Retired Mage


 
 
 
 
 
 Retired Mage 
 By C.S. Darknight 
 Copyright 2023 © by C.S. Darknight
 
 
 Contents 
 Chapter One 
 Chapter Two 
 Chapter Three 
 Chapter Four 
 Chapter Five 
 Chapter Six 
 Chapter Seven 
 Chapter Eight 
 Chapter Nine 
 Chapter Ten 
 Chapter Eleven 
 Chapter Twelve 
 Chapter Thirteen 
 Chapter Fourteen 
 Chapter Fifteen 
 Chapter Sixteen 
 Chapter Seventeen 
 Chapter Eighteen 
 Chapter Nineteen 
 Chapter Twenty 
 Chapter Twenty-One 
 Chapter Twenty-Two 
 Chapter Twenty-Three 
 Chapter Twenty-Four 
 Chapter Twenty-Five 
 Chapter Twenty-Six 
 Chapter Twenty-Seven 
 Chapter Twenty-Eight 
 Chapter Twenty-Nine 
 Chapter Thirty 
 Chapter Thirty-One 
 Chapter Thirty-Two 
 Chapter Thirty-Three 
 Chapter Thirty-Four 
 Chapter Thirty-Five 
 Chapter Thirty-Six 
 Chapter Thirty-Seven 
 Chapter Thirty-Eight 
 Chapter Thirty-Nine 
 Chapter Forty 
 MORE GAMELIT 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chapter One 
 I was walking back to the Northern Alliance College of War Magic and everyone in the fortress-like settlement had come out to cheer for me. Smallfolk, knights, rogues, assassins, everyone. 
 “Cheers to Lord Glover, the Empire’s hero!” 
 “Battle mage! Battle mage! What evil will you be driving from our lands next!?” 
 I sighed, but tried to suppress my exhaustion. I lifted the visor of my enchanted helm and smiled at the crowd as I made my way up the College’s marble stairs. With a snap of my armored fingers – I wore enchanted gauntlets on each hand – I conjured a small swarm of ‘firecracker wraiths,’ beings of my own creation. 
 The vividly colored ghosts swirled and dashed away from my open palm, like large birds created from rainbows. The firecracker wraiths had next to no power at all. They were hardly even alive. 
 <FIRECRACKER WRAITH 
 CLASS: GHOST 
 LEVEL: 1 
 HEALTH: 10/10 
 MP: 50/50 
 FATIGUE: 50/50 
 NOTES: FIRECRACKER WRAITHS HAVE A LIFESPAN OF LESS THAN 120 SECONDS.> 
 The wraiths did what the wraiths do; they fluttered around happily, flapping their wings and smiling stupidly and, most importantly, leaving the crowd in awe so I could safely slip away unnoticed. 
 Then the wraiths vanished, having lived a full and rich life – by their own standards, anyway – then fading off into the pleasant afterlife with Mother Gaia. 
 Once I was inside the towering College, I quickly cast a long-lasting chameleon spell so I could navigate the labyrinthine halls without being mobbed by the other mages. Everyone from the apprentice wizards to high-ranking mage lords loved to get my attention, mostly to try and convince me that I should bring them along on my next epic conquest. 
 It all got pretty tiring after a while. 
 And yeah, sure, I could regale you all with my origin story, how I was plucked from my crappy New Jersey town and blessed with Gamesight and RPG-leveling abilities, how I was charged by Mother Gaia to defend a broken empire against evil, and how I became the most badass battle mage on the continent, but quite frankly, I’m sick of even thinking about it. 
 I shuffled through the tabs in my user interface and pulled up my stats, which bored me to no end. 
 <TJ GLOVER 
 CLASS: BATTLE MAGE 
 LEVEL: 99+ 
 HEALTH: 10000/10000 
 MP: ∞/∞ 
 FATIGUE: ∞/∞ 
 NOTES: YOUR STATS HAVE BEEN SO THOROUGHLY BOOSTED BY XP AND ENCHANTMENTS THAT YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF BECOMING ANY MORE POWERFUL. MOTHER GAIA CONGRATULATES YOU, LORD GLOVER, ON YOUR ACCUMULATED MIGHT!> 
 Ugh. 
 Being overpowered sounds fun in theory, but in practice, it could be crushingly monotonous. 
 I actually missed the days when my infinite time abilities meant something, when I actually faced personal consequences now and again. Those days were gone. 
 I hadn’t felt physical pain in over a year. My equipment was so incredibly OP that I constantly had to reign myself in. I had melee weapons that could crack a planet in half. I had spells in my magic inventory that essentially turned me into a walking thermonuclear bomb. 
 Time and again, I set out to defend the Empire with massive armies at my back. Just a few days ago, I set out with twenty-thousand warriors to fight off yet ANOTHER trans-dimensional threat to the kingdom. There were gargoyles and vampire lords, balrogs and lich lords, plus other, nastier, nameless…actually, forget it. 
 I’d been through this song and dance so many times that I could hardly stand it. As I crept through the College’s twisting hallways with my chameleon magic covering my tracks, I found that, more than anything, I was dying for a sip of good whiskey. 
 It was the only reason why I still resided in the College of War Magic. The alchemists down in the subterranean levels made killer booze. The problem was, I never had time to enjoy a few nights of good drinking. By the time I cleared the newest threat to the Empire, there was always some new joker claiming to be the King of Darkness or the Lord of Death or some other bullshit hounding me. 
 But this time, I felt like things might turn out differently. I slipped quietly into my quarters and locked the door behind me. 
 I had the largest living space of any mage in the College – naturally, because I was the ‘great conquering hero’ – but the room was cramped with my treasures. I had more gold than I could count, with more coming in each day. 
 Even without a single gold coin, I’d still be the wealthiest being in the realm based off my collection of enchanted items alone. 
 In fact, the enchanted Corpse Knight armor I wore at this very moment would, on its own, qualify me as wealthy beyond all measure. 
 But what was the point of being an overpowered,