After handing Starbough Village's administrative permissions over to Isolde, Kael headed straight into the Arena.
He stayed there until evening, when a message from Isilwen asked him to come meet someone.
By then, a hundred elves had arrived in Starbough Village.
Most of them carried practical trades: potion brewers, jewelers, skill trainers, and other specialists.
The one Isilwen had gone out of her way to introduce was an NPC named Leo.
Leo had once been an archmage of Yewhaven, one of old Aelindale's cities. He'd been traveling abroad when Aelindale's World Tree fell, and that quirk of timing was the only reason he'd survived.
With no home left to return to, he'd wandered ever since.
Recently, hearing that Caelthas had obtained the Scepter of Aureleaf, Leo returned to his homeland. It took repeated urging from Caelthas before he finally agreed to come to Starbough.
After sketching out Leo's background, Isilwen took his hand and told Kael, "Leo was my teacher, too. Everything I know, I learned from him."
Kael's respect for the man climbed at once.
"Master Leo—welcome. Truly."
Leo answered with the same courtesy. "Arch Elder, I'm the one who should be thanking you. For years I've searched for the truth behind my teacher's death. Yesterday, Divine Envoy Caelthas told me that you confirmed his suspicions through the god of Aureleaf."
"Your teacher?"
Kael looked lost.
"Grand Druid Maervan," Isilwen said quietly. "He once governed Aelindale, and he sat on the Elven High Council."
It clicked.
"The one killed by the Moon Goddess's Arrow?"
Isilwen nodded.
Knowing Leo's lineage, Kael respected him all the more.
The disciple of a governor was no ordinary elf.
"Master Leo, I'd be honored to have you join Starbough Village as our Grand Archmage."
Kael was getting better and better at handing out grand titles. Yesterday a High Priestess; today a Grand Archmage.
Promises cost nothing, after all.
This time, though, he hit a wall.
Leo shook his head. "You honor me, Dawnbreaker Arch Elder, but I fear I'm not worthy of such a position."
Kael's stomach tightened.
He couldn't let someone this valuable slip away.
"Master Leo—may I ask why?"
"One day I will assassinate Miana," Leo said. "She is the governor of Silverglade, and more to the point, a member of the Elven High Council. If I join you, sooner or later I'll bring disaster down on Starbough."
And here Kael had braced for something serious.
That was all?
"You needn't trouble yourself over that. Dealing with Miana was already part of my plan." He held the old elf's gaze. "One day I'll drag her and that white-spotted tiger of hers before you and let you decide their fate."
At this point Kael had enough enemies that one more hardly registered.
He'd never expected to stay on good terms with Silverglade anyway. What mattered was keeping Leo here. Future problems could wait for the future.
From a game standpoint, players would hit Level 60 within the year. They might not be able to solo Miana even then—but at the very least, they'd no longer have to flinch at her threats.
Leo hadn't expected the mayor of a town as small as Starlight to show no fear of Governor Miana of Silverglade.
He nodded to himself, certain now that he'd come to the right place.
Then he accepted the invitation.
Kael was thrilled, of course.
Armies were easy to raise. Gifted commanders were not. With a seasoned elf like Leo on hand, Starbough's growth would come far more easily.
Before long, Leo left with Isilwen to get the lay of the village.
But first, he pressed a ring into Kael's hand.
The ring had no level. It wasn't standard equipment, either, and its description ran a single line.
[Leo's Skill Ring]
Selected skill level +1.
Switch Cooldown: 1 day.
A plain description—and an astonishing effect.
Skill level +1, with no skill fixed in place.
In other words, it could strengthen any skill at all.
Normally, a player's skill could be upgraded three times. Beyond that, further enhancement demanded special items.
Kael's current skills were:
[Double Shot]: 1 Skill Point
[Precision Shot]: 3 Skill Points
[Phantom Barrage]: 5 Skill Points
[Moving Shot]: 4 Skill Points
[Mirror Image]: 7 Skill Points
[Arrow of Dawn]: 4 Skill Points
[Apollo's Descent]: 6 Skill Points
Of these, [Mirror Image] had been upgraded twice with Skill Upgrade Scrolls. The rest he hadn't upgraded by hand.
It wasn't that he didn't want to.
He simply couldn't.
Wild skills didn't follow the standard upgrade path. And because he carried a hidden class, there was no NPC anywhere who could upgrade his class skills.
For now, his only road to stronger skills ran through Skill Upgrade Scrolls.
Skill Upgrade Scrolls had a brutally low drop rate and couldn't be traded—deliberately, to keep hidden-class players from powering up too easily.
So far, Kael had seen such scrolls only twice. One of those drops had thrown in an extra scroll as a lucky bonus.
Three Skill Upgrade Scrolls in all.
Two had gone into [Mirror Image]. The last sat in storage.
[Arrow of Dawn]: Increases damage by 20%. Attacks ignore all buffs and skill effects on the target. Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
A powerful skill, but for now it mostly existed to feed [Apollo's Descent]. Its utility mattered more than the damage bonus, so there was no rush to upgrade it.
[Apollo's Descent]: Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: 24 hours. Weakness: 1 hour.
Upgrading would stretch the duration while shrinking the cooldown and the weakness window. But he was unlikely to use it twice in a single fight, so it wasn't a priority.
The only real question was [Mirror Image] or [Phantom Barrage].
After a long deliberation, Kael chose to max out [Mirror Image].
It was the skill he leaned on most, after all.
He pulled the Skill Upgrade Scroll from storage and used it on [Mirror Image].
System: Your skill [Mirror Image] has reached max level.
[Mirror Image Lv. 3]: 8 Skill Points.
Creates 3 clones. Each clone inherits 80% of your HP, Attack, and other attributes. Clones cannot use active skills, but they inherit 100% of your attack effects.
Clone Duration: 60 minutes.
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Even maxed, it still spawned only three clones.
Then Kael pointed Leo's Skill Ring at [Mirror Image].
[Mirror Image Lv. 4]: 8 Skill Points.
Creates 4 clones. Each clone inherits 90% of your HP, Attack, and other attributes. Clones cannot use active skills, but they inherit 100% of your attack effects.
Clone Duration: 100 minutes.
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Kael studied the panel and nodded, satisfied.
"Not bad. These clones are unbeatable."