Path of The Dragon Mage: 63. The Truth (Patreon)

"Dungeon?" Starella repeated in distaste. "Is this where the city kept its prisoners?"

"Makes sense," Roan grunted. "You throw troublemakers down below where they can't bother anyone... where no one can hear them scream."

Starella made a delicate little shudder.

Corvus and Gwen exchanged a glance but kept quiet. The term "dungeon" had been in the quest notification, but the Path System could be archaic and... odd in its phrasing.

Even Perry didn't understand what the term "player" was meant to be.

"What does this have to do with demons?" Starella continued.

Roan shrugged and continued his dark musings. "Maybe they used to feed prisoners to demons."

"Gross," Gwen muttered.

By now, Starella looked downright sick. She squinted as she peered into the darkness beyond. "You don't suppose there are bodies down there?" Her fingers moved as if to call the air, but there was not the hint of a breeze.

"Only one way to find out." Corvus nodded ahead. "Let's move on. Keep in formation."

At his words, Roan straightened, once again all business. "I don't like the look of this darkness. Keep behind me." Holding the light gem in one hand and his hammer in the other, he stepped forward.

He stopped abruptly as if he smacked into a brick wall.

A sheet of glittering light flashed in front of his nose. It stretched the entirety of the tunnel in front of them from bottom to top.

As Roan backed away in shock, green-tinted words overlayed itself on top of the glittering barrier. It was the same perfectly printed text as Corvus saw in his own system messages.

Error!

Null Runtime Error. No Path entered.

Access denied.

"What in the—" Roan brandished his hammer, ready to strike the words.

He saw the words.

Corvus was so used to being the only one to be able to read his system messages that it completely took him aback.

"What is this?" Starella squeaked.

"You see it too?" Gwen demanded.

"What do you mean? It's as clear as day!"

But the words and visible glitter were already starting to fade, leaving the brightly flashing 'Access denied' for the longest amount of time.

"That's what it looks like when my Path sends me a message," Gwen said.

"What are you talking about?" Starella demanded.

Gwen covered her mouth and shot Corvus an apologetic look.

Corvus was too curious to be exasperated with the slip-up. Besides, it was amazing she hadn't learned more already. "She already knows about rune magic."

Starella stomped a foot like a child. "Are you keeping something from me, cousin?"

"Many things," he said vaguely and stepped forward until he stood shoulder to shoulder with Roan. The glittering barrier had faded and there was only that impenetrable darkness ahead. "You hurt?" he asked.

"I'm fine." Roan's nose was red from smacking into the barrier dead on, but there was no blood. He also didn't look directly at Corvus.

With a sigh, Corvus tentatively reached to the darkness. His fingers moved through the spot Roan could not pass. No flashing barrier. No text. No resistance at all.

No Path's found... he mused.

"Gwen, can you—"

He didn't finish his sentence before Gwen stepped up and repeated the process. She punched the empty hair.

When they drew their hands back, Roan copied his sister. His fist got only a few inches before he was stopped by the glittering barrier.

Error!

Null Runtime Error. No Path entered.

Access denied.

Roan shook out his hand and then glared at the barrier.

"I think... only Path users can move on," Corvus said. "Starella? Care to give this a try?"

His cousin looked doubtful but then stepped forward and cautiously raised her hand.

"It shouldn't hurt," Corvus assured her. "Unless you try to punch it."

Roan snorted.

Starella pressed forward but snapped her hand back the moment she found resistance. Again the barrier with the same error message came up.

Starella turned to him. "I don't understand. You and she are allowed, but I am not?"

"It's their freak magic," Roan said.

Gwen bristled. "It's not freak—"

"She has magic?" Starella demanded. "But... but you're not of noble blood. This cannot be right. You're peasants!"

"This transcends noble blood," Corvus said and cut her off when she would have said more. "We don't have time. Either we figure out a way around this, or Gwen and I go on while you stay back."

Starella flared up. "My dragon egg is in there! I am not staying behind!"

"And I was ordered to be your bodyguard, so you're not going anywhere without me," Roan said. "No way am I getting the prince killed on my first day of the job."

Corvus rolled his eyes. Then he turned back to the barrier. Every time Roan and Starella touched it, the barrier had filled the tunnel from top to bottom. There were no gaps to exploit.

So they would simply have to go through.

"It allows me through. I wonder if..."

Without warning, he grabbed Roan in a tight bearhug — his arms did not come close to clasping all the way around him — and shoved them both forward.

The glittering barrier came up and there was a few moments of resistance. Then, with a soap-bubble 'pop!' they both stepped through.

"Get off!" Roan shoved him away and then looked around. "Huh."

The darkness was gone. They could see the tunnel beyond, lit just as it had been before.

However, the walls were painfully white and free of dust. No artwork at all. Only a strange, sterile-looking tile.

There was a flash of green light and abruptly a message popped in front of Corvus. From the way Roan edged forward, he could see it too.

Welcome Player "Corvus". Scanning to determine existing Path, skills, and levels.

Scanning... Scanning... Scanning...

There was a shriek of surprise. Gwen and Starella stumbled through the barrier, Gwen hugging Starella in the same way.

The princess was red-faced—either by being taken by surprise or by being touched so intimately.

A second status notification flashed in front of Gwen.

Welcome player "Gwenna". Scanning to determine existing Path, skills, and levels...

Scanning... scanning... scanning...

Abruptly, the text in front of Corvus changed.

Welcome Corvus! Path of the Dragon Mage.

Level: 23

Please choose which general skillset to advance today:

Rune Magic

Literacy

Deception

Dual Wield

Throwing Accuracy

To the side, Gwen received the same message.

Welcome Gwenna: Path of the Windrunner

Level: 18

Archery

Hunting

Riding

Diplomacy

"What is this?" Starella looked from the messages to Corvus and back again. "I don't understand. Does this dungeon... know you?"

"So, this is the stuff you see all the time?" Roan asked.

Gwen rolled her shoulder in a shrug. "Pretty much."

"I don't understand," Starella repeated. "You... regularly see these things? These messages?"

Corvus hesitated, but the cat was most assuredly out of the bag now.

"I first saw them — in the form of item descriptions — when I picked out my dragon egg. But I was given a choice of Paths when I left the palace. I'm surprised it didn't happen for you, too."

"It happened for me when Charm saved my life," Gwen said. "Back when she was still in the egg. She lent me some of her power and... that's when I got to choose my path. The messages are annoying, and the Path I've chosen isn't an easy one, but I'm stronger now. It's given me hope about my future." She looked at Roan with an apology in her eyes.

Roan shrugged. "It's a big pain in the ass. They're always getting notifications from this "system"." He put air quotes around the word even though Corvus was fairly sure his friend didn't know what actual quotes were. "It's a big cheat. Every time one of them kills something they pull items from it, like your bag there. They're constantly talking about levels and do things no person should be able to do to "fulfill quests"."

Starella looked sick. "Who is writing these messages to you? How do you know they don't have an ulterior motive?"

Corvus had never thought of the Path system in that way before. He was surprised, having grown up in the palace where one could never be sure of true loyalties.

But...

He shook his head. "In all the years I've seen them, they've never offered me violence or persuaded me to harm the kingdom. They seem... helpful. It’s provided a way for me to grow stronger, to learn faster. I can do magic, Starella."

"But how do you know it's not demonic magic?" Starella pressed.

"Have you heard of the demons doing this?" Corvus asked.

"We don't know what the demons can do!"

"Why is that? How many generations have we been fighting them?" He cut his hand through the air before she tried to answer. "I knew a man who fought them directly. He said they use people as hosts for their own power. That's not what's going on here, Starella. Do you think Charm would have anything to do with me if I dept with demons?"

"You should have told me you were seeing this..." She said though the argument sounded limp. "If the king knew you had some type of magic..."

"I didn't have my full use of the Path system back then," he reminded her. "I just received a quest about hatching Charm out of her egg. And I received occasional descriptions of charmed artifacts. There was no way to prove any of it."

She fell silent for a moment, not happy but mulling it over. Then, "Why haven't I received these messages?"

"I don't know, but..." He winced, knowing he was about to say too much.

"But what?"

Corvus turned away, thought, and then nodded to himself. Time to lay it out. She was scheming and potentially dangerous, but she had refused Daffodil's offer of power.

And she would never stop trying to hatch the egg. Unless he told her the truth, she would grow to resent him for keeping the secret from her.

A resentful Starella could be dangerous.

He turned back to his cousin. "It's something that Daffodil told me the first time I met him. He said that Zriah learned the old magics to hatch him. I think it means she learned how to access the Path system."

Starella inhaled sharply.

Corvus spoke again before she could. "And she was killed even though her dragon was there to support her."

"Yes, her Talent was Water. She was burned alive—"

"With a dragon by her side? Dragons are supposed to give more power. But what if she didn't have her Talents any longer?"

Starella took a step back as if this thought were so alarming she wanted to separate herself from it. "What are you saying?"

"I have a theory," Corvus said, "That you can't access the Paths if you have elemental Talents. That would explain why no one in our family but Zriah has hatched a dragon egg in so long. Starella—"

"Corvus," Gwen said, "Are you sure?"

She knew him like no other. She knew what he was about to say.

But he had to say it.

"You were right before: Naming a dragon is a big part of it. But as for the rest of it... you need to draw out a simple rune on the shell with its name and activate it with magical energy from the Paths called manna. It’s your dragon. I can't do it for you."

"But I have my Talents—"

"It's not the same."

"How do you know?"

"Because your dragon egg was able to help you enhance your Talents," Corvus said. "Charm helped me, too. But she soon grew sick in her egg. How many times did yours help enhance your Talents?"

She didn't answer.

He continued. "However he was aiding you... he wasn't using manna to do it. Maybe he was helping your connecting back to the palace."

Roan abruptly spoke. "So you're saying they're two different systems, right? Kind of like how you grind flour. With one, you attach a horse to a grinding wheel and gears. The horse walks around and around... and it takes the animal's strength and stamina to do it. Or you can use a waterwheel to passively move the grinding stone."

Everyone looked at him.

"I've never ground flour," Starella said, sounding vague and overwhelmed. "And I don't want to give up my elements. It's... it's who I am. It's who I've always been."

"Well," Gwen said abruptly. "Maybe you'll find another way." Then she turned from Starella to Corvus and rolled her eyes.

"Right," Corvus said with a shake of his head. "We're getting distracted. We should move on." He turned back to the messages which were still waiting patiently.

"Hold on," Roan said. "Leveling is like learning stuff, right?"

"Yes..."

He nodded to one of the options. "Then pick one of the combat skills. You're shit at that."

"It's harder to advance those skills. I have a debuff—"

"One day, someone's going to debuff your head if you can't defend yourself."

"I can protect him," Gwen said.

Roan turned to her. "Which is why you'll be leveling your bow skills. That isn't optional."

His pushiness seemed to snap Starella out of her shock. "How dare you take that tone with a member of the royal family and... and whatever Gwen is!"

He whirled on her. "I'm the one in charge of keeping you all safe. Besides, Corvus already went into a big speech about having me around because I'll tell him what he doesn't want to hear. So now I'm doing my job. Enough of the stupid magic and pick combat skills."

Truthfully, Corvus would have liked to level his rune magic some more. His sub-class was Witch Professor and he'd only scratched the surface of all there was to learn... but there was not the hill he wanted to die on.

He reached out and touched the general skill — Dual Wield. It flashed white before it faded.

Gwen did the same for her archery skill.

Calculating average Mob levels...

Warning: Each floor represents progressively difficult challenges. If overwhelmed please speak the escape code "Pineapple" and a member of the staff will assist you.

Error. No staff on site. Proceed at your own risk.

Do you wish to proceed?

Y/N

There were two yes and no options. One hovered in front of Corvus. The second in front of Gwen.

Apparently, Starella and Roan didn't get a say.

Corvus and Gwen exchanged a look and Corvus found he was smiling. "I'm game if you are."

She smiled and pressed "Yes". He did too.

Suddenly, they were plunged into deep, solid blackness.

Starella screamed.

Words flashed in front of their eyes.

A world of dew is only a world of dew. And yet... and yet...

When the lights blazed back to life they found the tunnel had changed. The walls had altered. Instead of tile they were now oddly manicured green bushes. They stretched more than ten feet high in a living wall. There was blue sky overhead... but that couldn't be right. It looked like an illusion.

And clinging to the bushes were giant green-hued water droplets of... dew?

In the next moment, the water droplets began to shimmy, shake, and move towards them.

They became outlined in the red of an enemy in Corvus's vision.

He focused on them.

Species: Common Slime

Level: 20