The First Archmage

(Gavin)

"You, too?" Natalie asks after we tell her about Kade.

"Me, too?" Kade asks.

"Yes," she nods. "You're the second to come to me with the Novice Class available in the last ten minutes. The third, here in the tower."

"Two came to you, but there are three?" Kade asks. "Are you assuming Gavin has it?"

"Of that, I've no doubt there's access," she says. "But no, I'm referring to myself. Your Majesty."

"Natalie," the Kings voice floats from a mirror, and Kade and I turn to face it. "Gavin, adept."

"Novice, now," Natalie says. "It appears that more people are gaining Access to the System than before – and at least one magic-based Class is included."

"So," he says. "It wasn't just coincidence that two of our soldiers and the son of one of them gained access minutes ago, then. I've been receiving reports across the kingdom the last three days of this. I'm inclined to believe it has to do with you, Gavin, gaining the Wizard Class."

"It does," I say. "People who have access to it, it seems, are people who have passed through Natural Rifts, whatever those are. I've no recollection of such a thing, but then, I dunno what a Natural Rift is, so I couldn't tell you.

"It seems," I continue. "Judging by the detailed description of the Class – which the System was kind enough to give me when I asked – the first time someone with the Wizard Class arrives in the realm, people can gain Access to the System for the first time. The second time there's someone with the Wizard Class, it increases how many people are eligible for Access, and also grants access to magic-based Classes, such as Novice. It didn't give me that information the first time."

"You asked the System to give more information?" The king sounds impressed.

"It's a jerk."

-0 CHA!

"Shut up, you!"

"Excuse me?"

"Not you," I tell the king. "The System has realized it can grant or remove zero of a stat, and has been using that to harass me today."

"These two rooms are secure," Natalie says. "And I trust Kade. I know you trust Gavin, and I agree. He's too ignorant and new to things. I had him watched while Kade showed him around town, and he came up clean."

I didn't notice anyone following me. Being in a city is so much different than the village and woods. I'll need to adjust my observations to account for more factors, it seems.

"You trust Kade?" The king asks Natalie.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Kade looks unsure. "But I'm an Adventurer, and I've always been loyal to you. Is there something proper to say, to pledge fealty to you as an Adventurer, or-"

"No need," the king interrupts Kade. "Pledge fealty not to me, but to the kingdom."

"Why?" Kade asks.

"Gavin can explain to you later," the king answers. "But the short explanation is that it means that you can disobey me, if I order you to do something against the interests of the kingdom itself. Ultimately, I want to protect the kingdom. With the coming times, with this influx of Adventurers we are receiving, there will be times I'll be forced to order Adventurers into actions I do not agree with. If there is a group of you who can ignore that, especially if you're powerful enough, then it will not matter what my orders may be.

"To add onto that," the king continues. "Gavin here brought up an excellent point yesterday, in that it is possible that I will turn against my own values, corrupted without realization. The Council is not an ally of the kingdom, and they wish to tear me from the throne and claim it for themselves."

"As the Royal Witch," Natalie says. "My fealty is already publicly sworn to you. I, unlike these boys, cannot swear to the kingdom."

"Yet I expect you to act in its interests," the king states. "And that is a Royal Decree."

His words sound differently when he says 'Royal Decree', and I wonder if it's some sort of Skill.

"Yes, Gavin," the king says, and I realize I questioned that aloud. "Royal Decree is a Skill. It is an irrevocable order. All monarchs have Access to the System, with an automatic Class granted to us: Ruler. As long as I am the Council's puppet, I am fine, but if they realize that I am not the puppet they believe, they will end me and put someone they want on the throne – someone far less kind than I am, and who will do whatever they wish with the powers that come with this Class."

"Tomorrow," the king looks at me. "You, Kade, and three others from here will be going into a Dungeon used for training outside of town. Two of them are cadets, and one of them is the son of a servant, all of whom gained Access to the System. Natalie – ensure their Mana Pools are full when they leave tomorrow. Gavin – you'll need to go to the North Gate. They will meet you there at dawn."

"You heard, huh?"

"Yes," he smiles. "I did hear about your difference of view on that matter."

"Well, we'll be there first," I smile at him. "So how can Natalie make sure our Mana Pools are full when we arrive? I mean, mine will be, but Kade's been practicing magic all day, too, and unless his regen is higher than I think, he won't be full tomorrow."

"Natalie," the king dips his head to her. "I have business to attend to."

"Farewell," she says, and his image fades, the mirror returning to a reflective surface. I make a goofy face in it. "Seriously, Gavin?"

"What?" I look at her. "We didn't have mirrors in the village, so these are new to me. I haven't had a chance to make any silly faces in the ones I've come across since arriving here last night."

"Children," Natalie mutters. "In the Grimoire, does it mention any potions?"

"Quite a few," I nod. "Oh! Mana Potions! Some that restored Mana, some that increased your restoration of it."

"We have potions that will refill Mana," she says. "I'll make sure Kade has drunk one before leaving. If he intends the Dungeon I'm thinking, then know this: you two are not to go past the first stage. Period. The two cadets will probably want to, but none of you are ready for it. Kade – let's refill your Mana so you can gain the spells you know, so you don't waste Mana tomorrow."

"Yes, Miss Natalie," Kade says.

She pulls a bottle with a light blue liquid out of her pocket, and as I wonder how she fit it in there, she hands it to Kade, who downs it.

Then, she leads us back to a training room – a regular one, this time – and she has him perform a few spells. As he does that, I focus on sensing the magic in this room, and noting the differences between it and the magic in the other rooms.

Sensing it only gives me a general judge of its strength, and I'm trying to actually read the magic, not that I'm getting any results from that.

Magic Sense is now Level 6!

Skill Gained!

Magic Sight 1/10: You can read magic as if it were a book.

Focusing back on Kade, he's casting his third spell, a shield of some sort that only lasts for a moment.

"What's that one?" I ask.

"The third and final spell he knows," Natalie answers. "Magic Shield is, like most magics, an instant-spell, though as with most magics, you can sustain it for a small cost in Mana every second. Now that you'll be going on a quest tomorrow, I suppose teaching you the spell will be useful as well."

A series of runes drawn on the air with light from the tip of her finger later, and I have the runic formula memorized, then manage to cast the spell.

Skill Gained!

Magic Shield 1/10: A barrier formed of magic. Cost: 5 Mana

"Got it," I tell her, then yawn. "I guess we should be heading to bed."

"Probably," she nods, handing Kade another potion. "Drink it now, even though you'll be able to restore a few of your Mana overnight."

"Why?" He asks. "Won't the odds of me gaining another maximum point increase if I let it restore until we leave?"

"Yes," she says. "But we're not looking for that right now. This is in case we don't get the chance to give it to you, and I'd rather not do it when others are around. Potions aren't cheap, and people would be very mad if they found out I'd given you a couple. You two go on to bed – I'll be gaining the spells I already have."

Kade and I leave, and as we make our way up, I ask him if it's normal for magic to be blue, since his and Natalie's are.

"Yeah," he nods. "Yours being violet is probably because you're a Wizard."

"So you're saying that if I'd been using magic before," I say. "It would've been blue, and then changed to violet when I took on Wizard?"

"Probably."

"That sounds stupid."

+0 INT!

-0 CHA!

"Shut the fuck up, System!"

-0 CHA!

Or not.

"What did it just do?" He asks.

"Take away 0 CHA twice," I answer. "Once for telling you that sounded stupid, then again for my graceful telling of it to shut the fuck up."

"So it agreed with me?"

"Oh, it confirmed you were wrong," I say. "It granted me 0 INT for that comment as well. I'm guessing my magic has always taken on a violet hue. It might be because of where I came from."

-0 INT!

"That seems to be wrong," I say. "Because of the fact that I passed through the natural Rift?"

-0 INT!

"That's wrong, too," I think about it as we stand in front of my door. "Does it have to do with my heritage?"

-0 INT!

"I give up," I sigh.

"I don't know," Kade shrugs, then yawns. "Let's get some sleep, you can be sure we'll be waking early tomorrow."

"Probably," I say. "I'm going to try out the bath. I've never had one of those before, and I am a fair bit dirty, because, you know, I'm used to running around woods and bathing in a lake."

"You bathed in a lake?" His eyes widen in surprise.

"Yeah," I say. "We all did, why?"

"Brr!" He shivers. "I like my hot water!"

I go into my room, then strip off my clothes and make my way to the room with the bath, feeling the water temp and adjusting it with the knob.

Once the temp is desirable, I step into the bath. There's a stone bench along the edge of it that's comfortable to sit on, if a bit warm. Probably part of how it heats the water, and probably also because of the water's heat.

Soaking feels amazing, and I feel my body relax in the heated water. After a few minutes of letting my muscles relax, I start washing myself off. The water turns brown, and so I drain the bath. Once it's empty, it begins to fill again, and I rinse off, and rinse the tub off, letting it drain as I do, catching water in my hands to spread around the tub to wash the dirt off, up until I realize it's moving toward the drain on its own.

Huh. They thought of an enchantment like that. I wonder why they'd put so much effort into figuring out an enchantment like that when new magics are tough as hell to learn?

Once I'm done washing, and the tub is filled with clean water, I just soak in it, because the experience is unlike anything I've ever felt before, and it feels amazing.