The next time Narlou awoke, a strong thunderstorm shoved waves against the giant ship, causing it to sway dangerously in the water. Almost everyone was up already when he went to the deck, and he found Sonya standing at the railing, looking out at the ocean.
"What's going on?" Narlou asked, his voice still horse from sleeping.
Sonya turned to him, and Narlou found himself unsettled by the frown on her normally smiling face.
"We are almost there. You see that over there?"
Narlou focused his eyes, and true to her words there was land appearing behind the fog that covered the ocean. He and Sonya stared at the land for a while, watching in come nearer and nearer.
"Listen up!" The booming voice of their leader, Darius, announced. Everyone immediately became quiet.
"We are approaching the lands of Ionia! Look behind you."
Narlou turned around to see what he had already seen lots of times over the course of the last days. Nonetheless he found the sight of many ships just as big as theirs carrying thousands upon thousands of Noxian soldiers quite impressive. It gave him the reassurance that he was not alone on the battlefield.
"These are the people that will follow us into battle. When you fight, be weary, but don't look back!"
The strong voice resonated with the people, who nodded along as their leader continued speaking.
"If the Ionians have even a shred of intelligence, they will try to never let us get close to the shores in the first place. If the ship sinks, we will die without a doubt, so I need all wind mages to stop any incoming attacks."
About 50 people went to the front of the ship where Darius pointed at, raising their hands, ready for whatever the enemy would throw at them. Darius nodded with satisfaction.
"Good! Long ranged magicians, make sure to counterattack whenever possible! Healers and supporters to the back! Everyone who specializes in melee fights, go to the back and protect the healers in case a projectile comes through our defenses!"
By the time Darius stopped speaking, the whole unit was moving to get to their assigned positions. Narlou found himself with the long-ranged magicians. He was both nervous and excited about the upcoming battle.
Nervous because it was his first big one and excited because he would be able to witness all kinds of different magical powers. Maybe he could learn a thing or two.
Suddenly, a window popped up in front of him.
Quest alert!
You are the weakest of the mages, prove that you are worthy of being amongst them!
Time remaining: 2 hours
Objective: Kill 100 enemies
2nd Objective: kill 500 enemies
3rd Objective: kill 1000 enemies
Reward: 2 levels
2nd Reward: 5 levels, 1 rank point
3rd Reward: 10 levels, 2 rank points, ?
Current progress: 0
'That is both insulting and convenient.' Narlou thought as he read through the quest.
His eyes bulged as they reached the rewards though.
'I need those! But what the hell are those question marks? And what the hell are rank points?'
With rank points you are able to rank up one of your magical powers!
'That's certainly useful.' Narlou thought with a smile. It would make him several times more powerful if he could get the 3rd reward.
The teen smiled. He would have tried his best even without the quest, now he just felt more motivated.
He and the other hundred people found themselves waiting. Some calmly with calculating eyes, some nervous with shaking hands. They waited and waited; the shore kept coming closer. Narlou threw a glance at Darius, who stood calmly in the middle of the ship, holding his battleaxe with both hands and staring at the Ionian shores.
He let out a sigh. If Darius was calm, then surely-
"Fuck! Water mages, protect the ship! We are being attacked from below!"
The mages immediately sprang into action. Narlou could not see anything, but he knew that below the ship, a fierce battle between the water mages of Ionia and the ones of Noxus was happening.
A loud splash caused him to look over his shoulder towards a ship behind them, but the ship was not there anymore. Confused, Narlou raised his head, and his mouth went slack. The ship was falling from the sky as if a god had dropped it out of the heavens.
How the hell did that happen?!
Another splash, and Narlou saw one more ship being lifted into the air by a huge water fountain from below them.
Was this what would have happened to their ship if they didn't defend it with their own magic?
Narlou felt a whole new level of appreciation for water mages.
"Frontline mages, attack now!" The steady voice of Darius brought Narlou back to reality.
Before he could even gather his mana though, hundreds of projectiles were fired at the now visible horde of Ionian soldiers covering the beach of Navori. In turn, hundreds of spells came flying towards their ship.
The attacks ranged from massive fire balls to huge wooden spears being used with ease by those super powerful magicians.
It was a festival of colors and explosions filled with so much magical power that Narlou couldn't even imagine reaching their level as he was right now. Luckily, Noxus' wind magicians did their job well and stopped all the enemies' attacks with high level wind magic.
Determined to contribute as well, Narlou gathered some of his mana and created a long spear of pure mana, shooting it at the people on the beach.
After his pure mana had reached rank 6, his mana capacity had also increased exponentially, making something like this an easy task. Still, next to all those expert magicians his spear was like a mouse compared to a tiger. It looked pitiful, but that only caused Narlou to try even harder.
As he gathered mana for another spear, his first one hit the beach, creating a big explosion. His spells might not be comparable to the other magicians, but pure mana was still pure mana.
Suddenly, a load of windows appeared before him.
You have leveled up!
You have reached your first milestone (lvl 5)!
+1 Rank point
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have used your magic in a real battle, exp gained for ranking up your magic while using it will be increased considerably!
He leveled up three times just from one mana spear?! Just how many people were on the beach?
'Or rather, how many of those people did I just kill with a simple attack?'
He shook his head. Now was not the time to think about morality, he had a battle to fight.
He threw his second spear, watching as it slithered between the powerful attacks of the other mages, finally reaching the beach, causing another explosion that flung sand and blood everywhere.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
'Nice!'
Narlou gathered more mana, this time forming it into a massive ball that had easily taken half of his mana to create.
The sound of a whistle caused Narlou to look to the right.
"Quite the big mana reserves you got there to create something like this with pure mana. For a kid, that is." A man with long golden hair said over the sound of explosions and shouts.
Narlou felt proudness well up inside of him at the other magician's compliment.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" The magician said as he summoned a lightning hammer high above the beach, basking the whole side of the sandy dunes in blinding light.
'That's right! These are expert magicians, the best of the best! If I want to continue fighting here, I have to prove that I'm strong too.' Narlou thought with fire in his eyes.
He poured even more mana into the ball, doubling its size. His reserves might be empty now, but the ball of pure mana oozed with strength and reeked of destruction.
"Goddamn kid! Don't overdo it or you're going to get killed by mana exhaustion." The lightning magician next to him said, concern evident in his voice.
Narlou was thankful that the man cared for him despite barely knowing him, but he knew that death by mana exhaustion was impossible for him. If he had learned one thing while practicing his pure mana manipulation, it was that he would not die no matter how much mana he spent.
Just one of the many perks of having the support system.
"Don't worry!" Was all Narlou shouted trough the sound of explosions and shouting.
He finally willed the ball to move towards the beach. It moved slowly and it took all of Narlou's concentration to move the ball as he wanted to, but finally, the ball came to a stop above the sands, Narlou dropped it down, letting gravity do its work.
The explosion was massive, not quite on par with the other magicians' spells, but strong, nonetheless. For a second the whole beach was covered in shining white light, before the sound reached his ears, rattling his entire body.
He dropped to his knees, having completely exhausted his mana, but the strong arms of the lightning magician heaved him up.
"Woah there buddy, that was impressive! You sure you are not some old ass dude that has been training pure mana manipulation for years?"
Narlou wanted to answer, but no sound left his mouth.
"Ah right. Wait a second."
The man dragged Narlou to the back of the ship, where lots of healers were already busy with healing wounded soldiers or magicians.
"Can someone patch this guy up?"
"Yes! Leave it to me." The recognizable voice of Sonya answered.
"Great, I gotta go back to the front lines. See you around kid."
Without waiting for a reply, the man went back, continuing to shoot extremely powerful lightning spells at the beach.
"Looks like mana exhaustion. Don't worry, I will fix you in no time."
Narlou felt his energy quickly return as Sonya mumbled some kind of prayer, her palms glowing with green light. It only took a few minutes before Narlou could move again; his mana reserves having been mostly replenished.
"Damn, healing magic is amazing!" He said and turned towards a tired looking Sonya.
"Are you alright though?"
"Don't mind me. My energy will return in a few minutes. Rather, what happened to you?"
"I just used up all my mana for a spell, nothing serious."
The concerned look disappeared from Sonya's face.
"Alright but be careful! Too much and even you will die."
Narlou scratched the back of his head, not bothering to tell her that he couldn't die from that. Her concern was just too sweet.
"Now go back to the front, they need your power."
Narlou quickly became serious.
'We are still in a war. Now's not the time to slack off."
"Yes, stay safe!"
He turned around and ran back to the front. His mana had not returned entirely, but he was ready for another round.
'But before that…'
The teenager finally turned his attention to the numerous windows having appeared after his final attack.
Your "Pure Mana manipulation" has ranked up!
You have leveled up!
You have reached a milestone (lvl 10)!
+1 Rank point
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You can now learn one more type of normal magic!
Note: You can still only learn magic by practicing and using your imagination. It just means that your body is now able to handle the new magic.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have reached a milestone (lvl 15)!
+1 Rank Point
Narlou gaped like a fish. This was amazing!
'Wait, what about my quest?'
He didn't have time to think about it during the whole fighting, so he pulled up the quest progress, his eyes widening.
Current progress: 370
Remaining time: 1 hour 20 minutes
He had already killed that many people with just a few strong spells?!
It slowly dawned on Narlou just how much power he as a magician held. This was beyond crazy.
"Oi kid, you gonna fight or just stand there?!" A random magician said, causing Narlou to focus back on the fight.
They had already come quite close to the beach. They would probably reach it in about 20 minutes.
He gulped, being far away from the enemy was one thing, but once they reached the beach he would have to fight while being a lot closer to those guys.
'Let's not think about that right now.'
He gathered his mana again, ready to shoot more spells.
The next twenty minutes were not much different from the previous minutes. Spells were tossed around, people died and Narlou tried his best to help as much as possible.
He had managed to increase the quest progress to 625, securing him the second reward, but Narlou wasn't Narlou if he would be content with that.
His magic rank had not increased during that time, but he had leveled up another 3 times, making him level 18 and leaving him with 70 stat points that were just begging for Narlou to spend them.
He had thought about spending them once they got to the beach and fighting with the other melee fighters as well, plus, he was running out of mana anyways. Despite his exponential increase in mana capacity after the recent rank up, throwing powerful spells for 20 minutes straight exhausted even him.
'But how am I going to spend my stat points?'
It was a fair question, since almost every stat was needed in battle. In the end, Narlou increased his strength to 30, in case he needed to cut through some tough armor, his agility to 40 because agility was still a very important stat in direct fights, his dexterity to 30 so he wouldn't get exhausted too quickly and could also tank some more hits and his sense to 47 with the remaining points.
Narlou was very sure that sense was the most important stat in a battlefield, because an unlucky arrow or a randomly thrown spell could very well mean death for him, so sensing those attacks was extremely important.
The moment Narlou spent his last point, power flooded his body like a broken dam flooding a dry river. It felt both intoxicating and painful, but the feeling lasted only for a second before it disappeared, causing the brown-haired boy to sigh in relief.
He could feel how his body had changed. His senses were much sharper, his body felt way lighter, and he felt a lot sturdier than before. He also could've sworn that the muscles on his body became denser, more powerful.
The transformation finished just in time too.
"Melee fighters to the front! Get ready to clean this beach of those Ionian rats and protect the magicians who will support you from behind!"
It took less than a minute for the hundreds of people to change their position, causing Narlou once again to realize just how experienced and coordinated they were.
If he and the other people would have been ordered the same thing back at the mines, they would have taken at least 10 minutes to do the same thing with even half of the numbers.
Finally, the ship came to a sudden stop as it reached the beach, anchoring its front deep into the sands.
"Now!"
Without a second of hesitance the melee fighters jumped into the fray, clearing a path for the magicians, and right at their front was Darius.
Not only them, but the other Noxian ships that had survived the attack loaded off their soldiers onto the beach. Ship after ship arrived to throw some more soldiers into the fight. At first the Ionians had a clear number advantage even after the magical bombardment they had received, but that soon changed as Noxian fighters left and right rolled over the beach like a tidal wave, swallowing everything in its path.
Narlou watched as the fighters under Darius cut down everything in their way, whether though expert swordsmanship or perfectly thrown punches and kicks. Even with his increase in stats, Narlou knew for a fact that he would not even hold on a minute against those people.
Darius was what caught his eyes the most though. It was not the fact that he took down more people than any other fighter or the way he swung his heavy looking axe as if it was a stick. No, what caused Narlou to be so impressed was the way he led the other fighters.
When watching Darius lead his men into the enemy, it did not look like a commander leading their people, no, it looked like a horde of demons tearing through the enemy without mercy, and at the front was the king of all demons, Darius. He made normal soldiers into fear inducing war gods. His presence alone shook the battlefield.
'So, this is the power of a champion.'
A strong fire engulfed his soul. He wanted to be down there, to fight amongst those people. He needed to feel the thrill of fighting the enemy. And he needed it now.
Without a second thought Narlou jumped down, taking the knife out of his inventory and sprinting to the frontlines at speeds far exceeding any normal human, but still seeming slow compared to the other melee fighters. One might say that this was because Narlou had not yet learned enhancement magic, unlike his fellow melee fighters, but he knew that even then, he could not hold a candle to the others.
He quickly caught up with Darius and his men and was about to jump into the enemy when suddenly a window appeared at the side of his vision.
You are fighting under the legendary champion "Darius"!
All stats are increased by 50%
'So that's why they are so strong!' Narlou thought, excited that he was now under the buff too.
He already knew that he would abuse the buff for all it was worth.
He quickly dismissed the window and focused back on the fight, jumping into the enemy lines, hungry for more exp.
The next hour consisted of Narlou and the other fighters killing people left and right while the magician supported them from behind. He was extremely glad that he had put so many points into sense, because it had saved him from a stray arrow or an unseen attack more than once.
By the end of the hour, almost all enemies were either killed or had fled into the massive forest behind the beach. The Noxians had for some reason not chased them, but who was Narlou to question their decision. He was just happy that it was finally over.
He had fought as best as he could for two hours straight, so he was understandably very exhausted.
"Well done kid." A strong sounding voice called form behind him.
Narlou turned around only to come face to face with one of the melee fighters he had seen earlier, holding two short knifes in his hands. He was just as tall as Narlou with short blonde hair, giving his handsome face a strong appearance.
"Thanks!" Narlou said despite his confusion. He was just a random boy, why would a strong fighter like him engage in a conversation with him?
"You looked very impressive out there you know. What's your name? Mine is Ethron by the way." The man said with a smile, holding out his hand to shake.
"I'm Narlou, nice to meet you."
He took the hand and shook it, making sure to add some strength, not wanting to seem weak.
"Ahh, it's just as I had suspected. You don't use enhancement magic, do you?"
Narlou quirked an eyebrow. How could he tell?
"No, I don't. I haven't had the time to learn it yet."
The man suddenly started laughing. It was not a mocking laugh, so Narlou didn't say anything as the man calmed down again.
"You are very funny. You said that as if learning enhancement magic was something that could be learned in a few hours. Don't worry, I didn't mean to come over as rude, but as someone who has been training enhancement magic for his whole life, that just caught me off guard."
"Uhm, my bad." Narlou laughed awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head
"Anyway, I know you are probably exhausted after the battle, but I wanted to offer you that I could teach you enhancement magic. You are so young but already so talented, it would be a waste to not teach you the magic. You don't have to learn it, but if you are interested, ask around for me. Most of the guys here know my name. See you around buddy!" The man said with a wave, leaving the scene with silent steps.
Narlou let out the breath he had been holding in. It wasn't like he was afraid of the man, but he could feel the power rolling of the guy in waves. He was clearly a master at his art.
'To think that someone like him would want to teach me enhancement magic. I have to take this opportunity!'
Before he could think about the man further though, more windows appeared in front of his face.
Quest "Prove your worth" has ended!
Final Progress: 1061
Rewards: 17 levels, 3 rank points, 50% faster mana regeneration
Narlou stared at the window.
"Let's fucking go!" He whispered excitedly, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
He had really gotten all the rewards, and the hidden reward was something this amazing!
Immediately, a new wave of windows assaulted his vision.
You have leveled up x17!
You have reached a new milestone (lvl 20)!
+1 rank point
You can now learn one more type of normal magic!
You have reached a new milestone (lvl 25)!
+1 rank point
You have reached a new milestone (lvl 30)!
+1 rank point
You can now learn one more type of normal magic!
You have reached a new milestone (lvl 35)!
+1 rank point
'Yep, this is officially the best day of my life!' Narlou thought and brought up his stats.
He had not only 85 unspent stat points but also 7 rank points. With that, he could double his rank of pure mana manipulation! Just thinking about the increase in power and mana made him giddy with excitement.
Narlou suddenly frowned, noticing a timer next to his rank points. It read 22 hours.
So, he had to spent all of his rank points before the timer ran out?
'Oh well, that's fair I guess.' Narlou thought with a shrug.
He had noticed that it became increasingly difficult to rank up his magic the higher its rank became, so he could not just wait until it was at a very high rank and then use all his rank points on it.
But that made Narlou think. He could of course just spend all the points on his pure mana manipulation, but he also planned on learning enhancement magic now that he had gotten the offer of training, and it would be nice to have some rank points he could then use on it.
His exhaustion was all but forgotten as he ran around the camp, looking for the man named Ethron. He only had less than a day left to learn the magic after all.
Meanwhile, a similar battle was happening at the more northern part of the Navori beach. Noxus had cut the army into a few smaller armies to attack different parts of Ionia at the same time, Darius' leading one of them.
This army on the other hand was not the army of Darius. It was the army of another rising star in Noxus, personally acknowledged by their supreme leader, Boram Darkwill.
The army of Riven.
She, who was blessed by Runeterra herself to be a champion, led this army into battle with overpowering strength.
Nothing could stop them with Riven at their front, and the battle ended with an overwhelming victory for her army.
Noxus' Invasion had officially begun.