Elden Mage Chapter 1 - World of Magic and Monsters (Patreon)

"Magic.

It is a product of neither legends nor fairy tales. Instead, it has become a technology of reality since a time unknown to people. The first verifiable record dates back to AD 1999.

The incident, in which police officers possessing special powers stopped a nuclear act of terror carried out by a fanatic group in order to fulfill the prophecy of destroying humanity, became the first verifiable case of Magic in modern times.

Initially, that unusual ability was termed a Supernatural Power.

An ability that was present in a person due to a purely inherent, sudden mutation, whose systematization as a technology that could be spread among the masses was thought to be an impossible thing.

That was an erroneous notion. Through the research of Supernatural Power by both the influential Eastern and Western nations, the existence of people who were endowed with Magic was gradually made public. It became possible to reproduce Supernatural Power through Magic. Of course, talent is required to do that.

In the Age of Magic, the Mages were the ones who ruled the world and also protected humanity from the Interdimensional Monsters that were appearing from the portals or were existing in some of the Forbidden Zones in the world..."

***

August 2062, Taiwan, Taipei, Hunter Union Branch

Taiwan was one of the cities under the control of Dahan, one of two states that existed after China reformed into the Great Asia Union, but several years after the start of World War III, the southern part of China gained independence and became a sovereign country named Dahan.

As one of the major cities in the world, Taipei also housed the branch of the Hunter Union.

The Hunter Union was one of the significant international magic organizations in the world. 

It was formed by wandering Hunter squadrons as a center for quests, information, and to earn money. With the world being populated by demon beasts, mages needed a way to defend cities, earn information, and attract mages suitable for certain jobs; thus, the Hunter Union was formed.

Membership was not as constrained as other magic organizations and renowned families; mages were free to pick and choose jobs and careers, quests could be issues, but not forced, except those in positions of power.

Hunter titles were applicable throughout the world; one could enjoy the privileges no matter the country.

For many Mages, being the Hunter was the only stable source of income, which was desperately needed when progressing in their path as Mages. 

In the building of the local branch of the Hunter Union, a young man with bright red hair and almost serpentine, almost serpent-like yellow eyes. Like any Hunter, he was wearing clothes that appeared to be more like a battle outfit than anything else, as it was partial armor to cover some of the vital parts on his body.

He was here submitting the results of the Monster Hunting Quest that he had undertaken a few days ago when he arrived in Taipei. 

Several decades ago, the world started changing.

What was once a myth was becoming reality as Magic started returning to the world. In 1999, the first verifiable use of Magic was recorded by the USA. It is observed that police officers possessing special powers stopped a nuclear act of terrorism carried out by a fanatic group in order to fulfill an apocalyptic prophecy.

It was first referred to as "Supernatural Powers", though further research disproved that definition. Not long after, the Magic started becoming more and more prominent, with more and more people becoming Mages.

With the advent of Magic, something else also awoke and arrived on Earth.

Monsters.

On the 24th of December, 2030... Transdimensional Portals appeared all around the Earth, and from them, Monsters of all kinds and power started flooding into the world. Hundreds of millions were killed in the fights, and many more were killed in the aftermath of the Monster Incursion and subsequent expansion of the planet.

It seemed that every time the portal appeared, Earth's landscape would enlarge. 

In the end, the population of Earth dropped by 1 billion just on the "Lost Christmas" alone.

Then, in 2045, World War III started due to the widespread border disputes. However, the real reason was the distribution of the Magic Resources that were appearing all over the world, the expansion of the Earth, and the creation of the new frontier territories.

Unlike any other wars, World War III was different.

The gamechanger?

Mages.

Some of the strongest Mages in the world, the Super Mages, could destroy an entire city, and if several Super Mages cast a spell together, then they would be able to obliterate even large Metropolitan Areas like Tokyo from the map.

Basically, they were like walking Nuclear Weapons.

Even more than that...

So, the war was dragging on for almost 20 years.

"For this amount of the Warrior Level resources, it would be 1,5 million UMD."

Despite the fact that the countries were waging war against each other, the world was using a unified currency that was established shortly after the start of the Magic Era. One and a half million UMD, United Magic Dollars, was a lot of money. 

Though for the several corpses of Minion Level and Warrior Level Monsters, together with the reward for the mission completion, it was a good amount.

"Thanks. Do you have any more missions like this one?"

Right now, the thing that he needed most were the cultivation resources. 

His name was Messmer, a name that he received when he woke up on the shores of Africa, several years ago, when he was found by a local Shaman. Following the start of the Magic Era, Africa became one of the most perilous regions in the world. 

Not only due to the fact that it expanded several times over and contained the largest population of the monsters, but also, the entire Sahara Desert became the territory of an extremely powerful being.

The Pharaoh who ruled the Sahara Desert exterminated all humans, including a good number of Super Mages who attempted to reclaim the territory. When Messmer woke up, the local tribe took him in, and for some time, he was learning about the world and combat from the Shaman.

He has undergone Magic Awakening.

A human being can use an Awakening Stone to guide them to awaken a Magic Element within their psyche. Once they awaken their first Magic Element, they become a Mage.

Becoming a Mage is a very tedious lifelong commitment that will constantly push the person to their physical, mental, and spiritual limits. It is to be noted that the Magic Society varies between countries, the primary reason being that most people's first awakening is Elemental Magic Attributes, due to the education system.

It was rather intriguing that the small tribe where he was used a something that was apparently a top-notch Magic Awakening Stone, and Messmer awakened Fire Element as his first Element.

Which would seem rather ordinary, as Fire was one of the seven Primary Elements of Magic, along with Earth, Wind, Water, Metal, Ice, and Lightning. But... his Element wasn't ordinary, but it was instead a mutated one.

It seemed that Messmer managed to awaken an Innate Ability. 

Innate Abilities were something that Mages awakened together with their Magic, and they could range from something extremely powerful to something average or even detrimental, which could be considered a bad thing for the Mage.

His Innate Ability was Mutated Elemental Awakening, which made every single Element that he awakened a Mutated One, which were far more powerful than ordinary ones. Even the Hell-Fire Element was more powerful than some Advanced Elements.

His memories were rather blurry...

All over the place.

At the start, he couldn't remember even his name.

The one that he was using was given by the Shaman who found him.

Messmer.

He received the Magic Awakening, some training, and a weapon.

Afterwards, he left the tribe, because there wasn't anything else to remain for. The area was poor, so it wasn't really useful to remain there. He went to the closest city, which was a journey that he barely survived and joined the Hunter Union. 

When he returned to the village a year later... it was gone

But not from monsters or anything...

It was gone like it never existed in the first place.

When he thought over the place, it was weird... especially that old Shaman that found him was weird.

Messmer had rather sharp and accurate senses, and even when he met some Super Mages or Monster Monarchs that he saw from a distance, he never felt the same feeling as with that old Shaman.

Because the Magic has existed in this world for only a rather short time, the highest Tier that the Humans managed to reach was the Super Mage Tier. But... there was a rumored level above the Super Mages, the so-called Forbidden Mages.

From the ancient records, the Forbidden Mages are strong enough to reshape the landscape of the entire country with their Magic alone. And when they were going all out, they were walking world destroyers that destroyed everything in their path.

Friend or foe alike.

"Yes... there has been increased activity of the Monsters in the Yu Shan, the Jade Mountain."

The Receptionist at the branch of the Hunter Union stated as she passed the details about the mission to him. Right now, he had gathered something about 50 million UMD, which was far from enough to buy the resources that he needed.

In his Hell-Fire Element, he already achieved 3 Star Maps and was preparing to activate the 4th Star Map in the Element. Though, for that, he would need some resources, and resources cost money.

In situations like this, he really envied those big organizations and Clans that had an enormous amount of resources on hand that they could just pool into something or someone out of nowhere.

He also wasn't affiliated with any country, nor did he undergo formal education in the Magic, so there were not many legitimate ways of obtaining resources, aside from doing the Hunter's work or something similar.

And for certain reasons, he wasn't really keen on being someone's pawn in the great game.

The Magical education all around the world was privatized either by Governments, Militaries, or powerful factions that were created during the era of the awakening of Magic. There were not many people who would choose to have an independent education because that wasn't really the ideal thing.

Even ordinary people would do anything that they could do in order to get into one of the Magic Schools, because it would guarantee them their path as a Mage to a certain degree.

"Then I will take the mission."

The Hunter Union had several Classes for the missions, but Messmer was usually taking on only the Extermination and Hunting Missions. One part of the reason behind that was also because he wanted to avoid interaction with the other Hunters if possible...

In the wilderness, the greatest danger was not actually monsters but other Mages that might backstab you in the face of greater treasure.

"Excellent. The payout will be based on the number and Level of the monsters hunted. Considering that you are an Intermediate Hunter, the minimal requirement is at least 10 Warrior Level Monsters and 500 Minion Level Monsters."

As the woman said that, Messmer departed the branch of the Hunter Union and went to a random hotel. Even though Messmer was a Mid-Tier Mage, due to his Mutated Element and unusually strong physical body, he could even fight some High-Tier Mages.

His unique combat style that revolved around a combination of his spearmanship and Magic was especially effective against Mages.

He had already killed his fair share of the Mages, because humans were often preying on each other... especially in the wilderness, or there were also many terrorists and Dark Mages that preyed on the other people to increase their strength.

***

Several Days Later, Yu Shan, Jade Mountain Range

Yu Shan or Yushan, also known as Mount Jade, Jade Mountain is the highest mountain in Taiwan at 5,952 m above sea level, giving Taiwan the 4th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the world. It is the highest point in the western Pacific region outside of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Yushan and its surrounding mountains belong to the Yushan Range. Taiwan, with the tropic of Cancer across the center of the island, had a climate between tropical and subtropical. The average temperature is 23.5 °C. Here, low-elevation areas supported evergreen broadleaf forests.

As elevation increased, evergreen broadleaved forests were gradually replaced by deciduous forests and coniferous forests. At mountain peaks with alpine conditions, only mosses, liverworts, and occasionally grasses can be found on the ground.

Messmer was already in the Jade Mountain Range, fighting against the Great Dark Wolf, a Warrior-Level Monster. Every Monster, even a Minion Level, should be taken seriously and differently based on their abilities.

The Great Dark World was at the Great Warrior Stage, meaning it was fairly powerful, and it also had the support of more than the One-Eyed Wolves at the Minion Level that were fighting in a very well-coordinated manner.

Messmer wielded his weapon, the Spear of Impaler.

The Spear of the Impaler was a long, menacing polearm with a jagged, brutal design. Its shaft was reinforced with red and dark metallic elements, giving it a bloodstained and cruel aesthetic.

Near the blade, a cruel crossguard and spiked side attachments added to its barbaric nature. The spearhead is elongated, twisted, and scorched, as if forged in hellfire, which gives the weapon a really menacing feeling.

This weapon was found together with him, and he instinctively knew the name of the weapon.

The name itself was engraved in runic script, which he knew read almost on the intuitive degree. Messmer cast Hell-Fire Burst Spell as the Spear of Impaler flamed with the menacing dark crimson flame and hacked at the nearest One-Eyed Wolf, instantly piercing through its thick hide.

The Minion Level Monster was dead on the spot as the other Monsters roared in anger, seeing one of their own being killed in a split second. The leading Great Dark Wolf at the Warrior Level charged at the human that killed its underling with great ferocity as the actin was mimicked by the other monsters.

Messmer just looked at the wolves that were baited so easily, while several daggers levitated from his trench coat and shot with lightning speed toward the One-Eyed Wolves. He used the Telekinesis Spell from his second Mutated Element, Dimensional Chaos.

Dimensional Chaos was a mutated version of the Chaos Element, Space Element, and Summoning Element, combining the three of them into one weird mish-mash, but it was an undeniable, very powerful Element.

He was always carrying several daggers with him that he controlled with his Telekinesis Spell, as it was immensely useful when fighting several enemies at the same time. The daggers were all Mortal-Grade Magic Tools; their power wasn't anything significant, but they were at least enough to pierce through the defenses of the Minion Level Monster.

Each dagger cost something around 100,000 UMD because they were Magic Tools at the Mortal-Grade and imbued with some Novice-Tier Lightning Magic. That was the reason why they cracked with the lightning when they were used.

As Messmer used the Telekinesis, he managed to kill five One-Eyed Wolves as he jumped over the head of the Great Dark Wolf, and with his flaming Spear of Impaler, he slashed in midair, attacking several One-Eyed Wolves in the vicinity.

He was aiming to kill all of the Minion Level Monsters as the first ones, and only afterwards, he would finish the Warrior Level Great Dark Wolf. In the end, the Minion Level Monsters were no match for him, and they were soon disposed of and killed.

The Great Dark Wolf was rather enraged at the sight of its kin being slaughtered as the leader of the pack once again charged toward Messmer. As he looked at the charging Great Dark World, he grinned as he stabbed the Spear of Implar into the ground, and an enormous dark crimson magic circle appeared.

In the split of a second, it divided into nine smaller magic circles that then once again merged into one beneath the Warrior Level Monster as an enormous pillar of Hell-Fire burst out from the ground and evolved the Great Dark Wolf.

This was a Mid-Tier Hell-Fire Spell, named Nine Pillars.

The ground in a specific area is covered in flames, then 9 pillars of fire burst out. Obviously, for the heightened and stronger effect, the Mage could merge these Pillars together into one, like Messmer did right now when he killed the Great Dark Wolf.

Now that all of the Monsters were killed, Messmer started collecting the Soul Cores.

Every Monster had a Soul Core.

It was the crystallized essence of Magic that belonged to the Monster, mingled with the crystallization of their Soul, and thus it was very precious. The Soul Cores were immensely useful for the Mages as they were used by the Mages to support their cultivation or to enhance the potency of their Magic.

While Level 3 is the highest possible natural progression, it is actually possible to raise Magic above Level 3. However, Mage needed to empower every Star for each Tier with Soul Cores.

As each Level is twice as strong as the previous Level, it is very advantageous in extended battles, the reason being that Level 4 and above Magic was stated to cost the same amount of Magic energy as the Level 3 variant.

Messmer was saving Cores to carry out the enhancements of his Stars to a higher Level. 

Some of his Stars in the Hell-Fire Element were already enhanced to Level 5. This was something that Messmer realized: his Stars were much easier to enhance compared to the other Mages.

Normally, there were certain rules when enhancing the Magic Potency via Soul Cores.

Level 4: Requires Soul Cores of Minion Level Monsters, which were comparable to the Novice-Tier Mages.

Level 5: Requires Soul Cores of Warrior Level Monsters, which were comparable to the Mid-Tier Mages.

Level 6: Requires Soul Cores of Commander Level Monsters, which were comparable to the High-Tier Mages.

Level 7: Requires Soul cores of Monarch Level Monsters, which were comparable to the Super Mages.

Albeit this was only a rough comparison, because usually the Monsters were stronger than the Mages of the same Level. Since the appearance of the Monsters, there were many cases when several Super Mages were needed to defeat a single Monarch Level Monster.

One needed to use one Soul Core per Star to enhance it individually, which then resulted in really outrageous consumption of the Soul Cores.

Novice: Empower 7 Stars with the 7 Soul Cores with the use of Monster Level according to Magic Level.

Mid Tier: Empower 49 Stars with Soul Cores with the use of Monster Level according to Magic Level.

High Tier: Empower 343 Stars with Soul Cores with the use of Monster Level according to Magic Level.

Super Tier: Empower 2401 Stars with Soul Cores with the use of Monster Level according to Magic Level.

Due to his degree of consumption, most of the people won't bother enhancing their Magic Potency beyond Level 5, because the cost was too much and there were also not enough Monsters of that Level on Earth.

Unless...

One was mad enough to enter the Otherworld, which was a collective name for the worlds from which the immense numbers of Monsters were coming.

Yet, when Messmer was enhancing his Stars, he noticed that he could utilize 100% of the energy of the Soul Core, which resulted in a situation where he could enhance several Stars with one Soul Core.

He didn't know if this was the result of some kind of Innate Ability or whatever, but he knew that this was something good and thus it must remain a secret. In the end, whatever made him stronger was only better.

From the deceased Monsters, he gathered 10 Minion Level Soul Cores and 1 Warrior Level Soul Core. He sorted the Soul Cores and the materials into the Spatial Backpack that he was wearing.

It was an ordinary-looking, albeit sturdy bag that was enchanted by the Mage with Space Element to be bigger inside. It was a must-own category of equipment for the Mages, especially for the Hunters. 

Right now, Messmer possessed already over 100 Minion Level Soul Cores and something around 20 Warrior Level Soul Cores. Aside from the Soul Cores, there were also some random Monster parts in the Space Backpack that he would sell once he returned to the Hunter Union Branch in Taipei for a nice stack of cash.

Every time he killed a Monster, the only part that he was saving for himself was the Soul Cores, as they were the most important. Even though the Soul Cores were also the priciest part of the Monster, Messmer had his own use for them.

For some reason, the answer to the question was even unknown to him; he was obsessed with the notion of becoming stronger and stronger. For him, the material objects were worthless, and riches were meaningless.

The only thing that mattered for Messmer was power.

And obtaining more and more power.

He didn't hesitate to spend every single last dollar on the resources.

"They were indeed right... the concentration of the monsters is much higher here, but that's good... more monsters means more Soul Cores and more resources."

Messmer muttered as he headed directly to the depths of the Jade Mountain. According to publicly available information, the stronger monsters in Taiwan were not above the Commander Level, and they were mostly dormant.

For most of the time.

Powerful monsters tended to sleep or laze around unless they were hungry, mating, threatened, or facing overpopulation in their domain. Messmer was one of the very few Hunters that he knew who were constantly hunting solo.

Solos were rare.

Very rare.

But every single one of them that was doing this for a long time was an absolutely overpowered Mage that could fight like a demon on the battlefield. 

Messmer was one of them...

He didn't even remember where he had learned to fight.

The Magic was certainly a new thing, albeit vaguely familiar.

But the Spear?

When he held the Spear of Impaler, it was like an extension of his body.

After he took care of the corpses of the monsters, Messmer continued deeper into the Jade Mountain Range and fought more and more monsters. Compared to other Mages, he rarely needed rest, his stamina was frightening, and the regeneration of his Magic was also much faster than that of other Mages from what he had seen.

Normally... this kind of stamina and speed of regeneration of Magic was common among the Super Mages, yet Messmer's body was already on the same level. He barely needed rest, and even when he exhausted all of his Magic in a fight, he would be regenerated in an hour or so...

He spent several days in the forest as he killed over one hundred monsters as he was traversing through the forest, until he found something interesting...

Tracks.

Human ones.

Which was most unusual, because for the past days, he hadn't encountered any of them.

In the end, he was rather curious about the origin of the footsteps, so he decided to track them down and check on the humans and what they were doing in this place. It was rather interesting for him, because there were not many traces of combat, indicating that the people were certainly not Hunters.

***

Zhou Lang was an unhappy mercenary right now.

Today wasn't a good day at all...

He was contracted to kidnap the Heiress of the Yotsuba Clan in Taipei. It was a very risky move, but the contractors in the Kunlunfang Institute were paying a lot... like really, really a lot.

The contract was over 500 million United Magic Dollars, which was an outrageous sum of money, but when considering the person they were kidnapping, it wasn't really out of the question.

When Zhou Lang and his ragtag group of Mercenaries and Assassins took the mission, they managed to easily find their target due to an exchange event between Japan and Taiwan.

Kindpaping part could have gone better, but they managed to kidnap their target rather easily, but unfortunately, they soon got into conflict with one of the Japanese Mages and lost a few members.

Then they were forced to escape to the forests, to hide and traverse to the extraction point, but much to their misfortune, they encountered a pair of slumbering Commander Level Monsters, ones that were at the Great Commander Stage.

Zhou Lang managed to escape with a few of his people, barely, numbering only ten right now, and he himself was severely injured, as most of their people were killed by the Commander Level Steel Black Apes.

Now, he was severely injured and could barely cast any High-Tier Magic, but it seemed that they were out of danger. The problem was that the extraction point was on the other side of the island, and they needed to cross over there.

Which wasn't the best scenario.

Fortunately, his injuries were already healing, and he would be able to cast at least a few High-Tier Spells in two days. 

The only thing that he wanted right now was to deliver the captured Heiress of the Yotsuba Clan and grab the money and leave for the United States. Since the start of World War III, the relationship between Japan and the USA has been getting worse, mainly due to the fact that most of the Mages in Japan came from the Clans...

Especially the Ten Master Clans that were basically full of Super Mages, and they were the deciding voice in the country. They controlled the Military, Police, and other Armed Forces, together with most of the organizations in the country.

And most of these Clans were somewhat nationalistic and bore a grudge against the United States for many things.

Zhou Lang was sure that the Yotsubas were already alerted to the incident, and they would be searching some of their own to search for the Heiress, so they needed to act quickly. 

He knew that the power of the Yotsuba Clan was something that he couldn't bear, especially that of Yotsuba Genzou, who was rumored to be one of the Mages that were closest to the next realm of Magic.

The Forbidden Curse Mage.

The Patriarch of the Yotsuba Clan belonged to the first generation of the Mages that were created...

When the Magic started returneing to the world and Mages started popping here and there, Japan created Ten Research Institutes that were researching Magic and created very first genertion of Magicians in the Japan.

"Yan, take Long Hai and go to check the area... we are moving again in twenty minutes."

He spoke to one of the mercenaries under his command as he sensed that something was wrong... the entire area was too quiet and silent. He cursed under his breath, hoping that it wasn't anyone from the Yotsuba Clan, as Taiwan was, in the end, very close to Japan. 

And he knew that Yotsubas won't spare resources to recover their Heiress, especially one who had Innate Ability and also Inherent Magic. 

Inherent Magic was rarer than even Innate Ability.

It was Magic in the form of a single Spell that was independent of the Elements, yet it was using the power of the Elements and their Magic Power. Some Inherent Magic, though, could be pitifully weak, and some could be overhelming power. 

There were cases of Super Mages with Inherent Magic that were able to use destructive power far above the realm of the Super Mages or even fuse it with their Elements.

Just as Zhou Lang was about to issue another command to several of the mercenaries to check on the unconscious Heiress of the Yotsuba Clan, Zhou Lang suddenly felt overhelming danger as a flaming spear missed his head because he turned away in the last second.

Several Mid-Tier Mages attempted to react, but the man who was attacking him turned around in the split of a second, kicking one of the Mages to his stomach, causing him to crash into the nearby rock, and at the same time, several daggers shot from his coat, piercing through the throats of another four people.

Zhou Lang sensed that the man who attacked them was clearly a Mid-Tier Mage, but the power of his Magic was far stronger, and he was also apparently a weapon master... 

Mage Knight.

There were not many Mage Knights in the world, because one needed to not only have high talent for Magic but also for a specific weapon. Additionally, they needed to combine their weapon mastery with the usage of Spells, which was much easier said than it was done.

"Use al..l."

Before Zhou Lang could finish his words, the man who attacked them and killed five mercenaries in split seconds was in front of him, unleashing a torrent of crimson flame at Zhou Lang. 

The injured assassin was forced to use his Magic to defend himself by using the Earth Element to create some defenses, but it was useless. The injuries that he suffered at the hands of Commander Level Steel Black Apes were too severe, which caused him to cast Magic very slowly, and his opponent was already in front of him, stabbing the spear into his stomach.

The man didn't waste any moment, because he cast a Fire-related spell that consumed him from the inside. Zhou Lang's body was destroyed from the inside by a violent burst of the crimson flames that burned everything to the ashes.