Seeds of Discordia: New Arrival Mayhem

Liam continued to process what Galin was telling him. There were parts he said that he could now understand why Eri had warned him to get out after defeating the final boss on the sixth floor.

He would have to ask her what those creatures were that Galin had seen, especially that shadowy being.

“I won’t ask you about the book,” Liam started cautiously. “I will trust your words of advice, but what I need to know is why Steve has his eyes on me. Why did he say I am a key of sorts?”

Galin stared at Liam. After a brief moment of silence, he said, “Steve used to be a cheery and handsome man. He was highly sought after by the women of the Mage Tower. Full of smiles, but also full of curiosity and ambition. After we split I think he received something as a reward that changed him.”

Liam’s eyebrows scrunched as he thought about the man he had seen. What part of him is handsome?

Galin gave a half forced laugh as he said, “I can tell by that look you’re wondering how he was considered handsome. That’s the thing. He has changed. So much so that not only has his mind become obsessed, but even his appearance has become…gross.”

“What can do that?” Alicia asked.

“It can be a lot of things, but I believe it’s his class that has done the most to his appearance,” Galin responded.

“His class?” Liam and Alicia questioned.

“When I last saw him, his class was Life Magi,” Galin replied. “However, now its…Necromancer.”

“That’s a very big change,” Alicia stated as she raised a brow.

Liam and Galin nodded.

“When we were a group he had a big affinity for Life and Healing magic and zero in dark and death magic,” Galin started back up.

Liam thought about what he was saying. A thought appeared as he asked, “If he had no affinity for dark and death then how did he end up with a Necromancer Class?”

“I don’t know,” Galin answered. “My guess is he found a way to get it and forced it. That or he had gotten some item that helped, but I think his forcefulness into a class he has no affinity for is affecting his appearance.”

Liam’s and Alicia’s eyes widened at Galin’s words and the thought of the possibility.

“So, is that why the people here are so adamant about following what you have a strong affinity for?” Alicia asked.

Galin nodded. “They want you to go down the best possible path for you. One that your growth is possible and not one where your growth is nonexistent.”

“That’s a scary thought that a path that is not for you can have that kind of effect on you,” Alicia said with a shiver.

“That we can guess. It’s not a fully blown tested theory since hardly anyone walks down a path that’s not meant for them,” Galin corrected.

Liam thought about it. He remembered Elara was concerned with him saying he was going to choose Gravity as one of his Focus Points along with her talks about not picking too much and focusing on small amounts.

At the time, he thought she was just concerned about him getting too carried away and not being able to progress, but now it made a lot of sense.

I’m going to have to do something nice for her. Liam thought.

He was brought out from his thoughts as Galin continued, “As for your question, it’s not just you who he’s trying to get in contact with. He told me there were three others he believed held some sort of key that could help make his research successful. As for what that key is and what his research is, I have no clue.”

Liam stared at him. After looking for signs of lying, Liam concluded that he was telling the truth.

“If I were to guess though,” Galin started. “And I hope I’m completely wrong. I think it has to with Forbidden Paths, specifically, the type of path we had stumbled upon.”

Liam’s body froze as Eri’s words came back to him.

“The Path of the Forgotten Realm,” Liam quietly muttered.

“What?” Galin and Alicia asked as they looked at him.

“Nothing,” Liam said, trying to play off as if he didn’t say anything.

The two stared at him. They knew he knew something but weren’t going to push it.

Liam fell back into his thoughts.

If what Eri had said is really happening and if what Galin had just said are connected then this was a serious problem. One he was not sure if they could handle. However, no matter how ridiculous it was there should be no way Steve could have access to their dungeon, much less have any power to affect it.

Liam shook his head.

No. What’s going on in the dungeon should be more on the power of a Deity than a normal person. Liam decided. If that’s the case then why did he want to use him and three others as keys? Did he want to gain access to our dungeons? Who were the other three? Jude had to be one, but then who are the other two?

It was too much for Liam to process. He had no points to connect and no way to figure it all out.

Maybe I should have Mercer look into it. He’s better at gathering information. Liam thought. He nodded as he decided that’s the route he would go. I’ll talk to him tomorrow about it.

“Oh, by the way Professor Galin, did you finish making those items I asked about?” Alicia asked, deciding it was time to change the topic and raise everyone’s mood.

Galin looked at her with a confused look before remembering what it was she asked for. “Ah yes, I made twelve bottles like you asked for.”

He then walked up to a counter with his stepping box, hopped on it, and pulled out twelve bottles of murky tannish liquid.

“I have to ask, why did you want so many bottles?” Galin questioned as he looked at her with a puzzling look.

“I’m giving Liam half. I don’t think I told you, but Liam here figured out how to use crafting materials and magic usable in combat,” Alicia stated as she gave Liam a grin.

Galin looked at Liam with an expression of skepticism. “Do tell, what did you do and how did you come up with it?”

Liam told him about his fight with the Spider-Tailed Horned Viper. How he took a gamble after coming up with the idea. He also talked about the pros and cons he had found out when using it a second time.

Galin and Alicia listened with rapt attention. Eyes widening as he explained how he had chosen to let the Viper’s poison run through his veins while running up the body and being thrown into the air.

Alicia’s hands gripped the edge of the counter as Galin let out a flurry of swear words.

“You’re lucky it worked, my boy,” Galin said after all was said.

“Don’t I know it,” Liam smiled. He then looked off into the distance as he remembered the exhilaration he had felt doing it. “Though I’m glad I tried it.”

“Why’s that?” Alicia asked.

“Because it shows everything we do, whether its physical skills, magical abilities or even crafting. There’s many ways we can use it besides their intended purposes. I want to explore the possibilities of what else I can do with crafting,” Liam stated.

Galin stared at him. He was impressed with Liam’s drive and imagination. “That’s the Cait Sith running in you for sure, but at the same time it’s not.”

Liam looked at him quizzically.

Before he could say anything, Galin proposed, “Let’s see if we can theorize any other uses you can exploit and try to fix the problems you mentioned.”

Alicia’s and Liam’s eyes widened.

“That sounds like a great idea!” They both shouted.

“As you grow, you’ll find more chances to evolve your battle tactics and by doing so growing your potential for better classes. I want to help you both with that,” Galin said with a heartwarming smile.

 

                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Liam closed the book he was reading.

The book, Beginner of Lunar and Shadow Magic, was very intriguing to him. It went over the history of both Shadow magic and Lunar magic, best uses of the beginning spells, and possibilities of mixing the two together.

That last part caught Liam’s attention, but his hopes were dashed because when he got to that section it clearly stated he needed to advance much higher to be able to do it and needed the third volume to the series to even know where to start.

“It makes sense to not have that knowledge in a beginner’s book. If someone who tried it early on, they’d get swallowed by the magic itself,” Liam muttered.

One thing the book did give him at the beginning was a big warning. Shadow and Lunar magic was dangerous. If you didn’t know what you were doing, you could get swallowed by the shadow magic. You could also afflict a lunar affliction that could burn your skin or potentially blind yourself for life by the lunar magic. Neither were ideal for him to have happen.

Another interesting thing that Liam found in the book was that each element of magic fell under a category. The categories were Day, Night, Life, Death, Nature, Time, Order, and Chaos.

Some examples of elements that fell into the Day category were Fire and Light. Life had Healing and Holy. Nature with fire, earth, plant, air, water, ice, and lightning. Time was an interesting one because many of the non-elemental types of magic like body and crafting fell under it as well as gravity.

He was interested to see what Order and Chaos had, but nothing was listed under them.

It was confusing trying to understand it, but he felt like this was something that he would learn as he advanced his Seed of the Arcana.

As he continued to read he found out that both Shadow and Lunar were elements that fell under the Night category. Not only that, but they were both opposites and compatible together.

The reason why they were compatible wasn’t explained clearly. The book just said since they were from the same category they had some form of compatibility. It sounded kind of sketchy to Liam, but he was sure he’d find out more once when he got out of the Tutorial Area.

The reason why they were a bit of a weakness to each other was simple. Lunar had some light aspects and Shadow had some dark aspects in it. However, since they were not fully dark and Light, the weakness to each other wasn’t as strong as Dark and Light magic was to them. It was probably due to checks and balances.

Thinking of Shadow and Lunar magic, he had read enough to get both of his Lurking in the Shadows and Basking in the Lunar Knowledge Theories to level ten. Since he already had Field of the Shadows, thanks to his race, he wanted to get the chance to get Field of the Lunar.

Now that they had both appeared he opened his Mystical Landscape menu and saw the dark violet seed with different colored roots sprouting down below the seed. Some of these roots had thickened a bit since he last saw them.

One root had two different colors, a purple and a purplish-yellow which represented his Gravity and the Lightning Focus points he had gotten recently. The other root was grey and represented his three Crafting Focus points.

“I wonder if they are growing thicker because I am leveling them?” Liam muttered as he looked at them.

He noticed not all of the grey roots were growing thicker. He looked at the one that was still small and thinner than the others and focused on it.

 

“Field of the Craft – Focus Point – Construction Craft level 1.”

 

“Makes sense since I haven’t had the chance to use it yet,” Liam said softly to himself.

He then saw the seed glowing a pitch black color and a moon-like white color.

He mentally clicked on the seed and saw two notifications pop up.

 

“Field of the Shadows is available to unlock. Would you like to root Field of the Shadows? Yes No?”

 

Liam mentally clicked yes on it.

The message disappeared to replace it with another.

 

“Field of the Lunar is available to Unlock. Would you like to root Field of the Lunar? Yes No?”

 

Liam accepted that one as well and grew anxious to see what new abilities he was going to get.

 

“Which Focus Points would you like to Root? Field of the Lunar: Utility, Lunar Control, Lunar Afflictions?

 

Liam clicked on all and went to accept, but was stopped as a red message appeared over the previous message.

 

“Warning! Cannot root Lunar Afflictions. Knowledge on Lunar magic is still too low to understand how Focus Point Lunar Afflictions can be used.”

 

“What the hell?” Liam questioned as he stared at the message. “That’s some bullshit right there. I didn’t know you could be refused to choose a Focus point due to lack of knowledge.”

Liam scowled as he closed the message.

“Fine then I’ll just choose the two,” Liam muttered grumpily as he chose the other two and clicked accept.

 

“Which Focus Points would you like to root? Field of the Shadows: Utility, Shadow Control, Shadow Afflictions?”

 

Liam stared at the list of three.

“Utility appeared here as well. I wonder if they are the same or if they are different. Also, would I be denied Shadow Afflictions as well or would I be able to get it thanks to my race?” Liam muttered to himself as he thought it over. “Let’s try it and see what happens.”

Liam choose all three and waited to see what would happen.

No red messages appeared. Instead, the violet seed started vibrating violently. The violet color dimmed as two new roots emerged from the seed’s shell and spread out a bit.

One was a pitch black color while the other was a Moon-like white. The pitch-black colored root separated into three thin roots while the moon-like white one split into two.

After they finished spreading out and rooting themselves into what Liam was now starting to notice was dirt, Liam noticed something new.

It was a small stem that was starting to sprout from the seed. The color was beautiful as it mixed the grey, purple, purplish-yellow, pitch-black and moon-like white colors together.

“Now that’s pretty cool,” Liam said with astonishment. "I can’t wait to see how this looks when its fully grown.”

His eyes went back to the two new roots. “Now to see what abilities I get.”

He clicked on the Moon-like white root and read the message that popped up.

 

“Utility. Ability available to learn: Lunar Exposure.”

 

“Only one huh?” Liam questioned.

 

“Lunar Control. Ability available: Lunar Orb.”

 

“My Knowledge on the field is level ten. I would think I’d get more abilities than one for each Focus Point,” Liam frowned.

 

“Utility. Ability available to learn: Veil of Shadows.”

“Shadow Control. Abilities available to learn: Shadow Orb, Grasp of Shadows.”

“Shadow Afflictions. Ability available to learn: Blanket of Darkness.”

 

Liam accepted all the abilities.

 

“Congratulations! You have received Utility (Lunar) Focus Point ability – Lunar Exposure! Lunar Exposure – sends a bright orb, resembling a full moon up and explodes, revealing anything hidden within 10 feet of the area the ball explodes. Costs 10 MP. Area target spell – 10 feet. Spell type: Chant.”

“Congratulations! You have received Lunar Control (Lunar) Focus Point ability – Lunar Orb! Lunar Orb – creates a small orb of lunar magic that can be shot at a single target. Costs 10 MP. Single target spell. Spell type: Chant.”

“Congratulations! You have received Utility (Shadow) Focus Point ability – Veil of Shadows! Veil of Shadows – Cloaks the user in shadows, allowing them to stealth around. If user breaks off into a sprint, gets attacked, or attacks shadow veil will disengage. Costs 10 MP. Single target spell. Spell type: Instant non-chant.”

“Congratulations! You have received Shadow Control (Shadow) Focus Point ability – Shadow Orb! Creates an orb of Shadows that can be shot at a target. Costs 10 MP. Single target spell. Spell type: Chant.”

“Congratulations! You have received Shadow Control (Shadow) Focus Point ability – Grasp of Shadows! Grasp of the Shadows – shadowy tendrils emerge from target’s shadow, latching on to them and keeping them in place for 15 seconds or till targets breaks free. Costs 15 MP. Single target spell. Spell type: Chant.”

“Congratulations! You have received Shadow Afflictions (Shadow) Focus Point ability – Blanket of Darkness! Blanket of Darkness – Shadows wrap around the target, blinding them and causes a stinging sensation. Does 10 damage every 5 seconds for up to 15 seconds or until cleansed off of target. Costs 10 MP. Single target spell. Spell type: Chant.”

 

Liam stared at each ability and slowly grinned after reading each one. He didn’t realize how big his grin was as his mind started swirling with new possibilities and strategies he could come up with.

His utility arsenal was growing with each new field he opened. Not only that, but that stealth ability could come in handy for scouting while his group was resting. And that Lunar Exposure could help when they couldn’t see any opponents.

“I’ve got so many new toys to play with now,” Liam said. “I can’t wait to try these out along with the ideas Alicia, Galin, and I came up with tonight. I’ve got so many to play with I don’t know where to start.”

Liam let out a yawn as he looked at his internal clock. “Geez it’s already one in the morning?” Liam frowned. “I might as well get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. A long, fun day.”