I tried to pick up my newly-melted nail pile, but I winced back, as it was hot to the touch. But it didn’t burn me. It must have cooled quickly, and only a little bit later, it was safe to pick up, though warm.

What I was left with was a solid chunk. The nails had melted together, then dried, forming one mass about the size of an avocado pit, though still shaped like a deformed pyramid.

It wasn’t heavy, which only made sense, so while I wanted to throw it, it wouldn’t fly well. I tossed it to the side, then attempted to sense the nails. It was like sensing one nail, though large enough that it felt almost like sensing an organ. At least, I imagined so. I’d never used magic on my organs, of course.

I sent out my magic, and focused on igniting the nails. This took a couple of tries. Now that I had more than one spell, I had to focus on which spell I was using, which was new. But I’d had enough experience with igniting by that point that I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

The nail chunk burst into flames. The fire was bigger than any I’d made with my nails before.

I thought about the characteristics of the spell. It’s not amazing, I thought, but I should probably stop expecting amazing. Can I find a use for it? If I could make it heavier, maybe I could throw big flaming balls at people. That might be as close to casting a fireball as I ever get.

I knew it was unlikely I would think of an application immediately, so I decided I would keep it on the back-burner, and let my mind subconsciously mull it over. I was sure I could find something useful to do with it. Despite not having a clear combat advantage over my old spell - maybe it would melt and stick to the enemy, like I was thinking, but maybe not - either way, I was excited. I was becoming a real mage - though, apparently, I was the only one who thought this. The guards of Eraztun still wouldn’t have let me in, apparently.

I turned to Cadoc, and asked him how his new spell was going.

“Ah, you’re back with us, aye? Very well, Miles, very well! Watch this.”

He held out a hand. I watched as his face scrunched up, straining, for a moment, and then a slab of wood - a perfect square an inch thick and about a foot or so long on each side - appeared in the air, from nowhere.

It fell after a moment, and clattered to the ground. This seemed like a new version of his last spell, and not much better. But he was very excited about it.

“I’m not sure I get it,” I said. I wasn’t trying to be a downer about it - although I will admit part of me was happy to see Cadoc not leaving me in the dust with amazing new spells. But Cadoc only smiled.

“Try to punch me,” he said. I raised an eyebrow.

“You really want me to punch you?” I asked, trying not to sound eager.

“Miles, my friend, I want you to try.”

I didn’t need any more convincing. I swung at his face.

Of course, he was ready for me. Just before my fist connected, another slab of wood appeared, this time in the path of my strike.

It didn’t work. My knuckles weren’t stopped by the wood, and that slab was carried into Cadoc’s face with the swing. The wood broke into a spray of wood as my punch was driven through it, and I hit true. Amaia, still sitting against the wall reading scrolls, held up her hands to protect her face from the rain of wooden shrapnel.

I backed up, rubbing my knuckles. “If your intention was to give me splinters,” I said. “It almost worked.”

Cadoc, seemingly oblivious to the bruise forming, was frowning in thought - a strange thing to see, and I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me in the torchlight. But then he smiled again.

“I suppose I will need to practice more,” he said. “Can you punch me one more time?”

I shrugged. “Don’t have much else to do. We’ll get back to the dungeon when we’re all ready.” I read my watch in the dim light. “Or tomorrow, at this rate.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

When Cadoc was ready, I let another punch fly. I had already prepared myself to be beating up Cadoc all day and night, but even on the second try, something changed.

The wood appeared before my hand at the same moment, but this time, it held. It just floated there in the air, just for a second. But that second was exactly when my knuckles touched it, and so it was like punching a wall. A thin wall, because I punched through it, but I was different than before, when I had more or less punched with it. My hand hurt, and the wood slowed down my momentum enough that my strike landed ineffectively. Cadoc smiled wider while I cursed and rubbed my sore hand.

“So that’s what they meant by holding it,” he said. “I need more training.”

I was still rubbing my hand. “I think I’ll have to pass. Not looking to break my knuckles. Try it against a Kalamuzi, next time.”

“I think I shall, friend.”

Amaia told us she had little luck with the scrolls, but she did explain what they did, in a general sense.

She said that scrolls like those were magical, and were a way of storing a spell. It was a one-time-use deal, but it still gave mages a lot of extra utility by allowing them to use a spell from a school they weren’t trained in. And they weren’t exactly cheap. But she said she’d been unable to identify them.

“Only seen a few scrolls,” she said. “Not these.”

“How do we figure out what they do, then?” I asked. “What’s even written on them?”

I peeked over her shoulder at one, and saw gibberish. It used the same letters as English - though with the occasional Old English letter, like the one that looks like an a and an e fused together. But it was nonsense, just strings of letters formed together into words that I probably could pronounce, but which meant nothing, as far as I could tell. Maybe it’s latin or something, I thought. I don’t know a lick of latin.

“Llop Uidqru Granhvrik-” I started to read, but Amaia placed a hand over my mouth.

“Stop,” she said. “To read it is to use it.”

Oh.

“Well, like I said, how do we figure out what it does?” I asked.

“We need another scroll. A scroll of identifying. I could recognize that one.”

I sighed. Guess we’d just be carrying them around in the meantime. At least they’re not heavy.

The potions were similarly unidentified, so that left the ring. I picked it up and examined it. It was a dull metal, like old steel or iron or something. It was unmarked, smooth, and had no rust. I looked at Cadoc through the center of it.

“What do you think it does?” I asked. “Is it magic, or something?”

“No idea.”

I looked at Amaia through it, now. “You?”

She shook her head. “Probably magic, but I have no idea what.”

I shrugged, and slipped it on.

Cadoc and Amaia both shot up, yelling, telling me to stop, but I already had it on. Then they just stared at me.

“What?” I asked, still sitting, legs crossed. Suddenly my butt felt cold, but otherwise, nothing seemed to have happened. “Are these rings dangerous, or what?”

“Curses,” Amaia said absently, still staring. “Could have been cursed.”

“Oh,” I said. So that’s why they’re staring at me. They think I’m an idiot. “Well, no harm done. This ring doesn’t do anything.” I took the ring off.

I dropped. It was like I had sat down while misjudging the distance, and landed hard on my butt. But, of course, that was impossible. I had already been sitting. What the hell kind of ring is this? The Enchanted Ring of Ghostly Kicks to the Ass?

I slipped the ring back on, and felt the pressure leave my behind. I touched it with my hand, and…

And my hand didn’t feel the ground. I ran my hand across the underside of my legs. No ground. There was just air underneath me. I reached down further, and felt the cold stone about an inch below where I sat.

I was floating.

-

Floating was not as useful as you’d think.

All three of us were amazed at having stolen a Ring of Levitation, but levitation does not equal flying. I tested it at the end of the staircase, one step up, while Cadoc and Amaia watched.

When I put the ring on, I rose by about an inch, and stayed there. If I did it on the first step, facing into the room, I would rise about an inch above that step, which was, itself, a few inches tall. If I then kept the ring on and walked off the edge - a disorienting experience - I would keep my height, and so I would now be something like seven or eight inches off the ground.

Then, if I took the ring off at that point, I would drop to the ground below, as if an invisible floor had suddenly disappeared. I was slightly bruised from that experiment, although I’m not really sure what I thought would happen.

So yes, it wasn’t flying, by any means. It was more like the ability of “being able to walk at the same height you were already walking at, plus another inch.” But if we needed to cross some gap or something, it would definitely come in handy. I wondered if I could even walk on water.

All this done, I felt content. Perhaps my expectations of the treasure we’d stolen had been high, but I wasn’t overly disappointed. This was progress. We were stronger, had gained more versatility, and even had paid off some debt - I wanted a full report from RENA, but, honestly, I was putting it off. No matter how much I’d paid with that last shipment, hearing what was left would depress me. So I ignored it, and didn’t ask. I’d ask later.

We ate a small meal of dried meat and drier bread. Afterwards, my watch said that it was night, and we decided to sleep in the entrance chamber. We slept rough, in our clothes, and Amaia assured us that she would wake at the slightest noise. We weren’t overly worried, though, as the mages above could sense anyone who entered that chamber. And who would be returning to the surface that early?

And, also, I was feeling slightly cocky.

I dreamed about burning things again.

When we awoke, the chamber was dark and silent. We hadn’t built a fire - it wasn’t particularly cold or warm in that room, and it seemed like a waste to use our limited firewood like that.

We ate a quick breakfast. Amaia had, unknown to us, brought a little bag of something that seemed like tea. I wondered what other secrets she had in her bag.

She had little tin cups for liquids, and she had me build a tiny fire from the shreds of firewood. She insisted that it was worth the wood.

“Besides,” she said. “We have all the wood we could ever want.” She motioned to Cadoc.

How did I never think of that. Why did we even bring firewood? They really let me buy it without saying anything? Or was I by myself when I bought that?

The drink was energizing, but it wasn’t exactly tea. More sweet then bitter, and almost minty. And my skin tingled a little when I drank it. I chalked this up to not having had any caffeine in at least a month. If it was caffeine. I hoped it wasn’t fantasy cocaine or something. Liquid fantasy crack.

It was a nice, quiet breakfast. None of us talked, but we were all in a good mood.

Then we packed up our things, and the next question was which door to go through. The same one?

“Of course!” Cadoc said. “Let them try to defeat us, now!”

“Because being able to float and conjure floorboards makes us invincible, huh?” I said.

Amaia just pointed at a different door, just to the right of the one we’d first entered.

“I agree with Amaia,” I said. “Let’s try the next one.” Cadoc relented.

So we shouldered our packs, opened the door, and reentered the dungeon proper.