Chapter 79
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Stepping through the doorway, Greyson kept his guard extremely high to avoid getting caught in the same situation as before. However, his vigilance was all for naught as the room he stepped into was completely normal. The only thing that caught his eye was the booklet floating in the middle of the room inside a sphere. Carefully looking around for any arrays or traps that could be activated, Greyson slowly let his guard drop as nothing out of the usual could be found. Step by step, he approached the book in the middle until he stopped right in front. Still worried about possible repercussions, he used Genesis to try pushing the book out of the sphere. In contrast to his worries, the sword easily knocked the book from the sphere and it dropped to the ground. Pausing, Greyson waited to see if something would happen.
"For goodness sake, Grey, it's fine! For real, just watching you be so careful is stressing me out more than the fact that there could be traps." No longer able to continue watching, Lucius finally spoke out. At this point, even Greyson was feeling ridiculous, so he hurried over to the book and picked it up. However, the minute he touched the cover, Greyson could feel his body get sucked into the sphere in the middle of the room. When his senses finally returned, his body slammed into hard ground. Looking all around him, he could see was on top of a floating stage with space all around him. No exit in sight, Greyson first glared at Lucius.
"This is what happens when you aren't careful! Now, what am I supposed to do?"
"Hmph, now don't blame this on me, you probably would have ended up here even if you were more careful." Rolling his eyes, Lucius snorted back. Annoyed, Greyson realized that the cat was probably correct, so he held his tongue and instead began looking around. Only there really was not much to look at, the stage was flat stone ground with nothing in the surroundings. Restless, Greyson finally realized that the book was still in his hand. With no other choice, he opened it for an answer. On the inside cover, he found his trial:
"To the destined one who made it through the wind trial, I congratulate you on making it this far. However, who knows whether this will be your fortune or your doom. The final trial is to test your talent at comprehending spells. In this book is my strongest wind spell that I created later during my initial years as a magician king. Although it has become obsolete to me, this spell could be an enormous fortune for those below the magician king level. In this trial, you must completely comprehend the first part of this spell and defeat opponent that will appear 3 months from the moment you enter. You cannot defeat the opponent with anything but the spell or else the dummy I left will attack you with a full power spell that will kill anyone under the magician emperor level. If you cannot defeat the opponent then you will also die. I wish you good luck. If you pass, you can take this spell book with you and be directly teleported to the outside so you can leave."
Furrowing his brows, Greyson felt helpless listening. This was definitely a slightly twisted dungeon owner. It was pretty much: pass the trial or die. There was nothing he could do at this point, so he stopped wasting time and quickly flipped the page to the first page of the book explaining the spell. Once he began reading, he could not tear his eyes away from the page. The spell was called Wind Suit and it was both a defensive and offensive spell. One was to form a special brand on their body which would absorb wind elemental spirits and store them. Then, the absorbed mana would act on its own to block and return attacks. The first level was to place a brand on the right shoulder which would mean that the entire right arm would be protected. First, they would act as a shield and then they would form into a sharp slash and retaliate against the opponent. Feeling the excitement rise within him, Greyson wanted to quickly learn the spell. However, he continued reading just in case and found the downsides of the spell. Thankfully, the original creator was honest and laid out all the weaknesses. The spell meant there would be a minuscule, yet constant, drain on his mana stores for as long as he stores the wind mana. The reason the spell was split into steps is that each level and stage can only sustain so many brands without the drain being too much. His advanced level could only handle the first level on his right arm. Unless he battled someone, the drain would be negligible. The wind element stored does not last forever and it is up to the user to meditate and constantly refill the brand. The shield also can block an attack from magicians one full level ahead, however, it will break apart after blocking that one attack.
Although there were obvious downsides, just the fact that the spell would block the attack without him willing it was the biggest advantage. Diving right into studying the spell, Greyson forgot everything else and just focused on learning. This was his first time actually learning the spell circle that goes along with the spell, so it really was a test on his actual comprehension. It was this moment that he realized how hard learning spells were. No wonder many people took so long to learn. Memorizing all the spell pattern lines was similar to learning inscriptions, though, so Greyson caught on rather quickly. The first month went by without much progress as Greyson meditated while envisioning the brand again and again. However, the marking on his arm would not appear. Trying his best to stay patient, Greyson continued his studying for the second month which finally saw some results. Midway through the second month, Greyson awoke from his meditation from a strong burning sensation around his shoulder. Knowing what this meant, instead of showing pain, his expression lit up with extreme excitement. Rolling up his sleeve, Greyson glanced down and saw that half of the brand finally formed on his skin. Feeling the wind elements starting the gather near his arm, Greyson continued his meditation trying to take advantage of this feeling. By the end of the second month, the brand fully formed on his shoulder. The more wind element he gathered inside, the more the black lines turned beautiful emerald green.
Ecstatic by his success, Greyson quickly woke up the napping Lucius.
"Lu! Lu! I did it! Quick, try attacking my right arm!"
Roused from his comfortable sleep, Lucius could not help but feel annoyed. Hearing such an enthusiastic request to attack, he happily obliged. Flicking his tails, two wind blades went flying into Greyson's right arm. The brand on his arm lit up and wind twirled around his arm blocking the two incoming blades. After the attack was blocked, the wind around Greyson's arm quickly flung out and retaliated against the unprepared Lucius. Eyes widening awake, Lucius quickly dodged out of the way.
"Hey, Grey! Are you trying to kill me?"
"I told you the effects of the spell, didn't I? It attacks back on its own, I did not mean for it to happen." Shrugging noncommittedly, Greyson did not mind his friend's anger. Ignoring Lucius' next words, Greyson quickly observed his brand. One-fourth of the lines reverted back to the black color. A little more than he expected, but if he was a magister level magician as well then the drain would be a lot less. The gaps in power between levels were a lot harder to surmount than the gaps in power between stages. Already attaining success in the spell, Greyson decided to practice fighting with Lucius to become comfortable with the new effects of the spell for the rest of the last month. He could not have the opponent appear faster, so he would just have to wait until the third month ended.
Without the same passion for learning, waiting became boring and long. In what felt like much longer, the last month finally passed. A light shined and a dummy appeared before Greyson. Knowing that other spells were forbidden, Greyson had to remind himself again and again during the fight to hold back. Thankfully, the opponent was designed to attack only the right arm since learning the first part of the spell was all that was required. After the final attack left from the brand, the dummy fell apart. Greyson felt a little surprised by the result, but he could tell that the creator of the dungeon calculated the power correctly so that if the person learned the first part of the spell they would easily be able to leave. After the opponent disappeared, the exit appeared. Grabbing the spell book and putting it safely away in Al, Greyson stepped through the doorway. He knew that the exit led back to the outside, but he did not realize it would be outside in the air. Once he was through, he realized he was right above the trees. Not having enough time, Greyson stumbled through the trees and branches until he finally hit the ground. Lucius gracefully landed on a branch unharmed while rolling in laughter at Greyson's state.
"I'm starting to really like this dungeon creator. He has quite a sense of humor." Snickering to himself, Lucius was amused by the little pranks of the creator. Spitting out dirt, Greyson ignored the comment and dusted himself off. Quickly using Heal, all his cuts and bruises healed themselves. Seeing the rips on his clothes, Greyson removed a new fresh set of clothes and got changed. Breathing in deeply, Greyson felt refreshed to be outside again. Never before was he so thankful to see the sun and feel the dense mana around him. Looking around in the dense forest, he did not recognize where he was at all. With a thought, Alexus appeared. However, he was only around the size of a small cart this time. Jumping onto Al's shell, both Greyson and Lucius laid down and allowed the turtle to walk in whatever direction until they ran into people while the both of them slept. His nerves were mostly on edge while he was in the dungeon, so once he was out, he felt exhaustion crash into him and his eyelids began to droop. Boy, turtle, and cat slowly crawled through the forest.
...
"Hahaha, keep running little brats, you cannot escape!"
Greyson's tired eyes finally opened and looked around due to the shouting. He realized that it was already late at night. Hearing the snapping of branches, he looked towards the right of him and could hear approaching bodies. Quickly activating his disguise spell, his long silver hair turned black while his eyes remained an icy blue. Lucius had also awakened and jumped onto Greyson's shoulder. Soon, two bodies burst out from the bushes in front of Greyson. The older one was a girl around Eden's age while the younger one was a boy around Greyson's age. They both had green hair and green eyes and beautiful clothes that most likely signified their high status. Once the girl saw someone else, her eyes lit up.
"Boy, could you help hide my brother? I will lead them in a different direction! If you can just get him to Iris City, the Greentree family will award you handsomely. I am Yvette Greentree, and this is my younger brother Lucas. He is the heir and the enemy family from the city is trying to kill him due to his talent, the family will definitely thank you for your efforts if you can safely escort him into the city." Without any pretense, she quickly requested his help. Greyson narrowed his eyes as he looked back and forth between the siblings and contemplated the situation. After a slight silence, he finally opened his mouth.
"How powerful are the people chasing you?"
"They are mostly advanced level magicians, however, their leader is a magister level stage one magician."
Another silence ensued. Yvette was getting noticeably more and more nervous while she could hear the approaching footsteps and her expression sank. Finally, she was about to bring her brother to continue running, but Greyson instead waved his hand and the two disappeared. He allowed them to hide inside the spatial space in Al's shell.
"Why are you helping them?" During the silence, Greyson and Lucius were actually communicating via their mental connection. Lucius had opted to leave them since they were strangers and there was no need to help them. However, Greyson decided to help them after hearing the level of the chasers. Even if he could not sneak past them, he could beat them anyways. He needed a way to get into the closest city since he was no longer traveling with the caravan and it seemed that these two siblings could be his ticket inside. Even without the reward the sister spoke of, rescuing the two of them was worth it.
"You know why. I wouldn't get involved if those men were stronger, but since they are weak what is the harm?"
"Hmmm... alright, whatever. I just hope that you rescued people worth the effort."
Greyson sat cross-legged on top of Al and began to meditate while the turtle continued walking slowly through the forest. Unsurprisingly, a group of men soon appeared around them.
"Boy, have you seen a pair of siblings run through these woods?" A gruff voice spoke out.
"Siblings? I think I might have seen something fly by, but they were moving too fast that I did not get a good look at their faces." His expression the picture of innocence, Greyson gave off a weak and guileless feeling. The expression combined with his slightly androgynous features made the group's eyes light up. Coughing awkwardly, they nodded as if accepting the explanation and motioned that he could leave. Inwardly praising his acting ability, Greyson had Al start moving again.
"Wait!" Before he could leave, however, a different voice appeared in front. Seeing the new arrival, Greyson could tell that this was the magister level leader by the power he was giving off. "Let me see your beast." His dark eyes stared suspiciously at Al as if he had an idea. Thinking deeply, his face finally showed he had thought of something and a threatening look appeared in his eyes. Seeing this, Greyson knew that the charade was over. The childish expression was now gone and replaced with coldness. Drawing Genesis, he pointed the sword at the leader.
"I'm afraid I will have to say no."
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Stepping through the doorway, Greyson kept his guard extremely high to avoid getting caught in the same situation as before. However, his vigilance was all for naught as the room he stepped into was completely normal. The only thing that caught his eye was the booklet floating in the middle of the room inside a sphere. Carefully looking around for any arrays or traps that could be activated, Greyson slowly let his guard drop as nothing out of the usual could be found. Step by step, he approached the book in the middle until he stopped right in front. Still worried about possible repercussions, he used Genesis to try pushing the book out of the sphere. In contrast to his worries, the sword easily knocked the book from the sphere and it dropped to the ground. Pausing, Greyson waited to see if something would happen.
"For goodness sake, Grey, it's fine! For real, just watching you be so careful is stressing me out more than the fact that there could be traps." No longer able to continue watching, Lucius finally spoke out. At this point, even Greyson was feeling ridiculous, so he hurried over to the book and picked it up. However, the minute he touched the cover, Greyson could feel his body get sucked into the sphere in the middle of the room. When his senses finally returned, his body slammed into hard ground. Looking all around him, he could see was on top of a floating stage with space all around him. No exit in sight, Greyson first glared at Lucius.
"This is what happens when you aren't careful! Now, what am I supposed to do?"
"Hmph, now don't blame this on me, you probably would have ended up here even if you were more careful." Rolling his eyes, Lucius snorted back. Annoyed, Greyson realized that the cat was probably correct, so he held his tongue and instead began looking around. Only there really was not much to look at, the stage was flat stone ground with nothing in the surroundings. Restless, Greyson finally realized that the book was still in his hand. With no other choice, he opened it for an answer. On the inside cover, he found his trial:
"To the destined one who made it through the wind trial, I congratulate you on making it this far. However, who knows whether this will be your fortune or your doom. The final trial is to test your talent at comprehending spells. In this book is my strongest wind spell that I created later during my initial years as a magician king. Although it has become obsolete to me, this spell could be an enormous fortune for those below the magician king level. In this trial, you must completely comprehend the first part of this spell and defeat opponent that will appear 3 months from the moment you enter. You cannot defeat the opponent with anything but the spell or else the dummy I left will attack you with a full power spell that will kill anyone under the magician emperor level. If you cannot defeat the opponent then you will also die. I wish you good luck. If you pass, you can take this spell book with you and be directly teleported to the outside so you can leave."
Furrowing his brows, Greyson felt helpless listening. This was definitely a slightly twisted dungeon owner. It was pretty much: pass the trial or die. There was nothing he could do at this point, so he stopped wasting time and quickly flipped the page to the first page of the book explaining the spell. Once he began reading, he could not tear his eyes away from the page. The spell was called Wind Suit and it was both a defensive and offensive spell. One was to form a special brand on their body which would absorb wind elemental spirits and store them. Then, the absorbed mana would act on its own to block and return attacks. The first level was to place a brand on the right shoulder which would mean that the entire right arm would be protected. First, they would act as a shield and then they would form into a sharp slash and retaliate against the opponent. Feeling the excitement rise within him, Greyson wanted to quickly learn the spell. However, he continued reading just in case and found the downsides of the spell. Thankfully, the original creator was honest and laid out all the weaknesses. The spell meant there would be a minuscule, yet constant, drain on his mana stores for as long as he stores the wind mana. The reason the spell was split into steps is that each level and stage can only sustain so many brands without the drain being too much. His advanced level could only handle the first level on his right arm. Unless he battled someone, the drain would be negligible. The wind element stored does not last forever and it is up to the user to meditate and constantly refill the brand. The shield also can block an attack from magicians one full level ahead, however, it will break apart after blocking that one attack.
Although there were obvious downsides, just the fact that the spell would block the attack without him willing it was the biggest advantage. Diving right into studying the spell, Greyson forgot everything else and just focused on learning. This was his first time actually learning the spell circle that goes along with the spell, so it really was a test on his actual comprehension. It was this moment that he realized how hard learning spells were. No wonder many people took so long to learn. Memorizing all the spell pattern lines was similar to learning inscriptions, though, so Greyson caught on rather quickly. The first month went by without much progress as Greyson meditated while envisioning the brand again and again. However, the marking on his arm would not appear. Trying his best to stay patient, Greyson continued his studying for the second month which finally saw some results. Midway through the second month, Greyson awoke from his meditation from a strong burning sensation around his shoulder. Knowing what this meant, instead of showing pain, his expression lit up with extreme excitement. Rolling up his sleeve, Greyson glanced down and saw that half of the brand finally formed on his skin. Feeling the wind elements starting the gather near his arm, Greyson continued his meditation trying to take advantage of this feeling. By the end of the second month, the brand fully formed on his shoulder. The more wind element he gathered inside, the more the black lines turned beautiful emerald green.
Ecstatic by his success, Greyson quickly woke up the napping Lucius.
"Lu! Lu! I did it! Quick, try attacking my right arm!"
Roused from his comfortable sleep, Lucius could not help but feel annoyed. Hearing such an enthusiastic request to attack, he happily obliged. Flicking his tails, two wind blades went flying into Greyson's right arm. The brand on his arm lit up and wind twirled around his arm blocking the two incoming blades. After the attack was blocked, the wind around Greyson's arm quickly flung out and retaliated against the unprepared Lucius. Eyes widening awake, Lucius quickly dodged out of the way.
"Hey, Grey! Are you trying to kill me?"
"I told you the effects of the spell, didn't I? It attacks back on its own, I did not mean for it to happen." Shrugging noncommittedly, Greyson did not mind his friend's anger. Ignoring Lucius' next words, Greyson quickly observed his brand. One-fourth of the lines reverted back to the black color. A little more than he expected, but if he was a magister level magician as well then the drain would be a lot less. The gaps in power between levels were a lot harder to surmount than the gaps in power between stages. Already attaining success in the spell, Greyson decided to practice fighting with Lucius to become comfortable with the new effects of the spell for the rest of the last month. He could not have the opponent appear faster, so he would just have to wait until the third month ended.
Without the same passion for learning, waiting became boring and long. In what felt like much longer, the last month finally passed. A light shined and a dummy appeared before Greyson. Knowing that other spells were forbidden, Greyson had to remind himself again and again during the fight to hold back. Thankfully, the opponent was designed to attack only the right arm since learning the first part of the spell was all that was required. After the final attack left from the brand, the dummy fell apart. Greyson felt a little surprised by the result, but he could tell that the creator of the dungeon calculated the power correctly so that if the person learned the first part of the spell they would easily be able to leave. After the opponent disappeared, the exit appeared. Grabbing the spell book and putting it safely away in Al, Greyson stepped through the doorway. He knew that the exit led back to the outside, but he did not realize it would be outside in the air. Once he was through, he realized he was right above the trees. Not having enough time, Greyson stumbled through the trees and branches until he finally hit the ground. Lucius gracefully landed on a branch unharmed while rolling in laughter at Greyson's state.
"I'm starting to really like this dungeon creator. He has quite a sense of humor." Snickering to himself, Lucius was amused by the little pranks of the creator. Spitting out dirt, Greyson ignored the comment and dusted himself off. Quickly using Heal, all his cuts and bruises healed themselves. Seeing the rips on his clothes, Greyson removed a new fresh set of clothes and got changed. Breathing in deeply, Greyson felt refreshed to be outside again. Never before was he so thankful to see the sun and feel the dense mana around him. Looking around in the dense forest, he did not recognize where he was at all. With a thought, Alexus appeared. However, he was only around the size of a small cart this time. Jumping onto Al's shell, both Greyson and Lucius laid down and allowed the turtle to walk in whatever direction until they ran into people while the both of them slept. His nerves were mostly on edge while he was in the dungeon, so once he was out, he felt exhaustion crash into him and his eyelids began to droop. Boy, turtle, and cat slowly crawled through the forest.
...
"Hahaha, keep running little brats, you cannot escape!"
Greyson's tired eyes finally opened and looked around due to the shouting. He realized that it was already late at night. Hearing the snapping of branches, he looked towards the right of him and could hear approaching bodies. Quickly activating his disguise spell, his long silver hair turned black while his eyes remained an icy blue. Lucius had also awakened and jumped onto Greyson's shoulder. Soon, two bodies burst out from the bushes in front of Greyson. The older one was a girl around Eden's age while the younger one was a boy around Greyson's age. They both had green hair and green eyes and beautiful clothes that most likely signified their high status. Once the girl saw someone else, her eyes lit up.
"Boy, could you help hide my brother? I will lead them in a different direction! If you can just get him to Iris City, the Greentree family will award you handsomely. I am Yvette Greentree, and this is my younger brother Lucas. He is the heir and the enemy family from the city is trying to kill him due to his talent, the family will definitely thank you for your efforts if you can safely escort him into the city." Without any pretense, she quickly requested his help. Greyson narrowed his eyes as he looked back and forth between the siblings and contemplated the situation. After a slight silence, he finally opened his mouth.
"How powerful are the people chasing you?"
"They are mostly advanced level magicians, however, their leader is a magister level stage one magician."
Another silence ensued. Yvette was getting noticeably more and more nervous while she could hear the approaching footsteps and her expression sank. Finally, she was about to bring her brother to continue running, but Greyson instead waved his hand and the two disappeared. He allowed them to hide inside the spatial space in Al's shell.
"Why are you helping them?" During the silence, Greyson and Lucius were actually communicating via their mental connection. Lucius had opted to leave them since they were strangers and there was no need to help them. However, Greyson decided to help them after hearing the level of the chasers. Even if he could not sneak past them, he could beat them anyways. He needed a way to get into the closest city since he was no longer traveling with the caravan and it seemed that these two siblings could be his ticket inside. Even without the reward the sister spoke of, rescuing the two of them was worth it.
"You know why. I wouldn't get involved if those men were stronger, but since they are weak what is the harm?"
"Hmmm... alright, whatever. I just hope that you rescued people worth the effort."
Greyson sat cross-legged on top of Al and began to meditate while the turtle continued walking slowly through the forest. Unsurprisingly, a group of men soon appeared around them.
"Boy, have you seen a pair of siblings run through these woods?" A gruff voice spoke out.
"Siblings? I think I might have seen something fly by, but they were moving too fast that I did not get a good look at their faces." His expression the picture of innocence, Greyson gave off a weak and guileless feeling. The expression combined with his slightly androgynous features made the group's eyes light up. Coughing awkwardly, they nodded as if accepting the explanation and motioned that he could leave. Inwardly praising his acting ability, Greyson had Al start moving again.
"Wait!" Before he could leave, however, a different voice appeared in front. Seeing the new arrival, Greyson could tell that this was the magister level leader by the power he was giving off. "Let me see your beast." His dark eyes stared suspiciously at Al as if he had an idea. Thinking deeply, his face finally showed he had thought of something and a threatening look appeared in his eyes. Seeing this, Greyson knew that the charade was over. The childish expression was now gone and replaced with coldness. Drawing Genesis, he pointed the sword at the leader.
"I'm afraid I will have to say no."
Stepping through the doorway, Greyson kept his guard extremely high to avoid getting caught in the same situation as before. However, his vigilance was all for naught as the room he stepped into was completely normal. The only thing that caught his eye was the booklet floating in the middle of the room inside a sphere. Carefully looking around for any arrays or traps that could be activated, Greyson slowly let his guard drop as nothing out of the usual could be found. Step by step, he approached the book in the middle until he stopped right in front. Still worried about possible repercussions, he used Genesis to try pushing the book out of the sphere. In contrast to his worries, the sword easily knocked the book from the sphere and it dropped to the ground. Pausing, Greyson waited to see if something would happen."For goodness sake, Grey, it's fine! For real, just watching you be so careful is stressing me out more than the fact that there could be traps." No longer able to continue watching, Lucius finally spoke out. At this point, even Greyson was feeling ridiculous, so he hurried over to the book and picked it up. However, the minute he touched the cover, Greyson could feel his body get sucked into the sphere in the middle of the room. When his senses finally returned, his body slammed into hard ground. Looking all around him, he could see was on top of a floating stage with space all around him. No exit in sight, Greyson first glared at Lucius."This is what happens when you aren't careful! Now, what am I supposed to do?""Hmph, now don't blame this on me, you probably would have ended up here even if you were more careful." Rolling his eyes, Lucius snorted back. Annoyed, Greyson realized that the cat was probably correct, so he held his tongue and instead began looking around. Only there really was not much to look at, the stage was flat stone ground with nothing in the surroundings. Restless, Greyson finally realized that the book was still in his hand. With no other choice, he opened it for an answer. On the inside cover, he found his trial:"To the destined one who made it through the wind trial, I congratulate you on making it this far. However, who knows whether this will be your fortune or your doom. The final trial is to test your talent at comprehending spells. In this book is my strongest wind spell that I created later during my initial years as a magician king. Although it has become obsolete to me, this spell could be an enormous fortune for those below the magician king level. In this trial, you must completely comprehend the first part of this spell and defeat opponent that will appear 3 months from the moment you enter. You cannot defeat the opponent with anything but the spell or else the dummy I left will attack you with a full power spell that will kill anyone under the magician emperor level. If you cannot defeat the opponent then you will also die. I wish you good luck. If you pass, you can take this spell book with you and be directly teleported to the outside so you can leave."Furrowing his brows, Greyson felt helpless listening. This was definitely a slightly twisted dungeon owner. It was pretty much: pass the trial or die. There was nothing he could do at this point, so he stopped wasting time and quickly flipped the page to the first page of the book explaining the spell. Once he began reading, he could not tear his eyes away from the page. The spell was called Wind Suit and it was both a defensive and offensive spell. One was to form a special brand on their body which would absorb wind elemental spirits and store them. Then, the absorbed mana would act on its own to block and return attacks. The first level was to place a brand on the right shoulder which would mean that the entire right arm would be protected. First, they would act as a shield and then they would form into a sharp slash and retaliate against the opponent. Feeling the excitement rise within him, Greyson wanted to quickly learn the spell. However, he continued reading just in case and found the downsides of the spell. Thankfully, the original creator was honest and laid out all the weaknesses. The spell meant there would be a minuscule, yet constant, drain on his mana stores for as long as he stores the wind mana. The reason the spell was split into steps is that each level and stage can only sustain so many brands without the drain being too much. His advanced level could only handle the first level on his right arm. Unless he battled someone, the drain would be negligible. The wind element stored does not last forever and it is up to the user to meditate and constantly refill the brand. The shield also can block an attack from magicians one full level ahead, however, it will break apart after blocking that one attack.Although there were obvious downsides, just the fact that the spell would block the attack without him willing it was the biggest advantage. Diving right into studying the spell, Greyson forgot everything else and just focused on learning. This was his first time actually learning the spell circle that goes along with the spell, so it really was a test on his actual comprehension. It was this moment that he realized how hard learning spells were. No wonder many people took so long to learn. Memorizing all the spell pattern lines was similar to learning inscriptions, though, so Greyson caught on rather quickly. The first month went by without much progress as Greyson meditated while envisioning the brand again and again. However, the marking on his arm would not appear. Trying his best to stay patient, Greyson continued his studying for the second month which finally saw some results. Midway through the second month, Greyson awoke from his meditation from a strong burning sensation around his shoulder. Knowing what this meant, instead of showing pain, his expression lit up with extreme excitement. Rolling up his sleeve, Greyson glanced down and saw that half of the brand finally formed on his skin. Feeling the wind elements starting the gather near his arm, Greyson continued his meditation trying to take advantage of this feeling. By the end of the second month, the brand fully formed on his shoulder. The more wind element he gathered inside, the more the black lines turned beautiful emerald green.Ecstatic by his success, Greyson quickly woke up the napping Lucius."Lu! Lu! I did it! Quick, try attacking my right arm!"Roused from his comfortable sleep, Lucius could not help but feel annoyed. Hearing such an enthusiastic request to attack, he happily obliged. Flicking his tails, two wind blades went flying into Greyson's right arm. The brand on his arm lit up and wind twirled around his arm blocking the two incoming blades. After the attack was blocked, the wind around Greyson's arm quickly flung out and retaliated against the unprepared Lucius. Eyes widening awake, Lucius quickly dodged out of the way."Hey, Grey! Are you trying to kill me?""I told you the effects of the spell, didn't I? It attacks back on its own, I did not mean for it to happen." Shrugging noncommittedly, Greyson did not mind his friend's anger. Ignoring Lucius' next words, Greyson quickly observed his brand. One-fourth of the lines reverted back to the black color. A little more than he expected, but if he was a magister level magician as well then the drain would be a lot less. The gaps in power between levels were a lot harder to surmount than the gaps in power between stages. Already attaining success in the spell, Greyson decided to practice fighting with Lucius to become comfortable with the new effects of the spell for the rest of the last month. He could not have the opponent appear faster, so he would just have to wait until the third month ended.Without the same passion for learning, waiting became boring and long. In what felt like much longer, the last month finally passed. A light shined and a dummy appeared before Greyson. Knowing that other spells were forbidden, Greyson had to remind himself again and again during the fight to hold back. Thankfully, the opponent was designed to attack only the right arm since learning the first part of the spell was all that was required. After the final attack left from the brand, the dummy fell apart. Greyson felt a little surprised by the result, but he could tell that the creator of the dungeon calculated the power correctly so that if the person learned the first part of the spell they would easily be able to leave. After the opponent disappeared, the exit appeared. Grabbing the spell book and putting it safely away in Al, Greyson stepped through the doorway. He knew that the exit led back to the outside, but he did not realize it would be outside in the air. Once he was through, he realized he was right above the trees. Not having enough time, Greyson stumbled through the trees and branches until he finally hit the ground. Lucius gracefully landed on a branch unharmed while rolling in laughter at Greyson's state."I'm starting to really like this dungeon creator. He has quite a sense of humor." Snickering to himself, Lucius was amused by the little pranks of the creator. Spitting out dirt, Greyson ignored the comment and dusted himself off. Quickly using Heal, all his cuts and bruises healed themselves. Seeing the rips on his clothes, Greyson removed a new fresh set of clothes and got changed. Breathing in deeply, Greyson felt refreshed to be outside again. Never before was he so thankful to see the sun and feel the dense mana around him. Looking around in the dense forest, he did not recognize where he was at all. With a thought, Alexus appeared. However, he was only around the size of a small cart this time. Jumping onto Al's shell, both Greyson and Lucius laid down and allowed the turtle to walk in whatever direction until they ran into people while the both of them slept. His nerves were mostly on edge while he was in the dungeon, so once he was out, he felt exhaustion crash into him and his eyelids began to droop. Boy, turtle, and cat slowly crawled through the forest...."Hahaha, keep running little brats, you cannot escape!"Greyson's tired eyes finally opened and looked around due to the shouting. He realized that it was already late at night. Hearing the snapping of branches, he looked towards the right of him and could hear approaching bodies. Quickly activating his disguise spell, his long silver hair turned black while his eyes remained an icy blue. Lucius had also awakened and jumped onto Greyson's shoulder. Soon, two bodies burst out from the bushes in front of Greyson. The older one was a girl around Eden's age while the younger one was a boy around Greyson's age. They both had green hair and green eyes and beautiful clothes that most likely signified their high status. Once the girl saw someone else, her eyes lit up."Boy, could you help hide my brother? I will lead them in a different direction! If you can just get him to Iris City, the Greentree family will award you handsomely. I am Yvette Greentree, and this is my younger brother Lucas. He is the heir and the enemy family from the city is trying to kill him due to his talent, the family will definitely thank you for your efforts if you can safely escort him into the city." Without any pretense, she quickly requested his help. Greyson narrowed his eyes as he looked back and forth between the siblings and contemplated the situation. After a slight silence, he finally opened his mouth."How powerful are the people chasing you?""They are mostly advanced level magicians, however, their leader is a magister level stage one magician."Another silence ensued. Yvette was getting noticeably more and more nervous while she could hear the approaching footsteps and her expression sank. Finally, she was about to bring her brother to continue running, but Greyson instead waved his hand and the two disappeared. He allowed them to hide inside the spatial space in Al's shell."Why are you helping them?" During the silence, Greyson and Lucius were actually communicating via their mental connection. Lucius had opted to leave them since they were strangers and there was no need to help them. However, Greyson decided to help them after hearing the level of the chasers. Even if he could not sneak past them, he could beat them anyways. He needed a way to get into the closest city since he was no longer traveling with the caravan and it seemed that these two siblings could be his ticket inside. Even without the reward the sister spoke of, rescuing the two of them was worth it."You know why. I wouldn't get involved if those men were stronger, but since they are weak what is the harm?""Hmmm... alright, whatever. I just hope that you rescued people worth the effort."Greyson sat cross-legged on top of Al and began to meditate while the turtle continued walking slowly through the forest. Unsurprisingly, a group of men soon appeared around them."Boy, have you seen a pair of siblings run through these woods?" A gruff voice spoke out."Siblings? I think I might have seen something fly by, but they were moving too fast that I did not get a good look at their faces." His expression the picture of innocence, Greyson gave off a weak and guileless feeling. The expression combined with his slightly androgynous features made the group's eyes light up. Coughing awkwardly, they nodded as if accepting the explanation and motioned that he could leave. Inwardly praising his acting ability, Greyson had Al start moving again."Wait!" Before he could leave, however, a different voice appeared in front. Seeing the new arrival, Greyson could tell that this was the magister level leader by the power he was giving off. "Let me see your beast." His dark eyes stared suspiciously at Al as if he had an idea. Thinking deeply, his face finally showed he had thought of something and a threatening look appeared in his eyes. Seeing this, Greyson knew that the charade was over. The childish expression was now gone and replaced with coldness. Drawing Genesis, he pointed the sword at the leader."I'm afraid I will have to say no."
