Chapter 13

Bronze, Silver, and Gold

The Class of the Wanderer is solely unique to but a few who were selected by the Gods over the years. In the past, such people went on to be traveling Sages, spreading knowledge as they went. In others, they eventually became traveling merchants who would find and offer legendary treasures never seen before or again. The path of the Wanderer was one who welcomed change, who accepted diversity and thrived under pressure. Few would ever be able to truly master this Class, as few would truly face the challenges laid before them head-on. This was why the Wanderer Class, more so than any other Class, had the highest failure rate of a Class. For just as there had been stories of wandering Sages, or grand martial experts traveling the lands, there are more stories of degenerates who travel from town to town, causing mischief and trouble to make ends meet.

One thing that no one knew about Wanderers, outside of Wanderers themselves, that is, is that they had a way to know where they would be needed. The Gods, in all their infinite wisdom, gave them the Ability to see fates. For Lykan, this came with the markings of locations or paths in the three colors: Bronze, Silver, or Gold.

Lykan had seen flashes of the colors in different directions as he traveled. Finally, he came close to a bronze coloring to find that he was led to the lair of a sleeping boar. With deftly quiet steps, he made his way toward the beast and managed to strike the beast down with one powerful strike to the head. From this encounter, his Focus Skill rose from Novice to Beginner. To Lykan, this made sense as he used Focus the most during this particular encounter. Going so far as to think about every step he took. He forced his breathing to be slow and minimal. Then even as he swung, he held his breath, lest his shout startle the beast making his killing blow ineffective.

A second time he followed the lines before him to a silver location. There he met a bear that nearly cost him his arm and his life. The fight had been bloody and fierce. Even his evolved Regeneration Skill barely managed to fend off the wound and infections that tried to come after. Still, Lykan had managed to land a final killing blow.

By this point, the outer protection of his sword had mostly chipped away. The blade beneath shone like porcelain, while having the strength of Mythril, and possessed the sharpest of edges. The blade truly was remarkable. If not for the blade finally being exposed and being able to cut through the dense hide of the giant brown forest bear, he would have had to run. Run or lose more than an arm. As it was, he had only managed to succeed slightly, though he was rewarded by the Gods for his efforts with his Sword Mastery raising one rank from Novice to that of Beginner. Similarly, his Quick Step rose from Novice to Beginner.

While he was making great strides forward with his Skills, his Magic Abilities still remained stagnant. The only problem was that he had no clue where to begin to train those particular Abilities. His particular Magical Abilities seemed to be more generalized than anything. While he could create minor bursts of energy if he focused, such bursts were often wasteful, at least from Lykan’s viewpoint. To Lykan, it was far easier to take energy from an existing spell and use it to replenish himself. That or take the energy of a spell and have it circle back on its caster. Energy Absorption helped him take in the energy of a spell. This was the easiest act for him as it was almost instinctual due to this particular Ability being Mastered. The Control and Altering of a spell in motion were also easier as he could see the energy coming with his Energy Sense.

Lykan found that taking control over someone else’s spell was a simple task, at least for him. The reason for such ease was apparent to the High Priestess and Martial trainers. The reason Lykan found it so easy to take control over another’s spells was that his Power level and Intelligence were often higher than the person he was going against. This made conquering a spell rather easy. The only problem was that taking over a spell was so easy that Lykan couldn’t understand why he couldn’t form the bases for each spell.

Even the spells he eventually managed to create were smaller in scale than the ones he witnessed others creating. The only thing Lykan failed to realize was that with magic, scale wasn’t everything. The reason why the spells of many of his peers appeared larger than his was that they were more unstable. Often his peers or even the opponents he fought in the simulations would use excess power to hold a spell long enough for it to get to its final destination. This was great for a fireball, as it made the ball of energy glow with a deeper hue than expected. Yet, it took away from the base function of the fireball, which at its heart was to create the element of fire.

Lykan understood the concept of magic that he would often try to imitate. Another problem that Lykan had was that he possessed no connection to the elements. Not a one. So while many High Wood Elves could call down one or many elements to assist them in combat. Lykan alone was stuck with energy.

He could pack it together and hurl it toward his targets. This was how he eventually defeated the frog-like creatures from Tier three and was able to move on in his trials. But still, such attacks seemed to be wasteful. For as much energy as they were required to make, they were relatively bland in color.

For one, since they weren’t elementally infused, they wouldn’t appear on the physical plane. This meant that almost no one save for those with Energy Sensing or enhanced sensing Skills would not notice them or their effects. For another, they were small. The forms that Lykan had to create with his mind were often compact and intricate lattice works of form over function. See, with Lykan’s magic attacks, the most important component was the base structure. From there, everything could be built upon and expanded. He even saw ways that he could enhance his Abilities with the elements. In each structure, there were places where alternate energy sources could be applied to add to the overall form of the spell being created. The only problem again was that Lykan had no way of creating those elemental sources himself.

He had gotten good at taking elemental spells that were cast at him and quickly manipulating the elements provided, and sending them back to his attackers. This was a tactic he mastered in Tier Two of training against the Azani warriors. Lightning would be called down from the heavens, only to be quickly redirected back at the Shaman caster and infused with Lykan’s own brand of energy. Then boom! The ground would shake, the sky would flash white-hot bright for a second, then slowly fade to normality. When the dust settled, and everyone was once again able to see, all that would be left was a smoking crater and a silhouette of two clear footprints standing amongst a pile of ashes.

These thoughts and more flowed through Lykan’s mind as he made his way forward. He was still heading South but got distracted by a shining flicker of gold off in the distance. For whatever reason, his mind kept going back to the battles he held with the Azani. He knew they were the enemies of the Great Forest, but he couldn’t quite understand why. Were they inherently evil? No, Lykan refused to believe such a thing. To claim an entire group of people were evil was too easy. People were, by their very nature, people, which meant they were both good and bad. He realized that different cultures praised different Skills. What might seem as barbaric to some would be perfectly normal in other cultures. So to claim that all Azani were evil was too easy of an excuse to hate them.

No, there had to be more. Yet, the most he could find in the histories of the people were that Azani hunted the Wood Elves when they were banished from the Great Forests. There were talks of Wood Elves being taken in as slaves and worse. That was part of why the High Wood Elves prayed so fervently to the Great Forest Spirit, as they were being persecuted in lands they knew little to nothing about how to survive in. A city was far harsher to learn to survive in than a forest. That much was apparent to Lykan. Well, maybe not harsher, just harder to adjust to if your only Skills were for surviving in the woods. What good is tracking in a city? What good is foraging? These are prime Skills that were being used by and praised by the High Wood Elves, yet they would be near worthless in the city.

Thinking on it, it was a tough lesson to learn. Often you don’t know how good things are until you are made an outcast. Lykan failed to realize this lesson himself. Reflecting back, he now realized there were so many things he took for granted in his past life in Tython. The fact that he got to spend every day training and reading. He even remembered the way Marcy Kline would look at him. Looking back on their interactions, it was obvious that the only reason she stayed at the Library was to look at him.

Stupid, he thought. How did he miss the obvious signs of her affection? Only now that he had time to truly reflect on his past that he could realize the signs he had missed. This was the problem with an ever-increasing Intelligence. The smarter he got, the easier it was to remember and get lost in his past failings.

No, these aren’t failings. Marcy Kline and I could never be together. She was destined for the life I had always wanted. As for me? I had to go out and purposefully change my fate to become the man I am now. What type of man is that? I don’t know. I hope it is a good man, but only time and deeds will tell.

These words were going through his head as he absently followed the blinking golden trail before him. He wondered about this, as he seemed to instinctively follow the trail leading to the next golden nexus point. In a way, even if he looked away, he would know the direction to go. This almost reminded him of how he found his way directly to the dragon’s lair. He knew then that he could turn away but that his fate would almost forever be sealed as an outcast. Was I always meant to be a Wanderer? He pondered as he followed the trail forward to the golden light ahead. His feet moved as he felt the inevitable tug on his chest. He could feel the courses of fate almost willing him forward. Drawn by the question of what, he moved forward.

As he made his way, he felt his mind flowing like an endless river of thoughts, just as it had when he made his way toward the dragon’s lair. He almost wondered if this was his mind trying to block out the obvious signs of danger that lay ahead. Unlike the dragon cave with the rumbling cave of a sleeping giant, these signs were different. Though just like last time, he got to a part where he knew he could rest if needed. Just as before, he took off his pack, drank a few sips of water from his waterskin, and ate a few bites of prepared meat. He thought about taking his pack with him, remembering how the last one was devoured in a stream of lava.

He knew that if this was truly dangerous, as his mind and body were telling him this would be, he needed his mobility above everything else. Steeling himself, he took off his pack and hid it under some loose branches. Not that he thought many would come this way, but still, it was better to be safe than sorry.

With his pack safe and his sword ready to be drawn should he need it, he decided to go forward. In a way, as he moved forward, he felt the same nostalgic pull of destiny as he had when he was but a child. Off in the distance, he could see lights burning as there was a camp of some kind.

Yet the forest itself seemed to dislike these intruders of its domain. The night seemed unnaturally dark in the woods. The fires, though bright, seemed to barely be able to keep the creeping darkness at bay. It was here that Lykan knew he had to make up his mind. He could go forward and enter the camp head-on, or he could scout out the area. Ultimately he decided to follow his gut to the area that was marked in gold toward the western side of the camp. This was a side that was protected by a steep cliff and likely to be left unprotected save for a few lookouts who were set to guard the ridge. From there, Lykan could view why he had been compelled to come to this particular camp.