Lions

Support my main contracted novel and winner of Writing Prompts #26 - The Legendary Mage!

Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn!

https://www.webnovel.com/book/12013957905760805/Desolate-Mage%3A-A-Legend-Reborn!

* * * * *

(What... What have I created...?)

Albert's heart was pounding.

Level 2; but acknowledged by the Spatial laws...? Crushing a mountain with the tap of a finger...?

And the most fearsome part was that, despite the immense explosion and the collapse of the cliff, and completely unlike his earlier demonstration, the cliff just seemed to implode on itself.

The dust did not fly much; no rocks soared through the air. If the hill were a person; it would be like the person's limbs became jelly and he just sat down - gently.

Which meant that she had not used greater force or impact to destroy her target; no. She had bent the laws governing the area to her will; to accomplish with her soul's connection with the universe what her physical self could not - splitting and invalidating space in the area - Spacial Fracturing.

Albert swallowed his saliva - hard - to clear the lump in his throat.

A monster.

* * * * *

Sam opened her eyes. It looked like there were stars swimming in her eyes - no! It wasn't that it LOOKED like it - there truly were specks of lights swimming in her pupils; then hiding the moment one looked too long; making one think it were just an illusion!

She was beaming from ear to ear; hopping and skipping over to the man - to brag.

"Albert! Albert! Look what I--"

"Ahem; welldonewelldone now onto the next move--" He cut her off with rapid-fire words; not able to bear with her smug and overbearing boasting.

Legs and hands slightly quivering; the attractive man showed the composure of a king; he passed it off like it were nothing after the quick praise.

Unfortunately, he underestimated how thick Sam's skin was.

"ALBERT ALBERT LOOK WHAT I DID~! AREN'T I GREAT?! HUH? HUH???" The ogre-in-a-girl's-skin grabbed his collar and shook him like a dog shaking its prey in its mouth; breaking his thin veneer of calmness.

And she wouldn't stop until he praised her 20-30 times; patting her on the head and having to watch her jump up and down like the kid she was.

*Crack* *Crack*; the man stretched and tried to re-align his neck; it felt like something was out of place after she had roughed him up - all for the sake of getting praise.

(...I don't even want to teach you anymore...) But when he saw her wide-eyed sincerity; watching him and waiting for him to teach her the next moves; he relented.

His eyes grew sharp as he thought. (...It won't change the final outcome; anyway... Once we reach Rome...) But the man himself did not realise the pangs in his heart as his thoughts of the girl reached that point.

* * * * *

"And now, the second move of the thee moves - De... Erm... Angel's Devouring Palm."

* * * * *

There were no more large explosions; and the pair met Mr/ Ms Archer on the way back to the camp. The slim, cloaked and hooded figure gasped slightly in surprise upon seeing them spotless; then nodded as she turned back to camp.

(Sounds like a girl's voice...?) Albert absent-mindedly thought. Not that it mattered anyway.

And so they reached back the camp; gave some non-committal fibs to pass off what happened.

(A meteor exploded! You didn't see its trail? Oh it teleported into the mountain directly!)

Then the smiling man and hop-skotching girl found an area to settle down and called it a night.

* * * * *

The next morning.

Shadowmane bowed to Sam; quickly followed by the remaining ten plus orcs; the old, greyed orc beside him.

It had been decided that they must part ways - as the orcs could not follow on their journey to the north-east; to Lyon. Instead, they would head south to the deeper forested area to the east of the Mirror Gulf; where the dragons reach should not cover.

Shadowmane tried to grunt gruffly; but it came out a little feminine (for an orc). Still, it was gruff enough. Then he waved - a twinkling of the fingers with a soft wrist - and then left with the rest of the orcs.

The rest of the journey to Lyon was much less eventful; the only time they came close to trouble was when a group of goblins led by an ogre passed by; about 10km to the north of the caravan. The group released a collective sigh of relief - despite having a reliable fighter on their side, every encounter brought the risk of injury and the loss of lives.

Finally, after 3 days of travel, they could see the borders of Lyon!

Th remainder of the days had been cheerful; if forcedly so. Sam would be meditating and sensing the laws, as well as sensing her body evolve daily - her muscles and cells were enriched by the verdant atmosphere in the woods. She could feel that; despite being only less than 10% "full", she was arriving at some sort of break-through point in her body.

As if it were soon time to "wake up" and cast off a cocoon...? She didn't know how to express the feeling she had.

The caravan was soon met with a roaming group of 20 guardsmen; one of the countless small groups of soldiers, mercenaries and adventurers patrolling the borders and scattered settlements spotting the countryside surrounding Lyon.

The old city area of the former Roman settlement itself was surrounded by thick and high walls; unlike Pari where there were no walls and the townspeople relied solely on the strength of their guardians Mayor Gabriel and the now-late Swordmaster Bannon.

And lying right outside the walls was a town built around the original city's walls and gates - another layer of lower and smaller walls had been commissioned some 2, 3 hundred years ago by an ambitious but foolish lord who sought independence from the Romans. He had bankrupted himself and was forced to subordinate himself to the Uro Empire instead; trading one task master for another.

The Lyon of today had long since recovered; sprouting further into a prosperous agglomeration of cities; housing nearly 800,000 residents in a densely populated area of about only 90-100 square kilometres - the second largest and most populous city in Gallia. The Rhone river snaked into the city from the north-east; while the Saone river entered on the northern side - both rivers converging and exiting from the south-side of the metropolis.

However, not everyone could successfully settle down in the city proper; especially those in the herding, farming or milling business. And thus these tax-paying residents whose homes mushroomed in a radius of 30-40km out from Lyon's walls needed protection too; and as such; the patrolling guardsmen.

The caravan group had no issues; allowing the guardsmen to check their documents; (Mmm... No problem here, the bribes are sufficient...) and the goods; (1, 2, 3,... 11 banned goods. Okay, That'll be 33 golds. A pleasure doing business with you! Let Dreydric at the gates know I've collected from ya); and finally the people would be checked at the gates.

As with many of the major cities on the middle continent, the check conducted would be 3-fold; with the strictness dependent on the times.

Right now; the checks were especially stringent on all three areas:-

-One; purpose of visit.

-Two; companions' testimony.

-Three; recorded identity in the Uropa Index.

And so the group including Sam and the oriental-looking black haired man proceeded to the city gates to be checked.

Khadir's group, Sam and Albert lined-up on foot to enter the bustling gates on this late-morning (those with goods to import entering through a different route manned by the Royal Customers Department).

They queued along with the hundreds of other small groups seeking entry whether for work, trade or for leisure on this summer Friday. Carl the mage groaned that, "This is going to take all day..." then brought up 3 glass balls to juggle; maybe to pass the time.

As Sam was taking in the sights and sounds of the largest crowd she'd ever seen; she then heard a loud *chugga chugga chugga chugga* sound.

She tip-toed as high as she could; then jumped a little to get a better view - bumping into the irritable people beside her - and her face lit up as she saw for the first time; mankind's greatest invention - the steam-train.

Running on 100% mana and no steam at all; the steam train was called such because of its inventor; Mr Gaben Steam; who also happened to own every entertainment outlet in the middle and western continents.

The magnificent creation could be seen exiting the Lyon station at high speeds; this one heading to the north-west at roughly 100-200km an hour. And at that speed, it would reach Paris in a mere 8 hours!

However, as the trains running costs were extremely high due to the many mages in their high-teens levels needed to power it; the trains would often only run twice a week in either direction - one train a week to Paris; and one more train a week to Turin and Rome.

"What'll ya be doin' once yar in Lyon?" Khadir asked the rest.

The mercenary groups members gave various answers; then agreed to meet up on the 2nd day evening at the Needy Harlot Inn. Sam wanted to ask what the name meant; but the rest just blushed and ignored her.

"'Ow 'bout yaz?" The stout man asked the young girl and the handsome man beside her.

"I'm going to Rome to be an adventurer!" Sam answered perkily.

"And I will be visiting family - at least, I hope they are still there. It's been awhile..." He gave a laid-back reply; then smiled at Sam. "Looks like we'll be traveling together...?"

"Hah! Tha's good! Journeys be boring wiv'ut company!" He slapped his knee and let out a barking laugh.

Then he raised his chin in thought; "E next train sh'd be in 2 days? Why not ya bunk wit' us and--" He smiled broadly to his party; "--We all un intro'd ya to them's ad'enture guild here? Aye, aye, aye--" He coughed; strangely awkward when talking about something so normal. "Aye knows de ol' lady ther... Ol' frends, ya knows..."

Jho Low nudged Sam's waist with his elbow (he was too short to nudge her in the ribs) as the dwarf-like man coughed; saying, "Khadir has had the hots for that old woman for a loooong time now..." He smiled lasciviously and raised his eyebrows teasingly at his leader.

Khadir blushed.

As the group laughed uproariously; and were met with daggers as stares by the impatient people queuing around them; little did they know that since the last train to the east; the crossing through the Swiss mountains had completely collapsed; and was now swarmed with goblins, orcs, trolls, ogres - and more.