Hi guys! I finally got internet... at someone elses house... so heres a new chapter!

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Nox POV

I tried to be as educated as possible, making small talk with the four people I saved. I talked everything from the city to the several noble houses that existed there and supported the royalty.

The butler, an old man with gray hair, was the one to make all the questions all regarding the comfort of his ladies.

Tired of making small talk and not being able to make the girls speak, whenever we took stops along the road I amuzed myself with Jhin, the “great” commander, trying to wake him up through normal means (slapping him of course).

And I got bored of that quickly.

With my bird form I could already be at home where work waited me until I had to go to get my new clothes.

We stopped once to get fresh horses and get refreshments because of the scorching heat that was reaching its peak in a hour or so.

By the second stop (one more to go) I changed form to a black cat with green eyes and and robed a mug full of cold beer from a tavern basement nearby which I happily drank on top of the carriage when we made the road again.

While I was enjoying the horizon watching the top of the Citadel appear as I drank a zip from the mug I noticed one of the girls peeping from inside the carriage.

I smiled to her and she, surprised, quickly put her head back inside the carriage.

Curious little kitty, huh?

Another stop later and another mug of beer later, a question was asked by soft voice beneath me, inside the carriage.

“How did you do that? With the shadows?”

The girl with the white hair was peeking through the window looking at me with eyes craving for knowledge. I smile and drank the remaining beer as I watched the city gates appear on the road. Took you long enough to ask that.

“That was a [Combined Spell] made from a Darkness and Nature magic”

“I did not knew Nature could do that.”

She whispered to someone inside the carriage, probably her sister or maybe the maid that was resting.

“There are a lot of things people seem not to know.”

“Like you now more than the scholars at Dragonstone” The Black haired girl said with a certain hostility and sarcasm.

“I probably do” I smiled “What do old farts sitting inside a fortress far older than their tired bones reading books and recording every time a king pisses or a city is burned know about magic? Magic TRUE magic is learned the hard way through sweat, blood and sacrifice an inch of magical growth is paid with too many tears. Grind, eat, repeat. That was how I became a true magician.”

One of them opened their mouth but before she could utter a word her sister asked:

“What about sleep?”

“Sleep is for the weak. The more powerfull you grow the more resistance you have. One day if you work for it you will be able to not need sleep, food or go to the bathroom as you consume and fuel your body with mana”

The black haired girl, this time, was quicker than her sister and said:

“ You speak as if you are more experience than anyone I know. And nobody is able to become that powerfull since the Age Of Magic ended”

“That is what you think! It has been 1626 years since the Age Of Magic ended and 605 since the Age Of Heroes ended. But if magic is still around than why do people say that the Age Of Magic ended?Its because if you lived in the Age Of Magic, which lasted three thousand years, more than half of those the Valeryian Empire rule the great majority of the continent, the very air you breath would be filled to the brink with pure raw mana, there was no one that couldn´t use magic and the best magicians were the Valeryians. The Age Of Magic officially ended with the desmantaling of the Empire, however the Age of Magic truly ended when the non magical population reached 10% of the world population and Ki a “fuel” less powerfull and refined but stronger than raw pure mana reserved for beginners to get a feel for the practices and spells started to substitute mana. People with mana started to become less and less and people with both ki and mana became more rare than a diamond in a bathtub. Nowadays only through beyond hard training spanning years of your lifetime can you reach the intermidiate level for an apprentice in the Age Of Magic. Those that were able to reach that status nowadays are hailed as heroes and penicles of society. Disgusting really. But I have a theory. I think something happened to withdraw all the mana that previously existed, something harnassing for years decades maybe centurys for some reason. But from time to time a great amount of mana is dispersed into the world and following those dispersions I concluded one thing”

“You don´t mean…” Ariadne said

“Yes indeed I do mean it”

“What? What?” Kallisto spoke irritated.

Ariadne looked at her sister and said:

“The dungeons!”

Curious kitty meet smart kitty.

“The first dungeon appeared during the Age Of Heroes and it was only a small tomb with undead and a single dungeon floor boss. It was first found and explored by the last generation of Summoned Heroes. A long time after another one appeared a few years before the death of the Last Hero Anji by the hands of the Traitor Amato that ended the Age of Heroes. Back then mana was already starting to become a rare thing really. I theorize that the reason for mana becoming rare is because the Dungeon Cores were harnassing all of it in massive quantaties in order to create the great labirithian dungeons we have today. And…”

“Whenever an adventurer beated the dungeon they would destroy the Dungeon Core and release great quantities in the surrounding environment. You have a good theory seems plausible but how do you prove it?” Ariadne interrupted me with a forced serious expression.

“The following years after conquering a dungeon the number of magicians in those Dungeon Towns increased tenfold all of them possessing above average mana pools. I intend to beat a dungeon and carefully study the environment surrounding it if my theory is proven to be true I´ll conquer every Dungeon that exists to bring magic back into the fold.”

“You dream too big.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really. First of all I have to point out the great economic disavantage that is to conquer all dungeons, then you have several political isssues, then, I also like to read history books, and so I know the pure chaos that existed during the Age Of Magic. Everybody had magic and tons of it. Empires rised and fell in a blink of an eye. The Valeryans are an exeption” She added before I could point out the long reign of the Valeryians “They had dragons and the active backing of the previous God of Humans, and altough the churches besides the Elven and Demonic ones don´t like it he was the most powerfull god that has existed so far. But beyond their lands everything was fair game, only the dwarven lands stood sometimes peacefull beyond valeryian territory. And may I remind you that the Valeryians only ruled during 1800 years so that still leaves 1200 years of chaotic events.”

Before I could make a counter argument we reached the city´s limits and were about to reach its gates.

I strapped my hair and put on a hood.

Instead of going right to the normal passageway where a massive line of people stood, we went to the left to a line that was empty, reserved for nobles, merchants and people who wanted to enter town quickly.

You would expect for this line to have at least some people but the lack of nobility outside the fortified walls of the capital and the amount of money asked in this line (double the payment in the other line; thirty copper in the right, 1 iron in the other; an attempt in increasing taxes to the rich) made the line deserted as even the nobilty decided that it was better to wait patiently than to “waste” a iron per person to enter quickly.

Two armed soldiers wearing the citys coat of arms on their sleeves stopped us with educated smiles and said:

“Please show your identification papers and/or cargon manifest papers. The entrance fee is 1 iron per person so have the money ready to give to my coleague here”

He pointed to the other soldier with a rounded copper shield branded with the citys symbol (a serpent wrapped around a trident)on the right arm and holding a purple velvet bag (that was somewhat devoid of coins compared to the leather bag on the other line) with both his hands.

Alxis took out a small red velvet bag and looked at me, propably thinking that he didn´t had the money to pay for me or that he din´t want to pay my entrance fee.

Probably the last.

I shrugged and said to the soldier next to me:

“ Hey Jhon hows the wife’”

The soldiers smile became bigger and he turned around to the soldier next to him:

“See Norman I told you it was him! You owe me twenty copper!”

Norman grumbled a bit, looked at me and whispered.

“Ya well. I thought it wasn’t him. My lord I thought your Majesty the Queen prohibited you from going outside the citys walls again?” He then looked around and said bit more loudly “ All your papers are in order Sir you just have to pay the fee.”And added “ We don’t want that confusion to happen again do we?”

I answered while taking my own pouch and giving him the one iron.

“ Well ya but you now how it is I had to go see my future wive for myself before all that glitter and gold and fake smiles in the party get in my way to know her” I winked at them throwing them an extra silver each and added “ The drinks today are on me and guys… I was never here.”

They both looked to the carriage with an expression of awe and realization, then they looked at me and nodded.

“Yes sir!”

“Never even heard of you.”

We proceed to enter the city.