I wake up early the next morning, before the sun is even at the horizon. Without much else to do since everywhere is closed, and a bit antsy from the big day ahead, I decide to go to the training hall to work on my magic and exercise before the journey.
I walk down the stairs and into the hall before sitting down and crafting a couple dark and wind spells. They're my main damage, so it's good to work on improving my spellcraft with them. After that I move to sound, to try and find a better way to defend against sound magic.
I'm still unsure, but with [Spellcraft] guiding me and a bit of work, I get something good. By making the target point a self effect and the second type a defense, I can make the third point harmful sounds, and my duration point can be two minutes. I still have to go three layers into the spell but it's much faster and easier to cast. The third layer is also just to make the defense a weak and lasting one to make it mana efficient and not blocking all sounds, just defending slightly against harmful sounds.
With that in my arsenal I try to maintain it for as long as I can while moving on to some swordplay and footwork. I don't do much, just a couple stabs and forms before I go to my room to grab my stuff before going to a bath house to clean up. It takes a bit to get my stuff all packed and ready, but after some much needed cleaning, I head straight to the west gate to meet up with the caravan I was told about by Xandra. As I walk for a bit I hear a man talking to what seems to be a merchant and walk towards him.
I can tell he sees me, but I stand to the side as he finishes his conversation and after a couple minutes, he turns to me.
“What can I help you with, sir?” He asks. His voice is a lot higher than I expected, but that happens occasionally. He looks so big but he sounds so kind.
“Hello. I was told this caravan was leaving today and that I should join. It was by a lady named Miss Xandra, if that helps.”
He looks at me confused until I mention Xandra's name. Then he sighs and shakes his head before looking back to me.
“I understand. You new to adventuring?” He asks while looking at my stuff.
“Yes,” I answer. “I just changed my class yesterday, but I have a lot of experience with most of my skills, especially my magics and [Echolocation].”
“That's good. Go introduce yourself to the others and walk with the second wagon when we start moving. Hopefully you can get some easy levels early and your [Echolocation] will keep us from getting ambushed.”
“Understood,” I nod to him before bowing. “Thank you for the opportunity.”
He waves me off. “Don't thank me yet. You'll still be earning your keep.”
After that, I walk towards a group of people with weapons that are all talking. It's a bit nerve wracking, but after some quick introductions it becomes more comfortable. It seems for this campaign we have 5 intermediate hunters, a party of 3 and a pair, as well as 3 newbie hunters including me. The person I talked to earlier is apparently an old veteran who does easy jobs because he lost his arm and basically retired from hunting.
The party of 3 has a close ranged fighter, a healer and an archer, while the pair are both scouts, and the veteran is a swordfighter. The other newbies are a young girl with a sword and shield and a scout with some knives and a crossbow.
After a while of small talk the leader comes over and tells us to get in our positions, and after another 10 minutes, we begin moving. According to the intermediate hunters, we're going through a forest filled with low level animals and a couple monsters. When a small pack of animals or monsters come the newbies will get a chance to fight with an intermediate hunter as support. After each fight the newbies and hunters will rotate.
After a while of walking the scouts call out a monster and one of the intermediate trio break off to assist. The first person to go was the warrior and the archer, and after a bit we catch up to them. The warrior girl is covered in scratches and has some blood on her sword and shield, and the monster is laying in front of her as she catches her breath. It looks like she took down a wolf while two more further back have arrows sticking out of them.
After a bit of time regrouping and gathering up the wolves, the scouts go back to their posts. One starts watching while the other does a lesson on skinning with the archer. Not long after the scout calls out a monster up ahead and since I'm not participating in the skinning practice I head out with the warrior to take out whatever is ahead.
After a bit of running, we reach where the monsters were spotted. In front of us are two goblins holding tiny knives.
I look over to the warrior and nod to him before stepping up. “I think I'll be good. Feel free to assist if you think I need it though.”
He shrugs back to me and rests on a nearby tree, and with that a rush forward as I start forming a matrix. With the range advantage I should be able to shoot off two spells before they reach me, so I should be fine. When I'm about 10 meters away I pull my staff in front of me standing in place as I launch a [Dark Blast]. The moment it shoots off they look in my direction, but it's too late as my Blast hits one of them in the chest, sending them tumbling.
After a moment to catch my breath I start jogging towards it while forming another [Dark Blast].
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The other goblin charges toward me as I circle it and when it's five meters away I finally finish my spell and shoot it off at the downed goblin. After a second my spell hits it and I hear the system voice in my head.
“Class Skill [Dark Blast] has leveled up to 2”
“General Skill [Calculator] has leveled up to 3”
Right before I get stabbed, I barely manage to block the other goblin’s knife as he lunges at me. He goes for my exposed hands, but I step back out of his range and swing my staff at his head, stunning him long enough for me to cast [Dark Touch] on my staff and hit him in the head again, finishing him off.
“You're pretty good,” says the warrior as he walks up behind me and cuts off the goblin ears. “Most people would struggle taking on one. Let alone two. You're talented.”
“Thanks,” I mumble. “How long do you think it'll take for the others to catch up?”
“Probably a couple of minutes. Why don't you check your stats and skills for now. Make sure it's all in order.”
I nod to his words then open up my system menu before realizing that I hadn't distributed my 5 stat points from my new class. Considering that I'm a mage, I should probably focus on my intelligence and dexterity. So I put 3 stats into intelligence and 1 into dexterity and perception. With that, I open my menu and hear the system's voice in my head
(Name): (Roy)[Speed Writer*]
(Race): (Bat Harpy)
(Age): 17
(Stats): 102+5
(Strength) 9[1%]
(Agility) 11[3%]
(Vitality) 10[0%]
(Perception) 16 [5%][+1: Levels]
(Dexterity) 12 [3%][+1: Levels]
(Reflex) 10[2%]
(Intelligence) 15 [6%][+3: Levels]
(Wisdom) 11[2%]
(Will) 13[2%]
(Class): (Dark Mage) 1
(School): (Dark Magic) 10
(Active): (Dark Touch) 1
(Active): (Dark Blast) 2
(Passive): (Spellcraft) 1
(Subclass): (Locked)
(Hybrid): (Locked)
(General):
(Passive): (Echolocation) 10
(School): (Wind Magic) 10
(School): (Sound Magic) 1
(Passive): (Calculator) 3
I sit on the ground as the system plays my menu, hearing all the achievements I've made so far. It feels so nice to feel growth in a way I can see value in. After I scan my surroundings with [Echolocation] again, I lay down for a bit and play with [Sound Magic], forming matricies and trying to find a way to defend myself with my new magic.
After a couple minutes with little progress, the rest of the group joins us and we continue walking along.
After another hour of walking the scouts point out some more monsters, and the final newbie leaves to fight them off. With nothing else to do, I continue to work on my [Sound Magic] while also scanning the area with [Echolocation].
A couple minutes later we see them as they finish cleaning up the goblins they killed and they join up with us.
The newbie who just finished up walks over to me as we catch up and squirms a bit before talking.
“Hey, I noticed you're new to this hunting thing too. Wanna maybe be friends?” He says.
He looks a couple years younger than me, probably a poorer kid that wasn't good at much else so he went to be a Hunter.
“Sure,” I say with a smile. “Is this the first mission you've been on?”
“Nope, this is my third mission! My first two were more focused on collecting, but I've managed to take a couple monsters before. I've even unlocked my subclass!”
“Wow. That's pretty impressive for someone so young. This is my first mission, but I've been working with magic for a couple years.”
“Well then feel free to rely on me if you need any help! We greenie's gotta stick together.”
We talked for a couple more minutes before the scout called out to me to take out some monsters.
I head to the front to see the same Hunter from earlier waiting for me, and after learning it's three wolves we head out. A minute or two of running and I'm standing on the side of the road with a group of wolves 10 meters in front of me.
“You think you can take ‘em,” the hunter beside me asks in a low voice
Instead of answering I pull out my wand and cast [Dark Touch] on it, then I aim at the wolf in the back of the trio and cast [Dark Blast] at it.
The ball of darkness flies true and lands on the wolf's snout, sending it reeling in pain. Without a moment's hesitation I charge in and aim to smash the right most wolf on the head but it jumps back out of the way as the other snaps at me. I manage to dodge but by the time I've found my footing the wolves have me surrounded. Unsure of what to do I pull on my [Sound Magic].
I form a matrix of sound magic in my hand while preparing to dodge again. A second into forming the first triangle the wolf behind me pounces and I dodge to the side before swinging my staff at the wolf to my right, the one I hit earlier. A bit surprised it leaps back, but the other charges in and bites my leg, breaking my concentration.
I hold the staff in both hands and swing at it, hearing a cracking sound as it falls limp, and the darkness covering my staff fades away. With one wolf down, the other two begin circling again, more wary of an attack.
I form a sound matrix in my hand again before casting the protection spell on my ears a wolf leaps at me from behind and I barely dodge before running to the side the wolf came from. The other one gives chase, but I barely manage to form a [Sound Blast] that I launch before hearing whimpers as the two wolves curl up.
With a bit of time saved I form a [Wind Blast] spell and launched it at the already injured wolf, taking it out before smashing the remaining wolf in the head. It tries to snap at me, but its prone position keeps it from moving close enough, and another two hacks finish it off. With the battle over, the adrenaline in my body keeping my standing fades, and I collapse to the ground.
The warrior that was off to the side comes up to where I'm laying and looks at my injured leg.
“Y'know, for a mage, you fight up close quite a bit. If you don't get better at reading your opponents, you're gonna die at this rate. Why do you even get close anyway? Can't you just stay back and blast them?”
After finally catching my breath, I respond, “I need the experience of fighting up close, and I want to work towards [Staff Mastery]. Also, Dark magic is the best magic for increasing strength through enhancements and blessings, so I want to put it to good use. I was able to kill the wolf that bit me in one swing with a brand new dark enchantment spell. It's really strong up close. Also, a healer is in the caravan, so it's best to take risks while I can get free healing.”
He smirks at me and nods knowingly. “Smart boy, taking advantage of your resources. I bet you'll go far. Just make sure not to over extend. If that wolf got more of your leg, you might've bled out before anyone could save you.”
After a few minutes of waiting, the caravan catches up and I get healed before we begin walking again. It's only been 2 hours and I've already gotten injured. Today is going to be long.
