o
Quest Alert!
The Art of War: (3 / ?)
Survive the clash with the Ionian Army and contribute something each day.
Day 3: Kill 10 monks, defend the backline form 20 enemy spells
Reward: +10 Levels, +1 Rank Point, fame
Narlou glanced at the quest again as he stood in the backline with the other ranged magicians, waiting for Darius to arrive.
Earlier, Ethron had approached him and had congratulated him for his achievements in yesterday's battle, and though he seemed cheerful and healthy, Narlou could see the slight limp in Ethron's left leg.
He had not said anything since Ethron had tried to raise the moral, but Narlou was well aware that if nothing happened today, Noxus would have a heavy setback in this war.
"Kid? It's really you!" A man with golden hair said as he approached him, his eyes shining with excitement upon seeing him.
"Wow! You've become so much stronger in just a few days! You really are incredibly talented!"
Narlou just raised a confused eyebrow.
"I'm the lightning guy back from the ship, don't you remember?"
To support his statement, the man created a small lightning ball in his hand, and Narlou's eyes widened as the memories from the first fight resurfaced.
"Ah, right, I remember! I don't think we've exchanged names, have we? I'm Narlou, nice to meet you."
"Name's Blesk!" He answered, shaking Narlou's hand.
"Whoa-Ouch! You got a strong grip dude. I somehow find it difficult to believe that you're only a mage."
Blesk retracted his hand and stared at him, waiting for the answer to his indirect question.
Narlou rubbed the back of his head. He would need to get used to his new strength as soon as possible.
"Uhm, yeah I'm both a magician and an enhancement fighter."
"So, you're one of those people. Sorry, but I've never been a big fan of enhancement fighters. They not only need to learn a type of magic, but also enhancement magic. In the time they would have managed to finally use natural magic in combination with enhancement magic, I would already be double as proficient with only one magic type. The time you would have to spent in order to learn both magics is just a waste."
"I get where you come from, especially seeing how good you were with your lightning magic back at the beach, but don't you think that once you have learned to use natural magic with enhancement magic, you are extremely powerful in both melee and ranged fights? Is that alone not worth the effort?" Narlou asked, genuinely curious about the man's opinion.
"Yes, a normal magician would have no chance in melee fights with an enhancement fighter or anyone who's even a little stronger that the average person for that matter but let me ask you a question. Who do you think would win, a person who is a fire enhancement fighter, or normal fire mage when they are both equally talented and have spent the same amount of time training?"
Narlou pondered on the question, only to come up with nothing.
"I honestly don't know. I don't have enough experience to answer that."
Blesk nodded in understanding.
"Then let me answer the question for you. The fire enhancement fighter is obviously more versatile than a normal fire mage. He can not only fight melee, but also range and can perfectly adjust to any battle situation. But he is only okay at everything. A normal fire mage on the other hand can only fight ranged, but when he fights ranged, he does so extremely well and is much more powerful that anyone else. Both have their pros and cons, but in a battle where they fight one against one, the melee fighter would be evaporated before he can even come close to the magician. I can say that form experience, trust me."
Narlou felt shivers run down his spine. This man had killed many enhancement fighters, he could feel it.
"Let's use this battle, Noxus versus Ionia as another example. While one of those monks could kill a hundred people, I could kill thousands, simply because I have spent more time perfecting my magic, while the monk has only spent half the time on his magic and the other half on enhancement."
What Blesk said made sense, but Narlou already knew that he would not change his magic just because the guy said so. In the examples he used, he was totally right, but for what Narlou wanted to accomplish, he would need to be both strong and versatile, something that the system made possible.
"Then what about Lee Sin?" Narlou asked, curious about what Blesk thought about the champion.
"We cannot compare to that man. In fact, we cannot compare to anyone who can use pure enhancement magic. Normally it would be the same with him, were I would say that it would be more worth too spent time just perfecting pure mana manipulation, but pure enhancement magic is not like natural enhancement magic. I can't really explain what I mean, but you will know once you see someone who can use it fight. They are just crazy people."
On the outside, Narlou had a neutral expression as he nodded, but on the inside, he was extremely excited. If someone like Blesk said those things about pure enhancement magic, then Narlou was even more excited for the moment he would be able to use it.
Silence settled over them as they waited for Darius. Narlou could see that the people around him were anxious, whispering in hushed voices and looking around with eyes full of uncertainty.
A glance at Blesk showed even his expression to have turned serious. He could feel the silent message that everyone had picked up on.
If nothing changed today, the army under Darius had a real chance of being wiped out.
It was silent at first, but the longer he listened the louder the sound became. One by one, the people around him started to notice too, and everyone looked around to identify the low booming sound that caused the air to vibrate every few seconds.
The hair on Narlou's neck stood up and goosebumps covered his arms as he watched Darius leave the forest near them, stepping in front of the army.
But he was not alone.
Behind him, following with slow steps walked a massive human-like monster with a huge axe in its big hands. Its skin was grey, and a red hole was located in the middle of his abdomen, oozing red smoke. Something that was too high for Narlou to identify was stuck in the beast's bald head, a red flag that waved in the wind attached to it. Its eyes looked down on them like they were insects, and Narlou would be lying if he said that he didn't feel like one in that moment.
He did not feel the familiar feeling of magic that he had started to associate with strong people from that giant. No, there was something sinister about the beast, something dark and something that Narlou wanted to stay away from at all costs.
"Sion has arrived to help us."
No one was cheering or saying anything, but the beast didn't seem to care. Instead, it turned towards the Ionian army and a low rumbling escaped its metal jaw, bringing a new wave of goosebumps to Narlou's arm.
"Who is that?" Narlou whispered towards Blesk, who stared at the beast with horror.
"That's a champion of Noxus, Sion. To think that Boram would go as far as using him in battle. He must really be desperate for Noxus to win this war."
Narlou, not for the first time, asked himself on what conditions someone was chosen as a champion.
"Everyone, prepare for battle." Darius shouted, and everyone tensed.
Narlou suddenly felt really glad that he had decided to fight ranged for today. There was no way he could concentrate fighting with that beast.
As they waited for the signal to attack, the giant turned its entire body towards the Ionians.
And then it started running.
It was slow at first, but the longer he ran the faster he became. The earth rumbled with each step the giant took, and the winds fled to the side to make space for the crazy champion.
No one of the Noxian army moved, and even Darius did not say or do anything, instead choosing to watch how it would turn out.
"Isn't he just committing suicide, running into the enemy like that?" Narlou wondered out loud.
"Just watch." Was all that Blesk answered and watching he did.
The Ionian's realized Sion's charge too, and soon after, every single magician was throwing spells at Sion, ranging from small fire balls too massive lava waves. Dust and smoke soon covered the entire field, but Narlou kept staring at the movement his enhanced eyes could make out under all the smoke.
Then, as if he had not just endured spells of an entire army, Sion came running out of the smoke right into the Ionians at full speed. Narlou could make out Regirou and someone else that looked like a monk block Sion's charge, and he could just barely make out a third person throwing something at the giant, but before he could make out more, Darius' shout penetrated the tense silence.
"CHARGE!"
And the entire Noxian army charged.
Melee fighters ran right into the enemy with Darius at their front, ranged magicians were shooting all kinds of spells at the enemy and the entire plains were covered in people and spells within a minute.
Not wanting to be left behind, Narlou also prepared a huge pure mana spear and almost fell face first into the ground from shock. Where it would have cost a hefty amount of mana to create it just yesterday, he almost felt nothing creating it today.
'Just how much did my mana increase?!'
He shook his head, dispelling any thoughts that would distract him and instead concentrated on the battle before him.
"Time to kill some monks!"
The mana spear was just the beginning.
"Lee, behind you!" Akali shouted, throwing another barrage of her knifes at the monster that Noxus had sent.
They had already fought him for at least an hour, but there were no signs of the beast dropping dead anytime soon. No matter how many knifes she threw at him or how many times she pierced his head with them, Sion just didn't seem to care.
"Got it!" Lee shouted back, ducking under the pure mana spear that would have pierced his head.
He was probably the only one on this battlefield who could deal with the giant, and Akali was well aware that they would have already lost if not for the blind monk.
It was not that she was weak, it was just that she was an assassin, not a fighter like Lee.
A loud booming sound penetrated the sound of battle as Lee's enhanced leg kicked at Sion's knee, causing the massive beast to roar in what Akali assumed to be anger. Still, despite the damage he should have taken Sion just kept fighting, swinging his axe at her and Lee like a madman.
Another explosion near them caused the battlefield to rumble and shake. Those magicians were getting on her nerves.
"Go! I can handle the guy by myself for now. Even he should have his limits." Lee shouted at Akali, meeting Sion's fist with his own enhanced one, creating another loud boom with white smoke being emitted from his fist.
She wanted to stay and help, but she would be useless in this fight anyways, and the magicians in Noxus' backline were causing more damage than usual. She would have a much bigger impact on the battle if she killed those magicians.
"Be careful!"
With that said, Akali jumped away from the giant and into the masses of people, ready to take out any Noxian magician.
It was difficult to sneak past the defenses that were supposed to protect the magicians, but Akali was not a champion for nothing. Withing a few minutes, the young woman had reached the backlines, sneakily hiding between the magicians while looking for the ones that caused the most damage.
'I should look for this pure magician. He's been causing way too much trouble.'
Pure magic reminded her of Narlou, but there was no way he had become that strong in just a few days, not to mention, he wasn't the only pure mana manipulator.
Still, just thinking about Narlou made her feel all kinds of things again.
For now, though, Akali had to concentrate on the battle. She snuck past another bunch of average mages, only to see the gathering point of all the strong mages. She had seen this sight a lot over the last week. These were the magicians under Darius, the best of Noxus and the ones she would have to take out.
She looked around for a moment, careful not to be spotted and found what she was looking for. Everyone here was doing significant damage to the Ionian army, but somewhere in the middle stood a person who's lightning magic overshadowed most of the other spells. Not to mention the person right behind him, who's pure mana was causing destruction all over the battlefield. She could not see his face since he was standing behind the lightning magician, but Akali didn't need to.
She had found her targets, now she only needed to eliminate them.
And then, everything went down the drain in the matter of a few seconds.
Akali jumped high into the air, ready to throw two knifes at the magicians. She threw the first one, confident that it would be enough to kill the man, but when she looked at the second person, she spotted Narlou. The Narlou that she had been obsessed with.
The Narlou that she had desperately hoped to never meet on the battlefield as enemies.
Her entire system shut down for a moment.
Luckily, she caught herself just in time to dodge a spear of lightning being thrown at her. Her feet hit the ground with a thud.
'W-what the fuck is Narlou doing here?!'
"Who are you? Identify yourself!" The lightning magician shouted, and the other mages started turn their attention towards her.
Akali took a second to realize that a floating wall of pure mana had blocked the knife that was meant for the lightning user.
'Just how fast are his reflexes?!'
She shook her head, trying and failing to not look at Narlou, who's expression oozed hostility. It felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her. She had spent hours thinking about what to do once she would eventually meet him, but this was the worst-case situation. She had tried to kill him. HIM. NARLOU!
She had to get out of here, or she would start beating herself up in the middle of dozens of high-class enemy magicians.
The young woman jumped into the air with such speed that no magician could react in time and threw a quick glance at Narlou's face, noticing how his face had turned less hostile and more curious.
She immediately looked away again, scared that his curiosity would spark some hope in her. She had tried to kill him and his friend. He would hate her forever, there was no doubt about it.
The air boomed as she dashed away as fast as possible, disappearing into the forest before the first spell could be thrown.
Akali returned to Lee sometime later, helping him against Sion. She did not say anything for the rest of the day.
Narlou was both confused and curious.
With his sense stat at 100, he had felt the knife approach Blesk long before his eyes had spotted it. His extremely quick reflexes that came with 100 points in agility had allowed Narlou to immediately create a mana wall, successfully defending his fellow magician.
At first, Narlou had been angry, but when he had finally turned to look at the attacker, every bit of anger had evaporated.
He had expected to see a strong man with muscles and a scarred face sneering at him, what he had not expected was a cute young woman with regret written all over her face almost crying in the middle of the battlefield. She looked so guilty and sad that Narlou had a hard time staying angry. It had been clear that the attacker had regrated their actions.
Then, the woman had suddenly jumped into the air, and their eyes had met one last time before she dashed away, leaving Narlou confused and blushing slightly. She had been really cute.
'Oh well, the next time I see her I should talk to her. She didn't look at me like I was an enemy at all, and she was clearly very strong. Maybe I could convince her to join our side.' He thought, specifically not thinking about how he wanted to see her again for other reasons as well.
Hir brows furrowed. Why did he want her to join their side? Weren't the Noxians the ones who were in the wrong?
"Whatever that was about." Came the confused voice of Blesk from next to him, successfully shaking Narlou out of his thoughts.
"And thanks for stopping that knife there. That could have been dangerous."
"No worries."
They turned back to the front.
There was still had a battle to win.
The day ended with neither of the nations' gaining the upper hand, though it was clear that Noxus was slowly taking over the battlefield. With Sion now on their side to take on Lee Sin, Darius could comfortably fight Regirou in a one on one, and while the Ionian general was extremely strong, Darius was still a champion. It was obvious that Darius would soon defeat the general if it kept going like that.
Narlou had also played a big part in today's battle. His pure mana manipulation at rank 15 had caused destruction all over the battlefield, easily being at a point where his power overshadowed most of the other top mages of Noxus. Only a few magicians with rarer magic like Blesk were still stronger than him.
Ionian soldiers, magicians and monks had fallen left and right, and Narlou found his strength both exhilarating and scary. He was trying his best to not become addicted to the feeling of power, but it became increasingly more difficult.
He had to be careful to not lose himself in it.
Apart from that though, Narlou had also been diligently working on completing his quest, defending the backlines from enemy spells whenever one reached them. He had not counted the number of spells he had stopped, nor had he counted the number of monks he had killed, but he was confident that he had done enough in both aspects to complete the quest.
"Well done, Narlou!" Blesk said from besides him as they walked back to their camp.
"Thanks, you were amazing too. The way you use your lightning magic makes me want to learn something other than pure magic too." Narlou answered, looking around to see if he could spot Ethron or Sonya.
"I appreciate that, but you should focus on your pure magic. It's obvious that you have a huge talent for it. Who knows, if you keep training, you might be able to rival the champions one day."
Narlou laughed, feeling a both annoyed and abashed by his words. What he said was true, but if he wanted to learn some other magic, he would do so. No one could tell him what to do and what not to do.
Narlou finally spotted Ethron, and immediately used that as an excuse to ditch Blesk. He liked the man, but he didn't feel like talking about magic with him right now.
"See you tomorrow!" Blesk shouted after him, and Narlou waved over his shoulder as he approached his mentor.
"Oh, hey Narlou, how are you?"
"Good! You looked tired, is everything alright?" Narlou asked, trying to sneak a glance at Ethron's foot injury.
Luckily, it didn't seem like the limp was still there.
"Yeah, I just had a difficult fight today. You have no idea how annoying it is to fight a sound enhancement warrior."
"Sound? Is that a strong magic type?" Narlou asked, eager to find out more about magic types.
"It's a rare magic type, just like lightning or ice. It's not a strong element like fire, but it's very annoying to fight against. One wrong move and a sound user will disable your heart or brain within a second. You wouldn't believe what a man can do with just the vibration of sound."
Narlou gulped, once again aware that rare magic users were on another level.
'At least now I know for sure what rare magic is.'
They kept talking about the battle and all kinds of stuff until the sun went down, and at some point, Sonya joined them too.
Over the course of the evening, Narlou truly came appreciated the feeling of having people who cared about him, trusted him and laughed with him.
He wanted to protect them, protect this happiness and he would do so by any means necessary.
He desperately tried to ignore the anxiety creeping up inside of him.
Everything would be fine, right?
Later that evening, after everyone had gone to bed, Narlou finally read the windows from the aftermath of the battle.
Your "Enhancement magic" has reached rank 15!
You have absorbed the essence of the enemies you have defeated!
You have leveled up x8!
You have successfully cleared the third mission of: The Art of War (3 / ?)
Survive the clash with the Ionian Army and contribute something each day.
Rewards: +10 Levels, +1 Rank Point, fame
You have reached a milestone (lvl 75)!
+1 Rank Point
You have reached a milestone (lvl 80)!
+1 Rank Point
You can now learn one more type of rare magic!
You have reached a milestone (lvl 85)!
+1 Rank Point
You have reached a milestone (lvl 90)!
+1 Rank Point
You can now learn one more type of rare magic!
Narlou started off by putting most of his stat points into the mind stat. While it was true that he hadn't needed it yet, he wanted to have every stat at 100. Plus, it made his stats look way better. He distributed the remaining stat points into the other stats, and immediately felt the difference in power again. His body had become way stronger, and his mind had become much clearer. It was as if his thoughts had become faster but also more collected at the same time.
Suddenly, a window appeared in front of him.
Each of your stats has reached 100. Your body has far surpassed human limits.
Your presence has become stronger. Powerful beings are more aware of your existence.
It was a message he did not enjoy reading. Just who or what were those "Powerful beings" and why would they be interested in him?
'Whatever.'
He wanted to fight tomorrow's battle as a melee fighter again, because as strong as pure mana was, enhancement magic was simply more fun to fight with. So, he decided to put all his rank points into enhancement magic, successfully making it reach rank 20. This time though, Narlou prepared more thoroughly to suppress his increase in mana.
His efforts were in vain.
Mana far beyond anything Narlou had ever felt rushed out of his body in waves so dense and powerful that he almost thought the world was about to collapse. His vision was blurry and his muscles tense as a silent scream escaped his gaping mouth. There was no pain, but Narlou felt his mind slowly succumb to the power that inhabited his body.
If he had not increased his mind stat just a minute before, he was sure that he would have gone crazy with power.
Slowly, oh so slowly did his mana settle down, easing itself into Narlou's body. He felt complete and satisfied. Power was tickling just beneath his skin, and Narlou felt more in control of his destiny than ever before.
Your Enhancement Magic has reached rank 20!
- Power has increased immensely
- You may now combine one rare Natural type of magic (at least rank 10) with your Enhancement magic!
He felt very happy, but the feeling quickly faded as Narlou read the other message that had appeared before him.
Your presence has become much stronger. Powerful beings are turning their gaze towards you.
He suddenly felt extremely exhausted. There was no use in pondering over the message.
Still, as Narlou closed his eyes and went to sleep, he couldn't shake the feeling that something big was going to happen tomorrow.
If only he knew.
Darius' eyes snapped open, and so did the eyes of all the other strong figures on this battlefield.
There was no doubt about it, someone just had a breakthrough. Normally, that would not be something to spend even a single thought on, but what they had just felt was something different.
Someone had just gained the power to turn the tide of this battle. Darius could only hope that it was a Noxian.
Similarly, every person hoped the same thing for their side.
Only one young assassin who sat in a tree near the Ionians thought something different.
Akali recognized the mana she had spent so much time on remembering. She did not close a single eye that night, and Narlou never left her mind.