Fusion

"Hey Zariel, come see if you can open this door here."

"Let me see if there are any instructions..."

It had already been a couple of days since we entered the fractured ruin. Karl and I were separated from the rest of the group early on in the expedition, as one of his subordinates had inadvertently activated an teleportation array, I just so happened to be the only one standing directly on it, and in his efforts to save me from the array, we were both caught up in its area of effect.

"So?"

"I didn't find a method to opening it, but I did find a riddle."

"Don't tell me it's one of those doors where you have to solve the riddle to unlock it."

"It is."

"What a chore. So, what does it say?"

"It's in a dialect of the dragon language which I don't have full mastery over."

"And what would that dialect be?"

"High Draconic."

Karl stares at me with his mouth agape, seemingly in utter shock.

"Are you completely sure?"

"I wish I was wrong too, but from the way these runes are written, it is the only match I can think of."

"What did we just get ourselves into?"

"From the little I can decipher, we just waltzed into the tomb of an elder high dragon."

I hear him slowing down his breathing rate to calm down.

"Isn't that basically a death sentence? Even the simplest of traps in this place can wipe out our entire party, not to mention the spirits and automatons that have to be guarding it."

"It is."

"Do you have any ideas on how to get out of this predicament we are in? Or at the very least, rejoin our group?"

"If I did, we wouldn't be here pacing about would we?"

Karl grimaces at my remark.

"This is no time to act like a smart-ass, we need to figure something out. See if there is anything you can read on the walls that can help us."

"Aye aye, sire."

I take another look around the room we are trapped in, there really wasn't much to look at in the room, aside from the runes inscribes on the walls and the shrine in the middle of the room. I had already tried reading the runes on the walls, but they were only recollections and memoirs of the high dragon who rested here. The shrine wasn't of much use either, as the only thing present there were offering to the God-King of the high dragons. And even after scrutinising over every tiny detail I picked up, we were still both stumped on how to get out of this stone prison of ours. That was, until Karl came up with an idea.

"Zariel."

"Yeah?"

"Try worshipping the God-King and giving him an offering."

"What's that going to do?"

"Just try it. We don't have any better alternatives anyway, and doing something is at the very least better than doing nothing."

"Alright. Pass me some gold coins."

Karl passes me a small pouch filled with coins and I place it on the offering plate in front of me. I then proceed to carry out a simple ritual, kneeling before the statue of the God-King and prostrating in front of it, then closing my eyes to say a small prayer.

After I finish the prayer, the eyes of the statue seemed to shine for a moment, before dimming down again. The sounds of mechanisms and arrays activating can be heard, as the door leading out of the shrine open.

[You have been blessed by the God-King of the high dragons, Auewyr.]

Open the status window.

[You have opened the status window]

Character Information

Name: Zariel Alsa

Age: 24 Years old

Sex: Male

Class: lvl. 3 Mage

Stats:-

Strength : 3

Agility : 4

Endurance : 3

Intelligence : 10

Wisdom : 8

Perception : 6 ( 5 )

Luck : 2

Willpower : 6 ( 5 )

Skills:-

"Aura Reader" (Rare) lvl.1 - Allows you to read the aura of the person you are facing. Also increases your perception to you surroundings ( +1 )

"Mental Fortitude" (Rare) lvl. 1 - Increases resistance against illusion based spells and the effects of berserk inducing skills. Also increases your willpower ( +1 )

"Under Pressure" (Unique) lvl. 1 - Increases your basic stats when under adverse conditions up to 10%, with a minimum increase of +1 to every stat.

"Master of the Elementary" (Unique) lvl. 1 - Allows you to use the mana in your surroundings to cast basic spells. Has a cooldown of 5 seconds.

Status buffs:-

"Blessed - Auewyr" - You have been blessed by the mighty Auewyr. A great power has filled your body, allowing you to tap into more of your potential, increasing the number of stat points you gain every level up by 1.

*Note: You have 4 unused stat points

I feel a sudden pressure being exerted on my mind after I opened my status window.

[Adverse conditions detected. Activating "Iron Will lvl. 1"]

[Adverse conditions detected. Activating "Under Pressure lvl. 1"]

[Adverse conditions detected. Activating "Survivor lvl. 1"]

'A mortal attempting to become a dragon?'

A resounding voice fills my thoughts.

'How interesting.'

Blood begins to flow out of the various orifices of my body.

'Entertain me for a while longer boy.'

"Zariel!"

'Let me see a good fight won't you. I've been so terribly bored for the past millennia.'

[You have fallen unconscious]

...

I woke up to the sounds of a battle being fought. I scan my surroundings and see the bodies of trolls littered around me. I quickly get up and see Karl fighting multiple trolls at once.

"Karl!"

I rush towards the site of the battle.

"You moron! You can't fight these trolls, they are mutated-"

Two of the trolls Karl was fighting turned to face me after my shout. After looking at them closely, scars can be seen on their bodies and instead of being covered with fur, they were covered with white scales.

They pounce at me with a speed unfitting for their massive bodies and charge at me, preparing to use their claws to rip me apart. I try to dodge their joint attack, but it was clear that I wouldn't make it in time. My eyes close instinctively, fear filling my heart. Is this the end for me?

The claws never reached me. I hear the clashing of metal and the tearing of flesh, but I felt no pain. I open my eyes to see, that Karl was infront of me with his shield, being pushed back by the force of the impact.

"Run now! I can buy you some time!"

"I'm not leaving you-"

"You are just getting in the way! I can't focus on these guys if you are here-"

One of the trolls charged into Karl while he was distracted, knocking him away from me. It seemed that they wanted to finish me off first as I was the easier prey. Little did they know, that this was just what I wanted, Karl was in the way of my aoe spell after all.

I throw the magic pouch by my side at them and snap my thumb and index finger.

Add 1 point to intelligence and 3 points to wisdom

[Intelligence increased to 11]

[Wisdom increased to 11]

"Igni, Zeph."

[Activating "Master of the Elementary"]

[You have awakened the passive skill "Fusion"]

Fire engulfed the magic pouch, raising the temperature of the contents within, pressure from the gas within the bag was soon too much for it to bear, and it burst open into an explosion of mana and flames. The "Zeph" I casted pushed more air to the flames, providing more oxygen for the combustion of the makeshift incendiary bomb I had launched at the trolls, while also launching it further away from me. The shockwave of the blast knocked me off my feet, and the massive fireball that formed had blinded me temporarily.

[You have slain "Mutated troll"]

[You have slain "Mutated troll"]

[You have slain "Mutated troll"]

[You have slain "Mutated troll"]

[You have levelled up]

[You have levelled up]

Only two level ups? Even though I slayed 4 trolls of levels higher than mine? Is this world that stingy with the exp it provides?

When I recovered my vision, I stood up to assess the damage that I had done to those trolls. The smell of charred skin and flesh immediately hit my nostrils, and the sight of carbonised corpses exceeded my expectations for the damage that the home-made grenade would do. Even the scales of the trolls were severely damage by the blast. I hear the sounds of footsteps and grunts behind me, I turned to face Karl, who was limping towards me.

"Didn't you tell me you were just a lvl. 3 mage?"

"Yeah, I just levelled up to 5 after killing those trolls, they gave so little expe-"

"Wait. You, a lvl. 3 mage, only gained 2 levels from killing those trolls?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure-"

"Your potential is so horrendously low that I feel sorry for you."

"Why do you say that? What does my potential have to do with levelling up anyway?"

"You don't even know this? Your potential determines the amount of experience you need to level up. Those trolls were at the very least, lvl. 15 each, meaning the experience you gained should be quite a lot, but you only levelled twice. Doesn't that just prove that the potential you have is just terrible? In fact, I think you might have the lowest potential I have ever seen."

As usual, my pride is hurt.

"Why did you ask me if I wasn't a lvl. 3 mage?"

I change the subject to stop him from further destroying the little shred of confidence I had in myself.

"Didn't you fuse spells there? I didn't even hear any incantations coming from your mouth, and I didn't feel any fluctuations in the amount of mana you have in your body either, and I can assure you that no lvl. 3 mage could do that much damage using any spell within their collection. Your mastery over spells and mana make me doubt that you truly are what you say you are."

"All I did was cast two elementary spells in succession. Like you said, my talent is just pitiful, so I have to make do with what I have, and those are the passive skills I have awakened."

Karl stays silent at my words.

Speaking of passive skills, why don't "Survivor" and "Iron Will" show up when I open up my status window?

Open the status window.

[You have opened the status window]

Character Information

Name: Zariel Alsa

Age: 24 Years old

Sex: Male

Class: lvl. 5 Mage

Stats:-

Strength : 3

Agility : 4

Endurance : 3

Intelligence : 11

Wisdom : 11

Perception : 6 ( 5 )

Luck : 2

Willpower : 6 ( 5 )

Skills:-

"Aura Reader" (Rare) lvl.1 - Allows you to read the aura of the person you are facing. Also increases your perception to you surroundings ( +1 )

"Mental Fortitude" (Rare) lvl. 1 - Increases resistance against illusion based spells and the effects of berserk inducing skills. Also increases your willpower ( +1 )

"Under Pressure" (Unique) lvl. 1 - Increases your basic stats when under adverse conditions up to 10%, with a minimum increase of +1 to every stat.

"Master of the Elementary" (Unique) lvl. 1 - Allows you to use the mana in your surroundings to cast basic spells. Has a cooldown of 5 seconds.

"Fusion" (Rare) lvl. 1 - Allows you to combine spells to create new spells.

Status buffs:-

"Blessed - Auewyr" - You have been blessed by the mighty Auewyr. A great power has filled your body, allowing you to tap into more of your potential, increasing the number of stat points you gain every level up by 1.

*Note: You have 4 unused stat points

Yeah, I can't seem to find it. How weird.

["Iron Will" has assimilated into "Under Pressure"]

["Survivor" has assimilated into "Under Pressure"]

So that's where they went. Let's see what this new "Under Pressure" does

"Under Pressure" (Unique) lvl. 1 - Increases your basic stats when under adverse conditions up to 10%, with a minimum increase of +1 to every stat. Increases your will when under adverse conditions by +2 and lessens the effect of mental status ailments. Temporarily cures physical status ailments when under adverse conditions and increases the effects of any healing you receive.

Interesting.

"-Zariel"

Karl snaps me out of my thoughts

"Uh?"

"We gotta move, I hear fighting up ahead."

"Yeah, let's go"

It's time for the hero to finally save some people.

...