The First Archmage

When I wake up, Warren is sitting right by the edge of the bed, staring at me.

“Jeez, dude!” I jerk back in surprise. “The hell are you sitting so close to me for?”

“Did you seriously stare at me as you fell asleep?”

“The spirits tell you that?”

“You were facing me, genius.”

“I was wondering about the mark,” I gesture to my cheek. “All the art I’ve seen of fairies, there’s been no marks on them.”

“Only certain types of fairies have it,” he huffs. “How did you unlock Spirit Affinity? You didn’t have Spirit when I feel asleep.”

“Which time?” I ask, and he huffs again, causing me to giggle. “After you fell asleep, I apologized to the spirits I bothered with my expansion, and suddenly, my SPA was unlocked.”

“When did you learn Silvar?” He asks in shock.

“I apologized to them in Velusan,” he says, and he gives me a look saying he doesn’t care. “Why do you think I know Silvar?”

“You learned it while watching me fight yesterday, didn’t you?” He asks.

“Why would you think that?”

“You told me how easily you learn languages,” he says. “An extra ten percent to learning a new Skill wouldn’t be enough to learn languages so quickly. You need to have a higher bonus than that.”

I pull up my bonuses window.

+10% to learning Skills

+10% to leveling Skills

+20% to learning magical Skills

+20% to leveling magical Skills

That open, I show it to him, and he scrutinizes it, his face scrunching up in adorability.

“That doesn’t make sense,” he mutters. “Not unless there’s a hidden bonus.”

“There probably is,” I shrug. “But that doesn’t mean I learned Silvar.”

“Show me your languages screen.”

“Why?”

“Ha!” He says. “You did learn it! What Level is it at?”

“Two.”

“From that little?” He asks. “I’m impressed. And jealous. It took me four years to get to Level 2. I’m at Level 5 right now.”

“Did you tell the spirits to not grant me gifts?” He asks.

“No,” he responds. “Why would you think that?”

“I dunno,” I shrug. “I feel like they were told not to give me gifts.”

Warren speaks in Silvar, then listens for a few moments before shaking his head and saying something else. His face turns bright red as he listens to the response, and he hurriedly says something in response. I couldn’t catch too much of what he was saying, just bits and pieces, but I’m pretty sure the spirits are saying something embarrassing, and he’s denying whatever it is.

Unfortunately, I can’t hear them, but I do gain another Level in Silvar as I listen in.

“The spirits say,” Warren huffs. “That they were told not to give you blessings. They were told curses were okay, but not to give you a blessing. They also said that they’re going to ignore the Rift Wolves, whatever those are, and do what they want anyway. Apparently, the three of them in this room like you.”

“Can you teach me their gifts?”

“No,” he answers. “I can ask you to let us go each breakfast, though, because I’m hungry, and we’re going to need to grind for awhile for more money,” then he mutters under his breath. “Not that it’ll really be fair, since we’ll probably make enough from your insane looting ability to stay a couple more days here and eat every meal.”

“Probably,” I say, and his face turns red again. I keep the smirk off my face as I ask, “So what else did they say?”

“Nothing,” his face turns redder.

“You seemed to have an awful long conversation for that.”

“They were just commenting on how I look today,” he turns redder as he says a clear lie. “Saying this outfit suits me more than the loincloth.”

“It does, indeed,” I say as a pair of leather boots form on his feet. “You do that without washing? Aren’t your feet all dirty and stuff?”

“Do I look dirty to you?” He asks, and I realize that he doesn’t. “All fairies have a fire they can use to create clothing and remove dirt and grime and sweat. I might have been a prisoner, but I was a clean prisoner. I cleaned myself up when I removed the cloth and the made the tunic.”

“Why didn’t you change your outfit before?”

“Complicated.”

I grin inwardly, then climb out of bed, and we leave, making our way to a breakfast stall and picking up four sweet rolls for three silver apiece, then consume them on our way to the Dungeon.

“Dungeon’s closed,” the guard says when we arrive. “Another party’s inside. They’ll probably be a couple of hours.”

It’s a shame Dungeons aren’t multilayered or something, since they don’t take up space. Then, there’d be the possibility of multiple teams being inside the same Dungeon at once, without actually being in the same Dungeon.

+0 INT!

What? That wasn’t me making a statement. Unless you’re just agreeing with me.

+0 INT

Not an agreement?

+0 INT!

A statement?

+0 INT!

Were you saying that’s possible?

+0 INT!

Are you referring to the secondary form?

-0 INT!

So multiple parties can be in the same Dungeon, but in different, um, I guess instances of the Dungeon?

+0 INT!

Is it through the same interface for switching which form the Dungeon is?

-0 INT!

Through something similar?

+0 INT!

Thanks!

+0 CHA!

“Alright,” I look at the guard. “Thanks for you opinion. Come on, Warren, let’s go grind in the Dungeon.”

“He literally just told us that the Dungeon’s got a party in it.”

“So?” I walk up to the Dungeon, pushing a hand against the portal, which is solid, indicating a party’s within. “Sure does look like it. At least he’s not an ass like the one last night.”

So how do I do this?

…

No response. Guess the System’s limited to the gain/loss messages.

-0 INT!

Seriously? But that’s all you do.

I feel like the System’s going ‘so?’ to me.

+0 INT!

So cheerful about admitting that, too. I wonder how I change instances on here.

Suddenly, I feel as if something is telling me they’ll give me a little boost for this.

Wizardly Presence Detected: Dungeon Interface Opened

Currently, this Dungeon can only sustain one party within it.

Would you like to enable the Dungeon to contain no limit or set a new limit?

This will create a new instance of the Dungeon each time a new party or individual wishes to enter, instead of only for the first to try to enter.

“Set to no limit,” I pull my hand away from the Dungeon.

Confirm:

Set this Dungeon to support any number of parties within: Y/N?

“Yes.”

This Dungeon can now contain any number of parties within it, each in a separate instance from the rest.

“There we go,” I look at Gavin. “Perks of being a Wizard: I can kick a Dungeon out of the one-party limit. I can increase the limit, or I can set it to have no limit. The Dungeon essentially creates a new instance when someone enters it, be it an individual or a party. The instances are only there for that party, and when they leave, it vanishes. That explains why Bosses and stuff are reset, even if a party just left.”

+0 INT…

It was a correct assumption.

No response. Mentally, I stick my tongue out at the System.

“Seriously?” Warren asks, and I nod. “And Wizards can change if a Dungeon does that or not?”

“Seems so,” I nod. “Though I didn’t know until just now. They’re all probably set to a single party by default.”

+0 INT

No modifier… it is, but it isn’t?

+0 INT!

Not even going to try guessing that.

“Let’s go,” I say to Warren, then step into the Dungeon.

A moment later, Warren follows behind me, and we begin battle. We last fifteen minutes before the kobolds are too dense for us to keep fighting, and we make a tactical retreat out of the Dungeon then, as well as to rest up and restore my Mana.

“There really are multiple groups in there,” someone says when we leave, and I look at him. “When he told us, I didn’t quite believe it.”

“You going in?” I ask, and he shakes his head. “We’ve got a few hours before my Mana’s full again, Warren – is there anything you want to do?”

“Murder you and consume your soul.”

“You’re a fairy not a dark fairy.”

“Why can’t I be a dark fairy?” He asks.

“Because you joined my party.”

“How long will it take you to restore to full?”

“Roughly five hours and fifteen minutes.”

“Impossible!” A magician standing nearby exclaims, and I look at their magic, trying to get a feel for their power.

Magic Sense is now Level 10!

Magic Sense is now Mastered!

+10 Wizard Experience!

Mastering Magic Sense has unlocked Mana Sense!

Mana Sense 1/10: The ability to sense Mana in and around everything.

Sweet!

I turn that sense inward, then read the magician’s own Mana, to get a feel for how much Mana I have before comparing. I’d say he’s not got a whole lot more than me.

“Sir,” I say. “You don’t have much more Mana than me. I’m thirteen. You should be embarrassed by that.”

“As if!” He scoffs. “I’m one of the first Novices this continent ever saw, gaining access the first day of the increase!”

“Really?” I ask, pretending to be impressed before pulling up my status screen and showing it to him. “You only have Novice? Huh. I have Wizard as a Tier I Class. It looks like your Class is only Level 2. You’ve had it for a year and a quarter. Mine’s at Level Six. You make it seem like it’s difficult to gain Experience.”

“Your Primary Class Level isn’t enough to have a Secondary Class!”

“Perks of being a Wizard,” I smile at him. “Now move – you’re in our way, and we’ve loot to sell.”

The Novice moves out of our way, and Warren and I make our way inside the Guild. We sell our loot, Warren receiving eighteen silver, me receiving sixty-three. As we start to make our way out of the Guild Hall, Collin intercepts us.

“Hello, Gavin,” he says in Jozan, people staring as he speaks with me.

From what I understand, he doesn’t talk to just anyone.

“Hello, Collin,” I respond in Jozan.

“It’s only been a day,” he says. “So I’m surprised I have information already, but it might be some time before I find out where Michael and Kade are. Tyler, on the other hand, is in the royal city of Haywarl. He’s supposedly a foreign noble who is traveling to learn of other places and their customs, but won’t reveal much of his past.”

I wonder if he’s gotten Acting yet. Kade told me that it’s difficult to gain that, even for nobles and royals, but Tyler is Jozan to the core. There’s no doubt he’d have been able to gain it to protect where he’s really from.

“Thanks, Collin,” I say.

“You’re welcome,” he says. “Do you mind sharing how you managed to enable it so multiple parties can enter? We had your team, the team in there before yours, and one that went in after, to see if it really was possible.”

I tell him how I changed the Dungeon Settings.

“Really?” He asks, and I nod. “Will you share with me on how you managed to gain the Wizard Class? I also looked into that, and have only gotten a ‘that’s probably a later Tier’ in response. Yours is Tier I.”

“Secret,” I grin at him. “Thanks for the info, Collin. Since Tyler seems to be training, we’ll probably stick around here a bit longer, to train up more and see if we can’t find word on the other two.”

I start to leave, and Collin grabs my arm.

“We need to talk,” he says in a low voice.