Chapter 23: Sun

Harthome and Ilea moved the two unconscious or sleeping people into the common room while Walter checked on the dead Demon with the later arrival Neeto. After entering the bar, they informed the waiting initiates about what happened and Ilea continued coursing her healing mana through the two injured people.

Lucia joined them later and had apparently slept through the whole ordeal. She wasn’t the least embarrassed and simply sat down next to Celene’s sleeping form to stroke her hair. “You poor idiotic lunatic…,” she said in a scolding voice. “...I told you Demons are bad news…,”

Soon after Walter joined them. Neeto and his skeletons were tasked to extract what they could from the dead Demon and guard its body. One apparently had to handle them very carefully, even after death.

He let the others in that Ilea saved them without going into specifics. Harthome had listened to their conversation before of course but he had not seen her fight the Demon, completely caught in its mental attack.

They all looked at Ilea with respect and thanked her. She just smiled back “It’s no matter, I got a bunch of levels out of it…,” Continuing to heal the two people, the others made note not to anger the healer in the future.

Even Walter was impressed with her power ‘She’s gonna be something when she continues like that… hopefully not an early grave… her corpse though… hmm…,’

“Don’t look at her like that.” Lucia bopped Walter on the head with a spoon “And get to the kitchen!” He turned to her with a perplexed look, some of the people in the room chuckling.

“Yes ma’am. Oh and by the way.” He leaned in and kissed her. Ilea gave a thumbs up while Ellie cheered. Lucia just stood there dumbfounded while Walter went to the kitchen to prepare food for everyone.

“...wha…,” She stammered as Ellie embraced her in a big hug.

A cosy fire burned in the hearth as everyone enjoyed the relaxing tune of Walter’s playing. The two injured were brought to their respective rooms to recover further as everyone ate their fill and enjoyed each other’s company.

Soon only Walter and Ilea remained. “I thank you again for your rescue.” he said as he started cleaning a mug.

“Did you really need it? With your level…,” he stopped her with a gesture

“Demons are a very peculiar species. Dangerous in their specializations. I could resist the being’s mind attack for a while and might’ve been able to retaliate in time… but I don’t know how many would’ve died until then. Neeto would’ve been a better opponent for the demon but he was late as well…,”

“And levels hardly matter… seeing what you did to him.” He paused and she took a contemplative sip of ale. “That name… Azarinth Healer. I did hear it before. In the Foundation of Glass.”

She stopped drinking at that “What do you know of it?”

“Very little sadly. I was seeking power at the time. And an old librarian had shown me the name. Fierce warriors with the ability to heal even the worst of wounds before their enemies eyes. Their fists would strike terror into all that attacked them.”

“The Class was apparently lost. Eradicated by who knows what. And now I’m standing across from one of them.”

She shook her head at his questioning look “I only stumbled across it in dumb luck I’m afraid. They were a healing order. The order of Azarinth.” Ilea chose not to mention the Bluemoon Grass or the book helping her gain the skills. “To be frank they seem like a bunch of pricks by their history accounts I found…,”

He chuckled “What powerful person or order isn’t.” he grinned at the two thumbs Ilea directed at herself at his rhetorical question. “You’re certainly something but don’t get cocky. If that Demon would’ve been a warrior type, you would’ve been obliterated.”

“That’s why you were there Mr. Skorn.” She said innocently. He looked down and shook his head while smiling “You know if it weren’t for Lucia…,”

“Oh I knoooow I knooow, the tragic binding of looove. Well Walter, I’ve honestly been in this cave system long enough by now. You’re a bunch of quirky fanatics but I like you lot. Although I do need my me time and you know… the sun?”

She got up and put more coppers on the counter “I’ll take my leave then. Considering what you said before I take it that that isn’t a problem? Even though you really want my corpse…,”

“It is not. I’ll have one of the guards guide you out. How do you come to the conclusion with the corpse? I’m not even a necromancer…,”

“Dark magic is dark magic Walter… but seriously, it’s your creepy as fuck eyes when you’re in magic mode.”

“Says the walking light show.” they both smiled.

“Hey, leave a girl her sparkles. I’ll leave now though, I really don’t feel like ruining this love story… give the others my regards. And Celene that maybe she should start with an Elf and go from there…,” She held out her hand to him which he shook.

“If only I were younger… I’ll tell them but don’t expect them to be happy you just left.”

“They’ll survive… and if not, Indra will resurrect them… or maybe Mr Bones…,”

“Any ideas where the winds might take you?” He said to her back as she started towards the door.

“Oh, visiting a dusty cellar, some old friends and maybe a castle in the sky?” She said, winking at him while looking back. ‘This is a very nice place… I think I’ll be back at some point… the beds suck though. And the window coverage leaves a lot to be desired.’ She thought as she looked at the fire in the hearth and a newly found friend in this strange world.

“Goodbye Ethinu.” She said and left.

_____________________________________

Walter kept cleaning his mug while smiling to himself. ‘What an interesting girl. I bet she’ll send some big waves through the world. Unpredictable and strange waves but waves nonetheless.’ putting the mug down he sighed ‘Time to take what I can get from what she left me…,’

“I know you’re there.” a chuckle could be heard from the kitchen. “She’s a nice lass isn’t she?” Lucia stepped out, a glint in her eyes and a black dress leaving little to the imagination.

“I’ll thank her later.” closing in on her, he put his arms on her waist “You think it’s ok to let her go? She does know a lot you know?” Lucia asked while staring into his eyes, a slight smile forming on her lips.

“You weren’t there Lucia. Trust me on this one.” She thoughtfully looked away but was brought back to him by the second kiss they shared. “My cave or yours?”

______________________________________

Ilea reached the top of the cave after half an hour of following the incredibly slow undead before her. ‘I fucking hate these guys’ The undead stopped and turned towards her “What the hell are you looking at?” she asked but the undead simply pointed towards a small opening on the wall.

“Aight, nice meeting you mr zombie.” She waved at the undead as she entered the hole in the wall. Exiting into a rather spacious cave, she felt a breeze on her skin as a smile spread on her face.

‘Is this??? Fresh air??’ running towards the source of the breeze, she squeezed through another two small openings in the cave wall.

The autumn forest greeted her with a spectacular display of golden leaves in the morning sun. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath of the cool air. “I hope Winter isn’t like four times longer than the other seasons… shoulda asked about that.” Shrugging and forgetting about it again immediately, she made her way towards Riverwatch.

Enjoying the view and nature, Ilea simply walked while looking over her stats. ‘Hmm 45 skill points remaining… I have already everything over 150 except Strength and Dexterity… so I guess there goes my choice…,’ Putting twenty points each into Strength and Dexterity, she put the remaining five into Vitality to top it off at a round 160.

Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 0

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 75

- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: Reconstruction – 2nd lvl 14

- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: Blink – 2nd lvl 14

- Active: Azarinth Sphere – 2nd lvl 1

- Passive: Body of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 7

- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20

- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 11

- Passive: Azarinth Perception – lvl 18

- Passive: Free Slot

Class 2: Fire Enhancer – lvl 50

- Active: Flame – lvl 1

- Active: Body of Flame – lvl 10

- Active: Free Slot

- Active: Free Slot

- Active: Free Slot

- Passive: Fire Manipulation – lvl 12

- Passive: Heat Perception – lvl 1

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5

- Identify - lvl 3

- Meditation – lvl 2nd 12

- Poison Resistance – lvl 16

- Heat Resistance – lvl 7

- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 2

- Mental Resistance – lvl 5

Status:

Vitality: 160

Endurance: 150

Strength 111

Dexterity 110

Intelligence 150

Wisdom 150

Health: 1600/1600

Stamina: 1486/1500

Mana: 1493/1500

Seeing her Mana sitting higher than her stamina even though she was continuously using some of her buffs at a low power, she chuckled. ‘I think I started at a fifty health?’ Remembering the time around 7 or 8 months ago made her smile. ‘It feels more like a couple years… this lifestyle… I can’t deny that I like it…,’

The walk took a couple hours. She ate some jerky she had bought from Walter as she walked and looked over the new skills for her Fire Enhancer class. ‘At least at lvl 75 I should’ve gotten a skill for Azarinth Healer… oh well, at least they’re all amazing… compared to this load of bollocks.’

[Heat surge]

[Wings of Arith]

[Coal dancer]

Stopping in her tracks, Ilea immediately read the information on the Wings of Arith skill.

Active: Wings of Arith - lvl 1:

Wield the wings of Arith and throw them at your enemy. Wind explosion on impact.

Category: Fire Magic

“What. A. Fucking. Tease.” She stated and kept walking, at a more angry and irritated pace though. Checking the other spells they seemed a bit more interesting.

Active: Heat Surge – lvl 1

Create a wave of fire with you at its center. Distance, heat and speed depend on skill level and mana invested (max 40 Mana).

Category: Fire Magic

Passive: Coal Dancer – lvl 1

You walk on fire as if it were earth. Any fire you walk on won’t hurt you.

Category: Body Enhancement

‘The second one is interesting but at the moment useless… Heat Surge though…,’ thinking it over, she accepted Heat Surge into her skills and immediately tried it out. At full power.

A powerful wave of fire appeared around her and turned the lovely autumn morning around Ilea into a blazing inferno. “Oh no, what did I dooooo!” panicking at the presumed forest fire she just laid, she cranked her buffs up to the max and quenched the flames with her fire manipulation. Darting from left to right to came into range of her manipulation.

Soon the fire was out and Ilea kept walking, a suspicious whistling tune following the woman through the singed but still alive forest.

‘It’s a pretty nice spell. Might be able to use it to create distance… if I ever wanted that. Or as a trump card when someone gets behind my guard. And I guess as my first Area attack. I mean a fully powered dose of destruction into the ground kinda counts as that as well but yea…,’

‘Now I also don’t need the Flame spell to light a fire...’ cackling at her own joke, she continued onwards.

A couple hours later the city wass finally in view. She came across a road after two hours of walking and decided to follow it. The sun was higher on the horizon now but she guessed it still to be mid morning.

‘I really missed this…,’ looking at the clouds in the sky and the nature around her, she again took a deep breath and closed her eyes. ‘Just quickly get some stuff and then back out…,’

Buying some food, water and two big sturdy bags at the nearest store to the south gate of Riverwatch, she soon left again. The bags and food in her backpack, she started running. First just with her raw speed and strength. Ilea found that she was moving at an incredible pace with just her stats alone.

Activating first Body of Flame and then State of Azarinth, her speed nearly tripled. Leaving a trail of noticeable footprints in her wake, she simply jumped over the river and kept running towards the temple. When her first journey to Riverwatch had taken close to four days, this time she made it back in under eight hours.

‘How has nobody found this temple yet…,’ She thought, as the nostalgic roar of a Drake entered her ears. Much further away than she would’ve heard half a year ago.

Ilea didn’t know that many an adventurer had stumbled upon the temple. Nothing of worth was found, so it was usually left behind. Sleeping in old ruins at best brought bad luck after all.

Jumping on top of the temple with a powerful leap, she gracefully landed and looked at the compass rose she had put there. Crouching down, she used her nails again to scratch a crude mountain into the stone near the south marker of the compass rose.

Another two quick additions now showed Riverwatch and the Calys mines dungeon. A skull next to the mine would indicate to someone unknowing that there was danger. To Ilea though it simply meant the location of some bone lovers she recently met.

Having finished that, she blinked downwards twice, finding herself in the room that started her off in this once scary and dangerous world. Seeing the wisps of flame arching from her body and the glow of her Aura, that danger had turned into excitement.

The excitement of exploring a whole new world. A world where no planes and satellites had reached every corner. And more importantly a place where a satellite would find a hiding dragon instead of just another forest or lake.

The room was dark, only illuminated by her buffs. A fully powered Flame spell helped in that regard. The walls didn’t seem like they had grown anything in all this time. ‘Guess it does take a while… I’ll be back sporadically anyway to check…,’

Going into the once library, she started filling one of her newly purchased bags with scales. Stopping about a third in, she blinked upstairs. The bag was still in her hand, with the scales in it. Testing the limits, she managed to fill the large bag about halfway. After another four blinks, two full bags of Drake scales and bones waited for her to be delivered.

Grabbing some of the diaries and history books as well, she put them into her backpack and left again. Some scales and bones were still remaining in the library but Ilea thought she had enough. Even if it wasn’t, she could still come back whenever to get more. ‘Considering how much stronger I got, I can hunt stronger monsters as well. Might make a bit of a stir if I suddenly sell high level things in Riverwatch. Maybe once I’ve become stronger.’

She started to run with one heavy bag held in each hand. Barely noticing the weight, she chuckled ‘Maybe I’m being too careful here… overconfidence kills though… and having the element of surprise is never a bad thing to have… the poor defenseless healer… I could bait criminals with me as the bait…,’

Smiling at the thought, she was certainly a sight to behold. Running at an absolutely inhuman speed with two bags containing nearly half a ton of cargo.

The way back didn’t even take any longer. With her increased Dexterity and Strength it wasn’t an issue to balance the two bags while running and controlling the weight.

‘It’s scary to know how strong beings can become in this world… I do believe my run here defies some natural laws… hmm, magic I guess, so fuck it.’

Reaching the road to Riverwatch, she placed the bags near a tree and sat down on the ground. Ilea enjoyed the noise of the river and the sun shining down on her, taking away the chill of the wind. Not that she had to worry about catching a cold with her Vitality.

After nearly two hours of lazing about, finally a wagon came up on the road towards the city. Dusting herself of, Ilea got up and stretched “Woah, that was nice…,” she said as she stepped into the road and waved to the man sitting on the wagon.

“Hey, hey.” He said as he stopped the old horse. The back of the wagon had different kinds of wood in it Ilea noticed. “Greetings traveler, what can old Greg do for ya?” Ilea stopped waving and motioned to the two bags near the tree.

“I have quite the heavy burden. My team and I hunted down some Drakes the past couple weeks and I’m on my way to sell the harvest.” Beaming a smile at him, he nodded.

“I do have some spare room, so why not hop on.”

“That’s incredibly nice of you Greg. Name’s Ilea.” She quickly put the bags on the wagon while acting like they were much heavier to her than they were and jumped in right after.

“Ready when you are!” She said

The drive took another two hours and Greg talked about his farm and the different trees he’s been growing around it for the past three decades. His voice sounded nice to Ilea, so she didn’t mind him talking. Especially hearing someone talk about trees after topics like necromancy and demons in the past days.

They entered the city on the east gate. Showing her Silver adventurer badge with the healer insignia on it left the guards happy and let them through. She heard one of them talk about her silver badge because he couldn’t identify her level. The man was level forty which meant he should be able to identify anyone with a silver badge.

He didn’t stop her though so it was likely not an uncommon practice to use an adventurer badge below your level. ‘What happens if I get a higher one anyway? Do I have to give this one back?’ she thought as Greg steered the cart towards a side street.

The city was busy. It was still morning as Ilea had ran all the way back through the night. The stone buildings cast shadows on the streets and people below, some still damaged from the elven attack over a month ago.

Ilea closed her eyes as the sun warmed her body and lightly dozed to the sound of wheels hitting the cobblestone.