Demonic Magician

The resulting explosion was something both impressive and underwhelming at the same time. Perhaps too many movies and living a life full of theatrics had given me a disjointed vision of what a blast really did. However, the power and damage it wrought was awe-inspiring, even if the loud bang did earn us both glares from the elf and bear.

We walked back over to the safe, now sitting in a small ditch of brown mud. Grass smoldered on the edges of the circular pit that was easily a dozen feet wide.

“It’s been a while since I’ve used it last.” He grinned, clearly as enamored with the destruction as I was in awe.

“I can imagine. It’s not exactly subtle.” I licked my lips, trying not to think about what I could do with that kind of power. Explode people, probably. Once per day.

Any worry that even that was not enough washed away quicker than the smell of charred metal and burned dirt hit our noses. The poor safe lay facing the sky still, the door now buckled and smoking. Warm to the touch, but the locking mechanism had given up the ghost, and the contents were ours - assuming we hadn’t ruined them either.

It popped open in my grasp, and I was vaguely disappointed to be presented with a looting window rather than have anything tangible on the inside. System liked to ruin my mood.

[8345 Gold]

[Socket Setter (2)]

[Dex Gemstone (3)]

[Agi Gemstone (2)]

[Skillbook (1)]

[Power Token (12)]

I whistled. Partly because I wanted to build anticipation, and I was amused to see the other two members of the party moving toward us.

“Worth alerting the rest of the area to our location?” Ren asked, her arms crossed.

She couldn’t hide her desire to know what was inside, though. I could read her like a book. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to drag the suspense out longer than necessary just in case she set Wolf on me. He seemed even less impressed with the loud noise that had woken him up.

“First off,” I said, with a wide grin. “There was a bunch of nice meat.” I caught the elf’s look. “And fruit.”

From within my Inventory I withdrew some pork chops, a pair of apples, and some carrots in quick succession. Carrots weren’t a fruit, but hopefully it was enough to persuade the bear.

As he crunched through, my eyes quickly went over the newer items to see what they did before I did the big reveal.

Socket Setter added a socket to a piece of gear - which enables a gemstone to be affixed. Another way for gear to boost Stats. Two wasn’t exactly an easy number to share around. These Gemstones gave a plus two to their respective Stats, and I was sure I found a Mana one at some point.

“Three Power Tokens and two thousand gold each,” I said, mostly to give them a figurative bite to eat while I finished reading things off. There was a little rounding of those figures, which I’d work out eventually, I was sure.

A Skillbook gave you the option of three random skills to choose from. Random meaning outside of your normal Class choice. Limited to a certain list, and mostly utility skills. I pouted, trying to imagine how we would divide certain things up fairly.

“I can see that look on your face, friend.” Quinn gave me a soft smile. “If there is anything rare or important you cannot share, I understand - I am new to the group and the Tokens and gold are more than worth the cost of being part of this.”

I raised an eyebrow at Ren, and she shrugged.

[Quinn has joined the Party]

“I was hoping for more equipment.” I stood from the spent metal container and stretched out. “But there’s some Dexterity things for you, Ren. Also, this.”

She tilted her head as I held out the book, as if I was about to do something strange with it as part of some trick. With a suspicious glare toward me, she took it and brought up the description.

“Hmm. Pass.” She handed it back.

I raised an eyebrow, but nodded. I understood her reasoning. Max, the man of many tricks, could probably do better with something extra - even if it was something mundane. Instead, I traded over her Tokens, gold, and socket items.

“Now this is better, thank you.” She gave me a glare that lingered before I was able to tear myself away and distribute the rest of the plunder to the others.

“Someone approaches,” Wolf mentioned, turning his head as he licked his chops - his meal finished, including the fruit and veg.

We turned to see that he was correct. From the direction of the campground, a male figure dressed in plain brown leathers. He was alone, which meant he came to deliver a message rather than run us away.

“Clive, right?” I grimaced and raised an eyebrow at the elf.

“Yeah. I get the impression you’re not a fan.” She shrugged. “Seems pretty normal to me.”

“That’s the point.” I tried to scour the approaching man for a sign of… anything that was remarkable about him. “It’s like his Class is just generic human.”

Ren nudged me to get me to hush, but I could see a wry grin at the side of her mouth. Quinn looked apprehensive, but didn’t seem to have any preconceptions about the man.

“Hello,” he greeted us, now close enough to speak at medium volume. “You may remember me. I’m Clive.”

I nodded. “Yes.” For the day that I had up until this point, I prided myself on not added anything sarcastic to that acknowledgement. I was just about to dig through my Tokens and the Skillbook.

“The meeting has concluded. You are free to stay.” He stopped and held his hands behind his back.

Ren narrowed her eyes. “There’s no addendum or conditions on that?”

“No.” He remained impassive.

I considered the ramifications of killing him outright. Probably a bad example to set for our new temporary party member. Ren and Wolf might play along, but making enemies of every Player in the area would be pretty shortsighted.

“Okay,” I relented. “Thank you, Clive. We’ll finish up here and circle back when ready.”

“As you wish. Best regards.” He turned and started walking calmly away, unaware that I was staring the worse daggers imaginable at the back of his perfectly normal head.

“I can see why he’d be your mortal enemy,” Ren said, turning to me. “Given that you’re opposite.”

I rolled my eyes. “Like any of you are any less of a spectacle.” From my Inventory, a chair appeared as I sat.

Quinn furrowed his brow, looking down at his garish yellow outfit, before then glancing at the chair that had appeared a lot easier than he was used to.

“Team meeting… again, I suppose?” As much as the morning had been spent between grinding monsters and avoiding a mental break, the late afternoon seemed to be sinking into conversations about… hmm, my brain had started to slow down.

I looked up at the three as we sat in a loose circle once more. Adding a new voice and complication to the dynamic was an issue we had been avoiding for a while. Quinn seemed trustworthy, almost up to a level only Wolf could reach. The extra power for our group would help us against the unknown. Being a party of three had made us easy to ambush.

“Say, Quinn,” I began, “you haven’t really seen what I can do, right?”

He shook his head politely. “From watching you fight the Wildfolk you are a ranged spellcaster, with a gambler or jester theme.”

I caught Ren squirming slightly. Even though her face hadn’t budged, I knew that was a tell that she was holding in a laugh. “Magician, but close enough. The card attacks are one part of it… but maybe I can give a demonstration?”

Wolf perked up, perhaps assuming the trick would end up with him getting some meat. Well, I couldn’t disappoint him. Quinn seemed apprehensive, but was attentive. Ren was glaring at me, but was eager to see what I was about to come up with. What a crowd.

“Do you have an orange, Ren?” I smiled at my protégé.

She nodded, withdrawing it into her hand before lobbing it over to me to catch.

Only I didn’t. Eyes narrowed, the Orange stopped in midair over my lap. It hovered there, bobbing up and down for five seconds. I then clapped my hands together over it—nothing there—but when I drew them apart, I now had an orange in each hand.

Wolf and Quinn both had a few Dazzle icons, but unsurprisingly, Ren did not. She gave me a brief nod, but I knew she was more impressed by tricks that didn’t involve me moving things in and out of my Inventory. This one was a little different, in that I focused on quickly dropping the same thing in and out as quickly as possible in the same place to give the illusion of floating. It was hell on my eyes, however.

“Some manner of conjuration.” The fencer looked half ready to give me some applause. “I am impressed.”

I spun an orange in my hand, and it turned into a roast chicken. Off to Wolf it went, with the other orange.

“You should see him do that in the middle of combat.” Ren raised an eyebrow. “He kills people with that kind of bullshit.”

Amusing to note that Quinn winced as the elf swore. I’d have to clue her in on that. No doubt he saw her as many did - a beautiful elven princess. And she was, in a way, but so much more of a person outside of that. She caught me smiling at her and I slowly turned my gaze back to the present, my train of thought trying to find the right rails.

“Ah, so we’re allowed back to the pleasant camp.” There it was, got it in one.

Ren deflated in her chair. “No doubt Fiona said a lot more than it was just ‘okay’.”

“For one, I am glad to have a safe space to sleep tonight.” Quinn scratched at his eyepatch. “I’d prefer some solid walls, but it’s better than a dank chamber where they remove eyeballs.”

I grimaced. Not far from that fate myself, depending on how quickly Ren and Wolf had arrived. Although I had made it out mostly unharmed, Quinn wasn’t so lucky. “How are you other than the Trauma?”

“One eye fewer is a detriment to my fighting ability.” He looked down and shuffled in his chair. “Another reason why I was keen to find a place in your party.”

Ren and I exchanged a look. We had hardened ourselves to do the worst things necessary to fix this System and find some closure to what the Lady had done. Quinn was the breath of fresh air to remind us of our humanity. Or whatever elves had. Not built like us to rise above the struggle, but strong enough not to have fallen. He was the sort of person we were doing this all for.

“You know…” Ren began, “not that I’m pushing you away, but you could always go back to the first area.”

I nodded along. “There’s new Players coming in that could use guidance, and we’re pretty sure we got rid of most of the rot there.”

He looked between us and furrowed his brow. “I feel like I have a lot of growth to do as a person before I could act as a mentor. But perhaps that is a noble goal for me, once I am ready.”

Quinn may have his flaws, but he didn’t seem dreadful on the inside. The Crimson Shadows were terrible and violent, and the campers were apathetic and lax. From the few newer Players we had met, they seemed a lot more well-adjusted. I wondered if we had managed to appear during a period of people with terrible attitudes being brought into the System. Would be big-headed, but part of me was willing to believe I was here to fulfill a purpose.

To kill the infection that the Lady was soaking through the land.

We settled into a silence as we each went through to use our Tokens, although Wolf was perhaps just going back to sleep. Three was a decent number, and I was tempted to save them up to get the next upgrade on my main attacks - or perhaps one of my summons. Still, waiting around for seven more when we could die the next day seemed foolish. Better to have power today than be a corpse with unrealized potential.

My eyes rolled over all my abilities and passives. A tough problem to chew on, but I dove in face first.

[ is now Advanced: Mana cost reduced by 30%, the switch can be reversed within two seconds of using the ability.]

Although it sounded like a one-way ticket to getting dizzy, the reversal seemed way more important than the mana usage of the skill. The first example that came into my head was putting a dove up by a chimney, switching so that I could drop something down into the house, and then reversing back to wherever I was safe. Also, a novel way to Dazzle or confuse an enemy while in combat.

[ is now Advanced: Summons have an additional +15% Health and Attack.]

This brought them up to twenty-five percent bonus to both. Shame it gave no further effects - but the locked Expert stage of the skill seemed to hint that it was more than just a Stat boost. Even with Quinn on our side, we’d get good use out of my demons and they’d earned a little boost of their own.

Trying not to glance at Ren out of guilt, I upgraded the next skill.

[ is now Advanced: Increased maximum Health converted to 15%, increased Spell Crit chance 5% when Bloodletting.]

The extra five percent damage wasn’t really worth it. It was hard to imagine this being a good pick if I didn’t have the Headband of Woe which increased damage with mana used. However, critical chance was very nice - and five percent was much higher than my current bonus. Sure, it meant pushing my health and ability to the limit, but when I could possibly get more of those critical cards in clutch moments without wasting mana on normal cards…

It seemed like a something pretty useful. Shatter was now my only active ability not upgraded, and I was pretty cold on it until seeing it in action.

“Do you have any Expert skills, Quinn?” I raised an eyebrow as I brought out the Skillbook.

“Ah, just the one.” His eye was still on his menus. “Something that helps me avoid projectiles.”

I nodded. “Shame I didn’t just attack you with cards then. Things may have gone differently.”

His eye moved away from whatever he was looking at to seek me out, a warm smile crossing his face. “Perhaps. I expect you are a lot more than meets the eye, knowing what I do now.”

If Ren hadn’t also been in her ability menus, she probably would have rolled her eyes. It was a reasonable response. Quinn was still malleable. Once we saw how he fared in the fires of the forge, we’d see if he could be tempered to play the role we were destined for.

I activated the Skillbook, unsurprised all that opening it did was bring up menus to select.

[Pick One]

[Analyze] [You can see the Level and Basic Class of a target]

[Terrain Expert] [You can determine the nature of the surrounding terrain]

[Battle Observer] [You can see Status Effect icons on nearby targets]

Clucking my tongue, I gestured to my selection with nothing but a thought.