[Minor Plane Albion, Phuinem Kingdom, Pyrke Mine]
The [Pyrke mine] laid before Greem in all of its beauty. Wooden structures supporting the weight of the mountains multiplying in the distance, the repetitive sounds of pickaxes crashing onto the raw stones and crystals in the mine, and a fog of dirt limiting the vision to a couple hundreds of meters at best.
Belonging to the [Magical Court], the Pyrke mine was exploited by slaves. Barbarians, mainly, who had been defeated and turned into working forces. Their stronger bodies allowed for more efficient work too, as they were often able to extract twice the amount of ores compared to regular imperial humans. With no salary, this made the exploitation of the Pyrke mine extremely profitable. After all, once refined, fire stones could be sold between two and three magic crystals.
However, such wealth did not go unnoticed.
Ill-intentioned people eyed such resources.
A group of acolytes were whipping barbarians.
"Faster!", a redhead acolyte shouted, "If you want a meal tonight, you need to fill up twelve more carts!"
*SPLASH*
Feeling the impact of the whip, the barbarian muffled a groan. As for the other slaves, they all felt it too. All of them were in terrible conditions. Intense work and constant physical abuse had multiplied the scars on their body.
[Dark Illusion]
As the redhead acolyte raised his arm for a second whipping punishment, his vision was soon filled with darkness.
"Huh?", he muttered, "Did someone unlighted the torches?"
The female acolyte with dark hair and serious facial expressions frowned: "What do you mean? They are lit-"
*SWOOSH*
Before she could finish her sentence, a bolt reached her heart. It was a clean, powerful shot from a high-quality crossbow. The redhead acolyte felt that something was wrong and instantly cast a defensive spell
[Ice Shield]
However, the ice shield without seeing enemies was useless. Three acolytes appeared from the shadows and continued their attack. Greem, holding his crossbow and having cast the dark illusion spell, started to reload.
His ally, Vanessa, unsheathed her cross sword and moved forward. Deflecting the iceshield, one thrust was all it took to kill the redhead acolyte.
Meanwhile, the third dark path acolyte Willem laughed like a maniac as his summoned bat, a beginner-rank magical beast, surged from the roof of the cave. It rushed towards the rest of the acolytes, its throat producing ultrasounds.
[Fireball]
[Ice arrow]
The rest of the arcane faction acolytes attempted to kill the flying beast, but as they struggled, the summoned bat continued to dodge the spells. Vampires like Willem were terrifying. Not only their life expectancy was very high, their abilities were very versatile, from close combat to binding beasts with blood contracts. Those with high blood purity could even wield hereditary magic, though that was out of Willem's capacities. As a vampire with low-grade purity, binding a single magical beast was already very difficult to him.
The bat allowed Vanessa to enter close range again, and with a swift thrust, managed to claim one more life. The summoned bat, faced with a human with no defence, slit the throat of the other one.
Seeing that there remained just one opponent, Greem cast one last spell, finishing him off.
[Shadow Hand]
A hand grew out of nowhere, strangling the acolyte who was attempting to use a complex defensive array, a mechanism made of runes capable of protecting high-rank attacks and alarm the rest of the magical court acolytes stationed in the Pyrke mine.
Unfortunately, the hand was filled with shadow elemental particles, and besides the strangulation, it also voided the acolyte of all of his strength and stamina. Seconds later, he fell onto the ground, lifeless.
The barbarians took cover, and though they were scared, none of them talked or attempted to defend the arcane faction acolytes. After all, they were all tormented by them. In a way, the dark path acolytes had saved them.
Cleaning the blood from her cross sword, Vanessa grinned: "Well, we are getting better at this"
"Don't get complacent", Willem spoke, "The element of surprise played in our favour. Any good findings, Greem?"
Greem, loyal to his character, had already started looting the acolytes.
"In one word, dirt poor", he said while unveiling a magic crystal and a tome from the fire elemental acolyte. He continued: "Thankfully, what we are seeking lies in the ores processed in the center of the mine. And they happen to have a key"
A few minutes later, the group of dark acolytes arrived at the small wooden building. There, a couple of soldiers were defending the outpost. Only knights would have posed a threat, but they had not even reached the preparatory knight realm. Willem's bat slit their throats before they could react. Greem and his companions opened the chest within. A single scroll lied within, alongside dozens of refined fire gems. A single gem could fetch two to three magic crystals in dark market, so the haul was worth a fortune.
Vanessa exclaimed: "This got to be one of the largest haul in the Association's history. The founder will be happy"
His team was affiliated with the [Black Widow Association]. As valuable as the chest's content was, they knew it did not belong to them. If they tried to escape with the loot, a fate far worse than death awaited them.
Unknown to his allies, he had grown stronger from this ordeal, again.
[Greem Southport - Lv. 7 Beginner Rank Acolyte (30 / 800 EXP)
Strength - 3 | Agility - 2 | Vitality - 4 | Magic Power - 7
Perks: Grade III Shadow Elemental Affinity
Spells: Dark Illusion (80), Shadow Hand (63), Ombre Curse (25)
Skills: Shadow Elemental Knowledge (58), Magical Knowledge (45), Swordsmanship (15)
Miscellaneous skills: Accounting (60), Eloquence (35), Charm (25),
Magical Artefact: Soul Ring [SSS]]
Greem possessed an artefact, allowing him to see the world through a gamified lense. It was a heirloom of his family, long forgotten.
[Logs - 8 new entries
[You have successfully killed [Lv. 4 Beginner Rank Acolyte]. You have earned 40 EXP]
[You have successfully killed [Lv. 6 Beginner Rank Acolyte]. You have earned 80 EXP]
[You have successfully killed [Lv. 3 Beginner Rank Acolyte]. You have earned 20 EXP]
[Recent use of Dark Illusion spell increased proficiency in the spell by 2 points]
[Recent use of Shadow Hand spell increased proficiency in the spell by 3 points]
[You have earned a new skill...[Crossbow Mastery], increasing your accuracy and identification of weak points in enemies]
[You have levelled up. Requirements to become an intermediate rank acolyte: Lv. 7 / 8]
[You have earned 1 point of Magic Power]
[Yellow-rank Mission [Pyrke Mine Raid] has been updated. Return the crates of fire gems to the Black Widow Brotherhood Leader to claim rewards]