Samofthepen

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 122

The second lizardman turned back from the wall I raised and drew two sickles that looked identical to the first lizardman’s.

“Confident one isn't he, brother,” the second lizardman said, “What can I say, I hate to admit it, but despite his lack of experience, he can back up that confidence. Let's finish this fast.” the first lizardman replied and they burst into motion.

In response to their move, I closed my eyes and emitted a full-body flash as I jumped backward. A hear...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 121

We stood in the alley, staring at each other, weapons raised. I licked the wound on the inside of my cheek and then spit a globule of blood out as I began leaking darkness mana from my body in the form of a dark haze spell, and directed it to creep toward the lizardman.

In response, the lizardman reached behind his back with his free hand, and unsheaths a second sickle, then took a dual wielder's stance.

The moment I was sure the dark haze had obscured me from his vision, the both...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 120

Today was another fulfilling day of explora- I mean questing in the capital, and me and the boys were on our way back to the Adventurer’s Guild to turn in our quest and then go try out a small mom-and-pop eatery we found the other day.

Most would say it was just like any other day, but I noticed a difference. It was halfway through our temp job in a warehouse today, that I noticed that two of our three minders were currently missing, and the only one left was the ‘laborer’ minder,...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 119

The days went by me and the bois would go to the Adventurere’s Guild to take up more noob quests.

Besides the gathering quests, we sometimes wanted to do more local quests like running some deliveries or the odd temp job that is posted when a company’s employee is otherwise unavailable.

Through this, not only did we get some coin and meet new people, but we also got to explore a lot of the more obscure and little-known parts of the capital. That meant a lot of hidden gems and ...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 118

It was almost a week before the royal guards gave us the ‘OK’ to leave the academy grounds. During that time, I spent most of it in Professor Sageira’s office with the corpses of the hobgoblin brutes that she placed in a preservation array, all the while bitching at me for frying one of the brutes and not leaving the other one alive for her to study.

She was going on about things like “Bruning the internals beyond use.” and “Live specimens are optimal for tests.”, after a ...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 117

After some time, me and the boys were to be escorted back to the campus grounds under the watch of royal guards.

The royal guards were rather adamant about returning directly, but I managed to plead with them to make a detour to recover the plants and herbs we buried and turn in our quests at the Adventurers Guild.

The two royal guards relented under the innocent puppy dod stares we were giving them and we went about our business.

When we went to turn in our quest, we drew ...

Unto the Ages: Chapter 118

Adana, the youngest daughter of the Blazebringer Village Chief, made it to the wall just in time for the command for the archers to fire upon the monster, and the air was filled with the twang of bowstrings and the sound of more than a hundred arrows flying through the air.

When the dust from hundreds of arrows being fired for a minute straight settled, the light from the walls of the Blazebringer village’s walls revealed only the bodies of the warriors who sacrificed thems...

Unto the Ages: Chapter 117

As the arrows stopped pelting him, Grud lowered the arrow-riddled corpse he was using to soak up the arrows, only to see warriors a wave of warriors charging him with swords, spears, clubs, and all manner of weapons, some of them were even improvised weapons.

When the warriors came into range of his spear, Grud held the base of his spear, empowered it with his mana, and performed a mighty horizontal swing.

In that one swing of his spear, many things suddenly ...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 116

Hours later, I hear the sounds of armored men making their way to me.

On the off chance that it was not my backup, I got to my feet, drew my sword, and spun up a few spells, ready to defend myself.

Fortunately, the ones who came around the corner were Dave and Sam, followed by Instructor Greyham, Professor Sageira, and a host of not just city guards, but Royal Guards. Apparently the kingdom takes shit seriously when their students are involved.

I pointed out the four prisone...

Update

Just a heads up, I caught a flu, so there will be no uploads for 3 days or so while I recover.

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 115

Without Dave and Sam suppressing the now half-blind shaman, it gave the shaman time to cast a spell I had never seen or heard of before. 

The skull he was holding, glowed a sickly yellow and a pulse of that same sickly yellow mana flooded down the corridor as I was picking up speed on my way to beat the shit out of that shaman.

As there was no running from the incoming yellow mana, I flared out my aura and mana to try and blunt the effect of whatever was coming towards me. Bu...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 114

I drew my Mana Steel sword, which was still a bit too big for my current body, and charged. To a full-grown man, my bastard sword would be just that, a manageable and size-appropriate bastard sword. Whereas in my hands, it looks and feels like I am wielding a great sword, but with my aura strengthening me, it is of little issue.

I raced down the corridor as bolts flew over my shoulders, past the hobgoblin brute, and toward the human shaman who was forced to dodge, interrupting his chant...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 113

In the meantime, while waiting for them to bring their Shaman, our foes hiding behind cover somehow managed to close the door that was barely hanging off its hinges by using some string and a hook to pull the broken door close.

Every few seconds, I would see an eye peek from the broken hole in the door, and it was starting to piss me off, so the next time I saw the eye, I sent an Earth Bullet at the door, roughly where I think the peeping tom's body was.

The moment I shot my spell...

Unto the Ages: Chapter 116

It had been a few hours since the scouts returned, and word of the enemy’s imminent arrival spread through the Blazebringer village like wildfire, while that was going on, Adana, the youngest daughter of the Blazebringer Village Chief, Tovak, was helping with the village’s preparation for the incoming attack from the enemy that had wiped out all the small villages on their way to her home.

She and the other woman of the village were getting the women and children of the a...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 112

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

I take aim down to the corridor from behind some stacked crates, and so are Dave and Sam beside me.

As we wait, we watch the last of the light in the pile of mana crystals powering the barrier start to wink out one by one. It would be any second now, and the barrier will fall.

BOOM

BOOM CRACK

With the last hit of what I could only assume was a makeshift battering ram, the barrier collapsed an...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 111

As I was lying on the floor watching the feet of the hobgoblin enter the room, I followed its movements as it turned and walked to the stack of small crates in the corner, and just as I heard it remove the lid of a crate that I could not see, I saw the feet of the hobgoblin go still, and there was silence.

A couple of seconds after going still, I heard the hobgoblin taking short sniffs, followed by a long sniff as I watched its feet turn… in the direction of the weapons room I was pre...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 110

As I once again crawled up into the hidden cave entrance, I turned back and reached out my hands to help Dave and Sam up.

This time, we were traveling light. Before we climbed up here, we emptied all our bags and buried all our morning’s work at the foot of a tree, if what the boys say turns out to be true, we are going to need the space to haul all our loot.

As Dave and Sam looked around the dark cave beyond the illusion, Sam said, “Did either of you being a tor-” only to h...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 109

A few hours of foraging later, we had our bags half-full of bundles of different plants, herbs, and mushrooms. Honestly, I learned a lot from Dave and Sam, and now know that gathering was not as easy as swiping some leaves and shoving them in a bag, because even if I collected a shit ton of the requested items, and they were in bad shape, I would either receive partial payment or none at all depending on what it was.

While we were going about our business, the boys passed down the knowl...

Unto the Ages: Chapter 115

As Grud watched a line of enemies charge toward his debilitated men, he turned and shouted “Shamans! Find out what is causing this!” and charged out of the treeline in hopes of drawing as much attention as possible.

Between Grud and the charging enemies, it was roughly a hundred meters, and at his speed, Grud met the line of charging warriors before they were even halfway to the tree line.

As he swung his spear, he bisected four men at the waist. Unlike the other warriors he h...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 108

The next day, I got suited up on my rented armor, strapped on my Mana Steel sword, and headed off to meet the guys. After breakfast with Dave and Sam, we headed down to the Adventurers Guild to look up the job board.

Under the non-combat section of the job board, there were two main subsections, they were resource collection which included foraging for certain plants and herbs for the guild’s alchemist, and mining for ores but there are no active mines near the capital so that section...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 107

After lunch, Dave and Sam brought me to the Adventurer's Guild, and it was just like how I imagined it, there were loud and rowdy people chatting, shouting, and laughing while day drinking.

Further in the back, there were people gathered around multiple notice boards that had what I assumed to be posted jobs, and lastly, to the side of the boards was a row of receptionists behind their counter attending to lines of Adventurers turning in their jobs to get paid.

I had only heard de...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 106

As Professor Bixby reached the first table and picked up a shield that my classmate chose as a base, I noticed an incredible flaw.

“Hmm…Decent rune placement and spacing, neat and tidy tracing, but there is one major flaw. Can you tell me what it is?” Professor Bixby asked as he rotated the shield around.

The poor boy looked at the gnome holding his shield with a confused look as he tried to figure out what he did wrong.

“No? Then allow me to demonstrate.” Professo...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 105

AN: Sorry for going M.I.A for a week, was overseas and did not have access to my Patreon to update you guys.

Before anyone knew it, the mid-year exams were here, I blasted through the written papers, only having some trouble with some spelling in the Elven language exam, as for the practical exams, it was alright. I had no issues slinging the spells required for Advanced Spell Theory, for Advanced Combat & Tactics, I sparred with an instructor and demonstr...

Unto the Ages: Chapter 114

Tovak, son of Yovan, Village chief of the Blazebringer village slumped into his chair after just having dismissed his Head Warriors and the various village chiefs that he had recently absorbed.

Preparations were moving along fast, but not fast enough. With each day that went by, he received more reports of their enemy encroaching further into their lands and more of his warriors dying.

“This was never supposed to happen” Tovak mumbled to himself in the privacy of his own study...

Unto the Ages: Chapter 113

It had been roughly a month since Grud sent word to bring the two captured Blazebringer warriors, and word from the message runners was that they were about a week out. In that time, Grud had not been sitting idle, he pushed his battle group forward until the guides informed him that they were on the border of Blazebringer territory

From there, he split his battle group into raiding groups, there were two objectives of the raiding groups, first was to recon the surrounding villag...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 104

In my search for transportation into the deeper parts of the capital, I found myself making arrangements with a caravan master for transportation. Could I have hired my own private transport? Sure. Was I going to waste money on something I could get for free? Not a chance. So I hitched a ride with the delivery caravan that had just finished offloading their goods at the academy.

Not being one for fashion, I was in my school uniform with my Mana Steel sword hanging off my side, but this...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 103

Time passed as my school life continued, it was more or less fine for me, and I was able to keep up with my chosen subjects, and excel at most of them even, especially blacksmithing. It was one of my favorite things to watch online back in my old life, the act of turning a block of metal into a work of art… too bad my blacksmithing classes were rather strict in their curriculum as we were on a rather tight schedule, leaving little to no time for personal projects. I would need to get my own...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 102

The next day, I was sitting on the floor in Professor Sageira’s lab with an enchanted artifact strapped to my arm, and she was sitting opposite me.

Said enchanted artifact was something Professor Sageira whipped up that looked like an analog ammeter and was supposed to measure my internal mana flow

“Let us begin, start raising your mana flow, just like I showed you.” Professor Sageira said as she kept an eye on me.

I nodded, closed my eyes, and turned my will inward, f...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 101

It has been over two months since I started experimenting with Professor Sageira on safe ways to replicate rapid internal mana flow.

We came up with a few theories, but in the end, that was all they were, theories. It wasn't until we began to apply the theory to live tests that I found out that the academy ran a lab rat breeding farm, and I was relieved that Professor Sageira was not actually referring to me as a lab rat… I hope.

Within those few weeks, we tested a few mana flow...

Of Arms and Arcane: Chapter 100

“What do you mean ‘I did not know hobgoblins could do that.’, aren't you a super old and wise dragon?”

Professor Sageira huffed in annoyance while mumbling, “I go through the trouble of listening to him and he calls me old” Then she growled at me with venom, “I may be a dragon, but I am also a lady, and I do not appreciate being called old!”, she then transformed into a smoking hot 30 year old version of herself.

I put my hands up in surrender, “Fine, I apologize...