Mage's Path 1 Read online

  Mage’s Path 1

  DB King

  Copyright © 2021 by DB King

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Facebook Fantasy Group

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  Free progression Fantasy Novel!

  Contents

  Series by DB King

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Dragon Magus: Chapter 1

  Dragon Magus: Chapter 2

  Dragon Magus: Chapter 3

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  Free progression Fantasy Novel!

  About the Author

  Series by DB King

  Dragon Magus

  Dungeon of Evolution

  Kensei

  The Last Magus

  Shinobi Rising

  War Wizard

  Chapter 1

  Jack spent the whole day in the forest near Oakwood Town. This was how he spent every free moment he had, and today was a day like any other. As he wandered through the dusk under the green canopy of the mighty oak trees, he had no way of knowing that before this day was over, his life would change forever.

  The forest was big and peaceful, and there was plenty of privacy. Jack knew his way around pretty well—after all, this had been where he’d spent most of his time for the last three months.

  Today, he’d wandered further than usual from town, driven by an urge to see a new place. He’d found a deep pool where a babbling waterfall cut a narrow channel through a rock bank, then fell a few feet. Over the years, it had cut a wide, green pond in the softer rock.

  The banks of the pool were green and soft with thick moss. It was a beautiful, peaceful place, and as soon as Jack saw it, he knew this was where he’d spend his day. He had thought of following the stream where it flowed away out of the pond and off down a steep hill, but he knew that the Shadow Tower lay in that direction, less than a mile away. That was an evil place, so the townsfolk said, and Jack had no desire to explore it on his own.

  He had spent a dedicated day working on his mana pool. His technique was to stand very still, breathing deeply, concentrating his focus internally and holding awareness of the pool in his mind. At the same time, he tried to be aware of the natural world around him—the bubbling splash of the water, the chatter of the birds, and the mellow hissing of the wind in the tree canopy high above him.

  Settling into this kind of deep focus built strength and capacity for his mana pool. It was also supposed to clarify the cloudy mana, but Jack had not seen any sign of that happening yet. He worked all day, stopping only once for a light meal when he saw the sun peeking through the trees directly above him. But for all his hard work, he saw frustratingly little progress.

  Later, as the dusk deepened, Jack wandered through the forest back in the general direction of Oakwood Town. He was a young man, brown-haired and clean-shaven, dressed in good light armor of boiled leather. He had a surcoat of light chainmail, and a plain cloak wrapped around his shoulders. In one hand he held a long spear with a leaf-shaped blade that glinted when the sun caught at its edge.

  The spear and armor were mainly just in case of wild animals—he didn’t expect any trouble from other people in these woods. The town of Oakwood and the forest around it was the territory of the mages’ guild, and no bandit would be foolish enough to try to set up camp within their sphere of influence.

  Jack sighed. He had been walking with his head down and his shoulders hunched, a picture of dejection. There was no way he would fulfil his dream of becoming a mage’s apprentice unless he found a way to increase the size of his mana pool faster. Jack was no lord’s son, only the common orphan stepson of a village blacksmith named Robin. The nobility could get a favored candidate into the guild easily enough—all it took was a word in the right ear or a bag of coins in the right hand—but only for a commoner it was much, much harder. Only the most outstanding candidates got in that way.

  Through diligent nagging of a local mage, Jack had even managed to get to the first level of the interview process, but the haughty mage who had examined him had laughed him out of the interview after looking at his mana pool.

  “Boy,” he had scoffed, “you would need a mana pool a thousand times the size of that measly offering before we’d even consider you! Give it up. You’d be better getting an apprenticeship in town before you’re too old. This was a waste of my time!”

  Jack sighed again as he reflected on that bitter memory. He had not given up, however, and the town mage had reluctantly given him the exercise to boost his mana pool.

  Jack had diligently worked at it every spare moment since then, but the results had been less than dramatic. Every time he did the meditation he felt a small boost to his strength and potential, but he had to face the fact that it would take him a decade to double the size of his pool at this rate.

  What else can I do? he asked himself. If this is the only way to increase my potential that I know of, then I’ll just have to pursue it. Perhaps in a year…

  Something caught his attention, and he raised his head.

  What’s that? he thought. It feels strange, like there’s something watching me. Jack shivered and tightened his grip on his spear.

  He looked around, quickly surveying the area around where he stood. He had been wandering aimlessly, and now he found that he was not where he had expected to be. This was new.

  A tangle of thorny undergrowth was barring his way. To his left, the ground sloped downward, and he figured that would be the way back to town. If he went downhill he would be sure to hit the track that led back to Oakwood. But on his right…

  Jack turned, feeling strangely drawn. The tangle of thorn bushes bent round, blocking the way up to the right as well. “There’s nothing there,” he said out loud, but the tugging at his heart was undeniable. There was something there.

  And it was calling to him.

  Jack frowned, but he couldn’t resist the temptation. He stepped up to the bushes and peered through the thick tangle. Was there something there after all? Something square, a tall square block of some kind of black material…

  He stared at it for a moment, trying to make sense of it. Then, suddenly, his eyes made sense of it for him. It was not a black block of something—it was a rectangular opening, half buried in fallen rock and drifts of l
eaves and with the tangled briars weaving back and forth across the entrance.

  Then, as he watched, blue light suddenly began to glow steadily from the opening.

  Jack stepped back, looking around the trees where he stood. There was something strange about them, too, he saw. It was the leaves. The leaves had turned purple, and veins of purple ran across the trunks as well. The leaves and the trunks glowed with a faint light.

  “What in the world…?” Jack muttered. There was no question about it now—he would explore this further. Even if it hadn’t been for the powerful attraction that drew him toward the entrance, he would have explored. As it was, he felt as if something inside his belly was urging him on toward the mysterious blue-glowing entrance. He would have struggled to turn away even if he’d wanted to.

  Even so, he found himself questioning this as he raised the razor-sharp blade of his spear and began to clear the brambles away from the entrance. What was this place anyway? There was definitely some kind of magic going on here, no doubt about that—look at the purple leaves on the trees and the mysterious blue glow from within the entrance—but was it magic that he wanted to get involved in?

  Oh, sure, he thought, as his blade carved a clear path through the tangled growths, there’s no bandits out here, but who’s to say this couldn’t be the den of some renegade shaman or some magical creature? What if it’s some kind of ancient curse that I’ve accidentally disturbed here?

  He used the shaft of the spear to shove aside the pile of brambles that he’d cut free. The purple on the grass around his feet glowed up clearly now, leading a straight path to the blue-glowing entrance. He could see it more clearly now, two cracked stone sides and a flight of worn steps leading down under the earth. Working slowly and carefully, he cleared aside the last of the brambles and stood back, looking at what he’d uncovered.

  “Well,” he said quietly, “this may be some kind of trick, but whatever it is I’m going to take the chance. After all, what have I got to lose? My chances of getting into the mages’ guild are second to none, and my chances of building my mana pool up to an acceptable level this lifetime are pretty much zero as well. But this… now this looks pretty promising.”

  Jack nodded and smiled slightly as he looked down the stairs. He could see a little bit of a tunnel stretching away, but nothing else. The blue light glowed steadily upward, illuminating his face as he gazed at it.

  Gripping his spear a little tighter, Jack stepped forward. He put his foot on the top step, and some instinct made him look around. He scanned the whole area near him, but there was no sign of anyone and the pull to go down the steps was stronger than ever.

  Nodding again, and taking a deep breath, Jack made his way down the stairs.

  The steps were stone, but they were worn in the center as if they had been trodden on by countless feet for a hundred years. This place sure looked abandoned, but Jack guessed from the worn steps that at some point it had been known and regularly used.

  There had been at least a decade of growth over the entrance, though, so it was some time since anyone had been here. In fact, it seemed more than possible to Jack that he was the first person to come down these steps for at least ten years, and maybe even much longer.

  The pulling feeling in his chest eased a bit as he walked down the worn steps, and he figured that was because he was doing what it wanted.

  His rational mind still told him that it was a good idea to be on his guard, but his instinct was telling him strongly that this was a safe place, a place where he was welcome.

  He forced himself to stay wary as he went down steps, then round the gently curving corridor. Blue light surrounded him as the corridor opened out into a wide space. Jack looked around in amazement.

  What a place! he thought.

  He was in a stone chamber with a dirt floor and a low ceiling. It was big, maybe fifty feet square, Jack guessed, and along the walls there were runes in a flowing and beautiful script that Jack didn’t recognize. These runes seemed to be the light source, but he could not tell what they were made of. He approached the nearest one.

  He held out one hand and laid it on the rune. It was warm, and seemed to be made of crystal, inlaid into the stone of the wall. Jack shook his head, marveling at the wonders of the chamber. He turned away from the rune and looked around himself.

  There was something in the center of the room. It looked like a stone plinth about waist high, the kind of thing that should have held a little statue. Jack looked at it curiously for a moment. Then, suddenly, the feeling of being drawn toward a goal flared up in his chest again and he walked forward toward the little plinth.

  Jack was on his guard despite feeling sure that there was nothing else in the chamber with him. This kind of thing could be a trap. He was becoming sure that what he had found here was an abandoned dungeon, of the kind that adventurers went to for the purpose of killing monsters and collecting loot. It was well known that there were some dungeons in the forest, guarded and maintained by the mages’ guild, but this one seemed like it might have been forgotten about.

  Still, Jack would be careful. He kept a firm grip on his spear and swept the chamber from side to side with his eyes as he approached. He walked slowly, resisting the urge to tear forward and examine the plinth. If this was a dungeon, then this little stone column might be a trap.

  Nothing happened. Jack reached the plinth, then held his hand out to touch the dusty, empty flat surface of its top. As he did, there was a sudden vibration in the air around him. The runes on the walls glowed brightly, and in front of him, a foot above the top of the stone plinth, something appeared out of thin air.

  It was a crystal.

  “It’s so beautiful!” Jack said aloud as he gazed at it. The crystal sphere was as big as his hand, and it glowed with a rich, vibrant green light that seemed to come from deep within it. It rotated slowly in place, the green light shining out and illuminating the cave and Jack’s amazed face in its bright glow.

  Jack did the only thing he could do. He reached out and touched it.

  The surface of the crystal was cool and smooth, as slick as ice but not as cold. Jack ran the tip of a finger across it, then grew bolder. He grasped it in his fist and lifted it out of its place. To his surprise, it came away easily and he held it up in front of him, gazing at it.

  There was a sudden hiss like air escaping from a bellows, and then Jack’s eyes locked onto the glowing crystal. He felt his soul reaching out toward it, connecting with it, drawing it into himself.

  A glittering radiance shone out from it, and suddenly the very crystal itself began to disintegrate. At first it was as if bright green smoke was coming from the surface of the crystal, flowing through the air and into Jack’s chest.

  The crystal became lighter in his hand, like a handful of sand running through his fingers. Too late to turn back, he understood what was happening. The crystal was a dungeon core, like the dungeon cores from the legends of the great adventurers, and he was absorbing it! He had not intended to at all, but it was happening!

  A mixture of fear and excitement flooded through Jack as the green crystal disintegrated in his hand. His emotions were swamped in the feeling of power that flowed through his body suddenly, flashing through him like light into a dark room. All at once, he felt like he could do anything.

  It was terrifying and amazing at the same time. His mind expanded into the world around him, and the possibilities were endless. His hands were like magic wands, and he felt like he could cast an endless variety of powerful spells all at once if he’d wanted.

  The green light of the magical crystal flowed through him and found its way to his mana pool, right in the center of his belly. Awareness of the mana there flooded him, and he felt his pool expand and then become clear.

  That was the most amazing feeling. All the time since Jack had been aware of his mana pool, it had been cloudy and the edges had been soft and unclear, despite all the efforts and work he’d put into improving and clarif
ying it. Now, he saw and felt the pool’s edges become hard and exact. At the same time, the mana in the pool shifted from cloudy to crystal clear. Pathways from his mana pool snaked out through his body to his hands, his feet, and his head.

  The pool itself expanded, doubling in size in a moment.

  Jack gasped in amazement. All that work, for all those hours and days, and he had only managed to grow his mana pool a little. Now he felt that his pool was strong enough even for the mages’ guild interviewers!

  He grinned exultantly as he felt the mana pathways throughout his body settle and become solid and permanent. They stretched from his mana pool to his hands and feet, up to the top of his head, and throughout his body. Mana flowed in him, and he felt like it infused his very blood.

  But the green light from the crystal dulled and weakened. Green smoke swirled around his hands and around his head, then faded. A powerful tingling sensation ran through Jack, and he shuddered briefly.

  His hands were empty. The crystal was gone.

  The incredible sensation of power faded, but Jack was left with the awareness of his clear, well-defined mana pool and the network of pathways throughout his body, and particularly the ones to his hands. He held his hands up in front of him, looking at the palms. He felt full of potential, yet at the same time he didn’t feel like he had anywhere to put the potential.

  “No spells,” he said out loud. “I don’t have any spells that I can cast yet. Somehow, I have been granted an increase in mana and power by this dungeon, but I’ll need a mentor before I can make use of my magic properly.”

  He caught his breath and looked around the chamber. For a moment, all was quiet—but suddenly the blue runes on the walls glowed brightly. A voice boomed out in Jack’s mind, so loud that he could hardly stay on his feet.

  “Aetherborn,” it said, “aetherborn, you have fulfilled the prophecy! I felt your approach and I awoke for you. Now you have gained the power of the dungeons by absorbing my crystal, a feat that no man has achieved for a thousand years. Now, Aetherborn, you must take the power out into the world and fulfil your destiny. Go forth, and harness the power of dungeons!”