The First Archmage

I reenter the Dungeon, and move quickly, passing by every Monster, stopping only to kill the Minibosses, and those fall easily to my superior power with only two or three hits apiece. The final Boss of the Dungeon only takes me six hits to kill. Due to the penalty I have until I reach Archwizard, I don’t receive any loot, but that’s fine by me.

Done, I leave the Dungeon, looking to my team and nodding, and we make our way back to the inn.

“The fastest way back,” Michael says. “Would be to make the three-week journey to the Dungeon we came through initially, it’s the closest that will get us to Jozan. At least, to the part with wyverns. Since you grew up there, I’m assuming you know a trick to killing them?”

“Yeah,” I grin at him. “My friends and I harassed them all the time, and accidentally killed one. Wyverns have thick hides resilient to magic, but they’re weak against sharp objects. The trick is getting close enough to them to pierce that hide.”

“So how did you do it before?” Michael asks. “I always heard it took teams of high-Level Adventurers to kill one, and even then, they risked losing several of the team.”

“Our village,” I say. “Has a technique we call Natural as Nature. When we use it, we become virtually undetectable unless you know we’re there. If you don’t, we’ll just seem like some part of nature to you. I’ve only used it a few times. We used it all the time to harass the wyverns. So I got in real close to this wyvern once, and one of the idiots accidentally released Natural as Nature, and the wyvern freaked out. I was just going to poke it with my knife, but when it jerked away, it kind of jerked right into the knife. There was blood everywhere. It was awesome.”

“Only you would think that’s awesome,” Warren rolls his eyes.

“Mind if we get moving now?” I ask. “I’d like to get there as soon as possible, since it’s going to take us a few weeks.”

“Sure,” Michael stands, and Warren agrees.

We pack up our stuff and head downstairs.

“Yo, innkeep!” I wave him over. “We’re packing up and leaving, you can keep the rest of what we paid. Thanks for letting us stay here.”

“You’re welcome,” he says. “You’re always welcome here, Wizard.”

“Hopefully,” I say. “It’ll be Archwizard soon. We’re returning to my homeland so I can complete the Advancement Quest.”

“Good luck,” he says. “I hope we see you again.”

Michael, Warren, and I make our way to the Hunter’s Guild and bid Collin farewell, letting him know that we’re returning Jozan and might not return. He nods, and wishes us luck.

We travel on the road for a week before arriving at the bastard town, and Michael’s expression grows dark.

“Bunch of thieving cowards,” he mutters, probably forgetting my PER is high enough I can hear it, even if Warren’s isn’t. “If I were stronger, I’d kill every fucking Adventurer in this town.”

“What’d they do?” I ask, and Michael looks at me, face red. “I already killed a guard and an Adventurer when they tried to steal my ring, so I do agree that they’re a bunch of thieves and jackasses.”

“It’s a long story,” he says. “But Kade, Tyler, and I ended up trapped here for a month before we managed to escape.”

“Ah,” I say, then look at the town. “Well, then let’s go give them a warm, Jozan welcome. We are known for holding grudges and not letting people take advantage of our own.”

“Jozan, or you?” Warren asks.

“Jozan,” Michael answers. “It’s part of why Father made the deal with King Wesley. Their honor is high, and they don’t take lightly those who take advantage of theirs. Even a kid from a small village like Gavin has a powerful sense of pride to his nation, and his sense of honor won’t allow him to back down when it’s threatened.”

We arrive at the village, and the two guards look at us.

“Hello,” I say in fluent Velusan. “My name is Gavin, and around seven or eight months ago, you people pissed me off, and I was going to let you off with a stern warning and destruction, but now I learned you trapped three of my team here for a month. Congratulations. You’re all going to die, now.”

The guards snort, and two Magic Bolts later, they’re just headless corpses.

Not even twenty minutes later, the village is burning to the ground, and there are none but corpses and my team left in it.

We leave the village and travel into the forest, Michael asking me if I know where we’re going.

“I have Scout for a reason,” I tell him. “Two or three years could pass, and I’d still know the way to a place I’d been to a single time, when it comes to forests.”

Two weeks later, we arrive at the Dungeon, and we rest for two days, to make sure we’re prepared for whatever rests on the other side. Then, I bring us into the secondary form, then lead us into Jozan.

Guarding the Dungeon entrance are two guards in black armor and a wyvern.

“Well!” I laugh as they look at us, swords drawn. “Here I was, thinking I’d have to travel for a week to find a wyvern, and you had one waiting for me!”

“Kill,” the guard says in a familiar language – the language of the wyverns.

Skill Gained!

Shatus Wyvern Language 8/10: The language of wyverns

The wyvern screeches, then charges toward us on its two hind legs and its forelegs, which are part of their wings. Wyverns are small, only somewhat bigger than a wolf, but they’re fast and powerful, and their claws are dangerous to those who draw too near.

“Firebolt!” I snap my fingers for flair, sending a firebolt into the wyvern’s right wing.

The wyvern screeches in pain, and I fire off four more firebolts into its wing, and two into the guards. It doesn’t pierce their armor, which is interesting, but instead, simply throws them back, barely denting that armor.

Some sort of magical protection. Annoying.

More guards come, so I quickly summon up more Firebolts to destroy the wyvern’s other wing. That has all but immobilized it.

“This is another way to kill a wyvern,” I tell Michael, holding out my hand. “Destroy its wings with overwhelming firepower, then use a sword to cut off its head.”

Michael draws his sword and hands it to me, and I approach the screaming beast, raising the sword up, then bring it down.

Skill Gained!

Sword Mastery 4/10: You have an understanding of how to wield a sword

Class Advanced!

Wizard has now become Archwizard!

For advancing a Class to the second Tier, you’ve been awarded bonus Species Experience!

Legendary Class Bonus Experience: 100 Species Experience!

+100 Human Experience!

For advancing a Primary Class to the second Tier, you have been awarded +5 to all unlocked Stats!

Class: Archwizard

+2 to all Stats each Level, +20% to learning and leveling all Skills, +20% to learning and leveling all magical Skills

The Bloodline within you has Awakened!

Bloodline: Dekami

The Dekami, also known as the Ancients were the first mortals to discover magic, and are the species which all humanoid species are descended from. Their magical prowess is second to none.

+25 to all possible Stats, +200% to learning and Leveling all Skills, +200% to learning and Leveling all spells, +400% to learning and Leveling all language Skills, +400% to Experience in Dungeons and from all non non-System Quests every Level. There is no penalty for distance when moving between worlds, realms, and planes. If you are a twin, your twin possesses this Bloodline as well, and time passes at the same rate when in different worlds, planes, and/or realms.

To gain Experience for a Bloodline, you must change your Species Experience Gain to Bloodline Experience Gain.

That… explains a shitton of stuff and answers a shitton of Questions that I have.

Congratulations! You’ve reached the second Tier of a Class! All Resources have been restored!

Shut the fuck up, System.

-0 CHA!

Real funny.

“I am the Archwizard Gavin,” I say as knights surround us. “Magician of the second Tier, and am more than a little curious as to how you managed to tame a wyvern. I am also curious to know if there are any Executioners, Inquisitors, or Councilmen around.”

A larger man in heavier armor that radiates power approaches me, crimson sword drawn.

“I am an Executioner,” his voice fills the air, deep and intimidating. “You have been deemed an enemy of Turas, and-”

“Firebolt,” I send one into him, this one with more kick than before. It doesn’t do anything to his armor. “Interesting. Firebolt.”

That pierces his armor, and he was so confident in it that he didn’t try to evade it. He cooks from the inside.

“How pathetic,” I snap my fingers, sending out a Firebolt Chain and killing the fifteen nearest guards. “I will introduce myself once more. I am Archwizard Gavin of Jozan, formerly Wizard Gavin of Jozan. In the next four years, Turas will die. King Wesley may have died, but his son, Tyler, lives on, and once it is safe for him to return to Jozan, he will. I will cut down any Turasite warrior who stands in my way. I will find every last one of the scattered factions of the resistance, and reunite them into a single, powerful force that cannot be combated but the forces of Turas. Turas has wounded Jozan, but Jozan isn’t dead. So long as even a small fragment of the spirit lives on, Jozan will never die, and I am the spirit of Jozan incarnate.”

With another Firebolt Chain, I kill the rest of the guards around me, then look at the citizens.

“King Tyler lives on,” I say, then begin to walk down the street, Michael and Warren following behind me.

The town has begun to fall into ruins in the two years since the fall of Jozan. Weeds grow in the alleys, and only the main roads themselves are maintained. The houses are cracked, the paint fading, and the people are dirty, their faces haunted, their bodies thin. I only see women and young children in the homes – no men.

Any guards who attempt to stop us as we leave the town meet a fiery death.

“You know,” Michael says. “They won’t all be as easy to kill as that one.”

“I know,” I say. “I only succeeded because he wasn’t expecting me to be able to penetrate his armor. That armor has a powerful buff to it, and anything short of a direct hit like that probably wouldn’t do anything. The first hit damaged it, but the damage wasn’t visible. There’s Inquisitors as well, and the Grand Executioner. Those will likely be harder to kill than any Executioner.”

I keep walking, and after a few hours, Michael asks me where we’re going.

“Home,” I answer. “To my village, to see what’s left of it.”

“I got word on them,” he says. “Most were slain, and Chief vanished. Natalie disappeared as well, as did all of the magicians in the Tower loyal to Jozan, the bodies of those serving the Council discovered. It’s believed, at least, the last time I was here, that they’re leading two different factions of the resistance.”

“Good,” I say. “As long as they’re alive, I’m a little bit happier. I’m still returning to the village, to see the damage done to it.”

“Just remember,” Michael says. “The Blood Quest gives you a pretty high recommendation for your Classes, and you’re nowhere near them.”

“I know,” I say. “And at the first sign of true danger to me, we’ll be out through a Dungeon in no time.”

“If we can get to one quickly enough,” Warren says.

“Unlike the continent we just came from,” I smile at Warren. “This one is covered in them. You can’t travel for a day without coming across one, and if you’re an Adventurer with a few Levels under his belt and a decent Agility while running for your life, you’ll probably not spend more than a few hours before reaching one.”