Stygian Mage

“You should be more careful.” Smiley looked at Soren and said.

“Yeah, that was my fault. I forgot about that in the heat of the moment. But….you knew about me and you even helped me. Why?” Soren simply admitted his fault and asked the question that was currently on his mind.

Smiley stared at Soren as he heard this question. He didn’t answer him even after some time passed; it was not that he didn’t want to answer, but….he didn’t know what to answer.

Soren saw that Smiley was not answering his question so he decided to change it.

“How did you know my identity?”

As he heard Soren, Smiley sighed and said, “I didn’t. I just knew that a ‘Traveler’ had appeared in the town and simply connected that to you after you started asking those questions….it was not that hard.”

“The others….they don’t know about this?” Suppressing the anxiety brought by Smiley’s answer, Soren asked another question that was bugging him. If Smiley could figure out his identity from his questions, then so could the others.

“Tera, Wood, and Hound haven’t been to the town yet. After I got the coordinates, I informed them and they arrived here directly from the place they were staying at before. The others who had come for the Vestige and were staying in Eastwood all bailed out after hearing that the information about it had spread and the Families had gotten involved.” Smiley answered Soren’s question without any hesitation.

Soren heaved a sigh of relief after hearing Smiley’s words but as he thought of something, he got tensed again.

“But if they go to the town after this and hear about that…..”

“Don’t worry. We don’t plan on heading to Eastwood after this. If we do get something from the Vestige, it would be better for us to leave here as quickly as possible. Other members that were in the town have already left; we five are the only ones here right now.” Smiley understood what Soren wanted to say and explained the situation to him.

Soren didn’t immediately get happy after hearing this as he still had one more thing he wanted to know about, no matter what.

“You still haven’t answered my first question though. Why did you help me?”

Smiley sighed once again as he heard Soren asking the same thing.

“Do I really have to answer that?” He looked at Soren as he said that but after seeing that Soren was being so adamant about this topic, he gave up.

“I don't really know why I helped you. We are not a friendly group gathered to play around, you know. You are already aware of our rule for joining; kill a member in a one on one battle and take their place. None of us are saints and we won’t even bat an eye if a member of our group is being killed in front of us.” Smiley explained as they both stared at each other.

The distant sound of beasts and birds fell into their ears as they continued their talk.

“Our group is different from the other Organizations. We don’t have their cohesiveness but instead, we have our freedom; complete freedom to do anything we want. Here, no one helps someone if they don’t have anything to gain; at least, that’s how it's supposed to be. But….I helped you….Maybe it was because you are currently in the same situation that many of us were in at one point in our life. That’s the main reason we created this group; so that Rogue Initiators like us can help each other while still maintaining their freedom.”

Soren stood there silently as Smiley finished his words. So, it was…pity: this thought went through Soren’s head as he looked at the masked man in front of him.

Smiley couldn’t see what expression he had, but from the way that Soren acted, he could guess that his empathy was mistaken as pity by him. Smiley simply shook his head at this thought. He truly didn’t want to end things on this note; this thought was not based on reason, but emotion.

Smiley then took a deep breath and….swiped his right hand on his face. Amazingly, his mask slowly faded away. The way his mask faded confirmed that it was not just a simple mask but Smiley’s Soul Form. But Soren was currently too shocked and occupied by this turn of events to pay any attention to this point.

As the mask faded away, he finally saw Smiley’s face. Surprisingly, he looked quite young; at least in his late twenties. He had fair skin and average sized brown hair with some strands coming down to his forehead. His facial features could be said to be quite good but there was one thing that destroyed it. He had a scar on his face, going from his left forehead down to his left cheek. The scar that had missed his left eye with just a hair distance made him seem like a battle-hardened veteran.

“I just wanted to reciprocate and also wanted you to know that I didn’t help you out of pity,” Smiley said as he looked at Soren who just stood there without saying anything.

After hearing Smiley’s words, Soren broke out of his stance and took a close look at his face.

“I should also tell you that although I have a little talent in Illusion Spells, this face is my real one.” Smiley smiled as he said.

It was the first time Soren had heard this term—Illusion Spell. He knew that he still had many things to learn so he was really intrigued when he heard it. He also got a little excited upon thinking about how many types of spells there could be.

For a moment, he even forgot the things that were on his mind just moments ago. 

“Illusion Spells.…. How many other kinds of Spells there are?” Soren forgot about what had happened before and asked just like a curious child.

Smiley laughed, his scar moving like a centipede, as he heard Soren asking about the types of spells instead of questions that other people generally ask in this situation; like about his scar or how he started the group.

He looked through the holes in the mask at those two black eyes which were now glowing with curiosity.

“It would take a lot of time if I start explaining everything right now, and honestly, even I don’t know about every type of spell there is. The few ones I know are: Offense Spells, Defense Spells, Support Spells, Control Spells, Illusion Spells, and Curse Spells. There might be more types or this might be it….honestly, I don’t know.”

Smiley explained it to Soren patiently. Then, he suddenly remembered something as he thought about the Curse Spells.

A frown formed on his face as he started talking, “I don’t know if you are already aware of it or not but there is something you should know about your situation. If you are thinking about running away to solve your Blood Contract problem, don’t do it. Anyone who uses Blood Contracts in this manner always has a corresponding Curse Spell to cover its weakness. You think you can run away but after they will be sure that you are not coming back, they will use a Curse Spell on you; it’s a spell that is used to place a curse on someone by using a link. By signing the Blood Contract, you are always linked with them and they could easily place a curse on you by using that.”

Soren was once again stunned by hearing this information. It was not like the thought of running away hadn’t ever crossed his mind. He just didn’t act on that thought based on the fact that he never underestimated the Liston Family. It was a very obvious weakness of the Blood Contract and he knew that if he could think of it, the Liston Family could too. He didn’t know the details about any Curse Spell but he knew his fate wouldn’t be any good if he tried to run away prematurely.

He was really glad right now that he didn’t act impulsively before. If nothing, this fact confirmed his approach—never underestimate your enemy.

Coming out of the shock, Soren once again focused on Smiley. He thanked him for warning him about the Curse Spells and then started to think about his other questions.

He had many more questions that he wanted to be answered but wasn’t sure which one he should ask first. The information that Smiley could provide him was something he could never get even if he was to look feverishly in this backwater area.

After thinking for a while, Soren decided to ask the question that he was going to ask before in the cave; the one Smiley had interrupted.

“Can you tell me the way to go back to my homeworld?”

……

The time was afternoon and the sun had already climbed its way to the peak; looking over the world like an unconcerned audience.

“Even if I tell you now, you won’t be able to do it,” Smiley said as his voice mixed in with the sweet chirping of the birds.

“Am I not strong enough? How much strength do I need?” Soren wasn’t willing to back down so he asked again.

“It’s not exactly about the strength as much as it is about the level of life. You can’t understand it yet; just know that even if you reach Rank 3 or Rank 4 in the future, you still won’t have the qualification to step out.”

Smiley looked at Soren who was visibly dejected after hearing what he said.

“Just keep increasing your strength. One day, you will find your way back. Till then, enjoy it here; it’s not such a bad world, after all.”

Hearing those words, Soren took a deep breath; he knew he couldn’t stay dejected forever. At least, he knew that there was a way to go back home. He just had to slowly move towards that destination; one day, he would reach it.

Then, he remembered something and suddenly got pissed off.

That fucking asshole…he told me there’s no way to go back…. that motherfucker!!!

……….

“Can I ask you a few more things?” Soren removed the useless thoughts from his mind for now as he released a breath and focused on the present.

Smiley helplessly laughed as he looked at Soren. Right now, Soren was very similar to a curious child who had gone out into the world for his first outing.

“Go ahead.” He couldn’t stop him so he helplessly agreed.

“Can you tell me about Spell Vessels and how many types are there?” Soren asked another question that was on his mind, completely ignoring the fact how one question after another keeps popping in his head. He had obtained a unique Spell Vessel and this time, his question was about that; if it was very rare or something very common outside of this area.

“Well…there are mainly two types; you already know about this, I presume: Natural Spell Vessels and Artificial Spell Vessels. If I start explaining about both, it will take a lot of time. Can you tell me precisely what you want to know about them?”

Soren thought for a while and decided to ask about the type of Spell Vessel that he had just obtained.

“I got a Spell Vessel a while ago which gave me a choice for the attribute of the spell. Can you tell me about that type?” Soren didn’t hide anything and just said that he had obtained a Spell Vessel of that kind. One of the reasons was because he had already added it to his Soul Form and there was no possible way to take it out anymore, unless he mastered it and learned how to make an Artificial Spell Vessel. Another reason was something very vague; Soren couldn’t tell what it was but if he had to guess, it would be….trust.

Soren couldn’t identify what it was and calling it trust might even be premature, but he didn’t know what else to call it for now. He might or might not regret it in the future but who could say that everything would remain the same.

Maybe this vague feeling would turn into something real in the future or maybe he would get betrayed; but by then, he would be strong enough to shoulder either that trust or that betrayal.

……….

“Ah! That is one of the Neutral Spell Vessel types. Generally, Neutral Spell Vessels doesn’t contain any attribute and are based on raw Mana, but there are some of the rare ones which allow the users to add an attribute. Of course, the fusion of attribute won’t make it a different spell; it would only add the effect of that attribute to the spell. I am actually amazed you managed to find one that hasn’t already been used; it’s quite rare.” Smiley exclaimed on the rarity of the Spell Vessel and patiently explained it to Soren.

After getting his answer for that and making Isaac record everything, Soren started thinking about what to ask next.

Smiley looked at Soren who was seriously mulling on the next question and got a little annoyed.

This little asshole.….he is treating me like a portable library…haha.

“That’s it for today, kid. Do I look like an information bank to you?” Smiley said with a forced smile on his face but his expression looked pissed.

“Kid? I am not much younger than you. Who are you calling a kid?” Soren picked a petty point and retorted back.

“Don’t go by the looks. We are Initiators; we stay young for a long time because of our increased ‘Vitality’ stat—increased lifespan.”

Soren then suddenly remembered the explanation of that stat.

Vitality: It signifies your aging rate, lifespan and recovery speed. It is inversely proportional to your aging rate and directly proportional to the recovery speed. In terms of Lifespan – 1 numeric value of this stat means 1 cycle of 60 years. Your ‘Health’ and ‘Stamina’ is based on this.

Soren’s current ‘Vitality’ was 6.91 so based on that fact, his lifespan became: 414 years.

Soren became speechless after he calculated this. He never really paid attention to this but now that he noticed it, he suddenly felt very weird. No matter how he thought about it, he just couldn’t comprehend what it meant to live for 400 years. His current age was only 20 years old; that was almost equivalent to being a 5 years old child if he compared it to an average of 100 years lifespan of a person.

Apart from this, another thought crawled its way into his mind as he started thinking about this topic. He might have a lifespan of 400 years currently and it would also increase in the future, but his family…..