Mage Of Shadows 17 Colosseum

In a tall spire which overlooked a vast forest sat two figures. The forest was shrouded in darkness, and the sounds of beasts fighting could be heard. The spire stood at almost 500 meters in height, and the obsidian material that was used to create it blended in perfectly with the night.

The two figures were both stood at a terrace, a heated conversation was underway.

"How dare those non-believers steal one of our sacred treasures? We must raze their lands to the ground for this blasphemy!" spoke a short man, anger apparent in his voice.

"Raziel, you must have patience, for Eris has not yet spoken." A woman bathed in moonlight calmly said. Her voice was angelic and soothing, and when she spoke it sounded more like a lullaby than words.

The man however still relented, "High priestess, we must act with haste, lest the treasure is lost." He was now pleading more than ever, hoping to change her mind.

The high priestess looked towards the sky, her presence divine, before simply disappearing into thin air. A blood gurgling scream could be heard immediately after she disappeared, followed by a loud snap. The priestess returned to the tower only seconds later, with a decapitated head in hand.

"A spy in our ranks." she exclaimed. Her angelic appearance morphed into that of a demon, blood covering her face and body. She opened her mouth wide and gorged on the fresh meat she had just claimed.

…

The continent of Ortu Solis was divided into numerous different factions and territories. To the east of the continent, taking up the largest patch of land was that of the common folk. The common folk were made up of the humans, who held the highest population, the dwarves and various other races. This part of the continent was a melting pot of these different cultures. Here, most of the magical academies resided, and almost 50% of the continent´s population was held. Adventurers guilds, mercenary guilds and a.s.sa.s.sins' guilds were all also commonplace in the various kingdoms in the east, and each held their own might in the continent.

To the west was where the elves made their territory, in the Great Forest. The elves were a secluded bunch, who rarely made themselves known throughout the continent, they would only send their young to the various schools before having them brought back.

To the north lived the giants, in the cold tundra, and here the great martial schools had been built. If an individual wanted to learn to be a fighter, they would come here. The giants were a simple species, who warred with each other continuously, peace never being an option. Yet, their overly simple nature was balanced with their incredible power. They weren´t gifted with magic, but instead had an innate bloodline that granted them immeasurable const.i.tution and strength.

What lay in the south of the continent was unknown to most. They believed it to be a vast expanse of desert impa.s.sable due to the great number of monsters living there. Rumours had it that two G.o.ds once descended to the continent, and fought each other in the south. The area was said to have been barren ever since, and a regular person would not last even one second in the harsh environment there. This was not the case however, and most high-ranking individuals on the continent knew that something even more evil lay to the south; a barrier had been built millennia ago to protect Ortu Solis from whatever was hidden there.

…

Favian had spent the rest of the night attempting to gather world energy into his own body to no avail. It seemed that what was written in the book was true, he would not be able to see the fruits of his labour any time soon. 'This better be worth it and make me strong.'

The next few days Favian spent going to lectures, hanging out with Dunkel, practicing at home, and getting 1 on 1 lessons with Professor St-Pierre. His intelligence and arcana stats were increasing ever so slowly, and he hadn't even reached the 10% threshold to Level 1 magician yet. His system estimated that it would take him 9 months at this rate before he would level up, and every level up after that would be increasingly more difficult and take more time. Favian's strength, const.i.tution and dexterity however were improving at a faster pace due to his increase physical exercise and ma.s.sive consumption of foods.

The lectures on beast taming and monster hunting had been very insightful, and Favian was able to grasp the basics already. It seemed that his intelligence value of 4.0 was higher than the average student here, who's values ranged from 1.8 to 3.5. So far there had only been a small number of individuals from his cohort whom Favian couldn't scan, and this included Dunkel. It seemed that his friend had some mysterious powers.

Dark magic 1 and Light magic 1 had been quite uninspiring, he hadn't learned much from it which wasn't already in the book 'Darkness and Shadows'. Today was Friday, and it was finally the day for his first compet.i.tion with another student. The first thing Favian did was go to his lecture on intermediate magic particles. This had been the most insightful lecture yet, as it helped him gain knowledge that the various types of layering of the 6 basic particles would create intermediate magic particles, which were usually stronger than the basic particles. For instance, dark magic particles could be layered to form death magic particles, which were the main source of energy necromancers or warlocks used. Light magic particles could be layered to form life magic particles, which Paladins and Clerics used. There were even some obscure particles which were formed by layering two different basic elements together.

'So according to the book I stole from that caravan, shadow magic is just the layering of light and dark magic particles together in a very specific sequence, or at least that's the theory I'm going to have to accept. Using the wrong sequence of layering will just cause for failure it seems.' Favian had figured out what the essence of shadow magic was, however, the specific layering sequences of these obscure particles were the most important part in discovering them. Shadow magic was not well known as the exact sequencing, almost like a strand of DNA, needed to be synthesized perfectly, else it would just end in failure, or could even backlash against the host and kill them.

'That's one of the reasons why new particles are rarely discovered.' he thought to himself in shock. He had truly been lucky to make discover such a valuable treasure. Without the game system, it was also almost impossible to discover the sequence of shadow magic particles in the book 'Darkness and Shadows' as the information was hidden in a binary code, which was easy to unzip by a computer like system that he had, but difficult for a mortal. Thus, Favian didn't worry about shadow magic being discovered anytime soon. 'Anyways, if they do discover it, I doubt that it will be released to the public. Mages are greedy.'

Favian got a quick bite to eat, before he met up with Dunkel outside of the colosseum. What stood before them was a circular building, built with a white limestone. Once inside, Favian noticed that the seating area could probably house over 5 thousand people. The circ.u.mference of the building wasn't too large, but the height of it extended to allow 50 rows of seats to extend vertically. Each row could seat roughly 100 people.

Favian's jaw dropped as he entered with Dunkel, who was likewise baffled. The stadium was currently filled to almost half capacity, with the crowd cheering once the two arrived inside the stadium.

"Hey what's going on? Why are there so many people?" Favian asked, sweat dripping off his palms.

Dunkel looked similarly confused, "I don't know what on Earth is going on here." After deliberating for a second, he continued, "Those d.a.m.n elves, I bet they are trying to make a show out of this." Dunkel snarled as he got those words out of his mouth, his fury rising the moment he thought about the rude elves.

It seemed that Dunkel was correct, the elf boy, Garu, had been scared to death to fight against the infamous Favian in a fair, 1 on 1 combat situation, so he resulted towards changing up tactics, and making it a 2 on 2 combat instead with a senior of his own.

"What the h.e.l.l, is it even allowed for a proper rank 1 magician to fight against us when we aren't rank 1?" Favian questioned the overseer of the colosseum. The overseer was a battle-hardened veteran, with a bald head and scars littered over his body. He wore minimal clothing, only covering his legs with some brown trousers. His muscles bulged as he spoke with Favian, explaining that he would make sure that the rank 1 magician would not use any magic of that level.

'Oh, right that sounds totally safe, for all I know these guys have bought off the referee and I'm about to get my a.s.s whooped today.' Favian thought, with his pessimistic side taking hold of him.