Evil Sorcerer System 5 (Patreon)

"Would you like me to rescue you?" I asked the girl.

She looked at me as she hastily rubbed the tears from her eyes. She glanced back toward the open door and nodded vigorously.

"Then hold on to me." I activated an Invisibility Scroll and pulled her close. Moving two people took both of my remaining Teleportation Tokens instead of one.

When we reappeared, we were just outside the jailhouse. The girl could barely walk and was covered in bruises, so I tossed her over my shoulder. I stepped carefully while invisible, but the extra weight made it difficult. The two of us made it all the way back to my room in the inn, which clicked open with the same key I'd been given when I first rented it. Someone had torn through the spare clothes and extra camping supplies I'd left there, but that was good. It meant the guards had already searched the room and wouldn't come back a second time without good reason.

I set the girl down on the bed.

"Hold still. This may tingle." I placed my hands on her and healed her using my Flesh Sculpting ability. She kept her eyes on me the whole time, especially when she felt the faint, soothing pressure of mana.

Meanwhile, I was concentrating. One wrong twitch could turn the girl into a deformed monstrosity. Thankfully, the spell had come with a lot of innate skill, and I still had my basic healing ability to fall back on when I needed it.

"You're a sorcerer too. A powerful one," the girl said as a healthy color returned to her pale cheeks. She was on the small side and would have been a mousy girl-next-door on any university campus. She had ruddy brown hair trimmed just past her chin and the soft, pale appearance of someone who worked with their mind indoors rather than in the fields with their hands.

"I get by. Now, why don't you tell me about yourself, starting with your name?"

"My name is Isolda. I am an apprentice sorcerer under Master Sorcerer Theragrim. We were staying in this city to avoid the Order of the Golden Sword and so my master could complete his studies of necromancy. Unfortunately, I was careless while exploring the town and was apprehended by the guards. Thank you for saving me. If you hadn't..." Isolda shivered.

I chuckled. "Don't thank me quite yet. You won't be saved until I deliver you safely to your friends. Where are they staying?"

Isolda bit her lip a moment. I was asking her the same question the Archcleric had wanted to get out of her. But to me, she gave an answer.

"Master is renting a barn near a tiny hamlet outside of town. It's where we were keeping things we couldn't let the guards search. That's where he and his other apprentices would have retreated to."

I nodded. "Then rest while you can and recover your strength. We'll slip out when the guards on the wall come down to help search the town for you."

***

Naturally, Isolda's escape didn't go unnoticed. I was just thankful they assumed she'd broken herself out with magic, as there was no mention of another suspect. The city was in chaos for several hours as they searched everywhere and everything. When they finally made it to the inn, I decided we had rested as long as we could.

I used my last Invisibility Scroll and snuck out the back with Isolda. Then we made our way to the wall.

2x Teleportation Tokens purchased. -100 evil points.

I pressed both of us up against the wall before activating the two Teleportation Tokens. We appeared on the other side and from there made our way across the clearing beyond the walls.

The whole thing was closer than I would have liked. With two people, the Invisibility Scroll didn't last nearly as long as it did with me alone. As I'd hoped, the walls were sparsely populated, so there were few people looking for figures fleeing the city, but there was always a chance of getting unlucky.

I only relaxed when we had made it to the trees and passed through them. From there we were out of sight and could continue our journey at a more leisurely pace.

"Who did you learn under? Your master must have been quite accomplished. You hardly look older than me, but I've already seen you display four unique spells," Isolda asked me curiously.

"I consider myself self-taught." My mind went back to the memories of lessons I'd had when I purchased a spell from the System. "However, I've had many teachers. What about you? How did you learn your spells?"

"My master teaches us now and then. It's a special occasion when we receive instruction, perhaps once a month at most. We are expected to practice after each lesson until the knowledge is firm in our minds," Isolda replied.

I noted that she mentioned no System. It seemed such a means of accumulating sorcerous knowledge was at least somewhat unique in this world. The natives would need to learn sorcery the hard way.

By the time night fell, I realized we were headed in the direction of Aia and Jandon's hamlet. We kept walking after sunset. Isolda stumbled, but thanks to my Nightvision spell I could see just fine. I was once again thankful I'd been resting well this last week, since if I'd been throwing around this much mana back when I'd been traveling, I would have run out of steam ages ago.

"We're here," Isolda said as she arrived at the barn.

She knocked on the barn doors.

"The password is indubitably," she called.

The barn doors swung open, and two young women and two young men stared out at us suspiciously.

"Isolda! You're alive!" A well-endowed young woman with black hair rushed out to grab Isolda and pull her into a hug. The others rushed toward her as well.

"It's all thanks to him," Isolda said, pointing a finger in my direction. The other apprentices took me in then, four of them in total.

"Greetings. I am Alden Reed, a fellow sorcerer." I inclined my head toward the apprentices.

Quests Completed! +4,000 evil points.

I fought to keep myself from smiling, but was only half-successful. This haul opened a lot of possibilities for purchases I'd thought I would need to wait months for.

"Master Theragrim will want to thank you for rescuing his apprentice," said the large-breasted woman who'd hugged Isolda.

I brightened. "I would like to introduce myself to him as well."

I certainly wasn't going to say no to another thousand points.

"Alden here is a very good sorcerer. He knows four spells." Isolda glanced at me, and I smiled slightly in reply.

She quickly corrected herself. "At least four spells, I mean."

"Truly?" The large-breasted apprentice turned to me in surprise.

I nodded. "I know a thing or two." To prove my point, I conjured a Fireball and shot it at their dimming fire outside the barn. In one blast of mana, the flames shot high overhead.

The others gasped and clapped like they'd seen an incredible magic trick. Well, incredible magic, since this was no trick.

"Could you teach me that spell?" the large-breasted apprentice asked. She pressed two very convincing arguments up against my arm.

"Me too!" asked one of the younger boys, and the others chimed in.

I glanced at my first quest and shrugged. "Why not. We're waiting for your master anyway."

And so I cast my mind back to the memories that weren't mine, to the books and lectures I'd attended in them while learning the Fireball spell.

An hour passed swiftly, then two. I had barely scratched the surface of the spell, but the apprentices had hung on every word the whole time. Then another of the day's quests activated.

Quests Completed! +1,000 evil points.

Thanks to teaching these guys for two hours, I had received another thousand points. But I was worried I wouldn't get my last thousand before midnight. Thankfully, Master Theragrim returned before the quest expired.

"What's all this commotion?" a bearded old man asked with hollow eyes.

I stood and bowed.

"Master Theragrim, I presume? My name is Alden Reed."

Quest Completed! +1,000 evil points.

The old man stroked his beard. He glanced between me and his apprentices, who had been gathered around me a moment ago.

"Were you lecturing on spellcraft?" the old sorcerer asked.

"I was. I don't mean to undermine your teachings or anything, but your apprentices were curious about my Fireball spell." I flicked my fingers and conjured another Fireball before extinguishing it.

"Hmm... you are generous to share such a spell with strangers. I am also curious about your Fireball spell. Please, continue your lecture."

Master Theragrim watched on with calculating eyes that were a bit unsettling. But an extra listener meant an extra hundred points an hour, so I continued my lesson until midnight.

Quests Completed! +600 evil points.

"Alright, I think we're all getting tired. I'll call it there," I said. The apprentices voiced their disappointment. Master Theragrim twirled his fingers and conjured a handful of sparks that soon extinguished themselves. It wasn't a Fireball, but it was the closest anyone came to conjuring one. Master Theragrim really was a master sorcerer to be able to pick up that much despite missing two-thirds of my lesson. The others hadn't even gotten that far.

When it was all over, Master Theragrim nodded toward me.

"You can stay the night with us, if you like. I'd like to share some tea with you and discuss things in the morning. One Master Sorcerer to another," Master Theragrim said.

That drew wide eyes from the apprentices. They had begun to suspect I was more skilled than I let on, but now their master had confirmed that I was a Master Sorcerer, just like him.

"Sure." I nodded amicably.

I claimed a small portion of the barn and spent the night sleeping with one eye open. But despite being evil sorcerers, no one tried anything throughout the night. Perhaps the Order of the Golden Sword was right to fear the power of magic users, but that didn't make those of us with magic bad people.

***

Morning came and I had tea with Master Theragrim.

"So, what's an academy student doing all the way out here in this magical wasteland?" Master Theragrim asked casually.

"Oh, I'm no one important. Merely a wandering practitioner of the magical arts." I chuckled.

Master Theragrim shook his head. "You had to have been formally trained. And you must have been a prized student, too, likely from one of the better schools of magic. I've read books written in lands far better endowed than these, and they teach in the same manner as your lectures."

I shrugged. "Perhaps I merely picked up a lesson from a student."

Master Theragrim scoffed. "Keep your secrets then. I won't pry. I have my share of those myself. What I really wanted was to ask for your help."

"Depends on what you need help with," I said.

Master Theragrim lowered his voice and whispered to me.

"Did you know Lamford is one of the oldest towns in the region?"

I shook my head. "I did not."

Master Theragrim smiled. "It is. The graveyards stretch for miles. I've already verified that there are thousands of viable skeletons full of necrotic energy. A competent necromancer could raise an army here."

"And that's what you want? An army?" I furrowed my brows.

"Enough of one to claim some territory and defend it. A place where my apprentices and I could drive out the Order of the Golden Sword and practice magic openly, as lords in our own right. We would style ourselves after the Sorcerer Lords of the Undead Wastes, albeit on a smaller scale. All I need is a little help mastering and teaching a spell to raise undead. Tell me you know one."

My eyes darted to my System panels. There were plenty of spells meant for raising undead. I'd looked at them earlier when thinking about that minion quest. Ones that conjured an undead creature from nothing were quite expensive, but those that required fresh corpses were cheaper. As were the ones that turned old skeletons into cheap minions, which was likely what Master Theragrim had in mind.

Purchase Skeletal Soldier? Cost: 600 evil points.

Compared to the number of points this man and his apprentices had already given me, it was a small price to pay. Especially if it could earn me a day's worth of points from teaching. But it would have to wait until the right quest appeared. Yesterday's teaching quest was gone, but it would come again. Just ten hours of lecturing six students would be another six thousand points. The idea was too tempting to pass up. And Master Theragrim's plans didn't seem too evil. He merely wanted to carve out a safe place for himself and his apprentices to live.

No doubt there would be some death involved, but the Order of the Golden Sword wasn't kind either. They'd been willing to torture Isolda to get the information they'd wanted.

In the end, I decided to give Master Theragrim a tentative yes. Even if I decided against it later, I could just slip away and never return. And that's what I'd probably do once I got my points.

"I'm not opposed to working with you in this manner. And yes, I know a spell or two. But I have affairs to take care of first and can't have a horde of undead minions bringing the spotlight down on me before I'm prepared."

"Of course. See to your affairs, Master Reed. I hope to see you again soon."

<Note>

Total points: 8,410

Alright, alright, just a couple more chapters. I know I said I'd stop at five, but I feel at least two more in me. We'll need at least that many for me to leave things on a non-cliffhanger.