Spell 10 : The Teachings

'Alright, Bambs, heal up. We'll set off for the castle once you're done.' I said, while beating off the magic residue off my hands.

Bambsie was lying on the ground flat like a dead starfish, with his eyes closed while murmuring something to himself.

Incidentally, that last spell I used on Bambsie was just the last one I needed to level up my Fire Strike to the Intermediate level. With the number of times I use Frostfire Bolt and coupled with the fact that Fire Strike was the first spell I learnt, it naturally hit the Intermediate level first among my other spells.

*DING*

[p=center]You have leveled up your Fire Strike to Intermediate Level 1. 0%

Level-up Bonus : Increased 30% Critical Rate![/p]

To be honest, I was not really interested in the level-up bonuses of my basic spells anymore. Since I'm using Invoked spells now most of the time, these level-up bonuses do not affect the eventual Invoked spell. All I care about is raising the level of the individual basic spells in order to make my Invoked spells more powerful since the potential of the Invoked spells are reliant on the level of the basic spells only. Besides, it is easier to level up spells compared to other non-combat skills because one has to constantly face foes stronger than him. Naturally, the spells used against these foes will level up the spell doubly faster.

What I was more interested in was this.

*DING*

[p=center]Codex Alert!

The evolution of your first spell to the Intermediate level is a great feat! The Codex will now reward you with another spell!

Spin the wheel, and determine the element of your new spell!

↓

Fire Water Lightning Earth Holy Shadow(locked) Wind Arcane Gravity

[/p]

'Spin!'

[p=center]The element of your new spell will be Earth.

You have gained a new spell : Boulder Smash!

Boulder Smash Beginner Level 1. 0%

You call upon the forces of the Earth to lift a solid rock boulder from the ground to smite your enemy! May stun on impact.

Mana-cost : 75[/p]

The moment I got this spell, I felt a surge of excitement. If I'm not wrong, Invoking this spell and Sunflare would give me...

'Cast Boulder Smash!'

'Cast Sunflare!'

'Invoke!'

*DING*

[p=center]Gained new spell : Meteor (Unique Invoked)

Meteor Beginner Level 1

From the cosmic galaxies you direct a flaming meteor to crush your enemies from the sky above! The meteor will roll and crush enemies, leaving a trail of fire. Initial impact damage and fire trail damage per second is based on the level of Sunflare. Initial stun duration and roll distance is based on level of Boulder Smash. Try not to use when under a shelter or in a structure. Or you'll taste quite a lot of ceiling debris.

Mana-cost : 800

Note : This is an Unique Invoke. Unique Invoked spells are a blend of spells that complement each other that when combined give an even stronger Invoked spell. [/p]

EUREEEKAAAA! My favourite spell ever! I played many games, but nothing else gives me more thrill than summoning a crater from the sky to hit dumb-struck enemies!

But in all my excitement, I forgot I was around people.

'Erm, Crow, a little explanation please?' Saber said, raising an eyebrow.

'Yeah, you little shit. You found some hidden class right? That ain't any normal spell I've seen in the videos.' Cluck said.

Well, I guess it's time to tell them the truth...

'Well, I wasn't lying to you guys when I said I'm a mage. Just a more... Powerful one. I can combine spells to make them more potent. That's all really. Combined with my various bonus stat gains and plus the fact that I'm a High Elf, I deal more spell damage than average. But, my spells also consume a lot of mana and my HP is really paper. I just have great offensive abilities, that's all.' I said.

The truth is, I wasn't really completely honest with them. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately ever since I've received my class. I knew being a mage meant that on average, I'll probably die after taking a few hits from foes. But what strikes me out as different from the rest of the mages, through whatever specialisations they may be, is that I have the freedom to create whatever spell I want. This meant that no one ability can truly counter whatever spell I dish out because of my unlimited versatility. To counter a fire mage is easy; just use water-based attacks. To counter any spell-user involves either silencing them, or burning out all their mana. But I've learnt silent-casting, so silencing me will not disable me. The only thing I truly have to fear is mana-burns.

'Huh. I see. Anyway, Bambs, how long are you gonna stay down there? He just threw a single spell at you and you're already down. Grow some balls, please.' Cluck said, prodding Bambsie with his foot.

'Just a little minute more. I'm enjoying the sun.' Bambsie groaned.

'Well, screw you. We're leaving.' Cluck said, summoning a horse out of nowhere.

Well, someone's replaced his silly little donkey...

'Alright, Saber and I will go first. We've got greater mobility than you guys. Crow, try not to flame this idiot again. Come meet us at the castle once he's up.'

'Sure, no problem. See you in a while.' I said.

The two of them left, a saber and a knight on horseback. Meanwhile, I'm stuck here with an idiot that could potentially blow the world up if his Demolition abilities reached a high level. I sat down and summoned a little fire. Using my Cooking ability, I stirred up a bowl of Springy Noodles for him.

'Here, eat this. I used magic to control the fire, so this will taste better.' I said, offering him the bowl.

Bambsie sat up immediately, his nose sniffing the air. When it comes down to food, all was forgiven with this guy. He slurped his noodles while I sat quietly, looking into the fire. I thought back to the time when we all first met. I was really unpopular then. In the class, I sat alone and hardly talked to anyone because I was more of an introvert. As a result, I usually topped the class in grades because no one distracted me. But that made me even more unpopular because everyone thought I was just being selfish by not sharing whatever I learnt with the rest. Additionally, I was really clumsy. During classroom duties, I spent most of the time cleaning up the additional mess I made rather than actually cleaning up the classroom. Other than school, my whole life was all on gaming.

Then, I met these guys. Funny enough, it was in a 7-11, the convenience store. Jay and Keith told Benedict that they were going to treat him a Big Gulp for being the good friend he was. Dumb and innocent Benedict naturally followed them into the store, cheering and whooping at the luck he had. So Jay and Keith got him to take the Big Gulp cup and told him to choose whatever drink he liked from the Big Gulp dispenser. The moment Benedict pressed the dispenser to get his drink, Jay and Keith immediately dashed out of the store, running for their lives' worth! I could still remember the look of horror that dawned on Benedict's face when it happened. His Coke was overflowing onto his hands but he didn't seemed to notice. He ran to the door and opened it, shouting at the guys.

'HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS GOING? AREN'T YOU GONNA TREAT ME?'

I was still standing at the confectionery section, watching all this with a bemused expression. Benedict came back to the store with the Big Gulp still in his hands. He was clearly dismay with what just happened. Apparently, thinking that he was getting a treat, he had left his wallet in the classroom so he basically had zero cash on him at hand. In other words, he was f***ed. Of course, I could not leave him in the lurch, so I helped him pay for the drink. He was extremely grateful, and from then on we became friends.

'Hey, let's go. Man, those noodles were good! Where did you learn cooking? I wanna learn it too!' Bambsie said, breaking my thoughts.

'Nah, I'm not gonna tell you. You and fire should really stay far, far away from each other. You might blow up some pretty good salmon that could have been great food.' I said, getting up and putting out the fire.

We left the clearing and traveled towards Gloucest Castle. It was quite a distance from the capital, and we met a lot of travelers along the way. Most of the higher level users were riding on various mounts along the road. I watched with them envy. I added 'Get a decent-looking mount' to my list of goals I have for this game.

Pretty soon, we reached the castle gates, where we found our path blocked by two guards.

'Halt, this castle is now closed to outsiders. We do not entertain anymore visitors.'

'Pardon us, but we mean no intrusion, good sir. Have you seen a knight and a druid enter the castle?'

'We have seen people similar to those you mentioned using the roads ahead, but none have come this way.'

Where have those two gone to?

We did not have long to wait. There were two, no three, figures approaching. Sure enough, it was Saber and Cluck on horseback with a figure behind him. The hooded stranger nodded to the two guards, who saluted and proceeded to open the gates. Cluck beckoned to us, and we entered the castle gates.

Gloucest Castle was really old, though not as old as other monumental structures I had seen in the Forest of No Return. From the gates to the entrance of the castle was a roadway of gravel. On either sides of the gravel were open grass fields. These grass fields were enclosed by walls of neatly-trimmed bushes, forming a garden of some sort. Along the way were stone pavements that led to different parts of the garden and there was a fountain to the south. I supposed this was where the anniversary was going to be held. We walked and entered the castle.

The interior of the castle was grand. Oil paintings were hung along the walls of the open hallways and the floor was completely carpeted by exquisite silk. Stools made of oak were placed along the hallways, as though suggesting people in the castle to sit on these stools to admire the paintings. I could see why something as trivial as a missing banner could cause such an uproar in this castle. They cared so much about their artistic possessions that now and then maidservants could be seen polishing even the frames of the paintings. Prestige was definitely important in this place. Even the scented salts mysteriously placed within the walls of the hallways perfumed the place with scents of aged chalk. What caught my attention was that this castle possessed magic. Very feeble, but there were traces of it along the walls. We walked down the hallway and entered an audience chamber of some sort.

There was a round table with chairs that had backs as tall as giraffes. These we sat down on while the hooded figure whispered something to the maidservant, sending her away. He then took a seat himself.

'Relax, and make yourself at home. I sent her for some tea. Now, it is good to see you, Mr Julius. As to you too, Mr Benedict.' The hooded figure said.

The voice is familiar. Almost as though he is...

'Mr Ken, is that you?' I asked.

'Astute as always, just like in class. I would not count on you to miss anything.' He laughed, then proceeded to remove this hood, revealing a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair. Mr Ken was one of the mathematics teacher in the school and due to his teaching experience, he handled students well. He was popular with them, and everyone consulted him when they had problems, be it academic-related or not. Strangely enough though, no one really knew that much about him. Just then, the maidservant came in with the tea pot, and poured everyone a flowery-scented liquid.

'Please, enjoy the tea. It tastes a little like chamomile, but has a little mint to it. Now, on to business. First, let me introduce myself in this game. I am known as Redrow. Please address me as such, otherwise the NPCs in this game will sound confused when you use my real name. Also, I'm given to understand you all are known as Bambsie, Cluck, Saber and Crow?' He said.

We all nodded.

'Alright. I know why you are here, as Cluck has taken the liberty to track me down in the citadel to ask me for help. How he even knew my IGN in this game is a mystery, but no matter. The situation is like this, as the e-mail the school sent you has already explained. This castle, though under the control of the school guild, cannot be opened to the public when even one of its prized possessions is stolen. Seeing that the castle banner clearly represents the castle, it is one of the most important possession to this castle. Even though the school guild has expressed it is not bothered by the missing banner, the NPCs of this castle have indicated that they would refuse to work should the castle gates be opened forcibly by the guild.'

'Now, the theft was done by an accomplished burglar of some kind. Even though the castle has scrying crystals all over the castle grounds for surveillance, none managed to pick up the intruder. We have looked through the footage captured by the crystals, but we have found nothing. If you wish to look through the crystals, you may do so, but I do not think you may find anything else. Maybe you could find one or two clues we left out.'

'Definitely. We would like to inspect the crystals please. Also, is it possible for us to do a little snooping around?'

'I'm afraid not. That I cannot allow for I'm afraid that the NPCs in this castle might revolt against us. You are, however, allowed to stay in the castle for 5 days at most, since you are all automatically a part of the school guild because you are all students. Now, follow me to the scrying room please.'

We finished the tea, and got up to move to the scrying room. We arrived at yet another chamber that had nothing except curtains and a giant crystal ball floating in the center of the chamber. Clearly, some gypsy must have designed this room...

'Now, I will replay the surveillance from the room in which the banner was placed. Afterwards, I will leave you guys to discuss whatever details you may have noticed. Look into the crystal ball please.'

We obliged. At first there was nothing, then there were swirling mists in the orb. When the mists cleared, we saw a chamber that was elaborately furnished. This was probably the throne room, where the old king held his court. At the front of the room was a throne, and behind it, was the missing banner. Nothing happened for a few minutes, then all of the sudden, black smoke clouded the crystal ball's vision. Nothing could be heard except for the hissing of the smoke being released. Afterwhich, we heard a door slam and all was quiet. The black smoke thinned out, eventually revealing the room again. This time however, the banner was missing!

'That is all. Now, given the special circumstances set, the guild has taken on the special quest to find the missing banner. You are all able to participate as well.'

*DING*

[p=center]Guild Quest Received!

The Quest of the Missing Banner!

Without the castle's banner, the castle cannot be opened to the public. Find the thief and reclaim the banner!

Quest Difficulty : C

Failure : The castle will automatically design a new banner, and will reset its current ownership. [/p]

We all accepted the quest. Now, here was a search and reclaim quest! It had a difficulty of C because there were no clear objectives laid out so we were bascially on our own.

My thoughts were already racing, piecing the information together bits by bits. Already, I had a rough idea of how the theft was carried out.

Alright, time to get the anniversary down on the road!

Author's Note : Hello again, everybody! I really appreciate the new format that the website has created for us writers to draft our submissions on. It is much easier to variate our writing forms now, with the font size and everything. Thought I'll play around with the colours a little in this chapter! Anyway, I chose one of the ideas you guys gave me in the comments about the spells you suggested, which evidently, is Meteor! Also, I added a little reflection about Julius' life in this chapter. It may sound a little too dumb to be true, but that really happened to one of my friends in reality! Though, in reality, the poor guy did pay for the drink himself. Anyway, I guess some of you have read Jinxmon's work of Ragnarok. I'm not sure if he has mentioned this little escapade in his story, but yeah, I'm one of his friends in reality. I figured I should write this 'P.S.' section first, just in case he really did mention this story, and you guys come flame me for copying his work or something :-/ :-/ That's all folks. Cheers!