The First Archmage

I stop at the tenth Floor, confident I can handle things on my own here, unlike months ago, when our party kind of failed out.

Confident until the damn spiders show up. Why did they have to show up first? I’d much, much prefer fighting and killing goblins over spiders. They’re creepy and crawly and their webs are annoying to get in my face and ears and tail.

Drawing my sword, I get to work on killing them, doing my best to avoid any of them crawling on me or getting stuck in their webs. One of them gets me in the arm with its web, and it’s so gross. Ewwww! I hack at the spider until it dies, then try to scrape off the web. It’s so sticky!

Eventually, with a use of some Mana, I manage to detach the web. That was soooo gross.

I’m going to the goblin portion of this. I hate that spiders inhabit the area by the stairs down here, and that to get to the goblin-only portions, you have to cross through spider territory.

The goblins that are in the spider areas are crazy. I dunno why the Dungeon things goblins like spiders. They’re creepy and crawly and icky. They give me the shivers and make my fur stand on end!

Goblins!

They all die way too fast. I mean, they’re tough, but they’re way easier than they were before. I don’t think I can take on the second Boss, though. But killing the goblins is fun, anyway! It’s not like I’d be able to handle the thirteenth Floor on my own, I’d definitely need support!

“I thought I heard a familiar howl!” A voice laughs, and I look over to see my old party from when I was here. Daviv, Kyle, Eric, and Sam. They have someone new, another soldier, probably Squire. “What’s up, Michael?”

“Training!” I answer. “Here with my party!”

“Where are they?” Daviv looks around, looking a little confused.

“Oh, we left Warren on the first Floor, and Gavin went farther down.”

“You guys split up?” He asks.

“We’re training where we can handle,” I nod. “So cool that you’re on this Floor! Have you tried the Boss yet?”

“Not yet,” he shakes his head. “We need a few more Levels before we can dream about fighting it. So have you gained another Level yet?”

“I’m Level 19 Squire, now!”

“How is that even possible?”

“How did my Party Leader reach the second Tier of his Primary Class in less than a year?” I ask. “We’re just weird like that.”

“He’s still fighting while talking,” the new member comments to Sam.

“That’s Michael for you,” Sam nods. “He gets very, very enthusiastic when it comes to killing things. Sometimes, I picture him as a Novice who likes to blast everything with Fireball.”

“Novice is probably my next Class,” I nod. “Oh! I’m and I’m a Level 10 Beastborn now, too! I gained a Level to each while fighting down here! Wow! Has it already been that long? It’s been hours! I bet Gavin’s gained a few Levels!”

“Michael,” Daviv says. “This is James, the Squire we found to take over your spot, though he’s not as enthusiastic as you are, when it comes to killing monsters. He’s good with his blade, though, and-”

“I’ve reached Level 8 Sword Mastery!”

“How in the fuck are you getting so powerful so fast?”

“Gavin says it’s ‘cause of my devotion to my goal.”

“That’s utter bullshit.”

“I’ve shown you utter bullshit. And udder bullshit, too.”

“Thank you, for bringing forth those suppressed memories.”

“So watcha up to?” I ask.

“Heading back to the surface,” he answers. “Want to catch up later?”

“Sure!”

“We’ll be at the usual place,” he says.

“See you at dinner!”

They leave, and I keep on killing shit until I get tired enough I think it’s better to return, resting briefly on the sixth Floor to recover a bit before fighting the first Boss.

Who isn’t there.

When I reenter the Guild, I spot Warren sitting by himself on a bench, and people giving him a wide birth. His eyes are closed, and he looks relaxed. I sneak up on him, circling around behind him. Why is Greth glaring at him? He only just got here, since his hair’s wet. He really needs to learn to dry his hair after a bath.

“Hello, Michael,” Warren says when I get right behind him, and I freeze. “You do remember that I’ve got spirits contracted to me, right?”

“Don’t you have to summon them to talk to them?” I ask. “And continuously feed Spirit into them for them to interact with this realm?”

“I used to think that,” he sighs, then looks at me. “So how’d you do?”

“I gained a Level to each!”

“Cool,” he stands up. “So how do I exchange what I earned into money?”

I take him over to the station, and show him how to exchange it, since he can’t communicate with them. He earned a total of 917 krat today, which is a good haul for someone of his Level and stats. I managed 3,947 krat. It’s not enough for either of us to pay the fees, but we have three days, and Gavin has yet to come up here.

We sit back down and wait for Gavin, who shows up with about fifteen other people, four of whom are carrying massive magic crystals. Like… one of them is the size of Warren. A Boss’s crystal.

That… is probably worth a hundred thousand, by itself. His LUK is damn high for him to get one so big from a Boss.

A couple of others are carrying loot items, such as horns and skulls and stuff. Their supports’ bags look stuffed.

Did Gavin enlist them in helping him bring his loot to the surface? Is his ring full?

“Hi!” Gavin greets the worker. “I’d like to trade in my loot for the day!”

One million four thousand eight hundred twelve. That’s how much krat Gavin just earned.

More. Than. One. Million. Krat.

In one trip.

“Thanks for volunteering to carry my loot,” Gavin smiles at them after sending his coin into his ring. “The ring got filled up pretty fast, since it’s already full of stuff.”

Their reaction says they didn’t volunteer to carry his loot. They sell off his stuff as Gavin walks over to me, and I realize something.

“Gavin?” I say.

“Yes?” He always seems distracted by something when he’s around me.

“I just remembered,” I say. “But how come you don’t sell any of the stuff in the ring?”

“Why would I?” He asks.

“Well,” I say. “King Wesley gave it to you, and-”

“To watch over and protect,” Gavin shakes his head. “I’m not going to use the Wealth of Jozan for personal things. It isn’t mine to use. I am simply watching and protecting it until Jozan is restored.”

Gavin really has a strong sense of duty to his kingdom, even though it was restored. He’d definitely make a fine member of my tribe.

Gavin pays off my fine and their join fees, then we leave, parting ways. I catch snippets of what the other Adventurers say as I leave, the ones who ‘volunteered’ to carry his loot out.

Apparently, they tried to pass off their monsters to the kid they saw wandering around the Tower Dungeon’s twenty-second Floor as they ran away. Ten minutes later, they found him smiling at them from the exit, and thanked them for volunteering to carry his loot.

His smile was so intimidating, one says, that it felt like the devil was smiling at them. They didn’t know what to do or how to react, and then suddenly, he was standing right in front of them, a knife to their leader’s throat.

Then, Gavin apparently told them that the next time they want to pass off monsters they can’t fight, it better not be to a Tier II Archwizard who plans on continuing his ‘training’ for a few more hours, and that, since his ring was full with the crystals from those monsters, they’re then volunteering to carry his loot for him

Gavin is so evil sometimes… but they totally deserved that!

“Your tail wags any harder, you might fly off,” a deep, familiar voice says, and I turn around to find a wolfen beastborn with pitch-black hair and azure eyes standing there.

He’s not much taller than me, and he’s got the same build as me – slender, but toned, with defined muscles. His body oozes strength and speed, and he has a faint aura around him that warns others against fighting him. Light, leather armor protects his chest, his forearms, and his knees, and leather boots adorn his feet. Underneath it all, he wears black clothes.

Matthew, Wolfen Beastborn 19, Greater Chieftain (II) 2, Brawler (II) 18, Knight (II) 8

“Papa!” I throw myself into him, giving him a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard you were here,” he answers. “So made my way over with haste. It’s been months, and I haven’t heard a word from you.”

He takes a step back, hands on my shoulders, and looks down at me, smiling.

“You are my son,” he says. “Level 10 Beastborn? Level 19 Squire? You’ll be in a new Class in a week or two, no doubt.”

“I gained so much Experience today!” I nod. “I don’t even know why, but I bet it’s because Gavin is right, even if it’s more than I was gaining before!”

“Temporary buff to our tribe!” Papa laughs. “We’ve all gained the boost, but only for today! You’ll probably be back at your regular pace tomorrow!”

“Boost?” I ask. “Oh! You gained a Ruler Level!”

“Indeed,” he smiles. “Gives a buff that lasts the day to all those under my rule.”

“Second Tier is awesome,” I grin at him. “My Party Leader hit the second Tier! He’s an Archwizard, now!”

“So you found Gavin?” He asks, and I nod.

“We have a lot to catch up on!” I nod. “I know this amazing restaurant! Oh, but you’ll have to pay, ‘cause I need to pay the bill for my room tonight.”

“That’s fine,” Papa laughs. “One of these days, you’ll get smart about money. And probably gain Acting so you can stop wagging your tail whenever you get excited. One of these days, someone is going to just grab it.”

“Nah!” I say. “And if they do, I’ll fight ‘em!” I punch the air a few times, ignoring the looks Papa and I are receiving. “Oh! Except for Gavin! I wouldn’t mind it if he grabbed my tail!”

“So your feelings were rekindled?” Papa asks.

“Yup!” I nod. “He’s getting even hotter as we get older, too! But I think Warren has a crush on him, so I’m not saying anything. I don’t take other people’s wolves! Or men!”

Papa laughs again, ruffling my hair.