Sorcerer Ascendant: Singularity Online: Book 2 Read online

  Sorcerer Ascendant

  Singularity Online: Book 2

  Kyle Johnson

  Copyright © 2020 Kyle Johnson

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-13: 9781234567890

  ISBN-10: 1477123456

  Cover design by: Art Painter

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  Dedicated to Keri, who does not need me to entertain her.

  Sorcerer Ascendant

  Singularity Online Book 2

  Prologue

  Phil was, understandably, really frustrated. He had been so excited to jump into Singularity Online; Jeff and he had been looking forward to it ever since they were selected for the Beta test. He was stoked to play a paladin in almost-real life: he always played a paladin in games. He loved the combo of tanking and healing: it made him doubly useful. Plus, paladins usually had great Charisma, and Phil really was known for his people skills. So, when he was offered the tests in the character creation room, he figured paladin would be a shoo-in.

  As it turned out, paladin wasn’t an option. It wasn’t even a basic Class choice, period. His AI guide gave him some spiel about the gods being locked away, how you had to earn divine powers, blah, blah, blah. All he knew is that the Spellsword Class he picked was cool, but it wasn’t a Paladin, and if he wanted to get to be a Paladin, he needed to figure out how to do it before level 10, when he was supposed to pick an Advanced Class.

  Which led to the real reason for his frustration: he had been completely unable to get in touch with Jeff. The game had player chat, but only if you were in the same region, and for some reason, Jeff hadn’t spawned in the Human Kingdoms like Phil had. Which means, logically, he told himself for the umpteenth time, he probably didn’t choose Human as his race, or he picked some weird Class that had a special starting region.

  Phil had partied up – with his people skills, it hadn’t been hard to convince a group of fellow noobs, or new players, to band together for mutual survival – but it hadn’t gone very well. Phil was honest enough to admit that he made a great second-in-command but not the best leader. Give him a plan, and he could execute it. He could get everyone onboard, keep them all moving in the same direction, get whatever buy-in was needed…but coming up with plans? Not his strong suit.

  After their first few forays into the local mountains led them into two ambushes, one avalanche, and a particularly nasty pit trap, the party decided to disband and seek out other options. Ones that didn’t include Phil, who had led them into those minor difficulties. Phil got another party together, this time with him in a supporting rather than lead role, and it was going – okay. It was sort of fun, but honestly? He missed Jeff.

  For example, Jeff would have come up with a great plan to deal with their current dilemma: a band of small, black-skinned goblin-like creatures that the locals called ‘bogez’ were raiding outlying farms, and the party had accepted a Quest to rid the area of them. It should have been an easy task – bogez were, like classic goblins, pretty weak and easy to kill, making them good noob-fodder – so the party leader, a Ranger who had for some reason chosen the name SniprGurl (but the group called Karen, because nobody was calling her SniprGurl, and to be honest, she was a total Karen) decided the best approach was a direct, frontal assault.

  And that’s when they found out that the word “band” didn’t really do this group of bogez justice. “Swarm” might have been better, or even “Horde”. Even Phil knew they should have scouted the area first, but Karen was their primary scout, and she didn’t want to ‘waste her time on such an easy Quest’. That meant it was a surprise when they attacked and slaughtered the first camp they’d found and were swarmed by at least forty of the creatures, with more on the way.

  Karen had gotten them to form up inside of a dead-end cave, so that the little beasts could only attack from the front, but Phil knew that was a losing move. The cave had a low overhead, so he and the other tank, a vanilla Warrior named Hector who liked heavy armor and a battleaxe, couldn’t wield their weapons freely, and Karen and their other ranged attacker, a cute-but-shy little Wizard who called herself Neela, couldn’t fire easily over the front-line fighters’ heads. It was a tactical mistake, and from the swearing Phil heard pouring from Karen, she realized they were all about to be sent for respawn.

  That’s why I need Jeff to get his ass over here, Phil growled internally as he unleashed a Fire Bolt, the last his dwindling SP would let him cast, into the face of another bogez. Where the hell are you, dude?

  Lily watched in quiet glee as her summoned aswang resumed its normal form and leapt upon the armored Warrior from behind, its blood draining tongue piercing the spot between the warrior’s helmet and cuirass where no armor protected it. The Shadewalker beside the Warrior was taken by surprise but managed to drive his blades deeply into the green-skinned creature, which did almost nothing since the damage was healed instantly by the LP the monster was draining from the Warrior. Just to be safe, though, Lily cast a Curse of Decay on the Shadewalker, applying a small DoT or damage over time effect and more importantly, lowering the assassin’s damage output enough to be sure he couldn’t harm the aswang.

  The Warrior flailed and tried to grab his assailant, but the aswang was deceptively strong and locked its claws into the gaps in the Warrior’s armor, clinging as it drained the Human’s life. The Shadewalker tried to drop into Stealth, probably to attack her, but the DoT effect kept pulling him out. She’d learned long ago that any form of damage would knock a player out of Stealth; too bad these idiot noobs hadn’t been here as long as she had. Lily laughed and hit the assassin with a Darkbolt, tearing into his LP and draining his Strength. The man shook off the impact and leaped for her, but her attacks hadn’t been anything but a distraction.

  The aswang released the husk of the Warrior and charged at the Shadewalker. He tried to fight, but with his Str, Attack, and Damage drained, he simply couldn’t inflict any significant damage on the monster, and once the creature’s proboscis lodged in the assassin’s throat, it was all over.

  “Stupid, fucking noobs,” Lily laughed as the aswang finished draining its prey, dropping the withered husk and turning to face its master. “They’re so damn gullible. Put on a pretty face, and all they see is tits. Assholes.” She watched as the bodies vanished, sent back for respawn. Too bad you can’t loot their asses in this game, she grumbled. Decent XP, though. Plus, more CP for me!

  She quickly cast her Steal Image Spell, which allowed her to copy the form of any humanoid she killed, and took on the Shadewalker’s face and form. It was always a little weird turning into a guy – how the fuck do they do anything with that thing hanging down there? – but it for damn sure threw people off her trail. So long as I don’t get stabbed in the fucking balls again; I can’t believe that elf bitch did that!

  She dismissed the aswang and summoned a karkadann, something like a black-furred unicorn that oozed shadows and dripped blood as it ran. It was an easy creature for pursuers to follow, but it ran incredibly fast for short distances, and she was close enough to her destination that it didn’t matter. The two players were respawning a day’s travel back in Hawkholme, and by the time they made it back here, she’d have taken
a new identity and vanished into the next city.

  “That’ll be far enough for me to start over,” she grumbled. “Start small, build up power, and take the fuck over. Then, that asshole Aranos and I are going to have a long, fucking chat…”

  Chapter 1

  Aranos Evenshade, First Sorcerer, Master of Skills, The Ascendant and the Liberator, sort-of hero of the elven Stronghold of Eredain, kicked the glass dome of his mindscape and swore furiously, rubbing his aching toe. Behind him, the ephemeral form of Lythienne, an ancient elf whose memories once instructed him in the basic craft of Sorcery, froze in midsentence, the playback of her image paused once more as Aranos stomped around the mindscape in frustration, muttering curses under his breath.

  He had spent the last few hours in this place, deep within his subconscious, surrounded by the rapidly spinning spirals of his collected mana that hovered just beyond the dome. He’d started the session totally elated. Not only were Lythienne’s memories not completely destroyed when he killed the corrupted Sorcerer to free the lost city of Haerobel, but his Mana Control was finally high enough that he could aspect his mana. That meant that rather than using weaker, unaspected mana that was a chaotic mass of opposing energies, he could draw specific types of power – fire, for example, or earth – and use his energy much more effectively.

  At least, theoretically. He had listened carefully several times to the recorded memory Lythienne’s specter had planted in his head until he thought he had a firm grasp of the concepts involved. He had taken his time, drew the power slowly, just as she said…and yet, here he was, hours later, unable to conjure up a single puff of air or flicker of flame. In fact, his best effort had produced nothing more than a dull, orange haze that hovered over his upturned palm, not even warming his hand, much less able to set an enemy ablaze.

  It was frustrating, because he knew that this was an issue unique to Sorcerers: Wizards, Clerics, and other spell-using classes didn’t have to worry about separating out the unique types of mana and drawing from them in exactly the right way. No, their Spells did all that work for them. When a Wizard cast a Spell, they poured raw mana of all aspects into it. The Spell itself siphoned away the extraneous mana and left only the specific type it needed.

  Of course, this made those Spells horribly inefficient, but it also made them much simpler to cast. A brand-new, 1st level Wizard could probably cast the same Fire Bolt at day one that Aranos was struggling with now, 8 levels later. It wouldn’t be all that powerful, it wouldn’t grow much as the Wizard did, and they’d only be able to cast it a few times before they ran out of SP, or Spell Points…but they could do it, and so far, he couldn’t.

  As a Sorcerer, Aranos’ magic was only limited by his imagination – and, apparently, his ability to pull a freaking stream of pure mana from his core. Once he got the feel for this, though, he was pretty sure he’d be able to create all kinds of elemental effects. He envisioned walls of flame, blades of ice, and summoning the earth to bind his foes…if he could just get this technique down!

  He took a deep breath and held up his right hand, reaching down into the core of his mana and pulling a tendril of pure fire essence from one of his spirals into his hand. The familiar, dull glow of orange fire mana coalesced above his palm, warm but not an actual flame. He drew more mana from his center into that vague, flickering light, being careful to only allow the energy to flow through the specific paths he was envisioning. It was harder than he thought it would be: the flows of power seemed to naturally draw energy from neighboring channels, corrupting the energy and rendering it useless, forcing him to start anew.

  He stopped as he felt impure mana flowing into his hand, the orange glow immediately shifting into a flickering white one. Lost it again, he grumbled in his head. As soon as I get a good flow going, the other mana types jump over from their channels. What the heck am I doing wrong?

  He sat down heavily in the chair he had conjured long ago to aid his meditative practice here in his mindscape – the furniture stuck out slightly in a space that was otherwise basically a 40-foot diameter, round dojo covered by a 20-foot high glass dome, but it was way more comfortable than sitting in the Lotus position for hours – and restarted the playback of Lythienne’s lesson.

  “The first lesson,” the image began it right hand upraised, “is about the aspects of mana, and how you go about using them. Unlike Wizards, Sorcerers cannot naturally cast aspected Spells and must first gain the Expert level of Mana Control…”

  The image droned on about the types of aspects, focusing on what it called ‘Primary’ mana. This mana formed the basic building blocks of the world: air, earth, fire and water. They were also the only mana types he’d been able to separate out so far and were therefore the only kinds he would be able to work with until he’d unlocked additional aspects somehow. These mana types were, apparently, the simplest to use and the first that most arcane magic-users mastered, and so they were the subject of his first lesson.

  “…key to using aspected mana is maintaining the energy in its purest form while moving it through your channels,” the image was saying, and Aranos snapped his focus back to listen. “Pure mana of a single aspect is very rarely found naturally, as mana is chaotic by nature and mixes freely when not constrained. As you move pure mana, impure energy will attempt to flow into it, and you must prevent this by maintaining a steady, even flow and using a gentle touch to guide the mana…”

  Yep, that’s exactly what’s been happening, he grumbled. No matter how slowly I pull the mana from a spiral, unaspected mana creeps in and taints it. I don’t even know where it’s coming from, much less how to stop it. Maybe I should try to figure that out; if I can locate the source, could I try to divert it somewhere else?

  He began to draw power again, but this time, instead of focusing on his hand, he concentrated on the flows of power that were simultaneously deep within him and whirling over his head. Although his mana was stored in spinning, hourglass-shaped spirals that felt like they were located somewhere in the middle of his abdomen, the energy was constantly being distributed throughout his body. There was a pathway that led from his core, up his arm, and into his hand, and right now, he was trying to flood that pathway with pure fire mana.

  As he drew the power from his center, he kept his focus not on the mana he was moving, but on the mana he was not. He used an old trick he had learned when tackling particularly knotty coding problems, relaxing his concentration and allowing his subconscious to take in the information and process it. The more he pushed at a problem, he knew, the more it resisted him…

  Hold on, he thought excitedly as an intuition struck him. That might be it: I might be pushing too hard! Well, pulling too hard, really, but same concept. When I’m pulling mana out of the spiral, I’ve gotta be leaving a vacuum behind. So, what’s coming in to fill it up?

  He turned his focus not to the power moving through his body, but back to his core, watching what happened as he drained the power from one of his spirals. As he watched, the energy in that channel poured into his arm…and was filled with raw, unaspected mana that slowly began to separate under the force of the spiral’s spin. That mana rushed up his arm, mixing with the pure, unadulterated mana he was drawing and contaminating it before it could do much more than glow over his palm.

  Well, there’s your problem, he crowed inwardly, excited by his discovery. Sure, identifying the issue was only the first step, but it was a necessary first step, and it was often the hardest step to take. I’m draining power faster than I can regenerate it. I’ve got to either slow down the draw, which would make any Spell take way too long to cast, or take power from a lot more spirals at once.

  He started once more, but this time, he tried to pull the energy from as many spirals as possible, minimizing the drain from each one. It was much harder to control, but he held his focus and felt the burning energy of flame surging up his shoulder, through his arm, and out of his hand.

  He opened his eyes and grinned at the swirl
ing, apple-size ball of flame tumbling over his hand. Oh, yeah, he celebrated silently, his face split with a grin. I’ve just gotta practice this, now, until it becomes second nature.

  He dismissed the ball and summoned it anew, drawing power from his spirals. When the draw started to slow, he switched his channels from fire to water and formed a swirling orb of transparent fluid over his hand. The first time he released the orb, he discovered that rather than dissipating, the ball collapsed into a splash of fluid that ran down his arm and dripped onto the floor. A moment or two later, the water vanished, returning to mana and leaving him dry, but he had learned his lesson and was careful about dismissing the sphere of liquid after that.

  Elated with his success, he decided to try and incorporate the aspected mana into one of his existing Spells, his Mana Arrow. He began the Spell, but instead of simply pulling mana from his spirals, he drew fire essence alone, calling it into his hand and focusing it into the familiar dart-like shape in front of him. When he saw a long, narrow, taper of flame swirl into being before him, he leapt from his chair and jumped up and down in elation.

  “I’ve got aspected man-a!” he chanted, holding the flaming arrow in front of him. “I’ve got aspected man-a! Yeah, boy!” He released the arrow at his transparent dome, allowing it to scream forth and explode harmlessly in a wash of fire against the barrier. “That is freaking awesome!”

  He settled once more, practicing his new ability. He summoned Fire Arrows and Water Arrows, covered himself in Air Armor – that felt strange and did crazy things to his shoulder-length, auburn hair, since his armor consisted of tiny, spinning vortices of wind that hovered a finger’s width above his skin and clothing – and generated an Earth Barrage of exploding, marble-sized rocks.