Civilization

Crushing the fire crystal in my hand, I wince slightly as the heat starts to accumulate in my palm. A violent flame wraps around my wrists traveling up my arm and forcing its way into my mouth and nose until it disappears. Clenching my eyes shut, I quickly calm myself, as the turbulent energy rocks my insides. Breathing in slowly, I feel the flames inside me burst into energy, spreading deep throughout my body, touching my fingertips to my toes.

Quietly, I breathe in and out, as I let the flames travel wherever it wants to go. Until I could finally breathe normally. While I still feel like my body was slightly warmer than before, I didn\'t think too much about it as the blue translucent screen appears before my eyes, showing me what I have acquired.

[Congraulations on absorbing the energy from the Advanced Fire Crystal. You have acquired the skill Fire Lance as well as 20 Intelligence.]

Bringing up my status screen, I look through it observing the increase in stats as well as the skill\'s description.

Name: ArchWizardo

Race: Human

Health Points (HP): 50/50

Mana Points (MP):  71/71

Holy Energy (HE): 20/20

Strength: 10

Vitality: 25

Intelligence: 100 (+42)

Dexterity: 21

Agility: 23

Luck: 5

Equipment: Mage Robe, Beginner Fire Mage Book, Woven Shirt, Woven Pants, Little Star Pin, Wooden Wand

Skills: Awakening, Mystic Palm, Holy Flame, Sacred Light, Fire Lance, Blessing of Ares (Passive), Holy Energy (Passive)

Fire Lance (Active) 20 MP - Conjure a lance made out of flames to destroy your enemies dealing 100(+200% Intelligence) fire-element damage. Conjuring subsequent Fire Lances before the cooldown of the skill will increase MP consumption by 50% while reducing damage by 50%. Cooldown 5 min.

With this skill, I finally have a fire-element skill outside of the Beginner Fire Mage Book. Without the book, a lot of my attacking skills were useless, and even if I fight like Sylvia in Awakening mode, there was no chance I will be as effective since my Strength and Agility were much lower. Now, I have the option of using a powerful skill without my equipment, and at the same time, it looks to be quite destructive as well, comparing the damage to my other skills.

Resting for a couple of minutes, I let everyone recollect themselves as SanShiGo and Sabrina looked over their losses. When Smile attacked our backline near the end, there were a few casualties, with the most significant ones being Travys and ManTerror. Sabrina lost 5 of her people, 2 archers, and 3 spearmen, while SanShiGo lost 4 of his people, 3 warriors, and an archer.

Sabrina\'s losses were more impactful as the people she brought with her were her own NPCs, while SanShiGo only had players. Sabrina\'s losses were permanent, while SanShiGo\'s were temporary, however, there wasn\'t much that could be done, since at the end of the day we were able to defeat the monster quite quickly. Smile was strong, but he wasn\'t impossible to defeat. Although, I wish I was able to get more information out of him.

Nonetheless, we gradually gather close to the magic circle, looking for the next hint to go up to the Castle. According to Devel, Helioc, and SanShiGo, nothing happened when they were fighting Smile near the magic circle, so they were slightly dubious of something happening now, but as we approach it, a familiar blue screen appears in front of us.

[Congrulations on defeating the monster that guards the entrance to the Reaper\'s Castle. Everyone that participated in this endeavor will gain 5 stat points in all their stats.]

Name: ArchWizardo

Race: Human

Health Points (HP): 60/60

Mana Points (MP):  73/73

Holy Energy (HE): 20/20

Strength: 15

Vitality: 30

Intelligence: 105 (+42)

Dexterity: 26

Agility: 28

Luck: 10

A sudden boost in stats, strange... It is as if the system is preparing us for a major battle, oh wait… It is. The Reaper should be waiting somewhere with his Castle and I doubt the fight would be as easy as this one.

[Are you ready to move to the Reaper\'s Castle? WARNING accepting will mean that there is no way back to this location. Yes/No]

Looking at everyone who was already here, there was only one answer.

"Yes." - Everyone

[Please step inside the area of the Teleportation Circle.]

Despite the rubble that litters the ground, covering the magic circle, there was still a lot of room, enough for everyone to fit inside the area. Once we were all inside, the magic circle starts to glow a faint cyan color. Foreign objects like pieces of the stone pillar were disintegrated, leaving nothing left inside but us, as the glowing becomes brighter and brighter.

A slight feeling of magical energy washes over us, and a cyan ring locks itself around each of our waists, before one by one we get pulsed upward, disappearing before each other\'s sights. Is this the method of teleportation that this world uses? Why does it feel like it is going to separate us all? Quickly, I rushed toward Sylvia and Sabrina, who happened to stand next to each other, grabbing their hands.

"GRAB ONTO SOMEONE NEARBY! THERE IS A CHANCE IT MIGHT SPLIT US UP!" - Nina

"Wait! NINA!" - Rebecca

"OH NO! REBECCA! GRAB ONTO DEVEL!" - Nina

"WHAT-" - Devel

"NINA-" - Rebecca

Heeding my advice as quickly as possible, everyone that was still left attempted to grab onto one another. The unfortunate people that has already teleported were unable to hear my advice and the slower people were also unable to complete the task, disappearing before grabbing onto someone. Within seconds, I feel something pull onto me, glancing back to the other two, I realize that they were being pulled upwards as well.

With a small scream, the three of us disappear as we jet off the ground, flying up to the Castle. One second I was outside, and in the next body experienced a weightless state, as I float in the air for a moment, before landing on top of Sabrin and Sylvia. Crushing both of them under me, I feel Sylvia push me off her.

"Ugh, for the love of Ares, what was that teleport…ation. Umm, girls… Where are we?" - Sylvia

Rubbing my head slightly as I look around, freezing up just like Sylvia as the interior of the Reaper\'s Castle amazes me. I don\'t know if this is the same everywhere else, but as I look around all I could see were stairs, running up and down, left and right, platforms both horizontal and vertical, and small black cubes floating in the air.

Everything was separated from one another, with a small gap that even a child could jump across but nothing made sense. The way, one platform meets another was otherwordly, someone straight out of fantasy or science fiction. Like gravity didn\'t exist in this place. Worse of all was the number of crimson skeletons and other monsters patrolling from platform to platform.

Wandering from a horizontal platform to a vertical staircase, only to jump to an upsidedown staircase descending to an upward slope. Confusion was the only word I could think of, as I watch the monsters walk around, unaware of our presence. Bats and other flying monsters, seem to not be affected by the weird gravitational fields as they zip through the platforms, circling around and flying into small holes along the walls.

"That\'s impossible… What? How? Wasn\'t this supposed to be a Reaper\'s Castle? I was expecting undead everywhere or like long corridors of monsters. What is this?!" - Sabrina

"Me too… In fact, I feel like the space here is also disorientated. There should be so much space inside this place, at least from the outside of the Castle it doesn\'t look like there should be this much space in one location. OH WAIT! Rebecca! Where is she?" - Nina

"Last I saw of her, she had grabbed onto Devel like you told her but I doubt she is near us. It looks like the magic circle we used separated everyone that wasn\'t holding onto one another, putting us all in different locations." - Sylvia

"Damn! That means Mikki is by himself as well." - Nina

"Mikki? I heard you say that name before. Who is that?" - Sabrina

"Remember Ian? That\'s a fake. It is really a monster in disguise, sent by Selino." - Nina

"WHAT! Why didn\'t you say something?" - Sylvia

"There was no need, but he said he was only here to observe us while Selino and Ian do this union thing… NOT SURE what that means but Ian was in trouble and they were able to figure out a deal, which was Mikki coming to us for a bit as a replacement. This way, none of us will be too concerned about Ian\'s disappearance, and instead focus on moving forward, going through the Abyss and attacking the Reaper." - Nina

"No wonder, he felt so different when I tried to speak to him. He gave me a smile and says some random gibberish before moving away." - Sabrina

"Yea, but now he is by himself. Who knows what he will do or what Selino has planned for him? Finding Mikki as well as finding the Reaper are our priorities right now." - Nina

"You mean, figuring out how we are going to move about should be our priority right now, after all, I have no idea what we are going to do or where we are going." - Sylvia

"Don\'t worry. At least from where we are standing, I see a flight of stairs on the other side, that might lead upward. Let\'s start by heading there." - Nina