Chapter 57: New Spell

When Charon awoke, he noticed two things instantly. He was on something soft, his body slowly sinking into the material, and his head pounded like a drum. Groaning, he raised a hand to his forehead and pressed down, hoping to relieve some of the tension. ’Gods above, where did this pain come from?’ His thoughts were fuzzy and incoherent, like his brain had been scrambled. Bits and pieces of various memories filtered through his mind before disappearing, the source of his aches becoming little more than a mystery. ’Am I back at the academy? Was it all a dream?’ Sitting up, he found himself in a small bedroom with a wide-open window allowing sunlight to shine down on him. A dress and bookshelf lined one side of the room, and a small kitchen sat on the other. A door was set into the wall a dozen yards away, giving him more than ample breathing space. Scratching his head in confusion, Charon shifted his weight to stand up and felt his robes brush against something hard. Reaching under the covers to pull it out, he found a thin rectangular disk with a single button. Pressing it, a holographic image of the High Elder appeared. "Greetings, Charon, and good morning. After I provided you with the ability stone, you passed out, so I saw fit to have you delivered to your new lodgings to recover. Rest assured, all personal belongings were kept with you, and the tome you brought upon your first arrival has been safely stored on the bookshelf." Glancing up, Charon saw that the brown book was indeed resting flat on one of the wooden shelves. ’Thank the gods, I had been worried about that ever since they stole it from me.’ Refocusing on the message, he let it continue to play out, curious what the man had to say. "Emerius has taken up residence across the hall, a fitting location as you two will be serving in the same regiment, alongside some other new recruits you may find familiar. Over the course of the next three days, please acquaint yourself with the Fort and all she has to offer. Once that time is up, you will all be summoned for your next deployment. Until then, good day." The hologram flickered out, the image sucked back into the disk. Groaning and sighing at the same time, Charon threw it across the room. It hit the wall with a satisfying crash before falling to the floor and bouncing a few times. ’I don’t know why exactly, but that guy is an asshole.’ Despite all he had done, Charon couldn’t bring himself to trust or even like the well-spoken High Elder. There was a deceit to him that was hidden under the surface, waiting for the right moment to jump out and strike. Charon smiled. ’Yeah, just like we did, right skeletons?’ His summons didn’t respond, too busy being trapped in his core, floating along his sea of mana like wannabe sailors. ’How is my progress doing anyway?’ He mentally activated his holo-pad and moved to the personal information section, the text appearing in his mind. [Name: Charon] [Rank: Novice 6] [Patron: Death] [Element: Soul] [Abilities: Soul Summon*, Soul Sense*] [Relics: None] Two things stuck out to him: his rank and a new ability. He had no memory of gaining either, and yet they were there, sitting like unexpected presents. ’Perhaps I earned them during the battle. It was very hectic, and I was hurting all over. I must not have recognized when my body grew stronger through all of the other sensations.’ It was a simple enough explanation, but it felt incomplete. ’Novice 6? I’m almost to Acolyte, then. Only four more ranks and I’ll be at the bottleneck.’ Emerius had filled him in on the ranking system during their travels, with Annie and Darius helping. According to them, there were ten ranks, starting with Novice and ending with Archmage. Each rank was split into ten tiers, and once at the tenth tier, they would need to break through a bottleneck to reach the next one. This bottleneck was different for everyone, usually depending on the mage’s element. They were very emphatic, however, that it was always worth pushing through to the next rank as soon as possible. A mage wouldn’t change much between tiers, but ranks were massive leaps in strength. One of the big changes was how a Novice mage had normal human levels of defense, while an Acolyte could ignore wounds done to them by technology. This grew more pronounced with time, as those who hit the official rank of Mage were impervious to anything except relics. Even age became less of an issue, with high-ranked magi living hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The thing that excited Charon the most about ranking up was the new spells. Although it was possible to gain new spells at every tier, it was rare, while ranking up guaranteed new power. There was also a chance of earning a relic, though this was based on the feelings of the gods, which were hard to anticipate at the best of times. ’It seems I’m one of the lucky few who earned an ability by advancing a tier!’ His brow furrowed as he remembered the gem the High Elder had given him, and how everything after that went dark. ’Or did it come from the jewel?’ Charon tried to focus on the events to make the answer clear, yet the harder he tried, the more they ran from his mind, refusing to let him know the truth. Unrelenting in his search, he was eventually forced to abandon the attempt when his headache grew too painful to endure. He clutched the sides of his head and gritted his teeth, disappointed in his weakness. He sighed before pushing himself up from the bed, absentmindedly pushing the hood of his robe back. ’Do you have any idea what happened, Warden?’ ’Uncertain.’ He scoffed, a wry smile on his lips. ’Great. My robes have a better memory than I do. What next? Can they start to do laundry and cook for me?’ The thought of the empty black road floating around his room to serve him pancakes made him laugh. It was a good feeling to enjoy himself after so many days of problem after problem. ’At least I have three days of rest before my next assignment.’ Refocusing on his holo-pad, he decided he had delayed things enough and selected his new ability: Soul Sense. [Ability Name: Soul Sense] [Ability Element: Soul] [Ability Description: Within every living creature, and some unliving, there exists a sphere of power built by the gods. Meticulously crafted, each and every one is unique in its own right, allowing for infinite possibilities. Filled with mana, an energy of unlimited strength and potential, the soul gives off a trace that only the most attuned to the God of Death can sense. With this sense, they can feel the positions and powers of those around them, so long as they are not overpowered.] Charon read it a second time, and then a third, making sure he was understanding it properly. ’So it’s a spell that lets me get a sense of where other people are. Soul Sense is a very fitting name.’ More than that, he focused on another aspect of the ability. ’It lets me sense the powers of those around me? Will that allow me to know what spells and relics someone has? If so, that would be extremely useful! I could have known that the earth mage was able to soften the ground. That knowledge could have made the battle so much easier!’ Pondering the uses, he absent-mindedly opened his wardrobe and pulled out a fresh shirt and jeans, eager to replace his dirty ones. The feeling of clean fabric was incredible after so long, reminding him of the excitement during laundry day at the orphanage. ’I wonder how far the range is?’ Closing his eyes, he focused on his core and attempted to activate the ability, failing the first two times before succeeding on the third. Unlike before, the mana only shot up his spine, ignoring his other limbs as it collected behind his eyes. He felt the presence of the spell, but no new information hit him. It was as if the ability had done nothing at all, just wasted his time and mana. Frowning, Charon dismissed his Soul Sense and glanced around the room. ’I must not be close enough to anyone for it to work. I could also need a direct line of sight with someone. That makes it far less useful when scouting, but during a battle, it should still be useful.’ Although it wasn’t proving itself to be very impressive, it was still an ability, one that Charon was happy to have, regardless of how impactful it was. Moving to the kitchen, he opened the cabinets and ate his fill, downing multiple fruits and dried meats in record time before getting ready to leave his room and explore the Fort. ’There is a whole city out there, I better not keep it waiting!’