7-Old Friend
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Saga 1: The Fall of the Evening

Arc 1: The Maidens of Ashkera

Allen’s breath was rough as he was meditating. Black liquid came out of his skin. It was his impurity.

Inside his mind, his spiritual sea was expanding. As he opened his eyes, his body emanated black mana.

“It’s a success. I have reached level 2 after three days. According to the books, this is the normal speed of people with normal spiritual roots. Now, I need to learn a spell, so I can immediately use it when I reach level 3. However, before that….”

Allen looked at his body in the mirror. He touched the impurity. The liquid was sticky like phlegm. He sniffed it. “It smells bad as expected. I need to bath.”

Allen carried his belongings and jumped down from the window. His room was on the second floor, but he didn’t feel hurt at all. His strength had improved after he reached level 2 of the mana condensation stage. He went to the bathroom at the backyard of the tavern.

After bathing, Allen entered the tavern again. There was a man waiting at the receptionist table. He sighed.

“Where’s the lady that usually wait in here?”

The receptionist man answered, “She resigned this morning. I was appointed by the city mayor as the new officer. Do you want to take a quest, Mister?”

Allen shook his head and put a key on the table. “I am just returning the room key. I had paid to the last receptionist.”

“She had talked that to me.”

“Then, goodbye.” Allen turned and walked out of the tavern.

Allen was heading to the magus tower. Previously, he had read from the books, a magus had to recite a mantra to form a spell model inside his mind rune, and then he needed resources to materialize the spell for the first time.

As Allen stood before the magus tower, two people came out. He recognized one of them as the receptionist he had met. He had planned to greet him, but he noticed something amiss; the acolyte pulled the man by the neck and they entered an alley.

Allen followed and peeked behind the wall. The alley was dark, but he could still see them clear as day. His vision was improved too as he advanced to level 2.

“What happened, sir? Why are you doing this?”

The other man trembled as the acolyte cornered him against the wall. Allen recognized him too as a fellow hunter that had taken the magus quest. He was one of the people that got high rewards too.

“What happen, you say?” The acolyte’s words were cold. “You actually want to register a job in the magus tower. That’s the problem.”

“But, why is that a problem? I had advanced to acolyte too.”

“Shut up!” The acolyte bellowed. “We have too many people working in the magus tower. This Shadowperk City is too small. We only get small resources from capital too. We don’t want new people.”

“Alright, sir, I won’t register. But, can I trade coins for resources too?”

The acolyte smiled. “Glad you understand. If you don’t, I will teach you a lesson.”

The man gulped. “Will you kill me?”

“Nope, killing a magus is a grave crime in any city, even though he’s a rogue magus. It’s not like killing a mortal. As for the trading problems, you can. However, only certified magus can do that. The cost is around….”

The man’s eyes widened. “That high. Uh, then I am just going to cultivate alone.”

The acolyte gripped the man’s shoulder as he would go. “Wait, are you dark magus?”

“Nope, mister.”

The acolyte sighed. “Okay, you can go. If you are a dark magus, I have to force you to create a certificate and brand you with a special mark for the dark magus. Every dark magus has to do that within the area of Myriad Essence Alliance.”

“What if they can’t afford it?”

“The law will force them to become a slave for 3 years. After that, they have to participate in a trial for the dark magus.” The acolyte grinned. “Do you think this is excessive? Well, a dark magus’s potential to evil is high, you know. It’s not like we discriminate them. Let’s go.”

Allen immediately ran away. He couldn’t let a magus find him. Magus could sense mana emitted from each other. If a higher level acolyte saw him, they would ask his attribute.

“Fuck, it seems I can’t trade resources until at least I reach a high level.”

Allen left. He rented a room in the tavern again. He sat on the bed and summoned the system.

“If I can’t afford to learn the top-grade spell, I can learn low grade first. The cost is something I can afford.”

Allen immersed himself in reading the books’ introduction. Each creator always said the might of low-grade spell wasn’t too far from the top-grade spell. He finally found a spell he fancied; the requirements were something he could afford.

Dark Claw Technique

Description: One’s fingers covered in darkness with the force enough to rip apart steel like an egg.

Steps to learn it:

  1. One had to recite the spell until the spell model was formed in one’s mind rune.
  2. Soak one’s hands in a basin made of rank 0 magical beast’s blood and bone powder.

 

Allen smiled. “I can afford this.” He looked out of the window. The sun was high, and the air was hot. “The time’s not too late to hunt.”

Allen took a Giant Babirusa subjugation quest. The new receptionist didn’t care because he had been informed that Allen could hunt magical beasts alone.

After that, Allen went to the forest again. He had difficulty searching the Giant Babirusa. He didn’t dare to make a noise in bushes. Even, he had met a rank 1 Devilmania Tiger. Luckily, it was in torpor mode.

Allen sighed. “Even though Giant Babirusa lives solitary, they are good at picking a safe environment.”

After walking around in the forest for a while, he saw a Giant Babirusa that was eating in bushes. Allen had familiarized himself with their almost bald hides.

He rushed into bushes while swinging his long axe. He targeted the neck of the beast and it nearly severed. Without giving it a chance, Allen jumped and slashed its nape.

The beast’s head fell to the ground. Allen harvested the blood and chopped one of its feet. He went to the city again.

A few days later, Allen was meditating in his room. He could see his mind rune. In the middle of it, an image of hand-formed. The fingers were covered in a dark mist. It was the spell model of the Dark Claw Technique.

Allen opened his eyes and wiped his face. “I have succeeded in forming the spell model. The next step is….”

Allen looked at a basin with boiling blood below him. It was the mixture of the beast’s blood and bone powder. He gulped and inserted his eyes into the red liquid.

Allen bit his lips, enduring the pain. He recited the spell of Dark Claw Technique and spell model formed in his mind rune. His mana flowed to his hands.

After a while, Allen lifted his arms. He could see his fingers covered in black mist. “I did it. This is my first technique, even though it can’t grow stronger. With this, I will have an easier way to gather resources. Besides, this low-grade spell only costs a bit of my mana. I can use it three times a day.”

Allen took the Giant Babirusa’s bone and crushed it with his fingers. He was amazed. “The description isn’t just an exaggeration. I can crush it easily like an egg. Even when I scrapped it with a knife, the bone was hard.”

Allen let the spell out until the mist faded. “It’s last for 5 minutes. I can use it for 15 minutes a day.”

Allen laughed. “What level 3? I can use spell properly at level 2.”

At the moment, there was a feeling blossomed in his heart. It was similar to the first time he had sex with a woman when he was 13 years old. The same addiction yet different. It was stronger. It felt like he was alive. His body burned in determination and passion.

Allen knelt and gripped his chest. “I see. Sex sure feels great. However, this feeling is greater because I feel like I have achieved my potential, my talent.

“I see. This is the taste of power. I want to get stronger, so I can feel it more.”

Allen laughed from the bottom of his lungs. He hadn’t realized yet his purpose was changing slightly. He forgot what the original him had said repeatedly in the book. He had awakened something in him. The feeling of wanting power.

…...

At night, The Stingy Allen was buying all menus in the tavern. It was the time when the place was crowded with people who were exhausted from hunting. Some of them looked at his table enviously.

Allen chugged beer from a big mug and ripped the chicken leg. He usually was a stingy person, but that night he enjoyed wasting his money. After all, it was for the celebration.

Suddenly, the door opened. The mayor entered the tavern. Behind him were his first son and his new wife, the ex-receptionist lady.

Looking at her smile as she held his husband’s arm, Allen knew she was happy. He couldn’t help but smile too.

However, his smile was lasting for a second. His head ached. The image of his wives flashed before his eyes.

“What the hell?” Allen bowed below the table and threw up.

“Do the original love them so much? It’s not like I don’t want to meet them. I haven’t known them better. Maybe they had found another man and are living happily. Besides, I have found what I want to do in my life, looking for power.”

As he straightened himself, the mayor had stood at the receptionist table. All eyes were focused on him.

“Gentlemen, I don’t want to beat around the bush. I come here with some good news. Firstly, my second son, Ren Shadowstep, has been accepted to the Myriad Essence School of neutral faction. He’s been engaged to another genius of our city, Vanilla the Light Acolyte. For her parents, I shall grant you a noble name and promote you as the head of hamlet.

“The second happy news is my first son will inherit my royal position. He has married a smart lady of our city, Lady….”

Most men sneered when they heard the first son of city mayor was married to a prostitute. However, some of them were brokenhearted too.

“The last happy news is a caravan will enter this city. We will sell our hunts to them. Your rewards of hunting will be raised to twenty percent.”

Most of them cheered when they heard that. Some of them were confused.

“The caravan leads by a magus is supposed to come every one year, am I right?” One of them asked.

The mayor smiled and answered. “You must be new here, gentleman. Sure, a caravan from neutral faction comes here once a year. However, sometimes another caravan comes here too. It’s an ally caravan from an evil faction.”

As they gossiped, a man suddenly sat beside Allen unbeknownst to him.

“Allen Vos.” A cloaked man whispered to him.

Allen choked on his beer. Before he could stand up, the man held his hand.

“Wait, it’s me.” The man pulled his hood and revealed his figure. He had brown eyes and hair. There was a long scar on his cheek.

“You are … Reymond.”

“Yo, Allen,” Reymond greeted. “I see you have stepped into the path of magus too. Say, do you want to gain greater power?”

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