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  Dawn of Adventure: Origins

  The Dungeon Master's Quests: Journey into Glory a LitRPG Series

  Andrew Bardsley

  Copyright © 2019 by Andrew Bardsley

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Books by Andrew Bardsley

  The History System Chronicles

  Book One in the Series: The First Era

  Book Two in the Series: The City god

  The Ether World Series

  Book One in the Series: Into the Ether

  Book Two in the Series: The Inscribed Angle

  The Dark Part of the Soul

  Book One in the Series: The Unknown god

  Dawn of Adventure: The Dungeon Master's Quests: Journey into Glory a LitRPG Series

  Book One in the Series: Origins

  Book Two in the Series: Dungeon Master

  Book Three in the Series: Dungeon Battle

  Book Four in the Series: King of the Realm

  Book Five in the Series: Legendary Weapons

  See Author’s page

  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07LGBBBYD

  Contents

  Chapter 1 An Apprentice Adventure in the Making

  Chapter 2 The Goddess Blessing

  Chapter 3 Guild and Adventures

  Chapter 4 Tracking Monsters

  Chapter 5 Money at Last

  Chapter 6 The Beginning of Magic

  Chapter 7 The Spell Casting into the Night

  Chapter 8 Leveling Up

  Chapter 9 A Challenge Duel

  Chapter 10 Spell Development

  Chapter 11 Into the Darkness

  Chapter 12 A Life Changing Discovery

  Chapter 13 Battle at the Exit to the Mine

  Chapter 1 An Apprentice Adventure in the Making

  Ceras looked up into the blue sky, with no clouds in sight with the bright sunlight making his eyes water slightly, as he walked through the farm gate into the greater wide world away from his family. He was both excited and nervous that he was leaving the farm he had known all his life.

  In front of him was the dirt path, with patches of grass and flowers down the center, that made its way through the forest between his parents’ farm and the town of Riverward, about a day's walk away at a brisk stroll. Glancing back Ceras looked at the farmhouse in the distance in the middle of a field full of sheep grazing on the green field with the stone walls, that over generations his family had built. In his hand, he had a staff that his father had made for him. It was a dark plan wood, with a solid metal guard on both the ends. Ceras smiled as he felt the solid wood underneath his right hand as he used it to walk along the dirt path towards the green forest that he frequented when he had been hunting for meat for the family.

  Ceras had just turned fifteen-years-old yesterday, and due to custom, it was time to go out into the world and gain some experience, before, as his dad said ‘you settle down and put down thick roots.’ His father was expecting him to return to the farm in five years, like most fifteen-year-old boys who went out to gain a class of ability and to find adventure in the wider world, but often found that it was easier at home with families and friends. Contrary to this expectation, Ceras' mind was full of a greater plan for his life than just farming in a poor province, as he thought about the possibilities for the wonderful adventures that lay ahead of him. It was not that he did not love being with his family at home, but he was now ready to prove himself in the world that was beyond his isolated homestead.

  Looking to the green, overgrown forest edges with longing as the trees would shade him from the sun when he entered; Ceras picked up his pace determined to make the town of Riverward before nightfall. The path to the forest cut its way through long green grass storks bending over the path. Ceras pulled a grass stem out of the ground and broke off the bottom root so he could chew the end, as he walked in the sun on a pleasant day.

  Humming to himself, slightly distracted by the beautify day, he entered the forest, and as his eyes adjusted to the gloom, Ceras could just make out the dark brown trees that were large and full of knots, showing how ancient the forest was, as it had always resisted deforestation. The track he was following started to go through brambles covering the ground, with smaller trees, trying to grow between the large older trees of the forest, but struggling for the sunlight that was beyond their reach as the older tree thick canopy covered the sky.

  Every now and then, Ceras noticed signs of small animals indicated by the brown solid spherical dropping on the track; he was walking on pressing them into the ground with his bare feet. Every now and then he would have to flick one of the swashed droppings of his foot into the grass by the side of the track. Of to the right side of the dirt track, just on the edge of the forest, was an earth mound covered in tree twitted moss-covered roots, with small holes in the side that Ceras thought had been dug by rabbits. He guessed this as around each of the holes were rabbit droppings and small bones of animals that had been eaten by some predator. Some of the bones were shattered into pieces as if the dead animal had been subjected to a savage attack.

  Ceras looked at the bank of earth with weariness as he tried to sneak by quietly wanting to avoid a run-in with its inhabitants, but before he was out of sight, he saw a couple of fluffy heads poking out of the rabbit warren looking at him with angry red eyes. Sighing to himself, he moved his strong wooden and metal staff until he was gripping it firmly with both of his hands as he prepared to face the rush of the horned rabbits that were known for being vicious beats.

  Name of Monster

  Level

  Agility

  HP

  MP

  Rabid Rabbits

  1

  1

  5

  -

  He started to back away quietly from the warren but saw it was too late, as four large mangy rabbits ran out of the holes towards him. Looking at them run toward him, he could see dried blood caking their mouths around the dagger shape incisors, that were chopping up and down expectant of a meal. The incisors were crack and brown, as the rabbits used them to break the bones of dead prey, that Ceras seen beside their burrows.

  The rabid rabbits disappeared, from his sight, as they move through the bracken undergrowth, but from long experience, Ceras knew to look for the movement of the bracken top leaves that would give away creature's position. The first attack came from directly in front of Ceras, as a mad furball with teeth bared jumped up from the forest ground. It was aiming to bit Ceras throat with its jagged incisors, in a wideout month, that was dripping with silver. With practiced speed, Ceras swung his staff and batted the ball of fluff away in midair as he heard a satisfying thud and saw a bloody mist where the rabbit had been. Before the next rabbit could attack, Ceras heard the pleasing sound of the rabbit hitting a tree.

  Simulations two more of the rabbits attacked from each side, trying the same trick, of jumping for Ceras head with mouths open. Ceras quickly stepped back, allowing the rabbits to fly past him trying to turn their bodies to bite his exposed neck. However, before they hit the ground, Ceras managed to swing again and smash both of the rabid balls of fluff in midair where they plummeted to the ground a few feet away.

  Looking around for the last rabbit, that he had seen running toward him, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stick up, and Ceras on instinct swung his staff and body around just in t
ime to knock a rabbit out of the air, with a large bloody mouth, flying towards his head.

  Not wanting to be around the rabbit warren any longer than necessary, to avoid more rabbits that would become attacking balls of fluff, Ceras looked around the ground where the rabbits were twitching; and then bashed the head of any that was still moving with the end of his staff. He then picked up the four bunnies, by their legs, and started to run along the path winding through the forest trees that were providing shade on this hot day.

  Ceras had spent many years, as the older son, working hard on this family's farm, so he was used to running with bare feet, so it did not bother him that he had no shoes. If anybody would have been able to see him run, they could easily of mistake the sound he made was that of a large bull running, as he had a powerfully built body, with board shoulder that showed his muscles.

  Looking back over his shoulder, he saw rabbit's pursuing him and guessed that he had put enough distance between him and the rabid rabbit warren. Now confident that he could stop and examine the rabbits he had killed, he sat down on a large fallen tree trunk intersecting the dirt path. From a sheaf on his belt, he pulled out a small knife he would often use for skinning. Pick up one of the rabbit's bodies from the leafy forest floor where he had dropped them; he started to cut off its head enabling him to pull out a small core, about the size of a bean, that was the rabbits monster core. This was coved in blood and gore but as Ceras did not care about the mess he placed, core in a pouch with a few copper coins on his belt.

  Expertly he quick skinned and gutted the rabbit for the meat and fur, saving both for later in a back-pack. The other three rabbits, that attached Ceras, were quickly deal with in the same manner, and now Ceras had four rabid rabbit monster cores to sell in the town when he got there, hopefully sometime later today. Smiling with the thought that he had already earned some extra money, he kicked the bloody gut away from the path and into the green and brown undergrowth where the forest scavengers would have a feast.

  Walking along the path, he moved quickly to try and make up some lost time as he really needed to make the town by nightfall. Ceras enjoyed looking at the beautiful green lush forest, with hanging branch intersecting the path, that he had to move out of the way as he walked. Some of the branches, along the track, contained red raspberries that he would collect and eat as he walked along, with an optimistic attuited, shown by the smile on his face. He had waited for this day for so long to start out as an adventurer. Every now and then he would have to jump or wade across small streams of water that wound their way through the lush old forest, in small gouges cut into the undulating forest landscape.

  As the day wore on, Ceras found himself walking more and more uphill as the town, that was his destination, was located in the start of the foothills of the white snowcapped mountains to the north.

  The sun was shining directly above, casting light in patches on the ground, as the rays had to navigate the forest leaves. Ceras moved to the side of the small track and decided, mostly by the feeling of hunger that had been speaking from his belly, that it was time to cook some of the rabbit meal, he had been so lucky to collect. Looking around, he saw a sheltered spot under a large oak tree that was out of the wind. Gathered some kindling and wood, to enable him to start a small fire in the then cleared, he moved some leaves from the forest ground to set the fire on. Soon with a flint and metal rod, the hunger boy was able to start a fire and roost the rabbit meat on sharpening sticks he had fashioned with his knife. As the smell wafted through the air, Ceras started to salivate, with hunger, and he was certainly ready to eat the fatty meat that was roasting away.

  Ceras was just about to take a large bite into a hot juicy bit of slight brown cooked rabbit meat when he heard a scream off in the forest. Standing up, he kicked the fire to extinguished it as he was worried that its smoke would bring trouble, he listened for another scream as he faced the direction of the first.

  The second scream came from close by and was definitely from a woman running toward him to the direction left of the track through the forest. Ceras grabbed his sack and staff and ran toward the sound of the screaming woman, wondering if he could help as there were all sorts of monsters in the forest.

  Running through the forest, he felt the pull of twigs from tree branch's scratch his face, causing small cuts and pulled his hair. The young boy persisted with the run for a few minutes still struggling through the dense growth, but finally, he stumbled into a clearing, where he heard the screaming was coming from.

  Entering the clearing Ceras stopped to gather his wits, upon seeing the scene in the clearing, he stood still for a second in surprise. In front of him were two wolves attacking a body of something Ceras had only heard of in stories, from his grandfather when he was telling about his adventure, as a Wisp of the Forest.

  As in the magical stories told by his grandfather, he recognized the creature on the ground with its indistinct shape, as if it could easily be blown away with a slight breath of wind and long white garments. The two wolves' ear pick-up as they heard his footsteps in the clearing behind them. Turnaround from the wisp's body on the ground, snarling with their mouth dripping white translucent saliva as they approached Ceras from two sides as their kind often did.

  Name of Monster

  Level

  Agility

  HP

  MP

  Forest Wolves

  2

  2

  10

  -

  Ceras moved his staff so fast that it seemed to blur, as he cracked one of the wolves across the head, making it fall to the ground yelping in pain from the wound. As the other wolf went for his leg, Ceras moved quickly to the side and drove the end of his staff into its head, breaking its skull. With both wolves on the ground, Ceras smashed his staff into both of their faces, finishing them off quickly.

  Running over to the fallen body of the Wisp of the Forest, he noticed that its body started to fade into the dirt of the forest ground as if it was disintegrating. Ceras knelt down onto his knees, next to the body and looked into the strange fading creature's face. She had small sharp feature, with eyes that were looking up into Ceras strong face, with a look of joy as if he had somehow actually saved her.

  As the wisp was struggling for a breath, she said in a quiet voice, “My great grand warrior, you came as it was prophesied.”

  Ceras looked around for anybody else, she could be addressing in the grove, but saw nobody and said, “I’m just Ceras a farm boy.”

  Saying this only brighten the smile on the woman wisp face as she said, “Again a story of the chosen one, who will become a great warrior, that bards will sing about for a time in memorial to come.”

  Ceras interrupted her and said, “Well actually I’m off to become a wizard, you see I’ve always wanted to know about the magical world. I even learned how to read so I could practice magic.”

  The wisp had an exasperated look on her face, as she ignored him, and said, “With my dying breath, I give you a ‘Warriors Blessing’ to fulfill your destiny.”

  As Ceras said, the body faded, “No, I defiantly becoming a wizard!”

  The forest wisps body fading as light and misty particles started to enter Ceras body infusing him with her dying blessing. As the light surround him, Ceras felt his body levitate into the air, as light diffused into his skin, making him burn with power as if it was enhancing all his physical abilities.

  Sometime during the process of receiving the blessing, Ceras blacked-out and fell into unconsciousness, as the pain was too great to withstand while swirls of light hit his body from all directions.

  Chapter 2 The Goddess Blessing

  The first thing that Ceras saw, when his eyes slowly opened, was the sun shining through the branches of the trees throwing a large shadow across the forest floor. As Ceras slowly gained his wits his first thought was, it must be midafternoon. I'll need to hurry if I'm going to make it to the town before the gates close for the night.

  Jumpin
g up from his prone position, in one movement as if he was some kind of acrobat which was surprising to the young man but he thought nothing of it. He looked around the grove see the two dead wolves. Not wanting to waste any opportunities he quickly used his skinning knife to extract the monster cores from the back of the skulls and put them in his money bag. As he was doing this, he noticed that he once baggy clothes felt tight on his body. Surprised, Ceras moved his arm to get a good look at his arms and found that he was bulging with muscles, that were trying to break out of his once baggy shirt. His legs were no different as his trouser was breaking at the seams, not only was the seams bursting but his trouser legs were halfway up his calves.

  Remembering the blessing from the wisp he sighed in exasperation, but as he did not have time to think about it, he just had to start to run to the town, helpfully to get there before the gates closed. He would have to figure it out in the town when he had some time.

  Ceras ran along the track at his full speed, surprised that he was not out of breath after half an hour of running. In his hurry to get to the town, he ran at a sprint all the way along the dirt track, pushing aside twigs and branches that were attempting to hit his face. Through tall grass past the darkling tree, the sun was starting to set in the horizon, giving him an incentive as he did not want to spend the night alone in the forest.

  Breaking through the last branches of the forest, Ceras saw that the sun was just about set, as the last orange rays of light shot over the distant horizon, lighting up the normal brown wooden stockage town wall orange in the sunlight.

  Ceras, saw up the rise, the guards starting to pack up, the equipment they had outside of the town's large wooden gates, ready for locking the gates for the night. Putting on a final burst of speed and shouting to the guards to not close the gates, Ceras ran up the rise as if he was a charging bull. Two of the guard who were starting to swing the gates close by pushing and pulling the heavy wooden slates, stop and stared at the charge man, that was now halfway up the hill. Ceras saw the faces of the guard change from a look of surprise and shock to one showing respect.