Qing's Quest book 2, Chapter 37: Treasures

Qing eagerly rubbed his hands together as Rendal and Ghida placed a stack of books on the room’s central table. Morgana carried not an armful of books, but firewood, or were those walking sticks? Qing shook his head. Knut’s feet shuffled on the blue wall-to-wall carpet as he brought two separate boxes that tinkled softly as he moved.

“What have you got?” Qing said.

“I found the book of the Ashen Witch,” Rendal said, placing a book that radiated age down on the table and gently running a hand across it. A dark blood-red leather, similar to his pants, but darker, bound the book, and a metal clasp kept the book closed. In the middle was a keyhole.

“Please don’t tell me we have to go on a separate damn quest for the key,” Qing said.

Rendal shook his head and held up a metal circle filled with keys, similar to what the janitor kept in Qing’s high school. “Should be one of these,” he said.

“That’s a relief. How old is the book?” Qing asked.

“I don’t actually know. There is no record of its creation, only that it’s been here since the library opened.” 

“So, old.”

“Yes.” 

“Why hasn’t it disintegrated?” When Qing had visited the Smithsonian Museum on American History, they kept the oldest books in carefully controlled environments, but they didn’t have that type of technology here.

“There are spells woven into the book’s cover,” Princess Ghida said, pointing. “If you reach out with your senses, you should be able to feel it.” 

“And magic fills both the walls and the shelves,” Rendal added, as he started fiddling with the keys. There had to be over a hundred of them. “It keeps the books from rotting.” 

“While he does that, let me show you what I found.” Ghida tapped two fingers on top of a stack of books. “I think you might like it.” 

“What is it?” Qing asked.

She smiled. “It should help us defeat Wasir.”

“Well, don’t keep me waiting.”

She held up the first book. “This one is about elemental imbalance. You should study and figure out how to improve your control.” She lifted a second. “This one is for bonecallers. It’s basic, but should give you some insight. I also brought a book on the theory of magic. I don’t know how much time you’ll have to sit and read, but I’ll go through it now and mark certain sections I remember as valuable. Those should give you a stronger basis.”

“Thank you,” Qing said, pushing through a feeling of overwhelm. Each of the books were as thick as college history books. When would he have the time to study?

“There are also three tier two spell books. Rendal mentioned you had a use for such even on a short timeline? You…absorb them?”

“Kind of,” Qing said, and reached for them, picking them up, one by one. 

Item: [Level Two Skill-book] x 1 has been added to your inventory.

Item: [Level Two Skill-book] x 1 has been added to your inventory.

Item: [Level Two Skill-book] x 1 has been added to your inventory.

“Oh yeah! That’s the stuff.”

Knut chuckled.

“You might like this one then,” Ghida said and lifted a book bound in deep green leather, with intricate silver thread sown into its borders. The center featured an emerald clasp in the shape of a dragon with eyes of red rubies. It had sprayed red edges and looked small enough to be carried in a jacket pocket. Qing swallowed and stared hungrily. 

She stared at it and sighed. “Mages have studied for years to pull the power of a single spell from these, and each has trained generations of mages. But you absorb them in a flash, and I have a feeling that when you do, they are gone. Forever. Like water in the desert.” 

“Yeah,” Qing said, yearning to take the book from her hand, but he kept the hands by his side. “I won’t be able to give you these back.”

She sighed. “Won’t matter how many books we have if the world ends, does it?” She slid it across the table. “We can always write new ones.”

Item: [Level Three Skill-book] x 1 has been added to your inventory.

“Oh, wow!” Qing said, awed at the notification. “Do you know what this means?”

She nodded. “It means you’ll be stronger for what comes. Better prepared to help me take back my kingdom.”

“What was it?” Morgana asked.

“A level three spell book! I can unlock a spell much more powerful than I’ve got, but…” He opened his skill tree and checked. “Damn. I’m out of skill points.”

“How far are you from leveling up?” Knut asked.

“Still about 80 percent left,” Qing said. “But at least I’ll be able to see the level three skills now.” He triggered all the books, one by one. As the level three book disappeared, the third row of skills flashed and he could read their descriptions. He ambled of, absorbed in the skill tree. Five skills stood out to him immediately. 

Templar Spell: “Heaven’s Fury” (Holy Damage)

Calls down a concentrated beam of holy light upon enemies, dealing significant holy damage over a small area. Enemies hit by Heaven’s Fury may be blinded for a few seconds, reducing their accuracy.

Cost: Medium Mana

Cooldown: Medium

With Heaven’s Fury he’d have a higher damage area-of-effect spell that blinded enemies, giving some control over the battlefield. One tempting aspect was that templar magic had given the least side effects, at least so far.

Warborn Skill: “Iron Will” (Active)

Activates to make the caster resistant to magical damage for a brief period. Each magical attack received during this time slightly reduces the cooldown of the caster’s other abilities.

Cost: Low Mana

Cooldown: Medium

Iron Will might be crucial in a fight with Wazir, both to save him from the bonecaller’s spells, but the cooldown reduction would up his damage output. But, just how brief was the period, and how long was a ‘medium’ cooldown? Once again, he wished there was an online forum with guides on the best builds for isekaied earthlings on Elrydisan. He chuckled to himself. 

“You found something?” Morgana asked, but he just waved a hand, continuing his studies.

Elementalist Spell: “Fireball” (Fire Damage)

Hurls a massive fireball at the target, exploding on impact for significant fire damage in an area. Enemies hit by the explosion have a chance to be set ablaze, receiving additional fire damage over time.

Cost: High Mana

Cooldown: Medium

Qing could feel the conflict within himself. One part recoiled at the thought of wielding more powerful flames, but another part figuratively salivated. 

How would my showdown with Wazir have gone if I’d opened with a Fireball to his face? I’d like to see him walk that off. But…maybe he would have. He had strong resistances.

Arcanist Spell: “Void Pulse” (Arcane Damage)

Releases a pulse of void energy around the caster, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies and silencing them for a short duration.

Cost: Medium Mana

Cooldown: Medium

Which brought him to Void Pulse. It could silence the enemies, but how wide was the casting range, and just how short was the duration? Locking Wazir from casting spells for ten or twenty seconds differed completely from silencing him for two seconds. That would be closer to an interrupt, requiring Qing to be extremely timely with his casting. And while he was physically powerful, the plan was to kill things from afar as much as possible, while Void Pulse sounded like a mage assassin type of spell. 

While excellent at taking down casters, it won’t help much if I’m dead.

Arcanist Spell: “Magic Shield” (Utility)

Absorbs damage by draining mana. For every unit of damage absorbed, two mana are drained.

Cost: Mana per Damage

Cooldown: None (Active until mana depletes or is deactivated)

A grin spread across his face. This had been a dream of his since they had battled the mage in the desert, and Knut’s arrows had bounced harmlessly off the shield. 

I need the survivability. With three hundred health and mana, would effectively give me fifty percent more staying power, and I have plenty of Mana Potions and Mana Siphon to help keep mana topped up.

Qing grinned. 

“What did you find?” Knut asked. 

“You remember the shield the mage had in the desert, the one that kept stopping your arrows?”

“Yeah.”

“I can get that one.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah, but…”

Bonecaller Skill: “Shadow Step” (Utility)

Allows the caster to become temporarily invisible, evading enemy detection and moving unhindered.

Cost: Medium Mana

Cooldown: Low

Shadow Step would turn me invisible. I could start combat from advantageous positions, or even strike to end them before they started. But how long does the invisibility last? Temporarily is a shit measurement. And would it cloak me from mage senses? 

In addition, there was a powerful spell to summon a ‘guardian’, but he could already bring nine skeletons to a fight. Anymore would surely be excessive. There were strong heals, utility spells for movement, ice attacks, and an active skill that buffed elemental spells. That wasn’t even the full list. 

He needed to get a skill point as soon as possible. Best way to get that was to move forward, and kill a bunch of mobs. He returned to the others.

Metal jingled as Rendal continued trying keys, and he asked, “So what’s your plan now?”

“We need to go to the Augrian pyramid and find Rufus, get Cleo back, and stop their plans.”

“Sounds good,” Rendal said. “What exactly are they trying to do?”

“They’re trying to summon the Devil back into Elrydisan.” The jingling stopped, and Rendal gaped at Qing.

“The devil?”

“Yes.” 

“Here?” 

“Yup.” 

Rendal visibly swallowed and started trying keys faster. “So you can’t stay here in the library, then?”

“There’s no time. We don’t know when they perform the summoning, how far they’ve come, or where they’ll go next. But tonight it seems they will be at the pyramid.” 

“Yes, but you’re safe here.” 

“Sure.”

After the fight with the golems, the palace guards had tried entering, but after three soldiers got squashed by golems, they had retreated, setting up guards at every exit. They had called in, telling the princess and the ‘rebel scum’ to come out and surrender. They had kindly turned down the offer.

Then the librarians commanded Rendal to hand over the chip controlling the golems over to them. He had refused. So they tried scolding, then guilting, and finally begging him. Still, he denied them. 

“You’re not supposed to bring the chip past the golems,” Rendal had said. “It is the first rule for library security.” The golems were too powerful. Fortunately, Tariq had been dumb enough to both bring it with him and get himself killed. Now they had as much time as they wanted, but the longer they stayed, the more thoroughly they were surrounded. And they couldn’t stop Rufus unless they ventured outside.

“So which pyramid is the Augrian?” Qing asked. “You said it was an obscure one.” 

“Oh…” Rendal grimaced. “It’s the biggest one. Stands to the west of the city, just into the desert.” 

“And others wouldn’t know this?” Knut asked.

“You didn’t?”

Morgana scowled at him. 

“Fine. Maybe some would. But I’m not sorry I lied,” chin raised. “We had to save the princess.”

Morgana chuckled. “At least we know where to go then. But before we do…” She patted the bundle of sticks she’d brought. “Since your axe is useless now, and this is a library, I figured there might be a mage weapon here. So picked up everything weird looking stick. Will you be able to figure out if there’s magic in any of them?”

“I think so,” Qing said, and he picked up the first one. 

Item: [Old man’s Cane, Level 1, Common]

A simple wooden stick that has seen many roads and many hands. Its well-worn grip and sturdy frame make it a reliable companion for shorter trips. While it offers little in the way of combat prowess, it serves well as a walking aid and a rudimentary tool for self-defense.

+1 to Dexterity

(Staff, one handed)

The next seven were no better. 

But then, he picked up a staff, and energy seemed to shoot up his arm, and it changed in front of his eyes. While on the table, it had looked like any other stick, but under his hands blue crystals grew, fitting perfectly into his grip, and he nearly dropped it in surprise.