Chapter 16: Chapter 16 Adventurer Administration

Nathan and Vhala entered the room beyond, walking past the short orange-skinned secretary. The room beyond was tall and broad, with a slanted ceiling at the peak of the building. There were large windows on all three sides apart from the door, which overlooked the entrance courtyard and various training yards. The rest of the room was simple - decorated sparsely with objects that had the sense of being placed just so.

On a wall to the left was hung a pair of crossed wavy swords which had to be nearly eight feet long. Facing the swords on the opposite wall was a multi-string compound bow that looked to be made of bone. A huge rug in muted colors was spread across the floor, almost fractal in its complexity. Six chairs stood on the rug.

Those chairs faced a desk which commanded the room. It was made of a wood a shade darker than that which made up the building, and held several stacks of yellowed paper along with a crystal ball and a magnifying glass on a flexible arm. A glowing 3-dimensional illusory map occupied the center of the desk, though it was dissolving before Nathan’s eyes, giving way to delicately carved wood. A shaft of carved and varnished wood leaned against the left side of the desk at an angle. It was placed to be easily grabbed by the woman behind the desk. She looked up, and the door swung shut behind them with a thud that Nathan felt through his feet.

The woman put down a piece of paper and studied them for a moment. Her pink skin looked unhealthily blotchy. She had a thin cap on her bony head, and no hair was visible underneath it. Her hands were so thin as to be nearly skeletal. However, the gray eyes were bright and focused, banishing any sense of fragility.

Something told Nathan that this was a woman who expected respect - and usually got it. A bony hand gestured to the chairs, and Nathan followed Vhala’s lead in sitting demurely. The voice that followed was rougher than Nathan had expected from such a thin woman. “So. I had some time and expected to hear a story of how pragmatic, experienced adventurers who should have known better embraced a stupid risk and somehow triumphed regardless. But it seems introductions are in order instead?”

Vhala was more nervous than Nathan had ever seen her, which was strange. She’d just won a victory for this woman, and was being chastised for it?

“Guildmistress Elvaris, this is Nathan Lark. Nathan, this is the guildmistress of the Guild of Adventurers, Sudraiel Elvaris.” She turned back to Sudraiel. “I’ll let Nathan give the details of his journey here himself, it’s something you need to hear. Nathan, tell Guildmistress Elvaris everything. Quickly though, we don’t have much time.”

Nathan had decided to trust Vhala, and wasn’t about to back out now. And she seemed to trust this woman. He shrugged internally.

“It’s nice to meet you, Guildmistress Elvaris. To start with, I’m not from Davrar. I come from a different world, one without Davrar entirely. No skills, no Talents and no magic. I was summoned to this world about five days ago by Taeol dho Droxol, a new archmage of Giantsrest. He cast a spell that taught me this language, then tried to recruit me to his cause so he could learn things from my world. I decided I’d rather not teach him.”

The Guildmistress raised two fingers, interrupting him. “Why not?”

Nathan hesitated for a moment, reflecting on his first days in Davrar and the decisions he’d made shortly after arriving in so strange a world. “My world has had genocidal maniacs. I’ve studied their words, to understand how they convinced so many to follow them into butchery. Taeol sounded exactly like that.” Nathan felt a sliver of the boiling indignation he’d felt when deciding to oppose Taeol in all things. “He sees himself and his people as the only possible good, and everybody else will be used by him or or be destroyed. So I resisted, and escaped as soon as I could.”

A faint smile appeared on the pale woman’s lips. “That sounds like a story worth the telling. How?”

Nathan shrugged. “My world doesn’t have magic. Almost as soon as I got here I was offered the [High-tier Magic Resistance] talent. I accepted it before he tried to [Charm] me, and proceeded to try to bait more magic out of him to rank it up. He purged my memory once but I’d left hints behind and broke the spell. Eventually he decided he was going to put me in a golem core. I broke free and almost killed him, but he teleported out.” Nathan smiled at the memory of Taeol’s terrified face. “With a broken nose and knee. I picked up a class good at fighting against magic and used it to break out of his tower to find the Giantraiders lurking outside.”

Vhala coughed, interjecting smoothly. “You didn’t mention that he hit you with a [Disintegrate] first. You were missing an arm when we found you. And then you slapped aside a fireball from a guardian golem.”

The Guildmistress’s eyebrows had climbed steadily. She sounded apprehensive when she spoke. “I want to hear of the slave raid in a moment, but first. A missing arm? From Disintegrate?”

Nathan replied. “Vhala explained to me how Insights work, and I used some knowledge from my home to create a self-healing Talent that let me grow it back.” He shrugged, flexing his left hand. “It’s pretty cool.”

A bony hand came up to pinch Sudraiel’s nose. “I wasn’t asking how you grew it back, I was questioning why there was anything left of you in the first place. It seems [High-tier Magic Resistance] is exactly that.” She turned to Vhala. “So when the message of the slave raid came you conscripted Nathan into fighting it with you?”

Vhala opened her mouth, but Nathan spoke first. “I agreed to it. They told me what was happening, and I agreed to fight. It was a bit close, but we won.” Vhala shot him a grateful glance, looking abashed. It was a strange look on the broad and heavily muscled woman.

Sudraiel noticed the interplay, but her response was short. “Elaborate on the fight, please.”

This time, Vhala took the lead. “Classic anti-mage tactics, focused attention outward with front and rear attacks, then went for the mages with suitable fighters. Emerald and Nathan got in close and got ‘em.” She shrugged “...and that was it. I didn’t see much of it but Emerald said that Nathan shrugged off every spell they had and broke [Mage Armor] with a single punch. I will note that Nathan has not had his first class development yet. He’s being tutored by Artha in the ways of his clan.”

You are reading story Ends of Magic: Antimage LitRPG at novel35.com

That last part seemed to surprise Sudraiel more than anything they’d said so far. “Well then. I see. This is… hmm. There are few better teachers for a path of Rage than an Elk Treeborn. Nathan, has Artha explained what this path entails? It is not for everybody.” She seemed suddenly concerned.

He nodded back. “Yes, he has. I think it will suit me. He gave me an Insight before the fight and it… felt right. Vhala mentioned that I should join the adventurer’s guild?”

Vhala smoothly took over the conversation. “I did. One more thing. You’ll probably get a report from the Guardians. When they saved us from the Grave Tangle, Nathan was unaffected by its aura. The Guardian's detection spell didn’t work on him, and I had to clear him at the gate too. He also noticed an Earth stalker ambush before it happened. I think his Magic Resistance Talent is just amazing. It also seems to do well with other skills. I’ve given him some Bho Insights for his aid with the slavers.”

She paused, then launched into what sounded like a rehearsed proposal to the guildmistress. “I’m sure the current adventurer training group is underway, but Nathan should be added to them. He needs a bit of help to develop his class, and then a few years as a basic adventurer. He needs to be protected from agents of Giantsrest that’ll come for him. I think he should join a promising team undergoing training and be allowed to Develop himself safely.” She shot a look at Nathan. “Well, as safely as can be. And a story about him being lost from somewhere far away.”

Guildmistress Sudraiel Elvaris propped her head atop steepled fingers, considering. After a moment she nodded. “You have had an eventful few days. I congratulate you on your achievements thus far. Now, to briefly explain the situation that Vhala is inserting you into; I have long championed the need for an extensive training course that ensures competence and adherence to a shared set of rules for our young adventurers. We cannot tolerate blundering thugs. To insert you into the current group halfway through the training cycle goes against this - but the next cycle will not start for more than half a year, and I believe there are some candidate teams for what Vhala proposes.” She paused for a moment, staring off into the distance with a faint frown. Then she continued.

“It is unheard of for somebody to be such an effective antimage so early in their development. Your talents seem very powerful, but this means you hold things of great value. Beware those who might covet them. I will speak to Jolba in the morning and see you brought into the current class. There are decisions to be made on which team you will join... But! Today is a Delve day, and there is still much to do. Nathan, you should stay with the Giantraiders until Jolba comes to find you tomorrow.” She gestured to the door and the stairs beyond, and so Nathan and Vhala turned to go.

On the way out the door, Nathan looked over his shoulder, and saw Sudraiel studying him intently. She seemed to have a thought, speaking briskly. “And Nathan, later I may ask you for more details of your world. If for no other reason than to satisfy an old woman’s curiosity. Think on what you would tell me.”

With that foreboding comment, they were finally dismissed, and returned downstairs by the much larger and less direct route. Nathan noticed that the shallow stairs and high ceilings were built to accommodate Artha’s centaur-people. Before long, they returned to the great hall, where they were greeted with further cheering, hot food and drinks. Vhala spoke to Velek at the desk and handed out several cords of coin to each of them, then guided Nathan through the worth of local coin and helped him order food.

Nathan ended up with a rather nice lemonade-like drink, served warm. A beer sounded amazing, but there were a lot of reasons to avoid getting even tipsy here. At least not yet. Maybe once he had the lay of the land a little better. The food was great though. Nathan was familiar with very little of it, but the meat was tender and flavorful, the vegetables oozed with flavor and there was no shortage. After so long eating trail food it was a feast, and Nathan dug in gladly.

He ended up going through several of the warm lemonades by a local custom that resembled a toast. Somebody would approach, then they’d touch mugs and both drink wordlessly. According to Vhala, it was an appreciation of the deeds of the person being approached, and the depth of drink was a measure of the appreciation. A sip from either party was considered an insult to the other, and Nathan was careful to match other people’s drinking. Afterwards most inquired as to tales of Nathan, and especially the fight against the slavers. Luckily, Vhala stayed around and told versions where Nathan distracted and struck down unwary mages with speed and guile.

After a few hours the party was starting to head into rowdy territory, with drinking contests, arm-wrestling and people challenging each other to increasingly violent contests in the ring. More and more adventurers returned over the course of the evening - most were exhausted and victorious, and so spent little time in the party before disappearing into the rooms in the back. However, those who did stay and join the festivities were the centers of attention.

Nathan was feeling the burden of the day. Days, really. So when Vhala caught his eye during a break in conversation and jerked her head, Nathan was only too happy to follow.

Emerald had spent most of the night in a corner, quietly conversing with the orc and a few others. On seeing Vhala striding away, they bid a hasty goodbye and joined up, still wearing helmet and armor. Artha had spoken to many, not spending too long with any given group. He caught up and exchanged a few quiet words with Vhala before again plunging into the party. Wiam was gesticulating wildly amidst a group of young mages of many species. They left him to it.

Nathan followed Vhala and Emerald deeper into the building, where she led them unerringly to a cozy suite of rooms. There was a small lounge with basic amenities, and enough rooms for them all to have one of their own. A shared bathroom confirmed that the ‘trough of running water’ approach was just how toilets worked on Davrar. The rooms were barely larger than the cramped beds. However, those beds were surprisingly soft. Nathan was happy to get out of his stinking clothes and get any privacy whatsoever.

Nathan was tired. Not physically - his stamina was full, and he felt like he could run miles if he needed to. His brain was flickering through thoughts ceaselessly. There’d just been so much new information in the last few days, and he couldn’t process it all. Or even rank the importance of things. This was an entirely new world and things did not work like Earth did, from the cosmology to the levels to the legal system. Nathan was worried about agents of Giantsrest coming for him, he was worried he was being manipulated into being a good little footsoldier of Gemore, and he was worried about the city-destroying catastrophes that were apparently just pretty common.

That Grave Tangle was… yeah. It was like seeing a skyscraper that wanted to kill me.

He was safe now, and needed rest, but it wasn’t going to happen. Not like this. He was jumping from speculation about Talents and levels to thinking about the coinage of Gemore and the types of monsters and intelligent species he’d encountered, and not making progress on any of them.

So, Nathan did what he’d learned to do in these situations. He sat down on the bed, leaned against the wall, and thought about nothing for a while. Nothing needed to happen now. He started with the breathing, then just focused his attention on itself, nipping errant thoughts in the bud. He was better served doing nothing at this very moment than trying to figure out everything. He breathed, he centered himself and paid close attention to nothing at all. It was time to live in the moment, and at the moment he was full, warm and comfortable.

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