Even though they were in their own house, Aurelia was wary of curious ears. A single twisted truth could spark a wildfire and burn down the foundations of their family, so she had to be certain no one would catch wind of their conversation. Aurelia locked the door of her room and drew the curtains before accessing her inventory and pulling out a corrupted crystal from inside. “Do you know what this is?” she asked. “A corrupted crystal,” Ezra replied. “It looks similar to the one I saw inside the training dungeon.” “You are correct. It’s a corrupted crystal that can link one low-level training dungeon to another dungeon, typically a dark dungeon or a monster nest,” Aurelia replied, placing the crystal on the table. “These things aren’t easily available. Only dark mages and black-market vendors keep these in their inventory. And they do not come cheap.” Ezra listened with close attention and his thoughts immediately went back to the Stirge invasion. “Where did you find this one?” he
The following morning, Lord Sebastian requested the elders to meet at Dragon Claw clan’s council hall to discuss two important issues which needed their immediate attention. Red dragon banners hung from the walls of the room, and the ceiling was graced by a chandelier carved from the skull of an ancient Dragon Lord felled by the first Ace Gunners, two hundred years ago. Lord Cornelius was seated on the left, and facing him on the opposite end was Flavius Lazel, the elven archer who had managed to awaken his magic talent after communing with Vishulia, the Goddess of the Forest. Even though Flavius had risen to the rank of an Elder in Dragon Claw, many still doubted his potential, and a few raised questions about his allegiance as well. However, Flavius always chose to answer with his longbow and dual Pit Viper revolvers. He was one of those calm and silent types, but when provoked he always knew how to respond with actions instead of words. The last Elder on the council was Abigor
The three Elders accompanied Lord Sebastian and Ezra to the clan’s training arena. It was a raised circular platform, floating ten feet off the ground. Around it were three rows of seats for the spectators. All duels and shooting initiations used to take place in this arena. However, since it was Dragon Claw’s private arena, only members of the clan were allowed to watch the duels. Ezra could still remember the humiliating words and laughing faces from his last training session, and he was glad that the townsfolk weren’t there to watch him today. Even though he had come a long way since then, and his arms no longer trembled, just the thought of being ridiculed by the commoners made him uneasy. Lord Sebastian was led to the high chair in the third ascending ring of seats to watch the training from the best spot while Flavius and Abigor took their seats beside him. Since Lord Cornelius was in charge of conducting the test, he accompanied Ezra to the floating platform. But just as h
Ezra fired a few shots around him at random, hoping to hit something, but his aim was way off. The power crystals were floating so far away that he had no hope of even scoring a single hit. Lord Cornelius watched with satisfaction as Ezra desperately struggled to hit anything. All his magic bullets kept flashing into nothingness as they hit nothing but air. “That is enough! There is no way even a Veteran Gunner can hit these targets while blindfolded!” Lord Sebastian exclaimed, rising from his chair. “Lord Cornelius, you are doing this on purpose just to fail my son.” Hearing Lord Sebastian’s furious outburst only made Lord Cornelius happier. Instead of getting into an argument with the Prime Patriarch, he calmly replied, “Your son has already cleared the first two stages with perfect points. I am only trying to test his mettle. Besides, he only needs to hit half the targets. That should not be too difficult for an E-level magic user.” “You are being partial toward him and intent
Lord Sebastian and the Elders returned to the council room to discuss how to deal with Zepheroth and his cultists, while Ezra was allowed to walk freely inside the Guild House and explore the place at leisure. Dragon Claw’s Guild House was an old manor house converted into a residential and educational building for the members of the clan. The most prominent room here was the private library with hundreds of books on different shooting techniques from different parts of the continent as well as detailed histories of the most widely-used firearms and enchanted bullets. There were also various training manuals to guide new Gunners about dungeons, duels, and monster hunts. Adjacent to the library was the Gunsmith’s workstation where he crafted customized firearms for the members of Dragon Claw and also forged bolts, daggers, and arrowheads. Just opposite that lay the clan’s special armory which contained a unique collection of blunderbuss rifles, muskets, multi-barrel nock guns, whee
Shocked gasps escaped from the crowd as the newly recruited Gunners started gossiping in hushed tones. They had been hearing plenty of rumors over the past few days about necrophages roaming the lands in broad daylight, and what this man blurted out before collapsing only made them more anxious. The Veterans, however, remained calm. Most of them thought the villager was delirious from his injuries and exhaustion and did not know what he was talking about. But Lord Sebastian and Aurelia knew something terrible had happened. “Move out of the way!” Lord Sebastian exclaimed aloud. “And don’t panic.” “I got this.” Flavius pushed through the crowd as it parted and made way for him. The other Elders slowly followed suit. Flavius crouched and sat beside the wounded man. He then carefully touched the man’s forehead with his right thumb and ring finger and uttered an ancient elven incantation. Seconds later, the tips of his fingers started glowing and emitting a pale green light. As
Jasenki and Iraka headed for Ishani’s shrine to enlist the help of the Goddess' chosen priests while the other Gunners followed Abigor to the training arena to hone their skills inside two training dungeons especially prepared by the Elders. The necrophage infestation around Ashgrove had already been cleared and even the villagers weren’t there to stir trouble. Jasenki and his partner were tasked with cleansing the deserted village and investigating the place to find clues about the whereabouts of the missing villagers. However, Ezra and Aurelia had a far more challenging task on their hands. Instead of being sent to a deserted village, they had been tasked with ridding Dewdale of the undead and putting an end to their dark ritual. Since Ezra had already fought the undead before, he knew it would be suicide to go in unprepared, so he first headed to the clan’s private library to learn more about the different classes of undead and the weapons and spells most effective against them.
Aurelia climbed on top of her spotted white stallion while Ezra mounted his chestnut brown one. The townsfolk steered clear as the Romanov siblings rode across town, heading for the western gate. As the two reached the western wall bordering Aranor, Flavius peeked from the watch tower and yelled, “The coast looks clear. No undead in sight.” Aurelia raised her thumb in acknowledgment and approached the gate, but Ezra seemed puzzled by the casual way in which Flavius shouted about the undead. “Shouldn’t we try to keep this a secret from the public at least?” he asked. Aurelia shook her head. “We have been hiding things from them for quite some time, but things are getting out of hand now.” “But Aranor is protected by Goddess Ishani, and the undead cannot tread upon hallowed ground,” Ezra retorted. “That used to be the case before Zepheroth was freed from his shackles, but now we cannot be so sure. The Lord of Decay is more than capable of corrupting these lands and weakening Ishani