"Well? What are you waiting for, Rusty? Get it over with."
"No, don't!"
"Don't what? These are monsters. They would kill us instantly if they had the chance. Once they grow up, they will seek revenge and kill to survive."
"But…"
"Oh? Is it their age? How rciful and naive. But that is how you died, hero. Let us not have our dear Rusty repeat your mistakes."
Aburdon and Alexander were having a heated conversation while Rusty glanced at the small kobold children. Though they were monsters living in a dungeon, they were not controlled by it. They were more like him than anything else. But just as Aburdon said, they were still monsters. Once they grew up, they would start killing. Perhaps they would even seek revenge on him, the one who would still co to this dungeon to gain more levels.
Rusty stared down at the cowering kobold children, his tallic hands tightening into fists. Their wide, fearful eyes reflected the glow of his helt, their small bodies trembling as they huddled together. He could feel their terror, their helplessness, sothing he knew himself. It was as if he was looking at his old corroded bronze shell, so easily destroyed.
"They don't have a choice."
Alexander continued to argue as if he was bent on saving these monsters from certain doom.
"They're just surviving, like we are. Like you are."
"And so were their parents, the ones we just slaughtered."
Aburdon countered, his tone clearly mocking Alexander.
"Survival of the fittest. Isn't that the law of this world? You hesitate now, and one day, one of these pathetic creatures will drive a blade into your back."
Rusty remained silent, his body moving forward as his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. Logic was on Aburdon's side. He was right. Given ti, these monsters would more than likely beco potential threats. Just like him, they could evolve and grow into sothing stronger. It was better to take care of them now rather than risk them becoming a problem in the future.
"Hesitating now would just be foolish. Kill them now, before they grow into sothing worse. rcy is for the weak."
Aburdon scoffed and continued to urge him in one direction while Alexander in the other.
"Rusty… Just because they could beco a threat doesn't an they will. There is no reason to do this."
It seed that Aburdon was the more logical one here. There was a good reason to eliminate these creatures now, and their bodies could be sold for profit. It was clear to him that his other guide was being emotional, sothing the humanoid creatures of this world seed bound to. Rusty sowhat understood those feelings, but only after Gleam appeared in his life. Even so, he stepped closer until he stood directly before the trembling monster children.
"Hm?"
Before bringing down his raised sword, the face of Rolo, the leader of the quartet of street urchins, flashed before him. The fear these monsters showcased reminded him of the ti he had saved those children from two thugs who had intruded on his territory. He recalled the youngest of them playing with Gleam, both of them clearly enjoying themselves. He hesitated. He wasn't sure why, but sothing told him that proceeding with his actions would go too far.
"Tch. You're soft."
Aburdon muttered again as he noticed Rusty lowering his sword.
"Why would you want to risk leaving loose ends? Don't expect rcy when one of these creatures rams a dagger into your core years from now."
"By then, I will be much stronger too. They can co and try, right Gleam?"
While Aburdon was right to a certain extent, the probability of these kobolds ever becoming a threat to him was slim to none. Rusty couldn't imagine them growing strong enough to challenge him, let alone finding him if they even tried. Sowhere deep down, he also welcod the challenge. Facing stronger opponents and growing stronger himself was part of his nature. Leaving these young monsters behind didn't seem like much of a problem.
" (•‾⌣‾•)و "
Gleam, who had been watching closely, skittered beside him, nudging his side approvingly. Alexander let out a relieved sigh.
"Thank you, Rusty. You made the right choice."
Aburdon scoffed again.
"Sentintality will be your undoing."
Rusty ignored the demon's words. He didn't believe he was being sentintal, just more balanced in his approach. His very existence was about maintaining equilibrium between light and dark. It felt natural that soone like him shouldn't stray too far to either side. He didn't want to beco a demon, but he had no desire to be a hero either. Sothing in between that just felt right.
He glanced back at the young kobolds one last ti, then at the enclosed space around them before turning on his heels. There was nothing in this small cave worth his consideration. Outside, the smoke had already settled, and the fires had died down, leaving only the charred remains of the hidden kobold village. The settlent was now nothing more than a smoldering ruin, littered with the bodies of its fallen inhabitants. Rusty stepped toward the corpses and asked Aburdon.
"So, any worthwhile parts from these monsters that we can sell?"
After spending almost all of his money on buying the practically collapsed house, he knew that he needed to start accumulating wealth again. Even though he didn't have many personal needs, maintaining his equipnt, securing resources for future upgrades, and ensuring Gleam had everything she needed were all essential.
"Let's see… kobold bones can be ground into low-quality alchemical powder. Their claws and fangs can be made into trinkets or charms. It's mostly junk… but for so reason, the guild still buys it. The rest isn't worth the ti."
Rusty could take all the bodies with him, but they would only clog up his storage system. He could process the parts before selling them, but that would cost SP, which took ti to restore. The larger the item he stored, the more SP it consud. With that in mind, he decided to simply slash off the claws and fangs, leaving the rest behind. The kobold bones were low quality, and he knew that deeper in the dungeon, he would find far better resources than these.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
After searching through the settlent, Rusty gathered a few pieces of weaponry and armor that could be sold, along with so loose coins scattered among the ruins. With nothing else of value left, he turned his focus to sothing far more important, his newly acquired Mana Manipulation skill. Although he had managed to cast a basic spell, he wanted to learn more. Fortunately, there were three individuals who could offer him guidance.
First was Gleam, a natural caster with an instinctive understanding of magic. Then there was Aburdon, the forr demon lord, who specialized in dark magic. Lastly, there was Alexander, the fallen hero, who likely knew a thing or two about light magic. With his options clear, the only question was, whom should he ask first?
"So… what spells should I learn first? Are there any limitations?"
He was like a newborn when it ca to magic, as he just relied on existing skills to activate his elental abilities. Aburdon was the first to respond, his voice laced with amusent.
"Limitations? Your imagination is your only real limitation. As long as you understand the way of the arcane arts, you can do anything!"
"Anything?"
He liked the sound of that, but before he could fully rejoice, Alexander interrupted.
"Don't lie to him, he is still limited by the mana he has and the affinity for spells. I'd be surprised if he can cast anything other than light and dark type spells."
"Oh? But can't Gleam cast fire and other spells besides light?"
"(„• ֊ •„)੭"
He asked his two guides while slowly making his way outside the kobold settlent. Gleam perched back on his shoulder while standing proudly as if trying to showcase her arcane capabilities.
"First of all… do you know about the Elents in magic and how they interact with each other?"
"Uh… There is fire, water, earth, wind, and light and dark?"
Aburdon chuckled after asking his question.
"Indeed, but that's not all; those are just the basic elents. We in this world call them the six elental pillars of magic but there is more."
"Oh?"
Rusty had heard so theories while traveling, but he had been too focused on his journey and obtaining the mana manipulation skill to ask about them. Soon, both Aburdon and Alexander were explaining to him how the elental system worked.
"Now then, let us start with the fundantals…"
Apparently, there were six basic elents that could be combined to create other effects. Combining fire with wind, for example, resulted in a fusion elent called lightning. There were various combinations of these elents, and even fusion elents could rge into sothing even greater.
The first level of fusion was called double elental fusion. Beyond that were tertiary elental fusions. If a person combined fire, lightning, and light, they could create a plasma spell that harnessed the power of the sun. anwhile, combining darkness, decay, and abyss would create necrotic spells, the domain of necromancy.
There was also a separate force known as Null. It wasn't truly part of elental magic but instead functioned as anti-magic, a power that nullified spells and reduced them to nothing. In addition, there were non-elental spells, such as the one Gleam used to silence sounds around them.
It seed that the most powerful results ca from mastering multiple elents and fusing them together. However, even mastering a single elent was extrely difficult and dependent on a person's affinities. Elental affinity was usually an inborn trait, and in Rusty's case, he had a strong connection to both light and darkness. When combined, these two elents ford the fusion elent of twilight, a na that had been engraved into his identity as a monster.
"Now, here cos the interesting part. Mastering both light and darkness was said to be impossible and just unnatural. I still can't wrap my head around how an existence like you ca to be Rusty… it just doesn't make any sense."
Aburdon continued to babble while Rusty finally left the kobold settlent behind and return to the dungeon proper.
"Unnatural?"
At the end of the explanation, Aburdon pointed out that darkness and light were elents that naturally rejected each other. The most anyone could do was condense the two elents to create chaotic explosions, like Rusty did with his body parts. However, truly lding them together was not a natural process, and only a few beings in the world were said to be capable of it. This was the territory of legends - twilight magic.
Rusty tried to absorb this information carefully, it seed that there was far more to magic than he had originally thought. Then, to make things worse, Aburdon's next phrase brought the world crashing down on him.
"And because of your affinity for both elents that reject each other, you will probably be unable to fuse any other elents together. The only magic you will ever be able to produce is twilight, light, and dark."
Rusty stopped walking.
"What?"
"I said you're stuck, my dear Rusty."
Aburdon repeated nonchalantly.
"Unlike most mages who can expand their elental repertoire, you're going to be constrained by light and dark. Your current form is tailor made for twilight; both light and dark are in perfect balance but, if you attempt to add another elent, it could be disastrous."
"Disastrous?"
Rusty asked while looking over his own twilight-forged body. Alexander, sensing his unease, quickly interjected.
"It's not all bad, Rusty. You may not be able to mix other elents, but Twilight is one of the rarest and most powerful affinities. Few in history have ever wielded it."
"Oh? What spells can I use with twilight?"
"Uh…"
Alexander had no idea how to reply. While he had been a hero in the past who wielded the power of light, he had no idea what twilight magic could do.
"Hah, that's why you should hold your tongue if you don't have anything wise to say."
Aburdon loved to see the hero stutter, but he was also hit with a quick rebuttal.
"Not like you know anything about it either, do you?"
"Bah, I probably know more than you, hero!"
"I'm sure you do…"
Alexander almost laughed at the empty retort, but Rusty, on the other hand, tried to process the information. Gleam was a monster with the light affinity but also had affinities for other elents, like fire. She could tap into many different fusions, and if what Aburdon was saying was true, then the more a person used spells from a particular elent, the stronger their affinity would grow.
Rusty, however, was stuck with two elents: light, which was associated with godly divinity and used for healing and purification spells, and darkness, which belonged to demons and was tied to corruption and entropy. Perhaps it was best to first learn these elents separately and then see what combining them would achieve. This seed to be uncharted territory, and even his guides were at a loss. However, Alexander had mastered the elent of light, and Aburdon had mastered darkness. They could at least teach him how to use those two before he attempted to tackle twilight magic.
In the past, he had already used twilight to so extent. By combining the two elents, he could create powerful explosions. He assud that combining them could produce powerful attack spells, but perhaps it could also lead to sothing different. His twilight mantle skill was a buffing skill, so maybe he could learn a skill that would raise his stats in the sa way. There were many possibilities, but first, he needed to get the two elents under control and see what he could do with them.
"Good, I've decided! Aburdon, you will teach the basics of dark magic, and Alexander, you will teach the basic light spells!"
"Hah, don't think I'll go easy on you."
Aburdon replied, his black light pulsating in Rusty's eye socket as if he was scheming sothing.
"I think that's fine. Probably best if we start with the basics…"
Alexander, on the other hand, dimd in his right eye. He seed unsure about how to approach the situation. He had been a hero, a warrior on the front lines, not a magic teacher, so he wasn't sure where to begin.
"Great… but first, perhaps we should see what's deeper in this dungeon. These kobolds were rather weak."
"(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)"
Gleam squeaked in agreent from his shoulder, her tiny form wriggling with excitent. She, too, seed eager to explore the next stage of their journey. Rusty took a step forward, his sword gripped tightly in his hand, ready for whatever awaited them.
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