“This is a perfect opportunity,” Koren whispered. “Level one, just like you. Come on.” He began creeping forward.

“Are you joking?”

I looked at the monster again, its information still floating in my mind.

Undead Ice Golem

Giant-class Monster

Level: 1

“Going toward the undead is never a good idea,” I pointed out. “Haven’t you ever seen any movies?” I frowned. “Do you even have movies?”

“What?” Vyrania asked.

“How is an ice golem even undead? What does that even mean? It doesn’t look any different from the others.”

“Shh,” Koren hushed, looking back at us. “Come on. Do you want to reach Copper or not?”

Vyrania looked at me and shrugged. “He’s right. You need this.”

“We’re supposed to be following the runes to find the key to get out of here, not recreating horror movie tropes.”

“Tell me again what you saw making those runes?” Koren challenged.

I sighed. “Okay, sure. But they weren’t labeled undead. I would remember that.”

“It doesn’t matter. This means something. It might even be…” He shook his head. “No, I don’t dare say it aloud for fear of jinxing it.”

“Okay you better say it aloud now if you want me to go along with it.”

“You think it’s an event?” Vyrania asked him.

Koren gave her a scathing look. “You’ve gone and jinxed it.”

“An event? Isn’t that what this whole tower is?”

“No, it’s a broadcast area. But an event… this might even be for the hidden key.”

That got my interest. With the hidden key, a portal back to town would open up at the stairwell which would make it much safer for me to leave the tower once we found the keys since I wouldn’t have to trek all the way back through the floor.

“What is an event?” I asked.

“It’s moving away,” Koren said.

“The event?”

“Yes. In a manner of speaking.” He pointed. “The golem.”

While we’d been stopped arguing, the golem had moved further away from us.

“Just trust me,” he said. “I haven’t let you down thus far, have I?”

“Other than not telling me I was making a skin flick.”

He frowned. “I think you broke the interpreter. I’ve definitely never made you do anything like that.”

I shook my head. “Whatever, let’s go.”

He grinned. “Excellent. You absolutely probably won’t regret it.”

“You’re just filling me with confidence.”

But, as much worry as I had about the undead, Koren hadn’t led me astray so far when it came to getting more powerful. And getting the hidden key so easily would be a boon.

Well, unless it wasn’t at all easy.

Which of course, it wasn’t.

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

“Do the thing,” Koren said.

“What thing?” I asked.

“The thing I taught you.”

“You’ve taught me a lot.”

He put a hand over his heart—or where at the time I thought his heart was. “Aww, how sweet. But I mean using your manasight to identify it by its mana instead of using the system.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You sure?” I looked at Vyrania. “You said I was the opposite of subtle.”

“It’s the perfect test,” Koren insisted.

“If you say so.”

“I do. Go on.”

I focused on the golem, trying to see its mana. After some intense concentration, I thought I could.

“That didn’t work,” Koren said.

“What do you—” I began, then saw the ice golem heading toward me.

“Ah well,” he sighed. “At least you have caught its attention.”

“That’s not a good thing.”

“Of course it is. You’re going to kill it. It was bound to notice you eventually. You’re not a sneaky, silent assas—” He stopped, glancing at Vyrania, who was glaring at him. “Right, well. You were bound to.” He looked at the monster coming toward us. “This is perfect.” He returned his focus to me. “It’s only level one. So this time I want you to fight it with just—”

“No,” I interrupted. “I’m not doing that again.”

“—just your mana,” he went on with a smile.

“Oh.” I frowned. “Oh. How do I do that?”

“Do what you just did. There’s a reason it didn’t like it.”

“What if it bites me?”

“How would it do that?” Vyrania asked.

“Why would it do that?” Koren asked. “I was only joking about using your teeth. I wouldn’t suggest it. They’re very small. And dull. And they might break, and, I’m not trying to be mean, but I don’t see the broken-tooth-look suiting you.”

“He’s definitely too pretty for that,” Vyrania agreed.

“I don’t want to turn into a zombie if it bites me, or whatever, infects me. However it spreads.”

“That’s not how it works. That would be crazy. It would spread like famine.”

“Odd turn of phrase, but I guess accurate. Happened with toilet paper.”

“That’s coming through very strangely,” Koren said.

The ice golem was still coming our way. It wasn’t as fast as I had expected it to be, moving slower than the two I’d seen making runes into the trees that I’d followed to the giants’ encampment and which had ultimately led us on this path.

That was fine by me. I’d take slow zombies over fast ones any day.

“Go on,” Koren encouraged.

At least this time he didn’t push me down a hill.

Likely because there wasn’t one.

I slowly walked toward the monster, focusing on my mana, trying to direct it at it. Bridging the physical gap between us was difficult, but I felt the moment it connected like an electric shock. It felt a bit like when I’d shocked Luke.

It did not seem to like this.

It had no expression since it had no face, but I could read agitation and anger in its mana, which was somehow becoming entwined with my own as I pushed my mana into it.

I pushed harder, really trying to peer into it, see every aspect of its mana and invade it with my own.

It collided into me, sending a shock of icy cold through my skin.

I fought back not physically, but by controlling my mana, wrapping it around the cold inside of me, then sending it back out into the monster.

“Don’t heal it!” Koren shouted.

“Whoops.”

The golem slammed a fist into my face and just before impact I focused all my mana into that one point. This time, instead of redirecting the cold, I squashed it, but sprung back, pushing the force it would have delivered back out into its fist.

It flew off of me and landed on its back several yards away.

Koren cheered.

Instead of getting up I stayed on the ground, closing my eyes, focusing solely on mana. I could feel the golem’s mana several feet away from me.

I tuned out everything, narrowing my perception to only that.

With all my other senses ignored, I became more aware of the workings of the mana, both the golem’s and my own. I could feel what Koren had felt, that there was something of subjugation in my mana. I didn’t know if it was from my Contract card or something else, but I used it, forcing the golem’s mana to do my bidding.

The golem railed against the foreign control, but wasn’t smart or powerful enough to counteract it. It was only a drone, after all.

I kept pushing my will onto it until I fully seized control of its mana. Then, without thinking, without a conscious idea of what I was about to do, I stole it. I took its mana for my own.

There was a moment of perfect peace, of silence, of rest.

Then the foreign mana slammed into me so hard my skull split and I vomited up blood.

My eyes popped open, then my world went black as I passed out.

‌

∎ ∎ ∎

Koren stood up from his examination of the golem’s corpse. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting it to work so well. You’re quite good with mana. I bet your Copper awakening will be for mana like mine was.”

“Hm,” I grunted. It was pretty much all I could do. However well it had worked, I didn’t feel like repeating it any time soon.

I sat a few feet away from the golem’s body. It had been several minutes since I’d regained consciousness, but I still felt nauseous and out of sorts.

“Are you sure he’s going to be okay?” Vyrania asked.

“Well, he did steal a monster’s mana. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“How’s that even possible?” she asked.

I saw Koren shrug from the corner of my vision.

“It’s a technique from a different civ,” he replied. “Not even a civ, technically. Who knows what it’s capable of.”

“You shouldn’t have taught it to him. He’s an unranked.”

“He won’t be much longer. He took to it better than even I did. He has potential.”

“You said that about Rilen.”

“To his parents. I was obviously lying.”

“He’s not going to like hearing that.”

“And who’s going to tell—” Koren stopped. “Oh, right. The broadcast. Well, he can’t retaliate against us for anything we say in here.”

I looked up at them, blinked until there were only two instead of seven. “Why not?” I asked, mostly to distract myself from the nausea.

“It’s the rules. More entertaining that way. People love learning dirty, dark secrets. If you could be punished, no one would reveal any.”

“Think he’s watching us?”

Koren shrugged.

“Hm,” I responded, rubbing my head.

“Still not feeling better?” Vyrania asked.

I started to shake my head, regretted it. “No.”

“It’s because the mana isn’t yours,” Koren told me.

“I’m pretty sure it is now.”

He sighed exasperatedly. “Yes, of course. What I mean is that it’s not truly yours.”

“You’re just repeating yourself now.”

“Your mana feels like subjugation. What does the golem’s mana feel like?”

I looked up at him, frowning. Then I focused inward, closing my eyes.

The golem’s mana was still there, distinct from my own. “Solidness. Anger.” I tilted my head. “There’s no cold.”

“Keep examining it.”

I did, and as I did, it changed, like trying to remember a dream, dissolving under my attention, becoming indistinguishable from all the rest of my mana.

My eyes popped open. “It worked!” I leapt to my feet, laughing. “I feel great!”

Koren raised a single eyebrow.

“You should sit down,” Vyrania said. “Even I can see that much.”

I frowned at them. “What? Why?”

Koren gestured at the ground. “You should really listen to her. Sit.”

“But I feel—” I stopped, suddenly feeling… different. Like the moment before vomiting. “Oh. Oh no.”

Then something inside me popped. Nay, I daresay exploded.

I fell to the ground, eyes wide open, landing flat on my face, unable to do anything to stop myself.