Magical Progress

Michael opens the door to his room at the inn and slinks inside, dropping his sword, daggers, and cloak while jumping atop his bed. This was the first he'd intentionally and willingly killed someone. And while it didn't have as great an impact as Guiche and the thieves on the carriage, it was still enough to make Michael's mood dip.

He'd retreated from D'argent territory after killing the four men for a number of reasons. His mental state being the first, but there was also his lacking mana pool, as well as the fact that the gang might notice what was going on. He considered it better to get in and out without causing a scene, especially since he was just starting with his 'Vigilantism'...

The men didn't have much gold on them, so Michael left empty-handed. But it wasn't wealth he had killed them for... He waves his hand above him from his prone position, causing the 'Book of Commoners' to manifest in his hand.

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Name : Michael Hunt

Rank : Common

Stats :

Strength : 6 > 7

Agility : 8 > 9

Intelligence : 8 > 9

Abilities :

[Gandalfr] : Enables user to utilise any weapon at two ranks above their current proficiency while granting them the knowledge necessary to use them. While wielding a weapon, temporarily gain +100% in all stats.

[Language Comprehension] : Enables user to understand all spoken tongues, and increase the rate of which they learn reading and writing.

[Curse of Silence - (Origin: Matilda)] : Prevents user from speaking, scribing, or making any attempts to reveal restricted information.

Spirits :

Shadow Shaman : Lvl 4+

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His stats had increased again, yet, he wasn't sure what exactly had triggered this... Obviously, his battle had some influence on it, but he suspected his chase of Samara through the city had also contributed to it.

But, his biggest improvements had been to his Shadow Shaman Spirit, which had reached level 7 from the battle.

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Spirit : Shadow Shaman

Level : 7

Abilities :

Carnival Tricks (Rank 1) : Allows user to form ephemeral shapes, creatures, and patterns to amuse, distract, or frighten.

Ether Shock (Rank 3) : Casts a cone of ethereal energy that strikes multiple enemies.

Hex (Rank 1) : Temporarily transforms the target into a harmless chicken.

Shackle (Rank 1) : Magically binds an enemy in ethereal threads while also dealing damage throughout the duration

Serpent Wards (Rank 1) : Summons multiple Serpent Wards to attack any nearby enemies.

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Three levels were quite a lot for the little he'd fought. As far as Michael was concerned, the four men had been the bottom of the barrel, only slightly stronger than your average civilian... Perhaps not even that.

Due to the fact he was starting to get annoyed by people surviving his Ether Shock, he put two points in it which increases it to rank 3... Though it didn't say how it had improved, he imagined its power and the number of its potential targets had increased.

He could only hit up to three people with it before, so now it should be at least five or potentially more depending on how strong advancing spell ranks is.

Last but certainly not least is the fact that he'd reached level 6, allowing him to put a point into his ultimate ability, Serpent Wards. In the game it was an incredibly powerful ability that was strong at both denying areas, killing enemies, and even destroying enemy structures.

Not that he'd reached level 6 and put a point in it, he was well aware of how to use it... Mind you, it had a massive mana cost, as well as a long cooldown. The cooldown wasn't some arbitrary number however, the reason it couldn't be spammed is that the spell utilised actual summoned spirits.

Michael wasn't sure where they were actually summoned from, but he assumed it was either in the Dota universe, or some small parallel world in the Book of Commoners that had limited quantity at any given time.

Regardless, the Serpent Ward spell would be his trump card. He'd need to test it out of course, but since it was only castable once every four days, he'd need to properly plan around it. He'd take a trip out of the city in the morning to cast it in the forest, to see how strong it is. That'd give him enough time to return and begin property planning out his attacks against the D'argent gang.

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The next day Michael had donned some lighter clothes and exited Antomiers and immediately headed towards the woods sitting a couple miles from the city.

He made sure to stay clear of the roads to not catch attention, and once he was in a relatively quiet clearing, he drew his sword and cut a few young tree's to use them as target practice. Considering this was the first time he had the opportunity to test out his magic, he thought that he might as well try out his Shackles and Carnival Tricks spells while he was at it.

He hadn't had a chance to use either seriously yet, and he doubted that they'd be a better opportunity than this once things got hectic.

First off was using Shackles... He wanted to see if he'd really be rooted on the spot when he uses it, compared to the game you'd essentially be stunned as long as your target was, making it impractical in some situations.

He thrusts his hand out towards a nearby tree while chanting "Shackles!", causing hundreds of small orange ephemeral threads to shoot out and wrap the tree. Any surface touched by the threads is slowly burned, but it wasn't strong enough to kill a person with one cast, making it inefficient for actually dealing damage.

That aside, all he needed to maintain the spell was one hand to keep the threads taut, as if he were holding a rope. This would free up his other hand to use a weapon, though, he imagined stronger targets would require his full attention to keep them secured.

He quickly releases the spell to conserve his mana and turns his attention to casting his Serpent Wards... He wasn't really sure how big they'd be, nor how powerful their attacks would be, so he made sure that the clearing he was using had a stream nearby that he could use to set out any accidental fires...

Michael focuses inwards, and after a moment, points at the ground below him while chanting, "Serpent Wards!"

*SSSSSSSSSSssss!*

Multiple sounds of loud hissing make way for ten ephemeral snakes that appear around Michael, completely surrounding him as they look down at him as if waiting for their orders.

The reason he'd cast the spell below him was because you could use the Serpent Wards to surround and block people from moving... He glances around him and notes that the orange see-through snakes were around 8ft tall, and their tails were interlinked with one another, making a make-shift wall that impedes movement outside of the circle.

Michael tosses a rock as the snake tail-wall and grimaces as it gets scorched black and crumbles as it hits the ground. It seemed that like his Ether Shock, the snakes were comprised of energy that both shocked, and burned anything it touched, aside from Michael of course.

He turns towards the young tree's he'd positioned next to each other and gestures at them with a hand, "Attack." he commands, causing the ten snakes to turn and spit small orange projectiles towards it.

*SCHSHHHhhhhh!!!*

The projectiles easily destroy the targets, scorching, but not burning them as the young trees are easily broken into pieces. Each projectile was strong enough to snap the target in half, add the additional elemental damage and the fact the snakes could keep attacking until their duration ended, and you had an exceptionally powerful spell.

The only real negative was how weak the snakes were against attacks... Michael only had to hit one of the snakes twice with his sword to dispel it. But anyone who tried attacking up close would be targeted by the other 9, so it wasn't really a problem with his current enemies.

Last on his bucket list was testing his Carnival Tricks spell. He focuses and imagines summoning a flock of bats, similar to those you'd see in a vampire movie, before casting "Carnival Tricks!".

In response to his words, he manages to conjure around six bat-like origami figures that begin flapping around the clearing. Michael mentally orders the Serpent Wards to attack them, allowing the many projectiles to be unleashed in the area.

Luckily, while the projectiles did scorch anything they touched, they didn't actually burn anything, allowing him to avoid the inevitable forest fire. The Wards proved their accuracy by easily destroying his conjured illusions, making Michael very curious to see how they'd do against something like Tabitha's Dragon...