World Keeper

Chapter 271: Training for the Invasion

Dale, you have to come see this! After I had finished watching time pass on Earth, Ryone’s excited message reminded me that she had been using this year to understand as much about the new breed of elementalist that she could manage. And, judging from how she sounded, she must have been able to learn quite a bit.

Nodding my head, I closed my eyes and sent myself to Ryone’s magic testing basement. Now that we knew the three tiers of geometric magic, and the two tiers of runes, the floors of the basements no longer carried the ‘scars’ that Ryone had drawn on them from constant experimentation to uncover more secrets of magic.

Sure enough, though, Ryone was waiting for me there. She was practically bouncing on the heels of her feet, her eyes wide as she could barely contain herself. “This is cool, better than anything I could have hoped! Elementalists in Fyor’s system take on an entirely new direction!”

I gave a small sigh, knowing that once she got like this, there was no point in trying to stop her. Best to just let her work it all out of her system. “The new version of the class incorporates control, enhanced magical properties, as well as new martial abilities!”

Although I was curious, Ryone began acting before I had the chance to question her. “Bestow me with the gift of elemental lightning. Pledge my will unto the world!” As she said that, I watched the elemental energy within the Admin Room inscribe the lightning rune onto her hand.

“You see? It doesn’t just work with the four base elements. Any aspect of nature can be used, even wood or metal. The only two that I suspect, but have had problems with so far, are light and darkness. It’d be nice if they could work, but the incantation hasn’t triggered anything with them yet.”

“Anyways!” She shook her head, watching as the rune on her hand began to light up, before fading away. “Once the rune has been sufficiently charged, you can will it to hide itself beneath your skin. It can then be summoned out at any time.”

“If you tap into the elemental mana contained within the rune, you can activate three abilities. The first is that you can charge any spell you cast with the chosen element. An ice blast could become a blast of both ice and lightning, for instance. Moreover, you can control your chosen element to a higher degree than normal druids, imbuing them with the strength that normal natural energy lacks.”

“And finally…” A wide grin formed on Ryone’s face, and she extended her hand out. The rune, which had only just faded, lit up again. Once more, she spoke in the language of magic. “Appear, my pledge.”

Lightning arced out from the back of her hand, transforming into a crackling trident. Its shaft appeared to be made of gold, its pointed tips serrated like a traditional lightning bolt design. Electricity danced along the entire length of the weapon as she held it. “They gain a pledge weapon, much like the knight’s blade possessed by the knight class.”

Although I wasn’t too familiar with the details of that particular ability, I had seen Tsubaki using it. A weapon made out of a person’s own divine spark, given shape by their intense desire to serve their lord. “So… that weapon is made out of elemental mana?”

“That’s right! Everyone gets to design their own pledge weapon. I mean, you can change it anytime you want. But the more familiar you are with a form, the more powerful it becomes. I’ve only had a year, so… I haven’t been able to make anything too great, but I noticed a definite improvement with some people!”

I gave a small nod at that, still looking at the trident. “Is it possible to gain multiple elements?” While this all sounded great, amazing even, I didn’t want to put all my eggs into one basket.

“Uhm…” Ryone had a difficult expression on her face, her eyes shifting to the side slightly. “If there is… we haven’t figured it out yet. Using the incantation a second time causes intense pain, and simply overrides the first pledge. And I tried doing a pledge for multiple elements, but I didn’t gain any results…”

That earned another nod. It would have been nice if it worked, but since it didn’t I would have to make do. “Alright, then. I’ve got fifty days to train my saint class and these new elementalist abilities, as well as practicing with Leowynn…” It didn’t sound like a lot, but… it was better than nothing.

Ryone nodded her head, seeming pleased by my desire to learn this class. “If you’re training both… you can’t do it in Fyor. The system there wouldn’t recognize the saint class, since it hasn’t been unlocked there yet. Do you have any idea where you will descend, then?”

Honestly, Fyor would have been my first choice. I could have joined an adventuring team, and had a pretty nice time of training. But, instead… I sent a message to Accalia. Can you find me somewhere in the level three to five hundred range? As far away from civilization as you can manage.

Leowynn’s abilities caused a change that could be recognized if we were too close to a city, so as much as I didn’t want to go camping for nearly two months, there wasn’t a lot of options. Besides, this would give me some time to spend with her and further understand these new abilities we had both received recently.

Sure. Would Deckan work? There’s a pretty big island that is the home to monsters in that range. It’s about a hundred kilometers from the mainland, but the city that used to be there was destroyed in the first waves of powerful monsters spawning.

I felt a small twinge of guilt when I heard that, but quickly shook it off. It’ll work. Mind pointing it out for me on the map? After I asked her that, I looked towards Ryone. “Looks like I’m going to Deckan. Guess I can pick up some cards while I’m there.”

Ryone gave another quick nod. “Udona’s magic system is really interesting, too… I’ve been trying to find ways to merge it with geometric for… well, since the two worlds came together. It should be possible! I just haven’t figured out how yet.”

I blinked in surprise when I heard that, considering the possibility. While it might not sound impressive at first, as cards were generally more effective as a quick cast than geometric magic, there was one way that the combination could become quite astounding. If it allowed a mage to store a prepared spell in the card, essentially customizing it to remove the need for hunting out new cards… well, the first thing that would do would be to destroy the economy of Deckan.

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts, before taking myself back to the bedroom. The Sky Citadel had been moved back to Earth for Scarlet’s gathering, so Fyor was still a safe place for me to go in my normal appearance, without risking being discovered by a certain kitsune. I was sure that Tsubaki would be appalled to learn that I was staying in such a ruined city, and insist on aiding me.

Either way, once I got back to my room, I found Accalia sitting in my chair, lightly kicking her legs back and forth since they did not quite reach the floor. “Hey Dale! So, quick rundown about this area before you go.” She began, turning to face me as soon as I entered.

“I checked, and there are no ‘anomaly’ creatures. No mind altering parasites, and only a few poisonous bugs that you should be able to deal with on your own. However!” She held up a single hand. “You should really, really not use any kind of fire attacks.”

“Gas?” I asked simply, causing her to smile slightly.

“The city was built on top of a natural gas vent, and had at one point used it as their main export. However, once the world was changed by the appearance of more powerful monsters… the area went out of control. The gas itself turned into monsters.”

“Now, while this means that the air is safe to breathe, that only applies as long as you don’t hit any monster with fire. Cooking with it is fine, but that’s it. If you kill a monster with a fire or lightning attack, you could set off a chain reaction that would blow up the entire island. And you along with it.”

“Fire bad, got it.” I nodded readily at that. “But… wouldn’t that mean that the meat of the monsters wouldn’t be safe to eat?”

Accalia rolled her eyes playfully. “Not all of the monsters. You’ll be able to tell which ones are dangerous to eat pretty easily, since their blood evaporates on contact with the air.”

“Noted.” I gave another nod at that, moving over towards the computer and pulling up the map. “Now, where is this island?”

Accalia turned in the chair, leaning forward and watching as I scrolled through the map of Deckan, rocking back and forth slightly until she suddenly stopped me. “There! Zoom in.” She pointed to a particular point just off the coast of one of the smaller continents. Shrugging my shoulders, I zoomed in, seeing the island she was talking about.

As she said, there didn’t seem to be anyone there. Even if I had to use my full power to get out of a really bad situation, there shouldn’t be very many people on the mainland that would be able to detect it. “Alright, this’ll work fine.”

After I said that, Accalia smiled wide, her body slowly vanishing from my chair. Soon, all that was left were her tail and her smile, the former fading before the latter. I wonder how long she practiced that…

I shook my head, sitting down and designating that location for my descent. Level three hundred monsters should be pretty safe for me to hunt normally. Level four hundred would be able to put some pressure on me, and finally those in the five hundreds would make me need to work with Leowynn or use my Keeper ability to defeat more than one at a time.

Once the location and body had been set, I felt the familiar warm light sending me down to the world below. Of course, the first thing I did… “Bestow me with the gift of elemental wind. Pledge my will unto the world.”

Leowynn, feel free to come out if you want. I thought inwardly, glancing around the area. Aside from my health, I had reduced all of my attributes back to my normal levels. I took a deep breath, seeing the shattered stone walls that had once kept hordes of monsters at bay. Now, it was overgrown with vines, flowers sprouting atop the wall.

Inside the city was no better, nothing seeming to have survived the passage of time. Curiously, I walked the streets, unsure how long it would take for my elemental mana to fully charge. I could ask Ryone, but there was no hurry.

With a flash of world sight, I scanned my immediate surroundings. I found an old card store, though the cards within had been destroyed, the shop itself blown to pieces. The only reason that I had been able to identify it in the first place was the sign laying on the ground in front of it.

Soon, Leowynn had taken me up on my offer, appearing next to me to walk side by side. When she did, Irena suddenly spoke to me. It seems that her spiritual strength is now reduced to the same level as yourself. From now on, the two of you will likely always share the same level.

Well, that made things easier. I’d no longer need to make trips to the Underworld to ‘feed’ her growth. If you can figure out a way to replicate the incubation process without the need of your pen, that would probably be a big help to spirit tamers and spirit hunters.

Although she did not sound entirely interested, I could feel her acceptance. I shall attempt to do so.

“So… this is where we’ll be staying for a while?” Leowynn asked, rubbing her eyes like she was still tired. “It’s not too bad… Could use some work, though.”

I looked to her in concern upon hearing her weary tone. “If you need to rest some more, you can. I can take care of things here myself for a little while.”

“No, no, it’s fine… I’ve got to be here to cook for you, right?” Leowynn asked, looking to me with a soft smile. “I’d bet that you never learned how to properly cook wild game.”

“And you have?” I fired back with a roll of my eyes and a soft smirk.

Leowynn paused for a moment, grumbling lightly. “Well, I was given lessons… but I never actually trained the chef class. It wasn’t part of mom’s training schedule… Only ever had the chance to cook for myself after I hit the level limit.”

“Well, this will be a learning exercise for both of us, then.” I pointed out, continuing to scan the surroundings. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any monsters in this section of the city, though I wasn’t sure if that was simply because they were nocturnal or if they actively avoided it.

“Yeah, yeah… Let me know when the fun starts…” Leowynn said with a small yawn, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth.