncomfortable with the exchange.

Even with the loud music and chatter going on in the room, a silence grew between the four people.

Liam was ready for anything. He wanted to put the past behind him, but he knew there was no way he could as long as other people from Earth, who dealt with the same horrors, were around.

Olivia was the first to make a move. Liam tensed, but then relaxed as Olivia laughed.

“You were right, Alicia,” Octavius stated. “He really isn’t one of the faction members.”

 “I’m sorry about that,” Olivia responded. “I hate having to do that, but you know how it is. I was in California as well as Octavius and Alicia. We weren’t part of the factions either.”

Liam let out a sigh of relief.

“Now that, that’s out of the way, shall we talk?” Octavius asked.

Liam nodded. “Might as well since it looks like it’ll be a minute before I can get the drinks. But before that…”

Liam informed them about what he heard from Mercer. He left out the part of him being a crafter and his magical examination results.

“Hm, a member of the Mage tower?” Octavius questioned as he started thinking. “Now that you mention it, I think that guy approached Jude after he tried challenging me.”

“I was afraid of that,” Liam said.

“Why does he need your results?” Olivia asked. “That is supposed to be private.”

“Do you think he’s from earth and was a faction member?” Alicia suggested.

“Don’t know. Do you know if Jude was a Faction member?” Liam inquired.

“We have our suspicions,” Octavius answered. “His thirst for wanting to crush people and wanting to know who is stronger was always a sign of a faction member. However, with classes, magic, stats, and skills those who weren’t before, are now acting just like those bloodthirsty killers.”

“You speak like you’ve ran into many from Earth here,” Liam commented.

“I know of some,” Octavius replied. “I have noticed majority of those assigned to the Black Dungeon are from Earth.”

Liam’s eyes widened at his sudden statement. “What?”

Alicia stared at him. “Yeah, at least three out of the nine groups assigned to that dungeon are from Earth…wait you were assigned to that dungeon, weren’t you?”

“I was,” Liam stated. He looked at them and asked with a confused tone, “What about you guys?”

“Red Dungeon,” Octavius said.

“Oh?” Liam started. Full of curiosity he inquired, “How is that one?”

“Hot,” Olivia said with a dissatisfied face. “Full of fire and lizards.”

“Sounds horrible,” Liam commented with a smirk.

With a flat look Olivia stated, “You don’t know the half of it.”

The other three laughed at Olivia’s obvious distaste for the red dungeon.

“So, what are you going to do about your situation?” Alicia asked, curious about his answer.

“Well, I don’t want to reveal too much,” Liam started as he thought it over.

He really didn’t have a plan made. He was going to go all out, but now he wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to give out all of his cards. Even though he didn’t have much to show.

“Maybe I’ll try to use some combination of sorts,” Liam started. A thought came to mind. “I forgot to tell you. I came up with a way to use crafting magic during battle. I might try out the other crafting magics and see what I can use as a strategy.”

“Really?” Alicia said with a look of surprise. “You need to tell me all about it.” She stopped and looked like she realized something. “Speaking of crafting, Professor Galin asked me to give you this.” She then looked into her inventory for something.

“You know,” Liam started. “I’ve been meaning to ask. Why do you call him Professor?”

Alicia gave him a mischievous grin. “That moustache of his, it makes him look like a professor.”

Liam looked at her with disbelief. He then let out a hearty laugh as he thought about Galin’s moustache. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Ah here it is,” Alicia said as she pulled out a book.

“What’s this?” Liam asked as he grabbed the book.

The cover read, Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Mana Control Volume 1.

The cover made Liam feel perplexed the more he stared at it. Why would he need a book on understanding mana? Isn’t that what Magic Practicality was for?

“He said it’s part of the compensation for that item you sold him,” Alicia responded.

“What item did you give him?” Olivia asked.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you?” Alicia asked.

Liam’s stomach turned as he looked at Alicia.

Is she really going to tell others about the item Galin told them not to talk about? Liam thought.

He went to interject himself into the discussion, until Alicia stated, “Those better tasting potions you love so much? Liam here made them.”

“Are you serious?!” Octavius shouted. His usual stoic demeanor suddenly disappeared.

“Holy shit, you’re the one who made those?” Olivia questioned with disbelief.

Liam’s eyes widened at his change of expression. He hesitated, but answered, “Yes.”

“You are a god send!” Olivia stated as she grabbed his shoulders. “You have no idea how much we appreciate those potions. The taste of the old ones were so horrible I was going to swear I would never drink them ever again if they were always going to taste like that.”

“You’re welcome?” Liam replied with a brow raised.

Alicia let out a cough. “Anyways, he got you this book to help with your training on making the mana potions.”

Olivia’s eyes sparkled. “Are you going to make better tasting mana potions next?”

Liam was taken aback by her. I thought I was the only one who loathed the taste of those potions, but I guess I have a brother…sister in arms.

“Why would I need this book to learn how to make mana potions?” Liam asked.

“Did Professor Galin ever mention that each potion has different ways to make them?” Alicia asked.

Liam thought back to his first lesson with Galin. He did remember the man telling him that.

Liam nodded.

“Well, Mana potions require a certain process to be able to do it. It’s called Mana Extraction,” Alicia answered. “In order to do that process you need to learn an ability called Mana Channeling from this Knowledge Theory.”

“Okay.” Liam said, still confused. “But I thought Mana Channeling was a focus point in the Field of the Bard? How can it be an ability and a Focus Point at the same time? Do I need to open that field up and get that focus point?”

“I didn’t know that was a focus point for another Field of study,” Olivia stated.

Liam gave her a confused look.

“I didn’t know Bards had their own Field of Study,” Octavius added.

Alicia shook her head, ignoring the other two. “No, you don’t have to do that. Professor Galin told me that it isn’t unusual for abilities and focus points to have the same name. In fact, some Focus Points appear in different Fields of Studies. Mana Channeling is one such example.”

“Really?” Liam asked, sounding shocked. He fought the urge to take his notebook out to take notes. I’ll have to ask her later to repeat this.

“Yeah, they do have a difference though and that’s application,” Alicia clarified. “Focus Points on Fields of Studies are there to help better the subject of the study, or so I was told. I’m still trying to figure out why some have so many different Focus Points while others have only two or three.”

 “I was wondering that too,” Liam stated. He then looked at Olivia and back tracked to what she said, “What did you mean by what you said? What Field of Study did you open?”

“You haven’t bought me dinner or a drink and you’re already asking personal questions,” Olivia teased with a playful grin. “I opened the Field of Illusions. I’m an Illusionist Mage.”

“That’s cool,” Liam said with a look of respect to her.

“Right,” Olivia agreed with a wide grin.

“Anyways,” Alicia said trying to bring the conversation back on track. “The Focus Point Mana Channeling can be used differently depending on what the subject is. For example, for the Illusionist Mage have it to better understand how they can channel magic into their illusions.”

“And Bards have it so they can get a better understanding on channeling magic into their instruments,” Liam said as he started to understand.

“Exactly!” Alicia stated.

“So, then what is the difference between it as an ability versus it as a Focus Point?” Liam asked.

  “It’s in the name. Ability and Focus Point. Mana Channeling as a Focus Point only focuses on the understanding while the ability focuses on using it,” Alicia started to explain. “When you get it as a Focus Point you don’t need it as an ability because it’s already being used. Having it as an ability when you don’t have the focus point makes you learn how to fully use it in different ways. It’s not restricted to only one thing when you have it as an ability.”

After hearing Alicia’s explanation, Liam started piecing together some of the questions he had on Focus Points. It made a lot more sense if he thought about it like that. He then started thinking about the purpose of Fields of Studies.

He shook his head and stopped himself before going down that rabbit hole of theories. This was something that required more time and tests. Not during a night of drinking.

“Thanks,” Liam said as he put the book away. “I’ll take a look at it tonight. Are you available tomorrow afternoon or evening?”

“I am. You wanted to learn about poisons and how to make them right?” Alicia inquired, remembering his earlier request.

“Yeah, I also want to learn how to make flammable oils too. Do you know how to make them?” Liam asked.

He liked his application of using oils and his Light and Burn crafting magic ability. It was a creative way to cause burn damage when he didn’t have the Fire Focus Point. If he could use it for different situations during battle, then he had another way to fight.

He knew it wouldn’t work all the time though. He was lucky that the Viper was a big enough target that he had little chance to miss, but what about smaller opponents? He would need to find a new way for those kinds of situations.

“Yeah, I’m available and can show you how to make them,” Alicia responded.

Before Liam could say anything else a smooth arm wrapped around his neck. A teasing voice asked, “Liam, what’s taking so long? You’re not trying to skip out on what you owe me right?”

Liam turned to see Ariyana grinning devilishly.

Liam shook his head and responded, “No, the line was long, so I was waiting for it to die down some before grabbing the drinks.”

“Uh huh sure,” Ariyana jokingly said. She caught the looks Alicia, Octavius, and Olivia gave her. She took her arm off of Liam and put it out while greeting, “Hey there. I’m Ariyana.”

“Alicia,” Alicia said, returning the greeting by shaking her hand.

“Olivia,” Olivia smiled.

“Octavius,” Octavius stoically replied with a swift firm handshake.

“Are these friends of yours?” Ariyana questioned as she looked at Liam.

“I’m learning Alchemy with him,” Alicia responded before Liam could say anything.

Ariyana looked at her. She took in Alicia’s features before getting a playful smile on her face. “So, you’re that Alicia.”

 Alicia grew a puzzled look before asking Liam, “I’m sorry…what does she mean by that?”

“I don’t mean anything bad by it. Liam has mentioned you to us a few times,” Ariyana answered.

Olivia eyed Ariyana. She looked at Liam and questioned with a suspicious tone, “Who is she? Is she from…”

“No,” Liam quickly stated. “She’s one of my teammates. She’s from Fel…Felta?”

“Feltia,” Ariyana corrected. “Why does it matter where I came from?”

“It doesn’t,” Octavius replied. “What does matter is making new friends.”

Ariyana gave him a charming smile. “I agree handsome.” She looked back at Liam and said, “We should have them drink with us.”

Liam looked at Alicia. “You guys down?”

“Sure,” Alicia shrugged. “I’d like to meet your team anyways.”

“We are going to have so much fun,” Ariyana squealed with delight. A devilish smiled then formed as she asked, “Do any of you know any good drinking toasts?”