"As the ethereal light pierced through the terror, bursting the evil remnants around the wearer, through the sacrifice of Sevrin and Slade, the peaceful change to the world was made."
The nun was reciting this line in front of the many followers in the church's sermon, which I could hear from far away because of my enhanced senses as an archer. After selling the Auralisk's corpse, I had made quite a sum. But as I made my way through the forest, I stumbled across a group of wild wolves, which immediately attacked, resulting in massive damage to my equipment.
So with the sum I got from the Auralisk, I used Grimblod's connections to get a blacksmith to accept my commission of crafting some new and better equipment. But that was not the only reward from the expedition.
My grasp of magic had improved.
******
"Everything is made up of magic, from the peaceful and serene sky to the dangerous and terrifying Mythical Deep Sea; even the air we breathe."
The woman, adorned in an orange and blue robe, explained to the two kids, one male and one female.
"And the air is the main source for swordsmen and mages to access mana and fight. You two must learn to extract the mana from the air and use it as your own."
"How are we going to evolve through the ranks?" Said the boy, his vibrant blue eyes shining out of his grey hair.
"Ah, nice question. So, as you two know, magic is ranked based on mastery and usage into 5 ranks: Emberborn, Veilrunner, Ironbrand, Soulforged, and Wyrdcrowned. Emberborn being the weakest and Wyrdcrowned being the strongest."
"Yes, you taught us that on the first day." The blond girl replied.
"It improves based on understanding the magic; it isn't a feeling that can be described, since every person perceives the usage of magic differently. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that you should try to apply your perception of magic to your practical usage as best as you can."
******
2 days later
Great Forest Of Zailum
After advancing to Veilrunner, Kaelen cleared through the forests' lighter areas with a breeze. He had been stuck on Emberborn for a long time, but with his thinking and skills, he could manage to fight low-level Veilrunners. Many adventurers were stuck at Emberborn, not because of a lack of mastery but rather talent; only experienced adventurers or exceptionally talented adventurers managed to rank up to Veilrunner. Since defeating monsters wasn't a rather tough job, anyone who reached Ironbrand could easily find their way to becoming a holy knight, and Soulforgeds could become commanders of holy knights.
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The High-Orc fell on the ground, its body gone cold and limp. Kaelen, standing over him, lets out a triumphant smile. The difference was amazing; he would have had to lay a trap to ambush the monster before, but now, combined with his new equipment and his rank-up of magic, he could face a group of High-Orcs straight on.
Suddenly, Kaelen heard a scream in the distance; he quickly ran over to the place, his speed now equal to 10 wild boars. As he made his way onto the scene, he found a girl cornered by a high orc. Without any thought, he shot the fat monster right through the head, his skull exploding like a watermelon as his brain matter oozed out.
The girl looked at the spot, but Kaelen had vanished without a trace.
******
The branch creaked under my feet as I made my way away from her. I would like my reputation as an archer to spread and tell everyone my full name, but because of a promise, I couldn't. One day, I thought to myself, one day my name would be spread across the world.
A sudden rustling of the bushes pulled me out of my thoughts as I raised my bow towards the leaves, as a few fast figures jumped out of the bushes, lashing at me.
"Direwolves!" I screamed, "Just perfect for testing my physical capabilities."
In the blink of an eye, I shot one of the monsters; he dodged it, scraping his back as two others made their way behind me. I took out a dagger from my pocket and drove it into the skull of one of the wolves and ducked to dodge the attack of the other.
One dead, two remaining, I made a mental note.
As they both attacked me from the front, I threw the body of the wolf I had killed at them. One of them jumped, while the other made his way around it. The one who jumped was immediately shot, but the other one slashed my leg, leaving a decently big wound, nothing life-threatening, though.
With the energy I could gather, I threw the dagger at him, finishing him off too.
I started panting heavily. I used up most of my remaining magic to kill these three wolves; the rest of the magic should be left for emergencies. I patched myself up and started making my way out of the forest. Now that I had tested my powers and had felt satisfied, I could join any party now or even create my own. Archer or not, no one would be foolish enough to reject a Veilrunner's request to join their party.
Suddenly, a large tree started falling on me. I quickly got out of the way, but the tree fell with a slam. As a strange light started coming out of the ground it had just hit.
I became shocked as I realized that the light was from a magic circle, but before I could react, I had been teleported inside a dungeon. The purple walls surrounded me as a bunch of goblins started attacking me.
As I made quick work of them, my mind was racing with questions. Why was a magic circle in a random place in a forest? Why did the tree fall exactly on the magic circle, and the energy generated from the collision was used by the circle as mana to teleport me here?
But how could that be? To teleport even a rabbit, it would require much more mana than just this. So, how could it teleport a Veilrunner like me?
Before he could try to figure out the answer, a bunch of monsters swarmed him. Kaelen, showing a look of panic, tensed up, readying himself for the fight.
