Chapter 44: Second Specialization: Spirit Warrior

Some time later, Sam awakened to find himself laying on the floor in a dungeon cell, surrounded by dark bricks and iron bars. He was wearing a dark brown prisoner’s tunic and had magic-dampening shackles on his wrists. He didn’t even have a bed, only a thin blanket on the hard stone floor and a pillowcase filled with straw. There wasn’t even a window in the cell, the only light from a torch out in the hallway, so he didn’t even know what time of day it was or how long he’d been unconscious.

"Well fuck, history repeats itself again," he groaned, thinking back to the night he was in the dungeons in his father’s castle. His chest was still sore from Lucifer’s blood magic.

"Oh, you’re finally awake!" came a voice from the cell across the hall. Sam winced as he stood to his feet and walked over to the door. In the other cell was an old gnome, similarly garbed and shackled. He has light brown skin, curly white hair, a thick white beard, bushy white eyebrows, and big blue eyes.

"What are you in for?" Sam asked, trying to stretch his arms to get some of the cramps out.

"For not swearing loyalty to that asshole Barbossa," he replied with a chuckle. "What’s your name, stranger?"

"Sam. Sam Draconis," he replied. "You?"

"Professor Garlan Ersa," the gnome replied. "Though I suppose I should drop the ’professor’ now that I’ve been fired."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you taught at the University?"

Garlan nodded. "Yeppers. My classes focused on a variety of subjects, but my real passion was researching ancient magitech machines."

"Do you know anything about Voloxian dragonships?" Sam asked.

Garlan smiled. "Indeed I do! What would you like to know?"

"This may sound weird, but I died and woke up to find myself on one, and then I bonded with it and came back to life," Sam explained. "I was able to fly around with the ship and fire green flames from the dragon head and stuff, but then the crystal ball on the control panel went black, and I don’t know how to refuel it. Would you know how?"

"Oh wow! You actually bonded with a dragonship!" the gnome cried excitedly. "I would be very interested in seeing it sometime! You know, if we manage to break out of here. As to your question, you have the power to recharge it yourself."

Sam shook his head. "I tried. The crystal would not absorb my Mana."

Garlan nodded. "Ah, I see, so you haven’t learned yet to leverage the power of your Dragon Soul."

"My what?"

"If you bonded with a dragonship, that means you have a Dragon Soul," the gnome explained. "You’ll need to learn to channel Spirit Energy from your Dragon Soul and thread it with your Mana. Only then will the Crystal Battery recharge."

"Well, guess I’ll need to do some more training once I get out of here," Sam said after a long sigh.

Garlan grinned. "Why not right now? Those shackles block Mana, but they hold no sway over Spirit Energy because it’s so rare. Look inward and try to find an inner light deep within your mind, not your body."

"Fuck it, got nothing to lose, right?" Sam said with a chuckle, then dropped down into a meditative sitting position with his legs crossed. He tried his best to close out the physical sensations of his body, looking instead into the deepest reaches of his mind.

He pictured himself running through a long, dark tunnel with a faint white light at the end. As he got closer, the light grew brighter, and brighter, and brighter...

"Whoa!" Garlan cried out as an Aura of white flames exploded to life around Sam, making him feel more powerful than he’d ever been before. He opened his eyes, his irises now glowing white instead of green. He grinned and ripped off his shackles and then kicked open his cell door, shattering the lock. He brought up his stat book in his mind to see what changed.

Name: Sam Draconis

Race: Dracozian

Class: A-Rank Dragon Warlock

First Specialization: Dragonfire Samurai

Second Specialization: Spirit Warrior

Current Mana Power Level: 0

Max Mana Power Level: 18,000

Current Spirit Energy Level: 24,000

Current Spirit Energy Level: 24,000

"So now my internal stat book has a separate metric for Spirit Energy," Sam explained. "And a second specialization of Spirit Warrior."

Garlan nodded. "Now you have two separate powersets. You can thread Mana and Spirit Energy together to refuel your ship, but you will feel horribly exhausted afterwards, so you must never do that in battle. So only ever use one or the other in combat."

"Understood," Sam said with a nod. He then walked over and ripped Garlan’s door open and removed his shackles.

"Thanks!" the gnome said, and then gestured for Sam to follow. "We can escape through the sewers. Follow me."

"I have to find the people who captured me and kill them first," Sam insisted.

Garlan shook his head. "Spirit Energy depletes a lot faster than Mana, and I sense your Mana is already drained. If you go after them right now, you’re just going to end up right back here."

"Well, I can’t just run away!" Sam said with a sigh.

"I meant we can escape from these dungeons, not run away entirely," the gnome said with a grin. "We’ll go to my hidden laboratory. I have some potions there that will help you recover faster, and a special treat that will help us take down our mutual enemies."

Sam decided that was the best option available to him. "Okay. Show me the way."

Garlan led Sam through the dungeon until they found a grating into the sewers below. As they ran under the city towards the gnome’s secret lab, Sam thought of the girls.

I don’t know how long I’ve been out... If they followed my orders, they should be sailing back to Braska right now... Poor Calista, she’s probably handing it the worst... Don’t worry, girls, I’ll make it back to you. I’ll always come back to you, I promise...