The reference to the temple was all that Jackson needed to know to figure out where he was, so he said, “I’m sorry. You must be the bishop. Tengur, right? I’m sorry, my mom will kill me if I’m not getting your name correct.”

  The older man smiled, but the smile didn’t touch his eyes. “No need to fear the Chosen’s wrath. You did in fact, as you put it, get my name. I am glad to know that she told you about us. It is very unusual for there to be a Chosen at all, let alone for them not to have started out at one of the temples and become a regular priest or priestess first. From what I know of your family, though, there is very little that fits the conventional profile.”

  Jackson wasn’t sure if the man was laughing at him about something or not, but it further cemented his initial impression. “We are an ordinary family. It is just that we find ourselves in an unusual situation.”

  “Oh really, how so?” the bishop asked.

  Immediately, Jackson felt the same sense of unease as he had when walking into the room with the ladder. It looked clear enough, but felt like a trap. “I think it would be better for my parents to tell our story. They have far more wisdom than I do.” Jackson defaulted back to one of those lines that always seemed to work. Adults liked to think you deferred to them, so he would do exactly that.

  “Perhaps you are right. Well, at least you can tell me the story about how you ended up here. If your friends are to be believed, there are fiends in the sewers of Konig and some mysterious cloaked figure working for the downfall of the academy if not the entire city.

  “Far be it from me to doubt the word of a royal and two nobles, but they are still children and perhaps misunderstood what was going on. In their favor is the fact that you had some rather gruesome wounds when you came in, and a most deadly venom was coursing through your veins and trying to do nasty things to you.

  “On the other hand, how would it be possible for such creatures to exist in the city? We servants of Shanelle may not agree with the church of Mishpat on everything. They are, however, certainly diligent in guarding against such incursions, and that is to say nothing of the royal mage.”

  “I don’t know about any of that or even what my wounds were. I just know that we fought some creatures that were unlike anything I have ever seen before, whether in the wilds north of Eris’ Rise or in the dungeon. They felt… wrong. I don’t know how else to describe it. My esoteric sense screamed of corruption in them.” Jackson spoke slowly and deliberately as he tried to put the horror he had felt into his words.

  He described in detail what they had seen and done in the sewer. He made sure to spend extra time talking about the last creature they had fought. Jackson also remembered to share about the cocoons and the victims stuck inside.

  “As is only fitting of the child of a Chosen, I would expect you to be more sensitive to such things. Scree-leeches are one of the lesser types of fiends but are particularly insidious. They tend to hide and then feed on lesser beings.

  “The creatures you fought were actually rats or bats converted into hosts for the fiends. Scree-leeches themselves are tiny creatures that convert hosts through their venom. The last creature that you described resulted from a human being converted. It is an abomination to Shanelle and one of the few things that I know of no way of redeeming. The cocoons you describe also match up with reports we have had of some vagrants and beggars disappearing from the streets,” Bishop Tengur said.

  “If you already knew all about that, then why are you waiting to talk to me? Why haven’t you sent someone to deal with this?” Jackson demanded, suddenly upset.

  “To put your mind at ease, more than an hour ago a joint company of Shanelle’s and Mishpat’s paladins along with the city guard went into the sewers to deal with the issue. The point of this interview wasn’t about that problem. It was for me to get to know you.

  “Assuming they find what you reported, and I find no reason to doubt that, then the city will owe your group a great deal. Even better that the information came from the church, so whether you intended to come here or were merely brought here because your friends knew you needed more healing than they could provide, it still benefits us all.”

  Jackson was relieved by Tengur’s words that the threat was being taken seriously. However, the answer didn’t make him like the bishop any more. “Then may I return to the academy, or do I owe the temple something for the healing I received?”

  “Not yet and no. You are the son of a Chosen, part of our extended family. You just need to stay here until we deal with this situation. From what you all have said, the city was in danger, but the cloaked man had a special interest in killing you. I would be remiss if I let you go out into unknown danger.”

  “May I at least know where my friends are?” Jackson asked.

  “Of course, I will call for an acolyte to take you to where you can get some food with them,” Tengur said while pulling on a cord next to his desk. A chime sounded, and moments later the door to the office opened up, and a girl not much younger than Jackson stepped in.

  “You rang, Your Excellency?” she asked.

  “Yes, please escort our esteemed guest to the guest chambers where his friends are resting. I will excuse you from service at my door. Make sure that you personally take care of any needs our guests may have. Ask Priest Langston to send a replacement acolyte when you get a chance.”

  Jackson felt there was something off about the exchange between the bishop and acolyte. Whatever it was, though, he couldn’t put his finger on it. It was enough that he was going to see his friends.

  “Yes, Your Excellency,” she replied as she bowed and then opened and held the door for Jackson.

  He looked from the doorway to the bishop before saying, “Thank you again for the healing.” Then he took his leave.

  Several hours later, boredom was setting in. He had been very glad to see his friends. They had told him about how in the last exchange he had taken a deep cut to his abdomen that none of them had seen at first till the blood just wouldn’t stop. It had taken all of Milessa’s healing just to keep him alive. When the ladder up had taken them out near the temple, it wasn’t a hard choice of where to carry him to.

  It elicited a feeling of gratification that all of them, including the two girls, whom he didn’t know that well yet, had seemed genuinely worried about him. He felt his heart beat faster in excitement upon seeing Gianna smile when he entered the room. After a couple of hours of talking and sharing stuff about each other, it got kinda awkward. Jackson never understood why it was so hard to talk to girls, but apparently leveling up in Eloria hadn’t changed that.

  Once they ran out of things to talk about, he ended up thinking about what he was doing with his build. The first part was a no-brainer. He added two points to Endurance to take it up to twenty-four since he needed to keep it ahead of Agility.

  That left him four stat points. He didn’t have any obvious place that he wanted to put them. He considered a variety of things but felt like until he put points into more skills, he needed to leave the stat points in reserve.

  Thinking about character points made him cringe. He had 167 points. That was one and half times the total number of points he had already assigned if you didn’t count the Watcher’s Ongoing Preparation. All of that potential power and he was leaving it untapped.

  Had he and his friends almost died because he was holding onto character points? It was a hard question to ask himself and an even harder question to answer. He wished his dad were here to talk about it. Heck, he would have even settled for Mira. He knew that he wanted magic but also knew that if he could wait until the third tier, then any magic that he could learn would give him better spell choices.

  His build was complicated. He knew that he didn’t want to be a straight magic user like his sister and definitely not a pure healer like his mom. Even his dad, for all that he used a sword, was becoming more and more of a caster. It would be stupid to ignore magic. He had seen its power, but he wanted to be a melee build with magic to enhance himself, not a magic user who could also fight physically.

  It wasn’t for sure that he could learn magic. All of his family had been able to so far, except that his dad could not learn Essence Magic, but he didn’t want to take it for granted since Tabor had no aptitude for any of the schools. He was so close to Tier 3. Yet he realized that the opportunity to sneak out of the academy would be much harder to come by after this. He also realized that learning magic might make a difference in the exams. As it was, he wouldn’t be able to place in either of the tests that required magic.

  Maybe it was a wise decision, and maybe it was childish impatience, but either way, Jackson decided to go ahead and put some points into magic. His first choice was Shaping Magic. The way that his dad could enlarge really appealed to him. So he first applied twenty points to it.

  Congratulations! You have learned Shaping Magic.

  Shaping Magic: This is the magic that defines reality. At its most basic level, Shaping Magic will allow you to alter or enhance yourself or other creatures even to changing their physical structure. Yet that is the barest taste of Shaping Magic.

  At higher tiers, foundational forces of the universe such as gravity, space, and even time can be altered to fit your whims. Determines the highest tier of Shaping spells available to you, as well as increasing the effectiveness of those spells by 5%/level.

  Tier 1 Spells (2):

  Minor Pliable Body: Causes the target’s body to become like rubber. 10% of the physical force applied to the body is returned to the object applying it, reducing damage taken by a like amount. Further damage is diffused throughout the body, reducing the chance that any attack will deal critical damage by 20%. Finally the body takes on an elastic quality and may be stretched to 50% beyond its normal dimension. Duration for inanimate objects is 1 hour +5 min/level. Duration for living beings is 3 ticks +1/level. Mana: 40.

  Stone Fist: Causes target humanoid’s fist to take on the toughness of stone. Base damage with the hand is increased by +5. The hand may, however, only be in the shape of a fist and loses all movement for the duration of the spell. Hand has additional damage resistance of +30. Duration: 6 ticks +1/level. Mana: 15.

  Tier 2 Spells (1):

  Blood Armor: Turns the blood on your body (if it is your own) into an additional layer of armor. The blood armor can absorb 20 +1/level pts of damage for every 5% of damage that you have taken when activating the spell. Duration: 1 hour. Mana: 35. Cooldown: Cannot be cast again until you are restored to full health. Self-target only.

  He looked over the spells and was initially disappointed that he hadn’t gotten Enlarge but then was struck by how well the spells actually matched the build he was going for and what he understood of the Ironwood Monk class. No sooner had he realized that than he heard a voice in his head. “You can thank me later.”

  He stopped and listened, but the voice didn’t say anything further. It had been unmistakable. If he had been back on Earth, he would have worried that he was going insane. As it was, this was hardly the strangest thing he had experienced on Eloria.

  So he did what any rational person would do, and he thought very intentionally the words, “Who are you?”

  When no answer came, he tried screaming inside his head, if such a thing was possible, “C’mon, answer me. I know you are there. Are you like my fairy godmother?” He had the impression of a snorting laugh after that, but couldn’t be sure if that was just his own imagination making fun of such a silly idea. Either way, after a couple of minutes, he still hadn’t heard any more so was forced to continue on.

  He then considered what school of magic to add next. It wasn’t that hard. The powerful defensive spells his dad had impressed him. So he picked Abjuration. Of course, as soon as he tried to apply points into it, he got a notification.

  You do not have the necessary aptitude.

  You are unable to learn Abjuration Magic.

  That was disappointing, but there were still five more schools of magic to pick from. He didn’t want to be a pure caster. Still, if he couldn’t maximize defense, then maybe he could add to his offense. So he tried Evocation followed by Charm only to see:

  You do not have the necessary aptitude. You are unable to learn Evocation Magic.

  You do not have the necessary aptitude. You are unable to learn Charm Magic.

  Now he was getting truly upset. Not because he was all about magic, but because he had failed at three out of four schools that he had tried. Next he tried Conjuration and was able to put twenty points into it.

  Congratulations! You have learned Conjuration Magic.

  Conjuration Magic: This is the magic that controls the very dimensions of reality. A conjurer can both call forth items from the very aether of the universe and beckon forth beings from other places or even other planes of existence. With this magic, you will never be without. Determines the highest tier of Conjuration spells available to you, as well as increasing the effectiveness of those spells by 5%/level.

  Tier 1 Spells (2):

  Minor Multiply Ammunition: Creates temporary duplicates of any ammunition which the caster touches and which is excellent or lower quality. Creates 10 +1/level copies of the ammunition, including any enchantments that are permanently worked into the item itself. Any small handheld thrown weapon—like a throwing knife, shuriken, or dart as well as arrows, bolts, and even up to the size of ballista bolts—can be multiplied by this spell. The duration is lessened for larger than handheld ammunition. Base duration for non-magical ammunition is 1 day/level. Base duration for magical ammunition is 1 minute/level. Mana: 50.

  Acidic Gel: Creates an acidic gel, which coats one surface. If that surface is an inanimate object, then the object is subject to 25% damage from the gel. If the surface is the caster’s body, then a temporary immunity to the gel applies. The gel adds 10 base acid damage to any strike with the coated object for the duration and further causes acid damage of 6 per tick for 10 ticks or until the gel is removed from any attacked surface. Duration is 3 ticks +1/level. Mana: 40.

  Tier 2 Spells (1):

  Glitter Dust: Creates a fine powdered mist, which the caster flings out at the target area. It settles onto any object within the area but is particularly drawn to living beings. It will outline and nullify invisibility effects within the area and has a chance to blind any living being in the area for the duration. Base chance to blind is 30% +1%/level. Base chance to nullify invisibility is 50% +2%/level. Area affected is a cone that is 60 degrees wide and 15 feet long. Duration is 10 minutes. Mana: 25.

  Well, these spells worked but didn’t seem custom made for him. The voice within his head had been quiet and made him again wonder if it had been his imagination earlier. The Glitter Dust spell he was familiar with from Balayria, but the other two not nearly so much. He wasn’t sure if the ammunition one would be of any use to him but couldn’t rule it out.

  As soon as he finished reviewing the new spells, he got another notification. This one message made him stop worrying about what schools of magic he could or couldn’t learn.

  You have met the final requirement for the Ironwood Monk epic class.

  5) Learn spells from at least 2 schools of magic.

  Do you wish to accept the Ironwood Monk epic class? Yes or No.

  Maybe he should have thought about it for a second. He probably should have explained to his friends, who were staring at him in wide-eyed wonder now, but all he said was, “Gimme a sec,” and then chose Yes.

  In Eloria, classes are not easily earned. All have significant benefits and equally weighty requirements. Each class has seven ranks known as tiers.

  Class received: Ironwood Monk (Rare)—Tier 1

  XP Gained: 1000

  Class Benefits: +30% CON, +30% END, Damage Resistance increases by 2% for every 1% of health lost. Generate an aura with varying effects based upon the damage taken. Effects determined by further class-specific skills.

  Class Restrictions: Must fight without armor. Must keep Unarmed Combat as your highest base combat skill. Must keep CON higher than STR, and END higher than AGI.

  Class Purpose: An armorless warrior whose internal power creates a defense unlike any other for the purpose of showing that the best offense is a good defense.

  Further hidden class details: You may choose 5 auras per class tier. Only 1 aura per tier may be active at a time.

  An aura may be learned by sacrificing a known spell. Once the spell is converted to an aura, you may not use it as a spell for as long as it is an aura. It requires 1 hour of meditation per tier of the spell being used to turn a spell into an aura.

  Auras are powered by the amount of damage that you take once the aura is active. This includes damage that is otherwise negated.

  All individuals whom you believe to be allies and who are within the area of effect receive the benefits of positive auras. Group members receive the benefit as long as they are within sight of you. All individuals whom you believe to be enemies and are within the relevant range suffer the effects of any negative auras.

  Eloria is conflict, and one of the greatest struggles is to know when to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

  Ding! Congrats, you have gained enough XP to reach level 19.

  You have gained 50 character points. You have 177 unspent character points.

  You have gained 3 stat points. You have 7 unspent stat points.