3 The Beginning - Chapter 3

Maybe human would've been the better choice in race.

"An this individual skill. Mage, analyse it." The mayor said, commanding the woman in purple robes. She began to mutter something, the mana in the air moving once again.

'They are going to find out my skill. This could be bad.' so I willed the mana to stop moving. It resisted for a second, slowly bending to the Mage's will but stopped before she could complete the incantation.

GAINED SKILL - SPELL ANALYSIS

SKILL LEVELED UP - MANA WEAVING LVL 2

SKILL LEVELED UP - ARCANE EYE LVL 2

LEVEL UP!     LEVEL 2!

I would have to check out what they were later but I could work out what spell analysis was considering I now understood what the intent of the spell she was trying to cast again was. It was meant to probe deeper into my skill.

"I- I can't, sir." The female mage said, confused.

"What do you mean you can't?" The mayor asked, clearly annoyed. "You're a high level mage with an intelligence more than double this man's. You should be able to break through easily."

"I can't. The spell won't cast, it's not as if I can't get through, it's that the spell won't even take effect."

The mayor looked towards me, hatred in his eyes.

"You. You did this. How?!" He demanded.

"I did what?" I asked, playing dumb.

"You stopped the skill appraisal spell from working."

"Why would I stop that? What's to hide?" The mayor nodded towards the mage and mana moved around her once more. The intent of this spell was different, it was to make me unable to tell a lie. This one was safe, I let her complete the spell, trying to remember how she manipulated the mana.

SKILL LEVELED UP - SPELL ANALYSIS LVL 2

"What can that skill do? The genesis and desolation one." The mayor asked, acting pompously.

"It gives me a plus two boost to intelligence." I said flatly.

"Th-that doesn't make any sense." The mayor stuttered. "That has nothing to do with the name."

"Names can be deceiving, sir."

The mage spoke. "The spell took effect, sir. I don't think he is lying."

"Very well." Said the mayor, clearly irritated by me. "What is your purpose here?" He asked.

"I don't know." I answered. To be honest, that was not a lie, I just didn't know, the reason I was able to lie was because of my hellish fortitude skill which made me immune to mental magics.

A new voice spoke up. "Make the devil pay for injuring the guards." I didn't see where the call came from but soon many others cheered along with it.

"I mean you no harm." I said quickly, though it was drowned out by the shouting.

"Silence!" The mayor shouted. "The fallen will be executed tomorrow for the assault of officers along with the assassin Marr who took my daughter away from me. Take him away."

Despite my protests I was taken back to my cell.

--

"What'd they decide?" The elvish assassin, Marr, asked.

"I'm to be executed tomorrow along side you." I said, thinking and leaning up against the bars.

"But a strong man like yourself should be able to break us out of here lickedy split."

"Yes, I am able to. I'm just thinking."

"Well if you'd like to think and escape with me, that would be great." His face was illuminated by a blue flame I had created to light his cell.

In the time between being send down to the cells again I had discovered that from leveling up I had gained five more points, I had then put them into intelligence and constitution. I had also experimented to see if I was capable of creating a duplicate key to that which I had seen the prison officer use to unlock me from my cell. I was able to, it was hidden under some hay at the side of my cell.

"Hey, Marr?" I asked.

"What?"

"What level are you?"

"I'm level 36, why do you ask?"

"What's you're average stat score?" I pressed.

"Thirty, my highest is forty in agility. Why?"

"I don't know anything about what is normal here." I said plainly. "Does everyone have an individual skill?"

"I heard you had some memory loss, yes. Though not many like to go around talking about theirs. It's private information." He said resolutely.

'So you're not going to tell me your's, is that it?'

"Well they showed mine in front of everyone."

"They couldn't get to see what it could do though, I heard." He said. "Apparently it only gives a plus two to down skills."

"It doesn't." I explained, making my decision and holding my hands on the bars at the front of my cell. "It does this."

The bars disintegrated, turning to dust and then disappearing entirely. Marr let out a small whistle. I disintegrated a few other bars to let my broad frame pass through, then made my way to the front of Marr's cell.

"I'm letting you go because you answered my questions, I have two more."

"What are they?" Marr asked, suspicious.

"One: Are your stats and level high? And two: to make it out of here what do you need?"

"First answer, yes, I'm an elf so I've trained my skills for hundreds of years. And second, a dagger and hood, maybe a few gold pieces."

"Thank you." I pushed a hand through the bars and imagined a plainly coloured cloak and hood. It dropped to the floor from my hand. Next a curved dagger, straight out of a fantasy game fell tip first into the ground. Then I paused. I had no idea what a gold piece looked like.

"What do gold pieces look like?" I asked, feeling stupid.

"You don't know?" Marr said, gawking at the the items on the floor. "You can make things?"

"Yeah I can make things. And yes, I don't know, do you have one on you?"

"Hold on." Marr crawled across to the opposite side of the cell and started raking through his straw bed, finally finding a small piece of metal. A coin made of gold with a square hole in the middle and etchings around the sides, it was roughly hewn and not at all up to the standards of modern coins. I willed a small pouch about the size of my fist into my hand and filled it with coins identical to the one that he had shown me. I tossed it into the cell and the metal clinked on the inside.

"Woah... This is your skill?" Marr said, putting on the cloak and tying the pouch to his waist.

"Yep. I'll make my own way out." The bars to his cell vanished.

"Thank you." Marr held out his arm. He had the dagger in his left hand.

"No problem." I took his arm, his grip was firm and we shook. "See you later then." I extinguished the flames in the cell. Hearing slight footsteps disappearing into the distance, I turned to what I thought was the wall. Stepping into it and imagining the back of whatever building I was in.

DEEP TRAVERSAL - LVL 1

YOU CAN TRAVEL VIA SHADOW.

MANA COST - 150

A light, freezing cold wind blew over me and the darkness turned into a dimly lit mud roadway. Wooden residential buildings were scattered lightly along the road, small oil lanterns adorning the doors of the houses. I quickly checked my mp. It was slowly climbing up from 40. The deep traversal had worked, so I should be at the back of the prison building. I imagined the long coat armour from a monster hunter game, it was traditional fantasy with pastel green and brown shades, some chain and some metal plates over the arms and on the shoulders, with a fur collar. I also destroyed the prison clothes. Dressed now in armour that should've felt far more heavy than what it did, which I suppose was an effect from my above 20 strength. Remembering the fact that I hadn't actually seen my face since selecting my race, I summoned a flame to illuminate myself and held my hand in front of me, a perfectly flat and reflective surface sprang into existence in front of me. My skin, as I had seen before was a pale grey tone, my irises were yellow and fiently glowing and my hair was a start white colour. My face was different, almost model-like, with a square jaw and aggressive nose, I reminded myself of a fallen angel version of the actor of Jaime Lannister. It definitely wasn't my previous face, but strangely now that I had seen it, it couldn't be anyones other than my face.

I dismissed the flame and destroyed the mirror, starting to walk slowly down the road.

avataravatar
Next chapter