The Reluctant Hero - Vol. 1 - Chapter 3

After he finished hugging his mother, Axel looked at the staff and practically bubbled with excitement, “I’ve been looking forward to trying this. Store!”

As soon as he finished saying the word ‘store’ the staff in his hand vanished from sight. A quick glance at his status page showed it was still considered equipped. Looking at his childish excitement brought a smile to Shara, “Just remember Axel, you can only store one full set of equipment at a time.” She gave him a bright smile, “But don’t worry, I’ll teach you the Magic Box spell before you leave. You won't be able to use it until you get a few more levels, but once you can it will come in super handy.”

Axel nodded his head excitedly. He’d nearly forgotten his mother could teach him a couple of spells. Even if she thought he couldn’t use them right away, he could still learn them for ‘later’. Before he could ask her to teach him, she spoke up again, “But not until after dinner! I’ve spent all afternoon working on it!”

That was a bit of an exaggeration, they’d only been gone for a couple of hours. Still, he gave her an indulgent nod and they made their way back into the house. With his new staff, he would generate a metric ton of mana over the next week. Getting those first one hundred levels was looking easier and easier.

Though it was a bit early, the three of them sat at the dinner table and had a wonderful meal together. They reminisce over the last sixteen years, both parents delighting in telling stories meant to embarrass Axel. It was like a game between the two to see who could make him blush more.

The next week went by in a flash. The whole week was spent together, both parents constantly offering him advice to make his journey smoother. As she had promised, his mother had taught him a few helpful spells that she didn’t expect him to use right away. She didn’t teach him everything she could either. In her words, “It’s best for you to not have too much to remember right away. Get used to what you have and slowly increase your repertoire over time.”

The spells she did teach him were common Mage spells that almost every mage knew and had good uses for. They were Magic Box, Mana Armor, Telekinesis, and Apport. One storage spell, one defensive spell, and two utility spells. It took everything he had not to giggle at the sheer stupidity that Mana Armor was to him.

Mana Armor - Rank 1 (0%)

While active, all damage is dealt to the user's MP until their MP runs out or the spell is dispelled.

Cost: For every 1 damage, lose 10MP

Yeah, he’d lose one hundred mana for every single point of health he would lose but… He calculated that every night when he slept he was currently earning around twenty thousand mana. That translated to two hundred health. Nowhere near invincible or anything, but definitely way more health than any other mage was going to have, especially as a level one!

Telekinesis was another spell that his large mana reserves could take advantage of.

Telekinesis - Rank 3 (27%)

Allows the user to move things at a distance with their mana. The range and power of Telekinesis is directly proportional to the amount of mana invested in its use.

Cost: Varies

Damage: Varies

He’d already practiced some with it, and while it didn’t have specifically listed costs, and his costs were prohibitive, he’d used it to easily lift a boulder that he estimated to weigh several tons. He had no idea how much mana he’d wasted doing that, but it served as proof of the power of the spell. He’d be able to easily crush stronger monsters and gain good experience.

Apport was a simple spell that let him teleport small objects into his hand as long as he could see them. Not many, if any, direct combat applications but it was a great utility for picking up things or recovering dropped or thrown items. He figured he would use it more when he had some throwing knives as a Rogue. Another possible utility was stealing things from monsters. He couldn’t rip weapons out of their hands, but if it was in a sheath…

As for the Magic Box spell, he was going to wait until he’d gained a few more levels and increased his stores of mana. It had a base cost of five hundred mana, five thousand for himself, to make even the smallest Magic Box. The spell could be cast over and over to spend more mana and get a bigger box with time, but given his costs, he’d rather save up until he could spend around ten million mana on it. That should give him the largest Magic Box in history.

“You ready, son?”

Axel was pulled from his reminiscing to look at his father. He smiled warmly and nodded, “Yeah, dad. I’m ready. I’ve got everything you and mom gave me.” He shrugged his right shoulder to indicate the simple bag hanging from it that was stuffed to the brim, “I guess it’s time then.”

His smile started to waver a little as his eyes became watery. As much as he wanted to begin his journey, he was still only sixteen and his parents were the most important thing in his life thus far. Leaving home was tough. He could return whenever he wanted, of course, and be welcomed back with open arms. Still, there was something almost final about his leaving now that caused his emotions to run high.

His mother wrapped him in a tight hug, her own eyes shedding tears unabashedly. Her baby was about to leave home and enter a dangerous world. They’d done everything they could to prepare him but anything could happen, “Just remember, you can come home whenever you want and we’ll always be here for you. Never forget, there’s no shame in running away if you can’t beat a monster. Better to run away and live to fight another day than to die pointlessly.”

Axel hugged his mother tightly, “I’ll remember mom. I’ll stay as safe as I can. I’ll be sure to have some good stories to share when I visit.”

Shara leaned back and gave her son a watery smile that quickly turned teasing as she tried to lift the mood, “Don’t forget to bring a pretty girl home with you.”

Typhon laughed boisterously and slapped his son on his shoulder, “Listen to your mother brat! Bring home a nice pretty one for us!”

Shara backhanded Typhon’s chest in recrimination, “Don’t listen to your father. Any woman you bring home will be just fine by us.” Her soft smile turned positively wicked, “Or even a nice young man if you prefer.”

Axel groaned, “Mooooooooom.”

Shara giggled while Typhon felt a shudder run down his spine. Axel just shook his head, “And now I don’t feel so bad about leaving.”

“Everyone heading for the starter city of Victoria, step into the circle! The teleportation will begin in five minutes!”

The three of them looked to the side at the man making the announcement. Axel inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly to fight his nerves. Victoria, the town of beginnings where everyone born in the Protectorate of Tannis would go to start their journey.

Axel gave both of his parents one final hug, “I’ll come visit once I reach third-tier.” He grinned playfully at his father, “After all, I only want to return after I become a successful Rogue.”

His father playfully grabbed at his chest, “Ugh! You wound me, son!”

Laughing, Axel made his way over to the teleportation circle to join a couple of other young people and a few older ones. It was nice not to have to take a horse or join a caravan to get to the city. He faced his parents and as the circle began to glow a few minutes later, he gave them one final wave before his vision was filled with nothing but white light.

There was a weak sensation of movement that only lasted a brief moment before fading away along with the white light. Axel found himself in a room similar to the one he just left, yet decidedly not the exact same room. His parents were gone and he was now hundreds of miles away from them. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and followed the others that teleported with him out of the room.

Once he was outside of the arrivals room it didn’t take him long to find his way out into the city. Victoria was a bustling city with a population of over fifty thousand people. More people walked the street in front of him than Axel had seen in his entire life. He stood there watching the people moving about their lives for longer than he would care to admit. It was all just so different from what he was used to. The streets were lined with buildings two to three floors tall, people in all sorts of clothing and armor walked the street, and everything was just so close together. This was nothing at all like his home and the small town near it.

He finally shook off his stupor and pulled a small map out of his pocket. It was the most recent one that was given to new people heading into Victoria for the first time. Written in big letters with a star indicating it was his first stop for the day. In order to travel, he would need legal identification and the most widely accepted form was an Adventurers Status Plate. The only place to get one of those was a local Monster Hunter Guild. Why the card wasn’t called a ‘Hunter’s Plate’ was beyond him.

Axel hefted his small satchel and began his walk down the street following the directions on the map. In normal circumstances, he might be a target for thugs and pickpockets, but Victoria had excellent policing forces and everyone carried their money in storage, just like his staff currently was. It really made life convenient.

The journey to the guild wasn’t all that difficult or long. Though, he did enjoy looking at the buildings with various designs. They used all different kinds of materials in the city. Wood, plaster, stone, marble, and materials he didn’t know the names of. The designs were all pretty random-seeming as well as if dozens of different cultures just built their buildings however they felt. It made for a far more interesting look than every building being a copy of the one next to it.

The Monster Hunter Guild building was a whole new experience. The place was massive. The whole building was shaped like a giant ‘U’ with a three-story central building and each wing sitting at two stories. It was made of bright materials in white, bronze, and steel that were all polished to a bright shine. It just barely straddled the line between tasteful and ostentatious. The biggest attention grabber of the entire building sat just above the large double-wide entrance, a massive dragon skull.

Axel looked over the entire scene, including the myriad of different people walking in and out of the guild. So far it was the busiest looking place he’d seen since he got to the city, not that he’d seen much of the city yet to compare. He took a moment to collect himself before heading for the wide entrance to the main atrium of the building. In the center of the room was a large sign pointing out where different services could be found. The registration section was in the right-wing.

Following the signs made it easy for him to find the counter he needed to register. The worker sitting behind the desk was a middle-aged-looking man with scars on his face and muscles almost as impressive as his father's. As Axel approached, the man studied him for a moment before smirking, “Ah, fresh meat. Excellent.”

Axel let out a put-upon sigh while shaking his head, “You would get along great with my old man with an attitude like that.” As he got to the counter he looked over at the middle-aged man, “You know why I’m here, let’s get it over with.”

His parents had filled him in on the procedure so he wasn’t surprised when the man behind the counter pulled out an ornate looking silver dagger covered in runes and slammed it on the table along with a sheet of paper, “Since you seem to know what to do, go on. Do it.”

Axel simply lifted his hand and cast Apport. With a small flash of purple light, the dagger disappeared from the counter and appeared in his hand. It was a complete and total waste of twenty-five hundred mana in most circumstances. However, seeing the mildly more impressed look on the man’s face almost made it worth it.

“Not many newbies come in already knowing extra spells. Mage eh? Not terrible I guess. Though you’re not likely to get into a group until you level up a fair bit. Not one wants to carry a newbie mage, even if he knows a few extra spells. Now stop showing off and get on with it.”

Axel lifted the dagger up and used the enchanted blade to slice the tip of his index finger open. Blood easily began to flow out of the wound which he allowed to drip onto the piece of paper. There was a specific box for the blood to drip into. The blood was absorbed into the paper and used as ink to fill in his personal details, name, age, height, class, level, and a few other things. It skipped over the more minute details like his attributes and such. People had a very good understanding of where someone’s attributes would be in any given tier.

Once enough blood had been fed to the document, the wound on his finger closed and all excess blood vanished leaving his finger and the enchanted blade pristine. After setting the dagger down, Axel watched as the worker went over his simplified status and info. After a bit he nodded his head, “Looks fine. No outstanding warrants or anything. Good. That’ll be fifteen silver pieces.”

Axel held his hand up and willed fifteen of the one hundred silver his parents gave him to appear in his hand. It did so immediately as he pulled it from the same place where his staff was stored when he didn’t need it. After dropping the coins on the counter, the man spoke once more, “Your status plate will be ready tomorrow morning. Come back then. Any questions?”

“Yeah, where do I go to look and see what spells other mages are willing to teach?”

The man gestured vaguely in the direction Axel had just come from, “Other wing. Look for the Wizards Emporium.”

Axel left without another word. He wanted to go and check out what spells he might be able to learn. Maybe get some inspiration for his own custom spells. That’s one thing he disliked about being a Mage, research! Such a horrid thing. Rogues just needed to practice their skills dammit!