The First Archmage

“Goodbye, Gavin,” Garret says. “Remember – come find us when you’re an adult, and we’ll teach you more. For now, we’ll be a pain in the asses of Turas.”

“I’ll be back before then,” I tell him. “In less than four years, I will see Tyler on his throne.”

“We’ll make sure the resistance hears of this,” he nods. “They’re scattered, but perhaps hearing that King Wesley truly does have a son will help them unite.”

“Goodbye,” I wrap him in a hug. “I miss all of you, and it’s gonna get worse.”

“No more tough guy?” He asks.

“You guys are my family,” I say, then give Emilia a hug. “It’s so hard, being away from all of you. But I have to! I have to see Jozan back to power!”

“And you will,” Garret nods. “But don’t overdo it or act rashly, Gavin. We’ve taught you that, but you’ve never had a harsh lesson in it – most of us learn that once we turn sixteen and are allowed to enter a Dungeon for the first time.”

“He’s learned it,” Michael says. “He has a Blood Oath as a result, and lost 2 LIF from another rash decision. He almost died before either of those happened because he decided to do something stupid. Hopefully, he’s learned that lesson.”

“Three times,” Garret shakes his head, and my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “If Chief were still around, he’d be unamused.”

“I know,” I say. “We should get going, or I’m never going to leave again.”

I turn and go into the Dungeon after setting it to secondary form, and find myself on a chilly mountaintop. The others join me, then we pass back through, into the other area, plains with a dirt road leading away from the Dungeon.

I look at Michael.

“All roads lead to one of the four Tower Dungeons,” he says, then starts walking.

It takes us two days before we arrive in the massive city surrounding the Dungeon, which sits at its heart. Michael speaks the language here, and I pick up on that even though he said he never spent too long somewhere, the four months he spent here were probably forgotten with that. He chats with the person behind the counter, then receives three room keys.

And the innkeeper clearly knew him. They chatted for almost twenty minutes. Long enough for me to gain Levels 1, 2, and 3 of their language, Karus.

“So,” I say as Michael leads us upstairs. “You were just mapping stuff out for a year and a third?”

“Uh,” Michael chuckles. “Yeah… I forgot about here. Aw, man!” He smacks himself in the forehead. “I even told you about it, and still forgot about it!”

Warren and I chuckle.

Michael shows us our rooms, then we gather in mine (why do we have to gather in mine?), and Michael says that there are a few things we should know.

“To start,” he says. “All monsters have drops, however, they’re not considered ‘loot drops’. All monsters drop magic crystals. They’re of varying size, and typically a dark blue in appearance with a spark of light at its core. The stronger the monster, the larger the crystal. You can, however, receive a loot drop instead of the magic crystal. You can trade in any drops or crystals at the trading post above the Dungeon.

“The currency,” he says “Take the form of coins. There are four colors: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum, each with two coins – a smaller one, and a larger one. One and five, ten and fifty, hundred and five hundred, thousand and five thousand, respectively. I don’t have any money, but with our combined strengths, we’ll be fine if we make a trip to the Dungeon, and Jeffery knows me well enough to know I’ll pay him for tonight.

“The two of you,” he continues. “Will need to register at the Guild, but once you do, you’ll be free to travel into the Dungeon. They do restrict how far you can go based on your strengths, and have been able to read relative Levels in non-Adventurers for centuries. What are your current Levels?”

“Level 1 Archwizard,” I answer. “Level 19 Scout, Level 14 Archer.”

“Essentially,” he says. “Level 59 – the total sum of all of your Levels. Your stats are even higher than that suggests, though, because of Wizard boosting every stat by one every Level.”

“Archwizard does two,” I say. “Though I’ve switched my Species over to Bloodline Experience.”

“Bloodline?”

“Yeah,” I explain to him what Bloodlines are. “And with mine giving me twenty-five to all possible stats, and those learning, Leveling and Experience boosts every Level, it’s worth it to sacrifice the few stats Human gives every Level, even if it means I delay how long it takes me to advance Human to another Tier. Just gaining a single Level to my Bloodline will massively boost how quickly I gain Experience, speeding up gaining the next Level.”

“Wait, you gain how much?” Michael asks.

“Twenty-five to all possible stats, every Level.”

“That’s… whoa!” His tail starts swishing back and forth again. “Not just all stats, but all possible stats! This is beyond just hidden stats – it includes all locked stats in that! ‘All’ is just for visible and hidden, but not locked! Just one to all possible stats is a mythical potion, and you gain twenty-five to all possible! That’s insane!”

“Dekami,” I nod. “Their Bloodline.”

“Dekami?” He frowns. “You mean the name of that runic language Warren and I can’t get a grasp on?”

“For now,” I nod. “Yes, them. The Ancients, the long-lived, supposedly immortal beings who first discovered magic. By the end, I’ll have gained 600 LIF, or three thousand years to my natural lifespan. If I gain just five Bloodline Levels, there won’t be a damn foe who can stop me, regardless of how many Classes and Tiers they’ve gained. I’m aiming for Level 5 by the time a year is left. I’m betting I can reach it faster than that, but if I don’t, I’ll return to Jozan at the start of the final year. I should be plenty strong by then.”

Michael nods, and Warren looks between us.

“I can’t understand a word of what you two are saying,” Warren says, and we look at him. “You’re speaking in the locals’ tongue. I can’t understand it.”

Michael and I laugh, then explain to Warren what we were talking about. Once he understands, we make our way outside and to the Guild Hall, a large, imposing stone building that stands three stories tall with few windows on the second floor, and none on the third.

Inside, we approach the counter with several men and women standing behind who, each one dressed in the same uniform, which consists of a weird form of tunic with another piece over it, which Michael tells me is called a vest, when I ask.

“Hello!” He greets the woman behind the counter, who puts her hands on her hips and gives him a stern glare.

“Michael Thomas Burrclaw!” She says. “Just what do you think you’re doing, disappearing like that for a year, then walking in here as if you didn’t skip out on paying your Guild fees?”

His last name is Burrclaw? Like… the little spiky things that get stuck on your pants and tunic when you’re not paying attention to where you’re going when going through some woods?

I can totally see that.

“What did she just say?” Warren asks, and I tell him as Michael talks to her.

“You know I only forgot to do that!” Michael sticks his tongue out at her. “I have a new party! Mind if we get them registered so they can go into the Dungeon? We’ll be splitting up in there and battling on our own, but I’m loads more powerful, now, so I can probably pay off your fee.”

“Don’t think it’ll be something a couple of Levels can fix,” she says. “We add on interest when you don’t pay your fee, and are aren’t allowed in the Dungeon until you do. It’s 2,500 krat per month, and since you didn’t inform anyone that you weren’t going to be in the Dungeon, it’s built up. You owe us 169,400 krat.”

“Eeh!” Michael squeals. “I don’t have any money! And nor do they! Can we please go in the Dungeon? I guarantee we can pay off my debt when we leave it! I mean, I won’t be able to, but Gavin can!”

“Why am I always the one to pay for everything?” I ask.

“No,” she crosses her arms, glaring down Michael. “Not with your little antic the last time you went into the Dungeon. You are not going in there until you pay off the fee, and no one goes in unless they’ve paid their monthly fee.”

“Excuse me,” I step forward. “My name is Gavin, and I’m his party leader. Warren and I just came from a very, very faraway land, and have no currency of this one. It would be impossible for us to gain currency here unless we did work or traveled outside of the city to hunt monsters and do regular Dungeons. If we are unable to pay the fee, we’ll have to delay entering the Dungeon, where we could easily gain enough loot and crystals to pay it off. Sure, we could probably afford the krat for my fee and Warren’s, to be able to enter the Dungeon, but it would be a few days before we could return here. In addition, Michael would be incapable of affording it until I went in and gained the necessary loot and crystals to exchange for it. If you let us in now, you’ll gain his fee when we finish. If you don’t, you’ll have to wait a few days.”

“I will have to see about that,” she says. “I’m not a big fan of letting kids into the Dungeon, and only let Michael in because he had an older, more experience team with him.”

“By two years!” Michael nods his head. “Though by the time I went back to what I’d been doing before getting distracted by the Tower Dungeon, I was a higher Level than them! I’m even stronger, now!”

“We’ll see about that,” she holds out a thin, clear sheet. “Hand.”

Michael places his hand on the sheet, tail swishing back and forth, and the sheet glows blue for a moment, runes of this language forming on it. She takes it back, then frowns.

“That can’t be right,” she looks at Michael. “You made it to Level 18 in the last thirteen months?”

“Yup!” He nods his head vigorously. “It’s all thanks to Gavin! He says you likely gain a small buff to your Experience when you’re focusing on things dealing with your Class, as well as when you have a purpose! Plus, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have been able to kill hundreds of kobolds a day, every day! Those dog-faced beasts, trying to pretend to be smart! They deserved it! Hiyah!”

Michael slashes a hand through the air, and people stare.

“And you,” she looks at Warren, holding out another sheet. “Place your hand on the tablet, then input a small amount of Mana to it.”

Warren does, and the tablet glows, runes forming on it. She looks at it.

“Level 5,” she says. “You’d be restricted to the first two Floors of the Dungeon,” she looks at me. “And you. Your turn.”

I do as she says, and when she takes the tablet back, stares at it, then stutters as she tries to talk.

“Yes?” I ask.

“250 Mana?” She asks. “A combined Class Level of 59, and a Species Level of 18? How is that even possible? You’re only fourteen! And all these Skills… and mastered ones, at that… how is that even possible? Eh? You’ve advanced Firebolt Chain to the second Tier? How did you do that so young? That takes years to do! You’d probably be able to clear the first three bosses by yourself! I’ve never seen a kid in my hundred years able to do this!”

“You don’t look a day over twenty-five,” I comment. “Does it have to do with your species being Elf?”

“Yes,” her gaze is still on the sheet. “How… how are your stats and Level so high?”

How did that sheet read me so well? I didn’t sense anything when I put my hand on it, and I was trying to. No magic at all…

Is it something to do with the System itself?

+0 INT!

Interesting. If you would talk to me, I’d ask you directly, but you won’t, so shut the fuck up.

-0 CHA!

“So,” I say. “Would you be willing to let us go in? I’m sure I’m capable of earning the amount needed to pay off his fine and our fees in this trip.”

“With your stats,” she’s still staring at the sheet. “And your Mastered spells… there’s no doubt you’re a formidable foe. I’d put you in the upper second Tier of two Classes, but you’re only fourteen… how is that even possible?”

“Is this normal?” I look at Michael.

“When they find an unfair existence?” He asks. “Probably! Miss Kayla! Can we? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!”

“Fine,” she glares at him. “But you have three days to pay it off. If you haven’t paid it off by then, I’m barring you from the Dungeon until you do, and no exceptions this time,” then she looks at me. “We absolutely must talk when you finish – I’ve never seen a child with stats so high!”

“I’ll think about it,” I say. “Thanks. Michael – lead the way.”

“This way!” Michael leads us deeper into the building, until we arrive in a large, circular room with a large pit in the center, stone steps wrapped around it, leading down, the stone walls studded with crystals that glow with a faint blue light, giving just enough light to see by. “Here we are! The stairs down to the Dungeon!”

“So what’s to keep people from passing through?” I ask. “If someone really wants to? A spell or something? I can’t sense one.”

“Nope!” He says. “But you don’t want to get banned by the Guild! Let’s go! There’s lots of stuff to kill!”

“Warren,” I look at him. “Are you alright with working on your own? Or would you rather one of us stayed with you?”

“I’d rather you stuck around,” Warren says. “I can’t speak their language at all. But we need to pay off Michael’s debt,” he glares at Michael. “So you two should go to where you can take care of, and I’ll just stick to the first two floors.”

“Alright,” I say. “But don’t hesitate to Gift your way down to me if you need it.”

“Will do,” he nods. “I’ll meet you upstairs when I’m done, take your time.”