ã€ŠFrostbitten Wayfarerã€‹


 1. Introduction

    A girl sat in her room, screaming profanities at her computer as a familiar ¡°You Died¡± screen popped up. She was playing her favourite game, fighting a new boss that was just recently released. At first she wanted to capitalize on the new hype, excited to finally be at the end game when a new boss was released. The prospects of wealth and riches just a lucky drop away. But three weeks later and here she was with no kills and an excessive amount spent on revive costs.

    She was nothing if not persistent though, and kept throwing herself at the wall for a few more hours before she realized how dark it was in her room. The sun had set and her fancy light must have disconnected from her phone again, leaving it on a dim blue instead of the brighter yellow she preferred at night.

    ¡°Piece of¡­ I paid forty bucks for this and it can¡¯t even stay connected for more than a week.¡± She grumbled to herself.

    She reached for her light switch, flicking it on and off a few times while fiddling with her phone. The light started flashing and she told her phone to sync with a nearby light. A few minutes passed as she watched the light bulb icon on her phone begin to fill. Just before it was completely filled, the app crashed and her light started flicking on and off again.

    ¡°Oh I don¡¯t wanna spend money on the premium version. This cheaper one¡¯s probably fine. I don¡¯t need anything super fancy I just want a basic schedule surely any old RGB light can handle that. Damn idiot, should¡¯ve bought the reputable brand.¡± She mumbled, thumbing at her phone in frustration.

    The app refused to open again, giving some error number she could barely read and telling her to go find support on a website that didn¡¯t even appear to be hosted anymore. She reached for her light switch again to turn it off but the switch didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°Is it stuck on something?¡±

    She turned on her phone¡¯s flashlight and tried to look at the switch to see if maybe something got lodged in it but it seemed clean, flawless even. She pulled on the switch again but it didn¡¯t move, even when she just about hung off the switch with all of her body weight it remained in place.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡±

    She opened her door to leave, maybe go sit in the kitchen away from the flickering light while she sorted out the app problem. But behind her door was a swirling mass of purple and black, ebbing and flowing, somehow appearing like a flat surface directly behind her door but also an infinite expanse of¡­ something, or maybe everything. She couldn¡¯t tell, but it was certainly not the hallway she normally expected to see.

    She slammed the door shut, the thud echoing through her room. The rest of her room seemed normal ¡ª her computer was still on, showing her character in the respawn area. Her walls all seemed to be there as normal. Her window was covered by a blackout curtain she got mostly out of fear of people looking in her window rather than any distaste for light. She walked over to the curtain and grabbed a corner of it, shaking for a moment as she thought about what might be behind it.

    What should be there was her backyard, a wooden fence surrounding a small garden full of flowers and vegetables. Pumpkins and corn growing in most of it with the rest taken up by leafy greens, peppers and various bushes around the outside. Gravel walkways leading through the garden so everything was reachable without too much effort.

    The minutes passed as she imagined her garden, her hand shaking as it held the curtain. She pulled it open and looked out, half expecting to see the normal view and half expecting to see the purple mass that she saw outside her door. What she saw was neither of those things, but instead a forest, trees towering over her, their canopies far above blotting out the sky. The ground covered in snow, the only markings some craters where it seems clumps of snow have fallen from the canopy above.

    She looked back at her computer, noticing the flashing of her light had finally stopped. The computer had turned off, along with all of the other little lights she had on her peripherals. All of her electronics seemed to be turned off, except for her light which was brighter than ever. She walked over to her door again and opened it, hoping once more to see the familiar hallway of her house but was greeted with the same forest as before. In this direction she could see what looked like animal trails as they pushed their way through the knee deep snow.

    The door was closed with a more gentle touch this time, and she reached over to the light switch again. The switch had some give to it, it wiggled around as she touched it as opposed to the firm, eerie stability it had before when the light was flashing. She flipped the switch down, turning off her light and as she did the rest of her room disappeared. Vanishing from her sight as her finger pushed through where the switch was with the little momentum it had.

    ¡°What the hell is happening?¡± the girl said aloud, twitching her head around as she looked for any signs of her room.

    Her room was nowhere to be found, however, and so she walked up to a tree and sat at the base of it, crying. Her tears were freezing as they fell into the snow below, her skin tingling with pain as though thousands of needles were pricking her from all directions. She cried and wailed in pain and sorrow until she heard the crunching of snow from in front of her.

    She looked up and saw a person, skin as white as the snow. Long black hair draping around it. Covered in tattered rags, bits of its ragged skin showing through, claws on the ends of its fingers extending out a few centimetres. The persons eyes were a deep beautiful red that she could get lost in for hours it seemed.

    [Vampire ¡ª ??]

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Identify general skill.

    The being reached down for her and she screamed in fear, trying to push herself back but stopped by the snow that surrounded her. It grabbed onto her and bit into her neck. She felt an intense heat radiate out from where she was bit, burning into every nerve she had. She screamed in pain for a moment before she couldn¡¯t bring any strength to her voice. The being was holding on to her for only a moment but it felt like a lifetime had passed by the time it let go of her. She felt drained, more tired than she ever had before and passed out into the snow.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    *Ding* You have been infected with Vampyrism. All stats are incre¡­

    She awoke a while later, unsure of how long had passed, wondering about the strange dream she had. The sun was still poking through the canopy in a few places so it couldn¡¯t have been long she thought as she walked over to bask in the warmth. She felt calm, ready to tackle the situation with a renewed vigour. Even the cold didn¡¯t seem to be bothering her as much anymore as she pushed the snow aside with more ease than she remembered. She thought about her odd dream for a moment and pushed it aside. It was just a dream.

    She made it to the spot of sun and laid down in the snow, basking in the sun¡¯s rays and relishing in the warmth it provided. Which was less than she expected, sure the snow around her was cold but she lived in a cold environment back at home. If the sun was as clear as this it still warmed your skin and felt pleasant. There was no wind to be counteracting the sun and the cold didn¡¯t seem to be that intense that it would just rip any heat out of her that fast.

    Her mind flashed back to her dream, she thought there was something she was forgetting right before she fell asleep. But she brushed it aside again. It was just a dream, nothing more. A terrible one, but just a dream. She got up and walked through the forest, looking for some kind of civilization. Hours passed as she trudged through the snow, not feeling as tired as she thought she would.

    ¡°Okay, something¡¯s clearly wrong. I should be tired. I should be freezing, I should be feeling incredible pain from the biting cold. But I don¡¯t. I feel fine.¡± She said to herself, bouncing back to her odd dream once more.

    Maybe it wasn¡¯t a dream, she thought. What if she were in fact bitten by a vampire, and became a vampire herself? It would explain a lot, but she wasn¡¯t affected by the sun. Maybe vampires aren¡¯t actually affected by the sun? In the first place acknowledging that vampires even exist is ridiculous. It was obviously just a dream, she thought. She must just be in shock, that could also explain why she wasn¡¯t feeling the cold and is much more logical than vampires existing.

    She walked for a few more hours, the sun beginning to set and darkness taking over the forest.

    ¡°Okay sure I¡¯m in shock but how the hell did my room just disappear when I turned off the light switch? How is that any more reasonable than vampires existing? No, something¡¯s really damn wrong.¡± she stopped by a tree and talked aloud to herself. ¡°Also there¡¯s no light anywhere I can see, the sun is gone and the sky is barely lit by the stars and yet I can see as clear as it were day. No, I¡¯m not just in shock. I¡¯m a vampire in shock.¡±

    But that doesn¡¯t make any sense, she thought. Vampires don¡¯t exist, she couldn¡¯t be a vampire. It was just a dream, she thought to herself.

    ¡°No, screw that. It was obviously not just a dream.¡± she said out loud, hoping whatever kept trying to convince her it was a dream would hear. ¡°Look at my hands. I didn¡¯t have claws before but now I do.¡± she stabbed her claws into the tree, cutting out a chunk of bark with it. ¡°I can¡¯t bloody well do that if I¡¯m not a vampire. And my skin¡¯s barely visible in front of the snow cause it¡¯s so pale and my hair should be purple, not white. I¡¯m a vampire. I know I¡¯m a vampire, stop trying to convince me I¡¯m not a vampire.¡±

    She heard a crack echo around her and felt like a huge weight was lifted off her. She could remember what happened as though it happened just yesterday. Which it did, she thought. A vampire bit her and she passed out. She remembered something popping up just before she fell asleep though. Something about being infected. She thought about the message, trying to manifest it once more so she could read it. She felt a bit silly but her efforts were rewarded as the message once again popped up.

    *Ding* You have been infected with Vampyrism. All stats have been increased by ten. Physiology will be altered. The General Skill [Vampyric Regeneration] has been gained. The General Skill [Vampyric Senses] has been gained. The General Skill [Vampyric Resistance] has been gained. The General Skill [Vampyric Immortality] has been gained. The General Skill [Vampyric Charm] has been gained. The General Skill [Vampyric Empathy] has been gained. Race is being converted to [Vampire] *ERROR* CAN NOT CONVERT RACE [Human - Earthian] TO VAMPIRE Class is being converted to [Vampire] *ERROR* CAN NOT ACQUIRE CLASS [Vampire] AS RACE IS NOT [Vampire] Cursing with [Vampyric Curse] *ERROR* CAN NOT CURSE WITH [Vampyric Curse] AS RACE IS NOT [Vampire] Reverting prior changes due to error *ERROR* CAN NOT REVERT PERMANENT CHANGES

 2. Bookstore

    ¡°So I¡¯m¡­ a half vampire or something then?¡± The girl said aloud again, speaking to whoever these screens were. She thought about a status window, something that would give her more information. She pressed her mind for something to happen, and something did.

    *Ding*

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 20

    Dexterity: 20

    Vitality: 20

    Endurance: 20

    Intelligence: 20

    Wisdom: 20

    Health:  200/200

    Stamina: 200/200

    Mana: 200/200

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (1)

    - Identify (1)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (1)

    - Vampyric Senses (1)

    - Vampyric Resistance (1)

    - Vampyric Immortality (1)

    - Vampyric Charm (1)

    - Vampyric Empathy (1)

    Blinking a few times at the flood of information, she thought about the Vampyric skills she was given. Urging the system to show more information about them.

    *Ding*

    [Vampyric Regeneration]

    As a Vampire, your health regenerates much faster. Fear not the blows of your prey as your body repairs itself in front of their very eyes.

    [Vampyric Senses]

    As a Vampire, all of your senses grow stronger. Hear your prey from farther away, smell their fear across the fields and stalk them through the night with peerless vision.

    [Vampyric Resistance]

    As a Vampire, your body grows more resistant to changes in temperature. Fear not the chill nor the heat as you stalk your prey in any climate with ease.

    [Vampyric Immortality]

    As a Vampire, you become immune to the passing of time. Relish in the glory of the hunt for all of eternity, striking fear into the hearts of your prey forever more.

    [Vampyric Charm]

    As a vampire, your eyes become an endless sea of beauty, capable of twisting your prey¡¯s emotions at your will.

    [Vampyric Empathy]

    As a vampire, you develop a sixth sense for your prey. Feel their fear, know their plans as you stay one step ahead at every turn.

    The girl stared at the screens calling her a vampire, feeling her claws digging into the ground next to her. She looked back at her class The skills seemed powerful at least, though she felt some concern about the focus on prey. Having to stalk prey for all of eternity wasn¡¯t her idea of a good time.

    Can¡¯t linger on it, she thought. She grew up as a human, and even these strange messages say she¡¯s still a human. She¡¯s just a really messed up human now. With Vampire abilities. In a world with absolutely no clue where she was, what¡¯s going on, or if there¡¯s even any other people at all. She thought about the possibility of it just being all vampires and shivered.

    She looked to her Identify skill, urging the system to give her more information on it as well.

    *Ding*

    [Identify]

    Derive information from mana structures.

    Pretty basic, the girl thought. All the flourishes in the vampyric skills made them seem so much more impressive.

    Leaning back against the tree, she cried some more, thinking about her home. She never did manage to beat the boss she struggled with, and somehow that was eating away at her the most. She missed her friends, her bed, her entire life. But somehow it was never being able to kill that damn boss that was bugging her the most right now. She chuckled, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

    There wasn¡¯t an awful lot left for her back at home, anyway. A few friends online that she cared about but nothing super serious. She worked a dead end job at some consumer electronics store, wishing she could actually help the customers who came in more instead of being pressured into adding twelve items onto every single damn purchase. She had some family but wasn¡¯t super close to any of them. She thought it wasn¡¯t really all that different to the characters in stories she had read being uprooted and thrust into an unfamiliar world. Just get up and move on, she thought.

    But she couldn¡¯t. She still had a routine, she had goals and aspirations that she wanted to work towards. Perhaps they weren¡¯t the most important things, but they were hers. And now they¡¯re gone, while she¡¯s stranded in this messed up world with nothing but her black leggings and tie dyed t-shirt. Worse than that, she barely even counts as human anymore, for whatever that means.

    The girl stood up and started walking again. As bad as things were, she didn¡¯t want to die. She needed to find shelter from the snow, she needed food and water. Maybe it was a na?ve hope, but she even wanted to find civilization. People. Other humans she could talk to, who would speak english for some reason.

    The snow could provide her water at least, or she hoped it could since the cold didn¡¯t bother her anyway. She knew that eating snow took too much heat away to be worth it, but if freezing wasn¡¯t a problem then would it be possible? She wasn¡¯t sure, but figured she could melt it in a leaf or on a nice rock she finds if nothing else.

    Hours more passed into the night, the darkness seeming as though it were a bright sunny day. It still looked dark, she thought, but she could see clearly as though it were lit anyway. It was a strange feeling, but it made her much more comfortable walking through the dark forest.

    A few times, she noticed tracks in the snow where animals had walked through before. Wolves and rabbits mostly, she knew somehow. Tracking had never been something that interested her before, but the paths in the snow just seemed to scream what made them at her.

    She didn¡¯t seem to tire, even as the sun began to rise once more and the forest came to life with the sounds of animals ready to take on a new day.

    One path through the snow stood out to her among the swarm of rabbit and wolf tracks. One that said something different. Human, it screamed at her. A human had walked through this forest yesterday.

    The girl grew excited, her heartbeat racing as she stared at the tracks. She forced herself to calm down. Maybe these humans died to wolves, or maybe they¡¯re horrible bandits. But humans exist here, she thought. Even if this one sucks, maybe others exist and don¡¯t suck.

    She knelt down and tried to see which direction they had gone in. Pleading with her skill to give her something more. But no amount of touching, sniffing or licking seemed to give her any more information. She knew a human made it yesterday, but didn¡¯t know where they went.

    She grabbed a stick and scratched one end of it with her claws. If her skill won¡¯t help her, then luck surely will, she thought as she threw the stick in the air. The stick twirled around and fell, the scratched end pointing to the right, and off she went.

    The trail would have been easy to follow even without her vampyric abilities, the path through the snow clear as somebody plowed their way through. But with her vampyric helper, it felt as though she was walking down a familiar road, knowing where each and every turn would be.

    It only took another ten minutes of walking before she found herself on a road. Or something resembling a road, at least. The snow seemed packed in, with clear lines where wheels seemed to roll through it.

    She looked both ways, trying to see a sign of which way to go, but found nothing. She went right last time, so this time she turned left and started walking down the road with the sun high above her.

    The sun had nearly set by the time she saw a change in the scenery. The forest stopped a couple hundred feet away from a large stone wall that rose off in the distance.

    It was only a few times her height, but seemed to stretch on to either side for as far as she could see through the trees. Round pillars evenly spaced throughout, with roofed sections that had a couple of people in each.

    Some kind of castle wall? She wasn¡¯t sure, but it was a clear sign of civilization. Of people. A small fear rose up in her at her appearance. The white hair draped on her shoulders, the red eyes piercing through the snow, and her sharp claws. But she was human, she reminded herself. It said so, right on her stat window.

    A mutated human, maybe. But a human. She wouldn¡¯t be killed for looking different, she hoped. And even if she would be, it was still a safer option than trying to survive in the wilderness without any tools or supplies at all.

    Zoe continued down the road, right up to a large gate set in the wall. Two guards stood outside, flanking the large wooden doors.

    When she looked at them, she felt a sense of caution and intrigue poking at the back of her mind, underlying motes of anxiety fluttering just below the surface.

    [Warrior - ??]

    Identify showed them both the same. She wasn¡¯t sure how it worked, but it didn¡¯t seem very useful to her yet.

    ¡°Uhh, hi.¡± Zoe said to them as she approached.

    ¡°Hello. Reason for visiting Flester?¡± The guard on the right asked, leaning against the stone wall behind her. Her casual stance contrasting the sense of unease Zoe felt from the guard.

    ¡°Um, I guess I¡¯m lost? I want to eat and sleep, and stuff?¡± She fidgeted.

    The guard looked up the wall for a minute and then back at Zoe, and gestured for her to enter. ¡°Alright, have a nice stay.¡±

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Zoe entered, and walked down the street. There weren¡¯t many people walking about, but her mind was overwhelmed with the emotions she felt from them ¡ª fear, lust, annoyance. All slamming into the back of her mind like a sledgehammer made of angst and pride.

    That must be the Vampyric Empathy at work, she thought. She wondered if there was a way to turn it off, focusing on the skill and trying to disable it. The flood of emotions stopped as though she turned off a tap of despair and lust.

    The smells and sounds overwhelmed her nearly as much, though. She could hear the arguments people had in their houses, people bartering in shops. The clashing of metal on metal, the sizzling of something in an oily pan or meat over a fire perhaps.

    She decided to find somewhere to sleep. A hotel, or inn, maybe. A nice park even. She didn¡¯t have any money on her, but maybe they would let her work in exchange for a place to rest at least.

    She wandered down the road, each building seeming the same. A boring gray stone, holes along the side acting as pitiful excuses for windows. Maybe they just don¡¯t have glass, or maybe it¡¯s a poor town that she¡¯s stumbled onto.

    One building stood out to her, though. A dull orange glow covered the door, with somehow bright black lettering overlaid on top of it. ¡°John¡¯s Books¡± it said, casting a shadow over the door.

    She thought it was worth a shot at least, maybe she could find a book on the area. Turns out Russia¡¯s got weird magic vampires and moscow¡¯s just down the road or something. Probably not, but she still hoped.

    She opened the door and stepped inside, looking around. It was a dark store, lit only by the little light that seeped in through the holes in the wall. A few dark wooden bookshelves were spread throughout, each with ornate golden threads woven throughout.

    And to her immediate right, was the most monstrous being she had ever seen. A green gloopy mash of limbs with a tiny head and two black eyes sat on an equally strange chair that seemed to conform to its bizarre body.

    She froze in fear. Should she call the guards? Should she run and scream? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    She focused on her [Vampyric Empathy]. It was excited. To eat her? To sell her books? She cursed in her mind. Of course this wasn¡¯t just Russia, weird stat windows would have made global news the minute they appeared.

    But here she was, standing in front of the most terrifying visage she¡¯d ever laid eyes on. It was just sitting on a chair, running a bookstore. Would it eat her if she didn¡¯t buy a book? Would it eat her if she did?

    ¡°Local Geography,¡± Zoe said, her voice quivering in fear, sweat beading down her brow. ¡°Do you have any books on local geography?¡±

    The creature seemed to ignore her for a couple minutes as its emotions twisted into confusion and then finally settled on relieved just before it waved its hand.

    Zoe watched, amazed as the books on the shelves floated through the store and moved around on the bookshelves. And then she shuddered, pain wracking through her, as a wave of thought flooded into her mind, directing her to the bookshelf nearest to her.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Mental resistance.

    Zoe stumbled over to the bookshelf and browsed through it, finding a book that talked about Flester and its surroundings. Maybe she¡¯d find something she recognized, or at least something important in it. It didn¡¯t matter at this point anyway, she just needed to buy something and leave. She approached the strange green creature and placed the book on the desk in front of it.

    ¡°Um¡­ How much is this book?¡± Zoe asked, rummaging through her pockets in the hopes that she had something she could at least trade for it.

    Another surge of thought flooded into her as she shuddered once more. ¡°One interesting story for the book, no lies permitted,¡± it said.

    Oh god, Zoe thought. It was going to eat her past, she was sure of it.

    ¡°Oh¡­ Um¡­ What do you consider interesting?¡± Zoe asked the creature, praying it would find McDonalds interesting enough. Something she wouldn¡¯t mind losing.

    The creature¡¯s emotions seemed to flash through pain, and excitement, boredom and relief. And then a surge of information smashed into her mind, overwhelming her with pain and terror. She convulsed, her mind overrun with foreign emotion and unable to control herself. She stared at the creature with tears streaming down her face and watched as it raised a hand.

    She pleaded with it in her mind, begging it not to kill her.

    ¡®Peace,¡¯ the creature wrote in the air. Black wisps flowing together in front of her. The creature exuded a sense of worry and despair.

    Worried for Zoe? It felt like that, at least. Was she the strange one in this world for not being able to talk with her mind? Was she being racist, judging this creature just because it was a green monster?

    Zoe started laughing, falling to the floor clutching her belly. She was a damn half-vampire from another world, what¡¯s so strange about a green creature that just wants to sell books.

    She stood up and looked at the creature.

    [¦Ì????????????????????????????????????¨_??????????????????????  ¡ª ??]

    Everything else she identified was red. Were these ones green because the creature was?

    ¡°How do I know the story I tell you won¡¯t be spread to others?¡± Zoe asked, willing her fear away.

    ¡®Telepathy¡¯ The being wrote in the air between them.

    ¡°Are you asking if you can respond telepathically?¡± Zoe asked it, hoping the answer was no.

    The creature¡¯s small head nodded, and it oozed contentedness.

    Zoe nodded her head back and then shuddered as she received a pure emotion of intrigue, of desire to know more about people. It was better when she knew it was coming, she found.

    ¡°Well, whatever. I guess it doesn¡¯t matter that much anyway. I¡¯m not from this world.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡®Neither am I, which planet are you from?¡¯ The creature wrote in the air.

    She got excited for a moment.

    ¡°I¡¯m from Earth, where are you from?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡®Too long to spell, Earth? How far?¡¯ The being wrote.

    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m not sure, I just kind of appeared here a little while ago and now I¡¯m here. And a half-vampire or something apparently.¡± Zoe shrugged her shoulders.

    The being seemed surprised, so Zoe continued, ¡°I was just in my bedroom trying to fix my stupid smart light when I got sucked through some weird portal thing and ended up in the forest nearby. I cried for a bit, and then a vampire attacked me and infected me.

    ¡°Something in the system broke though so I got a bunch of vampire skills and abilities,¡± She showed off her claws to the shopkeeper. ¡°But I didn¡¯t get all the downsides of being a vampire. So I guess I¡¯m lucky. The white hair has kinda grown on me too, I like it. Anyway, that¡¯s my story. Is that interesting enough?¡±

    The creature nodded its head and wrote in the air, ¡®Thank you. Enjoy the book.¡¯

    Zoe nodded, picked up her book and left the store. A few minutes later she realized she forgot to thank the shopkeeper so she turned around and went back.

    The green creature was now standing in the middle of the shop, wiggling its many limbs around as it seemed to dance. Happiness and excitement, Zoe felt.

    She wanted to laugh but held it back. That would be rude, she thought. The scariest creature she¡¯d ever seen ended up just being a weird dork. ¡°I forgot to say thanks for the book so I wanted to come back.¡±

    She smiled at him. ¡°Thank you very much for the book. I don¡¯t know if I could¡¯ve afforded it normally anyway and it felt good to talk about what¡¯s happened to me. Thanks.¡±

    Zoe turned around and left, her laugh escaping as she walked down the road.

    Maybe Zoe wouldn¡¯t hate this place so much after all.

 3. Meet the System

    Zoe idly walked down the street as she began to realize a new problem that required immediate attention.

    She needed to shit. She didn¡¯t know where she would be able to, but she knew she needed to. Would the bookstore have a bathroom? Do inns have public bathrooms? Or are people just throwing it out their windows into the alleyways? She didn¡¯t see any, or even smell any so probably not. But she needed to find a bathroom, and now.

    She stopped at the first building that looked like an inn to her. A drawing of a bed hanging from a wooden pole extending from above the door. Either that or a brothel. Didn¡¯t matter, she thought. Both would have a toilet.

    The inside was closer to a bar than an inn. A long wooden table near one of the walls with a large bearded man with short brown hair behind it pouring drinks. Several tables set up in a row on the other side of it. Other smaller round tables set up throughout the establishment with folk sitting and eating meals.

    When Zoe entered, the worker looked up and nodded at her then went back to chatting with the people sitting at the bar.

    She walked up to the worker, ¡°Hi, do you have a bathroom I can use?¡±

    ¡°Not if you ain¡¯t a customer, I don¡¯t.¡± He said, putting down the glass he was cleaning and grabbing another.

    ¡°Look I¡¯m gonna shit, and I bet we both want it to be in the bathroom instead of here. I don¡¯t have money but I can wash some dishes for the rest of the day just please let me use your bathroom.¡± She pleaded.

    The man laughed, his voice echoing through the bar. ¡°Fine, fine. Up the stairs and to the right. Don¡¯t stink it up too much. And make it two days of dish-washing.¡±

    ¡°Okay fine but I¡¯m sleeping here tonight too then.¡±

    ¡°On the kitchen floor, rooms are full lady.¡±

    ¡°Fine, whatever.¡± Zoe walked to the stairs on the other side of the room, her face flush as the patrons watched her walk of shame, a few hushed giggles audible to her improved hearing. The creaking of the stairs grating on her with each step as she rushed up to the bathroom.

    She was pleased, though. A little embarrassment was better than homelessness.

    The bathroom was clean, and the toilet ¡ª while little more than a metal bowl with a pipe extending into the floor, at least looked like it had plumbing. A metal sink sat in the wall next to it, with rough toilet paper on the ground below.

    She sat on the bowl and winced a little as the cold metal dug into her behind. She didn¡¯t have a phone, but she did have some magic to play with, Zoe thought as she pulled up her status.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 10

    Strength: 20

    Dexterity: 20

    Vitality: 20

    Endurance: 20

    Intelligence: 20

    Wisdom: 20

    Health:  200/200

    Stamina: 200/200

    Mana: 200/200

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (3)

    - Identify (2)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (2)

    - Vampyric Senses (4)

    - Vampyric Resistance (2)

    - Vampyric Immortality (1)

    - Vampyric Charm (2)

    - Vampyric Empathy (5)

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    Many of her skills had levelled, and even her class had. But there were no notifications for any of them, she realized. She would just have to check this regularly to see her progress then. There were ten stat points she could use somehow too, but she didn¡¯t know what any of the stats actually did yet.

    Zoe sat on the toilet and fiddled with her screens as they shifted around to her will. It seemed as though she had a great deal of control over how they were displayed. Zoe settled on a translucent dark pink, blue and white background, the text a large black font with a white drop shadow.

    She was never good with designing interfaces, and it showed, but it was at least easy enough to read.

    She focused on her health, willing it to appear somewhere else and it appeared in the centre of her vision. It was a little in the way, so she urged it to move somewhere else. The health indicator slid up to the top left of her vision. She did the same with her Stamina and Mana as well, placing one below the other at the top left of her vision.

    Somehow, the information was always visible but also out of the way in her peripheral vision. She had expected it to feel much like a fly that hung around just to your side but it wasn¡¯t distracting at all, forgettable even, if she wasn¡¯t trying to see it.

    The rough looking toilet paper was just as unpleasant as she thought it would be. And the metal bowl did little for making her not feel gross about it as she bent over to pull the lever she assumed would flush the toilet. As she did, she felt a surge of power rush out of her and water flooded the metal bowl, washing everything down the pipe.

    Mana: 187/200

    Thirteen mana just to flush a toilet, she chuckled. Hopefully it comes back quick or she¡¯d have to manage her bathroom usage. The sink drained another five mana from her to wash her hands, and she headed back downstairs to help out with the dish washing.

    ¡°Hi, where do I get started?¡± She asked the man tending the bar.

    ¡°Back there, big sink. Get cleaning, girl.¡± The man pointed through a door behind him, a few of the patrons chuckling again.

    The kitchen looked almost modern, with what looked like hybrid gas and wood stoves as well as a large sink divided into three sections with a drying rack sat next to it. Dishes piled in the sink in the left most section, covered in soapy water. The right section was full of some kind of red fluid. Wash, rinse, sanitize. She wasn¡¯t expecting that. She took a quick look at her mana, silently bemoaning her new job and the feeling that would come with using the sinks.

    Mana: 193/200

    Eleven mana in a couple minutes was good enough, Zoe thought. She had no idea how much she would need but it was enough for the toilets, at least.

    Zoe grabbed a small brush that sat on the drying rack in one hand, and a white plate stained with brown food of some sort in the other. She had worked as a dishwasher before, when she was a teenager. She wasn¡¯t excited to be back. But at least she had a roof over her head now, she reminded herself.

    The man she spoke with earlier came back every so often dropping off more dishes, and grabbing bowls of soup, or piling meat onto a plate. She felt like it was a never ending task, just a bottomless sink full of grimy, greasy dishes.

    It took what felt like ages, but she scrubbed all of the dishes, leaving an organized mass of bowls, plates and cutlery in the drying rack next to the sink. Dripping with what she hoped was red sanitizer.

    She leaned against the counter across from the sink, rubbing her arms. They hurt, and her hands were as dry as sandpaper. Zoe looked up as the man walked into the kitchen again.

    ¡°Good job, girl. Time to close up shop.¡± He pointed to the pots and pans on top of the stoves, the remnants of the days food burnt onto them. ¡°Get all these cleaned, and wash down the stove tops.¡± He headed back out to the front, the chatter of people quieting down.

    She wanted to scream. She was thankful for the place to stay and tried not to complain about it, but cleaning dirty, grimy pots full of burnt crud did not excite her.

    Maybe she could just invent a dishwasher. She had no idea how they worked, but she wanted one anyway. Or maybe they do have dishwashers and this guy¡¯s just not rich enough for the cutting edge technology yet.

    Zoe placed the large soup pot on the ground and looked back to the sink, wishing for an extendable tap she could just aim at the pot.

    Instead, she picked up one of the bowls from the drying rack and filled it with the soapy water, then dumped it into the giant pot next to her. Then she grabbed her brush and knelt, reaching for the bottom of the pot to scrub it. It was deep, and she needed to have her head almost inside of the pot to even reach the bottom. The smell was almost pleasant, were it not to be contaminated with burnt crusty gunk and the off smelling soap.

    Satisfied with her scrubbing, she raised her head out of the pot and sat back, looking up at the door. The man was leaning against the frame with his arms crossed, shaking his head.

    ¡°You hungry, girl?¡± The man asked her.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Um. I don¡¯t really have money.¡± Zoe¡¯s stomach grumbled.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I asked.¡±

    ¡°I could eat.¡± Her stomach growled.

    Zoe watched as the man walked over to her pile of clean, drying dishes and grabbed one of the pans from it. He placed it on the oven, and summoned some kind of red meat into it.

    ¡°Wait how did you do that?¡± Zoe stared at the meat that appeared in his hand, her mouth agape.

    The man shook his head again, ¡°You really are strange, you know that?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± She asked.

    ¡°You come into my shop looking to trade days of your life for access to a toilet. Then you spend nearly two hours scrubbing dishes by hand, freak out about a storage item and to top it all off you¡¯re how old? Maybe twenty? Twenty-five? And yet when you came in, you were level three. What don¡¯t I mean, girl. You are strange.¡± He pointed his spatula at her.

    Zoe realized she hadn¡¯t identified the man, a stupid mistake she¡¯d need to get used to. What if he was a demon or something. Probably not, but still. She needed to build the habit.

    [Worker - ??]

    ¡°Why do you have green question marks?¡± Zoe asked.

    The mans belly shook as he chuckled, his white apron shaking as he looked at her.

    ¡°It means I have my third class. You really don¡¯t know anything, do you? Where are you from?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Zoe was torn. She liked the man, at least as much as she could like somebody she¡¯d known for a few hours. But she was unsure how much she felt comfortable sharing. She had already told the green monster, how bad could humans be? Much worse, she thought.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to answer that if you don¡¯t want to. I was just curious.¡± He flipped the meat out of the pan onto a plate, summoning a bunch of leafy greens next to it as he handed it to her.

    ¡°Thanks. I¡­ grew up without any magic, so I don¡¯t really know any of this class stuff. And skills and stats and stuff.¡±

    The man chuckled, ¡°Yeah, I can see that. You can stay here for a while.¡±

    Zoe bit into the meat, half expecting some magical cooking skills to shake her world, folding texture and flavour in on itself to create something more than a regular steak. But it just tasted like a pretty good steak with arugula salad and some kind of vinaigrette. Good, and yet somehow disappointing.

    The man closed his eyes for a moment as she ate, and Zoe felt a surge of something rushing past her, before the same something exploded out from him, covering all of the cookery and dishes in a pale blue light. All of the bits of food and gunk seemed to evaporate away to nothing.

    She stared at the scene in awe, and then anger.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you make me clean dishes for so long if you could just wave your hand anyway. And why do you have the damn sinks if you don¡¯t even use them.¡±

    ¡°We made a deal, remember?¡± He laughed, ¡°You clean the dishes in exchange for using my toilet. You¡¯re the one who decided to do it by hand.¡± He smiled and shook his head. ¡°As for the sinks, well, innkeeper skills don¡¯t work if you¡¯re not in an inn. Which needs sinks, for some reason.¡± He shrugged.

    ¡°Innkeeper skills? You¡¯re an innkeeper then?¡± Zoe asked, standing up after she finished her meal to lean against the counter again.

    ¡°Of course, does this place look like I sell furniture or something?¡± He chortled.

    ¡°Well no I mean like, your class. You¡¯re an innkeeper?¡±

    ¡°Yes I am, but as a heads up, it¡¯s not generally considered polite to inquire about people¡¯s skills.¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry.¡± Zoe¡¯s head turned to face the ground.

    ¡°No, you didn¡¯t know. And I prompted it anyway, just something to keep in mind when you talk to people. I tell you what. You help out around here, and I¡¯ll answer your questions when I can.¡± He said.

    ¡°Okay, um, how do I get a class?¡± She asked, looking back up at him.

    ¡°Well, everybody gets to take their first class at level eight. Most of the time, this happens when you¡¯re around six or seven years old.¡± He looked at her with smirk.

    ¡°What you get to pick from depends on what you¡¯ve done, achievements you¡¯ve made, stuff like that. Most people take an apprentice class, or a student class, learning from their parents.¡± The man paused to look above Zoe¡¯s head.

    ¡°For you, I imagine you¡¯ll have quite a few more interesting classes to choose from. You just have to sit down and focus inwards on your class. The rest will explain itself.¡±

    ¡°So the longer I wait, the better classes I get?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well, sure, in theory. But we don¡¯t live forever. Better to take what you have and work on improving it as you go than to optimize each step just to die of old age with only two classes.¡±

    ¡°I see¡­ So, what do all of the stats do then?¡±

    ¡°I know I said I can answer your questions, but this¡¯ll be the last one tonight. Still got an inn to run.¡± The man said, looking back at the kitchen doorway.

    ¡°Right, thanks.¡±

    ¡°So, Vitality, Endurance and Intelligence are mostly just for your pools. Vitality affects your maximum health, as well as your general resistance to the more subtle effects on your body ¡ª poisons and the like. Endurance is the same for your stamina and the less subtle effects like being stabbed or scratched. Intelligence is the outlier, it¡¯s the same for your mana but affects your magic power, not resistance.¡±

    ¡°Magic power?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Last question, remember? Strength and Dexterity are exactly as they say. More strength makes you stronger, more dexterity makes you faster. Though, you need some amount of both to be great at either. Wisdom is your mana regeneration, as well as a general resistance to mental effects.¡±

    ¡°How much mana regeneration per point in wisdom?¡±

    ¡°Ah ah ah, no more questions. Get some sleep and get ready to help out in the morning.¡± The man turned and left the kitchen.

    Zoe sat down on the immaculately clean floor, thinking back on the blue glow that flooded the room when he cast his spell. She wanted to cast spells of her own, though maybe something more exciting than cleaning. She focused inwards, trying to bring up her stat window again for one last check before she took her first class.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 35

    Strength: 20

    Dexterity: 20

    Vitality: 20

    Endurance: 20

    Intelligence: 20

    Wisdom: 20

    Health:  200/200

    Stamina: 200/200

    Mana: 200/200

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (8)

    - Identify (3)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (2)

    - Vampyric Senses (5)

    - Vampyric Resistance (2)

    - Vampyric Immortality (1)

    - Vampyric Charm (3)

    - Vampyric Empathy (5)

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    She wanted spells. Lots of spells. So she should pump her wisdom as high as possible, she thought. Or maybe she wanted big spells, so intelligence for more magic power?

    Zoe looked around the kitchen for something small and flat, finding a small coaster made of some cork-like material. She made a small scratch on one side of it. If it lands scratch side up, intelligence. Scratch side down, wisdom. She tossed the coaster in the air and realized she was hoping for it to land scratch side up.

    Thirty to intelligence for a nice round fifty, then five to wisdom to get it to twenty-five. She urged her stats to move and they did.

    Zoe gripped her head out reflex as a flood of weight hit her mind, making her vision go dizzy. Power seemed to flood through her, invigorating every cell of her body. It was intoxicating, and she wanted more. She turned her attention to her class choices.

 4. Choices

    Zoe laughed at her impulsiveness, she¡¯s going to live forever. There was no reason for her to rush into it. She didn¡¯t think she¡¯d regret it, she wants big spells, but it¡¯s something she needs to get used to. Take the time, do things slow, do things the right way.

    Zoe sat on the kitchen floor, focusing her attention inwards to herself, and her class. Ten minutes later, a window popped up in her vision, breaking her trance.

    *Ding* The following classes are available;

    [Innkeeper¡¯s Apprentice] A studious follower of an innkeeper. Gain increased knowledge retention when learning from innkeepers.

    Requirements: Work in an [Inn]

    [Realm Traveller] A wanderer, seeking the information contained within the vast expanse of all the realms. Gain increased experience in realms you¡¯ve spent less than a month in.

    Requirements: Has recently travelled across realms

    [Vampyre¡¯s Thrall] Fodder, prey for the powerful. Gain vastly increased experience from being consumed by Vampyres.

    Requirements: Be consumed by a Vampyre

    [Apprentice Mage] An acolyte of magic, learning from a master or perhaps the very framework of magic itself. Increase magic power, increased ability to learn new magics.

    Requirements: 25 Intelligence

    [Apprentice Enchanter] A pursuer of mana, sacrificing raw power for lasting effects. Increased mana regeneration.

    Requirements: 25 Wisdom

    Zoe looked at her options, stunned. She wanted something special, something unique. She was transported to another world, where was her become a god class. Where was her ¡®you¡¯re a unique special person and get extra powers¡¯ class?

    Realm Traveller makes no promise to helping her travel the realms, only extra experience for doing it. Vampyre¡¯s thrall wants her to be eaten by vampyres which was just ridiculous. Innkeeper¡¯s Apprentice is not at all what she wants, and the two others just seem like glorified versions of the same thing. So she gets a little bit of magic and can clean dishes better, or maybe help Joe maintain the toilet.

    She dismissed the window, leaning against the cupboard next to her and sighed. She wasn¡¯t sure what she expected, but it wasn¡¯t what she got. She wanted freedom, not to be locked into some specific thing. All of the options kept her stuck here, working for this random innkeeper.

    Realm traveller was probably best, just because it might let her go home. She thought of taking it, resting her cold head on the kitchen floor. She wondered if she could still sleep, as her consciousness drifted off.

    She dreamt of glorious battles between herself and dragons, the very earth beneath them shaking as their power clashed, flames spreading across the wasteland left behind them. The clattering of metal on metal ringing out as the dragon¡¯s vicious claws and fangs were blocked by her blade of light.

    She woke to the innkeeper slaving over the stove, pots and pans clanging, the sounds of grease sizzling and popping as the man handled the stove with an effortless ease.

    ¡°Not as cool as dragons¡­¡± Zoe mumbled as she sat up from the now warm floor, rubbing the back of her head.

    ¡°Ah you¡¯re awake. Good.¡± He nodded at her.

    ¡°Good morning to you too.¡± Zoe said, rubbing her eyes.

    The man laughed, ¡°I¡¯m Joe. I forgot to introduce myself yesterday.¡±

    Zoe stood, ¡°I¡¯m Zoe. More dishwashing today?" She asked.

    Joe laughed again, ¡°Head out and check on the people. See if anybody needs a refill, you can handle that much at least right?¡± He nodded towards the door to the main dining area.

    ¡°I thought the deal was I would wash dishes though?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe turned to look at her, he shook his head and rolled his eyes. ¡°With what skills Miss still level eight and clearly not taking the innkeeper¡¯s apprentice class? Just head out there and see if anybody needs a refill. Barrels are labelled clearly. You can read right?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. Okay. Fine. Just go see if somebody needs a refill. I can do that.¡±

    Zoe stood up, walking through the doorway to the dining area, looking at the customers sitting. There were two people seated, each at separate tables. One was a taller blonde woman reading with her legs up on one of the empty chairs near her. The other was a younger man with black hair, leaning his head on his hands on the table.

    She focused on the man, probing for his emotions, but nothing seemed to be present. She wondered for a moment if he was dead, but pushed it aside, turning her attention to behind the bar. Mugs, plates and cutlery were organized into separate cupboards, stacked neatly with not a speck of dust to be found on any of them. Three large barrels sat at about waist height up the wall. One labelled water, another for ale and the last for mead.

    Easy enough, Zoe thought. She stood behind the bar for a moment, building up the confidence to go speak with the customers. All she had to do was ask if they need a refill. It would be easy.

    The woman would be her first target, Zoe decided as she stepped out from behind the bar.

    Zoe stepped back behind the bar and waited, her hands idly running along the edge as she looked around. The customers could come ask if they needed something, there was no reason to go bother them after all, she thought.

    There wasn¡¯t much of interest here besides everything being more clean than she¡¯d expect it to be. No pictures on the walls, not even a painting. The walls were plain gray stone with wooden boards strapped across every few feet. There were a couple of windows with crude wooden shutters by the entrance opposite the bar, showing the dimly lit road out front.

    ¡°Hello?¡± A woman¡¯s voice broke Zoe out of her stupor. ¡°You got some water back there lady?¡± She swung her mug in front of Zoe¡¯s face.

    ¡°Oh. Sorry, yeah I can get you some.¡± Zoe took the mug and walked over to the barrels.

    ¡°You new here?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess so. Just got here last night.¡± Zoe said, filling the mug from the tap on the water barrel.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m Isla, nice to meet you.¡± The woman took the mug back from Zoe.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe. Are you a regular here?¡±

    ¡°Oh no, I¡¯m just in town on business for a few weeks.¡±

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°What do you do, if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± Zoe asked, hoping to meet her first adventurer. Somebody who prowled the depths defending humanity from the evils that lurked within.

    ¡°I¡¯m a merchant, I deal in whatever I can get my hands on at the last place I was at. Mostly spices right now, but quite a nice selection of higher end clothes too. Come pester me if you¡¯re interested in shopping sometime.¡± The woman said, heading back to her table, grabbing her book as she sat down once again.

    The man from before still hadn¡¯t moved, his head resting in his arms on the table. Zoe looked at him for a moment, watching his body slowly move with his breaths.

    She wondered if she should wake him. It¡¯s supposed to be an inn, but did that mean people could sleep in the dining area? Should she tell Joe? She pushed the thoughts aside. Not her job, all she had to do was refill people¡¯s drinks.

    Zoe lost track of time as she stood at the bar watching the near empty tavern, listening to the ceaseless clanging of cookware from the kitchen behind her. Her mind often wandered to the situation she found herself in, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. She pushed it aside, telling herself it was just a normal day at work. No reason to panic. Everything¡¯s fine.

    The windows lit up as the sun rose, and the bustle of society began to seep through. Carriages and people seen through the windows every so often as they passed by to wherever they needed to be. Patrons woke and came down the stairs at the back of the dining area. Most just left, but a few grabbed a drink from Zoe and a seat somewhere they liked.

    Zoe focused on her empathy, trying to get a read on most of the people she saw both inside or walking down the street. It was a great mixture of emotions but the general vibe seemed to be excited and eager. People rising, ready to take on a new day.

    She expected people to be more annoyed at mornings, loathing beginning work. Or maybe people really like their jobs here. Or maybe it¡¯s just magic. It¡¯s probably just magic, she realized.

    The clatter from the kitchen behind her died down, and Joe came out, turning to look at Zoe.

    ¡°Good job, go sit down and have some breakfast.¡± He said, summoning a plate with some eggs that looked ever so slightly larger than she¡¯d expect, and a chunk of brown bread.

    Zoe took the plate and sat down at one of the empty tables. Ripping the bread into smaller chunks and eating it with the egg. She didn¡¯t think she was very hungry, yet somehow felt a sense of energy filling her.

    *Ding* You have consumed an Innkeeper¡¯s breakfast. Stamina regeneration increased for eight hours.

    She thought back on the meal she had last night, wondering why it didn¡¯t give her a buff. What was different about this one?

    A couple people came down the stairs as she ate. One of them just left without stopping for breakfast, something Zoe now thought of as being strange considering the buff she just got. The other sat down at one of the stools near the bar and started talking to the innkeeper.

    ¡°Mornin¡¯ Joe, what¡¯s breakfast today?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Ryz eggs and brul.¡± Joe said, summoning an identical plate to what Zoe had received, placing it in front of the woman.

    ¡°Got any ale left?¡± The woman said, grabbing the plate from Joe and stuffing her face with the brul.

    ¡°Sure do,¡± Joe grabbed a mug and turned around to the barrels, filling it with a pale yellow liquid from the ale barrel.

    Joe handed her the mug, and their conversation carried on with small talk about the weather and random rumours from around town. Zoe tensed up for a moment when the woman mentioned a stray vampire in the area, but nobody seemed to notice or care, to her eyes.

    ¡°A vampire you say?¡± Joe asked the woman.

    ¡°Yup. That¡¯s what I¡¯ve heard. Probably just some drunkard who got lost in the forest again spreading lies.¡± The woman said, taking a final swig of her ale before she stood up.

    ¡°Werewolves a few weeks ago and now vampires. I¡¯ll believe it when I see it.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Well hopefully you don¡¯t see it. Thanks for the food Joe.¡± The woman said, tossing a silver coin as she turned to leave the inn.

    Joe caught the coin and turned to look at Zoe, his eyes squinting a bit before he shook his head.

    ¡°Hey girly, I¡¯ve got a job for you.¡± Joe said, waving her up to the bar.

    Zoe obliged, bringing her plate up with her. ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Take this,¡± he said, holding the silver coin out, ¡°and head down the road to Flit¡¯s Cloths. Get some new clothes. Something you can work in.¡±

    ¡°Okay, which way is Flit¡¯s Cloths?¡± Zoe asked, taking the silver coin.

    ¡°Just take a right out of here and it¡¯ll be just down the road a little ways.¡± Joe said, pointing to the door then gesturing to the right.

    ¡°Right. Okay. I¡¯ll be back then.¡± Zoe said, heading to the door.

    The outside road was still somewhat dead, the sun only just rising above the horizon. A few pedestrians walking down the road, and one person riding a horse with what looked like very full saddlebags hanging off it on either side.

    Zoe started walking down the road to the right. She walked past several stores on her way, a couple that looked like carpenters, one that she assumed would be this world¡¯s equivalent to office supplies and one that she couldn¡¯t figure out from the name. Grandol, the sign said. There were no windows for her to peer into either, so it was left as a mystery to her for now.

    It wasn¡¯t a long walk, but she found herself loathing any time that she had to herself at the moment, her mind pushing her to think about her situation. To acknowledge the terror and horrors she felt deep inside. She struggled to keep the thoughts at bay, forcing herself to think positively. Magic, excitement, adventure. Not danger. This was fine. She was fine.

    She felt a wave of relief as she arrived at Flit¡¯s Cloths. It seemed to be built out of the same gray stone that most everything around was built from, with a sign that had a bolt of cloth drawn on it hanging out front, and big lettering written on the wall saying ¡°Flit¡¯s Cloths¡±.

    The inside was rows of racks, bolts of cloth of various colours hanging from them. A small assortment of clothes hanging off on the wall to the side. Some shirts and pants, but it seemed like a side thought for the store.

 5. New Clothes

    Zoe wandered through the racks of cloth, looking for somebody who could help her. She found a man tending to some vibrant bolts of cloth resting on a shelf.

    ¡°Excuse me, I was told to buy some clothes from you?¡± Zoe asked as she approached the man.

    ¡°Yes, of course. What are you looking for?¡± The man turned to face her, with a bright smile on his face.

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure. I was told to get something I can work in? At an inn, I guess. Do you have anything that would be good for that?¡±

    ¡°Sure, we could do that. What kind of work are you doing at the inn?¡± The man asked, looking up and down Zoe¡¯s body. She felt a tingling sensation run over her for a moment and shivered.

    ¡°Um. I guess dishwashing and filling people¡¯s drinks?¡± Zoe replied.

    ¡°So something sturdy but movable, easy to clean and presentable. Do you have a preference for pants or dresses? Does your employer have a particular¡­ dress code for you?¡± The man asked, rifling through some of the cloth near him.

    ¡°No dress code that I know of, I¡¯d prefer pants, I guess? Though if you have a dress to try on I¡¯d be interested in seeing maybe.¡± Zoe replied.

    ¡°Right, so lets get you in a dress first and if you don¡¯t like it we¡¯ll get some pants for you then, sound good?¡± The man asked, looking back to Zoe.

    ¡°Sure, that sounds fine.¡± Zoe said.

    The man gestured for Zoe to follow and started walking towards the back of the shop. There was a large room with an ornate silver divider towards one corner.

    ¡°What is your budget for the clothes?¡± The man asked, closing the door behind them.

    ¡°Just this, I guess.¡± Zoe said, pulling the silver coin out of her pocket.

    ¡°Wonderful. Would you like one nicer set of clothes or multiple plainer sets then?¡± The man asked as several racks of cloth were summoned around him, along with a small table and chair that he sat at.

    ¡°I guess multiple sets would be good? I don¡¯t really need anything fancy so much.¡±

    ¡°Lovely, we¡¯ll keep it to just a couple of colours. Do you have any preference of colour?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Blue? I like blue. Does that work?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course it does. Blue it is then.¡± The man said, his hands a blur as he grabbed bolts of cloth and threw them on the table. Zoe couldn¡¯t follow what was happening, but a few minutes later the man lifted the pile of cloth on the table up and revealed a blue dress with long flowing sleeves. ¡°Here, try this on.¡± The man said, handing her the dress and pointing to the divider.

    Zoe took the dress and went behind the divider, stripping her now very dirty and worn leggings and tie dye shirt. She looked at her underwear for a moment, cursing. She hoped they would sell bras here, or at least something to give her some separation. She put her dirty clothes back on and stepped out from the divider.

    ¡°Uh, do you have undergarments available too?¡± She asked the man, watching his hands in a blur as he worked with more fabric.

    ¡°Yes, of course. Would you prefer a female assistant for this?¡± He looked up from his work.

    ¡°Do you need to measure me or does magic take care of it all?¡±

    The man looked at her with a hint of surprise, ¡°Magic handles it, of course.¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s fine, I guess. I¡¯d like a new bra? Don¡¯t really care how it looks, I just want some¡­¡± She gestured to her chest, ¡°separation.¡±

    ¡°Yes of course, try on the dress if you like and I¡¯ll have it ready for you soon.¡± The man said, his focus returning to the fabrics on the table in front of him.

    The dress was simple, just a plain light blue fabric with a few creases in it near the waist. It wasn¡¯t form fitting, but it wasn¡¯t so loose as to get stuck in everything as she worked either. The dress came down to around her knees, and the sleeves rested just past her elbows. It was comfortable enough, she thought.

    Zoe grabbed her leggings and stepped out from the divider. ¡°Do you think you could make pants like this?¡± She asked the man.

    He took her leggings and stretched them a bit, feeling the fabric. ¡°Probably not, I¡¯m sorry. Where did you get these from?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Oh uh, my mother got me them a while back. I¡¯m not really sure, sorry. Thanks anyway.¡± Zoe said, taking her pants back from the man.

    ¡°Sure. Do you like the dress? It looks beautiful on you if I say so myself.¡± The man said, smiling at her.

    ¡°Yeah, I do. I¡¯d like to take this. But could I get some pants and a shirt too?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve already gone ahead and made you an outfit along with your undergarments while you were getting changed.¡± The man said, handing her another bundle of fabric.

    ¡°Oh, thanks.¡± She said, taking the clothes behind the divider again.

    Zoe looked at the clothes she had. A light blue pair of pants that felt almost like denim, but softer, and a thick darker blue button up collared shirt with short sleeves covered a pair of black underwear made from some soft fabric.

    She tried the clothes on, and found the underwear much more comfortable than she expected. The shirt was heavy and rugged, fit for labour, but felt cool and breathable at the same time somehow. The waist of the pants rested exactly where it should, and she felt free and unrestricted in her clothes, as though they were made for her. Which she realized they were.

    She stepped out from the divider again, looking at the man. ¡°This is lovely as well, thank you.¡±

    The man nodded, ¡°Perfect. For the one silver you have, you could have one more of either of these outfits if you like. Perhaps another pant and shirt in another colour for something to play with?¡± He suggested.

    ¡°Yeah, that sounds fine with me. Whichever colours you think would look good I guess then works for me.¡±

    ¡°Lovely.¡± The man said, grabbing a mixture of reds and black to make another set. His hands blurred for a few minutes again before he handed another bundle of clothes to her. ¡°Feel free to try this on as well if you like, although it should fit exactly the same.¡±

    Zoe did try it on, and was surprised to find they felt identical, not just somewhat similar. This time she had dark red pants with black fabric near the buttons and waist, and a slightly lighter red shirt with dark red on the collar and near the buttons. She stepped out from the divider once more.

    ¡°Yes, I thought this would look lovely with your eyes.¡± The man said, smiling at her again.

    ¡°Thank you for everything.¡± Zoe said to the man.

    ¡°Feel free to come back any time, thank you very much.¡± The man said, handing her 12 copper coins back.

    Zoe headed back to the inn with the bundles of clothes in her arms and the coins clattering in her pockets. She wondered if she should have asked for a bag. Or maybe a storage item of some sort. How much would one of those cost, anyway?

    The walk back was uneventful, not much time had passed since she left anyway and the road was still pretty desolate. She wondered if people were sleeping, or if maybe this was just a less populated area.

    She entered the inn, seeing a few more of the tables filled. The man asleep on the table had left, but the merchant lady was still there reading her book. Most of the tables had one person at it, but there were a couple that had small groups sitting together chatting.

    ¡°Nice picks,¡± Joe said, looking at her new clothes. ¡°I¡¯ll get you a box you can put your stuff in later, but you can just put it wherever you find space in the kitchen for now.¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Zoe found a corner of the kitchen and put her clothes in the corner of a cupboard nearby, before she sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall.

    She felt fancy, wearing custom tailored clothes for the first time in her life. Or at least it was her first time wearing good custom tailored clothes. Her mother had made her a dress not long after she came out as trans, but it was lumpy and didn¡¯t fit very well at all. Zoe smiled at the memory.

    She spent a few minutes relaxing, enjoying the feel of her new clothes against her body. Clean and soft, she felt great, and almost found herself dozing off.

    Zoe stood up from the floor, ready to get to work and earn her place in the kitchen bedroom that she¡¯s made her home.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    [Warrior - 13]

    Zoe turned her focus inwards, to her identify skill and saw small text popup in the corner of her vision.

    - Identify (5)

    Zoe wondered if thirteen would be the highest she could identify or if that was just a coincidence. She turned her focus to her Vampyric Empathy skill instead. A flood of emotion hit her as it was switched on. Excitement, anxiety, loneliness. She tried to narrow it down, focus her attention on one person, but the best she could do was feel general directions.

    The larger groups felt more excited with twinges of anxiety, the lower level warrior she identified felt anxious and lonely. The rest of the people she couldn¡¯t get much of a read on unless she walked around the room to get them more separated for her skill, which she felt awkward doing.

    Zoe closed her eyes, focusing on the smells and sounds that surrounded her. It smelled comfortable, to her. She expected sweat and grime but there was this pleasant smell of wood drifting through the inn, meshing with the smells of the eggs and freshly baked bread. A slight body odour drifting throughout, drowned out by the smell of whatever spell or chemical Joe was using to clean.

    She could hear the conversations, though they all bled into one jumble of sound that she couldn¡¯t quite piece apart. She thought she heard the word dungeon mentioned a few times from one of the groups, which excited her. The sounds of horse hooves stomping on the ground outside whenever they passed was oddly relaxing for her.

    She opened her eyes again and looked around, peering into every crevice she could find, under every table and shadow. Things seemed bright to her even in the farthest corners of the inn, every stone and crack visible as though it were out in the midday sun. And it all looked clean, not a piece out of place.

    It was impressive, Zoe thought.

    The day carried on like this, with Zoe taking the time to examine her new abilities, focusing on every smell and sound, every person who she could see. Occasionally she¡¯d fill somebody¡¯s mug with whichever drink they preferred. She figured picking a class could come later. Maybe she¡¯d go visit John¡¯s Books again and see if he had some books she could poke through to find something that fit her.

    Lunch was served as the sun rose in the sky, some meat stew Joe started making about an hour prior. It was filled with vegetables and served with more of the brown brul. People came and went, some stopping by just for some food or drink and then leaving, others loitering around for a while before heading upstairs to their rooms. Dinner was more of the same stew, sat on the stove bubbling away for hours. The smell was near intoxicating, almost overwhelming her with the savoury and slightly sweet smell.

    Zoe identified everybody she saw, trying to read all of their emotions. She didn¡¯t see anybody else she could read the level of, nor any new colours of question marks. But she felt like she was getting better at directing her [Vampyric Empathy] as she focused in each direction, narrowing it down more and more.

    She looked at her skills after she finished her dinner.

    Class 1: - ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (3)

    - - -

    -

    -

    Resistances:

    -

    [Vampyric Charm] didn¡¯t make sense to her. She never focused on it, but it was still levelling up. The skill said something about her eyes being able to twist her prey¡¯s emotions at will. Perhaps a general ¡®likeable-ness¡¯ effect? The skill made her uncomfortable, but she carried on with her evening.

    The night dragged on, the sun setting as the road fell back to darkness. The customers had all left or gone to their rooms, leaving Joe and Zoe alone by the bar.

    ¡°Good job today,¡± Joe said, tossing her a large copper coin.

    ¡°Thanks, but what¡¯s this actually worth anyway?¡± Zoe said, turning the circular coin over in her hand. One side had a star imprinted on it and the other was just flat.

    ¡°That¡¯s a copper star, worth 5 copper.¡± Joe said, looking at Zoe.

    Zoe opened her mouth to ask more, but joe interrupted her.

    ¡°Right. A copper is the smallest amount. A hundred copper to a silver, and a hundred silver to a gold. A bigger coin with a star on it is worth five, a coin with a circle is worth ten and one with a square is worth fifty. So two silver squares to a gold, make sense?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I think I get that, yeah. So what¡¯s a copper anyway? What can I buy with this¡­ copper star?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well a silver got you almost four sets of custom fitted clothes earlier. The same silver would get you a couple weeks of food or a few days stay at this inn.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°So a meal here would be like a copper star?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well not exactly. I need to make a profit, most of the meals here cost ten copper, but they¡¯re included with a room as well. And before you ask, a room is usually twenty five copper a night.¡±

    ¡°So that lady who paid a silver coin earlier tipped you a lot?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a regular and I just let her pay whenever she has the money. She owed fifty seven copper so she¡¯s paid up and good for a little longer with that.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I see.¡± Zoe said.

    Their discussion was interrupted by the door to the inn swinging open, a younger man with red hair and ragged, torn clothes that showed his scarred body below walked in.

    [Worker - ??]

    ¡°Hi there. Do you have a room for tonight?¡± The man asked, gripping a book between his arm and his stomach.

    ¡°All out of rooms for right now, sorry.¡± Joe said, looking at the man.

    ¡°Oh, I see. Sorry to bother you then.¡± The man turned, and limped back towards the door.

    Joe sighed under his breath, ¡°I tell you what, you can spend the night out here, just pick a table or corner or something.¡±

    The man turned around, ¡°Oh thank you so much. I promise I can help clean or cook or anything you need.¡± The man said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already got a gopher,¡± Joe said, pointing at Zoe who slunk back as he did.

    ¡°I see. Well if you¡¯ll let me stay here I can help out however you need. Anything at all. Thank you so much sir.¡± The man said, bowing his head deeply.

    ¡°Well for starters, get yourself some new clothes tomorrow. Something presentable. We can talk tomorrow about what you¡¯ll be doing. Just keep quiet and don¡¯t bother the girl,¡± Joe said, pointing at Zoe again. ¡°She sleeps in the kitchen.¡±

    ¡°Right, yes sir. I can do that.¡± The man said, taking a seat and opening his book. There was a picture of a rabbit in a vast field on the cover of it.

    ¡°Alright then, you two have a good night, I¡¯ll be up cooking again in the morning for breakfast.¡± Joe said, heading up the stairs.

    ¡°Goodnight Joe!¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Goodnight sir!¡± The man said.

 6. Daily Grind

    ¡°Nice man, isn¡¯t he?¡± The man asked Zoe.

    ¡°I think so. He lets me sleep in the kitchen and I don¡¯t really think the work I do is helping all that much either, to be honest.¡±

    ¡°Right, well you don¡¯t even have a class yet anyway. What¡¯s up with that? Just going for something super specific?¡±

    ¡°I guess so. I grew up without magic stuff so this is still kind of new to me.¡±

    ¡°Without magic? There are places like that? Huh, that¡¯s so cool.¡± The man said, squinting at the first page of his book.

    ¡°What are you reading?¡± Zoe asked, sitting down in a chair across from him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know, actually.¡± The man let out a nervous laugh. ¡°Rabbits exploring a big field, I think? I can¡¯t really read and this looked like a good start.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like fun. I wish you luck with that. There¡¯s a book store just down the road with a dude who can do some really crazy mental stuff, he might be able to just¡­ zap reading into your head, maybe?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°John¡¯s Books? That¡¯s where I got this book actually. Terrifying guy at first though. I guess I could¡¯ve asked, but there¡¯s something about doing it myself that makes it feel worth it, too.¡± The man said, flipping the page.

    ¡°Mhm, I totally get that. My name¡¯s Zoe, by the way. It¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± She said.

    ¡°I¡¯m Rizick, likewise.¡± Rizick said.

    ¡°Alright, well I¡¯m gonna head to sleep. Hard to sleep when Joe¡¯s cooking in the kitchen after all.¡± Zoe chuckled.

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll just be out here reading. Do you just sleep on the floor in there?¡±

    ¡°Yup. I¡¯ve got a bunch of clothes for a pillow now though. Better than the snow outside anyway.¡± Zoe said, walking into the back kitchen.

    She laid out her clothes on the floor and rested her head on them, then drifted off to sleep.

    The next few days flew by without much happening. Zoe kept herself busy, helping clean and fill people¡¯s drinks, watching everything with her new senses. She chatted with Rizick a bit when they had time, though neither of them shared much about themselves.

    Many of the patrons who came by were regulars, stopping by at the same time every day for a meal or some booze. Many were people she¡¯d only seen once. Most just grabbed their food or drink and sat down by themselves, but some were more talkative and introduced themselves.

    Almost a week after Zoe arrived at the inn, she woke up not to the sounds of clattering pans but ruffling papers and fabrics with quiet chatter in the dining area.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got some errands to run today, I¡¯ve already let the patrons know there won¡¯t be fresh food today and left out some brul on the bar. There¡¯s bits of dried meats and some stew you can reheat in the back if anybody wants. Fill people¡¯s drinks and all that, but it won¡¯t be a busy day. Feel free to head out and get stuff done if you want. Let Zoe know whenever she wakes up. I¡¯ll be back tonight.¡± She heard Joe talking to Rizick in a quiet voice.

    ¡°Will do sir, you have a nice day and stay safe. We¡¯ll keep the inn under control sir.¡± Rizick replied.

    ¡°Don¡¯t fret too much, I got by without you two just fine. But thank you, have a nice day yourselves.¡± Joe said, before Zoe heard his footsteps leaving the inn and the door shutting behind him.

    Zoe sighed. It seemed like she wouldn¡¯t be able to distract herself with work, and there was something she needed to acknowledge with herself.

    She got up and headed out into the dining room. Rizick waved at her with a big smile on his face when he saw her.

    ¡°Oh hello Zoe, we¡¯ve got the day off today! Boss is out on some errands so all we¡¯ve gotta do is maybe fill some people¡¯s drinks but we¡¯re free to do what we want today.¡± Rizick said, reaching for his book.

    ¡°Yeah, I heard you two talking. Do you mind if I head out for the day maybe?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Oh no, not at all. I¡¯ll be here anyway, trying to read my book!¡± He waved the book in the air in front of him. ¡°Getting better at this every day, might have to go get a new one soon!¡±

    ¡°Thanks, hope you have a nice day then Rizick.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You too Zoe!¡± Rizick hollered out as she left the inn.

    Zoe wanted to find somewhere quiet and peaceful that she could think to herself. Her first thought was somewhere out in the forest ¡ª it was peaceful for the most part and should be safe if she stayed near the walls at least.

    Zoe set out back down the road towards where she first entered Flester, passing by familiar stone buildings and one particularly strange bookstore. The gate was open, with guards flanking it on either side. Beyond was the untamed wilderness, covered in snow and tall trees.

    A chill rushed through Zoe as she shivered and her steps slowed. An unexpected terror rushed through her as she thought about the vampire roaming the forest. She turned around and headed back down the street.

    The city was odd, Zoe felt. Most of it was plain gray stone, each building looking much the same with a plain sign and a drawing or name on it hanging off the front door. But at times, she would wander through a section of the city that felt as though she walked through a portal to what she imagined a magical city should look like.

    Towering crystal buildings filled with items atop floating pedestals, colourful brick buildings and even a handful of strange floating buildings with steps that didn¡¯t seem to be attached to anything leading up to the entrance. And then a few streets would pass, and she was back to the plain gray stone.

    Zoe found it wondrous, and confusing. Why was there such a distinction made between the different districts? Why wasn¡¯t the whole city magical and enchanted?

    It was early afternoon by the time she found a safe place to rest. A small park with lush green grass and a handful of small trees sat in the centre of one of the more magical districts she¡¯d found. The park was surrounded on all sides with floating wooden trees, each with stairs leading up its roots to the center of the tree. She was tempted to enter and see what they were, but decided that was something for another day.

    For now, she sat down on one of the floating wooden benches by a table in the park and enjoyed the experience. It smelled fresh and vibrant, with earthy undertones. The noise was quiet and subdued, distant voices chatting among themselves in the street. The occasional clopping of a horse¡¯s hooves or door closing shut. It was peaceful, Zoe found.

    It was time to address the elephant in the room. Zoe was excited, and the guilt of it was eating away at her. She had lost everything, her family, her friends. Tears began to roll down her face as the floodgate of emotions opened for the first time in almost a week.

    But she couldn¡¯t fix that. She had no way of getting back, maybe the realm traveller class but even that was a big risk. If it didn¡¯t work she could be stuck with a terrible class for the rest of eternity. And even if it did work, was that even what she wanted? She liked Joe and Rizick, and looked forward to having magic of her own. Did she even want to go back?

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    She did, desperately. But she couldn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t possible, and she had to accept that. And she had to accept herself for being okay with that. Things were okay, she had people who kind of cared for her, and who she kind of cared about as well. She had a place to stay, food to eat, and a world to thrive in. She was okay. Everything was okay.

    Positive reinforcement, she thought. Was that the right term? She didn¡¯t know. It didn¡¯t matter. She kept telling herself that it would be okay, that she was alive and had a future to look forward to.

    Zoe wiped more tears from her face, the sleeve of her dress becoming more and more damp. She bemoaned the headache she would have later from the dehydration. She knew she was going to cry, why didn¡¯t she bring water, she wondered.

    She kept reminding herself that things were okay. She was alive, she was even a little excited. There was a future full of magic and adventure and excitement to look forward to. In a month, in two months, she¡¯d be okay. It sucks, and it¡¯s okay that it sucks, but she was going to be okay.

    She sat on the bench and cried for a while, her eyes growing sore from the heavy cloth rubbing against them constantly, her throat dry and begging for some water.

    No more crying, she thought, not wanting to go find water while her eyes were beet red. She was okay, everything was fine. Joe was providing shelter and food for now, but it was probably hard on him too. And besides, Zoe didn¡¯t want to rely on his kindness forever. She wanted independence, she wanted freedom.

    Could she get a job? Buy a home to live in? Probably not, maybe she could rent a house? Was that even a thing here though, or did people just go to inns, she wondered. Zoe had camped out in the forests back home, even hunted before with her mom when she was younger. She could maybe tough it for a while out in the wilderness, foraging and hunting for food.

    She scoffed at herself, reminded of the vampire that haunted her if she even dared approach the city walls. She needed to get over that fear before she even tried that, but what would she get out of it anyway? Levels? Joe doesn¡¯t go hunting and he still levels up, probably. Camping out in the forests was an idea, but a bad one.

    Living with Joe for the next year or two? Probably worse, she thought. She wanted to be independent, not to the point of throwing her life away, but how long would Joe even let her stay with him anyway. She rested her head on her hands on the table.

    Maybe she could get a usable class, take on some random jobs around town and pay for a room at Joe¡¯s place. She got a big boost from being a vampire, surely that meant something at least. What she needed most, she realized, was information. More knowledge on classes, on what jobs she could get, on the cost of living.

    The sun was beginning to set when she was jostled awake by a gentle touch. ¡°Hello, you alright there?¡± a man asked from her side.

    Zoe lifted her head up and looked at the man. ¡°Oh, Joe. Hi, what are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°I was just on my way back to the inn when I saw you. Everything alright?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Oh. Yeah. Fine. I¡¯m okay. Things are okay.¡± She responded, wiping some drool from her mouth.

    ¡°Well I won¡¯t pry. If it¡¯s any consolation, one of our patrons is checking out tomorrow morning so their room will be free. I was thinking of offering it to you and rizick if you two wanted to share it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, yeah. Thanks Joe.¡± Zoe said, standing up. ¡°You said you were on your way back?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, you going to stay out here a while longer?¡±

    ¡°No, I think I¡¯ll come along then.¡±

    The pair walked back to the inn down a different path than Zoe had taken to get to the park. In her aimless wandering, the inn seemed so far away. But following Joe back only took the better part of an hour. Zoe asked about the shops and the districts on the walk.

    ¡°The city is organically divided into the wealthier sections, and the poorer sections. Now don¡¯t get me wrong there, it¡¯s not like we have slums. But originally, the city was built with all plain gray stone. Over time, some people renovated their buildings to better suit their purpose, for marketing or whatever. Other people nearby would often see a boost in sales because of the wealthier traffic, renovate their buildings, and so on.¡± Joe explained.

    ¡°So the poor people just get shoved to the edges of the city, then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well, I guess you could see it that way. I see it as the less wealthy start on the outside and work their way inwards, personally. My inn is in a poorer district and I get by just fine. I could afford a fancier inn somewhere else but somebody¡¯s got to provide housing for the less wealthy adventurers. Somebody¡¯s got to be a place for the tired who¡¯ve just arrived in town to rest, and I take a certain pride in that.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯m missing something but this seems like glorified gentrification to me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Is gentrification bad, though?¡± Joe asked her.

    ¡°I mean, yes? What if people can¡¯t afford the increased rent from being in a wealthier area all of a sudden?¡±

    ¡°Ahh, maybe that¡¯s a problem where you¡¯re from, but that¡¯s not how it works here. Somebody¡¯s rent won¡¯t go up just because their neighbour made a nicer store. The fancier buildings tend to expand but the only pressure to renovate or change is a personal desire to keep up with the neighbours.¡±

    ¡°I guess y¡¯all have it all sorted out here. I¡¯m not a political expert anyway, I just remember reading about it a few years ago. Was apparently a problem in some areas.¡± Zoe said as they approached the entrance to the inn.

    ¡°Well, anyway if you have anything else you needed to get done today, the doors will still be open for another hour.¡± Joe stepped inside, waving at Rizick who was sitting at a different table.

    ¡°Oh hello again!¡± Rizick called out as he stood up, ¡°I¡¯ve wiped down all the tables already, just a few people who wanted some drinks earlier.¡±

    ¡°Good job, thanks Rizick. I told Zoe earlier but one of our patrons is checking out tomorrow morning. If the two of you want it, you can share the room.¡± Joe started towards the kitchen.

    ¡°That sounds wonderful! I¡¯ll happily take you up on that, sir!¡±

    ¡°Just the one bed and a lounge chair, bed¡¯s quite large and I can give you two separate blankets if you want.¡±

    ¡°Up to you then, Zoe.¡± Rizick turned to Zoe and tilted his head a bit.

    ¡°Um, yeah I guess that¡¯s okay.¡± Zoe nodded.

    ¡°I could take the chair if you¡¯re not okay with it?¡± Rizick asked.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m just a bit uncomfortable with being so close with somebody, but I don¡¯t wanna make you take the chair. Separate blankets is fine.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well then a bed for us tomorrow sounds great. Thank you, sir. " Rizick sat back down and picked up his book.

    Zoe headed into the kitchen to get ready for bed, nodding at Joe as she entered. She wished this world had toothpaste, then realized that maybe they do and decided to ask Joe.

    ¡°How do people keep their teeth clean here?¡± Zoe watched as the familiar blue glow covered everything in cleanliness.

    Joe turned to face her, ¡°Most people get a spell to keep themselves clean in their first class or as a general skill. Children usually just wash their mouths with water and rags.¡±

    ¡°No toothpaste here then, that stinks.¡± Zoe said quietly.

    ¡°Toothpaste?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like a thick gel soap for the teeth?¡± Zoe said with little confidence in her explanation.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of something like that. Some people use some thick liquid made of soot and ground up tree bark.¡± Joe turned back to the kitchen to finish putting dishes and cutlery away.

    ¡°Something like that I guess, yeah.¡± Zoe laid down on the kitchen floor, resting her head on her bundle of clothes.

    ¡°I¡¯m almost done here and then I¡¯ll be out of your hair. Last day of sleeping on the kitchen floor for you though, eh?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Mhm, thanks again Joe. I really appreciate it.¡± Zoe said as she closed her eyes and thought about her future.

 7. Shopping

    Zoe woke up on the floor to the familiar sounds of Joe setting up the kitchen for the breakfast service.

    ¡°Morning Joe,¡± Zoe said, rubbing her eyes. ¡°Hey, did you know the gunk in your eyes when you wake up is called rheum?¡±

    Joe looked at her like she¡¯d just said the dumbest thing in the world. ¡°What?"

    ¡°Yeah, I read about it before. It¡¯s called rheum. Stupid name, right? Like a room in your eyes or something.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°If you¡¯re up, go set up the dining area.¡± Joe shook his head.

    ¡°Actually, I was thinking about going to get a new book from a bookstore I found if that¡¯s alright?¡±

    ¡°Sure, just see if Rizick needs anything before you head out at least.¡±

    ¡°Will do, see you later then. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be long.¡± Zoe said, heading to the main dining area. She saw Rizick fixing himself up from the night of sleep on one of the chairs.

    ¡°Morning Rizick. I¡¯m headed out to John¡¯s Books this morning, do you need any help before I leave?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, morning Zoe. No I should be fine, lemme know if you see any books I¡¯d like. I guess you wouldn¡¯t with how that book store works anyway though.¡± He said, standing up and prepping the table again for service.

    ¡°Right, well I¡¯m off then. I won¡¯t be long, see you in a bit!¡±

    Zoe left and headed down the road to John¡¯s Books. She felt really good, and wasn¡¯t sure why. Her problems didn¡¯t get up and vanish but they felt so much more manageable after a night of rest.

    The walk to John¡¯s books was shorter than she thought, and she was surprised to see a vague shape of a book on the front of the door now. She looked closer, seeing it was made up of more letters than she could count, floating just off the front of the door, casting the same eerie dark shadow behind it.

    She opened the door and stepped in, seeing the same green monster sitting by his desk. She extended her [Vampyric Empathy] and felt a sense of upset, loneliness. Anger. Her face drooped for a moment.

    ¡°Hey bud, how¡¯s it going?¡± She asked.

    ¡®Pleasant.¡¯ The being spoke to her mind, the somewhat familiar pressure pushing into her head.

    ¡°Good, you seemed upset when I came in.¡± Zoe said. ¡°So, I¡¯ve got an odd question. I still don¡¯t technically have a class. The whole vampire thing was supposed to give me a vampire class but that kinda fell apart because of some weird bug. I¡¯ve been working as help at a tavern nearby and got a bunch of tavern related classes but I dunno. I want something more, I guess?

    ¡°Where I come from, there are these things called video games. And this world feels similar to that and it just¡­ settling for a janitorial class feels so lacking. I want something more. Something a lot more. And I feel like I have an advantage because I¡¯m a vampire without the vampire class so I just want something really good.

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯m greedy but I¡¯m going to live forever apparently so it just seems to me like I should spend more time on my class. Or does it not really matter anyway? Everybody else says to just take something and it¡¯ll class up later. But all I have are classes that make me more effective at serving beer to pricks.¡±

    The creature paused for a moment, before it wrote out words between the two of them. ¡®Did your world have magic?¡¯

    ¡°No, not like this anyway. We had people who would use sleight of hand and call it magic. But nobody could fly or write words into the air like you can. Even cleaning wasn¡¯t magical over there, we just had to pick up a broom and sweep.¡± Zoe responded.

    The creature waved its hand and books floated through the air. Some towards the creature before they disappeared, others settled on a bookshelf next to Zoe. More books came out from the creature and settled in the same bookshelf nearest to her.

    Zoe watched in awe as the books floated around, and then took to the filled bookshelf next to her, reading through every book as though it were the most important thing she¡¯d ever see. The hours passed as she looked through them all. Some outlining requirements for very simple classes, apprentices and slaves. Others for things she thought she¡¯d never be able to reach.

    Darkness began to seep in through the windows, and Zoe looked up, seeing the sun setting.

    ¡°Oh, sorry. Uh, how long until you close? I didn¡¯t realize it was getting so late.¡± Zoe said.

    The creature shook its head.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t close? Like, ever?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡®Shopping.¡¯ The creature wrote.

    ¡°So you only close when you¡¯re shopping? Wow¡­ Ok, guess I¡¯ll keep looking for a while. Thanks.¡±

    Zoe spent a few more hours, late into the night, searching through all of the books for something of interest. She kept coming back to one that she found earlier in the day, the pure white book seemed to radiate cold, the tips of her fingers feeling the bite of winter every time she held it. It contained the details on many cold classes. Combat, travelling, utility. Everything she could think of filled the book. It felt comfortable to her, for some reason. It felt right.

    She brought the cold book up to the desk. ¡°I came to this world in a snowy forest so ice just seems fitting, I guess. The requirements seem the easiest too. Uhh, story for a book right. Ah! OK, so I was at school one day, a while back.

    ¡°We were in computer class. Computers are like these machines that can show pictures and stuff. Like your lights but if there were billions of them and they were really small and you could control what colour each one was. It makes a picture and the computers did all of that while you just controlled it with a couple of tools.

    ¡°One had all the letters of the alphabet so you could write stuff and the other controlled the focus, I guess? Anyway, I was using a computer and watching a video. Which is like a flip book? But it was on the computer screen. And there was sound. Anyway the computer froze on a frame of an iceberg. Froze is like, it broke.

    ¡°The computer stopped working and the screen stopped updating so it was just frozen in time kinda. But not really any time shenanigans, it was just broken. I thought it was funny cause it froze on an iceberg, which is cold. So its like the iceberg froze the computer.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Kinda fitting that I¡¯m here looking for cold classes actually isn¡¯t it?¡± Zoe asked through her giggles. ¡°Is that enough for the book?¡±

    The creature nodded its head.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Zoe said, and rushed out the door.

    She hoped Joe and Rizick were alright, her shopping dragging on a lot longer than she expected. For that matter, she hoped they¡¯d still be up so she could get to her new comfortable bed instead of the kitchen floor again.

    Rizick was still up reading at one of the tables when Zoe arrived.

    ¡°Hey Rizick, took a bit longer than I thought it would, sorry. I didn¡¯t see any books that looked easy but I mostly got distracted looking through my selection.¡± Zoe said to him.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright, we made it just fine today anyway. Joe was a bit worried but I told him it was a very fancy bookstore, after all. He gave me the key to our room and told me to lock up after you got back. I was going to head up in a bit but I can show you it and give you the key if you wanted to get to sleep earlier?¡±

    ¡°I think I¡¯d like to read my book as well for a bit, pretty excited about it.¡± Zoe said, sitting down across from Rizick at the table.

    ¡°What¡¯d you end up getting¡±? Rizick asked.

    ¡°Frost. It¡¯s a book about cold classes, something just felt right about it for me.¡± Zoe showed the book to Rizick.

    ¡°Ooo, you¡¯re finally going to get your first class?¡±

    ¡°I think so, if I can find something that works. All I¡¯ve got is still just normal labour and tavern stuff which doesn¡¯t really fit me. I appreciate Joe and I even kinda like it here but I don¡¯t want to stick around forever. I want to explore and see all kinds of things.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That makes sense. I think I¡¯d like to be a merchant someday. Travel the roads, meet lots of people, peddle my wares. Seems like a nice life to me. Don¡¯t let me keep you from your book though!¡± Rizick replied.

    ¡°Sounds nice, I hope it works out for you.¡± Zoe looked down at her book.

    <u>Frost</u>

    I have spent the entirety of the last decade researching requirements for the first two classes, with a strict focus on ones that are likely to lead to classes with the cold attribute. I have tested these requirements extensively on myself, but I regret to say that I have already taken my first class. I have worked with many civilizations in colder climates to discover interesting first classes, but there is a limit to the testing that can be done on another. People aren¡¯t willing to take the same risks I am, especially with their child. And I can¡¯t force this.

    Firstly, there are a few skills I¡¯ve discovered that can be acquired by anybody, that can all lead to cold classes. There are likely more available, but these are what I have found to work.

    - Cold Resistance. A simple one, merely take a substantial amount of damage from the cold and you will naturally acquire it. It helps to have a mage who already has access to cold magics, but the weather can provide as well in a pinch.

    - Ice resistance. Equally simple. Take a substantial amount of damage from ice. I have not determined if it is possible to gain this resistance with naturally occurring ice. My testing has not shown evidence of this, but that doesn¡¯t rule it out. Best to find a mage.

    - Heat Resistance. Another simple one. Can be acquired by taking a substantial amount of damage from the heat. Again, a mage may help, but fire is equally viable. Fire will also provide Fire Resistance, although I have not seen this required for any cold classes. I wrote this off at first, but eventually I stumbled into a plethora of classes that focused on general thermal control rather than cold specifically, but which were no less capable overall.

    - Meditation. Focus inwards on yourself and empty your thoughts, feel the energy around you and inside you. It should feel natural. Many cold classes require this skill, I assume because of the stillness of frost.

    - Other resistances and skills you may know of. Many classes require a certain number of resistance, skills or both, rather than specific requirements. It is in my opinion a mark of a good class to have several specific requirements, as well as many unspecified skills. Getting as many skills as you can, and levelling all of them is never a bad decision. But make sure you also do have any cold ones you may find, although I have listed the only ones I have discovered personally.

    There are also a number of feats I have discovered that can be acquired with relative ease and have contributed to class requirements.

    - Winter¡¯s Master. Survive a winter without shelter. This can be dangerous in many places, I suggest finding somewhere with either a short winter or a warmer winter. For whichever reason, the temperature is irrelevant, merely shelter. I could not determine what counted as a shelter exactly, but a lean-to counts, while a cave does not until it is more than about fifteen paces deep. A particularly large bonfire also counted as shelter, although I doubt anybody else would make one quite as large naturally. Interestingly, visits to shelters did not seem to immediately nullify the feat, nor did remaining within a city. I am unfortunately unsure precisely what qualifies as a shelter but my advice is to avoid extended stays within anything you may think could qualify.

    - Summer¡¯s Master. Survive a summer without shelter. This is generally much easier, but keep in mind how dangerous the summers are wherever you are. As with the heat resistance, this can lead to more general thermal control classes, which is an option I found interesting and powerful but did not end up pursuing in much depth.

    - Slayer of Frost. Kill a cold aligned elemental. This is quite easy with an escort, or if you can find a very young elemental who has yet to develop any notable power. I would avoid this feat if you don¡¯t already have a plan in mind.

    - The Unfrozen. Be entirely frozen and then unfrozen. This requires specific mages available to help, your entire body must be completely frozen to the core and then defrosted. I would avoid this feat if you do not have capable mages you trust to assist you.

    And finally, there are some more¡­ miscellaneous requirements for classes that I have found. These can be mixed and matched in ways that seem logical.

    - Being in a mana dense environment. This provides classes with more powerful magic modifiers.

    - The current season is winter. This provides classes with more powerful cold atmospheric modifiers.

    - The current area is below zero. This provides classes with more powerful cold modifiers.

    - The current area is rapidly shifting temperature between hot and cold. This almost guarantees a more general thermal class, though these areas are difficult to find, and difficult to be in.

    - Higher stats tend to provide classes with related modifiers. Intelligence gives more magical power, endurance gives more staying power, etc. I have found a few interesting classes with high endurance and intelligence that are capable of creating very powerful ice walls fit for city defence.

    - The current area is an ocean. This provides classes with water modifiers, which can pair very well with cold modifiers.

    With this preamble out of the way, I will share the specific classes, modifiers and requirements that I have found in my journey.

    <hr>

    The book continued on, listing classes and their requirements. Zoe thumbed through the book, picking out a few classes that stood out to her.

    <hr>

    Apprentice Cold Mage

    Requirements: 25 intelligence, currently winter or temperature is below zero

    Modifiers: Minimal bonuses to magic power and mana regeneration.

    Notes: Very easy to obtain, and for most is likely adequate enough.

    Cold Wizard

    Requirements: 40 intelligence, current temperature is below zero, environment is mana dense, has the meditation skill

    Modifiers: Respectable bonuses to magic power and mana regeneration, as well as to cold damage dealt.

    Notes: Is relatively easy to obtain with a mage capable of saturating the atmosphere around you with mana.

    Wall of Frost

    Requirements: 30 strength, 25 endurance, has the cold resistance, has slain enemies with the power of their frost, has the Winter¡¯s Master feat

    Modifiers: Respectable bonuses to physical power and defense.

    Notes: Suffocating an insect with snow is sufficient to meet the requirement. Respectable defensive class.

    Cold Mage

    Requirements: 50 intelligence, has the apprentice cold mage class, has the meditation skill

    Modifiers: Minimal bonuses to magic power and mana regeneration

    Notes: As with the apprentice version, this is very easy to obtain. Has little to speak of otherwise.

    Master of Frost

    Requirements: 50 intelligence, 20 endurance, 20 dexterity, at least ten resistances, has the cold resistance, has the ice resistance, has the meditation skill, has the Winter¡¯s Master feat

    Modifiers: Substantial bonuses to cold magics and physical power.

    Notes: In theory you could obtain this as your first class as it doesn¡¯t require a prior class, but the stat requirements are too steep for any of my testing to confirm this.

    Thermal Archmage

    Requirements: 70 intelligence, has a fire or cold aligned class, has the meditation skill, has the heat resistance, has the cold resistance, has the Winter¡¯s Master feat, has the Summer¡¯s Master feat.

    Modifiers: Moderate bonuses to magic power and mana regeneration, as well as to all heat and cold related abilities.

    Notes: I was unable to confirm this in my testing, but I have a suspicion that a generalist approach as this will leave you much less powerful later on, but with far greater adaptability.

    Frost Incarnate

    Requirements: Has at least fifteen resistances, has the cold resistance, has the ice resistance, has the meditation skill, has the Winter¡¯s Master feat, has The Unfrozen feat, has the Slayer of Frost feat

    Modifiers: Significant bonuses to all cold related abilities as well as granting natural manipulation of ice and frost

    Notes: This is likely the most powerful starter class I have found.

 8. Restrictions

    Zoe looked up and saw Rizick looking at her with a curious expression. ¡°Good information in there for you?¡± He asked.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Rizick shuddered this time, ¡°There is, but it doesn¡¯t do much at lower levels and getting it up is a horrible experience.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe headed to the kitchen to grab her bundle of belongings before she went up the creaky wooden stairs. She¡¯d never paid much attention to the upstairs hallway before, only coming up here on occasion for the uncomfortable toilet.

    Towards the opposite end of the stairs was the one window overlooking the street out front. The moon shone through, lighting the hallway just enough for somebody even without her vampyric eyes to see where they were going. To the back of the hallway was a door left ajar with flickering orange-yellow light peeking through the crack.

    She walked up and peered inside, seeing Rizick sitting on the bed. He waved her in.

    ¡°

    And he was right, Zoe found. The bed was a lot larger than she expected. She had expected to see a standard bed size she recognized but this was just a large square mattress about as tall as her hand raised a few inches off the ground pushed into the corner of the room. It would easily fit both her and Rizick, and possibly even a third if Joe happened upon some other unfortunate soul.

    ¡°

    Rizick laughed. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re gonna feel like royalty.¡± He tossed the extra blanket to the other side of the bed and pulled his own over him as he laid down.

    Zoe hopped in bed next to him and pulled her own blanket over her. The mattress was soft but poked her a little in certain areas as she tossed and turned trying to find the most comfortable position. Her thoughts wandered as she lay in bed.

    Rizick and Joe weren¡¯t immortal. She liked them, but thinking about outliving them made her feel strange. Or were immortals a thing here? Were they going to live forever? What happens if ten, twenty, even fifty years pass and she looks the exact same? Would she be shunned from town? Would Rizick and Joe even live long enough to talk at that point?

    She tried not to think too much about it. People could get into a horrible carriage accident the next day, worrying about them dying in sixty years of old age wasn¡¯t healthy.

    Zoe soon fell asleep, embraced by the warm comforts of a bed and heavy blanket.

    When she rose in the morning, Rizick was still sleeping on the other side of the bed. The morning sun shone through the cracks in the shutters, casting streaks of light on the walls.

    Standing up, she stretched her body and enjoyed the lack of aches from sleeping on the hard kitchen floor. She relished the feeling of sleep, it wasn¡¯t necessary, but waking up and stretching was an important part of the day for her.

    She picked up her belongings from the floor and moved them to a more sane spot ¡ª on the chair next to the bed, and then looked at the messy blankets on the bed. For a moment she wondered if she should make her side of the bed, but brushed it aside after seeing Rizick still sleeping.

    Zoe left the room, closing the door behind her with the finesse of a half vampire trying to be quiet ¡ª which was a lot more successful than she thought it would be. And then went back down the dim hallway to get to her strange job tending the bar in another world.

    ¡°Good morning Zoe,¡± Joe called out as she came down the stairs. ¡°Sleep well?¡±

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I did! You weren¡¯t kidding when you said it was a big bed, my god.¡± Zoe said, looking around.

    The inn was almost empty. The merchant woman that Rizick had been hitting it off with, Isla, was sitting at a table reading some book Zoe didn¡¯t recognize. And another man Zoe had seen a few times but never spoken with was sitting at another.

    ¡°Well, people are there to sleep so I figured may as well make it as easy as possible. Besides we get some large folk in every now and then too.¡± Joe replied, wiping down the counter and putting freshly cleaned glasses away.

    Zoe took over the glassware duty from Joe as he went back into the kitchen to prepare whatever meal was going to be served today. She watched the inn for a short while before Rizick came down and sat with Isla. Zoe didn¡¯t mind, she had left them alone for an entire day on accident and it was only reasonable she would repay the favour.

    The day passed with Zoe keeping the area clean and helping people get whatever drinks they wanted. Joe had served some kind of meat stew for food which Zoe found to be quite delicious. Rizick had left with Isla early on in the day to do something together and Zoe enjoyed her quiet routine.

    As the evening drew on, and the sun began to set, a strange group came up to the bar. Two men and a woman, all wearing light leather armour that looked well maintained but quite well used. The men both had crossbows and daggers while the woman walked with a short sword hanging by her waist.

    ¡°¡¯Ello, we¡¯re a bunch ¡®a odd jobbers from outta town. Y¡¯ be needing any work done?¡± The woman asked Zoe.

    ¡°Oh uh, let me go grab Joe for you actually. I just work here.¡± Zoe said, stepping back from the armed group to the kitchen.

    ¡°Hey Joe, there¡¯s a trio of people calling themselves odd jobbers?¡±

    ¡°Oh good, let them know I¡¯ll be right out.¡± Joe called out, adding more ingredients to the large pot of bubbling stew on the stove.

    Zoe ducked out of the kitchen again, ¡°He¡¯s just cooking something right now but he¡¯ll be right out. You can take a seat I guess if you want?¡±

    ¡°A¡¯right, thanks there.¡± The woman said, walking over to a table nearby.

    She wondered what odd jobbers were? Were they the adventurers of this world, or were they just a step below adventurers? Or something else entirely, maybe.

    Zoe¡¯s thoughts were interrupted by Joe coming out of the kitchen, ¡°Where are the odd jobbers?¡± He asked, looking around. ¡°Ah, they must be them. Thanks.¡± He walked over to their table and pulled up one of the chairs.

    ¡°I hear you lot are odd jobbers?¡± Joe asked, as he sat down.

    ¡°Right y¡¯ are. Lookin¡¯ for some work if¡¯n y¡¯ be needing it.¡± The woman responded.

    ¡°Great. My old supplier¡¯s run off on me with the whole vampire scare so I¡¯m in need of some meat if you¡¯re up for hunting.¡±

    ¡°Vampire? Ain¡¯t no vampires ¡®round here no more, what I heard.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Apparently there was a sighting a few weeks back, harassed some people travelling in and out of town.¡±

    ¡°Nah nah, ain¡¯t no more¡¯s what I¡¯m sayin¡¯.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Oh really? Somebody finally got the bastard?¡±

    ¡°Least by what I heard, been killed ¡®bout a week ago.¡± The woman replied, looking a little confused.

    ¡°Seriously?¡±

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    Zoe felt a twinge of excitement bubble within her.

    ¡°Well thanks for that, I¡¯m gonna have to have a few choice words with Herb then. In the meantime, job offers still on if you¡¯re up for hunting.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Sure are, what¡¯re y¡¯ be needin?¡± The woman asked, grabbing some paper and pencil from a pouch tied to her waist.

    ¡°Just about anything¡¯s fine. No rabbits though, and keep it reasonably normal, please. Last time I hired some odd jobbers they found some real strange stuff. Stick with the common animals, some fowl maybe. Do you have a storage item?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Yup.¡± The woman said, scribbling onto her paper.

    ¡°Capacity?¡±

    ¡°Four bags.¡±

    ¡°Great. Two loads, a silver circle each sound good?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Good by us,¡± The woman replied, sticking her hand out.

    Joe shook her hand and they all stood up. Joe walked back to the bar and the odd jobbers headed out the door.

    ¡°Who were they?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Bunch of odd jobbers looking for work. Good timing too, we¡¯re running low on our meat since Herb¡¯s apparently scared of a vampire that he should know damn well doesn¡¯t exist anymore.¡± Joe shook his head.

    ¡°Okay hold on, what¡¯s an odd jobber and who is Herb anyway?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°People that do odd jobs, random work you might need. Usually nice folk looking to help out and make some coin along the way. Herb¡¯s my meat supplier but he apparently hasn¡¯t gone hunting in a couple weeks because of that damn vampire.¡±

    ¡°Are they like¡­ licensed or just random people?¡±

    ¡°No they¡¯re not licensed, just people looking for whatever work they can. Normally they¡¯d go check out a job board but sometimes they wander around advertising themselves like that.¡±

    ¡°A job board?" Zoe asked, ¡±People post jobs they need done somewhere?¡°

    ¡°Yeah sure, most popular taverns put up a board and let people use it. Brings a lot of business but I never cared for it. I don¡¯t want my customers bothered by a bunch of people coming in and posting up jobs or arguing about pay. Some towns have whole buildings dedicated to managing jobs, though those are mostly in frontier towns, or newer towns with a lot of work to be done.¡± Joe said, walking back to the kitchen.

    ¡°Frontier towns?¡± Zoe followed him in.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got work to do Zoe, I can¡¯t just be your encyclopedia constantly.¡± Joe shooed her back to the front.

    ¡°Fine, fine. One more question though, do we have an odd jobber building in town? I¡¯d like to see if there¡¯s any jobs I might be able to do. Also, two questions I guess, why no rabbits?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. That might not be a bad idea for you. To my knowledge we don¡¯t, but you might wander around closer to the center of town and check out some taverns. And I don¡¯t do rabbits. Not enough meat on them and they¡¯re just too cute in the first place. But back to work with you now, people need their drinks and clean glassware.¡±

    ¡°Alright, thanks Joe!¡±

    Zoe had a plan now. Find some odd jobs, become a weird adventurer, pick strange berries for alchemists, poison herself horribly and get a bunch of resistances. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

 9. Auspicious Trinkets

    The following days passed as Zoe fell into a comfortable routine. Waking up in the morning, helping the patrons get their drinks and clean up any messes they happened to make. Rizick would occasionally pop out with Isla for most of the day, and Joe never seemed to mind.

    Zoe supposed they weren¡¯t really needed, anyway. Joe got by fine without them, they were probably more of a drain than anything.

    It was around midday when Zoe saw a familiar trio walk in to the tavern and wave to her.

    ¡°¡¯Ello, boss ¡®round ¡®ere?¡± The woman asked Zoe.

    ¡°Oh, yeah I¡¯ll go grab him for you just hold on.¡± Zoe responded, ducking into the kitchen to call for Joe.

    He came out a moment later, and the woman stuck out her hand as Joe took it and they shook.

    ¡°A pleasure,¡± the woman said before she walked out.

    Zoe watched in confusion, ¡°What was that?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Ah, they were just giving me the first load for the job. Took a bit longer than I thought but decent price so I can¡¯t be mad.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°But you just shook hands?¡±

    ¡°Yup, transferred from their storage to mine.¡± Joe nodded.

    ¡°You can do that? I really need to get me one.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed, ¡°Best of luck with that, maybe some of those odd jobs you find will pay well.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully! On that note, do you mind if I actually go maybe check some of them out today?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Look Zoe, at some point I think you¡¯ve got it stuck in your head that you¡¯re helping me out by being here. And don¡¯t get me wrong, I appreciate what you do, but look at the situation objectively for a moment. People barely talk to you and there¡¯s a bell out there they could ring if they need something anyway.

    ¡°Not to mention that I¡¯m feeding and sheltering you here too, which is all costing me money for what is effectively pointless labour. I don¡¯t want you to feel bad about that, I like you, and I¡¯m happy to help you get back on your feet. But don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m helping you, and take advantage of that. Go get a job, check out a library, find something to do with yourself here.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Oh.. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Zoe said, shrinking into herself.

    ¡°Get up, get out there and find something that makes you happy. If working here is what you want maybe we can figure something out long-term but I don¡¯t think it is or you would¡¯ve already taken a class for it that you doubtlessly have.¡±

    ¡°Right. Thanks Joe, I think I¡¯ll go wander around today then.¡± Zoe said, looking towards the front door.

    ¡°Have a nice day then, best of luck to you.¡± Joe turned back to the kitchen.

    Definitely just a drain then, Zoe felt a bit disappointed. She wanted to pay him back somehow.

    Zoe left the tavern and took a deep breath, the smells of the town smashing into her vampyric smell. Horse droppings that never truly get cleaned up off the road mixing in with the pleasant smells coming from a florist a short walk away.

    Super senses were fun, but they really made her appreciate modern cleanliness. Or maybe it was much the same but she just didn¡¯t have super senses back then.

    She walked, wandering back towards what she thought would be closer to the center of town. Near the large tree houses she sat near not long ago.

    The town fascinated her every time she walked through it. There was a definite wealth gap, some buildings looking much fancier, or rather fancy at all amongst the plain stone buildings that covered the land. But the people looked happy, nobody was homeless from what she could see.

    Though, she wondered if that was just because of nice people like Joe taking in her and Rizick, since technically they were homeless.

    As she walked, the buildings became more and more detailed, with bits of crystal and wood beginning to creep into the designs. The plain stone construction pushed aside for vibrant, lively buildings with character.

    The people travelling down the road looked wealthier, with occasional guards flanking as their horse¡¯s hooves clopped along. She kept wandering around, taking in the sights until she found something that looked like a tavern.

    There was a hologram, or maybe illusory magic of a large tankard floating outside the front door, with windows all along the front showing the packed inside. Somebody was playing music, a jaunty tune played on some kind of flute looking instrument, and the drums provided by the patrons stomping their feet.

    Zoe entered the building, her smell overwhelmed at the same moment with booze, roasting meats and what smelled like somebody having an awful time in the bathroom. She stepped back outside and the smell was cut off, leaving her with the regular horse droppings and sweat from the people on the road.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Zoe said in a hushed voice, wondering how that worked. She walked back inside, the smell blasting her nose once more.

    Towards the back of the building was a long bar stretching almost the whole length of the tavern. Behind it were two people, a tall blonde woman and a shorter man with a purple mohawk. They were both chatting with different people sitting on stools at the bar.

    Throughout the room were small round tables, with chairs surrounding most of them. Though it looked like many of the chairs were moved around to fit more people at some of the tables, since several of the tables only had one or two chairs at them and others had many more.

    On the wall to the right was a large board with papers posted up on it. Zoe walked up to it, thinking it was probably the job board.

    She looked through the papers, most of them were requests for mundane help. Somebody was planning a concert and wanted help with catering, moving some heavy decorations around, and security. Somebody else was having a big birthday bash and also wanted help with catering and moving some decorations around. There was a handful of jobs posted for restaurants and taverns that wanted help with processing meats and some prep work for the next few weeks.

    Zoe kept looking through the jobs, most of them being much of the same. Somebody had an event planned and wanted security, catering or muscle. Or somebody wanted help prepping a bunch of stuff they could store in their storage item for a while.

    She expected more of the go find a rare magical herb or take care of this big rhino that¡¯s harassing my farm. Not just a plea for somebody to open a catering business. Were there really no catering businesses in town?

    Finally, one stood out to Zoe. A local alchemist by the name of Liz wanted klir. A note provided Liz¡¯ address if anybody needed help identifying the herb.

    That was more like what she wanted, a classic adventure. She was going to grab the paper off the board before she paused.

    Zoe looked around for a moment, before she walked up to the bar. ¡°Excuse me,¡± she said to the blonde woman behind the bar.

    ¡°Hmm? Yes?¡± The woman said.

    ¡°I saw a job on the board I was interested in, but am I supposed to take the paper with me or leave it?¡± Zoe asked.

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    ¡°Ahhh. Blue you take, red you leave.¡± She responded.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what?¡± Zoe shook her head

    ¡°The pins? Blue pin you take, red pin you leave.¡± The woman pointed at the board.

    ¡°Ohhhhh, I didn¡¯t even notice that. Thanks!¡± Zoe said, turning back to the job board.

    She looked at it again and sure enough, some of the jobs were pinned up with red pins and others with blue. Liz¡¯s klir job had a red pin, so Zoe left it behind and went back out onto the street.

    The job was for one Liz at Festering Feelings at Mystic Lane, which was good to know. But she didn¡¯t know where that was.

    Zoe looked around for a street sign but saw nothing, she racked her memory for every time she walked down the streets, trying to remember if she ever saw one but nothing popped out to her.

    ¡°Excuse me,¡± Zoe asked the closest person she saw. A darker skinned man with short gelled back hair wearing a green suit. ¡°Do you happen to know what street we¡¯re on?¡±

    The man looked at her, his eyes wandering above her head for a moment with a look of mild surprise. ¡°Do you not have Identify?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I do, but why?¡± Zoe said, remembering to identify the man.

    [Worker - ??]

    ¡°Identify the road then.¡± He said, shaking his head and carrying on down the street.

    The road was a ¡®mana structure¡¯? She found that surprising, but focused on the road with her identify skill anyway.

    [Norlon Road]

    So she was on Norlon, which was where she was. And was of course exactly as far from Mystic Lane as it was from Mystic lane, which was somewhere. She realized knowing the street names didn¡¯t really help if she didn¡¯t have a map anyway.

    Or she could wander around to one of the more magical districts she knew of and hope for the best.

    And so Zoe continued on towards where she saw the most magical of buildings on her last adventure through town. It took a while as she meandered around, trying to find anything she might recognize to get her bearings, but she managed to identify many of the roads and build a rudimentary map in her head.

    She thought for a bit about whether she should get a notebook and wander around someday. Or maybe city hall would have them? Not that she knew where city hall would be in the first place, though.;

    Finally she found herself in the same area of floating crystal buildings and wondrous magics. She identified the road.

    [Magic Avenue]

    Zoe gave up and decided to just ask somebody for help.

    She walked into the nearest building, a floating wooden log cabin made of what looked like normal logs that were transmuted to solid gold.

    The inside was just as gaudy, shelves of solid gold showing off their wares, most of which was also trinkets of gold. There was a person standing behind a counter, dressed in a gold suit that barely moved as they walked around.

    ¡°Hello, do you know where Mystic Lane is by any chance?" She asked the person.

    They looked at her and scoffed. ¡°Mystic lane? What do you need from those people? Whatever they can do we can do better. Take a look around, it¡¯s all worth its weight in gold!¡±

    ¡°Uhuh, well I¡¯ve got to talk to somebody about an odd job they posted, and I¡¯m just not sure where Mystic Lane is. Your shop does look very lovely though!¡± She said.

    They scoffed again, ¡°Of course they¡¯d need menial labour from odd jobbers, pathetic sort. Well if you must help them make ends meet you can find them a few streets away,¡± they pointed to the back of their store, ¡°but remember to come back and spend their wealth on our auspicious trinkets!¡±

    ¡°Definitely, thanks for the help,¡± Zoe said, backing away from the counter to leave.

    ¡°Anytime lady, just keep us in mind next time you need any knick knacks! Everything¡¯s worth its weight in gold!¡±

    Zoe turned and left, walking down the floating gold steps to the street again. She went down an alley beside and slightly under the gold building towards another road, and continued her way through until she arrived at Mystic Lane.

    It was just as magical as Magic Avenue was, massive crystal buildings, magics wisping around and buildings floating in the air.

    She wandered down the street, looking for names of buildings for a few minutes before she realized her mistake and started identifying the buildings.

    Festering Feelings was a small crystal building resting on the ground, large enough for a counter and a handful of shelves, Zoe thought. Entering the building, she found she was right.

    A man sat behind the counter. Short, with messy, curled hair. Bits of ash and what looked like rust covering his head. He was hunched over some papers, writing with a red feather. He looked up when Zoe entered, ¡°Whatcha need?"

    ¡°I saw you needed Klir?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure do, plenty of it. How much you got?¡± He pointed the feather at her.

    ¡°Oh I don¡¯t have any now, I just need to know how to identify it properly?¡±

    ¡°Right right, well it¡¯s a mana herb, you¡¯ve got Identify right?¡± He asked, looking back down at his papers.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°Good. It grows around trees to the north of town, and looks like,¡± the man trailed off, rummaging through some drawers under the counter.

    ¡°Ah yes here we go, this is Klir.¡± He held up a green leaf with a tinge of blue running through the center of it.

    Zoe identified it.

    [Klir]

    ¡°Okay, so north of town, rummage around trees for blueish leaves called Klir. Sounds easy enough.¡±

    ¡°Yup. Anything else you need?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Nope, that¡¯s all thanks!¡±

    ¡°Yup, I¡¯ll take at most twelve bags for now.¡±

    ¡°Okay! Thanks a bunch, see you soon then.¡± Zoe said and stepped out of the shop.

    She wasn¡¯t sure what a bag was. As big as a grocery bag? Luggage? Even bigger, maybe?

    Zoe looked to the sky, evening beginning to set as the shadows dragged on.

    There were still a few hours of sunlight left, and she didn¡¯t really need to sleep in the first place. So she decided to head to the north and at least find a bit of it. She could ask Joe for some help with storage the next day.

 10. Gardening

    Zoe turned to the north, or at least what she hoped was the north given the position of the sun, and strolled down the road with purpose. It took a about an hour at a brisk pace through the differing districts before she made it to the northern gate of town.

    She shivered in fear, staring at the open gate, at the vast wilderness just beyond it. The vampire was dead, she reminded herself. It¡¯s just a bunch of normal animals. She¡¯s gone hunting before, she¡¯s seen bears in the forests before.

    She took a deep breath, and stepped through the gate, waving to the guards stationed at either side. They nodded back.

    The anxiety she felt began to die down, the step through the gate ripping it apart. She was outside, and she was fine. The guards weren¡¯t stopping her, nobody seemed concerned. This was okay.

    Zoe walked down the well trodden road towards the forest in the distance. Her vampyric sense screaming at her with every footstep and track in the road. Humans, rabbits, and the occasional wolf walked through here with great regularity she noted.

    All things that are okay, she noted. Wolves maybe less so, but she¡¯d dealt with bears before and they were known to be much more aggressive than wolves. She was fine, she could handle this.

    When she reached the edge of the forest, she headed off the beaten path and trodded through the snow for a bit. The tracks from other humans continued on in here but much less so than the road, while various animals seemed to run through the forest. Wolves, birds, deer and an enormous number of rabbits.

    Some of the animals she saw as she walked through the snow. Birds sitting in the trees, groups of rabbits hopping from tree to tree, or poking their heads out of burrows beneath the snow. An odd deer hopping through the trees off in the distance.

    After a few minutes of walking she started rummaging around the base of trees for klir, and it didn¡¯t take long before she found some. Most of the trees she checked had a couple of small klir bushes growing around them, just about poking through the thigh high snow. The blue tinge in the leaf was much more vibrant than the one she saw previously, she imagined because it was still attached to the plant.

    She grabbed a handful and stuffed it in her pockets before heading back towards town. It might not be the best idea to pick them the day before just in case they lost some of their magic.

    She pulled out a crumpled leaf from her pocket and looked at it. Liz didn¡¯t say not to eat them, didn¡¯t say they were harmful or dangerous. The town wouldn¡¯t keep clusters of incredibly dangerous bushes right outside of town, probably.

    Zoe put one in her mouth and chewed on it, swallowing the bitter herb.

    *Ding* You have been poisoned. -2 health/s for 20 seconds. +1 mana/s for 20 seconds.

    Her heart raced for a moment as she did the math in her head.

    She smiled in relief. It wouldn¡¯t kill her, at least. There was something strange about the experience to her though. It didn¡¯t hurt, and there was no discomfort. She just saw her health ticking away.

    If it reached zero, she would die. And yet as it drained away, the very essence of her being according to whatever system governed this place, she felt nothing. Maybe when it got very low, she¡¯d feel something, but so far she wouldn¡¯t have even noticed it without the message. It was a scary thought for her.

    Health: 161/200

    One health recovered over the twenty seconds. Not so bad, if it kept up at that rate she¡¯d be back to full before she made it back to Joe¡¯s inn.

    When she made it back to the gate and entered town, she found herself relaxing. Her shoulders dropped, her fists relaxed, and her jaw felt a little sore. She hadn¡¯t noticed the tension until it was gone, but was relieved to be behind the walls in safety again.

    The journey back to Joe¡¯s inn was uneventful as she followed her path back. The sun was beginning to set, filling the city with a red tint that Zoe found herself enjoying. Most of the shops were closed, or being closed as shopkeepers left and locked the doors behind them.

    A few of the stores Zoe even noticed being lowered to the ground by shopkeepers, the magic that keeps them afloat not worth running overnight she guessed.

    By the time Zoe made it back to the inn, the sun had disappeared past the horizon and the moon was high in the sky. The tavern was empty, the sounds of distant snoring all that Zoe could hear inside.

    She glanced at her health as she entered.

    Health: 163/200

    A little worse than one health in twenty seconds, she realized. Zoe focused inwards on herself, trying to activate her Vampyric Regeneration skill, but there didn¡¯t seem to be anything she could touch on like her other skills.

    She scoffed, thinking back on the skill¡¯s description. Was this supposed to be her body restoring itself before their very eyes?

    The stairs creaked with each step she took, and she made her way to the room she shared with Rizick. He had left the door unlocked for her, or maybe just forgot to lock it, she thought.

    Although, she didn¡¯t really need to sleep anyway. It was nice to do, but she didn¡¯t feel like waking Rizick by getting into bed. Instead, she grabbed her Frost book and sat in the chair to read. Rizick stirred in the bed but didn¡¯t seem to wake up.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± Rizick said a few hours later, breaking Zoe out of her book reading trance.

    ¡°Oh, morning Rizick.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t sleep?¡± Rizick asked, stepping out of bed and stretching.

    ¡°No, I got a bit distracted.¡±

    ¡°Well feel free to get some rest now if you want, I¡¯m off to see Isla today.¡± He said, throwing on his coat.

    ¡°You two have really hit it off, eh?¡± Zoe asked, looking up from her book.

    ¡°Mhm. She¡¯s offered to bring me along when she leaves in a few days, actually.¡±

    ¡°Oh wow, you think you¡¯re going to go?¡±

    ¡°Most definitely yes! She¡¯s really lovely and besides, I can¡¯t leech off Joe forever. It¡¯ll be nice to get back out there. Anyways, see you around. Get some sleep.¡± Rizick said.

    ¡°Yeah, see you around Rizick,¡± Zoe said as he closed the door.

    Zoe sat for a while longer, reading through her book. There was nothing new, but it felt good to refresh her memory on the important bits. She got up and went downstairs, wanting to see if Joe maybe had a bag she could borrow to fill with Klir.

    The tavern was full, people sitting and chatting at the tables. Isla and Rizick were nearby talking about their plans for where to go next. A town called Rane kept coming up, but Zoe tried not to listen in too much.

    Instead she made her way to the kitchen to see Joe stood over the stoves preparing another stew, with bread baking in the oven and eggs sizzling away in pans.

    ¡°

    Health: 193

    ¡°Man that regenerates really slowly. Anyway, I need something to carry them and was wondering if you had like a bag or something I could use?¡±

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    Joe stared at her for a moment. ¡°Poisonous? Did you eat some random leaf and nearly kill yourself?¡±

    ¡°Well yes and no? I ate a random leaf but I¡¯m totally fine. Almost back up to full now! Do you know how fast health regenerates, actually?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°It should be one percent every hour without any help. Look just don¡¯t eat random stuff in the future, okay?" Joe shook his head and waved a spatula at her.

    ¡°I figured if it was super dangerous there would¡¯ve been a warning, and besides it was totally fine. I¡¯m fine.¡±

    ¡°There was a warning, you ignored it. I¡¯m assuming you took a job for some alchemist?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, for Liz from the Festering Feelings. Needs some Klir.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your damn warning, girl. It¡¯s for an alchemist.¡±

    ¡°Okay that actually makes sense. But it worked out well in the end. About that bag, though, you happen to have anything I could use?¡±

    Joe sighed, and summoned a large bag, handing it to her. ¡°Here you go, this is a standard bag, fill it up and take it to this Liz. And don¡¯t eat anymore strange plants.¡±

    ¡°

    Once more she snaked her way through town to the northern gate and out to the trees where she found the abundance of Klir at the previous night. She took a moment to get a better look at the bag she was given. It was quite large, reminiscent of packing groceries into her car¡¯s trunk.

    ¡°Could easily fit a body in this bad boy!¡± She smacked the side of it, giggling.

    She spent the next few hours wandering from tree to tree, ripping leaves from the bushes and filling her bag. She finished filling it just before noon and started back towards town, dragging the large bag through the knee high snow.

    It took her another forty minutes before she saw the gate, surprised she wandered so far in her foraging.

    She lugged her heavy bag of leaves through the town back to Mystic Lane and walked into Liz¡¯s Festering Feelings. He was still sat behind the counter, scribbling away on the papers, and looked up when she entered.

    ¡°No storage item, huh?¡± He said with a sigh. ¡°Well, if the bag¡¯s full I¡¯ll give you a copper square for it.¡±

    Zoe thought for a moment, ¡°A square and a circle.¡±

    The man stared at her, ¡°A square or get out. You saw the offer on the board.¡±

    ¡°Right, okay. Where do you want it?¡± She asked, dropping the bag on the floor.

    ¡°Just leave it there,¡± he said, holding out a copper square.

    ¡°I kinda need the bag back actually.¡± Zoe said with a sheepish smile.

    The man shook his head and stood up, walking over to the bag and shoving his hand in. The klir vanished, and he threw the copper square at her before he sat back down at the counter.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Zoe said. ¡°I might be back tomorrow with more if that¡¯s okay?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, I¡¯ll buy twelve bags. Eleven now.¡±

    ¡°Right, yeah. Actually, crazy suggestion but if you happen to have a storage item I can borrow I could get you a lot more.¡±

    The man looked at her, then above her head, then back at her.

    ¡°How much health and vitality do you have and what is your poison damage reduction?¡±

    ¡°Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°If you want to borrow a storage item I¡¯ll need some assurance you¡¯ll bring it back.¡± He said, reaching into his counter and pulling out some more papers.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got 200 health and 20 vitality, I guess? And I don¡¯t have any resistance to poison, I don¡¯t think.¡±

    ¡°Good, now I need you to sign here then.¡± He pointed to a line on a sheet of paper he pushed over to her, placing the red feather next to it.

    Zoe read through the brief contract. It just said that she¡¯s telling the truth about her stats and that she would be punished if she were lying. She signed it, and felt a familiar surge of mana rush out of her into the contract as she finished.

    Mana: 450/500

    ¡°Alright, now sign here as well please.¡± He handed her another sheet of paper, and Zoe read through it.

    This one said that Liz was not to be held responsible for her death and that she consented to taking a potion he gave her. It also mentioned that Liz would provide care if she returned the item.

    ¡°What potion is this talking about?¡± She asked.

    Liz pulled up a vial of purple liquid. ¡°This one. It¡¯s very weak but it should kill you in a few weeks if you don¡¯t take the antidote, which is,¡± he pulled out another vial, ¡°this one here.¡±

    ¡°So I take your poison, and then I either bring back your storage item or die?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yup.¡± He responded, putting the antidote away.

    ¡°Kind of brutal don¡¯t you think?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s your choice.¡±

    Zoe took a breath and then signed the paper, feeling more mana surge out of her as she did.

    Mana: 403/500

    ¡°Here¡¯s your poison. You can still choose not to take it of course, but I¡¯m not giving you the storage item without some assurance.¡± He said, dropping some green dust in the purple vial then pushing it towards her.

    ¡°What was that dust?¡± She asked, feeling her hands sweat.

    ¡°Just gives it some more potency. These are calibrated for 10 vitality normally and gets adjusted with the dust.¡±

    ¡°I see. Okay. So I just drink this vial of death and horror then?"

    ¡°Sure.¡± He nodded his head.

    Health: 200/200

    Zoe picked up the vial, tilted her head back and downed the liquid. It tasted of cherries and potatoes.

    *Ding* You have been poisoned. -2.5 health/hr for 400 hours.

    ¡°Should be two and a half health every hour, yes?¡± He asked, reaching down under his counter for something.

    ¡°Yeah, and you¡¯re sure that your antidote will work?¡± Zoe asked, rubbing her hands together.

    ¡°Guaranteed. I¡¯ve got standard healing potions on hand as well in a worst case scenario but it won¡¯t come to that.¡± He said, holding out a small pouch. ¡°Here¡¯s your storage item, it holds four bags so two silver per.¡±

    Zoe grabbed it, finding herself surprised at how heavy the small leather pouch was. ¡°Okay, how long are you open for?"

    ¡°Till sundown.¡± He said, returning to scribbling on various papers.

 11. Lemons

    Mid afternoon, so she had a few more hours left. She wondered if there were any clocks in this world. Maybe a watch? Could her system menu tell her the time?

    She turned her focus inwards, trying to force a clock to appear in her vision, but nothing happened. She shrugged, it wasn¡¯t that important anyway. The sun was always there, she hoped.

    The walk back to the gate and out to the forest was beginning to feel familiar, and she found some small comfort knowing she had more places she didn¡¯t feel lost in. She strode with confidence and excitement, eager to gather more of this plant without having to lug a heavy bag through the snow.

    Well she was still carrying the bag around since she had to return it to Joe, but she wasn¡¯t going to fill it. Probably. Maybe she could leave it hidden under the snow somewhere and bring back five bags by tonight, she thought.

    When she got back to the forest she took a left instead, wanting to avoid where she had previously been gathering.

    After a few minutes, she started rummaging around the trees looking for plants and it didn¡¯t take long before she found the familiar blue tinged leaves. She plucked a few from the bushes, put them in the bag and they disappeared as soon as she let them go.

    She reached in and rummaged around in the bag, feeling nothing but the soft leather that it was made of. She tried grabbing at the air in the bag but to perhaps nobody¡¯s surprise, all she grabbed was air.

    ¡°The hell?" She whispered.

    She tried reaching in and grabbing something again, but this time thought about the klir leaves that she put in before and they appeared in her hand. The bag was reading her mind. That was fun, and not at all terrifying to her.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Poison resistance.

    She was surprised it came so easily, maybe the Klir was a stupid move but it didn¡¯t hurt and didn¡¯t feel that dangerous. Zoe thought back to her experience with John and contrasted it with this one. Although her mental resistance jumped quite high, maybe resistances wouldn¡¯t be that bad if she took her time?

    The next few hours were spent in a comfortable routine of plowing through snow from tree to tree, ripping leaves off of bushes and stuffing them into her magical bag. This time she tried to wander in a spiral pattern and stay closer to the entrance to town.

    She noticed the bag getting heavier as the hours passed and the bag filled up. By the time the bag stopped taking any more leaves it felt as though she were carrying around a bowling ball made of lead.

    The day was dragging on and she didn¡¯t think she¡¯d have time to fill the fifth bag. Not that she felt like carrying around two heavy bags through town, anyway.

    Health: 200/200

    She smiled, thinking she should try and get some of the poison from Liz when she was done. It was good for resistance training and she could out regenerate the damage so there was almost no risk. It was probably cheap too, if he was giving it to her for collateral. Or maybe that¡¯s just how much he¡¯s making off all this klir.

    The walk back to the gate took just over 40 minutes thanks to her better planning. She nodded to the guards and walked back to Liz¡¯s shop at a brisk pace, hoping to make it before sundown.

    When she entered, Liz was standing up and putting the papers away. Preparing to close for the day, she thought.

    ¡°I got you a full load. Two silver right?¡± Zoe said, plunking the heavy bag down on the counter with a dull thud.

    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± the man said, pulling out two silver and handing them to her. ¡°Will you be needing the antidote now then?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking I would gather some more tomorrow for you if you still need more?¡± Zoe asked, reaching for the bag.

    ¡°Yes, another seven bags still.¡± He said, running his hands through his hair.

    ¡°Right about that, so I know I¡¯m the one who messed up the numbers but I don¡¯t really want to gather three bags. If you¡¯re up for buying eight I could do eight tomorrow. If not I¡¯ll just do four tomorrow and give you the bag back.¡± She asked.

    The man sighed, leaning his head back for a moment. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s fine. Eight bags tomorrow. Assuming nobody else takes the job.¡±

    ¡°Great, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow then,¡± Zoe said, grabbing the bag and rushing out the door. On her way back, she stuffed the large bag she got from Joe into the smaller bag she was renting from Liz. Something about that felt off to her, but a part of her enjoyed it.

    The inn was busy as Zoe arrived, patrons sitting at the tables chattering and drinking. Rizick standing by the bar talking with Isla and serving people drinks. Joe was in the kitchen cooking something that smelled fresh and vibrant with a hint of sourness.

    She rushed into the kitchen and saw Joe mixing up a big bowl of leafy greens with some kind of dressing, portioning it out onto plates that vanished into whatever storage item he was using. Next to the bowl was a pile of lemons, the smell wafting to her and overwhelming everything else for her in the moment.

    ¡°Are those lemons, Joe?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Are what what?¡± Joe asked, confounded.

    ¡°Those yellow fruits, are they lemons? No, they¡¯re definitely lemons. There¡¯s lemons!¡± Zoe shouted.

    ¡°Calm down, what¡¯s a lemon?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°This!¡± She said, grabbing one of the yellow fruits. ¡°This is a lemon, Joe. It¡¯s a lemon!¡±

    Joe grabbed the fruit from her hand, ¡°This.¡± He said. ¡°This is ifosa. I have no idea what a lemon is.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter Joe, ifosa, lemon, whatever. A lemon by any other name tastes as sweet or whatever. Can I have one? Please?¡± Zoe pleaded.

    ¡°Sure, I have no idea why you want one so badly, but sure. You can have one.¡± He said, tossing the ifosa he was holding to her.

    Zoe caught it and ripped it open, the sticky juices dripping down her hands and the sweet, sour smell flooding her nostrils. She bit into the fleshy interior, feeling her face pucker as she did.

    Joe was right, she found. It was no lemon, but it was close enough. It tasted almost the same as a lemon but with more bitterness than she remembered. Or maybe that¡¯s just what a lemon tastes like before all of the selective breeding.

    She devoured the lemon like a beast feasting on its first meal in weeks, and tossed the rind in the bin.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Ah that was so good. I haven¡¯t had a lemon in so long.¡±

    Joe was staring at her, shaking his head. ¡°You are by far the strangest person I have ever met.¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t get it, Joe. It¡¯s been months.¡± She said, washing her hands in the sink. ¡°Even before I¡­ came here, I hadn¡¯t had a lemon in weeks. I missed that. Do you happen to have any bananas too? Nah, they¡¯d probably be called something else like hoosie or something anyway. Thanks Joe.¡± She said.

    ¡°Never heard of banana or hoosie either sorry.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll describe some fruits someday and see if you know the names, but anyway I got paid today Joe.¡± She pulled out her two silver, handing it to Joe.

    ¡°No no, it¡¯s fine. I-¡± Joe started.

    ¡°I want to be independent, Joe. Please take it. I appreciate everything you¡¯ve done for me and I want to pay it back. It¡¯s not much, I know. But I want to pay for my own room here now. I should have another four coming tomorrow and might find another job too at some point.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m glad I was able to help you out then. Should be able to find plenty of odd jobs as people are preparing for winter. Keep an eye out for them.¡± He said, taking the two silver and pocketing them.

    ¡°Wait, it¡¯s not winter right now?" She asked, startled.

    ¡°No? Winter starts next week.¡± Joe said, sounding a little confused.

    ¡°I thought it was winter, with all the snow outside.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed, ¡°Wherever you come from must be much warmer. No, there¡¯s almost always snow on the ground up here aside from a couple months in the summer.¡±

    ¡°Huh.. That¡¯s certainly interesting,¡± Zoe said. ¡°How cold does it usually get in the winters?¡±

    ¡°Oh not much colder than it is now. The real danger is the snow keeps piling up until it melts in the summer.¡±

    ¡°Right, that makes sense. Anyway I¡¯ll get out of your hair, thanks again for all the help Joe. Oh, actually where do you want me to leave your bag?¡± She asked, pulling the large bag from the storage bag she¡¯d been holding on to.

    Joe raised his eyebrows, ¡°Now where¡¯d you get that from, girly?"

    ¡°Oh, uh, I convinced Liz to lend it to me to help with gathering klir?¡± She said.

    ¡°For free?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Well, kind of? He poisoned me and said I¡¯ll get the antidote when I give it back. He made it custom for my health so it¡¯s only two and a half health every hour. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°The danger isn¡¯t the poison killing you, it¡¯s something else doing it when your health is lowered, Zoe. You shouldn¡¯t do that.¡± He said, cutting another lemon to squeeze into his big bowl of salad.

    ¡°Technically I¡¯m out regenerating the damage its doing so it¡¯s kind of just free poison resistance levels actually?"

    Joe squinted at her, his eyes jumping to above her head before down at her hands. ¡°Did you lie on a contract?¡±

    ¡°No, I only told the truth.¡±

    ¡°And yet the potion wasn¡¯t calibrated properly for you.¡± He put his salad utensils down and turned to face her.

    ¡°Is that bad?¡± She asked.

    ¡°It means you¡¯re level eight with some form of self healing. That shouldn¡¯t be possible for a human, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I see.¡± She said with a sheepish smile.

    Joe sighed, ¡°I trust you Zoe, but if you¡¯re going to stay here any longer then I need you to trust me too. What are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Joe. I really am human, I promise. I think. It¡¯s complicated. I¡­¡± Zoe stuttered, tears welling in her eyes.

    Joe put his hand on her shoulder, ¡°Go sleep tonight and think about it. I trust you, Zoe. But I need that reciprocated. You have a job now, I can¡¯t be putting my business at potential risk just for fun, Zoe.¡±

    Zoe walked up to her room in silence.

    Joe had a point. She wanted to be independent, and leeching lemons off of him for free without even explaining who she was or where she came from was a little messed up. But did that mean she could trust him with everything?

    He was nice, and if it weren¡¯t for him Zoe probably would¡¯ve ended up dead in a ditch somewhere. Or maybe some other nice person would have helped her, but that didn¡¯t matter because they didn¡¯t and he did. So could she trust him?

    Would anything bad even come from it? She wasn¡¯t sure. John came from another world and he was doing fine. But could he even be arrested? He had green question marks, same as Joe. Did that mean Joe and John were equally matched? Something about that felt very wrong to her, but she wasn¡¯t sure why it was.

    That wasn¡¯t important. She needed to trust Joe. If nothing else because if she couldn¡¯t trust Joe, it meant she had nobody she could trust. And that would just be sad and lonely.

    She spent the rest of the night sitting in the chair, going back and forth on whether or not she should trust Joe with her story. She never saw Rizick come in, and was willing to put money on him being with Isla.

    She stood up, taking a deep breath, preparing herself for what was to come, and headed downstairs.

    The dining area was empty with it still being quite early in the morning. The familiar sounds of pots and pans clanging on the stove was echoing from the kitchen, and Zoe made her way in.

    ¡°Morning Joe.¡±

    ¡°Morning Zoe,¡± he said, not looking away from the horde of cookware he had in front of him.

    ¡°So,¡± Zoe began.

    Joe interrupted her, ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry. I pressured you too much last night. You don¡¯t have to share if you don¡¯t want. You just look so different, and behave so different, and when you practically screamed that you weren¡¯t human last night I got very defensive. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°No, actually you were right. I¡¯ve been hiding it from you and taking advantage of you for a long time and it¡¯s kind of messed up. I¡¯m not comfortable sharing everything but I want you to know more at least.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Joe said, continuing to cook. ¡°I¡¯ve still gotta prepare for morning service though, sorry.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not sure how I got here but something strange happened and I showed up in the forest a day or two before I showed up at your inn. And I got attacked by that vampire that was roaming around recently.¡± She said.

    Joe paused for a moment before he continued cooking, ¡°You¡¯re a vampire? How¡¯d you get through the gates?"

    ¡°No no, I¡¯m not a vampire. Something broke and I just kind of got a few of the benefits of being a vampire. Some extra stats and skills, but I didn¡¯t get the curse or class. Technically I¡¯m immortal? Or at least I don¡¯t age, I think I can still die if somebody stabs me.¡±

    ¡°Aha, that explains why you¡¯re so reluctant to take that first class. You¡¯ve got all the time in the world to find the right one.¡± He said, chuckling.

    ¡°Right, I figure I may as well take advantage of it. I¡¯m sorry I hid it from you Joe, I was scared and didn¡¯t know what to do.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. I get it. I mean I don¡¯t, I¡¯ve never been attacked by a vampire immediately after I was teleported to somewhere completely unknown. But I can see why you would hesitate to share it. You can stick around, especially now that you¡¯re paying for your own room, girly.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Joe. Speaking of, I¡¯ve got to go get eight bags of this klir stuff for Liz by sundown today.¡± She said, turning to leave with a smile on her face.

    ¡°Good luck and stay safe out there. I hear there¡¯s a vampire around.¡± Joe said, chuckling.

 12. Drycleaning

    That went well, Zoe thought. She wondered if she should tell Rizick as well, but decided against it. She liked Rizick but he had his own thing and was leaving soon anyway. She did wonder if it was even necessary to keep it a secret at all again, though. Would anybody be upset? Joe didn¡¯t seem to mind at all, would other people?

    She made her way to the northern gate and left the town, following the trail through the snow to where she gathered her first bag of klir. She wandered in a circle, gathering klir as she went and staying a little closer to the road than the first time.

    The next few hours were spent in quiet contemplation, gathering the magical leaves and stuffing them in her bag.

    Winter was next week. She thought about whether she should get the winter¡¯s master feat. It seemed easy enough if she could just stay in town on the streets. With her new vampyric body, sleep wasn¡¯t necessary anyway so she could just wander around. Maybe find a cave to call home for the winter and work on some resistances.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Gathering skill.

    As soon as the notification popped up, she felt the process become a little easier. Each leaf being a little bit more visible, the stems holding them on a little easier to snap. It was nothing groundbreaking, but she enjoyed the feeling of improvement for a while.

    She filled her bag and trudged through the snow back to town. As she strolled down the road to Liz¡¯s Festering Feelings she looked around at the people, looking for homeless people again. She figured if there were homeless people, she might be able to join them for a few months and get the winter¡¯s master feat. She wondered how many homeless people already had plenty of feats just for living a harder life.

    All she saw, though, were some people walking down alleyways and roads, people that looked poorer but the roads she saw were all clean. There weren¡¯t tents sent up on the outskirts, bedrolls and foodstuffs cluttering the alleyways.

    She made a note to ask Joe about it later. Maybe she was just in wealthier areas, but the only homeless people she¡¯d ever seen were herself and Rizick. Zoe walked up to Liz¡¯s shop and opened the door.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯ve got the first four bags.¡± She said, walking up to the counter and dropping the heavy bag on it.

    ¡°Ah yes, you,¡± Liz said, reaching in his pockets for a couple silver coins and handing them to her.

    Zoe took them, and watched as he gripped the bag with his hand for a moment then pushed it over to her.

    ¡°One more load and the offers done now, remember.¡± He said, scribbling on his papers.

    ¡°Yup! Thank you very much." Zoe said with a cheerful grin, grabbing the bag and leaving his store.

    The process repeated itself as Zoe left town and gathered some more klir, thinking to herself about the winter¡¯s master feat again.

    It would be better to wait until next year. Get some money and supplies to make it easier. But if anything happened, she could just go back in town anyway. It¡¯s not as though getting the feat would force her to stay outside, she would just be disqualified. There wasn¡¯t much risk to trying, she thought.

    Just go outside for a few months, get a cool feat and find a new class. And if it didn¡¯t work out, she could try again next year. She still had that book on local geography she hadn¡¯t looked through much. Maybe she could find a small cave on it, some rivers. She could wait until next year but why would she? Being immortal didn¡¯t mean she had to waste time, it was still worth a shot she decided, stuffing the last of the klir in her bag and heading back to Liz¡¯s shop as the evening dragged on.

    She opened the familiar door and dropped the bag on Liz¡¯s desk.

    ¡°Last one!¡± She said, holding her hand out.

    Liz sighed and placed two silver coins in her hand. ¡°Here you go, thanks for your efforts.¡±

    He reached under the desk and brought out a vial of liquid, handing it to her. ¡°Here¡¯s the antidote. Should work fine but let me know if there are any problems.¡±

    Zoe nodded and drank the vial of yellow liquid. It was thick and viscous, clinging to her mouth and throat as she swallowed. It tasted bitter, and the taste lingered long after she finished.

    *Ding* You have been cured of poison.

    ¡°Uh, says my poison was cured so think I¡¯m all good now. Actually, do you sell that poison?¡± She asked.

    The man looked up from his papers at her for a moment. ¡°For what purpose? Poison sales are heavily regulated.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s no problem. I just thought it was a convenient way to train my poison resistance is all.¡± She answered.

    ¡°No, I will not poison you for your pleasure. Should you take another job and borrow something of mine we may make a deal for collateral again.¡± He returned to rummaging through his papers.

    ¡°Do you have any other jobs I could do?¡± She asked.

    Liz looked above her head for a moment, ¡°Not for you, no. Come back in a week and I¡¯ll probably be needing some more klir.¡±

    ¡°Gotcha. Okay, thanks then.¡± Zoe said, and turned to leave.

    ¡°Pleasure doing business with you.¡± Liz said, as Zoe opened the door and left.

    Zoe fidgeted with the four silver coins she had earned, feeling the metal scratching and enjoying the sound of the quiet clanking from her pockets.

    She had another hour of sunlight before the sun would set and decided she¡¯d spend the night at Joe¡¯s inn planning her day out.

    If she wanted to survive for the winter, she needed some supplies. A bedroll was probably okay, the book would have mentioned that. Something to start fires with for the time she did spend outside of the city. Maybe a knife, a bow and some arrows to go hunting.

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    There was probably an archery skill she could get, maybe a hunting skill too. She wondered if she should spend more time out of the city training her skills. If anything happened she could always just come back to the city after all.

    She found herself at Joe¡¯s inn sooner than she expected, finding a near empty dining area and the fresh scent of Joe¡¯s cleaning spells in the kitchen. She looked around at the patrons, a few people sat at a table talking, and a couple others sat alone at tables.

    The group was talking about a dungeon nearby, something she had often heard people talking about. They planned to tackle the dungeon in a few days, now that they could afford enough potions to feel comfortable about it.

    Zoe let them be. A dungeon excited her, but it was out of her reach, and would continue to be for a long time, she thought. One day though, maybe.

    Joe came out of the kitchen, his clothes looking as though they had just been picked up from the dry cleaner ¡ª a nice benefit to being an innkeeper, she thought.

    ¡°Oh, hey Zoe. You got your klir job done?¡± He asked, grabbing a mug and filing it with some water.

    ¡°Mhm. Four silver for the day.¡± Zoe responded, showing him the silver.

    ¡°Decent pay for a day¡¯s work.¡± He said, sitting down on a barstool.

    ¡°Yeah, it was a nice job. I¡¯m thinking I¡¯ll try to find something similar maybe tomorrow. Actually, I had a question for you Joe.¡±

    ¡°Oh? The girly¡¯s got a question does she now? What a shocking surprise.¡± He laughed.

    ¡°Very funny. Are there homeless people in Flester?¡± She asked, sitting at a barstool next to him.

    ¡°Oh sure there are, but they end up being arrested pretty quickly.¡±

    ¡°Arrested? Really?¡±

    ¡°Yup. Usually taken to jail, given some job to do. Nothing special though, but gets them out of the cold and keeps them fed.¡± He leaned on the bar.

    ¡°Ah. There¡¯s this winter¡¯s master feat from surviving a winter without shelter that I¡¯m thinking about trying to get.¡±

    ¡°And you were thinking about living on the streets to get it?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yeah. I mean I¡¯d like to stay within the walls at least, I think. I¡¯m not sure, really. I might be able to get a lot more done if I find somewhere to stay outside and tackle a few things at once. But I¡¯d like the option anyway. Guess not, though.¡± She said.

    ¡°Not really. People don¡¯t live for very long on the streets in this cold. Giving them shelter and a job helps keep the town running and makes less work for everybody.¡± Joe sipped from his glass.

    ¡°On a similar note, do you know how much weapons cost? I¡¯m thinking if I¡¯m going to survive in the wild I should at least have a bow and a knife or something.¡± Zoe got up to grab herself some water.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t deal in weapons but I don¡¯t think simple weapons are too much. Should be able to afford that with another days work at this rate.¡± He responded.

    Zoe grabbed a mug of her own and filled it with water. ¡°Anything else you think I might want if I¡¯m out in the wilds? I¡¯m thinking a bedroll and some kind of fire starter maybe.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯d suggest a tent, normally. But that might count as shelter?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I think so, the book said a lean-to does anyway. Tent probably does too.¡±

    ¡°If you can afford some armour, it might be a good idea. Just some leather wrappings helps keep the scratches from the odd dog or boar away. Maybe some potions if you can land a very fruitful job but they¡¯re usually at least a gold coin each.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna check out a few job boards tomorrow if I can find some, hopefully there¡¯s something good available.¡± Zoe said, drinking from her mug.

    ¡°Best of luck to you Zoe. I¡¯m going to turn in for the night though.¡± He groaned as he stood from the stool. ¡°See you when I see you and stay safe out there.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Joe, you too.¡± She said, grabbing a chair at a table and sitting down.

    Potions were a good idea. Zoe kept forgetting that magic was just a normal thing here, her identify and empathy begging for more use. Habits were never a thing Zoe was good at building though, and getting used to all of the new tools she had was proving to be difficult.

    She wondered whether there were magical weapons. Would there be a magic bow she could get? It would probably be too expensive, anyway. For a moment she thought of waiting a year again but pushed the thought aside. It was fine, the worst she¡¯d seen was wolf tracks and they don¡¯t really attack humans. If something happened she could just come back and try again next year, waiting didn¡¯t really make sense.

    She leaned back in her chair, pressing her leg into the table legs to balance herself. Maybe she already had a great class and wouldn¡¯t even need to worry about all this work anyway. She focused inwards and brought up her class choices.

    A couple new ones popped up.

    [Jack] A versatile worker, ready to tackle the odd jobs people might have to offer. Gain increased experience while working a new job and learn new skills quicker.

    Requirements: All stats at 20 or higher, five or more general skills, has been contracted for temporary work and learned a new skill from it.

    [Gatherer] A master of foraging for natural resources. Find plants hidden beneath the earth easier and gain an intuition for safe harvesting methods.

    Requirements: Has the [Gathering] skilll

    Notes: The [Gathering] skill will be removed and merged with the class.

    Jack seemed interesting to her, learning new skills quicker seemed like a really nice benefit. Gatherer wasn¡¯t even worth mentioning, Zoe had no intention of spending the rest of eternity picking leaves off bushes. Even if they were really cool leaves.

    Zoe leaned on the table, resting her head in her elbow, trying to get her plan together.

    First off, she needed more money. She needed weapons and some camping supplies. But there was no rush on it either. Even if homeless were arrested here, she didn¡¯t have to sleep. She could just stay awake and walk around town, probably. Step one was getting money, she could worry about supplies sometime later.

    Actually, scratch that, she thought. Step one would be enjoying the comforts of a proper bed before she spent months without one.

    She woke in the morning as the sun crept in through the wooden shutters, illuminating her room. She relished the feeling of waking from a decent bed, knowing she wouldn¡¯t have it again for months to come. Winter wasn¡¯t supposed to start for another few days but she wasn¡¯t sure how the system measured it and didn¡¯t want to take the risk of being off by a day.

    Her plan for the day was clear in her mind. Find as many job boards as she could and see what was available to her. She wanted something that paid well, didn¡¯t have too much risk associated with it, and if possible had the potential for her to get another new skill.

 13. Bumbleboop

    Zoe went downstairs and found Joe preparing his morning meals. The pots and pans set up just the way he liked, with piles of plates sitting on the counter next to him. Eggs cracking onto the stove and sizzling away, the smell of oil wafting to her nose.

    ¡°Good morning Joe.¡± She said.

    ¡°Morning, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking today I¡¯ll start working on winter¡¯s master, just to make sure I¡¯m not a day or two off of when winter really starts.¡±

    ¡°You should still have three days, you know. Can stick around in a comfortable bed a while longer, get things worked out.¡±

    ¡°Mm, yeah. But what if the system tracks it differently or something and it starts today or tomorrow this year for some reason?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe snorted, ¡°I¡¯d be surprised.¡±

    ¡°Well it doesn¡¯t hurt anyway, what¡¯s another couple of days if I¡¯ve gotta last a few months anyway. Should be fun exploring the city a bit for once too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well I won¡¯t stop you.¡± He said, looking at her bundle of belongings loosely wrapped in her clothes. ¡°Do you want a bag for your stuff?¡± He asked.

    ¡°That would be nice, actually.¡± She said.

    Joe finished up the dishes he was working on as Zoe watched, and then reached into a cupboard to grab a small bag that he handed to her.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a storage item but it should hold your stuff. You could have the big one if you want too but it¡¯s a bit more unwieldy.¡± He said.

    ¡°Thanks, Joe.¡± Zoe took the bag and stuffed everything she had in it. With the books resting on top, it all fit with even a little bit of room to spare.

    ¡°Yeah, stay safe out there Zoe. You¡¯re always welcome back here if you need somewhere to stay.¡± He continued cooking over the stove, sweat beginning to bead down his brow from the heat.

    ¡°I really appreciate what you¡¯ve done, Joe. I¡¯ll definitely be back every now and then to say hi. Apparently I can come inside for a bit but the book didn¡¯t specify how long, so I¡¯m going to avoid it too much.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Maybe we can go for a walk sometime then, I¡¯ll show you some places around town. I¡¯ve got some chores to do in a few days before winter starts if you¡¯re around.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I should be, thanks Joe.¡± Zoe answered, leaving the kitchen.

    She looked around for Rizick for a moment, but guessed he was either still with Isla or out on his own grand adventures. Zoe figured she could stop by later and say goodbyes, since he was leaving soon.

    Zoe stepped out of the inn, and something about it felt more final. A part of her recognizing the commitment she was making, the months ahead of her spent outdoors.

    She wandered through town towards a different area than the previous job board she found, hoping to build a rudimentary mental map of the town. It didn¡¯t take long before she found another tavern rife with activity. Raucous laughter and music resounding as the patrons drank and enjoyed themselves.

    She walked in and looked for a board with postings on it, which she found just off to the wall near the entrance. Many of the jobs were the same as the ones she saw at the last place. She wondered what happened if somebody from two places took the same job? And for that matter, how did Liz mark that he didn¡¯t need the job anymore after she finished it?

    The majority of the jobs were for catering and general security, jobs she didn¡¯t think herself capable of. As she looked through, she noticed most postings had a different coloured shape on it, just under the pin. Squares, circles, stars and a slash. Most were white, a handful of the security jobs had a gold slash and there were a few catering jobs with brown squares.

    Payment, probably. Brown for copper, white for silver and yellow for gold Zoe thought. The slash she figured meant a single coin. She felt a bit embarrassed she missed it last time, showing up to a job with an agreed upon price just to try and haggle for no reason.

    She kept looking through the postings until she stumbled on one that interested her. It paid a silver circle and didn¡¯t require a storage item from what she could see. Somebody needed a guinea pig to test their poisons on.

    A little terrifying, but they wouldn¡¯t just kill her. Probably. That would be illegal, she hoped. This was over the board poison testing with very good pay. A little scary, but she could at least check it out.

    She ripped the posting off the blue pin it was hanging from and checked the address. Occ¡¯s Tist on Jorna avenue. Instead of wandering aimless, Zoe walked up to the bar to ask for some directions.

    ¡°Hello, do you know where Jorna avenue is?" She asked the tall, lanky man with spiked brown hair who was manning the bar.

    The man thought for a moment, his hand resting on his chin. ¡°Yes I do. Head down the road until you reach Gila and take a right then carry on for a while and you should reach Jorna. Think it¡¯s maybe oh, twenty minute walk from here?¡±

    ¡°Thanks!" Zoe waved and turned.

    ¡°Anytime!¡± The man waved back.

    She followed the man¡¯s instructions, walking down the streets until she found herself at an intersection of Gila and Jorna. She realized she never asked which way Occ¡¯s Tist was, so she turned left and hoped. She walked for another thirty minutes, identifying all the buildings as she went until she got to a cul-de-sac at the end of the street and had to turn around.

    It was another fifty minutes, almost at the complete opposite end of the street by the time she found Occ¡¯s Tist. It was a black stone building, with stained glass windows and an ornate carved wooden door. She opened it and entered.

    Inside was an empty room with a few chairs set up and a desk at the end. There were no lights, but the room was still well lit with not a shadow in sight. Sitting at a desk towards the end was a woman with short black hair and heavy bags under her eyes. She had a bowl full of various powders that she was measuring into vials.

    Sitting on one of the chairs was a man in a comfortable looking green sweater and black pants, his head leaning on his shoulder as he snored.

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    The woman sitting at the desk looked up as Zoe entered. ¡°Hello, can I help you?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here to help test poisons, I guess?¡± Zoe said, walking up to the desk.

    ¡°Ah good good, I was worried nobody would show up today. Take a seat, I¡¯ll be finished up here any moment and then we can get started.¡± She said, returning to her powders.

    ¡°Okay, sure thing.¡± Zoe said, grabbing a chair and sitting down.

    A few minutes passed as Zoe sat and watched the woman mix up her potions. And then a few more minutes passed, and Zoe looked at the man sleeping in one of the chairs. She wondered if he was here to test poisons too, feeling a little smug that she didn¡¯t have to wait as long as he seemed to have.

    The woman put the vials she was working on away, and Zoe adjusted her posture in the chair. Her anxiety raising. She was going to get poisoned for money. Was it really so different from signing up to test some medicines, though? This was fine.

    Zoe watched as the woman pulled out a mortar and pestle, along with some more vials and started crushing various rocks into powders, mixing the dust into vials.

    ¡°Umm, excuse me. How long is this going to take?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh I¡¯ll be done any moment now, don¡¯t worry!¡± The woman said, a cheerful smile decorating her face.

    ¡°Right. Any moment. Okay.¡± Zoe muttered.

    A few hours passed, as the woman continued crushing up different stones, plants and things Zoe couldn¡¯t identify, mixing them into vials and putting them away. Every time she¡¯d put the vials away, Zoe¡¯s heartbeat would raise, her anxiety peaking at the thought of what she was going to do. And every time, she was left to wait for longer.

    Until one time, the woman stood up and stretched.

    ¡°Alright, thanks for waiting you two. We can get started now.¡± She said, grabbing some of the vials she had been working on and placing them on the desk.

    ¡°Excuse me sir?¡± She raised her voice. The man stirred awake.

    ¡°Hmm? Yes. Oh, right. Are you finally done?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yes yes, it was only but a moment! We¡¯ll be getting started now if that¡¯s alright with you.¡± She said, stepping in front of the desk.

    Her long black dress draped behind her on the floor as she walked, the clacking of her black shoes on the stone floor echoing through the empty building.

    ¡°Sure, yeah whatever. Just let me know when I need to do something.¡± The man said, leaning his head back on his shoulder.

    ¡°Good, good. My name is Lorelei and today I will be studying the effects of some poisons I have created. Before we begin, young lady, I have a few questions for you.¡± Lorelei said, her eyes wandering to above Zoe¡¯s head.

    ¡°Only level eight, lovely. It¡¯s rare I get to test on somebody so low level. Most parents refuse to let their children be poisoned no matter how safe I tell them it is.¡± She scoffed.

    ¡°First off, I need to know your current health and vitality, your poison resistance level as well as any other skills you might have that would influence poisons.¡± She said, leaning against the desk.

    ¡°Okay, I have twenty vitality and two hundred health, and my poison resistance is at uhh,¡± Zoe focused on seeing her resistances.

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    - Poison (2)

    ¡°My poison resistance is at level two and I shouldn¡¯t have anything else that would influence poison.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Good, good. Now I¡¯m not some scrooge who will make you sign a contract, but I need to know you¡¯re being honest with me. If you¡¯re lying you may die. I¡¯m not saying that you¡¯re lying, but if you are and you don¡¯t feel comfortable being truthful you should find another job to do. This will be entirely safe if we¡¯re all honest but if one thing goes wrong it could get out of hand very quickly.¡±

    ¡°Okay, yeah. I¡¯m okay with that. I¡¯m not lying about anything.¡± Zoe said as she felt her heartbeat rising to uncomfortable levels.

    ¡°Lovely. Before we begin, I want to explain the process to assuage any fears you may have. I will provide you with a poison along with an antidote to consume and explain what effect the poison should have. You may choose to drink it or not. After you consume the poison you should immediately consume the antidote as well.

    ¡°Now, all of the antidotes should work. But as an extra safety precaution, when you take the antidote and get the notification that your poison is cured please immediately say bumbleboop. I know it sounds silly, but it is very important that you do this. If you do not say bumbleboop, Kharn here will heal you and we will end the testing there to prevent further mishap.

    ¡°After you say bumbleboop, I will have a series of questions. If you are able and willing to answer all of them, I will pay you a silver coin. I have twenty potions for somebody at your level and vitality to help me test today so should everything go well you could make up to two silver circles today. Does that all make sense?¡± She explained.

    ¡°Yeah, that all makes sense.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°Good, now when I give you a poison, what are you to do?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°I drink the poison, then the antidote and if the antidote works I say bumbleboop.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Great. Before we begin, I have a test poison here. This is a known poison so I won¡¯t need any information from you. It should be almost entirely harmless and deal one damage every hour, but we can get a feel for the process. The one marked with a skull will be the poison, and the other is the antidote.¡± She handed Zoe two vials.

    Zoe drank the two vials in sequence, first the poison and then the antidote.

    *DING* You have been poisoned. -1 hp/hr for one hour.

    *DING* You have been cured of poison.

    ¡°Bumbleboop,¡± Zoe said, blushing.

    ¡°Good, great. Most people don¡¯t get the bumbleboop on the first try!¡± Lorelei pulled out a clipboard and a pen.

    ¡°At this point, I would ask you some questions about the poison. How much damage was it doing, what debilitating effects did it have, and so on. However, I know this poison should deal one damage every hour, so we can move on if you¡¯re comfortable with the process.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Yes, I think I am.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°Good, great¡± Lorelei said, setting twenty pairs of vials on the desk and smiling.

 14. Resistance

    ¡°To start with, I would like for you to try this poison,¡± Lorelei said, grabbing a skull marked vial full of a murky brown liquid along with the clear vial next to it.

    ¡°This one should reduce your strength by five and increase your fatigue while not causing any damage.¡± She handed the two vials to Zoe.

    Zoe drank the poison, and then the antidote in quick succession.

    *Ding* You have been poisoned. -5 strength and increased fatigue for one hour

    *Ding* You have been cured of poison.

    ¡°Bumbleboop,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Good! Now, what effects did the poison have on you?¡± Lorelei asked, readying her pen on her clipboard.

    ¡°Yeah it was just the five strength and increased fatigue for an hour like you said.¡± Zoe answered.

    Lorelei scribbled on her clipboard for a minute. ¡°Great, would you like to be paid for every potion or in a bulk sum at the end?¡±

    ¡°A bulk sum¡¯s fine, no point in wasting time I guess.¡±

    ¡°Lovely! You¡¯d be surprised how many people think I¡¯ll run off with the information and not pay them.¡± Lorelei responded, reaching for another pair of vials on the desk behind her.

    The marked vial contained a clear blue liquid, while the antidote was a pale green casting a dim light through Lorelei¡¯s fingers.

    ¡°This one should cause twenty damage per second while regenerating forty mana per second.¡± Lorelei said, handing Zoe the vials.

    Zoe took them, and drank them both.

    *Ding* You have been poisoned. -23 health/s for 20 seconds, +36 mana/s for two minutes.

    *Ding* You have been cured of poison.

    ¡°Bumbleboop, and actually this one was twenty-three health and thirty-six mana per second for twenty seconds.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°The health was damage and the mana was regeneration?¡± Lorelei asked.

    ¡°Oh, yeah, sorry.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°No, no. Don¡¯t be sorry. For most it would be a safe assumption but I need to be extra sure of everything here.¡± Lorelei responded.

    Lorelei¡¯s testing continued on, with Lorelei handing Zoe each pair of the vials and marking down the various effects. Most of the vials were at least close to what Lorelei had estimated their effects as, though there were two outliers.

    The first was a clear liquid that looked like water, which was supposed to reduce her stamina by half, but which also had caused her to smell like roses for some reason. And the second was a black sludge that Lorelei had expected to make her movements strained but had also caused a drain on her mana of thirty per hour.

    When the final questioning finished, Lorelei tapped her pen on her clipboard as she pondered something.

    ¡°If you¡¯re okay with some extra risk, I might have a higher paying job available for you today as well.¡± She said after a couple minutes of silence.

    ¡°Well that depends on what the risk and the pay is, I guess?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°The thing is, with your poison resistance at level two, these numbers just don¡¯t make a whole lot of sense. Did your resistance level up throughout today?¡± She asked.

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    - Poison (6)

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s at six now.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Lovely, even better then. I would like to administer a much stronger poison that deals one hundred damage per second and see what effect your resistance has. It should be reduced to ninety-nine, but I suspect that it will not.¡±

    ¡°That would kill me in two seconds, though.¡± Zoe said, feeling her heart rate rise again.

    ¡°Yes, that would be the extra risk. As for the pay, I would be willing to pay an additional silver circle for this information.¡± Lorelei said.

    Zoe was already getting two silver circles for her job, was a third really worth that much extra risk? She wouldn¡¯t need to take another job for a while, but jobs didn¡¯t seem to be all that hard to get here either.

    Lorelei bit her lip, tapping on her clipboard. ¡°Two circles, that¡¯s the highest I can do.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s still possibly going to kill me in two seconds though. I think if you make it a silver square for all of today then I would be okay with it.¡±

    Lorelei pondered it for a moment, making some marks on her clipboard and tapping her shoes on the stone floor.

    ¡°Okay. A square for today.¡± She said, walking behind the desk and rummaging in the drawers. She pulled out two more vials, both filled with swirling black liquid and placed them on the desk.

    ¡°Kharn, deary? Please heal her and give her the antidote as soon as she takes the poison.¡± She said.

    ¡°Yes, yes. I¡¯ll keep her alive.¡± The man stood up and walked to the desk and grabbed the antidote. ¡°Get over here and drink your poison.¡±

    Zoe walked up to the desk, feeling as though her heart were about to explode out of her chest. Was she really going to do this? What if something went wrong, what if she made a mistake and the antidote didn¡¯t work. She was two seconds away from being dead.

    She stood at the desk, staring at the marked vial for a couple of minutes. All of the antidotes worked, and Kharn was here to do something. She didn¡¯t know what exactly, but he would do it. She would be fine. She would be fine and rich. This was okay.

    Zoe reached for the marked vial, grabbing it and bringing it to her lips. As soon as she did, Kharn placed his hand on her shoulder, and she felt a flood of warmth through her body from where he touched her.

    She tipped the vial into her mouth, feeling the swirling red fluid pulse as it dripped down her throat.

    *Ding* You have been poisoned. -100 health/s for two minutes.

    Exhaustion took her, every movement she made felt slow and draining. Each breath feeling as though she were weighed down by a bag of bricks. Kharn jammed the vial of antidote in her mouth and she felt more of the strange pulsing fluid as she swallowed it.

    *Ding* You have been cured of poison.

    ¡°Bumbleboop,¡± Zoe spat out between breaths.

    ¡°Good, good. Take a seat and relax for a moment. Kharn, please keep healing her.¡± Lorelei said.

    ¡°Sure thing boss,¡± Kharn responded, following Zoe as she took a seat.

    Zoe sat for a few minutes, her heavy, ragged breathing calming down as she relaxed.

    ¡°First off, what the hell was that?¡± Zoe asked.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°It was a Swirling Mist Poison.¡± Lorelei responded.

    ¡°Yeah I got the poison part, but why am I so exhausted all of a sudden?¡± Zoe clarified.

    ¡°You¡¯ve lived a comfortable life, haven¡¯t you?¡± Lorelei asked.

    ¡°What do you mean?"

    ¡°This is what losing health feels like. It¡¯s your life¡¯s energy, the bit that keeps you breathing and your heart beating. That¡¯s your health. You lost over half of it in nearly an instant and had the same healed back just as quick. Of course you would be drained.¡± Lorelei explained.

    ¡°Shit. That sucked.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure it would if you weren¡¯t expecting it. Now, I¡¯m sorry to pressure you but might you share how much damage it was doing to you?¡± Lorelei asked.

    ¡°Right, yeah. It was one hundred damage every second for two minutes.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°How fascinating. And the poison is no longer affecting you now? The antidote worked?¡± Lorelei asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m all good now.¡± Zoe startled as the warm energy that was pulsing through her stopped as Kharn let go of her shoulder.

    ¡°Lovely, thank you so very much you two.¡± Lorelei said as she pulled out a silver coin marked with a square to hand to both Zoe and Kharn.

    ¡°Hit me up any time you need, this was a nice easy job.¡± Kharn said, grabbing his coin.

    ¡°I think I might stick to some other things for a little while maybe, personally.¡± Zoe said as she grabbed hers.

    ¡°You two have a lovely day now! Thank you again.¡± Lorelei called out as the two of them left.

    Kharn didn¡¯t stick around, darting off down the road to whatever he was doing next. Zoe stood outside on the road for a moment.

    In hindsight, Zoe thought it was a little stupid. Everything about the whole thing just felt so organized and secure that she didn¡¯t think it would be a problem. But maybe that was a step too far. She thought back on the ordeal and decided she wanted to know more about her poison resistance.

    Zoe opened the door and walked in to the barren room again.

    ¡°Oh hello again, did you need something else?¡± Lorelei asked from behind the desk.

    ¡°Yeah, what does poison resistance normally do and why is it apparently not working for me?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Ah yes, I suppose I could have explained that. Normally your poison resistance would reduce the effect of poisons by a slight amount per level. About one in a thousand for every level, with the damage rounded. So one hundred damage would be reduced to ninety-nine and four tenths, which would be ninety-nine.¡± Lorelei explained.

    ¡°And for some reason mine did not?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Correct.¡± Lorelei answered.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. My current hypothesis is that resistances don¡¯t apply to people without their first class. Not much testing has been done on people without their first class because the majority of them are children. And even when testing is done, they don¡¯t often have poison resistance. You are a very unique case, young lady.¡± Lorelei responded.

    ¡°So when I get my first class, I¡¯ll take less damage from poison resistance?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the idea, anyway. We could test this if you¡¯re willing to class up today? I would pay very well.¡± Lorelei asked.

    ¡°No, sorry. But when I do, I can come back and see if the offer is still on. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d do that again for the same price, though.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Oh yes, please do, that would be very helpful. Is there anything else that you need from me today then?¡± Lorelei asked.

    ¡°No, that was all. Thanks again.¡± Zoe answered, leaving the barren room to the street once more.

    She cringed at the time she had to spend inside. So much for her first day of staying outside.

    Zoe moseyed her way through the streets towards Joe¡¯s tavern. The light snowfall piling on the streets reflecting the moonlight and covering the town in a pleasant bright calmness. There were few carriages clattering down the streets, and little chatter from the restaurants and shops she passed. Just Zoe and the beautiful snow covered city.

    It was late into the evening when she arrived at Joe¡¯s tavern. She could hear some quiet conversation from the patrons staying late and Joe cleaning in the kitchen as she entered. The stools by the bar were all empty, and Zoe took a seat at one of them, enjoying the peaceful night for a few minutes longer.

    Joe laughed when he came out of the kitchen and saw Zoe at the bar.

    ¡°What happened to the extravagant journey you were going on?¡± Joe asked her, leaning on the bar across from her.

    ¡°Okay, so here¡¯s the thing.¡± Zoe said, pulling out her silver square. Joe¡¯s eyebrows raised as he saw it.

    Zoe continued, ¡°I got a pretty good job today. But the damn woman who hired me had me wait inside for like five hours. Just a moment, she said. It¡¯ll only be a little longer, she said. I sat there for I don¡¯t even know how long. And the other fellow that was there showed up even before me!"

    ¡°Looks like it worked out well for you though.¡± He smiled, chuckling.

    ¡°Well yeah, but what if winter starts today? It would have been ruined by this woman with absolutely no sense for time!¡± She complained.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a few days left, you¡¯re fine Zoe.¡± Joe grabbed himself a glass of water.

    ¡°But what if! God she was so annoying. Nice, I guess. And paid well, but oh my god Joe you have no idea. And the other guy¡¯s snoring the whole time, I wanted to scream. That sucked.¡± Zoe whined.

    Joe laughed some more, ¡°What did you end up doing that paid so much anyway?"

    ¡°So don¡¯t be too upset but she needed help testing poisons.¡± Zoe started.

    ¡°What? Zoe! It doesn¡¯t matter how much money you have if you¡¯re dead.¡± Joe scolded her.

    ¡°I know but the pay was good, and it was all very professional. She had everything labelled and explained. Plus, the other guy there was a healer. I don¡¯t think it was very risky, there would be easier ways to kill me if somebody wanted to do that.¡± Zoe pleaded.

    Joe sighed, rubbing the side of his head. ¡°I can¡¯t stop you but just promise me you¡¯ll be careful at least.¡±

    ¡°I promise, Joe. I¡¯m not going to kill myself. I think it was a good idea, honestly. And now that I have some money I¡¯m going to try to find some easier work and just relax for a while.¡±

    ¡°You can always just try this winter¡¯s master thing next year, you know? Take your time, save up some money.¡± Joe took a sip from his glass.

    ¡°I could, but I dunno. I just don¡¯t see the point to waiting, I guess. If I can¡¯t make it then I can¡¯t make it but I may as well try?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand it. I¡¯ve got a happy life and didn¡¯t spend nearly as much time on my first class as you are. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already got some really great options, why not just take one and stop living on the edge?¡± Joe asked.

    Zoe looked around, seeing a few patrons still sitting and drinking.

    ¡°Where I come from, this is normal. Maybe it¡¯s different here but not having my first class doesn¡¯t feel like it¡¯s living on the edge, it¡¯s just normal to me.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe shook his head, ¡°I can¡¯t imagine. I take it you¡¯re staying here tonight? Nobody¡¯s taken the room yet if you¡¯d like.¡± He placed the room key on the bar in front of her.

    ¡°Yeah I think so. I wasn¡¯t going to until Lorelei smashed all of my plans, but another night in a comfortable bed would be nice. Is Rizick not using the room anymore?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, he¡¯s in with Isla now. They¡¯re taking off tomorrow apparently.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to say goodbye tomorrow then. I wanted to get him a gift, but I never got around to it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll live.¡± Joe smiled.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess. I¡¯ll make sure to say goodbye though, he was a nice guy.¡± Zoe said, grabbing the room key from the bar table.

    ¡°I think they¡¯ll probably be around most of the morning packing up and getting ready if you want to catch them.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Thanks, Joe. I¡¯m gonna get my last good night¡¯s sleep for a while I think now.¡± Zoe stood up and stretched.

    ¡°Well have a good night then, Zoe.¡± Joe said, finishing off his cup of water.

    ¡°You too, Joe.¡± Zoe said.

    She walked up the wooden stairs to her room and tossed her bag of belongings on the chair before she collapsed in the bed and shut her eyes.

 15. Henry

    Zoe woke a few hours before the sun rose and made her way down to the tavern with her bag. The tables were empty, and even Joe hadn¡¯t gotten up and started preparing the meals for the day. She walked over to the kitchen and tried to open the door, but found the door locked.

    Instead, she grabbed a chair and sat down with the first book she got, the one on local geography. She never really ended up looking through it much, just hoping she¡¯d see Moscow or something. But she clearly wasn¡¯t on earth anymore.

    The book described the location of the landscape surrounding Flester. Mountains, rivers and forests all marked and labelled. The forest to the north where she had been gathering klir was called Flester¡¯s forest.

    How creative, Zoe thought.

    To the south was a mountain with no name, but a marking of a skull at its base. A dungeon maybe, or a scary monster?

    Many of the pages described the wildlife around Flester as well. A wide variety of birds found their home in the area, foraging for the plentiful berries and herbs that grew in the forests. There were deer and lots of smaller animals roaming the forests too. Most of which were rabbits and rats, though capybara called some of the rivers their home too.

    Wolves and boars stood on top as the apex predators, often fighting for territory as their populations expanded.

    Zoe continued flipping through the pages for a while before Joe came down the stairs.

    ¡°Oh, good morning Zoe.¡± He said, walking to the kitchen.

    ¡°Morning Joe. I¡¯m just going to say goodbye to Rizick then I¡¯m out to go shopping I think.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°Alright, good luck then.¡± He said, closing the door to the kitchen behind him.

    Rizick came down a few hours later with Isla, the two of them chatting about their plans for the day. Setting up the carriage, and discussing the last supplies they have to purchase for their trip.

    ¡°Good morning you two,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh Zoe! It¡¯s been a few days since we talked.¡± Rizick said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been out working random jobs lately so wasn¡¯t around much. Joe told me you two were leaving today?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m set off to Korna today. They have quite the vibrant selection of clothes and I thought it might be nice to expand my stock.¡± Isla answered.

    ¡°And she¡¯s so graciously allowed me to come along for the ride!¡± Rizick exclaimed.

    ¡°He¡¯s really lovely company, you know? It¡¯s often so lonely on the road.¡± Isla said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you bring guards or something at least?" Zoe asked.

    She scoffed, "They hardly count as company. Competent folk but never the same and so very rarely kind.¡°

    ¡°So you¡¯re almost all packed up now then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup! We¡¯ve just gotta go load up the carriage, get our horses ready and buy some last minute food for the road and we¡¯re outta here.¡± Rizick explained.

    ¡°That sounds exciting. I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve got things figured out Rizick.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It is, thanks. How have your jobs gone?¡± Rizick asked.

    ¡°Pretty well. I got paid a lot yesterday so I think I¡¯m going to go shopping today, actually.¡± Zoe said.

    Isla¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Shopping, you say? For what, might I ask?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking of getting the winter¡¯s master feat, so I need to stay outside for an entire winter. I¡¯d like some supplies, maybe some basic weapons to hunt with.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ahh, too bad. I don¡¯t have anything that would help you now. Unless you needed salt by any chance?¡± Isla smiled.

    ¡°No, I think I¡¯ll be okay. Thank you though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯d go to Paul if I were you. Runs Paul¡¯s Goods down on Norlon. He should have most of what you need. Nice fellow, too.¡± Isla said.

    ¡°Oh, thanks. I was just going to wander around till I found a store, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    Isla laughed, ¡°Yes this town can be a bit confusing at times. At any rate, we do need to get going. It was nice speaking with you again, Zoe. Hope things go well for you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, nice meeting you Zoe! Might see you around sometime if we ever end up in the same city again.¡± Rizick said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye out then, but I¡¯ll probably be sticking around here for quite some time I imagine. Safe travels to you two and good luck.¡± Zoe said.

    Zoe watched as the pair said their goodbyes to Joe and left. She¡¯d probably never see him again, which she found to be a strange feeling. Back home there was always phones and the internet to talk to people, but here, there might be mail if she was lucky. She had never had an actual goodbye before. It almost felt surreal, to her.

    She looked to the kitchen. Was she going to say goodbye to Joe? She already had, she supposed. How did it feel when she said that she was leaving? They were acquaintances at best but was that just a normal thing here? People coming to your life and then disappearing to never be seen again?

    Zoe sighed. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but she focused on her current task. Paul¡¯s Goods on Norlon road.

    Paul¡¯s Goods was easy enough to find, just a few doors down from the tavern she found Liz¡¯s klir job at. It was a building made of dark, knotty wooden planks. There were two windows on the front with clear glass revealing the store inside.

    A couple shelves sat in the middle with various products on display. Ropes, bags and blankets, hammers and screwdivers with buckets of nails. Various tools she didn¡¯t recognize and fabrics she didn¡¯t really understand the purpose of.

    Zoe entered the building through the wooden door at the front. The walls to either side had racks of adventuring supplies ¡ª torches, tents and the like. And towards the back of the building was a glass counter displaying some smaller more valuable looking items. Vials filled with colourful liquids and many different gemstones.

    Hanging on the back-wall behind the counter were bows, knives and some sets of leather armour. Standing behind the counter was a short chubby man.

    ¡°Hi there, what are you looking for today?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m going to be camping out for a lot of the winter and need some supplies.¡± Zoe answered.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°Wonderful! Is there anywhere in particular you plan on camping?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°No, I just kinda need to stay outside for most of the winter for a thing I¡¯m working on.¡±

    ¡°Well my recommendation to you then would be a tent, cold-weather sleeping bag and some nice heavy clothes at a bare minimum. We¡¯ve got all of that here at a fair price, barring the clothes.¡± He responded.

    ¡°I can¡¯t use a tent, it¡¯s a whole thing. No shelter allowed, unfortunately.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ah the winter¡¯s master feat, then?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the one.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Well then my recommendation would be to travel south before you try something like that at your level. Get to a warmer climate and take away the risk of the cold.¡± He said.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m just going to try it here and see how it feels at least so I just want some supplies for that is all, please.¡± Zoe pleaded.

    ¡°Alright but don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you. With no tent, I¡¯d say get everything else and find a nice cave to call home or see if you can live in somebody¡¯s backyard for the winter. Or some nice expensive enchanted clothes, but no offense, you don¡¯t seem like the rich type.¡± He said.

    ¡°None taken. So you have everything I might need here then? I was thinking about getting some hunting weapons too, how much do those cost?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes we do other than the clothes. I¡¯d go find a nice clothier for those. For a good sleeping bag, a bow, a knife and a dozen arrows I¡¯d need twenty five silver from you.¡± He said, pulling down a couple of the weapons from the rack behind him.

    ¡°Do you have a firestarter, too? I¡¯d rather not rub sticks together if possible.¡±

    He grabbed one of the orange gems from the glass case and placed it next to the weapons. ¡°Two silver, should last you the whole winter.¡±

    ¡°How about a storage item, do you sell those?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Nope, you¡¯d need to find an enchanter for that.¡± He said, walking around the counter to one of the shelves.

    ¡°Do you know how much they¡¯d cost at least?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Generally run you about two gold per bag of storage, far as I know. Though it can vary a lot.¡± He said, looking through some of the blankets.

    ¡°Thanks, and how do I use the firestarter?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Just point it at what you want to be on fire and channel your mana through it.¡± He grabbed one of the thicker blankets. ¡°This should be good for your sleeping bag.¡±

    ¡°Okay, that should be it then. Oh, actually a bag would be nice too. Big enough to fit all this stuff and this too.¡± Zoe said, holding up her bag of belongings.

    The man looked through some of the bags hanging from the shelf next to him, grabbing one from near the middle.

    ¡°This should be good for you,¡± he said, putting it down on the counter. ¡°Fifty copper.¡±

    ¡°Oh actually, sorry, something to help carry the bow and the knife? Maybe a quiver too, I guess for the arrows?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing,¡± he said returning to behind the counter. He grabbed a leather belt with a sheath along the side that fit her knife and a small quiver.

    ¡°Bow can be attached right here,¡± he pointed to a couple loops of rope on the quiver. ¡°Stays mostly secure but be careful if you¡¯re pushing through a lot of brush.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thanks. And how much for those?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°For the belt and quiver, another twelve silver.¡± He said.

    ¡°So thirty seven silver, fifty copper total then?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yup!¡±

    Zoe pulled out her silver square and handed it to the man.

    ¡°Thank you very much, please keep us in mind whenever you need anything else too!¡± The man said.

    ¡°I will, thanks Paul.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not Paul, I¡¯m Henry.¡± Henry said.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I just thought since it was called Paul¡¯s Goods, you would be Paul,¡± Zoe said.

    Henry laughed, ¡°I get that a lot, but no. Paul¡¯s my husband. He works mostly on the administrative stuff. Keeping us stocked, getting new products in and all that. I just man the front.¡±

    ¡°Well thanks anyway, Henry. You were a great help.¡± She said.

    ¡°Anytime! Good luck with your feat.¡± He called out as she left.

    Zoe fumbled with the belt and quiver, feeling a little embarassed at her mistake.

    They were a bit tricky to get on, her current pants not having a loop to put the belt through, which was already quite wide to accommodate the knife sheath. The quiver was simple enough to wear but attaching the bow required untying and then retying the small rope knots that held it in place.

    She wished she paid better attention in scouts as a child as she fiddled with the ropes trying to attach her bow.

    Twenty minutes of fumbling with her new purchases later and she managed to get everything attached to her. The quiver on her back hanging from her right shoulder, knife at her waist and new bag hanging from her other shoulder.

    She fiddled with the orange gem as she walked down the street. It was probably unwise to play with it in town, but it excited her anyway. This was magic, it was commonplace maybe, but to her it was new and exciting. She would channel her mana and create fire and her heart raced with giddy excitement.

    Zoe turned to the north, heading to her familiar klir hunting zone. The guards at the gate nodded as she left, and she carried on down the road a little farther than she normally did before she stepped off a few meters.

    She spent the next half hour clearing away the snow, gathering some twigs and rocks to make a small campfire. She wasn¡¯t sure why campfires in every game she played had rocks around them, but they did, and it might be for a good reason maybe.

    With her assembly of twigs and rocks, she took out her orange gem and pointed what she thought the pointy-est end of it was at the campfire.

    She thought about her mana, focusing on the gem and trying to push whatever energy she had through it. Nothing happened at first, but she kept trying, imagining different things happening and different pathways through her body.

    A few minutes of trying later and a puff of flame burst out from the gem, except instead of firing towards the campfire it smashed into her face.

    ¡°FUCK!¡± She screamed, dropping the gem and diving into the snow.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± She said, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down.

    It didn¡¯t hurt at all, but it was startling. All she could see for a moment was the bright orange flame washing over her and she panicked. Zoe reached for her face, rubbing at her eyebrows. They were still there, though she wasn¡¯t sure if that made it any better.

    The first time she ever used magic she failed to even burn hair. Zoe Mara, mage extraordinaire. Hurling harmless fireballs at only herself. She laughed.

    She sat for a few moments before she grabbed the orange gem and tried again. This time facing what she thought was the pointy end towards herself and repeating the process of channelling her mana through it.

    The same puff of flame burst out towards the campfire, pushing a few of the loose leaves around and igniting the twigs.

    ¡°YES! I¡¯M A MAGICIAN!¡± She screamed out.

    Zoe wrote off her first attempt. This was her real first time using magic, and she was successful. She looked at the growing fire surrounded by heavy rocks in front of her.

    She threw another twig on the fire.

    Burning herself didn¡¯t hurt at all, she thought. She could use another two resistances.

 16. Robin

    Zoe looked at the orange gem in her hand. It didn¡¯t hurt when she fired it at herself, she thought.

    She spun the gem to face towards herself. Just blast herself with fire. It would be easy, didn¡¯t even burn off her eyebrows. This would be fine.

    She took a deep breath. It was still scary, but it didn¡¯t hurt. It was fine, she could do it.

    She channelled mana through the gem, the puff of flame bursting out towards her face again. She jumped in surprise, patting her head down.

    Zoe repeated the process around a dozen times, blasting her face with fire. After the first couple of blasts the fear wore off and she found it fun watching the flame blast out and wash over her. But despite her pyromania, she didn¡¯t get a single resistance.

    Poison resistance took a while too, but she was blasting herself with fire. Was it just because it didn¡¯t hurt? Poison didn¡¯t hurt either, though. She wondered if she was even losing health from this at all.

    She blasted her face with flame again, watching her health at the top of her vision.

    Health: 200/200

    No damage, so no resistance, she imagined. She looked at the growing campfire in front of her. She had been burnt before, it¡¯s not that bad. Just a little pain and it¡¯s over. She takes some damage, and gets a resistance.

    She reached into the fire, trying to grab some of the burning wood but recoiled at the pain and smashed her hand into the snow. It might just be a bit of pain, but she wasn¡¯t a fan of pain, she thought, piling up snow on the fire and stomping it out.

    If she happened upon the resistance, then great. But she didn¡¯t care how good the class was, she wouldn¡¯t torture herself for it. Instead, she turned her focus to her bow, wanting to practice some archery.

    She drew an arrow and nocked it on the bowstring, aiming at a pile of snow a couple dozen feet to her side. The arrow flew wide, driving itself into the snow a couple feet off.

    Zoe drew another arrow and tried again. The bowstring snapped into her arm as she released it and she winced as the stinging feeling wore off. For a moment she wondered if she should put on her dress with longer sleeves, but didn¡¯t think it would do much, and if it did then she¡¯d probably have her accuracy affected.

    The next few hours were spent with Zoe firing her arrows at random targets she found in the snow. Piles, dips, leaves that poked through from bushes below. She¡¯d fire her arrows off, collect the bunch and pick a new target.

    Her forearm stung, the red mark from the bowstring smashing past growing with each shot. But she pushed through, enjoying the process all the same. Every so often, she¡¯d take a rest and let her arm sit in the cold snow for a bit before she carried on.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Archery skill.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Pain resistance.

    She sat down by a tree, almost vanishing beneath the snow as she did. Her arm resting next to her, the cold snow providing relief from the throbbing, stinging pain she felt.

    Health: 182/200

    That was a lot of fun, Zoe thought. It was a little painful, but it felt good seeing her progress. With her last shot she almost hit the klir leaf she was aiming for, even without the skill.

    She laid down in the snow, relishing in the feeling of two new skills to her repertoire. Evening dragged on, and Zoe¡¯s stomach began to growl, begging her for supper. She almost thought to go hunting, but had no way to prepare the food even if she was successful.

    Zoe got up and walked back to town, waving to the guards as she passed the gate. She sniffed the air, looking to smell a restaurant or pop up shop, but all she got was the same horse manure and sweat.

    She took a different path through town, towards the north eastern section where she¡¯d not spent much time at. The sights were much the same, varying degrees of wealth on display with each street. There were a bunch of bakeries she passed, and a handful of restaurants but she wanted something specific.

    Where were all the greasy street food stalls, she wondered to herself. Burgers dripping with fat and crispy fries doused in melted cheese. A hotdog slathered in mustard and ketchup. Hell, even a taco would have been nice, and she didn¡¯t even like tacos.

    Zoe wandered for a while longer before she found something that interested her. A large open square with tented carts set up around it. In the centre were several stone tables and chairs, most of which being used by people eating their meals.

    There wasn¡¯t a huge selection, most of the carts were selling bread with different fillings, some were selling simple pasta dishes and a couple sold what could only be described as burgers.

    Zoe grabbed a burger from one of the carts, and a ryz egg stuffed brul from another, costing her thirty copper in total. The burger was bland, and a little too salty but oozing with grease. The ryz egg stuffed brul was a soft boiled egg baked into a bun. Zoe was confused how it remained soft boiled but didn¡¯t question it much.

    She devoured the remains of her food, tossing the paper wrappers in one of the bins set up around the food court.

    Zoe pulled out her book and sat down at one of the stone tables, looking for something of interest. There was a large hill not far north east from Flester and a river that ran through it. It was as good a bet as any for somewhere to stay, and Zoe made her way back to the forest north of the city.

    It took her until a few hours past sundown before she found her bearings. A lake marked in her book, fed by the same river she was heading to. The lake wasn¡¯t frozen, and there wasn¡¯t even any snow within a few feet surrounding it. A few deer were drinking from it at the other side, a couple others munching on the green grass that surrounded it.

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    Zoe knelt down and put her hand in the lake. The water was warm to the touch. Strange, considering how frozen everything else was around here. But not the weirdest thing she¡¯d seen either.

    The river carried on towards the east and Zoe followed along after it. The deer darted off into the forest as she approached, leaping through the snow.

    She watched them, trying to ooze as much calm and serenity as she could with her vampyric charm, but they continued darting off into the forest.

    Zoe looked through the grass, seeing a plethora of different animal tracks. Many different rodents frequented the lake, along with deer, boars, wolves, rabbits, and even some bird tracks as they landed to drink from the lake.

    Boars were new to her. She¡¯d seen them mentioned in her book, but this was the first time she¡¯d seen their tracks. They could be quick, but a little clumsy. She could handle herself if she needed to.

    She continued following the river to the east. The river left a trail of green grass and warmth that cut through the frozen landscape like a hose through an ice sculpture.

    Not long after, Zoe found herself at the base of a hill, the river pouring out from a large opening at the bottom. She wondered if the fifteen paces deep requirement meant that she couldn¡¯t go more than that deep, or that the cave couldn¡¯t be more than that deep. Better safe than sorry though, so she continued searching.

    She kept looking to the ground, getting an idea of the animals that were around her. All she saw around here were deer and rabbit tracks, the wolves and boars not coming up this far north she supposed. Maybe they already have enough food where they were? Maybe they¡¯d see an explosion in boar population soon then.

    She tried to stay at least within ear shot of the river as she wandered around the hill. Her tracks shined through the snow like a blazing trail leading her back home but having the always present sounds of the river comforted her. If all else failed, she would be able to follow the river back to the lake and make her way south from there.

    There were a plethora of caves in the hill as she walked, many of them large openings in cliffs, but some of them gaping holes where the hill met the ground. One such cliff opening fit the bill, Zoe thought. It was only a little taller than she was, rather narrow and only cut into the hill by about ten feet. Large enough for her to rest in it with a degree of comfort but not so large that it should count as a shelter.

    It seemed like a good spot to her. No predators in the area, at least from what she could see. The cave kept the wind and snow off of her and there was fresh running water just a short walk away. She could call this home for a few months, she thought.

    Zoe made a note of where she found the cave and then set off back to the city. It would be near morning by the time she arrived and she may as well get some more supplies. A small stove or a pot at least for cooking.

    The journey back to town was peaceful, the quiet serenity of the forest broken by the crunching of her footsteps through the snow and the occasional owl hooting. The stars in the sky were bright and plentiful without any of the light pollution, though she didn¡¯t recognize any of the constellations. Not that she would have recognized them on earth anyway, and these were probably different stars.

    The sun was cresting the horizon, bringing the forest to life with noise and activity just as she arrived at the northern gate to town. She made her way through town to Joe¡¯s inn to say hello.

    He was slaving away in the kitchen as he always did at this time, and Zoe smiled as she approached the kitchen door.

    ¡°Good morning Joe!¡± She said, opening the door.

    ¡°Oh Zoe, good morning. I didn¡¯t expect to see you this morning.¡± Joe responded.

    ¡°Yeah I won¡¯t be around for long, gotta stay outside and all that. But I found this really nice little cave to the northeast that I think I¡¯ll set up at for a while.¡± She said.

    ¡°I really think you should just stick around in town, it¡¯s a lot safer you know?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been camping before Joe. Don¡¯t store the food at my camp, keep a fire going and stay away from the scary animals. It¡¯s fine, Joe. I¡¯ve got a weapon now to defend myself too.¡± She patted her hand on the leather sheath at her waist.

    Joe shook his head, ¡°Well thanks for stopping in Zoe. Stay safe out there, I haven¡¯t known you long but I¡¯d miss you if anything happened.¡±

    ¡°Nothing¡¯s gonna happen, Joe. I got by this long without even being level eight, I think I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll come by and say hi whenever I¡¯m in town. Which I think will be pretty often, honestly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re always welcome here. I can¡¯t guarantee a room every time but the kitchen floor¡¯s always open.¡± He smiled at her.

    ¡°Thanks, Joe. I¡¯m going to go shopping. Think I want to get a small camping stove or something to cook with while I¡¯m out there.¡± Zoe waved as she left.

    ¡°Good luck!" He called out.

    Zoe made her way back to Paul¡¯s Goods, Henry manning the counter to the back.

    ¡°Oh hello again!¡± He called out when he saw her.

    ¡°Hi Henry, I think I want like a stove or something to cook on while I¡¯m out?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yes of course, we have some tripods that might interest you.¡± He said, coming around the counter to one of the shelves.

    Henry grabbed a trio of short metal rods that were tied together at one end and placed them on the ground. They stood on their own, leaning against each other at the top and formed an open pyramid.

    ¡°Just place this over your fire, and you can add attachments either here or here,¡± he pointed to a hook at the tip and some small notches closer to the bottom of the rods.

    ¡°Generally you would either hang a pot, or use one of, ahh where is the dang thing now,¡± he rummaged through some of the blankets and bags on the shelf, placing things back on their proper hooks.

    ¡°Ah, yes here we go. One of these grills, they fit right into the notches at the bottom so you could grill something over the fire too.¡± He picked out a thin metal grate and placed it onto the notches on the bars.

    ¡°Do you have a pot too? Something light, preferably.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I would really recommend cast iron usually, but we should have a good selection right over here.¡± He walked to the other side of the shelf.

    The shelf was filled with cookware, pots and pans of all shapes and sizes. Some heavy cast iron, some made of what looked like pressed sheet metal. Zoe picked up one of the medium sized lighter pots.

    ¡°I think this would be fine. I don¡¯t need the best food, just gotta get by sometimes.¡± She said.

    ¡°Up to you, I think the weight is well worth the extra benefits personally, but my strength might not be as low as yours. Is that all you¡¯ll be needing today then?" He asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I think that should be fine for me today.¡± She said.

    ¡°Lovely, that¡¯ll be three silver and a copper square then.¡± Henry said.

    Zoe paid the man. ¡°Thanks very much, I might be back again soon with something else at this rate.¡±

    ¡°Feel free to come back as often as you need! We¡¯re always happy to help.¡± He said, returning to the counter with a wide smile.

    Zoe packed her new toy into her bag, the metal rods poked out and she had to hold them in place as she walked. She wanted to try out her new toys, and so set off to her cave in the hill to start hunting dinner.

 17. Taxes

    Zoe took her new camping stove and made the long trek out to her small cave in the hill. She dropped off most of her gear as she prepared to go hunting for a deer taking only her quiver, and knife.

    [Archery] skill providing a gentle pressure to twist her elbow out of the way and assisting her aim. The arrow flew straight, embedding itself in the snow mound just next to the spot she was aiming for.

    Zoe walked out into the snow, grabbing her arrow and putting it back in her quiver. She turned to the river and followed it back towards the lake, hoping to find a deer she could call her dinner.

    There were a couple groups of deer grazing at the lake when she arrived. Zoe nocked an arrow and pulled her bowstring back, aiming for the one with the largest antlers about thirty meters away. She released it, and the arrow soared through the air, smashing into the buck¡¯s antlers startling the herd. The deer rushed into the forest, disappearing into the trees.

    ¡°Shit,¡± she said under breath. Should she follow them? It would be easy enough, she supposed.

    Zoe followed after them, trying to keep out of the path they took while watching her surroundings for anything that might jump out at her. She followed the trail for a few hundred meters before she saw the buck she fired at before.

    She drew another arrow, nocking it on the string and taking aim just before she heard heavy footsteps rushing through the snow to her right. She turned her head and saw a massive boar barrelling through the snow at her and dove out of the way.

    The boar smashed through where she was standing, flipping into the snow and landing on its back. Zoe drew her bow and aimed as it recovered. She loosed the arrow and it flew, smashing into the boar¡¯s face as it stood, shattering into splinters.

    Her eyes widened in shock.

    [Boar - ??]

    Zoe panicked, looking around to get her bearings. She followed the deer into the forest but had no idea which direction they went. She could follow the tracks back to the lake and then make it to town, but would the boar follow her?

    The boar rushed at her again, carving a path through the deep snow. Zoe tried to sidestep it as it passed but her leg was grazed by the razor sharp tusk, leaving a gash in her thigh.

    Zoe dashed towards the nearest tree, her leg screaming in pain.She clambered her way up it with the help of her sharp claws that dug into the frosty bark. The boar smashed into the tree just below her, almost knocking her off and showering piles of snow from the canopy above.

    She hung from a branch, watching as the boar snarled and circled the tree she was in for a few minutes before it ran off into the forest.

    ¡°

    She thought she¡¯d be fine. Her parents had taken her out camping when she was younger. They¡¯d hunt for food and enjoy themselves in the vast wilderness where they lived. She knew how to handle herself, how to keep herself safe and avoid problems. There was always a risk, but it was controlled.

    But she was overconfident. The boars here had levels, and they had more levels than her. This wasn¡¯t earth, and she couldn¡¯t keep pretending it was. This place was full of magic and mystery. The deer could have had spells, the boar could have been even faster.

    Zoe tried to think about how to get back to town safe and sound. Most of her stuff was left at the cave she planned to call home, a stupid decision now that she thought about it. The boar was active in the day, it would probably be asleep at night. Wolves are around too but she hadn¡¯t even heard one howling, and hoped they would be crepuscular like they are on earth.

    If she waited until the middle of the night, the predators should be asleep. If anything happened, she could climb a tree and hope whatever was after her couldn¡¯t climb up after her.

    She waited in her tree, hugging her branch until nightfall and then waited for a few more hours as the moon rose high in the sky.

    She climbed down the tree, wincing at the pain as she stepped on her gashed leg.

    Health: 143/200

    She scoffed at herself. What was the point of adding it to her vision if she was just going to continue ignoring it constantly.

    Her arrows were scattered around the ground, having fallen out of her quiver in the tussle. So she gathered them and put them in her quiver before she started on making her way back to the lake.

    The journey was slow as she focused on her surroundings, every noise sending her nerves on edge, every movement making her question where the nearest tree was. There were no animals drinking at the lake this late at night, and Zoe continued following the river to the cave she was planning to call home.

    She grabbed her stuff, and began the long march back to town. Every boar track sending her heart racing. A few times she saw what she thought was a boar and climbed up the nearest tree, but it always ended up being a bush, or a strange shadow cast by the reflections on the white snow.

    By the time she made it back to the town walls she felt as though she¡¯d been run over by a dump truck, every muscle aching and screaming for a moment to relax. Her eyes felt strained, and her head was throbbing in pain. She waved to the guards as she passed, and stumbled her way through town to the first bench she saw.

    Zoe collapsed onto the bench, and checked her vitals.

    Health: 170/200

    Stamina: 12/200

    Mana: 200/200

    Nap time, Zoe thought, passing out on the bench a moment later.

    A few hours later, Zoe was woken up by a carriage clattering through the road she was sitting by. She checked her vitals again.

    Health: 181/200

    Stamina: 45/200

    Mana: 200/200

    She tried to stand, feeling her muscles scream at her when she did.

    Zoe focused inwards, trying to feel the energy in and around herself as the book described. If she couldn¡¯t get up and walk around she could at least try and get a new skill. But all she felt was a growing headache.

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    Today would be a nothing day, she decided. She survived, and that would be good enough.

    She sat on the bench for the rest of the day, drifting in and out of sleep. She would wake up from some sudden noise, watch the people travel up and down the road for a while and then fall asleep again for a few minutes to repeat the whole cycle.

    A few times, people would come to her and ask if she was alright, but she would wave them off telling them she was just a little worn out. At least she thought they did, the times she was awake blurred with the frequent dreams as she dozed off.

    It was late into the evening when she felt some energy returning to her, the aches and pains mellowing out a little. She checked her vitals again.

    Health: 200/200

    Stamina: 132/200

    Mana: 200/200

    Zoe continued to sit on the bench late into the night, watching her stamina tick up at a snail¡¯s pace.

    She focused inwards on herself once more, trying to work on her meditation skill again. Every few minutes she thought she¡¯d feel something and then just as quick as it came it would disappear. She tried imagining different types of energy swirling around her.

    She thought of black wisps similar to John¡¯s writing flitting through the air around her, coursing through her veins. She imagined aggressive energy spiking from her body, dissipating into the air as she screamed. She pictured her blood coursing through her veins, pulling in an invisible energy with each breath and distributing it through her body.

    None of her imaginary energy seemed to work, the tangible somethings she felt always vanishing as soon as they came. It felt like she were being pressed on from all sides by some gentle force, but the very instant she noticed, the force pulled away from her.

    She scratched her head in frustration and took a few deep breaths, letting the tension in her body wash away with every exhale. She sat in silence for a while longer, trying to let existence wash over her. She listened to all of the sounds around her, people chatting, crickets chirping and owls hooting somewhere off in the forest.

    The gentle pressure bared down on her, but she ignored it, continuing her deep breaths. With each one the tension in her body relaxed, and the pressure grew. It kept growing until she felt like she were wearing a weighted blanket that conformed to her body.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Meditation skill.

    ¡°Yes!¡± She cried out. The pressure washed away, but she didn¡¯t care anymore. She did it, and she was happy. She wondered what it did, realizing she hadn¡¯t checked her other new skills yet either.

    *Ding*

    [Gathering]

    Become more adept at foraging for plantlife.

    [Archery]

    Master the bow and take deadly aim.

    [Meditation]

    Draw in the untamed, wild energies and turn them to mana.

    The untamed, wild energies must be that gentle pressure, she thought. Zoe tried to focus inwards on herself, feeling the energies in and around her again.

    The pressure grew easier than she expected, the struggles she had with keeping her focus lessened. But not gone, as her excitement snapped her out of the trance and the pressure vanished.

    Zoe stood from her bench, grabbing her bag and quiver, strapping them to her back. She decided to go to John¡¯s bookstore and find a new book on easier skills for her to learn. Something she could do within the safety of the city¡¯s walls.

    The sun was beginning to rise as she arrived at John¡¯s door, the familiar strange black book casting a shadow on the orange door. She tried to open the door, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. She looked in the open windows on the front of the building but it was too dark inside to make anything out.

    That wasn¡¯t quite right, she thought. Zoe could see in the dark, this was something else. She squinted at the windows. It was as though the inside was devoid of light. There were no curtains, no physical barriers preventing her from looking in. It was just complete darkness.

    Zoe shuddered, something about it gripping her with a primal fear. As though she were staring at a pack of starving wolves who thought she was dinner. It felt eerie, and she backed away from his building.

    Joe said he had some errands to do, so she started making her way back to his inn. She¡¯d spend some time away from the scary boars and green alien monsters for a bit.

    Joe was just leaving his inn when Zoe arrived and she called out to him, waving. ¡°Morning Joe!¡±

    He looked at the bloody stain on her leg and shook his head. ¡°Good morning, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°So you were right, Joe. I messed up. I thought I¡¯d be okay because I¡¯ve been camping before but it¡¯s not the same here. Back home the forests are pretty safe and animals tend to stay away from people.¡± She said.

    Joe nodded his head, gesturing for her to follow as he walked down the street.

    ¡°So when I thought of going camping here I just assumed that animals would avoid me. And then a boar ran out of the woods straight for me. I barely managed to get up a tree in time and by the time I made it back to town I was completely worn out.¡±

    ¡°I told you it was dangerous, Zoe.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I know. I know. I¡¯m sorry, Joe. I guess I just didn¡¯t want to accept it. I wanted to believe that I was still on top of the food chain, wanted to think that things would be okay and everything I learned in school would still be relevant. But, ¡± Zoe leaned in to whisper, ¡°the boar had a level, Joe. And it was higher than me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re alright, Zoe.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Yeah, me too Joe. I think I¡¯m going to stay inside the walls for a while probably.¡± Zoe said, the pair turning a corner onto another street.

    ¡°Good. The walls are there for a reason, you know?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I thought it was for war or something, though.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed, ¡°War? Those walls won¡¯t do anything in war time Zoe. They may as well be flimsy sheets of paper to a high level mage.¡±

    ¡°Wait so they¡¯re really just to defend against wild boars then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Pretty much. Without the walls the houses on the outskirts might get raided at night by wolves, pets might wander away and get attacked. They¡¯re an important barrier between us and the outside.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s only a little terrifying. In other news, what are we doing today Joe? Got lots of exciting adventures to go on in the city?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe sighed, ¡°If you consider taxes exciting, then sure. I¡¯ve got to get down to city hall and report the inn¡¯s earnings and pay some dues. Got a bit of shopping for some supplies and I¡¯d like to pay a visit to Herb as well, see what¡¯s up with him since he hasn¡¯t been around since the vampire attack.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Do I need to pay any taxes? I don¡¯t know how that works here.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re fine. I need to because I own a business. Though if you keep taking odd jobs you¡¯d qualify as an independent business and need to pay taxes too. I don¡¯t know the specifics, you could ask somebody at city hall.¡± Joe said, leading Zoe down an alleyway between two crystalline buildings.

 18. Tie dye

    Joe took a meandering path through the city to the city hall, pointing out interesting shops and restaurants that he enjoyed as they talked about how taxes worked. There was a particular noodle shop that Joe raved about, claiming nobody else could compete with them. Zoe made a note to visit them someday.

    The city hall was not far away from the wooded area Zoe had napped at weeks past, the tall trees surrounding the park visible over of some of the smaller buildings nearby.

    The building was at the side of a large open circle with a pattern made of gray bricks in the road. In the center of the circle was a fountain spewing water from the mouth of a screeching bird that Zoe didn¡¯t recognize.

    It was an imposing building, towering over the road at three stories tall and made of a pristine white marble. Engravings ran up the tall pillars at the entrance, depicting men and women fighting vicious looking beasts. The walkway into the building was outlined in a dark slate with two large wooden doors on either side beckoning her in.

    Inside was a large open space lit by a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. To either side were several counters, receptionists standing behind each one. To the back was a wide staircase leading up to the second floor. A line was formed on both sides of the city hall with people being called to whichever counter opened first.

    Joe walked up to the shorter line on the left and waited behind the last person. The line moved rather quick and the pair made it to a counter after a few short minutes.

    ¡°Good afternoon, dropping off my tax stuff.¡± Joe said, summoning a thick envelope and handing it to the woman behind the counter.

    ¡°Sure thing,¡± the woman opened the envelope and thumbed through the papers inside. ¡°Everything looks good to me, anything else you need from me today?"

    ¡°Did you want to ask about your odd jobs?¡± Joe asked Zoe.

    ¡°Right, yeah. I was told that there¡¯s a limit to the number of odd jobs I can take before I have to claim my earnings?¡± Zoe asked the woman.

    The woman nodded at her, ¡°Yes, any income from contracted work exceeding one gold star in a single fiscal year gets taxed as per the normal business income tax brackets.¡±

    ¡°So if I never make more than a gold star from contracted work, I don¡¯t have to pay any taxes?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°That is correct.¡± She said.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m nowhere near that so I guess I don¡¯t have to worry about it for a while. Oh actually what qualifies as contracted work?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Any work done by an individual for somebody else without official employment.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°So if I worked at this guy¡¯s inn,¡± Zoe pointed her thumb at Joe. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have to pay taxes even if I made over a gold star every year because I would be officially employed?¡±

    ¡°That is correct.¡± She said.

    Joe stepped in to the conversation, ¡°Technically Zoe, your wage would be taxed but before I paid you so you wouldn¡¯t be affected by it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Oh, okay that makes sense then. Thanks!¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Anytime, we¡¯re here to help. Is there anything else you need from me today?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Do you have a brochure or something on the tax brackets?¡± Zoe asked.

    The woman giggled, ¡°No, no brochure. I can get you a copy of the papers on the tax regulations if you would like though?¡±

    ¡°Yes please,¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Please wait here a moment, I¡¯ll go grab them for you.¡± The woman stood up and walked to the back of the room by the stairs, opening a door underneath them. She came back out soon after carrying a bundle of papers.

    ¡°Here you are,¡± She placed the bundle on the counter in front of Zoe. It looked to be about a dozen pages thick.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Zoe said, grabbing the papers.

    ¡°Anytime. Is there anything else you need from me today?¡± She asked.

    ¡°No that¡¯s it I think, thank you.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Then thank you very much, and have a lovely day.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°You too,¡± Joe and Zoe both said before they left as the woman waved the next person in line over.

    Zoe looked through the papers she was given, feeling a bit confused at all the legalese. ¡°Seemed pretty simple for you, at least.¡±

    Joe laughed, ¡°The complicated part happened at my desk last night. Dropping it off is simple. A lot of people mail it in but I think it¡¯s a nice excuse to walk through the city.¡±

    ¡°I mean you can go for a walk whenever you want anyway, right?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Ahh, there¡¯s always something about a walk with a purpose that makes it feel better.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°So shopping next? Or to this Herb guy?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I think some shopping first, get some lunch after and then to Herb. Was there anything you wanted to do today?¡± Joe stretched as they stepped out into the morning sun.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m gonna be in town for the winter and don¡¯t have an inn to run, I can go shopping whenever I need stuff.¡± She answered.

    ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ve got to get some new dishware and top up on the drinks.¡± Joe said, leading Zoe down the road.

    He took another meandering path through the city to a street filled with wooden buildings. Zoe identified the street.

    [Juga]

    Joe took her in to one of the wooden buildings and she saw rows of wooden shelves, piles of dishware and cutlery on display. Zoe recognized some as the same from Joe¡¯s inn.

    He walked up to the front counter and spoke to the person standing behind it.

    ¡°Hello, I¡¯d like to buy some bulk dishes, please.¡± Joe summoned a set of dishes on the counter ¡ª two plates, three bowls, a set of cutlery and four different styles of glasses.

    The person on the other end of the counter looked at the dishes, pointing at one of the bowls. ¡°We don¡¯t carry this one anymore.¡±

    ¡°Damn, really?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t popular enough, apparently.¡± They said.

    ¡°Shoot. Got anything similar then?¡± Joe asked.

    The person shrugged, ¡°Off the top of my head, no. You¡¯re free to look at our stock though.¡± They gestured at the aisles of shelves.

    ¡°Sure, thanks.¡± Joe said, brushing his hand over the set of dishes he summoned. Each one vanished with his touch, into whatever storage item Joe was using.

    Joe walked down the aisles, humming and hawing as he picked up bowls and inspected them. It didn¡¯t take long for him to find one he was satisfied with and he brought it up to the counter.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    He summoned the suite of dishes, and replaced his bowl with the new one he picked up. ¡°I¡¯ll take forty sets of these. Eighty for the cutlery, please.¡±

    ¡°That would be one silver square, is that alright?¡± They asked.

    Joe nodded his head. ¡°Yeah that¡¯s fine, thanks.¡±

    ¡°Then please wait here for a moment while I grab your order.¡± They took another look at the dishes Joe summoned and left to the backroom.

    A minute later, they came back out with several new bracelets on their wrist, and shook hands with Joe.

    ¡°Thank you very much, please come again soon.¡± They said.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Joe nodded, and left the store.

    Zoe followed after him, ¡°So why do you need to buy new dishes anyway? I don¡¯t remember them breaking all that often, forty seems like a lot?¡±

    ¡°The last time I restocked was quite a while before you came. Dishes break every now and then, or people pocket something and eventually I need to pick up some more.¡± Joe said, leading Zoe down the road again.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just get magic plates that don¡¯t break?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe chuckled, ¡°Of course I could, but then more people would steal them. Of course, you could get dishes that alert you when they¡¯re being taken away but at a point it¡¯s just easier to buy new every so often and eat the cost. They¡¯re not that expensive.¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s sensible, I guess. But boring. I wanted magical plates.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sometimes, boring is a good thing. Go check out some of the richer taverns, they¡¯ve probably got some oddities with their dishes.¡± Joe looked to the sky. ¡°It¡¯s almost noon now, you up for some lunch? There should be a good sandwich shop nearby, I think.¡±

    ¡°You buying?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Little miss poisons herself for money then runs off to her death can¡¯t afford food now?¡± He smiled.

    ¡°I said I¡¯m sorry, okay. I should have listened.¡± She frowned.

    ¡°I¡¯m just pulling your leg, it all worked out in the end. Yes, I¡¯ll buy you a sandwich.¡± He said.

    ¡°Then yeah, I¡¯m up for lunch.¡± Zoe answered.

    Joe led her down an alleyway to a nearby street and into what looked like a massive gazebo. Tables and chairs set up all around the inside, with a square counter in the middle. Two people stood on the inside of the counter, making sandwiches for the customers.

    ¡°I¡¯ve just remembered it¡¯s a vegetarian shop, is that a problem for you?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t think it is anyway. I could go for a veggie sandwich.¡± Zoe answered.

    The duo walked up to the counter. There was a glass covering and below were trays of different vegetables. Zoe recognized a few of them ¡ª tomatoes, peppers, onions and cucumbers. But there were some others that she didn¡¯t recognize. What looked like spinach somebody took to a tie-dye competition and some strange spiky red circle

    ¡°Hello, what type of brul would you like?¡± The shorter of the two workers asked, a man with long dark hair and dark red eyes.

    ¡°Herb brul, please. Toasted.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°And for you?¡± The worker asked Zoe.

    ¡°Uhh, herb brul too, I guess. Toasted.¡± She said, a little confused.

    The man grabbed two loaves of bread filled with specks of reds and greens and sliced them. He took both halves and placed them on a metal grate off to the side, and Zoe watched as the bread toasted to a perfect golden brown in seconds.

    ¡°And for the vegetables?¡± The worker asked.

    ¡°Tomatoes, red onions, lio and furni, for me.¡± Joe said.

    The man placed the tomatoes and red onions on Joe¡¯s sandwich, and then the strange rainbow spinach and spiky red vegetable.

    ¡°And any sauce?" The man asked.

    ¡°Yeah, salt and pepper and some mayo.¡± Joe answered.

    ¡°And is that all for you?"

    ¡°That¡¯s it for me.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Then for you?¡± The man asked Zoe.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have the same, but no mayo. Do you have any other sauces? Like maybe something sweet and tangy?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°We have a sweet garlic sauce if you¡¯d like to try it?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yes please,¡± Zoe said.

    The man grabbed a spoon and dipped it in a basin of a yellow sauce, wiped off most of the excess on the edge and handed it to her.

    Zoe took the spoon and tasted the sauce. It tasted delicious, Zoe thought. Garlicky, lemony and delightfully sweet.

    ¡°Yeah, that instead of the mayo, please.¡± Zoe said.

    The man finished making Zoe¡¯s sandwich and wrapped them in paper.

    ¡°Twenty five copper for the two, please.¡± The man said, handing Joe the two sandwiches.

    Joe summoned three copper coins and handed them to the man. ¡°Thank you very much.¡± He handed Zoe¡¯s sandwich to her.

    ¡°Thanks Joe,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. You can buy next time if you feel bad.¡± He said.

    Zoe smiled, ¡°Are we eating here?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Joe pulled up a seat at one of the wooden tables and opened his sandwich.

    Zoe sat down and did the same. She looked at her sandwich, the red spiky vegetable poking out and giving her a little anxiety. She enjoyed trying new foods but this one scared her.

    Joe bit into his sandwich. ¡°I really like this place. Meat¡¯s nice but when you cook with it all day every day it feels good to just have a bite of freshness once in a while.¡±

    ¡°This weird spiky thing is safe to eat, right?¡± Zoe asked, staring at her sandwich.

    Joe laughed, his belly rumbling. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s safe. Tastes good, too.¡±

    Zoe poked at the vegetable. It was soft and she took a bite of her sandwich. The red vegetable tasted almost like a softer dragonfruit, but the strange spinach surprised her. It was spicy, as though whoever took the spinach to the tie-dye competition first compressed an entire habanero pepper into it.

    ¡°Holy crap that¡¯s hot,¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed again, ¡°Sure is. I love spicy food.¡±

    ¡°None of the food at your inn is spicy though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t cook for myself there. I cook for the customers, and it¡¯s not a restaurant like this where you can choose what you want. Whatever I make is what everybody there has to eat, so I don¡¯t put a lot of spice in.¡± He took another bite of his sandwich.

    ¡°Right, that makes sense. Actually, why do I get a buff from eating your meals but not here? I had a burger the other day too that didn¡¯t give me one.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Food buffs take mana. As an innkeeper I spend a lot of my mana on giving people buffs. But these workers might not even have a specific class for this. And the people shopping here probably wouldn¡¯t need any buffs anyway.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Gotcha. Nobody¡¯s here for a buff, they¡¯re just here for food so no point in wasting mana, basically?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s about right.¡± Joe said.

    The pair finished their sandwiches and threw the paper wrappers in a bin.

    ¡°Alright, next up is Herb and then refilling some of these barrels if you¡¯re still sticking around.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯ve had a lot of fun tagging along today, thanks for showing me around.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed, ¡°Well I¡¯m not sure how much fun taxes and chores can really be, but sure. Herb¡¯s not far away from the Inn so we¡¯ll be heading back now if you wanted to leave.¡±

    ¡°No I¡¯m fine, I look forward to meeting Herb actually.¡± Zoe said.

 19. Fur Coat

    Joe took Zoe through the city once more until she was standing just outside of Flit¡¯s Cloths. He walked up to the wooden building next-door and knocked on the door.

    Zoe heard some footsteps and then the door opened, revealing a large man in a deep blue tunic and gray pants. He had white hair that fell down around his ears, and pale green eyes.

    [Warrior - ??]

    She focused on her vampyric empathy, trying to get a read on the man. He felt nervous, afraid of something. Anxiety wracked his emotions, twisting it into a bundle of despair.

    ¡°I told ya, I¡¯m not going out there with that vampire on the loose.¡± He said.

    ¡°Come on Herb, if I know the vampire¡¯s dealt with then I know you do too.¡± Joe said.

    Herb sighed and gestured Joe in. ¡°Who¡¯s the runt?¡± He said, pointing his thumb at Zoe.

    ¡°This is Zoe,¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Zoe said sheepishly.

    ¡°Another one, Joe?¡± Herb asked, leading them in to his living room.

    It was a nice room, Zoe thought, with a comfortable looking couch, two rocking chairs and a nice wooden table in the middle of the room. To the back was a simple fireplace, a couple pieces of split firewood crackling away, wisps of smoke and ash drifting up into the chimney.

    Joe took a seat on the couch, leaning into the armrest a little. ¡°What am I supposed to do, Herb. People keep wandering into my inn looking for help. It¡¯s the least I can do.¡±

    ¡°Wait you take in people like me often?¡± Zoe asked.

    Herb sat in his rocking chair and laughed, ¡°I¡¯m not sure whether he¡¯s taken in more strays or if I¡¯ve hunted more deer. The man¡¯s a magnet for troubled souls.¡±

    Joe shrugged, ¡°Anybody¡¯d do the same in my position.¡±

    Zoe took a seat on the other rocking chair. It was comfortable, and the motion felt smooth as she rocked back and forth.

    Herb pointed at himself, ¡°I sure as hell wouldn¡¯t. I¡¯ve got enough going on in my life to add in every little shit I see. No offense, little lady.¡±

    ¡°I mean, a little offense taken.¡± Zoe did her best to scowl as she rocked on the chair.

    ¡°I just do what I can is all. Enough of that though, what¡¯s the problem, Herb? Why aren¡¯t you working anymore?¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I¡¯m scared, Joe.¡± Herb said.

    ¡°Of what? The vampire? It¡¯s gone, you know.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°No no, not the vampire. Well I guess the vampire¡¯s part of it. I was the one who reported it, you know?" Herb said.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what you said last time.¡±

    ¡°Right, it almost got me, Joe. Came right at me. I could smell its horrible breath, that stench of death. And then it just turned around and took off. I mean, even on the best of days I¡¯m one wrong move away from being dinner for a pack of hungry wolves. But that was something else.

    ¡°I thought, when the vampire¡¯s gone, I¡¯ll get back on my feet. I¡¯ll get out there, get to hunting again. And then I heard the vampire was dead and I couldn¡¯t do it. What if there¡¯s another vampire? Something had to have made that one. What if there¡¯s something hunting the vampire, or something the vampire was running away from? I can¡¯t get over it. That grisly face is burned in my memory, haunting me at every step.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Joe. I can¡¯t do it anymore, you¡¯ll have to find another supplier.¡± Herb said, his chair rocking back and forth.

    Joe sat up straighter, ¡°Hey I¡¯m sorry, Herb. I didn¡¯t know it was that bad. Don¡¯t worry about it, I hired some odd jobbers recently and I can find somebody else long term.¡±

    ¡°Thanks man. I¡¯ve been thinking about getting into painting, actually. You ever seen a high level painter¡¯s work?" Herb asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve been to Lisa¡¯s gallery a few times, beautiful works.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Lisa¡¯s great, don¡¯t get me wrong. But I mean high level, masters of the craft. On my travels I once saw this painting by a red artist, and it blew me away. I bet I could have walked right into it and explored the world they created. I want to make something like that.¡±

    ¡°No, nothing like that. Lisa¡¯s the highest I¡¯ve ever seen but she¡¯s only dark red, isn¡¯t she?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I think she might have made it to dark blue a few months ago, actually.¡± Herb said.

    ¡°Wow, good for her.¡± Joe said.

    The group sat in silence for a couple minutes, Zoe looked around the room feeling a little awkward.

    ¡°Well anyway, I¡¯ve still got to hit up Grandol before they close so we¡¯ll get going. Best of luck with your paintings. I hope it goes well for you.¡± Joe said, standing up from the couch.

    ¡°Thanks man, see you around.¡± Herb said, waving to the two as they left his house.

    ¡°So, what did all those colours you were talking about mean?¡± Zoe asked as they exited.

    ¡°I figured you¡¯d ask. It¡¯s to do with how many classes you have. See I¡¯m green, which means I have my third class. When I get my fourth, I¡¯ll be dark red. You show up as orange, cause you haven¡¯t picked your first class.¡± He paused for a moment.

    ¡°Well, you have your first class, but that should just be Human. Your first chosen class is your second class, but people usually refer to it as taking your first class. Anyway, you show up as orange to anybody who identifies you. After orange comes a light blue, the green that I have, dark red, dark blue and then finally, red. Each one another class that somebody has.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so a red artist is like, the best artist in the world then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s a lot of other factors that play in. People could get good classes, or maybe most of their classes weren¡¯t art related, or maybe they¡¯re still a low level.¡± Joe shrugged.

    ¡°Wait, how would they be low level if they were red, don¡¯t you need to be a high level to get new classes?¡± Zoe asked.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°How many levels it takes isn¡¯t the same every time, though. Level eight is always when you get to pick your first class. After that, your third class could start anywhere from sixteen to twenty-four. And it just keeps getting more spread out as it goes.¡± He explained.

    ¡°So somebody could get screwed over and end up taking a lot longer to get to their next class?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It depends on perspective. Some people like to try over and over for high levels to get as many levels as they can, but most just take what they get. More stats means better achievements for more powerful classes. But higher level requirements means fewer classes, so there¡¯s pros and cons to either side.¡± He stopped and gestured at the store they were at.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± he said, ¡°this is Grandol. I¡¯ll be restocking my drinks here then that¡¯s it for today.¡±

    ¡°Wait wait, you can keep trying again to get higher levels? Do you know what your max would be right away when you take a class?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°You can, and you don¡¯t.¡± Joe answered, opening Grandol¡¯s door.

    ¡°So you just have to level up to your max, hope it¡¯s a good one and if isn¡¯t restart it all over again?¡± She asked, stepping inside.

    Zoe had never been to a brewery before, but Grandol was exactly as she would have imagined one to look. It was a dim room with no windows, and large wooden barrels lined the walls. The smell of booze and honey permeated the room and flooded her sense of smell.

    ¡°Look, Zoe, I¡¯m not the best guy to ask about this kind of stuff. I took my classes, I¡¯m happy with them, and when I take my next class I¡¯m not going to worry about the level on that one either.¡± Joe said.

    A woman was in the room inspecting the barrels. Long blonde hair flowing down her back, covering her thick dark jacket and almost reaching to her dark blue skirt that fluttered around below her knees with each step.

    She turned to face Joe and Zoe as she heard their conversation. ¡°Yo,¡± she said, and waved.

    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m here to pick up an order of ale and mead I placed a little while ago.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?" She asked, summoning a clipboard to her hand.

    ¡°Joe,¡± he answered.

    She flipped through the pages, looking for his name. ¡°Yup, should be ready now.¡± She walked across the room and pointed at a few of the barrels on the wall. ¡°These ones are yours.¡±

    Joe walked up and touched the barrels, storing them in his storage item. He summoned a silver square and two silver circles. ¡°Seventy silver, right?¡±

    ¡°Yup!¡± She said, holding her hand out. Joe placed the coins in her hand. ¡°Thanks. Come back soon if you ever need to get good and drunk.¡±

    Joe shook his head, ¡°Sure thing, thanks.¡±

    The woman smiled, and carried on inspecting the barrels.

    ¡°Right, well that¡¯s all for me today so I¡¯m headed back to the inn to make sure everything¡¯s going well. If you¡¯re really planning on staying out all winter you should think about some heavier clothes to keep the cold away.¡± Joe said, stretching again as he left the shop.

    ¡°The cold doesn¡¯t reall-¡± Zoe tried saying.

    ¡°Just get some clothes, Zoe. You¡¯re level eight, and it gets very cold.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I guess I could use a jacket, maybe.¡± Zoe said, looking back towards Flit¡¯s Cloths.

    ¡°Good. See you around, stay safe Zoe.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°You too Joe,¡± Zoe said, watching him walk down the street to his inn.

    It was a productive day, Zoe thought. She would rather just get by on less money than have to deal with taxes. Maybe she could avoid the high pay jobs and live a frugal life. Or maybe she should just get a proper job and not have to deal with any of that.

    She doubted anybody would hire some random level eight they didn¡¯t even know though, so odd jobs would be her future for a while. If food cost her twenty copper per day which she thought she could do, that would be five days to a silver coin.

    Zoe chased off down the street after Joe, ¡°Joe! Wait up!¡± She called out.

    Joe turned around and looked at her, with a questioning look in his eyes. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± He asked.

    ¡°How many days are there in a year?¡± She asked.

    Joe laughed, ¡°Three hundred sixty five, why?"

    ¡°I was just trying to figure out my budget for the year with the whole tax thing. That¡¯s all, carry on. Thanks!" She said and turned to walk back towards Flit¡¯s Cloths.

    She heard Joe¡¯s quiet chuckling as she left him.

    A year divided by five would be seventy-two silver spent on food every year, if she was living somewhat comfortably. That wasn¡¯t bad, she would have just over four gold to spend on leisure before she¡¯d end up overspending and needing to deal with taxes.

    She opened the door to Flit¡¯s Cloths and saw the same person wandering around the floor fixing up cloth that was hanging on racks, adjusting the displays to be as appealing as possible.

    ¡°Hello again,¡± she said to them.

    ¡°Hi, can I help you?¡± They asked, a smile beaming on their face.

    ¡°Yeah, I would like a winter jacket. I¡¯m gonna be spending a lot of time outdoors this winter so I¡¯d like to stay warm.¡± Zoe told them.

    ¡°Sure thing, do you have any preference for material or colours, any particular designs that you¡¯re interested in?¡± They asked.

    ¡°No not really, just something to stay warm. White would be nice, I guess. But it¡¯s not a big deal.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Wonderful, please follow me to the back and we can make something that fits you.¡± The man said, leading Zoe to the back room again.

    Nothing had changed since Zoe was last here, and the man summoned his table and racks of fabric. His hands blurred as he reached for thick white fur looking material and whipped it around on the table.

    Moments passed, and he showed the coat to Zoe. It was a thin, white fur coat with black cloth buttons along the front and would hang down almost to her knees.

    He handed the fur coat to Zoe, ¡°Here, try this on.¡±

    Zoe took the coat and put it on. It fit her perfectly as all the clothes she got here did, comfortable and non restrictive. The coat had large pockets, which she appreciated, and it was surprising how thin the coat was. Normal fur coats bothered Zoe, the wisps of fur poking and scratching her neck. But this was thin and unintrusive. The fur it was made of was dense, and seemed to radiate an intense heat.

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s really hot,¡± she said.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s made from direwolf fur which has a natural warming effect.¡± He said, nodding.

    ¡°I see. And how much is this going to cost?¡± She asked.

    ¡°One silver for the direwolf coat.¡± He said.

    Zoe¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. That was as much as four entire outfits. Well, one was a pair of underwear, but that was still an expensive coat.

    ¡°If the price is too much, we can try a different material. But I can assure you, nothing other than enchanted clothes will provide more protection from the harsh winters in Flester.¡± They said.

    Zoe thought on it for a moment. Joe told her to get a nice coat, and she could afford this even if it was a bit expensive.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll take this one.¡± She grabbed a silver coin from her bag and handed it to the man.

    ¡°Thank you very much, please come back any time.¡± The man said, taking her silver coin and packing up his table and racks into his storage item again.

    ¡°I will, thank you.¡± Zoe smiled at the man and left.

 20. Patience (New Writing Style!)

    Zoe spent the next month wandering around Flester, building out a map of the town in her head. As the winter drew on, the snow kept getting more extreme, threatening to cover the town in a thick blanket of snow.

    Groups of mages would walk through the streets, the alleyways and parks. The snow rising and swirling around them before it would get sucked into them, or gathered in front of them before it vanished. When they first started up, Zoe spent a few days walking around watching them in awe.

    At one point, she approached one of the groups to ask what they did with all the snow. One of the mages was a water mage and they would gather all of the snow they could and push it into the other mage who was maintaining a disintegration barrier around them that would destroy the snow when it touched them.

    Zoe asked if that would be cause for accident if they accidentally touched somebody and disintegrated them, but the mage just laughed. They explained that snow didn¡¯t take much to destroy, so they could maintain the barrier at a low level and all somebody would feel is a slight tingle as it worked through their skin.

    They held out their hand and offered Zoe to try if she liked, and she shook their hand. It was an itchy feeling, as though somebody was tickling them just below the surface of their skin. Her health drained by a few points, but nothing even as bad as eating a klir leaf.

    One of the first things she tried to find was somewhere that she could practice using her bow and dagger. It took her a few days of wandering around town, but she did find a park that fit her needs. It was a large concrete square with a bunch of different activities. Large basins of water that never seemed to run out or freeze over, straw bags that recovered any damage with the help of a little mana, and wooden walls with targets drawn into them.

    It seemed to be an advertisement for a store nearby that dealt in large enchanted structures, but Zoe was much more interested in just having a safe place to practice her archery. Most of her time over the month was spent firing arrows at the wooden targets or slashing at the straw dummies with her knife in the hopes for another skill.

    She didn¡¯t get one, but she felt herself becoming more comfortable with the knife, though she didn¡¯t think it would translate to helping her if she needed to use it in combat.

    Every few days she would stop by Joe¡¯s and chat with him for a while about what she was getting up to, or interesting people that came by his store. Joe offered to let her store some of her belongings at the inn, so she left the camping supplies she bought with him.

    She also asked him how people kept their clothes clean here, noticing more grime and dirt accumulate than when she stayed at the inn. He explained that like most things, people often had a skill for it. Those who didn¡¯t would usually have family or a friend who did, or would find a shop that cleaned clothes for them. Innkeepers often did it for their patrons, and he offered to continue cleaning as he had been when she was staying at his inn.

    That surprised Zoe as she¡¯d never noticed him doing it, but he just laughed and let the familiar blue magic wash over her, taking the noticeable grime with it.

    Most of her nights were spent at the wooded park she¡¯d come to like quite a lot, practising her meditation. She found it relaxing, listening to the noisy bugs chirping in the trees, and the little winter critters running or flying from tree to tree.

    She again tried to remember to identify people, and use her vampyric empathy on as many as she could see. The habit never seemed to stick in the past, but she was committed this time, she convinced herself. Most of the people she identified were blue or green. Many of the wealthier shop owners and in particular the guards manning the walls showed up as dark red question marks.

    One time she was sitting at the sandwich shop she and Joe had visited, enjoying her dinner and saw somebody walk by with dark blue question marks. They didn¡¯t look any different otherwise to her eyes. She had expected the highest level she¡¯d ever seen to look more incredible, wear some fancy armour. But they were just wearing a nice coat and heavy black pants, walking down the street.

    Her vampyric empathy screamed at her, however. The man exuded a confidence she¡¯d never felt from anybody else. No matter who it was, everybody always had this fear lurking just below the surface. There was no anxiety, no suspicion, no doubts in this man. He looked over at Zoe as he passed and smiled at her, as if to say he knew what she was doing and didn¡¯t care. She didn¡¯t see him again though, and the month drew to an end.

    Zoe was sitting in the wooded park ¡ª Kaira, she learned it was called one night when a friendly old woman sat with her. A small paper bowl filled with rice and thinly sliced deer meat, covered in a mound of colourful veggies sat on the table in front of her. She brushed some rice that fell off of her fur coat, and decided it was time to check her stats and make some decisions.

    Name: Race: Human¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points:

    Strength:

    Dexterity:

    Vitality:

    Endurance:

    Intelligence:

    Wisdom:

    Health: Stamina: Mana: Class 1: - ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    -

    - - -

    -

    - - - --

    Resistances:

    -- --

    She stared at the window that appeared in her vision for a while, trying to think about her goals. What did she want to accomplish here anyway? At what point would she consider herself as ready to take her first class. She was immortal, and patient, but staying at level eight forever was dangerous, too. She needed more health, she needed more power. She needed to know that if she left the walls and travelled to the next town over she¡¯d make it without being gutted by a boar on the way.

    She counted her skills, nine in total, most of them stuck at level eight. She wondered if that was coincidence or if her skills were capped at her level. What would happen if she took a new class and they were? Would they have accumulated experience in her time stuck at level eight or would all that experience have been wasted? Something to pester Joe about, she thought.

    The book she got never said anything about a skills requirement for the classes, at least not for the ones she¡¯d found interesting. A few required five or ten skills, but they were mostly labourer classes that she ignored. She decided ten skills would be a good goal, and hoped her knifework on the straw dummy would pay off before long.

    She looked to her resistances next, and they looked much less impressive. Frost incarnate required fifteen resistances, she thought as she stared at the pittance she was dealing with. Not that she had any intention of getting that class either. The Unfrozen and Slayer of Frost feats were out of her reach anyway. But even without those, she had other advantages awarded to her because of her situation. And leaving her resistances in such a sorry state just seemed like asking for trouble.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    The disintegration mage Zoe talked to interested her, though. It was almost painless, feeling more like a tickle than a prick. And surely there was a disintegration resistance. Maybe she could ask to walk around with them someday and level up her resistance through them.

    Perhaps other mages existed with weak damaging effects, who could give her resistance without causing pain. Though she wondered why there was a difference between pain and damage in the first place. If she was taking a lot of damage she would want to feel it, she thought.

    Pain was something Zoe wanted to avoid if possible, so on the other hand she did appreciate the distinction. Inflicting pain on herself to gain resistances felt like a line she should strive to respect as much as possible. Though maybe that was a remnant from her world, she realized.

    At home, hurting herself for gain wasn¡¯t really an option. There were always better, healthier choices available to her. If she burnt herself, she risked losing feeling forever. And what gain was there anyway? But here, she¡¯d always recover as long as she had health and out regenerated the damage she was taking. What was the risk? Why should this be an important line to her?

    To keep her from developing an association with pain and pleasure? Would that even be a problem, though? Plenty of people back home and even Zoe to an extent enjoyed a little pain in their spare time. That didn¡¯t mean she enjoyed grabbing hot coals or having her arms chopped off.

    Pain was a necessary step to progress, and as long as she did it in a safe, controlled environment then it was fine. The hard part would be finding safe, controlled environments for another twelve types of damage so she could get to her goal of fifteen.

    She turned her attention to her feats, wondering where they would be on her stat window when they showed up. Maybe below resistances, she thought. Winter¡¯s Master was the first she was going to get, but she thought about the others that she knew of. Summer¡¯s Master was another easy one, and she wondered why the book didn¡¯t say anything about a Spring¡¯s Master or Autumn¡¯s Master.

    Did they just not exist, and only the two extreme seasons had feats? Or were they not useful to finding cold classes. Her thoughts were interrupted by a message begging for her attention.

    *Ding*

    For turning 25 as a human without choosing a second class you have been awarded with the [Patient Decider] feat.

    Zoe felt a surge of power rush through her. Pain wracked her for a moment as it felt like every fiber of her being was ripped apart and rebuilt. She gritted her teeth through the pain, and when it ceased she brought up the details on her new feat.

    *Ding*

    [Patient Decider]

    You are the one who waits, who outlasts. Your fellow humans have moved on, grasped what little power they can while you accumulate experiences. Your patience is rewarded. Find power in the mundane, and draw strength from the passage of time. All classes gain a bonus to quality. All first class restrictions lifted. First class experience bonus is applied permanently. +1 Stat Point every year.

    Her eyes widened and she looked back at her stat window again.

    Name: Race: Human¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points:

    Strength:

    Dexterity:

    Vitality:

    Endurance:

    Intelligence:

    Wisdom:

    Health: Stamina: Mana: ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: - ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    -

    - - -

    -

    - - - --

    Resistances:

    -- -- Feats:

    - Patient Decider

    She stared at the window for a while, almost all of her skills had skyrocketed and she had a bunch of stat points to put in now too. She had just turned twenty-five, but had twenty-six points to spend. Her eyes wandered to her Vampyric Immortality skill which had also levelled up. Did that give her a stat point on her birthday as well, she wondered.

    It was the only thing that made sense to her, Zoe thought as she stared at her window. The next question was what did she spend her points on.

    On one hand, she could get her wisdom also to fifty. Intelligence and wisdom at fifty before she made her decision would give her an incredible starting class, she thought. But would it be better than having seventy-five intelligence and twenty-five wisdom?

    And in the first place, should she be ignoring vitality as much as she is? If she put it all into vitality she¡¯d over double her health and thus her regeneration.

    Zoe thought about it for a moment but decided it was too risky at the moment. Both of the jobs she¡¯d taken had needed her to share her vitality. By level eight a normal human would have at most forty-five if they put every single point into it. But even if she stopped there, she¡¯d already shared it with multiple people. Could she really convince Liz that she was saving almost all of her points for the last twenty years of her life? Would that be believable at all?

    She didn¡¯t think so. Vitality would be the safe option, give her the best chance of surviving if she left to the wilderness. But it put her in an uncomfortable position, and she always had the option of just staying in town as she planned.

    That left her with intelligence and wisdom again, and Zoe found the decision easy. Maybe it was an aversion to sunk cost fallacy, but having invested so much into intelligence already made her lean towards wisdom. Fifty just seemed so much more important than seventy-five to her.

    She felt goosebumps rush across her body as she pumped her wisdom up to fifty. It wasn¡¯t quite as much of a rush as when she levelled her intelligence, but it was still pleasant. She felt calm, a serenity that she hadn¡¯t known possible for her. It reminded her of when she woke up after the vampire attack. A strange calmness that pushed away some of her fears.

    The last point she saved. She could decide later on before she took her class, and doubted it would make a difference anyway.

    Zoe sat for a while, eating her lunch and letting herself calm down. The sun drifted across the sky and the moon began to rise. She looked back to her stat window, wanting to finish her thought process on feats.

    Now that she¡¯d seen how valuable feats could be, she wanted as many as she could get. After Winter¡¯s Master, she planned to experiment with a possible Spring¡¯s Master and carry on, getting all of the seasonal master feats if she could. She also decided it would be worth doing some research on other feats she could get. Even if they didn¡¯t directly impact cold classes, if they gave her any benefit at all they¡¯d be worth it.

 21. Negotiations

    Zoe rummaged her hand through her bag, reaching for her coins. Five silver and seventy copper were all she had left. Enough for almost another month, but she needed more. Joe had said this was the harshest month of winter, too, and Zoe wanted to be as prepared as possible.

    She laid down on the bench she was sitting on for a while, waiting a few more hours into the night, watching the moon drift through the sky. Zoe got up and went to a nearby tavern to look at the job board. Liz¡¯s klir posting was up again at the same price, and she decided to pay the man another visit.

    She arrived early in the morning just as the sun was cresting the horizon. His shop was the same as she remembered, and he sat at his desk scribbling away on papers as though he were Alexander Hamilton writing a historical pamphlet.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Zoe said as she entered.

    ¡°Hello, are you here for the klir job again?¡± He asked, looking up from his papers.

    ¡°Yup. But it¡¯s a lot more dangerous out there now with the cold and poor visibility from all the blizzards. Fifty copper per bag isn¡¯t going to be enough, I¡¯d do it for eighty.¡± She said, getting a read on the man with her vampyric empathy. He seemed annoyed, and a little tired.

    ¡°Fifty-five, best I can do.¡± Liz said, pushing a feeling of worry.

    ¡°How many bags do you need this time?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Twenty.¡± His anxiety rose.

    ¡°Sixty-five and you give me more storage so I can make fewer trips.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sixty, and a ten bag item. That¡¯s it.¡± He said, seeming pleased.

    ¡°Deal.¡± Zoe said.

    Liz asked her the same questions again and Zoe answered. He raised an eyebrow at her poison resistance but handed her the papers to sign anyway. Zoe¡¯s mana flooded out from her when she signed, and she watched Liz mix in some powder to a vial and hand it to her.

    *Ding* You have been poisoned. -2.5 health/hr for 400 hours.

    Liz handed her a golden bracelet. ¡°Here. Ten bags of storage, six silver per. Is that all?¡±

    ¡°How do I use this, actually? I¡¯ve never used a storage bracelet, just the bag you gave me before.¡± She asked.

    Liz sighed, ¡°Put it on, and imagine pulling something you¡¯re touching into it. It should just work.¡±

    Zoe tried it with a copper coin she had in her bag, grabbing it with her hand and imagining the coin getting sucked into the bracelet. To her surprise, it worked. The coin was gone. She tried the same thing she did to pull klir out of the storage bag before, and the coin reappeared in her hand.

    ¡°Awesome, thanks. I¡¯ll try and get both loads finished today.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill yourself over it,¡± Liz said, returning to his mound of papers.

    Zoe left and walked to the northern gate. She felt some anxiety as she approached it but she looked at the walls, seeing numerous guards walking along the top watching the forest. A couple more standing on the ground at the gate, and even more she could only hear faint murmurings of from inside the towers on either side of the gate.

    She thought of being attacked by a boar again, rubbing at the hole in her pants where the sharp tusk sliced her thigh open. There wasn¡¯t even a scar left, but the mental anguish she felt would take a lot longer to heal.

    Zoe reminded herself that she made a mistake last time. A big mistake. She went too far away from town, and tunnel visioned on a deer. She lost track of her surroundings, and she learned her lesson. The boars don¡¯t show up around town, only the occasional wolf. But even those are spread out and she¡¯d never heard a wolf howling anyway. Wherever they called home wasn¡¯t nearby, and she figured the odd wolf track might be somebody¡¯s pet or maybe even magical familiar, she imagined.

    She stepped through the gate, wandering down the road. Visibility was lower now, with the heavy snowfall obscuring her vision. But her hearing was almost entirely unimpeded, and she tried to keep one ear listening to everything around her while she gathered the klir.

    Her first step was checking the areas she¡¯d harvested a month ago, just in case it was a very fast growing plant. And it was, she found. All of the bushes she¡¯d picked clean were filled with glowing blue leaves again. She spent the rest of the morning walking from tree to tree picking klir leaves and sucking them up into her bracelet.

    It stopped accepting anymore shortly after noon, and she grabbed a handful more leaves that she stuffed in her pocket. When she was done with this job, she wanted to test out the effects of her poison resistance.

    She made it back to Liz¡¯s shop an hour later, but this time there was somebody already in the store talking with Liz. An older man with graying hair and an ornate blue scabbard hanging from his waist.

    ¡°Yes, twenty of them please.¡± The older man said.

    Liz rummaged through his desk and brought out some papers. He scribbled on the papers for a moment before he looked up at the older man.

    ¡°Three gold each.¡± Liz said.

    ¡°Bah, you and I both know they¡¯re barely worth two.¡± The older man scoffed.

    ¡°Three each or you can make them yourself.¡± Liz said, scowling at the man.

    ¡°Fine, fine. You¡¯re never any fun. Three gold each, by next weekend.¡± The older man said.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Liz said, pulling out some more papers and scribbling on them. ¡°Twenty superior healing potions by next weekend. Sixty gold coins total, paid up front.¡±

    ¡°Up front!?¡± The man exclaimed, ¡°Are you mad?¡±

    ¡°I need to pay for material costs, and if you die or otherwise disappear I¡¯m left with twenty potions nobody in their right mind would ever pay for. Sixty gold coins up front or find somebody else.¡± Liz said.

    The older man sighed and summoned a pile of coins on Liz¡¯s desk. ¡°Fine, but you best not be late with production.¡± He turned and left, nodding to Zoe as he passed her.

    Liz sighed, pulling all of the coins into his own storage item. ¡°Yes? Have you gathered the first ten bags?¡± He asked, looking at Zoe.

    ¡°Yeah, how do I give them to you though? Do I have to summon them all one by one or something?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Grab my hand,¡± Liz said, sticking his hand out, ¡°and imagine pulling all of the leaves out of the bracelet into my hand.¡±

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Zoe followed his instructions, grabbing his hand and pushing all of the klir through to him.

    *Ding* Trade initiated

    Ten bags of [Klir] for one [Silver Star] and one [Silver Coin]

    ¡°Mentally accept the trade.¡± Liz said.

    Zoe urged the trade to go through.

    *Ding* Trade accepted

    ¡°Will you be back with the next load tonight then?¡± Liz asked her.

    ¡°Um, yeah. I might be a little after sundown though if you could stick around a bit longer?¡± Zoe asked.

    Liz shook his head, ¡°No, I close at sundown.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll probably be back tomorrow morning then.¡± Zoe said.

    Liz nodded, and Zoe headed out.

    She thought about her plans and decided to stop by Joe¡¯s inn to pick up her orange gem. She thought that while she was out, she might as well try and get the fire and heat resistances. It might be better to do within the walls if she was going to be hurting herself, but she didn¡¯t know what the laws were on making fires in the city and didn¡¯t feel like checking at the moment. As long as she stayed nearby, she was still safe enough, she felt.

    She greeted Joe and grabbed her fire gem then made the journey out to the northern gate once more. By the time she got there, it was early into the evening. The sun was falling to the horizon and the moon was just cresting on the other side.

    Her next few hours were spent gathering Klir, and stuffing it into her magical bracelet. It was a peaceful time, and every so often she would feel it grow a little easier as her Gathering skill would level up. The blue light from the klir piercing through the snow a little more. The leaves falling away with just a little less force.

    When the bracelet was full, she started to clear out an area near a tree, shoving the deep snow away to make something of a pit to start her fire in. The ground was icy, the water soaked into the earth and frozen over. But she thought the orange gem would manage anyway, Henry said it would last through the winter so she had no reason to believe magic wouldn¡¯t solve the problem for her.

    Zoe tore bits off some of the trees nearby and picked up some twigs that had fallen into the snow, gathering them into a pile. She pointed the orange gem and channelled her mana through it, blasting the pile of wood with fire. The sticks ignited, smoke billowing out from the wet wood.

    She spent a few minutes wandering around the area picking up more sticks and ripping off small branches from trees, dumping them in until it grew to a respectable fire more than capable of hurting her. Then she continued gathering more, making a small pile to the side to keep it going for as long as she needed it to.

    Anxiety rose as she watched the fire roar, the smoke rising from the fire stinging her eyes. All she had to do was reach out and grab a stick. It would hurt, but she would get a resistance out of it. The pain would be temporary and she would be stronger for it. It was worth it, she reminded herself, staring at the fire in front of her.

    Zoe took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. She reached into the fire with her left hand, the heat radiating out less intense than she expected as her hand hovered in the flickering flames. Her hand dove into the pile of burning sticks and grabbed some of the hot coals.

    She winced in pain, trying her best not to cry out. It too wasn¡¯t as bad as she expected it to be, but it was still one of the most painful things she¡¯d ever chosen to do. Her flesh was sizzling as she rummaged her hand around the hot coals, the smell of burnt flesh wafting up to her nose.

    Health: 174/200

    Her health dropped a lot with the initial grab, but the drain after was painfully slow. She didn¡¯t know how much damage was needed for a resistance, but she wished it would go faster.

    She tossed another stick on the fire with her other hand, continuing to push the hot coals around with her left. Zoe found it more manageable if she made a game of it, stacking and sorting the hot coals and burning sticks as they crumpled onto each other.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Fire resistance.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Heat resistance.

    Health: 146/200

    Zoe cried out in joy, smothering the fire with the surrounding snow. She took a nervous look at her left hand and found it wasn¡¯t too bad. Red and blistered, covered in soot. But it still worked, even if a little painful. She had a moment of fear that it wouldn¡¯t recover and she would be scarred for the rest of her life, but brushed it aside. The gash from the boar didn¡¯t scar, this won¡¯t either, she hoped.

    The important thing was she did it. She pushed through the pain, as hard as it was, and got two new resistances. She could handle it, she could do it. She just had to find more controllable sources of damage, and she¡¯d be free to get any class she could hope for. She smiled with glee, the pain pushed aside by the intense excitement flooding her mind.

    A part of her wanted to collapse on the ground and sleep. Not that she was tired, it just felt fitting to her. But she forced herself to stand up anyway. She was close to the walls, but still outside of them. There was no reason to take unnecessary risk, she could rest at the park.

    Her walk back to the gate didn¡¯t take long, and she rushed to the park to sit at her favourite bench. She smiled, feeling pride well up inside her of her accomplishment. Part of her felt silly for it, she¡¯d just burnt her hand and would normally want to seek medical attention about two hours ago when she¡¯d been so reckless. But she looked at her health again and felt elated.

    Health: 148/200

    She basked in the feeling of pride and accomplishment for the rest of the night. Every few minutes pulling open her stat window to look at her new resistances, beaming the whole time. It felt as though the doors of possibility had opened to her. Sure, the resistances themselves didn¡¯t do much, yet. But it meant so much more than that to her.

    The sun began to rise, and she made her way to Liz¡¯s Festering Feelings once more to hand in another load of klir and get her payment. Liz was sitting at his desk, scribbling away at papers as usual.

    Zoe wondered if he ever did anything else, or what he was even writing about. Maybe letters to friends? Some kind of magic? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got another ten bags here,¡± Zoe said, taking off her bracelet and handing it to him.

    ¡°Good, thank you.¡± Liz said, summoning another couple of silver coins as well as a vial of familiar liquid, handing them to her.

    ¡°Thanks, when will you be needing more?¡± Zoe drunk the vial.

    *Ding* You have been cured of poison.

    ¡°Not until spring,¡± Liz answered, stacking some papers next to him.

    Zoe left and pulled out the klir leaf she had stuffed in her pocket the previous day. The blue light had dimmed slightly, but she chewed on the leaf and swallowed it anyway.

    *Ding* You have been poisoned. -2 health/s for 16 seconds. +1 mana/s for 16 seconds.

    She ran the numbers in her head. Seven thousandths of twenty seconds didn¡¯t add up to four. And the actual damage didn¡¯t seem affected at all by her resistance. She shrugged. There was no rush, she had all the time in the world to figure things out.

 22. Birdwatching

    Zoe stood outside Liz¡¯s shop wondering what she should do next. There was of course, a laundry list of things she needed to do. But there was also the entire rest of eternity to do them. It was a strange feeling, she¡¯d come to learn.

    At first when she realized her advantage she was excited. She knew it was big, of course. But it hadn¡¯t clicked for her the whole scope of what it meant. Immortality didn¡¯t just mean that she could spend more time getting achievements, stats, and feats. It meant she could spend more time sitting on a park bench doing nothing at all and not worry about whether it was a waste of time.

    And that¡¯s just what she decided to do.

    When she got to the park, she saw Lynn sitting down at her favourite bench. Lynn was an older lady who came to the park almost as often as Zoe did. They¡¯d spoken a few times, and Zoe found her company for the most part enjoyable.

    Zoe stuffed her injured hand in her pant pocket and sat on the bench next to Lynn. The pair sat there in silence for a few hours, watching the birds flutter from tree to tree.

    ¡°I wish more people could appreciate this.¡± Lynn said, turning her head to look at Zoe.

    ¡°The birds, you mean?" Zoe asked.

    Lynn gestured around her, ¡°everything. Everybody¡¯s always moving so quick, rushing through life. Nobody has the time to just relax and enjoy themselves.¡± She sighed.

    ¡°Well I think everybody¡¯s got their own things to do, you know? Jobs, or family. Or maybe they just want to go train their skills or something.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. It¡¯s just a shame. Life¡¯s so beautiful.¡± Lynn said.

    ¡°It is. Especially in the winter, I love how bright everything is with the snow on the ground. All the tracks the animals leave through the snow. The smell of the snow, the noise of it crunching below people¡¯s feet. It¡¯s my favourite time of the year.¡± Zoe said.

    Lynn laughed, ¡°Yes, well it would be very unfortunate if somebody lived here and didn¡¯t like the winter.¡±

    They sat for a while longer, watching the snow fall on the park, listening to the birds chirping in the trees.

    ¡°Hey, look over there,¡± Lynn said, pointing at a nearby tree. ¡°I think he fancies her!"

    Zoe looked where she pointed and saw two birds on a large branch about halfway up. One of the birds was hopping in a circle around the other, its black wings spread above it in almost a crescent shape. The other bird stood still, its head swivelling around to watch the performance.

    Every couple rotations, the flamboyant bird would try and approach, and the other would hop back away from it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯s into it yet, he¡¯s gonna have to step up his game.¡± Lynn said, her eyes glued to the performance.

    Lynn and Zoe watched for a couple minutes, the two birds hopping across the branch back and forth. Until one time the male bird leapt at the female bird, landing on her back. The two birds wings fluttered and the male was pushed aside while the female took off, flying to another tree nearby.

    ¡°Aww, too bad little guy. You¡¯ll get her next time!¡± Lynn giggled.

    ¡°You like birds, huh?¡± Zoe asked her.

    ¡°Oh yes deary, I do. Love them. Those little ones were Nekhbets. Lovely little things. They mate for life but the females are quite picky. If we¡¯re lucky, we¡¯ll see him try again soon.¡± Lynn said.

    ¡°He¡¯ll just hop right back into it and go for it again? Really?¡± Zoe asked, watching the male bird preen its feathers on the branch near her.

    ¡°Yes, yes. The males can be very persistent you see. It so rarely works out for them but they give it their best shot anyway. Once he¡¯s done cleaning he¡¯ll probably go find a gift to bring her and try again.¡± Lynn explained.

    ¡°A gift?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°He might find an interesting twig or stone. Maybe somebody¡¯s hair.¡± Lynn giggled.

    ¡°Like would he just rip out somebody¡¯s hair or find a clump of it on the ground?¡± Zoe asked.

    Lynn giggled some more, ¡°Either way, really. They can be little menaces sometimes. Oh look, here he goes!"

    Zoe looked at the bird and he jumped off the branch, falling to the ground with his wings spread. He hopped around on the ground near the tree, picking up little twigs with his beak and tossing them to the side.

    Eventually, the bird seemed to get excited over something, jumping in place flapping his wings around. He reached down with his beak and picked up another twig then took off to the tree the female bird flew to earlier.

    ¡°What a precious little thing, huh?¡± Lynn asked.

    ¡°Yeah that was cute. I wonder what he saw in that particular stick anyway?¡± Zoe chuckled.

    ¡°Maybe it was pointy in the right way? Who knows what they think. Hopefully that was the right one and she likes it.¡± Lynn giggled.

    ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have to wait and see, huh?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I wish I could but it¡¯s about time I get back. If I let Hector cook dinner we¡¯ll be having burnt venison with a side of poorly cut vegetables.¡± She shook her head, standing up with a groan.

    ¡°Hector¡¯s your husband?¡± Zoe asked her.

    ¡°Have I not told you about him? Remind me next time we¡¯re here. He¡¯s a lovely man, just can¡¯t cook if his life depended on it.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°I will, hope you make it home in time then.¡± Zoe said, looking back to the tree the birds flew to.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Lynn laughed, stretching her back. ¡°I think I will dear, I think I will. Keep an eye on those little birds for me will you?¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, Lynn. I¡¯ll tell you how it goes sometime.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Thanks, dear. Have a nice day now.¡± Lynn said, walking off down the path giggling to herself.

    Zoe watched the male bird land on a branch next to the same female bird from earlier. He dropped his stick in front of her then hopped back and bowed his head. The female bird look at the stick and poked at it with her beak, then bowed to the male bird as well.

    He jumped into action, his wings spreading out in the same crescent shape as he bounced in circles around her. She seemed less averse to his play this time, though she¡¯d still hop back every so often.

    Eventually, the male leapt at the female again, and their wings tussled as they tumbled around on the branch. But this time instead of the female taking off alone, the male followed along with her to a distant tree.

    Zoe decided to stop watching then. The ritual was interesting to her, but she¡¯d have to get up and walk around, try to find them again if she wanted to continue watching. And she wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to see what was next anyway. Or maybe that was what the tussling was? She wasn¡¯t really sure how birds worked.

    It was a relaxing day for Zoe, which surprised her. She¡¯d seen documentaries on birds before, watched their mating rituals on the internet or television, but never in person. It added so much, seeing it all in person. Watching the birds hop around herself, hear their chirping and cawing for herself.

    She could get into it, she thought. Maybe not every day, or even every month. But she had plenty of time to sit and watch the birds sometimes, too. She sat back and relaxed, letting the sounds of nature wash over her as the evening drew on, until her stomach grumbled.

    Dinner time, she thought.

    Most restaurants were inaccessible to her she¡¯d found over the last month. It made sense though. In such a cold environment most people wanted to be inside, surrounded by warmth and walls that kept the wind off them.

    Unfortunately for Zoe, that was something she had to avoid. Her options were few and far between, the sandwich shop that Joe took her to was one. It had a roof, but Zoe didn¡¯t think it was large enough to count as a shelter. Easy enough to get food and leave too, if she needed.

    Then there was the food court that she found a while ago. It was decent enough food but greasy food was only tasty some of the time. The rest of the time it was bloating and made her feel gross.

    And her final option was to pick a random restaurant and hope they did takeout. Usually, they didn¡¯t, but she kept trying. Each new restaurant would get added to her ever growing list of weirdo accessible restaurants.

    The list was rather short still, only two restaurants on it. One was a nice restaurant with plenty of rice dishes and another that served something reminiscent of pizza. It was more of a flat, tough bread with cheese melted on the top. But it was close enough.

    For today, she felt like grabbing some greasy food. She¡¯d had an exciting day yesterday and wanted to celebrate by gorging herself on garbage. Healthy? Maybe not, but she was a half vampire now. She had no idea what that really meant for her diet, but either way she lived a very active life these days.

    She got up and walked down the road towards the food court. She kept an eye out for the disintegration mage who wandered around cleaning the streets just in case, but he was either not at work today or in another part of the city.

    The food court was bustling with activity, people advertising their stalls and others sitting and munching on food. Zoe walked up to her favourite fried chicken stall. Fried ryz, really, but ryz were just chickens from what Zoe had heard. Very big chickens, with horns. That also produced milk. Zoe tried not to think about it too much, it was just tasty fried chicken.

    She grabbed a box of fried ryz for twelve copper from that stall then waited in line at a bakery¡¯s stall. They showed up every night to sell whatever they couldn¡¯t sell that day at a discounted price, and Zoe often stopped by to pick up a late night snack.

    They had a couple of sweet pastries for sale and a bunch of different buns of varying shades of brown with specks of different colours littered throughout them. Zoe picked out a light pastry with some kind of pink fruit slices laid on top of it for another ten copper and sat down at one of the empty tables.

    The fried ryz was crispy and moist, the white meat inside tender and perfectly cooked. The batter they dipped the ryz in was seasoned well, too. Just the right amount of salt with a nice spicy kick mixed in. The stall had a sweet dipping sauce they offered too, but Zoe wasn¡¯t a huge fan of it. Sweet and spicy was a good combination, but they took it too far with the sweet, she thought.

    She finished her fried ryz and turned to the fruit pastry that had been staring at her the entire time. The pastry was square, about a centimeter thick, and rather brittle. The edges crumbled as she handled it, leaving dark crumbs of pastry on the napkin it was resting on.

    Zoe bit into it. The pastry itself was buttery and light, each layer of it crunching between her teeth. The pink fruits on top were soft to the point of almost being spreadable, with a delightful sweetness.

    Maybe she should take up cooking, she thought. There were so many new ingredients to work with here that all seemed so interesting to her. And besides, she needed more skills anyway. Cooking might be a good one.

    She finished off her pastry and stretched. This was a nice day, Zoe felt. But being immortal was no excuse to not take advantage of opportunities she had. It was time to find the disintegration mage and hold his hand for a while. She chuckled to herself as she stood.

    Flester at night in the dead of winter was an interesting sight. Most people stayed inside their homes or inns, and the town was quiet. Snow fell, covering the roads and alleys in a soft white blanket. Until the groups of snow clearers wandered nearby, at least. Most of the groups were near silent, at most a distant sizzling as the snow was destroyed through somebody¡¯s magic.

    But some of them were quite noisy. Rocks scraping along the ground, crushing the snow into oblivion. There was even the odd person just shovelling snow by hand into a giant bag they dragged along behind them.

    And then they would pass, and the silence would return as though it were never broken to begin with.

    Zoe wandered around looking for the disintegration mage again for a few streets before she gave up ¡ª there was no guarantee they¡¯d be out right now anyway, and instead approached the first group she saw. They were another pair, one of the mages gathering the surrounding snow to a ball in front of them. The other would cast some spell and the ball would vanish with a dull whooshing sound.

    [Mage - ??]

    [Mage - ??]

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Zoe asked them.

    ¡°Yes?¡± The second mage responded.

    ¡°I met a group a week ago, they were a water mage and disintegration mage combo. One of them gathered the snow and pushed it into a light disintegration barrier the other maintained around themselves. I¡¯m just wondering if you happen to know them?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± the mage tilted their head and thought for a moment. They looked to the other mage, ¡°Do you think that was Ash and Lila?¡±

    The other mage nodded their head, ¡°Sounds like them to me, at least.¡±

    ¡°Ash and Lila?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mhm, nice couple. They could be doing a lot more for themselves, but they always help out every winter. Why do you need them?¡± The first mage asked.

    ¡°Oh I just wanted to maybe find them again if you knew where they worked or something?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Normally they¡¯re out in the early afternoon near the eastern wall. You could go check out there tomorrow maybe? I hope you don¡¯t take offense but I¡¯m not sure they¡¯d want me telling a random stranger where they live, sorry.¡± The second mage said.

    ¡°No, no that¡¯s already super helpful. I totally understand. Thanks a bunch! Sorry to keep you from your work.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No problem, good luck tomorrow.¡± They said, carrying on removing the snow as they walked down the road.

 23. Slayer of Cinders

    Zoe wandered around town through the night, watching the ever present battle between the people clearing snow and nature pouring more down to fill up the streets once more. According to the pair she talked to, Ash and Lila were the mages she was looking for. And they¡¯d probably be sleeping at the moment.

    So she continued wasting the time away, enjoying the spectacle of magic and power that were the human snow plows in this world. Perhaps one day it would be mundane to her, but even after a month of watching them it was still exciting every time she saw them. It was perhaps one of the biggest culture shocks to Zoe since coming to this world.

    Sure, there was magical cleaning spells, and cool storage items. Buffs, and classes and stats to play with. But those were so far removed from her normal life that they didn¡¯t feel unusual, they felt new. But big muscled women walking around with giant rocks, pulverizing the snow into nothingness through some kind of reality defying magic, instead of just plowing through it with a horse?

    That was weird, and fantastical. It made her question so many other things, like what other normal, mundane tasks were solved through manual labour here? What did a field of grain look like? Did they have oxen pulling machinery through the fields, or did they just hire the biggest guy they found at a bar?

    Zoe laughed to herself at the thought of a big burly man bulling a plow through a field, excited to get a new level from the day. It just felt so wrong, and yet somehow it seemed possible here.

    The sun began to rise, and Zoe decided she¡¯d check out a job board, see if there was anything good available at the moment. She went to a tavern near the eastern side of town and took a look at the offerings.

    As usual there were many people looking for catering and security, or some muscle to help move furniture around. Zoe ignored them. Maybe with her uncapped skills she could end up being helpful at some point, but she doubted anybody would hire a level eight even if they seemed capable, and didn¡¯t want to stand out too much anyway.

    Lorelei seemed nice enough, but five gold coins wasn¡¯t all that much at the end of the day. Not enough to give up such a massive secret when she didn¡¯t even know what the consequences of it would be. Maybe for a hundred, but for just five? That¡¯s live the next few years in comfort money, not live the rest of her life in comfort money.

    She looked at some of the other jobs posted. There were plenty requesting stocks of meat, and Zoe might have been tempted to take them a month ago. But somebody else could take those risks. Herb was an experienced hunter and even he was feeling like it was too much.

    Zoe wandered around a while longer, keeping an eye out for Ash and Lila. It was shortly after noon when she finally found them. Snow swirling around the one mage, vanishing as it touched them. The disintegration mage showed up as a darker blue to her identify.

    They were the second person she¡¯d seen at such a high level, and she wondered if maybe they were more common than she expected. Remembering to identify people was a difficult thing for her, but she was getting better at it. Maybe one day she¡¯d even see the other red that Joe had talked about.

    [Mage - ??]

    [Mage - ??]

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    The mage laughed, ¡°That is a fantastic idea. I¡¯m Ash,¡± they said holding their hand out and bowing slightly.

    Zoe took their hand, her hand tingling as the disintegration magic began its slow drain on her health. Ash pulled her in to their side.

    ¡°

    ¡°

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    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Ash started walking forward, dragging Zoe along with them while Lila gathered the snow and whisked it into Ash¡¯s aura. It felt whimsical, being this close to the spectacle. Snow whipped around her as it got pulled in to Ash, and Zoe¡¯s head spun on her shoulders watching it all with her enhanced eyes. More snow was falling from the sky in a light dusting, and all of it got pulled into the whirlwind of snow that Zoe was in the centre of.

    ¡°

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    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Lila sighed, ¡°We live not far east of town, just follow the road down a ways and you can¡¯t miss it.¡±

    ¡°

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    *Ding* You have unlocked the Disintegration Resistance

    Zoe smiled as the notification interrupted her entertainment.

    ¡°Did you get it already?¡± Ash asked, noticing Zoe¡¯s smile.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, yes I did, thank you.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°Wow. I¡¯d heard resistances were easier before your first class but that¡¯s impressive. What¡¯s your health at now anyway?¡± Ash asked.

    Health: 153/200

    ¡°Uh, one fifty right now.¡± Zoe said.

    Ash waved their hand around, Zoe¡¯s hand still in it. ¡°You wanna keep going or are we done with our little impromptu date?¡±

    ¡°I mean, I don¡¯t. I could use some more levels, if you¡¯re offering, I guess?¡± Zoe said.

    Ash laughed, ¡°And so the impromptu date carries on!¡±

    Zoe blushed a little. She was never much a fan of people joking about dates. Did Ash really think of it as a date? That would be weird, since they¡¯d barely known each other. But on the other hand, they kept bringing it up, which was also weird to her if they weren¡¯t serious. So which weird was the right weird?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being strange, but is this a date?¡± Zoe asked.

    Lila smacked Ash¡¯s shoulder and Ash laughed, ¡°It could be if you want. But no, I¡¯m just flirting, I guess. It¡¯s a bit of fun.¡±

    ¡°I thought the two of you were together?¡± Zoe asked them.

    ¡°We are. Ash is just a little free spirited, though it works out well for me too.¡± Lila said, smiling as she looked at Ash.

    ¡°Enough of that. More about you, Zoe. You mentioned something about feats?¡± Ash asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m trying for Winter¡¯s Master right now. I think I¡¯ll try and get all of the seasonal master feats while I¡¯m at it. I know winter and summer exist but I¡¯m not sure about spring and autumn.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of those. I do think there¡¯s a spring and autumn one too, but I¡¯ve never gotten them myself.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°Really? Why not? I might be weird for doing it so early but I would have thought most people would get them considering how easy they are?" Zoe asked.

    Ash laughed, ¡°You¡¯re a different breed, you know that? Life¡¯s way too short to spend a year of it being uncomfortable just for a slightly better class. I mean, what, you¡¯re gonna move snow around a little bit easier? Big whoop. I slept in a comfortable bed in a warm house last night.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good point. Very fair.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°If you know a class you want that requires one then go for it, but I say just find another class, really. Feats aren¡¯t worth the time they take. The good ones are way too much effort and the easy ones don¡¯t do enough to be worth it.¡± Ash explained.

    ¡°Now that you mention it, what are some good feats?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well there¡¯s the slayer series, for killing different elementals. They give good bonuses but good luck even finding an elemental, let alone killing one.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°Mhm, I¡¯ve also heard of a few feats for embodying an element. Saw one guy who burned his entire body and got a Cindered feat out of it. Might get one for being disintegrated completely, but who knows how you get back after that one.¡± Ash said.

    Zoe laughed, ¡°Yeah I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be getting either of those.¡±

    ¡°Probably not.¡± Ash said, the disintegration aura turning off and the tingle in Zoe¡¯s hand fading away with it.

    The snow whirling around them died down too, as Lila stopped whatever spell she was casting.

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s all for us today. We¡¯ve gotta get back to the farm and make sure things are going alright.¡± Ash said.

    ¡°Okay, thanks for the help today.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No problem. What¡¯d you get your resistance up to anyway?¡± Ash asked.

    - Disintegration (2)

    ¡°Two,¡± Zoe answered, checking her health again.

    Health: 127/200

    ¡°Damn, that¡¯s pretty quick.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we do need to get going though. It was nice meeting you, Zoe. Don¡¯t forget to stop by our farm in the summer, we¡¯ll get a resistance party going for you.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°Yes! Do that. Or come by whenever. Our friends won¡¯t be back until summer but come stop by for dinner sometime.¡± Ash smiled at her.

    ¡°I might take you up on that then. It was nice to meet you two too.¡± Zoe nodded her head.

    ¡°See you around then,¡± Ash said.

    The two waved and Zoe watched them walk off down the street.

    That went better than she expected. They were nice, and might be able to provide her with even more resistances in a few months. Zoe realized she should¡¯ve asked more about that ¡ª what types of damage, did they maybe have somebody who could heal as well, or really just anything about it. But maybe it would be a nice surprise for her instead.

 24. Intuition

    It was early evening when Ash and Lila went back to their farm, and Zoe decided to go get some food. She was feeling rice, so she made her way to the rice restaurant that she frequented. It was a small wooden building with only a couple tables inside that made most of their business through takeout.

    Zoe ordered a wild rice and vegetable meal, paid the fourteen copper and left. She wasn¡¯t sure what else to do, so ended up wandering over to the training facility she had found to get in some more practice.

    The rice was tender and soft, not like the wild rice that she was used to. A pile of colourful vegetables sat on the top of it, coated in a somewhat sweet and sticky sauce that dripped down into the rice. It was filling and tasty, especially after the greasy food she had the previous day.

    When she arrived, she saw a couple of other people using the facilities. There was another bowman she had seen a few times shooting a large metal compound bow at the targets, each arrow piercing the target before vanishing and reappearing in his quiver that hung by his waist.

    A mage stood by the vats of water, pulling the water out and swirling it around them. Steam rose off the water, only to be captured by the mass of water and compressed back down.

    There were a couple of people sitting at a table, their swords resting on the bench next to them. They were giving each other pointers as they cooled down from a spar they just had.

    Zoe finished up her meal and tossed the container in the garbage bin, then made her way over to the straw dummies and drew her dagger from the sheath resting at her hip.

    She held the dagger in her right hand and stabbed at the mass of straw. Her dagger pierced into it, bits of straw falling to the ground around it.

    The dagger felt comfortable to her, but that didn¡¯t mean she knew what she was doing. She just didn¡¯t think she¡¯d accidentally stab herself in a freak accident. She knew where the blade was, and she respected it. But she needed something more. There must be a skill available, if there was one for archery, she thought.

    Zoe wondered what the difference was between the two. She got the archery skill reasonably quickly, in just a single day. But even after hours and hours across multiple days, there was nothing for her knife.

    She slashed her blade across the straw dummy, sending straw flying as the blade made a deep gouge through the straw. This wasn¡¯t accomplishing anything, she needed to understand why.

    Maybe there just wasn¡¯t a skill available at all. Why would there be a skill for every little thing anyway? She pushed the thought aside, there was a skill for picking leaves off bushes. There must be a skill for wielding a dagger.

    But what was the difference? What did she do differently to get the gathering skill? Why did even that one come so much easier. She sat down on the cold stone ground and pondered it for a while.

    The only connection she could find were that Archery and Gathering were both skills for things she already had a little experience with. She kept a lovely garden at her house, and she was given a brief lesson on archery on a field trip back in middle school.

    Using a knife, or at least wielding one as a weapon was something she was completely unfamiliar with. There was no history to draw on. No field trip teaching her how to properly stab something, no passion project in her backyard forcing her to learn how to cut a straw dummy in two.

    Even if that was the case, she still didn¡¯t know how to use a knife so it didn¡¯t help much. Zoe flipped the knife around, holding it in a reverse grip and stabbed into the straw dummy. The blade dug deep, tearing into the straw.

    It felt fruitless to her. She wanted to get the skill, and feel the rush of intuition pressing her to make the right decision, to swing her blade the right way. But it just didn¡¯t come.

    She turned her attention to the archery range, walking up a few feet next to the other bowman who was still firing his arrows at one of the targets. Zoe watched him for a minute, seeing how he drew the bow.

    He looked confident, each movement smooth. His elbow started high and followed almost a circular pattern as it drew the string and lowered to just below his chin. The string rested up against his face as he aimed for the target. His body seemed to relax for a moment just before he released the arrow. A sharp twang rang out followed by a thud from the arrow impaling the target.

    Zoe drew her own bow, nocking an arrow on the string and pulling it back. Her archery skill nudged her arm higher as she did, and the motion felt a lot better than she was used to. It felt stronger, and smoother. The muscles in her back helping a lot more than they did before.

    She aimed at the target down the range and released, firing the arrow. A thud rang out as it smashed into the wooden barrier twenty centimetres off from the centre. Not bad Zoe thought, drawing another arrow.

    Her archery skill gave her a gentle push, urging her towards better form, pressing her aim a little higher than she would have expected. She released another arrow and it flew down the range, landing a couple centimetres closer to the centre than the last.

    Zoe loosed her remaining six arrows at the target, the rest having been destroyed from her practice. With each shot she focused on her form, drawing more power from her back muscles. She kept getting closer and closer to the centre, her last shot only at most twelve centimetres off.

    She walked up to the target, the man next to her pausing his practice as she collected her arrows. They were always harder to pull out than she expected them to be, no matter how much time she spent here. And every time she had this unfounded fear of destroying them.

    Back at school, the teachers hammered home the importance of grabbing the arrow as close to the target as possible and then pulling it straight out. But they also used much softer, more malleable targets than a wooden wall. And they had nice, comfortable rubber tools to grip the arrow with as well. Zoe didn¡¯t think it mattered what she did back then, the arrows came out like a knife through butter that¡¯s been left out on a warm summer day.

    Pulling a slick arrow that¡¯s been embedded into a block of solid wood with your bare hands, on the other hand, was a challenge. And it made her envious of the person next to her with the arrows that returned after they impacted without the need of all this kerfuffling about.

    But she managed it after a few minutes. Her fingers were a little sore, and she wasn¡¯t sure whether to be happy her arrows were so smooth or not. It made them a little harder to pull out, but rough wooden shafts sounded like a nightmare full of splinters. They probably flew better being so smooth, too, she supposed.

    The man next to her continued his firing when she returned to her spot, and the two fell into a routine for a bit. The man taking a break and watching her every time she had to go pull out her arrows.

    ¡°Your form¡¯s getting better,¡± The man said when she returned to her spot one time.

    ¡°Thanks! I¡¯ve kinda just been trying to copy you.¡± Zoe said, remembering she hadn¡¯t identified the man.

    [Warrior - ??]

    She was surprised to see him identify as a warrior. She didn¡¯t know what she expected, but part of her thought that an archer would show up differently. Maybe a ranger, or bowman or something.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m hardly perfect either so hopefully you don¡¯t pick up my bad habits.¡± The man said, drawing and firing another arrow down the range.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°So how does that whole arrow vanishing thing work anyway?¡± Zoe asked.

    The man smiled, ¡°It¡¯s one of my skills. They return to me when I fire them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a little envious, honestly. I like archery but pulling the arrows out of the target all day long isn¡¯t very fun.¡± Zoe said.

    The man laughed, ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s really nice. You can get some bows that do similar things though, but they¡¯re quite expensive.¡±

    ¡°Like how expensive, expensive?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Last I checked, which was before I got this skill mind you, at least fifty gold. On top of the normal cost of whatever bow you were buying. And if you¡¯re spending that kind of money you¡¯re going to get a good bow.¡±

    ¡°Damn, that¡¯s out of my price range.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yup,¡± the man said, firing another arrow.

    He didn¡¯t seem to have anything else to say, so Zoe just watched him fire arrow after arrow for a couple more minutes before she left. It was getting late, and she wanted to go relax for a while.

    Zoe walked down to the park and sat at her favourite bench. She listened to the night sounds as the moon made its way through the sky, and the morning sun began to rise.

    Lynn showed up a couple hours later, coming and sitting next to her.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± she said.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°How¡¯d our little bird friend get on after I left?¡± She asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I think it went well? He dropped the stick off and then bowed, then she poked at it and bowed. Then he hopped around a bunch and the two flew off. I didn¡¯t see where they went after that though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Good for him,¡± Lynn giggled.

    ¡°What I don¡¯t get though, is that they didn¡¯t take the stick with them when they flew off? He looked around and found the perfect gift, then brought it to her. And then they just abandoned it? What was the point of it all?" Zoe asked.

    Lynn giggled some more, ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll ever know. It must have been a very important stick, though!"

    ¡°I guess. It was fun, honestly. I¡¯ve never really bird watched before so thanks for pointing that out to me. I would have totally ignored it normally.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh you¡¯re welcome, dear. I always keep an eye out for the birds, never know what they might get up to.¡± Lynn said.

    ¡°Anyway I think I¡¯m gonna go say hi to a friend this morning, so I¡¯ll see you around. Enjoy your bird watching.¡± Zoe stood up and waved her hand.

    ¡°Have a nice day dear! I¡¯ll just be here for a while.¡± Lynn said, smiling.

    Zoe started making her way down to Joe¡¯s inn. It had been a little while since she¡¯d really had a good chat with him and she wanted to ask him about Ash and Lila anyway before she jumped into something that might be reckless.

    His inn looked the same as it always did, which was a comforting fact for Zoe. She had come to understand what he said about being a place for the less wealthy adventurers and travellers a couple months prior. Knowing there was a place that was always there made everything she did feel just a little bit more comfortable.

    Joe was up, standing behind the bar wiping off some of the dishes. Now that she thought about it, why did he spend so much time wiping the dishes when he had magic that could do it for him?

    She sat down at one of the stools. ¡°Why do you clean the dishes by hand?¡±

    ¡°I like having something to do while I¡¯m out here. I could just cast a spell but it feels good to do it by hand, and otherwise I¡¯d just be standing here bored anyway.¡± He answered, putting down the glass he was cleaning and grabbing another.

    ¡°Makes sense. Hey, have you heard of an Ash and Lila? Disintegration mage and water mage combo, have a farm east of town?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe thought for a moment, ¡°Hmm. Ash and Lila, huh? Can¡¯t say I do. Most people who live here don¡¯t come by the inn anyway since they have their own homes.¡±

    ¡°Right, duh. Anyway, I spent some time talking with them yesterday and they offered to help me get a bunch of resistances in the summer when their friends are around. I think I¡¯m gonna do it, they seemed nice enough, but just wanted to see if you knew they happened to be, I dunno, known serial killers or something.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed, ¡°I hope most known serial killers would be in jail, not running a farm outside of town.¡±

    ¡°You know what I mean. Just like, rumours of weirdness or whatever. They seemed nice though, and already helped me get one resistance.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Water?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Oh right, damn, I should¡¯ve gotten that one too. No, I got disintegration.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You found a disintegration mage and water mage and asked to be disintegrated?¡± Joe raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°I met them a few weeks ago actually and Ash explained how his disintegration thing worked and showed me, so it just kinda slipped my mind that I could have also gotten water. Well, maybe not, I only have so much health anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never met somebody who wanted to be disintegrated, you know? Normally people don¡¯t like that.¡± Joe said, grabbing another glass to wipe down.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m not most people. So what do you think about me going out to their farm in the summer?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I think you should just take the best class you have now and get some levels so you don¡¯t die to something stupid.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I mean like the road, too dangerous? Or are the roads pretty safe?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Nothing¡¯s safe for you at level eight, especially outside the walls.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°What if I had them escort me then?¡±

    ¡°What level were they?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Ash was dark blue, Lila was dark red.¡± Zoe answered.

    Joe sighed, shaking his head. ¡°It¡¯s probably safe enough. People don¡¯t really get attacked on the main roads anyway but it does happen from time to time.¡±

    ¡°Alright, thanks Joe. I¡¯ll see if I can get them to escort me then, I think they will. Sounded like they had some friends who would be really excited about it so might even be more people.¡±

    ¡°Just don¡¯t be reckless, alright?¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I won¡¯t, I¡¯m being careful,¡± Zoe said. ¡°I¡¯ve gotta head out though, don¡¯t wanna stay inside too long and throw away all my hard work.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°Have a nice day then, see you around.¡± He smiled back.

    ¡°You too!¡± Zoe stood and left, thinking about what she should work on next.

 25. Insanity

    Zoe spent the next month and a half continuing her routine. She¡¯d practice her archery and spend some time slashing at the straw dummies with her dagger, but never managed to get a new skill from it.

    After the first week, she decided to start eating a klir leaf every day. When she was done, she would go wander out the north gate and bring a klir leaf back to Kaira park. She hoped it would help train her resistance and regeneration skill, but kept herself from checking on her stat sheet until the winter was over. She never noticed her poison resistance making a difference, but supposed it didn¡¯t do much at low levels anyway.

    On the last day of winter, according to Joe at least, Zoe was sitting at Kaira park. She was a little disappointed that the winter wasn¡¯t cold enough to give her a resistance naturally, but it was probably for the best anyway. If it was so cold that she took damage, it would have been a lot less comfortable.

    She waited through the evening in eager anticipation for a notification. Almost all of her time was spent outside, away from shelter, and she felt she would be getting the Winter¡¯s Master feat any moment. The sun was a great clock during the day, but it had already set and she had no idea how to tell the time based on the moon¡¯s position. Or if it was even possible to do in the first place.

    Maybe with modern technology, but even if she had it she wouldn¡¯t know how to use it. Or if it would even work here, anyway. Did the moon orbit this planet at the same speed? Did this planet rotate on its axis at the same speed? Were all the angles the same?

    Zoe was ripped from her digressions by a notification grabbing her attention.

    *DING*

    For surviving a natural winter without shelter, you have been awarded with the [Winter¡¯s Master] feat.

    She brought up the feat¡¯s description as soon as she got the notification.

    *DING*

    You have mastered the coldest season. While many would choose to stay inside their warm houses and take shelter from the frigid environment, you brave the frost and go it alone. All classes gain a minor bonus to cold affinity. Gain the [Cold] resistance.

    Zoe smiled, excitement welling within her. Not only did she get a new feat out of this, but she got a free resistance to go with it! The logical conclusion, Zoe thought, was that summer¡¯s master would give her a heat resistance. Though, she already had that one so it wouldn¡¯t be as important to her. A part of her understood why Ash said the rewards were underwhelming, but she was overjoyed regardless.

    She thought about what extra bonuses the Spring or Autumn Master¡¯s feats would give her. There were no obvious resistances she could think of for them. For that matter, she wasn¡¯t even sure what affinity bonus she could get. Or even what an affinity was, though she imagined it was a bonus to all cold magic. Something to ask Joe or maybe Ash about later.

    Zoe brought up her stat sheet, excited to see her progress over the winter.

    Name: Race: ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points:

    Strength:

    Dexterity:

    Vitality:

    Endurance:

    Intelligence:

    Wisdom:

    Health: Stamina: Mana: ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: - ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    -

    - - -

    -

    - - - --

    Resistances:

    -- -- - - - Cold (1)- Feats:

    - - Winter¡¯s Master

    Zoe was most proud of her Identify progress. She felt as though she was at long last not forgetting about it at every turn. Most of the people she met she would identify without a second thought. Her empathy fell a little behind it, however.

    A part of her wanted to grow, to use every tool at her disposal to be the best version of her that she could be. But another part of her didn¡¯t feel right about using it on everybody she met either. It almost felt like an invasion of privacy.

    Identify was something that everybody had, something so commonplace that street signs were replaced with embedded enchantments in the roads so they¡¯d show up to identify. But her empathy was something different. Maybe other people had similar skills, but it wasn¡¯t commonplace from what she saw. People¡¯s feelings and emotions were their own.

    She still tried to use it as often as she could but as the skill levelled it felt more and more invasive. Even small crowds could be picked apart by her now, each person¡¯s anxieties screaming at her like a sign telling her how to manipulate them.

    It felt wrong leaving it behind, but using it felt immoral. She wasn¡¯t sure where to draw the line with it, but promised to at least not use it on people that she cared about.

    The next surprise on her sheet was her Vampyric Resistance. It was behind even her regeneration somehow, which she expected to be her slowest skill. Not counting immortality, which would take a literal eternity to get anywhere useful.

    Overall, she was satisfied with her progress. A new resistance, a new feat and some good levels on her skills. She was already set up for a better class than almost anybody else could be, and had plans for even greater heights. Maybe she couldn¡¯t get a cold elemental killed before her first class, but she thought that whatever she would end up being offered next winter would be plenty competent on their own.

    Zoe waited out the rest of the night and then made her way down to Joe¡¯s inn. She had spoken with him briefly a few times over the winter but he was quite busy. Lots of travellers stopped by his inn for shelter through the winter.

    He had told her a few weeks back that the first day of spring would be another day of errands if she wanted to come along with him, and she thought it would be a nice opportunity to chat.

    Joe was waiting outside his inn when she arrived, and waved to her. Zoe walked up and said good morning.

    ¡°So, what are we doing today anyway Joe?¡± Zoe asked him.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got to drop off my taxes again, and then I think I¡¯m going to go check out a hunter by the name of Penny. She¡¯s on the other side of town but I¡¯ve heard good things about her so I¡¯m interested in seeing what she charges.¡± Joe said, starting down the road.

    Zoe followed him as he took a meandering path through town to the city hall.

    ¡°I thought you were just going to post odd jobs up, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, if Penny¡¯s prices are outrageous I might just have to. But I¡¯d like a consistent supplier if I can.¡± He said, turning down an alleyway. ¡°It¡¯s never fun not knowing when your next delivery will show up. Do I use the last of my meat today or should I hold some back for tomorrow? If I can just go find somebody with a steady supply I can rest easy knowing I¡¯ll always be able to cook the best meals for my patrons.¡±

    ¡°Well let¡¯s hope she¡¯s cheap then.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed, ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯d be in business for very long if she didn¡¯t charge fair prices, but you never know. I never checked her out because she¡¯s on the other side of town and Herb was so close.¡±

    ¡°Yea he was just down the road from your inn right?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup. Not the worst thing anyway, gives me a good excuse to go for a walk every so often at least.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°¡¯Cause you like walks with purpose and all that. Can¡¯t just go for a walk because you want to go for a walk.¡± Zoe giggled.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Sure. I don¡¯t have to worry that I¡¯m wasting people¡¯s time today because this is something I have to do. If I just go for a walk, spend a few hours away from my inn for no reason then people miss out on their meals. And for what? Because I wanted to go for a walk? Sure, sometimes you¡¯ve gotta take some time to yourself.

    ¡°But I¡¯ve got a responsibility to the people paying me to stay at the inn. And I like that responsibility. So when I get an excuse to go for a nice walk and it¡¯s a part of that responsibility? I enjoy myself.¡± Joe explained.

    ¡°That actually makes a lot of sense, to be honest.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe smiled and walked in to the city hall. The lines were longer today, maybe because it was the first day of spring, but they still moved at a quick pace. In no time at all, Joe and Zoe were up at the counter and he handed an envelope to the man.

    ¡°Thank you, will that be all for you today?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s it for me,¡± Joe said. ¡°Did you need anything Zoe?"

    ¡°Yeah actually, do you have a map of town maybe?¡± She asked the man.

    ¡°Of course, would you like one?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Yes please,¡± Zoe answered.

    The man reached under the counter and pulled out a large folded piece of paper, handing it to Zoe.

    ¡°That¡¯s it for me, thank you very much.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No problem at all, have a lovely day you two.¡± The man said, waving the next person in line over.

    ¡°You went the whole winter without a map?¡± Joe raised his eyebrows at her.

    ¡°Well I thought it would be fun, I guess. Wander around and build a map in my head. But this city is really big and confusing.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed as they exited the city hall, ¡°You get used to it after a while.¡±

    ¡°I guess. So off to Penny then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure, we could stop for some lunch first. I think I remember you saying you had something you wanted to share too?¡± Joe asked, yawning as he walked down the road.

    ¡°Yeah, if you know of somewhere private?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Kaira park is pretty secluded and just around the corner. We could grab some lunch and go sit down for a bit?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Sure, I know of a good rice restaurant nearby. I¡¯ll buy today.¡± Zoe smiled, feeling a little proud of herself.

    Joe chuckled, ¡°Sure.¡±

    Zoe led Joe to the restaurant and the two picked out their meals. Zoe went with a strange looking blue rice with a pile of chopped up venison that was battered and fried on top of it. The rice was interesting to Zoe, each grain having a slight pop as she bit into it. A slightly sweet and tangy aroma erupting from each bite. The crispy fried venison that sat on top was coated in a salty, spicy orange sauce that contrasted the strange rice.

    Joe ordered a simple dish of white rice and some fresh sliced vegetables, and the two made their way to Kaira park. They sat at Zoe¡¯s favoured table and ate their lunch in silence.

    ¡°So I got a feat,¡± Zoe said, swallowing her last mouthful of the fried venison.

    ¡°Winter¡¯s Master, right?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°That one too, but I got another early on in winter. Patient Decider.¡± Zoe said, leaning back.

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s that one do?¡± Joe finished off the last of his meal.

    ¡°A lot. What does class quality mean?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m not sure, honestly.¡± Joe answered.

    ¡°Well apparently it gives a bonus to their quality.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Can¡¯t be bad at least, that¡¯s a nice feat. How¡¯d you get it?¡± Joe asked her, leaning onto the table.

    ¡°But wait, there¡¯s more.¡± She giggled, leaning in closer to whisper. ¡°It also says it lifts all first class restrictions, and the first class experience bonus is applied permanently.¡±

    Joe¡¯s eyes widened in shock, ¡°How in the hell, what did you have to do to get this?"

    ¡°Shhh, I don¡¯t know if I want people knowing yet.¡± Zoe glared at him.

    ¡°Sorry, sorry. How¡¯d you manage that?¡± He whispered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get to that but let me finish saying my piece.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°There¡¯s more? My god.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I also get a stat point every year on my birthday, apparently. And it was applied retroactively. And I think one of my¡­ other skills does the same thing, but it didn¡¯t apply retroactively.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe sat in silence for a minute, his eyes almost glazed over.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta tell me, what did you need to do?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I got it on my twenty-fifth birthday. Said it was for turning twenty-five as a human without choosing my second class.¡± Zoe explained.

    Joe whistled, ¡°Wow. So spend half your life without making a decision and get rewarded. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d do that even if I could go back.¡±

    ¡°Really? It seems like a no brainer to me, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to live forever, Zoe. Those are some incredible bonuses but that¡¯s also almost twenty years spent on it. I¡¯d rather just have those twenty years of my life, I think.¡±

    ¡°I feel like you could catch up pretty quick, though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Even if I could, that¡¯s twenty years spent not doing what I¡¯m passionate about. Twenty years, Zoe. That¡¯s a long time, over half of my life so far. And it would have been spent in constant fear of dying.¡± Joe explained, leaning back a bit. ¡°That fits you really well though, so I¡¯m happy for you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Joe.¡± Zoe smiled.

    ¡°What about the Winter¡¯s Master feat? What¡¯s that one do for you?" Joe asked.

    ¡°It gives classes a bonus to cold affinity and it gave me the cold resistance too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That¡¯ll be helpful. I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t already have the cold resistance from the winter temperatures.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe tapped on the table with her sharp claws, ¡°I didn¡¯t find it that bad. I had a nice fur coat.¡±

    ¡°I see. So are you finally going to spend a night inside again?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Ash and Lila said they¡¯ve heard about Spring and Autumn feats too so I¡¯ll be spending a whole year outside. What does affinity do anyway?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe shook his head, ¡°A full year? You¡¯re insane, you know that?" He sighed. ¡±My understanding is affinity is a general bonus to everything. Better cold affinity means your cold skills will be more effective.¡°

    He stood up, stretching. ¡°Enough of that though, I¡¯ve gotta get to Penny¡¯s place today still. You coming along?"

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯m interested in meeting her. Somebody¡¯s gotta make sure you aren¡¯t getting scammed, after all.¡± Zoe giggled.

    Joe laughed.

 26. Pennys Tea

    Joe and Zoe walked through town until they arrived at a plain wooden house with wooden shutters on the windows. Joe walked up to the door and knocked.

    A few minutes later a tall, dark skinned woman with white hair opened the door.

    [Mage - ??]

    ¡°Yes?¡± The woman said, her flowing blue cloak trailing behind her, fluttering in the slight breeze that wafted in through her open door.

    ¡°Hello, you¡¯re Penny?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Indeed I am, and you are?¡± Penny asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m Joe, I run an inn and I¡¯m looking for a supply of meat. I¡¯ve heard you¡¯re a hunter?¡± Joe asked her.

    ¡°Some call me as such, I suppose. Are you interested in my services?¡± The woman looked at Zoe, her eyes squinting.

    ¡°I may be. I¡¯d like to work on a month by month basis if that¡¯s possible.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°It is,¡± She said, looking back at Joe.

    ¡°Great, what do you charge?¡± Joe asked her.

    ¡°Might you join me for tea as we discuss prices?¡± Penny asked, gesturing inwards to her house, her blue cloak folding over her arms.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Joe looked at Zoe, tilting his head a little.

    Zoe nodded at him. She was interested in learning more about how things worked here, and she could always leave if it dragged on too long.

    Penny walked inside, leading the two in behind her. The foyer was plain, a stone floor with various shoes stacked on a rack and several thin coats hanging in a closet.

    Beyond the foyer, the rest of the house was one large room with windows spaced evenly on the walls. To one wall was an empty, plain stone counter, and in the centre of the large room were five floating orange chairs that looked almost like beanbags, but seemed less mushy.

    Penny walked over to the counter and summoned a white teapot with blue pattern painted on it, along with three matching teacups. She waved her hand over the teapot and steam began to rise from it. Three mesh bags filled with various leaves were summoned, one placed into each cup, and she poured the boiling water into the cups.

    She picked up two of the cups, the other one floating to her side, and handed them to Joe and Zoe. ¡°Take a seat wherever you like,¡± she said, sitting down on one of the floating chairs. She grabbed the teacup from the air next to her and sipped from it.

    Joe and Zoe took a seat of their own. They were somewhat comfortable, but for being so magical she expected better. It felt like their purpose was to look impressive, but they sacrificed some comfort to that end. The magic that kept them afloat wasn¡¯t stable enough to hold their weight completely as they shifted around so the chairs kept tilting, and they didn¡¯t have a backrest or armrests even to help stabilize themselves.

    The tea was nice enough though, earthy and a little sweet. It almost reminded her of ginger tea mixed with hibiscus tea. Not her favourite, but it was refreshing and pleasant she thought as she sipped from the cup.

    ¡°What precisely are you needing?¡± Penny asked, looking at Joe.

    ¡°Well, I need ten bags of meat every month. Doesn¡¯t matter what meat as long as it¡¯s affordable, and no rabbits.¡± Joe explained.

    ¡°Your only aversion is to rabbits?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Around here at least. I wouldn¡¯t do cats or dogs either, and I¡¯m sure I could find some other meats I wouldn¡¯t be partial to. But at least for what we have around Flester, rabbits are the only thing I¡¯m not wanting.¡± Joe answered.

    ¡°Hmmm, and that¡¯s ten bags every month, for how long?" She asked, sipping from her teacup.

    ¡°Well, for as long as I¡¯m running my inn, which I hope to be a long time.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I think we could have an arrangement, then. Would two silver per bag be adequate for you?¡± She asked.

    ¡°How¡¯s seventeen per batch of ten?¡± Joe countered.

    ¡°Hmm, I think not. Twenty silver is as low as I am willing to go, I¡¯m afraid.¡± She said.

    Joe clicked his tongue, ¡°That¡¯s better than odd jobbers at least. Sure, you¡¯ve got a deal.¡± He stood and held his hand out to her.

    ¡°I must apologize but I do not shake hands. It is a pleasure doing business regardless, I hope you take no offence.¡± She said, standing and bowing her head.

    ¡°No problem at all, pleasure doing business. When do you think you will have the first batch?¡± He asked.

    ¡°The earliest would be tomorrow, if that is alright with you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah that works fine. I can come stop by here tomorrow afternoon?" Joe asked.

    ¡°If you like, although I may also deliver if you prefer.¡± She said.

    ¡°Sure, if that¡¯s not too much to ask for.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°It is no matter for me, where is your establishment located?¡± Penny inquired.

    ¡°I run an inn on Kline, haven¡¯t named the place yet but I¡¯ve got a sign out front with a bed on it.¡±

    The woman vanished, returning a moment later. ¡°I see. I can have your first batch delivered by tomorrow afternoon then.¡±

    Zoe stared at Penny in shock.

    ¡°Sure thing, that sounds fine.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Wait, wait what did you just do?¡± Zoe asked, her mouth aghast at the display.

    ¡°Hmm? I went to find the inn, of course.¡± Penny said, sipping from her teacup.

    ¡°No I mean, you just vanished. How did you do that?" Zoe asked her, trying not to blink as she stared at Penny, hoping to not miss another incredible display of magic.

    ¡°I teleported,¡± The woman said, tilting her head as she looked back at Zoe.

    ¡°That¡¯s a thing? People can teleport?¡± Zoe gasped.

    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t it be? What a curious individual you are.¡± The woman wondered.

    ¡°I guess, I¡¯ve just never seen anybody do that before. That¡¯s amazing.¡± Zoe said.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°I see. I suppose I should thank you for the compliment then.¡± The woman bowed her head.

    ¡°Anyway I¡¯m sorry to interrupt, carry on.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, I think we were finished anyway, yes?¡± The turned her attention back to Joe.

    ¡°Yea I think so. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow afternoon then?¡± Joe asked her.

    ¡°Lovely,¡± She smiled.

    Joe and Zoe stood up, and the woman watched as they left her house. When they closed the door, Zoe heard a click as the door was locked.

    ¡°People can teleport?¡± Zoe exclaimed, staring at Joe. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡±

    Joe laughed, ¡°I never thought of it. Most people can¡¯t anyway, just the higher level mages.¡±

    ¡°Joe, I¡¯m going to be a higher level mage! I¡¯ll be able to teleport around!¡± Zoe shouted.

    ¡°Yeah sure, in another hundred years at this rate, maybe.¡± Joe chuckled, turning down the street.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m taking my first class next winter, and after that I can just change my other classes around whenever I want right?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve heard, never done it myself before though. Not going to take as much time with your future classes then?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Well there¡¯s no point right? This one is a one and done, it¡¯s worth taking my time on. But after this I¡¯ll be free to explore and try things without penalty. I¡¯m so going to just rush through until I can teleport.¡± Zoe declared.

    Joe chuckled, ¡°I wish you luck.¡±

    Zoe giggled, ¡°She was a bit strange, wasn¡¯t she?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s rich, coming from you.¡± Joe chided.

    ¡°Haha, very funny. She just gave me a weird vibe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Weird or not, as long as she gets me my deliveries of meat I¡¯m fine with it.¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m done with my chores for the day. I¡¯m headed back to the inn for the rest of the day. What are your plans?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to go find a job to do. Down to just eight and a half silver now which is getting a little low for my comfort.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Have fun then, and stay safe. Don¡¯t go get poisoned again.¡± Joe nodded to her.

    ¡°Thanks Joe I won¡¯t, probably. I¡¯ll see you around.¡± Zoe smiled.

    Zoe made her way down the streets looking for somewhere that might have a job board while she thought about her future. She was very excited to be done with her first class grind and be able to just play around with everything she could find. It felt so close, and yet at the same time so very far away.

    Teleportation was something she hadn¡¯t even thought of as being possible. She¡¯d seen things be teleported in and out of storage items, but a whole person? That shook her to her very core. She could be exploring the vast wilderness and at the first sign of danger just pop herself back in to the safety of town. No longer would she have to be scared of boars charging her in the forest, or being lost with no way to find her way back home.

    Though, by the time she got anything like that she supposed she wouldn¡¯t be afraid of boars anyway. Part of her wanted to go back and talk to the woman, get all of the details out of her. What level did she unlock teleportation? What class did she have, what would Zoe need to do to get there as soon as possible?

    But she didn¡¯t. Zoe wouldn¡¯t want people interrogating her about every little detail of her class and she suspected that Penny wouldn¡¯t want that either, probably. She would have to find a library or another book store someday and learn as much as she could herself.

    Zoe walked up to a tavern and opened the door. On the back wall was a board with job postings, a couple other people standing near it reading what was available. She walked up and joined them.

    Many of the jobs were for the much the same as usual, and Zoe started wondering if she should just get the cooking skill and open a catering business. Maybe in the future, if nobody else did it first. Or was there some systemic problem that stopped people from running catering businesses? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    She looked through the job board some more and found one posted by The Rotted Apple on Bruns. They wanted help with various food prep tasks, and the pay was three silver coins. Or at least she thought that¡¯s what the three white slashes meant.

    Zoe ripped the posting off and brought it up to the bartender.

    ¡°Hey do you know where this Rotted Apple restaurant is?¡± Zoe asked them.

    They pondered for a moment, ¡°Should just be a couple streets away to the north, I think.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thanks a bunch!¡± Zoe said, waving the job posting as she left.

    It wasn¡¯t the best paying job she¡¯d had, but it seemed safe enough. As long as it wasn¡¯t all rotted food that would poison her. She hoped it wouldn¡¯t be, and wasn¡¯t sure why somebody would name their restaurant after rotting apples. Didn¡¯t seem very appealing to her, anyway.

    Bruns wasn¡¯t far away and she found it without too much effort, wandering up and down the street until she found The Rotted Apple.

    It was a strange building, made of some kind of wood and shaped in a half sphere that if Zoe were generous might be somewhat reminiscent of an apple. A wooden sign hung above the front door with a burnt in drawing of an apple.

    She opened the door and walked in. The restaurant smelled somewhat sweet and earthy, with an undertone of bread. Or maybe just yeast, she realized.

    There were a dozen tables set up, each with four wooden chairs sat around them throughout the room, with a swinging door on the back wall. Seven of the tables were taken already, most by a single person, but three were filled.

    Near the door where Zoe entered was a podium, a tall man standing behind it in a bright red suit.

    [Warrior - ??]

    They seemed bored, and oozed jealousy. Zoe didn¡¯t think this was their favoured job.

    ¡°Hello, table for one?¡± The man asked her.

    ¡°Oh, no. I took a job for helping with food prep?¡± Zoe said, handing the paper to them.

    ¡°Ah, yes you can head into the back. Lou should be there and he can help you out.¡± The man said, pointing at the swinging door in the back.

    ¡°Okay, thank you.¡± She said.

    Behind the door was a large kitchen, several stoves and counters set up, and a section off to the right with large wooden barrels that smelled sweet and yeasty.

    A short man in a red chef¡¯s coat was directing four people around the kitchen, each of them wearing red aprons. Two of them were cooking on the stove, while two were cutting up vegetables and piling them into buckets.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Zoe called out.

    ¡°Yes? Do you need something?¡± The short man said.

    ¡°I¡¯m here for a food prepping job? Are you Lou?¡± Zoe asked, identifying the man.

    [Worker - ??]

    ¡°I am,¡± Lou said, his eyes wandering to above Zoe¡¯s head. ¡°Do you have the cooking skill?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t, is that a requirement?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not, but it does help. Here, put this on.¡± Lou said, summoning a red apron and handing it to Zoe.

    Zoe put the apron on over her blue dress. ¡°What do you need me to do today?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Do you have any experience working in a kitchen?¡± Lou asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve worked as a dishwasher before, and did some prep when I was younger. Never worked on the line though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Right, well I already have a dishwasher. Have you ever made apple cider, before? Or any alcohol, for that matter?¡± Lou asked.

    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Then I will show you each step as you get to it and you can work through them, if that¡¯s alright with you?" Lou asked.

    ¡°Sure!¡± Zoe answered, eager to learn about brewing. It was a topic she was interested in even back home, and she might even get a new skill out of it if she was lucky.

 27. Pomace

    ¡°Great,¡± Lou said, walking over to a counter near the large wooden barrels. He grabbed a brown box from below and placed it on the counter, and then pulled out another large metal box, and placed it on the floor next to the counter.

    Lou pressed a button on the box he placed on the floor, and it began to expand and warp in shape. A massive bowl that came up to Zoe¡¯s waist rested just off the ground, supported by two sturdy metal beams below it, while another beam rose above the bowl and supported a massive sphere of metal that hung from some chains.

    ¡°This,¡± Lou pointed at the box he placed on the counter. ¡°Is a box of apples.¡± He reached into the box and grabbed a couple of apples in each hand, then dropped them in the large bowl.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to have you fill this bowl with apples up to around here.¡± He gestured at just about three quarters of the way up the massive bowl.

    ¡°And then you pull this lever over here,¡± he pulled on a small lever hanging off the sturdy beam holding up the massive steel ball.

    When he did, the ball plummeted into the bowl with a muffled crash, the chain almost silent as it was ripped through the hole in the steel beam. The smell of apples buffeted her sense of smell with a sweet, somewhat acidic scent.

    And then he pushed the lever back, and the chain pulled the steel ball back up, leaving behind a dry paste of crushed apples on the bottom of the bowl.

    Lou grabbed a bucket and a bench scraper from under the counter and placed the bucket next to the bowl. He reached around to the other side and pulled another lever. The bowl lifted, balancing on a steel rod beneath it, and Lou tipped the bowl over, scraping out the apple paste from the bottom of it into the bucket.

    He returned the bowl upright and pushed the lever back, the bowl returning to rest on the steel beams beneath it. Lou put the scraper down on the counter then pointed at the steel ball, a slight purple tinge now visible where he was pointing. ¡°When the ball is filled up, come get me and we¡¯ll move on to the next step. Any questions?¡±

    Zoe looked at the bucket on the floor, and then back at the massive steel bowl. ¡°Is that bucket going to be enough for all the apple paste stuff?¡±

    Lou laughed, ¡°No, definitely not. Just grab a new bucket whenever it fills up and leave them off to the side. Careful not to lose too much of it to the floor.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I think I can handle that then.¡± Zoe said, looking at the massive steel ball and feeling a little overwhelmed if she was being honest. But it seemed straightforward enough, she¡¯d be able to make it work.

    ¡°Great, I¡¯ll leave you to this then. It should take you about an hour to fill it up.¡± Lou said, returning to the other side of the kitchen and helping the rest of the staff.

    Zoe started grabbing apples from the box on the counter and moving them to the bowl. She wondered why they didn¡¯t just add a tap or something to the box. If Penny could teleport, whoever made this box could have added a button that just dumped the contents out of it.

    It took her about five minutes to fill the bowl up, and she took a moment to look at the mass of apples. Something about industrial cooking always made her feel so giddy for some reason. The sheer quantities of food that were thrown around just felt so awesome, in the most literal sense of the word. These apples weighed more than Zoe, and they were just about to be crushed by a probably magically enhanced wrecking ball.

    She pulled the lever, mana rushing out of her to fuel the contraption. The ball dropped into the bowl, descending almost as far as it did when there were only a few apples in the bowl. Zoe was in awe at the sheer power the machine threw around just for cider making, and shocked at how quiet the whole process was.. A muffled thud as the apples were crushed, and then it was done.

    The smell was intense, and Zoe wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d smell anything else again for a while. It was pleasant but incredibly potent, everything else from the kitchen drowned out by a sickening sweetness and a slight acidic twinge that prickled the back of her nose.

    Zoe pushed the lever back, and the ball was dragged back up by the chains. She looked in the bowl, and saw the walls covered in a thick brown sludge. She groaned. With just the two apples, the paste looked easy to scrape out. But with as many as she loaded into the bowl, this was going to be messy and far from quick.

    She pulled on the lever to raise the bowl, and tipped it over the bucket on the floor. Bits of the sludge dripped from the walls, splattering on the other side. She reached in and started to scrape the sludge off, trying to work her way from the outside in to avoid getting her clothes too messed up.

    It took even longer to clean the bowl out than it did to load the bowl with apples in the first place. At first, it felt like it would only take a minute at most. Each pass with the scraper taking off large sections of the sludge, leaving behind nothing more than a few streaks on the steel bowl.

    But as she made her way inwards, the sludge became denser and denser, sticking to the bowl when she tried scraping it. By the time she was at the very bottom, the apple sludge was compressed so much it may as well have been hardwood that was glued to the bowl.

    After another ten minutes of scraping and hammering away at the sludge she managed to get the bowl cleaned out enough for another round of smashing. The bucket of apple pomace was filled to the brim, so she tried to pick it up and move it but found it was too heavy.

    Instead, she wiggled the bucket across the floor, leaning it to and fro until it was out of her way. Then she replaced the bucket with a fresh, empty one and returned the bowl to its starting state. She took a look at the steel ball to see her progress.

    The purple glow was covering almost a quarter of the ball, so she repeated the whole process over again a few times while she listened in on the kitchen.

    It seemed that there were two cooks, a prep cook and a dishwasher who also helped out with the prep. Servers would come through the swinging doors and hand a paper to Lou, who would then call out an order.

    The prep cook worked on a separate counter, making sure the buckets of vegetables were filled or grabbing extra supplies from a basement that was in the back corner. The dishwasher would cast a spell that washed over the dirty dishes whenever they piled up too high and returned the cleaned dishes to the shelves where they belonged.

    The two cooks slaved over the stoves, making a lot of grilled meats with mixed vegetables. But there was also a large pot of stew bubbling away that they would fill bowls with on occasion. Lou would hop in every so often, giving the cooks directions or advice that the cooks seemed to appreciate.

    By the time the steel ball was filled with a dull purple glow, Zoe was drenched in sweat. Her blue pants and shirt were covered in sticky apple paste. She sighed and checked on her pools.

    Health: 200/200

    Stamina: 174/200

    Mana: 466/500

    Zoe leaned back and took a deep breath, everything around her reeking of apples. It was pleasant at first, but the slight acidic smell was grating on her at this point. She rubbed her nose and walked up to Lou.

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    ¡°I¡¯ve got the ball filled I think, what¡¯s next?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Oh, great. Next up is draining the ball and spicing the juice. I¡¯ll show you how it works,¡± He walked over to the counter Zoe had been working at and reached under to grab a strange looking metal tap that was about two feet long.

    Lou rammed the tap into the ball and the two pieces seemed to fuse into one. Then he summoned a large pot and a small box filled with sticks of what looked like cinnamon.

    ¡°Place two of these sticks in the pot and then just turn this dial here to fill up the pot,¡± he pointed at the dial on the tap. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about overfilling, as long as you have the tap aimed at the pot it will stop automatically when the pot is filled.¡±

    ¡°Once the pot is filled, pull this lever here and do not let go until the lever retracts automatically. It will drain about one hundred mana from you each time so make sure you have that before you pull it. You do have at least one hundred mana, yes?¡± He asked her.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve got enough mana for that.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Good. When the lever retracts, you¡¯ll pour the juice from this pot into this storage funnel.¡± Lou said, summoning a large metal funnel with a wide base, placing it on the counter next to the pot. ¡°When you¡¯ve gotten through all of the juice, come grab me and I¡¯ll give you your pay.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it? That¡¯s the whole process of making cider?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°More or less. I¡¯ll pour it from the funnel into an empty barrel later tonight and then let it ferment for a while.¡± Lou answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s so easy, I always thought brewing cider would be a lot more work.¡± Zoe said.

    Lou laughed, ¡°Well, the hard part is making sure the fermentation goes well. But it¡¯s just rotting apples at the end of the day, it¡¯s not golem animating.¡±

    ¡°I guess so. I¡¯ll get started on this then, thanks.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yup, thanks for the help today.¡± Lou returned to his normal station, making sure the kitchen was running smooth.

    Zoe took two of the cinnamon sticks and placed them in the pot, then turned the dial. When the pot filled, the juice reached the tip of the tap and she heard a dull thud from the base of it where it attached to the ball.

    She reached for the lever on the pot and pulled on it, finding it a little heavier than she expected. Zoe expected a surge of mana to rush out of her when she did, but it was more of a trickle. The lever began to warm as she held on to it, and the smell of apple juice intensified.. This time with a hint of cinnamon in the background.

    She fell into meditation as the mana was drained from her, replenishing each point back quicker than it was pulled from her. Something she felt quite proud of, but didn¡¯t have a clue whether that should be impressive or not.

    Almost twenty minutes later, the lever yanked her hand back and she squeaked in surprise. Lou looked over and smiled at the sight.

    Zoe made sure the funnel was upright, and tilted the pot so the warmed apple juice would pour into it. The stream of juice vanishing as soon as it reached the funnel.

    When she got to the bottom of the pot, the cinnamon sticks fell out and made their way into the storage funnel as well. She got a little nervous, but Lou didn¡¯t say to take the sticks out, so she hoped it would be fine.

    She checked on the steel ball, and saw that the purple glow had receded from about half of it, so she added two more cinnamon sticks to the pot and repeated the process all over again.

    Halfway through this batch, her meditation was broken.

    *DING* You have unlocked the Cooking skill.

    [Cooking]

    Become more adept at preparing food.

    Zoe smiled, feeling a little giddy. She had hoped that taking a job for a restaurant would get her a skill, and it paid off. Not only was she getting three silver for this, but she was getting paid to learn new skills. It was a win win for her.

    She wondered what other skills she might be able to get from taking odd jobs. Cooking was an obvious one, but maybe there would be one for cleaning? She thought that hunting or tracking might be good ones if she wanted to try her hand at that again, but didn¡¯t feel comfortable going alone yet.

    Maybe she could get a fishing job? Were there places to fish around here anyway? The river was quite a ways away and not safe for her, and she didn¡¯t remember anything closer when she was looking through her book.

    What tasks would be governed by skills anyway, she wondered. Was talking considered a skill? Bartering, debating? Could she get a skill for digging holes, or dancing?

    She¡¯d be willing to try anything that seemed safe at this point, just in the hopes that she could learn new skills. If it didn¡¯t work at least she could make some money along the way.

    Her hand was ripped back as the lever retracted, and she squeaked in surprise again. She felt a little embarrassed that it happened both times, and she could feel her face flushing.

    She tipped the pot over, pouring the contents into the funnel then made her way over to Lou who was already looking at her with a big smile on his face.

    ¡°It can be a little shocking at first, huh?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I wasn¡¯t expecting it to be so violent.¡± She answered.

    ¡°There are better ones available but this works and I get a good laugh out of it so I keep it around.¡± He laughed.

    ¡°So that¡¯s it then, right? I¡¯m all done here?¡± She asked.

    ¡°You sure are,¡± he summoned three silver coins and handed them to her. ¡°Come back next month and I¡¯ll let you try a bit of it if you like too.¡±

    ¡°Really? Awesome. I¡¯d love to, thanks!¡± Zoe said.

    Lou smiled, ¡°Least I can do for all the hard work you put in today. Thanks again.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, thank you too.¡± Zoe nodded her head and turned to the door.

    ¡°You can grab a meal if you¡¯re hungry, on the house.¡± He called out, turning to a server who approached him and taking their slip of paper.

    Zoe¡¯s stomach grumbled at the thought of food. It had been a few hours since lunch and a free dinner sounded delightful to her.

 28. Rens Mana

    Zoe walked up to the front of the restaurant near the man in the red suit again.

    ¡°Hello, Lou said I could have a meal on the house?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yes of course, take a seat anywhere you like and somebody will come see you shortly.¡± He gestured towards the dining area.

    ¡°Oh okay, thanks.¡± She nodded and took a seat at the nearest table to her.

    A few minutes later a younger woman in a matching red suit came up to her table. ¡°Here¡¯s a menu, just wave me down when you need me alright?¡± She dropped off a sheet of firm brown paper in front of Zoe and took off to check on one of the other tables.

    Zoe picked up the menu and looked through it. She suspected as much from her time in the kitchen, but there weren¡¯t many options available for food. Grilled venison with vegetables or a meat stew made up the entirety of the dinner section.

    The beverage section was much more diverse, however. Almost all of it was various different flavours of apple cider, though there was also apple juice and water available. Zoe browsed through and decided on a rawbi apple cider. She had no idea what that was, but it was free and she liked trying new things. The worst that could happen is she got a free drink.

    When the woman who had helped her earlier walked by, Zoe waved her down. The woman nodded to her and held up a finger, carrying on to another table. A few minutes of chatting with them and the woman went into the kitchen then came back out to Zoe¡¯s table.

    ¡°Hey, you figure out what you want?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yea, I think I want the grilled venison with this rawbi apple cider, please.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sure thing,¡± she said, heading back into the kitchen.

    A minute later she came out holding a large glass mug filled with a liquid that had a slight pink hue to it, and placed it down in front of Zoe. ¡°Here¡¯s your cider. Venison will be out in a bit.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thanks!" Zoe tried to call out before the woman darted off to another table.

    She grabbed the mug and took a whiff of it. The cider smelled sweet and tangy with a fresh, floral background that pushed the slight acidic scent even further back. She took a sip.

    Strawberries, she realized as soon as the cider hit her mouth. The fruity taste overwhelming everything else in that moment. The cider had a pleasant astringency, her mouth puckering from the dry feeling.

    It was delicious, she thought, excited to try the cinnamon spiced cider that she helped make in another month once it was done fermenting. She took another sip from the mug, enjoying the somewhat sweet, fruity aroma that flooded her nose.

    Zoe had to force herself not to finish the whole drink before her meal came, trying to leave enough to enjoy as she ate. It was another ten minutes before the woman came out with her plate, leaving it at the table.

    ¡°Enjoy. You can just leave your stuff here when you¡¯re done, I¡¯ll come grab it when I have time.¡± She said, darting off to another table.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Zoe tried to call out again. It felt a little rude, but Zoe reminded herself that while she was eating here, she wasn¡¯t a customer here. It made sense that the server would prioritize the other tables over her, it was nothing personal.

    The plate in front of her looked underwhelming, at best. The venison looked overcooked and dry, with not a sauce to be seen. The vegetables looked delicious ¡ª colourful and fresh, but it was just a pile of raw vegetables.

    She picked up her fork and knife, slicing into the venison. To her surprise, despite the outside looking as though it were burnt to a crisp, the inside was a perfect slight pink and dripped with moisture.

    Zoe took a bite, the piece of venison ripped apart by her teeth with little effort. It was seasoned to perfection, with a peppery kick and a subtle cinnamon flavour. Maybe she judged it too soon, she thought.

    She finished off her meal while she sipped on the rest of her cider and leaned back in the chair. Zoe didn¡¯t pay attention to how much the meal cost, but it was better than what she normally got. Maybe it wasn¡¯t the best paying job in the world, but she got a delicious meal out of it and a new skill. What more could she ask for?

    The woman came back around and grabbed her dishes. ¡°Hope you enjoyed! That rawbi cider is my favourite, personally.¡±

    ¡°Oh it was all delicious. Tell Lou thanks for me.¡± Zoe said, standing up from her chair and stretching.

    ¡°Sure thing!¡± The woman said, darting back off to the kitchen with all of Zoe¡¯s dishes.

    Zoe left The Rotted Apple and stood outside on the road, wondering what to do. The sun was set, so she wandered around town for a while as she waited for morning.

    As she wandered around, she thought about her summer plans with Ash and Lila, and began to realize a problem. Now that winter was over, the snow wasn¡¯t covering the town as much. And without as much snow covering the town, she wasn¡¯t seeing any people walking through town clearing the streets. Which meant that she had no idea where to find Ash and Lila to ask them for an escort to their farm.

    Could she just go ask people at taverns if they knew how to contact them? They came back to town to help out with the snow problem so they might be around somewhere, sometimes. Or maybe since winter was over, their farm would be too busy for them to spend much time here?

    There was always the option of just going down the road on her own. She had much higher skills and stats than a normal level eight would. But then again she didn¡¯t put those stats into vitality so its not like they actually made her any safer if she did get attacked. Maybe there was a courier system here, she thought. If she could send them a letter that would solve all of her problems, but she couldn¡¯t remember seeing anything that stood out to her as being a post office or the like.

    Something to ask Joe next time they spoke, Zoe noted. For now, she wanted to waste the night away and go see about finding a new job that might offer her something new.

    Or, now that she thought about it, was that the best option? She supposed it wouldn¡¯t be bad if she saw another opportunity, but the skills she would learn this way were restricted. Lou paid her to learn how to cook because she helped him make a product.

    But who would pay her to learn how to use her knife? To learn how to dance? There was no benefit for somebody else when they could just pay somebody who was already a competent dancer or hire a blademaster.

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    Maybe she could focus on the better paying jobs that she could get and then spend the extra money on classes, if those were a thing.

    The night passed, and the morning sun began to rise on the horizon. Zoe walked around a while longer until she found a tavern with a job board.

    The jobs for offer here were much the same, but she saw a new one at this tavern that she didn¡¯t recognize. Ren on Eerie road needed mana. Three thousand mana, for a silver coin, posted on the board with a red pin.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how much she regenerated, never having taken the time to calculate it. But from what little she did have drained from using locks, sinks and other random utilities, she knew it to be pretty good. It was worth a shot, at least, so she went to ask the bartender where Eerie road was.

    According to them, Eerie was the next street over and Ren lived in a small stone house on the corner. Zoe made her way over and knocked on the wooden door at the front.

    A man, just a few inches taller than Zoe opened the door. He wore a pristine black suit and white gloves, his dark black hair pulled back and tied in a bun.

    [Worker - ??]

    ¡°Hello?¡± He said, looking at Zoe with a quizzical expression.

    ¡°Hi, are you Ren? I saw you posted a job for mana? I¡¯m not sure how it works but I have the meditation skill at least.¡± She said.

    ¡°Yes I am. Have you ever charged a mana orb before?¡± He asked, looking above Zoe¡¯s head for a moment.

    ¡°No, what¡¯s a mana orb?" Zoe asked.

    The man oozed annoyance and frustration, though his expression showed none of it as he smiled at her.

    ¡°Mana orbs are a sphere made of mana infused glass. If you fill them, I will buy them for one silver per three thousand mana plus the cost of the orb.¡± The man said.

    ¡°And where would I get the empty ones?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Any enchanting shop should have plenty of them.¡± The man said, his smile betraying the ever increasing annoyance he was feeling.

    ¡°What¡¯s the closest one to here?¡± Zoe felt a little bad for pestering him so much, but she was here to help him, kind of.

    ¡°Troy¡¯s Knickknacks is about a ten minute walk down that way,¡± he pointed down the street. ¡°Or you could go to whichever other you prefer.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thanks. I¡¯ll be back when I¡¯ve got a bunch of mana to sell you then. How long is that job going to be posted?¡± Zoe asked, backing off into the road a little.

    ¡°It¡¯s been up for the last four years and I don¡¯t intend to take it down. I will buy all of the mana you can provide.¡± He stepped back inside and closed the door behind him.

    Zoe started walking down the road towards Troy¡¯s Knickknacks, wondering what he used all the mana for. It seemed like an easy, well paying job so she couldn¡¯t be the only person interested in selling him mana. Maybe that would change when she figured out how much three thousand mana actually took to regenerate, but she was only level eight.

    Although, she had much more mana regeneration than a normal level eight too. But even with all of her bonuses she wouldn¡¯t outperform somebody at level twenty or thirty without them. Ren must be burning through tens of thousands, or maybe even hundreds of thousands of mana every day. And for what?

    She didn¡¯t think Ren would be very interested in explaining it to her with how annoyed he was at her asking the few questions she already did. Maybe she¡¯d give it an ask anyway after she sold him a bunch of mana just in case he got too fed up and stopped dealing with her.

    Troy¡¯s Knickknacks was nothing like she expected. It looked like a log cabin from north eastern Canada and looked out of place among the floating crystal buildings that surrounded it. Maybe that was the point, she wondered?

    Zoe walked in, and the inside was much more magical. Translucent blue shelves floated in rows, with a massive wooden log at the back acting as a counter. A middle aged man with a long brown beard that reached down to his belly stood behind the log, smiling at Zoe as she entered.

    [Mage - ??]

    ¡°Greetings!¡± He called out to her.

    Zoe walked up to the counter and smiled back at him. ¡°Hi, I was told you sell mana orbs here?¡±

    ¡°Indeed we do! Charged or empty?¡± He asked, reaching under the counter.

    ¡°Empty, please. But how much does a charged orb cost?¡± She asked.

    ¡°We charge fifty copper per thousand mana with a minimum quantity of ten thousand.¡± The man said, pulling up three identical empty glass spheres.

    ¡°Do you buy charged mana orbs?¡± Zoe asked.

    The man laughed, ¡°Another one helping out that Ren fellow?"

    ¡°Yeah, how¡¯d you know?¡±

    ¡°Plenty of you folk come here wondering the same things. No, we don¡¯t buy charged orbs. Before you ask, Ren¡¯s prices are more than fair, and I don¡¯t know what he does with it all.

    ¡°The orbs are fifteen, thirty and sixty thousand mana capacity, and cost two, four and ten silver respectively.¡± The man said, pointing at each orb as he went.

    Zoe checked her bag, eleven and a half silver left. If she bought the sixty thousand orb, she¡¯d make twenty silver profit off of it and get some good meditation training too. The only question was, would one and a half silver be enough to buy food while she charged it?

    She could get several of the smaller orbs, but one big orb was a lot more convenient to carry around and less likely to break. She decided to take the risk. Worst case scenario she could just sell the orb when it wasn¡¯t filled, probably. Zoe grabbed a silver star and five silver coins from her bag, placing them on the wooden log counter.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the big one, please.¡± Zoe said.

    The man¡¯s eyebrows raised a bit, and he seemed to feel a little guilty.

    ¡°We do have larger ones as well if you would like.¡± He said.

    ¡°No, just that one¡¯s fine with me thanks!" She said, smiling at him.

    He took the silver coins and put them in whatever storage item he was using, then handed one of the orbs to Zoe.

    ¡°Thanks for the business, please come again for all your enchanted needs!¡± He said, putting the two other glass spheres under the counter again.

    ¡°Actually, how do I tell how filled this is?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Identify will tell you the current quantity, just remember the maximum for this one is sixty thousand.¡± He said, smiling at her.

    ¡°Okay, thanks very much. Have a nice day.¡± She said, leaving the store and focusing on the orb in her hand with her identify skill.

    [Mana Orb - 0]

    Zoe pushed a little of her mana into it, watching as a tiny speck of translucent blue appeared inside, floating around. She identified it again.

    [Mana Orb - 5]

    She smiled, putting the orb in her bag and making her way to Kaira park. Zoe planned to do a lot of math over the next couple days.

 29. Algebra

    On Zoe¡¯s way to the park, she stopped by the sandwich restaurant she frequented and grabbed two decent sized sandwiches filled with plenty of colourful vegetables. She planned to sit in the park for a while and didn¡¯t want to get too hungry.

    She made her way to Kaira park and sat down at her favourite bench, rolling the mana orb around in her hand. She hadn¡¯t filled it up anymore yet, wanting to do some testing with the exact numbers it provided.

    If she spent a full day dumping every bit of mana she could into the orb, she¡¯d be able to know the amount of mana that she regenerated every day. And from that, she could determine her rough mana regeneration per second. It wasn¡¯t super useful for her to know at the moment, and she imagined she could just ask somebody or maybe read a book if she ever got to a library.

    But testing was fun and helped pass the time. It gave her a goal to work towards, and she was excited to discover something on her own even if it was already common knowledge to people.

    She stood up and grabbed a stick, scratching deep grooves into the dirt at the edges of shadows cast by the trees surrounding her. When the shadows made it back to the markings on the following day, she¡¯d know twenty four hours had passed. Or at least, close enough, as long as that was how long a day was here.

    There was no reason for her to believe they weren¡¯t at least close to the same length though. Each day that passed felt the same as any other to her. She could just write down her total mana per day and double check with somebody else later anyway.

    Zoe sat back down at the bench, pushing mana into the glass sphere. She found that she had some control over how quick her mana rushed into the sphere, and spent a few minutes trying to stabilize herself at about three quarters full. For the first day, she decided against using her meditation to speed up her regeneration. The first day would provide her with a baseline that she could work off of later.

    She watched the mana orb¡¯s fill indicator in her identify tick up by one every few seconds, wondering how mana worked. She was only spending one mana every few seconds, yet the stream of power that she felt was always present. It would have been imperceptible without her experience with meditation, but now she could feel the slightest pull of energy drifting out of her and into the orb.

    [Mana Orb - 172]

    She chuckled. When she bought the orb, a small part of her was expecting to fill it overnight. Smash through the maximum storage and make herself millions. But this was going to take multiple days. Most of the mana in it came from her pool so far, not her regeneration.

    It was an easy job at least, hold the orb for a while and dump all of her mana into it. But the hourly rate? Abhorrent. She understood why it didn¡¯t seem like the job was everybody¡¯s favourite thing to do.

    Even at her low level, she could go gather klir for an alchemist or help out with somebody¡¯s restaurant and make much more.

    Though, she supposed that nothing stopped her from doing those jobs while charging the mana orb with whatever excess she had either. It didn¡¯t seem like there was a maximum rate she could dump mana in so every few minutes she could just pull out the orb and dump a few hundred into it, then let her mana recover while she worked on something else.

    Might be an idea for later, but she wasn¡¯t sure if that was going to be necessary anyway. Sure, she could make more money, but the same could be applied elsewhere. She could add in some passive income while she was practising her archery, or working on getting a skill for her dagger. The drain the straw dummies caused for her mana was very little so she¡¯d have plenty of excess there too.

    Hours passed and the shadows stretched across the park as Zoe thought about what this new mana battery job meant for her future. If Ren would buy all of the mana she could fill, she¡¯d never need any other job, probably.

    She tried to figure out how much mana she¡¯d need to buy a storage item. If she wanted a four bag item then that would be eight gold, at least. Maybe more if the prices weren¡¯t linear or consistent. Ten gold, she figured would be a safe estimate if Henry was to be trusted.

    That would be the equivalent of a thousand silver coins, or three million mana. She watched the mana orb tick up every few seconds, grimacing.

    Maybe she would need something else at some point. If her rough estimate of one mana every four seconds was even close to accurate, three million would take her twelve million seconds, which would be two hundred thousand minutes or three and a half thousand hours.

    And then that was before taxes, which she would have to be paying if she made that much too. She pulled out the tax sheet she got before to try and figure out how much she would be paying. Fifteen percent for the first ten gold earned, but the first five are non taxable. So she¡¯d be losing just under one gold, or another few hundred hours to offset it.

    Plus all of the money she¡¯d spend on food over those couple hundred days which adds up, eventually. It was approachable, she thought. But not for a while, she didn¡¯t need a storage item bad enough to deal with taxes yet. Maybe after she classed up she could spend her extra points on even more mana and speed up the process, too.

    Though that begged the question of did Ren really need unlimited mana? He had been buying everything for the last four years but was that because he needed a ceaseless supply, or because nobody sane would dedicate their entire life to filling mana orbs for him so he never ended up with enough.

    She continued wondering as the night passed, opening her second sandwich and eating it. Food safety told her not to do that but she¡¯d eaten literal poison, some veggetables and bread left out in the cold air for a few extra hours just didn¡¯t seem to bother her as much anymore.

    As the sun rose, she started watching the deep grooves in the ground that she drew, waiting for the shadows to line up again. As soon as they did, she stopped pouring mana into the orb and checked the total.

    [Mana Orb - 20943]

    Twenty one thousand in a day, she decided. Her timing wasn¡¯t perfect and a nice round number would be easier for her. One thousand mana per hour would be twenty four thousand per day. She was three thousand below that, which was an easier number to work with and she could just subtract it later she decided.

    Three thousand divided by twenty four was one hundred with a remainder of six hundred. Six hundred by twenty four was twenty with a remainder of one hundred twenty, which would leave her with one hundred twenty five mana.

    One thousand mana per hour minus the offset of one hundred twenty five left her with eight hundred seventy five per hour. Divided by sixty was about fourteen and a half mana per minute, or one mana every just over four seconds. Close enough to her estimate from before, so she felt satisfied with her math.

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    Next up was to figure out what meditation did. She wished she could stop it from levelling, as blasphemous as that felt, just so she could get more accurate numbers. But this would do for now, as long as she had a rough understanding of her abilities she was happy. She checked what her meditation level was starting at.

    - Meditation (26)

    Zoe stood up and stretched, then went to buy a couple of sandwiches for the next day of testing. When she got back, she roughed up all of the markings she made, covering them with loose dirt and made new markings where the shadows had moved to.

    Then she sat down and repeated the whole process over again but trying to meditate at the same time. It took about a half hour of practice to get it working right. Balancing her focus on the mana indicator, pushing mana into the orb and also pulling in the wild energies that surrounded her was a bit tricky.

    In the end she settled on small surges of mana every ten minutes or so, dumping in a bunch all at once so she could spend most of her time just focusing on meditation. It worked much better than trying to do everything all at the same time, constantly.

    Her meditation was broken almost every time she dumped mana into the orb when she started. But as the day dragged on she became better and better at maintaining her meditation while she pumped the orb with a surge of mana.

    She tried to estimate her mana regeneration to get an idea of what she could expect, but struggled to manage tracking her mana, dumping the mana, maintaining her meditation and also counting the seconds as they passed.

    Zoe fell into a trance, the day passing by in what felt like a moment as she focused on her meditation. Her stomach grumbled as the sun rose, and she realized she hadn¡¯t eaten either of her sandwiches. A few hours was one thing but these ones had been sitting out for almost an entire day.

    Maybe it was weird but poison was poison and food was supposed to be food. Did it matter? Poison would damage her health but would tapeworms just be regenerated out too? She wasn¡¯t sure, and wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to risk it. She could just go grab some breakfast in a bit.

    She continued her meditation and waited for the shadows to reach the grooves again, and then stopped, checking the mana orb¡¯s number and her meditation level.

    [Mana Orb - 47593]

    - Meditation (32)

    Minus the amount that was already stored in the mana orb left her with twenty six thousand six hundred and fifty. She chuckled, it ended up being almost exactly one thousand, one hundred and ten mana per hour. If she was a little bit better with her meditation she might have gotten it to all ones.

    So from eight hundred seventy five to one thousand one hundred was about a two hundred forty difference, or just over twenty five percent more. Her meditation was also just over level twenty five. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but with her mistakes throughout the day and her not totally accurate time keeping it seemed like a good enough theory.

    Meditation gave a one percent bonus to mana regeneration per level, she decided. Next was trying to figure out how much mana each point of wisdom actually gave her.

    She had fifty wisdom and with her non meditation mana regeneration that worked out to seventeen and a half mana per hour per point in wisdom, if it was just a flat rate. If it was a percentage of her total recovered then with fifty wisdom and five hundred mana, she was recovering one hundred seventy five percent of her mana per hour.

    With fifty wisdom, that ended up being three and a half percent regenerated per hour per point of wisdom. It could be a mixture of both, though too, she thought. If it was a mixture, then what were the ratios, she wondered. She could take a guess, but without being able to increase her mana to check yet she couldn¡¯t do much more. For now she just made a note of both the totals so she could cross reference it later.

    She groaned, standing up and stretching. The math was enjoyable, and she felt like she had a better understanding of her limits but she was sick of it. It was time to grab some food for the day and finish filling up the orb.

    When she got her sandwiches she devoured one on the way back to the park, dumping mana into the orb as she walked every time she was almost filled up. There was no benefit to being specific with it anymore so she could get a couple extra hours in while she walked around eating.

    The day passed and she finished filling the orb in the middle of the night, with the moon high in the sky.

    [Mana Orb - 60000]

    Zoe smiled. It took her almost three whole days to fill, but it was an easy twenty silver. She¡¯d definitely buy another orb and at least work on filling it while she did other tasks and stop by Ren¡¯s every so often to sell them off.

    When the morning sun began to rise she made her way back to Ren¡¯s house, knocking on the door. He opened it, looking just as put together as he did the previous time. His black suit with not a speck of dust out of place or a visible crease anywhere even to her enhanced eyes.

    Zoe pulled out her mana orb and handed it to him. ¡°Sixty thousand mana, twenty silver plus the ten for the orb, yea?¡±

    ¡°Yes, would you like an empty orb instead of the ten silver?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Actually yeah, that¡¯d be better. Are you sure you¡¯ll just buy all of the mana I can give you? Cause if you will I¡¯ll probably be back very often.¡± She asked.

    ¡°If you must insist, my limit is one hundred fifty thousand every day. I do not get anywhere close to enough on most days, I doubt you will exceed that any time soon.¡± He summoned a mana orb and two silver circles, handing them to Zoe.

    ¡°Alright, thanks a bunch. I¡¯ll be back in a few days then!" Zoe said, smiling.

    Ren smiled back, feeling grateful and relieved. ¡°Thank you very much.¡± He stepped back inside and went to close the door.

    ¡°Oh actually wait!" Zoe called out before he did.

    ¡°Yes?¡± He asked.

    ¡°What do you use all the mana for anyway?¡± Zoe asked him, wishing she could see inside his house better.

    He sighed, ¡°I have some mana intensive experiments I¡¯m working on. Will that be all?¡±

    ¡°Could I see them?¡± She asked, beaming the brightest smile she could.

    ¡°Perhaps someday when they are functional. Now will that be all?¡± He asked, feeling a little annoyed.

    ¡°Yea, that¡¯s it. Thanks again!¡± Zoe said, the door slamming shut as soon as she did.

    She pushed in about half her mana into the orb and put it back in her bag. It was time to go find somebody to finally teach her how to use her knife. Or maybe a post office. Whichever came first.

 30. Pen Pals

    Zoe went to Joe¡¯s tavern, filling her mana orb whenever her mana was full. The tables were filled with people talking about their plans for the day. A hearty, meaty smell wafted from the kitchen where one of Joe¡¯s stews must have been bubbling away.

    She knocked on the kitchen door, and peered inside. ¡°Morning Joe!¡±

    ¡°Oh, hey Zoe.¡± Joe called back, sweat dripped from his brow as he slaved over the stove preparing the lunch menu.

    ¡°Is there a post office around here? Courier, maybe? Mail delivery, that kinda thing?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, the city hall handles all of the mail. Just go up the stairs at the back.¡± He said.

    ¡°Alright, thanks Joe. Ash and Lila might end up leaving you a message by the way. I kinda forgot to ask them for an escort while they were clearing snow out in town. Oh, would you know of somewhere I could learn how to use my dagger by the way?" She asked.

    Joe chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s fine Zoe, and unless it¡¯s for cutting up food, I¡¯d have no idea.¡±

    ¡°Oh well, thanks anyway. See you around Joe!" She called out.

    ¡°Yeah no problem,¡± He said, looking over at her and smiling. ¡°Good luck!¡±

    Zoe smiled and left, dropping a silver coin on one of the shelves behind the bars as she did. It was the least she could do for all he¡¯s done for her. One day she hoped she could come back and do something more significant, but she was happy to at least have a reliable source of income now.

    She grabbed her mana orb and dumped another three hundred mana into it.

    [Mana Orb - 1743]

    It wasn¡¯t filling anywhere near as fast as if she were sitting down and meditating, putting all she had into it. But it was good enough. That was already enough food for a few days if she sold it, let alone the rest of what she¡¯d manage through the day.

    She continued charging the orb as she walked to the city hall. For the first bit she tried to meditate as she walked, but found it much too hard for her at the moment. Maybe someday, but for now she felt as though she¡¯d walk right into a wall before she noticed it.

    The city hall was full of people, as Zoe found to be normal. Lines on either side with several workers beckoning people over to their counters to help them. Today though, Zoe got to go up the large staircase at the back of the building.

    There was a landing part way up, and then it split off to the right and the left. Zoe decided on the left staircase.

    At the top was nothing resembling a post office. It was a large room that stretched the whole length of the left half of the building. Massive tables with dozens of chairs around each were set up at even spacing throughout the room.

    Most of the tables were unpopulated, but one of the spaces where a table should be was replaced with a shimmering purple barrier that blocked her sight.

    She walked up to one of the tables and looked at it a little closer. They were made of a dark wood with gold engravings along the side. Each chair made of a similar looking wood, also with gold engravings. At one end of the table were several buttons with markings labelling them. Zoe couldn¡¯t tell what they did, and decided not to play with them yet.

    She turned around and went up the other side of the staircase, finding herself in something much more like what she expected.

    This room also stretched the entire length of the building, but it was divided by a counter that reached across the whole room. To the back of the room were dozens of racks, filled with boxes and envelopes. Workers walked around the room, taking packages from one area and moving them to another.

    Two of the workers were sitting behind the counter, and Zoe approached them.

    ¡°Hello,¡± She said. ¡°I want to send some mail?¡±

    ¡°Hi! That¡¯s what we do here!¡± The male worker said, his brown hair flapping out of his face as his head snapped up when Zoe spoke.

    ¡°Yeah, how do I do it though?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh I see. You just give us an envelope or package with an address written on it and we¡¯ll make sure it gets delivered! Any destinations within town are free, while destinations out of town will cost additional depending on the distance.¡± He said, smiling.

    ¡°Right, so I want to send a letter, and I don¡¯t know their address. I know where they live, is that okay?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Without a proper address we can¡¯t guarantee that the package will be delivered accurately, but we will try our best to find your description. If it¡¯s difficult, you may be charged an additional fee.¡± He said.

    ¡°Okay, do you have paper and a pen or quill or something that I can write with?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure do!" He said as he grabbed a rough brown piece of paper and a thin golden feather, then handed them to Zoe.

    ¡°Okay, is this free?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yup! If you need an envelope after though, we do charge for those. Five for two copper coins, or one for one copper coin.¡± He smiled.

    ¡°Right, okay. Can I just write the letter here or should I go over to the other side and find a table?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°You can just write here, sure. There¡¯s no lineup right now anyway.¡± He shrugged.

    Zoe put the paper down on the counter and scribbled on it with the golden quill. It left black, inky lines wherever she did. It felt almost like writing with a very wet ballpoint pen, but didn¡¯t slide as well on the paper. Whether that was the quill¡¯s fault or the paper¡¯s fault, she wasn¡¯t sure.

    Hey Ash and Lila, it¡¯s Zoe. I spoke with you two about some resistance training over the summer and I¡¯m very excited for that still! But I spoke with a friend, and he says that it¡¯s probably not safe for me to go wandering around down the road looking for a farm when I¡¯m still stuck at level eight.

    And honestly I agree, I would really like to not risk my life more than necessary if at all possible. If it¡¯s not too much to ask, I would greatly appreciate if we could make plans for you two to come and escort me to your farm when your friends are back. If it is too much, then I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m comfortable with making the journey alone currently and I¡¯m not able to afford to pay for guards either.

    Either way, thank you very much for the offer. The closest thing I have to a home right now is a tavern on Kline run by a man named Joe. If you could leave a message there for me that would be greatly appreciate.

    Thanks, Zoe.

    She gave her letter a once over for spelling errors, and clicked her tongue when she got to the end. It was good enough, they wouldn¡¯t deny her an escort because she couldn¡¯t spell ¡®appreciated¡¯. Probably.

    Zoe asked the worker for an envelope, paying the one copper coin. It was a worse deal but she didn¡¯t need five envelopes and they were cheap anyway. She stuffed her letter into it and then put it back down on the counter.

    ¡°Do I write the directions on the back or how does this work?¡± She asked.

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    ¡°You can just tell me the directions and I¡¯ll make sure it¡¯s all handled.¡± He said and grabbed the envelope.

    ¡°It¡¯s for a couple named Ash and Lila who run a farm east of town. It¡¯s just on the road and not far away, can¡¯t miss it, apparently.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°Ah, them. Sure thing. Delivery to their farm runs twenty copper, or three silver for immediate delivery.¡± He said.

    Zoe pulled out a silver coin, handing it to the man. ¡°I don¡¯t need a rushed delivery. Do you have change?¡±

    He summoned a handful of copper coins and handed them to Zoe. ¡°Eighty copper back, thank you very much. We¡¯ll make sure that letter gets to Ash and Lila by tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Thanks! Have a nice day.¡± She said, turning to leave.

    ¡°You as well!¡± He called out from behind her.

    Next up on Zoe¡¯s agenda was trying to find somebody who could teach her how to use her dagger. She pulled out her mana orb to check the progress on it.

    [Mana Orb - 4923]

    She made her way to one of the lines and waited until it was her turn to be called up to the counters. Might as well check if there was just a dagger school nearby run by the government or something, she thought.

    ¡°Hello, how can I help you today?" The person behind the counter asked her when she approached.

    ¡°Hi I¡¯m just wondering if there¡¯s a school here? Like a college or something. Or maybe a library, even? I want to get a bunch of skills and just wondering what resources I have for that.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm, there is a library nearby. Do you know where Kaira park is?¡± The person asked.

    ¡°Yes I do.¡± Zoe replied.

    ¡°Those big tree buildings that surround the park are all libraries. Or well, one library with many buildings. As for a school, what are you specifically looking for?" They asked.

    ¡°Well anything that I could get a skill from, really. But ideally I want to learn how to use my dagger to defend myself if possible.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°There is the school of hunting interesting targets just near the western gate that lots of people seem to recommend.¡± They said.

    Zoe narrowed her eyes when she heard the name.

    The worker sighed, ¡°Yes I know. I hear they¡¯re competent though, despite the name.¡±

    ¡°Alright, so Kaira park and the western gate then. Awesome. Thanks.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No problem, was there anything else you needed to know today?¡± They asked.

    ¡°Nope, that¡¯s all. Have a nice day now!¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You as well!" They said and then waved the next person down.

    Zoe left. Kaira park was right nearby, the large trees that surrounded it visible from outside the city hall. It would make the most sense for her to go there first and then check out the school tomorrow.

    But on the other hand, the library was a library. She might learn how to get skills from it, but unless there was a reading skill it wasn¡¯t going to help beyond that.

    The school however, was for teaching her things. Maybe she couldn¡¯t get a lesson today, but it was possible. Or maybe she could sign up for lessons sometime soon if it was too busy.

    With her plan decided, she made her way to the western gate of town. The school wasn¡¯t hard to find, being right next to the gate and stretching along the inside of the wall for quite a ways. A large sign hung from above the door with a picture of a bow and knife in the rough shape of an x.

    She identified the building, just to make sure she was in the right place.

    [School of Hunting Interesting Targets]

    Zoe rolled her eyes and opened the front door. To her immediate right was a counter that had a woman in full leather armour and a quiver hanging from her waist standing behind it.

    [Warrior - ??]

    ¡°Hi there, I heard you teach people how to use a dagger?¡± Zoe asked the woman.

    ¡°Yes we teach many things here, I would recommend our complete package personally.¡± She said.

    ¡°What¡¯s the complete package?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well we have many different lesson plans available, and the complete package wraps up all of these into one lower payment. It¡¯s five days per week for two months and by the end of it you will be a master at all things hunting.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°Okay, what specific skills do you actually teach though? I¡¯m mostly just wanting to accumulate skills, really.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, well, we can¡¯t guarantee that you will get any skills from our lessons, I¡¯m afraid.¡± She said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not looking for a guarantee, just what kinds of skills could I get from doing the lessons? Even if I have to continue practising things after, that¡¯s fine.¡± Zoe asked, feeling a little frustrated but trying not to take it out on the friendly woman.

    ¡°Right, well again we can¡¯t guarantee you will actually get any skills from our lessons. But we cover tracking, dagger-fighting, stealth, archery, and gathering, mainly. We have a few brief lessons that might qualify for cooking as well, though that¡¯s far from a big focus for us here.¡± She explained.

    ¡°And is this all safe?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°We are proud to say that we¡¯ve never had a serious incident before, but safety is never guaranteed. We will need to have you sign a waiver if you decide to take any lessons outside the walls, but nobody¡¯s ever been hurt before. Our trainers are all dark red at least and more than capable of handling the wildlife around Flester.

    ¡°On top of that, all areas that you will be going to are checked ahead of time for anything unexpected and the lesson will be rescheduled if the trainers feel like something is awry. Safety is our utmost priority and we do everything we can to make sure you have a safe environment to learn in, but we can¡¯t guarantee a roaming drake won¡¯t decide to drop in for the first time in history.¡± She explained, feeling a little anxious.

    ¡°Okay, that makes sense. How much does the complete package cost, then?¡± Zoe asked.

    It seemed perfect for her. She would get some real hunting experience, learn more about the wildlife around Flester, get progress on several new skills and even some professional training to help her archery out. She couldn¡¯t ask for a better solution right now.

    ¡°The complete package is two gold coins. As I explained before this includes every lesson plan we offer spread out over two months. But you are also given five free one-on-one, personalized one hour training sessions with one of our many trainers here at School of Hunting Interesting Targets, along with unlimited access to our training facilities for the full two months.¡± She explained.

    Zoe checked her bag and saw she had just under nineteen silver left. She wasn¡¯t sure when the fiscal year started here, but two gold would eat into almost half of her allowed income for the year. On top of whatever gear she might need to buy while she was doing it.

    ¡°Do you provide the equipment and supplies needed?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, everything is provided for you. All you need to do is show up and be ready to learn.¡± The woman smiled.

    ¡°Okay. I don¡¯t have two gold right now, but I think I¡¯ll definitely be back when I can afford that then, thanks.¡± Zoe smiled, preparing to leave.

    ¡°We do payment plans, as well.¡± The woman smiled.

 31. Mistakes

    Something about a payment plan made Zoe cringe a little inside. Financially, they were hard to justify when you weren¡¯t already wealthy. But she had a stable source of income now, as long as Ren didn¡¯t go anywhere. Five silver per day of mana would be simple for her to put away, even if it were a busy day for her.

    ¡°How do they work?" Zoe asked the woman.

    ¡°Well, you can pay twenty-five silver per week for the duration of your time here, or pay two and a half gold coins at the end of the two month period. In either case, late payments will incur an additional ten percent fee week over week until the debt is paid off.¡± She explained.

    ¡°So if I missed one week of payment here, the next week I would have to pay fifty two silver?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s correct.¡± She answered.

    ¡°Okay, and if I decide to pay two and a half gold at the end, can I pay earlier when I get the money? Is there a reduction in the cost then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°You can pay earlier, but there is no reduction in the fee.¡± The woman explained.

    Zoe did some math in her head. If the lessons were five days per week, that left her with two days that she could spend making money. And she¡¯d probably have plenty of time even on school days to charge mana too, but couldn¡¯t count on that without knowing more.

    If she sat and meditated for the full two days, she could almost fill the mana orb. Paired with even just very little that she could do throughout the week, she thought that a full sixty thousand mana was doable. But that only got her twenty silver, not the twenty five she would need to pay for the weekly payments.

    And that wasn¡¯t even mentioning the two and a half gold lump sum at the end if she chose that. If she couldn¡¯t get twenty five per week, she couldn¡¯t get two gold by the end, let alone two and a half. And then interest payments would be twenty five silver anyway, probably compounding.

    She would need to find the time for another full mana orb every week to be comfortable with the idea.

    ¡°You said it was five days per week, right? How many hours do the lessons take?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well, most of the lessons are done here at the school of hunting interesting targets and take between four to five hours. Your final week will be a full five day trip into the forest to the west.¡± The woman explained.

    ¡°Okay, and can I sign up whenever?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes you can, but you will need to wait until the next rotation before you can start taking classes. Which if you signed up right now would be in three days.¡± The woman answered.

    ¡°And I can sign up any time before then?" Zoe asked.

    The woman nodded her head, ¡°Yup!¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Zoe said, smiling at the woman. ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a few days to sign up then. Thanks for the help!¡±

    ¡°No problem, hope to see you back at the School for Hunting Interesting Targets soon!" She said as she watched Zoe leave.

    Three days to make another seven silver. That was simple enough. She pulled out her mana orb to check on her progress so far.

    [Mana Orb - 7423]

    Two days of dedicated charging and she¡¯d have another twenty silver to call her own. Enough to pay for the first week and a decent chunk towards her next week too.

    There was always the option of grabbing an odd job to work on while she charged the orb. But she already got a ¡ª to her estimation, thirty percent bonus to her mana regeneration by meditating, which she couldn¡¯t do while she was distracted.

    And on top of that, her meditation would level up the more she did it, giving her even more regeneration over time. Maybe if she wasn¡¯t in a rush and had the time to find a specific job that might teach her a new skill, but for right now she needed money. And she had an all but guaranteed means of acquiring it.

    She spent the next two days munching on sandwiches as she sat in Kaira park filling the mana orb. One day she wanted one of those fancy storage items that Joe had, something to store a bunch of food on her at once so she¡¯d never have to worry about it going bad ever again.

    Or did it still go bad in his storage item and people just didn¡¯t care about that here? She wasn¡¯t sure, but with ice magic there was probably something she could do eventually anyway.

    The mana orb was done charging in the middle of the night, so Zoe waited until morning and went to deliver it to Ren. He was dressed as proper as he always was and gave her an empty orb along with the twenty silver coin payment.

    Zoe made her way back to the school and found somebody different standing behind the counter. They wore the same garb, and her identify showed the same red marked warrior. But this time it was a short man with a scruffy brown beard who stood behind the desk.

    ¡°Hello!¡± He said as she entered, ¡°how can we here at the School of Hunting Interesting Targets help you today?¡±

    Zoe wondered how they even seemed to speak the school¡¯s name with capital letters and sighed.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to sign up for the complete package, I was told the rotation begins tomorrow?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Sure does, I can get that set up for you right away. Do you have payment ready or will you be taking advantage of one of our payment plans?¡± The man asked, fumbling with some papers below the counter.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be paying twenty five silver per week, I think the woman said.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Yes, yes of course.¡± He said, spreading piles of papers out on the counter in front of him and placing a black quill down next to them.

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    He continued, gesturing to different places on the various piles of papers ¡°I just need you to sign here, here, here and here, please.¡±

    Zoe read through the papers. It seemed like a lot, and if she was being honest, pretty predatory. There was a whole page dedicated to defining what qualified as being late for a payment. She had to have her payment for the week in before the end of the final lesson unless the final lesson was run by a female trainer in which case it needed to be in before the beginning of the final lesson.

    Unless the female trainer was one of the blue marked trainers in which case they wouldn¡¯t be able to accept payment so payment would need to be in on the second to last day. But if it was a blue marked male trainer then payment needed to be given at exactly noon or it would be considered late and incur interest.

    If Zoe wore a hat while she paid for the week and paid during a lesson, it would be considered late and incur interest. Frankly, Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how most of it was legal. But she made a note of all the strange requirements and decided the safest way to pay would be to just pay at the start of each week, after each lesson, at the front desk. There didn¡¯t seem to be any strange requirements that would affect her then, to her reading.

    Part of her wanted to just skip out on it, find somewhere else to learn from. But the person at city hall said they were good, the skills offered were all useful to her and she could afford it. Worst case scenario she could skip the lessons and charge mana for a while. She wouldn¡¯t get her training but she wasn¡¯t really at risk of immense debt, unless Ren suddenly died or completed his experiments at the worst timing possible.

    She read through the rest of the contract. Several pages were waivers for lessons that would take place outside the walls.

    For the most part, it seemed like as long as she was on her best behaviour and didn¡¯t get in people¡¯s way, there wouldn¡¯t be any problems. Just as long as she didn¡¯t decide to buy a hat. So many strange rules against hats. Why did they hate hats so much?

    Zoe signed the papers and handed the quill back.

    ¡°Thank you very much, payment for the first lesson is due by the end of the week according to the contract of course. Your first lesson begins tomorrow morning at sunrise, you can show up here and a trainer will lead you to the training facility.¡± The man squared off all the papers and stuffed them into a drawer below the counter.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯d like to pay for the first week now, then.¡± Zoe said and pulled out three silver coins, placing them on the desk.

    The man picked them up, stuffing them into a different drawer. ¡°Thank you very much,¡± he said.

    Zoe nodded and left. With one day left before the lessons began, there was no reason to not spend as much time as she could charging another mana orb. She sat down at a bench nearby and fell into a quiet meditation, dumping mana into the orb.

    As night fell, her stomach grumbled and she hoped they would have food available at the school. It would probably be expensive though, even if it was around.

    She sighed and got up, wandering down the streets until she found a tavern. It wasn¡¯t her favourite option, as she didn¡¯t know how long she could spend inside before she¡¯d lose her progress on the feat. But if she ate quick, it would be fine she thought.

    For that matter, she remembered that she already spent a few hours in a restaurant making apple cider. The excitement of a new skill distracted her, and she cursed under her breath. She got lax after getting the winter¡¯s master feat and might have wasted months of her life in a stupid mistake.

    Zoe hoped she didn¡¯t, but made two hours her new limit for time spent inside. That was still the majority of her life spent outside, that was still not enough time to get in a good sleep. It might count, she hoped, cursing her mistake again.

    It would be a good test, she tried to remind herself. Even if she didn¡¯t get the spring master feat this year, that just meant she¡¯d have another year to accumulate even more skills, another year to work on getting even better classes.

    She was immortal, learning new things about how the world works wasn¡¯t a bad thing if the only cost was time, she tried to remind herself. Immortality was a fickle beast though. Understanding she would live forever was one thing.

    Not being frustrated at maybe wasting three months? That was a whole different thing. There was no practical reason for her frustration, nothing was lost because of it but time. Something she had an unlimited supply of.

    And yet she was frustrated. Getting past her inhibitions around time would be difficult, she thought. And were they even worth getting over? She might have unlimited time, but time was also where everything happened.

    And besides, those three months weren¡¯t only three months. She¡¯d also have to wait through the winter just to get to spring again, so it was effectively six months.

    Or even longer, since she intended to class up during the winter for bonus cold classes. So she¡¯d have to wait an entire year because of a silly mistake.

    And she might have unlimited years if nothing changed, but what if things did change? What if there was a war the following year and she has to suffer through it at a lower level just because she screwed up and made apple cider for a day.

    She pushed the thoughts aside. They weren¡¯t helpful. Either she messed up or she didn¡¯t, and she¡¯d have to work around it. It would be good in the end, she¡¯d know more and could help spread more knowledge. Two hours was either too much or not too much for the spring master feat, and she¡¯d be figuring that out for herself.

    Zoe walked into the tavern and sat down at the bar. The bartender looked at Zoe and raised her eyebrows.

    ¡°Whatever food you have available is fine,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sure thing boss,¡± the bartender said and walked into the back kitchen. She came out a few minutes later with a bowl full of stew.

    Zoe scarfed the stew down, and found it to be underwhelming. Bland and mushy, without even a buff for her. Not that she needed a buff right now anyway.

    Though, maybe there was a mana regeneration buff she could get. Even if she had to pay for it, if it gave her enough of a boost it might end up being worth doing anyway.

    She went up the stairs to the bathroom and got changed. She put on her dark red pants with her blue shirt and stuffed the rest of her clothes into her bag.

    By the time she got back to the school, the sun was almost cresting the horizon. It was time for her to go back to school for the first time in almost a decade. She was nervous for some reason, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest.

    Inside the front entrance of the school were a dozen different people, all adults around Zoe¡¯s age. Most of them showed up between level fifteen and twenty-five, but three of them were red marked warriors. One of which Zoe recognized as the woman she met a few days prior. The woman smiled at Zoe when she entered.

    A few minutes later, the woman clapped her hands. The sound echoed through the room as though she fired off a gunshot right next to Zoe¡¯s head, and yet it didn¡¯t seem to deafen her at all.

    ¡°Right! Today we are going to get a tour of the school and talk about what you can expect from your two months of training with us. Part of this tour will be outside the walls. We have three trainers here today to keep you safe, and the areas we will be going to have been investigated overnight.¡± She explained, looking over the crowd.

    Murmurs from several of the other students erupted at the mention of leaving the walls. They seemed to emanate a fearful excitement as everybody anticipated exploring the dangerous wilderness outside Flester.

 32. Flag poles

    ¡°Before we begin, I am Melania. I will be your primary trainer today. Lee and Adam are here for backup in case we need additional man power on our external excursion but I suspect they¡¯ll just be decorative today.¡± Melania opened a large metal door on the back wall and jammed it open with a wooden doorstop.

    ¡°Through here are all of the school¡¯s facilities.¡± She gestured down the hall. ¡°This hallway continues all the way down the length of the building, so you shouldn¡¯t have much trouble finding where you need to go.¡±

    The group followed in down the corridor behind her, Lee and Adam taking up the rear and closing the door behind them.

    Melania walked past a long window on the left overlooking a small field with a few targets and tables set up throughout it. She stopped at a door just past the window and gestured out to the field.

    ¡°This is our archery range. After your first archery lesson, you will be given a key that unlocks the door.¡± She summoned a blue crystal and pressed it into the door. The door swung open and then closed a few moments later.

    She opened a door on the opposite wall, showing a small cafeteria behind it. ¡°This is our cafeteria. You are given one free meal with each day you have a lesson. Any more you will need to pay for. The food is quite good, I would recommend taking advantage of it.¡±

    She closed the door, continuing down the corridor for a ways before stopping at another two doors. She summoned another blue crystal and opened the door on the left, revealing a large room with benches along the sides and coloured markers on the floor.

    ¡°This is our training ground. As with the archery range, you will be given a key after your first lesson here. You will be taught the basics of dagger-fighting here.¡± She closed the door and opened the one opposite it.

    Inside the other room was a normal looking classroom. A big board on one wall with a dozen desks throughout.

    ¡°This is your classroom. Most of your time with us will be spent outside of this room. We prefer a more hands on approach to learning here at the School of Hunting Interesting Targets, but some things are better taught with diagrams and books than blood and fur.¡± She closed the door, carrying on down the corridor until the group reached the end of the building.

    There were three doors at the end, one each on the left and right walls, with a third at the very end of the corridor. She opened up the third door, showing an office with a large wooden desk.

    Behind the desk sat a man with dark hair and red glasses, scribbling on the mound of papers in front of him. He looked up when Melania opened the door and smiled at the group. Zoe identified the man, her eyes widening at the bright red marks her skill showed her.

    [Warrior - ??]

    ¡°Showing the new group around already, Melania?¡± He asked, his emotions twisting between frustration and exhaustion.

    ¡°Yup!¡± She said to the man before she turned back to the group. ¡°This is Arthur, the school¡¯s owner. You can find him here on most days, though you shouldn¡¯t end up needing him all too often.¡±

    She closed the door, opening the one on the left wall. A dozen tables were set up throughout the room, with just as many people sat at them chatting. Each wearing similar garb, their quivers hanging off the benches behind them.

    ¡°Instead, this is the faculty room. If you ever need help with something, feel free to come ask us for help and if it¡¯s within our power to do so we will.¡± Melania said, smiling at the other trainers. A few of them waved at the group.

    She closed the door and opened the final door, showing a small library. Shelves filled with books lined the walls, with a couple tables near the centre of the room.

    ¡°This is our library,¡± Melania said, walking into the room. ¡°You are free to use this as much as you want.

    Zoe looked around at the books. She couldn¡¯t tell what they all were just from the spines but the ones she could see all seemed to be for different aspects of hunting, which made sense to her. A whole section on archery, another on cleaning your kill. It seemed to Zoe like a treasure trove of information that she was dying to read through when she could.

    ¡°And that¡¯s it for the inside of the school!" Melania said with a twinge of excitement. ¡±Next up is our outside facility.¡° She made her way back down the corridor.

    ¡°We call it the outside facility, but it¡¯s more of a plot of land that we use for training students like you. There are a few resources available out there though and today we¡¯ll go over how to identify them and use them.¡± Melania said as she lead the group outside the building and to the city gate right next to the school.

    ¡°First up is the gate. As I¡¯m sure all of you are already aware, these guards are not here to keep you safe once you leave the walls.¡± Melania explained.

    Zoe cringed a bit.

    Melania nodded to the guards manning the gate. ¡°These guards are here to keep the people inside the walls safe. If you choose to leave the walls, you¡¯re on your own. That¡¯s not to say that people won¡¯t help you if they see you in trouble, but don¡¯t expect it.¡±

    She carried on outside the gate, following the wall south. ¡°Just remember that to them, there¡¯s always the chance that you¡¯re a distraction. That your struggle is intended to keep them away from their duties as somebody else, or something else, infiltrates the city behind them.¡±

    Melania stopped at a tree stump with a flag stuck in the centre of it. ¡°People inside the walls expect to be safe. They rely on the guards to keep the city secure. When you¡¯re out here, you¡¯ve given up that expectation. You¡¯ve chosen to take on the dangers, and you¡¯re responsible for yourself. Always keep that in mind.¡±

    She pointed at the flag. ¡°This is one of the school¡¯s flags. There are many of them set up around the forest nearby, and they all serve the same purpose. If you channel mana into the flag-pole,¡± she pressed her hand into the pole for a moment and a bright red burst of flame erupted into the sky. ¡°Then it releases a flare, and one of the available trainers will arrive as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°If you see one of these flares go off, do not approach. Do not think that you can help somebody who is in need. You are another person to protect.¡± Melania explained.

    Another woman showed up moments later, looking at the group. Her familiar leather armour and quiver, as well as the dark blue marks Zoe saw with identify marked her as one of the trainers.

    ¡°All good?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Yes, thank you. There may be a few more here in the next few minutes, but we should be fine.¡± Melania said. The woman vanished, wind rushing around the forest as leaves and twigs were thrown about.

    ¡°As you can see, it can take a moment for a trainer to arrive after you call for help. We can¡¯t stop you, but we ask that you do not leave the city on your own, without an escort. Now, would anybody like to try using the flare so you can see how it works?¡± Melania asked.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Three people raised their hand, including Zoe. One was a man with dark red hair tied up in a ponytail. Deep blue eyes with a sharp gaze. Identify showed him to be a light blue level 16, and he seemed curious, yet cautious. The other was a woman at the same level. Her short brown hair flopped around as she bounced with excitement.

    ¡°Come on then. Just press your hand into the pole and channel your mana into it. First up is, let¡¯s say you there.¡± She said, pointing at the man. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Mark,¡± he walked up to the pole and pressed his hand into it. He jumped back as the burst of flame flew into the sky above him. ¡°Holy crap.¡± He stepped back, rubbing his face.

    ¡°Yes, it can be a bit intense, but rest assured that you will be seen.¡± Melania said. ¡°Next up will be you,¡± she said and pointed at Zoe, asking for her name.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe,¡± Zoe said as she walked up to the pole and channelled mana into it.

    The process was second nature at this point for her, and the flames burst into the sky. An intense heat rushed past her, even through her resistances. She raised an eyebrow, wondering if she could get her own flag pole.

    Mana: 384/500

    A little over one hundred, she wondered how somebody who never invested into their mana pool would be able to use it. Maybe it would just fire off a weaker flare?

    ¡°And finally you there, Emma I think it was, right?¡± Melania asked.

    ¡°Yup! I¡¯ve seen these things before but never been able to use one. They¡¯re so cool!¡± She squealed and ran up to the pole, gripping it with both of her hands. Moments later a familiar burst of flame rushed into the sky, and Emma jumped, her excitement almost palpable.

    ¡°We will supply you with a map of where all of these flag poles can be found soon. They all work the same, and if all goes well we hope you should never have to use them.¡± Melania said.

    The rest of the group felt anxious and nervous, a weariness seeming to blanket Zoe¡¯s empathy.

    Melania clapped again, the sharp snap echoing seemed to echo through the forest. ¡°That¡¯s it for our outdoor excursion today. We¡¯ll head back in to the building for a lunch break and then be back in the classroom for our first lesson.¡±

    She lead the group back along the wall and to the gate, a noticeable calm seeming to settle in on the group as they set foot back inside the safe city walls. Melania stopped outside the cafeteria.

    ¡°As I¡¯ve explained before, you get one free meal here. Lunch break will be thirty minutes and then meet me back in the classroom. Do not be late,¡± she scowled.

    The group nodded and walked in to the cafeteria.

    There were numerous tables inside and along the back wall were several workers preparing various foods. Grilled meats, vibrant salads, sandwiches, soups. Anything Zoe could want, she could find it seemed.

    She walked up to the counter, eager to try out one of the soups. Stews were something she¡¯d had a lot of since coming to this world. But a nice fresh soup? That wasn¡¯t nearly as common, and she loved soup.

    Emma walked up next to her, ¡°Cool place huh?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh. Yeah, I guess so.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You ever used one of those flag poles before?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°No, but I have a firestarter gem that¡¯s kind of similar I guess. Not nearly as powerful, though.¡± Zoe answered.

    Emma laughed, ¡°My dad let me use his a couple times. They¡¯re nowhere near as cool as those flagpoles though.¡±

    Zoe smiled, taking a break from the conversation to order some yellow vegetable soup that was bubbling away in one of the large pots. The worker filled a bowl with it and placed a toasted piece of brul on the side, then handed it to Zoe.

    She took the bowl and smelled the bowl. It was fresh with a slight acidic twinge, filled with chunks of vegetables and plenty of corn. The bread smelled a little nutty and she thought she could smell a hint of butter on it.

    ¡°Yeah they were pretty powerful. I once burnt my face with the firestarter on accident and it didn¡¯t even burn my eyebrows off. Those flags I thought might have done it even from how far away the flame was.¡± Zoe said, moving down the counter as Emma ordered the same thing, laughing at Zoe¡¯s misfortune.

    The pair found an empty table and sat down.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t even hurt at all? My dad always said if I did it wrong I¡¯d go bald.¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°Maybe I just had a fancy firestarter I guess, I don¡¯t think I did though. Can¡¯t remember how much it cost now though, but it wasn¡¯t very expensive anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma took a spoonful of the soup, bouncing in her seat as she radiated a pleasant feeling. ¡°This soup is so good, you need to try it.¡±

    Zoe took a spoon of hers and stuffed it in her mouth. The taste was incredible. It was what she wanted from a magical world¡¯s food from the day she showed up. Taste folding in on itself, textures that she never thought possible. An indescribable experience that she never wanted to forget.

    With one bite of soup, she felt as though she just experienced the ecstasy of finishing a three week hike up a mountain, smashed through every barrier she¡¯d ever found in life. Delicious was an insult to the food, she thought.

    One free meal, five days a week. She was going to take advantage of that, she thought.

    *Ding* You have consumed the School of Hunting Interesting Targets¡¯ Soup. All regeneration increased for four hours.

    All regeneration, she wondered? She grabbed her mana orb and dumped a few hundred mana into it as she watched her mana recharge, counting the seconds. It didn¡¯t seem to have much of an impact, but every little bit would help.

    She¡¯d grab a meal at the end of every day, then spend the next four hours in meditation charging her mana orb. The two bonuses compounding with each other should make a difference in her finances, she hoped.

    ¡°What¡¯s that? A mana orb?" Emma asked her, looking at Zoe¡¯s bag.

    ¡°Mhm, I charge them for a living, I guess.¡± Zoe answered, putting the orb back in her bag.

    ¡°At level eight? That¡¯s gotta be rough.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s enough to get by at least.¡± Zoe smiled.

    The two finished their soups, relishing every last drop of it in their bowls and then stood up and made their way out of the cafeteria.

    ¡°Time for class huh? Wonder what they¡¯ll teach us today. Maybe we¡¯ll get that map that Melania was talking about.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I¡¯m hoping they teach us some dagger-fighting honestly, but it¡¯ll probably be boring introductory stuff.¡± Zoe replied and opened the door to the classroom.

    Melania was already standing at the big board, a couple of the other students sitting at desks as well. Mark was one of them.

    Zoe and Emma grabbed seats next to each other near the front of class and waited for the rest of the students to show up.

 33. Arcane Archer

    The rest of the students filtered into the class over the next few minutes, and Melania tapped a white stick of chalk on the blackboard behind her while she paced back and forth at the front of the classroom.

    ¡°Today, we¡¯re going to talk about the basics of wilderness survival. However; I want to emphasize that this is not a wilderness survival school. This is a hunting school. There is a certain expectation that you do not get lost. If you plan to go exploring the vast lands of this world, then you should do your research ahead of time and make sure you plan properly.

    ¡°Which brings me to the first point of wilderness survival. Plan. Properly.¡± She emphasized. ¡°Almost every case of somebody being lost, stranded in the great unknown is a result of poor planning. They were not teleported from their home and left in a forest they don¡¯t recognize. They did not wander into an undetectable portal and pop out at the top of a mountain they¡¯ve never seen.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°No, they went out into the forest or hiking up a mountain, and did not understand the risks well enough. They did not do their research, they did not bring enough supplies, they did not map the area well enough. But most importantly, when the time came to make a decision to continue exploring despite not knowing where they were, they continued exploring.¡±

    She pointed her stick of chalk out over the classroom. ¡°The number one rule for all of you is to not go somewhere you don¡¯t know. If you can¡¯t point to it on a map, you need to go back home and figure that out before you continue. We are not training you to be pioneers, discoverers of the new world.¡±

    Melania shook her head again. ¡°We are training you to be hunters. You will learn how to research your prey, how to track your prey, and ultimately, how to claim victory over your prey.¡±

    She stopped her pacing, drawing a diagram on the board behind her. It showed a long wall next to a forested area, with dozens of flags placed throughout the forest. She finished it off by adding a gate and a large rectangle on the other side of the wall.

    ¡°This is the school, and the western gate.¡± She pointed to the rectangle and then the gate. ¡°These are all of the flagpoles in the forest. You will all be given a map to take with you at the end of class, but for now,¡± She circled the area where the flags were in the forest. ¡°Understand that this is the area that is under our jurisdiction.

    ¡°We patrol this area and we have flagpoles available for use by anybody. But this is a small area, at least relative to the forests surrounding Flester. I know it can be difficult to get an understanding of the size when we abstract it down to a diagram like this, but if you walk from the gate.¡± She tapped on the gate with her stick of chalk.

    ¡°Up to way over here,¡± she tapped at the opposite corner of the area. ¡°It would take the better part of four hours. Large enough for our uses, but when you leave the school, you won¡¯t be hunting here anymore. You¡¯ll spend your time near one of the other gates closer to where you live maybe, or a bit further out down the road where there¡¯s more wildlife and less competition.¡±

    The class continued on as Melania explained other aspects of survival. Most of which were things that she already knew from scouts growing up. How to find water, which way the sun rose ¡ª the east here, thankfully. Different strategies for marking trees as you travelled.

    Zoe expected more things related to hunting, if she was being honest. She looked at her neighbour, Emma. She was taken completely by the lesson, watching with an intense focus as she took notes in a brown notebook that she had.

    But to Zoe, it just seemed so mundane. Respect the wilderness, don¡¯t get lost, stay calm and make sure you have adequate supplies. She chuckled under her breath.

    Maybe if she had this lesson when she first arrived here, she wouldn¡¯t have had that run-in with the boar. The intensity with which Melania seemed to respect the forest surprised Zoe.

    Wasn¡¯t this an established city, full of powerful mages and warriors capable of taming the dangers the wilderness posed, Zoe wondered? There were so many magical buildings, enchantments and incredible sights were so common that it was unusual when you didn¡¯t see them.

    And yet stepping foot outside the walls, it seemed as though you gave it all up. It made some sense, she supposed. Melania already explained how the people inside the walls expect the safety, and leaving the city is an agreement of sorts.

    It just seemed to backwards, wouldn¡¯t they want people to be safe while they¡¯re travelling to nearby towns? How could commerce flourish if the merchants were left on their own the moment they stepped outside the city proper?

    Zoe had so many questions, so many things she needed to know, and yet none of them seemed within the bounds of this class. It would likely be strange to ask a hunting class how merchants travel from city to city. She should have paid more attention to Isla when she was still at the inn.

    The hours passed as Zoe listened to the lesson with half her mind, the other half charging the mana orb and trying to get in what little meditation she could. She felt bad ignoring most of the lesson, but it just didn¡¯t seem all that important. She was here for skills, to accumulate power. Knowing how to properly melt snow for safe consumption just didn¡¯t matter to her when she had so many resistances she could just eat the snow as it was anyway.

    She mentally wrote off the spring master feat as the lesson drew on. In particular if she intended to take more of the lessons ¡ª dagger-fighting seemed to be taught indoors as well. But that was okay, she needed the skills before she chose her class anyway. Getting all the feats and every skill she needed within a single year might have been a little ambitious to begin with.

    Two years would be fine. She¡¯d class up on her twenty-seventh birthday during her third winter here. That would be a nice present to herself. Which meant she could get herself a nice room to stay in through the spring ¡ª her first good rest in months. She smiled, thinking about one of the massive beds in Joe¡¯s inn.

    The class ended, and Emma stood up, looking over at Zoe. ¡°That was so much fun!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah! We got to learn so much about the outside. I would never have thought to follow the animal trails to water before. That¡¯s so smart!¡± She smiled.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess I just knew a lot of it already. It is pretty cool stuff, though.¡± Zoe smiled back.

    ¡°You already knew it? Have you taken a survival course before?¡± Emma walked towards the door.

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    Zoe followed behind, walking back down the corridor. ¡°Something like that I guess, when I was younger I was in a club of sorts that did a lot of camping. We didn¡¯t do much hunting itself but making a campfire, shelter, finding water, all that stuff was covered at least.¡±

    ¡°What club was that? I¡¯ve never heard of that before.¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not from around here, but it was scouts. I spent a few years in it and we learned a bunch of stuff, mostly just had fun camping or field trips to archery ranges and stuff.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°You¡¯re not from Flester? Where are you from?¡± Emma asked, radiating intrigue.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a long story.¡± Zoe chuckled, ¡°I guess I was actually teleported from my home into a forest I don¡¯t recognize. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever get back but y¡¯know, such is life.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    It was something Zoe thought about a lot. How would she explain her origin here? Where would she say she was from? Did she want to hide everything about herself and where she was from? The lies just felt difficult to manage, and she ended up settling on just not sharing the whole truth.

    This world was magical, full of mystery and intrigue. A random girl getting teleported into the forest from somewhere else in the world? That¡¯s strange, but within reason. She¡¯d just avoid sharing the specifics of where she was teleported from with people, and in particular her vampyric capabilities.

    Though she supposed most people would notice her peculiar visage anyway, and nobody seemed to mind. Maybe it wasn¡¯t such a big deal, but it wasn¡¯t difficult to just not offer it up at every opportunity either.

    Emma cringed, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, I had no idea. That super sucks, are you doing okay now? That must be why you¡¯re stuck charging mana orbs too, huh?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, really. I do have other opportunities, but I enjoy meditating and it helps me work towards some of my goals anyway.¡± Zoe pointed above her head.

    ¡°Okay, I didn¡¯t wanna ask but now that you mention it, what¡¯s with the level eight thing? I mean I know I¡¯m only level fifteen but that¡¯s still a really big difference.¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I just want the best foundation I can get for myself, I guess.¡± Zoe walked out to the street and stretched as the afternoon sun beamed down on her.

    ¡°You got anything good yet? I guess not, if you haven¡¯t taken it yet, huh?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°There have been a few good options. A couple cold magic classes if I wait until winter again.¡± Zoe said and sat at a bench at the side of the road.

    ¡°You think you¡¯ll take one this winter then? One of the cold magic classes?¡± Emma sat next to her.

    ¡°No, not this winter. I was going for the spring master feat but already messed it up I think with this lesson today. Maybe even this apple cider job I took recently, but if not that then definitely today.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°You¡¯re going for feats too? Which ones do you have so far?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got Winter¡¯s Master at the moment, I want to get all the seasonal master feats. Just seems like a good start at least, to me.¡± Zoe replied.

    ¡°How do you get those feats anyway? I¡¯ve heard of them before I think but can¡¯t remember what they¡¯re from.¡± Emma tilted her head as she thought about it.

    ¡°Stay outside for an entire season and get the feat for that season, basically.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Are you mad?¡± She shouted. ¡°You stayed outside for the entire winter? How did you even survive?¡±

    ¡°Well I heard one guy say that you could just stay in somebody¡¯s backyard. Get a fire going and it really doesn¡¯t seem that hard. I just spent most of my time at Kaira park or this training facility thing with regenerating straw dummies though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I guess it¡¯s doable if you stayed by a fire all winter, but that would be so uncomfortable. Was it worth it at least?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I think so, gave me cold resistance and a bonus to cold affinity at least. Enough about me though, what class do you have?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oooh that does sound nice, actually. Maybe I¡¯ll try for the summer master feat. Winter is a no go though, I don¡¯t want to freeze to death.¡± She shivered, a little dramatically. ¡°I just have a warrior apprentice class. I¡¯m hoping to get a lot of bow related classes for my next pick though.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, that sounds interesting. What does the class let you do anyway? I¡¯ve, y¡¯know, never had a class before.¡± Zoe giggled.

    Emma laughed, ¡°Nothing super special, just a bunch of passives that give me some health regeneration, general damage reduction and some bonus strength. They¡¯re helpful but not really life changing.¡± She paused for a moment.

    ¡°I¡¯d like some magic in my next class, if I¡¯m being honest. A magic archer would be super cool.¡± She said.

    ¡°I think I saw somebody like that at the training facility I mentioned, their class made their arrows return to them after they hit the target. I was pretty jealous of it honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No, not like that. I mean yeah that¡¯s cool too, but I want magic arrows. I¡¯ve read these books of archers from legend who would fire one arrow that expanded into an entire barrage, raining down on a city. Or somebody else who fired a flaming dragon from their bow, decimating armies. That stuff sounds so cool to me.¡± Emma explained.

    Zoe raised her eyebrows, she hadn¡¯t even thought of magical archers like that. In her mind, there was a clear distinction between the physical classes and the magical classes. Warriors and Mages, at best the warriors would get some quality of life magic abilities, and the mages might get some endurance or something.

    But maybe the line was a little less clear than she thought. Archers and warriors raining magic down on their foes, while mages bashed their enemies with their heavy staffs. It opened her eyes to new possibilities for herself.

    Magic was interesting, it was exciting. But there was something exhilarating about using her body as well. Maybe she could find something that toed the line between the two.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of those before, that does sound pretty cool.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Right? My plan right now is to just get the archery skill and then level my intelligence a bunch. Hopefully that qualifies me for my next pick, I¡¯d love to get some cool arrow effects I can show off.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well I wish you luck with that, then. From what I¡¯ve seen there¡¯s no reason that shouldn¡¯t work. Try getting the meditation skill too if you haven¡¯t already.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Eugh, that¡¯s what my dad keeps telling me to do too but it¡¯s just so boring, I don¡¯t know how you people do it. Speaking of actually, I should get going. Dad worries a bunch if I¡¯m out too late. It was nice meeting you though!¡± Emma stood up and stretched.

    Zoe stood up as well. ¡°Alright, nice meeting you as well. See you tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, see you tomorrow!¡± Emma spread her arms, ¡°Do you do hugs? I do hugs.¡±

    Zoe smiled and hugged her, ¡°Yeah, sure. I can do hugs.¡±

    Emma rushed off down the street, and Zoe made her way back inside the school. It was time for her to finally spend some time in a library.

 34. Theorycrafting

    Zoe looked around the library, wondering what she should start with. The selection was limited ¡ª this being a hunting school, all of the books here were related to hunting in some way. Most of the topics would likely be taught in one of the classes, too.

    But that wouldn¡¯t stop her from getting a bit of a head-start if nothing else. And besides, maybe one of these books outlined some interesting feats that she could work on while she was taking the classes. She grabbed one of the books on archery and sat down to read.

    It was an interesting read, pointing out a lot of mistakes that she made. After watching the archer at the training facility she used before she had developed an intuition for utilizing her muscles better. But this book had diagrams of the body, showing how muscles were used in the process of drawing a bow.

    It showed different forms, outlining how the different muscles in her torso would help or be impeded by the movement. The slight curve over his head that the archer used was shown as proper form here, all the muscles in the back fully engaged through the process.

    It was fascinating to her, even if the skill gave her an intuitive understanding of what to do, it never told her why things were done that way. And maybe there wasn¡¯t a huge need to understand them if skills just granted you an innate intuition for the task. But at the same time, if skills replaced this knowledge then there would be no reason for these books to exist.

    She assumed that it came back to why she hadn¡¯t gotten a dagger-fighting skill yet. Her theory, however accurate it may be, was that she couldn¡¯t get the skill because she didn¡¯t know what she was doing. She was never taught how to use a dagger, and so she can¡¯t get the skill. Or at least not easily, anyway.

    And if the same logic applied to levels even after you had a skill, then learning these details would help her archery skill out. She brought up her archery skill just in case.

    - Archery (25)

    She couldn¡¯t remember what level it was at the start of the day, but didn¡¯t think it was level twenty-five. Had she already levelled the skill just by learning the theory?

    It begged the question then, was a high level archer a great archer because they were high level? Or were they high level because they were a great archer? With her current understanding, it seemed as though it would be because they were a great archer. You couldn¡¯t get to a high level, a master of the art, if you didn¡¯t put in the time learning it properly.

    Her theory fell apart when she thought of skills like her Vampyric Charm ¡ª her highest level skill despite not understanding a damn thing about it. For the time being, she split up skills into two separate categories.

    The first category were skills like her Archery and Gathering, maybe even her Meditation and Empathy. She could learn more about the underlying mechanisms and understand them better. She could research and practice them to improve her own mastery of them, and the skills would level to show her better understanding.

    The second category were things like her Identify and Immortality, maybe even her Charm or Vampyric Resistance. To her current understanding, there was no way for her to better understand how they worked. No way for her to research the immortality and level it. The skills themselves were what gave her the power and she would need to level them to get any more benefit from them.

    She was sure that she was missing something, some fundamental understanding that would make everything click. But she wasn¡¯t sure how she would be able to research something like her Vampyric Regeneration. Maybe she could better understand her body¡¯s anatomy?

    Though, Regeneration didn¡¯t require her thought. It was a passive, working all the time and as far as she could tell, there was nothing she could do to turn it off. Her Vampyric Empathy was unique in that sense, being almost like a passive and yet still having an active component.

    The main difference between the two categories, as far as she could tell, were that the second category gave her something when the skills levelled up. It¡¯s not as though levelling her Archery didn¡¯t make her better at using her bow ¡ª she definitely noticed a difference between now and when she started.

    But rather that when Identify levelled up, the difference was something that she couldn¡¯t have possibly done without levelling Identify. When Archery levelled up, it made her better at what she already kind of knew how to do.

    The first category seemed to quantify her ability, and solidify the intuition and knowledge that she already had. The skills made her own personal ability more accessible to her. The second gave her something that would be completely impossible without the system¡¯s help.

    Zoe sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about it. There was something bothering her about that, something that stood out to her that just wasn¡¯t quite right.

    The skills shouldn¡¯t be broken up into different categories like this. That just wouldn¡¯t make sense, not to Zoe, not to her understanding of the world. There was a separate category for Feats, for Resistances. But not for passive or active abilities. The system made no distinction between things she was capable of herself and things she was not capable of herself.

    It just didn¡¯t feel right. She knew better than most that the system was flawed, breaking when it tried to make her a vampire.

    But it did try to make her a vampire, didn¡¯t it? Would it have told her that it made her a vampire? She thought that it likely would have, but only because of the class change. What did that mean for the skills that she was getting?

    Were they also restructuring her in subtle ways to make her better at specific tasks? Was Identify really something that she wouldn¡¯t be able to do without the system? Back home, before she ever had the skill, she was confident that it wouldn¡¯t be possible.

    But now? Could she really say that Identify was something the system was granting her, and not something the system had already granted her? If the system were stripped away tomorrow, would that be taking away all of the skills and power she had already accumulated? Or would it just be removing her ability to quantify them?

    She wasn¡¯t sure, if she was being honest. Some of her skills felt almost second nature to her at this point, like her Vampyric Senses. Which, now that she thought about it, was a good argument in itself for the system restructuring her. If the system disappeared, that wouldn¡¯t mean her claws would disappear. That didn¡¯t mean she would suddenly be mortal again.

    Zoe rethought her perspective on her skills. The system would restructure her, whether her body or soul ¡ª or whatever else it interacted with, to grant her the capability to use them. The window she saw was an abstraction of sorts. A list of modifications the system had made to her so far, and an interface for her to develop herself in certain ways.

    She wasn¡¯t sure how she felt about that. On one hand, it felt incredibly invasive. On the other, it was normal here, and did it really matter how it worked? Should she care if the system was rebuilding her on an atomic or maybe even smaller scale?

    It was nice to have a better understanding of it at least. If her theory was right, then there should be no reason that she couldn¡¯t better understand Identify and level her skill through that. Maybe she could spend more time analyzing mana structures, piecing them apart and building her own personal intuition for them without the system¡¯s help.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The system should already have given her the ability to examine them, or maybe Identify specifically was a skill the system actively granted. After all, the result of using it was a system interface. For that matter, Vampyric Immortality could also be a system specific skill.

    Maybe her immortality is separate from the skill itself, her body was already restructured after all. Maybe her new body just naturally couldn¡¯t age, and the immortality skill itself was just quantifying the number of additional stats the system has given her.

    If that were true, then that meant there could be a plethora of other skills that were system specific. She once more, for the final time, tried to clarify her thoughts on the skills.

    There were two categories after all, but they weren¡¯t what she thought initially. There was the first category, which were things that she could personally do. Archery, Vampyric Senses and Gathering fell into this category. Whether the system was around or not, her hearing was better than it used to be. The system made a permanent change to her, and she was stuck with it now.

    And the second category were the system skills. Identify and Vampyric Immortality fell into this category. Things that weren¡¯t even skills, just system functions. It still felt strange that they would be combined together into the same list of skills, but it felt better than her previous theory at least.

    Meditation and Vampyric Regeneration both confused her though. Meditation felt so real, so intense. But the bottom line of what it did was increase her mana regeneration. Could she do that on her own? She supposed she could, meditation was an active thing she had to focus on. But was that just a way of telling the system to increase her mana regeneration?

    What would the pressure she felt be then? Was that the system baring down on her? It felt just as logical as imagining it as ambient mana in the air that she was attuning to. It could go either way for her.

    And Vampyric Regeneration was even less intentional. It just boosted her regeneration by some amount. Was she just better at healing wounds now? Or did the system restore her health faster than the average person because of her skill?

    She shook her head. There were too many questions she had. One day she would need to find some more concrete information on the system and how it worked. But for now, she wouldn¡¯t be able to get any real answers by wondering about it alone in a hunting school¡¯s library.

    Zoe stood up and put the book she was reading back on the shelf. She didn¡¯t end up getting as much reading in as she wanted, but she felt good about her time anyway.

    She left the school and made her way back to Joe¡¯s tavern. The sun was just beginning to set when she arrived and opened the door. There were only three people in the tavern, all much too drunk to make out what they were saying.

    Joe was in the kitchen cleaning up the mess from the day and Zoe walked up to knock on the door.

    ¡°Hey Joe, you got a room here tonight?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh hey Zoe. Yeah, sure do. You¡¯re not going for the spring master feat anymore?¡± Joe asked, grabbing a massive stock pot and making it vanish into his storage item.

    ¡°Well I was going to but I messed up I think. I¡¯ll probably still spend most of my time outside, I¡¯ve just kinda gotten used to it at this point. But I want a comfortable bed tonight,¡± she laughed.

    Joe chuckled and summoned a room key for Zoe. ¡°Third door on the left. How¡¯d you mess it up anyway?¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯ve signed up for the school of hunting interesting targets,¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed, ¡°Really? They called themselves shit? And you paid them?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Alright, look. The city hall person said they were good. And they seemed professional. And for the record, I think they¡¯re pretty good. Just bad at naming things.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed some more, ¡°Well as long as they¡¯re competent, what do you learn there anyway?"

    ¡°Hmm, so far not a whole lot. But I should get dagger-fighting, tracking and stealth as new skills hopefully. Just need two more after that by next year.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What do you think you¡¯ll get?¡± Joe asked as he put away some more of the dishes.

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure yet. You got any ideas?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well your friends Ash and Lila have a farm right? Could get a farming skill. And then maybe alchemy or art?¡± Joe suggested.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea actually. Oh speaking of, I did end up sending a letter off and I told them to leave a message here so they might end up stopping by or sending mail or something.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah I remember, I¡¯ll let you know if I get anything.¡± Joe smiled.

    ¡°Thanks Joe. I¡¯m gonna head up and get some sleep, it¡¯s been a long time for me now. Good night Joe.¡± Zoe smiled back.

    ¡°Good night, Zoe.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe made her way up the stairs and found her room. It was a different one than the one she and Rizick shared for a brief time, but it looked the same. Which made sense, even in the modern world hotels used the same layouts for their rooms. Or was that right, actually? This was modern too, just a different modern.

    She put her stuff down and jumped onto the large, soft bed. Moments later she was sound asleep. She had a dream of relaxing for years at a time, centuries flying by as the world changed around her. Wars fought and won, countries created and lost. All while she sat on the sidelines watching it like it was a new tv series she was interested in.

    When she woke, she stretched and headed downstairs. Joe was in the kitchen, getting started on his normal morning duties.

    ¡°Morning Joe,¡± Zoe said as she walked into the kitchen.

    ¡°Morning Zoe,¡± he smiled at her. ¡°Been a while since you¡¯ve woken up here, huh?¡±

    ¡°Mhm. Thanks for the room last night Joe, the bed was really nice.¡± She said.

    ¡°No problem, will you be staying for spring then? I¡¯m happy to help out but if you¡¯re staying long term I¡¯m gonna need you to pay, what with you not being so down on your luck anymore.¡± He said.

    ¡°No probably not. I¡¯ll be back now and then if you have a room but I¡¯ve kinda grown used to just staying up all the time and getting a lot more done. Or just having the time to watch some birds in a park sometimes.¡± Zoe smiled.

    ¡°Well I can¡¯t promise I¡¯ll always have a room available then, sorry. Spring¡¯s not very busy anyway, though.¡± Joe said, dumping a bunch of meat from his storage item into the large pot of golden stock bubbling away on the stove.

    ¡°Yeah that¡¯s fine, don¡¯t keep a room just for me. Anyway I gotta get going, can¡¯t be late for my second day at school.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe chuckled, ¡°Alright, have fun then.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, see you later maybe.¡± Zoe said.

    She left the tavern and started making her way over to the school. Maybe they¡¯d learn some dagger-fighting today she hoped. The knife had been burning a hole in her motivation ever since the first day she tried practising with it.

 35. School

    On the way to school, Zoe realized she didn¡¯t know where she should go to wait at anyway. Was she supposed to wait in the reception area? Or was she supposed to make her way to the classroom?

    When she arrived, she found nobody else in the reception area and decided the classroom would be a safer bet. A new teacher was in there, showing up as a red marked mage to her identify.

    She was wearing the same uniform as the rest of the teachers Zoe had met, the familiar quiver hung from her waist like any other. Zoe wondered what the difference between a mage and a warrior really was, at the end of the day.

    The line had already begun to blur for her after her discussion with Emma, but seeing a mage kitted out in gear she would have assumed fit a more physical class better really drove home the point for her.

    Emma showed up a few minutes after Zoe, smiling and waving as she entered the classroom.

    ¡°Hey Zoe!¡± She called out.

    ¡°Hey Emma,¡± Zoe smiled at her.

    Emma sat at the desk next to Zoe near the front of class.

    ¡°What do you think we¡¯ll learn today?¡± She bubbled with excitement.

    ¡°Well I hope dagger-fighting honestly. But I think they wanna get all the classroom stuff done first so maybe some stealth theory?" Zoe pondered.

    ¡°Hmmm, why do you want dagger-fighting so bad anyway?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to get the skill for a few months now, to be honest. It¡¯ll feel really good to finally be done with it.¡± Zoe answered.

    Zoe watched as Emma¡¯s lips moved to answer, but no sound came out. In fact, no sound was audible at all to Zoe. All the rustling of clothes and papers from students wandering in to class was cut off. The birds chirping outside were gone. It was absolute silence, not even the blood flowing through her body was audible to her.

    Emma seemed to notice the silence too and she looked to the front of class. Zoe followed her gaze to see the trainer standing with a smug smile plastered on her face.

    ¡°Good morning students, I am Taylor, your trainer for today.¡± The sound returned as she finished her sentence, Zoe¡¯s senses once again flooded with every mundane noise that surrounded her.

    ¡°As you can tell, one of my classes manipulates sound. It¡¯s very useful for hunting, but absolute silence can be just as noticeable as a loud noise as you¡¯ve just noticed. Don¡¯t expect something like this to be the perfect solution to being undetected.¡± She waved her hand in front of her.

    ¡°But I digress, we¡¯re not learning about stealth right now. Today we are going to learn about tracking. It¡¯s a difficult topic as animals are so very different, but our hope is that we can help shift your mindset when it comes to tracking so you can better figure things out for yourselves in the future.¡± She paced back and forth at the front of class.

    ¡°For instance, one thing that many new hunters misunderstand is what is actually used for tracking. I suspect that a majority of you view tracking as simply following the path that an animal walked through. Finding each print and continuing until you find where the animal stopped.¡± She paused, many of the students nodding before she continued.

    ¡°This is wrong, at least in part. Tracking is much more than just following the, well, tracks. There are many other signs that we can use to identify an animal¡¯s routine. Scat, urine, feed signs, among many others that we¡¯ll go over during your time here at the School of Hunting Interesting Targets.¡± She said and summoned a table in front of her.

    On the table were several glass jars filled with what looked like animal droppings, and some flatter objects that Zoe couldn¡¯t get a good view of from where she was sitting.

    ¡°All of you come up here for a better look. We¡¯re going to go over each of these in more detail.¡± Taylor said and waved the class up.

    The students all stood up and walked to the table, humming and hawing over each of the objects presented. The flatter objects were imprints of animal tracks, Zoe noted. What was strange to her was that she couldn¡¯t tell what animals made them.

    She knew that if she saw the tracks themselves, she¡¯d know as clear as day what animals they were. But the imprints that were being displayed? Zoe had no clue what made them. She could make a decent guess ¡ª there was one that looked kind of reminiscent of an ant¡¯s pincers. She thought she remembered her mom making that connection at some point when she was younger.

    But her skill didn¡¯t help her at all, it didn¡¯t give her any information. It helped her see the tracks better, note all of the minor imperfections in the imprint, all the scratches and scrapes that it had accumulated over however long Taylor had been using this.

    It just didn¡¯t give her that innate understanding of which animals they were. She wondered why that was. Did her skill only work for tracks that were left recently? Or was it because these tracks weren¡¯t really tracks?

    The jars of scat were probably real though, and those didn¡¯t seem to tell her anything either. Maybe it was because these weren¡¯t really signs of an animal? Or because these had become signs of a human she already could identify?

    She¡¯d never noticed her senses screaming at her when she was walking through stores before, browsing through the wares offered. Did she need to be actively using her skill, trying to find tracks for it to be used? It was worth testing later, she thought.

    For that matter, she wondered if she would even be able to get the tracking skill, or if all the experience that would have gone to it would just be eaten up by her vampyric skills. Could she get multiple skills that shared the same purpose?

    The class continued on, with Taylor going through each of the items she summoned and explaining what animal they were from, how to identify them or tell them apart from each other. It was fascinating, for Zoe.

    Her skills never told her this information, she¡¯d never known what boar tracks looked like before. She could identify them in the forest, but if she was asked to point out what exactly made her recognize it as a boar she would have been stuck.

    Now though? She had a modicum of knowledge on the topic, she knew what to look for. The tracks were obvious, but the shattered seeds that littered the ground didn¡¯t mean anything to her before. The ripped leaves on the ground around the bush were forgettable. It all screamed at her vampyric senses, but now she could better understand why.

    And that felt good, that felt like progress again. More and more she was happy with her decision to join the school, two days and just as many revelations with how she could better use the skills she already had. Let alone getting the new skills she¡¯d learn from this experience too.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    Emma looked to Zoe when the class ended. ¡°Did you want to come over for dinner? I asked my parents last night and they said it¡¯d be okay.¡±

    Zoe thought about it for a moment and decided it wasn¡¯t a bad idea. She¡¯d save a bit of money on food and more importantly get to spend some time with her new friend while she was at it. There was no reason to not take her up on the offer.

    ¡°Yeah sure. Where do you live anyway?¡± Zoe asked as she stood up as well.

    ¡°I live on Jenny lane, it¡¯s not very far away. Did you have anything to do first though?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°No, I was thinking of grabbing some food from the cafeteria for the buffs but I can skip a day of it.¡± Zoe said and stuffed her hand in her bag to dump mana into her orb and check on her progress.

    [Mana Orb - 49232]

    If she didn¡¯t let herself stay at full for too long, she¡¯d be done by the next morning and could drop off another orb for Ren.

    ¡°My dad can probably help with filling that orb too if you want?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Really? How much mana does he have?¡± Zoe asked her as the two made their way down the long corridor that ran the length of the school.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but a lot. He prides himself on being what he calls a mana battery build. He doesn¡¯t get a lot of work but it pays well when he does. I don¡¯t think he had any work today so he could fill up the orb probably.¡± Emma shrugged.

    ¡°It feels weird just taking mana from him though, if I¡¯m being honest. In my head every single point of mana I¡¯m recovering has a direct monetary benefit. Taking your dad¡¯s mana just feels like I¡¯m taking money, even though I know I¡¯m not really.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma laughed, ¡°You sound like my dad. He says the same things all the time, but don¡¯t worry about it. Mana comes back, it refills, it¡¯s not actually money. Besides he might have had work today anyway.¡±

    ¡°I guess, yeah. If he¡¯s alright with it, it would be a big help honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    When they arrived at Emma¡¯s house, Zoe could only describe it as being a mansion. She had seen massive houses when she walked around town, she knew that there were wealthy people living here. But she thought they¡¯d have their own tutors, their own people to help them.

    Although now that she thought about it, the school was quite expensive, at least by Zoe¡¯s standard. Was two gold for two months of teaching expensive? With the ten students in the class they were making twenty gold, and that¡¯s if they only had those students for this period. They might have more group at different hours.

    ¡°I had no idea you were rich, holy crap.¡± Zoe said, staring at the gates in front of the mansion, peering through them to the well kept garden behind.

    ¡°We¡¯re not that rich, really. We just have a big house is all.¡± Emma said, giggling.

    ¡°At least where I¡¯m from, big house means rich. Houses are expensive, land is expensive. This is insane to me.¡± Zoe tried to force her mouth to stay closed as she stared.

    Emma laughed, ¡°There¡¯s lots of land all around town. It¡¯d be weird if that was expensive.¡±

    ¡°Does the town expand often?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma tilted her head as she looked a bit puzzled. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t it? If there¡¯s more people here we need a bigger town, right?¡±

    Zoe shook her head in shock, ¡°Well, yeah, I guess. So if I just went and built a house outside the walls, they¡¯d move the walls to include me?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, I bet my dad would know more if you¡¯re interested. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just like, an automatic thing though. Maybe you have to pay a bunch of money to move the wall? Or I bet if there was a whole bunch of people who wanted to build outside town they could petition for an expansion probably.¡± Emma said, though she didn¡¯t exude confidence.

    ¡°Huh. How pragmatic.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma opened the gate with a red crystal and walked inside, gesturing for Zoe to follow. The gate closed behind them and Emma lead Zoe to the front door. Which was almost a minute walk away from the gate.

    Zoe was still in disbelief that this didn¡¯t qualify as being rich. She thought Emma must have a warped perception of wealth, though maybe she was right. Could Zoe afford something like this with a few years of saving up on her income?

    A tall scruff man opened the door as they approached, his form towering over Zoe. He had a brown beard that was tied in a braid and came down just past his neck, his messy hair falling a little below that. He would have seemed like a picture perfect barbarian to Zoe were it not for the hot pink apron he was wearing. Identify showed him as a red marked mage.

    ¡°Hi dad!¡± Emma ran up and hugged him.

    ¡°Hey Emma, is this your new friend?¡± He asked and looked at Zoe.

    ¡°Yeah! This is Zoe. Dad, meet Zoe. Zoe, meet dad.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Zoe said a little sheepishly.

    ¡°Hi, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡± He looked at Emma and smiled, ¡°She wouldn¡¯t shut up about the weird classmate she met at dinner last night.¡±

    ¡°Dad!¡± Emma shouted over her dad¡¯s laughter.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I am a little strange, I guess.¡± Zoe said and smiled back.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it in a bad way, I just. You¡¯re level eight still with feats and getting skills and stuff and I just thought that was really cool and¡ª¡± Emma stuttered.

    ¡°No, really it¡¯s fine. Honestly.¡± Zoe interrupted her.

    Emma¡¯s dad ruffled her hair and laughed some more. ¡°Well don¡¯t waste your time out here. Come in, come in.¡± He walked inside and gestured for Zoe to follow.

    The inside of the house was gorgeous, with not a speck of dust to be seen. Every piece of furniture covered in ornate carvings, the windows almost completely transparent.

    ¡°We¡¯re making roast ryz for dinner tonight, is that alright with you Zoe?¡± Emma¡¯s dad asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not picky. Whatever you make is fine, thanks.¡±

    They were led to a dining room, a small wooden table sat inside the massive room. It felt a little goofy to Zoe, but she wasn¡¯t about to make a bad impression by mentioning anything.

    The kitchen was visible on the other side through a wide archway. A woman was in the kitchen, identify showing her as a red marked warrior. She had short, ginger hair that was spiked in the front and red eyes that narrowed when she saw Zoe.

    The woman vanished and appeared next to Zoe a moment later. ¡°What are you?" She scowled.

    ¡°Mom! Not you too!¡± Emma cried out.

    ¡°Not now, Emma.¡± She said to Emma then turned back to Zoe, her eyes almost glowing with an intensity that shocked Zoe.

    ¡°What. Are. You?¡± She asked again, fury bubbling from within her.

 36. Dinner

    Zoe stared at the woman in shock. Did she somehow know that Zoe was a half vampire? Should she be honest? Should she lie? Could she even lie?

    ¡°I¡¯m.. I¡¯m human?¡± Zoe stuttered. It wasn¡¯t a lie, it wasn¡¯t exactly the whole truth either, but she had no idea what the right response was here.

    Emma and her dad backed up from Zoe, her dad pulled her behind him and eyed Zoe with suspicion. Emma was staring wide eyed at the scene in shock, tears dripping down her face.

    The woman scowled and reached for Zoe. She tried to step back but was too slow, the woman¡¯s firm grip on her shoulder stopping her movement as though she were stuck in cement.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to ask one more time. What. Are. You?¡± She screamed, her face inches away from Zoe¡¯s face.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡± Zoe stuttered, not able to bring herself to finish her sentence. What was she? Zoe didn¡¯t even know the answer to that. Was she human? Was she a vampire? Was she something else entirely?

    Zoe¡¯s surroundings shifted, the city rushing past her in an instant before she settled down in the forest. She felt like her insides were going to explode, pain wracked through her body. Each muscle, each joint felt like she¡¯d spent the last three days doing an intense targeted workout.

    She screamed and fell to the ground. How was this happening? Why was this happening? She was just supposed to go and enjoy dinner with a new friend. Why did this need to happen?

    ¡°Sit up.¡± The woman said, standing over her. A burning fury raged beneath her calm exterior, threatening to explode if Zoe so much as looked at her the wrong way.

    Zoe did as she asked, ignoring her body begging her to just relax. Just let it go and allow herself to recover. She checked on her health.

    Health: 143/200

    Not as bad as the poison then, but still horrible. She could live, as long as she assuaged whatever problem Emma¡¯s mom had. She just needed to figure out what it was, find some way to defend herself.

    ¡°Hold this,¡± the woman said, tossing a large glass orb to Zoe. It looked like a larger mana orb that was full of the coursing blue energy.

    Zoe caught it and as soon as she did knew there was no way it was a normal mana orb. The instant it touched her, she felt a connection with it. Nothing physical, but it attached to her in a very real way, in a way that she was intimately familiar with and yet had never experienced before.

    It terrified her.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to answer my questions. If you so much as make a suspicious move or tell a lie, I¡¯ll be dropping you off with the guards. Do you understand?" The woman asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Zoe nodded frantically. The orb lit up with a bright green light when she did.

    Fuck, Zoe thought. It was a lie detector of some sort.

    ¡°For the final time, what are you?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m human, I swear.¡± Zoe pleaded. The orb lit up green and Zoe felt herself relax a little. It was a fear of hers, the stat window told her she was human but it was hard to believe it. Seeing the orb confirm her statement made her feel just a little bit better.

    ¡°Hmm. Strange.¡± The woman said and paused for a few minutes.

    Zoe had no idea what was happening. Why was the woman not saying anything more? Did she think something was wrong with the lie detector? Was she going to kill Zoe? What would the guards do if she ended up there anyway? Why was this happening. What did she do?

    ¡°What level are you?¡± She asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m level eight,¡± she said, wishing this could be over already. Zoe was level eight, she wasn¡¯t a threat. It was all a misunderstanding, she could go home now. Please, she begged in her mind.

    The orb shone green.

    ¡°What manipulation skill are you using?" She asked.

    Manipulation skill? Zoe had no idea what the woman was talking about. Zoe had her vampyric empathy but that didn¡¯t manipulate people it just told her what they were feeling.

    She paused, realizing her mistake. Vampyric Charm had sat there in the background, her highest level skill by a large margin only ever approached by meditation. She had no idea what it did, no idea how to use it or how to stop it from being used. For the most part, she had forgotten about it. It was just a part of her, something she¡¯d have to accept.

    But was it manipulating people without her approval? How could she even phrase the answer to be telling the truth but not just outright say she was a half vampire. She decided to take a gamble, if the orb only showed truth or lies then she should be fine. If it showed intent then she was probably going to die. But if she told this woman she was a half vampire she was probably going to die anyway.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure but I have a charm skill which might be it?¡± Zoe said, begging the universe to be kind to her just one more time. Just let the orb shine green, don¡¯t let it read her intent.

    The orb shone green.

    ¡°Turn it off.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how, I wish I did, I¡¯m so sorry I just don¡¯t know if it can even be turned off. I don¡¯t even want this stupid skill.¡± Zoe said.

    The orb shone green.

    ¡°Every skill can be disabled. Figure it out.¡± The woman said.

    Zoe looked inwards, searching for a switch, for anything that would help her. She had looked before and found nothing, but she was better at this now. Her meditation gave her a much better understanding of herself, of the energies that made up the system and the world.

    She begged the system to turn it off, reaching for every tiny speck of interest she could notice within herself. Minutes passed and Zoe could feel the sweat dripping down her neck. If she couldn¡¯t find a switch to turn it off, was this woman going to kill her? Because she just got stuck with a skill she didn¡¯t even want? How was that even fair?

    The woman waited, watching Zoe with those terrifying eyes that seemed to burn into Zoe¡¯s very being. She stood, motionless. Zoe didn¡¯t know how long she had before the woman¡¯s patience wore out but she hoped it would be enough.

    And then she found it, she found the switch and pulled on it with all she had. When she did, Zoe felt a pressure disappear. It was somewhat similar to the lie detector orb, something so much more intimate than she had ever experienced before. It was so subtle that she hadn¡¯t even noticed it before.

    But now that it was gone, she felt so free. Zoe smiled, the fear she felt, all the pain she felt. It all washed away from the pleasant feeling that coursed through her.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    The woman¡¯s eyes squinted at Zoe. ¡°What level was that skill?¡±

    It was one of the questions she absolutely did not want to have to answer. How could she explain having a high level skill while still being level eight? She didn¡¯t even know what level it was at since it levelled so fast.

    -- Vampyric Charm (53)

    Shit, Zoe thought. It really did level so much quicker than everything else. Was it just always blasting out ¡°come like me¡± rays at everybody Zoe talked to? She cringed, feeling guilt well up inside at her lackadaisical approach to the skill. How many people only liked her because of this skill? How many people were unwittingly affected by her irresponsible actions?

    In a way, this woman had done her a favour. A horrible, terrifying favour.

    ¡°It¡¯s level fifty-three,¡± Zoe said, staring at the ground in front of her.

    The orb shone green.

    The woman¡¯s eyes widened, the red fury that burned within almost bursting out from them. ¡°How is your skill level fifty-three if you¡¯re only level eight?¡±

    ¡°I have a feat,¡± Zoe said, on the verge of tears. It was a secret that she didn¡¯t even know if she wanted to keep, but having it forced out of her like this was definitely not what she wanted.

    The orb shone green.

    ¡°Don¡¯t play this game, what¡¯s the feat and what does it do?" The woman asked.

    ¡°Patient Decider, it gives some bonus stat points and removes first class restrictions. You get it for living twenty-five years as a human.¡± Zoe said, keeping some of the details to herself. If the orb only verified that she told the truth, not that she answered to the best of her ability then she would use that to her advantage.

    The orb shone green.

    The woman sighed and leaned against a tree nearby. ¡°You¡¯re a freak, you know that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± Zoe said, not sure what the woman was saying.

    ¡°You¡¯re by far the most impressive level eight I¡¯ve ever met, but you don¡¯t even understand your own skills. If you spent this many years with however many skills you have, a normal person would have experimented with them more. Learned about them more.

    ¡°But you just didn¡¯t? You went all this time not even knowing how to turn off a skill you don¡¯t even want? It just doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what to say, what to do about the sudden loss of tension. ¡°Are you going to kill me?¡±

    The woman cackled. ¡°No, you¡¯re na?ve. Powerful and terrifying in many ways, frail and brittle in many others. But you don¡¯t deserve death.¡±

    She walked up to Zoe and knelt down next to her. ¡°One last question. Do you, or have you, at any point in time, considered in any way, through any means, harming my daughter?¡±

    ¡°No, absolutely not,¡± Zoe said.

    The orb shone green.

    ¡°Good,¡± the woman said and grabbed the orb. It vanished to whatever storage item she had, and Zoe felt the connection sever.

    ¡°I know this must have been hard on you. It¡¯s terrifying having somebody higher level than you rip you from your life and threaten you like this. I understand what you¡¯re experiencing better than you might think.¡± She stood up and stuck her hand out for Zoe.

    Zoe took it, and the woman lifted her to her feet.

    ¡°With that said, I¡¯m not sorry for what I did to you. You came into my house, blasting your manipulation at my family. If your skill was a few levels lower I doubt I would have even noticed it, but it¡¯s not anymore. You need to be more careful about using higher level skills on people. Take this as the learning experience that it is and be more responsible in the future.¡± She said and grabbed Zoe¡¯s shoulder again.

    Zoe closed her eyes and braced herself, ready for the terrible pain that would come from the woman moving her again. But it didn¡¯t come.

    She felt a shift, the temperature rose a few degrees and the sounds changed from the forest to the city. Zoe opened her eyes and saw the dining room, Emma was standing off to the side with her dad, tears streaming down her face.

    ¡°Zoe!" She called out and tried to rush to her, but was held back by her dad.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Emma¡¯s dad asked.

    ¡°Zoe here had a manipulation skill that was always on. Didn¡¯t know how to turn it off.¡± Emma¡¯s mom shrugged.

    ¡°What?!¡± The dad exclaimed. ¡°You were manipulating my daughter?¡± He looked ready to pummel Zoe himself.

    ¡°It¡¯s done, she¡¯s turned it off and we had a nice chat.¡± The mom said.

    ¡°Did you?¡± The dad nodded his head in a way that seemed meaningful.

    The mom shrugged.

    ¡°You know you¡¯re not supposed to do that.¡± The dad sighed, ¡°I guess I can¡¯t blame you though.¡± He looked to Emma.

    The mom looked to Zoe, ¡°You¡¯re welcome to stay for dinner still if you want. I know a great therapist who can help with the trauma if you like, too.¡±

    Zoe was speechless. Just minutes ago she was begging, pleading for her life. And now she was being invited for dinner again? Offered therapy for the trauma that they caused?

    She looked back on her time in Flester, so many things making sense. The first blue marked mage didn¡¯t notice her empathy or identify. Of course he didn¡¯t, how could he? They just told her information that was already available.

    He noticed her charm.

    Liz wasn¡¯t even interested in bartering the first time she saw him. He could have gotten other people to do the job, klir was easy to get even in the winter. Yet when she saw him again he was willing to wiggle on the price a bit. Why was he willing to do that when he already set a price? He had no leeway the first time, no leeway for the man who was buying all those potions.

    But he did for Zoe?

    Everybody just liked her, she couldn¡¯t think of a single time that somebody actually hated her. She wrote it off as Flester being a friendly place, but was she manipulating everybody so they couldn¡¯t hate her even if they wanted to?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Zoe said, her eyes glued to the floor. ¡°I had no idea how to turn it off. I tried, before. I didn¡¯t even know what the skill did, not really.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine Zoe, I didn¡¯t even notice it personally. I¡¯m not sure how mum did.¡± Emma said and ran up to Zoe, her dad finally letting her go.

    ¡°I¡¯ve had similar experiences before,¡± The mom shrugged.

    ¡°Well, with that out of the way. Are you going to stay for dinner, Zoe?¡± The dad asked.

    It felt so surreal to her, so outlandish. One moment she¡¯s excited to meet her friend¡¯s parents, try their food. The next she¡¯s on her knees in the forest begging for her life. The next everything¡¯s back to normal like that never even happened.

    It didn¡¯t even feel real yet. Zoe was sure that she would have some trauma to work through later, but it almost felt like a distant dream, a fantasy, a show that she watched. Her fatigue was gone ¡ª she even felt pretty good from having her skill disabled after all this time. There was nothing bad to show from the experience, and everybody was being nice again.

    And besides, if she thought about it, she was in the wrong at the end of the day. She was manipulating people, even if she didn¡¯t know it. It was hard to say that she deserved what happened to her, there could have been a nicer way to handle the situation.

    But she understood it, at least. Just not enough to stay for their weird dinner after. She needed time to process it, to understand what had happened.

    ¡°I don''t think I''ll stay for dinner," she said.

 37. Restricted

    Zoe left Emma¡¯s house. Emma tried to follow after her, but Zoe told her not to. She wanted to be alone. Emma obliged and went back inside.

    For a moment, Zoe thought of staying for dinner. The situation was so outlandish, so ridiculous that it didn¡¯t even click for her. She almost said she¡¯d stay. With the weird psychopath who kidnapped her.

    Though, that wasn¡¯t fair, she thought. It was messed up, it was terrifying. But could Zoe blame her for it, really? Zoe came in with some manipulation affecting Emma¡¯s whole family, of course her mom would be livid. She counted herself lucky that Emma¡¯s mom didn¡¯t just kill her on the spot.

    If Zoe wasn¡¯t still level eight, maybe she would¡¯ve. If Zoe was higher level, maybe she couldn¡¯t have.

    Zoe made her way to Joe¡¯s inn, thinking about the situation more as she went. Therapists were a thing in this world. That was good. Did she need to see one? She didn¡¯t think that she did.

    When she was younger she had almost five years of consistent therapy week after week. She learned coping mechanism after coping mechanism and she made it this far without going too far off her rocker. She¡¯d managed to cope with having her entire life ripped away from her, a little interrogation couldn¡¯t be that bad.

    Joe was in the kitchen when she arrived, slaving away on the stoves. Zoe opened the kitchen door and gave a sheepish smile.

    ¡°Hey Joe,¡± she waved.

    ¡°Hey Zoe. You seem different today, did you do something?¡± Joe asked.

    Zoe¡¯s vision began to blur as tears dripped down her face.

    ¡°Hey, hey. What happened? Are you okay?¡± Joe dropped what he was doing and rushed to Zoe.

    ¡°I thought I was Joe. I thought everything was okay and then I saw you and I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know, Joe.¡± She fell to her knees and sobbed, wiping tears from her face.

    She felt a semblance of safety when she saw Joe, and the guilt from that ate away at her. Did she only feel safe with him because he liked her because of her charm? Could she ever be forgiven for what she¡¯d done?

    Joe closed the kitchen door behind her and knelt down. ¡°Did something happen? Do you want to talk about it?¡±

    ¡°I fucked up Joe. I ruined everything.¡± She sobbed.

    Joe summoned a glass of water and handed it to her, ¡°Have some water and calm down. It¡¯ll be okay, alright? I promise.¡±

    Zoe took it and sipped from the glass between sobs. Joe sat in silence as she tried to take deep, regular breaths and compose herself.

    ¡°Emma invited me to dinner. She¡¯s a friend¡­ was a friend I met at the school.¡± She started, pausing to try and keep herself from being a bumbling mess any longer.

    ¡°And it was all great. She had a big house, a nice¡­ ish, dad. And then I saw her mom.¡± Zoe rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Apparently one of my skills was a manipulation skill. A charm skill. I didn¡¯t know what it did, I didn¡¯t know how to stop it. I tried, before. But I couldn¡¯t figure it out.¡± She sniffled and took a few more deep breaths.

    ¡°I wrote it off, it was just a part of me. That was okay. I could live with it. I never bothered to look at what it did, never bothered to see how it affected people. Emma¡¯s mom noticed it, and she didn¡¯t like it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know what she did, Joe. It all happened so fast. One moment I was in their dining room and the next I was out in the forest in horrible pain being questioned with some weird magical orb that showed whether I was lying or not, I think.¡± Zoe laughed through her tears.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know if it was a lie detector, I never even tried to lie. It was so terrifying, maybe it was just a stupid orb that glowed green every time I said something. I¡¯m so sorry, Joe. I must have done it to you too. I¡¯m so sorry.¡± She sniffled.

    Joe looked at her for a moment. ¡°Is the skill off now?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zoe asked, feeling a little confused.

    ¡°The charm skill. Is it off right now?¡± Joe asked again.

    ¡°Uh, yeah. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever turn it on again. I don¡¯t want to be that kind of person.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Turn it on. I want to see how much of a difference it makes.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe chuckled. ¡°Okay, guess I am turning it on again then.¡± She fiddled with her internal energies until she found the switch again ¡ª still rather difficult to find but much easier without as much pressure.

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s a neat effect,¡± Joe said.

    ¡°What¡¯s it do to you?¡± Zoe asked, flipping the switch off again. She wasn¡¯t comfortable having it on any longer than necessary.

    ¡°Not much, really. Your eyes light up with this subtle warmth that makes me feel slightly more comfortable. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d have noticed it without the side by side comparison.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not as bad as I thought it would be, actually. Are we going to be okay?¡± Zoe asked, hoping he wouldn¡¯t say no.

    Joe laughed, ¡°Yes we¡¯re fine Zoe. I don¡¯t know what level it¡¯s at now but when I met you it couldn¡¯t have been anywhere near as high as it is now. I doubt I would have noticed anything even with the side by side comparison. Just don¡¯t keep it on, alright? That¡¯s technically not legal everywhere.¡±

    ¡°No, never. I¡¯m keeping that off forever, I don¡¯t want any part of that.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe smiled, ¡°It¡¯s your skill, Zoe. It¡¯s a very heavily restricted skill archetype, yes. And what you were doing was very illegal. But it¡¯s still a skill you have, maybe you can use it to make animals like you a bit more. Maybe it could help you out of a pinch someday.¡±

    ¡°I dunno, Joe. It just feels so wrong to manipulate anything like that to me. It makes me uncomfortable. It made me uncomfortable even before I knew what it did for sure, let alone now. I can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t take it more seriously. I didn¡¯t even know it was restricted. I¡¯m such a horrible person.¡± Zoe said, still sitting on the floor.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°You¡¯re not a horrible person. A year ago you didn¡¯t even know magic like this was possible. Now you¡¯re dealing with stuff that even most of the people here wouldn¡¯t think of as being possible. It¡¯s a learning process, Zoe. You¡¯ll be okay.¡± Joe said.

    Something about his words made Zoe feel a little better, made her feel a little more secure than she did before. Even after what she did, even without her skill on, Joe was still just as nice as he was before.

    Even more than ever before, she vowed to pay him back someday. To show how much she appreciated his presence.

    ¡°Thanks, Joe. I feel a lot better now. I thought I was okay on the walk over here and then I saw you and it just all hit me at once. That was really scary.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Joe stood up and returned to the stove he was working at. The meat he was grilling was beyond burnt and he chuckled, vanishing it to whatever storage item he was using.

    ¡°Any chance you¡¯ve got a room tonight?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe chuckled, ¡°Unfortunately for you, I¡¯m all full up. You can use the kitchen if you want somewhere to stay tonight though.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I think I¡¯ll just sit in the dining area and read tonight if I can get another book from John maybe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sure thing,¡± Joe said, waving to her as she left.

    She walked back in a moment later, ¡°Actually, Joe. What does a restricted archetype mean anyway?"

    Joe chuckled, ¡°I forgot what it was like having you around. Some types of skills aren¡¯t permitted in public ¡ª your charm being one of them. Anything that can manipulate somebody¡¯s emotions or psyche, mental effects like that are generally extremely frowned upon.¡±

    ¡°What other types of skills? I have an empathy skill that tells me how people are feeling, is that okay?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a problem. It¡¯s mostly to do with manipulation and large scale destruction. If you had a skill that was good at poisoning an entire city people would be more than a little bothered by having you here.¡± Joe explained.

    ¡°What¡¯s the punishment for having a restricted skill?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°For just having a skill? Nothing. Everybody¡¯s allowed whatever skills they want. If you¡¯re caught using them then it depends on the extent of the damage. You shouldn¡¯t be worried about it, you didn¡¯t do anything heinous with it, just don¡¯t keep doing it.¡± Joe answered.

    ¡°I won¡¯t. Actually I was wondering about something else. My empathy skill I found really easy to turn off, but the charm skill I tried a couple times before and couldn¡¯t find anything. I barely managed it earlier when Emma¡¯s mom was interrogating me. Why was it so much harder to turn off?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Ahh, that¡¯s probably because it¡¯s a physical effect. It changes your eyes, after all.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°So skills that have physical effects are just harder to disable for some reason?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Something like a cooking skill doesn¡¯t change you, it just gives you knowledge. Shutting off that ¡®valve¡¯ of knowledge, so to speak isn¡¯t all that complicated.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°But making the system restructure my eyes on demand is very complicated.¡± Zoe interrupted him.

    ¡°Something like that, yeah.¡± He said.

    ¡°Alright, thanks Joe!¡± Zoe said.

    Joe smiled, ¡°No problem. I¡¯m always here.¡±

    Zoe walked down the street to John¡¯s bookstore. She thought about her system theory on the way ¡ª many more of the skills fell into the category she¡¯d dubbed as ¡®system helpers.¡¯ Things like her identify and immortality, but also her empathy and probably her cooking and archery too.

    She pushed her focus inwards, trying to find as many of the switches as she could. It seemed that only the skill she was actually looking for was even visible to the strange viewpoint she had. Or maybe her intent pushed her to the right area subconsciously?

    Exploring the essence of her being more in depth would be something she could do later, she thought. She had no idea what she was even searching through, what the torrents of power she could feel within her amounted to. Her soul? The system attached to her? Her mana? She had no way of knowing, but it felt safest to stick to what had already worked for now.

    Most of the switches she found relatively easy, the list of skills she¡¯d lose if the system disappeared much larger than she initially expected. What Zoe found most interesting was that her Vampyric Immortality didn¡¯t seem to have a switch, though she wasn¡¯t sure if that meant it wasn¡¯t there or she just couldn¡¯t find it yet. It shouldn¡¯t have any weird effects like the charm did so she wasn¡¯t afraid of letting it just always be on.

    Immortality wasn¡¯t a bad thing anyway, not to her. The other skills that were more challenging to find were her Vampyric Senses, Vampyric Regeneration, Vampyric Resistance and Meditation. She found it strange that her empathy was the only vampyric skill that was easy to disable.

    It made sense, at least from her limited understanding of how the system worked. All of the other skills did something physical, whereas Empathy was strictly mental. She could see what people were feeling. Useful, but just an information pipeline. She didn¡¯t need to have her brain rewired for it to work, the system could just give her that information. Or maybe parse what was already there for her?

    But would it work without the system? Probably not, if her theory was accurate. Skills that were easy to disable wouldn¡¯t work without the system, but skills that were difficult to disable should. Not that it was something she¡¯d ever be able to test, anyway.

    When Zoe arrived at John¡¯s books, she found him to still be closed. That eerie darkness in the windows greeting her once more. That was fine, she could just focus on meditating for the night, finish off the mana orb and get enough money for the next week of schooling.

    She returned to Joe¡¯s inn and sat down at one of the empty tables, focusing on the energies swirling around and within her to fill her mana orb. The orb was finished right around the time she had to get to school, so she said her goodbyes to Joe and made her way down to class.

    Emma was waiting outside the school when she arrived, giving her a timid smile and a wave. ¡°I¡¯m so so sorry for my mom, Zoe. You didn¡¯t deserve that at all. Can we still be friends?¡±

    Zoe smiled at her, ¡°I think so. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be going to your house again any time soon though.¡±

    ¡°I would never! I¡¯m never bringing friends over again after that, I can¡¯t believe she did that to you. I¡¯m so so sorry, Zoe. I never wanted that to happen. She¡¯s really protective of me and-¡± Emma rambled.

    ¡°No, I get it. I mean, I don¡¯t like it. But I would have been mad in her position too. I did kinda show up at her house actively manipulating her family.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah but you didn¡¯t even know how to turn it off. She could have just asked you nicely instead of kidnapping you like that. I¡¯m so mad, I can¡¯t believe she did that. I was so worried you were going to hate me over it. I finally made a friend and then my mum scares the hell out of them.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°You were worried that I would hate you?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah! I mean, my mum kidnapped you! It would have been totally reasonable for you to hate me. I¡¯m so glad you don¡¯t though.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like you kidnapped me, though. I don¡¯t think I want to see your mom ever again, but you¡¯re not your mom.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma sighed, ¡°I¡¯m so relieved. Are you okay, by the way? That must have been so scary. I¡¯m so sorry Zoe.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you didn¡¯t do anything. I¡¯m okay, I think. I cried a lot last night with a friend and I feel a lot better now, honestly.¡± Zoe smiled at her.

    Emma smiled back, ¡°Good, let me know if I can help you with anything alright? We should get to class before we¡¯re late, though. I don¡¯t remember if there¡¯s a stupid fee for that or not.¡±

    Zoe laughed.

 38. Oliver

    The rest of school passed without so much as a hiccup and Zoe found herself in the last week, prepping for her final exam with Emma.

    For the first couple weeks after the incident, Zoe found herself checking behind her when she heard a noise she couldn¡¯t recognize immediately. Memories of the terrible interrogation struck fear in her heart, but she worked through it. Joe helped a lot, talking to him about it made her feel so much more comfortable, so much more safe than she expected.

    There weren¡¯t any more complete breakdowns on his kitchen floor, but she helped out around the inn a couple times and spent a lot of her time there talking with him. Sometimes about the incident, but most of the time just about anything else. It helped take her mind off of it, made her feel like she could settle into normal life again.

    Emma was in the process of making plans to get a place of her own so she could get away from her mom ¡ª something she already wanted to do before anyway since her mom never let her have pets. But their relationship had grown tense since Emma¡¯s mom kidnapped Zoe. Emma did come around to understanding her mom¡¯s actions a bit, but couldn¡¯t forgive her for taking it so far.

    When she was younger, Emma was given a few gold every year as an allowance and with the income she¡¯d get as a hunter after the course, she hoped to be able to get a loan on a house of her own. And then two cats, she kept insisting. She¡¯d always loved cats.

    Zoe¡¯s mana orb charging continued to prove lucrative for her. Ren thankfully never finished his experiments and Zoe had already paid off the two gold debt she had to the school. She fumbled around in her bag as she counted her coins. Fifty silver, seventy six copper. The richest she¡¯d been since she stupidly threw herself at the poison testing.

    The classes were interesting. Archery and dagger fighting introductory courses were both done in the first week and the students were all given their magical keys for the different training facilities. Zoe put them both to good work, even long after she got her dagger-fighting skill. She was excited to finish up her last week and check all of her skills progress. It was spread out quite a lot but it was still two months of dedicated, proper training to many of her skills. She expected big numbers.

    At one point, Zoe decided to try and toggle her Vampyric Senses off, which was a mistake she promised never to make again. Vampyric Charm being disabled was noticeable after she¡¯d switched it on and off a few times. Like a slight tingling in her eyes, an itch resolved with a swift blink.

    But Vampyric Senses was so much more integral to her being, to what she was now. She could feel her flesh warping inside her head, feel the connections with her senses being severed. And that wasn¡¯t even mentioning the horrible feeling of having all of your senses dampened so intensely in an instant. She had forgotten how restricting having normal, human senses felt. Every shadow so intense and noticeable, distant words not even audible to her.

    No, Vampyric Senses was a skill she was more than content having on all the time. Her other skills she never even bothered turning off ¡ª regeneration and resistance were far too important for her continued survival. And turning off her archery while she was trying to level it up? That just seemed silly.

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll get extra points for finding one of the instructors?¡± Emma asked her.

    They were sitting in the library, planning for their final exam. It was to be a one week camping trip with minimal supplies. They would need to build a livable camp and survive off the land for the full week, and then they would be graded on their performance. Groups were permitted, so Zoe and Emma decided to tackle it together.

    School was over afterwards, regardless of their grade, but the instructors insisted that getting a good grade on your final exam here would help their future prospects as hunters. Zoe had her doubts ¡ª neither Penny nor Herb had even so much as mentioned the school and they both seemed to be doing just fine.

    But the two girls found it fun to plan and try to get the best grade they could anyway.

    ¡°Maybe. I don¡¯t think we should make it a priority though, lets just have a nice week camping out in the forest.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Awww, come on. You¡¯ve got your fancy eyes and everything, it¡¯ll be so easy for us!¡± Emma whined.

    Zoe had confided in Emma a couple weeks back about her vampyric abilities and her Patient Decider feat. More and more she was beginning to think that there wasn¡¯t even a reason to keep them secret anyway. What was somebody going to do? Kidnap her? That already happened when she was keeping them a secret.

    In a sick twist of fate, had she not been secretive about what she had, she probably would¡¯ve figured out that her charm skill was illegal and could be disabled sooner. And then Emma¡¯s mom wouldn¡¯t have had a problem with her.

    She didn¡¯t feel like broadcasting her vampyric skills and fancy feat to everybody in town, but friends could know, she decided. They just wouldn¡¯t get to know that she was from a different plane of existence. That felt like she might be made into a science experiment.

    ¡°Look, if I see somebody then I¡¯ll tell you okay? But I¡¯m still only level eight, I doubt I¡¯ll see a red mark specifically trying to not be seen by me, let alone a blue mark if we end up with one of them.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Fine, fine. I thought it would be funny. I was thinking about my cats-¡± Emma said.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any cats yet, you know?" Zoe said.

    ¡°Yet!¡± She pointed at Zoe. ¡°I was thinking Oliver¡¯s a good name for a cat.¡±

    ¡°So about the camping trip we¡¯re supposed to go on tomorrow?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°We already went over it, Zoe. We¡¯ll set up a tree house, you¡¯ll take all the watches since you don¡¯t need to sleep anyway.¡± She smiled and then put on a dramatic voice. ¡°And I¡¯ll sleep lots then shoot any boars that dare to encroach on our holy territory! Since I¡¯m a normal human who can make decisions without spending twenty years on them.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t think the instructors are going to appreciate that very much. And maybe I wanna sleep at some point too!¡±

    ¡°Do you?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°No, but that¡¯s not the point!¡± Zoe chided.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Emma drawled. ¡°We need a source of water anyway and animals probably aren¡¯t going to just wander into our camp. Realistically, we only really need to get one deer and we¡¯re fine for food with the school¡¯s ring.¡±

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    The school had lent them some supplies for making their exam go a little smoother. A small one bag storage ring that Emma was wearing and some basic survival gear ¡ª clear plastic looking bags, tents, some simple cookware, whatever they might end up needing. Plus some armour and weapons, but they both only took the light leather armour since they already had the rest on their own.

    The storage ring was just to keep unnecessary waste to a minimum. With so many students going out on their final exam, that could be many animals killed for sustenance. Without some means of preserving the food, most of the animal would be wasted. A deer you killed on day one wouldn¡¯t still be edible food on day five without some way of preserving the meat.

    Not to mention all the bones and hide that would just rot in the forest which could be put to much better use by the school to make tools or replenish some of their damaged supplies.

    Zoe and Emma looked at the map of the school¡¯s section of forest on the table between them. There weren¡¯t any sources of water within the zone the school had. Students were allowed to leave, and an instructor would follow them, so the option to go to a nearby river was present.

    But Zoe and Emma both agreed that you would be docked points for that. There were other options available for getting water and leaving the ¡®safe¡¯ area felt like announcing you never paid attention to all the times the instructors specifically told them to always take the safest path.

    ¡°We¡¯re not explorers, we¡¯re hunters,¡± the instructors kept saying.

    ¡°I think we should go to near the north west section, personally.¡± Zoe said, pointing to where she meant on the map.

    It was relatively sparse forest, full of lush vegetation. Foraging for food would be simple and water would be accessible by collecting dew or plant transpiration moisture without too much effort.

    Had they done this a few weeks prior they could have taken advantage of the plentiful snow that covered the forest. But most of it had melted as the spring drew to an end.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Emma scrunched her face as she thought about it. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m okay with that. Lots of green there, and plenty of sunlight.¡±

    ¡°Yeah I was thinking water should be our first priority. It¡¯s probably fine regardless of where we go, but the more leaves we can have near us and in the sun the better, I think.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay, so we go to the northwest flag pole, find a nice tree to call home and build a cool treehouse. Sounds like a plan to me.¡± Emma laughed.

    Zoe rolled her eyes, ¡°We build a hammock, at best.¡±

    ¡°And then go find a deer feeding ground to get ourselves dinner for the week! I¡¯m surprised they¡¯re making this a five day thing, all we really need to do to survive is get water and one kill. We¡¯ll be done on the first day!¡± Emma announced.

    Zoe sighed.

    They were not done on the first day. Getting out to the northwest flag pole was simple enough and they set up a simple camp. A fire-pit next to their tent, and plenty of the more vibrant green leaves surrounding them covered in the clear bags, tied tight to the branches.

    By the time they had everything set up, it was mid afternoon and the pair decided to try and find some tracks they could follow to their dinner.

    The tracking skill was something Zoe found quite interesting. The way it worked in synergy with her Vampyric Senses was incredible. They both served a similar purpose, helping her find her ¡®prey¡¯ as the system loved to say, but they accomplished the goal in very different ways.

    Her Vampyric Senses gave her what could only be described as a very primal instinct, every little detail screaming at her, but so loudly that she never knew what was actually doing the screaming.

    On the other hand, her Tracking skill did the very opposite. Each detail was itself so important, her attention drawn to each one so naturally. On its own it seemed quite powerful for a hunter, but combined with her superior senses?

    She could smell the cracked seeds from a few feet away, see the broken branches from an almost unlimited distance it seemed. Details began to stand out to her more than ever before and figuring out where an animal had gone or come from was as effortless as breathing for her.

    The only issue was, animals didn¡¯t seem to like being around the north west section of the school¡¯s designated zone. They found a few tracks before nightfall, but following them always took them farther outside, rather than inwards to where they¡¯d always be near a flag pole.

    ¡°Ahhhh!¡± Emma screamed. ¡°I¡¯m hungry and tired. I¡¯m tingry. Hungred. Why does hangry work so well but tirgry doesn¡¯t?¡±

    Zoe chuckled, ¡°Told you it¡¯d be harder than you thought. Screaming¡¯s not helping, by the way.¡±

    ¡°I know but it¡¯s getting dark so I can¡¯t do anything now anyway and you¡¯re not leaving me alone out here, even if an instructor¡¯s watching.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Back to camp then? We could try wandering inwards tomorrow, or just hang out around where we found the deer tracks earlier and hope that it decides to wander back through tomorrow too. Maybe it has a regular routine it follows every day.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I vote we go inwards. There¡¯s deer in this forest, there¡¯s gotta be or the instructors would have made their zone bigger.¡± Emma whined.

    When they got back to camp, they harvested all the water that had accumulated in the bags throughout the day. It wasn¡¯t a tonne, but with all the bags they had up they got a few litres of water. They poured it as carefully as they could into water skins the school provided and then set up the bags on different branches for the night.

    ¡°I know I joked about you taking all the watches but I am okay with taking first watch too if you want?" Emma asked.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t get tired anymore. Not from just being awake, anyway. Wouldn¡¯t make sense to have you take watch. Besides, I see better at night than you anyway.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Okay¡­ just, if you do wanna sleep I¡¯m okay with it you know?¡± Emma said, and tucked herself into the tent. She stuck her head back out again a moment later, ¡°Good night Zoe!¡±

    ¡°Good night, Emma. I¡¯ll wake you when the sun rises if you¡¯re not up already.¡± Zoe responded.

    Emma closed up the tent, and Zoe heard her breathing fall into a much more regular pattern a few minutes later.

    The night passed without a crazed boar attack and Zoe shook Emma awake when the sun began to rise again.

    ¡°Mmmm? Oh. Morning already? Awww¡­ I was having such a good dream too.¡± Emma rubbed her eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s called rheum, you know?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°What?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah, that gunk in your eyes. It¡¯s called rheum. Just a weird thing I know for some reason.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma shook her head. ¡°What are you. Dammit! Now I can¡¯t even remember my dream. Ahhh it was so good too. I think you were there? I remember a cat was doing something.¡±

    ¡°Housewarming party?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, I think we were on a boat that was flying in the sky underwater through the forest? The cat was the pilot or something.¡± Emma stood up and massaged her back.

    ¡°Dreams are so weird.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Emma said.

 39. Vengeance

    Zoe and Emma went to check the bags they had set up on some of the branches around them. There was very little water in any of the bags but they still topped up their water-skins and moved the bags to different plants to continue harvesting moisture throughout the day.

    The instructors had driven home the point of not harming the plants by harvesting too much of any resource from any individual plant. Zoe wondered what harm would be caused by having the plastic bags on the leaves though. Sunlight still passed through just fine and it¡¯s not like they were forcing water out of the leaves.

    Plants just transpired through the day, and Zoe wanted to drink their sweat. Which was gross and creepy when she thought about it like that. Maybe the plastic bag magnified the sun or captured too much of the heat which would damage the plant?

    Whatever it was, the instructors seemed to think it was important enough to move the bags around between plants with a decent frequency and she wasn¡¯t about to not listen to them on her final exam.

    ¡°You good for heading inwards a bit? We could head south-east for maybe an hour then start checking around for tracks and see what we find?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sounds fine by me. You didn¡¯t happen to see one of the instructors on your watch did you?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe smiled at her and started making her way through the forest to the south east.

    ¡°Wait, did you? You did didn¡¯t you! Why didn¡¯t you wake me up?!¡± Emma whispered.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t see anybody, I¡¯d wake you up if I did don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Emma squinted at her, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll trust you then. I¡¯m gonna be real mad if I find out you were going off on nightly dates with the instructors after this though.¡±

    ¡°Hah! Excellent camp setup and location, proper water acquisition and offered to pay for the meal. Ten outta ten, graduate with honours.¡± Zoe chided.

    ¡°They¡¯re all so much richer than you, make sure you get them to pay.¡± Emma shook her head.

    An hour later, Zoe and Emma found themselves in a part of the forest that they¡¯d never been in before. They had seen maps of the area, and had a good idea of where they were at least, but it was still new to them.

    ¡°Okay, find some tracks, get ourselves some food and then build our damn treehouse.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Hammock,¡± Zoe corrected.

    They walked through the forest for a few minutes before Zoe stopped and pointed at some prints in the dirt. ¡°Boars.¡±

    ¡°What? There¡¯s not supposed to be boars in this area of the forest.¡± Emma whispered.

    ¡°You think the instructors brought some in just to surprise us?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Maybe. What do you think we should do? I¡¯m not sure I could climb a tree as quick as you.¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Hmm. We¡¯re not the dumbest students this school has ever had, and they¡¯ve never had somebody die. I think if anything catastrophic happened an instructor would definitely step in to save us.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You think we should try and hunt the boar?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to get a safer chance than now to see what it¡¯s like at least.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma pursed her lips. ¡°Mmm. Okay. But if we see signs that it¡¯s a group of them we leave.¡±

    Zoe pointed to some scratches in a nearby tree and to the roughed up dirt next to it. ¡°Looks like just one to me for now at least.¡±

    Emma knelt to the ground and inspected some of the tracks then pointed off to the east. ¡°Looks like it went that way, maybe an hour ago?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d agree with that. Follow it and see what we see?" Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded, and the two set off down the boar¡¯s tracks. Zoe could see the trail clear as day, both of her skills working in tandem to provide her with all the information she needed. But Emma still wanted to get some real world experience with hunting and Zoe agreed not to just blaze down the trail like it was track and field.

    They would stop every so often so Emma could investigate the tracks and continue following it on her own. Zoe wasn¡¯t bothered by it and spent most of her time keeping her head on a swivel, watching everything around her. The last thing she wanted was for the boar they were tracking to jump out at Emma while she was on the ground.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s close,¡± Emma said as quiet as she could manage. ¡°We¡¯ve been outpacing it quite a bit from what I can see. These tracks look like they were pretty recent."

    Zoe agreed.

    Emma licked her finger and held it up. ¡°Crosswind. Should we move downwind then make a call?¡±

    ¡°Probably, yeah. Lets veer north a little. I¡¯ll see if I can get eyes on it too.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded her head, and they continued off the trail the boar had beaten to go a little northwards. Zoe kept her eyes out and a few minutes later she saw the boar through the trees to the south east.

    ¡°I see it. Maybe a kilometer that way,¡± Zoe pointed.

    ¡°Approach?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°It looks distracted with something, if we keep quiet and stay as downwind as we can we¡¯re probably fine.¡± Zoe said.

    The two continued through the forest, Zoe¡¯s Stealth skill guiding her feet into positions that wouldn¡¯t crunch on leaves or branches that have fallen on the ground. Emma squinted in the direction where Zoe had pointed for a bit then shook her head.

    Ten minutes later, Zoe could smell the boar. A slight musky smell with a hint of urine combined with the fresh smell from the tree that it was scratching its tusks on.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°How close do you need to be for a confident shot?¡± Zoe pointed at the boar.

    Emma looked again and nodded, ¡°Eighty meters at most? That¡¯s maybe three hundred? Four? We¡¯d need to get a lot closer.¡±

    Zoe nodded, ¡°It¡¯s digging for food right now. I bet if we take it slow we could get pretty close before it notices us. Forest floor looks mostly clear, just a few twigs to watch out for.¡±

    ¡°We could alert it, see if it approaches? If we get too close first it might get spooked and run away.¡± Emma suggested.

    ¡°Hmm. Okay, we can try that. If it runs away we¡¯re gonna be in for a chase you know though?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No it should be fine, boars around Flester tend to be extremely aggressive. I¡¯ll get up in a tree and you turn your back to it then make some noise?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Okay. Let me try first though, I want to see if I can get it with my dagger.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded and climbed up a nearby tree then got her bow and quiver ready, while Zoe readied herself for what she was about to try.

    She turned her back to the boar and started stepping on some of the twigs around her, trying to make the boar think she hadn¡¯t seen her. The sound of the boar digging stopped and was replaced quickly by deep, guttural grunting and swift footsteps that approached Zoe, barely audible to her improved hearing.

    She waited a moment, letting the boar approach a little more. Letting it build up its confidence, make it feel like it was getting the jump on her instead of the other way around. And then she turned and drew her dagger.

    The boar was another hundred meters away, thrashing through the tall grass and odd bush as it rampaged through the forest to Zoe. Grunting and growling all the way. Zoe took a deep breath. The boar was level thirteen ¡ª not that bad, she thought. She could handle it.

    Step out of the way of the first few charges, let it tire itself out, she thought. Boars are sprinters, not endurance runners. It already had to run a few hundred meters in its senseless rage just to get to her, if she kept it going, the boar would tire and she¡¯d get her chance.

    One good stab below the armpit. That¡¯s all it would take.

    The boar was mere meters away and Zoe¡¯s focus was set. Emma was watching, she could let Zoe know if there was anything else to be worried about. Any of its friends around. All Zoe needed to do was focus on dodging the boar¡¯s dash.

    Just before it reached her, she leapt into the air and the boar ran right below her. It tried to stop but its momentum carried it forward and it slid through the soft dirt for a moment as Zoe landed and got her bearings again.

    Zoe took a few slow steps towards the boar and it growled in response, charging at her again. She stepped to the side, positioning her dagger vertically between the boar and her leg to keep its razor sharp tusks from scratching her again.

    The boar¡¯s tusk smashed into her dagger, shoving her out of the way. The blunt side of her dagger pressed into her leg and shoved her out of the way. It stung a bit, but it was better than another massive gash.

    She watched the boar continue to run as it turned and made to charge at her again. It was beginning to slow, Zoe could tell. She¡¯d be able to make her move soon.

    Zoe dodged to the other side this time, letting the boar¡¯s tusk smash into her dagger again and push her out of harm¡¯s way. Her hand stung from the impact, and she was sure that her leg would be bruised after but kept her focus on the boar.

    The boar stopped almost five meters away from Zoe and stared her down, huffing and growling at her. It was tired, she knew. It already spent hours wandering around and then sprinted for a few minutes straight. Zoe took a few steps towards it. This was her best chance if she wanted to get the boar with her dagger.

    She could see Emma still up in the tree, her arrow nocked and ready to be drawn at a moments notice. If the boar seemed like it was going to run away, Zoe had no doubt Emma would make a lethal shot. But that wasn¡¯t good enough for Zoe. She needed to redeem herself, to prove to herself that she can do it. That she grew and learned and overcame her adversity, with her own hands.

    Even in a worst case, with the boar right on top of her, she needed to know that she could best it. She¡¯d goad it into charging again, jump onto the boar and get a good stab in under its armpit. She took another short step towards it, and the boar dug its hooves into the soft dirt.

    Good, Zoe thought. Get angry, get defensive. Don¡¯t take your time to recover your energy. She took another step at it. Two meters away now. She was almost close enough to jump it if she thought she could avoid the sharp tusks while it was stationary and ready.

    She didn¡¯t.

    Another short step towards it. The boar snorted and rushed at her. Zoe watched its movements, her senses on overdrive, watching for every tiny movement the boar was making. She put her dagger between her just as she had the previous charges.

    But instead of letting it push her aside, she pressed into it, knocking the boar off balance the slightest bit. She took the opportunity to jump onto the boar¡¯s back and rammed her dagger into the boar just below the armpit.

    It fell to the ground a moment later below her, dead.

    ¡°YES!¡± Zoe screamed and pumped her arms above her.

    Emma dropped down from the tree she was in and looked at Zoe. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting that to work. That was impressive.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. Get it in your ring and we¡¯ll clean it back closer to camp?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure. Then we make our tree house?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Do you wanna see if we can get another for you to get? You didn¡¯t really get to do anything.¡±

    Emma thought about it for a moment, tapping her finger on her chin. ¡°Not today anyway. Two whole boars probably won¡¯t fit in the one bag ring and I don¡¯t really wanna hunt for sport.¡±

    ¡°Okay, back to camp to clean this and then we can forage for some veggies and make a nice dinner?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sounds good to me. Then tree house?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not making a damn tree house, oh my god.¡± Zoe sighed.

    Emma laughed.

    They made it back to camp just after noon, gathered their water and replaced the bags. Then went for a short walk to a clearing a little ways away to clean the boar.

    It was something they were both used to at this point and went by quickly. By the time they were done, Emma¡¯s ring was filled with individual portions of meat to last them the rest of the camping trip and then the rest was left in larger cuts along with the hide and bones.

    ¡°We could totally eat some of this now and then go forage after, you know?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah. We could.¡± Zoe¡¯s stomach rumbled.

    ¡°Heck yeah! Lets go make lunch.¡± Emma exclaimed.

    They started the fire with the flint and Zoe¡¯s dagger and set a metal grate on top of flames. It wasn¡¯t the ideal cooking situation, but they cut the meat as thin as they could so it would still cook through under high heat.

    The meat sizzled as it touched the grate, fat dripped onto the fire making it sputter and sizzle. The meat was cooked in minutes, and they pulled the grate off the fire to let it cool on a nice rock they found.

    Emma grabbed a piece and chewed on it. ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna add salt to my survival pack.¡±

    Zoe followed her lead and chewed on her own piece. It was tough and bland. The flavour of the wood burning was present but not intense. If they had cooked it a bit slower and had access to salt, it would have been decent enough, Zoe thought.

    But they didn¡¯t, and Zoe mentally added salt to her list of survival supplies as well.

 40. Graduation

    Zoe and Emma wandered around their camp pulling off leaves from bushes and trees, or plucking flowers from the ground and piling them into a metal pot they had. It wasn¡¯t much, and Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what the nutrition value of leaves and flowers were, but it tasted better than the plain boar meat at least.

    Some of the flowers had a nice tart sweetness to them, and many of the leaves were firm without being too chewy. If they had a salad dressing, or even just some lemon juice to drizzle over it they would have had a nice salad. But even without it, the two found it much better than the tough meat that still sat on the rock.

    They finished their meal, and cleaned up the mess they made while they decided what to do next.

    ¡°Still think it¡¯s weird that it¡¯s a 5 day camping trip, we¡¯re basically done now. We¡¯re not gonna run out of water or food at this point, so we just have to eat bad food for a few days and then be told we¡¯re good enough?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°It would¡¯ve been harder if my eyes weren¡¯t good enough to see the boar from so far away though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I guess¡­ I still think I would have found the boar anyway though.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Probably. Maybe they just want us to experience what it¡¯s like being on your own for a while?¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Maybe. It is harder than I thought it would be, I guess. I thought we¡¯d have been set on the first day for sure.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Yeah, and maybe other people got less lucky than us too. Guess we¡¯ll have to wait and see.¡± Zoe said.

    The two spent the rest of the day lounging around their camp, chatting about Emma¡¯s plans for her new house when she got it. She wanted a big backyard so she could try and get some of the seasonal master feats from the safety of her own house, and lots of space for her cats to run around.

    Zoe took watch again, keeping an eye and ear out for anything that might be attracted to their camp. A more likely happening now that they had cooked at their camp, something could be attracted by the smell of food and wander over. They tried to clean up as best they could but it still paid to be extra careful anyway.

    When Emma woke up, the two prepared some breakfast and went to find some tracks nearby that they could wait at so Emma could get her own kill for the exam. They found what looked like a feeding ground for some deer about forty minutes east of their camp, and climbed up a tree to wait and see if the deer would come back.

    The day passed, and as the sun began to set Zoe heard the crunching of leaves and twigs as something approached. Minutes later, the two girls saw a deer poke its head out from around a tree not too far off. It walked a little closer and started pulling off chunks of the tree¡¯s bark to eat.

    Emma gestured at it, and Zoe nodded.

    Emma drew her bow and nocked an arrow, then pulled the string back until her hand rested just at her cheek. She adjusted her aim and then let the arrow fly. The string snapped back with an immense force and the arrow flew towards the deer.

    The deer crouched as soon as it heard the snap of the bow and tried to jump away. But Emma anticipated this and the arrow smashed straight through the deer just above its shoulder, embedding itself in the ground on the other side.

    It stumbled through the forest for a few steps before it fell to the ground. Emma looked around and then hopped down out of the tree and ran to the deer¡¯s body to pull it into the school¡¯s storage ring.

    Zoe hopped down and whistled. She knew that Emma was level twenty-one now, just waiting for a good class for her next choice. But seeing the power that a dedicated bow hunting class gave, even just at the first tier was impressive.

    It made her look forward to whatever she would end up with even more. If this was what your standard bow hunting class could do, what would Zoe¡¯s class do with all of her extra bonuses she had?

    ¡°Yes!¡± Emma screamed after she was confident there were no threats nearby. ¡°I was getting worried. We sat up in that tree for like twelve hours. My butt hurts.¡± She rubbed her behind.

    Zoe laughed, ¡°Clean it here maybe? We know the area, should be fine.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, whatever. I got a kill too! Yay!¡± Emma hopped up and down, full of excitement.

    ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯m very proud of you. Good job. We should clean it and move though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Fine, but we¡¯re celebrating once we get back to town. On you. Since I¡¯m trying to buy a house and you¡¯re trying to¡­¡± Emma trailed off and started preparing an area for the deer. ¡°What are you trying to save for anyway?"

    Zoe joined her, ¡°Nothing, really. I want a storage item like I¡¯ve said. But no real big purchases planned.¡±

    Emma summoned the blankets and the deer on top of it then started working on it. ¡°Huh. You should get a house. Or maybe once you get a bunch of levels you could go make a cool cave to live in and be one of those cool immortals I¡¯ve read about in books.

    ¡°Come back every few thousand years and make a big mess for everybody to clean up. Get really angry that nobody knows how to play your favourite sport anymore and force everybody to learn again.¡± Emma laughed.

    Zoe laughed with her, ¡°Thousands of years away from people sounds horrible to me.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, maybe now, I guess.¡± Emma scrunched her face in thought. ¡°But like, you¡¯re twenty-five now, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± Zoe said with some confusion.

    ¡°Yeah, so two years is basically ten percent of your entire life, right?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Uhuh, and?¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s a long time. But someday, you¡¯ll be two hundred and fifty years old. And at that point, twenty-five years will be just as long as two and a half is to you now, y¡¯know?" Emma asked.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Zoe shook her head, ¡°I guess. But twenty five years is still a long time. I can¡¯t imagine it ever just feeling like only two years.¡±

    ¡°No but think about it. When you were five years old, how long six months felt. Like that¡¯s soooooo long to a five year old. And it¡¯s still kinda long, but we¡¯re rounding it down to two years for the comparison cause those six months don¡¯t really matter much.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I mean yeah, I¡¯ve thought about that before. But at some point that¡¯s gotta stop right? If I live to ten thousand years old,¡± Zoe shivered. ¡°Then is a hundred years going to feel like just a moment?¡±

    ¡°You tell me when you get there,¡± Emma laughed.

    Zoe tried to put on a happy smile but found it a little difficult to be as cheerful as she wanted to be with it.

    ¡°Oh. I guess you wouldn¡¯t be able to, huh. Cause I won¡¯t live that long. Right.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Would you want to live forever?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe? I always thought I¡¯d be happy with the few hundred years I¡¯d get from just getting some extra levels. But I¡¯ve kinda been thinking about it since I met you and I dunno. If I was given the option right now I think I¡¯d take it, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s something I want to really desperately search for. Not yet, anyway.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I always wanted to live forever. When I was a kid. I really wanted it, but now that I have it, it¡¯s a little scary.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°How so?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I still have friends. But my friends aren¡¯t immortal. And I know this, every time I meet somebody. Every time I end up liking somebody. I¡¯m going to live forever, and the people I meet won¡¯t always live forever. And that¡¯s fine. People die even before getting to old age all the time. Work accidents, freak accidents, it happens.

    ¡°I know that. But just knowing it so definitely, so surely. I am going to outlive everybody I meet. It¡¯s scary, sometimes.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hmm. I tell you what then. If you find a way to make me immortal too then I¡¯ll join you and we can be lonely together.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe laughed, ¡°Well I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to get it the same way I did so we¡¯re starting from ground zero.¡±

    Emma smiled, ¡°We¡¯ve got a long time to figure it out.¡±

    They finished cleaning the deer and put everything away, then made their way back to camp. The remaining days of the final exam were spent keeping their camp in order and spending their spare time trying to build something resembling a tree house.

    When it was time to go back to the school, they had made something that tended to stay in the trees most of the time at least. Emma tried to sleep in it on the last night, but one of the sticks they were using for a floor snapped from under her. She woke up wedged between two branches and Zoe had to help her out while trying not to laugh too hard.

    The two girls were full of scratches and covered in dirt, with big smiles plastered on their faces as they walked back in to the school¡¯s front door. Other students filtered in along with them, none looking much better than they did. One pair looked like they somehow made it home to shower and put on some clean clothes before they went back to school.

    Zoe and Emma guessed that most of the students here just decided against taking a cleaning skill yet. Emma was offered one as well but decided she could swap it in later on when she had more skills to shore up the weakness.

    Everybody made their way to the classroom and sat in one of the chairs ¡ª the desks were all removed today. A few minutes later, Arthur ¡ª the owner of the school, walked in to the classroom and stood up at the front, flanked by Melania and Adam.

    ¡°Hello, students,¡± Arthur said.

    The hushed whispering of students stopped as abruptly as a boar charging a concrete wall, and everybody¡¯s head turned to look at him.

    ¡°You all did wonderfully out there. Not one rescue required this time. Give yourselves a pat on the back for being one of our more accomplished groups.¡± He paused as people took a moment to praise themselves and each other.

    ¡°One question that I am often asked by students after this exam is why did it need to be five days. I was done on the first day, done on the second day. Everything was handled and then I just had to wait.¡± He looked over the class, seeing a few nods. Emma being one of them.

    ¡°I do sincerely wish I were permitted to thrust you into wilderness you didn¡¯t recognize, as antithetical to our teachings as that might be. But unfortunately, we can¡¯t do that. I hope that this experience has given you all a better understanding of what fending for yourself in the wilderness is really like regardless.

    ¡°Which of your resources did you not end up needing? Can you think of a different situation where they might have been useful? Were there any things that you felt you wished you had brought? Was hunting and foraging for your food as easy as you expected it to be in the real world?¡± He paused for a moment.

    ¡°These are the questions I want you all asking yourselves. If you were left in a forest you didn¡¯t recognize, if you made a mistake and wandered off somewhere you didn¡¯t know, how well equipped do you think you would be for that situation?

    ¡°This is something I hope none of you have to experience, but something you have all proven yourselves to be capable of doing if necessary. Not only to me and the rest of the faculty, but to yourselves. Now, on to a review of your performance.¡± He said.

    He went through each group individually, talking about what they did well and what they did poorly. Most of the groups seemed to have gotten their kill on the second or third day, but one group managed to get a deer on the first day. He gave pointers and advice on how to better avoid spooking people¡¯s prey, and feedback for what people could have done better. Emma and Zoe were the last to be reviewed.

    ¡°The two of you picked a good location for camp. Good visibility so you wouldn¡¯t be ambushed by a boar or wolf in the middle of the night without knowing and plenty of water available. Excellent choice.

    ¡°I would have investigated the first tracks you had found more, rather than continuing deeper into our controlled territory, however. You found evidence of a deer feeding and continued following the deer¡¯s tracks, stopping when they left our school¡¯s controlled zone. You made the right decision by staying within our area.

    ¡°However, in deciding your location, you should have recognized that many of the tracks that you would find would lead into uncharted territory and planned accordingly. You corrected this later on by finding a feed site and waiting for a deer to return. But had you done this on the first day rather than wandering aimlessly after tracks that were unlikely to lead you somewhere you would be comfortable with going to, you could have found a deer on the first night.

    ¡°Again on the second day, you should have remained at the feed site you found rather than travelling inwards. When you did find the tracks of the boar, I am told you performed excellently. You identified the tracks, decided on a direction and managed to find the boar. Taking it on with just a dagger was a risky move that I wouldn¡¯t normally recommend.

    ¡°But you did so without any losses. Excellent hunt. However, you should have field dressed it. There was nothing stopping you from doing so, bringing it back to near your camp and doing it there was a bad idea. You made the right decision in taking it a ways from your camp, but it should never have been brought back so close in the first place. You risked luring in other predators to near your camp.

    ¡°Your second kill was textbook. Good job,¡± He nodded to Emma. ¡°I¡¯m unsure what the two of you were trying to do after that point at your camp. Remember to keep your wits about you in a survival situation, you never know what might end up happening at a moment¡¯s notice.

    ¡°Overall, an excellent performance by you two. Good job.¡± He nodded to the students. ¡°You are all accomplished hunters, and I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavours. Please remember to grab your certification from the front desk when you leave. Thank you very much.¡±

 41. Returning Paper

    Zoe and Emma both stood up and left to grab their certification. It was a simple sheet of blue paper with the school¡¯s logo in the centre of it. Deer antlers that formed a spiked oval covered a red wavy line.

    ¡°Thanks a lot!¡± Zoe said to the clerk when she got it. Emma grabbed hers and thanked the clerk as well, then the two walked out to the street.

    ¡°Celebration dinner time?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I worked at this restaurant a couple months back and I think they offered me some apple cider that I helped make too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ooo, I love apple cider, lets go!¡± She said excitedly.

    ¡°Well first I wanna check on my stats, actually. I haven¡¯t really looked at them since we started school.¡± Zoe walked up to a bench and sat down.

    ¡°WHAT?! You don¡¯t check your stats like, every day? I can¡¯t help but check every time I have a few minutes to spare honestly. You haven¡¯t checked in months?!¡± Emma shouted at her.

    ¡°Yeah, I dunno. I just like seeing lots of changes all at once, makes me feel good.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Weirdo.¡± Emma sat next to her on the bench.

    Zoe pulled up her stat window, excited to see all of her new changes.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 1

    Strength: 20

    Dexterity: 20

    Vitality: 20

    Endurance: 20

    Intelligence: 50

    Wisdom: 50

    Health:  200/200

    Stamina: 200/200

    Mana: 500/500

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (8)

    - Identify (37)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (17)

    - Vampyric Senses (34)

    - Vampyric Resistance (15)

    - Vampyric Immortality (2)

    - Vampyric Charm (53)

    - Vampyric Empathy (29)

    - Gathering (7)

    - Archery (34)

    -- Meditation (55)

    - Cooking (1)

    - Dagger-fighting (23)

    - Tracking (16)

    - Stealth (15)

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    - Poison (14)

    -- Pain (3)

    - Heat (1)

    - Fire (1)

    - Cold (1)

    -- Disintegration (2)

    Feats:

    - Patient Decider

    - Winter¡¯s Master

    Most notable to Zoe was that her Vampyric Charm was no longer her highest level skill. She had turned it on a few times since the incident with Emma¡¯s mom, mostly just because Emma liked seeing it change or to test how it affected animals.

    It didn¡¯t seem to do much to animals, at least not yet. And it was pretty high level already so she wasn¡¯t sure if it would ever do much to animals. Maybe there would be an active component to it that she could play around with if she investigated it more, but the skill made her uncomfortable so she tried to avoid it as much as possible.

    Seeing meditation overtake it made her feel very good, like she had finally corrected a mistake that haunted her for so long. She smiled at it, and brought up her new skills¡¯ information.

    [Dagger-fighting]

    Master the dagger and dismantle your foes.

    [Stealth]

    Unseen, unheard. Present, yet unknown. Be one with the shadows and the land.

    [Tracking]

    Become more adept at identifying tracks.

    ¡°So?¡± Emma asked, ¡°Anything exciting?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, my meditation is up to fifty-five now. Dagger-fighting made it all the way to twenty-three, too.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you get to overlevel your skills like that. That¡¯s so stupid.¡±

    Zoe smiled, ¡°Maybe. But I can¡¯t fire an arrow right through a deer like you can. Grass is always greener.¡±

    Emma shoved her elbow into Zoe, pushing her aside a little. ¡°Yeah but you¡¯re gonna get a class, I¡¯m never getting that stupid feat though.¡±

    ¡°I guess. Maybe there¡¯s something else you could get. Wait fifty years with your first class and get it anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Emma stood up. ¡°So you know a good cider restaurant then?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. The Rotted Apple, they call themselves.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Really?¡± Emma asked. ¡°The Rotted Apple?¡±

    Zoe laughed and led her to the restaurant. The same fellow was working as the host and brought the two to a table. Zoe asked if Lou had a sec to talk and the man told her that he¡¯d go ask.

    ¡°So you get free cider here or what?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Well probably not free, but I helped make it so I kinda wanna try it. See what I actually helped make. Also this is the damn job that ruined my spring master this year.¡± Zoe shook her head.

    Emma chuckled, ¡°So what would you recommend from here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve only eaten here once, but I had the grilled venison and it was really good. Not as good as the school¡¯s cafeteria but that¡¯s a little too high of a bar, I think.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°You gonna get the venison again then?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Hmm, probably not. Might as well try the stew since they only have the two options anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Emma said with a cheerful smile. ¡°I¡¯ll get the venison and then try some of your stew too.¡± She smiled.

    Zoe laughed, ¡°Fine. But only a bit, it¡¯s my dinner, y¡¯know?¡±

    ¡°You can have some of my venison!¡± Emma said.

    ¡°If I wanted venison, I would have ordered venison. You can try it but get your own if you like it.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma stuck her tongue out at Zoe, ¡°Pfft, no fun. Dinner¡¯s always better when you share.¡±

    Lou came out a few moments later and smiled when he saw Zoe. ¡°Oh it¡¯s you again. The batch of cider you helped with is ready if you wanted to try some?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I would, thanks. Some for her too if that¡¯s alright? We¡¯re paying, of course.¡± Zoe said.

    Lou laughed, ¡°No, no. I wouldn¡¯t make you pay for the cider you slaved over. Cider¡¯s on the house today.¡±

    ¡°As much as we want?¡± Emma asked with a sly smile.

    Lou laughed some more, ¡°One glass. After that you¡¯re paying full price.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Lou.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No problem, sharing cider¡¯s why I started this restaurant in the first place. I can take your order if you two are ready now?¡± Lou asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m gonna get the stew today, please.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°And I¡¯ll have the venison!¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be long then. You want the cider first, or with the meal?" He asked.

    ¡°First, please. I¡¯m honestly pretty excited to try it.¡± Zoe said.

    Lou smiled, ¡°Good. I¡¯ll get somebody to bring it out right away then.¡± He walked back into the kitchen.

    ¡°Nice guy, huh?¡± Emma asked.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°He was pretty nice while I worked here. Gave me a free meal too after which was pretty cool.¡± Zoe answered.

    The two kept chatting, the conversation drifting to their performance on the final exam, and a few minutes later a waitress brought out two large mugs full of cider. In each mug was a cinnamon stick and a single large ice cube.

    Zoe and Emma took their ciders and tasted them. It was just as delicious as the rawbi cider Zoe had tried before, in a very different way. It was cold, with an intense cinnamon flavour permeating the entire drink. The ice cube rattled around in the glass as they tilted it, providing a satisfying noise to the drink as well.

    If she had to choose, she¡¯d say she preferred the rawbi cider. The sweetness from this world¡¯s strawberry equivalent was too hard to pass up. But maybe that was just because she missed strawberries.

    ¡°Mmmmmm,¡± Emma drawled. ¡°This is really good!¡±

    ¡°See? I told you. I had a rawbi cider last time I was here and it was just as good too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ooh, I love rawbi. A little annoying to eat though with the green tops, and it¡¯s so hard to cut them off without crushing the rest of the fruit. But they¡¯re super yummy!¡± Emma said.

    Zoe nodded her head. That was not her experience of eating strawberries at all. She updated her mental image of rawbi to be much more strange than she had initially thought.

    Their food came out a few minutes later. Zoe had a big bowl of brown stew and a big chunk of brul, while Emma had the same burnt looking grilled venison that Zoe had before.

    Emma ripped off a piece of Zoe¡¯s brul and dipped it in her stew and then ate it. ¡°Mmmm, that¡¯s really good too! This place is nice.¡±

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s all you get. The rest is mine, alright?¡±

    ¡°Fiiiine,¡± Emma cut into her venison and tried it, looking just as surprised as Zoe had when she first tried it. ¡°It¡¯s not burnt!¡±

    Zoe smiled, and tried her own stew. It was also delicious, rich and meaty with a pleasant mouth feel that coated her mouth. The stew soaked into the brul as Zoe used it to pinch up a piece of meat. The crunch of the bread¡¯s crust provided a nice contrast to the soft textures of the meat. She sipped her cider, the sweet and spicy drink cut through the richness of the stew.

    When dinner was finished, Zoe paid for both their dinners ¡ª 54 copper in total. Bit of an expensive meal, but worth it for how good it was. And Zoe didn¡¯t have any money troubles anymore anyway. At least not when it came to eating, she wouldn¡¯t be buying massive storage items or a new house any time soon but a handful of silver wasn¡¯t worth as much to her as it used to be.

    ¡°Well, thanks for Dinner, Zoe.¡± Emma hugged Zoe as they left the restaurant.

    ¡°Yeah, no problem. You heading back home now then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mhm. You got any big plans for today?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°No, not really. Probably going to go visit Joe, the innkeeper friend I told you about? Haven¡¯t talked to him since a few days before the exam.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Alright, see you next week then!" Emma hugged her again.

    ¡°See you around,¡± Zoe said.

    Emma ran off down the road towards home, and Zoe started making her way to Joe¡¯s tavern. Summer was just around the corner and she¡¯d be stuck outside for another few months as she got back to working on the seasonal master feats.

    Her mistake gave her a nice break, she found. The school was well worth the investment and as long as nothing catastrophic happened she¡¯d just end up getting spring master the next year anyway with a lot more knowledge and things to work on now.

    Joe was standing behind the bar chatting with one of his customers when Zoe entered. The customer seemed to want information on something, and Joe kept insisting that he didn¡¯t know anything. Even without her vampyric empathy she could tell that Joe seemed a little frustrated with it.

    Zoe walked up and sat on a chair at the bar next to the customer. ¡°Hey Joe. Got a room tonight?¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?! I was already talking to him!¡± The customer screamed.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry. It just seemed like you were already done to me?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Done? Of course not! He hasn¡¯t told me anything yet. Surely you know something, you¡¯re an innkeeper!¡± The customer shouted at Joe.

    ¡°I already told you I don¡¯t know anything. I¡¯m an innkeeper not a damn lorekeeper. Go bother somebody else.¡± Joe slammed his fist on the bar.

    The customer held his hands up defensively, ¡°Alright alright, you don¡¯t have to get so violent. I didn¡¯t even do anything. Just asked a simple question man, could¡¯ve just said you don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Get. Out.¡± Joe seethed.

    ¡°Whatever man, I¡¯ll go take my business elsewhere then.¡± The customer got up and stormed out the door.

    ¡°What was that about?¡± Zoe asked Joe.

    Joe sighed, ¡°Honestly? I don¡¯t even know. It happens sometimes. People come in thinking that I¡¯m going to know everything about everybody. They want some rumours or odd jobs to do, or wanna question me about some random noble.¡±

    He shook his head. ¡°I just ignore them and tell them to get out. I¡¯m an innkeeper, I cook stews and get people drunk sometimes. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on with this noble or that noble. I think he wanted to know something about some noble girl or something, but I don¡¯t even know half their names let alone what they¡¯ve been doing today.¡±

    ¡°Damn, that sucks. Asshole customers are the worst.¡± Zoe nodded.

    Joe sighed again, ¡°It¡¯s just all part of the job. Anyway, your friends stopped by a few days ago to drop off a letter for you.¡±

    ¡°Ash and Lila?¡± Zoe asked, feeling a little excited.

    ¡°Yup,¡± He summoned a paper and handed it to her.

    Zoe read the paper.

    Hello Zoe, this is Lila. Ash wanted to write the letter, but they got a little out of hand. We¡¯d absolutely love to escort you to our farm this summer.

    We¡¯ve checked our schedules and when our friends will be in town, and the best days that work for us would be the 23rd and 24th days of summer, or the 52nd and 53rd days of summer. We¡¯ll have a nice big resistance party for you, and ask you plenty of questions!

    We left a gift with your innkeeper friend. Please use it to let us know which days work best for you. Whichever you choose, we¡¯ll come pick you up at your friend¡¯s inn.

    Lila and Ash

    ¡ª==//||||\\\|||||==¡ª

    You can just ignore the scribbles. Ash was being a little inappropriate. I¡¯ll make sure to keep them in check when you show up though. Look forward to seeing you soon!

    Zoe looked up at Joe, ¡°They say they left a gift with you?"

    ¡°Yup, returning paper. Fancy friends you¡¯ve found for yourself.¡± Joe said and summoned another sheet of paper with a blue quill that seemed to ooze ink from the tip.

    ¡°Returning paper?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°When the paper is torn, it returns to the notebook it was taken from, along with anything that was written on it.¡± Joe explained, handing the paper and quill to Zoe.

    ¡°So I just write a message on this and then rip it up?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup,¡± Joe nodded.

    Hi Ash and lila, this is Zoe again. This paper stuff is really cool and I¡¯m excited to see it work. Both times work fine for me so I¡¯d prefer the 23rd and 24th. Thanks!

    ¡°And I just rip it? That¡¯s it?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup,¡± Joe smiled as he watched her.

    Zoe picked up the paper and ripped it right down the middle. The paper vanished from her fingers. Zoe¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. She knew that¡¯s what Joe said it would do, but it was an incredible feeling. The paper didn¡¯t draw any mana from her, so it must have been imbued with enough already. She wondered how much it would need for something like that.

    ¡°How long until summer starts, anyway?¡± Zoe asked. It was closing in on three months since winter ended, so she expected it to be pretty soon.

    ¡°Should be a week away. They¡¯re already setting up for the celebration.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Celebration?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh yeah. We have a big celebration at the start of summer. Rolf comes and says a few nice words and then we all get back to work.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Rolf?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Ah yes, he¡¯s Flester¡¯s baron. Nice guy. He pays for most of the celebration out of his own pocket.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°And this happens on the first day of summer?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well, it starts the day before and lasts until morning, yeah. I¡¯ll be going, you could join me if you like?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Sure, that sounds exciting then.¡± Zoe said.

 42. Rolf Sprecher

    Zoe left Joe¡¯s inn and walked down the street. She wanted to go spend some time at the massive tree house library that she was told about while she was still able to be inside. It was rather late in the evening, but she hoped that the library would be open overnight as well.

    When she got to Kaira park, she chose one of the massive trees that surrounded it at random and walked up to the front. There was a massive wooden staircase that looked like it was carved straight out of a single piece of wood that led up to wide open wooden doors at the top.

    Zoe walked up the steps to the door and looked inside. The first thing she noticed was the smell. There was a somewhat sweet smell with a hint of what seemed like vanilla that hit her senses at first. Afterwards came the smell of what looked like millions of books.

    The entire tree was hollowed out and stretched almost a hundred feet down into the ground and into its vast network of roots. Towering circular bookshelves stretched the entire length of the tree, with hundreds of platforms floating throughout them. The platforms cut through the bookshelves, crossing over each other and making what looked to Zoe like an impossible maze.

    To Zoe¡¯s right was a reception desk with a few employees sat behind it. Zoe walked up to them.

    ¡°Hello, um, how do I use this library?¡± She asked the man behind the counter.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to browse for as long as you like but if you want to take any books from the library you¡¯ll need to bring them here and check them out first.¡± The man smiled at her.

    ¡°Okay, but how do I get to the books? I¡¯m happy to read here but I don¡¯t even know how to get up there.¡± Zoe pointed up at the bookshelves.

    ¡°I see. Give me a moment then, I¡¯ll show you.¡± The man stood up and walked around the counter. ¡°Follow me.¡± He gestured forwards.

    ¡°The walkways and bookshelves are all enchanted.¡± He walked on to one of the floating platforms and gestured for her to join him. ¡°What are you looking for?"

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure. Easy to get skills, I guess?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Good. Now keep that in mind, and walk down this platform,¡± He pointed forwards.

    Zoe walked forward, thinking about finding books about easier skills. The platform shifted under her feet and tilted downwards a little to the right. It split off from the part the man was still standing on and Zoe stopped for a moment.

    ¡°How long is the library open?¡± She called to him from her floating platform.

    ¡°We¡¯re always open. Knowledge never sleeps.¡± He smiled.

    ¡°Okay, thanks then!¡± She called out again.

    ¡°No problem. Just imagine walking back here when you¡¯re done.¡± The man said and turned back towards the counter.

    Zoe kept walking and the platform seemed to be leading her straight to one of the bookshelves. What a coincidence, she thought, that the books she wanted would be so close to the entrance anyway.

    But as she approached it, the bookshelf warped and twisted. The books were pushed aside and the wood opened up just large enough for her to continue walking through it. The bookshelf closed behind her, and she kept walking along the seemingly endless platform.

    A few more bookshelves later and the platform stopped. It merged into one of the bookshelves, forming a tall railing on the edge, and a sturdy wooden ladder on wheels that rolled around on the limited platform.

    Zoe spent some time browsing through the books the platform had took her to. None of the books were just a compendium of easy to acquire skills, rather the section of bookshelf that she got dropped off at seemed to be about classes that would merge certain skills into them, similar to the Gatherer class and Gathering skill.

    From what Zoe gathered, it seemed that most things that she could expect a class for had matching skills that anybody could get. The miner class require the mining skill, the archer class required the archery skill, and so on. She suspected there would be skills for almost any task she could actively learn and improve at.

    The next week before summer started, Zoe spent most of her time in the library browsing through the books offered, looking for anything that might help her. When she first learned that these massive trees were libraries, she thought that they would be split up into different genres.

    A tree for the alchemical research, a tree for sci-fi fiction, and so on. But while it did seem like there was some degree of organization to where books went, Zoe wasn¡¯t able to figure out exactly what it was. Every time she wanted to find certain books on topics she always ended up at a bookshelf that had hundreds of relevant books. But if she wanted something just a little different, it was a coin flip whether it was on a nearby bookshelf or in a completely different tree.

    And for that matter, Zoe wasn¡¯t sure that they were different trees. They all shared the same root system, the platforms sometimes taking her through them to another tree. Rather than being multiple trees, Zoe guessed they would be genetic clones of each other, like massive quaking aspens.

    This world¡¯s Pando, she thought.

    Most of her time was spent reading books on classes and skills that she might want to unlock. Nothing was quite as in depth as the book she got from John, but they helped her shape her understanding of the world. The rest of the books that she found were on the local political landscape.

    With the summer celebration around the corner and the apparent baron of the town preparing to say a few words, Zoe realized she had done herself a disservice not better understanding where she was. A big thing that caused her a twinge of regret was a book on local laws that she found.

    For the most part, she didn¡¯t think that she was doing anything wrong. She was keeping her income under the threshold for paying taxes, and knew that she would need to if she ever did make over that amount. She wasn¡¯t stealing or homeless ¡ª something defined as sleeping in public places, thankfully.

    The only problem was her charm skill which had a very hefty penalty if she was found using it as liberally as she was. But on the other hand, as a low level, Zoe had many protections that kept her safe from retaliation as well. She assumed that it was because people who were level eight or under were always children here, but there was a lot of leniency given to people at her level for accidental skill usage.

    On the last night before the big celebration ¡ª Barlahai according to one of the books that she read, Zoe made her way down to Joe¡¯s tavern for her last comfortable night of rest. Joe was in the kitchen preparing food ¡ª unusual for how late it was.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°Hey Joe,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh hey Zoe, you ready for tomorrow?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I think so. Do I need anything?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, no. I¡¯ll be bringing some food to promote the inn but you can just come along and celebrate.¡± He said.

    ¡°Alright. You still got a room for me tonight?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup!¡± He summoned and tossed a room key to her.

    ¡°G¡¯night Joe, good luck with the cooking!¡± Zoe called out and ran up to her bed.

    ¡°G¡¯night Zoe!¡± Zoe heard Joe say as she was rushing up the stairs.

    The bed was just as comfortable as she remembered, and she fell asleep within minutes. She was woken up early in the morning to some loud, raucous laughter coming from the inn¡¯s dining area.

    Zoe dressed herself for the big day, wearing her nice blue dress. She debated on whether she should bring her bow and knife, but decided it was better to be safe than sorry. There probably wouldn¡¯t be any problems but if there were, leaving her weapons at home seemed like a bad way to go out.

    Then she made her way down the stairs to see what was going on and found the dining room was a mess. Food was strewn about on the floor and tables, drinks spilled and colourful paper ribbons covered every table. Dozens of people were dancing about, laughing and drinking their mugs of ale. Joe was behind the bar, smiling at the scene.

    ¡°Is this normal?¡± Zoe asked as she approached Joe at the bar.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s Barlahai. Time to celebrate.¡± He said.

    ¡°And celebrating is¡­ getting extremely drunk and partying?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Well, they¡¯re being a little rowdy. The real celebration is a little more civilized, but people get excited for it.¡± Joe explained.

    ¡°Alright, so when do we leave then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I was just waiting on you, we¡¯re good to go whenever now.¡± Joe looked at Zoe.

    Zoe nodded her head, ¡°Yea I¡¯m good to go I guess.¡±

    Joe slammed his hand on the counter, the noise echoing through the inn. ¡°Alright you shits, inn¡¯s closing for the day. Go party somewhere else.¡±

    The group cheered and ran out the front door, joining the stream of people wandering down the street that Zoe could see through the windows.

    Joe nodded to Zoe, ¡°Give me a moment to get this place cleaned up and then we¡¯ll head out too.¡±

    He walked around the dining area, casting his cleaning spell. The blue light washed out over everything, destroying the food and drinks that had been left on the floor and tables. But it didn¡¯t touch any of the ribbons or plates, which Joe had to pick up manually. Zoe joined him and they were done getting everything cleaned and tidied in just under ten minutes.

    When they finished, Joe led Zoe outside and locked the inn¡¯s door and then started walking down the road in the same direction as dozens of other people all along the road. It was by far the busiest she had ever seen the roads, an unending stream of people walking down towards wherever it was they were going.

    It was about an hour walk before they arrived at the festival, and Joe chatted with some of the people they were walking along with about the celebration and what they were bringing. Most people seemed to be bringing along something to advertise their shops. Furniture stores, clothing stores, restaurants and taverns. Everybody was coming along, excited for the festivities and ready to share their creations at a moment¡¯s notice.

    The actual festival took place in one of the large parks Zoe had seen in her time wandering around. Almost as big as Kaira park, but it was just a large flat grass area instead of being a small forest. The benches that Zoe had seen littered throughout the park had been removed to make space for all of the platforms and pop up shops that now covered the park.

    More people came in and set up their little shops ¡ª tables filled with goods, tents propped up to keep the sun off of larger furniture items. Joe led Zoe off to a side of the park and summoned a few tables to set up himself. On each, he placed orange plates that radiated magic, each one filled with familiar looking food that he served at the tavern.

    ¡°Not for you,¡± He said to her as he was setting it up. ¡°This is advertising, you can go find somebody else¡¯s and take their food if you¡¯re hungry.¡±

    ¡°Do we have to pay?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, everything here is free. Don¡¯t get too greedy though, people look down on that.¡± Joe explained.

    Zoe nodded and left him to his section while she wandered around the festival. It was still early in the morning, the sun low in the eastern sky. Many of the activities were still being set up, but she found two restaurants advertising their food that she decided to try out.

    One was a bakery that made some kind of cheesy ryz egg sandwich, run by a nice older lady who kept trying to offer her another sandwich. And the other had a plethora of colourful drinks set up. She grabbed a blue one that looked like some blue raspberry lemonade but tasted nothing like it.

    Rather than being sweet and tart, it was intensely savoury. Like a neon blue bone broth that was luke warm. It was tasty, but a little off-putting when she expected a sweet treat.

    To the centre of the park was what looked like the main attraction. A large raised stage made out of some kind of white stone. It looked like marble but somehow more regal, with a presence that screamed ¡®I am important¡¯ to her.

    Surrounding the stage were hundreds if not thousands of chairs. Various groups were setting them up, each group with their own design of chair. She supposed even the chairs were a group effort that doubled as advertising.

    There were some interactive stalls set up throughout the festival as well, all the classic fairground games she could think of and some magical additions as well. Her favourite one that she found was basically a stacker game where bars would slide back and forth across the screen and she had to drop them at the right point so they¡¯d pile up as high as she could get.

    Except instead of being on a screen, the mage running the event had conjured up massive ice bricks that would float through the air. Zoe was given a crystal and when she pulsed mana through it, the brick would drop. Whatever didn¡¯t have solid ground or a full brick below it would shatter and send splinters of ice all around her.

    As the sun reached its apex, a gong resounded through the festival grounds. And another one every minute after. Most of the people around her finished up what they were doing and started making their way to the centre of the festival grounds. Zoe followed them, interested in what was happening.

    A large drum was set up on one side of the stone platform, a big burly woman smashing a wooden mallet into it every minute. In the centre of the platform was a short man who showed up as green level forty-two. Flanking the man were two dark blue marked warriors, and a light red mage stood a few steps behind him.

    ¡°Hello, Flester. As you may know, I am Rolf Sprecher, lord of this humble town. I would like to share with you all a few words before we formally begin the festivities.¡± The man spoke and his voice cut through all of the noise of the festival, audible as clear as if he were the only one speaking.

    The mage behind him jolted upright and rushed to whisper something to Rolf before vanishing. Rolf¡¯s eyes widened and he looked out over the mass of people that surrounded him.

    Rolf bowed to the crowd, ¡°There is currently an unidentified creature approaching rapidly from the north east. It appears to be a maelstrom of ice, and we expect it to reach Flester within ten minutes. Please return to your homes and remain inside until further notice.¡±

    The crowd jumped into action as people rushed to find their loved ones or flee the park. Some stayed behind to shout questions at Rolf who tried to answer people¡¯s questions but didn¡¯t seem to have any more information than he already shared.

    Zoe noticed the temperature begin to plummet, and shivered.

 43. Slayer of Frost

    Zoe ran to Joe¡¯s stand, hoping he would be there but found nothing but some broken plates and smashed up food. She looked around, her eyes darted from left to right as she frantically searched for Joe.

    Should she just go to Joe¡¯s inn? Would he be looking for her as well? Was Emma here? Could she even do anything as a level eight if a light red mage was already on the job?

    She cursed under her breath. Whatever the creature was, it would be stopped at the walls, right? This wasn¡¯t war, this was creatures. This was exactly what the walls were for. All the high level people would defend the walls, and she would be safe. That was the point of the city, she would be okay.

    Zoe took a deep breath and decided to spend a few more minutes at least looking for Joe or Emma. She hadn¡¯t seen Emma here yet, but there was no way that she¡¯d miss out on such a massive event in town.

    Minutes passed, and the temperature kept plummeting. Every breath she took in burned her lungs, and every exhale pushed out a cloud of mist. She kept pushing through the crowds of people, looking for somebody she¡¯d recognize. Anybody.

    And then the chaos started. Hail rained from the north east, buffeting everything. The shards of ice smashed through tents, splattered food and drinks all over the park. Furniture on display was dented and smashed. Some of the ice impacted Zoe and her health dipped.

    Health: 147/200

    ¡°Fuck!¡± She screamed, and ducked under a thick wooden table somebody had on display nearby. A few others who were nearby dashed under it with her. The ice kept flying, making the table shudder and shake with each impact.

    And then just as quick as it began, the rain of death stopped. The temperature plummeted once more and the very air seemed to freeze around her.

    ¡°Is it over?¡± One of the women who took shelter with Zoe asked. A dark red marked warrior.

    ¡°Shit. I have no idea. Do you know what¡¯s happening?" A man asked and poked his head out from under the table. Identify showed him as a dark red warrior.

    ¡°Rolf said it was an unidentified creature from the north east, apparently.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Fuck. I knew I shouldn¡¯t have stayed at the stand.¡± The man crawled out from under the table and stood up.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay babe, we¡¯ll be okay. Rolf¡¯s guards will keep us safe I¡¯m sure.¡± Another man said under the table. The last one who managed to fit, identify showed him as a dark blue mage. He stood up and wrapped his arms around the other man.

    ¡°We need to go,¡± the male warrior said.

    ¡°It was from the northeast you said?¡± The mage looked to Zoe.

    ¡°Mhm, that¡¯s what I heard at least.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°We should go southwest then, get as far away as we can as quick as we can. Come on, I¡¯ll cast a quickness spell on us all.¡± The mage held out a hand to Zoe and the other woman who were still under the table.

    Both the women took his hand and he helped them up. Then he muttered some words Zoe couldn¡¯t understand, and she felt a pulse of magic wash out over her.

    *Ding* You have been affected by the Haste spell. Increased quickness for ten minutes.

    The world seemed to slow down for Zoe as her perception skyrocketed. It was a strange feeling, but she didn¡¯t have the time to process it yet. The two men pointed to the southwest and took off.

    Zoe and the other woman followed behind them for a few seconds and then the chaos began again. All the shards of ice that fell around them began to coalesce together, as they swirled through the air and combined to form a floating ball of ice right in front of where they were running.

    [Elemental - ??]

    A blue marked elemental. Zoe looked around her and saw more forming off in the distance no matter where she looked. Other groups were stuck, trapped by the swarm of ice that was taking over the park. Some lashed out at the ice and others fled as they ran for whatever shelter they could find.

    ¡°We¡¯re surrounded.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Shit! Do we fight it? It¡¯s only blue marked, do you think you can handle it James?¡± The male warrior asked.

    ¡°I can try. Do either of you have anything you can do to help?¡± The mage ¡ª James, asked.

    ¡°I have a bow,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I can punch it.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Good enough. Hit it with everything you¡¯ve got. We¡¯ll deal with this and then keep running southwest.¡± The mage muttered some more words Zoe didn¡¯t understand and hurled a raging ball of fire at the elemental.

    It exploded on impact, and flames washed over the ice that was trying to form. Most of the ice that hadn¡¯t already assimilated with the main body melted and fell to the ground in a puddle. Zoe hoped that meant it would be weaker and drew her bow.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep to controlled attacks now, get in there you two!¡± James shouted.

    The two warriors rushed in. The woman smashed her fists into the ball of ice, each impact sending ripples through its form. The man summoned a short sword and made rapid slashes into the ball, chunks of ice carved off with each hit and fell to the ground.

    James peppered the ball with beams of fire, melting each chunk of ice that fell off from the brutal attack of the warriors. Zoe fired all of her arrows off, each one hit the ball and fell to the ground. Some shattered from the impact, but Zoe had no intentions of picking up her arrows after the fight anyway. She had no delusions that her arrows were making much of a difference, they weren¡¯t worth the time.

    The elemental conjured shards of crystal blue ice and rocketed them towards the group, but each one was shot down by a blazing beam of fire from James or crushed under the powerful fists of the woman.

    After what felt like hours but was likely closer to seconds, the ball of ice crumbled into pieces and fell to the ground. Zoe got a notification but dismissed it. She had an idea of what it might be, but now wasn¡¯t the time to celebrate.

    ¡°Lets go!¡± James called out and ran forward. The rest followed after him.

    They encountered two more elementals on their frantic run, but they were never surrounded again and Zoe was able to lead them on a winding path that avoided a direct confrontation.

    The effects of the Haste spell wore off while they were dashing down a street, and Zoe stumbled at the sudden loss of her perception. The woman grabbed her and pulled her along as she tried to get her footing again.

    They continued on for another hour, nobody even thinking of stopping until they felt the temperature return to some semblance of normal.

    ¡°The cold¡¯s gone. We should be fine now.¡± James said and slowed down to a brisk walk.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    He stopped at a tavern and knocked on the door. The door opened a moment later and a short stalky man greeted them.

    ¡°Get in, get in.¡± He said, and gestured them inwards.

    Inside were another two dozen people. Basic triage was set up, some of the more injured people laying on tables that were pushed together. A couple people were walking around checking on everybody, giving them water or food.

    One woman was standing next to one of the injured people, her hands were resting on the man¡¯s chest and her eyes were closed. Zoe could feel a pressure rising from her but wasn¡¯t sure what it was exactly. She showed up as a green mage to Zoe¡¯s identify.

    ¡°Any injuries?¡± The short man who opened the door for them asked.

    ¡°No, I think we¡¯re all mostly fine.¡± James said, and looked over the group. Everybody nodded back.

    Zoe had taken a few hits from the initial barrage of ice but her regeneration would take care of it soon, she knew.

    ¡°Good, go sit down somewhere then. Somebody will bring you some water and food soon.¡± The man said and rushed over to the kitchen.

    There were no chairs left, so the group walked over to one of the walls and sat down on the floor. A few minutes later a man came by with cups of water and some plain looking soup for them all.

    ¡°Did you all get the feat too?¡± The woman warrior asked.

    Zoe checked the notification she dismissed earlier.

    *Ding*

    For assisting in the destruction of a cold elemental, you have been awarded with the [Slayer of Frost] feat.

    [Slayer of Frost]

    You strike fear in the heart of frost, a harbinger of death and destruction to all who would call the chill their home. Draw strength from the frost¡¯s fear and harness its power as if it were your own. All classes gain a bonus to cold affinity. Gain the frost skill.

    [Frost]

    Summon the frost and bend it to your will.

    Zoe¡¯s eyes widened in shock at what she got. This was much better than the winter¡¯s master feat, she even got a new skill out of it!

    ¡°I did,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Me too,¡± The two men agreed.

    ¡°I¡¯m Eve, by the way.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°I¡¯m James, and this is my husband Anderson.¡± James said.

    ¡°Zoe,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You were impressive out there for a level eight. How were you able to see the elementals from so far away so clearly?¡± Eve asked.

    ¡°I have a skill that makes my eyes better.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s a nice one to have then, especially if you¡¯re planning to be an archer it seems?" James said.

    ¡°Something like that I guess, yeah.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So what¡¯s this frost skill do anyway?¡± Anderson asked.

    ¡°Looks like an all in one creation and manipulation skill to me.¡± James said.

    ¡°That might be convenient if I could coat my fists in ice or something then, I guess.¡± Eve said.

    James summoned a small ball of ice to his hand and made it float around his hand like one of those clear contact juggling balls.

    ¡°Yeah, seems like it¡¯s a creation and manipulation combination skill. Not very powerful though, you should be able to give it a try.¡± James said.

    The other three fell into a quiet silence as they focused on their skills, trying to summon the frost to bend to their wills. The first to succeed was Anderson, a small shard of ice appeared in his hand and wiggled around a little.

    The next was Eve, to similar success. A shard of ice appeared in her hand and wiggled its way around her fingers.

    Zoe took a few minutes longer but managed to get it as well. Mana rushed out of her hand and formed into a tiny sliver of ice. She could feel a connection to it, like a string of¡­ somethingness that attached it to her. She pushed her will through it, and could feel even more mana rushing out of her to push the sliver of ice around on her hand.

    ¡°Seems kinda useless. How¡¯d you get such a big ball like that?¡± Eve asked James.

    ¡°I have a lot of experience with these kinds of skills already, and my classes all give some bonuses to it too.¡± James explained.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­ It¡¯s fun at least.¡± Eve said.

    ¡°Keep practising and you¡¯ll get better at it. These types of skills tend to get a lot better as they level up.¡± James said.

    The four kept playing with their shards of ice, but were interrupted by frantic banging on the tavern door.

    ¡°Please, if you have any help, let us in. Please!¡± Somebody shouted from outside the door.

    The short man ran out from the kitchen and opened the door. Outside were two men carrying another injured man. He was missing his left arm and had a long frozen gash down the left side of his face stretching down to his waist.

    Blood dripped as the ice slowly melted, and the short man lead them up to a table. ¡°We only have one healer right now and we can¡¯t interrupt her while she¡¯s casting. Just hang on for a minute, alright?¡±

    The injured man groaned in response. One of the men carrying him nodded his head.

    Zoe¡¯s eyes were glued to the scene, and fear welled up inside her. She¡¯d never seen somebody in such bad shape before. And she hoped that whatever caused the injury wasn¡¯t nearby.

    The minutes passed, the tavern silent as people watched the green marked mage continue to build pressure within herself.. The feelings of hope and fear were almost palpable.

    Finally, the pressure stopped building for a moment and then rushed out of the woman¡¯s hands into the man she was helping. His breathing became more regular, and the woman opened her eyes to look at the innkeeper.

    He gestured to the injured man that was just brought in and the woman rushed over to place her hands on him.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I won¡¯t be able to fix your arm.¡± She closed her eyes, and Zoe felt the pressure begin to build again.

    The tavern was silent a while longer as people watched the race between healing and death take place. The man had already been sitting on the table for several minutes before the woman was able to get to him, and who knows how long before they got to the tavern.

    And Zoe had watched the woman build up that pressure for almost six minutes after they came into the tavern ¡ª not to mention that the woman had already been building up that pressure before they showed up.

    She couldn¡¯t remember the exact feeling the woman gave off when she entered, but Zoe thought she remembered it being quite a bit more intense than it was right now.

    Almost ten minutes later, the pressure stopped building and rushed through the woman to the man. The massive wound on his left side closed, leaving a long scar that stretched almost his entire body.

    ¡°He should be okay. Keep him hydrated when he wakes up.¡± The woman said and moved on to the next person.

    Everybody in the tavern let out a sigh of relief.

    The woman continued healing the rest of the people, and hours later a familiar voice echoed through the tavern.

    ¡°Hello again, Flester. The elemental has been slain. If you have any injured, please bring them to city hall. Any available healers please report to city hall to assist. Some sections of town are still dangerously chilled. Approach the cold at your own risk. Thank you.¡± Rolf said, his voice just as clear as it was when he spoke at the centre of the festival.

 44. Ryz

    James and Anderson, along with a few others who were waiting in the inn rushed out the door as soon as they heard the announcement.

    Zoe understood the sentiment ¡ª she wanted to go check on Joe too, make sure he was okay. But was everything really over? Rolf announced that it was handled but how much could she trust the disembodied voice?

    The short man who let Zoe in stepped up on one of the chairs and clapped his hands. ¡°Rolf says we¡¯re safe now and I¡¯ve still got a business to run. I¡¯m not gonna kick you all out but if you¡¯re not too injured to move, I¡¯d appreciate you getting back to your homes now, unless you¡¯re paying for a room here.¡±

    Well, that settled that then. Joe¡¯s inn wasn¡¯t too far away anyway, so Zoe got up and tried making her way over there. The roads were silent, most people still inside their homes. The few people who were outside rushed past Zoe and anxiety flooded her empathy.

    Joe¡¯s inn was unlocked and she let herself in. The inside looked similar to the inn she just came from, a bunch of people sat on the floor and some of the less well off individuals were laying on the tables. Joe was sitting at the bar with his head resting on his arms.

    Zoe walked up to him. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m glad you made it back safely.¡±

    Joe looked up to her, his eyes lighting up when he saw Zoe. ¡°Oh thank the gods you¡¯re okay. I was so worried when I couldn¡¯t find you.¡±

    ¡°I stayed around a few minutes to try and find you and then the park was overrun with elementals. I stumbled on a group and we just barely managed to escape.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re safe, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°Me too, Joe.¡± Zoe said.

    The next weeks flew by as the town worked to recover from the damage. After the first day, Zoe tried to make it to the northeast section of town to see what had happened but she wasn¡¯t able to get very close because of the cold. Even with all of her resistances, she wasn¡¯t even able to get close to where the actual fight had taken place before she started taking damage.

    It was good training for her cold resistance if nothing else though, so she spent almost a week just following along as the cold receded and played with her new skill. The cold didn¡¯t move very quick, so she was able to just stand at the edge of where it ate through her regeneration and take a step every few hours.

    The whole experience gave her an immense respect for the people who fought it off. Zoe wasn¡¯t even able to approach where it died, let alone get close enough to fight it while it was alive.

    After a week though, the cold had been beaten back through the efforts of dozens of mages and Zoe made it to the northeastern wall. She had expected to see destruction, a wall smashed through. Buildings crumpled or melted, but it just looked normal to her.

    Had they protected the city so completely while fighting the elemental? Or had they already repaired all of the damage that was caused while putting up with the intense cold that radiated from the area? She didn¡¯t know which seemed more impressive to her.

    The rest of the time she spent sitting in Kaira park practising with her Frost skill. As it levelled up she found the connection with the element grow much stronger, and she even felt a faint connection with snow or ice that she didn¡¯t create. Ice cubes seemed to be so much more real than they were before.

    By the twenty-second day of summer, she was almost as capable as James was on that first day. She could summon a large, clear chunk of ice and move it around her body as freely as a second limb. It wasn¡¯t practical yet, at least not as a weapon, but it was magic! Her very own magic! It felt incredible to will the ice to move around and then watch as it followed her every command.

    She found that she was able to pull the ice back into her as well. If she reversed the process, she could absorb some of the mana she had spent to create it. When she tried to do the same thing with an ice cube though, nothing happened. There was a connection, she could feel it. But she couldn¡¯t interact with it, not yet at least.

    The people of Flester seemed to have forgotten about the attack, everybody returned to business as usual and life carried on. Even Zoe wasn¡¯t all that bothered by it ¡ª nobody she knew had been hurt all that bad. Joe was fine, Ren was still buying endless quantities of mana.

    Zoe even found Emma one day while she was walking around and they took the moment to catch up with each other. Emma had been finding some success with selling her hunts to local restaurants in her area and hoped that she¡¯d be able to save up enough to move out sometime in the next year.

    But on the final night before her big resistance party with Ash and Lila, Zoe was sat on the ground outside of Joe¡¯s tavern. He had invited her in, but Zoe stayed outside. An hour inside would¡¯ve been fine but after her mistake with the spring¡¯s master she decided to not take any more risks with it.

    Early in the morning as the sun just crested over the buildings around her, Zoe saw the two walking down the street from the north.

    Lila waved and Ash put on a big smile.

    ¡°Morning Zoe!¡± Ash said when they approached. ¡°Ready for your big dangerous journey to our farm?¡±

    ¡°Good morning you two. Thanks again for all the help.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. If anything, I¡¯m sorry for Eliza. She can be a handful sometimes.¡± Lila said.

    The two of them led Zoe to the eastern gate of town and waved to the guards as they passed. The walk to the farm took a little under an hour and the pair talked about the friends they¡¯d be introducing Zoe to when they arrived.

    The first one was Eliza, who they mentioned before. She was a researcher and loved learning new things about the world, about different perspectives on the world. Her classes were a great fit for resistance training as well since rather than granting her control over a single element, they gave her a mastery over an entire magical system called runes.

    By learning the runic language she could imbue her words with magic to create almost any effect she wanted as long as she had both the mana for it and the knowledge to make it work. She had an insatiable curiosity according to Lila, and would want to ask many questions.

    The second was a healer named Daniel. He wouldn¡¯t be able to give Zoe a resistance, but he could keep her health topped up while Eliza worked her magic and gave Zoe resistances.

    And the final friend they were introducing her to was Kian, a physical brawler who would almost assuredly be useless to Zoe¡¯s resistance training, but who wanted to come along for the fun anyway.

    When they got to the farm, Zoe was surprised to see it look almost identical to a farm from back on earth. There were several buildings set up, surrounded by wide swaths of grass that dozens of animals were grazing on. The biggest difference were the animals themselves, without a question.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    They looked like comically large chickens with deep red feathers and pitch black curled goat horns.

    ¡°Those are Ryz?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure are, you¡¯ve never seen them before?" Ash said.

    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t. They¡¯re¡­ strange.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Wanna pet them? They¡¯re very friendly.¡± Lila asked.

    ¡°Can I? Is that okay?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure it is,¡± Ash said. They put their fingers in their mouth and whistled.

    Most of the ryz lifted their heads and started waddling over with their wings flapping. They towered over Zoe by a few feet, each feather as large as one of her forearms. Ash reached out to one of them and it nuzzled their hand with its beak.

    ¡°See? They¡¯re just big friendly cats.¡± Ash said.

    Zoe reached out as well and another nuzzled its beak into her hand. The strength shocked her, Ash¡¯s interaction seemed so gentle but when it rubbed its beak on Zoe she struggled to keep her hand from being knocked aside.

    ¡°Well, shall we go introduce everybody then? You¡¯re still working on your seasonal master feats right?" Ash asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t really spend much time inside sorry.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright, we have a nice patio that we can relax at.¡± Lila said.

    Ash and Lila led them through the fields towards one of the large buildings in the distance. Some of the ryz wandered back into the fields and a few followed behind them. Their excited wing flapping flung Zoe¡¯s hair around and she kept having to pull it out of her eyes or mouth. Ash and Lila both laughed at her misfortune.

    Zoe saw three people sitting around a large wooden table talking about some man eating monster. There was a woman with short brown hair wearing a nice white dress and two men. One had long blue hair that was tied in a ponytail and wore simple brown pants with a white shirt and the other was bald with a big scruffy beard, dressed in a red shirt and purple pants.

    The woman showed up as a dark red mage while the men were green marked. One mage, one warrior.

    Ash walked up to the table and sat down. ¡°Here¡¯s the group that¡¯s gonna torture you today,¡± they laughed.

    The woman smacked Ash in the shoulder, ¡°Don¡¯t bully her too much. We¡¯re not gonna do anything you¡¯re not okay with. I¡¯m Eliza, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Daniel,¡± the bald man said and nodded. ¡°I¡¯m gonna keep you alive today. Hear you¡¯ve got a lot of fun stories to share, apparently.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just here to watch. Sounded like fun. I¡¯m Kian.¡± The man with the ponytail said.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe, it¡¯s nice to meet you all too.¡± Zoe sat down in one of the free chairs. ¡°So how is this going to work anyway?¡±

    Ash gestured to Eliza and she spoke. ¡°Well I want to ask you lots of questions about your feats and what your life¡¯s been like. My one condition is that you allow me to cast a spell that will make you twitch if you tell a lie. Is that going to be alright with you?¡±

    ¡°Um, it should be, I guess. If I don¡¯t want to answer something can I just not answer it at least?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh of course yes, I don¡¯t want to force you into anything like that. If you¡¯re not comfortable with a question just tell me and we¡¯ll move on. I¡¯m just very interested in your perspective and it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you specifically, I just don¡¯t trust anybody I don¡¯t know very well.¡± Eliza explained.

    ¡°Okay, yeah that should be fine then.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Alright, can I cast it now then? Get you used to the feeling before we get anything underway?" Eliza said.

    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza began muttering in some language that Zoe couldn¡¯t understand. It sounded similar to James¡¯ muttering from the elemental attack though. She wondered if it required a class to utilize or if anybody could harness the magic through the incantations.

    Moments later she felt the magic wash over her and settle into her being. She also felt the magic settle into everybody else¡¯s being.

    *Ding* You have been affected by the Eliza¡¯s Truth Detector spell.

    ¡°Hey! You didn¡¯t say you were casting it on us too!¡± Ash said.

    Eliza laughed, ¡°It¡¯s not fair if only she¡¯s not allowed to lie!¡±

    Kian laughed and Zoe smiled.

    ¡°Alright, what¡¯s your name, Zoe? Tell me a lie.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Uhh, crap. Uh, name. My name¡¯s Peter, I guess.¡± Zoe said and her body shook for a moment.

    It didn¡¯t hurt and she was back to normal after just a moment, but it was a strange feeling having her body convulse without her control like that.

    ¡°And my name is Peter too!" Eliza said with a big smile, and Zoe watched her body shudder for just a moment as well.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Alright, so I¡¯m assuming Daniel is going to heal me and you¡¯re going to cast a bunch of spells then?¡±

    ¡°You got it. And all the while, I¡¯m gonna ask you a bunch of questions. First up is what resistances do you have currently and what levels are they?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe answered, sharing all her resistance levels but keeping Vampyric Resistance to herself. That was technically a skill, even though it had resistance in its name. Which is something she hadn¡¯t thought of before, what did that actually mean anyway?

    ¡°Hmm, I think Ash said your goal was ten resistances?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Just need three more and I¡¯ll be good.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°I should be able to get you to fifteen if you can handle the pain. Or did you want to stop at just ten?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Well, more is better, right? More if we can, yeah.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Good I¡¯ll just cycle through the different damage types and you tell me when you get the resistances. Daniel, if you would?¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Sure thing,¡± Daniel said and cast a spell. Red magic pulsed out from him and made a glowing sphere that surrounded the group.

    Zoe felt a warm energy course through her body.

    ¡°Should be about two hundred health per second recovered. I think that should be your full health pool right?¡± Daniel asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Good, I can maintain this indefinitely, so go crazy.¡± Daniel said.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll start with time then, if that¡¯s alright?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe nodded her head and Eliza muttered some more incantations. Zoe felt time warp, bits of what she saw seemed to be moving so much faster while others looked frozen in place. She had no idea if Eliza was even asking questions, or what the others were doing. Everything blurred together in a mash of colours and noise.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Time resistance.

    Zoe waved her hand and tried to tell Eliza to stop. Her arm rushed across her vision in a split second while her hand lagged behind for what felt like minutes. She had no idea which was more accurate.

    ¡°What the hell was that?" Zoe spat out as time returned to normal for her again.

 45. Bulk Order

    ¡°That was a perception disruption spell I created a few years ago. It doesn¡¯t do any damage so I didn¡¯t tone it down.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°You hit her with the full power? The least you could¡¯ve done was give the poor girl a warning.¡± Daniel said.

    ¡°Oh! Yes, I¡¯m sorry. I should¡¯ve done that.¡± Eliza bowed her head.

    Kian laughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I guess. I got the resistance at least. What¡¯s next?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm, anybody have any requests?¡± Eliza looked around the table.

    ¡°Water!¡± Ash shouted.

    ¡°My vote¡¯s for earth,¡± Daniel offered.

    ¡°Space! Crush her!¡± Kian shouted.

    ¡°Ooo, space is a fun one. Are you okay with that?¡± Eliza asked Zoe.

    ¡°What is it going to do?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s just going to make you feel like you don¡¯t fit, like you¡¯re being squished into where you are.¡± Eliza explained.

    Zoe nodded her head, and Eliza started muttering some more incantations. The spell gripped her, squeezing her from all directions, like a hole made just a little too small for her. It didn¡¯t hurt, at least not much. But it was noticeable. She checked her health.

    Health: 199/200

    Health: 200/200

    It was flashing back and forth every second. She looked to Daniel and smiled.

    ¡°Right! First question then,¡± Eliza started.

    ¡°No, me first,¡± Kian interjected. ¡°Why are you still level eight anyway? What¡¯s your motivation?¡±

    ¡°I just want a really good start.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Oh come on, there¡¯s gotta be more to it then that. Was it your parents¡¯ dying wish? A promise to a friend? What¡¯s your deal?¡± Kian pressed.

    Zoe thought about her answer for a moment. ¡°I guess I don¡¯t really want to share everything, but I¡¯m technically immortal, I guess. Waiting longer for a good class just seems to make sense.¡±

    Eliza perked up at the mention of immortality. ¡°How did you get immortality at such a young age?!¡±

    ¡°I was attacked by a vampire, but the system didn¡¯t know what to do so I just ended up with the perks of being a vampire without the downsides.¡± Zoe said.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Space resistance.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve got space now.¡± Zoe said. Eliza stopped the spell right away and Zoe felt the squeeze disappear.

    ¡°Water next! Drench her! Come on!¡± Ash shouted.

    ¡°Fine, fine. If you¡¯re alright with that?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe nodded, and Eliza cast another spell. A bubble of water formed around Zoe, covering everything but her face. From the inside of the bubble, jets of water spat out and impacted her body from all directions.

    ¡°So the system broke for you?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I think so.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Lucky, I¡¯ve met a few people like you. What made it break for you?¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Wait, this happens regularly?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°If somebody like Eliza¡¯s only met a few then I don¡¯t think regularly really applies.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°Hah! Yes, it¡¯s not a regular thing. I think the system is man made and sometimes there¡¯s a specific scenario people didn¡¯t think about that breaks the system.¡± Eliza started rambling.

    The rest of the group sighed and shook their heads. Daniel spoke up, ¡°Not this again Eliza. Nobody ¡®made¡¯ the system. It just exists, like ifosa and ryz.¡±

    ¡°Well, those didn¡¯t just exist either. We bred them to be what they are now.¡± Eliza explained.

    ¡°We¡¯re not doing this right now. Daniel¡¯s going to say that you¡¯re saying the system¡¯s entirely artificial, you¡¯re going to say that maybe people did breed the system to be what it is, Ash is going to say you¡¯re both stupid and the system is a parasite that attaches to everybody. No system talk at the table.¡± Kian said.

    ¡°Fine, fine.¡± Daniel and Eliza both said together.

    ¡°At any rate,¡± Eliza turned back to Zoe. ¡°Sometimes the system breaks. Usually people just don¡¯t get a skill that they earned. I¡¯ve never seen anybody get immortality like that before! What do you think caused it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not say, if that¡¯s okay. It¡¯s kind of personal.¡± Zoe said.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Water resistance.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got water now too. Why don¡¯t more people do this? This is really easy.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Is earth okay?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe nodded her head and Eliza began to mutter another incantation.

    ¡°A lot of people do, but they¡¯re a lot harder to get after you choose your first class and most people are happy with just being a simple cook or something anyway.¡± Daniel said.

    Eliza¡¯s spell took effect a moment after. A ball of earth surrounded her and she felt spires of rock ram into her side. It felt almost identical to the water spell she had just suffered through.

    ¡°Why is this the same as the water spell?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s one of my favourite spells!¡± Eliza said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a basic incantation that controls the shape, effect and power and then I can just switch in whichever element I need for the situation.¡±

    ¡°So your incantations are completely free in what you can do with them then?¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza thought on it for a moment. ¡°Not completely, there is a downside. I¡¯m extremely weak for my level. I make up for it in being able to adapt to the situation but that requires a lot of forethought and research to be ready for any situation. Plus, it¡¯s really convenient and fun!" Eliza smiled.

    ¡°Right, that makes sense. Jack of all, master of none. I had a class kinda like that when I checked last.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ooo! What class options have you had so far? Can you check what you have available right now?¡± Eliza pressed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to check until I¡¯ve got all my feats that I¡¯m working on. But the classes I have had so far were a few apprentice classes, and then jack and gatherer.¡± Zoe said and shuddered a moment later.

    ¡°I have a couple others that I don¡¯t want to share too, I guess. I didn¡¯t think that would count as a lie, to be honest.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, don¡¯t worry about it. I hoped you had some really cool classes though, like some kind of vampire lord or frozen warlord or something cool. Too bad. Come get me when you do look though!¡± Eliza said.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What feats do you have so far anyway?" Lila asked.

    ¡°RIght now I have Winter¡¯s Master and then another that I¡¯d rather not share the details of if that¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t think any of you will ever be able to get it though.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza cringed, ¡°That¡¯s too bad. Even if I couldn¡¯t get it, learning how the definitely very artificial system works is always nice.¡±

    Kian slammed his fist on the table. ¡°No. System. Talk.¡±

    Eliza rolled her eyes.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Earth resistance.

    ¡°Earth¡¯s done.¡± Zoe said, and the ground surrounding her crumbled and vanished.

    ¡°Gravity! Crush her! Crush her!¡± Ash chanted.

    Kian laughed. ¡°I second gravity.¡±

    ¡°Are you okay with that?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°What would it do?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Make you feel very heavy. I¡¯d suggest lying down on the ground for this one.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe nodded and did as she said. Eliza muttered an incantation and then Zoe felt the earth pull her down with way more force than she was used to. She had always imagined gravity magic to be more of a weight on her back but it was so much more than that. Her arms themselves felt heavier, her eyelids strained with each blink.

    There was a big difference between carrying something heavy and just being heavier, she realized. She tried to speak but her mouth struggled to move and her tongue couldn¡¯t form words even if her mouth could open.

    She laid on the ground for a few minutes under the immense pressure, feeling a little pathetic the whole time. Just waiting for the notification that would save her from the rather humiliating experience.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Gravity resistance.

    Zoe tried to wiggle her fingers and look at Eliza. She seemed to get the hint and the spell disappeared. Zoe stood up and shook herself off then sat back down in her chair.

    ¡°Well that one sucked.¡± Zoe said.

    The group laughed.

    ¡°Yeah, that one¡¯s awful. Feels so silly just lying on the ground like that.¡± Ash said.

    ¡°How about Ice next?" Eliza asked.

    Zoe nodded her head, and Eliza cast her favourite spell again. A ball of ice formed around Zoe and began punching into her with blunted icicles.

    ¡°So where are you from anyway? We asked around a bit and nobody knew of you before last year. Feel like a level eight would have been memorable for people.¡± Lila asked.

    ¡°Um, it¡¯s a bit complicated and I don¡¯t want to share it all. But long story short, sometime last year I got teleported just outside of Flester somehow. I don¡¯t really know how it happened and I¡¯d rather not talk about it more than that.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°Oh you poor thing, that must have been terrifying. I¡¯m so sorry you had to go through that.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, now. I¡¯ve accepted it, and Flester¡¯s a nice place. What do the three of you do for a living anyway?¡± Zoe asked Ash and Lila¡¯s friends.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m a researcher if you haven¡¯t already guessed.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I¡¯m a healer. It¡¯s an easy job and pretty lucrative.¡± Daniel said.

    ¡°I punch things. Sometimes hard, sometimes soft. Usually hard.¡± Kian said.

    ¡°Like a bodyguard?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sometimes. Sometimes I deal with problematic monsters.¡± Kian answered.

    ¡°I heard something about a dungeon nearby a while ago, have any of you heard about that?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Moaning Point?¡± Ash asked.

    ¡°I guess? I never got a name. Just remember people mentioning it before. I don¡¯t even know what a dungeon is anyway, to be completely honest.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Dungeons are natural mana anomalies.¡± Daniel said.

    ¡°Artificial mana anomalies. Created by the artificial system.¡± Eliza said.

    Kian slammed his hand on the table again. ¡°No. System. Talk. Remember?¡±

    Eliza raised her hands in a defensive gesture. ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯ll stop.¡± She said and then mouthed ¡°artificial¡± to Zoe and nodded her head.

    Kian shook his head.

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Daniel started. ¡°Dungeons are mana anomalies which exist for some reason or another. They can really be anything, though.¡±

    ¡°I once found a whole town that was part of a dungeon. The wild mana was integrated completely with the town¡¯s infrastructure. Apparently the dungeon created the town and people just moved in.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Most of the time when people are talking about dungeons they¡¯re talking about the dangerous ones, though.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°People usually add a descriptor for the other ones. There¡¯s a dungeon spring a few weeks west from Flester which is a great place to relax if you ever find yourself over that way.¡± Ash said.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Ice resistance.

    ¡°Ice is done,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well all I¡¯ve got left for you now is Lightning and Wind. I¡¯d suggest wind first.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Then wind it is, I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza started muttering another incantation.

    ¡°Moaning Point is an undead dungeon not too far south from Flester. It¡¯s a mountain type, with the monsters getting stronger as you climb up. If you get a really good first class you should be able to tackle the lower areas probably.¡± Kian said.

    A sphere of barely visible air formed around Zoe and blades of wind started blasting into her.

    ¡°What kind of class are you trying to get anyway?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°At first I thought that I wanted lots of magic. A little intelligence and then lots of wisdom to keep playing around with magic because it looked really fun.

    ¡°But then I saw a lot of the other skills that warriors had and they also look really cool. So I¡¯m not really sure what I¡¯m going for, if I¡¯m being honest. Whatever looks best to me next winter I¡¯m probably just going to take, unless there¡¯s no good options. But I doubt that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t have any good options available after however long you¡¯ve been working on it then I don¡¯t even wanna know what you¡¯d think about my first class.¡± Daniel shook his head.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Wind resistance.

    ¡°Wind¡¯s done,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Last is lightning then. I¡¯m not able to control it very well so it will probably burn your dress, are you okay with that?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°How bad?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Pretty bad.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°You¡¯ll basically be naked after,¡± Ash laughed.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m a little uncomfortable with that then, to be honest.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°If it makes you more comfortable you can take off your dress and everybody else can look away. I¡¯ll have to still watch you though to make sure I keep the lightning from hitting anything it shouldn¡¯t. Or you could just skip lightning and be happy with fourteen. That¡¯s already four more than you were planning on!¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°If everybody else looks away, I think I¡¯m okay with that then.¡± Zoe said.

    Everybody turned in their seats and stared out over the fields surrounding them. Zoe took off her dress, and put it to the side. She looked at her underwear and decided to keep it on. If it got damaged so be it, but Eliza would probably be able to avoid at least that.

    Eliza muttered her incantation and then a blast of golden lightning rushed out of her fingertips towards Zoe. Her muscles spasmed when it hit her and she fell to the ground in a clump. The lightning jumped around her body, each muscle it hit contracting and relaxing with the impacts.

    She expected it to hurt a lot more than it did, but it was mostly just disabling. Minutes passed with her convulsing on the ground as lightning bounced around her before she got the notification.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the lightning resistance.

    ¡°D-d-d-oo-n-n-e.¡± Zoe stuttered out. The lightning vanished a moment later and Zoe put her dress back on.

    ¡°Right, well I don¡¯t have any more resistances I can give you and it¡¯s getting late anyway. I¡¯m gonna head into town if you¡¯d like to come along with me?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe felt the magic that had settled into her wash away, and the red sphere of healing shattered. Shards of red glass scattered on the ground and then vanished.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m gonna go grab some dinner personally. It was nice meeting you, Zoe.¡± Daniel said.

    Kian stood up. ¡°I¡¯ll join you. See you later Zoe.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was nice meeting you all too. Thanks so much for today. I¡¯ll absolutely take you up on that offer, Eliza.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza stood up and the two started walking back west towards Flester.

 46. Adopt, dont shop

    ¡°Have you ever flown before?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°No, never. Why?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well, I was thinking we¡¯d fly back to Flester if you¡¯re not opposed to the idea.¡± Eliza smiled at her.

    ¡°Is it¡­ safe?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course! I just killed you like ten times over and you ask if flying back to town is safe.¡± Eliza laughed.

    Zoe laughed with her. ¡°That¡¯s different, I¡¯ve gotten resistances before. Flying¡¯s totally new to me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, it¡¯s totally safe. You okay with flying?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Sure, lets go fly back to town then.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza muttered another incantation and a platform of earth rose up from the ground in front of them. Eliza hopped on and held out her hand to help Zoe up.

    Zoe grabbed it and pulled herself onto the rocky platform. Eliza muttered some more words and the platform lifted off the ground. It kept rising until they were almost a hundred feet off the ground. Zoe never had problems with heights before, but something about the somewhat unstable, small platform of rock that shot through the air made her feel a deep respect for it.

    ¡°Hold on,¡± Eliza said and held out her arm. Zoe grabbed onto it and squeezed like her life depended on it.

    The platform rocketed forwards towards the city Zoe could just see off in the distance. Ten minutes later the platform descended just outside the eastern gate of Flester. Zoe¡¯s hair was a mess and she staggered her way off the platform.

    Eliza laughed. ¡°It¡¯s a lot more fun when you¡¯re the one controlling it. Anyway, it was really nice meeting you Zoe. Don¡¯t forget to send me a message when you end up picking your class!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, right. You too. Sure.¡± Zoe said as she tried staggered to and fro in front of the gate, trying to get her senses about her again.

    Eliza laughed some more. ¡°See you around, Zoe.¡± Then she took off down the street.

    Zoe leaned against the gate for a few minutes as she let herself calm down. That was not at all how she expected flying to be. She thought there would be a nice comfortable windshield, some kind of locking mechanism to keep her attached to the platform.

    But there was none of that. She was just standing on a small stone platform, holding on to Eliza as the wind buffeted her face. Eliza giving her wind resistance earlier wasn¡¯t even necessary if this was how she¡¯d end up being taken home, Zoe thought.

    She shook her head and brought up her resistances to check the progress she made.

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    - Poison (14)

    -- Pain (5)

    - Heat (1)

    - Fire (1)

    - Cold (5)

    -- Disintegration (2)

    - Time (3)

    - Space (1)

    - Water (1)

    - Earth (1)

    - Gravity (1)

    - Ice (1)

    - Wind (1)

    - Lightning (1)

    Time had gotten all the way to level three which surprised Zoe a little. Although it made sense if it was the only thing that Eliza didn¡¯t tone down, too.

    She made her way back in to town while feeling a little excited. There was only one skill left and a couple easy feats to get before she could finally pick a class. She summoned a small ball of ice to her hand and let it float around her. If this was what just a simple skill could do, she couldn¡¯t wait to see what a whole class could do for her.

    Zoe made her way back to Joe¡¯s inn and grabbed her big bag of belongings. She chatted with Joe for a minute, talking about the experience that she just had. Joe laughed when she told him about the flight back, and then Zoe headed outside again.

    She had just over forty three silver left. Over the past few months of living in Flester, she found that while she could get by on one silver every five days she usually ended up spending one silver every three to four days on trying new restaurants or buying food for friends every so often.

    Ten silver every month, she realized. With her goal of classing up next winter, she needed close to sixteen months of funds remaining.

    Her first step, she decided, would be to head back to the library and see if she could find some information about when the fiscal year began. She had a suspicion that for Flester, it began on the first day of summer. Which would be fantastic for her since it would make tracking her income for the next year much easier.

    She made her way to Kaira park and walked into the nearest tree and onto one of the floating platforms. She thought about the Flester¡¯s tax system and started walking forward. The platform lead her on a winding path through the bookshelves and roots into another tree and then mounted on a bookshelf near the bottom of whichever tree she ended up in.

    With her failure of Spring¡¯s Master still fresh in the back of her mind, she browsed through the books as quick as she could, looking for something definitive. She could just go ask the people at the city hall but she enjoyed the serenity of the library. Or she could have just asked Joe, she realized. That would have been much easier, but maybe he had a point when he talked about a reason for getting out making the process more pleasant.

    The second book she checked had the information she wanted, and just as she suspected the fiscal year did begin on the first day of summer. Which meant that for this year, she had a clean slate. If she focused on charging mana orbs non stop for Ren and got twenty five filled up for him, then she could have five gold saved up in no time at all.

    She made her way out of the library and back to her favourite bench to start charging her orb. She got a replacement the last time she sold an orb to Ren but hadn¡¯t bothered to fill it at all since. She paid off her school and had enough money to last for several months. The meditation training was nice, but she was somewhat worried that she would approach the first tax bracket at the time.

    The rest of summer flew by as she filled orb after orb and sold them to Ren. She had expected to be still charging orbs into autumn, but a week before the end of summer she was already filling the last mana orb for her budget. Just over four gold coins clattered around in her bag, and she smiled.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    Even the first orb she filled this summer only took just under two days. But as she continued training her meditation it only sped up. By the end, she could almost do forty thousand mana in a single day. She knew her meditation had levelled up a lot while she was at the school, but it never felt like it was that significant because of how little time she was even able to spend charging the orbs.

    But when she could just sit down and spend days on end dumping all of the mana she had into an orb? It felt like printing money.

    Emma came by a few times to visit Zoe in the park. Her job was going great and she was already shopping around for a house. Lynn showed up a few times, though not as often as she did in the winter. They chatted on occasion, but Lynn mostly kept to herself and watched the birds.

    Hector hadn¡¯t made it through the attack on Flester, apparently. Lynn said that she was okay, that he was old and ready to go anyway. But Zoe could feel the loneliness and sadness that overwhelmed her even without Vampyric Empathy.

    She wasn¡¯t sure what she could do for Lynn. Or if she should even do anything. Zoe liked Lynn for the most part, and they got along well enough when they chatted. But did that mean Zoe could invade her life and try to make everything better? That didn¡¯t feel right.

    So Zoe chatted with her whenever she saw some cool looking birds and otherwise let her live her life. It was the first time she¡¯d seen the impact of the attack so clearly. For most of the town it was such a distant thing by now. Everybody lived their lives and even laughed about the terrible timing.

    And for others, it seemed their lives had been upturned. She didn¡¯t know how to feel about that, about how suddenly people¡¯s entire lives could just be ripped apart by a random attack. If she wanted to be magical, then it made sense that other things would also be magical.

    She just hadn¡¯t realized what that meant exactly yet.

    Zoe spent the last week of summer wandering around town with Emma and an agent she hired, looking at houses for sale. Most of the ones they looked at had small buildings paired with rather large yards. Emma made it clear to the agent that she wanted to be able to spend as much time outdoors as possible and it seemed there were many places that were perfect for that.

    On the second last day of summer, Emma found the house she wanted. It was a three story tall, somewhat thin cylindrical tower made of some black stone set in the centre of a large yard. Dark wooden fences surrounded the yard with a white gate on the entrance.

    A gray stone pathway lead up to the front door. Inside, the ground floor was a comfortable lobby. A couple white leather chairs and a rack for hanging coats or hats. A thin staircase spiraled along the wall of the tower, both upwards and downwards.

    In the basement was a small bedroom with a comfortable looking bed with white sheets. Upstairs on the first floor was the bathroom. A toilet in the corner with a white marble sink, and a large tub in the centre of the floor made of marble with dark wooden detailing.

    And finally on the top floor was the kitchen. Not where Zoe would have put the kitchen, or the bathroom for that matter. But Emma seemed to love it. The entire wall at the top was windowed, providing a view of the yard that surrounded the tower and even some of the other buildings that she would call her neighbours.

    ¡°I love it!¡± Emma said.

    ¡°This one is listed for one hundred twenty gold and they note that they are not willing to negotiate.¡± The agent told her.

    ¡°If I put fifty gold down, what would my loan payments look like?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°One gold per month with a seven year amortization period.¡± The agent said.

    ¡°Okay, lets do that, then.¡± Emma summoned a gold square and handed it to the agent.

    ¡°Pleasure doing business, miss.¡± The agent took Emma¡¯s coins and handed her a red crystal then bowed and left.

    ¡°I have my own house now!¡± Emma jumped around her kitchen.

    ¡°I would have thought there would be more paperwork to do when you decide on a house.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma shook her head. ¡°The paperwork came before we even started looking. It¡¯s real simple. I own a house Zoe! Eeeee!¡± She squealed.

    ¡°Now you just need to go get your cat, huh?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh! Yeah! I¡¯m gonna go do that right now. You wanna come?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Zoe said.

    Emma lead her back downstairs and locked the door behind her as they left, giggling the whole time. Then she walked down the street towards a large single storied building about fifteen minutes away. Zoe had walked past it a few times, but never knew what it was.

    ¡°Adopt, don¡¯t shop!¡± Emma said as they walked in to what Zoe now recognized as an animal shelter.

    There were five people walking around in the main foyer carrying bags of dirt or food from one place to another and two people sitting behind a large counter.

    Emma walked up to the counter. ¡°Hi, I wanna adopt a cat please.¡± She smiled.

    The woman behind the counter looked up and handed Emma a piece of paper along with a quill. ¡°I just need you to fill out this form and then we can let you take a look at the cats we have now.¡±

    Emma looked over the form, it asked questions about her income and whether she had the space to support a cat and a bunch of other questions to make sure she would be a responsible owner. The woman looked over it when Emma handed it back and then stood up and lead Emma and Zoe into a locked room near the back of the building.

    ¡°If you decide to adopt one, just let one of the workers know and we¡¯ll get you sorted out.¡± The woman said and then walked back to the counter.

    Inside were dozens of cats. Some were walking around on the floor while others were resting in locked kennels that lined the walls. A couple of workers walked around with food and water, filling up all the dishes in the kennels.

    Emma walked around looking at the cats, petting most of the ones she passed. And then she stopped and stared at one of the cats in a kennel.

    His name was Oliver, and he was a sad looking cat laying in the back of the cage mewing. He had gray fur with white booties and dull green eyes that reminded Zoe of a mossy stone left in the sun. Emma pointed at the name-plate. ¡°See! I told you Oliver was a good name for a cat!¡±

    Zoe rolled her eyes.

    ¡°This is the one. This is my cat. Aren¡¯t you little ollie bollie.¡± She wiggled her finger through the cage. Oliver nuzzled up to her finger and meowed.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Emma called out to one of the workers. ¡°I wanna adopt this kitty.¡± She pointed at Oliver.

    ¡°Sure thing. I¡¯ll bring him out then, you can go head up to the counter and get started with them.¡± The worker pulled off the name plate and handed it to Emma.

    She practically skipped back down the hallway to the counter and handed the nameplate to the woman who helped them. ¡°I¡¯m adopting this one!¡±

    The woman smiled and helped her through the process. There was a bunch more paperwork to sign and a laundry list of things to remember. The worker brought out Oliver shortly after and he walked back and forth sniffing everything.

    Zoe started to feel a little uncomfortable with how long she was spending inside so she gave Emma a hug and said goodbye to Oliver then left to go find something to do outside instead. She still needed to figure out what her last skill would be before next winter.

 47. Enchanting

    Zoe made her way back to Kaira park and sat on her favourite bench in eager anticipation. If her internal calendar was right, then today should be the final day of summer. The heat was beginning to mellow out and hordes of people were out in the forests surrounding Flester chopping down logs in preparation for the long, cold winter that would soon be upon them.

    She wasn¡¯t sure what to do with her time anymore at this point. She had already capped out her income for the year and still had most of it left to go. Meditation was an easy skill to keep levelling while she sat around and passed the time, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it made her feel less restless while she did it too.

    But without something to drain her mana, meditation just felt pointless. It still helped pass the time but it didn¡¯t do anything. It felt like a massive waste of time to her, which was something that she could recognize as not being a problem for her anymore but didn¡¯t enjoy anyway. She would need something else to pass the time, some other project to work on.

    Zoe brought up her list of skills to help her figure something out.

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (22)

    - Vampyric Senses (34)

    - Vampyric Resistance (18)

    - Vampyric Immortality (2)

    - Vampyric Charm (53)

    - Vampyric Empathy (29)

    - Gathering (7)

    - Archery (34)

    -- Meditation (55)

    - Cooking (1)

    - Dagger-fighting (23)

    - Tracking (16)

    - Stealth (15)

    - Frost (18)

    Her vampyric skills were off the table. If her understanding of how skills worked was correct then working on better understanding what they did and how they worked could benefit her immensely.

    The problem was just that she found it boring. Something she could get around to some other day but not what she wanted to spend the next year playing around with while she let time fly past her.

    Everything else had some kind of draw to them at least. She could see herself spending time at the open training facility she found last winter, or maybe getting an outdoor stove set up in a park and working on her cooking skill. But cooking in particular would be rather expensive to play with and money, while not tight, wasn¡¯t something she wanted to spend a tonne of either.

    Her eyes wandered to Frost. It fit the bill for the most part but it just didn¡¯t accomplish anything concrete. There was just something so magical about filling the mana orbs for Zoe. Such a primal pleasure in some strange way. It was visual and progress was so clear as the orb filled with energy and identify even showed the exact progress.

    She still had another skill that she needed to get, maybe she could find something useful that was as enjoyable as charging mana orbs. The rest of the day passed and night fell as Zoe sat in silent contemplation.

    Her mind raced between different skills that might exist ¡ª running, smithing, fletching and so many others just fell flat for her. She didn¡¯t want something so physical. If stamina ended up being a problem for her then she wouldn¡¯t be able to stick to it for days on end without finding some way to recover her stamina quicker.

    Which likely just meant another skill, if that was even possible at all. In which case she should just get that skill instead and call it a day.

    Zoe kept thinking about different things she might be able to work on right up until the sun began to rise and her focus was interrupted by a popup that she had been waiting for.

    *Ding* For surviving a natural summer without shelter, you have been awarded with the [Summer¡¯s Master] feat.

    Zoe immediately brought up its description.

    [Summer¡¯s Master]

    You have mastered the hottest season. Others fled from the devastating heat wrought upon you by the blazing stars in the sky, but you chose to embrace it and let it drive you further. All classes gain a bonus to heat affinity.

    She looked at its description and felt a bit confused. Winter¡¯s Master gave her the cold resistance, but Summer¡¯s Master only gave her the bonus to affinity? What was the difference? The description still mentioned the devastating heat, it was clearly an important part for the feat.

    But it didn¡¯t give her a matching resistance? That didn¡¯t make any sense to her. Was it just because she already had heat resistance?

    She shrugged. At the end of the day, it didn¡¯t matter much. Her goal wasn¡¯t the resistance, it was the feat itself. And she got that. It was a bit confusing, but she still accomplished what she set out to do and should be proud of herself for it. And Autumn¡¯s master was just a few short months away.

    Autumn was an interesting season for Zoe in Flester. She had spent most of her life in an area that was full of deciduous trees. Every autumn the trees around her would shed their leaves and the ground would be covered in colourful leaves that crunched under her feet.

    But in Flester, deciduous trees were a thing from stories. Tales of beautiful oak trees on the other side of the world. All Flester had were tall coniferous varieties, and a few deciduous trees that seemed magically resistant to losing their leaves, like the large library she visited often.

    But perhaps most unusual for her was how soon the snow began to fall. It wasn¡¯t unpleasant, but the autumn in Flester felt so similar to a winter from back home. Snow covered the ground and lent the landscape its beautiful radiance, but wasn¡¯t in the way or disruptive. She knew that would change come winter, but seeing it happen so soon after the warm sunny days was an incredible experience for her.

    She spent a lot of time talking with Emma over the autumn. Oliver had settled in to his new life and was spoiled with toys and a large yard that Emma had started planting sturdy winter flowers in.

    On one of her visits, Emma had suggested that Zoe try getting an enchanting or alchemy skill from a local business who might have lessons. Enchanting in particular would be inexpensive to play with and she might end up being able to make some interesting things from it eventually too.

    For a moment, Zoe thought about going to Lorelei and getting some alchemy advice. But laughed at the ridiculous thought. There was no way Lorelei would get her any usable advice in an amount of time that wouldn¡¯t ruin her Autumn¡¯s Master.

    Instead, she looked around for enchanters and found one who had a course available for seventy-five silver near the end of autumn. It was a bit steep, but if she got a skill she enjoyed out of it then it would be worth it.

    The shop was called The Enchanted Life and it was run by a young woman named Catalina who took a great pride in her work. Zoe walked in to the shop and looked around.

    The decorations were rather plain, a few wooden shelves and a wooden counter at one end that a young woman was stood behind. But the products were, for lack of a better word, enchanting. Each one seemed so alive and precious in their own way. Weapons that exuded strength and finesse, tools that seemed to beg for use.

    ¡°Hello, welcome to the enchanted life, how can I help you today?¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Uh hi, are you Catalina?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s me, why do you ask?" Catalina asked.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Oh I saw that you have a course available and I thought I might be interested.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes, I do indeed. It¡¯s seventy-five silver and takes about two hours, I¡¯ll show you the basics of enchanting and you should be able to qualify for the apprentice enchanter class.¡± Catalina said.

    Zoe shook her head in surprise.

    ¡°I thought the only requirement was twenty-five wisdom?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s one of them. You can get it by being taught by an enchanter too!" Catalina said.

    ¡°Huh. I just want the enchanting skill, honestly. If I keep practising without the class should I eventually get it?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I guess. I¡¯d just take the apprentice enchanter class if I were you though. Much quicker and cheaper, but I won¡¯t stop you from paying me if you like!¡± Catalina said.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d prefer that. Is there any way we could have the lesson outside somewhere? I¡¯m working on a thing that requires no shelter right now so two hours would be a bit much.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes! Enchanting works best in a controlled environment with good materials but there¡¯s no reason you couldn¡¯t do it anywhere you like. When would you like to schedule your lesson?¡± Catalina asked.

    ¡°Well, any time works for me really. I don¡¯t do much.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°We can start now if you like?" Catalina suggested.

    ¡°Uh, sure. Yeah, that¡¯s fine I guess. Again I do need to be outside though.¡± Zoe said.

    Catalina jumped over the counter and started walking towards the door. ¡°That¡¯s fine! I have a table set up around back, we can go learn there.¡±

    ¡°Okay, cool. That works then.¡± Zoe said and followed along.

    Catalina locked the front door when she left and then walked around the building to a small yard at the back where a round table with a single chair was set up.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you¡¯ll have to stand unless you¡¯ve brought your own chair? Normally I teach inside so I only have one chair out here.¡± Catalina sat down and leaned on the table.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I can stand. I¡¯m the one getting in the way anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Awesome, so this will be seventy-five silver. I do need the payment up front and it is non refundable.¡± Catalina held her hand out.

    Zoe rummaged around in her bag and found a silver square, two silver circles and a silver star and handed them to Catalina.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Catalina vanished the coins to whatever storage item she was using and summoned a metal rod that she placed on the table.

    ¡°So the first step to enchanting is saturating an item with mana. Have you ever infused something with mana before?¡± Catalina asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve filled a few mana orbs before.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Great! That¡¯s really awesome. Now, with mana orbs you just leave the mana as it is because they¡¯re for storage. But with enchanting, you would then carefully manipulate that mana into the form that gives you your desired effect.¡± Catalina held out the metal rod to Zoe.

    ¡°Here, take this rod and infuse it with your mana. It should be much more difficult than a mana orb since it¡¯s not made specifically to draw in mana, but give yourself some time and you¡¯ll get there.¡± Catalina said.

    Zoe took the rod and tried to do the same thing she had done with so many mana orbs in the past, but nothing happened. Her mana rushed to her hand and then just stopped, rather than flooding into the rod she held. She tried pushing it around, tried prodding at the rod from different angles. After a few minutes of struggling she managed to get a slight trickle of mana into the rod and smiled.

    ¡°Good, now with time you¡¯ll get better at infusing objects with mana that weren¡¯t specifically made for such a purpose. In time it should feel natural, but it¡¯s definitely a bit tricky at first!¡± Catalina smiled at Zoe.

    ¡°Now, keep pushing your mana into that rod until it¡¯s filled, and we¡¯ll move on to the next step. I would do it for you but unfortunately you wouldn¡¯t be able to complete the next step if the rod were saturated with somebody else¡¯s mana.¡± Catalina sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.

    Zoe kept focusing on filling the rod with her mana. She expected it to be quick, but it took almost an hour before the rod stopped accepting any more mana. Catalina looked up as soon as the rod was filled.

    ¡°Excellent! That was very quick. Now, do you have the identify skill?¡± Catalina asked.

    Zoe nodded her head.

    ¡°First off, identify the rod. And then what I¡¯ll want you to do is turn your focus inwards and find your identify skill in your mindscape. Have you ever done that before?" Catalina asked.

    Zoe nodded her head again and identified the rod. It didn¡¯t show up as anything to her.

    ¡°Fantastic, what an accomplished student you are. Find your identify skill in your mindscape and rather than disable it, bend the mana in the rod to your image of the identify skill. It¡¯s a bit tricky and everybody has a different way of imagining their skills so unfortunately it¡¯s something you¡¯ll have to figure out the specifics of yourself.¡± Catalina said.

    Zoe looked for her identify skill and found it a few moments later. She burned the image of it into her mind and then tried to push that image into the rod like Catalina had explained. But she wasn¡¯t even sure where to start. She tried to push her focus into the rod, to align herself with the mana within it. And there was a small connection that she could feel but she wasn¡¯t sure how to manipulate it.

    It took another ten minutes of struggling before she managed to accomplish anything. She felt a tiny portion of the mana in the rod solidify, and she smiled.

    Zoe kept trying to recreate the feeling, willing the mana in the rod to solidify in the form she wanted. And bit by bit she could feel the rod¡¯s mana taking hold, and becoming more real, more substantial. When the final piece clicked in place, Zoe felt the rod shudder in her hand and Catalina clapped.

    ¡°My what an incredible student you are. You pick things up so quick. Try identifying the rod again.¡± Catalina said.

    Zoe did as she said, and this time the rod actually showed up as something for her.

    [Identify]

    ¡°With practice you¡¯ll be able to tweak your image to get your enchantments to do what you want. Identify is a unique skill when it comes to enchanting as instead of imbuing an object with its effect, it simply allows the object to be identified with the skill. Practice lots and you¡¯ll be able to control what the object gets labelled as.

    ¡°If you ever come along some other skills, try enchanting objects with them and see what effects you can squeeze out of them. It¡¯s quite fun sometimes seeing what different skills can do as enchantments!¡± Catalina stood up from her chair.

    ¡°At any rate, thank you very much for coming and learning. I wish you the best of luck with your future enchantments.¡± Catalina bowed slightly.

    ¡°Yeah, thanks a bunch. That was really fun, actually.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Good, I¡¯m glad.¡± Catalina turned and walked back to the front of the building.

 48. Acceptance

    Zoe spent the rest of autumn trying to enchant random things she found on the ground. Sticks, rocks. Coins. Even her sandwich at one point. She found that just about everything was enchantable, but the effects imbued into them would wear off quite quick with certain materials. Her sandwich only stayed enchanted for fifteen seconds or so before the mana imbued in it broke apart.

    Sticks and stones performed a little better than her sandwich, but not by much. The best she had found was imbuing her dagger. That managed to keep an enchantment for days at a time, which meant it might actually be useful to her at some point.

    She still hadn¡¯t gotten the enchanting skill, but that was okay. Just being able to imbue skills into objects and play around with them was immensely enjoyable for her. In particular, her favourite enchantment so far was an Archery enchantment that would make the object rocket off from her hand whenever she pulsed mana into it.

    Controlling the direction it fired was almost impossible for her, though. After the first few accidents she managed to get it to not launch towards her at least, but hitting a target seemed like a distant dream for her.

    Zoe sat in Kaira park on the last autumn night, enchanting her dagger with her Frost skill. All she¡¯d managed to do so far with Frost was make objects a little colder when she pulsed mana into them, but she felt like she was only scraping the surface of what should be possible.

    As the sun began to rise, she smiled as the notification she was expecting arrived.

    *Ding* For surviving a natural autumn without shelter, you have been awarded with the [Autumn¡¯s Master] feat.

    [Autumn¡¯s Master]

    You have mastered the windiest season. You stare down the buffeting gales of autumn and stand steadfast in their destructive wake. All classes gain a bonus to wind affinity.

    It seemed like autumn was the windy season according to the system, and she didn¡¯t get a resistance again. Which supported her theory of the system not telling her about resistances she already had.

    The thought made her wonder what other things the system wasn¡¯t telling her about. Building a conclusive idea of what the system was or how it worked seemed like a nigh impossible challenge and she didn¡¯t envy the work that Eliza had surely put in to her theories.

    She already had the winter¡¯s master feat and for a moment she thought about taking the winter to relax again, spend some time in a nice warm bed next to a fire.

    But what if there was another feat for spending a whole year without shelter? She¡¯d already done summer and autumn one after the other, and was planning to do spring right after winter. If she spent this one winter inside and missed out on a feat because of it she¡¯d never be able to forgive herself.

    So she decided to spend another winter without shelter. Just a few more months and she could stop worrying about it so much. Besides, she already had some comforts back in spring when she messed up. She¡¯d survive. She¡¯d thrive, even.

    Joe had mentioned needing to do some errands at the start of winter, and Zoe made her way over to his tavern to tag along with him. It was probably just taxes and maybe picking up some supplies but time spent with friends was always good, in her opinion.

    He was already waiting outside when she arrived, and Zoe ran up to greet him. ¡°Good morning Joe, did I make you wait long? Sorry about that."

    Joe laughed, ¡°No I just locked the door a minute ago. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    Zoe smiled. ¡°Alright then. So what¡¯s the plan today anyway? You never said it.¡±

    ¡°Dropping off my taxes and picking up some more drinks. I also want to go say hi to Herb again while I¡¯m out, haven¡¯t seen him in a few months. You¡¯re not working on winter¡¯s master again right? No more stuck outside for this winter?" Joe started walking down the street.

    Zoe shook her head and followed along. ¡°I just got autumn¡¯s master. Weird thing by the way, it didn¡¯t give a resistance either. I think the system just doesn¡¯t tell us all the details every time. Anyway, I figure I may as well just spend the winter outside as well in case there¡¯s a stupid feat for the whole year.¡± She shrugged.

    ¡°Well whatever makes you happy at least. I¡¯m just glad you¡¯re being a bit smarter with it now than you were last year. Anyway, I was going to say you could come say hi to Herb with me but I¡¯ll probably be there for a while to catch up so I don¡¯t think you¡¯d wanna stick around.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Yeah, probably not. Say hi for me though. I¡¯ll probably just go keep working on this,¡± Zoe drew her dagger from her belt and pushed mana into it. The metal blade glowed with a faint blue radiance, and she pressed the edge of it into Joe¡¯s skin.

    He recoiled and Zoe laughed.

    ¡°That¡¯s damn cold, did you buy an enchanted dagger?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s the same dagger. I made it! I learned how to enchant things.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh wow, that sounds right up your alley.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Mhm. It was either that or alchemy for my last skill, and alchemy just seemed really expensive to me. And a lot less fun, too, probably.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well you¡¯ve got the gathering skill right? Might be able to just go get all the ingredients you need for alchemy anyway.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe thought about it for a moment. She had written alchemy off before as just being too expensive for her, but she hadn¡¯t even thought of just gathering her own materials for it. That would help level another skill of hers, too. It wasn¡¯t a horrible idea, all things considered.

    ¡°Maybe, actually. I didn¡¯t even think of that.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe smiled. ¡°Happy to help out.¡±

    The pair got to the city hall and waited in the fast moving line. Joe dropped off his envelope of tax information and then they left without hassle.

    ¡°Lunch?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Sandwiches?" Zoe asked.

    Joe nodded his head, and the two made their way to the sandwich shop that Zoe was a regular at by now. They both got their spicy sandwiches and sat down at one of the tables to eat.

    ¡°Enchanting¡¯s actually really easy, apparently.¡± Zoe flooded her sandwich with mana. Sandwiches never took long to enchant, whether because they were a bad medium or just didn¡¯t have a lot of mana capacity, she wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°Is it, now?¡± Joe raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Yeah. Just flood something with mana and then solidify it into whatever form you want. I bet with a lot of practice you could even form it into something completely unique, but I have no idea where to even start with that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And the many months of practising twenty-four hours every single day with mana orbs had no effect on how easy you find it, right?¡± Joe laughed.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Okay. Maybe, I guess.¡± Zoe thought back on how many dedicated hours she¡¯d spent just dumping mana into mana orbs.

    Two thousand hours? Three? Just the past summer she spent almost two months just dumping mana into orbs with only a short break every day. That was over a thousand hours alone.

    ¡°Okay, definitely. But whatever, it¡¯s really easy for me now at least!¡± Zoe pushed her identify skill into the sandwich, urging it to be named ¡®Zoe¡¯s Sandwich¡¯. The mana solidified and she was rewarded with a notification.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Enchanting skill.

    ¡°Oh. I just got the enchanting skill finally. That¡¯s sweet.¡± Zoe said, and brought up the description for enchanting.

    [Enchanting]

    Imbue objects with the essence of your being.

    Joe stared at her for a moment. ¡°Did you just enchant your sandwich?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Identify it!¡± Zoe held up her sandwich and grinned.

    [Zoe¡¯s Sandwich]

    Joe rolled his eyes. ¡°Just eat your damn sandwich.¡±

    Zoe took a big bite. ¡°If you ever need me to enchant something for you just come hit me up. It¡¯s a lot of fun, honestly.¡±

    ¡°I tell you what, if you¡¯re ever good enough to enchant my building, I¡¯ll let you help me name it finally.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t you named it yet anyway?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Enchanting¡¯s expensive and a name without an enchantment just feels pointless to me.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe tilted her head. ¡°It¡¯s just mana right? I enchanted my sandwich for free. With enough time I could probably enchant your inn for free too. Maybe.¡±

    Joe shook his head. ¡°Your sandwich isn¡¯t enchanted anymore. The expensive part of enchanting things is in making it stick. Takes some expensive materials and an experience enchanter.¡±

    ¡°Oh. That makes sense, I guess. Even my dagger only lasts for a few days when I enchant it. Your building might last longer, maybe. I dunno, really. Rocks don¡¯t last long in my experience.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°See? Expensive.¡± Joe nodded his head.

    They finished up their sandwiches and got up to go to Grandol to restock Joe¡¯s drinks.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re picking your class in almost exactly a year now, right?" Joe asked as they wandered down the street.

    ¡°Mhm. Little longer, I¡¯m gonna do it on my birthday.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hah, that¡¯ll be a nice birthday present then, huh?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I think so. I¡¯m really excited, honestly. It¡¯s been so long now, I just want this year to fly by so I can be there already.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, nothing¡¯s stopping you from taking a class this year still. You¡¯ve probably got some great options already.¡± Joe said.

    Joe led her down an alleyway and Zoe shook her head. ¡°No I¡¯d regret it. I¡¯ve already worked so hard at getting this, if I don¡¯t go all the way I¡¯m gonna be disappointed in myself.¡±

    Joe shrugged. ¡°I think you¡¯d be fine but to each their own I guess.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know what to do with the rest of my time now, though. I¡¯m gonna try and get the alchemy skill but I¡¯ve got almost a year left to wait and I¡¯ve accomplished all my other goals now. I¡¯ve got all the skills I want, even more resistances than I wanted. Almost all the feats I wanted. Now I just wait? It feels weird.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Nothing wrong with some waiting. You¡¯ve worked really hard to get to where you are now.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s the thing though. I did work hard, I struggled and pushed my way through so much while trying to get everything done at once. All because I didn¡¯t wanna waste time. And yet here I am with so much extra time left.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You regretting it?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°No, not regret, really. I guess I¡¯m just realizing that I have a lot more time than I thought. I mean, I knew that I did. But it¡¯s really hitting me now that I already got everything I wanted to do, done, and have almost a whole year to just do whatever I want.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well you could keep gathering more skills and resistances, build up the best start you can.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I guess. I am gonna try and get the alchemy skill at least, that sounds maybe fun. But am I going to go learn how to mine? Just so I can have seventeen skills instead of sixteen? That sounds so boring. And resistances? I don¡¯t even know how I¡¯d get more of those at this point. What else even would there be? Metal maybe?¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed. ¡°It¡¯s not so bad to just be happy with what you¡¯ve got already and spend a year relaxing, either. You¡¯re already going to get a better class than anybody else I¡¯ll probably ever meet.¡±

    ¡°Maybe. I¡¯ve already exceeded what my goals were. I guess it wouldn¡¯t be the worst thing to just spend a year doing whatever I want and not worrying about it too much.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°There you go, that¡¯s the right attitude. You set yourself some goals and you met them. Be proud of yourself. If you keep moving the goal post you¡¯re never going to be satisfied.¡± He smiled at Zoe.

    ¡°So I¡¯ll just spend the next year getting my alchemy skill and playing around with enchantments. Actually, I wonder what enchanting something with enchanting would do.¡± Zoe grabbed a copper coin and flooded it with mana.

    Joe laughed and shook his head.

    Coins were a nice way to experiment with enchanting she had found, they didn¡¯t take too long to flood with mana and they kept an enchantment for long enough to figure out what it did.

    By the time they were out of the alley and back onto a main street, Zoe was already trying to force the mana to solidify into her enchanting skill¡¯s form.

    ¡°Have you thought about what kind of class you¡¯re going to want yet? You wanted a mage before I think, right?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Mhm. A bit. Hold on.¡± Zoe stuttered out as she focused on twisting the mana to her will. It was much easier than ever before now that she had the skill, but figuring out a new skill was still a little tricky.

    A few minutes later the mana settled into its final form, and she pulsed some of her mana into it to trigger the enchantment. Nothing happened, but she found it much easier to push mana into the coin now than it had been before and every time she did, the mana seemed to fill out the bits that were fading from the enchantment.

    It seemed like a useful enchantment, if she could manage to fit in another enchantment too so that it would actually do something useful instead, at least.

    ¡°Sorry, I was doing something. Anyway yeah I think I want a more jack of all trades kinda class now, to be honest. I like magic a lot. Like, a whole lot. But doing things myself also feels really cool. I got this one Jack class before which I could still see myself taking at this point if nothing else seemed really cool.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed. ¡°After all this work and you just settle in on one of the first classes you found. That would be hilarious.¡±

    Zoe smiled. ¡°Yeah. I think I¡¯ll have some cool stuff available that I¡¯ll like though. Maybe an upgraded jack even.¡±

    Joe stopped outside the door to Grandol. ¡°Hopefully. Let me know what you get when you do pick your class. Anyway, I¡¯m just going to be picking up some drinks and then going to visit Herb. It was nice walking around with you though.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you too Joe. I¡¯m gonna go play around with my new skill for the next few days and then maybe try and find an alchemist to learn from. You happen to know any, actually?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, sorry. If I hear of any I¡¯ll let you know next time I see you though.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Alright thanks Joe. See you around then!¡± Zoe waved to him and ran off down the road towards Kaira park.

 49. Alchemy

    Zoe spent the first month of winter just focusing on her enchanting skill. As the skill levelled, she found it easier and easier to control what exactly happened with the enchantments. Her Archery enchantments made objects fly closer to where she wanted them to, her Frost enchantments made objects get just a little colder. She went through each of her skills one by one to see what kind of effects they would have.

    Her favourite was still Archery, but Stealth was fun too. When she enchanted her dagger with it, the bright metal that shone in the sun dimmed as it was covered in shadows.

    But the most interesting by far were some of her Vampyric skills. Enchanting something with Vampyric Regeneration made it repair itself with a pulse of mana. Most of the time with her mana capacity she was only able to recover a very small scratch or bend, though. She tried it on a sandwich to see if she could get infinite food, and at first it seemed like she could. The bite she¡¯d taken out of her sandwich grew back right in front of her eyes.

    But then she tasted it and decided that spending money on food was still worth it. Good to know for an emergency but even then she might prefer starving over eating the wretched food her enchantment created.

    Vampyric Charm made objects seem unnaturally adorable to her, and Vampyric Empathy let her make objects exude a certain emotion. She enchanted one of Emma¡¯s cat toy¡¯s with excitement and Oliver had a field day with it while the enchantment was active.

    Meditation was very subtle, but when Zoe really focused on it, she could feel some of the mana swirling around it very slightly, but didn¡¯t seem to stick to it.

    Maybe if it was also enchanted with enchanting it could keep itself alive indefinitely just from the ambient mana. But fitting multiple enchantments into an object was something she had no idea about. She¡¯d tried a few times, starting with Enchanting and then repeating the whole process with meditation. But every time she tried, the stick she was enchanting splintered and broke apart.

    If she had better materials, maybe they¡¯d be able to hold more enchantments? Or maybe it just wasn¡¯t possible at all? She wasn¡¯t sure and didn¡¯t want to risk it with something more expensive. She could figure it out in time.

    Her birthday came and passed, and she was granted with two more stat points to spend along with another level to Vampyric Immortality. She brought up her current stats to figure out a plan.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 3

    Strength: 20

    Dexterity: 20

    Vitality: 20

    Endurance: 20

    Intelligence: 50

    Wisdom: 50

    Health:  200/200

    Stamina: 200/200

    Mana: 500/500

    Since she was planning to class up on her next birthday, she¡¯d get another two stat points to spend for a grand total of five. She didn¡¯t expect fifty-five intelligence or wisdom to be a threshold that was important, fifty seemed significant on its own. And one problem she¡¯d begun to notice was her low vitality.

    If she dumped the remainder of her points into vitality she¡¯d be able to bring it up to twenty-five, which might be important for something. An argument was there for Endurance too, which was the only pool she¡¯d actually run completely dry so far. But health was her life, her existence. Getting more of that just seemed like a very good idea. She pumped her three points into Vitality and felt herself become something more.

    The feeling wasn¡¯t like Intelligence or Wisdom where they affected some part of her that she¡¯d never known about, some power that was completely new to her. Vitality affected her body in a very real way, and even though she only had three extra points into it, she felt the difference.

    She felt more substantial, more realized in existence somehow. Her body changed in a subtle way that made her tougher and stronger. The subtle pressures that bared down on her backed off just the tiniest bit. The wind seemed to brush past her with a little more ease, the cold winter air felt just a little bit less cold.

    It was an enjoyable feeling, and made her wonder what the other stats would feel like to level up. Was it worth levelling all of them, or should she just focus on specific ones that helped her the most? She wasn¡¯t really sure, and didn¡¯t expect there would be a way to reset her stats if she ever decided she wanted something different.

    Or would it be possible? She could change her classes later, would that reset her level and all the stats she got from them? That was a scary thought, now that she actually wondered about how it would work.

    Getting your stats levelled up was an intensely pleasurable experience. But if you got to level three hundred and then replaced your third class and lost all of those levels, that would be devastating.

    She got up and wandered around town. Alchemy was something she wanted to get an understanding of before spring started, just in case she did end up needing to spend some time inside. She supposed that was just a repeat of her previous mistakes and it would be best to wait until summer or autumn to try and learn, but habits were hard to break.

    Alchemists were fewer and far between when compared to enchanters. Liz was one, and Lorelei as well. But neither of them offered training, and finding an alchemist who did was no easy feat.

    Zoe wandered the streets of Flester for almost a full month while she watched the groups of people demolish the snow that covered the city once more, and searched for an alchemist who was willing to train her.

    She saw Ash and Lila a few times in her search, but neither of them knew any prominent alchemists either. Zoe stopped by Joe¡¯s inn a few times and asked him if he¡¯d heard of anything but none of his patrons that he talked to knew of any either.

    It wasn¡¯t until a few days before the end of winter that she found an alchemist who was offering lessons. A small wooden hut called Bubbling Bruce on Ina¡¯s Road. They had a big sign posted up outside offering an alchemy lesson for one gold. A man was slaving over a large cauldron that spewed colourful smoke around the side of the building. Identify showed him as dark red worker.

    Zoe walked up to him. ¡°Hello?" She asked.

    The man turned to look at her. His short, messy brown hair was plastered to his face with dirt that covered him head to toe. He took off his brown leather gloves and wiped his hand on his apron and waved to her.

    ¡°Hi, how can I help you today?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I hear you¡¯re doing alchemy lessons?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, for one gold coin, I¡¯ll teach you everything you need to know and let you keep your first batch.¡± He said.

    ¡°Okay, I think I¡¯d like to take you up on that then.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sure thing, pull up a seat and let me finish up this work and then we can get right into your lesson.¡± The man put his glove on again and turned back to the large cast iron cauldron.

    Zoe sat down on one of the wooden chairs and then decided to stand up when she felt her clothes sticking to it. She watched the man as he summoned various herbs ¡ª klir being the only one she recognized, and dumped them into the cauldron. Sometimes he would pull out some of the burning logs from below the fire, while at other times he would add more wood in and stock the flames so they licked the edges of the cauldron.

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    When he was done, he pulled over a large crane looking contraption and attached it to the cauldron. The metal hooks latched on to the cauldron and a metal spout lowered down to attach to the cauldron¡¯s lip. He cranked on a lever and the cauldron lifted off the metal beams it was resting on.

    He placed a couple massive glass vials on the ground next to the cauldron and placed large funnels into each and then cranked on the lever some more. The cauldron tipped over and the black sludge inside spilled out down the funnels and into the vials.

    Then he put the cauldron back down, moved the crane away and pulled the vials of sludge into his storage item. ¡°Alright, now we can start with your lesson. What do you know about alchemy so far?¡± He asked Zoe and held out a hand.

    ¡°Nothing, that was the first time I¡¯ve seen anybody do it. At least I think that¡¯s what you did?¡± She asked and pulled out a gold coin to hand to the man.

    The man laughed. ¡°Yes, that was alchemy. I¡¯m sorry, I haven¡¯t introduced myself. I¡¯m Bruce, and you are?¡±

    ¡°Zoe. So alchemy is just magical soup, then?¡± Zoe asked.

    Bruce laughed. ¡°That¡¯s a good way to put it. But imagine the soup can violently explode and kill everybody if you add in lio instead of furni.¡±

    Zoe shivered.

    ¡°Doing your research is very important with alchemy, understanding the ingredients you¡¯re using and if you do end up doing any new experiments, doing so in a controlled environment with proper protections is of the utmost importance.¡± Bruce explained.

    ¡°Okay, that makes sense.¡± Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Good. First step is to sanitize your equipment. What you¡¯ll be using today is this cauldron, the stirring stick, and the crane. Do you have any cleaning skills? I guess you don¡¯t, huh?¡± Bruce asked.

    Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°Well, you can use these if you like, then.¡± Bruce summoned a vial of translucent blue liquid and a white cloth. ¡°I won¡¯t make you do it today, but you can keep these for the future. I would recommend getting a cleaning spell, though.¡± He cast a spell and a familiar blue pulse of magic washed out over his equipment that left everything spotless.

    ¡°Next up is a base. Most commonly you¡¯ll be using mana water, which is just water that you saturate with mana.¡± Bruce said and summoned enough water to almost fill the large iron cauldron. ¡°Have you ever filled something with your mana before?¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Sorry, yeah. I just had a class on enchanting that asked me the same question. I¡¯m quite good at it, I think.¡±

    ¡°Good, now I doubt you have enough mana to fill my cauldron of water but go ahead and give it your best shot just so we can make sure you¡¯re doing it right.¡± Bruce said and gestured to the cauldron full of water.

    Zoe walked up to it and pressed her hands into the surface of the water so she could send her mana into it. She dumped in three hundred mana and it didn¡¯t seem to make the slightest difference.

    ¡°Yes, excellent.¡± Bruce walked up and did the same but rather than the trickle Zoe had, a surge of power flooded out from him and saturated the cauldron of water in an instant. The water seemed to have a faint blue glow.

    Bruce summoned a klir leaf and dropped it in the pot. ¡°Another way is to fill it with a mana leaf like Klir, but this is quite expensive. You¡¯re better off saturating the water manually first and then using supplements to manage the mana as you brew the potion. But that¡¯s only really necessary for longer recipes anyway. Send some of your mana into the klir leaf.¡±

    Zoe did as he said, and the leaf dissolved leaving not even the slightest speck in the water.

    Bruce summoned a few containers filled with different plants and placed them on a nearby table. ¡°Next up is just making your ¡®soup¡¯ according to whatever recipe you¡¯re making. Get a fire going below the cauldron,¡± he gestured to a pile of logs off to the side.

    Zoe grabbed some of them and piled them up below the cauldron and then rummaged in her bag for her fire starter to ignite the logs. They waited in silence for a while until the water started boiling.

    ¡°The potion you¡¯re going to make today is a minor healing salve. It doesn¡¯t do much but it helps with scrapes and bruises. The recipe is ten parts mana water to one part each of slikreet and ofsa. I¡¯ve already measured these containers for my cauldron but if you brew anything yourself make sure you get the measurements right.¡± Bruce pushed a couple containers towards her.

    ¡°I just dump all this in and let it boil away?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup,¡± Bruce leaned back on the table.

    ¡°How long do I boil it for?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ll know. It¡¯s very obvious. Just go ahead and dump these containers into the pot and keep the cauldron boiling without letting it boil over.¡± Bruce said.

    Zoe did as he said and dumped the containers into the cauldron. One was filled with a white branch that she hadn¡¯t seen before and the other had a purple flower that she¡¯d seen plenty of while she was out in the forest the school managed.

    When the plants hit the water, the cauldron started to bubble even more violently. Zoe grabbed some of the burning logs and pulled them out from below to let it calm down a little. She kept adding and removing logs from the fire to keep the contents at a steady boil and stirring with the large metal rod to keep all the contents from piling up on the sides or sticking to the bottom of the cauldron.

    After almost an hour, the colour started to change. It went from a clear blue liquid filled with random scraps to a dull red almost pasty texture.

    ¡°See? Obvious, right?" Bruce said.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Alright, cut the heat and bring over the crane.¡± Bruce said.

    Zoe pulled out the burning logs and piled them next to the cauldron and then dragged over the crane. Bruce showed her how to attach it to the cauldron and set down a couple large vials on the ground with a funnel in each.

    ¡°Now just crank on the lever and make sure the cauldron dumps into the funnel. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard.¡± Bruce said.

    Zoe did as he said and found the lever quite heavy, but she managed it with a bit of effort. The cauldron tipped over and dumped the red paste into the first vial and then she shoved the crane over so it would fill the next one and repeated the process.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Alchemy skill.

    ¡°Oh wow I already got the skill. Enchanting took way longer.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You brewed a very large batch today with all the right equipment. What were you enchanting?¡± Bruce asked.

    ¡°Uh well a metal rod and then mostly sandwiches and sticks, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah. Do things right and you get rewarded. Anyway, that¡¯s the lesson. Make sure you do your research if you¡¯re going to try this on your own!¡± He picked up the two vials of red sludge and handed them to Zoe.

    ¡°Do I keep these?" She asked.

    ¡°Yup. Apply directly to wounds and they¡¯ll heal a little faster.¡± He said.

    ¡°Uh, okay. Thanks for the lesson then.¡± Zoe took the two large vials and wondered what she should do with them.

    ¡°No problem, good luck with your future alchemy endeavours!¡± He called out as she left.

 50. Even More Choices

    Zoe wrote off Alchemy again, at least for the time being. If she was being honest, the process was just really boring. If she was going to slave over a glorified wood stove for a while she¡¯d rather get a really tasty stew than some potions of questionable use.

    Maybe if she found some cool recipes for some really awesome potions she¡¯d change her mind. But she walked down the road holding the two comically large vials of red sludge and sighed. She appreciated having another skill, but red sludge was not her idea of a great use of an hour.

    She stopped by Joe¡¯s inn and gave him the vials while she explained what happened. Joe laughed.

    Her excitement began to grow as she thought about spring being just a few days away. Soon she¡¯d have everything she set out to get and could take her first class. It was still a year away, but that just felt so short at this point.

    She decided to take some time off and relax for the next year like Joe suggested. She had plenty of skills to work on still and levelling up what she already had might even be more useful than amassing a larger variety of skills. Or at least that¡¯s what she told herself whenever she thought about looking for new skills to learn.

    Throughout spring she joined Emma¡¯s hunting group when they went out, she didn¡¯t get paid in gold but they let her keep some of the meat to cook. They usually snagged a few animals every day so Zoe never ran out of food to train her cooking with and the whole process let her train a plethora of skills all at once.

    When Emma wasn¡¯t out hunting, Zoe usually found herself in Kaira park enchanting whatever she found around her. She took Bruce¡¯s words into account and tried to find things that took enchantments better ¡ª metals in particular seemed to be much better for it. But it was still fun making adorable twigs and leaves that seemed super happy, even if they only lasted for a brief moment.

    Spring drew to an end, and Flester was preparing for the Barlahai festival once more. Zoe went with Emma this time and the two walked around playing the games and tasting all the food that people had to offer. Zoe took Emma to Joe¡¯s stall and introduced them to each other finally.

    When Rolf was giving his speech, there was a nervousness that seemed to wash over the crowd as everybody remembered what happened the previous year.

    ¡°Hello Flester. Last time I spoke to you here, we had a terrible interruption. I am immensely proud of us all for how well we¡¯ve recovered from the disaster. But that¡¯s not what barlahai is about. Let us take part in the festivities and enjoy our bright, warm summer days.¡± Rolf said to the crowd who cheered in response.

    The rest of barlahai was the same, but progressively more drunken as the day drew on. Emma went home after Rolf¡¯s short speech to make sure Oliver was doing alright and Zoe wandered around in eager anticipation for her final seasonal master feat. She was just one step away from being able to finally pick her first class, to no longer be bound by the restrictions that she had set for herself.

    Night passed and the crowd thinned as people returned to their homes. Zoe made her way to Kaira park to sit at her favourite bench as she shook with excitement.

    *Ding* For Surviving a natural spring without shelter, you have been awarded with the [Spring¡¯s Master] feat.

    *Ding* The feats; Winter¡¯s Master, Spring¡¯s Master, Summer¡¯s Master and Autumn¡¯s Master, have been combined into the Master of Seasons feat.

    Zoe¡¯s eyes widened in shock. She tried to bring up the information on Spring¡¯s Master but got nothing in return. She tried again for the other seasonal master feats and none of them gave her anything either. She felt a twinge of disappointment that was quickly replaced by excitement.

    She pulled up the information on her new Master of Seasons feat.

    [Master of Seasons]

    You have stood against the seasons like a sturdy stone, weathered and worn but unfettered nonetheless. The scorching heat and frigid cold revitalize you, while the torrential downpours and screaming gales leave you feeling refreshed. Stand strong and deny the elements the power they once held over you. All classes gain a bonus to elemental affinity.

    Zoe shivered with excitement. She wasn¡¯t sure what the difference between elemental affinity and a specific cold or heat affinity actually meant. Was it better to have elemental? What counted as elemental anyway? Was gravity an element? She had no idea.

    But it didn¡¯t matter. Whether this feat was better or the same as the sum of its parts was secondary to the fact that she now had everything that she needed. She could pick her class whenever she wanted, now.

    She spent the first month and a half of summer charging mana orbs for Ren again. It was a fantastic way to pass the time and made her a lot of money while she was it. She even thought about making more and just figuring out how taxes worked but decided against it. She didn¡¯t really want to get bogged down figuring that out if she didn¡¯t have to. And with the just over eight gold she had clanging around in her bag now, she didn¡¯t think that she did.

    With the pressure of the seasonal master feats off of her, she even spent a few nights inside. She spent a lot more time at Emma¡¯s place playing with her cat and chatting about Emma¡¯s progress. She had gotten a class she was happy with and had started levelling again.

    The thing she was most excited about was a skill that let her conjure a magical bow and arrow. It cost a fair bit of mana but her class apparently gave her bonuses to her mana regeneration so it was manageable at least.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to retrieve my arrows anymore!" She would shout at random times for a few days after she took the class.

    Summer ended, and Zoe took to Joe¡¯s kitchen on occasion to help him cook. About halfway through autumn, she was given another surprise.

    *Ding* For accumulating a total of 500 general skill levels, you have been awarded with the [Skilled] feat.

    ¡°Oo, I just got the Skilled feat. For having a total of five hundred skill levels.¡± Zoe told Joe next to her.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of that one. What¡¯s it do?¡± Joe asked.

    Zoe brought up its information to check.

    [Skilled]

    You have accumulated a wealth of skills and find pleasure from the refining your own capabilities.

    ¡°Nothing? I guess I already have whatever it¡¯s supposed to give maybe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Maybe. Or maybe it¡¯s just for a class? Doesn¡¯t seem that hard to get once you¡¯ve raised your level cap a bunch anyway.¡± Joe shrugged.

    Zoe shook her head and got back to helping Joe with the stew he had bubbling away on the stove.

    The rest of autumn passed by in a flash, and the dusting of snow in the town turned to a thick blanket. Groups of people started wandering around town clearing it out again, and Zoe could barely stand still as she waited for her birthday.

    She had already made plans. Joe was going to take the day off and come with her to Emma¡¯s place and they¡¯d have a big birthday bash while Zoe shared her class choices. Zoe thought about inviting Eliza, but decided against it. She¡¯d probably be sharing a few too many secrets.

    It was just a month away. The last month of her feeling so restricted, so weak and feeble. Her last month before the biggest decision of her life.

    It was just as nerve-wracking as it was exciting, she found. And as the month passed and the final day drew near, her anxiety grew. What if she picked the wrong class? What if after all this work she didn¡¯t even get something she liked? Would she have to spend even more years trying to get something better? Should she have used the last year to keep getting new skills even if she wouldn¡¯t enjoy them?

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    She tried not to focus on the negative thoughts too much. They weren¡¯t helpful.

    Her birthday finally came, and Zoe sat in Emma¡¯s lobby with her two friends. Oliver sat at the top of the stairs, his tail wrapped around him and stared at Joe. Light shone in from the upstairs window and highlighted the faint dark stripes that covered his fur.

    She had gotten her extra stat points earlier in the day and dumped them both into vitality, but she wanted to wait until Emma and Joe were both available to actually go through her class list.

    ¡°Okay. Ready?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma and Joe both nodded. ¡°It¡¯s your class.¡± They both said.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m gonna do it. I haven¡¯t looked in forever. What if they¡¯re all bad?¡± She asked.

    Her friends sighed.

    ¡°Fine. Fine. I¡¯m going to look. I¡¯m really gonna do it now, okay?¡± Zoe walked outside into the snow so she would qualify for the sub-zero requirement for classes.

    *Ding* The following classes are available;

    Zoe brushed past all of the ones she recognized or that seemed uninteresting to her. There were a whole bunch of apprentice classes available for all the jobs she took that she just didn¡¯t care much about.

    [Archer] A master of the bow, decimate your opponents with deadly aim from afar. Increased accuracy with bows.

    Requirements: Has the [Archery] skill

    Notes: The [Archery] skill will be removed and merged with the class.

    [Hunter] A hunter, stalking their prey through the wilds through tenacity and wisdom. Increased intuition when tracking prey.

    Requirements: Has the; [Tracking], [Stealth], [Gathering] skills. Has successfully hunted prey they set out to find.

    Notes: The; [Tracking], [Stealth], [Gathering] skills will be removed and merged with the class.

    [Apprentice Cold Mage] An acolyte of frost, yearning for the cold and spreading its beauty. Gain increased experience when researching the frost.

    Requirements: 25 intelligence, Current season is Winter

    [Master of Frost] You have mastered the cold and find solace in its frigid silence. Draw power from the cold energies that surround you.

    Requirements: 50 intelligence, 20 endurance, 20 dexterity, at least ten resistances, has the [Cold] resistance, has the [Ice] resistance, has the [Meditation] skill, has the [Winter¡¯s Master] feat

    [Enchanter] A pursuer of mana, imbuing objects with powerful effects.

    Requirements: Has the [Enchanting] skill.

    Notes: The [Enchanting] skill will be removed and merged with this class.

    [Temporal Anomaly] Time passes while you remain still. Increased power over time.

    Requirements: Has the [Patient Decider] feat, has the [Time] resistance. Does not have a second class.

    [Slayer of Frost] The frost fears you. Increased damage to cold aligned creatures.

    Requirements: Has the [Slayer of Frost] feat

    [Alchemist] Create powerful potions and salves and explore the possibilities of alchemy.

    Requirements: Has the [Alchemy] skill

    Notes: The [Alchemy] skill will be removed and merged with this class.

    [Resistant] Stand strong against any foe you may find. Increased bonuses to resistances.

    Requirements: Has at least fifteen resistances

    [Seasoned Frost] Unaffected by the passage of time, drag the frost with you on your endless pursuit of knowledge and power. Increased experience from the passage of time.

    Requirements: Has the [Patient Decider] feat, has the [Master of Seasons] feat, has at least fifteen resistances, has the [Time] resistance, has at least fifteen skills

    [Elemental Master] Control the elements at your will, incinerating at one step and flooding with the next. Increased bonuses to elemental magics.

    Requirements: 50 intelligence, 50 wisdom, Has the [Master of Seasons] feat, has at least fifteen resistances, has at least fifteen skills, has an elemental manipulation general skill

    [Runic Acolyte] Pursue the raw magics of runes and craft magical effects with wit and research. Increased knowledge retention of runes.

    Requirements: Has learned from a [Runemaster]

    [Skilled] A master of all, pursuing skills in their purest form. Increased experience to general skills.

    Requirements: Has at least fifteen general skills. Has the [Skilled] feat.

    Zoe walked back inside and shared her class selection with her friends.

    ¡°What do you think? I¡¯m leaning towards Skilled, honestly. I like that I get a bonus to general skills.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s off the table. If you really wanted to just get all the skills you could you would have spent the last year learning new skills instead of saying you don¡¯t wanna be a miner. Don¡¯t be stupid.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I agree. Skilled seems like a bad fit for you. Maybe Elemental Master?¡± Joe suggested.

    ¡°Master of Frost seemed really good too.¡± Emma said.

    Oliver had come down at this point and was pacing back and forth by Joe, sniffing at him. Joe tried to reach out to pet him a few times but he would back away, so Joe just let him be.

    ¡°I wish it told me more about what they do. Runic Acolyte seems really good too if I can just make magic do whatever I want instead of being restricted.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah but then you have to learn the runic language,¡± Emma whined.

    ¡°It says it gives increased knowledge retention of runes, but that means you¡¯re probably going to have to figure everything out from scratch yourself.¡± Joe added.

    ¡°I know somebody who already knows a bunch I could maybe learn from her, but that¡¯s a good point.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What about temporal anomaly?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°The part about remaining still is concerning, to me at least.¡± Emma said.

    Joe nodded his head. ¡°If you wanted a time class, Seasoned Frost seems a lot better to me even though it¡¯s not explicitly time. It doesn¡¯t imply restrictions.¡±

    ¡°Okay but what about dragging the frost with her? Wouldn¡¯t that be bad if people don¡¯t wanna be cold?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Maybe. That¡¯s probably a nod to it having cold magic than an actual physical effect.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Then remaining still could also just be fluff. I think it¡¯s dangerous. Master of Frost still seems best to me.¡± Emma said.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°Time passing while you remain still seems too similar to Seasoned Frost¡¯s unaffected by the passage of time. If the wording wasn¡¯t important then it wouldn¡¯t be different.¡±

    ¡°Okay, what are your votes then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Master of Frost,¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Seasoned Frost for me, I think. I like it more after thinking about it.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe thought about it for a moment longer and then made her decision.

    ¡°How do I actually take a class again?¡± She asked.

 51. Conclusion (End of Book One)

    Joe and Emma both laughed, and then Joe explained the process. It was similar to assigning stat points, she just had to focus on the class that she wanted and urge the system to give it to her.

    She sat in her chair and turned her focus inwards, urging the system to give her the class she chose. The system did, and the experience was unlike anything she could have expected.

    What she thought would happen was a fun notification telling her all the new fun magic she could do. A painless, happy process. Maybe an addicting surge of power that flooded through her and invigorated all of her.

    What actually happened was she collapsed on the ground and screamed in pain as every piece of her was restructured by the system to fit its idea of the class she chose. Power did rush through her but it ripped apart every single thing that made her what she was, every fragment of her soul and body was ruptured and rebuilt in a new, stronger form.

    And then the pain washed away, and she was greeted with a notification. Zoe took a moment to breathe and get back in her chair. Joe and Emma were standing over her with worried expressions on their faces while they asked each other what was happening.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± They asked when they saw her getting back into her chair. They both grabbed an arm and helped her up.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. I think. I chose my class and it hurt. A lot.¡± Zoe sighed as she sat back in the comfortable chair.

    Both of her friends let out a sigh of relief and sat back in their chairs. Oliver was back up on the stairs, staring down at the scene from a distance.

    ¡°So? What¡¯d you end up choosing?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Hold on, let me look through this notification.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Awww come on, I wanna know. Tell me, come on. What¡¯d you pick?¡± Emma pleaded.

    Zoe shook her head and turned her attention to the notification that she got. Emma continued pestering her in the background while Joe laughed but Zoe tried to ignore them.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Seasoned Frost class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Seasoned Frost: Gain ten stat points for each level in this class.

    - Aura of Frost: You radiate cold energy.

    - Temporal Continuance: You gain experience through the passage of time.

    - Regenerator: All regeneration effects boosted by 200%.

    - Frozen Tempo: All cold and time aligned effects are boosted by 100%.

    Available Skills:

    - Cold Affinity: Increased cold affinity.

    - Time Affinity: Increased time affinity.

    - Frost Manipulation: Manipulate the frost with your will.

    - Frozen Arsenal: Command the frost to clad you in armour and weapons.

    - Frozen Echo: Create an echo of frost that copies your movements.

    - Adaptive Frost: Your frost will infect all it can reach with a slowing effect.

    - Restoration: Apply a regenerative effect that mends recent damage.

    - Haste: Apply a buff that increases quickness.

    - Alacrity: Permanently increases quickness.

    - Eternal Elegance: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

    Zoe shared the details with Joe and Emma. Both of their eyes widened in shock as she went through the effects.

    ¡°Regeneration effects boosted by two hundred percent?¡± Joe shouted.

    ¡°And a full hundred to everything your class does? That restoration skill is going to be insane, you need to take it.¡± Emma said.

    Joe nodded his head. ¡°Two hundred to regeneration, one hundred to it probably being time aligned. That¡¯ll be potent. What about the Aura though, can you disable it? I wondered why your arm felt so cold when we helped you up.¡±

    Zoe turned her focus inwards to try and find a switch for the aura. It took a few minutes but she found she was able to dial the intensity of the aura up or down. She nodded her head to Joe.

    ¡°Good, you should keep that off in town. People won¡¯t appreciate it.¡±

    Zoe nodded her head, ¡°Okay, how many skills do I get anyway?"

    ¡°Five for the first. I say you take the affinities. Always take affinities.¡± Emma said.

    Joe nodded. ¡°They¡¯re usually a safe choice. I agree.¡±

    ¡°Hold on. So Restoration and the two affinities. That only leaves me with two skills then!¡± Zoe shouted.

    ¡°Yeah but those are the three best anyway!¡± Emma shouted back.

    Joe laughed. ¡°Try some of them out, you can switch them whenever you want. You lose the levels but they¡¯ll be level one now anyway.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll start with Frozen Arsenal, Frozen Echo, Alacrity, Haste and Eternal Elegance then.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No, skip the cleaning spell. They always get different names but they¡¯re basically all the same.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Okay, so Frost Manipulation then too.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma and Joe both nodded.

    ¡°Cast Haste on me, I wanna zoom!¡± Emma pleaded.

    Zoe focused on her class skills and urged it to give her the skills she¡¯d selected. She got notifications for each one being unlocked but dismissed them immediately. It wasn¡¯t exciting when she was the one who gave them to her.

    The first thing she noticed was how slow everything around her felt all of a sudden. Alacrity, she realized. It wasn¡¯t an active skill, it just always increased her quickness, and her perception came with it apparently. It felt like she had James¡¯ haste spell cast on her, but there was no end without her disabling the skill or replacing it.

    Zoe focused on her haste skill and tried to cast it on both her and Emma. After a moment she felt a chunk of mana rush out of her and cover both of them.

    *Ding* You have been affected by the [Haste] skill. Increased quickness for five minutes.

    The world around her slowed down again as her perception skyrocketed once more. Both of the quickness effects at the same time was a bit much for her at the moment, but maybe with practice it could be useful. She reached for alacrity and disabled the skill.

    ¡°Woooo!¡± Emma ran around the lobby of her tower. ¡°I¡¯m so quick! You should come on all my hunting trips and buff us all.¡±

    Zoe laughed and turned her attention to the next skill, Frozen Echo. Rather than a surge of mana, this one felt like a continuous drain. Every movement she made, a mimic of her formed from translucent blue ice followed close behind. She wasn¡¯t sure how useful it would be, maybe it also hit things when she tried?

    ¡°Hey can I hit one of you two?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah! Hit me!" Emma ran up to her and bounced around from foot to foot.

    Zoe drew her fist back and then punched her friend in the shoulder. The echo of ice followed a moment after and then Zoe cancelled the skill.

    ¡°Did you take damage from the echo too?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah. You did fifteen damage and then the echo did seven. Maybe half of your damage? Not bad.¡± Emma said.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡°Does it work with arrows? What happens if you fire a bow with it?¡± Joe leaned forward in his chair.

    ¡°Good question.¡± Zoe said and turned her attention to Frozen Arsenal.

    She urged the magic to form a bow of ice, and a translucent blue icy bow appeared in her hand. She put her hand on the string formed from ice and conjured an arrow of ice.

    Zoe walked outside and aimed her bow at a spot in Emma¡¯s yard then turned on her Frozen Echo skill and fired the arrow. A moment later her frozen echo also fired off an arrow and they both hit the same spot.

    ¡°Not bad then, but it looks like it might only be very useful for combat. Is that what you want to focus on?¡± Joe asked Zoe when she walked back inside.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Zoe pondered for a moment. ¡°Probably not, honestly. I enjoy hunting, and I kinda wanna go explore that dungeon mountain nearby. But I think I mostly just wanna have things that are fun.¡±

    ¡°Well do you think the echoes are fun?¡± Emma asked. ¡°Haste is fun. You should totally keep haste.¡± She kept bouncing around.

    ¡°No, not really. They¡¯re kinda cool I guess but I don¡¯t think they¡¯re ¡®fun¡¯ necessarily.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay, echoes are a no then. What was the last one you¡¯re trying now? Manipulation?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zoe said and summoned a ball of ice to her hand with the Frost skill. She moved it around in her palm and floated it around her body.

    It felt much easier than it had before, but she wasn¡¯t sure how much of that was because of frost manipulation, and how much was because of the class bonuses.

    ¡°It feels easier than before but I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s because of the skill, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Try switching it out with something else and see how it feels?" Joe suggested.

    ¡°How do I do that?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Same as taking a skill, just direct it towards the skill you want to replace.¡± Emma said. ¡°I did it with my cleaning skill when I got my third class.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Zoe said and tried to replace Frost Manipulation with Adaptive Frost. The skills switched out, and Zoe was given another notification that she dismissed.

    She tried to manipulate the ball of ice around her again and there was a very slight, but noticeable increase in difficulty. Was it worth spending a skill slot on it? Probably not, Zoe thought.

    ¡°Still feels fine. I notice the difference but it¡¯s really small.¡± Zoe said. ¡°I replaced it with adaptive frost, either of you two up to testing it out?¡±

    ¡°Sure. I can do it. Don¡¯t think she¡¯d be okay with the slow effect anyway.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Nope! Not if I don¡¯t have to. Gimme haste again please? Pretty please?¡± Emma begged.

    Zoe checked her mana

    Mana: 230/500

    ¡°Sorry, Emma. I¡¯m running low on mana.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Awwww,¡± Emma groaned and sat back down. Oliver came over and hopped up on her lap.

    Zoe pressed the ball of ice towards Joe and into his outstretched hand. The ice spread from where it touched him and started to cover his hand in a layer of frost.

    Joe squeezed his hand. ¡°Feels a little tight. Doesn¡¯t do any damage, but I¡¯d have a bit of trouble cooking dinner with this affecting me.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so another combat skill. Probably not that one then either.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the final verdict then? The affinities and restoration for sure. And then haste. You need haste. That¡¯s super fun.¡± Emma pleaded.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll take the arsenal. It¡¯s a combat skill but it¡¯s kinda fun and I can see it being useful outside of combat too. Which leaves one then, if I¡¯m definitely taking both the affinities.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You are,¡± both of her friends said in unison.

    ¡°It comes down to haste or alacrity then. Do you want a permanent effect or a temporary effect you can share with others?¡± Joe asked.

    Zoe smiled at Emma. ¡°I guess I like sharing.¡±

    ¡°Wooo!¡± Emma cheered. ¡°Get your skills in and buff me up! Come on!¡± Emma begged.

    Zoe laughed and swapped in her finalized selection. She summoned the ball of ice again and found it even easier to manipulate with the cold affinity buff than with the frost manipulation skill.

    ¡°You two were so right. The affinity skills are super noticeable. I don¡¯t know what time does yet but probably helps with restoration and haste maybe?" Zoe said.

    ¡°Oo, yeah buff me again!¡± Emma put Oliver on the ground and jumped up.

    Zoe gave Emma haste again and watched her run around a bit.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s your plan for your stats now?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re level twenty-two. You should have a bunch of stat points to use.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Oh! I hadn¡¯t even checked my stat sheet yet!¡± Zoe said and brought up her stats.

    Stat Points: 140

    Strength: 20

    Dexterity: 20

    Vitality: 25

    Endurance: 20

    Intelligence: 50

    Wisdom: 50

    ¡°One hundred forty stat points. Honestly I don¡¯t really know what to use them on. I think maybe getting to fifty vitality would be good?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s a safe bet, more health is never the worst decision.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe shook her head. Fifty vitality was a good choice, so she dumped twenty five more points into it. The familiar power rushed through her and made her existence more assured. One hundred fifteen left.

    ¡°I think I still wanna be mostly magic, so maybe I bring my strength and dexterity up to fifty and put the rest into my intelligence and wisdom?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Not a horrible idea. That would get your magic stats up to seventy five then?" Joe said.

    ¡°Mhm. With a couple extra points for endurance, maybe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sounds good to me!¡± Emma agreed.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m gonna go with that.¡± Zoe said, and started spending her stat points. It was her first time levelling the rest of her stats, and she was excited to see how they felt.

    Strength was the most noticeable. It hurt a little as the power rushed through her and settled in to her muscles. Dexterity was almost unnoticeable, she mostly noticed the difference in feeling afterwards. How her fingers moved so much more precisely, and how much easier it was to track Oliver¡¯s whiskers as he turned his head around to watch Emma.

    Endurance felt like she was satiated, like there was a hunger clouding her that she hadn¡¯t recognized that was just ripped away.

    Zoe brought up her full stat sheet to finally see what she¡¯d been working at for so long.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 50

    Dexterity: 50

    Vitality: 50

    Endurance: 25

    Intelligence: 75

    Wisdom: 75

    Health:  500/500

    Stamina: 250/250

    Mana: 377/750

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (22)

    - Identify (41)

    Class 2: Seasoned Frost

    - Cold Affinity (1)

    - Time Affinity (1)

    - Restoration (1)

    - Frozen Arsenal (1)

    - Haste (1)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (24)

    - Vampyric Senses (46)

    - Vampyric Resistance (21)

    - Vampyric Immortality (3)

    - Vampyric Charm (54)

    - Vampyric Empathy (44)

    - Gathering (24)

    - Archery (46)

    -- Meditation (67)

    - Cooking (17)

    - Dagger-fighting (39)

    - Tracking (29)

    - Stealth (27)

    - Frost (41)

    - Enchanting (27)

    - Alchemy (1)

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    - Poison (14)

    -- Pain (5)

    - Heat (1)

    - Fire (1)

    - Cold (5)

    -- Disintegration (2)

    - Time (3)

    - Space (1)

    - Water (1)

    - Earth (1)

    - Gravity (1)

    - Ice (1)

    - Wind (1)

    - Lightning (1)

    Feats:

    - Patient Decider

    - Master of Seasons

    - Slayer of Frost

    - Skilled

    ¡°So, what¡¯s next?¡± Emma asked. ¡°Pick your next class? You should be able to already.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°No, I think I¡¯ve had enough of this for one day. Soon though, there¡¯s no pressure to get the perfect one right away anymore.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your plan now? You wanted to go to that dungeon, right?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I do. I think I¡¯m gonna try and climb moaning point.¡± Zoe said.

 2-1. Battery

    Zoe spent the first few days after she picked her first class relaxing at Joe¡¯s inn, enjoying the new bonuses she had to her Frost skill. There were so many things that she wanted to keep experimenting with ¡ª all of her new skills, maybe even seeing what new class options were available to her since she skyrocketed right to her next cap right after picking a class.

    But it just felt so freeing to not worry about anything anymore. She spent hours laying in one of the big beds that Joe¡¯s inn offered trying to form the ice into different shapes. Sometimes she¡¯d go sit in the dining area and listen to the people chat, or maybe talk to Joe herself if he wasn¡¯t too busy. And he usually wasn¡¯t.

    The main talking points that people seemed to have were pretty mundane. Catching up with each other, talking about their plans for the rest of winter and start of spring. There was nothing exciting, nothing that begged for her attention. No groundbreaking news of a nearby town being attacked by another elemental, no dragons descending to wreak havoc on some unsuspecting farmer.

    It was comfortable, Zoe found. To just sit and waste time. There was no pressure to pick a class, no danger looming in the distance. No feat that she would mess up if she made the wrong move. Just herself, the new power that flooded through her, and whatever she wanted to do.

    Moaning Point ¡ª a mountain themed dungeon to the south of Flester was on her mind, of course. Climbing it was her next long term goal, but there was no urgency to it. If it happened this year, that was great. If it happened next year?

    Also great. The pace felt so different to her compared to when her entire existence revolved around getting her first class. The longer she spent at level eight without at least some kind of abiilty to defend herself, the higher risk she put herself at.

    But now, even if anything happened she could just take a quick look at her class list, pick whatever seemed best, and fix it later. It was a little hard to get used to for her, but it was exciting to be over that first hurdle.

    Zoe sat down at one of the tables in Joe¡¯s inn and grabbed some paper and a quill she borrowed from Emma. Moaning Point was a daunting task, and she always found it best to try and break things down to more manageable pieces. Usually, she ended up going off course pretty quick, but seeing things as their individual components helped her get started at least.

    The actual climbing of Moaning Point would be easy, at least on paper. Fight off whatever creatures were inhabiting it, accumulate power and continue ascending as safely as she could. Simple.

    Where the difficulty for Zoe came from was in how she should even get to that point. Should she practice using her skills before she goes? Would there be danger on the way to Moaning Point? Would there be somewhere to restock supplies between here and the dungeon? And for that matter, how far away even was the dungeon?

    The first thing she wrote down was research. She¡¯d spend some time at the large tree library near her favourite park and learn what she could about the dungeon.

    Next were her skills. Using them had two benefits ¡ª the skills would level up and be more powerful, but she¡¯d also be more familiar with them. Kian said with a really good first class she should be able to tackle the lower areas.

    Zoe felt her class was a little more than just ¡®really good¡¯, and she even had her next class just waiting on the back-burner whenever she wanted it. Even if she just picked at random it would be strong enough to at least start tackling the dungeon, she thought.

    Which meant that a specific skill level goal probably didn¡¯t make sense. She would make sure to get enough practice to feel comfortable with them, but the actual levels wouldn¡¯t matter to her. Those would come with time anyway.

    Her bag that sat on the ground next to her was the final problem. And it was a big problem. Zoe had a little over eight gold sitting in a small pouch that she kept in her bag. And that wasn¡¯t going to be anywhere near enough.

    Just as a start, she had a goal of ten gold coins to afford a sizable storage item that would replace her unwieldy bag. Carrying that around while she climbed a mountain seemed like a nightmare.

    But even on top of that, she would need supplies. Armour and weapons were handled now with her Frozen Arsenal skill so she could sell off her old supplies, but they weren¡¯t worth much and the dagger made for good enchanting practice anyway.

    She had a decent idea of what some climbing supplies would cost her ¡ª she had purchased a lot of camping supplies on her last ill advised excursion to the wilderness. To get some rope and pitons, and whatever else she might end up needing for climbing the dungeon she didn¡¯t expect to need more than one gold. Two at the absolute max.

    And finally, she wanted to keep at least two gold as a backup fund. Just in case anything happened, she wanted to have enough to get by for a while in reasonable comfort.

    Altogether, that was going to be fourteen gold, almost twice what she had. It wasn¡¯t a huge sum ¡ª especially with her new class bonuses, as long as Ren would continue buying mana orbs. But if she made any more money this year with contracted work, she¡¯d need to deal with taxes.

    Zoe shivered. Being whisked away to another world and bogged down with taxes was not exactly her idea of fun. Even if she waited until next year, her annual limit would only bring her up to right around twelve gold.

    She had a couple of options then, from what she could see. The first was the most logical, perhaps. Sell Ren a tonne of mana, and deal with taxes. But it was off the table. She wasn¡¯t going to deal with the tax system, not if she could help it.

    The second was a bit of a lark. Convince Ren to hire Zoe officially so he would have to deal with the taxes when he paid her. Overall, this was her favourite option. She gets to continue making money how she likes without any of the tedium.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    And finally, she could just go get another job somewhere else. Odd jobs were her bread and butter thus far, but it¡¯s not as though they¡¯re the only way for somebody to make a living. Now that she had a class, somebody might want her specific skill-set. Maybe somebody needs something cooled down, or a haste spell cast over and over.

    She decided to start with the second option. If Ren wasn¡¯t up for hiring her, then she¡¯d look for somebody else to. And if even that didn¡¯t work, she¡¯d settle for dealing with the tax system. It didn¡¯t even seem that bad if she was being honest with herself. She just didn¡¯t want to do it.

    Zoe grabbed her bag and dropped it off in Joe¡¯s kitchen. She grabbed her pouch of gold and put her light fur coat over her blue shirt and dark red pants, then headed outside. Ren was a long walk away, and Zoe decided to try and help out with the snow clearing effort.

    Her Frost skill wasn¡¯t able to do much ¡ª she had only just the last day even figured out how to manipulate ice and snow that she hadn¡¯t created herself with any degree of competency. But she urged the snow to the side as she plodded down the street.

    If nothing else, the street would be a little more walkable until somebody higher level came through with more powerful skills. And her skill might get a level out of it too, which was never a bad thing.

    While she walked down the street and shoved the snow out of the way, she tried to do some quick math in her head. She had gotten a lot of bonuses since the last time she filled Mana Orbs, and was curious how quick her mana would refill now.

    She couldn¡¯t be completely accurate without some more empirical testing, but with constant meditation before, she managed just over thirty-five thousand mana per day. Even not accounting for her increased stats, that gave her at least one hundred thousand mana per day. Maybe one hundred fifty with her increased stats?

    Zoe made it to Ren¡¯s house just after noon, and knocked on the wooden door. Ren showed up a moment later dressed in his unblemished suit, with not a hair out of place on his head. He was always just a little too perfect for Zoe¡¯s comfort, but she supposed she couldn¡¯t speak either with how strange she must appear to others.

    ¡°Yes? I was under the belief that you were at your limit for this year?" Ren asked her.

    ¡°Well, kinda. I need more money, actually. And I really don¡¯t wanna deal with taxes. So I was thinking, if you need mana, maybe you could hire me as an employee?¡± Zoe grinned.

    Ren rolled his eyes and sighed. ¡°You want to pawn off dealing with taxes to me?¡±

    Zoe nodded her head.¡°Yeah, basically!¡±

    ¡°I would not be paying you as well, you realize?¡± Ren asked.

    ¡°Well what are we talking about?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Half price, with a minimum of one hundred thousand mana every day. You will work here, with a contract of secrecy.¡± Ren said.

    ¡°Deal!" Zoe said.

    Ren sighed again. ¡°Fine, allow me to grab a contract for you to sign then.¡± He closed the door.

    Zoe heard some rummaging around from inside the house, and then he opened the door again and waved her inside. It was her first time being invited into his house, and she was kind of excited for some reason.

    Ren led her to a table and sat down at it. He placed a piece of paper and a quill in front of her. ¡°This is a mana contract, you¡¯ll be bound to secrecy by it. First though, what is your mana regeneration? If you can¡¯t supply my demand, then this is pointless.¡±

    ¡°Uh, I¡¯m not actually sure. I think it should at least be good enough, but I don¡¯t really know how it works exactly.¡± Zoe said.

    Ren rolled his eyes. ¡°Fine, what¡¯s your wisdom, maximum mana and meditation at, and how long can you spend every day charging items?¡±

    ¡°Seventy-five wisdom, Seven-fifty mana, sixty-seven meditation. And, I guess I can charge stuff all day, really. But I¡¯d prefer to have a few hours to myself at least.¡± Zoe said.

    Ren thought for a moment, his eyes darted back and forth as he tried to calculate the numbers in his head. ¡°That¡¯s only about seventy thousand mana even if you didn¡¯t take a break. I¡¯m sorry but this won¡¯t be worth my time.¡±

    Zoe was surprised, with her two hundred percent boost to regeneration that would give her two hundred thousand mana per day? That was over five times what she could do before!

    ¡°My class gives me a regeneration boost too. I don¡¯t know exactly how much but I¡¯m pretty sure it will be enough.¡± Zoe said.

    Ren summoned a mana orb and handed it to Zoe. ¡°Charge this at your maximum rate until I tell you to stop then.¡°

    ¡°Okay, give me a moment to get used to my new regeneration then. I¡¯ll tell you when I¡¯m ready.¡± Zoe said.

    Ren nodded his head, and Zoe began. She started out at the same rate she was used to, one mana every other second. It used to drain her mana just a little too quick, and every few hours she¡¯d slow down and let her mana regenerate. It wasn¡¯t a perfect system, but it was good enough for her.

    But even without meditation, her mana didn¡¯t seem to be draining at all at that rate. She focused on meditating as well and increased the drain to one mana every second. Her mana still remained capped out. She tried two mana every second, and it still didn¡¯t make a difference. Not until she started dumping three in every second did her mana begin to dip.

    She pulled it back a little bit, trying to maintain just below her maximum mana. It was a tricky process managing everything together, but her months of meditation practice were paying off and she managed to maintain an equilibrium with a couple minutes of effort.

    ¡°Okay,¡± She said, and returned to maintaining her mana equilibrium.

    A minute later, Ren spoke up. ¡°Stop.¡±

    Zoe stopped the trickle of mana she was sending into the orb and then identified it.

    [Mana Orb - 473]

    Ren¡¯s eyes darted back and forth as he lost himself in the calculations again, and then his eyes widened. ¡°You have a tripled boost to mana regeneration in your first class alone? Impressive. I¡¯ll only take at most one fifty as I¡¯ve said before, however.¡±

    He gestured at the contract. ¡°If you¡¯re willing to take the job then sign on the dotted line and we can continue.¡±

    Zoe read through the contract. It was simple enough ¡ª detailing specific things that she could and couldn¡¯t share from her time working with Ren. Details about the project he was working on weren¡¯t to be shared, every room that she hasn¡¯t already entered and didn¡¯t have explicit permission to be in were off limits. When he eventually publicized his project, the contract would no longer bind her.

    The main pain points for her were that if she didn¡¯t supply the full quota of mana for a given day, she wouldn¡¯t be paid for any of it. And Ren wouldn¡¯t accept pre charged mana orbs, she would have to come to his house every day, and charge specific items that he would give her.

    She didn¡¯t foresee herself having trouble making the quota, and the rest seemed fair enough to her. She signed the contract and a flood of mana rushed from her and into it, sealing the agreement.

    ¡°Good. When are you able to start?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Today,¡± Zoe answered.

    Ren smiled. ¡°Excellent. Make yourself comfortable here, I¡¯ll be back in a few minutes with some items that are in need of recharging.¡±

 2-2. Employment

    Zoe stood up and walked over to a comfortable looking white leather couch that Ren had and waited around for him to come back. She wasn¡¯t sure what the items he would be bringing her were going to be, but she felt excited to find out.

    Were they going to be pieces of his project? Would she finally be able to see what he was actually spending all that mana on? Or would they just be massive mana storage items that she¡¯d slave away at without ever learning more about what was going on with the man.

    She didn¡¯t have to wait long, as Ren came back out a few minutes later holding a bunch of different coloured objects. He placed them down on the dark red rug in front of Zoe one by one as gently as he could and then looked at her.

    ¡°I need all of these filled. Be gentle with them, they are extremely fragile.¡± Ren said.

    Zoe looked through the objects. The most striking one was a large black sphere that would have given those gimmicky ultra black paints a run for their money. It was about six inches in diameter and didn¡¯t roll around at all when Ren placed it down.

    Surrounding the ball were several bright white arms and legs, each with three joints and ten phalanges. She reached out to one of the arms and touched it. It felt surprisingly soft and malleable, the white stone looking material leaving a faint indent when she took her hand away from it.

    ¡°What is all this, anyway?" Zoe asked. She wasn¡¯t sure if Ren would even answer, but it looked like the ingredients for a strange ball golem with entirely too many limbs.

    Ren looked at her for a moment. ¡°Materials for my project.¡± He said.

    ¡°Yeah but what¡¯s the project? Can¡¯t you share a little bit since I¡¯ve signed the contract and all that?¡± She pleaded.

    Ren sighed. ¡°It¡¯s an experimental golem.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s it supposed to do, if it worked?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°When,¡± he emphasized, ¡°It works. It will assist me with cleaning.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve spent four years on a cleaning golem? Or six now, I guess.¡± Zoe asked.

    He rolled his eyes. ¡°I have been buying mana orbs for six years, not working on the same broken project for six years. I will have you know that most of my experiments end up being functional.¡±

    ¡°So what is all the mana for anyway? Why have you been buying orbs for so long?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°It is good to have a surplus of mana on hand. I am able to use the mana you provide for charging, and save my and my assistant¡¯s mana for the more practical purposes.¡± Ren answered. ¡°I have more work to do, however. Charge these and knock on the door when you are done for the day.¡±

    ¡°Wait, assistant? You have an assistant?¡± Zoe asked as she watched Ren walk to the next room over and close the door behind him.

    Not very talkative, Zoe thought. But it was still a fruitful job. Even if she got paid half of what she used to be paid, she had almost seven times the mana regeneration. It still ended up being a significant boon for her.

    If she came by Ren¡¯s place and charged the full quota in a given day that would be twenty-five silver. A gold coin every four days and she¡¯d have eight full hours to herself every day still. It was much more lucrative than she expected it to be.

    Zoe grabbed one of the strange white arms and started filling it with her mana. It was more difficult than a proper mana orb, to a noticeable degree. But nowhere near as bad as charging sticks or stones ¡ª or especially her food.

    She wondered for a moment what he was going to do with the mana. The arm was being filled up by her, so if Ren was enchanting them then it shouldn¡¯t work since the mana wouldn¡¯t be his. Was he doing something else with it instead?

    Or were higher level enchanters able to work with other people¡¯s mana. She supposed that could make sense ¡ª ice she created was much easier to work with than snow that fell from the sky, but that didn¡¯t mean it was impossible to manipulate the natural snow either. If enchanting was similar, then Ren should still be able to create something out of these arms, even if Zoe were the one who filled it.

    She thought back on her enchanting lesson. Catalina didn¡¯t say it was impossible to enchant things that were saturated with somebody else¡¯s mana. She just said that Zoe wouldn¡¯t be able to do it at the time.

    Zoe had taken that to mean that all enchanting must be done with the enchanter¡¯s mana, but would that even make any sense? What would be the point of mana orbs if people could only interact with their own mana?

    It made far more sense that Catalina just meant that Zoe personally wouldn¡¯t have been able to handle the increased difficulty while she was trying to learn the new skill. Which didn¡¯t help Zoe, at all. But it was handy to know, and might help her out with training her enchanting skill later.

    The hours passed as Zoe fell into a familiar meditation and filled the limbs. Each limb took thirty-thousand mana. Or at least the first one she grabbed did, the second was only about halfway by the time her meditation was interrupted.

    A woman who looked just as prim and proper as Ren walked into the house and looked over at Zoe. The woman¡¯s red hair was tied in a tight bun, and she wore a black suit without a hint of a crease or imperfection. Identify showed her as a dark red marked mage.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± The woman closed the door behind her and set down a bag she¡¯d been carrying on the table.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe. Who are you?¡± Zoe asked her.

    The woman sat down in one of the chairs and started writing on some paper she pulled out of her bag. ¡°I¡¯m Chloe. You must be the immortal girl that Ren¡¯s talked about?¡±

    ¡°Wait, I¡¯m sorry. What? Ren talks about me?¡± Zoe stared at Chloe.

    Chloe laughed. ¡°Yes, he¡¯s quite talkative when you gain his trust. You¡¯ve been a great help, most people don¡¯t tend to take the mana orb job and it ends up being quite the drain on us.¡±

    ¡°No no, wait. What does he say about me? Immortal? What do you mean?¡± Zoe asked.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°Not an awful lot. Just that there¡¯s a strange immortal girl who¡¯s been filling an enormous number of mana orbs for us.¡± Chloe shrugged.

    Zoe was panicking. And she wasn¡¯t even sure why, she¡¯d already decided that it wasn¡¯t a big secret that she needed to keep. But being called out so abruptly by somebody she just met was not something she¡¯d planned for.

    ¡°Why does he think I¡¯m immortal?¡± Zoe asked.

    Chloe laughed again. ¡°Well, you¡¯ve hardly kept it a secret yourself. But if you were trying to hide it, taking your class much earlier would have helped. Did you get a good one at least?¡±

    ¡°I. What.¡± Zoe sighed. ¡°Nevermind, it doesn¡¯t matter anyway. Are you Ren¡¯s assistant then?¡± Zoe asked.

    Chloe nodded her head. ¡°Yup, I help out and get some good experience out of it. You¡¯re finally here officially now then, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess. I didn¡¯t wanna deal with taxes so I asked if he could hire me officially so I don¡¯t have to and here we are. Charging weird arms.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell him I told you, but he got that contract made up for you last year. He thought you¡¯d show up way sooner.¡± Chloe whispered.

    ¡°Really? He seemed to almost not even be interested in hiring me when I talked to him.¡± Zoe said.

    Chloe laughed. ¡°He¡¯s not very open but I think he was quite pleased to have you here.¡± Chloe stood up. ¡°I should go check on him before he makes something too strange again. Nice meeting you though Zoe!¡±

    ¡°You too!¡± Zoe called out as Chloe rushed into the room Ren had went into.

    When Chloe opened the door, Zoe could hear echos of metal clanging which vanished as soon as the door closed. She had thought Ren was just being quiet, but a weird enchanter having enchanted rooms seemed more logical, now that she thought about it.

    Zoe spent the rest of the day charging another four limbs, each taking just over three hours as she filled it with thirty thousand mana. When she was halfway through the last limb, Chloe said her goodbyes and left.

    Ren came out of his enchanted room just before she finished with her last limb for the day. Or he came out of the room he was working in, she corrected herself. All of his rooms were going to be enchanted if Zoe had to take a guess.

    He summoned a handful of silver coins and placed them on the table. ¡°When you¡¯re finished, you can just take your payment and leave. Just let yourself out, I¡¯ll be busy. The door will lock automatically.¡±

    ¡°Okay! What happens if I don¡¯t show up someday, by the way?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Then you don¡¯t show up. I won¡¯t pay you for days you¡¯re not here but the contract didn¡¯t have a time limit. You¡¯re employed by me until one of us decides otherwise.¡± Ren said.

    ¡°Okay! I think I want to spend some time with a friend soon so I was just wondering. Thanks.¡± Zoe said.

    Ren nodded and walked up the stairs that were at one end of the living room Zoe was in. She wasn¡¯t sure she remembered stairs being there when she came in, and did a double take when she noticed them.

    A few minutes later Zoe finished up with her last limb and grabbed the silver coins off the table ¡ª twenty five in total, then left the house. She heard a satisfying clunk from behind her when the door closed and smiled.

    It wasn¡¯t the best job, she had spent almost sixteen hours just sitting on a couch charging random golem bits. But it paid well, it was safe, and there was the chance that Zoe could learn something about enchanting through the process, too.

    She stretched her arms and walked down the street. Another step on her list of things to do was practice her skills, and she thought that going hunting with Emma and her group would be the perfect way to get some real world experience with them.

    Zoe made her way back to Joe¡¯s inn, up to the room she¡¯d been renting from him, and collapsed on the large bed. Sleep was something that she was beginning to appreciate again.

    It had been so long since she really just relaxed and let herself fall into a somewhat regular sleep scheduled. Even though she didn¡¯t have any need for sleep anymore, it just felt nice to wake up and stretch from time to time.

    She woke at almost noon, and chuckled at her thought of a regular sleep schedule. Spending sixteen hours charging orbs until early in the morning was perhaps not the best path to her goal. But she rubbed her eyes and stretched out the minor pains and soreness in her back and smiled.

    Waking up really was the best part of waking up.

    Zoe went to Emma¡¯s tower and knocked on the door. She was usually home in the middle of the afternoon, or maybe getting ready for a big evening hunt with her group at the building she worked for.

    Emma opened the door a few minutes later and hugged Zoe. ¡°Have you decided to take your next class finally?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Zoe rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Why noooot?¡± Emma whined.

    ¡°Because I already have enough to get used to. I don¡¯t wanna add in even more. Besides, I want to enjoy this class I worked so hard for. I wanna appreciate it for what it is, not what the next class does for it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Emma hugged Zoe. ¡°What are you here for anyway?" Emma walked back in and sat on one of her chairs.

    Zoe followed inside and sat down. ¡°I wanna come hunting with you again. Probably a good way to get used to my new skills.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Yeah, that sounds super exciting. I¡¯m so down. I¡¯m off today actually, but we¡¯re going tomorrow so you should totally join us! Come give us haste!" Emma cheered.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll come give you all haste. I really want to test out the limits of my frozen arsenal though.¡±

    ¡°Also exciting! I wonder if you can give me a weapon made with it?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe summoned a dagger made of ice and handed it to Emma. The dagger didn¡¯t disappear immediately, but it began to melt as soon as Zoe let go of it. Emma tossed it out the front door and it clattered onto the stone pathway.

    ¡°That¡¯s handy, at least. Not super useful, but handy.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, could be worse I guess. So when are you going out tomorrow? Morning or evening?¡±

    ¡°Evening hunt tomorrow, Fred¡¯s busy in the morning. We¡¯re going to meet up at the western gate a few hours before sunset, so you could come here in the afternoon and we could head there together?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Sounds like a plan. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow then, I¡¯m working for Ren officially now.¡± Zoe stood up.

    ¡°Oh? You finally got a real job?¡± Emma put on the most surprised expression she could muster.

    ¡°Yeah, kinda. I just pestered Ren to hire me though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So? What¡¯s he making with all that mana? A golem right? I bet it¡¯s a super big golem.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Can¡¯t say, sorry. Contract, and all that.¡± Zoe smiled smugly.

    ¡°Awww. Okay, at least haste me before you leave.¡± Emma hugged Zoe.

    Zoe obliged and cast haste on her friend. ¡°Fine. See you tomorrow afternoon then.¡±

    Emma hopped around as she played with her increased speed. ¡°See you tomorrow! This is gonna be so much fun!"

    Zoe smiled and made her way back to Ren¡¯s house while she wondered about what he¡¯d have her charging today. She hadn¡¯t finished the bits from yesterday so maybe she¡¯d just carry on from there?

 2-3. Okiu

    Zoe arrived at Ren¡¯s place and knocked on the door. Ren opened the door, let her in and then returned to his room.

    On the floor by the couch she had sat at were all of the pieces that Zoe was charging the previous day, exactly as she left them. Zoe sat down at the couch and continued charging the rest of the limbs. She had done five the previous day and there were four more, plus the black sphere. She wasn¡¯t sure how much mana the sphere would take, but planned to leave it for last.

    Chloe came in a few hours after Zoe and said hello. Zoe wondered if she could ever join them in what she was dubbing Ren¡¯s workshop. Get a little more hands on with the work, see what people actually did with enchantments when they knew what they were doing. It was something that she quite enjoyed and wanted to pursue more, but had no real idea of where to start.

    The library could teach her a lot if she spent some time there but Zoe suspected the main issue wasn¡¯t with understanding the process better. It was predominantly with acquiring the resources necessary to actually enchant things properly.

    Though, perhaps she would spend some time at the library doing some research anyway. Maybe she could learn about more complicated enchantments that utilized multiple skills of hers, if that was even a thing that could happen. The more she thought about it, the more confident she was that it could be done. But she still had no idea exactly what to do.

    Was it just the difference of materials that she was enchanting? Or was she missing something more fundamental. She wasn¡¯t sure, but getting some hands on experience with Ren and Chloe would help her a lot, and she asked Chloe if she would ever be able to join them in the workshop.

    Chloe just laughed and closed the door to the workshop behind her. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what that meant. Was a laugh good? Did that mean that Ren was talking about her coming over and helping out in the workshop? Did it mean that the idea of it was so preposterous that she couldn¡¯t help but laugh at it?

    Zoe supposed it didn¡¯t really matter, not much anyway. It would be nice if she could get some more experience with it, but she could research on her own too. She was immortal, she had plenty of time to figure out how to make an enchantment that stayed for more than a few days.

    She finished charging the rest of the limbs and then moved on to the orb. While she was charging the limbs, she had some sense of how full they were. The mana that she pushed into them compressed and filled the space, and Zoe could feel her progress as she went.

    But with the black sphere, as soon as she pushed her mana into it, the mana may as well have disappeared. She couldn¡¯t feel anything inside the sphere, no swirling energies, no pressure that pushed back as she probed around. Just an empty void of nothingness.

    Zoe tried to identify it, but that didn¡¯t show anything either. There was no way for her to tell how much progress she had made, or if she was even making any progress at all. She decided to just spend the three and a half hours it would take to pump thirty thousand mana into it and then call it good.

    By the end, she thought that the empty void felt a little less empty, but she wasn¡¯t sure if that was her mind playing tricks on her or if what she had done really had any effect. She grabbed the silver coins Ren had left on the table for her again and then made her way back to Joe¡¯s inn.

    It was early in the morning when she arrived, and she wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d wake up in time for her plans with Emma if she went to sleep. So instead she sat in the lobby and enchanted her coins. One thing she was very interested in but didn¡¯t feel ready for yet was enchanting things with her new skills.

    At least not until she had a good understanding of what they did and how they worked. Enchanting with the powerful skills she had without even understanding at least a little better what they were supposed to do felt like a bad idea.

    The sun began to rise and approach noon, so Zoe got up and made her way over to Emma¡¯s house.

    ¡°Hey! You¡¯re early!¡± Emma smiled at her when she opened the door.

    ¡°Yeah, well I figured you wouldn¡¯t be busy. Chill for a bit until it¡¯s time to go?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Heck yeah! I was just about to make lunch, you want some?¡± Emma walked inside and headed upstairs.

    Zoe followed her up to the kitchen. ¡°Sure.¡±

    Emma had a table and some comfortable wooden chairs with red cushions set up, and Zoe sat down at one of them. Oliver flopped on the floor next to Emma as she cooked.

    She had a big bowl of leafy greens that she tossed some croutons into and then juiced an ifosa over it all. She split up the salad into two bowls and gave one to Zoe.

    ¡°You like ifosa?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Love them!¡± Zoe said and dug into her salad.

    The salad had a slight kick to it from some peppery green that Emma was using. The croutons were crunchy and savoury, toasted with some flavourful fat that Emma must have had. And the ifosa juice gave it all a nice acidic backing that Zoe found quite pleasant. It wasn¡¯t the best salad dressing but it was simple and Zoe couldn¡¯t complain.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the plan for today anyway? West gate you said?¡± Zoe asked as she munched on the salad.

    ¡°Mhm. In a few hours, anyway. It¡¯s a bit of a walk so we¡¯ll leave in an hour?¡± Emma asked between bites.

    Zoe nodded her head.

    ¡°Okay. We¡¯re going for boars today. Last time we were out we saw a bunch of tracks a few hours away, so we want to get out there just before nightfall and see if we can¡¯t get a nice haul tonight.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Okay. I can definitely help out with that then, awesome.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah, your eyes will be a big help. Claudia has her glasses, but they¡¯re not super great. I don¡¯t even know how she sees with them if I¡¯m being honest.¡± Emma shook her head.

    ¡°Guess you get used to it after a while. They looked weird for me when I tried them too.¡± Zoe said.

    Claudia was one of Emma¡¯s hunting group, and she had thick black glasses that usually hung around her neck. They were supposed to make things brighter, but at least in Zoe¡¯s case they made it almost impossible to see, like she was staring at a blank white paper that might have shadows behind it if she really squinted.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    Claudia seemed to thrive with them though, and would point out things that nobody but Zoe would have been able to notice whenever they hunted at night.

    ¡°The snow should help too, it won¡¯t be too dark out there at least.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah. I just hope we can find this group and get back home so little ollie bollie doesn¡¯t have to stay alone for too long.¡± Emma reached down and pet Oliver¡¯s belly.

    Zoe and Emma sat for another hour as they ate their salad and cleaned up their dishes, and then left to meet the rest of the group at the western gate. Julie was already there, her short, spiked blue hair stood out among the crowd.

    Fred was next to show up. He was a taller fellow with short brown hair and a soft looking face. And then finally Claudia arrived. Thick black glasses hung from a cord around her neck, and her blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun.

    ¡°Alright, shall we get going then?¡± Fred asked the group.

    Everybody else nodded, and Fred led them through the gates and down the road. Where they were headed was a few hours journey as Emma had mentioned, so they set up some markers a ways down the main road that would help them get back to where they wanted to be.

    Zoe cast haste on the group, and they jogged down the road at quite a brisk pace. When they got to the end of the markers, Fred took a step back and gestured to Zoe.

    Zoe checked around them and saw a derth of untouched ground. Everywhere she looked were signs of boars. Footsteps, dug up ground, trees missing most of their bark and almost all of the snow trampled and crushed beneath the boars¡¯ heavy hooves. A whole pack of boars must have stopped by here to feed, for whatever reason.

    ¡°I can¡¯t count. Maybe thirty? Forty?¡± Zoe said.

    Fred nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a good number. Lets get as many as we can.¡±

    It took Zoe a while to get used to the hunting practices here. She didn¡¯t spend a lot of time hunting when she was back home, but she remembered there being regulations and rules about which animals could be hunted and how many of them per person.

    In Flester, there was none of that. You could just go hunting and bring back as many boars as you wanted. If you found thirty, and killed thirty, then you did an excellent job. It was that simple.

    Zoe had asked Emma about it at one point. She laughed and said she¡¯d never even heard of anything like that. If you found a boar, why wouldn¡¯t you hunt it? You got food and there was one less boar to go harass unsuspecting people.

    Maybe there just weren¡¯t enough people to drive the animals to extinction? But they had classes that helped them far exceed what normal people could do too so it would even out, Zoe thought. Just today they were going to try and get thirty boars if they could manage it, as a group of five.

    The rest of the group nodded their heads, and Zoe started leading the way down the tracks she could see. The tracks split off a few times as some of the boars wandered into the forest, but most of them returned and continued on the main path that Zoe could see. Thankfully, they were already heading upwind so they should have the upper hand.

    Zoe continued on until she noticed the smell of the boars drifting past her with each gust of wind. ¡°I smell them.¡±

    ¡°How far?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t smell distance. But they¡¯re close enough to be smelled now. Could just mean there¡¯re less trees in the way or maybe they¡¯re pretty close.¡±

    Claudia nodded and put on her glasses to inspect the ground. ¡°Tracks are too messy to date. Some of it looks like yesterday but some of it looks pretty fresh. Not sure, could have been a deer walking by earlier too.¡±

    ¡°Not deer,¡± Zoe said when she looked at the tracks. Her Vampyric Senses was only telling her boars. Even if the tracks were muddied, she was confident her skill would tell her nothing at all before it told her boars and no deer.

    ¡°Okay then a boar was here very recently. Look there.¡± Claudia pointed at some disrupted dirt that was still darkened with moisture and not covered in snow. ¡°Some boar came through here very recently. Couldn¡¯t have been more than twenty minutes with how wet it still looks.¡±

    Emma nodded and drew her bow. ¡°Be ready then, we could walking into an ambush.¡±

    The rest of the group nodded, and Zoe paused to listen around her. She couldn¡¯t hear any leaves rustling that didn¡¯t match the wind, no branches snapping or snow crunching. There were no snorts or huffing from nearby boars.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯re still super close. I can¡¯t hear anything, at least.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°We should at least get off the boar¡¯s path.¡± Julie suggested.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s wise. The snow is noisy, the beaten path from the boars is quiet. The snow¡¯s already packed in and we can approach much quieter this way.¡± Fred said.

    Zoe heard a faint rumbling that began to grow louder and louder and her eyes widened as she realized what it was. ¡°They¡¯re charging!¡± She shouted.

    ¡°How many?¡± Fred asked.

    ¡°Too many. Run or climb?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°How far away are they?¡± Julie asked.

    ¡°I can hear them now too. Climb.¡± Claudia said.

    Everybody jumped to the first sturdy tree they could find and climbed up off the ground. Minutes passed as the rumbling grew louder and louder. The rest of the group started hearing it too, the rumbling echoed through the forest and even shook the trees they were hiding in.

    A few more minutes passed and a stampede of boars blazed past them on the forest floor in a frenzied dash. Zoe¡¯s jaw dropped as she saw how much she underestimated the pack. There weren¡¯t a few dozen boars, there were a few hundred.

    The massive mounds of muscle rushed through the forest below them. Some of the smaller trees fell victim to the stampede and toppled over. Even the sturdier trees the group had climbed didn¡¯t come out unscathed. The boars smashed through them and shook the trees. Branches and leaves were broken off and fell. Large clumps of snow that were stuck in the canopy fell to the ground and sent snow flying all around them.

    The stampede passed and the chaos below them vanished into the distance. But the rumbling continued to grow louder and louder as something else approached them.

    ¡°Can you see anything?¡± Julie whispered from next to Zoe.

    Zoe tried to look into the distance but couldn¡¯t see very far. Darkness enveloped the forest and not even her superior eyes were able to pierce it. She shivered in fear and shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s too dark. It shouldn¡¯t be too dark. But it is.¡± Zoe said.

    The rumbling grew and the trees they were in began to bend. The tops snapped off and fell to the ground.

    ¡°Do we run?" Fred called out from another tree.

    ¡°Haste us and we book it. Now.¡± Emma hissed.

    Zoe nodded and hopped down to the ground. The rest of the group jumped down with her and Zoe looked towards where the rumbling was coming from and finally saw the source.

    A black goat walked through the forest, following the path of destruction the stampede left in its wake. With each step the goat took, reality itself quivered and shook. The ripples of its power were visible as the air twisted and warped. Trees shattered as the power washed over them. Splinters of wood rained down around them.

    Zoe gasped for breath and tried to identify the goat. She stared at it in shock as she saw something that shouldn¡¯t have been possible. Bright green question marks floated above it and burnt into her vision.

    [Corrupted Okiu - ??]

 2-4. Serenity

    The Okiu took another step down the beaten path the boars made, and the impact of the goat¡¯s hooves quaked the earth below Zoe¡¯s feet. The Corrupted Okiu¡¯s raw power washed over the group, and Zoe felt like she was standing in a wind tunnel.

    Oozing darkness dripped from the Okiu and spilled onto the forest floor. The darkness spread like it were reaching for everything it could touch but withered away moments after it hit the ground. All that was left were shadows that seemed just a little darker than they should have been.

    More darkness rocketed from the Okiu¡¯s form to splatter on trees. Tendrils of darkness reached out as it tried to consume everything, but it too withered away and left a shadowy splotch of darkness where it was.

    ¡°HASTE US NOW!¡± Fred shouted from next to her.

    Zoe looked back to the group she was with. Everybody had sweat beading on their brows, their faces were pale and stricken with fear. She cast haste on the group and dismissed the notification she got for it.

    ¡°GO!¡± Julie shouted and took off to the north, towards the road. The rest of the group followed close behind.

    Zoe took a glance behind her to see if the Okiu would pursue, but it didn¡¯t. It took another step towards where the boars went. Power ruptured from it and spewed through the forest. Darkness stretched from its form and tried to engulf the nearby trees.

    The Okiu took another step and staggered, its body rocked back and forth as it tried to regain its balance. The slight movement blasted wind through the forest. Trees quivered, some snapped and fell to the ground in a slam that echoed around her.

    Zoe thought to use her empathy for a moment and stopped running as soon as she did. Her empathy worked on it. She had never tried using it on an animal before, on anything other than another human for that matter. It was never something she needed. But it worked.

    The fear that her hunting group felt was all but drowned out by the Okiu¡¯s intense pain and sadness. She dug deeper with her empathy and felt a sense of dread, and loneliness. A longing feeling for something.

    The creature was dying, she felt that as clear as a bright summer¡¯s day. And it knew that, too. It knew it was dying, and it didn¡¯t want to die alone.

    ¡°COME ON! LETS GO!¡± Emma tugged on Zoe¡¯s arm. The rest of the group was still running deeper into the forest.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I think it¡¯s dying.¡±

    ¡°Good! We need to get far away and hope it does then!¡± Emma shouted at her.

    Zoe shook her head again. ¡°No, I think it¡¯s lonely. Maybe I¡¯m crazy, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s dangerous. At least not intentionally.¡±

    Emma gestured around at the forest that was being battered by the Okiu¡¯s oppressive power. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s intentional! It¡¯s dangerous! We need to go Zoe, now!"

    ¡°It¡¯s higher level than the highest level I¡¯ve ever even heard about. If it wanted us dead, we¡¯d be dead. Running wouldn¡¯t make a difference.¡± Zoe took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m going to try and help it.¡±

    Emma¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°You¡¯re WHAT?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Maybe I¡¯m insane but it¡¯s not angry or hungry, it¡¯s just sad. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m strong enough to kill it and put it out of its misery, but maybe I can help it feel less lonely at least.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma hugged her. ¡°Please come with me and leave? Please?¡±

    ¡°No I¡¯m staying. It¡¯s either going to kill us or it¡¯s not. I couldn¡¯t even outrun a light blue goat, let alone whatever the hell this colour is supposed to be.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma took a deep breath and sighed. ¡°Fine. Then I¡¯m staying too.¡±

    Zoe looked back at the Okiu. It had moved a bit during their conversation, but not as much as she would expect from something hunting stampeding boars or fleeing humans. It wobbled on its feet, and sent waves of wind through the trees.

    ¡°What¡¯s your plan then? Huh? How are you gonna comfort it? Just walk up and hug the damn thing?¡± Emma asked. Her mouth was shaking as she stared at the Okiu¡¯s staggered walk.

    It still wasn¡¯t coming to them. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure if it had even seen them. She wasn¡¯t sure how it wouldn¡¯t have, but it just kept plodding along the path the boars carved through the forest.

    ¡°Uh, I dunno, actually. I haven¡¯t gotten there yet. I think that getting close to it is bad though. I don¡¯t know what that darkness does, but getting hit by it seems bad. And the power that¡¯s spewing from it is probably not good either.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So what then? Send it good vibes from a distance?¡± Emma took a step back from the Okiu.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess. I¡¯ve never even tried to see how far the limit on my Frost skill is. Maybe I make an ice sculpture and send it over.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma took a deep breath. ¡°You¡¯re really going to do this then? We¡¯re so going to die. Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s evil, it¡¯s just¡­ too powerful. Is that a thing?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. How would I know. I didn¡¯t even know levels went that high.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Okay. So ice sculpture then.¡± Zoe said.

    She focused on her frost skill and tried to form a fist sized sculpture of a human and goat sitting down with a bit of distance between them. It ended up rather crude, but close enough to get the message across if it had any intelligence, she hoped.

    Then she turned her attention to her enchanting skill. She had never tried enchanting her frost either, but now that she thought about it, there was no reason it couldn¡¯t work. Her frost was a material just the same as any other. She could draw it back into herself and regain some of the mana. But if she didn¡¯t do that, then it just behaved like normal ice. It was cold, it melted, and it would eventually evaporate.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    She found that not only was she able to enchant it, doing so was extremely simple. The frost that she created was already saturated with her mana so all she had to do was twist it into the shape that she wanted. She imbued her sculpture with serenity through her Vampyric Empathy skill.

    ¡°Alright. All that¡¯s left is to see if I can get it all the way to the Okiu.¡± Zoe said.

    It was a little under a hundred meters away, and the furthest Zoe had ever even tried using her Frost skill was about two meters. She didn¡¯t feel any restriction with it, nothing told her she couldn¡¯t go farther. She just never had a reason to. She hoped it would reach the Okiu, and that the Okiu would understand.

    If it didn¡¯t, maybe she¡¯d die. But for some reason she just didn¡¯t feel that she would. It was so close to them before, and even now a measly hundred meters was a short dash for Zoe. Let alone the highest level creature she¡¯d ever seen, something so high level that she wasn¡¯t even sure if most people even knew it was possible.

    The Okiu took another step, and its leg gave out. The Okiu fell to the ground, and darkness spewed from the broken leg. It spread across the forest floor before it too withered away and left a shadowy splotch everywhere it could reach.

    Zoe tried to send her ice sculpture over, but her magic only reached about halfway across the hundred meter gap. She walked towards the Okiu as slow and carefully as she could while she crept the sculpture towards it.

    The Okiu turned and looked at her, its eyes pulsed with magical darkness that twisted and churned. It looked pitiful as it laid on the ground. Darkness spewed from it, reaching for anything that it could but never made it far before it withered away.

    She made it to the halfway point, and set her sculpture down in front of the Okiu. The edges of the darkness¡¯s tendrils were still well away from her, whatever magic held it together not enough to reach her at the distance she was.

    The Okiu looked at her sculpture, and Zoe felt a flash of comfort wash over it. She sat down in the snow and watched the Okiu. It shivered. Power ruptured from it and shook the nearby trees, but it was weakening. The power that Zoe felt now couldn¡¯t be compared to the overwhelming pressure she felt earlier.

    Emma stood a few feet behind Zoe, her anxiety and fear blasting Zoe¡¯s empathy. Zoe tried not to use it around friends, but it was hard to ignore the intense emotions Emma was feeling in the moment.

    Zoe watched as the Okiu rested its head on the ground. Darkness kept pulsating from its form. It stretched and warped as it reached for anything it could grab. Zoe¡¯s sculpture was consumed by it, and for a moment the darkness seemed to be invigorated and stretched on longer than it ever had before.

    The Okiu lifted its head when it noticed and Zoe felt its fear as it watched the darkness stretch towards her. But it didn¡¯t even reach halfway, and left a stretching shadow in the snow. Relief washed over the Okiu, and Zoe smiled.

    ¡°It was scared for us.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Scared? It¡¯s DOING this!¡± Emma shouted at her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, honestly. It¡¯s Corrupted, right?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah, and?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Maybe the corruption is its own thing and the Okiu isn¡¯t the real cause of any of this.¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Why are we doing this Zoe? We should leave.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe shook her head again. ¡°Surely you can see it now too. It¡¯s dying, and it doesn¡¯t want to be alone.¡±

    ¡°Okay then we let it die while we¡¯re getting somewhere safe then. What happens when it dies and the corruption loses its host if your theory is right?" Emma asked.

    Zoe looked to the Okiu and watched it take deep, ragged breaths. Darkness flooded from its mouth as it exhaled and covered the forest floor around it in a deep shadow.

    ¡°Even when it, I dunno, ate my mana? It still only reached halfway before it withered away. And it¡¯s not super quick, even if it could reach over here we could run. Maybe we can¡¯t outrun it but we¡¯ve got a headstart, we¡¯ll be okay I think.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°This is stupid, you know that, right?¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Zoe agreed.

    ¡°Then why are you doing it?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I know what it¡¯s going through, I guess. I think. I mean, if something like this lived around here then we would have heard about it right?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Right. Probably.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°So it¡¯s not from around here. Where did it come from?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Does that matter?¡± Emma said.

    The Okiu¡¯s breathing began to slow, and the ripples of power grew less intense. From the distance Zoe and Emma were, it felt like a gentle breeze that blew their hair around. The tendrils of darkness stretched for the trees nearby but struggled to reach them. Long streaks of shadows were left in the snow and trodden earth around the Okiu.

    ¡°It does matter. I think that it¡¯s from very far away and ended up here through some freak accident.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Like what happened to you?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Maybe. I can¡¯t think of another explanation. If it came here on its own power, it wouldn¡¯t be dying like this. Probably. I know that when I showed up, I would have appreciated something helping me out. Anything, really. Just something there to tell me that it¡¯s okay, that I¡¯m seen and understood.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And you think it understands you?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°It felt comfortable when it saw my sculpture. It was afraid when the corruption ate it and rushed at us, and it felt relieved when the corruption didn¡¯t make it. I think it¡¯s intelligent. It knows we¡¯re here to give it company.¡±

    She watched the Okiu. Its eyes had closed. Darkness continued spewing from its form but even that was pitiful at this point. All it could manage were some short tendrils of darkness that reached out a few inches from the Okiu¡¯s body. The power that radiated from the Okiu was almost completely gone, just a faint reminder of what once was as a few of the low hanging leaves were stirred by the soft waves of power.

    Zoe watched as its body raised and fell with each breath. The periods between growing longer and longer. She felt tears dripping down her cheeks and wiped them away. Her Vampyric Empathy showed its emotions twist and then settle on appreciation and contentedness. And then the emotions cut off.

    As soon as they did, the remnants of the darkness erupted from the Okiu¡¯s form and splattered on the nearby trees. It stretched and reached for anything it could find, and then the forest was overcome with silence as the last remains of the creature withered away. Zoe got a notification but dismissed it. She could check it later when she was more in the mood.

    ¡°It appreciated us.¡± Zoe said and wiped away the tears that fell down her face. ¡°That¡¯s the last thing I felt from it. Appreciation. I¡¯m really glad I stayed behind for it.¡±

    Emma sighed. ¡°You did a good thing, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°I hope so.¡± Zoe stood up. ¡°Lets get back to town. I want to sleep.¡±

    Emma nodded her head.

    Zoe cast haste on the two of them, and they jogged back to the main road and then towards town. They didn¡¯t talk on the way back, both of them just jogged in silence as they reflected on the experience they had.

    It was incredible, Zoe thought. Such a pure and primal experience. Just Zoe, Emma, and the effective incarnation of fear itself. Though more than fear, she felt pity for it. She wished that she could have met it in some other circumstance. Maybe they could have grown to have some kind of mutual respect, maybe she could have watched it in its beautiful glory rather than just witnessed its brief demise.

 2-5. Fields of Flowers

    Zoe and Emma arrived at the gates right around sunrise, and saw a crowd that was forming just outside of them. At the front was Rolf who was speaking to a man next to him about the Okiu. Zoe walked up to him.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Zoe asked.

    Rofl turned around and looked at her. ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°The Okiu is dead, now.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what?¡± Rolf asked.

    ¡°Yeah, it died. There¡¯s still a bunch of the corruption out there though, but I think even that¡¯s probably mostly dead?¡± Zoe said.

    Rolf rubbed his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s good, then. That¡¯s good. How did it die?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure. It was injured when we first encountered it so it might have bled out or something, maybe?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Did you at any point confront the creature?¡± Rolf said.

    ¡°I guess. I sat down with it and comforted it as it passed. It was lonely.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay. The creature seemed intelligent, then?" Rolf asked, and gestured to the man he was speaking to.

    The man disappeared.

    ¡°Yeah, I think it was.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And where did it come from?¡± Rolf asked.

    ¡°From the west.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Rolf thought to himself for a moment. ¡°What abilities did the creature display?¡±

    Emma spoke up to answer. ¡°It spewed this weird gloopy darkness that stuck on everything.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and the sheer power of it at first was unbearable to stand near too. But I don¡¯t think it really did anything, it just existed.¡± Zoe said.

    The man who vanished earlier reappeared next to Rolf. ¡°I can confirm the creature is gone. There¡¯s a large chunk of the forest missing and a shadow appears to be cast over it.¡±

    ¡°Is that the corruption you mentioned?" Rolf asked.

    Zoe nodded her head.

    ¡°Okay, thank you for the information.¡± Rolf said to Zoe and Emma, and then turned back to the man next to him. ¡°How close were you able to get to the corruption?"

    ¡°It didn¡¯t seem dangerous, but I didn¡¯t touch it.¡± The man answered.

    Zoe and Emma left them to handle the rest of the situation. Whatever was going on with the corruption was far outside their pay-grade.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry you didn¡¯t get any practice with your new skills today.¡± Emma said to Zoe as they walked back into town.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not your fault. And actually, I got a notification earlier when the Okiu died. Did you get anything?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma shook her head, and Zoe pulled up the notification that she dismissed earlier.

    *Ding* For being blessed by an Okiu, you have been awarded the [Okiu¡¯s Blessing] feat.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a new feat.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What¡¯s it do?" Emma asked.

    [Okiu¡¯s Blessing]

    You have befriended an Okiu and it has chosen to reward your trust with its might.

    ¡°It¡¯s Okiu¡¯s Blessing. I¡¯ve been rewarded with its might, whatever that means.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    ¡°Do you feel any different?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe took a moment to focus on herself, on her movements and her magical power. But nothing seemed out of place or unusual. She checked her stat window and nothing stood out to her there either. She wasn¡¯t sure what the Okiu¡¯s might really meant, but it wasn¡¯t an obvious effect if it made any difference at all.

    ¡°No, I seem normal.¡± Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°Hmm. Well a new feat¡¯s probably not bad.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Zoe hummed.

    ¡°Are you okay? That was terrifying.¡± Emma asked Zoe.

    ¡°Yeah. I think so. Are you?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded her head. ¡°I think so. It really was just a dying animal, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It was kind of sad, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Kind of, towards the end. I¡¯m going to head home for the day, check on Oliver. Did you wanna come over? Maybe cook some dinner for us?" Emma asked.

    ¡°No, I think I¡¯m gonna go talk to Joe for a bit and then maybe go over to Ren¡¯s place for work. This made me realize that I really want to go explore the world. There¡¯s so much to see, so many things to do, y¡¯know?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s a lot out there. Mum would always talk about her stories when she travelled but they always seemed so far away. Maybe I¡¯ll come along with you one day.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well, you could come along when I go to climb Moaning Point if you want?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Maybe. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do about Oliver though. Can¡¯t just leave him at home for that long.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Right, that makes sense. Well I¡¯ll share lots of stories with you whenever I¡¯m in town then.¡± Zoe smiled at her.

    ¡°That¡¯d be nice.¡± Emma hugged Zoe. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m gonna head home. Say hi to Joe for me.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, see you around then.¡± Zoe said and watched Emma jog down the street towards her home.

    Zoe kept walking towards Joe¡¯s inn and found him slaving away in the kitchen.

    ¡°Hey Joe,¡± She said.

    ¡°Oh, hey Zoe. How¡¯s it going?¡± He put down the spoon he was using to stir the pot of stew that bubbled away on the stove.

    ¡°Pretty good. I went out hunting with Emma and we ran into something. Did you know that there¡¯s another level past bright red?¡± Zoe said.

    Joe shook his head in surprise. ¡°No? Bright red¡¯s the highest, I thought.¡±

    ¡°Yeah apparently there¡¯s bright green.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And how did you discover this?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°We found a high level Okiu while we were hunting. It¡¯s a whole thing, you¡¯ll probably hear about it soon I imagine.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Are you okay? What¡¯s an Okiu?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah I¡¯m fine. Emma is too. She says hi, by the way. It¡¯s like a black goat thing? Or maybe the black was just the corruption, now that I think about it. It¡¯s just a weird goat thing, I guess.¡± Zoe leaned against the door frame.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°Corruption? Zoe, what the hell happened?¡± Joe hissed.

    ¡°Well like I said we found an Okiu. Well, a Corrupted Okiu. It spewed darkness everywhere, but it was injured, or dying at least and I helped it go comfortably. I hope.¡± Zoe answered.

    Joe shook his head and rubbed his eyes. ¡°Okay, I don¡¯t even know where to start.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Start nowhere. I¡¯m fine, the town¡¯s fine. Everybody¡¯s fine. The forest is corrupted or something though. Maybe that ends up being a problem but I think it¡¯s pacified too at least without a good enough host. I just wanted to come say hi and tell you I¡¯m fine. I know you worry.¡±

    Joe sighed. ¡°Well thanks for that then. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re safe.¡±

    ¡°Me too. It was a good experience I think. Anyway I wanna go get to work at Ren¡¯s so I¡¯ll see you around Joe!¡± Zoe said.

    Joe stammered for a moment and then sighed. ¡°Alright. See you later Zoe, stay safe out there.¡±

    ¡°Will do Joe. You too!" Zoe said and left.

    She knocked on Ren¡¯s door and he let her in. Zoe went over to the couch that she sat at and saw all the limbs were gone, only the black sphere remained. Before Ren locked himself in his workshop, she grabbed his attention.

    ¡°Hey Ren, do you mind questions?¡± Zoe asked.

    Ren stopped and looked back at her. ¡°That depends on the question.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re an enchanter, right? Of some kind, at least?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I thought that was fairly obvious from our interactions, but yes, I am.¡± Ren answered.

    ¡°Yeah. Okay. I got the enchanting skill a while back and I really like it, but I¡¯ve been kinda stuck. I feel like you should be able to enchant multiple skills into an object, but every time I try to do that I just break the item when I¡¯m trying to form the second skill.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And the question?¡± Ren asked.

    ¡°Is it possible to enchant multiple skills into one thing?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Ren answered.

    ¡°How?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°How have you tried, so far?" Ren asked.

    ¡°Well I tried enchanting sticks and even some copper coins with the enchanting skill, and then tried to repeat the process with the meditation skill. But whenever I try to form the meditation skill it fails horribly.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°It¡¯s one step.¡± Ren said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°The two skills. Do them at the same time, not separately.¡± Ren said.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Zoe said. She had never tried to do both at the same time, but it made so much more sense than oversaturating a stick with her mana.

    ¡°Is that all?¡± Ren asked her.

    ¡°How do I tell how full this sphere is?¡± Zoe grabbed the black sphere she¡¯d be charging for the day.

    ¡°Keep track of how much you¡¯ve spent.¡± Ren said.

    ¡°That¡¯s it? There¡¯s no cool magic tool that tells me or some skill I could get?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Not that you can use, no.¡± Ren said.

    ¡°So there IS a cool magic tool!¡± Zoe said.

    Ren sighed. ¡°Will that be all?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s all. Thanks.¡± Zoe nodded.

    Ren went into his workshop and closed the door while Zoe started dumping her mana into the black sphere. She was sure now that she could feel something inside the orb but it was so much more vast than anything she¡¯d ever experienced. It felt like a few drops of water at the bottom of a dried out ocean.

    The hours passed as she fell into her meditative trance, something she really ended up enjoying for herself. She never would have thought she would, back on earth. But there was something so satisfying for her about feeling all the energies around her and through her. Time flew by as she felt the energies swirl within her and vanish into the vast emptiness that she held in her hands.

    Chloe showed up around lunchtime and gave Zoe some savoury bread that she picked up at her favourite bakery.

    ¡°How much do you do every day anyway?¡± Chloe asked her.

    ¡°One fifty.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s gonna take you a while to finish that then.¡± Chloe laughed.

    ¡°How much mana does it need anyway? I must have put in almost seventy thousand at this point and it still feels so empty.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Not sure exactly. Even when Ren made me fill them it took a few days and I can do a lot more than that.¡± Chloe said.

    ¡°How fast does your mana regenerate anyway?" Zoe asked.

    Chloe smiled. ¡°It¡¯s a secret!¡±

    ¡°Fine, whatever.¡± Zoe rolled her eyes.

    Chloe laughed. ¡°Just imagine getting another seventy levels and another couple classes. It makes a really big difference even if you don¡¯t spend forever getting the best classes possible.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Hey, do you have an enchanting class?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Why do you ask?¡± Chloe asked back.

    ¡°Well I¡¯ve been wondering about enchanting classes a bit. Are they worth it? I really like enchanting but I feel like I can just enchant stuff without the class anyway.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It depends on a number of things, really. If enchanting is what you wanna do then they¡¯re definitely worth it. Just think about what your class does for whatever it¡¯s for and how hard it would be to replicate that without your class bonuses and skills.¡± Chloe answered.

    Zoe thought about her Frozen Arsenal, and what it would be like making that work with just her Frost skill. Even with all of the bonuses that her class gave, she wasn¡¯t sure that she would be able to make a functional bow out of it.

    ¡°I see. So what kinds of things does an enchanting class do then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well there¡¯s a lot of different specializations. The baseline is usually mana capacity and regeneration though. I¡¯ve seen a few that make enchantments last longer, some that make it easier to apply enchantments. It¡¯s varied.¡± Chloe explained.

    ¡°Right. Okay, cool. Thanks.¡± Zoe said.

    Chloe smiled at her. ¡°No problem.¡± She left Zoe to her mana charging and went to Ren¡¯s workshop to help out with whatever they were workign on.

    Zoe kept charging the black sphere and thought about her goals. She thought that if she encountered the Okiu a few years earlier, it might have been too much for her. But at this point it just excited her. There was such a vast world ¡ª or maybe even worlds, just waiting out there for her to explore. Cultures and societies for her to discover and learn about.

    Maybe even ancient civilizations to uncover, full of history and knowledge lost to time.

    Flester was a great place to be, and she loved it. She did. But that well of excitement that she had for Moaning Point just kept growing. She couldn¡¯t wait to get there and see what it was all about. It was supposed to be an undead dungeon, but what did that mean. Zombies groaning and stumbling around? Ancient liches raining magic down on the masses?

    It was adventure, real adventure. And it called to her. She daydreamed for a while as she charged the black sphere. She saw herself travelling through the forests, plowing through the snow and diving into the frozen lakes. Climbing mountains and witnessing the breathtaking scenery from their peaks.

    She saw herself climbing sand dunes in a vast desert, surrounded by a deep burgundy sand as far as she could see, and then stumbling into a bright cave filled with lush greenery.

    Zoe had no idea what the world had to offer, but that was the beauty of it. She would be able to discover it. Maybe there would be more insane creatures that just wanted company, maybe she would have to fight for her life as she fled from a horde of boars. Maybe she¡¯d find incredible views, majestic trees and sprawling fields filled with beautiful flowers.

    It all excited her, and she wished she could get past her preparations sooner. Once she was out she could make money as she went. Maybe she could practice her enchanting some more and come back to sell off some of her creations whenever she needed funds. Maybe she would find riches in some dungeon and be set for life.

    Ren shook her out of her trance and she looked up at him. ¡°I think you¡¯re done for the day,¡± He said.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Zoe shook herself off. She had laid down on the couch at some point, and clutched the black orb to her chest as she flooded it with mana. It seemed noticeably more full, maybe five percent of the way. Though she had no idea how much mana that ended up being since she lost track of time.

    ¡°Payment¡¯s on the table.¡± Ren said and went up the stairs that Zoe was still not totally sure really existed.

    Zoe stood up and grabbed her twenty five silver and left. She started toward Kaira park to visit the library and see what she could learn about the dungeon.

 2-6. Lodestone

    Zoe fell into a comfortable routine for the following few weeks. She¡¯d spend most of her time at Ren¡¯s place charging up the black sphere and then the rest of the day she¡¯d spend at the Kaira park library researching everything she needed to know about Moaning Point. The black sphere had almost been filled and she had nearly met her fourteen gold goal at that.

    She had a lot of fun researching the dungeon she planned to visit. She started by first researching dungeons in general, what kinds of things can they do? What should she imagine when people mention a dungeon?

    There were a bunch of different categories of dungeons, but broadly it seemed people grouped them into four different types. There were the more typical dungeons that Zoe thought about called ruins. These were often ancient civilizations that fell and their kingdoms or cities had been taken over. But sometimes they would be a forest that had burnt or a desert oasis that had dried up.

    The main defining point of these dungeons was that they were literal ruins of something that used to be, and were now overtaken by nature. Whether plants, wildlife or creatures. Often, these weren¡¯t even true dungeons full of anomalous mana, they were just places people tended to explore. But even when they did, it never seemed like the mana had a goal of some sort like with the other types. Mana would just warp as it settled in, and the ruins would be reinforced through some means. Often monsters but sometimes traps or dangerous plantlife.

    The second type of dungeon was like the dungeon spring west of Flester, and they were referred to as productive dungeons. These dungeons did something helpful, there was little or often even no risk associated with them. They were just areas that the mana warped into helpful creations. Relaxing springs, defended cities and even inns that wandered the lands.

    Next were the challenge dungeons. Your class and level would be restricted on entry to some arbitrary point when you entered. All of your class bonuses and skills would be limited to whatever cap the dungeon had, and in exchange you would be rewarded with treasure and even experience. Though from what Zoe had read it didn¡¯t seem like people often chose to clear them anyway. Just running a higher level ruin without restrictions ended up being both safer and more productive.

    And finally was what Moaning Point fell into, a lodestone dungeon. They tended to have a scale of difficulty as you progressed deeper into them. In the case of Moaning Point, the dungeon would grow more difficult as Zoe ascended the mountain. People often used them to level their classes in a relatively controlled environment. You didn¡¯t have to learn a whole new dungeon, new types of monsters. You could just climb and keep learning new things bit by bit.

    Moaning Point was one of the higher level dungeons in the area. At the base of the mountain, most of the creatures Zoe would run into would be around level fifteen. But when she got near the peak she¡¯d be seeing well above level one hundred, even reaching up to one fifty at times.

    The creatures that made it up were, as Zoe had expected, primarily zombies. Meandering clumps of flesh that assaulted those who tried to climb the mountain. At the lower areas of the dungeon, they were weak but rather sturdy. As Zoe would climb, she¡¯d find faster and stronger zombies. Even ones who were capable of magic.

    At the base of the mountain was a small shanty town called Gafoda. Almost anything you could need to climb the mountain could be found there, though there was quite a markup on the convenience. Merchants from Flester often took advantage of the impatience of the climbers to bring over food and supplies to sell at a premium.

    There was an abundance of inns in Gafoda where people could stay when they weren¡¯t up the mountain and the rooms were quite affordable, though the food was apparently not so affordable from what Zoe was reading.

    The trip to Moaning Point was quite safe, the road was very well travelled by both climbers and merchants looking to bring their wares to peddle. Most of the animals stayed well away from the roads. The main problem were bandits looking to prey on the wealthier looking merchants, but they tended to avoid the individuals or smaller groups of travellers.

    Zoe made a note to not join a large caravan as she had originally been thinking. If she hasted herself and ran it wouldn¡¯t take that long to get there with her lack of sleep so maybe it was for the best anyway.

    With every new book she checked, her excitement for the journey grew. It seemed so doable, so approachable. She could make it to the dungeon, would have a place to rest at while she was there and have fun exploring what a mana anomaly really meant.

    And for that matter, as she read about dungeons she began to maybe understand Eliza¡¯s perspective on the system being created by somebody. It just seemed so convenient, so efficient. Would random chance really create a system like this? Would it be so organized if it were just happenstance? Zoe didn¡¯t think so.

    She checked out some books on the topic and it seemed to be something that many people far smarter than Zoe debated at length. Many thought that the system was created to advance society by some higher power. Others thought that the system was mana itself and it had a consciousness of its own. That it would read our thoughts and desires and try to form a world that fit them as best it could.

    And many others thought that it was just the way things were, that there wasn¡¯t some big conspiracy or explanation for it. That the system existed and dungeons worked the way they did because that¡¯s just how it worked out. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure which perspective had more backing, but she found herself leaning towards it being artificial in some way.

    The next step on her journey was another exciting one. She had thirteen and a half gold sitting in her bag. Enough to last for quite some time with as much comfort as she wanted, and it was time for her first big purchase. A storage item ¡ª and a good one too.

    Zoe wanted at least four bags and a convenient form factor. Not a literal bag that she¡¯d have to lug around, not something that grew heavier as it was filled. Something simple and convenient for her to use. A bracelet, a ring. Necklace, maybe.

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    She had asked around a little bit and was recommended a store called A Warehouse In Your Pocket on Ohubi road. It was a newer building in the north eastern section of town where the elemental had attacked.

    The building was quite small, just a glass cube with a table in the center of it and a few chairs set around it. Zoe could see a faint outline beneath the table that she suspected was a trapdoor of sorts. Sitting at the chair opposite the entrance was a scraggly man with white hair.

    Zoe walked in and the man said hello while he gestured for her to sit down. She did.

    ¡°How can I help you today?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°I want a storage item and I heard you sold them?¡± Zoe asked.

    The man nodded. ¡°I do! What are you looking for? Anything specific?¡±

    ¡°Yeah I guess I want four bag capacity and a convenient form factor. Like a bracelet or necklace, maybe.¡± Zoe answered.

    The man smiled and summoned an assortment of jewellery to the table. He pointed at some of them and explained the differences. ¡°A basic four bag bracelet will run you a gold circle. These ones,¡± he waved his hand over a section on the table. ¡°Have thermal control and will run you an additional gold coin.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the thermal control do?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°It allows you to control the temperature that items placed inside it are maintained at. Each segment can be controlled independently, so you could have two hot bags and two cold bags, or all hot or all cold.¡± He explained.

    ¡°And it¡¯s one gold extra?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am,¡± He answered.

    ¡°So the other ones just keep it at whatever temperature it was when I put something in, or what?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Things tend to equalize in temperature when left in a storage item long enough, if its full enough.¡± The man explained.

    Zoe thought about it for a moment. She wasn¡¯t actually sure if storage items kept food fresh forever or if people were just more okay with eating bad food here.

    ¡°Do the rings prevent food from rotting¡± She asked.

    ¡°They slow the effects of rot, and if you keep them in a colder environment then it slows even more. A great reason to invest in one of these more premium storage items.¡± He gestured at some of the jewellery.

    What was Zoe really going to be storing in her storage item? She of course had clothes, supplies for camping and climbing. Random bits that she wanted to hold on to ¡ª both of her books, maybe some alchemy and enchanting supplies.

    Was food really a priority for her, she wondered? Yes, she decided. It was. She wouldn¡¯t have much trouble in Flester acquiring food, or even at this point in the forests around Flester as long as no more Okiu showed up.

    But she wasn¡¯t going to be in Flester, she was going to be climbing a mountain full of undead creatures that she didn¡¯t think she could eat. And food was sold at a premium there, she had no doubt that the countless other capable mountain climbers would be hunting for their own food and driving the wildlife away from Moaning Point. If the dungeon itself hadn¡¯t already done that.

    Which, now that she thought about it, was probably why food was sold at such a premium in Gafoda. There just wasn¡¯t going to be much available for her there. If she could store a few weeks of food in her ring and know it would last for that long, she would be able to feel a lot more comfortable spending time away from a stable source of affordable food.

    The slowing effect that all storage items had on rot was good, but a single gold coin just wasn¡¯t that much. That was four extra days of sticking with Ren to help him enchant his weird golem or whatever his next project would be. That¡¯s not a bad cost for knowing she¡¯d have food.

    She looked through the selection of thermal controlled storage items and found a bracelet carved out of some purple stone. Flecks of blue and green shone as the light reflected off the bracelet.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take this one then. Eleven gold, right?¡± She pulled out a few gold coins and placed them on the table.

    The man nodded and brought the rest of the storage items back into whatever he was using, as well as the gold coins Zoe had given him. ¡°Yes, thank you very much for doing business!"

    ¡°Yeah, thank you too.¡± Zoe said and left.

    There were only a few more things left for her to do now before she could start on her journey to the dungeon. She needed a little more money to buy some more supplies and have a comfortable fallback plan, and some practice with her new skills.

    But for today, she decided she already got enough done and made her way back to Kaira park. She had learned how to enchant multiple skills into an object a while ago from Ren and just never had the chance to try it out. She wanted to try and get meditation and enchanting into a coin and see what happened.

    Zoe pulled all of the belongings she had on her into her new bracelet and then made her way to her favourite bench to sit down. She summoned a copper coin to her hand and started flooding it with mana.

    When it was full she turned her attention inwards to try and find both her enchanting and meditation skills. It was simple when she only wanted to find one, but trying to get both of them at the same time was entirely new to her. It felt like trying to split her vision between left and right to read two different books at the same time.

    At first, almost impossible. And as she kept trying, she realized it might be a bit easier than trying to read two books at the same time, although she never tried doing that either. As she kept poking and prodding around at whatever it was that made up her self, she managed to find both of her skills. Though they flickered in and out of focus as she saw one and the other.

    Like looking at a spot the difference challenge cross eyed so the pictures overlapped and the differences stood out. She tried to focus on them a little more, trying to get them to feel more stable so she could build up an image of both of them together to push into her coin.

    After a few minutes she was able to see both of her skills clearly. She focused on the image of them and started to push the entire thing into her coin at once. It felt natural, like doing any other skill she¡¯d tried before and moments later she was done.

    Zoe looked at the coin she¡¯d enchanted and focused on the energies swirling around it. She felt around inside the coin at the solidified mana she¡¯d enchanted it with and bits of the enchantment crumbled as it wore off. Energy gently swirled around the coin and rushed in to fill out the bits of the enchantment that broke off.

    A constant cycle of destruction and restoration. The coin was stable, it sustained itself. It didn¡¯t do anything, but Zoe felt proud of herself regardless. Next would be trying to fit in a useful skill as well, maybe a coin that never stopped feeling a little too cold, or a toy for Oliver that would last longer than a few minutes.

    She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d be able to manage that yet, though. Just getting the two skills in was a long and arduous process for her. Fitting a third in as well might as well be impossible, but at the very least she might be able to manage enchantments that could be manually recharged. And that excited her.

 2-7. Restoration

    Zoe spent a few more days at Ren¡¯s and finished charging up the black sphere. He brought out some more strange looking components for her to charge afterwards. These ones looked more like knick knacks rather than pieces of something larger.

    There was a small golf ball covered in holes, a few knives of varying shapes and sizes, and a handful of small screwdriver looking things. Some of them had normal looking heads that she recognized, and others were quite strange to look at.

    It was only another week of helping out before she had all the money that she wanted. Zoe smiled as she focused on her bracelet and saw she had four gold, thirteen silver and eighteen copper jingling around.

    The bracelet was a life changer for her. It wasn¡¯t a big deal having most of her stuff at Joe¡¯s inn most of the time, but the freedom to just bring out one of her books and browse through it whenever she wanted or change her clothes while she was out was such a massive convenience. Not to mention no longer needing to worry about where she would store stuff that she purchased while she wandered around.

    Her current setup for the segments were two cold bags, a warm bag and then one unmanaged bag. The cold storage seemed close to a fridge, maybe around two degrees celsius? And the warm bag was a far cry from hot but it kept whatever food she purchased at a comfortable temperature at least.

    Zoe had taken to storing a bunch of sandwiches in one of her cold bags and bought a whole bunch of them not long after she got the bracelet. They lasted quite a while with the natural slowing effect of the rot paired with the cold storage, and she was able to move them over to the warm storage with a flick of her mana a few minutes before she wanted to eat.

    She was blown away by how convenient it was. It wasn¡¯t a perfect solution, by any means. But it was a heck of a lot better than having to lug around a big heavy bag everywhere she went. One day, she¡¯d like to maybe figure out how to make her own. Would they require specific skills? Did somebody just have a storage skill they enchanted stuff with? Or would it require a custom image?

    On that note, Zoe had taken to trying to enchant things without the guidance of a skill¡¯s image. It had been successful, to an extent. The items did end up being enchanted, but at least thus far she wasn¡¯t able to make them have any effect.

    She tried to modify her Frost¡¯s image ¡ª chopping off bits or adding in bits while she solidified the mana. But the most she could manage to do was control how cold something got. She had a suspicion that if she really spent some time looking through the skills or maybe doing some proper research with an established enchanter, she might be able to figure out some logic behind the images she used.

    But if she were being honest, she just wanted to get out of Flester at this point. It had been years of wandering around the same town and she was finally able to leave. She could play around with enchanting anywhere, but Moaning Point wasn¡¯t going to come to her.

    Zoe made plans with Emma to go back out to the forest and mess around with her new skills a bit. It wasn¡¯t a big hunting excursion like the last one, but she¡¯d get a chance to really see what she could do finally and she was excited.

    She stopped by Emma¡¯s tower and said hello to Oliver as they left, and then made their way out the northern gate of town. They didn¡¯t really have plans to hunt anything, Zoe just wanted to test her skills and see what they really did.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the limit of Frozen Arsenal anyway? Can you make armour too?¡± Emma asked her.

    Zoe focused on her skill and a thin sheet of translucent blue ice formed around her body. It didn¡¯t restrict her movement, but there was a muffled creaking as she twisted around to look at herself and the ice strained.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s so cool. Can I punch you? Lemme punch you!¡± Emma jumped back and forth on her feet.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. She didn¡¯t really want to be punched, but it was better to learn how effective it was here than when she were fighting something that actually wanted to hurt her.

    ¡°Sure, lets do it.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma laughed and started punching Zoe¡¯s chest. At first she started with weak punches and the ice seemed to hold. Zoe felt the blunt impacts but her health didn¡¯t drop and she didn¡¯t feel any pain from them.

    Emma kept hitting harder and harder, and besides the impacts seeming a little more intense Zoe didn¡¯t notice a difference. Until one time Emma¡¯s fist smashed through the ice and into Zoe¡¯s chest behind it.

    Zoe gasped and bent over, gripping her knees as she tried to regain her breath. It didn¡¯t hurt, but it felt like her very essence was ripped out from her by the impact. She checked her vitals.

    Health: 500/500

    Stamina: 250/250

    Mana: 377/750

    ¡°Oh my god are you okay!?¡± Emma shouted and kneeled down in front of Zoe.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ Yeah, I¡¯m okay.¡± Zoe took deep breaths and looked at Emma. ¡°Just took a massive chunk of mana. Didn¡¯t lose any health though.¡±

    ¡°Oh my god that scared me, I thought I hurt you.¡± Emma fell back on her butt and spread out on the ground.

    Zoe laughed, ¡°Yeah me too for a moment. Wow. Okay, so don¡¯t let the armour break I guess.¡±

    ¡°Mhm. Not very useful armour then, huh?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Well it held up for a bit. Actually, I wonder if it was from the accumulated damage or from the big hit at the end. Gimme a few minutes to regenerate my mana and we¡¯ll try again if you¡¯re up for it?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mhm. You¡¯re sure you¡¯re okay though? I don¡¯t wanna hurt you.¡± Emma said from the ground.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. This is helping, thanks a bunch.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay then. I¡¯m still gonna worry though.¡± Emma pouted.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°You¡¯re the one who wanted to punch me!"

    ¡°That was before you keeled over in pain!¡± Emma said.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t pain it was¡­ something else, I dunno. I¡¯m fine though.¡± Zoe checked her mana again.

    Mana: 643/750

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m good. Lets try again. Just give me one big hit like that last one that broke my armour, alright?" Zoe said.

    Emma stood up and nodded. ¡°You sure?¡±

    Zoe nodded, and Emma almost perfectly matched the power of her previous punch. The armour held.

    ¡°Okay, again.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma punched her again. ¡°Okay, that''s pretty good then. Do you think it¡¯s like, a number of hits? Or an amount of damage absorbed?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I dunno. Hit me a few more times like that and lets find out I guess.¡± Zoe said.

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    Emma nodded and started hitting Zoe with similar powered punches. It only took a few more before the armour shattered and Zoe found herself keeled over once more.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Zoe said between breaths. ¡°It¡¯s definitely not just a number of hits. Good to know.¡±

    ¡°What next then?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I wanna try restoration.¡± Zoe led Emma over to a bush of Klir leaves and picked off a few. ¡°I¡¯m just gonna eat some of this and then heal myself, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Is that poisonous? You sure you should eat it? We could go get a proper poison made instead and it¡¯d be way safer. Or try with some people who are sparring or something?" Emma looked at the klir leaf with suspicion.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve eaten plenty of these.¡± Zoe swallowed some of the klir and dismissed the notification telling her she was poisoned and ate a few more as she watched her health drop.

    Health:  354/500

    ¡°Lemme get a baseline first and then I¡¯ll try healing.¡± Zoe said and started counting the seconds. And then minutes.

    From her very rough counting, it seemed she was getting one health restored every two minutes. Pitiful, even with her Vampyric Regeneration and Seasoned Frost bonuses, if she was being honest. It did enough to get her by but it made almost no difference if she was actually losing health from something.

    Zoe checked her mana before she started with her healing skill.

    Mana: 563/750

    She focused on her Restoration skill to undo the damage the poison had caused. She felt the effect immediately, a cold energy that ran through her stomach and throat. Her health started to climb far faster and she watched as it all filled up after just about a minute. Zoe checked her mana to see how much it had cost.

    Mana: 388/750

    One hundred seventy five mana to restore just under one hundred fifty health. For Zoe, this seemed like an excellent trade. If she could transform mana into health even at a worse ratio she¡¯d take it. Mana just recovered that much faster than health did, at least for her.

    Maybe there was a similar skill to Meditation but for health? Maybe even for stamina, now that she thought about it. It was strange in the first place that mana had a separate stat that affected its regeneration while the other two pools only had one related stat.

    Or did the other stats actually have an impact on them too? Nobody told her such, and throughout her limited research she never seemed to find anything that would imply as much. But it still seemed strange to her.

    ¡°So? How good is it?" Emma poked at her.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. It¡¯s really good actually. Got about a hundred fifty health back and it cost me a hundred seventy five mana. A lot better than nothing, at least.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty good actually.¡± Emma grabbed one of the klir leaves from the bush Zoe had pulled hers from. ¡°You¡¯re sure this is mostly safe, right?"

    ¡°Yeah it¡¯s not that bad. Why?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well we should probably see if you can heal me too, right?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Oh. Right. I guess, yeah. You don¡¯t have to if you don¡¯t wanna, though. We could find a safer way for you.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma took a deep breath and then swallowed one of the leaves. ¡°It¡¯s so weird watching my health drain like that. Like I¡¯m dying but I can¡¯t even feel it. Poisons scary.¡±

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°Yeah. It is. Poison resistance is good, I think. I could help you get it if you wanted, I guess? Would be good training for my skill if it works.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°That sounds like fun. But after we¡¯re gonna play with your haste skill.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Want me to heal you now or wait a bit first?¡±

    ¡°Wait a bit, I wanna see you blast my health up a bunch at once.¡± Emma said and ate a few more of the leaves. ¡°Okay, see if you can heal me.¡±

    Zoe focused on her skill and tried to target Emma with it but nothing seemed to happen. She could feel the skill, she knew intuitively that it should work. But it wouldn¡¯t. Zoe put her hand on Emma¡¯s shoulder and tried to push the skill through her physical connection.

    ¡°Oh! Wow. That¡¯s not bad. Maybe one health every second?¡± Emma said.

    ¡°And how much health do you have again?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Three thousand.¡± Emma answered.

    ¡°Okay so not percentage based then cause I was getting about triple that, which is probably from my class boost I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s so stupid.¡± Emma shook her head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you get doubled health from one of your classes?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded her head. ¡°Yeah but not triple to all of my pools! Just doubles my health.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Should¡¯ve spent the first twenty years of your life gathering skills and feats then.¡±

    Emma rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah yeah, whatever. Lets try out haste now.¡±

    ¡°I mean, we already know how that works don¡¯t we?¡± Zoe smiled.

    ¡°Yeah but its fun! I wanna be fast.¡± Emma whined.

    Zoe laughed and cast haste on Emma and then summoned a dagger of ice with her Frozen Arsenal skill. She wanted to see what effect the Frost skill would have on ice created by another skill.

    The dagger was difficult to get control of, but with a few minutes of effort she managed to make it float around her. But as soon as she did, she felt another connection with it fade away. Her Frozen Arsenal, she assumed.

    Whatever effect the skill had on her summoned weapons seemed to be lost when she took it over with Frost, though she wasn¡¯t sure exactly what effect they had anyway. Were they sharper, maybe?

    Zoe walked over to a nearby tree and tried slashing into its bark with a fresh dagger that she summoned. The dagger cut into the bark and left a thin layer of frost over the wound.

    But when she tried to cut into the bark with the dagger controlled by her Frost skill instead, she noticed it seemed much harder. Even if she grabbed the dagger and tried to slash at the tree herself rather than with her magic, it didn¡¯t seem to be nearly as sharp as when it was affected by her Frozen Arsenal skill.

    Maintaining both skills at the same time on different objects was effortless, at least. But having them both affecting the same object seemed impossible, or at least very difficult. Maybe it was something she could work on in time, she hoped. Being able to use both of her skills as she whipped daggers around her with her mind seemed like a lot of fun.

    ¡°Whatchu up to?" Emma asked her as she bounced around on her toes.

    ¡°Just trying to see if I can control my summoned weapons with Frost. Doesn¡¯t seem like I can, though.¡± Zoe let both of the daggers drop to the ground.

    ¡°Aww, that would¡¯ve been cool. So what¡¯s next on your big plan?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Well I think I¡¯m all good now, to be honest. So I guess it¡¯s off to Moaning Point next.¡± Zoe took a deep breath. The thought was a little scary.

    Emma hugged her. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be fine. When do you think you¡¯ll leave?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. I¡¯ve still got some shopping to do first, so maybe in a few days I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ooh! Lemme come shopping, that sounds like fun!" Emma smiled.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Alright, sure. Lets go tomorrow, then.¡±

 2-8. Lots of Rope

    Zoe and Emma said their goodbyes for the day, and then Zoe made her way over to Kaira park to practice her enchanting some more. Now that she understood her skills a little better, she wanted to see how they worked as enchantments as well.

    First off was checking her skill levels, and she brought up her stat window.

    Class 2: Seasoned Frost

    - Cold Affinity (11)

    - Time Affinity (4)

    - Restoration (3)

    - Frozen Arsenal (5)

    - Haste (5)

    They were all good skills, Zoe thought. But Frozen Arsenal and Haste were both of questionable value. The first was powerful, but Adaptive Frost and better control over her Frost skill was likely just as competent offensively, if not as good defensively.

    And Haste was objectively inferior to Alacrity if she wasn¡¯t going to be around a bunch of people constantly to keep the buff up on them. And the mana cost of Haste might end up meaning she wouldn¡¯t be able to use it at times if she was running low on mana, whereas Alacrity would always be there and give her that slight edge she might need.

    Plus, it might even help her read faster, or travel around town quicker. She never used Haste while she was just around town because keeping the buff up was a little tedious when she didn¡¯t specifically need it. But Alacrity would just always be there.

    She swapped out Haste for Alacrity and felt the familiar speed settle in to her body. Everything around her seemed a little slower, which was another reason she never ended up casting Haste on herself too often. The feeling was just a little disorienting.

    Having Alacrity always on might even help her get over the strangeness with the increased quickness, which would be a nice benefit. And the run to Moaning Point would be much easier without having to manage a manual buff constantly.

    Zoe was satisfied with her Alacrity decision, and turned her attention back to Frozen Arsenal. It was hard to justify getting rid of it given how powerful the skill was for her. Unlimited weapons and armour at her fingertips was quite nice.

    Frost of course had a similar effect, but Frozen Arsenal¡¯s summoned weapons were just so much better than anything she could make with her other skill. Maybe one day she could switch it out for Eternal Elegance or Adaptive Frost, but getting rid of it now while she still had such a small selection of skills didn¡¯t seem like a great idea to her.

    Next was testing out her enchantments with the skills. First was her Cold Affinity, which on its own didn¡¯t do anything. Zoe tried adding it in with her Frost skill and found that it made the enchantment a little more potent and dragged the temperature of the coin down lower than she could have managed with just Frost.

    Time Affinity she skipped over. She had no doubt that it would do the same thing as Cold Affinity for her time aligned skills.

    Restoration had no noticeable effect at first. But Zoe scratched at the coin she¡¯d enchanted with one of her claws then dumped some mana into it and the scratch filled back in to leave the coin in the same condition it was in when she enchanted it.

    She wasn¡¯t sure if it made a ¡®save point¡¯ for the object or if it would only work on recent damage like her skill said. And it made her wonder if her Restoration skill would work on objects without being enchanted first.

    Zoe grabbed a nearby twig, scratched off some of the bark and then focused on her restoration skill to restore it. The bark twisted as it was stitched back together. She hadn¡¯t even thought of using it on objects before, for some reason a healing skill just made her think of recovering health, not just arbitrary damage.

    Or did the objects have health of their own? Would any healer be able to heal damage to objects with their healing skill? Or was it just because Zoe¡¯s healing skill was a time skill? Was she even healing things or was she turning back time on them until they were no longer damaged?

    So many questions that she couldn¡¯t answer. For now she just accepted that it was a very helpful skill. She could research exactly what it was later, in particular she was interested in whether or not other healing skills would have done the same thing or if that¡¯s a less common effect.

    Next was Frozen Arsenal. For a moment she thought about casting it on the dagger she still had in her storage bracelet, but decided against it. She could try again after if the coin did nothing, but seeing what an arsenal did on something other than a weapon would be useful too.

    She enchanted her copper coin with the skill, and nothing happened. Zoe tried pushing mana into the coin, and it did accept it. But nothing interesting happened.

    On something of a lark, she dumped as much mana into the enchantment as it would accept and then hurled the coin at the ground nearby. The coin exploded into frost and sent shards of ice flying around the impact site.

    Zoe grimaced and thought about how glad she was she threw it at the ground instead of a tree. She walked over to see if the coin survived the explosion and found the copper coin embedded into the ground, surrounded by a layer of dense frost. She dug it out, pulled it back into her bracelet and took out her knife.

    She was curious what the skill would do on an actual weapon, and started the process on her dagger. When it was done, she saw nothing happen again. She dumped mana into the dagger, but not quite as much as with the coin and then threw it at the ground next to her.

    Rather than a large explosion of mana, the dagger left a trail of frost as it flew through the air and embedded itself into the ground a little deeper than she expected. She picked up the dagger, filled it with as much mana as it would take and tried again.

    And it did the same thing, but with a little more intensity. The dagger left a larger trail of frost as it flew through the air and embedded itself even deeper into the ground.

    Did the enchantment change because it was fit into a different weapon? Did daggers get extra stabbing power, but coins got explosive power? Or had she subconsciously created a dagger that stabbed better while she enchanted it?

    Zoe pulled out a coin and tried to enchant it again, but this time she tried to mix in her vision of the dagger piercing deep into the frozen earth as she did. When she was done, she charged up the coin and then hurled it at the ground, and it behaved the same as her enchanted dagger.

    Interesting, she thought. There were probably as many different effects for her Frozen Arsenal skill as an enchantment as there were weapons for her to summon with it. She didn¡¯t have much interest in exploring all of them right now, an explosion and better piercing both seemed great.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    What did interest her though, was whether or not she could enchant weapons she summoned with Frozen Arsenal. She could enchant what she created with the Frost skill she knew, but she never tried Frozen Arsenal. Zoe summoned a dagger of ice and then tried to enchant it.

    Like with her Frost, the dagger was already saturated with her mana so she didn¡¯t have to fill it herself. But also like with her Frost skill, enchanting the dagger didn¡¯t seem possible without giving up her Frozen Arsenal¡¯s control over it. Which made the process a little moot.

    If she just wanted a normal dagger of ice without Frozen Arsenal¡¯s enhancements, she could create one with Frost instead. Enchanting her arsenal didn¡¯t seem possible and she moved on to her final skill, Alacrity.

    The skill again had no immediately visible effect on her copper coin. She prodded around inside the coin with her mana to see if maybe the enchantment was wearing off quicker because of some kind of increased quickness effect on it, but it seemed normal to her.

    Zoe tried throwing the coin to see if maybe it flew a little faster, but she wasn¡¯t able to tell if the enchantment made a difference. She tried dropping it, flooding it with mana, but nothing that she did seemed to have any impact on it.

    At a point she decided to just give up on it and come back when the skill was higher level. Maybe it did make it fly faster when she threw it but her skills just weren¡¯t high enough level to actually have any impact.

    Or, she thought, maybe Alacrity impacted other enchantments. Zoe didn¡¯t have many skills that had any kind of movement component to them though, so she tried to combine it with Meditation. Maybe it would speed up its absorption of mana, not that it would have any impact since the mana would have nowhere to go.

    She focused on the two skills, built up her image of the two overlapping and then pushed it into the copper coin she was holding. The mana swirled around it a little faster than she remembered it doing when she only had her Meditation skill, but she enchanted another coin with only Meditation just to double check.

    And sure enough, the coin enchanted with both Alacrity and Meditation had mana swirling around it a little quicker than the one with only meditation. So Alacrity sped up other enchantments then, she thought. That was a useful combination, but just made her even more motivated to work in three enchantments at once.

    If she could have Alacrity, Enchantment and maybe Frozen Arsenal then she could get a dagger that would charge faster, last longer and explode more violently, maybe?

    Her ultimate goal would be Alacrity, Enchantment, Meditation and then a useful skill. But getting two in was already hard enough for her at her current stage, let alone three or even four skills. Maybe some day, though.

    Zoe kept playing with her enchantments, trying to figure out good combinations as she waited for the following day when she had plans to go shopping with Emma. Zoe found a few good combinations that she thought might end up being nice.

    Alacrity seemed to boost everything. Her Restoration and Vampyric Regeneration restored damage a little quicker, though not as quick as having both of her healing skills enchanted into the same object at once. Archery and Alacrity made an arrow that flew with what seemed like no air resistance at all.

    Enchanting along with almost any other skill made a great combination that let her maintain the enchantment for quite a while. In particular on materials that lasted more than a few minutes it seemed quite nice. She could enchant a bunch of silver coins with explosive Frozen Arsenal effects and store them in her bracelet, then just pull them out and charge them every day or two.

    She was half tempted to take an enchanting class for her next class and see what kinds of things she¡¯d get out of that. There wasn¡¯t really any reason not to, either when she thought about it. She could take the class, experiment with it and see if she liked it, and then just replace it with something else if she ended up not liking it very much.

    Maybe, she thought. It was a better option the more she thought about it, but she¡¯d wait and see what kinds of classes she had available to her soon. She planned on grabbing her next class before she left Flester, no point in leaving power on the table if she was going to be heading out into the wilderness.

    The day passed, and Zoe made her way down to Emma¡¯s tower.

    Emma opened the door with a big smile on her face. ¡°Haste me! Lets go shopping!¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Sorry, I replaced it with Alacrity.¡±

    ¡°Aww, really? That makes sense I guess. Was fun while it lasted though.¡± Emma pouted.

    ¡°Yeah, I dunno. Maybe I take haste back if I end up around people a lot more but I¡¯m going to be alone on the journey to Moaning Point probably, and I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll have other people around when I climb it so Alacrity just seems better.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°Yeah yeah, it makes sense. I just liked being fast. Get another time class with cool buffs next time too.¡± Emma shrugged. ¡°So what¡¯re we shopping for today?"

    ¡°Well, I want to get some more supplies for climbing Moaning Point. It should be basically a normal mountain just covered in undead creatures so I¡¯m thinking some rope and pitons at least would be good.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sounds exciting. Where to then?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I know this place on Norlon that should have what I need. I¡¯ve shopped there a few times before.¡± Zoe answered, and lead Emma down to Paul¡¯s Goods.

    The store was still there and looked the same as it always had. Henry was behind the counter and smiled at the two girls as they walked in.

    ¡°Hello, how can I help you today?" He asked them.

    ¡°I want some climbing supplies, do you have that here?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure do!¡± Henry walked out from behind the counter and over to one of the shelves.

    It was covered in ropes, pitons, carabiners and everything else Zoe might need to climb up a rocky cliff.

    ¡°All our rock climbing stuff should be right here. Anything in particular you want?" Henry asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m heading down to Moaning Point, any suggestions for that?" Zoe asked.

    Henry thought for a moment. ¡°Well I¡¯d make sure to have plenty of carabiners, a helmet, a harness, more pitons than you think you¡¯ll need and a solid hammer to get them in the cracks. And of course rope. As much as you can fit in whatever storage item you¡¯ve got, really.¡±

    Zoe picked out the supplies Henry recommend with Emma¡¯s help ¡ª which largely ended up being her grabbing the most colourful ones she could see and telling Zoe they looked cooler, and then brought them up to Henry who had returned to the front counter.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get all this then. This should be good, you think?¡± Zoe asked him.

    Henry looked it over and then nodded his head. ¡°Yeah this should be fine. I¡¯d recommend stocking up on food before you go too, it can be pretty expensive down there.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I plan to do that too, thanks. How much for it all?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Seventy four silver, thirty five copper for all this.¡± Henry answered.

    Zoe pulled out some coins from her bracelet and paid him, and then stored all of her new supplies in her item.

    ¡°So what next?¡± Emma asked as they left the store.

    ¡°Food. I need lots of food before I go.¡± Zoe answered.

 2-9. Banacumber

    ¡°So, when are you leaving?" Emma asked as the pair walked down the street.

    ¡°Tomorrow morning, probably. If I can get everything I need, anyway.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Tomorrow morning? That¡¯s so soon." Emma said.

    ¡°Yeah, I hadn¡¯t really thought about it much to be honest, but all I have left is stocking up on food and then I¡¯m done, so no point in sitting around waiting for nothing, I guess.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°How long are you gonna be gone for?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. It¡¯s a couple weeks out I heard, so with Alacrity and running almost non stop it might still take a week. Maybe less?¡± Zoe questioned.

    ¡°Running non stop for a week sounds rough, though.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Mhm. I¡¯ll see how it goes. I don¡¯t wanna spend a tonne of time travelling, but maybe the journey will be fun too. But anyway it¡¯ll be quite a trip, so I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be back for a while to be honest. I¡¯ll see if there¡¯s some kind of mail system though and send you letters.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mmm, you better. I¡¯ll miss you, Zoe.¡± Emma hugged her.

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you too. And Joe. And Oliver. But I don¡¯t really wanna just stick around in Flester forever. You sure you don¡¯t wanna come join me?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°You know I¡¯ve gotta look after Oliver. And if I¡¯m being honest, I like it in town anyway. It¡¯s comfy here. Maybe someday in the future but not anytime soon, probably.¡± Emma frowned.

    ¡°Yeah, I know. I¡¯ll definitely come back as often as I can anyway and we can catch up at least.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You better. If you don¡¯t I¡¯m gonna come down there and drag you back myself.¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°I will,¡± Zoe promised.

    ¡°So what kinda food are you gonna get anyway?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I dunno. It¡¯s different when you¡¯re buying in bulk, y¡¯know? When I first got my bracelet I thought of going to that sandwich shop I like, but when I got there and they asked what I wanted¡­ I felt like asking for like thirty sandwiches was probably not super accepted.¡± Zoe laughed.

    Emma laughed with her. ¡°Yeah, they probably would have given you a funny look. So what¡¯s the plan then?¡±

    ¡°I think I might just buy ingredients and cook stuff myself, probably? That sounds like the easiest solution.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah, maybe. We should totally stop by a bunch of different restaurants and get takeout though.¡± Emma suggested. ¡°For a treat!¡±

    Zoe smiled. ¡°Yeah, I like it. Alright, so that¡¯s the plan then. Lots of raw ingredients and then a few prepared dishes.¡±

    The two walked around town checking every restaurant they walked past to see if they did takeout. Quite a few did, and quite a few were ones Zoe had already visited in the past while she was working on her seasonal master feats.

    Zoe managed to grab four rice dishes, six portions of fried ryz and three venison steak dishes from The Rotted Apple. For a particularly fanciful treat, the pair stopped by one of the nicer looking restaurants Emma¡¯d seen and grabbed three meal sets that they sold. They came on large silver platters and wouldn¡¯t tell her what came in them other than that it was ¡®seasonal¡¯, whatever that meant. She decided to leave the dishes to be a surprise and stuffed them into her bracelet.

    ¡°Awww, I wanted to see them though.¡± Emma whined.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°But just think about me out on Moaning Point. I just climbed up some challenge I¡¯ve been working on and decide that it¡¯s time to celebrate. I pull out this fancy silver platter that cost me five damn silver for one meal and it¡¯s just like, the most basic burger you¡¯ve ever seen.¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Hopefully they¡¯re not just burgers. For five silver they better be the best meal you¡¯ve ever had.¡±

    ¡°I dunno if they¡¯ll be better than the school¡¯s was though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Emma pondered. ¡°Those were pretty good. I wonder why they were so good?¡±

    ¡°I dunno. Maybe they just had some people who really liked cooking? Or worked with some school or something?" Zoe suggested.

    Emma shrugged. ¡°Whatever it was I¡¯m glad we got to take advantage of it.¡±

    Zoe agreed, and they got back to wandering around town. With her current premade meals added to the sandwiches she¡¯d accumulated since buying her bracelet she had forty meals ready to go. That would be enough to last her a while even if she ended up being lazy, so it was time to buy some raw ingredients.

    Emma¡¯s workplace ¡ª more of a building for finding groups really, sold plenty of meat and so the two first headed over there. It was a pretty painless process and Zoe managed to stock up on plenty of meat from some of the hunters who were around. About a hundred portions of venison, if her estimation was right.

    Good enough to last her quite a while, and the next step was something that neither of the girls had much of an idea about. Vegetables. They both enjoyed vegetables in their diet quite a lot, but buying them in bulk was not something either of them had ever done.

    ¡°Maybe we just ask a restaurant where they get their veg from?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Joe might know, too.¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Oo yeah, good idea. Lets go ask him.¡± Emma said.

    Joe was standing behind the bar chatting with a younger man when they walked in. The younger man was a dark green level seventeen to Zoe¡¯s identify. The lowest green she¡¯d seen yet.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± The younger man asked.

    Joe laughed. ¡°Of course. It¡¯s no skin off my back. You got a cleaning skill at least?¡±

    The younger man nodded his head. ¡°Absolutely. I can clean, point me where you want and I¡¯ll clean it.¡±

    Joe smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much about it.¡± He looked over to Zoe and Emma. ¡°Oh! Hello you two.¡±

    ¡°Hey Joe,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hi!¡± Emma smiled.

    ¡°What are you two up to?" Joe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m stocking up on supplies and all I¡¯ve got left now is a bunch of vegetables. You happen to know somewhere I can buy vegetables in bulk?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe thought for a moment. ¡°Usually farmers set up shops in one of the marketplaces around town. You could check there, see if somebody¡¯s selling stuff you need.¡±

    ¡°Oh, good idea. Thanks Joe!" Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah no problem. You heading out soon then?¡± Joe asked.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Tomorrow morning! She¡¯s planning on leaving tomorrow, Joe. Can you believe that?" Emma whined.

    Joe laughed. ¡°Yeah that sounds like her.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but she could¡¯ve told us earlier.¡± Emma shook her head.

    Joe smiled. ¡°She¡¯ll be back, I¡¯m sure. With questions. So many questions.¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Maybe she¡¯ll have answers this time. Can you imagine that?"

    Joe shook his head.

    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s rude. I¡¯ve got a good reason for asking so many questions I¡¯ll have you know.¡± Zoe pouted.

    ¡°So this is goodbye then?" Joe asked.

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°Kinda, I guess. I¡¯ll be staying here tonight though so I¡¯ll say bye in the morning when I leave.¡±

    Joe turned to the younger man who was still sitting at the bar. ¡°Hear that? You¡¯ve got a room freeing up tomorrow now.¡±

    He nodded his head at Joe nervously.

    ¡°Well anyway I¡¯ll leave you to whatever you¡¯re up to. I¡¯ve got veggies to go buy. Thanks again Joe.¡± Zoe said as she got up to leave.

    ¡°Yeah no problem.¡± Joe responded.

    Zoe and Emma wandered around town to one of the nearby markets, Zoe had seen them before but didn¡¯t pay much attention to them. Sometimes she¡¯d grab some food from one of the stalls or admire some of the jewellery and clothes they offered, but she never took the time to really walk through and appreciate what they were.

    The one they stopped at was near where Barlahai was hosted. There were a bunch of tents and tables set up with people advertising every product under the sun. Families with bags and clothes for sale, small kitchens making street food and even shops full or fresh, colourful produce.

    They walked up to one of the produce stalls and poked around. There were many things that Zoe recognized ¡ª Ifosa, Furni, Lio and other leafy greens. There were tubular vegetables that looked like cucumbers if cucumbers were blue and grew in bunches like bananas. Lots of potatoes, and other root vegetables.

    ¡°Hey, is this all you have?¡± Zoe asked the tall woman who was managing the shop.

    ¡°No we¡¯ve got twelve bags of mixed produce on hand right now.¡± The woman answered.

    ¡°Awesome,¡± Zoe said and paused to think for a moment.

    She had a bunch of clothes, camping and climbing supplies and a tonne of food in her storage item right now. It didn¡¯t tell her how full it was ¡ª a feature she definitely would pay extra for if she could at this point, but she could at least tell if each segment was full thanks to the thermal control separating them.

    Which itself added another layer of complication into the mix. She liked her current mix of two cold, one warm, one unmanaged. But while she still hadn¡¯t filled up one of the cold segments, she imagined that all the food she purchased must be getting it quite close.

    And in a similar line, her unmanaged bag full of clothes, supplies and weapons was also almost full if she had to guess. That would leave her with a little over one cold bag, a full warm bag and a little bit of unmanaged storage to stick things in.

    Was the warm bag really worth keeping at this point, then? It was nice to be able to move some food over to so she could have a warm meal instead of having to warm it up herself. But the flip side was it made it much less comfortable for normal supplies. Heating her carabiners and rope, or books wasn¡¯t something she was interested in.

    The warm bag didn¡¯t get very hot anyway so it would be fine, she thought. But something about heating her books just made her uncomfortable. If she changed the warm bag to unmanaged, she¡¯d have more storage for random stuff but lose the convenience of warm meals.

    Though at the same time, most of what she had in her cold storage at this point wasn¡¯t prepared meals but raw ingredients she¡¯d have to cook herself anyway. Was it worth keeping a warm bag just for the odd meal she might end up eating from her storage?

    She supposed it didn¡¯t matter at the moment, two cold bags was definitely necessary if she wanted long term food storage, and the unmanaged bag wasn¡¯t filled just yet so she had a bit of time to think about it.

    ¡°She¡¯s trying to stock up on veggies for a while. How much do you think she¡¯d need for like a hundred portions?¡± Emma asked while Zoe was lost in thought.

    The woman shrugged. ¡°A third of a bag of mixed produce should last you. She¡¯s got thermal control at least right?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry. Yeah I do. I¡¯ll take a third of a bag then, please. How much would that be?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°One silver for a third of mixed. Do you have any preferences?" The woman asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, a good mix is fine.¡±

    The woman held her hand out. Zoe grabbed it and tried to push a silver coin from her bracelet to the woman.

    *Ding* Trade initiated

    Contents of one third bag for one [Silver Coin]

    *Ding* Trade accepted

    ¡°Thank you very much,¡± The woman said to her.

    ¡°Yeah, thank you too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So that¡¯s it then, huh?¡± Emma asked as the two walked away.

    ¡°Hmm?" Zoe questioned.

    ¡°You¡¯re all done here now. Got everything you need, just off to Moaning Point now?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah. I still wanna grab another class first though. I can switch them out if I take one now right?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mhm. Never done it myself but I¡¯ve heard you can just focus on your class selection and pick a new one. Just not for your first choice.¡± Emma explained.

    ¡°Do you lose all your progress, then? If I take a class and get a bunch of levels like I did with Seasoned Frost, do I lose them all if I pick another instead?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Probably. Never done it myself but if you didn¡¯t lose your levels I think it would be a lot more common.¡± Emma suggested.

    ¡°Makes sense, I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    It complicated things for her a little bit. She hadn¡¯t actually ever really focused on levelling up her class yet. The first eight levels were a couple of days and then getting to twenty-two was instant after she finally picked her first class.

    She had no idea what level she would end up getting to once she took her next class. Twenty-three? Fifty? There was no way for her to know. And that meant that taking a random class just to play with it was probably not a great idea. She¡¯d have to start with one she was probably going to be satisfied with, and if she only got a couple levels then she could try out some other classes.

    ¡°So you¡¯re off to Joe¡¯s inn for tonight then?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Come by my place tomorrow to say goodbye at least.¡± Emma hugged her.

    ¡°I will. I won¡¯t be able to stay long though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I know.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°See you tomorrow morning then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°See you tomorrow morning!¡± Emma said and turned to head back home.

    It was a strange feeling watching her leave. Zoe had planned this for a while now, gathering money and supplies, researching everything she needed to know. She knew it was coming, but saying goodbye made it seem so final. So real.

    She was going to be leaving the safety of town for the first time in years. Leaving the people she¡¯d grown to care about. And it was finally hitting her what that really meant.

    Zoe was excited for the trip, eager to see what the world had to offer. But bemoaned the lack of high speed transport, of long distance communication as she walked back to Joe¡¯s inn and upstairs to the room she¡¯d been renting from him.

    She sat down on the bed and took a deep breath as she prepared to see what the system had to offer for her next class.

 2-10. Wisps of Light

    Most of the classes that the system offered her were the same as before, though without Temporal Anomaly because of one of its requirements. Interesting to Zoe, [Seasoned Frost] was still available, despite her already having the class. The only ones she found interesting from her previous choices were [Seasoned Frost], [Elemental Master], and [Runic Acolyte].

    The latter two would give her some additional diversity in what she could do, while the first just made her curious about what would happen if she took the same class twice. She dismissed the rest of the options that she recognized and looked through the new classes she was offered.

    [Frozen Healer] Slow death¡¯s inevitable grasp and mend wounds with the power of frost. Increased healing capabilities. Increased Cold Affinity.

    Requirements: Has the [Seasoned Frost] class, has the [Restoration] skill, has the [Cold Affinity] skill

    [Accelerated Arsenal] Fend off foes with your superior speed and an endless horde of weapons by your side. Increased quickness. Increased time affinity.

    Requirements: Has the [Seasoned Frost], class, has the [Alacrity] skill, has the [Frozen Arsenal] skill

    [Adept Enchanter] A pursuer of mana, imbuing objects with powerful effects. Increased mana regeneration. Increased maximum mana.

    Requirements: Has the [Enchanting] skill at level 50 or higher.

    Notes: The [Enchanting] skill will be removed and merged with this class.

    [Chrono Enchanter] A pursuer of time and mana, imbuing objects with powerful effects. Increased mana regeneration. Increased time affinity.

    Requirements: Has the [Enchanting] skill at level 50 or higher, has a time aligned class.

    Notes: The [Enchanting] skill will be removed and merged with this class.

    Accelerated Arsenal was a bad option, in her eyes. It seemed strictly combat focused. She might get some extra speed out of it, but it didn¡¯t seem like it would have good options available for her if she wanted to spend a year not seeking out the next big battle to fight.

    The two enchanting classes seemed interesting to her, though Chrono Enchanter seemed strictly better for her. Higher requirements meant it was probably the better choice as long as she liked the time alignment. Which she thought she did.

    Frozen Healer was an interesting one of course. Cold affinity would help her out quite a lot with her Seasoned Frost skills, and increased healing capabilities alone was probably going to be a game changer for how safe she¡¯d feel in the wilderness. Let alone all the skills she would get from the class that would also end up helping out.

    Between Chrono Enchanter and Frozen Healer though, she wasn¡¯t really sure which she preferred. Enchanting was something that she had found to be quite enjoyable. But Frozen Healer was likely objectively better at keeping her alive, which was also important.

    She already had good healing and would get better at it in time as she levelled her skills though, so it wasn¡¯t as though she really needed a dedicated healing class. But a dedicated enchanting class would probably give her many more capabilities.

    Zoe took a breath and let her racing mind calm down a little. The choice didn¡¯t matter much here, not really. Even if she did get a bunch of levels, she wasn¡¯t taking her final class here anyway. Whatever she ended up taking, she was going to replace with something else later on when she racked up more achievements and feats.

    The only risk was if she got a bunch of levels right away, she¡¯d want to take advantage of them at least until she got to Moaning Point and settled in a bit in Gafoda. Once she knew how to handle Moaning Point, knew what level of risk she was taking on, she could switch it out no matter how many levels she ended up getting

    Between Frozen Healer and Chrono Enchanter, she decided that she¡¯d prefer the enchanting. Healing was nice, but if she ended up developing a reliance on that increased healing power it would make it much more difficult to switch out later on. She had acceptable healing already and had done her research on the dungeon she was going to. More healing wasn¡¯t going to be necessary.

    More enchanting though, might let her make better plans and traps. It might even help her with making money to continue affording food and other comforts she might want to take advantage of. It was a no brainer for her.

    If she later ended up deciding on a different class then she might lose whatever enchanting specific capabilities she got from the enchanting class, and possibly all the levels she had in Enchanting right now. But she could get those levels back and the other class would give her fun skills to enchant with too anyway.

    So that left the classes she already knew. Runic Acolyte would probably come with some kind of benefit even if she didn¡¯t know any runes right now. But if it didn¡¯t then it would be entirely useless to her until she researched more, which meant sticking around in Flester for even longer. Or maybe hoping somebody in Gafoda would be willing to teach her.

    Not really an option at the moment. Seasoned Frost was interesting just to see what it would do if she took it again, but if it just gave the same skills then that would end up being a bit of waste. So really the choices came down to Chrono Enchanter or Elemental Master.

    Elemental Master was likely the most powerful class she had that didn¡¯t risk being purely combat focused, though its description did seem to imply a lot of destruction. An Elemental Master who couldn¡¯t freely manipulate the elements would be pretty lackluster though so she imagined it would have some degree of freedom at the least.

    But would it have as much as Chrono Enchanter? Offensively, Elemental Master was probably going to be better. But it didn¡¯t have the same kind of financial benefit or the entertainment that enchanting gave her.

    The dungeon was relatively safe at the lower levels according to the research she¡¯d done. She didn¡¯t need an incredible offensive power. It would help, but so would being able to enchant her gear with more powerful enchantments. Or whatever else the enchanting class ended up offering her.

    She settled on her decision, took a deep breath to prepare herself for what was to come and urged the system to give her Chrono Enchanter. But the pain she expected didn¡¯t come.

    Instead, a gentle power washed over the very essence of her being. She felt it twisting and warping her but rather than the intense pain she felt from her first class, it was more of a tickle. Pokes and prods tickled her as the system made its adjustments. What she noticed first was how her vision had changed. Wisps of colourful light danced around the room, bouncing around on the walls and furniture.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Chrono Enchanter class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.- Chrono Enchanter: Gain ten stat points and one wisdom for each point in this class.

    - Mana Sight: You can see mana.

    - Mana Well: Mana and mana regeneration boosted by 100%

    - Mana Beat: All mana and time aligned effects are boosted by 50%

    - Enchanting: Imbue objects with the essence of your being.

    Available Skills:

    - Time Affinity: Increased Time affinity.

    - Mana Affinity: Increased Mana affinity.

    - Mana Storage: Excess mana will be stored and can be used to fill enchantments.

    - Mana Manipulation: Manipulate the raw mana of the world to your will.

    - Enchanted Mirror: Stores an image that can be reflected onto an object.

    - Mending: Mend minor breaks in objects, preserving their enchantments.

    - Acceleration: Bend time around an object such that it experiences the passage of time quicker.

    - Alacrity: Permanently increases quickness.

    - Immaculate Enchantments: Remove dirty and grime from objects.

    Zoe checked her stat sheet quickly to see what level she ended up at and hoped it would tell her how many skills she had available. Earthian had levelled to twenty-five and Chrono Enchanter had five empty skill slots listed below it.

    Earthian being at level twenty-five was strange in itself though, she thought. Why weren¡¯t her other classes getting a level? And if it was just her own personal level then why would it go to her racial class and not a separate line for her level? She shrugged, that wasn¡¯t important right now.

    What was important was deciding on her skills. She was going to be alone for a while and so taking a cleaning skill seemed like a convenient idea. The question was which class she should take it in. Seasoned Frost already had five skills she was happy with so it depended on whether she could find five skills she enjoyed from Chrono Enchanter.

    Both of the affinities were definite takes, if she was going to keep trusting Joe and Emma. And the rest of the skills seemed really useful too, unfortunately.

    Her first test was taking Alacrity to see if it even did anything if she stacked two of them. As soon as she took the skill she noticed the world around her slow down even more. It might be useful if she wanted to be fast but that really wasn¡¯t her ultimate goal.

    Mana Storage seemed convenient, but if she was patient she could just use the mana before it became excess. If she was planning on sleeping and if the skill worked while she slept, it might end up being useful. But if she really needed to maximize her mana usage like that she could do it actively.

    That left five skills that she wanted to test, so she grabbed Mana Manipulation, Enchanted Mirror, Mending, Acceleration and Immaculate Enchantments.

    Taking Enchanted Mirror felt strange. The rest of the skills were a slight tingling if they were even noticeable. But Enchanted Mirror was very tangible. She felt the system working around inside of her being and it was rather uncomfortable.

    Zoe poked around inside herself when it was done and found it much clearer to see what she was doing now. There was what seemed like a standing mirror resting inside what she was calling her soul now. She tried to interact with it and found that it behaved much like an object saturated with her mana.

    She worked to solidify the mana in it in the shape of her meditation skill, and the mirror reflected the image back to her. Zoe grabbed a coin from her bracelet, flooded it with her mana and found it a little surprising how quick the process was now.

    Then she turned her attention back to the mirror and urged it to reflect the enchantment towards the coin. In an instant the image flashed through the coin and solidified the mana. Zoe looked back at the mirror and found the image was still present on the mirror.

    Zoe tried to combine enchanting onto the mirror as well and found it much simpler than before. It was still a little tricky but she didn¡¯t need to maintain both images perfectly before she did it. She was able to just overwrite Enchanting onto the mirror that already had Meditation and just had to be careful that she didn¡¯t completely destroy the previous enchantment.

    After she was done she flashed it onto another coin and the coin absorbed the mana around it to fill the enchantment back up as it broke down.

    Enchanted Mirror was a definite take, she thought. If she could build up a useful enchantment on the mirror and then just flash it onto objects on the fly that would make a massive difference for her in so many different scenarios she could imagine. If anything she wanted more mirrors so she could have a bunch of different premade enchantments ready to go. Maybe as it levelled up she¡¯d get more freedom.

    Next was Acceleration. Zoe focused on the skill and tried to speed up the coin¡¯s time but while the enchantment broke down faster, the mana that swirled around it was still moving at the same pace.

    Which was a great opportunity to test out her Mana Manipulation. She focused on the skill and tried to urge the wisps of mana she could see towards the coin. It was fairly simple as she drew on her experience with the Frost skill, and the mana rushed towards the coin which eagerly ate it up to repair the enchantment.

    She wasn¡¯t really sure what she could do with the mana other than move it around though. Maybe she could move it towards herself while she meditated? It seemed somewhat useful for maintaining enchantments, and maybe if she enchanted something with the skill it would be useful. But she just didn¡¯t understand what mana really was well enough to take advantage of it yet.

    Her next test was Mending. First she took one of her enchanted coins and bent it in half. The enchantment within broke from the damage and mana stopped swirling around it. She focused on her Restoration and the coin bent back into shape. The mana began to swirl around it as the enchantment was repaired as well.

    She did the same process again with Mending and found it did the exact same thing but a little slower. A useful skill, but not something she needed. Finally she cast Immaculate Enchantments and saw a familiar blue light wash out from her over the room and left everything spotless.

    Her final choices then would be both of the affinities, Enchanted Mirror, Acceleration and Immaculate Enchantments. Though Acceleration was the weakest pick. When she learned more she might end up switching it with something else. Another Alacrity, while not her favourite skill, was a good candidate as well.

    Next were her stat points. She had thirty from the three levels she got, which confirmed that Seasoned Frost¡¯s level bonus wasn¡¯t applying anymore. There were a lot of arguments to be made for most of the stats, but she¡¯d already made her decision. She wanted more health. Power and mana were fun, but vitality kept her alive. She dumped all thirty points into Vitality and brought it up to eighty ¡ª her highest stat now, and then looked over her stat sheet.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 50

    Dexterity: 50

    Vitality: 80

    Endurance: 25

    Intelligence: 75

    Wisdom: 78

    Health:  800/800

    Stamina: 250/250

    Mana: 1500/1500

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (25)

    - Identify (46)

    Class 2: Seasoned Frost

    - Cold Affinity (15)

    - Time Affinity (8)

    - Restoration (3)

    - Frozen Arsenal (9)

    - Alacrity (4)

    Class 3: Chrono Enchanter

    - Time Affinity (1)

    - Mana Affinity (1)

    - Enchanted Mirror (1)

    - Acceleration (1)

    - Immaculate Enchantments (1)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (26)

    - Vampyric Senses (53)

    - Vampyric Resistance (22)

    - Vampyric Immortality (3)

    - Vampyric Charm (56)

    - Vampyric Empathy (57)

    - Gathering (24)

    - Archery (48)

    -- Meditation (81)

    - Cooking (19)

    - Dagger-fighting (40)

    - Tracking (33)

    - Stealth (31)

    - Frost (56)

    - Alchemy (1)

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    - Poison (14)

    -- Pain (5)

    - Heat (1)

    - Fire (1)

    - Cold (5)

    -- Disintegration (2)

    - Time (3)

    - Space (1)

    - Water (1)

    - Earth (1)

    - Gravity (1)

    - Ice (1)

    - Wind (1)

    - Lightning (1)

    Feats:

    - Patient Decider

    - Master of Seasons

    - Slayer of Frost

    - Skilled

    - Okiu¡¯s blessing

 2-11. Farewell

    Zoe took a last look over her new skills and stats to make sure everything looked good and then headed downstairs. She¡¯d heard Joe make his way down to the kitchen a few minutes earlier and she poked her head in. The fellow who she¡¯d seen Joe talking to the previous day was out in the dining area cleaning the tables and organizing the glasses.

    ¡°Good morning, Joe!" She called to Joe from the kitchen door.

    ¡°Good morning, Zoe. You¡¯re heading out today, right?" Joe asked her.

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m gonna try to make it to Gafoda by the end of the week. It¡¯s weird though.¡± She sighed.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Joe asked her.

    ¡°I just feel strange about it, I guess. I¡¯ve been here for so long. And now I¡¯m leaving. And I¡¯ll be all alone again, in a place where I don¡¯t know anybody, again. And I can come back whenever I want, I know. But I wanna stay there, y¡¯know?¡± Zoe rambled.

    ¡°Feeling lonely?" Joe flipped an egg over in one of the pans he had on the stove.

    ¡°I guess so. Where I come from even if I went to the other side of the planet, I¡¯d still be able to just call you up and say hi. But here, if I¡¯m a week away then I¡¯m a week away. I¡¯ve never had to say goodbyes like this before. And I thought I¡¯d be okay, I was excited. And I knew it would be scary and weird but I¡¯m here saying goodbye and it really sucks.¡± Her mouth quivered as she took a deep breath.

    ¡°Hey it¡¯ll be alright. You can always stick around here longer if you want too, y¡¯know?¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I know. I know I can. But I want to go explore. I wanna see what the world has to offer. I wanna see what a dungeon is. What a mana anomaly really means. It¡¯s so exciting. I just hate having to say goodbye, y¡¯know?¡± Zoe sighed.

    ¡°I know. I have to say a lot of goodbyes as an innkeeper. People come and chat, share their life stories and then they just disappear. It¡¯s hard, sometimes. But I¡¯ll still be here when you come back. Emma will still be in her tower with Oliver. You can always send letters, too. I¡¯m sure Gafoda has some kind of postal service, though it might be a bit expensive.¡± Joe laughed.

    Zoe smiled. ¡°I guess so. Maybe I¡¯ll get wings and can fly back really quick too. That¡¯d be nice. Just a day trip to Moaning Point.¡±

    Joe laughed. ¡°Well, good luck with that. You gonna be alright, Zoe?¡±

    ¡°I think so. I am excited. Really, I am. It¡¯s just really setting in now that I¡¯m not gonna see you for at least a few weeks. Maybe months. I don¡¯t know how you do it so often.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you too, Zoe. Having a little weirdo around pestering me with questions has been a big part of my life since you showed up.¡± Joe smiled.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah yeah. I¡¯ll see you around Joe. I might send a letter sometime if it¡¯s affordable.¡±

    ¡°See you, Zoe. Stay safe out there, don¡¯t push yourself too hard. A nice, safe pace is best. You¡¯ve got all the time you could ever want to get to the end.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I will. Thanks Joe.¡±

    And with that, for the last time in the foreseeable future, Zoe left Joe¡¯s inn. The sun was still just cresting on the horizon and she wanted to say goodbye to Emma as well.

    On her walk over, she swapped out Acceleration for Alacrity. She had thought about it a bit more, and if her main goal was to get to Gafoda as quick as possible then even more speed was definitely going to be helpful. She thought about even swapping out one of her first class skills for Haste so she could stack as much speed as possible but decided against it.

    There just weren¡¯t any good skills in her first class to sacrifice. The affinities were both far too useful to not continue stacking levels on, Restoration was a must have for obvious reasons. And she planned to use Frozen Arsenal on most of her run over to level it up as much as she could in preparation for the climb.

    That only left Alacrity, but swapping that out for Haste didn¡¯t make much sense to her since they did the same thing anyway.

    Zoe arrived at Emma¡¯s tower and didn¡¯t have to knock on the door. Emma threw it open as she approached and hugged Zoe.

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you!¡± She whined in Zoe¡¯s ear.

    Zoe smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll miss you too.¡±

    ¡°Promise you¡¯ll stay safe?¡± Emma begged.

    ¡°I promise I¡¯ll stay safe. There¡¯s a town there with a bunch of people. It¡¯s not as great as Flester but it¡¯s more than nothing. I¡¯m not going to push myself harder than I can handle.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not worried about the dungeon, I¡¯m worried about you getting there. You sure you don¡¯t wanna wait and join a caravan?" Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°From what I researched it seems like the bandit attacks are very rare to begin with, and even when they happen it¡¯s never on solo travellers. And animals avoid the road because of how well travelled it is. I think going alone is really the safest option for me.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re sure then okay. I just worry.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I know. Thanks.¡± Zoe hugged her back.

    ¡°Come in and say bye to Oliver too. He¡¯ll miss you too.¡± Emma walked back into her tower.

    Zoe followed in and Oliver came down from the stairs where he was watching and flopped down in front of her feet. She bent down and gave him a belly rub.

    ¡°See ya little friend. Keep Emma safe, alright?" She asked Oliver.

    He meowed.

    ¡°See!¡± Emma cried out. "He¡¯ll miss you too.¡°

    Zoe smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll miss you too guy.¡±

    ¡°So?¡± Emma sat down in one of her chairs.

    ¡°So what?¡± Zoe sat down in one of the others.

    ¡°I see your level. What¡¯d you end up getting?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shared her new class details with Emma.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°That seems like a lotta fun. You should totally keep Mana Manipulation though.¡± Emma suggested.

    ¡°You think so?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mhm. Way better than Acceleration or another Alacrity, in my opinion.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°What¡¯s it do though?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I dunno. It¡¯s a manipulation though. You¡¯ll have a lot more fun with it than with making enchantments break down faster.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe laughed. "That¡¯s a fair point, I guess. I thought I might be able to make enchantments do things faster which might be cool. But to be honest I don¡¯t even know what enchantments would even do if I sped them up. Still probably gonna keep the second Alacrity just for the run there at least, though.¡°

    She switched out Alacrity for Mana Manipulation like Emma suggested and then started pushing all of the mana she could towards Emma.

    Emma tilted her head a bit. ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just pushing all the mana towards you. Why? Can you feel it?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded her head. ¡°Yeah it feels like a blanket kinda? That¡¯s so weird.¡±

    ¡°Do you still not have meditation?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Emma shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s so boring! I don¡¯t wanna sit around forever like a water tank in the rain. I wanna go do things.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Yeah well you just described meditation basically. Maybe it¡¯ll help you get it. Wanna try?¡±

    Emma rolled her eyes. ¡°Fine. We can try. It¡¯ll probably be helpful to have anyway, it¡¯s just so boring.¡±

    ¡°Alright, don¡¯t focus too hard then. That really messed me up when I was trying. Just relax and let the energies be drawn into you.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°I¡¯m so bad at that though.¡± Emma whined.

    ¡°Yeah yeah, just take some deep breaths and let it happen naturally. You¡¯ll be fine.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma took a deep breath and then closed her eyes. Zoe pushed the mana towards her and covered Emma in a thick blanket of colourful wisps of light.

    Zoe watched as Emma¡¯s face strained a few times when she clearly began to feel something changing. But then she¡¯d open her eyes and shake her arms then repeat the process.

    A few failures later and Emma jumped from her chair. ¡°I got it! I did it! Woo! Thanks Zoe!¡±

    Zoe smiled. ¡°Did the blanket of mana end up helping?¡±

    Emma tilted her head in thought for a moment. ¡°Yeah, probably. I think so. I¡¯ve felt mana before but that was the first time I¡¯d really been enveloped by it like that. It was weird but I think it helped a lot. Every time I lost the feeling I was able to just start right back from the comfortable blanket that surrounded me.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I was already planning on taking Mana Manipulation after you convinced me, but now I definitely am going to. At least it did something useful.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma laughed. ¡°Yeah I dunno why you were going to take Acceleration after you got to Gafoda. What were you even planning on doing with it?¡±

    Zoe pushed herself into the chair she was sitting in and shrugged. "I didn¡¯t really think about it. I just have no idea what Mana Manipulation could even do and Acceleration was at least obvious in its effect.¡°

    ¡°Weirdo.¡± Emma sat back down in her chair and Oliver flopped down by her feet.

    Zoe shrugged.

    The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Emma spoke up. ¡°So you¡¯re really leaving, huh?¡±

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°When do you think you¡¯ll be back?¡± Emma asked her.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s a two week journey according to my research. If I¡¯m generous to myself, maybe one week for me as I am now? So at least two weeks if I turn around right away. But I¡¯ll probably be at least a month, maybe two. Feels wrong spending two weeks travelling just to stay for such a short time. I might send letters though. Do you mind taking one to Joe if I do find a postal service so I don¡¯t have to send two letters separately?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m super down to help out.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    ¡°So I¡¯m not going to see you for a few months then probably, huh?¡± Emma looked down at Oliver.

    ¡°Mhm.¡±

    The two sat in silence for a few more minutes, the only noise interrupting them was Oliver¡¯s occasional meow.

    Zoe stood up. ¡°Well I¡¯ve gotta get going, I wanna get there as soon as I can to be honest. I¡¯m super excited to check it out and see what it¡¯s all about, even if it¡¯s a little sad saying goodbyes.¡±

    Emma stood up and followed her to the door. ¡°Alright.¡± She hugged Zoe. ¡°Stay safe out there and make sure you send lots of letters if you can.¡±

    ¡°I will.¡± Zoe hugged her back. ¡°I¡¯ll see you around. Make sure you give Oliver lots of pets for me. Let him know he¡¯s a good kitty.¡±

    ¡°Of course, he¡¯s the best kitty! See you later, Zoe. Stay safe.¡± Emma said and picked up Oliver as he poked his head out the front door.

    Zoe smiled and walked away. She was excited for Moaning Point, to check out Gafoda and see what a mana anomaly really was. She kept telling herself that as she walked towards the southern gate of town.

    It was a long walk, and Zoe found herself quivering a few times as she held back tears. It felt so much harder than when she had been ripped away from her life and stranded here in Flester. She wasn¡¯t breaking down in the forest bawling her eyes out, sure. But each step was so difficult to convince herself to make.

    Every step she made was a decision to continue, another inch closer to Gafoda and Moaning Point. At any point, she could decide to stop. She could decide to just stay in Flester. But she had to force herself to keep going, because that¡¯s what she wanted. What would staying even get her?

    Emma was okay with being immortal if Zoe could find some way to manage that for her, but she hadn¡¯t even talked about it with Joe. And she was pretty confident he wouldn¡¯t want it even if she could offer it to him.

    Did that mean that Zoe should spend the time she did have with her friends, wait in town until they died and then go accomplish her goals? When would that end, though? By then, she¡¯d have other friends she cared about and would she have to just keep waiting forever? She¡¯d never get anywhere, never do what she wanted to do, never explore the world that she was excited to see.

    No, leaving and exploring now made the most sense. Zoe could get some levels, maybe even find some way to give Emma immortality, and keep expanding where she could explore as she grew more powerful and more importantly, quicker.

    It was just hard to do. How much would the town change while she was gone? How much would Emma and Joe change by the time she returned? Would Joe still be running the inn? Would Emma still own her tower?

    It scared her more than she thought, and Zoe stopped outside the southern wall to look back at town. This was her goodbye. Her farewell, for a long time. And it was more emotional than she thought it would be.

    Zoe managed to keep herself from crying, reminding herself that things were okay and that she was excited and going to have fun. But it felt so lonely. And that¡¯s okay, she told herself.

    That¡¯s just a part of living in this world. Saying goodbye and disappearing for a while was normal. People travelled to other towns and dungeons all the time ¡ª she still hadn¡¯t seen Rizick or Isla since they left either. It was okay. She was making a good decision.

    She took a deep breath and turned towards the road. Gafoda was just a few weeks away if she followed it. Probably less if she ran all day long with her speed buffs like she planned to.

    Zoe summoned a sheet of ice over her body with Frozen Arsenal, pumped her Aura of Frost as high as it would go without eating into her mana, switched out Mana Manipulation for Alacrity again and took off down the road. Her plan was simple.

    Look as threatening and as confident as she could, and get to Gafoda in as little time as she could manage.

 2-12. Gafoda

    The run to Gafoda was boring, to say the least. She didn¡¯t really expect anything to happen, but running non stop for five days was just not the most exciting thing she¡¯d ever done. The entire time she ran, she kept up her Frozen Arsenal. A sheet of ice that creaked with each step covered her body. At her side were two short swords that she¡¯d summoned as well just to keep her appearance of a rugged adventurer up.

    Her Aura of Frost was running as cold as she could make it, and she pulled a small cloud of snow behind her with her Frost skill. Overall, she thought it was a pretty good use of her time, it was just so incredibly boring.

    Nothing happened. There were no bandits, no wild animals, no unworldly Okiu jumping out of the forest. It was just a safe journey to another town. Even when she would slow down to eat and look around a little, she never even saw any tracks that belonged to anything other than a human.

    She saw Moaning Point off in the distance after the first day. The snow capped peak poked up on the horizon whenever the dense forest of trees opened up enough for her to see it. At first it excited her. She could see her goal, it was right there on the horizon.

    But as she ran, it didn¡¯t seem to get any closer. The days passed, and she thought she might kinda see more of it than she did the previous day but wasn¡¯t sure. It was such a slow process she wasn¡¯t really sure how much it had changed. Was she only able to see the snowy peaks or did she see the rocky cliffs yesterday too? When did that happen, she wondered.

    There were a few other people on the road, an equal split going to and from Gafoda by her count. Most were solo travellers, covered in armour and weapons. Often dragging their own magic behind them as they rushed past Zoe.

    She saw a few people who were in their high forties but for the most part the people she saw were dark red or dark blue marks to her identify. Even people who seemed to be around her age were far higher than her.

    Through her time in Flester, she¡¯d begun to think that she wasn¡¯t that far behind people her age. Emma was only just coming up to level forty herself, most of the people she went to school with were late twenties, early thirties. A little ways ahead of Zoe but not by a whole lot. Zoe¡¯s Patient Decider and powerful starting class gave her a nice boost that helped her catch up.

    Or so she thought. But now, seeing so many people her age at a level she couldn¡¯t even identify, even with her higher than usual identify level, she wondered if she was further behind than she expected. Was it just that the people in Flester lived more comfortable, relaxed lives and didn¡¯t have as much of a focus on getting their levels up as high as possible?

    She supposed it made some sense. People in town were in a town, surrounded by walls. They enjoyed the safety. But the people who went to Moaning Point were putting themselves in danger and for only one purpose. To grow in power. It was a totally different mindset of people she was going to find herself surrounded by, she realized.

    Or maybe there was another answer. Maybe the solo travellers just tended to be higher level, but those who stayed in town and maybe joined caravans or groups that travelled less frequently might be lower level? She¡¯d only really be able to tell when she got to the town proper.

    For now, it was nearing the end of the fifth day and she was sure that Moaning Point was getting closer. The mountain towered over her in the distance and pierced through the dark clouds that surrounded it. Fog seemed to drip down the mountain¡¯s form and obscured much of it from her vision.

    The bits she could see were difficult to make out because of the distance. Her sight was better than most but even when the mountain looked so close the trees looked no larger than ants. It gave her an appreciation for just how large the mountain really was, unless the mana anomaly warped the trees to make them particularly small for some reason.

    Zoe kept running through the night, and by a few hours after the morning sun rose she finally saw what must be Gafoda. A small town set at the base of the mountain. The buildings were mostly made of a dark wood and stone, the roads were simple packed dirt. Hordes of people walked through the roads, each covered in armour or magic.

    What surprised her most was the amount of children she could see. There were so many kids. They didn¡¯t seem lost, at least. The younger kids walked around holding their parents¡¯ hands and talked about their plans to tackle the lower levels of Moaning Point together. There were a few groups of teenagers who were planning their ascent as well.

    And other than the very young kids, Zoe saw nobody lower level than her. And even most of the kids seemed to be nearing her level. There were a few kids who showed up as orange to her identify, the first time she¡¯d ever seen people without their first class before.

    But most were light blue around level fifteen to twenty. And the teenagers blew Zoe out of the water. They were all at least level thirty, and some of them even reached up to forty. Higher than Emma even, despite being probably at least ten years younger.

    She shook herself out of her stupor and continued into town. It was a completely different vibe to Flester. Everybody seemed so on edge. In Flester, her Empathy always seemed to have this anxiety that rested below everything else. Everybody had it, everybody was always worried about this or that. But in Gafoda? Anxiety seemed the predominant emotion people felt.

    Along with excitement, and confidence. As she walked around, she saw people turn to look at her while their curiosity and anxiety spiked for a moment, before they carried on with whatever they were doing. Whatever this place was, the people didn¡¯t seem to feel that safety that Flester always had.

    There was no towering wall that surrounded Gafoda to protect people from the outside. There were some guards, though from what Zoe had read it seemed they were mostly volunteers who chose to do their part to keep Gafoda from completely falling to ruin. But there was no organization, no vetting of the people who came to town. No reassurance that if something happened, the entire armed forces would be put to action to protect the town.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    No, everybody here was on their own. If an elemental decided to attack, Zoe doubted even the volunteers would truly risk their lives to protect the town. Maybe some of the lower level undead who wandered down from the mountain, some of the wildlife who decided to attack.

    But if something catastrophic happened? There was no promise of safety here, and it showed. Everybody was stronger here, everybody walked with more confidence, despite their stronger fears and worries. Everybody knew they were on their own, and they liked that.

    And Zoe found herself drawn into the small town. She liked it too. It was rugged and full of danger, but if people brought their level eight child here then it couldn¡¯t be too bad. It gave her a nice view of what life might be like if she continued on this path, of what the people she¡¯d meet might be like at least.

    Her first step was to find somewhere she could rest. Moaning Point was right here and she wanted to climb it, but she¡¯d just spent almost a week running non stop. She wasn¡¯t tired physically, her stamina was totally fine. While she ran, she tried to maintain a pace that wouldn¡¯t drain her stamina too much.

    And remembering her experience with the boar attack outside of Flester, she tried to remain calm on the run. If she let her mind run and tire itself out with fear then she¡¯d need to rest far more often. And it worked. She distracted herself with all of her little menial tasks and the time flew by.

    But despite her stamina being fine, mentally she wanted a break. She wanted to sit down, look through her gains from the run, eat some food, have a nice nap and then tackle the dungeon when she woke up.

    And with that, she remembered that this was supposed to be a dungeon. A mana anomaly. Zoe looked up the mountain and tried to see the anomalous mana, but nothing really stood out to her besides the amount of it.

    Down in Gafoda, the wisps of light seemed just like Flester. But when she turned her focus upwards towards the mountain, they grew denser and denser. It never blocked her vision, which still surprised her. Even as the mana should have impeded her vision a bit she could still see the mountain behind it as clear as if the mana weren¡¯t in the way.

    She took a deep breath. It seemed so daunting, somehow. What mana was exactly, she still didn¡¯t know. But the sheer amount of it up the mountain was incredible. And she couldn¡¯t even see all that far before the dark fog covered up everything. How high was she seeing? Halfway? A quarter? And it was already so intense.

    Zoe found an inn to rent, run by an older woman with red hair and a face covered in scars. Forty copper per night, or a week for two and a half silver. She paid for two weeks, and then made her way to the room she was given.

    It wasn¡¯t nearly as nice as the one that Joe ran. In the first place, it was only one floor. The dining area was small and made up of only a couple large tables that ran the length. The hallway that lead to the rooms was thin and barely enough for her to walk through.

    The room she got was large enough for a single small bed that she barely fit on and a small night stand that sat next to it. Zoe sat down on the bed and shook her head. It was hard.

    Better than sleeping on stone but not by an awful lot. She had walls though, and at least the illusion of some privacy. She pulled up her stat sheet and hid the skills that didn¡¯t change to check on her progress.

    Class 1: Earthian (26)

    - Identify (51)

    Class 2: Seasoned Frost

    - Cold Affinity (33)

    - Time Affinity (17)

    - Frozen Arsenal (21)

    - Alacrity (18)

    Class 3: Chrono Enchanter

    - Time Affinity (14)

    - Mana Affinity (3)

    - Alacrity (18)

    - Immaculate Enchantments (4)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Senses (57)

    - Vampyric Empathy (59)

    - Tracking (34)

    - Stealth (32)

    - Frost (63)

    She noticed that her level had gone up and dumped the ten points she got from that into Vitality. She wanted to get to one hundred vitality and then she¡¯d bring Endurance up to fifty. And from there, she¡¯d figure out what to do. But she needed bigger pools. Stamina was rarely important, but she knew from experience that when it did end up mattering it mattered a lot.

    The rest of her skills levelled up quite a bit and she smiled at her progress. Both of her Time Affinity skills levelling up so much, along with her Alacrity skills also getting levels of their own was extremely noticeable. She could notice a very clear difference between the speed she had now versus when she left Flester.

    But she still didn¡¯t think she needed two Alacrity skills, and swapped out her second for Mana Manipulation. She felt the world speed up around her as the skill was ripped away from her and she had to readjust to being a little slower.

    She took a few minutes to get used to being so much slower again and then laid down on the bed to have a nice night¡¯s sleep. In the morning. Her circadian rhythm was going to be completely ruined as the years went on in this world she thought to herself as she giggled.

    Zoe had grand dreams of battles with undead creatures. Zombies being frozen by her skills, their rotting flesh sheering off their body and shattering on the ground. Magic thrown through the air and frozen in place with a wave of her arm. And then she woke up groaning.

    Her back was sore from the hard bed, so she stood up and stretched a bit and then sat back down to eat one of the sandwiches she had in her bracelet. Zoe wasn¡¯t really sure what her plan was for the day.

    She wanted to get started on Moaning Point and see what it was all about, but she wasn¡¯t sure if she wanted to wander around and see what Gafoda had to offer first or not. In the first place, she wasn¡¯t super sure where the official entrance was, but she had seen a couple of large stone towers off in the distance a little ways up the mountain and decided to start looking over there.

    Zoe got up and left the inn to wander around town for a bit. It was late evening now, but the town seemed just as busy as it was earlier in the day. People walked around with their children or groups and chatted about their failures and successes.

    The shops that she walked past were interesting. Alchemy seemed like a very popular job here, with the majority of stores selling a bunch of different potions. But there was a surprising amount of clinics advertising their healing capabilities. Zoe was capable of both and thought she might be able to make a decent living here if she really needed to. Even if it was only as a healer, since Alchemy still didn¡¯t so much appeal to her.

    When she got to the towers, she saw a large, albeit much smaller wooden gate between the two. It was open at the moment and a constant stream of people seemed to be walking through it in both directions. Nobody was taking tickets or payment, and Zoe decided that she couldn¡¯t wait anymore. She could browse the shops when she got back, but the dungeon was right here, and she wanted to explore.

 2-13. Spear

    Zoe covered herself in a sheet of ice with her Frozen Arsenal and then summoned two daggers to her hands. They were the only weapons that she had any knowledge of how to use, but did that mean that they were still the best options here?

    She thought about it for a moment, and then replaced them with a sword and shield. Even if she didn¡¯t know how to properly use them, having a solid sheet of ice between her and the undead was probably going to be more useful than having a dagger. And the extra reach on the sword was probably going to be better than having to get up close and personal with them, even if she didn¡¯t know how to use it properly.

    She laughed, and then replaced her sword with a spear. If more reach was her argument, then she may as well go all the way. Even if she had no idea how to use them, it couldn¡¯t be that hard to just stab something from far away and move the shield in the way of whatever attack she ends up getting hit by, right?

    And for that matter, she realized that she really should have spent more time getting skills when she was back in Flester. She had tunnel visioned on the bow and dagger being the only weapons she¡¯d be using and completely missed out on getting Swordfighting, Spearfighting, Hammerfighting. Whatever other fighting there were. Probably even unarmed fighting if she thought about it. Next time she was back in town she made a promise to spend her money on getting lessons for a bunch of different weapons.

    Especially when she had such a generalized weapon summoning skill, there was really no reason for her to not at least have some degree of competency with a large variety of weapons. Daggers wouldn¡¯t be the best option for every scenario, and neither would spears. If she were fighting in a tight corridor, daggers would thrive.

    But here on Moaning Point where the shambling zombies would mindlessly approach her, at least on the earlier levels, a spear made the most sense to her. And then as she ascended, she might end up preferring something in between. A long sword, or short sword maybe. Something with more reach than a dagger but more manoeuvrability than a spear might be nice.

    And maybe one day she¡¯d fight something that was heavily armoured, where sharp edges and points wouldn¡¯t pierce through its carapace or metal plates. Maybe then she¡¯d prefer using a hefty hammer to smash through. She could see a number of use cases for a bunch of different weapons, and mentally smacked herself for not realizing it earlier.

    She didn¡¯t regret her choice, she stuck in town and levelled a bunch of skills as high as she could get them. And she got a feat out of it! The feat didn¡¯t do anything practical for her, and neither did having a bunch of high level skills. But she could see the benefit of doing so, it was there. Getting another ten skills? Maybe she¡¯d get a cool class out of it, but maybe she¡¯d get something she wouldn¡¯t enjoy like Skilled anyway.

    There was really no way to know if she made the right choice or not without going back in time and redoing it. And that was just something she couldn¡¯t do. So she put the thought aside for when she got back to town and continued carrying on up the mountain.

    From what she¡¯d read, the entrance to the mountain was a little ways from where the actual dungeon started, so she¡¯d have a bit of time to prepare herself for it. One thing that she was curious about was how effective her Frost skill was in combat.

    Being able to enchant her Frost skill meant she might be able to create projectiles, flash an Archery enchantment onto them with Enchanted Mirror, and then fire them off from a distance. It was worth a shot at least.

    Zoe moved to the side of the path so she wouldn¡¯t be in the way of people rushing up the mountain and turned her attention inwards to the Mirror in her soul. She put two enchantments onto it ¡ª Archery and Frozen Arsenal¡¯s explosive effect. Her hope was that with the combination of Archery and her Frost skill pushing a shard of ice forward, it would have a respectable piercing power. And with Frozen Arsenal¡¯s explosion, it would deal some respectable damage to whatever it hit.

    She summoned a small cone of ice and flashed her enchantment onto it. The mana within was already degrading, so she added as much spin to it as she could and fired it off at a nearby tree. With the combination of her Frost skill pushing it forward and her Archery enchantment blasting it through the air, it took off surprisingly quick. The archery enchantment¡¯s lack of accuracy was also comfortably resolved through redirecting the force in the direction she wanted with her Frost skill. It was a perfect combination, she thought.

    The cone rocketed forwards, pierced straight through the tree and exploded in a cloud of frost on the other side. Zoe¡¯s eyes widened in shock. She expected it to be powerful, maybe leave a scar in the poor tree. But she¡¯d drilled a small hole straight through the foot long trunk.

    Zoe had never used her skills for actual destruction before. She had gone hunting, but that was just firing a bow off or stabbing at something with her dagger. And she was extremely competent at both by now, but she¡¯d never truly understood just what it meant to have classes and high level skills.

    Now, she thought she might. She could create one of those cones and fire it off in less than a second. It didn¡¯t take long to make one with her Frost skill, the ice would already be saturated with her mana and her Enchanted Mirror let her flash the enchantment onto it instantly.

    If she tried it, she could probably even make a few of them at the same time and fire them off like a machine gun of destruction. It was incredible, and a little terrifying. She had begun to realize just what exactly higher level people were actually capable of. It wasn¡¯t just some fun flashy magic, it was raw power capable of things she couldn¡¯t even imagine.

    She wondered what other skill she might want to include in the Enchanted Mirror when she managed to get three working. Alacrity was a possible contender. If it made the Archery enchantment act faster than she¡¯d get more velocity on her projectile.

    But Cold Affinity was also a strong option, since it would compound Frozen Arsenal¡¯s explosive effect. It already had plenty of piercing power, so more explosion would be good. And for that matter, she might want to try out different effects with Frozen Arsenal.

    An explosion was good for obvious reasons, but she could probably get more piercing power through it as well for the particularly hard targets. Maybe even more blunt force? That would be strange with a piercing projectile, but she supposed they didn¡¯t all have to be conical anyway. She could fire off bricks of ice too with just as little effort.

    One thing she¡¯d never tested was what Archery and Meditation did together. Meditation helped the Enchanting enchantments build themselves up, but what did it do when it was combined with some other enchantment that used mana?

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    Zoe grabbed one of her coins, and enchanted it with Restoration and Meditation together. At first it did nothing more than make the colourful wisps swirl around it, like she expected. So she scratched the surface of the coin with one of her claws, and watched as the mana rushed into the coin and repaired the scratch.

    So Meditation didn¡¯t just help repair enchantments, it also helped power them. That should maybe have been an obvious thing in hindsight, but it was good to know. So then with Archery, in theory it should power the enchantment and keep it flying for longer.

    She tested it out with a shard of ice she created. Which, she realized, is how she should always test her enchantments. It¡¯s much easier and doesn¡¯t risk damaging her money. She changed her Mirror to Archery and Meditation instead, and then flashed it onto the shard of ice.

    Immediately, she felt the ice try to propel itself forward as the mana was drawn into it. But it wasn¡¯t a very powerful pull, the mana that was being drawn into it just wasn¡¯t enough to completely saturate the enchantment. She released the ice from her Frost skill and let it fall to the ground.

    It kept pushing forward across the ground as it inched forward. It might make a small difference, but at least with her current level, Meditation wasn¡¯t enough to completely power an enchantment like Archery at full power. Maybe if she also tied in Alacrity to speed up the Meditation effect?

    But at that point, it seemed better to just add two Alacrity enchantments if she could do that and one Archery skill anyway. And sacrificing the explosive power that Frozen Arsenal provided for a tiny bit of extra speed seemed like a bad trade anyway.

    Zoe returned her Mirror to Frozen Arsenal and Archery, and then started walking back up the path. It was a comfortable walk, the path was well trodden and easy to follow. The trees surrounding the path were lush and provided a nice ambience. Birds chirped in the trees, and the smell of the sap that dripped from the odd wound was almost intoxicating.

    It was a pleasant walk, and she almost wished there weren¡¯t danger lurking at the other side. But there was, and she was excited to try out her new ideas on the zombies as soon as she saw them.

    The first thing she noticed was the mana. At one point, it started behaving strangely. Most of the wisps that she could see floated around aimlessly like she was used to. But there were so many others that were being dragged together and forced into the ground in groups.

    Zoe tried to grab control of them with her Mana Manipulation, but was completely shut out. She could still grasp control of the aimless mana that floated around but the portion that was being dragged beneath the ground may as well not have existed to her Mana Manipulation.

    It was the first time she¡¯d seen mana behaving so strangely. She¡¯d seen it rush around when people cast spells, but there was nobody here to cast spells. No obvious enchanted objects drawing mana in. It was just earth, and the dense mana was being pulled into it at an alarming pace.

    Nobody else that walked by seemed bothered by it though, so Zoe just wrote it off as being the mana anomaly part of the dungeon. Maybe zombies were being created below the earth and the mana was needed to power them, or something. That made sense to her.

    It didn¡¯t take much longer before she encountered her first zombie. A shambling human figure with dark green, rotting flesh. Bits of its face were falling off and splattering on the ground, several of its deep black bones seemed to tear through the droopy flesh. It looked over at Zoe and started dragging its feet towards her.

    [Zombie - 13]

    Light blue level thirteen, she saw with her Identify. Did that mean that the zombie had its first class? It would have Zombie and then¡­ ZombieButMore? What kind of classes did monsters get. What skills would it have? Could it have magic?

    She had no idea, but now wasn¡¯t the time to question it. She created another explosive cone of frost and fired it off at the zombie. The cone pierced through its chest and exploded in its rib cage. Frozen bits of flesh scattered around and shattered as they hit the ground.

    The black skeleton fell, and then sank into the ground with a surge of mana. Did she win? Was the zombie dead? Or was it a skeleton now? She had no idea what just happened.

    But as before, nobody else seemed bothered by the occurrence so she just accepted it as normal and continued on. Most of the zombies she found were already fighting somebody, usually groups of younger teenagers or kids being escorted by their parents.

    Zoe left them alone and continued up. The hordes of people thinned out as she continued climbing. Almost everybody seemed to stay around the lower areas and just wait around for the zombies to be created, or whatever was happening. There were a handful of people who still came up farther, but they were all much higher level than her and rushed past the zombies as they continued up the path.

    Maybe it was just a sweet spot of too high level for the novices, and too low level for the experienced climbers? She hoped that was the explanation, and used the opportunity to practice her Frost projectiles. All of the zombies at this point behaved similarly, with the only difference that they tended to be around level eighteen to twenty instead of the low tens.

    But for Zoe¡¯s skills, that was functionally the same thing. She didn¡¯t expect to get much experience from this, but there was more to life than just skill levels. With each zombie she slew, she grew a little better at forming and firing her projectiles.

    Zoe hadn¡¯t used her spear or shield at all yet, but still kept them on her just in case. It didn¡¯t cost her anything to maintain and she¡¯d rather have them if she got surprised by something. She wasn¡¯t even sure how effective they would be in actual combat, so before she got too confident she wanted to at least gain some experience with them.

    The next zombie she found, she decided to take down with her weapons alone. She let it approach her and it slammed its arms down towards her. Zoe brought her shield up to block the attack and stumbled backwards from the impact. Her arm stung with pain, and she shook her head.

    Zoe took a few steps back and let the zombie approach again. Right when it got to range of her spear, she stabbed out with it. She managed a light scratch across the zombie¡¯s bones, but it staggered forwards and smashed into her shield again.

    She grimaced from the stinging pain in her arm and stabbed out with her spear of ice again. It pierced into the zombie¡¯s gut and scratched across its bones, and then she took a step back to dodge its powerful slam.

    The zombie missed her and fell to the ground. Zoe took the opportunity to stab into its skull from behind, and the corpse was sucked into the ground shortly after.

    Zoe sighed, and replaced her spear and shield with two daggers. With proper lessons, maybe the spear would win out. But as she was, the spear was tiring to wield and lacked the precision that she had with her daggers. At least with the daggers she wouldn¡¯t overextend and let the zombie slam into her arm.

 2-14. Cushions

    Zoe checked her vitals before she carried on. She was surprised to see her mana still full, having spent quite a lot she thought on enchanting her frost projectiles. Though with a doubled maximum mana and regeneration from her Chrono Enchanter class, she guessed it made some sense that she¡¯d have much more wiggle room now.

    Her health was a little drained, so she pumped it full with her Restoration. Even with it draining as much mana as it could for a few seconds her mana didn¡¯t dip at all. When she took her new class she just accepted the bonuses it gave. But she decided that when she got back to town, she¡¯d take the time to calculate her new mana regeneration.

    Zoe¡¯s stamina was at about two hundred, and continued to tick up every few minutes as she waited around. She had plenty left so decided to continue on. She wanted to try fighting one of the zombies with her daggers just to see if it would really be better, and then maybe make her way back down to town to reflect on what she¡¯d learned.

    There was a shambling body a brief walk off the path into the forest that she¡¯d been keeping an eye on while she recovered. Zoe tightened her grip on the daggers and approached it without a care for how stealthy she was being.

    There was no reason to take advantage of stealth, that wasn¡¯t the point of what she wanted to do. If her goal was just to kill the zombie as quickly and efficiently as possible then she had a much better option. What she wanted to do was test her limits with her daggers in a head on fight.

    The zombie saw her and began hobbling over towards her. Its rotting feet dragged along the forest floor and left a trail of melted flesh behind it.

    Zoe raised her daggers and waited for it to get closer to her. It raised its arms and slammed down towards her. She turned her body and stepped forwards so the zombie¡¯s wild swing missed her. The zombie staggered forwards and Zoe took advantage of its movement to drag both her daggers through its flesh, leaving frozen scars along its body.

    She leapt towards its back as it regained its balance, and stabbe both her daggers into its neck. The zombie fell to the ground in a limp pile of blackened bones. Zoe stepped back and took a breath as the earth reclaimed the skeleton.

    Knowing how to use her weapons made a big difference. She knew that, of course. But it really showed. She thought back on her shield and spear fight and shook her head.

    There was a lot of reflection to do on that fight. Things she knew she did wrong, things she thought she could do better. She almost wanted to laugh at her attempts to get dagger-fighting from attacking a motionless straw dummy in a park during her first winter in Flester.

    Of course she would never learn anything from a straw dummy. She might make a cut that strikes deeper, but that¡¯s not always the best option. Sometimes you need to not overextend, to hold yourself back to better prepare for a counter attack.

    And with a straw dummy that never responds, you¡¯d never get that feedback. But her fight with the zombie did teach her something. Sure, it didn¡¯t tell her what to do right. But it did tell her what she did wrong.

    Shields were useful. She knew that. They had to be, or people wouldn¡¯t use them. But when she thought about it, shields came in so many different shapes and sizes, while hers was just a small circle of ice.

    Zoe summoned a large tower shield just to check if she could, and it appeared in her hand. So if she learned more about shields and their shapes, and which shapes were good for which circumstances, she might be able to use them better.

    Was the round shield just bad for wild blunt attacks like the zombie¡¯s slam? Or did she do something wrong. Maybe her stance was wrong. Where were you supposed to hold a shield, anyway? Zoe found it painful to guard against the zombie¡¯s attack because when it hit, the shield would slam into her forearm.

    Maybe there was a better way to keep the shield secured to her arm so there wouldn¡¯t be that snapping feeling whenever she got hit? The shields Zoe had summoned so far just had a simple rod of ice that she held in her hand. But if she could create one that fit her arm better then the force would be spread out better, she thought.

    Zoe tried to summon another round shield with a slot she could insert her arm into, and found it fit perfectly. Maybe a cushion would even be nice, but she wasn¡¯t sure if that would be possible to make with her skill. She tried, just to be safe, but while it did make something that looked like a cushion, it still felt like rock hard ice.

    Maybe she could carry around a cushion? But at that point, why wouldn¡¯t she just get a real shield to carry around anyway?

    She dropped her two icy daggers and summoned a spear to go with her shield. One thing she expected from the spear was that it would stop the zombie from approaching her, but when she stabbed the zombie it just stumbled forward as the spear scraped along its bones.

    The extra distance wouldn¡¯t matter if the zombie just rushed in regardless. And for that matter, was there a reason to have a spear and a shield?

    If the spear kept the enemy away, then the shield wouldn¡¯t be useful outside of projectiles maybe. And if the enemy got close, then the shield might be useful but the spear was a little difficult to manoeuvre in close range.

    She understood the appeal of swords; long enough to be able to keep a respectable distance, but not so long as to impede your abilities at closer distances. A spear was still the most popular weapon in history, at least as far as she knew though.

    Zoe supposed she might be missing something. Combat with medieval weapons wasn¡¯t something that she really cared much about when she was growing up. She saw movies and played games of people from medieval times, but how many of those were actual accurate representations of what combat looked like?

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    For every game she played with swords and shields, she saw a video of some random person complaining about how stupid it is to do this or that or the other thing with whichever weapons they preferred. There were practically more ¡°Expert criticizes movies¡± videos than there were movies to criticize.

    And for that matter, why should Zoe care about fighting with spear and shield anyway? Was it really important enough for her to focus on? She had magic! Powerful magic, too. Even as competent as she was with a dagger, it didn¡¯t even begin to compare to just firing off one of her frost projectiles.

    She thought to her Frozen Arsenal. What use did it really have for her at the end of the day? It could create armour, which was convenient. But she could just wear armour, too. And it created weapons which let her have some versatility in a fight, but it seemed much more effective for her to just enchant something with it than to actually use it to create weapons itself.

    Would it be better for her to take something like Frost Manipulation and then focus on just using her magic to attack directly? She¡¯d lose her powerful enchantments, but did that matter? Probably, she thought.

    The armour was nice, too. Even if she could wear armour, there was no reason she couldn¡¯t wear armour and then also wear a sheet of ice over top of that, she realized. And while she wasn¡¯t an expert with many weapon types yet it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have more options available to her.

    Frost Manipulation, ultimately, just wasn¡¯t that powerful. It made her a little more competent at manipulating Frost, which was great. But there just wasn¡¯t a good argument for it.

    If her goal was to have fun, then Frozen Arsenal was a lot more fun. She didn¡¯t lose the ability to manipulate frost by taking it instead, she just would be a little worse at it until her other levels caught up. But in exchange she got some amazing enchantments that she was beginning to really appreciate.

    Her distracted thoughts were interrupted by a distant, frantic scream. So quiet she almost missed it, were it not timed perfectly with a wave of calm over the forest.

    Zoe looked in the direction where she heard it from, and tried to listen to hear something more. She thought she might hear a frantic voice far in the distance but it was so faint she wasn¡¯t sure if it was just something her mind was making up.

    Was somebody in trouble? Was it a trap? Did the zombies here do that? She looked around as her mind raced through the possibilities.

    If it was a trap, then it would be a really stupid way to go. But if she ignored it and heard about somebody dying in the forest while she was shopping in town later then she¡¯d never be able to forgive herself. Should she approach? Was her indecisiveness going to get somebody killed? Would it be what saved her life?

    She shook her head and took off towards the voice she heard. It was coming from a ways off the beaten path, but it was still downhill from her and she wasn¡¯t very high up anyway. If there was one thing her research told her, it was that going uphill was always more dangerous. Which conversely, meant that going downhill would always be less dangerous, she thought.

    If it was a trap, she would be prepared and ready for it. And if it was somebody in trouble, she¡¯d never be able to forgive herself for ignoring them. She had never even heard about ambushes this low on the mountain before, there was no practical reason to be scared of them.

    The zombies she was running into were still no problem for her, and she replaced her spear and shield with two daggers. Now wasn¡¯t the time to try out new things Zoe thought, and summoned two Frost projectiles that she flashed her enchantment onto. If they lasted until she got to where she was going, great. If not, so be it.

    The occasional scream grew louder as she rushed through the forest. Somebody was crying out for help, begging for anybody to rescue them. Zoe kept her eyes and ears peeled for anything that might jump out at her. Most of the zombies she was able to see well in advance and take a path around them, but a few would jump out at her from behind the large trunks. Zoe took a few tumbles as she jumped out of the way, and her icy armour was scratched a few times by the zombie¡¯s sharp claws.

    When she saw the source of the screaming, she could feel her face pale. There was a horde of zombies beneath a tree a hundred feet away from her. Maybe twenty or thirty of them at least, she couldn¡¯t even begin to count them. They all clamoured over each other and clawed at the tree, stripping the bark away.

    Green, rotted flesh poured from the horde as the zombies¡¯ furious attempts to climb the tree devastated their bodies. Zoe watched as the occasional zombie died and was absorbed back into the ground, only to be replaced by another that was attracted to the man up in the branches.

    Zoe couldn¡¯t see him clearly but what she could see didn¡¯t look good. He was missing one of his legs, and blood dripped from the stump onto the horde below, which only served to send them into even more of a frenzy.

    She wasn¡¯t sure what to do. If she really tried, she could probably take out the horde with her magic. But how much mana would it take? Could she sustain it all? She¡¯d fought off a few zombies and didn¡¯t notice her mana emptying, but each time she flashed an enchantment onto her frost she felt it drain away a significant chunk.

    Seventy-one mana was ripped away from her pool as Zoe created another projectile to check how much it cost. It climbed back up rapidly, but that left her with at most about twenty projectiles she could fire off in quick succession. Twenty three with the ones she already had floating around her.

    Was that enough to clear out the horde? It had to be, she thought. If it wasn¡¯t, that man was going to die.

    Zoe closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she gathered her composure. A single zombie wasn¡¯t difficult for her. Even two she thought, would be a simple task. Five? She¡¯d be pretty confident. But this was a lot.

    They weren¡¯t quick, and she could run away if she needed to. But would she be able to run away and leave the man to die? She wasn¡¯t sure she could.

    One projectile fired off into the horde and exploded in a shower of frost. Followed by another, and then another. Each one took out a zombie, and even dealt some collateral damage to the ones nearby. A few of the zombies turned towards her and began hobbling their way over.

    Zoe watched as the horde split. Several kept clawing at the man, while others turned towards her. She saw a possible, if maybe a little risky, solution.

    If she lured the horde away, she could get up the tree and heal the man. If he stopped screaming for help, zombies would stop swarming the tree. And as long as the tree held up, which it had so far, Zoe would have all the time she needed to clear out the remaining zombies and then escape with the man.

    With a plan formed, Zoe rushed towards the horde and screamed to grab the remaining zombies¡¯ attention. They all turned to look at her and follow after her. The man saw Zoe and smiled, before his body went limp on the branch he was resting on.

    As soon as Zoe saw the chance, she climbed the tree and flooded the man with Restoration. Her mouth quivered as she watched the horde swarm around the tree she was also trapped in now. It was okay, she told herself. No more would be coming, and she could handle them. The plan was working.

 2-15. Obai

    Zoe tried to calm herself down as she watched the swarm of flesh below her try to to claw its way up at her with a desperation she couldn¡¯t begin to fathom. All she had to do was keep quiet, clear out the remaining zombies already here, finish off any stragglers she managed to see and then get the man back down to Gafoda.

    It was a simple plan. Her explosive enchantment was probably not the best option for her current situation though, so she took a moment to set up an Archery plus Frozen Arsenal enchantment with a focus on penetrative power.

    She summoned another ten projectiles and fired them off at the zombies below her before she had to stop to keep her mana high. The projectiles didn¡¯t have as much destructive power as the explosive ones did, but she managed to take out a zombie with two or maybe three at most if she was unlucky. If she was really lucky, she could line up a shot to pierce through two zombies at once. But the swarm barely shrank even after taking out another handful of them.

    More continued to funnel into the group, attracted by the guttural roars of the zombies. She shook her head and swapped back to the explosive enchantments. She had to clear out the horde before she started caring about the noise.

    But she couldn¡¯t do that as well as she wanted while she was also healing the still unconscious man next to her. She checked his leg a couple times but couldn¡¯t bring herself to watch as flesh, blood and bone swirled around and reformed what he once had.

    It was good to know she could recover limbs with it, but it was not a very pretty process and she was almost thankful there was the terrifying horde below her to distract herself with.

    Or she would have been, if Restoration didn¡¯t seem to almost perfectly match her current mana regeneration without meditation. She was getting about one more mana every three seconds, which meant that each projectile right now was costing her about three and a half minutes of mana regeneration.

    It was almost a full half hour before her Restoration stopped working on the man. Every few minutes she would create a projectile and fire it off into the horde, blowing away at least one zombie and sometimes even two. But the noise of the explosions along with the zombies themselves seemed to keep up with the rate she could finish them off at.

    Were it not so terrifying, it would almost have been a great way to farm experience with her skills. Though she wasn¡¯t even sure if skills gained experience from killing things anyway. She got plenty of experience just using them while she ran to Gafoda, what would make that different to this? She was still just using her skills.

    Maybe there was some bonus she couldn¡¯t see but now wasn¡¯t the time to think about that anyway. With the man fully healed, she was able to turn all of her mana regeneration into raw destructive power to clear away the horde.

    Rather than taking three and a half minutes for each attack, she was able to recover enough after only about twelve seconds. Zoe unleashed a barrage of projectiles into the swarm below her and breathed a sigh of relief when she watched the last black skeleton be absorbed back into the ground.

    There was no doubt that more would be on their way, but at this point she could take them out with less noisy attacks and in time they might even be left alone. Zoe switched her Mirror back to the piercing focused enchantment, and waited around for another thirty minutes. Another couple dozen zombies wandered over, but Zoe picked each one off as soon as they got close enough.

    From her vantage point up in the tree, Zoe could still see plenty of zombies throughout the forest. She even saw more climb their way out of the ground as the dungeon created them. But the rush towards her slowed down, and Zoe let herself relax a little.

    Would it be best to wait until the man recovered? She hadn¡¯t even checked what level he was with all the commotion yet she realized, and then identified him. He was a light blue level seventeen and Zoe shook her head. What was he doing out here all alone at such a low level?

    Maybe Zoe couldn¡¯t talk, being out here alone as well. But she was much higher level and had a pretty good feeling that she had better class options, too.

    Now that she got a better look at the man, he looked to be in his early thirties. Thin brown hair, with a wrinkled face. His armour, if she could call it that, was completely destroyed. The light fur was covered in dark brown stains and ripped to shreds.

    She took a moment to cast Restoration on his armour, but frowned when it barely made a difference. Some of the stains disappeared and a couple of the tears were mended. But it was hardly in much better shape after.

    Was it because it was supposed to be covered in stains and holes? Or was it just not recent enough for her skill? If it came from the fight he had with the zombies, then she imagined it should be recent enough, so was it already in bad shape before he came out here?

    Why would he be out so deep, at such a low level, with such flimsy armour, let alone if the armour was already ripped to shreds like this? Something just didn¡¯t make a lot of sense to her. Maybe the fight took a while and some of the damage was too long ago to be recovered?

    If she waited until he woke up, then he would be able to walk himself, maybe. But what if something else happened? What if her recovery wasn¡¯t perfect and he was still suffering from internal injuries or poison or something?

    The road was maybe twenty minutes away if she took it slow while carrying him. She could take out the odd zombie without needing her hands, but if they got swarmed again then she wasn¡¯t sure if she could climb up a tree while carrying him.

    Zoe grimaced in thought. Both seemed risky. She thought back on her run over here. Really, there weren¡¯t that many zombies in her path. There definitely were a few but never a horde like what she¡¯d found here. Even before on the road, she never saw a swarm of them like this.

    And if she looked out over the forest, she never saw a large clump of them. There were a few groups of two, and even one trio that she could see wandering around. But nothing that would be impossible for her to handle with just her magic.

    She pulsed her Restoration into the man again and found that it took another few minutes before it stopped working again.

    ¡°Shit.¡± She said to herself. He was losing health even just sitting around here. She could keep him alive, but was the damage getting worse? How long would it last? She didn¡¯t have enough information. She hadn¡¯t even heard of the zombies having poison so didn¡¯t have an antidote ready. If that even was the problem, maybe her skill just put his lungs in the wrong place or something, she had no idea.

    Zoe summoned a very long whip with her Frozen arsenal, tied it around the man and then lowered him to the ground. She picked him up when she got down to the ground, and put him on her back.

    If he was losing health here and she didn¡¯t know why, she needed to get him to somebody more capable than her.

    The walk back to the road was tense and reminded Zoe of her walk back to Flester after the boar attacked her. She tried to remember to take deep breaths, and let herself calm down. Panicking and freaking out was just going to tire herself out when she didn¡¯t need that. If she stayed calm, she¡¯d be fine. She was going to be fine, and so was the man.

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    There were a few zombies on the walk back, and each one she took out with a few well aimed piercing projectiles. Every few minutes she¡¯d stop and pulse her Restoration through the man until it stopped working, and then continue on.

    A few minutes before she got back to the road, she felt the man shift around on her back.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Zoe felt his head lift from her shoulder and look around. ¡°Oh, you did save me. Thank you for that.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you¡¯re still losing health though. Are you okay? Were you poisoned?¡± Zoe asked the man.

    ¡°Hahaha, no I¡¯m sorry. I have a bit of an unfortunate skill that drains my health if its above half. You don¡¯t need to heal me, I¡¯ll be fine. Also I can walk, you can put me down.¡± The man said.

    Zoe put him down and breathed another sigh of relief. That might be one of the worst skills she¡¯d ever heard of.

    ¡°Yeah I know, I know. It¡¯s horrible. I didn¡¯t get a chance to tell you before I passed out though. Thank you. I thought I was done for.¡± The man bowed to her.

    ¡°Why were you out here?" Zoe asked, and started walking back towards the road again.

    ¡°Ah it¡¯s a long story. I grew up in Korna and always really liked the stories adventurers would share. It¡¯s different in town, you know? Everybody¡¯s so safe and happy. There¡¯s the odd monster attack, but it¡¯s good.

    ¡°I guess I was overconfident. I¡¯ve got a bit of a defensive build going on,¡± The man raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "I know, I know. Losing half my health just by existing. I¡¯ve got over two thousand right now though. Half¡¯s pretty good, and I get a lot of damage reduction and strength from it. Not enough, though. Apparently.¡° He looked at his leg.

    ¡°And so you just ran off through the forest, alone?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup. Well I left Korna and came straight here. I wanted to climb the mountain, so I just started climbing up. And it was good at first. Lots of fun bashing these zombies in, really.¡± He sighed.

    ¡°So what happened, then? If you¡¯re okay with talking about it.¡± Zoe asked.

    The man laughed. ¡°Of course I am. It¡¯s so dull, I say. I tripped.¡±

    ¡°You tripped?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup. I ran into a group of three and thought I could take them. And I still think I could have if nothing happened. But while I was fighting them, I tripped over a damn tree stump. Fell right to the ground, smashed my head into a rock. By the time I realized what was happening, they were already chomping on my leg.

    ¡°I tried to fight them off, but they took my leg with them. It was all I could do to pull myself up into the tree while they were distracted with their meal. And well from there, you know the rest I guess. Screamed for help and attracted even more of the damn things.¡± He shook his head.

    Zoe just nodded her head, not sure what to respond to that.

    The man laughed. ¡°Horrible, ain¡¯t it? What a stupid way to go that would have been.¡±

    ¡°You seem to be taking it well at least.¡± Zoe said.

    The man smiled. ¡°Of course! This is what I left for. It would have sucked if I died, but now I¡¯ve got a great story of a brave hero rescuing me from a swarm of liches!¡±

    ¡°They were just zombies, you know? Not liches.¡± Zoe said.

    The man laughed. ¡°Maybe!¡±

    Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m Obai,¡± He said when they got back to the road.

    ¡°Zoe.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Zoe. Thank you again for saving me.¡± He stuck his hand out.

    ¡°Nice to meet you too. It¡¯s what anybody would¡¯ve done, I think.¡± Zoe grabbed his hand.

    *Ding* Trade initiated

    One [Gold Circle].

    ¡°Oh that¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t have to do that. I didn¡¯t expect payment.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I insist,¡± Obai said. ¡°I don¡¯t think most would have put themselves in danger for a stranger like that. And I¡¯d feel bad if I don¡¯t get to show my thanks. Please.¡± He bowed his head.

    Zoe frowned, and then accepted the trade.

    *Ding* Trade accepted

    Obai smiled. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be heading down to the town. Should just be down this road, yes?¡±

    Zoe nodded her head.

    ¡°Then to you I wish the best of fortunes. May you prosper and flourish amid the perils of the dungeon.¡± He bowed and started walking back down the trodden road.

    ¡°To you as well. But I¡¯m gonna be heading back down too anyway. I wanna relax for a bit after that.¡± Zoe said.

    Obai laughed. ¡°Well, then I suppose I¡¯ll enjoy your company for a while longer yet.¡±

    The two carried on back down to Gafoda. There were a few zombies on the road that Zoe took out from afar, and they soon found themselves back at the large gate at the outskirts of Gafoda.

    ¡°Do you happen to know of an inn where one might stay?¡± Obai asked.

    Zoe nodded and led him to the inn where she was staying. ¡°It¡¯s not very comfortable, but it¡¯s four walls and a bed at least.¡±

    Obai laughed. ¡°I¡¯d want nothing more.¡± He bought a room from the rough looking woman who ran the inn and then the two made their way down the cramped hallway.

    ¡°Farewell then, may you prosper and flourish.¡± Obai said to Zoe.

    ¡°Yeah, best of luck to you too.¡± Zoe said and entered her room.

    It was just as cramped as she remembered. She sat down on her bed and ate one of the sandwiches she had stored and thought about the rest of the food she had in her bracelet.

    If she was being honest, she wasn¡¯t going to cook her own meals every day. The prepared dishes were convenient. She could sit down somewhere, pull out a meal and eat it. The raw ingredients were cheaper and nice to have but it¡¯s not like she could pull out a venison steak and eat it. She¡¯d have to cook it.

    She decided it made a lot more sense to cook all of the meals and then store the finished meals than to store the raw ingredients. But it was late, she was a little tired from the rescue and the bed as rough as it was, called to her. She could spend tomorrow cooking instead.

 2-16. Fruity Mashed Potatoes

    Zoe woke up in the morning and stretched herself out then ate another of her sandwiches. Part of her wanted to just get back to climbing the mountain, but she had to be responsible. Just sitting here eating her sandwich was proof enough of that. If the option was there, she wasn¡¯t going to choose to go cook a meal.

    So she left her room and made her way out of the inn. There were two options for preparing her meals, as far as she could see. Make a campfire and cook her food on it, which seemed fun enough to her, though as little inconvenient.

    The other option was to find a stove or something she could use. Maybe at an inn or maybe there was some kind of communal cooking area? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    But she decided to go make a campfire and cook with all of the equipment she bought. She had bought it years earlier and never ended up using it. Now she had an excuse to, and she decided to take advantage of it. Maybe Joe had a point after all.

    She was never going to just go cook something on a campfire when a stove was readily available. But now she had an excuse to do it and was a little excited to go give it a try. Having a reason to do something really did make it just that little bit better.

    Cooking on a campfire is something she hadn¡¯t done in a very long time, either. Managing the heat was pretty tricky, she knew. The tripod she had would help keep the food away from the heat, which was good. But should she let the flames just lick the bottom of the pot? Or was it better to just let the flames died down and bring the pot closer to the hot coals?

    She wasn¡¯t really sure, but she had lots of portions to try things out at least. What made the most sense to her was letting the flames not quite reach the bottom of the pot, but not quite be left as smouldering coals either. But she could adjust it as she went if things were burning or not cooking properly.

    Before she went though, she needed a couple more things. Or, well, not really now that she thought about it. She was going to shop around for a cutting board and a knife but she could make a good knife with her skills and a flat shield would work just fine as a cutting board.

    Zoe made her way out to the forest around Gafoda and gathered up a bunch of branches. She wasn¡¯t sure how many portions she would end up cooking but if she did the full hundred, she¡¯d need the fire running for quite a while.

    Zoe sat down on a nearby stump and summoned a wide, flat shield and a sharp santoku knife, like the one she had back home. The setup worked pretty well as she cut up the portions of deer meat into smaller more manageable cubes. There wasn¡¯t a very stable place to put the cutting shield, thing. She could sit on the ground and put it on the stump, but she didn¡¯t want to do that and so she just rested it on her legs and fumbled around a bit.

    The knife was very sharp and cut through well enough at least, she just had to be careful not to rock her legs too much and have the meat fall off onto the ground. She supposed she could clean it with her Immaculate Enchantments anyway but something about it just felt icky to her.

    Her plan was fairly simple. She didn¡¯t have great cooking options out here. Really all she had was a cooking tripod and a medium sized pot that were currently warming up on the fire Zoe had started.

    So she couldn¡¯t do anything extravagant. She also didn¡¯t have any seasonings, at all. She smacked herself for not remembering to buy some salt at least. She¡¯d do her best anyway, and hoped it wouldn¡¯t be too bland.

    The veggies she had were quite varied. There was quite a bit of Lio, the spicy tie dye spinach that made up the bulk of the sandwiches she had. But there were quite a few other vegetables she recognized as well. Some onions, potatoes. A bunch of the weird blue cucumber banana things. And some furni, which Zoe had taken to quite liking.

    She prodded at the blue cucumbers as she wondered how she was supposed to eat them. Were they to be peeled like bananas? Or was the peel eaten, like a cucumber? She scraped a bit of it off with her claws and it was thin, like a cucumber¡¯s skin. The flesh inside was a bright yellow and began to slowly flow out of the hole she made in the skin.

    She tasted the blue skin she peeled off and it was quite bitter, with a bit of chew to it. The flesh inside was sweet and tangy, and had a texture like smooth, somewhat dry mashed potatoes.

    Frankly, she had no idea how to cook with them and put them back in her storage ring. They tasted nice, but she¡¯d eat them raw, in the peel rather than try to prepare something with them. If she ever found a better setup, she might try making balls out of the flesh and then frying them, but she didn¡¯t even have any oil here so that wasn¡¯t possible.

    Zoe chopped up all of the onions, potatoes and half of the deer meat she had purchased. She started by putting some of the deer meat into the pot. The meat sizzled when it hit the hot metal, and Zoe realized she never bought a spatula. She looked through her supplies, the closest thing to a spatula that she had was her knife, and maybe some of her pitons.

    A boomerang was kinda like a spatula, in some ways, and she summoned a translucent blue boomerang of ice with her Frozen Arsenal. She had no idea how well it would hold up to the heat from the pot, but it was better than ruining her dagger. If it didn¡¯t work, she¡¯d sacrifice one of her metal pitons.

    She let the meat sizzle away as she managed the fire below the pot, trying to keep the flame just a little short from reaching the bottom of the metal. After a couple minutes, she pushed the meat around with her frozen boomerang. It held up to the heat somewhat well but it did melt a little, and the pot cooled down quite a bit. The sizzling of the meat stopped for a moment as the water boiled away and the fire heated everything back up.

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    Zoe tossed the boomerang away, and it didn¡¯t fly back to her. How were you supposed to throw a boomerang anyway? It didn¡¯t matter. She grabbed one of her metal pitons and started pushing the meat around with that instead. The sharp edge worked much better for scraping off the burnt bits from the bottom of the pot.

    When the meat finished cooking, Zoe tasted one of the pieces and stored the rest away in her bracelet. It was bland. Really bland. It needed salt, it needed some thyme and rosemary. It wasn¡¯t bad, just not nearly as good as it could be. Next time she was back in Flester she was going to buy more salt than she¡¯d ever need.

    It was good enough, and the meat wasn¡¯t overcooked or burnt so she finished off the remaining forty nine portions of prepared meat the same way. The pot was only large enough to do about two portions at a time and it was almost three full hours before she was done. But Zoe enjoyed the process of gathering up all the branches she could find to manage the fire. It was a relaxing break from the stress of the previous day.

    Next were the veggies. The ones she wanted to cook were the potatoes and onions. The onions she planned to get a nice deep caramel colour on, while the potatoes she had chopped up into small cubes to hopefully make hashbrowns out of. She hadn¡¯t bought any oil, which is another thing she planned to make sure to have next time. But while the venison wasn¡¯t very fatty, she had cooked an awful lot of it.

    At the bottom of the pot was a decent layer of fat that rendered out from all of the meat she cooked, and she tossed in about half of the potatoes she had prepared. It filled up the pot a little more than she wanted, but she wasn¡¯t as worried about boiling the potatoes as she was with boiling the meat.

    In fact, a bit of water would be quite helpful so she summoned a small ball of frost and dropped it into the pot as well. It melted, and the water popped and sizzled as it boiled away in the layer of fat. Zoe pressed her metal piton along the bottom to scrape off all the burnt bits and then mixed up the potatoes in the saucy mix. They took on a beautiful golden colour as they cooked, and Zoe stored them away in her bracelet.

    Unfortunately, almost all the fat she had gotten from the venison was stored away with the hashbrowns. So instead of frying the rest of her potatoes, she was going to make some boiled hashbrowns. If she was careful she could probably keep from mashing them up too much until she ate them and they might be okay.

    Zoe filled the pot with ice through her Frost skill and then lowered it closer to the fire as it boiled. She kept filling it up again as the ice melted until she got it to about three quarters full, and then raised it back up away from the fire until it maintained a comfortable simmer.

    Then she dumped in her remaining potatoes and stirred them around for a while until they were soft and tender. And then she realized she didn¡¯t have a good way to strain them. So many problems to fix next time she was in town. So many things she just wouldn¡¯t think about until she was actually in the situation having to deal with them. Preparing so much food on a campfire was hard and time consuming.

    Her conjuring skills would do nothing to help her here, ice would just melt away as she poured the boiling water through it. And if she let it cool first, which would ruin her potatoes, the water would just freeze anyway. She needed something else.

    She started by summoning a large bowl of ice next to her with her Frost skill, and then she dumped out most of the boiling water into it while trying her best to keep the potatoes from falling out. When it got a little low, she pulled her metal helmet out from her bracelet and stuffed it into the pot to hold the potatoes back.

    It worked well enough, and she only lost a handful of potatoes. She grabbed them out of the now somewhat melted ice bowl and tossed them back into the still warm pot to melt off the bits of ice that were stuck to them. Then she stored all the boiled hashbrowns into her bracelet, and turned her attention to the onions.

    Normally, she¡¯d like to fry them in a bit of oil and add a bit of sugar to help caramelize them. She had neither of those. How well did onions caramelize without any oil anyway?

    Zoe started by kicking around the hot coals so the fire died down and then lowered the pot so it rested just above them. Low and slow was the secret to cooking lots of onions at once. If she was cooking just one portion, she could crank up the heat and stir often. But she had maybe twenty-five portions. There was no way she¡¯d be able to manage all that on a higher heat.

    When the pot cooled down a little bit, but was still hot enough to cook her onions she dumped all of them into the pot. They sizzled for a moment, and then the pot cooled down and the sizzling stopped. Zoe lowered it down onto the coals for a minute to help it warm back up and as soon as she heard the onions start to boil away she raised it up a little bit and stirred the onions with her piton.

    She kept stirring and mixing while she managed the fire and pot¡¯s position. The onions shrank as the water inside them boiled away and when they seemed to stop leaking out water, Zoe started stirring a little more frequently.

    Zoe had no idea what temperature the maillard reaction occurred at, but in theory the oil should only help get there more consistently, not be the only way to get there. She kept stirring, and the onions continued to shrink and take on more of a golden colour. Some of the bits she saw as she stirred were black and crumbled with the touch of her piton, but most seemed to be doing okay.

    After about an hour of managing the pot, she was satisfied with how they looked and pulled them into her bracelet as well. Then she cleaned up her campfire and put away all of her supplies. That was all the cooking she needed to get done, what was left was to prep the meals and then store them as full meals rather than just components.

    She created another large flat shield and summoned a few portions of the ingredients together. Each meal was made up of a lio leaf wrapped around a portion of venison along with some of the onions and potatoes. She tried to keep a split of the fried and boiled potatoes in each wrap.

    When she was done, she ended up with about a hundred of the wraps, each one about half of a full meal. Zoe kept two of them out and stored the rest away. They ended up being pretty good, actually. The lio provided a nice spicy crunch, the onions were sweet and soft. The mix of the fried and boiled potatoes actually worked out pretty well and added a lot of heterogeneity to the meal. And the venison, while bland, had a nice meaty flavour and texture that worked well with the sweet and spicy flavours from the veggies.

    Not the greatest meal she¡¯d ever had, but for what she had to work with Zoe was quite pleased with herself. She still had another fifty portions of veggies and meat to cook up but decided that could wait for another day. Maybe one when she had some oil and salt, at least.

 2-17. Boss Grip

    By the time Zoe had finished preparing all of her meals, the sun was low in the sky. Not quite setting, but it was comfortably into the early evening. For a moment, she thought about going back up the mountain, but there were some other things that she could do in town too.

    She wanted to map out Gafoda a little bit. It was a small town, only a few dozen buildings in total. If she walked around, it wouldn¡¯t take longer than an hour or two to get a good understanding of what kinds of shops and stores were available to her. And it gave her some time to think about her mountain climbing experience.

    Climbing was exciting, the fights she had with the zombies were scary but manageable. A scenario where Zoe were to be a little higher in the mountain and surrounded by higher level undead that could actually threaten her wasn¡¯t hard to imagine.

    Zoe knew from her research that the undead would start using tools, weapons. And even higher they¡¯d have magic of their own. She didn¡¯t really understand how it worked, did they just get another class that gave them combat options? Why would it take until even later for them to get magic? What restricted them from that?

    Was it just the way the dungeon worked? Did it create them with certain classes, or did the zombies level up over time and wander up the mountain as they did? There were so many questions that she wouldn¡¯t be able to find answers to any time soon.

    She put her musings on how the dungeon worked to the side, she could do some more research when she got back to Kaira or maybe if she ran into Eliza again. What was more important to her right now was her own plans, what she wanted to do.

    Did she want to put herself at risk and climb higher, to more dangers? Part of her did, that was why she was here after all. She wanted to conquer the mountain, to be able to say she bested it. That was the whole point. But she¡¯d learned a lot even just from the one trip she had done that didn¡¯t go very high anyway.

    Should she just stick around at the lower areas until she felt more comfortable, and then continue ascending? That made the most sense to her at least. A lot more sense, once she really thought about it. Really, anything else would just be irrational and dangerous.

    Okay, so she¡¯d stick around at the lower levels, practice using her skills and see where her limits were. And then once she was comfortable, she could continue on. One thing she really wanted was to at least be more confident using a shield.

    If she understood that, then she could more safely practice a variety of one handed weapons like the spear and sword. Her magic was great, but had she been able to use a weapon properly, she could have taken out the horde of zombies while she rescued Obai without needing to rely on her meagre mana regeneration while she was using Restoration.

    Although, the argument could be made that if she put that time into practising Meditation in more stressful scenarios like that, then she would have had the mana regeneration to handle it anyway.

    But at some point, even that won¡¯t be enough. Her Restoration is going to continue levelling up, and it¡¯s going to get even more costly as it does, she¡¯d imagine. Her Meditation was a massive boon of course, but a spear didn¡¯t cost mana at all, at least not beyond summoning one which was almost negligible.

    Zoe continued wondering about what her plan should be as she walked through Gafoda. As she expected, it only took her a little over an hour to map everything out. Matching her previous stroll through Gafoda, most of what she saw were alchemy shops and clinics. But there were three inns ¡ª none that looked better than the one she was staying at, two blacksmiths and a handful of more generalized shops.

    She had little interest in alchemy and clinics, at least for now. Maybe one day she could see about getting a job at one of the clinics, but her main interest were the blacksmiths. After thinking about it, she decided it made the most sense to put at least a token effort into her weapons skills, even if she was going to focus more on meditation.

    In her eyes, it was better to spend her time getting a variety of options than to put all her eggs into one basket, at least when the cost wasn¡¯t too high. And for now at least, it wasn¡¯t.

    Zoe walked back to the nicer of the two blacksmiths she saw. It was a large stone building with a forge around the back. A young woman covered in soot was hammering away at a large chunk of some blackened metal on an anvil.

    It looked like a lot of hard work, but it might be a good idea to learn someday Zoe thought as she walked into the shop. There were two shelves along each side of the building, and a counter at the opposite end from where Zoe entered.

    Most of what Zoe saw weren¡¯t weapons or armour but tools and other more normal things she recognized. Hammers, nails and pipes. Even some cutlery and cooking utensils. All the things somebody might need that happened to be metal. There were some weapons hanging from the wall behind the counter and even a suit of armour set up on a mannequin, but they weren¡¯t the main draw here.

    It made sense to Zoe, in some way. A blacksmith just worked with metal, they weren¡¯t only for making weapons. She just had this image from all the stories she¡¯d read and shows she watched of blacksmiths with hordes of weapons hanging on the walls. But if this was where metal was processed, most of it was probably used on crowbars and forks if she took a moment to think about it.

    The man behind the counter smiled when she entered and watched her as she walked around. Zoe checked out the knick knacks then stopped off at the counter. As useful as the random junk was, she really needed a better look at weapons so she could make better ones with her skill.

    ¡°Hello!¡± The man grinned.

    ¡°Uh, hi. I was hoping to get a look at some weapons, I guess? I have a skill that lets me create weapons but I kinda wanna get a better idea of what they look like and how they feel so I can use it better. Do you have some weapons I could look through? And shields, I¡¯d love to check out some shields if you have some too?¡± Zoe asked.

    The man frowned. ¡°We¡¯re not a charity, miss. I can¡¯t let you just look through all our stock so you can steal our designs for free.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Zoe said, realizing her blunder. Of course that was a little silly. It¡¯d be like asking if you could look through a bookstore and copy some of their books into your journal to read later. Sure maybe the books wouldn¡¯t be ground breaking and she could get them for free from a library, but that¡¯s just not the point of a bookstore.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°That makes sense. I¡¯m sorry. I can absolutely pay. Thirty silver to look at some shields and weapons maybe?¡± Zoe asked.

    The man grinned again and stuck out his hand. ¡°Sounds like a deal to me!¡±

    Zoe grabbed his hand and traded the thirty silver over to him.

    ¡°Excellent. So shields and weapons. Anything in particular?¡± He asked.

    ¡°No I don¡¯t really know much about this stuff to be honest. Just would like to see how real shields work and maybe see some more exotic weapons and stuff?¡± Zoe answered.

    The man nodded and summoned an assortment of shields to the counter between them. There were a handful of smaller, round shields and a few longer shields of different shapes.

    ¡°Right, well here¡¯s a handful of shields. These ones here,¡± he gestured at the smaller ones, ¡°are all boss gripped. Do you know what that is?¡± The man asked.

    Zoe shook her head.

    He flipped one of the shields over to show the backside. There was a single metal rod on the back, and he gripped his hand around it. ¡°This is a boss grip. You hold it with just your hand. Usually they¡¯re smaller shields that you¡¯d try and deflect with.¡± He held it at arms length out in front of him at a slight angle.

    ¡°It¡¯s light enough to hold way out here, which increases the area of protection behind it. Keep it a little angled and most blows will slide off.¡± He put the shield down and flipped over one of the larger tear drop shaped shields.

    ¡°This one is much larger and heavier. On the back are these two straps. You put your arm through the first and then grip the second. Because it¡¯s so much heavier, you¡¯d usually keep it closer to your body and maybe extend it to protect your attacking arm.¡± He made a swinging motion with his other hand and moved the shield to cover his hand as he did.

    ¡°Make sense?" He asked.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Good. So those are your shields. The actual shape of the shield doesn¡¯t matter so much, it¡¯s just about striking a balancing act between the amount of coverage a shield has without making it too heavy to move around. In theory, if you were strong enough to hold a tower shield at arms length without losing mobility, that would be best. But if you can do that, you should probably get a sturdier, heavier shield and hold it closer anyway.¡± He shrugged.

    ¡°Okay, cool. How are you supposed to hold a shield anyway? I tried to block one of the zombies¡¯ swings earlier and it didn¡¯t work so well.¡± Zoe asked.

    The man laughed. ¡°A common mistake people do is think the shield protects them. It doesn¡¯t. It¡¯s just a hunk of wood or metal. It spreads out the impact across a larger area and helps you deflect the incoming blow. But you still have to brace yourself, you still have to absorb the force that isn¡¯t deflected away. Stand strong, hold the shield out and try to angle the shield to deflect rather than stop blows.¡±

    Zoe nodded. She didn¡¯t expect a lesson for the thirty silver, but was appreciating it quite a lot. When she tried to stop the zombie¡¯s blow before she took it head on. The zombie¡¯s arms slammed into her shield and pushed her back, but if she stepped aside a bit and just held the shield up to stop the glancing blow, it probably would have worked a lot better.

    She wasn¡¯t trying to stop a cavalry charge, she was trying to not get killed by a zombie. There was no reason she needed to take the full force of its blow like she tried.

    ¡°Okay, that helps a lot actually. Thanks.¡± Zoe said.

    The man smiled. ¡°No problem, happy to help. Weapons next then?¡±

    Zoe nodded.

    He replaced the shields with a variety of weapons. A few swords, maces, axes and a couple spears. ¡°Well we don¡¯t have any exotic weapons, people usually get those custom made if they need something strange. But here¡¯s a selection of more typical weapons at least. You have any experience with these?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I¡¯m good with a dagger, and I used a spear once before. It was okay but kind of hard to actually hit things properly with it.¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°They can be. Best advice I can give you is don¡¯t overextend. Keep the spear close to your body and the tip between you and your opponent. A lesson on each weapon is outside my wheelhouse and what you paid today, though.¡± He laughed.

    ¡°That¡¯s fair. Thanks a lot though.¡± Zoe said.

    The man gestured at the weapons. ¡°Pay attention to the balance. Different weapons are balanced differently for different purposes.¡± He picked up one of the swords and handed it to Zoe.

    ¡°This here is a longsword. The balance point is a few inches above the hilt. This is a nice balance between keeping it easy to move but without losing weight in the tip.¡± He explained.

    Zoe held the sword and moved it around. It moved through the air easily, and she was able to get the tip wherever she wanted with relative ease.

    The man handed her one of the maces. ¡°This is a mace. The big heavy ball at the end pulls the balance point very far forward. It¡¯s much harder to move around, but that added weight helps make the blows that much more devastating.¡±

    Zoe grabbed the hammer and tried to move it around. It was much heavier than the sword when she held it by the handle, though when she held it on the other end it felt much the same. Lifting the tip and getting it where she wanted was much more difficult.

    ¡°And there¡¯s plenty of weapons with everything in between. Swords that pull the balance point closer to your hand for that little bit of extra mobility, or push it farther around for harder hitting slashes. It all depends on the style you use and what the weapon is supposed to do. Make sense?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yeah. That does, thanks. I kinda knew that already but it¡¯s so much more impressive to feel the difference between them like this than to just hear about it. Those weighed basically the same but felt so much more different than I expected.¡± Zoe answered.

    The man nodded. ¡°A lot goes into making weapons feel good to hold and use. A sword isn¡¯t just a sharp stick.¡±

    ¡°Thanks a lot for that.¡± Zoe summoned another silver circle and handed it to him.

    ¡°Pleasure doing business!¡± He grinned and Zoe left.

    Zoe suspected she vastly overpaid for just looking at some weapons but she didn¡¯t mind. Forty silver for a brief conversation about weapons and the chance to hold a couple of them was almost certainly bad. But she learned lots and was excited to put some of it to practice.

    She made her way over to the gate, summoned her frozen armour, a slightly shorter spear this time and a large tear drop shield. It might be a while before she truly mastered the shield, but she had all the time in the world to keep trying.

 2-18. Four Digits

    The next month flew by as Zoe practiced using a variety of weapons. Both the spear and sword were rather comfortable for her by the end, and the shield felt very natural after the month of practice. She tried out some mauls and axes, but they felt rather clunky and awkward to use. And it didn¡¯t help that the heavier weapons made her feel like she was playing whack-a-mole with the zombies that popped up out of the ground.

    Zoe got another level three weeks in, and dumped her stat points into vitality which brought her up to a full thousand health. Seeing four digits in the corner of her vision whenever she checked on her health made her feel a lot more comfortable. It was almost tempting to continue dumping her points into vitality just for even more health, but that was probably a thought driven more by fear than anything else.

    And while fear was certainly a valid feeling that Zoe appreciated, it wasn¡¯t how she wanted to make all of her decisions. One thousand health was already plenty. Even when a fight went horribly wrong while she was trying out a new weapon she never lost more than a couple hundred health. And then even if that happened, she was able to quickly restore it all back with her Restoration.

    The rest of her points for a few more levels would go straight into Endurance until she got five hundred stamina, and then she¡¯d get back to pumping up her magic stats. Using the physical weapons made her appreciate the physical stats as well quite a lot, but it was hard to decide on what the split should be for her.

    In the end, her decision to master a variety of weapons might end up being a waste of time if her physical stats fell behind too much. What would a shield do for her when she only had fifty strength if she¡¯s getting hit by something with six hundred strength?

    And for that matter, was her current class even a magic class? She wanted one, and decided on Seasoned Frost thinking it was. But was it, really? It had some magical effects ¡ª Haste and Frost Manipulation were both likely affected by her intelligence.

    But was Frozen Arsenal affected by her intelligence? It made her weapons and armour, but how did it actually interact with her stats? Did she need a tonne of Strength to be able to wield them, and then also a tonne of Intelligence to be able to make powerful, sturdy creations? Or did Intelligence help supplement her lacking physical stats?

    It was worth a test at some point, she thought. Even if her class skills ended up not being all that great, the bonuses from the class alone were exceptional. And even if she ended up with just Alacrity, Eternal Elegance, Restoration and both of the Affinities she¡¯d be plenty happy with her decision.

    But once she was done getting her Endurance up to fifty, she¡¯d save up a bunch of points to dump into her Intelligence at once. There was a good chance she¡¯d notice a significant boost to her physical power while she wielded the weapons, she thought. It didn¡¯t make sense to have a class that was so clearly magical require significant amounts of physical stats. Unless the standard was to have a good split between all of them anyway, which didn¡¯t make a lot of sense to her either.

    Gafoda changed quite a bit over the month. The two blacksmiths and the three inns were a constant that Zoe got used to, but every week a few of the other shops would change owners and become something completely different. An alchemy shop one day would be a grocer the next. A clinic became a camping supply store. It made her feel a little silly for trying to build up a map of the place earlier in her stay.

    The people she saw wandering through Gafoda also changed quite often. There were a good handful of familiar faces ¡ª Zoe had seen Obai shopping at one of the blacksmiths just a week prior, but all the lower levelled kids would get a handful of levels and then leave.

    Caravans full of clearly wealthy families would replace them and Zoe would see a new crowd of children running around being excited to kill some zombies. It was a strange experience, after her time in Flester and even back home on Earth.

    She was used to seeing the same people day in, and day out. But outside of a small handful of people in Gafoda, Zoe rarely saw the same face more than once or maybe twice. Some, she was sure were claimed by the dungeon. People who rushed in too quickly and bit off more than they could chew without anybody around to save them.

    Zoe had found a few more unfortunate individuals like Obai who thought too highly of themselves and ended up crying for help. She helped them every time she heard them, and often she wasn¡¯t even the first to get to them. Volunteers scoured the forest, looking for people just like them.

    Had she not rescued Obai, Zoe had a pretty good feeling that somebody else might have come by to help out. Somebody else even might have when she was there and she just didn¡¯t notice them before they left it to her. In the higher levels, she didn¡¯t expect that same level of safety, but it was comforting knowing that there were so many keeping the lower areas safe.

    Near the end of the month she found herself settling into a fighting style that was rather comfortable. She¡¯d summon a sword and shield with her Frozen Arsenal, but keep them as more of a fallback for when she wasn¡¯t able to take out the zombies with her enchanted projectiles.

    At times it felt a little goofy holding her sword and shield while she fired off an almost unlimited quantity of explosive projectiles. But she was grateful for it in particular when she had to rescue somebody. The less mana she consumed clearing out the zombies the more she¡¯d have for healing them.

    The fights she had felt a lot better than her first attempt, too. Rather than taking the zombies¡¯ slams head on, she would angle her shield and their rotted fists would slide along its icy surface. With practice she was even able to push them aside and send them tumbling to the ground when they lunged at her. Her sword would slash across their chest and their rotted flesh would sheer off to splatter on the ground.

    If she were being completely honest with herself, the whole experience really cemented her decision to be more of a magic focused build ¡ª or at least a little more distant. The arsenal of weapons was fun to play with, but getting so close and personal with the mindless corpses was often more tedious than anything else.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    The learning part was exciting. Before she got her new Spear, Shield and Sword fighting skills, each fight was something new. She¡¯d make another mistake and be punished for it, then take her time to reflect on it and think about what she could do better. And that was fun.

    But now there was no more learning being done. The zombies wouldn¡¯t do anything new, they never surprised her. It¡¯s not that she specifically wanted danger, she just didn¡¯t have a burning passion for wielding a sword like she did when she used her magic.

    Watching the raw power that made up her being manipulate the world to her desire and create such incredible effects didn¡¯t ever seem to get old. Even creating a bow and using that to take out zombies at a distance was enjoyable for her. But wielding a sword and shield, or a spear, or any other short, close range weapon she¡¯d tried out left her feeling like a strange cog in some messed up machine. It made the whole process feel so much more repetitive than it needed to. Like an endless, tedious grind just to see her numbers go up.

    Fighting like that wasn¡¯t fun, it didn¡¯t spark her creativity and inspire her to try new things. There was one right decision, and once she learned it, there was no reason to try anything else. Even less than that, there was plenty of very good reason to not try anything else. Even if the fights weren¡¯t terribly risky, it was stupid to intentionally make a bad decision just to have some fun. And that stupidity made it not fun any more.

    Whereas from a distance, she was free to experiment more. To try things that might not be the wisest decisions but the risk was still low enough to justify it anyway. She could try out a variety of enchantments and effects, different shapes of projectiles. It was fun to play with magic. She couldn¡¯t say that about the sword.

    And maybe somebody who truly loved the sword would disagree. Maybe they¡¯d see new things they could do with each fight, new ways to hold their sword or to swing it, flourishes and feints that excited them. Zoe just didn¡¯t get that, she came to realize. The physical combat was out of necessity, while her magic called to her and begged for use. Maybe in time she¡¯d find a weapon she enjoyed, but she hadn¡¯t yet.

    It really made her question her Frozen Arsenal skill again, but every time it came up she would remind herself that her favourite enchantments came from its variety of possible effects. The whole thing really annoyed her. She¡¯d love to be able to take another skill ¡ª even Eternal elegance and then another enchanting skill would be awesome. But then she¡¯d be stuck with such a smaller possible range of enchantments and that didn¡¯t spark joy.

    She added researching skills to her high priority list when she got back to Flester. The only real enchantments she used from her Frozen Arsenal were explosive and piercing, both of which she thought she could find simple replacements for. Maybe there was an Explosion general skill she could get somehow? Find an Explosive elemental and kill it?

    Zoe shook her head. That was just being silly. If she were being realistic, the best option going forward would be to get a whole different class with a bunch of different skills that she¡¯d enjoy. But for now the only possible option would be to replace her enchanting class. Which was also not a valid option.

    Enchanting had become such a huge part of her life. The freedom her Chrono Enchanter class gave her was incredible, and going back to just a normal Enchanting skill was off the table as far as she was concerned. Even if she didn¡¯t take many enchanting classes, she definitely needed at least one. And more wouldn¡¯t hurt, she thought.

    Mana Manipulation was an interesting skill to play with as well, though she still hadn¡¯t found anything that really helped her. She tried pushing her Frost projectiles forward with mana as well but it didn¡¯t seem to have an effect. Even trying to help the dungeon absorb mana also seemed to do nothing. She could push the mana towards where it was being absorbed, but the dungeon never seemed to care and just continued pulling mana in at a constant rate.

    It was definitely a lot more fun than something like Acceleration, and Zoe mentally thanked Emma for the suggestion. Even if didn¡¯t do anything super helpful, it hit that very primal pleasure that Zoe felt from the magical skills she had. Just watching so clearly the world shift and warp to her will was an indescribable feeling, and she often got lost just pushing the wisps around in patterns.

    Suffocating the zombies in mana slowed them down a little bit, and one time she even tried to take one out with just her Mana Manipulation. It did work, but it was extremely slow, and she wasn¡¯t sure what the damage came from. Was it just from the mana pressing into it? Just too much pressure over time? Or did she accidentally make a weapon from mana?

    There must be something she could do with it, she thought. But she hadn¡¯t found it yet. Maybe it would help enchantments run quicker or better, maybe it would help once she learned how to enchant things without first creating an image of her skills?

    It didn¡¯t matter to her much. The skill was fun to play with, and it didn¡¯t impede her. That¡¯s all she could ask for. All she wanted, really. As much fun as it was to have a goal of getting to Moaning Point¡¯s peak, she thought she probably would have been just as satisfied if she stayed in Flester and continued refining her skills in safety.

    Immaculate Enchantments was the last skill that confused her by the end of the month. It got to level thirteen, which was high enough that for most skills she was able to notice at least a slight difference if she really paid attention to it. But in the case of her cleaning skill? It may as well have still been level one.

    She could see there being thresholds to it instead. Maybe at level fifty it would start cleaning more things or give her more options of what to clean. But there didn¡¯t seem to be a linear scaling to it. Or if there was, it was extremely weak and good enough at level one anyway.

    Which meant that she didn¡¯t need to always have the skill. She could swap it on when she needed to clean, and swap it off if she needed to do something else. The slot could be a bit of a flex slot for whatever she needed most. Though, there weren¡¯t really any other skills she needed from Chrono Enchanter, either.

    Mana Storage was effectively useless, since she could just manually dump her mana into something all day long if she needed it. Alacrity was an amazing skill to have on, and as her Time Affinities and first Alacrity levelled she really noticed the increased quickness. But a sudden boost to her quickness was difficult to get used to as the world around her seemed to slow down.

    The steady boost of it levelling was manageable, but swapping it on and off like that didn¡¯t seem wise. It would either be a significant enough boost to help her, in which case it would also be disorienting enough to impede her. Or it wouldn¡¯t be that disorienting, in which case it wouldn¡¯t be a significant enough boost to actually help her anyway.

    And the final skills were Mending and Acceleration, neither of which she saw a good use for yet. One was a worse Restoration and the other seemed underwhelming at best.

    Zoe shrugged. If nothing else, it was worth keeping in mind for future classes.

 2-19. Give him the stick

    There was quite a strong temptation to head back to Flester immediately, see her friends and get to all the errands she¡¯d added to her ever growing list. But she had a few things she still wanted to do before she left.

    Throughout her month in Gafoda and up Moaning Point, she¡¯d noticed the demarcation of the next higher level zone. Which made her chuckle every time she saw it. As much as everybody ¡ª herself included, liked to pretend that Gafoda had no organization, that just never seemed to be the case. There were plenty of volunteers helping keep people safe, gates and lines drawn to keep people from overreaching too much.

    Maybe one day she¡¯d explore a dungeon without all of the precautions built into it, something truly new that she could discover all on her own. Maybe that¡¯s what was missing from her combat here on Moaning Point, too. That sense of discovery.

    Killing zombies on the mountain never felt like anything more than killing another zombie. There was no greater goal to it. Sure, she wanted to climb the mountain at some point. But even that felt so simple and planned out. Like she was walking down a red carpet of experience.

    It wasn¡¯t the danger she wanted, it was a sense of exploration and discovery that was missing. Moaning Point felt so deterministic. Like every step she took was already decided by somebody else. Stay here until you reach level twenty, then move on to this point until you reach level thirty, and so on.

    Maybe as she continued climbing higher and higher, that sense of discovery would come back to her. She¡¯d get to figure things out on her own, think about her plans more and decide what was best for her. But at least at the lower levels, that was missing. She liked the safety, but the mountain was too structured for her to enjoy it as a dungeon.

    Although, from her research, Moaning Point was supposed to be a Lodestone dungeon ¡ª an organized, tiered dungeon that she could tailor her experience of to her own needs. Maybe she was na?ve for thinking it would be something it wasn¡¯t.

    Her first goal here on Moaning Point before she went back to Flester was to head up the mountain some more. She wanted to see what other variants of zombies there were and overcome the trials they represented.

    Talking to Emma and Joe about her time here and not even being able to share what her limit was on the mountain seemed silly, after making such a big deal of leaving. She still had food and supplies to last a while longer, and still hadn¡¯t gotten even close to something resembling too much danger for her.

    Sure, there were times when she got a little overwhelmed while rescuing somebody. Times when she felt fear and despair beginning to set in. But not for herself. Even while she rescued somebody, the fear was only ever that they wouldn¡¯t make it. That she wouldn¡¯t be able to save them.

    The zombies were just too slow to catch her. Too weak to overcome her Restoration. They just weren¡¯t all that dangerous to her if she kept her wits about her a little. And while she liked not having to put herself in danger, it did also mean that she was probably fine to go a little higher and test the waters a bit.

    Another thing that she wanted to do was look into how much it cost to lease, purchase, rent or whatever it was people were doing to set up their own shop here. With her healing, she thought she might be able to make a decent bit of change running a clinic here.

    Maybe she¡¯d need more powerful healing before she could do much? But even if she couldn¡¯t make a lot of money, it would be a fantastic way to train her healing, which could save her, or somebody else¡¯s life someday. She probably wouldn¡¯t be able to get one set up this time, but if she knew what it would take she could make some more money back in Flester and come back ready to get started. If it was within reach, at least.

    And the last thing that she wanted to do before she headed back was try to get some of the black bones that always got absorbed back into the dungeon. She had overheard some people talk about harvesting them while she was up the path a ways once and wanted to at least give it a try before she was done.

    It never crossed her mind to try until then, but the bones were unusually hard and sturdy, and if she could get them then they might make good enchanting mediums or sell for some money to blacksmiths, or bonesmiths? She had no idea what somebody who worked with bones would be called. The bones were black at least, so maybe they would be a blacksmith after all.

    She giggled to herself.

    Zoe had no idea where to even start checking how much it cost to run a shop, so decided her first step would be to make her first, and possibly last for a while, ascent of the mountain. She would keep climbing until she felt the risk wasn¡¯t worth it anymore. On the way, she¡¯d try to grab some of the black bones the dungeon always claimed back, too.

    She stopped off at the first free zombie she found, and summoned her Frozen Arsenal with a shield and a long curved sword. The zombie approached her and swung its arms down towards her.

    Zoe pushed her shield forward and let the zombies hands slip off the surface towards the ground. She stepped forward and slashed her sword across the zombies chest.

    As it fell to a clump, Zoe reached out into the rotting flesh and grabbed onto one of the exposed black ribs. It was surprisingly heavy as the dungeon pulled the bone towards the mountain. Zoe dropped her weapons and gripped the bone with both of her hands as she tried to force it away from the dungeon¡¯s control, but was only barely able to stop its movement. The moment she let go, the dungeon would rip it away and absorb it, she knew.

    She reached around with her Mana Manipulation to try and find something she could interact with. A thread of mana she could rip apart, a switch she could flick to get rid of the dungeon¡¯s control. But there was nothing that she could see.

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    Maybe the people she overheard knew a secret she didn¡¯t. Or maybe they just had the raw power to overcome the dungeon¡¯s control. But Zoe had to let go of the bone and watch as it tore into the dirt, never to be seen again until another zombie was raised with it.

    One day, she told herself, she¡¯d overcome the dungeon and claim a souvenir. Another thing on the list of errands to do when she got back to Flester. Research how to overcome dungeon magic.

    Zoe stood up and grabbed her shield and sword then made her way back up the mountain to the demarcation of the higher level zone. It wasn¡¯t much, just some stones laid across the path with a large white sign to the side warning people of the increasing levels.

    She slowed down as she passed it and kept her eyes out for any zombies. The first ones she should be seeing were ones capable of using tools. Often just sticks or stones, but they¡¯d sometimes be raised with swords and shields. Even armour on very rare occasions, from what she¡¯d heard.

    The real danger with these zombies though weren¡¯t the weapons or the armour. It was the intelligence and speed. Take away their tools and they¡¯d still be much more dangerous than the mindless creatures below.

    It was about five minutes before Zoe noticed anything different. The mana being sucked into the mountain seemed denser than before. It clumped in much brighter groups, and she felt the subtle pressure of mana surrounding her. Nothing she couldn¡¯t handle, and if anything it would probably help her with her mana regeneration. But it was noticeable, and she decided to be more careful.

    The path still continued up at a comfortable incline, and Zoe laughed at herself for buying so many climbing supplies. They hadn¡¯t been useful at all yet other than using a piton for cooking once.

    Another big difference was the lack of people around her. In the lower level zone, there was almost always somebody around. Even if it was just the distant noises of spells and fighting, there was usually something. But up here, other than the odd person who rushed past her on their way up to wherever they were going, it was near silent.

    In a way, it was peaceful. She liked the quiet, and if it weren¡¯t in the middle of a dangerous dungeon, she could find herself sitting by a tree and having a nice nap or spending days fiddling with her enchantments. But knowing the dangers that surrounded her, the silence felt a little eerie.

    She shivered as she felt goosebumps cover her body, and then continued on up the mountain. The fear was irrational, she reminded herself. The monsters she¡¯d fight would be shambling zombies, not stealthy predators. Even if they were a little smarter, they wouldn¡¯t be ambushing her on purpose. There just weren¡¯t any zombies around, and the wildlife avoided coming this far up the mountain, she told herself as she continued.

    It wasn¡¯t much longer before she found her first higher level zombie. Dark green twenty four, to her identify ¡ª meaning it had as many classes as Zoe did. She no longer had such a massive advantage over them.

    Whenever she thought about the higher level zombies, she¡¯d imagined the same decaying corpses gripping sticks in their hands. Maybe a rock or sword too. But what she found was nothing like that.

    The zombie stood taller and straighter. Even without her Vampyric Empathy on, it walked with a confidence and power that the lower level ones just couldn¡¯t replicate. The rotting, dripping flesh she¡¯d gotten so used to was held together much better. There were no bones poking out, no holes showcasing the familiar black rib-cage below.

    Rather than a zombie, it could have passed as a normal human with a particularly bad case of jaundice, she thought. As she approached, the zombie turned its head to face her and screamed.

    It swung the large stick it was holding out to the side and rushed in towards her. Zoe fired off one of her explosive projectiles, and the zombie jumped to the side. The cone of frost pierced into a distant tree and a cloud of frost exploded around it.

    Zoe raised her shield as the zombie swung its stick towards her, and braced herself for the impact. But despite being so much higher levelled than the zombies she¡¯d faced before, the stick barely felt like anything when it hit her shield.

    On the flip side, the zombie was already drawing its stick back to swing again. Zoe created another frost projectile, and waited for it to swing. As soon as it did, she stepped back and fired off the projectile. It slammed into the zombies shoulder and exploded in a cloud of frost.

    The zombie¡¯s left arm fell limp, and it raised its stick again. Zoe¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. Her explosive projectiles had always taken out the zombies in a single hit. Often even more than one zombie if they were clumped together. She expected them to take more of a beating, but including the one that missed this was already two projectiles into this zombie.

    It stepped towards her as it swung its stick down at her again. Zoe stepped into it as she raised her shield, and dragged her sword across the zombie¡¯s other shoulder. The stick smashed into her shield and slid off towards the ground.

    Zoe stepped back and summoned another frost projectile as the zombie recovered. As soon as it stepped forward, she jumped back and fired it off at the zombie¡¯s chest. It slammed into the zombie and exploded, and then the zombie finally fell to the ground in a clump.

    Its flesh melted off and the black bones were absorbed into the ground. Zoe took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and then looked around to see if any more were attracted by the fight.

    She couldn¡¯t see any, and took a moment to reflect on it. In hindsight, it felt a lot more intense than it probably was. The zombie never actually hit her, and while three projectiles for a single zombie was a lot more than before, it was probably only two if she actually hit with both of them. Maybe three if she couldn¡¯t get in a hit with her weapon as well.

    The stick made the zombie a lot quicker and posed a lot of danger if it managed to sneak in a hit, but it was also a lot easier to deflect compared to the blunt impact of a zombies¡¯ fists. If they started having something sharper than a stick, or a hammer, she¡¯d be concerned. But a stick was fine.

    A horde of them was something she didn¡¯t want to deal with, at any cost. As much as it pained her, she would have to make a very difficult decision if she found somebody in this area who needed help from a horde. She was confident she could outrun them still, but having a zombie leap out at you from behind a tree to scratch you with its claws was one thing.

    Having it leap out at you from behind a tree to swing a sword or hammer at you was another thing. Running through the forest like that wouldn¡¯t be safe. She¡¯d need to take things much slower and think her decisions through.

    But as long as she did, she would be fine, she thought. She could handle herself here, and decided that she would spend some time getting accustomed to the increased difficulty. She¡¯d explore a bit, learn the ins and outs of these higher level zombies and once she was comfortable she would continue on a bit further.

 2-20. Dont give him the stick

    Zoe spent the next two days around the entry point of the higher level zone. She found, and then fought, plenty more of the stick wielding zombies, and even a few with large rocks and felt pretty confident in continuing.

    Their sticks, while much more dangerous than the wild slams, were also much easier to block with her shield. And their increased speed was noticeable, but didn¡¯t pose any significant danger to her. She was still able to outrun them, and if she paid attention then getting a hit in with her Frost projectiles was of no issue.

    She found that a sword worked much better against these zombies than the spear did, though. Which surprised her. Spears always beat swords, in any game she¡¯d ever played. And a stick or sharp rock was kind of like a sword.

    But reality was different. Against a reckless opponent who was willing and able to be stabbed just to get in a swing, the spear lost its advantage. A shorter, more agile weapon like a sword felt much better to her. She was able to move it around easier, and when combined with her shield, she was able to lock down the zombie¡¯s movements quite easily then pepper it with projectiles.

    Zoe finished eating her venison wrap and then stood up from the rock she was sitting on. Despite reading about zombies with armour and real weapons, she still hadn¡¯t seen one. Perhaps they were something that happened even a little higher, once the zombies would reach the low thirties?

    Thankfully, she also hadn¡¯t heard of anybody screaming for help off in the forest. She knew that not helping them would be the right decision. That she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle a horde of these quicker zombies while also protecting an injured person and didn¡¯t want to have to make that decision.

    She¡¯d spent some time thinking about what she should do if she did hear somebody in need of help. Rush in and heal them then get out and hope for the best? Run back down and try to find help? She wasn¡¯t sure, and just hoped it wouldn¡¯t happen. Maybe as people got higher up they stopped being so reckless and wouldn¡¯t get stuck up in a tree.

    Or maybe, she thought more grimly, people couldn¡¯t be in need of help up here. Maybe the zombies could climb up the trees, dismantle your shelter. Maybe your option was to flee or die.

    She shivered. The morbid reality of climbing the dungeon was something she tried to avoid thinking about too much. People died, she knew that. Many of the people she never saw again left Gafoda back to the towns they had come from. But many others just never made it back down the mountain. She knew that. She just hated the thought.

    It was supposed to be exciting and fun. She turned her attention up the mountain. People made their own decisions. They weren¡¯t Zoe¡¯s responsibility. She was here to explore and have some fun, and it was time to get back to finding new things.

    Zoe started making her way up the path. She saw a few of the stick and stone wielding zombies on her way, and took them out before they noticed her with a couple of well aimed explosive projectiles that smashed into their torsos.

    The next stage up the mountain would be magic, she knew. Exactly what magic the zombies would use seemed to depend on the how the dungeon was feeling when it created the zombie, based on what she¡¯d read. And past that, very little about the dungeon was guaranteed. The difficulty remained the same, barring any particular weaknesses one might have, but the exact detail shifted from day to day.

    It excited her quite a lot, knowing that she¡¯d be able to explore and discover and see so many different ways to use magic. Part of her expected to see large signs at each of the thresholds describing exactly what theme the dungeon happened to be feeling on a particular day, though.

    There were still some challenges the second stage of the dungeon had to offer that she hadn¡¯t overcome though, and she wanted to at least show herself that she could handle even an armoured zombie before she continued on to the magical area, as much as it excited her.

    Zoe didn¡¯t know if they tended to show up in a particular area on the mountain, but figured that if they were going to be harder fights, they¡¯d likely be closer to the end of the second stage than the start.

    She continued her trek up to the next demarcation, and then decided to spend her time wandering around the higher area of the second stage until she¡¯d found an armoured zombie. Most of the zombies further up were level twenty-nine to thirty-two. Higher than Zoe, at least when she last checked. Though still no more dangerous to her than the first stick wielding zombie she¡¯d found.

    And most still wielded sticks or stones, weapons were few and far between. The first one she¡¯d found was a zombie with a rusted short sword. Her heart raced as she grabbed its attention to test her mettle against it, and then calmed down as the fight began. It felt the same as a stick when it slipped off her shield or scraped along her blade.

    Another zombie with a hefty black mace was much worse, however. Her shield was, while better than taking a hit directly on her arm, not particularly effective against the blunt impact. It rattled her forearm, and no matter how she angled her shield or tried to deflect the blow, its momentum and heft meant she had to absorb a lot more of the impact than with the lighter, thinner weapons.

    She found it much easier to dodge out of the way than to take the blows head on, and then use her shield and sword in combination to lock the zombie down. Maces were ranked much higher for her on her list of things to learn. Fighting against one was an unpleasant experience, though her health didn¡¯t drop and she felt confident throughout.

    The weapons were left on the ground when she finished the zombies off, and Zoe just left them. If she had unlimited, or at least a lot more, space in her storage bracelet she might have thought about keeping them. But the weapons were often misshapen and were always covered in rust. She didn¡¯t expect them to be worth much.

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    And if they were worth much, she expected to see a lot more people around here just collecting all of the weapons, but she didn¡¯t. She did see some other people around her as she looked for her armoured zombie to fight, most of which were around level forty. But they all left the weapons on the ground as well, and Zoe accepted that as good enough justification for her leaving them on the ground.

    Her hardest fights were the zombies who held large round shields in their free hands. She struggled to get a hit in with her Frost projectiles as the large shields they wielded covered up most of their body, at least from the angle she was able to fire from.

    Getting in any damage with her projectiles or weapons became a much more difficult process, and she¡¯d often just try and avoid them if she saw them in the distance. A simple shield made them much more dangerous than any weapon she¡¯d encountered. Which combined with them also having a weapon made them an extremely unpleasant experience. Even her sword fell flat against the zombies with shields.

    Her spear proved much more effective if she was able to actually keep her distance. She could make a move with her spear at one of the unguarded areas, and when the zombie moved to block it she could often slip one of her projectiles through behind their guard. It worked well enough, and she still wasn¡¯t taking an excessive amount of damage, but she began to feel a slight concern about what an actual armoured zombie would be capable of. Especially if it also had a shield.

    On the third day of her wandering around, she got the chance to find out for herself. She saw a glint reflecting off a rusted suit of armour that was wandering around through the trees a little ways up the mountain from where she was. It wasn¡¯t quite in full plate armour from head to toe, but its torso and upper legs were covered in a solid sheet of metal.

    In one hand, it wielded a bent spear and in the other it held a familiar looking round shield. She held her breath as she thought for a moment.

    This zombie would be a difficult fight, she knew. It would be by far the most difficult fight she¡¯d had. Shields alone were enough of a struggle that she didn¡¯t try to approach them when she saw them. This had both a shield and armour even if she managed to slip past its guard. She could probably take it out from afar, blow it up with a few of her projectiles aimed at the unguarded spots.

    But that wouldn¡¯t feel right to her. That wouldn¡¯t be truly besting it. She needed to defeat it even in a worst case scenario, or continuing up the mountain would be unjustifiably dangerous. But was she ready for it?

    None of the zombies that she¡¯d fought were too much of a challenge for her to handle. Sure the shields were unpleasant, but she didn¡¯t lose much health fighting them. They were just annoying. None of the zombies were too quick for her to escape from. She needed to truly show herself that she could handle anything the mountain could throw at her, not just avoid all of the danger until she was in over her head with a situation she couldn¡¯t handle.

    Zoe took a deep breath, and summoned a frost projectile then enchanted it with Archery and fired it off at the zombie. It smashed into the zombie¡¯s torso which turned to look towards her. She jumped and waved to get its attention, and then the zombie roared louder than any had before and leapt down the mountain towards her.

    She grimaced, and hoped she hadn¡¯t just bitten off more than she could chew. If the zombie summoned a horde then she¡¯d have no choice but to flee. Maybe she could take it in a one on one fight, but if there were two or three? She had no confidence in coming out alive from that.

    Zoe watched as the zombie barrelled down the mountain towards her. Its bent spear smashed through the shrubbery and was covered in greenery. She back up a bit and waited for the zombie to get closer.

    And she didn¡¯t have to wait long. Zoe braced herself and held out her shield to block the zombie¡¯s spear, but it never came. The zombie kept rushing at her even as it got in range. Zoe tried to jump out of the way but was too late and both were sent tumbling down the mountain as the zombie smashed into her with its shield.

    The zombie stood and roared at her again. Zoe got a look at it with her Identify as she scrambled to her feet as well ¡ª dark green thirty-six. The highest level zombie she¡¯d seen yet, not that she needed her identify to know that. Even if it were lower level this was clearly the most dangerous one she¡¯d fought.

    Zoe took a moment to look around for any zombies that were attracted to the noise, and the zombie took the opportunity to leap at her again. She jumped out of the way and fired off one of her projectiles at the zombie while it tumbled along the ground again. It smashed into the zombie¡¯s armour and exploded in a cloud of frost.

    The zombie stood again and roared at her. Zoe felt fear welling up inside her as her heart raced. This zombie was fast, it was agile. It was powerful. She could outrun it, probably. But that had dangers of its own, especially if more zombies were being attracted by the noise of the chase.

    Taking it out quickly would be safest, but Zoe had no clue how she could manage that. A body shot with her projectile would do nothing, and without first immobilizing the zombie, she would never land a head shot on it with both its speed and shield.

    Zoe looked around again and saw another three zombies rushing through the forest towards her. She cursed under her breath and charged at the armoured zombie. It lifted its shield to block her spear, just as she hoped.

    She fired off her two remaining projectiles. They smashed into the zombie¡¯s feet and exploded in a cloud of frost. The blast washed over Zoe¡¯s icy armour, shattering it. Both Zoe and the zombie fell to the ground. Zoe gasped and tried to catch her breath as she rolled down the hill away from the zombie¡¯s spear but felt it scratch along her back.

    The strange coolness of Restoration flooded her as she continued rolling before she stood up. The armoured zombie was crawling towards her slowly and Zoe continued backing away. The three zombies she¡¯d seen were still at least another thirty seconds away.

    Zoe took a moment to catch her breath, then resummoned her Frozen Arsenal and took off down the mountain back towards the road. The zombies tried to chase after her, but weren¡¯t able to keep up with her speed. There were a few that jumped out from behind trees as she rushed past them but she was ready for them with her shield and kept running. When she made it to the road she sped up to a full sprint back down to Gafoda.

    She let out a sigh of relief when she passed the gates and then made her way back to her room at the inn and passed out in the rough bed. When she woke up, she thought about the previous day.

    It was good, she thought. It was scary, but she found her limit and lived. She didn¡¯t stick around the finish off the zombie and risk herself for nothing. She recognized the danger and escaped. That was a success, she did a good job.

    All that was left in Gafoda was finding out how much it cost to run her clinic and then it was back to Flester. She was excited to see Emma and Joe again.

 2-21. Immortality

    Zoe sat up and checked her stat window. She got two more levels from the past few days and dumped all of her stat points into Endurance to bring it up to forty-five. The level thirty-six armoured zombie would have been seven levels higher than her then.

    Was that too much of a gap to overcome with class quality and feats alone? What did levels even mean when push came to shove. Zoe was level twenty-nine now, did that mean she was equal to anybody else at level twenty-nine? She¡¯d invested so much more time and gotten so many extra benefits that somebody else wouldn¡¯t have. What level would she be comparable to if she had lived a normal life?

    And for that matter, what use was Identify anyway? If somebody was level fifty but had hundreds of feats they wouldn¡¯t even be remotely comparable to somebody at level fifty without a single feat. Level alone might be a good enough measurement at the earlier levels, if you ignored outliers like Zoe. But it would drop off quite quick as it became more common for people to have feats and extra skills that made them each unique.

    Or, in the case of the dungeon, as it started creating stronger zombies with more equipment. Based on her fight with some of the simpler stick wielding zombies, she didn¡¯t expect to have much trouble with one even if it were in the mid forties. But the armoured zombie summoning a horde threw a wrench into her plans even just at thirty-six.

    If she were just trying to climb the mountain as quick as she could, then she thought that taking it out from afar wouldn¡¯t have been much issue. As long as it didn¡¯t see her and couldn¡¯t dodge her projectiles, she could land an explosion anywhere she¡¯d wanted. She could take out its legs and pepper its face until it was done.

    But that didn¡¯t show her what she could do in a pinch. It wasn¡¯t just about killing hordes of zombies and levelling up, it was about showing that she could handle herself even in a worst case scenario. The last thing she wanted was to be knocked out by a surprise attack because she¡¯d built herself as a glass cannon.

    And it didn¡¯t work, but that was okay. Not everything had to be a success every time.

    Zoe got up and left the inn to wander around town. She wanted to find somebody who could help her price one of the shops. Her first guess was to just wander into one that recently changed and ask the owner.

    There was a general store near the inn that was an alchemy store before Zoe started her last ascent, and she walked in. Tables were set up throughout the store and covered in various wares. Spices, ropes, the odd potion and plenty of clothes filled most of them.

    An older woman was at one of the tables folding some of the clothes that had gotten messed up from a previous customer. She looked up at Zoe and smiled.

    ¡°Hello! How can I help you today?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Oh hi. How long are you gonna be in town for?¡± Zoe asked.

    The woman rolled her eyes around in thought for a moment. ¡°Probably about three weeks before I need to head back. Are you looking to buy the shop from me then?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, I guess. I have no idea what the shops usually cost and I want to maybe open a clinic at some point.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°I see. Well, I¡¯ll be happy to sell it to you for a gold square.¡± The woman smiled.

    Zoe paused in shock for a moment before she replied. ¡°Okay, thanks. I¡¯m gonna look around a bit then but I might be back.¡±

    ¡°Okay, you have a nice day then.¡± The woman smiled as she watched Zoe leave.

    Zoe had no idea if that was a fair price or not. Fifty gold was a lot of money to her, more than she¡¯d made in her entire time in this world. As much as Emma put down as a down payment on her house. But if the business was going to be changing hands so often and somebody else would buy it, then it was more of a deposit than anything else. When she was done, she¡¯d sell it to the next person and get the money back.

    Which meant very little for whether the price was fair or not. She could get her money back if she found somebody else willing to pay fifty gold for it, but if the lady just wanted to turn a profit on her investment then it made sense that she¡¯d try and overcharge for it while she still had weeks to find a future buyer, too.

    Zoe walked across Gafoda and stopped in at one of the alchemy shops that had been around for a few weeks. It had a similar layout, an open room with a few tables set up throughout. The main difference was that rather than an assortment of products, most of what Zoe saw were potions and some alchemy supplies. Plenty of empty vials, mortar and pestles, and even a few of what looked like salad spinners.

    There was a younger man sitting on a chair reading a book near the back. Zoe walked up to him and he raised his head.

    ¡°Hello,¡± he said.

    ¡°Hi,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Can I help you? Need some potions?¡± He asked.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine on that. How long are you gonna be in town for?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving in a few days. You interested in buying?¡± He asked.

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°Yeah, how much?"

    ¡°Twenty gold.¡± He said.

    ¡°Okay, I might be back then. Thank you.¡± Zoe said and started walking out.

    ¡°Fifteen, final offer.¡± He called out.

    Zoe waved and left. She had no intention of buying a shop yet, not when she was about to leave Gafoda and had no idea when she¡¯d be back. Fifteen gold was a price she¡¯d be willing to pay if she came back, though. If she got lucky and showed up on the last day and nobody had bought the business, she might even be able to get a better price.

    She had almost seventeen gold bouncing around in her bracelet from what was left over from Flester plus the generous donations people gave her for helping them in Moaning Point. None had been quite so generous as Obai was, most gave a handful of silver. A couple people gave a single gold coin. But Zoe wasn¡¯t complaining.

    Making money was never the point of helping people anyway. It was a nice benefit that she appreciated, but not helping them out when she had the ability to was something she just couldn¡¯t bring herself to do.

    With everything she had left to do in Gafoda checked off, Zoe start making her way down the road towards Flester. She summoned her Frost Arsenal around her and pumped up her Aura of Frost as high as it would go and then took off. This time she tried to focus more on her enchantments as she ran than just on pulling ice behind her.

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    While she ran, Zoe created projectile after projectile and enchanted them with Archery and Restoration. When the enchantments wore off she dropped them and created more. Every few hours she¡¯d stop and eat one of her lio wraps before she continued on towards Flester.

    On the third day of running, she saw a small group of people a ways off through the trees that radiated greed, anger and an underlying sense of uneasiness. Zoe¡¯s heart raced when she saw them and she wasn¡¯t sure what the right option was. Were they bandits, looking to prey on the wealthy merchants? A family out camping in the forest?

    Should Zoe turn around and go back to Gafoda, wait to join a guarded caravan? Would turning around at this point make them think she was going to report them and make them attack her? They didn¡¯t make any movements towards her when they noticed her, they didn¡¯t seem to be getting ready to jump her.

    Zoe¡¯s heart raced as she continued running, and it didn¡¯t slow until a few hours later when Zoe pulled out her lio wrap. Rather than stopping, she slowed a little and ate it as she ran.

    The remaining days passed without incident, and Zoe made it back to Flester on the sixth day. A little slower than when she had two alacrity skills, but all the levels to Time Affinity and the one Alacrity she had seemed to make up most of the difference at least, which she appreciated.

    Her first stop was to Joe¡¯s inn, as it was pretty close to the southern gate that Zoe arrived at. She walked up to the familiar door and smiled as she opened it. The inside looked just as she remembered, with patrons sitting at the tables and Joe wiping down some of the glasses behind the bar. Zoe noticed a few gray hairs peppered throughout his brown beard and grimaced.

    He looked over when Zoe entered and his face lit up with a bright grin.

    ¡°Hey Zoe!¡± He called out.

    ¡°Hey Joe,¡± Zoe smiled back.

    ¡°Come come, sit. How was Moaning Point?¡± He gestured to one of the bar stools.

    Zoe walked up and sat down. ¡°It was different than I expected, honestly.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? How so?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I dunno, I thought it would be this cool thing to explore, but it¡¯s so organized and planned. It felt really weird, to be honest. I had a lot of fun, for the most part. But its really not what I expected.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mhm. It¡¯s one of those lodestone dungeons, right?" Joe asked.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Maybe those aren¡¯t for you, then. Not enough danger for the battle maniac.¡± Joe laughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s not the danger that I want. Moaning Point was really safe, honestly. And I liked that. I guess its just that I¡¯ve already read about it in so many books and exploring it is like, I dunno. A theme park ride? You wouldn¡¯t know what that is, I guess.¡±

    Zoe sighed. ¡°Like I expected to explore and discover new things but it was just levelling and grinding for the sake of doing it.¡±

    Joe smiled. ¡°Well, you can always try somewhere else. Go explore other cities and towns, wander the forests. Find your own adventure.¡±

    ¡°Maybe. That sounds nice, honestly. I like Flester, and I even like Gafoda to be honest. But the dungeon itself was so boring. Maybe its better higher up, I couldn¡¯t even get past the second stage. You know they have signs laid out at each difficulty spike, Joe? It¡¯s ridiculous. No organization, they say. I¡¯ve never seen something better organized.¡± Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°How long are you in town for then Zoe?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I dunno. I¡¯ve got a lot I wanna get done here so probably a while, if I¡¯m being honest. I forgot salt, Joe. Salt! Can you believe that?¡± Zoe laughed.

    Joe smiled. ¡°Yeah, I sure can. That sounds like you.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯d you grow up, anyway Joe? You always live in Flester?" Zoe asked.

    Joe nodded his head. ¡°Never left. Not for long anyway, been camping a few times.¡±

    ¡°You like camping?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°Can take it or leave it, really. It¡¯s nice to get out and be a part of nature sometimes, but I like it here in my inn too.¡±

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°I get that. Safety and routine is nice sometimes. I like trying new things though personally.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t say,¡± Joe smiled smugly.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°How do you feel about immortality?"

    ¡°I got nothing against them, personally.¡± Joe answered.

    ¡°No, I mean for you. I talked about it with Emma once and she said she¡¯d wanna be immortal, probably. What about you? Would you do it if you could?" Zoe asked.

    Joe shook his head. ¡°Eternity¡¯s too long for me. I like my life here, and I¡¯d like to go out peacefully when my time comes, I think.¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Zoe sighed.

    ¡°Sorry, Zoe.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve just been thinking about it a bit lately is all.¡± Zoe smiled.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± Joe pressed.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it a few times, really. It comes up whenever my mind wanders too much. Just what it means, y¡¯know? What I should do with all my time.¡±

    Joe walked back into the kitchen and gestured for Zoe to follow. Zoe stood up and followed.

    ¡°Afraid?" Joe asked.

    ¡°I guess, maybe. I¡¯m not going to die, and you are, y¡¯know? And I don¡¯t know what to do about that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Live your life, anybody could die at any moment anyway. No point in worrying about it too much.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I know. That¡¯s what I always tell myself, too. But how close can I get to people? How many people am I going to meet and lose throughout my life? How can I handle all that pressure?¡±

    Joe shrugged. ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you, Zoe. It¡¯s not always gonna be easy, but you can¡¯t worry about my lifespan. That¡¯s not your job, it¡¯s mine. I care about you, I value your friendship. And as much as you worry about my mere mortal life being cut short I worry about your immortal life being cut short by bandits on the road or from climbing a dangerous dungeon.

    ¡°You can¡¯t worry about it too much, Zoe. You can¡¯t let it consume you like that. You gotta just live your life and have a good time while you¡¯re here. If you worry about everybody around you dying, you¡¯re never going to have a good time. Enjoy the friendships you have while you have them.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t think about it like that. I guess it is kinda the same thing though, huh?¡±

    ¡°Probably. I mean I don¡¯t know what being immortal is like. But if you¡¯re worried about me or Emma dying, then know that we both worry about you dying while you¡¯re off exploring the world too. We can¡¯t just ignore the relationships we have because there¡¯s an end. It¡¯s because there¡¯s an end that we should value and appreciate them while we have them.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Thanks Joe. Talking to you always helps.¡±

    ¡°You good then?¡± Joe asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I think so. Sorry.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Joe smiled.

 2-22. Sodium

    Zoe finished catching up with Joe and then started making her way towards Emma¡¯s tower. He had a good point. He always did, Zoe knew. She wasn¡¯t sure what she¡¯d do if she hadn¡¯t met Joe when she was stranded in this world alone. Maybe she would have stumbled onto some other kind person that would have helped her.

    Most of the people she¡¯d met seemed nice enough, but she didn¡¯t meet them first. She met Joe, and she couldn¡¯t be more appreciative of what he¡¯d done for her. Of what he continued to do for her.

    Whether Moaning Point or some random forest, or some town that¡¯d she¡¯d never been to before, Zoe would probably enjoy herself just as much. There was no reason to tunnel vision on Moaning Point so much, to stick herself to it and decide that it was the most important thing for her now.

    That just took out so much of the fun of exploring, of discovering things and learning new skills. She didn¡¯t need to worry about her friends mortal lives, she just needed to appreciate them. Everything seemed so clear to her after the talk with Joe. She laughed at how silly she¡¯d been before.

    Why would she rush off to Moaning Point in the hopes of rushing through things and accomplishing greatness overnight. The world had so many more things to see, so many more things to do. She could spend a few years mastering her skills, playing with her enchantments, checking out all of the classes there were to offer.

    And if Emma and Joe died before she managed to find a way to make them immortal? Then that would suck. A lot. But that was part of life. Neither of them would be happy if Zoe ran herself ragged pushing herself just in the hopes of finding a solution. Hell, Joe wasn¡¯t interested even if she did find a solution.

    Emma¡¯s place looked quite a bit different to how she remembered it. The tall black tower still stood in the middle of her large yard. But a vibrant garden replaced the previous drab green grass. There were a couple fruit trees planted, one that looked like Ifosa and another that looked like oranges. Green bushes bustling with herbs buffeted her nose with scents, and the stone walkway that led to the frontdoor now weaved throughout the garden.

    Zoe walked up to the door and rapped the knocker. Some cluttering noises resounded from behind the door and shortly after, Emma opened the door. When she saw Zoe, her face lit up with a smile and she rushed in for a hug.

    ¡°Zoe!" Emma shouted. ¡±I thought you were going to be gone for so much longer.¡°

    ¡°Me too.¡± Zoe smiled.

    Emma walked back inside and led Zoe upstairs to the kitchen.

    ¡°So? How¡¯d it go? Tell me everything.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm. It was good. Lots of zombies.¡± Zoe sat down at the table and summoned a couple of her venison wraps. ¡°I made a bunch of these. That was probably the highlight, if I¡¯m being honest.¡±

    Emma grabbed one and took a bite, then laughed. ¡°Of course you would think making some bland venison wraps would be the highlight.¡±

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°They¡¯re pretty good for what I had to work with. Why did you let me go without any salt? We talked about it on our final exam, too. Bring salt. And then I didn¡¯t bring salt!¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Yeah, we did, didn¡¯t we? I can give you what I¡¯ve got now if you want?¡±

    ¡°No it¡¯s fine, thanks though. I¡¯ll just remember to buy a whole bunch before I leave again.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°When¡¯s that gonna be then? You heading back right away?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, I talked with Joe and I dunno. I enjoyed it, I guess. I liked seeing the numbers getting bigger, but that¡¯s all it was. There was no excitement. Other than the last day, but that was more of the dangerous excitement than the fun excitement.¡±

    ¡°Ooh? Share. What happened on the last day?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Okay, so I wanted to find my limit before I left, right? I didn¡¯t wanna come back without even seeing as much as I could have. At the second stage there were these smarter, tool using zombies. Sometimes they had armour, so I wanted to try and take out one of the armoured zombies myself head on.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t handle one?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I think I could have, looking back on it. I just wasn¡¯t prepared. I grabbed the zombie¡¯s attention and it rushed me down while it brought some of its friends along. Smashed right into my shield and sent me tumbling down the mountain a bit.

    ¡°I panicked and didn¡¯t know what to do, so I just tried to escape as quick as I could. I think that I could have dealt with it if I just calmed down first, but it¡¯s really scary, y¡¯know?¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve never been, but I can imagine, yeah. Like when a boar¡¯s rushing you down on your first hunt.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, exactly like that. I could have handled it if I was better prepared, if I knew what I should do. If I calmed down, I could have handled it. But I didn¡¯t, so that¡¯s a moot point. At least I know that¡¯s a problem for me now.¡±

    ¡°So what¡¯s the plan now?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Well before you interrupted me, I was going to say that I¡¯m probably going to stick around here in Flester for a few years. Maybe head out to Korna. I liked the exploring part, learning about Gafoda and seeing what was there was fun. But once I knew, continuing on felt more like a job than anything else. Kinda pointless.¡± Zoe chuckled.

    Emma nodded her head. ¡°Well I¡¯m glad you¡¯ll be around for a while then.¡±

    ¡°Enough about me though, what have you been up to? I noticed the garden, it¡¯s really pretty.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I thought it might be fun to start a garden. Had a mage come out and set it up a few weeks ago. I really like it, honestly.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Yeah it seems really nice. I had a garden back at home, too. It¡¯s really relaxing.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mhm. It is. Plus, it¡¯s really nice going out and grabbing some fruit for a snack or herbs to cook with. Something about it just feels so much better than when I bought them.¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°It does, right? Food you grew yourself always tastes better.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Other than that, life¡¯s been pretty boring. Lots of work lately though while we¡¯re prepping for barlahai. I started talking with my mum again, too.¡±

    ¡°Oh did you? How¡¯s that going?¡± Zoe asked.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Emma shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s okay. She¡¯s tried reaching out to me every so often ever since I moved out. And I always just tried to ignore her. After what she did to you I couldn¡¯t bring myself to really want her in my life anymore.

    ¡°But then you left, and it was honestly kinda lonely.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to-¡± Zoe started.

    ¡°No, no I¡¯m not upset at you. It was just that before I moved out, mum and dad were always around. And then after I moved out, you were always around. I¡¯d never really been totally alone like that before, not really. And it wasn¡¯t even that bad. I¡¯m making it sound a lot worse than it was. It was just like, suddenly I realized that all I have are my work friends and that¡¯s it.

    ¡°So when my mum tried reaching out again, I figured what the heck. It¡¯s been a long time, I¡¯ll give her another chance at least. And it went okay. We met up at that sandwich shop you like so much, and we had a good conversation. She feels really bad about what she did now.

    ¡°But part of me thinks that she only feels bad about it because it ruined her relationship with me. I don¡¯t know if she really understands what she did wrong or not. She wants to apologize to you though, if you¡¯re up for talking someday? No pressure though of course.¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe thought about it for a moment. She¡¯d gotten quite a few levels since she last met Emma¡¯s mom, but she still hadn¡¯t caught up. And that¡¯s not even counting whatever levels Emma¡¯s mom has gotten in the past few years. If she wanted to attack Zoe, then Zoe would be just as helpless as she was before she knew.

    But on the other hand, Emma was her friend and if her mom really was trying to be better then Zoe didn¡¯t want to stand in the way of their relationship being fixed.

    ¡°Sure, I can do that, I think.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You sure? It¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t wanna, I¡¯ll just tell her you¡¯re busy or something. Really it¡¯s totally okay if you don¡¯t wanna.¡± Emma pushed.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll meet her and talk. No promises that I forgive her though. Like I get why she did it, but I still don¡¯t like it and it was super scary.¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡± Emma waved her hands in front of her face. ¡°I¡¯d never make you forgive her. Thanks, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°No problem. I¡¯m happy to help you out. How¡¯s Oliver been doing?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s great. Been finding lots of places to hide lately though, not sure where he is.¡± Emma laughed. ¡°Have you rethought your Alacrity? Wanna get Haste again?¡±

    ¡°No, Alacrity¡¯s been nice. I did end up finding a few combinations of enchantments that are cool though.¡±

    ¡°Share, share. I want all the details.¡± Emma pried.

    Zoe shared everything that happened while she was in Gafoda and Moaning Point.

    ¡°I never would have expected the enchanting class to be so strong, to be honest. It definitely fit you, but that¡¯s surprisingly versatile.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Mhm. It was really strong. I just took it cause I thought it would have some good magic bonuses that would help my healing, plus some extra levels into vitality. But it ended up working out really well. Maybe something else would have been better offensively, but honestly after playing with Enchanted Mirror I don¡¯t know if I could go back to having to enchant absolutely everything manually again.¡±

    ¡°You could always just not enchant things, you know?¡± Emma asked smugly.

    Zoe gasped in shock. ¡°What a terrible fate you wish upon me!¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Yeah yeah, you like your enchanting. The rest of us get by just fine though, you know?¡±

    ¡°You really should give it a try someday, honestly. I could teach you if you want?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I think we¡¯ve talked about this before, haven¡¯t we?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Maybe?¡± Zoe shrugged.

    ¡°I might be interested, but it just doesn¡¯t really excite me is all. I like more active things. Make bow, shoot bow. That¡¯s good. The whole sitting down and manipulating my mana is really not for me.¡± Emma explained.

    ¡°Right, yeah I think you have mentioned that before. I still think it¡¯s a really useful skill, though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Come back and teach me about skills when you catch up to my level, miss still twenty-nine.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe gasped in shock again. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you would invade my privacy with such a terrible skill!¡±

    ¡°Do you not identify people?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°No, I mean I do. But I try not to use any information gathering or manipulating skills on friends at least.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°Like your empathy?" Emma asked.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind anyway. If you know how I¡¯m feeling or what level I am that makes no difference to me.¡± Emma shrugged.

    Zoe identified Emma. She¡¯d made it to level forty-three, progressing even faster than Zoe had been somehow. Though, she doubted that Emma had as many skill levels as Zoe did.

    ¡°Fair enough I guess. I¡¯m not sure that Identify¡¯s all that useful of a skill anyway, to be honest. Well, outside of enchantments.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°How so?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Well I mean, I fought the level thirty some odd zombies and I was handling them pretty easily. Even the thirty-six I could¡¯ve handled if I was just better prepared. That¡¯s higher than me and I was totally fine against them, other than just being a little inexperienced.

    ¡°Even if they got to level forty five or so, I don¡¯t think the raw stat points would have made the difference. They still would have been too slow and easy. Like even you at level forty-three are probably weaker than me on a pure numbers level, no offense.¡±

    ¡°None taken. Probably true, too.¡± Emma shrugged. ¡°You¡¯ve got way better class bonuses than me, overall. And higher level skills, too. I don¡¯t get to bypass the level cap like you do.¡±

    ¡°Exactly! And I don¡¯t wanna be so arrogant to think that I¡¯m some special chosen one with the best classes. Other people absolutely have or know about Patient Decider, and have amazing starting classes. That can¡¯t possibly be unique to me. And if the dungeons are just going to create things with classes already, then why couldn¡¯t it create things with weak or strong classes?¡± Zoe spewed.

    ¡°I mean it still gives you at least some kind of framework though. At least you know how many classes somebody has.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Okay that¡¯s a whole different can of worms. Why the hell is my third class not called my second class? Why is my first class actually my second class? Joe told me about it forever ago, and it made sense. Mostly. Until I actually had my third class. And then ever since whenever I¡¯m thinking about my class it¡¯s always just the next class or the Enchanting class. Why is it so stupid?¡± Zoe ranted.

    Emma laughed. ¡°It is kinda stupid, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so! Stupid!¡± Zoe shouted.

    ¡°I never really thought about it much. Got my first class when I was seven years old, my third class just a few years ago. It¡¯s just the way it is, I guess.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°It¡¯s so annoying, oh my god. You have no idea. I look at my stat sheet and it says class three. Which is the second class I picked. Which is the class after my first class. Class three. The one after my first class. That¡¯s so stupid. Why.¡± Zoe ranted.

    Emma laughed some more. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. You¡¯ve got the first class you pick and then all the classes the system gives you.¡±

    ¡°No. It¡¯s stupid and I hate it. Anyway, I¡¯m gonna head over to that bookstore I told you about to maybe pick up a new book if you wanted to come along?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah sure, that sounds like fun. Hopefully he¡¯s actually there today.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°We¡¯ll go buy some salt if he isn¡¯t. Also if he isn¡¯t. Lets get the salt first.¡± Zoe said.

 2-23. Uncapped

    Zoe and Emma left Oliver behind at home and went down to John¡¯s bookstore. On the way, Zoe stopped off at a market and bought enough salt to last her a lifetime. Or at least, a lifetime if she wasn¡¯t immortal. She got about ten cups of coarse ground salt for a gold coin and stored it all away in her bracelet.

    ¡°You think he¡¯s gonna be there today?¡± Emma asked as they walked down the street.

    ¡°Maybe. It¡¯s pretty unpredictable when he¡¯s open, honestly. I don¡¯t even really need to go, it¡¯s just kinda fun.¡± Zoe answered.

    They walked the rest of the way to John¡¯s books talking about Oliver and whether he deserved a playmate. When they arrived, the eerie darkness that covered the windows was gone and Zoe could see the destruction wrought throughout the store.

    The door was smashed in and rested on top of a pile of collapsed bookshelves and crushed books. Torn papers covered the floor, ripped from the books they once belonged in. Zoe and Emma walked inside.

    ¡°Is it¡­ always supposed to be so broken?" Emma asked.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. It was never like this before, anyway.¡± Zoe answered as she looked around at the damage.

    There was a quiet pop next to Zoe, and John appeared. Emma yelped and jumped back. Frustration and confusion rampaged through John until his many eyes turned to Zoe and she felt a pleasant calmness wash over him.

    ¡°Dude what happened here? Are you alright?¡± Zoe asked him.

    John looked at her for a moment, a quizzical feeling washing through him and then Zoe heard something from next to him. ¡°Arrested, apparently.¡±

    The voice crackled and squeaked in a strange monotonous whisper, but it was speech! He had figured out some solution to his communication. Zoe felt a strange sense of pride well up in her.

    ¡°You can talk now! I think I can handle the telepathy now though if that¡¯s easier. Wait, arrested? What do you mean? What happened?" Zoe pestered him.

    John sat still for a moment before her mind was blasted with memories. Some child wandered into his store, and John helped the child find their parents. Or so he thought, the two adults who were frantically looking for a lost child ended up being rather nefarious.

    Officials discovered the kidnapping and found the last known place to be John¡¯s store. An armoured woman brought John to the courthouse and left him in a barred off room for an hour, so he left to come tend to his store. The woman returned to his store and kicked down his door, John helped them fit the chains onto his many limbs and then he teleported them all back to the courthouse.

    John left the group that had accosted him and teleported to the leader in the courthouse, who told him that the small child he had helped was from some welath family, and kidnapped. So he found the child, teleported her back to the courthouse and came back to his store once more.

    "Ahhh. So some noble brat ran away and you got screwed by it, eh? That sucks man. But you''re good now right? Off the hook?" She asked, pleased when John nodded, "Great! So I¡¯m looking for, I dunno. Some interesting books. You got any books with really cool skills I could learn? Or feats? Maybe both. I just want to collect lots of skills and feats, honestly.¡°

    John waved one of his limbs and all the bookshelves righted themselves. The torn, destroyed books filled in the bookshelves, and dozens of books flooded out from John to fill the empty bookshelf next to his desk.

    Zoe looked at Emma who was sat on the floor, mouth agape as she watched the spectacle. ¡°What the hell is happening?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I told you it was an interesting bookstore,¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Yeah but I mean it¡¯s one thing to hear about a magical bookstore. Every bookstore is magical, mostly. But this is something else. Wow.¡± Emma looked around as the last remnants of magic finished filling out the bookshelves.

    Zoe walked up to the bookshelf next to John and looked through it. Every book seemed so interesting to her, filled with knowledge she wished she could hoard for herself. She envied John and his seemingly endless wealth of books, and wondered where he got them all from. Had he written them himself? Purchased them over his many years of life?

    The two spent a few hours reading through the many books, and picked out one that had a plethora of feats and skills that seemed approachable, along with many more that would be more long term goals. They brought it up to the counter, and Emma spoke up.

    ¡°This one please. All you want is a story, right? Is it okay if I pay? I just wanna say I shopped here.¡± Emma asked both John and Zoe.

    John nodded his head and Zoe chuckled. ¡°Sure,¡± She said.

    ¡°Cool. Okay, so when I was a kid one day I went out to the forest with my mum. She really wanted me to be a warrior. Go fast, hit hard. That kinda thing. I wanted to be a mage though, personally. Warriors were so boring and weak, I thought. But she took me out when I was six or seven. We went really far into the forest too.

    ¡°Way farther than I¡¯d ever been before. And I was getting kinda scared, but mum kept telling me that it was okay and she was there. I just couldn¡¯t believe her, because she was a warrior and I didn¡¯t think that was very good. Dad was always around with all of his magic, and it was so visible, right?

    ¡°But mum was just normal. She didn¡¯t have any magic or anything. She lifted me up easily, and carried all our groceries but even dad could do that! I thought being a warrior meant throwing your life away. Which is dumb, but I was like six, okay.

    ¡°And then she picked me up and put me on her shoulder. While we were out in the middle of nowhere. And she just jumped right up into the trees, took me up to the very top where I got to look around at everything. All I saw, for as far as I could see, were trees. Their bright green canopies that fluttered slightly in the wind.

    ¡°It was beautiful. And it was something dad couldn¡¯t do. Mum looked at me and told me that magic is fun and visual, but strength gives you freedom. Dad might be fun and spectacular at home. And in his own way, he is. But they both help each other. Mum keeps dad safe, and dad keeps mum going.

    ¡°Looking back on it, it¡¯s a little silly. I think she just really wanted to convince me to take a more physical class. But it worked, and I ended up taking my class right then. Got a decent one, but I still want more magic. I think some cool magic archery would be fun.¡± Emma said.

    John nodded his head and wrote ¡®Thank you¡¯ in the air between them.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°No, thank you. That felt good.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe grabbed the book from the counter. ¡°Thanks again for all the books John, I¡¯ll see you around!"

    ¡°Speaking of my mum,¡± Emma started when they left through the still empty doorframe. ¡°Are you good sometime next week to meet my mum again?"

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good whenever. I¡¯ll probably just spend some time at Kaira library. Might come by and read through this book with you though too. Maybe go see if Ren¡¯s still needing mana. I could probably charge the full quota a lot quicker now with my third class.¡± Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Still stupid.¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Whatever, you¡¯ll get used to it. So a week today then?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah sure. Your place?¡±

    ¡°Sure, sounds fine. I¡¯ll let her know then. You wanna come back to my place or got something else to do?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll go see if Joe¡¯s got a room available, to be honest. I miss his beds. The ones in Gafoda sucked so bad.¡± Zoe laughed.

    Emma reached out for a hug. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll see you later then. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re sticking around for a while.¡±

    Zoe hugged her back. ¡°See you next week then. Maybe sooner, I¡¯ve got nothing to do really.¡±

    Joe was in the kitchen when she got there, and Zoe poked her head in. ¡°Hey Joe. Got a room open?¡±

    ¡°Oh hey Zoe. Yeah, I do. You sticking around then?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Mhm. I¡¯ll be around for probably a few years, I wanna just work on a bunch of skills. Besides, my first class levels up with time so there¡¯s no real rush anyway I guess. Thanks again, I hadn¡¯t even realized how stressed I was, to be honest.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No problem.¡± Joe summoned some keys and tossed them to her.

    Zoe caught them and stored them away in her bracelet. ¡°What happened to the fellow you were helping when I left anyway?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yeah he¡¯s found his footing again. Haven¡¯t seen him since. Y¡¯know, most people don¡¯t stick around as much as you do.¡± Joe laughed.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m sorry then. I¡¯ll just leave and never come back again I guess.¡± Zoe pouted.

    Joe kept laughing. ¡°Sure you will.¡±

    ¡°Oh, actually. Do you wanna help me out with taxes at some point? I think I wanna just suck it up and make a lot of money. I¡¯d like to buy a house here, I think. Actually, do you know if there¡¯s laws about whether you have to live in the house you own or not?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Like, if I buy a house and then I just leave for five years to go do something else, do I lose the house? How¡¯s that work? Is there squatter¡¯s rights?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a problem with that. Lots of people go on trips. You¡¯d have to ask somebody more knowledgeable though. Maybe you get a house keeper to keep it tidy and controlled while you¡¯re gone?¡± Joe shrugged.

    ¡°Maybe, I guess. But taxes? You think you could help me out?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, sure. I just did mine a few weeks ago but I could help out when you need it.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Alright, thanks Joe. I¡¯ll come pester you again later then.¡± Zoe said and ran up to the room labelled on her keys.

    She smiled when she saw the bed and leapt onto it. Hours later, she woke up and stretched with a big smile on her face.

    Zoe got up and sat down on the chair and thought about reading the book she got, but decided against it. The book had plenty of information she was interested in, but she wanted to read it with Emma. It was her story that got the book, after all. It was only fair that she got to read through it too.

    Plus, she just wasn¡¯t in the mood for reading at the moment anyway, and decided to go check out Ren¡¯s place. On her way over, she thought about what her new mana regeneration would end up being with her doubled total mana and doubled regeneration. Was it multiplicative with her regeneration boost from Seasoned Frost for six times her base regeneration?

    Or would it be additive, for only four times her base? Either way it was going to be significant when combined with her total mana being doubled as well. And her meditation levelled, which might be affected by Mana Affinity too now that she thought about it.

    Her eyes widened as she realized something she hadn¡¯t noticed before. Her meditation was almost level seventy when Ren helped her calculate her mana regeneration last time. That was well above her level now, let alone back then. And Ren didn¡¯t even blink an eye.

    Why did he not react at all to that? Why did he believe her so readily? That should have been impossible without Patient Decider, to Zoe¡¯s knowledge. Did he know about the feat? Did he have the feat?

    Her heart raced as she walked up to Ren¡¯s door and knocked. He opened the door a minute later and looked just as she remembered, with not a speck of dust out of place. His black suit almost shone in the light, while his eyes looked at her with a gentle yet piercing gaze.

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s you again. I suppose you have returned for more work?¡± Ren asked.

    ¡°Yeah, for a bit at least. I got another class, do you think you could help me calculate my mana regeneration again?¡± Zoe asked.

    Ren rolled his eyes and led Zoe in to the dining table. ¡°I suppose. What¡¯s your wisdom, maximum mana and meditation at? And since I suppose I must mention it, any other effects that might impact your regeneration.¡±

    ¡°Does mana affinity affect meditation?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It does.¡± Ren answered.

    ¡°Eighty wisdom, fifteen hundred mana, eighty-four meditation, the two hundred percent boost from my first class. And then another hundred percent from my third class, with Mana Affinity at twenty-one.¡± Zoe answered and watched Ren for a reaction to her skill levels.

    Ren¡¯s eyes darted back and forth as he calculated her regeneration. ¡°You¡¯ve got right around forty-five thousand mana per hour now. Impressive.¡±

    ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a lot more than I thought.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Indeed, you have quite the potent skillset for your level.¡± Ren said.

    ¡°Why do you not seem to care about my skills not having a level cap?¡± Zoe asked.

    Ren raised an eyebrow. ¡°You have other uncapped skills than Meditation?¡±

    Zoe panicked. She hadn¡¯t even thought of individual skills being uncapped and walked right into revealing more than she intended to. ¡°I um. Well, I have a couple others, I guess?¡±

    ¡°How interesting. I would be interested in learning more about how you¡¯ve done so if you¡¯re willing to share?¡± Ren asked.

    ¡°I, maybe. I¡¯d need to think about it.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Well, I won¡¯t pry. Do share if you ever feel up to it though. I¡¯ll grab you some components to charge for today and you can get started, then. I do suspect that¡¯s why you¡¯re here, yes?" Ren asked.

    ¡°Yeah, for a bit anyway.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Good, wait here. Make yourself comfortable.¡± Ren stood up and walked into his workshop, the sound cutting off as the door closed.

    Zoe moved over to the more comfortable couch and sat down while she waited for him to return and thought about what he said. It was possible to uncap specific skills? Was this common knowledge? She¡¯d never even heard of that before.

 2-24. Abyllan

    The next week flew by as Zoe fell into her familiar routine of charging objects for Ren, with the difference now being how much less time that ended up taking from her day. Before, she¡¯d spend almost the entire day on Ren¡¯s couch filling whatever he gave her. But now she only had to stop by for a few hours, and then she was done.

    Neither Ren nor Chloe were interested in sharing anything about uncapped skills unless Zoe shared some of what she knew, and Zoe wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to. It was one thing to share her personal information when she freely offered it ¡ª to friends or acquaintances. But Ren wanted it, he wanted to know more. And that made Zoe a little uneasy.

    The day came to meet Emma¡¯s mom again, and Zoe felt her nerves growing. Her stomach twisted and churned as she sat in Emma¡¯s dining room and thought about their past meeting.

    ¡°You sure you¡¯re okay with this?¡± Emma paced back and forth.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, I¡¯m okay. I¡¯m fine. This is okay. Just gonna meet your mom. Nothing wrong with that.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t sound fine. You sure? I can tell her you weren¡¯t around if you want?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe took a deep breath. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m fine. I am nervous, but I¡¯ll be okay.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Thanks again, Zoe. I really appreciate this.¡± Emma said.

    A moment later, there was a knock at the door and Emma went downstairs to answer it. Zoe felt her heart race in anticipation, and stared at the staircase as she waited for them to return. She heard Emma open the door and greet her mom. Emma¡¯s mom asked how Zoe was doing, and then Zoe listened to their footsteps walk up the creaky wooden staircase.

    When they got to the top floor, Zoe¡¯s nerves washed away. Emma¡¯s mom seemed to be a bundle of compressed anxiety and fear, though she didn¡¯t show it on her face as she smiled at Zoe.

    Emma sat down at the table and gestured to the last empty chair for her mom who also sat down.

    Emma¡¯s mom turned to Zoe. ¡°Thank you for agreeing to this. I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t easy for you. I¡¯m glad you seem to be doing well.¡±

    Zoe sat in silence, not sure how to respond. Should she be angry? Should she thank her for the niceties?

    ¡°I wanted to apologize,¡± Emma¡¯s mom said. ¡°I treated you horribly when I first met you. There¡¯s no excuse for what I did, nothing I can point to that justifies it. I know that it might be hard to trust me, but I do feel horrible for it.

    ¡°Ever since Emma moved out, it¡¯s been eating away at me. I thought that I was protecting her, that I was keeping her safe. But I wasn¡¯t. I was ruining her friendships, pushing away the people who she cared about. I shouldn¡¯t have done that.

    ¡°When I was younger, I had a problem with somebody who used a manipulation effect on me. My mom had one. And she used it every time I was misbehaving. If I stepped out of line, she¡¯d blast me with her skill and I¡¯d behave like the good little child she always wanted. I resented her for it in time. I had no agency, I had no ability to be myself, to grow and make mistakes. My childhood was ripped away from me because of her, and when I felt your effect it brought all of that resentment back up.

    ¡°Your skill wasn¡¯t strong enough to do anything terrible, it wasn¡¯t powerful enough to coerce people into things they didn¡¯t want to do. It was wrong of you to do that, and I stand by that. But I overreacted.

    ¡°There was just no reason for that. You were innocent, maybe a little na?ve. You didn¡¯t know better, and I could have taken the chance to do something good. I could have showed the two of you that people are good, and kind. That accidents happen, and people can forgive. But I didn¡¯t do that. I took my own troubles, my own worries and I forced you to bear them. For that, I am deeply sorry.¡± Emma¡¯s mom bowed her head.

    Zoe had no idea what to say. In the first place, is an apology not asking for forgiveness? Was that not the point of an apology? Were you not supposed to say you¡¯re sorry, please forgive me? What¡¯s the point of an apology if not to ask for forgiveness?

    Was Zoe supposed to just continue being mad? She didn¡¯t even think she was, not really. From the beginning, Zoe understood it, at least a little. No matter how minor, if you see somebody endangering your child you¡¯re going to be upset. It was more about being afraid of her. But was that something you could forgive?

    Did Zoe really worry about her mom doing anything anymore? If she really thought about it, there was no reason to worry about it from the beginning as long as she kept her Charm skill off. Which she tended to do anyway because it made her more than just a little uncomfortable.

    ¡°Okay. Thanks.¡± Zoe said after a minute.

    The three sat in silence for a few more minutes before Emma¡¯s mom stood up. ¡°Alright, well I¡¯ll head out then and you two can get back to whatever you were doing. Thank you again, Zoe. I really appreciate having this opportunity.¡±

    Emma stood up and hugged her mom. ¡°Okay, see you later then mum.¡±

    ¡°I wish you the best of luck, Zoe. It was good to see you again.¡± Emma¡¯s mom went down the stairs, and Zoe heard the door lock shut behind her.

    ¡°You alright, Zoe?" Emma sat down at the table again.

    ¡°Yeah, I am. I didn¡¯t expect it to be so intense, I guess? That was a lot.¡± Zoe relaxed.

    ¡°So you wanna do anything?¡± Emma reached down to pet Oliver who came and flopped at her feet.

    ¡°Maybe, yeah. I haven¡¯t checked the book that you paid for yet, so we could do that.¡± Zoe suggested, excited to do anything that wasn¡¯t think about Emma¡¯s mom at the moment.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t read it at all yet? Why not! I totally thought you were going to pick out some cool things and share it.¡± Emma leaned in.

    ¡°No, I wanted to go through it with you. You paid for it after all, only felt fair.¡± Zoe smiled.

    ¡°Alright then yeah bring it out, lets see what it¡¯s all about!" Emma moved her chair over next to Zoe.

    Zoe pulled the book out of her bracelet and read through it.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    <u>Richard¡¯s Legacy</u>

    Hello, I¡¯m Richard. Many decide to take their classes as soon as they can. They get level four, and that¡¯s it. Grab a class, and continue on. Well, I never did. My parents raised me to believe that I was better than that, as some sick, twisted science experiment.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    They died many years ago now, when I was but a young child only seventy-three years of age. Good riddance, I say. There was merit to their aspirations, I see that now. But to force it on their child was nothing short of evil.

    But largely, I think this lifestyle is beautiful in its own way. Here I sit, aged in my years and with my vast expanse of time I¡¯ve decided to leave behind a book. Maybe somebody out there will find it, and learn something from it.

    In my years, I¡¯ve accumulated a large expanse of skills and feats that I would like to share with whoever finds this book. I will start with perhaps the most interesting feat which really cemented this as something feasible for me.

    Patient Decider. It provides a number of benefits, but the most important one is that it lifts all first class restrictions. No longer am I as a mere level four stuck at having level four skills. My highest now is at level two thousand three hundred and forty five. Incredible. It also provides an additional free stat point every year, which if combined with a source of immortality provides ample bonuses in time, if you can live long enough to accumulate them.

    I got this feat on the day of my sixtieth birthday without choosing my second class. The specific wording of the feat makes me believe that there are different requirements for different species. My current theory is that it requires you to survive for half of your species expected lifespan without taking a class, but it might also just be a coincidence that sixty was half of my expected lifespan.

    The next series of feats that I find particularly interesting are the slayer series of feats. These ones require you to slay elementals, and grant you a matching skill. Kill a Space Elemental, gain the Space skill. These skills are general creation and manipulation skills which are quite versatile. If you find an elemental, I would highly recommend killing a part of it just for these feats.

    These skills are of course available without the feats, the system was never created in such a way that it would limit your choice so pointlessly. However; without the feats, they are at the same time much harder and much easier to obtain.

    Obviously, killing an elemental is no small feat on its own, hence why the system rewards you with such a useful skill. But it is simple. Kill an elemental. One step, that¡¯s it. It¡¯s a difficult step, but it¡¯s not hard to understand or attempt.

    On the other hand, acquiring these general creation and manipulation skills as general skills without the help of a class is much harder, although the risk is much lower. You don¡¯t have to kill an elemental. I have found it easiest in my testing to first gain a relevant manipulation skill, and then evolve it into the combined skill.

    I have tested this with fire, space and time. Having the relevant resistance helps coerce the system into giving you help, although you are likely to obtain the resistance in your attempts regardless.

    Our world is made up of mana, specks of power that float around us. Invisible to our eyes, but present and powerful regardless. All magic, or at least, almost all magic, is used through these specks of power. As we call on our skills, the system warps the mana to create the effects. To get a fire manipulation skill, you simply have to force the mana to manipulate fire.

    It¡¯s challenging, but it gets easier as you get experience with it. I hadn¡¯t the idea until after I had many of the slayer feats, so I wasn¡¯t able to test it well, unfortunately. But my third skill that I got manually was much simpler than the first fire one that I had gotten.

    Now, for evolving the skill to a combined creation and manipulation skill, you need to repeat the process over again but rather than urging the mana to move the fire around, you need to urge the mana to create fire itself. To transform the mana directly into fire.

    This is much more difficult, but as before it does get easier as you get more experience with the process. Do it just right, and your skill will evolve. They will also combine if you get multiple that work together. Space and Time combine into Cosmos, for example.

    I wish I could provide you with more information, but unfortunately I don¡¯t think the way I perceive and interact with mana will help most people who might find use from this book. Do your own research, find your own path, and understand the way mana interacts with the world.

    Now, I believe it is worth mentioning at least once a skill that I heard of from a ¦Ì????????????????????????????????????¨_??????????????????????  that I¡¯m acquainted with. They are apparently given an Immortality skill as an option for their class. It grants true immortality, invulnerability to death. I have tried finding a way to acquire this as a general skill, but to no avail. I don¡¯t believe it is available. But if it were, then it might be the most important discovery made in the history of our universe.

    But, in my pursuit of this skill I have found other, less powerful skills. Resistances to damage types of course are helpful, though unfortunately they will never provide true immunity to a damage. A general skill that provides immunity to death is also unfortunately something I¡¯ve never found. However, general skills that help prevent aging do exist, and if you intend to take advantage of Patient Decider and are not already immortal, then I would suggest acquiring them.

    Vampyric Immortality is the simplest to acquire, though it comes with some caveats. If you are a race native to Pol, Illujan, or Abyllan then you will be converted to a vampire and lose your sanity. However, if you are not then you can travel to one of these planets and find a vampire to infect you. The system will grant you Vampyric Immortality, among some other useful skills, but will not be able to convert your race.

    It is however quite a painful experience, and will make some drastic physical changes to your body. Nothing permanent though, it can all be changed back with a skilled mage. But be warned, it is a simple method but not without its risks.

    The other skills that it grants are the Regeneration, Senses, Resistance, Charm and Empathy skills in the Vampyric group. They¡¯re all fairly weak, though useful. The main draw is immortality, which on top of preventing aging also provides an additional stat point per year making it well worth the investment.

    The next simplest immortality I¡¯ve found is the time resistance. When it reaches level one thousand, you are given the Eternal feat, which also prevents aging. Combined with Patient Decider¡¯s uncapped skills and experience bonus, getting level one thousand in a resistance is quite simple.

    On that note, all resistances and skills give feats at level one thousand. I won¡¯t go into what they all do, that¡¯s quite boring. But they¡¯re usually relevant in some way.

    The last source of immortality that I have found is the Cosmos skill I spoke of earlier. I would recommend getting the Space and Time skills then letting them combine, rather than trying to get Cosmos outright.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zoe looked up at Emma. ¡°Guess we need to find you some elementals then, huh?¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°I know you said John¡¯s books were cool but this is incredible. Why isn¡¯t that bookstore more popular?¡±

    ¡°Maybe cause it¡¯s run by a really scary green monster and is barely ever even open?¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Good point. People are really missing out though, I¡¯ve never even heard of people travelling to other planets. You sure this is all real?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°So what planet is this anyway?¡±

    ¡°Abyllan, duh. Never even heard of those other ones.¡± Emma said.

 2-25. Repose

    ¡°Also wait, what did Richard mean by taking their class at level four? You should get your class at level eight?¡± Emma asked Zoe.

    ¡°I dunno. I guess Richard¡¯s species gets it at level four?¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°But why would there be that difference?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Your guess is as good as mine. You know way more about all this stuff than me anyway.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    Emma scratched her head. ¡°You really sure this information¡¯s trustworthy?¡±

    ¡°I mean, the information seems good enough at least. They got Patient Decider right, outside of the requirement. I got it when I turned twenty-five, not sixty. Though if they¡¯re right and it¡¯s half of your expected lifespan, I guess that makes sense. That¡¯s pretty close to how long humans live where I¡¯m from.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And the slayer feats make sense too from what you say. It¡¯s still crazy. I think you should be skeptical of what it says, it¡¯s a little outlandish.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I mean you should always be a little skeptical. Doesn¡¯t mean the information¡¯s not still useful in its own way though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I guess. Lets read some more though, I wanna see what other fantasies this Richard has.¡± Emma giggled.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Now, I¡¯ll not bore you with the specific details of every skill I have. But know that for almost any task you try to do, there is likely a skill that governs your competency at it. If you try, really try to better yourself at something, the system will reward you with a skill.

    Go for a run, and try to refine your form. Focus on each step that you take, understand the forces acting on your limbs and your body. Refine your movement, and in time the system will give you a Running skill. If you are a species that can fly, then do the same for your flight.

    Mining, Smithing, Woodcutting, Woodworking, Fishing, Sewing, Knitting. Anything you can do, you can be given a skill for, from what I¡¯ve found. It¡¯s just a matter of finding what exactly the system has decided the actions you¡¯re doing are.

    For instance, I gained the Woodcutting skill while I was digging with a shovel into the ground. The system decided that what I was doing was Woodcutting, and rewarded me with the skill. Perhaps because of the dense root system I was digging through, however the roots were soft and felt no different from the ground around it.

    I could list many more strange cases like this, but I¡¯ll save you the boring details. Understand what the system thinks you¡¯re doing, and play to its hand.

    For more interesting skills that I might recommend, Meditation is perhaps the most important. Focus on the mana within and around you, and allow it to be drawn into you. This skill boosts your mana regeneration, and the experience of getting it is fundamental to acquiring a number of other skills down a similar vein.

    There are of course matching skills for the other pools, or at least for Stamina. Health has a skill, but I am unsure if it is truly related. The Stamina skill is called Repose, and it is obtained through simple rest. Clear your mind, ignore the distractions around you. Calm your mind and allow your body to recover.

    Health¡¯s skill is called Recovery. Frankly, I¡¯m hesitant to recommend it. The effect is extremely weak and consumes far too much mana to be viable, and acquiring the skill is exceedingly dangerous. I would suggest getting a passive regeneration boost like the Vampyric Regeneration from the two planets mentioned earlier, or finding another one for yourself.

    However; to get the skill you need to take extensive damage so your health is lowered. I would suggest finding a trusted acquaintance with exceptional control over their skills. And then rather than waiting for your passive regeneration to fix your body, you need to knit your body back together with mana. It is similar in practice to acquiring a manipulation skill.

    I suppose Recovery could be thought of as a Body Manipulation skill, in that sense. Force the mana to restore your body to what it was, and you will be granted the Recovery skill. The system is not helping you, and a mistake can cause lasting damage to your body, or possibly death if done poorly. Once you have the skill, it is a much more simple process.

    But before you have the skill, manipulating your very body is exceedingly dangerous. I share this because I must, but be aware of the immense risk associated with it and the disappointing results.

    I find that among the skills available, artistic skills are the most useful. Enchanting, Alchemy, Smithing, Woodworking. Any skill that may be used to create something of your own design. They are both the most entertaining, in my opinion, and also the most useful. Think of anything you might use in your day to day life. Who created that tool, who made that chair. What skill would be associated with it?

    And then go find a way to get it for yourself. I have not yet found a skill that is useless.

    Now, to return to feats, I would like to explain my theory on their creation. I do not believe that they are fundamentally different to skills or resistances. I believe that feats are simply a different qualification of skill.

    And through this theory, I believe that you can acquire a feat simply by accomplishing any skilled task to an extreme level. Lets go through some to justify my theory.

    We¡¯ll start with the slayer series. I believe that these are simply more powerful skills. Slayer of Cosmos grants the Cosmos skill of course. And I have no reason to believe that simply having the Cosmos skill would be weaker than having the Slayer of Cosmos feat along with it. My Fire skill was equally as powerful both with and without the Slayer of Fire feat.

    However, when I gained the Fire skill, I showed the system that I am better than fire. That I am worthy of controlling fire. That I conquered fire.

    What difference is there between what I did for the Fire skill, and if I were to have slain a Fire Elemental. Is not destroying the very element itself not also proving that you are better than it? That you can exert your own control over it?

    I say no. I say they are the same result, but through different paths. And so of course, when you kill a Space Elemental and show the system that you are better than Space itself, that Space bends and breaks to your will, that you are granted a skill to control it.

    The Eternal feat that I¡¯ve mentioned before of course is the penultimate evidence of my theory. Along with the other feats granted for reaching level one thousand in skills. It is proof that you have mastered a skill, and for that you are granted a feat that itself enhances and draws out the power of your skill even further.

    Feats are no more than skills. I believe that feats, resistances and general skills are all the same thing but simply different categories. Imagine your resistances being merged into your general skills, and how confusing it might end up being.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    You could have the Fire skill, and the Fire resistance, both would simply say Fire. This would be needlessly confusing, so they are split up into Skills, Resistances and Feats. However, they are all ultimately the same thing. Rewards for accomplishing tasks.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The book continued on in a passionate ramble about the nature of the system and skills. Richard seemed convinced that the system was created, but had no ideas as to who would have created it. He seemed averse to the idea that a god created it, if gods were a thing and existed then somebody at some point would have seen them as they travelled the universe. But he¡¯d never heard of any substantial evidence to one existing.

    He thought it much more logical that the creatures people referred to as gods across the worlds were simply species from other planets far more powerful than theirs. Richard too was seen as a god in many of the worlds he had visited.

    He listed off a few more feats and skills through his ramble, but nothing stood out to Zoe as being very interesting. There were skills for everything, she knew that. It didn¡¯t matter if Richard told her there was a skill for travelling to other worlds, of course there would be.

    A few of the feats seemed interesting enough, but he tended to list groups rather than specific feats and what they did. There was a group for total skill levels, and another group for accumulation of achievements. Travel to so many planets, acquire certain number of resistances or resistance levels. Accumulation of lots of random tidbits tended to lead to a feat, according to Richard.

    To Zoe¡¯s welcomed surprise, he hadn¡¯t gotten a similar feat to Patient Decider for not taking his class after all of his years. It was just Patient Decider and then nothing else.

    Emma laughed while she read aloud. ¡°And thus I conclusively prove that feats are the same as skills! His argument is literally just that feats sometimes give skills and so they must be the same thing. I¡¯d say that¡¯s pretty good evidence that they¡¯re very different things personally, Mister Richard.¡±

    ¡°I mean, yeah I agree with that. But the information¡¯s good, at least. That¡¯s a lot of feats and skills to work towards.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ah ah ah!¡± Emma clicked her tongue. ¡°Just skills, no feats. Remember, they¡¯re the same thing.¡±

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Whatever, Richard.¡±

    ¡°So, which feat are you gonna get first?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I was thinking I¡¯d go get Slayer of Cosmos tomorrow. Find an elemental, kill it. Simple.¡± Zoe smirked.

    ¡°But seriously though? I think I might want to try getting Repose, personally. I¡¯ve heard of it before but I may as well finally actually try it out.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°You¡¯d so suck at that. You know you have to sit still and do nothing to get it right?¡± Zoe said.

    Emma shoved Zoe on her chair. ¡°Yeah but I got meditation, I can do this one too.¡±

    ¡°What level¡¯s your meditation at now?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s high enough!¡± Emma scowled.

    ¡°Which is?" Zoe pushed.

    ¡°One. It¡¯s still one. I never did it again.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°See? You¡¯d suck at Repose too.¡±

    ¡°Okay, maybe.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I think I might try out getting some of the other manipulation skills personally. You should try them too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°But mana stuff is so boring!" Emma drawled.

    ¡°Okay, well what about other useful skills for you then? You could get leatherworking I guess? Or smithing? Help you maintain or make your gear?¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Yeah I could do that. I like working with my hands. All the magic mumbo jumbo goes way over my head though.¡± Emma said.

    The two sat and talked about what they might like to work on for a few more hours, and then Zoe left. Emma decided she¡¯d try and get some skills that would help out with her housework and making her own gear. And Zoe decided she was going to get as many skills as she could manage, even if they might be a little boring.

    If nothing else, she¡¯d get a bunch of skills to try enchanting things with, which was a nice benefit. She could imagine even the less useful skills like mining to have some interesting effects if she enchanted things with it. Mining might be a good addition to her frost projectiles.

    Or maybe one day, her fire balls and lightning bolts. Could she enchant a lightning bolt? It would be full of her mana, and if she had the ability to create and manipulate it, then it would be able to stick around long enough for her to flash an enchantment onto it, she thought.

    But would it be able to store an enchantment? She had no idea, but was excited to maybe one day find out.

    Zoe made her way to Kaira park and sat down, eager to take a break from the dangers of Moaning Point and spend a few years or maybe longer just working on bettering herself. She¡¯d already found a possible solution to the immortality problem for Emma, too.

    If she could somehow get Emma a space and time elemental to kill, then Emma would be immortal. Or maybe she could coach her to getting the Space and Time skills at some point. Immortality seemed so much more in reach than it did before, and Zoe felt a sense of relief from it. There wasn¡¯t any pressure to find something, to fix a problem. She was excited again, for the future.

    For a moment, Zoe thought of going back to John¡¯s books and asking him for some more direct help, but as quick as the thought came, it vanished.

    Zoe looked around her at all the wisps of light that floated through the park. The first skill she wanted to get was Wind. She had the resistance already, and figured it would be a good start. Earth was a close second, both elements were available in large quantities all around her and she had both of the resistances. But Wind won out as she imagined herself flying through the air on a bundle of wind.

    She watched the wisps and tried to see how they interacted with the wind. They, for the most part, didn¡¯t. Gusts of wind blew through the park and rustled the leaves. The trees tilted, and Zoe¡¯s white hair blew across her face and would get stuck in her eyes and mouth.

    But the mana wasn¡¯t affected, it carried on its gentle path towards wherever it was going. The exception was when Zoe did something. When she summoned a frost projectile, or enchanted something, the mana reacted.

    Some would be repelled, forced away by the pressure of the dense mana that Zoe spewed into the world. While other bits were attracted towards her. If she meditated, she could see the swirl of wisps around her as she absorbed them to restore her pool.

    She felt a little lost. Even if she used her mana manipulation to push something around, that wouldn¡¯t be wind. That was just mana itself being used to push things. There was something more fundamental that she wasn¡¯t understanding, and she was determined to figure out what it was.

 2-26. Proficient

    The years flew by as Zoe had fun relaxing and practicing her skills. Most of her time was spent either at Kaira park or out in the forests around Flester taking advantage of all the camping supplies she¡¯d gotten so long ago.

    She had worked on a few manipulation skills ¡ª Wind Manipulation was the first that she acquired. It was almost a full year of steady practice and studying. Watching people at Barlahai who advertised with their magics, wandering through the town looking for people with wind auras or other effects that shifted the mana around them.

    More hours than she could count were spent at Kaira library researching mana and the elements. She learned lots along the way, about the nature of mana and how it worked. What kinds of motions the mana made as different effects were cast. How it reacted to rushing winds that held up somebody¡¯s sign, or the violent churning while somebody put on a show with their water magic.

    It helped her a lot with understanding what mana was, and what her Mana Manipulation skill was truly capable of. But it wasn¡¯t easy to make the step from how the mana reacted to different effects, to creating those effects with mana. She could see the mana rush in, flood through the magic that was being cast. She could watch as it transformed and created something far more than just itself.

    But it took far longer than she thought it would before she was able to create any effects through her mana that weren¡¯t just using it as the semi corporeal material that it seemed to be. One day when she was sitting at her favourite bench in Kaira park and pushing the mana around in various patterns she¡¯d seen before, she had her first success. It was small, a weak gust that lifted a corner of the page in the book she was reading through. But it was enough.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Wind Manipulation general skill.

    [Wind Manipulation]

    The wind bends to your will.

    She had fun playing with the skill for a while, but found it lackluster compared to her Frost skill. The conclusion she came to was that manipulation skills were fun, but it was creation that made them powerful. Harnessing the air around her was difficult, she had to flood it with her mana first to grasp control of it.

    With her Frost skill, as long as she had mana, she could create more Frost. There was no horrible delay in wrenching control of the ice from the world, she just created it and it was hers. For a while, she tried to upgrade the Wind Manipulation skill to the more generalized Wind skill that should exist.

    But as before, she had no idea where to even begin with that. Moving air around with her mana manipulation alone was simple enough to understand, and yet still took her a year to have just the slightest effect.

    To create air from nothing, with just her mana? What would even be the first step? What was wind? What was air? Zoe watched as she created Frost and the mana was pulled from her to form the ball that floated next to her.

    The process was chaotic, and impossible to understand for her. It should be possible, in theory, if Richard was to be believed. And she had no reason to believe otherwise. But it was far beyond her capabilities, and she settled with collecting some more manipulation skills.

    Earth was the next, and it only took another three months. Much of her practice and experience from getting Wind Manipulation applied to Earth Manipulation as well. The motions couldn¡¯t be more different, but the theory was the same. She had to manipulate the mana to an effect.

    Zoe already knew how mana worked, she knew where to look. It was simple, compared to when she had to learn everything from scratch. Studying the patterns that made up earth took a lot of time, and reverse engineering the effects to figure out what she needed to do was still challenging. But she had a system now, and it cut out a lot of the difficulty for her.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Earth Manipulation general skills.

    [Earth Manipulation]

    The earth bends to your will.

    The next one Zoe wanted to work on was Space. She would daydream about opening portals and teleporting around wherever she wanted to go. One moment she¡¯d be sitting in Emma¡¯s tower with Oliver next to her. The next, she¡¯d be up Moaning Point trying her luck on the next stage.

    It excited her, and it might even help her with guiding Emma towards getting it at some point so she could make some progress towards not dying of old age.

    But as the months passed, she didn¡¯t feel like she¡¯d made any progress on it at all. What even was space, to mana? How did it interact with mana? Space was all around, constantly, she thought.

    Zoe had even found a few people who had space effects ¡ª John had powerful space magic, or maybe force? Either way, she couldn¡¯t see anything. The mana just didn¡¯t seem to care about space magic in the slightest bit, from what she could see. Maybe she missed something, some subtle movements that the mana made to accommodate the space magic.

    She ended up giving up on Space Manipulation and moved on to Time Manipulation. If she could get it to a high enough level, she might be able to just slow down her opponents so much that they couldn¡¯t pose a threat. Or maybe speed herself up, or grow a garden faster than normal.

    But it had the same problem as Space. She ended up dubbing them as abstract elements in her mind. Elements that clearly existed, but which were too far outside her understanding of reality to piece together. She added Mental and Gravity to the list as well, and didn¡¯t even bother trying to waste time on them yet.

    Taxes weren¡¯t as scary as she thought they would be. Zoe started selling charged mana orbs to Ren again rather than taking the massive cut to her income for him to employ her officially. Joe helped her out with the process, and a part of her cringed as she did it.

    Being whisked away to another world and then stuck with taxes still really didn¡¯t fit her idea of a great time, but the money was much better, and rather than having to work every day at Ren¡¯s, she was able to just dump all of her excess mana into mana orbs.

    He still only wanted one hundred fifty thousand mana every day, but storing many orbs that she could fill up meant that on days when she wasn¡¯t doing something mana intensive she could get a backlog of filled orbs. And then on days when she did want to do something more mana intensive, she had that backlog of orbs to still sell off to Ren.

    She showed up to his door almost every morning, and after the first few weeks he took down the job offering so Zoe wouldn¡¯t have to deal with competition. She appreciated being able to show up at a more comfortable time, rather than having to rush there first thing in the morning before anybody else showed up.

    It wasn¡¯t the best job she had on offer, but it was consistent and easy for her. And once she got over her aversion of taxes, made her quite a substantial amount of money. Quite a lot was taken away for taxes ¡ª she made one hundred eighty two and a half gold every year gross, which catapulted her through a few tax brackets. Thankfully, the tax brackets worked as she remembered and she wasn¡¯t penalized for making more money.

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    The first five weren¡¯t taxed. The next five were taxed at fifteen percent, so she lost seventy-five silver on it. The next forty gold were taxed at twenty-five percent. Then forty percent for the next fifty gold, and on the last eighty gold she made she paid sixty percent. Altogether, she ended up with one hundred two gold and twenty-five silver from her mana orbs every year from Ren.

    Or she would have, but he stopped buying orbs altogether after two more years. Chloe had made it to her next class and their mana problems were solved. Zoe knew it wouldn¡¯t last forever, as much as he said it wouldn¡¯t be going anywhere, she had been taking advantage of it for several years at that point.

    Before then, Zoe had made a little under two hundred and fifty gold total. More than enough for her to get a house one day, if she decided to go that route. Or maybe a really big storage item, instead. Or possibly even both.

    It was an incredible amount of money for Zoe, and she wasn¡¯t sure what to do with it all. She kept it in her storage bracelet and forgot about it for a while.

    In her spare time, when she wasn¡¯t trying to get a new manipulation skill, Zoe found herself either refining the skills she already had or trying to learn new ones. She wandered around town looking for anybody who might help her learn anything new.

    She found quite a few people who offered training for many different skills. Carpentry was the first, and Zoe found herself quite taken aback by how much fun it was. She pictured it as making simple chairs and tables, but it was so much more. She created engravings, and learned how to emboss her creations, which made them look much better and also depending on the material she used, made her enchantments last much longer on them.

    Smithing was a similar process. Slaving over the hot coals and hammering away on an anvil seemed so tedious at first. But Zoe found it so gratifying to create a dagger for herself. It wasn¡¯t a good dagger, but she kept it in her bracelet as a memento anyway. The only issue was that outside of renting a forge, she had nowhere to actually practice and refine it.

    Her laundry list of things she¡¯d want in her house continued to grow. A forge, a big woodworking shop, somewhere to practice her martial skills. A nice kitchen, a big bathtub.

    Zoe thought of the few hundred gold in her bracelet and wondered how much she¡¯d end up needing to scale back her dreamhouse. Maybe one day when her skills were all high enough, she could find somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and create something all on her own. That would be satisfying, she thought.

    A forge made by her, for her. A shop full of tools she¡¯d made herself, with metals she found and forged on her own. The independence called to her, a fantasy that might even one day be possible. A beautiful home that she could waste decades away in.

    Pottery was the most boring skill she¡¯d acquired. It was messy and she had no use for plenty of pots. Even if she could make them in different shapes, carpentry just accomplished the creation of something so much better.

    Mining surprised her a lot. She found it quite enjoyable, and spent quite a bit of time digging up some random bits of stone and metals she found while exploring around Flester. And the last skill she acquired was Fishing. Fishing was something she¡¯d done when she was younger, and it was enjoyable enough here as well. But the real draw for her was when she went out onto a boat in the middle of the sea. Fishing in rivers didn¡¯t have that same serenity she appreciated.

    Sailing, if it was a skill, was something she wanted to get as soon as she could. Maybe her dream house would be on a floating island she could sail around the world.

    Zoe tried looking for resistances over the years, but nobody that she found was able to offer her anything new. She spoke with Eliza a few times, and she offered to level the resistances that Zoe already had, but that was less interesting. Maybe someday when her pain resistance made enough of a difference, but for the time being, Zoe wanted new resistances, not to suffer just for higher level resistances.

    Five years passed, and Zoe was surprised with a new feat.

    *Ding* For accumulating a total of 1000 general skill levels, you have been awarded with the [Proficient] feat.

    [Proficient]

    You have accumulated a large wealth of skills and find pleasure from the refining your own capabilities.

    She decided that was as good a reason as any to move on from Flester, and sat down in Kaira park to check her stat sheet. She had made it to level fifty-seven and had two hundred ninety stat points to play with.

    Zoe dumped five points into Endurance to bring it up to her goal and wondered what to do with the rest. Her first goal was to try and find out if Intelligence affected her Frozen Arsenal. It had already made a very noticeable difference just levelling it up so much, so she didn¡¯t think she wanted to get rid of it anyway. But if Intelligence affected it, then it was definitely staying.

    She pumped seventy-five of her stat points into Intelligence and felt the surge of power rush through her as she shivered. Then she summoned a dagger of ice and scratched into the ground next to her. It sliced through with surprising ease. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure if that meant that she would be able to deflect blows with her shield better or not, but it meant Intelligence had some effect, at least.

    That left her with two hundred and ten points remaining. Part of her wanted to push her Intelligence to three hundred and then dump the rest into Wisdom. But she needed to temper her excitement at least a little.

    Fifty points into Vitality, and then one hundred into Intelligence. The remaining sixty she would split evenly between Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom. Zoe shuddered as the system raced through her body and soul to accommodate the changes she made, and then took a final look over her stat sheet.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 70

    Dexterity: 70

    Vitality: 100

    Endurance: 50

    Intelligence: 250

    Wisdom: 128

    Health:  1000/1000

    Stamina: 500/500

    Mana: 5000/5000

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (57)

    - Identify (76)

    Class 2: Seasoned Frost

    - Cold Affinity (89)

    - Time Affinity (93)

    - Restoration (32)

    - Frozen Arsenal (73)

    - Alacrity (109)

    Class 3: Chrono Enchanter

    - Time Affinity (91)

    - Mana Affinity (86)

    - Enchanted Mirror (68)

    - Mana Manipulation (84)

    - Immaculate Enchantments (31)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (37)

    - Vampyric Senses (87)

    - Vampyric Resistance (27)

    - Vampyric Immortality (8)

    - Vampyric Charm (71)

    - Vampyric Empathy (69)

    - Gathering (41)

    - Archery (72)

    -- Meditation (118)

    - Cooking (39)

    - Dagger-fighting (47)

    - Tracking (44)

    - Stealth (63)

    - Frost (86)

    - Alchemy (6)

    - Spear-fighting (23)

    - Sword-fighting (27)

    - Shield-fighting (31)

    - Wind Manipulation (17)

    - Earth Manipulation (13)

    - Carpentry (33)

    - Pottery (7)

    - Fishing (15)

    - Smithing (3)

    - Mining (17)

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    - Poison (14)

    -- Pain (5)

    - Heat (1)

    - Fire (1)

    - Cold (5)

    -- Disintegration (2)

    - Time (3)

    - Space (1)

    - Water (1)

    - Earth (1)

    - Gravity (1)

    - Ice (1)

    - Wind (1)

    - Lightning (1)

    Feats:

    - Patient Decider

    - Master of Seasons

    - Slayer of Frost

    - Skilled

    - Proficient

    - Okiu¡¯s blessing

 2-27. Agoraphobia

    Zoe went and said her goodbyes to Joe and Emma and then left through Flester¡¯s northern gate. One day, when she came back, she thought she¡¯d like to buy a house. Something that she could always have when she comes back to Flester.

    It had become home to her over the many years since she was brought to this world, and she wanted to really cement that for herself. But for now, she wanted to leave for a while. Maybe she¡¯d make some money while she was gone, maybe she wouldn¡¯t.

    But Zoe had gotten over her fears of her friends¡¯ mortality. It was still there, stuck in the back of her mind. But she¡¯d learned to live with it, to accept it as a part of her life. She would live forever, and the people around her wouldn¡¯t always. And that was okay.

    Sad, but okay. Maybe, when it didn¡¯t seem so far away, she wouldn¡¯t be as okay with it anymore. Maybe when Joe lost the last of his few dark brown hairs, Zoe would feel that fear rise up in her again. Maybe when Emma grew wrinkled and old, she¡¯d desperately search for some way to get her the Cosmos skill to overcome that frail weakness of time.

    It just all felt so much less important to her than it did so many years earlier when she rushed around desperately grasping at power for the hint of immortality. Of course immortality wouldn¡¯t be something she could just grant to people. Some candy she could hand out to the less fortunate to fix them. Time was a fickle beast, and besting it was no small feat.

    Even in her years of practice, Zoe wasn¡¯t able to acquire even the simplest Space or Time Manipulation skills. Let alone upgrading both of them to their purer forms. And that was for Zoe with her Patient Decider bonuses and Mana Manipulation skill helping her along.

    Somebody without all of those bonuses that Zoe had ¡ª somebody like Emma, wouldn¡¯t be able to even grasp at the faintest hint of them before time claimed what rightfully belonged to it. Not without very significant help.

    Maybe one day Zoe would find a Cosmic Elemental and be able to rip out parts of it to distribute among the mortals. She laughed at the thought.

    Sure, in theory it would be possible. The Frost Elemental that Zoe killed had done a similar thing, and Zoe now had the Frost skill to show for it. But that was ignoring the obvious problem of transporting an elemental of space and time. How would you trap something that was made up of the very essence of reality like that? What cage would keep it from being able to escape?

    And where would Zoe even begin to search for something like that? Hell, even just finding a normal Space Elemental seemed outlandish to her, let alone something so much greater than that.

    No, it made no sense to worry about it. Immortality was attainable by all, but through your own effort, not others. And Zoe was content with that. Emma would get more classes, more levels. She might even obtain immortality through her own power at some point. Magic was something that she wanted, even still.

    Her fourth class even had a hint of space magic in it. Maybe one day she¡¯d be granted immortality by the system and all of Zoe¡¯s worryings would have been for nothing. But Zoe had learned that her musings weren¡¯t important. Emma¡¯s life was her own, and regardless of how long it would end up being, Zoe was glad to at least be a part of it.

    Perhaps Joe¡¯s adamant refusal of immortality helped Zoe along that process of acceptance. No matter how often she brought it up, he almost seemed to romanticize his death. One day he would be over, and a while later he would be forgotten. That was natural, it was what he wanted. And Zoe accepted it.

    She¡¯d dealt with death before, back on Earth. Grandparents and other more distant relatives. Pets, and even a couple of friends. Zoe was no stranger to death back in her old life. She wasn¡¯t sure why she focused on it so much when she arrived here on Abyllan.

    Maybe it helped distract her from the reality of her situation. If she focused on death ¡ª something she¡¯d already overcome so many times, maybe she wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the trauma of having her life ripped away from her. Of being shunted into a world full of danger.

    Or maybe she just didn¡¯t want to lose everybody she had, again. Either way, that was for the past. And maybe for a future therapist.

    Before Zoe left, she had bought another bracelet for her other wrist. It looked almost identical, purple with specks of colour littered throughout it. She had looked at some of the more expensive options, interested in maybe getting one large item instead of multiple smaller ones. But she decided against it.

    The pricing wasn¡¯t linear, and availability was iffy on the best of days. A bracelet with four thermal control bags was eleven gold. For eight bags, it would have cost her thirty gold.

    She could afford it now, of course. But eight bags split between two bracelets was enough. And it gave her a little more confidence being able to split her belongings up across two items instead of putting all her eggs in one basket.

    Zoe wandered through the wintery forest to the north, looking for the warm river she¡¯d planned to spend her first winter at so many years prior. It wasn¡¯t hard to find, the rushing water was audible to her from kilometers away and she soon found the lake.

    But rather than the warm spring that it once was, with lush green grass visible all around and animals drinking from it like an oasis in the desert, the lake was frozen over. The river was still flowing, though bits of it were freezing. Chunks of ice bounded down, crashing into each other and up the river bank.

    Zoe watched it in awe a little. Years ago, this was a lush, warm reprieve from the winter¡¯s cold grasp. But now it stood as a testament to winter¡¯s power, rather than a powerful defense from it. She wasn¡¯t sure what had changed since the last time she saw it.

    Had the warm spring that fed the lake run out of its warmth? Had the planet shifted and the heat was directed elsewhere? She wasn¡¯t an expert in geoscience, even back on Earth. Let alone here where magic threw a galaxy sized wrench into the spokes of physics.

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    She shrugged it off as a wonder of magic, or possibly a forgotten high school science class and made her way towards the cave she¡¯d found. The crack in the wall was still present, a small slit carved into the hill that Zoe would call her home for a while.

    It wasn¡¯t far away from Flester, sure. And it wasn¡¯t as exciting as climbing Moaning Point either. But it would be her adventure. She didn¡¯t need Moaning Point to explore the world. She didn¡¯t need to go far from Flester either to explore the world.

    Zoe had realized something in the past few years. She didn¡¯t get joy from levelling, from spending months fighting zombies. No, Zoe enjoyed learning about every little thing the world offered her. Even around Flester there was so much she hadn¡¯t experienced.

    There were wolves that she¡¯d never seen. This hill that she¡¯d never really gotten to the top of. Herbs all around her that she¡¯d never collected, alchemy that she¡¯d never truly experimented with.

    She wanted to explore, but the journey was the fun part for her, not the destination. She wanted to take her time as she wandered the world. She¡¯d find a nice place to settle down, build up a place for herself and take her time seeing everything she could. And once she got bored, she¡¯d pack up and go find somewhere else.

    It didn¡¯t matter if it was a dungeon, if it was a town or the middle of nowhere. Zoe had such a small perspective of the world that everything excited her. A new tree, new herbs, new rocks to experiment with. New cultures and animals to meet.

    Her first stop was only a few hours from Flester, but it was meaningful to her. Zoe summoned a small bed that she¡¯d purchased before she left and placed it in the cave as almost a symbolic gesture of her intention to stay here, and then left to wander around a bit.

    The hill was full of much larger cave openings and Zoe was interested in seeing what they had to offer. She walked to the nearest gaping hole where the hill met the ground, and peered inside. It was about seven feet across, and somewhat reminiscent of an oval in shape.

    About ten feet down was the ground. Specks of frosted grass poked up through the scattered rocks and dirt where the sun shone through. The cave continued downwards out of her vision, and Zoe decided to come back to this one later. A dive into the depths excited her, but there were less dangerous options for her too.

    Instead, she walked over to one of the large open slits in one of the cliffsides and looked inside. The cave grew smaller and twisted out of her vision from the entrance, so Zoe wandered in. The damp rock walls closed in on her as she followed the twisting path through the hill, and then after a very tight squeeze, opened up to a large room.

    The ceiling was twenty, maybe thirty feet high. The walls were staggered and rough, leaving a somewhat pentagonal room. Towards the point was a small pool of water that was filled from a tunnel below it, and off to one side of the room was a small hole Zoe thought she¡¯d fit through about six feet off the ground.

    Zoe kicked herself for committing to the smaller slit earlier and went back to grab her bed. She¡¯d much rather call the large room with possible fresh drinking water her home. It was difficult to get to so she didn¡¯t think there would be many animals that would bother her. Maybe some bugs or whoever called the cave home.

    But the only entry points were where Zoe made her way in from and coming up through the water or the small hole in the wall. Even if something was going to harass her, they wouldn¡¯t be very large. She summoned her bed and put it up against one wall in the larger cave and sat down on it.

    What would be her plan for the area? She wanted something she could call her home for a while. Maybe she could even turn it into something more permanent, a place she could always return to when she wanted to come back to Flester.

    First, the room was too big. Having everything in one big room made her feel a little anxious. What was the opposite of claustrophobia? Was there a name for that? She thought she might have it, if it was a thing.

    If she wanted to call this place her home for a while, she needed to close it off. The room was tall enough that she could fit in two stories, if she could manage to build something stable enough for that. She thought she could, with enough time at least.

    And the floor area was large enough for her to fit in a couple of useful rooms. Maybe a bedroom, a kitchen and a workshop for her various skills. One problem with that would be ventilation, though. If she made a fire in here, it would burn up all the oxygen and she¡¯d be dead before she even realized anything was happening. Probably.

    Maybe she¡¯d notice her health dropping, or maybe the system would give her a notification for carbon dioxide poisoning. Worth testing, but she¡¯d rather just have some ventilation to be safe.

    The small hole on the wall could be good for that if it led outside and she could get some air flow. Maybe something enchanted with her Wind Manipulation could help with that.

    Zoe walked up to the hole and clambered her way up the wall to squeeze into it. The walls scraped along her clothes as she slid along the narrow tunnel until it was too tight for her to fit. She could see it continue on a little while longer, and even felt the odd breeze wash over her sweaty eyebrows.

    She thought about it for a moment, and then started using her Earth Manipulation to chip away at the rock and dirt and stored it away in her bracelets. It was a slow process and took a few hours, but she broke through to the surface and got a faceful of frosty dirt and snow.

    The hole she¡¯d dug was quite a ways up from the base of the hill, and she couldn¡¯t see the river that she followed to get to it so she must have dug straight through to the other side. Zoe crawled her way back to the little room she would call home, and sat back on her bed.

    Ventilation was solved, at least partially. She¡¯d need a proper chimney so that it didn¡¯t get clogged or filled with water, but that was approachable at least. Her next priority was how she¡¯d actually get any building done. Would she need to support the rock ceiling to keep it from collapsing on her?

    It had lasted this long, so maybe not she thought. But it had lasted this long without somebody living in it and adding an abundance of heat and vibrations to it, so maybe it would be a good idea after all.

    And finally, was the water actually safe to drink? Zoe had come a long way since eating a Klir leaf just to see what it did, and just drinking the water herself gave her a little anxiety. But she was also in a much better situation now to try it. Her health was high enough to absorb much more poison, she regenerated much quicker now than she did before and she had an active healing skill to bolster that.

    Zoe reached into the pool and cupped some of the water up in her hands. The cold water dripped between her fingers as she dumped it into her mouth and swallowed. She waited a moment for a notification and watched her health to see if it dropped, but nothing happened.

    She smiled as she sat back down on her bed. It wasn¡¯t far away from town, it wasn¡¯t some grand adventure through a dungeon. It was just some random hill she found years ago. But somehow, it filled her with so much excitement and anticipation nevertheless.

 2-28. Base building

    Zoe looked through her bracelets to sort her belongings. If this would be her home for a while, she could leave some of the less perishable supplies in her cave, and leave her bracelets open while she explored the area.

    She had her clothes, which she wanted to keep in her bracelet for now at least. Three comfortable, colourful dresses, four different pairs of rugged cloth pants and shirts, two skirts, a pair of yellow shorts and the light fur coat that had lasted all these years. Before she knew what kinds of bugs might be in the cave, Zoe wanted to keep her clothes on hand.

    There were the books she¡¯d purchased from John, and her flimsy certificate from the hunting school she¡¯d attended. Those would stay in her bracelet as well for the same reason.

    Zoe had gotten rid of the weapons she¡¯d been keeping just in case early on during her years in Flester. They just weren¡¯t all that important when she could make things from ice so easily. When she was lower level, it was nice to have the backup. But at this point the mundane dagger she bought when she was level eight didn¡¯t hold up to what her Frozen Arsenal would make.

    Her camping supplies took up a big portion of her bracelet¡¯s storage and she summoned them all to the cave floor. There was a sleeping bag, a new firestarter she¡¯d purchased, some basic cookware and a handful of containers to store food or whatever else she might need. The sleeping bag she put back in her bracelet. It didn¡¯t take much space and she¡¯d rather have it than not if she took a long journey out somewhere.

    The climbing supplies were also for the most part, unnecessary she found and sold off most of it before she left. The pitons were nice, but the best use she¡¯d found for them so far were as a makeshift spatula. And just like her weapons, the pitons could be replaced with her Frost skill quite easily if she did need to climb. And she didn¡¯t need much assistance climbing anyway with her sharp claws that dug into the cliff walls. Zoe kept a hundred feet of rope in her bracelet as well as her harness, and left the remaining two hundred in the cave.

    She had a handful of tools for her skills stored away in her new bracelet. She decided to keep most of her mining tools as well as her hefty lumber axe and then left her carpentry tools and fishing supplies resting up against the wall next to her bed.

    Which brought her to the last, and most exciting bit of her supplies. The food. This time, Zoe had opted for a more ambitious plan with fewer prepared meals and more supplies to cook food with. She had purchased some basic cookware and plenty of spices to keep her meals interesting and diverse.

    More than anything on her trip to Gafoda, what Zoe enjoyed was the day she spent cooking. Making her meals and storing them away for later was far and away the most interesting part about the whole experience for her. The problems she faced, and the solutions she landed on were a big part of that.

    But she enjoyed cooking, she found. And so instead of buying a bunch of prepared meals, or even raw ingredients, Zoe decided to stock up on everything she needed to make what she found in the wild taste good. Enough salt to last her for years, whatever dried spices she could find, and plenty of different fats. An even split between animal fats and oils from whatever vegetables or fruits people made them from.

    Zoe did buy some food, it would be silly to wander the wilderness without at least some kind of fallback plan. But that¡¯s what it was, a fallback plan. She went to the fanciest restaurant she could find and purchased twenty meals from them, and kept them stored away in her new bracelet.

    All of her cooking supplies would stay in her bracelets, of course. Leaving food out in her home would be a great way to invite bugs and wild animals into her cave, and she didn¡¯t want to do that. If anything, she wanted to put up big signs telling them to stay away if possible.

    With everything sorted out, Zoe summoned one of the two large boxes she¡¯d purchased and filled it with all of her belongings she was leaving in the cave. Then she strapped the lid shut to keep any would be invaders away at least somewhat, and left her cave.

    The sun was beginning to set, and Zoe had still not eaten anything. It would feel quite awful if on her first day out, she had to dip into her reserves of food already so she decided to hunt some of the local fauna.

    With her much higher level skills, it didn¡¯t take long for to find a deer and take it out with one of her piercing Frost projectiles. She made quick work of cleaning it and brought it back to her cave in her bracelet while she gathered some fallen twigs and branches.

    Zoe set the bits of wood she gathered down below the hole in the wall and then made a makeshift chimney by stretching out the wall with her Earth Manipulation a little. It wasn¡¯t perfect, and the hole was far too long to be a great chimney. But if she combined the natural convection effect with her Wind Manipulation to push the smoke up it, she wouldn¡¯t suffocate herself. Probably.

    She blasted the stack of wood with her firestarter gem, and it flashed to flames. Smoke began to rise from the burning wood and most of it was caught by the chimney she¡¯d made. Zoe urged the rest of the smoke towards it with her Wind Manipulation and worked to extend the chimney to cover the areas where smoke was leaking out.

    After a minute of careful work, the smoke was flowing up and through the chimney just as she¡¯d hoped. The vacuum created from the heat rising up the chimney drew in air from her cave and created a gentle breeze that Zoe could only feel because of her Wind Manipulation. The flames cast an unsteady warm light on the damp cave walls, which bounced and refracted through all the water droplets to create a mesmerizing lightshow.

    Zoe watched it for a few moments and tended to the fire, then set up her cooking tripod. The thin metal grate slid into notches on the metal bars and rested just above the flames. She summoned a few thin pieces of venison and placed them on the grate.

    The flames flared up with each drop of fat that dripped through the grate and sizzled away on the burning wood. Zoe flipped the meat often with her metal tongs, and after a few flips she sprinkled on some of the dried spices to let them toast but not quite burn from the intense heat.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    A moment later and her dinner was done. She pulled the pieces of meat off and sprinked on some salt. They were well seared with a nice dark brown colour and a few charred bits. The smell was incredible. A meaty, earthy smell with a hint of the burning wood mixed together with the fresh dewy smell from the cave and enticed her to dig in.

    The meat was tender and full of flavour. One of the spices must have been rosemary, and it paired well with the venison. The salt alone was amazing, the sharp crystals provided a welcome salty crunch to the meal and intensified the unctuous pieces of venison.

    Overall, it was a far departure from the bland venison she cooked back in Gafoda. Spices and salt were a must have in any survival situation, she decided. At least, if you have bracelets that can store as much of it as you want. Maybe she¡¯d feel different if she had to lug around all of it in big bags everywhere she went.

    Zoe rested on the cave floor as the fire flickered away, burning the last remains of wood and lighting up her cave like the inside of a disco ball and just enjoyed her time for a moment. Leaving to do nothing was the best decision she could have made, she thought.

    She knew she¡¯d enjoy it more, just being anywhere and doing whatever she wanted without some rigid structure. But she really enjoyed her first day out here. It was relaxing to just create her own goals away from the pressures of society. No expectations, just a simple pleasure and her own imagination.

    When the fire died off, Zoe stomped out the remaining cinders and then stored them away in her bracelet to finish dealing with later. In the morning, there was lots more work to do, but Zoe wanted to enjoy her first night in the wilderness in her new bed.

    It wasn¡¯t the most comfortable bed she¡¯d ever had. The mattress was filled with rough grass and cloth which poked into her in some places. But it was her bed, and she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

    Zoe dreamt of carving out a little home for herself, filling it with everything she could ever want and delving deep into the caves to see what her home had to offer. She woke up sore but well rested and stretched out as she rubbed the rheum out of her eyes.

    Her first plan was to find a better temporary solution to her fireplace. At some point, she wanted a proper forge and alchemy setup which would be much larger fires and require significant infrastructure. But for now, she just wanted a place she could start a fire and not worry about suffocating herself in.

    The hole worked great as a chimney, but having the fire in the open air made it a lot harder to make an effective chimney. Instead, she wanted to carve out a small hole in the wall and connect it to the tunnel. If she did that, then the original entrance to the tunnel could hold a fan of some sort that would help ventilate the cave when the fire wasn¡¯t running, and when it was it would help create negative pressure that would pull up the smoke.

    Satisfied with her plan, Zoe started carving out a small hole in the wall with her Earth Manipulation and then connected it to the tunnel above. The fireplace was large enough for her to fit in if she squished herself into it, and the chimney that attached to the tunnel above was much smaller than the tunnel itself.

    When the fireplace was done, she crawled up in the tunnel and formed a small lip where the fireplace connected, so that if she blew air in from her cave it would flow right past the fireplace entrance and suck up air as it went past.

    Zoe started another fire in her fireplace as she pushed wind through the tunnel with her Wind Manipulation, and it started with a lot less effort this time. The smoke was pulled up through the chimney without any additional prodding from her.

    And after the fire was running for a few minutes, she didn¡¯t even need to keep feeding the tunnel more air. The fire¡¯s natural convection pulled air in as the smoke rushed through the tunnel and kept the whole system running smoothly.

    Zoe cooked herself some breakfast, and then left the cave with the fire running. She wasn¡¯t concerned about the fire spreading, and she could just air it out when she got back with her Wind Manipulation to make sure she had fresh air to breath anyway.

    Her plan for the day was to go check out that gaping hole in the ground she found. She didn¡¯t want to go too far and get lost, but she felt this insatiable desire to at least poke around inside a little. Maybe she¡¯d find an even better place to call her home, or a nice deposit of iron to harvest.

    She tied off some rope to a nearby tree, tossed it into the hole and then hopped down to the grassy landing ten feet below. There wasn¡¯t much more to see from her new vantage point, so she continued climbing down the rocks with her rope.

    Bits of rock fell from below her and clattered down the descent. The bottom was about sixty feet down the winding, unstable cave. It was a small opening at the bottom and the walls were filled with cracks, but she saw a faint red hue in them and hoped it would be hematite.

    Zoe summoned her pickaxe and enchanted it with Mining, Earth Manipulation and a piercing Frozen Arsenal effect, then started digging into the red tinged walls. At first, when she got her Earth Manipulation skill she tried to just use it to mine for resources instead of needing to swing her pick, but it wasn¡¯t as effective as she¡¯d hoped.

    The ores took much more mana to fully saturate than some random rocks or dirt did, and her goal when she was mining didn¡¯t require the precision of a manipulation skill. She just needed some large chunks to refine later, so a good pickaxe did a much better job.

    At least when compared to her Earth Manipulation. Roland, her tutor, had some skill that made even the ore just peel away from wherever his pick moved in large sheets. Maybe when Zoe upgraded her skill or got it to a much higher level, she¡¯d be able to use it more effectively to mine.

    But a part of her did end up enjoying the more manual process anyway. There was something satisfying about swinging a pick and collecting the fragments of rock that broke off from the wall.

    Zoe collected a few pounds of the reddish brown rocks and then climbed back up her rope to return to her cave. The fire was still just flickering away in the fireplace and the smoke was still being pulled up through her chimney. She tossed another couple sticks onto the fire and sat down on her bed.

    She had found hematite ¡ª iron, though she had expected to find some pretty soon anyway. It was quite a plentiful resource and she would have found it strange if she didn¡¯t find any iron around the hill, but it was still nice to have.

    To process it, she¡¯d need a forge of some kind. She could go to Flester and rent one, but if she went back to town for every mild inconvenience then that would defeat the purpose of her trying to find her own independence.

    And if she was being honest, building a forge herself wasn¡¯t something she wanted to do so soon. Her next goal would be finding something interesting. Maybe there was something at the top of the hill, or maybe there was another cave she could go climb into. Or maybe she¡¯d just wander through the forest for a few weeks.

 2-29. Diving

    Zoe spent the next few days wandering around the hill, peering into every cave and wondering about a name she could call it that was better than just ¡®the hill.¡¯ Her first thought was Whispering Mound, and she giggled to herself. Her own little Moaning Point just for herself.

    Not that she planned to stay for very long, anyway. Once she explored all the nooks and crannies, she wanted to go wander somewhere else and find something else exciting. She¡¯d come back of course, keep chipping away at her little home away from home and make something she could be proud of. Maybe one day she¡¯d master her enchantments and have some privacy or protections.

    The hill was larger than she expected it to be. The little tunnel she dug through didn¡¯t cut straight through the entire thing, just scraped along the side out of view from her cave. If she dug it perpendicular, she could get a much shorter chimney which might be a better idea at some point.

    The smoke and ash rising up through the tunnel would come back to bite her someday if she didn¡¯t do something about it. It would build up along the tunnel, mix with water that seeped in through the earth and eventually make its way back down to her cave. It wasn¡¯t the most pressing of problems, but it was something she¡¯d have to be aware of at least.

    Caves and holes littered the hill as she walked around the base of it. Some dug deep into the earth, others cut into the hill and led to their own exciting mysteries. She hadn¡¯t delved into any of them, just wanting to put together a bit of a map to know what she was working with.

    The forest was peaceful, though the more aggressive boars and wolves didn¡¯t tend to avoid the area like they did years before. She still hadn¡¯t seen a wolf, but had seen the odd track while she wandered around, and found plenty of boar tracks. Even a couple of boars that she killed and stored away in her bracelet for food.

    There were some edible plants in the area ¡ª mostly root vegetables and seeds from the trees that were buried in the snow. But she also found a couple trees with bright red fruits hanging from their branches. At first she thought they were apples and reached out to grab one, and was surprised to feel a somewhat furry, tight texture similar to a kiwi.

    Zoe pulled one off and cut into it. The skin snapped like a balloon and smacked into her hand. The furs tightened up to stick into her hand like a cactus¡¯ spines, and she ripped it out then healed herself.

    The inner fruit was a faint, almost translucent pink colour and dripped with moisture. Zoe summoned a sheet of ice and placed the fruit down on it then stepped back. She summoned the longest katana she could and cut the fruit in half from as far away as she could stand.

    There were no more surprises though, and her icy katana sliced all the way through. The center of the fruit was a darker, though still somewhat translucent red. She touched it, and it felt a little tougher, but not so tough that she wouldn¡¯t be able to eat it.

    She grabbed half of the fruit and took a bit from the softer looking pink exterior. The fruit¡¯s juice exploded when she bit into it and coated her mouth in a slightly sticky but intensely sweet layer of slime. The texture was almost unpleasant, but the gelatinous slime melted into a thin liquid from her body heat and left a lingering taste of a field of flowers in her mouth.

    Zoe stored a few of them away in her bracelet for later, though she¡¯d need to find a safer way to cut into them. The taste was unusual but nice, and she might be able to make some desserts from the slime too.

    The last place she wanted to check before she decided on what to do was climb to the top of her Talking-To-Your-Pets-Voice Bump and see if there was anything exciting at the top. It was quite a wide hill and took her several days just to wander around and see everything on the ground level, but it wasn¡¯t all that tall. A few hours of walking and she¡¯d be at the top, no problem.

    She¡¯d just left it for last because it seemed like the most fun to her. Zoe sat on her bed and ate some salted boar meat and a couple of roasted carrots then left her cave and started up the hill. The ascent was relaxing, a gentle incline full of trees. The odd deer or rabbit hopping around in the forest that thinned out as she approached the peak.

    By the time she got to the top, the trees and animals had left her behind. The snow was pure and untouched by wildlife, the odd rock poked through to break up the perfect white covering, and Zoe took a moment to look around.

    Forest as far as she could see in almost every direction. She could just see Flester¡¯s tallest walls poking above the horizon and through the canopy off in the far south west, but other than that it was peaceful. She was alone up here, surrounded by nature and wildlife. Left to fend for herself and make her own way.

    Zoe smiled and sat down to stare out at the forest for a while. The sun moved through the sky while flurries of snow came and covered her then left. It was peaceful just sitting out in the wilderness, not needing to worry about danger or mortality. It was freeing, and she was proud of herself for what she¡¯d accomplished already.

    She wasn¡¯t the greatest fighter in the world, nor was she even approaching a noteworthy enchantress. But when Zoe arrived in this world and learned about it, what she wanted most was freedom. The ability to do what she wants, to explore on her own time. To not have to worry about politics and bureaucracy. And she¡¯d done it, finally.

    Zoe stood up and looked around at the peak of the hill and noticed what looked like a hole or maybe crater on the other side. She walked up towards it and found the temperature dropping rapidly as she approached it. Her fingertips and ears stung from the cold, and she checked her health. It was still full, so she wasn¡¯t taking damage. Or it was so little that her natural regeneration outperformed it.

    She kept walking towards it and found a massive cavern that extended deep into the earth. A cold gust rushed out from the hole and made her recoil.

    Maybe it was a stupid idea. Maybe it was dangerous, maybe she should leave and find somewhere else to explore. But in that moment, Zoe decided that she needed to know what was causing the cold. What magics lurked below the surface, what creatures called a place so cold their home? What materials would be created in that kind of environment?

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    This was exactly the kind of adventure she wanted. It was cold, it was magical, it was exciting. But there was no immediate danger. She could see deep into the cavern, she could see the maze of tunnels that connected to it, feel the cold that spewed from the entrance. But there weren¡¯t people hosting rituals, no screams of pain or roars from powerful creatures resounding through it.

    This was just a cold cave, and if she was afraid of the cold she¡¯d never get to experience something like this. She needed to know, she needed to see what it was about. But there were some preparations first.

    The hole extended deep into the earth. The floor was hundreds of feet below her, she didn¡¯t have enough rope to make that descent. She could try climbing along the walls, but the cavern was somewhat eggshell shaped and the hole just poked through the surface. In theory she could climb along the roof until she got to the walls and then down them, but that wasn¡¯t a great option either.

    And a single, simple rope that dangled from whatever she connected it to wouldn¡¯t make her feel safe in there. If something went wrong, she didn¡¯t want to rely on the rope not being cut or tearing as it rubbed up against something. Or a stray boar coming up and scratching it off whatever she tied it to.

    No, she needed another entrance. She could carve into the hill with her Earth Manipulation to make an entrance, but if she started from the side of the hill it would take days, maybe even weeks to dig a hole big enough for her to walk through that stretched all the way to the cavern.

    It was probably the best option though, so she¡¯d make it work. But even after she did manage to get in, she¡¯d need to have some way to close off her entrance so that the cold didn¡¯t leak out and cause problems. Again, she could close it off manually each time with her Earth Manipulation, but that felt inelegant and a little impractical. If she couldn¡¯t come up with another solution, she¡¯d have to do it, but it wasn¡¯t ideal.

    In her downtime while she wasn¡¯t digging through the ground, she¡¯d work on her enchanting and try to find something that would help seal off the cold. Maybe her Earth Manipulation could help if she enchanted a stone door, or maybe her Vampyric Resistance would help keep the cold contained.

    Another problem would be where she made the entrance. Her cave would be the most convenient, of course. But it made her more than a little uncomfortable with the idea. For that matter, she still hadn¡¯t looked into where the water in her cave was coming from.

    She decided that before anything else, she¡¯d go for a swim and see where it led to. Zoe made her way back down and to her cave then stood in front of the chilly pool of water she¡¯d been drinking from.

    It felt odd, diving into her drinking water, if she was being honest. Like a kitten with a too big bowl of water. But it was better to know if she was connected to something dangerous than to leave it be, so she jumped in.

    The water was chilly, but nothing compared to the intense cold that radiated from the cavern she¡¯d found. Zoe took a deep breath and dove under the surface. There was a tunnel near the bottom, and she swam down to it to look at where it led.

    The flooded tunnel continued down a little further and then turned right. Zoe was thankful for her Vampyric Senses ¡ª diving into this without being able to see in the dark would be a suicide mission. With her eyes, the danger was lessened, but she still needed to worry about getting caught in a stray current or ending up somewhere without any air to breath.

    Zoe could hold her breath for almost two minutes if she needed to, she¡¯d already done some diving in the past in pools just for fun. Of course, that would be shortened if she were stressed and exerting herself more, so maybe a minute at the max. If she couldn¡¯t find the other side in thirty seconds, she¡¯d turn back.

    She didn¡¯t have a good way to check if there were oxygen on the other side, so decided to bring along supplies to start a fire. If the fire burned, she had oxygen and would dump the twigs into the water to not burn away all of the oyxgen before she could look around. If it didn¡¯t burn, she would rush back to safety and figure something else out.

    Zoe double checked that she had her firestarter and a bundle of sticks in her bracelet, then took a deep breath and dove into the pool once more. This time, instead of the careful investigation she did the first time, she swam straight into the tunnel and around the corner. Ten seconds passed, and then twenty, as she kept following the tunnel.

    Twenty five seconds passed, and she surfaced in another cavern. Zoe summoned her firestarter and bundle of twigs then ignited them. The twigs burned even without the help of her firestarter, and she kicked them into the water and took another breath. The air was noticeably colder, and much wetter.

    Zoe focused on her Wind Manipulation to feel out any currents in the air, and felt a faint breeze coming in through some of the cracks in the walls. With there being oxygen in here, she felt it was a safe enough guess that it was fresh air blowing in. She¡¯d be okay to explore a little, and looked around.

    It was a similar looking cave to where she had set up her bed, but scaled down quite a bit. The ceiling was only a few feet above her head where she stood, and she¡¯d need to almost crawl to fit near the walls.

    A small river ran through the cave floor from the other side where there was a tiny waterfall from moisture that seeped through the dirt walls and ceiling. There were no big tunnels, no cave entrances. She felt good that her little home she¡¯d been building didn¡¯t have a tunnel leading to some horrible danger, and then swam back over. Maybe one day she¡¯d even extend her cave over to the other one.

    Zoe started up the fire and made herself some dinner. Strips of boar meat with onions caramelized in a slightly sweet, fruity oil that she¡¯d purchased and a salad made of some colourful flowers and chopped nuts she¡¯d found in the area.

    For dessert, she wanted to have one of the sweet red fruits she¡¯d found, without getting it stuck in her hand first. She created a plate of ice with a sharp spike on it with her Frost skill, then enchanted it with as much piercing effect as she could and rested it on the other side of the room.

    Then she summoned a sphere of ice to surround the ball, with a small hole on one end that she could ram the spike through. The icy ball floated through the air and then she pressed the fruit into the spike. A sharp scratch echoed through her cave for a moment as the skin snapped open and scraped along the ice, then Zoe dissolved the icy sphere away to reveal the pale pink fruit beneath.

    She grabbed the fruit and sat down on her bed to eat it. The slimy explosions in her mouth began to grow on her, and she stored the tougher core away in her bracelet. It was edible, but not particularly pleasant. Instead, Zoe was interested in trying to grow more of the trees if she could, though it didn¡¯t feel very much like a seed, either.

    Zoe shrugged and stood up. It was time to find a place to start digging her tunnel.

 2-30. Excavation

    Zoe walked around the hill to the other side and looked for somewhere to start digging her tunnel. She half hoped that she¡¯d stumble into a crack that connected to the large frozen cavern and not have to deal with any tedious digging herself, but didn¡¯t expect it.

    She looked through some of the larger cracks, and found most of them to be pretty small splits in the rock and dirt. Maybe if she spent some time pushing into it, they¡¯d open up into something else but she had no idea how to tell where was best to start with that.

    There were a few that led into larger openings, similar to where she had been setting up her own home. One such crack was quite narrow and stretched much deeper into the hill than any of the others, and Zoe decided to start her digging there.

    She left and cut down some of the trees surrounding the crack entrance so she¡¯d have an easier time of finding it later. One of the logs, Zoe spent some time chopping up into pieces to build a bit of a platform to place the logs on. The rest she cut into more manageable lengths and dragged onto the platform to keep them off the cold wet ground infested with bugs.

    Later on, she¡¯d come back and maybe do something with the wood. Firewood, or maybe she could try making charcoal at some point. That was something she always thought was interesting, but never had the opportunity to try. She was pretty sure that all you had to do was burn the wood in a low oxygen environment, so she could make something for that. Maybe she could burn it in one of the caves? Would that work?

    Next, she hiked back up the hill to get an idea of where the cavern was. She peered into the frigid hole and bared the cold gusts of wind that brushed past her to look around. Then she made her way back down to the cave she was going to start in, trying to remember at least mostly where the goal was.

    It wouldn¡¯t be perfect, she¡¯d love to have something to help measure things so she could be sure she was digging the right way. But the cavern was massive and stretched far below the hill. As long as she tunneled in the right direction somewhat, she¡¯d at least connect to one of the many tunnels that branched off from it.

    Zoe stood at the wall of the narrow cave and stared at it for a bit. She wanted a tunnel that she could run through, but not so large that she¡¯d be at much risk of a cave in. The last thing that she wanted was to be running away from whatever she found only to have the roof fall in and block her between a rock and a whatever she was running away from.

    It was one thing when she was widening the tunnel she turned into her chimney. There was already space there, she just had to clear out a little bit more of it. And on top of that she was crawling, the amount of material she actually had to remove then was miniscule. But here it was going to be immense.

    She could dump the rocks and dirt just on the ground next to her log pile, but it was going to be a tedious process of digging and dumping, over and over. Zoe sighed and then started pouring mana into the rock wall in front of her.

    It didn¡¯t take an awful lot of mana to manipulate stone, and she was able to sustain the draw with just her natural mana regeneration at this point, which she was thankful for. But it did still take quite a lot to flood the stone and wrench control over it, especially when it was such a large area she needed to manipulate.

    An hour later, she pulled a thick slice of stone off the wall and stored it away in her bracelet. It was large enough for her to stand in, with a foot of clearance above her head and just wide enough for her to swing her arms out as she ran without scraping them along the sides.

    She¡¯d need it to be a little longer before she could tell how viable it was to run through, but it seemed good enough at least. Zoe spent the next day continuing to dig her tunnel. She found that it needed to be a little bit wider so she had a bit of extra leeway while she ran, and went back over what she¡¯d already dug out to extend it a bit.

    The pile of rocks outside kept growing as she dumped the large slabs of stone onto each other. They cracked and crumbled under their weight, but that was okay. Zoe could always attach them back together if she needed to with her Earth Manipulation, and she wasn¡¯t even sure what she¡¯d want to do with so much rock in the first place anyway.

    Maybe she could use it to build her forge, or a simple anvil to start with, or a campfire. But stone was so easy to come by anyway, it just didn¡¯t make much sense to drag it all the way back over to the other side of the hill. Maybe she could build a bit of a house on this side to stay at, but that would take a long time with her Earth Manipulation where it was, and she had a perfectly fine cave she could stay in anyway.

    But whatever it would be used for, the pile kept growing as Zoe dumped slab of stone after slab of stone onto it. She was only able to dig a few feet into the rock before her bracelets were filled with how large the tunnel she was digging ended up being, and imagined by the end she¡¯d be able to just go make her own small hill for ants out of everything she excavated.

    Another day passed as Zoe continued digging into the rock before she found something she expected, but wasn¡¯t excited for. The wall at the end of her tunnel took on a red tinge and left dark red streaks on her claws when she scratched it.

    She¡¯d run into more hematite. It was bound to happen while she was digging, she knew. The ore was plentiful, a large chunk of the mountain was bound to be iron of some sort. Hematite, maybe some magnetite. If she was lucky, she¡¯d find some shiny hematite at some point, though she didn¡¯t have a magnet to be able to tell the difference anyway.

    There were two options she faced, as far as she could see. The first was she could try to tunnel around the hematite deposit, and the second was to dig straight through it. There was no real way to know which was better. Perhaps this was a thin tendril of it that stretched through the hill, and if she moved to the side a few feet then she¡¯d be able to run parallel to it for a while.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    But perhaps it stretched perpendicular to her tunnel, and she could dig through it in just a couple days then be free the rest of the way. Or maybe it was just a large chunk of hematite and she¡¯d be stuck digging through it the rest of the way to the cavern no matter what she did.

    Zoe decided to just dig straight through. Having a straight tunnel was going to be nice, and she could use the iron later on down the line. It would mean taking a much longer trip to walk back around to her home cave to drop off the iron whenever she was full though. But it would also be a lot more time spent actually digging so the actual ratio of dropping off the material wouldn¡¯t change that much, at least.

    She rubbed her shoulders, and started flooding the mineral with her mana. Digging through iron with her Earth Manipulation skill wasn¡¯t her favourite thing to do, but at least in this instance it was the right choice. Her pickaxe was violent and imprecise. What she needed now was the gentle, exacting touch of her skill even if it did take longer.

    What had been taking hours began taking days as she sat at the wall and flooded it with her mana. At first, it wasn¡¯t too bad. Much of the rock was still just the dark grey stone. Granite, maybe? Gabbro? She wasn¡¯t sure, her Mining instructor hadn¡¯t taught her much about the different minerals so she had to draw mostly on what she remembered from early science classes.

    After a few weeks of digging away at her tunnel, she decided to take a break for a bit. She had managed to get it almost seventy feet long, but still had no clue how close she was. The temperature was getting somewhat colder near the end, and Zoe even began to find it a little difficult to breath so deep in so she¡¯d flood it with her Wind Manipulation skill every so often.

    But whether that was because she was getting closer to the cavern or because she was just deeper into the hill, Zoe had no idea. The pile of rocks had stopped growing so quick as the majority of earth she dug through had turned to the red hematite. Instead a new pile of rocks had begun growing outside her home cave on the other side of the hill.

    Moving all of the material over took a few hours for each trip, but it would be worth it eventually, she knew. When Zoe wanted to start refining the hematite, having a large pile of it ready to go nearby instead of hours away would be appreciated.

    Zoe sat down on her bed and summoned some dinner for herself. Venison meat wrapped in a spicy leaf she foraged and a small slice of the pale pink fruit. She had found in her testing that the fruit didn¡¯t explode when it was cut, only when it was crushed. So a sharp knife would slice off small chunks, but then when she bit into those small chunks they would explode into the sweet, melting, gelatinous slime.

    It paired very nicely with the salty and somewhat spicy venison wrap and she had a couple of roasted wild carrots to go with it on the side. A nice meal, and Zoe continued to be happy with her decision to buy more seasonings than raw rood. It motivated her to try new things and experiment more, and she was enjoying the variety quite a lot. That the food wasn¡¯t bland and dry anymore helped a lot, too.

    There were a huge number of skills that Zoe hadn¡¯t even tried enchanting something with yet. Years ago she had found the ones she liked most and just ended up sticking to those ones without deviating much. But that didn¡¯t mean the other ones weren¡¯t going to also be useful, she just got stuck in her ways.

    There were too many for her to go through every single one right now, but that problem was only going to keep getting worse as she kept unlocking new skills so she told herself she¡¯d get through them all before she explored the cavern, just in case some would be helpful.

    For now, she wanted to focus on finding something that would help seal in the cold once she did break into the large icy cavern. There were a few options she saw that might help that out, and she set out to experiment with them first.

    Wind Manipulation was her first test, it had a good chance of helping out with both the tunnel sealing and also her chimney. Zoe summoned a ball of ice with her Frost skill and enchanted it. As soon as she did, Zoe felt a breeze pulled towards the ball like a vacuum sucking up all of the air for a few seconds before the enchantment wore off.

    Zoe kept repeating the process a few times to see what kind of control she had over it, and found that she could make it blow or suck air from any direction that she wanted. If she could get enough mana input to sustain the enchantment, it would work out great for her chimney.

    She had an idea that she wanted to test for her tunnel too, so she focused on her internal mirror and set it up with Wind Manipulation, Meditation and Enchanting, which wasn¡¯t a skill she had anymore according to her stat sheet but was still very much so present in her soul. For the Wind Manipulation, she focused on making it pull air through in one direction.

    Then Zoe created two small door fist sized door frames of ice and flashed the enchantment onto them. The mana drained much slower thanks to Meditation and Enchanting, but it was still too much to sustain them indefinitely so Zoe kept pouring more mana in to keep them stable.

    Next, she created a small tunnel of ice around the two doorframes so they pulled air from the middle and pushed it out both sides. After a few moments, the flow of air came to a near stop, just a faint trickle that she could feel with her Wind Manipulation skill.

    Zoe smiled. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but she had created a near vacuum in the tunnel, probably. She hoped. If she could scale that up to the full tunnel, then she¡¯d be able to have an insulating layer of very low pressure air where heat would struggle to travel between. Add in a couple of simple wooden doors to help block the air flow, and the cold cave would struggle to leak any more than it already was.

    The next skill she wanted to test was Earth Manipulation. Zoe thought it made more sense to test it on Earth rather than her ice, and grabbed a chunk of rock from outside her cave to enchant. She flooded it with mana and then forced the mana to her image of Earth Manipulation from her soul.

    At first, nothing happened. But when she pushed mana into it, the rock squished and stretched. When she stopped pushing mana into it the rock returned to its original shape and burned through the remnants of mana left in it. With a bit of effort, Zoe found she had a decent bit of control over what shape the rock warped into when she enchanted it.

    Zoe reached out to the rock near her cave entrance and pulled it across to seal off her cave. Then she pushed an enchantment of Earth Manipulation, Meditation and Enchanting onto it while picturing the rock squishing out of the way to open a path into her cave. Zoe fed mana into the rock, and it behaved just as she wanted. The rock squished up against the wall and let her in, then slowly sealed back up when she stopped dumping mana into it.

    She laughed to herself. That was a lot simpler than trying to make a massive vacuumed hole in the hill, but she still liked her Wind Manipulation solution anyway.

 2-31. Kittens

    Zoe kept digging through the hematite for the next few weeks. Every few days she¡¯d come back to her cave and work on testing some more of her skills. Most of them were quite boring, she found. Fishing didn¡¯t seem to do anything, though she imagined it might have if she had a body of water to actually go fishing in. Maybe it would help her lures perform better or wiggle around in the water.

    Mana Manipulation did more or less the same as the other Manipulation skills. She was able to move mana around with her enchantments and could see some possible uses for it somewhere. Maybe if she managed to find a more systematic approach to manipulating mana into more diverse effects, she could build complex enchantments that performed a variety of tasks.

    Immaculate Enchantments was a simple enchantment that just kept things clean, though it was quite mana intense so she didn¡¯t end up using it on anything. It was far easier to just cast the spell every so often.

    Gathering was an interesting one. She half hoped it would make an enchantment that would harvest crops she planted for her so she could set up her dream automation for her home, but it was nothing like that. Rather, the enchantment made an object radiate mana the closer it was to whatever image Zoe had when she enchanted it.

    If she enchanted her Frost with the image of Klir, then it would intensify when she brought it near Klir and wear down when she took it away. The interesting part was that it acted as more of a general search, whereas the Gathering skill itself only worked for things Zoe wanted to forage.

    If Zoe wanted to find where she left her dagger of ice, the Gathering skill would be useless, but if she enchanted a ball of ice with the image of her dagger? Then it would radiate mana when she brought it closer and calm down when she brought it farther away.

    The trade-off was that it was much less precise and generalized for things that weren¡¯t already in Gathering¡¯s category of searchable objects. If Zoe enchanted her ice with the image of klir, then it would help her find all of the klir in the forest around her. But if she enchanted it with a more general image of a dagger, or even ice, then it didn¡¯t care about her dagger made from ice. Only if she used the specific image of the dagger she wanted to find.

    The fighting skills were simple enchantments that made whatever they affected more like whatever they were aligned with. Dagger-fighting made weapons sharper and lighter. Spear fighting increased the piercing power. Shield fighting increased sturdiness. Simple, but powerful, and she kicked herself for not trying them earlier. Shield fighting in particular was interesting, and gave her ideas for other uses her Frozen Arsenal might have, too.

    Both Cooking and Alchemy did the same thing, from what Zoe could tell, which was quite a variety of effects. She could make things a little bit sharper, a little bit hotter, or a little bit colder. A whisk that mixed things a little better. The effects weren¡¯t very strong, but they were noticeable improvements to her tools for when she was cooking things. Every aspect of it was just a little nicer to use. The pan conducted heat a little more evenly. Her metal grate would char things just a little nicer.

    Maybe there was a difference between the two skills, but at least in her few days of playing with them she couldn¡¯t notice anything. They both seemed to do the exact same things, with near the same intensity. Alchemy was the slightest bit less powerful in its effects, but Zoe attributed that to it just being a lower level.

    Carpentry made something much sharper, but only when it was cutting into wood. She could make a saw that sliced through a large wooden stump like a hot knife through butter, but it would struggle to handle anything else. It was quite helpful since she could make a duller blade that still cut through the wood just fine, and wouldn¡¯t risk cutting off her fingers in a freak accident.

    Enchanted Mirror was a very fun one for Zoe, though not wholly practical yet. She could enchant something with it, and then with a pulse of mana, she could flash the enchantment onto another object. It took an immense amount of mana since it had to first flood the target object with mana to be able to enchant it. And it didn¡¯t flash the Enchanted Mirror part of the enchantment onto the target object, so there was no recursive enchantments taking over the world.

    But it was a fun one. Zoe could make a tool that would enchant toys for Oliver and Emma could use it without difficulty. Or she could make something that would let Joe enchant his cookware to make it a little more effective at cooking, or maybe gems that flashed on archery enchantments to people¡¯s arrows. There were so many options with Enchanted Mirror, and she wondered why it wasn¡¯t more popular.

    The mana cost, she supposed. The conversion rate was, if she were being honest, terrible. Even if Zoe summoned a ball of ice for herself that was already saturated with her mana, the enchantment would need to first remove all of that mana, and then dump in new mana before it could enchant anything. It seemed that the enchantments created by it were ¡®owned¡¯ by the enchantment as it were, not by Zoe.

    And it wasn¡¯t just a straight conversion, either. If Zoe enchanted a ball of ice with Enchanted Mirror, Meditation and Wind Manipulation and then tried to enchant another ball of ice through the first one, it would take far more mana than if she just skipped the middleman. By a factor of about three from what she could tell.

    It was by far the most mana hungry enchantment she¡¯d made, but it was still quite fun. If she combined it with mana stones or maybe a separate enchantment that accumulated and stored mana then it might be more functional for people. But at that point, it might also be quite a premium product so she understood how she hadn¡¯t seem them around.

    Her remaining skills didn¡¯t seem to do anything, the three Vampyric skills that she still hadn¡¯t discovered the use of as well as Pottery and Smithing. She assumed that they had some kind of an effect, but hadn¡¯t been able to find anything yet. Pottery didn¡¯t help her mold clay, Smithing didn¡¯t help if she hammered away at some hematite. She figured she¡¯d try again later when she had proper tools to try things with. Maybe Pottery made her creations more stable when they cooked.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    The Vampyric Skills continued to confuse her. She¡¯d tried them before but Immortality was still an enigma, she had no idea what it might do or what she could try testing. Resistance she imagined would give some kind of resistance to natural weather effects but had no way of really telling. Maybe once she had the tunnel finished, she¡¯d be able to try something out with it.

    And Senses she still thought should make it more visible. That would be in line with Empathy, Identify and Charm, but she had no idea what it was doing. Though she had the idea of buying some glass whenever she was in town next and seeing if it would help make a magnifying glass.

    Her tunnel was going well, the hematite was a consistent problem for her but she sucked it up and dealt with it. At first she was dumping all of it back at her cave where she lived, but after the pile had grown a little large, she ended up just piling it up next to the rocks and logs she had back on the other side of the hill. If she really ended up needing that much iron, she¡¯d rather just run back to town and buy some more storage items to ferry over larger loads.

    She¡¯d managed to dig about one hundred fifty feet into the hill, and found that she needed ventilation for the tunnel. Zoe spent a few days digging out a small tunnel just below and to the side of her larger main tunnel, only a few inches wide in diameter. It didn¡¯t take her all too long to get it cleared out and then sealed back up.

    Zoe designed some makeshift fans to help move air around ¡ª which ended up being a combination of two separate objects. The first was enchanted with Wind Manipulation, Meditation and Enchanting and the second with Mana Manipulation, Meditation and Enchanting. The first was responsible for blowing the air, while the second helped pull in mana for both of the objects to absorb and restore their enchantments with.

    She found that the Mana Manipulation objects ended up drawing in a lot more mana than they consumed and it helped to keep the Wind Manipulation enchantment running longer. She still needed to come by and fill it up every so often, but that wasn¡¯t a big deal while she was working in there. And when she wasn¡¯t, it didn¡¯t need to be running anyway.

    Zoe put one of the makeshift fans in the floor at the end of her tunnel so it blew the carbon dioxide she exhaled into the air vent she¡¯d made, and put a bunch of them back at the start of the tunnel to blow new, fresh air down towards her.

    When she was done, she hoped the problem would just solve itself. She wouldn¡¯t need to be in it for very long and could even just hold her breath if she really needed to. But for now, it felt necessary to keep it as filled with fresh air as she could. Without it, the air was thin and her breathing grew unsteady. But her solution worked, and she kept on digging for weeks on end.

    The whole ordeal was a much larger undertaking than she had expected it to be. When she was up at the top of the hill it seemed like the cavern was so close to the walls, and yet she¡¯d dug so deep towards where she thought it was, and still didn¡¯t feel like she¡¯d gotten any closer.

    Until one day when she reached into the rock wall to grasp at it with her Earth Manipulation and found that she wasn¡¯t able to probe as deep as normal. There was something that wasn¡¯t rock in the way. She pulled away the heavy hematite and stored it away in her bracelet to see a thick layer of translucent blue ice.

    Through the ice, she could see a wide tunnel that was covered in frost. Icicles hung from the ceiling and the walls were made of the same thick layer of ice. Zoe reached out with her Frost skill and ripped away a chunk of the wall and was buffeted by a heavy, frozen gale that rushed into the hole she carved and down her tunnel.

    Zoe chipped away at the rest of the ice and connected her tunnel to the frozen cavern. Or at least, to the maze of tunnels that surrounded it. Later, she would build a door to keep the cold from leaking out and causing problems. But excitement rampaged within her. Weeks of digging, of not knowing if she was going the right direction, not knowing if it was a magical cave that could only be accessed from the top.

    And she finally did it. She stepped into the frozen tunnel and felt the temperature plummet, colder than any winter she¡¯d experienced. Zoe watched her health chip away slowly. Not so quick that she was afraid, but that it was so cold that she was losing health at all amazed and excited her. At first, it was understandable. But with her resistances and bonuses to still be taking so much damage just from standing in a cold tunnel?

    She shivered with excitement and listened for anything that echoed through the tunnels. It was quiet except for the occasional cracking as ice split and water froze. There was a faint breeze coming from her left, and Zoe decided to follow after it to see where it came from.

    Zoe walked down the frozen tunnel while she dragged her claws through the wall on her left so she¡¯d be able to find her way back. The crackling of the ice kept echoing throughout and the occasional frigid gale would rush past her. Every few minutes, she pulsed Restoration through her to recover the few dozen health she¡¯d lost.

    It was a short walk before she found her destination. The large cavern she¡¯d peered into from the top of the hill. This tunnel connected to it about halfway up, and the view was breathtaking. From the top of the hill, the cavern looked immense, like a massive chunk of the earth carved away and filled with the very essence of cold.

    But from within the cavern, from one of the many tunnels that connected to it, the size was awe inspiring. She felt like a tiny ant trying to climb a skyscraper. Light shone through the hole far above her and bounced around on all of the ice. The very bottom, far below her was filled with specks of blue that almost seemed to move around as the light reflected off them.

    Zoe squinted and corrected herself. They didn¡¯t seem to be moving, they were moving. Something was alive at the bottom of the cavern. Or rather, many somethings that scrambled across the cavern floor like a bunch of hungry kittens crawling over each other in their bed.

    Identify didn¡¯t tell her anything, she assumed because they were just too far away. And they were too small and far away to see them clearly even with her Vampyric Senses. She turned around and made her way back to the tunnel she¡¯d dug. The warmth as soon as she stepped out of the icy tunnel covered her body in goosebumps.

    Zoe walked all the way back to grab some of the more mundane rock that was easier to enchant and then used it to seal off the icy tunnel. Then she enchanted it with Earth Manipulation, Meditation and Enchanting to make it squish off to the side when she flooded it with mana.

    She did the same at the start of the tunnel to make a sealed off section in between with stagnant air that wouldn¡¯t conduct heat very well, and then made her way back home to her cave. She wanted a good night¡¯s rest and a nice meal before she began her exploration of the maze of tunnels.

 2-32. Blakes Venison

    Zoe laid in her bed and fell asleep. She dreamt of delving deep into the earth, finding magical creatures that whipped cold and wind around with each breath. Large golems of ice smashing through the cavern while she stood strong and pushed them back into the depths.

    Then she woke up and laid in bed for a while longer, wishing she could just relax for as long as she wanted. She thought about her plans ¡ª diving into the cavern and exploring what it had to offer. Her mind flashed back to her dream but she tossed it aside. It was exciting, but if a massive golem charged towards her she wasn¡¯t going to just stand there and take it.

    She¡¯d run away, as quick as she could. But it still excited her, knowing that her weeks of prep were over and it was time to start exploring, discovering new things. What kinds of secrets would the cavern hold? Ruins of civilizations long past, or a nest of some burrowing creature? Dwarves that dug out their home, or mana that wrought its destruction while it tried to form a new dungeon?

    Zoe sat up and summoned one of the meals she had packed away in her bracelet. She had earned it by now, she thought. A treat.

    A silver platter with a silver dome over top appeared in her hand, and she pulled the dome off with a little more effort than she expected. There was a quiet snap that Zoe heard when the dome separated and the smell flooded Zoe¡¯s cave.

    Herbal and floral with intense meaty tones and an acidic undertone. She stored the dome away in her bracelet and looked at the meal. It was a piece of venison loin coated in dark brown seeds and cut in half to reveal the deep red interior. Three slices of a dark mushroom with more fins than her mom¡¯s car radiator rested on top of a white puree with specks of a green hued oil dripped over the top.

    A dark burgundy sauce was spread around the plate, and Zoe dragged some of the venison through it and tasted it. The flavours exploded in her mouth. The venison was tender and juicy, with a pleasant earthy crunch from the coating of seeds. The sauce was rich and acidic with just the right viscosity to coat the inside of Zoe¡¯s mouth.

    The puree squished from the mushroom¡¯s fins with a smooth sweetness that contrasted the slight heat from one of the spices on the mushrooms. The oil tasted of springtime and childhood as it bounced around her mouth while she ate it.

    The meal tasted just as good as the School¡¯s provided meals, and the buff she got reflected that.

    *Ding* You have consumed the Blake¡¯s Venison. Stamina regeneration increased for eight hours.

    She looked at the notification for a bit. It was just awkward in how it was worded. Many of the system messages she got were. Whenever Zoe got a new resistance, it didn¡¯t say that she ¡®Unlocked Poison Resistance¡¯ it would always say she ¡®Unlocked the Poison resistance.¡¯

    Which was a little strange, but she never paid much attention to it. But according to the system she just ¡®consumed the Blake¡¯s Venison?¡¯

    It made a lot more sense to remove the ¡®the¡¯ from that. She just ¡®consumed Blake¡¯s Venison.¡¯ It was just strange, why would it be so awkward? Was it just because there was some magic translating things for Zoe in this world? For that matter, why was it that everybody here spoke fluent English. This is an entire new world but everybody speaks English? How¡¯s that make any sense?

    Or was it some bug with the system? But how would the system have bugs if it wasn¡¯t created. So that would mean that it was created? But who would have created it, and why?

    Zoe shook her head. It wasn¡¯t important right now. When she saw Eliza, she could pester her with all the questions she could ever think of but pondering it now wasn¡¯t going to get her anywhere, she¡¯d just end up with more questions.

    She left her cave and walked back to Flester and then off towards Ash and Lila¡¯s farm. She figured she might as well see if she could leave a message for Eliza and meet up at some point in the near future. The Ryz frolicking in the fields brought a smile to her face as she walked up to the farmhouse she¡¯d sat outside of years ago when she was doing her resistance training. Zoe knocked on the door and waited for a few minutes.

    Lila opened the door. She looked different, though Zoe expected that after so many years. Her hair was shorter and grayer, not even reaching her shoulders. She wore a comfortable looking red dress that reached just past her knees and rammed her leg in front of the door to keep a large excited brown dog from jumping out.

    ¡°Hello?¡± She said.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe, not sure if you remember me?" Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh! Yes, of course I remember you! You were getting all those resistances years ago, weren¡¯t you?¡± Lila smiled.

    ¡°Yeah that was me. I was just thinking I¡¯d like to talk to Eliza again someday and was wondering if you knew where she was or how to contact her or something?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course, I could send her a message if you want?" Lila asked.

    ¡°That would be great, yeah! If it¡¯s not too much to ask?¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Of course not, it doesn¡¯t cost me anything. She¡¯s talked about you a few times too, a little bothered you never reached out to share what you got out of it.¡± Lila smiled.

    Zoe shrunk into herself a little. ¡°Yeah, it slipped my mind, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, she¡¯ll forget all about it as soon as you talk to her.¡± Lila grabbed the dog¡¯s collar and walked back inside. ¡°Come in, come in. I¡¯ll get you some paper and you can write your message.¡±

    Zoe followed her inside to their living room. It was a cute place, lots of fluffy looking furniture and stuffed animals on the shelves. There was a red leather couch in the living room with a glass table on top of a patterned rug, and Lila gestured for her to sit so she did.

    Lila ran off to grab some paper and a pen and the dog jumped up on Zoe. It sniffed her a few times and then tried to lick at her face before it settled down and laid down with its head on her lap. Zoe pet it and scratched behind the ears.

    A few minutes later, Lila came out and put down a pencil and paper in front of Zoe on the table. The dog leapt off the couch and ran over to lie down next to Lila. ¡°Here you go, write whatever you like and I¡¯ll send it to Eliza for you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, sure. Thanks a bunch for this. I was kinda just expecting to leave a message for next time you see her, to be honest. This is way more than you needed to do.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s no worry. I¡¯ve little better to do these days and one of my skills makes it quite trivial to send messages to friends.¡± Lila explained.

    ¡°Well thanks, anyway. I really appreciate it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Hello, this is Zoe. You helped me get some resistances a few years ago. I¡¯m sorry I never contacted you again I honestly just wasn¡¯t sure who I could trust and then time went on and it slipped my mind to talk to you again. But I really want to talk to you about the system and learn more about how it works so if you have time someday I¡¯d like to meet up. I¡¯m currently living in a big hill just northeast from Flester if you feel like finding me, but maybe Lila could send me a message too? Or I¡¯ll just stop by here every so often to see if you¡¯ve stopped by and we can figure something out if you¡¯re up to it. Thanks.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zoe handed Lila the letter. ¡°I guess this is good enough then.¡±

    Lila folded up the letter and closed her eyes, then the letter vanished with a pulse of mana. ¡°Well, she has it. I can¡¯t promise she¡¯ll respond though. But she probably will.¡±

    ¡°Thanks again. Well I guess I¡¯ll get out of your hair and you two can get back to whatever you were doing. Where is Ash, anyway?¡± Zoe asked as she stood up.

    Lila¡¯s smile fell away and Zoe felt a lonely sadness wash over her. ¡°They died a few years ago.¡±

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Oh my god I¡¯m so sorry I didn¡¯t mean to, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Zoe panicked.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. You didn¡¯t know. It¡¯s been a few years, anyway.¡± Lila sighed.

    Eliza smashed through the front door and looked around. She pointed at Zoe when she saw her. ¡°You!¡±

    ¡°Eliza! Knock first!¡± Lila shouted.

    ¡°You just sent me a message saying this unappreciative dip is back for more favours and expected me to not rush here immediately?¡± Eliza raised an eyebrow.

    Lila laughed. ¡°I guess that¡¯s my fault.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! And you!" She looked at Zoe. ¡±You were supposed to tell me your class options years ago! You promised!¡°

    ¡°I did not!¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You did so! Just because it was after I flew you through the sky faster than you could handle does not mean it doesn¡¯t count!¡± Eliza shouted.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even remember that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well duh you were just tortured and then tortured some more. But you promised!¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t think I would have done that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay you didn¡¯t. But you did kind of agree a little bit.¡± Eliza laughed. ¡°So, you wanted to talk about the system? It¡¯s definitely man made, y¡¯know?¡±

    Lila rolled her eyes. ¡°I guess I don¡¯t get to be annoyed this time.¡±

    ¡°Nope!¡± Eliza laughed.

    ¡°Uh yeah I do but I wasn¡¯t really expected it to be like, a right now thing. I kinda thought I¡¯d have a few days at least before you responded, and then we¡¯d plan something for another day kinda thing?" Zoe said.

    ¡°Well don¡¯t mind me then. I can come along and we can chat while you¡¯re working.¡± Eliza smiled.

    Zoe thought about it for a moment. On the one hand, part of her wanted to keep the cavern a secret. On the other hand, it was just a gaping hole in the top of a hill not far from town so others probably did already know about it. And she¡¯d be a bit safer having somebody else more experienced there anyway.

    ¡°Sure, I guess. That works.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Great, lets get going then! See you later Lila!¡± Eliza said and strolled out the front door.

    ¡°Bye you two.¡± Lila smiled.

    Zoe followed Eliza out the front door. ¡°So you gonna fly us over there again?¡±

    Eliza smiled smugly. ¡°Nope! I learned something new. You say it¡¯s north east of Flester? Big hill?¡±

    Zoe nodded and watched Eliza¡¯s eyes glaze over for a moment before they came back to normal. ¡°Alright, you ready?" Eliza asked.

    Zoe nodded again, and a moment later her surroundings shifted from Lila¡¯s farmhouse to the top of the hill she¡¯d been staying at. ¡°This the right one?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe looked around. ¡°My god, wow. That was so cool. Did you teleport us?"

    Eliza smiled. ¡°Sure did! Is this the right hill though?"

    ¡°Yeah, yeah it is. This is where I¡¯ve been living, for sure. Wow, that¡¯s crazy.¡± Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°Well, what were you planning to get up to then?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe looked at her. She was much higher level now, a dark blue marked mage to Zoe¡¯s Identify. She was wearing a vest full of pockets and dark blue jeans. Her arms were covered in scars, and her red hair was tied up in a braid that fell down her back.

    ¡°Well there¡¯s a cavern I wanted to explore. It¡¯s really cold, though. Do you have Cold resistance?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Do I have Cold resistance, hah! Yes, any resistances you have, I have higher levelled, guaranteed. I saw the cavern just over there right?" Eliza pointed towards the hole Zoe found initially.

    ¡°Yeah, but I dug a tunnel for easier access, we¡¯ll start over there.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Also, I don¡¯t really want help. I¡¯m fine with you coming along, but I want to explore and discover things on my own. You¡¯re just here to chat, okay? And maybe save me if something goes horribly wrong. I don¡¯t wanna die for my ideals.¡±

    ¡°Sure, sounds fine. I can¡¯t promise your safety though and I¡¯ll save myself first if things get real dicey.¡± Eliza shrugged.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I was gonna be alone anyway.¡± Zoe lead Eliza down towards the tunnel she¡¯d dug.

    ¡°So what made you wanna talk about the system anyway? Did it break again?¡± Eliza pestered.

    ¡°I ate a meal and the system told me that I ate ¡®the Blake¡¯s venison.¡¯ Wouldn¡¯t it just be ¡®Blake¡¯s Venison?¡¯ That just seems so weird. Lots about the system seems weird and off but that one was super weird to me, and I remembered you so I figured I¡¯d see if you were up for chatting a bit.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ahh, yes. That¡¯s one of the best arguments for a man made system, you know? At least, in my opinion. If the system were natural, then it wouldn¡¯t be so awkward. It would be clear and concise, but it isn¡¯t. Because it was made by somebody from another culture to us.

    ¡°My theory is that the system was designed in another language fundamentally different to our own, and automatically translates the messages to whatever language you or I speak. And in whatever language it was designed in, things like this were normal and okay. It didn¡¯t sound weird to them, but when it gets translated to our language it becomes a little stilted and off sounding.¡± Eliza explained.

    ¡°I see, so you think that it¡¯s just a translation error?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mhm, basically. Or it could be that the culture that whoever made it comes from never would have even considered something like ¡®Blake¡¯s Venison¡¯ being a meal that somebody would eat. The system is able to adapt to different meals based on the mana that was imbued into it because that¡¯s just information. But the actual message that we get is just a template that gets filled out.¡± Eliza suggested.

    ¡°Okay, that kinda makes sense with resistances too. Those always kind of looked weird to me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes! Exactly! You didn¡¯t get Fire resistance, you got the Fire resistance. It¡¯s one template for all of the skills! You have unlocked the Fire skill. You have unlocked the Fire resistance. It¡¯s the same thing!¡± Eliza said.

    The two walked down towards Zoe¡¯s tunnel, and Zoe opened the first earthen door she made then flooded the tunnel with wind. When Zoe opened the earthen door at the other end, Eliza grinned.

    ¡°Oh my, you have stumbled onto something quite interesting here.¡± She said.

 2-33. Frozen Shard

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Zoe asked as a gust of cold wind rushed past.

    ¡°I just wasn¡¯t expecting something so raw, is all.¡± Eliza looked down the tunnel.

    ¡°Raw?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Primal? Powerful? This isn¡¯t just a cave that¡¯s a little cold, it¡¯s cold.¡± Eliza strained the last word as she spoke.

    ¡°What¡¯s that mean?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Could be anything, really. My guess is a dungeon¡¯s forming here, but I could be wrong. Shall we?¡± Eliza gestured down the tunnel to the left.

    ¡°That just leads to the big cavern, no real way down. For me, anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah I know. I wanna see it though, lets go look.¡± Eliza started walking down the tunnel. Her hair blew in the wind but she seemed unaffected by it as she almost skipped down with a cheer that Zoe didn¡¯t need her Empathy to see.

    When they got to the cavern, Eliza peered over the edge and smiled. ¡°Hmmm. Interesting.¡±

    ¡°What are they?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I thought you wanted to go it alone, without my help?¡± Eliza grinned.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah yeah I do. Whatever. Lets go my way now, I wanna explore.¡±

    The pair started walking back and Eliza started talking about the system again.

    ¡°I think that places like this were designed by whoever made the system, too. I think a lot of what we take for granted was designed by whoever made the system. Dungeons, magic, even our short lives. I think it¡¯s all system granted. Monsters that roam the wilderness. That vampire that attacked you? A creature designed by the system overlords, I¡¯d say.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°So the entire world was just made as some sort of experiment then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the entire world. An experiment is a nice idea though, yeah. Manipulated and changed to their experiment, but I think that we existed before the system. Whoever created it just goes around planet to planet, comes up with a variety of changes to make to it and then throws their system at it. That¡¯s my opinion, anyway.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°How many planets are there then? I read about something like that in a book I got recently.¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza scoffed. ¡°No way I could know. Ten? Twenty? A few thousand? Even more? I¡¯ve never left here personally, probably won¡¯t ever. But somebody does, and they keep iterating on their system as they go.¡±

    ¡°Well I think that there are people who don¡¯t know much more than us about the system who also travel across planets. The book I read had a guy who travelled around worlds and didn¡¯t seem to know the origins of the system.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What is this book you¡¯re talking about anyway?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe paused. The book had a lot of information in it that Eliza might be interested in. Maybe she already knew a lot of it, but immortality was something Eliza wanted before. Zoe smiled.

    ¡°Just a book I found.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t give me that, I¡¯m here helping you out of the goodness of my heart. Come on, what is it?¡± Eliza pried.

    ¡°Fine, fine. But you¡¯re in my debt after this.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°If it¡¯s good.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Richard¡¯s Legacy, not sure if you¡¯ve heard of it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Can¡¯t say I have, you got it on you?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I do,¡± Zoe summoned the book and handed it to Eliza.

    Eliza read through it as they walked through the tunnels for a while. It twisted around, over and under itself for a while. The walls all looked the same and were uniform in size which gave Zoe a little anxiety. Were they even by chance, or were they dug by a large worm that was still around?

    Eventually, the tunnel opened into a smaller cave. It was almost a perfect sphere, with the tunnel Zoe and Eliza walked through poking in a few feet above the bottom. Nowhere near as large as the massive cavern, but there were still a handful of other tunnels connected to it.

    Zoe peered down into the cave and saw two misshapen forms of clear blue ice sliding around on the floor. Identify showed them both as dark green level forty-two Frozen Shards.

    For a moment, Zoe thought about creating one of her Frost Projectiles and firing it off, but then she realized a problem with that. If these were Frozen Shards, there was a good chance they had a high resistance against Zoe¡¯s skills. Her Frost projectiles might just be absorbed into them, but she didn¡¯t really have another good method of attack either. She¡¯d given up her physical weapons because they were just weak, but that might have been a mistake.

    To her delight, the Frozen Shards didn¡¯t seem to notice her. Either they were quite unperceptive, or they just didn¡¯t care about her. Whatever the case, Zoe had a moment to think about her plan. She noticed Eliza stop reading and look out over the Frozen Shards but pushed the distraction aside.

    In theory, she could use another Manipulation skill and enchant it with the same skills then fire it off to do another type of damage, it would just be weaker. But that was okay, Zoe was higher level than them now. That wasn¡¯t the be all end all of power, as she knew. But it gave her some confidence in being able to escape at least.

    Besides, they were just shards of ice, not big raging animals. She could handle it.

    Zoe pulled off a chunk of ice from the wall to reveal the rock behind it and began flooding mana into the red hued ore. It didn¡¯t take long to rip off a small chunk of it then form it into a sharp point, and she flashed on an enchantment of Archery, Spear-Fighting and Sword-Fighting. The projectile fired off at one of the Frozen Shards and smashed into pieces against the clear blue ice. Rock and ice shattered, and Zoe¡¯s ears rang from the sharp screech that echoed through the cave like nails on a chalkboard as the Frozen Shard vibrated.

    She barely noticed it fire off its own icy projectile towards her and dodged out of the way, but failed to notice the other Frozen Shard doing the same. The ice pierced into her leg and Zoe felt the cold begin to creep in as frost spread out from the wound.

    Health: 793/1000

    Zoe screamed as she ripped the ice out of her leg, then pushed herself back deeper into the tunnel to dodge another barrage of projectiles that shattered against the roof of the tunnel.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Fuck!" Zoe flooded herself with Restoration and her health quickly filled back up.

    Another of the horrible noises echoed through the cave and Zoe gripped her head to try and block out the sound. She heard the scraping grow louder as the Frozen Shards climbed up to her tunnel and felt her heart race from the fear.

    Should she run? Should she stand her ground and overcome? She could handle the two, maybe. If she got herself together. But was something else coming from the massive cavern, drawn to the screeching noise? Was it an attack or a call for help?

    Zoe shook her head. If she ran away every time she faced the slightest danger she¡¯d never accomplish anything. She flooded the walls with mana and pulled out a larger chunk of rock almost the size of her torso, then enchanted it with Shield-Fighting, Archery and Cooking with a focus on crushing garlic. She waited for the Frozen Shards to just enter her tunnel and braced herself for the screeching noise that was sure to come.

    The Frozen Shards vibrated and rattled Zoe¡¯s head, but she was prepared for it and fired off the large chunk of rock. It twisted and turned as it flew through the air and smashed into both of the Frozen shards. The heavy rock shoved both of the Shards out of her tunnel and flying back into the cave. Zoe breathed a sigh of relief and then started pulling more rock out of the wall to enchant while she set up her Enchanted Mirror with the new crushing focused enchantment.

    She enchanted one of the chunks of rock with Shield-Fighting, Mining and Cooking with a focus on crushing then walked up to the edge. Both of the Frozen Shards fired off their projectiles as soon as she poked her head out, and Zoe moved the chunk of rock to intercept them. She heard the projectiles shatter against the rock and felt the drain on her mana as she pushed back against them.

    And then the sound came again as both the Shards vibrated. The screeching sound echoed and Zoe flashed her enchantment onto one of the chunks of rock she¡¯d gathered. She stepped back and dropped control over the earthen shield she made then aimed the new earthen projectile at one of the Shards and fired it off.

    It smashed straight through in an explosion of ice and bounced off the frozen ground before it settled near the other side of the room. The one remaining Shard launched another projectile and Zoe leapt back into the tunnel to dodge it.

    Zoe stepped forward over the edge of the tunnel and aimed another of the large earthen projectiles. Just before she fired it, the Frozen Shard vibrated and sent its screeching sound echoing through the cave again. Zoe struggled to keep her aim while her ears were assaulted and the rock slammed into the ground next to the Frozen Shard and bounced away harmlessly.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Sound resistance.

    She grabbed another of her prepared hematite chunks then launched it at the Frozen Shard and it exploded in another cloud of ice. Zoe fell back onto the tunnel floor and took a deep breath. The cold air was painful to breath and wasn¡¯t the relaxing sigh she hoped for. She focused on her hearing, trying to tell if anything else was approaching because of the noise, but it was silent other than the normal gusts of wind and chattering of the ice and Eliza¡¯s footsteps not far behind her.

    ¡°Nice fight,¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, I got hit right at the start. That sucked.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well you¡¯re gonna get hit.¡± Eliza gestured to the scars covering her arms.

    ¡°I guess. I prefer when I don¡¯t, though.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t we all. You lived, they didn¡¯t. That¡¯s all that matters. Shall we continue?¡± Eliza gestured towards the larger opening.

    Zoe sighed. ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Zoe and Eliza climbed down the short ways to the bottom of the cave and looked around. It wasn¡¯t all that large, but there were a few tunnels to choose from. Eliza bent down and picked up some of the shards of ice that covered the ground.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm, not sure. They¡¯re interesting though.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe looked at them closer and saw mana being pulled towards the shards and absorbed. It wasn¡¯t significant and if Eliza hadn¡¯t mentioned it, she wouldn¡¯t have noticed it. But it was interesting. Zoe picked up a handful of them and stored them away in her bracelet. She created a stick of ice with a pointed end and tossed it in the air as violently as she could.

    The stick bounced off the ceiling and clattered on the ground. The point was towards one of the tunnels if you were generous with your definition of towards, and Zoe decided that was good enough. She was going to make a mark on the tunnel she came from, but it was clear enough from all the damage caused through the fight.

    Large chunks of the wall were ripped out and the clear icy wall was cloudy from the cracks caused by the impacts. Zoe turned towards the other tunnel and climbed up the icy wall towards it. The tunnel was much the same, and the two started wandering down it.

    ¡°Interesting book.¡± Eliza handed the book back to Zoe and she stored it away in her bracelet. ¡°I¡¯d like to talk to this Richard person. Wonder how much they¡¯ve discovered since they wrote this.¡±

    ¡°I honestly hadn¡¯t even thought of that. I kinda just thought of it as up to date information, but I guess there¡¯s no reason to think of it like that, huh?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°There''s no reason to think that. It could have been written yesterday, but it just as well may not have. You didn''t get this from Richard. Who knows how many hands its traded through before you ended up with it. It may have been written thousands, maybe millions of years ago.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I guess. Weird to think that there could be a Richard out there with millions of years of stats though.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza looked at Zoe for a moment. ¡°There¡¯s plenty of powerful beings out there in the universe. In another few million years, you¡¯ll be one of them I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°I guess. I just don¡¯t really think on that kind of scale, really. It¡¯s so hard to understand.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Where are you from?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°I told you before I just got teleported here one day and been here ever since.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mhm. This book as good as confirms that you¡¯re not human though, you know? I¡¯m curious. What are you?" Eliza pressed.

    Zoe froze. She hadn¡¯t even considered that. Eliza knew that Zoe had her immortality through a vampire error, the book told Eliza that only races not from this world would have that happen. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that Zoe wasn¡¯t from this world.

    ¡°I know you said you don¡¯t wanna talk about it more but now I¡¯m super interested. How old are you anyway?¡±

    ¡°Honestly I can¡¯t remember how old I am now. I think I¡¯m thirty-three, though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hmmm. Interesting. Well if you really don¡¯t wanna share I won¡¯t press anymore. The book was interesting, thanks. Tell me if you find any of those immortality elementals, I still need immortality.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°You really want immortality, huh?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course! Knowing I¡¯m going to die someday makes everything so stressful. Can¡¯t spend any time relaxing, gotta rush off to the next exciting thing. Every moment of time I have I spend researching and learning, rushing around to find the slightest hint of something new and exciting. If I could live forever I wouldn¡¯t have to stress about it anymore.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Is that why you rushed to Lila¡¯s when I sent that message? Because I¡¯m immortal and might be able to help you?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course! An immortal enigma wants to talk about the system? That¡¯s about as good an opportunity as I¡¯m gonna get. And it paid off too, I¡¯ve got something to work on now.¡± Eliza said.

    The two kept walking through the tunnel until it ended up in the main massive cavern with the specks of blue floundering around at the bottom. They started making their way back to the previous, smaller cavern to try another one of the connected tunnels.

 2-34. Evolution

    The two kept wandering through the tunnels as they twisted around over themselves for another few hours. They didn¡¯t find anything of particular interest, but Zoe was happy with her progress of exploring. There were a few more large open caves that other tunnels connected to and she made marks as she walked around to put together a bit of a map.

    Drawing the entire labyrinth of tunnels was impossible for her, so she took a simpler strategy of marking each tunnel that she went through with a symbol, and then wrote down the order of symbols she followed.

    Starting from the tunnel she¡¯d carved out of the hill herself, she could go towards the star which would take her to the massive main cavern, or towards the square which took her towards the smaller cave that she fought the first two Frozen Shards in.

    After that, another star took her back towards the massive main cavern ¡ª stars were her marking of tunnels that only led to the main cavern. And the other tunnels were marked with whatever symbols she felt like at the moment. Squares, circles, diamonds, a slash, or two slashes. The exact symbols weren¡¯t important, as long as each intersection didn¡¯t have the same symbol twice she could write down an order and follow it to the same place every time.

    There were some more Frozen Shards that Zoe found as they explored, but with her new strategy they were simple to take out. Build up a shield to block their projectiles and then pummel them with blunt force. She tried to do the same with Frost at one point, just to save on the hassle of ripping rock out of the walls but it was ineffective.

    The Frost projectiles she created were almost all absorbed into the Frozen Shards on impact. It did some damage, and with enough of them Zoe was able to take one of the Frozen Shards down with just her Frost. But it was a slow and tedious process compared to just smashing through them with rock, so she didn¡¯t try again.

    Eliza and Zoe were chatting on their way back while they followed the rudimentary map Zoe had made.

    ¡°So who do you think made the system anyway?¡± Zoe asked. ¡°Richard said it probably wasn¡¯t a god, which is fair I guess. But I think that making the system is basically like being a god of this world, anyway. What even would count as a god anyway?"

    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ve thought a lot about who would have created it. If you¡¯re going to argue that somebody made it, then the first thing anybody usually asks is who made it. But I don¡¯t know for sure. Probably some being that I¡¯ve never met. Maybe it was a god. Maybe it was just some powerful mage who was sick of not having a rigid structure to cast their magic with.¡± Eliza shrugged.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯ll ever go away?¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza laughed. ¡°No, god no. The system¡¯s here to stay. It breaks at times but the system¡¯s not doing anything that we can¡¯t do, for the most part. I mean I don¡¯t know how I¡¯d go about making a dungeon, or identify things without the system. But I think if it disappeared, we¡¯d just have to relearn how to do things for a while.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you can make a dungeon?¡± Zoe looked at Eliza.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean that I could do it even with the system. But the system makes them, right? Why couldn¡¯t we, if we really tried? I don¡¯t think the system adds anything to our world, I think it just provides more of a structure. Hmmm¡­

    ¡°Like a mountain, you can climb a mountain, right? Walk up to a cliff and pull yourself up bit by bit. I think the world is the cliff, it¡¯s there. It¡¯s climbable. We could, through our own efforts climb to the top. But it would be easier if there were already a rope hanging down, hooks to attach yourself to, footholds marked and visible. That¡¯s the system.¡± Eliza explained.

    ¡°And then the creator of the system would be whoever climbed it first and put the rope down to begin with?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Exactly! But enough about that. What classes did you end up getting for your first class?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°There were a few good ones. Elemental Master seemed good. Lots of elemental bonuses, probably good magic. Master of Frost, Temporal Anomaly both looked good too, but I ended up with Seasoned Frost¡± Zoe explained, she still had some reservations about sharing everything about herself with people but it was just so tedious to manage.

    Who gets to know her class choices, who gets to know her feats, who gets to know her origin, who gets to know her skills. It¡¯s so stressful trying to keep things quiet and under wraps, and for what? So people didn¡¯t know about what class she had? Was somebody going to kidnap her and do horrible experiments on her?

    It was too late to worry about that at this point anyway, the secret was out. Emma¡¯s mom surely didn¡¯t keep everything a secret so many years ago, and neither did Zoe anyway. Some things were too much for her ¡ª where she came from, what kind of life she lived before. Maybe even the exact distribution of her stats, who knows. But her class choices? That just didn¡¯t seem like a big deal.

    Eliza asked what the requirements were, and Zoe explained them. Eliza looked at her with a questioning expression. ¡°Why did you go with Seasoned Frost? I feel like Elemental Master was a better fit for you if you wanted freedom.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I don¡¯t really know. I decided years prior that I wanted a cold class, and I guess I just tunnel visioned on that. The best cold class I had was the one I wanted to take. Plus a friend said it was good, and last time I didn¡¯t trust him I got burned pretty bad.

    ¡°I think if I went back in time now I¡¯d do things differently. I rushed into things a bit too much. I could have waited around for another decade, maybe two. Kept getting more skills, levels and stats. Got even better classes. But it¡¯s just the first class and I¡¯m happy with it overall. No point in belabouring about it now.¡±

    ¡°Well it might evolve still anyway, so you¡¯re not totally out of luck.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Wait what? It can evolve? I thought I was stuck with it forever.¡± Zoe stared at Eliza, mouth agape.

    ¡°It¡¯s rare, but it happens. I¡¯ve only seen it a handful of times. Usually you have to do something specific with the class and then it evolves. I know of one person who had the Dragonslayer class, which evolved into Bane of Dragons after they killed enough dragons. Maybe your Seasoned Frost evolves when it gets cold enough.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°I think that every class can evolve, personally. But the requirements aren¡¯t clear and often times not even related to what the class would want to do.¡± Eliza shrugged.

    ¡°So would an Apprentice Mage class evolve into Mage at some point then?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Maybe. I think it¡¯s possible. Never heard of it happening myself though. Who knows what you¡¯d have to do. What constitutes a graduation from being an Apprentice Mage? Taking another proper Mage class? I¡¯d have heard about it if it was.¡± Eliza explained.

    ¡°I just won¡¯t get my hopes up then, I like my class anyway. It¡¯s pretty fun.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit.¡± Eliza said, and turned down the last square marked tunnel towards the exist.

    ¡°Oh, I heard of skills being uncapped before too. How does that end up happening?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Particularly powerful classes often reward you with a higher limit on certain skills. An Arch mage class might give you a higher meditation limit, a powerful warrior class might give you an increased cap on some fighting skill maybe. It¡¯s not super common but it happens now and then.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Alright, thanks.¡± Zoe said and pushed mana into the earthen door in the wall. It shrunk aside, and Zoe flooded it with her Wind Manipulation to make sure they could breathe in it.

    ¡°No problem. Thanks for all the info, you¡¯ve given me a lot to work on now.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Like what? What do you do, anyway?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I do stuff like this. Explore ruins, look for anything interesting. I think I¡¯m going to try and get some of those elemental skills now though. I already have a lot of space and time research for my magic, but they¡¯re not technically skills. Might be able to figure something out though.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Well if you do, come help me out with them and I¡¯ll consider your debt paid.¡± Zoe grinned.

    Eliza laughed. ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll tell Lila to contact you if I ever figure them out then.¡±

    ¡°Good. It was nice talking to you again. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t contact you sooner, I honestly just didn¡¯t know who I could trust.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It was frustrating but I get it. I wouldn¡¯t have trusted me either.¡± Eliza said.

    The two walked through the entrance Zoe carved out, and Zoe opened the other side and led Eliza out of the hill.

    ¡°Well it was nice seeing you again Zoe, let me know if you find anything super cool here.¡± Eliza said, and then vanished moments later.

    It was a fun experience having her along for the journey through the cavern, but Zoe was excited to have some time to herself as well. Everything felt so much more rushed when she was with other people, like she had to go at their pace.

    And she still hadn¡¯t even had time to process the fact that Ash was dead. Zoe started walking back over to her home cave.

    It¡¯s not like Ash was a great friend or anything, in fact they had met no more than a handful of times. Acquaintances at best, but it was still a weird feeling. They were just gone.

    Not just gone, either. Gone so long ago that everybody else had moved on from it, and Zoe had no idea. She wasn¡¯t upset about it, not too upset anyway. It was an odd feeling, knowing that somebody she knew was just gone now.

    Lynn¡¯s husband had died before too, and that was fine. But Ash was somebody Zoe knew, and they were just gone. The mortality of people ate away at her. It wasn¡¯t even Ash dying that bothered her. It was the fear that Joe would be dead when she went back to Flester, that somebody other than Emma would answer when she knocked on the tower¡¯s wooden door.

    Maybe she hadn¡¯t quite gotten over her fear of her friends¡¯ mortality. Zoe took a few deep breaths. It was okay that people died. That¡¯s what people did, they died. That was okay. It wasn¡¯t a happy experience, but it was a part of life. And Zoe needed to accept that, as hard as it was when death stared her in the face.

    She pushed the thoughts aside and kept walking back to her cave. She couldn¡¯t let the fear control her anymore, she couldn¡¯t let it warp her decisions and push her into things she didn¡¯t want to do for herself. It was okay to be afraid, it was okay to worry. But letting those dark thoughts poison her decisions was unproductive, she knew that.

    There were other things to think about, like the icy splinters she¡¯d gathered from wandering around the cave. Zoe was excited to try enchanting things with them, maybe she could use her Carpentry experience to set them into something and help bolster its enchantment capability.

    Zoe opened her Earthen door on her cave and flooded it with wind before she walked in. Having the door seal itself off in her cave was not the best of ideas, she¡¯d come to realize. It was fun and secretive, but she needed to make some ventilation.

    There was already the one hole she¡¯d been using as a chimney, but even if she pushed air out of it now there wasn¡¯t anywhere else for air to come in through. Zoe spent some time digging out another tunnel next to her door that connected to the outside just under a tree to keep it somewhat hidden. She pulled up some of the stone to make it extend a little ways out of the ground and then added a cap so that rain and leaves wouldn¡¯t be able to just fall into her chimney.

    Next, Zoe went back to her chimney and closed off the tunnel not far into it, then she turned it to the side and cut through the mountain to make a much shorter ventilation shaft. While she was there, she added a similar cap to the end of the tunnel to keep out all the detritus.

    It wasn¡¯t a perfect solution, but it would be good enough for her for a while at least. Zoe went back to her cave and sat down on her bed. The ventilation tunnels were great, but they¡¯d be much better if she could get some fans to help assist the air flow through them.

    She pulled out one of the icy splinters from her bracelet and then started flooding it with mana. It took almost twenty minutes before it was full, and she enchanted it with Wind Manipulation, Meditation and Enchanting.

    The wind was much more powerful than she expected, rather than the subtle current that her fans made before there was a very noticeable pressure created from the wind blowing on her. She watched the wisps of mana float around as they were drawn into the splinter and noticed it was much more than she would expect from a simple Meditation and Enchanting combination.

    The mana in the splinter didn¡¯t seem to drain, at least not a noticeable amount in the few minutes she watched. She¡¯d have to check on it after some more time to be sure that it wasn¡¯t just slowly draining, after all it did take quite some time to flood it with mana in the first place. But either way, she was shocked at how much of a difference the splinters made compared to enchanting her Frost, or a chunk of earth.

    What was the difference, anyway? Why was it so much better? Just because it was pieces of a monster? Or was there something else that she could replicate with practice using her Frost? Density, maybe? There were too many questions she had, and none that she could answer right now.

    Zoe made another of the powerful fans and placed one on each of her ventilation tunnels to keep the air flowing, and then fell asleep on her bed. Before she went back into the frozen tunnels, she wanted to get some more experience with her other skills, and depending on how close she was maybe get another class too.

 2-35. Frost Creation

    Exploring the cave with Eliza was fun, finding all the splinters and building up a map of the labyrinth was just the kind of adventure that Zoe was excited for. And Eliza didn¡¯t help, not much at least. But Zoe knew better than to think it would be the same without Eliza.

    She provided a comfort, even if she stood back away from the action. Creatures wouldn¡¯t be drawn to the noise and ambush Zoe from behind ¡ª Eliza was just physically in the way. They¡¯d hit her first, and Zoe would hear the commotion. It made Zoe comfortable exploring further, knowing that somebody was there behind her.

    But to go alone, through the maze of tunnels without anybody behind her to keep an eye out for something Zoe couldn¡¯t handle? That made her heart race with not only excitement but a healthy dose of fear. A Frozen Shard ¡ª or something else that she hadn¡¯t discovered, could float its way through the tunnel with nary a sound and Zoe would be none the wiser.

    Before she went, Zoe wanted to at least understand her Earth Manipulation better, she wanted to get some better enchantments for her cave. It was time to get some chores done, but she was excited for those too. Problems to solve and trials to overcome, without the danger of a frigid cave looming over her. It was an adventure all on its own, and she looked forward to it.

    Zoe summoned one of the Icy Splinters and started flooding it with her mana. She watched the wisps get whisked away into the splinter, felt her mana rush into it like a bottomless pool she was filling with a garden hose.

    There was something different about it to what she was used to, and she switched to flooding her mana into the mattress she sat on. The mana flowed into it, but it wasn¡¯t the same. If the icy splinter was a bottomless pool then her mattress felt like a mess of wire. Full of interference and blockages.

    It wasn¡¯t distracting, it didn¡¯t get in her way. And if she didn¡¯t have the comparison on hand she doubted that she would have noticed how stark the difference was. The icy splinter was empty, void of complications. It sucked up all the mana she could throw at it and dumped it into the empty space contained within. While her mattress was saturated almost instantly.

    There was just so much stuff in the way. Fibers? Was the icy splinter hollow? Zoe summoned another one and split it in half to take a look, but the splinter was solid throughout. And yet it felt so empty to her mana, like the ball that Ren had her fill a while back she realized.

    Was that the difference between some random object and something that was specifically designed to be enchanted? Was the icy splinter designed to be enchanted though? Could she replicate the effect with her Frost skill with practice?

    Zoe summoned a small ball of frost next to her and tried to make it hollow then poked around in it with her mana. The sphere of ice was hollow and brittle, but the air inside wasn¡¯t a part of the Frost. She¡¯d just made an empty ball, but she needed to make a full ball that was empty inside.

    Which made no sense to her. How did the icy splinter feel so empty and large? Was it some kind of spatial effect? Some extra dimension of reality that Zoe could only just see the surface of? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    Another ball of frost appeared next to Zoe, and she examined it. There was nothing special about it, she just wanted to see a baseline. The structure within was a dense web of mana and every spot was saturated with excess mana that flooded into it while she created it.

    If she removed the web of mana within, would that make it better at holding mana? What was the purpose of that web of mana though? Did it help maintain the structure of the objects and without it they would be brittle and break?

    But how would you make something sturdy that also held lots of mana then? Hematite was strong and took much more mana than the regular rock that was around her, what was the difference with that?

    Zoe stood up and walked outside to the pile of rock. She flooded her mana into a chunk of hematite and watched what happened. The hematite felt like a tangled mess of string with her mana settling into all of the empty spaces.

    She did the same to some of the regular rock she¡¯d harvested and the tangled mess felt noticeably denser, and her mana filled in all the cracks much sooner.

    But what did that mean for her manipulation skills, anyway? With more of her mana in the hematite, would it be easier to manipulate? Or was the structure more difficult to manipulate for some reason she couldn¡¯t see?

    Zoe compared the two chunks of rock, how fast they moved and how much control she had over their shapes. If she really looked at it, maybe the hematite was better. A little faster, a little closer to looking like a star. But she wasn¡¯t sure if it was her imagination or not, the difference if there was one was so minor.

    But was that because the increased mana didn¡¯t do anything, or was it because hematite was just a heavier rock to manipulate? If she found some lightweight, sturdy rock without much structure inside then would that have a noticeable difference?

    She shrugged. That wasn¡¯t something she could test now anyway. Maybe aluminum would be a good option if she could find it? But the process of making it required a lot of electricity and infrastructure, would it even exist in this world?

    Zoe scratched her head. Every time she learned something new it seemed like there was another hundred questions she wouldn¡¯t be able to answer. There were many more productive things to spend her time on now, she reminded herself.

    Like what the difference between her Earth Manipulation and Frost skills were. What was the piece that she was missing to be able to create her own rocks rather than having to pull it from the ground around her?

    There was a noticeable difference between natural materials being manipulated, and materials you created yourself. She¡¯d learned of it many years ago when she first tried to upgrade her Manipulation skills.

    Natural materials were full of stuff that wasn¡¯t her mana ¡ª the mana structures inside them, she believed now after experimenting with the icy shards. Random garbage that wasn¡¯t hers to manipulate. Her mana flooded into the spaces and forced the rocks or wind to move as she wished. But it wasn¡¯t truly moving the rock, it was moving mana within the rock and the rock was dragged along.

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    Whereas when she created Frost, it was true manipulation. The frost itself was hers, the structure within belonged to her. When she commanded it to move, every fiber of its existence moved as she willed. There was no impedance, no structures getting in her way, no push back. The ice was hers to control.

    When she took over ice with her Frost, it took more mana than when she took over rock, at least relative to the amount of space within. Her mana seeped into the structures within and pushed nature out. She wrestled absolute control of it, not just a portion of it.

    That¡¯s why her Earth Manipulation skill was so much weaker than her Frost was at a similar level. There was this constant internal battle between her mana and nature trying to maintain itself with Earth Manipulation. That didn¡¯t happen with Frost, she was its master and it belonged to her.

    But even knowing this, she wasn¡¯t sure what the next step was. She could try to flood some rock with her mana so much that she pushed nature out and saturated even the framework that held it together. But that wasn¡¯t what would give her Earth. That was still not creating rock from her mana.

    She needed to flood reality itself with her mana and force it to create rock, but how would that happen? Zoe had watched her Frost knit together from the fabric of reality more times than she could count, but it was out of her wheelhouse to understand what was happening. A messy web of power that resulted in ice was all she could garner from it.

    Understanding that process was the next step, the key to everything she could ever want. Earth, Wind, Fire, maybe even Space and Time at some point. A maelstrom of elemental skills at her fingertips if she could just figure it out. She knew that. It was just so much work, so much effort, so much studying. Months, maybe even years of watching ice form over and over as she pieced it together bit by bit.

    And then who knows how long to translate that process to some other element. How much of that mess of mana was for creation and how much of it was just for the ice part of her skill?

    Would her Earth Manipulation even help her with the process? Creation and manipulation were different things on a very fundamental level from what Zoe had seen. Relying on it to help with the creation seemed like a pitfall that Zoe didn¡¯t want to fall into.

    In fact, she had a theory about the skills. Earth was not an upgrade to Earth Manipulation but rather a combination of Earth Creation and Earth Manipulation. If Zoe had done things differently, she imagined she could have gotten Earth Creation and then upgraded it to Earth by unlocking Earth Manipulation.

    And if she was right, then using Earth Manipulation to try and unlock Earth Creation was backwards. She didn¡¯t need to intensify her manipulation, she didn¡¯t need to upgrade it. She needed to pull it back to its roots, to its purest form.

    The days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months as Zoe summoned ball of ice after ball of ice and watched the process unfold. Each day she¡¯d pick a piece of the process and try to work through it, see what was happening. At first, it was impossible to see anything in the mess of mana.

    But after a few weeks she began to see patterns in the mana, bits that moved together as one, warping and flickering in and out of existence as the ice was formed. It was such a quick process to create Frost that trying to watch it in such detail was more than just a little frustrating.

    Day by day, bit by bit, she worked through it and after months of studying her skill she felt confident enough to try it without her Frost skill¡¯s assistance.

    Zoe sat on a rough bench she¡¯d made at the top of the hill with her eyes closed. She felt the mana rushing around her and within her as she reached within her soul and disabled her Frost skill.

    She took some deep breaths and let the mana flow around her, felt the subtle pressure of reality baring down on her, and the essence of her self push back against it. And then she pulled mana from deep within her and pushed it out next to her. She followed along the chaotic patterns she¡¯d spent so many hours watching.

    Wisps of light twisted and flickered as she pushed the mana into the form she remembered. A moment later, a ball of ice materialized next to her and fell to the ground.

    ¡°YES!¡± Zoe jumped off the bench and shouted. She felt like she was going to burst from the immense pride that welled up within her.

    Without the skill, without the system¡¯s help, with only her own power, she¡¯d created ice. It was a useless ball that clattered to the ground without being able to manipulate it without the system¡¯s help. But it was her useless ice!

    Zoe bounced around on the hill with excitement for a while, and then flipped the switch to her Frost skill back on again. Doing it without the system¡¯s help was fun and exciting, once. Doing it every time that way would be tedious and even dangerous. The focus required to manipulate all of her mana into the patterns she needed was impossible while she was fending off a Frozen Shard or while a mindless zombie rushed her down.

    But it felt good knowing she could, that if she sat down for a while and really tried, she could succeed at even something that seemed so daunting before.

    She made her way back down to the home cave and smiled at the makeshift fans she¡¯d made ¡ª even after a few months, they still hadn¡¯t seemed to lose any of the mana. The icy splinters made them last forever it seemed, as long as she didn¡¯t destroy them on accident. She¡¯d taken some time one day to secure them in place in the tunnels. Stone wrapped around bits of them and formed a mesh to keep the air flowing but her fist or whatever else she prodded the tunnels with from damaging them.

    Zoe sat on her bed and summoned one of her meals ¡ª another venison wrap with some of the slimy sweet sauce from the strange fruits she¡¯d found. Wraps were the perfect meal for her she¡¯d decided. Easy to eat while she was walking, sitting, or even squished into a tiny tunnel and scraping out detritus that made it past her caps.

    No cutlery was needed to eat them and there was no garbage to store away in her bracelet when she was done. A nice comfortable self contained meal that she could enjoy.

    Her next step would be to figure out what she needed to change with the process to make it create Earth instead of Frost, but that could wait for tomorrow. She wished she had at least one other skill to reference, a Fire skill or something that she could pick apart in the same way to spot the difference.

    Which parts were similar? Which parts would be different? What did those differences do? But that was a fruitless line of thought since getting another of those skills would require her to either find an elemental or figure it out without having another skill anyway.

    Zoe laughed as she thought about another elemental weak enough for her to kill wandering into her cave. It would be nice, but even if she did run into an elemental Zoe doubted she¡¯d be strong enough to take one on without the help of an entire city. And even then, what kind of elemental was going to show up near a frosty cavern? Fire?

    Some baby fire elemental determined to rid the world of this terrible cold? Zoe sprawled out on her bed and chuckled. She was on her own, but she¡¯d already proved to herself that she was good enough. It might take some time, but at the end of the day, that was the one thing she had in abundance.

 2-36. Turbulence

    Zoe wondered where she should even begin with trying to repeat the process over again with another element. What pieces of the mess of mana were responsible for creation, which parts were responsible for ice? Or would there be no similarities between them at all?

    Was creating Frost its own independent process, and creating Earth would be a fundamentally different pattern on all fronts? Or was it split up into a creation and an elemental definition piece?

    Given what Zoe knew about the system so far, she assumed that it would be creation plus an element, and that swapping out the bit that defined which element was being created would give her another element being created. That made the most sense to her, it fit with her experience of getting the Manipulation skills which acted in a similar way.

    But copying a tangled mess and truly understanding what it was doing were two very different things. Just because Zoe was able to repeat the process of creating Frost without the system¡¯s help didn¡¯t mean she was all that much closer to understanding what the process of Earth creation even looked like.

    Again she lamented not having another skill to look at. If she just had a Fire or Water skill to look at then she¡¯d be able to know for sure how it all worked. She could piece the other one apart and compare her findings to build up a rough framework.

    Maybe the library in Flester would have some more information for her, but going back to town for every little problem defeated the purpose of her adventure. She wanted to explore and discover, and most of the fun from that came from the journey. Zoe didn¡¯t care much for having the skills, for getting lots of levels. She enjoyed piecing apart how things worked and stubbornly throwing herself against the problems until she overcame them.

    That¡¯s what filled her with pride, it¡¯s the driving force behind everything she does. Reading a book that tells her everything just ruins the fun. Maybe she was missing something fundamental, something so basic to this world that she should know. But there was no way to know.

    How much of the world was water? How many dungeons were there and how were they created, where were they and what purposes did they all serve? There was so much to learn. Even some of the kids she saw while she was in Gafoda knew much more about the world than she did.

    But that was exciting, that was fun. There were so many things to learn and do, and she was enjoying herself. Maybe she¡¯d be stronger or make faster progress if she spent more time in town, found some basic education and learned all the common knowledge this world has to offer. She could maybe talk with some people at a school or ask a friend for a run down on everything they were taught growing up.

    But Zoe wasn¡¯t here to revolutionize the world, she wasn¡¯t here to further society¡¯s technology and prowess. She was thrust into a world without her consent, and the world could be damned for all she cared. What she wanted was her own personal enjoyment.

    And part of that was spending weeks, and months. Maybe years, and at some point in her long life maybe even decades or centuries just studying things that other people might already know. It wasn¡¯t about the knowledge, it was about the process. It was about overcoming her own personal barriers, and feeling proud of what she¡¯d managed.

    So she sat on her bed and started studying her Manipulation skills. She had a good understanding of them from when she first got them, but she wanted to spend some time piecing them apart and understanding more of what the system itself was doing that maybe she missed on her first attempts.

    The skills were broken up into three parts as far as Zoe could see. There was the elemental definition ¡ª something Zoe hoped she would be able to just copy over to the Creation skill once she had figured out which part was what. Then there was the base manipulation effect. These two pieces were all she needed to acquire the skills, but when she did the system added a third piece that Zoe couldn¡¯t understand.

    It was a small piece, a tiny percentage of the total mana being thrown around in the skill. But it weaved into and through both of the other pieces and made the whole process look a lot more confusing than it needed to in Zoe¡¯s opinion.

    She wasn¡¯t sure what effect it was having, maybe it bound the elemental definition to the base effect, or maybe it was just the system itself being wrapped up into the skill. Maybe it was some pre-built command to assist in whatever the skill was used for.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure. But even after months back in Flester of studying it, she hadn¡¯t managed to figure out anything that it was doing other than make the mana look like a tangled mess.

    She returned to her Frost skill and worked on piecing together everything. If her experience with the Manipulation skills was anything to go by, the creation skill would have a similar breakdown. Perhaps more, since it was a combined creation and manipulation effect.

    Zoe grinned. She hadn¡¯t even thought of that before, in the months of studying the skill. Frost was a combined creation and manipulation effect, it might have the base manipulation effect wound up into the tangled mess as well. If she could find it and remove it, then she might end up with just the creation and elemental definition components.

    And if the extra mana wound into all three portions of the skill, then isolating one part of it might make the threads of mana that weren¡¯t necessary stand out a bit more too.

    Another few months flew by as Zoe continued studying her Frost skill. At first she thought finding the manipulation effect in the mess of mana would be simple. She already knew what it looked like and she knew what it was supposed to look like after the system wove in extra mana.

    But she soon learned how na?ve she¡¯d been. There weren¡¯t three distinct segments, there were dozens. Each part weaved into the other and connected, pathways leading throughout the entire skill.

    Zoe stuck with it and continued to hold onto some semblance of hope that it was just the system weaving its superfluous mana through the skill that made it seem so hopeless to replicate. She tried to weave together the mess of mana with small changes a couple times, but nothing ever happened. If even a single wisp was out of place the entire thing was worthless.

    Maybe that¡¯s what the extra mana did, Zoe thought. Like a verification that the skill was what it said it was, and that Zoe wasn¡¯t casting some heinous skill that she shouldn¡¯t be. Without the system¡¯s protections she had freedom to do what she wanted, but within the system¡¯s bounds she was stuck with preset effects.

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    She changed her plan. Finding the manipulation effect wouldn¡¯t work if she had the mess of mana making the whole process a confusing mess. She needed to find and isolate the system¡¯s superfluous mana and remove it before she could continue.

    And so Zoe spent even more months studying her skill. She watched the mana form, felt the pathways within it shift and churn with power and each time she felt a little closer to understanding which parts mattered and which didn¡¯t. Over time, the unnecessary system mana began to stand out to her.

    She noticed a pattern. When she cast her Frost skill, there was a large chunk of the mana that didn¡¯t seem to do all that much. It was present, and it moved with the rest of the mana as it warped and churned. But it didn¡¯t seem to do anything but dissipate into the atmosphere when the ice formed.

    Except for when she tried to cast the skill without the system¡¯s help, and with a small change made. When she got something wrong, all of that mana jumped into action and ripped the skill apart. It was so ingrained into the tumultuous web of mana that it was hard to notice, but after almost a year of doing little other than watch her skill form it stood out to her like a shining beacon of possibility.

    Zoe isolated all of what she thought was the system¡¯s superfluous mana and tried casting the skill again without the system¡¯s help. Hundreds of tries flew by, each one a failure but bringing her one step closer to success.

    Understanding the structure of mana was a difficult process. Which part of the mana was ripping the structure apart, and which part was just being dragged along in the current of destruction? Which part was truly useless, and which part just seemed like it wasn¡¯t doing anything but was actually information about the shape and density of what was being created?

    But bit by bit, Zoe crept closer to true understanding, and one day she sat on her bed in her cave, confident that this would be her last attempt she¡¯d need. She was confident on all of her attempts, but there was a desperation this time.

    Winter was days away, her birthday in just a few weeks. She¡¯d decided, somewhat on a whim, that she wanted to get this figured out before her birthday, and each failure brought her one step closer to success but another moment closer to failure.

    She reviewed her plan for the attempt ¡ª a mess of notes on the paper that didn¡¯t make sense to anybody but Zoe. Scribbles and lines that represented bits of mana she would form, and other scribbles that were bits of mana to avoid creating. She looked through it a few times and then closed her eyes to delve within herself.

    First, Zoe turned off her Frost skill. And then she repeated a process that she now had an intimate familiarity with as she pulled mana from herself to flood the world. The mana wove into the organized structure that she wanted, and a ball of ice stitched itself together right in front of her then fell to the ground.

    Zoe took a deep breath and grinned while she stretched out on her bed. This was only the first step, but it was a big one.

    No longer was she working with a tangled mess of mana, a confusing bundle of power that she could never hope to understand. Now she had a real structure, something to expand off of.

    Early on, she had hoped that once the tangled web was removed the segments would be clear. Manipulation, creation and an element definition. But even with the mess removed, she was left with five separate segments, each with pathways of mana connecting them to some of the others. None at first glance looked similar to the manipulation effect she was used to.

    And it made sense, when she thought about it. Earth Manipulation was so much simpler than the Frost skill. It wasn¡¯t just manipulation, it was better manipulation. And it probably wasn¡¯t just creation, either. But Zoe didn¡¯t know what a lone creation effect would look like.

    Zoe realized a problem with her testing, and tried to cast the skill without the system again. But this time when the ball of ice formed in front of her, she tried to grasp it with her mana and keep it afloat. The process was effortless. Mana rushed out from her and the ball stayed in the air.

    So the balls of ice weren¡¯t useless as she thought, but there was no automation to the process. When she used her Frost skill, the ball would stay floating where she created it even if she didn¡¯t tell it to. But when she cast it like this, the ball wasn¡¯t given any orders to follow and so it fell to the ground.

    That confirmed that manipulation was a part of the structure, at least. But it still didn¡¯t help her figure out which part was responsible for the manipulation.

    Zoe spent the next few weeks changing bits of the mana to see what happened. One portion controlled the shape, though she had no clue how they were correlated. Small changes in the mana took it from a ball to a misshapen blob. It didn¡¯t matter though, shape wasn¡¯t important, she just needed to create anything.

    One section did seem to be related to manipulation, as when she changed anything about it, the balls of ice were much harder to move around with her mana. And sometimes even impossible. They would fly around far too quick, warp and twist as they floated, and she even managed to make one bob up and down in place.

    A third section seemed to be just for storing mana. Removing it didn¡¯t seem to have any negative effects other than making the process take less mana. Maybe that was what made the combined skills more potent? They just had extra mana to play with? Zoe wasn¡¯t sure, but it was unnecessary for now so she left it out of her testing.

    The fourth and fifth sections Zoe assumed would be responsible for creation and elemental definition. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure which was which, but it didn¡¯t matter, she could just try replacing both with Earth¡¯s definition and hope for the best.

    Zoe first tried replacing the fourth segment, but nothing happened when she cast the skill. Then she tried replacing the fifth segment and a small ball of rock slowly stitched itself together in front of her.

    *Ding* The Earth Manipulation skill has been upgraded to the Earth skill.

    She jumped from her bed and pumped her fist while she shouted with joy. In only a year of practice ¡ª if you didn¡¯t count all the time she spent trying for it back in Flester, she had discovered a repeatable process for upgrading any manipulation skill she could get her hands on.

    Discovering the definitions would be a struggle in itself, but once she did there was nothing left in her way to get the combined skill. As long as every skill followed a similar path, anyway. She hoped they would.

    Zoe turned her attention to her Wind Manipulation skill and repeated the process over again.

    *Ding* The Wind Manipulation skill has been upgraded to the Wind skill.

    She laid down on her bed and smiled. Spending more time gathering more elemental skills jumped up her priority list, but first she was excited to get back to exploring the frozen cavern again.

 2-37. Icy Flurry

    Zoe focused on her new Earth skill and summoned a chunk of rock next to her. It took much longer than when she created ice with her Frost skill, and she watched as the mana twisted and churned to form the red hued floating ball of hematite next to her.

    She looked at it for a moment and felt more than a little confused. She hadn¡¯t thought much about what kind of rock she was going to make, but all this time that she¡¯d spent trying to get the skill there was always this vision of her hurling around gray stones. But this was without a doubt, hematite.

    Why? Was hematite the true version of Earth? Or was there something else to it. Most of her experience with Earth Manipulation was digging out the tunnel into the frozen cave, and most of that was digging through hematite. Had the skill been influenced by what she spent time doing with it?

    Zoe focused on her skill again, but urged it towards the gray stone that surrounded her. Gabbro, maybe? She still wasn¡¯t sure. But she tried to urge her skill to create the less mana intense stone rather than hematite. Mana surged from her and stitched together a floating ball of gray stone.

    Would she be able to create anything that qualified as Earth? What about other minerals, like bismuth or bauxite? Zoe focused on her skill again and tried to force it towards a colourful bismuth crystal, but it just ended up creating more hematite.

    She tried again with some other minerals she knew of. Bauxite, sphalerite, cassiterite. But none of them made anything other than hematite. What was the difference? Did they not count as earth? Or was it just because she wasn¡¯t familiar with them?

    If she travelled around and spent months manipulating natural magnetite would she be able to create her own eventually?

    Now that she thought about it, how did that knowledge affect her other skills? What was Frost capable of doing? So far, all she¡¯d done was use it to make ice in different shapes, but did frost always have to be water?

    And for that matter, even if it did have to be water, did it always have to be fresh water? Why wouldn¡¯t she be able to make salt water ice, or poisoned ice?

    Zoe focused on her Frost and tried to make a flurry of snow. The mana surged and a light snowfall was created next to Zoe. Or, at least a snapshot of it was. The snow didn¡¯t fall unless she told it to, but she was able to manipulate the light snow just as well as she could manipulate ice.

    Could she make water? What was Frost, anyway?

    What was Wind? Wind wasn¡¯t a thing, like Earth and Frost. Was it just creating air? If she studied and practiced, would she be able to make oxygen, hydrogen, helium, or whatever other gasses she decide on? You could have wind in any gaseous atmosphere, as far as Zoe was aware. What was that really heavy gas that made your voice get deep, like helium did but in reverse?

    Zoe had always wanted to try breathing in some sulfur hexafluoride but never had the opportunity to try it. Would she one day be able to just create her own with her new Wind skill?

    There were so many options, but Zoe pushed them aside for a thought that popped in her mind. She summoned one of the icy splinters from her bracelet and took some time to flood it with her mana. When it was saturated, she tried to grab control over it with her Frost skill.

    It wasn¡¯t a simple process, the icy splinter seemed to fight back as she smashed through it with her mana. But in time, she was able to control it and float it around her cave room. It felt heavy to her skill, and the drain on her mana was intense. But it was possible.

    Which in theory, should mean that it would be possible to create it as well with her Frost skill, if she knew what requirement needed to be met to create a variant of your element. If she carried it around with her for a few months and focused on nothing but manipulating it, would she be able to create her own icy splinters?

    A thought for another time. There was much to do still. Zoe wanted to finish exploring the rest of the frozen cave, discover whatever creatures were lurking at the bottom and then tackle Moaning Point once more with all of her new capabilities.

    Zoe left her cave and walked around to the other side of the hill to where she¡¯d dug her tunnel. In the time she¡¯d spent working on her manipulation skills she never once went back into the frozen cave. She¡¯d peered in from the top while she was up there a few times, but that was the extent of her cave exploration since Eliza left.

    The doors squished off to the side at Zoe¡¯s command, and Zoe peered into the icy tunnel. It was just as she¡¯d left it, the marks looked like she¡¯d left them just a few minutes prior. She summoned her makeshift map and made sure she knew where she was going, and then took off down towards the first large opening.

    The cave was populated with one more Frozen Shard, and Zoe took a moment to watch it glide around on the ground. Where did it come from? Was it created here, or did it wander in from somewhere else?

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure, but she summoned a slab of hematite and flashed her Archery, Shield Manipulation and crushing focused Cooking Enchanted Mirror on it, then fired it off at the lonely Frozen Shard. It rocketed off with far more speed than she expected and smashed through the Frozen Shard. It exploded in a cloud of icy mist while the projectile of rock bounced off to the other side of the room.

    She stared at the scene for a moment. That was why she took her time to work on her skills. She knew it would be more powerful, but that was night and day. Earth Manipulation was nothing more than a toy compared to this. A convenience at best.

    Zoe ran through the rest of the tunnels as she followed her map until she ended up at the end of where she and Eliza had explored. There were a few more Frozen Shards along the way, but each were taken out in a moment with her Earth and Enchanted Mirror combination. She stopped to collect the icy splinters that covered the ground in each of the large caverns as she rushed through them.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    The cold was intense this deep in. Before with Eliza, she hadn¡¯t noticed. There was so much going on all at once and the path down was so meandering and time consuming that the gradual temperature drop just didn¡¯t stand out to her.

    But this time, as she rushed through tunnel after tunnel and descended deeper into the ground? The temperature drop was as clear as day. Her health started ticking down quite a lot and she needed to keep pumping Restoration through herself.

    The tunnel wound around itself as it continued descending, and Zoe followed along while she kept pulsing restoration through herself whenever she lost more than ten health. The icy crystals all along the walls grew clearer with each step she took, the walls looked crisper and more pristine as she kept following.

    Zoe worried she wouldn¡¯t make it all the way down before the cold ate through even her mana regeneration, but was proven wrong when she followed the tunnel around a sharp turn and saw it grow larger about fifty feet ahead.

    Off in the distance were more of the Frozen Shards below the opening. What looked like thirteen of them, and that was just what she could see from so far back. Zoe walked up and looked over the edge, and saw she was only about ten feet off the bottom of the massive cavern.

    Dozens of Frozen Shards covered the floor, and Zoe shuddered. Could she take them all on? At this point, with everything she knew? Zoe felt pretty confident in it. But more importantly, she felt confident in being able to escape if something did go wrong.

    The tunnel wasn¡¯t on the ground, so they¡¯d have to climb up. Zoe could create a wall of earth to seal it off and had a map leading all the way back to the surface. She could escape if she needed to.

    She looked around the bottom of the cave. From up above, it looked hectic. Even the lowest connection she¡¯d found before this one was far above where she was now, and the scale of what she was working with just hadn¡¯t set in.

    From so far away, telling one Frozen Shard apart from two that were clambering over each other was difficult. It looked like a mess of ice and she wasn¡¯t able to tell the creatures apart from each other or just large icicles that littered the floor..

    But from up close, it was awe inspiring. There were so many of the Frozen Shards drifting around on the icy floor. Looking up towards the surface was a breath taking experience as well. The gaping hole at the top looked so small from the bottom, a tiny breach in the icy cavern that sunlight poured in through.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what to do. There were so many of the Frozen Shards, even if she could take them all out it would take her time to do so. And did she want to? Just slaughter dozens of the innocent creatures to satisfy her desires?

    Yes, she thought. She did want to. This was the culmination of everything she¡¯d been working on for so many years. The climax of her first true adventure. And they weren¡¯t innocent, not as far as Zoe was concerned.

    They were powerful and dangerous, and Zoe didn¡¯t think they had much intelligence either. They wandered aimlessly until something happened and then screeched and fired off frozen projectiles.

    Zoe stepped back from the edge and pulled on her Earth to create a thick wall of hematite to seal off the tunnel. It took a few hours, but the Frozen Shards didn¡¯t seem to mind her presence until she either walked near them or attacked them.

    When the wall was done, Zoe carved out a small hole to look through and held the cylinder of rock she cut out off to the side. The hole was large enough for her to see through and aim her projectiles, but small enough that she would still be able to stay behind cover. And if everything hit the fan, then she¡¯d have the plug on hand ready to cover up the hole as quick as possible before she booked it out of danger.

    Next Zoe summoned some more earth and covered her ears with them. She wouldn¡¯t be able to hear anything coming from behind her, but that was a risk she was willing to take. The alternative was not being prepared for the blast of sound from dozens of Frozen Shards at the same time. She continued piling on more and more rock onto her ears, and added some bits that attached to the top of her head and shoulders to provide some support.

    It wasn¡¯t very comfortable and didn¡¯t help her mobility, but she hoped it would at least help dampen the screech that would come after she provoked the horde of Frozen Shards.

    She took a deep breath and then summoned a large slab of rock through the hole she¡¯d created and flashed her enchantment onto it. Not far away was a cluster of three of the Frozen Shards, and Zoe took aim at them then fired the slab off at them.

    The slab smashed through the three, and bounced off the ground into another Frozen Shard before it settled down. All of the living Frozen Shards spun in place and Zoe watched them begin to vibrate. She braced herself for the coming screech, and even through all the stone she made the sound was still deafening.

    Ice shattered from the walls and clattered on the ground, the thick wall Zoe made threatened to fall apart but Zoe held it together with her Earth while she withstood the powerful screech.

    When it wore off, Zoe looked through the hole again and then dodged out of the way of dozens of frozen projectiles that came flying towards her. They shattered on the ice above her and covered her in shards of ice cold enough to bite into her skin. Zoe scraped them all off and flooded herself with the warmth of Restoration.

    She created two more Earth projectiles and fired them both off into the cavern blind. Aiming through the hole wasn¡¯t worth it if it risked getting slammed with so many projectiles. Zoe merged the cylinder she¡¯d cut out into the hole and repaired the wall.

    What felt like an eternity flew by as Zoe kept firing off projectiles blindly into the horde beyond the wall while she braced for the horrible noise and flooded her wall with mana. After just thirty seconds into the fight the screeching never ceased. The Frozen Shards fell into a rhythm where Zoe never had a chance to rest.

    It was a careful balance of maintaining her own health with Restoration, keeping the wall¡¯s integrity stable with her Earth, and firing off Earth projectiles blindly on the other side of the wall to try and thin the horde. By the time the screeching died down, she¡¯d had to create several support pillars to keep the tunnel from caving in, and had dug herself out a small hole in the wall to avoid the odd icy projectile that managed to pierce through a weak section of her defenses.

    Zoe kept firing projectiles off into the cavern for a while after the screeching stopped, and then carved out another small hole to take a look on the other side. Her heart raced as she did and she imagined a Frozen Shard right on the other side that she¡¯d missed just waiting to slam a projectile into her face when she looked.

    But what she saw was destruction. The cavern was covered in rubble ¡ª lots from Zoe¡¯s projectiles that she¡¯d fired off, but lots of large chunks of rock that had fallen from the ceiling or walls because of the intense vibrations too. Everything was covered in a thick, spiky sheet of ice. She pulled more of her defensive wall down and looked around.

    There were no Frozen Shards that she could see, no dangers lurking around the corners. Just an immense amount of stone and ice that covered every surface Zoe could see.

    Zoe sighed and then got to work clearing out some of the rock and collecting the hundreds of icy splinters that were strewn about the floor.

 2-38. Thievery

    It was a tedious process of clearing away all the rubble, Zoe found. Some of it was her own rock, and she was able to dissolve it away to reclaim some of the mana without too much effort. But the bulk of it was detritus that had fallen from the cavern walls during the fight and ice that piled up from the intense cold that enveloped the cavern.

    Of course, Zoe would be able to grasp control of all of it and dissolve it away if she put in the time for it. But she looked around and shook her head. There was just so much, it would take her days if not weeks to work through it all.

    Instead, she broke the massive chunks of rock down into more manageable pieces and moved them off to one side of the cavern with the help of her bracelets. Hundreds, if not thousands of the small icy splinters covered the cavern floor, concentrated most towards the tunnel where Zoe had held her ground at, but there were plenty everywhere she checked.

    Zoe started from the outside and worked her way in to the center in a spiral as she filled her bracelet with rock and piled them up off to the side. She looked for any more tunnels that might lead deeper, any trinkets or treasures left on the ground but nothing stood out to her.

    The temperature kept plummeting as she made her way closer to the center of the room, and Zoe wondered what was causing it. She wanted to rush in and check it out right away, but stuck to her methodical approach of inspecting everything.

    She had found more splinters than she¡¯d ever know what to do with, and a part of her was excited to get back to her cave and work on building out her little home with all of her newfound knowledge and icy splinters. Zoe daydreamed of a magical forge that compressed all of the smoke, a room carved into the wall and filled with shelves of all the loot she¡¯d find on her journey.

    And before she knew it, she made it to the end of her spiral. A massive boulder was all that was between her and the end of her first adventure. The cold bit into her skin at this point, and Zoe was flooding herself with Restoration at a constant rate while she worked.

    Zoe stepped back from the boulder and looked at it. Beneath it would either be glory or disappointment. The end of a year long journey into the depths.

    She summoned her pickaxe and enchanted it with Mining, Spear-fighting and an explosive Frozen Arsenal enchantment then started smashing into it. Ice exploded from the rock with each impact and left deep grooves in the surface as the metal pick cut into it.

    The boulder shattered into smaller pieces, and Zoe moved them off to the side and tried to temper her excitement. There was no guarantee that something was causing the cold, no guarantee that there truly was some magical climax to her adventure. It might just be a floor.

    But her excitement grew despite her best efforts as she tossed the chunks aside and felt the cold continue to intensify. At the bottom was a jagged ball of opaque blue ice. Zoe identified it.

    [Frost]

    Zoe reached out and grabbed it. Her fingertips turned blue almost the instant they touched it, and the frost began to creep up her hand.

    She jerked her hand back, but the ball came with it like a tongue stuck on a frozen lightpost in the winter. No amount of waving her hand around seemed to make it come off and she felt her heart race as the frost reached her wrist. The feeling in her hand was gone, cut off where the growing frost touched.

    Panic rose within her. Zoe tried flooding the ball with mana to wrench it off with her Frost skill, but the sensation of her mana within it frightened her. It was a bottomless pit, happy to eat up however much mana she could throw at it. She¡¯d never saturate it before it consumed her.

    Zoe slammed her hand against the ground, hoping to shatter her hand but it bounced off the icy ground and wrenched on her forearm where the frost met flesh. She tried to store the Frost away in her bracelet and it vanished, taking a massive chunk of her mana with it.

    Health: 483/1000

    She fell on her back and breathed a sigh of relief. Dying to some stupid ball was not her idea of a good time. What was it, anyway, she wondered. Identify just said Frost, but what did that mean? Was it a physical version of her Frost skill, or was it something else?

    Zoe checked her bracelet storage and made sure the Frost was in its own bag so it didn¡¯t freeze everything else when her mana regenerated, and then looked at her right arm. It was frozen right up to the elbow. There wasn¡¯t any pain, but she couldn¡¯t feel anything.

    Would it thaw on its own? Restoration had filled her health back up, and the cold was nowhere near as intense as it was just a few minutes earlier so she wasn¡¯t having any troubles with keeping her health full either.

    But her arm was still frozen, despite her health being full. What did that mean for health, then? Was her new normal state to have a frozen arm? She tried to avoid thinking about it too much. She wasn¡¯t in pain, her health was fine, her arm would recover. She hoped.

    Zoe started walking back up the tunnel and followed along her map. There were a few cave-ins she had to dig through along the way, but she never got too far off track. By the time she made it to the top again, the frost had receded a few inches below her elbow. Even at the top without the intense cold, her health was draining bit by bit and she had to keep topping herself up with Restoration.

    She hoped that meant her arm was being healed and not that the Frost in her bracelet was leaking out. It shouldn¡¯t, she hoped. Her bracelet was four separate, isolated spaces. There was no way that cold would leak out through it.

    Zoe stopped at the pile of lumber she¡¯d chopped down last year ¡ª over the year of practice she¡¯d made a small covering to keep snow and water from piling up on it and the wood was noticeably more dry now. She grabbed a few of the smaller pieces and made a small shoddy campfire with her one good arm and then sat down next to it.

    Hours passed through the night as she kept piling on more bits of wood and watching the ice on her arm slowly crack and chip away as it worked back down her arm. The ice melted away by the time the morning sun rose, and even without Restoration filling her up, she wasn¡¯t taking any damage anymore.

    She breathed another sigh of relief, glad that it wasn¡¯t the Frost leaking out her storage item. That didn¡¯t make sense, but the whole time she sat next to the fire her mind raced with possibility and danger. Not that having it wasn¡¯t dangerous, but if it was isolated in its own space then it wouldn¡¯t be too bad.

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    Zoe stood up and stomped out the fire then started making her way back through the forest to her cave. Winter was just a few days away and the snow was beginning to pile up. At Zoe¡¯s command, the snow in her path floated off to the side and made a corridor almost as tall as Zoe for her to walk through.

    It might not be the safest option since it blocked her vision, but in snow this deep she didn¡¯t think much would be approaching her that she wouldn¡¯t be able to hear first.

    The forest was peaceful. Birds were singing their morning songs, and there were even a few deer and rabbits that hopped through the path that Zoe had been making around the hill. She took her time wandering and enjoyed the sights. It was a nice break from the hours of danger she¡¯d just been put through, and Zoe found herself smiling.

    Sometimes the best thing to do was to just relax and enjoy life for what it was. The splattering of snow that fell from the canopies above, the gusts of wind that blew puffs of snow in your face and the peaceful brightness of winter was just a pleasant time.

    Zoe froze when she got back to the other side of the hill. She noticed something she hadn¡¯t seen in over a year. Outside her cave were tracks. Human tracks, and they were recent too. Maybe an hour at most. They came from the forest, and wandered up and down the hill outside her cave before they went in. And haven¡¯t come out.

    She put all her attention on the sounds around her. The birds chirping, the wind rushing through the treetops, ice cracking and almost inaudible footsteps from deeper in her cave.

    ¡°You sure?¡± Zoe heard a deep, masculine voice echo from her cave.

    ¡°Yes I¡¯m sure.¡± A hushed feminine voice responded.

    ¡°Just seems weird. Why would all this crap be out here if nobody¡¯s using it?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me. Weird magic stuff, maybe it¡¯s the beginning of a dungeon and we¡¯re gonna be rich. Does it really matter? These weird ice crystals seem valuable too. I bet we could get a couple silver for em.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°But what if whoever lives here needs them?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Who¡¯s gonna live here Yorn? Flester is just a few hours away and you think somebody¡¯s going to choose to live out here in this stupid hill? That¡¯s stupid and you know it.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe they just don¡¯t like being around people.¡± Yorn said.

    ¡°And they¡¯d rather be around whatever the fuck¡¯s out here? Come on, be real. This is some ancient home somebody built and we¡¯re just bringing it back to civilization.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Lane, the bed¡¯s brand new. It hasn¡¯t been here for decades, it¡¯s been here for I dunno, years? There¡¯s still hair in it, too.¡± Yorn said.

    ¡°Fine, we¡¯re stealing. What¡¯s it matter anyway?¡± Lane asked.

    ¡°Just feels wrong, is all.¡± Yorn said.

    ¡°What¡¯s gonna feel wrong is if we don¡¯t eat tonight because you didn¡¯t want to steal some random crap from some idiot¡¯s hideout.¡± Lane said.

    Zoe heard a begrudging sigh from the man. ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll take the weird ice crystals, but leave the rest okay?¡±

    ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll be nice to the idiot we¡¯re stealing from. Happy?¡± Lane asked.

    ¡°Yup! Lets get back to Flester, I¡¯m hungry.¡± Yorn said.

    Zoe heard their footsteps approaching, and ducked down into the snow. She covered herself with snow from her Frost skill and left a small hole to see through.

    Two people left her cave, both in scrappy, torn leather armour with ripped cloth shirts and pants full of holes. They were both green marked, the man was a level thirty-six mage and the woman was a thirty-four warrior.

    They looked around when they left Zoe¡¯s cave, and then ran off into the forest. Zoe stayed under her snow for a while longer, and then got up and went in her cave. The front door she¡¯d made was destroyed, a gaping hole in the center of it that the two thieves must have smashed through.

    Inside her cave was a mess, bedsheets were floating in the pool of water, her box of belongings was toppled over. Her fishing rod had been snapped in half, pressed up against the cave wall.

    Zoe rubbed her head and sighed. If she wanted to live here long term, she¡¯d need better defenses. A simple rock wall that wasn¡¯t hidden at all wasn¡¯t going to cut it. Even if she only had her place broken into once ever year or two, that was far too often to be able to make a comfortable survival here.

    Was it even worth living in here anymore? What if those people decided to come back and see if whoever lived here set up more of the icy splinters? If she added a stronger door, wouldn¡¯t that just entice them to break in again and loot more of her belongings?

    She picked up her bedsheets from the pool of water and hung them up on a pillar of stone she extruded from the wall with her Earth skill to dry, and then sat down on her bed.

    This cave was hers. She liked it, she¡¯d grown attached to it. Moving felt like defeat, to her. Maybe it was the right decision, but she¡¯d already put in so much effort in this cave with her chimney, flattening all the ground while she practised with her skills, cleaning up the jagged walls. This was her cave, throwing it all away because of one bad experience just felt so pointless.

    If it was broken into again, she¡¯d move. But you didn¡¯t move just because you were broken into once, right?

    Zoe stood up and walked to the entrance. It was a big crack in the side of the hill and stood out quite a lot. If she could add her front door here instead, then it might keep people out a little better. And this time she¡¯d try and match the Earth she used so it didn¡¯t look like an intentional obstruction, too.

    She took a few hours to create a wall of earth that matched the hill and filled in the gaping crack that led to her cave. Most of the time she spent manipulating the existing hillside to make it a little more steep and cliffy so that her wall of rock wouldn¡¯t stand out as being unusual ¡ª connecting dirt and grass to her door didn¡¯t seem possible to her. By the time she was done, she felt pretty satisfied with her work.

    Even knowing where the entrance was, she couldn¡¯t tell there was anything unusual with the cliff. Zoe carved out a small, Zoe sized hole from the new cliff and enchanted the bit she carved out with the same enchantment she¡¯d used before. It squished off to the side when she pushed mana into it, and Zoe walked in to her cave.

    She took a few minutes to clean up the mess the thieves had made and help dry off her bedsheets with her Wind skill. Immaculate Enchantments did a great job of removing the dirt and grime from her belongings, but it didn¡¯t dry things off.

    Zoe sat down on her bed and laid down for a bit. Now that exploration was done, she wanted to take some time to get her cave built up just the way she wanted. And then it was on to the next big adventure. Maybe back to Moaning Point to see what was at the top she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

 2-39. Wardrobe

    Zoe¡¯s birthday came and went as the winter flew by. She spent most of her time carrying over the logs from the other side of the hill and piling them up outside her home on a stone platform she made with her Earth skill.

    The wood was plenty dry enough to build with she thought, after a year of not being used. And if it was a little too wet still then that was okay. She wasn¡¯t building a home for somebody else, it was for her. If the wood started splintering and falling apart, then she¡¯d notice and be able to fix it.

    She looked around the cave room that she¡¯d been calling her home, and tried to picture the finished build. The ceiling was tall enough for a second story, and she thought that it might be fun to try her hand at making a second floor. Building support structures to hold up all that weight seemed like a fun problem, though she didn¡¯t expect it to be all that difficult.

    As long as she had plenty of well secured, hefty wooden frames she expected it to be just fine. In the past she¡¯d seen buildings erected all the time. The tall skyscrapers were full of metal and designed by people far smarter than her she was sure.

    But a simple house? Four strong exterior walls, a bunch of supporting structures in the center and it seemed like a pretty simple process, as long as she kept all the heavy stuff on the ground floor.

    The exterior walls would just be the walls of her cave, she could extend them for extra support with her Earth skill, or maybe embed her wooden frames into the stone floor and walls.

    Zoe needed a workshop first, though. She created a small covering next to the pile of wood with her Earth skill and summoned her carpentry tools. All she had were some simple tools. A saw, a hefty axe for chopping trees a set of chisels, and a hammer.

    It would be enough though. Zoe created a stone table under her covering and hefted one of the smaller logs up onto it. The lumber reminded her of pine, but rather than a subtle yellow hue the wood was just the faintest bit of red. Maybe from all the hematite in the area, she wondered.

    For a while she just stood and stared at the log on her long stone table. The first cut was always scary, the first step in any big project was always hard for her to overcome. Where should she even begin? She could start by the entrance, build a nice corridor for her to walk through before she gets to the cave proper.

    Or she could expand the entrance and make something of a foyer. Maybe she could have a closet to hang up her jackets ¡ª or for now just singular jacket, in, a place to leave her shoes. She nodded her head, the foyer was a good idea.

    The weeks flew by as Zoe planned and expanded her home and filled it with the lumber. It was a much quicker process than she expected it to be, really. If she knew how simple the process would have ended up being she¡¯d have started on it much sooner. Maybe if she had more built, the thieves wouldn¡¯t have ransacked her home thinking it was abandoned, either.

    Zoe shook her head. They didn¡¯t really care that it wasn¡¯t abandoned. They just wanted money. Making her home look like it was lived in wouldn¡¯t make it a less tempting target. She needed it to look like it was lived in by somebody that thieves wouldn¡¯t want to annoy. And she didn¡¯t know how to do that anyway.

    Her foyer was finished, along with the hallway that connected to her cave proper. And she even had quite a bit of progress done on the ground floor of her cave. The walls were the simplest part, all she had to do was manipulate the cold stone to where she wanted it with her Earth skill and then layer in the wooden planks she cut out.

    Connecting the planks to each other wasn¡¯t even necessary most of the time since she was able to hook them onto the rock wall behind and secure everything in place with incredible precision thanks to her Earth skill. The exterior walls of her home were just a cosmetic fa?ade, so it didn¡¯t matter if they weren¡¯t providing support.

    The flooring would be just as easy Zoe thought, but she hadn¡¯t gotten started on it at all yet. The wood would get scuffed and damaged from her shoes and whatever she was dragging through and it didn¡¯t make much sense to her to add it in until later. She measured the planks, cut them to size and made sure everything fit. But then she left them in a small pile off to the side to be put in another day.

    At the entrance of her home was a small foyer, large enough for a few people to stand in without any discomfort. The door entered to the right of the room, with a small closet off to the other side. The stone floor rose up a few inches as it entered into the hallway, and Zoe planned to leave the foyer floor as stone to be easier to clean.

    The hallway continued on across from the entrance and twisted around to meet her cave. The wooden walls were unadorned, but Zoe thought it might be nice to one day hang some pictures of places she¡¯d been. Maybe she¡¯d learn to paint in her endless years and leave something of a story as you walked down the hallway.

    Zoe chuckled as she thought about having to continue extending the hallway as the millions of years passed and she kept doing new things. She pushed the fear of what millions of years actually meant to the side, and looked into her cave proper.

    There was a basic framework of a house in the open cavern. Large planks of wood stood on end, embedded into the stone ground with the help of her Earth. For the ground floor, she¡¯d decided on four rooms. To her immediate right when she entered would be her bedroom. To the left, near the chimney she¡¯d made would be her kitchen.

    Continuing down the hallway, just past the kitchen would be where she put her forge ¡ª they could both share the same chimney, though Zoe had some ideas of how to make the chimney obsolete at this point too. And opposite the forge next to her bedroom was the pool of water, where she¡¯d put her own library along with a ladder up to the second floor.

    The second floor she intended to leave as two rooms. The first, when you climbed up the ladder would be her enchanting workshop. A nice table and a comfortable couch to lounge on while she experimented, and easy access to her library if she needed a specific book for something. If one day she got into some more dangerous enchantments, then she planned to expand the library out into the adjacent cave and add in some strong protection enchantments. Maybe she could talk to Ren and get some tips from him one day.

    On the opposite end of the second floor would be her storage, locked away behind a stone wall that she¡¯d create. Whatever junk she ended up not needing to carry around with her all the time she¡¯d toss behind the wall, and hopefully if she ever had her home broken into again they wouldn¡¯t notice her storage room.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    Zoe started with her bedroom, the most important room in her opinion. A place to relax and feel safe. The exterior walls were already attached to the cavern on the ground floor, and the frames were standing in place, all she had left to do was the interior walls and the ceiling.

    She chopped up some more lumber and built up the walls of her room. Planks were spaced every few feet already for support so all she had to do was cut long enough lengths to reach across the room and slot them into the support beams and holes she dug into the walls, then attach the ceiling boards to those ceiling frames.

    There was without a doubt far more support beams than she¡¯d need to hold up the second story of her home, but she thought it was better to be safe than sorry. When she had the basic framework done, she intended to form stone through all the space to help hold things together a little bit more too.

    In a few days, she had a room that she was satisfied with. The door was a simple stone wall that shrunk into the ground when she pushed mana into it, since she wasn¡¯t sure how to make a hinge with what she had. But she liked the theme of magical doors anyway. It made the place feel unique and different to her.

    Inside her room she put her bed, of course. But she added some shelves to the walls and dug into the wall a little to make a closet for her clothes. Not that she had much anyway, but now that she had a place of her own she thought it might be nice to have a nice wardrobe to play with.

    She let the door close behind her and laid down on her bed. For the first time in a long time, she had a nice cozy bedroom to fall asleep in. She¡¯d gotten used to the wide open cavern, but having closer walls and a door made a world of difference to her comfort.

    It was weird, she thought. Sleeping outside wasn¡¯t uncomfortable and that was about as open as it could get. But sleeping inside a wide open cavern made her feel so vulnerable. What was the difference, she wondered. The cave walls would do a lot more to keep unwelcome visitors away than open air. Yet seeing walls that were so far away made it so much less pleasant somehow.

    Zoe stood up and walked out of her cave. The sun was high in the sky, the trees waving in the gusts of wind. The snow was beginning to melt as spring came in, and Zoe thought it was a good time to go visit her friends. There were some supplies she wanted to buy and a closet she needed to fill with clothes anyway.

    Her first stop was Emma¡¯s tower. She felt anxiety rise in her as she knocked on the door. Would Emma open the door? Would somebody else? It had been so long since they last spoke. Would Emma be the same?

    Zoe waited for a few minutes and knocked a couple more times, but nobody was answering. She pushed the fear welling up in her aside. Emma had a job, and it was the middle of the day. There was no reason for her to be home. She was just at work, that made the most sense.

    She took a breath and made her way down the road to Joe¡¯s inn. She smiled as she saw nothing changed on the outside, and opened the door. She heard some clattering of pans coming from the kitchen and poked her head in.

    Joe was slaving over the stovetops, dumping ingredients into a large pot of stew while slabs of meat sizzled away in some pans.

    ¡°Hey Joe,¡± Zoe said.

    Joe looked over at her. His face was littered with wrinkles and sweat dripped from his brow. ¡°Oh hey Zoe, how are you doing?"

    ¡°I¡¯m good. Came to town to buy some stuff. I¡¯ve kinda made myself a bit of a home out in the hill I visited a few years ago?¡± Zoe said

    Joe laughed. ¡°You¡¯ve just been a few hours out of town this whole time, huh?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It was fun though, there was lots to do actually. But I think I¡¯ve done it all so I¡¯m just building my house and then I¡¯m off to the next place, probably. How are you doing though? Business going well?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, things are well here. Barlahai is coming up soon and I¡¯ve still got lots of work to prepare for that. Glad you¡¯ve had fun, Zoe.¡± Joe smiled.

    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m glad business is going well. I uh. I think if you¡¯re up for it I could help you name your inn too. I think I¡¯m good enough now. You thought of a name yet?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe chuckled. ¡°No, I¡¯ve never given it much thought. It¡¯s just a place for people to eat and rest at.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s important you know? You do a lot of good for people.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°I do my part, like everybody else. Without the hunters there¡¯d be no food to give people, without the guard there wouldn¡¯t be a safe place to rest. I¡¯m just one small piece.¡±

    ¡°How about The One Small Tavern then?" Zoe asked.

    Joe chuckled. ¡°That¡¯s not terrible. Maybe I¡¯ll give it a bit of thought if you¡¯re serious about naming it then.¡±

    ¡°Sure, only if you wanna. I don¡¯t wanna push you into it if you don¡¯t want it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s not that I want it to not have a name, I just never cared much for the cost of naming it.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s fair. Alright well I just wanted to stop in and say hi. I¡¯m gonna go clothes shopping. Made myself a closet and I don¡¯t even have much clothes!¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Well see you around then, Zoe. Nice to see you again.¡± Joe nodded.

    Zoe left and wandered down the street towards Flit¡¯s Cloths, but the store was gone. In its place was another clothing store named The Needle, and Zoe walked in.

    The interior looked nothing the same. Flit¡¯s Cloths had bolts of cloth hanging from racks and only a little pre-made clothes hanging from the walls. But The Needle seemed to have much more of a focus on clothes, rather than on cloth itself.

    Racks of clothes covered the store floor, with big puffy jackets hanging from the walls. A counter was set up on the other side with a few people standing behind it chatting. Zoe walked up to them.

    ¡°Hi, do you sell custom fitted clothes here?¡± Zoe asked one of the women behind the counter.

    ¡°We do. What are you looking for?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d like a bulk order, I guess. I don¡¯t have much and I want to fill out my wardrobe. Is that alright?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure is. We¡¯re a bit busy today though for a bulk order, so could you come back tomorrow morning?¡± The woman asked.

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°Yeah that¡¯s fine. Thanks.¡±

    There was no point to heading back home just for the night, so Zoe made her way to Kaira library. She wanted to see if there was any information on the icy splinters, or the jagged ball of Frost that she found.

 2-40. Bowling

    Kaira library was a breath of fresh air, as it always tended to be. She walked onto the floating platform and wandered through the roots of the trees as it took her to her destination. A floating bookshelf filled with information on monster bits.

    Lots of monster bits were useful, according to the books Zoe was finding. In particular, those made by dungeons tended to be useful but lots of normal animals that wandered the world were plenty useful. Bears with super sharp claws, elk with hide tougher than most metals without losing the flexibility of leather.

    Zoe thought back to Moaning Point and the black bones that were absorbed back into the ground. Was the reason nobody harvested them really because they just weren¡¯t useful materials? Or, maybe more logically, were the people capable of harvesting them just further up the mountain? She was excited to give it another try when she got back to the dungeon.

    No longer was she the weak brand new third class with no idea of what she was doing or capable of. She had an arsenal ¡ª and not just her Frozen Arsenal, of skills and ideas to throw at the dungeon now. Maybe the mana that dragged the bones back into the ground could be interrupted or dismantled with her new understanding of how mana worked and flowed, her experience of piecing apart the structures that made up her magic.

    She pushed the thought aside. There would be plenty of time to experiment with different ideas when she was actually back at the dungeon. For now, she had an entire night to waste away in her favourite library.

    Building something like Kaira library was an incredible idea to her. The floating platform expanded through the room through some mechanism Zoe couldn¡¯t even see, the floating bookshelves hovered in place with not even the slightest disturbance in the mana. It was an incredible sight before when she had almost no understanding of enchanting.

    But now it was awe inspiring. She hoped that one day she could make something similar, her own magical library filled with all the knowledge she could ever want. Maybe she¡¯d try something different with her own library, inspired by John¡¯s bookstore. It might be fun to have a comfortable room to sit in and command the books to float to you, rather than the other way around.

    Zoe kept reading through some of the books and was fascinated by all the different materials people had found and documented. Scales from rare lizards that empowered or dismantled magic, furs and hairs strong enough to act as weapons, or sturdy ropes on their own power.

    After a few hours, she turned her attention to the jagged ball of Frost that she had, and walked along the walkway as it led her deep into the roots over to another tree, and then all the way back up to a bookshelf at the very top.

    The books didn¡¯t seem very useful to her at first glance. It seemed to be a gathering of elemental skills. Frost, Earth, Cinders and the like. The books talked about the different uses for them ¡ª with a large focus on creation for building purposes. Earth helped erect towers, Cinders created ash and warmth to stave off the bite of colder environments.

    They talked about elementals, and their different capabilities. Though Zoe wasn¡¯t all that interested after she read through the first one. Frost elementals were cold and froze everything around them. Zoe feigned surprise as she read through the details.

    Zoe didn¡¯t end up finding anything on the Frost that she found, but she did find another book that mentioned something similar. The Earth book mentioned a jagged star of Earth that the author had found that weighed far more than anything they¡¯d ever seen before. Anything they touched it with turned to stone almost immediately, but even large slabs of rock that they tried to wedge underneath it wouldn¡¯t make the star budge the slightest bit.

    In the end, they left the star in its place and felt a little disappointed they weren¡¯t able to experiment with it more. But it just wasn¡¯t possible to move, and the author didn¡¯t want to take the risk of touching it themselves.

    Zoe felt a tinge of shame as she read through it. Touching the ball with something that wasn¡¯t her hand first would have been a good idea. But on the other hand, if she had done that she wasn¡¯t sure that she would have tried to grab it herself after. Maybe it would still be left at the bottom of the cavern instead of tucked away in her storage bracelet.

    Maybe somebody somewhere has found more of them, and discovered what they¡¯re capable of. But if they have, it wasn¡¯t documented in Kaira library. John might have something though, Zoe thought and startedd towards his store. His books always seemed so much more outlandish than the ones she found at Kaira.

    The library might be plentiful, but John¡¯s were noticeably more otherworldly. Maybe the library would have more interesting books if she paid them or got a membership or something? It was worth asking next time she visited anyway. They might have some secrets hidden in the depths that the platform never took her to, or maybe she had walked right past bookshelves with information far beyond what she was permitted to view.

    Or maybe the library was filled with duplicate books and looked far more impressive than it was. Or, perhaps most likely, Zoe just plain sucked at directing the platform to the best bookshelf for what she wanted.

    John¡¯s bookstore was closed when she arrived, the eerie blackness covered the windows again and Zoe pressed into it with her mana. It felt like a dense wall of emptiness. Her mana didn¡¯t disappear, it just didn¡¯t seem to move, though pulling it back took just as long before it came back through.

    Was it just extra space? Was the inside of John¡¯s building just so physically far away that Zoe wasn¡¯t able to see inside it? How would that even happen?

    Zoe shrugged and left. The sun was just beginning to rise and she made her way down to The Needle. The store was closed when she got there, so she sat down on a nearby bench and waited for a couple hours before some employees showed up.

    She gave them another twenty minutes to get setup and then walked inside. The same woman was standing behind the counter, and Zoe walked up to talk to her.

    ¡°Hey, I spoke to you yesterday about a bulk order of clothes?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh yes, hello. I can help you with that. I believe you said you wanted to fill out your wardrobe?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I do. I don¡¯t have an awful lot right now so I¡¯d like to just have a lot of variety I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sure thing. How much are you actually wanting, and what kinds of clothes do you like?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Well a full wardrobe, I guess. Whatever¡¯s reasonable for that. Two bags of clothes, I guess? And I like all kinds of different clothes. Dresses, suits, skirts, t shirts. Some jackets and camisoles? Just everything, really. A good mix of outfits for all seasons. I¡¯m not super picky about my clothes as long as they don¡¯t look too outlandish.¡± Zoe answered.

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    ¡°What would you consider too outlandish?" The woman asked.

    ¡°I dunno really. Like a coloured t shirt is fine but I¡¯d rather it not be covered in metal spikes, y¡¯know?¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Okay, so two bags of clothes. Do you need any enchantments or special effects?" The woman asked.

    ¡°No, not really. I just want normal clothes.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Okay, when will you be needing this order done by?" The woman asked.

    ¡°The sooner the better really. When¡¯s the earliest I could have it by without making you work overtime?¡± Zoe asked.

    The woman paused in thought for a moment. ¡°Hmm, tomorrow evening. Tonight if you wanted to pay extra.¡±

    ¡°How much extra?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°One gold, on top of the one gold for the clothes themselves.¡± The woman answered.

    Zoe summoned two gold coins. ¡°Tonight¡¯s fine with me then.¡±

    The woman grabbed the two gold coins and gestured to a door behind her. ¡°Come with me and I¡¯ll get your measurements then.¡±

    Zoe followed her into the room behind. It was more of an office space than a changing room that she expected. A desk was set up at one side, and on the other was a small raised platform surrounded by mirrors. The woman walked up to the platform and pointed at it.

    ¡°You can stand here, and I¡¯ll take your measurements. You don¡¯t have to take off your clothes, but I¡¯ll be able to take more accurate measurements if you do. Just leave your undergarments on, please.¡± The woman said.

    Zoe walked up on the platform and stripped down to her underwear. There was a certain confidence that came from having the Immaculate Enchantments skill. She never had to worry about her underwear being dirty from blood or wear, didn¡¯t need to worry about when she last bathed. She could just pulse Immaculate Enchantments over herself and know that she was as presentable as she could be, and it made her a lot more comfortable than she expected to be.

    The woman summoned a black flexible tape measure and started stretching and twisting it around Zoe¡¯s body as she wrote numbers down in a notepad. After a few minutes, she stepped back and told Zoe that she could put her clothes back on and come back later in the evening to pick up her order.

    Zoe left and made her way over to Emma¡¯s place. It was still quite early in the morning, so Zoe was hoping that Emma would be home.

    When she approached Emma¡¯s tower, she heard some faint chatter from the yard outside. Emma and her mom were walking through the garden. Zoe walked up to them and said hello.

    ¡°Oh hey Zoe!¡± Emma smiled and hugged her.

    ¡°Hi! I stopped by yesterday but you weren¡¯t home. Glad I caught you today.¡± Zoe hugged her back.

    ¡°Yeah I was at work all day yesterday. We caught a lot of game and it took us a while to get it all dealt with.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s good at least.¡± Zoe smiled.

    ¡°Mhm! Busy days are good days.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Hello Zoe, it¡¯s nice to see you again. I¡¯m glad you seem to be doing well.¡± Emma¡¯s mom said.

    Zoe smiled at her. ¡°Nice to see you too. What are you two up to today?¡±

    ¡°Well Emma was just doing her morning gardening and then I think she wanted to go bowling?¡± Emma¡¯s mom asked her.

    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯ve never done it but everybody¡¯s been talking about it so I wanna try it. You should come Zoe, if you have time?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Bowling? Like with the heavy balls and the pins that you knock down?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah! Have you done it before?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I did a lot when I was younger. I didn¡¯t know they had it here. It¡¯s really fun.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty new, I think it opened four months ago? Five maybe?" Emma looked at her mom.

    ¡°Yeah that sounds right. I hadn¡¯t heard of it before then.¡± Emma¡¯s mom said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I never introduced myself. I¡¯m Nora.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right. I guess you didn¡¯t huh? I always just thought of you as Emma¡¯s mom.¡± Zoe said.

    Nora laughed. ¡°Well that¡¯s fine if that¡¯s what you¡¯re comfortable with. Would you like to come bowling?"

    ¡°Yeah! I love bowling, it¡¯ll be fun.¡± Zoe said.

    The three finished up with Emma¡¯s gardening, and then led Zoe towards the bowling alley. It was a large building called Smashing Balls on Mystic lane, not far from the Auspicious Trinkets shop Zoe had asked for directions from years ago. She was surprised to see the golden store still open, but supposed that the richer buildings likely didn¡¯t have much trouble with keeping their shop running anyway.

    Inside it looked somewhat reminiscent of a bowling alley. Seven lanes with white cylindrical posts standing on the other side ¡ª the pins Zoe supposed, a counter with some snacks and shoes on display. And on the opposite side from where they entered was a small restaurant with a few tables set up.

    It was one silver per hour, per lane and the shoes were free to use. Zoe paid for their lane for two hours after a bit of friendly argument, and they went and sat down on the couch by their lane to put on their bowling shoes.

    The bowling ball dispenser was interesting to Zoe. It was a floating pedestal with a couple of dials on it and a button. The instructions given were to tune the dials to change the weight and size of the ball, and then push the button to summon a ball to the pedestal.

    After their shoes were on, Emma ran up to the pedestal and played with the dials and then pressed the button. A colourful, shiny ball appeared on the floating pedestal and Emma picked it up then hurled it down the lane towards the pins.

    It bounced around on the floor and ended up in the gutters on the side, then evaporated once it hit the wall at the end of the lane. Emma cursed, and then sat back down on the couch with a frown.

    The game worked a bit different to how Zoe remembered. Each time you threw the ball down the lane, any of the pins that were knocked over vanished in a puff of smoke and new ones were extruded from some mechanism in the floor.

    There were no bonuses for strikes, and getting a split was impossible since the pins were reset with each throw. Points were tallied manually and were just the total of the number of pins you hit, and there was no time limit other than how long you rented the lane for. But despite it not quite being the bowling she remembered, Zoe had a blast knocking down pins with the magical balls.

    Zoe won by almost a full hundred points when their time was up, and Emma whined about how unfair it was that Zoe had played it before. Nora paid for a meal at the restaurant ¡ª greasy burgers and cheesy fried potatoes, and then Zoe said her goodbyes and left. The day was dragging on and Zoe hoped The Needle would have her clothes ready soon.

 2-41. Pretty New Dress

    Zoe took a meandering path through the city to The Needle to pick up her clothes and arrived just before sundown. The woman she¡¯d talked to earlier wasn¡¯t around from what she could see, so Zoe walked up to the counter and spoke to the younger man behind it.

    ¡°Hello, I placed an order for clothes earlier?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh hi. Yes, Julie is just finishing up now. She should be done in about ten minutes if you¡¯d like to take a look around while you wait?¡± The man gestured to the store.

    Zoe nodded and wandered around for a bit until Julie came out of the back room and waved.

    ¡°Hi, I¡¯ve got your order ready. Do you have a storage item or would you like me to place them in bags?¡± Julie asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got enough storage for it, that¡¯s fine.¡± Zoe held out her hand.

    Julie took her hand and traded over two full bags of clothes. Zoe directed the clothes away from the bag with the ball of Frost in it.

    ¡°Thank you for shopping at The Needle.¡± Julie smiled.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Zoe smiled back and left.

    Zoe walked down the street towards Joe¡¯s inn and said her goodbyes for a while and then left Flester back to her cave. She was excited to sit down and go through all the clothes that she¡¯d purchased, and she found herself accelerating as she approached her hill.

    When she arrived back at her home she half expected to see it broken in again, but there were no new tracks outside her cave and inside was just as she left it. Zoe walked up to her bed and summoned all of the clothes she¡¯d bought onto it, then jumped back as it filled her bed and poured off the edges onto the stone floor.

    Two full bags was a lot more than she expected it to be. The pile of fabric was colourful and Zoe could see a large variety of different types of fabric poking out of the tangled pile of clothes. Some thick fabrics mixed in with feather thin almost transparent fabrics.

    Zoe took a few hours to sort through it all and put everything away into her closet. Some of the clothes she hung, but most were folded and placed on the shelves that lined the walls. She¡¯d make a dresser to organize her clothes later.

    One thing she was happy for was that under garments were included. Zoe hadn¡¯t even thought of it, but Julie included a few sets. Some from thicker, warmer fabric. And others with lace and straps. Zoe was pleased with the selection, but she wasn¡¯t quite one for romance and the lace was somewhat uncomfortable on her skin. She liked how it looked, but if nobody was going to see them anyway she¡¯d prefer the more comfortable pairs.

    There were quite a number of dresses in her pile of clothes. Some were simple coloured sundresses, others were full of detailing and patterns. Her favourite was a knee length, sleeved green sundress with a floral pattern, but a close second was a black gown with specks of white that shone in the dark.

    Julie had made three suits for Zoe, one black, one brown and one that looked tie died. Zoe was quite a fan of the tie died suit, something about the professional form but the playful colourway made her giggle.

    Four jackets were included. One that looked like a heavy, puffy winter jacket. Two lighter jackets that seemed perfect for a cool spring day. One was brown and the other was blue. And the last jacket almost looked like a black raincoat.

    The rest of the clothes were all pretty bland, but helped fill out her wardrobe nicely. A couple nice cardigans, dozens of light t-shirts in different colours and patterns, skirts of varying lengths and a handful of pants with different fits.

    Zoe smiled. For so many years her selection of clothes was so restricted. She never cared much for clothes and it didn¡¯t bother her too much to wear the same pants and shirt day in day out. Especially since she got her own cleaning skill and Restoration to fix up any tears that occurred from her day to day wear.

    But it was nice to have a bit more of a selection. Though, she expected that she¡¯d end up wearing the same thing for a while anyway. Zoe put on the green dress and sat on her bed.

    Working in something so light and fragile like a thin sundress was a fun experience. Back on Earth she had some overalls, boots and gloves that she¡¯d used when she needed to do some gardening. Wearing a cute shirt and then having it rip on something or get stained from the grass and dirt would have been upsetting.

    But magic solved that problem for her, and Zoe got to work finishing off the rest of her cave in her pretty new dress. One day, she wanted to make a garden as well. Maybe with her enchantments, she could even make one underground.

    If she had some artificial light and air then the plants would survive underground just fine, or they could just go outside somewhere. She had plenty of space around the hill to grow some crops. Zoe just wasn¡¯t sure how long she¡¯d be sticking around for. Once her home was done, she didn¡¯t have much left motivating her to stick around.

    It was weird, in a way. To spend so long building her home only to abandon it once it was done. But that¡¯s the freedom that Zoe wanted. To be able to do what she wanted and not worry about the consequences too much. The home was hers, but it was transient. She would enjoy having a place to come back to, but might enjoy making another place to come back to even more.

    Months flew by as Zoe finished off the rest of her cave. The framework was there. Walls and ceilings, even some shelves and simple furniture that Zoe was able to make from wood. A few wooden chairs and a table for her library.

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    But what was left were the complicated parts, and the floor. Her kitchen had the simple firepit that she¡¯d been using ever since she moved in, but Zoe wanted something a bit better. And with her new skills, she thought she might be able to find a solution.

    Zoe¡¯s Wind skill created wind, but a question that Zoe had was what exactly qualified as Wind? Was she creating velocity, or air? After a bit of testing with her sleeping bag filling up despite being almost sealed off, she determined that it was creating air. The Wind was just flavour, but the true skill was simple Air. She could create it and move it. Her theory was supported by the skill being able to create stationary ¡®wind¡¯. That wasn¡¯t truly wind.

    And if her guess with how she created different rocks with Earth was right then what she would create with it would be the same breathable air that was always around her ¡ª since that¡¯s what she manipulated most with the skill originally.

    Which meant that Zoe didn¡¯t need an intake of air if she could create self sustaining enchantments that created air inside her cave. She would need to deal with the carbon dioxide waste that would fill up the place. But Zoe thought that if she tried, she might be able to make an enchantment that destroyed gasses too.

    Her Wind skill was capable of it, but it was a little mana intensive. She was worried that her enchantments might not be able to sustain themselves, but it was worth a try anyway. It raised another problem though. With an intake of fresh air from outside, the stagnant air inside would get forced out through cracks.

    But if Zoe had a sealed cave, then there would be nowhere for the carbon dioxide that she breaths out to go. Her kitchen would have an exhaust, as would her forge. But when she slept in her bed and the carbon dioxide fell to the floor, that would have nowhere to go. It would just keep piling up. She¡¯d need a solution for that.

    Over the months, Zoe had stopped back in Flester a few times to check on her friends and pick up some supplies ¡ª wood stain was the main one that she needed. Zoe got a nice bright stain for her walls and a darker stain for the wooden floors and ceilings, both enchanted to keep the wood at a stable moisture level. They were a little pricy ¡ª three gold in total for enough, but worth it if it helped her home¡¯s longevity. She¡¯d already applied them to the frames, but the rest she¡¯d do later.

    She had an idea for dealing with the poisonous gas that would pile up at the bottom of her cave by the end. All that she really needed to worry about were her own exhales, since everything else that produced waste would be dealt with on site.

    Her plan was to carve out small trenches in the stone floor and embed icy splinters into it with a weak Wind enchantment to blow air towards her cave¡¯s chimney or if she managed to make one, gas destruction system.

    The enchantments wouldn¡¯t be strong enough to overwhelm the fresh air creation enchantments. But it would provide a gentle nudge to any gasses that settled in at the bottom, which would be enough to deal with her own exhales.

    Zoe took a few hours to carve out the trenches, and then sat down on the floor. With enough time, Zoe was able to flood an icy splinter with mana and manipulate it with her Frost skill. She looked around at the maze of tiny trenches in her floor and sighed.

    A single splinter wasn¡¯t going to do much, and she intended to line the entire floor with them. She¡¯d need to work through at least a hundred of the splinters. And that wasn¡¯t even counting how many she intended to embed into the frames of her home for making fresh air, either.

    The splinters were nice, but the time investment was a serious problem. Zoe began to understand why Ren was purchasing so much mana, now. At least, she hoped, the experience would bring her a little closer to making her own icy splinters.

    Another few weeks flashed by as Zoe struggled to fight against each splinter and force it where she wanted. The trenches ran along the floor lengthwise, and were about two inches wide ¡ª three if you included one of the walls. Each splinter was big enough to cover up about a quarter length of a trench and there were a hundred trenches.

    Zoe quickly realized that at least a hundred of the splinters was a vast underestimation of how many she¡¯d need. With Meditation and a constant effort, she was able to work through a few dozen in a day. Each splinter took about thirty minutes just to fill with her mana and then grasp control of with her Frost, and then another ten to force into place and flash her enchantment onto.

    She was using a Wind, Meditation and Enchanting combination to provide a gentle breeze, and at the end connected all the trenches together beneath the cave wall and up to her chimney. Zoe replaced the stolen splinter in her chimney and it all worked together to pull out any gas that settled in at the bottom of her cave.

    Next, Zoe took a few days to take down all of the wood she¡¯d painstakingly put up and then stained it. She could have stained it before she put it all up, but figured it would be better to only need to do it once than have to redo portions every time she decided to change something or realized she cut it to the wrong size.

    While all of the wood was off the frames and drying, Zoe took another few days to weave stone supports through all of the frames with her Earth skill. She left slits open where the wood would connect to each other, and connected all the gray stone together to the ceiling and floor.

    After the stone was woven through the structure, she slotted a few icy splinters into the stone supports and enchanted them all with Wind, Meditation and Enchanting to create fresh air with as little movement as she could manage. She was somewhat worried about the pressure building up to uncomfortable levels, but her testing with her Wind skill didn¡¯t seem to be able to compress air all that much so she hoped the enchantment would be similar.

    While everything was torn out, Zoe sat down on her bed and fiddled with hematite that she kept summoning. She¡¯d enchant it with Wind and try to urge it towards destroying the air around it and then felt what was happening with her Wind skill, but no matter how many times she tried, it just didn¡¯t work like she wanted. Destruction just didn¡¯t seem possible for her enchantments, and she gave up on the idea.

    Instead, Zoe just accepted she¡¯d need a chimney and made some changes to the one she already had. The larger hole that connected to her cave, Zoe sealed off and replaced with an icy splinter that created fresh air and pushed it up the chimney.

    Zoe put all of her now stained wood back in place and got to work on the finishing touches for her kitchen. She had a few large wooden counters made from the slight red hued pine wood for preparing foods, some shelves and cupboards for storing food and whatever tools she might need. But the main focal point was the large stone oven on the wall opposite the entrance.

    Almost the entire length of the wall was carved out at waist height. At the bottom was a slot for burning wood, with fresh air being created from the icy splinters embedded into the front of that made a bright blue border to the bottom of the oven.

    Just above was a stone platform with dozens of holes of varying sizes for the fire to reach up through. Zoe could rest her pots and pans on the stone platform and build up the fire below to heat it. She added a chimney to the back of the oven with some icy splinters to help direct the smoke and ash up the chimney and out of her home.

    In time, the ash would build up in her chimney and she¡¯d need to clear it out, but she still held on hope that before that happened she¡¯d be able to find another solution.

    Zoe went back to her room and laid down on her bed. The last bit that she wanted in her home was something of a forge to break down all the hematite she had and work it into something usable. She wasn¡¯t sure if she¡¯d be able to make it work if she were being honest. But giving it a try sounded like fun anyway.

 2-42. Clinic

    A forge was a complicated creation, Zoe knew. She had some experience working with them in Flester before and had seen a few made in videos in her past life. At their core, a forge was two things. A bloomery ¡ª essentially an oven hot enough to melt iron. And somewhere to hammer the iron into form.

    Simple in theory, but in execution not so much. If Zoe intended to melt hematite down into iron blooms, then hematite wouldn¡¯t be a great material to use. Clay ¡ª or ceramic, she supposed, was a great material for it. But making clay structures was something that Zoe had never done before aside from a few classes in school.

    Zoe decided that she¡¯d build her first attempt outside, away from her cave just in case something went wrong. And she expected things to go wrong. She¡¯d used bloomeries before, but never had she made one herself. She understood for the most part how they were made ¡ª clay formed into shape, dried out and then fired to harden.

    But it was something she¡¯d never done before. And that wasn¡¯t even counting where she planned to get the charcoal. She could go buy some from Flester, but she had a massive pile of logs to burn through too and had just as good an understanding of the charcoal making process as she did the bloomery making process.

    She decided to start with making charcoal. If she couldn¡¯t at least do that, then there¡¯d be no point to building her own forge. Zoe dug a pit into the ground a few dozen feet away from her cave, and then lined it with stone to keep the fire from spreading through roots that she might have missed in her pit.

    Then, Zoe chopped up some of the logs she was storing near her home into large chunks and filled her pit with them and started the fire up with her firestarter gem.

    Zoe watched the wood burn for a few hours and waited for it to turn black. In the presence of oxygen, wood completely combusts, turning to ash. The trick, Zoe thought, would be to let the fire burn away the majority of oils and water left in the wood and then cover it. When the wood began to turn black, Zoe covered it with more stone and sealed the fire off.

    She made her way over to the river and started to dig up some of the clay with her Earth and stored it away in her bracelet. With the combination of her Earth skill and storage bracelet it was simple to gather pure clay, and Zoe hoped that pure clay was better than whatever the impurities did to it.

    Would mixing in some ash from the charcoal process help make it stronger? Zoe had no idea but decided against it. Clay had a high melting point and firing it made it strong. Ash didn¡¯t, as far as she knew. Mixing ash in would be an unfounded experiment.

    She remembered reading about bone china in the past, where bones were mixed into the clay. But she wasn¡¯t sure if it made them better. It might have made them look better but not be as strong? The whole process was confusing to her.

    Zoe sat down on the ground not far from the river and began summoning clay that she molded into rings and piled on top of each other. Near the bottom Zoe made a platform for the hematite and charcoal to sit on and added a small spout for her to provide air through.

    The next week flew by as Zoe waited for her charcoal pit to cool down and the makeshift bloomery she made to dry off. She spent the time relaxing in her cave and adding carved decorations into all the stone doors, each one related to the room. On her bedroom door was a rudimentary image of a bed with somebody sleeping in it, with ¡®Z¡¯s floating up off of them. On the kitchen was a pot with a roaring fire below it.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what to do with the library, since it was also where her water was and where her enchanting room would be when she got to the second floor proper. But she decided on a waterfall with a book in front of it. The image didn¡¯t turn out too well and Zoe wasn¡¯t sure if anybody else would even recognize it for what it was, but she could try again another day.

    At the end of the week, Zoe pulled up the stone and found a large pile of blackened charcoal, much to her surprise. She understood the theory but was surprised to find it to be such a simple process to do. Some of the bits were still solid in the middle when she tried to snap them in half, but many were brittle charcoal that crumbled with the slightest pressure.

    The harder bits she could use for cooking, maybe. And the brittle charcoal would be great for her bloomery, she hoped.

    Zoe walked over to the river and checked on her bloomery, it was still standing just where she¡¯d left it and was dry to the touch. It had been dry to the touch for almost the entire week, but Zoe was hoping it was at least dry enough inside to not crack or shatter if she lit a fire in it.

    She dumped some wood into the top of the bloomery and ignited it with her firestarter. There wasn¡¯t much, she wasn¡¯t trying to fire the clay just yet, just help dry it out a little bit more before the proper firing. The fire licked at the top of the bloomery, and Zoe kept feeding it from the spout below with her Wind.

    The fire flickered away in her bloomery for a few hours as Zoe kept feeding it more wood whenever it burned too low, and Zoe didn¡¯t notice any cracks to worry about.

    When she felt satisfied the clay was dry enough, Zoe built up a stone shelter around it with slits at the bottom and filled the bottom of it with dry wood. She ignited the wood, and spent another few hours feeding the large stone structure with wood and air from her Wind.

    The fire rocketed out the top of her stone structure and covered the bloomery in heat. She wasn¡¯t able to see the bloomery, but hoped that it wasn¡¯t exploding. There were no loud noises from inside her stone structure so she was hopeful that it worked out fine.

    After many hours of burning, Zoe broke down the stone structure and stomped out the remnants of the fire. The clay bloomery was still standing, and while most of it was still intact, there were a few noticeable cracks that Zoe thought might cause problems. One large split down almost the entire height was the most concerning.

    Zoe decided to give it a try anyway and a few days later returned to the bloomery with a storage bracelet full of charcoal chunks. She filled the bloomery almost to the top with her charcoal and then lit a small fire underneath it in the hole at the bottom.

    The fire crept up the charcoal, and Zoe noticed bits of flame poke out of the cracks. She pushed more clay in to fill the cracks, but more kept smashing through with each attempt. Zoe grimaced, and continued letting the bloomery burn while she flooded the bottom with Wind.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    When it was roaring, Zoe summoned some hematite into the bloomery with Earth and covered it with more charcoal. Hours flew by as Zoe kept managing the flames that leaked out through cracks and topped up the bloomery with more hematite and charcoal.

    After she was done, Zoe let the fire die down a bit and then pulled the white hot metal-like stone at the bottom out with her Earth and set it down on a slab of stone she summoned next to her. Zoe summoned her heavy hammer from her storage bracelet and pounded away at the iron bloom.

    With her first hit, the white hot bloom split in half and she grimaced. She put half of it back into the fire and topped it up with a little more charcoal to keep it at a good temperature. The remaining half, she kept hammering away at.

    The bloom cut into the stone below and Zoe had to keep building it back up with her Earth to keep it from destroying the slab. With each swing of her hammer, shards of slag shattered off and landed on the ground around her. The odd shard landed on her dress and burned through it to her skin below, but Zoe fixed up both herself and her dress with Restoration then carried on.

    Even more hours passed as Zoe continued managing the fire and heating up the blooms as she hammered away at them. She¡¯d put one back in the fire and pull the other out to keep working on it, then switch when they cooled down too much.

    By the end, she was left with two tiny chunks of wrought iron about the size of her finger. Nowhere near the yield she would expect from the more established setups she¡¯d used back in Flester, and hardly enough to make something useful.

    Zoe continued heating the metal chunks and forged both of them into small handles she¡¯d use on her dresser¡¯s drawers and then tore down her bloomery.

    She needed to do more research before she made her own forge, she¡¯d realized. She had hoped that it would be simpler. Heat up the metal and hammer away at it to squish all the impurities out. But minimizing the impurities to begin with required a bloomery that wasn¡¯t quite so shoddy, she supposed.

    Or maybe enchantments. There were without a doubt enchantments she could use to make her bloomery run better, but she wasn¡¯t sure which skills she had that would do it.

    Either way, Zoe put her forge on the backburner. She tried her best and it didn¡¯t work, and that was okay. She didn¡¯t really need a forge in her cave anyway.

    Zoe spent the next few months by the river trying to get a Water Manipulation skill, and just before the end of summer she finally succeeded, and then quickly upgraded it to a general Water skill.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Water Manipulation general skill.

    *Ding* The Water Manipulation general skill has been upgraded to the Water general skill.

    As soon as she got her new skill, Zoe packed up everything she cared about in her cave and left. She had her fun, but the failure of Moaning Point still stood over her and she wanted to rectify it.

    The run to Gafoda was fun this time. Seeing how much quicker it was with her new levels and experience made her feel a sense of pride within herself. On her first run over it took her almost six days of running non stop. But this time, the distant mountain seemed to grow so quick as she rushed towards it.

    People flew by on the road. Caravans from merchants, a few lone travellers who dragged magic and power behind them. Zoe even saw a group off in the distance through the trees but ignored them. If they weren¡¯t going to bother her when she was lower level, they wouldn¡¯t care about her when she was far faster and much more competent.

    Maybe if they knew how much was in her storage bracelet they¡¯d think about bothering her. But was it worth pestering some random nobody in the hopes that they happened to be carrying significant wealth on them? No, that was silly. You¡¯d be a Problem with a capital ¡®p¡¯ and somebody would come deal with you. They didn¡¯t have a history of bothering random people on the road, and thinking they¡¯d start now just for Zoe was arrogant at best and paranoid at worst.

    She arrived at Gafoda in the middle of the third day, the late summer sun high above and shining down on the town. Gafoda had changed a lot since she was last there. There were almost a dozen new wooden buildings built, and the beginnings of a wooden fence was stretched around the border.

    Zoe walked in and wandered through Gafoda for a bit. Before she started climbing the mountain again, Zoe wanted to get some Restoration training in. She asked around a few of the shops and found a small building that an alchemist had set up at who was leaving in a few days. Zoe offered them ten gold for the building when they left, and they agreed.

    She spent the days wandering around the lower area of Moaning Point and helping out people who were stuck out in the forest and telling them about her clinic that was opening soon. The inn that Zoe had stayed at last time was still open, but under new ownership it seemed and she stayed there.

    On the alchemist¡¯s final day, Zoe took the keys and checked out what she had to work with. The alchemist had taken everything with them from what Zoe saw. She was left with two empty rooms. A larger one at the front of the building, and a smaller one through a door near the back.

    Zoe summoned the three chairs she had in her bracelet as well as the wooden table and placed them down in the front of the shop. Outside she hung a wooden sign she made with a carving of a cartoon-esque broken bone and the word ¡®healing¡¯ at the top. On the door she hung another sign she made.

    Healing for injuries from the past day. Pay what you want.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure exactly how long ago her Restoration would restore things from, but in her experience a day was fine for injuries, though their clothes wouldn¡¯t be repaired at that point. But Zoe wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to restore people¡¯s clothes anyway. They could go support the other local businesses for all she cared.

    In the backroom, Zoe summoned her bed and a small dresser with some of the clothes that she decided to bring. Her green dress, one of the lighter jackets and a handful of shirts, pants and skirts.

    She sat down at one of the chairs in the main room lit by the morning sun and waited for people to wander in. With all of the advertising she¡¯d done on the previous few days she hoped there would be a steady stream of people to help.

    Or maybe that was a little mean, since she was hoping for people to be injured. But the reality was people were being injured, she was just hoping they¡¯d choose her to help them.

    The morning passed and Zoe watched people walk past her open door as they rushed about town. Early in the afternoon an older man walked in with a limp. Blood dripped from his leg that dragged behind him. His face was covered in dirt and his brown hair was clumped together with dark splotches.

    He looked up at Zoe. ¡°Healing?¡±

 2-43. Cinders

    Zoe jumped from her chair and rushed to flood the man with her Restoration. His face lit up when the warm power ran through his body.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t have money.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t need payment. Do you have a cleaning skill?" Zoe asked.

    The man shook his head. ¡°No, I. Thank you, so much. Thank you so so much.¡± Tears fell down his face.

    ¡°Do you want me to cast mine on you?¡± Zoe asked him.

    He nodded his head sheepishly. ¡°Please. Thank you.¡±

    Blue light pulsed out from Zoe as she cast her Immaculate Enchantments. The sticky blood in his hair and dripping down his leg dissolved away and revealed the wound on his leg that was being stitched together by Zoe¡¯s Restoration.

    A deep gash across his upper thigh, with threads of flesh stretching out and merging into each other as Zoe¡¯s magic flooded through him. She cringed as she watched it happen.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he bowed his head. ¡°Thank you so much. I didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t have money, I thought nobody would help me. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Zoe said, and sat with him in silence as she finished stitching his wounds back together.

    It took another few minutes before the man¡¯s leg was healed, and he left after thanking her profusely a few more times. Zoe sat back in her chair behind the table and sighed.

    She knew that injured people were going to be coming in for help, but she hadn¡¯t quite processed what that meant until now. They¡¯d be weak, down on their luck individuals who can¡¯t afford normal healing. If she were established, maybe she¡¯d have more regular clients who came in with less severe injuries.

    But she wasn¡¯t. She was a new clinic, nobody knew her. The only people who would be willing to go try and get help from somebody like Zoe would be those who needed it and couldn¡¯t afford somebody more trusted. People like the man Zoe just helped, dripping with blood and who knows how far from death¡¯s door, desperate for help.

    The next few months passed by in a flash as Zoe continued helping the wounded stitch themselves back to health. Early on, most were too poor to afford her services. But after a few months of helping out word began to spread and more were leaving payment for her. Zoe didn¡¯t mind either way, she had more than enough money to pay for her comforts and enjoyed building her own stuff anyway.

    But it was nice seeing her work have a visible impact on the town, even if it was a small one. Zoe spent most of her time meditating to regenerate her mana to be ready for the next client. Whatever time she had left was spent on practicing her elemental skills, with a big focus on her new Water skill to bring it up to the others.

    Zoe was surprised at the incredible number of people that used her clinic. She expected regular clients, but most of the people who wandered into her shop were new faces she¡¯d never met before. Young children who Zoe wished she could stop from pursuing the dangers they were so clearly not ready for, older individuals hoping to extend their lives with some extra stats.

    There were never all that many people in Gafoda, but the population was refreshed almost every week with dozens of new faces. Many who stopped by Zoe¡¯s clinic for healing. Most of the time people had a small scrape or bruise they needed fixed, or an invisible near empty pool of health from an unfortunate encounter with a poisonous zombie.

    But there were many who had missing fingers and toes, and even a few who outright lost their limbs and wandered in with bloody stumps on their shoulders and legs.

    It was terrifying at first, to see injuries so devastating. But over time, Zoe took comfort in seeing her skill repair people from even such horrible damage. It gave her a confidence that she didn¡¯t know she needed to see her skill pull its weight.

    Near the middle of spring, many months after her shop opened, Zoe was rewarded with a new feat.

    *Ding* For healing over 500 individuals, you have been awarded the [Healer] feat.

    [Healer]

    Where you stand, Death falls. All regenerative skills gain a bonus when applied to an entity other than the caster.

    Zoe noticed the change almost immediately. The people she was healing were stitched together much faster than she was used to, and she guessed it was at least a twenty percent improvement. It would have been nice if it applied to herself as well, but it was a nice one to have anyway.

    Summer rolled around, and Zoe was sitting on her bed in the backroom of her clinic. A young man with red hair and gaudy gold robes had offered to buy her clinic for twenty-five gold, and Zoe decided that was as good an excuse as any to pack up and climb the mountain again.

    Most of her belongings were already stored away in her bracelet, though she chose to leave the table and chairs for the rich man to deal with. They were handy for her clinic, but now that she was going to return to ascending Moaning Point they would just take up some much needed storage space.

    In total over the nine months she¡¯d spent running her clinic, Zoe had made thirty two gold from donations. She added it to the growing pile of gold already in her bracelet and shrugged. Money had lost any sense of value to her many years ago. Getting enough of it to live was simple even when she was stuck at level eight, and with Ren¡¯s mana orbs she made more than enough to enjoy luxuries for years to come.

    All that was left before she climbed Moaning Point was to check her stats ¡ª something she hadn¡¯t done in years, and then pick a new class. She noticed that she¡¯d been stuck at level sixty one for a while now, but hadn¡¯t felt the need to choose a new one yet.

    And this time, she was excited. There was no unknown danger lurking on the horizon like last time, no unpredictable levels stored up waiting to rocket her to higher heights. She was level sixty one and might have a handful of levels backed up once she picked her class. But she was level sixty one, a few levels just weren¡¯t that big of a deal anymore. She could take a bunch of classes for fun, try them all out and decide what she liked most.

    But first, her excess stats needed to be dealt with.

    Stat Points: 44

    Strength: 70

    Dexterity: 70

    Vitality: 100

    Endurance: 50

    Intelligence: 250

    Wisdom: 132

    Health:  1000/1000

    Stamina: 500/500

    Mana: 5000/5000

    Taking Wisdom to one hundred fifty was a no brainer to her, and she dumped the eighteen points into it. That left her with twenty-six to spend. Zoe decided to put all of them into Intelligence.

    With her stats out of the way, Zoe brought up her class options. The quantity shocked her. Almost every class option she had from her last two were available, along with a plethora of new ones. Almost every new skill she¡¯d gotten had at least two available.

    Apprentice Swordsman, Potter, Master Carpenter, and so on. For almost every single new skill she¡¯d obtained. There were dozens of new magic classes available for her new elemental skills. Zoe grabbed a bunch of them and looked at the bonuses, most were rather disappointing. Some nice bonuses to whatever skill they were for ¡ª and thankfully, when she tried taking a Fisher class, she did get the skill back when she replaced the class.

    But there were a few classes that stood out to Zoe as being more interesting, and she left them for last. There was the Elemental Master class that had always stuck at the back of Zoe¡¯s mind as a powerful, flexible option. A bunch of new enchanting classes, but the one that seemed the most interesting to her was one called Wandering Enchanter which gave her bonuses for enchanting things in places that were new to her.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    The class that stood out to her the most was the Seasoned Cinders class. Seasoned Frost was nowhere to be seen on her class options this time, but Seasoned Cinders had the same requirements and almost identical description, barring the change from Frost to Cinders.

    And the last class that interested her was the Healer class. It required her having the Healer feat, and provided many bonuses to regeneration. Based on the feat, Zoe thought it might only apply to other people. But when she took it to check, she found it didn¡¯t have a similar restriction. Though it did seem quite reliant on other people being around her for most of the bonuses.

    Zoe went back and forth on her choices for a while, but decided that another enchanting class wouldn¡¯t be good for her. She just enjoyed her Chrono Enchanter too much to even think about replacing it, which was something she really wanted to do someday. But losing out on everything she¡¯d gotten so used to having was such a difficult sacrifice for her to make.

    Taking another enchanting class felt like she¡¯d just fall into that same trap again, and never be able to go back to optimize her classes. The Healer class also just felt like it didn¡¯t fit her so much. Healing was something she enjoyed being able to do, but not so much something she actually enjoyed doing. Taking the healing class might be the safest option, and many of the skills might even be interesting enchantments.

    But it just didn¡¯t feel right to her. She wanted something more exciting than that. Which meant it came down to Elemental Master and Seasoned Cinders for her. And this time, she didn¡¯t need to think all that hard about it. She could try out both, and decide which she liked more.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Elemental Master class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Elemental Master: Gain twenty stat points for each level in this class.

    - Elemental Soul: Increased control of the elements.

    - Elemental Might: All elemental effects boosted by 200%

    - Magic Force: All elemental damage is increased by 150%

    - Mana Well: Mana and mana regeneration boosted by 100%

    Available Skills:

    - Elemental Affinity: Increased elemental affinity.

    - Elemental Manipulation: Manipulate the elements with your will.

    - Elemental Disaster: Call on the raw elements to destroy.

    - Elemental Arrow: Create an arrow of the elements and fire it.

    - Elemental Vengeance: Reflect a portion of incoming damage back as elemental power.

    - Elemental Shield: Create a shield of the elements to defend you.

    - Imbued Power: Store power in an pocket of mana and detonate it at will.

    - Elemental Clarity: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

    Zoe noticed the twenty stat points first. Had she taken this class first, would she have gotten another hundred stat points to play with by her third class? Or did they scale to match the power of the class tier they¡¯re in?

    Overall, the class seemed fine to her. She had some decent offensive options and even a couple of defensive options. But everything other than the manipulation seemed so battle-centric, which wasn¡¯t something she was interested in too much.

    She focused on her class selection again and chose Seasoned Cinders.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Seasoned Cinders class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Seasoned Cinders: Gain twenty-five stat points for each level in this class.

    - Aura of Cinders: You radiate heat energy.

    - Temporal Continuance: You gain experience through the passage of time.

    - Regenerator: All regeneration effects boosted by 350%.

    - Scorched Tempo: All heat and time aligned effects are boosted by 250%.

    Available Skills:

    - Heat Affinity: Increased heat affinity.

    - Time Affinity: Increased time affinity.

    - Cinder Manipulation: Manipulate the cinders with your will.

    - Scorched Arsenal: Command the cinders to clad you in armour and weapons.

    - Scorched Echo: Create an echo of cinders that copies your movements.

    - Adaptive Cinders: Your cinders will infect all it can reach with a burning effect.

    - Restoration: Apply a regenerative effect that mends recent damage.

    - Haste: Apply a buff that increases quickness.

    - Alacrity: Permanently increases quickness.

    - Eternal Elegance: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

    Twenty-five stat points as opposed to the twenty from Elemental Master, or even the ten from Seasoned Frost. If they were the same class, which Zoe suspected they should be based on the requirements and the options given to her, then she was satisfied with her Seasoned Frost pick so many years ago. Seasoned Cinders seemed far superior to Elemental Master, if she didn¡¯t already have most of the skills from Seasoned Frost.

    Zoe sat for a while and thought about why Seasoned Cinders was showing up now, instead of Seasoned Frost. Was it because it was currently summer? Both of the times she¡¯d picked a class in the past were during the winter, so the system gave her the frost variant. But now it was summer, so she got the cinders variant?

    But the class requirements never said anything about requiring a specific season. And she knew for a fact that was a thing because many of the classes she could see did require it to be summer. Apprentice Heat Mage required summer, and the cold variant required winter.

    What was different about the Seasoned classes to the Apprentice Mage variants? Why would one of them have a visible requirement for the season when one of them didn¡¯t?

    She sat and puzzled on it for a while, but wasn¡¯t able to come up with any theories that made sense to her. Maybe it was just another translation issue in the system, maybe it was some conspiracy far above her. Maybe whoever designed the classes simply forgot to add a season requirement. Zoe had no way of knowing.

    Between Elemental Master and Seasoned Cinders, Zoe decided on the latter. Elemental Master gave her a lot of options today, but Seasoned Cinders just stood out as a much better option for her long term growth. More stat points, stronger bonuses, and if her theory was correct then she could collect all four of the seasoned variants for her own version of Elemental Master.

    For the skills, Zoe had five empty skill slots again and made her choices. Both of the affinities, as that was always the best decision from what she¡¯d heard. And the remaining three went to Scorched Echo, Adaptive Cinders and the third was up in the air. She settled on Alacrity for now, but Scorched Arsenal was a strong contender as well. Cinder Manipulation was an option, but she decided it made much more sense to get a general skill replacement than to waste a class skill slot on it.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 70

    Dexterity: 70

    Vitality: 100

    Endurance: 50

    Intelligence: 276

    Wisdom: 150

    Health:  1000/1000

    Stamina: 500/500

    Mana: 5520/5520

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (61)

    - Identify (95)

    Class 2: Seasoned Frost

    - Cold Affinity (105)

    - Time Affinity (113)

    - Restoration (78)

    - Frozen Arsenal (76)

    - Alacrity (117)

    Class 3: Chrono Enchanter

    - Time Affinity (112)

    - Mana Affinity (83)

    - Enchanted Mirror (75)

    - Mana Manipulation (97)

    - Immaculate Enchantments (77)

    Class 4: Seasoned Cinders

    - Heat Affinity (1)

    - Time Affinity (1)

    - Scorched Echo (1)

    - Adaptive Cinders (1)

    - Alacrity (1)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (37)

    - Vampyric Senses (90)

    - Vampyric Resistance (32)

    - Vampyric Immortality (9)

    - Vampyric Charm (71)

    - Vampyric Empathy (76)

    - Gathering (41)

    - Archery (76)

    -- Meditation (136)

    - Cooking (54)

    - Dagger-fighting (51)

    - Tracking (44)

    - Stealth (63)

    - Frost (111)

    - Alchemy (6)

    - Spear-fighting (24)

    - Sword-fighting (27)

    - Shield-fighting (34)

    - Wind (47)

    - Earth (54)

    - Carpentry (63)

    - Pottery (7)

    - Fishing (15)

    - Smithing (7)

    - Mining (25)

    - Water (23)

    Resistances:

    - Mental (7)

    - Poison (14)

    -- Pain (8)

    - Heat (1)

    - Fire (1)

    - Cold (35)

    -- Disintegration (2)

    - Time (3)

    - Space (1)

    - Water (1)

    - Earth (1)

    - Gravity (1)

    - Ice (6)

    - Wind (1)

    - Lightning (1)

    - Sound (14)

    Feats:

    - Patient Decider

    - Master of Seasons

    - Slayer of Frost

    - Skilled

    - Proficient

    - Okiu¡¯s blessing

    - Healer

 2-44. Shambling Husks

    Zoe sat on her bed for a few more hours and tested out her new abilities. Scorched Echo was an interesting one, doing the same thing her Frozen Echo did but with a wispy cloud of ash and flame. The heat aura she had would have been quite nice while she was exploring the frozen cave, but she shrugged the thought off. The entire class would have been an incredible boon to her exploration, but she managed just fine without it.

    Adaptive Cinders was something she was excited to try out on a zombie, but not so much on her prized bed and inside her wooden building. And Alacrity was the same as always.

    Zoe summoned a chunk of rock with her Earth, then giggled a bit and replaced it with some Frost. Something about testing her heat enchantments on a ball of ice amused her more than she thought it should.

    Scorched Echo was a very interesting enchantment. At first glance it did nothing, but when Zoe pushed mana into it the ball of ice formed a matching ball of smouldering, wispy ash. Rather than the echo following along with the ice when she moved it though, the echo seemed to just remain in place where she fed it mana, and dissipated after about a minute.

    If she continued feeding it mana, then it was able to form a strange wispy shadow that followed behind the ice ball but forming the echo was quite mana intensive so she wasn¡¯t able to sustain it for very long.

    She had a lot of fun ideas with it though. The wispy cloud of ash was quite warm to the touch, but didn¡¯t seem to be solid as she was able to wave her hand through it without affecting it at all. She thought it might be a nice improvement to her earthen doors one day when she¡¯s able to get an extra enchantment in them. The stone squishing off to the side only to be replaced with a permeable cloud sounded like just the kind of vibe she¡¯d enjoy.

    Adaptive Cinders was a much simpler enchantment to understand. When she pushed the enchantment into her ball of ice, again nothing happened. But when she touched the ball of ice, her fingers felt somewhat warmed, despite the ice not melting at all.

    Zoe repeated it with more mana dense hematite that she created, and found the warming effect was intensified so much that it was almost uncomfortable. Maybe with enough mana, it could even cause some real pain. But what interested her the most was that it didn¡¯t seem to make the objects themselves hotter since her frost didn¡¯t melt like it normally would when it was heated up. It just made whatever touched the enchanted object hot.

    Alacrity was the same as she expected, and Zoe¡¯s musings were interrupted by a knock on her door. She stood up and pulled her bed into her storage bracelet ¡ª the rest of the furniture she didn¡¯t mind leaving but a mattress was hard for her to make.

    At the door was the familiar young merchant in his gaudy sparkling gold robes. Zoe handed off the keys and took the payment then headed off for the gate up Moaning Point.

    She started at the earlier stages of the mountain to test out some of her new skills. Scorched Echo was fun to use, but at this low on the mountain not all too useful. Whatever the echo was copying was more than capable of taking out a zombie, so the echo never managed to have an impact. But it was fun watching the cloud of ash follow along with her movements.

    At the next stage up the mountain, Zoe found the stick wielding zombies to pose very little more threat. Even when she let them smash into the sheet of ice that covered her, the impacts were almost unnoticeable. The sword of ice she formed with her Frozen Arsenal smashed through them and their black bones were pulled back into the earth by whatever magic powered the dungeon.

    Zoe wandered around the higher area of the second stage for a few hours in search of another armoured zombie, for her revenge. Dozens of zombies fell as she ran through the forests until she found another zombie clad in rusted metal armour. The distant shine she saw through the trees reminded her of her last failure and she felt her nerves eat away at her.

    But she was higher level now. And even if she wasn¡¯t, she got away just fine last time. There was no reason to be scared now. Zoe took a deep breath and readied a frozen ball of ice next to her. She flashed an enchantment of Archery, Shield Fighting and an explosive Frozen Arsenal onto it and launched it at the armoured zombie.

    The projectile flew through the air and impacted the zombie in its chest, followed shortly by a burning cloud of ash. The explosion blew a hole through the rusted armour, and the zombie was dragged back into the mountain. Zoe stared at the scene in shock.

    Somehow, the armoured zombie had stood as a testament to her failure, the limit of what she could achieve. And yet with all of her improvements, it ended up being no more of an obstacle than any other mindless bag of flesh that wandered around the lower stages of the mountain.

    She had expected to win, to prove to herself that she was better now. That she could handle more than she could before. But to see it be such a laughable challenge was surprising.

    Though, if she were being fair to herself, that wasn¡¯t what she did before either. Her failure came from wanting to overcome it even if things went wrong. She didn¡¯t take the easy route of smashing through it from a distance, she tried to defeat it in a hands on battle with her physical prowess.

    The idea was almost laughable to Zoe now. Why would she choose to allow a zombie to rush her down like that? If that happened in a real fight, Zoe would be fleeing as quick as she could or at least trying to pepper it with obstacles on its way to her.

    But true victory would be overcoming it in a worst case scenario, she knew. Zoe spent another few hours searching for another zombie and double checked she was prepared. Her armour was renewed and ready for a beating. Her sword and shield were resummoned and well tested, wisps of ciders followed behind her every moment. And most importantly, she was downhill from the zombie just like the last time. With her new experience, she¡¯d never try and engage a rushing zombie from downhill, but she wanted to prove to herself that she could handle it now.

    She summoned a blade of wind and launched it at the zombie off in the distance. She saw the zombie stumble as the force impacted it and then turn to look at her. Zoe hopped around a bit to grab its attention, and was rewarded with a familiar scream as the zombie rushed down the hill towards her. Its large, shoddy shield shook on its arm as it smashed through bushes and shrubbery.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Several more zombies in the forest around them turned and began running towards Zoe, including another zombie clad in rusted armour with a misshapen rapier.

    Zoe held her shield out in front and braced herself for the impact. Stone rose up from behind her to support her, and she watched the zombie in its single minded sprint down the hill towards her.

    The zombie slammed its shield into hers, but Zoe held strong. The stone support behind her felt like it was going to snap, but she held it together with her Earth skill and knocked the zombie to the side.

    Off to her right was the next armoured zombie with its bent rapier. Zoe stepped to the side and slammed her shield into the zombie as it passed, and it tumbled down the hill. The shield zombie turned and roared again at her. Zoe rushed in and bashed its shield out of the way with hers then stabbed her sword into its shoulder.

    Her icy sword rammed into the slit where the plates overlapped and ripped them apart. The smell of burning flesh buffeted Zoe¡¯s nose as her echo burnt into the zombie¡¯s shoulder and heat tore through its torso. The zombie¡¯s free arm fell limp and she kicked its chest to send it tumbling down the mountain. To her left was another zombie with a large stone, shambling towards her. She stepped back and let the zombie slam its stone into the ground the dragged her sword across its neck. The flesh ripped apart, and its black bones were reclaimed by the dungeon.

    Zoe raised her shield to block a hit from the rapier wielding armoured zombie, and sent its arm flailing off to the side. She jumped in to ram her sword into its shoulder, and the rapier fell to the ground as its arm went limp and burned from her Adaptive Cinders.

    She reached out and grabbed its helmet then kicked it in the chest as she ripped it off. The zombie¡¯s rotting maw howled as it tumbled down the mountain, and Zoe turned her attention to the shield bearing zombie.

    To the right of it was another zombie with a long stick that it was waving out in front towards Zoe. She swung her shield at it and knocked the stick between her and the armoured zombie then rushed in past the stick and cut into the zombie with her sword.

    The shield zombie slammed its shield towards her and she pushed the stick wielding zombie in its way then leapt back. The zombie was crushed under the weight of the hefty shield and reclaimed by the dungeon.

    Zoe ran in and grabbed the zombie¡¯s shield then jabbed her sword into its shoulder. The arm fell limp and Zoe tossed the shield down the hill at the other armoured zombie clambering up towards her. The zombie tumbled down the hill with the shield, and Zoe summoned a large icy mace then slammed it down into the armoured zombie next to her. Her echo followed immediately after and left dark, scorched marks across the zombie¡¯s rusted armour.

    The impact rattled the zombie¡¯s armour and it stumbled back into a tree. Zoe slammed her mace into it again and the zombie fell to the ground. The armour shook for a moment and then went limp. Zoe ripped off the helmet and saw the inside of the armour was empty with a gaping hole in the back.

    The last zombie was rushing up the hill towards her, its gaping rotten mouth screeching as its arms flailed around it. Zoe smashed into it with her icy shield and then slashed her sword across its neck. Her echo burnt into the zombie¡¯s flesh and it fell limp. Its bones were dragged out of the armour through the neck and pulled back into the ground.

    Zoe fell to the ground and laughed. It was the most intense physical fight she¡¯d been in, but it felt so comfortable, so slow. The zombies¡¯ mindless brawling was predictable and simple to piece apart with her sturdy icy shield. Their rusted armour was weak and brittle with weak points aplenty.

    She heard another zombie wandering towards her, attracted by the noise of the battle and fired off a Frost projectile at it. The zombie exploded in a cloud of frost and the dungeon reclaimed its bones.

    To think she had been so terrified of them before, so broken down by one simple zombie. She shook her head and stood up. In the forest around her were dozens of zombies shambling their way over with stumps for legs or crawling on the ground towards her. She walked up to one of the crawling zombies and rammed an icy spear into its back.

    The zombie fell limp and its flesh dissolved away to reveal the black skeleton beneath it. Zoe reached in and grabbed one of its ribs before the dungeon could reclaim it. The wisps of light rushed in to overwhelm her, but she pulled back on it. Zoe summoned a pillar of frost below the skeleton to help push the bones away, and flooded the bones with her mana.

    After a minute, the pressure released and Zoe fell backwards still holding the black rib she grabbed. The rest of the skeleton was pulled back into the ground, but Zoe smiled at the sight of the black bone still in her hand.

    She fired off a few frost projectiles at the zombies that had gotten nearer to her and started flooding the bone with mana. It felt almost identical to the icy splinters, and she stored it away in her bracelet to test out at a later time.

    The icy splinters were convenient to manipulate into shapes but were rather brittle. The bones were much harder to manipulate into shapes, but in return were themselves also much harder. They might not be as useful for embedding enchantments into her floors or walls but might end up being much more useful for making weapons or armour out of if she could figure out how to manage that.

    Zoe continued up the mountain towards the next sign and then past it. Zombies with magic was something she was quite excited to see. The Frozen Shards that she¡¯d fought used magic, and it added a great deal of trouble to the fights compared to raw physical might. She was excited to see what kinds of magic the dungeon would be throwing at her.

    It didn¡¯t take long before she found her first magical zombie. It looked much the same as the stick wielding zombies from the stage below, but with the addition of what looked like an enchanted stick and a much higher level. Dark red level fifty three to her identify.

    Wisps of flame rose off the stick and evaporated into smoke. She walked up closer to the zombie, and it rushed towards her. The zombies free arm raised and pointed towards her before a small puff of flame rushed out of its hand towards her.

    Zoe rose her icy shield, and the flame washed over her shield, melting part of it. She pouted and then reformed her shield with Frozen Arsenal.

    The zombie swung its flaming stick down towards her, and Zoe stepped out of the way. It smashed into the ground in a small explosion of flame that rose up almost to Zoe¡¯s thigh height. She rushed in and slashed her sword across the zombies chest, and it grabbed her arm as its chest burned from Zoe¡¯s echo.

    Flames rushed out of the zombies hand and covered Zoe¡¯s arm. Her armour shattered and Zoe shuddered from the sudden rush of mana. She jumped back and regained her breath as the zombie rushed towards her again.

    Zoe summoned two Frost projectiles and fired them both at the zombie. They exploded in a cloud of frost, and the zombie fell to the ground. Its rotten flesh dissolved away and the black skeleton was absorbed back into the mountain.

    She took a few minutes to regain her breath and reform her armour then looked at the remains. The zombie¡¯s stick was left on the ground, though the flames had vanished. Next to the stick was a small orange gem, and Zoe picked it up. The gem was warm to the touch, but not to an unpleasant extent. She flooded it with mana, half expecting it to burst out in flames but nothing happened. She shrugged and stored it away in her bracelet.

 2-45. Archmage

    Zoe wandered around the new section of the dungeon for a few months and fought many of the zombies with their different magics. Most were similar to the first one she fought ¡ª upgrades of the previous tool wielding zombies, sticks that ignited and magical bursts of power they shot from their hands.

    But a few had no visible weapons and tried to keep their distance while they peppered Zoe with their various projectiles. Most tended to be of the simpler elements ¡ª fire, water, earth and air. Plentiful in nature and simple to harness. Though there were others that she found as well. Ice and wood made up the majority of the less common elements, but there was the odd zombie that ripped grass out from around them to fight or summoned bones from its body to fight with.

    The magic power the zombies used was quite helpful with her attempts to accumulate as many elemental skills as she could, and she managed to get the Fire skill out of it. She was tempted to stick around and try to find even more zombies with different magic, but she already had the more common ones and the rarer ones were so few and far between that it would take her far too long to find enough of them to get a good understanding of their elements.

    For a moment she had the idea of trapping a couple of them to study for months on end, but it didn¡¯t feel right to her. Even if they were shambling husks created for the sole purpose of assisting her growth through whatever magic powered the dungeon, torturing them was too far for her.

    She did manage to get both Bone and Wood resistances through the few fights she had with them though, and added that to her once again growing list of resistances. They brought her up to eighteen resistances, and she was curious to see if she would get a feat for them at twenty or maybe twenty-five.

    Zoe spent some time studying her wispy ashen echo to try and see what was different between that and fire. At first when she heard of the Slayer of Cinders feat, she thought that it would just be a fire elemental. Simple, raw, fire. But after using the Seasoned Cinders class she saw that cinders was something much more than just fire. Heat was a big part of it, but so were ash and flakes of smouldering coal that floated through her echo.

    Cinders was something entirely different to just Fire, it was a combination of multiple elements. But Zoe wasn¡¯t sure which elements it would be. Was it just fire and ash? Or was ash itself a combination of some other more basic elements?

    Her studying of the skill didn¡¯t prove fruitful, though she didn¡¯t dedicate an awful lot of time to it either being surrounded by dangerous zombies with powerful magic. One day when she had some time to spend on it, Zoe wanted to upgrade her Fire skill to Cinders. In fact, she¡¯d like to upgrade all of her skills to their more complicated elements someday.

    Zoe daydreamt of throwing around massive bursts of power, filled with every magic she could find. Blasts of space that ripped apart reality, and pulses of time that froze a falling apple before it hit the ground. Clouds of ash and ice that weaved through the air in beautiful patterns.

    Magic was intoxicating for Zoe, and each new skill that she got made her appreciate the world she¡¯d been teleported into so much more. Sitting at home and playing games was fun, and she wouldn¡¯t mind having a chance to do that again someday if the opportunity presented itself.

    But rushing through forests and mountains faster than she ever could have imagined, hurling raw magical power around her with nothing more than a simple thought? That was such a primal pleasure for her, something that had become so deeply important to her.

    The thought of going back to a normal mundane life where she couldn¡¯t even see the wisps of light that floated around her? Where she couldn¡¯t summon a ball of ice and enchant it with feelings of happiness or excitement? Where everything she could ever want to learn was just a few clicks away?

    It almost terrified her now, so many long years after she was whisked away to this world. The idea that she¡¯d wake up and it would all have just been a dream. The beauty of this world, or even this entire universe was something so awe inspiring to her.

    Zoe looked at the zombies off in the distant forest and chuckled. Maybe she¡¯d like to spend more time around more well spoken magical company someday, though.

    Each of the zombies left behind a small gem when Zoe defeated them, and she stored most of them into her storage bracelets. They were beginning to get quite full with her bed taking up most of one bag and the jagged ball of Frost still taking up an entire bag all on its own.

    The gems were a lightweight thumb sized translucent crystal with different colours depending on the magic the zombie she got them from used. Fire zombies dropped orange gems, water zombies dropped blue gems. Ice zombies dropped a lighter blue gem.

    On their own, they didn¡¯t seem to do anything as far as Zoe could tell. But they were excellent for enchanting matching effects onto. The orange gems looked very similar to the firestarter gems she was using previously, and she was able to make a similar effect by enchanting one of the orange gems with her new Fire skill.

    It seemed, to the best of her ability, that they were not much better for enchanting than a silver coin was, but were much more efficient with mana usage for elementally aligned effects. The orange gems used significantly less mana when she enchanted her Fire skill onto them than a silver coin would. But anything else didn¡¯t seem to have any difference at all.

    They didn¡¯t do anything that she wasn¡¯t able to do by simply being a better enchanter, but it did help her fit in more useful skills into enchantments rather than needing to always have Meditation and Enchanting on them to provide mana. But she still didn¡¯t see much use for them for where she was now. Anything the gems could do, her icy splinters could do and probably do better.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    The two grass mages that Zoe had fought interested her and she spent a lot of time wondering about their magic. It was definitely different to Earth, since she wasn¡¯t able to manipulate the actual grass itself like the zombie could. She could move the dirt the grass was in, and pull it along with it. But she couldn¡¯t rip the grass itself out of the ground and manipulate it around.

    But even after trying to get the resistance and taking more damage than she¡¯d ever needed to for a resistance, she wasn¡¯t able to get it. Which made her think that Grass counted as Earth for her resistance, but not for her skill. Or possibly Wood, but she wasn¡¯t able to manipulate grass with Wood either, no matter how much she tried.

    Was Grass a basic element, or was it a combination of other elements? Zoe¡¯s theory was that it was Earth and Water, two resistances that she already had. She already had both of those skills and according to Richard they should just combine if she gets ones that can combine, but they didn¡¯t. Maybe it was Earth and Wood? Or Earth, Wood and Water? Whatever the case, she expected it to be a combination of skills that she already had resistances to.

    She wasn¡¯t sure how accurate she was, but there wasn¡¯t another explanation that made any sense to her. Why would it be different to Earth, but not give her another resistance? None of her other resistances made any sense. Earth and Wind? Earth and Heat? That wasn¡¯t going to make anything that could manipulate grass.

    Which meant that the most logical explanation to her was that manipulation skills could be combined together to create a wide variety of effects, but they still only applied to the base level of resistances.

    That got her wondering about her Frost and Water skills. Frost was water, in the most literal of meanings. Ice was just solid water. There was no real reason that she couldn¡¯t manipulate ice with her Water skill to her understanding of reality. But in practice, if she disabled Frost then ice was inaccessible to her without reverting to her previous studies of the skill. Her Water skill provided zero help to the process.

    And Frost was just as useless when it came to manipulating liquid water. But why was that? What would Frost be, if it were a combination skill?

    In theory, Frost would be a mix of Water and Ice. But with the skill, all she could make was solid ice. The best she could do was a slurry of ice, but water itself was completely off the table for the skill. And yet if her theory was right, then if she wanted to acquire Frost without killing an elemental, she would have needed to evolve her Water skill.

    Would doing so have removed her Water skill? Would she have been able to create water with Frost if she had combined it herself instead of acquiring it through an unfortunate elemental attack? Zoe wasn¡¯t sure. If she evolved her current skills into grass or plants or whatever magic the zombies were using, then would she lose the ability to manipulate rocks?

    Zoe had levelled up more than a few times over the months, making it all the way to level ninety. The number of stat points she was getting at this point was staggering. At twenty-five per level now, she had accumulated seven hundred twenty five points to spend as she wanted. She dumped them into Intelligence every few levels since it was just such a massive boon with each level now.

    And at level ninety she reached her goal. She was at nine hundred seventy six intelligence, with a mana pool larger than she ever expected to have. And twenty-five free points to spend meant she¡¯d be reaching four digits in one of her skills for the first time.

    It was an odd goal she¡¯d set early on while she was fighting the zombies. The levels flew in with now two classes giving her a bonus to experience through the passage of time adding to whatever the system rewarded her for the fights.

    Richard had mentioned that all skills and resistances give feats when they reach level one thousand, but hadn¡¯t mentioned anything about the stats. And Zoe thought that didn¡¯t make much sense until she thought about Richard¡¯s stat allocation.

    If he lived for a thousand years, he¡¯d only just be able to reach one thousand in any individual stat with only one extra point per year if he¡¯d given up all other stats to get there. But would he have done that? Would that have made any sense at all?

    For Zoe, if she had decided to go that route, building for a single stat for so long would be almost impossible. Her first goal would be getting enough health to not feel squishy. Maybe a few hundred years. Then enough physical stats to be able to flee from danger. Another few hundred years. A few more hundred years into her stamina and mana pools to make them more functional. And so on.

    Spending her first thousand years dumping everything she had into a single stat would stunt her progression, it would make her unable to travel around as freely. Unable to experiment with magic as freely. And she thought there was a good chance that Richard would do the same and spread his stats out somewhat evenly to keep his unspecialized build balanced.

    Which meant that Richard wouldn¡¯t need to live for a thousand years to discover a feat for reaching one thousand intelligence. He¡¯d need to live for multiple thousands of years. Two, maybe even three thousand years. Possibly up to almost six thousand years.

    There was a very good chance that Richard just didn¡¯t have any stats over one thousand yet when he wrote the book, and thus he didn¡¯t know about them.

    Another thought that Zoe had over the months was what happened when you reset a class. You¡¯d lose all the stats you gained from it, all of the class bonuses and skills of course. But what about things you achieved with the class?

    If Zoe got to one thousand intelligence with Seasoned Cinders and got a feat for it, then switched the class out what would happen to the feat? The intelligence would be gone, of course. But the feat was already given to her. She already earned it. Did she need to continue earning it, or was it always hers, even if she later no longer had the requirement for it?

    She pushed the last twenty five stat points into her intelligence and smiled at the notification she was rewarded with.

    *Ding* For reaching one thousand intelligence, you have been awarded with the [Archmage] feat.

    [Archmage]

    You have accumulated power beyond one¡¯s wildest imaginations. A master of raw mana. With no more than a thought, the world bends to meet your demands. All classes gain a bonus to mana affinity. Increased mana capacity.

    Zoe checked her mana. With one thousand intelligence and the bonus from her Chrono Enchanter class, she should have twenty thousand. But with her new Archmage feat, she had double that.

    Before she got too attached, Zoe found a safe spot up in a tree and focused on her class selection. She replaced her Seasoned Cinders class with Elemental Master and bit down on her jacket as the system wreaked havoc through her body. Every fiber of her essence was rent apart and repaired by the system¡¯s magic, and it took all of her being to not shriek in pain.

    When the system was done, she swapped back to Seasoned Cinders and checked her stat sheet. She was reset back to level sixty-one, all her class levels were reset and all the stats she accumulated into Intelligence were gone. But at the very bottom of her sheet, after all of her other feats was Archmage.

    Zoe smiled.

 2-46. Transcendent

    Zoe sat in her tree and spent a few minutes calming down from the rush of pain the system caused her and thought about her plans. She had intended to start climbing back up again after she got to one thousand intelligence, but seeing how powerful the feat was and how simple it was to get, she had second thoughts.

    Was there any real reason to not just spend a year or two and gather all of the feats for each of the stats? There wasn¡¯t, not really. Not to Zoe anyway. The best argument was that Intelligence was closest to one thousand already, being her main stat that she used. But that was weak.

    If Intelligence doubled her mana capacity, there was no reason to think that Vitality wouldn¡¯t double her health. Not getting that would be stupid, she thought. The same for Endurance.

    And Zoe¡¯s best guess for the other ones would be a simple doubling of their effectiveness. Wisdom might double her mana regeneration, Strength might double her, well, strength. Dexterity might make her much faster.

    Gathering all of those massive boons here, where she knew the dangers and how to handle herself, but was still able to get a decent bit of experience was the smartest decision. She laughed as she realized her misunderstanding from before.

    This was what a lodestone dungeon was for. It wasn¡¯t for simply climbing to the top and mastering your one class, it was to find your limit and build upon it. To continue refining yourself as you stepped up the difficulty with each class.

    A part of her wanted to go back down the mountain and work on her Chrono Enchanter class, but she brushed it aside. There was just no reason to refine every single class yet, not when she still had so few achievements. She could go grab a new third class, accumulate some more stat points and keep repeating.

    Or she could do the same with her fourth class, with even more stat points. Or even soon, her fifth class. Maybe even sixth class, and who knows how many more there were.

    Though, for Moaning Point, maybe her fourth class would be the last one she got. The highest levelled monsters she¡¯d heard of were at the very top and only just reached one fifty. Depending on what her fifth class requirement was, she might not even see it before she reached the top.

    Zoe decided on getting one thousand Vitality, and spent some more months fighting the magical zombies as she pumped all of her points into Vitality. It was a strange feeling having so much of it. She felt so substantial, and even when a zombie managed to smash through her icy armour the damage they inflicted was just so meaningless to her growing pool of health.

    A side benefit that Zoe hadn¡¯t even thought of when she decided to gather all of the one thousand stat feats was that she had many more opportunities to fight the rarer magical zombies. She even found a few more wood and bone zombies to study while she fought, and felt like she was able to make decent progress towards an understanding of how their magic worked.

    By the end of her tenth spring in this world, she managed to accumulate all of the stat points she needed and put the last ones left into Vitality.

    *Ding* For reaching one thousand Vitality, you have been awarded with the [Unbroken] feat.

    [Unbroken]

    You stand strong against your opponents, their greatest strikes nothing more than a simple scratch against your incredible prowess. All classes gain a bonus to health affinity. Increased health.

    Zoe smiled, and prepared herself for the pain that was to come from the system ripping out her health, then reset her Seasoned Cinders class. She spent the next few years wandering around Moaning Point and gathering the rest of the stat feats she had left.

    *Ding* For reaching one thousand Endurance, you have been awarded with the [Unyielding] feat.

    [Unyielding]

    You power through what others consider impossible and are unending in your pursuit of power. All classes gain a bonus to Physical affinity. Increased stamina.

    *Ding* For reaching one thousand Wisdom, you have been awarded with the [Endless] feat.

    [Endless]

    You are an endless spring of power, channelling power through yourself for as long as needs demand. All classes gain a bonus to mana affinity. Increased mana regeneration.

    *Ding* For reaching one thousand Strength, you have been awarded with the [Giant¡¯s Might] feat.

    [Giant¡¯s Might]

    You have proven your strength stands heads above the rest. What to many may be an impossible challenge is to you a teacup. All classes gain a bonus to physical affinity. Increased strength.

    It was near the end of her journey, and she had one more feat remaining ¡ª the Dexterity feat. Each of the feats was an incredible thing to gain, and she grew an appreciation for each of the stats. Vitality made her feel so real, so substantial in the world. It was incredible. The freedom she felt from the subtle pressures that pressed into her was amazing.

    Endurance made her feel so awake, so lucid. Even though she never needed to sleep there was often a mild exhaustion that came from spending hours focusing on a single task. But with a full thousand Endurance? That was washed away. Hunger almost vanished and she found herself not needing to eat anywhere near as much.

    Strength was fun for a while, but she didn¡¯t mind losing it. Doing squats with her pinky toe was exciting, and stopping a zombie¡¯s wild dash with a finger was great entertainment. But it didn¡¯t fit how she wanted to live.

    Dexterity though was her favourite. The control she had over her body as she sat at almost a thousand Dexterity, ready to put in the last few stat points to get her new feat was incredible. It made almost everything she did so much easier, so much smoother. Her woodworking was done with an incredible precision, trees that she clambered up to rest in felt like a pleasant walk through a park. And that¡¯s not even mentioning the speed she got from having so much Dexterity.

    With almost a thousand Dexterity, it felt like she had another Alacrity skill on top of the two she already had. The world around her felt like it was moving at a snail¡¯s pace while she ran through the forests. Zombies almost stood still as she pranced around them and prodded them with her dagger.

    The experience gave her a new appreciation for the stats she¡¯d been neglecting, and she pushed in the last few points into her Dexterity for the final feat she wanted.

    *Ding* For reaching one thousand Dexterity, you have been awarded with the [Expeditious] feat.

    [Expeditious]

    Your speed conquers all. All classes gain a bonus to physical affinity. Increased speed.

    *Ding* The feats; Archmage, Unbroken, Unyielding, Endless, Giant¡¯s Might and Expeditious have been combined into the Transcendent feat.

    [Transcendent]

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.You value balance in all things and accumulate power like a crow may gather baubles. The peak is not tall enough to match your aspirations, and so you build it higher so you may climb even further. You are a river of raw power and bend reality to meet your desires. All classes gain +5 Stat Points every level.

    Zoe shivered in the tree she sat in while the system¡¯s power coursed through her being and then passed out from the pain. She woke up a few hours later as the sun was setting, still in her makeshift tree house with planks of wood on either side of her and felt utterly exhausted. Her head throbbed, and every thought that ran through her mind stung like she was pressing into a fresh wound.

    She sat still and let the day pass. Zombies wandered through the forest below her, but they never looked up into the tree tops without reason so she let them be.

    When her head stopped throbbing halfway through the night, Zoe checked her stats. It seemed that despite the feats combining into Transcendent which said nothing about increased mana capacity, she still had the bonus from Archmage. Which likely meant she had the bonuses from each of them, which pleased her. Extra stat points were great, but at only five per level that didn¡¯t quite make up the multiplicative bonuses from the individual feats.

    Zoe turned her focus inwards and checked on her class selections for her fourth class. She hadn¡¯t checked at all through the process but was sure that each of the new feats were good for another new class. And as fun as having a thousand dexterity was, she didn¡¯t feel like it was the best decision for her and wanted to reset her fourth class anyway.

    [Giant¡¯s Might] A pursuer of strength, eager to overcome their challenges with brute force. Increased strength.

    Requirements: Has the [Giant¡¯s Might] feat

    [Expeditious] A pursuer of speed, untouchable by most and seen by few. Increased speed.

    Requirements: Has the [Expeditious] feat

    [Unbroken] A pursuer of life, damaged and worn but standing strong against their trials. Increased health.

    Requirements: Has the [Unbroken] feat

    [Unyielding] A pursuer of stamina, unyielding in your pursuit. Many can outrun you but none will outlast you. Increased stamina.

    Requirements: Has the [Unyielding] feat

    [Archmage] A pursuer of magical might, capable of feats unimaginable by the commonfolk. Increased magical power.

    Requirements: Has the [Archmage] feat

    [Endless] A pursuer of mana, powering your creations with your own power. Increased mana regeneration.

    Requirements: Has the [Endless] feat

    The classes for the individual feats were all interesting to her, in particular Archmage. Endless was also interesting to her, but mana regeneration was something that didn¡¯t affect her all that much these days. Especially with the Endless feat doubling her mana regeneration on its own.

    Zoe replaced her Seasoned Cinders class with the Archmage class and let the system¡¯s power course through her.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Archmage class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Archmage: Gain twenty-five stat points and one intelligence for each level in this class.

    - Mystic Might: Magical power boosted by 50%.

    - Mana Sight: You can see mana.

    - Mana Spring: Mana capacity boosted by 300%.

    - Mana Mastery: Mana aligned effects are boosted by 200%

    Available Skills:

    - Mana Affinity: Increased mana affinity.

    - Mana Manipulation: Manipulate the raw mana of the world to your will.

    - Spell Creation: Form spells to cast magical effects.

    - Mystic Armour: Cover yourself in a sheet of raw mana to protect yourself.

    - Mana Blast: Blast raw mana outwards.

    - Devastation: Rend apart reality with your mana.

    - Mana Amplification: Create a sphere of mana that amplifies magical effects that pass through it.

    - Mystic Familiar: Summon a being of mana to perform tasks.

    - An Archmage¡¯s Study: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

    Zoe looked through the details with a quizzical expression on her face. After so much effort to get the feats, she had expected them to be better. But with the five extra stat points from Transcendent, it only just caught up to her Seasoned cinders even before Transcendent. If her theory of stat points being tied to class quality was true, then that meant that Archmage was a worse class than Seasoned Cinders.

    Was Patient Decider truly that much better of a feat than Archmage was? Or was there something else that Zoe was missing? And for that matter, why was there a class for each feat, but not one for the Transcendent feat?

    She tried out some of the skills. Mana Manipulation was identical to her Chrono Enchanter skill when it was at level one. Spell Creation did absolutely nothing but she was able to feel a power within herself that was new. She just had not the faintest idea of how to use it.

    Mystic Armour was a worse version of the Seasoned Arsenals, though it wasn¡¯t weak to a counter element. Or, she supposed it was, but maybe Mana¡¯s weakness was less common than fire or ice.

    Devastation was exciting to read, but ultimately did not live up to the hype of its description. She was able to take out a zombie with it, but rather than rending apart reality with her mana it felt a little more like pressing into a zombie with her mana until it was sliced in half.

    Useful, but worse than her current enchanted objects that she used. Mystic Familiar was interesting, but a massive drain on her mana pool even with the capacity boosted so much. It created an invisible form of whatever shape she chose, and would do simple tasks for her. Pick up a dagger, stab a zombie in the leg, clean up the treehouse. But anything more complicated than simple instructions and the familiar just remained motionless.

    Mana Amplification was the most interesting by far, it created a sphere of Zoe¡¯s mana and anything she cast through it was noticeably more powerful. Her icy balls that she shot through it sped up and exploded with greater intensity.

    But at the end of the day, something about it just felt so lacklustre compared to the Seasoned Cinders that she¡¯d gotten used to. There was no flashy cinders flying about as she ran through the forest, no explosions of brilliant flame and clouds of coal. And the benefit of losing Seasoned Cinders¡¯ flashiness wasn¡¯t made up by the power of Archmage, since it didn¡¯t even give her stronger benefits anyway.

    Zoe checked out the other classes for her new feats and found them all similarly lacking. Their bonuses were all the same but themed to the stats they were from, the skills were exciting to read but nowhere near as great as she hoped they would be.

    She scrunched her face as she leaned up against a tree. It felt strange working for so many feats and then not getting anything out of it. But that wasn¡¯t right either, she thought. The feats themselves were incredible, and benefited her Seasoned Cinders class just as much if not more than the stat feat classes.

    Zoe settled her fourth class on Seasoned Cinders again and looked through her stat sheet. Another Alacrity skill didn¡¯t make much sense so she settled on Scorched Arsenal for another elemental option instead. But more importantly were her stat points. She had six more from the three years she spent working on the feats, but that paled in comparison to the three hundred she had from the new Transcendent feat upgrading all of her classes.

    Two hundred twenty four of those she dumped into Intelligence for more mana capacity and power. The remaining eighty two she spent bringing Wisdom up to two hundred and Dexterity up to one hundred. Then the last two points she tossed into Intelligence.

    Zoe smiled at her new stat sheet, and started making her way up the hill to the next section of the dungeon.

 2-47. Hunger

    The next few weeks Zoe spent getting her skills back up to a respectable level. When she made it back up to level eighty and had her Seasoned Cinders skills in the low thirties, Zoe put three hundred of her points into Wisdom to bring it up to five hundred, and then with the remaining points she brought Strength and Endurance both up to one hundred. The last one hundred ninety, Zoe pushed into Vitality.

    Now that she had so many stat points to spend on things, and had gotten over her aversion to resetting her classes to respec her points, there was little reason to not put many more points into her health. And with all of her mana regeneration bonuses, there was little reason to put points into her mana stats at this point regardless, other than class bonuses and magic power.

    With five hundred wisdom, her classes¡¯ regeneration multipliers and her Endless feat, she had no idea what her mana regeneration was at now. Not to mention her Meditation. But it was uncountable for her. The memories of sitting and charging mana orbs for hours on end seemed so insubstantial now. Almost regardless of what she did, mana was never the bottleneck. Aside from a few enchantments ¡ª like her Scorched Echo maintaining a constant cloud behind it or a powerful Wind enchantment, she had an effective endless well of mana to spend. A fitting name for the feat, she thought.

    The dividing line between the zones was even less substantial this time. At this point, the sign that divided the two sections was damaged and worn from the years it was left there. Zoe thought about spending a few minutes building a new sign to replace it, but the lines being less clear as she climbed the mountain felt fitting somehow.

    As though not even the ones who maintained the mountain dared climb this high. It gave the mountain a sense of age and power. And if Zoe was being honest, she was too excited to find what was next to bother spending time fixing up a sign that most people who climbed this high weren¡¯t going to need.

    And there were very few who did climb this high, as far as Zoe could tell. She saw a few people throughout her time in the magic zone, but they were few and far between. Most continued up further, and the ones who did stick around to fight the mages were never there for as long as Zoe had been.

    The longest was a younger man with bright red hair who ran through the forests laughing as he smashed through the zombies with his large black sledge hammer. He stuck around for a few months at one point, but then Zoe never saw him again. Maybe he went up, or maybe he got whatever he needed.

    But the rest were never around for more than a week or two at most. They came, usually in groups, set up their camps and hunted the zombies with an almost methodical approach for a while. And then they went back down and that was it.

    Zoe had stopped by a few of their camps at times and tried to chat, but they never seemed interested in making friends. Snobby, higher than thou types of people. She gave up trying after the first couple groups and just stuck to herself as she wandered through the magic zone.

    Her first steps into the next zone were nerve-wracking. This was the first time that Zoe had no idea what to expect. When she first came to Moaning Point she knew there were zombies to fight, and as she travelled up she even had a good understanding of what was to come. The second zone had tools and weapons, sometimes even armour. The next zone had magic.

    But the fourth zone? The one she was just stepping into for the first time? Zoe had no clue what was waiting for her. Maybe there would be undead dragons, liches summoning hordes of zombies. Maybe it would just be armoured mages or undead dogs. She had no clue, and she walked up the path with a careful gait.

    Though, calling it a path at this point was rather generous she thought. Down in the lower stages, the path was well worn from all the people who travelled it. But at this point, without all of her skills showing her where people travelled Zoe doubted she would even be able to notice the route up the mountain.

    It wasn¡¯t long before she saw the first zombie, or rather zombies. Not far up from the magic zone was a small group of five rotting corpses wandering through the forest. All in the low dark red seventies to her Identify.

    Zoe had seen groups of zombies in the past ¡ª in particular when she angered one of the armoured zombies or otherwise made a lot of noise that lured in groups. But this wasn¡¯t a horde lured to a particular sound, it was just a group of them wandering together.

    Was that what the next zone was? Groups of them? Zoe summoned her sword and shield from ice and covered herself in her Scorched Arsenal armour. A nice side effect of the Scorched Arsenal compared to the Frozen Arsenal was that it applied her Adaptive Cinders on contact.

    The effect wasn¡¯t strong enough to outweigh her much higher level Frozen Arsenal when used as a weapon, but for her armour it was a nice bonus. If she needed defense, she could cover herself in ice. But if she needed offense like she felt she¡¯d more be in need of here, she could cover herself in Cinders and sneak in some extra damage with her armour while she fought.

    Another benefit of Scorched Arsenal was that it was far superior for explosive projectiles. The cloud of ash and soot burned into her opponents and tore through them with her Adaptive Cinders skill. Zoe summoned a cone of ice and fired it off at one of the zombies with a simple archery enchantment.

    The group turned to face her and as soon as they saw her rushed down through the trees towards her. They seemed so slow to Zoe, though. They were higher level than any zombie that she¡¯d fought before but so unimpressive.

    She stepped into the group when they approached and ducked under a wild swing from the forward zombie. The zombie to her left slammed its fists down at her, and she let its claws scrape along her shield as she drew her sword across its chest. The dungeon¡¯s magic reached up and pulled away its flesh and bones to reclaim.

    Another zombie slammed its rotted hands towards her from behind. Zoe let it smash into her back and felt the meaningless drain on her mana as her armour held against the impact. The smell of burnt, rotting flesh flooded her nose as Adaptive Cinders seeped into its body. She stepped back to avoid another zombie¡¯s sad attempt at grappling her, and shoved the last zombie to the ground with her shield then stabbed through its chest with her sword and let the dungeon claim its body.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Two down, three to go. The first zombie staggered towards her and swiped at her with its hands while another was jumping at her from behind. The third was still recoiling from the cinders coursing through its body.

    Zoe slammed into the first zombie with her shield and formed a shield of rock behind her that the second slammed into. She stabbed her sword into the one she tackled then dragged it across the zombie¡¯s chest, and it fell to the ground in a clump to be reclaimed by the dungeon.

    The last two zombies were behind the shield of rock she created, and Zoe let it dissolve away as she drew the mana back into herself. Both the zombies leapt at her, and Zoe stepped back from their charge then smashed into one with her shield while she slashed into the other with her sword.

    She pushed the zombie clawing at her shield to the ground and stabbed through its chest. The fight took seconds, and even the one hit Zoe did take was she wanted to take. Adaptive Cinders was powerful, and she almost wished she could take Adaptive Frost after getting used to it. The slowing effect would be incredible she knew, but there wasn¡¯t anything she could sacrifice.

    Maybe Frozen Arsenal now that she had Scorched Arsenal to replace it, but it was almost at level ninety, compared to Scorched Cinders¡¯ mere level thirty. The difference in power was very noticeable, and her armour only barely won out for offense thanks to its synergy with Adaptive Cinders providing extra damage her icy armour couldn¡¯t do.

    Zoe shrugged and carried on. There was no point worrying about it now, her current skillset was doing wonders for her. Maybe it could be slightly better, but aside from her Seasoned Frost class they were all temporary anyway. She¡¯d replace them one day when she had all the feats, resistances and skills she could ever hope for.

    She fought a few more of the groups, and none were much more difficult. With her frozen projectiles she was able to take them out before they even noticed her. She carried on up the mountain towards the next zone which was marked with a carving in a massive boulder that towered over Zoe. Somebody had carved out a skull in it and that was as good as any sign that she was continuing on to the next zone.

    The next two zones were rather boring for her, and Zoe found herself rushing through them. The first of the two was more groups of zombies, but this time with tools and armour. She found a group of five armoured zombies near the next border, but even they proved hardly a challenge for her.

    Even when she was lower levelled and less experienced, without all of her new feats she had taken out two of them with ease. Even if they were higher levelled ¡ª up in the mid eighties to low nineties at this point, they were just too slow for her.

    She weaved through their attacks and dismantled them one after the other, and they fell with not a scratch on Zoe.

    The next zone was not at all surprising to her. Groups of mages, and the first non humans that she found over level one hundred. They were still only dark red, but Zoe suspected the next stage might have zombies with their next class. That would be the first time she¡¯d fought something with more classes than her ¡ª if she chose to continue ascending before making it to her next class selection.

    Which she thought she would. Even if the zombies had a whole entire class above her, she had so many feats and skills bolstering her that it might just even the playing field a little. And fighting something so much higher level than her would get her to that next threshold far faster than things at the same level or even lower than her.

    In just a few days, she had climbed up through three new sections of Moaning Point. The fastest progression she¡¯d had yet, and if the books she read were to be believed then the highest level undead at the top of the mountain would be only just reaching one fifty. There weren¡¯t many more stages left for her to climb, unless they started to have much smaller jumps in levels.

    The mages were easy, even easier than the groups of armoured zombies to her. She had spent so much time fighting them, growing accustomed to their movements and techniques while she gathered her new feats. Even if they were much stronger now, even if they were much quicker and their magic smashed through the air with so much more power, Zoe was stronger too and made quick work of them.

    The next zone was marked with another large boulder ¡ª a theme this high up it seemed, and Zoe walked past it. Her heart pounded with each step, and seconds after passing the boulder she heard a rumbling from higher up. It sounded like the Okiu¡¯s steps, a deep quaking sound that echoed through the mountain.

    She was stunned that she hadn¡¯t been able to hear it moments prior and took a few steps back down. As soon as she did, the rumbling stopped and all she could hear was the wind through the trees and distant zombies wandering through the forests.

    Was the dungeon blocking out the sound from higher up? To keep people from being lured up towards it, or to stop them from being scared of it perhaps? Whatever the reason was, there was an imperceptible barrier that the rumbling couldn¡¯t pass through not far from the marked boulder. On one side, it was almost peaceful.

    But on the other, reality quaked from the power of whatever was causing the rumbling. It almost scared her how close it had been all along. What horrors walked past her over her years on Abyllan without her notice, what terrible creatures lurked mere moments away from her, hidden by some magic she couldn¡¯t notice?

    Zoe shivered, and continued upwards. There had never been a spike in difficulty so large that one zone was simple and the next was deadly. Moaning Point was a lodestone dungeon, if she could handle the groups of mages she could at least escape from whatever was next.

    The terrain shifted as she continued up the mountain. The steady, comfortable climb through a relaxing forest that she¡¯d grown accustomed to was gradually replaced with jagged rocks and black sand that clung to her clothes. The gentle hike turned to a challenging climb as she clambered up steep cliffs with poor handholds and across shaky wooden bridges over deep crevices in the mountain.

    Even her Vampyric Senses struggled to find the path that people were taking through the mountain, and at times she found herself off track and had to head back to where she last saw the path.

    The deep rumbling echoed through the rocky mountain, but Zoe never saw what was causing it even by the time she found the next boulder marking the end of the zone. It made sense, if she assumed that the zombies at this stage were more powerful but smaller in numbers.

    Most of the people at this stage were likely trying to get further up, and would take a path through the mountain that wouldn¡¯t lead them to conflict. She sighed and turned back down the mountain. It was time to track down the source of the rumbling on her own.

 2-48. Jurgenhill

    The source of the sound wasn¡¯t difficult to find. The rumbling echoed through the mountain and acted like a beacon of danger that Zoe was drawn to. She clambered over the rocks and down the cliffs as she made her way towards the source.

    Her destination was about the middle of the zone and a ways off to the side off the barely beaten path. The familiar zombies that swarmed the surroundings that she¡¯d gotten used to on Moaning Point were gone. Her only company was herself and the odd bug that crawled over the rocks with her.

    When she first saw the source of the sound off in the distance she froze and stared. Far below her in a large crater was a towering, hulking mass of flesh. Fleshy limbs covered its body and flailed around it, smashing through boulders and carving deep grooves into the rocky crater floor as it rolled around.

    Zoe was too far away for her Identify to tell her what level it was, but didn¡¯t know if she did to know that it was a force. Each swing of its limbs shook the ground she stood on, each boulder that it smashed through exploded into tiny fragments that covered the ground. She wasn¡¯t sure if it lived in the crater, or if it simply carved it out by existing in this area.

    She tied off some rope on a nearby tree and climbed down another few dozen feet to the next plateau she saw, and then was interrupted with a surprising notification.

    *Ding* You have received a message from Lila Jurgenhill.

    Zoe looked at the distant mass of flesh writhing in the crater and climbed back up her rope. She leant against a tree and urged the system to tell her more about the message while she watched the destruction below.

    Hello Zoe, this is Eliza. I hope I didn¡¯t catch you at a bad time. I¡¯ve acquired a couple new skills for myself, and I wanted to hold up my end of the bargain. I tried to reach you at your hill, but I suppose you¡¯ve since moved on. I¡¯ll be in Flester for a few weeks for a job if you¡¯re nearby and wanted to have a chat. But I¡¯ll share what I¡¯ve learned so far.

    Unfortunately, what I¡¯ve learned is that I don¡¯t think my understanding of these skills will prove useful to you. How do you see mana? How does it behave? I¡¯ve chatted with Lila about this at length, and we have very different perspectives on reality. It¡¯s quite curious, and I could go on about what that possibly means for the system but I¡¯ll leave that for another day.

    The main point I would like to raise is that for me, mana is like water. It ebbs and flows through and with everything that makes up the world around us. It seeps into the ground and the sky, drips from the flowers that hang from vines and fills us with life. It¡¯s a thing of beauty, really.

    The way I managed to attain these skills was through manipulating this water like substance into specific forms. With the right colours and viscosity and filling a vessel in the right shape, magic was created and I got a skill for it.

    However; when I spoke with Lila about this, she had an interesting addition. Mana to her is not like water in the slightest. To Lila, everything burns with bright, colourful flames. I¡¯m apparently a bright blue flame to her, and Ash was a brilliant yellow. My manipulation of mana was utterly useless to her. Even the colours were different.

    To me, the mana that fills me is a translucent yellow liquid rather than the bright almost opaque blue flame she sees. Fascinating, really. And it makes me wonder if there are two people who view mana in precisely the same way. Would they be able to make quicker progression than others if they shared their research with each other?

    I suspect you have an entirely new perspective on mana that I would love to learn about if you have the chance to share it. However; I regret to inform you that I don¡¯t think it will be possible for me to assist you in learning these skills yourself aside from providing you with study material.

    At any rate, come visit me in Flester if you have the time in the next few weeks. I¡¯m staying at The Chipped Mug on Gromp, just ask Penny for me.

    Zoe dismissed the notification and felt it settle into her soul to be pulled up again later if she needed it. She had a suspicion that Eliza wouldn¡¯t be able to help her with getting the Space and Time skills, if she were being honest.

    If it were something so easy to share with others, Richard would have done so. Spending some time with Eliza and studying her use of the skills though might still be useful, so she¡¯d need to find the time to go back to Flester for a bit soon.

    The writhing ball of flesh below her hadn¡¯t changed course while she read ¡ª or at least, it had but not unusually so. The creature bounced and rolled around the crater as it left destruction behind it, but didn¡¯t seem to be able to leave the crater. The sheer walls that surrounded it stopped it from getting out, but it did seem to smash through the wall bit by bit as it travelled around. One day it might just dig its way entirely out of the mountain, if it kept going.

    Was this really just a step up from the groups of mages? A simple improvement like all the previous? Each movement it took seemed to shake the entire mountain, would Zoe even be able to do anything about it? How would she stop its movement?

    A wall of earth wouldn¡¯t stop it, not unless she could make far more in an instant than she could. The boulders and cliffs already tried and even the sheer rock walls only just managed to hang on through the violent impacts. Rocks and dirt tumbled down into the crater as the creature carved out more space in its crater with each movement.

    If she stood at the top of one of the cliffs and peppered it with projectiles, she¡¯d have a chance at success. But if the creature focused its violence towards the cliff she was on then she didn¡¯t expect to have a cliff to stand on for very long. Maybe she could run around the edge and keep it moving so she could keep an eye on it the whole time, but how much health would something like that even have?

    Could she out do its regeneration? If slamming into the walls and smashing through ground with its flesh wasn¡¯t enough to even hurt it, then how would her feeble projectiles manage to finish it off?

    Zoe took a breath and climbed back down the rope. She¡¯d give it a try, and if it didn¡¯t seem like it was working out then she¡¯d leave. But at least for now, the creature seemed trapped in the crater. If it was able to climb out, it did a great job of hiding that.

    The approach was terrifying. The shockwaves from the creatures movements were intense from so close. Each time it slammed into one of the crater¡¯s walls felt like she was standing on a flimsy sheet of paper balanced across two rocking boats. The earth rattled and Zoe struggled to maintain her balance. But with her dexterity and Expeditious feat helping her, she managed to stay standing.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    At the edge of the cliff were jagged boulders, and Zoe used her Earth to help support the cliff edge as she peered over into the deep crater. The creature bounded around the crater and smashed into the walls and shook the rocky platform she made for herself.

    Zoe grimaced and watched the creature for a while. Rocks broke off the cliff and fell around her, even her platform cracked from the quakes and Zoe had to keep reinforcing it.

    After a few minutes, the creature slammed into the cliff below Zoe and large chunks of the wall she stood on fell to the ground and shattered. Her Identify was able to reach it, and she checked its level. Dark blue level one fifteen. It wasn¡¯t much higher level than the zombies she¡¯d fought before, but it did have another class.

    And classes were much bigger than just some levels, Zoe knew. The difference between her Seasoned Cinders class at level seventy and her Chrono Enchanter if it lasted that far was night and day. The creature might not be much higher level, but it could have massive bonuses to its stats that Zoe was just missing.

    Zoe took a deep breath and refreshed her suit of icy armour, in her hands was an icy long bow and an ashen arrow. She summoned several Frost projectiles and flashed an enchantment of Archery, Spear-fighting and an explosive Scorched Arsenal onto them, and then fired everything off.

    Dozens of projectiles flew through the air, a lone ashen arrow amidst a cloud of icy cones. They slammed into the creature below her and exploded in a cloud of flame and soot.

    A deep, guttural roar blasted through the crater and wore away at the stony cliffs that surrounded it. The creature launched itself out of the cloud of soot towards Zoe and slammed into the wall far below her. Its limbs a hurricane of destruction being wrought on the earth as Zoe struggled to keep her balance on her Earth platform.

    A pillar of stone rose from the ground behind her and wrapped around her waist to keep her from falling down. The stone extended deep into the earth behind her for support, and Zoe turned her attention to her Frost projectiles.

    Another cindered arrow appeared in her hand along with a dozen Frost projectiles around her. She flashed her Enchanted Mirror onto them and launched them at the beast below her. It let out another thunderous roar as the flames and soot seeped into it. Zoe saw smoke rising from the mass of flesh as her cinders were burning away at it from the inside. Smoke rose from its body, and Zoe let out another barrage.

    The fight continued for only a few more barrages as the beast was unable to do anything to her so far above, but finally the beast relented and its flesh dissolved away. The massive black skeleton was drawn back into the mountain, and Zoe let out a sigh of relief.

    Her Earthen platform was now a tendril of rock that stuck out from the cliff edge as the beast eroded away at the cliff, held together with her magical power. She walked back to the land proper and started climbing back up to the next zone.

    After the fight with the beast, she felt confident in her damage output if nothing else. In a head on fight, she doubted that it would have been anywhere near as easy, but trapped so far below her? She dismantled it in mere seconds.

    Zoe checked her stat sheet as she continued up the mountain, and saw she had another three levels worth of points to spend. All ninety were put straight into Vitality, giving her a total health of seventy six hundred. Plenty for her to not feel like the weak level eight she used to be.

    A few minutes past the next zone marker, she ran into something she wasn¡¯t expecting. There was what seemed to be a camp site set up, a few tents set up around a central campfire and picnic table. A dozen people were wandering around the campsite and chatting with each other. A few sat at the picnic table with papers, talking about their plans for the next section.

    They were all dark blue to her identify, the lowest was one hundred thirty two and the highest was level two hundred one. Most were around level one hundred forty.

    One of the women saw Zoe and waved. Her light red hair was tied in a braid that wrapped around her shoulders. ¡°Hey! Haven¡¯t seen you up here before.¡±

    Zoe blinked a few times in surprise. ¡°Uh, hello?"

    The woman laughed. ¡°You weren¡¯t expecting a campsite right before the dungeon boss, huh?¡±

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, I mean I barely even saw people this high up and now there¡¯s like a dozen of you?¡± She looked around. Some of the others heard her conversation and were looking over to her.

    ¡°We wait here for our turns. Was that you fighting the abomination down there?" She asked.

    ¡°The abomination?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah the big writhing ball of shit trapped in the crater?¡± The woman clarified.

    ¡°Oh, uh. Yeah, I was fighting it I guess. Why?¡± Zoe looked at the crowd. More people were staring at her now. The anticipation was palpable to her Vampyric Empathy.

    ¡°Did you win? Ya kill it?¡± The woman asked her.

    Zoe stepped back and nodded her head. ¡°I did, yes. Is that a problem?"

    A collective groan resounded through the crowd and a man sitting at the picnic table spoke up. ¡°Is it a problem, she asks. Hah!¡±

    The woman at the picnic table spoke up. ¡°You¡¯re fine, it¡¯s just annoying is all.¡±

    ¡°Why¡¯s it annoying?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Somebody killed it a week ago, and we just got it trapped again yesterday. Now we¡¯re gonna have to go trap it again.¡± The red haired woman near Zoe answered.

    ¡°Huh. So you just trap it and leave it there?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Aye,¡± a man walked up next to the red haired woman. ¡°Pain in the ass to fight, that.¡± He shook his head. ¡°And if it ain¡¯t trapped, ya not gettin¡¯ away from it. Damn thing¡¯ll chase ya right up to the boss. Only way out is back down, killin¡¯ it or trappin¡¯ it.

    ¡°Killin¡¯ it ain¡¯t all too bad, but it¡¯s much easier to toss the damn thing in a hole and ignore it, y¡¯see?¡± He said.

    ¡°Ah. Well I¡¯m sorry, then.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ain¡¯t a thing. Help us trap it and we¡¯re even, see?¡± He said.

    ¡°I have to help you trap it now?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Aye, ya killed it ain¡¯t ya?" He grinned.

 2-49. Kendra

    Trapping the creature was an interesting experience for Zoe. It was brought back a few hours later and the rumbling returned as it smashed through the rocky cliffs, and the group walked over as they had a casual chat about their favourite restaurants.

    They had a simple plan. Get the creature¡¯s attention, lure it to the massive crater, and then shove it over the edge. Zoe¡¯s part would be in helping the mages form platforms to help the creature get over the rocky cliffs on the way to the crater without too much issue.

    When they found the creature, the group split up. A few stayed behind to keep the creature occupied while Zoe and the rest of the mages started paving a path to the crater. A couple hours later they had something resembling a path through and sent a message to the other group then stepped off to the side a ways.

    Minutes later, the rumbling and deafening roars of the creature drew closer. Large shards of rock flew through the sky and slammed into the ground around them as it blasted through the rocky path they made. The creature was lured right up to the edge of the crater, and then Zoe and the mages formed a massive slab of rock behind it to push it over the edge.

    It fell to the bottom and slammed into the ground, and began bounding around the crater in a fruitless attempt to find an exit.

    ¡°Good job y¡¯all. Now ain¡¯t nobody go around killin¡¯ the damn thing again.¡± The man Zoe spoke with earlier said.

    ¡°That¡¯s it then? It¡¯s trapped? Seemed easier to kill it, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    One of the mages Zoe worked with answered. ¡°Well, it is, sort of. But a couple hours to trap it is nicer than having to fight it again every single time we come up here.¡±

    ¡°Pain in the ass I say. And if ya let it run around, it ruins the damn path. Nice to have at least something consistent in this damned dungeon.¡± Another mage said.

    ¡°I see. How long is the wait for the boss?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s four groups ahead of you. Probably a day, two at most?¡± The red haired woman with her hair tied around her shoulders answered.

    Some of the group split off and carried on up the mountain, but the red haired woman and one of the mages stayed behind with Zoe.

    ¡°Did you want me to save you a spot?" The mage asked.

    ¡°No, I think I¡¯m gonna go get some errands done and I¡¯ll be back later. I think I need some more levels before I try anyway. Thanks, though.¡± Zoe said.

    The mage nodded. ¡°Not a bad idea. Your magic¡¯s quite powerful for your level already, I was surprised.¡± He said.

    ¡°Yeah I¡¯m surprised you killed it at your level at all, even if it was trapped.¡± The red haired woman said.

    ¡°Right¡­ Well, it was nice meeting you all I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You too, best of fortunes and stay safe!" The two said and left up the mountain.

    Zoe turned and started making her way back down the mountain. It was time to visit her friends again, and maybe have a chat with Eliza.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Blake checked his stat sheet while the group recovered from the last fight.

    Name: Blake Kendra

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 15

    Strength: 176

    Dexterity: 72

    Vitality: 100

    Endurance: 75

    Intelligence: 30

    Wisdom: 30

    Health:  2314/2500

    Stamina: 1132/1500

    Mana: 265/300

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Abyllian (41)

    - Identify (41)

    Class 2: Apprentice Warrior

    - Physical Affinity (41)

    - Regeneration (41)

    - Slash (41)

    - Brace (41)

    - Cleanly Fighting (41)

    Class 3: Swordsmaster

    - Blade Affinity (41)

    - Riposte (41)

    - Combo (41)

    - Stagger (41)

    - Rage (41)

    Class 4: Anti-magic Fighter

    - Physical Affinity (41)

    - Mana Affinity (41)

    - Dispelling Slash (41)

    - Magic Absorption (41)

    - Magic Reflect (41)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Brawling (32)

    - First-aid (41)

    - Tracking (21)

    - Stealth (18)

    - Repose (21)

    Resistances:

    - Fire (7)

    - Pain (11)

    His face lit up with a smile when he saw he levelled up again, and he pushed the remaining fifteen stat points into Dexterity. Until he got a nice baseline of Dexterity, he wanted to keep it at around half of his Strength. Power without the speed and accuracy to be effective was useless, he knew.

    Balancing it with his Health and Stamina pools was increasingly difficult, and with his newest class also using Mana he felt like his stat points were being spread quite thin. It didn¡¯t help that he had back to back low rolls on his classes, either. Sixteen for his third class and thirty three for his fourth.

    If the opportunity ever presented itself, trying again for a better outcome on his third and fourth classes would be well worth his time. But with the rest of his team continuing to move on, he wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d ever have the time to fix it.

    They needed him at his best, and spending another year or two slowing down so he could rack up a few more easy stat points would set them all back and just grow the gap that already existed between them. Blake shook his head.

    ¡°Everything good?¡± Jessica asked. Her metal bow held proudly in her hand, a gift from her grandfather when they decided to set out on their journey. Jessica¡¯s sharp eyes scanned the forests around them for any more of the magic wielding husks of death that ravaged the party.

    ¡°Yeah. Got another level.¡± Blake answered.

    ¡°Nice!¡± Golur said. ¡°Dexterity still?"

    Blake nodded.

    ¡°Dexterity¡¯s good. Should get more of it, really.¡± Jessica said.

    ¡°Of course you¡¯d think that, bow brain.¡± Golur laughed.

    ¡°Shh. We¡¯re still in mage territory.¡± Jessica spat.

    ¡°Ah we¡¯re fine. Blake¡¯s anti magic stuff is doing wonders here.¡± Golur said.

    ¡°One on one, yeah. But if we get surrounded then he won¡¯t be able to protect us both. And we already know your healing won¡¯t outdo their damage. Keep quiet.¡± Jessica scolded him.

    ¡°Fine, fine. You¡¯re right. I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s just hard to believe it¡¯s dangerous when we¡¯ve been stomping them so hard, I guess.¡± Golur said.

    ¡°She¡¯s right, though. I can stop one mage, but if two mages got on us I think we¡¯d be in trouble. Let alone three. I¡¯ve heard the next stage up is groups of the monsters too, we¡¯ve got a long ways to go before we can do that.¡± Blake said.

    ¡°Yeah I know. Hopefully I get my fourth class soon, I bet I¡¯ll have some really powerful options now that I have the Healer feat.¡± Golur said.

    ¡°Maybe. Can¡¯t believe you were the first one to get a feat though.¡± Jessica smiled and shook her head.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The great Golur, healer extraordinaire! At your service.¡± He whispered and bowed flamboyantly.

    Jessica rolled her eyes. ¡°Whatever. You good Blake?"

    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go.¡± Blake stood up from the stump he was sitting on and stretched.

    The group walked through the forest, Jessica at the front and Blake at the back. His metal armour clinked with each step while his empty sheath shook at his waist. In one hand was his short sword and in the other was a large curved kite shield that covered most of his body.

    Galur walked in the middle with his dark brown robes covering his body. A constant pressure washed out from him over the group and enveloped them in a calming buff.

    Jessica pointed off through the trees. ¡°Water mage alone.¡±

    Blake squinted in the direction she pointed but couldn¡¯t see anything, let alone what kind of magic it was using. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Galur nodded his head.

    The group approached the water mage Jessica spotted. Blake¡¯s anxiety rose and was quickly pushed aside by Galur¡¯s magic.

    Blake took his position at the front once they were closer and the two others fell behind him. He slammed his sword on his shield and cried out. Power raced through his body from his Rage skill and the Zombie turned to rush towards them.

    Bubbles of water appeared around the zombie and flew towards the group. Blake stepped forwards and smashed through them with his shield. The magic seeped into his shield and made it glow with a faint blue light.

    A volley of arrows flew past his head and pierced into the zombie¡¯s flesh, ripping bits of it off but the zombie kept on its charge towards them. Bursts of light followed shortly after and seared into its skin.

    Blake slammed his shield into the ground and pressed up against it as the zombie slammed its full body weight into him. He pushed back and knocked the zombie away then made two quick stabs at it with Riposte and felt the rush of Combo coursing through his muscles.

    He slammed his shield into it with Stagger and the zombie fell to the ground. More arrows flew past him and stabbed through the zombie¡¯s body into the ground behind it. The zombie struggled to pull itself up with the arrows nailing it to the ground.

    ¡°SHIT!¡± Jessica called out from behind.

    Blake spun around and saw two more zombies rushing through the forest towards them. One had a flaming stick and the other wielded a scraggly bone that extruded from its hand.

    ¡°Run?" Galur shouted.

    ¡°Run!¡± Jessica shouted.

    The group ditched the dying zombie on the ground and fled into the forest.

    ¡°There¡¯s another one ahead of us. Shit! Where do we go?" Jessica¡¯s head swivelled around.

    ¡°Get up a tree?¡± Galur suggested.

    ¡°That won¡¯t work on these, they have magic now. Shit. Shit shit shit.¡± Jessica panicked. ¡°This way!¡± She pointed and ran off.

    Galur and Blake followed behind as Jessica weaved through the forest. ¡°Shit!¡± Jessica leapt to the side as she ran past a tree, narrowly dodging a flaming rock to her head and tumbling on the ground. A small ball of fire flew out from the tree and exploded on her side as she screamed out in pain.

    Blake rushed in and slammed his shield against the zombie who ambushed them, Staggering it. ¡°Are you okay?¡± He shouted back.

    ¡°No, she¡¯s out.¡± Galur said, kneeling at her side with the golden glow of his healing spell.

    ¡°Dammit. What do we do?" Blake asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. We can¡¯t carry her. Even if we could, neither of us can see well enough.¡± Galur said.

    ¡°Dammit. Mom was right. This was too risky. We should¡¯ve just stuck to zombies lower than us instead of getting cocky.¡± Blake complained as the zombie in front of him slammed into his shield with its flaming rock. The fire magic coursed through his shield and he fired it back at the zombie.

    A pulse of fire and water slammed into the zombie and pushed it back.

    ¡°Just do your best. We¡¯ll be fine, we¡¯ve made it out of every shitty situation we¡¯ve been in so far.¡± Galur said as he focused on healing Jessica.

    Blake looked around as the zombie recovered. There were three more rushing through the forest to them, and that¡¯s only what he could see. There were probably more. Maybe even dozens, blocked by the the trees and hills. He could handle one on his own. Two if he didn¡¯t have to worry about protecting people, maybe.

    But more than that? While he had to keep them away from his vulnerable companions?

    ¡°Hey, y¡¯all need some help?¡± A woman walked around a tree next to him. She was covered in ice apart from her head. Her skin as pale as a sheet of paper, with her long white hair tied in a ponytail behind her. She had deep red eyes with pitch black pupils and teeth that looked sharper than Blake¡¯s blade. Blake¡¯s Identify showed dark red marks.

    ¡°What? Who are you?" Blake shouted at the woman as he pulsed mana through his ring. It didn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe. You looked like you were in trouble but if you¡¯re fine then sorry to bother you I guess?" The woman said quizzically.

    ¡°No we need, if you can help us please do. We need to get Jessica to a healer, please help us.¡± Blake begged.

    Zoe walked over to Jessica and put her hand on Jessica¡¯s shoulder. Power raced through the air and Jessica¡¯s wound stitched itself back together.

    The zombie that was fighting Blake fell to the ground in a clump with a hole pierced through its head. Its flesh ripped apart as the dungeon reclaimed its valuable bones.

    ¡°Okay, she¡¯s fine and the zombies are dead. You good, or need an escort down?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°There were more¡­¡± Blake looked around but didn¡¯t see any of the zombies that were rushing towards them before.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Yeah, there were. You folk made a lot of noise fighting, they get attracted by that sometimes.¡±

    Jessica woke up and stared at the woman. ¡°Who are you?¡± She scowled.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Galur said. ¡°She saved us.¡±

    ¡°Shit¡­¡± Jessica¡¯s head fell back on the tree behind her. ¡°We screwed up, didn¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Mhm,¡± Zoe said. ¡°But you made it out this time. That¡¯s good, right?"

    ¡°If you can, an escort down would be nice. I want to sleep in a bed and forget about all this for a while.¡± Blake said.

    Galur and Jessica both nodded their heads.

    ¡°Thank you. We would¡¯ve died without you. If you¡¯re ever in Korna, come visit the Kendra family.¡± Blake bowed to the woman.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I just did what anybody would¡¯ve done I think. I¡¯ll come say hi if I¡¯m ever in Korna. Sounds like a nice place.¡± She said.

    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful. Thank you.¡± Jessica bowed her head.

    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡± Galur said.

    The woman escorted them down to Gafoda, every zombie that approached them taken out with a small shard of ice that rocketed off towards them and exploded in a cloud of flame and ash.

    When they got to the bottom and through Gafoda¡¯s gate, the woman said goodbye and ran off.

    ¡°Who was she, do you think?¡± Jessica asked.

    ¡°I dunno. Some noble daughter, maybe?" Galur suggested.

    ¡°Must be. She was way too strong for a normal level eighty. Maybe a looper?¡± Blake suggested.

    ¡°But she was so young. Didn¡¯t look older than us.¡± Galur said.

    ¡°She didn¡¯t really look human either though.¡± Jessica said.

    ¡°I checked. She¡¯s not a monster at least.¡± Blake said.

    ¡°Well whatever she is, she saved our asses.¡± Jessica said.

    Galur and Blake nodded their heads.

 2-50. The Risen Cask

    Zoe left Gafoda and headed back to Flester to visit her friends before she took on the boss of Moaning Point. Eliza might still be there too when she got there, and Zoe could get a proper look at the Space and Time skills themselves, rather than mere representations of their magic through other skills.

    She had managed another four levels on her way down the mountain, meandering through the groups of mages and studying their magics. The one hundred twenty points she pushed straight into Vitality.

    Flester looked the same as it always did when she arrived. The towering stone walls surrounded the city, and she nodded to the guards as she walked through the gate. Her first stop was Joe¡¯s inn, and she found him in the dining room sitting at the bar drinking from a glass mug.

    Zoe walked up and sat down next to him. Identify showed up at level eighty four now, the same as Zoe. Though she¡¯d been eighty four many times over now as she collected her stat feats.

    ¡°Hey Joe,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hey Zoe. How was Moaning Point this time? Any better?¡± He looked at her and smiled.

    ¡°Yeah, actually. I had a lot of fun climbing up it. Y¡¯know, at the top there¡¯s actually this super awful ball of gross that they keep trapped in a giant crater just cause it¡¯s annoying to deal with?" Zoe laughed.

    Joe chuckled. ¡°Nobody wants to kill it?"

    ¡°No! I did! And they got annoyed at me for it. I had to go help them trap it again.¡± Zoe smiled and shook her head.

    ¡°I thought of a name.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Oh? For the inn?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup. How¡¯s Zoe Lived Here?¡± Joe laughed.

    ¡°No. Absolutely not.¡± Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°I¡¯m kidding, I¡¯m kidding.¡± Joe laughed some more.

    ¡°I mean I thought you were but you had me for a moment.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°How¡¯s The Risen Cask?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°The Risen Cask?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ve helped a lot of people here, and these past few years I¡¯ve taken to doing that a lot more now, too. I think I¡¯d like to make this a place where people down on their luck can come and get back on their feet.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°And get drunk while they¡¯re at it? I mean you¡¯re calling it The Risen Cask, not The Risen Lowlife.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well it¡¯s a tavern after all.¡± Joe grinned at her. ¡°And don¡¯t forget, you were one of those lowlifes. Maybe I¡¯ll put up a sign that says Zoe Lived Here after all.¡±

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°I think it¡¯s a good name. When do you wanna name it?¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯ve got some errands to do in a few days, I¡¯ll probably register it then. You can come along if you want, and then name the inn when we¡¯re done? It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve wandered around town.¡± Joe suggested.

    ¡°Sounds like a good time to me.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe smiled. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re still around, Zoe. I was worried when you left that you¡¯d be throwing your life away for some ridiculous goal.¡±

    ¡°I think I kinda was, back then. I didn¡¯t have anything, y¡¯know? I mean I had you, and Emma. But that was it, really. And that¡¯s still it, for the most part.¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°But I¡¯ve got a place of my own, kinda. I¡¯ve got a couple others who I talk to now too. I enjoy being here now. I¡¯m attached.¡±

    Joe chuckled. ¡°Well you could do to visit a bit more often. You disappear for years at a time, y¡¯know?¡±

    Zoe frowned. ¡°I know. I get distracted with something and before I know it, I¡¯ve spent more time than I thought I would on it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, really. You should be out there and having fun, doing what you want. Maybe send a letter though. You talked about that when you first left, y¡¯know?" Joe suggested.

    ¡°Yeah, I did. Gafoda doesn¡¯t really have a proper thing set up for that, and my home certainly doesn¡¯t either. Maybe I can find out how Lila sends her messages and do something like that, though. That''d be nice.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Lila?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°You remember the mages who owned the farm I visited for resistance training a little over a decade ago now?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe pondered on it for a moment. ¡°Ah, yes, back when you were still level eight and needed an escort to walk down the road.¡± He laughed.

    ¡°Yeah, them. Ash died a while ago, unfortunately. But Lila¡¯s still around, and she has a skill that sends messages to people. Something like that would be convenient.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It sounds nice. Does it work both ways?" Joe asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I didn¡¯t try, but it didn¡¯t have an obvious way to do it when I got a message, anyway.¡±

    Joe nodded his head. ¡°That makes sense. Usually people¡¯s skills don¡¯t give you abilities like that. Sometimes, though.¡±

    ¡°You ever had something like that?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I get all kinds of people in here, Zoe. Some of them have powerful magic. I remember this one fellow, a few years ago. Gave me a buff that let me float my kitchen tools around. Lasted a day, but that was a nice convenience.¡± Joe said.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Zoe and Joe chatted for a while longer. Joe shared some of his stories of helping out some more people who wandered into his inn ¡ª which was garnering quite a reputation for it at this point, apparently. And Zoe shared a bit more about her experiences on Moaning Point, and then she headed out to Kaira park when the sun began to set.

    In the morning, she¡¯d go visit Emma. But for the night, Zoe wanted to relax and enjoy the park she¡¯d spent so much time in. Flester had changed quite a lot since she first arrived. Roads were renamed, shops sold and renovated to fit the new owner¡¯s tastes.

    The magic of it all was never lost ¡ª buildings floated above the ground and had wondrous magics floating around them just as often. But it was strange seeing shops she had grown so used to seeing as she wandered through town replaced by something entirely new.

    The sandwich shop that she bought so many sandwiches from was no longer around. The comfortable gazebo style restaurant replaced with a multi storied building made from what looked like threads woven into the shape of walls.

    Lynn wasn¡¯t ever in Kaira park now when she did stop by, but she supposed that made a lot of sense given how long it had been. The birds they watched years ago were still around, hopping and dancing on the branches in the park.

    The foliage in the park was different, too. Many more bushes surrounded the park, and the trees surrounding it had all grown several feet.

    It was always interesting watching the town grow and change as she spent years away from it. One day, she might come back and there wouldn¡¯t even be a town. Maybe not next year, maybe not the year after. Maybe not even for a few decades. But in hundreds of years? Thousands?

    How much change was Zoe going to see throughout her lifetime? How many cultures would come and go as she lived her life?

    Immortality was something that Zoe appreciated having a great deal. Death never seemed like a particularly fun part of her life, and conquering it at least in part was a dream come true, in many ways.

    But the implications of it never ceased to astound her. Every time she had a moment to think about it there would be something new that she hadn¡¯t even considered before. Would people a thousand years from now remember what bowling was? Would they remember what Barlahai was?

    She thought back to her own world. How much was lost in the thousands of years prior to when she was whisked away to Abyllan? Roman architecture worn away to time, literature and languages lost to overzealous leaders destroying them for their own pleasure or pride.

    There were so many things that were known to have been lost, even thousands of years later. How many things were so forgotten that there wasn¡¯t even a hint that they had been lost? Even just on a smaller scale, over the course of a few hundred years Scurvy was discovered, cured, forgotten, cured, forgotten and then cured again.

    People were alive long enough to be around when Scurvy was cured. Twice. And Zoe was going to live for tens of thousands of years? How much progress would she see, how much regression would there be?

    Did she have some responsibility to human society to be the bearer of knowledge? She didn¡¯t think she did, and she also wasn¡¯t the only immortal around so that was a silly thought. Maybe there was some coalition of immortals who worked to keep progress from being lost, somewhere on Abyllan.

    Zoe imagined a tour of their library. ¡°Yes here are the lists of every important medicine ever discovered, what they do and how to make them. And to the left you can see the list of every sexual activity people have ever done. If society ever falls apart, it is imperative for our species that we restore it so we may continue our progress.¡±

    She giggled to herself. They were probably all stored in storage items anyway. The library would just be some guy¡¯s wrist, she thought.

    The night passed as Zoe pondered her immortality, and she made her way to Emma¡¯s tower. She spent the day chatting with Emma, catching up with everything that¡¯s happened to the two of them. Emma had left her hunting job and started her own butcher from a small store she bought near her tower.

    After getting so much higher level than when she started, her group had decided that it didn¡¯t make sense to be hunting together anymore. If something like the Okiu showed up again then they were still far below being able to do anything about it anyway.

    And on the note of the Okiu, the city had finally adjusted to the new knowledge of the higher class tier. Rumours had spread for a few years, and most people knew of the seventh tier for a while. But it wasn¡¯t until a few years later that they announced anything officially.

    Initially, the corruption that was spread by the Okiu was seen as inert. Useless. The darkness that hung over the forest where the Okiu appeared stuck around even until now, but nobody could tell what it did. It didn¡¯t cause problems aside from the damage it had already caused.

    The official report was that it simply didn¡¯t have the capability of doing anything when it wasn¡¯t attached to the Okiu. However; just last month there began a big push to harvest all of the corruption from the forest. Most of it was cleaned up within the weeks after the Okiu¡¯s arrival, but there seemed to be a renewed interest in making sure it was completely purged recently.

    According to Emma, there¡¯d been no statements on it other than rumours of increased guards to the west of town. Emma was convinced they had found some use for the corruption, but Zoe wasn¡¯t sure. Maybe they just decided to expand to the west and wanted to clean up the forest.

    Didn¡¯t make an awful lot of sense for the corruption to suddenly be useful almost a decade later, but stranger things have happened she supposed.

    Oliver was still doing well ¡ª and Emma had even adopted a second black cat named Fennel. He was a bit of a rowdy, vocal cat and took a while to get comfortable according to Emma. But he was a great addition to her home and she liked having the little void around for some extra company.

    Zoe spent the next few days at the library just wandering around researching whatever popped into her head. Part of it was looking into how long cats lived, since Oliver had been around for a while longer than she would have expected and looked none the worse for it.

    It seemed that a few hundred years earlier, people had found a solution to extend mundane animals¡¯ lifespans with the assistance of mana. The food they produced cost a little extra, but in exchange your pet would live for as long as you were around to feed them. The magic had very little effect on those already touched by mana ¡ª people, monsters, and the like. At best it would make their skin feel a little softer and help them grow some hair back.

    But for non magical pets, it worked wonders to keep them healthy for as long as you were around to feed them. A convenience that Zoe would have appreciated back home in her previous life. And if she could ever figure out a way to replicate the effect she might even be able to have her own pet at home, if she ever stuck around long enough for that to be responsible.

    Maybe a little rat, or a crow. She always liked both of them, but never had the chance to take care of them. Crows were hardly pets anyway, she supposed. Maybe if she found a super smart crow that would help keep her home safe, someday. She giggled at the thought.

    A lot of her time was spent reading about techniques used for building, well, buildings. She wandered around the library without a goal and ended up at a bookshelf with a plethora of books on them and ended up fascinated by them.

    There were a bunch of different materials commonly used for construction, depending on the use case. Expensive stones harvested from the depths of the planet or peaks of mountains. Woods from trees only found deep in the middle of dangerous forests.

    And more common materials. Different types of glass for windows or structurally sound components of the building, how to work with different types of wood and stones. The evolution of the art as magic weaved its way into construction and helped alleviate weight problems, or structural integrity problems.

    She made some notes of ideas she¡¯d like to take back to her own cave. Different methods of building chimneys and forge designs. How to keep libraries dry enough that the books aren¡¯t damaged, but not so dry that a spark burns it to the ground. Which materials worked best for containing mana and which materials would corrode to water. It was an accident that she wandered into the bookshelf, but she ended up with a lot of useful information from it anyway.

    The day came around for Joe¡¯s errands, and Zoe started making her way down to Joe¡¯s inn. Or The Risen Cask, as it would be known after today.

 2-51. Change

    Joe was waiting inside, sat at the bar with a mug of water. He looked over when Zoe came in and smiled.

    ¡°Mornin¡¯ Zoe. Ready for a big day?¡± Joe grinned.

    ¡°For me, or you?" Zoe asked.

    Joe laughed. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time coming, I guess. I never thought I¡¯d name it, really. It was just the inn, and I was happy with that.¡± He closed the door behind them as they left and started on his meandering path through the city.

    ¡°Back home, everything always had a name. If you walked down the street, almost every building had a name. Even people¡¯s homes had names sometimes if they lived in apartment buildings or condos.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°The way you talk about your home always makes it seem so extravagantly wealthy, you know? Like everybody just had anything they needed, whenever they wanted it.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I think a lot of people would disagree with you on that, back home. I think I would have too, when I first showed up. We had a lot of problems. A lot of big problems, too. Catastrophic challenges to overcome. Wars, famine. The world was literally melting.

    ¡°When I lived in it, saying that life sucked and everything was crumbling was easy. But looking back on it, I think I took a lot of what I had for granted. I didn¡¯t have much, but I had a home to live in. I had a family, and I wasn¡¯t that close with any of them. But they were there, and they helped me at times too. I think I didn¡¯t appreciate that as much as I could have.

    ¡°I had passions and interests, a life that I was living and for the most part? It was a good life. I enjoyed the games we played together, I enjoyed the garden I had in my backyard. I even enjoyed work, to some extent. Helping people fix their problems made me feel good, even if most of the time it was boring tedium with way too much pressure.

    ¡°So I dunno. I think that at least from my perspective, you¡¯re not wrong. Maybe somebody else shows up from my world someday who lived somewhere else and makes it look far more bleak. Maybe somebody already has, but the perspective was so different you couldn¡¯t put it together.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    The two walked in silence for a few minutes. ¡°Do you want to go back?¡± Joe asked as he lead Zoe down a side alley.

    Zoe sighed. ¡°It depends, I guess. If you gave me a button and all I had to do was press it to go back home? I don¡¯t think I would.¡±

    ¡°No? You prefer it here now?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°In some ways. I think that both have their benefits. But for me the main issue really is just how long I¡¯ve been here for. I don¡¯t think that time¡¯s going to have stopped back home while I¡¯ve been here, and it¡¯s been almost thirteen years now. That¡¯s a really long time.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°If you could go back in time would you do that then?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Maybe? I don¡¯t even think that¡¯s possible anyway so I¡¯ve never really thought about it. Even if it was, would I be the same person I was before? I don¡¯t think I am. I¡¯ve changed a lot since you first met me, Joe.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed. ¡°Yes, you have.¡±

    ¡°Right? Even if I could go back, I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d enjoy the same things anymore. I don¡¯t know if the people I knew would enjoy my company anymore. At least you¡¯ve seen the change over time, you¡¯ve helped me through it. But to everybody back home? If I just changed so much overnight, that would affect things.

    ¡°And I¡¯d know what I¡¯m missing, too. Every time I¡¯m talking with Jackson I¡¯d know that I could¡¯ve been hurling magic around, feeling the well of power within me grow with each passing day. I¡¯d know what I¡¯m missing, and I would really miss it I think.

    ¡°I miss them. A lot. But I think that for me to go back, I¡¯d need to be able to go back and forth. Some days I could spend back home like I never left. Some days I could spend here, meeting new people, learning new magic and helping you name your inn. But that¡¯s not possible, so I¡¯ve just accepted this as home now. And I like it here. It sucked at first, but I¡¯ve moved on now.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯ve accepted it here, at least. Imagine everything that happened to you, but you get sent to some place you absolutely hate.¡± Joe laughed.

    ¡°Oh god. That¡¯s what I thought it was at first. I was out in the forest to the south and I had no idea if there was even civilization here. It was terrifying. And then the first real interaction I had was with John! What a terrible beginning.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°I¡¯ve tried going down there a few times, but he¡¯s always been closed.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s usually closed when I stop by too. He should really get a schedule up or something. I wonder where he even goes while it¡¯s closed.¡±

    Joe shrugged. ¡°He¡¯s powerful, from what you¡¯ve said. Maybe he¡¯s travelling from planet to planet gathering more books.¡±

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    They arrived at the city hall and walked through the large wooden doors at the front of the pristine white marble building. Inside looked the same as it always had, the beautiful stairs at the back end with a row of counters on either side of the ground floor and a long line stretching out of both.

    Joe walked up to the somewhat shorter line on the right side and the pair waited for their turn. They were beckoned over to a counter near the back of the building by an older man with thin gray hair and a wrinkled, tanned face.

    ¡°Hello,¡± the clerk said. ¡°How can I help you?"

    Joe summoned an bundle of papers and handed it to him. ¡°Here¡¯s my taxes, should all be there. I¡¯m also interested in naming my inn, if we can do that here?¡±

    The clerk took the papers and thumbed through them all. Zoe felt a subtle magic race through the papers as he did.

    ¡°Perfect. Yes, we can register your inn. The cost is one gold coin. Just let me¡­¡± The clerk trailed off as he knelt below the counter and rummaged through some heavy sounding objects.

    ¡°Ah, here we go!" He pulled up a small blue stone, a sheet of paper and an ornate looking golden quill. ¡±I just need you to fill out this please. When you¡¯re done, press the paper into the stone and fill it with your mana. It shouldn¡¯t take much.¡°

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    Joe nodded his head and read through the paper. It had some simple sections on it that he needed to put his answers into. His name, business¡¯ registration number, the chosen name for his business, and a few other identifying pieces of information.

    Zoe was going to look away as he filled out the information, but as soon as the quill touched the paper, it was covered in darkness that she couldn¡¯t see through anyway. Joe didn¡¯t seem affected by it as he continued writing down his information, so Zoe guessed it was a privacy enchantment of some sort on either the paper or the quill.

    When he was done, Joe pressed the paper into the stone and Zoe felt mana rush out of him. The paper was sucked into the stone and twisted around to form a ribbon of white that wrapped around it.

    ¡°Wonderful,¡± the clerk said. ¡°All I need from you now is payment, and then I can handle the rest and you¡¯re free to go.¡±

    Joe summoned a gold coin and handed it to the clerk. ¡°Thank you very much for the help.¡±

    The clerk took the coin and it vanished. ¡°Thank you very much. I will get this processed later tonight. Have a lovely day.¡±

    Joe smiled. ¡°You too.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. Have a nice day.¡± Zoe said to the clerk as they left. ¡°So where to next?" She asked Joe.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Joe pondered. ¡°How long do you think it will take you to name the inn?¡±

    ¡°Honestly? I have no idea how I¡¯m going to do it at all. I learned a little bit of it when I took the Carpentry lesson, but I¡¯ve never really tried making something so large a single object.¡± Zoe grinned.

    Joe laughed. "Of course you don¡¯t.¡°

    ¡°I¡¯m a good enchanter, I¡¯ve just only worked with small things before. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So grab some lunch and then get started on enchanting the inn?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Sounds like a plan to me.¡± Zoe smiled.

    Joe lead Zoe through town to a restaurant he promised was excellent. A small noodle shop not far from his inn that sold thick noodles in cold soup. It reminded her of a mix between soba and udon. Thick, chewy noodles with a cold flavourful broth.

    When they finished eating, they returned to Joe¡¯s inn ¡ª The Risen Cask, and Zoe got to work trying to enchant the building. When she was learning Carpentry, they went over a little bit of how to make their creations better for Enchanting.

    The inn was quite large. Larger than anything she¡¯d enchanted before, by far. But in theory, it would be the same process of merging everything together with her skill to form it into one object she could enchant. Something the builders likely already did before anyway.

    Zoe checked the building¡¯s exterior walls ¡ª the interior were hardly important for being identifiable anyway, and found them to all be interconnected with small mana pathways between all the wooden planks and supports that held them up.

    To enchant the building with Identify, she would need a few things. The first was enough mana to actually flood the building and enchant it. With all of her new bonuses, she was confident in having enough of that.

    The second was a more mana efficient material that would hold the enchantment longer. She still had plenty of Icy Splinters from her delve into the hill she lived in that would work just fine for the purpose. Zoe spent a few hours walking around Joe¡¯s inn with her carpentry tools and Frost skill, embedding threads of the Icy Splinters into almost every plank that made up the exterior wall.

    And the final piece she needed was an actual enchantment to put on it. Zoe flooded the building with mana and felt her mana rush through the walls to fill in the cracks and splits in its structure. She felt it weave through the pathways created by the original builders and seep into every wall in their entirety.

    A few minutes later when the walls stopped taking any more mana from her, Zoe flashed the enchantment she had already prepared on her Enchanted Mirror. Identify, to make it show up as The Risen Cask to anybody who would Identify it. And both Enchanting and Meditation to keep it stable without Joe needing to constantly fill it with mana.

    Joe and Zoe stepped outside of his inn and looked at it from the outside. ¡°It looks the same.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I was enchanting it, not renovating it. Identify it.¡± Zoe grinned.

    ¡°I know you were. I¡¯m just reminded of the young woman who showed up so long ago and thought she was helping by cleaning the counter when I have a cleaning skill.¡± Joe grinned back.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You liked having me around.¡±

    Joe nodded. ¡°I did. Most people don¡¯t come back as often as you do, either.¡±

    ¡°Has Rizick ever come around?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Once, a few years ago.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°He doing well?" Zoe asked.

    Joe nodded. ¡°Yeah, he and Isla are married now.¡±

    ¡°Oh really? Good for them. She was nice.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe nodded.

    ¡°Okay, but seriously. Identify the building!¡± Zoe laughed, and checked it for herself.

    [The Risen Cask]

    Joe stood there for a moment staring at the building. ¡°I really never thought I¡¯d name it. I never thought I cared about it. But seeing it there, like that. A name that I thought of, that I care about. A name that means something to me.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say. It¡¯s just there now. I own The Risen Cask. That¡¯s me. Joe, owner of The Risen Cask. Thank you, Zoe. This means a lot to me.¡± He smiled at Zoe.

    Zoe smiled back. ¡°No problem, Joe. You¡¯ve done so much more for me I don¡¯t think I could ever repay you if we were keeping track, anyway.¡± She laughed.

    Joe laughed. ¡°I never did.¡± He opened the door and walked in. ¡°Want to come in for a drink at The Risen Cask?¡±

    Zoe nodded and followed him in then sat at the bar. Joe poured them both drinks ¡ª ale for himself and water for Zoe then sat at the bar with her.

    ¡°When you showed up here, I didn¡¯t have the faintest clue you¡¯d be changing my life as much as you have, you know? I know you like to thank me for all that I¡¯ve done, but it goes both ways. You¡¯ve taught me so much about myself. About who I am, and what I need in my life.

    ¡°People have stayed here before. Sleeping in the kitchen, a spare room, out in the dining area. Wherever I can fit them at the time. But everybody else always had something. They had levels, they had knowledge, they had experience that helped them.

    ¡°You had none of that. You didn¡¯t know the laws, you didn¡¯t know the name of the town you¡¯re in. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s so much more that you still don¡¯t know because it¡¯s just common sense and nobody would think to tell you. How long was it until you learned we¡¯re a part of the Injellar kingdom?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Uhh. Now?¡± Zoe smiled sheepishly.

    Joe laughed. ¡°See? I got to see you grow into who you are today, and I feel this pride from seeing what you¡¯ve done now. And I like that. I want to be able to do more of that. To help people get back on their feet and watch them succeed in life. You showed me that side of myself.¡±

    Zoe smiled, and the two chatted a while longer before Zoe stood up. ¡°Well, it was nice catching up. But I¡¯ve got a witch to go harass for a bit.¡±

    Joe smiled. ¡°See you around Zoe!¡±

 2-52. Flight

    Zoe wandered through the streets as she looked for the inn that Eliza was staying at. From what she saw, Gromp was just a little ways from the eastern gate of Flester. She found the street and wandered down until she found The Chipped Mug.

    They were a stone building, made from a somewhat shiny gray stone. A dark brown wood ran up in pillars along the walls, and around the windows that peered into the dimly lit tavern. Above the door hung a sign with a slanted mug missing a part of the rim carved into it.

    Inside was a pretty normal tavern, for as far as Zoe could tell. Chairs and tables set up around the floor with a small bar to one side. A meaty, earthy smell wafted from the kitchen and mixed in with the boozy scents from the front and a hint of woody smoke.

    Patrons sat at the tables, chatting with each other and laughing as they drank. A musician stood on a small platform near the entrance and played a wooden string instrument Zoe didn¡¯t recognize. It looked like three sticks tied together with strings, and the musician strummed on the strings like a harp. Beautiful, folky notes bounced around the room as he played and Zoe smiled at the sight.

    A bald woman stood behind the counter laughing with a large man sat at one of the stools. Zoe walked up to the bar.

    ¡°Oh hello dear, what can I do for you?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Is Penny around?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hah! You¡¯re talkin¡¯ to penny.¡± The man next to Zoe said.

    Penny smiled. ¡°Is there something you need?"

    ¡°Uh, is Eliza around? I was told to ask you for her.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Eliza.. Hmmm.¡± Penny pondered.

    ¡°Is she that weird mage who¡¯s been helping Ian?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Ah! Yes, I think that¡¯s her. She¡¯s out right now, I can let her know you were here if you like?" Penny asked.

    ¡°Yes please. Could you let her know Zoe stopped by and that I''ll be at Kaira library?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course dear.¡± Penny smiled.

    ¡°That''s an awfully long way to make her walk. Just come back later tonight and see her.¡± The man said.

    ¡°I will but she might be interested in catching up earlier is all.¡± Zoe said, feeling a little annoyed.

    The man waved his hands in a defensive gesture. ¡°No need to get so worked up. Just trying to help is all.¡±

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Could you tell her please?¡± She asked Penny.

    ¡°Of course. I''ll let her know for you.¡± Penny said.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Zoe said and left.

    Zoe made her way to the library and spent some time reading about the country she was in. It was a small country, on the northern tip of the continent.

    The cities were left to their own to run, but there were taxes each city needed to pay to expect certain support from the capital. Many cities, Flester included chose to forego the support entirely and thrive on their own. Some of these succeeded, as Flester had. And others were forgotten to time.

    Zoe continued reading through for a while before she noticed Eliza walking through the air on a wooden platform of her own. She waved to her, and Eliza smiled back.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Eliza said when the platform brought her closer. ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t going to show up.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you said you were here for a few weeks so I thought I had a bit of time to catch up with some other stuff first.¡± Zoe responded.

    Eliza laughed. ¡°Fair enough, fair enough. So, what did you want to talk about?¡±

    ¡°Ah, honestly I mostly just wanted to watch you use the magic and see how it worked? Also how did combining them work? Was it just instant like with feats?¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza shook her head. ¡°No. I¡¯m not sure how Richard combined them, but I still just have the two skills themselves. But lets go somewhere more private before we get into the details.¡± She smiled.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°So how have you been then? Still off exploring the cave?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°No I finished that a while ago. I¡¯ve been at Moaning Point recently. Just made it to the top a week or two ago maybe and pissed everybody off.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza grinned. ¡°Did you kill the abomination?¡±

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Did everybody know about that but me?¡±

    ¡°Haha! No, it¡¯s mostly kept a secret really. It¡¯s fun to grill the newbies when they get up there. Oh you killed it? We had to figure out how to trap it.¡± Eliza cackled.

    ¡°That¡¯s so mean.¡± Zoe scowled.

    ¡°Yeah. But it¡¯s fun. Maybe one day you¡¯ll get to pester somebody new for killing the abomination. Frankly, I think the only reason we even trap it is just for the farce of pestering new climbers.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I went through all that effort for a joke?¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza shrugged. "Maybe others actually like having it trapped. I never found it much effort to fly over though.¡°

    When they got outside, Eliza summoned a platform of earth and stepped on it. ¡°Ready for another flight?"

    Zoe stepped on and summoned earth of her own to keep herself secured to the platform. ¡°Sure. Y¡¯know, actually I¡¯ve never even tried to just fly on earth I¡¯ve summoned. Do you have some special skill for it or something?¡±

    Eliza looked at her for a moment and then smiled. ¡°Wanna try?¡±

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    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Why not? What do I do? Just stand on a platform and move it around?¡±

    Eliza nodded. ¡°Yup. Lets get out of town before you ruin something though.¡± She laughed.

    Zoe smiled as the platform lifted off the ground and rocketed up into the sky then out of town. The ride was much more comfortable than it was the first time. She saw the buildings far below flying by, the people walking down the street. She saw the trees in the distance grow closer, felt the wind rushing past her and pushed it along with her Wind skill.

    When they landed not far north of town, Zoe wasn¡¯t even winded. Let alone almost crushed like she had been the first time. The difference all of her stats and new skills made was mindblowing to see so clearly.

    ¡°Alright, try flying.¡± Eliza grinned.

    Zoe smiled and summoned a platform of earth to stand on. She tried to pull it up towards her while she stood on it and it lifted off the ground. The mana drain was noticeable, but her passive mana regeneration was more than enough to keep it running for a while. The platform was stable to her magic, but to her feet felt like standing on a rope bridge that somebody was breakdancing on.

    ¡°Before you do anything stupid,¡± Eliza shouted from below. ¡°Expect to fall! It¡¯s harder than you think and I¡¯m doing a lot to keep us standing.¡±

    Zoe pushed the platform forward a little and felt her body tense as she tried to maintain her balance with the moving platform below her. She bent down and grabbed a handle of earth she formed on the platform and tried pushing it forward again.

    The strain on her arm was manageable, and the extra support she had kept her feeling more comfortable on the flight. She flew around at a low altitude for a while as she got the feeling of it, and then started trying to speed up. It worked for a while, but at a point it was too much for her to hold on as the platform flew out from under her.

    Her hand fell off the grip she made for herself, and she fell a few feet to the ground behind her with a groan.

    Eliza laughed. ¡°Told you!¡±

    ¡°That was fun!¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah. Flying is great.¡± Eliza said. ¡°I use a few different techniques to keep it all together though when I do it. I float the platform we¡¯re standing on, but I also push away the wind in front of us to keep it from knocking us over. I increase the platform¡¯s gravity to keep us standing on it comfortably, and pull us forward as the platform moves with space. It¡¯s really quite a complicated ordeal, but it¡¯s plenty fun.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah I think I could do a similar thing. I have Wind so I could try and mix that in, and maybe if I made a suit of sorts to push me instead of having to hold on I¡¯d be able to fly without too much issue. I¡¯ll give it some tries later, I don¡¯t know why I hadn¡¯t tried it until now honestly.¡±

    Eliza shrugged. ¡°Sure. So you wanted to see me use the skills?¡±

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll show you them, you tell me how you view mana. Fair?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe nodded again.

    ¡°Also what other skills do you have? I have Space, Time, Fire and Water.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Wait, they didn¡¯t combine into Cosmos?¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza shook her head. ¡°Nope. Not sure what¡¯s up with that, but maybe I need to do something else. Maybe Richard already had the hidden achievement because of his race or something else he¡¯d done.¡±

    ¡°Huh. So then we could have other skills that combine into more complicated skills and just not know it?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure could. I bet there¡¯s one for all the martial skills. Get enough of them and it upgrades into something. I bet all the knights just keep it hidden from us for no damn reason.¡± Eliza scowled.

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting then. Uh I have Water, Fire, Frost, Wind and Earth myself.¡± Zoe said. ¡°The hard part really is getting the manipulation skills for me.¡±

    ¡°Really? Why¡¯s that? I found the manipulation skill to be much easier.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Uh, I spent a long time studying my Frost skill that I got from killing an elemental and the system¡¯s mana seems pretty formulaic to me. So once I get the manipulation skill I can just kinda swap in the mana signature for the element I¡¯ve discovered and get the generalized skill pretty easily.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s interesting. I found it was really messy, but if you say it¡¯s formulaic then I might have to spend some time studying my own. How do you see mana anyway?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s like little wisps of light that float around. They¡¯re colourful but I don¡¯t think the colours mean anything really. They take really intricate patterns as they move around, though.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza hummed as she summoned a packet of mana that Zoe could barely see. ¡°Is this good enough for you?" She asked.

    Zoe stared at it for a bit. The mana was unlike anything she¡¯d worked with before, weaving in and out of itself. Wisps of light floated around and then vanished to reappear somewhere else in the pattern.

    ¡°Yeah, this is great. That¡¯s so different to what I¡¯m used to though, wow. It almost seems like you would need to be able to affect space to do that without mana.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Maybe. Upgrading it to Space was a tricky one, Fire and Water were both much easier.¡± Eliza said. ¡°How do the wisps of light move around for you?¡±

    Zoe described the motion of the wisps, and Eliza described the thick liquid that she had to fill. There were some similarities, as slight as they were. Eliza¡¯s vessel that she filled with mana took on a similar shape to the pattern that Zoe saw with the wisps of light, but remained almost completely stationary compared to Zoe¡¯s frantic movements.

    ¡°So if you can convert manipulation skills to generalized skills easily, why do you have so few?¡± Eliza asked as the space warped in front of her.

    ¡°What do you mean? It¡¯s still hard to get the manipulation skills.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°No I mean, why wouldn¡¯t you just go through your list of classes and get all the manipulation skills available, then copy down their formulas to grab later?" Eliza asked.

    Zoe¡¯s looked at her in shock. ¡°Oh my god I¡¯m so dumb. My current class has cinders manipulation! Why haven¡¯t I done that?!"

    She swapped out her Adaptive Cinders for Cinders Manipulation and summoned some cinders to study. The cloud of ash and flame appeared in front of her and moved around to her will.

    Zoe pieced apart the mana that made it work and separated the bit that defined the cinders. She summoned her sheet of paper explaining to herself how the mana should work for the generalized skill, and replaced her Cinders Manipulation with Adaptive Cinders again.

    After a few tries of forcing the mana to form the pattern she wanted, she succeeded.

    *DING* You have unlocked the Cinders general skill.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe I never thought of that. There should be a few more classes I can get with similar skills too, I think.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh?" Eliza questioned.

    ¡°Yeah I have the Seasoned Frost class, but there¡¯s also apparently the Seasoned Cinders class. I bet there¡¯s one for every season.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Probably. You never checked in any other season?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°No. Wait, I did take a class in other seasons. I spent a while resetting my class on Moaning Point and I just set it to Seasoned Cinders over and over. It wasn¡¯t summer every time though, I don¡¯t think that should have worked?¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza shrugged. "Maybe it¡¯s just always unlocked now for you?"

    ¡°But Seasoned Frost isn¡¯t. Why would Seasoned Cinders be unlocked.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s autumn right now, can you switch to Seasoned Cinders now or is there something else there?" Eliza asked.

    Zoe pulled up her stat sheet and looked for the Seasoned Cinders class but couldn¡¯t find it. In its place was a Seasoned Gales with a similar description.

    ¡°No, there¡¯s Seasoned Gales though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And you¡¯ve switched to Cinders in the Autumn before?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Mmm. Probably? Definitely the Winter and the Spring. I¡¯m not sure about Autumn.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°How were you doing it when you reset your class?¡± Eliza asked. Zoe felt the excitement growing from her with each question, even without her Vampyric Empathy.

    ¡°I just kinda urged the system to take Seasoned Cinders when I wanted to reset it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t look at the class selection?" Eliza asked.

    Zoe shook her head. "No, I wanted to wait until I was done what I was working on to see what I had unlocked.¡°

    ¡°Could you do that now? I get it if you don¡¯t want to lose your stats but I¡¯d be really interested to see if you could take a class the system says you don¡¯t have access to right now.¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe thought about it for a moment and decided she was curious enough about it as well. She urged the system to replace her Seasoned Cinders class with Seasoned Cinders, as she¡¯d done many times prior now. The system¡¯s power rushed through her body and ripped out her stats and she was left with a level one Seasoned Cinders class.

    Eliza stared at Zoe in shock. ¡°Your level went down. Did it work?"

    Zoe nodded.

 2-53. Small Brown Pellets

    ¡°You¡¯re sure it wasn¡¯t an option for you?¡± Eliza asked her.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah it definitely wasn¡¯t there. I had the autumn version instead.¡±

    ¡°But you still took it? You don¡¯t have the autumn version?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe checked her stat sheet again just to be sure, and saw Seasoned Cinders listed as her fourth class. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s definitely the summer variant still.¡±

    Eliza stood in silence for a minute as her mind raced. ¡°Hmm.. Did you have any other class that you don¡¯t have the requirements for anymore?¡±

    Zoe thought about it for a moment. There were some other seasonal classes ¡ª the cold mages, heat mages. Even the initial Temporal Anomaly that required her to not have a second class.

    ¡°I had a few, why?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Try taking one of them now. Just do what you did for this class but with one of the others.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe focused on her fourth class and urged it to switch to Apprentice Cold Mage, the first one she could remember, but nothing happened.

    She shook her head. ¡°Didn¡¯t do anything.¡±

    ¡°Okay, one of my classes is Runemaster. Can you try taking that? Just do the same thing again but focus on Runemaster.¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe tried again, and nothing happened. She shook her head. ¡°Nothing. I think it¡¯s probably just you can take classes you¡¯ve already had before, even if you don¡¯t have the requirements.¡±

    Eliza nodded. ¡°Maybe, I want to test one more thing though. Try taking the winter variant. Maybe all you were doing was resetting the class but not really taking a new one?"

    Zoe nodded and tried. Her class switched out for Seasoned Frost, with all the same bonuses she¡¯d come to love from her fourth tier Seasoned Cinders.

    ¡°Fascinating. So it is just that you can take a class you¡¯ve had before, even if you no longer have the requirements for it.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Seems like it. Do you think that would help anything, though? I can¡¯t imagine ever wanting to have a class that I already had the requirements for, but not being able to have those requirements. At least not off the top of my head.¡±

    Eliza hummed in thought for a moment. ¡°The only thing that jumps to my mind at the moment is maybe unlocking a strong magic class early that synergizes well with your physical build. Then you could swap it out for a physical class and much later on grab a magic class at a high tier without needing to worry about getting all the requirements again.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Or the other way around, I guess too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yea, exactly. I imagine there must be other benefits to it but I can¡¯t think of them right now. An interesting discovery though. Thank you for the help, Zoe.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Oh, actually. If a class requires, I don¡¯t know. Stupid numbers, but ten thousand intelligence for instance. You¡¯re not getting that for your second class, right? But if you got it for your sixth class or something, and it didn¡¯t have a specific requirement for being a sixth class, then in theory you could take it, and replace your second class with it?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I suppose. Maybe it¡¯s more nuanced than we think, but that seems possible now. Just another reason I¡¯m envious of your immortality. Hopefully I can figure out how to combine Space and Time soon.¡± Eliza sighed.

    ¡°Maybe you just like, tell the system to do it?¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Tried that. Tried using them both at the same time, tried to force them to cast as one thing. Not sure what¡¯s missing. I think there¡¯s just another requirement I don¡¯t have yet.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Maybe you have to have travelled through the cosmos to get the cosmos skill unlocked?" Zoe said.

    Eliza shrugged. ¡°Maybe. Gonna be a while before I do that though. You get any progress with your Space skill yet?" She asked, swirling the mass of space around in front of her still.

    ¡°No, not really. It¡¯s so different to what I¡¯m used to.¡± Zoe answered.

    She had gotten a bit distracted with the conversation about her class and the new possibilities, but even still the mana that made up Eliza¡¯s Space skill was almost impossible to follow. And even if she managed to piece it together, making the mana actually follow the pattern would be impossible for her. She just had no way of moving mana from one point to another instantly like that.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to take Seasoned Gales and see if I can get Gales. What¡¯s the different between Gales and Wind, anyway?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No clue. You tell me.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe focused on her class selections and pushed the system to give her the Seasoned Gales class.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Seasoned Gales class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Seasoned Gales: Gain thirty stat points for each level in this class.

    - Aura of Gales: You radiate wind energy.

    - Temporal Continuance: You gain experience through the passage of time.

    - Regenerator: All regeneration effects boosted by 350%.

    - Tempestuous Tempo: All wind and time aligned effects are boosted by 250%.

    Available Skills:

    - Wind Affinity: Increased Wind affinity.

    - Time Affinity: Increased Time affinity.

    - Gale Manipulation: Manipulate the gales with your will.

    - Tempestuous Arsenal: Command the gales to clad you in armour and weapons.

    - Tempestuous Echo: Create an echo of gales that copies your movements.

    - Adaptive Gales: Your gales will infect all it can reach with a destabilizing effect.

    - Restoration: Apply a regenerative effect that mends recent damage.

    - Haste: Apply a buff that increases quickness.

    - Alacrity: Permanently increases quickness.

    - Eternal Elegance: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

    She set up her skills the same as she was used to with her Seasoned Cinders ¡ª both the affinities, Tempestuous Echo, Adaptive Gales and Tempestuous Arsenal. But first she grabbed Gale Manipulation and used it to get the Gale skill for herself.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    *DING* You have unlocked the Gales general skill.

    Gales was very different to Wind. While wind was simply a re-flavoured Air in her mind, Gales was the very essence of a storm. Hurricanes and twisters at the tips of her fingers. Small ones at the moment, but powerful none the less. They ripped through the grass and leaves around them and lifted up detritus from the ground, pulling it along with the tempest.

    It smashed into trees, cut into the ground. While Wind was peaceful and serene, Gales was raw, destructive power. She supposed it made sense, considering how the class was obtained. You fought off the dangers of the season and were in turn rewarded with mastery of those dangers. Wind wasn¡¯t dangerous, deadly storms that lifted people¡¯s homes and hurled them across the city were.

    Zoe didn¡¯t have a particular need to deal with such dangers when she obtained the feat, but at its core level she supposed that was the intention behind it. A feat to reward those who face down the destructive power of nature.

    And now Zoe was given power over that destructive energy. Mastery of the seasons themselves.

    It made her wonder what Ice would be for her. Frost was exactly what she imagined from an Ice skill, but perhaps she was misunderstanding what Frost was. Or maybe what Ice would be. Would Ice just be a weaker Frost? Cinders was so different to Fire, and Gales was so much more destructive than Wind.

    What would be the defining feature of Frost compared to Ice, Zoe wondered. Was it just that Frost could also create snow? How much control it had over its temperature? She wasn¡¯t sure, but wanted to see Ice.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t got the spring one yet right?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, not yet. I think I¡¯ll check it out next spring though.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s too bad. I would¡¯ve loved to see whatever spring gives. What did the feat say?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Something about torrential downpours. I bet it¡¯ll be a destructive water skill.¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Makes sense. I know in a lot of places spring is considered the most dangerous season. Down in the south, mostly. They have to prepare for flooding every year. Even have their houses built up on stilts in some places for the annual floods.¡± Eliza shook her head. ¡°Glad we just have to deal with a bit of snow up here.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they say the same thing about floods.¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°Oh good thing we only have to deal with our entire city flooding every year. Can you imagine how bad it would be if we had to deal with snow!¡±

    Eliza smiled. ¡°I still prefer the snow. When do you think you¡¯ll go back to Moaning Point? I¡¯m only around for another week or so, but I¡¯m back in town every so often.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about that, really. Time has become a lot less important to me now. What¡¯s another three or four years of waiting, really? Probably soon, though. I just need some more levels first.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Way to brag about your immortality.¡± Eliza laughed.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get it someday. I could bite you if you want?" Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Hmm. Tempting. Tempting. I don¡¯t think it would work, but even if it worked I don¡¯t think the system would break for me though since I¡¯m from Abyllan.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Lets see time. I¡¯m sick of studying this space magic.¡±

    Eliza obliged and the warping space in front of her stopped, then was replaced with some strange flowing mana. The wisps moved slow in some parts and extremely fast in other places. At some points they seemed to reverse or even stop moving completely.

    ¡°That¡¯s super weird.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza nodded. ¡°What¡¯s it look like?¡±

    Zoe described the mana.

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s neat. For me it¡¯s a basin of water that drips from the bottom, but the water flows back up into the basin after it falls for a bit.¡± Eliza explained.

    They continued chatting for a while longer about the different patterns of mana they saw with different skills, and then when the sun began to set Eliza offered Zoe a ride back to the library. Zoe declined it, wanting to head back to her cave and see if it was still there.

    Eliza stepped on her earthen platform and Zoe watched it rocket off towards town. She didn¡¯t see many people flying over Flester, but it did happen from time to time. She wondered what the legality of it was, maybe next time she saw Eliza she¡¯d ask.

    Zoe formed a small platform of earth in front of her and crouched onto it. Tendrils of earth rose from the platform and wrapped around her, pressing into her body from behind. The platform rose and Zoe pushed it north towards the hill she set up in.

    The earth flew through the trees, and Zoe was pushed along with it. The new strategy was much more comfortable to fly on, though she couldn¡¯t make any sharp turns without being shunted off the platform as it rotated below her. She sped up to as fast as she could manage comfortably, and flew over the trees towards the distant hill she called her home.

    Outside, her home looked normal. The door she made still blended in with the surroundings. Even more than when she left it now as the vegetation outside had crept up the cliff face she made. Vines flowers reached up the rock face as they searched for sunlight.

    Zoe pushed mana into her door and it squished off to the side to reveal her wooden foyer inside. The vegetation growing up the door fell to the ground when she did, leaving a cut out door shape free of plantlife on the outside of the cliff. Something she¡¯d have to deal with at some point in the future, she supposed.

    Inside her home looked almost just as she left it. The wooden construction survived, the ceiling and walls stood strong. There was a faint breeze that brought Zoe back to her years of building up her house, as air was created and gently nudged out of the chimney.

    But everything was covered in scratches, and the floor was coated in small dark rat droppings. Zoe sighed and walked in. The rat poop was simple enough to fix as blue light washed out from her and removed all the stains. Frost was summoned and scraped along the floor to lift off any bits too large for her Eternal Elegance to outright destroy, and tossed into the forest outside.

    The real problem were the scratches. She could sand everything down to remove them, but some of the grooves were far too deep for that to work. Restoration worked on some of the more recent scratches, but many were too old for her healing skill.

    If she wanted her home back to its pristine state, she¡¯d need to tear down all the planks and replace them with new ones. She summoned her bed to her room and sat down in it.

    Someday, she¡¯d do that. This was her home, for who knows how long. A place for her to return to after her adventures. In another ten years, she¡¯d like to still be able to come back here. Maybe even in another hundred years, she¡¯d like having a place to return to.

    But for now, some scratches weren¡¯t the end of the world. Next time she replaced the planks, she¡¯d make sure to enchant them all with some kind of defensive skills. Shield-fighting, maybe one of her arsenal effects. Something to keep simple animals from being able to cut into her home.

    If something larger than some random animal invaded her home she had bigger problems than her wood being scratched anyway.

    Zoe laid down in her bed and fell asleep in the comfort of her own home for the first time in quite a while. She had dreams of flying through the sky on a platform of shifting elements, the wind parting before her as she raced through the wilderness in search of a mythical object rumoured to have been lost.

    She woke to the dark cave she lived in and realized that if she ever invited somebody over, she might need to make something for lighting. Her Fire skill could likely help her there, but wondered if maybe she could get a Light skill that would be superior at some point.

 2-54. Omelette

    A few months later on the day of Zoe¡¯s birthday, she was in her kitchen cooking breakfast for herself. Smouldering coals created with her Cinders burned away and heated the pan she had on the stone platform above. A small slab of boar meat sizzled away in her pan, and Zoe cracked in a ryz egg she bought on her last trip into town next to it. The egg was much larger than she was used to and filled the pan around the boar steak.

    Zoe stabbed into the orange yolk with her spatula, and scrambled up the egg around the chunk of meat. Blades of earth appeared next to her and cut into the boar steak, slicing the browned meat up into small chunks and mixed it into the egg.

    She summoned some cheese she had bought and dumped it into the pan as she took it off the heat. The cheese melted into the egg and Zoe pressed the pan into a block of Frost she summoned to cool it off a bit before she tipped the omelette out onto some brul she toasted.

    Zoe nodded to herself as she sat down at her table and dug into her meal. Making her own food was a wonderful thing, she knew. The pride she would feel from picking the vegetables herself, from gathering the milk and making the cheese. From picking eggs up every morning from her ryz. It would be a wonderful, peaceful life.

    But that was hard, and sometimes Zoe really wanted some modern luxuries. So she stored some of her favourite ingredients away in her bracelets to be used now and then. Some cheese and eggs, and even a bit of flour. Which was also called brul here, for some reason. It seemed the crop was called brul, the powder was called brul and the bread like food was called brul.

    Was that how bread worked back on her old world? Was bread just the name of a crop at some point? Or was bread called the crop at some point? She wasn¡¯t sure but didn¡¯t think so. Bread was any grain. But rye bread was still just called rye sometimes.

    Maybe there was a term for bread here, but they only had brul so that¡¯s what they used? Zoe shrugged to herself as she finished off her breakfast.

    The months were fruitful. Much of her home was tidied up, the shallow scratches were sanded away and the deeper grooves Zoe just cut holes around and filled in with new matching blocks of wood. The somewhat piecemeal look to her home had grown on her, but she still took the time to weave in icy splinters to her floors and walls then enchant them with Enchanting, Meditation and Shield-fighting to hopefully stand up to the pests next time she left.

    She had found a few of the rats crawling around her cave early on. They were adorable, gray and fuzzy with long tails. The males always made her giggle when she saw them. But after the first few weeks, she never saw them inside again. Maybe one day she¡¯d catch a few and keep them as pets. With all her skills, she could build a nice environment for them she thought. Nor would she need to worry about any diseases they may carry.

    Most of her time was spent enchanting things and trying out some of her new skills. Water was a useful one, if she didn¡¯t already live in a place with ample water. She was able to create taps that spewed water with just an inkling of mana. Perhaps one of the earliest enchantments she¡¯d ever used coming to this world, she realized as she thought back on her desperation for a toilet early on.

    Fire simply created fire, and allowed her some modicum of control over it through her enchantments. Though not as much as Earth or Wind gave her. She was able to create lanterns and torches that burned forever, as long as they were provided with mana. And she could even add simple patterns to the flames as they burned.

    Cinders let her control how hot something was, and Gales provided a lightness effect when used as an enchantment. Both seemed quite useful to her in theory but in practice she hadn¡¯t found anything interesting to do with them.

    At first she thought of enchanting her kitchen tools with Cinders to cook things on, but it cost more mana than just filling her stove with Cinders. And while she didn¡¯t need to worry much about mana anymore anyway, it also just didn¡¯t work better. Having the hot coals below let her move the pan about and control how hot it was.

    But if she just enchanted the pan with Cinders? Then the pan was just hot. There was no adjustments to be made, no hot spot or cold spot. It was just all hot, all the time.

    And Gales had a similar issue. It seemed useful, in theory. Making things lighter was an incredible boon. She could lift them easier with her magic, or even with just herself. But anything that she actually wanted to move was already movable without its help. One day, making something lighter would be helpful. But around the home? Nothing was heavy enough to benefit from that enough to make it worth doing, anyway.

    Maybe if she opened a store, she could enchant them with Gales so weaker people could carry her products around. Maybe if she had a horse drawn carriage she could help out her horses by enchanting the carriage to make it lighter.

    All of her Seasoned Gales skills did what she expected. Tempestuous Echo was a particularly fun one for her though, and gave her a renewed motivation to manage to fit four enchantments into an object at once. Leaving behind a dusty cloud of rushing wind whenever her doors opened made her home feel so much more badass than it really was, and she wanted to make that a permanent structure if she could.

    Adaptive Gales was funny, making whatever was placed on it lose its balance and fall. Even if she enchanted a flat block of stone with Adaptive Gales and then placed another flat surface onto it, somehow the object would lose balance and fall off. Zoe didn¡¯t see many uses for it, but thought it might be funny to enchant her floors with it if she ever ended up having visitors over.

    Tempestuous Arsenal had a particularly exciting change for her, however. While Frost and Cinders were both destructive, Gales was convenient. The heavy winds pushed her projectiles faster, and while the winds were much more destructive than her Wind skill was that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t be used safely if she was careful.

    A small, brittle frost projectile enchanted with a weak Tempestuous Arsenal explosion had become one of her favourite toys to play with. The projectile itself exploded on impact with hardly enough power to cause damage to even just the trees¡¯ bark. And the explosion of wind that radiated out did little more than blast a puff of air out around the impact.

    She found herself firing the projectiles off at branches to knock down fruits rather than using her Frost or Earth to slice it off just for fun more than she would have expected. Of course, if she flooded the projectile with as much power as she could then it was just as destructive as any other Arsenal skill enchantment. But a spattering of ice or a cloud of ash just didn¡¯t have the same pop as a burst of wind did. It felt like she was hurling small balloons around, and it sparked as much joy as she could have ever hoped for.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Moaning Point was always in the back of her mind, and she had decided on her goals for finishing off the dungeon at long last. Getting her fifth class was a possibility if it came down to that, but she wanted to give it a try without her fifth class first. Clearing a dungeon, even if it was a lodestone dungeon, was sure to be a strong achievement for her fifth class and she wanted to at least entertain the thought.

    But, she did want to get as close as she could to her fifth class before she tried. There was no point in leaving power on the table. Her last class upgrade was at sixty one, which meant that her fifth class would be at least one hundred twenty two.

    Zoe set that as her goal for her first attempt. She also decided that she wanted to get whatever the spring variant of the Seasoned classes would be. Something to do with water, she supposed. Would the enchantment just make things more wet? More fluid, maybe? She wasn¡¯t sure, but wanted to find out.

    Which meant that any class levels she got before spring would be pointless since she¡¯d reset her class for Seasoned Wetness, or whatever the system called it. Instead, she focused on levelling her other skills as much as she could.

    Early on, she had spent some extra time with Eliza training her resistances and studying more of her Space and Time magics. But Eliza was only around for a few weeks, and was only around at all because she had something to do. So she didn¡¯t get much progress towards either.

    Zoe¡¯s resistances, at least the ones Eliza had access to, had all made it to at least level fifteen. With Zoe¡¯s significantly higher health and ability to heal herself, Eliza was able to dish out much more damage than she was the first time and Zoe¡¯s levels reflected that. And with Zoe¡¯s new magics, she was able to return the favour for Eliza this time too.

    She had also added in Klir leaves to much of her diet, and her poison resistance level had skyrocketed as a result. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure why she hadn¡¯t thought to do that before in her years of setting up her home, but late was better than never after all.

    With the remaining months, Zoe focused on bringing up her lower level skills that had been falling behind but still seemed somewhat useful. Days spent tracking animals through the forests, and gathering all the klir she needed for her new poisonous diet. Even her Vampyric Charm was let out on full blast as she wandered through the forests, and had started levelling again.

    In a strange twist of fate, Meditation had become a skill she used less and less. None of her skills were intense enough to warrant needing the extra mana regeneration these days, at least not while she was around her home. And in the midst of battle she could drain her mana away but meditating in the middle of a dangerous battle was hardly possible for her.

    Maybe one day she¡¯d come back to the skill and try to master it to that extent, but with all of her other multipliers to her mana its utility had fallen to the wayside. One of the most important skills to her early on had become so forgettable now, outside of remaining one of the most useful enchantments she had.

    Zoe had tried her hand at Alchemy a few times, but with very limited tools and even less understanding of recipes she wasn¡¯t able to make much. A few times she made a deathly looking sludge of whatever she found, but doing alchemy alone showed her perhaps the largest problem with alchemy.

    How were you supposed to test what your creations really did? She had made clearly alchemical substances, mixtures that glowed and pulsed with latent energy. But was she just supposed to eat them? Even if they weren¡¯t made from anything potent themselves, that didn¡¯t mean it was safe to eat.

    She had a flashback to one of her first jobs testing somebody¡¯s potions. What was her name again? Lauren? Lorna? Zoe shrugged. In hindsight, that was one of the dumber things she did. Many of the things she did early on were horribly stupid.

    Maybe she was still making stupid decisions, Zoe thought. But she hoped that they were less common than they used to be at least. That she had been able to reflect and grow as a person in the decade since she arrived on Abyllan.

    Her Alchemy skill stagnated at level thirteen as she stopped making potential poisons that could kill her. Next time John¡¯s was open she¡¯d pick up a book on alchemy. Maybe she should just go visit another bookstore and grab a bunch of books on everything she might be interested in anyway. It¡¯s not as though John was the only bookstore in Flester.

    Something about him just had this unexplainable pull, though. This urge to trust and rely on him that she couldn¡¯t understand but never ended up lingering on.

    Many more months passed as Zoe continued focusing on her skills and thinking about her plan for Moaning Point.

    What would the boss end up being, anyway? Eliza had offered to share, but Zoe was interested in finding out for herself. Having everything laid out for her like that was maybe smarter, maybe safer. But it was so boring. Zoe liked the thrill of it all, the excitement from seeing something.

    As long as it went well. When it didn¡¯t, it was quite unfun. But Eliza didn¡¯t seem to be worried for Zoe, so she assumed it would be at least somewhat okay.

    Spring came around, and Zoe checked on her class selection. The new variant was called Seasoned Torrents, and Zoe pushed the system to take it.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Seasoned Torrents class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Everything looked the same as she was used to, but with water and time. Zoe took Torrent Manipulation and spent some time piecing apart the mana to get the general skill for herself.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Torrents general skill.

    Zoe smiled and then settled in on her preferred setup for the seasoned class. Water and Time affinity, Torrential Echo and Arsenal, and Adaptive Torrents. The Adaptive skill was supposed to infect things with a drowning effect, for whatever that ended up meaning.

    She enchanted a block of stone with Adaptive Torrents and then placed a coin on it. As soon as she did, water began to seep out of the brownish orange copper and onto her wooden floors. Zoe put the coin away and pulled the earth back, then cleaned up the water with her Water skill.

    All that was left between her and the top of Moaning Point was a few more levels, and she knew of a particular Abomination that might help her get them while also getting some petty revenge on the jerks that picked on her just cause she was new.

 2-55. Shrubbery

    The months flew by and by the time Zoe knew it, another year had passed. Most of her time was spent in the higher tiers, fighting the groups of mages. The Abomination was, as much as she didn¡¯t want to admit it, a pain to fight outside of the crater.

    It respawned quite quick, but killing it over and over was just running marathons around the rocky cliffs trying to get to wherever the dungeon decided to spit it out at. And then even after she found it, fighting it outside of the crater essentially boiled down to peppering it with projectiles and letting her Adaptive Torrents drown it.

    There was no joy to be gained from it, no new experience to learn from. So when the dungeon spat it out near the crater people kept it trapped in, Zoe lured it to the edge and collapsed the cliff so it fell in.

    Just below the Abomination was a much nicer forest filled with an abundance of reasonably high leveled zombie mages that Zoe could hunt to her heart¡¯s content with new magics she could study and learn from.

    None of the zombies had new resistances for her, but she did spend a bit of time letting them pummel her with their magic to bring up some of the resistances to more comfortable levels. Her highest was still Cold at level forty one, but her list of resistances was looking less and less like a failing magician¡¯s scores in school and more like a list of resistances that could one day save her life.

    Many more of the mages at the higher level had rarer magics ¡ª or maybe it was just that there were so many more of the mages, and she even managed to get the Wood skill after spending some time studying it.

    Wood was less fun than she expected it to be, however. When she first saw the zombies summoning chunks of wood and firing them off at her, Zoe thought she¡¯d be able to just make whatever wood she¡¯d like for furniture. But after acquiring the skill, she was rather disappointed at how different the created wood was to wood she harvested from trees.

    It was harder to manipulate with her hand tools and felt like it was fighting back against her when she tried to cut into it, even if she wasn¡¯t consciously doing so with her skill. If she let the mana bleed out of the wood then it behaved like normal wood, but it took almost a week to empty out even just enough raw material for a simple stool.

    And if she tried to make it go faster by pulling the mana back out of it, then at best she¡¯d damage the structure of the wood and leave it brittle and scarred. But at worst, the wood dissolved away as she reclaimed the mana she spent on it back.

    Of course, she could use the skill itself to shape the wood how she wanted instead of working it by hand, but that created a noticeably different end result. Her Carpentry skill was up to the low sixties now, and the wooden furniture that she made looked nice and felt great to sit on or touch. The surfaces were smooth and splinter free, and she was even able to add fine engravings to the wood. Patterns and designs so intricate that even her higher level Frost skill struggled to maintain the same level of detail.

    It made her think back to her failure with the smelting process, and whether that was truly a bad bloomery or if it was because she used hematite that she summoned. If she had instead grabbed some of the hematite she mined, would it have had a better yield? What about the hematite that she¡¯d summoned and left in piles around the hill? Would that have been better than mana dense hematite she¡¯d just summoned?

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure, but she thought it wasn¡¯t too outlandish an idea. Even with the Wood skill to make her own wood, there was just no way that Zoe was going to stop harvesting trees and cutting them for her furniture. Maybe for the wooden frames internally she¡¯d get away with using created wood, but for anything visible? For the walls she¡¯d lean on, the chairs and tables she¡¯d sit at? Raw, natural pine was just so much superior to her created wood.

    Having the skill confused her for the first few days, too. Her theory of how she would get the grass manipulation skill was Earth, Water and Wood. But even after getting them, they still didn¡¯t combine. With the knowledge of Eliza¡¯s Space and Time skills not combining into Cosmos despite a somewhat reputable source confirming that they could, it wasn¡¯t as confusing as it may have been.

    But it got her wondering what made skills combine. Even after more zombies cutting into her flesh with blades of grass and vines rising from the ground, she never got a resistance to them. Which just continued to help confirm her theory of resistances being basic.

    Not to mention all of her affinities from the Seasoned classes. Seasoned Torrents gave a water affinity, not a torrents affinity. It lent even more credibility to her theory when she thought about it.

    But what that meant for Zoe was that with her selection of skills, there should be something else she could get. Fire and Water should make Steam, maybe. Earth and Water could make Mud or Flora. There was simply no way for none of her skills to have possible combinations at this point, Zoe thought. She just had too many of them.

    Zoe spent some time thinking about grass after she got the Wood skill. It just seemed like the most obvious combination she could make. It was something she knew existed, at least in some form, and was likely to be made of skills she already had.

    Earth and Water both made sense, and Wood did to at least some extent. It was a part of the life cycle. Why would Wood be a base element, but Grass wouldn¡¯t be? Was it just a more powerful flora skill, controlling the vegetation rather than a specific piece of it? The groups of zombies whipped vines at her just as easily as grass ¡ª something the lower level zombies never did.

    But the ones that controlled wood never used the other vegetation. And the ones that controlled vines and grass never used wood. There was a difference there, she knew. A line that the skills just couldn¡¯t cross, or at least that the zombies wouldn¡¯t.

    Even Zoe with her Wood skill wasn¡¯t able to control anything other than wood, not that she expected to be able to anyway. One day, Zoe was sitting in a tree and trying to force something to work. She focused on her Earth, Water and Wood skills to flood the vegetation around her with mana. Leaves in the trees, grass sprouting from the ground.

    She pushed her Earth skill to enforce and protect the roots that stretched into the ground. With her Water skill she flooded the earth with moisture, and used her Wood to try and push the vegetation to grow.

    *Ding* The general skills; Earth, Water and Wood, have been combined into the Flora general skill.

    Zoe almost fell out of the tree she was in when she got the notification. The skills had combined! She shouted with joy, and pulled on her new magic. It had lost much of its capability from before. The trees around her were unaffected, the earth and water she flooded the area with didn¡¯t care about her magic. The the plants moved to her will. The leaves in the trees, the grass and flowers poking out of the ground below her.

    Everything stretched and grew at her command, twisting around each other and coiling up in thick vines that covered the forest floor beneath her. Zoe smiled at the sight, and then pulled out her notebook she used to note down everything she learned.

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    She turned to the page for her Earth skill, and refreshed herself on the patterns of mana that made it up, then tried casting the magic again. As soon as she did, she was rewarded with another notification.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Earth general skill.

    Zoe repeated the process for both Water and Wood, and couldn¡¯t help but feel a little disappointed at the progress lost from combining the skills. After regaining them, they were stuck back at level one despite Water and Earth having been in the low thirties before she lost them.

    But her disappointment was quickly replaced by a euphoria from having combined her skills for the first time. Zoe thought about what the difference was with her now, and Eliza with her Space and Time skills.

    Why was Zoe able to combine hers into Flora, while Eliza couldn¡¯t get cosmos? Did Eliza just not have an understanding of how space and time themselves worked together to form the web of reality we lived in?

    Zoe supposed it made sense. Education here was lacking in many ways, and the wrench of magic diverted a lot of the focus away from practical physics and into the mumbo jumbo of mysticism which, Zoe admitted, was a lot more relevant on Abyllan anyway.

    But if Zoe had the Space and Time skills, would she be able to get the cosmos skill? With her more earthen understanding of spacetime? Zoe never understood much about theoretical physics, but it was surely more than most did from Abyllan. Would she be able to combine them together just because she understands that there is a connection between space and time, even if she wasn¡¯t sure exactly how it worked?

    And Eliza was unable to, because to her they were just fundamentally different things? And what would that mean for Richard, for whom it was so simple to combine that the process wasn¡¯t even worth a mention?

    Though, Zoe thought, there wasn¡¯t a reason to believe everything he said. Maybe he left some things out intentionally, or maybe he just forgot some information when he was writing it down.

    By the time she reached her level goal, both her Water and Earth skills were levelled up enough for her to feel confident with them again. She sat at the table just past the Abomination¡¯s zone with a handful of other people. In total she had another one thousand eight hundred and thirty four stat points to spend from her years and levels. The four she got from Patient Decider and Vampyric Immortality went into Vitality as she got them.

    Three hundred she put into her Wisdom to bring it up to five hundred again. Six hundred forty six went into her Vitality to get it to a comfortable seven hundred fifty. Thirty and fifty into Strength and Endurance respectively to get them to one hundred. And the remaining eight hundred and four she pushed into Intelligence which brought it to a humbling one thousand, three hundred and six.

    There was a group of three standing ahead on the path who were next in line for the boss. Levels one hundred thirty three, one hundred forty five and one hundred forty six. All dark blue to Zoe¡¯s identify. The lowest level was a mage and the two others were warriors. They all wore casual clothes, and didn¡¯t seem to have any weapons visible.

    A muscled woman covered in scars and far too few leather straps to provide any meaningful protection was up next and sat at the other side of the table from Zoe. She was a dark blue level one seventy eight to Zoe¡¯s Identify. Her massive axe rested on the ground next to her, and she drank from a porcelain cup with a picture of a couple kittens wrestling on the side of it.

    Next in line was a group of six, all dark red and in the low one hundred thirties to Zoe¡¯s identify. Contrary to the previous group, they all seemed nervous and wore heavy mail armour with weapons strapped to their waist. The two mages had large staves, with gems strapped to their armour. And the four warriors all had heavy shields and spears.

    And finally, there was Zoe. She knew from talking to people that there was one more group ahead ¡ª whoever was up next would go and wait at the entrance to the final fight of Moaning Point. When the previous fight ended, they rang a loud bell to let the people down below know it was their turn and then entered the fray for themselves.

    Zoe asked what the point of the bell was and why everybody didn¡¯t just wait up at the entrance when she first learned of how the process worked and was told that it¡¯s about respect. Not everybody wants to share their pre-fight prep. Maybe they have buffs or skills they use that they don¡¯t want everybody seeing. Maybe they just give themselves an awkward pep talk before they enter.

    The line moved slower than even the worst amusement park lines Zoe had ever been in before. Sometimes, people would enter and just an hour later the next bell would ring. Sometimes it took an entire day before she heard the bell ring again.

    But in time the line shortened, and Zoe was next. Her nerves grew as she waited for the previous group to ring the bell. As soon as they did, she¡¯d get to head up the mountain and get her first view of what the final battle might look like.

    Forty minutes after the group left, Zoe heard the familiar bell ring from above and started walking up. She was the muscled woman walking down not long after, covered in blood and grinning from ear to ear. The woman nodded at Zoe as she passed, but Zoe hardly noticed over the anxiety that wracked through her.

    What she found at the top was nothing like what she expected. There was no peak for her to peer into and watch the previous group fight their battle. Instead, there was a shimmering blue barrier that cut into the mountain and stopped her from seeing anything beyond it. Next to the barrier was a tall wooden pole with a large brass bell hanging from the top. A rope dangled from a ball that hung inside the bell.

    Zoe sat down on the rocky ground next to the pole and waited. Would the barrier open when the group was done? Did she need to push mana into it to open it? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    Three hours passed as she sat on the ground next to the barrier without a sign of anything from inside, and Zoe began to grow worried. Was she messing something up? Was she screwing up this carefully made system people had for fighting the boss?

    A few more hours passed, and Zoe¡¯s anxiety was peaking. Were people going to run up here and yell at her for doing things wrong? Should she knock on the barrier? Should she try and break through it? The only rule people desperately drove home to her was to not pass the bell until the last group left.

    Just as she was about to stand up and try to knock, the barrier shattered and fell away. Beyond was the top of Moaning Point. A vast, empty plateau covered in cracks. The group from before stumbled towards her and down the mountain. Zoe offered to heal them, but they insisted they were okay.

    She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, rang the bell and walked forward.

 2-56. Moaning Point (End of Book Two)

    The blue barrier slammed into existence around Zoe as soon as she stepped past the threshold. The ground below her rumbled, and a humanoid figure rose over a hundred feet away, on the other side of the rocky plateau.

    Mana raced around it as it stretched out its dark, skeletal arms and formed a thick black robe that covered its body. It let out a chilling laugh that echoed through the plateau.

    ¡°Who dares disturb my rest?¡± Zoe heard in a whisper that raced around her head.

    ¡°Me?¡± Zoe smiled at it in the distance.

    ¡°I am the great Arthanhorgul. Leave or face my wrath.¡± The being¡¯s voice pressed into Zoe¡¯s head but fell far short of what she was used to with John.

    Zoe turned to the barrier and stuck her hand up against it, but felt nothing. She pressed farther and her hand went through. She pulled it back in and turned to the being at the other side of the plateau.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I will.¡± Zoe said and summoned a full suit of armour with her Frozen Arsenal.

    A roar raced across the plateau and sent loose gravel flying as the being pushed mana towards the ground. An army of black skeletons and rotting corpses rose from the ground. Dozens of undead covered in armour and weapons stared her down. At the front was a row of black skeletons. Just behind them were four defined groups of undead. Each with three zombies clad in shining metal armour wielding a sword and shield that protected a mage in bright yellow robes and holding a twisted wooden staff.

    ¡°Slay the pest,¡± the being said.

    In an instant, the horde of undead sprung to action. The skeletons rushed across the plateau in a desperate sprint while the more organized groups followed close behind. Mana was drawn in to the mages and then washed out over the armoured zombies around them as they approached.

    Zoe summoned a barrage of Frost projectiles then flashed an enchantment of Archery, Shield-fighting and an explosive Torrential Arsenal and bemoaned Enchanted Mirror¡¯s inability to enchant multiple things at once.

    As each projectile was prepared, she fired it off at the closest skeleton. In moments, the horde of skeletons at the front were taken out and their bones reclaimed by the dungeon.

    She turned her attention to the groups of armoured zombies rushing her down, but her projectiles were useless against them. Each projectile was blocked effortlessly by one of the shield wielding zombies, and the explosion of water was pushed aside. Sometimes the Torrential Echo seemed like it would sneak past the zombie¡¯s defenses as the first hit pushed their shield back just enough. But then another zombie rushed in to support, and the echo splashed against their shield as their charge continued.

    Zoe took a moment to switch her Enchanted Mirror as they were still approaching to a heavier enchantment. Archery, Shield-fighting and a Torrential Arsenal focused on blunt force. The effect was far more pronounced than when she was forced to use cooking for additional crushing power against the Frozen Shards.

    She spent more mana on each chunk of ice she summoned to make them as large as a basketball instead of the normal pebble sized projectiles she used, and fired them off. Each one smashed into a zombie¡¯s shield and sent it staggering back which forced another zombie to rush in and block the Torrential Echo that followed.

    The first few projectiles caught the zombies off guard and her echo managed to sneak through their defenses and slam into the mages behind. Their robes dripped with water as the projectiles splashed through them. The water seeped into their bones and Zoe saw the mages slow ever so slightly as they struggled against the water coursing through them.

    All four of the groups joined together as three of the warriors stood behind to protect the mages while the remaining shield bearing zombies continued rushing towards Zoe. Mana rushed into the skeletons¡¯ staves as they cast their spells, and Zoe continued firing her larger blunt projectiles off at the armoured zombies rushing towards her.

    They smashed through the zombies and sent them reeling back from the impact, but another zombie stepped in to block the secondary impact from Torrential Echo each time which kept the damage they took to a minimum.

    Zoe took off running in an arc along the translucent blue barrier as she continued firing projectiles off and thinking about what to do. The armoured zombies were gaining on her, and the amount of mana the mages were gathering for whatever spell they were about to cast was terrifying.

    Should she build up a defensive position to take out the armoured zombies one by one? Should she rush down the mages and take them out before they could get their spell off? She turned towards the black robed being that summoned the horde.

    Mana was surging from the being and into the ground as the summoner worked to create something new.

    Zoe cursed. There was only one thing she could think of that would be summoned, and she did not want to fight it in this arena. She flooded mana into the ground behind her with Earth and created pitfalls and rocks to trip the armoured zombies behind her and then rushed towards the summoner. Balls of Frost appeared next to her and she flashed enchantments onto them as she ran. Some, she fired off at the zombies as they approached. But the rest she kept with her as she ran across the plateau.

    The mages spell ripped itself into existence with a massive echoing crack. A ball of purple lightning floated above the mages, bolts of lightning reached out and slammed into the ground sending burnt rocks and dirt into a cloud around them.

    They waved their staves, and the ball of lightning flew through the sky towards Zoe. She rose a slab of earth out of the ground in its path, then jumped back to dodge a quick slash from the first armoured zombie that reached her.

    The zombie slammed its shield into the ground and sent gravel flying towards her. The rocks and dirt bounced harmlessly off her icy armour. The rest of the zombies were still far behind, so Zoe summoned another slab of earth in front of the zombie and then took off again towards the summoner.

    An echoing crack blasted through the plateau as the ball of lightning smashed into the wall she created. Zoe took a moment to look behind and saw her earthen wall crumbling from the impact as the purple lightning dissipated from the air.

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    Below the crumbling wall were the armoured zombies that were chasing her. Their shining armour coursed with purple energy that raced across the surface. Lightning arced from their swords and shields as it reached for the ground. They screamed and chased after her again.

    When Zoe made it to the halfway point across the plateau, mana rushed from the summoner and into the ground and a dozen more skeletons rose. Zoe fired off her basketball sized projectiles at the skeletons and they fell in quick succession.

    Zoe summoned a sword and shield with Torrential Arsenal, which was a strange experience. They were solid water, but not ice. She could feel the water flowing through the hilt in her hand, or through the rope that she gripped on the shield. But it felt so solid, so sturdy. And after all of her time practicing with it, they weren¡¯t much weaker than her Frozen Arsenal weapons either. Which was more than made up for by the Adaptive Torrents infecting everything they hit with a drowning effect.

    She rushed towards the summoner as the purple glowing armoured zombies got even closer. A crack echoed through the plateau as the mages summoned more magic and Zoe turned to look at what they made.

    An enormous flaming ball was rocketing through the sky towards her. Zoe grimaced as she felt the icy armour covering her and pushed as much mana as she could into her Torrents skill. A massive wave appeared, towering over her and she sent it crashing through the armoured zombies behind her. The fireball smashed into the wave and exploded in a cloud of steam.

    Zoe created a thick wall of ice between her and the expanding cloud of steam and checked on her mana.

    Mana: 39253/52240

    She grimaced. With all her buffs, it would only take a few seconds to get all of that mana back. But the undead horde wasn¡¯t going to give her a few seconds to recover, as the armoured zombies rushed at her through the cloud of steam and slammed into her slab of frost.

    Zoe turned and continued running towards the summoner as she ripped apart the ground behind her with Earth and continued forming more projectiles. Right as she approached the accumulating mana, flesh began to writhe and stretch across the ground. Arms and limbs, hair and bones smashed into each other and formed the Abomination.

    A fleshy limb stretched out of the Abomination and flew towards her far faster than she was used to in her fights with it before. Zoe leapt to the side, assisted with a pillar of Earth that rose from the ground below her and powerful Gales that slammed into her side. The Abominations limb smashed through the ground and cut a deep groove where she was standing a moment prior.

    Rocks and dirt slammed into her icy armour and she felt her mana drain from the impact. Zoe caught herself and fired off dozens of the projectiles that floated around her. Each one slammed into the Abomination and staggered it back ever so slight, with the Torrential Echo that followed close behind coating it in water. Zoe noticed the flesh begin to drip and sag as it was weighed down with water.

    She ducked under a slash from one of the armoured zombies that had caught up to her and lightning arced from its blade and through her icy armour. Zoe shuddered from the current and then fired another of her prepared projectiles at the zombie.

    The rest were close behind, and she summoned another towering wave with Torrents and splashed it down onto them, knocking them off their feet. Some of the zombies stopped moving after the impact she noticed. Their flesh ripped apart and bones reclaimed by the dungeon. She turned back to the Abomination just in time to see another fleshy limb flailing through the air towards her.

    Zoe tried to shove herself back with her magic but failed to do so in time. The limb smashed into her armour and she gasped as her armour shattered and mana was ripped from her soul. She bounced along the ground like a pebble on water and landed next to the summoner, gasping for breath.

    Health: 9483/15000

    Restoration flooded her with a pleasant warmth and began filling her health back up. Zoe grimaced through the pain and stood up as she summoned another suit of icy armour and a massive mace of flowing water. Now that she was close enough, Zoe saw the summoner was a level one hundred fifty three blue marked Lich.

    She ran after the Lich and smashed her mace into its back. It tumbled on the ground, and Zoe gripped its limbs with Earth and slammed her mace into it again. Mana rushed from the Lich and began to flood the ground.

    The Abomination tried to roll towards Zoe but was too bogged down with water to make much headway. Its fleshy limbs stretched out around it and smashed through the ground, sending rocks and dirt flying towards Zoe.

    She created a pillar of Earth in front of her and the Lich that the rocks bounced off of. The armoured zombies she had drowned were stumbling towards her, dripping with water. And the mages were running across the plateau to catch up.

    Zoe smiled at the scene and slammed her mace into the Lich one last time. Its bones shattered, and the dungeon reclaimed its mana. She laughed as she took a much needed break to build up her mana again, and then summoned wave after wave that crashed down on the Abomination and accompanying armoured zombies.

    By the time the mages were close enough to start channelling their mana again, the rest of the undead horde was nothing more than a pile of shining armour. She fired off the remaining dozen projectiles she had at the small group of mages, and the three armoured zombies were unable to block every one. Each projectile knocked the shields aside and she quickly broke through to smash into the mages behind.

    Their magic was interrupted, and Zoe made quick work of the remaining group with more towering waves from her Torrents skill.

    When the last zombie was reclaimed by the dungeon, a notification appeared in Zoe¡¯s vision.

    *Ding* You have cleared the Moaning Point dungeon. Would you like to claim your reward?

    Zoe pushed her confirmation towards the system.

    *Ding* You have accepted the Moaning Point dungeon reward. Barrier will be removed after 60 seconds or when you leave¡­ 59¡­ 58¡­ 57¡­

    Mana swirled in front of Zoe and formed into physical objects. A pile of golden coins floated in front of her ¡ª at least one hundred, maybe even two hundred. Along with the coins came two mana orbs, a ring and a sword.

    Identify showed the mana orbs to have a capacity of two hundred fifty thousand each, while the ring and sword showed as nothing. But loot was never the point of climbing Moaning Point Zoe thought as she walked up to the edge of the plateau near where the Lich spawned.

    Just beyond the blue barrier was a cliff hundreds of feet tall that reached down to the lower sections of the mountain. She looked out over the surroundings. In the distance near the bottom she could see the bustling town of Gafoda. Even farther in the distance she could even see Flester from so far up. Like a gray splotch that broke up the endless forest of green. She could see hills and clearings in every direction she looked and smiled.

    This was what she climbed Moaning Point for. To be able to say she did it, that she had her life ripped apart and thrown into an unfamiliar world and overcame everything despite herself. To see the world for what it was, and it was beautiful.

    Zoe grinned and leapt through the blue barrier off the cliff behind just before the timer ran down. It shattered like a pane of glass as the mana that made it up flowed back into the atmosphere and Zoe fell down the cliff. She summoned a suit of Earth around herself and flew off back home. It was time for a change of pace.

 3-1. An Innkeepers Day

    Joe sat at his desk in his room at The Risen Cask with a smile on his face. Even after all these years, he couldn¡¯t get used to his rundown inn having a name, and almost for free at that! The large expense of paying an Enchanter was covered simply by being kind and helping out a young girl in need.

    He shook his head. All because she needed a toilet. Did she even know how toilets worked here, back then? What would it have been like, wandering up the stairs and being forced to learn how to use magic on the spot like that?

    On his desk were piles of papers, many were taxes. Income sorted and logged, payments ready. But the majority were keeping track of everything that happened at The Risen Cask. With its new purpose as more than just an inn ¡ª or frankly, barely an inn these days, Flester wanted much more information about its operations. Patrons levels, ages, what they were doing, how mentally stable they were, and so on.

    And that wasn¡¯t even mentioning Joe¡¯s personal notes that he needed to keep just to be able to stay on top of everything. Who was staying where, what were their goals and aspirations, what did they suffer through, and what kinds of support did they respond best to. There was a certain tedium to all the work, at times.

    But Joe was content with life. Jeffrey was almost ready to leave, eager to get a new job at an alchemist¡¯s shop nearby. Lauren was struggling a bit, but seeing her confidence come back and watching her open up with some of the others at The Risen Cask made Joe feel a certain giddiness. Even Peter could be seen smiling sometimes, these days.

    And to know that he was responsible for it, at least in some small part, made him ecstatic. To know that so many people had come to call The Risen Cask a place to feel safe, and wanted, and loved was more than he could ever hope for. What was a little paperwork compared to the knowledge that these downtrodden people were getting back on their feet? And if he had to lie on his paperwork sometimes to keep them from being noticed? Well, that was just the risk he had to take to keep the kids safe.

    Joe had been at level one twenty three for a while now, and the urge to check his classes beckoned at the back of his mind ever since. That odd vampire girl he met so long ago had changed him in more ways than she¡¯d ever know. Maybe taking your time to pick out a class wasn¡¯t so bad, after all. She took a few more risks than he¡¯d ever be comfortable with, of course.

    But despite that, she had taken many more classes than he had and still caught up to him. Maybe taking your time and working things out worked. Or maybe it was the hordes of zombies and shards of ice she fought that got her there, maybe it was the system breaking for her in ways that would never be repeatable for Joe that got her there.

    He brought up his stat sheet as he leaned back in his chair.

    Name: Joe Kinsly

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 103

    Dexterity: 344

    Vitality: 615

    Endurance: 120

    Intelligence: 153

    Wisdom: 275

    Health:  13838/13838

    Stamina: 1200/1200

    Mana: 4590/4590

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Abyllian (123)

    - Identify (123)

    Class 2: Innkeeper¡¯s Apprentice

    - Physical Affinity (123)

    - Food Enhancement (123)

    - Paperwork (123)

    - Prepwork (123)

    - A Proper Inn (123)

    Class 3: Innkeeper

    - Physical Affinity (123)

    - Food Enhancement (123)

    - Ledger (98)

    - Patron Examine (74)

    - Repairing (84)

    Class 4: Master Innkeeper

    - Physical Affinity (123)

    - Food Enhancement (123)

    - Mana Affinity (111)

    - Warehouse (101)

    - An Inn¡¯s Protection (69)

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Carpentry (43)

    - Meditation (75)

    - Repose (54)

    - Cooking (123)

    - Bartering (79)

    - First-aid (54)

    Resistances:

    - Pain (3)

    - Cold (26)

    - Heat (53)

    Feats:

    - A Traveler¡¯s Friend

    The feat was his most recent addition and he looked at the description of it again with pride.

    [A Traveler¡¯s Friend]

    You are a beacon of hope to the weary, a friend to those in need. Far and wide your name is spoken as a harbour of safety for travelers in need. Increased experience from helping those you¡¯ve never met.

    To think that his efforts to help people, to make the world around him that little bit better would have rewarded him with a feat. That people were speaking of his inn far and wide. People who he¡¯d never seen before, who he¡¯d never met knew of The Risen Cask as a place to stay. In towns he¡¯d never been to, in city¡¯s he¡¯d never even heard of, people knew of him and his inn.

    Joe never got tired of looking at his feat. Proof that his efforts mattered, that he was making a difference. That the people who he helped went on to be happy and successful enough to spread the word.

    Satisfied with his sheet, Joe brought up his class choices for his fifth class. Originally, when he started he thought he¡¯d follow in his mother¡¯s footsteps. Maybe one day he could even surpass her and take Expert Innkeeper

    But now, he hoped for something a little more. Maybe he would just settle on Expert Innkeeper and be happy. But he wanted something different, something that reflected his new purpose with his inn. Something that could help heal and mend the broken people that find their way to The Risen Cask.

    Most of the options were rubbish, as he expected. An abundance of Apprentice classes for various professions, and even the odd regular variant for some. Plenty of classes just for his different stat thresholds. Mages and warriors, enchanters and speedsters. But those weren¡¯t interesting to Joe.

    Instead, he turned his attention to the few that grabbed his attention.

    [Expert Innkeeper] Known through the lands as a place to stay. Powerful foods and a secured room makes your inn stand out from the rabble. Increased cooking buffs. Increased experience gained from patrons staying at your inn.

    Requirements: Has the Master Innkeeper class.

    [A Traveler¡¯s Friend] A beacon to those less fortunate, you strive to bring all those you meet to excellence. Increased regeneration. Increased experience from helping others.

    Requirements: Has the A Traveler¡¯s Friend feat.

    [A Traveler¡¯s Keeper] A beacon to those less fortunate, a home to those in need. People from afar seek solace in your presence, and find safety in your walls. Increased regeneration. Increased cooking buffs.

    Requirements: Has the A Traveler¡¯s Friend feat, has the Master Innkeeper class.

    [An Everlasting Home] Unaffected by the passage of time, a home for immortals in need. Your name is known and respected by those outside of time¡¯s grasp. Increased regenerative magic. Increased experience from immortal patrons staying at your inn.

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.Requirements: Has housed five immortals, Has four classes, has the Master Innkeeper class

    Joe looked through his options. They were all good, in his opinion. A Traveler¡¯s Keeper and An Everlasting Home both had the highest requirements, perhaps the latter could be argued to be even higher. But requirements never influenced Joe¡¯s decision much. If one had higher requirements, but another fit his lifestyle better? Then requirements be damned, he¡¯d take the one that fit better.

    What Joe needed most was something that would do just that, fit his new lifestyle as a home for the less fortunate. The first two seemed powerful to that regard, but Expert Innkeeper just seemed lacking. It would be more of the same, and he didn¡¯t need that.

    Which left the two classes for his new feat. A Traveler¡¯s Keeper being tied to his innkeeper class seemed to have the same problem to him, so Joe wrote it off. He¡¯d rather have something that might be a little weaker, but be closer to what he was trying to move towards. More cooking buffs just didn¡¯t matter as much as more stats and levels, these days.

    An Everlasting Home was tempting, but was that simply for the immortality? He had never aspired for it, never cared much for it. The idea of growing old in his inn and dying of old age naturally was almost a dream to him. Joe loved life, and loved living. But a part of him thought that it was so beautiful because it was so short.

    That he needed to live the best life he could, because it would be over so soon. But to see immortality dangling in front of him, with just a mere thought he could take the class and if the description was accurate, become immortal himself.

    Joe chuckled, thinking of the young half-vampire girl who stopped by every so often. She rambled a few times about taking multiple classes just to pick the best one. Every time, she glossed over the horrendous pain of the system ripping apart her body as though it was just a normal part of life. If she knew that he was stuck struggling between two classes, she¡¯d probably just laugh and tell him to just take both and see which one was really better.

    But that wasn¡¯t an option, not really. Joe would be happy with either of them, he knew. Putting himself through that existential pain just to try and make a slightly better decision was nonsensical. Which meant it came down to him and him alone to decide which he¡¯d prefer.

    Would he like more regeneration that likely applied to other people, and a class that reflected the feat he was so immensely proud of. Or would he like immortality, magic that almost certainly could heal other people, and an inn that would last through the ages?

    Joe shook his head and pushed the notifications away. He cleaned up his desk, storing all the paperwork in his Warehouse skill and then left his room. The long hallway was brightly lit with everlasting torches that hung off the walls, and a contented chatter could be heard from the lounge downstairs.

    Peter and Lauren were both sitting on a couch by a table, playing a game of cards with each other while Jeffrey was in the kitchen making breakfast for everybody. Joe smiled at the sight. Kenzie and Sue were probably still asleep ¡ª they always slept in quite late, but seeing everybody else up and getting along filled him with happiness.

    ¡°Good morning, everybody.¡± Joe said as he came down.

    ¡°Morning Joe!¡± Everybody shouted back at him.

    Joe sat down on one of the couches and sighed.

    ¡°Something wrong?" Jeffrey called out from the kitchen.

    Joe shook his head. ¡°No, nothing¡¯s wrong. I was just struggling with a decision but I think I¡¯ve figured it out.¡±

    ¡°Did you decide on your class?¡± Peter asked and looked over nervously. When he first showed up a few months earlier, it was a struggle to even get him to say he was tired. That he now felt comfortable enough to even ask about Joe¡¯s class at all was plenty of progress, and Joe smiled back at him.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Are you still going to be running this place?¡± Lauren asked.

    ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t have plans to go anywhere anytime soon.¡± Joe smiled and locked in his class choice. Leaving these people behind because of some misplaced desire to grow old and die wouldn¡¯t sit right by him. If immortality was on the table, if the option to continue pursuing his passion like this was in reach then he¡¯d be a fool to not grab it.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the An Everlasting Home class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Meanwhile, in a cave not far northeast from Flester was a young woman with flowing white hair and skin to match. Her piercing red eyes scoured the pile of crystals in a box next to her worktable as she rummaged through it with her clawed fingers to find the specific failed experiment she was looking for.

    [Smoke Compressor v3.0Final For real but Actual this time]

    ¡°Aha!¡± Zoe shouted as she grabbed the translucent gray crystal from the box.

    It was one of her many failed attempts at replacing her chimney. The hole to the outside worked well enough for keeping her home clean and breathable, but it also left a wide open entrance for all sorts of bugs and pests to find their way in.

    In a perfect world, the smoke and other miscellaneous waste would just be destroyed through some means. Disintegration would have been a fantastic option for her, but the only person she knew who had it died over a decade ago.

    The gray crystal was one of her many attempts at simply compressing the gasses down with various skills. Her thought was that if she could compress them so much that they formed a solid mass, they would take up much less space and she could just toss the solid chunks of waste aside every so often.

    Unfortunately, the best she¡¯d managed was squishing in a lot more gas into a space than would be natural. Helpful, but for the amount of exhaust she had already in her home ¡ª and with plans to build even more, unless she could solidify the gas it just wouldn¡¯t make enough of a difference. And doing so was still outside of her capabilities, for now.

    She had tried adding plants to her home, flowers and vines that wrapped around her wooden frames, and even tried creating an enchantment that smashed the gasses between two slabs of stone. She tried many of those really, reminded of a colony simulator game¡¯s automatic door gas deleters. But unfortunately, if the slabs did squish shut all the way then the gasses would just seep into cracks in the rock and a noticeable breeze would push out of the other side.

    And whenever she did manage to make an airtight seal, then the slabs just wouldn¡¯t shut all the way. Or in a particularly extreme case, explode into shrapnel that motivated her to keep her Frozen Arsenal armour on when she was testing new enchantments.

    Zoe pushed her mana into the gray crystal and wiped away the framework that made up the failed enchantment. The wealth of enchantable crystals Zoe once had from her years on Moaning Point had dwindled. Lost to experiments that were a little more destructive than she anticipated, or sold off as utility gems in Flester.

    This was her last usable wind attribute gem, and Zoe wanted to make a going away present for one of Joe¡¯s patients? Clients? Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what to call the people who stayed at The Risen Cask. Patrons, maybe?

    Peter had landed a job as an alchemist, and Zoe couldn¡¯t think of anything better she could give him than an assortment of utility gems. She¡¯d already made a fire starter and a water spout, but wanted to give him a breath of fresh air to go along with it.

    Zoe smiled and sat down at her work table in her enchanting room just above her growing library.

 3-2. Flames

    Zoe looked at the papers she had strewn about her desk, notes on different experiments and patterns of mana to toy with. She felt like a mad scientist from some children¡¯s movie somedays. Throwing random ideas that pop into her mind at the wall to see what sticks.

    But it was fun. And it was never about being successful, it was about trying things. The trials that stuck were wonderful ¡ª new fans for her chimney, new thermal controls for her stove. But what really stuck out to her were the ones that didn¡¯t.

    The violent explosions that rocked her cave, the useless mana filled husks of worthless mana barely capable of blowing the papers around on her desk. It was exciting and fun.

    For now, Zoe had a plan written down for Jeffrey¡¯s going away present. In her time of practicing, she¡¯d managed to fit in another two enchantments, which meant most of her enchantments had an Identify skill in them these days. Five skills was just so many options, and Zoe had begun wondering where the limit was.

    Would there be a limit? Could she enchant something with every one of her skills, one day? A single gem containing every skill she could collect?

    An issue she had begun to realize, however; was that her Enchanted Mirror didn¡¯t support it. Or at least she couldn¡¯t see a way to make it work. No matter how much she tried, three skills was the absolute limit for her Enchanted Mirror.

    Maybe as it levelled, it would become more useful, more powerful. But even at level one forty two, the skill was stuck at only three. She hoped that once it got to one fifty, it would be able to support a fourth skill. But if it didn¡¯t, then it might be time to get back to her roots and replace her Chrono Enchanter class.

    It didn¡¯t provide much for her these days anyway. Mana Manipulation was nice but Zoe suspected that if she got rid of it, she¡¯d be able to get a general skill for it rather quick with all her studies and practice. She tried to upgrade Mana Manipulation to a general Mana skill at one point too, but the way it worked was so fundamentally different to what she was used to. Even different to the Space and Time skills that Eliza showed off whenever she stopped by.

    Whereas Space and Time seemed to rely on themselves to warp mana around, Mana Manipulation almost seemed to not even have a pattern at all. After all, it was the manipulation of mana itself. How would you manipulate mana with mana? You were already manipulating mana at that point.

    And the creation of mana? Zoe already created far more mana than she knew what to do with, what would be the point of creating even more? After a few weeks of studying the skill, she brushed it aside as being different to other manipulation skills and moved on.

    Immaculate Enchantments was an absolute life changer, but whatever class she replaced Chrono Enchanter with would have its own version anyway. And Enchanted Mirror was beginning to fall off.

    That left just the basic class effects, which were quite powerful she had to admit. Mana Sight was a powerful boon that made it possible at all for her to accumulate so many different elemental skills. The increased mana and regeneration were both incredible for her early on, but with all of her feats and new classes they just didn¡¯t matter as much.

    It was tempting to drop all the way back down to level twenty one and grab a new class. Zoe had a hunch that if she grabbed all the Seasoned variants, they would combine into one master class, too. If she was already planning to replace her Chrono Enchanter with something more powerful, then it was worth a shot if nothing else.

    And the idea bounced around Zoe¡¯s head as it brought up other possibilities. If the Seasoned variants would combine into one class, it wasn¡¯t a huge jump for the Transcendent feats to do the same. Or hell, even the Slayer series of feats. How many could there be? If Zoe got all of them one day, would they combine into a Master Slayer feat, with even more powerful classes available?

    She shook the thought off and returned to the sheet in front of her. The plan she had laid out was Wind, Restoration, Meditation, Enchanting, Identify. With so many skills that she could fit into each object now, she was able to add in some quality of life additions to her tools.

    Restoration would help mend the gem if it ever ended up damaged, and Identify would label it so Jeffrey would never forget what it was.

    Zoe giggled at the name she chose and started enchanting it. With so many skills now, enchanting an object took time and focus that reminded her of when she first started. Each bit of mana needed to be just right like a flimsy toy brick sculpture that would fall with the slightest breeze. If even one of the skills she was pressing into the gem was out of place then the whole thing would fail and Zoe would be left with a bundle of useless mana at best. And at worst, she¡¯d be thankful for the icy armour that covered her body.

    A few dozen seconds later, Zoe wiped a bead of sweat from her brow and identified the gem.

    [Jeffrey¡¯s Oxygen Tank]

    She stored the gem away in her bracelet with his water spout and firestarter gems, then laid down on her bed. Jeffrey¡¯s party wasn¡¯t for another few days so she had some time to relax and work on other projects. Since she came back home, she¡¯d gotten a lot done around her home.

    Her library had bookshelves made, and she even had her books from John sitting on them now rather than taking up space in her bracelet. Soon, she intended to make a trip to another bookstore in town just to buy a few dozen books to fill out the rest of her shelves, but she was happy with how it looked.

    She had travelled down to Gafoda to pick up some of the darker spruce like trees near them to build a dark wooden bookshelf that contrasted with the lighter red pine she used for her walls and floors. In time, she thought it might even be nice to replace the ceiling with the darker wood too.

    Her enchanting workshop was finished, for now, with a walkway leading over to the nearby cave through the waterlogged tunnel for the more dangerous experiments. The cave was filled with rubble and detritus like a school yard after the fair, but it was separated from her home so she didn¡¯t mind.

    Her Earth doors that she made had their enchantments replaced with one of Earth, Meditation, Enchanting and Torrential Echo. Opening the doors and walking through the film of rushing white water rapids that filled in the space after they shrunk out of the way hadn¡¯t gotten old yet, and she didn¡¯t think it would.

    If the echo left behind made her wet, then she thought it might. But it didn¡¯t seem to have a corporeal form at all. Which made her think it was just a visual illusion, but it would be weird for an unrelated skill to have an illusory enchantment so she wasn¡¯t sure what was happening with it.

    Testing her Echo skills enchantments was on her ever growing list of things to do, but she didn¡¯t see it providing any benefit to her home so other things kept getting bumped up. Fix her chimney, fix her chimney a different way, figure out a way to grow plants underground. Maybe make a garden outside. The list was endless, but Zoe liked it that way.

    She always had something to do, always had something to keep her interested. Zoe closed her eyes as she rested on her pillow and drifted off to sleep.

    Not an hour later, she was shaken awake by a violent earthquake. Her home creaked as the rock shook, wooden planks screaming from the vibrations. Zoe ran to her front door and opened the small peep hole she made right next to it. The trees outside were shaking, the bright green leaves fell and covered the ground.

    She pushed mana into the door and it squished off to the side, leaving behind a torrent of water in its place. Zoe stepped outside and ran up the hill. Rocks tumbled around her as she climbed, pushed aside by her Earth skill.

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    In the distance, where Flester¡¯s walls were once just visible over the tree¡¯s canopies was billowing smoke and bright red flames that reached for the sky.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Emma ran around her tower, gathering everything she needed. Her necklace stored everything important, but she had memories stuck in drawers, cat food piled up in the kitchen closet. The cats¡¯ carriers were stuck in the back of her closet, and she struggled to bring them out and get them open.

    Her mom slammed the tower door open and shouted. ¡°We need to go! NOW!¡±

    ¡°I KNOW! I need to get the cats. Help me!¡± Emma shouted back.

    Emma¡¯s mom grabbed one of the carriers and ran off to find Oliver while Emma wrestled with Fennel to get him in the carrier. He scratched and hissed, but there was no time to be nice.

    Another explosion crashed nearby, deafening Emma for a moment. She pushed Fennel into his carrier and tied the ropes off on the outside. ¡°Got him! Is Oliver okay?¡± She shouted to her mom.

    ¡°Almost!¡± Emma¡¯s mom¡¯s voice sounded strained. ¡°Okay! He¡¯s in! Lets go! NOW!¡±

    Emma stored away the last of the paperwork she needed and as much cat food as she could and then followed her mom outside and through the smoke. She summoned two translucent gray gems that Zoe gave her and stuffed them into the cat carriers to try and keep them from being overrun with smoke.

    ¡°This way!" Emma¡¯s mom shouted.

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± Emma ran after her mom.

    ¡°The guardhouse! We¡¯ll be safe there!¡± Emma¡¯s mom shouted back.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°No! But it¡¯s the best we¡¯ve got.¡± Emma¡¯s mom shouted.

    They ran through the streets, the buildings almost a blur as they leapt over fallen rubble and through alleys. Emma knew her mom could go even faster, could make it to the guardhouse in a moment. But the cats wouldn¡¯t be okay at that speed, if she could even carry Emma and both the cats in the first place.

    They passed dozens of people as they ran. Some standing outside their burning houses, begging for help. Others running in the same direction as them, some running away. A few were smashing into buildings and taking whatever they wished.

    Minutes later, they arrived at the nearest guardhouse. Or where it should have been, at least. In its place was a smouldering pile of wood. A dozen bodies were left behind, crushed under burning wood. A lone pillar of stone stood in the corner with bits of rock tumbling off it.

    ¡°Shit!" Emma¡¯s mom shouted. She looked at Emma and the two cats they were carrying and grimaced.

    ¡°I¡¯m not abandoning them! I can¡¯t do that.¡± Emma shouted back, tears dripping down her face.

    ¡°I know. I know, it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m not going to ask you to do that. Fuck.¡± Emma¡¯s mom put Oliver down and ran around the destroyed guardhouse and rummaged through the rubble. She found a metal trapdoor and shoved a large burning wooden beam off it. Her fingers sizzled as she grabbed the wooden handle and threw it open.

    Smoke billowed out from the basement and flames licked at her feet. She coughed and stepped back. ¡°Shit.¡±

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Emma asked. The cats were hissing, the town was destroyed. Everything was gone.

    ¡°Fuck. Lets try another guardhouse, maybe somewhere survived.¡± Emma¡¯s mom said.

    A man running past stopped next to them. ¡°None of the guardhouses survived. They¡¯re all gone.¡±

    ¡°Every one?¡± Emma¡¯s mom asked.

    The man nodded.

    ¡°Shit. Do you know what¡¯s happening?" Emma¡¯s mom asked.

    The man shook his head. A woman appeared next to him. ¡°Fire elemental¡¯s attacking.¡±

    ¡°Fuck, another elemental? We just had the frost elemental what ten years ago? Fifteen?" The man asked.

    She nodded her head. ¡°It¡¯s higher level, too. Doesn¡¯t look good.¡±

    ¡°Shit.¡± The man said. ¡°Where¡¯s it coming from? Can we escape?"

    ¡°Southeast,¡± the woman said. ¡°Should be fine to leave north, as long as it doesn¡¯t continue that direction.¡±

    A swarm of flames fell from the sky around them, and formed into dark blue marked Fire Elementals, around the mid one forties.

    The woman vanished as quick as she came, and the man shouted. ¡°Shit! Good luck ladies.¡± He ran off to the north.

    Emma and her mom followed behind. The fire elementals shot off bursts of flame that the two dodged between. The odd flame burned into Emma¡¯s side as she stopped it from hitting Fennel¡¯s cage, and they soon were past the swarm of fire elementals.

    ¡°We can go to Zoe¡¯s!¡± Emma shouted at her mom.

    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± Emma¡¯s mom shouted back.

    ¡°It¡¯s at a hill north east, I¡¯ll lead the way.¡± Emma said and took the lead. They left the city, and continued running towards Zoe¡¯s home.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zoe ran down the hill and took off towards Flester. Was Emma okay? Was Joe okay? What happened? If she felt the rumblings this far away, then how intense would they be so close? Would anybody have survived? Would Flester even still be there? Could she even accomplish anything if she went there now?

    None of that mattered. She needed to know what was happening, she needed to know if she could help out. She wasn¡¯t the weak level eight she was last time Flester was attacked, she could handle herself now.

    A few minutes after running through the forest, she saw Emma and her mom in the distance, each carrying a cloth wrapping at their side. Zoe waved at them.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma¡¯s face was covered in tears, her eyes red from from emotion. ¡°It. We. Everything.¡± She stuttered.

    ¡°Fire elemental attacked.¡± Emma¡¯s mom said. ¡°Emma said you live near here?¡±

    Zoe nodded and showed them to the door. ¡°Yeah, right through here. You can stay as long as you need. Fire elemental attacked? Is Joe okay, do you know?"

    Emma shook her head as she walked through the Torrential Echo left behind by Zoe¡¯s door.

    ¡°We barely got out, I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know where your friend is.¡± Emma¡¯s mom answered.

    ¡°Okay, thanks. You can stay here. Just push mana into the stone and it¡¯ll open the doors. The water¡¯s fake, kinda. Don¡¯t touch anything upstairs, that¡¯s my enchanting workshop.¡± Zoe said and ran off back towards Flester.

 3-3. Capture

    Zoe was at the outskirts of Flester fifteen minutes later, her chest heaving with each breath as she stared at the destruction. The towering gray walls that once stood as a testament to Flester¡¯s might were nothing more than a pile of scorched stone.

    The beautiful, mystic shops that lined the streets were shattered. Shards of crystal covered the ground, massive planks of wood burned with a brilliant white flame that reached up through the cloud of smoke billowing from the destruction.

    Few buildings remained standing, their outsides scorched and charred from the flames. Inside of each, Zoe heard people crying and grimaced. She couldn¡¯t help everybody, she was here for Joe, she reminded herself. If their houses were still fine, they might be better than Joe was.

    In the distance, Zoe saw balls of flame that seemed to hop from building to building, leaving destruction in their wake. The bits of Fire Elemental that broke off from the main body, she supposed.

    Zoe rushed towards where The Risen Cask should be, sending towering waves that crashed into each Fire Elemental she saw. Most were dark blue in the one forties, but some even made it up to one fifty. None survived the flood of water Zoe threw at them. Their flames extinguished in an explosion of steam. The first gave her a notification, but she dismissed it immediately.

    The damage got worse as she continued south, and the heat began to creep through her defenses. Fewer and fewer buildings remained standing. Stone and wood fell to the ground in heaps around her as she dodged through the destruction. Fear rose within her.

    If Zoe was feeling the heat through her Torrential Arsenal, with all her resistances, then the poor kids that stayed at Joe¡¯s had no chance. Even Joe might struggle, if he survived the initial assault. She kept running through the destroyed city, images of Joe¡¯s body amid a pile of wood with icy blue splinters embedded within raced through her mind.

    ¡°Please be alive, Joe. Please.¡± She whispered to herself as she turned the corner to Joe¡¯s street.

    The Risen Cask was destroyed. A mound of broken wood was left in its place, flames and smoke billowing out from it. Four Fire Elementals were bouncing around on taller section of the mound, and Zoe heard hushed voices coming from below the destruction.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Jeffrey sat on the floor in the kitchen, gripping a translucent gray gem and pushing all the mana he could into it. Lauren had already run out, Kenzie and Sue were both physical builds so didn¡¯t have enough to make a difference. And Peter was helping Joe defend the kitchen from the onslaught of flames and smoke that threatened to overrun their small hideaway.

    Mana: 753/2420

    He shook his head. Soon he would be out, too. Lauren would have recovered a bit by then, but it wouldn¡¯t last. And without their mana, the stone wasn¡¯t powerful enough to fight back against the smoke and ash that crept in.

    Jeffrey scoffed. Not that Joe would even be able to keep the kitchen defended forever. Without Peter they probably would have been overtaken already. Hell, if Joe hadn¡¯t just taken his new class the day before they probably wouldn¡¯t have made it this long.

    But maybe that would have been mercy. Maybe being taken early would be better than sitting in a cramped kitchen, suffering from heat while their health slowly drained away to their certain death. Maybe their final struggles would be for nothing and they could have gone out with happier final memories. Of promise, of a new job, a new life.

    ¡°Are you okay Jeffrey? Do you still have the buff? Do you need more food?¡± Joe asked him through gritted teeth.

    The man was too nice for his own good. He could have escaped on his own, even if it was new, just having his fifth class would be enough. But he stayed behind and drained everything he had just to keep everybody safe a little longer.

    Jeffrey took a breath. He was being too negative, he knew that. Life was looking up finally. If they survived, maybe one day it could look up again. The world doesn¡¯t revolve around him, it¡¯s not going to go to shit every time something goes well for him. One day, if he lived, he could be happy again.

    The struggle wasn¡¯t pointless, he knew. That¡¯s why he kept pushing mana into the gem, that¡¯s why he stayed in here with them and did his part, however small it may be. The city would still be okay. Flester would survive, his new job would still be there. Flester¡¯s guards were competent, and the city was filled with powerful individuals who would jump in to help.

    On the bright side, he might even thrive with how many potions Flester¡¯s government would need after this, just to keep people safe. Things would be okay, he reminded himself.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, still have the buff Joe. It lasts for four hours. I¡¯m running low though.¡± Jeffrey checked his mana again.

    Mana: 737/2420

    ¡°Seven thirty seven mana left. How much do you have, Lauren?¡± Jeffrey asked.

    Lauren shook her head. ¡°Only two fifty four. I don¡¯t have much wisdom, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay!¡± Joe said. ¡°You¡¯re doing your best and that¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll live through this, it¡¯ll be okay.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m almost out of mana too.¡± Peter said with a pale, sickly looking face.

    Joe grimaced, only barely visible to Jeffrey¡¯s keen eyes. ¡°That¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ll be fine for a while.¡±

    The kitchen shook as an explosion outside rattled the room. The pots and pans that lined the walls clanged against each other and soot fell from the ceiling. Soon after, water followed behind. Dripping from the ceiling and pouring in from the walls.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Sue cried.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s okay. We¡¯re fine.¡± Joe said, scrambling to keep the water away as pulses of blue light washed out from him to destroy the puddles of water and ash.

    The wooden walls creaked and splintered. Fragments of wood broke off and fell to the ground, to be washed away by Joe¡¯s skill.

    Jeffrey looked up as the ceiling groaned and bent, then lifted off the walls to reveal a plume of dark smoke that covered the sky. A familiar head looked down at them from above ¡ª Zoe, one of Joe¡¯s friends.

    She jumped in and hugged Joe. ¡°Oh my god I was so worried. I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re okay.¡± She looked around at the group. ¡°Is everybody okay? Does anybody need healing?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re okay, I don¡¯t think anybody got injured badly. The heat is draining us all though.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe nodded and ran around the kitchen, pressing her hand into people¡¯s shoulders. Jeffrey felt her magic surge through him when she touched him and watched his health recover quicker than he¡¯d ever seen before. In moments he went from sore and worn to feeling right as rain.

    ¡°How¡¯s the city doing? Is everybody okay?¡± Kenzie asked.

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    Zoe¡¯s face dropped. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen outside?¡±

    Joe shook his head. ¡°We¡¯ve been in here since the attack. Do you know what happened?¡±

    Zoe nodded her head and gestured to the walls. The wood and ash lifted away to reveal the ruins of The Risen Cask. None of the neighbours fared better, the ruins of their buildings only just visible through the dense cloud of smoke that blanketed Flester.

    ¡°Fire elemental attacked, from what I¡¯ve heard. Don¡¯t think it¡¯s dealt with, we need to go. We can all stay at my place.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Joe turned to Jeffrey and the others. ¡°Anybody who wants to can come with us to Zoe¡¯s.¡±

    Everybody stood, and followed Zoe as she jogged through the town. Kenzie and Sue¡¯s quiet sobbing was the only noise that broke through the crackling of flames around them. Sometimes they¡¯d encounter a small Fire Elemental, but in a moment a towering tsunami of rushing water would appear and slam through it.

    Jeffrey shook his head at the sheer display of power. He¡¯d been near high levels before, hell even Joe had another class on her. But the sheer quantity of mana she could spew at a moment¡¯s notice was incredible. If Jeffrey had that kind of power, they wouldn¡¯t have been stuck in a kitchen on death¡¯s edge. They wouldn¡¯t have had to rely on a fragment of her power embedded into a crystal to be able to breathe.

    Soon they were on the outskirts of the city, and Zoe stopped to turn around to look at Joe.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about whether I should mention it, and I¡¯m not sure if I should or not. So I¡¯m just going to, and let you decide. But if you attack a small Fire Elemental before I kill it, then you¡¯ll get the Slayer of Fire feat, and the Fire skill. I know this super sucks and it would be better if it never happened. But the options there.¡± She said.

    Joe sighed. ¡°Thanks, Zoe.¡± He looked at the rest of the group. ¡°You all heard her. If we go back and help her kill one of the fire elementals, we can get a feat and a skill. You don¡¯t have to do it if you don¡¯t want to, but does anybody want to?"

    Jeffrey¡¯s hand shot up. All he had to do was attack one of the fire elementals that were nothing more than pests to Zoe, and he¡¯d get a new skill? That was a no brainer, to him.

    Peter and Lauren¡¯s hands went up not long after.

    ¡°You two don¡¯t want to? It¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t.¡± Joe asked Kenzie and Sue.

    They shook their heads, their faces covered in tears.

    Joe nodded. ¡°That¡¯s okay.¡± He turned to Zoe. ¡°Can you take these three to get the feat? I¡¯ll stay here with Kenzie and Sue.¡±

    ¡°Sure. We¡¯ll be quick.¡± Zoe turned to Jeffrey. ¡°Lets go, we can¡¯t keep them waiting.¡±

    Jeffrey and the two others took off after Zoe. She ran far quicker than before and Jeffrey struggled to keep up, but the rubble in front flew off to the side as she barrelled through it and she slowed down whenever somebody fell too far behind.

    They found a group of three fire elementals in a few minutes. One was destroyed in an instant by a flood of water that Zoe created. Earth rose up around the other two and trapped them.

    Zoe summoned three spheres of ice and handed them to everybody. One of the gray stone boxes floated over towards the group. ¡°I¡¯ll open up a hole on the top, you just drop these balls into it and then I¡¯ll kill it. Hopefully that gets you the feat, but we can try again with the other one if it doesn¡¯t.¡±

    A tube of gray rock extended from the top of the box, and deafening crashes accompanied with a dense cloud of smoke flew out from it.

    ¡°Here, just toss it in and it¡¯ll hit the fire elemental. You don¡¯t have to do much damage. I know I didn¡¯t with my first elemental.¡± Zoe chuckled dryly.

    Jeffrey was the first to drop his frozen sphere in. The tube closed up behind it, and he heard the ball roll down then a crash rattled the box as it must have impacted the elemental.

    Zoe repeated the process for Peter and Lauren, and then dumped an enormous amount of water down the tube. Steam flooded out from the tube, and in moments Jeffrey was awarded with a notification.

    *Ding* For assisting in the destruction of a fire elemental, you have been awarded with the [Slayer of Fire] feat.

    ¡°Did you all get it?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I did.¡± Jeffrey said. Peter and Lauren agreed.

    ¡°Great, lets get back to Joe and the sisters then.¡± Zoe said and started pulling the other stone box over to her.

    ¡°What are you going to do with the other elemental?¡± Lauren asked.

    ¡°I was going to kill it, why?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I was just thinking you could bring it with us, and maybe the others could get the skill too since it was really easy?" Lauren suggested.

    ¡°Ah! Now that is a smart idea. I should have done that in the first place actually, huh?¡± Zoe shrugged. ¡°What¡¯s done is done. Lets get going.¡±

    When they got back to Joe, he looked at the stone box that floated next to Zoe. ¡°What¡¯s in the box?" He asked.

    Zoe grinned from ear to ear for a moment, then shook her head. ¡°Just a fire elemental.¡±

    Joe shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re insane, you know that?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re weak, Joe. And I thought you and Emma might be interested in the feat.¡± She shrugged and started leading them through the forest towards wherever her home was.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°Why is it so dark in here?" Nora asked, lighting another candle she had stored away in her storage item.

    Emma and her mom were sitting in Zoe¡¯s kitchen, the fireplace was burning and the cats were both hiding in different corners. The rest of the cave was too dark to find their away around in, and Emma wasn¡¯t comfortable letting the cats run wild with all the junk Zoe might have lying around.

    ¡°You know why, mom.¡± Emma answered.

    ¡°Do you think she¡¯ll be okay?¡± Nora asked.

    ¡°Zoe? She¡¯ll be fine, probably. She¡¯s strong. I¡¯m worried about Joe, though. I don¡¯t know if she could handle him dying.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°He¡¯s a high level innkeeper, they usually have skills to protect their inn. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s fine.¡± Nora smiled.

    Their conversation was interrupted by a cool breeze that brushed across their legs.

    ¡°Hello? Emma?¡± Zoe¡¯s voice called out.

    ¡°We¡¯re in the kitchen!¡± Nora shouted back.

    ¡°Are you busy? Could you come out?" Zoe shouted back.

    Emma looked to the two cats cowering in the corners.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll watch them. Go see what Zoe¡¯s got.¡± Nora said.

    ¡°Okay, thanks mom.¡± Emma said.

    Emma left the cave and saw a crowd of people standing outside, with a stone box floating in the air next to Zoe. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Joe. ¡°Is everything okay?¡±

    ¡°Got a fire elemental here. Want a new feat and a new skill?¡± Zoe asked.

 3-4. Rescue

    Living together in Zoe¡¯s cave was hectic for the first few months while everybody got adjusted. Zoe never expected to be housing nine people and two cats in it, so they were all packed in like ants in an anthill. The cave was dark and cold, and getting some semblance of normalcy out of their living situation was a nightmare.

    For the first few days, there was a hint of hope that kept everybody together. Flester would survive, they could move back in and rebuild. Jeffrey would have a job, Joe¡¯s inn would come back and everybody could get back to their normal lives. Zoe built small lanterns from some orange gems enchanted with Fire, and shrouds of stone that hung from her walls and lit up the cave in a flickering orange-yellow light.

    But the fire in Flester continued spreading, and on the third day when the plumes of smoke began to dissipate their hopes were shattered. In the southeast of Flester was a towering inferno that slid across the distant city like a snail crossing the street. The group stood at the top of Zoe¡¯s hill and watched it on its devastating journey north-west.

    In its wake was a raging forest fire, and the group could do nothing more than hope that whoever was next in its path would be better off than Flester was. Maybe it would be weakened when it reached wherever it was going, maybe it would just burn away in a puff of smoke.

    The days following Flester¡¯s final destruction were grim. Motivations were at an all time low as people mourned the loss of their homes and families. Nora left the day after to Korna where Emma¡¯s dad should have been working at the moment to fill him in, and to stock up on enough cat food to last them a while.

    She offered to take anybody who was interested with her to Korna, but nobody took her up on the offer. Emma needed to stay to take care of her cats, Joe was worried about Kenzie and Sue, and the other three didn¡¯t want to leave Joe alone. By herself, she promised to be back in about two weeks with more information from Emma¡¯s dad and the situation in Korna.

    Everybody had the Fire skill, thanks to Zoe¡¯s trapped fire elemental, but nobody seemed keen to play with it. Kenzie and Sue did little more than sleep in Zoe¡¯s library. Peter and Lauren spent most of their time up the top of the hill staring out over at the ruined Flester in the distance. Jeffrey was outside with Joe, distracting themselves with Zoe¡¯s pile of logs.

    Joe seemed interested in building a small building outside Zoe¡¯s cave, just large enough to qualify as an inn. Most of his skills were predicated on working in an inn, and Zoe¡¯s cave just wasn¡¯t enough for it. His defensive abilities, cooking abilities, even the storage ability he had were inaccessible to him when he didn¡¯t have an inn.

    Most of the stuff that was important to him he kept in a storage item, but his Warehouse skill was filled with food and paperwork that he cared about. Zoe told him he was free to use the wood as he liked, and was even eager to help out at times.

    Emma had taken to distracting herself with hunting and gathering food. With her high levels and helpful skills, she provided more than enough food for everybody to eat. Venison and boar, with plentiful vegetables from nearby. She even started a small garden outside Zoe¡¯s cave and bits of green had begun poking out from the dirt.

    The cats did alright adjusting to the cave, though they were a bit nervous of all the people they now shared their home with. Oliver spent most of his time upstairs in Zoe¡¯s enchanting room that she tidied up, while Fennel hid away under Zoe¡¯s bed or tables if he wasn¡¯t following Emma around begging for attention.

    Zoe spent most of her time in the ruins of Flester, digging through rubble and clearing out the smaller Elementals that looked to be having a grand old time hopping around the charred remains. Very few buildings remained standing at all in Flester. The towering trees that were Kaira library stood, blackened from the flames that were still licking at their branches. The only building that survived without damage was a peculiar bookstore near the south-west of town.

    She smiled as she looked at the endless voids in the window and the glowing black book on the front door, untouched by the catastrophe that devastated the rest of the town. Maybe one day he¡¯d come back and help fix things. Or maybe he¡¯d be gone so long that another town rose up in Flester¡¯s place, and he¡¯d never even notice that anything happened.

    Zoe shook her head. Would she ever get to that point? It seemed likely, even already she noticed time flying past her before she even realized anything happened. Where would she be in another thousand years? Would she waste away hundreds of years at a time and not even notice the world changing around her?

    It almost seemed sad, in a way. John liked interesting stories, and he just happened to miss one by being lost in whatever adventure he went on when his store was closed.

    In a way, she was almost thankful that it was a fire elemental that attacked. In her search for anything salvageable she found an abundance of corpses, but none were more than black, charred bones. She knew they were more than just black skeletons created by a dungeon. That they were once real, living people who wandered through Flester. They ran shops, maybe even cooked food that Zoe once ate.

    But she couldn¡¯t help think of them as more of the same black skeletons she¡¯d found thousands of times on Moaning Point. The thought of Flester falling to a cold elemental instead, and running into dozens of frozen, preserved bodies with fear plastered on their faces sent a shiver through Zoe.

    Most of her searching was fruitless. Restaurants burnt to a crisp, furniture stores turned to piles of ash. But some of the city survived, and she stored away anything useful in her bracelets. A large cauldron from an alchemist¡¯s shop that burnt down. Metal weapons and armour from a few blacksmiths she found. A few small beds from some of the houses that managed to survive the destruction, and she even found a fabric store with some surviving bolts of cloth that could be used as makeshift blankets.

    Her last stop was Kaira library. She left everything she didn¡¯t need in her bracelets back home so she¡¯d have space to store as many books as she could get her hands on. The enchantments might have been damaged, or even possibly all of the books could have burnt down. But if anything survived, she wanted to preserve it as best she could.

    The towering trees around the park had all been charred by the elemental passing through. Their canopies were missing and sunlight poked through the blackened branches. All of the entrances were blocked by piles of stone, and Zoe looked at them with a little confusion. The trees were, well, wood. The ground around the trees was dirt, scorched from the heat. Even the nearby buildings were made of either wood or crystal. There was no way for stone to have naturally fallen into place to cover the entrances of the library.

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    Which meant somebody put it there, Zoe realized. Were people still inside? She ripped the stones away from the entrance with her Earth skill and stepped back as smoke rushed out of the now opened hole.

    If anybody was inside, Zoe hoped the smoke didn¡¯t reach to the bottom of the library¡¯s roots so they could still be alive. She walked in, filling a small space around her head with air from her Wind skill, then used Gales to create a powerful gust that pushed out through the entrance she opened. Smoke was pulled along with it and Zoe heard nearby objects clatter from the rushing winds.

    It took almost ten minutes, and an enormous amount of mana before the level Zoe was at cleared up of smoke. Above her, the dense smoke still filled the tree, but it seemed it didn¡¯t get too far below ground level yet at least. She ran to each of the other trees and repeated the process, ripping the stones away and pushing as much of the smoke out as she could.

    In the last tree, she heard something different. Footsteps from far below, and hushed voices whispering to each other. The magical platform that led Zoe around the library in its heyday was gone, as were the floating bookshelves that Zoe spent so much time browsing through.

    She peered over the edge, into the trees roots. There was a small fire at the bottom, with a dozen people sitting around it.

    Zoe leapt off and wrapped herself in Earth as she fell. Just after she floated to the ground, she pulled the earth back into her to reclaim some of its mana. The group of people around the fire looked over at her as she approached them with fear and anxiety seeming to overwhelm them. They looked ragged and worn from their time in the bottom. The two kids were leaning into what Zoe assumed, or hoped, was their mother on the other side of the fire.

    ¡°I¡¯m here to help. Is anybody hurt?¡± Zoe looked around. They had makeshift beds made from destroyed bookshelves, and had some kind of dough resting on a metal sheet next to the fire baking.

    ¡°No we¡¯re not hurt. Is it done?¡± The woman closest to Zoe said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°The elemental¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°Is Flester safe?" A younger man asked.

    She shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    A few of the people started crying, while others tried to comfort them. ¡°I hoped one of the guards would show up and tell us everything was okay.¡± The woman said, leaning her head back.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. The town¡¯s mostly cleared out now and you should be safe to leave, but¡­¡± Zoe shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s not much left.¡±

    The woman nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Mhm. I¡¯m not really used to dealing with this kind of stuff so did you need anything else from me? Food? Water? Help getting out?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Water, if you have it. Please.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Sure, do you have a container or something? I don¡¯t have any on me but I can create water.¡± Zoe said.

    The woman nodded and summoned a few large metal pots that Zoe filled with water. The people looked relieved as they drank from them, and thanked Zoe.

    ¡°And if you don¡¯t mind, a way out would be nice.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Sure, I can probably only do three or four of you at a time, though.¡± Zoe answered.

    The group chatted, and decided on the order Zoe would take them up in. First would be the three highest levels, then the two kids and their mother. And then the remaining order didn¡¯t matter so they¡¯d just line up when Zoe came back down.

    Everybody thanked Zoe when she brought them to the top, and a flurry of emotions danced across Zoe¡¯s Vampyric Empathy as they looked out over the destruction. Happiness to being out of the dark tree roots, despair at seeing the city so ravaged. Relief again from seeing the sky, quickly replaced by depression. Zoe knew the feeling, having been through it herself days prior.

    They talked about what they planned to do and decided on heading for Korna. They had enough high levels to keep them safe on the journey as long as nothing terrible attacked them, and enough stored away in their storage items to try and start a new life there.

    Zoe thought of inviting them to her place to get their feet back on the ground, but decided against it. There were already too many people living at her place, and once Joe¡¯s makeshift inn was up they might be able to house and feed everybody, but she had no idea how long it would take to be ready for so many more people. Or if it would even be large enough to support another dozen people ever.

    If they had plans to make a new life in Korna, then Zoe had no plans to stop them. She said her goodbyes and refused their offer of payment, then jumped back into the tree roots to rummage around for books that could be salvaged.

    From what Zoe could see, it looked like the magic that kept the bookshelves floating just stopped working and they all plummeted to the depths. The wood was splintered and shattered, books thrown around on the ground and stabbed through with stray shards of wood. Some of the books were ripped apart and crumpled to make a somewhat more comfortable surface to lay on, a few were still burning away in the fire that had been lit.

    Many of the books ¡ª hundreds, if not even thousands, looked to have survived with minimal damage. A few torn pages, a dented cover or ripped spine. She wandered through the roots and stored away every still readable book she could in her bracelet and then left. There were too many piled on top of each other to find ones that were useful.

    Even before when the library was functional, there didn¡¯t seem to be much organization to them. Each bookshelf had a theme, but a bookshelf about government systems might have floated next to one of gardening. When the tower of books collapsed onto the ground, the already barely organized mess of books was tossed around like a bowl of literal word salad.

    Maybe when she had time some day ¡ª or some years, she¡¯d come back and rummage through everything. Put them all in a proper place with organization, even try and remember how the dewey decimal system worked and revolutionize the world¡¯s organization of knowledge. But the amount of work it would require was incredible.

    Just making it through one of the trees alone would take her weeks, if not months. Let alone getting through every one of the connected trees.

    When she got back outside, Zoe wrapped herself in earth then flew up to the still burning flames at the treetops and doused them with Torrents. She looked over the city with a sigh, then flew off back home. Joe¡¯s makeshift inn would be done in a few days, Nora would be back not long after and they¡¯d have to figure out what they were going to do for the long term.

 3-5. Settlers

    Joe¡¯s makeshift inn ¡ª more of a shoddy shack given how little time he had to make it, was a nice addition to their living situation. Rather than all needing to be crammed in the cold, poorly lit cave that Zoe had built her home in, people could stay outside with windows and sunlight peeking through.

    It was a single floor and just a short walk away from Zoe¡¯s cave entrance. Close enough to be accessible, but far enough so she¡¯d still have some privacy. The kitchen was thrown together from some of Zoe¡¯s enchanted gems and a handful of small rooms that reminded Zoe of the cramped spaces in Gafoda inns, but it was enough for Joe¡¯s skills to work. The inn was comfortable, unnaturally so given how creaky the floorboards were and how similar the walls were to swiss cheese.

    Nora showed up again a few days later, and everybody gathered to talk outside at a table Zoe threw together the day before.

    ¡°Korna¡¯s fine, wherever the elemental came from, it didn¡¯t pass through Korna. So I think it would be best if we all went there to start up a new life. I can¡¯t buy you all houses, but it¡¯s better than living out here in the wilderness and fending for yourself.¡± Nora said as she sat down on one of the stools.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°There¡¯s bound to be more to find in Flester¡¯s ruins, and leaving it all behind for a life in some city that never helped me anyway sounds pointless. I¡¯d rather stay here and spend some time poking through the city¡¯s rubble once we¡¯re set up. Maybe find some storage items full of alchemy supplies, or some rich asshole¡¯s horde of extravagant crap.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I¡¯m staying here anyway. It sucks that Flester¡¯s gone, but I already lived out here so it doesn¡¯t really affect me nearly as much as all of you.¡±

    ¡°Oh come on. Jeffrey, was it? You¡¯d rather rummage through a destroyed city than come live in society surrounded by new people, new opportunities, new relationships?¡± Nora asked.

    Peter scoffed. ¡°What opportunities? Get hired by some rich noble to care for their kids growth and be beaten at every turn because their kid isn¡¯t as much of a blessed genius as they thought and for some damn reason that¡¯s your fault?¡±

    ¡°Yeah I don¡¯t know either,¡± Lauren said. ¡°If the option to just start our own thing and live on our own power here is there then that sounds a lot better than having to deal with getting settled into a new town again.¡±

    ¡°Really? You think that somehow living out in the middle of goddamn nowhere is safer than one of the most powerful cities in the Injellar kingdom?¡± Nora scolded.

    ¡°Mum, Joe¡¯s inn is a little special. These people didn¡¯t have the best lives, before they showed up there. And then y¡¯know, our fucking city burnt down anyway.¡± Emma whispered to Nora.

    ¡°Ah. Well I¡¯m sorry if you¡¯ve been abused by people before, but you¡¯re not all wanted criminals. You¡¯re people. Come to Korna, put your money together and buy a small house, get a job and fit back into society. Staying out here in the wilderness because you¡¯re afraid of some stuck up nobles is silly.¡± Nora said.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad anyway, really. In a few months we can have a little village here. Maybe there¡¯s still some people stuck in Flester who would be partial to moving in too. I¡¯m fine either way, but I can¡¯t leave these people behind.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m staying. I don¡¯t care about making a village or whatever, but Flester¡¯s full of riches right now and I¡¯m not leaving it behind.¡± Jeffrey stated.

    ¡°Fine. Whatever. Emma, please tell me you¡¯re not going to be staying out here as well.¡± Nora asked.

    Emma sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The cats have already been through a lot and there¡¯s really no difference to them if we¡¯re here or in Korna. Here¡¯s maybe even better for them anyway with how much space they could have to themselves with some renovations.

    ¡°But then again I don¡¯t know how I¡¯ll get food for them if I stay here. I don¡¯t know, really.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I can run down to Korna now and then, I¡¯m probably not much slower than your mom and I¡¯d like the excuse to visit Korna anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And I¡¯m an alchemist,¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°If I can get some supplies and a recipe, then I can probably make cat food. While I¡¯m here anyway. Once Flester¡¯s looted, I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m sticking around.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll probably take a few years, you know?" Zoe said.

    Jeffrey nodded. ¡°But I¡¯ll be rich after.¡±

    ¡°Well I guess if food¡¯s not going to be a problem, then I don¡¯t have much reason to go either. I¡¯ll stick around for a while at least. Unless you can pay for a teleporter for us?" Emma asked her mom.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry hon. I don¡¯t have the money for that.¡± Nora shook her head.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Yeah, I know.¡±

    ¡°How much would it be?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°For a good teleporter from here to Korna, with two animals? I wouldn¡¯t even know. Way too much to be reasonable, though. We could get a carriage down here and take the cats up that way?¡± Nora asked.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to put the cats through that if I don¡¯t have to. Thanks, though. I think I¡¯ll stay here and decide later.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Come on, Emma. The cats will be fine, come back to Korna with me. It¡¯ll be safe, you won¡¯t have to worry about food or wild beasts. It¡¯ll be safe. Come on, Emma.¡± Nora pleaded.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be just as safe here, mom. Zoe¡¯s a monster now, Joe¡¯s dark blue. And I shouldn¡¯t be far away from my fifth class either. Maybe another fire elemental shows up, but maybe another fire elemental shows up and attacks Korna instead. There¡¯s no way to completely avoid catastrophe, and we can handle the normal beasts in the area here.¡± Emma said.

    Nora¡¯s head drooped. ¡°Come on, hon. Just come back to Korna with me. Please?¡±

    ¡°It would mean putting the cats through weeks of stressful travel, and for what? So they can have less space and I¡¯d be around less often to work my job and pay for all of our bills?¡± Emma sighed. ¡°Look I get it, when Flester was around I loved living in Flester. I loved my tower, I loved my garden. I loved my job, I loved the safety of the walls. Never in a million years would I have chosen to come live out here instead of in Flester.

    ¡°But I¡¯m here now, and it¡¯s not really that bad, and I don¡¯t want to put the cats through any more than I absolutely have to. They don¡¯t deserve that, it¡¯s already hard enough.¡± Emma said.

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    ¡°Fine.¡± Nora shook her head. ¡°I won¡¯t force you to come.¡± She gestured to Kenzie and Sue who were sitting next to Joe. ¡°What about those two? Do you want to come to Korna?¡±

    ¡°I want to be wherever Joe is,¡± Kenzie said. Sue nodded with her.

    ¡°You¡¯re all insane. Korna is obviously the safest option.¡± Nora said.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°Maybe, but safety isn¡¯t always everybody¡¯s priority. Jeffrey wants to pillage, I guess. Peter and Lauren both want to avoid being around big cities if they can, and these two-¡± Joe gestured to the two teenage girls beside him, ¡°want to stick with me.¡±

    ¡°Then you should have a responsibility to come to Korna so they come and get set up in a proper city with actual lives.¡± Nora said.

    Joe nodded. ¡°You may be right. But you could be wrong, too. At least for right now. In a few weeks when things have calmed down a bit? Maybe a month or two? They can make their own decision about where they want to be and we can figure something out. But right now, on the spot? I¡¯ve got an inn made¡ª¡±

    ¡°A shack, Joe. You have a shack.¡± Nora said.

    ¡°Really more of a shack, yes. But it does count as an inn. I can make food, I can defend the building, and in another week or two it won¡¯t be so much like a shack. I just had to get the bare minimum done first so it would at least qualify. It¡¯s really not that bad, and as I said there might be more people in Flester. Maybe they need help, maybe they could use a place to stay and help rebuild.¡±

    ¡°Fine. So you¡¯re all staying in the middle of nowhere to build up your own village, then?¡± Nora asked.

    Everybody nodded.

    Nora took a deep breath and shook her head. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ve tried. If that¡¯s what you all want to do then have fun I guess.¡± She looked at Emma. ¡°I¡¯ll come back every month for a while to bring the cats food, alright?¡±

    Emma hugged her mom. ¡°Thanks, mom. I appreciate it a lot. I know Korna would be safe, but with the cats I just¡ª¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, I know.¡± Nora hugged her back then looked back at everybody else. ¡°Well that¡¯s it then. Best of luck to you all.¡±

    ¡°Oh, actually I had a question. Which direction is Korna?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°South-eastish. Why?¡± Nora answered.

    ¡°Did you happen to see a farm about an hour¡¯s walk east of Flester?¡± Zoe asked.

    Nora shook her head. ¡°No, everything out that way was burnt down. You have a friend out there?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Kind of, yeah. She was pretty high level and a water mage, I believe. Or cold? Can¡¯t remember now. But she probably made it out alive I imagine. Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Anybody else have a question to ask before I leave then?" Nora asked. When nobody responded, she stood up and ran off to the south.

    ¡°Alright, that¡¯s it then, huh? We¡¯re building a village here by Zoe¡¯s place?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Sounds like it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯d like my own house if possible. Do you think you could teach me the Carpentry skill?¡± Peter asked Joe.

    ¡°Me too, please.¡± Lauren said.

    ¡°Sure, we can do that. We¡¯ll get houses for everybody. But first, you said the town was cleared out of the elementals, Zoe?¡± Joe asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°From what I could see, yeah. Why?¡±

    ¡°I think we should take a day or two at least and just look around for more survivors who might be stuck under the rubble. Even if they don¡¯t want to live here, we could at least put in an effort to help them out a bit.¡± Joe suggested.

    ¡°I¡¯m down,¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°Might find some nice stuff while we¡¯re searching, too.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not leave the cats alone for too long right now, sorry.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I imagine Kenzie and Sue, you two will be staying back here too?¡± Joe asked.

    The two sisters nodded.

    ¡°Peter? Lauren? You two able to come help out?" Joe asked.

    They both nodded as well.

    The group fell into a routine for the following weeks, searching the ruins of Flester for any people who might have survived in safe houses or sturdy basements. Or maybe just with enough health to not be crushed under the weight of collapsing buildings.

    Joe, Peter and Lauren stuck together and started in the north west of town and worked their way inwards, searching through each destroyed building for signs of life. Jeffrey ran off on his own to search through the wealthier districts of town, collecting crystals and anything with a glint of fortune.

    Zoe flew through the town in a suit of Earth as she looked for any signs of people struggling. Sounds of motions that were out of place, or ragged breathing. She tore through rubble of buildings surrounded by tracks in case somebody got trapped while they fled.

    They found quite a few people in their efforts. Many had sustained injuries ¡ª stumps for arms and missing toes, but all were covered in soot from the fires that ravaged the town. Zoe healed the people she could, but none of the worse injuries were recent enough for her to heal them completely. Bruises and scratches were washed away, but their missing limbs and torn clothes seemed right as rain to Zoe¡¯s skill.

    Most weren¡¯t interested in starting up a new life by Zoe¡¯s place and just wanted to get to Korna and be done with the horrors of Flester as soon as they could be. Zoe directed them all to Kaira library where they could gather and make plans for the trip to Korna together, and then left them on their own.

    A few did show interest in settling nearby, not being interested in moving to a big city or wanting to leave the area they grew up in. The little settlement by Zoe¡¯s place continued to grow as almost another two dozen people moved in, with all of their skills and experience. There were three carpenters, as well as a stonemason who moved in and with their dedicated classes homes were raised far faster than Joe and Zoe could with their simple general skills.

    By the end of the month, they had two somewhat nice apartments risen in the woods not far from Zoe¡¯s cave and Joe¡¯s inn was looking much healthier. They even made some furniture for the rooms ¡ª beds and dressers, some chairs and tables for people to sit and work at. One of the people who joined was a creeler who made some comfortable cushions and blankets for people. She didn¡¯t have much experience working with fabrics, but many of her skills still applied and Zoe had a decent stockpile of material from Flester¡¯s ruins.

    A growing concern for Zoe as the village around her home grew was the security of her cave. Until now, she had gotten by with being unnoticed. Nobody knew where she lived, and a quick glance revealed nothing more than a normal cave wall with somewhat unusual mana. But now there were over two dozen people who lived no more than a decent stone¡¯s toss away ¡ª not to mention Emma still living with her.

    Some additional measures would be nice, if Zoe could figure out something to do. There was a fine line between making your home too difficult to enter, and making it so difficult to enter that people thought it would be worth it. But an unlocked door that would open to anybody with a simple surge of mana was a little too far on the not difficult end.

    One of the people that had joined them in their settlement was an enchanter, so Zoe thought she might spend some time chatting with him about the problem. If there was a way to make her door only open to certain people, then that would be ideal. Maybe she could make two enchantments that worked together, like a special key she could hand out to people.

 3-6. Doris

    A few more weeks flew by, and the summer came to an end. Most of the forest near Flester was filled with coniferous trees that kept their beautiful green leaves, but many were deciduous. Their leaves turned to different shades of yellow and orange and fell from the branches, covering the ground in an autumnal tint.

    None of the people who joined them were farmers, but they did have a gatherer as well as a merchant who had some experience as a farmhand when she was younger. The two of them cleared away a large swath of land to plant their crops in. Mostly brul, but they had a small section full of fruits they promised. For the time being, nothing was more than colourful leaves poking out of the wet dirt, but in time they would bear fruit and the village would feast on the succulent sweet treats.

    Both of the apartments that the carpenters built, as well as Joe¡¯s new inn had small gardens popping up around them as well. Wooden boxes filled with dirt, bits of green leaves and stems just starting to poke out of the dirt. Most of the people who joined them started their own, and some had even labelled their boxes with markings in the wood sides. Herbs, for the most part.

    They had an alchemist ¡ª Julia, and Jeffrey spent most of his time by her side learning. She seemed excited to have something to take her mind off the still tender trauma of Flester¡¯s destruction and Jeffrey was more than happy to soak up all the knowledge he could. The two slaved over the large iron pot that Zoe had scavenged from Flester early on, as well as some additional tools that Jeffrey found on his trips into town.

    A small building was made for the two of them to have somewhere separated from the rest of the village for their alchemy, to keep the toxic fumes and possible dangers away from the village proper. Julia had some experience creating pet food, but needed to wait for the brul to grow before she could make it.

    The recipe seemed to be normal pet food mixed with some mana herbs at the right temperature and time. Slikreet was the only ingredient Zoe recognized, a white branch she used when she first learned alchemy. One part slikreet to two parts lijar and five parts jorgi mixed together and infused with just the right amount of mana made enough to enhance a full pot of cat food. But the food itself needed to have a significant percentage of brul ¡ª or some similar grain, to hold itself together well enough that the mixture wouldn¡¯t fall apart when combined.

    With just ground meat, the food wouldn¡¯t hold its shape well enough and the jorgi mixture would break, making a slimy mess that wouldn¡¯t do anything more than revitalize your cat¡¯s fur. Or at least that¡¯s the explanation Julia gave when Zoe asked about it. She supposed there was a lot more going on that Julia expected Zoe to just not understand. And she was probably right, Zoe thought. Alchemy had never been a particular interest of hers and the specifics tended to be lost on her.

    At some point, Zoe got a notification in the corner of her eye and smiled.

    *Ding* You have received a message from Lila Jurgenhill.

    She urged the system to show her the rest of the message.

    Hello Zoe, this is Eliza again. I understand that Lila¡¯s not sent you a message since the disaster struck. She¡¯s fine, she just didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be worried about her. I don¡¯t know if you were or not, but you two never struck me as particularly close anyway. But she¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t need to worry about her if you were. I was preoccupied with a job until a couple weeks ago, and only just made it to Korna a few hours ago. I¡¯ve been sending off letter after letter to everybody I knew, hoping they¡¯re okay.

    It¡¯s awful writing these messages, you know? I¡¯m not sure if you know the specifics of how Lila¡¯s skill works, but as soon as I give her this letter and she sends it, she¡¯ll know if you¡¯re alive or not. If you¡¯re dead then the letter won¡¯t go anywhere, since there¡¯s no destination.

    Terrifying, really. I¡¯ve written so many of these letters since I got here. And so many of them still sit here on the table next to me. I find myself getting distracted, fearing the end of the letter. As soon as I put this pen down and hand the letter to Lila and it doesn¡¯t send, you¡¯re dead. Dead and gone. And I know I¡¯m not doing it to you, I know it¡¯s not sending the letter that does it.

    But there¡¯s dozens of these letters here next to me. And until I sent them I had no idea if the recipients were alive or not. In my mind, you¡¯re alive right now. You¡¯re in your cave, fighting off the fires leftover from the elementals wrath. Maybe you¡¯ve got a new skill or a new feat from it, maybe you unlock a new class. Who knows, but in mind you¡¯re there. You¡¯re standing strong in the face of adversity. And when I give this letter to Lila, and feel that pulse of mana as her skill tries to active, and see the letter leftover in her hand. It is that moment that you¡¯ve died to me. It¡¯s that moment when the hope turns to dust and leaves misery behind in its place.

    I know we weren¡¯t very close, but I cared for you. Much like an aunt might care for her niece¡¯s nephew. I enjoyed watching you grow and experience the world through with your fresh perspective. You taught me much, and I¡¯m glad to have taught you much. And I only hope that you are still alive that we may continue to learn from each other¡¯s discoveries.

    Nora came back not long after, with another delivery of food that Emma was thankful for. She tried to convince Emma to return to Korna with her, but Emma was adamant that she¡¯d be staying at Zoe¡¯s place until there was some way to transport the cats without traumatizing them further.

    Zoe wrote down a letter for Nora to send to Eliza.

    Hey Lila and Eliza. I¡¯m okay, we¡¯re starting a small village at my home now actually. It¡¯s a little concerning cause I¡¯m not sure how to keep my home private, but I can¡¯t just kick everybody out and leave them on their own cause I want a little privacy. Maybe I move to the other side of the hill at some point, I dunno.

    It was pretty bad, at the start. But we¡¯ve had time to accept it now. Seeing Flester in the distance, destroyed like it is. It¡¯s not pleasant, and I don¡¯t know if it ever will be for me. Let alone the people who grew up here as kids.

    But I¡¯m doing well. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re well. I plan to come to Korna next summer if you¡¯ll still be around. If you¡¯re near Flester before then though, come say hi. I¡¯d love to get the Space skill finally. I think I almost had it last time.

    Joe told Nora about the folks in Kaira library who might be interested in heading to Korna, and she said she¡¯d stop by there on the way back.

    Life was uneventful in the village, and most of the people seemed to enjoy that. They liked their routines, they enjoyed watching the village come together as buildings were raised and crops were planted. There was a pleasant energy that seemed to course through the village as everybody got along and helped each other, a camaraderie that pulled everybody closer.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    There were talks of a name for the village. Joe had begun to take a bit of a leadership role in the village, helping organize people and some of them thought it might be nice to name the village Kinsly, after him. Others thought that it might be fun to try and find an anagram of the first letter of all their names, and some just threw out random names in the hopes that something stuck. Flester¡¯s Return was a popular one, but as more of a joke than anything, Zoe hoped.

    If Zoe had anything to say about it, then the village would be called Whispering Butte. A bit of a play on Moaning Point, and also just a fun fart joke. But nobody else seemed to find it as amusing as she did. A play on Moaning Point would be nice though, maybe they could be Chittering Knoll.

    With her goal of heading to Korna in the summer, Zoe had lots of work to do. At some point, she wanted to try and get all four of the Seasoned classes to see if they could combine into one, but the time it would require could be immense if she got unlucky, and without a proper town to survive in being at a lower level didn¡¯t appeal to her so much yet.

    Though, Zoe wondered how well she¡¯d perform on Moaning Point with all of her higher level skills even without her third and fourth class bonuses now.

    The enchanter was nice, his name was Doris and he had a small building made not far from the alchemist¡¯s for much the same reason. Zoe was sitting in his workshop, eager to chat about some ideas for improving her home¡¯s privacy.

    ¡°So how is your door set up now?¡± Doris asked her, rummaging through a box full of metal trinkets.

    ¡°It¡¯s just the Earth skill, really. It makes whatever earth its enchanted onto move in a pattern I can set, and I just make it squish off to the side to open up right now. But anybody could open it, so I¡¯m wondering if there¡¯s a way to make it only trigger for certain people, or maybe a key or something like that?" Zoe asked, looking around.

    The room was barebones, wooden shelves lined the walls and a table sat in the middle of the room with a tall stool sitting next to it. Zoe was sitting on a chair she summoned from her bracelet, since Doris didn¡¯t seem to expect any guests here yet.

    ¡°Interesting, interesting. I don¡¯t have the Earth skill unfortunately, but it only works to move around itself? You can¡¯t enchant something and have it move the earth it touches in a pattern you define?" Doris asked as he sat down on the stool with a small pointed metal object.

    ¡°I¡¯ve actually never tried that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mm, yes. Typical for you young enchanters. Experimentation is the key to success. It is just as important to test things you expect to fail as it is to test things you hope will work. Limitations breed creativity, but a creative mind with plentiful options breeds innovation.¡± Doris said, flooding the metal object in his hands with mana.

    ¡°Right, so I should just try and make a key that opens the door instead of making the door open itself?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s one possibility, if it works. Perhaps it doesn¡¯t, but you¡¯ll be able to find that out for yourself.¡± Doris said.

    ¡°And if it doesn¡¯t work? What other kinds of options would I have that you know of?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I would never operate on the assumption of failure.¡± Doris looked up at her.

    ¡°No, I think it¡¯ll work actually. I¡¯m just curious while I¡¯m here and already bothering you. What other methods would there be to lock my door?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm, yes. I see. There are some skills that can create keys. I¡¯ve heard the lockpicking skill perhaps ironically does just such a thing. I would have expected it to create tools to break locks, but from what I¡¯ve heard it creates magical locks. You may find a smith who specializes in locks and has skills for creating them, and perhaps learning from them you may get a skill that could be useful for such a thing.

    ¡°There are also skills that can identify individuals that you could use for such a thing. I suspect personally that the Identify skill itself could be used for such a thing, but my experiments on such have never been fruitful. One of my classes has its own skill for examining things, and forgive me for refraining from the details, but I am able to utilize it in an enchantment to only permit certain people to use it.

    ¡°And perhaps most complicated is a physical key. If you leave a missing piece from your door¡¯s enchantment, and then create another object with that missing piece of the enchantment, then when you bring them together they will form a single working enchantment. Though without a competent class helping you along the process, doing so would be quite difficult.

    ¡°But there are many options available to you. I suggest you experiment with what you think isn¡¯t possible to more properly find your limitations.¡± Doris said. The mana surged from the object in his hands and the metal warped into a silver bracelet.

    ¡°Right. Thanks. What¡¯s that, anyway?¡± Zoe gestured to the bracelet.

    ¡°This?" He shrugged. ¡±It¡¯s a bracelet of fire resistance. I imagine many here will be interested in some additional protection and they might sell well when we restore an economy to this village to be.¡°

    ¡°You enchanted it with the Fire resistance?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Doris answered.

    ¡°You can enchant things with resistances?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Again I must advise you to rethink where your limits are. Test and verify what you believe, rather than living in a bubble of assumptions.¡± Doris sighed.

    ¡°What about feats then? Or class effects? Could I enchant something with my auras?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°There is but one means through which you may discover this for yourself, you realize?¡± Doris smiled smugly.

    ¡°Right, of course. Thanks for all the help, Doris. Best of luck with your fire resistance bracelets!¡± Zoe said as she rushed out the door.

    ¡°And the best of luck to you too. May your endeavours bear fruit.¡± Doris called out behind her.

    Zoe ran back home, the earthen door squishing aside with a touch of mana and rushed up to her workshop.

    ¡°Everything okay?" Emma called out from the kitchen where she was feeding the cats.

    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯ve got some new stuff to try out though. I¡¯ll be upstairs for a while.¡± Zoe climbed up the ladder in her library and sat down at her worktable full of rocks and gems with a grin on her face.

 3-7. Mana Storage

    Zoe enchanted a pile of rocks she summoned with her Earth skill with various resistances, but something seemed off about the process. If she enchanted a rock with Fire resistance, then would it give whoever was holding the rock increased resistance to fire? Or would it give the rock itself increased resistance to fire?

    It was difficult to test, since she didn¡¯t want to have somebody hold the rock then pepper them with damage. The rocks seemed to be more resistant to the element she enchanted them with, though. Which in theory meant that the rocks would not impart a resistance to the wielder.

    Yet Doris made a bracelet that would do just that? In the first place, what skill did he enchant it with to turn it into a bracelet? Was there some skill that made bracelets? Did that skill also make the enchantment impart resistances, or perhaps even other skills onto the wearer?

    Was it a general skill that Zoe could get, or was it a class specific thing that Zoe would struggle to replicate, if she ever even could. None of Zoe¡¯s enchantments, barring perhaps her Earth and Wood skills would be able to warp a chunk of something into the shape of a bracelet. But for Doris it seemed almost natural, just a normal part of enchanting a hunk of metal. Did he have a metal skill to accomplish the same thing, or was it something else?

    She supposed she¡¯d find out when she went back through her earlier classes and got more powerful options. Once she combined her Seasoned classes, if that was even a thing at all, it might be nice to get some powerful enchanting classes for a while at least.

    Feats were much more straightforward. Most did nothing at all, or rather weren¡¯t even enchantable to begin with. When she turned her focus inwards to find the essence of them in her soul, they just weren¡¯t there at all. The only ones that she could find were Patient Decider, Healer and Okiu¡¯s Blessing.

    Patient Decider did nothing, but given the nature of the feat Zoe had a few theories. It might enhance other enchantment¡¯s effects over time, like perhaps a resistance effect becoming more pronounced as the years passed. Or maybe her subtle Wind enchantments would grow into powerful gusts in a few decades.

    Maybe it would do something more direct if she let it sit for a while. In a year or two, maybe the hunk of rock she enchanted would be denser or larger. Or hell, maybe in a few centuries it would grow sentience and she¡¯d have her very own pet rock. But whatever the feat did, Zoe had no doubts that it would require a considerable amount of patience to find out.

    Healer was much more simple to understand. It turned any restorative effects enchanted along with the feat into external effects, rather than internal effects. Her Restoration would act on whatever she placed the rock against and pushed the mana through to.

    The only caveat was that once the mana stored in the feat¡¯s portion of the enchantment was worn through, the entire enchantment would crumble like a brittle dried flower. And perhaps it was just because of her poor enchanting medium, but the rock itself cracked and split as the enchantment fell apart as well. But even with the caveat, it was still an enchantment well worth keeping a stockpile of for her friends.

    And Okiu¡¯s Blessing was perhaps the most interesting feat she had for enchantments. Maybe in time when Patient Decider was less of an enigma it would be more interesting. But at the moment, Okiu¡¯s Blessing seemed to be a direct improvement to all of her enchantments¡¯ mana efficiency. It wasn¡¯t a life changer, and it didn¡¯t make any of her enchantments free to use. But it was a noticeable improvement, and opened up some new possibilities for her. Enchantments that were previously just a little too mana hungry to be viable were now within reach.

    Enchanted Mirror was impacted the most by the feat¡¯s effect, whatever calculation the system used for its mana drain clearly had some kind of double dipping from Okiu¡¯s Blessing. The exact impact the feat had on the enchantment¡¯s mana drain was dependent on how many skills were being enchanted through her Enchanted Mirror.

    With just a single skill, it was almost a ten percent reduction in mana drain ¡ª similar to its effect on other skills. But with two skills it was closer to fifteen percent, and with three it was nearing a twenty percent reduction.

    With how many skills Zoe could enchant onto things now, she often found herself at a loss for which ones to use. Okiu¡¯s Blessing would be an excellent addition to almost all of her enchantments, and especially ones that were going to be used by other people.

    Next, Zoe summoned a large slab of Earth that she set on her table and flooded one of her icy splinters with mana. She enchanted the splinter with Okiu¡¯s Blessing, Meditation, Enchanting and Earth with a vision of the slab shrinking off to the side like one of her doors.

    When she placed the icy splinter up against the slab and pushed her mana into it, the stone squished off to the side but instead of pressing into her table as she expected, it formed a tall thin strip that reached up to her ceiling.

    Pressing the splinter into the strip of stone and pushing mana through it again just caused the same problem to repeat. Each time, the stone warped and stretched in a different direction, depending on where she pressed the splinter into it from, and after a minute the stone seemed to stretch and churn as it returned to its original state.

    With a bit of trial and error, she was able to make a splinter that forced the earth to push away in a spiral shape with the epicenter being the spot where she pressed the splinter into. She found it fun to press the splinter into different parts of the stone slab as it was opening and watch the spirals crash into each other like a race between two world eaters.

    The next problem was how she would define the earth that was going to be affected by the splinter. If she just had a large stone wall, then where did the enchantment decide the spiral should reach to? How much mana would it eat as it churned through the rock if there was no limit to it?

    Her first attempt was to summon a large piece of rock and see what the splinter did, and it did as she expected. The splinter drew more mana from her and caused the entire piece of rock to spiral away as it squished off to the sides.

    Zoe tried pull a piece of the larger slab and enchanting it with Meditation and Enchanting just so it would have a mana structure separate to the rest of the slab, then pushed it back into place with her Earth skill so it formed a seamless wall. With that, the spiral stopped at the boundaries of the enchanted rock and didn¡¯t stretch into the rest of the rock.

    And for a final test for good measure, she tried adding a thin layer of ash between where her ¡®door¡¯ would be in the slab, and the rest of the rock. And just as expected, the spiral stopped at the boundary of the ash on her first attempt. But on the second, some of the ash had slipped out from between the layers of stone and the spiral crept up through the tiny cracks into the rest of the stone, spewing the rest of the ash out as the entire slab squished aside.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    If she could create an element that held its own better than ash ¡ª Wood for instance, then it would work well as a door but with anything thicker than the dark ash, it would leave a visible seam between the two pieces of stone. Sticking with the enchanted door seemed like a wiser decision, it would be visible to anybody who knew what they were looking for and had an understanding of mana. But that was a much smaller group of people than anybody with eyes.

    Zoe enchanted three brown gems with the spiral enchantment and then ran down to her front door and broke down the existing enchantment. In its place she put Enchanting, Meditation, Shield-fighting, Stealth and Okiu¡¯s Blessing. When she pressed the brown earth attuned gem to the door and pushed her mana through it, the stone spiralled away to reveal the forest outside her home.

    ¡°Looks cool,¡± Emma said from behind her.

    ¡°Oh! Hey. Here, this is your key.¡± Zoe handed Emma one of the brown gems she made.

    ¡°Lemme try,¡± Emma walked up and pressed the gem into the door. Mana flooded from her hand into the gem for a minute, and then the door opened once more. ¡°A little mana hungry but it works. Better than having your door open for everybody at least, huh?¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be that mana hungry. How much did it use?"

    Emma¡¯s eyes bounced around for a moment as she looked at her stat window. ¡°Just under a thousand? It¡¯s manageable.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. It doesn¡¯t use nearly that much for me.¡± Zoe pressed her gem into the wall and watched her mana drain. It only took a trickle, just enough to trigger the enchantment to activate. ¡°Yeah that was only maybe twenty? Thirty? Hard to tell these days. Not much, though. Wonder why it was so much more for you.¡±

    ¡°Maybe cause you made the door?¡± Emma shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about enchanting.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, yeah. Alright well it¡¯s good enough for now, but I¡¯m gonna go try some more stuff out.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll just be here with the cats. They¡¯re settling in a bit more now but Fennel¡¯s kind of a dick.¡± Emma chuckled as she walked back to the kitchen.

    ¡°Yeah, but they¡¯re good little friends still.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Emma called out. ¡°Just little babies.¡±

    Zoe returned to her workshop and looked through her skills. Her Immaculate Enchantments skill caught her attention, being over level one hundred now and with still so little benefit to be seen from levels. If any at all.

    She thought on it for a moment, then replaced the skill with Mana Storage. The skill itself didn¡¯t interest her at all, storing a mere five thousand mana at level one. Less than she had total now, and far too little to make a difference considering her mana regeneration.

    But as an enchantment, the skill screamed possibility. She pushed the enchantment onto a rock along with Meditation and Enchanting and watched as Meditation drew mana into the rock. Even past restoring the enchantment, it continued filling the pathways and what seemed like a small reservoir of mana within the rock. When the surge of mana filling the rock slowed to the normal trickle she was used to for maintaining enchantments, the rock was full of far more mana than she¡¯d ever managed to cram into a simple rock.

    It seemed more like an icy splinter than a simple rock, though the enchantments didn¡¯t seem to have the same amplifying effect that the splinters had. Zoe replaced the enchantments on the two brown gems that she had with Meditation, Enchanting, Earth, Okiu¡¯s Blessing and Mana Storage then tried it on the slab she left on the table.

    For herself, the gem behaved exactly the same. But she had a suspicion Emma would find it much more usable and went back down to the kitchen.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Zoe tossed one of the new brown gems to Emma who was sitting at the table with Oliver at her feet. ¡°Come try that one on the door. I think it¡¯ll work better.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯d you do differently?¡± Emma stood up.

    ¡°I replaced my cleaning skill in my third class with Mana Storage, so the gem should have enough mana for you to use it even with the poor efficiency from affecting my enchantments. If that¡¯s the problem, which I think it might be.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So you¡¯re just gonna be dirty now?" Emma giggled.

    ¡°Hah. No, I¡¯ll probably just swap the skill out more often. I thought of it a while ago but thought I¡¯d like to see what the cleaning skill does as it levels. And it doesn¡¯t do much, so whatever.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± Emma pressed the gem into the stone door and a pulse of mana rushed out of her into the gem, then coursed through the door. The stone spiralled away and revealed a confused looking Joe on the other side.

    ¡°Hello?¡± Joe said. ¡°Your door¡¯s broken?¡±

    Zoe handed him the other updated brown gem. ¡°No, I just added a key for the door since there¡¯s people living here now. Didn¡¯t feel right just having it open for everybody.¡±

    The stone spiralled back into place between them, cutting Joe off outside. ¡°Dammit. Give me the old gem please.¡± Zoe asked Emma.

    Emma obliged, summoning a mundane looking brown gem and handing it to Zoe as the door spiralled back open and Joe stepped inside.

    ¡°You ever gonna add a manual closing mechanism so that doesn¡¯t happen?¡± Joe asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Probably not. Seems annoying to figure out how to make it stay open longer and then also close properly. Like if you try to close it when it¡¯s already closed, the door¡¯s just going to do some weird unexpected crap instead of nothing. Much easier this way.¡±

    Joe laughed.

    ¡°What are you here for anyway?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Am I not allowed to come say hello to a dear friend of mine?¡± Joe held his hand to his chest, offended.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Of course you are.¡±

    Joe laughed some more. ¡°Kiara says she¡¯d be able to check out your sword and ring that you got from Moaning Point if you have the time.¡±

    ¡°Oh really? That¡¯s awesome. I honestly forgot about them with everything that was going on.¡± Zoe followed Joe outside.

    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s just at my inn right now so I thought I¡¯d come let you know. You¡¯re never busy, anyway.¡± Joe chided.

    ¡°I¡¯m always busy, I just have lots of extra time is all.¡± Zoe said. A smile grew on her face as she approached Joe¡¯s new inn, knowing she¡¯d finally be able to learn what her rewards were capable of.

 3-8. Stretch Marks

    Kiara was the merchant who decided to stay in town, she grew up in Flester and took pride in being a part of its growth. She loved setting up her shop every year for barlahai, meeting all the new people who came to Flester to be a part of its growth or use it as a stepping stone to the wilds beyond.

    She wanted to stay near Flester in the hopes that one day they might be able to restore it to some semblance of its former glory. Most of her wares were lost in the fires, storage crates destroyed, shelves full of knick knacks she¡¯d accumulated over her years little more than rubble. But she still had her storage necklace, a golden star that hung from a silver chain around her neck.

    She sat at one of Joe¡¯s tables, her blue hair rested on her shoulders and stood out from her deep red, silken robes. In her hand was a yellow wooden needle that spun around on her knuckles as she seemed lost in thought.

    ¡°Hey, Joe says you can help out with a couple dungeon rewards I got?" Zoe sat down at the table across from her.

    Kiara shook out of her daydreaming stupor and blinked a few times. ¡°Hmm? What was that, sorry?¡±

    ¡°Uh, Joe says you can help with some dungeon rewards I got?" Zoe repeated.

    ¡°Oh! Yes, of course. I always love this part of the job, you know? I never get to go to the dungeons myself, so it¡¯s always exciting to see what things people get. Normally, I charge twenty-five silver per item, but since you¡¯ve so graciously given us a home, I guess I¡¯ll waive the fee for you.¡± Kiara smiled at Zoe. ¡°Do you have the items on you now?"

    Zoe summoned the dark tinted sword and bright blue ring, then placed them on the table in front of Kiara. ¡°Yeah, these should be them.¡±

    Kiara reached out and grabbed the ring and Zoe felt mana reach out to poke around at the ring with a gentle touch. Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she lost herself in the task.

    ¡°You know,¡± she spoke slowly, with gaps between each word as she focused on the ring. ¡°Many people don¡¯t bother with this service. And usually it¡¯s fine, if I¡¯m being completely honest. Dungeons don¡¯t usually spit out harmful items. But when it goes wrong, people would often end up at my shop anyway, with a ring stuck on their finger and ooze creeping up their hand.

    ¡°And there¡¯s nothing I can do then. It¡¯s one thing to know if an item will have a curse, and another entirely to remove it.¡± Kiara¡¯s mana pulled back from the ring and she looked up at Zoe and her cadence returned to normal. ¡°This one¡¯s a storage ring with a capacity of six bags and an automatic resizing function. Though most dungeon rewards come with that, in my experience. I can¡¯t tell any obvious effects it has on contents so be careful until you¡¯ve given it some trial and error.¡±

    ¡°Okay, thank you.¡± Zoe took the ring and put it on her right pinky finger. The blue metal shrunk as it held onto her finger tight enough to not fall off, but not so tight that it became uncomfortable.

    Kiara grabbed the dark sword, and her mana began to poke and prod around at it as her eyes glazed over from the focus. She sat in silence for a minute before she looked up at Zoe. ¡°Hmm, this one seems to have a more practical effect on the people hit by it. No way for me to know without being hit by it, and I don¡¯t fancy that personally. I could hit you with it though if you would like to know?¡±

    ¡°How bad could it be?¡± Zoe asked. If she would feel like the world was ending and death was creeping in, then it might not be great. But if it was a mild burn, then it would be worth the pain to know for sure.

    Kiara shrugged. ¡°Could be anything, really. I can tell that it will do something to anybody struck by the sword, but the exact effect is entirely lost on me. Could be that it cuts a little better, could set you aflame or drown you. I¡¯m told you¡¯re quite the respectable healer though, so I¡¯d be surprised if a simple hit could kill you.¡±

    ¡°But it could kill me, if I were very unlucky?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d be quite surprised,¡± Kiara chuckled a bit.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like a no, to me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I make it a point to not make promises I can¡¯t keep. A dungeon you conquered rewarding you with an item that could instantly kill you with a simple tap would be incredibly outlandish, but sometimes life is stranger than fiction. You could try testing it on the wildlife first, if you like.¡± Kiara said and handed the sword back to Zoe.

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be right back then. Boar or deer, Joe?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Boar. Deer are more friendly.¡± Joe said from his table without looking up from the book he was reading.

    Zoe took the sword and ran through the forest looking for boar tracks. It didn¡¯t take long before she found some, and even less time for her to find the boar that left them scratching its tusks against a tree.

    The boar looked up and started to run away as soon as she approached it, but Zoe was far faster and slammed the blunt edge of the blade into the boar¡¯s behind. Nothing seemed to happen as the boar stumbled forward for a moment then took off into the forest again.

    She looked at the sword and shrugged. If the boar could survive the blunt edge hitting it, then so could Zoe. Her arm stung as the edge smashed into her forearm, and images of death and hunger slammed into her mind. She stumbled on her feet and fell, getting a mouthful of dirt as her face smashed into the ground and then as quick as the images came, they left.

    Zoe stood up and shook off the dirt that covered her. For a moment, she tried to use Immaculate Enchantments to clean herself up and was concerned why it didn¡¯t work, before remembering she hadn¡¯t swapped back yet.

    She stored her sword away and returned to her cave.

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Peter sat in his living room at his new home that he and Lauren had built, feeling content with life for the first time in almost a decade. It wasn¡¯t an amazing house, and the village, if it could even be called that, was anything but lavish.

    When Flester was burnt, and they first talked about the possibility of living here or heading to Korna, Zoe¡¯s quaint home was little more than a distraction from the squalor that surely awaited them in the big city. Returning to those decrepit nobles and dealing with their terrible rule was a torture Peter never wanted to suffer through again.

    And yet, their home had become something so much more than Peter had expected. It wasn¡¯t rundown shacks and dark holes in the ground, they had homes and buildings. Even the beginnings of roads, and a couple of shops. Nearly four dozen people had moved in over the autumn, winter and most of the spring, as word of Flester¡¯s rebuild spread to nearby towns enticing anybody wanting to capitalize on their small frontier.

    Peter thought it was a bit of a joke, calling their little village a rebuild of Flester, but there was an excitement that even infected him at times. The potential to build their village stronger, to make the decisions on how it¡¯s run, the possibility to create a place where nobody would suffer through what he had to go through.

    Lauren was an amazing help, and Peter liked to think that he filled the same purpose for her too. They talked about their traumas and gave each other a safe shoulder to lean on when they had a bad day. It was comforting to know that she was sleeping in their bed safe and sound just a room away. Her quiet snores made him smile as he read through the ledger.

    The two had started a small restaurant in the village, and Peter enjoyed working through their income. There was no governing body to pay taxes to, yet at least. Kiara, Doris and Ingrid had been making a push to form at least some form of leadership to help pay for some infrastructure, and people seemed receptive to the idea. A small tax from their meagre incomes would help pay for walls, roads, and possibly even assistance from the Injellar kingdom.

    In many ways, Flester¡¯s destruction was a good thing for him. He landed a free house ¡ª well, free if you ignored the labour that went into it. Zoe and Joe were both instrumental in teaching Peter and Lauren the basics of Carpentry, and Jessie even helped out with the build near the end, making sure everything was sturdy enough for them. Watching an experienced carpenter with all their classes work their magic was incredible.

    Wooden beams bent effortlessly into shape, nails pierced through the walls and into the frames as though she were pressing a sharp knife into a tender piece of roasted boar. Having the chance to watch a master at work, in their place of expertise was something that never quite got old for Peter. It was always just such a mesmerizing experience.

    Without Flester¡¯s destruction, he and Lauren would never have been together either. They were close back at The Risen Cask, to an extent. But there was always this question of where they would go. Would they both stay in Flester, or would they find jobs that took them to other cities? It was little more than a passing interest at the time but when they knew their future would be here, building up a new village together?

    The opportunity fell in their laps, and they jumped at it.

    But it wasn¡¯t all sunshine and roses, of course. In many ways, Flester was far safer than this village. Which might be an odd thought, given Flester¡¯s unfortunate demise, but if the same catastrophe happened again? Nobody would survive.

    Even the odd boar attack was dangerous, Peter¡¯s classes were hardly fit for combat and he only had just enough Vitality to not accidentally kill himself. A small group of boars rushing him down would be a quick excuse for the village to build a cemetery.

    He¡¯d managed to avoid them thus far, and truth be told, he wasn¡¯t really worried about boars. They were slow and safety was never far away. But it was true that there was comfort in tall walls manned by competent guards, and knowing the only thing separating him and his hopefully soon to be fiance from the vast wilderness was a flimsy wall they themselves built?

    Well, it left a lot to be desired, Peter found.

    Lauren stirred awake and wandered out of their bedroom. ¡°Good morning doe.¡± She said, rubbing her eyes and pulling hair that stuck to her mouth and neck away.

    ¡°Morning sunshine.¡± Peter smiled at her. Seeing her wake up and stumble around to come say good morning was one of his greatest pleasures. He¡¯d never tell her, but it was that very image of her. With a hint of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth, and her knotted hair that stuck to her that made him want to wake up just a little bit earlier every morning.

    ¡°Todaysh the day Zoe leaves, right?¡± Lauren yawned and stretched, her woolen shirt lifting to reveal her soft midriff and faint red stretch marks that Peter loved.

    ¡°Yup. We¡¯re having a celebration at Joe¡¯s in about an hour, if you wanna get ready.¡± Peter said.

    Lauren stumbled over and leaned down to kiss him as Peter let his cleaning skill wash over her and strip away the sweat and grime that clung to her.

    ¡°Thanks doe,¡± Lauren smiled at him.

    ¡°Anytime sunshine. I set aside that orange dress you like earlier, if you wanted to wear that.¡± Peter said. He was already dressed in a well fitted teal shirt with dark brown woolen pants, and thought they might work well together.

    Lauren leaned down and kissed him again. ¡°What did I ever do to deserve you?¡±

    Peter watched her shuffle her way back into their room and smile at the orange dress hanging at the front of their closet, then turned his attention back to his work.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zoe made her way down to Joe¡¯s inn to say goodbye. It was nearing the end of spring, almost a year after Flester¡¯s destruction. Things had gone quite well for the little village, but Zoe was excited to get to her next adventure. Meet some new people from a different area, see how Korna was run and what it entailed. Maybe find some more dungeons to explore, and if she found somewhere safe enough, even reset her classes for better options.

    She stopped outside Joe¡¯s inn and smiled. If the closed door in the middle of the afternoon wasn¡¯t already enough of a sign, then the dozens of footsteps outside the door would be. And if even that didn¡¯t do it, then it would be hard to miss the hushed whispers and quiet breathing that seemed to fill the inside of Joe¡¯s inn.

    When she opened the door, almost a dozen people jumped out from behind the tables and screamed at her. ¡°SURPRISE!¡±

    Puffs of colourful magic raced through the air as people cast their cleaning spells and whatever else they had that wouldn¡¯t cause lasting damage to the inn.

    Zoe put on a surprised face and played along. ¡°Ah! What are you all doing here?¡± She grinned from ear to ear.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to pretend to be surprised, it¡¯s okay.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe laughed and closed the door behind her. The group drank more booze than Zoe was proud of and ate some food prepared by Peter and Lauren for a few hours. They chatted and played some bar games ¡ª the most fun being darts for Zoe, though she wasn¡¯t particularly great at it. And when the sun began to set, Zoe said her goodbyes and made her way to Flester¡¯s ruins to join the last caravan scheduled for Korna.

 3-9. Big Burly Mercenary Guy

    There weren¡¯t many left in Kaira library this long after the disaster, only the four who were insistent until the end that they would find their loved ones, their treasured belongings that surely survived the flames. But the last caravan scheduled for Korna was coming in the morning and even the most stubborn of folk needed to admit that Flester was gone.

    Zoe walked in to the charred tree serving as a makeshift sanctuary for the refugees and looked around. Many things had changed since she last showed up, the deep pit that lead to the roots shared between each of the trees was covered with a large stone slab, with leftovers from the people who stayed still left in piles on the floor. Damaged tents that must have provided some modicum of privacy for whoever stayed, piles of torn, charred clothes.

    Near the front of the tree were the four people Zoe would be joining on the caravan. Running would be faster, she knew. Nora managed to make it to Korna in just under a week, while the caravan¡¯s estimates were closer to a month out. But joining a caravan, meeting some new people and seeing the way normal people travelled was just as exciting an adventure as anything else to her.

    Three of the people were sleeping, their steady breathing barely audible from the tents they slept in. But an older lady was reading a book, sitting on a chair that must have been stolen from some gaudy merchant¡¯s office as it was covered in luscious red velvet and holes where expensive gems and gold must have been set into the flawless white wood. She looked up when Zoe walked in and smiled.

    ¡°You¡¯re joining the caravan tomorrow?" The woman asked, pushing a few strands of her thin gray hair out of her eyes.

    Zoe nodded and sat down on the floor against the wall. Identify showed the woman as a green marked level sixty three.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s certainly comforting. I¡¯ve heard of you, you know?" The woman said.

    ¡°Oh?¡± Zoe raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Do you remember Lorelei?¡± The woman asked.

    Zoe thought about the name for a moment. It seemed familiar, but she wasn¡¯t sure from where.

    ¡°She had an alchemy shop a few decades ago, did some tests on you when you were still level eight?" The woman added.

    ¡°Oh! Yes, her. That was such a stupid idea on my part, honestly.¡± Zoe smiled.

    The woman laughed. ¡°Yes, she was surprised you did it. Most at that level are children with parents much more reasonable than you were.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°I was a little na?ve, and trusted too easily back then. I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t get burned too badly.¡±

    ¡°She would talk about you at times, you know? And then we heard word from other people talking about the strange level eight who seemed to wander around town endlessly. You were quite the enigma back then. I never ran into you myself but it seemed everybody had a story about the new kid in town.¡± The woman smiled as she reminisced on the past.

    ¡°You know, that was me actually trying to stay unnoticed? I thought I was keeping things a secret at least a little bit.¡± Zoe said.

    The woman seemed taken aback. ¡°Oh my, really? I do hope you¡¯re much better at it now.¡±

    Zoe made a balancing motion with her hands. ¡°Better, less worried about it. What¡¯s the difference really.¡±

    ¡°I suppose when you¡¯ve reached such a high level in so little time, you don¡¯t need to be worried about people coming after you anyway.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever was, really. I just thought some things were better left private, but I realize I never really had a good reason for it.¡± Zoe explained.

    The woman nodded. ¡°That¡¯s very reasonable. I¡¯m Nadia, it¡¯s nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe, likewise.¡±

    ¡°Well Zoe, I think I¡¯m going to get some sleep before our big day tomorrow.¡± Nadia stood up with a groan and walked over to a nearby tent.

    ¡°Sleep well, Nadia. I¡¯ll just be here, enjoying the quiet.¡± Zoe said and looked outside to the ruins of Flester as Nadia got into her tent to fall asleep.

    The night flew by as Zoe meditated, something she didn¡¯t often need to do for mana these days but often found enjoyable for the peace of mind it gave her. And as the sun began to poke in through the cracks in the charred tree, Zoe heard the clatter of horse hooves on the ground and several wheels stumbling across the rubble.

    She looked outside and saw a small carriage being pulled by two beautiful horses with shining black coats and a grizzled old man at the reins. His gray hair was pulled back in a knot and thick black beard reached down to his chest.

    The man hopped off the carriage as it stopped outside the library and squinted as he looked at Zoe, before his face lit up with a smile.

    ¡°Zoe?¡± He called out.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s so good to see you again. It¡¯s been what, twenty years? How¡¯s Joe doing? He still around?¡± The man said.

    ¡°Joe¡¯s fine, yeah. I¡¯m so sorry but who are you again?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Ah, I suppose that I have aged quite a bit, huh? We stayed at Joe¡¯s inn together oh, maybe twenty years ago. Name¡¯s Rizick? I left with Isla.¡± Rizick said.

    ¡°Oh. Oh! Rizick! Hi! How are you? How¡¯s Isla?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Life¡¯s good. Isla and I got married a few years after, and just last year decided to settle down in Korna. We were thinking of coming here to Flester but, and pardon my rudeness, I¡¯m glad we didn¡¯t.¡± Rizick said.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Oh wow, congratulations. I¡¯m happy for you.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah, thanks. She¡¯s back home right now, managing the shop. You¡¯re joining the caravan then?¡± Rizick asked.

    ¡°Mhm, thought it might be fun to travel normally instead of just running from place to place for once. God, it really has been almost two decades now, hasn¡¯t it?¡± Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°Yup. Y¡¯know, I stopped by John¡¯s bookstore and it looks right as new still. Guy¡¯s closed, always is, but I wonder how different it might have been if he was around.¡± Rizick asked.

    ¡°I doubt he would have noticed anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    Rizick laughed. ¡°Right, right. Well, how many of you are there this time? I was told one carriage would be enough.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s five of us. They¡¯re all still sleeping right now, but I imagine they¡¯ll be happy to get on the move.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hey Ed,¡± Rizick called out. ¡°Looks like you¡¯re gonna have to walk.¡±

    A tall man hopped out of the carriage and stretched. Identify showed him as a level one forty three dark blue warrior. ¡°A¡¯right boss.¡±

    Zoe was tempted to tell Rizick she could fly along beside the carriage, but that would defeat the purpose of her joining the caravan at all. She wanted the normal experience, and part of that was having a big burly mercenary guy running along beside you, apparently.

    Rizick and Zoe walked back into the library and woke everybody up, helped them get their things sorted and packed onto the carriage then left back down the damaged road out of Flester. The carriage had just enough space for the five of them to sit with all of their packed belongings, without feeling packed in like a can of sardines.

    Zoe sat near the back of the carriage, with her arm resting on the board that folded up to stop their belongings from rolling out. Across from her was a younger girl who didn¡¯t look older than twenty. Nadia sat near the front of the carriage across from a younger boy with dark hair and awful burns across the left side of his face.

    And the last member of their little party was a middle aged man who sat between Zoe and Nadia. Nadia was the highest level of the bunch, with the young girl being the lowest at a light blue level twenty two. Zoe supposed anybody higher level would have just made the journey to Korna themselves rather than waiting for an escort.

    At the front of the carriage was a curtain separating them from Rizick who sat up at the front handling the two horses and Ed jogged along next to them.

    ¡°So here¡¯s the rules, people.¡± Rizick opened the curtain behind him and hung it up on a hook. ¡°Other than Zoe, you¡¯re all far too low level to be of any help if we get attacked by anything. It¡¯s unlikely that we run into any problems on the journey, but the chance is not zero. If something does happen, you are all to remain inside the carriage.

    ¡°I do not guarantee your survival on this trip, but if you leave the carriage when you aren¡¯t supposed to, then I do guarantee your death. This carriage is enchanted with as much defensive capabilities as Korna¡¯s royal enchanters are willing to put into it, and should keep you all safe in the event of a normal interruption.

    ¡°Zoe, if something does happen would you be willing to assist Ed in protecting us?" Rizick looked at Zoe.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. I can help out.¡±

    ¡°Good. Next rule, I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re able to stay awake all day and all night, the horses can¡¯t. We rest at sunset and leave a few hours after sunrise. Pulling the carriage plus all of you is a lot of work on the horses, and I¡¯m not going to push them harder than they can handle. I¡¯m not a slave master.

    ¡°When we rest, you will be fed your portion of food. If you want more, you¡¯re free to go hunt and gather for your own at your own risk. We will not save you if you go off into the forest and anger some beast you shouldn¡¯t have, and we will not wait for you to return if it is time to leave.

    ¡°In the morning before we leave, you will all be given a twenty minute break to get out and walk around the camp. I suggest you join me for my daily workout, but you¡¯re free to use the break however you like. Again, I cannot stress this enough. If you leave the camp, you are no longer a part of my responsibility, and we will not keep you safe if something happens to you.

    ¡°This trip will take just under a month, and you will be dropped off at the Flester refugee station just outside of Korna. Food and temporary shelter will be provided to you, as well as assistance with getting a job and contacting any family members or friends who have arrived in Korna. Are there any questions?¡± Rizick asked.

    The young boy raised his hand, and Rizick pointed to him. ¡°Um. Where will we sleep?¡±

    ¡°In the carriage.¡± Rizick said. ¡°The benches you¡¯re all sitting on now can be lifted. Two of you will sleep on the benches, three of you will sleep on the floor.¡±

    ¡°How often will the bathroom breaks be?¡± Nadia asked. ¡°I have a bit of a bladder problem, I¡¯m ashamed to admit.¡±

    ¡°We will stop for lunch and dinner. You can relieve yourselves then, and if you don¡¯t then we will not be able to stop for you. I have a cleaning skill so let me know if there are any accidents. But for the love of god, please just relieve yourselves on our regular stops. We can¡¯t justify stopping too often out in the wilds, certainly not every time somebody has to relieve themselves.¡± Rizick explained. ¡°Any other questions?"

    When nobody spoke up, Rizick continued. ¡°Good. Now get comfortable, we¡¯ll be here for a while.¡± He closed the curtain and turned his attention back to the trodden road in front.

    The carriage was uncomfortable, Zoe found as the days passed. Each rock or pothole the wooden wheels rolled over felt like a hammer ramming her backside. The twenty minutes they got each morning to stretch was nice and Zoe joined Rizick¡¯s workout along with Nadia, Drummond and Heather. It was a simple routine with some stretches and light cardio, but appreciated.

    Heath, the young boy always left to do his own thing around camp. Usually just wandering around whispering to himself, but Zoe saw him following along with Rizick¡¯s workout from a distance a few times as well.

    Most of Zoe¡¯s time was spent up at the front with Rizick, chatting with him about everything they¡¯ve been up to for the last near twenty years. He had travelled a lot with Isla, seen most of the Injellar kingdom and even trekked down south to the frontiers a few times.

    Last year, a few months before the elemental attacked Flester, Rizick and Isla bought a shop in Korna and settled down there. They were getting older, and the constant travelling was beginning to wear them down. Rizick was insistent on helping the refugees from Flester as a way to repay the kindness he got from Joe, and as a sort of final huzzah before he finally put the travelling merchant life behind him.

    Zoe told him of her experience climbing Moaning Point and building up a home of her own in a hill near Flester. Of the small village that had popped up around her home and the people who lived in it now. He seemed interested in stopping by someday with Isla to say hello to Joe again whenever they found the time.

    In the middle of the afternoon, halfway through their journey to Korna, Zoe was sitting in the carriage playing card games with the other refugees when the carriage came to a sudden stop.

    ¡°Shit. Ed, you see them?¡± Rizick cursed.

    ¡°No boss. Want me to go look?¡± Ed asked.

    ¡°No, stay with the carriage.¡± Rizick opened the curtain and Zoe looked outside. A pile of logs was blocking the road a few dozen feet ahead of them. ¡°Bandits, probably.¡± He said. ¡°Stay in the carriage please. Zoe, if you could come help Ed?¡±

    Zoe hopped out of the carriage and floated above it in a suit of gray rock. She couldn¡¯t see the bandits, but she could feel them. Excitement, fear and anxiety covered the forest around them like a blanket of human filth. ¡°We¡¯re surrounded.¡± She said.

 3-10. Ganuur

    ¡°Dammit,¡± Rizick cursed as he climbed up on top of the carriage roof and looked out into the forest surrounding them. He summoned a sheet of paper with a fist sized waxen snake curling around a goblet and waved it around.

    ¡°I am Rizick Ganuur, employed by the Injellar kingdom. At my side is Edward Klian of the Injellar Royal Guard. Reveal yourselves at once.¡± Rizick shouted into the forest.

    Zoe heard some hushed murmuring race through the trees, and then a woman walked out from behind one of the bushes. She wore a well kept set of leather armour with metal studs and her tanned face was scarred across her right cheek, while identify showed her as a level one twenty two dark red warrior. The woman smiled as she walked out.

    ¡°Injellar royals, huh?¡± The woman chuckled. ¡°Two fifty or we take you as slaves.¡±

    Zoe saw Rizick shudder for a moment as he responded. ¡°We will not bow down to you lawless brigands. Stand down and clear the road.¡±

    The woman scoffed. ¡°Always the same with you folk, isn¡¯t it? Lawless brigands this, despicable ruffians that. Two fifty¡¯s nothing to the great Injellar kingdom,¡± the woman rolled her eyes. ¡°Pay up. Or what? Is your life worth so little to you? The life of your precious cargo isn¡¯t even worth a measly two fifty to you pathetic royals?¡±

    Laughter echoed through the forest.

    ¡°This is your last warning. Stand down and clear the road. We do not negotiate with bandits.¡± Rizick puffed out his chest.

    ¡°None of you do at first. You¡¯ve got the royal guard on your side, after all! What could a band of rowdy bandits do to the royal guard. They¡¯ve all looped! They¡¯re unstoppable!¡± The woman shivered with exaggerated fear. ¡°And then every time, your precious knight falls and all of a sudden you¡¯re wanting to negotiate with bandits.

    ¡°Enough of this charade. You think we don¡¯t know about Flester¡¯s refugees? That we stopped you because we thought you were some na?ve unguarded merchant? Get over yourself. This is YOUR last warning. Two fifty or slavery. Make your choice.¡± The woman crossed her arms, exuding a confidence that almost made Zoe waver.

    Was it a bluff? Did the woman want Rizick to feel like he couldn¡¯t handle it and hand over the money? Or did she really think that Ed and Zoe weren¡¯t threats to them? Vampyric Empathy seemed to suggest that the woman was just plain confident, but maybe it was an incredible act. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Rizick took a deep breath. ¡°I see you¡¯ve made your decision, then. Ed, kill them all. Zoe, protect the carriage.¡±

    Zoe felt like she¡¯d been hit by a truck. Kill them all?

    Ed jumped into action, a suit of dark ash with bright orange burning cracks stretching across it formed around his body as he ran at the woman. His arms extended into sharp blades that cut through the air and left visible streaks of emptiness in their path. He swung his right arm down at the woman and she stepped back just out of reach of his ashen blades.

    ¡°You really think you¡¯re the only ones who¡¯ve tried looping?¡± The woman laughed as ash exploded out of Ed and covered her.

    A burst of wind exploded from the woman and pushed all the ash covering her away. Bits of smouldering ash landed on the trees and began to smoke as they burnt through the wet wood and leaves.

    ¡°HAHAHA! You will do.¡± The woman grinned at Ed, her eyes locked on like a dog watching somebody play with its toy. ¡°Get ¡®em boys.¡±

    Six more bandits leapt out from the trees and bushes surrounding them. Identify showed them all to be in the low one hundreds. Four were mages, one a dark blue level one thirty seven. Two were warriors, the higher a one twenty eight dark blue.

    Magic shot out from the mages and slammed into the carriage. Earthen pillars rising up and shattering against the shimmering barrier that appeared around the carriage and horses. Massive balls of flame washing over the barrier and blotting out the vision of the fight for the moment it engulfed them.

    The two warriors rushed at the carriage, the higher level wielding a massive two handed hammer while the other covered themself in an earthen suit and rammed the barrier like a bull.

    ¡°ZOE!¡± Rizick shouted. ¡°STOP THEM!"

    What was she supposed to do?

    ¡°THE BARRIER WON¡¯T HOLD FOREVER! ZOE!¡± Rizick shouted at her.

    Ed and the woman continued to trade blows. Ash would flood out from him and cut through the air as it reached for her, while her powerful gusts would blow it away and cover the forests in smouldering ash. She¡¯d slash out at him with swords of wind that rattled the nearby trees, while he¡¯d slash through them with his ashen blades.

    ¡°ZOE!¡± Rizick shouted. ¡°Shit. ED! She¡¯s frozen! You¡¯re on your own!"

    ¡°A¡¯right boss!¡± Ed called out from the cloud of ash and dust that was kicked up from his fight.

    ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t,¡± the woman rushed at him with two blades of wind in her hands. Ed responded with a massive burst of glowing orange ash that chewed through her blades. She tried to push the ash away with a blast of wind, but more ash flooded in to overwhelm her magic.

    The woman clicked her tongue and backed off. ¡°He¡¯s on you boys!" She called out.

    Ed rushed at the earthen warrior slamming his body into the carriage, smashing through a fireball hurled at him by one of the mages. The earthen warrior braced himself as his earthen suit expanded and reached into the ground behind for support. Ed¡¯s ashen blades extended from his arm and slashed through the warrior like a hot knife through butter.

    The warrior fell to the ground in two halves, blood pouring out from his midsection. The woman caught up to Ed and drew her two blades across his back, spraying more blood on the ground as they cut through his ashen armour that quickly filled itself back in.

    ¡°I¡¯m your opponent.¡± The woman scowled at him.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re an entertaining pest.¡± Ed spat out and leapt over the carriage, landing on the warrior at the other side. More magic buffeted his form, smashing through his ash and cutting into his flesh but he seemed unbothered by it as his ash reformed and glowed brighter with each attack.

    The hammer wielding warrior shoved Ed aside and dropped the head of his massive hammer on Ed¡¯s form. Ash flew out of Ed¡¯s armour and knocked the hammer to the side as shards of heated metal flew off where the ash hit and sizzled on the wet ground.

    Ed rushed at the warrior and kicked his chest, a dark charred mark left on his leather armour as he was sent flying a few feet back.

    ¡°ZOE!¡± Rizick shouted, shaking her shoulders.

    ¡°What?¡± Zoe shook her head and blinked her eyes.

    ¡°Can you help or not?" Rizick asked.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Fuck. I-I¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know.¡± Zoe whispered.

    ¡°Dammit, Zoe. You¡¯ve never fought people, have you?¡± Rizick asked.

    Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°Just think of them as monsters, alright? You climbed Moaning Point, right? They¡¯re just zombies. You can do it.¡± Rizick said.

    ¡°But they¡¯re people, Rizick. They¡¯re humans. They¡¯re not zombies.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°People trying to enslave us, Zoe. If they beat Ed, everybody here is going to wish we were dead. Trust me.¡± Rizick said, sweat beading on his brow.

    Zoe noticed mana flooding into the carriage from a mana orb he was clutching in his other hand.

    ¡°How much mana does the carriage need?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Shit, I don¡¯t know. They gave me five hundred thousand, and we¡¯re about halfway through it now and it¡¯s only been two minutes? Three? With my mana we¡¯ve got maybe another five minutes before the barrier¡¯s down.¡± Rizick said.

    Zoe did some quick math in her head. That was maybe a hundred thousand mana per minute, and with her multipliers and meditation she knew she could do a fair bit more than that on her own.

    ¡°I can keep the barrier running.¡± Zoe said in a hushed voice.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Rizick asked.

    ¡°Pretty sure.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Cause if you can¡¯t, and the barrier falls, then we¡¯re as good as dead. You¡¯re absolutely sure you can handle it?¡± Rizick asked.

    Zoe focused her attention inwards, on the energies swirling around and within her. Mana flooded through her body, and she poured it into the carriage.

    Rizick¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°You can keep that up?¡± He asked.

    Mana: 56685/56720

    Zoe nodded her head.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s get inside, you don¡¯t need to watch this then.¡± Rizick grabbed her and pulled her into the carriage. ¡°Don¡¯t let up, Zoe.¡±

    She nodded, and sat down on the bench while she pushed an enormous amount of mana into the carriage. Rizick climbed back up on the carriage and shouted. ¡°Ed, we¡¯re good! Take them out.¡±

    Raucous laughter and cacaphonous explosions filled Zoe¡¯s ears as she tried to filter them out on her meditation, and keeping the carriage¡¯s enchantments topped up with mana. What felt like hours, but Zoe knew to only be a matter of minutes dragged on and then there was silence.

    Zoe heard Rizick and Ed talking not far away but drowned out their conversation with her intense focus on the energies around her, and the structure that filled the carriage with mana.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    ¡°You know it¡¯s stupid to trust a client like that, boss.¡± Edward told Rizick as his ash burned through the pile of logs blocking the way.

    ¡°Yeah, I know. I met her a long time ago and she always seemed weird, but she was honest. She said she cleared moaning point, solo. At level one twenty. I doubt even you could have done that.¡± Rizick said.

    Edward shrugged. ¡°Maybe, next time.¡±

    ¡°See? You¡¯re not even sure. But she did it. She¡¯s powerful, Ed. And I thought, in twenty years of travelling she would have run into some problems. She would have had bandits attack her, would have had her home raided by looters when Flester was destroyed, something. She must be almost fifty years old, Ed. At least, who knows how long ago she became immortal. And that¡¯s the first time she saw death up close like that?

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even think I¡¯d need to ask. I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d break like that. She¡¯s an enigma, Ed. She¡¯s not normal.¡± Rizick said in a hushed voice.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you let her take over the carriage charging?" Ed asked, shoving all the burnt wood to the side of the road with a large ashen scoop he created on his arm.

    ¡°You should have seen it, Ed. It was incredible. I¡¯ve never seen somebody dump so much mana out so effortlessly like that before. She was doing more than I could with the help of this orb, and she could maintain it, Ed. She could maintain it. And besides, I was right there with the orb. If the endless well that was her stopped, I would have picked it up.¡± Rizick explained.

    Ed nodded and gestured to the charred corpses that littered the ground around them. ¡°What are we gonna do with them?"

    Rizick sighed. ¡°Store ¡®em. We can burn them when we get back to Korna.¡±

    ¡°A¡¯right boss,¡± Ed said and walked around storing all the bits of the bandit¡¯s bodies in his storage item.

    When all the bodies were tucked away, Ed blanketed the road in a thick covering of glowing ash and burned away the blood. ¡°All clear, boss.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± Rizick said and climbed up on driver¡¯s bench of the carriage. He opened the curtain and looked at the shivering passengers inside. The old lady was consoling the kids and Zoe while the middle aged man looked like he was trying to put on a brave face.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s dealt with. We¡¯re going to continue on. Tonight we¡¯re going to eat dinner on the move to get as much distance as we can. Hopefully that was the whole group.¡± Rizick said and closed the curtain.

    He looked at Ed next to the carriage and nodded, then grabbed the reins and pushed the horses onwards. The horses would struggle without their normal break, but they¡¯d survive. Better some discomfort than some bandit¡¯s dinner.

    Not that the horses knew that. They were beautiful, and for animals they were even quite smart. But they couldn¡¯t talk, they couldn¡¯t tell him how they were feeling. And Rizick couldn¡¯t tell them what was happening, what the plan was. Why they were skipping their break. To them, he was pushing them harder than normal and he hated that he couldn¡¯t help them understand better.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    The rest of the trip was much more somber, all of the happiness and excitement from where they were headed drained from Zoe after the attack. After all of the death that surrounded her. The smell haunted her, weeks later. Of burning flesh, the sounds of the blood boiling from the ground as Ed surely cleaned the fight after.

    Everybody else seemed to get along just fine after a day, and their routine continued on as normal. They played card games, chatted about their families and friends they hoped were in Korna or shared stories of their time in Flester. But it all felt so distant to Zoe.

    People died. Seven people were ripped apart by the royal guard that was escorting them, their bodies burnt to a crisp. And nobody seemed to care.

    She thought back to Flester, and how little she seemed to care for its destruction. She cared about her friends, and was glad they were alive. But the hundreds, if not thousands of other people that died in Flester never weighed on her mind. Even as she rummaged through their homes and shoved their charred skeletons aside.

    Was that just a normal part of life here? Being so close with death just to get to a nearby city? Was that something that everybody else here just expected to be a part of the journey? Just a matter of course for travelling to Korna. Your carriage gets attacked, and your guard slaughters them all?

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how she felt about that. They were bad people, without question. But did they deserve death for it? What were their stories, how had they ended up in that position? Were they all even there by choice, or had they been forced into it for reasons nobody would ever know now?

    Rizick opened the curtain and smiled at the passengers. ¡°We¡¯ll be arriving in Korna in about two hours. Just as a reminder, you will be dropped off at the refugee station and given assistance with getting your feet on the ground in Korna.¡±

    Zoe took a deep breath. Soon she¡¯d be in Korna. She could relax in a comfortable bed, eat some good food, and find something to take her mind off of it for a while. She¡¯d gotten through a lot, with time she could get over this one too.

 3-11. Oaniga

    The first thing Zoe noticed as the white stone walls of Korna appeared on the horizon, beyond the sheer size, was the mana. There was just so much of it, the once delicate wisps of light that drifted through the world were a dazzling, blinding lighthouse that blanketed the land in warmth. She was thankful for whatever magic let her process her normal vision and mana vision separately as if she had to try and peer through the mana to see the world for what it was otherwise, she¡¯d have felt like a deer caught in headlights.

    Entrance was simple and straightforward, Rizick dropped the group off at a handful of buildings just outside Korna¡¯s walls and then some Korna government officials took over. Rizick talked with them about the bandits that had attacked, and Zoe tried to drown out most of their conversation. It seemed they were happy the group was dealt with, and glad they decided to send Ed instead of a rookie.

    Zoe and the rest were split up as different officials came to help them get settled in. They were each given a room in what was being called a thrown together inn but may as well have been a five star hotel to Zoe, along with a questionnaire to fill out and an offer for any other assistance they may need.

    The questionnaire asked some simple questions about Zoe ¡ª what kind of work would she be interested in, what kind of work does she have experience with, information about her finances as well as a large section for detailing information about any friends or family that may be in Korna that they could help locate.

    Zoe left the first three sections blank, and then describe everybody she knew in Korna. Eliza, Nora, Lila. Even Obai, if he managed to survive his reckless ascent of Moaning Point. The official helping Zoe ¡ª a young lady in a pretty blue dress by the name of Nomi, came back an hour later with a bowl of soup and took the sheet from Zoe.

    She said there was no promises they could find everybody, but they would do their best and be back in a few hours. Zoe was free to leave if she wanted, and there were some resources available to her in the little cluster of buildings too. A gym with equipment for exercising and a pool, a small library and a kitchen stocked with an assortment of food.

    Zoe chose to stay in her room, the peace and quiet was nice and gave her a chance to think about things at her own pace. She found she wasn¡¯t as upset about it as she thought she should be, and that ate away at her. It was death, murder. But they were bad people, and from Zoe¡¯s perspective may as well have been one dimensionally evil.

    Sure, maybe from their point of view they had a reason for what they did. Maybe they were good people in a bad situation, maybe they were forced into it. But did that matter, to Zoe? She thought it should. Years of empathy for the less savoury folk hammered into her back in her previous life. But that wasn¡¯t where she was anymore.

    These were bandits, they thrived on violence and misery. What excuse could somebody have to turn to senseless violence like that in a world where you could just go clear Moaning Point and make more money than you¡¯d ever need to survive?

    It was hard to accept, and felt a little like she was throwing away a part of her that she needed to care about, but she found she just didn¡¯t care as much as she hoped she would. As much as she felt she needed to. Her despair almost felt like an act, in hindsight.

    Like the pressures of modern society bared down on her and pushed her to act a certain way. There was almost a feeling of needing to be traumatized by it or she¡¯d be seen as a psychopath. That if she let people be killed around her and wasn¡¯t upset by it, she¡¯d be scorned and ridiculed. That people would fear her for welcoming death into her life so casually.

    But that wasn¡¯t how it worked here. Nobody else on the carriage was afraid of the bandits dying ¡ª they wanted them to die. Everybody else was afraid of themselves dying, that the bandits would win and they¡¯d be killed. If it weren¡¯t for the fear of it not being over yet, they might even have celebrated their death.

    Zoe was shocked when Rizick first called for their deaths, that much was true at least. She expected to run into bandits at some point, and even read they tended to attack caravans more so than lone travellers when she was researching Gafoda so many years prior. She¡¯d even seen them, or what she thought might have been them, on her trips to Gafoda several times.

    Maybe it was her being na?ve, or maybe it was just her not thinking about it much until she was stuck in the situation. But she wasn¡¯t even sure what she expected. To subdue them and leave them be? To capture them and bring them to town for rehabilitation? Whatever her expectations were, they were subverted so absolutely when Rizick told Ed to kill them.

    And that shook her more than she expected. It pulled at the last remnants of her previous life and brought her back to her innocent self, and she didn¡¯t like who she was.

    Zoe sighed and dug into her soup. It was a simple vegetable soup that tasted fresh and a little floral, and gave her a simple buff of increased health regeneration for an hour. When she was done, she stretched and laid on the comfortable bed to drift off to sleep.

    A knock on the door brought her awake a while later. ¡°Hello?¡± Nomi called out.

    ¡°Yeah, come in.¡± Zoe answered, watching Nomi open the door and walk in with another sheet of paper.

    ¡°Here you go,¡± Nomi handed Zoe the paper. A list of names and addresses of everybody Zoe listed on the questionnaire, along with a map showing where those addresses were. ¡°Before I get your hopes up, this is just the addresses we have in our books for them. If they¡¯ve moved or left for any reason since the last time we checked, then they might not be there. But feel free to come back and let us know, and we¡¯ll do what we can to help you find wherever they might be.

    ¡°Is there anything else you need help with here in Korna? You¡¯re sure you don¡¯t need help finding work or with expenses or anything like that?" Nomi asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, thank you. I wasn¡¯t affected that much by the disaster anyway, if I¡¯m being totally honest. I feel a little bad for taking advantage of you already.¡±

    Nomi laughed. ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯ve streamlined things a bit for you folk to make it easier on you, but these services are all available to citizens of the Injellar kingdom anyway. I know Flester was an independent city, but Korna is a right proper piece of the kingdom, with all the benefits that entails.¡±

    ¡°Right. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate all the help a lot.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No problem. It¡¯s a shame what happened. You¡¯re free to stick around a while longer if you¡¯d like, but if you don¡¯t have anything else you need us for then I hope you find Korna comfortable and welcoming.¡± Nomi said as she left.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    The first thing Zoe noticed, walking through the entrance of Korna was the entrance itself. There was no gate that would close at night, no blockade ready to bar people¡¯s entrance. Just a gaping but well decorated hole in the wall with two guards just over level one hundred stood at either side, along with who knows how many Zoe could hear chattering in the thick stone wall.

    Next were the roads, they were made of a faded cobblestone with plenty of red and green bricks mixed in to form interesting patterns. The buildings lining the edge of the street were clean and well built with a mix of red brick and what looked like white concrete.

    But perhaps what stood out to her the most was the fashion. Everybody she saw walking down the street had bright and colourful clothes in so many different styles. Flowing dresses full of frills and lace, t-shirts popping with colourful printed designs. Everybody seemed to have their own style and it made the city seem so bright and cheerful. It was incredible what a difference people just having nice clothes made to a city.

    Zoe checked the map she was given and realized that Korna was massive. She saw the white stone walls surrounding it, and expected it to be a little bigger than Flester was. But seeing the map, and all the districts laid out on it, with various parks and sprawling mansions put it into perspective. The building she stood next to was little more than a speck on the map she had, and Zoe found herself being excited to explore it all.

    Her first stop would be Eliza, she was with Lila not too far from the entrance Zoe entered through in an apartment building. Zoe walked in through the entrance and knocked on their door on the second floor.

    Lila opened the door a few moments later and smiled when she saw Zoe. ¡°Oh! Hello. Eliza!¡± Lila shouted back inside. ¡°Zoe¡¯s here!¡±

    Eliza came walking up a few moments later and smiled. ¡°Hey Zoe. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re doing well.¡±

    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m glad you two are well too. I uh, I¡¯m not really sure why I¡¯m here exactly. I just showed up in town and you two were the closest on the map I was given.¡± Zoe chuckled and waved the map in front of her face.

    ¡°You need a place to stay? I can lend you my couch if you do.¡± Lila offered.

    ¡°No, no. That¡¯s fine I won¡¯t intrude on you like that. You know of any nice inns around here though?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Eliza hummed. ¡°Normally when I came to Korna, I stayed at Oaniga. They¡¯re a bit pricey but so worth it, in my opinion. Food¡¯s amazing, the beds are, oh,¡± Eliza hugged her shoulders. ¡°So good. And it¡¯s in a nice area. If you¡¯re looking for something cheaper though, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s any bad inns in Korna, really. It¡¯s a nice city.¡±

    ¡°How much is it to stay at Oaniga, was it?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Last I was there I think I spent twenty silver per night.¡± Eliza shrugged.

    ¡°How much is a normal inn here?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Thirty copper? Maybe forty?¡± Lila said.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll try this Oaniga place out for a bit then at least. Where is it?¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza gestured for the map, and Zoe gave it to her. Then she summoned a pencil and scribbled a circle on it near the center of the city. ¡°Right down here, on Oani.¡±

    ¡°Oani?¡± Zoe rose an eyebrow.

    ¡°It¡¯s a wealthy inn, they paid for the road.¡± Eliza laughed.

    ¡°Right, well thanks. I guess I¡¯ll go check in there and get to exploring town. Any suggestions where to start?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I particularly like the park not far from here,¡± Lila said. ¡°Lots of greenery and some friendly animals that wander around it. They sell treats at some of the stalls and you can feed them. It¡¯s good fun.¡±

    Eliza nodded. ¡°Yeah, and I would so recommend going clothes shopping. Stock up while you¡¯re here, get some for your friends back home too. Korna¡¯s clothes are unmatched.¡±

    Lila nodded. ¡°Definitely go clothes shopping. There¡¯s Korna¡¯s Botanical Gardens too, which is a pleasant walk.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right. Yeah, and it¡¯s the right season for it too.¡± Eliza said. ¡°I think there¡¯s a bridge not far north from here down the road which is a lot of fun if you¡¯re not afraid of heights. And I don¡¯t think you are.¡±

    ¡°Alright, thanks for the help. I¡¯ll be around for a while probably. Might move inns at some point though. I can afford it for a bit but not sure I wanna stick with it for more than a few weeks, really.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mhm. Good jobs around Korna too, you can check out the odd job¡¯s building. Might have something that interests you.¡± Eliza suggested.

    ¡°Where¡¯s that?¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza took the map and scribbled another circle near the north-east of the city. ¡°Around here, never been myself so not sure exactly. Ask around over there and somebody should help you though.¡±

    ¡°Alright, thanks for the help. Again. Seriously I¡¯m gonna go check in at Oaniga now.¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°But it was good to see you two again, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re doing well.¡±

    ¡°You too, Zoe.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°Yeah, see you around. Glad you made it.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe left and made her way down to Oaniga on Oani. The outside of the building was, in a word, opulent. White with thick gold engravings that shone in the setting sun, with a door far too large to be practical for any purposes Zoe could think of.

    In the front was a reception area with an enormous amount of empty space. The copper plated ¡ª or perhaps solid copper, desk stood off to the side surrounded by vast, empty white stone. The floors glinted with not a smudge or scratch to be found.

    Behind the desk was a man dressed in a bright blue suit with bits of lace stretched across his arms. And even further behind was a waterfall that dripped along the entire wall and created a pleasant background noise. The man smiled when Zoe walked in, but she felt an underlying scorn and disdain as he watched her marvel at the wealth on display.

    ¡°Hello, madam. May I help you today?¡± He asked her.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d like a room please.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Certainly. For how long will you be staying with us?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I dunno. Two weeks, I guess?¡±

    ¡°Certainly. We do require payment at check-in however, madam. For two weeks, that will be three and a half gold.¡± The man said, a hint of pleasure leaking through his disdain.

    Zoe rolled her eyes and summoned a gold circle. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ll just stay for however long this gets me for now.¡±

    The man took the gold coin and smiled. ¡°Certainly, madam.¡± He fiddled with something behind the desk, and a moment later another man appeared next to him dressed in the same suit.

    ¡°Greetings, madam. I will take you to your room now, if you would follow me?¡± He smiled and started walking down towards a hallway on the other side of the room after Zoe nodded.

 3-12. Yucco oil

    The inn, if it could even be called that anymore with how opulent everything was, was an incredible sight to see. It put the wealthiest hotels she¡¯d ever visited even back home on Earth to shame, the five star hotels shabby truck stop motels in comparison.

    Whoever owned Oaniga was rich, and it was clear that showing off that vast wealth was important to them. Every room the chauffeur took her through was enormous, and obnoxiously empty. It almost began to annoy her, seeing restaurants with meters between each table or bathrooms where the toilet was a five second walk away from the sink.

    What was the point of so much empty space? The only explanation Zoe could think of was that space was at a premium, here. Who could afford to buy so much land near the center of a major city, and then just let it waste away with no purpose other than to show off that you have it all?

    ¡°What brings you to our city, Madam?¡± The man leading her asked as they walked past another one of the inn¡¯s restaurants. An intoxicating smell wafted out from the open double doors. Sweet and savoury, with a hint of acid that left a slight tingling sensation in Zoe¡¯s nose.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been here, and thought it¡¯d be fun to explore a little.¡± Zoe answered, looking around at the building in awe. Everything was made from the same almost sparkling white stone and covered in gold patterns.

    ¡°I see, well welcome to our lovely city then. You¡¯ve made an excellent choice coming to Oaniga, then. What made you choose us as your home for exploration?" The man asked.

    ¡°Oh, I had a friend who stayed here. She said it was good but honestly I think she understated it.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Might I ask who invited you, then?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Uh, Eliza. Don¡¯t know her last name, though.¡± Zoe answered.

    The man smiled at her, but Zoe felt his emotions churn with distaste and annoyance. ¡°I see, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ve not heard of her before.¡±

    They stopped outside a brown wooden door with a beautiful grain running across it almost ten minutes after they left the front desk, and the man summoned a metal key. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, then handed the key to Zoe. ¡°This is your room, Madam. Enjoy your stay.¡± He bowed and then vanished a moment later.

    Calling it a room was, not just an understatement but an outright falsehood. It was a full blown, lavish apartment. At the entrance was a foyer with a shoe and coat rack, as well as a walk in closet with gold plated coat hangers. Beyond was a kitchen, kitted out with anything Zoe could think of that would help her cook. Two ovens, two sinks. An island in the middle with bar stools and dozens of cupboards lining the walls.

    The bathroom was beautiful, with a comfortable cushioned toilet seat that even had a bidet. Which raised the question of why a bidet would even be necessary in this world. Zoe hadn¡¯t even needed toilet paper since she got her cleaning skill. Surely anybody wealthy enough to stay here would have a cleaning skill, or at least a servant with one?

    Was there some weird loop around at a point when you were rich, where using skills for things was for poor people? Wealthy people simply had expensive enchantments to do everything for them?

    Other than the confusing toilet, the bathroom also had a beautiful glossy marble sink with a golden faucet. And in the middle of the room, in the way of everything else for no good reason was a wide bathtub large enough to almost swim in.

    And the last room in Zoe¡¯s ¡®room¡¯ was her bedroom. One sprawling bed stretched the entire length of the far wall, long enough for two of her to sleep on it end to end and wide enough for her to sleep sideways without hanging off the edge. Many curtains were draped across the wall, with a hint of light poking through under the thick black fabric. There was a dresser, and another walk in closet with even more gold plated coat hangers.

    Zoe hopped onto the bed and sank in to the soft cushions that wrapped around her. The several blankets spanning the length of the bed were supple and felt amazing on her skin as she pulled them around her and in moments, she drifted off to sleep.

    She had a wonderful dream that jumped around from place to place without rhyme or reason. One moment she was helping Joe out at his inn, chatting with Peter and Lauren, and the next she was sitting at the top of Moaning Point staring out at the beautiful forests that surrounded it. The next she was John¡¯s bookstore buying another book and talking with him about her home, and the next she was flying through the skies above the ocean.

    And somehow, all of it was the natural, obvious path she was taking to find some kiwis to make a snack from. She woke up, covered in the warm blankets and stretched across the bed, the tips of her toes only just making it off the edge.

    Zoe threw open the curtain next to her and stared out at the red sun setting below the horizon, just visible over the tops of the neighbouring buildings. She wasn¡¯t sure how she managed to get so high off the ground, considering the chauffeur never took her up any stairs. As far as she was aware, she walked along one floor to get to her room, yet from her window it seemed she¡¯d climbed up at least three stories, maybe even four.

    On one of her days in the six star hotel as she¡¯d come to think of it, she¡¯d walk around and look at all the enchantments. Maybe there was some space enchantments she could piece apart, or who knows maybe some magic she¡¯d never even thought of before.

    But for now, Zoe was excited to relax and enjoy the luxury she¡¯d afforded herself, and dinner sounded like a pleasant idea. She left her room and locked the door behind her, then headed down to the nearest restaurant she could remember.

    The hostess at the front of the restaurant greeted Zoe as she walked in. Her bright blue dress matched the suits the men wore with blue lace down her arms and hanging from her elbows. ¡°Hello, Madam. Table for one?¡±

    Zoe nodded her head, and the hostess showed her to a table almost a minute¡¯s walk away from the entrance. The sheer amount of empty space on display continued to baffle Zoe. What was the point of it all? Zoe was immortal, she¡¯d live forever. Time was almost inconsequential to her, and yet even she was getting annoyed at how much of it she had to spend walking around for because some rich person decided that was what wealthy people did, for some reason.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Or, maybe that was the point, she realized. Maybe the point of everything being so large wasn¡¯t just to show off how much space they had, but to show off how much time they had. They didn¡¯t need to care about a few minutes wasted here or there because they had enough of it to spare. Maybe the place wasn¡¯t even all that large in physical space ¡ª John had done some funky stuff with space in the past, why couldn¡¯t Oaniga?

    The building looked large from the outside, when she walked up to it. But large enough for how much she¡¯d seen inside? Zoe wasn¡¯t sure, it was hard to know how much she¡¯d actually seen inside. And with whatever magic took her to the highest floor she had no idea how much of what she¡¯d seen was on each floor, how much was maybe even underground.

    Zoe sat in the chair as the hostess pulled it out for her. The red cushion was soft and the wooden back pressed into her back as she leaned against it in a relaxing, pleasant way that made her want to take the chair home with her.

    ¡°Somebody will be out with you in a few minutes to take your order.¡± The hostess said, placing the menu on the table in front of Zoe.

    It was a glossy sheet of white, almost plasticky feeling paper with gold trim along the edges. There wasn¡¯t much on it. A handful of appetizers Zoe didn¡¯t recognize, a few entrees that may as well have been gibberish and some desserts Zoe hoped were all equally delicious.

    She hummed and hawwed over the menu for a few minutes until the waiter appeared, dressed in the same bright blue suit. The uniform, she supposed. A strange one, but most of the clothes she¡¯d seen in Korna were rather unique and interesting.

    ¡°Have you decided, Madam?¡± The waiter asked.

    Zoe tossed the menu on the table in her best impression of a gaudy rich girl. ¡°I¡¯ll have whatever the chef recommends.¡±

    ¡°Certainly, Madam. And to drink?¡± He asked.

    ¡°What do you prefer?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well we have a beautiful loore wine, aged in aiba wood barrels. It is deliciously sweet, with a wonderful tartness. And the aiba wood imparts such a wonderful floral aroma to it. I find it divine.¡± He answered.

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll have a glass of that, thank you.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Certainly, Madam.¡± The waiter picked up the menu from the table and walked back off to one of the distant doors. Presumably to the kitchen, Zoe thought.

    It was fun, Zoe found. Pretending to be a kid from a wealthy family. She was bad at it, she knew. But what did that matter? She was bad at many things, and she didn¡¯t care much if the people here thought less of her for it. So what if they saw through her poor acting, and so what if her Vampyric Empathy showed it clear as day as they smiled through their disgust.

    When in rome, do as the romans do. Or she supposed, when in Oaniga, do as the¡­ rich snobs do? It was fun, the bed was comfortable, the food was sure to be incredible and none of the people who would look down on her for not being as rich as them mattered to her anyway.

    The first to come out was her wine, as Zoe watched the man walk across the room towards her carrying the bottle and a crystal glass. She almost shook her head at the sight of it. Surely this place was wealthy enough to cover their staff from head to toe in storage items, she thought. Why wouldn¡¯t they just keep some wines and glasses in their storage items then serve them on demand, instead of wasting all this time and effort?

    Everything at this place felt like such a spectacle. Like if the staff weren¡¯t putting on a performance showing off their vast wealth and lack of care for the passage of time, they¡¯d die immediately of shame. The very thought of things running efficiently an affront to Oaniga¡¯s very purpose.

    ¡°Your wine, Madam.¡± The waiter placed the crystal wine glass on the table and opened the bottle of wine with an ornate, golden corkscrew. The wine was a dim yellow as it poured from the bottle, and turned to a clear brown as it settled into the glass. He placed the bottle down on the other side of the table and bowed.

    ¡°Your food will be ready shortly, Madam.¡± He said and turned back to the door on the other side of the room.

    Zoe struggled not to laugh, it wasn¡¯t his fault. Well, the disdain he felt so clearly for Zoe was. But the performance and the spectacle of the place probably wasn¡¯t. It was all just so ridiculous, so far removed from her normal life. And if she was being honest, almost sad. Was this how the rich behaved back on Earth? Wasting time and money away just to show that they have enough of it to do so?

    The wine was incredible, she had to admit. It might be a silly performance, but they were very good at what they did. The bed was amazing, the wine was just as the waiter had described. Deliciously sweet with a pleasant tartness and a floral fruity scent that flooded her nose as she rose the glass to her lips.

    Her appetizer came next, on an off white ceramic plate with gold embossed along the sides. It looked like carpaccio, thin slices of deep red meat with streaks of white fat throughout were on the first layer. Above was a pile of vibrant green leaves and colourful flowers, and the whole dish had a drizzling of some golden shimmering oil over it.

    ¡°Your appetizer, Madam. Saike with yucco oil and greens.¡± He bowed and left.

    Zoe dug in, the meat was tender and melted in her mouth, the oil had a somewhat spicy kick to it that punched through the fatty richness of the meat. And the greens were somewhat bittersweet which helped mellow out the intensity of everything else.

    Not long after came her entr¨¦e, a white piece of fish with a bright red, crispy skin sat on top a splattering of green and purple purees. Two strips of the same red, crispy skin were leaning up against the fish, just touching the top of a bed of small green stems that rested on top of the fish.

    The fish was flaky and moist, while the crispy skin provided some welcomed texture and even a mild heat. The sauces were acidic and slightly sweet, with the green sauce having an odd sourness to it that somehow worked.

    And the final course was her dessert, an assortment of fresh sliced fruits and small pastries. She recognized a few of them, the soft pink slices of fruit were rawbi, and there was even the odd exploding fruit that grew outside of her cave that had somehow been sliced cleanly into pieces. The rest were new to her though, and the assortment altogether was beautiful.

    It was almost a shame, pulling it apart to eat everything. But as soon as the first pastry hit her mouth, the feeling fell away to just how delicious it all was. The fruits were fresh and delightful, the pastries rich and moist with this amazing tart cream filling in the center.

    *Ding* You have consumed the Oaniga Set. All regeneration increased for twenty-four hours.

    The waiter arrived at her table not long after she finished her dessert and handed her another slip of paper. ¡°Your bill, Madam.¡±

    Zoe picked it up, and tried not to react at the price. It was the most delicious meal she¡¯d ever had, but it was going to cost her an entire gold coin for just the single meal. The bottle of wine alone was seventy silver. She summoned a gold coin and handed it to the waiter who bowed and thanked her, and then she got up and started the long walk out of Oaniga. Korna was a massive city, and she looked forward to seeing everything it had to offer.

 3-13. Change

    Zoe wandered around the streets for a while, enjoying the city¡¯s simple beauty until she arrived at a park that caught her interest. There was a simple wooden pathway that led through the rather short trees compared to the Kaira park she was used to, and colourful flowers lined the edges. Bits of moss and grass poked up through the cracks in the wood, and Zoe¡¯s smell was hit with the smell of pollen and a mild sweetness.

    She found a bench just off the path and sat down on it to think for a while. The inn was nice, but nature always comforted her. Zoe had stagnated a bit, she realized. Rizick explored the world, saw so many different things and cultures and even decided to settle down after having his fill of it.

    In comparison, Zoe had done so little in the same time frame. She¡¯d built herself a home, explored a dungeon and a cave and it took her almost twenty years. Almost nothing compared to the stories Rizick was able to share, if she were being honest.

    It almost made her feel as though her sense of time had skewed too far in the other direction. Though it¡¯s not that she didn¡¯t enjoy herself, either. It was just a bit surprising to see how much she might have missed out on. But was it really missing out on things, if she¡¯d live forever? She would get to them, in time.

    She supposed it was. Flester was gone now, what if she ended up in Korna first instead, and wanted to go check out Flester someday but never managed to get there before it was destroyed? How many places would be destroyed while she floundered around without a care?

    It was a difficult decision to make, but she decided she enjoyed her current lifestyle, and wanted to continue exploring the world at her own pace. If the world was destroyed before she saw it all then so be it, she¡¯d never have the time to see every single thing the world had to offer anyway. There were cultures on the other side of the world, or even on other worlds in this universe that were living and maybe fighting wars. Ruins that were appearing, or ruins that were being overtaken by society.

    There was no point to beating herself up over not being able to see it all, all of the time. She¡¯d get there eventually, and she was fine with that.

    But, it did raise the question of when would she finally reset her classes? It had been months, maybe even years since she decided she wanted to. Zoe found time was hard to quantify often. Months and years blending together as just ¡®a while.¡¯

    Now seemed like a good time, she thought. Korna was safe, as safe as anywhere would be that she knew of. Surrounded by strong walls and defended by high level guards. Even the fire elemental that destroyed Flester might have been fought off by Korna, and something like that wasn¡¯t common, she hoped.

    Zoe gritted her teeth at what she was about to do. She¡¯d reset her fourth class a few times at this point, but that was only around level one hundred. This time she had Transcendent on her side giving her far more stats and was up to level one hundred fifty three. The immense quantity of stats on top of two entire classes being ripped from her was going to suck.

    She took a breath, and urged the system to replace her Chrono Enchanter class with Seasoned Torrents. The system¡¯s magic smashed through her like a wrecking ball, ripping apart the bits of her soul responsible for her class skills and bonuses, and tearing out thousands of stats.

    When the system was done, Zoe took a few minutes to breathe and calm down. Everything felt so different with her stats ripped out.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 50

    Dexterity: 50

    Vitality: 57

    Endurance: 30

    Intelligence: 191

    Wisdom: 79

    Health: 1140/1140

    Stamina: 600/600

    Mana: 3920/3920

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (22)

    - Identify (104)

    Class 2: Seasoned Frost

    - Cold Affinity (151)

    - Time Affinity (162)

    - Restoration (148)

    - Frozen Arsenal (126)

    - Alacrity (173)

    Class 3: Seasoned Torrents

    - Water Affinity (1)

    - Time Affinity (1)

    - Torrential Echo (1)

    - Adaptive Torrents (1)

    - Torrential Arsenal (1)

    Her dexterity and strength were the most noticeable difference. Every movement felt sluggish and heavy, like she was pressing through corn syrup. Her health was a tenth of what it was moments ago and that made her deeply uncomfortable. When she first reached a thousand health, that was an enormous pool and she felt like she could conquer the world. But now, when she was used to having sixteen thousand? Her health may as well have been empty.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Her levels were comical. A level twenty two with skills over one fifty would shake most people¡¯s shallow understanding of reality, and the power she wielded because of them would probably be unmatched by any other fresh third class she could find.

    Seasoned Torrents in the third class was as she expected. Somewhere between the second and fourth classes. Twenty two stat points per level, two seventy five boost to regeneration and one seventy five boost to cold and time aligned effects.

    It was a strange feeling, resetting to such a low level. She knew she wasn¡¯t weak from an objective sense. Last time she was level twenty two, she felt confident enough to run all the way to Gafoda by herself and take on the dungeon.

    Zoe wished she could go back in time and change her stat allocation for her first chosen class. So much intelligence and so little vitality made almost zero sense at this point. She was carried by the power of her skills and feats for her magical power, but had very few bonuses to her ability to survive. If she could, she¡¯d like to rip out some of her stats from Intelligence and put them into Vitality.

    How did the system determine which stats came from which class when she got Transcendent anyway? Maybe she could find another feat that does a similar thing someday and push as many points as possible towards Vitality to fix the problem. But for the time being, resetting back to this class just to be stranded with so few points in Vitality was a problem, for her.

    If she were attacked by more bandits as she travelled the roads, would she be able to defend against them? Sure, she was stronger than most level twenty twos, but that was a small bar compared to people with their fourth or fifth classes.

    Zoe shrugged and stood up. It didn¡¯t matter, anyway, since she wasn¡¯t planning on leaving Korna for a while. There were so many things to do and learn about in a new town, why would she turn back and go home already? She wasn¡¯t sure how much weight the experience through the passage of time part really pulled, but was excited to find out.

    The next month Zoe spent while keeping her skill usage to a minimum, mana for using enchantments, and her normal always on skills like Alacrity and Vampyric Senses were all she used. And by the end of the month, her level had skyrocketed from twenty two to thirty seven, even without any combat or dedicated practice of any kind.

    Most of her time she spent wandering around Korna¡¯s streets, chatting with Eliza and Lila or trying out new restaurants that caught her eye. Oaniga had many, and they were all delicious but they also came with the performance of Oaniga which wasn¡¯t always a good thing. Somedays, being a part of the lavish spectacle was fun and exciting, but some days she just wanted to sit down in a grimy restaurant and eat some greasy food.

    Korna was beautiful, in so many ways. The buildings lacked the incredible mysticism that Flester¡¯s buildings had, but people decorated their buildings in their own small ways. Bits of magic that floated around their doors when they were open, or colourful flags that hung in their windows.

    The people¡¯s clothes never stopped amazing Zoe, the selection of fabrics and the different styles that people wore were fun and exciting. The people in Korna loved their clothes in all forms, and Zoe was surprised to see how unrestrictive the city was when it came to what was appropriate. The number of breasts or furry behinds that Zoe saw only just barely covered with lacy fabric tied in fanciful patterns was incredible, or often not even covered at all was incredible.

    Most covered themselves, but every few days Zoe would see another near naked person wandering down the streets like it was the most normal thing in the world. And in Korna, it seemed like it was. Nobody batted an eye at it other than Zoe, and it¡¯s not as though Zoe particularly cared about it anyway. It was just surprising to see how accepted and open people were to the idea.

    Zoe had found many clothing stores, really most of the buildings she walked past tended to either be a dedicated clothing store or at the very least have a section for making clothes. But she hadn¡¯t stopped at any of them yet to buy some.

    She wanted to, but there was this unspoken pressure she felt as she saw everybody walking around in their own styles and fashions. There was overlap, of course, but it seemed like almost everybody put their own spin on their fashion. Their own little touch that made it their own. Maybe they added a pink bow to the back of their suit, or maybe they printed a design of their choosing on the frills of their dress.

    And Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what she wanted. It wasn¡¯t a big deal, she supposed. But she also had all the clothes she needed to get by already anyway, and the first piece of clothing she got from a city renowned for their clothes felt like it needed to be special.

    She had tossed and turned on it for a while ¡ª did she want something that was a reminder of Earth, or perhaps something that hinted at her vampyric origins in this world? Maybe she could go with her passion for gaming, but that felt so distant now. Even if she made it back home, gaming didn¡¯t interest her much. She¡¯d probably spend her time in the garden now, building out more boxes and really getting into what and how to feed all of her plants.

    Maybe she¡¯d buy some land and farm flowers for a living. Not that she could get back anyway, the idea had long since lost its appeal for her. She¡¯d accepted that this was her home, and at this point she¡¯d almost spent half of her life here, there was little reason to think otherwise.

    But something from Earth could be fun, anyway. Gaming didn¡¯t interest her, and she didn¡¯t have all that much of a desire to return, but it was still her home planet. Where she grew up as a child, went to school and learned what the mitochondria was.

    It was just hard to know what really represented Earth when it came to fashion. Greens and blues? But that would be too restrictive. A print of the planet? She could hardly remember what it looked like exactly at this point, and while the planet was beautiful for many reasons, visually it was quite ugly in her opinion.

    Zoe gave up thinking about it, and walked into the first clothing store she found, one by the name of Kendra¡¯s Designs and greeted the person behind the counter. An older man with gray hair and a brown silken top with colourful flowers embroidered across the chest.

    ¡°Hello,¡± He said when Zoe walked in.

    ¡°Hi,¡± Zoe answered. ¡°I¡¯ve been in Korna a bit and I love all the clothes y¡¯all wear, but I¡¯m not really sure what I want.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see. Yes I¡¯d be more than happy to help. What kind of clothes are you looking for?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not sure. I have a lot of clothes that I¡¯m already pretty happy with, but it¡¯s all,¡± Zoe gestured to herself. ¡°Pretty simple compared to what everybody here seems to wear. I guess I¡¯d just like at least one nice dress, and a nice suit too. And a bikini, I¡¯d like a cute bikini. I haven¡¯t gone swimming in way too long, I¡¯ve just realized.¡±

    The man laughed. ¡°Anything in particular you¡¯re thinking of for the design?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, kinda. I have a bunch of things that I just can¡¯t really think of good ideas for. I thought maybe something from home, or maybe something to do with my classes. Also I like bats a lot, I guess.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    ¡°Hmm. Something from home, something to do with your classes, and some bats. Any info you can give about your home or classes, if you don¡¯t mind my asking?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Mmm, yeah. I lived on an island, I guess. Lots of water around us, lots of beautiful green forests. And my class is cold,¡± Zoe summoned a cloud of frost in her hand then dissipated it. ¡°Lots of frosty stuff.¡±

    ¡°Right, alright. Yeah I can work with that. Any type of fabric you like more than others? We¡¯ve got most of the common fabrics here.¡± The man asked.

    ¡°What¡¯s your preference?¡± Zoe asked. ¡°I don¡¯t have much experience with it other than what I¡¯m wearing now.¡±

    ¡°Well, how do you feel about what you¡¯re wearing now?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s good enough, I guess. I don¡¯t have any complaints really.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°We can go with the same fabric, if you¡¯d like? Or we could try something a little softer or harder, more pliable or more stiff. Anything you¡¯d like to change about what you¡¯re wearing?" The man asked.

    ¡°I guess a little softer would be good, but I¡¯m generally not a fan of silk. I like feeling the fabric, usually. But not super tough that it scrapes on my arm hairs.¡± Zoe chuckled.

    ¡°Excellent. A little softer it is then. Anything else you¡¯d like me to keep in mind?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°No, that¡¯ll be it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Then I¡¯m happy to be your first choice in Korna¡¯s clothing. For the suit, dress and bikini that will come to one silver star.¡± The man smiled.

    Zoe summoned a silver star and handed it to the man.

    ¡°Pleasure doing business, I¡¯ll have your clothes ready in two hours. Feel free to stop by any time after then. If you¡¯re not here in three days time then your clothes goes to the bargain bin, alright?"

    ¡°Yeah, no worries. I¡¯ll be back in a few hours then. Thanks a bunch!¡± Zoe smiled and left.

 3-14. Tedium

    Zoe wandered around the streets nearby for a couple hours before she went back to pick up her clothes. The same man was smiling behind the counter when Zoe walked in and traded her clothes over to Zoe¡¯s storage item. She walked back to her room at Oaniga and stood at the edge of her unreasonably long bed, then summoned her clothes from her bracelet and laid them out.

    All three of her new additions to her wardrobe were¡­ interesting. The bikini top looked like two gray bat wings, with bits of white fabric hanging like frost dripping from their wings. Thin blue straps that somehow looked wet attached the two wings to each other and around her neck. While the bottom had a fuzzy green fabric at the front covering her important bits, with similar blue straps that did nothing for her rear.

    She¡¯d never owned a bikini before, either wearing shorts as a child before she understood what her feelings really meant. Or, as she grew older usually cuter swim shorts and a shirt. But never a bikini, let alone one that left her behind so exposed. It excited her, like a step she¡¯d always been afraid of taking was just thrust upon her as though all the fears and anxieties she had about it were pointless.

    The dress was sleeveless, and had a similar theme going on with the same thin wet blue fabric making up the bulk, with a deep gap in the shape of a bat wing reaching down almost to her belly button. Across the slit were white threads that glinted in the light like icicles reaching across the gap. Just below was green pleated fabric that barely reached her thighs at all, with strips of brown fabric laid into the pleats that looked almost like trees waving in the wind as she walked around.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t a huge fan of the dress. And it was her fault, she knew. She should have been more specific with her request. She should have clarified that she didn¡¯t want her bare breasts almost completely on display for the world to see, should have said that she wants the dress to reach at least almost to her knees. It made sense if she asked for something cold themed that they¡¯d make something she¡¯d be cold wearing. Or maybe he just thought her skin colour was already intentional for the same reason, and thought she¡¯d want to show it off.

    But whatever the case was, the dress felt more like lingerie to Zoe. It was comfortable. More comfortable than anything else she¡¯d worn before, by a massive margin. The fabric was soft and felt incredible on her skin, it didn¡¯t pull on her hairs and didn¡¯t seem like it would pill at all.

    It just didn¡¯t feel like the kind of thing she¡¯d like to wear, walking down the street or sitting at a nice restaurant to eat. In the first place, dresses that were so short meant sitting without having your butt touching the chair was borderline impossible. You had to make a decision between sitting awkwardly to stretch the dress below you or pulling it out from below you so it wouldn¡¯t tug on your shoulders.

    The suit was nice, at least. Made of a similar but much thicker blue fabric, with frosty threads hanging from the seams. At the front near the middle was a singular button in the shape of a small bat, which left a deep ¡®V¡¯ neckline that Zoe didn¡¯t mind.

    Zoe half expected when she picked it up to see a gaping hole in the back, but was pleasantly surprised to see it was just a normal looking suit that looked like she was covered in the ocean itself, which she enjoyed. The neckline was quite deep and left much of her upper torso uncovered, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as egregious as the dress¡¯s gaping bat hole was, and she could easily wear a shirt under the suit jacket if she liked too. Something she couldn¡¯t do with the dress due to how thin and tightly fitted the fabric was.

    She left the suit on and stored the other pieces away in her bracelet again. It was a bit of a whim, buying the clothes anyway. That all she got was a suit, some lingerie and a bikini she might enjoy wearing someday was fine. She got to see what somebody else thought would fit her, and it was a pretty fun experience anyway.

    Another two months flew by in Korna, with Zoe focusing most of her time on using her skills while she sat in her room at Oaniga. More and more as she stayed there, she found herself enjoying the extra space. She didn¡¯t have to worry about other people getting in her way ¡ª or her getting in other people¡¯s way. It was quiet, comfortable, and she had all the space she needed to practice her magic in peace.

    She could sit in one of the many lounges, with her magic flowing around her and not worry about it offending people because the nearest person would be sitting to far away for her magic to be affecting them in any meaningful way. At one point she almost thought the rich folk had a point, but laughed the thought off. Of course they didn¡¯t, all of this empty space could have been homes or a nice park, where she¡¯d still have just as much personal space without all the gaudy gatekeeping.

    Staying at Oaniga was slowly draining her hoard of gold so she¡¯d need to find somewhere cheaper soon or at least start making money again, if she wanted to stay above her comfort level. Which was quite wealthy now, she realized. Floating around in her bracelet was just over two hundred fifty gold ¡ª almost sixty spent in the few months she¡¯d been staying at Oaniga.

    Korna might be more expensive, but at least in Flester that was enough to buy almost two houses outright! But somehow, the idea of dropping below two fifty made her feel like she was being irresponsible with her wealth. It was an unsustainable drain, but most of that was wasted away on the numerous restaurants at Oaniga, which was more of an avoidable cost anyway.

    Over the two months, she managed to reach level sixty five and stopped progressing anymore, meaning she was ready for her third seasoned class. But it also raised an important question she hadn¡¯t even thought about before.

    Getting the third seasoned class was never going to be the difficult part. Worst case scenario ¡ª which was almost what she ended up with, she¡¯d need to get to level sixty six. No big deal, really. But her final seasoned class could end up being as early as level eighty eight if she got lucky, or almost two hundred on the other side of the scale.

    And the issue was that once she committed to working on getting her fourth and final Seasoned class, it wouldn¡¯t be worth resetting anymore. She couldn¡¯t just take Seasoned Cinders now, get up to one thirty to see if it was a low roll and then reset.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    The massive time investment it would take to get there meant it would be worth at least trying the next level. And then the next level, and then the next. And with each level she got, the chance that her next class was just one more level away would get larger and larger as the pool of possible level caps shrunk.

    Whereas checking her Seasoned Torrents level cap would only take a month or two if she focused on training her skills as much as she could.

    It was a bit of a toss up, but with her class currently at almost the maximum level it could have been, she decided it was worth trying for something lower. Each level she took off now would take off three maximum potential levels much later on.

    Zoe focused on her class, reset her Seasoned Torrents class, and then spent another month and a half focusing on all of her skills. Her level climbed up to the sixties, and settled in at level sixty five once more.

    She focused on her class again, reset her Seasoned Torrents class again, and then spent yet another month training her class to its cap but with far more frustration. Her level once more climbed up to the sixties, but this time stopped at sixty one.

    Was sixty one good enough? What level would be good enough for her? Fifty, she decided. If she took Seasoned Cinders at level fifty, then the highest level she¡¯d need to get would be one fifty. She¡¯d done that before, she could do it again.

    Thankfully, it didn¡¯t take her long to reach her goal. Her very next attempt capped out at level forty nine, and as winter fell on Korna, coating it in a light jacket of bright white snow, Zoe pushed the system to give her the Seasoned Cinders class.

    She had five hundred forty stat points to play with and put one hundred each into strength, dexterity and intelligence. The remaining two hundred forty were put straight into Vitality.

    Resetting her classes had been an interesting process so far, for Zoe. It almost brought her back to the frustration that came from randomized progression systems in the games she played back on Earth. But instead of grinding out some gold for a chance to tier up her equipment¡¯s stats, she spent her time enjoying life and let the system rip apart her body and soul in the hopes she¡¯d get a little lucky.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t quite sure which would be a healthier addiction.

    Over the course of her Seasoned Torrents grind, she went and visited the Korna Botanical Gardens a few times. It was effectively a very large, well cared for park with some touristy bits added on. The differences between it and some of the public parks around Korna were slight, but very important.

    The walkway was a better maintained, and more comfortable to walk on. The flowers and trees on display were intentional and organized, and even changed around every week or two for something new to see. There was a gift shop where you could buy flower arrangements, or floral treats. They had a lavender fudge that was to die for, in Zoe¡¯s opinion.

    And it all made the botanical gardens a much more coherent experience to walk through than any of the public parks in Korna were. But for sitting down and relaxing, Zoe enjoyed the public parks much more. There were so many more animals in the parks that fluttered through the trees or scuttled around in the dirt that added to the ambience and drew her away from the city.

    The biggest problem with her decision of merging the Seasoned Classes was the lack of her Chrono Enchanter class. It wasn¡¯t a very strong class compared to her other options, but the utility it provided was second to none. Getting used to seeing the wisps of light from Mana Sight was difficult, but having to get used to seeing the world without it after having it for so long was even worse.

    She felt blind, in many ways. A whole part of the world that used to be as natural to interact with as anything else was completely cut off to her. She spent some time trying to get a Mana Manipulation general skill, but had no idea where to even start. Mana Manipulation was the basis of how she¡¯d managed to get any of the other general skills.

    Zoe had some control over mana without the Mana Manipulation skill, but it was like the difference between somebody with a jet engine and somebody blowing out a candle on their birthday cake. They were both interacting with Mana, but Mana Manipulation was far more powerful than anything she could hope to do.

    There was also another class that interested Zoe, if her Seasoned classes really did merge together. The transcendent feat didn¡¯t have a class itself, while all of the individual feats that made it up did. There were a few explanations she¡¯d come up with while she had time to think.

    The first was that similar to her Seasoned classes, she¡¯d need to get all of the Transcendent classes at the same time. And the second was she might end up needing to have over one thousand in each stat at the same time to unlock the class. If her Seasoned classes did merge, then she imagined the Transcendent class would follow.

    But, while there were only four seasons, there were six separate stats. And her first class was already taken by Seasoned Frost ¡ª or whatever the combined class would be, so she¡¯d need to get her eighth class before she could even find that out. It might even only be possible if she somehow took one of the transcendent classes as her first selection.

    Which meant as soon as she did manage to merge her Seasoned classes, she¡¯d be free to pick up any old enchanting class again. There was no point in worrying about that many classes when she had no idea how to even get to her seventh or even sixth anyway. All she had to do was get a few more levels, and she thought it might be fun to see if there were any nearby dungeons she could explore to help her get there a little quicker.

    It would be interesting, Zoe thought, to see how fighting would end up working without Enchanted Mirror. Most of her offensive capability had come from flashing powerful enchantments onto her Earth or Frost and firing them off at her opponents.

    Without Enchanted Mirror she could still make the same enchantments. But the difference between a thought with the mirror against a second or two with her Enchanting skill could be the difference between success or defeat.

    For that matter, she hadn¡¯t even checked if Enchanting came back. She¡¯d been so busy using her class skills to get up to her cap as quick as possible that it never crossed her mind. Zoe brought up her stat sheet to check, and saw Enchanting had returned at level fifty two. Right where it was when she got her Chrono Enchanter class, she imagined. It sounded right enough at least, and if it was supposed to have accumulated experience while she had the class then it would have been far higher.

    At the very least she didn¡¯t lose progress, and would still be able to prepare some projectiles ahead of time. All she had left to do was find somewhere that would help her get to level one fifty again and she¡¯d be done with the tedium for a while.

 3-15. Foizo

    Emma sat in Zoe¡¯s library ¡ª Emma¡¯s library? She wasn¡¯t sure where the line was drawn anymore, really. Didn¡¯t really matter anyway, Zoe was barely around anymore. Always off doing whatever she felt like in the moment. She always liked saying she was exploring and discovering the world but after almost two decades, she¡¯s finally leaving the only place she¡¯d been?

    Nah, Zoe was impulsive and anxious, but she¡¯d never admit it. It was a little cute at times, hearing her grand explorations of places right around the corner like they were some distant unexplored land. Though, the cave below full of ice was interesting, and something only she and Joe knew about. The rest of the folk living in Foizo might not be so interested in sticking around if they knew what lurked just below them.

    Fennel ¡ª the little void she¡¯d adopted a few years back was sitting on her lap, nuzzling into her hand and talking about what must have been a very exciting day. Ollie was off somewhere, probably in the bedroom sleeping on the floor she imagined.

    The two cats were her life now, and every morning she¡¯d wake up and see the two of them and get excited because darn it, she had little kittens! The cutest little babies anybody¡¯d ever seen.

    Sometimes she¡¯d have dreams where she never had a cat, had no memory of the cats. And then she¡¯d wake up to fennel screaming at her and it was like a gracious, albeit somewhat annoying, gift was dropped on her by the gods themselves.

    The library was quite nice, and filled with books from Zoe¡¯s efforts before she left. Emma had continued the efforts a little, as had some others for their own libraries. But Kaira library was just frankly enormous. Like, who even knew that many books existed at all? It¡¯s so many books. Has anybody ever read through every single one of the books? Is there, or was there any single person who actually knew every single book in that library?

    Cause that¡¯s insane. Even the little library Zoe made was so many books, the bookshelves were almost overflowing with them now and Emma had even started little piles up in the enchanting room. Peter and Lauren said they¡¯d help out with making some more bookshelves at some point, but they had their own things going on anyway. They hadn¡¯t told anybody yet, but Emma was pretty sure they had a baby coming along.

    Lauren had a bit of a bump and had been turning down Emma¡¯s invites to go hunting lately, which was unusual. What else could it be than a baby? The first one born in Foizo, which was exciting. That felt like the mark of a proper civilization, right? Like, they were set up enough that bringing new life wasn¡¯t a horribly stupid idea anymore. They had food, they had shelters, and they even had a bit of a government now too.

    Doris and Ingrid were joint mayors, while a small council helped manage some of the day to day issues and help advise them on larger problems. Joe and Kiara were both a part of it, along with a few others Emma didn¡¯t know well. Eileen, Elliot and Ernest. Lots of ¡®e¡¯ names in town for some reason, Emma thought. Or maybe just on the council.

    Their population had made it up into the hundreds a while ago, and the town only continued to grow. In time, Emma knew that the plan was to pay taxes to the Injellar kingdom and get some support. But while the help might be nice someday, for the time being what they needed was money to buy supplies and pay the population. Or something like that anyway, Emma never found the governing stuff very interesting.

    She had a place to live, with people she liked. Her cats were safe, and even seemed to enjoy life. There was little more she really wanted. Maybe some windows on the cave, the fire gems were nice but they weren¡¯t sunlight and Emma felt bad about keeping the cats inside so much.

    They did have leashes, and Emma took them out for walks a few times every day which they seemed to enjoy sometimes. But some windows would be nice, so they could have somewhere to sit and stare out at the world.

    Of course, Zoe never added windows when she built the place because it was supposed to be hidden. But that was hardly a concern these days with so many people seeing Emma come in and out with her two cats every day.

    Peter and Lauren offered to build her a home outside, but Emma quite liked staying in Zoe¡¯s little cave. Something about her eventually coming home, and Emma being there to give her a hug was a fun thought that helped pass the time now and then.

    Not that she¡¯d been home in almost a year now. The least she could do was send a letter, but that was too much to expect from Zoe. She¡¯d send a letter if she had something to say, but just as a ¡°Hello, how are you doing?¡± The thought would never cross her mind once she left. Around every turn would be something new and distracting that would take her mind off whatever she left behind.

    She said she would send letters when she first left for Gafoda all those years ago, and then never once did. The damn girl was too impulsive for her own good. Maybe she¡¯d be better in another few decades, or maybe she¡¯d just continue on the strange path she¡¯d already been taking towards whatever she was becoming.

    Emma shrugged. Didn¡¯t really matter, she loved Zoe either way. Their friendship had been an odd one, but a pleasant one. It started a little rough, and Emma often thought about how different her life would be now if Zoe hadn¡¯t been okay with continuing their friendship after what her mom did.

    The school would have been so boring, and Emma wasn¡¯t sure she would have even continued it anyway. The guilt of what happened might have just pushed her to try again next time. She probably wouldn¡¯t have moved out either.

    Emma didn¡¯t like what her mom did, but much of that annoyance was spawned because of her friendship with Zoe. She had a bit of an impulsive desire to get out right away, but it was seeing Zoe so often that made that feeling stick.

    And without her moving out, her parents might have stayed together as well. She probably wouldn¡¯t have adopted her two little babies, and when Flester was destroyed would probably have just ended up in Korna with her parents.

    She wouldn¡¯t have ever met Joe or his misfits as they hated being called these days, wouldn¡¯t have met any of the other people living in Foizo.

    They didn¡¯t spend an awful lot of time together these days, but Zoe was an important part of Emma¡¯s life for so many reasons. Maybe she would have been happy in Korna, dressing up in incredible clothing and feeling safe within the well guarded walls.

    But she was happy here. There was no maybe, there was no possibility. It had happened, and Emma was enjoying life for what it was.

    She looked at her stat sheet. Still stuck at one forty two, which more than confirmed that was her cap. She¡¯d been there for a month now and wasn¡¯t sure what to do. Normally, she¡¯d just take whatever felt best at the time and be happy with it.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    But this would probably be the last class she¡¯d ever get, and Zoe¡¯s incessant insistence on perfection for herself had leaked over a bit. What if Emma could get more feats, more skills, more achievements under her belt for her last class?

    She pushed the thought aside. This wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d fallen down that line of thinking, it¡¯d been an almost daily occurrence since she noticed her level stagnating again. And every time, Emma would ponder it for a while and then decide that she¡¯d take a class when Zoe got back. It¡¯d be fun to have a little class up party again.

    But she¡¯d probably have the same thought again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Having all that power sitting at her fingertips and not grabbing it was difficult. With just a thought she could take an upgraded version of her Magic Archer class. Or maybe a cat servant class.

    Emma put the book she was skimming through down, some story about a powerful dragon to fit in to normal human society but failing at almost every turn. Joe should be coming over to visit soon and Emma wanted to make sure the cats were ready for their walk.

    A few minutes of wrestling with the cats to get their harnesses on later, and Emma dragged them out through the front door. The cats prowled around the grass outside looking for bugs and other such vermin, and Joe showed up not long after. Emma handed him Fennel¡¯s leash and they started walking away from the direction of Foizo.

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure Lauren¡¯s pregnant,¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Oh yeah? She has been seeming a little strange lately.¡± Joe questioned.

    ¡°Mhm. I think so. She¡¯s got a bit of a bump and hasn¡¯t been coming hunting lately.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t say anything about it yet. She might just be sick and putting on weight, too.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I know, I know. How are the sisters?¡± Emma asked.

    Joe waved his head back and forth uncertainly. ¡°Better, definitely better. They were both already pretty messed up when they got to my inn back in Flester and what happened definitely didn¡¯t help.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t blame them. Hopefully they can feel like it¡¯s okay to be happy and safe someday.¡±

    ¡°I hope so. I¡¯m doing my best but I never intended to be a therapist, you know? I had great dreams of wanting to help people who were down on their luck, to be a bit of a springboard for people. But I didn¡¯t realize just how bad things were sometimes. You know what happened with Peter?" Joe asked.

    Emma nodded. ¡°More or less. Something with a noble in Korna who hired Peter to train his kid for something, but it just ended up with Peter being a punching bag for both the kid and the parent right?"

    ¡°Something like that. I thought when I made The Risen Cask that it would be people like Zoe coming in. Something happened, they needed a place to bounce off of and I could be that place. But it ended up being a home for some people, and it was just a lot more than I thought it was.¡± Joe said.

    Emma looked up at Joe. ¡°Do you regret it?¡±

    ¡°No, not at all. It¡¯s incredible. Things are worse than I thought they were, but that just makes it that much more important for people like me to be around and helping out. I don¡¯t regret it for a second.¡± Joe paused. ¡°I just regret not recognizing the importance of it earlier, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t go back and change things now. You¡¯re doing good, Joe.¡± Emma said as they paused for Fennel to investigate a particularly important tree.

    ¡°Yeah I know. I¡¯m not really stressed about it, anyway. Life¡¯s good here in Foizo. As good as it can be, anyway. You know we¡¯re thinking of paying the Injellar kingdom soon?" Joe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard about it, but it¡¯s still a ways out I thought?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t talk about it much but no it sounds like it¡¯s right around the corner. Businesses are booming, population has skyrocketed, and funds are looking pretty good. We¡¯re thinking we can increase taxes on the wealthier businesses a little and use that to join the Injellar kingdom properly, maybe in the next few months.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a lot quicker than I thought. We¡¯ll be a proper town soon then, huh?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Seems like it, if things go well.¡± Joe nodded.

    The two continued walking as Fennel and Oliver started pulling them deeper into the forest.

    ¡°Do you think Zoe will notice?" Emma asked.

    ¡°The town? Be hard not to.¡± Joe said. ¡°Even for her. Lots of new buildings since she was here, maybe we¡¯ll even have a wall when she gets back.¡±

    ¡°The name.¡± Emma rolled her eyes. "Of course she¡¯s going to notice the town¡¯s changed.¡°

    Joe laughed. ¡°Ahhh. No, I doubt it. I don¡¯t think most people would, let alone her. You think we should tell her?¡±

    Emma grinned. ¡°We totally should. But first we should get her to say she likes it. Make her say it¡¯s a nice name and then tell her it¡¯s named after her. She¡¯ll be so mad.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°Oh she¡¯ll hate it. But without her, none of this would have been possible so it was only right.¡± Joe nodded.

    ¡°When do you plan to tell her about your latest class?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t know. I meant to tell her as soon as I saw her, I know she¡¯d be ecstatic about it. But then everything happened and I just forgot to tell her, and then she was gone. I¡¯ll probably tell her when she gets back. When do you plan to take your next class? Your level¡¯s been stagnated for a while now.¡± Joe questioned.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna do it when Zoe comes back. You tell her you¡¯re immortal, I get a new class and who knows, maybe I get to be immortal too. Probably not, none of the ones I have now really stand out as being endless or timeless or something.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°How long do you think it¡¯ll take her to come back this time? I¡¯m betting another couple years, personally.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I think she¡¯ll be back next year. She pretends she doesn¡¯t mind but you¡¯re old Joe. Look at all that white hair.¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°You¡¯re not looking so young yourself miss wrinkles.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Yeah. And she worries about us both too much. She¡¯ll be back next winter at the latest, with her fancy new class as an excuse to make sure we pathetic mortals aren¡¯t dead yet.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Maybe, but I think she¡¯s going to enjoy Korna a lot.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°The clothes?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°The clothes.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Think she¡¯ll get into it?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Maybe. Actually, you know what. I change my mind, I¡¯m gonna agree with you. Next winter at the latest, and she¡¯s gonna have some absolutely insane outfits for us to try on.¡± Joe said.

    Emma groaned. ¡°Yeah, probably. I didn¡¯t even think about that.¡±

    Joe laughed.

 3-16. Dilution

    Korna had quite a number of libraries, none of which quite as magnificent as Kaira library had been. Though, that was a bit of a theme with Korna in general. Flester was mystical and wondrous, while Korna had a lot of restraint when it came to casual displays of magic. There were no libraries with incredible floating platforms that let you walk through the tree roots, no floating crystal balls that were larger on the inside, just well maintained white buildings with hints of magic drifting across the entrance.

    Zoe didn¡¯t mind it, the mysticism was fun and exciting but Korna¡¯s lack of excitement was a nice change of pace. It made the city feel safe somehow, like it had been around long enough to develop its own style, or maybe even a proper building code. It was its own mark on the world, rather than an agglomerate of many people¡¯s marks on the world, and it felt nice.

    But, despite the libraries not being quite as magnificent, they were just as packed full of information. Korna was built above a ruin dungeon called The Pit. A gaping hole in the world that stretched down into the depths, filled with caverns and tunnels dug by a civilization long forgotten and defended by creatures that call the cold darkness their home.

    Zoe had checked it out a number of times, there was a bit of a theme park set up at the top of the hole with some small pop up restaurants and even a handful of games to play. Zoe¡¯s favourite was a game with a fishing rod, where you tried to ¡®catch¡¯ treasure that lurked at the bottom of a hole somebody dug into the ground. The treasure was always some cute accessory ¡ª a pink frilly bow for her hair, or some fun colourful ribbons and the like.

    The dungeon itself was more like what Zoe had expected when she first heard of them in this world. A hole about twelve meters in diameter that cut straight down into the ground, with a creaky wooden staircase that spiralled around the edge and led down to a mass of damaged mining tunnels. Rotting wooden supports creaked and groaned as the earth pressed down into them, and in some places new supports had even been put in.

    Rather than the aimless tunnels that Zoe found below her home back near Flester, these were organized and planned. Larger main tunnels with much more sturdy supports with the smaller less sturdy tunnels branching off of them, and the smaller tunnels even had small holes dug into the walls at uneven spacing.

    The main tunnels connected to bigger rooms full of damaged wooden chests that may once have been full of loot, before the people of Korna had raided it for all it was worth. Zoe had heard rumours and talk of unexplored regions even deeper down, but treasure wasn¡¯t what she was here for anyway.

    What she cared about were the shadows that stretched along the rock, and crept behind the wooden supports near a flickering flame. The shadows that came to life and grasped at her body like a vine that wanted to pull her into the ground.

    Without any light, they didn¡¯t seem to bother her. Denizens of the darkness were friends to the shadows, she supposed. But with light, they jumped out from behind every crack and crevice and swarmed her. Fire was quite effective against them, flooding the cavern with flames and blotting out all the shadows killed them all and left her gasping for oxygen she could quickly replace with her Wind skill.

    Eliza had returned from one of her jobs and Zoe spent some time with her trying to study the Space skill some more, and without her Mana Sight, it was a completely different process. Rather than seeing the mana itself twisting and warping as it was shunted through space, she felt the mana pressing into her. She felt her foot touching her ear, her shoulder touching her knee.

    It was different without her enchanting class. Maybe with enough time, and something more simple, she could figure it out. But with something as complicated as Space, Zoe felt like she was wandering through a maze blind and dizzy.

    She found another inn after bleeding another dozen gold on Oaniga and it¡¯s associated businesses. A much smaller inn attached to a tavern called The Weary Rest. The room was quite nice with enough space for Zoe to even get some work or exercise in if she wanted in the mornings. The bed was quite comfortable, the food was tasty and far more diverse than she had expected it to be. And all for the much more reasonable price of forty copper per night at that.

    And yet, with the recent comparison to the luxury that was Oaniga, The Weary Rest felt almost squalid. The food was bland in comparison and didn¡¯t give her any regenerative buffs ¡ª not that she needed one anyway, it was just nice. The bed may as well have been rough gravel ground that ate into her back compared to the incredible bed at Oaniga. And the blankets only wrapped around her twice instead of six times.

    It was all quite nice, she had to remind herself every now and then. It was only when she would unfairly compare it to Oaniga that it would seem lacking. For the price ¡ª which was what she could afford she reminded herself, The Weary Rest was a lovely inn that she¡¯d recommend to anybody. Comparing it to something that cost almost ten times as much just wasn¡¯t fair.

    She sat on one of the wooden chairs at a small round table eating her grilled cheese and looking through her stat sheet. In the past few months, she¡¯d spent almost all of her spare time down in The Pit and had reached level one twenty two, which started to scare her. She reset quite a few times for a low starting point on her third Seasoned class, but it was looking more and more like she¡¯d gotten a high roll this time.

    Five hundred points each were put into Vitality, Intelligence and Endurance with two hundred each into Strength and Dexterity and the remaining two hundred ninety dumped straight into Wisdom. And the two she got from her birthday went into Vitality to bring it to a nice even eight hundred.

    It wasn¡¯t the most optimal stat distribution, but it was enough for what she was doing and if things went well she¡¯d be reset back down to twenty two soon anyway. Or maybe even eight. How did merging a class into your first class work anyway?

    Very little of the research she had done on merging classes had shown anything concrete on that. Whatever she found tended to be mere confirmation that it was possible rather than any specifics on how it worked. Though she did find one elemental mage combination that gave her a lot of confidence in her own plan.

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    There were four elemental wizard classes ¡ª Cold, Heat, Earth and Water. If you had all four of them, and the Archmage feat, then you would combine them into an Elemental Archmage class.

    The class itself didn¡¯t interest Zoe very much, her Seasoned class would give her much the same benefits that the archmage class likely would and she¡¯d rather focus on something to do with enchanting going forward.

    But, what was far more interesting was that the book she read it in mentioned that the class had undiluted magical diversity. Zoe spent some time researching what that meant, hoping it was a standardized definition for something and she could just find a book on it but ended up needing to research related topics and hope she found information on it.

    There were a few names for the phenomenon, if it could even be called that. Some called it diluted magical diversity, others called it regulated elemental power. But they all meant the same thing, most classes that involved multiple elements did so at the cost of power.

    Zoe¡¯s understanding of it was that each class tier had a certain amount of elemental power allocated to it. Like tokens that could be spent in a shop of class selections. Increasing the power of one element was rather cheap, and so classes that focused on only one element had a lot of power to throw around.

    Whereas on the other side, increasing the number of elements available was quite expensive. Which meant that most of the time, there was a tradeoff you had to make when you chose a class. You could either get the very powerful, single element class. Or you could take the more versatile but notably weaker class with multiple elements.

    But, in some cases ¡ª like the Elemental Archmage, there was no tradeoff to be made. You got the versatility of multiple elements but without the cost that would normally come. The power was undiluted. And the theory made sense to Zoe, when she took Elemental Master the one thing that she noticed was how much weaker it was than Seasoned Frost. It had control over so many more elements, but the skills felt so lacking.

    And if things went well, then it meant her combined seasoned class would also be undiluted. Able to wield the full power of each of the individual classes without making any sacrifices.

    Elements was rather confusing as a term as well, Zoe found. There seemed to be two definitions. One was fire, water, earth and air, or at least a group of four roughly similar to those in theme. Those were elements, and most of the time when a class had elemental in its name, it was referring to something like those four.

    Zoe did find one strange Elemental Destroyer class that had a focus on Gravity, Space, Time and Lightning though, which was a bit of an outlier. Unfortunately, the author who wrote the book with it had only met somebody with the class and they weren¡¯t willing to share the specifics about how to acquire it.

    And the other definition of elements was any type of damage or magic. Physical was an element, as it had an affinity which meant it could be magical in nature, supposedly. Or maybe just because it could do damage, she wasn¡¯t sure. Just as Disintegration or Flora would be. The more she learned about the system, the more she thought it was poorly designed, if it really was designed.

    There were inconsistencies everywhere, weird bits that didn¡¯t make sense. Even the descriptions on many of her skills seemed to be pointless fluff more than actual descriptors of what they were capable of. But it only really broke once for her, and even that seemed to be a consistent problem if Richard was to be believed. The system worked, it was just odd in so many ways.

    Korna¡¯s passion for clothes had infected Zoe and become something of a hobby for her in the months she¡¯d spent working on her levels. Once she learned to be more specific with her wants, the clothes started to be a lot nicer for her. She added a couple of nice frilly dresses with rainbow patterns on them to her collection, along with an assortment of brightly coloured pants made from a wonderful soft fabric that she loved.

    She had even bought a few outfits to bring back for Joe and Emma, a few that she thought they¡¯d enjoy and a couple for both of them that were a little more outlandish.

    Word of the little village that sprung up around Zoe¡¯s home had even spread all the way to Korna. Or at least she assumed it was, since people talked about a place called Foizo north of Flester¡¯s ruins that was currently looking for new settlers to come and help build up the new town.

    Zoe smiled at the name when she first realized it was her home. Foizo wasn¡¯t her favourite name, and if she was involved she would have much preferred something referencing the hill it set up next to. But she wasn¡¯t super invested in it at any rate, and knowing that the village she left behind had grown so much that they had a proper name and people were talking about it so far away made her a little happy.

    There was a lake just to the east of Korna appropriately called Korna Lake that Zoe had enjoyed relaxing at a few times, when she could spare a few minutes. The lake had just barely frozen over with a layer of icy slush on the surface over the winter, but as spring came the ice melted and Zoe found herself hopping in for a swim more and more often. The chilly water in the early spring was pleasant with all of her resistances ¡ª rather than the shock she first expected when she hopped in, and floating around in the water was calming for her.

    Levels had started to slow down a little as she got higher and higher, which she had expected. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how experience ¡ª if that was even what was involved, was supposed to work in the system. Killing things got her levels faster than just waiting around or using her skills, but it wasn¡¯t by an awful lot if she was being honest. She did some research on the topic, but nobody seemed to have a definitive formula for it either.

    Killing things higher level than you gave you more progress towards your next level, having more classes made you level much slower, but other than that nobody seemed to really understand exactly how levels worked. How much experience did a zombie from Moaning Point give, compared to a shadow from The Pit? As far as Zoe saw, there was no real, reasonable way to measure that. Maybe if somebody without a class that gave experience bonuses spent years or even decades they could get some numbers. But who would dedicate so much of their life to something so relatively pointless?

    At level one twenty two, she was getting only one or sometimes two levels every day. Worst case scenario, it could be a month or maybe a little more before she got her final Seasoned class. And then she¡¯d have to spend probably another month or two levelling up to a basic standard of confidence for herself before she could travel back to Foizo and share her progress.

    Zoe leaned back in her wooden chair and stretched. If she pushed herself just a little bit more, she should be able to get everything done and even make it back to Flester before the harsh winters. Or, Foizo now she supposed.

 3-17. Persistence

    Obai¡¯s house was always on the back of Zoe¡¯s mind while she was in Korna, though house was a bit of an understatement. It was an estate really, one of the sprawling mansions visible on the map was marked with Obai¡¯s name, and Zoe had avoided it until now.

    It had been over a decade since they last spoke, and it wasn¡¯t as though they were particularly close anyway, she just saved him from a nasty zombie attack in the lower levels of Moaning Point. Asking about him was more of a passing interest in whether he was still alive more than anything else, much like the mark for Nora¡¯s home. Though, Zoe did intend to stop by and say hello to Emma¡¯s mom before she left Korna, to be able to tell Emma she was still okay if nothing else.

    But seeing the massive estate that Obai lived in tempted Zoe. She couldn¡¯t remember if he ever invited her over or not, or whether that still applied so long after the invite anyway. But after her experience at Oaniga, she just wanted to see what the rich nobles really lived like when they truly settled down.

    And so she stood outside the front gate, debating over whether she should say hello or not when the gate seemed to speak to her.

    ¡°May I help you, Madam?¡± The gate asked.

    Zoe blinked at the gate a few times. ¡°I¡¯m sorry?"

    ¡°You¡¯ve been standing outside our estate for the past ten minutes. Is there something I may help you with?¡± The gate asked.

    Zoe knew it wasn¡¯t the gate talking, that would be silly. Probably. Or would it, in this world? Why couldn¡¯t gates talk? But far more likely was somebody somewhere Zoe couldn¡¯t see with a skill that let them speak from a remote location. But it still came as a bit of a surprise after she¡¯d been standing there for a while with nothing, and it didn¡¯t help that the voice seemed to be coming from the entire gate rather than just a single spot like a speaker.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I heard Obai lived here?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Might I know who¡¯s inquiring?" The gate asked.

    ¡°Zoe. I met Obai a while ago on Moaning Point.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°I will notify Master Obai of your arrival, though I do not promise he will be entertaining visitors at present.¡± The gate said.

    ¡°Okay, thank you.¡± Zoe said.

    There was no response for the next few minutes as Zoe waited in silence. She started wondering if that meant there wouldn¡¯t be a response at all and Obai was just not entertaining visitors as the gate said, but just as she was about to leave the gate spoke up again.

    ¡°Master Obai says he¡¯d be delighted to meet you again, Zoe.¡± The gate said and swung open.

    Dim lights shone light along a gravel walkway up to what appeared to be the main house of the estate, and Zoe followed along. Just before she got to the large black door, a butler opened it and bowed to her. His bright red suit had a deep neckline that revealed his muscular and rather hairy torso, with baggy pants draped over his legs that swung in the light wind and clung to his form.

    ¡°Welcome, Madam Zoe.¡± He said. ¡°Obai is currently in his office, but has instructed me to bring you to him if you would follow me.¡±

    Zoe nodded in silence, looking around the mansion. Everything was so clean and proper, paintings of Obai and who she presumed would be his family hung from the walls. A massive golden chandelier with crystal lanterns hung from the ceiling just above a set of double stairs that led up to the second floor.

    The butler led Zoe through the mansion, dozens of hallways with glimpses into gorgeous rooms full of opulence and paintings that seemed so full of life. Like at any moment the people in them would jump out and join them in the real world.

    They stopped at a door, and the butler knocked thrice.

    ¡°Come in,¡± a muffled voice from behind responded.

    The butler opened the door and gestured Zoe in, and then closed it when she entered. A man sat behind a black desk adorned with patterns of sparkling red metal. His gray hair fell down to his shoulders, and thin blue glasses rested on his wrinkled face. He wore a simple blue robe that seemed out of place for a rich Korna citizen to Zoe.

    Identify showed him as a bright red level two hundred thirty four.

    ¡°Hello, Zoe. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you again.¡± He said.

    ¡°Obai?" Zoe asked.

    He laughed and then took his glasses off while he leaned back in his black leather chair. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m Obai. You don¡¯t look like you¡¯ve aged a day, huh?¡± He asked.

    Zoe nodded, unsure what to say.

    Obai laughed some more. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine. I always wanted to age you know? Everybody¡¯s so scared of it, but I think it¡¯s quite beautiful in its own way. Your hair thins and changes colour, your voice changes in ways you never expected. Everything feels so different, your skin seems weaker and thinner. It¡¯s beautiful, I think.¡±

    He chuckled. ¡°Though, I think I¡¯ll do away with the dying part. I¡¯d like to find immortality now, I think. It seems you have, or perhaps you always did. I can¡¯t remember, it¡¯s been so long.¡± Obai gestured to the seat at the other side of his desk. ¡°Come, sit. Do you have anything you like to drink? Eat?"

    Zoe sat down on the matching chair. It was comfortable and seemed to form to her body as she sunk into it. ¡°I¡¯m fine, thanks though.¡±

    ¡°So,¡± he summoned a bottle of amber liquid and poured it into a crystal glass he grabbed from below his desk. ¡°What brings you here today?¡±

    ¡°I lived near Flester,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ah. I¡¯m sorry to hear that. You¡¯re here for assistance I take it, then?¡± Obai asked.

    ¡°What? No. They asked me for a list of people I knew in Korna and I put your name down to see if you were still around or not mostly. And then I saw you were apparently very rich and got a little curious about how rich people lived.¡± Zoe said.

    Obai gestured around him. "Impressed?¡°

    ¡°No, not really. It took way too long to walk over here from the front gate.¡± Zoe said.

    Obai laughed. ¡°It¡¯s all such a farce, isn¡¯t it? I find it rather pathetic more often than not, but well we all have our responsibilities and this happens to be mine. I¡¯d much rather be out exploring again, traversing dungeons and exploring the depths.¡± He sighed.

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    ¡°But, at some point we all end up back home working on the family business, I suppose. But at any rate, what have you been up to? I hope life¡¯s treated you well.¡± Obai smiled at her.

    ¡°Yeah, life¡¯s been mostly well. Besides the whole Flester thing.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes, yes I¡¯m terribly sorry about that. Do you require assistance? I¡¯ve heard of a Foizo that has popped up nearby, I could hire a carriage to send you there if you¡¯d be interested in returning?¡± Obai asked.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s fine. I actually kinda helped start the village, I think anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh, really? Is that so?¡± Obai asked.

    ¡°Mhm. I lived nearby so when things went down I brought my friends over to give them a place, then one thing led to another and a whole bunch of people came over. I left almost a year ago now though, so it¡¯s probably changed a lot since I saw it. Didn¡¯t have a name when I left, at least.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°What brought you to Korna, then?¡± Obai asked.

    ¡°There was a caravan heading out here and I thought it¡¯d be fun to come check the place out.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°How have you liked it so far?" Obai asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice. It¡¯s different, but nice. Why did you go to Moaning Point instead of The Pit, anyway?" Zoe asked. ¡±If you just wanted an adventure, Moaning Point was so far away.¡°

    Obai waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. ¡°Plenty of dungeons around here I could have gone to, but they¡¯re all so nearby. I wanted something I¡¯d only heard tale of very rarely, and Moaning Point fit the bill. Are you looping?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Why do you ask?¡± Zoe asked.

    He shrugged. ¡°You were quite powerful back then, and even with all the benefits my wealth gives me I find it hard to believe you would only have made it to half my level by now.¡±

    ¡°Right. Yeah, I am. I just need a few more levels hopefully then I¡¯m probably heading back to Foizo to check on how it¡¯s going, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Obai pondered. ¡°If it suits you, I could invite you to the Jolgor dungeon to help you get those few levels. My thanks to you for saving me all those years ago.¡±

    ¡°The Jolgor dungeon?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, it should be much better than The Pit is, which I assume you¡¯ve been using until now?" Obai asked.

    ¡°Yeah, but what¡¯s the Jolgor dungeon? Where is it?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I am Obai Jolgor, and it is my family¡¯s dungeon. It resides below our manor, very few are permitted to spend its precious mana.¡± Obai explained.

    ¡°You have your own dungeon?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course, most wealthy families do. Were you unaware of this?" Obai asked.

    ¡°Yes, I had no idea somebody could own a dungeon. Did you make the dungeon? How did it get below your manor?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, we did not make the dungeon. And you have it backwards. The manor was built on the dungeon. So? Would you be interested in my offer?" Obai asked.

    ¡°Yeah, that sounds great actually. Thanks.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No, thank you. Were it not for you, I would likely be dead on a mountain because of my foolishness. It is the least I can do for you. Return in three days time, I will prepare the dungeon for you.¡± Obai gestured to the door and the butler opened it, bowing as he did.

    ¡°Thanks a lot. And I¡¯m glad you¡¯re still doing alright, I kinda thought you would have died on the mountain at some point, honestly.¡± Zoe smiled.

    Obai laughed. ¡°Yes, as did I many times. May you prosper and flourish.¡±

    ¡°May you prosper and flourish,¡± Zoe said.

    Obai smiled, and the butler led Zoe out of the mansion. The next few days she spent relaxing at The Weary Rest as her mind raced thinking about what the dungeon could be, and then she was back at the mansion being led through the mass of hallways towards the dungeon entrance.

    ¡°Have you ever joined a private dungeon like this before, Zoe?" Obai asked as he turned around a corner towards a large empty room with a single couch in the middle and another door on the other side.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ve only been to Moaning Point and The Pit, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Really? Wow, that¡¯s quite surprising.¡± Obai said.

    The two continued chatting about their dungeon experience ¡ª Obai had only visited The Pit, Moaning Point and his own family¡¯s dungeon so they didn¡¯t have an awful lot to share. They arrived at a pair of heavy metal doors, and two servants who stood at either side opened it up to reveal a cavern with black stone walls, and a white walkway that led deeper into the ground towards a ledge with a white fence.

    Below was a horde of formless slimes, sloshing around in the pit like a bucket of jello on a rollercoaster. Magic was launched from the horde, but splashed against a translucent blue barrier of electricity that sprung to life each time magic got close.

    ¡°You may get started.¡± Obai said.

    ¡°What?¡± Zoe shook her head in confusion.

    Obai gestured down to the horde. ¡°They are all around level one seventy, and we are perfectly safe up here. You may slaughter them to your heart¡¯s content.¡±

    It was an odd experience, Zoe thought on her walk back to the inn afterwards. Creating clouds of ash that drifted down on a harmless horde of mindless monsters and burnt into them with her Adaptive Cinders. In just ten hours with extravagant wealth, she managed to do what would have taken her two or even three weeks of delving into The Pit. She wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about it, really. Was it right for people to have access to that kind of thing in a world where it directly correlated with magical power?

    Zoe sat on her bed at The Weary Rest and looked at her stat sheet ¡ª her level had stopped progressing once it hit level one thirty eight, meaning she was at her current level cap. One push to the system was all it would take to give her the final Seasoned class, and she was really hoping they would just combine without needing another feat or skill. She took a deep breath, and urged the system to give her Seasoned Gales in her fourth class.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Seasoned Gales class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    *Ding* The classes; Seasoned Cinders, Seasoned Gales, Seasoned Frost and Seasoned Torrents have been combined into the Seasoned Persistence class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Seasoned Persistence: Gain twenty stat points for each level in this class.

    - Aura of Seasons: You radiate elemental energy.

    - Temporal Continuance II: You gain experience through the passage of time.

    - Regenerator: All regeneration effects boosted by 300%.

    - Frozen Tempo: All elemental and time aligned effects are boosted by 150%.

    Available Skills:

    - Elemental Affinity: Increased Elemental affinity.

    - Time Affinity: Increased time affinity.

    - Elemental Manipulation: Manipulate the elements with your will.

    - Time Manipulation: Manipulate time with your will.

    - Elemental Arsenal: Command the elements to clad you in armour and weapons.

    - Elemental Echo: Create an echo of elements that copies your movements.

    - Adaptive Elements: Your elements will infect all they can reach with their destructive power.

    - Restoration: Apply a regenerative effect that mends recent damage.

    - Haste: Apply a buff that increases quickness.

    - Alacrity: Permanently increases quickness.

    - Eternal Elegance: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

 3-18. Bridge

    Zoe convulsed with pain as the system tore through her body and soul, restructuring everything she was to better suit the picture of what her class should represent. Some time later when the pain was done she woke up, collapsed in a puddle of sweat on the inn¡¯s bed and feeling weaker than she¡¯d ever been before.

    She laid there for a few minutes longer, letting the intense emotions wash over her. This whole time, she was worried about so many things. Would she need to find some feat or skill that let the classes combine? Would they even combine at all? Had she wasted so much time on something so fruitless?

    But it was over, it was done. She¡¯d accomplished something, after so long in this world. Something that was hers. How many other people on the planet could boast having any of the Seasoned classes, let alone the combined version? How many people could say their first class gave them twenty stat points per level?

    Being the strongest was never her goal, and it still wasn¡¯t. Power came as an effect of exploring the system and the world it governed, but quadrupling all regeneration effects in her first class? Whatever the hell Temporal Continuance II was? Class effects could have multiple tiers! How many people even knew about that!

    And Time Manipulation was right there, at the tips of her fingers! Which was a double edged sword, as the Seasoned classes were already struggling with skill slots as it was. Zoe sat up and looked through her skill selection.

    Both of the affinities were necessary, of course. Joe and Emma said as much when she took her first class, and the testing she did seemed to reflect that. They amplified every other ability by so much that not having them was just leaving so much power on the table. Which left three skills.

    Time Manipulation would be one of them, at least until she managed to get the Time Manipulation general skill, or perhaps even the Time general skill. With the ability to manipulate Time, the mana pattern might be easier to follow at least. Or if nothing else, hopefully easier to understand.

    But that was a temporary pick, which still left her with three skill slots. Elemental Arsenal was a must, being the strongest class skill she¡¯d seen yet ¡ª barring perhaps Enchanted Mirror because of its incredible synergy with a great number of skills.

    Restoration was a must take, not having some way to heal herself and her belongings after decades of having it ready at a moment¡¯s notice would be stupid. She¡¯d gotten so used to not worrying about her clothes tearing on branches or rocks that not being able to fix it would be tedious. Not to mention the obvious benefit of being able to bring herself or others back from death¡¯s cold grasp.

    And that left her one more slot, but three skills she wanted. The Adaptive skills had been instrumental to her power when she lost Enchanted Mirror ¡ª and even with it were quite potent. On the other hand, the Echo skills were a simple boost to her power. Very nice in combat, and a very fun enchantment. But they didn¡¯t add anything new to her playbook, just a marked increase in her destructive power.

    She wrote Elemental Echo off. They were fun skills, but at this point she needed her skills to do something new rather than enhance what she already had.

    Her final choice was Alacrity. The skill had grown on her quite a lot in her years with it, and she loved having the additional speed that it offered. Even just running back to Foizo without the skill levelled up would take far longer than she¡¯d want, but was simply going faster worth more than having perhaps all of the Adaptive skills combined together?

    Zoe shook her head, finalized her skill choices and then brought her stat sheet up.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 20

    Strength: 20

    Dexterity: 20

    Vitality: 35

    Endurance: 25

    Intelligence: 96

    Wisdom: 54

    Health: 700/700

    Stamina: 500/500

    Mana: 1920/1920

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (9)

    - Identify (104)

    Class 2: Seasoned Persistence

    - Elemental Affinity (1)

    - Time Affinity (1)

    - Elemental Arsenal (1)

    - Restoration (1)

    - Adaptive Elements (1)

    -

    -

    ¡ª¡ª

    General Skills:

    - Vampyric Regeneration (44)

    - Vampyric Senses (145)

    - Vampyric Resistance (34)

    - Vampyric Immortality (18)

    - Vampyric Charm (96)

    - Vampyric Empathy (91)

    - Gathering (135)

    - Archery (132)

    -- Meditation (187)

    - Cooking (89)

    - Dagger-fighting (77)

    - Tracking (98)

    - Stealth (103)

    - Frost (174)

    - Alchemy (16)

    - Spear-fighting (36)

    - Sword-fighting (41)

    - Shield-fighting (75)

    - Wind (146)

    - Earth (151)

    - Carpentry (102)

    - Pottery (21)

    - Fishing (18)

    - Smithing (7)

    - Mining (25)

    - Water (111)

    - Fire (143)

    - Cinders (105)

    - Gales (104)

    - Torrents (93)

    - Wood (131)

    - Enchanting (113)

    Resistances:

    - Mental (23)

    - Poison (34)

    -- Pain (23)

    - Heat (18)

    - Fire (26)

    - Cold (41)

    -- Disintegration (2)

    - Time (15)

    - Space (16)

    - Gravity (17)

    - Ice (24)

    - Wind (21)

    - Lightning (7)

    - Sound (16)

    - Bone (9)

    - Flora (1)

    Feats:

    - Patient Decider

    - Master of Seasons

    - Slayer of Frost

    - Skilled

    - Proficient

    - Okiu¡¯s blessing

    - Healer

    - Transcendent

    - Slayer of Fire

    Zoe hadn¡¯t checked her full stat sheet in quite a while, years perhaps even. Her resistances and skills just didn¡¯t matter to her anymore. What was the difference between level ten and level twenty, or even level one hundred, that she couldn¡¯t notice by just feeling the difference as she used them?

    But looking at her sheet, there were a couple of things that stood out to her. The first of course was her level. She was level eight ¡ª or nine she watched it pop up to, again. Not twenty two like she expected to be. She¡¯d get to fix up her first class stat allocation as she hoped, after all.

    The second glaring issue that stood out were the two empty skill slots in her Seasoned Persistence class, and her face lit up with a bright grin as soon as she noticed them.

    But the last issue was her Mental resistance being at level twenty three. She hadn¡¯t noticed any mental attacks while she delved into The Pit or into Obai¡¯s dungeon either, nor just walking around town for that matter. But last she remembered, it was only at level seven. Where had all of the levels come from?

    Zoe shrugged, she must have just forgotten. She probably always had level twenty three Mental resistance now that she thought about it. It wouldn¡¯t make much sense for it to have suddenly levelled up like that. It was probably¡­

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    Instead she focused on the simple problem of which two skills she wanted to fill out her class with, which would be the two skills she wanted earlier. Alacrity and Elemental Echo. She finalized her skill choices once more, and then laid back in the cold and somewhat damp bed.

    With everything she¡¯d set out to do finally done, she felt a little lost. Time Manipulation would come later, she¡¯d swap out one of her skills for it and see if she could figure out how the mana was supposed to work with it. But for now, she wanted to take some time to relax. Temporal Continuance II was going to get her all the levels she needed to feel comfortable running back to Foizo in time ¡ª and all the stat points she got from her new first class would go straight into Vitality she decided.

    Which meant all she had to do was level her skills up and wait until she was strong enough to make the run back home.

    Zoe got up and left the inn to walk down the street. There were a few groups wearing the newest fashion trend ¡ª brown armoured suits with green hats and swords by their waist. Some even chose to add various coloured patches to their shoulders. A curious style, but in recent weeks more and more had taken to the fashion it seemed. Zoe wasn¡¯t particularly interested herself, it just looked too¡­ something, she couldn¡¯t quite put her finger on it but it somehow just didn¡¯t seem like her style.

    Eliza had told her of a bridge north of Korna that was supposed to be interesting, and Zoe started making her way through town. The gate was closed, as all the gates tended to be most of the time, with a short line leading through the checkpoint out of town.

    When Zoe got to the gate, she chatted with the guard for a few minutes and then headed out of town down the road. Korna¡¯s roads were quite nice, and they extended a while out of Korna itself too, she¡¯d discovered. Within the walls, the roads were a dark, rough stone and outside a well trodden dirt road that never seemed to get muddy no matter how much it rained.

    Zoe followed the road north for a few minutes before she saw a sign for a Ikleci Suspension Bridge park just before a gravel road that cut into the forest. She followed along it, past a few more signs that helped her feel confident she was going the right way before she arrived at the park.

    A tall wooden arch hung above the road, suspended across two massive old trees that towered over the rest nearby. Ikleci was written on the arch in dark, burnt in lettering. Carved into the tree on the right was a desk with a couple of people behind it, and Zoe walked up to the desk.

    A younger man sat behind the desk smiled at her when she approached. ¡°Hello, do you have an annual pass?"

    ¡°Annual pass?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a no then. Are you a Korna resident?" The man asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Just coming to visit our beautiful park then?" He smiled.

    ¡°I came to visit Korna, but I heard there was a bridge out here that was interesting.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°I see, where do you come from then?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Flester. Foizo now, I guess.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry to hear that. Well, Korna residents get a discount here, and we¡¯ve been giving it to Flester refugees who stop by too as our way of paying it back. Are you aware of our packages?¡± He asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, I thought it was just a bridge, honestly.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°Yeah, the bridge is the main thing. But there¡¯s a lot more going on too. We have an annual pass, only available to Korna residents for three gold. It grants you unlimited access to the park for a full year ¡ª only while we¡¯re open though, mind you. As well as half off regular price for anybody who comes with you, and twenty percent off the gift shop, restaurant and any other attractions we may have in our park. As a refugee from Flester, you¡¯re welcome to take advantage of this if you like as well.

    ¡°A day pass costs sixty silver, and gets you no discounts on anybody else with you nor any of the other attractions in our park. I say the annual pass is well worth it if you plan to stop buy more than two or three times, and especially if you want to have a bite to eat while you¡¯re walking through the park. But those are our packages, if you¡¯re interested in seeing our beautiful park.¡± He explained.

    Zoe thought about it for a moment, then summoned three gold coins and handed it to the man. ¡°I¡¯ll get an annual pass, I guess.¡±

    ¡°Sure thing, miss.¡± He took the three gold coins and rummaged around below the desk for a moment before he brought out a wooden card with a large burnt in star on one side and the current date burnt in to the back side. ¡°Here you are. Enjoy the park!¡±

    ¡°Thanks!¡± Zoe took the card and walked through the front gate. Behind were several buildings that looked like log cabins surrounding a well packed in dirt and gravel central square type area with several round wooden tables strewn haphazardly about. Each table had four wooden stools surrounding it, and on one of the raised wooden platforms that surrounded the buildings an older woman with graying hair was playing a whimsical tune on a purple violin.

    On the other side of the central square was the bridge, spanning an enormous gap in the ground that was at least two hundred feet deep, and just as wide across to the forest on the other side. At the bottom of the ravine was a raging river that crashed across the rocks with white foam splashing against the rock walls.

    The bridge itself was made of rope, stretching from two wooden pillars on the side Zoe stood, to two matching wooden pillars on the other side. Wooden planks about a meter long were tied to the rope, with a finger width of space between each.

    To Zoe¡¯s surprise, the bridge was quite stable to her eyes. Only a very slight sway near the edge of the cliff, and towards the middle of the bridge it was only waving a few feet back and forth as the wind pushed it around. Nervewracking ¡ª if she couldn¡¯t fly, but definitely walkable.

    Zoe stepped onto the bridge and started walking across. With each step, the wooden planks below her shifted on the rope supports and the bridge swayed to and fro as her weight shifted around.

    It was an odd experience for her, something that drew her back to her normal life before she was dragged to Abyllan, and felt like it should inspire such a visceral fear in her. The depths far below, threatening to throw her ragged body against the rocks like a ragdoll in a car crash simulation if she missed a step felt like such a normal fear to her.

    And yet, she could fly. There was no danger, not really. Realistically, even if she couldn¡¯t fly there wouldn¡¯t likely be any danger ¡ª the bridge probably had some kind of enchantment to keep you from falling off of it. Maybe a barrier just below it that would catch you, maybe they just had people waiting to rescue those who did fall before they hit the bottom.

    But still, the unsure footing and crashing waves below her drew up such a familiar anxiety that she hadn¡¯t had in so long. It was pleasant, to just be normal once more. To fear heights, to fear the devastating power of rushing water.

    She made it across after a few minutes and took a deep breath as she stepped onto proper solid ground once more, with a big smile on her face. Sometimes it was important to just enjoy the little things in life. No amount of magic could ever replace the beauty of nature. Zoe tearing through the earth and carving a home for herself was fun and exciting. But a ravine so deep, carved through by nothing but water rushing through to wherever it wanted to get was awe inspiring.

    It was a reminder that the world carries on despite us all, that as mighty as we get, nature always comes out on top eventually. Or, perhaps it wouldn¡¯t here. Maybe the ravine was carved by some powerful wizard, and some poor sod sat at the other side spewing water down the river to keep it running. But whatever the case, Zoe enjoyed the spectacle.

 3-19. Survival

    Zoe checked her stat sheet again for the first time since she left Korna, and saw she¡¯d already made it to level fourteen. She had no context to compare to as the last time she was level eight, she had blasted to her next cap immediately. But it seemed to her like Temporal Continuance II was pulling more than its fair share of weight to her, just comparing to when she saw other people at her level not flying through the levels by doing nothing.

    All of the stat points she was getting were dumped straight into Vitality. If resetting her classes over and over was something she was going to do more often, then she wanted to get to a good point with her Vitality that she wouldn¡¯t feel so incredibly vulnerable every time she did. Maybe for a while she¡¯d dump her birthday points into vitality too, just to try and get it to a number she was happy with. Ten thousand, maybe? Twenty? Maybe fifteen, that sounded like a comfortable baseline when combined with her powerful Restoration skill.

    Already, her health had reached just over three thousand though. And if she got lucky with her cap, she might even manage to get to five thousand whenever she reset her third class ¡ª even without her birthday points over the next few centuries. That would be much nicer than the thousand or so that she was working with when she still had her Seasoned Frost stat allocation.

    Zoe looked around the forest that she¡¯d ended up after the bridge. It was breathtaking, really. Towering trees with immense trunks spread through the forest, with bushes and small saplings that surely had grand ambitions for themselves littered among the sprawling roots. Wooden platforms were tied to the large trees with ropes, making a walkway that led all the way up to the tree tops and throughout the forest as far as Zoe could see.

    Birds fluttered through the tree tops as Zoe walked around, while squirrels and other small animals skittered around the roots and climbed up the trunks. Colourful swarms of mushrooms popped up in the dirt far below her, and clung to the tree trunks. Zoe wondered what eating them would do to her.

    Many would be poisonous, probably. Mushrooms tended to be. But so was Klir, and she could handle Klir even at level eight without all the benefits she has now. Would normal mushrooms that grew in a somewhat public park be so deadly to her?

    Probably.

    Mushrooms tasted good though, and Zoe always had a deep respect for the fungal kingdom. The underlying foundations of life that was always present, prodding the world along its path. She often wondered if they were sentient, stretching to the roots of trees to warn them of danger and provide nutrients. What would the world look like without the vast expanse of mycelium lurking just below the surface? Barren wasteland, probably.

    Zoe had never tried psilocybin, but everybody who ever did always spoke of a connectedness that Zoe could never quite understand. It was as though people¡¯s worlds shifted as soon as they were spoken to by some higher power inhabiting the fungus, and while Zoe had never personally experienced it, she found it beautiful in its own way.

    And seeing the colourful fungus spreading its spores around the forest was a simple pleasure for her. Did people in this world do drugs? Were there even more magic mushrooms in this magical world? Zoe wasn¡¯t sure, she¡¯d never heard of any drugs since coming to Abyllan, but it would be strange for there not to be.

    There were a dozen others walking through the trees that Zoe passed, or often stopped with at designated lookout spots with gorgeous views peeking through the mess of thick tree trunks. Ponds full of green algae and little ripples as whatever lived in them touched the surface of the water. Zoe even saw a family of black bears far below, the mother scratching against a tree while the two cubs wrestled over a fallen log covered in fungus and moss.

    Most of the people gave Zoe an odd look, and she wasn¡¯t sure if it was because of her low level ¡ª or because her level went up when they looked at her, but she enjoyed the attention anyway. She never used to enjoy attention, always wanting to fall to the sidelines and enjoy her life on her own time.

    But now, she¡¯d accomplished something so meaningful to her. And seeing people recognize it gave her a little pep in her step as she ascended the winding path.

    Breaking through the canopy was fun, the mass of leaves that blotted out the bright sky cut through just over the walkway. A two story tall tower was at the peak, with a spiral staircase in the center leading up to a lookout point far above even the tallest trees in the forest.

    It was awesome, in the truest sense of the word. The bright green leaves that stretched up to grasp the sun¡¯s rays were just a few dozen feet below her, and stretched on to the horizon. Korna¡¯s walls were seen just a ways to the south, poking out above the canopy with the familiar menacing¡­ northern¡­ gate¡­ Gate?

    Korna¡¯s walls were seen just a ways to the south, with their menacing northern gate standing defiant against the world. A mark of pride and¡­

    The forest was beautiful, Zoe thought. Korna was seen in the distance, a reminder of where she¡¯d come from. With its menacing¡­

    Zoe climbed back down the tower. The view was beautiful, the forest stretching on as far as she could see. She expected to see Korna in the distance, but it must have been just too far away to be seen. Maybe they could make the tower a little taller someday, she thought. It would have been quite a sight to see the beautiful open walls of Korna off in the distance, standing strong and proud.

    The walk back to the bridge was just as pleasant as the way out, the forest may as well have been completely different from the new perspective. Ponds she¡¯d never noticed stood out like beacons of beauty, new nests with little baby birds crowing for food from their parent in branches she hadn¡¯t seen. The family of black bears ¡ª if it was the same family anyway, was prowling through the forest after a distant deer grazing on some flowers in a sunny opening.

    Zoe walked across the long wooden bridge to the park center and over to the restaurant. It wasn¡¯t anything particularly special from the outside, just a simple log cabin with some meaty, greasy smells wafting out from the open windows. Inside was just a small counter with a menu, and a woman standing behind who looked a little bored as she leaned back and forth on her feat.

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    ¡°Hello,¡± the woman said.

    ¡°Hi.¡± Zoe replied. ¡°You don¡¯t get a chair?¡±

    The woman smiled and shook her head. ¡°No, no I have a stool here.¡± She tapped on something wooden behind her. ¡°I just like to stand up sometimes, get the body moving you know? Not good to sit for too long, I think. Makes me feel cramped. But enough of that, what would you like?¡±

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°Not sure, gimme a minute to look through the menu.¡± She walked up to the counter and browsed through the paper menu. Two large trees were drawn on the sides, with their canopies stretching across the top. Ikleci was written on a branch that stretched across between the two trees, just below the green leaves.

    The menu was rather boring, and far more pricey than she expected to be reasonable. Burgers and hotdogs seemed to be the main focus, though they also had some various salads and a soup of the day.

    ¡°What¡¯s the soup of the day?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Bear today.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Right. I think I¡¯ll take a burger then. Ryz, please. With extra mushrooms if possible?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure thing. Do you have an Ikleci annual pass?" The woman asked.

    Zoe nodded and summoned her wooden card, then handed it to the woman. A brief pulse of mana washed over it, and then the woman handed it back.

    ¡°Wonderful, thank you. That will be thirty two copper then.¡± The woman said.

    Zoe summoned a handful of copper coins and handed it to the woman. ¡°Thanks. How long will it be?"

    ¡°About ten minutes. Could I get your name, please? I¡¯ll call for you when it¡¯s ready.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Zoe,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Zoe, alright. I¡¯ll call you when your burger is ready. Feel free to browse through the Ikleci Trading Shop while you¡¯re waiting.¡± She smiled.

    Zoe nodded and left. That must be the name of the gift shop, she guessed, but she wasn¡¯t interested in checking it out just yet. She¡¯d eat her food, then buy a few souvenirs to take back to Joe and Emma and then head to Korna to finish up the last of her chores there.

    She checked her stat sheet as she waited ¡ª up to level sixteen already, and pushed all of her points into Vitality. A disembodied voice called out her name ten minutes later, and Zoe went to grab her burger.

    It was a tasty burger, with some melted cheese stuffed in the middle of it. A pile of yellow mushrooms on top, with a crispy bun and a side of thick cut crispy potato wedges. It wasn¡¯t a forty copper tasty burger, but it was enjoyable and Zoe didn¡¯t need to pinch pennies that much anyway.

    But she had no doubt Ikleci was making off like bandits, even with her annual pass. Or perhaps especially because of her annual pass, since she wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d really end up here again in the next year anyway.

    When she finished her burger, she threw out the paper wrapping in a trash can then made her way over to the gift store. It looked much the same on the outside, though with the addition of the same woman from earlier playing some pleasant music just outside the entrance.

    Inside however, was very different. Brightly lit with crystal lanterns that hung from the ceiling, and rows upon rows of shelves showcasing different products. Most of which were carved wood ¡ª bears, squirrels, trees. Even a miniature model of the bridge itself, above a painted white water river.

    But there was an assortment of clothes as well, quite boring by Korna¡¯s taste if she were being honest. Mass produced junk with different labels on the front of them. ¡®I survived the Ikleci Suspension Bridge!¡¯ seemed to be their main focus, but there were some more interesting pictures of the bridge on some clothes simply labeled ¡®Ikleci¡¯ that Zoe liked quite a bit more.

    The whole surviving part of it just felt a little silly to her. If there really was any significant risk of injury, the place probably would have been closed down long ago. Surviving it was really just paying them some money for the experience to be a part of it, less than any personal achievement for yourself. Though it was a pleasant walk, without a doubt.

    Zoe picked up about a dozen of the simple brown shirts, as well as two of the miniature bridge models and a handful of carved wooden animals then brought them up to the counter at the back. There were no prices on anything, but she was expecting the total to be rather outlandish.

    The young man behind the counter wrote down all of the totals on a piece of paper then added them up to two gold and eight silver, including Zoe¡¯s discount with her annual pass. She almost rolled her eyes paying the sum, and then pulled all of her souvenirs into her storage bracelet.

    She was herded down another hallway by an assortment of signs and ropes blocking her path, towards a little ice cream parlour. Zoe picked up a cone of rawbi ice cream for forty copper coins and then left the Ikleci park. The ice cream was soft, sweet and somehow didn¡¯t seem to melt until it was in her mouth. A convenient magic, but part of ice cream¡¯s appeal was having it melt down your hand and make a mess you had no way of cleaning up if you didn¡¯t eat it quickly enough, so Zoe was a little torn on it.

    Zoe basked in the warm early evening sun as she walked the few minutes back down the road towards Korna. The gate was closed as usual, Zoe wouldn¡¯t expect anything less from the city. She spoke with the guard outside for a few minutes, as he seemed quite interested in her experience at Ikleci and a little eager to go check it out for himself someday.

    She walked back to her room at The Weary Rest and laid in her bed to check her stat sheet. After just a single day, she¡¯d made it all the way to level twenty. A few more hours and she¡¯d already be at her previous cap of twenty two. What would be the chances that she got twenty two again she thought, chuckling to herself.

    About twelve percent. Not even that bad, really. And at this point, twenty five percent even. She hoped it wouldn¡¯t be, after everything she¡¯d been through. Having something to show she really did reset her first class level would be a nice bonus to have, but it didn¡¯t really matter. She¡¯d already gotten higher than the average, and that would be good enough.

    Zoe drifted off to sleep as she laid on the comfortable bed, with dreams of peace and prosperity brought to Korna. Intense feelings of happiness and trust overwhelmed her dream, and she woke up feeling safe and protected as the morning sun just peeked through her window.

    She checked her stat sheet, and saw it had reached level twenty two. With the rate it was levelling the day prior, Zoe didn¡¯t think it would have stopped there if it wasn¡¯t her cap. She checked her class selections and dismissed the window as soon as it appeared. She¡¯d think about her class selection in a bit, but for now she just wanted to rest a little bit more.

 3-20. Amplification

    Zoe laid in bed for a while longer, thinking about what she had left to do in Korna. Knowing that the little village she left behind had grown so large to warrant being spoken of all the way out in Korna made her want to rush home immediately and see everything that¡¯s changed. To talk to her friends about what it was all like, and how everything came to be.

    First was of course her level, being stuck at level twenty two would be no good for the journey back. Even if people would leave her alone when she was alone, it just didn¡¯t seem wise to run the whole way back at such a low level. To Gafoda from Flester, maybe. But to Foizo from Korna? With her Alacrity reset down to such a low level now, it would take her at least a week, probably even two to make the journey.

    The only other thing she had to do in Korna was find Nora and make sure she was okay for Emma¡¯s sake, and then she was free. There were lots of other things to do in Korna, of course. Shops she hadn¡¯t explored, restaurants she hadn¡¯t tried. But Zoe could always come back, Korna wasn¡¯t going anywhere anytime soon.

    Zoe stretched across her bed and then sat up to look through her class selections before she thought of something a little unusual. Overlevelling was a thing ¡ª with how long she¡¯d been just sitting around stuck at level twenty two, as soon as she took a class she¡¯d probably get a few quick levels.

    But, with each class giving an experience penalty, how did that work with overlevelling? If she waited around for a few weeks at level twenty two, would that get her a higher level after she took the class than if she took the class immediately? Nothing Zoe had ever read about seemed to indicate one way or the other, but with how she understood the system to work it seemed like a possible option.

    If having another class would give her an experience penalty rather than just increase the experience needed for a level, then it was possible. Patient Decider¡¯s description said that it applied the first class experience bonus permanently. But what did that mean for the experience penalty that each class after had for her?

    Was she exempt from the experience penalty that each class brought, because it was being overwritten by the first class bonus from Patient Decider? Or did each class have its own multiplier, but only the first class was a positive multiplier? The first class gave one and a half experience, the second class gave ninety five percent, the third ninety percent, and so on?

    There wasn¡¯t really a way for her to ever check, without someday finding whoever it was that made the system. But it didn¡¯t hurt to hope it worked that way and spend a week or two exploring Korna a little more before she took her next class. She might even be able to get a better enchanting class if she worked on some requirements.

    Past enchanting classes required wisdom or experience, and while wisdom wasn¡¯t something she¡¯d be able to get any more of without waiting around for a few centuries, experience was. If she spent the next few weeks levelling her enchanting skill as much as she could, she might be able to get it to one fifty or possibly even two hundred if the experience penalty applied to her skills as well.

    Zoe spent the next two weeks working on her plan, spending most of her time at The Weary Rest enchanting whatever objects she could get her hands on, or sometimes just exploring Korna a little more. More and more people seemed to be taking up the latest fashion trend, the brown armoured suits seeming to flood the streets as people jumped on the bandwagon.

    Her Enchanting skill got up to one fifty seven by the end of the two weeks, and her bracelet was full of little knick knacks that she looked forward to showering her friends with once she got back. Zoe chuckled at the pun as she let the water pour out from a blue gem she¡¯d enchanted, and then stored her last present away in her bracelet.

    She sat down on her bed and brought up her list of available classes. She wasn¡¯t going to be picky, after perfecting her first class she didn¡¯t have much desire to put quite so much effort into another one just yet. But something good would be nice. Ideally, it wouldn¡¯t have a second element.

    The time aspect of her Chrono Enchanter class had never been very exciting anyway, the only bit that she even used was Time Affinity ¡ª which in hindsight might not have even been worth taking since so few of her skills were time aligned in the first place.

    Getting a proper fleshed out enchanting class seemed like a much better option, but really the most important part for Zoe was first and foremost that it provided Mana Sight. She hoped that all enchanting classes would do so, but she had no way of guaranteeing that. But whatever she got, it would be enough to at least get her back home to check on her friends.

    Her class list was getting obnoxiously long at this point, hundreds of simple classes that required a certain skill, and then upgraded versions of them for thresholds at each skill level. Even more of those simple classes that just required skills at various levels plus relevant stats at different breakpoints.

    What was interesting to Zoe as she looked through her list though was that the Seasoned classes were still available ¡ª or at least just the autumn variant at the moment. Seasoned Persistence wasn¡¯t available, and even as she urged the system to give it to her for her next class, nothing happened.

    Would she be able to get it again if she went through the whole process once more? She didn¡¯t particularly want to, but it was an interesting thought.

    Chrono Enchanter was still there and available, and the familiar class tempted Zoe to just fall back on what she knew to be fun and exciting. But there were a few new ones that grabbed Zoe¡¯s attention, as well.

    [Master Enchanter] A pursuer of mana, imbuing objects with powerful effects. Increased mana regeneration. Increased maximum mana.

    Requirements: Has the [Enchanting] skill at level 100 or higher.

    Notes: The [Enchanting] skill will be removed and merged with this class.

    [Patient Enchanter] A pursuer of mana, a winner of no races but willing to take the time to refine their craft. Increased regeneration. Increased experience from the passage of time.

    Requirements: Has the [Patient Decider] feat. Has the [Enchanting] skill at level 100 or higher. Has the [Meditation] skill at level 100 or higher.

    Notes: The [Enchanting] skill will be removed and merged with this class.

    [Everlasting Enchanter] One with mana, a well of power that fills objects with powerful effects. Increased maximum mana. Increased mana regeneration.

    Requirements: Has the [Endless] feat. Has the [Enchanting] skill at level 100 or higher.

    Notes: The [Enchanting] skill will be removed and merged with this class.

    All three seemed acceptable to her, though Master Enchanter a little less so. It appealed to her because of its simplicity. It would just be an enchanting class, no fancy frills, no fancy effects for her to have to get used to. Just pure, powerful enchantments at her fingertips.

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    But, it really didn¡¯t beat out Everlasting Enchanter if she were being truly honest with herself, either. There was no way it was really a candidate, as much as it was exactly what she was hoping for when she started looking through her class selections.

    Which meant it was down to the other two. If she followed her decision before, then Everlasting Enchanter was the obvious pick. However; Patient Enchanter also had something like Temporal Continuance, which was a strong argument for taking it.

    Was it a strong enough argument? Maybe, when combined with the higher requirements as well. Though, what was the difference between the Endless and Patient Decider feats, anyway? Was Endless considered a harder to get feat? It didn¡¯t seem like it should be, from Zoe¡¯s perspective. But from the system¡¯s perspective, was half of a species¡¯ lifetime as significant as reaching one thousand wisdom?

    Probably not. So Patient Enchanter had higher requirements then, with the bonus of a Temporal Continuance type effect, but the downside of having a time alignment, probably. Also the winner of no races mention concerned her a little. The descriptions the system gave rarely seemed to be too relevant, but they did at least have a consistent flavour. If the class said she¡¯d win no races, it was likely it wouldn¡¯t have anything like Enchanted Mirror.

    Was she willing to give up Enchanted Mirror for more powerful enchantments prepared ahead of time? It had worked out well enough for her exploration into The Pit, but not being able to flash enchantments onto things in a moment was a noticeable slow down.

    Zoe decided the sacrifice wasn¡¯t worth it, Enchanted Mirror was by far the most important skill her old enchanting class gave her. Maybe there would be other skills that would be more significant, but she didn¡¯t know what they were and now wasn¡¯t the time to experiment with something she wasn¡¯t excited about.

    She pushed the system to give her the Everlasting Enchanter class, and grimaced as the system¡¯s power raced through her.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Everlasting Enchanter class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Everlasting Enchanter: Gain twenty stat points for each level in this class.

    - Mana Sight: You can see mana.

    - Mana Spring: Mana and mana regeneration boosted by 200%.

    - Mana Incarnate: All mana effects are boosted by 100%.

    - Enchanting: Imbue objects with the essence of your being.

    Available Skills:

    - Mana Affinity: Increased Mana affinity

    - Mana Storage: Excess mana will be stored and can be used to fill enchantments.

    - Mana Manipulation: Manipulate the raw mana of the world to your will.

    - Mana Surge: Press into the world around you with your endless well of mana.

    - Enchantment Amplifier: Imbue objects with excess mana to amplify their effects.

    - Everlasting Enchantments: Imbue objects with excess mana to preserve their effects.

    - Enchanted Mirror: Stores an image that can be reflected onto an object.

    - Enchantment Bestowal: Your enchantments may bestow their effects to their wielders.

    - Immaculate Enchantments: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

    Zoe smiled as the colourful wisps of mana appeared in her vision once more, and then checked her level ¡ª forty six already, and with a slight nudge from her the system brought up her class selections again. Did that mean that her theory worked, or would she have made it to level forty six from Temporal Continuance II anyway?

    She turned her attention back to her skill choices. The class seemed powerful, and with its increased focus on enchanting even provided some much desired utility. Enchantment Bestowal seemed amazing, but was probably not something she¡¯d end up taking in this class. There were just too many powerful skills available.

    Mana Affinity, Mana Manipulation and Enchanted Mirror were all must haves, irreplaceable skills that she¡¯d missed having so much over the last year or so while she¡¯d been working on her Seasoned Persistence.

    But the remaining two were much more complicated. Immaculate Enchantments would be nice, as she was currently swapping out her Adaptive Elements in Seasoned Persistence to be able to clean herself every day. But Everlasting Enchantments and Enchantment Amplifier were both very interesting too.

    Zoe pushed the system to give her Mana Surge and then focused on using the skill. She felt her mana rush out of her body and slam into the world around her. The bed shuddered and creaked from the force, while the blankets and pillows on top of it were thrown around like a violent gust of wind had just rushed past them.

    It was a nice skill, but with herself as the focal point it seemed a little reckless. She summoned a ball of frost and enchanted it with the skill to see what it did as an enchantment. It behaved much the same, but drained the mana from the enchantment far too quickly to be particularly usable. Maybe if she combined it with Everlasting Enchantments and Mana Storage it could make an interesting bomb. But she wouldn¡¯t be able to fit those skills in without replacing one of her most important skills, so it wasn¡¯t possible.

    One day, she¡¯d like to make a more powerful enchanting class that had a couple extra skill slots too. For all the system¡¯s awkwardness and oddities, being stuck with so few skills when she had so many amazing ones available was the worst part. She wanted all of them, why did she need to be restricted to only five? She double checked her stat sheet just to be sure and saw five empty skill slots as she expected.

    She shook her head and got back on track. Two skill slots, and she had to choose between Everlasting Enchantments, Enchantment Amplifier, Enchantment Bestowal and Immaculate Enchantments. Or really, Immaculate Enchantments could be looked at as Adaptive Elements instead since that¡¯s what she¡¯d get in return.

    The simplest was Immaculate Enchantments. There was no reason to keep swapping skills in Seasoned Persistence when skill levels mattered more for her there than in her enchanting class. Swapping Immaculate Enchantments for a low level Mana Storage would be a much bigger improvement than swapping it for a low level Adaptive Elements.

    Which meant her last skill slot would be a flex slot with low level skills, and she just needed to decide which skill she wanted levels on most. Zoe thought on it for a moment, and decided Amplifier made the most sense. Everlasting Enchantments was a close second, but more powerful enchantments called to her just a little bit more than longer lasting enchantments.

    Zoe finalized her skill choices and then turned her attention to her next class. Part of her wanted to just go through all of her classes again, maybe she could even take Patient Enchanter for the best of both worlds. But a much larger part of her was tired of dealing with all of the system¡¯s nonsense, and she pushed the system to give her the familiar Seasoned Gales class, bringing her level up to fifty three. It would be good enough until she got back home at least.

 3-21. Hurricane

    Seasoned Gales when Zoe already had Seasoned Persistence was an interesting choice. The main purpose of it was to give her all of the class effects ¡ª even more experience with the passage of time, a healthy thirty stat points per level and a very powerful regeneration bonus.

    But the skills themselves were largely redundant. Another Restoration didn¡¯t do much for her, nor did the Echo, Arsenal or Adaptive skills. Both of the affinities were still quite useful, and while her Alacrity was still quite low levelled it didn¡¯t hurt to have a second one either. Even Haste was more useful, and heck Eternal Elegance was a great place to get her cleaning skill so she could have another Enchanting skill slotted in long term.

    Zoe turned her attention to her unused Stat Points, and there were quite a few of them to go through at this point. Six hundred ninety, to be specific. She put one hundred thirty each into strength and dexterity to get them to a comfortable one hundred fifty. Brought her endurance up to one hundred with another seventy five points. One hundred eighty five went to vitality to get her to five hundred, which left her with ten thousand health to play with. The remaining one seventy five she split evenly between intelligence and wisdom.

    She took some time as she sat on her bed to try out her new skills. Enchanted Mirror was much the same as she remembered, but it seemed more solid in her soul somehow. The structure that made it up felt more substantial than she remembered, and she was curious to see what that meant eventually.

    Enchantment Amplifier did as it said on the tin ¡ª she could flood one of her enchantments with mana and send it into a sort of overdrive where the effect was drastically increased. As an enchantment, it did much the same but Zoe supposed it wouldn¡¯t specifically require her mana. It created a pocket of space within the enchantment that could be filled with mana, to push the other enchantments beyond their normal state.

    Everlasting Enchantments was also quite straightforward, but it differed in that its effect as an enchantment was not quite serving the same purpose. As an enchantment, rather than creating a pocket of mana that would power the enchantment for a while as she expected, it simply pulled mana from the other enchantments to maintain the enchantment. As a result, the enchantment would be weaker, but naturally last longer as some of its mana was recycled back into itself.

    It ended up with the same end result, but the means was very different, and Zoe¡¯s mind raced with possibilities of some of her more powerful enchantments that were just a little too mana hungry being tamed with Everlasting Enchantments paired into the enchantment with them.

    Enchantment Bestowal was quite useful, as she tried enchanting one of her shirts with Fire resistance and then put it on. She half expected the system to give her a little notification telling her that she¡¯d been given the fire resistance, but it was much more subtle. There was a pull that was hard to ignore in the back of her mind when she put the shirt on, screaming of fire resistance. It wasn¡¯t distracting, but it was very present.

    As an enchantment itself, the skill did exactly the same thing. So much so that she wasn¡¯t sure if using the skill wasn¡¯t just pushing it as an enchantment onto whatever she was using in the first place anyway.

    Mana Surge was quite boring, to Zoe¡¯s disappointment. It would have been one of her favourite enchantments but it required far too much mana to be useful. Enchanted onto something on its own, it sent out a weak pulse of mana that burned through the entire enchantment in an instant. Combined with Mana Storage, it managed to be a little bit more significant but even then the enchantment just couldn¡¯t store enough mana to have as much of an effect as she¡¯d wanted ¡ª barely even capable of pushing the clothes she¡¯d scattered on the floor around.

    Zoe stretched and looked out the window ¡ª the morning sun was beaming down on The Weary Rest and lit up the city. The suns rays poked through the window and shone on Zoe¡¯s face, leaving half of her face feeling pleasantly warm and contrasting the faint chill from inside the inn.

    It was as good a day as any to say goodbye to Korna for a while, and Zoe left the inn. Her first stop was a nearby clothing store to pick up an order of clothes she had placed a few days prior. An abundance of colourful clothes for herself, as well as enough to fill the rest of her storage items including the blue ring she¡¯d got from the dungeon. Zoe had taken some time to test the ring out and it didn¡¯t seem to have any immediate obvious effects at least, so she was comfortable using it to store an abundance of clothes to bring back to Foizo.

    Maybe it would help bolster the economy in the area or something. Zoe shrugged, she didn¡¯t really care either way, it just seemed wasteful coming all the way out to Korna then going back with so much empty storage space in her items. Maybe the clothes would be useful, maybe it¡¯d just be fun for a bit. It only cost her twenty seven gold in total, so Zoe didn¡¯t mind the cost. She could go clear Moaning Point again if she ever needed money again, probably.

    Did the dungeon give the same reward each time, anyway? Or would it give her a reduced reward next time, since she had already cleared it once? Maybe she¡¯d go wait in line to clear it again someday and see what happened, just for fun.

    Her next stop was Nora¡¯s home, on the other side of Korna. Even so long after, Zoe never quite forgave Nora for what she did. It was hard to do really, and Zoe didn¡¯t think she ever would. She was young, na?ve and lost in a world she didn¡¯t understand. And Nora showed her the darkest part of it. Trusting the woman was difficult, much less going out of her way to see her without anybody else with her.

    But Zoe wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive herself if she didn¡¯t at least check on Emma¡¯s mom before she left, and made her way over to say hello. Nora opened the door, and Zoe had a brief chat with her from outside. Nora was doing well, she¡¯d retired from her job recently and was living off of the vast wealth she¡¯d accumulated over her life. She asked Zoe to tell Emma to move to Korna, which Zoe agreed to do but probably would only mention as an offhanded comment. Emma was her own person, and could make her own decisions.

    And her final stop before she left was Rizick and Isla¡¯s store. She¡¯d avoided visiting them, and felt a little bad about that. Whenever she thought to visit, she had her embarassing moment of freezing up during the bandit attack rush back into the forefront of her mind and always ended up with some excuse to not visit. She was too busy working on her skills, too busy trying to get levels, needed to visit Eliza to worry about her Space skills, whatever. There was always some convenient excuse she managed to make up to keep her from feeling too bad in the moment about never seeing them.

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    But today she was leaving, and it was her last chance to say hello again. So she stood outside their quaint little store, a small building with the door swung open and a sign out front beckoning people in to view their wares.

    Behind the counter was an older woman ¡ª Isla, Zoe assumed. Zoe walked up and said hello.

    ¡°Hello, can I help you?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°Hi, are you Isla?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I am,¡± Isla answered. ¡°Why do you ask?"

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m Zoe. I met you and Rizick in Flester a long time ago. I was just going to head out today, and wanted to come say hello. And goodbye, I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Isla¡¯s face lit up. ¡°I see now, I thought you looked a little familiar. Wow! Rizick said you looked exactly the same but my goodness, you don¡¯t look like you¡¯ve aged a day by my memory. How lucky for you.¡±

    Zoe smiled. Lucky felt a bit off. Was it lucky? It was in a way, she supposed. ¡°I guess, yeah. Is Rizick around?"

    ¡°Oh! Yes, he¡¯s just working in the back. I¡¯ll go grab him, just hold on a moment.¡± Isla said and left through a door just behind her. She came back out a few minutes later with Rizick at her side.

    ¡°Hey Zoe, how¡¯s Korna been treating you?" Rizick asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s been well, thanks. Sorry I didn¡¯t come visit sooner.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about it, we¡¯re not going anywhere anytime soon anyway.¡± Rizick laughed.

    Zoe laughed, and the three chatted for a while about their lives. Isla was quite interested in Zoe¡¯s life and her home back in Foizo, while Zoe was fascinated by the stories they told of different towns and dungeons they¡¯d explored. She said her goodbyes as the sun began to creep down towards the horizon, and headed towards the same gate she¡¯d first entered Korna through.

    The gate was closed, and a short line was leading up to the checkpoint out of Korna. Zoe waited in the line, thankful it moved rather quickly and spoke with the guard for a while. She was nice and quite interested in everything Zoe had to share, and then Zoe was out of Korna and back on the road.

    For a moment when she was outside Korna, she worried about bandits, but the worry quickly passed. She was quite quick at this point, and pumped her strength and dexterity high enough to help her with that just in case too. With a constant casting of Haste, both of her Alacrity skills working together, her high dexterity and her Expeditious feat, Zoe was able to move quite quickly. Even if she couldn¡¯t kill the bandits ¡ª which she wouldn¡¯t want to do anyway, she¡¯d be able to escape.

    Zoe got in one last stretch, and then started the long run back down the road towards Flester¡¯s ruins. If she was being realistic, the journey would take her probably close to a week and a half. She moved quite a bit faster than Rizick¡¯s carriage did, and didn¡¯t need to take nearly as many breaks as they did.

    The journey back was relaxing, Zoe found. Not needing to worry about disturbing people in town meant she was able to let all of her skills loose finally, and she had so many new ones to play with too. Her Enchanted Mirror was amazing to have again, and combined with Enchantment Amplifier flooding her enchantments with mana meant she had an enormous firepower at a moment¡¯s notice.

    And there was this odd pressure that seemed to release after she was gone for a week, like some overbearing presence had been baring down on her for so long and finally let up. She felt free and comfortable in ways she hadn¡¯t even realized she wasn¡¯t before.

    On one of her dinner breaks, Zoe decided to replace her Adaptive Elements with Elemental Manipulation to try and get the general skill equivalent of it. But the attempt was quickly quashed as she saw how much more complicated the mana pattern was compared to the individual elements. When she was back in her safe home, she¡¯d try again.

    The Aura of Seasons effect from her Seasoned Persistence was a lot of fun to play with too, now that she was away from people who might be mad at her spewing elemental energy around her. She had control over which elements were being used ¡ª though notably, it was restricted to the four the class was based on. Cinders, Gales, Torrents and Frost.

    Each element on its own did much the same as their individual classes, but the compounded with each other in a way Zoe found surprising. When she pushed it as far as it could go, she felt like she was walking around in the eye of a devastating hurricane. Rushing winds tore through the ground around her, ripping branches from their trees. Burning bits of ash drifted through the twister, scorching everything they touched. A torrent of water and hail was hurled from the twister, smashing into everything nearby.

    She felt like a walking disaster when she pushed it as far as it could go, but even with her incredible mana regeneration she wasn¡¯t able to keep it running at maximum power for very long. It would be fun, she thought. To wander through some lower level dungeon, maybe the lower areas of Moaning Point someday and just let her aura alone devastate the creatures.

    As grand as the aura was, she had much better uses for her mana that weren¡¯t quite so indiscriminate. But it was a bit of an eye opener to just how much more powerful Seasoned Persistence was to the normal Seasoned classes for her. Even if she pushed the normal auras as far as the system would let her, they would only ever be deterrents. A downpour of water or a chilly zone around her. But let alone being more than a deterrent, the Aura of Seasons was a downright mimicry of natural disasters, with all the destruction that came with them.

    The rest of the run was uneventful and Zoe was grateful for that. No bandits throwing her emotions into disarray, no wandering Okiu destroying the lands and longing for company in their final moments. Just her, the beautiful wilderness and the odd traveller who she passed. Most were heading from Korna towards Flester¡¯s ruins in caravans, though there was the odd person running back towards Korna dragging their magic along with them, and even another small caravan on their way to Korna.

    Most of the time she spent dumping all of her excess mana into whichever skill she felt like at the moment, dragging clouds of ash and frost behind her as she ran down the dirt road. She got a few levels on the run, but not nearly as many as she would have expected for how quick she made it to level fifty three, only making it to sixty nine by the time Flester¡¯s ruins were just poking over the horizon.

    All of the stat points she got, she pushed straight into dexterity as soon as she got them. Her Seasoned Gales class wasn¡¯t sticking around for long, and her priority was to get home as quick and safe as possible. She smiled as she saw the now familiar scorched trees of Kaira library and turned a bit north to head towards home and see what Foizo was all about after she¡¯d been gone for so long.

 3-22. Janitorial

    The first thing Zoe noticed as she approached Foizo was the buildings. No longer were the people stuffed into shabby wooden shacks, crammed into a small area like sardines packed in a tin. Tall buildings stood, threatening to tower over the trees that surrounded the town. Beautiful flats made of the dark gray stone that was so plentiful in the area were littered throughout the town. Smoke rose from forges and restaurants in dark plumes, and the roads were pleasant to walk on and large enough for two horse drawn carriages to pass comfortably.

    Foizo was, for all intents and purposes, a proper town. People who Zoe had never met before walked through the town, many in leather armour with weapons at their side but many comfortable enough to wander the streets in casual clothes. Dresses and shorts as people basked in the afternoon soon.

    The clothes were nothing like the insanity of Korna of course, very little ever would come close to that in Zoe¡¯s mind. But there was a comfort in Foizo that Zoe hadn¡¯t expected, a confidence that she found so pleasant after the devastation of what happened to Flester. The people were happy, and hopeful. The emotions were excited and infected Zoe through her Vampyric Empathy.

    Zoe made her way to her cave, just a brief walk from the edge of town. The buildings crept closer and closer to the mountain, but it seemed she still had at least a modicum of privacy from the rest of Foizo at her home. Maybe she¡¯d move her entrance somewhere else to stop the problem someday, but maybe she was just being weird and it didn¡¯t really matter anyway. It probably didn¡¯t, nobody was going to invade her home. And even if they did, everything she cared about was in her storage items anyway so it wouldn¡¯t be a big deal regardless.

    When she summoned the brown gem she used as a key for her home and opened the stone fa?ade at the front of her cave, a small black cat rushed out the door. Zoe grabbed Fennel with a tendril of Earth that rose from the ground, and brought him up to hold in her arms. He had a lot to say after she¡¯d been gone for so long, and Emma came running down the hallway a moment later.

    Emma visibly relaxed when she saw Zoe and leaned on her knees. ¡°Oh it¡¯s just you. Welcome back Zoe.¡±

    ¡°Hello to you too,¡± Zoe smirked and walked inside before the door closed. She put Fennel back down and followed Emma to her kitchen.

    Emma had done some redecorating, Zoe noticed. There was a lot more furniture in the little cave she called home, paintings that hung from the walls and even the little stone lanterns Zoe had made were upgraded to much nicer lights that cast a more even light through the space. The kitchen table Zoe made was gone and replaced by a much nicer wooden table with scratches covering the lower legs.

    ¡°Sorry, sorry. I heard the door open and I knew Fennel was sitting there so I got worried. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re back.¡± Emma hugged Zoe.

    ¡°Joe doesn¡¯t stop by?¡± Zoe sat down on one of the cushioned chairs Emma had acquired for the kitchen.

    ¡°No, not really. I mean we get along well enough and spend some time together every so often, but he doesn¡¯t really just let himself in even though you gave him a key. Usually waits outside or I¡¯d show up at his inn.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°How¡¯s he doing, anyway? I was going to stop at his inn first and see if he wanted to come over but honestly, the town ¡ª Foizo? Looks so different, I have no idea which building is his anymore.¡± Zoe laughed.

    Emma had an odd grin on her face as Zoe mentioned the town. ¡°Yeah, a lot¡¯s changed. He¡¯s doing very well. Everybody is, really. Things have gone great here, I can go grab him if you wanna watch the cats for a bit?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯d be awesome if you could. Where¡¯s Ollie at?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma shrugged. ¡°No clue. Somewhere, probably upstairs in a corner or something. You can¡¯t find him with all your skills? I usually don¡¯t have trouble with it when I wanna find him.¡±

    Zoe shrugged. "Just feels disrespectful to the little guy, y¡¯know? If he wants to be hidden, I¡¯m not gonna try and find him unless I need him. Long as he¡¯s safe, that¡¯s fine.¡°

    Emma smiled and shook her head. ¡°Right, well I¡¯ll go grab Joe then. Be back in a few minutes!¡± She threw on a gray coat and walked out the front door.

    Fennel stayed behind in the kitchen with Zoe to talk about something that seemed awfully important, and Zoe enjoyed the comfort of being back in her own home alone for a few minutes. It was different, and definitely lived in. Plus there were two cats, with all the smells and sounds that came along with them filling her cave.

    But it was still nice. She felt like it would be fun to stick around for a while and expand her home a little bit before she went off on another adventure.

    Emma and Joe returned not long after she left and sat down at the table with Zoe.

    ¡°Hey Zoe,¡± Joe said when he walked in, not looking a day older than he did when she left. His hair was the same thin brown with speckles of gray throughout, with the same wrinkles she¡¯d gotten so used to before. He hadn¡¯t aged a day it seemed.

    ¡°Hey Joe!¡± Zoe said. ¡°You look¡­ the same.¡±

    Joe smiled as he sat down and Fennel hopped up on his lap. ¡°Yeah I forgot to tell you before you left, but my most recent class gave me immortality. Guess you¡¯ll be stuck with me for the next little while, huh?"

    ¡°What!?¡± Zoe exclaimed. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t want immortality? What class did you get? Why did you take it? What? Explain!¡±

    Joe chuckled, his belly rumbling with laughter. ¡°Yeah, I got it just the day before Flester¡¯s fall and with everything that happened it slipped my mind to tell you about it. I really like what I do now, Zoe. And one of my classes gave me the option to keep doing it for a while longer. Maybe someday I¡¯ll replace it and come to my peaceful end, but at least for now I¡¯m glad I took it. There¡¯s too many people in the world who need help, and too few to lend a helping hand.¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s very noble of you, Joe. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re not going to die anymore. That¡¯s an odd problem and an odd thing to be happy about, and I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m supposed to do here now. But I¡¯m glad you¡¯re happy with your decision.¡± Zoe eyed Emma.

    Emma raised her hands in defence. ¡°Hey! I told you forever ago that I¡¯ll be immortal if I happen upon it. Just haven¡¯t, yet.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know. One day. Maybe your next class has it too anyway.¡± Zoe said.

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    ¡°On that note, actually¡­ I¡¯ve been ready to take my next class for a while now actually. Thought I¡¯d wait until you were back and we could have a little class up party again. That was fun when you did it.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m back now, when do you think you¡¯ll do it?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I guess now? Now¡¯s fine with me. Good with you two?" Emma asked.

    Joe and Zoe both nodded.

    ¡°Alright, alright. I guess I class up now. It feels kinda weird, I¡¯ve been stuck at this level for so long. I this how you normally feel? What if after all this time the options suck still?" Emma laughed anxiously.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not your first class, you can always replace it if it sucks.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it too much, just take a look and see what you¡¯ve got. It¡¯ll be fun.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Emma said, and her eyes glazed over as she looked through her class selections.

    A few minutes passed, and she started filling Zoe and Joe in on her class selections. Most were boring, as most tended to be at such a high level. Zoe found it odd that the lower level classes were never removed from the selections ¡ª who would want to take apprentice mage when they had expert mage available as well, for instance? What was the purpose of that?

    The first class that interested her was a Mystic Hunter class, it promised powerful magics that bolstered her bow and tracking abilities. And the requirements were rather simple by Zoe¡¯s books. Tracking and Stealth both to level fifty, with over two hundred intelligence and a magical general skill over level fifty. The fire skill for Emma, apparently.

    The next class that interested Emma was the Expeditious class ¡ª most of her stat points had gone into Dexterity and she¡¯d even on her latest levels managed to get the Expeditious feat for herself. It didn¡¯t fit her idea of a perfect class, but it was at least powerful enough to be worth considering.

    There were a couple of classes related to the space magic her third class had access to ¡ª a handful of different flavours of space mages. Apprentice Space Mage, Adept Space Mage, and so on. As well as an improved version of her Magic Archer class called Spacial Hunter. It required her to have taken and maxed two of the space aligned skills in the Magic Archer class ¡ª her returning arrows skill and a weapon storage skill in Emma¡¯s case. As well as a handful of stat requirements, and to have garnered favour from a master of space. Emma wasn¡¯t sure who that was, but the system believed she¡¯d done it.

    One class Emma was quite offended by, called An Immortal¡¯s Caretaker. Apparently caring for Zoe¡¯s home for a year qualified Emma to be a full time maid to the system, and while it didn¡¯t directly state that it would grant immortality the three agreed it likely would.

    And the final class that interested Emma was an odd one called A Traveler¡¯s Friend, requiring Emma to have befriended at least five people who came from different planets. Emma knew Zoe of course, but she had no clue who the other four were.

    ¡°I say the immortal one, personally.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Of course you do,¡± Joe and Emma said in unison.

    ¡°No hear me out, alright. I¡¯m serious. When you take a class, you unlock it. Right, that¡¯s what the system says, you unlocked the class. If you take the immortal one now, you can take it again later, for any of your other class tiers.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°But I really don¡¯t wanna just be a maid, Zoe. Immortal maid or not, it¡¯s just not what I wanna be.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°No I know, I know. I¡¯m not saying you keep the class right now, but take it so you have it unlocked. And then later, in another ten years or something if you don¡¯t have immortality, you could replace your second class with it and loop as much as you want without worrying about old age. I think Spacial Hunter is the best option for you right now, but I think you should take An Immortal¡¯s Caretaker just to have it unlocked before you commit to a different one.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well how badly do you want to be immortal, Emma?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Like, a little. I guess. I don¡¯t have the same fascination of dying of old age you do. But like, a maid?¡± Emma answered.

    ¡°She¡¯s got a point then. If you want immortality, this gets you there. And like Zoe said, you can just unlock it and then take it later if you can¡¯t find a better solution. But what if Zoe moves back in and you¡¯re no longer a caretaker, and then you never get another opportunity before you die? Would you regret it?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I guess¡­ maybe. Probably. Fine, I¡¯ll take it. But I¡¯m not even looking at the bonuses cause screw you, that¡¯s so dumb.¡± Emma said, and her level jumped up to one forty five. ¡°Dammit, I even wasted three levels. Do you know how long three levels take to get at this point for us normal people?¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Come to Moaning Point with me for a bit after and we¡¯ll get you those levels in no time. Joe can watch the cats.¡±

    Joe shrugged. ¡°Fine with me. I think Peter and Lauren might be interested in taking you up on that offer too, actually, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°Oh really?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mhm. They had a little boy recently and want to be strong enough to make sure he has a safe, happy life. Been talking about maybe replacing their classes with stronger ones.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Huh. Alright, yeah I¡¯m totally down to do that. You could come too, Emma.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah whatever, but my class? Remember?¡± Emma said.

    Joe and Zoe laughed.

    ¡°I agree, I think Spacial Hunter is probably your best bet. You like your current class right?¡± Joe asked.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a lot of fun.¡±

    Joe shrugged. ¡°Take an upgraded version, then.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you could totally take the upgraded version then replace the original with it after you unlocked it too, if you¡¯re gonna come to Moaning Point.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Does that work?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Probably? I¡¯ve taken classes I don¡¯t have the requirements for. I think as long as you¡¯ve had the class once, it¡¯s going to be fine. Except for ones that can only be in specific class tiers, maybe. But those seem rare, to me.¡±

    ¡°Not a bad idea, I guess. I¡¯m probably never getting to the next class anyway, so that might be an easy way to get a little extra power.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I might do the same with my recent class too, if we¡¯re all going to start looping.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe grinned. ¡°There we go, that¡¯s what I like to hear. Why leave all this power on the table when you can reach out and grab it!¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. So Spacial Hunter sounds fine to you two?¡± Emma asked.

    Joe and Zoe both nodded.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m gonna take it then.¡± Emma¡¯s eyes glazed over again, and then her level dropped back down to one forty two. But more than that, she had a faint presence about herself that wasn¡¯t there a moment prior. A pressure that wafted off of her, defining herself in reality just that little bit more.

    ¡°Woah. This is weird. Everything looks so different and yet the same, somehow.¡± She waved her hand in front of her face. ¡°You¡¯re so far away now, but so close? Weird. This is gonna take a lot to get used to.¡±

 3-23. Fabric

    ¡°Weird? How weird?" Zoe asked Emma.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s just¡­weird. I can see distance, or something? I feel like I could reach out and touch you, but also that no matter how far I reached I¡¯d never get closer to you?¡± Emma looked a little confused as she reached around herself. At one point, she reached to her side and a glass on a nearby counter vanished to reappear in her hand.

    Joe¡¯s eyebrows raised. ¡°That¡¯s interesting. Can you do that as much as you want?"

    ¡°Do what?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°What you just did, you teleported the glass to your hand?" Joe gestured at the glass in Emma¡¯s hand.

    ¡°It teleported?" Emma tilted her head.

    ¡°Yeah, from the counter?" Zoe said.

    ¡°No but I just grabbed it? It was right there?¡± Emma¡¯s eyes glazed over as she looked through her interface. ¡°Woah! My mana was drained a lot though, maybe seven hundred? Was it really that far away? I thought I just grabbed it though?¡± Emma asked.

    Joe and Zoe gave an awkward chuckle. ¡°Yeah, it was on the counter and then teleported to your hand when you grabbed it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Huh. This is going to take some getting used to, I think.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Just take some deep breaths, and we can try to work it out. What does it look like for you?¡± Joe asked.

    Emma followed his instructions and a minute later she answered. ¡°It¡¯s hard to describe, honestly. I¡¯m not sure you could understand even if I could explain it. I just have this new understanding of space, I guess? Things are different, now. In ways I never could have imagined. Distance and space are a part of it, but it¡¯s so much more.

    ¡°There¡¯s this weirdness to it all. Like this thread that pulls everything together, but it¡¯s not all the same place. Like it was cut and thrown around, but that¡¯s just its normal together state? I know it sounds crazy, but that¡¯s just how it is. And I get to see this thread, I guess? And if I follow it, then it takes me places far away. I can see your inn, Joe. It¡¯s just right there.¡± Emma pointed to the wall behind her.

    ¡°Could you walk there, do you think?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Maybe? I can try. Should I try?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Why not? Sounds fun.¡±

    Emma shook her head for a moment then stood up and walked to the wall. She held her hand out and looked back at the others. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to just¡­ walk to Joe¡¯s inn.¡± Emma took another step forward and vanished.

    She came back a moment later on the other side of the room with a giant smile on her face. ¡°Wow! Okay, I just appeared in Joe¡¯s inn.¡±

    ¡°How much mana?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mmm, about ten thousand. That¡¯s pretty rough. Would be a lot quicker to just walk to Joe¡¯s inn than to wait for the mana to regen, but that¡¯s so damn cool. Aaaaaaa!¡± Emma squealed as she warped back to her chair and sat down.

    ¡°I have something similar for mana vision which can be pretty hard to see at times, but I can separate the two senses pretty easily somehow. Does whatever gives you this vision have something similar to that? Maybe you can still see normally, but see the threads of space as a sort of not too distracting overlay on top of it or something?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Kind of, yeah. I think once I¡¯m used to it, it¡¯ll be fine. I can still see things, there¡¯s just this weirdness on top of it all that makes it a little hard to see how far away they are. But also somehow way easier?" Emma answered.

    ¡°Is it a class effect or one of your skills?" Joe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s an effect. Spacial Vision.¡± Emma answered.

    ¡°Oh, speaking of. I¡¯ve got a really cool class effect now too that I wanna show you two later. Lots of things I wanna share, but we can do that later.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ah, right. Did you get the class you wanted?" Joe asked.

    ¡°I did. And it was better than I thought it would be, too. But I¡¯ll tell you about it later.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe nodded.

    ¡°Okay, so skills then.¡± Emma said, and went over her skill selection. There were two affinities ¡ª space and physical, both of which she intended to take. And then some of the skills actually seemed a little redundant for her. A cleaning skill of course, a returning arrows skill, and an improved storage skill. None of which she really needed, barring maybe the storage skill.

    But there were four others that interested her a fair bit. There was a vision skill that would let her see farther, a spacial tracking skill, a spacial bow skill and lastly was a simple physical augmentation skill that would supposedly let her wreath herself in the fabric of space. Whatever that meant.

    ¡°Well first of all, is there a skill in your Magic Archer class you¡¯d like more than one of those? Cause you could take the upgraded storage skill and replace the one in your other class.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mmm, not really. There was a burning arrow skill I was interested in, but if I¡¯m gonna be all about space it doesn¡¯t make a lot of sense now. Maybe I do replace it with the better class someday, honestly. It seems a little underwhelming somehow, now.¡± Emma answered.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how much my vote¡¯s worth, but I¡¯d say skip the vision skill and get the other three. They seem much more useful and you¡¯ve already got good eyesight anyway.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Nah, take the vision skill and see how it feels first.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mm, yeah. Good point, but I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll like it anyway.¡± Joe agreed.

    Emma¡¯s eyes changed to a dark, almost blackish purple colour with shifting waves of white coursing through them as she pushed the system to give her the skill. A moment later, they shifted back to the familiar brown colour.

    ¡°No, no good.¡± Emma shook her head. ¡°That''s too much with the spacial vision on top of it. Alright, I think I¡¯m going to just do what Joe said, that makes the most sense honestly.¡±

    ¡°No wait, take the storage skill too and see how good it is. It¡¯s probably bad, but maybe there¡¯s something extra to it.¡± Zoe suggested.

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    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try it out.¡± Emma said, and a moment later the glass she put on the table vanished then returned to her hand. ¡°Just seems like normal storage. Doesn¡¯t tell me how much capacity, but I don¡¯t think it really matters honestly.¡±

    ¡°What if it¡¯s a lot though?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°When¡¯s the last time you filled up the storage items you already have?" Joe asked Zoe.

    ¡°I mean they¡¯re full right now, actually. But fair point, I could just buy another storage item and don¡¯t really struggle with space ever.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mhm. Doesn¡¯t seem worth it. Maybe it¡¯s infinite storage, but what¡¯s the difference between more than I need and more than that?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I got it, I got it.¡± Zoe said, waving her hands in front of her in a defensive gesture. ¡°Just take the other three skills. They seem fine to me too, honestly.¡±

    Emma nodded, and then the three left Zoe¡¯s cave to see what they did. The first was her spacial bow, which made both her returning arrow and the weapon storage skill she had in her Magic Archer class a little redundant. Space warped in her hand to form something resembling a bow to Zoe¡¯s mana vision but invisible to her naked eye, and the arrow that was fired off seemed to skip through the air as it flew towards its target and smashed through a nearby tree.

    She decided to think about which skills she¡¯d replace them with in her Magic Archer class later and turned to her Spacial Tracking skill, which Emma said would be impossible to describe but was quite pleased with. Something about the way the threads of space were affected by creatures passing through them, and when she focused on specific tracks she could even get glimpses of the area the animal ended up at.

    And the final skill she decided to take was the most visually impressive, at least to Zoe with her mana vision. The wisps of light rushed in and covered Emma¡¯s body in a dense haze of mana.

    ¡°Hit me.¡± Emma said. ¡°But like, lightlyish? Not super hard. Just a tap, but enough to hurt. But not much. You know?"

    Joe chuckled and slapped her on the back ¡ª or at least he tried, his hand was stopped about a centimetre away from her.

    ¡°Harder.¡± Emma said, and Joe obliged. His hand reaching a few millimetres closer.

    ¡°Wow, it didn¡¯t say anything about defensive ability in the description but this is really cool.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°How¡¯s the physical augmentation part of it though? Are you stronger?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I feel a little faster maybe? Like when you first got Haste forever ago, maybe. About that. But, not really. I don¡¯t see things moving slower, I just feel like I¡¯m moving faster, I guess. It¡¯s weird.¡± Emma waved her arms around at her side.

    ¡°Shoot me with one of your projectiles, maybe? See how far it gets? I¡¯m curious.¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I know I¡¯m half your level, but my skills aren¡¯t really normal. I think if I shot you it¡¯d make it through and probably really hurt.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Just tone it down a bit then?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never really done that before, honestly. For fun or whatever, but never when it actually really mattered to not hurt somebody. I have no idea how much I¡¯d have to pull back from it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay, shoot me in the foot then. Worst case scenario I lose a foot and you heal me back. I wanna know how good this fabric of space is though.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°You sure?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Yeah, in the foot. I¡¯d rather find out now than when it matters.¡±

    Zoe shrugged and summoned a ball of ice next to her, then enchanted it with Archery and Dagger-fighting. ¡°You¡¯re really sure?¡± She asked.

    Emma nodded again, with a nervous look on her face. ¡°But the foot. You can aim that right? Like, to the foot? Just the foot, okay?¡±

    ¡°I can hit wherever I want, but you¡¯re absolutely sure you want me to shoot you in the foot?" Zoe asked again.

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s scary, honestly. But I need to know its limits. Remember when I broke your armour forever ago? Same thing, okay. I just need to know.¡± Emma said and held her foot out to the side as she leaned on Joe.

    Zoe pushed mana into the ball of frost floating next to her and it rocketed off towards Emma¡¯s foot. The projectile slowed as it slammed into the dense coating of mana around Emma¡¯s foot, and then a moment later warped to the other side and continued on its path, embedding into a tree in the distance.

    Emma¡¯s eyes widened and her eyebrows raised. ¡°Holy crap that took so much mana.¡±

    ¡°What happened?" Joe asked.

    ¡°It teleported. As soon as it reached my foot, it just teleported to the other side of my foot like nothing happened.¡± Emma explained. ¡°But it took almost ten thousand mana. How close was that to your maximum power?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I dunno. A tenth? Maybe less, I guess? I¡¯ve never really measured it before but I didn¡¯t put a lot into that one anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Wow, okay, after my mana recovers could you shoot my foot with more power? I wanna see if it scales to damage or if it¡¯ll be the same cause it¡¯s the same frost ball, you know?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Sure. We could do that.¡± Zoe said, and the three chatted for a few minutes about Foizo. A few more minutes passed, and Zoe started wondering how long it would take to recover ten thousand mana.

    For Zoe, that was a matter of seconds, but for Emma even after ten minutes she was still just waiting patiently. ¡°It¡¯s no big deal, but how long does ten thousand mana take you to recover?"

    ¡°Mmm, I still had a bit from the walk to and from Joe¡¯s inn too so about twelve thousand in total really. But twenty minutes, maybe?" Emma answered.

    ¡°Twenty minutes? For just ten thousand mana? What?¡± Zoe was shocked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not bad for a physical class, really. Even for me it would have taken about five minutes before.¡± Joe chuckled a bit. ¡°Now though, it might only take me two.¡±

    ¡°Well how long would it take you for ten thousand mana, Zoe?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, with Meditation maybe like five, maybe ten seconds? I don¡¯t really track it anymore.¡± Zoe answered.

    Joe and Emma both stared at her for a moment in shock. ¡°Seconds? Ten thousand mana in seconds?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah. I guess that¡¯s a lot, huh?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s an insane amount for somebody with classes that aren¡¯t dedicated to recovering mana. Like, my dad did a lot more than that when we last spoke a decade ago. But his whole shtick was making mana, of course he¡¯d be better. You have skills and classes that aren¡¯t specifically about making mana, that¡¯s crazy.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well I¡¯ve got a few feats for it, I guess. And a lot more stats than most people my level probably.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay, enough of that. My mana¡¯s recovered, shoot my foot again. Half power, maybe?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Look I don¡¯t really measure it like that. I have no idea what half power would be. I¡¯ll just do more than I did, but less than I could do and go from there, okay?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Good enough.¡± Emma grinned.

    Zoe enchanted another frost projectile, this time adding in a piercing focused Elemental Arsenal and pushing it with her Frost skill as it launched. The ball flew at Emma¡¯s foot, and passed through without a scratch, digging itself into the ground just behind Emma.

    ¡°About ten thousand again. That¡¯s awesome, wow. I¡¯m immune to Zoe now! Muahahaha.¡± Emma cackled.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well as long as you don¡¯t shoot me more than four times at once at least.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe smiled. If she used Enchantment Amplifier, or even just enchanted it with Mana Storage and filled the well that was created, she¡¯d probably smash through Emma¡¯s defensive skill since it likely depended on how much mana was in the object. But she didn¡¯t feel like watching her friend¡¯s foot be shattered to pieces, if Zoe was even capable of that. And the skill was already expensive enough to be a last resort, anyway.

 3-24. Ijun

    The three returned to Zoe¡¯s home and sat back down at the dining table after experimenting with some of Emma¡¯s new abilities.

    ¡°So, how was Korna?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°It was awesome, actually. There was this really beautiful park not far north I think? I think it was north. I can¡¯t seem to remember anymore, actually. I think it was north, though. Called Ikleci? You ever heard of it?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma shook her head, but Joe said he¡¯d heard some of his patrons talking about it in the past.

    ¡°Yeah it was super cool. The smells of the forest there were amazing, and the water that cut into the valley. I was beautiful. I brought back some trinkets for you two, too.¡± Zoe summoned the gifts she bought from the park and handed them to Joe and Emma.

    ¡°Aww, that¡¯s cute.¡± Emma said, looking at one of the wooden carvings of a bear.

    ¡°I also bought some clothes. A lot of clothes, actually. When I said my storage items were full, it¡¯s really almost all clothes. I got you two some, but I also just brought a lot back cause I thought people here might be interested.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe and Emma both rolled their eyes. ¡°Alright, lets see what you got us then.¡± Joe sighed.

    Zoe grinned, and summoned an outfit for each of them from her ring, the most outlandish one she¡¯d made for both of them. Emma¡¯s was little more than colourful strings that would streak down her back and reach around her waist. While Joe¡¯s was a pair of bright, almost iridescent purple briefs with blue spires of cloth that would reach up to his shoulders. Both were quite similar to outfits she¡¯d seen a number of people wearing while walking around town.4

    They both raised their eyebrows when Zoe placed the outfits on the table.

    ¡°This is the style there!¡± Zoe threw her arms up at her side and shook her head in a haughtier than thou gesture as she turned up her nose at the two across the table. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t get it, being from such a backwater uncivilized society.¡±

    The two rolled their eyes, grabbed their outfits and got up to leave.

    ¡°Wait, wait wait.¡± Zoe said. ¡°You were actually going to wear those?¡±

    Emma and Joe both broke out in laughter, tossing their clothes back on the table. ¡°Yeah.¡± They said.

    ¡°We talked about it a while ago, actually.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Mhm. We figured you¡¯d bring back the most ridiculous outfits you could, and thought it¡¯d be funny to see how far you¡¯d go with it. We were gonna make you put on yours, which you totally have a bunch of too.¡± Emma said as she sat back down at the table.

    ¡°You seriously would¡¯ve put those on and come shown them off? You would¡¯ve been basically naked!¡± Zoe shouted at them.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just skin.¡±

    Zoe laughed and shook her head. ¡°You two are crazy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who gave us the clothes, you know?" Emma said and raised her eyebrows.

    ¡°Okay, but I accept that I¡¯m insane. It¡¯s who I am.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma shrugged and pulled her outfit into her storage item. ¡°So, did you get real clothes, too? Stuff that¡¯s actually warm?"

    Zoe summoned a pile of colourful fabric on the table. ¡°Yeah, like I said I filled my storage items with it. I¡¯ve got nine bags maybe? Ten? Somewhere around there, full of clothes. Not sure what to do with it all, you two can have a peek through if you want too.¡±

    ¡°Later.¡± Joe said. ¡°How was the rest? You¡¯re a lower level now, did you get your new class you wanted?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I wanna show you two the new aura I got too cause it¡¯s really cool, but can¡¯t use it around here.¡± Zoe flashed the cold aura a little and the room¡¯s temperature dropped a couple degrees. ¡°It¡¯s pretty crazy when it¡¯s on full blast, actually.¡±

    ¡°So you combined the classes? How did that work?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I just got all of the Seasoned classes, and they combined into a bigger fancier one for my first class.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Automatically? Didn¡¯t require anything extra?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Nope. I did some research in Korna though and found another class that did require something extra. It was some elemental archmage or something, can¡¯t remember now. I think it required the archmage feat as well as a bunch of elemental wizard classes, maybe?¡± Zoe said.

    Joe laughed. ¡°So what¡¯d you do in Korna if you can¡¯t remember anything? Just wait around and admire the clothes?¡±

    ¡°I just can¡¯t remember some things, okay? There was this really nice inn called Oaniga that I stayed at for a while, which was super premium. Cost a fortune to stay at but the food was delicious and the beds were divine, it was amazing.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°There was also this dungeon called The Pit, which was a weird one. Lots of shadows in it that were easy enough to fight. And I went swimming a few times too, there was this lake, I think. Pretty sure it was a lake, to the east of Korna, I think? But it was really nice, and it was the first time I wore a bikini too which was fun.¡± She continued.

    Zoe continued filling her friends in on her adventures in Korna for a while, talking about the classes she¡¯d seen. Some of the things she¡¯d researched in Korna¡¯s libraries, the outlandish clothes she¡¯d seen walking around town. What walking through Obai¡¯s manor was like, and how he had his own personal dungeon that worked just for him.

    ¡°Oh, another thing I noticed was my mental resistance levelled up a lot. It¡¯s at level forty five now. I guess some of the shadows in the pit used mental magic or something. ¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What was it before?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Lower, for sure. It¡¯s odd, I didn¡¯t think that anything was using mental magic but my resistance is much higher now, so something must have been.¡± Zoe said.

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    ¡°Do you think it was somebody in Korna?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°But why?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°War?¡± Joe suggested.

    ¡°With who?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°Anybody around us, I guess. Probably not though. Korna¡¯s well defended, it¡¯d be hard for anybody to really invade them like that.¡±

    ¡°Well, would it be, though?" Emma asked.

    ¡°What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°They were taking refugees from Flester for almost a year. What if somebody sent in a bunch of mind mages who worked together over the entire year?¡± Emma suggested.

    ¡°Maybe, it¡¯s possible.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t think that¡¯s it. Korna was fine, and there was definitely no invasion. It was probably just the shadows in The Pit.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay, well it¡¯s not likely that Korna¡¯s being invaded. But you¡¯ve definitely forgotten a lot of things about your time there, which is odd. I¡¯ll mention it next time we speak with the Injellar kingdom representative, just in case.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Makes sense and I¡¯d agree, but I really don¡¯t think Korna¡¯s being invaded. Nothing I saw seemed to suggest that, anyway. Everybody seemed happy and fine, to me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You don¡¯t even remember everything, Zoe.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I¡­ yeah, okay. You¡¯re right. That is weird. But if Korna¡¯s being invaded, then why would they just let me leave freely? Wouldn¡¯t they just trap everybody inside and have them live a weird happy life?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°Maybe they just didn¡¯t expect your mental resistance to level so quickly. Most people don¡¯t level resistances nearly as fast as you, after all. It¡¯d be weird if all traffic in and out just completely stopped, too so they could just hope they finish their business before word gets out. Either way, they¡¯re probably not being invaded but I¡¯ll just bring it up at the next meeting just to be safe. Something weird¡¯s going on anyway.¡±

    ¡°Oh right!¡± Emma shouted. ¡°Did you notice the name, Zoe?¡±

    ¡°Foizo? What about it?" Zoe asked.

    Joe chuckled.

    ¡°What?" Zoe asked again.

    ¡°The ¡®zo¡¯ part of Foizo is from your name.¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°No!¡± Zoe shouted. ¡°Why would you do that!"

    ¡°It was better than festering crack or whatever you wanted to call it.¡± Joe shook his head.

    ¡°Why¡¯s it named after me though?¡± Zoe sighed.

    ¡°Because you helped us when Flester fell, Zoe. If you weren¡¯t here, we would all have been stuck in Korna rather than here in the forests we love, with the heavy snowfall we look forward to. You did that, and so we named the town after you. Kinda.¡± Joe explained.

    ¡°I mean come on, I didn¡¯t do much.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No you did, though.¡± Emma said. ¡°You did a lot. And most people will never know, cause that¡¯s what you want. But the town name is a sort of mix between Flester and Zoe. I think it¡¯s different enough that nobody would really tell, but it¡¯ll always be there.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Eugh. Fine, I¡¯ll allow it I guess. Just don¡¯t make a statue for me or something.¡± Zoe rolled her eyes.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that big of a deal, don¡¯t worry.¡± Joe laughed.

    They continued chatting for a while, and when they finished they spent some time poking through all the clothes that Zoe had brought back. There was a great variety to the clothes Zoe had brought back ¡ª various sizes and colours, different designs and fabric types.

    Joe and Emma both picked out about a dozen different oufits for themselves, while the rest Zoe stored away in her storage items for later. Maybe she¡¯d set up a shop to sell them, maybe she¡¯d just give them to whoever was in need. Joe said he might appreciate some of the clothes for the people who stay at his inn, but most of his business in Foizo was just normal inn business, he said.

    When dinner rolled around, Joe made some food for them on Zoe¡¯s makeshift stone oven embedded into her kitchen wall. A simple grilled boar with a fresh salad that had a nice fruity dressing drizzled over top.

    After dinner, Joe went home leaving just Zoe and Emma in her cave. The two chatted a bit about their living arrangements, Emma wanted windows so the cats could sit and look out at the forest outside and maybe watch the odd person or animal that walked by. Zoe wanted to continue expanding her home deeper into the hill, and maybe even dig it farther into the ground to get even more space.

    Windows were a bit of a hot issue at first, but Zoe decided the cats mattered enough to warrant losing a little of her privacy. Emma could go get a house built somewhere else, but she had ended up quite liking being a little away from the town proper. And Zoe wasn¡¯t about to kick her friend out for some pointless desire for a glorified hermit lifestyle, it didn¡¯t really matter all that much anyway.

    Zoe fell into a comfortable routine in Foizo over the next two years. Some of Zoe¡¯s time was spent digging out the ground behind her cave, expanding her home. She didn¡¯t have a plan for what was going to go where just yet, but she knew she wanted more space. More library space for all the books still stuck at the bottom of Kaira library. A pool to swim in, a more secure location to store her valuables deep in the earth.

    Windows were added to both the kitchen and what had previously been planned to be Zoe¡¯s forge. With Zoe¡¯s permission, the room had been changed to another bedroom so Emma and Zoe could have separate rooms. Until then, if Zoe wanted to sleep she usually had to either do it on the floor or in the day when Emma wasn¡¯t sleeping since unlike Zoe, Emma still required sleep almost daily.

    The clothes that Zoe had brought back were given away to people after she¡¯d been hanging on to them for a few months. Maybe she could have sold them, but she didn¡¯t really need money anyway. And maybe she could have found a better purpose for them, but Korna was only a week away if she ever needed more anyway. And there were plenty of talented tailors in Foizo who could make her clothes too.

    The Injellar kingdom sent support for Foizo after the first few months ¡ª a royal guard who would live in Foizo as well as a group of six builders to help build an initial wall around the town.

    According to them, Korna was being invaded by the Ijun empire and the warning Zoe had provided ¡ª along with many others who had also visited Korna, helped them stop the invasion before anything too terrible had happened. Though, the letter they gave Zoe said as much in far more words and with much more disdain for the neighbouring empire to the north.

    It was neat, Zoe would say. Having a letter showing that she had some small part in helping defend the kingdom, but it also terrified her. She had no idea it was happening, and she was there while it was happening. Levelling her Mental resistance jumped up in priority if she ever found an opportunity to do so.

    But the vast majority of Zoe¡¯s time was spent on Moaning Point. Peter and Lauren were both quite interested in joining her to get better classes for themselves and after a few months both had classes they were comfortable with. Peter had a mix of carpentry classes and a fire warrior class he was quite secretive about. While Lauren had also took carpentry classes, but paired them with an earthen mage class that worked quite well for her.

    Word spread after that, and Peter and Lauren were both hounded with questions about who it was that helped them and whether they could also get the same assistance. It seemed that a lot of the people who came to Foizo came because they wanted just such an opportunity. They welcomed a little bit of risk if it meant they could grasp more wealth for themselves, or a touch more power.

    Escorting people up Moaning Point wasn¡¯t something Zoe wanted to do long term, nor was escorting people through any other dungeon for that matter. But it was a fun distraction for a few years, and she enjoyed watching people have their first experience with looping. The feeling of their stats being ripped away, the excitement that radiated off them as they looked through their class list and saw options far better than what they had last time.

    The pride she felt when people overcame a challenge they struggled with only weeks prior, or when despite the dungeon¡¯s best efforts Zoe¡¯s healing kept her people alive. It was an interesting experience, Zoe found. One that she might enjoy having again someday, far in the future. Maybe one day in another thousand years she¡¯d settle down and open a power levelling service for people in whichever city she found herself in.

 3-25. Apprentice

    Zoe sat on her bed in her cave after getting back from one of her expeditions, her final one with people she didn¡¯t know. One of the first people who pestered her for help had begun taking over some of the responsibility, and Zoe was happy to be able to let it rest after so long.

    Fred had taken the Cold Wizard class for his first class, which was one of the best first classes Zoe had heard somebody have other than herself. And after hearing about the Elemental Archmage class that Zoe shared had made it his life¡¯s passion to get it for himself.

    Just a few months prior he managed to get the final wizard class for himself ¡ª Earth Wizard, and easily reached the one thousand intelligence required for the feat to combine them together. Another few months on Moaning Point and he was more than capable of keeping a group alive on the lower levels, which was most of what people needed anyway. He struggled once the groups of mages came out, but so few who wanted an escort on Moaning Point ever made it up that far anyway.

    Unlike Zoe¡¯s generosity however, Fred did require payment. Not in the form of coin, but information. He had a passion for the system and all of its workings so if somebody wanted an escort through Moaning Point they needed to share information about any classes they got as a result of his help. Fred had even taken a lie detecting skill in one of his classes just to make sure the information he got was as accurate as it could be.

    But that was Fred¡¯s business now, and while the odd person would likely still pester Zoe for her help due to her much greater power and reputation, in time Fred¡¯s reputation would grow and she¡¯d fall to the wayside. One benefit of being an immortal, Zoe supposed. If you wanted to be forgotten about, you could wait a few years until nobody remembered you. Or just wait until everybody died.

    Zoe had made plans with Joe and Emma to take them to Moaning Point in a few weeks, and the excitement ate away at her. Kenzie and Sue were both moving out of Joe¡¯s inn after all these long years, getting their own place near Peter and Lauren. Joe wanted to help out with the move and make sure they were fine, and then he intended to shut down the inn for a while to come see what Zoe¡¯s life was all about.

    And Emma had been wanting to check out Moaning Point for quite a while but was saddled with the responsibility of her cats. Even if she could find somebody she trusted to watch them, leaving them without her for months at a time gave her a great deal of anxiety. But with her new class, Gafoda wouldn¡¯t be that far away. As long as she had the mana for it, distance was a small obstacle.

    Over the last two years since she got the class, Emma had been putting all of her points into a mix of Intelligence and Wisdom to bolster her mana regeneration, as well as even worked on Meditation. In a moment, Mana had gone from something that she sometimes needed a bit of to a means of transportation. And that made a big difference to how eager she was to invest time and resources into it.

    It made Zoe more than a little envious. Emma warped around wherever she needed to go as freely as one would float in salt water. One moment she¡¯d be preparing food in the kitchen, and the next she¡¯d be in Joe¡¯s inn borrowing some sugar she forgot, and then the next she was back in the kitchen like she¡¯d never even left.

    And even with Emma¡¯s far improved mana regeneration, it didn¡¯t hold a candle to Zoe¡¯s. After all of her time taking people up Moaning Point, Zoe made it up to level one hundred nine, with most of her points put into Intelligence. She had ninety nine thousand mana, with enough wisdom to recover more mana than she could even comprehend. Iff she drained her entire pool, it would fill back up in seconds, even without Meditation.

    If Emma with her mediocre mana was capable of such conveniences, what could Zoe do with a similar class? Could she walk to Gafoda in seconds? Travel to Korna for an afternoon lunch? Visit the Ijun empire and be back in time for dinner?

    Zoe already had a time aligned class, so maybe her next goal someday would be getting a very good space aligned third class. Maybe a space enchanting class, and then she could start making her own storage items, too. That would be pretty cool, Zoe thought.

    But how would she get a space class? Time was simple enough, all she did was get thrown into another world at a convenient time for massive benefits. But could she get hurled into space and end up with a Spacial Decider feat? It didn¡¯t seem all that realistic to her.

    Emma got her space class through upgrading her warrior class through the tiers and pushing it towards space aligned effects. Zoe had, for better or worse rather stagnated with her Seasoned classes. Zoe laid down on her comfortable bed and stretched out across, her feet just dangling off the edge for a moment before she pulled them back.

    The Seasoned classes were comfortable. She knew what they were capable of, she enjoyed the effects they provided. Massive bonuses to her regeneration, incredible amounts of stats per level. They were powerful classes that time and time again she fell back onto. But they were hurting her now that she had Seasoned Persistence.

    Maybe she could combine them together and get another Seasoned Persistence ¡ª and maybe having two of them would even do something new. But was that something she wanted to pursue? Not really, not yet. There was no reason to think that two Seasoned Persistence classes would combine into a greater. Maybe if she had four of them, but that was so far removed from what Zoe considered possible that it was little more than a silly thought.

    She¡¯d have to stop taking the Seasoned classes, then. Her enchanting class was competent enough, but for her fourth class she needed to find something better than Seasoned Gales.

    And what better time for that, than when she was going to be taking her friends up the lower levels of Moaning Point anyway?

    Zoe turned her attention inwards and looked through her class options. The list was staggering at this point, hundreds if not thousands of different classes available to her. Zoe used to wonder why some of the lower tier classes weren¡¯t removed when the higher tier classes were unlocked. If she had access to Master Swordsman, why did she still need to see she could take Apprentice Swordsman?

    But now, she assumed it was probably a toss up between whether it was intentional so people could still make the combination classes or just the creator of the system being far lazier than they should be. She filtered out all of the nonsense classes with low requirements and looked through the more interesting ones before she smacked herself for being so dumb.

    She hadn¡¯t even realized the pitfall she¡¯d fallen into all these years. Every time she looked through her class selection, she would do the same thing. Ignore all of the classes with low requirements and focus on the ones that seemed powerful with more powerful requirements. Strong feats, high skill levels and the like.

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    But that¡¯s not what she needed. She was young, only just about fifty years old at this point. She had centuries, even millenia ahead of her. If nothing terrible happened, even whatever the next marker was. Was there even a word for ten thousand years?

    Eon was a million years, millenium was a thousand. But was there a word for anything in between? Deca millenium?

    Zoe had all the time in the world left, and so far had spent the last twenty years of her life focusing on what she was good at. Classes with high requirements would never be something new, they would expand on what she was already good at. A class that required level one fifty in the Fire skill would never give her space magic, even if it would be a powerful fire class.

    If the only thing that Zoe had that was at all relevant to space magic was the space resistance, then she¡¯d never get a dedicated space class with high requirements. She just didn¡¯t have the achievements necessary for it, she didn¡¯t have any space feats or high level space skills or powerful space classes to build upon. And who knows what other magics and class alignments she wasn¡¯t even aware of yet!

    Instead, Zoe shifted her attention as she looked through her classes. Rather than looking for classes with high requirements she looked for classes that had low requirements and no matching class of a higher tier. Apprentice Fire Mage had low requirements, but since she had access to Master Fire Mage, it didn¡¯t matter.

    What Zoe wanted were classes that helped her do things she was bad at. Capitalized on her abilities that she never achieved anything in. A potter class, or even a sinkhole wizard would provide her greater variety than yet another class that would give her Alacrity.

    There were a lot that fit the bill. Zoe had many skills that were still stuck at a low level ¡ª Alchemy, Pottery, Smithing, Mining and Fishing were all still below twenty five which tended to be a threshold for many classes. And each had a dozen classes of different varieties to go with them. An Apprentice Mystic Potter requiring some intelligence along with the skill or an Apprentice Earthcarver that required both the Earth and Mining skills.

    Most were classes that Zoe had seen before and just ignored because they were so simple, but they were all helping her with things she was bad at. Which was exactly what she wanted, because she was very bad at space magic.

    The issue was deciding which of the classes was most likely to at some point lead to some space aligned class unlocks. A mining class may get a storage skill for all of the rubble they clear out of their tunnel, a potter might get storage for their clay. Maybe a fisher would have storage for their tackle or the fish they catch.

    Really the problem wasn¡¯t which class could, but which path Zoe wanted to try first. Maybe she could follow in Emma¡¯s footsteps and take a magic warrior combination class and hope for some kind of weapon storage.

    Ultimately, Zoe settled in on one of the alchemy classes ¡ª she had a bunch that required different elements or seemed to have some fancy effects. But she chose the simplest, least interesting Alchemy class she found.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Apprentice Alchemist class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Apprentice Alchemist: Gain seven stat points and two intelligence for each level in this class.

    - Eager Learner: Gain increased experience when learning from those with more experience.

    - Alchemy: Combine the natural mana within your ingredients to create magical effects.

    Available Skills:

    - Mana Affinity: Increased Mana affinity

    - Mana Manipulation: Manipulate the raw mana of the world to your will.

    - Mana Imbuing: Fill an object with unattuned mana.

    - Object Examine: Derive additional information about an object¡¯s properties.

    - Preservation: Preserve an object.

    - Alchemical Scouring: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

    The class was mediocre at best, and a bit of an eye opener for Zoe. This was what most people¡¯s first class would be like? Even when she first got Seasoned Frost it was night and day compared to whatever this was. If Zoe had to be saddled with something so horrible for her first class¡­ She shuddered at the thought.

    It was so bad that she found it hard to commit to keeping it, but she needed to. It would give her a paltry quantity of stats, and absolutely no effects that were actually useful to her. Eager Learner? Maybe she could give Jeffrey a visit and learn a bit, but getting this class to whatever her cap would be was going to be quite an experience. She¡¯d have almost no stats by then, too. But she¡¯d get a better class, and could do it all over again with something a little more relevant to herself.

    And while the effects sucked, the skills were at least somewhat interesting. Mana Manipulation was unnecessary, which meant she had a permanent cleaning skill she could slot in. At least until she replaced the class with something much better.

    Object Examine was the first that Zoe tried out, and it didn¡¯t do an awful lot. On most things she used it on, the skill did nothing at all. Until she tried it on a klir leaf and the skill gave her a vague feeling of mana and poison. It was very slight, and from just the skill she had no idea how poisonous it would be. But it was interesting.

    As an enchantment though, the skill shone. If she enchanted something with the skill then she could make the enchantment only activate if certain objects were close. Unfortunately even as an enchantment, it didn¡¯t do a great job of getting the specifics right so any klir leaf would count as a key. Maybe if she levelled it up she could make proper keys, but it was still an interesting enchantment anyway.

    Preservation was boring. If Zoe didn¡¯t have storage items then it might have been a fantastic skill that she used every day. But she did have storage items, and quite a few of them at that. If she needed to preserve something, leaving it in her storage items and forgetting about the disaster that was in there with them was a much better solution.

    But Mana Imbuing was quite interesting, since it was almost like enchanting but very different on a fundamental level. With enchanting, Zoe had to flood an object with her own mana. But Mana Imbuing cost much more mana to do a similar thing but by instead forcing the ambient mana into the object. It left the object utterly unusable to her Enchanting skill, but oozing with mana she could use for alchemy.

    As an enchantment, the skill worked almost identically to Mana Storage. It created a pocket of mana that the enchantment could draw from to power itself with the only difference being that Zoe was unable to fill the pocket herself without the use of Mana Imbuing. But for the purposes of what she used the enchantment for, it was plenty good enough.

    It was an odd feeling for Zoe, looking through the class. It was by far the weakest class she¡¯d ever taken. And yet she felt like she¡¯d made more progress in the last twenty minutes than she had in the last two years because of it.

 3-26. Psychopath

    ¡°So we¡¯re going to Moaning Point finally, huh?¡± Joe asked Zoe as they stood outside her cave.

    ¡°Finally! I¡¯ve wanted to go for so long! Thanks so much, you two.¡± Emma said to Peter and Lauren who were going to look after the two cats.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Sally loves cats. She couldn¡¯t be more excited, could you honey?¡± Peter looked at his daughter.

    ¡°Kitty!¡± She said, hiding behind Peter¡¯s leg.

    ¡°They¡¯ll be fine, we¡¯ve been thinking about getting a cat so this will be a good experience. It should be us thanking you, really.¡± Lauren smiled.

    ¡°Right, well I made you two another key. I only made one though, I should¡¯ve made two I guess. But here you go,¡± Zoe summoned a brown gem from her bracelet and handed it to Lauren. Her time spent on Moaning Point wasn¡¯t the most productive she¡¯d ever been, but it was nice having another stockpile of enchantable gems again at least.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, we¡¯re rarely apart these days anyway.¡± Peter said.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Alright well here¡¯s the cat food, it should last long enough.¡± Emma handed over a bright red ring to Lauren.

    ¡°Two scoops twice a day, with wet at dinner time right?¡± Peter asked.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Thanks again you two, I really appreciate it. I¡¯ll be back as often as I can be, but I don¡¯t know how often that will really be.¡±

    Peter and Lauren both nodded. ¡°They¡¯ll be fine. We¡¯ll take good care of them.¡±

    ¡°I know, I just worry. They¡¯re my babies, you know?¡± Emma said.

    ¡°We¡¯ll make sure they¡¯re happy and play with them lots, alright?" Lauren said.

    ¡°Mhm. Make sure you tell them I love them every day okay?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Absolutely.¡± Peter said. ¡°Every day.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, you two. Okay, lets get going before I decide I don¡¯t want to anymore.¡± Emma said to Joe and Zoe.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to, you know? It¡¯s okay to just be content with your life. There¡¯s nothing wrong with that.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°But I¡¯m not, really. I wanna go to a dungeon at some point in my life. It sounds fun.¡± Emma started walking off towards the south.

    Joe looked at Emma and the two shrugged. ¡°Alright, lets get going then.¡± Joe said.

    The walk was a little somber at first as they made their way into Flester¡¯s ruins and through it to the other side. John¡¯s bookstore was still standing, the last remnant of what Flester once was. Not a chip out of place on the stone walls, like nothing had ever even happened.

    But as they made their way out of Flester and into the forests to the south, the mood brightened up and the three started chatting as they ran down the road.

    ¡°So it¡¯s just all zombies all the way up? What are zombies even like anyway?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Gross. Really gross, honestly. They smell bad, they look ugly and if they touch you they feel murky and wet and gross. Just gross. All gross.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So why did you spend so long there?" Joe laughed.

    ¡°Cause it¡¯s nearby and I¡¯d rather kill mindless zombies than like, I dunno. Goblins or something. They¡¯re gross, but killing stuff is never not gross. Cleaning a boar is gross, too.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°I guess. But what are they actually like? Like, to fight?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Simple, I guess. At least at first. They don¡¯t do much, and even when they group up they¡¯re not really organized, there¡¯s just a lot of them.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hmm. Think we¡¯ll get attacked by bandits?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Hopefully not.¡± Joe laughed.

    ¡°Why do they even do that anyway?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Assholes, I guess?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve had a few come by my inn before. Assholes is about right.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°I kinda understood it before. You fall into a bad life, not allowed in the cities anymore because you¡¯re a criminal. You need to survive, and you fall to raiding people far away from the cities.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°But?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°But it doesn¡¯t make any sense! Money isn¡¯t going to do them any good if they can¡¯t get into a city anyway, except maybe underground black markets somewhere maybe?" Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard people talk about something like that before, but no clue where. Maybe some basement in Gafoda?¡± Joe suggested.

    ¡°But even still, they could just hunt for food or travel somewhere else that they¡¯re not known. Why do they bother robbing people on the road? Just seems foolish, honestly. At some point, somebody¡¯s gonna get mad and track them down.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°The way I see it is they like robbing people in the same way that I like being an innkeeper, or you like acting like you¡¯re exploring the world when you barely go anywhere.¡± He smirked.

    ¡°Hey! I explore¡­¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh really? The furthest you¡¯ve been is Korna.¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°Fine, fine. I don¡¯t really get out much I guess.¡± Zoe smiled.

    The three continued their chatting as they ran to Gafoda, losing her Seasoned Gales class hurt a little bit since she no longer had Haste but Joe and Emma were both quick enough on their own. Her Seasoned Persistence class could get it as well, but there weren¡¯t any skills in it that Zoe was comfortable switching out if she was responsible for two other lives as well.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    It was a shame, because it meant that both her new manipulation skills that she wanted to play around with were left on the back burner the past two years. But what was two years in the bigger picture anyway? Once Joe and Emma were satisfied with their classes, Zoe would have all the time in the world to experiment with her new skills.

    No bandits interrupted their journey and after almost a week of running ¡ª and needing to stop for both Joe and Emma to rest and sleep, they arrived in Gafoda. The shanty town looked much the same as always with a handful of new buildings thrown up around the outskirts and several of the larger buildings in the centre being torn down to make space for new shops and businesses.

    ¡°It looks¡­ worse than I imagined.¡± Emma said as they stepped into the town proper.

    ¡°Nobody takes care of the roads?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Everybody here is killing zombies, Joe. Some dirt on your shoes is the least of your worries.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Alright, lets find an inn and loop!" Emma grinned.

    Zoe led them to the inn that she¡¯d been using on her trips to Gafoda, and into a room the three would share. It wasn¡¯t quite large enough for a comfortable stay, but they had no plans of spending much time at the inn.

    ¡°Alright you two. Loop. It¡¯s gonna feel really bad and you¡¯re going to hate it at first. But then you¡¯ll get better classes, promise.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma and Joe both sat down on the small bed while Zoe sat down on the single wooden chair next to a small table.

    ¡°Which one are you doing?¡± Emma asked Joe.

    ¡°I¡¯m taking the same class I already have.¡± Joe answered.

    ¡°No but like, which tier? Are you going all the way back?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah, may as well I figure. I¡¯ll lose some nice skills, but that¡¯s just part of looping, right?" Joe asked.

    Emma nodded. ¡°A lot of stats, too.¡±

    ¡°A lot of stats.¡± Joe agreed.

    Zoe watched for a few minutes and then smiled as both of her friends grimaced at the pain of the system ripping their stats out. It was never fun, even after she¡¯d done it so many times. But it opened so many doors to have a powerful class earlier on and build off of that.

    Maybe one day they could even find some way to upgrade their first class. Joe¡¯s was Innkeeper¡¯s Apprentice and Emma never shared hers specifically, but it was some warrior equivalent. If there were any classes that would have known upgrades, apprentice classes would be on that list. Someday, somebody would know, and Zoe would bring back a delightful gift for them.

    But for now, she was proud of them both for taking the dive. It was a big step for most people, Zoe found. Even the most eager folk she helped out struggled with the feelings after, and Zoe did too the first time she supposed. It¡¯s terrifying seeing your health so low and feeling so sluggish when you¡¯ve grown so accustomed to the power you once had.

    And for most people it was much worse than it was for Zoe. Zoe lost her stats, she lost all of her classes that she replaced, and the skills those classes had. And it sucked, but unlike Zoe the rest of the people she helped didn¡¯t have Patient Decider. On top of everything else, they lost levels in all of their skills. Months if not years of progress working on their general skills, lost to their ambitions.

    It was something Zoe hadn¡¯t even realized in her time looping until somebody brought it up. Her general skills helped her so much, each one a powerful enchantment for her to use not even counting the benefits the skills themselves brought to the table.

    If each time she looped she had to watch as her Meditation was brought back down to level twenty? Her powerful elemental skills ripped apart and left as a mere reminder of what they once were? Would she still so readily accept it? What about her Vampyric Immortality, when she managed to get all the way to level eight again. What would have happened to it if she didn¡¯t have Patient Decider removing the level cap?

    Would it have broken through regardless, or would she have had even more stats ripped away from her? But hearing the people talk about their general skills feeling so weakened was an eye opener for her. She never understood why people tended to be so against looping until then. You lose some stats, you lose a couple classes. Oh well, you can get them back so easily because of all the power you have.

    But most didn¡¯t keep any power. Most were right back where they started with a handful of new achievements. Most had to struggle through over and over until their power started snowballing, and getting that started was a massive hurdle that very few people wanted to even think about.

    After another hour of her friends shivering from the system¡¯s restructuring of their essence, they started to come to their senses again.

    ¡°Eugh, this is awful. Everything¡¯s so heavy. Why is everything so damn heavy.¡± Emma complained.

    Joe blinked his eyes a few times. ¡°You do this for fun, Zoe?"

    ¡°Yeah, kinda. It is fun, after a while. Get to try out lots of new things.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And she even took a super weak class this time. Psycopath.¡± Emma added.

    ¡°You sure we¡¯re gonna be safe here?¡± Emma asked. ¡°I feel so weak.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯ll be fine. There¡¯s nothing on Moaning Point that I can¡¯t handle even with this terrible apprentice class. Well, other than the boss. And maybe the Abomination.¡±

    ¡°What if we get attacked by people though?" Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t worry about that. Could get attacked by people in Foizo too, you know? If you let that fear run your life, you¡¯re never get anywhere.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right you know?¡± Joe said. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine, people send their children here at lower levels than we are now.¡±

    ¡°I know, I just¡­ Eugh. It¡¯s so not fair that you get to keep your skill levels, Zoe. That¡¯s cheating.¡± Emma sighed.

    ¡°You could¡¯ve got it if you were more patient.¡± Zoe grinned.

    Emma rolled her eyes. ¡°You weren¡¯t patient either. You took less time to get your first class than I did you just learned about them really late.¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°You got me there, I guess.¡±

    ¡°I want my mana back, I can barely even see outside the inn like this. This is so gross.¡± Emma groaned.

    Joe laughed. ¡°Well lets go get started building it back up, huh? No point waiting around complaining when we¡¯ve got a perfectly fine excuse to explore the mountain.¡±

    The three left the inn and headed up Moaning Point and started fighting the zombies on the lower level. Even with their power ripped from them, both were more than capable of handling the mindless corpses that populated the lowest level with the help of their powerful classes.

    At the next level, the tool wielding zombies gave them a bit of pause at first but with a bit of practice they were both handling them comfortable. Zoe started wondering which stage would be best to get their levels up as quick as possible.

    It was a fine balancing act that Zoe had grown quite used to over the last two years, finding the highest level zone that the people could handle without too far that she couldn¡¯t save them if something went wrong. For Joe and Emma, the best place for them to get experience would likely be the groups of tool wielding zombies in the fifth stage of the dungeon. They were quite a bit higher level, but the lack of magic made them much easier to defend against for Zoe.

    But if her friends were capable of handling the mages on the third level without a fuss, then she¡¯d try the sixth stage earlier than normal. She didn¡¯t think they would, both of them had classes much more suited to physical combat than the spewing of magic, but it was worth a try.

    Going to the sixth stage earlier was a little risky since a group of mages could turn the tides of battle rather quick if she didn¡¯t pay attention, but the payoff was immense. The groups of mages were over level one hundred and people levelled very quick even with Zoe helping when they could manage.

    ¡°This next stage uses magic.¡± Zoe told them as they stood at the threshold of the next zone. ¡°What magic exactly depends on the zombie. Some of them will have enchanted tools, some of them will hurl magical effects at you. Many will do both.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to stay here long since the next stage is higher level and frankly, easier if you¡¯re careful. But if you¡¯re comfortable fighting these then we¡¯ll give the sixth stage a try a little earlier than normal.¡± Zoe explained.

    Joe and Emma both nodded, and they continued up the mountain towards the next stage.

 3-27. An Everlasting Home

    ¡°What the hell!¡± Emma shouted as she leapt to the side of a flaming ball of magic hurled at her by a nearby zombie. ¡°I thought it would be like little baby magic!"

    Zoe laughed. ¡°I told you what they were going to do, though?" She looked at Joe who shook his head.

    ¡°I¡¯m not even gonna try. My classes are fine for bonuses and stats but I really don¡¯t have much combat skills.¡± He said.

    ¡°You two really ought to learn some good general skills. Maybe we can get you two shields.¡± Zoe shook her head as Emma shot off another space arrow from her conjured bow at the zombie she was fighting.

    Emma had seen the fire magic zombie a few minutes earlier and told Zoe to not interfere unless she really had to, and Zoe decided to oblige. She didn¡¯t think her friends would be able to handle the mages very well, neither of them were all that suited to fighting real combat let alone mages. And the extra mana the mages¡¯ attacks carried tore through Emma¡¯s defenses like a knife through warm butter.

    Against the physical attacks, her armour held up wonderfully and even did a great job of dismantling her opponents if she used it just right. But the zombie¡¯s magic washed over her and overwhelmed her mana, leaving dark marks across her body and clothes as the flames burned her.

    The zombie didn¡¯t have the power to take Emma out, not at once anyway. In time if she stood she would die of course, but at such a low level on the mountain Zoe didn¡¯t need to worry about sudden deaths. All she had to do was watch out for any surprises ¡ª more zombies climbing up towards them, or a cry for help from Emma as she ran out of mana or even stamina.

    Joe was even less suited to combat than Emma, but he had a massive pool of health for his level thanks to the Unbroken feat he¡¯d managed to get just a few months earlier. It didn¡¯t look like an enjoyable experience, but he had more than enough health to soak up damage as he worked through his opponent.

    Frankly, Zoe thought the reason Joe wasn¡¯t interested in fighting the mages was more because he didn¡¯t want to suffer through the pain of their magics more than anything else. He¡¯d probably survive just fine if he tried, but Zoe wasn¡¯t one to judge.

    Emma finished up the fight with the zombie and walked over to the tree Joe and Emma were standing under. ¡°And another thing! You didn¡¯t tell us they¡¯d be so much higher level! We¡¯re only level twentyish, why would we fight these? That was level fifty two!¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°You handled it, didn¡¯t you?"

    ¡°Yeah, and it sucked!¡± Emma cried.

    ¡°I told you it would, though. You¡¯re the one who didn¡¯t want help unless you really needed it.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Eugh, I just wanna complain dammit, stop being right.¡± Emma sighed.

    Joe laughed. ¡°Well the next stage is easier, right? Lets head up there.¡±

    ¡°Well, I said it was but it only kinda is. They¡¯re higher levels, and they come in groups. But they¡¯ll be like the first zombies at the bottom, mindlessly swinging their arms at you.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Groups? How many?" Emma asked.

    ¡°As many as you want, really. They usually come in groups of three to five, but I can kill off the extras so you can take one on at a time, or lure more together if you think you can handle it. The main thing isn¡¯t that they¡¯re in groups, it¡¯s that they¡¯re high level and really stupid.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°Right, well as long as they¡¯re not far faster than these ones, I think I could handle a higher level dumb zombie.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Well, lets go see. After them comes the tool wielding zombies, which I think we¡¯ll end up stopping at for a while. And then after them is more mages, which I don¡¯t think either of you are going to want until you have at least another class under your belt.¡± Zoe said.

    The three walked up the mountain while Zoe fired earthen projectiles off at the nearby zombies before they could disturb them.

    ¡°What did the people in Korna wear down in their dungeon anyway?" Emma asked. ¡±I have this weird fantasy of them raiding dungeons half naked as some kind of statement of who they are and that¡¯s probably not right but it is really funny to me.¡°

    ¡°No, some of them did, actually.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Really?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, absolutely. I thought you two would¡¯ve been to Korna at some point, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma shook her head. ¡°Nope, never left Flester. At least not very far, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Most people don¡¯t leave where they¡¯re born here, Zoe. I don¡¯t know what it¡¯s like where you¡¯re from, but travelling is rather dangerous and expensive, with very little benefit anyway.¡± Joe explained.

    ¡°Huh. Yeah I mean I guess back home most people tended to do the same thing, really. But it was pretty common to see people flying around the world. I guess only until about two hundred years ago, though. Before then it was a big deal to go somewhere, I think.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Did you travel much?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Not really. Probably a lot more than you two, I guess. I went to nearby cities all the time, but that¡¯s not really that far away. Probably closer than Korna, I imagine.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they just move together and make a bigger city? If they were already so close?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Politics, I guess. Some people were far enough away that it wouldn¡¯t make sense anyway, but sometimes you would walk through a neighbourhood and one moment you were in one city, and the next you were in another. It was just lines drawn for, I dunno. To just have different groups of citizens to make it easier to manage I guess? Probably for like schools and police or something too, maybe.¡± Zoe shrugged. ¡°Never really thought about it.¡±

    ¡°You had cities that were touching? Like neighbours who wouldn¡¯t be in the same city?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Most cities bordered another city, probably. I mean it¡¯s just like, we had a similar history to how life is here now, kinda. Except that in time Flester grew so big that managing it wasn¡¯t feasible anymore, so it was split up into Flester one and Flester two with their own mayors and guards. I guess. I never cared much for politics and all that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Huh. And you didn¡¯t have any magic there, at all right?" Joe asked.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°I¡¯m less sure of that now, but it wasn¡¯t obvious anyway. Maybe there was some underworld that us mere mortals didn¡¯t know about. But from my perspective back home, magic was trickery. Smoke and mirrors.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to see it one day, if you ever make it back.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take both of you back for a visit if I can, but who knows if I ever can anyway.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    Joe pointed ahead of them at a group of five wandering zombies. ¡°There¡¯s the first group, I guess. Emma takes one and I take one? Zoe you take out the rest for us?"

    Zoe nodded and fired off three projectiles that exploded into ash and frost as they impacted three of the zombies, leaving their bodies to be claimed by the dungeon¡¯s magic. The remaining two looked over at Zoe¡¯s group and charged towards them.

    Joe and Emma split off and both the zombies turned towards Emma. Zoe conjured a wall of earth to split the two zombies up, forcing one of them towards Joe.

    Zoe watched her two friends fight their zombies. Emma was handling herself pretty well against the lone mindless zombie, dancing around it with her space magic while its claws were countered completely by the layer of space mana surrounding her body.

    Joe was getting by a little worse, but managing in his own way. The zombie¡¯s claws slashed across his body as he grimaced from the pain and rammed his short sword into the zombie. He had very little experience with the sword, and Zoe planned to give him some lessons on it at some point. But it was better than punching, and none of his skill were very defensive in nature.

    If he had an inn to defend, that would be great. But out in the wild, many of his skills were left useless. It did give Zoe a bit of an idea though, if she could build an inn up on Moaning Point and lure zombies to it, defending his inn would be both easier and far better for his classes. A bit of an odd method, but different classes called for different solutions.

    Several of the people Zoe took up had taken guardian classes that made them better at defending people, so Zoe had to play the awkward role of being protected while also being the protector. One was a merchant looking to get a powerful class to protect themselves on the road and needed Zoe to set up a small shop on the fifth stage for them to defend.

    Emma finished her fight a few minutes earlier and returned to Zoe to watch Joe finish.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t believe you.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Zoe questioned.

    ¡°Why is this stage easier than the last one?" Emma asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a lodestone dungeon. You¡¯re supposed to be able to train effectively here, according to the system. So find your specialty and sit at it.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°I thought lodestone dungeons progressively got harder, though?" Emma asked.

    ¡°They do.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°But this was easier?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°To you, yeah. They¡¯re higher level here though, and if you were better suited to handling magic then you would have found them harder. Plus you¡¯re supposed to have fought all five at the same time instead of just one, you know?¡± Zoe smirked.

    ¡°Right. I kinda forgot about that, actually.¡± Emma laughed.

    Joe finished his fight with the zombie and struggled for a moment with the black bones that were being claimed by the dungeon before he gave up and walked over to Joe and Emma.

    ¡°You did this for a decade?¡± Joe asked. ¡°You¡¯re insane. This is not fun.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°It¡¯s fun seeing the numbers get bigger, though.¡±

    ¡°Yeah cause yours keep getting bigger even when you reset your damn class.¡± Joe rolled his eyes.

    ¡°True, I guess. But that¡¯s why I enjoy it anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯d be better if I had an inn up here. You think there¡¯s any inns I could buy up here?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Nope, but I think I¡¯m going to build you one.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t even thought of that. Huh.¡± Joe said. ¡°If I had a portable inn of some kind, in a storage item or something then I guess I could wander around and use my skills wherever I wanted, huh?"

    ¡°Maybe, yeah. Worth a shot, anyway. Either way I¡¯ll probably build you one up here, just gotta find out what the bare minimum is. Needs a sink I know that at least.¡± Zoe laughed.

    Joe chuckled. ¡°Yes it does. But a barrel of water counts as a sink anyway, just doesn¡¯t look as nice.¡±

    ¡°Huh, alright. We can get start on that then. We¡¯ll probably go up to the next stage and get you an inn. You okay with that, Emma?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded her head. ¡°Yeah, anything but the mages. Don¡¯t like the mages.¡±

    The next week Joe and Zoe spent building an inn while Emma went off hunting the tool wielding groups of zombies. With her conjured bow she was able to pick them off from the trees rather effectively, and as long as she stayed somewhat nearby she could hop back to Zoe with her space class in a pinch for help.

    Emma only ended up needing to once, and brought a veritable horde of zombies towards the ramshackle inn Zoe and Joe were building. Dozens of zombies wielding sticks and stones, and even a few in full plate armour with hammers and axes charged at them. Zoe made quick work of the horde and scolded Emma for being so careless while Joe laughed at the absurdity of it all.

    When the inn was built, the three sat inside at the single table eating a meal Joe prepared.

    ¡°So lure over some zombies and get them to attack the building?" Emma asked.

    ¡°And I have to stay inside the inn at all times?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup, that¡¯s right.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°How many?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Two groups? Ten to fifteen, around there? Should be fine with more, but I¡¯ve never put these skills to the test like this.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Alright, I can do that.¡± Emma said.

    Emma had made it to level fifty fighting the high level zombies as effectively as she was, but Joe was still stuck at level thirty four due to his disadvantage. The three had agreed that they would all help Joe get some levels under his belt before they started focusing on themselves.

    When Emma returned a few minutes later, she had twelve zombies staggering after her and rushed into the thrown together inn, closing the door behind her. The zombies slammed into the door, and a blue energy met their blows, slamming into their fists and sending them flying back.

    ¡°Damn, that¡¯s impressive.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°It only works if I¡¯m in an inn and there¡¯s an immortal in it, which is not often.¡±

    ¡°But it is now.¡± Zoe said as she watched the next round of zombies slam into the walls of Joe¡¯s inn only to be thrown back by the blue energy that rushed out to meet them. ¡°How long can you keep this up?¡±

    ¡°For a few hours, probably.¡± Joe said. ¡°Drains my mana but as lon as its only a handful of them I should be fine, as long as you¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°And if I wasn¡¯t?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Thirty minutes, maybe?¡± Joe shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a big difference for my class having an immortal being protected by my skills.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense, I guess.¡± Zoe said. ¡°This is going to go a lot quicker than I thought it would then.¡±

    ¡°How long did you expect?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Two years? But I think we¡¯ll get you two a couple nice new classes by the end of the year at this rate. Might even try taking on the boss if we¡¯re lucky.¡± Zoe laughed.

 3-28. Archmagi

    Emma was the first to get her fourth class another week later, and she took a space magic class that gave her an enormous boost to her transportation capabilities. The just over doubled mana and mana regeneration from the class alone was enough to make her mouth water, but it also gave her a lot of space affinity and some other bonuses that helped her out.

    Getting back to Foizo overnight wasn¡¯t quite in the cards, but heading down to Gafoda at a moment¡¯s notice had quickly become a regular part of her routine. As much as she enjoyed exploring the mountain, sleeping in a bed ¡ª even the rather uncomfortable ones in the inns at Gafoda, was much preferred for her than the cold hard dirt up the mountain.

    Joe followed only a short two weeks later as Zoe spent most of her time in his thrown together inn fixing up miscellaneous damages that Joe¡¯s skills weren¡¯t able to prevent. Largely because it wasn¡¯t from external damage but just the wood itself falling apart due to the shoddy craftsmanship.

    He ended up taking the Master Innkeeper class again, with the plan of replacing it with a class called A Traveler¡¯s Keeper which required it as soon as he got to his next level cap. The Master Innkeeper class wasn¡¯t quite as amazing as Emma¡¯s new class but it gave him a fair bit of mana regeneration which let him be a little more aggressive with the number of zombies that were lured to his inn at a time.

    With both of them having their next classes, the three talked about heading up to the groups of mages to try their hands at the much higher levelled zombies. Even the tool wielding zombies were quite a bit higher level than both Joe and Emma ¡ª even combined at times, but the mages were yet another step above. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how experience worked to a tee, but a larger level difference made a massive difference from her testing with both her own levels, and the people she¡¯d been escorting.

    Zoe¡¯s alchemy class had crept up higher and higher early on as she had to help her friends with hordes that were a little too large for them to handle, but as they both climbed up in levels she had less and less to do herself. Part of her wanted to go and get some levels herself to see what the next class selection would offer on an alchemy path, but it didn¡¯t feel right leaving her friends behind when they were relying on her.

    Besides, without Zoe in his inn, Joe was much worse off since he relied on patrons ¡ª and in particular immortal patrons. And what was a year or two of waiting around if it would help her friend out? He¡¯d done more than she could ever repay him for, even if he¡¯d never admit it.

    The groups of mages were handled with far more comfort than Zoe had expected her friends to be capable of. Emma¡¯s new class helped to shore up the weakness she had against the magic the zombies hurled at her, letting her avoid the attacks outright instead of needing to rely on her armour while also making her armour much more efficient if she did take a hit.

    While Joe¡¯s skills just didn¡¯t seem to have the same downside to begin with. The magic simply washed over the Inn Zoe had prepared for him while the two sat inside and chatted about their plans for the future. Joe planned to settle down for a while after the exciting excursion on Moaning Point while Zoe wanted to finish building out the rest of her house back in Foizo. She was left with a gaping hole in the ground after all the work she put in over the last few years ¡ª separated by a stone wall she¡¯d conjured to keep it from feeling like she lived in a construction site. And it excited her to think about filling it in.

    With Foizo becoming more of a town itself, Zoe didn¡¯t have much need for all the rooms she once wanted when she first moved in. What use was there to building a forge when she could walk down the street and visit one far better than what she could build?

    But it would be her forge, her furnace and smeltery, her own private workshop. It wasn¡¯t even about the rooms themselves for her, she just enjoyed the fantasy of it all. A self contained home full of everything she¡¯d need to thrive through the ages.

    The weeks turned to months, as Joe and Emma slaughtered the mindless magic wielding husks and collected hundreds of the small gems that were left behind in their wake. The first hurdle was over, but with both of them now having their fourth classes, their levels began to slow down quite a lot. Where before they often got multiple levels in a single day, now they needed to take often two or even three days for a single level.

    With their progress slowed down, Zoe¡¯s passive experience gain and Patient Decider showed their true power as her levels continued to climb far faster than either of her friends were capable of and even started to catch up again to Emma. But it was an odd feeling for Zoe as she watched the number grow.

    Only nine points per level was difficult to get used to, and that was even after her Transcendent feat added an additional five points to it. Four per level, for a fourth tier class was frankly asinine. That was even worse than her initial starting Earthian class, she¡¯d realized.

    Would it have been better if she took it earlier? The classes that Zoe had taken scaled with the tier, growing stronger with each one. But did apprentice classes work differently? If you took an apprentice class as something other than your first class, were you penalized for it?

    Zoe asked Joe, and he had six points per level for his Apprentice Innkeeper class ¡ª five to choose and one to vitality. He also even had a full doubling to his mana and mana regen for his apprentice class, which Zoe didn¡¯t get all.

    Maybe you got a bonus for taking an apprentice class as your first? Or maybe apprentice alchemist was just much, much worse than an apprentice innkeeper? Zoe wasn¡¯t sure, but whatever the case was it meant that levels were not all too exciting for Zoe. It took three just to get close to what would have been a normal level for her with a better class, and the difference was more and more noticeable as she got closer to level one hundred.

    If it panned out well though, she¡¯d get an improved alchemist class to replace it with soon and maybe even find some new magic she could experiment with. Zoe had Emma use her space magic to train her space resistance up as much as she could, and had managed to reach level twenty five. She had even tried to follow along with the patterns of mana that Emma¡¯s magic caused whenever she did, but it didn¡¯t bare fruit. Even Eliza¡¯s simpler manipulation was too much for Zoe to follow, let alone Emma¡¯s magic with all the extra bits of mana rushing throughout the effects.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Both Joe and Emma had decided to work towards another of the Transcendent feats. Joe already had the vitality feat, while Emma had the dexterity feat. They both wanted the intelligence feat to bolster their mana, and Emma even wanted to commit to the wisdom one for even more mana regeneration. It meant she¡¯d need to loop again just to get the stats required, but the temptation of such a massive increase to her mana was too hard for her to give up on.

    Zoe tried to convince both of them to get all of them so they could unlock the powerful Transcendent feat but neither seemed interested in the time commitment. Their current plans on Moaning Point were already taking up more time than either of them were all that comfortable with, and committing to possibly doubling or even tripling that for some extra stats didn¡¯t appeal to them enough.

    It didn¡¯t make an awful lot of sense for Zoe, especially since their classes tended to be worse than hers and gave fewer stat points so it would be even more impactful. But she wasn¡¯t going to push them for it if they weren¡¯t comfortable with it.

    Emma was the first to get her new feat, unlocking Archmage at level ninety seven and just as soon resetting her class back down to sixty three. Joe followed a month later, unlocking the same feat at level one hundred three, but didn¡¯t reset his class. The rest of his stat points he committed to putting into Wisdom both to help with powering his inn¡¯s defenses and in the off chance that his class cap would be far enough away that he¡¯d manage to get the second feat anyway.

    It was a fun time for Zoe, she found. Exploring Moaning Point was something she¡¯d done for so long and even something she¡¯d taken many people up the mountain in a similar fashion. But doing it with her friends was so much more enjoyable. They spent time together every day to enjoy dinner and chat about their progress ¡ª and Zoe trusted Emma enough to allow her to run off on her own without needing to worry about the responsibility she¡¯d been saddled with.

    The temptation to switch out her skills and toy around with her new manipulation skills that she still hadn¡¯t found the opportunity to play with grew as the three fell into a comfortable routine. Zoe just didn¡¯t need to do all that much, since Emma and Joe worked great as a team anyway.

    As long as Zoe was in Joe¡¯s inn then Emma could teleport around the mountain and drag hordes of zombies back that she and Zoe could take out from the safety of his inn. Zoe¡¯s only job was to be an immortal patron who sat around and did nothing too terribly important.

    But she decided against it. Both Joe and Emma had talked often about wanting to clear Moaning Point before they left and Zoe wanted to be in the best shape she could be to make sure nothing terrible happened.

    A few days later, Zoe noticed her level stagnating at level ninety four and focused on her class selections as zombies pounded against Joe¡¯s inn.

    There were many new classes she¡¯d never seen before, with the majority of the classes being different variants of Alchemist. There were an abundance of time aligned alchemist classes that seemed quite powerful, but Zoe wrote them off. Controlling the speed of reactions sounded interesting, but even though Zoe had an alchemy class she still so rarely ended up doing any real alchemy.

    With some of her spare time, she brewed up concoctions that spurred her interest as she found ingredients around the mountain. But for the most part, the class was a vehicle through which to discover new things about the system. To see new effects and skills she¡¯d never see without stepping out of her comfort zone.

    There was just one class that stood out to her as better than all the others, however. And Zoe immediately knew it was the right one as she saw it.

    [Apprentice Space Mage] An apprentice of magic, learning from a master of space or perhaps peering into the fabric itself. Increased magic power. Increased ability to learn new space magics.

    Requirements: 25 intelligence, has learned from a wielder of space magic.

    Zoe almost rolled her eyes at how simple it was and found herself more than a little frustrated that Eliza didn¡¯t qualify as a wielder of space magic. What made Emma different to Eliza? Was it just that she had a space aligned class, rather than a simple skill? Was a wielder of space magic somebody who had space affinity, rather than a space skill, or was there something else to it?

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Apprentice Space Mage class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Apprentice Space Mage: Gain seven stat points and two intelligence for each level in this class.

    - Eager Learner: Gain increased experience when learning from those with more experience.

    - Spacial Warp: All space aligned effects are boosted by 100%.

    Available Skills:

    - Space Affinity: Increased Mana affinity

    - Spell Creation: Form spells to create magical effects.

    - Mana Manipulation: Manipulate the raw mana of the world to your will.

    - Spacial Grasp: Force the fabric of space to grasp objects from afar and move them to your will.

    - Storage: Store objects.

    - A Cleanly Space: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

    The skill selection was once again rather easy with the class only having five skills if she didn¡¯t count the Mana Manipulation skill, but rather underwhelming. Zoe wanted to teleport around, to hop from place to place like an excited rabbit around a comfortable home. More than anything, she hoped for Space Manipulation so she could at last start to wrap her head around whatever was going on with the mana in spacial magic.

    Her first test was to try and store something in her new Storage skill and she started with the sleeping bag she had in one of her purple bracelets. The skill pulled at her mana, but the bag remained in her hand. Zoe tried again with several smaller objects but nothing happened until she tried storing a copper coin which vanished into her soul.

    Which was quite the odd feeling, Zoe found. With the storage items themselves, the space wasn¡¯t connected to her. But with her skill, it very much so was. With the coin in her Storage skill, she could feel it when she tried, like searching for a skill to enchant with or disable. It was just there, within her soul, and with a thought she could pull it out.

    Spell Creation still confused Zoe as she could feel the presence of something within her, but still no clue how it could be used. Spacial Grasp on the other hand became one of her favourite skills the moment she first tried it. The skill was weak, only capable of moving around a handful of coins or knocking over a chair at its low level. But watching the world move as she reached through the fabric of space itself with her mind was an intoxicating feeling that Zoe couldn¡¯t wait to improve on with a better class.

 3-29. Radiance

    Zoe and her two friends spent the next nine months up near the top of Moaning Point fighting the hordes of mages that were dragged to Joe¡¯s inn. By the end of their excursion, the inn had become something even rather comfortable. The walls didn¡¯t let in as much wind, the chairs and tables didn¡¯t creak as they sat in them. Emma had even brought up beds from Gafoda so they both had a comfortable place to sleep up in the sixth stage of Moaning Point.

    An odd thing Zoe had found from her time escorting people on the mountain was the dungeon¡¯s ceaseless destruction of anything she built on it. As they climbed higher up the mountain, the dense mana that filled the dungeon ate into the buildings and wore them down. Wood rotted far faster than she¡¯d expect it to, while the wind and rain that buffeted her buildings broke them down in a matter of weeks rather than months or even years.

    But Zoe had very little to do as she sat in Joe¡¯s inn and keeping everything repaired and as nice as she could was great experience for her Carpentry skill. As well as some of her new space skills, as she used them to help hold planks of wood or hammer in nails.

    Her Storage skill had grown quite a lot, reaching level ninety nine and to Zoe¡¯s best estimation around a three quarters of a bag worth of storage. But the most interesting skill for Zoe was Spell Creation. It was a tricky skill to use, but so much more versatile than she ever could have imagined.

    What it was, at its core, was unlimited magic. If she wanted to teleport, she could learn or even make a spell to do so. If she wanted to summon down meteors that devastated mountains, there was probably a spell for it. So far, she¡¯d learned nothing quite so grand, but it was obvious when she used the skill that the only limitation to the skill was her own mana and whether she could learn the spell itself.

    It was similar to trying to learn a new general skill, but markedly easier. Or it would be, if she had as much experience with the skill as she did with learning elemental general skills. As long as she focused on the skill and forced mana to coalesce in specific forms, magic would form. There was no ambiguity to it once she found one, no tricky mana confusing her senses. Just a simple spell forced through her skill, and the world responded.

    All she had managed after nine months however were three spells, one of which hardly counted since it so closely resembled her Spacial Grasp spell. Another was a light ray that Zoe stumbled on quite early as she played with the skill, the power behind it wasn¡¯t all too strong but if she kept it active for a while it managed to burn through wood or the odd zombie arm.

    And the final spell was a cleaning spell, which had Zoe questioning her already existing cleaning skills. Did she really need them? She used them quite often, even multiple times most days. Without a doubt, they were some of her favourite skills and whenever she had to go without them she felt as though she were covered in sticky sludge.

    But did she need them as class skills, she wondered? Or would it be possible to replicate a similar thing as a general skill, instead? Both of her new manipulation skills were off the table for her to play with until she was done with her Moaning Point excursion with her friends.

    But there was no sacrifice being made for her cleaning skill ¡ª she already had it. And for that matter, what was the nature of any of the skills she had? Were any of her class skills truly necessary to be able to achieve similar feats? With practice, could she force an Enchanted Mirror into her soul even without the class? Could she warp the mana around her in such a way that she¡¯d mimic the effect of Alacrity even without the skill?

    Did the system do anything that she couldn¡¯t do? The manipulation skills were often simple enough for her to get, but was there anything special about them? What was the difference between a Fire Manipulation skill and a Restoration skill?

    Maybe the system wouldn¡¯t reward her with a Restoration general skill, maybe certain skills had specific classes they could be available to. But did that mean she couldn¡¯t replicate the effect without the system, even if it didn¡¯t reward her with a skill for it? Would there be any benefit to doing that?

    Some skills didn¡¯t make sense as general skills to Zoe, even if the system didn¡¯t restrict them to classes. The affinities in particular seemed like they were multipliers in the system, rather than anything that really affected her. And perhaps even something like Enchanted Mirror where it so deeply affected her soul were out of reach.

    But a cleaning skill? Whoever made the system was obsessed with cleanliness, that much was clear to Zoe. Every class she¡¯d taken, every class she¡¯d ever heard about had a cleaning skill. They all had different names, but always the same description and effect.

    Cleaning was a core part of life to the system¡¯s creator, so why wouldn¡¯t it be a general skill? Why wouldn¡¯t it just be a default skill in her racial class?

    Zoe turned her attention for the last few months on Moaning Point to her A Cleanly Space skill, watching the mana wash out from her to scrub away grime. She¡¯d never paid much attention to the mana patterns when somebody used one of the skills, the mana seemed so quiet and subdued throughout the effect that it just didn¡¯t scream out as being important to her.

    But she pored over every little detail of the mana whenever she had time, whenever Emma was out hunting and Joe was busy taking a more active part in defending his inn. She watched the mana scrape away the oils left behind from her hands, the dirt left from Joe¡¯s shoes as he retreated back inside.

    It was beautiful Zoe found, the mana so quiet and soft but with so much power behind it as it plowed through grime. The mana patterns weren¡¯t as complicated as the Time or Elemental Manipulation skills Zoe had, but it was a step between the more simple manipulation skills and the complicated ones.

    Just before the end of their nine month long stay on the sixth stage of Moaning Point, Zoe had managed to clean away a speck of dirt from the bottom of her shoe. The mana twisted and warped around her shoe, gently crushing the dirt to dust and even further to the raw mana that filled the universe.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Magical Scouring skill.

    The description was as Zoe imagined and she wasn¡¯t quite sure what she expected when she checked it. Remove dirt and grime from objects, of course. What else would it be?

    Magical Scouring worked just the same as every other cleaning skill she¡¯d ever had, but with the very welcome change of it not taking up one of her class skills. Not something that was useful to her now with the apprentice space mage, but all three were hoping to reach their caps soon and would see some welcome improvements.

    Zoe and Emma were both at level one twenty seven while Joe was a ways above them at one forty eight since he hadn¡¯t reset his class. Both Emma and Joe had managed to grab the wisdom feat ¡ª Endless, rather recently and it helped them both out immensely.

    Joe¡¯s mana wasn¡¯t quite on the same level of Zoe¡¯s but as long as Zoe was inside his inn, no horde of zombie mages managed to faze him. Their magic washed over his inn and his magic responded in kind far stronger than they could handle. Even without Zoe in his inn, he could hold his own against a sizable group for a while with the doubled mana regeneration it gave him.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    His level was almost triple what his previous level cap was at fifty six ¡ª he still had almost twenty levels until he reached the hard maximum but if he was lucky, it would be much sooner. He already knew what class he¡¯d be taking, too and was excited to try it out. It was the alternative he was debating between when he took An Everlasting Home and he was looking forward to getting both.

    Emma on the other hand was giddy with excitement when she got the feat. Doubling her mana regeneration was no different to doubling her speed at this point, letting her warp around the mountain without a care as her mana topped up twice as quick. Her plan for her next class was some variant of space mage, whichever seemed strongest. She planned to take every class that looked tempting and settle on whichever one gave her the most mana to play with.

    With her previous cap being sixty three however, she¡¯d only just reached the earliest her current cap could be. But she had a bit of a na?ve hope that it would be a very low level and she¡¯d be able to grab a powerful upgrade soon.

    Zoe was the first to see her level stagnate at level one thirty, and looked through her class list as soon as she noticed. There were many classes that interested her, powerful variants of space mages and even archmage variants with different elements that required an existing mage class.

    But there were only two that really stood out to Zoe.

    [Space Archmage] A master of space, pursuing mystical might above all else. Twisting and bending the fabric of space to suit their needs.

    Requirements: Has a Space aligned Mage class, has the Archmage feat.

    [Cosmic Mystic] A being outside the rules of the cosmos. Space and Time are mere foundations to be sculpted and moulded to their vision.

    Requirements: Has the Space Affinity skill, has the Time Affinity skill, has the Transcendent feat, Has the Patient Decider feat, Has been blessed by a being from another realm, Has travelled to another realm

    If Zoe were looking at her options even just two years earlier, Space Archmage wouldn¡¯t have even been an option. Cosmic Mystic was far superior in every respect. Higher requirements, more diverse magic. There was no competition.

    And if she were being honest, it was hard to take the idea of Space Archmage seriously even now for her, but she felt she needed to at least entertain the idea. Her ultimate goal was to get the Cosmos general skill, which Cosmic Mystic would probably do for her far quicker than any other options. There wasn¡¯t much purpose to her obsession with it anymore ¡ª Emma had attained immortality in her own way, if she just took the class before she got too old. And Joe had surprised both of them by getting it on his own through one of his classes.

    She didn¡¯t need cosmos, and even if she got the skill she wouldn¡¯t be able to just hand it out like a piece of candy. Even to Zoe who had years of experience studying mana and breaking apart the patterns to mimic them for herself, just the space skill alone was beyond her comprehension. Let alone the far more complicated cosmos skill.

    Space Archmage gave her what she wanted in the interim, powerful space magic that would let her build up to Cosmos in her own way. But Cosmic Mystic handed her the end result on a silver platter.

    Zoe laughed. At the end of the day, there was no argument she could make for Space Archmage. The class would be there in the future if she ever wanted it, or if it wasn¡¯t then something else like it would be. But Cosmic Mystic was in its own class of power, and the regret Zoe would feel if she knew she left it on the table because of some na?ve obsession over not taking the strongest would be great.

    She pushed the system to give her the Cosmic Mystic class and as soon as she did, the world went dark as pain wracked through her. System messages flooded her vision, but she couldn¡¯t read them through the pain and within moments of taking the class, lost consciousness.

    The next thing she knew, she was being woken up by Joe, lying in a puddle of sweat on the floor of his inn.

    ¡°Joe?" Zoe spat out. Her body was sore, every hair on her body stinging with pain.

    Joe took a deep breath and sighed as he leaned back on the floor. He and Emma were both kneeling next to Zoe with panicked looks on their faces.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Mm,¡± Zoe groaned as she looked around. Everything looked so odd, like somebody had smudged grease all over her vision and then ran it through a fisheye lens filter.

    ¡°Zoe?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Eugh. Shush.¡± Zoe¡¯s head fell to the floor and she closed her eyes. Everything felt so heavy, every movement as though she were dragging a bag of rocks behind her.

    Joe and Emma both nodded, Zoe knew. Her eyes were closed yet their actions were visible to her as clear as day. The entire inn was, Zoe realized. Every chair, every grain in the wood. Even the dirt just outside the inn¡¯s walls and the green grass that stretched up to meet the sun¡¯s rays and waved in the gentle wind.

    Zoe laid on the floor for a few hours as she grew accustomed to the changes and then looked through the notifications she couldn¡¯t read earlier.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Cosmic Mystic class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Cosmic Mystic: Gain fifty stat points for each level in this class.

    - Cosmic Vision: View the world around you.

    -- One With The Cosmos: You gain experience through the passage of time and space.

    - Cosmic Well: Health, Stamina and Mana capacity are increased by 350%.

    - Cosmic Mastery: All Cosmos aligned effects are boosted by 450%.

    Available Skills:

    - Cosmos Affinity: Increased Mana affinity

    - Spell Creation: Form spells to create magical effects.

    - Cosmos Manipulation: Manipulate the cosmos with your will.

    - Cosmic Armour: Wreath yourself in the power of the cosmos.

    - Cosmic Rift: Rend apart the cosmos with your mana.

    - Cosmic Step: Travel the cosmos.

    - Cosmic Familiar: Summon a being from the cosmos to perform simple tasks.

    - Storage: Store objects.

    - Cosmic Radiance: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

 3-30. Cosmic Mystic

    Zoe continued lying on the floor, watching her friends look at her with worried expressions on their faces. She couldn¡¯t see herself, which was odd to her. Everything else was clear as day, each bug crawling through the rotting wood and every piece of dust that clung to the tables. But where she was, there was a void. Nothing.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡± She said.

    ¡°What happened?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I got a new class.¡± Zoe answered.

    Both of her friends groaned. ¡°Oh thank goodness.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°How long was I out?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Little under a day?¡± Joe looked at Emma.

    She nodded. ¡°About that I think, yeah. I wasn¡¯t around when you collapsed but I think it was yesterday. The days all blend together up here.¡±

    Zoe laid in silence for a moment before she spoke. ¡°I was out for an entire day?"

    Her friends both nodded.

    Zoe let out an annoyed sigh. ¡°New rule then. No taking new classes without being somewhere safe then.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen somebody get knocked out for that long other than when they take their first class.¡± Joe said. ¡°What was it?"

    ¡°Cosmic Mystic.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Is it good?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe tried to nod her head but her neck struggled to move. ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯m gonna sleep a bit longer. Is that okay?"

    ¡°Of course.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe drifted off to sleep moments later and dreamt of her hometown. Of sitting on the awful red couch her mother inherited, with her pet bunny flopping next to her begging for pets on his head. The television was on, playing some movie that Zoe felt like she hated, but was little more than frantic scribbles and static. The screen grew as she stared at it, filling the room with the awful static and Zoe with a sense of underlying dread.

    And then she woke up on her bed in Joe¡¯s inn. They weren¡¯t the greatest beds, but it was much more comfortable than the rotting wood floors with cushions stuffed full of straw and furs.

    Zoe stretched out on the bed and yawned. Her muscles felt sluggish, and as she stretched her foot out at the end of the bed, her calf cramped. She groaned and tried to wave her foot around in whichever way hurt the less until her muscles let up, and then got out of bed.

    Her eyelids were heavy, her chin felt a little sore and her back felt like it had tiny little pins pricking into it everywhere that the straw was pinching. She stretched again as she stood up and rubbed the back of her neck before she rubbed all the crusty rheum out of her eyes.

    She tried opening her eyes for a moment, but was overwhelmed with what she could see and closed them again. Her perception ability was enough for now.

    Joe was just outside her room, sitting at the one remaining table that had survived the dungeon¡¯s rotting grasp. Emma was nowhere to be seen to Zoe¡¯s new vision, either off hunting on her own or perhaps just beyond the what seemed to be about two and a half meter reach of her new class¡¯s effect.

    Zoe walked out of her room and Joe looked over as soon as the door opened. ¡°Hey, you good?"

    ¡°Yeah. Where¡¯s Emma at? I bet she¡¯s gonna wanna know what¡¯s up with my new class too.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s luring over some more zombies for me right now. She reached her cap three days ago and has been a big help for me since.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe identified her friend ¡ª glad it worked through her new sense, level one fifty three. It wouldn¡¯t be long before he reached the maximum his next cap even could be, and then their little Moaning Point adventure would be over. She felt a little sad at the thought, but excited at what it meant. All of the responsibility that it came with would be off her shoulders at last, and she¡¯d be free to do whatever she wanted for a while. And she intended to take quite a bit of time to herself.

    ¡°Right. How long did I sleep this time?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°A week, almost to the hour actually. I think it¡¯s early afternoon right now.¡± Joe looked out one of the holes in his walls. ¡°So almost exactly a week.¡±

    Zoe nodded and sat down next to him to wait for Emma to show up, and it didn¡¯t take long. A few minutes later, Emma appeared inside Joe¡¯s inn and her face lit up with a bright smile when she saw Zoe.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake!¡± Emma hugged Zoe.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Zoe hugged her back. ¡°Wanna learn about my new class?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I so do! But after Joe handles this swarm.¡± Emma said.

    Moments later, the first zombie entered Zoe¡¯s vision ¡ª or rather the magic from the first zombie. A fibrous ball of grass and dirt launched at Joe¡¯s inn splattered against the walls and blue energy rocketed out to return. Dozens of zombies followed shortly after with sticks and stones covered in various magical effects and pounded on the walls, each swing causing another bolt of blue energy to fly out of Joe¡¯s inn and smash into their bodies.

    In minutes, the swarm was quieted. Zoe had no idea how many zombies were taken out at range since her perception didn¡¯t reach that far, but of the ones she could see there were already too many to count.

    ¡°You two were doing this while I was passed out?¡± Zoe raised an eyebrow.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°My class can handle it as long as you¡¯re inside, and you weren¡¯t leaving in that state anyway.¡±

    ¡°Worst case I could just take my immortal class again too.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Fine, fine. It would have been a waste of time anyway, just seems so out of character for you two.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ve enjoyed this more than I thought I would, honestly. Thanks, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°I enjoyed this just as much as I thought I would. Which is a lot. I¡¯m gonna have to do something for Peter and Lauren when we get back.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m glad, then. Think you¡¯ll go exploring more dungeons, Joe?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± He said.

    ¡°Really?" Zoe asked.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Not like you though. It could be nice to travel around someday with a portable inn and set up inside dungeons so people could have a place to rest. Maybe. I think after this I¡¯m gonna be happy to get back to the slow life in Foizo though.¡± Joe explained.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Enough of that, what¡¯s the new class that knocked you out for a week and why aren¡¯t you opening your eyes?¡± Emma pestered Zoe.

    ¡°Cosmic Mystic, and it gives me a new thing called Cosmic Vision which is.¡± Zoe paused. ¡°A lot.¡±

    ¡°A lot?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe explained everything she knew about her class so far. The strange blurry vision she had through her eyes, her new vision that surrounded her and all the skill options she had.

    ¡°How many skill slots do you get?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Five,¡± Zoe said after she checked.

    ¡°That¡¯s too bad. There¡¯s six you¡¯re going to end up wanting.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Six?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Well you¡¯re going to get Cosmos as a general skill at some point if I know you, so Cosmos Manipulation isn¡¯t a real choice. Spell Creation you can get in other classes so it¡¯s a bit of a waste to get it here. The class doesn¡¯t even say you¡¯re better at learning Cosmos spells so there¡¯s really no point at all. And then radiance is worthless to you now. That leaves six.¡± Joe explained.

    ¡°Why are you counting Storage as one that I would want? I could just take another class and get that, too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably a lot stronger in this class.¡± Joe answered.

    ¡°Then wouldn¡¯t that apply to Spell Creation?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Ah. Good point.¡± Joe responded.

    ¡°Who caaaares,¡± Emma groaned. ¡°Try them all! Come on!¡±

    Zoe laughed. The first skill she tried was Storage, which was only slightly better than the one she had in her Apprentice Space Mage class. Perhaps a good thing since it made her skill selection much simpler than it could have been if it was far better. Though, Zoe wondered what it would take to get a Storage skill that was large enough to be worth caring about.

    Next, Zoe tried her Cosmic Familiar skill which excited her a little. A minion she could control sounded like just the kind of thing for a lazy immortal wasting their years away, if she ever wanted to play that role. Which now that she thought about it, she probably already was.

    She pushed mana into the skill and was shocked at how much it pulled. With the Cosmic Mystic¡¯s massive bonus to her mana capacity, she had just over one hundred thousand mana with several thousand regenerated every second. And even still, using the skill took just over two minutes with mana rushing form her body and coalescing in front of her into a dense blob of mana.

    When the skill was finished, the mana shuddered, and a twisting purple shape was left in its place. It was a circle but also a triangle, but used to be a square and will soon be a pentagon. And yet, all at the same time and in the same space.

    ¡°Woah, that¡¯s freaky.¡± Emma said. ¡°It¡¯s so many things, and I feel like I remember seeing it be something else in the future?¡±

    ¡°Yeah that is very odd to look at. What can it do?" Joe asked.

    Zoe focused on the skill, she felt a connection to the shape in her soul, but there were no levers to pull on. No buttons or switches to interact with it, just an open connection reaching into her being. She pushed the thought of opening the inn door to it and the shape drifted through the air, passing through the tables and chairs on the route to it and then opened the door.

    ¡°Anything I tell it to do, I think?" Zoe wondered aloud.

    ¡°Can it fight? If I go get a zombie, could it kill it?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Go try.¡±

    Emma vanished and returned a minute later. ¡°Okay, zombie coming from that way.¡± She pointed off to Zoe¡¯s right.

    Zoe waited for the zombie to enter her vision and then commanded the shape to kill it. The shape drifted across Joe¡¯s inn and passed through the walls and then tried to attack the zombie, but was rather ineffective in its attempts. It was capable of shoving the zombie around and even blocking some of its attacks, but the mana that made up its body dissipated with each hit and the shape fell apart soon after.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem viable.¡± Zoe said. ¡°But, this is a good opportunity to try the rift skill.¡±

    Zoe focused on the zombie outside swinging its flaming blade at Joe¡¯s inn and pushed mana into the skill. Thirty thousand mana drained from Zoe as reality warped, slicing the zombie in half and then returned to normal. Its bisected body fell to the ground and the dungeon claimed back what belonged to it.

    ¡°Rift seems good. Very mana hungry, but good. I could have killed the zombie with like probably a thousand mana using other skills, and that took about thirty thousand. But it worked.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Thirty thousand! Jeeeez. I wish I could throw that much around like its nothing.¡± Emma said.

    Joe laughed. ¡°Get better classes, then.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna as soon as you reach your cap old man.¡± Emma shot back.

    Joe rolled his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re not so young yourself you know?¡±

    ¡°Bah. I¡¯m young in spirit. Not even fifty yet.¡± Emma laughed. ¡°What next?" She asked Zoe.

    Cosmic Armour was Zoe¡¯s next test, which was an interesting skill. It covered her in the same purple strangeness that made up her familiar, twisting shapes that didn¡¯t seem to belong in time. Neither of her friends wanted to try touching it, but when Emma fired an arrow at it the arrow just vanished. It didn¡¯t pass through her to the other side, it didn¡¯t get shot out at some strange angle. It just vanished, along with five thousand of Zoe¡¯s mana.

    Until a few minutes later when the arrow appeared on the floor behind Zoe like it had been sitting there all along.

    ¡°Okay. Weird skill. Suuuuper weird skill.¡± Emma said, and Zoe shut the skill off.

    Next was Cosmos Manipulation which Zoe struggled to understand. She could create and move the strange purple shapes around but at least to her initial understanding, they seemed about as useful as her familiar but without the automation. It would take some practice and a lot of learning to understand what the cosmos were capable of.

    And last was Cosmic Step, which Zoe was most excited for. She took the skill and was taken aback at the amount of information it fed her when she focused on it. Zoe focused on a spot just outside Joe¡¯s inn and in a moment arrived right where she was looking. She looked back inside at her somewhat confused looking friends and teleported back inside.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s super cool.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it though!¡± Emma shouted back. ¡°Teleporting is the best!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it is,¡± Joe rolled his eyes. ¡°But why teleport when you can stay inside forever?"

    ¡°Is it just teleporting, though?" Emma asked. ¡±Or is it weird timey wimey stuff too?"

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Zoe focused on her skill and tried to push it to the past, but nothing happened. She tried again but pushing it to the future and another sixty thousand mana was ripped from her, and her friends moved around. Emma was standing at the door while Joe was looking out a hole in the back of the inn.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Zoe asked.

    Her two friends looked back at her. ¡°Where¡¯d you go?" Emma asked.

    ¡°The future? How long was I gone?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Twenty seconds? Maybe thirty?" Joe said.

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s really bad on mana, but I guess I can travel to the future. Can¡¯t come back though, I don¡¯t think.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Can you do both? Could you teleport outside and also a few seconds into the future?" Emma asked.

    Zoe focused on a spot just outside the door, right behind Emma as she looked back inside and pushed mana into the skill. She teleported outside with Emma staring right at her with a wide grin on her face.

    ¡°Hah!¡± Emma laughed. ¡°Knew it!"

    Zoe rolled her eyes behind her eyelids. ¡°Alright, lets get you two your new classes and head home. I¡¯ll need to get used to my new vision too, I guess. Or I could keep my eyes closed forever.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°We wanna clear the mountain before we leave, we decided.¡± Emma said.

    Joe nodded.

 3-31. Spiteful Cur

    The hardest part of her new class was the new sense granted to her eyes. Whenever she opened them, she was overcome with nausea from all the information thrust at her from her new class. Like staring into a washing machine as it ran with foamy water churning round and round, but for everything she looked at. The world looked a mess, and Zoe was glad for the new sense her class gave her that at least let her see the world around her even with her eyes closed.

    But with time, Zoe managed to acclimate to it. As with her Mana Sight, the new information seemed to be in addition to her normal sight rather than a replacement to it. It was just much more zealous in its approach, and letting the sense fall away as she saw the world as she was used to was a bigger task than she had expected.

    When she first got her mana sight, seeing through it was little more than a small step to overcome. It was almost second nature, somehow. And even for the new perception she had outside of her vision, using it was as simple as breathing for her. But seeing through the churning mess of information her eyes gave her was intense.

    Joe reached his cap very soon at one fifty four, but both he and Emma were waiting to enjoy their new classes until Zoe had settled in to the power she was given.

    By the end of the first week with her class, Zoe managed to be able to keep her balance even with her eyes open, with only a hint of nausea creeping in as she saw the churning mass of reality. By the end of the second week, Zoe was even beginning to piece apart what all she was able to see.

    Part of the tangled mess was the future, or at least something resembling the future. Leaves that waved to and fro in the wind looked like colourful splotches as Zoe saw their next few moments as clear as the present. But another part of it was simply things that were very far away. Glimpses of Gafoda at the bottom of the mountain, or the rowdy group sitting up at the bench near the top of Moaning Point. The Abomination trapped in a new hole carved out of the rocky cliffs in the tier just above Zoe.

    Zoe thought she understood Emma¡¯s hesitation to explain her new vision when she took her space class back in Zoe¡¯s cave. At times the glimpses of distant locations seemed so close ¡ª Zoe knew Gafoda was far away of course, but sometimes it looked as though it was just beyond the door to Joe¡¯s inn. How could you describe what blue looked like to somebody who¡¯d never seen the colour? What a fart sounded like to somebody who had never been able to hear?

    Nothing Zoe could think of did it justice. It wasn¡¯t just that things looked close, but that to Zoe there wasn¡¯t a difference. Gafoda was at the bottom of Moaning Point, but in those moments the bottom of Moaning Point truly was just outside Joe¡¯s inn.

    Unlike with Emma¡¯s class however, Zoe wasn¡¯t able to step through space just by seeing the places nearby. Which made Zoe think that Emma saw things a little differently ¡ª even accounting for the odd time vision that Zoe had due to her cosmic affinity rather than simple space affinity. What would the world look like to somebody who could walk two steps and end up at the bottom of a mountain simply because that truly was how close the bottom was?

    But, at the same time Emma didn¡¯t have a dedicated teleportation skill ¡ª she only had her class effect to do the same thing and while it was powerful, Zoe¡¯s skill had its own benefits too. Emma¡¯s class relied on her vision ¡ª if she ever lost her eyes or even just had them closed then her mobility was hampered. Space wasn¡¯t truly shifted for her, it just looked like it was and her class pulled up the slack.

    Zoe¡¯s didn¡¯t have the same restrictions, though it did have others. First, Zoe wasn¡¯t able to teleport to the past. No matter what she tried, no matter how little time she tried to move, travelling to the past just didn¡¯t seem possible for her skill. It didn¡¯t try to draw mana and fail to gather enough, it didn¡¯t move her without any time travel. It just outright didn¡¯t activate if she tried to push herself to the past.

    Second, while she didn¡¯t require sight to be able to teleport, it did help a lot. Without sight, she needed to give the spell very specific instructions on the distances moved. And while her new class did give her some innate understanding of distances, it was a bit of a catch-22. If Zoe could see a tree in the distance, she could tell her skill exactly how far she needed to teleport to arrive there. But if Zoe could see a tree in the distance, she could also just teleport to the tree, since she could see it.

    Giving the skill a distance was only relevant if she couldn¡¯t see where she was teleporting to, which made it much harder. Zoe tried teleporting into a tree at one point, just to see what would happen if she messed up and found the results terrifying. She teleported herself in the path of a tree so that the tips of her fingers would intersect with the trees bark, and rather than being pushed out like she hoped the skill simply left the tips of her fingers behind.

    Part of her, after she calmed down, wondered what would happen if she tried to teleport her entire self into the center of the tree. If her fingers were left behind, then would her entire body be left behind and it would fail? But Zoe never acted on the thought, it was just an invasive thought like one would have when they stood at the top of a cliff far above the choppy ocean waves.

    By the end of the third week with her new class, Zoe had begun to feel comfortable with her new vision. The confusing mess that it fed her began to fade to the background when she didn¡¯t want it, and she had even begun trying to take advantage of the information too.

    For teleportation, it was indispensable. Gafoda was far beyond her normal vision, but if she peered through the fabric of space then she could see the gates clearly and give her skill a proper focus to teleport to. In a moment, she could appear down at the bottom of Moaning Point for the low cost of just over a hundred thousand mana.

    For fighting, the vision seemed rather pointless. Living ¡ª or undead for that matter, creatures didn¡¯t seem to be very accurate to her future sight. Not that her future sight let her see even a second into the future in the first place. But while leaves that floated in the wind were clear to her, Emma¡¯s movements looked like a sloppy smear in her vision as the endless possibilities overlapped each other.

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    It made for a neat party trick, where Zoe could tell the outcome of something rather deterministic ¡ª even if normally calculating the outcome that quick would be impossible. Like flipping a coin and seeing it land heads a moment before it does or placing her hand in the path of a leaf that was about to be blown aside by a sudden gust of wind.

    But as soon as a consciousness was brought into the equation, as soon as her vision needed to guess at what something might end up doing, it may as well have been useless clutter. If anything Zoe wished she could disable the effect for anything that wasn¡¯t deterministic in nature, but while she was able to disable the effect entirely she couldn¡¯t separate it out like that. And the benefits outweighed the cons after she got acquainted with the skill.

    Emma was the first to take her new class, and ended up taking the Space Archmage class. From Emma¡¯s description it seemed like a carbon copy of the Archmage class Zoe checked out but with some fanciful space additions.

    Rather than just Mana Sight, it gave her a combined space and mana sight which seemed rather redundant with her previous space hunter class effect, though without the ability to travel through space with it. Several of the skills were slightly altered to be more in line with the class¡¯ space theme and it had an additional Teleportation skill available.

    The class gave Emma more than a little pause after she grabbed it, many of its features were already given to her by her previous class ¡ª and the spacial mage class she took may as well be entirely redundant with the class. It was powerful, and well worth it just for the bonuses it provided alone. Doubling her magical power, quadrupling her mana capacity along with twenty five stat points plus three intelligence per level was enough to be worth keeping, let alone the skills.

    But Emma seemed intent on one day in the distant future trying to loop again and get a handful of classes that worked better with each other.

    Joe on the other hand was ecstatic with his pick. He took the A Traveler¡¯s Keeper class and was enjoying the benefits quite a lot. It gave quite a few bonuses to his inn¡¯s defensive abilities ¡ª though nothing offensive like with his An Everlasting Inn class, and the bonuses it gave to his cooking abilities were noticed by both Emma and Zoe immediately. His food tasted far better and the buffs he was capable of giving his food were both more varied and much more powerful as a result.

    He could triple all regeneration for up to eight hours ¡ª or quadruple it for one hour, or he could give a straight magical power buff that Zoe wasn¡¯t quite sure how to measure but enjoyed nevertheless. Emma¡¯s regeneration with Joe¡¯s buff was even almost half of Zoe¡¯s without it, though if Zoe also ate breakfast as she often did, then Emma was left in the dust even with Zoe¡¯s mediocre fourth class.

    The three stood at the top of Moaning Point next to the bell that stood just outside the shimmering barrier to the boss fight as they waited for the last group to finish.

    ¡°So you¡¯re not gonna do anything, right?" Emma asked. ¡±Just gonna put together the inn Joe gave you while we fight off the zombies, and then wait inside?¡°

    The two had fought the Abomination a number of times while Zoe was getting used to her new senses, and Joe ended up with a rather peculiar fighting style. He designed an inn that he could throw together from components quickly and manufactured several sets of it so he could throw up a popup inn on demand and not feel too bad about it rotting away to the dungeon¡¯s grasp.

    He gave Zoe one set and her job would be to put together the inn for Joe and then plant herself inside of it so his skills could be used to the best of their effect. If things went wrong, then Zoe would step in to keep them safe. But according to Joe, ¡°It would be a shame to come all the way to Moaning Point and not even give it a try.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll just put the inn together and then wait. I really don¡¯t know how well that strategy will work though.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma rolled her eyes. ¡°We already told you. Step one is I teleport behind the summoner and kill it. Step two is we retreat into Joe¡¯s inn to clear out the remnants. It¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Zoe shrugged, and a few minutes later the barrier dissolved away. The group just before them walked out, battered, bruised and thankful for Zoe¡¯s healing skill. Emma rang the bell, and the three walked past the threshold.

    The ground below them rumbled, and a figure rose from the ground a hundred feet away at the opposite end of the rocky plateau.

    ¡°Who dares¡ª¡± Zoe heard in a whisper that was interrupted by Emma stepping behind the figure and drawing her dagger across its back.

    A deafening roar raced across the plateau and mana rushed from the figure to flood the ground. Dozens of undead, garbed in shining armour and weapons rose from the ground around Emma as she slashed her dagger at the lich once more but was met by twisted metal blade the lich drew from its waist.

    ¡°You shall fall like all the others you spiteful cur.¡± Zoe heard in a hushed whisper that echoed around her.

    ¡°Are you good?" Zoe shouted across the plateau.

    ¡°Yeah! Just get the inn up!¡± Emma shouted back.

    Zoe shrugged and got to work setting up Joe¡¯s inn with his help. Several of the armoured zombies and even two of the mages were running across the plateau towards them, and Zoe felt Joe¡¯s nerves growing even without her Vampyric Empathy.

    The inn was made up of six different pieces of wood along with a handful of pre-made furniture. Four walls, a ceiling and a flood. All slotted together as planned in less than a minute, and Zoe tossed the furniture in haphazardly. It didn¡¯t need to be organized, it just needed to be present, according to Joe.

    Emma replaced her dagger with a hefty mace she purchased in Gafoda and began pummelling the lich with it over and over, as the magic and sword wielding zombies buffeted her with their strikes. Magic washed over her and the physical strikes passed through her spacial armour. Something only possible due to Joe¡¯s massive regeneration buffs, and if Zoe had to guess not sustainable for long.

    The undead charging Zoe and Joe made it to his inn but were met with his seemingly impenetrable wall that struck back with blue energy at each strike that made it to his walls. Another minute later, and Emma appeared inside next to Joe and Zoe dripping with blood from the odd strike that made it past her armour.

    ¡°Dead?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded and collapsed on the ground. ¡°Heal me please.¡±

    Zoe obliged and used her Restoration skill on her friend. The remaining undead threw themselves at Joe¡¯s inn, but were unable to overcome his defenses and even quicker than Zoe had expected, they cleared the final stage of Moaning Point.

    They each got a hundred gold coins for their troubles, along with a blue shield, a necklace with a big black sphere hanging off of it and a pair of black unassuming boots.

 3-32. Return

    Zoe stood outside her cave for the first time since they left ¡ª though Emma had returned a number of times towards the end of their journey as her mana permitted the longer distance travel.

    ¡°You excited to be home?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I am.¡± Zoe sighed. ¡°So many things I¡¯ve been wanting to do and just never found the time for, and now everything¡¯s done. I can focus on myself for a while.¡±

    ¡°Sorry for making you help us out with our classes.¡± Emma said as she teleported past the door. A vulnerability Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how to resolve, or if she even needed to anyway. How many people would be capable of just walking through space and would also have a desire to invade somebody¡¯s home?

    Probably a good portion of them, Zoe realized. If she was going to be a thief, then it seemed like quite a convenient class. Get in, get out. Nobody would be the wiser. But she still didn¡¯t know how to stop it, maybe she¡¯d get some skills that could help or maybe Spell Creation would pair as well with her enchanting as she hoped it would.

    Zoe opened the door and looked at Emma just behind, holding her two cats to her chest. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I was happy to help. I wanted to do it, I just now want to finally toy around with all these new skills I¡¯ve got.¡±

    Joe squeezed Zoe¡¯s shoulder as he looked back towards Foizo. ¡°Well, thanks again for all the help Zoe. I had a good time but I think I¡¯ll be happy sitting around in town for a few decades again.¡± He laughed and walked off back towards his proper inn after Zoe and Emma said their goodbyes, and then the two girls walked in to the kitchen.

    Sally was sitting at the kitchen table eating some salad that Peter had made, while Peter himself was over the stove cooking some manner of soup that smelled somewhat acidic and almost fruity.

    ¡°Hey Peter,¡± Zoe said as she walked in. ¡°Hi Sally,¡± Zoe smiled at the now much older girl. Well, from the girl¡¯s perspective anyway.

    ¡°Hi Emma!!¡± Sally called back. ¡°Hi¡­ person!¡± She grinned from ear to ear as she greeted the two girls.

    ¡°Hey you two, welcome back. You¡¯re back home, then?" Peter asked.

    ¡°Yup,¡± Emma answered. ¡°Thanks again, so much. I really appreciate what you two did.¡±

    ¡°No, no. Don¡¯t worry about it. It was a great experience, really. Sally here loved looking after the kittens, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Sally nodded several times excitedly. ¡°Yeah! Fennel¡¯s mean sometimes though. And his licks hurt.¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Yeah, he can be a handful. Hope they weren¡¯t too bad though.¡±

    ¡°No they were great. We think we¡¯re going to adopt a cat next time we have the opportunity now. Wasn¡¯t so sure we were ready for the responsibility ¡ª long term, you know? But this was good, I think.¡± Peter gestured to Zoe and looked at Sally. ¡°And this is Zoe, Sally. We¡¯ve told you about her a few times. This is her house.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I heard you¡¯re a vampire. Are you a vampire? Do you eat people?" Sally asked.

    ¡°Sally!¡± Peter scolded.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°No it¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t keep much about myself a secret these days really. That¡¯s my fault.¡± She looked at Sally. ¡°Can¡¯t say I¡¯ve ever eaten a person though. I don¡¯t think they¡¯d taste very good, do you?"

    ¡°Mm mm,¡± Sally grunted as she shook her head. ¡°I bet people taste gross. Like deer.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t like deer?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Tastes like metal. I don¡¯t like metal.¡± Sally said.

    ¡°She hasn¡¯t eaten meat in a little over a year. Just started saying it¡¯s gross all of a sudden.¡± Peter explained as he turned his attention back to the pot of soup bubbling away on the stone stove.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Zoe hummed. ¡°Anything else happen a year ago?"

    ¡°Not that I can think, of why?¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Just remember sudden changes in taste being a thing when I grew up. Kids just do that too sometimes. Can I try to heal her though?¡±

    ¡°Of course, you think she¡¯s sick?¡± Peter asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sick! I¡¯m four!¡± Sally held her head up proud.

    ¡°You¡¯re three, Sally.¡± Peter responded.

    ¡°Daaaaaad!¡± Sally whined.

    ¡°Probably not. She probably just doesn¡¯t like meat, just a thought is all.¡± Zoe answered as she put her hand on Sally¡¯s shoulder and pushed Restoration through her, feeling nothing too wrong. Though with the peculiar way of how her skill worked, that could just mean whatever was wrong was too old. But it was far more likely that Sally just decided she doesn¡¯t like meat anymore in the first place, anyway.

    ¡°Ooo that feels cold!" Sally shivered.

    ¡°Is she okay?" Peter asked, a hint of concern creeping into his voice.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Probably. I won¡¯t lie, my skill¡¯s not good enough to tell anyway. Nothing bad¡¯s happened recently at least. Like I said, it was just a thought.¡±

    ¡°I told you I¡¯m not sick, I¡¯m four!¡± Sally said proudly again.

    Peter rolled his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re three, Sally.¡±

    ¡°Daaaaaaaad!¡± Sally whined louder.

    ¡°And what does being four have to do with it? You can still be sick even if you were four, you know?" Peter said.

    ¡°Nuh uh! Only little kids can get sick.¡± Sally said. ¡°Big kids don¡¯t get sick.¡±

    ¡°And four is when you become a big kid?" Emma asked.

    Sally nodded. ¡°Mhm. That¡¯s why I¡¯m a big kid now.¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re four?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Sally nodded.

    Peter rolled his eyes and smiled. ¡°Well, Lauren should be home in a bit and we¡¯ll pack up to head out later tonight or maybe tomorrow, if that¡¯s okay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine with it whenever, I¡¯m probably going to be working on expanding the place anyway so you¡¯re not in my way. Up to Emma, really.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I want my bed back tonight, but you can use Zoe¡¯s room or the library tonight. No rush, really. We just showed up without a warning here, really. I should¡¯ve come ahead and told y¡¯all yesterday.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Great, thanks. No worries, you already told us you were coming back soon. We¡¯ll get out of your hair tomorrow afternoon then. Sally, dear? Do you have all your stuff ready to go?¡± Peter asked.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Zoe watched as Lauren walked past just outside the kitchen wall and vanished beyond her perception range towards the front door. ¡°Lauren¡¯s home.¡±

    ¡°How do you know?" Peter asked and raised his eyebrows as he felt the telltale sign of the front door opening as the air rushed out towards the now open door. A downside of Zoe¡¯s enchantments keeping the home much higher pressure than the outside, but not one that Zoe cared to try and fix.

    Zoe waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. ¡°New skill.¡±

    ¡°Hellooo,¡± Lauren called out in a singsong tone.

    ¡°Hey babe, we¡¯re in the kitchen!¡± Peter called back.

    ¡°Oh, hello!¡± Lauren said as she stepped into the kitchen and saw Zoe and Emma. She walked past Sally and gave her a kiss on her head and hugged Peter. ¡°Hey babe.¡±

    ¡°Long day?" Peter asked.

    ¡°God yes. Jane said she just wanted help with organizing some furniture but then it turned into her sitting on her butt complaining about Karl while I pushed all of her furniture around over and over until she finally thought it looked nice. I swear Peter, one of these days I¡¯m going to strangle that woman.¡± Lauren complained.

    ¡°It pays well and you¡¯re almost done at least, right?" Peter asked.

    ¡°Yeah I know, I know. I¡¯ll put up with it for a bit longer. I hate that woman though, Peter. Everything¡¯s always got something wrong with it for her. Can¡¯t ever just be happy for a bit.¡± Lauren sighed. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m sorry you two. Friend of a friend wanted some help with furnishing her house and I thought it might be fun. Needless to say, it has not been.¡± She chuckled.

    Peter kissed her on the cheek. ¡°You can always stop if you want to.¡±

    ¡°No, no. It¡¯s worth doing and I can¡¯t put out Karl like that. Just wish she¡¯d not complain about the only reason I¡¯m even helping her while I¡¯m¡­¡± Lauren sighed. ¡°Anyway. Enough of that. You two are back home then?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they said it¡¯s okay if we leave tomorrow.¡± Peter said.

    ¡°Or later, really. As long as I get to sleep in my bed tonight I¡¯m happy.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Right, alright. Well Peter and I have been sleeping there, so I¡¯ll go get changed and clean up then.¡± Lauren said and kissed Peter on the cheek before she made her way back out to the hallway.

    ¡°Oh hold on actually,¡± Zoe called out to her. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what the best way to say this is but I have a skill that lets me see through walls, kinda. I won¡¯t like, watch you or anything. I just thought it was a bit of a betrayal of trust to not tell you first.¡±

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s so cool. You should watch me then, I¡¯ll shoo you away before I start getting changed.¡± Lauren said.

    Zoe watched as she walked into Emma¡¯s room and stared at the wall dividing it from the kitchen, then held up two fingers.

    ¡°What¡¯s she doing?" Peter asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s holding up two fingers. I don¡¯t know if she thinks I can respond though.¡± Zoe said and watched Lauren a bit longer as she held up different numbers of fingers and pointed to different objects in Emma¡¯s room. Then she waved her hand at the wall which Zoe took to be pushing Zoe away, and Zoe turned her attention back to the kitchen. ¡°Think she¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s gonna question you on everything she did, you know?¡± Peter laughed.

    ¡°She knows I have super vision, not super memory, right?" Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Lauren¡¯s a bit of a goof sometimes.¡± Peter said.

    ¡°Mom¡¯s a goof!" Sally laughed.

    Lauren showed up again a few minutes later and sat down at the table across from Sally. ¡°So, what¡¯d I do in there?"

    ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± Zoe said. ¡°You held up two fingers and then four. At one point you pointed to your elbow I think? I can see through walls, that doesn¡¯t mean I can remember everything.¡± Zoe shook her head.

    ¡°Aww, that¡¯s really cool though. How was your adventure? I guess you can see through walls now, but was it as fruitful for you too?" Lauren asked.

    Peter moved the bubbling pot of soup off the hot section of the stove and stuck a lid on it, then came and sat down at the table next to Sally.

    ¡°Yeah it was really good. A lot of fun, honestly. I¡¯m glad to be back, though.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Yeah, getting back was definitely the best part. It¡¯s something else over there, isn¡¯t it?" Peter asked.

    ¡°It is, everybody¡¯s so.. I don¡¯t even know how to describe it. Curt? Abrupt? It¡¯s so different.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Yes! They just don¡¯t care about you at all. I mean they don¡¯t want you to die or anything, but nobody cares about you for you. They¡¯re all just doing their own thing.¡± Lauren said.

    ¡°Mhm. I¡¯d like to go back I think someday, but not for a while probably.¡± Emma said.

    They caught up for a while, as Emma shared some tidbits about her new abilities and most importantly, mana regeneration and then Peter stood up to put the soup away.

    ¡°Joe¡¯s just back at his inn, yeah?" Peter asked.

    ¡°Should be.¡± Zoe said. ¡°That¡¯s where he said he was off to, but I bet he stopped to see Kenzie and Sue first.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like him. Well, we¡¯ll head down to visit him and say hello again and get out of you two lovebird¡¯s hair.¡± Peter smirked. ¡°Sally, do you wanna come see Uncle Joe?¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Sally said.

    ¡°We¡¯re not lovebirds, you know?" Zoe said. ¡±We just happen to live together.¡°

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re just ¡®roommates.¡¯¡± Lauren said, making air quotes with her fingers.

    ¡°Yes! We¡¯re actually just roommates! And I barely even count since I¡¯m never here anyway.¡± Zoe shook her head.

    Emma leaned into Zoe¡¯s shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s okay dear, we don¡¯t have to keep it a secret anymore.¡±

    ¡°I swear to god you people are going to drive me insane.¡± Zoe groaned.

    Her three friends laughed. ¡°Alright, lets get going.¡± Peter said. ¡°Joe¡¯s probably just sitting in his inn relaxing and we can¡¯t have any of that, right?¡± He asked Sally.

    ¡°Nuh uh!¡± Sally hopped down from her chair.

    ¡°Nice seeing you two again. We¡¯ll be back in a few hours probably so take your time to make yourself at home again.¡± Lauren said as she stood up.

    Zoe and Emma said their goodbyes and then split up to do their own things. Emma went to her room with Oliver and Fennel to have a nap on her much more comfortable bed while Zoe teleported herself into the dark cavern she¡¯d carved out just behind her home.

    There was a laundry list of tasks that Zoe had built up over the last few years, and she wasn¡¯t even sure where to get started. She could start from the beginning and work on her Time Manipulation skill, or maybe she could start from the most exciting and toy with her Cosmos Manipulation or Spell Creation skills.

    But then of course there was the question of what to do with her classes, too. Cosmic Mystic was a powerful class, beyond anything she¡¯d seen before barring her combined Seasoned Persistence class which might be competitive at a similar tier.

    The chances of Zoe ever wanting to replace it was slim to none, whereas her enchanting class was only pretty good. Which raised the question of where should her Cosmic Mystic class slot in? If she kept it at a high tier then she¡¯d reap the massive bonuses from the class effects. But every time she wanted to change a class before it, she¡¯d lose everything from it until she levelled up again.

    Zoe decided she didn¡¯t ever want to lose the benefits her Cosmic Mystic class gave her, and grimaced as she replaced her Everlasting Enchanter class with Cosmic Mystic. But the pain she expected never came, just the now familiar drain of her stats as the system ripped them from her soul.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Cosmic Mystic class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Cosmic Mystic: Gain thirty stat points for each level in this class.

    - Cosmic Vision: View the world around you.

    -- One With The Cosmos: You gain experience through the passage of time and space.

    - Cosmic Well: Health, Stamina and Mana capacity are increased by 150%.

    - Cosmic Mastery: All Cosmos aligned effects are boosted by 250%.

    Available Skills:

    - Cosmos Affinity: Increased Mana affinity

    - Spell Creation: Form spells to create magical effects.

    - Cosmos Manipulation: Manipulate the cosmos with your will.

    - Cosmic Armour: Wreath yourself in the power of the cosmos.

    - Cosmic Rift: Rend apart the cosmos with your mana.

    - Cosmic Step: Travel the cosmos.

    - Cosmic Familiar: Summon a being from the cosmos to perform simple tasks.

    - Storage: Store objects.

    - Cosmic Radiance: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

 3-33. Diana

    The days turned to weeks, and the weeks bled to months as Zoe sat in her dark cavern just behind her cave, experimenting with all of the new skills she¡¯d unlocked. Her level skyrocketed thanks to both of her classes and after the first month capped out at level fifty nine. Zoe took Everlasting Enchanter again as soon as she reached her cap, pushing the decision for her fourth tier to another day in the future. Her progress slowed down as soon as she did, lending more credence to her theory of how the experience bonuses worked.

    For her stats from Cosmic Mystic, Zoe put a hundred points each into her strength, dexterity and vitality. Six hundred to intelligence, and the remaining two hundred ten into her wisdom. The main issue Zoe faced was with her mana, which was an odd experience for her. After so long of mana being an afterthought, it once again reared its ugly head as the limited resource it could be.

    The problem was that while Cosmic Mystic gave her a sizable boost to her capacities, it did nothing for her regeneration. And without any other classes giving her more massive multipliers, without the enormous multipliers from the higher tier classes, Zoe¡¯s mana was sat at a mere thirty thousand ¡ª and with only a few hundred mana every second.

    Decades prior, Zoe would have danced and celebrated the endless well of mana that meant for her. But now, with her Cosmic Mystic class demanding such massive quantities from her it felt like a pittance. Up at the top of Moaning Point she had thousands more stat points, and far larger multipliers. Over a hundred thousand mana at her disposal with tens of thousands recovered every second.

    Hopping around from tree to tree was effortless, dancing through time and space came as easily as breathing. But with just her Cosmic Mystic class, she was left with a fraction of that power, and she felt weak. Once she took Everlasting Enchanter again, her mana problems were solved. But the month she spent without it put into perspective just how demanding her new class truly was.

    Toying with her laundry list of general skills was a good pastime though, and Zoe found her Cosmic Vision even helped her follow the intricacies of how her Time Manipulation skill worked. She watched as the mana twisted through time, the smears across her sight skipping like a pebble on a lake as the mana was thrust moments into the future.

    Even without her Cosmic Vision, Zoe was confident she would have figured it out eventually. Time Manipulation was powerful and Zoe found herself drawn to it. Watching a paper fall and surrounding it with her mana, winding it throughout time and accelerating the paper¡¯s descent.

    But with her new class ¡ª at least after she¡¯d taken the time to understand how it worked, Time Manipulation was as simple as any other skill she¡¯d found. She broke the mana apart to its components, and fit it into the system she was already used to and it worked flawlessly. The mana from time¡¯s definition twisted and warped the mana she was used to using, but as long as Zoe just did what she was used to the rest fell into place.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Time general skill.

    Elemental Manipulation on the other hand was truly complicated, it didn¡¯t just require a better understanding of the world. It was filled with patterns Zoe had never seen before, dense clusters of mana wound in tight formations that swirled through the air in front of her as she cast the skill.

    With months of practice and study, Zoe managed to piece the skill apart as well though. Each cluster seemed to be its own element, with bits of the superfluous mana the system corrupted everything with seeping into its formation. She went through each cluster one by one, scribbling notes about each component as she did until the whole skill was dismantled and put on display in one of her many crumpled notebooks.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Elemental general skill.

    The skill confused Zoe, not in how she was supposed to use it. That much was simple, the skill was more or less a watered down combination of her already existing elemental general skills ¡ª likely because of its much lower level, with the addition of being able to combine them all into something more than the sum of their parts much like her Seasoned Persistence¡¯s aura.

    No, the confusing part was in what it meant. What would happen if Zoe found another class with an Elemental skill that differed in which elements qualified? Would she have two Elemental general skills, or would they combine into one even more versatile skill? If the opportunity ever presented itself, Zoe thought it might be interesting to try it for herself.

    Her current theory was that they would combine into one more versatile skill ¡ª and if she really wanted to, Zoe felt that she¡¯d even be able to add more elements into the skill manually. Each of the clusters of mana that made up the skill were intertwined with each other, but with enough effort Zoe thought she might be able to design her own clusters for different elements. Maybe she could add in Time, or Wood if she found some way to connect them to each other.

    Would the system do that automatically for her, if she found another Elemental general skill? Or would she be forced to merge them together herself? Or would it just replace her skill with the new one until she managed to force all of the components together?

    Cosmos Manipulation was incredible, Zoe found. The odd purple shapes warped through space and time and Zoe could push them into forms, slicing through reality or squishing space together so it seemed smaller than it was. She created a small box from wood and with the cosmos managed to fill it with far more coins than it should have been able to hold.

    The space within was expanded, but the cosmos commanded more than just space. The coins flickered in and out of existence as they leap frogged through time. One moment the copper coins were visible, the next only the silver coins and the next moment the gold coins popped back in for a moment. When Zoe stopped dumping her mana into the effect, the coins exploded out of the box and shattered the flimsy wood she summoned to hold them in.

    Cosmos Manipulation was a mess to Zoe¡¯s mana sight too. The mana was hectic and unpredictable, even as she followed it skipping through time and passing through the fabric of space, finding patterns in it was a challenge. Months flew by and notebooks piled up next to Zoe as she threw herself at the skill, trying to find the slightest hint of a pattern. Anything that seemed to repeat itself.

    But nothing did. Not once did Zoe see the mana move in a way that truly seemed like a repetition ¡ª sometimes she¡¯d see clumps of mana rushing across in a way that reminded her of something she¡¯d seen before but it would split moments later in yet another new movement she didn¡¯t recognize.

    It didn¡¯t make any sense to Zoe. Everything she knew about the system was that it worked on patterns, all of her skills followed patterns. Mana itself flowed in predictable ways. But her Cosmos Manipulation skill did not, at least not that Zoe could see. Maybe there was some other fundamental thing she was missing, another sense she needed to truly understand for the mana to make sense.

    But as she was, it may as well have been impossible and she decided to leave it for later. She never liked being beaten, being forced to admit she wasn¡¯t good enough. And yet the system did it to her time and time again, threw challenges she couldn¡¯t even comprehend at her like they were common baubles.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Zoe took breaks most days, and tried to make sure she visited with her friends at least every week. Joe and Emma were both doing great, and enjoyed their new classes and feats they¡¯d unlocked a great deal. Joe¡¯s inn was back up and running with patrons returning once more as Foizo continued to grow. Emma¡¯s mana regeneration put Zoe to shame at first and she took every opportunity to flaunt that.

    Warping in to visit Zoe for a moment before heading back out for a cup she forgot, and then the tea she forgot, and then the cookie she forgot, and then the chair she forgot. Laughing the whole while, but after Zoe got her enchanting class back again the two seemed quite close with Zoe pulling a little further ahead as she put each level¡¯s points into both Intelligence and Wisdom.

    Jeffrey was never very close with Zoe, but he seemed to be doing well. He¡¯d opened an alchemy store in Foizo and seemed to be thriving. Peter and Lauren had adopted a kitten of their own. A brown furball Sally named Idu.

    Foizo itself had grown a lot, the walls surrounding the town had expanded all the way to the mountain Zoe dwelled within, and Zoe¡¯s little cave was even brought in to the town proper. Though she was excluded from needing to pay any taxes for her dwelling on some legacy agreement Joe promised was fine.

    The royal guard stationed in Foizo was named Diana, and she was an annoying pest in Zoe¡¯s opinion. She was a dark blue marked mage who claimed to be level two hundred thirty seven but Zoe¡¯s Identify was too low to confirm.

    ¡°I still find it hard to believe you¡¯ve never even tried for your sixth tier, honestly.¡± Diana sipped from her cup of tea as she sat across from Zoe at a rugged table in the dark cavern Zoe¡¯d been spending her time in.

    Zoe blinked her eyes at the royal guard who suddenly appeared in front of her. ¡°I find it hard to believe that a royal guard of the ingrateful kingdom would just pop into my home like this.¡±

    ¡°Injellar,¡± Diana corrected.

    ¡°Same thing.¡± Zoe groaned. ¡°What do you want?"

    ¡°I just wanted to talk. Just talk. Everybody here is so boring, getting up and going about their normal daily lives like it¡¯s just some regular old city. You know I was told that this was a big frontier city full of adventure and danger?" Diana finished her tea then stored her cup away in whatever storage item she used. Or maybe skill, Zoe thought.

    ¡°And how¡¯s that my problem?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Because you¡¯re not boring. We don¡¯t know anything about you, you know? Your little friend Emma there was born in Flester, raised by two parents who we know. But you?¡± Diana shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re nobody.¡±

    ¡°Yes I was teleported here against my will a couple decades ago, we¡¯ve been over this.¡± Zoe rolled her eyes.

    ¡°But come on, you can share a little more can¡¯t you? How were you teleported. Where from?¡± Diana pestered her.

    ¡°Just go break into that bookstore I keep telling you about in Flester¡¯s ruins and see what¡¯s in it instead.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°God I tried, Zo. I really did. But it may as well not exist.¡± Diana shook her head. ¡°Impossible to get in.¡±

    Zoe wasn¡¯t surprised, as powerful as Diana was John was in a league of his own. The more she learned about the system, the more true that became. How effortlessly he wielded powers far beyond what even the most powerful classes Zoe had found were capable of. Warping space like one would fold a piece of paper, or smashing space together to form a simple mockery of speech.

    ¡°Zoe. Not Zo, Zoe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Fine, fine.¡± Diana sighed.

    ¡°And stop showing up randomly. I¡¯m not going to fight you.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Diana gasped and grasped her chest in a dramatic gesture. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d imply I came here for such nefarious purposes.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I did.¡± Diana shrugged. ¡°It¡¯d be really fun, come on. Lets go have a spar.¡±

    ¡°No. I¡¯m never fighting you, Diana. I¡¯ve told you this already.¡± Zoe groaned.

    ¡°Oh come on, it¡¯d be so much fun. Just you and me, thrashing around in Flester¡¯s ruins for a bit without holding anything back. Limbs flying, craters left in our wake. It would be beautiful, Zoe. Lets go have some fun, come on.¡± Diana pleaded.

    ¡°Look I appreciate what you do for the city, and I even don¡¯t think you¡¯re all that bad of a person when you¡¯re not doing this. But I¡¯m not fighting you.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°But-¡± Diana started to talk.

    ¡°No. Get out.¡± Zoe scowled.

    Diana vanished a moment later and Zoe let out a breath she hadn¡¯t even realized she was holding. The royal guard was helpful to Foizo, if not for any practical reason yet then at least for the confidence she gave the townsfolk. Having a royal guard around made people feel safe, it let them walk the streets confident that no disaster would strike them.

    But she was annoying. Ed was the only other royal guard Zoe had interacted with, and Zoe would trade the two in a heartbeat. The woman wasn¡¯t all bad, and when they met in more normal circumstances she was even a bit of a sweetheart. Kind and caring, always looking out for the townsfolk.

    This was the fourth time Diana had showed up, interrupting what Zoe was doing just to push her for a fight. Even if Zoe wasn¡¯t about a quarter of her level she wouldn¡¯t be interested. Fighting people, as necessary as it might be sometimes wasn¡¯t something Zoe thought would ever be a pastime for her.

    Though, she had a good point at least. Both times Zoe got to her fifth tier, she threw it away almost as soon as she did. The first combined to her Seasoned Persistence and the second was her Cosmic Mystic class that now sat at her third tier.

    Zoe thought it would be fun to try for her sixth tier this time, and see what kind of rewards she could reap. The power she¡¯d wield with all of those stats alone just from getting to that high of a level would be incredible. Let alone the bonuses from a class in the sixth tier.

    It just left her with the question of what path would she take to get there? She could focus on something else she was bad at and try to flesh out her options. Or she could focus on what she was good at and get something even better. Maybe an upgraded Cosmic Mystic class would be possible even, if she got all the way to the sixth tier.

    Zoe thought on it for a while before she decided on a goal. Her first classes were both ones that she was very happy with, but she¡¯d never found an enchanting class that she truly loved. That would be her next goal, she decided. An enchanting class to rival her Seasoned Persistence and Cosmic Mystic classes.

 3-34. Hot Spring

    The first decision Zoe had to make was which class to take. Everlasting Enchanter was an excellent choice and she quite enjoyed the bonuses it gave. Plus, she already had it and had made it to level one thirty seven in the almost a year she spent slaving away over her general skills. But she took a look at her options anyway, just to see if there was something new and exciting.

    There were several new classes that she hadn¡¯t seen before ¡ª most related to her recent foray into the cosmos. But there were a few that tied in to her new elemental skill and even one that seemed to be referencing her adventures up Moaning Point called Moaning Enchantress that Zoe laughed at.

    None of the new ones excited her more than Everlasting Enchanter did though, and Zoe checked her stat sheet to see her progress over the last year, ignoring the annoyingly long list of skills and resistances she didn¡¯t need to see.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 200

    Dexterity: 200

    Vitality: 588

    Endurance: 150

    Intelligence: 1446

    Wisdom: 1014

    Health: 29400/29400

    Stamina: 7500/7500

    Mana: 289200/289200

    ¡ª¡ª

    Class 1: Earthian (137)

    - Identify (128)

    Class 2: Seasoned Persistence

    - Elemental Affinity (153)

    - Time Affinity (167)

    - Elemental Arsenal (148)

    - Restoration (112)

    - Adaptive Elements (123)

    - Elemental Echo (32)

    - Alacrity (147)

    Class 3: Cosmic Mystic

    - Cosmos Affinity (78)

    - Cosmic Armour (32)

    - Cosmic Rift (24)

    - Cosmic Step (69)

    - Cosmic Familiar (9)

    Class 4: Everlasting Enchanter

    - Mana Affinity (57)

    - Mana Manipulation (68)

    - Enchanted Mirror (34)

    - Enchantment Amplifier (21)

    - Enchantment Bestowal (23)

    Her mana was at a staggering number, and her regeneration was no less impressive. She couldn¡¯t even measure how fast it regenerated anymore. One day she would discover the exact formula and know how ridiculous she was getting, but until then it was just good enough.

    Even if she dumped all of her mana, in seconds it would be back to full once more. Which got Zoe wondering what she really needed. Regeneration just wasn¡¯t an important stat for her anymore as much as it was annoying for the first month before she got her enchanting class again.

    Capacity was what she needed. The more mana she could dump into Cosmic Step at a time, the further she could go with it. At just about three hundred thousand mana, she could teleport a little under two kilometers at a time.

    She¡¯d done some testing on just how much of a mana drain her teleportation was and had narrowed it down to some rough numbers. It seemed there was a base cost to teleportation, the mana that was used to actually turn herself into matter that could be transported great distances in a moment. To Zoe¡¯s best estimation, that was about three thousand mana give or take a thousand.

    Measuring how much mana something cost was extraordinarily difficult when she recovered so much of it so quickly. Did it cost five thousand and she just recovered two thousand by the time she saw a number in her peripheral vision? Or even more, perhaps?

    At least with the base cost of the teleport, it was possible after several attempts to see her mana flicker down to a few thousand below her maximum for a moment if she stared at her mana display. But even then was it three thousand two hundred, three thousand four hundred? She couldn¡¯t tell.

    And without having an exact number for the base cost, she could do little more than very rough estimates of how much it cost to move distances. At the very least, she suspected that it was a linear increase. Each unit of distance cost a specific quantity of mana ¡ª and each unit of time cost a specific quantity of mana.

    As far as Zoe could tell, the cost of teleporting across great distances was rather cheap. Somewhere around fifty mana for every foot she travelled, which was supported by her maximum teleport being a little under two kilometers.

    At a little over three thousand feet to a kilometer, that would make two kilometers just over six thousand feet. With three hundred thousand mana and fifty mana for every foot travelled, that left her with a maximum distance of six thousand feet.

    But she also had to remove the base cost of the teleport, and wasn¡¯t quite at three hundred thousand mana yet anyway. Altogether that meant if the cost for every foot really was fifty mana, then she should be able to teleport just under two kilometers. It was good enough for Zoe¡¯s estimations, anyway.

    Maybe the cost was fifty five mana per foot, or forty five mana per foot. Or maybe it wasn¡¯t really linear and she just couldn¡¯t figure out the nuances to it, but until something broke she¡¯d accept it as close enough. A nice round number seemed like something whoever made the system would do anyway.

    The cost of teleporting through time on the other hand was much simpler to figure out, due to it being far more expensive. For every second that Zoe travelled to the future, the skill drained another just about two thousand mana from her.

    It was a neat party trick, but Zoe had yet to see any real use for it. If she could go backwards then that would be incredible, but it only ever let her travel forwards through time which was something she was already rather good at anyway. Almost every single day since she was born, she travelled through time at a rate of about one day per day.

    Zoe got up from the cold dark stone floor she¡¯d been lying on and stretched. The cavern was still just a cavern a year later, none of her grand plans of building out more rooms ever amounted to anything. And Zoe wasn¡¯t sure if they would any time soon, either.

    She¡¯d begun to get an itch. A growing desire creeping into the back of her mind. Zoe could teleport now, very far and very quick at that. And that was only going to get even more impressive as soon as she took another enchanting class with even more mana.

    Exploring the world ¡ª truly exploring the world, wandering the wilderness and stumbling into towns was more possible than ever. Did she want to stick around at home for another decade building more rooms she didn¡¯t need? Even if she were thousands of kilometers away, with another Everlasting Enchanter class that might only be minutes to her.

    Zoe teleported into the kitchen next to Emma as she sat on the floor petting Fennel¡¯s belly.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I think I wanna leave.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Where?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I dunno. You ever just feel like spending some time teleporting through the forest and seeing what you find?" Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded. ¡°I do that all the time. I¡¯m a hunter.¡±

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    ¡°No I mean keep going. Not just the forests around here but keep going to the west, what¡¯s over there? I heard there was a hot spring dungeon a few decades ago, maybe it¡¯s still there.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma shrugged. ¡°Never really thought about it. Sounds exciting just roaming around for a bit. A little scary though.¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯d be fun. I think I wanna. I can teleport! Wherever I want. Feels like I¡¯m not taking advantage of that if I just stick around here more.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let me keep you around. I¡¯ll just be here. Come visit sometimes though.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Alright. I think I will then. I¡¯m gonna go talk to Joe I think.¡±

    ¡°Sure, come say bye before you leave though. If I find out you just left before you even actually said goodbye I¡¯m going to strangle you when you get back.¡± Emma laughed.

    Zoe smiled and vanished, teleporting to a glimpse she saw of Joe¡¯s inn through her Cosmic Vision.

    ¡°Oh hey Zoe,¡± Joe said from behind the bar. Peter was sitting at the other side drinking water from one of Joe¡¯s engraved wooden mugs. He¡¯d named his new inn recently with Zoe¡¯s help and had some dishware made with The Risen Cask carved into them.

    ¡°Hi Zoe,¡± Peter looked over.

    ¡°Hey. I think I¡¯m gonna leave soon. Go wander around for a while and see what I find. Any suggestions?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get manipulated again.¡± Peter laughed.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°That wasn¡¯t on purpose anyway.¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t been to the dungeon spring west of here, right?¡± Joe asked. ¡°That could be a good start.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I was thinking. Never seen a productive dungeon before.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You could go visit the capital if you¡¯ve never been there.¡± Peter suggested.

    ¡°Yeah that¡¯s not a bad idea either, actually.¡± Zoe walked over and leaned in to whisper to Joe. ¡°How¡¯s travel between kingdoms here, by the way? If I wanted to go visit the Ijun Empire would that be like, a problem?¡±

    Joe shook his head. ¡°Not unless you¡¯re important.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯m not important?" Zoe feigned offense.

    Joe chuckled. ¡°Not to the Injellar kingdom you¡¯re not.¡±

    ¡°Right. Alright, so I can travel wherever I want then. Cool.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Just do your research first. The Ijun Empire wouldn¡¯t be a huge fan of you I don¡¯t think.¡± Peter added.

    ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re a pale woman.¡± Peter shrugged. ¡°Not a great place.¡±

    ¡°You ever been?¡± Zoe asked.

    Peter shook his head. ¡°No, just heard stories.¡±

    ¡°Alright, well thanks then. I think I¡¯m just gonna start by heading to that dungeon spring then. I¡¯ll be back soon probably. See you two later then. Say hi to Lauren for me Peter.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe nodded. ¡°Good luck then, Zoe. Stay safe out there.¡±

    ¡°Safe travels, I¡¯ll let Lauren know you said hi.¡± Peter sipped from his mug.

    Zoe vanished and appeared back in her kitchen next to Emma.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m gonna go I think. Peter suggested I check out the capital too, but I think I¡¯m gonna start with the dungeon spring. I might even be able to get there today.¡± Zoe laughed.

    Emma gestured to the cat purring on her lap and then spread her arms for a hug. Zoe leaned down, hugged her friend and pet Fennel. ¡°Bye Zoe, we¡¯ll miss you. Have fun and stay safe.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss y¡¯all too. Make sure you give the cats extra pets for me every day.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Of course! They deserve all of the pets. They''re the best little kittens.¡± Emma grinned.

    Zoe looked off to the distance and teleported to a glimpse of the forest to the west through her Cosmic Vision. Goodbyes were much easier for her now than they were when she first left for Gafoda, Zoe found.

    Part of that was that she was much safer now. Her friends didn¡¯t worry about her as much as they did when she was a na?ve girl with nothing but a somewhat powerful first class. Part of it of course was that she didn¡¯t worry about them as much, Joe was already immortal and Emma was in her own way at the cusp of immortality.

    But the biggest part of it for Zoe was the trust that had developed between her friends over the years. She didn¡¯t worry about their relationship falling apart because she was gone for five years anymore. When she got back, Emma would be there with arms wide open excited to see her. And Joe would be in his inn helping people out and as open to chatting as he always was.

    Her anxieties around leaving just felt so unimportant now. There was always the risk that another devastating fire elemental destroys Foizo, but it¡¯s not productive to worry about things so outside her control. Diana was there in case something did happen and as much as Zoe didn¡¯t like her, the woman was likely far more powerful than Zoe if the Royal Guard title truly meant anything.

    Zoe wrapped herself in Earth and floated up above the trees ¡ª as useful as Cosmic Vision was for teleporting great distances through forests and buildings, it was far easier to just teleport to a spot in the air far away. She pushed herself forward to the south west, and every few seconds when her mana regenerated warped forward another nearly two kilometers.

    In seconds she found the road leading out to the west from Flester¡¯s ruins, worn and damaged from a lack of maintenance. A darkness covering the land that the Okiu had spread corruption to so long ago.

    And the next moment, the darkness was left far behind her. The view below her replaced with a vibrant forest as she teleported further down the road. Zoe spun in the air with her earthen suit, laughing with glee.

    She was free, and it felt incredible. Just a minute earlier she was what would have been hours or even maybe a day of travel back in her cave in Foizo. And now she was all the way out in the middle of nowhere, floating in the sky far above the trees.

    Zoe dismissed the earthen suit, reclaiming the mana stored within it and let herself free fall down towards the trees. Just before she hit the tree tops she teleported further west and far above in the sky, catching herself in another suit of earthen armour and laughing.

    She kept travelling to the west down the road and just over a half hour later saw what she assumed to be the dungeon spring. A gathering of lakes with thick plumes of steam rising off of them far to the north of the road Zoe was following. A winding dirt path coiled through the forest, and Zoe fell down to it to finish the rest of the journey off on foot as excitement rose within her.

    The Pit was a ruin, Moaning Point was a Lodestone dungeon. But this would be her first time stepping into a Productive dungeon. How would the mana behave? Would there be minions created by mana to help run the hot spring, or would people have moved in to keep things organized? Was there some way to clear it, a challenge that could be overcome for some reward even though it was just for utility?

    Zoe found herself bouncing with each step she took down the winding dirt road towards the dungeon spring. She didn¡¯t even know if the place had a name yet. Everything would be so new, and to think that just an hour earlier she was laying on her cavern floor weeks of travel to the east to most normal folk.

    Teleportation was the greatest gift Zoe could have ever asked for.

 3-35. Springs of Gir

    Grakthur sat on his throne deep below the Springs of Gir, tapping his clawed fingers on the skulls in his armrest. He was the leader of the Springs, and he took a great pride in his job.

    Klihur slammed the door open and stumbled into the throne room. Light from the mines seeping in and disrupting the beautiful darkness Grakthur preferred. ¡°Sir¡­ Sir!¡± The goblin shouted.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Grakthur raised an eyebrow and looked to the still open doors and the light that seared into his eyes.

    ¡°OH, sorry sir. Sorry.¡± Klihur turned and shut the doors and the room fell once more to absolute darkness. ¡°We have a new customer, sir.¡±

    The peons thought it was important to inform Grakthur every time there was a new person visiting the Springs ¡ª and they were right, too. Tailoring the experience to the customer to extract as much as they can from the poor soul was an important job of every creature saddled with the responsibility of managing a Theme Dungeon.

    However; to Grakthur¡¯s dismay, his ¡®employees¡¯ were hardly capable of identifying the humans who inhabited this planet. Most of the new customers they ran in shouting about were just Anna in different clothes, or maybe with a new hair style.

    ¡°Is it Anna, again? Did you check?" Grakthur asked.

    ¡°Ah! No, sir. I will check!¡± Klihur opened the doors and ran off into the mines, leaving that disgusting light to seep into the room and burn into Grakthur¡¯s flesh.

    He shook his head and sighed, then with a flick of his fingers magic flooded the room and tendrils of darkness stretched up to slam the doors shut. It didn¡¯t matter how often he told them to keep the doors closed, how often he told them to check if it was just Anna again.

    The peons just weren¡¯t capable of complex thoughts like that. They couldn¡¯t try and solve problems on their own ¡ª some of the supervisors Grakthur had promoted could. That¡¯s why they were promoted, but they were far too busy managing their own sections of the dungeon to proactively stop this ridiculous game.

    And even if Grakthur urged the peons to harass his supervisors first, they¡¯d forget the order the very next day. It was a good job though, even with the annoyances. He ran the Springs of Gir! Not many could say they were trusted with a Theme Dungeon, and Grakthur was a part of that exclusive group. As frustrating as dealing with the masses was, he¡¯d give it up for nothing.

    Klihur returned after a brief wait, slamming the doors open once more and stumbling into Grakthur¡¯s throne room.

    ¡°Close. The. Doors.¡± Grakthur growled.

    ¡°Right. Sorry, sir. Yes sir.¡± Klihur slammed the doors shut, leaving the two of them in absolute darkness. ¡°Sir, it¡¯s not Anna, sir. She calls herself Zoe, sir.¡±

    ¡°Zoe?¡± Grakthur questioned.

    ¡°Yes, sir. That¡¯s what she said, sir.¡± Klihur answered.

    ¡°No more information, Klihur?¡± Grakthur pressed.

    ¡°Oh! Yes sir. She¡¯s a mage. Four classes. Lots of mana, very interested in talking to goblins.¡± Klihur said.

    ¡°Very well. You may leave. Send Peter in.¡± Grakthur said.

    ¡°Sir, thank you sir. Yes sir.¡± Klihur left and slammed the doors shut behind him. A few minutes later, the doors opened and Peter walked in.

    Peter was responsible for all things mana in the Springs of Gir, a well of power that rivalled even Grakthur ¡ª at least in terms of mana capacity. ¡°Yes, sir?" He asked as he shut the doors behind him.

    ¡°Good, you prove yourself time and time again, Peter.¡± Grakthur said. ¡°I¡¯m told we have a new customer who¡¯s interested in talking to goblins.¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir. She calls herself Zoe. What would you like me to do?" Peter asked.

    ¡°Offer her a tour, and learn as much as you can about her capabilities. Bring Klihur with you and send him to me when you learn something valuable. Try to extract as much mana as you can, I¡¯m told she possesses much of it.¡± Grakthur instructed.

    ¡°Yes, sir. If I may suggest something, sir?¡± Peter asked.

    Grakthur gestured with one of his hands for Peter to continue.

    ¡°If mana is what you want, I may be of assistance.¡± Peter bowed his head.

    ¡°Your mana is needed to run the springs, Peter.¡± Grakthur said. ¡°You are not left with enough to be of assistance.¡±

    ¡°Sir, if I stopped feeding the springs though¡ª¡± Peter stopped as Grakthur slammed his fist into his throne, sending shards of bone clattering on the cold stone floor.

    ¡°These are the Springs of Gir, Peter.¡± Grakthur shouted as he stood from the throne, towering over the puny goblin. ¡°You will continue feeding the springs until I say you can stop. Which. Will. Not. Happen.¡± Grakthur spat out.

    ¡°Sir, yes sir. I¡¯m sorry, sir. I will give this girl a tour, sir. I¡¯m sorry, sir.¡± Peter bowed several times as he left, closing the door behind him.

    Grakthur sat back down on his damaged throne. This was the difference between the peons and Grakthur. They just couldn¡¯t understand the importance of what was being done. Couldn¡¯t wrap their feeble minds around the job that needed to be done.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zoe walked through the entrance of the Springs of Gir as they were called, staring at the swarms of little green goblins that ran around the dungeon. Buckets of water being transported from one spring to another, crates of soaps and towels wheeled from building to building.

    There were goblins! And they were friendly, too. Klihur was such a precious little thing, staring up at her with glowing eyes and asking if she was Anna. Who was Anna, anyway? They were all so kind, so adorable. So personable.

    She had a picture of goblins as these misshapen, evil creatures that prowled the forests and raided people¡¯s farms. But here they were, working in a hot spring. Soft, bright green skin with big blue eyes and tussles of orange hair on their heads right between their round ears. They were adorable, Zoe thought. Like little green teddy bears doing their best to keep a massive hot spring running.

    And it seemed they did a good job, too. There were so many more people than Zoe thought there would be. Hundreds? Maybe even a thousand? It was hard to count as they were so spread out, relaxing in the wide open hot springs or lounging outside them. Some people cleaning themselves in the open air showers, others sitting in restaurants eating food that looked and smelled delicious and even some laughing and chatting in a building nearby as they seemed to play a game of sorts.

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    Zoe noticed a goblin that was waving at her in the corner of her vision, with Klihur standing at their side. They smiled when she looked at them and waved her over, so Zoe walked over.

    ¡°Hello. You¡¯re Zoe, right?" The goblin asked.

    ¡°Yes, why? Is everything okay?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course, of course. Everything is wonderful. I¡¯m told this is your first time here and you¡¯re rather excited." The goblin asked.

    ¡°Uh, yeah. I guess.¡± Zoe said, feeling a little confused.

    ¡°Wonderful. I¡¯m Peter, I was told to give you a tour if you¡¯re interested.¡± Peter explained.

    ¡°Sure, I guess. Does that cost extra?¡± Zoe asked.

    Peter laughed. ¡°No, no. We¡¯re here to serve. Was there anything you were interested in to start?¡± He radiated intrigue to Zoe¡¯s Empathy. With just a hint of anxiety and fear.

    ¡°No, not really. I kinda just thought it was a hot spring here so I¡¯m a little surprised to see just how much more it is, honestly. Wherever you think is best is fine by me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Wonderful, that¡¯s wonderful. I¡¯ll take you to my favourite spring then.¡± Peter smiled and started walking down the gravel path that wound through the dungeon. ¡°What brings you to the Springs of Gir, today?"

    ¡°I was going to get to building my house, but I was sitting there thinking about it this morning and I dunno. Just got inspired to go explore somewhere new all of a sudden. Heard of this place twenty years ago and thought I¡¯d come check it out finally.¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°Took me long enough though. How long have you been working here as a tour guide?"

    ¡°Tour guide?¡± Peter scribbled some notes on a piece of paper. "Ah, right. My apologies, I¡¯m not really a tour guide. I work on some of the spring maintenance but thought it could be fun to meet some new people from time to time. Where do you come from then?¡°

    ¡°Out in Foizo at the moment. What¡¯s that like? Spring maintenance?¡± Zoe asked.

    Peter scribbled on the paper some more, then handed it to Klihur. ¡°Here, take this, please.¡±

    Klihur took the paper and ran off back down the gravel path towards the entrance.

    ¡°What¡¯s that about?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, just some maintenance stuff. This is about what it¡¯s like, really. I wander around and if I notice something wrong I tell whoever needs to know. That spring back there,¡± Peter pointed to one they passed a few minutes prior. ¡°It needed some adjustments. Just getting too hot. Foizo, huh? I think I¡¯ve heard of that, it¡¯s near Flester right?¡±

    Zoe nodded her head. ¡°Flester¡¯s gone now, unfortunately but yeah around there. You must hear a lot working in this kind of place, huh?¡±

    Peter nodded his head. "Oh yes. Lots of things get talked about here.¡°

    Klihur returned a few minutes later with another sheet of paper, handing it to Peter.

    ¡°More spring maintenance stuff?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, yes. They¡¯re getting somebody to fix the problem right now so the spring should be good to go again in a few minutes. I¡¯m told you were quite impressive when you made your visitor pass?¡± Peter asked.

    ¡°What¡¯s with them taking so much mana, by the way? I¡¯ve never seen something like that.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It depends on how much mana you have, really. You must have quite a lot for it to be that much! You know, I have quite a bit too. Maybe we can have a competition later.¡± Peter laughed.

    Zoe nodded slowly. ¡°I have a bit, I guess.¡±

    Peter stopped at the edge of one of the springs. ¡°Ah, here we are. This is my favourite spring. It¡¯s just the right temperature in my opinion, with just the right amount of¡ª¡± Peter took a deep breath through his nose. ¡°Ahh, just the right amount of sulphur to it. Beautiful, isn¡¯t it?"

    Zoe nodded her head and looked out at the spring. Many of the springs had small showers set up next to them to bathe yourself, but this one had nothing of the sort. It was a little out of the way, and there was only one other person sitting in it at the moment.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to get in and relax if you would like to?¡± Peter suggested.

    Zoe shrugged. What was the point of coming to a hot spring if you didn¡¯t even get in? She tested the water with her toes and when she found it was manageable, hopped in. She stored her clothes in her bracelet after, submerging herself into the somewhat murky water.

    The water was hot ¡ª far hotter than any bath she¡¯d had before. But paired with her resistances and knowing that she wouldn¡¯t be scarred for life, it was rather comfortable. Not so hot that she couldn¡¯t handle it, but not so cold that it wasn¡¯t a constant reminder of where she was.

    ¡°Perfect, isn¡¯t it?" Peter hopped in next to her. ¡±I¡¯ll let you in on a little secret if you want?¡°

    Zoe looked over at the goblin to her left. ¡°Sure, what¡¯s the secret?¡±

    Peter leaned in to whisper. ¡°This one¡¯s perfect for me because I pull some strings to make it just right.¡± He leaned back and laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t tell anybody, alright?"

    Zoe sunk into the water, and as she did at the very edges of her sphere of perception saw the top of a tunnel below the spring. She thought of asking Peter about them, but decided to keep the fact that she could see them to herself.

    ¡°You know, I¡¯m rather a competitive person myself.¡± Peter said.

    ¡°Oh?" Zoe questioned.

    Peter nodded. ¡°We have this game back near the entrance that I¡¯d love to play with you.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the game?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well there¡¯s a bunch, really. I¡¯d love to play any of them with you. But my favourite is Mana Rush, I think.¡± Peter said.

    ¡°Okay. What¡¯s Mana Rush?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°We both put as much mana as we can into this big canister, and whoever pops the lid off first wins. So few people who come are capable of competing with me so when I heard you were so impressive I thought it would be fun to have a real competition again. Only if you¡¯re interested of course.¡± Peter said.

    Zoe thought about it. Did it matter if anybody knew how much mana she had? As soon as she got another class, that number would be completely different anyway.

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯m down.¡± Zoe smirked. If there was one thing Zoe was confident in, it was that she could beat most people in a competition of mana.

    ¡°Oh that¡¯s great, I¡¯m so excited now. I can¡¯t wait!¡± Peter laughed, filled with pride and excitement to Zoe¡¯s Empathy. ¡°Whenever you¡¯re ready, I¡¯ll show you to the game.¡±

    Zoe relaxed for a while longer in the hot spring and then when she got out, pulled a frilly pink sleeveless dress to wear from one of her bracelets, along with some brown sandals. Peter led her through the springs again to one of the buildings near the entrance of the dungeon.

    Inside looked much like an arcade from Zoe¡¯s hometown, but without quite so many flashing lights and obnoxious noises. Games with balls and different goals, whack-a-mole but with odd green snakes for moles. And near the back was the centerpiece, two massive glass canisters almost twice as tall as Zoe with black spheres floating in front of them.

    ¡°That¡¯s Mana Rush,¡± Peter said, pointing at the canisters near the back. ¡°Wanna place bets? I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll beat me.¡± He smirked and Zoe¡¯s Empathy flooded her with a confidence she wasn¡¯t expecting from him.

    ¡°Sure. What are we betting?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°A silver coin?¡± Peter suggested.

    Zoe summoned a silver coin and placed it on the ground between the two black spheres. ¡°Fine by me, but you¡¯re gonna be down a silver coin you know?"

    Peter laughed and grabbed a coin from his pocket, placing it on top of Zoe¡¯s.

 3-36. Slime Jelly

    Grakthur sat in his throne room, his clawed fingers rapping against the shattered skulls in his armrest. Brigor would have to come fix it when he was finished with the spring maintenance later.

    The new girl was interesting. Just this morning, she was hundreds of kilometers away in a small town called Foizo. A shame what had happened to Flester, though they were never much for the Springs of Gir anyway. Perhaps it was an upside of the travesty that the ones who resided in it now feel more open to travelling the wilds ¡ª or perhaps the event merely gave them the power to try their hands at it for themselves.

    And to boot, the girl was immortal. Perhaps she was no girl then, Grakthur thought. Was she some ancient immortal prowling the lands in boredom, feeding information to the denizens of the dungeon for fun? Or was she some new immortal looking to expand their narrow worldview, unaware she was even being spied on?

    Grakthur couldn¡¯t tell, the woman¡¯s motivations were a mystery to him. If nothing else, Grakthur was confident that she wasn¡¯t here for a fight. Those were the most annoying customers, he thought. Ones who arrived, insistent that the dungeon must be evil because it is a dungeon. Thinking that they must be up to some nefarious deed, and then slaughtering the peons for some shallow belief of good and evil.

    Even the peons didn¡¯t deserve that, Grakthur thought. A meaningless death. He shook his head. Zoe wasn¡¯t one of them. Tendrils of shadow rose from the ground around Grakthur, splattering ink onto a parchment he held in his hands.

    When Peter was done with his silly game, he could finish the tour and return to his normal duties. The woman was no threat. He handed the parchment to Klihur and pushed him out of the throne room, slamming the doors closed with his tendrils of shadows.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zoe and Peter both stood in front of their floating black spheres, looking at each other with a spark in their eyes.

    ¡°You ready?" Peter asked.

    Zoe nodded. The rules were simple, when the countdown finished all she had to do was flood the black sphere with as much mana as she could. It would fill the clear canister a few feet ahead of them and the first one who¡¯s lid popped off was the winner.

    The game had already been adjusted to accommodate the much larger than normal mana pools that both Peter and Zoe had with an assortment of levers next to the canisters. At Zoe¡¯s nod, peter pushed a button next to his foot on the ground, and then Zoe heard a voice echoing in her head.

    3¡­

    2¡­

    1¡­

    Go!

    Zoe slammed the sphere with mana, keeping her pool topped up but shoving all of her excess regeneration into the sphere. Tens of thousands of mana flooded into the sphere, a glowing blue stream of some kind of liquid rushing from the sphere into the canister and beginning to fill it.

    Though, very little mana was contained in the blue stream or the canister as it filled. The mana Zoe shoved into the sphere seemed to vanish as soon as she did ¡ª maybe to power the visual effects of the game? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    Peter¡¯s canister was neck and neck, the blue liquid filling the canister wobbling around at just the same height¡¯s as Zoe¡¯s as he shoved mana into his sphere. Zoe focused inwards on her Meditation and pushed even more mana into the sphere.

    The blue liquid continued filling the two canisters, and Peter¡¯s mana crept ahead of Zoe¡¯s bit by bit. After a minute, the lid on Peter¡¯s canister exploded off, flying into the ceiling and bouncing around as it landed back on top of the canister and was shoved around by the blue liquid overflowing. The liquid turned to smoke that rose up and vanished after a few feet as it touched the ground.

    Peter looked over at Zoe with a smirk, then picked up the two silver coins. ¡°Guess I won.¡±

    Zoe looked at her canister, just inches from the top. If she started with meditation, it might have even made it. If she was willing to dump her entire well of mana instead of just her excess, she might have made it. But she didn¡¯t do that, and Peter bested her fair and square.

    ¡°Guess you did. That¡¯s an interesting game, I¡¯ve never heard of it before.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s one of my favourites.¡± Peter said as he walked up to the levers on the wall and adjusted them back down to a more normal level. ¡°Though I so rarely get to compete against somebody who¡¯s so close. You almost had me there!¡± He laughed.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Yeah, we were very close, huh? I¡¯m pretty surprised, honestly.¡±

    Klihur ran up and handed Peter another paper. Zoe wasn¡¯t even sure when the little guy had left, but Peter took it and read through it. ¡°More spring maintenance stuff?" Zoe asked.

    Peter nodded. ¡°Mhm. There¡¯s a bit of a problem that needs my attention, I¡¯m afraid. I would recommend the slime jelly and drake omelette if you stop by the restaurant though. It was lovely meeting you!¡±

    ¡°You too!¡± Zoe said as Peter ran off.

    ¡°First time?" A woman nearby asked Zoe after a few quiet seconds.

    ¡°What?¡± Zoe looked at her. She was tall, almost a foot taller than Zoe with a bald head covered in black tattoos.

    ¡°Your first time at the Springs of Gir?" She asked.

    ¡°Oh. Yeah. Why?¡± Zoe asked.

    The woman laughed, the tattoos on her head shaking with each breath. ¡°Everybody gets a tour on their first visit. I had Klihur, personally.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Huh. Why¡¯s that?¡± Zoe asked.

    The woman shrugged. "Probably spying on us, I¡¯d say.¡°

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°Spying on us? For what?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°No clue. The springs are wonderful, though. Wanna come join me? Can come back to my room after.¡± The woman smirked at Zoe.

    ¡°Oh. Sorry, no. I think I¡¯m going to go try that restaurant he recommended.¡± Zoe said.

    The woman nodded and left, leaving Zoe to herself next to the Mana Rush game. Another group had walked up and adjusted the levers for themselves, and seemed to be getting ready to play. The younger of the two seemed to have some preparation as he scribbled on the ground around him with chalk while the older was clearly falling into meditation.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what to do now that her tour guide had suddenly left ¡ª food sounded nice, but she wasn¡¯t sure that¡¯s really what she wanted to do right this moment anyway. It was just a convenient excuse at the time.

    It wasn¡¯t that Zoe had no interest in a relationship, she just wasn¡¯t one to have a quick fling with somebody in the middle of a possibly dangerous dungeon. Maybe one day she¡¯d settle down somewhere, but there were so many more things to do that were so exciting in the moment. So many other activities she could enjoy instead.

    Part of her wanted to teleport into the tunnels below the springs and see what was going on down below, but it felt like such a professional operation. Would she teleport into the tunnels below a nice grocery store or a comfortable inn? Was this place being a dungeon justification enough for her to break the rules and invade their spaces?

    To Zoe it almost was, but she¡¯d refrain for now. Maybe when she left, she¡¯d ask one of the goblins about the tunnels and see if she could maybe check them out for herself. Regardless of whether they were good or bad, the dungeon was clearly harvesting mana from its patrons. Was it harvesting enough to keep everything running and then power whatever they needed to do?

    Maybe not. The mana that flooded into the springs was immense, the mana that covered the food and goods was like a thick blanket of light to Zoe¡¯s Mana Sight. Maybe that was what the tunnels were for, Zoe thought.

    If they served slime and drakes, then they needed some way of acquiring those ingredients. Maybe below the productive dungeon was a normal dungeon used by the denizens of the productive dungeon to acquire ingredients. If Zoe offered, would she be allowed to help out with the work?

    Zoe walked over to the restaurant and headed inside. The d¨¦cor of the restaurant was made with a clear hot spring theme, small pools of water bubbling away as steam rose and filled the rafters up above. Several tables were set in the pools, planks of wood that floated around in the warm water with colourful flowers set on display.

    At the entrance was a short pedestal with another goblin behind it, looking up at Zoe. ¡°Party for one?" The goblin asked in a squeaky voice.

    ¡°Yes, please.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Dry or wet?¡± The goblin asked.

    ¡°What¡¯s that mean?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Would you like to be seated in dry seating,¡± The goblin gestured over to some tables set up on the wooden floors. ¡°Or in wet seating,¡± the goblin gestured over to the tables floating in the springs.

    ¡°Oh. Wet, I guess. When in Rome, right?" Zoe laughed.

    The goblin nodded, not quite understanding what Zoe was meaning and led her to an empty table in one of the bubbling pools of water. She placed a menu down on the table and gestured to it for Zoe. ¡°Urgo will be out to see you shortly.¡±

    Zoe thanked the goblin as she left and got into the spring, changing her clothes to a bathing suit she purchased in Korna in a flash from her bracelet. A dark purple one piece with an open back and shorts. Several of the other customers were nude as they sat in the springs, but while Zoe was comfortable with it out in far reaches of the dungeon where very few others were, she wanted at least some covering while she sat and ate dinner.

    The menu was interesting, most of the dishes contained some manner of drake or slime which indicated that if there was a dungeon below the springs that it had very little variety. But the chefs worked with what they had and the menu was impressive.

    Drake steaks, decadent chocolate slime desserts, pasta dishes made from drake eggs and slime noodles. Zoe decided to just go with Peter¡¯s recommendation and when Urgo showed up ordered slime jelly and drake omelette. For a drink, Zoe settled on a mint slimeshake.

    Sitting in the spring for so long was an odd experience. There was no seat, just the rocky floor and the floating table which wasn¡¯t tethered to anything. Zoe found herself crawling around chasing the table and floating in the warm water whenever her back got a little sore from sitting.

    The water came up to about her armpits if she sat upright which made the table rather uncomfortable to use unless she sat on her knees for a bit of extra height ¡ª but then the rocky bottom cut into her knees which also wasn¡¯t very comfortable.

    Urgo returned about fifteen minutes later with a plate full of food and placed it down on the floating table along with a counterweight on the opposite end of the table. ¡°Enjoy,¡± he said as he crawled out of the bubbling spring.

    Zoe looked at the plate, and it looked interesting. The omelette wasn¡¯t yellow like Zoe had expected, but a dark gray that almost approached black when the light didn¡¯t shine on it just right. The slime jelly Zoe had thought would be blue ¡ª or maybe green, but it was a vibrant red colour. A couple pieces of brul were laid next to the small pool of red slime, along with two dark gray sausages with black sear marks only visible when Zoe tilted her head just the right way.

    It looked, in a word, carcinogenic. Was cancer something Zoe needed to worry about anymore though? She thought she¡¯d wondered about that before but wasn¡¯t sure. Would Restoration deal with cancerous growths, or would it accelerate the cancer?

    She shrugged. If nothing else, at this point in her life Zoe could just cut off whatever part had cancer and heal herself back up with potions. It would suck, but so would dying.

    Zoe picked up one of the spoons on the table ¡ª the smaller one, and scooped up some of the red jelly. She spread it onto the piece of brul with the back of spoon and bit in. The strawberry jam appearance of the red slime jelly was deceptive, she found. There wasn¡¯t even a hint of sweetness to the slime, but rather an intense savouryness like she¡¯d bitten into the essence of dried mushrooms.

    The sausages were nice, though. A crispy casing that popped as she bit into it, blowing hot grease into Zoe¡¯s mouth and burning the roof of her mouth. The filling was somewhat sweet and sticky, with a bit of a chew to it and paired nicely with the savoury jelly covered brul.

    As was the omelette, Zoe found. It tasted much like a normal omelette ¡ª a little overcooked for Zoe¡¯s taste, she much preferred a gooey interior to the solid omelette she was served. But it was tasty and well seasoned, and each bite she took seemed to explode in small bursts of flames that scratched at her cheeks and tongue.

    Zoe finished her meal and paid Urgo the seventy five copper it cost and then got out, swapping her bathing suit for her normal clothes again. She pulsed Restoration through herself to clear up the pruning in her skin and walked out. There wasn¡¯t much more to explore to the Springs of Gir ¡ª a few inns she could stay at, and the tunnels below that might be interesting if she could find a way into them that wasn¡¯t too invasive.

    She decided to start with the inn and made her way over to one of the nearby buildings to get a room. The inside was nice, and run by a few dozen of the small green goblins that Zoe continued to find adorable. She paid the two silver up front for a two day stay, and was led to a room near the back.

    The room she was given had its own private, indoor hot spring with a few levers that managed the temperature as well as a nice wooden bed with a thin mattress resting on top. To the side was an open closet just big enough for Zoe to stand in, and a few counters that Zoe supposed she could cook some food on if she found a heat source somewhere.

    Zoe played with the levers until the temperature was just right, then stored her clothes away in her bracelet and hopped in. Her own private spring was well worth the money she thought, as she relaxed in the warm water without the anxieties that came from being outdoors.

 3-37. Ollie Bo Bollie

    Emma laid in her bed trying to sleep. Oliver was laying at the window, staring out at the trees that waved in the night winds. And Fennel seemed to be making it his life¡¯s purpose to keep her from sleeping as much as possible. His sharp claws dug into Emma¡¯s stomach as he sniffed her face and licked her eyebrows so much she wondered if her eyebrows would even survive.

    ¡°Come on, Bennel.¡± Emma yawned and picked up the black cat, placing him next to her on the bed. ¡°Just stay there, it¡¯s sleep time, okay?¡±

    Fennel meowed and moved down to the foot of the bed where he started kneading, pulling Emma¡¯s blanket down as he made himself a comfortable bed. Emma rolled her eyes and turned to her side, hugging a large pillow and watching Oliver.

    He looked over at her and closed his eyes then turned back to staring out the window. Emma closed her eyes and fell asleep, having a bit of a nightmare where both her cats escaped and as much as she looked she couldn¡¯t find them.

    She woke to Fennel standing over her face screaming at her. Emma looked at the window, the sun just beginning to light up the forest outside again. ¡°Yes, good morning, Fennel.¡± She pet his head and pushed him to the side so she could sit up.

    Emma rubbed her eyes and yawned as she stretched. It was a day off for her, most were these days since they finished Moaning Point. The hundred gold they each got was enough to live off of for a while and the black boots Emma took were probably going to sell for a hefty sum as well. According to the merchant Emma visited, they were enchanted with a simple flight magic which let one drift to the ground from dangerous heights.

    Zoe had taken the shield, and Joe was left with the necklace, but Emma wasn¡¯t sure what either of them were yet. Joe might have identified the necklace, but Emma suspected Zoe had entirely forgotten about the shield she¡¯d taken.

    Oliver stretched across the foot of the bed as he was woken by Emma¡¯s movements, and then hopped down and walked off to wherever he was going to hide for the day. Usually upstairs beneath a pile of clothes and boxes, but he¡¯d be running down for food in a few minutes anyway Emma knew.

    Fennel sat next to her on the bed, meowing at her. She wasn¡¯t sure if he was begging for food or just had a lot to say. The little void tended to have a lot to say, a very talkative little boy.

    ¡°Guess it¡¯s breakfast time, huh?" Emma leaned over and hugged Fennel, much to his discontent. ¡±Oh come on, its just a bit of cuddling. If you get to scratch me when I¡¯m sleeping, I get to hug you, okay?"

    Fennel meowed.

    ¡°Okay, okay. Breakfast. Come on.¡± Emma said as she got up and walked to the kitchen. The cats didn¡¯t need to eat in the kitchen, but it just felt right for them to have breakfast together somehow.

    She summoned some charcoal and placed it into the makeshift stove Zoe had made ¡ª when that girl got back, Emma was going to demand a better stove from her. She was much more capable now, she could do a lot better, she was just too easily distracted.

    With a flick of flame from her Fire skill, Emma ignited the charcoal and placed a hefty cast iron pan above the grate so the flames just licked the bottom of it. Emma bent down and pet Fennel as he walked back and forth at her feet while the pan heated up.

    ¡°You know I always make my breakfast first, alright? Just be patient, it¡¯s almost ready.¡± Emma said.

    When the pan heated up, Emma made herself some breakfast. A simple meal of scrambled eggs, brul and some fruit. ¡°Okay. Oliver!¡± She shouted. ¡°Breakfast time!¡±

    Oliver never came when she shouted, but she still liked to try. Maybe one day he¡¯d learn that he always heard the sound of his breakfast being poured after she yelled for him. She summoned two small metal bowls and placed them on the ground, then filled them with dark purple pellets of cat food from a bag she kept in one of her rings.

    Fennel dug in as soon as she filled his bowl, and Oliver came running down a moment later. Emma put her food onto a plate and sat down at the table to eat. The cat food stank, if she was honest. It smelled of rotting fish and wet dog, but the cats seemed to enjoy it and Emma liked her morning routine even if her own breakfast was spoiled a bit by the cats¡¯ wretched food.

    ¡°What are we gonna do today, boys?¡± Emma asked. The plan was to go for a bit of a walk, maybe let Fennel hunt a bit. Since she¡¯d gotten her new class, letting him roam free outside was a lot less terrifying than it once was. As uncomfortable as her nightmare was, the reality was that the cats were hardly capable of escaping her with all of the skills and experience she had as a hunter.

    Oliver never seemed very interested in it anyway, always wanting to return home as soon as they left the immediate vicinity outside the cave. But Fennel was much more curious, much more interested in exploring the outdoors and throwing himself into danger.

    The two cats meowed as they ate. ¡°Yeah! We¡¯re gonna go out today. You boys excited?¡± Emma asked.

    She watched them finish eating, wondering about those fancy trays that she¡¯d seen at some stores before. Mazes for the food to fall into so the cats would have to work a bit for their food, rolling it around on the floor and pawing at it to get all the food out. Fennel might enjoy it, but Emma thought Oliver might just decide he wasn¡¯t all that hungry anyway.

    When they finished, Emma cast her cleaning skill over the dishes to clean them all and then stored them away in her ring. Zoe had managed to get a cleaning general skill which seemed rather convenient, but Emma didn¡¯t have the patience for all of that effort.

    Emma struggled to see the point to Zoe¡¯s obsession, years away from her friends, always throwing herself at danger in the hopes of attaining some further power and for what? To throw herself at the next big danger that comes her way? It just seemed pointless, to Emma.

    She respected her friend¡¯s choice of course, Zoe clearly got something from it that Emma just couldn¡¯t understand. But to give up her life at home, with her two adorable cats and friends who she could spend time with whenever she wanted? Emma couldn¡¯t understand it.

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    And throwing herself at a wall for months at a time just to learn a new skills? Emma tried a few times, but it was just so boring. So mindnumbingly uninteresting. Even if Emma didn¡¯t have to sleep at all, and even if she didn¡¯t have any responsibilities to worry about throughout the day, spending every waking hour she had on a single task for months on end just wasn¡¯t an option.

    Zoe was strange, as Joe would say. But Emma loved her none the less, a strange but very important friend. Maybe one day Emma would find a skill like what Zoe¡¯s friend Lila had, just so they could communicate while Zoe was off on her adventures. That might be nice.

    Emma got up and summoned Fennel¡¯s harness. ¡°Alright little Benny, you¡¯re the annoying one even though you love it so much more. One day you¡¯ll see this and get excited. You love being outside once its on, you know?¡± She knelt down and grabbed Fennel around his torso.

    ¡°Come on buddy, you¡¯re gonna have fun. I promise.¡± She said as Fennel tried scratching at her arm while she wiggled the pink cloth straps onto him. He ran off to the front door when she was done, meowing in the distance.

    ¡°See! You know you¡¯re going outside and you¡¯re all excited now. Why do you have to scratch me so much when I try to put the damn thing on?¡± Emma shouted. ¡°Just wait a sec, I gotta get your brother in his harness too.¡±

    Oliver was usually much easier to get in his harness, at least when he was in a good mood. And today, it seemed he was. Emma slipped the blue harness onto him and then walked him up to the front door where Fennel was pacing back and forth and still meowing.

    ¡°Yes I know, it¡¯s so exciting isn¡¯t it?¡± Emma bent down and made sure his harness still still attached properly, then grabbed the leash that hung off the back of it and opened the front door. Fennel ran out, tugging on the leash a little as he sniffed and scratched at everything outside.

    Oliver stayed back and sniffed at the front door a little before Emma gently pulled him forward a little. ¡°Come on Ollie Bo Bollie, you¡¯re gonna get all squished up if you stay there.¡±

    Emma started walking down the path she normally took, a bit of a walk down towards the wall that now stretched all the way to the hill she lived in, and then along the wall to the gate. She liked to stay away from the town proper when she walked the cats ¡ª both to avoid the incessant greetings and interruptions from people and to let the cats explore the forest a little for themselves.

    Sometimes she even left the wall and wandered through the forests a bit with the cats, but today didn¡¯t seem like a great day for it. The glimpses Emma saw of the forest outside through her space class were filled with boars and even a wolf earlier while she was preparing breakfast. They were hardly dangerous to Emma with all of her classes, but if something went wrong and one of her cats got hurt or even worse because of her, she¡¯d never be able to forgive herself.

    When they got to the gate, Fennel started pulling the leash a little towards the gate. ¡°No, sorry Fennel, we¡¯re not going outside today.¡± Emma pulled him back and kept walking along the wall for a while, and then turned around and started back towards home. Fennel still seemed to be enjoying himself, but Oliver was beginning to pace back and forth around Emma¡¯s feet which she always took as him saying he¡¯d had enough.

    ¡°Okay, okay. Lets go home. I wanna get started on a garden today, I think. I bet Zoe would be okay with it. Maybe we put up a fence and you two can spend some more time outside, too.¡± Emma said to the two cats as she walked back.

    Peter was standing outside, peering in through the windows when she got back. ¡°Hello?¡± She called out from behind as she walked up.

    ¡°Oh, hey!¡± Peter waved back. ¡°Lauren wanted me to come invite you over for dinner tonight. She¡¯s made some fresh brul for some sandwiches and I¡¯m trying my hand at baking a cake.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Something happening?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Peter laughed. ¡°I¡¯m baking a cake for the first time. It¡¯ll probably be bad, but Lauren¡¯s sandwiches will be amazing. She¡¯s been roasting some boar meat all morning and it smells amazing. You should come, if you don¡¯t have anything going on.¡±

    Emma shrugged. ¡°Sounds good to me. Who else is coming?¡±

    ¡°Just Joe. We were going to invite Karl but he¡¯s busy tonight with some problem outside the walls.¡± Peter said.

    ¡°Wolves?¡± Emma asked, thinking of the wolf she¡¯d seen wandering the forests outside Foizo.

    Peter nodded. ¡°Yeah, how¡¯d you know?¡±

    ¡°Saw one out there earlier which I thought was a little weird. They don¡¯t normally come that close to the walls.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Apparently they¡¯ve been creeping in more and more lately. Not sure what¡¯s happening. Be careful with the cats, hey?" Peter said.

    Emma nodded. ¡°I always am. If anything happened to my babies I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do. I¡¯ll keep them inside the walls for now then I guess.¡±

    ¡°Sure, sure. Yeah anyway I¡¯ve gotta get back to my cake.¡± Peter laughed. ¡°See you at dinner then.¡± He bent down to pet the two cats. ¡°And you two be good, alright?¡±

    ¡°Sure, thanks!¡± Emma said as he left, then pulled the two cats back inside and took off their harnesses. Fennel clawed at the door a bit, hoping it would open so he could get back out and Oliver ran off to fall asleep somewhere hidden.

    Emma stepped through space to just outside the cave and stared at the ground. She stared at the ground outside the kitchen and her bedroom for a while, trying to imagine a garden. The day drew on as Emma pulled sticks and stones around the area to try and plan out where she¡¯d plant things. Every so often, she¡¯d hop back inside to check on the cats and play with them for a bit then hop back out to plan the garden a bit more.

    Dinner time rolled around, and Emma fed the two cats again. This time with some brown gloopy mashed up food from a metal box that the two cats were crazy for. She had to warm it a bit on the stove and add a little more water to it, but both the cats came running as soon as they smelled it and gobbled it up in moments when she placed it on the floor for them. Emma didn¡¯t quite get their taste, but if they enjoyed the disgusting smelling slop then she¡¯d happily feed it to them every day.

    ¡°Okay, mommy¡¯s gonna go visit some friends for dinner. You two be good, alright? Love you both lots!¡± She kissed them both on the forehead, then stepped through space to just outside Peter and Lauren¡¯s place.

    Joe was standing at the door when she arrived and jumped a bit at her sudden appearance. ¡°Oh! Hey Emma.¡± He said.

    ¡°Hey. You ready for some cake?" Emma asked.

    Joe laughed. ¡°Yeah. Maybe not the cake, but the roasted boar does smell nice.¡±

    Emma took a whiff and smelled a rich, charcoaly smell from the fire Peter and Lauren had in their backyard. ¡°It does smell nice.¡±

    Joe knocked on the door, and Peter opened it a few moments later to let the two friends in for dinner.

 3-38. Kurn

    Zoe sank in to the private spring in her room, the water coming up just below her nose. As she breathed, small waves rippled across the surface of the warm water. It was so much nicer than she expected it to be. Back home on Earth, she¡¯d never been in a hot spring. She¡¯d heard of them, she¡¯d watched videos of them. Seen lots of scenes in movies and television with people relaxing in hot springs.

    But she¡¯d never been. Back in the scalding spring Peter took her to, she had too many things going on that distracted her. The water was just a little too hot, there were plenty of people around and she felt more than a little self conscious. Something odd was happening with the tunnels below, and as much as she enjoyed the company of the goblins she couldn¡¯t quite trust them so much.

    Here in here room however; those anxieties fell away. There were no watchful eyes that could stare at her body ¡ª even if she knew logically they weren¡¯t anyway. There were no goblins nearby that made her want to keep her guard up. No tunnels below.

    No tunnels below? Zoe sank deeper into the spring and crawled around on the rocky floor so her perception would reach as far down as it could go. Nothing, not even a hint of emptiness below. Or if there was, something was blocking her ability to see it.

    Why would there be tunnels beneath one of the other springs, but not beneath these ones? Were they not for spring maintenance at all then? If the tunnels were necessary to keep the springs running well, then they¡¯d be beneath every spring not just the ones outside.

    Zoe thought back to when she was in the restaurant enjoying her meal, but couldn¡¯t remember seeing anything below the spring there either. Was Zoe just lucky and found the one spring where her perception reached into the tunnels below, or was it maybe just a pocket of air and she assumed they were tunnels for no reason?

    It didn¡¯t matter, she supposed. Whether there was an expansive tunnel system below the springs or not wasn¡¯t her problem. When she left, she¡¯d ask if she could get a tour of the facilities below the springs and if they showed her, then that would be great. And if they didn¡¯t, she¡¯d have a moral dilemma to solve someday in the future when her desire to see them grew too great.

    She got out of the water many hours later and pulled all the water off of her with her Water skill, dumping it into the spring again. Being naked in a hotel was one of life¡¯s greatest pleasures, in Zoe¡¯s opinion. She was never into the whole nudism or naturism, or whatever it was called now. But hopping in the bath and then getting out and making some ramen and falling into bed without dealing with straps and buttons was a great feeling.

    Though, with the help of her storage items putting clothes on was hardly a hassle these days anyway. She pulled out some baggy purple pants and a bright yellow sweater from her storage ring to wear, and then sat down on the bed.

    Which she found deeply uncomfortable. The mattress was hard and filled with rough, prickly furs and each wooden beam beneath the mattress dug into her behind as she sat on it. The floor seemed nicer, just because at least the floor didn¡¯t have wide gaps with sharp edges. She moved the mattress to the floor and laid down, drifting off to sleep.

    She woke up the next morning and hopped back into the water to relax for a few more hours as she thought about what her next step would be. There wasn¡¯t much else to do though at the Springs of Gir. She could go enjoy the arcade area a little more, or relax in the hot springs for a while longer. But it felt complete, somehow. She¡¯d seen what the place had to offer, and she was excited to move on to somewhere new.

    Zoe left her room and made her way out of the inn back to the entrance of the springs where a couple goblins sat behind a counter greeting guests and handing out visitor passes for people to dump mana into.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Zoe said to one of the goblins.

    ¡°Hi! Here is visitor pass, please fill with mana!¡± The goblin said, handing another of the crystalline blue boxes to Zoe.

    ¡°Oh, no. I already have one, I just wanted to ask a question. There are tunnels below some of the springs, I was wondering how I get to them? Is that a place I can go wander around in as well?¡± Zoe asked.

    The two goblins looked at each other and then knocked on the wall behind them. Another goblin came up a moment later, crawling through a small door that opened. ¡°Customer wants to see tunnels, is allowed?¡± The goblin Zoe was speaking to asked.

    The goblin paused for a moment, and then looked at Zoe. ¡°Will ask boss, please wait.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Thanks!¡± Zoe said and watched the goblin crawl back through the small door. She stepped off to the side as she waited, and about ten minutes later the goblin came back.

    ¡°No, can not see tunnels. Very sorry.¡± The goblin bowed to Zoe.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s okay. I¡¯m sorry to pester you but is there maybe something I could do to be allowed? I could pay, or sign a contract or something. I¡¯m just really curious about them is all.¡± Zoe chuckled.

    ¡°Will ask boss, please wait.¡± The goblin said and crawled back through the door again. Another ten minutes later, it came back. ¡°No, very sorry. Can not see tunnels.¡±

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s fine. Thanks for checking.¡± Zoe smiled at the goblin as it climbed back through the tiny door. ¡°Do I keep this or do you take it back?¡± Zoe asked the goblin sitting at the desk.

    ¡°We take back if you¡¯re leaving.¡± The goblin stuck its hand out and Zoe gave it the blue box. ¡°Thank you!"

    Zoe nodded to the goblin, then looked up to the south west and focused on a space a couple kilometers away and Cosmic Stepped into the sky. She caught herself in a suit of earth and looked around.

    In the distance where she came from were the Springs of Gir, while everywhere else around her was forest. Trees as far as the eye could see, with a handful of lakes just poking through the green canopies. Zoe didn¡¯t have any plans, and almost couldn¡¯t believe that just a day earlier she was relaxing in her cave toying around with her skills.

    She chuckled, floating in the sky far above the ground. In moments, she could be back home. Say hello to her friends, play with Emma¡¯s cats a bit. Maybe take them out for a walk or finally build her home. So far away, in the middle of nowhere, and yet everything felt so close. Just minutes away for her.

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    Zoe shook her head. One day, the feeling might not be so special to her. Some day, far in the future, it might just be a normal part of life. Visiting friends one moment, and delving into a dungeon thousands of kilometers away the next. But for now, it was special. It was emotional and exciting, and she loved it.

    In minutes, she was dozens of kilometers away, the Springs of Gir no longer visible on the horizon. Zoe continued Cosmic Stepping through the sky, following along the road far below until she saw something interesting. A gravel road leading up to what looked like a small village hidden in the trees.

    She fell down to the road and walked up the village. A wooden palisade surrounded the two dozen buildings that made up the village, while the gravel path cross split the village in half. From the entrance, Zoe could see a small village center with an ornate fountain of some man on a horse and a handful of benches set up around it.

    A man stood at the entrance with a wooden spear, a dark blue level one hundred fifty four to Zoe¡¯s identify. One of the highest level people she¡¯d met, though if he was to be guarding a village in the middle of nowhere she supposed it made some sense.

    ¡°Hello!¡± Zoe waved as she approached.

    ¡°Hello,¡± The man responded. Zoe¡¯s Vampyric Empathy was flooded with suspicion and frustration. ¡°What is your purpose here?"

    ¡°Oh I¡¯m just exploring and saw this village. If you don¡¯t want me here I can leave, I just thought it might be fun to meet some new people.¡± Zoe answered.

    The man looked at her, his emotions twisting between anxiety, fear and frustration. ¡°You may enter.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m Zoe, by the way. It¡¯s nice to meet you. And really if you don¡¯t want me here, I can leave. I just saw your village and thought it could be fun to come say hi.¡± Zoe told him.

    The man radiated suspicion at Zoe¡¯s comments. ¡°I¡¯m Jolg. We don¡¯t get many new visitors here, just don¡¯t cause any problems.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Alright Jolg. You got any advice for what I should check out first? Is there like an inn I could get a room at or am I basically on my own?¡±

    ¡°Kurn runs an inn if you need a place to stay. He¡¯s just in that building there.¡± Jolg pointed to a larger building a few doors down the gravel road. ¡°Otherwise, I would recommend the village center. Our fountain is our greatest joy.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I saw the fountain as I walked up. It looks really nice, who is it of?" Zoe asked.

    The man oozed anxiety and doubt. ¡°Tor, our village¡¯s hero. He started this village four hundred years ago, and we¡¯ve been here ever since.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Cool. That¡¯s cool. Thanks, I¡¯ll go check out Kurn¡¯s inn then.¡±

    Jolg nodded, waves of concern wafting off of him to Zoe¡¯s Empathy. She felt a little bad, but supposed it couldn¡¯t be helped. An unknown, relatively high level person showing up unannounced to their small out of the way village was probably not something that happened often. But if they wanted to let her in, she¡¯d enjoy the stay anyway.

    Kurn¡¯s inn was rather uninspired. A wooden building with open shutters for windows, and a hefty front door held open by a worn down doorstop wedged between it and the gravel road outside. Inside were two round wooden tables to one side and a small kitchen on the other, with a few doors on the furthest wall from where Zoe entered.

    One man was inside, sitting at one of the tables reading a book about a librarian who tended to adventurer¡¯s needs. Dark blue eighty seven to Zoe¡¯s identify. Quite low for having five classes, Zoe thought. He looked up when Zoe entered and she felt a wave of confusion wafting off him from her Empathy.

    ¡°Hello?¡± He questioned.

    ¡°Hi. Um. Jolg said a person named Kurn ran this inn?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m Kurn. Might I help you?" He asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d like a room, I guess. I just saw the village and thought it might be fun to stop by. Hope I¡¯m not intruding on you all.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No, no!¡± Kurn said, radiating excitement. ¡°You¡¯re not intruding at all. We get new people here so very rarely, these days especially.¡±

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s happened?¡± Zoe asked, sitting down at the table across from Kurn.

    ¡°Did you not hear? Flester was destroyed a few years back. A terrible shame what happened to it.¡± He shook his head. ¡°We used to get people travelling down the road every so often to Flester, but without that stop in the way people use that road a lot less now. Just the odd person heading to the Springs of Gir and stopping by.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Yeah I lived in Flester, actually. I just didn¡¯t think that would be affecting you that much.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh yes, a great deal. Not as much as it must have affected you, I¡¯m terribly sorry you had to go through that.¡± Kurn said.

    ¡°Well I say I lived in Flester, but I lived just outside Flester really. I wasn¡¯t too affected by the attack. We¡¯ve got a bit of a town coming back there now, too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes, uh Foizo was it called? I think I¡¯ve heard of it.¡± Kurn said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, Foizo. How much for I dunno, a night here? I¡¯m not sure how long I¡¯ll be around. I¡¯m just trying to broaden my horizons a bit, you know?¡±

    Kurn nodded. ¡°Stay as long as you like and pay when you leave then. Say thirty copper a night, meals included?¡±

    Zoe summoned a gold coin and handed it to him. ¡°Here, keep the change.¡±

    ¡°Oh, no no. I couldn¡¯t possibly, that¡¯s far too much.¡± Kurn tried to push it back but Zoe refused.

    ¡°Really it¡¯s no big deal. I¡¯ll just stay around for a bit and then head out. You got any suggestions for places I could visit? I¡¯ve spent most of my life in Flester and then Foizo and been wanting to get out and see things a bit more. Went to the Springs of Gir and Korna far to the east. You got any fun ideas?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Really this is far too much I couldn¡¯t possibly accept this.¡± Kurn pushed the coin back to Zoe.

    ¡°It¡¯s really not a big deal. I feel a little bad intruding on your village anyway.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well¡­ If you insist, I suppose.¡± Kurn said, reluctantly placing the coin in his pocket. ¡°Hmm. If you¡¯re looking for something fun to do, there is a big city not too far west of here. If you go back to the main road and keep heading west you can¡¯t miss it. Darpi, nice place. We get some of their carriages stopping by now and then.¡±

    ¡°Carriages?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Darpi is known for their carpentry. I¡¯ve heard their houses are beautiful, but I¡¯ve never been. Every so often somebody stops by in the village with a carriage made in Darpi and it¡¯s simply gorgeous. I¡¯d love to see their houses someday.¡± Kurn said, a feeling of longing and loneliness wafting off of him.

    ¡°Alright, thanks. Do I just pick any room I want or do you give me a room key, or how does this work?¡± Zoe asked.

    Kurn laughed and pulled a metal key from his pocket. ¡°Here you are, room two, on your left.¡±

 3-39. Klia

    The room was simple. A window looking out at the back of the wooden palisade that surrounded the village, a small desk with a nice wooden chair and a much more comfortable bed than the one at the dungeon.

    Zoe sat down at the desk and opened one of the three drawers along the right hand side. Inside was a pile of off white papers and some writing implements. She checked her level, one hundred thirty nine. Two levels since she left the previous morning, much faster than she would have expected. She didn¡¯t fight anything, she didn¡¯t even spend much time using her skills, so where did the levels come from?

    Just from the passage of time alone didn¡¯t make sense to her, since she¡¯d spent many months sitting around in her cave and levels never came that quick. Was it from exploring a new dungeon? Was there some passive experience gain from exploring a dungeon she¡¯d never been to for the first time?

    She thought through her class bonuses and remembered her Cosmic Mystic gave her experience through the passage of both time and space. She thought it meant normal travel, walking or flying even. But did she get a massive boost when she teleported multiple kilometers at a time?

    Zoe looked out the window to the sky, Cosmic Stepping far above the village and catching herself in a suit of earth. In a little under an hour, she made it back to the sky far above Foizo. Another hour later, and she was back in Kurn¡¯s inn, sitting at the desk.

    She checked her level again ¡ª one hundred forty, another level. Was she already at the cusp of a level from exploring the springs or did she just get an entire level from just under two hours of teleporting around? Zoe sighed and repeated the process again. As she travelled through the sky, she half hoped it wouldn¡¯t get her another level. As enjoyable as exploring the world was, spending days on end teleporting back and forth was not her idea of a fun time.

    By the time she made it back to Kurn¡¯s inn again, the sun was beginning to dip on the horizon and Zoe checked her level. Still level one hundred forty. Which still didn¡¯t rule anything out, Zoe thought.

    Maybe it was a mixture of the two factors she could think of ¡ª exploring a new dungeon gave her a bunch of experience, and teleporting gave her a bunch of experience. Maybe it just wasn¡¯t enough for a full level but only half? She wished the system would just give her an easy to understand experience bar at the bottom of her vision so she could figure things out better, but whenever she tried to pry that information from the system it never responded with anything useful.

    One time she managed to stretch out her health bar to the bottom of her vision and got excited for a moment, before she realized what had happened. The system gave her a great deal of customization over how it appeared, but the exact experience she had left for the next level just wasn¡¯t information it gave her.

    Maybe it wasn¡¯t information it even had at all. Maybe the system just decided she levelled up sometimes with no rhyme or reason behind it. She shrugged, and left the room back out to the dining area where Kurn was at work in the kitchen with some stew bubbling away in a pot and the smell of fresh brul filling the inn.

    ¡°Oh hello, did you enjoy the bed? I made them myself you know?" Kurn asked when he saw Zoe come out.

    ¡°Really? That¡¯s quite impressive. I didn¡¯t get to try it out though, sorry. Seemed much more comfortable than the ones at the inn at the Springs of Gir though.¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°You ever been there?¡±

    Kurn shook his head. ¡°No, no. Never myself. I think I¡¯d like to go one day but it¡¯s quite a journey out there you know?"

    Zoe smiled. ¡°Yeah, I suppose it is. The inn was really nice but my god did the beds suck.¡± She sat down at one of the tables. ¡°What¡¯s for dinner tonight?"

    ¡°Bear stew and a sweet brul my nan used to make. It should be ready now, if you¡¯d like?¡± Kurn asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I think I would like, thanks.¡±

    Kurn pulled a wooden bowl from one of the cupboards and filled it with the dark brown stew from the pot, then pulled out a fist sized brul bun from the oven and walked over to Zoe¡¯s table. ¡°Here you are. Enjoy.¡±

    Zoe dug in, the brul was delicious and reminded her of her own grandmother¡¯s sweet brul she used to make. Or bread, Zoe realized. The stew was flavourful and packed with herbs, though the meat was rather tough and fatty with a strange bitter flavour to it that cut through the gaminess of the bear but wasn¡¯t all too pleasant itself.

    *Ding* You have consumed an Innkeeper¡¯s dinner. All regeneration increased for four hours.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Zoe said. ¡°It¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well the bears have been eating something odd lately so their fat is a bit off. But foods food, I say.¡± Kurn said, sitting down across from Zoe.

    ¡°Do their diets affect the flavour of fat that much?" Zoe asked.

    Kurn nodded. ¡°It does, yes. One year I suppose the fruit harvest was quite significant, and the bears around here gorged on fruits for a large part of their diet. And as a result, they tasted sweet and delicate. It was wonderful. I rather think it would be an enjoyable time to try and replicate that, but I find I just don¡¯t have the same motivation for things I used to anymore.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of domesticated bears before, but I guess it would be possible. If it makes that big of a difference, you could export some special bear meat, I guess. Don¡¯t know what the market would be like though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh! I¡¯d never even thought of exporting it, I just thought it would be nice to have some delicious food here in the village. Maybe we can try that out next year. It would be nice to have something for this little village again.¡± Kurn said.

    ¡°What did you used to have?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well we used to be a stop between Darpi and Flester. Lots of merchants travelling back and forth, stopping by here to peddle some wares and stay at the inns. We still do get them sometimes, but it used to be enough to sustain us. Now we¡¯re left more to ourselves and that¡¯s good in its own way too I think, but I don¡¯t think the little ones enjoy it so much. If we don¡¯t get something going, this might be the last generation living here.¡± Kurn laughed

    ¡°That¡¯d be sad, you have such a long history here too.¡± Zoe said.

    Kurn nodded. ¡°But it¡¯s the way of life. The world changes and we can¡¯t always stand against the current. Sometimes you just get pulled along with everything else, and that¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Well in a few years, trade might start up with Foizo again too. You never know.¡± Zoe suggested.

    Kurn shook his head. ¡°I appreciate your positive outlook, but it will be decades before Foizo is as enticing to the Darpi merchants as Flester was.¡± He waved his hand. ¡°Enough of that though. What were you getting up to you in your room if you don¡¯t mind me asking? I had thought you were asleep, but I suppose I was mistaken.¡±

    Zoe chuckled. ¡°I was just experimenting with some of my class stuff. Nothing too special.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, yes. They can be quite complicated sometimes, can¡¯t they?¡± Kurn asked.

    ¡°Complicated is an understatement.¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°I swear, sometimes I think the system¡¯s trying to confuse us.¡±

    Kurn laughed with her and then got up and walked back to the kitchen area of the room. ¡°I can¡¯t disagree with that. You know, for some of my skills to work I have to be in an inn?¡±

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Zoe smiled. ¡°I have an innkeeper friend, I¡¯ve heard the frustrations.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the damn sinks! Why do I need a sink? I have a cleaning skill. I never use the sink. Why do I need a sink?" Kurn ranted.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°You know actually, I did this service for people where I escorted them through Moaning Point, if you¡¯ve heard of that?¡±

    Kurn thought for a moment then nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a dungeon far to the east, right?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. I spent a few years escorting people up the mountain and met a lot of people with restrictive classes like that. Always made it an extra challenge, but it was fun to try and work around them.¡±

    ¡°You escorted people through a dungeon? At such a low level?¡± Kurn asked.

    ¡°Mhm. I¡¯m pretty capable, despite what I might look.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯d love to try someday, but I¡¯d be rather useless in a dungeon.¡± Kurn laughed.

    ¡°Yeah, I once had to build an inn for somebody. Just up in the middle of the dungeon, just so they could use their skills. Pain in the butt too because the dungeon rots everythign you build on it over time so I had to keep up on maintenance constantly, while also making sure everything else was running smooth.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sounds like a lot of work. You get paid well at least?" Kurn asked.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°I didn¡¯t get paid at all. Just did it for fun, really.¡±

    ¡°Really? At such a young age too, I¡¯m impressed. It¡¯s taken me this long just to get to my level, though I got quite lucky on my class caps.¡± Kurn said.

    ¡°Yeah I noticed that. You¡¯re really low level for having your fifth class already. Did you loop for that?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Nope. Never replaced any of my classes, don¡¯t think I will. Losing my skill levels sounds like a nightmare, if I¡¯m being honest.¡± Kurn said.

    ¡°Right, that is definitely the worst part.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You looped?¡± Kurn asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°A few times, yeah. A shame to have so many options and not try them out, in my opinion.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯m sorry if you don¡¯t want to answer, but how old are you? You seem so young.¡± Kurn asked.

    Zoe smiled. ¡°I¡¯m, oh gosh it¡¯s so hard to remember these days. Almost fifty, I think?¡±

    ¡°Fifty! My goodness you look so young.¡± Kurn said. ¡°I thought you were younger than me, I¡¯m sorry if I¡¯ve been rude.¡±

    ¡°No it¡¯s fine, I got immortality at a young age and I can¡¯t say I¡¯m too upset about it. I don¡¯t think you were rude at all.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°An immortal looper visiting my inn, huh? Who would have thought.¡± Kurn shook his head. ¡°Are you with the royal guard, then?"

    ¡°No, I¡¯m just me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You ever thought about joining them?" Kurn asked. ¡±I bet they¡¯d love you.¡°

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, I like my freedom, really. Same reason I try to avoid classes with those obnoxious restrictions. Even if it makes you better off in the right situation I just really want freedom, personally.¡±

    Kurn shook his head. ¡°Freedom¡¯s nice, but I like being an innkeeper. As frustrating as it is, we meet a lot of interesting people. Or well, the people I meet tend to be interesting anyway.¡±

    ¡°Like me?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup. It¡¯s always a joy to meet new people.¡± Kurn said.

    ¡°It is. When they¡¯re nice, anyway. I¡¯ve met a lot of assholes that I think I could¡¯ve done without.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well here we just kick them out. Jolg¡¯s never far away when I need him.¡± Kurn said.

    Zoe nodded and sat in silence for a few minutes before she stood up. ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna go wander around then. Anything to do at night here?¡±

    ¡°If you fancy hunting, then Klia should be going out soon. You might be able to join her. Otherwise, we¡¯re rather a small village. There isn¡¯t much to do here, you could go see the fountain.¡± Kurn said.

    ¡°Klia hunts at night?" Zoe asked.

    Kurn nodded. ¡°Says its easier to find them in the quiet of night, but I think she just doesn¡¯t like mornings personally.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I enjoy hunting. Where can I find her?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Probably at the front gate around now. She chats with Jolg for a while before she heads out usually. If she¡¯s not there, Jolg will know.¡± Kurn said.

    ¡°Cool, thanks a bunch.¡± Zoe left the inn and walked the short distance back to the front gate where Jolg was chatting with a short woman with long black hair that had specks of purple shining in the evening light. Zoe¡¯s identify showed her as a dark red level one hundred thirteen.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Zoe said as she approached. The two turned to look at her. ¡°This is a bit awkward actually, now that I think about it. But I was talking with Kurn and he said. Sorry, are you Klia?"

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m Klia. And you are?" Klia asked, flooding Zoe¡¯s Empathy with confusion.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m getting ahead of myself. I¡¯m Zoe, I just stopped by here cause I thought it would be fun. And I was talking with Kurn about what to do around here at this time and he said you go hunting and might be up for some company?¡± Zoe said. ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s real weird to just ask somebody to go hunting, isn¡¯t it?"

    Klia laughed. ¡°This is the girl you were talking about?" She looked at Jolg.

    He shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t say she was dangerous, I just said that somebody showed up earlier.¡±

    ¡°Well anyway, do you have experience hunting, Zoe? I don¡¯t mind you coming along but not if you¡¯re going to make my job harder." Klia turned to Zoe.

    Zoe summoned her diploma from the School of Hunting Interesting Targets and waved it around. ¡°Got a diploma and everything.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but are you good at it? Klia asked.

    Zoe put the diploma away and nodded. ¡°I¡¯m very good at it, yes. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll slow you down at all. Just looking for something to pass the time, really.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°Okay, but if I think you¡¯re slowing me down then you¡¯re going back to Kurn¡¯s inn, alright?" Klia said.

    ¡°Sounds fine to me. When are you planning to leave?" Zoe asked.

    Klia shrugged. ¡°Now?¡±

 3-40. Hunting

    ¡°So what are you hunting, anyway?¡± Zoe asked as Klia led her into the forest.

    ¡°A bear.¡± Klia answered. ¡°I¡¯ve been hunting this bear for the past few weeks, but it keeps eluding me.¡±

    ¡°Really? A bear?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°You ever seen one?¡± Klia asked.

    Zoe shook her head. She had seen many black bears back on Earth, but none since she¡¯d come to Abyllan. Boars, deer, rabbits, rats and other rodents. Lots of birds, but no bears. She hadn¡¯t even seen a wolf, despite them being near Flester if the tracks she saw were anything to go by.

    ¡°They¡¯re not like deer or rabbits, you know? Bears are big, and smart. And the one I¡¯m hunting has been around for a while. I saw it once, a month ago. Level one fifty seven.¡± Klia shook her head. ¡°Incredible beast, but it¡¯s been disturbing some of the farmers so it needs to be dealt with.¡±

    ¡°One fifty seven? They can get that high?¡± Zoe asked. The highest level animal she¡¯d seen was in the mid thirties, a particularly angry boar she once hunted outside Flester. One fifty seven was unheard of for wild animals, as far as Zoe was aware. Even the highest levels Emma had seen were barely reaching fifty.

    Klia nodded. ¡°Sometimes. Not near the big cities or popular roads. They¡¯re either hunted before they get very high or they leave once they outgrow their home. Out here they can get pretty high level though, we don¡¯t hunt them for sport or anything. Just to get what we need to eat, so there¡¯s nothing controlling the population.¡±

    ¡°Right. So if the bears are on top, they¡¯ll just keep getting more and more levels. Must be an old bear, then?" Zoe asked.

    Klia nodded. ¡°This one looks maybe late thirties, early forties? Not sure where he came from but he showed up about a month ago. Maybe a bit earlier.¡±

    ¡°Right, okay. So what if we don¡¯t find him?" Zoe asked.

    Klia laughed. ¡°We probably won¡¯t. I haven¡¯t yet and I¡¯ve been looking for a while. We¡¯ll just pick up any old bear and maybe a deer to keep people going for the next day or two.¡±

    ¡°Alright, sounds like fun then.¡± Zoe said, and continued following Klia into the forest. They wandered in silence for a while, stopping to inspect some missing bark on trees or signs left on the ground.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t quite sure what her purpose was ¡ª finding the signs and identifying them seemed much easier for Zoe than it was for Klia, but Zoe hesitated to show off too much. If she really wanted to, finding the bear likely wouldn¡¯t take more than an hour or two. But was that the right thing for somebody to do when they showed up to a town?

    On one hand, the bear was disrupting some of the villager¡¯s lives and Zoe handling it might be a boon for them. But on the other, finding it seemed to be a bit of a passion for Klia and taking away that accomplishment from her felt rather mean.

    She settled on pointing out signs Klia missed, and decided to just try and nudge Klia in the right direction as best she could, without being too obvious. Stripping the accomplishment from Klia felt wrong, but leaving the bear to harass the farmers just for one person¡¯s pride didn¡¯t feel right to Zoe either.

    ¡°So what are you gonna do with the bear when you find it?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll have to kill it, won¡¯t I? Can¡¯t have it messing up the farmers here and no other way to get rid of it than to kill it.¡± Klia answered.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to, though?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course not. He¡¯s beautiful. Far too old and grizzled to be tasty too, so the meat might not even get used which is a shame. But what can you do, you know? Incredible or not, he¡¯s overstayed his welcome.¡± Klia shook her head.

    ¡°I could move it, if we find it. Take it somewhere and drop it in a forest far away.¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°You? Going to just pick up this massive bear and carry it far enough away that it can¡¯t just get back?" Klia chuckled. ¡±I don¡¯t think you understand how big it is. If I stood on your shoulders, I might be eye level with it.¡°

    Zoe whistled. ¡°That is quite a bit bigger than I thought. I might still be able to though, maybe. I could try and move it, if you¡¯d rather.¡±

    Klia shook her head and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. ¡°As much as I love the beast, I can¡¯t risk it getting away if we do end up finding it. If you can capture it quick, then go ahead. But I have to take the chance if it presents itself. If it keeps growing, I might not be enough to handle it anymore.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll try and be quick then.¡±

    Klia chuckled. ¡°Not that we¡¯re even going to find it anyway, you know? The damn thing¡¯s evaded me for weeks. It¡¯s not going to just show up today cause you¡¯re around.¡±

    ¡°Right, yeah. Well hopefully we can get enough food for the people at least then. What¡¯s it like living here, anyway? I¡¯ve never lived somewhere like this. Seems interesting.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Interesting is right.¡± Klia scoffed. ¡°It used to be better, before the fall of Flester. We¡¯d get merchants in, travellers. Lots of people to talk to, stories to listen to. Cool wares to browse through and if you¡¯re lucky, maybe even buy.¡±

    ¡°But not anymore?" Zoe asked and looked off in the distance through the trees, summoning her Cosmic Familiar out of sight from Klia. She pushed through an image of a massive bear, telling her familiar to search for it and stay away from her and Klia. The strange purple shapes fell into the ground, and Zoe felt them moving further away.

    Klia shook her head. ¡°No, not anymore. Last person that showed up was Anna, but she stops by all the time. Last new person would have been, hmm. A year ago, maybe?¡±

    ¡°Anna?¡± Zoe asked, remembering the little goblin named Klihur who kept asking if she was Anna. ¡°Does she spend much time at the Springs of Gir?"

    ¡°Yeah, why?" Klia asked.

    ¡°Oh one of the goblins there kept asking if I was Anna, I have no idea why. Do I look like her?¡± Zoe asked.

    Klia laughed. ¡°No, but she never looks quite the same every time we see her. Always changing her hair style, playing with new fashions. I guess the goblins aren¡¯t quite so good at recognizing people, maybe."

    ¡°Maybe. They were cute though.¡± Zoe said.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯ve heard, yeah. Never been myself, though.¡± Klia said.

    ¡°You should go sometime. It¡¯s not that far away, I don¡¯t think.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You don¡¯t think? How¡¯d you get here?¡± Klia asked.

    ¡°Flying?¡± Zoe grinned. ¡°Yeah, flying.¡±

    ¡°You can fly?" Klia looked at her in surprise.

    Zoe wrapped herself in a suit of Earth and lifted off the ground. ¡°A little, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Seems convenient. That how you plan to move the bear?¡± Klia asked.

    ¡°More or less, yeah. I can carry a lot of weight with me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hmm. It might just work, then. But like I said, I can¡¯t risk losing it again.¡± Klia said.

    Zoe shook her head, and they continued through the forest in silence for a while longer. Klia found some deer tracks to follow along and they soon found the owner of the tracks, storing its corpse away in Klia¡¯s ring. Zoe noticed many of the other animal tracks along the way ¡ª plenty of different rodents, deer. Bears, of course as well as a few very old wolf tracks that Klia either didn¡¯t notice or didn¡¯t care about.

    ¡°So why¡¯d you come here, anyway? What¡¯s your story?" Klia asked as she bent down to inspect some rustled leaves and split branches on the ground.

    ¡°I was just travelling around and saw the village in the distance. Got nothing better to do really so figured I¡¯d come meet some new people.¡± Zoe answered.

    Klia looked confused for a moment before she responded. ¡°Ah, right. Flying. I was wondering how you saw our village through the trees. Flying sounds so nice.¡±

    Zoe smiled. ¡°It is pretty nice, I enjoy it a lot. I haven¡¯t done it as much as I think I should have though, which is part of why I¡¯m enjoying just getting out and exploring some.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t imagine that. If I could fly, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d ever do anything else.¡± Klia said.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Well I¡¯m not really flying. I just push myself around with a suit of dirt. It¡¯s a lot more effort than it looks, but you could learn it too you know?¡±

    ¡°Really?" Klia perked up. ¡±I could learn to fly?¡°

    ¡°Yeah, I mean I think in theory anybody can, really. All you need is a skill that lets you manipulate some kind of solid material and enough mana to move both it and yourself.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay, but how do you get one of those skills, and how much mana is ¡®enough¡¯,¡± Klia made air quotes with her fingers.

    ¡°Kill an elemental?¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°Or lots of practice. Get an enchanting class or a good mage class, or probably a bunch of others I guess, for Mana Sight and Mana Manipulation then get to work. And I dunno, a decent bit of mana. Few hundred per second, maybe a thousand for sustained flights? Probably depends on the skill you¡¯re using and all your class bonuses and feats too, I guess.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    ¡°See, that all sounds completely out of reach for me.¡± Klia said. ¡°I¡¯ve got hunting classes, I can¡¯t see mana at all.¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Like I said, a lot more effort than it looks. But if you really wanna do it, you could.¡±

    ¡°Maybe. You think you could teach me?" Klia asked.

    Zoe nodded, and then felt a tug on the link to her Cosmic Familiar moments before the connection was destroyed. Something killed her familiar, the bear Zoe hoped. ¡°Yeah. I could take you up flying too if you want to try it?"

    ¡°Really?¡± Excitement wafted off Klia as she looked at Zoe.

    ¡°Yeah, sure. Why not?¡± Zoe laughed.

    Klia nodded her head like a child begging for candy from their parent, and Zoe wrapped earth around the both of them then lifted them up above the tree canopy. Klia screamed as she rose off the ground, and Zoe felt her trying to flail around in the earthen suit.

    ¡°Oh my god oh my god! Aaaah! This is so much scarier than I thought it would be. You¡¯re sure your mana can handle all this extra weight?" Klia looked at Zoe with a mixture of fear and excitement.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°This is nothing. Where do you wanna go?"

    Klia looked around then pointed in the same direction Zoe felt her Cosmic Familiar fade away moments earlier. Zoe drifted through the sky, pulling Klia beside her as she stared down at the forest.

    ¡°This is so cool,¡± Klia said. ¡°I can see so much of the forest from up here. And you just get around like this all the time?"

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Something like this at least, yeah.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy. I¡¯d be doing so much more if I could fly. You say you can help me with learning this?¡± Klia asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun, really. A lot of work though, and I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ll be around.¡±

    ¡°Oo!¡± Klia pointed at a spot in the forest. ¡°Put me down there, I think I see something.¡±

    Zoe obliged, and pulled both of them down to the forest floor where Klia indicated. The trees and ground were abound with massive signs of a bear where they set down. Enormous gashes in the trees where the bear was scratching, far above Zoe¡¯s eye level. Footprints in the dirt reminiscent of exaggerated dinosaur tracks from movies and bear droppings larger than Zoe ever wanted to see.

    ¡°This is it.¡± Klia whispered. ¡°We found it. I can¡¯t believe we found it.¡±

    Zoe looked around, following the tracks which were surprisingly difficult to see, she found. Where they landed, the bear signs were large and obvious ¡ª perhaps a moment the bear let its guard down? But all around them the forest seemed almost clean, and beyond a few feet out there was nothing. Not a print or scratch in the trees to be noticed, even to Zoe¡¯s improved senses. At least not at a glance.

    ¡°I¡¯m impressed,¡± Zoe whispered. ¡°Other than this mess here, I can¡¯t see where it went very well at all.¡± She bent down to inspect some of the tracks and the area around where the bear might have travelled through, but even with a closer look the bear left nothing to say where it went.

    Klia nodded. ¡°This is the problem. I find these remnants of moments where it lets down its guard, but then it may as well just disappear.¡±

    ¡°Is it teleporting around, maybe?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, definitely not.¡± Klia smelled some of the cracked leaves. ¡°I saw it once. It just runs through the forest but doesn¡¯t leave any tracks.¡±

    ¡°So how do we find it?" Zoe asked and summoned her Cosmic Familiar again off in the distance, giving it the same instruction as before.

    ¡°That¡¯s the question, isn¡¯t it? So far I just pick a direction and hope it¡¯s the right one. But if you think you might be able to see the tracks, you can give it a go if you want.¡± Klia suggested.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No I can¡¯t see anything, may as well get moving before it gets too far away. These look pretty fresh, at least.¡±

    Klia nodded and started walking through the forest, each step placed with careful precision to not crack a branch or crumple a leaf. Zoe followed along after her, matching her steps. The two walked in silence for a few minutes, before Zoe once again felt her connection to her Cosmic Familiar tear apart a short distance to their right and the two heard a sharp crack as a branch snapped off a tree in the same direction.

    Zoe watched as Klia took off towards the crack, leaping from tree to tree with only the slightest noise even to Zoe¡¯s enhanced ears. Not feeling confident in her ability to replicate such precision, Zoe summoned a suit of earth and drifted through the air after Klia.

    They arrived in another clearing full of damaged trees and torn off branches, with the dirt thrown about by the bear¡¯s powerful, massive paws a few long seconds later. But the bear was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Dammit,¡± Klia cursed under her breath. ¡°We¡¯re so close I can almost smell it.¡±

 3-41. Light Arrows

    Zoe peered through her Cosmic Vision at the glimpses of space around her, searching for the massive bear that was eluding them, but nothing came through. No furs, no tracks. Looking around the site they found it looked the same as the last. Destruction wrought on the forest in a small area, and then the bear seemed to vanish. No branches out of place, no trees with deep gouges. No leaves or dirt pushed aside by the bear¡¯s powerful steps.

    ¡°Dammit.¡± Klia repeated in a hushed whisper, anxiety and excitement wafting off her. ¡°We need to move now, but where the hell did it go.¡±

    Zoe shrugged and pointed back where they came from. ¡°We know it didn¡¯t come from that way at least.¡±

    ¡°Do we? What if we just missed it on our rush over here?" Klia asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good point, but then we¡¯d miss it when we search for it somewhere else anyway.¡± Zoe suggested.

    Klia nodded, and started walking at a brisk pace through the forest opposite from where the last tracks they found were. ¡°We¡¯ll just hope it¡¯s going in a straight line then. Nothing better to do.¡±

    Zoe thought about summoning another Cosmic Familiar to help search for it, but decided against it for now. If the familiar hadn¡¯t spooked it just now, then the bear might not have run off again.

    The two girls wandered through the forest for a few minutes more before Klia pointed through the trees and Zoe felt an intense pleasure overwhelm her empathy before it was pushed down by force and replaced with an eerie calm. Zoe followed where Klia was pointing and in the distance was the slightest hint of dark brown matted fur poking through some of the leaves.

    ¡°It¡¯s there.¡± Klia said in an almost inaudible whisper. ¡°It¡¯s right there.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°What do we do?" She asked in a hushed whisper.

    ¡°Get as close as we can and then kill it.¡± Klia whispered.

    Zoe nodded, and the two stepped through the forest after the bear, each foot placed with care to not make any noise. The bear continued its gentle walk through the forest, making not even the faintest sound to Zoe¡¯s ears. There was no rotting smell or wet earthy scents from the bear, and even Zoe¡¯s eyes failed to follow its movements at times as it weaved through the trees.

    But of the glimpses she did get, the bear was massive. Far larger than she expected even after being told it was enormous. The bear¡¯s massive paws were larger than Zoe¡¯s torso, and the thick trunks it had as legs were towered over her. Even standing on Klia¡¯s shoulders, she wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d even make it to eye level with the beast when it was standing on all fours. Let alone when it reared up on its hind legs. Calling the bear massive was a gross understatement. The bear was gargantuan, a titan like none other.

    Soon they were close enough for Zoe¡¯s Identify to work. Dark blue one hundred fifty eight, one level higher than when Klia last identified it. The two girls had stopped whispering, communicating in rudimentary gestures. Zoe acted like she was picking up something heavy with her hands and moving it, Klia responded with a nod, followed by an unsure shrug and crossing her thumb across her neck.

    Zoe took that to mean she could try, but if anything went wrong Klia would be trying to slay the beast. And after seeing just how large the bear was, Zoe began to question if she¡¯d even be able to move it anyway. If the bear behaved itself and let her carry it, then maybe. But while the bear was flailing and struggling, trying to break free from its restraints?

    She shook her head, took a deep silent breath and focused on the bears form. Spires of earth shot up from around the bears legs, grabbing onto its ankles and crawling up its legs. The bear let out a thunderous roar that shook the trees and ripped its legs from the thick earthen shackles that attempted to bind it.

    ¡°No good.¡± Zoe shouted at Klia through the deafening roar.

    Klia summoned a beautiful wooden bow with a shining gold string and drew it back, an glowing arrow of light appeared on the string and she let it loose at the bear. The arrow flew through the sky, splitting into two arrows, then four, by the time they reached the bear there were sixteen glowing arrows that pierced into the bear¡¯s flesh. Dark red blood oozed from the wounds, seeping into the already matted brown fur as the bear roared again. The forest quaked under its power, and Zoe felt her ears sting from the sound.

    The bear shot off into the forest, its massive, frantic steps making little more than small ripples in the earth and dull distant thuds. Klia put her bow back into her storage item and ran off after the bear, with Zoe following close behind. As they ran, Zoe summoned pillars of earth beneath the bear to slow it down and Klia quickly caught up. She hopped on the bear¡¯s leg, stabbing a dagger into its fur and used it like an ice pick to climb up to the bear¡¯s back.

    Zoe teleported herself up above the bear while Klia wasn¡¯t looking and then floated down in a suit of earth. The bear reared up on its hind legs and slammed its back into a nearby tree, smashing through it like a frail twig and falling to the ground. Klia and Zoe pushed off the bear, just escaping the crushing blow but being thrown aside like dolls from the force of the bear hitting the ground.

    The bear rolled to its side and smashed its paw into Klia as she tumbled across the ground, sending her flying into a nearby tree that buckled from the impact. She pushed off the tree and leapt onto the bear¡¯s side, stabbing her dagger into it several times as the bear roared and tried to throw her off.

    Zoe summoned spires of earth that pierced into the boar¡¯s legs as it tried to stand up. The bear tore through them, but as each one shattered Zoe summoned another, pulling the bear¡¯s legs back down to the ground. It struggled against the two girls¡¯ assault, but soon the sounds of the desperate struggle were replaced with silence as the bear breathed its final breath.

    Klia hopped off the bear and nodded to Zoe. ¡°Good job.¡±

    Zoe nodded, feeling rather pleased with her performance. ¡°What was that bow?¡±

    ¡°It was my grandfather¡¯s. He left it to me when he died, I¡¯ve never had a need to use it until now though.¡± Klia answered.

    ¡°Was he an enchanter, then?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, he was pretty secretive. He worked with wood a lot, though. Anyway, you have any experience with cleaning kills?" Klia asked.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zoe answered.

    Klia pointed to one side of the bear. ¡°You start there then.¡±

    The two began cutting into the bear, the matted fur was rock hard in some places and at best felt like pulling apart splinters from a plank of softwood. The hide itself was scarred and damaged, while the meat below was a deep almost purple colour with very little intramuscular fat.

    It took the two just over two hours to break the bear down and store the parts away in their storage items, and then Zoe flew them back to the village where Klia shared some of their haul with the townspeople. Everybody seemed excited that the menace was dealt with at last, and somebody even suggested they hold a celebratory feast and plans began to form as the town erupted with excitement. Zoe traded over the bits of bear she had in her bracelet to somebody who was helping plan the feast and then made her way to relax in Kurn¡¯s Inn.

    She watched the people outside rush around as they set up tables and chairs. Several even came in to Kurn¡¯s inn to help cook some of the bear meat for the feast, food piled up on tables and counters that were brought in to help with the preparation.

    Hours of an infectious excitement later, and the thirty odd people who lived in the village were sitting out in the town center around the ornate stone fountain with piles of prepared food laid out on banquet tables. Bear meat, colourful produce with beautiful flower arrangements set in crystal vases throughout.

    The town mayor stood at the fountain, smiling at the small group of people. Her red hair was tied up and fell down the back of her simple purple dress.

    ¡°Tonight we celebrate the death of a beast. That it needed to be slain is unfortunate, but its death will fill our bellies and warm our homes. Our feast may not be the most delicious, but it is a reminder of the lives we lead and the beauty that fills our world. May we prosper, and may this beast¡¯s soul rest easy.¡± She said to cheers and laughter from the villagers.

    People got up from their chairs and began filling their plates with food. Zoe grabbed some of the roasted bear meat and filled her plate with colourful produce and some food that seemed like a mix between couscous and grits. A grain smaller than couscous maybe, Zoe thought. It smelled nice though, of ifosa and alliums.

    She sat back down at her seat next to an older man with gray hair and a young girl who looked about twelve who was talking with what seemed to be her mother in the next seat over. The bear meat was tough and incredibly gamey, even after all the work the cooks put into tenderizing it. But the fruits and vegetables were sweet and tender, with pops of acid and a hint of heat.

    The man next to her smiled at her as she ate. ¡°I heard you helped Klia hunt the bear?¡± He asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. I did, it was fun I think. I¡¯ve never hunted bear before.¡±

    He laughed. ¡°Quite the bear to hunt for your first time hunting bear.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re telling me. What a massive animal. I had no idea they could even get that high level, honestly.¡± Zoe said.

    He nodded. ¡°Well thank you. It¡¯s been nothing but trouble for us lately, so I¡¯m glad you were able to deal with it.¡±

    ¡°Oh I didn¡¯t do much, I just tagged along really. This was all Klia.¡± Zoe smiled.

    ¡°She¡¯s been hunting it for a month, and then you show up and it¡¯s dealt with in a matter of hours. I don¡¯t think you give yourself enough credit.¡± He said. ¡°Or maybe you just don¡¯t want the credit.¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Is that so bad?¡±

    The man laughed. ¡°I suppose not. I¡¯m George, it¡¯s nice to meet you Zoe.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you too, George. What do you do here?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m the village healer. The little girl next to you,¡± He pointed at the young girl sat beside Zoe. ¡°Is my apprentice.¡±

    ¡°Oh really?¡± Zoe said and looked at the girl.

    The girl smiled, bits of food stuck in her teeth as she chowed down on the tough meat. ¡°I¡¯m Hinar!¡±

    ¡°Hello, Hinar,¡± Zoe said. ¡°You¡¯re training to be a healer?"

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Hinar answered.

    They chatted for a while longer as they finished eating, about how terrible the bear meat was and the hard work the farmers put in to filling their plates with all the fresh produce. And when people were done eating, the tables were shove to the side to make room for a massive bonfire that was lit next to the fountain.

    Three people walked up next to the fountain and played some music. One had a pair of drums they held in their hands, filled with some kind of grain that rattled around as they shook them. Another had an odd shaped flute like instrument that played a low pitched tune and the final tapped metal spurs on the ground with their feet as they sang in a language Zoe couldn¡¯t understand.

    The music was jaunty and fun, and the people danced around the bonfire in bouncy steps to the music¡¯s beat as the sun set and the stars filled the night sky. Zoe hopped in and bounced around with everybody else for a while as the bonfire flickered away and burned down to a smouldering pile of ash that Zoe was tempted to thrust into the sky with her Cinders skill.

    When the celebration ended, people made their ways back to their own homes to sleep and Zoe found her way back to Kurn¡¯s inn where he was sitting at a table sipping on some tea. Zoe poured herself a cup of tea then sat down across from him.

    ¡°You have fun?" Kurn asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah I think I did. I¡¯ve never been a part of something so¡­ No offense, but small? I¡¯ve been in big festivals before but never a whole village that all seemed so close like this. It was fun. The bear sucked though.¡±

    Kurn laughed. ¡°Yeah, it did. But better we eat some bad food than waste a good animal for no reason.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t disagree. But I¡¯ve never been to a celebration feast where the food was intentionally bad.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Can¡¯t say I have either. Not often we get bears like that around here.¡± Kurn said. ¡°Some older ones for sure, but usually they either move somewhere else, or at least leave us alone.¡± He looked at Zoe. ¡°Thank you for this, by the way.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°For helping Klia like this. I imagine with all your loops you could have found and killed the bear yourself just fine, but you didn¡¯t do that. Thank you.¡± Kurn said.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t do it to be thanked, and who knows maybe I couldn¡¯t have found it myself anyway. It was pretty good at hiding itself.¡±

    Kurn stared at Zoe for a moment with a look of admiration. ¡°Could you have?"

    ¡°Probably.¡± Zoe shrugged. ¡°Who knows for sure.¡±

    Kurn nodded and stood up. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to head to sleep. Sleep well.¡±

    Zoe said goodnight as he walked off to one of the back rooms, and then walked out of the inn and Cosmic Stepped far into the sky, catching herself in an earthen suit. The village was fun, and the people were nice, but she was excited to move on to Darpi.

 3-42. Kliggig

    Zoe floated in the sky far above the village for a few minutes, staring down at the remnants of the celebration. A few people were still tidying up the town center near the fountain, sweeping up the burnt remains of the fire and moving the furniture back into their houses.

    She turned her attention back to the south west, Cosmic Stepped through the air until she was back above the main road and started following it west. The road twisted through the forest in a westerly trend, and every so often Zoe would teleport too far that the road vanished beneath her so she¡¯d teleport back and follow it along as it curved to the north or the south.

    In another fifteen minutes of flying through the sky, Zoe saw the city after one of her teleports. The sprawling wooden city appeared, and Zoe floated back down to the road to finish off the rest of the journey by foot.

    The wooden walls were imposing and beautiful, Zoe noted as she approached. Made from a dark wood free of knots and imperfections that almost glistened in the moonlight, with detailed engravings covering the outer face as far as Zoe could see. People, animals. Dragons and other mythical beasts, all carved into the beautiful wood with such great detail that they almost seemed to pop to life as Zoe looked at them.

    Where the road connected with the city were two large wooden doors, each made from the same wood and two meters thick. The sides and backs of the doors were carved with a winding pattern that reminded Zoe of when she doodled on her school papers during a boring class. She assumed the pattern continued to the front, but they were open far too wide for her to see around the other side.

    Two guards stood outside the gate, one at either side. Both dark green level seventy four, much lower than any of the people she¡¯d met at the previous village. But perhaps there was just less reason to be higher level in a city, she¡¯d begun to realize. One of the guards radiated anxiety while the other seemed interested in the lone traveller walking down the road.

    Zoe walked up to the one who seemed interested, a man almost a full foot taller than her with slicked black hair and green eyes. ¡°Hey,¡± she said.

    ¡°Hello, what brings you to Darpi?¡± The guard asked.

    ¡°Nothing, really. Do I need to sign in or something here, or am I free to just go check things out?" Zoe asked.

    The man shook his head. ¡°Nope, no sign in necessary. First time coming to Darpi?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. I came from Foizo, just near Flester¡¯s ruins. Anything fun to do here?¡±

    ¡°What do you consider fun?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Anything I¡¯ve never done before, or I dunno. Just anything exciting or interesting, really. What¡¯s Darpi got to offer?" Zoe asked and looked over at the other guard. He looked across the forest, a hint of anxiety wafting off of him as he looked back over at Zoe every few seconds.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, he takes the job a bit too seriously.¡± The guard said. ¡°I¡¯m Horn.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe.¡± Zoe said. ¡°It¡¯s a serious job, being a guard. Maybe you don¡¯t take it seriously enough? What if I¡¯m just a distraction for somebody else to invade your town?" She smirked.

    Horn shrugged. ¡°We¡¯re not here to stop people from entering anyway. If somebody wants to walk in they don¡¯t need a distraction.¡±

    ¡°What do you do then, anyway?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Make sure wild animals don¡¯t get in, mostly. Be pretty bad if a bear got in and caused a whole mess.¡± Horn answered.

    ¡°Ah. That makes sense. You sure you two would be enough for a bear, though?¡± Zoe asked. ¡°I just killed one recently that was level one fifty eight. Nightmare to track down, too.¡±

    Horn¡¯s eyebrows raised. ¡°Never seen one that high. Where was that?"

    ¡°Out east somewhere, in the forest. A ways away, but still. They can be pretty tough.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Huh. Well, we can sound an alarm at least.¡± Horn said.

    ¡°So you¡¯re decoration, then?¡± Zoe laughed.

    Horn rolled his eyes. ¡°Sure. If you want something interesting to do, there¡¯s a dungeon to the north. Lots of furniture stores too, check them out if you¡¯ve never been to Darpi before.¡±

    ¡°What do you do for fun here?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Me?¡± Horn shrugged. ¡°I whittle, sometimes I play some takraw.¡±

    ¡°Takraw?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a popular sport here. You kick a ball around on a court over a net and, well its complicated really. It¡¯s fun though. Go to one of the fields if you wanna try it out.¡± Horn explained.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Alright, so dungeon to the north, weird ball game in the fields and check out the woodworking. Sounds fun.¡±

    Horn nodded. ¡°If you need an inn to stay at, I¡¯d recommend the Chipped Stool. It¡¯s just down the road here.¡±

    ¡°Alright, thanks. I¡¯ll check it out. By the way how is flying here? Am I allowed to fly over the city?¡± Zoe asked.

    Horn shook his head. ¡°Nah, no flying. Not over the city. Outside the city¡¯s fine but if you¡¯re being weird and circling it or something then that¡¯s not cool either.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Sounds good then. Thanks for the help.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°No problem. Enjoy your stay.¡± Horn said.

    Zoe covered herself in an earthen suit then floated up into the sky away from the town. The woodworking sounded nice and whatever takraw was might be fun, but the dungeon interested her the most. She floated to the north around the city and followed the gravel road that led out from a similar looking gate at the north east of the city.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    It was a short flight before she found where the road terminated at ¡ª a beautiful wooden shack made from the same dark wood and covered in deep grooves that cast eerie shadows from the moonlight. Zoe floated down to the ground and opened the front door.

    Inside was a near empty room with a white marble floor that was covered in colourful markings that glowed to Zoe¡¯s vision and were flooded with mana to her Mana Sight. Even her Cosmic Vision seemed to feel a little off as she looked at it, like space was twisting around the markings, being pulled towards the center.

    Zoe stared at the floor for a minute. It was a teleportation circle, if she had to guess. It could be more destructive, but it was hard to believe there would be a road leading straight to a dangerous shack filled with a murderous magic circle.

    But where would it teleport her to? Would she be able to get back without clearing the dungeon, if that¡¯s what it even was? Zoe shrugged and walked to the center of the markings.

    *Ding* You have entered the Kliggig Challenge Dungeon entrance (20). Would you like to be transported?

    Zoe pushed her confirmation to the system and then watched the space twist around her and felt the familiar system¡¯s magic rushing through her soul and body. The wooden building she was in folded in on itself, and then a dim cave unfolded in front of her. Water dripped from the walls, vanishing as it touched the white marble platform Zoe appeared on.

    The first thing she noticed was how weak she felt and the lack of both Mana Sight and Cosmic Vision. She checked her stat sheet.

    Name: Zoe Mara

    Race: Human

    ¡ª¡ª

    Stat Points: 0

    Strength: 20

    Dexterity: 20

    Vitality: 283

    Endurance: 25

    Intelligence: 96

    Wisdom: 54

    Health: 5660/5660

    Stamina: 500/500

    Mana: 1920/1920

    All of her skills remained the same, her feats and resistances were untouched. But she was limited to level twenty, and her third and fourth classes were crossed out on her stat sheet. Her Mana Sight was gone, her Cosmic Vision was gone. The glimpses of space she¡¯d grown so used to seeing vanished. The sphere of perception she expected to have around herself was gone, and she felt naked.

    Zoe looked at her mana pool, not enough for a single teleport even if she did have her class. She tried to enchant something, but it felt slow and imprecise compared to what she was used to ¡ª like when she first tried getting the skill decades earlier. The system didn¡¯t remove her classes, they were still on her stat sheet. She just didn¡¯t have access to them anymore, which meant that her Enchanting skill which was tied in to her class was inaccessible to her, she supposed.

    The room she was in was wet. Droplets of water fell from the rocky cave ceiling and splattered on the floor, forming small streams that flowed down deeper into the tunnel that curved off to the right in front of her. She stepped off the marble platform and then back into the center just to check if she could leave.

    A message appeared in her vision asking her if she wanted to leave, and she declined. If she could leave, then she¡¯d at least try and explore a bit. The dungeon limited her to level twenty because that was all she needed to clear it. She¡¯d be fine, she hoped.

    Zoe walked into the tunnel and down the steep slope, and looked around the corner as the cave opened up towards the left. Flickering flames hung from the walls in sconces, casting eerie shadows around the large open cavern while five massive rats the size of bears ¡ª normal bears Zoe thought to herself, paced back and forth across the room. The room continued to the left around a pile of rocks and very far to the right as Zoe¡¯s position let her see a small gap through the rocky pillars and walls that made up the cavern.

    Footsteps echoed through the cavern as the rats claws rapped and scraped across the stone floor, but even deeper into the cavern were dull distant thuds as something heavy walked out of sight.

    Zoe summoned a dozen projectiles of Frost, and aimed them at the five rats that wandered through the room. Without a powerful enchantment, Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how effective they would be but she had few other options without approaching. She hoped the Adaptive Elements would slow the rats enough by the time they reached her that she could pick them off with the more destructive cinders.

    She fired the projectiles off, pushing at them with her Frost skill with as much mana as she could and they smashed into the rats, sending small shards of ice clattering against the ground. The rats screeched and ran at Zoe¡¯s position, and Zoe covered herself in an Elemental Arsenal. Cinders and frost wrapped around her body as heavy gales rushed around her arms and legs and a mass of water swirled around her.

    She pushed as much mana as she could into her Aura of Seasons, creating a devastating storm of ash and frost that buffeted the rats once they were close enough. Zoe leapt over the first rat and landed on the second, smashing her heavy fist into its back as the elements seeped into its body to burn and slow it. Another rat was close behind, biting at Zoe¡¯s legs but the powerful gales pushed it off course and the storm of power swirling around her singed its furs and froze the slobber dripping from its mouth.

    The fourth and fifth rats didn¡¯t even make it to Zoe, slowed by the first three rats just enough that Zoe¡¯s aura immobilized them before they could climb over the pile of burning fur and make it to her. She waited over the pile of rats, letting her Aura pummel the rats with elements for a minute until they stopped breathing and then disabled her Aura and continued on.

    First she checked around the left corner, which led to more of the dim cavern with a pile of rotting food and excrement in the corner. To the right the cavern opened up much more in both directions. Zoe could see far down the left path as it continued deeper into the earth on a gentle slope, but to her right she could see a large rocky pillar fifty feet wide holding up the ceiling far above, with a path leading around on either side.

    A dull, rhythmic thumping echoed from behind the pillar and Zoe continued hugging the wall to her right as she peered around the large pillar. A towering bipedal bear with an owl¡¯s head stood behind the pillar, slamming its fists into the bloody corpse of a goblin. Its head spun around and looked at Zoe as she watched. The bear owl hybrid screeched and charged at Zoe, gusts of wind pushing it from behind as it accelerated with each step.

    Zoe pushed mana into her Aura and summoned a spire of Earth in its path, impaling one of its legs and sending it flailing to the ground. Another gust of wind pushed the creature back to its feet as it fell, and it continued sprinting at Zoe. She summoned another spire of Earth, trying to impale its other leg but a gust of wind pushed its leg just out of the way and it instead scraped down the side of the spike Zoe created.

    The creature¡¯s fur singed as it entered Zoe¡¯s Aura, and with another screech the creature created a violent gust of wind that pushed back at Zoe¡¯s Aura. The violent storm struggled to reach the creature as it approached and slammed its fist at Zoe who stepped out of the way and summoned a shield and dagger of solid ash from her Elemental Arsenal.

    A gust of wind rushed at Zoe, and she pushed back at it with her own Gales skill, creating a small twister in the middle of her violent Aura. Zoe slashed her dagger across the creature¡¯s torso and it stepped back just as the dagger reached it, leaving a small trail of blood that was picked up and thrown about in the storm.

    The creature stepped forward and Zoe pulled away at the earth below its foot so it fell forward. It tried to correct itself with another gust of wind, but Zoe pushed at the creature from behind with both Gales and Frost, overwhelming its attempt to keep its balance. It slammed onto the ground in a screeching mess, and Zoe pressed her dagger into its back until it too stopped breathing.

    Zoe stepped back and leaned against the wall, breathing heavy as she checked her vitals.

    Health: 5454/5660

    Stamina: 376/500

    Mana: 1585/1920

 3-43. Horde

    Zoe watched her mana rocket back to full as soon as she checked her vitals, but her stamina filled much slower. She waited for almost two minutes before it even went up by one ¡ª meaning stamina would be her limited factor for the dungeon. Health and Mana were fine, she had far more health than anybody else would at her level and enough mana regeneration to sustain herself with Restoration.

    But throwing herself at things physically was off the table if she wanted to make it through without spending days waiting for her mana to replenish after every fight. It had been a long time since stamina was the limiting factor for her ¡ª not since the first time she went hunting outside Flester in the first year she was here and ended up hurt by a boar.

    Even when she was much weaker at the start of Moaning Point with even lower stamina, she didn¡¯t struggle with stamina at all. What was the difference between there and here, then? Why was she using so much more stamina now?

    Was it just because she was more physical here, or was there something else involved? Her strength and dexterity were both much higher at the time, did they have an effect on stamina usage? Or was it more of a mental game, since even back when she was first hunting it wasn¡¯t as though the journey itself was all that strenuous, the issue was how on edge she was the whole time.

    Was she stressed now, exploring the dungeon? Was the dark cave filled with unknown dangers pushing her to think harder than she would otherwise? She supposed it was, but not to the extent of that intense fear from when her first hunt went sideways. That was an absolute devastation, every sound sending her mind racing with possibilities of death and pain.

    Now, she was even almost excited. The dungeon was dangerous and scary, but it was fun too. And she knew she could leave whenever she wanted. Even if something much larger came along, Zoe doubted it would even be capable of killing her if she just let it assault her with all it had if she just focused on pushing all of her mana into Restoration.

    So what was the cause of the excessive stamina drain, then? At just under eighty percent full she already felt somewhat tired. Her movements felt a little sore and heavy ¡ª not at all helped by the lack of stats she was so used to.

    Maybe that was the cause? Rather than just accepting what her body was capable of with the reduced stats, was she just trying to force herself to move as she wanted? Pushing her body beyond its capabilities out of habit?

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure, but shrugged the thought away. Whatever the case was, the result was that Stamina was a limited resource that she needed to conserve. Even if she could just pull back how much force she was using, that wouldn¡¯t mean it was the right decision. Changing her focus to using her powerful magic to stop them before they reached her, and saving her stamina for bursts of power when it was needed would still be the best decision.

    She kicked off the wall and continued walking, following the pathway around the wide stone pillar. It curved around to the left back to the open room she was in before, and she continued hugging the wall. Distant chattering and tiny footsteps could be heard around the next corner, and Zoe longed for her Cosmic Mystic class so she could see without being forced to peer around the edge.

    Zoe summoned several dozen sharp cones of frost as well as four large earthen slabs about the size of her torso then looked around the corner to the right. The corridor split across several stone pillars that rose to the ceiling, and three groups of five wretched goblins sat around small campfires eating and scraping detritus from their daggers. Bows and brown quivers filled with arrows were scattered around the campsites, along with small pouches full of sharp metal darts that spilled out onto the cavern floor.

    The goblins were much more like she expected, dark green creatures with leathery, hairy skin and disgusting mouths with brutal looking teeth that dripped with a faint green slobber. Zoe much preferred the adorable green teddy bears she saw at the Springs of Gir, and turned back around the corner to think of a plan.

    Fifteen goblins in total, all in their third tier between levels twenty four and twenty eight. They had a class on her, but Zoe had more than enough skills to take care of them all. Her frost projectiles would be useless for an ambush, not near strong enough to cause any real damage as she found on the rats. But maybe she could take a note from the time she explored the frozen tunnels below her home and create a wall of earth between her and the goblins, then pick them off from safety.

    Zoe stepped out from the wall and pushed as much mana as she could into her Earth skill, creating walls behind the goblins to block them from retreating. The goblins looked at the walls of Earth then turned to look at Zoe and screeched. They grabbed their bows and slung them on their backs, then several of them picked up the spilled pouches of darts and tied them off on their waist. The others rushed at Zoe with dagger in hand, hurling stones and rotting food at her as they ran.

    Another wall of earth pulled out from the walls to trap the goblins within, but six of the goblins managed to rush past before it finished closing. Zoe pushed mana into her Aura of Elements as the goblins approached, and they stepped back as soon as the violent storm appeared, pacing back and forth just outside the reach of her Aura and snarling at her.

    Zoe shot off several of her projectiles at the goblins, but without the powerful enchantments pushing them even faster the goblins were able to step out of the way and let the cones of ice shatter in the ground behind them. She stepped towards them, but with each step she took the goblins leapt back, staying just out of reach of the violent storm that surrounded her. A thumping noise began ringing out from the wall she created ¡ª the goblins trying to dig through the rock, Zoe imagined.

    She pushed some of her mana into maintaining the earthen wall, repairing the chips and gouges that were carved out by the goblins on the other side. But as she did, her Aura¡¯s power fell and the goblins nearby rushed in. Zoe cut the mana to the wall and pushed as much mana as she could back into her Aura, singing and scraping the goblins that approached her as they jumped back out of range and snarled at her again.

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    Zoe felt anxiety rising within her again ¡ª her mana regeneration was stellar, but the amount of mana she could funnel into something at once was limited by her small pool. Maintaining the Aura at maximum power while also keeping a massive stone wall in tact and fighting off six higher level, intelligent goblins at the same time just wasn¡¯t possible for her at level twenty.

    She dropped the Aura and ran back into the previous room as the goblins gave chase. Right as they came around the corner, Zoe dumped a massive crashing wave on them with her Torrents skill, smashing the six goblins into the rocky floor and letting the water seep into their lungs. The goblins coughed and spat out water as they tried to recover on the ground, but Zoe didn¡¯t let up. Another wave crashed down on them, smashing through the two that didn¡¯t manage to get out of the way in time.

    The four that did manage to get out of the way charged at her and Zoe ran back again, tearing up the rocky floor as she ran. The goblins stumbled over the uneven terrain and Zoe buffeted them with another torrential wave, smashing their bodies into the sharp outcrops of rocks left behind by Zoe¡¯s Earth skill.

    Zoe kicked at the bodies as she passed them, curious why the bodies in this dungeon didn¡¯t seem to get absorbed again. Was that just a Moaning Point thing, then? Would these bodies be piled up here for the next person to come into the dungeon, or did everybody who came get their own instanced dungeon to explore, and the whole thing would be destroyed as soon as Zoe was done?

    A loud crash from around the corner broke Zoe out of her thoughts, and she cursed under her breath as she ran up to check. A hole just big enough for a single goblin to crawl through had been dug through her wall, with three goblins already having made it to her side. Zoe pushed as much mana as she could into the wall to seal it back up and turned her attention to the three left on her side.

    They drew their bows and fired off arrows that dripped with a thick green ooze. Zoe stepped out of the way, pushing the arrows aside as they flew with her Gales skill. The green ooze sizzled as it touched the wet cavern floor, letting off a dark gray cloud of smoke.

    The three goblins drew another arrow, and Zoe summoned spires of Earth beneath them to throw them off balance. Their feet were pierced through by the sharp earth Zoe created and the goblins screeched at Zoe. She summoned another crashing wave on the goblins, but they all leapt to the side, grimacing as they landed on their injured feet.

    Two of the goblins drew their bows again, while the last rushed at Zoe. She summoned another wave, but the goblin dashed to the side and threw a metal dart at her as it was hidden behind the water. Zoe noticed a moment too late and it scraped along her right arm as she stepped to the side.

    *Ding* You have been poisoned. -50 health/s for 120 seconds. -1 stamina/s for 120 seconds.

    Zoe cursed. Of course the poison would eat at her stamina. The health drain would have been devastating if she didn¡¯t have the ability to heal herself, and she wondered how many people died to a stray scratch from one of the goblins poisoned weapons.

    The two goblins with their bows fired off arrows, and Zoe pushed as much mana as she could into her Aura of Elements, manifesting a devastating storm that rushed around her. The arrows were thrown aside by the rushing winds, and Zoe rushed at the goblin closest to her. It tried to step back but was pressed up against the wall. Zoe drew her dagger across its neck and it fell to the ground in a clump. She turned her attention to the other two goblins which had retreated as far back as they could to draw their bows once more.

    They fired their arrows off again, but they were just as ineffective. Thrown aside by the violent winds around Zoe¡¯s body. She let down her Aura and summoned walls of earth beside the two goblins, trapping them in a long corridor and they clawed at the walls to try and escape. Zoe pushed more mana into her skill, covering the corridor and then flooded it with her Torrents skill, smashing the goblins into the cavern wall behind them.

    When the goblins fell limp, Zoe turned her attention back to the massive earth wall between her and the remaining six goblins, if her count was right. Two more holes were almost dug through she noticed, and filled them back in with her Earth skill.

    She opened a small hole the size of her finger and looked inside. Nothing was visible from the small view she had of the room, but that was okay. Zoe filled the hole back in then floated up to the top of the wall where she carved out another small hole just big enough for her to see through. She opened it up just large enough for her to poke her head through to the other room to see what was happening.

    There were more than six goblins, she found. Sixteen in total by her count, smashing rocks and weapons into the rock wall. Splinters of rock broke off the wall and fell to the ground behind them with each swing of their tools, chipping away at the thick wall of earth Zoe created.

    Zoe summoned a downpour of water with her Torrents skill, flooding the room the goblins were trapped in and knocking them off their feet. They were shoved around by the violent waves, thrown against the walls as the waves crashed into the cavern. The room filled with screeches from the goblins as they hurled their daggers and darts up towards where Zoe was. Most scratched against the wall far below her, but a few of the darts made her direct the torrent of water to blast them out of the way.

    In minutes the room was filled with limp corpses of goblins that floated through the waves, and Zoe pulled the earthen wall away, dismantling it back to the core mana. The water rushed out from the room and flooded the small streams that drifted in and out of the walls.

    Zoe sat and watched the water filter out of the cavern for a few minutes while she waited for the poison to run its course, flooding herself with Restoration. The goblins were a massive step up in difficulty from the owl bear hybrid, an intelligent swarm that planned their approach and worked together. If she didn¡¯t have the wall to block them from reaching her, taking on the twenty some odd goblins at once would have been a challenge.

    Not so much that she would have died ¡ª even if they all rushed her at once, Zoe was confident she could have at least escaped back to the teleporter. And her Torrents skill combined with her Aura might have even been enough to take out the horde anyway. But it did begin to concern ¡ª and even excite her a little, as she wondered what would be next.

 3-44. Ryzbear

    Zoe leaned against the cavern wall staring at the massive slab she created, blocking the goblins from retreating any further. Behind it was silence, as far as Zoe could tell. Maybe something had noticed, maybe there was some commotion behind as the denizens of the dungeon panicked from the sudden appearance of the wall.

    But at least for now, she had silence, disturbed only by the sounds of water flowing through the cavern dipping into small holes in the floor or falling from the ceiling. She shoved the corpses of the goblins to the opposite side of the room with a slab of Earth and then covered them with more rock to get them out of her sight. After decades of being surrounded by zombies, dead animals and even an entire city ravaged by a wandering elemental, Zoe found she wasn¡¯t as bothered by death as much as she might have been before.

    Human corpses might not be quite so simple but a goblin, created by mana for the sole purpose of challenging her in a dungeon? There was some ethical conundrum somebody far smarter than her could poke through there, she supposed. If Zoe left, what would happen to the goblins? Would they be reclaimed as mana, or sent back to whatever planet they were pulled from to inhabit the dungeon?

    Was she even on Abyllan anymore, or did the teleporter send her to another planet somewhere so far away the light bouncing off it hadn¡¯t even reached Abyllan yet? Did the goblins deserve to live, were they truly intelligent or just following some inane programming pushed into them by the system when they were created?

    Zoe didn¡¯t know, and as more time went on, she found she didn¡¯t care much either way. The goblins at the Springs of Gir spoke to her, they communicated and shared stories with her. These goblins screeched and hurled weapons at her. It just didn¡¯t matter if they were intelligent or not, the bottom line was that they were hostile. And maybe that¡¯s because she¡¯s here, invading their home and pillaging their supplies.

    It was simpler on Moaning Point when the zombies¡¯ bones were claimed back by the dungeon. They were summoned beasts, owned and operated by the dungeon¡¯s mana, and that was simple to justify. But these weren¡¯t. And she found she still didn¡¯t care all that much anyway, but felt that maybe she should care. That maybe she lost something so fundamental to who she was.

    If she ever made it back to Earth, would she even be able to relate to the people who lived there? Did it matter even if she couldn¡¯t? How many of the other people living on Abyllan would be able to relate to the people living on Earth?

    Zoe shrugged. It didn¡¯t matter, she supposed. The goblins wouldn¡¯t have hesitated to rip her apart and eat her for dinner. And maybe questioning that, maybe thinking about these kinds of ethical concerns were what set humans apart from the other species. Or maybe that was just blatant racism, ignoring the issues that other races had to deal with and pretending humanity was somehow superior.

    There was no way to know, Zoe thought. Not without exploring a lot more dungeons and figuring out what made them click. What caused a dungeon to be created? If the system is artificial, then were the dungeons planned? Did each planet have a dungeon designer floating somewhere up in space, plopping down different dungeons in different locations?

    Or were dungeons something natural, and the system worked around the dungeons, creating a better interface between user and dungeon? Or maybe the dungeons were created by the system through some automatic process, whenever certain conditions were met. But what would the purpose of a dungeon be, then?

    The Springs wanted mana, that much was clear as day. But what was it used for? Did the mana that dungeons harvested go towards powering the system itself? Without dungeons, the system would fall apart? Or did the mana go towards expanding the dungeons as some kind of invasion, helping the system bring more species and races to different planets for some goal Zoe couldn¡¯t understand?

    Zoe shook her head. There were always too many questions about the system, but maybe it was like questioning why oxygen existed or why humans needed water to survive. Maybe there wasn¡¯t some underlying plot developing below the surface threatening to take over the universe. Maybe the system was just convenient, maybe it just existed.

    She looked at her skills list. Enchanted Mirror would be a useful general skill to get if she planned to take on more challenge dungeons ¡ª or repeat her assault of this one if the rewards were good. But replicating Enchanted Mirror was something Zoe didn¡¯t even have the slightest clue of where to begin. The skill created a structure in her soul, in the very essence of her being.

    She could feel around in her soul, poke at the structures within it. But creating an entire structure on her own and embedding it within herself¡­ Zoe paused.

    Were skills just enchantments? Was her list of skills not a list of system granted magical abilities, but a list of enchantments the system has enchanted her with? If she enchanted somebody with one of her skills, what would happen? A lot of pain as Zoe¡¯s mana overwhelmed them and forced their soul into a new shape, just like when the system gave somebody a new class.

    Zoe made a note in her head to talk to Eliza about the thought next time they met and pushed it to the side. There were a number of skills that would be useful if she planned to tackle more challenge dungeons ¡ª Cosmos or at the very least Space would be an excellent addition if she could manage them. If Time was anything to go by, Space wouldn¡¯t even be all that difficult to get, and might combine into Cosmos anyway.

    For most challenge dungeons, Zoe expected to be a step above the power level expected even after she was scaled down. But the exception would be very early on in her Cosmic Mystic class. As she got more levels and managed to fill out her mana more, it would be much more competent. But early on, the class was far too mana hungry to be useful beyond the normal class bonuses.

    Which meant that she could enter any challenge dungeon that restricted her to her first class, or any dungeon that restricted her to maybe level forty five or higher and be confident. Would this dungeon always restrict her to twenty, or did it change each time she cleared it?

    Zoe looked to the wall that separated her from the rest of the dungeon and pulled the earth away, revealing the rest of the cavern behind. It split in two directions, to the right and the left. She continued hugging the right wall and peered around the edge to a wide cavern that stretched a dozen feet to the left and right.

    Piles of crates and barrels were strewn about the room with dirty papers and rotted wood covering the ground. Silence embraced the space, the only sound a constant dripping from the ceiling just outside. Zoe walked in and was assaulted with a dingy, dusty smell of an old library.

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    The crates were filled with books and piles of scrolls, while the barrels were filled to the brim with various liquids and two barrels of sharp metal weaponry that looked like it hadn¡¯t been maintained in centuries. Most of the books were in a language Zoe couldn¡¯t recognize, something of a mix between the bouncy circles of Korean and the long strokes of Arabic. There were a few that were in English ¡ª or whatever language it was that Zoe spoke now, most of which were fantastical stories of adventurers or ledgers from restaurants and inns.

    She stored away as many of the books as she could fit in her storage items as she continued rummaging through the crates. Two vials of liquid were at the bottom of one of the crates, one red hued liquid and the other orange. Zoe was tempted to drink them just to see what they did, but stored them away in her bracelet.

    When she was satisfied she¡¯d explored everything, she turned back to the previous long hallway and continued straight forward towards the opposite end. The cavern took a wide, twisting path as it continued deeper into the ground before the tunnel narrowed so much that Zoe needed to contort her body just to fit through.

    At the other end was a wide staircase leading down to a much wider opening. Zoe stopped and took the time to enchant a Frost projectile with Archery and an explosive Elemental Arsenal before she continued. Without her Enchanting skill, it took far longer than she¡¯d like but she wanted at least one for a last resort, just in case.

    Zoe crouched as she descended the stairs and the room at the bottom came into view. It was a long room, about forty feet deep with opulent marble pillars every six feet leading up to a large golden throne at the back of a sprawling purple carpet that ran the length of the room.

    In the throne sat a towering bipedal bear with dark black horns jutting out from its bird¡¯s skull, and deep red wings swaying behind it. A ryz bear hybrid, Zoe thought. Next to the throne were two more of the owl bear hybrid creatures she fought earlier on in the dungeon and six well dressed grungy goblins sat in chairs along the carpet. Zoe¡¯s identify showed them as dark green level thirty five, with the ryz bear being level forty.

    All of them looked at Zoe as she walked down the steps, staring at her with their beady red eyes and devilish grins filled with sharp teeth. Just before Zoe stepped on the purple carpet, the ryz bear raised its paw and spoke.

    ¡°You dare step on our royal carpet?¡± The bear questioned, unbridled fury radiating from it.

    Zoe paused, and stopped just before the carpet. ¡°And what if I do?¡±

    ¡°Then you shall be slain where you stand.¡± The bear answered.

    ¡°And if I don¡¯t?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°You push your luck, human.¡± The bear snarled.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°We could have dinner? I¡¯d love to chat with you if you¡¯re up for it.¡±

    ¡°You will not leave this room alive, human.¡± The bear looked to the goblins and gestured with its paw, silver daggers with blue gems embedded in the hilts appeared in front of each of the goblins. ¡°Feast.¡±

    The six goblins grabbed the daggers and ran down the carpet, chattering to each other as they spread out. Zoe covered herself in her Elemental Arsenal, and summoned a towering wave of water and sent it crashing down on the goblins, but with a wave of their daggers the water was pushed out of the way and formed into small pellets of water that flew back at Zoe. She created a wall of earth in front of her that the bullets smashed into with loud thuds, forming cracks and craters in the surface of her earth that she worked to repair.

    When the barrage finished, the first two goblins jumped from around the wall and swung their daggers at her. She dodged out of the way, narrowly avoiding the silver blades but another blade of water was created as they slashed, slicing deep into her frosty armour. She ran forward, slamming her fists into the goblins and pummelling them into the ground.

    The remaining four goblins leapt at her, and Zoe smiled as she stepped forward. They swung their daggers at her, but she caught their weapons with coils of wood that sprouted from her body. Zoe summoned a dome of earth around herself, trapping all of the goblins in it with herself and then pushed all of her mana into her Aura of Elements. The goblins screeched as the storm tore into their bodies, and in moments they fell limp.

    Zoe pulled the earthen dome away, reclaiming some of the mana within it and nodded at the bear sitting on the throne.

    The bear snarled, a slight hint of fear cutting through the fury that slammed into her Vampyric Empathy. ¡°You have killed our council.¡±

    ¡°I offered to have dinner, and I¡¯m still down to have dinner with you. I¡¯d love to chat.¡± Zoe suggested.

    The ryz bear hybrid waved its paw at the two owl bear hybrids. ¡°Do not let us down.¡±

    Zoe summoned a bow of frost and drew back a thunderous arrow made of cinders, gales and torrents. She aimed it at the bear on the left and let it loose. The arrow cut through the air while the owl bear created a powerful gust of wind in an attempt to blow the arrow off course. The ripping winds that made up the arrow pushed through the bear¡¯s attempt, and the arrow pierced into the bear¡¯s shoulder, with Zoe¡¯s Elemental Echo arrow following close behind.

    The bear keeled over coughing as it was burnt and drowned from the inside, and collapsed onto the floor as it lost balance from the ripping winds that destabilized it. Zoe drew another arrow and fired it at the other bear, but it stepped aside rather than trying to block it, and the arrow smashed into the side of the throne. The ryz bear scowled at Zoe as it ripped the arrow out and threw it to the ground.

    Zoe fired another arrow at the owl bear that was already knocked down, piercing into the back of its neck as she ran down the purple carpet. She dropped the bow and summoned a sword and shield made from a tumultuous storm of elements. The still standing owl bear ran at her, powerful gusts shoving it forward from behind.

    The bear swung its hefty paw at Zoe as it approached, pushed forward by powerful winds, but Zoe deflected its claws away with her shield and slashed her blade across its leg. The bear howled and summoned a powerful gust of wind that pushed Zoe¡¯s blade back as it swung its other paw at her. Zoe tried to step aside but struggled to manoeuvre among the powerful winds and the bear¡¯s claws scratched across her armour, shattering it.

    Zoe grimaced from the sudden surge of mana and failed to avoid the owl bear¡¯s beak stabbing into her leg. She cursed and stepped back, summoning a cloud of burning ash that drifted down onto the owl bear, singing its fur and sending streaks of flame rushing through its body.

    She stepped back and replaced her armour with Elemental Arsenal then stared past the owl bears¡¯ bodies at the ryz bear that still sat on its throne. It snarled and began to speak, but Zoe fired off her lone enchanted Frost projectile which smashed into the bear in a cloud of ash and frost, covering the throne in a pool of water.

    *Ding* You have cleared the Kliggig dungeon. Would you like to claim your reward?

 3-45. Hildegarde

    Zoe ignored the notification for a moment as she ran around the room collecting the silver daggers the goblins wielded, and rummaging through the bear hybrids¡¯ bodies. The owl bears had nothing on them of interest, some nice clothes that Zoe could repair with her Restoration if she cared, but if she wanted clothes then a quick trip down to Korna was a much better option than pillaging dungeons.

    But the ryz bear was different. On its damaged, bloodied body was a silver staff with a purple gem embedded in the top. The throne looked ornate and expensive, but far too large to fit into Zoe¡¯s storage items without needing to sacrifice other things she cared about much more so she decided to leave it. There were a few colourful gems embedded into the sides of the throne that she tried to rip out, but they were too well attached for her to rip them out.

    When she was satisfied she¡¯d taken everything she could, she pushed her confirmation to the system.

    *Ding* You have accepted the Kliggig dungeon reward. Teleportation will begin in 60 seconds¡­ 59¡­ 58¡­ 57¡­

    The rewards appeared in front of Zoe a moment later. A small pile of silver and gold coins along with a small green bandana made from a soft, silky fabric. Zoe tossed some of the books she¡¯d stored in her Storage items ot make space and stored away the rewards.

    A minute later, the dungeon folded in on itself as space warped and twisted, sending Zoe back to the marble platform in the wooden shack outside of Darpi. Immediately, she was assaulted with all the senses she had lost in the dungeon. Her Mana Sight and Cosmic Vision smashing into her mind as she took a moment to get used to the sensations again.

    She walked outside, feeling light on her feet with her stats that were all an order of magnitude higher than they were just moments prior and formed a wooden bench to sit down on as the moon set on the horizon.

    The challenge dungeon was interesting, but a lot more difficult than she expected it to be. Let alone needing choke points for flooding the goblins with water, with the mana Zoe was used to having she could have flooded the entire dungeon in moments. In an instant, formed walls and barriers that blocked off her enemies or pierced through their bodies.

    But in the dungeon, limited to level twenty, she was so much weaker than she expected to be. All of the skills she had were enough to beat the dungeon, but maybe putting every single one of her points into Vitality wasn¡¯t the greatest idea. Even reset down to level twenty she still had almost enough health to just wait out the goblin¡¯s poison ¡ª without an antidote or any additional healing. Maybe that was just enough to be happy with, maybe it would be a better idea to put some birthday points into her lower stats for a while.

    What use was all the health she had if she wouldn¡¯t even be capable of fighting back against any danger? At what point would more speed and power be a stronger defense than just more health? At what point would her Stamina be more important to her than health?

    Finding some way to Enchant things even if she lost the skill would be a great help. With her Torrents skill, whatever level it was, the most mana she could push into it at once was however much her total was at the time. But with an Enchantment, she could continue feeding in more.

    Or maybe developing a reliance on Enchanting wasn¡¯t great. Maybe she needed to think of more creative uses for her skills as skills, rather than as enchantments. Earth and Torrents were her main skills for offense, but they weren¡¯t the only ones capable of it. Wood was powerful, the owlbears proved that Gales was more than competent.

    And Time, one of her newest skills had a multitude of purposes that she just ignored in the dungeon. The dungeon was a great experience to show her what she was lacking, Zoe thought. It rewarded adaptability, a versatile skill set. And right now, Zoe didn¡¯t have that. She leaned against the wooden shack and closed her eyes. Next time, she¡¯d do better.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Hildegarde stood on the rocky gravel road as Rita rummaged through the moss covered remnants of what might have been a great alchemy shop years in the past. She looked over the ruined city, nature beginning to take back its land. Rubble covered in bright green moss, green and brown vines that stretched over and through the destroyed buildings.

    Something was off about the city. Had been for a few months now. Hildegarde couldn¡¯t quite put her finger on what was happening, but something felt strange. There was a silence to Flester¡¯s ruins that just wasn¡¯t there before. A weight that pressed down on her and put her on edge, a presence that she couldn¡¯t recognize. Something lived in Flester, now. A creature, an animal. A monster, perhaps.

    Hildegarde wasn¡¯t sure what it was, but she was sure that something had taken up residence in the ruined city. The mana seemed fine, waves that ebbed and flowed over the buildings and crawled up the burnt husk of a tree in the distance, a mark of pride for the librarians of Flester at one point. But nothing more than a reminder of what once was now.

    She squinted as the mana seemed to quake on the distant tree for a moment, so quick she wasn¡¯t sure she even saw it at all. But as she looked closer, the mana seemed normal. Waves of power that washed over the city¡¯s ruins.

    An eerie feeling, welled up by Hildegarde¡¯s subconscious. She¡¯d grown to respect her gut feelings in her years as an explorer, but never fear them. Something was wrong in Flester, but it would do no good to ignore the wealth of resources left abandoned in the city just because of a bad feeling.

    Hildegarde smiled as she glanced at her apprentice searching through the ruins with glee, keeping her head on a swivel for anything that might mean danger. She wouldn¡¯t fear the city, but she would give it the respect it deserved. Her apprentice remained blissfully unaware of the potential dangers as she tossed rock and fauna aside for anything that may help them.

    Alchemy supplies left behind in the attack, notes abandoned by the alchemist who once ran the shop. Perhaps some vials or bottles filled with potions or ingredients. They¡¯d checked an enchanter¡¯s shop last and found a small ring filled with crystals ripe for enchanting. Even if they found nothing else, their journey to Flester¡¯s ruins would be a success for that alone.

    ¡°Teach!¡± Rita called out as she threw another rock aside. ¡°I found something.¡±

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    Hildegarde walked over and looked at what Rita had found. A small glass vial that was trapped beneath two bricks, filled with a faint blue liquid. ¡°Good, hand it here.¡± She said.

    Rita took off her heavy work gloves and grabbed a delicate pair of pliers from her pocket, gripping the top of the vial and handing it to Hildegarde. ¡°Here, teach.¡±

    Hildegarde grabbed the vial with a white silken cloth then tied the cloth around the vial and stored it away in her storage necklace. ¡°Good job. We¡¯ll identify it later. Anything else here?"

    Rita looked around the piles of bricks and torn apart vines, shaking her head. ¡°No, I think that¡¯s it. Can we check the library now? Pleaaaase?¡± Rita begged.

    Hildegarde looked at the distant tree and watched the waves of mana flow around it for a moment before she shook her head. ¡°No, we¡¯re staying away from the library.¡±

    ¡°Pleaaase?¡± Rita begged. "I just wanna see it at least once. I heard it was so cool.¡°

    Hildegarde shook her head. ¡°No. We¡¯re not going near the library, I already told you something¡¯s off about it.¡±

    Rita scoffed. ¡°Fine. I think you¡¯re just scared of a big dumb tree, though.¡±

    Hildegarde rolled her eyes and directed Rita to a destroyed magic store nearby, a plot of land covered in shards of crystal and hefty lumber.

    ¡°Are you gonna help, finally? It would be so much faster if you helped.¡± Rita pleaded.

    ¡°This is a part of the job, Rita. You need to learn how to do this properly.¡± Hildegarde said.

    ¡°But I know how to do it, just help me and we can go home sooner. Come on, teach.¡± Rita begged.

    Hildegarde shook her head. ¡°No, you need to do this yourself. I won¡¯t always be here to help you. Come on, get digging.¡±

    One day, Rita would grow up and lose the na?ve innocence she had now, Hildegarde thought to herself. One day in the future, Rita would look back on this moment and appreciate what was done for her. Appreciate the protection she had.

    Let alone the oddness that was happening in Flester, ruins were never safe. There was no wall stopping the wild animals from running in, no guards stopping unsavoury folk from robbing you. Out in the middle of Flester¡¯s ruins, you were on your own.

    But for now, Hildegarde enjoyed seeing the ignorance in her apprentice, enjoyed seeing a perspective that hadn¡¯t yet seen the world for what it truly was. Rita complained and pestered her, but that was part of growing up. That was what the young ones deserved. It was their right, for being brought into such a world filled with ruin and devastation without a say.

    Though, nothing would happen in Flester¡¯s ruins, even if Rita was left alone. Foizo was a short journey to the north and while they hadn¡¯t made any efforts in building up Flester again, just having them nearby helped cull the wildlife. Let alone the effect the royal guard stationed in the city had on the local ruffians. Few would dare step near Foizo, and those that did had no interest in little Rita.

    The two continued rummaging through Flester¡¯s ruins as the night drew on, and when the sun just began to crest the horizon, began to leave.

    ¡°You sure we can¡¯t stay any longer? Please teach. I really want to see the library.¡± Rita begged.

    ¡°No, we¡¯re not seeing the library. When you¡¯re older you can come back and visit it yourself if you so wish, but under my supervision we will not step foot in that library.¡± Hildegarde said.

    Rita pouted and held her hand out. Hildegarde grabbed it, and the two vanished.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zoe woke as the sun beamed down on her, warming her pale skin and yawned. She hadn¡¯t expected to fall asleep, but the dungeon was quite an exhausting experience. She smiled as she looked through the wooden shack¡¯s walls with her Cosmic Vision at the mana that swirled around inside and the colourful markings on the marble floor.

    It was nice to have all of her abilities back. The dungeon was fun, but maybe for the future she¡¯d stick to ones that at least let her keep her Cosmic Mystic class. Cosmic Vision had become almost as important to her as her Vampyric Senses were. Losing the ability to see through walls or around corners, to no longer be able to teleport into a fight or away from danger was devastating. Fun, but devastating.

    Her mind raced with how simple the dungeon would have been if her level wasn¡¯t restricted, but that was the point of it she supposed. The rewards were much worse than Moaning Point ¡ª and for Zoe, the difficulty was even much higher. The most challenging part of Moaning Point for her was waiting in the line to fight the lich at the top. Once she was there, a simple enchanted Frost projectile was enough to take the boss out. Let alone Cosmic Rift which she still never had the chance to test the limits of.

    But if she was level thirty with a small group of friends, maybe the dungeon would have a more practical purpose. She¡¯d be able to clear a dungeon and split the modest reward among a few people. As it stood, the challenge dungeon was just that. A challenge. And one she looked forward to trying again someday.

    Zoe stood up and teleported into the sky, catching herself in a suit of earth. She floated back towards Darpi and down towards the road just outside it. The two guards who stood outside looked at her with a bit of anxiety and nodded to her as she walked through the beautiful wooden gate.

    Inside the walls, the well maintained gravel road wound through beautiful wooden buildings that towered over Zoe as she walked down the road. Most were three stories tall, though there were a few that stood even taller at four. And all were gorgeous. A dark wood that shone in the morning sun, with twisting patterns and designs carved into every square inch of the wood.

    The signs stood out to Zoe the most, thick wooden planks that hung from decorative posts jutting out from above the ceiling. Each plank had a beautiful, colourful painting on it depicting what the business was for or perhaps a name of the business. One inn had a painting of somebody laying in a bed being served a plate of fruit that Zoe thought she could almost smell. She breathed in and her eyes widened as she realized she could smell it.A light, fruity smell with an almost acidic undertone wafted from the painting.

    Zoe smiled as she looked around. Dozens of people walked down the street, making their way into buildings for work or perhaps pleasure. Many of them smiled at Zoe as they walked by, and Zoe¡¯s empathy picked up a certain calmness that she hadn¡¯t experienced elsewhere. There were undertones of anxiety, as there always was when Zoe walked through a crowd of people. But the dominant feeling Zoe got was a quiet acceptance that drowned out all the negative emotions.

    The feeling was almost infectious, a slow comfortable pace that seemed to overtake the town as people appreciated the craftsmanship that went into everything around them. People stopped and appreciated the signs and the carvings in the walls, chatted in the street as they passed each other. There was no rush, no pressure to get to where they were going.

    It was pleasant, Zoe thought.

 3-46. The Chipped Stool

    Zoe spent a few hours wandering through the city, taking in the beauty of it all. Wooden statues erected in the streets, depicting what seemed to Zoe to be normal people sitting in chairs doing mundane tasks. Whittling away at a piece of wood left raw from the carved statues, or playing some soccer looking sport with a small ball.

    The buildings were all gorgeous, wherever Zoe walked. Works of art, a display of the carpenter¡¯s mastery of their craft. Everybody she walked past seemed friendly and welcoming, with only the faintest hint of anxiety resting below their serenity.

    Zoe wandered down south towards the gate she first approached the city by and found The Chipped Stool that Horn had mentioned the previous night. Hanging outside was a wooden sign in the shape of a stool with one leg missing a chunk, splinters almost seeming to fall out of the sign itself.

    Inside was a well lit restaurant. Half a dozen tables, each with four wooden stools with a missing leg that seemed to balance just fine on three. A long bar with a door leading to the kitchen behind, and a young woman behind it chatting with several of the patrons who sat at the bar.

    To her left was a set of stairs that led upstairs, and on the wall to her right was a job board. Zoe smiled as she saw it, remembering when she made her living doing odd jobs around Flester. She walked up to the board and looked through some of the jobs.

    Many were similar to what she had remembered from before ¡ª manual labour for an event somebody was having, some minor pest control. The system used was different to Flester, though. Rather than blue and red pins, all of the papers were hung using pins with dark, glossy wooden pins and the jobs themselves just stated directly if they were one time or repeat jobs. They still used the same system of coloured shapes for payment, however.

    One job stood out to Zoe, an escort for somebody¡¯s child to go exploring outside Darpi¡¯s walls. It didn¡¯t pay very well ¡ª marked as a bronze square, but Zoe thought it might be fun to meet them and wander around the forest for a bit. She ripped the paper off the wall and brought it up to the bar.

    ¡°Hello, can I help you?" The young woman asked.

    ¡°Yeah, how much for a room here?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°We have two different options. Forty copper a night for a basic room, or one silver star a week for the premium room. Which would you like?¡± The woman asked.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll take the premium room then. You only do week by week though? I¡¯m not sure how long I¡¯ll be around, honestly.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sorry we only do increments of one week for the premium room.¡± The woman answered.

    Zoe summoned a silver star and handed it to the woman. ¡°I¡¯ll take the premium room then. Thanks.¡±

    The woman took Zoe¡¯s coin and pocketed it, pulling out a fist sized key carved from a block of wood from below the counter. ¡°Here you are, you get room two on the third floor. The room comes with one meal a day, either here or delivered to your room.¡±

    Zoe took the key and stuffed it in her pocket. Her storage item was far too full of loot from the Kliggig dungeon to fit another key. ¡°Thanks.¡± She pushed the job she grabbed from the board across the bar. ¡°Do you know where this is? I¡¯ve never been here so I have no idea where Jiggis is.¡±

    The woman looked at the sheet of paper before she handed it back to Zoe. ¡°This should be just a few streets away. Take a right when you leave, then after you pass The Warped Plank take a left down the alley. Should take you right to Jiggis, but I don¡¯t know where this person is sorry. You¡¯ll have to ask around down there.¡±

    Zoe nodded and took the job back. ¡°Alright, thanks a bunch. Do you know if there¡¯s a time limit on this job?"

    ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be, but if you don¡¯t plan to finish it today please put it back so somebody else can take it if they want to.¡± The woman answered.

    ¡°Right. That makes sense. Okay, thanks a bunch.¡± Zoe said and made her way to the stairs which took her up to the second floor. The hallway turned right and continued across the edge of the inn with windows looking out at the building next door. At the end of the hallway were more stairs that led up to the third floor which was an immediate tone shift.

    The dark wood that made up the building was replaced with a light wood, the hallway looked bright and open. Most of the windows were replaced with artwork showing bright green forests, with little animals frolicking through the grass. Zoe walked up to the second door with a big ¡®2¡¯ embossed on the front of it in gold and pressed the key into the large hole in the wall next to the door.

    A sharp clicking sound rang out from the wall and the door released, swinging away from the doorway just a little. Zoe pushed it open and walked in. The room was beautiful, carved wooden pillars holding up the ceiling that itself had a peaceful carving of a wolf. The walls were covered in soft coloured murals. Trees that almost seemed to flow in the breeze as Zoe walked by them and a large wolf resting in the forest that seemed to breath as its body rose and fell.

    The bed was fancy, with wooden posts on the corners holding up a white fabric that draped over the sides. It was comfortable and soft, though nothing like Oaniga¡¯s beds. Zoe clicked her tongue, the luxury of Oaniga had ruined her. Every time she found herself in a new place, it reared its beautiful, comfortable head as a standard to be compared against.

    And that wasn¡¯t fair. Darpi wasn¡¯t Korna, The Chipped Stool wasn¡¯t Oaniga. They weren¡¯t trying to be, either. They fit in a different niche, and that was okay. To one wall was a dresser made of some deep red, knotted wood next to a door that lead to a simple bathroom with a toilet and a wooden bathtub.

    Zoe sat down on the bed and brought up her stat sheet. Up to one forty five, with another hundred twenty five stat points that she pushed into Endurance to get it to a nice clean three hundred. She pushed the system to give her some class options, and a swarm of system messages appeared in her vision.

    She smiled and dismissed them. Her skills were still pitifully low, not even reaching what their max would be if she didn¡¯t have Patient Decider. Zoe wondered how Patient Decider¡¯s limit break worked with class options. She¡¯d never seen any classes that required her to have all of her skills in a specific class maxed, but was that because no class required such an achievement, or because her skills never reached their maximum?

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    Zoe thought back to every book she¡¯d read, and couldn¡¯t remember reading about any classes that required it off the top of her head. But did that mean that none ever would, or that she¡¯d never stumbled onto one? And if she did, would she still be able to get it?

    It didn¡¯t really matter, Patient Decider was well worth having even if it did come with such a minor downside. But it bothered her somewhat anyway. Maybe she could disable the feat and try one day? Zoe shook her head, unsure if she even could or what would happen if she did. Would she lose all of her stats that she gained from the feat? Would she lose all of the skill levels she had past her current cap? It wasn¡¯t worth the risk, even if she could do it.

    A pile of books appeared on the bed next to her as she removed a bag¡¯s worth of her plunder from Kliggig dungeon to make space for her time in Darpi. Maybe before she left she¡¯d try and find another storage item. Maybe the shield she got from clearing Moaning Point with Emma and Joe was a storage shield, Zoe thought as she chuckled to herself. One day she would see it appraised.

    She got up and left the room, locking the door in place with the hefty key that slotted in to the wall next to her door and then put the key away in her storage bracelet. Zoe looked out the window and teleported to the bottom of the alleyway outside and walked out to the front of The Chipped Stool.

    Zoe followed the directions down the street and through the narrow alley beside The Warped Plank ¡ª a lumber supply store from the look of the sign outside, and in a few minutes made it to what she thought should be Jiggis. The roads in Darpi weren¡¯t enchanted like the ones in Korna and Flester were, and Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how to tell which road was which. None of the intersections she¡¯d seen so far had any road signs or other indicators Zoe noticed.

    Maybe they used slightly different wood for the decorations, and the roads were named after different woods? Zoe had no idea, but somehow that didn¡¯t seem too outlandish for what she¡¯d seen from Darpi so far.

    She looked at the page she was holding, but there didn¡¯t seem to be much information about which building it would be. None that was useful to her, anyway. Igor on Jiggis didn¡¯t mean much to Zoe when she didn¡¯t know if that was a business name, person name or maybe an address?

    Zoe walked into a nearby furniture store and wandered through the racks of chairs and cabinets until she found an older man sitting behind a counter.

    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m looking for this person.¡± Zoe put the paper down on the counter. ¡°Do you know where they are?¡±

    The man took the paper and looked at it. ¡°Igor.. Igor. Ah! Yes, he should be four doors down, on the other side.¡±

    Zoe took the paper back and nodded. ¡°Alright, thanks a bunch. Did you make all this furniture?"

    He nodded his head. ¡°Sure did. You interested?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, actually. Not right now but after I¡¯m done this job I might come by again. How long are you open for?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mid afternoon? Can¡¯t stay open as long as I used to with these old bones.¡± The man chortled.

    ¡°Oh okay, I might come by tomorrow then. Thanks a bunch.¡± Zoe said as she left and made her way down to Igor¡¯s home.

    The building was just as decorated as every other she¡¯d seen. A two story wooden house with a light patio that had a small garden of herbs hanging from the railing just outside the front door. Zoe walked up to the patio and rapped the carved lion¡¯s head knocker on the door a few times.

    A man opened the door ¡ª dark green level fifty three worker to Zoe¡¯s Identify. ¡°Hello?" He asked.

    ¡°Are you Igor?¡± Zoe held up the job paper she had.

    ¡°Oh, excellent. I wasn¡¯t expecting anybody so soon. We¡¯re a bit busy right now, but if you would like to come in I can make you a coffee while you wait? Or you can come back later in the evening, if that¡¯s better for you?¡± Igor asked.

    ¡°How long would I be waiting?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Thirty minutes? Maybe forty. It¡¯s Cass¡¯ drawing time right now and she takes it very seriously.¡± Igor smiled.

    ¡°Cass is your daughter?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, she is. The knot of my trunk. One day she¡¯s going to be a great artist, she says.¡± Igor laughed. ¡°I believe her, too. She¡¯s got a fire in her, you know?" Igor asked.

    Zoe smiled. ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll come in for coffee then, I don¡¯t mind waiting a bit.¡±

    ¡°Oh okay, lovely. Come in, come in.¡± Igor waved her in and led Zoe down the brief hallway to a lounge filled with wooden furniture and canvas paintings that piled up in the corners. ¡°Just wait here, I¡¯ll be right back with some coffee.¡±

    Zoe sat down on a couch and watched Igor walk down the hallway to the kitchen in the neighbouring room. He boiled some water on a wood stove and slowly poured it over some coarse brown coffee grains that sat above another pot in a fine wooden mesh. The whole process took almost six minutes, and he poured the brown liquid into two white ceramic cups he pulled out of a cupboard then made his way back to Zoe.

    ¡°Here you are.¡± Igor handed Zoe one of the cups and sat down on a wooden rocking chair at the other end of a red woolen rug on the floor. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you like anything in your coffee, sorry.¡±

    ¡°This is fine, thank you though.¡± Zoe sipped on the coffee, and found it rather weak. She was never a big coffee drinker before anyway, but a nice cup of espresso was always her preference. This was more like coffee flavoured water, but it was drinkable.

    ¡°So have you done this before?¡± Igor asked.

    ¡°Escorted people through the forests like this?" Zoe asked.

    Igor nodded.

    Zoe smiled. ¡°Not like this, no. I did escort people through Moaning Point for a few years though, but never something quite as simple as just a walk through the forest.¡±

    ¡°Moaning Point is ahhh¡­ That¡¯s a dungeon right? Near Flester¡¯s ruins?" Igor asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yup. I¡¯ve spent more time than I¡¯d like to admit on that mountain.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°You look so young though. You start from a young age?¡± Igor asked.

    ¡°Something like that, yeah. So what¡¯s the purpose of today? I¡¯m just keeping you two safe while you¡¯re out of town for a while?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes please, Cass has been begging me for months to see the forest but I worry, and we don¡¯t have the money to pay a guard the normal fee. I¡¯d take her myself, but I¡¯m not strong enough to keep her safe if something goes wrong.¡± Igor frowned.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Alright, sounds like fun to me honestly. I haven¡¯t just taken a walk through the forest for a while.¡±

 3-47. Forest Exploration

    Cass came out of her room a short wait later, as Zoe was just finishing up her coffee. The girl was young, no older than five or six at the latest. She carried with her a canvas almost as tall as her, the bottom of it scraping along the wooden floor with a bright smile on her face. Excitement and cheer radiated from her as she walked into the living room.

    ¡°Daddy, Daddy! I painted you!" She said as she walked in. Her cheerful demeanour was replaced with a sickening anxiety as she noticed Zoe sitting on the couch and hid behind the corner.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, sweetie. This is a nice young lady who¡¯s going to help us go out for a walk in the forest just like you wanted.¡± Igor smiled at Cass and then turned to Zoe. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve just realized I never got your name?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry. I¡¯m Zoe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°This is Zoe, come say hi, dear.¡± Igor said.

    Cass crept around the corner, dragging the canvas with her up to Igor. ¡°I painted you, Daddy!¡± She said, giving a nervous side glance to Zoe.

    Igor took the painting and looked at it, his face lighting up with a cheerful smile and a deep pride flooding Zoe¡¯s empathy. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful, Cass. Great job.¡± He patted her on the head and spun the canvas around so Zoe could see.

    Zoe smiled as she looked at it. Igor was biased in his praise, but even Zoe had to admit it was well made. It captured Igor¡¯s thin, almost wispy black hair and his dark, wrinkled skin. ¡°It¡¯s really great.¡± She said, and identified the young girl. An orange level seven.

    Igor put the canvas down on one of the nearby piles and knelt down next to Cass. ¡°You ready to head out?¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Cass shouted.

    ¡°You sure? Got everything you need?¡± Igor tilted his head as he smiled.

    ¡°Mhm!¡± Cass answered.

    Igor shook his head. ¡°Go get your coat.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t like my coat. Do I have to?" Cass whined.

    ¡°Yup. It¡¯s cold outside, so you need to wear your coat.¡± Igor said.

    ¡°Okay.¡± Cass said and ran off back down the hallway.

    ¡°I could keep her warm too, if you¡¯d like. It¡¯s not all that cold out today, either.¡± Zoe said to Igor when Cass was out of earshot.

    Igor shook his head. "Thanks, but it¡¯s not really about the cold. I just want her to be in the habit of making sure she¡¯s prepared for whatever she¡¯s doing, you know? You won¡¯t always have somebody to keep you warm.¡°

    Zoe nodded. ¡°You won¡¯t always have somebody to escort you, either, you know?¡±

    Igor laughed. ¡°Yeah. Well sometimes it¡¯s okay to be a little spoiled.¡±

    Cass came running back in a moment later, in a big puffy red jacket that reached down to her knees. ¡°Okay! I¡¯m ready now!¡±

    ¡°Good job, Cass.¡± Igor said and turned to Zoe. "You ready to go?"

    ¡°Yup, whenever¡¯s fine by me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Great, lets get going then.¡± Igor grabbed Cass¡¯ hand and walked out the front door. Zoe followed along behind, and he locked the door when they were all outside.

    Cass hopped and skipped along the road, a bundle of excitement to Zoe¡¯s empathy. A stark contrast to the mild fears that were wafting off Igor as he smiled and laughed next to her. She supposed it must be quite terrifying, to put all of your trust into somebody you¡¯ve never met like this. To put your daughter¡¯s life at risk ¡ª however slight that risk might truly be, at the whims of a stranger you¡¯ve only known for twenty minutes.

    They made it to the front gate and out into the forests beyond. Igor¡¯s anxiety raced while Cass wanted to run around to every tree and smell every flower. Zoe wondered if there was anything she could do to help with Igor¡¯s anxiety, but every idea seemed so arrogant.

    She could offer to put on a show, an exciting display of her skills for Cass¡¯ enjoyment and maybe Igor would feel more comfortable once she saw what Zoe was capable of. But showing off just for the sake of showing how great she was didn¡¯t sit right with Zoe.

    Zoe shrugged. Igor could be a bundle of anxiety if he wanted, that wasn¡¯t Zoe¡¯s problem. She¡¯d keep them safe, whether he was confident in her or not.

    Cass pointed at a purple fruit hanging a dozen feet off the ground from a tree¡¯s branch. ¡°What¡¯s that?"

    Igor looked at it. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Some kind of fruit.¡±

    ¡°Can we eat it?" Cass asked.

    Igor shook his head. ¡°No, it might be poisonous.¡±

    ¡°I can try eating it and let you know first, if you want.¡± Zoe offered.

    ¡°You¡¯d just possibly poison yourself so we can try some fruit?¡± Igor asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Yeah, why not? If it¡¯s poisonous enough to be dangerous to me there¡¯s no way Darpi would let them grow out here.¡±

    ¡°Okay, if you¡¯re confident. But I¡¯m not responsible if something happens to you.¡± Igor said.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fine. I like trying new fruits anyway.¡± Zoe said and detached the fruit from the branch with her Wood skill, caught it in a bowl of Earth and sliced into it with a jet of Water. The glossy purple skin ruptured as the water sliced into it, revealing a bright orange interior.

    Zoe grabbed a piece of the orange fruit and popped it in her mouth. It tasted almost like a mango, but much sweeter. Almost sickeningly so, but the system didn¡¯t give her any message for poison so she floated the mango fruit over to Igor.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t give me a message for poison. You can try it if you want. It¡¯s pretty good.¡± Zoe said.

    Igor looked at the fruit and tasted it. ¡°Oh! This is prine. I¡¯ve never seen it with purple skin though, that¡¯s odd.¡± He looked at Cass. ¡°You want some?¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Cass answered. Zoe floated the Earthen bowl over to her and she took a piece of the orange flesh, her face puckering as she tasted the sweet fruit.

    ¡°That was super cool,¡± Cass said. ¡°Can you do that again?¡±

    ¡°What was cool?" Zoe smirked.

    ¡°All that fwoom and swishy stuff you did!¡± Cass said.

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    ¡°Ohh, the fwoom and swishy stuff. Yeah, I can do it again.¡± Zoe laughed and formed a cloud of snow behind her that drifted down onto the forest floor with her Frost skill.

    ¡°Snow!¡± Cass shouted and ran to the cloud of snow behind Zoe. ¡°Daddy it¡¯s snowing!¡±

    Igor looked at Zoe and smiled. ¡°You¡¯ve got quite the assortment of skills.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I have a few.¡±

    ¡°What else, what else?¡± Cass looked up at Zoe and asked.

    ¡°Cass, darling. Don¡¯t be rude.¡± Igor said.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. Lets see, hmm. I can do this.¡± Zoe said and teleported behind Cass.

    ¡°Wha!¡± Cass shouted and looked around, finding Zoe behind herself. ¡°How¡¯d you do that?!¡±

    ¡°I can teleport.¡± Zoe said. ¡°I can go really far, too. But right now I¡¯m supposed to be watching you two.¡± She smiled.

    ¡°Can you teleport me too?¡± Cass asked.

    ¡°No, I¡­ Actually I¡¯ve never tried that before. I don¡¯t know.¡± Zoe said, a little surprised the thought had never occurred to her.

    ¡°Can you try? I wanna do that!¡± Cass asked.

    Zoe looked at Igor and he shook his head. ¡°No, maybe someday when she knows if it works, but not if she doesn¡¯t.¡± He said.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Awww, I wanted to teleport.¡± Cass pouted.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to get your own fun classes, then.¡± Igor said.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Cass drawled. ¡°I¡¯m gonna be a teleporting painter!"

    ¡°I can fly, though.¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°You can fly?!¡± Cass shouted. ¡°I wanna fly! Can I fly, daddy? Please?¡±

    ¡°You sure its safe?¡± Igor radiated fear and anxiety as he asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I can let you try, first if you want.¡±

    ¡°Please,¡± Igor said.

    Zoe summoned a suit of earth around him and lifted him off the ground. She felt his limbs twitching in the suit of earth as he lifted off the ground and watched as his emotions twisted between anxiety and a hint of excitement.

    ¡°How long can you do this? Is your mana going to run out?¡± Igor asked as he floated inches above the ground.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°No, my mana is not going to run out. I could carry both of you and myself, and still have mana to spare.¡±

    ¡°Daddy! I wanna fly too!¡± Cass whined.

    ¡°Okay, you can fly. But not too high, please.¡± Igor said.

    Zoe wrapped Cass in a suit of earth and lifted her off the ground. She screeched with excitement as she was picked up and lifted up a few feet off the ground. Zoe kept the two close together as she carried them through the forest and moved them towards whatever Cass pointed at.

    ¡°Higher! Higher!¡± Cass pleaded.

    ¡°You can¡¯t go too high, Cass. What if you fall?" Igor said.

    ¡°I wanna go over the trees, daddy. Please?" Cass pouted.

    Igor sighed. ¡°Fine. Just a bit over the trees, though.¡±

    Zoe teleported into the sky and caught herself in a suit of earth, then brought the other two up above the trees with her.

    ¡°We¡¯re so high, daddy!" Cass said as she turned her head around and Zoe rotated her to let her look around.

    Igor looked down at the ground dozens of feet below with a worried expression. ¡°Yes we are, honey. Very, very high. Alright, take us down please, Zoe.¡±

    Zoe obliged and the three drifted down to the ground where Zoe dismantled the earthen suits into a fraction of the mana she put into them.

    ¡°But daddy, I wanted to fly more.¡± Cass whined.

    ¡°I know honey, but that¡¯s enough flying for today. I can only handle so much.¡± Igor said and looked to Zoe. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Zoe nodded, and the three continued walking through the forest. Cass quickly got over needing to walk again as she found more flowers and fallen fruits to get excited over. They continued through the forest for a few hours, stopping for a quick meal later in the afternoon.

    Igor had brought some bear meat sandwiches on crusty brul with a variety of leafy greens. The sandwiches were tasty, but Zoe found she just didn¡¯t enjoy bear meat as much as she did boar or deer. The meat tended to be more fatty and even though the meat Igor shared wasn¡¯t quite as old as the bear she had at the last village, it had a strange bitter taste to it.

    As she ate, Zoe heard a sharp crack as something heavy snapped a branch far behind her. Neither of the two she was with seemed to notice anything as they continued enjoying their meal, so Zoe ignored it, hoping it would go away. A moment later there was another sharp crack, a little closer but still far enough that Zoe let it be.

    ¡°Good?¡± Igor asked Cass.

    ¡°Yeah! Daddy¡¯s sammies are the best.¡± Cass smiled, bits of green stuck in her teeth.

    Zoe tried to smell whatever animal was approaching, but she couldn¡¯t tell over the uptorn dirt from Cass kicking her feet on the ground as she sat, and the general muskiness that filled the forest. Another crack reached her ears, even closer than the previous. Maybe a hundred feet out, if even that, Zoe thought.

    ¡°Igor?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah? Is the sandwich to your liking? I have some more if you like?" He asked.

    ¡°No, the sandwich is fine. Don¡¯t panic, alright? I promise you¡¯re safe.¡± Zoe said and stood up.

    The occasional cracks from behind her turned into dull thuds as whatever it was raced through the forest at her. Zoe turned to look at whatever it was that was stalking them and saw a bear. A few days earlier, she would even have thought it was a large bear. But in comparison to the beast she¡¯d helped track this one was tiny. Its head as it barrelled through the forest only just taller than Zoe¡¯s. Dark green level forty eight, to Zoe¡¯s Identify she noted as it got close enough for her skill.

    Igor stared at the bear as it approached, fear welling up in him with each thudding step the bear took. Cass looked towards the sound as well and back at her father, mild anxiety and an unsure feeling coming off the young girl to Zoe¡¯s Empathy.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s going to be alright. Zoe will keep us safe, okay? You just enjoy your sandwich, okay?" Igor said, fear exploding from him like a water balloon of anxiety that popped.

    Zoe focused on the bear¡¯s form and pushed mana into her Cosmic Rift skill. Space and time twisted and warped before reality seemed to split, leaving the bear in two halves that tumbled along the forest floor.

    ¡°You got a storage item?¡± Zoe asked Igor.

    He blinked at her, dumbfounded. Zoe¡¯s Empathy screamed of confusion and doubt. ¡°What?¡± He asked.

    ¡°The bear? My storage items are full of random junk, but it would be a shame to just waste the bear. You got space?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t have a storage item, sorry.¡± Igor said.

    ¡°Ah, damn.¡± Zoe teleported to the bear¡¯s corpse and stored one half of it in her item, almost filling up the entire bag of storage she freed up by leaving books back at The Chipped Stool.

    ¡°That was so cool!" Cass said when Zoe teleported back.

    ¡°Yes, it was very impressive.¡± Igor said. "I think we should be heading back now, though.¡°

    ¡°But daddy its still bright out. I wanna keep exploring!" Cass whined.

    ¡°I think this was enough excitement for one day, sweetie. We can¡¯t keep Zoe busy forever.¡± Igor said.

    ¡°Please, daddy?¡± Cass whined.

    Igor shook his head. ¡°One more hour. But that¡¯s it. Then we¡¯re going back home. If that¡¯s alright with you?" He asked Zoe.

    She nodded her head. ¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯m in no rush, really.¡±

    The three wandered through the forest for another hour as Cass ran from tree to tree smelling and touching everything the forest had to offer. And then Zoe flew them above the trees back to the gate they left from and took her copper square as payment. Igor and Cass walked back home and Zoe made her way to The Chipped Stool to rest for the night and focus on levelling her enchanting skills for a while.

 3-48. Takraw

    The next two months flew by as Zoe spent most of her time lounging around in her room at The Chipped Stool levelling up her enchanting skills. Her Cosmic Mystic skills were all quite interesting as enchantments, Zoe found.

    Cosmic Armour gave an object a copy of her Cosmic Armour skill, surrounding it in the twisting space and time, but only for a brief moment as it burned through whatever mana stores she could give it. Even with as much mana as she could fit into an enchantment, on the best frozen shard she had, it only lasted a minute.

    Cosmic Step made an object teleport, or at least she assumed it did. When she enchanted a coin with the skill and then pushed mana into it, the coin vanished. She tried again several times before deciding to just give up, if it was teleporting then she wasn¡¯t able to find a way to control the destination just yet. Maybe some nearby business owner would find a bunch of copper coins appear on their desk suddenly, Zoe laughed.

    Cosmic Familiar seemed to be the solution to her security problem back home. Enchanting an object with the skill gave her a certain amount over when an enchantment activated, though it had no effect on how the enchantment performed. She could enchant an object with Cosmic Familiar and then with only a specific pattern of mana, activate the Cosmic Step portion of the enchantment.

    Testing the limits of the enchantment, it only seemed to work with specific mana patterns, or specific Cosmos inputs. Earth, Gales, Frost, or any other element had no effect on the enchantment at all. Maybe there would be a Frost Familiar skill that would work with Frost, or a Fire Familiar skill that Emma and Joe could use more easily in some other class?

    The last skill Zoe tested was Cosmic Rift, and she was glad she teleported quite a ways out into the forest to test it. When she pushed mana into the object, space and time warped like when she used the skill normally. But instead of shattering into two pieces, the twisting space seemed to expand to about an inch out from the coin and then vanish. Taking everything in the space along with it. The coin, the dirt and grass it rested on, all of the air in the space. Gone, and air rushed in to fill the vacant space.

    Zoe tried it on a few different objects, more mana dense objects created larger spheres of destruction though even the best icy shard she had left only made it to about a four inch diameter sphere, and only on dirt. If she tried to destroy something more mana dense, the sphere shrank as more of its mana was spent ripping out the mana dense object. And if the object was too large to remove, then the enchantment just failed entirely.

    It was powerful, if she could get enough mana into the enchantment. But for it to be useful in an actual fight, she¡¯d need special objects that could handle far more mana. Even with her Enchantment Amplifier, the skill struggled to cause any serious damage. At least compared to just putting the same amount of mana into the skill itself, rather than as an enchantment.

    One day, a few weeks into her stay at Darpi, she found herself growing annoyed at managing her storage items inventory and made a trip back to Foizo. She didn¡¯t stay long, teleporting straight into her cave as soon as she could to dump off everything she didn¡¯t need and back out a moment later. The whole trip took her several hours, which was exciting the first few times.

    But the joy of flying and warping through the sky grew old rather quick, she found. Hours long journeys with nothing but the same forests and lakes far below you, with no interruptions or excitement to be found. She almost couldn¡¯t believe the boredom she felt as she flew back to Darpi, but it had become tedium more than anything else.

    At least, when she was just going back and forth to Foizo. She looked forward to leaving Darpi and seeing new places ¡ª maybe get out of the forested region she was in now and see some desserts or oceans. Fields of flowers, or rocky cliffs that she could explore. But Darpi was a nice place to relax for a while. The vibe was laid back and enjoyable, with the peak of excitement being the Takraw game that Horn had mentioned.

    Zoe found a few courts where it was played, and the game seemed rather amusing ¡ª like a mix between volleyball and soccer. Three athletes to each team kicking a ball back and forth over a net that split the court down the middle. The sport had more brackets than Zoe would have expected, separating the athletes into different tiers of power.

    To Zoe, as much as she hated to admit it, the most interesting brackets were the lowest level and the highest level. The ones in the middle were too, well, middling. At the lower level there was an abundance of strategy and teamwork, pushing each other to the absolute limit of what their bodies could handle. It was fascinating watching them, and despite being far slower than Zoe she had no expectations of being able to best them in their own game.

    On the other hand, at the higher level, strategy and teamwork were thrown to the wayside ¡ª at least to Zoe¡¯s eyes, in favour of overwhelming power. The small yellow ball rocketed around on the court so fast even Zoe struggled to keep track of where it was. Gusts of wind rivalling even the owl bear¡¯s powerful strikes slammed into the barriers kept up by a group of mages just from the athletes rushing around the court in blurs of movement.

    Maybe they did still have the same teamwork and strategy, but everything happened so fast that Zoe struggled to see it as anything more than an overwhelming display of power. The ball would slam into the ground, sending up a puff of dirt and she¡¯d get a brief glimpse at the athletes as they stopped their frantic movements to celebrate the point before the court exploded with movement again.

    In many ways, it was shocking to see such power in such a relatively casual display. She was rather proud of her speed and power, of the feats she¡¯d accumulated. But against what the highest level athletes put on display, she may as well be a child fantasizing about greatness.

    She supposed the same might be true if those athletes compared their mana to hers, but that wasn¡¯t quite so visible. It was an eye opener for her, to see people who invested as much or maybe even more time than she had into something different. To see what path she could have taken.

    And Zoe found she was fine with her decision. Magic was fun. Being fast and powerful was important and necessary, as a last resort. But magic was fun, enchanting was exciting and staying further away from danger was never a bad thing in Zoe¡¯s mind.

    In the two months she spent in Darpi, she managed to get all of her Everlasting Enchanter skills up to just over one hundred. There was an argument to be made to spend even more time getting them to her level cap of one forty, just in case, but she began to grow impatient.

    Zoe sat down on the comfortable, covered bed at The Chipped Stool and brought up her class selections. There were thousands at this point, maybe even tens of thousands. Almost every combination of her skills gave her something different and unique, though not always powerful.

    A space carpenter or a cindered blacksmith. Apprentice variations of almost everything she had, with different elemental variations even within those. Zoe wondered how many classes other people had access to, was it normal to have so many at this point?

    She was glad she didn¡¯t suffer too bad from decision paralysis, looking at the enormous list of classes, and then thought about what she wanted.

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    Her end goal was a powerful enchanting class, but she also had a small desire to work towards her sixth class. At level one forty five, her sixth class would be at the earliest level two hundred ninety. Possibly even four hundred thirty five if she got very unlucky.

    She could take a different class now, for her fifth class and then take a powerful enchanting class when she got to her next cap. But did she want to wait quite so long for her new enchanting class?

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure. Everlasting Enchanter was a powerful class, even if it wasn¡¯t quite on the level of Seasoned Persistence or even just Cosmic Mystic. But it was quite powerful, regardless.

    If she took another class, she¡¯d have an enchanting class and something else that might be fun and exciting to get her to her sixth class. But if she took another enchanting class, she might end up being stuck with a redundant class for years. Maybe decades.

    Zoe looked through her classes and narrowed them down to the ones that interested her the most. If she saw an amazing enchanting class, she¡¯d take it. Otherwise, she¡¯d commit to getting her sixth class.

    [Cosmic Enchanter] A pursuer of mana, imbuing objects with the power of the cosmos. Increased mana regeneration. Increased maximum mana.

    Requirements: Has an [Enchanting] class at level 100 or higher. Has the [Cosmic Affinity] skill at level 100 or higher.

    [Vampyre¡¯s Thrall] Fodder, prey for the powerful. Gain vastly increased experience from being consumed by Vampyres.

    Requirements: Be consumed by a Vampyre

    [Mystic Battlemaster] A powerful warrior, drawing on the depths of their mana to fuel their strikes and empower their defenses.

    Requirements: Has a total of 300 levels in weapon-fighting skills, has a total of 1000 physical stats, has a total of 1000 magical stats.

    [Dungeon Crawler] An explorer, delving into dungeons to harness their power. Increased power in dungeons.

    Requirements: Has visited five dungeons

    [Elemental Shaman] Draw on the power of the elements to restore life, or to destroy it. Increased healing power. Increased Elemental power. Increased mana regeneration.

    Requirements: Has at least ten Elemental skills, has the [Healer] feat, has at least fifteen resistances, has been blessed

    There were many other elemental enchanters and a dozen different archmage variants for all of the elements she wielded but none of them seemed new, or interesting. Cosmic Enchanter was even only on the list because it was the most powerful element she had access to, and she was interested in what imbuing objects with the power of the cosmos meant.

    Vampyre¡¯s Thrall was something that always sat in her list, tempting her to try it and see what it would do. What kinds of skills would a thrall get? What bonuses would she get? Being consumed by vampyres wasn¡¯t something she ever wanted to do, but she was at least a little interested in what it would be.

    The decision was difficult to make. Cosmic Enchanter and Vampyre¡¯s Thrall she decided to ignore after thinking about them a little more. The enchanting didn¡¯t seem revolutionary, and being a thrall wasn¡¯t a real option longterm. She could try them out in the future when she had time to experiment and play with all of her options, but for now she wanted to try something new and exciting.

    And the other three gave her that.

    Mystic Battlemaster was interesting just for the sake that it was something so different to what she was used to. She¡¯d never had a physical class, and this seemed to be a comfortable split between magic and physical. It was new, and it might be powerful. But it might change how she approached things, too. Would it force her to struggle in hand to hand combat more often, as more than just a last resort? Or would it bolster her ability to keep back, and provide her powerful tools when things hit the fan?

    Dungeon Crawler might end up being the best if she was going to spend a lot of time in dungeons trying to accumulate more levels. Though, if she wasn¡¯t in a dungeon it might end up being useless. And even if she was, it might be a challenge dungeon that restricted the class anyway.

    Though, that would apply to any class she took here, she supposed. But even still, Dungeon Crawler being limited to only dungeons made it much less appealing than it might be. She added it to the list along with Cosmic Enchanter and Vampyre¡¯s Thrall. Something to try out later, when she had the motivation and time to try a variety of classes.

    Which left Mystic Battlemaster and Elemental Shaman as the last options that interested her. The shaman fit her current style more, while providing an almost dedicated healing class that would without question benefit her.

    But trying new things was the whole point of what she was doing, and the fact that Mystic Battlemaster didn¡¯t fit her ideals made it better suited to that.

    Zoe went back and forth on the idea for a while before she settled on Elemental Shaman. Whatever the case may be, such a strong focus on physical power just didn¡¯t interest her. Even if she was going out of her way to try new things.

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Elemental Shaman class. Your body and soul will be adjusted to accommodate the change.

    Effects:

    - Elemental Shaman: Gain thirty eight points for each level in this class.

    - Mana Sight: You can see mana.

    - Healer¡¯s Boon: Mana regeneration boosted by 450%. Health boosted by 200%.

    - Nature¡¯s Power: All healing effects boosted by 250%.

    - Healer¡¯s Might: Magical power boosted by 250%

    Available Skills:

    - Elemental Affinity: Increased Elemental affinity.

    - Elemental Manipulation: Manipulate the elements with your will.

    - Elemental Growth: Imbue plants with your elements.

    - Elemental Creation: Weave the elements together to form life, enhancing plant growth.

    - Nature¡¯s Decay: Pull from another¡¯s life to power your own.

    - Nature¡¯s Clearing: Create an aura of healing and safety.

    - Nature¡¯s Assistance: Summon a being of nature to help mend wounds.

    - Nature¡¯s Recovery: Draw on the power of nature to mend wounds.

    - A Healer¡¯s Room: Remove dirt and grime from objects.

 3-49. Elemental Shaman

    Zoe looked at the skills and felt a little unsure about her decision. It seemed like an amazing class, for somebody else. For Zoe though, many of the skills just didn¡¯t interest her all that much. Growing plants faster, or creating a zone of healing for people? Who would even be healed by that while she was alone in a dungeon or flying through the air?

    The class bonuses were great ¡ª although Mana Sight meant that whatever this class ended up being, it wouldn¡¯t stick around forever. Wasting a class bonus slot on something she already had wasn¡¯t a great idea in her mind. And she didn¡¯t expect to have a massive mana capacity bonus from the class since it didn¡¯t mention anything about mana capacity, but seeing just even more mana regeneration disappointed her. In a moment, she could replace the class with another Everlasting Enchanter and her maximum distance per Cosmic Step would go from a couple kilometers to maybe even ten.

    She sighed and teleported out into the forests east of Darpi, falling to the ground in a three point hero landing and smiling to a camera that didn¡¯t exist. If nothing else, the elements governed by Elemental Shaman would be different to her current Elemental Manipulation, and that would make it worth taking for a while at least.

    Zoe started with the least exciting skills, in her opinion. She pushed the system to give her Elemental Creation, and all four of the Nature skills. As soon as she did, she noticed a sensation she wasn¡¯t used to. The plant life that surrounded her came to life, begging for her attention. The grass beneath her feet screamed for light, while the trees that desperately reached to the sky wished for water.

    She focused on her Elemental Creation skill and pushed mana into a tree next to her, and watched as her mana flooded into the tree to reach to its roots and canopies. Not at all like when she enchanted something ¡ª that was destructive, mana ripping through something to restructure its foundations. The tree welcomed her mana and even pulled on it like a child grasping for food. Her mana rushed through the tree and branches grew from the trunk, reaching further into the sky. Leaves sprouted from the branches, filling the canopy with a beautiful, vibrant green colour.

    Zoe stopped the flow of mana and watched as the remnants continued pushing the tree to grow for a few moments before the last of her mana was spent. It wasn¡¯t going to create a new Kaira library anytime soon, but in just a brief minute the tree had changed. Compared to the other trees nearby it looked far healthier and lively, though she wondered what use it would have for her.

    She turned her attention to the other skills, starting with Nature¡¯s Decay. Zoe focused on the tree she had grown and pushed her mana into Nature¡¯s Decay.

    *Ding* You have been affected by the [Nature¡¯s Decay] skill. Increased stats for one minute.

    Zoe checked her stat sheet as soon as she got the notification, but there was no indication of the increased stats anywhere that she could see. She wandered around the forest, draining life from the trees she passed for a few minutes but couldn¡¯t notice any changes until she stopped and let the buff expire.

    When it did, she felt the world speed up as her quickness slowed down. Each step felt just a little bit heavier as she continued wandering through the forest. It wasn¡¯t a major difference, but it was noticeable. It just built up so gradually that she couldn¡¯t notice it, she supposed.

    Would it be more significant if she were facing off against more powerful foes, with more health to drain from? She wasn¡¯t sure, but she was excited to try it out next time she found a dungeon that didn¡¯t restrict her level.

    Nature¡¯s Clearing was far simpler to understand. She focused on the skill, pushing mana into it and a dim green light expanded out to a circle reaching about seven feet away from her. The light had a soft pulsating glow to it, and the system responded with one of the longer messages she¡¯d seen from it.

    *Ding* You are within Zoe Mara¡¯s [Nature¡¯s Clearing]. Increased health regeneration. Increased resistance to Mental, Poison, Pain, Heat, Fire, Cold, Disintegration, Time, Space, Gravity, Ice, Wind, Lightning, Sound, Bone, Flora damage types. Reduced damage dealt to other creatures within [Nature¡¯s Clearing].

    Zoe double checked her resistances when she got the notification, and noted that every resistance the skill provided was one that she had. Would they stack, giving her even more resistance to those damage types, or would they only apply to people that didn¡¯t already have the resistances? She also wasn¡¯t sure how much more health regeneration the aura provided, and wasn¡¯t interested in injuring herself to find out.

    She cancelled the skill and pushed mana into Nature¡¯s Assistance. An enormous amount of mana rushed from Zoe, flooding the ground before her. After almost twenty seconds of a shocking drain to her mana, a leafy bowling ball with stubby wooden sticks for legs and bright lime green eyes grew from the dirt in front of her. Zoe drained a nearby tree with Nature¡¯s Decay and watched as the tree became visibly damaged.

    The leaves darkened and dried, the branches became splintered and the tree screamed for water and life. Zoe urged the leafy green bowling ball familiar she¡¯d summoned to heal the tree, and it waddled over to the tree. A dim green light similar to Zoe¡¯s aura washed over the tree and began to mend the damage Zoe had done. The leaves popped back to their vibrant greens, the splintered branches repaired themselves and the tree¡¯s desperate cries for help turned to silence.

    Zoe pushed mana into the skill again, and another leafy green bowling ball formed in front of her. Was there a limit on how many she could have? Did they have a time limit, or would they just use up the mana she provided them with and disappear? Did they use mana to just sit around, or only when they were healing something? If Zoe could create them and leave them with friends for portable healing stations, then that would make the class far better than she thought it was.

    She left the leafy green bowling balls where they were and turned her attention to something else ¡ª her mana. The amount the skill drained from her was immense, and it made her curious how long it would take her to recover her full pool of mana now.

    A moment later, she appeared two kilometers away floating in the sky. Her mana flashed to near zero in an instant, and a fraction of a second later it was back to full. Zoe laughed as she drifted back down to the ground in a suit of earth. Before Elemental Shaman, it would have taken her several seconds to recover that much. Now it was less than a second. Even if she couldn¡¯t teleport farther, she could teleport far faster.

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    Any faster and she wouldn¡¯t even be able to take advantage of it. At this point, the main limitation to her teleportation was just the time it took her to see where her next destination would be so she doesn¡¯t end up dead in the middle of an unexpected tree.

    Zoe tried Nature¡¯s Recovery, but the only thing she could notice about the skill was that it didn¡¯t work on objects that weren¡¯t flora, and didn¡¯t require touch like her Restoration did. The range was quite small ¡ª only a few feet away from her, but that might be the difference between life and death someday, she supposed. The actual health it recovered was a mystery to her, until she felt motivated to hurt herself to test it. Restoration was already potent enough to keep her alive. In a pinch, she wouldn¡¯t be relying on new skills anyway.

    Before she switched the skills out to try other ones, Zoe decided to test the enchantments. Elemental Creation did the same thing as an enchantment. It created a well of mana that would be consumed to enhance the plants around it. Quite useful if she could manage a self sufficient enchantment and ever got around to making her garden.

    Nature¡¯s Decay drew life from whatever it touched, converting it to mana to power the enchantment. Zoe couldn¡¯t think of any specific use for it, but it seemed like a very useful enchantment. The mana it could get from a tree was far superior to her normal mana enchantment of Meditation and Enchanting, and in only a single skill. But it required draining health ¡ª or life, whatever the difference was, from something to power itself.

    Nature¡¯s Clearing provided the exact same benefit as Zoe using the skill, but was by far the most mana hungry enchantment she¡¯d ever seen. Even with as much mana as she could fit in an object, the enchantment did little more than a momentary flash of green and a system message that no longer applied the moment she even noticed it. But if she could somehow manage to make it sustain itself, then it would likely be an extraordinarily expensive enchantment to sell, and quite a comfort to give to her friends.

    Though, Zoe was nowhere near even being able to think about making it sustain itself. The mana cost was far too intense for anything she¡¯d tried before.

    Nature¡¯s Assistance worked very similar to Cosmic Familiar, though it allowed her to activate enchantments with her Wood and Water skills, rather than with Cosmic skills. Which made her quite excited for what elements the Elemental Manipulation would govern.

    Nature¡¯s Recovery was another simple healing enchantment, repairing minor damages to the object, but only if the skill would work on that object anyway. When she enchanted a coin with the skill, it did nothing. But if she enchanted a branch, it recovered any damage she did to it when she pushed mana into it.

    Zoe pushed the system to switch her skills, taking Elemental Affinity, Elemental Manipulation and Elemental Growth. First she jumped into Elemental Manipulation to see which elements were governed by Elemental Shaman. This Elemental Manipulation seemed to control Earth, Water, Wood and Decay ¡ª or some kind of rotting effect, anyway.

    Which seemed odd, since Water, Earth and Wood were already combined to flora, but Zoe didn¡¯t mind. The skill was new, and she was excited to see what would happen if she replicated the skill with her own mana. Would it add to her existing Elemental skill, or would it replace it with this variation? Would she had to piece apart the components and add it in to the pattern to add new elements to her Elemental skill?

    Was it even worth doing that, anyway? Other than the Decaying part, Zoe already had everything this Elemental Manipulation offered. She shrugged. One day she¡¯d do it just for fun, even if the Elemental Skill never got much use.

    It raised the question though, of what her Elemental Affinity applied to. Would it apply to all of her elements, or just the ones this variant of Elemental Manipulation had control over? Logic said that it would only apply to the same elements her Elemental Manipulation applied to, and with the power she wielded now the only way to test it would be to devastate a large section of the forest. Which she wasn¡¯t interested in doing.

    Maybe one day when she had somewhere less beautiful to destroy.

    She turned her attention to Elemental Growth, finding it to be somewhat of a mix between Enchanting and Elemental Creation. The tree welcomed her mana like with her Creation skill, but her mana seemed to overstep as it forced its way through the tree and pushed elemental mana through its trunk and branches, letting Zoe imbue the tree with different effects.

    Wood forced the tree to grow branches that swung violently around it, scraping into the dirt and nearby trees. Water made the tree¡¯s branches drip with water, and with enough mana water poured from the tree and flooded the ground below it with water that reached up over Zoe¡¯s feet.

    Earth caused the ground surrounding the tree to quake, forming uneven terrain that was difficult to traverse. And last was decay which did nothing until Zoe touched the tree and felt her health rip out of her. She checked her vitals as she leaned against the tree.

    Health: 87243/88200¡­ 86675/88200¡­86131/88200¡­

    She continued leaning against the tree for a minute until her health dropped down to about fifty thousand, and then activated Nature¡¯s Clearing. She dismissed the notification she got and watched as her health recovered far faster than when she left it to its natural regeneration ¡ª just over ten per second. Which for a level one skill, didn¡¯t seem that bad. Even at level one hundred eighteen, Restoration was about three thousand health per second with all of her bonuses.

    And that was only to one person at a time that she was touching and who had taken that damage within a recent enough time frame for the skill to care about it. For Zoe, Restoration was far better, but Nature¡¯s Clearing seemed useful if she ever ran into a group of wounded people somewhere. Nature¡¯s Recovery in comparison was capable of restoring just about twenty five health per second.

    As an Enchantment, Elemental Growth was underwhelming. It acted as a proxy of sorts for the elements themselves, letting her create a coin enchanted with Earth or Decay, but not adding anything extra of its own. At least not that she could see. Even when she enchanted a branch, or brought the enchantment up to a tree it didn¡¯t seem to react in any meaningful way. Decay itself was new, causing the object she enchanted to eat away at whatever it was placed on and slowly fall into a hole it carved. Useful for digging, Zoe thought.

    Zoe sat down and leaned against one of the trees to think about her skill choices, which seemed rather simple. Elemental Affinity, Nature¡¯s Decay, Nature¡¯s Clearing and Nature¡¯s Assistance were all must haves. And between the remaining choices, both Elemental Manipulation and Nature¡¯s Recovery were worthless. The former would be a general skill someday, and the latter didn¡¯t beat out her Restoration.

    Which left Elemental Growth and Elemental Creation. Growth was the obvious choice for now, though if she still had the class when she was back home for a while she¡¯d swap it out for Creation to help get her garden going.

 3-50. Salty

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about the class, the mana regeneration was incredible and she¡¯d only just reached the edge of what would be reasonable for her mana regeneration given her mana capacity. But the class just didn¡¯t seem to fit her, at least not at a glance. Did she want to stick with it for possible decades to get her next class?

    She shrugged. What did it matter, really, at the end of the day? Another ten, twenty years of time spent gardening at home wouldn¡¯t be all that bad in the worst case. The stats from the class were adequate enough. Thirty eight at the fifth tier wasn¡¯t quite on the level of her Cosmic Mystic giving her fifty, but with another two hundred levels would add up to quite a respectable sum regardless.

    The bonuses were excellent, a magical power boost that wasn¡¯t relegated to a specific element was quite welcome since it would apply to all of her other classes as well, she imagined. A tripling of her health was more than welcome and almost brought her to six digits, which was a comfortable sight to see.

    Elemental Shaman was fine, she decided. There were better options available, Zoe knew, if she wanted to spend hours upon hours ¡ª or maybe even days, poking through the enormous class selection to find the ideal one. She could go through every option with hefty requirements, take the class, note down what it offered and pick the ideal class.

    Let alone days, the process might even take weeks. And for what? For a class a little stronger than the one she already had? If Nature¡¯s Assistance lasted for a while then that alone was enough of a draw to keep the class. Giving her friends bowling balls of life was so much better than any mana capacity or powerful offensive skills could ever give her.

    And besides, the class had a new element for her. Decay, she assumed given the Nature¡¯s Decay skill. Rot or maybe death would fit, too, but Decay seemed to fit the most. Maybe she¡¯d break the component out from the skill and get the core skill itself one day to see what it truly was.

    Or maybe she could just give somebody else a resistance, she supposed. There were bound to be others who enjoyed collecting resistances and feats, Zoe was never one to think herself truly unique. The world was vast, and filled with more people than she could even fathom. That she would be the only person capable of collecting resistances was an arrogant and shameful thought, in her mind.

    The only question then, was what to do now that she had a class she was okay with for a while. She could make her way back home and start up the garden she¡¯d been thinking about for longer than she was willing to admit, with a class almost purpose built for such a purpose. Or she could continue exploring the world with her now much stronger mana regeneration letting her travel several times faster than before.

    Zoe smiled. The answer was obvious she thought as she teleported into the sky and caught herself in a suit of earth. She looked around at the vast forest below and Cosmic Stepped as far as she could to the west. In less than a second, her mana was filled back up and she teleported again.

    She continued Cosmic Stepping through the sky for several minutes following the road as best she could, ending up hundreds of kilometers away from Darpi, floating above a vast sea of trees below her with nothing in sight but forested hills. Zoe kept travelling through the skies until she saw something new. The forest of trees thinned and gave way to rocky, craggy terrain that soon transitioned into a vast desert filled with brownish red sand. Towering dunes covered everything that Zoe could see.

    Clumps of sand broke off and fell down the dunes as bugs and animals carved their way through the sand. Zoe continued teleporting across the desert for a few minutes, past small patches of green with trees flourishing around natural springs of water that burst from the desert until she found something that caught her attention.

    On one of her Cosmic Steps past a distant dune, she appeared above what seemed to be a small village nestled in a valley. Zoe teleported back and drifted down to the road to walk up to the front where one of the palest people she¡¯d ever met stood guard outside a black stone wall that surrounded the village.

    ¡°¡¯Ello there, what are ya fer?¡± The guard asked with a thick accent. Her dark black, thin hair fell to her shoulders and rested on brown leather pauldrons. Zoe¡¯s Identify showed her as a dark red level one twenty two mage.

    ¡°Oh hi, I¡¯m just here travelling. Anything fun to do around here?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Fun, eh?¡± The woman picked at her teeth with a sharp nail, flicking whatever was stuck to the sand next to her. ¡°Not in so much as ya might wish fer. Whatcha after?¡±

    ¡°Something, I dunno. Interesting. Any dungeons nearby, maybe? Play any sports here, got some cool games? Just anything neat, I guess." Zoe asked.

    The guard nodded. ¡°Dune ridin¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Dune riding?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Find yerself a fine dune, ¡®op on a board, slide ¡®er down. Best if ya got a way back up though. Down¡¯s real easy like, but getting up.¡± The guard laughed. ¡°Oft make a fool yerself, y¡¯know?¡±

    ¡°Alright, cool. What do y¡¯all eat here, anyway? Never been to a desert before, actually. They¡¯ve always just kinda been this death zone of heat and suffering in my mind, but they¡¯re really pretty, huh?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Death zone of ¡®eat and sufferin¡¯s right about there, ya. We eat what we got. Tortoise, some birds. Lots o¡¯ lizards. Good vegetables. Ol¡¯ Kingsly¡¯s got a farm he runs below the sands. Tried farmin meself once, but can¡¯t do it. Takes so long fer the junk to grow without a class, y¡¯know? Put seeds in me garden and a week later, still couldn¡¯t eat em.¡± She shook her head.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Right. Am I allowed in the village or are y¡¯all closed off?¡±

    The guard shrugged ¡°Not gonna stop ya meself, don¡¯t think ya¡¯d be stopped anyway. Was you who was up there, ain¡¯t it?¡± She pointed up in the sky. ¡°Few minutes ago and all that?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. I didn¡¯t see your village and I was just travelling west, sorry about that.¡±

    ¡°No skin off me back.¡± The woman said.

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    ¡°Where¡¯s the nearest big city, do you know?¡± Zoe asked.

    The woman pointed off to the north. ¡°Sandborough¡¯s a ways north.¡±

    ¡°Sandborough?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup. Sandborough.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°As in, sand? Sand city?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sandborough is sandborough, whatcha fer?¡± The guard asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Right. Okay. Cool. Thanks a bunch. Do y¡¯all uh, need anything by the way? Got a raving lizard on the loose or something? Just feel like I might as well ask before I leave.¡±

    ¡°Nothin¡¯ I know. Might be somebody needin¡¯ somethin¡¯ but not fer me.¡± The guard said.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m gonna go check out this sandborough then, thanks a bunch.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Aye.¡± The guard nodded. ¡°May the sands treat you fair.¡±

    Zoe looked to the north and teleported to the sky, and looked around for the tallest dune she could find. There was a suitable one far to the east, and in a few Cosmic Steps she arrived at the dune¡¯s top. For the last Cosmic Step she even had to teleport up a few hundred meters just to reach the very top of it since it towered over the nearby ones by almost a full kilometer.

    The drop down was steep, and her footing was about as unstable as it got. Each step she took at the peak of the dune sent clumps of sand down the dune which snowballed as they disrupted more sand as they fell. Being so far up on such unstable footing would have terrified her before she could fly, or had such a massive pool of health. If she fell, it would be several kilometers of tumbling down the hot sands, smashing into small rocks and whatever poisonous animals called the dune their home.

    But as she was, the dune seemed more exciting than anything else. Zoe summoned a smooth plank of wood and held it out above the dune then hopped on it and let the plank fall to the sands. It scraped along the hot sands and smoke began to rise as the friction combined with the sand¡¯s natural heat began to scorch the bottom of her plank.

    Keeping on the plank was difficult, Zoe found. She created more wood that stretched up the plank to wrap around her legs and keep her on it. As she slid down the dune, Zoe used her Wind skill to push on herself from behind and move the air out of the way from in front of her. She continued accelerating for a moment and as she slid down the dune, before her wooden plank smashed into a small rock that poked out of the sands and sent her tumbling forward.

    Zoe pulled on the wood attached to her legs and expanded it to cover the rest of her body, catching herself as she fell in a suit of wood. The appeal to dune riding was obvious, though when she could fly, the adrenaline from falling down a dune on nothing more than a plank was lost. Flying through the air and plummeting to the ground was far more entertaining for her.

    She turned her attention northwards again and continued teleporting through the sky until she found Sandborough ¡ª a name she still couldn¡¯t help but giggle to herself about. Wouldn¡¯t every city in the desert be a sand borough?

    There was no road leading from the village to Sandborough, so her plan was that hopefully it would be too large to miss. And to her surprise, her plan ended up working. In the distance, set in the middle of the desert like a stamp that forced its way in was a sprawling city. Black stone walls surrounded the city ¡ª or at least tried to, as more black buildings continued to expand beyond the walls.

    Zoe drifted down to the road leading out through a valley to the west and walked up to the only gate she saw from above. The gate was wide open, with guards standing at either side that didn¡¯t seem interested in stopping her so she walked in. The brownish red sands inside were packed so dense they almost felt like concrete beneath her feet as she walked down the street.

    The buildings were all made of the same black stone that the walls were, creating a very dark and not so welcoming environment, Zoe found. The people who walked down the street with her were all incredibly pale, almost even matching Zoe¡¯s vampyric skin. Most had thin black hair and yellow eyes, though Zoe saw quite a few with brown hair and green eyes.

    She wandered through the city for a while, stopping at buildings that seemed interesting to her. A few different restaurants that served interesting looking food, though their desserts looked more interesting than the meals themselves. Zoe stocked up on a few cactus desserts, some kind of cream and cactus juice mixture that was light and refreshing.

    There were many furniture stores, though none of the furniture they sold looked quite as nice as the stuff for sale in Darpi. It was all made out of either the same black stone the rest of the city was made out of, or a hard wood with a slight green hued to it. The black stone itself seemed nice, but the things made from it weren¡¯t all that exciting.

    After about a day of wandering through the city, Zoe teleported far to the north and continued travelling through the desert. She passed several more villages nestled in between the dunes and stopped when she noticed one mound moving through the sand. When she got closer, she noticed that it wasn¡¯t sand but a swarm of hares that camouflaged with the brownish red sand so well even her eyes could barely pick them out from a hundred meters away.

    Thousands of the little hares hopped along the desert sands, followed by a massive cloud of sand that trailed behind them. Adorable, Zoe thought as she followed along behind them. Up until they pillaged an oasis, leaving behind nothing but a drained, sputtering spring and a few husks of trees and continued on to whatever they would devastate next.

    Zoe shook her head as she watched it, and then continued travelling north. Soon the desert turned to vast fields of flowers and grass with nary a tree in sight. A few more Cosmic Steps further north, and a deep blue ocean revealed itself on the horizon. Yellow sands stretched on to the west and east as far as she could see and the salty ocean smell buffeted her sense of smell as she descended to the beach.

    She stripped to her underwear and hopped into the salt water for a swim. Swarms of fish fled as she leapt in, hiding beneath rocks and colourful coral that populated the sea floor. Crustaceans skittered along the ocean floor, snapping their claws at her as they dug into the sand to hide.

    Floating on her back on the gentle waves, Zoe thought about where she was. She went west from Flester for quite some distance, and then north for who even knows how long. How fast was she even travelling, anyway?

    Two kilometers every second or so meant she was travelling almost seven thousand kilometers in a single hour? That was enough to get around the entire Earth in a matter of a few hours back home, though she wondered if anybody even know how large Abyllan even was. Maybe she was on the other side of the planet from Flester, though it seemed unlikely. She hadn¡¯t even crossed to another continent yet, though maybe she just threaded the needle and skipped across the longest stretch of contiguous land on a tiny planet by chance.

    Maybe Abyllan wasn¡¯t even mostly water like Earth was, maybe it was just one big continent and water was scarce. Life would survive even without much water thanks to magic, so what did it matter if the planet was arid. Maybe life didn¡¯t even start on Abyllan, maybe some ancient civilization populated it years and years prior.

    Or maybe Abyllan was so large that she¡¯d not even seen much of it yet. Maybe she hadn¡¯t even made it out of the Injellar kingdom yet ¡ª though she doubted that much at least.

    There was so much about the world that she still didn¡¯t know. A desert full of its own culture, an ocean filled with its own mysteries to discover. Could she one day learn to breath under water? Would there be dungeons on the ocean floor, deep in the volcanic trenches? Would there be civilizations living beneath the water? Would they have gills, or breath through some kind of magic?

 3-51. Dungeon

    Zoe took a deep breath and dove down under the water. A network of tiny tunnels filled the ocean floor, holes dug by clams or fish, or whatever else might live down beneath the waves. She covered herself in earth and lifted up above the ocean.

    The swell was mild, small waves licking at the edge of the beach. It reminded her of home, living on the coast. Maybe she¡¯d come back one day, build herself a little beach front home to relax in when she needed some time away.

    Though, for that matter, Zoe wondered if she¡¯d even be able to make it back home in a reasonable time. Home was south east, and there were many roads leading around the Injellar kingdom which would take her somewhere she could at least get directions from.

    But with how far she¡¯d gone, and how far she moved with each teleport, missing a road as it wound through the dense forests wasn¡¯t too unlikely. She may as well try and find her way back home to say hello again and then head off somewhere else. Maybe she could go south and explore what was even further than Gafoda. Would there be another desert over there, an ocean just beyond where she¡¯d been before?

    Zoe shrugged and teleported back up to the sky. She wasn¡¯t even sure where she lost track of the road. Was there a road when she got to the desert? Some packed in sand that lead her to that first village she found nestled into the dunes? She wasn¡¯t so sure when she thought back to the desert. A vast red desert, sand as far as the eye could see. But a road?

    She started Cosmic Stepping to the south east, across the fields of flowers and bushes. Small animals hopped around far below her, looking like ants crawling along a colourful drawing from so far away. But there were no signs of people, from what she could see. Kilometers flew by below her with each teleport, and she never saw even the faintest sign of civilization. No roads, no buildings, no mines or garbage piling up.

    For kilometers as she travelled, the wilderness was just that ¡ª a pristine view of the world without human intervention. Had the animals out here ever even seen a human? It was beautiful, in a way. She¡¯d always stuck to the main roads, hugged along the cities and at best visited small villages.

    But out here, in the middle of nowhere, she might be the first person to ever lay eyes on these specific flowers. The first to ever see the waves lap along the beach out here, to see the families of rats and moles that carved their way through the fields.

    It was so easy to forget sometimes, that she was in a world where humans weren¡¯t on the top of the food chain. The world wasn¡¯t conquered yet. It wasn¡¯t subjugated, forced to bend to humans¡¯ ire or will. In time, would that change?

    Would Zoe in her long life watch the wilderness be chipped away at, the beautiful forests and fields destroyed to make space for civilization? Or was there balance here? If people continued expanding, would more fire elementals arrive to tear them down, leaving cities in ruin?

    She wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about that. Was it right to just sit back and allow the world to be ripped apart? Would it be right to stop it from happening? Would it be right to help it happen faster?

    If in another thousand years she couldn¡¯t fly away and see an oceanfront view untouched by humans, or a field of flowers then would she be happy? Would she grow spiteful of people for what they¡¯d done to the world?

    Zoe wondered how long she would even consider herself human. When she was an ancient relic, would she still think herself the same as the humans who lived? Would they even call themselves human, anymore? Would the system keep them in track, or would the system update itself to reflect their new term for themselves?

    The fields of flowers below her transitioned to flat red sands as she continued flying through the sky. The towering dunes from before were nowhere to be seen, the odd oasis she¡¯d grown used to seeing in the distance a thing of the past. A few Cosmic Steps into the desert, and all she could see was a flat red desert with not a thing of interest. No footsteps left behind in the sand, no critters crawling around just below the surface as far as she could see.

    Did anything live here, at all? Maybe far below the surface where water might be, she supposed. But on the surface, it felt eerie. A silence she hadn¡¯t heard in years, since she first got her Vampyric Senses. There was nothing more than the sound of her own heartbeat and the gusts of wind that scraped grains of sand along the surface of the desert.

    Would there be dungeons out in the middle of nowhere, Zoe wondered as she Cosmic Stepped across the red desert. Dungeons that nobody had discovered yet? Would she get some kind of bonus for being the first person to discover them, to clear them?

    Maybe if she took the Dungeon Crawler class she would have. But was there some benefit to being the first without a specific class? She hadn¡¯t read anything about it, but that didn¡¯t mean that there wasn¡¯t. It could be that everybody who had ever cleared a dungeon for the first time just didn¡¯t share that information publicly. Or maybe every dungeon that was known about had already been cleared so long ago that nobody even remembered now.

    A few minutes later the red sands transitioned to a familiar sea of trees, forest as far as the eye could see. Hills in the distance speckled with trees, and still no signs of a road or any other civilization. Zoe continued travelling south east as best she could for a while.

    The sea of trees below her changed as she travelled. The large and colourful deciduous trees were replaced with taller green coniferous trees as she travelled further east, and after another few minutes she found a road that poked through the canopy not far to the south.

    Zoe teleported above it and continued following the road to the west. Soon, she was floating above a familiar wooden city by the name of Darpi and smiled. She flew around and continued down the road to the east.

    She soon passed the village she visited, and for a moment thought about stopping in to say hello again but decided against it. Maybe in a few years she¡¯d come back, but somehow the idea of being a mysterious stranger who stopped in and solved one of their problems only to disappear made her more giddy than she was willing to admit.

    When she passed the Springs of Gir, she wondered about the purpose of the productive dungeon. When she cleared Moaning Point or Kliggig, she was given a reward, but there was nothing at the Springs of Gir. No path that even made sense to her as a means of clearing the dungeon. There was no big bad, no boss waiting at the end for her to show up and fight.

    At least, she didn¡¯t think there was. There was a boss, but in more of a managerial sense than anything else she supposed. One day she¡¯d meet them. One day she¡¯d force her way into those tunnels below the springs and figure out what was going on. Maybe that was the point, maybe productive dungeons were just normal dungeons with pleasant facades.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Or maybe that would just be terribly rude of her. Zoe shrugged and continued towards Flester¡¯s ruins and Foizo. It had been a few months since she was last back, and she was excited to see what had changed. Would they have changed the roads to meet up with Foizo instead of Flester¡¯s ruins yet?

    She stopped by early on in her stay at Darpi, though she just Cosmic Stepped into her empty cavern from as far away as she could so didn¡¯t think it counted much. As much as she loved her friends, she didn¡¯t want to get bogged down with chatting and catching up when she was busy working on a new class.

    In a few more minutes, Flester¡¯s ruins were visible on the horizon. The towering trees that made up Kaira library standing heads and shoulders above everything else in sight. She squinted as she looked at the library. They looked odd. Different, somehow. More colourful, maybe? Had somebody painted something on them?

    A few more Cosmic Steps and she was floating at the outskirts of Flester¡¯s ruins, staring at the towering trees with her mouth agape. The trees weren¡¯t painted, but covered in a thick blanket of mana so dense Zoe couldn¡¯t pick apart individual wisps of mana. The light pulsed in and out, growing brighter over a few seconds and then dimming over a few seconds as the trees seemed to breathe in the mana.

    Zoe floated towards the trees, flabbergasted at what she was seeing and utterly confused at what it meant. How was the mana doing that? Why was the mana doing that? She looked over to Foizo and in a couple Cosmic Steps arrived in her cave.

    Emma was outside tending to a garden Zoe hadn¡¯t remembered seeing when she left. Wooden boxes were lined up in rows just outside the entrance, filled with dirt and various green leaves. Small waist high saplings surrounded the small garden, trees that were planted and might one day provide some shade and fruit.

    Ollie and Fennel were both in Emma¡¯s room. Fennel sat at the window staring out, watching Emma as she smiled and waved. Oliver lay on the foot of the bed, his small body rising and falling with each sleepy breath he took.

    Zoe teleported outside next to Emma. ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°Ah!¡± Emma jumped and then pressed her hand to her chest as she took a deep breath. ¡°You scared me!¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re home?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Maybe. I was going to stop by and say hi then head south, but what¡¯s going on with Flester¡¯s ruins?" Zoe asked. ¡±The mana on Kaira library was intense.¡°

    Emma nodded. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what people have been saying. Something¡¯s happening in Flester¡¯s ruins and we¡¯re just hoping to ride it out. Some people have left for Korna already, but most are still sticking around. Hopefully it¡¯s nothing too bad, but what can we do, y¡¯know?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Right. Makes sense, I guess. You think it¡¯s becoming a dungeon, maybe? It kinda looks like a dungeon, now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what people are saying. I dunno. Maybe? Can a city just become a dungeon like that, though?" Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Maybe? I mean there are other ruin dungeons, maybe they were all once real cities? Be easier than having to make an entire ruin for the system, I guess. Or whatever it is that makes dungeons.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°I guess. You gonna stick around to find out then?"

    ¡°Probably, yeah.¡± Zoe answered. ¡°If Flester¡¯s ruins become a dungeon, I wanna be here to see it happen, honestly. Seems like a process that would be very difficult to actually watch.¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t imagine most people have ever had the opportunity to see it. But maybe some wizard has just holed up inside and is doing experiments, you never know.¡±

    ¡°Has Diana checked it out?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I think so. You¡¯d have to ask Joe to be sure though. But right now they¡¯re saying it¡¯s weird, but risk is low of harm coming out to foizo by it. Mana¡¯s not leaving Kaira library, and it¡¯s not coming from over here either.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Where is it coming from, then?" Zoe asked.

    Emma shrugged. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t say. Not here, though. Just collecting mana in Flester¡¯s ruins, maybe?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°You started a garden?"

    ¡°Mhm. I had a nice garden back at my tower and I¡¯ve missed it, honestly.¡± Emma said. ¡°Hope you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    ¡°No, not at all. In fact, I just got a new class that could help out if you want.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯s your new class?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Elemental Shaman. Lots of healing and nature stuff. But I can grow plants pretty quick with it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Never expected you to take a dedicated healing class.¡± Emma said. ¡°You¡¯re always by yourself.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s different and, eh. Honestly there were probably better options but I can do this with it.¡± Zoe said and focused on her Nature¡¯s Assistance skill to summon another leafy bowling ball.

    Emma watched her with a puzzle expression as nothing happened for a moment, and then tilted her head a bit as the skill summoned the assistant. ¡°What¡¯s that do?"

    ¡°Heal people, or things. Just living things thought. Can¡¯t heal like a broken rock or something.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And you can just leave it here while you go off?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yup. Don¡¯t know how long it lasts, but yup.¡±

    ¡°Can you make multiple?" Emma asked.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Do they heal much?" Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Never really tested it¡¯s healing abilities, definitely should have done that while I was testing the other skills. Probably not much at its level though.¡±

    ¡°Well, if they stick around for a while I would like you to leave me a bunch. Does it do much as an enchantment?" Emma asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No it¡¯s not a portable healer enchantment, unfortunately.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°Right. Well anyway, if you can grow stuff quick then grow these trees. I wanna get some fruit for dinner tonight if that¡¯s possible.¡±

    Zoe laughed and swapped out her Elemental Growth skill for Elemental Creation then flooded the saplings with mana. They grew far quicker with Zoe¡¯s mana bolstering their health, reaching to the sky and spreading their branches. In just over half an hour the first tree stood over Zoe and Emma, with familiar red fruits sprouting from the branches.

    Settling down and starting up a garden came far sooner than Zoe expected, but she smiled as she looked at Fennel pawing at the window in Emma¡¯s room. Exploration could come later, once whatever was happening in Flester¡¯s ruins was sorted out.

 3-52. Flesters Might

    Zoe¡¯s new Elemental Shaman class was quite the boon for Zoe and Emma¡¯s little garden outside over the following few months. Though the garden expanded much more than either expected after they saw how effective her skill was. The few rows of boxes filled with plants grew to be a small field that stretched along the base of the hill, with herbs and food sprouting from the ground. Several of the trees nearby were chopped down and uprooted, replaced with fruit trees from which colourful fruits hung.

    A nice benefit to Elemental Creation was in letting them grow plants that wouldn¡¯t normally thrive in their climate. Trees that grew in warmer regions, herbs that liked more rain than they got. Elemental Creation filled them with life and let them thrive regardless of the conditions they were thrust in.

    Though, most of the plants they kept were native to the forests around Foizo ¡ª even if Zoe could supplement their needs, when she wasn¡¯t around the plants would inevitably die. Zoe tried out a few different enchantments with Elemental Creation, but none were powerful enough to keep the foreign flora alive on their own.

    Emma could supplement the enchantment with her own magic and some extra supplies, but the two decided it just wasn¡¯t worth the trouble. Maybe if they had a dedicated gardening class, it would provide some longer lasting effects they could use. But Zoe¡¯s class wasn¡¯t a one stop shop for all their gardening needs on its own.

    The limitation frustrated Zoe. Her class was good, and she liked it, but it wasn¡¯t enough. It was never enough. Would she ever get everything she wanted? Sometimes she wanted to explore dungeons, sometimes she wanted to settle down in Foizo and relax in her garden. Sometimes she wanted to build a home, sometimes she wanted to travel the world. Would she ever get the right assortment of classes for herself?

    Sometimes she wished she could save preset combinations of classes for herself. Get to level two hundred with a purpose built gardening class and save it as her gardening build, then switch it out for her dungeon build. But every time she wanted to switch her classes, she had to start all over from the beginning ¡ª and as she continued to get even better classes, where the beginning was kept getting later and later.

    At first it was her Seasoned Persistence class, now it¡¯s her Cosmic Mystic class that she never wanted to be without. Once she got an enchanting class to match those then she¡¯d be starting from her fifth class! There were so many things to do, and so few things she could do at once.

    Of course, she could take the time to get everything she wanted as a general skill ¡ª or at least most things. Could she even get mana sight as a general skill? Or would that be something she¡¯d have to modify her body or soul to make possible? Doing so was something she¡¯d never even tried to do before, not seriously at least.

    It was a terrifying idea, trying to modify her body and soul. The system did it whenever she took a new class, but even then it was sometimes intensely painful. Doing it herself, without any experience or knowledge of what she was doing? She could be paralyzed for life, and without any way of fixing it.

    Or would the system fix it for her if she took another class and let it modify her body and soul to accommodate the changes? She hoped she¡¯d never have to find out.

    The strange mana surrounding Kaira library continued to grow, and the emotions in Foizo twisted between anxiety and excitement. Many people were scared of what was happening, worried for what it meant for their town. A handful of people left every month, fleeing for other towns away from the mounting pressure of Flester¡¯s ruins. But most seemed excited, and talks were common of a possible dungeon forming so near them.

    Nobody seemed to know for sure what was happening, no voice of authority talking of some previous relevant experience. From what Zoe could tell, it seemed unprecedented. No books talking of mana behaving so strangely, no stories passed down through the generations that spoke of mana moving so coherently.

    Outside of dungeons, anyway. In dungeons, mana behaving strangely was common. In fact, it was the defining feature of dungeons. Mana moving with a purpose, behaving in unpredictable ways was what made dungeons, dungeons.

    Several people had ventured into Kaira library, through the dense web of mana ¡ª Zoe included. But nothing seemed different inside, the burned wooden walls looked the same. The piles of books resting at the bottom of the pit were all still there, wasting away. There were no monsters to fend off, no shadows lurking just out of sight waiting to pounce on them.

    The inside of the library was the same as it always was, or at least had been since the fall of Flester. Even the mana inside seemed normal, not reacting to the dense blanket that covered the outside of the trees.

    Early on in her stay at Foizo, Zoe tested the limits of her Cosmic Step skill with her friends and found that not only did the skill let her bring somebody else with her, it didn¡¯t seem to have a limit to how many she brought. The only requirement was that they were touching ¡ª so the soft limit would be however many people could touch Zoe at one time, and besides that the mana cost seemed to scale linearly with each person.

    It was a nice thing to know in a pinch, but knowing how her skill would work if she teleported somebody into a tree or wall made it a little uncomfortable to do in closed spaces. For quick teleportation through the skies, it was safe and easy. But through the forests or into her cave? Zoe didn¡¯t even want to attempt it. Just the thought of severing her friends by accidentally teleporting them into a door sent shudders through her body.

    Joe had suggested Zoe use her skill to help transport people who wanted to leave to Korna ¡ª even if she was taking three or four people the journey would only be a few minutes long for her with her teleportation abilities. But while it would be helpful to people, being known as a Moaning Point escort was already troubling enough. Let alone having everybody know she could move them from Foizo to wherever they wanted to go in a matter of minutes.

    As the mana in Flester¡¯s ruins continued to grow, several mages who stayed in Foizo built large towers on Foizo¡¯s walls that peered over the forest¡¯s canopy to view the powerful mana that ebbed and flowed over the city ruins. Even from such a distance, the dense blanket of mana was visible as clear as day to Zoe and many of the other mages who stood on the tower watching.

    By the middle of autumn, several months after Zoe had arrived, the mana that blanketed Flester¡¯s ruins had grown so dense that even many who lacked mana sight had begun to feel it. A subtle blur in the distance, and a pressure on their eyes as they stared at the ruined city to the south.

    In recent days, the mana had expanded beyond Kaira library and begun to blanket the entire city. It seemed to pulse as the city breathed in mana, starting from the towering trees and radiating outwards like a wave of power.

    Zoe stood up on a tower she made, with Joe, Emma and Jeffrey watching the mana surge in the distance. Foizo had grown quiet since the mana spread from Kaira library, excitement radiating from every person she passed on the streets. People stared out at Flester¡¯s ruins in anticipation, waiting for the final climax of whatever it was the mana was trying to do.

    ¡°Did you see that?" Jeffrey asked Zoe, pointing at the towering Kaira library trees. A surge of mana rushed from the trees, far more powerful than any of its normal breaths. It rushed through the city like a tsunami of mana, smashing through ruined buildings and covering them in colourful wisps of light.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Of course I did. How could I miss it?" Zoe asked, staring at the scene in the distance. ¡±Wanna get closer?¡°

    ¡°What¡¯s happening?" Emma asked. ¡±What is all of that?"

    ¡°I have no idea. A lot of mana is happening.¡± Zoe said. ¡°So much mana.¡± Another surge of power rushed out from the trees, piling up even more of the dense blanket of mana that covered the town.

    Joe squinted. ¡°It¡¯s hard to look at. Is everything okay?¡±

    ¡°You can get us closer?" Jeffrey asked as another wave of mana rushed across the city. ¡±How much closer?¡°

    ¡°I have no idea, Joe. Whatever is going on is happening now, though.¡± Zoe said. ¡°I can get us as close as we want to be. I¡¯m going closer, I want to see whatever this is. Any of you want to come?¡±

    Joe shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m okay out here.¡±

    ¡°Me too,¡± Emma said. ¡°I might come join you soon though.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m coming.¡± Jeffrey said. Zoe grabbed his shoulder and teleported the two of them out to just outside of Flester¡¯s ruins.

    From up close, the mana was incredible. A bright blanket of light that stopped at the edge of Flester¡¯s walls. Another wave of mana crashed through the city and smashed into the boundary of Flester¡¯s walls and the wilderness beyond like an ocean wave crashing onto a cliff.

    ¡°Can you take us up?¡± Jeffrey asked. ¡°Over to Kaira library? I want to see it up close.¡±

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No. I can take us up, but if you want to go inside this mess you¡¯ll have to do it yourself. I¡¯m not going to be responsible for you dying to whatever this is.¡±

    Jeffrey sighed. ¡°You¡¯re right. Julia would kill me if she knew I was even this close. But how can you resist, seeing all of this? It¡¯s incredible.¡±

    Zoe nodded as she floated the two of them up a bit higher to get a view of more of the city. Several others came running through the forest or floating over with magics of their own, though none stepped foot beyond the boundary of Flester¡¯s walls.

    ¡°How many people can say they¡¯ve seen a dungeon form this close? We¡¯re going to be in quite the exclusive group now.¡± An older woman said, floating up next to Zoe and Jeffrey on a plate of silver metal.

    ¡°You think it¡¯s a dungeon?¡± Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°What else would it be?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I believe it¡¯s a powerful mage casting a spell still, personally. Perhaps something to preserve the information within the library or the history of the city.¡± A man said as he floated up next to the growing group on a comically large sword.

    ¡°Who¡¯s to say it can¡¯t be both? We hardly know the truth of how dungeons are formed anyway. Maybe there is a powerful mage casting a spell inside, and perhaps that spell creates a dungeon.¡± Another person added as they ran up beneath the group and rose on a pillar of grass.

    ¡°You¡¯re still walking everywhere, Ernest?¡± The older woman asked.

    Ernest rolled his eyes. ¡°Yes, Eleanor. I am walking. And you should do the same sometime.¡±

    She rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Enough bickering.¡± The man floating on the large sword said as another wave of mana crashed into the boundary around Flester¡¯s ruins.

    Zoe and Jeffrey floated around Flester, watching the phenomenon from every perspective they could. Waves crashed up against the boundary of Flester¡¯s ruins time and time again, but never crossed it. Not one single wisp of light drifted away from the city, and the mana kept piling up in the city over the course of several hours as waves continued radiating out from Kaira library and crashing into the invisible wall that surrounded the city.

    The mana continued building up, piling onto the city like the tide racing up a beach until it reached its climax. All of the violent swirling stopped, and Flester¡¯s ruins were overcome by a silent stillness.

    Emma appeared next to Zoe and Jeffrey, and Zoe caught her in a suit of earth. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± She asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°No clue. Is it over?¡±

    The three watched the still city for several minutes, waiting for something to happen.

    ¡°Maybe?" Jeffrey said. ¡±Nothing¡¯s happening anymore.¡°

    Several other interested people floated and ran around the city, confusion and intrigue radiating from everybody that came within reach of Zoe¡¯s Empathy. And then as quick as the mana had stopped its movements, it sprung into action again.

    The dense ocean of mana that covered the city expanded, reaching up along the invisible wall that surrounded the city before it all crashed back down and smashed into the ground. Zoe watched as an enormous rush of mana flooded through the city towards Kaira library, while the rest drifted towards the ruined buildings and created even more rubble where they were.

    Ruined buildings were erected from the ground in an instant, remnants of Flester¡¯s mysticism brought back to life. Damaged crystal balls and marble buildings were created with destroyed windows and large sections missing, with deep scorch marks along their sides.

    The mana that rushed towards Kaira library raced up along the trunks and formed a large wooden platform that nestled in over the top of them, covering the park in the middle in shade. Purple flames lit up the trees, covering the canopy and the new wooden platform in an opaque, flickering purple light that reached to the skies above.

    *DING* For witnessing the creation of a dungeon, you have been awarded with the [Flester¡¯s Might] feat.

    Zoe brought up the description as soon as she got the notification.

    [Flester¡¯s Might]

    You have born witness to the creation of [Flester¡¯s Might]. Increased rewards from [Flester¡¯s Might].

    ¡°Did y¡¯all get the feat too?" Zoe asked.

    Emma and Jeffrey both nodded, their eyes out of focus as they read through the system¡¯s messages themselves.

    ¡°It really was a dungeon.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I bet that¡¯s where the boss is.¡± Jeffrey pointed to the wooden platform obscured by the purple flames.

    ¡°No, really?¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go explore the dungeon. You two coming or want a ride back to Foizo?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll come,¡± Emma said.

    ¡°No way I¡¯m not coming.¡± Jeffrey said.

 3-53. Sculptor

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m just gonna go let Joe know that we¡¯re all okay before we head in then.¡± Zoe said and teleported back to the tower on Foizo¡¯s wall where she left Joe before.

    He was still standing there, staring at the purple flames that rose from the library in the distance. More flames began popping up around the city, creating quite the spectacle of colourful flickering lights.

    ¡°Zoe!" Joe shouted when Zoe appeared. ¡±You¡¯re okay!"

    Zoe nodded. ¡°We all are. It didn¡¯t do anything to anything outside Flester¡¯s walls. Did you get the feat?"

    Joe nodded. ¡°Flester¡¯s Might, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°It really is a dungeon now, isn¡¯t it? All that history, everything we worked to build up. In another hundred years, it will just be a regular dungeon people come to explore.¡± He shook his head. ¡°All the stores that we visited, the homes that filled the streets. The parks.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Joe.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything. And it¡¯s been gone for years now.¡± Joe waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. ¡°I guess I just thought one day we could still move back. We could take our city back, build it into something again. Is the dungeon okay? Are we safe here?¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Maybe. Probably. Do things often leave dungeons and raid nearby towns? I feel like I would¡¯ve heard of that happening if it was common.¡±

    Joe shook his head. ¡°No, I can¡¯t say I¡¯ve heard of that happening. It¡¯s just worrying, Zoe. Dungeons don¡¯t just appear a short walk away from your home regularly.¡±

    ¡°I know. I¡¯m going to go explore it though, if you wanted to join? Emma and Jeffrey are waiting for me so I don¡¯t want to keep them for too long.¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe shook his head again. ¡°No, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get called away for a meeting any moment now to discuss what this means for Foizo. But thank you. Keep Jeffrey safe, please. He¡¯s a smart kid, but he can be reckless.¡±

    ¡°I will, Joe.¡± Zoe said and vanished, appearing next to Emma and Jeffrey just outside Flester¡¯s Might a few seconds later.

    ¡°Took you long enough. We good to go now? People have already been entering and we¡¯re missing out.¡± Jeffrey said.

    Zoe rolled her eyes as she walked into Flester¡¯s Might. ¡°It¡¯s a big city, Jeffrey. There¡¯s enough to go around.¡±

    Jeffrey and Emma both followed along behind her as she wandered through the city. The dungeon almost looked like somebody had come through Flester and done a haphazard job of repairing it. The buildings were damaged and worn, with dark burn marks etched into everything Zoe saw. Like what had happened to Flester just wasn¡¯t as bad as it truly was.

    For the first few minutes of wandering through the city, nothing stood out to them. No monsters jumping from the buildings, no treasure luring them into traps. Just the very familiar city and mana that was being pulled into the buildings and streets. But as they turned the street, they watched as a small blue fire elemental rose from the middle of the street, about the size of two wolves cuddling or a very large pumpkin. Dark blue level one thirty six, to Zoe¡¯s Identify.

    Zoe pushed mana into her Nature¡¯s Decay skill and the flickering blue flames seemed to diminish ever so slightly. And then space warped, twisting and compressing the fire elemental into the size of a small coin and rubbing it along the cobble street like a cigarette butt.

    Emma¡¯s smirk from next to Zoe was almost palpable. ¡°I¡¯ve been practicing.¡± She said.

    ¡°Yeah, I see that. I was trying to test my new skill though, you know?" Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh were you? I didn¡¯t even notice.¡± Emma said smugly. ¡°Such minor things are hardly worth my attention anymore.¡±

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Very good, Miss space mage. How positively radiant of you.¡±

    ¡°If you two don¡¯t mind, could I try taking some of the lower level ones? They seem about my level, so it¡¯d be good experience I think.¡± Jeffrey asked, he was a dark blue level one twenty five. Zoe was up to one fifty, and Emma was close behind at one forty eight.

    ¡°Ah. Sure, you can have the next one then.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I wanna try my new skills out, but you can have the next one.¡± Zoe said.

    Jeffrey nodded. ¡°Thanks. Are we going to raid these buildings? They probably have random junk in them, I¡¯d guess. If the dungeon created buildings, it would have created a reason to go in them, right?"

    ¡°Good point,¡± Zoe said and moved over to the sidewalk to walk closer to the buildings, letting her sphere of perception peer into them as she passed them. ¡°I¡¯ll let you know if I see anything interesting in ones over here, anyway. Might miss some stuff though, can¡¯t see too far.¡±

    ¡°You can see through walls?" Jeffrey asked. ¡±That sounds convenient. How¡¯d you get that?¡°

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Something like that anyway.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded.

    The three continued walking through the city for several minutes before they found another fire elemental. A flickering yellow flame, dark blue level one thirty two. Would they all be around level one thirty, or would they get stronger as they moved closer to Kaira library? The type of dungeon was still up for discovery too, Zoe realized. Maybe it was a lodestone dungeon for higher level people, though Zoe figured the most likely option was a ruin dungeon.

    Flester¡¯s ruins, were after all, ruins.

    Jeffrey stopped a dozen feet from the flickering elemental and summoned several empty glass vials to his hands that filled with a clear liquid. He hurled them at the fire elemental and they broke in the air above the elemental, splashing the liquid onto it.

    The fire elemental burst with flames and drifted towards Jeffrey, firing off small pellets of yellow flame that Jeffrey as he hurled more vials of liquid at the fire elemental. Each splash of liquid exploded as it hit the elemental in a puff of steam and flame, leaving the elemental looking worse for wear with each burst.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Jeffrey lead the fire elemental around in a wide circle, crossing back and forth over the road as he threw what seemed to be an infinite supply of the liquid potions at the fire elemental. Many of the pellets of flame he failed to dodge, and he grimaced as they left dark scorch marks on his torso, burning through the light red shirt he was wearing.

    A few minutes after the fight began, the fire elemental sputtered its last dying breath of flame and vanished in a puff of smoke that was pulled towards the distant Kaira library.

    Jeffrey leaned on his knees and took deep, calming breaths. ¡°This¡¯ll be convenient for the people in Foizo.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°These are all fire elementals. You know? The same kind that gives you the Slayer of Fire feat?" He said.

    ¡°Oh! I didn¡¯t even think of that.¡± Emma said. ¡°You think we could pull them out of the dungeon?"

    ¡°I dunno. Maybe?¡± Zoe said. ¡°We can try with the next one. I¡¯ll drag it away, see what happens.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded, and the three continued wandering through the city. They soon found another fire elemental ¡ª a bright pink flame that licked at the window of a building it was haunting. Zoe captured it in a box of Earth and tried to drag it out of the dungeon, but as she reached the boundary of the dungeon the mana cost of holding the elemental grew immensely with every inch she managed to move it.

    Maybe something would break at some point, and the fire elemental would be able to escape. But even for Zoe¡¯s incredible quantity of mana, she could only manage to pull the elemental about half a foot outside the walls before her box of earth shattered and the elemental was pulled back into Flester like a spring that was suddenly released.

    They found many more elementals as they wandered through the dungeon, and Zoe tried using her Nature¡¯s Decay skill on them. At first, the skill didn¡¯t seem to do an awful lot. The buff it gave her to all of her stats was nice but minimal, and the damage the skill dealt was almost unnoticeable. At least on such a high level elemental.

    But as the skill levelled ¡ª and it levelled rather quick as she pushed so much mana into it to use it against the high level elementals, it grew more and more useful. Dumping enormous quantities of water on them with her Torrents skill was still far more effective, but the buff she got continued to grow and the constant drain was a nice addition to her arsenal she found.

    Nature¡¯s Clearing was an excellent skill while she was exploring the dungeon with friends, and she ended up just leaving the skill on all the time. Jeffrey and Emma would run off to fight their own elementals, then return to heal up without needing any more input from Zoe. Jeffrey seemed capable of his own healing, though he didn¡¯t have enough mana to be able to sustain himself entirely as Zoe did.

    ¡°You must spend a lot of money on those vials, huh?¡± Zoe asked Jeffrey as he rested in her Nature¡¯s Clearing aura.

    ¡°These?" Jeffrey asked as he summoned another dozen glass vials.

    ¡°Yeah, those.¡± Zoe said.

    He shook his head. ¡°No, they¡¯re free actually. Don¡¯t last long, though.¡± Jeffrey tossed a vial to Zoe and it shattered just before it reached her, the shards of glass dissolving into tiny wisps of light that joined with the natural mana that filled the dungeon. ¡°Useful for combat or testing things, but that¡¯s about it.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Zoe said. ¡°That sounds convenient, then. I was thinking you were even richer than me for a moment.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°I wish.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°You got company.¡± He pointed down the road to an older man retreating from a lime green elemental that drifted down the street after him. Pillars of stone rose from the ground to impede the elemental as he ran, though the elemental just drifted through them as the flames wrapped around the stone and combined on the other side.

    Zoe summoned a bow, along with an arrow of Frost, and enchanted it with Shield-fighting, Water, Torrents and an explosive Elemental Arsenal with a focus on Torrents. She aimed it at the elemental chasing the man and let the arrow fly. It screeched through the sky, impacting the elemental and exploding in a cloud of water that burst from inside the elemental, sending steam and smoke rising into the sky and leaving little more than a puddle that soaked into the dry stone road.

    The man jumped as the arrow screeched past him and continued running as the elemental exploded behind him. Zoe watched as he continued, stopping just outside Zoe¡¯s green aura. ¡°Might I join you?" He asked. Zoe identified him, a dark blue level ninety eight worker.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know about join us, but you can come in the aura. It heals you.

    He stepped over the boundary. ¡°Oh thank you. I am in well over my head here.¡± He laughed. ¡°I¡¯m Timothy.¡±

    ¡°Zoe. I can get you out if you want to leave?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, no. I¡¯d never forgive myself if I didn¡¯t take advantage of this opportunity.¡± Timothy said.

    ¡°Opportunity?" Emma asked as she teleported in next to Zoe.

    ¡°Oh! Hello. All of you are so brave, delving into a brand new dungeon without even a hint of fear. Somebody needs to document it! To preserve this moment for all eternity.¡± Timothy said, full of pride.

    ¡°You¡¯re a¡­ journalist?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh goodness no, I¡¯m a sculptor.¡± Timothy said.

    ¡°I¡¯d really prefer not to have a statue made of myself.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You can make one of me! I¡¯d love a statue. As big as you can make it, and include my two little boys too please. Oliver¡¯s a precious little baby, and Fennel¡¯s a bit of a jerk but he¡¯s also a precious little baby.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°You call your son a jerk?¡± Timothy said, looking a little shocked.

    ¡°Cats. They¡¯re her cats.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°Oh! Well, whatever the case, I apologize but I will be sculpting whatever moment I find that fills me with inspiration. A heroic gesture maybe, a confident declaration. A moment of sorrow and longing. Who knows! It¡¯s a brand new dungeon, anything could happen.¡± Timothy said.

    Zoe sighed. ¡°Well you can come with us, but if you make a statue that looks like me I will find it, and I will destroy it.¡±

    ¡°Very well, but once I¡¯m healed I must be on my way. I believe the most beautiful moments will be over there.¡± Timothy said, pointing at the bright purple flames that covered the canopy of Kaira library. ¡°Oh to see somebody diving headfirst into a dangerous fight, the subtle fears and anxieties that fill them as they approach what might be their final moments. The excitement they might feel at facing a challenge nobody¡¯s seen before.¡± Timothy shook his head.

    ¡°I must bare witness to it. The triumph as the first person clears Flester¡¯s might, or the devastation as the first person falls to Flester¡¯s might. A fitting name, I must say.¡± Timothy waved his hands out in front of him as he imagined his creation. ¡°Flester¡¯s Fall, maybe. Flester¡¯s Triumph. Flester¡¯s Final Flame?¡± He shook his head. ¡°It will be beautiful, whatever happens.¡±

    Emma grabbed Zoe¡¯s arm and whispered to her. ¡°Come on, lets take this guy and go be the first to clear Flester¡¯s Might. It¡¯ll be fun and we¡¯ll get a cool statue made for us.¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡± Zoe sighed. ¡°Jeffrey, you want to come fight the boss with us?"

    ¡°Uh, yeah. Of course. Are you stupid? Free rewards, and I get a statue made in my honour?¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°Okay, Timothy. Here¡¯s the deal. My two friends really want a statue, so I¡¯ll bring you with us and we¡¯ll go fight the boss right now. But you have to make me unrecognizable. Give me a mask or something.¡± Zoe said.

    Timothy hummed and hawwed for a moment. ¡°A masked hero, supporting from the side. Maybe they already knew of the dungeon, maybe they created the dungeon themselves. Intrigue abound.¡± He nodded his head and summoned a stone mask engraved with flames that almost seemed to flicker as he held it out to Zoe.

    Zoe grabbed the mask and put it on. ¡°Alright, lets go fight this boss then.¡±

 3-54. Library

    Timothy started walking down the street towards the library, and Emma laughed. ¡°No, we¡¯re not walking.¡± She said.

    ¡°Oh! You can teleport us?¡± Timothy asked her.

    ¡°Not me, her.¡± Emma pointed at Zoe.

    Zoe nodded and held her arms. ¡°Grab on, make sure you¡¯re making actual skin to skin contact. If your hand is a prosthetic or glove or something, my skill will leave you behind.¡±

    Timothy nodded, and the three grabbed on to Zoe¡¯s hand. Earth rose up, lifting the group off the ground and creating a solid platform for everybody to stand on, and then Zoe Cosmic Stepped three times, arriving at the bottom of Kaira library.

    ¡°Woah!¡± Timothy said as they arrived. ¡°That¡¯s quite convenient!¡±

    Zoe summoned a towering tsunami of water, a dozen feet tall and just as many wide to crash down on the flickering purple elemental that guarded the entrance before it could launch the attack it was preparing as they arrived. She didn¡¯t have time to check its level, but if the size of it was anything to go by, it wouldn¡¯t be comparable to the smaller ones they met on the outskirts of Flester.

    Timothy jumped as the wave crashed down and exploded into a cloud of steam. ¡°Jeez! Give me a warning at least!"

    ¡°If I gave you a warning, the elemental would have had time to attack. And then you would have died. Listen up, you two.¡± Zoe pointed at Jeffrey and Timothy. ¡°You¡¯re coming with me, because I¡¯m confident I can handle whatever this dungeon will throw at us. But if I think, for a single moment, that I might have even the slightest trouble keeping you safe, I am grabbing you and dropping you off outside the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°But!¡± Timothy started to say, before Zoe held up her hand.

    ¡°No buts. We don¡¯t know what this dungeon is, we don¡¯t know what level the creatures here will be. We don¡¯t even know for sure that they¡¯ll all be fire elementals, though that¡¯s probably a safe guess. I will allow you to try your hand at the dungeon as long as I think it¡¯s safe, but if I tell you to jump, you jump. Understood?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Sure thing, boss lady. I¡¯m just here for the free stuff.¡± Jeffrey answered. ¡°Make me look cool in the statue though?¡±

    ¡°You¡­ All of you. Do you have any respect for the integrity of my work? For the importance of this historical moment?!¡± Timothy shouted. ¡°If you want to look heroic, then be heroic. I will not falsify our precious recording of history for your amusement.¡±

    Jeffrey rolled his eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the lead until we see what level these elementals are, and how difficult they are. Then you can give them a try, okay? Timothy, if you¡¯re going to fight them again then don¡¯t just use pillars. Cover them completely and suffocate them.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I am perfectly content remaining in the back and allowing you all to fight. In fact, I would prefer it.¡± Timothy said.

    ¡°Lets go!¡± Emma said and walked up to the entrance of Kaira library. Zoe followed along next to her, with Jeffrey and Timothy not far behind her.

    Inside the library was beautiful. The floating bookshelves that Zoe had spent so much time browsing were once more floating throughout the tree¡¯s trunk, with winding platforms twisting throughout. Purple flames rose off the bookshelves and platforms, reaching for the wooden walls and crawling up towards the top.

    ¡°Any of those flames could be an elemental.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Or they could all be one elemental,¡± Emma suggested.

    Timothy gulped, anxiety and excitement flooding off him like a dam barely holding back a heavy week of rain.

    Zoe walked up to the edge and peered over it, leaping back as a purple flame rocketed out of the tree¡¯s roots and seared into her stone mask, leaving dark burns on the surface. The flame coalesced in front of Zoe, floating above the deep pit. A dark red level one hundred eighty four to Zoe¡¯s identify.

    ¡°It¡¯s only got its fourth class?" Zoe questioned as she looked at the elemental. ¡±Do monsters roll for class caps, too?¡°

    The elemental shot out a purple fireball that Zoe blocked with a pillar of Frost which erupted into a pillar of steam as the fire washed over it.

    ¡°Is this the time to question that? It¡¯s level one eighty four!¡± Timothy shouted.

    ¡°I dunno, I¡¯ve never thought about it before. I guess they do? Can you imagine getting to one eighty four and still not having your fifth class though. God it¡¯s sixth class wouldn¡¯t be until like six hundred.¡± Emma shuddered. ¡°Poor thing.¡±

    Zoe blocked another fireball, capturing it in a hollow block of Earth that formed around it as it flew. The explosion drew almost thirty thousand mana from her, and Zoe shook her head at the thought of thirty thousand barely being worth noticing anymore.

    ¡°Well I¡¯ll take the next elemental too then, just in case. Having its fifth class would probably be pretty significant.¡± Zoe said, dousing the elemental in another massive tsunami of water that crashed down the deep pit. ¡°Actually, that might have been a mistake.¡± She chuckled.

    ¡°You think you just annoyed a bunch of elementals down there?" Emma asked, walking up to the edge.

    Zoe and Emma peered over the edge and watched the water flashing to steam as it crashed through more elementals. Several elementals died from the direct hit, but some were enraged as the water splashed on them or scraped past their forms on the walls.

    ¡°Yeah you totally did.¡± Emma laughed as four purple elementals tore off the flaming walls and began floating up the roots. ¡°Lemme have one? Ah it¡¯s so exciting having a dungeon right here, now.¡±

    ¡°Moaning Point isn¡¯t that far, though.¡± Zoe said as she watched the elementals continue to rise up the roots.

    ¡°Yeah but it¡¯s far enough that I start to miss my babies. Flester¡¯s right here though, and I¡¯m gonna have a lot of fun here I think.¡± Emma said. ¡°Maybe I start up an escort business here, get people the feat.¡±

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°That sounds like a good idea. Joe seemed a little upset about Flester becoming a dungeon, but I think it¡¯ll be good for Foizo in the end.¡± Zoe summoned three projectiles of Frost and flashed on an enchantment of Torrents, Water, Archery and a Torrents focused explosive Elemental Arsenal, firing them off at three of the elementals as they approached.

    The projectiles smashed into the elementals, exploding into a puff of steam and the elementals continued climbing. Zoe repeated the process a few more times until the elementals were turned entirely to smoke that was pulled up to the top of the library.

    The remaining elemental Zoe left for Emma ¡ª dark blue level one eighty six to Zoe¡¯s Identify, much more in line with what she expected. It rose to the top and the two girls stepped back, Zoe all the way to Timothy and Jeffrey to keep them safe. The elemental launched a fireball at Emma who teleported a few feet to the side. The fireball passed through where she was and smashed into the wooden wall behind, exploding into a massive puff of purple flames that clung to everything they touched.

    ¡°Careful with that!¡± Zoe shouted. ¡°If you let them hit us then I¡¯m not letting you pretend you did it yourself!¡±

    ¡°Are you insane?¡± Timothy shouted at Zoe. ¡°You¡¯re just letting her fight by herself? Do you see that!?" Timothy pointed at the purple flames that crept along the walls and floor, expanding as they consumed the tree.

    ¡°Yes, yes I see them. Emma wanted to fight it by herself and part of that is making sure I don¡¯t have to protect you. Or at least I¡¯m making it part of it because I¡¯m mean.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You said you would keep us safe!¡± Timothy shouted.

    ¡°Yes, yes. I will. The flames can¡¯t hurt you over there, and if they get close enough that I have to put them out then I¡¯m gonna tell Emma her fight was bad and she should feel bad.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°They¡¯re just like this sometimes.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°But they¡¯re reliable. Just trust them. If Zoe says you¡¯re safe, then you¡¯re safe.¡±

    The space around the fire elemental began to twist and compress, but the elemental expanded in violent puff of flames and split off from the twisting space to reform a few feet to the side. As it reformed, it fired off another fireball that vanished just before hitting Emma, reappearing far above and smashing into the wall. Flames dripped to the floor not far from Zoe¡¯s group, burning into the floor and expanding in every direction.

    ¡°Need some help?" Zoe shouted as she watched mana be drawn in to her friend.

    Space once more began twisting and compressing in the elemental¡¯s form, but before it could disperse and reform the space expanded, capturing the entire elemental and pressing in on it from all sides. Sweat beaded from Emma¡¯s brow as she pressed on it with her magic. The elemental tried to launch another fireball, but it exploded harmlessly against the space Emma was holding.

    Mana continued rushing in to Emma as she bared down on the elemental, crushing it beneath her magic. The elemental began to shrink and its vibrant flames died off as Emma pressed into it with her magic. In under a minute, the massive elemental was compressed down to the size of a baseball and the next moment it vanished. Zoe felt a small gust rush past her as the elemental vanished and smiled.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m good,¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to do anything against these ones. Especially if they get stronger as we go up.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Zoe said. ¡°Emma and I can handle them. If she even wants to try again.¡±

    Emma turned around and waved her hand, the purple flames that crept ever closer to Zoe¡¯s group vanishing as the space they occupied was ripped away. ¡°Done.¡± She panted. ¡°I envy you having a powerful water class. That seems so much easier.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°It does work out well. Maybe one day we can sit down for a few years and get you some more elemental skills. Once you get the hang of it, it¡¯s really not that bad. For the simple ones, anyway.¡±

    ¡°I should. I know I should. It¡¯s just so damn boring, Zoe. But I should get water or, is it torrents that you have?" Emma asked.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Yeah, I should get one of those now that there¡¯s a fire dungeon on my doorstep.¡± Emma laughed. ¡°You wanna help out someday?¡±

    ¡°Of course! I¡¯d love to. That sounds like fun.¡± Zoe said and started walking up the wooden platform that wound through the trees. Purple flames licked at the edges of it and roared from the bottom, though none seemed to come to life like the other elementals they found.

    Emma followed along next to her, with Timothy and Jeffrey following close behind.

    ¡°Okay, yeah we¡¯ll do that then. Maybe sometime soon?¡± Emma asked. ¡°After we figure out what¡¯s going on with Flester¡¯s Might?¡±

    ¡°Sure. It¡¯s a date then.¡± Zoe nudged Emma with her elbow and laughed.

    ¡°Sounds like fun.¡± Emma said and paused for a moment. ¡°Actually it doesn¡¯t. It sounds horrible.¡±

    ¡°Um, pardon me for interrupting but should we perhaps quicken our pace? I would like to witness the first attempt at the dungeon and I appreciate you bringing me here so quick, but could we not teleport to the top?¡± Timothy asked.

    ¡°Ah have some respect for the dungeon. There¡¯s only two people in Foizo strong enough and stupid enough to throw themselves at the boss of the dungeon before anybody else has had a chance.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And what if they get there before us? I thank you for bringing me here, but I think it would be best if we could get there sooner.¡± Timothy said.

    ¡°I am one of them, and the other is Diana. The royal guard stationed in Foizo? She¡¯s going to be too busy right now, so we¡¯ve got free reign here. We¡¯ll walk on up, see everything the dungeon has to offer and be the first there.

    ¡°Or, well. Hopefully. Maybe somebody else gets there but if just the normal elementals down here are already at one eighty, the boss is probably at least two hundred. Might even have its sixth class.¡± Zoe shook her head. ¡°Nobody around here is going to put up a fight against that alone except me and Diana. Maybe Emma if she really tried, but she¡¯d need time to prepare.¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°But¡ª¡± Timothy started to say.

    ¡°No. I made my rules clear. You do as I say, or I drop you off outside of the dungeon. We will be the first.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Very well.¡± Timothy said. ¡°But if somebody gets to the top before us, I will be quite upset.¡±

    Zoe shook her head, and looked around at the floating library. Shelves and platforms winding throughout the massive tree trunk, the magic of the platform that was once there was lost. But the purple flames that licked at everything were magical in their own way, and the books still seemed real.

    She reached out and grabbed a book from one of the shelves they walked past, a detailed look at building and maintaining pools. Zoe stored the book away in her storage item.

    Several elementals rose from the pit far below, or peeled away from the bookshelves and platforms they were clinging to as the group continued ascending through the library. But a powerful torrent of water or two was enough to snuff them out and the group continued with little interruption.

    At the top of the tree, the platform brought the group up into what seemed to be a lounge. A handful of chairs and couches were placed throughout the room, purple flames clinging to the armrests and backs. Small round tables next to each one, and even a sink with a long counter off to one side.

    To the opposite end where they entered the lounge was a large open door that led to the massive wooden platform Zoe watched form across the canopies of the trees. It stretched across, reaching each of the trees which all seemed to have lounges of their own just before the entrance. Purple flames covered the edges of the platform, blotting out the sky and the city that surrounded the library.

    Zoe looked at the rest of her group. ¡°This is probably it. I would guess that we won¡¯t be locked in, but anything can happen. Who¡¯s coming in for the fight?¡±

    Emma and Jeffrey both nodded, while Timothy stepped back. ¡°I think I¡¯ll watch from here, thank you.¡±

    The three took a breath and stepped out of the lounge onto the large wooden platform.

 3-55. Trailblazer

    The first thing Zoe noticed, stepping onto the two hundred meter long square platform was the heat that radiated from the purple flames. It felt like stepping into an industrial bakery¡¯s oven, even with all of her resistances that worked against the heat. Like the door they were stepping through was a portal to the inside of an active volcano.

    Moments after they stepped through to the inside, the purple flames that surrounded the platform intensified. Flames rose up from each of the entrances to the surrounding trees, hiding the lounges from sight. Timothy¡¯s voice came through the roaring flames as a distant whine, begging to be able to see what was happening.

    The purple flames began to swirl around the arena as more and more colours twisted in to them, forming an awe inspiring display of power. Colourful flames raced around the arena, twisting into each other far above the center of the arena and dripping down like burning oil to the middle of the wooden platform.

    Flames continued building up in the middle of the arena as the dense colours that surrounded the platform combined together at the top and dripped down. The purple flames that once blotted out the sky and surrounding city were pulled to the top, and flowed down into the form that was being created on the platform.

    Zoe looked over the edge of the platform at the city. Several groups were fighting elementals of their own on the outskirts of the dungeon, two had even made it almost to the base of the library. But all stopped to watch the spectacle of flame at the top of the library. She waved to them, laughing to herself.

    Timothy stared at the scene from the lounge, mouth agape. Jeffrey and Emma both stood next to the lounge, trying to comfort him as the flames continued coalescing, and the heat continued building up.

    ¡°You two sure about this?" Zoe asked as she teleported back next to them.

    ¡°Absolutely not. You think you can keep us safe?" Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°Hah!¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°Maybe. Hopefully. Like I said, anything can happen.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Just keep Jeffrey safe if it gets out of hand.¡±

    Jeffrey cursed, and even without her Vampyric Empathy Zoe felt his anxiety peak. His heart was racing, like a thunderous drum slamming against the inside of his chest as he watched the last of the flames drip down into the form in the center of the arena.

    As soon as the last bit of dripping fire reached the form, it erupted outwards. Flames were sent flying in all directions. Zoe created a dense wave in front of her and her two companions, with a thick wall of earth just behind it. The water flashed to steam as soon as the fire reached it in a deafening crash. Her wall of earth stood, with bits of molten rock and dirt dripping down along the sides.

    ¡°Oh my god.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°This is insane.¡±

    Zoe nodded and dismissed the wall of earth to see behind it. The entire arena was covered in colourful flames, burning into the floor and walls. It clung to the canopy far above and fell down as branches and leaves fell from the trees.

    ¡°Holy shit.¡± Emma said, staring at the elemental in the center of the arena. ¡°It¡¯s bright red.¡±

    Zoe identified the elemental ¡ª bright red level two fifty four.

    Another explosion of flame rattled the arena, as a targeted beam of concentrated fire shot out from the elemental towards Zoe¡¯s group. She grabbed her two friends and teleported them to the other side of the arena.

    The beam smashed into the wall where Timothy was watching, sending colourful flames racing along the wall, crawling along the walls and up the open air where the doors were as though the doors were closed.

    ¡°Okay, the lounges are safe at least.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Timothy should be okay.¡±

    ¡°But what about us?" Jeffrey said, his heart continuing to race.

    Zoe shrugged and summoned several fist sized balls of Frost, flashing her powerful water enchantment onto them. They flew at the elemental and exploded in a puff of steam. The elemental¡¯s flames reached out where the projectiles impacted it, sending waves of heat that seared into Zoe¡¯s skin.

    Health: 85342/88200

    ¡°How are you two for health?¡± Zoe asked.

    Jeffrey summoned a vial of red liquid. ¡°I can heal myself in a pinch.¡±

    ¡°I should be okay. I¡¯ll let you know.¡± Emma said as magic flooded out of her. Space warped around the flames that clung to the wood around them, and then the flames vanished. Wind rushed in after to fill in the space that Emma ripped away. ¡°I can handle the flames.¡±

    The elemental¡¯s flames roared and sent another barrage of fire out at the arena. Space warped in front of Zoe¡¯s group, and the flames that would have hit them appeared on the other side of the arena, exploding far away from them. Emma took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Zoe focused on the elemental¡¯s form and pushed mana into her Cosmic Rift. Space and time twisted around the elemental¡¯s form before a chunk of the elemental was ripped away, dissipating in the air. The elemental flared, and the heat rose once more. Bits of wood and leaves that hung from the canopy began combusting from the heat alone, even if fire hadn¡¯t reached it yet.

    Jeffrey chugged his healing potion and tossed the vial to the side, then summoned another blue potion and handed it to Zoe. ¡°Here, take this.¡±

    Zoe drank the potion.

    *Ding* You have drank a [Regenerator] potion. Increased mana regeneration for one hour.

    She smiled. Mana regeneration wasn¡¯t what she needed here, but it was a nice gesture. ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded, and summoned another vial of clear liquid that he threw at the elemental. It shattered mid air, and the liquid rained down on the elemental, popping with puffs of steam as the flames flared up.

    The elemental twisted, flames spiralling above it and coalescing in the canopy far above before a thin beam of fire was shot out at Jeffrey. Space warped in its path and the beam was sent to the other side of the arena where it continued to burn in to the ground on the other side. Another beam of flame raced out of the coalescing flames at the twisting space on the other side of the arena, and Emma rushed to shove Jeffrey out of the way before it reached through the portal she made and smashed into the ground behind them.

    Zoe fired off a few more of her fist sized frost projectiles which smashed into the twisting flames in a powerful blast of steam, interrupting the flames that were coalescing in the canopy above. She covered Emma and Jeffrey in suits of Earth then lifted them from the ground before she pushed all of her remaining mana into her Torrents skill.

    Water rushed out of her and flooded the arena. All few hundred square feet of it were drenched in several feet of water in moments, with tumultuous waves crashing into the walls of the trees and the invisible barriers that surrounded the platform.

    The elemental¡¯s flames flared as the water crashed into it, flashing all of the water that touched it to steam in moments, creating a dry pit that reached out by a foot on all of its sides. The water continued crashing around the room for a few moments before it was all evaporated under the intense heat, though the elemental looked much worse for wear after Zoe¡¯s barrage of water.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Flester¡¯s Might came to life as colourful flames erupted around the city and were pulled towards the floating platform in the trees.

    ¡°ZOE!¡± Emma shouted. ¡°It¡¯s calling for reinforcements! Can you do that again?¡±

    Zoe nodded, and continued dumping all of her mana into her Torrents skill, flooding the platform with water. The elemental flared to life, burning into the wood and evaporating the water. Every few seconds, it would launch a fireball at Zoe or her friends, and Emma would redirect it elsewhere so it would crash into the waves in an explosion of steam.

    Just as the elemental seemed to be reaching the end of its wick, the first reinforcements began to arrive. Colourful elementals that crawled along the walls and floated through the air to combine with the large central elemental Zoe was fighting.

    She tried to block them with her Torrents skill, which worked at first. But every moment she let up her torrential downpour was a moment the elemental took to retaliate. Bursts of flame raced out at Zoe or her friends and overwhelmed Emma¡¯s defenses, forcing Zoe to switch to the defensive as she tried to keep her friends out of danger and regain the advantage.

    And after the first few elementals raced in, dozens more began pouring in. Even if she didn¡¯t have to keep her friends safe, there were just too many to be able to block every one. They combined with the elemental, and its flames flared to life once more as it went on the offensive.

    Fire poured out of the elemental like lava, dripping onto the floors and crawling along. Zoe¡¯s water evaporated before it even reached the fire, and the heat rose even further. Steam began to rise off of Zoe¡¯s body as her sweat and saliva evaporated from her, forcing her to use her Water skill to keep both herself and her two friends from becoming dried out husks.

    Emma¡¯s magic twisted and warped around the elemental, diverting some of its flames to other less important locations or ripping off bits of its fire when she had the chance. While Jeffrey began dumping healing potions into both himself and Emma to keep them alive without wearing even more on Zoe¡¯s mana.

    She chuckled at the thought of increased regeneration not being needed. Maybe that was arrogant. With a little more regeneration, she might have even been able to fit in some Cosmic Rifts to chip away at the fire even more, but keeping the elemental at bay with her Torrents was barely possible even with however much of an impact Jeffrey¡¯s potion had.

    The last of the reinforcements finally poured in after several minutes of dumping all of her mana into flooding the platform with water, and the elemental¡¯s flames began to die as they fought back Zoe¡¯s devastating barrage of water. Fire exploded from the elemental, but anything that threatened Zoe or her friends was blocked by either a wave that rose from the several feet of water on the platform or Emma¡¯s space magic.

    After another minute, the elemental looked like little more than a bonfire in the middle. Zoe smirked as her torrents overcame the elemental¡¯s final dying struggle, and they were rewarded with a notification.

    *Ding* You have cleared the Flester¡¯s Might dungeon. Would you like to claim your reward?

    Zoe let her two friends down, and urged the system to give her the reward.

    *Ding* You have accepted the Flester¡¯s Might dungeon reward. Flames will erect in 60 seconds¡­ 59¡­ 58¡­ 57¡­

    *Ding* For being the first to clear the Flester¡¯s Might dungeon, you have been awarded with the [Trailblazer] feat.

    Mana swirled in front of the three of them, coalescing into three massive piles of coins, two orange bracelets, a purple woolen hat and an ornate silver short sword.

    ¡°Woo!¡± Jeffrey shouted. ¡°That was incredible! How much mana did you have to dump into that? I¡¯ve never seen anything like that!¡±

    Zoe chuckled. Her current mana cap with the extra five levels into intelligence was three hundred thirty thousand, and even with that she still recovered the entire capacity in just over half of a second. The fight took three? Four minutes maybe.

    ¡°A lot. I don¡¯t even know. Millions. Maybe a hundred million?¡± Zoe shrugged.

    ¡°A hundred million!?¡± Jeffrey shouted and shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re nuts.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°I¡¯ve begun to realize that myself recently, but don¡¯t go around advertising it too much. I already get annoyed enough at Diana harassing me for a spar.¡±

    ¡°Alright, alright. Whatever you say boss lady, I¡¯m just happy to get two new feats today. How much of the loot do I get?¡±

    ¡°You can keep your pile of coins, Emma and I will split the items. Actually, Emma you can just take them cause I¡¯m never going to remember I have them. Let me know if any are fun sounding though, or if those bracelets are storage items.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°All of this!?¡± Jeffrey shouted, pointing at the coins in front of him.

    ¡°Yeah. Also, grab it and lets go, like, now. Or we¡¯ll have to fight it again probably.¡± Zoe said.

    25¡­24¡­23¡­

    Jeffrey grabbed his pile of coins and raced across the very wet wooden platform to the other side where Timothy was waiting. Emma and Zoe both teleported across after they stored away their loot, arriving next to Timothy as Jeffrey cross through into the lounge a few seconds before the timer was finished.

    ¡°I must say, I didn¡¯t expect you to be successful.¡± Timothy said.

    ¡°You thought that little of us?" Zoe laughed.

    Timothy shrugged. ¡°I think highly of dungeons.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± Zoe said, and sat down on one of the chairs. It was quite comfortable, and the flames that licked at the sides of it weren¡¯t hot to the touch at all, lending to the blistering ambience of the fire dungeon.

    ¡°Did you see my heroism?¡± Emma asked. ¡°Gonna make a good statue? I was doing all the spacey stuff. Mostly.¡±

    ¡°I had potions. Make sure you make me look like I was prepared.¡± Jeffrey said.

    Zoe tuned out of their conversation to check the description of her new feat.

    [Trailblazer]

    You delve into the unknown, tackling challenges and dangers none have faced before. Others stood back, carefully watching but you charged in, eager and brave, or perhaps reckless. All classes gain a bonus to quality. +1 stat point for each dungeon cleared.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Zoe said, interrupting the quiet argument about how the statue would be built. ¡°Have you two read this feat yet?¡±

    ¡°Feat?¡± Timothy asked.

    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t had the chance to because this guy keeps saying he¡¯s going to make me look scared.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°You WERE scared!¡± Timothy shouted. ¡°Even I could hear your heart racing from over here.¡±

    Emma¡¯s eyes glazed over as she read through the system message. ¡°Woah, that¡¯s really interesting. What¡¯s class quality mean, anyway?"

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Zoe said and checked her vitals. ¡°All of my class bonuses seem to be the same. Maybe we¡¯ll be offered better classes now? I had another feat that said it too, but I¡¯ve never thought about it much.¡±

    Emma hummed as she tilted her head back and forth. ¡°Can¡¯t be bad anyway. Couple extra stat points doesn¡¯t hurt either, but I don¡¯t think even you will be clearing enough dungeons for that to end up mattering at all.¡±

 3-56. Artificial

    ¡°I¡¯m going to continue exploring the dungeon a bit, what do y¡¯all wanna do?" Zoe asked the group as they celebrated their victory and bickered over the details of the statue Timothy would make.

    ¡°I¡¯m done. This was fun, and now I¡¯m rich!¡± Jeffrey laughed. ¡°Could you drop me off outside the dungeon? I can walk the rest of the way to Foizo.¡¯

    ¡°Yes, please. I simply must begin sculpting as soon as possible. While the memory is still fresh in my mind.¡± Timothy said.

    Emma got up from the chair she was sitting on and laid down on the couch. Harmless purple flames licked at her feet as she hung them over the armrest. ¡°I¡¯ll join you for some more exploring.¡±

    Zoe nodded and held out both of her arms. Jeremy and Timothy grabbed on, then she nodded at Emma and looked out over the arena they¡¯d just fought the elemental in. The flames had begun creeping up the canopy, filling the arena with flickering purple light once more. Though, not to the same intensity as when they entered before.

    Would the boss be easier if she tried again now? Did it continue building up with flames until somebody entered it, and the longer it had to build up the harder the fight would be? Maybe she¡¯d try again someday, by herself. Or maybe with just Emma, and see for herself.

    She peered through the flickering flames that surrounded the arena and teleported the group outside to the air above the city, catching herself and her two passengers in suits of earth. Colourful flames filled the city as elementals roamed the streets. Several groups around the tree fought the elementals, a variety of magic being thrown around to fend off the elementals that approached. Water mages dousing them in towering waves, earth mages suffocating them in blocks of dirt. A few warriors that swung at the elementals, leaving gaping holes where their weapons ripped through them.

    She looked to the north, and in a few more Cosmic Steps landed just outside the dungeon. Jeffrey thanked Zoe and ran off to the north, towards Foizo. While Timothy sat down on a pillar of white stone that shot out of the ground from behind him.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Timothy said. ¡°I will forever appreciate the favour you have granted me.¡± An intensity radiated from his eyes that she hadn¡¯t expected, passion and pride radiating from him to her Vampyric Empathy. The white stone pillar he sat on began to pulsate, as a malleable clay-like stone poured out from it between his legs. He grabbed it with his hands and formed it into a round disk that he placed on the ground in front of him.

    Zoe nodded and teleported back up into the air to watch him from a distance. More of the white clay poured out from the pillar he sat on, and Timothy continued forming it with his hands and pressing it into the platform he¡¯d built. Slowly, Zoe began recognizing the shape that was forming. A rough shape of a tree, with three human figures standing on top of it.

    Timothy¡¯s eyes closed and a gray, almost opaque magic washed out from him that seeped into the statue in front of him. Details began appearing in the statue ¡ª the stone mask Zoe was wearing, Emma¡¯s short hair that waved gently in the wind and caressed her shoulders. Jeffrey¡¯s gaudy belt buckle and the ponytail that stretched to the small of his back.

    As the details formed, Timothy began waving his hands around the statue and the structure came to life. The three figures moved around on the tree like puppets manipulated by strings, as Timothy tried different poses for them. Or maybe programmed different movements for them? Zoe wasn¡¯t too sure how a sculptor¡¯s skills would work, exactly. Maybe she¡¯d give it a try someday.

    He played around with the positions of everything for a few minutes before he sat back down on his white pedestal. Zoe¡¯s masked figure stood at the front of the tree, with Emma and Jeffrey floating behind her on tumultuous waves of stone that just reached the tips of their toes. Flames roared around the top of the tree, reaching for the group. Some of the flames were cut abruptly in half, appearing elsewhere on the statue. Others were blocked by waves that rose from the statue to meet them.

    Timothy nodded and touched the statue with his finger, and it melted in an instant, as though he¡¯d touched a switch that turned it to liquid. The white stone swirled as it rose to his finger and vanished as though it had never been there in the first place. He turned and seemed to almost skip back to Foizo with joy.

    Zoe smiled and teleported back to the lounge at the top of Kaira library where Emma was waiting, looking through all the cupboard and drawers.

    ¡°Took you long enough,¡± Emma said. ¡°I was just thinking I¡¯d go explore myself.¡±

    ¡°I watched Timothy make our statue.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What?!" Emma shouted as she slammed the cupboard she was looking in. ¡±You saw it first? That¡¯s not fair!¡°

    Zoe laughed. ¡°You should¡¯ve come with us, then.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t grab me.¡± Emma pouted.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t ¡®grab them¡¯ either,¡± Zoe said, making finger quotes. ¡°I just held out my arms and they grabbed me. You could¡¯ve just come along. Also, you can teleport yourself. You have no excuse.¡±

    Emma pouted. ¡°Still. That¡¯s not fair. You should¡¯ve let it be a surprise.¡±

    ¡°I think he destroyed it anyway? Or maybe he just saved it to his finger? It was weird, honestly. Sculptor stuff, I guess.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    ¡°No way he destroyed it. We were way too cool.¡± Emma crossed her arms.

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Zoe hummed.

    ¡°We were! Did I look cool at least?" Emma asked.

    ¡°So cool. The coolest.¡± Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Really?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Zoe laughed.

    Emma rolled her eyes. ¡°Whatever. So, what are we exploring?¡±

    ¡°I kinda wanna see if some of the old places I used to visit are still around? Like Joe¡¯s inn, or the bench I sat on in the park below. John¡¯s bookstore, that kinda thing.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Ooh! And my tower, I wonder if it¡¯s still there.¡± Emma giggled.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    The two tleeported to the bottom of the tree and wandered through the city. A few elementals tried to interrupt them as they walked through the streets, but without Jeffrey and Timothy slowing them down, they weren¡¯t much trouble.

    Most of the elementals, they just ran past. Explosions of flame rattled the buildings near them as they dodged past fireballs that hurtled through the air at them. Some of the elemental swere lower enough level that Zoe or Emma decided to crush them in almost an instant as they ran past.

    At first glance, the city looked like it was restored to its former glory. Buildings that were once destroyed were rebuilt, magic flowed through the streets and caught their attention. Stores advertising their wares, smells that wafted from the restaurants. Small, personalized details even littered the reconstructed city. Markings in benches from past lovers, paintings of business owners.

    To somebody who had never seen Flester, it would look like the dungeon had repaired an enormous amount of the damage. The buildings were still burnt, still damaged and worn. But compare to the devastation that the city once was, it looked almost livable.

    But to Zoe and Emma who had spent so long in the city, it all looked wrong. Like the dungeon had been given a loose description of Flester, and rebuilt it to that image. It didn¡¯t know the history of Flester, it didn¡¯t know the specific people who lived in it. The lovers on the bench didn¡¯t exist, but the dungeon knew people would have done that, so it made up lovers.

    Buildings were in the right places, but they weren¡¯t the right buildings. Clothing stores with new names, remnants of menus leftover from the blaze that didn¡¯t match the food they once had. Furniture stores with names Zoe had never seen, inns with job boards that had jobs posted that didn¡¯t even make sense for Flester¡¯s area. Not a single catering job, Zoe laughed.

    Would all ruin dungeons be like that, Zoe wondered? Grotesque, rewritten histories of civilizations that had fallen? Would there even be any way to tell, millennia afterwards, when the only mark they had left was the twisted version the dungeon deigned to show?

    One day, far in the future, would this be how Flester was remembered? The magic of Kaira library¡¯s platforms lost to time, remembered only by the lucky few who grasped immortality? The complete lack of any catering businesses in Flester a forgotten blip in the city¡¯s grand history?

    How many other ruin dungeons were there out in the world, being used to study the world¡¯s history? How little would the people truly understand of their world when history could be rewritten so completely, so casually?

    The first destination they arrived at was Emma¡¯s tower, which fared no better than the other buildings. A destroyed tower made from white stone stood where once was a pile of dark rubble, but it wasn¡¯t Emma¡¯s tower. The colour was wrong, the garden was wrong. The stone pathway that led through her garden was replaced with a messy gravel path, the bench she sat at was gone.

    Inside, the layout of the tower was no different. The ground floor was a kitchen, with her bedroom at the top and a workshop on the middle floor. It didn¡¯t even have a basement, to Emma¡¯s disappointment.

    ¡°I expected it, after everything we saw.¡± Emma said as she walked out of the tower. ¡°I did. Everything here is wrong. It¡¯s Flester, but it¡¯s not... Our Flester. It¡¯s somebody else¡¯s. But this is just sad.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, it is. We¡¯ve got a nice home in Foizo now, though.¡±

    ¡°I know. It¡¯s just. I don¡¯t know. When we were coming here, there was this part of me that hoped it would all be here. That my kitchen would be fine, my cupboards would all be there. My bed, and my closet full of rotten food by now I¡¯m sure.¡± Emma sighed. ¡°It just feels bad. I¡¯ll be okay, though. We¡¯re doing well in Foizo, it¡¯s just. Final? You know?"

    ¡°I do, yeah. I had a similar experience when I first came to Flester. You just hope, and then one day that hope is gone, and it sucks. But you¡¯ll be okay. Fennel and Oliver are back home. They¡¯re comfy and happy, and good little boys.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Mhm. They¡¯re the best little boys.¡± Emma sniffled and took a deep breath. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Zoe hugged her. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±

    Emma hugged her back, and they stood there for a few minutes as Emma cried. ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± She said as she wiped her nose. ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡±

    ¡°You sure?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded, wiping her tears with her sleeve. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she took a few deep breaths. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m okay. It was just a lot all of a sudden. Okay. Joe¡¯s inn?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to be any better though.¡±

    ¡°Probably not,¡± Emma said and took off down the street.

    Zoe followed along after her, and the two ran through the streets in silence. Whenever an elemental tried to interrupt them, they teleported past it and continued on. Neither were much in the mood for dealing with them, even if it would only be an instant. Soon, they were at Joe¡¯s inn which was in similar shape.

    The kitchen was on the wrong side, the tables were all different. His engraved dishware was nowhere to be seen, the beds in the rooms lacked the luxury that Joe enjoyed providing and the rooms themselves were far smaller. It was difficult to see, Zoe found. To see her friends¡¯ history twisted and warped for some messed up dungeon¡¯s fantasy.

    ¡°This is messed up,¡± Emma said. ¡°John¡¯s bookstore next?¡±

    Zoe nodded and ran off down the street. It was a short trip to the bookstore, and to Zoe¡¯s shock, his bookstore still seemed untouched by the passage of time. The dungeon¡¯s mana tried to press in to his stone building, but it may as well have been up against an impenetrable wall. Or maybe it was, Zoe realized. What was John?

    The black voids that filled his windows were still there, cutting off her view of the inside. Even with Cosmic Mystic on her side, she couldn¡¯t quite understand what was happening. Space twisted in ways she¡¯d never seen before. Winding over itself and stretching as it filled the space.

    ¡°You think he¡¯ll be back one day? Open up like nothing ever happened?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Maybe? He¡¯s an odd fellow. Maybe he wouldn¡¯t even notice he was in a dungeon now. Or maybe he¡¯ll be gone for so long that when he does come back there won¡¯t even be a dungeon here anymore.¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°It¡¯d be pretty funny if he was gone for so long that an entire dungeon formed, was destroyed, and then another different city was rebuilt around him. He¡¯d come back and it¡¯d be like nothing even changed.¡±

    Zoe shivered. ¡°That¡¯s kinda scary to think about. Do you think we¡¯ll ever get to that point?"

    ¡°Maybe. This planet might not even be his home, maybe it¡¯s just a hobby of his.¡± Emma shrugged.

    ¡°I guess. I feel like I¡¯d be excited to see everything that changed if I was gone for this long, though.¡±

    ¡°Me too. But maybe John¡¯s like, a gajillion years old and it only feels like he¡¯s been gone a few minutes.¡± Emma stretched. ¡°Anything else you wanna check out?"

    ¡°Yeah, I wanna see Kaira park.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay!¡± Emma said and teleported away.

    Zoe chuckled and Cosmic Stepped towards the park. She arrived at the base of the massive library trees first, with Emma showing up a few seconds later. The park itself was dark, with specks of light where elementals were drifting around. The trees were scorched, the few that still stood little more than charcoal. The ground was covered in ash and soot, with not a table to be seen.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± Emma said.

    ¡°No, I expected it after everything. Would have been nice to still have that bench to sit at. I liked watching the birds. Nekhbet I think they were called? They were cute.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Back home, then?¡±

    ¡°Back home.¡± Zoe confirmed.

 3-57. Curvature (End of book 3)

    When Zoe and Emma arrived back at the southern gate of Foizo, they saw a bit of a rowdy commotion just inside the city walls. A group several dozen large were shouting over each other, barely corralled by a few members of the city¡¯s council. Joe and two women Zoe didn¡¯t know but recognized from some of the announcements they made.

    ¡°How can you be sure we¡¯re safe!?" A man shouted from the crowd.

    ¡°A dungeon has formed in Flester, it¡¯s not expanding. The elementals can¡¯t be removed by force. We can¡¯t be absolutely sure we¡¯re safe, but there¡¯s no significant cause for concern right now.¡± One of the women with Joe said. The shorter one, with thinning black hair.

    ¡°When do we get to go raid it?¡± A woman shouted out.

    ¡°We¡¯re not holding you. You can leave whenever you want.¡± Joe answered.

    ¡°But when are you making a party for it? I want to be in it.¡± The woman shouted back.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Another man shouted from the crowd. ¡°We already lost the first clear, if that spectacle was anything to go by. Hurry it up!¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Looks like Joe¡¯s in for a long day.¡±

    Zoe nodded, and the two teleported into their cave on the outskirts of Foizo¡¯s boundary. Fennel and Oliver were sleeping in Emma¡¯s room, so the two sat down in the kitchen and Emma summoned some food for them to eat. A simple salad with a zesty vinaigrette.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the plan, now?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I dunno. Haven¡¯t thought that far, really. Didn¡¯t actually expect it to be a dungeon, to be honest. I don¡¯t know what I expected. I guess a dungeon, but it¡¯s weird seeing it actually be a dungeon, you know?" Zoe said.

    Emma nodded. ¡°It¡¯s weird, knowing it¡¯s right there. We¡¯re just sitting here, eating salad at our dinner table. And seconds earlier, we were in a dungeon. Less than an hour ago we were fighting the boss, we got feats for being the first to clear it! It feels.. What¡¯s the word? Unreal?"

    ¡°Surreal?¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Emma pointed at Zoe with her fork, splashing some of the vinaigrette on the table. ¡°Oops. Yeah, that¡¯s the one. It¡¯s surreal.¡±

    ¡°Mhm.¡± Zoe smirked. ¡°There¡¯s a bunch of dungeons that are just a few seconds away for me, but I get what you¡¯re saying.¡±

    Emma threw a soggy leaf at Zoe. ¡°Shush.¡±

    Zoe laughed and burned the leaf as it flew at her with her Fire skill, leaving a trail of smoke and ash that she caught with Cinders and threw back at Emma.

    ¡°You gonna stick around for a while longer?" Emma shook her head.

    ¡°Maybe. You wanted help with learning some skills, right?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, if it¡¯s not too much to ask.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Of course it isn¡¯t. I¡¯ve gotta pay you something for being my live in maid, you know?¡± Zoe laughed.

    Emma rolled her eyes. ¡°Seems to me like you¡¯re just a home invader at this point.¡±

    Zoe chuckled. ¡°I¡¯ll help you learn some skills and then I dunno, back to exploring? Maybe I go to space? I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll die instantly if I go to space. Maybe I could live for a while up there with my mana and healing.¡±

    ¡°You ever tried it?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, I¡¯ve never really had a need to go to space.¡±

    ¡°You wanna?" Emma grinned.

    ¡°Do you wanna?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah, kinda.¡± Emma laughed. ¡°Lets go. Take me to space!"

    ¡°You can¡¯t just teleport up yourself?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma shrugged. ¡°Kinda. Most of the glimpses I can step through to are on the ground though. I can control it a bit, but getting it just in the air is really hard. Plus, if it¡¯s in the air I don¡¯t really know how high it is? Or where in the air it is? My teleportation doesn¡¯t work like yours at all. It¡¯s more¡­ natural? But less precise.¡±

    ¡°Right. That seems really weird.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s super weird.¡± Emma said. ¡°But enough of that, take me to space!" She held out her hand.

    Zoe grabbed it, and teleported them to a glimpse she saw of the garden just outside, then up into the air where she caught them in suits of earth. ¡°How high do you think space is? Where does the planet end and space begins?"

    ¡°I dunno? When we stop breathing? How does that work anyway?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe started floating them up in their suits of earth. ¡°We did a lot of science back home on this. We had an obsession with getting off our planet and exploring the vastness of space. And we did, actually. We conquered at least a small section of space. Made it to the moon, it was a whole thing. Very cool, big moment for humanity back home.

    ¡°I never cared for it much, though. I did, to an extent. Everybody did, I think, a little. It was amazing, you know? Going to space, setting up satellites that sent signals all around the planet. Landing on the moon and leaving our mark. It was infectious, I think. You couldn¡¯t avoid it, you couldn¡¯t not be proud of it.

    ¡°Well there were some folk that thought the world was flat and that the moon landing was faked. So I guess some people avoided it, but whatever. Point is, I know a little about what will happen cause I watched some movies by people who hopefully did their research properly.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Okay, how¡¯s this gonna work then?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Well, all the movies I watched were about being shunted out into the vacuum of space from a spaceship, not just¡­ drifting up into space gradually. I don¡¯t really know how we¡¯re going to feel. But we¡¯ll be fine, probably. If you notice yourself feeling ill just say something.

    ¡°But if we did get shunted into space suddenly, then we would feel very very cold cause all of the sweat and moisture on our body would evaporate because of the low pressure, which would cool our skin down extremely rapidly. Then our saliva would begin evaporating, air would get violently ripped out of our lungs however it could be, and we¡¯d pass out in about ten seconds at most. We¡¯d still live for a few minutes if we could get back to normal air pressure, though.¡± Zoe said.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Right. Okay, all of a sudden it¡¯s really scary.¡± Emma laughed nervously.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. Probably.¡± Zoe said and looked down at the town shrinking several kilometers below them. The air pressure had declined a noticeable extent, but neither Zoe nor Emma seemed flustered by it yet at least.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯ll be fine. We¡¯ll be space travellers!¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°Astronauts, is what we called them.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Nah. Space travellers.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe shrugged, and continued dragging them up. They passed through dense clouds that Zoe pushed aside with her Gales skill, cutting a tunnel through them for the two to drift upwards through. After a few more minutes of ascending, they broke through the clouds and could look over the lands from a perspective Zoe hadn¡¯t seen since she flew to another country back home.

    ¡°Woah,¡± Emma said. ¡°Is that Moaning Point?¡± She pointed to the south.

    Zoe squinted and nodded. ¡°I think so, yeah.¡±

    ¡°It looks so small? How high are we now?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Ten kilometers maybe?¡± Zoe suggested. The air pressure had lessened even more, but it didn¡¯t seem to be causing any problems for either of them yet. Would it at all, Zoe wondered? Would they drift through the vacuum of space, unperturbed by the lack of oxygen? Or would there be a point when even their enhanced bodies struggled to maintain themselves with the poor air supply?

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s beautiful?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°It is.¡±

    Trees as far as the eye could see, with distant mountains looking like little more than tiny hills. Foizo far below them was but a small speck in the sea of forest, and the hill Zoe lived in may as well have been a flat gravel pit.

    ¡°How much farther till we¡¯re in space?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I dunno. I think back home we agreed that one hundred kilometers was outer space? But we would probably die at like fifteen to twenty kilometers back home without proper protection. As far as I knew, we should have been struggling to breathe at this point already.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s all our stats? We¡¯re just more rugged than you all were?" Emma suggested.

    ¡°Maybe. Or maybe Abyllan is just so much bigger that we¡¯re still not far enough away for the air pressure to be reduced very much? Or maybe it¡¯s just denser? I don¡¯t know how it all works, anyway. Could be a bunch of things.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Well you know a lot more than me, anyway. I didn¡¯t even think it was possible to go to space before I met you. Well, before we saw that book anyway. Richard¡¯s book?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Richard¡¯s Legacy I think.¡± Zoe said.

    The two continued rising in silence, staring at the surroundings around them in awe. Twenty kilometers, thirty kilometers. They kept rising, and neither of them had the slightest problem breathing until they reached about fifty kilometers off the ground to Zoe¡¯s estimate. It was difficult to be accurate so high up, Zoe found.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Emma took a deep, slow breath. ¡°I¡¯m feeling the low air pressure now. How much farther do you think?"

    Zoe shrugged as she continued lifting them into the sky. ¡°I dunno, really. We¡¯re way out of anything that would be relevant from my home. Halfway? A quarter of the way?¡±

    Emma nodded, and the two continued rising into the sky. Sixty, seventy kilometers. Zoe lost track of how far away it was, the ground below them seemed flat, and the curve of the planet was even beginning to be visible ¡ª a suggestion that Abyllan was much larger than she expected. Though, Zoe had no idea how high she¡¯d have to be to see the curve of the planet back home.

    Would she see it on a plane, flying ten kilometers above sea level? Or would she need to go even higher? She wasn¡¯t sure, but at least back home she was confident that she¡¯d have reached outer space and yet while the air pressure was plummeting, it was still enough to breathe, if only just. Was that because of all the stats they had on their side, or because the air really was that much more dense? Wouldn¡¯t that make it far denser down at the surface, even to the point of being uncomfortable?

    She continued lifting them, and after a quick check with Emma began teleporting them a kilometer at a time upwards. And very quick after they began teleporting, they found their limit. One moment, Zoe and Emma were struggling to get any oxygen but managing. And then at the next hop, they couldn¡¯t.

    Zoe watched as her health began to drop at the altitude they were at. The drain was slow at first, but as she felt her body begin to freeze and her vision grow blurry the drain sped up. She pumped Restoration into herself, keeping her and Emma¡¯s health topped up, but the drain continued to speed up as their bodies were worn down by the low pressure, overcoming what Zoe could manage with her skill.

    She teleported them back down a few kilometers to where they could manage to breathe, even with difficulty, and the two caught their breath with Zoe¡¯s healing skill helping them along.

    ¡°Was that¡­ space?¡± Emma spat out between her long breaths.

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. Probably¡­ not?¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Can you¡­ give air?" Emma asked.

    Zoe pushed mana into her Wind skill and created a bubble of breathable air around them. The low pressure environment around them threatened to rip the air away, so Zoe had to push against it, pulling the air in to around their heads and sealing off their bodies with earth. Maintaining the air around them while keeping their suits of earth floating over a hundred kilometers in the air was a struggle, Zoe found. But she managed, and brought the air pressure around their heads back up to a more normal range.

    ¡°Wow. So that wasn¡¯t even space?" Emma asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°Probably not. I don¡¯t think space is really a defined point? We¡¯re in space, but we¡¯re not totally out of the atmosphere yet. Probably. I don¡¯t know. I barely knew this stuff back home, and this is very different.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°Okay. Take us all the way to space then. Lets go. I bet there¡¯s a feat.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°You know what, there probably is, too.¡± She teleported them back out again, and with the air floating around their heads, breathing wasn¡¯t a struggle anymore.

    Another minute flew by, as Zoe teleported them a kilometer at a time further into the air, away from the planet. The planet itself began to be visible far below them, and it wasn¡¯t as much water as Zoe expected it to be. Most of it was dirt. Brown, plain dirt. Mountain ranges stretched along the surface, far larger than Zoe would have expected. Even Foizo was near the top of a massive mountain. Did the oceans drain, Zoe wondered? Or was it just a dry planet?

    *Ding* For surviving in the vacuum of space, you have been awarded with the [Spacefarer] feat.

    [Spacefarer]

    To many, space is the final frontier. But to you, it¡¯s a stepping stone. Thousands of planets to explore and astral power to harness. Under your own ability, you¡¯ve conquered the vacuum of space. All classes gain a bonus to space affinity. Gain the space skill.

    ¡°Ooh!¡± Emma said. ¡°A free skill!¡±

    ¡°You got the feat too?" Zoe asked, looking at the point about it being under her own ability.

    ¡°Mhm!¡± Emma hummed.

    ¡°Under your own ability, huh?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°The requirement is just to survive, not my fault the description¡¯s weird.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have some secret manipulation skill you¡¯re using to force me to do your bidding?" Zoe asked.

    Emma laughed. ¡°Get us back down, but this was fun. Would¡¯ve been cool if the feat let us breathe in space though.¡±

    Zoe chuckled. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s another feat for it. Or a skill. We¡¯ll have to figure something out, I guess.¡±

 4-1. Belly rubs

    Zoe sat in her library while books floated through the air around her. Some were being placed back onto the bookshelves while others were being pulled away and flipped through by fluctuations in space. Fennel was nowhere to be seen ¡ª probably sleeping at the window in Emma¡¯s room, while Oliver laid in the doorway watching the books drift around.

    It had been a few years since the dungeon formed in Flester¡¯s ruins, and Zoe found herself engrossed in the wealth of books contained in the dungeon¡¯s library. Political documents for cities she¡¯d never heard of, or ones that she had and knew very well didn¡¯t operate like the books said. Animals she¡¯d never recognized, dungeons she¡¯d never heard of.

    Flester¡¯s Might was a veritable hoard of knowledge that may or may not be accurate. Unreliable narration taken to its logical extreme, Zoe supposed as she wondered about how much of the information was useful. Most of it she just took as fantasy, fiction to waste away the time.

    But where did it all come from? Did the system make everything up, or was it all pulled from some alternate version of Flester? Zoe shrugged and clapped the book she was holding shut, a gesture she took more pleasure in now that she no longer needed to hold them with her hands. An intentional gesture, rather than a casual flippant moment.

    Space in the room twisted around and the books that floated around her snapped shut and placed themselves back on the bookshelves. Zoe tossed the book she was holding in the air and caught it with her Space skill, shoving it back onto one of the several bookshelves that lined her library¡¯s walls.

    The skill was wonderful to have, Zoe found. Not powerful enough to lift herself with it ¡ª and the grand gestures that Zoe remembered John showing off in his shop were little more than a dream. But it was a convenient skill to move lighter objects around. Pots and pans she used to cook, small tools she used for her Carpentry.

    Books were the most convenient use of the skill though. Paired with her sphere of vision that surrounded her, Zoe could float books through the air around her and read whichever she needed. Everything around her had become a surface for her to work on, to write notes and keep things ready for when she needed them.

    One day, Zoe would like to see if the skill could be used for simple teleportation. So far, it hadn¡¯t been much more than a thought that drifted through her mind. Now and then she¡¯d feel the urge to rip a book from the bookshelf and grasp it in her hand, skipping through space like it wasn¡¯t even there. But it never worked, and the more often she failed at it the more often she envied Emma¡¯s class, whatever it was.

    Being able to cross through space so effortlessly as she did was nice. To reach across and grab a cup resting on the counter without getting up, as though it were right next to you all along. Or to feed the cats without needing to get out of bed.

    Though, Emma often envied Zoe¡¯s ability to carry others with her. The grass was always greener, Zoe supposed. She¡¯d just have to break the barrier down so there was only one grass. One lawn? Zoe wasn¡¯t really sure how the idiom worked or what it meant. The neighbour¡¯s grass was always nicer? Some kind of play on yourself being your harshest critic?

    It didn¡¯t matter, Zoe supposed as she Cosmic Stepped to a glimpse of the kitchen she saw through her Cosmic Vision. Emma was cooking at the stove ¡ª something that never seemed to be the same whenever Zoe looked at it these days. Different grates were always being tried, different ventilation systems and heating methods. Zoe didn¡¯t mind the change, she wasn¡¯t the greatest designer when she made her home so very long ago. The fact that so much of it remained as she¡¯d first made it was surprising enough to her.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Emma said as Zoe appeared. ¡°I¡¯m going to Flester¡¯s Might in a bit if you wanted to come?"

    The dungeon had become quite the feature of Foizo ever since it appeared. Mere days after it was first created the first groups arrived, eager to throw themselves at the danger. And more just kept showing up as time dragged on, filling Foizo and forcing them to expand their walls to keep everybody in.

    A shanty town was made just outside the north-eastern gate of Flester¡¯s Might, with dozens of inns and thrown together shops. Reminiscent of Gafoda, though not quite as squalid considering Foizo¡¯s proximity. Resources were much easier to bring in and many of the people who lived in Foizo even took up jobs working in the new town that had appeared. The commute wasn¡¯t bad enough for most to worry about it, and only got better as the road leading to the dungeon was refined and trees were cleared.

    Emma and Zoe both spent more than their fair share of time in the dungeon, though neither had much reason to stay in the shanty town. Inkley was the name for it, for now. It seemed every few months they decided on a new name. Timothy was the first, thanks to the sculptor leaving an enormous statue of Zoe¡¯s group just outside the northern gate that the town formed around. It was beautiful, and the spitting image of Zoe and her friends, who found it far more amusing than Zoe did.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m good thanks. You have fun, though.¡± Zoe answered.

    The levels from the dungeon had begun slowing down in their recent attempts, though it was quite fruitful at first. Zoe was sitting at the highest she¡¯d ever been ¡ª level two hundred eighty seven, with just over five thousand stat points to distribute.

    Sixteen hundred she split between strength and dexterity to bring them both up to one thousand, with eighteen hundred each into intelligence and wisdom. The remaining one hundred ninety six she dumped into Endurance along with the three she got from her Trailblazer feat.

    Emma wasn¡¯t far behind, having reset her class again to replace her initial space magic class with her Archmage class. Zoe helped her fight some of the lower levelled elementals in the dungeon to get her level back up and she reached her cap at one fifty two, taking another generic magical archer class that gave Emma access to some more elements. The class abilities reminded Zoe of her Seasoned Persistence, though lacking its healing and Alacrity.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    Zoe¡¯s Nature¡¯s Assistance skill proved to be an indispensable utility for Foizo as she stuck around for a while. The skill lasted far longer than she would have expected it to ¡ª months, if it didn¡¯t need to use its mana for any purpose. And with so much more mana to spend, creating them only took a matter of seconds. Foizo was flooded with the little green bowling balls wandering around, dumping mana to heal anybody who touched them.

    One day, Zoe would leave and the healing that flooded Foizo would go with her. But it was a nice experience being able to help out so much without needing to put herself out much. People didn¡¯t need to come and ask her for help, or beg her to heal their injured friends. They could just pick up a bowling ball and take it with them to heal whoever they needed.

    Many of the people in town didn¡¯t even know where the assistants came from, they were just fuzzy balls that wandered around Foizo and on occasion, vanished. Who made them just didn¡¯t matter to most people.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Emma said as she sat down at the table with a fried egg sandwich dripping with grease. ¡°I¡¯ll bring back any books I find that are interesting, and later tonight we can try again with getting me the Time skill?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Zoe answered. She had both Space and Time as general skills herself now, but couldn¡¯t manage to get them to combine yet. Was there some other piece to the puzzle that Zoe didn¡¯t know? Or did she just not understand how they worked together well enough for them to combine?

    Emma ate her breakfast and then vanished, leaving Zoe alone in the kitchen. She vanished moments later, appearing several kilometers in the air above Foizo, before she vanished again and appeared another four kilometers above. With all of her intelligence, Zoe was able to teleport much farther with each step, and with so much wisdom her mana may as well have been unlimited.

    Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how long it took to fill up her almost seven hundred thousand mana, but it was less than half a second. Maybe a third? If she wanted to trust that the sky would be free, she could travel hundreds of kilometers in less than a minute.

    And sometimes, she did. Trips to space had become a regular occurrence for her, ever since her first visit with Emma. It was a fascinating place to be, floating far above the planet. Looking down on it from so high up it looked no larger than a large basketball.

    In minutes, Zoe was far in outer space. Floating, surrounded by a sheet of earth and air to breathe. The sky was beautiful from so high. Stars that shone in the distance, planets that drifted through space. Even Abyllan threatened to fly away when she was so far away from its gravitational field, and at a point Zoe found herself needing to teleport towards it at times just to keep it from flying away as it hurtled through space.

    The moon was so bright, unobstructed by the atmosphere held to Abyllan¡¯s ground. The sun¡¯s rays burned into her skin and Zoe wondered how her teachers would feel about her staring at the blazing ball of radiation without protection if she could go back and talk to them now.

    But there were two problems that made her anxieties peak when she floated hundreds of kilometers away from the barren planet she called home. If she ran out of mana out here, she would die. And it wouldn¡¯t be very quick, either.

    She¡¯d tried letting the vacuum of space rip her apart a few times, letting the air bubble she maintained around herself fade away gradually until she had nothing left. It was one of the most painful experiences she¡¯d ever had, as though her body was boiling from the inside out and also freezing at the same time. Her tongue swelled, and her flesh bubbled as the pressure pushed on her body.

    And the second problem was perhaps the more realistic problem. If she ever ran out of mana, then she¡¯d have bigger problems than space ripping her apart. That would be like if oxygen were just abruptly ripped away, or grass vanished one day to never be seen again. No, mana was a fundamental part of reality here. Maybe even home, she often found herself wondering.

    The much more real problem, the one that truly kept her from visiting the moon or flying to some of the stars that lit up the sky was navigation. She had no way of knowing where Abyllan was in the universe once she took her eyes off it. There was no compass that would lead her home, no star that would direct her to her planet. If she ever couldn¡¯t see Abyllan, then she¡¯d never make it back home.

    And that terrified her, more than anything else. Maybe she could make it to the moon and still see the planet, maybe she could even visit some of the planets she could see far in the distance without losing Abyllan. But what if she did? What if something happened and she couldn¡¯t find her way back?

    What would be the chances of ever managing to make it back home without some shining beacon telling her where home was? Zoe shivered as she began to teleport back down to the planet. Even once she had a beacon, something about the vastness of space just terrified her anyway. It made her feel so small.

    Back home, she looked out over space and saw it as empty. They were the only intelligent life to be found anywhere in the universe, the only proof that life could even exist. A perfect coincidence that lead to the beautiful green planet she grew up on. And even then, it terrified her.

    But here? Knowing there were others out there, others that had even visited Abyllan before. Others that had never even heard of them. Maybe her home planet was floating out there, unaware of such an important truth to reality. That made it so much more exciting, but on the same token, so much more terrifying. Even if she could make it back home from another planet, that was only assuming the other planet wasn¡¯t populated with some plant that consumed vampyric Zoes for fun.

    Still, the pull was strong. How could she step into space, prove to herself that it would be possible, and then turn her back on it? Every child¡¯s dream was to be an astronaut, and Zoe was at the precipice of so much more than any astronaut could ever even dream of. All she needed to do was find some way back home.

    Zoe teleported back into Abyllan¡¯s atmosphere and let herself fall back down to the planet. She spotted the mountain Foizo was set on and teleported back down to it, then into her cave. Oliver looked up from the hallway when she appeared and walked over to flop down at her feet.

    ¡°Yes, hello little Ollie. Have you been a good boy?¡± Zoe asked as she bent down to pet Oliver¡¯s belly. ¡°I was just in outer space. Can you believe that?¡±

    Oliver meowed as he rolled over. Zoe laughed. ¡°Yeah. Maybe we¡¯ll take you up there one day. Probably not though, buddy. I don¡¯t think you can understand it so you¡¯d just be really scared.¡±

    Zoe walked down the hallway to her library then climbed up the ladder to her enchanting room. It had been quite a while since she sat down and spent some time experimenting with her enchantments. Maybe there was some combination that would act as a beacon. Or if nothing else, she¡¯d be able to make some more toys for Sally to annoy Peter and Lauren with.

 4-2. Idu

    ¡°Good work today, everybody.¡± Lauren said to her team. They were working on a rather luxurious inn near the north-western gate of Flester¡¯s Might.

    Her small team nodded and said their pleasant goodbyes as they finished packing up all of their tools. Lauren didn¡¯t understand the point of the inn ¡ª the dungeon town was to the north-east and Foizo was just a short journey away. Why somebody would want to build an inn away from it all, and one that would necessitate so many people working in it was beyond Lauren.

    But the job paid well, and Sally was more than happy to listen to stories of whoever fought the big scary elemental at the top of the library. Every day the tree came to life with flames and magic flowing through the massive arena visible even to Lauren from the edge of town.

    The most exciting ones were the groups of mages. Brilliant flashes of light and devastating shows of magical power as elements filled the arena, toppling it. Sometimes, the groups would fail. Which always posed a difficult question for Lauren and Peter.

    Should Sally hear of the failures too? Would it be good for her to see the dangers the world posed at an early age, or would she be better off kept away from everything. Her innocence preserved while it still could be.

    Lauren followed the last person out of the framed building and along Flester¡¯s damaged wall towards the dungeon town. Sometimes she chose to wander through the forest to Foizo instead ¡ª it wasn¡¯t a long walk and the forest was nice. But today she found herself distracted, and the road was safe.

    Sally was coming up on her seventh birthday soon, and for now they decided it was best to try and strike a middle ground. A child¡¯s privilege was to be unaware of what the world was, the evils that crept around the corners and threatened to uproot your life. Death and pain had little place in their life, not at such a young age.

    But at some point, Sally would be an adult. She¡¯d be taking her first class in just over a year, and they still weren¡¯t sure what to do for it. Zoe had spoken of a feat she got from waiting decades to take her first class, but was it right to force their child to live through that? Even if she became an immortal, even if it granted her power beyond what she could be capable of normally, was it worth it?

    And were they the ones that had to make that decision for their child? The older Sally got, the more Lauren realized that nothing she¡¯d experienced before truly prepared her for raising a child.

    There were books of course. Classes that older women ran to help walk you through it, maids and nannies who would help care for them. Though they never opted for those services. Sally was their child, and as much as Foizo had grown on them, trusting Sally¡¯s welfare in the hands of some stranger?

    Let alone discomfort, that was a thing of nightmares. The idea that somebody else would have some control over their little girl, that they¡¯d influence and change her was just unthinkable. The books were helpful, but only so much. What foods should children eat, what should their emotional development be like. How healthy and large should they be.

    Nothing prepared them for the decisions they had to make. The weight of the responsibility that having a child put on them. And they loved it, they did. Both of them. Not a moment went by that they regretted having Sally. Not a day passed when her wonder at something new or joy at a warm, home cooked meal didn¡¯t fill them with pride and wash away everything bad that happened.

    But it was so much more than she expected, and Lauren found herself often thinking back to her mother. A nasty person, but as difficult as it was to accept, she could almost understand it. Being saddled with this responsibility when you don¡¯t want it would be hard.

    It didn¡¯t excuse the behaviour. Lauren¡¯s mom wasn¡¯t somebody she could ever forgive, not somebody she thought she¡¯d ever even want to forgive. But maybe she was a symptom of some greater problem. Maybe if she was educated, maybe if she¡¯d been given the support she needed and the help she craved, then Lauren¡¯s life would have been different.

    But that was a whole different can of worms that Lauren hated touching on. Did she want her life to be different? There was a history of trauma, of hatred and pain that brought her to where she was.

    Was it worth getting right of that history if it meant she¡¯d end up somewhere else? Would she be happy if she was somewhere else? As terrible as her life had been, it wasn¡¯t terrible anymore. She and Peter were together, living in a town that accepted them. With friends who cared for them and a little baby girl that they¡¯d do anything for.

    Lauren smiled as she walked past the statue set in the center of Inkley. The stone mask resting on Zoe¡¯s face always amused her, but it seemed to work as many people questioned who she was. The mysterious hero who cleared the dungeon mere minutes after it was created.

    Anybody who knew Emma and Jeffrey could put two and two together, but their little town was growing beyond them. One day, they might even rival Flester¡¯s past greatness and the statue set just outside the dungeon would be a mystery. Or maybe people would talk, and Zoe¡¯s attempt at keeping a low profile would fall apart.

    The road back to Foizo was nice. Wide enough for a couple carriages to ride side by side comfortably, with packed in dirt and even some waist high fences along the side. Enough to keep out some of the aggressive wildlife, though not if they were determined. Some argued for it to be taller ¡ª some even wanted the road built entirely underground, but while the road wasn¡¯t terribly long it was long enough to disrupt the animal¡¯s normal habits. And a tunnel was just ridiculous, Lauren thought.

    Who was going to dig a tunnel large enough to carry multiple carriages side by side stretching the entire distance? That would take an enormous amount of effort, even for a high level earth mage. Just ridiculous.

    Lauren made it home as the sun set on the horizon, casting long shadows over Foizo¡¯s streets.

    ¡°Mommy!" Sally jumped into Lauren¡¯s arms as she opened the door.

    ¡°Oof!¡± Lauren grunted as she caught Sally and lifted her up. ¡°Hello to you too!¡±

    ¡°Dinner¡¯s just about ready!¡± Peter called out from the kitchen.

    Lauren smiled as she put Sally down and watched her run off to the kitchen. Soon, her job would be over and she could get back to working at the restaurant with Peter. What a wonderful man he was, she thought as she walked into the kitchen and watched him and Sally work away at the stove.

    He couldn¡¯t be better if Lauren had the chance to plan out her perfect partner. Kind, caring, helpful. Understanding, funny. Amazing in bed, Lauren smirked to herself and walked up to hug Peter from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Good day today, sunshine?¡± Peter asked.

    Lauren nodded. ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to joining you again.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do it if you don¡¯t want to, you know? We don¡¯t need the money. Ah! Not that one, hon.¡± Peter said, stopping Sally from grabbing a hot pan filled with a delicious looking omelette. ¡°That one¡¯s hot, okay? You need to grab it with a cloth.¡±

    Sally laughed and ran off to grab a cloth from the closet. Lauren looked at the one Peter had left on the counter and laughed.

    ¡°I know I don¡¯t. I like the job though. I got to put together my own team, get to run it all myself. I even get a say in some of the design aspects of it. I just miss you.¡± Lauren kissed him on the cheek.

    ¡°I miss you too, sunshine.¡± Peter kissed her back.

    Lauren let him go and sat down at their dining table. Peter had brought out the smaller one that just fit the three of them, which Lauren appreciated. They had a larger one for when they had guests over but it felt so impersonal when they were alone. Half the joy of eating together came from sharing, and when you were spread out so far it was hard to do that.

    ¡°Zoe stopped by earlier.¡± Peter said as he pulled out another pan from their wood stove, with browned slices of brul covered in more cheese than Lauren thought to be ethical melted over top of them.

    ¡°Oh? What did she want?" Lauren asked.

    ¡°She brought more toys.¡± Peter answered.

    ¡°More! How many is she going to make?¡± Lauren laughed.

    Peter shrugged. ¡°She¡¯s trying something new apparently, but keeps getting distracted making toys for Sally and the cats. Who knows. We¡¯ll have to donate some of them soon, I think.¡±

    Sally came running back in with a small cloth. ¡°I got a cloth, daddy!¡±

    ¡°Great, do you think you could pick up the omelette pan and bring it to the table? Wrap the cloth around the handle here and be careful, okay?" Peter asked.

    Sally nodded and picked up the pan with both hands then carried it the few steps over to the table like she was carrying a dangerous enchantment that would explode if she dropped it. Lauren summoned a thick cloth to put in the center of the table so the heat wouldn¡¯t damage it, and Sally placed the pan down in the middle.

    Peter carried over the cheese covered brul slices and placed them onto the pan and sat down next to Lauren. ¡°Dig in!¡±

    ¡°Dig in!¡± Sally giggled as she sat down on the other side of Lauren, across from Peter.

    ¡°Well don¡¯t mind if I do then, my beautiful chefs!¡± Lauren said as she summoned plates and cutlery for the three of them and pulled her cheesy brul away from the omelette. Some of the cheese fell off and covered the omelette, but Lauren scooped it out with a large spoon she left in the pan.

    Sally giggled at being called a chef and then grabbed her own slice of brul, leaving the cheese behind. Peter scooped it out and placed it on her plate for her before he served himself.

    ¡°Zoe brought more toys today! Idu really likes them.¡± Sally said with a mouthful of cheesy brul.

    ¡°Does she?¡± Lauren asked.

    Sally nodded. ¡°Mhm! There¡¯s this little ball that looks really anxious and jumps around when daddy charges it. Idu was jumping everywhere with it.¡±

    ¡°Is that your favourite one?¡± Lauren asked.

    ¡°Yup. It¡¯s the best one. Daddy thinks so too.¡± Sally said.

    Lauren looked at Peter and he smiled. ¡°It is pretty cute.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯ll have to come see it after we eat then, too.¡± Lauren laughed.

    The three finished dinner over a story of the latest conquerer of Flester¡¯s Might which enraptured Sally. A powerful group of mages threw themselves at the flaming tree, sending water and ash flying around the canopy.

    ¡°I wanna be a mage! Mages are cool.¡± Sally said. ¡°Can I be a mage?"

    Lauren and Peter looked at each other. Sally had been more and more interested in getting her class as she grew older. At first she wanted to be a carpenter like mom and dad, then she wanted to be a cook like mom and dad. Then she wanted to be a warrior, and a fisher and for the last almost year she¡¯d been wanting to be a mage.

    Which was a difficult decision. Sally, like most people Lauren knew, had been putting all of her stat points into Vitality. Or at least Peter and Lauren trusted she was, there was no real way to be sure. Which was great for staying alive, but for getting a decent starting mage class? Useless.

    Maybe Zoe would be able to lend a helping hand at some point. Eight years old was so young to be making permanent decisions for the rest of your life, Lauren had begun to realize. How it was so normalized was almost surprising. At eight years old, you were expected to be able to decide on what the rest of your life would be? And people just thought that was okay? Lauren used to, too, until she saw another path shoved in her face.

    ¡°Maybe, honey. You¡¯ve still got over a year to figure things out, okay? We¡¯re gonna make sure you get exactly what you want, alright?¡± Lauren said.

    ¡°Mage! I wanna be a mage. I want to fly like Zoe does.¡± Sally said as they wandered through the house in search of Idu.

    The cat was social most of the time, but seemed to have a sixth sense for when somebody wanted to find her. In the morning when Lauren just wanted to sleep a little longer, Idu would be walking all over her, rubbing her butt in Lauren¡¯s face.

    But now, when Lauren wanted to see what the big deal was about? Vanished.

    ¡°Idu!¡± Sally shouted. ¡°Pspspsp!¡±

    Idu came running out from Sally¡¯s room and rubbed up against her legs. Sally giggled and bent down to pet her behind the ears and Idu began to purr.

    Peter summoned a small cloth ball and pushed some mana into it. In an instant, Idu¡¯s eyes locked on the ball Peter was holding. He swung it back and forth and Idu¡¯s head followed it back and forth, then he tossed it into Sally¡¯s room.

    Idu jumped up to try and catch it but missed it, then ran off into Sally¡¯s room. Lauren looked in and saw the ball jumping around, tiny gusts of wind and twisting space shoving it around in random directions as the cat batted at it with her paws.

    She¡¯d pounce on it and grab it in her paws, pinning it to the ground so she could chew on it before it would somehow twist itself out and leap across the room. Idu jumped into the air and ran around chasing it before the mana in it seemed to wear off and she caught it, ripping into the cloth and covering the floor in torn fabric.

    When her prey was finished, she sat up and started cleaning herself. Clearly full of pride from her victorious hunt. Peter swept in and picked up the toy, filling it with more mana as the cloth stitched itself back together in front of Lauren¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s pretty cute.¡± Lauren laughed.

 4-3. Practice

    The weeks flew by with Zoe splitting her time between helping Emma acquire the Time skill, and spending time in her workshop fiddling with new combinations. She¡¯d found quite a few that were fun and interesting, but none that screamed across the depths of space, calling to her like a beacon.

    She didn¡¯t expect to find anything that would, none of her skills interacted with her like that, none made points that she could feel and chase after. Gathering was close, and if she managed to squeeze enough mana into it she could even make it pulsate as it got closer to the planet¡¯s atmosphere. But even just a few kilometers away, the enchantment seemed to have no effect. Let alone from another planet, or so far away t hat Zoe couldn¡¯t even see Abyllan anymore.

    Cosmic Familiar was an annoying skill, Zoe found. She could sense where the familiar was, when it was alive. But it didn¡¯t last nearly as long as Nature¡¯s Assistance did, and as an enchantment the portion that told her where it was didn¡¯t seem to be included at all. And Nature¡¯s Assistance had no sense of direction to it whatsoever.

    For a while, Zoe wondered if perhaps that was because Cosmic Familiar had a space aspect, and if she found some way to attune to nature as well as she was the cosmos she could feel it through the trees. But if it was possible, it would require yet another class with a Nature¡¯s Vision effect and Zoe had no way of knowing how close she was to her next class. Maybe it was just around the corner, maybe it was decades away at the rate she was levelling now.

    She could sacrifice one of her other classes for it instead, and hope that it worked. But then she¡¯d be exploring the vastness of space without her enchantments, which were only second in important to her Cosmic Mystic abilities when it came to exploring the unknown. Travelling through space without her most powerful tools at her side? Idiotic would be far too kind a description.

    So she turned her attention to toys, instead. Balls of fabric Zoe bought from a store in Foizo and enchanted with a variety of skills. At first, she tried making toys for Sally. Things she might enjoy, mana fluctuations and gusts of wind that pressed at her. But the girl had too little mana of her own to power the enchantments, and was much more interested in playing with Idu than with any toys.

    Which meant Zoe got to make toys for Idu instead, and Sally loved them. Her most successful was one enchanted with Enchanting, Meditation, Space, Gales and Restoration, enhanced with her Everlasting Enchantments skill, which she replaced her Enchantment Bestowal with while she was still in Foizo.

    Though, getting a powerful enchanting class with more skill slots had skyrocketed on her priority list after she¡¯d seen how potent Everlasting Enchantments was in practice. She had thought it to be little more than a replacement for Meditation and Enchanting as enchantments, working to hold the enchantment together while the mana was ripped out of it.

    But it was so much more, she found. The mana she filled her enchantments with through Everlasting Enchantments wound through the object and reinforced the structure, keeping it from falling apart even as it was starved for mana. The days of her objects needing to be re-enchanted if they ever ran out of mana entirely were gone, as long as she had the skill.

    And with the combination of Restoration fitting into them as well? As long as whatever she enchanted was still somewhat in tact, a little push of mana would bring it right back to how it was when she enchanted it. Cracks and tears repaired in moments, damaged toilets a thing of the past.

    Though, Zoe found herself often wondering why toilets were even a thing in this world. Gross as it may be, most of her waste was considered dirt and grime to the system and cleared away in a moment with a brief pulse of mana to her cleaning skill.

    If it weren¡¯t for how disgusting the idea was to her, Zoe wouldn¡¯t even bother finding a dark corner to do the deed in. But was that a carryover from the prudes of her world, or was it just human nature to find human waste offputting?

    And why did the system not find it to be dirt and grime while it was still inside her? If the system could just clean her out before she had to excuse herself, life would be so much easier.

    Zoe teleported down to the kitchen and Emma showed up a few minutes later, sitting down in her chair as though she were already standing next to it, her body ripping through the fabric of space as she did.

    ¡°I¡¯m still so envious of that.¡± Zoe laughed.

    Emma grinned and reached to her side, grabbing a glass of water that was on the counter across the room. ¡°Envious of what?¡±

    ¡°You know what. Your stupid space existence garbage.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma laughed. ¡°Yeah whatever, miss able to teleport across the entire city in an instant, several times a second, while carrying people with her.¡±

    ¡°You have the Teleportation skill too, though. You could probably teleport farther if you tried it out.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I know, but it¡¯s not really worth taking, and I tried. I can¡¯t bring people with me.¡± Emma said. ¡°But whatever. More time time!¡±

    Zoe laughed and pushed mana into her Time skill to warp the time around Emma. She looked around and waved her hands, one of them moving a little quicker than the other as it passed through a slower zone Zoe created.

    They had been practicing for a while at it, and Emma was insistent that she wouldn¡¯t need to take a time class before she got the skill. Space Archmage was good enough, she could figure it out with her Spell Creation skill, in time.

    Zoe found it amusing, but struggled to truly understand what resetting a class was like to somebody without Patient Decider. With the feat, it was no big deal. Take a new class, get your level back up to where it was and you¡¯re good to go.

    But for others, if they wanted to keep their skill levels high then it wasn¡¯t enough to take another class and just go run through an easy dungeon for a while until their class level caught up. They also needed to dedicate months, if not years to just getting all of their skills back up.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The problem had become a lot more visible for Zoe as she got up in level. Flester¡¯s Might was a simple dungeon to run through, with high level monsters that gave her an abundance of experience. But so little of that went to the skills she wasn¡¯t using. Even at almost level three hundred, so few of her skills had made it to level two hundred.

    And that¡¯s with Patient Decider giving her experience bonuses, and removing the penalty she faced every time she swapped her classes. Emma¡¯s skills were in a much worse state, her highest only just reaching one fifty as her class level got into the two hundreds.

    It was hard to empathize sometimes, with a perspective she¡¯d never seen. But if every time she reset she lost all of the years of work she dedicated to levelling her elemental skills, her enchanting, and meditation? Would she have been so eager to do so? Probably not.

    Spending time trying to master a skill she already had would have seemed like a much more practical option. In theory, the skill should be capable of helping her get a variety of general skills, just as Mana Manipulation was. And in practice, understanding the skill better would help her in a great number of ways even if she didn¡¯t succeed in getting the Time skill.

    The hours passed as Emma watched Zoe¡¯s time twist around her and tried to push mana into her skill to mimic the effects. She was getting quite close, in Zoe¡¯s opinion. The first time Emma had caused any time fluctuations was months earlier, but lately it seemed like every day or two Emma would manage to twist Zoe¡¯s time magic around with a brief pulse of mana.

    Soon, she¡¯d have it, Zoe thought. Once she could interrupt Zoe¡¯s time magic on demand, she could start refining it to do what she needed and with Zoe¡¯s help, manage to replicate the effect even without being able to see the mana twist through time.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaah!" Emma shouted as she leaned back on the chair, the wooden legs balancing on their edges as she pushed off the heavy wooden table with her foot. ¡±This is so frustrating! I feel like I¡¯m just throwing mana around and hoping something sticks. I can¡¯t see anything that¡¯s happening.¡°

    ¡°You¡¯re getting closer, I promise.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I know that. I know that! I can even sometimes feel it now. I can feel my hand speeding up as it passes through your weirdness because my magic stopped yours. I just can¡¯t see whatever you¡¯re seeing and it¡¯s so frustrating!¡± Emma said.

    ¡°You¡¯ll get it. Maybe another few months, and you¡¯ll have it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you do it. I really don¡¯t. You have how many of them now? Like ten or something?" Emma asked.

    Zoe looked through her skill list and counted them. ¡°Thirteen I think?¡±

    ¡°Thirteen! And you only got two of them from killing elementals, too. Or one? When did you get Fire?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t remember. I think I got it before Flester¡¯s fall, but I might not have. It¡¯s been too long now. Maybe I just had Cinders before then and never felt the need to get Fire itself. I dunno. Space came from going to space with you though, so I guess it¡¯s ten that I¡¯ve got myself.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°I knew it. You¡¯re insane. I don¡¯t know how you have the patience for this by yourself. I¡¯m barely holding on and I have you to complain to.¡± Emma shook her head.

    ¡°I dunno, it¡¯s just fun for me. I get to shape the world how I want it, and they end up being really useful too. I can fly thanks to all the work I put in.¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°You should really get a solid element you can use to prop yourself up. And more mana, to sustain it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯ll think about it after I get time done. Not that it¡¯ll help me combine it into Cosmos anyway. You still haven¡¯t managed it?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shook her head. She¡¯d tried a number of times to get the two skills to combine, but nothing seemed to click for her. When she got the Flora skill, she tried to mimic the effects of the skill with the base components. But doing the same thing with space and time didn¡¯t do anything.

    Did that mean that she had to do something else with them to get them to combine, or that she just didn¡¯t understand what cosmos really was? Did her skills combine into Flora because she used them together, or because she displayed an understanding of what plants were?

    Would she have to understand what the spacetime continuum was to have the skills combine? Plants were simple. Zoe understood how they turned the energy into the sun into nutrients, how they stored those nutrients as carbs to draw on over droughts. How their seeds contained the nutrients and instructions required to form a new plant somewhere else. How oak trees outsmarted squirrels to expand their forests.

    But the cosmos? Zoe didn¡¯t understand it. She could see it, she could interact with it. But what was the cosmos? How did it work with everything else? Or was everything else just a small part of the cosmos, a piece of the whole that Zoe needed to understand?

    Maybe Emma would have an easier time with it, considering how naturally she travelled through space. What would it be like? Would it feel squished and small, with the world crushing in on you? Or would it feel even larger than Zoe could imagine?

    Or was that just a na?ve outlook, and the reality was something Zoe couldn¡¯t even fathom. The concepts of distance and size losing their meaning as space folded in on itself, becoming something more than her feeble mind could imagine.

    ¡°It¡¯s annoying. I know they combine. The stupid book told us as much. I mean, maybe the book lied. But everything else has checked out so far, why would it lie about this? And my class doesn¡¯t seem to have anything else it can do, just space and time. Everything says that these two skills make up Cosmos. But I can¡¯t do it. It just doesn¡¯t work.¡± Zoe sighed.

    ¡°I mean, you¡¯ve got access to the manipulation skill, maybe you can just try copying that again?¡± Emma suggested. ¡°Doesn¡¯t help me much though, but maybe once I have the two I can follow your lead, if you figure it out?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, I¡¯ll give it a try again someday. I¡¯m just a little fed up with how pointless it all is right now, I guess. It feels so stagnant. I can get to space, but I can¡¯t explore it. I can travel around the planet and be anywhere I want. Maybe I just go see everything the world has to offer for a while, get my mind off it all.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sounds like it¡¯d be fun, you should totally do it. I¡¯ve got enough to try and work my way through getting the time skill on my own anyway.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe leaned down over the edge of her chair to pick up Fennel who walked up next to her and put him on the table. He meowed and flopped on his side, rolling over an staring at Emma.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll help you get it first at least. But then I think I¡¯m going to take a few years and just explore Abyllan. I¡¯ve gotta do something to get my mind off the promise of space travel. It¡¯s just right there, you know? I could do it! But I¡¯d never get back home. And that¡¯s so frustrating.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma laughed. ¡°You¡¯ll get there. And when you do, you¡¯re bringing me along with you. I¡¯d love to see another planet."

 4-4. Identify

    A problem Zoe had begun to realized in her time walking around Foizo were the looks people gave her. She was one of the highest level people around ¡ª one of the highest levels she¡¯d ever seen. Every so often, a royal guard would stop by with resources or information the town needed, and sometimes they¡¯d be higher level than her. Or perhaps somebody drawn to the excitement of Flester¡¯s Might that was higher than her.

    But other than that, there was nobody. Most were even under level one hundred, let alone reaching two hundred. Or even approaching three hundred! Zoe was powerful, at least in the context of Foizo. To many of the people who wandered through Foizo and saw her, Zoe might not have even seemed all that beyond some of the others Zoe noticed.

    What was the difference between level three hundred and two hundred to somebody who¡¯s identify would show the same coloured question marks? But while people with their fifth class were much more common than people who reached as high as Zoe, they were still a sight to be excited about to most of the population.

    And Zoe didn¡¯t like that attention. Being seen as superior, hearing the whispers of people who wanted to curry favour with her, seeing the special treatment she got for being such a high level. It was tedious, at times. Sometimes it was fun. Getting into a restaurant ahead of the line because of her level, having crowds part as she walked into the dungeon town or let her take on the boss first because she wouldn¡¯t take long anyway.

    But it all fell apart as soon as she flipped on her Vampyric Empathy. Their cheerful faces belied their underlying emotions. Hints of fear crept through their anxieties. Worries they would offend her, scared of a simple mishap that would shake their world.

    And it was hard to blame them. Zoe was beyond what she could have even imagined when she first showed up in this world. At her fingertips was more power than she could even describe. She could be in space in a matter of seconds, visit a forest on the other side of the planet in just a handful of minutes. If she pushed all of her mana into it, she could destroy cities and level forests with her Cosmic Rift.

    In a fit of irresponsible rage, the devastation she could leave behind her would be incredible. But Zoe knew that wouldn¡¯t happen. She knew she wouldn¡¯t lose control of her magic, cast her skills around without regard for what would happen. She knew that nobody could annoy her enough to make her want to kill them, or even annoy them. That if the police showed up to talk to her, she probably wouldn¡¯t even resist much.

    But the people who saw her didn¡¯t know that. All they saw was somebody who could wield unimaginable power, without any responsibility to the town, without some established rapport with the people. A stranger who they saw in town sometimes, but never knew the motivations of. Never knew why they were here, or what they were doing.

    Zoe thought back to her first year in Flester, sitting at the restaurants and watching people wander around. How few blue marks there were to be seen, and how incredible each one was. The slight anxiety she felt when they stared her down, the respect that power demanded from her.

    Now that she thought about it, there really weren¡¯t many blue marks around in her time in Flester. She could remember a few of them who she saw in the streets, and even one or two red marks who she¡¯d met. But there were dozens more in Foizo, despite it being so much smaller than Flester once was.

    Flester was enormous, and powerful. Filled with powerful magic, guards who defended the town, and hundreds if not thousands of other folk who lived their lives. Why were there so few blue marks, compared to Foizo?

    Was it the royal guard, Zoe wondered? Flester was an independent town, did they just tend to have lower levels in them? But it was such a successful town, at a point would being independent even make much of a difference? Sure, she wouldn¡¯t be seeing the royal guards around, but that didn¡¯t mean anything for the rest of the population.

    Foizo was a bit of a frontier town, Zoe knew. And that would invite a lot more of the adventurous folk, whereas Flester would be a safer, established city. People were born there, and grew up there, without ever knowing the dangers of the world. Did they just lack motivation?

    Zoe peered into a glimpse of her enchanting workshop and Cosmic Stepped into it, plopping down on the chair. Piles of papers covered the desk in front of her, with diagrams of mana structures she¡¯d been studying. None were successful enough to be a beacon for her yet, but she had a few more ideas she wanted to try.

    She focused on the system, and pushed it to replace her Enchantment Amplifier with Enchantment Bestowal. A bit of a waste, considering she just replaced her somewhat higher leveled Bestowal with Everlasting Enchantments recently, but such was life. Maybe it was a hint of the pain others had to experience when they looped, Zoe thought.

    A ball of frost appeared in front of Zoe, and she gripped it with her hand, forming it into a rudimentary ring. Mana rushed from her body, flooding into the ball as she enchanted it with Gathering to find a vial of ink she kept on her desk, and then cast Everlasting Enchantments and Enchantment Bestowal on it.

    Zoe put the ring on, and her hand glowed a very faint light as she brought it closer to the ink well. She pulled the mana back from the ring, dissolved it off of her finger, and summoned another ball of frost.

    She thought of her Identify skill, and began to wonder what it would do as a bestowed enchantment. Mana rushed from her hand, filling the ball of frost as it formed into another ring. She turned her attention inwards, and found the structure of her Identify skill in her soul then pushed its form into the frosty ring along with the name Bartholomew, and finished it off with her Everlasting Enchantments and Enchantment Bestowal skills.

    When the ring went on her finger, nothing seemed to happen besides the familiar pull the skill gave her. Telling her that it was doing something, changing something. But she couldn¡¯t see what, though she supposed she was never able to identify herself in the first place.

    Zoe hopped down the ladder to her library and found Emma laying in her bed with Fennel.

    ¡°Hey,¡± Zoe said. ¡°What do I identify as?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?" Emma hummed as she rolled over. ¡±Two eighty seven mage still, why?¡°

    ¡°Oh. Was hoping I¡¯d show up as Bartholomew.¡± Zoe chuckled.

    ¡°What?" Emma blinked a few times as she sat up. Fennel meowed and hopped off her bed to sit on the floor and clean himself.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°I enchanted this ring,¡± Zoe held up her hand to show off the ring. ¡°With Identify and then used my Enchantment Bestowal on it. I kinda hoped it would hide my level.¡±

    Emma squinted as she looked at Zoe¡¯s hand. ¡°Your hand shows up as Bartholomew. But maybe it¡¯s just the ring. I dunno.¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Alright, thanks. I¡¯ll come pester you if I figure something else out then.¡±

    Emma nodded and laid back down. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll just be here. It¡¯s my lazy day, and I¡¯m gonna be lazy.¡±

    Zoe smirked and walked back up to her enchanting workshop, dissolving away her frosty ring. It would have been nice if it worked, but if it was so simple then other people would have figured it out by now. Though, maybe other people have figured it out, she thought.

    Maybe there was some underworld that people were unaware of, handing out pendants that hid people¡¯s levels so they could wander through towns unimpeded. Maybe she¡¯d walked past red marks, maybe she¡¯d even walked past some light green marks and not known because they were hidden away by an enchantment she was unaware of.

    She looked through her skills, wondering what else might be useful, if any of them would be able to help solve the problem. Or the two problems, if Zoe understood Emma¡¯s description well enough.

    The first was one of mana, which Zoe thought would be fairly simple to resolve. Her simple Frost wasn¡¯t the best for enchanting, and bestowing an enchantment that would cover her entire body in its effects was difficult. She¡¯d need to use something better, and maybe something more central to her body for it to actually cover her entire body. A necklace, or maybe an enchanted shirt.

    The second problem was that even if she did manage to bestow an Identify enchantment to herself, that didn¡¯t seem to hide her normal Identify prompt. Window? She wasn¡¯t sure what to call them, but if she bestowed an Identify to herself, she would have two of them.

    The months flew by as Zoe split her time between experimenting with different enchantments and helping Emma inch closer towards getting the Time skill. Her progress had accelerated rapidly, and Emma was able to disrupt Zoe¡¯s time magic at a moment¡¯s notice, though not precisely enough to form the structure needed to have the system grant her the skill.

    Zoe¡¯s enchanting experiments however; proved even more fruitful, and she¡¯d managed to accomplish a rudimentary disguise for herself through a complicated, personalized process. On anybody else, her enchanted gems did little more than make somebody¡¯s identify seem like a mismatched magic eye picture. But on Zoe, at least according to her friends, it held up under minor scrutiny and made her seem like a normal level one hundred three dark red mage.

    The process required two separate enchantments that Zoe had to wear for it to work, which Zoe put into gems that hung from a string around her neck. The first enchantment was a combination of Stealth, Identify, Enchanting, Meditation and Cosmic Familiar. It¡¯s purpose was to obscure her normal Identify tag, preventing people from being able to read it as easily as they would normally.

    And then the second was a simpler enchantment of Identify, Enchanting, Meditation and Cosmic Familiar, with a specific Identify that hid the imperfections of the first enchantment while putting on prominent display the level she desired.

    With the addition of Cosmic Familiar into both of them, she was able to enable and disable the enchantments with a wave of mana depending on if she wanted her level hidden or not. The process was not without its downsides though, but it worked well enough to let her get by for a while at least, she hoped.

    The biggest downside was how difficult making the enchantment was. If she levelled up, she wasn¡¯t even sure if the enchantment would still be working. And without a notification of when that happened, or how close she was to levelling up, that could happen at quite the inopportune time. And if she were to stick around in a town for a while, then a mere level one hundred and three mage would accumulate at least one or two levels, but Zoe¡¯s enchantments wouldn¡¯t change. She¡¯d seem stagnant, which would be fine if she pretended she was at her cap but somebody sticking at a level cap for so long had its own set of problems, as Zoe knew.

    Zoe shrugged. It was good enough. Some people would see through it, and some people would question it. But that was better than everybody seeing her at almost level three hundred, she thought. An odd look as somebody noticed something that seemed a little off was better than the alternative.

    Her thoughts were interrupted by the trapdoor above the ladder from her library slamming open, rapping against the wall behind it as Emma climbed up.

    ¡°I DID IT!¡± She shouted.

    ¡°Did what? And did you have to slam the door open?¡± Zoe asked, taking a deep breath to calm down from the sudden noise.

    ¡°I got the skill!¡± Emma grinned with glee.

    ¡°Time?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Emma shut the trapdoor as she came up into the workshop and walked up to Zoe. ¡°I got it!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s awesome! Congratulations. Now we¡¯ve just gotta find out how to combine it with Space and we¡¯re golden.¡± Zoe smiled. Her friend was aging, and it showed. Zoe tried not to bring it up, but she hoped that Emma would take her immortal class soon, just to help delay the process if nothing else. Combining the skills could take more time than they had, and Emma¡¯s mortality loomed over Zoe like a giant pink elephant that waited in the corner.

    ¡°About that¡­¡± Emma said, failing to hide a smile. ¡°They already did for me?¡±

    ¡°What? How? What?¡± Zoe was baffled. She¡¯d had the skills for so long with nothing happening, but Emma gets the Time skill and they combine at once? She laughed as she rocked back in her chair. ¡°That¡¯s so awesome!"

    Emma grinned. ¡°Yup. So you¡¯re gonna be stuck with little ol¡¯ me for a while now, whether you like it or not.¡±

    Zoe jumped up from her chair and embraced her friend. ¡°I love it. I¡¯m glad.¡±

    Emma hugged her back and nodded. ¡°Me too. The older I get, the more I find myself worrying about the boys. What would happen to them if I got too old to care for them? I¡¯m glad it worked out quick, I think in another year or two I would have needed to take that stupid class.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t gonna say anything, but I was kinda hoping you would.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°I know. I just felt like if I already had immortality, I wouldn¡¯t try as hard at this? Like, it¡¯s cool,¡± Emma said as purple shapes twisted into reality around her then faded away. ¡°But I dunno. I think if I had the class, I would have just been content. Maybe in another ten or twenty years I would have figured something else out, but not this quick. Thank you, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°Anytime.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma sighed. ¡°So you¡¯re gonna leave soon then?"

    ¡°Probably. I wanna say goodbye to everybody first, though. Maybe we have some people over tomorrow for dinner?" Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Sounds fun, I¡¯ll let them know. We¡¯ll have a going away party for you and a happy immortal celebration for me.¡±

    Zoe laughed.

 4-5. Departure

    Zoe stared at her friend, the familiar purple shapes of the cosmos dancing around her as she giggled, flabbergasted at the sight. Years of practice, of trying to merge the mana patterns together, pushing her skills to their limits to try and get them to merge with nothing to show for it.

    And here was Emma, not even having the Time skill for a moment before it jumped at the chance to merge with her Space skill to form Cosmos. She couldn¡¯t be happier, but it wasn¡¯t without a tinge of envy.

    Zoe took a deep breath, reminding herself of the dangers of envy. It wasn¡¯t a healthy emotion to feel, it wasn¡¯t a positive thing to have in her life. Emma was better than Zoe at understanding the cosmos. That was okay, that was great even! Emma was immortal now. She smiled.

    But even if she rid herself of the slight jealousy she felt, curiosity pressed at the back of her mind. Why did Emma get the skill before her? Why couldn¡¯t Zoe get them to merge, after years of smashing them together like a child playing with dolls?

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m gonna go let Joe know. I¡¯ll be back!¡± Emma said, and stepped through space. Zoe watched the space part as she stepped through it, like a gentle wave that wrapped around her.

    What was Zoe missing, that Emma wasn¡¯t? Cosmos was a combination of Space and Time, just as Flora was a combination of Earth, Wood and Water. This whole time, she was under the impression that she had to mimic her experience with getting the Flora skill. To use the two skills in such a way that they had a similar result of the Cosmos skill, but was that right?

    Zoe thought back to when she sat in a tree on Moaning Point, playing with her Earth, Wood and Water skills to form the Flora skill. She enforced the earth the plants grew in with Earth, flooded it with moisture to feed them with her Water skill and grew the branches using her Wood skill.

    Was that the trigger, or was that only part of it? Plants were something that Zoe understood very well from her life back home. The cellular walls that made them up, the chlorophyll that gave them their vibrant green colour and let them absorb energy from the sun. The nutrients they pulled up from the ground, and acids that helped store those nutrients as carbs and further break them down into simpler sugars to be more easily processed.

    But the cosmos, or the closest parallel Zoe could think of from her hometown being the spacetime continuum was something she could only be baffled at, even still. Knowing that she held its power at her fingertips was incredible and awe inspiring for her. How it worked, how every piece of the puzzle fit together to form the cosmos was something that she¡¯d never even seriously tried to understand. The smartest people back home couldn¡¯t do it, so why would Zoe be able to?

    She thought to all the time she spent practicing with Emma. Though looking back, could she really call it practice? All Zoe had to do was push mana into a skill she had. She didn¡¯t need to understand the Time skill intimately, she didn¡¯t need to understand how it worked or what kinds of effects it would have on what it touched. Even getting the skill, she didn¡¯t need that understanding. She took a class with Time Manipulation and managed to follow the patterns the mana had.

    Whereas Emma at the same time was paying attention to every little detail, every single moment her hand moved in a way she didn¡¯t expect. Every flicker of light that passed through the zone Zoe controlled in a strange way. How her Spell Creation interacted with the anomalous time, and how the most minute changes she made to her spells affected the flow of time.

    And all without being able to see it as clear as Zoe could. Would she be capable of that if the roles were switched, Zoe wondered? She shook her head, unsure of herself. In time, she could. Maybe even in less time than it took Emma, if she wanted to be confident. But right now, as she was, could she weave together mana to form the Time skill without even having the Time Manipulation skill itself?

    Zoe laughed, remembering her failures from trying that very same thing before. The utter confusion she felt from watching Eliza pour mana into her skill, just to watch the mana hop around in ways that made no sense to her. How impossible the task felt before she got her Seasoned Persistence class.

    Yet Emma broke through that barrier on her own. Without the help of a powerful time class, without a skill dedicated to just what she needed. She studied it, and practiced day after day for years.

    Of course after all that, she¡¯d understand the element itself better. Maybe Zoe wouldn¡¯t understand the mana behind it better, the structures it created and the patterns that formed as their magic twisted reality to their vision.

    But the elements themselves? What Space and Time were, how they interacted with each other? Zoe never paid much mind to that, and maybe that was to her detriment. Focusing so much on the mana structures themselves, and how they could fit together might not have been the right decision. If she watched Emma use her skill, she could replicate the mana patterns in time.

    But combining the skills was never about manipulating mana in an precise way, it was about the elements themselves. Her understanding of them, and how they could play off each other to create more powerful effects.

    Zoe felt like the world had opened up for her. How many of her other skills were just waiting for her understanding of them to deepen, before they merged into different more powerful skills?

    The next day flew by as Zoe shifted her focus from the mana that ripped through the air as she cast her skills, to the elements themselves. How space shifted as she cast her Space skill, and how Time twisted and bent the light that travelled through it. How the two intertwined, acting on each other. Time slowing down and forcing space to expand, or space twisting around as time warped to keep things sensible.

    She¡¯d never just sat down and ignored the mana she was seeing as she used her skills, it seemed so natural to her at this point. The world was made up of mana, every skill she used was cast through some pattern of mana that forced reality to bend to her will. Ignoring that underbelly of reality was unintuitive, and went against everything she¡¯d spent the last couple decades working to understand.

    And yet, she felt like she¡¯d made more progress in the last day than she had in the last few years helping Emma understand the skill. How space and time interacted with each other, how they pulled and pushed at one another as she cast her skills. The impact her skills had, and the slight imperfections in how she used them in her day to day life. Small details she¡¯d never noticed because the mana itself seemed complete. It formed the structure of the skill, and let her act on the world. What more could she want?

    ¡°Joe¡¯s here!¡± Emma called out from down the hallway.

    Zoe stood up from the comfortable leather chair she sat on in the library and walked out to meet Joe. He looked the same as he always did, with a joyful belly rocking as he chuckled looking in Zoe¡¯s room.

    ¡°Yeah, Fennel unlocked blanky yesterday.¡± Emma smiled.

    ¡°Oh did he, now?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Yup! Warm and comfy and he can do it himself!¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Zoe looked into her room and saw Fennel laying on a wooden chair she¡¯d made, wrapped up in a fuzzy white blanket. ¡°He looks cozy.¡±

    ¡°Hello to you too, Zoe.¡± Joe laughed.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°Hello, Joe. How¡¯s it going?"

    ¡°Well. As well as it can be, anyway. Business has been good, which is always a bittersweet moment for me. I¡¯m glad I get to help, but it¡¯s never nice to see it being needed.¡± Joe sighed before he smiled at Zoe. ¡°I hear you¡¯re leaving soon?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I¡¯m getting frustrated. I still can¡¯t figure out this beacon thing, and honestly I don¡¯t know if I ever will. I feel like I need a new skill. Or a pigeon. Do we have pigeons here? Do you think they¡¯d still be able to find their way home if I gave them a necklace that let them breathe in space and took them millions of kilometers away? Probably not.¡±

    Joe laughed. "You¡¯ll get it someday.¡°

    ¡°Last chance before I leave by the way.¡± Zoe smirked.

    ¡°For what?" Joe asked as he walked into the kitchen to sit down. Emma and Zoe had take a few minutes to set it up as more of a lounge for the day, with a couple couches and smaller tables rather than the kitchen table they normally had.

    ¡°Space. I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯ll be gone, so if you wanna go to space, this is your last chance for a while.¡± Zoe said, sitting down next to him.

    Joe laughed. ¡°I told you, I don¡¯t like heights.¡±

    ¡°Oh come on, it¡¯ll just be a moment. You can close your eyes, and then blamo you¡¯ve got a cool new skill. Maybe I should sell it, actually. I bet people would pay a lot of money for that.¡± Zoe pondered.

    Emma laughed as she sat on a rocking chair she¡¯d bought recently. ¡°You¡¯d hate that.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, probably.¡± Zoe said. ¡°But I still bet it¡¯d make good money. A hundred gold for the Space skill. Bet I could get some takers.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, but do you really need money?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Not really.¡± Zoe checked a glimpse of the front door and saw Peter and Lauren standing outside it, then teleported out behind them. ¡°Hey,¡± she said.

    The two jumped as they turned to look at her. ¡°My god, Zoe.¡± Lauren said. ¡°Don¡¯t do that!¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Wanna come in?"

    ¡°Yes, please.¡± Peter said and stepped aside for Zoe to open the stone door, a chore she hadn¡¯t needed to do in quite a while.

    Neither her nor Emma needed to use the door itself, and the only person who tended to come visit them was Joe who had a key of his own. So Zoe couldn¡¯t even remember the last time she needed to use the enchantment.

    She chuckled at her younger self, trying so hard to find some way to conceal the door so people wouldn¡¯t rob her. What better way than to just not have a door at all?

    ¡°Something funny?¡± Lauren asked.

    ¡°Oh, nothing. Fennel unlocked blanky though, apparently.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Unlocked blanky?" Lauren asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s what Emma¡¯s been going around saying. Fennel tucked himself in under a blanket. Guess it¡¯s getting colder around here now.¡± Zoe answered, pointing to fennel who was still wrapped up under his blanket.

    ¡°That¡¯s cute,¡± Peter said.

    The five of them sat and chatted in the kitchen for a few hours, about Zoe¡¯s plans to travel the world and Emma¡¯s pride at getting her new skill. Idu, and Sally coming up on eight years old and how complicated that ended up being for Peter and Lauren. The anxieties they felt about needing to make such an important decision for their daughter.

    Peter and Lauren brought some food from their restaurant. A large plate of fatty meat sliced thin, with a spicy dipping sauce and some colourful leaves to wrap it in. Joe summoned some brul he¡¯d baked earlier in the morning to pair with it, and Emma harvested some of the veggies from their garden just outside the cave.

    The night of celebrations drew on and the sun began to set, so Peter and Lauren started getting up and packing up their dishware. ¡°We¡¯ve gotta get home, Sally¡¯s babysitter can¡¯t be out too long.¡± Peter said.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Zoe said. ¡°Hey before you go actually, did you wanna come to space? I always forget to ask. But I¡¯m not gonna see you for a while maybe, so if you wanted to come, we could go see it together?¡±

    ¡°Hell yeah!¡± Lauren shouted. ¡°Lets go!¡±

    Peter smiled as he looked at his excited wife. ¡°Sure, lets go. But make it quick, alright? We really do need to get home to Sally.¡±

    Zoe held out her arms for the two to grab on, but Emma and Joe joined in the mix with them. ¡°I¡¯m coming too!¡± Emma grinned.

    ¡°I may as well,¡± Joe sighed. His hand shaking a bit as he held her forearm.

    Zoe laughed teleported them all up into the sky, catching them in a wide platform of earth that she filled with air and surrounded with a layer of space. Then she teleported them all up over and over as fast as her mana allowed, and in a few minutes they stood on a platform far above the planet, looking down at it like a bowling ball just below them.

    ¡°Wow,¡± Lauren said. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful.¡±

    ¡°Yup. Yup. Beautiful.¡± Joe said, his eyes clenched shut. ¡°Looks great.¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°You¡¯re fine, old man.¡±

    Zoe watched as Joe opened one eye a crack and then blinked a few times as he looked around and opened both his eyes. ¡°I guess at a point you¡¯re not really high up anymore, you¡¯re just¡­ gone. Wow.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s incredible, really.¡± Peter said. ¡°I can¡¯t even see home. All of our lives, everything we¡¯ve built and done, and none of it even amounts to the slightest speck from up here.¡±

    ¡°I can see it. Kinda.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Thank god for that too, cause I¡¯d never get home otherwise.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m glad for that,¡± Peter said. ¡°Thank you for this. I don¡¯t know what I expected, but it wasn¡¯t this.¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± Lauren said as she pointed at the moon far in the distance. ¡°Can you take us there?¡±

    Zoe laughed as she started teleporting them back down to Foizo. ¡°Maybe someday.¡±

    ¡°Aww,¡± Lauren whined.

    Joe¡¯s eyes clenched shut as they descended back to the planet, and Zoe dropped everybody off just outside her cave door. They said their goodbyes, then everybody but Emma walked off through the thinning forest towards Foizo proper.

    ¡°You gonna leave now?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yup. I think so.¡±

    ¡°Stay safe,¡± Emma said as she hugged Zoe.

    ¡°You too. And make sure the kittens get lots of love.¡± Zoe hugged her back.

    ¡°Always!¡± Emma said as Zoe vanished.

 4-6. Frambling Woods

    James stopped and held up his fist as he heard some rustling in a nearby bush, sending the image of the bush and the sound to his team that followed behind him. Patty squinted at the bush, mana rushing in to her eyes as she used her skill.

    ¡°Who are you?" Patty called out. ¡±Show yourself.¡°

    The group stepped back from the bush as a young woman walked out from behind a tree with skin as pale as the sky and eyes redder than the brightest ruby they¡¯d found poking through a stone mask with carvings of flames licking at her ears. Dressed not in armour or any clothes fit for the dangers that dwelled in the forest, but a well fitted blue dress with frilly ribbons that dangled along the sides. Dark red level one hundred three mage, a little low for this neck of the woods, especially if she was alone. Even Lilith was at one fifty, and they were in a group. Something was amiss.

    James sent another message to his team, one of caution and a detailed look at the path they¡¯d take if they needed to flee. If the woman proved too dangerous, he¡¯d give them all their own routes to take but even if she was a monster, she was only level one hundred. He struggled to imagine her being a threat to their party.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zoe! Who are you?" The woman smiled.

    ¡°We¡¯re the Grayed Chains. What do you want?¡± James asked, pushing mana into his skill to dig into the woman¡¯s mind. If she lied, he¡¯d know.

    ¡°I¡¯m a bit lost, I guess I¡¯d like to join you all? Or maybe directions to a nearby town?¡± The woman asked. James sent a sense of approval to his team, she was truthful.

    ¡°Nearest town is a four day¡¯s journey that way,¡± Lilith said, droplets of blood dripping from the tips of her daggers and searing into the blue grass as she swung one of them in the direction of Krol.

    The woman nodded. ¡°Four day¡¯s journey, huh? Seems a bit long.¡± The woman chuckled, a half truth. ¡°Any chance I could come along with you all for a bit? What are you doing out here anyway?¡±

    James squinted at the woman and pushed more mana into his skill. How could she not know what they were doing? This was the Frambling Woods, there was only one reason anybody would come here.

    ¡°What are you doing out here?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Mmm,¡± The woman hummed as she scratched her chin. A nervous tick, perhaps? ¡°Just exploring. That¡¯s alright though, I¡¯ll try and find my way to this town on my own then if you¡¯re not comfortable with me. That way, you say?" The woman pointed towards Krol.

    James sent an unsure feeling to his party, with a question of what they should do. If the woman was dangerous, bringing her with them could be a death sentence. But if she was just a feeble level one hundred, then sending her wandering through the forest for days, without knowing where she was going would be as good as killing her.

    He just couldn¡¯t get over how she got here in the first place. What brought her here? Why was she here? What purpose did she have in approaching their party? Did somebody send her? Was she an illusion? Were they being tricked?

    James took a deep breath as he looked at his party to ground himself. A panic attack right now wouldn¡¯t solve anything, anxiety won¡¯t help. A healthy dose of fear would keep them alive, but take it too far and he wouldn¡¯t be able to react in time.

    Lilith and Patty nodded at him, while Krang whispered to him from his spot on a nearby tree to tell him it was his decision. Damn, James thought. Sometimes he loathed being the leader, the level headed one who was saddled with the responsibility of other people¡¯s lives.

    If he brought this woman with them and his team fell because of it, he¡¯d never be able to forgive himself. If he even lived. But if they found this woman¡¯s mangled corpse on the way back, ravaged by imps and wolves then that regret would stay with him.

    James sighed and called out to the woman who was walking away. ¡°You can come with us, but I can¡¯t promise we¡¯ll keep you safe.¡±

    The woman smiled, full of glee and ran back up to their team. ¡°Thanks so much, I¡¯ll make sure you don¡¯t regret it.¡± A truth. Curious, James thought. Either his skill was broken, or she truly intended to follow through. A difficult promise to keep, James knew.

    ¡°Zoe you said, right?¡± James asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m James. This is Patty, and this is Lilith.¡± James said, pointing at each of his teammates as he introduced them. Krang would stay hidden for now. ¡°What can you do?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a healer,¡± Zoe said. A half truth. ¡°But I can hold my own in combat.¡± Another truth. A combat healer? That could explain how she¡¯d survived in the Frambling Woods on her own, but it wouldn¡¯t have been pleasant.

    ¡°What kind of combat abilities do you have?¡± James asked. If she could be useful at range, then he might be able to find a use for her. Whether he could trust her to follow through was another story, but in a pinch, she could be better than nothing.

    A black bow with streaks of flame coursing through it appeared in her hand, along with a matching dagger. ¡°I¡¯ve got a couple skills to help with these bad boys.¡± Another half truth. She was hiding something about her abilities, but James wasn¡¯t sure what.

    James nodded. ¡°Anything else?"

    The woman shook her head. ¡°Nope, that¡¯s about it for me. I can heal and I¡¯ve got a couple weapons.¡± She laughed. ¡°It does well enough for me though.¡± Lies. James messaged his party to let them know. Lilith stiffened when she received it, and Zoe smiled at her.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to spar. See how good you are with that dagger.¡± Lilith flicked her own blood red daggers out of their sheaths that hung at her waist.

    ¡°Hmm, I guess that¡¯s alright. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever sparred with somebody before though, so go easy on me alright?" Zoe chuckled as a black dagger appeared in her right hand. A truth. She¡¯d never sparred with somebody before? Or she had and forgot about it?

    Patty and James stepped back from the two of them and Lilith jumped into action, rushing at Zoe with her two blood red daggers. Zoe stepped back, just dodging the tip of Lilith¡¯s blade but that wasn¡¯t the true danger of Lilith¡¯s weapons. The thick blood that poured from her daggers splashed across Zoe¡¯s face and she grimaced from the pain.

    Lilith swung again, but Zoe blocked her swing with her own dagger then stepped away from the splash of blood and wiped off the dark blood from her face. There wasn¡¯t a blemish to be seen on her face. No scars, no burn marks, nothing. How powerful was this woman¡¯s healing?Stolen novel; please report.

    Zoe stepped forward and grabbed Lilith¡¯s other arm as she swung her second dagger, the acidic blood splashing onto the forest floor just behind Zoe as she rammed her head into Lilith¡¯s face. Lilith recoiled and spat blood at Zoe, forcing her back as she tried to clear off the blood that seared into her skin.

    Lilith took the opportunity to leap at Zoe and knock her down, pinning her against the ground with one of her daggers up against her neck. Blood dripped from the tip and sizzled on the floor next to Zoe¡¯s face.

    ¡°I win.¡± Lilith said, putting her daggers back in their sheaths and standing up. She held a hand out for Zoe who grabbed it and pulled herself up. ¡°You¡¯re not bad.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Zoe said, wiping off the remnants of Lilith¡¯s blood from her body and clothes. Her well fitted blue dress was mangled from the blood splatters that burned into it.

    ¡°Sorry about the dress.¡± Lilith said. ¡°But I¡¯m not sure why you¡¯re wearing a dress out here in the first place.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± In a brief flash, her clothes were pulled away and replaced with something somewhat more sensible. Hefty looking red pants and a long sleeved black shirt that clung to her skin. ¡°I¡¯ve got spares. And I don¡¯t really like armour for myself. Some cute clothes are much more comfortable.¡± Another half truth.

    ¡°Well, we better get moving. Nightfall is coming in a few hours and we¡¯d better get camp set up before we lose our light.¡± James said.

    Lilith and Patty nodded and fell into formation behind James, while Krang stayed in the back hidden in the trees. Zoe looked a little confused as she looked for somewhere to stand.

    ¡°Walk between me and Lilith. We¡¯ll do our best to keep you safe, but if I have to make a decision between you and either of them, then I¡¯m sorry you¡¯ll be on your own.¡± James said.

    Lilith stepped back to make space for Zoe to walk, and she stepped in line as they paced through the eerie purple trees. The Frambling Woods were never a comfortable place to be, but the riches it promised were all too tempting.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I think I¡¯ll be fine on my own no matter what so you can just ignore me.¡± Zoe said, looking at every tree and every plant with an intensity James couldn¡¯t quite understand. Another truth. Overconfident, James wondered? Or was her healing just that potent?

    The group wandered through the forest for a while, avoiding the tracks of imps and wolves whenever they stumbled into them. They weren¡¯t the targets on this trip, there was no reason to waste time on them. After a few hours, they found a comfortable place to setup camp. A couple very old pogur trees with roots large enough to cover them.

    James set up a simple camp and started a fire. When night fell, they¡¯d have to put it out lest they invite the shadows to their camp but they had at least another hour of light to finish their day.

    Zoe sat down on one of the roots and rubbed her hand along its dark purple bark.

    ¡°You ever been to the Frambling Woods?¡± James asked, sitting down on another root nearby. Lilith and Patty were both off hunting for their dinner while Krang hid away in the trees at camp to watch over James and Zoe.

    ¡°Frambling Woods?" Zoe asked. ¡±Is that where we are?" Another truth. She truly didn¡¯t know where she was?

    James nodded. ¡°How¡¯d you get here?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a long story, really.¡± Zoe said as she reached down to run her hands through the blue grass. ¡°I¡¯m not from around here.¡± Another truth, though James would have guessed as much anyway.

    ¡°Where you from?¡± James asked.

    ¡°Flester? You ever heard of it?¡± Zoe asked.

    James shook his head. The name didn¡¯t ring any bells for him.

    ¡°The Injellar kingdom?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve never heard of them. You¡¯re from quite far away then, I take it?¡± James asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I guess I am, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Well as long as you don¡¯t mean us any harm, we can help you get to town and maybe you can find your way home.¡± James said.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Town sounds nice, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be going home for a while though.¡±

    ¡°Bad home life?" James asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s great. Just enjoying something new, is all.¡±

    James nodded, and the two sat in silence for a few minutes before James felt a rumbling approach them from the direction he knew Lilith and Patty to be in. He glanced at Zoe who seemed to notice as well but seemed apprehensive about something. Was she involved in whatever was happening? Or was she scared?

    James sent a message to Krang, telling him to find Lilith and Patty and bring them back while he watched Zoe.

    ¡°Is everything okay?¡± Zoe asked, anxiety seeping through her voice.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± James said.

    The seconds dragged on like hours as the rumbling continued growing, before James spotted Lilith and Patty in the distance, sprinting through the trees. Moments later he saw what pursued them. The hydra. They¡¯d found it, or rather it seemed to have found them.

    Wood erupted from the forest floor in an attempt to block the hydra¡¯s pursuit, but it smashed through them like flimsy sheets of paper. Logs and branches sent flying as Lilith and Patty lured the hydra straight to James and Zoe. Blasts of fire and water rocketed out of the hydra¡¯s many heads, buffeting the forest floor in destruction as Lilith and Patty desperately tried to avoid a fatal strike.

    ¡°If you want to run, now¡¯s the time. We won¡¯t be able to protect you.¡± James said.

    Zoe almost seemed to smirk as she looked at the hydra chasing after his members. Did she do this? Was she responsible for this mess? They had a plan, dammit. Traps they were going to set up when they found the hydra. Powerful enchantments they could have used if they had the time to prepare. Did she plan this?

    Fighting the hydra on a level playing field would be impossible for them. Maybe they could flee, if it tired out. Or if they let it have a distraction James thought, looking at Zoe with a feeling of shame welling up inside him.

    It wasn¡¯t his fault. She was the one who came into the Frambling Woods unprepared. James sent a message to his party. They would lure the hydra to Zoe and escape while it ate her. This would be a hunt they would never forget, but at least that meant they¡¯d be alive to remember it.

    James pushed mana into his skill, bombarding Zoe¡¯s mind with mental images that would destroy a normal person¡¯s brain, but she did little more than flinch and look at him with an intense sadness that filled him with guilt, and a rising terror.

    ¡°In your shoes, I might have done the same thing.¡± Zoe sighed. ¡°I would have liked it to have gone differently, though.¡±

    An incredible amount of mana rushed from Zoe as a small green leafy creature with stubby legs appeared next to her, and then she vanished. A moment later, the ground shook as the hydra was split in half and crumpled to the ground, toppling several trees over in the process.

    Lilith and Patty ran up to James, panting and covered in blood. Krang appeared a moment later, looking no better.

    ¡°What the hell happened?" Lilith asked as the green creature reached out to touch her. Mana rushed out from it, mending her wounds faster than any healer James had ever met.

    ¡°I have no idea.¡± James said, staring at the mound of flesh that had plagued them for years. ¡°I have absolutely no idea.¡±

 4-7. Night

    Zoe stared down at the group from far above the trees, like tiny ants panicking on the floor at the scene that just occurred. She liked them, for the most part. They didn¡¯t trust her, but she couldn¡¯t blame them for that. A random young woman walking up to them in the middle of some dangerous woods? Who would trust her?

    But it still hurt, when everything began to fall apart and James rushed to sacrifice her so quickly. The emotions that surged within him were awful, even to Zoe having to experience them second hand through her Vampyric Empathy. He was terrified, guilty. Ashamed of what he felt he needed to do.

    If the tables were turned, and Zoe had to sacrifice him to save Emma and Joe, or Peter and Lauren? Sally? Would she do the same? Just throw a stranger to the wind to keep them safe?

    Maybe. But that was a situation she didn¡¯t want to imagine, the pain of living with that knowledge would haunt her for her very long life.

    It would have been nice if James trusted her more, if he didn¡¯t jump to the first conclusion he thought would work and wrack her brain with images of death and pain. They could have had a nice hunt, slain the hydra together and made their way to town. Triumphant and full of excitement.

    Instead, Zoe was left alone again and the group would likely be terrified of her retaliating for the rest of their time in the woods. But such was life, she supposed.

    She looked off to the north, at the menacing wall that stood over the valley she¡¯d fallen down into. The peak was dozens of kilometers above her, and Foizo even further inland. Things were different down in the valleys, Zoe had discovered.

    The biggest difference was the sky. The further down she went, the brighter the sky seemed during the day. And the shorter the days got, as the sun was blotted out by the towering walls that surrounded everything. If she had grown up down here, what would life have been like? Like a frog at the bottom of a well, unable to see the world for what it was.

    Though, that applied to the people who lived up on the peaks too, never seeing what lurked just below their comfortable homes. Valleys that cut through their planet like scars lost to time.

    Down here, in the Frambling Woods as James called them, the sky seemed like a bright white light at noon, and dimmed as the night fell. And when it did, the night took over in a way Zoe had never experienced before. Even with her enhanced eyes, nights down this deep were almost impossible to see in. For anything beyond her sphere of perception, she scraped by with the faintest hint of light of the stars and for about an hour every night, the dim light cast by the moon.

    And lighting up the night? A mistake she wouldn¡¯t make again. The shadows that bounced along the forest among the flickering fire she created came to life. Horned demons and imps that screeched and flooded out of the darkness in swarms that threatened even Zoe¡¯s patience.

    No, down in the valleys, the nights were to be respected and feared. When darkness came, it ruled with an absolute authority.

    The other difference Zoe noted was the people ¡ª or the lack thereof. Months of travelling through the valleys during the short hours she had, wandering through the forests and deserts. Drifting across the vast oceans and delving into the caves that poked out of the walls that surrounded them. And even after all that, she¡¯d only just had her first encounter with people down in the valleys.

    Zoe chuckled, thinking of how horrible the experience had been. They were fearful of her until the very end. James began to have the slightest inkling of trust towards her right before the hydra interrupted their discussion, and then even that crumbled away when he noticed Zoe¡¯s excitement about the creature.

    But that was okay. If nothing else, it meant her enchantment worked to hide her level. And they did give directions to a town, though Zoe had no idea if they were telling the truth. James was an interesting fellow, and Zoe would have loved to spent more time with him. Learn how he communicated with his team, how his class worked and what he could do with that power.

    She shook her head. It didn¡¯t matter now. A four days journey to the east, at what speed, though? How far could they travel in the few hours of light they had every day? Maybe she should have just left them earlier and headed to the town.

    For a minute, she was going to. But then James pulled her back in, and for what? Was she supposed to be bait all along? Sacrificed for their hunt? The first people she found down in these valleys after months of searching, and they decide to toss her aside like a used rag.

    Zoe sighed and teleported a few kilometers to the east where she built up a stone hut with walls over a foot thick and summoned a bed inside it. On most days, she chose to fly up to the peaks and roam around in the light. But if she left now, she¡¯d never find her way back to this spot in the forest and with the little directions she had to work off, that wasn¡¯t a risk she was willing to take.

    Civilization was just out of reach, if she could just spend a day or two stuck in the pitch black night. A few minutes of tossing and turning in her bed later, and she drifted off to sleep. Her dreams were filled with darkness, shadows that crept in at the corners of her vision wherever she looked. Sitting in Joe¡¯s inn chatting with her friends while the shadows beneath the tables chewed away at her sanity.

    She woke a few hours later, darkness still on its throne. The faintest hint of light letting her see distant shadows reach across the forest floor and climb up the trees. A terrible place to be, in Zoe¡¯s mind.

    As long as she kept all of her lights off, they never seemed to bother her. And even if she did, escaping them was as simple as teleporting into the night sky beyond their reach. But it never failed to disturb her, watching them wriggle around in the dead of night. Infecting her dreams and wearing away at her mind.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Zoe summoned a workbench and started working on enchanting some balls of frost. She didn¡¯t get much time to work on it anymore, though that was by choice. The incessant need to create a beacon calling her back to Abyllan was unhealthy, and unproductive. But enchanting was still her greatest passion in this world. Bending and twisting mana to her will, forming it into structures that acted on the world in just the way she wanted.

    The night passed as Zoe enchanted ball of frost after ball of frost. Happy balls, sad balls. Her favourite was a puck of frost that floated just above the ground and slid along when she pushed it like an air hockey table. Maybe she¡¯d try making one, someday.

    The dim gray light of morning poked through the pinhole she¡¯d left in her ceiling, and Zoe¡¯s building crumbled around her. Clattering to the ground as the stone cracked and broke from Zoe¡¯s Earth skill.

    She stretched, and teleported to the sky. For a moment she thought about checking on James and the rest, but pushed the thought aside. She¡¯d done more for them than they deserved already. The hydra was dead, and they were left with more healing capability than they could possibly dream of. If they still died, then they¡¯d overestimated themselves when they chose to explore the Frambling Woods.

    What did ¡®frambling¡¯ mean anyway, Zoe wondered. Some kind of local dialect? Or just gibberish that¡¯s pleasant to say? Wouldn¡¯t be the first time something was just made up. Kliggig dungeon made just as much sense.

    But somehow, ¡®frambling¡¯ just felt so much more normal. Like it should mean something, but Zoe just wasn¡¯t sure what. Or maybe she was just obsessing over something stupid.

    Zoe looked to the east and teleported another kilometer. Four day¡¯s travel, for the group Zoe was just with. If they travelled for five hours a day then they¡¯d cover maybe forty or fifty kilometers? So the town would be about two hundred kilometers away, give or take.

    And all she had to go by was a vague direction that somebody pointed their dagger in. Zoe sighed and pushed mana into her Earth skill. A towering pillar erected from the ground, several dozen feet above the tallest trees, and then Zoe vanished.

    In seconds, she was about two hundred kilometers from her pillar which had been lost under the distant horizon. She drifted to the ground and looked around for tracks. Most, she couldn¡¯t recognize. Her skills gave her a distinct feeling of what they belonged to, but Zoe just didn¡¯t know what those things were. What they looked like, or what names could be attributed to them.

    But there were many wolf and imp tracks, and plenty of droppings left behind by some giant bird Zoe had run into a few times while she flew through the air.

    Zoe spent the rest of her day drifting through the forest, looking for tracks that would help her. Human tracks. Footprints left behind by heavy boots or perhaps ashes leftover from a firepit. But there was nothing even after hours of searching, so she teleported back to her pillar and set up for the night.

    The next day, Zoe repeated the process over again but angling herself a little more to the north. Though, she was no luckier on her second try.

    On the third day, she decided to do something different. James¡¯ party would likely be heading home, wherever home was. And there was a good chance they¡¯d leave tracks that Zoe could find, even if they tried not to. They had one member who might be able to elude her, a man who seemed to travel through the trees. Winding through the branches and roots. Even to Zoe¡¯s senses, he was hard to notice at times.

    But the rest of them? Zoe grinned. There weren¡¯t many vampyres as high level as she was. Or were there? Was there some secret society of vampyres that she could go join? She shook her head, that wasn¡¯t important. If she wanted to find somebody, and she knew where they started, then there were few things she was more confident in.

    Zoe teleported back to the west and looked for where she left the group, which wasn¡¯t hard thanks to the hydra plowing through the forest as it chased the two women. Most of its corpse was still left behind where Zoe killed it, too and Zoe stored away some of its flesh and hide before she started looking for tracks left behind by the group.

    It seemed they put in a bit of an effort to hiding their tracks, but it made little difference to Zoe. The disturbed dirt they left behind instead of footprints was just as bright a beacon as anything else. She covered herself in a suit of earth and floated along the trail they left behind until night fell and she set up another shack to wait out the darkness.

    When the dim gray light shone through, she drifted along the path. At the end of the second day, she managed to catch up to the group. Their quiet footsteps and ruffling dirt audible to Zoe¡¯s vampyric senses a few hundred meters ahead. Zoe teleported up into the sky and watched them walk through the forest in the same formation they used when Zoe was with them.

    She followed them, several kilometers above them for the remaining hour before they set up camp. James and the wooden fellow set up a fire while Lilith and Patty left to find food. Did they not have storage items, Zoe wondered? Or just not very large ones?

    No more hydras bothered them though, and the two women bagged a wolf that they lugged back to camp for dinner. Darkness fell, and they huddled together beneath some large tree roots that they covered in a dark blanket. Shadows crept along the forest floor, crawling along the tree roots and over their blanket, barely lit by the distant stars.

    She watched the shadows through the night and then watched the group wake, pack up their camp and then continue to the east. The next two days passed much the same, the group below Zoe doing their best to avoid any major conflict and cover their tracks. To keep Zoe from following them? They didn¡¯t do that when Zoe was with them.

    How would they feel if they knew she was with them the past few days? Maybe she should have just gone down and said hello when she found them, if only to stop them from wasting so much time trying to stop her from finding them.

    Near the end of the fifth day, they arrived at a ravine that cut through the forest floor, almost a hundred feet deep.. Inside was a maze of wooden bridges crossing back and forth between buildings set in the walls of the ravine. Zoe smiled and teleported down to the other side of the ravine from where James¡¯ party was. A creaky wooden ladder hung from some metal posts and Zoe climbed down it to a wooden platform that stretched into the ravine wall.

    Dozens of rooms were set into the side of the tunnel Zoe found herself on, and even more across the bridge on the other side of the ravine. Another ladder hung from the side of the bridge down to the level below, and Zoe smiled.

    She walked up to the first person she saw ¡ª a younger man walking out from one of the rooms in the tunnel she was juts outside of. ¡°Hello,¡± she said.

    ¡°Hello?¡± The man questioned.

    ¡°Is there an inn around here?¡± Zoe asked.

    He shook his head and gestured at the rooms around them. ¡°No inn. Take your pick.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that sounds great. Thanks!¡± Zoe said.

    The man nodded and hopped down to the bridge below to run across to a wooden building that hung from the other side of the ravine.

    Zoe walked into the nearest empty room she found. A plain stone room with a wool blanket on the floor. It wasn¡¯t much, but excitement bubbled away within her as she sat down on the cold rocky floor to wait out the night.

 4-8. Brick

    As night fell, activity overtook the small city nestled into the ravine. People rushed out of their homes and buildings to put out every fire they saw, and douse whatever remnants smouldered from earlier fires. A large, dark fabric was pulled taught across the entrance of the ravine and tied off to tree roots that poked out of either side. The light was snuffed out, and darkness was welcome into their home.

    And then, the city died down. People returned to their homes ¡ª or temporary abodes, however the little town worked and all that Zoe heard was a quiet chattering of people echoing through the dark ravine. In a way, it was almost peaceful. The solidarity she felt from being stuck in a place together with so many others helped fend off the gnawing reality of the shadows that ruled the night. They were all in it together, desperate for the light of day to release them from their prison.

    A surprising number of people seemed to not mind the darkness, walking along the rickety wooden bridges as though they were lit with spotlights showing the way. Each step as confident as the last to Zoe¡¯s ears as they tapped on the wooden planks.

    Guards, maybe? Did they have some skill or class effect like Zoe had, to see through the darkness? Or maybe an enchantment that let them perceive the world around them without their eyes? Would that be something that was more common down in the valleys, brought about by the necessity of surviving the brutal nights?

    Zoe spent the night sitting in her room listening to the quiet activity that filled the ravine. People whispering to each other in nearby rooms or walking along the creaky bridges. The tapping of shoes on stone as somebody somewhere seemed to be dancing. Would they know of anything different? Would they be able to understand not being afraid of the night? Just going out for a midnight walk with a torch in hand to push back the dim moonlight without fear of the devils that lurked within it?

    Her mind raced with fantasies the people who lived down here might have. What the cliffs that surrounded their valley meant to them, what the sun might be. Had somebody escaped and returned with word of a brighter life, only to be scorned for making up tall tales?

    It all fascinated Zoe, and the night passed before she knew it. The ravine exploded with activity once more when day came, as people removed the covering from the top of the ravine and lit all the torches that hung from the walls and bridges. The flickering flames cast long, shifting shadows along the ravine¡¯s walls but without the dead of night to empower them the remained just that. Shadows.

    Zoe left her room after changing her clothes to a pair of rugged black pants and an off white wool shirt, and wandered through the ravine. Which didn¡¯t take too long considering how small it was compared to a normal city. She climbed up and down the ladders and walked along the maze of bridges, wondering if there was any organization to the place. Did somebody have a map of the ravine? A layout, showing where everything was?

    Or did it work more like Gafoda, where a map would only be up to date for a few days before things changed so much that the map made no sense. She walked by dozens of shops and restaurants, though most of the buildings set into the walls seemed to be homes, and she tried to avoid peering into them too much as she wandered around.

    The shops all tended to be related to different methods of keeping oneself alive. Armour and weapons, potions and salves. She made a note to check them out someday, see if they had any interesting enchantments that could help her out. There were no inns, no hotels, no places that sold a room to stay. She expected as much from the brief meeting with the young man the previous night but it was something else to see it in person.

    Most of the tunnels that poked into the ravine¡¯s walls were filled with rooms much like the one that Zoe had stayed in. Simple, dark boxes and if you were lucky, you might find a worn blanket or a rotting chair.

    The people who lived in the ravine were interesting in their own way too, Zoe found. None of them were below level one hundred and most were even above one fifty, with not a child to be seen. Maybe they kept their kids in rooms, away from the general populace? Or maybe nobody was having kids in such a rough environment, but then where would the several hundred people she could see have come from? They couldn¡¯t all have wandered in from the peaks ¡ª falling from that height would mean death for most, and if they could climb it then Zoe would have heard of the valley years prior.

    She shrugged the thought aside as she walked into a raucous restaurant nearby. Laughter and music tickling her ears from beyond the wooden door. Inside was a tavern ¡ª or a pub? Bar? Was it still a tavern if they didn¡¯t have lodging? Roughshod wooden tables and matching chairs were staggered throughout without rhyme or reason with a messy kitchen nestled into the far corner separated only by waist high wooden bar failing to hold back the excited patrons.

    There was no stage inside as Zoe expected from the music, but rather several people playing instruments throughout, and the rest of the patrons singing along to a joyful tune about conquering the darkness and letting it build them tougher and stronger for the next gray sky.

    Zoe sat down at a table that looked free and watched over everybody for a while. The singing and music continued for a while, and she found herself tapping her foot along to the beat. People entered and grabbed some food from the kitchen and left an assortment of objects behind when they finished.

    Gems, mostly. Red and blue gems made up the majority of what was left behind, though Zoe noticed several pale white gems and even some glistening yellow ones. None much larger than a finger nail, but as the time passed the pile of gems at the counter continued to grow.

    Others left more strange items behind. Weapons and armours, shoes and one person even left behind a chair when they got their meal. Was that the currency here, Zoe wondered? Get some food, pay whatever you feel equals the food? The precious gems seemed to be the most standard for currency, but they didn¡¯t seem to be the only accepted thing. Nobody batted an eye when somebody dropped their shoes at the counter, or dragged in a chair.

    Zoe got up and walked to the counter where several others were leaning over calling out their orders to the three women who were working the kitchen.

    ¡°Meat!" One man yelled out.

    ¡°Gimme some meat!¡± Another shouted.

    One of the women in the kitchen turned around and waved her spatula at the group. ¡°You¡¯ll get what you get, and you¡¯ll be happy about it. Just shut the hell up about it.¡± She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the stove she was working at.

    Zoe chuckled as she saw a distinct lack of meat anywhere in the kitchen. Was she supposed to just wait here to be served? Take the dish before anybody else grabbed it? She should have paid more attention when others walked up, but thought nothing of the process behind actually getting the food before.

    An older man leaning on the bar next to her chuckled along with her. ¡°They¡¯re gonna be disappointed.¡±

    ¡°No meat?" Zoe asked.

    The man nodded. ¡°Never seen you before, you new here?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, just got in last night before dark.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What brings you here? The hydra bounty?¡± He asked.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    A woman from the other side of Zoe laughed. ¡°That bounty¡¯s old news now, old man. Didn¡¯t you hear?¡±

    ¡°Oh? Did somebody finally get the beast?" The man asked.

    Zoe smiled, hoping her nerves didn¡¯t show on her face.

    ¡°Sure did. James¡¯ party just got in last night and claimed the bounty. Said they ran into something even worse, though.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°Worse?¡± Zoe asked. ¡°I hadn¡¯t heard of the hydra bounty before, what¡¯s that about?"

    ¡°You didn¡¯t know about the hydra bounty? My gosh, have you been living under a rock?¡± The woman asked, a shocked expression on her face.

    Zoe thought to how she¡¯d been living for the past few nights and laughed. ¡°Yeah, I guess. We all are though, aren¡¯t we?"

    The man laughed and smacked Zoe on the back hard enough to sting a bit. ¡°True that.¡±

    ¡°Apparently they ran into some masked creature on their hunt. Healed them up real good but took out the hydra in a flash and then vanished. Humanoid apparently. Scary stuff that.¡± The woman said.

    ¡°If it¡¯s true. Could¡¯ve just been some wanderer.¡± The man said.

    ¡°Could¡¯ve,¡± the woman shrugged. ¡°But they liked the hydra. Kept us pit dwellers in line.¡± She spat.

    One of the women working in the kitchen brought up a platter full of charred vegetables and set it down on the bar. ¡°Order¡¯s up!¡± She called out.

    People rushed in, grabbing food off the platter and placing it on plates they pulled out of their pockets and bags, then leaving behind whatever they felt was enough for payment. A lot more colourful gems, but one person left their bag.

    ¡°You two don¡¯t wanna eat?" She asked the two who had been talking over her, neither of which made a move for the food.

    The woman shook her head. ¡°They¡¯ll serve us soon, I¡¯m in no rush.¡±

    The man shrugged. ¡°So what brings you here, if not the hydra bounty then? We don¡¯t get many travellers."

    ¡°Nothing really, just thought I¡¯d come visit. I¡¯ve never been here before so it¡¯s been interesting.¡± Zoe answered.

    The man squinted at her, curiosity and fear welling up inside him. ¡°Are you a wanderer?"

    The woman on the other side of Zoe laughed. ¡°She¡¯s barely past a hundred, are you insane?¡±

    The man nodded. ¡°Right. Right, I¡¯m sorry. Just nerves.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m not offended.¡± Zoe said. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but none seemed like they would be wise. What was a wanderer? Why were they scary? How did people pay? What was with all of the gems? But any question she asked would just make her seem like an outsider, which very quickly started seeming like a bad thing to be here.

    ¡°You come alone?¡± The woman asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. Any jobs here do you know? I¡¯d like to help out with stuff if I could.¡±

    ¡°What are you good at?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°Well I can heal, and I¡¯ve got a bit of magic. Frost and water, mostly. But I can do a little earth molding in a pinch too.¡± Zoe said, deciding to keep her abilities a little different from when she met James¡¯ party.

    ¡°Ahh, that makes sense. I was wondering how you managed to get here all on your own at that level. But you¡¯re a healer. Rare sight, that.¡± The man said. ¡°If you¡¯re interested in going back out there, I¡¯m sure most groups would welcome a healer on their hunts.¡±

    ¡°Where would I find that?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°At the bottom, far side.¡± The woman answered.

    ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll go check it out then.¡± Zoe said and turned to leave.

    ¡°Good luck!¡± The man called out.

    ¡°You think she¡¯s got much on her? I saw those bracelets.¡± The woman whispered to the man when she seemed to think Zoe was out of earshot.

    Zoe chuckled to herself as she hopped down the wooden platforms to the rocky floor of the ravine. On one end was a wide cavern that opened up, full of desks and several groups of people pointing at different papers on them.

    She walked inside and looked around. It was bright inside, fires flickering along the walls and in standing torches littered near each desk. Along the entire back wall were papers hanging from strings attached to thick metal posts that jutted out from the wall. Even more groups were up against the wall ruffling through the papers, talking about which jobs seemed good and which weren¡¯t worth the risk.

    To Zoe¡¯s left as she entered was a long desk with a thick metal grate separating the area Zoe was in, and the area a few workers were in just behind. Two groups were there, talking with the workers about a job they did and arguing about the number of gems they deserved for their work.

    To Zoe¡¯s right, far in the back corner and looking through some of the papers hanging on the wall was a group Zoe hoped she wouldn¡¯t run into. James, Lilith, Patty and the wooden fellow she was never introduced to argued quietly about which job they should take, and James in particular seemed wary of taking any job.

    She turned her attention away from them and to the rest of the groups spread throughout the room. How was she supposed to join one of them? Make a big sign advertising herself as a healer? Walk up to each of them and ask if they needed a healer?

    Maybe she could walk up to the desk and ask one of the workers if anybody needed a healer? That seemed the most logical to her, and she wandered over to the front desk to where a free worker waved her over.

    ¡°Yo, sup?" The worker said.

    ¡°Uh.¡± Zoe stuttered, not sure how to respond. ¡°I¡¯m a healer, and I¡¯m looking to join a group? Do you know any who would be interested?¡±

    The worker smiled, and a moment later a person appeared next to Zoe with a big smile on their face. Their pale gray hair drifted across their face as space twisted around them. Level two hundred three dark blue mage. ¡°I¡¯m Brick. You¡¯re a healer?¡±

    ¡°Um. Yes?¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°You can join us. We need a healer.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Oh. Uh, I¡¯d like to meet you all first and know what you¡¯re doing at least but, sure why not I guess?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Great!¡± Brick said and mana surged from them as Zoe¡¯s surroundings shifted back to near the center of the room where she was suddenly sitting in a chair at a desk, surrounded by a group of three other people, including Brick.

    ¡°This is us, and we¡¯re hunting a dragon.¡± Brick smiled. ¡°Wanna come?"

 4-9. Mysterious Creature

    Zoe looked at the other two people she¡¯d been teleported in front of, with a look of genuine shock on her face. How had Brick teleported her without even touching her? Without a shred of resistance put up by Zoe¡¯s skills?

    Two others sat at the table with Brick and Zoe, one with messy long brown hair that fell behind their ears and shoulders, with purple glasses resting on their face. The other had shorter brown hair that just reached their ears and wore thicker black glasses. Both were wearing a heavy looking leather armour and had tall silver spears leaning up against their chairs, and both identified as level one eighty four dark blue warriors.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re hunting a dragon. Wanna come?" Brick repeated, their smile not fading in the slightest.

    The longer haired person sighed. ¡°I¡¯m Blue. This is Spark.¡± They said, gesturing to the shorter haired person. ¡°That¡¯s Brick.¡± They said, gesturing to brick. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much they¡¯ve told you?¡±

    ¡°Not much, yet.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Figures.¡± Blue said, scowling at Brick. ¡°They never do. Why did you bring them here, Brick?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re a healer with a bit of magic. Thought they¡¯d be useful to us.¡± Brick shrugged and rested their head on their hands as they leaned on the table.

    Blue nodded. ¡°Sorry about that. Brick¡¯s a great leader, and worth trusting. But they¡¯re not always forthcoming with their plans. They¡¯re right though, we could use a healer on our journey if you¡¯re interested in coming.¡±

    ¡°I mean, is it going to be safe? A dragon seems like a bit of a tall ask for somebody at level one hundred three.¡± Zoe asked, hoping they had a plan. If they didn¡¯t, maybe she¡¯d stalk along behind them anyway just to see what a dragon would be. She glanced over at James¡¯ party in the corner who seemed to have grabbed a job and sat down to plan their strategy.

    ¡°As safe as the outside can be. I can¡¯t promise you¡¯ll live, but you wouldn¡¯t be looking to join a group if you wanted that.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°The dragon is far away from here.¡± Blue added. ¡°You¡¯re not going to be fighting it if you don¡¯t want to, but we could use the help on the journey there.¡±

    ¡°How far is it?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Two months, three months? We¡¯re not sure, really. Last sighting was a while ago so we¡¯re gonna head to wherever it might have left some tracks, and see if we can follow it.¡± Brick said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Sounds fine to me, then.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± Brick said. ¡°We leave tomorrow at light.¡±

    Spark rolled their eyes. ¡°You should stay, so we can discuss our plans.¡±

    Brick waved their hands. ¡°It¡¯ll be simple. We just travel till night, set up camp and get all the healing we need and then repeat until we¡¯ve got a dead dragon.¡±

    ¡°How capable of a healer are you?" Spark asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m good enough. If you¡¯re alive, I should be able to heal you.¡±

    ¡°Beheading?" Spark asked.

    Zoe raised her eyebrows. ¡°I¡¯ve never tried it.¡±

    Spark nodded. ¡°Missing limbs?"

    ¡°I can heal that, yeah.¡± Zoe said and watched as Spark nodded.

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to test your healing when we get outside to be safe.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Zoe said and glanced over to James¡¯ group again. He was looking over, mana swirling in his eyes.

    ¡°You know them?" Blue asked, nodding their head in James¡¯ direction.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°Just seems like an interesting effect he¡¯s got going on.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s James,¡± Brick said. ¡°Obsessed with his lie detection magic. Careful around him.¡±

    ¡°Lie detection magic?" Zoe asked, thinking back to her conversations she had with the party. How many lies did she tell? How much could he piece apart?

    James stood up and started walking over to Brick¡¯s group.

    ¡°Dammit, which one of you pissed them off this time?" Spark asked.

    Blue and Brick both shrugged.

    Zoe felt the nervous anxiety rise within James as he approached the table she was sitting at. An undercurrent of fear drifting just beneath a layer of curiosity and interest.

    ¡°You.¡± James said, pointing at Zoe. Mana swirled through his eyes, lighting them up like tiny disco balls stuck in his head. ¡°Who are you?"

    ¡°Me?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, you.¡± James said, fear bubbling up through his anxiety.

    ¡°I¡¯m a healer. I¡¯m sorry, do I know you?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I think you do.¡± James said, the rest of his party walking up behind him.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°Then we could agree to disagree, I guess. Do you need something from me? We¡¯re trying to plan our journey right now.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?" James asked.

    ¡°Mara,¡± Zoe said. Her last name hadn¡¯t been useful to her since she¡¯d shown up in Abyllan, but it was still her name, so she wasn¡¯t lying.

    ¡°Where were you four days ago?" James asked.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°As Mara told you, we¡¯re trying to plan our journey. Stop bothering us.¡± Spark scowled at James.

    ¡°Where were you four days ago?" James repeated, an anger beginning to form beneath the swirl of emotions he was feeling.

    ¡°Four days ago?¡± Zoe chuckled. ¡°Honestly, I dunno really. It¡¯s pretty dark out there. Not here, at least. Just got here last night.¡±

    ¡°Enough.¡± Brick said. ¡°Get back to your table, we¡¯re busy.¡±

    James looked at brick with a pained expression on his face. ¡°I think this might be the creature that attacked us.¡±

    Blue clicked their tongue. ¡°It¡¯s all so stupid, James. A powerful creature infiltrated your party and came along on an adventure with you. Then in your moment of weakness, you turned on the monster and instead of retaliating, it killed the hydra and healed your wounds. Maybe it happened, okay? Frankly, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re good enough to kill a hydra so something else clearly did.

    ¡°But that something left you alive after you attacked it, and even healed you for free. After you attacked it.¡± Blue shook their head. ¡°You¡¯re being stupid. If Mara is this powerful creature, then all the better for us. If your story¡¯s true then all I hear is you turning down the greatest blessing you could have ever asked for.¡±

    Zoe struggled to hold back a grin that threatened to creep onto her face. There was something magical about being a powerful wanderer, leaving a legend behind in her wake. As a child, it was one of her biggest fantasies. Getting super powers, travelling the world and solving problems. People would speak of her adventures and she¡¯d read all about it online.

    Except, there was no internet here so the best she could do was listen to some people talk about her adventures right in front of her. A bit of a guilty pleasure she was discovering for herself. Maybe she¡¯d try and get a better disguise for when she was going to go show off.

    James scoffed and walked back to his table with the rest of his group, annoyance welling up from all of them.

    ¡°So, you really that mysterious creature that killed the hydra?" Brick laughed. ¡±Would be a big help if you were.¡°

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m no mysterious creature. Just human.¡± Knowing people had lie detecting skills down in the valley made her mind race with possibilities. Who would be listening? Who would know if she told a lie? Would they know if she told a half lie, hid part of the truth?

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s too bad then. I hear it killed the hydra in an instant. Just ripped it in half with its raw power, overwhelming its regeneration.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Hmm? I¡¯d never even heard about a hydra until pretty recently. Are they very strong?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Annoying, would be the better term.¡± Spark said. ¡°They¡¯re hard to kill unless you can do a lot of damage, very quickly. But they don¡¯t do much themselves other than destroy the forest around them.¡±

    ¡°We tried,¡± Blue said. ¡°Couldn¡¯t take it out in the end. Not sure what James¡¯ group was up to with it, but they had some kind of plan. Spent a pretty penny before they left, I heard. But enough of that, we should plan our course while we still have some light.¡±

    Brick summoned a large sheet of paper, covered in tiny triangles with two large ¡®X¡¯s drawn on it at either end. ¡°This,¡± Brick said pointing to one of the ¡®X¡¯s,¡°is Krol. And this,¡± he pointed to the other, ¡°is where the dragon was last seen.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s a two or three month journey?" Zoe asked.

    Brick nodded and tapped their finger on the map. ¡°We¡¯re gonna get out here, which should be a destroyed village and see if we can find any signs of where it might have gone.¡±

    ¡°Rocks that might have fallen from its claws, maybe some remnants of dust from wherever its home is. That kinda stuff. We¡¯ll look for tracks, but it¡¯s likely flying so we¡¯re going to have to find some indication of where it came from, more so than follow where it went.¡± Blue added.

    ¡°Yes, exactly. If we don¡¯t, we¡¯ll see if we can find a town nearby and get more information. But hopefully we do, and then we can track down where it came from. At some point, we should find its home and be able to set up an ambush.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Right, and my job is to just keep you alive on the journey, then?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yup. Anything else you can do?" Brick asked.

    Zoe made a small ball of frost appear in front of her, focusing on making it much less dense than she normally would. Water began to drip from it and collect in a pool that floated just above the table.

    ¡°Frost and Water magic, mostly. But I can work with earth in a pinch, too if I need to.¡± Zoe said and dismissed the frost and water, pulling it back in as mana.

    ¡°Interesting. That¡¯ll be useful then. Travelling with an earth manipulator is always a treat. How good are you?¡± Brick asked. ¡°How long would it take to make a small hovel, enough for the four of us to lie down in?"

    Zoe bit the side of her lip as she thought. Almost instantly, if she were to be honest. But for a level one hundred three healer who only dabbled in earth manipulation? ¡°I could do it in a few minutes, probably. Like five minutes? Not sure, I¡¯ve never done it before.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± Brick said. ¡°Then when night falls, you¡¯ll dig us a hole to stay in for the night and we¡¯ll carry on at light.¡±

    ¡°Brick is a powerful space mage, Spark and I are both competent spear fighters. If we¡¯re attacked by anything, your job will be to stay behind us. Can you heal at a range?" Blue asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°Technically yes, but it¡¯s a little more complicated so I probably won¡¯t ever use it with just the three of you.¡±

    ¡°Even if we¡¯re going to die if you don¡¯t?" Blue asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Especially then, I¡¯d need to touch you to heal you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± Brick said. ¡°So no ranged healing then. You can heal us after.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Great, then we¡¯ll meet up tomorrow at light. At the southern ladder.¡± Brick said and stood up, Blue and Spark following after.

    ¡°Alright, sounds good. See you tomorrow then.¡± Zoe said and got up from the table herself.

    Brick¡¯s group headed off down the ravine and teleported up near the top, while Zoe climbed her way up the ladders to find a spare room to sit in for the night. She walked down a few hallways with full rooms before she found one with an empty room that she chose for herself. It had a shoddy wooden chair set up in one corner, and Zoe summoned a blanket to lie down with.

    Darkness fell and the ravine came to life with activity as people began snuffing out fires and covering the gaping hole once more, and Zoe relaxed as she listened to the hushed activity through the darkness. As the morning came, Zoe started making her way down to the southern ladder. Several others were there waiting, and as the first crack of light poked through the tiniest cracks in the cloth that covered the ravine they climbed up to the surface.

    Zoe followed along after them, and helped pull the cloth across the ravine where it was stuffed into a small alcove set into the rock wall. The wooden fellow from James¡¯ party showed up in a nearby tree a moment after the cloth was removed and Zoe tried her best not to react. Brick and the other two appeared at the top of the ladder a few minutes later, and then teleported over to Zoe when they saw her.

    ¡°Before you ask, we¡¯ll be walking. I¡¯m not going to explain it all, but it¡¯s not efficient for me to teleport us all the way there.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Y¡¯know, I was gonna ask, actually.¡± Zoe said, smiling as she watched James¡¯ party try to sneak up a distant ladder.

    ¡°Everybody does. And then everybody wants to know why I don¡¯t just get more mana regeneration to make it possible. But everybody wants everything, and nobody wants to accept the cold hard truth that you can¡¯t have everything.¡± Brick shook their head. ¡°But enough of that, lets get moving while we¡¯ve still got some light.¡±

    Brick and the other two took off a moment later, faster than Zoe was expecting but not so fast that she¡¯d struggle to maintain her meek fa?ade while she kept up.

    ¡°Is this pace alright for you?¡± Brick asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, I can do this for a while at least.¡±

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll get a ways out and then tonight and tomorrow we¡¯ll put your capabilities to the test. Sound good?¡± Brick asked.

    ¡°Good as any plan, I think. Just give me a heads up when you want me to dig a hole for us.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°We stop for food about twenty minutes before nightfall. You can start digging then, and we¡¯ll eat after you¡¯re done.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°Okay, I can handle that.¡± Zoe said as the rushed through the forest to the north. The wooden fellow from James¡¯ party followed close behind, but the rest managed to evade her sight as she trudged through the odd looking blue grass.

 4-10. Illuminated

    The first day with Zoe¡¯s new group passed without incident, though nobody else seemed notice James¡¯ group stalking behind them. She thought about bringing it up a few times, but found herself interested in what they were planning to do. Would they attack her at night? Wait for a moment of weakness and leap out as a great ¡®aha!¡¯ moment?

    She wasn¡¯t sure, but if Brick and the others didn¡¯t notice, then Zoe decided they could give it their best shot for at least a day or two. After that, it wouldn¡¯t be right to either Brick or James¡¯ groups to let it continue and cause some chaos so far away from the relative safety of town.

    They stopped near an uprooted tree and Brick vanished into the forest while Blue and Spark both began ripping the rotting tree apart and building a small fire.

    ¡°Do you not have storage items?" Zoe asked. She thought she remembered seeing people use them at times, but now that she thought about it wasn¡¯t sure. Had everybody just brought stuff out of their pockets? People didn¡¯t tend to carry around heavy bags, but that could just be because the bags were heavy, rather than that they didn¡¯t need the stuff in them.

    Blue shook their head. ¡°Brick has one. Pretty expensive one too, a full bag. Enough to store our necessities and some nice comforts.¡±

    One bag was an expensive storage item, Zoe wondered? She had fourteen bags of storage items on her, and even more if she wanted to take the Storage skill. Were they less common down here, or was somebody hoarding every one that was made for some reason?

    ¡°Right. So no food then.¡± Zoe said.

    Spark laughed. ¡°Who would store food? The woods are full of food if you just take a few minutes to look for it.¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°A tradeoff I guess. If you store food you can save a few precious minutes of light every day to keep moving.¡±

    ¡°Do you have one? One of those bracelets, I guess?¡± Blue asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Both the bracelets are. I can hold two bags if you need something carried.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the ring?" Spark asked.

    Zoe smiled, thinking of James who was likely nearby listening in. ¡°It¡¯s a ring I got a long time ago, just kept it ever since. I think it looks pretty nice.¡±

    Brick appeared a moment later with a dead wolf next to him. Spark grabbed a dagger from their waist and started carving into it with an expert precision, tossing chunks of meat at Zoe.

    ¡°Mara¡¯s a rich girl apparently, she¡¯ll store our meat and we¡¯ll keep moving more tomorrow.¡± Spark said, hurling a boneless hunk of muscle at Zoe who stored it all away in her ring.

    Brick raised an eyebrow at the sight. ¡°You¡¯ve got enough to store food?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah, I told them already but I can hold two bags for you.¡±

    ¡°Which means you have even more capacity, but it¡¯s full, huh?¡± Brick asked.

    ¡°Something like that.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°How much more? You¡¯re not afraid of us stealing from you?" Brick asked, their emotions feeling like a child giggling at their own joke. Joy and smugness radiated from them.

    Zoe laughed. Even if Brick wanted to, Zoe doubted many would be able to steal jewellery she was wearing. ¡°No. No, I¡¯m not afraid of you stealing from me.¡±

    ¡°Well, you get started digging our home for the night. Spark will make us some dinner.¡± Brick said and sat down on a nearby fallen tree.

    Zoe nodded and turned her attention to the ground below her as she began to carve away an entrance with a gradual slope. It was a careful balancing act between using enough mana to get the job done in the few minutes of light they had remaining while not using so much as to appear too competent.

    And to her surprise, she found the process quite relaxing. Were she to do this without the restrictions, she would just lift all of the dirt away in an instant, but needing to go slower made her think about the process in more detail. How she moved the dirt, which rocks she could use to carry or push away clumps of dirt and gravel with less mana usage. How the small pebbles embedded in the ground could be used to reinforce the walls and pack in the ground they would walk on.

    It once again reminded her of how her quick rise to power had corrupted her perspective. Her unlimited well of mana pushed away the need for precision, for elegance. She was a wrecking ball trying to whittle away at a chunk of wood. It just wouldn¡¯t work.

    She thought back to when she first stepped up Moaning Point, the weakness she felt at the time. How she used every tool at her disposal to try and tackle the problem, skills and enchantments. Studying fighting and shields to push her way through it.

    That was lost on her now, and this pulled her back to that moment. Needing to find the best way to use her skill, the best use of every scrap of mana she could spend.

    After another ten minutes, Zoe broke out of the trance she¡¯d fallen into as she squeezed the most out of every drop of mana she could use to Brick tapping her on the shoulder.

    ¡°Good job.¡± They said.

    Zoe looked around at what she¡¯d done. Packed in dirt floors covered in pebbles she pulled up from within the ground. Walls with large rocks squished into each other, fitting perfectly as they climbed up the supporting pillars spaced evenly along the walls.

    Four separate rooms were carved out, with hefty packed dirt doors hanging from rocks that had notches carved out to form makeshift hinges, with earthen beds in each filled with soft blue grass and packed dirt.

    ¡°I thought you said you could do it in a pinch. This is a lot more than just a pinch.¡± Blue said, looking at the dirt hovel Zoe carved out.

    Zoe smiled, though it didn¡¯t reach her eyes. ¡°I just really enjoyed it today, for some reason.¡±

    ¡°We noticed,¡± Spark said, handing Zoe a plank of bark with greasy meat and some tufts of blue grass. ¡°You didn¡¯t even stop to eat.¡±

    ¡°Well, if we¡¯ll be sleeping like this every night then this will be quite the pleasant journey.¡± Brick said and summoned three blankets from their storage item. ¡°I assume you have your own blanket?¡±

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Good. Eat up and get some sleep, we¡¯ll be getting some prep in at light for our journey. Spark, you¡¯ll cook up the rest of the meat for Mara to store. Blue, you and I will determine the extent of Mara¡¯s abilities.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°And what about the ones following us?" Blue asked.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Following us?¡± Zoe asked, a little surprised. They hadn¡¯t shown any indication of noticing throughout the day.

    Brick laughed. ¡°Looks like James¡¯ group really likes you. They¡¯ve been following us since we left. What¡¯d you do to them, anyway?"

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything to them, really.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, if you are the dangerous monster then don¡¯t eat us while we sleep, alright?¡± Brick laughed.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t eat humans. Honestly sometimes I feel weird about eating animals, but that¡¯s another story.¡±

    ¡°I vote we kill them.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about killing them,¡± Blue said. ¡°If they attack us tonight then we¡¯ll have no choice. If they¡¯re still around tomorrow, I vote we scare them off.¡±

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Brick said. ¡°I¡¯ll know if they step into our camp. Mara?¡±

    ¡°Yes?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°What¡¯s your vote?¡± Brick asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill them.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick nodded. ¡°We leave them for tonight then. If they attack us, we fight back. If they¡¯re still around tomorrow, we scare them off. Understood?"

    Blue and Spark both nodded.

    ¡°Good. Get some sleep.¡± Brick went into their room, closing the earthen door behind them. It didn¡¯t quite fit perfectly, but even Zoe was surprised at how well the makeshift stone hinges worked.

    Zoe went into her room and laid down on the earthen bed, thinking about the day as she watched the grass just above her wave back and forth in the gentle breeze. The breathing from the others slowed to a more even, steady pace as they all drifted off to sleep and Zoe thought about the experience of carving out their little hovel.

    The hours passed as the others¡¯ steady breathing and the occasional breeze blowing through the sloped entrance was the only company she had. Until a foot stepped into the edge of her perception. Then another, and another two. She watched as James and Lilith both tried to sneak into the remnants of their camp, each step placed with care as they felt about the grass with their toes in the dark.

    A minute later, Brick¡¯s steady breathing was interrupted with a deeper breath and a hushed sigh. Then some rustling in Blue¡¯s room as they were woken, then Spark¡¯s. The three met up outside in the tiny hallway Zoe had carved out of the ground and whispered to each other.

    ¡°They¡¯re here,¡± Brick said in a voice only just audible to Zoe¡¯s ears through the cracks in her door.

    ¡°How many?¡± Blue asked.

    ¡°Right now, two.¡± Brick answered.

    ¡°Do we wake Mara?¡± Spark asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Brick said. ¡°She can sleep.¡±

    ¡°Do we engage?¡± Blue asked.

    ¡°Not yet.¡± Brick said. ¡°They might just be investigating. If they show signs of aggression, we attack.¡±

    Silence fell in the little hovel as Zoe watched James and Lilith continue feeling their way around the campsite with their feet. A large bag hung from James¡¯ shoulders, folding around his leg with each step he took. They rummaged through the campfire and checked out the rotted log that was used as kindling, and then James found the small entrance to Zoe¡¯s hovel.

    ¡°Here,¡± he whispered.

    Lilith nodded and walked over. The two felt around for the gentle slope Zoe had carved on their hands and knees, feeling for the far edges of where it started and ended.

    ¡°You sure?" Lilith asked.

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s her.¡± James said and leaned back on his hands as he closed his eyes. Lilith got up and left, her quick and silent steps taking her from Zoe¡¯s perception soon after.

    James opened his eyes and stared into the darkness before him as he rummaged through his bag and brought out two objects. One large jar about the size of his head, full of some kind of liquid. And the other was a small torch.

    Zoe watched as he unscrewed the lid and poured the contents of it down the slope. It reached the bottom in moments and soaked into Brick¡¯s groups feet as their eyes widened.

    ¡°SHIT!¡± Brick shouted and teleported the group into Zoe¡¯s room. A moment later, James ignited his torch and tossed it down the hole, sprinting off into the forest as soon as he did. The liquid he poured down ignited and cast long flickering shadows along the walls as the demons that lurked within jumped out and swarmed the hallway and the campsite above, furious at the light that threatened their rule.

    Horned beasts and dark wolves piled over each other in the light, letting out a terrible noise as their cacophonous screams mixed together. Two horned imps jumped out of the darkness as the flames poked through the cracks in the door.

    Brick grabbed Zoe¡¯s shoulders and shook her. ¡°SEAL THE DOOR!¡± They shouted at Zoe as Blue and Spark swung their spears at the imps, impaling them on the ends and smashing them into the dirt wall.

    Zoe obliged, and pulled earth in to block out the flickering light that threatened to creep through the cracks. Brick collapsed a moment later.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe he would do that.¡± Brick said, shaking their head. ¡°Is he insane?"

    ¡°We need to kill them.¡± Spark said. ¡°If they¡¯re willing to do that, they can¡¯t be kept alive.¡±

    ¡°Can your healing keep us alive if we suffocate?¡± Brick asked. ¡°How long do we have? Will we make it to light?"

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Maybe? Can¡¯t you just teleport us away?"

    Brick clicked their tongue. ¡°I can get us above ground, but I¡¯m sure there¡¯s just as much light up there right now. Can you put the fire out with your water?"

    ¡°If I can see it, yeah.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Dammit. We¡¯d need to open the wall up for that. Do you two think you can hold off the demons?" Brick asked.

    ¡°Not for long. That¡¯s a lot of light, Brick.¡± Blue said. ¡°Maybe if it was just imps, but I saw a wolf before you got us in here, Brick.¡±

    ¡°Maybe for a few seconds, depending on how many there are. Can you tell?" Spark asked.

    ¡°No. There¡¯s too many, my skill¡¯s overwhelmed.¡± Brick clicked their tongue again.

    Blue nodded. ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait for light and then you can teleport us up.¡±

    ¡°Dammit.¡± Brick cursed again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, Brick.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°We should¡¯ve killed them last night.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°I know. You were right, Spark. I¡¯m sorry. I was na?ve. I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d be capable of this. Worst case scenario I thought I could get us out of danger. I never imagined they¡¯d light our home.¡± Brick shook their head.

    ¡°You did get us out of danger, Brick. It¡¯s alright. Nobody could have expected this.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Brick said and sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall.

    The night passed with the group staying silent, a dulled shame and annoyance filling Zoe¡¯s room. The fires burnt out in the hallway and the horrifying screams stopped as the demons fell back into the shadows, crawling along the walls and into each of the other rooms.

    ¡°Think it¡¯s light?" Blue asked.

    ¡°Might just be the fire burnt out?¡± Zoe suggested, seeing the darkness still above their hovel.

    ¡°We¡¯ll wait a bit longer.¡± Brick said, not getting up from their spot on the floor.

    Hours more passed, and eventually Brick began teleporting up to the surface every hour to check for light. Almost twenty minutes after the first light broke through in the campsite above, Brick teleported up and returned to share the news.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to stick with the plan. Spark, you cook up the food for Mara. Mara, you¡¯re with Blue and I to see the extent of your abilities. If anybody catches so much as a glimpse of James¡¯ party, let me know.¡± Brick said through gritted teeth.

 4-11. Finger

    Brick teleported the group out of the earthen hole they were in and then vanished, fluctuations in space appearing scattered through their surroundings as they teleported in quick succession. They came back to the camp a moment later.

    ¡°I can¡¯t find any signs. It looks like they maybe went that way,¡± Brick said, pointing to the east. ¡°But only because it seems something chased them that way. Their tracks disappear after that.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they got eaten?" Spark suggested.

    ¡°That would be ideal.¡± Brick sighed and gestured to Zoe¡¯s bracelets. ¡°Mara, if you would?¡±

    Zoe summoned the pile of meat from the night before and Spark started building another fire, then began chopping the meat up into bite sized chunks and putting them in another pile next to the fire.

    ¡°You, with us.¡± Brick said, pointing to Zoe and walking off to a nearby fallen tree with Blue at their side.. ¡°First off, what was that last night? Why does James want you dead that badly? They¡¯ve always been a bit odd, but this was very unexpected. How do you know them? What do they want? You need to be honest with us if we¡¯re going to be travelling together.¡±

    Zoe tried to hide the sting she felt. Honesty wasn¡¯t going to get her a genuine adventure with some locals, trudging through the wilderness on foot without simply Cosmic Stepping there in a matter of minutes, if not seconds.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. They think I¡¯m whatever thing it was that killed the hydra, and think that I should die because of that, I guess? I don¡¯t know.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Is there anybody else who might be coming after you?" Brick asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No. Nobody that I know of, anyway. I didn¡¯t even think James was after me though so anything¡¯s possible, I guess.¡±

    Brick sighed. ¡°Okay. I guess I can¡¯t blame you for somebody else trying to kill you. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯d want to kill you anyway, even if you were the creature that killed the hydra.¡±

    ¡°Storage items?" Blue suggested.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Are we going to pursue them?¡± Blue asked.

    Brick shook their head. ¡°Absolutely not. They may not have killed the hydra, but they went in there confident that they could. Some enchantment, I heard. If they¡¯ve truly lost their minds, then we can¡¯t risk them ambushing us on their terms.¡±

    Blue nodded.

    ¡°But,¡± Brick added. ¡°If they wanted her dead that badly, then they¡¯ll be back tonight to try again, probably better prepared this time too. We¡¯ll ambush them. Mara,¡± Brick turned to Zoe. ¡°I¡¯m going to need a favour from you later.¡±

    Zoe nodded. Years ago, the thought might have made her sick, but things were different now. There was no justification for what James did. Or perhaps there was, maybe he knew something about Brick¡¯s group that Zoe didn¡¯t. Maybe he misunderstood what happened with the hydra and thought she was a risk to society that needed to be stopped. Maybe he was down on his luck and wanted to steal the wealth Zoe held on her wrists.

    He tried to kill them, clear as day. Dealing the blow herself was something Zoe didn¡¯t want to do, something she wouldn¡¯t need to do. If Brick weren¡¯t here, if she didn¡¯t want to maintain this fa?ade of a somewhat meek healer than she¡¯d just leave and James would never catch up. Maybe he would pursue her for years, but at some point he would have to realize that she wasn¡¯t a threat. And that he wasn¡¯t a real threat to her.

    But that fa?ade was something she cared about. She didn¡¯t know the group very well, and she didn¡¯t know where they were going or what the dragon would be like, or what stops they might make along the way. But she wanted to know, and if some dangerous group had to die so it would work out? Then that was just an unfortunate part of life. James should have made a different decision.

    ¡°First, we need to learn your capabilities. We¡¯ll start with your water and frost. How much can you do?" Brick asked.

    Zoe reached into her soul and disabled her Adaptive Elements skill, then summoned a waist high wave with her Torrents. The water crashed down into the blue grass and ripped up the top layer of dirt, leaving a patch of wet earth almost a meter across next to Brick. Then, Zoe pushed mana into her Frost skill to freeze the water that was seeping into the earth and lift it away, firing it off at a nearby tree. The frost exploded into shards as it impacted the tree, leaving a sizable dent in its trunk as it began to creak and splinter from the damage.

    Brick nodded. ¡°Not bad, not great. I see how you¡¯ve survived.¡± They pulled out a knife from their pocket and handed it to Blue then placed their hand down flat against the tree they were next to. ¡°If you would?¡±

    Blue grabbed the knife and swung it down at Brick¡¯s hand, severing several of their fingers which Blue crushed underfoot as they plopped against the ground.

    ¡°Mara?" Brick asked, nodding at Zoe.

    Zoe reached out and touched Brick¡¯s shoulder, pushing as little mana as she could into her Restoration skill. Their fingers flesh stitched back together in under a minute, looking like they were before Blue cut them off.

    ¡°Fascinating. That¡¯s time?" Brick asked.

    Zoe blinked. ¡°Why do you ask?"

    ¡°My fingers. They don¡¯t look like new fingers, they look like the ones Blue just cut off. The same scars, the same specks of dirt. These are the same fingers. You didn¡¯t heal them, you undid the damage. Fascinating.¡± Brick explained. ¡°What else can you do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s about all it can do. I can heal objects, though, to an extent.¡± Zoe answered.

    Brick nodded, losing themselves in thought for a few minutes. ¡°Fascinating. What restrictions does it have?"

    ¡°It can only heal recent damage.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°How recent?" Blue asked.

    ¡°Long enough. If I¡¯m around, I can heal you. Don¡¯t worry about it, but I¡¯m not healing your injuries from yesterday or last year.¡± Zoe said. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Brick nodded, and continued questioning Zoe about her capabilities. How fast and strong she was, how much experience she had with different weapons and fighting different creatures. The hours passed, and Spark showed up with a pile of cooked meat and tufts of grass to store away in Zoe¡¯s bracelet.

    ¡°Good, we¡¯ll be able to save a few minutes of light every day with that then. Not much, but it all adds up.¡± Brick said as Zoe stored the food away with the rest of her food she kept in her bracelet. She found it hard not to laugh at the absurdity of it all, at times.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you travel during the night?¡± Zoe asked. She preferred not to herself, just because of how creepy the shadows that crept along the forest were. But an organized party, used to living here? The shadows were harmless if you didn¡¯t disturb them with light, so why would they choose to throw two thirds of their day away, hiding from the night?

    ¡°Did you?" Brick asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Sometimes. Usually I holed up, though.¡±

    ¡°Why?" Brick asked.

    ¡°The shadows are creepy. Don¡¯t like em.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick nodded. ¡°They are. But you¡¯ve been lucky, then. Can you see in the dark?"

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, my eyes are basically useless at night.¡±

    ¡°Right. Well, you might be comfortable with the beasts that can see in the night, but we are not. We travel when we can see, and we hide when we can not.¡± Brick answered.

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°But we need to prepare for tonight. Mara, come with me.¡± Brick said, and walked down the slope into their hovel. The walls were covered in charred marks and deep groves where the demons clawed at the walls. ¡°Dig us a hole, starting about ten feet below the floor here.¡± Brick stomped on the charred earth floor.

    ¡°How big?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Big enough for us all to stand comfortably. Leave enough up below the floor to keep it from collapsing if we get attacked again. When you¡¯re done, seal off the doors up here too. But make them look like they¡¯re still doors, just seal the cracks. Make it look clean and proper.¡± Brick said, and vanished. Space rippled in the space they were moments prior, and Zoe saw a glimpse of deeper into the forest where Brick appeared for a brief moment.

    Blue nodded and left the hovel to sit down above the entrance with Spark while Zoe started pushing mana into her Earth skill to repair the walls, seal the doors and begin digging the hole. She started by carving out a small hole in the back, about ten feet deep and then hopped down into it to dig out a large open room about seven feet tall and wide enough for all of them to lie down side by side without feeling too squished.

    When she finished, Zoe formed a ladder of rock that ran up the wall to the small hole she dug up above to climb out with. Flying was much simpler, but while she was playing as Mara, thinking of other solutions was fun too.

    The sky had begun to dim, leaving them just under another hour left of light before night took over and the four sat down around the campfire to eat food that Zoe summoned from her bracelet, then retreated down into the new room Zoe carved out.

    ¡°I found signs of them. Couldn¡¯t see them, but they¡¯re nearby. They¡¯ll attack tonight.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan?" Spark asked.

    ¡°We stay down here. Mara, you seal off the ceiling. Don¡¯t let even the tiniest sliver of light through.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°We¡¯re just going to wait? I say we kill them.¡± Spark said.

    Brick smiled. ¡°We¡¯re going to, but we need to stay down here to do it. They''re going to know that what they did last night wasn¡¯t enough, so they¡¯ll try something new. If they were willing to light our home, they¡¯ll be willing to do it again.

    ¡°It all depends on what they¡¯re going to change tonight. They have two options, as I see it. The first, is assuming that we got away through my skill. It¡¯s no secret that I can teleport people, and they may think I simply got us out and away. But last night, I yelled at Mara to seal the door. They know Mara is a competent earth mage from her display last night, and if James¡¯ hearing is as good as I¡¯ve heard it is, then he¡¯ll have heard me.

    ¡°So they¡¯ll either think that we¡¯re still down here, unperturbed by the attack because of my teleport. In which case, they¡¯ll try the same thing as last night but be waiting for us up above ground. Or they¡¯ll think that Mara sealed us away from the hallway ahead of time, and try to blow off the doors before they light us up.

    ¡°The first option is more dangerous, so we won¡¯t do anything. We¡¯ll wait until tomorrow and try to feed them information that will push them to the second option. But I don¡¯t think that¡¯ll happen, I think they¡¯re smarter than that and they¡¯ll try to blow off the doors tonight.¡± Brick explained.

    ¡°And how do we retaliate?¡± Blue asked.

    ¡°If they enter the hallway, I will teleport up and light them up myself. James may have escaped last night by being able to hurl the light away, but if they¡¯re trapped in a hallway without teleportation, or any escape route? They won¡¯t be able to survive. And we¡¯re down here, separated by enough ground to keep us safe from the light.¡± Brick explained.

    Spark chuckled. ¡°I like it.¡±

    Blue grinned. ¡°I love it. They¡¯ll reap what they sow.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t think all four of them will come in. That leaves probably Krang and then one of the two women. I vote we leave them. Without James, they won¡¯t be a threat.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. As long as they¡¯re not going to bother us.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°Good, then we¡¯re in agreement. Mara, your job is to keep us sealed in here. Don¡¯t let anything in. Understood?" Brick asked.

    ¡°Yup. I¡¯ll keep everything out.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick nodded, and the four waited in silence as Zoe watched the light fade from the grass above them. Being so deep underground, she could only see a tiny slice of the surface. But it was enough to see as the light faded, and the shadows came to life, crawling along the blades of grass and down into the hallway above them.

    Hours more passed, and Zoe saw two familiar feet creeping along at the edge of her perception, making their way to the entrance of their hovel. Moments later, Brick spoke up, alerting the party to the intruder.

    Zoe watched as another pair of feet entered her perception and began feeling their way around to the entrance. They stopped at the entrance for a moment, and then began walking down the gentle slope. First their covered legs came into view, then their torso, and finally their head as they came down into Zoe¡¯s perception.

    James and Lilith walked up to the doors and felt around the edges with their fingers, dragging their hands along the faint outline of a door that Zoe left behind in the walls.

    ¡°Doors. They sealed themselves in.¡± Lilith whispered.

    James nodded, and rummaged through the large bag against his waist when Brick vanished from next to Zoe, appearing at the top of the entrance.

    James took an object from the bag that hung from his shoulder and placed it down at the door, and then screamed as fire raced down the slope and filled the hallway. The shadows jumped to life, horned beasts and imps screeching as they peeled away from the walls, and Zoe turned her attention away. As much as she accepted it as an unfortunate but necessary part of reality, she wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d ever appreciate watching it for herself.

    Brick appeared in the room with Zoe and the others a moment later. ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°Finally. We can get back to actually travelling tomorrow.¡± Spark whined.

    ¡°Bah. We were going to spend the day here anyway, it wasn¡¯t much of a delay, really.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Pain in the butt, though. Never fun.¡± Blue said.

    Brick sighed. ¡°No, no it¡¯s not.¡±

 4-12. Discovery

    The rest of the night passed, with Zoe trying her best to ignore the carnage in the hallway above. She turned her focus to every imperfection in the room she¡¯d carved deep in the ground, every scrape and every pebble that stuck out from the walls.

    Halfway through, an explosion rattled the ground as whatever James had prepared threatened to collapse their hideaway, but Zoe pushed back against it with her Earth skill and repaired the damage before anything could break through.

    Not long after morning came, Brick teleported up to the surface and then back into the hole, and then back out to the surface once more with all of their passengers.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

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    Zoe shook her head. ¡°No, never saw it to be honest. I was surprised to hear about it, guess I got out at the right time then. Where are you all from?"

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    Brick laughed. ¡°Twelve years, then. Life was alright back there, but people always remember who you used to be.¡±

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    The next few days flew by in a peaceful flash as they ran through the day and chatted about their lives, then settled down into much less luxurious hovels than the first one Zoe had made for the night to pass.

    Brick and Blue both grew up in Trin as hunters while Spark was a forager and butcher. Over the years of working together, they developed a friendly relationship with each other, and eventually decided to leave Trin behind for reasons they seemed to not want to talk about. Which Zoe accepted, it would be odd for her to press so hard for other people¡¯s stories when she wasn¡¯t willing to trust them with all of hers, either.

    They left when they were around thirty, and have been travelling through the forests ever since. Stopping off at villages and grabbing whatever jobs caught their interest. Escorting people from place to place was one of their preferred choices, when available. They enjoyed meeting new people, learning about their experiences and having a nice excuse to move on to the next place to meet more new people.

    The dragon meant nothing to them, no underlying motive, no ruined town they wanted to avenge. They just heard about it a few villages back and thought it would be fun to chase after it. Apparently, they weren¡¯t even sure if they did want to kill it even if they found it.

    Spark wanted to, or at least Spark wanted to try fighting it when they found it. To test their skills against the myth and see how they fared. But even Spark didn¡¯t seem all that interested in actually killing the dragon, bringing its head back for the bounty.

    It was just a journey, an excuse to travel and see new places. A reason to go to ruined villages and deep into the woods they¡¯d never go. It was just fun, and Zoe found she appreciated that.

    On the fifth night, Zoe dug another large hole for the four to sleep in ¡ª one single room with four separate beds and a nearly sealed entrance with a small air hole near the top of the room, poking through the lush grass above. She¡¯d learned from her mistakes, and wasn¡¯t making nice slopes for fire to drip down. In the worst case, she could seal them in even without needing to use more mana than she should have in moments.

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    Zoe smiled. ¡°I do enjoy having them. Maybe we¡¯ll find some dungeons to clear and get lucky.¡±

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    Blue nodded. ¡°Sounds fine to me.¡±

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    ¡°The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°

    Zoe shrugged, and found herself drifting off to sleep for the first time in months. Brick woke her up as light poked through the small crack she left in the ceiling.

    ¡°

    Days more flew by, until several weeks later they were running through an open field and Zoe noticed something deep below them. An open cavern, with an abundance of mana floating around within it.

    Zoe stopped, and then clicked her tongue when she realized what she¡¯d done. How would she justify stopping suddenly? How could she convince them to stop here and investigate whatever she¡¯d found? Would they care? Should she ditch them and explore the cave she found? The mana seemed to indicate that it would be a dungeon, but with how strange the valleys seemed that might not be true. Maybe it was full of enchanted objects, accumulating a mass of mana.

    But would that be more interesting than continuing with them to the dragon? Zoe looked around, her eyes darting through the distant trees that surrounded the clearing for anything of interest. Rocks that seemed out of place, trees that had fallen where it didn¡¯t make sense. Patches of grass that looked different, or markings that might indicate whatever was below them. Nothing stood out.

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    Zoe smiled. ¡°I say we check it out.¡±

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    Blue pulled out a coin from their pocket and tossed it in the air. ¡°Dark,¡± they said as it flipped over and over itself. They caught it on the back of their hand, an image of the sun displayed with prominence on the top of the coin.

    ¡°

    Zoe pushed mana into her skill, lifting the dirt away to carve their way into the ground. After about fifteen feet, she broke into the cavern, revealing the massive hole below them. It stretched another thirty feet down, and about fifty feet across with their hole digging down on the opposite side from a tunnel that made a sharp turn off to the right and another tunnel off to their left that seemed to slope upwards.

    As Zoe broke into the cavern, mana rushed in to the falling dirt, pulling the bits that fell off back up into place and creating more to fill in the hole. Zoe smiled as she saw the telltale sign of a dungeon working its strange magic.

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    Brick nodded. ¡°You cleared a dungeon before?¡±

    Zoe nodded back. ¡°Yeah, I have.¡±

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    Brick nodded. ¡°Okay, so we can¡¯t split up.¡± They paused and scratched their chin for a minute. ¡°Blue, Spark. You two go investigate the forest around us, see if you can¡¯t find that entrance. Mara, come with me. We¡¯re going to set up camp and I¡¯ll think of what we¡¯ll do.¡±

    Blue and Spark both nodded then split off and ran into the forests, dashing through the trees and rummaging through the bushes for any sign of an entrance. Brick teleported Zoe off to the edge of the clearing and sat down on the ground.

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded and got to work, digging out their home for the night. The large, cavernous dungeon below wasn¡¯t visible even as she dropped down enough for them to stand with comfort under the dirt. It either went deeper than she expected, or was smaller than she expected. She shrugged, either way would be fun.

    Blue and Spark arrived back just before dark, and Brick got up from where they were sitting. ¡°Did you find anything?¡± Brick asked.

    Blue nodded. ¡°We found a small opening under a bush.¡±

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    Spark shook their head. ¡°Not much. Just made sure it opened up inside, and it does.¡±

    ¡°

    Brick looked at the sky and then vanished, appearing a minute later. ¡°The earth was repairing itself. Would it do that if it wasn¡¯t the dungeon entrance?¡± They turned to Zoe.

    She shrugged. ¡°It might. I¡¯m really not a dungeon expert, all bets are off when it comes to dungeons, really. Do you have mana sight?"

    Brick shook their head. ¡°I don¡¯t, and neither do these two. We¡¯ll just have to check it out tomorrow, then.¡±

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    Spark grinned. ¡°Even more, now.¡±

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    Brick sighed. ¡°Then we rest up for tonight, and you two lead us to the entrance at light. For the time being, we will bring lights down with us and when the shadows come to life we retreat to here immediately. We¡¯ll think of a new plan tomorrow when we have more information. Tomorrow is just to gather more information. Understood?¡±

    Everybody nodded in response.

    ¡°

 4-13. Moles

    Brick sat and watched the three get into bed and cover themselves in their blankets. Mara had her own blanket, along with a host of other tricks up her sleeve. An odd girl, Brick found. But enjoyable. Her healing was potent enough, though relying on a strange to keep them alive was a quick way to end up dead.

    Especially with the prospect of a dungeon, exploring something new with somebody unreliable covering their backs? And if Mara were to be trusted, then there was no way to even know what the dungeon would hold, if it was a dungeon. Maybe it was just a trap, set by whichever group Mara was working with.

    Though, in its own way, that would be enjoyable too. It had been quite some time since they¡¯d had such exciting days, and with James¡¯ insanity concluded that left very little to interrupt them on their travels. Wolves and beasts that roamed the woods, but after a decade of travelling they were simple to avoid. Maybe they would run into some high level beast before they got to the dragon, but Brick doubted it.

    A wandered, maybe? Though they were rarely a fun sight to see. And the smell. Brick scrunched their nose in disgust. Why wanderers never thought to keep a cleaning skill on hand was beyond Brick. At least hop in a river from time to time. It was as though the filth was a part of the life, necessary for whatever it was they got up to.

    Maybe raiding dungeons, Brick supposed. If there was one here, just below the surface then there would be others. To think otherwise would be arrogance. They weren¡¯t the lucky ones, the fated group destined to stumble into the lone dungeon in the area. There were more dungeons, they were just hidden. From the shadows? From the wanderers?

    Brick looked at the group. Blue and Brick were asleep, their breaths even and consistent. Mara however, was still awake. Her breathing was stunted and ragged. Not enough to be a concern, the girl was perfectly healthy. But people who slept were shockingly consistent, Brick found. Each breath the same as the last ¡ª or if it wasn¡¯t, it was very different. Snores and snorts, not just brief pauses and slightly longer draws.

    She hadn¡¯t slept much on the trip, not at all to Brick¡¯s knowledge. Though Brick hadn¡¯t been awake the entire time themself, so that didn¡¯t mean Mara hadn¡¯t slept at all. Not once had Brick noticed her breathing truly fall into that consistence of sleep. Brick shook their head. The girl was hiding much from them, but at least so far, she¡¯d been helpful. The hovels she made were far better than hiding in some roots, even if her initial attempts welcomed James¡¯ fruitless attack. Her healing would save them plenty of resources when they did need to fight, and if Brick was being honest, the girl was just good company.

    Interesting company might be more apt, Brick thought. She¡¯d seen dungeons, travelled the forests, and at barely over level one hundred, alone? If she ever felt comfortable opening up about her life, Brick would soak it up like a dry sponge in a bucket of water. But it wouldn¡¯t be right to pry, when they weren¡¯t interested in sharing their pasts either.

    Brick chuckled to themself. Their past was likely much more innocent than Mara¡¯s was anyway. They didn¡¯t have some grandiose tale of exploring the wilds and delving into dungeons. Just some shitty kids that didn¡¯t quite like the expectations society had of themselves. A boring story in comparison, Brick imagined. But still a secret they held close.

    The night passed with Brick thinking about the dungeon, and their plans to tackle it. It seemed far too difficult to keep Mara alive while they dove into the depths. None of them could see in the dark so they would need light. But how would they know when to put the lights out? When to once again light them and venture further?

    A time class would be convenient, Brick thought. Mara had one, though she¡¯d never shared any indication of being able to tell the time. Perhaps it just wasn¡¯t powerful enough for her to have a time keeper, or perhaps it was just more attuned to healing than time. Maybe she could help Brick get a time class of their own during this trip.

    Once the dragon was done, they¡¯d need something new to occupy their time with. Finding, and subsequently exploring, dungeons seemed like a great idea, if they could do so with a reasonable expectation of safety. Pleasure was important in life, but not more important than life itself.

    When light came, Brick woke up the rest. Spark and Blue both seemed excited, an eagerness to explore something new visible behind each bouncy step they took. Mara pretended to wake up when Brick shook her, a routine that they¡¯d fallen into in their time together. Did Mara know? Or perhaps she truly was just an odd sleeper. Maybe she needed some help herself to get a better night¡¯s sleep, though she was the healer so what would Brick know.

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    Mara nodded. ¡°Yeah, this¡¯ll be fun.¡± She smiled.

    Sometimes, Brick got the feeling that she truly was the monster that killed the hydra for James¡¯ party. The carelessness of it all, how casually she treated everything. Even with James¡¯ attack, she didn¡¯t seem to be bothered at all. No fear, no anxiety. Not as far as Brick could tell, at any rate.

    She seemed so detached from it all at times. As though nothing that happened could matter, that all of this was just a game to her. If it weren¡¯t for the identify skill, Brick would never believe she was only level one hundred. The confidence she held was beyond what somebody at her level should wield. Maybe she looped?

    Loopers never lived alone, though. Throwing away all of your power for some future benefit without anybody to protect you in your weakened state? Idiotic. Many tried, none survived.

    Either way, Brick didn¡¯t mind. James¡¯ party was just as idiotic for being offended by the creature that killed the hydra. In the first place, would a little light be enough to kill something that could rip a hydra in half in the blink of an eye?

    Ridiculous. Just the thought that Mara might be the very same creature gave Brick comfort. She wouldn¡¯t betray them as long as they didn¡¯t betray her. And if push came to shove, some beast they couldn¡¯t handle charged them down?If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    At least there was the chance they had something more powerful at their side. Relying on her wasn¡¯t worth it, but it couldn¡¯t hurt to hedge their bets, either. They¡¯d do everything they could to be as safe as possible, and if that wasn¡¯t enough they¡¯d at least have some hope that Mara was more than she said she was.

    Maybe James was upset because he¡¯d already betrayed her. That was the only thing that made much sense to Brick. Fear of her chasing him down because of his betrayal, of ruining his life or maybe taking it for her own.

    Blue knelt down as the group stopped near a berry bush about waist high and pulled aside some of the leaves. A hole, just large enough for a person to squeeze through was revealed beneath the bushy leaves.

    ¡°

    Spark grinned and hopped to action, squishing their body into the hole and vanishing into the darkness. Light flickered beneath the hole a moment later as Spark ignited their torch and crawled away into the larger open cavern below.

    Blue followed a moment later, then Mara. And then finally, Brick climbed down. There was a short tunnel that made Brick thankful nobody seemed to have claustrophobia, which opened up into the larger cavern just a little bigger than the rooms Mara had been carving out for them.

    To one wall in the cavern was a stone bench with skulls hanging from the armrests, and at the opposite end of where they entered was a tunnel that bent downwards, leading deeper into the dungeon.

    ¡°

    Mara shrugged. ¡°Like I said, every dungeon¡¯s different. I have no idea what¡¯s going to be in here. No way of knowing what¡¯s going to be in here. Earth stuff, maybe. Since it was already doing some earth magic. But that¡¯s just a guess. It could be unrelated.¡±

    Brick nodded. ¡°Mara, how much can you feel if you¡¯re manipulating the earth around us? Could you notice tunnelers, footsteps? Disruptions? Anything?"

    Mara pulled on her lip with her index finger as she thought, revealing the wicked sharp fangs in her mouth. Brick held back a shiver. They were never pleasant to see, how had she gotten them? And how did she still seem so human despite them?

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    Mara nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± A wealth of power rushed out from her, seeping into the earth. Her mana was amazing to witness, even without a mana sight. The feeling of power that hung behind it was awe inspiring.

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    The two nodded and pulled their spears out in front of them as they walked down the tunnel. Mara followed along behind them, that subtle power flooding out from them into the ground and walls. Brick fell in behind them, and they followed the tunnel as it gently curved around to a fork. It continued forward on its gentle curve and split off to the right to what seemed like a much larger cavern, though most of it was obscured by the tunnel walls and floor.

    ¡°

    Blue and Spark nodded, then led the group through the tunnel to the cavern again. It was set in the middle of the tunnel between the two rooms, and if Brick¡¯s estimation was right, would be the large cavern they found when Mara broke through into the dungeon the first time.

    The tunnel they followed poked out near the top of the cavern, with about a twenty foot drop down to the floor. Brick peered over the edge, and nothing was visible beneath. They waved their torch, casting light deep into the cavern but even as the flickering light lit the cavern, nothing was visible. No creatures, no treasure. Just emptiness.

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    She nodded. ¡°I think there¡¯s four, maybe five of them. It¡¯s hard to keep track, they¡¯re very quick.¡±

    Brick nodded back. ¡°Into the cavern then. It might be an ambush, but it¡¯s better than fighting them in close quarters here where they have the advantage.¡±

    Blue and Spark took off and jumped into the cavern, with Mara following close behind. Brick waited a moment longer and then teleported down into the cavern. Down on the floor, even Brick could tell they were in trouble. The ground seemed to quake as whatever those creatures were carved their way through the earth.

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    Brick shook their head. ¡°Nothing yet. Mara, fire water anywhere you think something¡¯s going to come out of. Blue and Spark, take them down if you can. I¡¯m going to try and catch one.¡±

    A moment later, a blast of water shot out from Mara and impacted the ground just behind Blue. Blue spun around and slammed their spear into the ground as another of the creatures just poked out of the surface. The spear impaled the creature, and Brick got a better look at them.

    Moles. Mutated by whatever magic the dungeon used. About the size of a young wolf, with long dark black claws and vicious fangs lining their mouth. Blue¡¯s spear pierced through its skull and black blood dripped from the creature, splattering against the wall as they swung their spear over head. The mole ripped from their spear and squished into a distant wall.

    Mara shot another two blasts of water out. One just behind herself, and another just behind Spark. Spark spun and impaled another on their spear, while Brick teleported behind Mara and waited.

    The mole popped out a moment later, its dark claws just scratching Mara¡¯s back and drawing blood. She grimaced and staggered from the pain. Brick reached out to grab the mole as it arced through the air, just managing to grasp its back paw. The mole flailed with an immense strength, ripping its paw from Brick¡¯s grasp and vanishing into the ground again.

    Brick grinned. This was going to be fun.

 4-14. Gutted

    Zoe flooded mana into the ground around them, subtly shifting around the earth below them, more as a performance than anything else. The moles flying through the ground like fish through water were as clear as day to her through her Cosmic Vision, but she needed some excuse to be helpful. Some reason that justified her existence here in the group.

    Or at least, that was the purpose of her display at first. But it really worked, not as well as her Cosmic Vision, but she wouldn¡¯t always have that class at her disposal. What if this were a challenge dungeon and she was restricted to just her first class again? Knowing how to notice those minute disruptions as the moles pushed dirt and rock aside, understanding what all those tiny movements meant for how they were moving, how fast they were and where they would be going would be more valuable than almost anything else she would have access to.

    Travelling with a more normal party ¡ª for whatever definition of normal applied to Brick¡¯s party, continued to prove a useful experience. The reliance on all of their skills, on using every tool at their disposal to its maximum effect. It showed her how little she truly understood of her skills, of the magic that she was capable of.

    Brick grinned as they watched Zoe intently, waiting for the next signal of one of the moles. Spark¡¯s laughter resounded through the cavern and Blue watched with an glint in their eye, an intensity that put even Zoe on edge. No joy, no anger. Just mechanical. Zoe would point, and she knew Blue would stab the very next moment, impaling whatever dared breach the dirt.

    The moles swam through the dirt below them like sharks in water, waiting for a moment of weakness to leap at their prey. Many swirled around just below Spark, with just as many below Zoe. Brick and Blue only had a handful between the two of them, clawing their way through the dirt.

    Dozens? Maybe more. They moved so quick and the magic that clung to their black claws flooded the dirt, sending minor fluctuations through that Zoe tried to interpret with her Earth skill.

    After she let one make contact with her back, she stopped following them with her Cosmic Vision. Instead choosing to rely on solely her Earth skill, refining her control and bettering her ability to parse the information it flooded her with for when it truly mattered.

    The claws were powerful, ripping thousands of health from her in an instant as they ripped apart her clothes and dug into her skin. The wound was still there, a distant stinging sensation on her back as blood dripped from the long gash in her back, seeping into the hide armour she wore and plopping on the earth ground..

    But it wasn¡¯t a death sentence, even for the others she travelled with. Nobody survived down here in the valleys, travelling the forests and taking on dangerous jobs without the ability to take at least somewhat of a beating. They could survive at least a hit from the moles. More, maybe not.

    Mana surged through the ground as several moles seemed to be rushing to the surface. Zoe fired off small bolts of water, impacting the ground just before the moles exited as she tried to step aside to dodge the one that was coming up from below her.

    Spark and Blue both rammed their spears down into the ground, impaling two of the moles as their sickening heads poked out of the earth. Brick teleported to Zoe and shoved her aside and mana rushed from their form to the ground. The mole clawed its way out of the ground, the earth behind it stitching back together as it exited and space warped around it. Fluctuations in space tore into the mole¡¯s skin, squishing it into itself as they ripped through it.

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. Lots.¡±

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    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. There¡¯s a lot.¡±

    Another vibration shook the earth, signalling a mole ascending towards Brick. Zoe shot off another blast of water just before it exited, and Blue impaled it on the end of their spear.

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    Zoe waved her hands like an imaginary set of scales. ¡°Maybe. They¡¯re very good with earth, I¡¯m not sure I could overwhelm them like that.¡±

    Brick nodded, jumping back as Zoe shot another blast of water at their feet. A mole exited the ground a moment later and space tore into it, ripping it to shreds. What remains were left were tossed aside.

    Impressive, Zoe thought. The moles were all over level one fifty, and even with their level advantage Brick¡¯s group was handling them with ease. Each mole taken out in an instant when it revealed itself ¡ª barring the one that Brick tried to capture, which managed to overwhelm them.

    Was Brick weak, or were the moles strong? Zoe figured it would be a mix of both. The moles glided through the earth with practised ease, their mana laden claws carving away at the dirt like a, well like a mole¡¯s claws through dirt she supposed. They¡¯d need some strength to accomplish that at least, even if the magic was carrying them to some extent they needed to be able to wield those long claws and swing them with ease.

    But, they didn¡¯t have to carve away at the dirt itself. The mana that coated their claws seemed to compress the dirt around them, letting it decompress after they passed as though they had never passed at all. Which meant they needed to be more diverse than just strength. Intelligence and Wisdom were necessary, too ¡ª if these creatures even used the same stats as Zoe did. Perhaps they had an entirely different system, with different stats and purposes, tailor made for their species.

    Zoe shot another blast of water next to spark, who impaled yet another mole on the end of their spear, tossing it to the side like a wet bag of sand.

    ¡°

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    Brick teleported next to her and shoved her away as they ripped the mole that popped out of the ground to pieces with their space magic. They hadn¡¯t shoved her the first time one came up at her, were they worried because of the wound on her back? Or were they prioritizing trying to catch one at first, and they¡¯d simply given up on the idea after the failure?Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°

    Brick shook their head. ¡°We can handle this, we¡¯ll stick here until we know more.¡±

    The dance of dodging the tunnelling moles and impaling them on spears or ripping them apart with magic continued for well over an hour before the mole population showed any signs of dwindling. The last mole fell almost two and a half hours after they first entered the larger cavern.

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded and went through the group, pushing a pittance of mana through her Restoration skill to mend their wounds. She started with herself, the worst of the bunch. Or at least the worse appearing of the bunch. Her clothes were torn and her body was covered in long, wide scratches where the moles managed to slip through Brick¡¯s attempts at protecting her.

    Her clothes and light armour stitch themselves back together, threads weaving across each other as the torn fabrics wound back through time. Her wounds vanished in minutes leaving her skin unblemished and without scars, as though the deep gashes that covered her had never happened.

    Brick was next on Zoe¡¯s quick triage list, bearing the brunt of the damage as they threw themselves in front of Zoe. They were missing several fingers that the moles managed to slice off with their powerful claws, and half of their left foot was missing. Eaten by one of the moles as it ripped up through the ground and bit into Brick¡¯s leg. They managed to get it free for the most part, but not without sacrifice.

    ¡°

    Spark stared at Brick¡¯s foot as bone and flesh pulled together again, awe and a hint of fear poking through their excitement. ¡°This is my first time seeing it. That¡¯s impressive.¡±

    Brick nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t get used to it, Mara won¡¯t be here with us forever.¡±

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    Brick smiled. ¡°Do we want to continue? There seems to be another tunnel over there.¡± They pointed towards the back of the cavern where a small hole seemed to bend, curving down and out of sight.

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    Blue shrugged. ¡°It really has been. I say we continue.¡±

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded again and headed towards the small tunnel at the back of the cavern. It was just large enough for one person to squeeze their way through ¡ª throwing a wrench in Brick¡¯s impromptu change to their formation. It opened up again after a short walk in another larger cavern Zoe could see through her Cosmic Vision, but until they got there it would be a very tight fit. If there were moles lurking in the walls just out of sight? Avoiding them would be difficult for the group.

    Brick walked up to the tunnel and waved their torch in it, casting the flickering orange light down the tunnel, revealing the curved wall as it wound down and to the left a bit. ¡°Damn. We¡¯d be sitting imps in there.¡±

    Spark nodded. ¡°I can check it out?"

    Brick shook their head. ¡°No, you two stay back here and keep Mara safe. I¡¯ll go check it out. This might be as far as we can go, if it stays like this for a bit.¡±

    Blue shrugged. ¡°Oh well, better safe than dead. This was a good distraction at least.¡±

    Brick nodded and squeezed into the tunnel, walking down the winding path. The walls came to life with mana as dozens more moles that had been motionless jumped into action. Their claws cut through the dirt with an effortless ease as they charged towards Brick.

    ¡°

    Brick clicked their tongue and continued on. The walls exploded a moment later, moles leaping across from one side to the other, their claws outstretched, piercing through whatever was in their path. Zoe heard a distant groan from Brick who teleported back out to the cavern next to the group. They were missing a large chunk from their gut, as well as most of their right leg as they crumpled to the ground next to Zoe.

    As soon as they arrived, they teleported away again, dragging the group with them. First deeper into the cavern, then up into the tunnel, then the entrance to the dungeon and at last back up to the surface.

    Zoe knelt down, grabbing Brick¡¯s shoulder and pushing mana into them to mend their wounds. ¡°Are you okay?¡± She asked.

    Brick nodded, grimacing from the pain of their body being repaired.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Blue nodded and scowled at the entrance.

    Minutes later, Brick was healed and propped themselves up on a nearby stump. ¡°Do we still want to continue? We¡¯d have to deal with that swarm somehow. Any ideas?"

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    Brick nodded. ¡°Mara?"

    ¡°

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    The group made their way back to the small hole Zoe dug and relaxed for a while, discussing different plans for getting through the tunnel. The most likely solution had Zoe carving out a larger tunnel so they could react to the moles, but if that didn¡¯t work then Brick thought it might be possible to try and trick the moles by rolling a pile of rocks down the tunnel, then sneak through amidst the chaos.

 4-15. Rockslide

    Zoe laid on one of the propped up earthen platforms and thought about the dungeon. Would she be able to handle it by herself? She was confident she could, but could she do it without relying on Cosmic Rift, or her enchantments? If she summoned a weapon with her Elemental Arsenal, could she fend of the torrent of moles that flew from the ground with nothing but her physical prowess?

    That, she found herself much less confident in. But was that a problem she needed to fix? Did she need to be the most well rounded combatant in the history of the world? That seemed more of an arrogant thought than anything else. It would be far simpler to just float off the ground and fire off a barrage of explosions, decimating the population before they even had a chance to come from the ground.

    Was that okay? Was she happy with that solution for herself? Close quarters combat wasn¡¯t something she enjoyed, at least not in actual danger. The actual weapons themselves interested her, the techniques used and the reasoning behind why they were used and how they were used was fascinating. A world of knowledge that she¡¯d only dipped her toe into many years earlier when she didn¡¯t have the wealth of magical power behind her.

    But if she had to fight for herself, avoiding direct combat was much safer. Though, if she weren¡¯t trying to restrict herself then she doubted the moles would overwhelm her regeneration either. It might take a while, but she could chip away at them until they were gone just by virtue of their inability to kill her, as painful as the experience would be.

    It just wouldn¡¯t be fun. It wouldn¡¯t be exciting, it would be tedious. She watched as Brick got up a few minutes after Spark and Blue drifted off to sleep then vanished, appearing above the hole they were in and then vanishing again, out of Zoe¡¯s sight.

    Zoe raised an eyebrow at the sight and considered waking the other two, but decided against it. Brick wouldn¡¯t betray them, so they had some other motivation for leaving. Maybe they needed to relieve themselves, Zoe wondered? That had never happened before, but everybody always remembered to do their business before they settled in for the night.

    She didn¡¯t remember Brick doing that this night, so perhaps that was the motivation? Brick appeared back in Zoe¡¯s vision above the hole a moment later and she closed her eyes again before they teleported back inside and sat down. A hint of ash and burnt oil touched Zoe¡¯s nose. Had they burned something? There was no fire within Zoe¡¯s vision, no flickering lights.

    Zoe put the thought aside, Brick would either tell them in the morning or Zoe could question it. But confronting them about it now wouldn¡¯t do much. She turned her attention to thoughts of the dungeon and the hunt for the dragon as the rest of night passed.

    The faintest hint of light poked through the tiny hole Zoe left in the top of their hole, and Brick woke up the three of them. Zoe got up and stretched. Even without sleeping, a night of lying near motionless on an uncomfortable wooden pedestal left much to be desired.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Brick smirked. ¡°Yeah, I couldn¡¯t help it.¡±

    Blue rolled their eyes. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t do that. It¡¯s dangerous. But what did you learn?¡±

    ¡°

    Spark raised an eyebrow. ¡°And?¡±

    Brick shook their head. ¡°No good. We¡¯ll have to clear it in one day or camp out inside. I¡¯m not sure how we¡¯d do that since they can travel through the ground, though. We can¡¯t just dig a hole and hide in it in there, the moles would just dig in and kill us.¡±

    Blue nodded. ¡°So we¡¯ll have to be quick, then.¡±

    ¡°

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Depends on how hard the dungeon works to fix the walls when I¡¯m digging them. If it¡¯s like the dirt up here¡ª¡± Zoe stomped on the ground a few times, ¡°then I probably can. But it might have a stronger effect down in the dungeon proper.¡±

    ¡°

    Spark slid down the hole next, followed by Zoe and the last to come down was Blue. They ran through the tunnel as Zoe pushed mana into the walls around them to find any potential ambushes, but there were none.

    Down in the large cavern, the ground erupted with activity as soon as they stepped foot in it. Dozens more moles began swimming through the dirt below them and the group ran over to the narrow tunnel at the opposite end.

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded and directed some of her mana towards the tunnel, pushing the walls back. The dense mana that filled the dungeon fought back against her, repairing the walls as she cut large slabs of dirt away. If she pulled her mana away from the ground below them then she could overwhelm the dungeon enough to make a wider hole without using more mana than she should have. But that would leave Zoe no way to justify seeing the moles below them, leaving them blind.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded and directed her mana back down into the ground below them, shoving dirt around everywhere she felt a minor fluctuation from the mole¡¯s claws. Several rushed up to the surface and Zoe blasted water at them just before the exited, letting Blue and Spark impale the moles on their spears.

    There were far fewer moles than the previous day, taking just over an hour before the last one was dealt with. Brick nodded to the tunnel, and Zoe pushed all of the mana she could justify into the walls. The dungeon¡¯s mana rushed in to try and mend the damage, but Zoe was too quick for it to fix all of it.

    Large slabs of earth fell to the ground and were shoved off to the side by Zoe¡¯s skill, leaving a tunnel just wide enough for two people to walk through with comfort, or three if they squeezed. But she could only reach about ten feet into the tunnel before her mana was spread too thin to keep the dungeon at bay.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°

    Brick thought on it for a moment. ¡°Make it a little shorter. Lets get it wide enough for Blue and Spark to flank you. Could you keep carving this away as we walk through it? And still track the moles coming from the walls?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I should be able to do that, yeah. If there¡¯s a lot though I might get overwhelmed trying to point them all out.¡±

    ¡°

    Zoe pushed forward with her mana, inching deeper in as the tunnel behind them began to close up leaving a narrow exit if they needed to run. More moles surged to the surface of the walls and floor, and Zoe fired of blasts of water indicating where they¡¯d come from. The blur of Spark and Blue¡¯s spears never seemed to stop as they arced from mole to mole, while Brick¡¯s magic ripped into any mole that managed to sneak past their defenses.

    It was a slow and somewhat painful process, but after another hour they managed to get through the thirty some odd foot tunnel without any casualties besides the hundreds of moles. It twisted around itself and opened up into another large, though much shorter cavern just below the previous.

    The group rushed out into the cavern as soon as Zoe broke into it with her magic, and the barrage of moles rushing from the walls ceased.

    ¡°

    Zoe grabbed brick and pushed mana into her Restoration, mending the significant wounds they¡¯d taken from the short journey. Brick had taken most of the damage, having to spend their mana to protect Zoe, leaving themselves vulnerable from behind. Their back was wrought with deep gouges that Zoe¡¯s skill worked to repair.

    ¡°

    Brick nodded. ¡°Stay alert.¡±

    The earth quaked as a towering mole erupted from the ground at the opposite end of the cavern. It stood on its two hind feet and its head reached the ceiling almost fifteen feet above. Its black claws were almost two meters long and radiating with powerful mana. Dark blue level two hundred twenty, to Zoe¡¯s identify.

    Two more moles rose from the ground next to it which in any other context, Zoe would have described as enormous. But next to the mole in front of her seemed diminutive. Reaching ten feet on their hind legs, with powerful black claws hanging from their sides. Both were dark blue level two hundred.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    The massive mole roared and the earth shook. The ceiling above them rattled, bits of earth and rock falling as cracks formed along the surface.

    ¡°

    Zoe shoved her mana into her Earth skill, pushing the dirt aside from the ceiling as the entire thing collapsed on them. Deafening cracks echoed through the cavern as boulders split and fell, crashing to the ground. Zoe managed to push away most of the falling debris, but the once flat, stable ground had become dangerous. Sharp rubble covered the ground, leaving very few spots for them to be able to stand on.

    ¡°

    The moles from the tunnel that had left them alone sprung back to action, swimming through the ground, unimpeded by the rubble. Zoe shot out blasts of water to them, but even with all of her mana there were too many for her to be able to shoot so many in such a short time.

    Brick teleported the group up to the top of the rubble as moles blasted out of the ground where they were a moment earlier. ¡°MARA! GROUND! NOW!¡±

    Zoe pushed mana into the ground, trying to create some kind of stable footing, but the dungeon¡¯s mana fought back against it. ¡°I can¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°

    Zoe felt an enormous disturbance in the ground flying towards them and fired off a massive blast of water at the ground. ¡°BIG ONE!¡±

    Blue and Spark both jumped in front of Zoe, wielding their spears as the massive mole jumped from the ground. They pushed their spears forward, knocking the sharp claws aside as Brick ripped into it with their mana. Dark blood dripped from its form as it dove back into the ground again, and the other two large moles flew up from the ground where it entered a moment later, unseen by Zoe¡¯s Earth skill.

    Space warped and one of the large moles claws cracked, splitting in half. Blue swung their spear down at the other claw, shattering it as well, rending the mole incapable of diving back into the ground as its face rammed into the sharp rubble. Spark deflected the other mole, sending it diving back into the ground behind them.

    ¡°

    Blue rammed their spear into the large mole and mana rushed out from their form. A dull thud echoed from the mole, and Blue removed their spear, leaving the mole motionless.

    Zoe fired off more blasts of water as some of the other smaller moles rose to the surface. Blue and Spark¡¯s spears blurred as they impaled mole after mole on their spears, tossing them to the side.

    The massive boss mole rose to the surface again and Zoe fired off another larger blast of water. It exited the ground, and the group piled onto its right claw, managing to shatter it. The mole dove into the ground with its one remaining claw, slowed by the loss.

    The remaining large mole flew from the ground where it entered, and was taken out in an instant. Brick shattered one of its claws with their magic, Blue shattered the other. And then Spark impaled it, sending a pulse of mana into its body as it failed to enter the ground again.

    Brick teleported the group away again as the smaller moles rushed to the surface, and the group prepared for another attack from the massive mole. Mana rushed to the surface and Zoe fired off a blast of water. The towering mole leapt from the ground, swinging its claw at Spark.

    Blue swung their spear at the claw while Brick twisted space around the claw, cracking it but not destroying it. Spark rose their spear to block the violent, powerful swing but was thrown aside by the impact. They slammed into the sharp rubble around them and screamed from pain.

    Zoe ran over to them and pushed healing into them, and Brick teleported the group away again as the smaller moles rushed to the surface. The massive mole jumped from the ground again a moment later, but this time Spark¡¯s spear managed to shatter the mole¡¯s claw as it swung at Blue, and Brick shove it back with space magic, letting Blue step out of the way.

    The mole collapsed on the rubble and Blue stabbed into its side. Mana rushed through the spear, exploding within the mole as it twisted its head around to bite at Blue.

    Zoe fired off blasts of water at the ground, and Brick teleported them away from the barrage again. Spark and Blue both rushed in, impaling the massive mole on their spears and sending mana funnelling into its form. Its body collapsed in a heap, and the group managed to take out the remaining smaller moles with a practised ease, collapsing to the ground with panting breaths and bloodied bodies as the last mole was slain.

    *Ding* You have cleared the Grondur dungeon. Would you like to claim your reward?

 4-16. Wanderer

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Brick asked. ¡°Accept the reward?"

    Zoe nodded and pushed her acceptance towards the system. A moment later, mana surged in front of the group and manifested in their rewards. Though to Zoe¡¯s surprise, there was no gold. No coins, no money. In its place, was a pile of colourful gems that floated in the air before them, along with two rings, a monocle, and a dark, ragged cloak.

    *Ding* You have accepted the Grondur¡¯s dungeon reward. Teleportation will begin in 60 seconds¡­ 59¡­. 58¡­ 57¡­

    ¡°My light,¡± Spark said, staring at the pile. ¡°We¡¯re rich.¡±

    Blue nodded, grinning. ¡°Yeah we are. Do we even need to get the dragon anymore?¡±

    Brick scoffed. ¡°Of course we do. But now we¡¯ll be better at it. Lets make a stop at the next town and stock up on some supplies. But first, Mara. Is this teleportation safe?¡±

    ¡°It should be,¡± Zoe answered. ¡°But collect the stuff first. I don¡¯t think it will get teleported out with us.¡±

    Brick nodded. ¡°Okay. Mara, heal us while we wait for the teleport.¡±

    Zoe nodded and started healing Spark, the most wounded. A massive gouge carved out of their back from when the mole smashed them into the jagged ground stitched itself back together through Zoe¡¯s magic.

    ¡°What do these things do?" Spark asked, pointing at the items floating in the pile of gems. Their excitement overwhelming whatever pain the wound was causing.

    ¡°Could be anything. The rings are probably storage items, but¡ª¡± Zoe started to explain, then tried to stop Spark as they grabbed one of the rings and put them on. ¡°We can¡¯t be sure. They might have negative effects.¡±

    Brick sighed and grabbed the remaining items, storing the gems away in their storage item. ¡°How do we tell?"

    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know. I knew a person who did it. Or, really I knew a person who knew a person who did it.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Could they check these out for us?¡± Brick asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re a little far away now.¡±

    ¡°How far?" Brick asked.

    ¡°Far.¡± Zoe answered.

    They nodded. ¡°So we¡¯ll have to find somebody we can trust to decipher these, or try our luck at using them on our own.¡±

    ¡°One bag,¡± Spark said. ¡°It¡¯s a full bag.¡±

    Blue¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°A full bag? Oh my light. What about the other one?¡± Blue eyed the ring in Brick¡¯s hand.

    Brick looked at Zoe. ¡°Is it risky to try?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Probably not, honestly. But that doesn¡¯t mean it can¡¯t be, you know?" Zoe answered.

    Brick nodded and put the ring on. A small pulse of mana rushed into the ring and excitement filled their emotions. ¡°Another bag. Two full bags for a days work. Can we keep clearing the dungeon, Mara? Will it give the same rewards every time?"

    ¡°Mmm, maybe. The rewards differ every time. This was¡­¡± Zoe paused for a moment. By all accounts, the rewards were rather weak for how high level the dungeon was. Two bags was nothing compared to the rewards she¡¯d seen.

    But to the people down here in the valleys, this was a life-changing reward. They¡¯d gone from some degree of relative comfort to pure luxury in an instant. Was this a good reward then, for the people who lived down here?

    How did the system decide on rewards for its dungeons? Why did it give gems down in the valley, but coins up at the peak? Why did it give storage items far exceeding anything anybody down in the valley would even conceive of in far weaker dungeons up on the peak?

    ¡°Mara?¡± Brick asked.

    ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m not sure how to quantify this reward, but it might not be as good next time.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Do the rewards get better when the dungeon hasn¡¯t been cleared for a while?¡± Blue asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, to be honest. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ve ever actually thought of that. Maybe? I guess that makes sense.¡± Zoe said.

    Mana rushed in, twisting and warping space then dropping them off outside above the dungeon entrance they entered from. Silence fell over the group as Brick tapped on their chin with a finger, lost in thought.

    ¡°Okay,¡± Brick said. ¡°We¡¯ll camp out here and try again tomorrow. If the rewards are still this good, we¡¯ll have a decision to make.¡±

    ¡°I vote we just keep doing this forever. Why do anything else?" Spark asked.

    ¡°It¡¯ll get boring,¡± Blue said. ¡°And what use do we really have for more gems? Wealth won¡¯t make us happy.¡±

    ¡°It sure won¡¯t hurt,¡± Spark said.

    Brick laughed. ¡°No, it won¡¯t. But Blue¡¯s right. It¡¯ll get boring eventually. Why not look for more dungeons, try new things? We¡¯ll give it another go tomorrow, with everything we¡¯ve learned and see how the rewards compare to today¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°Anybody have a suggestion for the final fight, tomorrow?" Brick asked.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Blue responded. ¡°We don¡¯t need to go through the tunnel. We can just dig down from the main cavern and avoid that whole disaster.¡±

    ¡°I thought we could spend more time in the tunnel, personally.¡± Spark suggested. ¡°The smaller moles weren¡¯t much of a problem for us in the final fight, but if we could clear them out before we get there then that would be one less thing for Mara to have to worry about. I think we¡¯d have an easier time dealing with the larger ones if we didn¡¯t have to get used to our new footing after Brick teleports us, and if Mara could just track the large ones instead of the horde.¡±

    Brick nodded. ¡°I like both ideas, but the smaller moles that attacked us in the final fight might not have been the same ones from the tunnel. Even if we clear out the tunnel, there might be more small ones in the room anyway.¡±

    ¡°Right. That makes sense.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°But we¡¯ll try it tomorrow. We¡¯ll stay in the tunnel and clear them out, then go back up to the cavern and dig down to the arena. Mara, will the large mole always appear in the same location?¡± Brick asked.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°It should,¡± Zoe answered. "Boss fights always seem to be the same from what I can tell.¡°

    ¡°Good. Then we might be able to get the jump on it before it collapses the ceiling which will leave us with better footing for the fight, on top of possibly not having to deal with the smaller ones swarming us at the same time.¡± Brick said.

    Blue and Spark both nodded then looked at Zoe, who nodded along. ¡°I think the moles are the same ones from the tunnel.¡± Zoe added. ¡°At least it felt that way. There were too many to be sure, but if there were moles down in the final fight as well then the ones from the tunnel joined in. Clearing them out would at least make it easier.¡±

    The group settled into the small earthen hole they¡¯d called home for a few days now, and Brick pulled out the two remaining items they hadn¡¯t identified. The dark cloak and the monocle.

    ¡°What are they?¡± Spark asked.

    ¡°No idea,¡± Brick answered. ¡°Anybody want to take the risk of trying them on?"

    Spark and Blue both shrugged, accepting the risk for themselves. Blue took the monocle while Spark took the cloak.

    As soon as Spark donned the cloak, they became almost impossible to see to Zoe¡¯s eyes. To her Cosmic Vision, nothing seemed to have changed but with her eyes, she could see right through where Spark was. Only the faintest shadow remained in their place, shifting in the slight breeze and with each breath they took.

    Spark took it off a moment later. ¡°That¡¯s awful.¡±

    ¡°What is?" Brick asked.

    ¡°Try it,¡± Spark tossed the cloak to Brick who put it on and took it off a moment later.

    ¡°Eugh. Yeah, that¡¯s terrible.¡± Brick said. ¡°Extremely disorienting.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s it do?¡± Blue asked.

    ¡°Everything becomes very dark, and every source of light is blindingly bright. It¡¯s awful.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°It makes you hard to see though. Could be useful.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I guess. I¡¯d be hard pressed to give up my sight like that, even if it makes me hard to find.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± Spark said. ¡°What¡¯s the monocle do?"

    Blue put the monocle to their eye and it shrunk to a perfect fit over their eye, nestling in between their cheek and just below their eyebrow. ¡°Things look brighter. Not blinding, but brighter.¡±

    Brick smiled. ¡°That¡¯s a good one at least. Three for four, not bad. Hopefully it lets you see in the dark. Give it a try tonight.¡±

    Blue tried to take the monocle off, but their finger went straight through the metal ring around the lens. They scratched at where the monocle was a few times, panic beginning to rise within them. ¡°I can¡¯t get it off.¡±

    Brick tried to grab the monocle as well, fear flooding out from them, but their finger went through the metal ring all the same. ¡°Any negative effects? Does it hurt? Do you feel unwell?¡±

    Blue shook their head. ¡°No, just makes things brighter. That¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Brick nodded, a wave of relief washing over them. ¡°Okay. No more testing these items ourselves then. This was a lucky boon, Blue¡¯s left with a monocle they can¡¯t take off that lets them see better. But it could have been the cloak that we couldn¡¯t take off. It¡¯s not worth the risk, no matter how much we stand to gain.¡±

    ¡°Anybody want the cloak?¡± Brick asked.

    Spark shook their head.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to try it at least,¡± Zoe said, catching the cloak as Brick tossed it to them. She tried the cloak on, and her vision darkened as soon as she did. The pinhole at the top of the hole that let in the faintest hint of light seemed like she was staring at a blinding sun.

    She closed her eyes and focused on her Cosmic Vision which seemed unaffected. Brick was watching her with a curious expression while Spark was stifling laughter. Blue continued scratching at the monocle stuck to their face.

    Zoe took the cloak off and stored it in her bracelet. ¡°I can keep it? I like it.¡±

    ¡°You can see with that on?" Brick asked.

    ¡°Not really,¡± Zoe said. ¡°But I like how it makes me hard to spot, at least.¡±

    Brick shrugged. ¡°No skin off my back, you were a big help in there so you can keep it if you want it.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Zoe said.

    Brick shook their head and laid down on one of the raised platforms, pulling a blanket they summoned over themselves. They summoned two more, tossing them at Blue and Spark who followed along and got onto their own beds.

    Zoe summoned a blanket for herself and laid down on the final empty bed an drifted off to sleep. She had wonderful dreams of relaxing back home with the two cats sleeping next to her. Oliver on her left, Fennel on the right. Their tiny bodies rising and falling with each breath, and their small adorable snores the only sound breaking through the comfortable silence.

    She woke to Brick leaning over her, shaking her violently. Anxiety and fear flooded the hole they were in like somebody had broken a dam barely holding back the worst terror she¡¯d ever felt.

    ¡°Wanderer,¡± Brick hissed at Zoe, barely audible to even her enhanced ears.

    ¡°What?" Zoe asked, rubbing her eyes.

    ¡°Shhhhhh,¡± Brick hissed. ¡°Wanderer. Seal the hole. Now.¡±

    Zoe pushed mana into her Earth skill, sealing the pinhole in the roof of their hole off. ¡°What¡¯s a wanderer?" She asked as she yawned and stretched on the bed.

    Brick eyed her with a look of suspicion. ¡°What do you mean by that?" They whispered. The fear that overwhelmed the small hole falling away to relief and calm after the hole was sealed off.

    Zoe blinked a few times, realizing what she¡¯d said in her sleepy stupor. ¡°Nevermind, I was still half asleep. Forget what I said.¡±

    She looked around through her Cosmic Vision and saw a vile foot step into the edge of her perception. Mangled and covered in pulsating black scabs. Another foot followed after, revealing more of the creature.

    Their legs were twisted like a rope, covered in the same pulsating black scabs. Their hands reached down below their knees, ending in twisted claws. The creature took another step, revealing their torso covered in more of the scabs and with a large hole through the center of them with threads of blackness stretching across like a spiderweb of fear itself.

    It was humanoid, and even vaguely human. As though a human were wrung through a washing machine a few times and coated in black bean paste. Its jaw was detached and bounced with each of its sloppy steps, its eye sockets were empty, with more of the black threads stretching across the surface of them. And on its head were thin strands of black that stretched down behind it and dragged along on the ground as it walked.

    Brick sat down on their bed and looked at Zoe. ¡°Get back to sleep. I¡¯ll wake you when we¡¯re safe.¡± They whispered.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m up now, no point going back to sleep.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still there,¡± Brick said. ¡°I can feel it.¡±

    ¡°Do you think you could take it if you tried?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Are you insane?¡± Brick asked. ¡°Fight a wanderer? We¡¯re barely level two hundred. We¡¯d die in an instant.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°It all seems the same at level one hundred, I guess. You all seem so strong, it¡¯s hard to imagine something that would be so dangerous for you.¡±

    Brick puffed air out of their nose. ¡°Well, a wanderer would be it. Maybe the dragon, we¡¯ll see. What are you waiting on, anyway?"

    ¡°What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Your level hasn¡¯t changed since we met. Why are you waiting?¡± Brick clarified.

    ¡°Something better, I guess. Maybe after we find this dragon the system will give me something better.¡± Zoe said, watching the wanderer above them walk over their home. Each step they took their twisted feet dug into the dirt, ripping up some of the grass.

    ¡°You plan to come with us when we fight the dragon?¡± Brick asked. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to keep you alive, you know?"

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Of course. How often do you get to fight a dragon?¡±

    Brick smiled. ¡°Not often. Just try not to die. I¡¯ve come to enjoy having you around.¡±

 4-17. A New Town

    The night passed, and not long after light reached the surface to Zoe¡¯s Cosmic Vision, Brick teleported up then back down into the hovel to check for themself.

    ¡°We¡¯re alright,¡± Brick said and shook the two other members awake.

    Blue and Spark both stirred awake and stretched when they got out of bed.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to try your plans, today.¡± Brick said. ¡°We¡¯ll clear out the moles in the large cavern, and then try and clear out the ones in the narrow tunnel before we dig down. Any questions?¡±

    When nobody spoke up, Brick teleported them all out of the sealed hole and they walked over to the dungeon entrance.

    ¡°We had a wanderer last night,¡± Brick said on the way over, gesturing to some of the deep grooves left behind by its footsteps.

    Blue and Spark both nodded, a sombre feeling welling up from inside them both.

    ¡°You think it¡¯s still around?" Spark asked.

    ¡°Probably not,¡± Brick shook their head. ¡°Not during the day anyway. But at night we¡¯ll have Mara seal us in. Better safe than sorry.¡±

    Zoe nodded, and Brick teleported the group down into the dungeon entrance. They ran through the tunnels to the larger cavern and hopped down. The once ragged floor was repaired, leaving no signs of the destruction from the day before as the ground lit up with mana from the moles that lurked below.

    They took out the moles even faster than last time, only spending forty five minutes dealing with the smaller swarm in the large cavern. In the tunnel, rather than trying to push forward, they decided to just inch into it so they¡¯d still have the wide open cavern behind them and Brick wouldn¡¯t be quite so vulnerable from behind.

    The moles seemed almost endless in the tunnel. Bodies piled up to the side of the entrance as Blue and Spark swung their spears around, slashing through and impaling mole after mole. But after a few hours, the barrage of moles stopped as abruptly as it began.

    Brick gestured forward, and Zoe pushed the walls aside deeper as they inched forward through the tunnel. They made it all the way through the tunnel unimpeded, but rather than stepping out into the cavern below, they climbed back up through the tunnel.

    They walked over to the other side of the cavern up above, and Brick gestured to an area for Zoe to carve into with her Earth skill. The earth was dense and extended far further down than Zoe expected, given the amount of rubble that fell when the ceiling collapsed. She wondered where it went when the massive mole screamed. Was it compressed under its own weight, or perhaps destroyed so as to not create too much rubble for the arena? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    After a few minutes of digging, she broke into the lower cavern and the group hopped down, falling down to the floor. As their feet reached the ground, the earth quaked and the three large moles rose from the ground. Before the larger mole had a chance to roar, Blue and Spark rushed at it and impaled it on their spears. Mana rushed down the spears and exploded in the mole¡¯s form as the space around its claws twisted and warped, cracking its left claw.

    The two medium moles swung their massive claws at Blue and Spark who both jumped over them and ripped their spears from the larger mole¡¯s form, stabbing them back down into its gut. More mana rushed down them, and the large mole collapsed in a heap on the ground.

    The two medium moles tried to dive into the ground, but Brick stopped one of them with a tear in space that smashed through its claws. Zoe fired off a blast of water next to Spark where she felt the mole resurfacing, and Spark jumped out of the way, swinging their spear down at its head.

    Blue swung their spear at the clawless mole scrambling at Spark, teeth gnashing and stabbed into its side. Mana rushed through the spear and pulsed within the mole as it too fell to a motionless heap.

    Zoe shot off another blast of water at the ground where the final mole was resurfacing, just behind Brick. Brick dove to the side, rolling on the ground as the mole launched out where they were standing a moment prior. Spark rushed in and swung their spear, smashing through on of its claws as it dove back under the ground.

    It surfaced again just behind Blue who managed to destroy its second claw and then Spark finished it off with their spear.

    *Ding* You have cleared the Grondur dungeon. Would you like to claim your reward?

    Zoe pushed her approval through to the system, and another pile of gems appeared in front of the group. This time with a necklace, a pair of leather boots and a shield.

    *Ding* You have accepted the Grondur¡¯s dungeon reward. Teleportation will begin in 60 seconds¡­ 59¡­. 58¡­ 57¡­

    ¡°Much smoother, this time.¡± Brick said, grabbing the items floating in the pile of gems and storing them away in one of their new rings.

    ¡°Agreed. Stopping the mole from collapsing the roof makes a big difference.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°So did clearing out the tunnel first. I didn¡¯t have to worry about getting tripped up by one of the smaller moles.¡± Blue said.

    Brick nodded. ¡°And I didn¡¯t have to save my mana for teleports since you two could handle the medium moles just fine if I disabled one of them.¡±

    ¡°The question then is do we want to stay here and keep clearing the dungeon?¡± Blue asked.

    ¡°We can¡¯t really tell what the rewards do, so we don¡¯t have any way of knowing if they were better or worse than last time.¡± Brick said. ¡°I vote we leave. The dungeon is exciting, but we¡¯ve done it now. Lets get to the next town and back on track for the dragon.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°I vote we stay. A few more days of this and we¡¯ll never have to worry about money again.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°I vote we leave. We already have enough to not have to worry about money, and we can always come back if we ever need more.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°I vote we leave. Like Blue said, we can just come back. And honestly just clearing the same dungeon over and over sounds really boring.¡± Zoe answered.

    Brick laughed. ¡°Then it¡¯s settled, we leave. We¡¯ll try and find some more dungeons on our adventure though, alright Spark?"

    Spark shrugged. ¡°Whatever. Probably best not to stick around if you saw a wanderer anyway.¡±

    Brick nodded, and space warped, sending them back up to outside the dungeon entrance. They only had a couple hours of light left, so the group made their way back to the earthen hovel and set up for the night.

    Blue and Spark both fell asleep rather quick, while Zoe and Brick stayed up chatting about whatever came to mind for a bit. Whenever silence took over, anxiety and fear began to take over Brick¡¯s mind, so Zoe tried to keep them talking. Different animals they found cute or different foods they liked to eat. What kind of weather they enjoyed or different classes that the low level Zoe might be interested in.

    Brick started teleporting up to the surface every so often just before light, and woke up the others when day came. The group fell back into a comfortable routine of travelling during the day, and sleeping in whatever hovel Zoe built for them at night as they made their way to the next town.

    It was a week before they reached the next town ¡ª Newtown, according to Brick. Named by an unfortunate miscommunication of one person asking if this was the new town, and the other person thinking they said the name was Newton. Nobody cared enough to come up with a better name, so Newtown just ended up sticking, even though it had been several hundred years since it was formed.

    Newtown was different to the previous ravine Zoe had visited. Set instead in a forest full of towering trees that were visible days before they arrived at their base, with massive root systems that wound through the ground. Zoe wondered how the trees of Kaira library ¡ª or Flester¡¯s Might she supposed now, would look in comparison. The library trees seemed taller, but here in Newtown there were so many that it felt like she¡¯d been struck with a shrink ray.

    Thick wool cloths covered the roots to form homes and buildings that people operated shops out of, with gravel walkways that lead from covering to covering. A handful of people wandered through the town as they arrived with a few hours of light still left in the day.

    An anxiety that Zoe hadn¡¯t even realized was around faded away as they reached the town and was replaced with a feeling of relief and serenity.

    ¡°Ah its good to be back.¡± Brick said. ¡°Travelling is real fun, but forgetting about all that is so much nicer. I¡¯ll be at the bar. We¡¯ll deal with our stuff tomorrow.¡± They said before vanishing, appearing a few dozen feet away and entering one of the cloth buildings covering a large, twisting root.

    Blue and Spark both shrugged then walked off down the gravel walkway towards where Brick went, and Zoe followed along with them.

    ¡°Sorry about that, they get really stressed having to keep everything together while we¡¯re out of town so as soon as we¡¯re somewhere safe, they let it all go.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I get it.¡± Zoe said. ¡°It¡¯ll be fun to just have a day off anyway.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d prefer if we could just keep moving personally.¡± Spark said and sighed. ¡°But there¡¯s a reason I¡¯m not the leader. We¡¯d probably all die to my recklessness within a day.¡±

    The entrance to the bar Brick entered was covered with a different coloured cloth that fell over top of a hole cut out of the thick dark cloth that made up the wall, and Blue held it aside for Spark and Zoe to enter. Inside was what resembled a normal bar, with a few key differences. Wooden planks were placed around the floor sporadically, with gravel patches covering the other spots. Gnarled wooden tables were strewn throughout, with a small kitchen area in the centre beneath the tallest point of the root¡¯s arch.

    Brick was already sitting at a table near the edge of the space, the dark cloth falling to the ground in a clump inches away from their chair and swaying as their elbow brushed up against the wall when they picked up their wooden mug.

    ¡°Beer?¡± A nearby girl asked when they entered, looking not a day over seventeen. The youngest person Zoe had seen since she¡¯d come down into the valleys, and level forty nine at that. Quite high for somebody at her age, but Zoe supposed the rugged, dangerous lifestyle one would have to live down in the valley would lend well to more levels.

    ¡°Yes please,¡± Blue said. ¡°Three.¡±

    ¡°And a plate of food for me. We¡¯ll be over there.¡± Spark said and pointed at Brick.

    Zoe decided to just have her dinner later, wherever she managed to hole up for the night rather than try the food at the bar. There was a bit of an offputting, sour smell that filled the room that made Zoe a little apprehensive about joining Spark for dinner, and it seemed Blue and Brick as well who also avoided the food.

    The girl nodded and rushed off to the kitchen in the middle of the room while Zoe¡¯s group walked over to Brick¡¯s table. There was only one other chair at the table, so Blue and Zoe had to steal chairs away from a nearby table, then squeeze in to fit.

    ¡°You know we¡¯re always going to come get a beer with you.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°Bah. You¡¯re always too slow.¡± Brick waved their hand in a dismissive gesture. ¡°Besides, you catch up just fine.¡±

    Blue rolled their eyes. ¡°How long are we gonna stay here?"

    ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about it yet. Few days, at least. We should see if we can find somebody to check out these items, maybe sell some stuff. And I¡¯d like to buy some more supplies. Better blankets, at least. Maybe some pillows.¡± Brick waved their hand in a dismissive gesture again and took a sip from their mug. ¡°But whatever, we¡¯re relaxing today. No more stress.¡±

    Three more mugs arrived shortly after, along with a plate of greasy meat for Spark who dug in as soon as it was set down. Zoe picked up her drink and sniffed it. A deep roasted and somewhat sour, though not offputting smell flooded her nose. She took a sip and scrunched her nose. Beer was never one of her preferred drinks, at least nothing made from grain. There tended to be a distinct bitterness that she just didn¡¯t enjoy, and this beer was no different.

    It had a subtle sweetness to it, with a rich caramel flavour that she did almost find pleasant. But that odd bitterness crashed through it all, ruining the flavour. Maybe one day she could try brewing her own and see if she could make something she enjoyed?

    She¡¯d done cider before, once. Decades ago. Beer couldn¡¯t be too different, she imagined. Mash up some grains, toss it in a container and fill it with water? She put it on the back burner as something to learn about if she ever had a few years of boredom to kill again.

    They all finished their drinks, and Spark finished demolishing the plate of meat in front of them, then they retired for the night. According to Brick, any empty room was free to take for the night so Zoe split off from the others and found an empty cloth room where she laid down on the cold gravel ground and listened to the sounds of Newtown at night.

    It was much less active than she expected ¡ª people didn¡¯t walk around between the buildings at night like they did in the ravine, though the people under nearby roots continued to be active and excited. Conversations and hushed laughter could be heard, and Zoe found herself drifting off to sleep with the pleasant background noise of Newtown.

 4-18. Royals

    Joe woke up in his bed, his colourful quilt hugging his body and draping off of his mattress. One of few luxuries he allowed himself, a comfortable night¡¯s sleep one of the most important things to him. Almost every coin he had was put towards bettering Foizo to the least fortunate who found their way to the town and struggled to make ends meet.

    But his bed remained a comfort he enjoyed nevertheless. A place to relax after a long day, to unwind and to let the stress wash away. A good night¡¯s rest was the difference between beautiful day and a dim one, Joe found.

    He got up and rubbed his back, his back sore and worn in his old age. If he was going to get immortality, the least he could have done was get it before he got old. Maybe one day Zoe would return with some way to make him younger, Joe chuckled to himself.

    She lucked out, grasping immortality for herself at such a young age. So spry and full of vigor, for all of eternity. Joe shrugged, being old had its benefits as well. Without a reputation, nobody would know Zoe was as old as she was. They still saw her as a na?ve young girl ¡ª and her fancy necklaces hiding her level hardly helped with that either.

    Joe pulled his quilt back over his bed and fluffed his pillow then staggered over to his desk to sit down. Today was a big day, the council was meeting with the king for their annual report and they needed to put on a good show. It didn¡¯t really matter, Joe knew. At least not for Foizo¡¯s prosperity. Foizo paid their taxes, and the kingdom had an obligation to provide assistance befitting the amount paid. Lest they risk losing that income for themselves.

    But meeting the king himself was always nervewracking. Everybody was on edge as they waited for the mage to arrive, double checking all of their numbers and plans. Being sure they had all of Foizo¡¯s needs ready at their fingertips and wouldn¡¯t fall from the pressure.

    He rummaged through the papers on his desk ¡ª housing requests for the most part, though there were some scribbles of budgets and a document discussing the future expansion of the town. Some of the council wanted to expand towards Flester¡¯s Might and create a district just on the outskirts of the dungeon to bring in more income from the dungeon.

    Joe disagreed with the idea personally. The dungeon was close enough for many to commute to work there, especially since they¡¯d created the road to Inkley. But to expand the town all the way to the dungeon would be far more of an undertaking than it would be worth.

    Increasing revenue from the dungeon was something worth doing, but Joe¡¯s preference was a toll on the road. Anybody who lived in Foizo would be granted free passage through some means of identification, and anybody who did not would need to pay a fee to use the road. Perhaps they could take a page from Zoe and Fred¡¯s book, create some sort of escort through Flester¡¯s Might. A tour of Flester¡¯s old beauty, how the city changed under the dungeon¡¯s influence.

    He shrugged and turned his attention back to the papers on his desk for a while until the sun rose and he stored the important pile he¡¯d separated away in his ring and left his room. The hallway just outside was dim with some deafened snores sneaking through the cracks in the enchanted doors. He¡¯d have to get them repaired soon, people too often slam them shut in frustration and while the doors work wonders in good condition, with holes and cracks in them the sound seeps out anyway.

    Downstairs, Kenzie and Sue were working, cleaning up the mess left from the previous night. Mugs and plates left on tables with cutlery covering the ground.

    ¡°

    The two girls looked up and smiled at him, a joy he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d ever get old of. Just a few short years ago they were in such disarray, and now they were confident. Had their own home, and even helped Joe out at his inn. A fact he couldn''t appreciate more with how busy the council made him some days.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Joe nodded. ¡°Well, don¡¯t hesitate to bother Emma if something happens, alright? I¡¯ll be busy with the council for most of today.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    A dull thud came from the bar where Sue was and she stood up rubbing the top of her head. ¡°Eugh. I hate taxes.¡±

    Joe laughed. ¡°You know, Zoe never used to like taxes either. She hated them so much more than anybody I¡¯d ever seen.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

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    ¡°

    Joe laughed. ¡°Yes, very. Alright I¡¯ve gotta get going, you two have a nice day. Remember if you need anything go pester Emma. Or Peter and Lauren, but they have a business and Emma¡¯s probably just sleeping with her cats.¡±

    Kenzie laughed. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine, Joe. We always are.¡±

    ¡°

    Kenzie walked up to Joe and started pushing him out the door. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine, Joe. We¡¯re not the fragile little girls we used to be.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°

    Joe turned and walked down the street towards the council building. The two girls meant the world to him. Watching them grow up, seeing them become their own people. Women, now, Joe reminded himself. Adults, making their own way in the world.

    He couldn¡¯t be prouder of them. To overcome such adversity and still be so pleasant and happy was such a hopeful thing to see. No matter how bad the days were, no matter what disaster might strike, they were always a reminder that things could get better.

    And a reminder of the importance of the work he did, though now he¡¯d expanded beyond just his inn. It was less personal, being on the council. Pushing through changes that helped with the less fortunate people of Foizo, that gave people homes, food and support they needed. He couldn¡¯t be there with them every step of the way like he had with the others, but Foizo was a pleasant place to be, thanks in part to his efforts.

    People were happy and comfortable in Foizo, with plenty of opportunities to better themselves. Though he did miss the personal touch The Risen Cask had at times. There was a pride he felt at seeing the safety of Foizo, the comfort the people had.

    But there was no relationship. Many people knew who he was, and his position on the council. Most people knew, he thought. The council was hardly some secretive thing, a hidden group that ran the city. Many of their meetings were even done in public, with suggestions taken from the citizens.

    There were just too many. It was impossible to develop such a personal relationship with each and every one of them as he had before. A fact he found difficult to accept at times, loving the connection he had with people who came through his inn before. But he did good, he reminded himself.

    Joe walked in to the council building, a rather gaudy two floored wooden building with gold embossing around the doors and windows. A waste of money, in Joe¡¯s opinion ¡ª and for that matter the rest of the council. But the royals had their own twisted sense of necessity and outright refused to join them for a meeting in anything simpler.

    Eileen was sitting behind the front counter and smiled when Joe walked in. A past member of the council, who stepped down to a less stressful role after the first few years. Joe couldn¡¯t blame her.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Joe smiled. ¡°Everybody¡¯s got their own thing going on.¡±

    ¡°

    Joe rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve got a simple role. Make sure people have houses.¡±

    ¡°

    Joe nodded. ¡°Thanks, Eileen.¡±

    ¡°

    Joe nodded and made his way towards the stairs at the back. They led up to the second floor which was just a single large room with a far too long table set down the middle, and dozens of small tables along the edges of the walls with green plants growing from pots.

    He took his seat at the fourth chair on the right of the table ¡ª pointless structure in Joe¡¯s opinion, they didn¡¯t have near enough members on the council to fill the table. And the royals never sent more than three, often even just two people for their side.

    But it all played into the silly rules the royals needed their cities to fit. Organization and structure, and as much as Joe hated to admit it, it did make sense. They¡¯d be speaking with who knows how many cities today alone, and who knows how many the previous or next days. If every room they met in was different, with different placements and expectations it could slow them down on getting necessary support to cities in need.

    It just made more sense to Joe to require no structure in the meeting rooms. Let people sit where they wish, or perhaps require a separate table for the royal delegation.

    Doris was next to show up a few minutes later and sat next to Joe at the third seat. Ingrid and Kiara came in not long after and took their seats at the fifth and sixth respectively. Elliot was next and sat at the second seat, with Ernest showing up last and taking his spot at the first seat.

    ¡°

    He was met with nods from the other members.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Ernest nodded, and the council sat in silence for a few minutes before the royal delegation appeared in the room with a puff of white smoke that floated up to the ceiling and vanished.

    Yul took their spot at the far end of the table, with Jorg and Hirl sitting down at the two seats opposite Ernest and Elliot.

    ¡°

    The council members nodded and all summoned small bags of coins that clanked and clattered, handing them to the two delegates.

    They looked through the bags and nodded to Yul.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Short brown hair covered with a gaudy bejewelled crown. A heavy red coat covered in gems and gold threads rested on his broad shoulders and contrasted his pale skin. Joe could never get over how young the king seemed. Was immortality given to the royal family, some secret keeping them around forever? He didn¡¯t look a day over thirty, and yet ruled an entire kingdom.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    The council sat.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    The king nodded. ¡°We will consider this. Is there anything else?"

    When nobody spoke up, the king nodded again. ¡°Very well. It is good to see you all well.¡±

    ¡°

    The king nodded, and the painting dissolved away. Colours rushed back into the plants and walls again, filling the room with life.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Ingrid let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Thank god.¡±

    Joe laughed.

 4-19. Revealing

    Zoe woke up a few hours after she laid down to a loud crash from a neighbouring root as somebody dropped a pot full of bubbling soup onto some dirty dishes. Hushed cursing followed after, as though anybody was still asleep nearby after the racket.

    She smiled and sat up, sleep wasn¡¯t all that important to her anyway. Darkness still covered the town, and Zoe teleported a few kilometers up, in the sky far above the towering forest. She caught herself in a suit of earth and took a deep breath of the still night air.

    ¡°AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" A voice screamed out from below her. Zoe turned her attention to the voice and saw Brick plummeting to the ground in nothing but their underwear, panic and fear racing through them.

    Earth formed in the sky and stretched around them, catching and slowing them as they fell, then Zoe brought Brick back up to her.

    ¡°What are you doing here?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°What? What am I doing here? What are you doing here!?¡± Brick shouted at her. ¡°How did you do this? Where are we? Why is this?¡±

    Zoe sighed. She wasn¡¯t sure how much she wanted to hide from the group anyway ¡ª they were nice, and travelling with them was fun. Now that she¡¯d made it to another city, she¡¯d wanted to take a breather and think about the situation more. Did she really need to be secretive with them? What benefit was there to her? Would Brick and the others think less of her because she¡¯d deceived them? Would they try and take advantage of her and ruin the enjoyable time she¡¯d been having?

    But that all came to a screaming halt because of whatever Brick had done. The decision was made for her, whether she wanted it or not. She teleported the two of them up several times as the dark sky lit up bit by bit with the distant stars and half moon.

    Brick blinked as light returned, shock and fear the only things Zoe could feel through her empathy.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I just thought it would be better if we could see.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Why are you here?"

    Brick sputtered out noises as they tried to form a sentence. ¡°I- you- wha- but- Who are you?"

    ¡°I¡¯m Mara. Zoe Mara, I guess.¡± Zoe sighed and pointed up at the still towering mountain in the distance. ¡°I¡¯m from up there. I wanted to explore a bit, see what the world had to offer. And then I met you. But I¡¯m going to ask you again, why are you here?¡±

    ¡°Are you going to hurt me? Are Blue and Spark safe?" Brick asked.

    ¡°Yes, they¡¯re all safe. No, I¡¯m not going to hurt you. I wanted to go out for a bit to think and you showed up. How did you show up, and why did you show up?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m a space mage, Mara. Zoe? I left a tracker on you, I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t see it since you¡¯re also clearly a space mage.¡± Brick said.

    Zoe looked at herself through her Cosmic Vision and saw a small and subtle rip in space stuck to her back, threads of space that wound over themselves and twisted together. She clicked her tongue. For all her power, she¡¯d never know how to make such a thing, or how to destroy such a thing. Even if she found it, would she have been able to know what it did, or how it worked?

    ¡°Ah. Interesting. How do you do that?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s one of my skills. I keep it on everybody I care about just in case somebody gets teleported away so I¡¯ll be dragged with them.¡± Brick explained, fear still seeping through to Zoe¡¯s empathy.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt you, Brick. Honestly I came out here half to think about whether I should still keep hiding from you, but I didn¡¯t notice your stupid thing. I¡¯m sorry, I wouldn¡¯t have teleported you several kilometers up into the sky without warning if I knew.¡± Zoe said, pushing mana into her Earth skill.

    A platform formed floating in the sky, a dozen meters across in each direction with two chairs set in the middle. Zoe pulled away the earth surrounding her and Brick, dissolving it away into a pittance of mana that she reclaimed and sat down in one of the chairs.

    ¡°Have a seat, Brick.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick nodded and sat down, anxiety and panic washing out from them. The only other time she¡¯d felt such a visceral fear from somebody was when the wanderer walked over their home. Did Brick see her as the same as that creature?

    ¡°Honestly, Brick. If you wanna go back I¡¯ll take you back right now. But I just figured you¡¯d wanna talk.¡± Zoe said. ¡°I¡¯m not gonna hurt you. Worst case scenario I drop you off back in town and then disappear and you never see me again. But I don¡¯t really want that, cause I like you all and it¡¯s been fun travelling. And I¡¯ve learned a lot, too.¡±

    ¡°Were you the creature James¡¯ party found?¡± Brick asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. I stumbled onto them in the forest and thought it might be fun to travel with them. But then they found the hydra and lured it over to us. James thought it best to attack me. I don¡¯t know, maybe leave me as a sacrifice so they could get away or something. So I killed the hydra and left.¡±

    She chuckled. ¡°But then I didn¡¯t really know where to go, so I stalked them to the ravine and met you and you know what happened after that.¡±

    ¡°Why did they want to kill you so bad?" Brick asked. ¡±What did you do?"

    ¡°Honestly, I have no idea. I told you all I know. And from what I heard, they were honest about their telling of the story. Maybe they were just stupid? I don¡¯t wanna be mean to the dead, but I genuinely don¡¯t get it. I wish they didn¡¯t, cause it¡¯s a shame they died for nothing. But I can¡¯t possibly pretend to know how they think.¡± Zoe shrugged.

    Brick nodded. ¡°Are you going to do the same to us?¡±

    ¡°Do what, Brick? I didn¡¯t do anything to them. I killed the hydra that was attacking them and left. Are you asking if I¡¯ll kill your dragon and leave? Probably not. Unless it looks like it¡¯s going to kill you, then maybe. I like you all and letting you die for no reason is stupid.¡± Zoe answered.

    Brick took a deep breath, a slight wave of calm washing over the anxiety they felt. A move in the right direction at least, Zoe thought. ¡°I¡¯ll be honest, Mara.¡± Brick said. ¡°You¡¯ve done a poor job of hiding it.¡±Stolen story; please report.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Hiding it from the same people for so long was never really my intention. I just wanted to be able to go into towns and villages and not get harassed or pestered for favours. But then you dragged me along on this month long journey and I just kept going with it cause I didn¡¯t know what to do.¡±

    ¡°Do you still want to join us?¡± Brick asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if we¡¯ll be okay with that. I¡¯m not sure if I am. Spark will be, I think.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to. It¡¯s been fun. But I don¡¯t want to just trivialize it all. I want to keep going like we¡¯ve been going. Just a leisurely stroll through the woods as we work our way towards the dragon.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick laughed and shook their head. ¡°Leisurely, huh? What level are you, really?¡±

    Zoe checked her stat sheet before answering and grinned. ¡°Two eighty eight. Nice, got another level.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Brick asked. ¡°That¡¯s not much higher than me, really. Not as far apart as all of this,¡± Brick gestured around them. ¡°Would seem to show.¡±

    Zoe smiled and disabled her necklace that obscured her level to Identify then pointed above her head. ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean much I guess since I already hid it, but that¡¯s my real level. I¡¯ve got some good classes though.¡±

    Brick nodded and took another deep breath, the fear beginning to give way to a subtle excitement that made Zoe cringe. That¡¯s what she wanted to avoid, the greed of people wanting to use her to their advantage. Why would they walk through the forest and discover dungeons and wanderers when they could just teleport all the way to the last dragon sighting in a matter of seconds? Why would they struggle through a dungeon when Zoe could just rip up the earth and decimate the moles in minutes?

    But that simplicity was what she wanted. The normalcy of it all. Travelling and exploring, discovering new things. Taking some time to stop and smell the roses in a place as exotic and exciting as down in the valley was all she cared to do for the moment.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m okay with it. With you coming with us. It¡¯ll be nice knowing we have somebody like you on our side. I¡¯m not going to fall into the same trap as James and think you¡¯ve somehow wronged us and that we deserve vengeance.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Thank you, Brick.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°But how powerful are you? If we were attacked by a wanderer, could you keep us safe?" Brick asked.

    ¡°I have no idea. The other night was the first time I¡¯d ever seen one, and I couldn¡¯t identify it so I don¡¯t know what level it was. Not that levels are even all that great of an indicator of power anyway. I wonder if we can replace our Identify skill with something more useful somehow.¡± Zoe wondered aloud.

    ¡°I¡¯m beginning to realize that myself now,¡± Brick shook their head. ¡°How¡¯d you do it, anyway? Hide your level like that?"

    Zoe turned her enchantments back on and gestured above her head. ¡°It¡¯s just some enchantments that show more information on the Identify. But if I overlay them all perfectly then it kinda shows up as a different level a little bit. I bet the eight looks weird now since I levelled up though. I¡¯ll have to make another one now.¡±

    Brick squinted above Zoe¡¯s head. ¡°Yeah it does look a little off now that you mention it. Like I¡¯m looking at two things at once. Or three? I¡¯m not sure. Weird. I wouldn¡¯t notice it at a glance though, and I wouldn¡¯t identify the same person multiple times every day so it would hardly need to be perfect. Fascinating.¡±

    ¡°It does the job well enough. Pain in the butt to make though.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick laughed. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know, I¡¯ve never enchanted anything before. You say you¡¯re from the peaks?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°You get many people from up there down here?¡±

    Brick puffed air out through their nose. "Natives, no. Not like you. Or maybe we do and just never notice. We get people who claim to have climbed up to the peaks coming down with stories, though. Long days and bright nights, without fear of the shadows coming to life in the light. I never believed them before.

    ¡°I thought they were full of shit. Nights without fear? No wanderers prowling the darkness? Sprawling cities with lights lining the roads keeping everything bright even in the middle of night? That¡¯s just a fantasy, really. Imagination.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°But now?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Well now I see it for myself. We¡¯re not even up to the peaks and I can already see. I can see my hands, this platform. The distant peaks. It may as well be high noon I can see so well, and yet it isn¡¯t. It¡¯s dark. And there¡¯s no shadows threatening to overrun us. We¡¯re safe here, as long as you can maintain this platform.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°I can. My mana regeneration is pretty good.¡± Zoe chuckled.

    ¡°Is it all true? Cities beaming with light even now, up there? Children staying up late reading books by torch light, without fear?¡± Brick asked.

    ¡°It is.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick closed their eyes and nodded for a few seconds. ¡°I¡¯d like to see it one day.¡±

    ¡°I can take you there. All three of you. After we deal with this dragon, I¡¯m really excited to see a dragon, honestly. Never seen one before.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll hold you to that, then, if we keep travelling. I¡¯m for it, and I think Spark will be. But we¡¯ll see tomorrow. I can¡¯t hide this, Mara. I like you, but they¡¯re my family. I can¡¯t lie to them.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°I know. I¡¯ll take us down then? Might be a bit to find the town again though, honestly. Should be basically straight down, but my vision in the dark is pretty restricted so I can¡¯t just teleport us willy nilly.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick shook their head. ¡°I think I¡¯d like to sit up here a while longer. I¡¯ve never seen the night sky like this before. I¡¯ll lead you down before light, I know where the town is.¡±

    ¡°How?" Zoe asked. ¡±Can you see it still?"

    Brick laughed. ¡°See? No. But I have trackers on Blue and Spark still, so I can feel where they are. They¡¯re pretty much straight below us like you said, though. Won¡¯t be hard.¡±

    ¡°How long do those last, anyway?" Zoe asked. ¡±I¡¯ve been wanting to find some kind of beacon or tracking thing so I can always know where home is even if I go far away and haven¡¯t found anything suitable yet.¡°

    ¡°A week. More if I put more mana into them, but if I¡¯m away for longer than a week then something very wrong has happened and they already take a lot of mana.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Hmm. Is it a skill I could get do you think? That would be perfect for what I need, I think.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I guess, if you get my class. I¡¯m not sharing the details though, I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s a bit personal.¡± Brick answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I¡¯d like to see you using the skill though. You don¡¯t sleep much, do you?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Every few days, usually.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Then on the days we¡¯re both up all night, I¡¯d like to study that skill please. I can pay you. Gems, gold. I¡¯ll go clear that dungeon dozens of times and give you all the rewards. Whatever you want.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sure, I can¡¯t use it too much though. Like I said it uses a lot of mana, but I¡¯ll let you study it whenever I use it, if you think that¡¯ll help you somehow.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°I think it¡¯ll help a lot. Thanks so much.¡± Zoe smiled. Maybe there was a silver lining to this unfortunate accident after all.

 4-20. Peaks

    They sat in silence for a few minutes, with Brick staring up at the night sky and the distant mountains. Views they¡¯d never be able to see this late dozens of kilometers further down in the dark.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t really that scared of you.¡± Brick said. ¡°I thought you were more than you seemed since we met. Your mana feels so pure and powerful. The way you hold yourself is unbefitting of somebody at such a low level. You showed up at the same time James¡¯ party got back and while they weren¡¯t the most sane of people, they weren¡¯t liars. I expected you to be a lot more than you led on.

    ¡°Even after James attacked us, you didn¡¯t want to retaliate. You¡¯re peaceful, Mara. Zoe.¡± Brick chuckled. ¡°As peaceful as a monster like you can be, I guess. I do trust you, for the most part. I have to, really. If you let all this go,¡± Brick gestured around themselves. ¡°I¡¯d fall to the ground and die. But you won¡¯t do that, will you?"

    Zoe smiled. ¡°No, no I won¡¯t. But I do have a skill that tells me how other people feel, and you did feel pretty scared. Thanks, though. But I¡¯m not offended.¡±

    Brick laughed. ¡°I wasn¡¯t scared of you. I was terrified. Just, of everything. One moment I was asleep, and the next I was plummeting to my death in my underwear. Which reminds me.¡± Brick summoned some clothes from their ring and got dressed. A purple skirt reaching below their knees with a brown wool shirt that looked quite warm.

    Zoe laughed. ¡°I guess that would be pretty scary.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It was terrifying. I¡¯d been teleported by force before - that¡¯s the point of my skill, really. But never so far up into the sky and without any warning like that before. I do trust you, as much as I did before.¡± Brick said. ¡°Which isn¡¯t all that much, but I kept you around in part because I thought you were hiding something and would at least be a last effort if anything terrible happened. Not to rely on, but to hope for if all else failed.¡±

    Zoe nodded, and the two sat on the floating platform for another few hours in silence as the stars drifted across the sky. Before the sun rose, Zoe pushed mana into the earthen platform they sat on, and the chairs twisted around their bodies to form suits. The rest of the earth dissolved away into mana that Zoe claimed back, and she teleported them down a few times until she couldn¡¯t see far enough.

    ¡°That way,¡± Brick said, pointing down and a little to the right. Zoe flew them downwards, not wanting to risk a teleport catching one of them on a stray branch that reached above the canopy until she saw the trees at the edge of her perception.

    Brick continued gesturing and pointing in directions as Zoe flew them back down to Newtown and the two made their way back to the roots they¡¯d been staying at to relax for the last few hours before light.

    In the morning, Brick showed up at Zoe¡¯s root with Blue and Spark and teleported the group in to talk about Zoe¡¯s deception. Spark seemed excited more than anything and wanted even more than before to continue travelling with Zoe. They wanted to find more dungeons that lurked below the ground and throw themselves at them until they had enough wealth to buy their own city.

    Blue was much less excited, but didn¡¯t have any problems with Zoe being stronger than she pretend to be, and Zoe found herself relieved that she¡¯d still get to travel with this party. It was fun, being a part of a more normal journey for once. Not by herself on a mountain, throwing herself into danger over and over. Not teleporting straight to the end and solving it all instantly.

    Just a nice stroll ¡ª or sprint really, through the forest during the day. She learned more about how to use her mana more efficiently, the capabilities of her core skills. It forced her to think about solutions to problems she no longer had, which was fun and exciting because it showed she was capable of so much more than she thought she was.

    And sure, she could restrict herself without being with a group. But she¡¯d get bored. She¡¯d race to the dragon just for a chance to see the dragon, and lose everything she would have learned along the way. Being with the group gave her something to ground herself with, an anchor to keep her from acting against her best interests.

    Which wasn¡¯t even mentioning the obvious and perhaps most significant boon of Brick having a tracking spell! Exactly what she wanted, the very thing she¡¯d spent so long trying to achieve for herself was just sitting right here. The bane of her existence, the source of stress that pushed her to leaving Foizo and focusing on something different was so simple to find when she slowed down and smelled the roses.

    ¡°Mara - Zoe, sorry. Do you prefer Zoe or Mara?¡± Brick asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really mind, they¡¯re both my name. I haven¡¯t used Mara in decades though, so I¡¯m more used to Zoe. But it doesn¡¯t really matter to me.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t force myself then, Mara. You¡¯re welcome to stay with us since nobody has a problem with it. But a few things are going to change, alright?¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Okay, like what?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°First, when we get out of town I need a full breakdown of all your abilities. Everything you can do to help us. You want to travel at the same pace we¡¯ve been moving at, and that¡¯s fine. But we¡¯re going to be travelling safer, at least.¡± Brick said.

    Zoe thought on it for a moment before she answered. ¡°I¡¯m not willing to share everything, but I¡¯ll tell you more, sure.¡±

    ¡°You need to tell us everything that you can use to keep us safe.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°I can do that, at least.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Good. Second, we¡¯re going to be camping in the sky. You¡¯re clearly capable of it, Spark wants to do it, and it will be much safer than having to be down on the ground with the wanderers and whoever else decides to pursue us.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Sure, I can do that.¡± Zoe answered. ¡°I do like staying on the ground though, if we can do that. I can make it safer, but it¡¯s fun to build the little homes we¡¯ve been staying in.¡±

    ¡°Once a week, we¡¯ll stay on the ground, then. The rest, we camp in the sky.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Twice a week,¡± Zoe countered.

    ¡°Fine,¡± Brick said. ¡°Third, you don¡¯t hold back on healing anymore. James talked about some odd green creature that healed them. I want you to give us one of those, as well.¡±

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t hold back on healing all that much, honestly. I wouldn¡¯t have let anybody die. The green creature that healed them isn¡¯t really worth using if I¡¯m around anyway. It uses a lot of mana and doesn¡¯t do as good a job as I can do myself. I won¡¯t restrict my mana when I¡¯m healing, but if you do something stupid because of that then I won¡¯t heal you.¡± Zoe lied. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Fine.¡± Brick said. ¡°Lastly, you take us to the peak when we¡¯re done with the dragon journey.¡±

    ¡°I already told you I¡¯d do that last night,¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Really!?¡± Spark shouted. ¡°We¡¯re going to the peaks?¡±

    Brick laughed. ¡°Yup. Once we¡¯re done with the dragon.¡±

    ¡°Is it safe up there?" Blue asked. ¡±I¡¯ve heard they¡¯re full of dangerous monsters.¡°

    Zoe laughed. ¡°No, down here is full of dangerous monsters. Up there most people don¡¯t even know that you all exist.¡±

    Blue nodded, ¡°Well if it¡¯s safe, then it could be fun.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s agreed, we¡¯ll head to the peaks when we¡¯re done with the dragon.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°Screw the dragon! I wanna go now!" Spark said. ¡±Lets go now!"

    Brick shook their head. ¡°Mara wants to finish the dragon journey first, Spark.¡±

    ¡°But the dragon¡¯s so boring compared to the peaks! I know people who¡¯ve seen dragons. I¡¯ve never met somebody who¡¯s from the peaks before. Let alone somebody who could take me to the peaks. That¡¯s way cooler.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, Spark.¡± Brick said. ¡°If it was just us, I¡¯d agree. But it¡¯s not. We can¡¯t get to the peaks without Mara, and Mara doesn¡¯t want to. There¡¯s no point in a vote. We either go find the dragon with Zoe, and have fun after. Or we piss her off and she leaves, and we never make it to the peaks. We decided we would keep on looking for the dragon, and that¡¯s what we¡¯re doing to do. When we¡¯re done, then we¡¯ll go to the peaks. But this isn¡¯t up for argument.¡±

    Spark sighed.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Spark. We already found a dungeon and met Mara.¡± Blue shrugged. ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll find something else, too.¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine. But we better go to the peaks as soon as we¡¯re done.¡± Spark looked at Zoe.

    She shrugged in response. ¡°I just wanna have fun exploring down here, is all. Once I¡¯ve had my fun, I don¡¯t really mind going wherever. I don¡¯t even really mind if we change what we do as long as we keep doing it down here, but I would like to see the dragon. I¡¯ve never seen one before, it sounds exciting.¡±

    ¡°We do have a few more days to spend here, anyway. Maybe a week, I¡¯m not sure. We¡¯ve gotta get these items identified, and buy some more supplies. Or at least find somebody who knows where we could get these items identified so we know where to go next.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°What are you suggesting,¡± Blue asked.

    ¡°Well, I can do all that myself here. Newtown is safe, for the most part. So you two could go up to the peaks with Mara while I run some errands down here. If you¡¯re okay with that, Mara. You want to see the dragon, Spark wants to see the peaks. I think this is a good compromise.¡± Brick suggested.

    Zoe shrugged. "I can do that, as long as it¡¯s not going to add much delay.¡°

    ¡°None,¡± Brick said. ¡°You were all going to just relax here anyway while I got the work done.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t do that, Brick. I¡¯ll stay with you.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°I could. I¡¯ll go. Lets go. Right now.¡± Spark said.

    Zoe looked at brick who nodded. ¡°Alright, lets go then. We won¡¯t stop at any cities or dungeons, and we¡¯ll be back tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± Brick said.

    Zoe and Spark vanished a moment later, and were wrapped in suits of earth as Zoe teleported them further up into the sky. She turned around and looked down at the forest ¡ª thankfully the town was set in an enormous forest with trees that towered over the surrounding forests. But unfortunately, the taller trees also took up a much larger portion of the land than the other distinct forests that surrounded it.

    Finding the forest the town was in would be simple. Finding the town within the forest? In particular when the town itself seemed to trying to hide from prying eyes, would not be so simple. Were they hiding from wanderers? Did they have such poor vision?

    ¡°Woaaah,¡± Spark said as they floated in the air. ¡°This is crazy.¡±

    Zoe teleported the two of them further up and towards the distant mountain casting shade over the forests while Spark continued to spew out an increasing awe and wonder. They landed at the edge of the near sheer cliff face in an open field.

    ¡°The grass,¡± Spark said, bending down to touch it. ¡°It¡¯s so green. Why is it so green?¡±

    ¡°I could ask the same of you. Why¡¯s your grass blue?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Spark said. ¡°It¡¯s grass! Grass is blue!¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°No, it¡¯s green. In some languages, that might be the same thing though. The way we talk about colours is always something that amused me.¡±

    Spark leaned over the edge of the cliff and stared out at the forests down below. From so far above, it looked like little more than dark green smudges with patches of blue where the forest opened up to fields of grass.

    ¡°This is amazing. So much more amazing than I thought it would be. Can you take me back?¡± Spark asked.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to see anymore?" Zoe asked.

    Spark shook their head. ¡°Not without Brick and Blue. I really want to see more. I want to see these cities, I want to see the night sky. I want to see everything. Explore everything. But it could be months before we¡¯re done with this dragon thing, and Blue and Brick won¡¯t know any of it. I couldn¡¯t handle that. Knowing all of this, and knowing that they¡¯re missing it all.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll take you back, then. I was a bit worried about knowing how to get back honestly so this works out.¡± She laughed.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know how to get back?" Spark asked.

    ¡°Nope. Not a clue. It¡¯s over there,¡± Zoe pointed to the tallest trees hundreds of kilometers away. "But we¡¯ll have to try and find Newtown in that mess once we get down. Shouldn¡¯t be too bad since it¡¯s still fresh in my memory, though.¡°

    ¡°You¡¯re insane.¡± Spark laughed. ¡°I like you.¡±

    Zoe laughed and teleported them back down. It took a few minutes to get back to the town after they got back to the trees, but they managed to find some familiar looking branches and marks then ended up back with Brick and Blue less than ten minute after they¡¯d left.

    ¡°You¡¯re back already?" Brick asked.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°It was pretty boring, honestly.¡± Spark said. ¡°I¡¯d rather figure out what those items are I think. The peaks can wait.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°They thought it was too cool to see it all without you two.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Spark shouted. ¡°I told you that in secret!¡±

    ¡°You did not,¡± Zoe shot back. ¡°You never told me not to tell them.¡±

    ¡°You should have got it from the context.¡± Spark said.

    ¡°I did, but this was much more fun.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick and Blue both laughed. ¡°Alright, lets go see if we can find somebody to tell us what these items do and get back to tracking down this dragon then.¡± Brick said.

 4-21. Threads

    The following days in Newtown were fairly relaxing for Zoe, at least. Brick and the others seemed rather stressed by all of the preparations they had to make for their next journey out as they tried to find somebody to identify the items they¡¯d been given by the dungeon. But for Zoe, it was a comfortable two days of eating some greasy food and fantasizing about what she¡¯d be able to do once she managed to copy Brick¡¯s skill ¡ª if she could.

    Even if it only lasted for a week, or maybe even two, that would be enough for her to at least feel comfortable leaving Abyllan for a bit. She could go visit the moon, see some of the nearby planets. See how close she could get to the sun, maybe. And all without the fear of losing her home, being stranded in the vastness of space without a way back.

    Maybe her sixth class would give her something similar if she got a powerful space class with it, some kind of anchor point that would let her always teleport back home if she wanted. Something like that made sense to her for a powerful space class. Every mage needed a home base.

    Maybe she could enchant something to cause a similar effect to Brick¡¯s, now that she thought about it. She wouldn¡¯t need to know where home is, if she just had an item that would always teleport her back to the same enchanted circle somewhere. It could be a good use for that massive cavern she¡¯d carved out behind her home and never ended up actually using.

    She shrugged. That was a problem for another day. Today was the day they departed from Newtown, off in pursuit of the dragon¡¯s trail. She¡¯d need to have a bit of a difficult conversation with the group about her abilities, but she¡¯d already thought about what she¡¯d tell them.

    For starters, she¡¯d tell them that she was an enchanter ¡ª and a powerful one, mostly in the hopes that they¡¯d have some ideas for her to try out. Second, she¡¯d share her Gales skill and let them know that she could provide air for them to breathe indefinitely should they be trapped in a sealed box. Such as when a wanderer is around, or perhaps if they get attacked by some other group again.

    And finally, she¡¯d tell them that her healing was far more capable than she¡¯d let on ¡ª though she wouldn¡¯t share Nature¡¯s Clearing with them unless it was needed. The notification the system gave was just far too descriptive of her abilities to use that on them, even if she was beginning to trust them a lot more. The last thing she needed was for somebody to end up hating her and also happen to know what resistances she didn¡¯t have.

    Brick and the others were unfortunately not able to find anybody to identify the items for them, though they did get recommended to another nearby town where somebody might be able to. Gloria in Lionhead, a couple weeks journey to the south-east. A little out of the way for them at the moment, so they decided to stop by on the way back after they¡¯d found the dragon.

    With the new storage item Brick had, they were able to stock up on some more clothes for the group, as well as some new warm blankets and even a couple pillows between them. The rest of the space Brick filled with food.

    Altogether, the group was wealthy and it showed. Magical items were abundant, and they clearly even had the storage space to carry food with them rather than hunt as they travelled. Many of the locals looked on with greedy eyes, vying for their wealth.

    Brick suspected that some of them would give chase when they left and try to steal their wealth, and decided on a plan to prevent needless violence. They¡¯d leave and run towards the south east to Lionhead for a few minutes and then Zoe would Cosmic Step them several kilometers to the north. Brick had already put on a bit of a show as a rather powerful space mage, so anybody pursuing them would assume that they¡¯d pushed themselves as fast as they can to the next town to get their items identified.

    The plan went off without a hitch, though Zoe wasn¡¯t sure if anybody was following them anyway. If they were, they were staying far enough away that Zoe¡¯s Cosmic Vision wasn¡¯t able to see them, and she didn¡¯t stick around long enough to try and find their tracks anyway. But even after several days of running to the north from Newtown, they hadn¡¯t been bothered by any nefarious thieves. So either nobody decided to steal their wealth, or the plan did work.

    Either way, Zoe was glad to avoid the possible bloodshed.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Brick shuddered. ¡°I don¡¯t know how powerful you truly are, but I hope we never see one.¡±

    The conversation about Zoe¡¯s abilities had gone well, nobody pried for more information than she was willing to give up and were glad that she was a more capable healer than she already was. But there was still an undercurrent of curiosity beneath all of their emotions, wanting to know more about Zoe. What she could do, what her limits were. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure herself, it had been quite some time since she¡¯d been truly challenged.

    Though, that was largely intentional. If she was challenged, she was in danger. And if she was in danger, she¡¯d prefer to run away. Kliggig would have been the last time she truly felt challenged, but that wasn¡¯t because it was stronger than her, but because she was made weaker than it. Or at least her usual tools had been taken away from her.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°Stolen novel; please report.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°So they were people? Are they still people? Can they talk?¡±

    Spark scoffed. ¡°They¡¯re not people. They were, but they¡¯re not anymore. Just monsters. Terrible creatures that want to destroy everything they see.¡±

    ¡°

    Brick shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ve heard some people say they¡¯ve heard wanderers talk, but I¡¯ve never seen it myself. Never even seen a wanderer with my own eyes, just felt them through my skill.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°So in theory, we could find one and talk to it?¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Put more lights beneath your bed, then?¡±

    Brick laughed. ¡°I prefer to stay in the dark and hide from the wanderers. It¡¯s hubris, in my opinion. We can¡¯t fight back the darkness, they will one day fall when something goes wrong. And I won¡¯t be there when it happens.¡±

    ¡°

    The sky began to dim, and Zoe teleported the group far up into the sky to where the night stars shone through whatever layer was blocking out the light. Some kind of gas that settled in to the valleys? Breathing wasn¡¯t difficult, but maybe that was because of her level or regeneration more than anything else. Or maybe it was just magic, Zoe wasn¡¯t sure what caused the oddity in the sky down below.

    A platform of earth formed, floating far above the forest below. Grass sprouted from the dirt and a few trees grew from the ground, rising a few feet above their heads thanks to her Flora skill.

    Brick chuckled. ¡°Does it get old?¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Blue laid down on the green grass with one of the pillows Brick summoned and pulled up a blanket over themself. ¡°It¡¯s much more comfortable than down below. You¡¯re sure you¡¯re alright with this?"

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I have a lot of mana, this isn¡¯t really much anymore.¡±

    Brick shook their head. ¡°Mana and power, what I wouldn¡¯t give to have that.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°

    Zoe held out her hand, and Brick touched the back of it with their index finger. A surprising amount of mana rushed out from their finger, twisting around Zoe¡¯s hand, dancing through the fabric of space. Wisps flowed into the back of Zoe¡¯s hand, and then back out the tip of her finger, winding around like threads being sewn together in a messy knot.

    Much of the mana seemed superfluous, to Zoe. The system¡¯s wrapper, perhaps? Mana that seemed to coat the structure, not weaving through the threads that cut through her hand but stretching around the entire structure, obscuring the fine details below.

    Some of the mana rushed back in to Brick¡¯s finger after winding through Zoe¡¯s hand, twisting up their arm and settling in near their shoulder. After a few seconds, the wisps of light shuddered and rushed into Zoe¡¯s hand with a slight pinch as though somebody had pulled the knot tight. Brick flinched as the mana around their shoulder rushed in to them as well, and the skill finished.

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded and summoned one of her several notebooks to scribble in. ¡°It helps more than you could ever know, thank you.¡±

    The skill seemed complicated, a tangled mess of mana that would require a lot of study to follow all of the movements, and be able to even try to replicate it for herself. But it would be possible. She could see it, she could follow the patterns, understand what they were doing. There was far too much mana rushing around for her to even begin to comprehend the exact structure of it on her first try, but it was possible. With time, she¡¯d be able to replicate it.

 4-22. Scorched

    The group fell into a comfortable rhythm the following weeks, travelling through the day and relaxing at night. Twice a week, Zoe got to spend her nights carving away at the dirt home she made, building rooms and hallways with statues hanging from the walls. It was enjoyable, peaceful. Creating something for herself, enjoying the process of making it and then leaving it behind while they travelled to wherever they would stop for the next night.

    She¡¯d begun weaving in other elements to her homes as well. Spiraling wood that wound through the walls and provided a pleasant texture as she ran her hands along them. Grass that sprouted from the ground, dampening the dull thuds their footsteps otherwise made. Beds of flowers ¡ª clovers for the most part, that covered the makeshift beds and provided a softer surface for the others to sleep on.

    On the colder nights, she got to take advantage of her Cinders and Fire skills, weaving burning embers through the floors and beds to keep them warm. Bits of frost over towards Spark¡¯s bed, gripping to the surface of the flower stems since they seemed to like the cooler temperature while they slept.

    It had almost become a passion, enjoying the process of creating things from her elements. Weaving them together and creating something that was far more than the sum of their parts. Was that what she missed, for her Cosmos skill? The ability to weave them together in perfect harmony, each working on its own but together to form the web of reality?

    She wasn¡¯t sure, and she¡¯d long since given up on trying to get the Cosmos skill through combining her Space and Time skills. One day, she¡¯d replace one of her Cosmic Mystic skills with Cosmos Manipulation and try to work through that mess of mana again. She wouldn¡¯t need to get her Space and Time skills again, wouldn¡¯t need to level them again. There was no reason to combine them, not when Emma didn¡¯t need help with it anymore. Or even, Zoe supposed.

    Zoe shrugged. Study on Brick¡¯s skill had been going well, and Zoe¡¯s many notebooks were covered in scribbles as she tried to decipher the maze of mana that made it up. She was getting close, she felt. But there were still a few points that she wasn¡¯t quite understanding. How the mana flowed through Brick¡¯s body was a big one. She could tell for herself, but once the mana rushed back into Brick¡¯s body she wasn¡¯t sure what was happening exactly.

    And Brick didn¡¯t have any dedicated ability to perceive mana, so they were little help in the matter. Not that only being able to study it two or maybe three times in a week if she was lucky was helping either. If she ever needed to rely on somebody else¡¯s skill, maybe she¡¯d go find Emma¡¯s dad and ask about how his mana battery build was working. If she could just provide the mana for Brick to use, then she¡¯d be able to study it for hours on end rather than just a brief few seconds every few days when they had to reset their skill on somebody.

    But in time, she¡¯d get it. And time was something she had an abundance of.

    The group was coming up to the last known sighting of the dragon towards the end of the day. A destroyed village with little more than ash and rubble left behind in the dragon¡¯s destructive wake, according to rumours.

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    Zoe nodded, and a few minutes later they found the outskirts of the dragon¡¯s carnage. The field of flowers turned barren. Black, scorched earth as far as they could see. No life, no plants poking out of crevices. Just black death.

    The smell was almost as awe inspiring as the sight. It wasn¡¯t powerful, it didn¡¯t overwhelm her. But the only thing she could smell was ash, a burnt and somewhat smoky scent that just reached her nostrils. It wasn¡¯t strong, but as they walked into the barren wasteland it was all Zoe could smell aside from her companions. There was no hint of flesh, no sweat or burnt fur. Everything had been utterly destroyed, reduced to smoke that had already blown away or carbon that seeped into the ground.

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    They ran through the wasteland for a while, the distant flowers vanishing under the horizon and still not a building in sight. No rubble, no remnants of farms or hideaways.

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    Zoe nodded and wrapped them all in suits of earth and lifted them off the ground. They rose higher and higher as the field of purple flowers appeared in the distance again, and then higher still as the wasteland continued to expand.

    The wasteland was several kilometers wide and five times as long, like an oblong rectangle with rough edges that cut through the wilderness. Near the center of the destruction was the remnants of something that stood out, and Zoe flew them all down towards it.

    As they got closer, Zoe still couldn¡¯t tell what she was looking at. The ruins of a village, given the context she had. But she couldn¡¯t tell how it was structured, how they dealt with the darkness of night. Many stones were strewn throughout the rubble, though none large enough to be very useful in construction. And there were nowhere near enough to create more than maybe one or two buildings if she was being generous.

    Was it another forest, set in the roots? Or did they just make their homes out of flammable objects that had been destroyed in the attack?Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    The others rushed out when Zoe dropped them off on the ground, poking through the rubble and shoving aside clumps of black coal and ash.

    ¡°

    Brick shook their head. ¡°Nothing yet. How bout you, Spark?"

    ¡°

    Zoe floated into the sky and looked around, but saw nothing herself. No tracks, besides the ones her companions were leaving. Her Vampyric Senses didn¡¯t scream at her, telling her where a dragon had gone. It didn¡¯t even notice any of the local wildlife from nearby. Life, for as far as Zoe could tell, had just ceased to exist here.

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    Brick nodded. ¡°Zoe, if you would?"

    ¡°

    The mana was behaving strange. The wisps of light seemed agitated as they bounced around in errant patterns that didn¡¯t make sense to her. It didn¡¯t look like a skill being used, but just seemed annoyed. Angered, somehow.

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    Their panic was interrupted by a loud crash far in the distance. And then a second. And then a third.

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    Brick shook their head. ¡°I vote no.¡±

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    The crashes continued, growing faster and closer with each one. Like sonic booms, or incredibly powerful gusts of wind. Zoe began to struggle to even keep the group floating in the air without losing control as the pressure grew stronger.

    And then she saw a tiny speck in the distance. A red dot that she would have brushed aside as a red wisp of mana, had it not grown in size as she looked at it.

    ¡°

    The others squinted in the direction Zoe pointed, but couldn¡¯t seem to see anything. Fear and anxiety rose within them all, with an undercurrent of excitement bubbling up from below. Soon the speck, barely visible to Zoe¡¯s eyes grew larger and the others began to see it as well. It¡¯s form became clearer.

    The air twisted around it due to the immense heat. Each beat of its massive wings sending ripples through the sky and smashing into the ground far below it. Its mouth opened, then closed and a few seconds later, the group heard a terrifying roar that sent shivers down Zoe¡¯s spine and goosebumps racing up her arms.

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    Zoe laughed nervously. ¡°Hopefully. Probably. If the laws of physics apply, yes. But who the hell knows at this point.¡±

    The dragon drew closer, its bright red fangs beginning to be visible to Zoe¡¯s enhanced eyes. Each one dripped with flames that exploded in bursts of fire as they hit the ground. Had the dragon even attacked the village? Or did it just fly above it while its fangs were dripping with devastation? Some path the dragon took every few months, a migration for winter perhaps.

    Spark was the first to notice the intense heat as the dragon approached them. Their breaths turning ragged and desperate, each one a gasping, painful breath as they gripped their chest.

    ¡°

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    Zoe pushed her Restoration into Spark, topping up their health. But it didn¡¯t help with their troubles breathing, the air itself was hostile.

    Blue and Brick were the next to notice as sweat began to bead on their brows. Zoe began forming Frost around them to try and cool the air down, but it melted almost as fast as she could make it, even with all of her excess mana dumped into frost. Not that she had an awful lot as she struggled to push back against the intense pressure of the dragon¡¯s gusts with her Earth skill.

    The dragon got close enough for Zoe¡¯s Identify to finally work, and she checked its level. Light green question marks. She cursed, and teleported the group further into the sky, over and over as her mana regenerated, multiple times per second.

    Seconds later, the dragon flew by beneath them at an incredible speed, a red blur of heat and destruction that shot off into the distance again. Devastating gales blasted into Zoe¡¯s group, shoving them aside and threatening to force control away from Zoe. The heat began to sear into them, even beginning to drain Zoe¡¯s health as it burned away at her skin.

    She teleported them up and away from the dragon¡¯s path as she pumped mana into Restoration to keep everybody alive, until the heat finally let up. They floated, almost level with the distant mountain peaks, with the dragon no longer visible in the distance. Wherever it was going, Zoe didn¡¯t want to be. Not yet, at least.

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    Blue laughed. ¡°Yeah. What a magnificent beast. Thank you, Zoe. I¡¯m glad we stayed.¡±

    Zoe smiled. ¡°It was my pleasure. I¡¯ve never seen a dragon before either. That was incredible.¡±

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 4-23. Night Sky

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    Zoe nodded, and Cosmic Stepped several times towards the peak until the group landed on the edge of the cliff with soft green grass beneath their feet and a dense forest a few kilometers inland.

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    Brick nodded. ¡°Would it be a problem if people knew about the valleys?"

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    Zoe laughed, thinking of her own past.

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    Spark shrugged. ¡°Made it up.¡±

    Zoe chuckled. ¡°Fair enough.¡±

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    Zoe tuned out a bit as they continued building up the backstory they¡¯d share with people. She didn¡¯t think it was all that necessary anyway, but if it made them feel more comfortable she had no reason to stop it. They ended up settling on siblings who left Lokra to try and find as many dungeons as they could. Each of them created a whole history for themselves, where they used to work and friends they used to have. It was all needlessly complicated and Zoe doubted most of it would ever even be useful to them.

    But after a few hours of back and forth between them, they seemed to be satisfied with their backstories. Besides their names and classes, it seemed they decided to keep very little about themselves the same. Zoe wondered how much of what they¡¯d shared with her was true, but decided not to pry.

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    Brick shook their head. ¡°Well, shall we find a town to stop in at? Do you have any way of finding your home, Zoe?¡±

    ¡°Stolen novel; please report.

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    Brick and Blue both shrugged and Spark took off back towards the forest.

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    Was that how others thought of her, Zoe wondered? A small child or animal, flailing its way through life? Maybe before, but she hoped that now she was at least competent enough to look somewhat normal. As normal as she wanted to anyway, her life was hardly normal for the people of Abyllan.

    Though there must be others who had travelled down to the valleys too, others who could travel around the world in moments. Was there some secret society that ruled the world from the shadows that she could join?

    Or did people who got as powerful as her just tend to leave and go explore the wilds, or even other planets? Maybe join groups of wanderers down below, if that existed? What was the point of having so much power anyway? Become a royal guard, live a life of luxury?

    Walls that would survive a battering from its claws, or the buffeting winds from its wings, or a town of buildings that could sustain the flames dripping from its fangs?

    Zoe couldn¡¯t. Just the heat from the dragon¡¯s presence alone was enough to almost overwhelm her. From so far away, the dragon merely moving pressed against her magic as she tried to keep them afloat. It was an incredible beast to witness, and just as terrifying.

    Were creatures like that something that leaders of kingdoms and empires had to worry about? The purpose of the Injellar kingdom¡¯s royal guard?

    Or did they just hope they¡¯d never encounter something like that and do their best to keep people safe in a catastrophe¡¯s absence? She added visiting the capital to her todo list, someday in the future. It could be fun to visit anyway, see how people lived there.

    Would there be noble houses, sprawling mansions with servants swarming the gardens and dusting the homes? Dozens of dungeons beneath, for each of the noble houses, pushing them towards their own niches?

    Her thoughts were interrupted by a surge of excitement blasting her Vampyric Empathy as the group lit a bonfire in front of her. The flames engulfed the pile of wood and raced for the sky in a somewhat underwhelming explosion, after the recent dragon encounter.

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    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I mean it¡¯s beautiful, and I like to watch them sometimes. But I never really cared enough to look into why they happen or anything. They¡¯re just a part of life, I guess?¡±

    Brick shook their head. ¡°It¡¯s incredible.¡±

    Anxiety rose within the group as the sun set bit by bit, dripping through their excitement like a leaky faucet. It peaked when the sun dipped below the horizon and the wave of night rushed over them, beaten back by the stars shining down and the raging bonfire. The trees and branches cast long, dancing shadows as the fire roared, sending shivers of fear through Zoe¡¯s companions.

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    Brick laughed, and the other two joined in. The tension washed away as they looked at the stars in the night sky and watched the flames cast their flickering flame out across the forest floor.

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    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I guess so, in a way.¡±

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    The night passed with few interruptions. Spark and Blue both fell asleep after a few hours, while Brick sat next to the fire, staring out at the forest. Every few minutes, Zoe would feel a wave of anxiety and fear race out from them as they watched the shadows frolic along the ground, but it was replace soon after with a sense of peace.

    When morning came and the sun began to rise, Brick shoved Blue and Spark awake. ¡°Light. It¡¯s only been a few hours. Is that how long the night lasts?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Long days, short nights. That¡¯s how I¡¯ve always lived, really.¡±

    Brick shook their head, and the group watched the sun rise on the horizon in silence. The orange and red hues shone down on the forest and the smouldering coals, making the fire seem to burn again.

    ¡°

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Like I keep saying, yes. This is normal.¡±

    Spark laughed. ¡°I¡¯m never going back down there again. To hell with all of them, to hell with the darkness. With the long nights, the wanderers. I¡¯m never dealing with that again.¡±

 4-24. Spacial Weave

    *Ding* You have unlocked the Spacial Weave general skill.

    ¡°Oh!¡± Zoe exclaimed. ¡°I got it! Finally!¡±

    ¡°Good for you, Zoe.¡± Brick said, looking up from Zoe¡¯s hand that was gripping theirs. ¡°I¡¯m glad.¡±

    ¡°Thank you so much. This is going to be amazing.¡± Zoe grinned, thinking of everything it would mean for her.

    Which, now that she thought about it, wasn¡¯t really as much as she had one day hoped. The appeal of travelling through space was there, and she doubted it would ever go anywhere. But it had dulled, since those first days years ago of reaching space and imagining the possibility.

    For now, at least. She just found it so silly how much she had obsessed over getting to space, to seeing the stars. There was still so much on Abyllan that she had to discover, why would she travel to other planets when she hadn¡¯t even explored the one she was already on to its fullest extent?

    Zoe focused on the feeling of mana in her shoulder, a subtle pull that tried to drag her towards Brick¡¯s hand. She got up and walked around the room they were staying in ¡ª an inn they found in a village they stumbled into a few days prior. As she walked around Brick, the pull towards their hand didn¡¯t change in its intensity, an ever present nudge towards home. Or at least Brick.

    She vanished, appearing kilometers away in the sky, and continued Cosmic Stepping further away. But the pull never faded even as she was countless kilometers away, floating over a large lake that reflected the plethora of stars above, surrounded by rocky cliffs.

    Zoe grinned and brought up the skill¡¯s description.

    [Spacial Weave]

    As a master of space, create a web in the fabric of space that ties you together.

    She screamed as space twisted around, folding over itself and tearing into her body as her surroundings shifted. One moment she was floating above the large lake, enjoying what she¡¯d just been given. And the next she was keeled over in her room back at the inn with Brick standing over her grinning. Their expression soon turned to worry as Zoe¡¯s torn body collapsed on the floor.

    ¡°Are you okay? Oh my light, what happened? How far did you go?¡± Brick pestered her.

    Zoe pushed healing through herself with Restoration as she checked her health.

    Health: 43423/88200

    ¡°What¡­ happened?¡± Zoe spat out between coarse, desperate breaths.

    ¡°I thought it would be funny to surprise you with the other aspect of the skill. How far did you go? I¡¯m so sorry.¡± Brick said.

    Zoe took a moment to let her health recover and catch her breath before she responded. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Very, very far. What happened?"

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, I didn¡¯t expect you to go that far. The skill lets you feel where it¡¯s attached to, but it also drags you along if I teleport. At the expense of your mana, and if you run out of mana, your health. I¡¯m so sorry, I had no idea you would have gone so far. Are you okay?¡± Brick asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Zoe said as she sat up, leaning against the shoddy wooden bed. ¡°That¡¯s really bad, then.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s the main part of the skill, really. The tracking part is just a side effect.¡± Brick said.

    ¡°The side effect is all I want. I¡¯ll have to find some way to disable that part then. Maybe I can try to piece it apart and re-do it without that. Too many things to work on already though.¡± Zoe shook her head.

    Brick nodded. ¡°Good luck, but this is as much as I can do. I don¡¯t have anything just for tracking, all I have is this.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s kinda fun trying to work through the mess of mana anyway. I just need to be patient.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°So, what happens now?" Brick asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I was going to go visit the moon. Maybe I¡¯ll still do that, I have some friends that probably won¡¯t be teleporting around.¡±

    Brick chuckled. ¡°Visit the moon, huh?"

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, thank you for everything you¡¯ve done for us. We can never truly repay you.¡± Brick said and bowed their head.

    ¡°You already have. This is a great starting point, if nothing else.¡± Zoe said.

    Brick nodded and held out their hand. Zoe grabbed it and pushed mana into it, ripping apart the threads of mana that bound them together. She walked over to the neighbouring room where Blue, Spark and Brick slept and knocked on the door.

    Spark opened it and grinned. ¡°Good progress tonight?"

    ¡°Yup. I got it.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh! Good job, so you won¡¯t have to steal Brick away from us every night now, huh?" Blue smiled.

    ¡°Well, I think I¡¯m going to leave now actually.¡± Zoe said.

    Spark nodded. ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well it was nice knowing you. And fun travelling with you. Thank you for everything, Zoe.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°No, thank you. I would have been lost down there without somebody to show me around, and now it doesn¡¯t feel quite so daunting. And I got a new skill out of it, too. Are you all going to be good up here on your own?¡± Zoe asked.

    Brick laughed. ¡°Of course we¡¯ll be fine. It¡¯s not so different up here really. A bit brighter, a little safer. We¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°If you know any dungeons nearby though, let us know so we can go have some fun.¡± Spark said.

    Zoe chuckled. ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I still don¡¯t really know where we are. Should be somewhere south of where I live. Maybe quite a ways south west, even. But that¡¯s about all I got.¡±

    ¡°The best of luck to your future endeavours, Zoe. It was very nice meeting you.¡± Blue said.

    ¡°To you too. If you ever end up in the Injellar kingdom try to find Foizo. It¡¯s near Flester¡¯s Might which is a dungeon. Used to be a city that I kinda lived in, but now it¡¯s a dungeon and we moved outside it, more or less. Anyway, ask for Joe and tell him that I sent you. He¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re alright.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Sure thing, Zoe.¡± Brick said. ¡°Best of luck.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I¡¯m going to be finding my way over there now if you wanted to come along?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I vote no.¡± Spark said. ¡°It¡¯s fun being in a new place and exploring.¡±

    ¡°I agree, I vote no.¡± Brick said.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Blue smiled. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine. But thank you.¡±

    Zoe nodded and vanished, appearing far above the village and floating in a suit of grassy earth. Her time with the group was enjoyable, but while the slow paced journey had its own benefits, she found herself stagnating the more she stayed with them. She didn¡¯t get levels, she couldn¡¯t find dungeons, and in particular now that they were on the peaks there wasn¡¯t really much new she could discover with them.

    Now that she had the skill she wanted, there was little reason to remain with them. One day, maybe they¡¯d make their way to Foizo and settle in to town. They¡¯d be a good addition to town, Zoe thought. Lots of stories to share if they ever found themselves comfortable enough to give up the fake lives they created for themselves.

    How many others had Zoe met with fake stories? People with interesting lives from interesting places who just made up much less interesting lives so they wouldn¡¯t draw interest? People like Zoe herself, who disguised themselves to keep away the prying eye? She¡¯d never know, she supposed. But there was no way Brick¡¯s group was the first, she¡¯d begun to realize.

    Zoe Cosmic Stepped further into the sky until the curvature of the planet began to be visible and looked for the tell tale signs of her home. The specific patterns of forests and deserts, the hills and cliffs that she¡¯d always looked for when she returned from the outskirts of the atmosphere. It took a few minutes before she was confident she found the right place, but only seconds from then before she was back down in her cave.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Zoe said to Emma who was laying on the floor with her eyes closed, cuddling with Oliver and Fennel.

    Emma opened her eyes and smiled when she saw Zoe. ¡°Hey you! You¡¯re back sooner than I expected.¡±

    ¡°I got what I wanted.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Really! Already? That¡¯s awesome. So when do we go to space? I¡¯m so coming with you. Lets go right now!¡± Emma kissed the two cats on the forehead and leapt to her feet.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a little more complicated than that.¡± Zoe said, and explained the skill¡¯s downside.

    ¡°That¡¯s not that bad, just give it to Joe. He doesn¡¯t teleport around.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Yeah, but what if somebody else teleports him? Then I¡¯m dead. And if I die, you¡¯re stranded in space. And if you¡¯re stranded in space, you¡¯re dead.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh pish posh,¡± Emma waved her hand. ¡°When¡¯s the last time somebody forcibly teleported Joe, not including yourself?"

    ¡°I dunno. Maybe it happens every day. Or maybe it¡¯s never happened and it¡¯s gonna happen for the first time the moment we step on the moon.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma rolled her eyes. ¡°You have what you wanted, and you¡¯re gonna not take advantage of it cause you think tomorrow is going to be the first time that somebody comes and attacks Foizo, teleporting Joe somewhere and dragging you back with him? Really?¡±

    ¡°I mean. Yeah?¡± Zoe squeaked out.

    ¡°No, lets go. Lets go get Joe right now, and then you¡¯re taking me to the damn moon. And I¡¯m gonna bring back some rocks, and you¡¯re gonna make toys out of them for Oliver and Fennel. They¡¯ll have moon toys. Okay?" Emma said.

    ¡°But what-¡± Zoe started to say.

    ¡°No buts. Lets go. I wanna go to the moon.¡± Emma stepped forward, appearing just outside the wall and staring at the mountain with a smug expression, knowing Zoe could see her through the wall.

    Zoe rolled her eyes and teleported out with her. ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°Eee!¡± Emma exclaimed with glee. ¡°Lets go!¡±

    It didn¡¯t take long to find Joe who was relaxing behind the bar drinking some booze from a mug. ¡°Hey Joe!¡± Zoe called out as they walked in.

    ¡°Oh! Hello Zoe, you¡¯re back much earlier than I expected.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Did I seem like I was going to be gone forever or something? Why¡¯d you both say that?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe shrugged. ¡°Just seemed final, to me. You seemed real frustrated, I thought you¡¯d be gone a while.¡±

    ¡°I can literally be anywhere in the world I want in the next like twenty seconds. I¡¯m literally never far away. Why would I just avoid home for no reason?¡± Zoe rolled her eyes as she pulled up a chair and sat down.

    Joe shrugged again. ¡°It¡¯s you, you¡¯re weird.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± Emma nodded. ¡°You¡¯re really weird.¡±

    ¡°And so are you.¡± Joe said, looking at Emma.

    ¡°Yeah but I don¡¯t deny it.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°That¡¯s fair.¡± Joe said. ¡°So, what brings you back so early, then?"

    ¡°Well, I went down to the valleys and met some people down there. Stuff¡¯s real weird down there, too¡­¡± Zoe started explaining her adventures down in the valley.

    ¡°So wait the shadows come to life?¡± Emma asked. ¡°That sounds terrifying.¡±

    ¡°And what are these wanderers?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Yes, and I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m gonna go back at some point and see if I can meet one of the wanderers. They used to be people, apparently. I think maybe they can still talk, and it would be really cool to see what they have to say. Maybe it¡¯s just gibberish though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Or maybe they have their own cities, hidden from the light?¡± Emma suggested.

    ¡°Right? That¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking. Cause maybe the wanderers who, well, wander the night are mindless. But are they all? What if there are people who have embraced the night but haven¡¯t given up all of their mental faculty? I¡¯d love to meet some of them, see how they live. If that¡¯s possible. I dunno.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And you saw a dragon?¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Yeah! Absolutely incredible. I never wanna see one again. Not for a while, at least.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°How¡¯s it compare to the elemental that attacked Flester?" Emma asked.

    ¡°That one had a lot of fear cause there were so many people nearby. But I don¡¯t think the elemental could even compare, really. I think Flester would have burnt to the ground just by the dragon being near it, let alone attacking it.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe whistled. ¡°So, you want to go to the moon, do you?"

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Emma shouted. ¡°We do.¡±

    ¡°She does, mostly.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You don¡¯t?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Well, I mean I wouldn¡¯t say I don¡¯t. I just don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth the risk right now, probably. Maybe. Maybe it is. I dunno.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Zoe, I have lived a long life. And I have never been teleported around without giving my approval first. Maybe it happens tomorrow, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a real risk. But maybe don¡¯t stay away for too long at once.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe sighed. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll do it. Give me your hand. Or wherever you want this tracker to be put.¡±

    ¡°Well hold on, I don¡¯t think me being teleported is a real risk, but I think there are other things to think about here first.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Joe!" Emma said. ¡±It¡¯s just the moon, we¡¯ll be able to see our way home anyway.¡°

    ¡°How long does this tracker last?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°A week according to Brick.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°And what level is theirs at? What level is yours at? How long does yours, specifically last?" Joe asked.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t tested it. I literally just got the skill and rushed over here.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe looked around at the empty inn and pointedly stared out one of the windows at the night sky. ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m sorry. But you were still awake anyway.¡± Zoe said. ¡°And Emma made me do it now. It¡¯s her fault.¡±

    Joe laughed. ¡°I don¡¯t care. But before you leave, as your friend, I want to ask you to at least do the bare minimum of understanding your skill. Don¡¯t get excited and run off to your deaths.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right, Joe. Give me your hand, I¡¯ll put a tracker on you and we¡¯ll see how long it lasts.¡±

    Joe held out his hand and Zoe grabbed it. Mana rushed from Zoe¡¯s form and wound around his hand then back up Zoe¡¯s arm, settling in on her shoulder. There was a brief pinch as the mana tightened, and then all that was left was a tiny blemish in the fabric of space on the back of Joe¡¯s hand, and a slight tug, pulling her in his direction.

 4-25. Jinx

    Time dragged on, each minute that passed like a lifetime of waiting. She¡¯d thought that her excitement for space exploration had waned, that she¡¯d be content prowling Abyllan for all it was worth. And she would be, but the moon was right there, taunting her.

    ¡°Is it gone yet?" Emma asked, sitting across from Zoe at their kitchen table.

    ¡°No, I still feel Joe. Back at his inn still, hasn¡¯t moved in a bit. Probably fell asleep.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°How bout now?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°No, Emma. It¡¯ll probably be a day at least. Maybe even a week. I don¡¯t know if the length scales with level or not, I know it scales with mana but maybe levels just increase the efficiency of the forced teleport aspect? Maybe if I get it up high enough I could get teleported back from the moon without dying anyway.¡±

    ¡°Now?" Emma asked, laughing.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when we go. I wanna go too, you know?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah I know, I know.¡± Emma leaned down to pet Oliver who came and sat at her feet.

    Fennel hopped up on Zoe¡¯s lap and then put his paws up on the table.

    ¡°Hey.¡± Zoe said as she pulled Fennel¡¯s paws back. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed up there.¡±

    ¡°I may or may not let him up on the table when you¡¯re not around.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Emma! Fine, Fennel. It¡¯s not your fault your mom¡¯s an irresponsible owner.¡± Zoe said.

    Fennel meowed and hopped up on the table, sniffed at the remnants of their food and laid down, curling up into a vague croissant shape.

    Zoe rolled her eyes. ¡°He could get sick if he ate the wrong thing you know?"

    ¡°Yeah but I just assume he¡¯s gonna do whatever he wants anyway and don¡¯t keep things that would make him sick in places he could get to. Even if he¡¯s not allowed there. He¡¯s a cat, you know?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And I am a very responsible cat owner, I will have you know.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Yeah I know.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°Is it gone yet though?¡± Emma grinned.

    ¡°No! I¡¯ll tell you when it¡¯s gone, oh my god.¡± Zoe said with increasing frustration.

    Emma laughed.

    The following days passed with Zoe spending most of her time up in her enchanting room trying things out. Her new skill was interesting enchantment, though Zoe couldn¡¯t think of any real uses for it immediately. Anything she enchanted with Spacial Weave would be dragged along with her when she teleported anywhere, even if she wasn¡¯t touching it.

    The mana used came from the object itself, not from her though so it was limited to a much shorter distance by the amount of mana she could fill an object with. The only use she could think of for it was to trick somebody into receiving an object they couldn¡¯t keep. Maybe she could sell some magical artefact and then teleport it away a few days later. Or maybe she could gift Joe something and then rip it away from him as a prank at an inopportune time.

    If the enchantment could be toggled on from a distance ¡ª so Zoe could teleport without pulling the object with her, then there would be a plethora of uses. Being able to remove keys that had been stolen, having some items stored at home that she could summon at a moments notice without needing to use up storage space in her storage items. But there didn¡¯t seem to be any way to do that. At least, not from a distance.

    Up close, she could use one of her familiar skills to enable and disable the enchantment. But if she could get that close to it, then she could just grab it and teleport away too. So even as a prank it seemed like it would inconvenience Zoe herself far more than whoever she would be pranking with it. She would have to spend the entire time she was building up to the moment without using her Cosmic Step at all.

    Though, that gave her a thought for how she could make her Spacial Weave skill safer for her to use. Not entirely without risk, but with drastically less risk. Unlike enchantments, skills were something that she could disable at will, and with the Spacial Weave skill that could mean some interesting outcomes if she disabled the skill after creating the weave.

    The first, and perhaps most likely outcome was that disabling the skill would do nothing. The mana was already tied into Zoe and her target, disabling the skill would stop her from being able to make new ones but it wouldn¡¯t stop the mana itself that was already spent from doing its job. If she created a ball of Frost then disabled her frost skill, she would lose her control over the ball but the ball would still exist.

    The second most likely outcome, and the one that Zoe hoped for, was that the web of mana in her shoulder didn¡¯t actually do anything on its own, but rather triggered her Spacial Weave skill to teleport her. And if she disabled the skill, then it wouldn¡¯t be able to teleport her. In an ideal scenario, she wouldn¡¯t even lose the tracking ability of the skill. But worst case, she could toggle the skill on and off briefly to get a direction.

    And the last outcome Zoe could imagine, was one where disabling the skill simply destroyed the mana in her shoulder and in Joe¡¯s hand. This didn¡¯t seem very likely to Zoe, disabling the skill shouldn¡¯t have any effect on the mana that was already spent. She¡¯d lose control over it until she turned the skill back on, but there was no reason that Joe¡¯s hand would be affected by her disabling her own skill.

    Halfway through the sixth day since she put the tracker on Joe, she felt the slight tug wear away and a tightness in her shoulder that she hadn¡¯t even noticed faded. The effect Brick¡¯s mana had on Zoe¡¯s hand was never quite so intense, which made Zoe wonder if the effect was simply more pronounced for the user or if Zoe¡¯s was somehow more powerful.

    More pronounced for the user seemed much more likely, but Brick was also quite lacking in mana so she couldn¡¯t write the theory off just yet.

    ¡°Emma!¡± Zoe shouted as she clambered her way down the ladder to the library. ¡°Emma!!¡±

    ¡°Zoe!¡± Emma shouted back.

    ¡°Emma!¡± Zoe shouted again.

    ¡°Zoe!¡± Emma shouted back again.

    ¡°It¡¯s gone!¡± Zoe shouted.

    ¡°It¡¯s gone?¡± Emma squealed.

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Zoe grinned. ¡°It¡¯s gone!¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. Hold on. I¡¯ve gotta feed the boys, but then lets go to Joe¡¯s. And then the moon!¡± Emma grinned from ear to ear.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Alright.¡± Zoe said and watched as Emma summoned two bowls then let them clatter to the ground. The two cats came running out a moment later and eyed Emma as she summoned a big bag full of food and scooped out some small pellets into each of the bowls. The cats dove into the bowls, and Emma vanished.

    Zoe followed after her, ending up in Joe¡¯s inn a moment later.

    ¡°JOE!¡± Emma shouted.

    ¡°Shush.¡± Joe said with a sly grin. ¡°People are still sleeping.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Sorry.¡± Emma whispered.

    ¡°I guess it¡¯s gone? I couldn¡¯t even feel anything.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Oh, well that settles that then I guess.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°What?" Joe asked.

    ¡°It felt pretty intense for me when it left. A lot more than what Brick¡¯s felt like. I wondered if maybe mine was just stronger, or if it was just a more powerful impact for the user. I guess it¡¯s just more powerful for me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, it is doing a lot more for you than it is for me. I don¡¯t get any kind of tracking effect from it like you.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Mhm. Gimme your hand.¡±

    Joe smiled and held out his hand. Zoe grabbed it and pushed mana through her skill, letting it weave around the two of them.

    ¡°I wanna try something though. I was doing some enchanting and had an idea. I wanna know what will happen if I disable it.¡± Zoe said and turned her attention inwards. She looked through the almost endless seeming void for the manifestation of her skill and when she found it, she urged the switch to flip.

    But nothing changed. The slight tug pulling on her shoulder was still there, the subtle mana drifting around the back of Joe¡¯s hand was still present.

    ¡°Did it work?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Uh. Maybe? I don¡¯t know. You can¡¯t teleport, so this was a stupid test actually. Hold on.¡± Zoe said as she turned her attention back inwards and flipped the switch back on. ¡°Emma, give me your hand instead.¡±

    Emma held out her hand, and Zoe cast her skill again, then flipped the switch off.

    ¡°Okay, Emma teleport. Not far and don¡¯t make me end up in a table or something, please and thank you.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded and looked around, then vanished. Zoe felt a slight tug pulling her towards Emma¡¯s new location just out in front of Joe¡¯s inn as well as a new feeling. Emma appeared next to them again with a big smile.

    ¡°Looks like it worked?" She asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I think it did. Better than I thought too. I honestly though the best case scenario would be that I would have to toggle it on and off to get an idea of direction, but I can still feel where you are even if it¡¯s not able to teleport me.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Does it last as long like that?" Joe asked.

    Emma sighed. ¡°I hate that this is so super worth making sure of.¡±

    Joe chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s not worth the risk if there¡¯s a way to do it without risk.¡±

    ¡°Yup. Dammit. I mean I¡¯m glad it seems to work and I hope it does, I was just excited to go to the moon. Like, now.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Me too.¡± Zoe agreed.

    ¡°Well worst case you have to wait another what? Week?¡± Joe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s a week, Joe!¡± Emma cried out. ¡°A whole week! Of the moon being up there, taunting us, pretending it¡¯s better than us. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to survive, Joe.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll live.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well yeah, we gotta show the moon who¡¯s boss, after all.¡± Emma grinned.

    Another week later, Zoe found herself clambering down the ladder in her enchanting room shouting Emma¡¯s name in excitement. Emma fed the cats and the two made their way back to Joe¡¯s inn.

    ¡°Joe, give me your hand. That¡¯s it. We¡¯ve got everything we need now.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, I was doing some thinking actually.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Eugh,¡± Emma sighed. ¡°Please tell me we don¡¯t have to wait another week.¡±

    Joe chuckled. ¡°No, nothing like that. But I realized that Emma¡¯s teleportation works a little differently than most. Maybe she didn¡¯t trigger your skill when it was disabled because according to the skill, she didn¡¯t teleport. See if it would teleport you if you have the skill enabled, at least.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay. Emma?" Zoe asked and grabbed Emma¡¯s hand when she held it out. Mana surged through her hand and settled in to their forms, and then Emma stepped through space to outside Joe¡¯s inn, with Zoe following along next to her.

    Joe raised his hands in defense when they walked back in. ¡°That¡¯s it. That¡¯s all I¡¯ve got. I can¡¯t think of anything else.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Give me your hand then.¡± Zoe said and pushed her Spacial Weave into Joe¡¯s hand when he held it out. ¡°I¡¯ll take you up there next if you want. If I disable the skill I can just use it on Emma and she won¡¯t be able to kill me on accident when she forgets about it.¡±

    ¡°Hey!¡± Emma pouted. ¡°No, actually I totally would.¡±

    Joe laughed when the mana tightened around his hand. ¡°I¡¯ll let you know when I want to go to the moon then. But you two have fun, alright? I¡¯ll take care of the cats."

    ¡°We will, thanks Joe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± Emma said.

    Zoe grabbed Emma¡¯s hand and teleported the two of them far into the air above Foizo, catching them in a suit of grassy earth.

    ¡°Your suits have changed.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Like I said, I learned a lot down in the valley. I¡¯ve developed an appreciation for the finer aspects of my skills.¡± Zoe smiled.

    In about a minute, they were floating far above Abyllan, floating just outside the atmosphere and surrounded by a small pocket of air created by Zoe¡¯s Wind skill.

    ¡°This is the furthest you¡¯ve been, huh?" Emma asked.

    ¡°About as far as I¡¯ve been, yeah.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°And you can still feel Joe?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yeah. This is crazy, to me.¡±

    ¡°Well, you ready?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe nodded and teleported them further out into space, jumping further and further several times every second as her mana recovered.

    ¡°This could take a while, you know?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°How long?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Well, the moon is really far away. Probably. In my world I think it was like four hundred thousand kilometers away? And we¡¯re travelling at like six kilometers per second from my teleports, and I have no idea how fast from the constant pushing I¡¯m doing with my other skills. So if the moon is as far away as the one from my home, then this could take the better part of a day. But it also might be closer or farther, we have absolutely no way of knowing.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s a good thing I like you, then.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s great for you, but unfortunately for me I don¡¯t like you at all.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma laughed. ¡°You love me.¡±

    ¡°Yeah I do.¡± Zoe said. ¡°But we¡¯ll see how long that lasts after I spend however long this is going to take babysitting you to the moon.¡±

    ¡°Well hopefully we can reach it, if it¡¯s a lot further away than we might not have enough time before the mark expires anyway.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t jinx it, dammit.¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Oop!¡± Emma covered her mouth with her free hand. ¡°Now we¡¯re not gonna make it. How will we ever find our way home from the moon without your fancy skill! Our eyes, they¡¯re broken!¡±

 4-26. Bacteria

    Nothing seemed to change as they drifted through the vast emptiness of space. Zoe knew that each Cosmic Step took them further from Abyllan and closer to the moon, but it almost felt as though she were standing still. Everything was so far away that a few kilometers ¡ª or even a few hundred kilometers, just didn¡¯t seem to make any difference to their surroundings. Both Abyllan and the moon were just distant spheres, hurtling through space with them.

    ¡°

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    After the first few minutes out of the planet¡¯s atmosphere, Zoe had noticed another problem with space travel. The heat. Which surprised her a little, but did make sense once she thought about it. Whenever she thought of space, she imagined this terrifying, cold emptiness. The moment she¡¯d set foot into the vacuum, she¡¯d begin to freeze.

    But in reality, she wasn¡¯t in a vacuum. She had a constant sphere of air surrounding her, providing enough pressure to keep her from freezing, so she wasn¡¯t truly in the vacuum of space. But she was in direct line of sight to a nuclear fusion reaction letting off enough energy to heat an entire solar system and burn her skin even with the protection of Abyllan¡¯s atmosphere.

    And it was hot. At first, Zoe tried to simply block the line of sight with the sun with a wall of earth, which did work. But then all of their heat was ripped out of the other side of their bubble of air into the vacuum of space and the temperature began to plummet.

    Zoe ended up settling on keeping the wall to the sun up most of the time, and then adding in Cinders to her Earth suits to fill them with warm ashes. The whole experience was draining on her mana and slowed down their progress as even more of her mana was directed away from moving and towards keeping them alive.

    But it worked, and it was even somewhat comfortable. The perfect temperature hugging her body like a heated blanket of solid rock. Most of the time when she made an earthen suit, she left the legs and arms free, but if she did that in space then their limbs would freeze without the warmth of her makeshift space suit.

    Though, spending countless hours without being able to move at all was also a terrible problem. Really, Zoe was finding that space travel was far more complicated than she had expected it to be. Even with the help of powerful magic at her side, all it would take was one small slip up and they would be dead. Maybe they could survive if they managed to get back to a planet within a few minutes, get heated up and have their lungs fill with oxygen again.

    But out here? This far away from any civilization? If anything happened, they were entirely on their own. Nobody would get to them before they died, if something went wrong. The chances that anybody would even be aware that something had gone wrong in the first place were slim to none. Maybe there was some powerful entity on the planet watching them, or some powerful entity elsewhere. Or maybe there was somebody staring through their telescope, watching them struggle through space.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Emma nodded.

    ¡°

    Emma nodded again and put her head back to a comfortable position as earth crawled up around her body, extending from the suit. Bits of smouldering ash were mixed in, adding a slight glow to bits of the suit as Zoe¡¯s mana was spent fighting off the frigid cold of space.

    ¡°

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    Zoe nodded, the earth stretching around her neck to accommodate the movement. ¡°If you do want help just let me know, I¡¯ll share my notes with you.¡±

    Emma laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t nod, it¡¯s not fair that you can do that and I can¡¯t. And your notes don¡¯t make any sense at all.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe focused on her sense of time, trying to get a feeling of how long had passed since they left. She had a somewhat potent and innate sense of distance and time thanks to her Cosmic Mystic class, but using it to feel the passage of time on such a large scale was something she hadn¡¯t gotten used to yet. All she needed to do was look up and see the sun or moon crossing the sky to know the time.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Half a day, maybe? And still it seemed like nothing changed, everything was still just as far away as it was minutes after they left. Or maybe more likely, things had changed at such a slow rate that she hadn¡¯t noticed the changes. If she thought back to when they first left the atmosphere, Abyllan did seem a fair bit bigger than it was now.

    It was just so slow. So very, very slow. Was this what she wanted to spend her time doing, really? For now, yes. Visiting the moon was something that so few people could say. Bringing back souvenirs, leaving their own mark on the rock that drifted across the night sky. Maybe finding some civilization that survived on the moon or small bugs that skittered across the surface.

    But when she was done, when their moon landing was accomplished and they returned to Abyllan, was this what she wanted to spend years of her life doing? It wouldn¡¯t be possible yet even if she wanted, since the furthest she could go was about three days thanks to Spacial Weave¡¯s time limit.

    Zoe sighed. For a moment, when she got the skill, it felt like everything she¡¯d wanted was dropped into her hands on a silver platter. Served up to her by whatever gods ruled this universe in a fit of generosity. But that was ridiculous.

    Even if she pushed more mana into the marks and could keep them for a month, that would still only just get her to maybe one of the nearby planets before she had to come back? Space exploration was still nowhere near possible. She needed something permanent, something far more long term. The search wasn¡¯t over yet, but at the very least maybe she could expand the search. Maybe something on the moon would help her, or maybe a nearby planet that she could reach would have aliens with tracking beacons for sale.

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    Emma chuckled. ¡°Say that again when we land on the moon.¡±

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    Zoe rolled her eyes and hours more passed with the two gripping hands so she could continue to teleport them. She¡¯d wrapped a dense bit of earth around their hands so no matter what happened, they wouldn¡¯t let go of each other. Even when Zoe freed their limbs, their hands were still connected. If they let go and Emma was left behind, Zoe would never be able to forgive herself.

    Eventually, the moon seemed larger than it was. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure how big it used to be, but she was pretty sure it didn¡¯t take up as much of her view of space before as it was now.

    ¡°

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    In another couple hours, they were floating a few dozen meters above the surface of the moon. Zoe was surprised to see how smooth the moon¡¯s surface really looked from up close. Every picture she¡¯d seen of it back home was full of massive craters, and even approaching the moon from space it seemed peppered with craters.

    But up close, drifting down to the surface, it seemed so smooth and flat. Bits of rock and dirt ¡ª mostly grayish and white with specks of silver shining through were tossed about creating a somewhat rough surface. But no more rough than a road that needs maintenance or a even the surface of a brick.

    Maybe they just avoided the craters, or maybe the craters were so large that up close they seemed flat. Zoe wasn¡¯t sure.

    Emma took a deep breath as they descended down. ¡°We¡¯re about to land on the moon, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°

    Zoe brought the two of them down to just a few inches above the surface and then removed the earthen suits that hugged them.

    Emma knelt down and rubbed her hand along the gray rocks as she cackled. ¡°We¡¯re on the moon, Zoe! I¡¯m touching the moon!¡±

    Zoe laughed with her and knelt down to rip out some of the ground they stood on. It was harder than she expected, harder than most rocks she¡¯d found back on Abyllan. And heavy, despite it being peppered with thousands of tiny holes.

    ¡°

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 4-27. Asteroid

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded. In a way, it was. But it was also surreal in its own way to see Abyllan from the moon. Pictures of her home planet were so ingrained in her head, photos taken from satellites or unmanned missions to space. Or even the odd manned mission where somebody took a picture with their phone.

    And the image of her planet was so familiar, so recognizable. The blue planet, covered in somewhat opaque white clouds and floating through the pitch blackness of space. Any hope of the stars shining through from behind lost to the sheer amount of light radiating off the planet¡¯s surface.

    But here? Standing on the moon herself and looking back at Abyllan, it was so different. She¡¯d flown to space before, and looked down at the dry planet. But it almost looked wrong from the moon, a firm reminder that she wasn¡¯t truly home. Something that happened less and less often with each year that passed, and she considered herself more a part of this world than her home.

    It was beautiful in its own way. And so very lonely. Nothing around for hundreds of thousands of kilometers, possibly even millions. Being stranded in the ocean with no land in sight was already a terrifying experience. Out here, there was land in sight but it was so far away it may as well not exist.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Emma nodded. ¡°I already stored away a bunch of moon rock. Cat toys and some gifts. Maybe we could bring back a whole bunch and sell it to people. I bet we could get the statue remade in moon rock. That would be pretty cool.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°No, no statues. We already have one and I hate it. I just want to live a quiet life, alright?"

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    Emma nodded. ¡°I kinda figured. Was it fun at least?"

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    Emma nodded. ¡°Well you gave it a shot and learned something at least, right?"

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    Emma nodded. ¡°And if we¡¯re stupid and it takes way longer than we though, we just head back earlier. I don¡¯t wanna leave the cats alone for too long. Joe said he¡¯d take care of them, but I kinda expected this to be a day trip, to be honest.¡±

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    Zoe laughed. ¡°Yeah I didn¡¯t think so. Maybe if we had a powerful gravity mage who could enchant the moon so it had a larger gravitational field and then somebody like myself to fill that field with breathable air. But then Abyllan would probably be destroyed by the moon¡¯s gravitational field being disrupted anyway.¡±

    ¡°

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    Emma took some very deliberate, careful steps with a grin on her face. ¡°Understood. Be super careful.¡±

    ¡°

    Emma laughed. ¡°I beg your pardon? I am Emmlord, destroyer of moons! One wrong step and this flimsy rock will crumble under my immense power!¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Zoe smiled, and the two walked around for the next few hours. Were it not for the excitement of them being on the moon, it would have been one of the most boring walks Zoe had ever taken. Gray stone all around them for as far as the eye could see, covered in tiny little holes from other space rocks impacting the moon over thousands or millions of years. None of which had ever been touched by a person or wind.

    The hours passed and the only new thing they saw was a particularly large crater with a large rock set in the middle of it. An asteroid perhaps, that landed on the moon some number of years prior. They walked up to it and checked it out, but it seemed to be mostly made up of iron to the best of Zoe¡¯s ability to tell.

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    Zoe looked around at the crater they were in, covered in even more tiny holes. This mass of iron landed long enough ago for more rocks to slam into the moon since it arrived, but not so long that it had itself been completely ripped apart by the barrage.

    Thousands of years? Hundreds? How often did rocks impact the moon anyway? Somebody smarter than her could probably look at this and say with confidence the impact happened six thousand four hundred years ago.

    But to Zoe, it was little more than a cool novelty. A shame, she supposed. Maybe she should start up some space program and hire some smarter people to come investigate the moon with her. Try and learn all of its deepest secrets. Maybe she could convince somebody else to do it for her. Maybe Jeffrey would be interested in some space alchemy.

    Emma glanced over at Abyllan then back at the asteroid. ¡°I¡¯m surprised at how different it is up here. The dust doesn¡¯t just settle, it doesn¡¯t move. And it keeps clinging to me, too. I feel like every step I take I knock up more of this dusty crap to get stuck to my legs and arms. And it doesn¡¯t wanna come off no matter what I do, either.¡±

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    ¡°

    ¡°

    They wandered around on the moon for a few more hours, stumbling into more craters. Most didn¡¯t have the asteroid remaining in the center, though they did find another two that did. Both were made up of similar ferrous minerals as the first, which made some sense to Zoe. Iron was a pretty common resource for just that reason, after all.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe teleported them forward a few hundred meters again and then paused to look at a mark on the ground. It wasn¡¯t a hole, it wasn¡¯t a crater left by an asteroid. It was a track, left by some creature Zoe couldn¡¯t recognize. She got an image of some misshapen minotaur kraken hybrid, perhaps? Her Vampyric Senses wasn¡¯t very clear on what it was.

    ¡°

    Zoe pointed down at the track she noticed. ¡°That.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    The asteroids had avoided this one print for the most part, but there were two deep holes carved into the track near the center of the print. Zoe assumed they were asteroids carving their way into the surface, but maybe whatever left these tracks had two extrusions under their feet for some reason?

    Emma knelt down next to the imprint and rubbed her finger through the inside of the track. A thin layer of loose dust peeled away, clinging to her index finger. ¡°It¡¯s old. Really old. Covered in dust again, but not old enough to be destroyed by all these asteroid impacts.¡±

    ¡°

    Emma nodded. ¡°Maybe we come back in a few years and try to find this again, see how it¡¯s changed.¡±

    ¡°

    Emma shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re the earth mage. Make a big pillar nearby so we can find it again. It¡¯ll probably be destroyed before we get back though. Maybe make a big pillar nearby and also a valley? But maybe that will damage the moon too much¡­¡±

    ¡°

    Emma nodded, and Zoe teleported the two a hundred feet away to create a towering pillar of earth. It looked incredibly out of place, a towering pillar of brown dirt among the sea of lifeless gray rock, with a raised bit of dirt poking out to show the direction of the track they¡¯d found.

    Zoe teleported them back to the track. ¡°See if there¡¯s anymore nearby maybe?"

    Emma nodded, and the two walked around a bit in search of any other signs. After about a half hour, they still hadn¡¯t found anything new.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Emma shrugged. ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°

    Emma nodded and held out her hand. ¡°Yeah, lets head home.¡±

    Zoe grabbed Emma¡¯s hand and Cosmic Stepped them away from the moon¡¯s surface. In seconds, they were back in space, drifting along without even the reduced gravity of the moon pulling them back down.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

 4-28. Cheating

    Zoe and Emma landed back in Joe¡¯s inn almost a day later ¡ª to the best of Zoe¡¯s ability to tell. Time was difficult to perceive out in space without the rotation of the planet to base it off of. The sun was high in the sky and people were out walking through the streets. A simple, subdued pleasantness filled the air with some undercurrents of anxiety. Nothing unusual, to Zoe¡¯s memory.

    Joe wasn¡¯t there, the slight tug on Zoe¡¯s shoulder pulling her somewhere to the north of town. But Kenzie and Sue were both out in the main dining area tidying up some dishes and scraps thrown about on the floor. Nobody else was in the dining area at the moment, but Zoe could hear some quiet chattering from the people upstairs in their rooms.

    Cleaning skills were wonderful and ubiquitous in this world, but while they might clean a dirty plate they wouldn¡¯t put it away. There was no tidying skill it seemed. Unless there was. Maybe there was, Zoe realized.

    She could do the same thing with her Space skill, push the objects around to their spaces by manipulating the space around them. Perhaps with enough practice she could even just teleport them directly there with her Space skill. Maybe if she did it in just the right way, the system would grant her a tidying skill and she could live a life of lazy degeneracy for a few decades.

    ¡°Hey Emma!" Kenzie called out when Zoe Cosmic Stepped them into Joe¡¯s inn. ¡±Oh! Zoe! You¡¯re back too!¡°

    ¡°Hi girls,¡± Emma said to the sisters.

    ¡°Hi Emma!¡± Sue said. ¡°Hi Zoe!¡±

    ¡°Hello, yes I¡¯m back. I think Joe said you wanted to talk to me?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Joe says you used to hate taxes.¡± Sue said. ¡°I hate taxes. How do bring yourself to deal with them? I hate doing my taxes.¡±

    Zoe chuckled, thinking back on her time in Flester. Her odd aversion to dealing with taxes. There wasn¡¯t even really a point to it, it just felt so pointless to her at the time. She was in another world with magic and a whole system that granted them wondrous powers. And she¡¯d have to sit down to file her taxes?

    On a very fundamental level, that offended her. In time she got over it, the excitement she felt from the world had fell away and she began to enjoy just being a part of it. But those first few years, the very thought of being bogged down with politics and bureaucracy was unthinkable.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really do taxes.¡± Zoe said as she pulled up a chair to sit down.

    ¡°What? How do you not do taxes?¡± Sue asked.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m just very wealthy now and any taxes on stuff I buy is dealt with by the people I buy things from. I don¡¯t really make money anymore, and don¡¯t really have a need to make money anymore. So I don¡¯t have to deal with taxes.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°So your solution to taxes is to just get so rich you don¡¯t have to pay them anymore?" Kenzie asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yup. Basically. I¡¯m barely even in any one town for long enough to be able to get a proper job anymore, so I don¡¯t make any income in towns and then don¡¯t have to pay any taxes. Maybe one day they start taxing income from Flester¡¯s Might though. Then I¡¯ll be in trouble.¡± She chuckled.

    ¡°That¡¯s cheating.¡± Sue said.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Zoe laughed. ¡°It sure is.¡±

    ¡°Taxes aren¡¯t that bad, really.¡± Emma added. ¡°They pay for everything that we like to have here. Our walls, the guards that patrol them to keep us safe. The roads that lead to nearby towns and cities, the dungeon, and even just through the city. It¡¯s a little tedious to have to deal with it all, but it¡¯s not that big of a deal either really.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s so confusing, though.¡± Sue said.

    ¡°Pay more then. Just save up definitely more than you need and send it to them with a copy of your income, and they¡¯ll return whatever is excess.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Wait you can do that? Why did nobody tell me about that before? I so would have done that.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t, in Flester.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Ah. Do y¡¯all have healthcare here, by the way?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Healthcare?¡± Kenzie asked.

    ¡°Yeah, like if you get injured, can you get free healing?¡± Zoe explained.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. There are a few clinics though, but I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re free.¡± Kenzie said. ¡°I always just come here if we get an injury and Joe heals us up. Or if you¡¯ve been around recently, one of the little green things you fill the city with.¡±

    ¡°Wait, Joe has a healing skill?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Through his cooking, sort of. It¡¯s not very good but it does the job.¡± Sue said.

    ¡°Hmm. Neat. I should try getting my cooking skill up more and see what kinda stuff it can do someday.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Not much,¡± Sue said.

    ¡°You have it? What level?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Mine¡¯s at one twenty two right now.¡± Sue said. ¡°I help out a lot with Joe and at Peter and Lauren¡¯s restaurant.¡±

    ¡°And it still doesn¡¯t do much for you either? For buffs and stuff?" Zoe asked.

    Sue shook her head. ¡°Not really. I¡¯ve heard you need a class for all the extra stuff, the cooking skill is mostly just making it taste better.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Zoe hummed.

    ¡°Where did you go anyway? Joe wouldn¡¯t tell us.¡± Kenzie asked.

    ¡°We went to the moon.¡± Emma grinned. ¡°Walked around on it. Brought back some souvenirs, too.¡± She summoned some moon rocks from her storage item and placed them on the table.

    ¡°Woah. Really? You were on the moon?¡± Kenzie asked.

    ¡°Yup.¡± Emma held her head up, full of pride.

    ¡°When¡¯s Joe coming back?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I dunno. He left a couple hours ago for a council meeting. Should be back soon if nothing happens, probably. But sometimes he gets distracted on the way back.¡± Kenzie answered.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Alright, well I¡¯ll wait around. You can head back home if you wanna see the cats, Emma.¡±

    ¡°This is really from the moon?" Sue asked, poking one of the rocks resting on the table.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s basically all made up of this. And dust. Oh my god the dust.¡± Zoe laughed. She¡¯d scraped most of the dust that clung to their forms off as they travelled back to the planet, but a part of her felt like she¡¯d be finding it stuck under her nails or behind her ears for the next ten years.

    ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡± Emma said. ¡°The cats will be fine. Joe didn¡¯t say anything was wrong with them, right?"

    ¡°No, they¡¯re both good. We were there earlier this morning playing with them.¡± Sue said. ¡°They¡¯re so cute.¡±

    ¡°They are so cute!¡± Emma smiled. ¡°They¡¯re the cutest, aren¡¯t they?"

    ¡°Idu¡¯s pretty cute too, though.¡± Kenzie said.

    ¡°Idu is a good third, but little Fennel Bennel and Ollie Bo Bollie are the cutest.¡± Emma said with a firm nod.

    ¡°Could we go to the moon?" Kenzie asked.

    ¡°I guess. I mean, I don¡¯t really wanna get bogged down with a taxi service to the moon but if Joe says it¡¯s okay I don¡¯t mind taking you to the moon too. It¡¯s a long trip, though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°How long?" Sue asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to tell, cause we¡¯re not on the planet when we¡¯re on space. So the sun doesn¡¯t rise and set, it¡¯s just always there. But probably about a day to get there, and a day to get back. And if I¡¯m carrying both of you at the same time then that¡¯ll drain my mana even more so maybe two days there, two days back. The moon is really, really far away.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°But you¡¯re so fast!¡± Kenzie said.

    ¡°Yeah, I am. And the moon is stupidly far away.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel like it¡¯s that far, though.¡± Sue said.

    ¡°I know right? I felt like it would be just a couple hours, but it took soooo long.¡± Emma drawled.

    ¡°And why does Joe have to say its okay anyway? We¡¯re our own adults you know?¡± Kenzie asked as she crossed her arms.

    ¡°Cause if I took you to the moon and Joe didn¡¯t like that, then I¡¯d feel really bad. But if I don¡¯t take you to the moon cause Joe says no and you don¡¯t like that, I won¡¯t feel bad.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°Ouch.¡± Kenzie said.

    ¡°I care about you two, but Joe¡¯s one of my closest friends. If he thinks it¡¯s a bad idea, I¡¯m going to trust him.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°He¡¯ll definitely say no.¡± Kenzie said.

    ¡°He might not.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°He definitely will.¡± Sue said.

    Zoe watched as Joe stepped into the edge of her Cosmic Vision and smiled as he opened the door to his inn and walked inside.

    ¡°You¡¯re back.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Yeah. Got some souvenirs, want some space rocks?" Emma tossed a hunk of moon to Joe.

    He caught it and narrowed his eyebrows when he did. ¡°Heavier than I expected. Huh.¡±

    ¡°We wanna go to the moon too!¡± Kenzie said.

    Joe looked at Zoe who shrugged and then he sighed. ¡°If Zoe thinks it¡¯s safe and wants to do it, I don¡¯t see why not. Is it safe?"

    ¡°Probably.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Probably?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Well we did find a track. It was old, and whatever left it is probably not there anymore. And whatever left it could probably make it to Abyllan anyway so it¡¯s not like we¡¯re safe here if it is hostile. Which it probably isn¡¯t anyway, cause most things aren¡¯t out to get you. So it¡¯s probably safe.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°You found a track on the moon?" Joe asked. ¡±From what?¡°

    ¡°We don¡¯t know. Didn¡¯t recognize it. Looked like a bear but without the claws and with a big imprint right next to the track, like a cane or some kind of stabilizing bone or something?¡± Emma said.

    Joe shook his head. ¡°Doesn¡¯t ring a bell. How old was it?"

    ¡°Three days? Three hundred years? No clue, really.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe nodded and pulled up a chair to sit down with them. ¡°How¡¯d the trip go, anyway?¡±

    Zoe shared the story of their adventure on the moon, with Emma interjecting bits Zoe forgot or decided weren¡¯t important enough.

    ¡°You two sure you want to go to the moon?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°Yeah!" Kenzie and Sue responded in unison.

    ¡°It sounds really boring, you know?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s the moon, Joe. The moon!" Kenzie said.

    ¡°Well, give Zoe a few days to settle down at least. I¡¯m sure she doesn¡¯t want to be thrust into that emptiness again so soon.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°Thanks Joe.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°What were you talking about with the council today, anyway?" Zoe asked.

    Joe took a breath and shook his head. ¡°Just normal stuff, really. Expanding the walls, thinking about the shanty town by the dungeon. We¡¯re trying to plan a proper road to Darpi so we can have trade with them but it¡¯s a bit of a complicated mess. We do our best, though.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all anybody could ask of you.¡± Zoe said.

    Joe chuckled. ¡°People ask for a lot more than that, Zoe.¡±

    ¡°To hell with them, then. You all work hard and I think Foizo¡¯s a pretty nice place to be. People feel pretty safe here, they feel comfortable. And that¡¯s because of how it¡¯s being run, I think. Anybody who thinks you¡¯re not doing enough can join you and try to fix it themselves.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I appreciate that. Sometimes I feel like we don¡¯t do enough too, though. Or maybe I just don¡¯t see it. Maybe I crave that recognition that I used to get, and being a part of the council makes my own efforts anonymous and people don¡¯t see the work that I personally do.¡± He waved his hand. ¡°But enough of that. I¡¯m doing well. Life¡¯s good, here. We had another meeting recently and we¡¯ve got a bit more funding so things are working out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah you¡¯re starting construction on the north end of town now right?" Emma asked.

    Joe nodded. ¡°We¡¯re working on clearing the land for it right now. Lots of trees and roots in the way that need to be removed.¡±

    ¡°I could help out?" Zoe offered.

    Joe shook his head. ¡°The work itself doesn¡¯t take a lot, really. It¡¯s the planning. Where the lines get drawn, what buildings are going to be put in. The builders the royals sent don¡¯t want to expand the town any further than absolutely necessary so it¡¯s a lot of back and forth, arguing that we need more land and them telling us how we could put the land we already have to better use. It gets tedious, at times. I see the benefit of being independent like Flester was.

    ¡°We could just skip all the paperwork and expand as we wanted. Somebody wants to build a house outside of the walls? We can just push the walls further out to cover them. No big deal. But Flester fell, and they might not have if they had the support of the Injellar kingdom. Or that¡¯s the hope, anyway.¡± Joe said.

    ¡°The pros outweigh the cons, then?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the idea. We deal with some added tedium and we get to be a little safer for it. It has a purpose, and they have a point. A bigger town is harder to defend and might require another royal guard to be stationed here. And that would take away power from the capital. Which if we have enough people and pay enough taxes would be worth it for the additional funding they can get to help pay for even more royal guards, or other services they could use to better the kingdom. It makes sense. It just gets tedious.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe chuckled. ¡°And that is why I don¡¯t get involved in it at all.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d do terribly anyway.¡± Emma said.

    Joe laughed. ¡°You¡¯d probably say something stupid in front of the king and have us all beheaded.¡±

    ¡°Would he do that?¡± Zoe asked.

    Joe shook his head. ¡°No, he¡¯s really quite nice. Busy man, but he¡¯s kind. He cares a lot about his people.¡±

    ¡°So then there¡¯d be no problem! I could be the leader of Foizo starting immediately.¡± Zoe grinned.

    ¡°Do you wanna be?" Joe asked.

    ¡°Not at all.¡± Zoe laughed.

 4-29. Headless

    Zoe sat in her enchanting room with a pile of moon rocks sitting on the table in front of her. She¡¯d been staring at the pile for a few minutes now, trying to bring her hype down. They were rocks from the moon! Every emotional piece of her screamed that they must be incredible for enchanting, that they¡¯d hold more mana than anything she¡¯d worked with.

    But her logical side knew better. Moon rocks were special to her, because they were foreign. Hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, very little that was within reach was anywhere near as exotic. To Zoe, there wasn¡¯t any single material cooler or more interesting. Yet she knew that meant very little.

    She wasn¡¯t the one who decided how good a material was for enchanting, she wasn¡¯t the one who decided how much mana it could hold or how well it would enhance different abilities it was enchanted with. Zoe wasn¡¯t even sure that was a decision that could be made or if it was just a normal property of how things were formed and created.

    All Zoe knew was that if there was a decision to be made, the one making it would be the system. And were moon rocks special to the system? Were they foreign and exotic? Did they excite the system in any way? Of course not. If the system had anything to say about it, moon rocks wouldn¡¯t be any different to the normal rocks that Zoe found on Abyllan.

    One of the moon rocks lifted from the pile and floated to in front of Zoe who grabbed it and pushed mana into it. Sitting around telling herself not to be too excited about it wouldn¡¯t help anything, she had to get it over with. Embrace the mediocrity and enjoy the journey on its own right, rather than for what she got out of it.

    Mana rushed from her hand and into the rock, a little more than she would have expected from the normal gray stone that surrounded her, yet less than even hematite. Zoe smiled and put the stone down. Enchanting it with some long lasting enchantments for the cats would be a challenge, but maybe she could embed some of the icy splinters she still had into it, or carve out a hole for a mana gem of some variety.

    She put the rock back down on the top of the pile and leaned back in her chair. There were so many things to do, so many places to see. Kenzie and Sue wanted a trip to the moon, Peter and Lauren would without a doubt follow soon after. Zoe had learned from her last mistake and wouldn¡¯t be bogged down with being a public taxi to the moon, but she still wanted to help out the people she cared about at least.

    Brick and the others were somewhere, and Zoe found herself wondering if she¡¯d ever see them again, and whether that bothered her or not. She¡¯d had her fun with them, learned what they had to offer her and given back to them in her own way. Maybe one day she¡¯d return to Foizo and see they¡¯d moved in to one of the new buildings Joe was working on to the north of town.

    Or maybe she wouldn¡¯t, and they¡¯d have died to exploring a dungeon they stumbled into.

    Zoe vanished from her enchanting room and appeared far to the north of Foizo beneath the setting sun. She continued Cosmic Stepping to the north, jumping several kilometers multiple times every second as she raced across the ground towards the distant valley, and then down into the pitch black night.

    She paused, floating above the trees as her Cosmic Vision¡¯s sphere reached just down to the surface and then started flying to the north in search of a wanderer to follow. They seemed so interesting to her somehow, people who had given up their humanity to the darkness. By choice? By force? How did that happen, what was the process like?

    Hours passed as Zoe flew along just above the canopy ¡ª and sometimes just below it as the trees grew taller in some areas, seeing just a small slice of the forest floor below until she found something. Deep grooves carved out of the forest floor, marks left behind by a wanderer her tracking skills told her. She chased after them, following the trail until she saw the being that left them and identified it. A bright red level three hundred forty five. The highest she¡¯d ever been able to identify a level for, and already with its sixth class.

    It was different to the one she¡¯d seen before, though just as creepy and twisted. While the first she¡¯d seen could almost be described as fibrous, with threads of blackness stretching across its form and dragging along behind it, this one was anything but.

    The core form was there, the spindly twisted form. The black scabs that seemed to pulsate with each breath and the gaping hole in its torso. The almost slimy, pasty texture to its skin that felt like they¡¯d slough off at the slightest touch. But in the place of the dark ropes that stretched across it were crystalline structures. The hole in its torso filled with some black gem that almost glinted in the blackness of night. Long, stiff strands of hair made from the same crystal fell down its back and scraped along the ground behind it, slicing through the odd stone as though it were no more than soft grass and loose dirt.

    Zoe floated above it and followed it through the night. True to its name, it did little more than wander around the forest with no apparent aim. It didn¡¯t make any sudden movements, it didn¡¯t shift direction without warning. It just continued pressing forward, even as it passed the odd sleeping animal.

    What was its purpose? Its aim? To consume light? To wander?

    The temptation to float down to it and try to talk to it continued to grow as Zoe watched it. Could it talk? Would she find another opportunity to try sometime soon? If it went wrong, would she be able to avoid it? She could teleport away, and doubted that it would be able to follow her up into the sky, in particular if she went high enough to get back to the light.

    But would she be able to do so quick enough to avoid its attack if it was hostile? The thought tore her apart as she floated along above it. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it also created wheels and carriages.

    Zoe took a deep breath and teleported down in front of it so it was just in the very edge of her perception. The wanderer reacted with a slight jolt that raced up from the crystalline strands of hair reaching down behind it and tilted its head as it looked in Zoe¡¯s direction.

    ¡°

    It tilted its head back the other way, the crystals that hung from its head scraping against each other and making a high pitched screeching noise.

    ¡°

    It tilted its head back the other way.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°

    It did nothing.

    ¡°

    The screeching of the crystals scraping on each other rang out as it tilted its head again.

    ¡°

    It remained motionless.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°You have then. Okay. I mean I have too, kinda. I guess. Why do you do it? Hunger? Fear? Anger? Is it some primal instinct?¡±

    It tilted its head.

    ¡°

    It didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°

    It didn¡¯t move, and a moment later Zoe grimaced as a flood of emotions and memories tore through her mind. Fear and anger at the light, an incredible pain as the sun burned into her skin. Its skin? Each of its blisters a painful mistake, or an intentional attack from some cretinous scum. Humans, she realized. Which she wasn¡¯t, according to the wanderer.

    Was that why she was accepted by it? If she were the same species as the humans here, would it have attacked her? Did it know she was a vampyre hybrid, or did it not recognize her because she was Earthian rather than Abyllian, or whatever they were called here?

    A moment after the barrage, she noticed the Wanderer standing next to her. Its twisted face staring down at her. Its eyes covered in the same crystals, splitting and fracturing to fill out the voids left behind in the empty sockets.

    ¡°

    An unsure feeling smashed into her mind but she didn¡¯t let it distract her, watching as the wanderer¡¯s legs twisted tighter and launched it forward towards her. She teleported back again and the wanderer stopped where she was then looked at her, tilting its head again.

    ¡°

    An image of darkness, with bits of movement shifting through the shadows hit her mind and the wanderer launched itself forward again forcing Zoe back once more. Was it trying to attack her, or trying to get a closer look at her? She wasn¡¯t quite sure.

    ¡°

    She teleported up and the wanderer looked around, its head swivelling on its neck like a ball floating on a bed of water rather than connected to its spine.

    ¡°

    Its head snapped up, the crystalline hairs smashing into each other from the violent move and ringing out with painful cries. The wanderer screeched and stretched its hands out. Crystals exploded from its hands, smashing into the ground, pushing the wanderer upwards to Zoe.

    She teleported to the side and its head followed her movement, the crystals in its eyes almost seeming to shine with a bright, black light. It slammed into a crystal wall that formed in the air and rocketed off of it towards Zoe.

    Its sharp claws raked across her gut just before she managed to react and teleport away again. She didn¡¯t bother staying nearby this time, going as far as her Cosmic Step would take her, and then Cosmic Stepping again even further into the sky.

    Her stomach burned from the pain and she looked down at it. The black crystals clung to her and expanded as they crawled up towards her shoulder. She stopped her Cosmic Steps and pushed all of her excess mana towards Restoration, but even that only managed to slow the drain on her health.

    ¡°

    A flash of blackness entered the edge of her vision and she teleported away just as the wanderer raked its claws across her calf.

    She teleported further up, trying to stagger her ascent to avoid the wanderer¡¯s pursuit and didn¡¯t stop until she landed on the edge of the cliff. By the time she did, the black crystals had covered her entire right left and her entire lower torso along with her left arm and shoulder.

    Restoration flooded her with healing, but it wasn¡¯t enough. As the crystals spread, they accelerated. Panic rose within Zoe as she tried to rip the crystals off with her Earth skill, or chip away at them with enchanted Frost, but all she could do was slow it. For every chip she cut off, another full crystal formed, creeping up her neck or down her other leg.

    Fire burned around her from her Fire and Cinders skills, trying to slow the process down with light. Which worked to an extent, and had she thought of it earlier might have even been enough when combined with her Restoration. But there was too much for it to make enough of a difference, now.

    Zoe grimaced as the crystals continued to creep up her neck, the first ones touching the bottom of her chin and screamed. A massive blade of frost appeared above her and she flashed it with an enchantment of Archery, Dagger-fighting, a cutting focused Elemental Arsenal and Cooking then fired it off at her neck.

    The icy blade sliced clean through, cutting her crystal laden body off from her head and she Cosmic Stepped a few feet to the side, leaving her body behind. Her body reformed from the mana she was already pushing into Restoration, starting from her neck and stretching down in a disgusting display of flesh and bone that twisted together.

    A combination of her Fire and Restoration fought back against the final remnants of the black crystals clinging to her chin and she gasped for breath, grasping her neck with both her hands.

    She looked to the side where the black crystals continued to eat away at the body she left behind, then seep into the ground. The ground it was on ripped away then floated over to the valley where she let it tumble down the cliff face.

    Zoe waited at the edge of the cliff, staring down into the dark valley for hours. Waiting for the faintest glimpse of the wanderer that was pursuing her. A few times, she thought she saw it, but if she did then it never came up far enough to threaten her anymore.

    If she dragged that thing back to Foizo, she¡¯d never be able to forgive herself. She shuddered, the pain of decapitating herself kept coming back. The thought of the body she¡¯d tossed over the edge plummeting to the ground, becoming food for some disgusting creature. Her body. Her old body.

 4-30. Infallible

    Zoe stared into the valley for days on end, losing track of time as the fear of that thing overwhelmed her. The sun rose and fell, and each day began to seem like a blur of fear and anxiety. How long would she need to wait before she felt comfortable again? Before she felt safe?

    What if she left, and it was waiting just out of sight to follow her back home? If she dragged it back to Foizo and it slaughtered everybody. Would the royal guards be able to help her? Could they handle the beast without casualties?

    She felt the mark on her shoulder fade away ¡ª just about a week since she¡¯d left for the moon with Emma. That would make it three days she¡¯d been sitting here? Four? Was that long enough? Were people worried about her?

    Tears fell down her cheeks, as they had many times over the past few days. Emotion overwhelming her, a desire to see her friends again, to get back home and tell them that she was okay. This wasn¡¯t supposed to be a long trip, she just wanted to go see a wanderer and come back home after.

    What a mistake, she thought. What a stupid, terrible mistake. Everybody down there was terrified of them. Entire cities of high level individuals cowering in fear from even just a single one of those wanderers. Would Zoe be able to take on the entire city of Krol, by herself? Newtown? Alone, and with confidence?

    No, of course she couldn¡¯t. Maybe she could take out a few of the people in them, and maybe she could escape afterwards. But the people cowered, hiding away from the wanderers that stalked the night, as though if one so much as caught a glimpse of them they¡¯d all surely be dead.

    And in her arrogance, she thought herself better than one of those monsters. Or at least she thought herself its match. Of course she wasn¡¯t. She wasn¡¯t special, she wasn¡¯t some chosen hero that could save the world. All she had was a little luck and a bit of stubbornness. An advantage to be sure, but it didn¡¯t make her some immortal, invincible being.

    She stared down into the valley, the darkness beginning to set in again as the dense cloud of whatever filled the valley blocked out the little light reaching down from the setting sun. Every time the valley darkened, Zoe started having visions of that crystalline creature jumping out of the fog to chase her down. The fear was unlike anything she¡¯d ever experienced before.

    Her first encounter with a boar paled in comparison to the sheer primal terror that overwhelmed her from the wanderer. For a while, she thought she¡¯d get some mental resistance levels or maybe even a fear resistance. It just seemed so much more than what she thought she was capable of feeling, so much worse than she thought possible for herself.

    How much of it was from the wanderer, and how much of it was from what it forced her to do to herself? She wasn¡¯t sure. The whole experience was something she never wanted to have again, and yet so terrible that she struggled to take her eyes off of it.

    Zoe chuckled as she remembered her peaceful life back home, when a cockroach would sneak into her room and she¡¯d sit on her bed staring at her door hoping more didn¡¯t follow in behind it. Maybe it was a bit of a reach, but it felt almost the same. A fear that she knew to be almost unfounded in reality pushing her to be irrational.

    If the wanderer was following her, then it would have been following the black crystals it left on her. Which she¡¯d dumped over the edge along with her old body. There was no reason, no practical explanation for why the wanderer would follow her. Even if she hadn¡¯t dumped the crystals, the wanderers hated the light. It would never come so far up to be in the starlight, let alone in the middle of day.

    There was no reason the wanderer would pursue her up here. No possible explanation she could think of that would make that make sense.

    And yet she couldn¡¯t peel her eyes away from the dark valley. Her eyes darted back and forth to every flash of movement, a branch from a tall tree that extended above the dark fog or some animal that flew over the fog in the distance. Each time a small surge of fear rose up from in her, her mind somehow convinced that the next flash of movement would be the wanderer defying all logic and rushing after her anyway.

    It had communicated, probably. Maybe it didn¡¯t and Zoe was just na?ve and hopeful. But it seemed to be communicating. It wanted to help her, to show her its home. Was that how it did that? If she let the crystals consume her, would she have survived and been brought to its home?

    She hadn¡¯t even checked her health at the time, too overwhelmed with fear to even think of it at the time. Had her health dropped, or was she still okay despite the creeping crystals?

    Zoe shook her head and took a deep breath. It had been days since the incident, and nothing was coming after her. Nothing would come after her. She couldn¡¯t just sit at the edge of the cliff and stare down into it for the rest of her life in some pathetic attempt to protect Foizo from a threat that had no reason to ever come to Foizo. It was irrational.

    And besides, what would Zoe do if the wanderer did pursue her and she was caught on the edge of the cliff, alone? She¡¯d already shown herself that she wasn¡¯t its match. Getting to Foizo and having the royal guard to help would be the safest option for herself, and probably even for the rest of the peaks.

    But even that was assuming this would be the first time a wanderer would ever step foot on the peaks in pursuit of her, which was an arrogant thought in its own right. There was no reason to be afraid of it coming up. There was every reason to be terrified of going back down, but of it coming up to the peak? Unless somebody destroyed the sun, that just wouldn¡¯t happen.

    She stood up and took another deep breath. It would be okay, she told herself. The wanderer wouldn¡¯t chase her forever. It had already given up, or maybe it thought it already got her. She could leave, go back to her normal life and everything would be okay. She would be okay.

    Zoe teleported up into the sky, a few kilometers in land and waited for a few hours, staring at the edge of the cliff. But nothing climbed up, nothing poked its disgusting head over the edge. Nothing was chasing her. She knew that, and she could see that. But believing it was so difficult to do, even still.

    She teleported further inland and stared back at the edge, obscured by the forest from so far away. And still nothing, no crystal walls appeared, nothing happened. Zoe took another deep breath and turned away, teleporting off towards Foizo.

    In a few minutes, she landed back in her home. Emma was sleeping in her bed, with Oliver laying at her feet and Fennel sleeping on the window sill. Zoe teleported into the large cavern she¡¯d carved out behind her home and sat down at the lone desk in the middle of it.

    One day, she wanted to make this cavern into something, but every time she thought about it, she changed her mind on what she wanted. A pool, an extension to her library, a forge, an arena maybe. She¡¯d do it someday. Maybe she could finally start on that, settle down and have something to consume her attention for a while. Until she felt safe again.

    Zoe teleported up to her enchanting workshop to grab some moon rocks and started making some toys for the cats. The rocks were a little rough and had sharp edges, so she started by manipulating the rocks into softer shapes with her Earth skill. A few balls, but Zoe had begun to enjoy the finer details with her skills too and tried her hand out at making some more fun shapes. Mice and t-rexes for the most part, a couple of snakes. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Then she set up her Enchanted Mirror with her preferred cat toy enchantment ¡ª a mixture of Enchanting, Meditation, Space, Gales and Restoration, enhanced with her Everlasting Enchantments skill. Some of them she replaced the Space with Vampyric Empathy to give them various emotions, but Zoe found the cats enjoyed the more powerful bouncing effect more than they enjoyed a little anxiety or fear.

    Besides, she wasn¡¯t sure what the ethics were on making cat toys that felt afraid. It was probably fine, but something about it felt a little off at times as she saw the toys bouncing around full of fear as the cats chased after them with joy.

    By the next afternoon, Zoe teleported out of her cavern and met Emma in the kitchen.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded and felt the tears falling down her cheek again as the emotional floodgate opened.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Emma summoned one of the dresses Zoe brought back from Korna and handed it to Zoe. ¡°Hey it¡¯s okay. You can wear this. It¡¯ll be okay, alright?¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I need it back, Emma. Dammit. It went horribly. It went so horribly. I thought we were communicating, we were talking. But then it kept rushing after me and when I tried to leave it caught up to me.¡±

    ¡°

    Zoe¡¯s mouth quivered. ¡°I¡­ cut off my head.¡±

    Emma¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Oh. I¡¯m so sorry. That couldn¡¯t have been fun.¡±

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°And then I tossed my body down into the valley.¡±

    ¡°

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I need one of them. One of my bracelets has a stupid rock in it that¡¯s really important. If I let that go I¡¯d never be able to forgive myself.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Emma nodded. ¡°Yup.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe sighed. ¡°I hate that you¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Emma smiled. ¡°See? I¡¯m always right. You don¡¯t need it. And you dropped it by the cliff anyway. Is anybody even going to find it there? You can go get it when you¡¯re stronger and not so scared.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I¡¯m still gonna spend at least a day to see if I can find where I was earlier, though.¡±

    ¡°

    ¡°

    ¡°

 4-31. Lost and Found

    ¡°Come on, lets go let Joe know that you¡¯re okay and then we¡¯ll look for your¡­ body.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe nodded, and the two teleported outside their home and then walked through town towards Joe¡¯s inn. It was still quite late at night, so he was probably in his inn. Maybe in his room getting some work done or sleeping.

    The front door to the inn was locked, so the two teleported past it and into the dining area.

    ¡°I feel like a burglar.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma chuckled quietly. ¡°He doesn¡¯t mind. He doesn¡¯t get much sleep these days so he¡¯s probably at his desk upstairs. Come on.¡±

    Emma led Zoe up the stairs and down the dim hallway to the furthest room where she knocked on the door. Zoe tried to avoid peering into the nearby rooms as she walked by, but couldn¡¯t help but notice Joe leaning on his desk, his head pressed into his elbow atop a small pile of papers.

    He got up and stretched before he stumbled over to the door to open it.

    ¡°Zoe!" Joe said, his face lightening as soon as he opened the door. ¡±You¡¯re okay!"

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Can we come in?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Everything okay?¡± Joe asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s okay, she¡¯s safe. A bit worked up though.¡± Emma said.

    Joe nodded and stepped back, gesturing the two of them into his room. Zoe and Emma followed in and sat down at some spare chairs he summoned from his storage item. Zoe felt a tinge of pain tickling the back of her mind when she saw it.

    ¡°What happened?" Joe asked. ¡±I was so worried you were gone.¡°

    ¡°She went down into the valley again and ran into a wanderer. It didn¡¯t go well, and she had to¡­¡± Emma made a slashing motion across her neck with her finger. ¡°Tossed everything down into the valley, along with her storage items, apparently.¡±

    Joe¡¯s eyes widened in shock as he stared at Zoe¡¯s neck. ¡°Are you okay? Do you need anything?¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I¡¯m okay. Mostly. Scared. It wasn¡¯t fun, Joe.¡±

    Joe shook his head. ¡°No, I can¡¯t imagine it was. I¡¯m sorry you went through that. I can lend you one of my storage items if you need?¡±

    ¡°No, she¡¯s insistent on trying to get it back. So I¡¯m going to go with her, and we¡¯ll see if we can find where she was up on the peak again. Could I get you to watch the boys while we¡¯re gone? We won¡¯t be more than a day, if we can¡¯t find it then that¡¯s that.¡± Emma asked.

    Joe nodded. ¡°Of course, yes. They¡¯ll be fine. I might send Kenzie and Sue over later to spend some time with them if that¡¯s alright?¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°Thanks, Joe.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Joe asked, looking at Zoe.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s been a very unpleasant few days.¡±

    Joe nodded. ¡°You should take a break from it all for a bit. You¡¯re immortal, you could spend a few decades here or checking out some of the safer towns nearby. You don¡¯t have to jump into the deep end right away. Don¡¯t push yourself too much.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I think I will. Maybe. I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know what I want to do right now. I want to sleep, for like two years. Forget about it all.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to go for a trip. Thanks, Joe. We¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Anytime. You two stay safe and don¡¯t push yourselves too much.¡± Joe said.

    Zoe nodded and then held her hand out for Emma who grabbed it. She Cosmic Stepped the two of them back out towards where she thought she¡¯d been and in a few minutes they were at the edge of the cliffs. The forest extended below them, reaching up to the edge and even climbing down the cliff with their roots and several branches that extended out over the valley.

    ¡°So.¡± Emma said. ¡°Where do you think you were?"

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think around here, but I think it was in a clearing.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Okay, then lets leave a mark here and then fly along and see if we can find a clearing. There¡¯s only one cliff, we¡¯re bound to find it eventually.¡± Emma said.

    Zoe nodded and built up a small tower of earth before she started pushing them along to the east along the cliff face, teleporting a few hundred meters every couple seconds to get a look around for a spot where the trees opened up.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be alright, Zoe.¡± Emma said. ¡°Even if we don¡¯t find it, it¡¯s not the end of the world. It¡¯ll be okay.¡±

    ¡°I know. I know that, logically.¡± Zoe said between Cosmic Steps. ¡°It just feels bad, losing it all. To a stupid mistake. I wasn¡¯t even in danger when I lost it, not really. I could have just taken it off of myself and kept it, and I threw it over the edge. How did I not notice that?¡± Zoe asked.

    Emma shrugged through the earthen suit, pressing against Zoe¡¯s magic. ¡°It was scary. Don¡¯t blame yourself so much. What¡¯s important is that you¡¯re safe.¡±

    ¡°I know that. I do. I¡¯m just so annoyed? I think annoyed. At myself. I should have kept going up to the sun, maybe the sunlight would have helped fight back the crystals. I should have saved my storage items before I dumped my body. I shouldn¡¯t have even tried communicating with the wanderer. And especially after I did, I shouldn¡¯t have stayed after it showed it was clearly hostile. It was all so stupid. So stupid. Why was I so stupid?" Zoe asked.

    Emma nodded. ¡°It was stupid, Zoe. But you lived, and you¡¯ve learned from it, and you¡¯ll be better off for it. You won¡¯t make a mistake like that again. You know, now.¡±

    ¡°I guess.¡± Zoe said.

    The two continued teleporting along the cliff for several hours, a shockingly straight cliff with only a very slight curve to it bending around towards the south. They ran into a few clearings, but none that had any tracks left behind by Zoe. No signs of the devastation that was wrought on her, no chunk of ground missing from when she dumped everything over the edge, no indent left from her sitting at the edge for several days.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Maybe we go check the other way instead?¡± Emma suggested.

    Zoe nodded and rushed them back to the earthen pillar she carved out, and then continued their much slower pace towards the west. It didn¡¯t take long before they found the clearing Zoe had sat at, with the massive slab of earth shunted off the cliff and a smattering of blood left behind where Zoe had lain, struggling against the dark crystals.

    Stupid, Zoe told herself. So stupid. She¡¯d gotten arrogant, after trying so hard to not be.

    Emma looked around the clearing with a sombre face and then walked up to the edge to peer over it. ¡°So its down there, huh?"

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Well, I guess we wait until noon and make our way down?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s probably safest.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma plopped down on the ground next to the edge, her head hanging off and shifting as she looked around the dark valley. ¡°It¡¯s kinda cool.¡±

    ¡°It was.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Nothing can get us up here though, right?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. It¡¯s too bright.¡± Zoe responded.

    Emma nodded.

    The morning sun rose several hours later, and the two watched it crawl along the sky until it was high above them.

    ¡°Alright, lets go see what we can find then.¡± Emma said as she hopped up to her feet and held out her hand.

    Zoe nodded, grabbed her hand and covered the two of them in an earthen suit, then floated them down the cliff face, Cosmic Stepping them several kilometers every few seconds with a surge of anxiety rushing through her.

    They landed near the ground, with the abomination she¡¯d tossed over the edge left in a small crater. Little more than a crumpled, shattered mess after the long fall. Her flesh wasn¡¯t visible through the dense covering of crystals, let alone her bracelets and ring. Deep grooves surrounded her body that sent fear coursing through her as her Vampyric Senses showed her a clear image of the wanderer that did this to her. It followed her all the way here, but left her body?

    She looked around, but the tracks didn¡¯t seem to lead anywhere. Maybe it jumped, or flew somewhere? It didn¡¯t want to eat her, maybe it was trying to help her, somehow? Bring her into the darkness with it? Or maybe it was still here, lurking beneath the shadows, waiting for its opportunity to jump out at them.

    ¡°You want me to do it?" Emma asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe touching it will be bad.¡±

    ¡°Anything around us right now?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t see anything.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°Okay, then pick this up with your Earth and lets take it back up. Maybe we can get it to the sun and burn these away, or at least if we¡¯re in the light we¡¯ll be safer if anything does happen.¡±

    ¡°Maybe. But what if it¡¯s inside there, and we take it up to the sun?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Then it dies?¡± Emma shrugged.

    ¡°Before it kills us?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t kill you before, I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be able to do it this time when it¡¯s in full view of the sun.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°I¡¯m just scared.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I know.¡± Emma said. ¡°We can try and get your items out here and then leave if you think that would be better?"

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know what the best option is. I don¡¯t know where this thing is or what it is.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded and knelt down next to Zoe¡¯s former body then reached out and touched the black crystals with her index finger. ¡°See? Nothing happened. They¡¯re dormant, now. It¡¯ll be okay. And if anything happens, we know we can just cut off my hand or arm and recover it, okay?¡±

    ¡°I really don¡¯t want to cut off your hand, Emma.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to, if this infects me.¡± Emma said. ¡°Unless you have a better idea for how to get your items back. We have to get the crystals off somehow.¡±

    Zoe tried to pull her mining tools from her bracelet and cursed under her breath when it failed.

    Emma summoned a black knife from her item and started chiselling away at the body¡¯s arm, bits of black crystal shattered off and clattered on the ground around them. Zoe¡¯s anxiety grew with each passing minute as Emma continued working through the dense crystals that covered her old body. Each moment they spent down in the valley another moment they could be ambushed by some creature far beyond her imagination.

    After what felt like an eternity but was likely just under ten minutes, Emma cut off Zoe¡¯s old right hand and slid off the first of her bracelets ¡ª her less important one with one bag of clothes and 3 empty bags. ¡°Here you go. How many did you have?"

    ¡°I had two bracelets and a ring. Should be another bracelet on the other wrist, and a ring on my left index finger.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded and turned her attention to the other wrist. Another eternity passed as Zoe¡¯s heart raced, and the other hand severed from her body, letting the bracelet slide off. Emma handed it to Zoe and she put it back on, feeling all of her supplies that were in it. Food, all of her money, some simple tools for mining and carpentry. And most important, her Frost rock that took up an entire bag on its own.

    Zoe felt a wave of relief as she felt it, the familiar presence that had been there with her for so long. She¡¯d get around to doing something with it someday, but the thought that she¡¯d lost it before she ever got to learn more about it wracked her mind with a flurry of emotions. Maybe she¡¯d up the priority on that, now that it was clear how much it meant to her.

    ¡°Which finger?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°Huh?" Zoe responded, a little dazed from the sudden calm that had overtaken her.

    ¡°Which finger was your ring on again?¡± Emma clarified.

    ¡°Oh, sorry. Left index finger.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded and started chiselling away at the crystals covering Zoe¡¯s old finger with her knife. In a few minutes, Zoe¡¯s ring was free from beneath the dense layer of terror and she slipped it onto her hand where it belonged. Inside was all of her enchanting supplies she kept on her, some important paperwork she liked to have on her and some general camping supplies to prepare food while she was out travelling.

    ¡°That everything?¡± Emma asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to be able to get your clothes off of this.¡±

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°Okay, then lets go home. This place is creepy and I don¡¯t want to stick around until nighttime.¡± Emma smiled and held out her hand.

    Zoe grabbed it and teleported the two of them back up to the cliff edge, and then over the forest on the way back to Foizo. They arrived back home soon after and collapsed on the chairs in the kitchen.

    ¡°Well that was terrifying.¡± Emma took a deep breath and sighed.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Zoe said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I could have done that, even if I found my way back there, to be honest. That was me. My old body. I¡­¡±

    Emma waved her hand and smiled. ¡°It¡¯s okay. Maybe it¡¯s cause I wasn¡¯t there when it happened, but it didn¡¯t really feel like it was yours, anyway. It¡¯s no big deal.¡±

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s next for you then? What¡¯s your next grand adventure? Going to stay around here for a while?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Probably. I think I really want to check out this Frost thing I have, finally. Maybe I¡¯ll go see if I can find Eliza and get her opinion on it, too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oo, say hi for me! And if you find them, say hi to my parents. Its been a while since we¡¯ve talked.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Sure. You can come along if you want, when I go?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll go visit Korna someday but I want to stay here for a bit.¡± Emma smiled.

 4-32. Chilled

    Zoe settled into life in Foizo for a few years, relaxing at home and making toys for the cats. Kenzie and Sue both took a trip to the moon a few weeks after Zoe got back with Lauren tagging along. Lauren tried to convince Peter to come along as well, but he did not have much desire to leave the planet for longer than a couple minutes at most.

    Emma and Zoe went up to the moon again after a year to check on the track they¡¯d found from whatever beast left it, and saw it was in a near identical state to when they first saw it, with the only difference being a small hole dug into it from another tiny piece of space rock that impacted the moon.

    Most of her time was spent chatting with her friends, or working on some simple enchantments as she tried to forget the experience with the wanderer. Maybe it wasn¡¯t something she¡¯d ever truly forget, and maybe it wasn¡¯t something she ever should forget. In time, the fear of it had begun to wane and the draw to someday meet more of them ¡ª when she was much, much stronger, came back. As terrifying as they were, something about them fascinated her.

    A community of beings that lived in the darkness and communicated through mental magic? It tickled every curious bone in her body, but the thought of seeing more of them now shook them with fear. Maybe after she got her sixth class she¡¯d try her hand at it again. With more preparations, maybe she¡¯d try and get a powerful light spell first in case they showed some hostility again.

    The Frost that was stored in her bracelet had remained there, poking at the back of her mind every time she thought of maybe venturing out again and exploring some new area. Every time she thought of going back to Kliggig to try her hand at it again, or back to the Springs of Gir to force her way into those tunnels beneath the surface. Losing it terrified her more than she ever thought it would.

    Losing her storage items was something that she¡¯d never even thought of, not as much as she should have. She¡¯d been offered Storage skills before, but wrote them off because why would she spend a skill slot on something that was so readily available to her in enchantments?

    Zoe chuckled as she sat at her table in the wide cavern behind her home. Because she can¡¯t lose her skill like she can lose an item. Or she could, she supposed, if she entered a challenge dungeon that restricted her to a lower level. What would happen if she had several bags of storage in her higher level classes that were removed because she entered a challenge dungeon?

    What made the most sense was that she¡¯d just not have access to them until she left the dungeon again ¡ª similar to her enchanting class, though she couldn¡¯t ignore the possibility that the system would shunt all of her belongings out on the entrance of the dungeon, either.

    That would be quite a funny sight, she thought. Vanishing into a challenge dungeon and leaving behind the essence of Frost to maybe even destroy the dungeon entrance. Would she be able to get back if it destroyed it? Were there other elemental rocks like Frost, maybe some Earth or Wood objects sitting in some cavern or forest somewhere, waiting to be discovered? Or maybe they were more common than Zoe expected, and powerful enchanters used them all the time to empower their enchantments.

    She looked around at the cavern she was in one last time ¡ª empty, with thick walls separating her from any of the neighbouring rooms. The floor was flattened and the walls were brought back in, making the cavern much smaller but also providing more insulation from the rest of the home. If the cavern was just going to be empty, then it may as well be reinforced to be used as a second enchanting room for more dangerous experiments. One day she¡¯d make something even further away, but Zoe doubted she¡¯d ever get into making enchantments that were quite that terrifying.

    Zoe took a deep breath and turned her attention to her storage bracelet, and the Frost within it. She couldn¡¯t even remember how long it had sat in her bracelet, taking up an entire bag on its own. An inconvenience more than once, and it was long since due that she tried to understand it better.

    An almost imperceptible chunk of mana was ripped from her as she summoned the Frost to her hand, and she smiled. The memory of that day always seemed so intense, the cold creeping up her body and freezing her solid. A massive cost to just storing it in her bracelet, let alone doing anything with it.

    But how much mana did she have back then? Five thousand? Ten thousand at most? She had almost seven hundred thousand mana now, even if it took her entire pool back then, that would barely be a blip in her pool and with her mana regeneration now.

    And the cold creeping through her body, threatening to freeze her entire form if she didn¡¯t do something immediately? Zoe tossed the Frost up in the air and caught it in her other hand, feeling a slight chill trying to force its way into her hand through her resistances and Restoration.

    She laughed. All these years, she¡¯d been storing this dangerous, powerful object in her bracelet. But that was only relative to how powerful she was herself back then, and compared to herself now she may as well have been a powerless bug grasping at the slightest hint of magic.

    Zoe closed her eyes and pushed mana into the jagged ball of ice, feeling the inner structure of the object. It was cold. Incredibly cold, and she wasn¡¯t sure how she even knew that, but she did. Everything else she pushed her mana into just felt normal, she wasn¡¯t even sure how to explain it. There was no sensation of temperature, of pain. Just a feeling of her mana filling the object, of how much space there was and maybe if she really focused she could feel some obstructions within the inner structure of the object.

    But this was cold, in a way she¡¯d never felt cold before. As though her very soul was being touched by the object through the connection with her mana. Pushing her mana into it felt sluggish, not as though it was spacious ¡ª it was, though not as spacious as some of the dedicated mana storage items Zoe had experienced before. But rather that her mana seemed to slow down as it entered the ball, so much that it became an obstruction itself.

    She had to push her mana in, and then coax it further through the jagged ball of ice, pressing it into every corner she could. The amount of mana it took to be saturated was far more than a normal ball of ice, though not exceptional in its own right. And yet filling it still took almost ten minutes, with an enormous amount of her mana wasted just to help coax the rest of her mana into the ball.

    [Frost] to her identify.

    She turned her attention inwards and found her skills, then mixed their forms together and pushed it into the ball. An instant later, the temperature around her plummeted. Even just having the Frost near her at all was a noticeable chill, but after enchanting it with Frost, it went from a slight discomfort to being quite painful in an instant, and showed no signs of slowing.

    Bits of ice began to build up on every surface nearby ¡ª the table and floor, every strand of hair that Zoe had. Her vision was almost blocked by the buildup of ice hanging from her eyelashes, and her eyes began to sting as she felt hear tears dripping freezing as they scraped along her eyes.

    Zoe pushed more mana into the enchantment to try and rip it apart, but her mana was even more sluggish than it was before. A green light cast out from Zoe as she cast her Nature¡¯s Clearing skill, reaching about seven feet away from her and filling her with more regeneration and dampening the chill that was draining her health.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Each minute that passed dropped the temperature even further, and with it came even more of a struggle to manipulate her mana within the object. By the time four minutes had passed, her health was draining even with her Nature¡¯s Clearing and she had to start pumping mana into her Restoration while maintaining her Nature¡¯s Clearing and trying to tear apart the enchantment.

    Another six minutes passed before Zoe was able to finally interrupt the enchantment, her health just starting to drop even with her Restoration running with as much mana as it would accept. The temperature had gotten so low that even the air began to condense, bits of liquid oxygen and whatever other gasses were created by her Wind skill dripping to the ground out of the air, forming small puddles.

    With the enchantment ripped apart, Zoe pushed mana into her Cinders skill to create glowing embers that floated through the room and drifted down to the ground. All of the heat was ripped out of them as soon as they were created, the dim glow she expected visible for just a brief moment before all she had was cold ash.

    Bringing the room up to temperature took far longer than it did to drop the temperature, and brought a couple of different problems. The first were the puddles of oxygen covering the floor. She had needed to continue creating warm air to breath the entire time she was trying to break the enchantment, since the gasses didn¡¯t last long in the incredibly cold room before they liquefied.

    Which meant that as she brought the room back up to temperature, all of those puddles evaporated back into their gasses, and there was far too much of them to fit into the small, airtight cavern Zoe had created. After a few minutes of warming the room again, she felt her ears popping from the gasses pressurizing the room, and she had to carve the walls out further before she could continue so the gasses would have somewhere to expand towards.

    The second problem was how painful warming herself up from whatever temperature she was brought down to was. She could heal through it, but every hair follicle that was frozen and warmed up teared at her skin, her lips and nose cracked and bled as she warmed herself up again. The pain was intense, and she wasn¡¯t even sure if there was a way to try and avoid it.

    She tried to slow down the warming process, but that just meant she had to deal with the painful cold for longer, and her skin still ripped apart as she warmed anyway. Zoe gritted her teeth through the pain and hoped she¡¯d at least get some pain resistance levels from it.

    It was almost a half hour before the room was brought up to a comfortable temperature again, maybe ten or twenty degrees below zero if Zoe had to take a guess. With all of her resistances, it was at least warm enough to not be taking damage from her very body freezing.

    Zoe looked at the jagged ball of blue ice resting on the table, so innocent looking and chuckled to herself. Maybe it was good that she waited as long as she had, on its own it wasn¡¯t anywhere near as dangerous as she once thought. But enchanted with her Frost skill? She¡¯d have needed to store it away again and who knows how long it would have been before she was willing to bring it out after that.

    She Cosmic Stepped out into the kitchen where Emma was making some dinner. Oliver was laying down at her feet, while Fennel sat on the table screaming something that must be terribly important despite Emma not paying attention to it.

    ¡°Hey Fennel.¡± Zoe said, petting Fennel behind the ears. He leaned into her hand when she touched him and walked over to her side of the table to meow at her some more instead. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re such a smart boy! So much to say!¡±

    ¡°He never shuts up.¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°He¡¯s got a lot of very important things to say!" Zoe said.

    ¡°Probably something like ¡®mommy why aren¡¯t you feeding me? I haven¡¯t been fed in two minutes. You¡¯re starving me! Mommy!¡¯ I bet.¡± Emma laughed.

    ¡°That¡¯s very important, you know?¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± Emma agreed.

    Zoe took a whiff of the scent filling the kitchen. Some hearty, savoury scent coming from a pot of soup bubbling away on the stone stove embedded into the wall.

    ¡°Whatcha making?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Soup. Just harvested some of the veggies from the garden and thought some soup would be nice.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Smells good.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded. ¡°Hopefully. I¡¯ve been slaving away at it for the last few hours. What were you up to?¡±

    Zoe stepped away from Fennel and flashed her Frost in and out of her storage bracelet. ¡°Playing with this.¡±

    ¡°Oh! You can handle it now?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Yeah, I mean I almost could before and I¡¯m way stronger than I was. Kinda silly to have been worried about it this long.¡± Zoe said.

    Emma nodded. ¡°That makes sense, I¡¯ve never seen it before. Can I touch it?"

    ¡°Uh, maybe another time. Not right now, it¡¯s been through a bit and is a little extra cold right now.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Oh? What¡¯d you do?" Emma asked.

    ¡°I enchanted it.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°With what?" Emma asked.

    ¡°Frost.¡± Zoe answered.

    ¡°You enchanted a ball of ice literally called Frost with the Frost skill?" Emma laughed. ¡±How¡¯d that work out?"

    ¡°Really well, actually. If you define well as being almost freezing me to death again.¡± Zoe laughed.

    Emma shook her head. ¡°Well let me know when it¡¯s warmed up, I wanna touch it.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I will. I think I¡¯m gonna go try and find Eliza and see if she knows anything about this. I¡¯m starting to think it¡¯s not as big a deal as I thought it was, to be honest.¡±

    ¡°Alright, have fun. Say hi for me.¡± Emma said.

    ¡°Save some soup for me, I¡¯ll be back in a bit.¡± Zoe said before she Cosmic Stepped out of Foizo.

 4-33. Egg

    Zoe arrived just outside Korna¡¯s gate less than a minute later, the same one that she entered along with the Flester refugees several years prior. The city looked just as she remembered it, open and welcoming, though there was a subtle hint of some wrongness to her memories. Leftovers from the attempted invasion, she supposed.

    It felt odd at times, walking through the streets of Korna. As though she should see the familiar fashion trend that had taken over the city in her last visit ¡ª soldiers she knew, now. But she didn¡¯t. Instead, she saw the normal Korna fashion, as incredulous as it tended to be. Colourful, wispy fabrics dangling from people¡¯s forms and the odd culture shock as she saw far more nudity or near nudity than she was used to again.

    Getting used to that would take a while. Zoe still never thought herself much of a prude, if people wanted to walk around without being covered in a layer of fabric ¡ª or being entirely covered except for where she¡¯d expect, then she liked to think she was okay with that in theory.

    In practice, she found it rather shocking to see people¡¯s bodies on full display like that, in such a casual way. It made her wonder what the people in Korna did find enticing again, specific clothes? Lingerie that they tended to enjoy? What would it be like to grow up in a culture where a person¡¯s flesh was without stigma?

    If she spent a few decades in Korna, would she find herself falling into that same culture? Would it be reversible? Would she want to reverse it?

    Zoe shrugged as she wandered through the streets towards where she remembered Lila¡¯s home being, and knocked on the door.

    Lila opened it a few minutes later, with bits of gray speckled through her head and wrinkles on her face. ¡°Hello?"

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Zoe walked in and sat down in the living room on a comfortable couch made from some red fabric and filled with some large, albeit quite soft spheres of some kind.

    ¡°

    ¡°

    Lila nodded. ¡°She¡¯s off somewhere right now. I can send her a message if you like? I think she should be back later today or maybe tomorrow. She tends to come by more and more lately.¡±

    ¡°

    Lila smiled and summoned a piece of paper along with a pen, and placed them on the table in front of Zoe to write on.

    Hey Eliza, it¡¯s Zoe. I¡¯m the immortal girl you met a while ago, I¡¯m not sure if you remember me. I get distracted quite easily and tend to forget about things. Maybe that¡¯s just a part of growing old as an immortal. Y¡¯know I always read these stories of immortals who wouldn¡¯t even realize how much time had passed and thought it was silly.

    How would you now know that a year, or two years has passed since you last spoke with your grandchildren, or friends, or whoever. But now I¡¯m here, and it¡¯s happening to me, and I dunno. It¡¯s weird. I feel like I need to sit down and make a checklist of things to do so I don¡¯t forget things.

    Anyway I¡¯m rambling. I¡¯m here in Korna and I have a few things I¡¯d love to bounce off of you if you¡¯re up for having a chat at some point.

    Zoe looked up at Lila. ¡°Could you send a message to me when Eliza comes back?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°Okay, thanks.¡± Zoe said and turned her attention back to the note.

    Get Lila to send a message when you¡¯re in town. No rush. I¡¯m rather quick now, so I should be knocking at her door in a few minutes. Hope you¡¯re still doing well, see you in a while.

    Zoe folded up the paper and handed it to Lila who cast her skill. Mana surged around her and ripped the paper away, sending small ripples through space that Zoe hadn¡¯t been able to notice last time.

    ¡°Interesting skill. How¡¯d you get it?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh, Ash and I started out as a courier when we were younger. They were supposed to be the protection, and I was the logistics, so to speak. I don¡¯t think that it was the best thing we could have done, but I enjoy some of the skills I got from then still.¡± Lila answered with a serene looking smile on her face.

    Zoe almost jumped out of her seat when she noticed some violent fluctuations in her Cosmic Vision before Eliza popped into Lila¡¯s living room a moment later.

    ¡°Hey!" Eliza said.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°What?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Hello, Eliza.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°Hi, Lila.¡± Eliza smiled at Lila then looked back at Zoe and shrugged. ¡°What?"

    ¡°Whatever you used to teleport here? That was terrifying.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza laughed. ¡°It¡¯s a new skill I got. Just lets me teleport back here, but it¡¯s convenient enough.¡± She walked over and sat down on the couch next to Zoe.

    ¡°How far did that let you go?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I was at the capital. Was about to head back home the long way when I got your message, and every meeting with you having something new is a good one.¡± Eliza grinned. ¡°What¡¯ve you got this time?¡±

    ¡°Uh, it¡¯s not really safe here.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Lila? Wanna come?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Sure, I wasn¡¯t doing anything today anyway.¡± Lila smiled.

    ¡°Alright, lets get going. Somewhere out in the wilderness then?" Eliza asked.

    Zoe smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve got a hole in the wall back in Foizo we can use.¡±

    ¡°Foizo¡¯s a bit far there, I can teleport back but I can¡¯t get out very quick. Is it that important?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I can take us there, won¡¯t be long.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Can you two see in the dark alright? I don¡¯t really have any lights in my hole.¡±

    Lila shook her head. ¡°No, but I have some lanterns we can use.¡±

    ¡°Flames?" Zoe asked.

    Lila nodded.

    ¡°Mmm, might not be the best. We¡¯ll see. Lets get going, anyway. I¡¯m dying to share some stuff I¡¯ve found with you.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Alright, take us away then.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe held out her hand and after a series of annoying nods, the two women grabbed onto her arm letting Zoe Cosmic Step them out of Korna and on their way towards Foizo. The trip back was a bit longer since her mana was split between the three of them, but she chuckled at the thought of a few minutes to Foizo being a longer journey.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    Eliza laughed when they landed just outside the stone door to Zoe and Emma¡¯s home. ¡°I think I remember traumatizing you with a flight back from Ash and Lila¡¯s farm a few decades ago.¡±

    Zoe chuckled. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve come a long way since then. I¡¯m not level eight anymore.¡±

    ¡°No, no you¡¯re not.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll let Emma know that we have some visitors and then bring you two in to my little enchanting room.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza and Lila both nodded and watched as Zoe held up her enchanted gem to shunt the stone wall off to the side. A process she hadn¡¯t needed to do in years thanks to her powerful teleporting abilities. Maybe they¡¯d just get a proper door on the place someday instead, disguising the door as a normal mountainside made little sense when there was a growing garden just off to the side and windows with sleeping cats laying on the windowsills.

    ¡°Hey Emma!¡± Zoe called out as she walked down the hallway.

    ¡°Zoe?¡± Emma called back in a confused voice. ¡°You¡¯re walking?"

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zoe turned into the kitchen. ¡°Thought it¡¯d be fun.¡±

    ¡°Was it?¡± Emma asked.

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°Eh.¡±

    Emma chuckled. ¡°Good opportunity to work on your carpentry skills a bit then. Make it an exciting walk worth taking, someday.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, that¡¯s not a bad idea. Too many things to do, I¡¯ll never be able to get to them all.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You finish up in Korna already?¡± Emma asked.

    ¡°No, no. I brought Eliza and Lila back. They¡¯re just standing out front, I wanted to let you know. Y¡¯know, in case you were¡­¡± Zoe did air quotes with her fingers. ¡°Indecent.¡±

    Emma rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah, bring them in. It¡¯ll be nice to see them again. I¡¯m not sure I ever met Lila actually. Maybe once? I can¡¯t honestly remember.¡±

    ¡°Yeah I¡¯m not sure. I know you¡¯ve met Eliza before, but I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ve met Lila.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll go get them. We¡¯re gonna be in the back room talking about the Frost I¡¯ve got for a bit, if you wanted to come join us at some point.¡±

    ¡°Maybe. Once the soup is done. Actually.¡± Emma summoned a spoon and scooped up some of the soup, handing the spoon to Zoe. ¡°Taste it.¡±

    Zoe sipped the soup from the spoon and rolled it around in her mouth. The aroma coming from the pot was incredible, but the actual soup itself tasted a little bland and watery. ¡°Needs some salt. And mushrooms might be good if you have any.¡±

    Emma nodded. ¡°Alright, thanks.¡±

    ¡°No problem.¡± Zoe teleported back out in front and grabbed the two women who were waiting, then teleported them into the dark enchanting room. It was still rather chilly from her last experiment, and Zoe grimaced thinking of how Lila and Eliza would handle it.

    Eliza looked around the room while Lila summoned some covered metal lanterns and placed them around the room, casting a flickering light over the rather depressing looking room with nothing but a simple table set in the centre of it. Zoe almost thought it looked like an old timey interrogation set from some mafia movie with the dim lighting.

    ¡°Cold.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Yeah. I found this.¡± Zoe summoned the Frost and placed it on the table. ¡°Any idea what it is?"

    ¡°Hmm, I think I have heard of a few of these before, but never a Frost. Haven¡¯t actually seen one myself at all, either. Where¡¯d you find this?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°You remember the cold cave near here?¡± Zoe asked. ¡°You came and visited me once and we went exploring in it for a bit.¡±

    Eliza nodded. ¡°Yeah, chilly place. This was there?"

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Fascinating.¡± Eliza rubbed her chin as she walked around it, looking at it from every angle. She reached out and touched it, letting the frost crawl up her finger before she yanked it away and flicked the ice off of her.

    ¡°I enchanted it with my Frost skill and it got really, really cold.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Huh.¡± Eliza hummed.

    ¡°Is it perhaps just a better gem?¡± Lila suggested.

    ¡°It could be.¡± Eliza said. ¡°It could be.¡±

    ¡°Or?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°An egg?¡± Eliza suggested.

    ¡°An egg?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Not for a creature, mind you. It¡¯s quite mana dense, though. Not exceptionally so, but notably so. It could be just a better gem that enhances cold enchantments. That¡¯s perhaps even the most likely scenario, I would imagine.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°It¡¯s a little bit much, though. I think it¡¯d freeze all of Foizo if I enchanted it with Frost and just let it be for a few years.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a bit of an excessive effect, even if it does enhance cold effects. Which makes me believe that it may have another effect in the system.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°An egg, for the system?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, why not? A dungeon egg. Maybe we stumbled into a dungeon during its formation, and you stole away its core before it could properly form.¡± Eliza suggested.

    ¡°Flester¡¯s Might became a dungeon, and I don¡¯t recall anybody finding anything like this there, though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Did people explore Flester before it became a dungeon? Delve down into the library, crawl through all of the branches? Search through every remaining basement and ruined building?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I think so. I know a few people who were going around in there before, looting it for all it was worth. I went down into the library a few times even to get books. That¡¯s where I got most of the books in my library from, actually.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hmm. Well, maybe it¡¯s not a dungeon egg then. Still, the thought makes me wonder how dungeons are formed. Maybe I¡¯ll spend a bit in this Flester¡¯s Might. A shame I wasn¡¯t here when it happened, though. Were you?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I was, yeah. Pretty incredible sight. Got a feat out of it, too.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yeah I heard of that. Fascinating.¡± Eliza said. ¡°Well anyway, what I¡¯ve heard of these is that they are exceptionally useful as enchantments. I think Lila¡¯s right, they¡¯re likely just more potent gems. If you have any cold enchantments you need for something, then there¡¯s probably nothing you could find that would be better than this.¡±

    ¡°Worth much?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure. A few thousand gold, perhaps?" Eliza shrugged. ¡±Not sure.¡°

    ¡°Eh. I don¡¯t know what to do with the money I already have anyway. Guess I¡¯ll just save it for when I can think of something useful then. Thanks.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza shrugged. ¡°Was neat to see, anyway. Never gotten to touch one myself.¡±

    ¡°How far have you been, in your adventures?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Oh, I get around. Why?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°You ever been down in the valleys?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen a few valleys, yeah. Rarely anything nice in them though.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°No, the big valleys. Where the darkness rules the night?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Ah, those. I¡¯ve heard of them but never been myself. Too dangerous, to my understanding. Would love to go one day though.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I was in one recently. Dangerous is pretty accurate, but if you¡¯re careful then they¡¯re not too bad I don¡¯t think. I¡¯d like to avoid them for a while, but do you know why they get so dark? What causes the shadows to come to life? It¡¯s a weird place.¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza shook her head. ¡°I know they exist, but that¡¯s about it. I¡¯m not sure they¡¯re related to the system, so I¡¯ve never felt the need to go risk getting lost in one.¡±

    Zoe nodded. ¡°You ever been to the Springs of Gir? They have some weird tunnels beneath the springs that I¡¯m not sure the purpose of, and they were quite adamant that I don¡¯t explore them.¡±

    Eliza grinned. ¡°Oh do they now?¡±

    ¡°Oh dear.¡± Lila said, with a hint of a smile creeping up at the edges of her lips.

 4-34. Visitors

    ¡°Lila darling, how would you feel about coming to the springs with us? I assume you¡¯ll be coming with me, Zoe?¡± Eliza asked.

    Lila shrugged. ¡°It sounds as fun as anything else, sure. Lets go.¡±

    ¡°I mean I¡¯d be interested, but right now?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I recall you saying you wanted to make a checklist of things to do? Well what could be better than making a checklist other than just going and doing some of your chores?" Eliza asked.

    Zoe smiled and shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t argue with that I guess. Sure, lets go and check out the dungeon then. Do you know what the tunnels could be?"

    Eliza shook her head. ¡°No idea, but I¡¯ve never seen a productive dungeon that wasn¡¯t a little bit more than meets the eye. The system gives us these dungeons, or maybe they¡¯re formed from mana naturally, but I doubt that more and more with every day now.

    ¡°Mana doesn¡¯t just do things on its own like that, and especially not with such purposeful direction. All of this,¡± Eliza gestured around her at the wisps of light that floated through Zoe¡¯s cave. ¡°Coming together entirely on its own to completely rebuild Flester like that?¡± She shook her head.

    ¡°No. The system creates these, I have little doubt of that. For what purpose? I¡¯m not sure. To better us? To harvest something from us? I¡¯m unsure, but I believe that the system was designed to help us in some way. To help control the mana, perhaps? To what end? I¡¯m not sure. If we¡¯re more powerful, and controlling more mana, maybe we would be more effective at whatever purpose the dungeons serve.

    ¡°Or maybe we would be more effective at whatever purpose the system has thanks to the dungeons spurring us on. But I think that they are, at least in some way, benefiting each other through their effect on us.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Which means the Springs of Gir are trying to harvest our dirt and grime?¡± Zoe laughed.

    ¡°Mana, of course.¡± Eliza said. ¡°I¡¯ve rarely met a productive dungeon that didn¡¯t have some means of harvesting mana from people. The Springs of Gir itself has visitor cards that you fill with mana, for instance.¡±

    ¡°I kinda figured as much, but what I never understood was why? To power the dungeon?¡± Zoe asked.

    Eliza sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it for years on end, but the only answer I can ever come up with is out of some form of generosity from whoever designed the system. Which I find so difficult to accept. Why would somebody create the system just to help us?"

    ¡°I¡¯m not saying I agree with you about the system being designed.¡± Lila said. ¡°But if it is. If, it is. Then why would it be so difficult to accept that somebody did it out of the goodness of their heart?¡±

    ¡°Because nobody is that nice. They would revolutionize an entire world, an universe universe even? How far does this system extend before we¡¯re outside of its range of operations? And for what? Because they felt like helping us along?¡± Eliza shook her head. ¡°I find the idea outrageous. Nobody is that nice, no single creature in existence is that kind. There must be a purpose to it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re clouding your judgment by forming conclusions before you have answers, Eliza.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°I know! But the only thing I can think of is that whoever made the system did so to help us, and I can¡¯t think of why. Productive dungeons harvest something from us, but not in a harmful way. And as far as I¡¯ve seen, never without consent. A visitor pass you push mana into is obvious, but not malicious. It would be simple to look at productive dungeons in a vacuum and argue for them being some evil creation meant to manipulate us for some reason.

    ¡°But even then, what¡¯s the issue with them harvesting some mana, with our consent? What¡¯s the difference between that and just making it cost some extra money to enter? Why shouldn¡¯t mana be a currency? And then we look at other dungeon types, and the amount of mana that is spent to keep them running and I don¡¯t see how they¡¯re harvesting enough mana to continue operating. Maybe they have some efficient means of recycling mana spent?

    ¡°But again, even that doesn¡¯t explain how the dungeons are able to transform so much mana into the rewards, and why they¡¯re okay with us effectively taking those rewards elsewhere. If they were recycling mana, they would want the rewards to be kept in the dungeon to be recycled, no?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Maybe there¡¯s just an expectation that eventually those rewards will make it back to some dungeon, and on such a large scale it¡¯s safe enough to assume that it will work out fine?" Zoe suggested.

    ¡°I¡¯ve thought as much. But then how do productive dungeons fit into the mix?¡± Eliza asked. ¡°They¡¯re very clearly mana positive for the system, and what purpose would that mana serve?¡±

    ¡°To power the system itself, or supplement mana needed by dungeons that are running at a deficit?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Exactly! I believe that productive dungeons serve as a backup of sorts, in case any dungeon is unable to sustain itself. This system of tunnels beneath the springs may be for maintenance, but they may very well be related to how the dungeon itself is serving its purpose. And I would love to find out which that is. Zoe? If you would?¡± Eliza asked, holding out her hand.

    Lila followed suit, and Zoe grabbed both of them then teleported them off down the road to the west towards the springs of gir. In a few brief minutes, they landed on the worn path through the forest that branched off the road and led to the familiar springs and began walking the short distance remaining.

    ¡°So how has life been for you otherwise?" Eliza asked. ¡±You¡¯ve been down in the valleys?"

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I was, for a few months. It was interesting, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be back for a while.¡±

    ¡°Bad experience?¡± Lila asked.

    ¡°Mhm. It was really great for a while, until suddenly it wasn¡¯t. Well, it was my fault, really. I pushed things a bit too far.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What happened?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Have you heard of the wanderers?¡± Zoe asked.

    Lila and Eliza both shook their heads.

    ¡°They¡¯re these people, kind of that come out in the night down there. Terrifying, high level humans that have embraced the darkness, so to speak. I thought I could communicate with one, and I tried. But it didn¡¯t go well.¡± Zoe shivered. ¡°It almost killed me in my stupidity. But it did seem to be able to communicate. I think it could understand me and follow simple commands, and it had some ability to send mental images and emotions.¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± Eliza hummed. ¡°My life has been much less exciting. Rumours of an interesting class in this city or that, and off I go to find them. Even if I find somebody with a class I¡¯ve never seen, able to cast magic I don¡¯t recognize, it¡¯s so rare for them to be willing to actually share that with me. The requirements, the abilities it grants them. Everybody¡¯s so uptight about their own abilities.¡± She shook her head.

    ¡°Knowledge is a weapon, Eliza.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°Yes, yes I know. But would it be so bad if we were all armed with the same weapons? Knowledge is power, but only to those who hoard it. To those who share it, knowledge is beauty and life, a tool for growth and progress. That so many try to keep it close to their chests is why we¡¯re so far behind where we could be. Imagine, a world where you could go to the library and get a detailed look at every class we knew about?

    ¡°Where children would grow up thinking of what specific requirements they needed to get for their class, where schools had resources available for any of their students to meet strange, outlandish requirements. Do you know how many feats there are? How many of them would be so easy to just hand out like candy to people?

    ¡°Flester¡¯s Might! My god, the audacity of it all. Foizo has such an incredible resource at their fingertips, and I doubt any of the leadership have even had the thought of taking the town¡¯s children to the dungeon with the royal guard to get them the slayer feat. But why wouldn¡¯t they? Why can¡¯t we share our knowledge, why can¡¯t we use the knowledge we have to better ourselves? Why must we stagnate as we do? Stubbornly locking ourselves to the things we know and never bothering to expand that qualification.¡± Eliza shook her head.

    ¡°I apologize. I¡¯m rambling.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. For what it¡¯s worth, I agree with you.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Thank you! I knew you would.¡± Eliza laughed. ¡°Everybody else calls me radical, pushing for change in society that never needs to happen. But from my perspective, it¡¯s all so stupid. We could be so much better.¡±

    ¡°And for what it¡¯s worth, I think that Foizo has good leadership. Or at least I trust Joe a lot. They have some higher priorities, but I think that they would be receptive to the idea, if you had somebody in mind to act as a protective detail.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°The royal guard! What else are they going to do?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°You know they have to watch over the city, Eliza.¡± Lila said as they approached the entrance to the Springs of Gir.

    ¡°Oh pish posh, what good is watching over the city if they can¡¯t spend some time making the people who live in it better?¡± Eliza asked before turning to face one of the goblins sitting at the front desk near the entrance.

    Its big blue eyes turned to look up at her with a welcoming smile growing on its face. ¡°Hello! Welcome to the Springs of Gir!¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± Eliza said. ¡°I¡¯m told there are some tunnels beneath the springs that you don¡¯t let people into. I wanna see em.¡±

    The goblin shook its head, the large ears that hung from the side flopping back and forth over its face. ¡°No miss, customer can¡¯t see tunnels.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I think you misunderstood that as a question. I am terribly curious about what you are using them for, and I intend to see them.¡± Eliza leaned forward onto the desk, staring at the goblin.

    The goblin shrunk into itself with a concerned look on its face. ¡°Will ask boss, please wait.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡± Eliza said, watching the goblin crawl through the small door behind it. The other goblin sitting at the desk watched with a hint of fear creeping up through its excitement, its eyes darting back and forth between Eliza and somewhere off in the forest.

    The goblin returned a few minutes later and looked at Eliza. ¡°No can do, boss says no.¡±

    Eliza smiled and climbed over the desk. The goblins tried to stop her, but she shoved them aside and knelt down next to the small door. ¡°Through here, yes?"

    Neither of the goblins responded. Eliza laughed and opened the door to poke her head into it. ¡°Bit of a tight fit, but I think we could do it. You two up for crawling through some tunnels?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Zoe said to the two goblins who stared at the scene, jaws dropped in shock. ¡°But I also kinda really wanna see what¡¯s going on down there. We¡¯re not gonna hurt you though, you¡¯re fine.¡±

    ¡°Well I wouldn¡¯t say that.¡± Eliza shot back. ¡°This is a dungeon, and while we appreciate its utility when we respect it, right now we most certainly are not. If they¡¯re hostile as a result, then I won¡¯t hesitate to kill them. What¡¯s the difference, ultimately, between this dungeon and something like Flester¡¯s Might, for instance?¡±

    Zoe shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d prefer not to hurt these two at least.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not making any promises while we don¡¯t know what we¡¯re getting into.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I¡¯m terribly sorry you two, but if it¡¯s not too much to ask could you send your boss a message?" Lila said to one of the two goblins cowering in the corner of the small building.

    Both of the goblins nodded.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to be exploring here, and we¡¯d appreciate if we could do so without having to be too rude, but Eliza¡¯s quite passionate about this sort of thing so I¡¯m afraid we¡¯re not going to be able to just leave. Could you let your boss know that you have some particularly interested individuals who won¡¯t let up, and see what options we might have?¡± Lila asked.

    One of the goblins nodded and eyed towards the door Eliza was elbow deep into, trying to wiggle her way even deeper into the tunnel.

    ¡°Eliza dear, could you come out for a moment?" Lila asked. ¡±We¡¯re going to try asking the boss again if we can come explore.¡°

    Eliza wiggled her way back out and hopped over the desk as the goblin ran back through the door and out of Zoe¡¯s vision.

    ¡°So frustrating.¡± Eliza said as they waited. ¡°We should just dig our way down and see what¡¯s going on. It¡¯s a dungeon! Who cares if it¡¯s a productive dungeon, I wouldn¡¯t ask the zombies on Moaning Point if we¡¯re allowed to dig into their mountain, or steal their bones. I wouldn¡¯t ask the elementals in Flester¡¯s Might if we could take some of their books.¡±

    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t have a front kiosk where you check in either, though.¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°Bah!¡± Eliza waved her hand up.

    ¡°Least we can do is try and be respectful at least. But I agree, I¡¯m pretty curious about what¡¯s going on below. And I¡¯d really like to meet the boss.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It does sound fun. I bet some of the other patrons here have tried, too.¡± Lila suggested. ¡°Maybe we could ask around in some of the nearby towns and see if anybody knows anything.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re here, now. Let¡¯s just break in if they say no.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Hello there!¡± A goblin said as it crawled out of the small wooden door in the back of the building. ¡°I¡¯m Jeffrey, it¡¯s lovely to meet you all. I¡¯ve heard you¡¯re rather insistent on viewing our tunnels?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and I¡¯d like to meet your boss as well when we¡¯re done.¡± Eliza said.

    Jeffrey grinned. ¡°I don¡¯t think you would.¡±

    ¡°Oh I want to even more now.¡± Eliza said.

    Jeffrey shook his head. ¡°Well, if you¡¯ll follow me I¡¯ll lead you to the visitor entrance.¡±

 4-35. Billions with a B

    Grakthur sat on his throne, far below the Springs of Gir, scraping his clawed fingers against the white skulls that made up his arm rest. Frustration and annoyance bubbled up within him, both at the light that crept in from the still open door and the visitors that insisted on exploring the tunnels beneath the springs.

    At the very least, these ones had the decency to announce their invasion. If he played his cards right, none of the peons that worked the springs would need to die. As stupid as they were, and as plentiful as they were, death wasn¡¯t something any of them deserved. Certainly not an avoidable one as this.

    Jeffrey had been sent to give them a tour, and Grakthur scoffed at the thought of it, his claws digging into his armrest. A tour. Of his facilities. They had no right to such a thing, no purpose to it. Curiosity be damned.

    If this were some proper business, some hot springs run by humans, they would never have been so brazen. The thought of forcing their way into the back wouldn¡¯t even cross their mind. That would be indecent, disrespectful.

    But this was a dungeon, and they were thought of as lesser. Grakthur spat black ink on the ground as he twisted his claws towards the door. Magical tendrils sprouted from the ground and slammed the door shut, blotting out the little light that seeped in from outside.

    Disgusting humans. A pathetic sort, thinking themselves on top. So ignorant in their ways, yet so confident. Abhorrent.

    Klihur opened the doors and stepped inside, closing them tight behind a moment after. Klihur was learning, at least. Most never seemed capable of such a feat, but the few that did became invaluable, and Klihur was proving to be just that in recent years.

    ¡°Sir, it¡¯s Zoe, sir.¡± Klihur said.

    ¡°Zoe?¡± Grakthur asked.

    ¡°Yes sir. She¡¯s been here before. Peter gave her a tour, sir. An immortal girl, sir?¡± Klihur explained.

    Grakthur combed through his memories, thinking of all the visitors who¡¯d been by. Most were Anna, taking on a new look that confused the goblins, or the odd human looking to rest on their travels. Business had been better in recent years, likely due to some conflict off to the east. Grakthur hardly paid attention to the meaningless squabbles of humans.

    Zoe, he wondered. An immortal girl. He tapped his claw against his chin, scraping it along the inky scales that lined his neck.

    ¡°Ah! Yes, I remember her. She was curious about the tunnels before, too, wasn¡¯t she?" Grakthur asked.

    ¡°Yes, sir. But she left respectfully, before. She¡¯s here with two other women now.¡± Klihur explained.

    Grakthur nodded. ¡°Good, very good.¡±

    He waved his claws and summoned a piece of paper. Black tendrils rose from the ground, splattering ink onto the paper, and he handed it to Klihur. ¡°Send this to Jeffrey.¡±

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Zoe walked through the tunnels, following behind Jeffrey as he entered through a large locked door around the back of one of the inns, and wondered what the ethics of what she was doing were.

    This was a dungeon, the goblins were monsters. But they were sentient, and friendly. It almost felt like she was threatening some minimum wage workers at a mcdonalds to show her how the fry machine worked, and she wasn¡¯t sure how she felt about that.

    Seeing how the dungeon worked was important to her, she knew. The feeling of wanting to know more was incredible. But was it worth it, if it came at the expense of having to strike so much fear in these innocent creatures? If it would have them be punished, or if it would somehow disrupt the operations of the springs which so many people enjoyed?

    To Eliza, it clearly was. She didn¡¯t seem to have any troubles slaughtering the goblins en masse if they dared try to stop her from seeing what she wanted. Her passion for knowing more about the dungeons far outweighed any ethical problems that might come up from killing the denizens of said dungeons.

    But was that what Zoe wanted for herself? To be some ironfisted ruler, forcing her way into places people didn¡¯t want her to be just because she was stronger than them and wanted to be there?

    Everything she¡¯d ever thought about, everything she¡¯d ever read about even back home, made dungeons out to be some evil thing. Or if nothing else, their lives had no meaning. No purpose. Killing creatures in a dungeon was okay and just.

    But being here, talking with Jeffrey and the other goblins who ran around, seeing how hard they tried to keep her from seeing the inner workings made it so much more real to her. These were creatures, they weren¡¯t human. They were created? Summoned? By the dungeon, for some purpose.

    If that purpose was evil, if they were here to do something wrong, then invading them and stopping their operations would be the right thing to do. But she had no reason to believe that, not truly. The goblins hadn¡¯t been rude to her, hadn¡¯t forced her into anything. They took some mana when she was here last, but that¡¯s not a big deal and hardly malicious anyway.

    Zoe grinned when a thought popped in her head.

    ¡°Hey, Jeffrey.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Jeffrey asked, stopping to look at Zoe.

    ¡°You all want mana, right? You don¡¯t do a good job of hiding that.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Well, we certainly use a lot of it.¡± Jeffrey smiled.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Alright, well to be honest I¡¯m feeling pretty bad about forcing our way in here like this. I don¡¯t like thinking of you as less than human, and it feels like that¡¯s what we¡¯re doing. But I am extremely interested in what¡¯s going on under the dungeon. So how about we make a deal?"

    ¡°What are you doing?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to make a deal, like I said.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What do you propose?" Jeffrey asked before looking past Zoe down the tunnel and holding up a finger. ¡±Ah, one moment. It seems I have a message.¡°

    Zoe watched as Klihur ¡ª one of the goblins Zoe had met the last time she was here ran up from behind them and handed Jeffrey a sheet of paper. She refrained from reading it, opting to at least try and be respectful despite the situation.

    Jeffrey took a moment to read through it and then stuffed it in his pocket. ¡°Klihur, wait here a moment. What are you proposing?"

    ¡°I have a lot of mana. I¡¯ll give you as much as you want, if you give us a proper tour of the facilities. Name your price.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And if we say no, you¡¯ll force us to give you that tour anyway?¡± Jeffrey asked.

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°If you say no, we¡¯ll leave.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Eliza said. ¡°I¡¯m exploring.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take them both away, but I can¡¯t promise they won¡¯t come back at some point.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s not fair. You can¡¯t do that.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I can, and I will. I¡¯m just as interested as you are, but these goblins are people too. I can¡¯t just force my way in here because I¡¯m stronger than them. This really isn¡¯t sitting well with me, at all.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Eugh. Fine. But I will be back, you can tell your boss that.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°No threats.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Eliza.¡± Lila said.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not. We¡¯re here now, we should get to meet this boss and see what¡¯s going on with the dungeon. We deserve that.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Why do we deserve that?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Because we¡¯re being taken advantage of. They¡¯re taking our mana, and they¡¯re not telling us for what.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°That¡¯s actually a fair point.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I know it is.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I¡¯m still taking us away if they don¡¯t agree to the deal though. I think that a deal has no meaning if we¡¯re going to get what we want either way.¡± Zoe told Eliza then looked at Jeffrey. ¡°Tell your boss. Name your price, I¡¯ll give you as much mana as you want but we get a full tour of the facilities and get to meet your boss.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded and pulled out a clean sheet of paper to scribble onto, then handed the note to Klihur who ran off back down the tunnels. ¡°Well, we should wait up above then. Klihur will come find us at the entrance when he gets word from the boss.¡±

    ¡°This is so stupid. We should just break in.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Shush.¡± Lila said. ¡°Zoe¡¯s the one who brought us here, if this is how she wants to do it then we can respect that.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Lila.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°It¡¯s no problem.¡± Lila smiled.

    Jeffrey led the group back through the tunnels and up to the surface again where they waited for almost an hour for Klihur to come running back with another sheet of paper. Jeffrey read through it and then looked up at Zoe with an apologetic face.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid the boss has named his price.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°He wants ten billion mana by the end of the day in exchange for the tour you¡¯ve asked for. I apologize, we really do prefer not to have guests exploring our facilities. It keeps us safer and lets things run smoothly.¡±

    Zoe paused as she tried to calculate her current mana regeneration. Her total was almost seven hundred thousand, and she could dump all of it three times every second as she teleported at maximum speed. Which meant about two million mana regeneration per second, give or take. In an hour, that would be just over seven billion mana, so ten billion mana should only be an hour and a half of constant filling, if whatever she was filling could handle that amount of throughput.

    She chuckled. ¡°Actually, that¡¯s fine. Where should I go to give you this mana?¡±

    Jeffrey blinked a couple times. ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡±

    ¡°Ten billion mana is fine. How do you want me to give it to you? Do you have some stones, or some machine I should use or something?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Ten billion mana?" Eliza asked, staring at Zoe. ¡±By the end of today?"

    ¡°Yes, and I¡¯d prefer to get started before the end of today, ideally.¡± Zoe said.

    Jeffrey pulled out another sheet of paper and scribbled something on it before handing it off to Klihur who ran off again.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Grakthur sat on his throne, satisfied with the outcome. Ten billion mana was far in excess of what any human would be capable of in under a day. Far in excess of what he himself would be capable of. If this girl was as kind as his goblins said she was, she would respect his demand and leave.

    And if, in the off chance that she was capable of that much mana? She could take over the dungeon for all he cared.

    The doors to his room slammed open, with a frantic looking Klihur running up towards him with another piece of paper. Grakthur waved his claw and magic flooded the room as black tendrils reached up from the ground and slammed the doors shut with an echoing thud.

    ¡°Sir, Jeffrey has sent a message, sir.¡± Klihur said, holding the note out in front of him.

    Grakthur took the note and read through it, with increasing surprise.

    The girl claims to be capable of paying the price and wishes to know where she can get started.

    Ten billion mana? By the end of the day? From a single human? The thought was outrageous. Grakthur remembered this girl, just a few years prior she was only capable of maybe a couple billion mana given an entire day. But now she claimed to be capable of ten billion in the hours they had left?

    Grakthur summoned another sheet of paper and splattered some more ink on it with black tendrils that stretched out the ground, handing the sheet to Klihur after.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Klihur returned to the group shortly after with another sheet of paper that Jeffrey read through.

    ¡°Well, it seems the boss has approved of this deal. If you¡¯d follow me, I¡¯ll bring you down below to our facilities.¡± Jeffrey said and started walking off towards the same entrance he¡¯d led them to before.

    This time though, many of the fake walls had been busted down, and Jeffrey took them down a path that was hidden away from them before. The tunnels kept descending deeper into the ground for several minutes until it opened up into a larger room with some form of dark metal walls that had flickering torches hanging, casting light across the empty room.

    Two more hallways branched off from the room, leading to the left and right. Several goblins ran through the hallways, casting a wary glance towards Zoe¡¯s group as they went, carrying boxes and bags full of animal bits and plants.

    ¡°What is this?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°This is our facility.¡± Jeffrey answered. ¡°You¡¯ll learn more after the payment has been made, but I must apologize, you still won¡¯t be able to meet our boss.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Thank you for bringing us here, I appreciate it a lot.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded and led them down the left hallway and into one of the connecting rooms that reminded Zoe of the room she had in the inn up above, without the connected bath. A comfortable enough bed, a sizable closet and a counter, with two torches hanging from the walls casting light throughout.

    ¡°Please wait here. Klihur will be back to lead you to where you can provide us with your mana soon.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Okay, thanks.¡± Zoe said as she plopped down on the bed.

    Eliza and Lila followed in after her, and Jeffrey closed the door after they were all inside.

    ¡°You can really do that much mana?" Eliza asked. ¡±Cause I¡¯m not sure they¡¯ll be happy if you¡¯re lying.¡°

    Zoe nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s incredible, you know?¡± Eliza asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°I know. But it¡¯s what I¡¯m good at, it¡¯s my thing. I envy Lila¡¯s communication ability, and I envy your runes, Eliza.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. There¡¯s always a tradeoff. But if having that much mana gets you on the good side of the dungeons, I think you¡¯re winning the trade.¡± Eliza laughed.

    ¡°Maybe. I didn¡¯t think it would really work, to be honest.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I was going to be extremely mad if it didn¡¯t.¡± Eliza said.

 4-36. Spherical

    The door opened a few minutes later, with a nervous looking Klihur poking his head into the room. ¡°Hello?"

    ¡°Hi.¡± Zoe responded.

    ¡°Please follow me.¡± Klihur said, gesturing down the hallway.

    The three women started to follow him out of the room, but Klihur held up his hand to stop Eliza and Lila. ¡°Only Zoe, please.¡±

    ¡°Ooookay.¡± Eliza said. ¡°Make it quick, then.¡±

    ¡°I mean I can do it but it¡¯s still gonna take a bit.¡± Zoe said with a nervous chuckle.

    ¡°Stay safe.¡± Lila smiled.

    ¡°Please, come.¡± Klihur said, pointing further down the hallway.

    ¡°Alright, alright. Lets go, then.¡± Zoe said, closing the door behind her. It snapped shut with a small metal bar slamming down across the front of it that Zoe hadn¡¯t noticed in her few minutes inside.

    ¡°Is that really necessary?¡± Zoe asked, pointing at the bar.

    Klihur nodded. ¡°Please, come.¡±

    ¡°Alright then.¡± Zoe said, getting a momentary flashback to when she¡¯d overextended herself with the wanderer. Was this the same mistake? What if it was just some trap, taking advantage of her naivete to lure her somewhere she wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from?

    Klihur walked through the metal clad hallway, past several closed doors with similar looking rooms behind. Was it normal for them to bring people down here? Did they often get visitors that would come to the deeper facility? Why were there so many rooms for people to stay in?

    Eventually, the hallway opened up into an enormous cavern, stretching as far forward as Zoe could see and hundreds of feet off to either side, as well as further down into the ground.

    ¡°Holy crap.¡± Zoe exclaimed, staring at the system of fragile looking walkways that led across the vast cavern, stretching from wall to wall. Hundreds, maybe thousands of similar looking metal hallways branched off the cavern from floor to ceiling, down the entire length of it, with a veritable swarm of goblins rushing around from hallway to hallway.

    ¡°Please follow.¡± Klihur said, leading Zoe down a rickety metal catwalk that cross over the gaping pit to another hallway in the wall to the right. Each step they took shook the catwalk, making it creak and groan under their weight.

    ¡°You sure this is safe?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, safe. Very safe.¡± Klihur said, almost a little annoyed.

    ¡°Right.¡± Zoe said. Even if she fell, she¡¯d be fine. But there must be a better way to do this than to have this maze of catwalks twisting around each other, too.

    Klihur led her down the hallway to another room with a large glass sphere sat in the middle of it. ¡°Here.¡±

    ¡°I put ten billion mana into this?" Zoe asked.

    Klihur nodded, and slammed the door shut, leaving Zoe alone in the dark room. The two torches that hung from the wall near the door cast a flickering light through the room that refracted through the glass sphere, creating an odd light show on the opposite side of the room.

    Zoe shrugged and walked up to the sphere, trying to identify it. But nothing showed, was it something natural then? Or just not enchanted with Identify? If it was a permanent structure in a facility, was there any need for it to be identifiable? You could just have a manual somewhere instead, she supposed. Or some training videos for the new goblins, Zoe giggled to herself.

    She placed her hand on the sphere, and pushed some mana into it, trying to feel its inner structure but there was nothing. Just a vast emptiness that put everything she¡¯d ever enchanted to shame. Even that golem core that she¡¯d filled with mana so many years ago for that enchanter she worked for seemed like little more than a puddle in comparison. What was his name again? Ken?

    Zoe shrugged. Hopefully he was alright, maybe she¡¯d try and find him again someday, see if he wanted to buy some more mana. It would be a trivial feat to fill anything he needed at this point, though his apprentice had been working on her mana regeneration too if Zoe recalled. How much mana did she have now, pursuing mana as her main goal?

    An earthen chair formed behind Zoe and she sat down as she started pushing almost all of her mana into the sphere. Minutes passed, and she still couldn¡¯t notice even a hint of what was happening inside the sphere, the bottomless well no more full than it was when she started. Then ten minutes, then twenty. And still nothing.

    Was it holding the mana itself? Or was it transferring it somewhere else, similar to the game she¡¯d played with Peter last time she was here? She tried focusing on the surroundings, to see if the incredible amount of mana she was pouring into it could be seen running through the floors or walls, but if it was, then she couldn¡¯t notice it.

    Maybe it was some system shenanigans? The mana ripped away to whatever dimension the system used for whatever it was doing? Or maybe the simplest solution was that the sphere was just an incredible feat of engineering and had a near endless capacity for her mana.

    Zoe lost track of time as she focused on her mana exiting her hand and flooding into the large glass sphere until she noticed the faintest hint of something happening within it. Every bit of mana she could feel seemed to be intercepted by the smallest twist of space. Taken and sent somewhere else.

    She tried pushing her mana into the sphere from different directions, tried spreading her mana out within the sphere just as it entered to get around it but nothing seemed to matter. Almost as soon as her mana entered the sphere, some small portion of the mana was spent to twist space just enough to rip the rest of her mana away, sending it somewhere else.

    Where would it be going? To some battery, somewhere else in the facility? Maybe her theory was right and it was being ripped away to whatever dimension the system operated from? The warps in space didn¡¯t reveal anything about where the mana was going, so she was about as clueless as before she noticed them.

    But it made her curious about making such a thing herself. If she could create some sphere that would transport mana to a designated location, then she could in theory continue to power some enchantment at home that would be too costly for any of her friends back in Foizo.

    What such an enchantment would be, she wasn¡¯t sure. Some growth enchantment to improve Foizo¡¯s farms? Or maybe just some battery to store mana for general use in the city? She¡¯d have to see if the leadership at the Springs of Gir would be willing to share some of the details about how the sphere worked, maybe for some additional mana cost.

    For that matter, were any of the other dungeons truly different? A productive dungeon helped them, but so did a lodestone dungeon. If she climbed up to the top of Moaning Point and spoke with the lich that spawned about paying it some mana, would it become friendly to her?Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Or was that just a feature of the productive dungeons, since the monsters in it were already supposed to be friendly? She¡¯d tried to invite the boss of Kliggig dungeon to dinner once and that failed, spectacularly. But she didn¡¯t offer to give it mana, either.

    Before she knew it, Klihur opened the door to her room and walked in. ¡°You¡¯re done.¡±

    ¡°Oh! I didn¡¯t even realize. This is a fascinating thing, here.¡± Zoe said.

    Klihur nodded, a somewhat confused feeling poking at Zoe¡¯s Vampyric Empathy. She decided not to bother explaining, somebody else would have information on it. Maybe whoever was going to be giving them a tour ¡ª hopefully not the adorable but rather clueless seeming Klihur, she thought to herself.

    ¡°Please follow me.¡± Klihur said as he started walking back down the hallway towards the large pit full of criss-crossed narrow walkways. Zoe followed him all the way back to the room where Eliza and Lila were sitting on the bed, the room filled with feelings of anxiety and frustration.

    ¡°Are we finally going to get this tour?" Eliza said as Klihur entered.

    Klihur nodded. ¡°I will let boss know you have paid.¡±

    ¡°And then we get the tour?¡± Zoe asked.

    Klihur nodded and shut the door.

    ¡°The damn thing¡¯s locked, you know?" Eliza rattled the door knob, slamming the door against the metal latch with surprising force. ¡±We¡¯re stuck here, unless we want to teleport out.¡°

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, Eliza.¡± Lila said. ¡°They seem nice.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, nice. By imprisoning us.¡± Eliza sighed as she fell down onto the bed.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I saw something pretty neat out there on my walk, though.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°What?¡± Eliza shot up.

    ¡°There was this really big cavern, with I dunno, thousands? Of the same metal hallways branching off of it. Narrow, kinda scary metal walkways crossed over the pit and connected each of the hallways to each other in a tangled mess. It¡¯s really, really big.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Bigger than the springs?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Way bigger. You could probably fit several of the entire dungeon into this pit. I wonder what it¡¯s for?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I have no idea. I thought we¡¯d find something, but it sounds like there¡¯s an entire underground city under here, for some reason?¡± Eliza suggested.

    ¡°Yeah. Lots more of these rooms, too. Jail cells? Some kind of weird inn? I¡¯m not sure.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s an underground goblin city? They live down here, and work up on the surface?¡± Lila suggested.

    ¡°But why do they need so much space?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Farms? They have food up there, it has to come from somewhere, right? I¡¯ve never heard of them trading with nearby towns, so they must be self sufficient. I figured it would have just been created by the system, but maybe it¡¯s all just actually farmed down here?¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°I guess. It seems like a lot of space though, for the few shops they actually have up there. They could get by with a much smaller footprint.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Inefficiency, maybe? Maybe they want people who happen to get down here to get lost and not find the important bits?¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°I suppose. Maybe they get visitors from other dungeons at times, too. Why wouldn¡¯t they communicate with each other? Have each other over for dinner.¡± Eliiza chuckled.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± Zoe agreed.

    Jeffrey arrived a short while later, unlatching the door and opening it for them. ¡°Please, follow me. I¡¯ll give you a tour of our facility. I must ask for your forgiveness, however, as there are some areas we simply must keep private. You wouldn¡¯t like people poking around in your bedrooms either, I¡¯m sure.¡± He smiled.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Zoe said. ¡°What¡¯s the purpose of all this down here, though? Why is it so big? Why are there so many of you? I thought it was just a hot springs, and this seems like¡­ a lot more than that.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded. ¡°Do you ever see us trading with nearby cities for resources?"

    ¡°So you are producing every thing down here for the springs, then?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Indeed we are.¡± Jeffrey answered, stepping onto the rickety metal walkway over the cavernous pit.

    Eliza and Lila both paused to look around at the mess of metal sprawled across the pit, layered over each other like tangled mess of wire.

    ¡°You need all of this just to produce things for the springs?" Eliza asked. ¡±This seems so excessive, to me.¡°

    ¡°Yes, well much of it is for leisure. Gyms and restaurants and the like, and you¡¯d be surprised at just how many things you need to keep the springs working. Every souvenir that is sold needs to be produced somewhere, and we can¡¯t just go chop down trees from the surrounding forest or import wood from somewhere to make them. Metal needs to be created and formed into shape.

    ¡°And even the food is an incredible amount of space. The animals we need to house, food for all of the animals. Food to grow the food for the animals. You want hot water for the springs? The water must come from somewhere, it must be heated, it must be prepared properly.

    Eventually, you¡¯re left with this.¡° Jeffrey gestured around the room. ¡±A jumbled mess, hobbled together to fit the need of the dungeon.¡°

    ¡°And every productive dungeon has something like this beneath it?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I can¡¯t speak to any other dungeon. But this is how the Springs of Gir are run. We¡¯re entirely self sufficient, and we take a certain pride in that. Perhaps other dungeons rely more heavily on their denizens skills and mana for their purposes. I couldn¡¯t say.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°Huh.¡± Eliza hummed. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what I was expected here, but it wasn¡¯t this. And you¡¯re so much more friendly than I had thought, too.¡±

    Jeffrey chuckled. ¡°Well, we¡¯re a dungeon at the end of the day. You wouldn¡¯t have been the first to force your way in here, and you wouldn¡¯t have been the last. If we can do so on more friendly terms, in a way that benefits both of us? I suppose the boss sees no reason to not be friendly.¡±

    ¡°Do you think other dungeons would be likely to agree to a similar deal, if I offered it?" Zoe asked.

    Jeffrey just continued walking in silence, leading them across the rickety metal walkway.

    ¡°Alright. So, where are we headed first?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Right now, I¡¯m taking you to our farms. I suppose that¡¯s what you¡¯d be most interested in.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m most interested in whatever you¡¯re using the mana for. And that sphere that I was using earlier to give you the mana, do you have more information on how it works? Where did all of that mana go, anyway?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°I would agree, what¡¯s the purpose behind harvesting all of this mana?¡± Eliza agreed.

    ¡°That I cannot answer.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Can¡¯t, or won¡¯t?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Can¡¯t. I simply don¡¯t know. We harvest mana, and that¡¯s the extent of my knowledge. I¡¯m not sure that anybody knows more than that here. Maybe the boss would but I couldn¡¯t say for sure.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Can we meet the boss?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°She can.¡± Jeffrey said, pointing at Zoe.

    ¡°Me?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Yes, you made the payment. If they want to meet the boss, they can make payments of their own.¡± Jeffrey replied.

 4-37. Delicacy

    Eliza rolled her eyes. ¡°I can¡¯t pay that.¡±

    ¡°Then you can¡¯t meet the boss, I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s quite simple.¡± Jeffrey smiled.

    ¡°Fine. Whatever. Where did you all come from, then? Why are you here? How are you created?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I live down that way.¡± Jeffrey pointed down towards a distant hallway on the other side of the pit. ¡°Oh, careful. Watch your step here.¡± He pointed down at a hole in the metal walkway they were on as he made an extravagant gesture of stepping over it.

    ¡°Not where do you live, where did you come from? Where were you before here?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Where were you before you were here?¡± Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t play these games. Where did you come from?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t quite understand, then. I came from my home, down there.¡± Jeffrey pointed back towards the distant hallway again. ¡°Perhaps more recently, I came from the boss¡¯ room. Which is down there.¡± Jeffrey pointed towards the far back of the pit.

    Eliza groaned. ¡°I mean the dungeon. All of you. You goblins, where did you come from? How did you get here, on Abyllan?¡±

    Jeffrey chuckled. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand, I¡¯m afraid. We live here.¡±

    ¡°I feel like I¡¯m going to go insane. The dungeons. They¡¯re created, and creatures fill them. Where do these creatures ¡ª you, come from?¡± Eliza explained.

    ¡°Ah. I wouldn¡¯t know. Fascinating thing though, isn¡¯t it?¡± Jeffrey laughed.

    ¡°Do you know anything?" Eliza asked.

    Jeffrey sighed. ¡°Look, ma¡¯am. You tried to force your way into our facility, our home, despite pushback from us.¡± He pointed at Zoe. ¡°She at least had the decency to try and negotiate a tour, which is the only reason you¡¯re not being removed by force right now. I don¡¯t know what you expected to find down here, or what your purpose to coming down here was. Most want to pick a fight with us, but you want answers? To what?

    ¡°To some mystery about how dungeons work? Why would I know this? Why would anybody know anything about this? This is the way the world works, lady. You come to our dungeons and give us mana, we welcome you to our dungeons and take your mana. Why do you give us the mana? Why did you come to visit the hot springs when you could just as well create ones for yourself?

    ¡°You wanted a tour of our facility, and I will give you one. But don¡¯t expect us to be the answer to all of your problems. You aren¡¯t the first person to come here, you won¡¯t be the last. If the information you want isn¡¯t already available, you¡¯re not going to get it from us.¡± Jeffrey said, leading them down another metal hallway embedded in the wall.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I have a fascination with the system, which you are a part of. You really don¡¯t know where you come from, then? How you got here?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I do not.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°Do you know anybody who would, then?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Perhaps the boss.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°And only she can meet the boss?" Eliza pointed at Zoe.

    ¡°Correct.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask, later.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°And you¡¯ll tell me what he tells you?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Probably. I mean I don¡¯t know, maybe there¡¯s some mental restriction on some information that forces me to not be able to, or something.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Are there any restrictions on you? Are there things you can¡¯t do? Do you have levels and classes for yourself as well?" Eliza asked Jeffrey.

    ¡°Restrictions, hmm. I wouldn¡¯t say there are. We¡¯re our own people here, living our lives to the best of our ability. The system assists us in ways it doesn¡¯t for you, but we have no control over how it does. Or at least, I don¡¯t.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°But you have classes, and skills? Just the same as us?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I suppose.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°What classes do you have?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°What classes do you have?" Jeffrey shot back.

    ¡°If I tell you, will you tell me yours?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°I suppose that¡¯s fair.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Abyllian, Elemental Archmage, Runic Master, Librarian, Mystic Champion.¡± Eliza rattled off.

    ¡°Goblin, Scholar, Swordsman.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°Huh. And you can just share that with us?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°As I¡¯ve said, I¡¯m not sure what you expected to find down here. But we aren¡¯t mindless automatons. Maybe if you find another dungeon, you¡¯ll find something more in line with what you thought. But here at the springs, we¡¯re just a people. We live here, and we work up top. That¡¯s all we are. The system throws its wrench into everything, as it always likes to do, but we just live here.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Told you.¡± Lila said with a bright smile.

    Zoe chuckled. The tour was proving to be both much more interesting, and far more boring than she¡¯d expected it to be. She¡¯d thought there would be tunnels with pipes that had mana running through them, directed to wherever it needed to go. Heating for the springs, water generation for the springs. Off to large spheres like the one she¡¯d used to rip the mana away to the system, so it could be spent funding the rewards for other nearby dungeons.

    But this was just a strange underground city filled with rather friendly and adorable goblins. Zoe smiled at one of the goblins running by, clutching a piece of paper to its chest as thought it were a family heirloom passed down through the generations.

    It was disappointing in some ways, to see how mundane the dungeon truly seemed to be in its underbelly. At least thus far, Zoe looked forward to meeting the boss quite a bit and hoped that it would have more answers for her questions.

    But on the other hand, the fact that it was so mundane was itself so fascinating for Zoe. Did every goblin here know about the springs above, about humans? Many ran past the group, and most gave them a bit of a wary look as they did but was that because it was unusual to see humans down here, or because they¡¯d never seen something that wasn¡¯t a goblin before?

    Did the system create all of these goblins, this entire sprawling undercity? Or did it already exist in some other place, on another planet or in some other dimension somewhere, and it was just ripped away to be placed here on Abyllan?The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Flester¡¯s Might seemed modelled after Flester, though with so many tiny, odd differences. Was that because the system created Flester in the vision it had of what Flester was and made mistakes? Or was that because Flester¡¯s Might was just how Flester existed in some other dimension somewhere?

    If Zoe were a fire elemental instead of a human, would she have been welcomed into Flester¡¯s Might with open arms? Would she have seen the Springs of Gir in such a positive light in that case?

    What was the difference between ruin dungeons and productive dungeons, then? Were they the same thing, and productive dungeons just happened to align with what the people in the area enjoyed? Just a lucky coincidence? Or did the system know what people would appreciate, and create something that would fit in better?

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you trade then? Could you leave the dungeon, if you wanted to?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve not known any who have tried. Nor would I recommend anybody do so.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Is that some kind of mental magic, stopping you from wanting to leave?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Your guess is as good as mine.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Then we find out. When we¡¯re done with this tour, you come with us. You leave the dungeon. Just walk around the outskirts, see if you even can. Maybe you don¡¯t even know how the dungeon is manipulating you into doing its bidding.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I would rather not.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Then it is manipulating you.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I see no evidence of such a claim.¡± Jeffrey responded.

    ¡°Then you can come with us when we leave, and you¡¯ll know for sure.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°I will not.¡± Jeffrey responded.

    ¡°Fascinating.¡± Eliza said. ¡°You¡¯re not even aware of it.¡±

    ¡°Aware of what?¡± Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°How the dungeon is manipulating you. How old are you?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°I am forty six.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°And how were you born?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Ah, here we are.¡± Jeffrey gestured to one of the doors in the metal wall and opened it. On the other side was a small city sized room with tall ceilings that cast bright, warm light on the rows of crops and several animals that grazed in the wide open fields.

    Hundreds of goblins worked in the fields, harvesting crops and herding the cattle. Animals that Zoe couldn¡¯t recognize, some kind of mix between goats and ferrets, or an alpaca that was stretched and squished a bit.

    ¡°How were you born?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°This is one of our farms, it makes food primarily for us. The kujub are quite the delicacy to us, but you humans have shown quite an aversion to the meat so we stopped selling it in our restaurants some number of years ago.¡± Jeffrey explained.

    ¡°How were you born?" Eliza asked again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s going to answer, Eliza.¡± Zoe said. ¡°And it¡¯s getting annoying, to be honest.¡±

    ¡°Not going to answer what?" Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°See?" Zoe shrugged.

    ¡°Fascinating. Why don¡¯t people like the, kujub did you say?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Too furry, I believe. I can¡¯t understand it, I find them delicious personally.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°I¡¯d love to try some, if we could?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Of course! We¡¯ll make our next stop lunch, then.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°What are the crops?¡± Eliza asked.

    ¡°Brul. Food for the kujub, mostly.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°And how do you light everything like that?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°With the lights.¡± Jeffrey pointed to the ceiling.

    ¡°And how were they made?¡± Zoe asked.

    Jeffrey shrugged. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know. Alright! Next stop, lunch.¡±

    Zoe, Eliza and Lila looked at each other, then shrugged and followed Jeffrey as he led them back into the monotonous metal hallway and further away from the pit. A few minutes later, they stopped at another identical looking door and entered what looked to be a small, roughshod caf¨¦. Some metal tables were scattered around the room with a large fire pit set into the far wall with a couple of goblins sitting on the floor next to it eating from bowls of soup.

    The two goblins shot up when Jeffrey entered. ¡°Sir!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re here for lunch. We would like some kujub, please.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°Sir!¡± The two goblins shouted and opened a nearby metal cabinet, pulling a few small steaks from it that were each covered in what looked like white mold.

    One of the goblins placed a metal grate above the fire while the other put the four moldy steaks onto the griddle. The sizzled as they touched the hot metal, letting off a rather rancid smell that made Zoe¡¯s nose twitch.

    ¡°You sure that¡¯s safe to eat? It smells rancid.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°And looks rancid, too.¡± Lila said.

    Jeffrey licked his lips as he sat down at one of the tables. ¡°It¡¯s delicious.¡±

    Zoe shrugged and sat down next to him. ¡°Well if you say so. Just don¡¯t be too offended if I don¡¯t like it.¡±

    Eliza sat down without saying a word, and Zoe felt some disgust radiating off her through her Vampyric Empathy.

    Lila gagged and stepped outside. ¡°I think I¡¯ll pass, but thank you.¡±

    Jeffrey laughed. ¡°Like I said, humans didn¡¯t enjoy it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Zoe said, trying not to gag on the rather terrible smell that was lambasting her nose. Pungent, and so acidic she wondered if she¡¯d need to heal her nose hairs after the ordeal.

    ¡°This is terrible.¡± Eliza said. ¡°Outright offensive. You eat this?"

    Jeffrey laughed. ¡°More than eat it, I find it positively delightful.¡±

    Zoe bided her time as the steaks sizzled away on the hot grill, until they were brought to the table. The steaks looked no better cooked than they did raw. The flesh beneath was seared well, with a beautiful golden crust that dripped with the rendered fat.

    A beautiful piece of meat, prepared by a masterful cook, so long as Zoe ignored the fuzzy white mold that covered the surface. Small black blemishes were scattered across the fur where the heat scorched the tips of the fur.

    But what interested Zoe most was how the underlying flesh looked. From a distance she couldn¡¯t see beneath the fur very well and it almost looked as though it just hadn¡¯t been prepared properly, with the dense fur coat still left on the skin.

    Up close, she could see much better and the meat had been skinned. The furry mold that covered the meat wasn¡¯t the animal¡¯s fur, but something else that was stuck to the actual meat itself. How did they get the skin off the meat, without removing the layer of muscle fur stuck to the underlying muscle as well?

    The smell was intense from up close, and Zoe struggled not to gag as Jeffrey dug into his slice of moldy meat with passion. Bits of grease dripped down his chin, which his long red tongue shot out to catch.

    ¡°Alright, well. When in rome, right?" Zoe said as she sliced off the smallest piece of meat she could manage and brought it to her mouth.

    The texture was offensive. The small strands of fur were stiff and poked her tongue and cheeks as she chewed on it. But even that was forgettable compared to the wretched flavour that overwhelmed her as she bit into it. By far the most pungent thing she¡¯d ever tasted, like somebody tried to make kombucha out of an already rotted pork chop.

    Zoe chewed the meat and swallowed it, smiling to Eliza who was sitting across from her watching with a careful eye. ¡°It¡¯s not bad.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Eliza asked, eyeing the steak that sat in front of her.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll finish it all but it wasn¡¯t that bad, really. You should try it, it was interesting.¡± Zoe said.

    Eliza sliced off a tiny piece for herself and placed it in her mouth. Almost at the same moment she gagged, reaching for her napkin and spitting it out. ¡°Eugh. That¡¯s horrible.¡±

    Zoe laughed.

 4-38. Slimes

    ¡°How was it?" Lila asked as they left the restaurant, her nose scrunching up at the scent wafting out of the door as it opened.

    ¡°Terrible. Wretched. One of the most disgusting things I¡¯ve ever had the displeasure of tasting.¡± Eliza stuck her tongue out in disgust.

    ¡°Delightful.¡± Jeffrey laughed.

    ¡°Pretty bad, honestly.¡± Zoe laughed with him.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad I waited outside, then. A delicacy, that is not.¡± Lila giggled.

    ¡°Why did it smell so rank?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s just how the kujub taste.¡± Jeffrey answered. ¡°Positively delightful.¡±

    ¡°Well to each their own, I guess.¡± Zoe said. ¡°Where next, then?"

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Jeffrey pondered aloud before he started walking back towards the large cavern. ¡°Well, I suppose I can take you to our dungeons.¡±

    ¡°Dungeons?" Zoe asked. ¡±Like the jails, or actual dungeons with monsters?"

    ¡°Dungeons, with monsters. Where did you think the slime and drake meat came from?" Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°I had a suspicion, but it¡¯s a bit odd to hear that there really are dungeons underneath another dungeon.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Do you not have dungeons beneath your cities? I was under the impression that many of your larger cities had their own dungeons.¡± Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°I mean, yeah. But those are cities. This is a dungeon.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°I¡¯m beginning to wonder if there¡¯s a difference.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°What do you mean?" Zoe asked. ¡±This is clearly a city, but it¡¯s a dungeon. The system has its mana rushing all around us even down here, doing whatever it¡¯s trying to do. That doesn¡¯t happen in Foizo or Korna.¡°

    ¡°No, but it does in Flester.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Which is a dungeon, now.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Yes, but imagine if we were fire elementals, or some other creature that enjoyed the intense heat put off by them. Would the people have been pushed out of Flester? Would the system have still created Flester¡¯s Might? Would we have lived in harmony along with the fire elementals that inhabit the city now?

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s what happened to Flester in some other timeline, different choices that led to a Flester run by fire elementals. And the system just ripped it out, or made a copy of it to bring to our world. I¡¯m not sure what it means for dungeons, but it¡¯s an interesting thought.

    ¡°Dungeons may very well be cities, or perhaps civilizations or lairs of powerful beasts? At any rate, they may just be locations deemed significant for some reason or another, and the system uses them as a base to create a dungeon elsewhere? Or a direct copy, or perhaps even just moves the entire location as it is to where the dungeon will be created?

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but it¡¯s fascinating. That would mean that many of our cities may very well be dungeons elsewhere. There may be a planet somewhere inhabited by fire elementals that has a dungeon that looks much like Korna, with all of its dungeons beneath attached to it as one larger labyrinth to delve into.

    ¡°There might even be one of Foizo.¡± Eliza chuckled. ¡°With you as the final boss, recreated over and over as goblins raid your town for rewards.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯d probably be the royal guard, though, if we¡¯re being honest.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the point.¡± Eliza waved her hand dismissively. ¡°The point is that dungeons might be fundamentally different to what I believed them to be before. Moaning Point might just be a mountain from some distant planet infested with undead summoned forth by an immortal lich. This dungeon might just be a normal city from some planet inhabited by goblins. They¡¯re not new, they¡¯re copies.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but that really doesn¡¯t explain how Flester¡¯s Might came to be. It existing elsewhere makes sense to me, but Flester exists here, and most of the stuff we find in it as decorative stuff doesn¡¯t make much sense. You can say another timeline or dimension somewhere, but I have my doubts that the system reaches that far, so omnipotently.

    ¡°And without that explanation, we can¡¯t really say there was another carbon copy of Flester somewhere out there on another planet that was destroyed in almost the exact same way, except happened to be inhabited by fire elementals who didn¡¯t hate the fire. That¡¯s too much of a stretch.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Eliza said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense. But it makes too much sense for these dungeons. There are so many dungeons that it fits so well for.¡±

    ¡°Maybe the system doesn¡¯t always create dungeons the same way?" Lila suggested.

    ¡°So some of the dungeons are copies of existing places, while other dungeons would be created in existing structures?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Careful now,¡± Jeffrey said as they stepped back onto the maze of metal catwalks, leading them deeper into the cavern and down some rather dangerous looking steps onto the lower catwalks.

    ¡°Why not?" Lila asked. ¡±It makes the most sense, to me.¡°

    ¡°What if dungeons aren¡¯t a part of the system.¡± Zoe suggested.

    ¡°That¡¯s a ridiculous thought, but go on.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°The system obviously interacts with dungeons. It gives them names, rewards, feats, and so on. There is obviously a connection between them. But could a dungeon be formed without the system¡¯s intervention? Were dungeons still created before the system was created?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I see. That¡¯s an interesting thought. So you¡¯re suggesting there are two types of dungeons. Natural dungeons that the system sticks its grubby paws into, and unnatural dungeons the system creates to fill a need?" Eliza asked.

    Zoe nodded. ¡°The system likes dungeons. It uses dungeons, but I don¡¯t think that means that dungeons have to be a part of the system themselves. Maybe dungeons are naturally formed around tragedies like the fall of Flester, or in areas with particularly dense mana, even without the system¡¯s interference.¡±

    Eliza nodded and rubbed her chin. ¡°And when the system notices something like that happening, it steps in to help out. Twisting the natural anomalous mana into whatever shape it desires, filling out whatever bits might be missing from the dungeon to suit its purposes.¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Zoe agreed. ¡°Which would mean that a dungeon like the springs here would have been brought over to fill in some need that the dungeon had. Which would be what? Mana to fund the nearby kliggig dungeon?¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Possibly, but that¡¯s assuming that this dungeon was created by the system artificially.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it have been? I can¡¯t see this having been a natural thing here for this area.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Now, no. But there could have been some ancient civilization from thousands of years past that was overrun by goblins, and the system helped twist it into what it¡¯s become today. Or maybe it came from before the system, we don¡¯t have much details on how old most dungeons are so we don¡¯t have any way to tell. Let alone how old the system itself is.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°That¡¯s a fair point. Maybe Kliggig dungeon was created artificially to fill in some need, then. Or maybe they were both natural. I wonder if there¡¯s any way to tell, conclusively.¡± Zoe wondered.

    Eliza chuckled. ¡°There¡¯s no way to tell conclusively if this theory is even remotely accurate. It makes some sense, but that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°The dungeons are just down this way.¡± Jeffrey said, leading them into one of the metal hallways that branched off near the bottom of the pit.

    ¡°How many dungeons do you have?¡± Lila asked.

    ¡°Just the two.¡± Jeffrey said. ¡°A drake dungeon and a slime dungeon.¡±

    ¡°What level are they?¡± Lila asked.

    ¡°Fairly low level. I¡¯ve never actually been in them myself before, but I¡¯m told the slimes are about level forty and the drakes are at around level one hundred.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°Are they challenge dungeons?¡± Zoe asked before she grinned. ¡°Actually hold on, back to the thing we were talking about. Kliggig is a challenge dungeon. I don¡¯t think that if our theory is right, challenge dungeons would be natural.¡±

    ¡°Challenge dungeons?¡± Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°They restrict your level when you enter them.¡± Eliza answered.

    ¡°No, they¡¯re just dungeons.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    Eliza nodded. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to believe that Kliggig itself would be artificial. The restriction is artificial. The entrance may be artificial. But the dungeon itself may very well be natural.¡±

    Zoe clicked her tongue. ¡°Damn, you¡¯re right. I thought I was onto something there.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited about it, it¡¯s a promising theory but we have no way to prove anything. No real evidence in its favour. We can¡¯t even truly prove that the system is artificial, though I would be surprised if it wasn¡¯t. Perhaps all of this is natural. Perhaps it¡¯s all artificial, and put on display in such peculiar ways to make it that much more confusing to puzzle our way through.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Yeah, I know. I know.¡± Zoe said, smiling at a small group of armoured goblins that ran past them. ¡°Were they farming in the dungeon for supplies, then?¡±

    Jeffrey nodded. ¡°Yes, the dungeons are where we get the majority of food for our restaurants above ground.¡±

    ¡°Fascinating, really. The denizens of a dungeon raiding another dungeon is something I¡¯d never thought I¡¯d see.¡± Eliza turned to watch the armoured goblins run down the hallway.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never had slime, how is it?¡± Lila asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not such a fan, personally.¡± Jeffrey said.

    ¡°I enjoyed it. It looks like it should be sweet and it really isn¡¯t though, so don¡¯t be disappointed. But it¡¯s not bad, all things considered. Kinda like a mushroom jam? They make drinks out of it too but those are really weird.¡± Zoe said.

    Lila nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll have to try some later, then. Do you have restaurants down here that serve it instead of the kujub?"

    ¡°Of course. We¡¯ll make a visit to one when we¡¯re done with the dungeons. Do you wish to explore the dungeons themselves?¡± Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°Could be fun.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°How long are they?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°As I¡¯ve said I¡¯ve never been in one before, so I¡¯m not sure. I can¡¯t imagine they¡¯re too terribly long, though.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°We may as well. It¡¯ll be fun.¡± Lila smiled.

    ¡°Then into the dungeons we go. Are you not allowed in them, or have you just never gone?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve had no need to before, my job is elsewhere.¡± Jeffrey answered.

    ¡°What is your job, anyway? I don¡¯t imagine you¡¯re a tour guide all too often.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°No, no. My job is¡­ Ah here we are, this is the slime dungeon beyond this door. If we¡¯re ready to enter?¡± Jeffrey asked.

    ¡°Your job?" Eliza asked.

    ¡°Ah yes, my job¡­ Would you like to enter the dungeon?" Jeffrey asked.

    Eliza shook her head. ¡°If your theory is right, Zoe, then this is a disgusting display of power from the system.¡±

    Zoe frowned. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of that.¡±

    ¡°The dungeon?" Jeffrey asked.

    Eliza sighed. ¡°Yes, the dungeon. I find it offensive.¡±

    ¡°We can continue to the restaurant for some more human friendly food if you would prefer?" Jeffrey suggested.

    ¡°Nope, the dungeon will be fine. Lets go ahead and see what it¡¯s all about.¡± Eliza said.

    Jeffrey opened the metal door, revealing a natural looking tunnel with metal steps leading down into the ground. The first thing Zoe noticed was the smell, an intense savoury scent that filled her nose the moment the door opened. As though she¡¯d just walked into a room where somebody had been pulverizing thousands of dried mushrooms.

    The next thing she noticed was a faint cool breeze that raced up the steps towards them, carrying a hint of sweetness and the smell of fresh cut grass to cut through the savouriness. And the last thing to notice was the sound. From up at the top of the steps, it was very faint but it sounded like an empty forest. Branches and twigs that cracked from the faint breeze, leaves and grass that brushed up against each other and distant rivers that flowed gently over the rocky riverbeds.

    After a short walk down the steps, the tunnel opened up into a much larger cavern with lush green grass covering the floor and the odd tree filled with colourful leaves bending slightly in the wind. Waterfalls rushed down the walls and small hills that filled the room, and it was all lit by hundreds of small lights that hung from the ceiling like stars lighting the night sky.

    But what interested Zoe the most was how the mana didn¡¯t change. Every other dungeon she¡¯d ever entered was noticeable as soon as she approached it in how the mana flowed in strange ways, pushed towards whatever purpose the dungeon needed it for.

    Here, however; the mana behaved the exact same as it had been in the rest of the Springs of Gir. The wisps of light floated around, coursing through the walls and floors in the exact same way it had been before.

    ¡°It seems we got here at the right time, nobody else is here at the moment.¡± Jeffrey said, looking around at the scenery. ¡°Beautiful place though, I¡¯m almost disappointed I¡¯ve never been here before.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful until you get attacked by a slime. Keep an eye out and be careful.¡± Eliza said.

    Zoe looked around them with her Cosmic Vision, checking through the fields of grass and along the walls for anything that seemed out of place, but found nothing. ¡°We¡¯re fine here, unless they can attack from a distance before we could react. Which I doubt, if this place is as low level as Jeffrey says it is.¡±

    Lila nodded. ¡°I agree with her. We¡¯re fine here, at least.¡±

    Eliza nodded and looked around the room. ¡°It seems like this dungeon is a single room, unless there¡¯s something obscured by one of the trees or hills. Lets fly and take a look.¡±

    A platform of earth rose up from beneath them, lifting them a dozen feet off the ground and then drifted over the grass and around the room¡¯s perimeter. Nothing stood out to any of them on the walls, no holes or connecting tunnels that would lead to other rooms. Just a single, rather large and quite empty field.

    ¡°Where are the slimes?" Lila asked.

    ¡°My guess? The water.¡± Eliza said.

    ¡°Think that¡¯s the boss, then?" Zoe asked, pointing to a small pond off in the distance.

    ¡°One way to find out, I suppose.¡± Eliza said as she started pushing the earthen platform off towards the pond.

 4-39. Drakes

    The pond rippled as the group approached on the floating platform of earth. Large droplets of water splashing off to the grass surrounding it in viscous masses that pulled moisture from the lush grass, leaving little more than dried husks and cracked earth below them.

    Level fifty six Slimes, to Zoe¡¯s identify. The boss, she wondered?

    Zoe formed three dozen small Frost projectiles and flashed an explosive enchantment with all of her Seasoned Persistence¡¯s elements on them, then fired them all off at the rippling pond below them. The water exploded in a flash of steam and dust which was blown away by a gust of wind from what must have been Eliza, she assumed.

    All that was left were two slimes wriggling their way down into the blackened pit. Two bolts of lightning smashed into them, blowing their forms apart and splashing water on the dried ground.

    ¡°

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    Eliza pushed the earthen platform around the dungeon for another hour, bringing them down to any source of water that looked somewhat promising but all they could find were smaller individual slimes at around the early to mid thirties.

    ¡°

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    Eliza pushed the earthen platform towards the entrance and set them down at the base of the staircase. The next dungeon was further down the main hallway they¡¯d been walking through, nearly a thirty minute walk just to get to the door.

    But rather than a staircase leading down, beyond the staircase was a vast, dark pit stretching as far as Zoe could see in any direction. And again, the mana didn¡¯t seem any different to Zoe, behaving the same as it did in the rest of the springs.

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    Eliza nodded, and the platform began drifting downwards. After several minutes, the jagged rocky floor came into sight at the edge of Eliza¡¯s balls of flame, and she settled the earthen platform just above the tallest spikes.

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    Eliza shook her head. ¡°These only work in a certain range from me. They¡¯re not a skill on their own anyway.¡±

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    Lila nodded. ¡°Yup, I¡¯ll be okay.¡±

    ¡°

    Lila held out her hand, and Zoe grabbed it. Mana swirled around them, settling into Lila¡¯s hand and Zoe¡¯s shoulder as Eliza lifted them back up to the entrance.

    ¡°

    Zoe nodded. ¡°Yup. Anywhere around roughly here, don¡¯t go too far. You sure you¡¯ll be alright?"

    Lila nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

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    Zoe nodded.

    Eliza nodded back, dropping the platform back down to the floor and then along the wall. Following the wall was difficult at times as outside of the small section they¡¯d arrived at, none of it was very flat. It curved and bent around, with small nooks hollowed out into the wall or up on platforms just above their head. None very large, and at least on the ground there didn¡¯t seem to be any more connecting tunnels in the walls.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The drakes themselves were much less imposing than Zoe had expected them to be, compared to the genuine dragon she¡¯d witnessed down in the valleys. They were feathered beasts more akin to a very large hawk with powerful fangs than the scaled dragons she¡¯d been imagining. None were very powerful and most left them alone if they didn¡¯t get too close, anyway.

    ¡°

    Eliza nodded. ¡°I do want to see if killing it would give us some kind of notification finally, but I suspect we won¡¯t get anything unless we were to kill the boss of the springs.¡±

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    Eliza raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯t respond.

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    Eliza nodded. ¡°There¡¯s one in Korna, one of the noble families has it. And another just outside the capital. I never like them.¡±

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    Eliza nodded and they took another quick lap around the bottom of the cavern while Eliza counted to herself. After she¡¯d finished, she floated them along the length of the wall as she counted half the length of it, and then out into the center of the cavern as she counted half the width of it.

    When they arrived in what they assumed to be the center of the room, Eliza floated the platform all the way up to the ceiling, but they still found nothing.

    ¡°

    Zoe focused on the tug on her shoulder, then pointed in the direction where she felt it pulling her towards. Eliza pushed the platform over towards it, but as they approached the distant wall, Zoe noticed Lila seemed much further away than she should be. The feeling was pulling her somewhere further than just the edge of the wall, even further than into the hallway.

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    The platform sped up as panic rose within Eliza and they soon found themselves at the rough, uneven wall closest to Lila¡¯s direction.

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    Mana rushed out of Eliza and tore into the wall, ripping large chunks of stone out and tossing it into the pit below.

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    Zoe nodded and pushed mana into her own skill, ripping out even more rocks that clattered to the floor far below them. In seconds they¡¯d carved a tunnel several dozen feet deep, with no signs of getting closer to Lila or breaking into another room.

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    Eliza sighed. ¡°Don¡¯t do it. I¡¯ve grown to like you.¡±

    Zoe pushed some of her mana into the earth around Jeffrey, wrapping him in a dense suit of hematite that grew out of the floor and walls, stopping his movement.

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    The two women continued carving their way through the earth, and in a few more seconds hit a familiar looking metal wall. Eliza summoned a translucent green sword and cut through the metal, creating an opening large enough for them to squeeze through into the hallway beyond.

    The hallway split off to their left and right, with a very surprised looking group of goblins chittering to their left. A wall of earth shot up from the ground, blocking their passage as Eliza sliced through the other side of the hallway and continued digging.

    ¡°

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    Eliza clicked her tongue.

    In a few more seconds, they ran into another metal wall that Eliza sliced through, revealing a room that looked much the same as the one they had been put in when they first arrived. Lila was sitting on the bed reading a book and looked up when Eliza and Zoe broke into her room.

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    Eliza took a few slow, deep breaths. ¡°I was so worried. I thought something terrible happened.¡±

    Lila chuckled. ¡°I would have sent you a message if something bad happened. I suppose I should have sent a message anyway though just to tell you I was okay. I¡¯m sorry, I thought your skill would still bring you back.¡±

    Zoe shook her head. ¡°I just get your general direction. Which was not near the entrance anymore. We ended up digging through the dungeon to get here.¡±

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    Zoe nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll stay. I¡¯m still gonna meet the boss. I¡¯ll go rescue Jeffrey and see if I can¡¯t convince him to let me see the boss still. You two need help getting out?¡±

    Eliza nodded. ¡°If it¡¯s not too much to ask, yes please. I guess we can just keep digging up until we¡¯re out.¡±

    Zoe laughed. ¡°Good a plan as any other. I¡¯m going to go rescue Jeffrey first though just in case the dungeon¡¯s mana tries to fill in our tunnel again and crushes him or something.¡±

    Eliza nodded as Zoe teleported back down her tunnel to where Jeffrey was still shouting. The hematite surrounding him ripped away from the wall and Zoe put her hand on his head, then teleported them back up to the room Lila was staying in.

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    Eliza sighed. ¡°Terrible. We couldn¡¯t find the boss.¡±

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 4-40. Hargon

    Zoe watched the mana for a moment as it flooded into the tunnel they¡¯d carved out and filled it back in with earth ¡ª and even bits of metal that expanded out of the torn walls. It was far slower than the mole dungeon she¡¯d ran with Brick¡¯s party, but it was still being repaired through some automatic means.

    Was it just because the hole they¡¯d carved was far larger than the damage they did to the walls in the mole dungeon? Or was it because the mole dungeon was already earth themed, and thus more efficient at manipulating the earth?

    She shrugged and pushed mana to her Earth skill to help fill in the tunnel behind them. At some point, the wall Eliza created in the hallway they crossed through would be torn down and who knows what would be chasing them down after that.

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    The three women stood together and were lifted off the ground by a small platform of earth. When they got closer to the ceiling, Eliza cut out a large square, revealing the dark brown compacted dirt and clay behind it. Zoe¡¯s mana flooded into the ceiling, ripping it away and letting it tumble into the room below as Eliza pushed the platform further up.

    After a little under a minute of digging, Zoe saw the bottom of one of the springs at the very edge of her perception. As they continued ascending, she saw they were below one of the private springs in the inn.

    Two women were sitting at the edge of the spring, dipping their feet in the warm water as they cuddled up to each other.

    ¡°

    Eliza nodded and pushed the platform off to the side as Zoe continued ripping the earth away and tossing it down the hole. When they were far enough away from the inn, Zoe grabbed onto Eliza and Lila then teleported them up above, just outside of the Springs of Gir.

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    Zoe nodded.

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    Zoe nodded and the two women lifted off the ground on a small platform of earth, then shot off back towards the south east over the trees. She looked back towards the springs and wondered what her plan would be.

    The normal goblins didn¡¯t seem to be capable of answering any questions she was interested in, so meeting the boss on friendly terms was something she felt an insatiable pull towards. If it had answers, real answers, that it could actually tell her, then that would be life changing. World changing, perhaps.

    She doubted it would. If it could answer the questions she had, then somebody else would have already asked them and Eliza would already have known. But still, the opportunity to speak with a dungeon boss was right there! After decades, she finally had the chance to sit down and have a discussion with something that wasn¡¯t human.

    That was fascinating, even if it wouldn¡¯t have the answers she wanted. Would it be a goblin? Just a somewhat larger, more angry looking goblin? Or would it be another bear hybrid of some kind? Or something else?

    Going back into the tunnel was an option. She could make her way back to where she left Jeffrey and see if he was still there and try to get him to take her to the boss per the original plan. But she doubted he would be willing to do anything other than insult her and try to attack her if she even thought of letting him out of his cage.

    She could ignore Jeffrey and just try to find her way back to the massive pit, then towards the back where Jeffrey said the boss was. But would the boss be friendly at this point, or would she need some way of communicating with it before she was in its grasp? Nothing at the springs threatened her, but was that because it was a low level dungeon or because everything she¡¯d interacted with had been the fantasy equivalent of minimum wage cashiers?

    Would the dungeon¡¯s boss be capable of hurting her? So far below the surface, her teleportation wouldn¡¯t be reliable enough to let her escape if something went wrong. Maybe she¡¯d catch a glimpse of something she could teleport to, but there was no guarantee of that. Worst case scenario, she¡¯d have to dig her way out again, while in pursuit of high level creatures she couldn¡¯t kill.

    As interested as she was, that was just too much of a risk to take on. Before she met the boss, she needed some assurance that the meeting would be on friendly terms. Which meant speaking with another goblin first. Jeffrey was almost certainly off the table, which put her back at square one.

    Zoe walked up to the front desk where the same two goblins were still there, smiling ear to adorable green ear.

    ¡°

    One of the goblins summoned a visitor card and handed it to her. ¡°Hello! Welcome to the Springs of Gir!¡±

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    Zoe sighed and rolled her eyes. ¡°Just go ask your boss, alright? Actually hold on, I¡¯ll give you a letter to deliver.¡±

    She summoned a pencil and her notebook, then scribbled a message into it.

    Hello, I¡¯m Zoe. I paid a bunch of mana for a tour of your facility and things went a bit wrong. Sorry about that, but we didn¡¯t hurt any of your goblins. I think. I hope not. We tried not to. And I¡¯m willing to help repair any of the damage we did do. I¡¯d still like to come meet you on friendly terms if you¡¯re still open to the idea. If not, I¡¯ll be on my way I suppose. But I¡¯d really like to come and have tea or whatever it is you do?

    Zoe folded up the paper and handed it to the goblin. ¡°Here, go deliver this to your boss and bring me back your boss¡¯ response, alright?"

    The goblin looked at the paper then back up at Zoe, feeling a little confused, but took the letter and left through the small tunnel in the back of the room. The other goblin just watched with a curious expression.

    Ten minutes later, the goblin returned with another paper that it handed to Zoe.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Greetings, human. You have committed a grave crime against my people, and it would not be right for me to leave you unpunished. The damage will be repaired, at an extensive cost that you will cover, with an additional cost of ten billion mana. One of my people will come escort you.

    Any further crimes will be punished with death.

    ¡°So I just wait here for one of your supervisors to show up then?¡± Zoe asked.

    The two goblins shrugged, and Zoe chuckled.

    Not long after, a larger goblin clad in armour and weapons crawled through the hole. It stood a full head over the others, and Identify showed it as a level one hundred sixty seven dark blue warrior.

    ¡°I am Hargon, you are Zoe?" The goblin asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Good.¡± Hargon said as it hopped over the counter. ¡°Come.¡±

    Hargon led Zoe down towards the same entrance Jeffrey had taken her through, and down the system of tunnels to the metal hallways until she got to the room with the large glass sphere again. Hargon shut the door as they entered and leaned against it with arms crossed.

    ¡°Pay.¡± Hargon said.

    ¡°How much, exactly?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Pay.¡± Hargon repeated.

    ¡°Oookay.¡± Zoe said, pressing her hands into the glass sphere and sending mana into it. A part of her wanted to get distracted and watch the mana rip through space again but every time she felt her mind wandering a jolt of terror rushed through her at the thought of the goblin behind her taking advantage of it.

    The time dragged on as Zoe flooded the sphere with her mana, every second feeling like an eternity with the tension and underlying fear of being trapped underground with a high level creature she¡¯d offended. Eventually, Hargon stood from the wall and opened the door for a smaller goblin that walked in and handed Hargon a piece of paper.

    Hargon read through the paper then looked up at Zoe. ¡°You¡¯re done.¡±

    ¡°Done, as in done charging it? Or done as in you¡¯re going to kill me now? Because those are very different things.¡± Zoe said.

    ¡°Paid.¡± Hargon said.

    ¡°Okay. Okay. Cool. So I get to meet your boss now?" Zoe asked.

    Hargon nodded and walked out of the room. ¡°Follow.¡±

    ¡°Right. Okay.¡± Zoe followed Hargon through the hallways and down the mess of catwalks to the floor of the pit, and then to the very back of the room which had two very large and imposing black doors embedded into the wall. Not a speck of light seemed to be able to escape the doors, and not even the faintest hint of a breeze could be felt from the edges.

    ¡°Enter.¡± Hargon said, gesturing at the doors.

    ¡°Okay. So I just open the doors and walk in?" Zoe asked.

    Hargon nodded.

    ¡°Alright. Only a little terrifying. Cool. Fun.¡± Zoe took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.

    Behind was darkness. The slightest bit of light seeped in from the distant flickering torches that hung from the walls, but not enough to fill the room and see what was in it. Zoe¡¯s perception didn¡¯t reach far enough to see anything other than empty space with a somewhat damp looking metal floor.

    Zoe stepped in, and Hargon slammed the doors shut behind her.

    ¡°Greetings, human.¡± A voice echoed through the room, accompanied with a persistent tapping noise that grated on Zoe¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Uh hi. Where are you?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I am where I belong. What did you wish to meet with me for?" The voice asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t really think about that to be honest. I just thought it would be fun to sit down and talk with the boss of a dungeon, really.¡± Zoe said.

    The voice growled, a deep guttural rumble that sent shivers down Zoe¡¯s spine.

    ¡°Where did you come from?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°I come from Gir.¡± The voice said.

    ¡°Gir, here? Like the Springs of Gir?" Zoe asked, taking a step forward.

    ¡°These are the Springs of Gir. I am from Gir.¡± The voice said.

    ¡°Which isn¡¯t on Abyllan?¡± Zoe asked, taking another step forward.

    ¡°What else do you wish to ask?¡± The voice asked.

    ¡°What do you do for fun? Do you have any hobbies?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Fun?¡± The tapping turned to a sharp scraping sound like nails on a chalkboard. ¡°I run the Springs of Gir. I have no time for frivolities.¡±

    ¡°Right. That¡¯s a shame. Everybody should have a little fun. Do you enjoy running the springs?¡± Zoe asked, taking another step forward. The edge of a drenched metal stair appeared in the edge of her vision.

    ¡°I take great pride in the work we do.¡± The voice said.

    ¡°Right. It¡¯s really cool. I enjoyed my stay here. What do you use the mana for?¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Much is used to repair damages caused by fools such as yourself.¡± The voice said.

    Zoe took another step forward, finding another drenched metal stair.

    ¡°The rest, I do not know.¡± The voice said.

    ¡°So you¡¯re not told what¡¯s happening either? Do you know what the system is?" Zoe asked.

    ¡°Do you know what the system is?" The voice asked.

    ¡°No. I think it was made by somebody though. Do you know if somebody made it?" Zoe asked, taking another step forward and finding the edge of what seemed like a throne at the far reaches of her vision. Dozens of bones from different creatures, all dripping with whatever fluid seemed to fill the room.

    ¡°I know no such thing.¡± The voice said.

    ¡°Right. Right. Nobody knows, it seems. Why did you agree to meet me? I¡¯ve tried meeting other dungeon bosses before but none seem interested in actually talking.¡± Zoe asked.

    ¡°Few other humans have seemed interested in talking, so I ask you the same. Why have you asked to meet with me?¡± The voice asked.

    ¡°Cause it¡¯s interesting. You could know things I don¡¯t, you could know some secrets that I want to know or something. I thought it would be fun?" Zoe answered.

    ¡°And I the same. You interest me, human. We may not be as different as you believe.¡± The voice said.

    Zoe stepped forward again and at last, saw the being that was sat on the throne. A goblin, covered in thick scales that ended in razor sharp points from head to toe, with the feathered head of a drake. Every scale and feather dripped with some fluid that fell to the seemingly endless pool of liquid accumulating on the chair and steps.