1 The world of Quaris
The world of Quaris was split in four separate sectors, all housing a different species.
First of there was the Raiklar continent, home to the demon kingdom.
It belonged to demon and demonkin.
The demon king was known for ruling with an iron fist and a ruthless attitude.
They had been at war with humans for hundreds of years, and both sides hated each other, wanting nothing more than to exterminate them.
Demonkind had a strong connection with mana and had vast mana circuits running through their body, making it easy to channel magic for them.
Up next, there was the Heres continent, home to the humans.
The Heres continent was relatively small but densely populated.
The continent was all ruled by one king, he was known as the wise king as he propelled humankind into prosperity.
The kingdom was promptly named the Uholon kingdom by the wise king.
Over the years, the Uholon kingdom prospered and grew, due to the wise king's influence.
They had a strong army with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and mages.
Then there was the Ytal continent, home to the elves.
The elves were known as masters of magic, their mana circuits were way bigger than those of humans and demons, meaning they could channel more mana.
The elf queen ruled the elves, in her 1032 years of ruling, there were almost no bad decisions she made.
She was known for being quite cold, as she only cared about her kingdom.
She was also rumored to be one of the first people to ever return from the core of the outerlands, but she refuses to speak about her experiences.
And finally, there were the outerlands.
The outerlands commonly went by a different name, which was dead man's land.
The outerlands, despite its name, was located at the center of the world.
The Raiklar, Heres, and Ytal continents all shared borders with the outerlands.
The outerlands were not ruled or owned by any kingdom, as it was borderline inconquerable, and no one dared to claim it as it would create conflict with the other kingdoms.
Various magic beasts and monsters roamed the outerlands, the further you went into the outerlands, the stronger they got.
All three kingdoms often sent out expeditions into the outerlands for one very simple reason.
It was home to rare ores, herbs, and relics which were all extremely useful in creating weapons, potions, and armor.
The human kingdom had attempted to create a stronghold in the outerlands multiple times, but each time it was attacked by powerful monsters and destroyed.
All three kingdoms also had their own variations on something similar to an adventurers guild.
People saw opportunity in the outerlands for making quick money and growing strong, not to mention fame.
All kingdoms allowed members of the guild to venture into the outerlands, it was also not uncommon for a kingdom to contract people from the guild to venture into the outerlands and gather resources.
Usually, the members from the adventurers guild formed clans, and those were usually the ones to venture deep into the outerlands.
People preferred to join the adventurers guild since it gave more freedom than the army, after all.
The most dangerous place of the outerlands was simply known as "the core."
From all three kingdoms, only a couple thousand people who ventured into the core of the outerlands managed to live to tell the tale.
Despite that, all three kingdoms continued sending out soldiers and contracting people from the adventurers guild to venture out into the core of the outerlands.
The core of the outerlands was home to various extremely rare and valuable resources used to create one-of-a-kind artifacts.
One of such artifacts belongs to the elf queen, simply known as the elf queen's staff.
It was forged with a rare gemstone found in the core of the outerlands.
If the queen chooses to activate her staff, a heavy aura leaks out of it, causing most people to fall to the ground, losing their strength.
In her thousand-year rule, she has never used the full power of her staff.
However, the monsters in the core were all extremely strong, it was common for parties consisting of a kingdom's top warriors to be wiped out with ease.
Because of the fact that only a couple thousand people managed to return alive every year, many rumors started spreading about the outerlands.
One of such rumors was about an entity that would grant you your wish if you answered three questions.
However, no adventurer that ever returned alive from the core claimed to have met such a creature, so it was generally seen as a folktale.
Because no one truly owned the outerlands and the fact that it shared borders with all continents caused tension to grow between the three kingdoms, since they often had to fight and compete for various resources.
If two groups from different races crossed paths, it was not uncommon for them to fight.
In general, the outerlands were an area filled with opportunity and death.
One could get rich quickly from the outerlands, but it was not uncommon for adventurers to meet their demise there as well.
And that is where the tale of Ignys starts...
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A young boy in simple clothes was seen running down the busy streets of Leopold city, in the great Uholon kingdom.
He bumped into multiple people but kept running until he arrived at a tavern named The Drunk'n lad
The tavern had not opened yet, but the young boy still entered, opening the door and looking around.
The tavern was quite rustic, and it had a sense of home.
The scent of beer and wine lingered and old spills could be seen on the floor, forever marking it.
Behind the bar stood an old frail-looking man cleaning a glass.
"Grandpa!" yelled the boy as he ran behind the bar.
The old man looked up and smiled gently at the young boy.
"Ignys my boy, shouldn't you be out playing with friends?" asked the man.
"No, I canceled, you promised to teach me how to brew today!" said Ignys.
Ignys' grandfather sighed.
"Look kid, you are sixteen years old. Should you not hang out with your friends or something?"
"C'mon grandpa, I can hang out with them whenever I want, besides, if I own my own tavern later I will be able to make even more friends."
"Fine, whatever you want." said Ignys' grandfather before inviting him behind the bar.
This was a common occurrence, Ignys loved spending time in his grandfather's bar before and after opening hours.
During opening hours he wasn't allowed to be there as he wasn't of legal age yet.
Before and after opening hours, Ignys would help his grandfather clean up the bar and in return, his grandfather would teach him the arts of barkeeping.
Ignys' family was not wealthy at all, they barely managed to stay afloat because of the tavern and his father working as a construction worker.
Ignys' father had the magical affinity of earth, which was quite handy during construction.
Ignys originally wanted to become an adventurer, much to the disdain of his family, but after spending more and more time with his grandfather he wanted to run his own tavern.
His grandfather also promised that he was allowed to inherit the bar once he retired.
Sadly enough, he never got the chance to retire.
When Ignys turned 17, his grandfather quietly passed away in his sleep.
Ignys was devastated at the loss, and he was about to endure another hardship.
With Ignys' grandfather passing away, the family could no longer keep afloat anymore.
Ignys was not old enough yet to take over the tavern, and with the rising need for money, Ignys' grandmother decided to sell the bar.
It was enough to keep the family afloat for one more year, although Ignys was devastated.
His dream was ruined, and on top of that, his family insisted that he should work once he turned eighteen.
Since Ignys expected to inherit the tavern from his grandfather, he never really focussed on studying, something which came back to bite him now.
In the end, Ignys decided to enlist at the adventurers guild.
His reasoning was quite simple, if he became an adventurer he would be able to earn a lot of money by taking on easy fetch quests for minerals and such.
This way, he would be able to pay for the family and save up money independently.
He planned to save as much money as possible to start his own tavern, just like he dreamed.
Ignys only had a weak affinity for water magic, which he generally used during brewing.
Outside of that it was not of much use.
After training for a while, he was finally deemed fit enough to be let into the adventurers guild, and he took on his first mission.
Unbeknownst to Ignys, he would never be able to start his own tavern as his first mission would also be his last.
Well, he would not be able to start his own tavern in this life, that is.
