Night fell over Firelight city, tonight no business bars or inns were open and even the homeless were sheltered inside borrowed warehouses.
From behind the curtains Valthar peeked into the street below as a squad of priests strut towards the outside of the city.
Their energy resonated in sync, each strong as a bull and overflowed with determination that transcended fear and pain.
In seconds they were out from Valthar's eyesight and in minutes they would leave the range of his energy sense as well.
Closing the curtains Valthar stared at the candle he lit in front of the door.
A dumb superstition his family made sure to thoroughly explain how it did nothing.
However, on nights like this one Valthar would not shy away from stupid rituals even if they only served to calm his mind.
When a demon died corruption would spread out and chaos would erupt near the scene.
How and why? That information was classified long ago by both the Royal family and the Church.
Both commoner and most nobles only knew a few things about such events.
For one, the immediate surroundings would be overwhelmed with demonic energy, corrupting anyone who was too weak to resist.
For another, any demonic worshiper that served the deceased demon would go crazy and attack everything without a second thought.
Aside from that, all other information was either rumors or family secrets.
And while many had lived through such events, few dared to talk about it.
Suddenly a series of booms echoed from outside the city.
Peeking through the curtain once more Valthar watched as a beam of light cut upwards into the sky before it dived into the forest.
'Light descend.' A third ring light element spell.
Though it had zero surprise factor and high mana requirements, it could carry multiple people through vast distances.
At high mastery the only 'faster' transportation spell was teleportation, which bent the world itself and connected vast distances instead of actually using raw speed.
Seconds later the beam reached the forest ground and silence took over the night.
Eyes glued to the sky Valthar watched as a pillar of white fire rose towards the moon.
As if the sun had come back in an instant all streets in the city were flooded in pale light.
And moments later a shockwave of mana tore through the city.
The wave hit Valthar and blew the mana out of his body before mana from outside rushed in its place.
His legs gave out, his face hit the ground, he struggled to breathe and his muscles spasmed against the wooden floor.
Grunts and thuds slipped through the thin walls of the room, as many others who had risen from their beds fell to the floor as well.
Whatever spell had been just cast was without a doubt many rings stronger than a third ring spell.
On the bright side, Valthar's energy ring was unaffected as life force remained untouched by the chaotic mana disruption.
The white fire dimmed back down and the mana pressure followed soon after.
But the mana kept chaotic for many minutes after that, which left both lower level mages and magical runes ineffective throughout this duration.
Valthar etched the spell in his mind, even from kilometers away he was sure, this was at least a Great Spell.
Spells are classified by the minimum number of rings necessary to cast, a level one spell needs at least one mana ring, a level two needs two rings and so on.
Up to fifths level spells they were called by levels, above that each new level had a title.
A Great spell needed 6 mana rings to cast, a mage at that caliber received the title of Great Mage.
At 7 rings one was called Archmage, at 8 and 9 ninth were respectively Legendary and Demi-Elemental mages.
That a great mage from the Church had come in a matter of hours was impressive since in the empire fewer than a thousand mages had reached such a level.
That they were from the Church and this was a random medium sized city in the outlands was enough for Valthar to conclude the Great Mage was teleported here to deal with the demon.
With the price required for teleportation growing with the strength of the individual teleported, the price of bringing a Great mage was far from small and yet the Church did not hesitate on paying such price.
Such was the hatred they held for demons, though this detail didn't matter as much to Valthar as the presence of the Great mage.
"One day… I too will become a Great Mage." He mumbled on his knees..
Even though he knew flashy spells like the one he just saw might never be feasible with his non-mana affinity.
However, the title of Great Mage represented much more than someone able to cast large spells visible from far away.
It meant one was able to save a city with a few thoughts and actions.
To be adored and respected wherever one stepped.
To have whatever one wished delivered on a silver platter, and to bring hundreds or even thousands to their knees with presence alone.
That night Valthar barely slept and not because of the nightmare that had come back to haunt him in the last few days.
Instead he meditated relentlessly, unwavering focus on the assimilation of life energy he had gathered during the day.
By the time morning came around the energy ring was significantly denser and thankfully no incident had happened in the Inn.
If there was a demon worshiper in the city it was far away from Valthar.
Now calmer he made his way down to the Inn's first floor where a cozy restaurant was set up by the owners.
The food was cheap and simple, much worse than the one the caravan's cook normally prepared.
A few months ago he would have thrown such food in the trash without a second look, but now he was no longer a noble and had eaten worse down in the underground.