As Wyatt stepped out into the sunlight for the first time in months, his mind momentarily drifted back to his college days, when he would lock himself inside of his dorm for weeks to study or finish his research project. The sun and breeze felt refreshing on his face, and he took a much-needed moment to breathe and bask in the feeling, pretending if only for a second that everything was as it should be.

Wyatt opened his eyes and looked around at where his tower had been moved to. In every direction he saw forest, as far as he could see. The trees were spaced enough to allow Wyatt to see for a short distance into them. His tower stood four stories tall in the center of a clearing that extended to about 50 feet in every direction.

The fresh warm air, coupled with the untouched nature all around him, was indeed beautiful. The scene would touch the heart of any who found themselves within, making them stop all activity to simply enjoy where they were.

Wyatt’s heart remained untouched, as the cold chill within seemed to seep out in every direction. An unseen shadow stretched all around the lone king as he looked out on his kingdom.

Wyatt had seen another icon appear in his menu earlier that day. The icon was a crown, and it was simple for him to determine what that meant. He opened it now and was greeted with a screen dedicated to the statistics of his kingdom. Most of it was grayed out, and Wyatt assumed that was either because of the line reading [Kingdom Level – 1] or from the line reading [Inhabitants – 1] both prominently displayed at the top of the screen.

As he noticed this, another prompt appeared in his vision.

Kingdom Quests

New Quest:

Grow Your Kingdom – 1

Conditions:

Increase number of inhabitants to 50

Rewards:

Kingdom Experience

Description:

A king is nothing without subjects. Earn the fealty of 50 inhabitants.

The quest should have been expected at this point, but the reward did clarify a few of Wyatt’s questions. He closed the quest with a sigh and returned his attention to the kingdom page.

Wyatt noticed a line that should have displayed the name of his kingdom, but that was blank. He assumed he would have to enter something there, but he put that off for now. Coming up with names was never his strong suit, and he wasn’t in a rush to choose something that could be permanent.

Closing the window, Wyatt turned back to the stairs and descended to the ground floor. He was out of food and would need to go hunting before any other plans could be made.

Wyatt had never actually hunted before, but he had gotten a few pointers from Chuck when they went after the fox. His stealth skill would come in handy, and he would need to attack his prey with range when he was close enough.

Of course, magic did make hunting for food much easier.

It didn’t take long for Wyatt to find signs of life in the woods. He had seen one or two squirrels as he walked beneath the trees, but he was not so hungry as to try for something so small. The path was difficult to travel, as the land was freshly created by the system and even the animals that had lived here for only a year or so were not able to create any substantial trails.

The sun was starting to set when Wyatt finally found a group of deer in a small clearing. His stealth skill made it easier to get close to the group without spooking the animals, and a quick application of Daze, followed by Wind Cutter was all he needed to catch his dinner. He placed the body of the deer into his cloak, then hurried back to the tower before night could fall in full.

With food finally filling his stomach, Wyatt was able to think about what his next steps would be. The kingdom needed to be built up, that was important. He knew he could not wage a one-man war on an entire empire, and he would have to find residents willing to settle a new land.

Being an entirely different race, along with his inability to communicate with anything on this world, would make that endeavor a difficult one. Thus, the mage decided his immediate goal was to continue growing stronger, while looking for anyone or anything he could learn the local language from.

Wyatt had taken classes when he was in high school to learn another language and had excelled in them. Unfortunately, he had never needed to use a second language, and his knowledge of it quickly fell away. Living in a world where whatever language he learned is spoken by the locals would surely help to solidify his familiarity with it.

The current problem Wyatt faced was where he would go to accomplish his goals. He needed to leave the tower, that was for sure, but his destination was unclear. He had zero knowledge of this world or even where other people would be, whether they were elves or otherwise. The immediate area seemed rather tame compared to the trials he faced in the tower and the canyon before, which meant he would need to find someplace dangerous to level.

As for other sentient races, unfortunately the creation of an entire continent for the human race to integrate into meant the nearest civilization could very well be found half a world away.

All of his thoughts led him back to the same conclusion: He needed to leave the tower. Luckily, he found that as he traveled away from the structure, he could always feel the general direction the tower was in. He had no idea how far this tugging sensation would be felt as he ventured away from it, but he hoped he would be able to find his way back to it.

Wyatt eventually fell asleep that night back in his tower, on the couch he claimed as his bed. He slept only a few hours, waking before the sun from yet another nightmare. Tired and irritated, Wyatt began his normal routine of practice with his skills, breakfast, and writing in his journal.

When the sun finally shone through the window, Wyatt put his papers back into his cloak and left the tower for the last time in what would surely be a long time.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

By the end of the first day, Wyatt had managed to put quite a distance between himself and the tower, thanks to a liberal use of his Haste ability. He had decided to choose a direction at random, having no other way of deciding which was better, and began walking. His travel was stopped roughly a quarter mile in when he came upon a river. The river flowed generally south and was moving at a slow but steady pace.

Such a large river so close to where he would build his kingdom was fortuitous, and Wyatt had to wonder if the location was chosen specifically for this reason. If his time playing games was any indicator, then there would be other surprises that would make growing his land easier.

For now, Wyatt turned to follow the river upstream, assuming that if anyone had decided to settle in this new land, a running river with plenty of fresh water and fish would be the best place to do so.

After a short while, Wyatt decided to rest for a moment removing his boots and setting them aside to air out. These were the system given boots he had been wearing when he awoke in this world, and months of being on his feet almost every hour of every day had worn them down to dangerous levels. When he analyzed them, their durability read 2/10.

Thoughts of his worn equipment turned his attention to himself. Looking into the clear water of the river, Wyatt looked at the face of someone he did not recognize. It was his face that stared back, he knew that, but the hollow look in his eyes, coupled with the full beard and dirt stains painted the picture of a haggard man.

Wyatt withdrew his knife and started cutting the hair on his face, hoping the edge of the blade had not dulled too much during its use. Luckily, he had spared this weapon in favor of his staff, and soon the face that looked back had become something he actually recognized. It wasn’t the closest shave he ever had, but it was still an improvement. There was nothing he could do about his hair, however, which made Wyatt think back to the last time he had it cut.

Brad really was good at his job.

With that finished, Wyatt took off his cloak and stepped into the river to clean off some of the grime that had accumulated over months of fighting. Without any soap, he was forced to use his hands to rub any dirt he saw on his clothes and skin. It was not the cleanest he had ever been, but it was the cleanest he had been in months. With that accomplished, Wyatt stepped out of the water and used his cloak to dry himself. He had noticed before that blood didn’t seem to stick to the garment and was hoping water would wick away as well.

He was briefly disappointed as the cloak did soak up the water but was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t stay wet, and instead returned to its original state within seconds.

Is it because it is magic, or is it the nature of what magic it is enchanted with? Thought Wyatt, then he put the cloak back on his shoulders and began collecting fire wood. Within minutes, he had started a fire, and was eating the venison while waiting for his clothes to dry.

With nothing else to do, Wyatt wrapped his cloak around himself and lay on the ground to sleep.

Wyatt traveled for days without incident, mapping out the terrain as best he could for later use. The river ran almost perfectly straight, a strange feature caused by how young it was, most likely.

On the sixth day of traveling, Wyatt had seen storm clouds begin to form on the horizon. Now, hours later, Wyatt sat against a tree, his cloak wrapped around him in a desperate attempt to stay dry in what soon turned into heavy rain. Even with his magic cloak, Wyatt began to feel the water seep in and soak his clothes.

Wet and miserable, Wyatt sat in complete silence, listening to the downpour pelt relentlessly against his hood. As he began to shiver, he tried desperately to recede even further into his cloak.

Suddenly, Wyatt fell backwards.

Wyatt rubbed the back of his head as he sat up. He noticed his cloak was no longer on his shoulders, and he opened his eyes to look around. There in front of him was the familiar purple of his cloak. Strangely, it was pressed against a wall, the inside clearly visible to him in the strange gray light as it was splayed open.

Wyatt looked at the wall behind it, seeing stonework that looked eerily like the tower he had left a week prior. For a moment, he thought he hadn’t actually left the dungeon, and he had to focus his mind to prevent himself from spiraling into thoughts of mind control and illusion.

Standing, Wyatt turned to survey his surroundings. He was indeed inside of an exact replica of the ground floor of the tower. It was a large room, with a roof easily ten feet high. As confused as he was at the room itself, it was the large pile of junk in the center of the room that drew his attention.

There, in a pile in the center of the room, was his stuff. There was furniture stacked haphazardly, with paper laying randomly around it, as if someone just threw it at the pile and let them lay where they landed.

I’m in the storage space in my cloak!

Wyatt had never thought to enter the cloak himself, simply using it as a means of storing and quickly retrieving anything useful he could find. It was obvious, now that he stood within, that his cloak was simply a portal to some storage room outside of the dimension he lived in.

And he had simply thrown everything in without any thought.

Wyatt turned to the cloak against the wall and placed his hand on it. As soon as he did, before he even channeled his magic, the cloak began to show the world outside. He could see the muddy ground and watched as the rain drops continued to make the puddles grow.

Wyatt removed his hand, assuming he could leave if he applied his mana to the cloak, and the image disappeared. The air inside of the trans-dimensional storage space was mild. Not hot, nor cold, almost as if the concept of heat didn’t exist here, and he simply was. The light was a strange gray, and seemed to come from every direction, but not from any discernable source.

Wyatt looked to his mana bar to see how much MP it took for him to enter the cloak and saw that it took him roughly 50 mana. He also took note of the fact that the bar did not refill itself in this strange place, and he wondered if that meant he could trap himself inside of this strange place if he entered with less than enough mana to get out.

Wyatt used Analyze Mana to examine the ambient mana in the room. He was surprised to find that it felt like his own mana, with traces of the spatial mana he could feel when he used Shift. He assumed this was from the trans-dimensional nature of the cloak, coupled with the fact that it was soulbound to him.

With nothing to do but wait out the storm outside, the mage turned to the mess he had made in his carelessness. He took off his robe and boots and placed them inside the entrance, then went to work on cleaning his new trans-dimensional tent.

It took Wyatt several hours to put things how he wanted them. His strength was still low, and he did not want to expend mana to help him move the heavier furniture, so he was forced to drag most of it across the stone floor. Worse yet was the blood that had caked onto the floor form the animal carcasses he had sent to this room. Without any bleach, cleaning those would take him quite some time.

Still, Wyatt managed to get everything in order, with his notes on the bookshelves and the majority of his spare items in the chests. It was only one room instead of a clear separation between the kitchen and living areas like he had in the tower, but it reminded him of the dorms and apartment he had lived in during his years in college. Now that he knew this space existed as more than just an inventory space, he would have to get more decorative items to spruce it up a bit.

For now, the room looked bare. While he was glad that he finally knew exactly how much his cloak could hold, the size of the area made it look close to empty, even with the stuff he had accumulated. Wyatt thought back to when he put the monkey in here, and his stomach turned at the thought of that wild creature running rampant in his room.

Letting something like that in here will have to be a last resort only from now on.

Wyatt’s stamina had drained slightly during the exertion of moving the heavier furniture, and he was relieved to see it could still regenerate while he was in this plane. He placed his hand on the portal entrance and checked the weather. The rain had let up slightly, but the day was already nearing its end anyway, so Wyatt decided it was time to turn in for the night.

When Wyatt woke the next morning, he was pleased to see it was not raining. In the early morning light, he could not tell if the sky was clear or not through the portal, so he decided to continue his travels. Slipping on his clothes and boots, Wyatt placed a hand on the cloak and channeled mana, instantly teleporting himself to the other side, standing where he had been the day before, his cloak around his shoulders as it always was. The mage also noticed that his mana was still only missing the 50 it took him to enter, and had already started refilling after leaving, and Wyatt smiled at his luck.

His smile was short lived as memories of how this cloak was created came unbidden to his mind. Pulling the hood forward, he began anew his endless journey forward.