Arganthes: The Capital Of Dungeons

Chapter 09 - The Crystal Lab

As Christine joined us we made our way to the lab.

Amaris was waiting for us there, hoping everything had gone according to plan.

She joined us and asked me how everything went.

"How did it go, Michael? Did they tell you what they wanted with you?"

"Yes, apparently everyone who got summoned was asked the same thing if we wanted to join forces to battle the thread that started over a hundred years ago. They did not go into detail yet. But offered to help me on my journey if I helped them in return."

"What did you say?"

"I agreed. I want to help as much as I can, but for now, I need about myself first. I mean, I don"t even know how everything works here or how to implement combat, magic, and other elements.

To be honest I find it rather odd knowing all the guilds would ask me for the same thing. But oddly enough The Martial Novices didn"t go into detail about this. I wonder what The Rogues a.s.sociation will add to the explanation."

"I"m glad to hear you agreed, that means I won"t go unemployed, I can keep my job and guide you through all the necessary steps. Remember, always come to me if anything needs to be done."

I awkwardly laughed after hearing her answer confirming yet again there was nothing more than a strictly business relationship between us.

It seemed I was nothing but an opportunity to gain a better position and money for her. Better not dwell too deep on the idea of thinking we could be more than friends.

Maybe we will be in the future, time will tell. I can"t blame her too much, she helped me all this time and was just doing her job. I sighed knowing I had to move on.

*sigh*

As we walked to the combat chamber Christine noticed I wasn"t feeling too well knowing this would present a chance for her, she threw her arm around my shoulder.

"You okay buddy?"

"Yea, I"m fine, just thought I had a chance which turned out to be just me dreaming of the impossible."

She read me like a book seeing I kept a bit more distance between Amaris and me.

"Were you a bit naive towards Amaris? Haha.

A cutey like you shouldn"t worry too much about it."

She slapped my a.s.s teasing me in the hope I would notice her interest in me.

"It happens to the best of us, don"t worry. There are plenty of other felines in the world.

You"ll find the right one eventually. Why not play around a little,

better to get some experience, right?"

The thought of hunting for women made me turn red and become shy a bit.

No... I couldn"t. Could I?

"Tell you what, I"m free tonight. Let us hang out after this is all finished. The first drink will be on me."

Before I could answer we got interrupted by Lady Thornfeather.

"Welcome to our Combat Chamber Michael. Here we test our newly acquired crystals as well as Magic Grimoires. Remember the fight we saw around an hour ago? Those were two of my a.s.sistants as well. What better way to examine new abilities than trying them out, am I right?"

Before I could answer Ivy her question she continued to ramble on. I turned to Christine and gave her the okay sign for our meeting tonight.

"I would love to hang out, where do we meet up after all this? I mean I only know of The Drunken Maiden at the moment. Let"s go there."

Christine shrugged her head in disagreement.

"Since you are rather new here let me show you around the villages close to Sharoo a bit. I think you will like what I have in mind, but I won"t tell you yet. Let"s keep it a surprise for now."

Wondering what Christine could be thinking about we continued the tour around The Crystal Lab.

One of the delivery men walked up to Ivy with a small wooden package. He handed Ivy a form that needed to be signed, she signed the form and the man left soon after.

"Michael, a beginner crystal just came in, care to try it out?" "Can I really?" "Yes, sure you can, that"s why you"re here. There is no better way to learn the basics.

The actual experience is the best!"

Ivy walked to the desk at the edge of the chamber,

she grabbed one of the belts she mentioned previously and reached out to me.

"This is The Buckle belt I was telling you about. Try it on."

I accepted the belt and strapped it on my pants.

"This is for you Michael, open it up."

Ivy handed me the small wooden crate.

I accepted the crate, at first I couldn"t find a way to open up the crate, but when I looked closer the screws at the top seemed a bit loose. I walked to the table so I could remove them from the upper part. first, the one screw after the other had been pulled out. I lifted the upper part of the crate to look at the yet unknown contents of the crate.

A rough-edged round crystal was laying on a velvet layer. I took it out to examine it closer. The rough edges looked like fluid spikes making it almost seem like the crystal was on fire.

As I was thinking of what the magic inside the crystal could be, an abrupt interruption from lady Thornfeather broke my strain of thought.

"I almost forgot, the crystal cannot be used yet, you see, we have a special method that allows us to use the magical essence inside the crystals. It is a special refining method. The outer layer is just a vessel containing the essence inside, yet we can"t just simply break the crystal. "Why is that Lady Thornfeather?"

"You see, if the crystal breaks and the essence escapes, it will turn into vapor allowing nature to absorb the entirety of it. The method we use is to make just a small enough opening to allow extraction of the essence without breaking the crystals.

This way we will be able to use the essence inside and use the empty vessels later on to contain other magic essences."

Not yet fully understanding the concept of the crystals I grabbed the one in the crate to give it to lady Thornfeather.

The crystal began generating heat while I was holding it. The others noticed that it began to glow, which was a mystery to me why it did. Body heat maybe?

"Michael look at the crystal!" "What about it Amaris?"

"It is glowing, you activated the crystal on your own without breaking the vessel?

But how? No one has ever done this before."

"I just concentrated like during our Recommendation Examination. I just poured in some of my energy... that"s all."

"Magnificent, for some reason the crystal reacted to you. Wonderful! Please, try it out on one of the dummies."

We turned around to see three dummies located on the other side of the chamber.

"Now, put the crystal in the belt and concentrate on one of the dummies. Since you activated the

crystal on your own you should be able to use the essence inside."

I turned my attention towards the dummies concentrating on wanting to attack the one in the middle. I raised my towards the dummy and opened my palm. As I felt the energy inside me burn toward the palm of my hand a small fire orb manifested and hurled toward the dummy burning its chest area. As I stood there dumbfounded by the endless possibilities that presented itself through this fireball. Magic was concrete and real! And I was able to use it. Could there be more ways to use this? As I was lost in thought Ivy wanted to compliment me.

"Splendid Michael, how did it feel? Your first time using magic."

"It felt similar to when affinity for measured. Back then a warm and pleasant burning sensation welled up from deep within me. Leaving my body through my hand. The moment after it left my body is manifested in what you all saw. The fireball."

"It looks like you have a rather good understanding of the basis for using magic. Being able to express it so vividly."

Ivy said surprised.

"For the sake of it, knowing you understand the basic fundamentals of utilizing the fire element I"ll explain the basis of some other elements to you.

Take for example the thorn whips around my arms they are magically created by combining earth and poison magic. I also have the wind elemental affinity which allows me to fly. Being a Garuda myself I was born with this affinity you see."

While explaining Ivy her feathery cape slowly let go of her shoulders completely spreading them out. The magnificent view of her wings flapping and rising in the air was magical in its own sense.

Her arms were now completely exposed it became clear that the thorns came out of the back of her shoulders. Thinking about this I imagined it had to hurt at some point.

Looking at her face I noticed horns forming behind her ears all the way to the top of her forehead. The horns gradually got plated with feathers like her wings.

Thinking about this I realized she had more than two big wings, in fact, it were six wings in total on her back. The vines also gradually rooted over the back of the wings strengthening them.

I fancied the way she looked and flew in full pride through the air.

"I will now demonstrate wind magic as this works in a different way than fire magic. You see, while fire magic takes in the heat of the user and their surroundings to form their magic. Wind magic uses the breath and airflow around them. Allowing the user to create gusts of wind, air blasts or even levitate or fly in the air like me."

Explain this in a precise manner Ivy prepared a way to show this type of magic in action.

"As you can see my wings allow me to fly while my breathing and airflow currents allow me to levitate in the air. Now, if you all will be so kind as to pay attention to the practice dummies I will show you how wind magic is used in combat."

Ivy spread all of her wings brown and black, continuing with one fluent swoop.

A gust of air blasted towards the two outer targets. .h.i.tting them and shredding them into small pieces. Unable to look away, she captivated me with her natural beauty. Fascinated and entranced I my gaze locked on her wings as this was a sight I had never had the pleasure of seeing before.

Ivy closed in on the third using her vines as a whip throwing the third one towards me. Naturally, I didn"t see the target being thrown at me. Bracing for the impact I stood my ground unaware of Ivy closing in from the back. She grabbed me with her vines pulling me out of the trajectory of the dummy. Holding me tight as if I was the thing she was after all along.

"And that"s how you take care of your prey!"

Ivy said in a satisfying and playful manner licking the fang-like pointy teeth on her upper jaw.

"Did you like the way wind magic can be used, Michael?" "I have to say that it is formidable, but not as formidable as yourself lady Thornfeather."

We both felt a spark as our eyes met for a split second. Ivy held me tight ad we flew towards Amaris to conclude the demonstration and finish the meeting. Ivy noticed Amaris wasn"t paying attention to them which presented an opportunity for her to flirt with me and win me over to her side. Knowing that what she heard might be true she had to act quickly.

Thinking back it must have been easy for her as she already held me tight. Ivy coc.o.o.ns us with four of her six wings making sure I could not fall or a getaway for that matter. Knowing this made me easy prey she leaned in to kiss me. As I was already captivated by her beauty, completely in trance I went for it.

Our lips met ever so slightly, softly pressing against one another. I pulled away from them just a little to catch my breath.

"Cherry."

Her lips tasted like freshly plucked cherries.

Ivy closed in wanting more as she gently bit and sucked on my upper lip. This made me fall completely into the moment as the teasing made me want her more. As our lips met once more it became more intense. The slightly soft and subtle kiss, now deep and wet locked onto one another as if they found each other after an eternity of loneliness.

As the kissing began to become increasingly more intense I noticed that she held the back of my head. A second time we both gasped for air laying each other"s heads on our shoulders.

"That was intense, you are a good kisser Michael.

I would love for us to continue this later on, maybe?"

Ivy whispered into my ear as we descended to the ground.

She looked at me with longing eyes hoping for an answer.

I couldn"t grasp the situation as I felt amazed by what happened, my mind was blown.

Midnight was in a league of her own, but this... this was different. I had to know more... I wanted to know more... Longing for more I answered Ivy.

"I would love to, let us meet when all this is behind us."

Overjoyed Ivy hugged me one last time.

Unaware of Christine who had seen the entire scene unfold in front of her.

She marveled in joy interrupting us, putting an arm around both our shoulders.

"It seems Ivy will be joining us, Michael? The more the merrier I always say.

Might the old lady finally get in on the action again."

Ivy got mad at the teasing of Christine as she was always the one who had the most luck with men.

"Can"t you just be happy for me once in a while Christine? d.a.m.n it!"

Christine laughed knowing there would be more than enough men all over her tonight. Seeing Ivy have a nice time was in a way refreshing for her. As she was getting out of the way Amaris came with a concluding question.

"I take it there is nothing more to show in the lab? Meaning we should be getting on our way towards The Rogues a.s.sociation, right Michael? Looking at me as if she hoped for my cooperation.

I did not know what to do being hugged by two gorgeous women so I decided it was for the best to just ignore Amaris and let whatever was happening to continue.

Christine noticed that I ignored Amaris and tauntingly pulled out her tongue while widening one of her eyes. Giving of the signal that Amaris should move on without him.

This p.i.s.sed her off as it was her job to escort Michael through the entire meeting. If she didn"t do this she wouldn"t get a promotion either. She decided to join the other two and pull me out of their grasp. They didn"t let go making it difficult for her to get me out of there. As Amaris pulled one of my arms, the other was held by Ivy, while Christine held onto my body. Trying with all her might Amaris pulled as hard as she could. At that moment the other girls grinned to each other releasing their tight grasp on me flinging me towards Amaris.

We landed on top of each other, creating an awkward moment. Seeing as she lay there on the bottom while one of my hands held onto her soft and perky big chest.

She got embarra.s.sed by this, turning all red. As she started to cry she quietly whispered pervert looking away holding her hand in front of her mouth.

This made her look really cute seeing as she was all defenseless and not resisting at all.

I decided to tease her a little bit knowing this was probably the last chance I would get. I moved closer to her neck as my breath caressed the side of her neck,

I whispered.

"I love your defenseless look on your face. Makes you cuter than the other girls."

Not knowing how to react or what to do Amaris for all fl.u.s.tered and even redder than before covering her face with both her hands. Adding to the cute factor. Seeing as she was about to start crying I decided to leave it at that and stood up. Petting her head as if she was a lost fluffy lamb a.s.suring her it was okay. I held out my hand to offer her help standing up.

Annoyed she pushed away my hand.

"I can take care of my own you know."

Amaris took it the wrong way, as she got frequently teased by her colleagues.

While preparing to stand up she noticed that she had a camel toe and that her legs were wide open, leaving it for the world to see. Even more embarra.s.sed by this she quickly got up hoping no one noticed this.

"I have to say your clumsiness suites you best dear. It just makes you so adorable."

Christine said in a teasing way.

Christine and Ivy both grinned in an ominous way,

holding back their glare of jealousy. Ivy noticed a pouch laying on the ground and silently grabbed it with her vines. On closer inspection, it appeared that the content of the pouch consisted of coins.

At a glance, it was less than five silver. Not knowing from whom this pouch might be she decided to hide it behind her back.

"Shall we continue the tour young ones?"

Ivy suggested to the group.

As we made our way towards the exit of the chamber another group tried to enter. This group consisted of three humans, or so I thought at first glance.

An older man walked in front leading the two younger men and women towards the battle chamber.

The younger ones looked like they could be the same age as me, the young man was dressed in Black, Yellow, and Blue. He clearly wore robes fitting of a wizard. Having the same kind of prideful almost c.o.c.ky feel to him as the old man. Giving off the vibe that he was better than others.

His hair was combed back and had a blue color I had never seen before. Almost like it had frozen white tips at the ends. And eyes, grey-blue eyes burning with pa.s.sion, piercing through any who dared stand in his way. The girl, on the other hand, was a different story.

She had long dark blond hair, almost orange-like.

Bright Topaz yellow eyes and wore white, red and yellow dancer attire. It fit her perfectly in my opinion. Especially the yellow in the dress, it was in perfect harmony with both her eyes and hair. The older man glared at me with piercing eyes. I felt the killing intent as he pa.s.sed us by.

"Are you done Thornfeather? Then my prodigies can finally get some well-deserved sparring to practice."

The old man openly and c.o.c.ky snarled at Ivy.

I didn"t know what his deal was, but one thing was certain... He was dangerous.

"The floor turned into a different battlefield as the sight of it got me captivated.

"Say, Gregorius, letting your pupils spar against each other must be rather boring. Why not let the new recruit experience what combat is like, yes?"

Christine bluffed towards Gregorius.

"Pardon my choice of words, but the naive boy is still wet behind the ears... does he even know how to use magic? Or did you just finish the tour ladies?"

Ivy called the old man"s bluff.

"Knowing, Michael is able to use the Crystal"s directly I would love to test his skills in battle.

But don"t worry, because we will teach you the basics before initiating the sparring match you should be fine. Nothing is better than real-time experience."

"I propose that my lady sits this one out if you"ll allow Timothy here to be sparring partner. Seeing as you received a grade one fire Crystal it should only be fair to pair against someone who uses ice."

The old man laughed as he gestured for the young man to take place on the field.

"Allow me to explain the rules."

Another person seemed to have entered the room.

Or should I call the person an animal?

I can tell by her voice that it"s a she in particular, Yet she looks more like a fox.

"Basic sparring rules. The first to break the others Crystal or immobilized their opponent wins only the use of magic is allowed, no hand to hand combat is allowed."

"d.a.m.n those people... I may be new to this, but to actually take pity on me? Well... let"s see what will happen and what I can learn. You know what they say about people who boast."

As the younger man stood at the other side of the room I took my place on the field and bowed down in respect for the match.

"Thank you for allowing this sparring match with me sir."

I said being as polite towards the old man as I could

"Yea..yeah, just get on with it already, Richard, activate the field display."

Focussed on the young man I could see the field shifting and changing form. A huge fireball levitated in front of us displaying a number. The number shifted like a dancing flame, counting down. During the countdown, I noticed the room completely vanishing. Were we in another world?

"5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

Start!"

"Seeing as this is your first sparring match fletching...

I"ll allow you to make the first move."

"Don"t regret that decision later, Richard was it?"

Standing tall I balled my fists and focusing on the energy flowing from within.

I opened my hands and raised them in the air making three small orbs from around me.

Moving one arm toward Timothy the orbs ignited into a yellow-orange like a flame. Burning brightly one after the other hurled towards my opponent.

Richard laughed.

"I was wondering what you would do with you low-grade fire Crystal. It seems you can do more than expected."

Richard jumped in the air acrobatically dodging every single one of the firebolt. Before landing,

he slowly glided towards the ground and clicked his finger.

*click*

The floor around me became slippery as the water was pouring in slowly. Not thinking much of it I closed in on Richard. He didn"t seem surprised about my actions.

Now really close I hurled some more firebolts towards him, hoping to create an opportunity.

Richard did not jump this time. Instead, a huge ice pillar formed in front of him blocking my attack.

Now I had to move around this pillar...

As I covered my arms with fire to strike at him I noticed the absolute freezing point had created smoke by melting, Richard wasn"t there anymore... Where is he?

Trying to see where he was I sensed killing intent coming from above me.

I jumped back seeing as Richard was trying to strike with Ice Shard spikes covering his arms.

Missing me the shards shot towards me.

Trying to create distance between us I swept my arm creating a wave of flames which melted the shards.

*huff* *huff*

It was clear how good of a student Richard was.

"You"re boasting didn"t seem misplaced, I have to give you that."

*huff* *huff*

Being completely out of breath I needed to find a way to catch my breath. Knowing Richard wouldn"t let me, I had to think of a plan. I didn"t want to go down in my first fight. But I had to give it to him... He was really good. As I stood there, again water seeped through the ground under me.

This time Richard closed in on me. Again covering his arms in ice.

Preparing myself for one last struggle I ignited the energy inside me covering my arms and legs.

Richard closed in on me as the attack in one movement, using the impact of his momentum he strengthened the blow. Blocking the impact with my hand the sizzling heat melted his ice coating away.

He kept striking blow after blow as I tried to parry him. Barely keeping up with his speed I managed to parry a few blows. I noticed the importance of my open palms and relaxed wrists.

After parrying a few blows his speed increased making me unable to follow. I crossed my arms creating a tighter guard. Unable to react to his blows I held up my guard. Every blow seemed to freeze little parts of my body making it more difficult to move. Richard jumped back for the final blow.

Antic.i.p.ating this I screamed creating a pillar of fire around me.

This melted all the ice I had on my body.

Grabbing my chance I moving towards the energy that Richard gave off.

Before leaving the fire pillar the water under my feet began to freeze. In an instant, the proud tall fire pillar turned to ice. Trapping me inside.

As I was completely out of energy this was as far as I could go. I raised my hand in the air as my announcement filled the area.

"I surrender.. I give up."

At that time a siren sounded and the entire area turned back to the combat chamber we started in.

Richard clapped in his hands as it almost seemed sarcastic in away.

"Knowing you couldn"t win, I have to say you put up a good fight for fletching."

The young woman stood next to me as she offered me help to stand up.

"Giving you just started using the crystals you"ll be a good rival for Richard.

Going for the Adventurers examination right? What is your name fletching?"

I took the hand of the woman and introduced myself.

"My name is Shadowfang, Michael Shadowfang."

"Sounds promising, I"m k.u.mi, Nice to meet you. Hope to see you later,

you"ll be back for more training later, right? I"ll keep my eye on you."

The sparring match was over... I had learned more about my own shortcomings than I initially thought. Seeing where I stood, giving it my all was the only option. k.u.mi walked towards the battlefield to prepare for their sparring matches.

Before they started I decided to walk towards Timothy, wanting to thank him I held my hand up in the air.

"I have to give it to you Richard, you really are good.

I learned a lot from you and this sparring match, thank you for that."

Confused Timothy looked at my hand and ignored my pose.

"It was great practice fletching, having a disadvantage like this helps me gain more experience handling these kinds of situations."

Calling Richard out on him ignoring my hand I decided to show him how it was supposed to go.

"Don"t leave me hanging man, put your hand up their against mine. Give it a satisfying slap if you will."

Richard struggled a bit, wanting to raise his arm.

When his hand reached mine I slapped his holding onto his hand.

"That my friend is a satisfying high-five. Usually, you do this after a match to show your sportsmanship towards either your sparring partner or your opponent in the match."

I ran towards Amaris and the ladies seeing as they wanted to continue.

Before I rejoined the others I turned around and put my fist towards Richard.

"Make sure you remember that greeting. When we meet again.

You too k.u.mi!"

I walked away with my fist raised towards the air. Giving a sign of respect towards both. k.u.mi rushed back towards me with sparkling big yellow eyes she said.

"Not fair fletching, show me how it"s done too..."

"Well... first of all, you know my name, be sure to remember it okay? Haha.

Next to show you how awesome this gesture of sportsmanship is and to share the excitement with your party members. Now... hold up your hand like this."

I showed her how to hold her hand.

"And brace yourself for impact as we both need to move our hands towards one another."

I slammed my hand into hers creating a loud clap.

"Wow! I felt that throughout my entire hand, that was cool! Thank you for showing me Michael, I"ll be sure to use this to show my respects towards my opponents."

k.u.mi waved us goodbye as we made our way to the exit of the combat chamber.

As we stumbled upon the main Hall of the Mage Guild I noticed a girl maybe a bit younger than me standing at the help desk we needed to notify our progress at.

The girl had long straight purple hair and a hint of indigo throughout the entirety of her hair.

Standing behind her I noticed that the two girls were having an idle talk. I decided it was possible to break up the conversation and tapped on the shoulder of the girl. Surprised she turned around revealing her big and dark brown eyes. The hair covering her face was different than the rest seeing as this was clipped behind a hairpin. The pin was cute, looked like a breeze that went through her hair.

"Sorry madam, I don"t mean to be rude, but I would like to file in my report." "Its okay sir, let me get out of your way, we were just having a little idle talk here."

The girl moved aside letting us take place at the helpdesk.

"You came to file in a report, sir?"

The lady behind the desk asked.

"Yes, we just came back from the appointment with lady Ivy and our visit to the Crystal Lab."

"Thank you for your report sir, if you would please head to the Rogues a.s.sociation, they are eagerly waiting for your arrival. I take it Amaris will show you the way?"

"Yes Chrissy, that shouldn"t be a problem."

"Well... I"ll leave the young man in your care then girl. Make sure you don"t forget our plans tonight!"

The lady yelled to us as we took our leave.

Christine blocked my path as I walked straight into her huge chest. She hugged me tightly.

Ivy saw this as a good example and joined in on the fun. Hugging me from behind.

"You didn"t think of leaving without saying goodbye, did you? Don"t forget to meet me at the town center tonight."

Christine suddenly grabbed my a.s.s tight and kissed me deeply. I was completely overpowered by the state of strawberries as I felt something twitch in my pants.

"That"s just a taste of what will be waiting for you tonight boy. Oh, you"re just too adorable!"

Amaris pulled me out of the grasp of these mature women and made sure we rushed towards The Rogues a.s.sociation.

"Look at her, keeping that young man for herself... Well... better luck next time."

The girls looked at each other and laughed.