In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
Post by Lustian Wilhelm on Feb 3, 2022 1:00:05 GMT -5
Lustian was on his way traveling back from the Golden Dawn base to his home estate in the noble region near the Royal Capital thankfully, their home estate wasn't more than an hour's ride from the Golden Dawn base, which often made traveling to and from "work" much easier than most, Lustian had gotten used to being in the base for the past month alongside, Dante, and thought so far he had only seemed to work on his physical constitution, alongside his formal studying of etiquette and other formalities as an heir Lustian had found that he had been slowly but surely falling behind the totem pole when it came to strength. Not pleased with his slow increase in power he wanted to make a change. Luckily to his knowledge, his family home had a room just for that, and as an heir, he could now request to use such an area and bring whomever he wanted.
To his knowledge, Alessia had once been trained in the room, not only as a form of therapy of working through her issues from what she experienced due to the horrors she faced in Raque but also to improve and test her strength to make sure she was able to keep Lustian alive. As such Alessia had been the first to suggest such an option to Lustian who didn't know a training area existed inside the Wilhelm estate, at least not the one she referred to. Lustian only knew of the outdoor training areas and the few other training areas within the family estate that were essentially just basic training areas filled with straw dummies, wooden targets, and wooden weapons for use. The family also had an area for building and maintaining one's physical constitution, which was evident considering both his and many other Wilhelm family members' large builds.
As they sat in the carriage, Lustian rummaged through the snacks and food that Alessia had made sure to pack for them in a brown leather handbag. Although Alessia wasn't one to really like such accessories they did have their use when it came to keeping snacks on hand, especially for her two growing cousins whom she knew had large appetites and were prone to whining and complaining if they didn't have enough eat, more so Lustian than anyone else. Lustian's large hands shifted through the bag specifically looking for some form of confectionary sweet, this particular sweet was one of his favorites and made out of caramel, it was rapped in a bronze wrapper. With a little focus, he found it, indicative of its nature by the octagonal shape he pulled out of the bag with his thick but nimble fingers, grabbing it and unwrapping it with quick ease, he popped the candy into his mouth and suckled on it before speaking. "So Alessia, tell us more about this 'magical training array' you said we have, and why am I just now hearing about it?" Lustian's words may have seemed harsh but his tone held no form of angst or blame toward her. In fact, he was just curious as to why he had never heard of it, wondering if the family kept it under wraps or because he had just never been told about it because everyone assumed he already knew because he was Wilhelm. Especially because Lustian was still learning the ins and outs of the estate considering he had been away from it for so long for the vast majority of his childhood.
Alessia turned to him and spoke with a soft but direct tone, "The magical training array is rarely utilized as it can be taxing on those who use it, and after a couple of incidents, it was deemed that one who had no prior experience in it or supervision wasn't allowed to use it alone. As such most of the older family members would have to take out time from their busy lives to actually supervise one using it, and after everyone got tired of having to submit a request to use it only to have to wait months to finally get a chance too and ultimately fail at the task required for it to be of any significant use most just decided to give up on it. Eventually, it just began to pick up dust, that is until the family church leaders decided that it would be a good way for me to get through some... Issues I was having." She said, straying off in her words, her tone becoming a bit shaky before she collected herself. Lustian didn't pry or pressure her to continue talking at this point and instead opted to sit quietly and listen, he knew what she had gone through the family rumor mill, and as such he didn't have the desire to interject or plunge her any further into her dark memories or trauma, especially as her lips fell from their usual smile to an expression of indifference.
"As for what it is, it's a rune filled area in the bottom of the estate, the place is littered with runes that do all manner of things, but with a few tweaks the runes can be adjusted to fit the strength of whoever wants to use it, and it can be used to give challenges. Think of it as a game, it's a chamber that essentially makes those games come to life so to say, just much more intense. However, if you aren't careful you can seriously injure yourself so..." Alessia spoke trailing off again but this time a smile appeared on her face as she continued on with only a little pause "do be careful Lord Wilhelm."
Lustian liked the idea of the chamber and he was curious to see how it worked, his interest having already became sparked by the mention of the runes, however, as she called him 'lord' Lustian sat slack in his chair and with a deep sigh he stated "I told you not to call me that," Lustian grumbled. He turned his attention to Dante and gave him a smile before speaking "well, ready to play some games, cousin?" Lustian as the heir didn't have to wait to use the magical training array, in fact, as the heir he had free roamed to go in and out as he pleased whenever he wanted, although the family leaders did want him to be supervised which is where Alessia came in as someone familiar with the chapter and trained in how to use it. Although the pretext of him going to such a place was to get stronger, this wasn't just by the will of him, himself. No, it was the pressure from his family to advance himself especially because he had to represent them as a leader of the Golden Dawn.
Naturally, as Lustian had been told such things he dragged his cousin Dante along, from waking him up in the Golden Dawn base on their day off, to telling him to get dressed and even prodding him into the carriage only simply telling him the semantics of the situation. Although Dante wasn't the heir, from the delivery of the news by Alessia from the family head, he was to bring Dante along with him, although he would've done so anyway even without the family head demanding he does so. They had a reputation to uphold, and Lustian didn't plan on letting the family down, he owed too much to them for him to let such a notion sit in his head.
STATS
POW: 015 DUR: 004 SEN: 015 STA: 010 CON: 010
SPEED: 5m/s HEALTH: senior x2 + intermediate MANA SKIN: senior MANA POOL: 035 / 035 MANA REGEN: 05 IC / 10 OOC
SPELLS
N/A
NOTES
WORD COUNT: 1,255 TOTAL WC: 1,255 TAG(S):Dante Wilhelm
Post by Dante Wilhelm on Feb 4, 2022 3:03:08 GMT -5
Dante awakened from his slumber by the sound of incessant knocking at his door. "Who the fuck is that?" he angrily mumbled, hand rubbing at his eyes as he groggily made his way to his door. Today was supposed to be his day off, one that he planned to spend sleeping in until the later afternoon given that he had spent all of yesterday running around doing missions to make up for lost time. He was exhausted and felt that that warranted being able to catch up on some sleep before getting back into his training routine but it was clear that fate had other plans for him today.
Opening the door, he was somewhat surprised to see Lustian on the other side, fully dressed in workout gear. "Lustian? It's like 9 in the morning, what did you want?" he asked, stifling a yawn behind one of his hands. Upon hearing his proposal, Dante couldn't help but find himself intrigued and a bit excited. Being granted access to use one of the special training rooms in the Wilhelm estate would be a great step in helping Dante in his bid to gain strength. He wanted to eventually be able to join the royal knights' squad, wanting the prestige that came with it as it meant that none of his dissenters would be able to look down on him anymore. He would finally get recognition and acknowledgment from the other members of the Wilhelm family; not just his parents and cousin. "Sure I'll be up for it. Let me go and get ready and I'll meet you downstairs in about 20 minutes."
Closing his door, Dante moved to gather a set of training clothes for the day, choosing something that would allow him to maintain his maneuverability while still remaining airy. Even though it was still winter currently, it shouldn't be an issue as they would be working inside, most likely in the basement if he guessed correctly. Growing up, Dante had visited the Wilhelm estate fairly frequently whenever his mother had any sort of business that concerned the family or if she were ever summoned to appear. She had taken him along with her as she wanted him to get the chance to play with his cousins and other family members though that didn't go as well as she had hoped. The teasing and snide words that he had been subjected to had reached a point where Dante had refused to go with her, only attending when his presence was specifically called for which was rare. He had been much more content exploring the woods around his local house, observing some of the animal species there than subjecting himself to the vitriol that some of the members of his family made whenever his mother wasn't around or even to her for her choice in marriage.
Entering into the carriage, he greeted both Lustian as well as Alessi as they were off, heading towards the Wilhelm estate. As they made their way through the streets, Dante grabbed some of the snacks that Alessi had been kind enough to stock up for the pair knowing their appetites. He hadn't had a chance to grab any breakfast from the kitchen back at the Golden Dawn headquarters so he made sure to eat a decent amount though nothing heavy as he didn't want to deal with an upset stomach since he expected to be running around. It was as he was eating that Lustian decided to ask their cousin if she didn't mind giving a more in-depth description of the magical training array. Dante also turned to look at the older woman since he was also curious about this and it left him wondering what other sorts of secrets were hidden within the Wilhelm estate. "I practically grew up there and I never even heard so much as a whisper about his after all."
As she spoke, Dante almost opened his mouth to ask what sort of issues Alessi was going through but quickly thought better of it, masking the action by taking a bit from a muffin. It was clear that whatever it was, she didn't want to talk about and it would be rude of him to ask if she didn't want to share. He wouldn't like it very much if he was in her place after all so he should respect her boundaries. Given that Lustian didn't seem surprised to hear about it, he guessed it was a bit of an open secret or had been spoken about by members of the family. He was largely out of the loop regarding family rumors since no one really wanted to speak about such things around him and he didn't make an effort to be around them, to begin with, it was no wonder that he was out of the loop regarding some things.
"Of course Lord Wilhelm. This one will endeavor to put on a good show so that you may enjoy yourself." he said in a bit of a haughty tone, bowing at the waist towards Lustian before releasing a cackling laugh. Seeing how annoyed he grew at being addressed by his title, Dante felt that it would be his mission for the rest of the day to be as irritating as possible; if only to get some payback for having been awoken so early in the morning. Just because he was happy to be included in this opportunity, didn't mean that he wasn't going to be an annoying little shit. He had never really gotten to interact or have fun with any fellow children until Lustian had arrived back at the mansion, after which he had been so scared that he would be chased off by the terror twins that he had been reserved in his dealings with him. Once he had seen that Lustian wasn't going to abandon him, Dante had taken the opportunity to open up to his cousin leading to their current dynamic which made things much more fun in his opinion . Turning back to Alessi now that he was done heckling Lustian (for now anyway), he decided to ask the question that had been on his mind as she described the room. So when you say that it brings games to come to life, what exactly do you mean by that? Like I have an idea about what that could mean but I'm not 100% sure if it's correct." He wasn't worried about being hurt or anything, being born a dwarf meant that he was much more resilient than "normal" people so it would take a lot to be able to hurt him, something that worked itself well with his fighting style as a berserker. "Although I'm sure that was taken into account when building this room given the fact that it was built by dwarves with them using it in mind."
Post by Lustian Wilhelm on Feb 12, 2022 23:44:39 GMT -5
"You know I hate it when you guys do that," Lustian stated as he slouched deeper into his seat with an overly exasperated sigh. He truly did hate the formalities of nobility he had to display know, sure he knew them but such things had always been his least enjoyed interest. At least when he had to physically attend such things in public spaces. It was draining, so many formalities, so much careful treading along fine lines of does and don'ts. At the very least he figured if he had to put on such an act then perhaps it would be better suited to battering, smoothing, ass-kissing, anything to actually get something entertaining out of it, or at the very least some coin. Having to do it for the sake of nothing but formalities was damn draining. The last thing he wanted to do was to have to put on such a performance to those around him he considered close. Hell, it was one of the reasons he joined the Golden Dawn, especially considering those were the only two he knew his caretakers were in favor of themselves. At least when it came to Lustian's prodigal talents. Though Golden Dawn was some of the best of the best, especially in the public eye which Lustian also enjoyed, purely for the sake of vanity, he had also learned that such things became draining, and he hoped to find the few or many ilks of like-minded individuals willing to drop such hubris and posh behavior. Of course, as Magick KNight, Noble, and now an heir such things could only be by trusted individuals and so far they and the Captain were the only people of whom he felt comfortable doing such in the presence of.
Even though these thoughts bubbled inside of him, he decided to tick in the direction of just harmless teasing, after all, that's all it was and he knew they held no ill will in their words. He rolled his eyes and smiled, moving the ivory fabric curtain above the window to his right. He gripped the cloth in hand and moved it slightly, glancing through the glass window, letting a ray of light dance upon his skin, from here now he could see the mountains coming upon them, things that were once mountain peaks were now hill they were coming upon, stone roads leading up few pathways in between the mountain. Upon crossing through two large hills, filled with stone statues of dwarves, pickaxes. It was then that Alessia decided to speak to the two of them again, following up on Dante's question. "A game as in something that with a set of rules and actions one is allowed to take, but with enough free reign for one's actions to directly influence it. Something that can either be enjoyable, frustrating, or in my case terrifying." Alessia seemed to look off to nowhere in particular, as if she were looking to something in the distance. Though soon she seemed to snap back into her usual demeanor, her shoulders relaxed, and a small forced smile appeared on her face. "Don't worry, I'm sure you two will enjoy the experience to some degree. At the very least, I believe it should be of some benefit to the two of you." Her smile grew wider, and Lustian couldn't tell if this was something that was worth the hassle anymore, especially because these games she spoke of sounded more like torture than an actual explanation.
The rustle of the carriage became smoother as the earth ground was perfectly flat, made with a multitude of folded layers of horizontal earth, like layers of paper smushed together into tight bundles helped create a smooth and even street that was unassuming to most, however, as one ran, road horses, flew or galloped they'd fine themselves being directed toward the house with ease through the mountain roads, the horses turning faster and more precise the same went for their brooms and wheels of any carriage. It was a simple explanation for it, after all, there were small runes etched within the earthen folds a form of supplementary magic that helped boost one's control, and when mixed into the steady and strong realm of earth magic it became a very potent tool. One of which the Wilhelm's used in spades, especially to help them work alongside the flow of the natural mana in the area. However, the usage of such runes required not only just a little bit of mana but those of the Wilhelm bloodline. It was because of this that these runes didn't work on the ordinary civilian unless a Wilhelm was with them. It could make the pathways confusing or annoying to navigate and often led to one having to spend much more time on the roads. It was, for this reason, it took those not from the Wilhelm family considerably more time to traverse the journey to the gates of the family home, entering down the stone pathway.
Eventually, they came upon a large stone gate, made of what seemed to be almost that of gray brick. Golden railings lined the top of the wall. Guards stationed outside of it. The walls were 14 meters tall and 6 meters thick, and when one passed through golden lines would light the archway of the wall until it came to an end of two large wooden doors, ornate in design through the use of metallic ore, 3 guards stood in front, one on either side and one in the middle. All outfitted with armor it was simple leather hide, lightweight, and easy to move around with gold plating and the Wilhelm coat of arms on the left upper chest. The same was held by all three Wilhelm in the cart in some form or fashion. For Lustian, it was engraved on the front of his white shirt. In all gold fabric only about 4 inches in size close to his inner chest, on the left toward his heart, the shape of a pickaxe crossing a pointed staff within a shield. Whereas the family's house crest was that of a pickaxe and hammer that was within his inner right sleeve. Lustian eventually began to sit upright within the carriage as they made their way closer to the gate entrance. The carriage came to a small crawl, and Lustian pulled back the curtain on the carriage, he flashed a smile and made sure his insignia could be shown, although they knew he was the heir such formalities and politics were still expected to be upheld, even more so as a higher member of the family. He made sure his insignias could be seen within the window, the guards were switched out every week, it was always good for them to all began to learn the names and faces of those who arrived. Although all of them had been working there for a decade, Lustian figured they had enough time to learn who he was, on the plus side at least most of them were of a broad size and easy on the eyes. They gave a nod of approval within their armored helmets. Staff in hand they'd tap them on the crowd three times and the wooden gate behind would slowly upon. The guards moved to either side of the cart and soon, the trio was being led onto the ground of the estate.
The estate was nestled inside of an opening of a mountain, carved out by the family ages ago, it was formally an area that they had mined, most of the acreage previously being giant pieces of magical ore, one that helped sustain the dwarven miners for ages, one that helped them become a giant in wealth with one large family of miners leading at the top, one whose linage will flow back into the same miners who assisted throughout the merchants and throughout the years all of those children would come to bear the surname; Wilhelm. The mountain peak was lush with natural flora, and the Wilhelm did their utmost to preserve most of it. The estate was surrounded by a forest, with a ravine toward its back, this ravine lead to the very depths of the mountain, an area just above where the mines sat that the Wilhelm family mind their magical ore, much of their infrastructure being reinforced with that same ore, malleable, sturdy and natural conductors of natural mana. It was because of this that most of the dwarves in the family adept at feeling natural mana could also more accurately pinpoint the ore when mining.
The snow began to trickle down onto the estate, it littered the marble pathway that led through swaths of green and brown on both sides of the carriage, courtesy of the shrubbery that adorner the estate, the twilight sky cast light shades of rosy pinks, violet, and a variety of blue hues throughout the sky, the lining of the mountain in the horizon glowed a bright blue that was almost white in shade, that bounced of the snow-white clouds above, and the freshly fallen snow that overtook this side of the clover kingdom the morning of their travel. As the carriage continued down a long stone pathway that shaped itself in the form of a square around an elegant courtyard. It moved gracefully through the estate, the occasional person could be seen walking about in debonair clothing, fabrics made out of high-quality material, some in bigger clothing while others in smaller articles that had been enchanted with warmth weaved into them. Misty swifts of mist from their breathing could be seen on occasion. A testament to the freezing temperature the top of the mountain was currently at. The lakes in the courtyard had frozen over, although the well in the middle of the courtyard still flower with moving water, water that was seemingly enchanted to resist such temperatures. Snow-covered the shrubbery near the small pounds, alongside their stone pathway to give it color. The frozen lakes could occasionally be seen with someone ice skating atop the frozen ponds with bladed boots. These six ponds were separated by stone pathways, that also had no snow on them, seemingly also not affected by the weather. Which led to stairs up toward the sidewalk, the same road the trio had now been on, their carriage turned the corner, coming to rest at the front of the Wilhelm Estate. A large 3 story building counting the roof, though in truth it was five stories with two of the floors being dedicated as basements that led to the openings in the mine and the inner mountain they sit atop of.
A large statue is set on a podium on the front of the estate grounds. The stature held the visage of a man with a spiked hammer made of marble and gold that glow with a radiance free of any snow. Upon exiting the carriage, Lustian, Dante and Alessia would find their way walking up a set of white stone stairs. The section around the door is all white marble, and white stone, with golden ornate designs decorating the window, and the molding of the building itself. It stood more considering the sides of the building led to what seemed to be a traditional brick wall, with white windows and banisters. The building held multiple chimneys and many one-story buildings that stretched from the sides of it. One would find that even though they were surrounded by a forest at the top of the mountain that the majority of the estate was actually occupied by the estate building itself. Though it had spatial magic inside, it was still one of the largest estates in terms of external building in size in the Clover Kingdom that one often wondered just how many family members dwelled within.
The trio would make their way into the estate, Lustian placed his hand against the large wooden door. Pressing gently against it, the family crest would begin to glow on the door in the shape of golden light, the doors would part revealing the foremost hallway of the estate. They were treated to the estate, wooden cornsilk-colored walls, with tussock accents, and its Santos mahogany wooden floors. Ample lanterns of torches lit the walls, contained in steel cases, enchanted to light and keep the flame ablaze, once the sun fell. It was because of this that the halls of the estate always seemed to buzz a light. If one wanted darkness it was best spent inside their room, and it was also because of this reason that when Lustian would use his sensory prowess to sneak out at night, often having to dodge other family members on nightly strolls for whatever reason. Thankfully many of the sleeping quarters held their own wash area alongside it. Though Lustian was now tempted to head to his room to have a nice long scalding hot bath it wasn't him leading the charge to where they were going. No, that role was held by Alessia, and it was she who he strode in front of them with a brisk pace. It didn't help that out of all of them Alessia was undoubtedly the fastest. She moved at least twice the speed they had. Especially due to the fact that much like her earth magic she was shockingly fast. Today she wore her usual outfit of black and orange, and a tan winter coat, that she soon would hand off to a servant of the family as they reached an opening in the hallway with a high ceiling and glittering chandelier made out of a multitude of gems. Lustian handed off his white coat as well, as it seemed they wouldn't be heading outside anytime soon.
The entryway they were in now was circular, it always had a couple of servants by on standby to direct someone down one of the long 5 halfways that branched from this room as the main center point. Lustian was tempted toward the center the 2nd half to the right, to make his way past the kitchen, or rather to make a stop through the kitchen then further down the hallway and to the left where it was only then another 10-minute walk until he made his way to the second floor and in his room. Where he could relax on his soft mattress and let the worries of the world melt away for but a mere moment. Instead, he went down the hallway to the left of the center. After about 5 minutes of walking past portraits of family members, businesses, and milestones of the family, they had come to a large wall with a single door. Although anyone who had been a family member, especially one of whom was familiar with the family trade would've known what this spot in the estate was. Behind this door, the look and feel of the family went less from the appearance of regal and high-class nobility and more to that of the hard-working family members they were at their core. Past this door is often where Lustian liked to spend most of his time when not in his room, it was the area where most of the miners gathered. Whether they were Wilhelm family members or members of branch families, and though most of those who worked in this area were dwarven ancestry and the occasional human could be found in the mix.
Alessia pushed upon the door and as she did Lustian could feel himself physically relax, his back was still straight but his way of walking became laxer, he undid some of the buttons on his shirt to let his body breathe, as once he entered behind the door, he found himself instantly warming. After all, though the outskirts of the estate were freezing cold, this estate had been built with maintaining internal heart, much of its building structure was made with methods to trap heat. In addition to the dwarven runes that were etched into the wood and stone of the estate itself. However, this room held some of the most heat-based enchants. Although as one would progress deeper into the mines below, the heat runes would become less and less, some say its because the process of installing all of the heart runes is slow and steady work, as changing the temperature of the mines and mountain too fast can damage the growth and development of magical ore, and as such, they take their time doing so, and others think it's a way to keep the more experienced miners at a higher caliber. Having their bodies having to constantly adjust and class again the biting cold of the mountain. especially in the winter.
Lustian found himself following behind Alessia, once more and decided to make light conversation. "So I take it this secret training room is somewhere in the mines, huh? I mean I guess that makes sense, but it's not too deep is it? Are we going to be training in the colds of the mountain?" Lustian asked questingly he wasn't sure what kind of training this was yet, but considering Alessai's earlier comment, Lustian wasn't sure just how torturous and arduous a task this training was going to be. The painted walls and mahogany wood no longer were in use once one passed through the door into the mining area. Instead, they'd be treated to the sight of stone walls. and floors made of the teak no doubt in order to compensate for a large amount of sweat that would hit these floors from the hard-working miners. The floor was kept polished with natural oils and often restored with magic, to help it better absorb the sweat and the natural energy in it to revitalize and harness it. It was because of this that the floors were extremely durable, and the flooring of this room was often said to be known as the "floor of hardship" the floor itself bristled with natural aura, and it was because of this Lustian had always felt a strong sense of pride and strength when walking these halls. It gave him a rush each time he walked upon them, his mind felt clearer and his body had always felt like it was ready to get a good workout. It was both calming and motivating. Alessia laughed at the comments as she walked, "No, thankfully the training room is really cozy, so9metimes. It's honestly the only thing that kept me sane... Although there will be a pinch of cold."
Walking to the left they had come upon a litter of rooms, these rooms were nothing more than simply resting rooms, small beds, saunas, and showers for one to change and relax before going back down to the mines. After 15 minutes of walking, they finally made their way to a set of stairs, these stairs went down in a spiral, and they were made of stone and ebony wood. Glowing runes ran along the wall, an enchantment to help solidify and balance the structure itself. Thankfully many of the runes in the structures throughout the mines had runes etched into them that doubled as a good light source. Although deeper sections of the mines actively interfered with the runes due to the pure amount of magical ore within. As such it was often recommended to take one of the enchanted lamps at the end of the long staircase they had come down. It took another 15 minutes of simply walking down before they came to a stone hall, that held 8 doors similar to an octagonal shape between them, all of them were number with a dwarven rune, From the front of the staircase, Alessia grabbed one of the enchanted lanterns lining the wall and led the trio to the door all the way 360 degrees of where they once were. Moving over one door to the right the door would read the words "Restricted" in ancient dwarven. Most of the doors behind the staircase led to deeper parts of the mines. As such only certain experienced family members were allowed behind them.
Alessia reached for the doorknob and as she did the doorknob began to glow, as she let go the doorknob turned to allow them in, the symbol of the Wilhelm family shinning on the door itself as it swung open slowly. Behind it the stone pathway continued downward until it led to a minecart and mineshaft, Alessia hoped inside the enchanted mine cart and gestured to Lustian and Dante to do the same. Considering the cart was 3 meters in width it was enough to hold all of them. Thankfully to their knowledge the carts were enchanted to move forward as long as one directed it with their magic, much like a magic broom except this one didn't fly and stayed glued to tracks that lined the grown, made of steel and runes that helped with friction reduction and magnetism. Alessia turned the two of the young Wilhelm boys and spoke, "I guess it's evidently clear that I'll be driving, and before you both inevitably ask, yes I know where I'm going."
Alessia willed the mining cart to head forward, the speed of the cart often could be "increased" depending on the control of one's mana, and the skill they had with it. When it came to Alessia using her magic on the said cart the thing shot off like an arrow being loosed from a bow. Lustian found himself gripping the side of the mining cart to stand straight and brace himself against the wind friction that had assaulted his body. His hair whipped back and he found his lips parting from the influx of air as if he was pushing his broom to the limit when flying. His eyes wanted a bit before he was finally able to get a firm stance, placing his hand over his eyes to keep the air from assaulting them any further. Lustian found himself beginning to enjoy the rush of the fast-moving cart. He let out a holler of laughter. Alessia went down a straight tunnel before turning to the right at a fork in the tracks, the mining cart simply shifting in the direction with simple direction whether that be given through command or one mana control. 5 minutes into the fork in the road she hit a quickly left once entering a crossroads, the oak beams that lined the mines and lanterns slopped downward as did the tracks consistently do in what seemed like a box formation for a while as they continued making consistent lefts for another 10 minutes. They would come to a long pathway and soon Lustian, Dante, and Alessia would get the sensation that they were falling if not strangely slowly even in at the speed they raced throughout the mines, the mines would open up into a large dark cavern barely lit by runic wooden beams, Few lanterns adorned the walls and the oak wood turned to that of ebony wood that seemed to only add to the dark air of the pathway to the training room, the tracks runes being one of the only consistent sources of light as they made their trip.
"We're almost there," Alessia muttered to them both. Lustian didn't know where they were now, but according to the sign 5 miles back that leaped from the runes and seemed to be understood regardless of one knew ancient dwarven or not seemed to echo in the back of his mind with the words "Restricted" usually restricted runes had the adverse effect of a small sensory hex attached to them, one that often made one get confused, or deterred them away from the areas. That was unless one had permission from the higher-ups in the family like the family leader. Or now in their case the three of them, the heir, his cousins, one of whom he requested to join him as he was also a Magic Knight and could benefit from improving his abilities, not to mention bringing more limelight to the family as he was also Golden Dawn, regardless of their thoughts on him being a bastard the family figured he could be of some use, and though this was told to Lustian as harshly as he recalled the memory, he was grateful to have his cousin here but would spare him the insult of repeating why they allowed him to join, or rather the negative portions of it anyway. As for Alessia, she had already been to the training room before to deal with her trauma and had been granted access previously thanks to the church or gnomes leading hand in the family, and the fact that she was now charged with being Lustian guide and tutor, qualified them all, especially considering Alessia could work the training area array herself and could shut things down if things got too out of control. The mining cart came to a slowing halt, no beam adorned an opening the left of the wall. Nor did any tracks lead into the room, instead there was a simple opening in the mountain's stone walls, almost like that of a square hole. Alessia made her way out of the mining cart and then began to walk forward. Her lantern in hand, illuminating the cave walls as they seemed to expand further and further. Although as they walked down this eerie expanding black tunnel for 5 minutes Lustian couldn't help but feel a large source of natural mana coming upheld, deep within the dwelling darkness. "Well, this is damn eerie..." Lustian muttered, finding that even though they were now deeper into the mines, he felt... Serene and the touch of a tingling warmth from all around him.
WORD COUNT: 4,300 TOTAL WC: 5,555 TAG(S):Dante Wilhelm
Post by Dante Wilhelm on Feb 14, 2022 6:21:37 GMT -5
Dante felt the grin on his face grow wider as Lustian expressed his distaste for his and Alessi's teasing. His reactions were what made it all the more enjoyable and Dante himself was a bit of a troll anyway. "Perhaps I should stop and leave him alone" Dante considered before an impish grin blossomed on his face, "Nah. This is way more fun." he thought before opening his mouth. "You shouldn't slouch like that dear cousin, it is unbecoming of someone of your station. An heir is supposed to remain pristine and proper at all times after all" he stated before cackling loudly. His speaking on proper heir behavior reminded Dante of his observations of how some of the heirs and nobles acted. He was glad that Lustian's personality hadn't changed and become more stuck up like the rest of those that he had seen around the city or even with some of the members of the Golden Dawn squad. If he had ended up changing, Dante didn't think that he would have had a desire to be in his company anymore which would make things rather awkward since he was one of the few members of the Wilhelm family that he enjoyed being around.
Of course, for all his teasing, the universe decided that Lustian deserved to have some payback of sorts. The carriage passed over either a rock or some kind of hole in the road just as Dante was about to take a sip of juice from his cup, causing the liquid to splash up onto his face and enter into his nose, sending him into a coughing fit. "What the hell man" he managed to get out in-between attempts at clearing his airways and blindly reaching for a napkin to clear his face. Thankfully Alessi decided to take pity on his struggles and hand him one, allowing him to wipe his face and eyes before clearing out his sinuses. "Thank you Alessi" he stated before morosely looking down at his coat ad the stains that dotted around the collar as well as down the front somewhat. Grabbing another napkin, he began trying to clean up his clothing, blotting at the liquid in hopes of soaking any excess liquid before it could set any deeper into the fabric "This was a brand new coat too. I hope it doesn't leave a stain..."
In the meantime, Lustian seemed to have gotten over the ribbing from the two of them and elected to open the curtain of the carriage, allowing a ray of sunlight to stream in and dance across his skin. Taking the opportunity to glance outside, Dante noted that he could see the mountains that housed the Wilhelm estate in the distance as they passed by statues of dwarves and pickaxes that signaled their distance. Alessi chose that moment to speak up, answering his previous question about the type of games they could expect upon entering the training room. "I see. That's good to know at least. I was thinking of something more literal like along the lines of some weird extreme game of tag or the floor is lava. he stated in an effort to change the heavy atmosphere that had accompanied Alessi's sudden mood shift. He wasn't planning on prying into it since she was making an effort to act as if nothing was wrong but he wondered if these "games" had anything to do with it or if they had simply reminded her of something from her past. "I hope that I don't get traumatized from this training.
Since they had arrived on Wilhelm territory, the carriage ride had become far smoother than their trip up here. That was a given as Dwarves were some of the best crafters in the country and since the Wilhelm family was one of the high noble families, they couldn't very well let their roadways fall into disrepair. It would be highly embarrassing and something that the other noble families wouldn't hesitate to slander them with, especially the Silva family as they didn't have a good relationship with that family. Dante himself wasn't really sure what had occurred to sour relations between the two families but there had been a silent fued going on between them for as long as he remembered, something that happened before he was even born. He didn't put much stock into it, seeing it as wasted energy though if any members of the Silva family decided to heckle him or be rude in general, he would be sure to respond in kind if only so that they didn't get any ideas of him being an easy target for their vetrol and dislike. He already dealt with that enough from certain members of the family and didn't need it from an outside source as well.
Arriving outside the stone gate, Dante began to mentally prepare himself. He hadn't been back at the estate in the few months as he preferred to either remain at the Golden Dawn headquarters; in case any missions arose or he was needed for anything, or he was at his parents household given the fact that his father wasn't really all that welcome at the estate. Dante himself was only really tolerated at best and that was only because he showed promise in magic ability with the head of the family seeing a use for him. He was honestly surprised that Lustian had been granted permission to bring him along into the training room, especially since it was something that was only used by the more elite members of the family. "Maybe Alessi helped with convincing grandfather that this would be a fruitful endeavor." he thought as they moved past the gate and soon parked just outside the front door. Glancing down at his coat again, he shifted things around, trying to cover up the stains that were still somewhat visible on the fabric before adopting a blank face and exiting out, following after Lustian and Alessi into the manor.
Upon entering, Alessi moved forward to take the lead and set off at a brisk pace leaving the two younger dwarves to keep up. Dante quickly began to speed walk, silently cursing the older woman in his mind while fruiitlessly hoping that she would at least slow down somewhat. "How does she even move that fast!? I know that she's stronger than us but this seems to be a bit excessive! She's not even doing in on purpose, this is just her normal walking speed!" Dante internally lamented as they passed by the lanterns mounted into the walls. Of course, just as they were about to reach the opening of the hallway, Dante noticed Alexis and Alexander's father Atticus walking in the opposite direction. Dante didn't attempt to bring any attention to himself as he knew that the older man held contempt towards him and wouldn't waste the opportunity to express his dislike of him for whatever imagined slight that he found. This ended up being for not as Atticus noted the stains on his coat and sneer in disgust before continuing on his way, soon making his way out of the door leaving Dante to do nothing more than clench his fist in anger.
Handing his coat to the servant, he asked if they could attempt to wash out the stains from his coat for him. He wasn't sure how long they would be in the training room but he was sure that there should be enough time for them to remove them especially since he had gotten most of the liquid out in the carriage before they arrived. He continued to silently follow behind, moving past the portraits of past heads of the families as they moved towards the room that Dante was aware where the miners gathered. He hadn't really visited this area of the estate that much, mostly being regulated to his room or being escorted around to certain rooms whenever he visited. Of course, he also spent a lot of time in the courtyard, admiring the statue of the founder set out there carrying the spiked hammer weapon. Growing up, he had wanted to get his own hammer weapon and had expressed that desire only to be ridiculed and demeaned by others for daring to compare himself to their founder. "A bastard could never hope to match his greatness." those had been the words spewed at him but even now he still carried a torch for a hammer weapon. "Maybe I can find a blacksmith who'll make me one."
The group would then enter into another room where Dante immediately felt the temperature rising up by few degrees. He wasn't really bothered by it much as with his lava magic, his body had adjusted to being around such large heat sources. Glancing at his cousin, he noted that Lustian appeared to be somewhat affected by the heat as he had taken to unbutton some of the buttons of his shirt. As he was making note of the heating runes scattered around the room, Lustian decided to start up a conversation, asking the question that had been on Dante's mind once he saw where exactly they were headed. He might not have been allowed into this part of the estate but that didn't mean he was completely ignorant of what was around here. "It would make sense to keep the training room in the mines. Less of a chance of any damage being down to the estate while also giving access to a high magic area and earth to manipulate with their spells."[/i\] he thought, once again not thinking too much on Alessi's words. He was learning more about her the more he was in her company and it wasn't painting a pretty picture of her mental health for him.
At the opening of yet another door; and how many more would they have to go through honestly, he was getting bored of all this traveling, he was greeted with the entrance in the mines with a cart situated as if waiting for them. "Well I would assume that you would know where we're going otherwise what would be the point of being here." he muttered under his breath in a sassy tone, voice echoing a bit louder than he would have normal thought in the cavern. His face reddened a bit at that and he moved to hurriedly enter into the cart and waiting for the other two to enter being the cart shot out like an arrow sending him tumbling back a bit. He tried to memorize the paths that the were taking but it was hard for him to even keep his eyes open with the speed they were going. Giving up on that, he decided to simply enjoy the ride, letting out some whoops and cheers before gripping the side of the cart when a sudden turn almost sent him tumbling out of the cart into the darkness below. He didn't want to test his dwarven durability in this way or embarrass himself before he even got a chance to see the training room.
"Just how deep are we going?" he asked out loud to Alessi. He had never considered just how deep the mines went, simply knowing that they went into the mountains but now he found himself curious to know. There were also fewer lanterns the deeper that they went which seemed to be a bit counterproductive to him. One would think that they would want to make sure that it was properly lite for the workers but perhaps there was a specific reason for this that he was unaware of. He was aware though that they had made numerous left turns and couldn't begin but feel that they were going in a circle or perhaps square would be more accurate a term. It was a weird way to build the mines but perhaps they had done so due to more ores being found in that direction as opposed to a more straight forward way. "Regardless, I just hope that this trip doesn't take much longer. It already feels like it's been half an hour since we first arrived just to get to this point and we still have to get to the training room itself."
They ended up passing a sign written in what Dante assumed to be ancient dwarven but that he knew to mean "restricted". He wasn't sure how he understood the sign since he didn't know ancient dwarven but it probably had something to do with runework. "That's a bit disconcerning." He wasn't sure how he felt about something being able to influence his mind like that without him even realiing that he was being influenced. It stood to reason that if his family had access to runes that worked for that than it was possible that other persons in the clover kingdom could do the same and not all of them would be friendly. He would have to look into getting something that worked against illusions or affected the senses as a precaution though he was also curious about what was used to determine if they had permission to be here and what would happen to anyone who managed to make it this far as well. It probably wouldn't be anything pleasant if he had to guess though he doubted it would kill them or cause grevious injury. After all, the higher ups would no doubt be curious to interrogate them of what they were doing here and how they managed to get this far in the first place and one couldn't interrogate the dead, at least to his knowledge you couldn't.
Finally arriving at their location, Dante couldn't help but feel somewhat letdown by it's appearance. He had expected something a bit more grandstanding as far as an entrance but instead it was a simple square hole opening. Sighing, he followed after Alessi, moving through the dark corridor. "Yeah, makes you think something is going to jump out at you from the darkness." Dante stated before letting out a yelp as he tripped over a stray rock, banging his knee. "Gnome damnit!" Thankfully it was just an ache and not something more serious that could prevent him from being able to train. Sighing again after checking on his knee, Dante rose to his feet and continued on, silently praying that there wouldn't be a longer walk after this.
Post by Lustian Wilhelm on Feb 18, 2022 0:17:10 GMT -5
As Lustian, Dante and Alessia walked through the dark cavern the small golden light would slowly expand, eventually the trio would have to cover their eyes as they adjusted to the light when they came upon a large opening about 4 acres in size. The room was perfectly square in shape as if it had been man-made, along the walls pieces of magical ore twinkled along the walls like a gorgeous night sky. The room was almost ethereal in appearance, the floor would slowly but surely shift from what was just rock and brownstone into what seemed to be a material made out of pure obsidian. When Lustian took notice, Alessia would quickly explain to the two Wilhelm boys "The floors and walls are made out of pure obsidian, the walls are natural obsidian rich with magical ore that the family decided we shouldn't mine, alongside the fact that trying to break through this magical obsidian is well... Incredidibly hard unless you were something of an archmage like the one who built it."
As the trio took steps along the obsidian ground they see that it was made out of multiple square tiles these tiles of which brilliantly glowed with a pure white light that was underneath it, the temperature in the room had slowly shifted from being cold to an unmistakable warmth that flowed through the trio. The place was rich with natural mana and for the two dwarven boys, it would overtake them, smother them, and coddle them as if they were wrapped in a blanket. The place felt like Lustian had stepped into what most referred to as a Mana Zone, but he knew that wasn't the case as they took steps further in for the two of them, it would feel like a weight was slowly pushing down on them, as if the very gravity or rather mana had become so dense it became harder to move. However, as they walked Lustian knew could feel that this man wasn't hostile or invasive, at least not yet. No, the mana felt as if it was gesturing them closer as if they were coming increasingly closer to the center of whatever was the source of this strong mana flow. Lustian's natural affinity for sensing mana seemed to turn inward on itself, flowing every which direction to the point when he tried to sense the mana on the area with the extreme focus he did nothing but overwhelm himself, giving himself a slight headache in the process. Alessia took a moment to speak to them again once she noticed that happened. "The mana in here is all over the place, the natural mana twist and coils like nothing else, like dragons dancing in the sky. Trying to impose your own will onto it is like smashing your head against the sea, it'll get you nowhere, and obviously, if you do manage to hit something it usually hurts."
Lustian groaned in displeasure, as hitting his head against the ground is exactly what his head felt like "That would've been nice to know beforehand." He stated as he gripped his forehead, massaging the temples hoping that it would do something to better accommodate the dizzying pain that was now encroaching on his senses. Still, with one eye closed from the pain, he starred forward with the other, slowly putting one foot in front of the other as Alessia trailed in front of them. Eventually, the pain would subside but it would be at least 5 minutes. The obsidian ground felt warm to the touch, and Lustian could feel the mana radiating beneath his feet, it was like a volcano waiting to erupt, yet Lustian didn't feel the slightest bit of discouragement as he walked across the tiles. Perhaps it was Alessia calmly strolling in front of him that did the trick and made it so that he felt safe, or perhaps it was the room itself, either way, he couldn't tell and took it as a sign to continue to move forward.
Eventually, the trio's eyes would land on another bright spot in the square cavern, and as his eyes slowly began to focus the shape of the magical training formation would take root. Six obsidian beams from the ground to the top of the ceiling of the cavern could be seen. The beams were as black as night, just like the rest of the obsidian in the room, with the exception that it had what appeared to be ornate designs of golden eastern dragon bodies wrapping around them. As they grew closer, Lustian had noticed the scales of the dragons glowed with ancient dwarven runes, and as his eyes adjusted the ground beneath him he noticed spaces within the gapes of white light from beneath them, no doubt believing that runes were placed also beneath the obsidian tiling itself. At the top of the cavern encased within the obsidian, beams rested canopies of thin white fabric, and etched within them rested even more runes. Lustian figured that this was the magical training arrays center and that the rest of the room was simply open space for the area. In front of them rested a white curtain made out of the same rune-laced fabric they had seen draped from the ceiling. Above the curtain heads of the dragons could be seen coiling into one another until the middle where the visage of a dragon's open mouth could be seen. On the outside of the beams golden statues of western dragons sat, they were in multiple different shapes and forms. Some had barbed tails, some had wings open, some had longer talons, or smaller eyes, different shaped scales, webbed feet, etc. The number of changes in the dragons seemed to go on and on, as did the amount of them as Lustian glanced around at the areas outside of the beams. Although all of the dragons had one thing in common; their mouths were open. A small set of 5 stairs set in front of the curtain and a cloud of smoke seemed to bellow out from the space between the curtain and stares, wafting past the first set of podiums on the left and right side.
For what purpose this open space existed Lustian had no clue but he figured Alessia would give them answers soon enough, and to his credit, he was correct in such an assumption. Walking between the beams the runes seemed to dance, the tops of the obsidian tiles would glow, taking in their footprints and small mirror images laced in gold and white would appear on the obsidian beneath them in place of their shadows. As this happened the trio would begin to feel the natural mana in the area slowly seep into their bodies. They stopped within the middle of the training array before Alessia spoke. "You two wait here I have to activate it. I know you have questions so bear with me while I get everything going and answer them. Don't worry, I'm a great multitasker." Alessia spoke with a forced cheer in her tone, though Lustian ignored it, as it had been a consistent thing ever since the trip to the place had begun. She took a deep breath as she walked a few feet in front of them, walking toward the stairs and billowing smoke. She ran her hands across the white runic fabric, and as she did golden lines would trail from where she touched it. She moved her hands drawing the basic outline of the crest of the family onto the left side of the curtain and the coat of arms onto the right, before stepping back. A circle overtook both crests before gold slowly started to expand around the same curtain, and as they looked the curtain seemed to become almost solid gold, yet it still held the same soft textured appearance as before. Alessia turned to the two Wilhelm boys and spoke once again, "Welcome to House Wilhelm's: Dragon Ichor Training Array," Alesia stated this with a smile, her hands on her hips in a triumphant stance. she spread her hands open and the curtain seemed to shimmer before it fell down in a splash of what looked like gold liquid. It overtook the steps and her feat, paying seemingly no mind to her, as it flowed down the stairs and seeped into the gaps of obsidian tiles, coating the once brilliant white with a bright gold color that caused the room to shine and light up like a yule festival tree.
The former curtain now turned golden liquid seemed to stop after while leaving Lustian stunned in silence, curious as to what the hell was going on. "Well come on up here, first steps first you do this to initiate the training array, sort of like starting it up, or giving your broom that initial amount of mana to make it float. Next commands to commands that make it move, or fly." Alessia moved toward the middle of the steps, and from it, golden liquid that was leftover pulled into a circle, a puddle of golden liquid. She bit her thumb, stretching her finger over it, and let a bit of blood drop down into it. The golden liquid seemed to churn and boil with excitement before plunging upward, stretching itself into the shape of a podium with ancient dwarven runes etched at the top as it suddenly solidified in front of their eyes. "Put your hand on this podium, it'll sting a little, I meant not for me because I already offered my blood, but when you feel it prick your finger, pour some a little of your mana into it. Like so," Alessia stated as she put her hand on the podium, blood still dripping from her thumb that she had bitten. Resting her hand on top of the podium the appearance of her yellow mana flowed into the runes, lighting them up from their darker golden shade to even bright than the golden light flowing through the obsidian tiles. However, as she did this a surge of mana boomed through the cavern overtaking the runes with the same color of her mana before turning back into their original golden and white colors.
Lustian followed suit next, and as he did he felt a slight prick at his skin and could tell that he was bleeding, but it didn't feel like his blood was being drained, it was almost as if it had been licked up by the golden liquid, he poured a little of his mana into it as Alessia directed and much like Alessia he found the golden podium turn the same shade of his own golden mana before it fluctuated throughout the cavern. Next would be Dante and as he repeated the process the same would happen with his red mana, before the room went back to how it was before, sans the liquid curtain still being well... Liquid that had stained into the ground beneath the tiles. Alessia turned to them all, gesturing for them to move away from the podium after they were done. She turned to both of them, before speaking. "This podium is called the Dragon's Tongue, think of it as a sacrificial altar in a sense to get things going, though all it requires is a bit of blood from a Wilhelm family member for it to truly activate, as for anyone else it would still take their blood as an offering although the array wouldn't work unless one of the blood samples was from a living member of the family. You might have noticed your shadows look a bit weird right? Well, that's because they aren't shadows, their reflections of your mana, they just... Look like you, my guess is for aesthetic purposes. Which is why my "shadow" is bigger than yours." She stated with a smile, and as the two would take a glance at their shadows versus Alessia's they'd come to find her's was nearly 3 meters bigger in size.
She started talking again "I guess you could say this helps monitor your mana, which is just one portion of the training though it won't matter unless you go through the individual 'games', or rather it won't matter while you're in them. Now sit down and cross your legs, turn your palms outward and take some deep breaths as I start the first part of training. Oh, and just so you know this is going to hurt a lot, but don't worry the more you do the training the less pain you feel each time as your body adjusts." She started turning the podium.
A bead of sweat flowed down the side of Lustian's face, not from the heat but because of the mention of the pain which frightened him because he had always held a sneaking suspicion that Alesia was a sadist, so her idea of pain could be much greater than his own. He gulped, sitting down as he was told and crossing his legs, he turned to Dante and nodded his head, giving him a shaky thumbs-up before turning his palms outward and resting them at his knees. Alessia placed her hand on the podium and Lustian could feel as she poured mana into it once more. She swiped left harshly and quickly with a bit of force, and as she did the sound of a click could be heard, she turned around and the podium shivered, she met the Wilhelm boy's eyes and spoke again, "I won't be participating because well... Someone needs to supervise you two the first go around in case something goes wrong but just know I'm rooting for you both." She stated in a motherly tone.
Lustian, however at this point grew tired of her dancing around the information and decided to speak his mind about it. "Stop being so damn cryptic and just tell us what's going on already," he barked at her fist balled, but as he met Alessia angrily glaring eyes that had landed on him, he quickly gulped and apologized, "S-Sorry..." he muttered turning away from her gaze slightly. Alessia in turn sighed before speaking over her own accord.
"Well since you put it that way, I wanted it to be more immersive but fine whatever. The first part of the training is called 'Miners Journey' as you know we come from a family of miners, miners who made their fortune in this very mine. One of the stronger family members discovered this area, right on the back of an ancient dormant Volcano richer with natural mana and more than any other, rumor has it a dragon used to dwell within the volcano and when it perished it let its body seep into this very cavern. One of the archmages then took this cavern and outfitted it into the training room you see today. No one knows how, or why, or at the very least don't but this place's training area comes in three steps. 'Miners Journey' improves the physical body, 'Dragons Dream' which improves the mind, and Golden Spirit, which well improves the spirit or more accurately helps you connect your mind and body on a stronger level." She stated, waving her hand out in front of her pointing to the golden shadows that seemed to now wiggle and seep into tiled floors beneath them as they sat on the stone steps. Golden runes began to appear and slither like coiling snakes, they began to circle around both Lustian and Dante. As Alessia stated to them "Now, don't move and endure it all, you'll know when it's over."
As they sat still, the golden rules finished circling around their body leaving only 1 circle of golden runes around them, and from the golden liquid began to pool outward, slowly etching toward them. "This liquid is referred to as the 'golden ichor' the blood of the dragon that perished within these mines. Let it flow into you, don't resist it or it'll only take longer and will hurt more... Trust me." She said as her face went a little pale at whatever thought seemed to dance around in the forefront of her mind. As the liquid slowly seeped closer to Lustian it came to a stop just an inch away from his leg before it pounced upward in the form of whispy tendrils before stepping into his very veins. Lustian felt a surge of rushing mana, it was dense and heavy as the earth around them, but it had the feel of healing magic to him, and he felt his body being reinforced, although that only came in waves, no, as for healing and physical reinforcement isn't what he felt but for a moment before the magic seemed to feel more like a hex was being put on him, like his very body was being invaded by this foreign magic. The golden tendrils thrashed about, digging deeper into his very mana and skin, yet it left no wounds. Lustian screamed in pain, forcing himself to breath through it though doing such only seemed to make it worse. He didn't even both to try and sense what was going on with him for fear that he'd get another headache even worse than the one he had been privy to earlier.
After what seemed like an eternity to him but in reality, was only 5 minutes the pain drastically subsided, and he no longer felt strained or tired, instead, he felt a healing empowering warmth flowing through him, dwarven runes etched along his skin and Dante's skin in gold like tattoos even overlapping his already preexisting tattoos itself. He felt a burning warmth in the middle of his chest for a mere moment and when he looked down the symbol of the Wilhelm family crest resided there with a single circle around it. His breathing was ragged and heavy, and Lustian had found that Dante's was the same, even with their strong dwarven constitutions Lustian felt as if he had gone through some of the worst pains in his life, even worse than when he was a child starving and hungry, constantly assaulted by the weather and his body turning on itself. No, this was by far the worst pain he had endured thus far in his life, and he couldn't even imagine what it was like for Alesia who didn't have the same strengthened bodies as the two of them.
Alessia glanced down at the two Wilhelm boys, speaking softly as he did, clearly empathetic to the pain they were going through. "Don't worry you both did well, it took me 20 minutes for all of the golden ichor mana to flow through mana appropriately, but fear not it's for the best, because you guys acclimated to it so fast I'm sure you'll only need a few more minutes of rest, unlike the hour I did. Take your time, catch your breath and adjust to all the overflowing mana inside you, when you guys are ready we'll continue with the rest of the training. Oh, and before you two ask no that wasn't the training itself, it was just the preparation. The real training is much more difficult," She said with a nonchalant tone, shrugging as she did so. Lustian couldn't tell if she actually cared about the pain they were in now, or if she was just jealous that they felt what was probably significantly less than her, but either way, he didn't like this side of her. At times Lustian knew very well just how cruel his cousin could be, although she hid it well under her holy nun surface.
Alessia turned back to the podium and on it, she could see the images of two nondescript humanoid figures, only one was red and the other a slightly darker shade of gold than the podium itself. She gave a nod of approval to the images, before turning back to the boys who were still gaining their barring. "Now the training of the body, or rather Miners Journey is about physical capability, combat if you will. Right now you're both infected with magic that's essentially a mix of hex, healing, sensory, and physical reinforcement. The mana flowing through you is strengthening your body, and healing you slightly of any fatigue you may feel which is probably why now that the pain is gone you both feel like a million yul." She stated glancing over the two of them. Lustian wiped the sweat from his brow and found that she was, in fact, correct. As the pain had now vanished he felt the best he had ever felt in his entire life, but if that was the case he wondered why the training got so much more difficult. Alessia turned slightly to the podium, swiping upward on it with her fingers. As she did the cavern rumbled and golden ichor shot out from the tiled obsidian floor beneath them only sparring the stone steps in which they stood. The golden ichor would solidly itself into the shape of multiple trees, and what seemed to be a mountain in the distance. At the top of the mountain sat a small twinkling white light. "Your job for the first part of this training is to now get from her to the top of the mountain, be warned it's harder than you think, there will be obstacles and the journey is much longer than you'd expect. When you get to the top of the mountain you have to pry that gem out. Mind you each time you go through this training it will get progressively harder for each of the portions of 'the games'. Anyway, good luck and don't get too injured because that ichor flowing through you can only heal but so much. Taking too much damage means there's a very real chance you could get seriously injured or even die. There's a reason this training is usually only allowed to be taken by people stronger than the two of you." Alessia said wincing at the end of her words as if it was a punching blow to both of their egos, and although it was Lustian found himself not disputing the claim at all.
The fact of the matter was that Lustian knew he was weak, he knew he wasn't up to par or standards with where he wanted to be, and he wanted to change that by any means necessary. So if taking some damn game, test, trial whatever the hell the family wanted to call this magical training array was a way to improve then he was going to do it. After all, with the training array creating a forest, this was just up his ally, though he did wonder, if the training array made the forest because it thought the two of them would benefit them more, or if it always made a forest, to which he, in turn, would ask Alessia with a direct but quick question; "Does it always make a forest?" To which Alessia would respond with "no, but it does always make a mountain, the terrain changes depending on the people involved, why and how it does such, however, I have no idea." She said with another nonchalant shrug before pushing them both forward gently at the smalls of their back. "Now go in there and think about the kind of weapon you want to feel it with your hands, mold it with the mana flowing inside you and progress forward, don't stop until you reach your goal, the longer your take the more draining this will become on you, and if that happens... Well, I doubt you'd be able to make it through the other test."
Lustian took a deep breath, he stepped down the stairs and into the thicket of golden trees, and as he did, his eyes began to glow with a golden hue unbeknownst to him. But as he turned to look at Dante he could see that his eyes were now glowing a gold color, but as Lustian found himself glancing around, more and more did the golden artificial forest and mountain became more life-like in color and appearance. Lustian was sure this was just some form of illusion magic made to make them think this was all more believable, and although Lustian knew this was the case he slowly but surely began to that possibly all of this was truly reality after all, especially after feeling a cool breeze on his skin and the smell of fresh pine in his nostrils. The sound of the occasional bird could be heard above, and the artificial sun overhead seemed to appear in the sky casting an array of heat across the two Wilhelm boys' skin.
Lustian knew that sensory magic could essentially affect all of one's senses with the exception of touch, but it seemed like the training formation had other plans when it came to touching, instead it seemed that many of the things in the array had been fabricated through the simultaneous usage of both supplementary and golem magic. Although Lustian didn't know how the array was able to accomplish such feats, he could only believe that whoever created such a thing was truly a master craftsman, and with the intake of natural mana and magical ore to support it, he wasn't surprised the thing could pump out so many surprises and feats. However, this began to worry Lustian, and a rustle in the bushes could be heard from 3 meters in front of him Lustian found that when he focused his sensory of mana that it came up jumbled and empty much as it had done earlier without the added affliction of a headache. Sensory was out, which meant he was down to his ordinary 5 senses. Though when Lustian pulled his two fingers back attempting to channel his mana in an effort to create an arrow, though when he did so, an arrow appeared but not like his usual magic, no this magic didn't feel like his, instead he felt the mana from the training array that foreign substance curl throughout his fingers and body and react the way he wanted, but when he attempted to fire the arrow off like a spell it simply fell the ground lifeless before seeping back into a puddle of golden ichor that then was absorbed by the very artificial dirt ground beneath them.
Lustian starred in disbelief and it wasn't until his cousin Alessia spoke up and told him "you can create any kind of weapon you can think off but the options are finite as is the mana to make said weapons, nor will it be of your own mana as that's being suppressed right now. Imagine crafting items out of your mana and if I were you I'd stick to just a few or a set amount," she spoke in a soft tone once again, and Lustian, in turn, gave a nod of approval though he didn't turn around to actually do it face to face. This time he held out his hand willing his mana to form into an oval-shaped bag, an arrow quiver to be precise. He then created a bow and after the bow, he created a simple polearm, a balanced staff with a pointed blade at the end. "Well, I guess it's time to get this show on the road Dante," Lustian stated as he turned to Dante with a smile giving a nod of approval to him as well.
Lustian placed the staff on his back, letting it rest between the tight strap of the quiver, golden runes littered his forearm in his gaze, and he focused hard as to not let his eyes wander and get distracted over the wonder that it was. As it stood Lustian had to force himself not to get too excited over the fact that the training array was such a marvel, he wanted to study it, to tear it apart piece by piece and put it back together but he could already tell that when it came to this marvel magical innovation that it was leagues beyond his knowledge... At least for now.
Lustian placed an arrow on his golden bowstring which now slowly began to fade over to colors of brown and wooden in appearance and the bowstring being white, as did the arrow and its feathered fletching. He placed the nock of his arrow on the string quickly and skillfully and took aim, although beforehand Lustian usually had his own magic sensory prowess to accommodate for his aim for years now, after that it was a matter of simply losing his arrow spell, there was a time when he was a kid that he would shoot arrows for sport without the use of magic, and as he let his arrow fly lose it came falling to the ground with a thud in front of the bush, missing the mark completely. He stood flabbergasted at the sight, wondering if he truly relied on his sensory magic for much more than he thought for so long, and quickly shook his head. The bushes shivered violently only for a small white rabbit to come leaping out of it seconds later. "I'd try and kill that bunny if I were you, it could give you substance, or in this case, a form of health, think of it as a healing spell if you kill, cook, and eat it," Alessia shouted to them from the podium. Lustian took a deep breath this time focusing more, thinking back to the days when his mother had taught him how to shoot a bow, he released his fingers from the arrows grip after he nocked it, letting it fly and soar through the sky before it came to pierce the white bunnies hide. The bunny squealed and fell over with a soft thump, but as Lustian walked to pick up the bunny, conjuring a bag from willpower and the foreign mana, as well as conjuring a skinning knife, he began to go to work on the bunny, shaving of its hide and depositing the cuts of bloody meat into the bag for later. After a while of walking the two Wilhelm men would come upon a flock of birds being about 12 in total, nothing more than normal sparrows, two more bunnies, one of which Lustian would kill, skin and bag, and last but not least a gang of bandits...
As Dante and Lustian found themselves reaching what Lustian estimated to be 20 meters into the forest the thicket of trees became denser and denser until they came into a clearing. They found smoke rising from what seemed to be an abandoned campfire, 4 logs placed around it, and a small four-seater carriage that was missing a wheel and two of its windows broken. But as Lustian stepped forward to further investigate, so did two shadows from behind the foremost trees 5 meters away from both the northwest and northeast trees in front of them, then a third bandit appeared from the tree to the north directly in the middle of the two trees and in front of the duo. They held weapons in their hand, the one to the left held a simple pair of daggers, the one to the right a large club, and the one in the middle a long tube, that he quickly loaded what appeared to be a dart into, before crouching down into a ready stance. "Well I guess we have to fight these guys now," Lustian said as a smile etched its way upon his face.
WORD COUNT: 5,278 TOTAL WC: 10,833 TAG(S):Dante Wilhelm
Post by Dante Wilhelm on Feb 19, 2022 4:28:17 GMT -5
As he walked through the dark passageway, Dante noted that the small golden light up ahead was slowly expanding. Once he arrived in the room, Dante had to blink away the spots that had appeared in his eyes as his sight adjusted to the change in light intensity. After walking through a pitch-black corridor with only a single torch serving as his source of light, it took him a couple of seconds before he was finally able to take in the view of the training room; and what a view it was. The room was vast, to the point where the wall on the other end appeared as a small blip to his sight, filled with various different ores embedded into the walls around them. While he was incredibly knowledgeable in identifying any type of gemstones, he only really had a passing knowledge on ores and that was mainly because he would come across some on his searches. From what he could see, there were some diamonds that were easily identifiable from their appearance, as well as some gold, zinc as well as what he thought was copper. He couldn't tell much else besides but he decided to put it towards the back of his mind as he turned his focus on what else he could observe of the room.
Traversing deeper into the room, Alessi spoke up as their footsteps echoed on the obsidian flooring, giving them an overview of the features and decor. "It must have taken quite a bit of time and mana to be able to build all of this, archmage or not. Each of these tiles is perfectly proportioned not to mention having to inscribe each rune onto them." he said in an impressive tone, a hint of jealousy leaking in. Dante found himself envious of the casual strength that was displayed by something so simple as construction. He knew that he was at least a few years from being able to come close to matching that level of strength and it made the impatient part of him want to rage at the unfairness of having to go so long before he could. "At least this training session will bring me one step closer to reaching that pinnacle of strength." Dante thought as he felt the temperature of the room rise around them, becoming a pleasant warmth before rising even higher much to his alarm.
He was aware that the mana in this area was high, but he didn't expect it to be this much to his senses. He could feel it surrounding him, smothering him in all directions like a warm blanket that slowly became heavier the deeper into the room he stepped in. It was as if a heavy fog permeated throughout the room while gravity was slowly being increased on him, threatening to send him crashing to the floor and squashing him like a bug. A glance to the side showed that Lustian was going through a similar experience while Alessi looked nonchalant about the feel. "Sadist" he muttered under his breath as he continued forward, following the slight pull he could feel from the mana, beckoning them deeper into the room. Dante had come here to train because he knew that he was lacking and he couldn't afford to falter now, especially with the recent discovery made out in Kiten. He was the frontline fighter, the tank, the one who had to draw the enemy's attention and keep it on himself in order to keep the others of his party safe. If he allowed something as small as a simple increase in gravity to do him in then he might as well retire from the Golden Dawn and quit being a knight now, so with a grit of his teeth, he powered forward, one step at a time.
Alessi spoke up again, giving a warning to Lustian about attempting to assert his will on the mana of the area, comparing it to trying to attack the very ocean itself. Dante figured that his cousin had tried to use his senses on the mana, probably in an attempt to trace it, leaving himself glad that he was unable to do something similar if the look of pain in Lustian's eyes were any indication. "Is there any particular reason why the mana acts like that?" he managed to huff out, the strain of the gravity being heard in his voice. He figured that it didn't hurt to ask since it gave him something else to focus on and distract from as well as the fact that he was a bit curious to know the answer. He was sure that there had to be some reasoning behind the mana behaving like that as it wasn't something that naturally happened, at least to his understanding it wasn't.
Another bright light in the cavern drew the trio's attention and Dante's eyes began to focus, taking in what he was seeing. Six obsidian beams rose from the ground, touching the top ceiling of the cavern, each with a golden shimmering eastern dragon wrapped around them. As they drew closer, Dante noted that the shimmering that he saw was in fact runes crafted into each scale on each of the dragons. "That must have taken weeks if not months to apply!" he thought, his eyes wide in surprise at the thought of one person managing to accomplish all of this extensive work. There was more, of course, a white curtain with an array of dragon heads condensing into a singular one above that. There were western dragons statues as well, each with their own unique shape and form, all with their mouths wide open. It was no wonder that the Wilhelm family managed to rise to such prominence within the Clover Kingdom if their founder was capable of doing such work. It filled him with a sense of pride knowing that he was related to such a man and silently vowed that he would bring honor and prestige to the Wilhelm family so as to pay homage to him, regardless of how some members of the family had felt about him and his presence in the family.
Looking at the decor, Dante was beginning to wonder how exactly this room translated into a training room and would allow them to play the games that Alessi had stated on the carriage ride here. As far as he could see, it was just a big empty room; beautifully crafted but empty nonetheless. He would admit to not being that well versed in the usage of runes, but he assumed that it simply worked in a similar way to trap magic which would mean that there wasn't that much that they could do to change the surroundings. As he was thinking this, he failed to notice the tiles beginning to glow as well as all of their shadows being replaced by a gold and white image. What he did notice though was the feel of the mana in the room now seeping into his body through his pores as Alessi moved up the steps to activate whatever hidden mechanism that this room held. It was a somewhat invasive feel and nothing that he was used to or had experienced before but he ultimately decided to ignore it as there wasn't really anything that he could do about it at this point.
"What's with all the dragon theme in here. The statues are one thing, but to name each of the processes so far after a dragon." he thought, watching the white fabric shift colors to gold before falling down in a splash, cascading down the steps. Dante found himself involuntarily stepping back, moving to stand on a tile as the golden liquid seeped its way through each crack in the flooring below, turning the bright white light into a dazzling gold. "And here I thought Yule had ended already." the lava user found himself muttering under his breath as his neck swiveled from left to right. He wasn't sure what else would be happening but found that he didn't want to take the chance to miss anything. There was a chance that his privilege in being allowed to use this room would end up revoked so he wanted to be sure to commit everything that he could to memory should that end up happening. He didn't think that it would, especially if he showed good results from this but it was still a possibility and his fears and insecurities would continue to play on his psyche until he knew for sure.
Alessia then moved on to explain what the first trial for them would be and Dante immediately took a step back, allowing Lustian to go first. Just because he was a berserker didn't mean that he always had to put himself first, sometimes it was better to let others have the spotlight after all. "Well as the heir, you should go first Lord Lustian. Lead by example and all that you know." he said with a shit-eating grin, waving the other dwarf forward. As his cousin moved forward, Dante glanced behind him, taking in the size of his shadow or he supposed mana would be more accurate. One thing he noted was that he was a bit bigger than Lustian's which was something that he didn't expect. He had thought that they would at least be equal or that Lustian's would be larger than his so to find out that he was in fact stronger than he initially thought was a cool balm to his ego though he wouldn't let it go to his head. It was clear that there was a lot of room for growth given the size of Alessia's and he was also curious what the elders' mana shadow looked like.
"Makes sense." he said, a grimace forming on his lips as he moved up the steps to join the other two. Being able to physically gauge how much mana they had and were expending would be great endurance training as well as making sure that they weren't wasteful. As magic knights, they couldn't afford to be wasteful with their magic, especially if they were in the middle of a dungeon or fight as that could lead to disastrous if not fatal results. He sat down, crossing his legs and turning his palms outward as instructed, feeling his body tense in anticipation for whatever pain would be coming his way. "At least I'm used to the mana pressure in here, so that's one less thing to focus on." he thought before speaking out loud, attempting to comfort his cousin as well as quell his own nerves. "We have nothing to worry about Lustian. We're both members of the most powerful magic knights squad. We can do this easy peasy." He hoped that he sounded confident but that probably failed as he heard his voice cracking at the end. "Stop worrying about that. Just focus and everything will be fine. Alessia wouldn't let anything bad or life-threatening happen to you."
Hearing Lustian's outburst, Dante cracked an eye open, noting Alessia's angry glare directed at his cousin for his words. Having seen that glare many a time on his mother's face, Dante decided to do the smart thing and remain tactfully silent, leaving Lustian to bear the full brunt of her ire. "Better you than me cousin. Though I don't think you're necessarily wrong to be frustrated." he thought, making sure to not let anything appear on his face. He was getting tired of all the crypticness that Alessia had been sprouting ever since they had first retrieved him this morning and just wanted to get started already. The outburst did at least get the point across with Alessia deciding to give more information of what was in store for them. "Guess that explains all the dragon motifs and naming." he thought, a little giddy at the thought that an actual dragon was somewhere in the bedrock around here; or at least its corpse was. Dragons were exceedingly rare creatures, almost unseen nowadays but one that Dante longed to see with his own eyes. It was why one of his first golems created was in the shape of an eastern dragon; though with a few creative liberties thrown in for his own tastes.
Refocusing, Dante watched the golden runes circling around his body before stopping once it had completed one gold circle. The golden liquid then began to seep out from the runes, inching its way towards him causing Dante to tense himself further before forcing himself to relax at Alessia's words, taking deep breaths. When the liquid, or ichor, was an inch away, it suddenly stopped making Dante narrow his eyes in suspicion. It remained that way for a few seconds and he turned his face to look at Alessia in askance when it suddenly struck, latching on and seeping into his very body causing him to let out a grunt at the sudden pervasive feeling. It was like a feeling of pins and needles slowly spreading from the point of contact and Dante didn't like it one bit but forced himself to stay still even as his face scrunched up at the feel before the pain began to set it. It was taking every bit of his effort not to clench his hands, keeping his palms facing forward as he grit his teeth hard enough that he feared they would soon crack from the pressure. He could his body being forcibly reinforced and healed and he grunted and groaned loudly, trying to power through this even as Lustian's screams echoed in his ears. "Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop!"
Soon, the pain subsided and Dante found himself taking deep breaths as he opened his eyes, unaware of when he had shut them from the pain. He could feel an empowering warmth encompassing his entire body and glancing at his body, he noticed that it was covered in golden tattoos as was Lustian's. "When *huff* you said that this was going *huff* to be painful, I think you understated that." he said between breaths, trying to glare at Alessia though failing to even muster up the energy to do that. A glance to the side showed that Lustian was in a similar fate to him, both of them having the Wilhelm family crest blazoned on their chests like a giant brand. He had never experienced any sort of pain like that before in his life and wasn't eager to do so again. "At least this would have prepared me to be able to function through pain as a tank." he thought, trying to look for the silver lining in all this, being glad to hear that he had done better than expected. Hopefully, the rest of the trials wouldn't force him to experience something like that but that remained to be seen. The other two trials sounded tamer, especially the dragon's dream being one focused on the body but one never knew when it came to magic as he was learning. One thing that he had learned from this though was that Alessia was a sadist.
He was a bit dismayed to learn that this was just the preparation for the next phase and not the actual training itself but kept his mouth shut as he didn't want to come across as ungrateful since he had been given an opportunity he would normally have never gotten before. Looking down at his hands at Alessia's words, Dante found them to be true as he had never felt as strong as this before in his life. "No pain, no gain huh." he said before attempting to stand up only to fall back on his ass again as the room began to rumble. All around them, trees began to sprout up from the stone as well as a mountain forming in the distance with a white twinkling light atop it. Finding out that the next portion was going to involve fighting immediately excited Dante though that was tempered by being told that there was the real possibility of death if he allowed himself to get too injured. That meant that his usual fighting style of tanking any damage while beating his opponent would be dangerous here and he'd have to rethink his how he entered into combat. "I have no intentions of dying here or letting something like my own weakness stop me from completing this game." he said, determination filling his voice.
Following Lustian, Dante stepped into the thicket of trees, glancing around him to see if anything obstacles would be popping out at him. As Lustian turned to look at him, the lava user noted that his cousin's eyes glowed a gold color and wondered if his eyes were doing something similar. "Everything in here is so lifelike that it's hard to believe that it's just made with illusion magic. Guess that's what a high-level spell and magic-user can do huh?" he said in an attempt to make some small talk before some rustling the bushes 3 meters ahead of him drew his attention and set him into a defensive stance. He was about to call out one of his spells till he remembered that he couldn't use his regular magic here and could only mold the borrowed mana inside him. "Think of the weapon you want huh." he thought, mentally cycling through what kind of weapon he felt he would best be able to use. He had never really been a weapon user which was a strange thing for a dwarf he knew and now that was coming back to bite him in the ass. "Maybe I should go with something simple like an ax or a hammer. They don't really require that much familiarity to use and I should have the physical strength to use them, especially with this boost from the mana."
Ultimately he decided to go with a hammer as he felt that would be a bigger help with its blunt-force damage and he figured that Lustian would end up going with a bow and arrow as he go to. With his choice made, Dante began to let the mana flow out of him, picturing the Warhammer in his mind before feeling the weight of it dropping into his hands. Opening his eyes, he gave it a few reflexive swings, finding it felt perfect in his hands. Seeing as this was going to be a one-off weapon, he didn't really put much thought into any designs for it though he was thinking about eventually having his own made and would begin sketching out his design once he arrived back at his room in the Golden Dawn headquarters but there was time to worry for that later. Right now, he had a mission to complete and that was to get to the top of that mountain. "Ready to begin when you are cousin. Let's smash some faces." he said with a bloodthirsty grin, ready to vent out some frustrations and phantom aches from earlier. Grasping the hammer in both hands, he waited to see what would pop out of the bushes, ready to smash his hammer into whatever it was.
He watched Lustian's arrow fly towards the bush, only to land in front of it missing his mark. Turning to glance at his flabbergasted cousin, Dante didn't miss an opportunity to heckle him; replying in the most deadpan tone that he could "You missed." before turning back around as a rabbit rushed out. At Alessia's words, Dante's face would scrunch up as he tried to work out how exactly eating the rabbit would work when it wasn't real. It shouldn't be able to give them any sort of substance but for the sake of his sanity, he decided to simply leave it as is as Lustian notched another arrow, landing a hit. "Oh, congrats. It only took you two tries to hit it." he said with a snicker before the pair continued on, stumbling across a flock of sparrows and another 2 rabbits. Dante stared at his hammer before setting it down and instead of conjuring a throwing knife which he tossed and managed to hit one of the rabbit's in the hind legs slowing it down enough for him to catch it and crack its neck before handing it to Lustian to put in his bag. His hammer was unsuited for this type of work as it would merely crush the entire thing, leaving them with nothing to eat.
As they continued on their journey, the pair came across a clearing that housed an abandoned campfire with 4 logs around the empty fire. "Can this place make people as well as animals?" he thought, glancing at his cousin before 3 of the bandits returned, each of them holding a weapon in their hands. "I don't think they're here to talk." he said, gripping the shaft of his hammer as he glanced at the three different types of weapons; a pair of daggers, a large club, and what appeared to be a dart gun. Spreading his feet to get ready for battle, Dante couldn't help but quip back; "Sucks for them. I'll take the guy overcompensating with the giant club if you don't mind. Kind of been itching to see how I do against another weapon user for a while."
Post by Lustian Wilhelm on Feb 20, 2022 23:41:47 GMT -5
"I agree, whoever did this had a great eye for symmetry, and this rune work is unlike anything I've seen as of late, it must be ancient. Really makes me want to hit up the family library to see if I can learn how to do rune work like this." Lustian stated his mind already flowing to the possible implications of what learning such rune work could do for him, how much it could benefit him, and his creation of weapons, possibly even incorporating it into his spells somehow. To his knowledge from what he had learned from his dad ages ago, a man who was very well-traveled- that those in the heart kingdom incorporated some form of a magic circle using runes into their magic. He wondered if it was possible for him to do the same at some point, to his knowledge he knew that Dante often created magic circles using his magic, but from what he could see Dante used more modern rune work in his. He made the mental note to ask him how and why he had incorporated such stuff into his magic at some point, but as it stood he wasn't sure now was the right time, or if it was even intentional and not just a natural aspect of his magic spells themselves. Lustian began to understand the hint of jealousy in Dante's tone more and more as he thought about it. If anything he seemed lacking in the department and it was something he wanted to work on and change.
Lustian muttered his breath in response to Dante's sadist comment "Agreed," however the response was minute enough for Alessia not to hear, at least he hoped not. Alessia was usually fairly mild tempered but Lustian had experienced her anger as both a child and an adult, and needless to say, it could be explosive at times.
Alessia turned to Dante after he asked his question about the heavy mana pressure, and as such, she turned to him with a contemplative look on her face, although she didn't seem affected by the mana pressure at all, she slowed her stride to be able to speak to them more effectively. "It's because of the amount of natural mana in this area. All of it is often cycled through the runes, and back out into the cavern itself. You could see it's like a self-sustaining lantern, but right now what you're being affected by is the heat it gives off, even more so because you're both dwarves and more sensitive to the natural mana." She explained matter-of-factly before her pace went back to how it was before.
Lustian also found himself taking a step back involuntary as the curtains turned to a golden liquid watching it as it plashed and seeped into the tiles with a curious sense of glee and awe. As it came time for him to go up, with Dante volunteering him to go first, Lustian quipped back with a snide comment "as I'm the heir shouldn't you throw yourself into potential danger for my safety and what not instead?" He said with a smirk, but instead of chickening out he, in turn, opted to take a deep breath, slowly but surely putting one foot in the other making his way forward and up the stairs. Although his ego took a hit as he noticed Dante's 'shadow' was smaller than Dante's it wasn't by much but it was enough to fire the reality of the situation into his mind, and that was simply that he was weak, and that in turn was unacceptable to him. His hand clenched slightly, and his eyes lingered on his shadow, his gaze littered with a sense of disappointment, perhaps this was why the family had decided that he in turn needed to use the training room.
Lustian nodded to Dante's pep talk as they sat and waited for the initiation process to begin, "You're right, and if we want to get stronger we don't have a choice, and I have no intention of staying as weak as I am now." Lustian stated in an infallible tone. He had made up his mind after all. He meant every word he spoke, and as things currently stood he was unsatisfied with his strength, he had spent so much time learning about how to be the heir, having to go through constant trials from his family lately and as a result, his growth had suffered, he had barely done the number of missions he wanted to do in favor of being there for his family. Though he loved his family dearly this was their way of showing their appreciation to him, he had mentioned to Alessia that he was unsatisfied with his strength, especially for a prodigious member of the Golden Dawn - Magic Knights. Truly his strength right now was something he considered unacceptable. He figured that what he had said to Alessia made its way back to some of the elder members of the family and this was their way of trying to rectify the issue, or perhaps they just felt the same as him, unsatisfied with his growth and display within the Magic Knights. He figured Dante felt the same, especially with the way his voice cracked. It was because of this that Lustian opted to be strong enough for the both of them if he needed to, he took a deep breath in, exhaled, and steeled his resolve while doing so. "You've got this it's just pain, pain is temporary, it'll fade and bring results in turn." He told himself, repeating the mantra over and over. After all, the pain was just the brain's way of signaling it didn't like what was going on. The sensation of pain was mind over matter, but as the golden ichor began to inter him said thoughts were easier to accomplish and acknowledge in theory rather than in actuality. As the agonizing 'torture' finished Lustian found himself slowly trying to regain his composure and senses about him.
"Agreed," Lustian said as he wheezed out air, he was sure that if this golden ichor was meant to harm them that it, in turn, most likely would've killed them with ease. He could only hope the process was easier the next to go around as Alessia had said to them. His eyes lingered on the Wilhelm crest on both his chest and Dante's, curious if the crest was there for copyright purposes of some sort, after all, he did come from a family of merchants it wouldn't be surprising if they went as far as to brand something like their training array. If anything he thought it was right up their alley.
"No pain, no gain indeed." Lustian took a knee and took his time getting up, bracing himself as the room began to rumble, he turned around quickly only to see the training array taking form. Though to Dante's words about having no intention of dying, Lustian simply responded "Me either, cousin. Let's kick this game's ass." He fist pumped into the air, before bringing his arm back down, he took slow deep breathes in an effort to both soothe and steady his mind for the upcoming challenges.
Though as they entered on the training arrays field, the variety of colors that overtook his vision and Dante spoke, Lustian was inclined to agree. "Yeah, I wonder if my magic can get to this amount of detail when it comes to illusions," Lustian spoke, in fact, he had wondered just how the abilities of the creator of this room were, but from the detail and structure he felt it would be hard-pressed for a single person to build such an array alone, that was unless he spent a significant amount of years developing and improving it. Lustian figured that over the years the family head probably had something to do with maintaining and improving the training room as well but as far as he knew for now that was just a simple guess, but considering nothing in the cavern had a single spec of dust on it, either it was enchanted not too or someone routinely cleaned it.
As they progressed he noticed that Dante had made a hammer for his choice of weapon, he thought it was fitting for him. Especially considering that it was a rather traditional weapon for one of the family members to have. When they came upon a rabbit, Lustian felt he could do without the mocking comments from his cousin. Especially after he missed his first shot. "Shh," Lustian stated as he took his next arrow and notched it, letting it fly and hit the rabbit spot on. "I'd like to see you get one of these rabbits with that hammer of yours."
As they continued and came upon the campgrounds Lustian turned his head to look back, only to see that the thicket of trees blocked the view of where they had originally come from, no besides the fact that he mentally knew he was only in the training array he could no longer see the cavern around them or Alessia for that matter, wondering just how that was possible, he figured that the floor moved when they did or after they got a certain amount of distance away. Though in truth, he and Dante were only 20 meters away from Alessia, at the top of the podium she could see a small visual illusion of her two cousins and in front of the stairs, the formally silver curtains now golden that had turned to liquid had reformed themselves into a screen of some sorts, though it was sheer and see-through and Alessia could see a glimpse of the terrain the duo were on, being that of a thicket of trees, though upon occasion the illusion and supplementary magic would move backward toward her and into the golden screen, melting into liquid and seeping back into the tiles below. Alessia figured that it was the way the training array cycled through its terrain and supplementary creations, pooling the liquid out in front of the duo a distance away to make what was only illusion into a solid form of reality. Cycling the same golden ichor endlessly, which she thought was a genius design. She glanced down at the illusion on the podium, noticing that the duo had now come upon their first enemies. "I hope they don't get too hurt but I'm sure they'll be able to defeat them and worse comes to worst they have some recovery food." Alessia thought to herself as her eyes glanced over the image of her cousins, a feeling of worry slowly being suppressed to the back of her mind. "You guys can do this..." She muttered.
"I don't think they're here to talk either, be ready, I'll take daggers. Be careful and watch out for blowdart." Lustian stated as his eyes glanced over the bandit, the man wore crude leather armor that looked like it hadn't been washed in days. Grass stains littered his burlap pants and wear and tear could be seen on the leather chaps he wore over his pants, and a small plate of metal adorned the chest of his leather armor. His black boots looked worn down, scars littered his dirt splattered pale skin, it was hard to tell where the filth began and ended. He had moppy black hair and dark eyes, and what looked to be broken and missing teeth, a cut could be seen in his right ear, and it looked like someone had taken a serrated edge to his upper lip. The only thing that seemed to differentiate the blow dart and dagger user seemed to be the fact that the blow dart user had less dirt, grime, tear, and scars on him, no doubt from him always being in the backline. Though the blow dart user adorning the left side of his chin. Lustian's bow hung down in his left hand, he slowly raised it a bit after going into his ready stance. He took a deep breath, as the world went still for a moment.
"Looks like you'se all are travelin' pretty far, huh, you have to pay a toll in these here woods. 10 Gold coins or ya can pay with ya limbs and life, I'm sure ya organs and skin will fetch a pretty decent price not to mention those weapons of yours." The blowdart willing bandit said one of the daggers seemed to grunt in agreement after every pause in the blowdart bandit's comments. "Well, what'll it be," the blow dart user huffed, followed by a grunt from the dagger bandit. The bandits entered a stance of their own, the dagger user held both his daggers up by his side, and the blow dart user slowly moved his blow dart towards his lips, his right hand reaching into the pouch that rested on his waist.
Lustian in turn sighed, his eyes danced to the left and right as he took in the scope of things, they had no more money to give, and he wasn't going to waste the resources that he had, every time he had made more arrows, or the bow earlier, even with the staff he felt like a piece of his stamina had been drained, no doubt creating coins would possibly be even more draining, especially considering every arrow he made for his quiver earlier had been rather taxing. "Watch your back and call if you need me, now on my signal," Lustian muttered under his breath only loud enough for Dante to hear.
He knew that the game was driving them into a corner, either use more stamina and words to get past, possibly come up with a plan for them to eventually attack, or to get them to let their guard down, or to fight outright. "Fuck off." He stated as he opted for the former, quickly reaching into his quiver with his right hand and pulling his bow upward in his left. From his grounded stance. He dashed to the side while quickly notching his arrow to his bowstring, he took aim, and it let fly. His arrow flew off, just as the dagger-wielding bandit dashed forward, and the club wielder charged forward.
The blow dart bandit quickly loaded one of his blow darts as the dagger-wielding bandit dashed forward bringing his daggers to the forefront of his chest, his blades faced outward and down, his thumbs covered the butt of the handle, and the blades could be seen resting an inch lower his pinky in his clenched fist. The dagger user was fast, faster than Lustian even, but not faster than his arrow, but instinctively and because he could see when Lustian launched the arrow he simply tilted his head to the side, letting the arrow whizz past him, it didn't even get close enough to scratch his face, he gave a toothy grin as he reached out 6 feet in front of Lustian. Only to be taken aback slightly when Lustian gave a devilish grin and reached into his quiver for yet another arrow.
Lustian knew the dagger user was probably the most agile out of all of them, especially considering he used such lightweight and small weapons. Thus Lustian made it his mission not to aim for him, figuring he'd just dodge, to begin with, no instead his true intended target was for the other range user on the battlefield. They were outnumbered, after all, so he opted to widdle down their numbers by any means necessary.
The blow dart user was in for a surprise as he finished loading his tubular weapon, and blowing hard into it, letting the dart fly aimed toward Lustian. He had a cocky grin on his face, only for his eyes to widen in surprise as Lustian's arrow came flying forward. His eyes widened in shock and he quickly threw his body to the right. The arrow embedded itself in his shoulder and he let out a harsh yell. As he landed on the ground he started to try and regain his barrings, he grits his teeth and snapped the shaft of the arrow, after finding that the tip of the arrow was barbed.
The dagger wielder was now right in front of Lustian as he managed to land his hit on the blow dart, the dagger wielder seemed to pay no mind to his injured companion, though considering these were probably nothing more than high ranked golems with their skills and abilities weakened for them to be able to actually take them out, Lustian wasn't surprised, that or whoever created this golems programmed them to be damn good in their act. Though as the dagger wielder moved in closer Lustian found himself able to roll out of the way before leaping backward. The way the dagger user fought seemed familiar, at least from the stance he bore. Lustian was sure he had seen this kind of fighting from one of his family Wilhelm family members before, perhaps they had come into the training array before and it was simply mimicking him, having copied the way he fought into a golem, or perhaps it was just a dagger style taught throughout the family. Lustian couldn't be sure as he was trained in how to use the bow, mostly being self-taught, and had only been taught his family spearmanship.
The dagger user slung his left dagger forward, and Lustian barely had time to dodge to the right as it came flying toward him, he notched his arrow and let it fly, aiming downward at the low stance dagger user. Lustian leaped back into the air as he let the arrow loose, a sharp whistle could be heard followed by a simple "thunk" as it embedded itself into the ground below having missed its mark. The dagger user had dodged the arrow by simply jumping backward, his forward momentum has come to a skillful halt before being pushed upward and behind him almost as if he were getting pulled back by wires though none actually existed, as his legs came skidding into the dirt he threw his right dagger from his hand, aiming for Lustian's skull.
Lustian, in turn, tipped his bow slightly grabbing it with both hands for grip, the dagger landed against the shaft of the bow, and he pushed it away as it did, the heavy force behind the daggers throw was enough to shatter his bow into splinters where it landed, but thankfully the bow held long enough for the dagger to deflected to the side, landing in a nearby tree with a loud crash. He tossed the ruined bow at the dagger bandit, as the force from the attack had knocked him even further back while airborne, landing on the ground with less than intended grace, he quickly grabbed his staff as the dagger user once again came charging at him having rushed forward and grabbed the left dagger he had tossed into the ground before.
Lustian's barely had time to glance over and see that the blowdart user had regained his composure and through grit, teeth had once again brought his blowgun back to his lips, though his right arm hung limp and blood trickled down from it, his left was still just fine, the blowdart bandit, stuck the blowgun between his teeth pressing down on it to hold into place to free up his hands. He or rather it -as Lustian had to remind himself that these were just golems- quickly reached into the bag of darts with its free-working hand loading the dart into the dart gun before turning around again aiming toward Dante. With a deep breath and quick precise blow, it let the dart fly out, aiming to hit the dwarf in his eye.
Lustian dodged to the right as a quick swipe came from the dagger bandit, his feet danced around in a simple two-step, prancing backward with a quick concession of intermediate and small hops to create distance as he swung his staff around in a horizontal semi-circle blade outward in an effort to create more distance until he could regain his footing. Thankfully it worked as the dagger bandit leaped upward bending its legs until his feet were high enough to touch its rear, the bandit pushed his head forward and shifted his body weight to turn his jump into a front flip, landing skillfully on both its legs. With its skill in battle, Lustian found himself still having to constantly remind himself that it was just a golem with sensory magic overlapping it, but even still he found that this battle was much more intense than he ever expected it to be.
He wasn't sure when or how this training array had been installed with such golems but he had begun to feel the heat of battle, and without the use of his magic fighting this way felt almost foreign to him, as he hadn't truly ever done so in a battle against other humans outside of sparring but as a little blood trickled down from his cheek, from another dagger throw he could see now why Alessia was worried, and why he should take such a thing seriously. This dagger that had scratched his cheek, however, came from a hidden dagger that the bandit grabbed from inside his boot while flipping. Thankfully instead of following up with a thrust of his staff Lustain had opted to create more distance. He grabbed a total of 4 arrows from his quiver placing them between his fingers like throwing knives, doing so in the short time that the bandit had done his front flip.
The dagger bandit flipped the dagger outward, this time the blade was pointed upward by his thumb instead of downward near his pinky. The bandit made a "tch" sound before rushing forward one dagger in hand. He lunged forward with a quick movement, pivoting off his feet as his body came to land on the ground. He entered almost what seemed like a fencer stance as he moved in quickly toward Lustian. Lustian in turn threw the arrows outward, only for 3 of three of them to be parried in quick succession with the last hitting its mark of landing in the eye of the dagger bandit, though not sinking in far. The dagger bandit stumbled backward, from the arrow now placed within his eye, he let out a scream of pain as blood trickled down his face, he snapped the shaft of the arrow, but by that time Lustain had already begun advancing on him.
Lustian charged forward, grabbing one of the daggers of the ground, but as he did so, a blow dart had embedded itself in his leg causing him to buckle, as he turned and fell, he tossed the dagger in the direction the blow dart had come from, only for the dagger to fly and land into the smug face of the blow dart bandit, or rather golem, as seen when it landed backward with a dramatic display of coughing up blood, before falling down, its body turned to the same shade as the golden ichor as it went still and lifeless. Lustian dug the butt of his staff into the ground, pushing his body up as the dagger user screamed bloody murder, pulling at the barbed arrow in his eyes trying desperately to dig it out. That's when Lustian's vision began to sway, things got blurry and he felt his equilibrium was off, almost as if he had gotten vertigo. Though this was probably just hex magic that was made to emulate a poison-like effect, Lustian found himself both admiring and hating the complexity and design of the training array he was in now.
The dagger user screamed once more as Lustian had made it to his feet, "you son of a bitch," the golem yelled at him, to which Lustian only smiled through pain and dizziness that was now coursing through his body. Lustian reached back hesitantly grabbed another arrow slipping it behind his back between his belt, quickly and stealthily as the dagger bandit finally finished prying the barb out of his eye, squeezing it shut with battered breath. Lustian truly began to think that these golems were much too lifelike and were probably made by an archmage, elemental incarnate golems, that had incorporation of various magic elements working together through the runes. It was genius but also a terrifying thought. Lustian felt the need to give praise to whoever created truly created this array and all the thought and effort they put into it.
Lustian stilled himself his staff pointed in front of him and his stance firm as can be though his body swayed, considering the dagger, the bandit was now swaying as well it was rather nauseating. The dagger bandit readied himself for a charge, lunging forward his dagger extended with a yell, Lustian yelled as well, rushing forward, he jabbed outward and the dagger bandit rolled to the side, Lustain swung his staff around righting himself clumsily, swinging his staff toward the dagger bandit aiming for his neck. He put a spin on the staff, rotating it with both hands, causing the bladed flat edge to look more like an oval as opposed to a flat surface. It was a skill made specifically for piercing, but instead, as the dagger bandit rolled he too righted himself, pivoting off his foot lunging forward slashing with his dagger, the staff and dagger collided, and the blood-splattered about as the dagger bandit had been disarmed, but now without a dagger, Lustian righted his staff stabbing forward but the dagger bandit grabbed the staff his strength clearly more than that of Lustain's the dagger bandit reached into his boot with his free hand and tossed it at Lustain but thanks to his impaired eyesight and fatigue the dagger missed the mark and instead was plunged into Lustian's abdomen. Lustian grits his teeth and yelled through the pain, but it was nothing compared to the pain he had felt earlier during the array when the golden ichor invaded his body. Though Lustian found his legs buckling as the dagger bandit reached for his staff grabbing it with both hands until he could pry it away from his chest, Lustian put all his weight on the staff, and in one quick motion removed only one hand letting the staff be moved to the side, but as it was done sluggishly he had enough time to reach to his back belt, and grab the arrow he had hidden there, the dagger bandit lunged forward to grab the dagger stuck in Lustian's abdomen, but as he grabbed it Lustian brought the arrow back around stabbing it into the already injured eye of the bandit golem. Not stopping until he felt the arrow stop on its own.
The dagger bandit's arm fell limp, and its body fell backward with a thud before it turned back to a golden color like the blowdart bandit. Lustian fell to his knees wheezing, his vision was still hazy and the dagger hurt like hell. The pain was all too real, and the damage to his body was more than a mere illusion. His cuts were bleeding and he knew this wasn't an illusion, as his vision blurred he remembered what Alessia had said about the rabbit being able to give him "health". He dug in the pouch on his side quickly, his breath heavy and ragged, he pulled the dagger free. "Agh!" He yelled with a grunt of pain, placing his free hand over the wound. He much preferred to have to eat the rabbit after cooking it, but for now, he wasn't sure if that was possible so instead, he took a piece of the skinned rabbit leg, figuring they probably should've cooked the creature after they first caught it, and bit into it, he chewed just enough until he was able to swallow it, the taste of it was disgusting and truly did taste like an uncooked rabbit, and he'd know. In his youth, Lustian had eaten raw meat before when he was starving of hunger and just like then, it was not satisfactory. He held himself back from vomiting forcing the meat down his gullet and when he finished swallowing he felt a warm tingling sensation coming from him, his health had been restored and he felt like he had a boost in stamina. His wounds slowly stitched themselves back together and his blood receded slowly back inside him.
It took a moment for the dizziness to subside but finally, he was able to stand and when he peered upward he could see that Dante's fight came to an end with him the victor. Offering his cousin some of the raw rabbits, Lustian decided it was time to move forward in fear of other bandits making their way over to him. After his cousin was able to stand Lustian turned to him, "We should make some traps to secure this area, we can roast the rest of the rabbits once we do so, and take a small breather. After which I think we should continue onward," Lustian stated, as he glanced around seeing the golden bodies of the 3 fallen bandit golems. "Fuck those were some tough bastards, whoever built this training array is a got damn sadist," Lustian stated, with a huff of annoyance. "I'm going to find wood and set up some traps, can mind getting firewood and starting a fire to roast these rabbits while I do?" Lustian stated to Dante, and upon his cousin's response Lustian would go into the forest, it had been years since he had made animal traps and traps that would alert him to anyone being nearby.
After about an hour of looking for wood, and trying to keep his mind from straying too far back to the past as he set up his traps around the perimeter of the camp, he felt he could finally relax. He ate the cooked rabbit, finding it much more enjoyable than the raw version of it, regaining more of his stamina in the process. As he regained his stamina he knew he then had at least enough to make more weaponry using the power of the golden ichor and as such he did just that, creating more arrows in addition to picking up the few that hadn't been broken, as well as creating a new bow. After he was done, he turned to Dante, before looking at the mountain in the distance. "Ready to continue on cousin?" Lustian said with a smile, he got up from the log he was sitting on and stretched, before making his trek through the woods alongside his cousin, taking the rest of the cooked rabbit and putting it in his satchel. For a while, it was quiet, and Lustian found himself getting nervous, so he suggested to Dante that they climb a tree so that he could scout ahead. Lustian found the tallest tree he could, and with carefulness, he began to climb, until he could find a branch big enough to hold his weight. In the distance, he saw no signs of smoke or bandits but he could see that they were even closer to the mountain, it wouldn't be long, only another hour at the most and they'd finally be at the base of it.
Though as Lustian found himself climbing down his leg brushed against a bird's nest, knocking it over accidentally causing it to plummet to the ground. Ordinarily, he'd feel bad, especially after seeing all the bird's eggs shatter into the yoke, but he also knew, none of this was real, and as such he simply climbed the rest of the way back down without care, that was until a flock of angry birds began to attack him. He waved his hand around flailing at them while trying to grip the tree, but eventually, their pecking became too much and he found himself plummeting 9 feet to the ground, landing on his back. "Owwww," he wheezed, reaching into his satchel to take out a small piece of rabbit meat and biting into it.
Though it seemed like the birds wouldn't relent as they circled overhead of the duo menacingly, as they continued their trek through the woods. Meanwhile, Alessia simply laughed at them from the visual she could see from her point of view. She felt relieved that they had made it past what was the serious combat portion of the game, and knew that there would most likely be no more bandits that showed up. After all, the training array only through so many obstacles at someone their first go-around, it was only every other time that it progressively got harder and harder the more one completed all 3 games and started over.
Lustian moved at a quick and steady pace, but then came to a halt, putting his arm up to stop Dante from ruining what he came upon. Looking down Lustian had noticed animal tracks, and from the looks of them, they looked like a bear. He pointed them out to Dante, and considering he knew Dante's hobbies, he figured he didn't have to spell it out for him. Continuing onward they eventually stumbled upon a large brown bear. Lustian moved back, slowly while raising his hands to try and make himself appear larger but it seemed to do little to stop the bear's angst. It charged at them and Lustian quickly found himself grabbing an arrow from his quiver notching it and losing it, hitting the bear right in its eye, it growled at them or possibly in pain, Lustian couldn't tell the difference, but what he could tell was that it was angry, especially as it stood on his hind legs and smacked him with its paw, its claws digging through his shirt and cutting into his arms. He winced before grabbing his lance and jabbing it into the bear, but it wasn't enough to take it down. He pulled the lance out as the bear reared back in pain, and this time had come in to bite, him but instead of letting it accomplish this feat, Lustian released his grab on his staff, jumping away to the right with a roll. He grabbed his bow and arrow while Dante preoccupied the beast he notched two more arrows firing them one after the next into the beast's neck until it finally dropped.
The ground shook dangerously, and he was sure it wasn't because of the bear golem, no this was an earthquake, and he couldn't tell if it was the arrays doing, or perhaps the entire cavern. Although Alessia knew the truth and that was simply that it was the array itself, a tidbit of information that she would only disclose after they had finished with the training. After that, it was smooth sailing for the duo they had provisions to heal themselves, and all they needed to do now was climb the mountain. After resting for 20 minutes and the fight with the bear, Lustian began hiking up the tree-littered mountain, until they came to more rock than dirt and flora. They would come upon a steep incline of the mountain and from then on it meant it was time to rock climb, Lustian willed the golden ichor to turn into some sturdy gloves and a hooked rope. He tied a rope around his waist and told Dante to create and do the same. After which he'd tie the ropes together to form a secure hold so that in case one fell the other's line would always snag and catch them.
It was tough but after an hour of climbing they had finally come across a cliff face large enough for them to rest and stretch. It seemed to have a bit of trail leading upward, for a while before they'd once again have to scale the mountain through climbing, meaning that for now, they could walk for a bit. Though as they did about 20 minutes in an earthquake happened again, and this time things got a little too close from comfort as a rockslide was clearly hiding down toward them. Dirt debris and large boulders were making their way straight toward the duo and Lustian refused to have done all he had accomplished so far just to be crushed by a damn boulder when training. He quickly scouted out the area seeing what seemed to be an opening in the mountain up ahead, "run for the opening!" Lustian shouted as he did just that, hoping his cousin was trailing quickly behind him he threw his body into the opening of the mountain just in time as the dirt and boulders overtook the outside of the mountain. Dust and debris littered the area and Lustian found himself coughing and heaving as it did so. "Well shit, guess now we have to dig our way out of this, just how long is this damn training?" Lustian stated in between frequent coughs.
After an hour of carefully pushing dirt and boulders out from in front of them, the duo would finally be able to continue on their arduous journey. It would only be a matter of time now as they tracked to the top of the mountain, through a combination of more climbing and walking after about 2 hours they had finally made it to the top of the mountain. Tired, sweaty and completely freaking over this training array's first game, they had finally come upon the crystal that rested within the top of the mountain peak. It was about 3 meters in size, and diamond in shape with the Wilhelm family crest on it. Lustian remembered that they were supposed to break the crystal and as such he attempted to do just that. He stabbed with his spear but not even a single scratch was made, he tried again with his bow and arrows, then asked Dante to use his hammer but regardless of what they did it didn't budge and it didn't break. That was until Lustian had a thought come to his mind, there had to be a reason the Wilhelm logo was on it, they were a mining family, after all, so he willed what little of the stamina he had left to the golden ichor coursing through him, wanting it to shape itself into a pickaxe, lifted it up and then swung it down hard on the gem.
The crystal rang out with a clanging sound revealing a crack in the gem. So Lustian hammered at it, again and again, telling Dante "you should do the same," and though it took a while eventually the crystal shattered into dozens of pieces. Then like clockwork, the surroundings around them began to lose their color and luster as the sensory magic that took hold of them was lifted. The mountain construct they were on was actually only a few feats in the air from what they'd be able to see, and as the sensory veil lifted they'd see a golden shimmering curtain slowly falling back down into liquid within the ground once more, and Alessia standing behind it tired, and with a smile on her face. Eventually, the mountain constructs would sink back into the tiles beneath them slowly melting away leaving them only the surface they were standing on as solid until it too reached the obsidian tiles and turned to liquid, seeping back into the grooves in them.
The training ground looked just as it had before they started and then Lustian found himself moving back toward Alessia, he was curious to ask what was next but the moment he walked up the stairs each step felt heavier than the last, he felt dizzy almost like when he got hit by that blowdart and as he got to the top of the small staircase his body wobbled and he found himself falling into Alessia's embrace. "Careful, you guys exhausted a lot of energy, I didn't actually expect you both to fully make it through the first portion of the training in one day. If anything I thought we'd end up having to save your progress. But I suggest we end things here for the day, your bodies are drained, the magic training arrays golden ichor is currently sustaining you but it can only do so much for mental fatigue, and you guys have already been at this for over half a day. It's already nightfall outside I bet, and to be honest I feel we could all use some good rest. We can revisit the next portion of the training tomorrow. How's that sound?" Alessia said in a soft tone, concern lacing her voice.
Lustian nodded wearily in agreement, she was right, now that the adrenaline had begun to wear off his body had been beaten battered, and bruised and he felt more tired than he had in his entire life. The whole thing had been one big physical workout, and without their access of his, it felt like he had done the training with 100-pound weights across his entire body. "Come touch the podium and swipe downward, and to the left. The golden ichor will leave your body a moment after, so sit down and brace yourself, because so far the ichor has been both healings you, reinforcing you, and both simultaneously filling your mana channels and surprising your connection to it, only allowing you to use its natural mana in limited ways. Thankfully it'll give you the added benefit of giving you more mana, helping you with your control, and even helping improve your physical constitution if not your skills in mana usage altogether, but it's going to be very taxing and though you both feel tired now, it'll be even worse once the ichor leaves you," Alessia mused in a caring tone as she placed a hand on both of their shoulders.
Lustian did as he was told, and he sat down, the golden runes that enveloped his body all slowly began to move toward the center of his chest, forming around the Wilhelm family crest that rested there, melding itself into before pouring out. Lustian could feel it, it was strange and warm and felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, but then he felt it, pain and tiredness all at the same time, his body felt like he had been trampled by a dozen horses, dropped from 20 feet up, and beat with hot coals all at once. He felt his muscles screaming in agony, chastising him for what he had done to them, and then as the last of the golden ichor had left his body, he felt himself passing out. The last words he heard uttered to him were those of Alessia's. "Don't worry during my first time training here I ended up passing out after too." His eyes lids felt heavy, and soon her face faded out of vision and all he saw was black, as he slumped over in slumber, presumably alongside Dante. After giving them a minute to fall deeper into their sleep, Alessia activated one of her physical reinforcement spells, hoisted Dante and Lustian up on her shoulders, and made her way out of the training array area, back to the common area of the estate, and placed them both in their respective rooms within the estate.
Upon waking the next morning both Lustian and Dante would be visited by Alessia, they were treated to healing elixirs for their muscle cramps alongside massages from some of the servants, hot refreshing baths, and some downtime for them to rest. Alessia suggested they take a week to recover fully considering all the strain that had been put on their body. Though Lustian was in immense pain and discomfort when he awoke, he found that his sense of mana had gotten stronger, possibly due to being in an illusion for such a long extended period of time, but not only that he could feel the mana inside of him had gotten larger, his body felt stronger, and when he cast a spell he felt as though it was amplified much beyond what it used to be, it seemed the training array had more benefits than he thought it would on him after all.
Though there was something else that plagued the back of Lustian's mind and it was simply the masterpiece of what the training array actually was, he was curious to know just how strong he had gotten so at night, he snuck his way back to the training array bringing Dante alongside him, luckily he remembered the way having dedicated himself to memorizing it the first trip down. Although moving around was both painful and taxing.
He found himself wondering just how much they had grown, he didn't activate it fully but he did make sure to look at the golden shadow the array had cast and to his surprise, both his and Dante's shadows were now almost as large as Alessia's was. Feeling triumphant he returned to his room to talk with Dante, "So I guess the training working, but being in the training array helped me realize something, the way that golden ichor was so malleable when creating things, it reminded me a lot of magic, ya know how it has that clay-like consistency to it when I want it too. I think if I worked at it, I could create something like that training room myself one day. My magics are certainly malleable enough." Lustian summoned a small star in his hand through the use of his magic, twisting and molding it until became the shape of an arrow, then once more until it back the shape of a crest that he engraved the Wilhelm symbol on it.
"I also think that I've discovered a new talent. Lustian stated, as his grimoire began to glow, and float beside him, I think I've discovered what my next magic specialty is. The training area gave me a bunch of ideas, but considering how one of my spells improved, I think I've unlocked a hidden meaning in my magic. I think if I truly wanted to, I could make my own spells, and I don't mean in the way everyone else does, I mean like from my pure imagination, from just time and effort. My magics like clay, I can mold it to my whims, but I think if I do it enough and with the intent of making it into a spell it'll become just that, and as I recall my dad could do something similar himself with his clay magic. I don't know if it's a for sure thing or not but I damn sure to plan on finding out. Maybe the training array will help me figure something out if we keep progressing through it, but I will say that I truly hope those damn next trials aren't as physically taxing, my body still hurts." He had said a mouthful to his cousin, wondering if Dante too had come to some form of revelations or the like. Regardless even if he didn't he at the very least knew they had both become stronger.
Lustian found himself hobbling over the balcony that was attached to his room, being the heir did have its perks after all, and that included a much larger room. His room also held its own kitchen, bath, and even a small study, though he rarely had the time to use any of it, nor did he truly have the desire to most of the time, he instead enjoyed going to the big bathing quarters within the estate, talking to others and enjoying the camaraderie. The same went for the public kitchen and the yard. After being alone for so long when he was a kid he never thought he'd make it back to his family, and after he did he never wanted to be lost again, his abandonment issues plagued his mind at times. At least the Wilhelm estate was large, and because of it family members constantly circulated through it alongside the occasional guest. He owed the family a lot, and truthfully he wasn't sure where he would be in life without them. He glanced at his cousin who he found himself becoming closer, if not the closest person in his family. Dante was a true friend, and they also had the added benefit of being family, not to mention all the stuff they had in common including being looked upon by the family differently. Like Dante he was different, he was introverted at times, eccentric at other times, and wasn't the most sociable even though he was the heir there were many that looked at him with disgust and disdain. Though he wasn't a "bastard" -a word he hated-, they were all blood at the end of the day, differentiating it simply by marriage was stupid in his mind. So now that he had become stronger he simply reminded himself and Dante out loud "One day we'll lead this family, and we'll be able to make all the changes we want ourselves." Lustian said as he stared up at the sky, thinking of the new adventures that awaited the two of them.
Post by Dante Wilhelm on Feb 21, 2022 5:22:01 GMT -5
Dante was thankful that Alessia slowed down when she was responding to his questions as it gave him time to catch his breath from attempting to match her pace. With the heavy mana pressure in the room, it was difficult for him to even move, let alone try to keep up with her and not be left behind in the vast room. He wasn't used to having to move at such a high pace for an extended period like that and for Alessia to just nonchalantly be able to, really put into perspective just how much stronger than him she was and just how much he had been slacking since joining the Golden Dawn. He had barely grown in strength at all, merely resting on the fact that he had gotten into the Golden Dawn and continuing with his usual workout routine from before. But now that would no longer do if he wanted to continue growing and rising to new heights. He would need to step things into overdrive and this training session would be the first step of many that he would do in the upcoming months. "I guess that makes sense." he said to her response, though he had felt that the fact that he used lava magic would have given him at least some form of resistance to heat. Clearly, that wasn't the case here.
"Nah, you got it. I believe in your strength cousin. You have to show why you're the heir of the family to a lowly member like me after all." Dante fired back, just as snarkily though just as with Lustian, there was no venom in his words. As his cousin moved forward, Dante noted that his cousin kept glancing at his shadow and seemed to be comparing it to Dante's own. He probably noticed that Dante's shadow was a bit bigger than his own and was probably feeling some sort of way. Dante knew that he felt inadequate looking at Alessia's shadow so he understood where his cousin was coming from and hopefully he wouldn't let it get him too down. After this training session, he'd probably grow just as strong or even surpass Dante's own mana capacity with how much of a prodigy he was. Even if he didn't reach that from this, Lustian would have plenty of opportunities to come back to this room in the future while that was still up in the air for Dante. He was sure that he'd have to show some satisfactory results from this session if he wanted to be allowed to utilize this room again.
As he moved to sit down next to Lustian, he gave him some encouraging words, or at least what he hoped came across as encouraging. It seemed to have worked as the fear and hesitation that he had noticed earlier in Lustian's body had dimmed and he spoke with strength in his voice. "Exactly. Once we leave out of here, we'll be on a whole new level. In fact, I might go see if I can find Alexander or Alexis and pit myself against them as a test." he said, grinning at the prospect of getting to shut those two up. He wasn't sure if they had ever been allowed in this training room though he was sure that they probably had been under the supervision of their father. If they hadn't been allowed, then it just gave him some ammo to throw back at their faces and taunt them with once he saw them. Either way, it would be sure to wrangle them which was the main point as to why he would be doing it in the first place.
He had managed to distract himself with these thoughts that he hadn't noticed the golden ichor slowly seeping closer and enclosing around him until it stopped just a few inches away from his body before striking him. This was one of the worst bouts of pain that he had ever experienced and it seemed that Lustian agreed with him if his screams were anything to go by. It felt like every cell in his body was on fire and he just wanted to pain to end but it kept going. "It had to end some time though. So just breathe and power through it. You can do it, just focus on your breathing and let your body forget about the pain. The more you focus and pay attention to it, the more prominent it will be and the more it'll hurt." Dante thought, willing himself to relax and breathe through the pain that was coursing through him. It wasn't helping that much but it did at least give him something else to focus on rather than screaming over something that he couldn't change. He wasn't sure how Lustian was doing but he was probably in the same boat as him and given the fact that Alessia hadn't come to help them, this was a normal part of the trial.
Eventually, the pain did end and Dante could once again breathe normally though he did still feel some phantom pain coursing through his body. "That was only 5 minutes? Jesus, no wonder Alessia looked a bit fearful if she had to endure that for 20 minutes added onto the fact that her body isn't as strong as ours." he thought, his respect for the older woman rising. She was still a sadist in his opinion, especially given that she waited so long to inform them of what to expect, but she still had his respect for managing to endure all of that and come out on top. He still made sure to verbalize his complaint to her though, regardless of his respect for her but he would leave it at that since she was deciding to help him increase his mana and strength and decided to include him. She could have just as easily refused to bring him along and since he didn't know her too well, he didn't want to rock the boat too much and get on her bad side. She might just decide to wash her hands of him and leave him to flounder on his own for disrespect after all, which was why he left all the snarky comments to be said by Lustian since he had a better feel of her emotions as well as knowing her better than he did.
After another 5 to 10 minutes, the pair managed to stand up, heading down the steps at Alessia's instructions, and waited. The mana surged around them, quickly taking shape and forming a forest thicket with the large mountain behind them. Part of him did wonder just how it worked as he was sure that the mountain peak was larger than the room's original peak had been but he'd suppose that he'd find out once they managed to get to the top. He exclaimed his surprise at how detailed everything was with the illusion magic with Lustian agreeing and wondering if his own illusion magic would be able to match this level of strength. "I think you should be able to match this level sometime in the future Lustian. You are rather detail-orientated so it should be simple to do." he spoke, nudging his cousin in the side with his elbow before they headed off into the wood, moving towards their end goal of the mountain. Given the distance that he could see and their starting point, he figured that it would take them a few hours to reach the bottom of the mountain with probably another 1-2 in order to get the peak. "So about 5 hours overall to finish them up. The sun should be set by the time that we get out of here then."
As they moved through, it didn't take long before they stumbled upon their first encounter with the bushes a few meters ahead of them rustling. Dante wasted no time in forming his hammer weapon as well as heckling his cousin when he missed his first shot with his arrow. "Well I'm sure that I could hit one of these rabbits with my hammer but that'd just crush and pulverize their meat which I'm sure that you don't want. Not unless you feel like wasting some time to make a stew to salvage the meat of course." he snarked back before moving on. He had the opportunity to do so when they stumbled upon another group of rabbits but as he had stated, Dante elected not to use his hammer, setting it down, and instead of forming a dagger which he threw only to miss the kill shot, landing in the thigh. That ended up slowing the rabbit down enough that he could capture it in his hand and kill it quickly by snapping its neck before handing it to Lustian who took it with no comment. "What, nothing to say this time? Is that because I managed to hit my target unlike you on the first try." There was no need for Lustian to know that it was simply a lucky shot after all.
As they moved deeper into the woods, the dwarven pair ended up stumbling upon a recently empty campsite which immediately set off warning bells in Dante's head. There had been no one else in the room when they had first come in so that meant that whoever this group was, were an illusion created by the runes. He doubted that they would be friendly since there was no point in that for training and was proven correct when 3 bandits came out of the surrounding woods, each holding a separate weapon and malice in their eyes. "Gotcha cousin. Same to you" he stated, keeping the dart user within his peripheral vision as he watched the club user for any signs of movement. They each seemed to wear some form of crude leather armor, covered in stains and scraps on their boots and pants. The club user was rather burly and broad, what one would expect from someone who used a club and had a few scars over his arm and face, showing that he was no stranger to getting injured in battles as what came from close-range fighters. "Who goes this much into detail for random enemies? This seems like a waste of mana honestly."
"Hoo? You guys seem pretty confident that you can take us out. Rather arrogant if you ask me. You all look pretty weak to me so I doubt that we'll even break a sweat beating you all into a pulp." Dante fired back at the dart user. He wasn't sure just how real these illusions were and how they'd react to be snarked at but he figured that it would be worth a try. They were outnumbered here and while one of their enemies seemed to stick to long-range, there was still the fact that he would be free to attack either him or Lustian while they were busy with the other two. Of course, as the tank, it was his job to draw all aggro to him so as to free Lustian to be able to focus without having to take on too many enemies. His taunt seemed to work as the club user glared at him while the dart user stated that Dante would be the first to die. "Oh, I'm so scared. Are you just going to keep barking puppy or will be you putting your money where your mouth is? I doubt that you'll so much as even be able to scratch me with that little toy of yours."
Subtly nodding at Lustian's words to show that he had heard his words, he adjusted the grip on his hammer and spread his feet so that he would be able to rush forward. Hearing Lustian's signal, Dante rushed forward, hoping to catch the club user off-guard while making sure to keep an eye on the dart user in case he decided to attack Dante while he was distracted. Sadly, that wasn't the case as the club user had rushed forward to meet him just as the dagger man rushed after Lustian. The club user was far quicker than Dante had thought someone of his size would be and he raised his club, ready to smash it down upon the smaller dwarf's body. Usually, Dante would have taken such an attack head-on, but with his magic specialty being sealed off on top of not being sure of just how strong his opponent was, he elected to side-step the attack at the last minute, spinning to the right and allowing it to smash into the ground, sending chunks of rock and earth flying. Dante immediately retaliated, using the momentum of his spin to swing his hammer aiming to hit his opponent in his left temple.
Sadly, he didn't get to do so as the man immediately straightened his body up while angling his back towards Dante, allowing the dwarf to get a solid hit into his shoulder muscle, earning him a grunt of pain from the other man before swung out with his left arm and smack Dante back a few inches from the strength. "Yeah, it's a good thing that I didn't decide to take that hit head-on." he thought, noticing that his usual berserker power-up wasn't occurring after he took that hit. Another yell from the side let Dante know that Lustian had managed to land a hit on the dart user before his opponent was on him again, coming at him with a swing to his mid-section this time. Dante managed to dodge backward, moving out of the range and moved forward again, this time aiming to strike the man's arm to get him to drop his club before a whistling sound behind him drew his attention. He didn't even hesitate before leaping to the right as he noticed a dart flying past where he would have been if he had continued his attack. It would seem as though the dart man had managed to recover from getting an arrow from Lustian.
Taking a few more steps back, Dante gave himself some breathing room as he plotted out his next move. With the dart user free to attack either of them, it made things a bit difficult to focus on one opponent especially with the club user being far more durable and stronger than Dante had initially thought he would be. "If I want to beat this guy, I'll have to risk taking a hit so that I can get a solid hit in. The only issue is whether I want to get hit by the dart user. I'm pretty sure that it's filled with poison and I don't want to find out what that would do in here." he thought grimily before taking a quick glance at Lustian to see how he was fairing. He seemed to have lost his bow to a blow from the dagger man which just went to show that Dante had been correct to not take the hit with his hammer and he turned back to his opponent only to see him barely 2 feet away from him aiming to smash his club into his body. "Idiot! Never take your eyes off an opponent. he chastised himself before aiming for a retaliatory hit. It was already too late for him to be able to dodge so all he could do was try to mitigate the damage and make sure that his sacrifice wasn't in vain.
Pain erupted from his side as the club connected with his ribs, with Dante feeling all the breath robbed from his body though he at least managed to smash his hammer into the bottom man's jaw, pouring all his strength into it and managing to dislocate it as he let out a scream. Rolling across the floor, Dante came to a rest a few meters away from him before quickly rising back to his feet, wincing at the feeling of his ribs. They weren't broken as far as he could tell which was a relief but there was a high chance that they were fractured at the least. His opponent was busy screaming and cradling his broken jaw before turning to glare at Dante with a look of hatred in his eyes. Before he could move to take advantage, he could hear the sound of something flying towards him and grit his teeth, knowing that the dart user had decided to launch an attack at him while he was injured and wouldn't be able to move much to defend himself. Instead, Dante merely decided to spin his hammer around in an attempt to work as a shield and thankfully it had worked as the dart bounced off and flew a few inches away landing on the floor which he bent to pick up.
"Come on bitch, let's dance." he taunted before running forward, this time moving a bit slower due to his injured ribs and the other man ran forward to meet him. The two exchanged blows, neither hitting the other, merely clashing with their weapons but Dante was merely buying time and waiting for the right time to enact it. He was keeping an ear out for the dart user deciding to attack him and was elated to hear a death keel from behind him indicating that their enemies had just gone down to 2 instead. "Hear that? Sounds like one of your buddies just got merced and you're next!" he taunted once again and this time it paid off as his opponent let out a bellowing rage and swung again, overextending himself. Stepping to the side, Dante dodged once more before throwing the dart that he had picked up, managing to hit the club user in the eyes as he let out a bloodcurdling scream and flailed about. He managed to score another hit onto Dante, this time on his opposite leg but Dante merely grit his teeth and slammed his hammer into the man's face, driving the dart deeper into the man's skull till it almost disappeared.
All at once, the man's scream stopped and he toppled over like a crashing tree, not moving a single bit. Dante was suspicious of this and smashed his hammer into the back of the man's head to ensure that he was dead and wouldn't rise up to strike once his back was turned. That this also let him work out some frustration about getting his ribs and potentially his leg fractured, well one couldn't really blame him for being irritated about that. He took a few breaths, attempting to work through his pain before turning towards Lustian to see if he still needed help only to see that he had finished his match and was taking a bite out of the uncooked rabbit. Dante couldn't help but be slightly disgusted at the thought of eating raw meat like that but quickly wiped that from his face as he hobbled his way towards his cousin, using his hammer as a crutch to help him move. "Guess that rabbit meat really does help heal. I could use some of that myself though I hope you don't mind if I get mine cooked." he stated as he took the offered rabbit and set it beside the dead fire.
"Yeah I can get some firewood." nodding to his cousin before he went off into the woods. Staring at the raw rabbit, Dante grimaced before reaching down and taking a bite, feeling the healing effects kicking in. If he was going to be moving around, he didn't want to be hobbling around, making him take even longer with his task. Thankfully, that one bite was enough for him to be able to walk on his leg and breath a bit easier since his ribs didn't hurt as much and he moved to gather any firewood nearby, glancing at the dead bodies of the bandits occasionally. He was curious as to why they had been set to still remain here after being killed rather than just disappearing once their work was done but perhaps the creator of this room had been unable to do so without getting rid of the effect set for the game animals as well. If he had to take the option then he could deal with having to look at a few dead bodies for an hour or two.
Once they had finished cooking and eating the rabbits, Dante rose, stretching out his now fully healed body, and followed behind his cousin as he moved deeper into the woods. "Well that was fun to watch." he said, snickering as he appeared above his cousin's head once he fell to the ground from the tree. They continued on with Dante glancing up at the birds on occasion to make sure that they weren't about to be divebombed and attacked only to end up stumbling upon a bear with Dante taking point as he battled the creature while Dante hung back, firing arrows into its body. This was a much easier fight than the bandits had been and after they defeated it, they continued on though the earth-shaking had been a cause for concern amongst the paint.
A few more hazards came their way, including getting caught in a landslide that had caused them to take shelter in a cavern that they had to dig their way out of, Dante was 1000% done with this training session. "Are we there yet?" Thankfully they had soon arrived at the top of the mountain peak and at Lustian's word, Dante began to hammer at the gem, shattering and it causing the illusionary world around them to dissipate revealing Alessia standing here. Falling on his ass, Dante panted as he caught his breath for what seemed to be the 5th time today as Alessia praised them on their accomplishment. "Thanks. But I think it'll be a while before I do something like this again. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go pass out now." he stated before collapsing backward, knocked out.
The next time that he awoke, he was being treated by the servants of the family with healing elixirs as well as a nice warm bath to soothe his aching muscles. Lustian began to speak and Dante didn't really have the energy to entertain him, merely grunting showcasing that he was acknowledging his words as he watched him manipulate his magic. "My body does feel stronger, I'll admit. This training has given me some ideas for spells but I wouldn't say it gave me any revelations. I always knew that I would be focusing on strengthening my body next and this just showed me just how strong I can possibly be once I do so." he stated before turning his head to glance at his cousin, smiling at his last statement. "Yeah, sounds like a nice change."