Chapter 6 A Black Mage in Training

According to the subtext of my avatar’s stat bar, I can only learn magic in this world up to the limit of Intermediate level 10, thus denying me the ability to learn the most powerful spells of this game world. Any spell I did learn here, would be useful to a point, but after the spell hit the skill ceiling, it would grow no stronger, and the ceiling was too low for me to even consider learning them.

That is when I came up the idea to get around that.

I found a reclusive master blacksmith and convinced him, (using my Avartar’s charms) to make a mithril armlet for me with the dark spell gem at its center. I asked to make sure the gem could make contact with my skin so it could take in mana and use magic. I provided the mithril.

The result he achieved after three days of work, (with a little help from my chance control to prevent a failed piece) was perfect. It harnessed the effect I desired without losing any power.

Dark Spell Armlet

Durability 300/300

This armlet was fashioned by a master blacksmith out of mithril with diamond at its center that contains the essence of a dark spirit. The spirit was stripped of all but its spells by a powerful enchanter and must rely on a host to cast spells through.

Equips:

Enables Dark spirit to cast magic using wearer’s stats and mana.

Spells become stronger with use.Dark Magic Mastery [1] 0%

A branch of magic mastery that specializes in Dark and force magic..

Dark magic spells 5% stronger and can be cast 3% faster.Psychokinesis [1] 0%

The ability to move and push objects with the power of the mind.Dark bolt [1] 0%

Cast a bolt of dark energy to damage target. May inflict curse.

Magic Attack 25.

Number of Bolts: 1

Chance to inflict Curse 5%

Mana cost: 50Soul Striker [1] 0%

Casts a magic arrow that damages Mana.

Magic Attack 15

Number of Arrows: 1

Mana Cost: 30Dark Claw [1] 0%

Casts a hardened claw of dark magic that may lowers target’s defense

Magic Attack: 40

Chance of lowering Defense:10%

Mana cost: 75Dark Call [1] 0%

Envelopes target with negative energy.

Inflicts Random dark series curse.

Number of Curses Afflicted: 1

Mana Cost: 120Dark Summon [Cannot Use]

Summons dark creature that obeys simple commands.Dark Heart [Cannot Use]

Corrupts the heart of target to make more pliable.Dark Cannon [Cannot Use]

Fires a Powerful burst of Negative energy that deals physical and magical damage, as well as curses all that it damages.Dark Hand [Cannot Use]

Uses psychokinesis to form an invisible hand that crushes the target.Dark Corruption [Cannot Use]

Summons evil spirits to possess target. Possessed individuals obey your commands.Dark Oblivion [Cannot Use]

Summons darkness that covers the area and deals constant damage to all within affected area.Unknown [Cannot Use]

Many of the spells required required the Dark Magic Mastery or Psychokinesis of a higher proficiency. For example until Psychokinesis reached intermediate level 6, Dark Hand could not be used. The last spell was one that could only be used by the dark spirit when it had a body of its own, and would be useable by me once the spirit gave me all its power.

I was proud of this item. I had to use Enchantment stack as well as hack a few enchantments that don’t actually exist into this, but it worked and the goddess was none the wiser. The reason is because there are already items that have such abilities in this world. If I could have I would have maxed out the spell levels of the Armlet, but the creation of such an item with Maxed out skill levels would have definitely raised a red flag.

It would take a lot of time to strengthen the spells, but it would be worth it. Unlike my avatar, this armlet did not have a ceiling on spell proficiency. They could be raised past intermediate level 10 all the way to advanced level 10. And the dark spirit had spells that even I would not be able to acquire, (without some red flag hacking.)

I left the city for a remote dungeon filled with kobolds. Kobolds are dog faced humanoid monsters between level 20 and 35. Killing them would not gain me much experience, but I had to raise the Armlet’s skill proficiency before I took on a stronger dungeon.

The dungeon itself was pretty much empty of Users. It was discovered a month ago, but all its secrets and riches had been plundered. Few if any Users used it today.

“Alright spirit. When I call out a spell name, you cast it, simple as that.”

-Yes mistress.

Earlier I demonstrated that I could use enchantments like static state on it. This caused the being within great pain and there was nothing it could do about it. I made it clear that I was dominate over it and resistance would lead to pain. This however would not be enough to gain its loyalty under usual circumstances. The spirit within was not so easily made to submit. It however intended on following through with its word because I was of interest to it. I once said that the spirit shared a few characteristics with me. One of which is curiosity. It wanted to see what I would do with it, and I did not plan to disappoint. Until then it would be a loyal servant.

The first thing I did upon entering the dungeon was cast Enchant Dungeon: Lower Monster Speed. I had enough mana now to stack a few more enchantments, but I needed it to cast magic now.

I made my way to a group of Kobolds and said, “Dark Bolt.”

Mana was drained from my arm and directed back into it and to my hand where a black bolt shot out and struck a kobold. It fell and died. The group had three remaining members. The magic itself took about three seconds from calling it to the bolt firing. Magic had this downside. Even if I wasn’t the one casting it, it was still being cast and most magic requires casting time.

The kobolds ran at me, I used Dark bolt again to kill another. Two left, and they were charging now. I killed one more just as the last one came up and tried to attack me. Of course I dodged easily enough. Usually from the distance the kobold attacked, my Avatar would not have enough Agility to dodge. Even knowing how it would strike. But since this area was affect by my Enchant Dungeon, the Kobolds were slow enough for me to dodge.

I’m sure some of the readers of this may think the power and progression of the Enchant Dungeon spell is too much, but after it reaches intermediate level 5, the power increase for each skill level up reduces. When the skill reaches Master level, or Advanced level 10, a change of 60% is all it will be capable of. Also I shall reveal that above a certain level, many monsters are resistant or even impervious to the effect of Enchant dungeon. Not only will the effect be reduced or blocked, but the side effect of reduced Health and Mana regeneration will also be negated. This starts after level 200. This means that even if I max out the spell, I can still be easily killed if I solo in a dungeon with creatures level 200 or above.

This means before I reach level 200, I must acquire the means of survival. The means I decided on is two-fold. One is the Dark Spell Armlet. The other is to manually increase my agility so that I may dodge more successfully.

When I dug several tons of dirt out with a shovel, I gained bonus Strength and Vitality stats without leveling up. There are many actions within this game that can increase stats when done repeatedly, and I could see them all. There are limits as to each action of course as to the maximum number of bonus stats one can receive. This limit is determined by how difficult the action is.

The first action I decided to go with for increasing my avatar’s Agility, was sprint. I could see where every kobold in the dungeon was, so I sprinted to each group and even cast magic while sprinting. My avatar’s stamina reached it’s end after half a minute. I need to rest for a few minutes just to catch enough breath to sprint for another half minute.

According to my Avatar’s object data, if I sprinted for a total of twenty hours, my agility would increase by ten points. Not all at once, but slowly over the duration of the time. After accomplishing that, my avatar would need to sprint for another thirty hours to increase Agility by another ten points. Then forty, and so on. There were other ways to increase agility, but this was actually among the fastest ways I could accomplish. (Others had ways that could be done faster, but for a Enchanter, this was it). It would take a few months of course since this avatar’s stamina would not permit it to do all of it simultaneously.

I won’t bore you with the details, but it took about half week without rest for my sprinting to gain the tenth agility point. Regardless of what you may think, this is not the first time I have trained up a weak body to a strong one. I cannot make a weak person into a strong hero unless know how to do it, and study of which required me to take the form of a person with a weak body and train it up until it became strong.

In addition to the ‘twenty hours of sprinting’ gaining me ten Agility points, my ‘constant activity over a long duration’ gained me seven vitality points. Thanks to the gaining of vitality, I was able to sprint for longer durations without rest. It took only one week to get the next ten agility points. And with the Vitality gained during that, I was able to do the next set of thirty hours in a week as well.

I continued in this fashion for months (in game). While other Users were breaking the level 200 barrier, discovering new dungeons and new kingdoms, I spent that time sprinting in dungeons. When my Armlet’s spell strength increased, I moved onto a stronger dungeon.

When spells like Dark Bolt increase in mastery the number of shots increase. The more shots it produces the more damage it can do to one target or do the same damage to multiple targets. The latter allowed me to fight larger groups without being overwhelmed by numbers.

Over the course of four and a half months, 138 days or sprinting as much as this body was capable of, I gained 104 Agility points. If I did not have to log out for four hours once every four days, the time would have been under 120 days, but it was worth it. My speed could not keep up with a high level creature, but it at least would allow me to dodge by predicting its attack pattern. I also trained up the spells in the Armlet to intermediate, though none of the other spells had been unlocked yet.

Dark Magic Mastery Intermediate [2] 9%

A branch of magic mastery that specializes in Dark and force magic..

Dark magic spells 72% stronger and can be cast 38% faster.Psychokinesis Intermediate [3] 71%

The ability to move and push objects with the power of the mind.Dark bolt Intermediate [6] 88%

Cast a bolt of dark energy to damage target. May inflict curse.

Magic Attack 115.

Number of Bolts: 5

Chance to inflict Curse 10%

Mana cost: 164Soul Striker Intermediate [4] 31%

Casts a magic arrow that damages Mana.

Magic Attack 71

Number of Arrows: 4

Mana Cost: 92Dark Claw Intermediate [4] 60%

Casts a hardened claw of dark magic that may lowers target’s defense

Magic Attack: 200

Chance of lowering Defense:20%

Mana cost: 74Dark Call Intermediate [5] 47%

Envelopes target with negative energy.

Inflicts Random dark series curse.

Number of Curses Afflicted: 4

Mana Cost: 115

Most of the spells that were unusable would be unlocked when Dark Magic Mastery reached intermediate level 5 with the rest when the skill reaches advanced. Until then I made do with these. The spells were highly useful. Especially Psychokinesis. How much it could move was determined by my Intellect stat, and how fast I could move it determined by my Wisdom stat. It cost more mana to move something heavier, but other than that the spell had few limits and reminded me of my own power out of this game. It was a simple joy to lift a monster into the air and smash it against the wall and roof over and over again. Of course many monsters have resistance against being lifted by psychokinesis, but the little weak ones do not.

I made great effort to strengthen every skill. Each was useful in a different situation but training them when not in the right situation was irksome to say the least. But with the strength of these spells and my own stats I could defeat a group of monsters of my own level. That being said, I only received eight levels in the months of training.

At level 89, I can kill hobgoblins and the like, but to kill stronger monsters in a stronger dungeon (without cheating) I still need a team. The reason is simply that casting requires time. For any group if I can’t kill every monster in a group by the first or second spell, by the time the third spell is about to be cast the remaining monsters in the group could have reached and attacked me. My newly acquired speed would let me put more distance between myself and any group, but that would only buy time if the group is faster than me.

I needed the spell Dark Summon. At level one it would let me summon a hellhound as strong as any wolf. As I mastered it I could summon stronger creatures or several weaker ones. However, it will take more months of training at this pace for Dark Magic Mastery to reach intermediate level 5.

Once again I reached a ceiling for what I could do on my own. The fastest way to increase my skill level was to use dark spells on higher level monsters. And the best way to do that, was to join a party or raid party.

I left the hobgoblin dungeon I had been using and journeyed east. Not for a dungeon, but the northern plains. A tribe of Orcs roam those areas in packs and there are many adventurers forming parties to fight them.

On the edge of the orc territories was a town called Bells. Adventurers forming Orc hunting parties would team up there and acquire Orc hunting quests from the locals. Fighting monsters gives experience. Doing quests gives experience. Doings quests that require killing monsters gives the most experience.

The town itself was quite busy with all the adventurers. Orc parties come in levels between 100 and 220 depending on area and quest. If one didn’t die often and made friends with the locals it was possible to level from 100 to 200 without having to change hunting grounds. The Inns and hotels around the town were full of adventurers doing just that.

I purchased equipment fitting that of a black mage and adjusted it to be a bit better than it looked.

A point I would like to make at this time is that if I chose to, I could purchase several Gemstone Enchantment spells, train them up to be very powerful, then use them to enchant jewelry like rings, necklaces. and earrings. If I was to be lazy about it, I could just buy jewelry someone else enchanted and max out its limits with Data alteration. The reason I do not do so is because I do not wish to use those spells to make heroes. Not that I can’t, but because of who it would affect. If I wanted, I could train until I could make a jewelry set that would just about triple the power of any character. However, from then on, that character would never buy magic items from enchanters that gained their skills legitimately. Also, anyone who saw that person’s jewelry set, would be less likely to buy equipment from legitimate enchanters because they saw their products as inferior to mine. In other words I do not wish to create all powerful items and let them out into the world due to the damage they might cause. This means I cannot create powerful items carelessly, even if their sole use is to strengthen me. (The Darkspell Armlet is an exception as, unlike any other piece of equipment, I will not outgrow it.) Any item I do give to someone must be unique and the one I give it to must not know I made or altered it.

I found a group of Users around level 90 that was getting together for a quest. The details were simply to kill several small groups of orc raiders that were stealing from a farmer’s land.

“Excuse me, do you have room for one more in your party?” I asked the group as a whole because I could not reveal I already knew which was the leader.

You have requested to join Link’s Party.

The leader, a level 106 Ranger in a bright green tunic asked, “Level and class?”

“Level 90 black mage.”

“I see. Alright.”

You have joined Link’s Party.

The rest of the group did not know each other that well, they simply joined together for ease of doing the quest. I first had to find the farmer who gave the quest and acquire it. Even without knowing the NPC I could take it as I was a party member of the man who earned the quest and was close to the farmer. After that the team left for the north.

Our party of five encounter the first Orc party of eight members after half an hour. I used Dark Bolt and Link used his Ranger skill Orc Bane Shot. It was a skill that dealt heavy damage to Orcs. The swordsman and spearman rushed the group without a second thought. The fire mage next to me cast fire ball and shot six swirling balls of flame in the direction of the orcs. Four of the fire balls missed, while the other two hit one orc in the head and the other in the side.

Link used another Orc bane shot while the fire mage and I were casting our second spell. Two of the orcs raised their glaives and fought man to man against the warriors while the other six rushed the rest of us.

Two of my five bolts cursed the Orcs they hit. One had a curse that reduced his strength while the other had a curse that weakened his magic resistance. I targeted the latter for Dark Claw. The spell caused four horizontal slashes to strike the orc. Link finished it off with another arrow and I cast dark bolt again. Before my cast was complete the fire mage sent out another six fire balls. Two of them hit one of the orcs, one hit another, and the other three missed. Accuracy with some spells requires high proficiency and wisdom. It was obvious even without seeing her object data that she was underskilled for this party.

The Ranger on the other hand was handling the situation well. He aimed his shots at the weakest Orcs that were approaching to take them out one at a time.

Two of the five orcs that charged now remained and were within close combat distance. One sought out Link while the other had its eyes on me.

I used psychokinesis to push the orc off its feet a few meters away. Using it for simple actions like pushing required almost no casting while complex actions required a lengthier casting time. The fire mage finished casting another round of fireballs and shot them at the orc that was getting up from the ground. Two still missed but the other four hit the orc dead on and killed it. Link had taken out a sword and was dealing with his orc.

I looked over to see that the swordsman was dead and that the spearman was getting killed with two on one. I cast Dark Call on one of the orcs. When the spell finished casting the shadow of the orc spread out like a black pit and small hands made of shadow reached up and grabbed the orc. The orc panicked and tried to jump back, but it’s shadow followed it. A moment later the hands dissolved, but the orc had received four different curses. I started casting the same spell on the second one. When the casting finished, the same thing happened to the second orc. The fight after that became one-sided with the spearman in the lead. He killed one orc just before the Ranger killed his orc. Before the ranger could re-equip his bow and fire, the last orc was killed.

We got together and took out the herbs we each brought to heal our wounds. There were plenty of priests in the town of Bell, but they were all snatched up by larger, more experienced parties.

The ranger looked at the spearman and said, “Look what charging in got you? Duke was killed.”

The spearman replied, “I was doing fine by myself I assumed he would be able to take care of one orc. But he died and it ended up two on one. Not that I needed help with those odds.”

“Would you still have been fine if Curi had not cursed those orcs?”

The spearman did not reply.

Link turned to me and said, “Your spells were impressive. After this quest is over, I’m meeting another party, would you like to join?”

“Absolutely.” I answered.

Link was the one who first got the quest to relieve the farmer of his orc problem. He seemed to be familiar with many of the locals and that would make it easier to gain quests.

In case you were wondering, I don’t think he is the hero type. A solid adventurer, but not a hero. That being said, he would make a useful friend for my stay in the town of Bell.

By the end of the day, we finished and turned in the quest. It was D rank so I acquired a level with the experience from it and the orcs we killed.

I meet up with Link at a bar where he said we would rendezvous with the other members of his party.

What I saw firmly confirmed my belief that this man was not a hero. Each of the four members of his experienced team was a beautiful woman.

When the group reached the table, he introduced me. “This beautiful elf is Curi, and she will be questing with us for a while. Treat her well.”

Definitely, not a hero.

Chapter 7

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