Help Text: Most abilities can be assigned to a thought control, and abilities registered this way that normally take time to use have been altered to use a cooldown timer instead.

I woke up the next day to the sound of a bell chiming, and a menu that had opened on its own. At the top it said "Welcome to Level 2", and a short list of things below it;

Wizard Level: 2 (+1)

Health: 8 (+4)

Melee Attack Bonus: +1 (+1)

Ranged Attack Bonus: +4 (+1)

Willpower: 14 (+1)

Skill Ranks: 13 (+7)

Spells per day: 0th Level: ∞, 1st Level: 4 (+1)

Spell Slots: 0th Level: ∞, 1st Level 10 (+2) [0 Used]

I briefly wondered what I needed to do to gain my 1st Level spells, but decided I would have to worry about it later. Then I placed another Skill Rank into "Perception", and selected a couple of the other starting skills and placed Skill Ranks into them as well leaving me with 8. With that done, I noticed that the map now had an icon for this location, and when I looked, it read "Ancient Heroes' Tree." It was also revealed that this area was called the Blue Forest.

I realized at this point that I had to make a decision. I could stay here in this tree isolated from the rest of this world subsisting off of berries, or I could go out and risk my safety by interacting with the people of this world. Going off the fact that this was the "Ancient Heroes' Tree" I could tell that someone held the previous people in high regard. Eventually, the deciding factor was when I sat down to eat breakfast, and found that the taste of the berries I had been eating had started to grate on my taste buds.

I went through, and started to empty out the storage area, putting everything I couldn't and didn't want to wear into my "Inventory." Another annoying thing that I found was that I couldn't use any of the weapons I found. The instant I tried to swing or use any of them the rod would shock me. Once it was all said and done, I was wearing an outfit made out of silk from a creature called a Mirachnid. This with my cloak raised my Armor Class to 22.

The one thing I didn't find though was any sort of money. I hoped that I wouldn't have to sell off the equipment that I had found, but I was ready to if need be. When I had everything I thought I could use, I made my way to the door, and opened it carefully. I exited into the chamber, and nothing seemed to have changed since yesterday, so I made my way slowly down the steps. To my surprise all of the vines on the walls had withered away, and there seemed to be hidden doors on the walls opposite of the platforms. Each one contained various items and resources, all of which I added to my inventory. When I finally reached the last platform I found that the hidden door here concealed a kitchen, and a stockpile of food that turned to dust when I touched any of it. I couldn't fathom how long all of these things had to be here for that to happen, but it at least gave me some idea of what to look for now.

I finally reached ground level, and found that there was a hidden door in a spot that I had specifically checked when I first entered this place. Inside I found hundreds of different types of money in enormous amounts, and started counting my blessings. Once I had safely put all of it into my inventory, I made my way to the door, briefly looking back and thanking the people who had built this place for their help. I exited the door, and looked around for anything dangerous, then started my long walk down the road to the south.

The walk down was fairly uneventful. I made a few stops to gather more berries, and to rest my legs, so it probably took a bit longer than it should have. The weather was nice though, and a warm breeze had started to blow. Eventually, I found myself at the start of a wooden foot bridge that crossed a river. On the other side stood a large wooden gate in a wall made of logs that had been staked around something. At the top of the gate there seemed to be a perch for lookouts, and I looked up at it as I started to cross.

As I grew closer to the gate, I could hear shouting in a language that I couldn't understand. Then a notification icon popped up over the Menu, and I opened it to see what it was. A new skill had appeared in my list "Speak (Two Tomes)", and I quickly put 2 ranks into it. When I exited the menu, the shouting started transforming into English. At first it was a garbled mess, but it started sounding more and more coherent.

"Stop right there! Identify yourself!"

"My name is Mark Harris!"

"Are you an immigrant from the Middle Kingdom!?"

I paused for a moment, wondering what the 'Middle Kingdom' could be.

"What's the Middle Kingdom!?"

Before he could even reply the gate had opened, and I was surrounded by several armed guards wielding strange looking swords. I placed my hands in the air as a sign of surrender, and was taken to a very old looking building with several cells inside. I was walked to an empty cell at the end of the hall, and told to hand over my weapons and spellbook. After they spent an hour trying to take the rod from me unsuccessfully, they eventually gave up and locked me inside. I sat there wondering what was going to happen to me for a while.

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After a few hours several men approached my cell, and unlocked the door. They told me to exit with my hands up, and I complied. We walked to a room with a heavy metal door, and I was told to go inside and sit down. Waiting for me was a gruff looking old man sitting at a table that seemed to be attached to the floor. I sat down across from him, and asked what I had done to be held there.

"The guards suspect that you are an illegal immigrant from the Middle Kingdom."

"I never got an answer before, so I'll ask again. What is the Middle Kingdom?"

"It's a country that we share a border with to the west, frequently people flee from there to escape horrible conditions."

"That sounds rather unfortunate, but I'm not from there, I made my way here from a place called 'The Ancient Heroes' Tree'."

The man's face twisted with confusion as I said that.

"You expect me to believe you just came from some mythical location that nobody has entered in over 2000 years?"

Despite the severity of the situation, the only thought that entered my mind was "that explains the state of the food I found." I decided to try and explain my situation to him as best as I could. I went over every detail I could possibly give for him to believe me, even going so far as to have him try to take the rod off of me. Eventually he sighed and sat back down looking over the notes he had written.

"If what you say is true, then I need to get someone from the North Tome Shrine to come and verify it."

"What-"

"Don't ask, you'll find out who they are as soon as they send someone here."

Once he finished speaking, he got up and exited the room. The guards entered once again, and walked me back to my cell. Then I was brought a small meal that appeared to be some kind of mush. It was quite bland, and tasted like grass. I considered pulling out some berries and eating those, but I knew it would draw too much attention. When night finally fell, I laid on the floor of the cell, and struggled to go to sleep again. Though, it was nice to be around people again. I probably would've gone crazy if I had stayed in that tree.

Two days passed, as I sat there wondering what was going to happen to me. I sat in my cell thinking and trying to figure out what I should do. There seemed to be very few prisoners here, or at least none of them wanted to talk to me. I wondered if it was due to the size of the area, or if crime was not a problem here. Finally, when I thought I was going to go crazy from boredom, the guards came to get me, early in the morning this time. They took me back to the interrogation room, but this time a man in a white hooded robe was in there with the old guy. When I sat down and got a good look at his face he appeared to be a young man in his late teens or early twenties with tan skin, and short black hair.

"Please take a seat."

"Okay?"

I sat down, and the young man started talking, or really ranting. I looked over to the old guy, and he looked back at me shaking his head like he had seen this before. I took the hint and sat there quietly trying to understand what he was going on about. It felt like I was back in college listening to a lecture. After this went on for a while, the man in the white robe started waving his hand in front of my face.

"Hey, are you even listening?"

"Uhhh, sorry could you repeat that? It's all going a little over my head."

The man tilted his head down like I had just told him his dog died. He lifted it back up, and started in again, though more slowly this time, pausing to make sure I understood what he was talking about. Eventually he started asking me questions.

"You claim you came here from the Ancient Heroes' Tree, correct?"

"Yes."

"You also claim that you came into possession of that rod at an altar there, correct?"

"Yes..."

"Can I examine the rod?"

"Sure, as long as you don't have to remove it from me, since it won't come off."

I slid the rod into my hand and put it out in front of him. It almost seemed like he was shaking with excitement as he went over every inch of it. His eyes lit up as bright as the Red jewel in the rod once he saw it. Then he hastily calmed himself.

"Ahem... Now, if I were to ask you to take me to the location you found this at, could you?"

"Sure, you just follow the path north of here all the way to the end...."

The two men looked at me skeptically.

"You do realize the only thing north of here is the Blue Forest?"

"I mean, that's what my map says, but the tree is there at the end of the trail."

The two men look at each other, clearly confused.

"Map? There's no mention of a map in his confiscated effects captain."

"Don't look at me, I have no idea what he's talking about."

I looked at the young man confused.

"So you two don't have a thing at the top right of your vision that looks like a small map of the area?"

The two men look at me equally confused.

"No... Is that something you can see?"

"Yes..."

The two men silently stood up and exited the room. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were both talking on the other side of the door. After a while, the old man came back in and sat down across from me.

"So, for now you are being released into his custody."

"Okay?"

"He wants you to take him up to the tree if possible, and then bring him back."

"Okay?"

"I'm also sending two guards to keep an eye on you and make sure that you don't try to kill him and run."

"I've behaved myself so far haven't I?"

"Yes, but we don't need to worry about you killing a high ranking member of the temple on our lands if you're lying."

A few minutes later my possessions were returned, and I walked out the door to meet the young man again.

"Apologies for the late introduction, my name is Satsuo."

"My name is Mark, it's nice to meet you."

"We'll have to wait here a moment while they choose which guards are going with us, but hopefully it won't take too long."

After a few minutes two younger looking men came out of the building, and introduced themselves.

"Before we leave, is there any chance we could have something to eat? I'm hungry."

The three looked at me, and then Setsuo looked at the young guards. One of them went off, and came back shortly afterward with some sort of meat. I thanked him for it, and asked him how much I owed him. Setsuo chimed in with "don't worry about it Mark, we have to be on our way now." We made our way back to the gate, and set off for the tree again.