The blast was enough to lift the heavy iron pot ten feet into the air, not to mention send the two orcs flying backward. One didn’t move after that but only lay there on its back, fur singed and ragged clothing smoldering, but the other growled and started rising to its feet. I put a quick end to that with a well-placed Adept-level lightning bolt. The cauldron fell back to the ground with a resounding clang. Whatever was inside it had been vaporized by the blast.

The other orcs had been roused by the sound and came rushing out of the huts. I caught two of them with a fireball as they struggled with each other in the doorway of one of the huts, both wanting to be the first one to get out and into the fight. Neither made it, and both were knocked back by the fireball, which set the entire hut ablaze. Another orc emerged from a different hut, and the alpha came barging out of its hut. I sent a lightning bolt at the alpha, but it just swung its axe and knocked the lightning off into the trees.

Uh oh.

Both orcs looked toward the source of the lightning, saw me, and came charging. I crouched into a defensive posture, ready to put omni-do to the test. Then the remaining two orcs emerged from the trees on the other side of the camp, and they too began stomping toward me with menace in their dark eyes.

I may have been a bit ambitious, trying to take on the entire orc camp solo. It wasn’t long ago that almost ten of us struggled to finish them off. Falling with a dagger to the heart while saving Jane was one thing, that’s something I could brag about, but dying because I foolishly bit off more than I could chew was something else altogether. Bravery is nothing without the wisdom to know the difference between what’s courageous and what’s foolhardy.

Fortunately, even though I took my hits and ended up with only a sliver of red left in my Health meter, and not much more in the Mana, I managed to take down the whole orc troupe. I was stronger, but not strong enough that I could cakewalk through major encounters.

Guess it’s still a bit soon for me to try soloing dungeons.

As I performed Laying On Hands on myself to recover some much-needed health, the observers in the peanut gallery started chiming in.

An unnamed observer applauds your growth

An unnamed observer offers a reward

System: You have received a Silver Gift Box

A mysterious observer says not so fast

A mysterious observer wishes to offer a better reward

System: Your Silver Gift Box has been upgraded to a Gold Gift Box

An unnamed observer won’t be outdone by the likes of you

System: Your Gold Gift Box has been upgraded to a Platinum Gift Box

A curious observer watches with amusement

A mysterious observer suggests it is silly to fight over this Player’s favor

An unnamed observer agrees

These observers are crazy.

A curious observer suggests that you two share the gift of a Legendary Gift Box

System: System wonders if the observers are too cheap to go that far

A mysterious observer is offended by the suggestion

An unnamed observer can easily afford it

A mysterious observer is anything but cheap

An unnamed observer won’t be outdone

System: Your Platinum Gift Box has been upgraded to a Legendary Gift Box

Did System just provoke them into upgrading to Legendary? Could it be that System’s on my side?

“Uh, thank you?” I said.

A curious observer giggles and looks forward to seeing what’s in the box

And that’s how I found myself in the burning ruins of the orc camp with a lot of treasure. In addition to the Legendary Gift Box, the orcs’ chest had respawned as well, as had the orc leader’s personal item. This time it wasn’t a bone necklace but a gold tusk that could be used as an ingredient for crafting. I chose not to open the orcs’ chest yet and stuffed the whole thing into my inventory, but I couldn’t resist the lure of the Legendary Gift Box. Besides, the observers wouldn’t shut up until I opened it.

Like the Boss Box before, the Gift Box had physically appeared before me and once again the confetti burst out when I pulled the ribbon.

Legendary Gift Scroll

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Read the scroll, get the Gift. Uses: 1

Whoah Nelly!

Gift:

I Can Keep Going And Going - Mana battery

Score! I read the scroll right then and there.

System: You have a new Gift: I Can Keep Going And Going

An unnamed observer is satisfied

Yeah, me too. Having access to more mana would be very handy. I wondered what Stratos was going to think when they saw this? Bet they’d wish they’d had given me some little quests to keep me occupied.

I had a snack to replenish some mana, noticing that even if I ate more once my normal mana capacity was refilled my new mana battery remained empty.

I guess there’s another way to fill the battery. I’ll figure that out later. Right now, the wall of thorns is calling me.

I made my way back to the path and followed it up to the prickly barrier. I tried as surreptitiously as possible to scan the surrounding trees to see if I could spot anyone hiding there with a bow ready to shoot me, but there was nothing there. At least, not that I could see. I approached the wall. It looked the same as before. I held out my hand and channeled Nature, just as I had the last time. A few vines twisted, then returned back in place when I stopped concentrating, just like last time. So far, so good. Now came the big test: could I make an opening through the wall?

I decided it would be better to do this away from the path, just in case someone else came along, so I ventured a hundred steps off the path before trying. I tried walking as silently as I could, listening the whole time for the sounds of anything rustling in the trees, such as any unseen watchers with bows. I heard nothing.

I used Nature again, only this time I poured all my effort into creating a gap in the wall. The thorny vines twisted and began to peel back, but they only went so far, not nearly far enough to be called a gap. More of an indentation. The moment I stopped feeding mana into it, the vines wriggled back into place showing no sign they’d ever shifted at all. I tried again and the same thing happened.

That wasn’t going to work.

The good news was that while someone or something was preventing me from making a path through the wall, at least nobody was shooting me. Last time I’d made the wall sprout a flower by combining Nature and Life, so I tried using the two affinities together to create an opening, but all I got was a cluster of lavender blossoms. I spent some time trying different things using Nature and other affinities, seeing if there was a way to manipulate the wall to let me through, but I remained stumped.

Frustrated, I gave up. I turned around and followed the wall back to the path, touching it every few steps. Every time my finger met the wall I used a synthesis of Nature and Life to produce a line of flowers along the outside. When I reached the path I drew a smiley face pattern of pale purple blossoms. Even though I couldn’t detect them I was sure that someone was watching with a bow and arrow aimed at me, so I waved to my unseen watchers and went back down the path toward town.

One way or another, I was going to find a way through that wall.

I was making my way back through the forest, mind racing with thoughts of how I could get past the wall and what I might find on the other side, and not really paying much attention to my surroundings. Suddenly, I heard a woman’s voice from inside the trees.

“What is that?” she said.

I stopped. “Hello?”

“Wait! Stop!”

Without a second thought, I dashed off the path and into the trees toward the sound. I mean, someone was clearly in trouble.

“Help!”

“I’m coming!”

I reached the spot in the trees where I thought her cries were coming from, but there was nothing there. I looked to the left. That was a mistake. Had I looked to the right, I might have seen a pair of malevolent eyes glaring at me from within the trees and had some warning, but I looked left, so I was completely taken by surprise when something pounced on me and sank its nasty teeth into the flesh of my right shoulder.

“Ouch!” I shrieked.

“Ouch!” another voice said. It didn’t sound like the woman’s, it sounded like a man’s, only it was muffled, as though he was trying to speak with his mouth full. Which, in fact, was exactly the case. Only it wasn’t a man, it was a monster. And what its mouth was full of was my shoulder.

I swatted at it, of course, instinctively. Like you’d swat at a bug that bit you. Only it wasn’t a bug, of course, it was a Jackalope, antlers and all, and it had several rows of its fangs sunk deep into me.

My hand hit the antlers, of course. Now I know how pointy one of those antlers can be. My health sank into the yellow zone pretty fast.

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted it off, of course, but I also didn’t want it taking a good portion of my upper body with it. I’d just gotten the upper body I secretly always wanted even though I always said I didn’t care about that sort of thing, and it’d be a shame to let it go like that.

Hurm, what affinities might I hit it with to get it off? Light came immediately to mind, because a laser is nothing but really focused light and I’d caused some interesting effects with that in practice, not to mention my shoulder hurt like crazy and I’d like nothing more than to see what it’d look like to shine a laser beam through its head. I also thought of Fire, because using fire on someone to punish them could easily be made slow and showy and really painful, and I wanted to punish it for biting me.

If I used them together I’d have twice as much chance of making it let go of my shoulder. That was the point, after all. Just to make sure, it’d be nice to add in Air as a little extra encouragement to get it the hell off of me and away somewhere where it couldn’t just bite me again.

Could I use three affinities at a time?

Its beady black eyes glared at me from over its twitching little snout. I pointed my index finger right between them until its fur tickled, then pushed a blast of ultra-focused light and fire and air at the same time.

There was a boom, and for the briefest of moments I was able to look the monster straight between the eyes and see right through its head to the other side, then the Jackalope fell about four feet away. My shoulder – bleeding and throbbing, but otherwise intact – stayed with me.

Ooookay.

Yes. Yes, I could use three affinities at a time. And now I knew what it’s like to shoot off a laser right next to something’s head, while also injecting the heat of a largeish sun into a tiny little space stupidly fast (at the very least Mach One, judging by the boom), while also jamming in a considerable electric charge.

It had this much going for it: it was a very clean way to kill something. The intense heat cauterized the wound immediately, so there was no blood, no splatter, no nothing. Well, besides mine. It was a far cry from the last time I had to deal with a Jackalope. No brutality bonus this time.

I started feeling a bit funny. Had I lost that much blood? No, wait. The Jackalope had that venom, didn’t it? What did it do again? I couldn’t remember. My mind was getting foggy. Hard to think straight.

I checked the creature’s Status to remind myself, suspecting it might be significant, but it was already dead so instead of its powers all I got was its list of drop items. I had enough clarity of mind to know I should probably get those, but not enough to make myself butcher the beast. I grabbed an antler.

My mind was getting really foggy now. Where was I again? I felt that lying down would help me remember. Looking up, all I could see was trees. Oh right, the forest. But why were the trees moving? Their branches were swaying and swirling in a way that reminded me of being on hallucinogens. I couldn’t remember dropping acid, but that’s what it felt like. Had I eaten a mushroom? What portion of the bugs I felt crawling all over me were real? I estimated maybe fifty-fifty, and figured I could live with that. But could I live with my shoulder? It hurt like hell. I put my hand on it and felt something warm and wet. I looked at my fingers. There were eleven of them and they were all red. Oh crap, was I bleeding? I went to wipe the blood off with my other hand, but found a dead Jackalope in it. Right. I’d been bitten. Wasn’t there something about the Jackalope’s venom that was special? What was it again? I used my power to see the monster’s Status, but...oh right. Now I remembered. Maybe if I just lay there it’d go away. I couldn’t tell you how long I laid there, looking up at the wiggling trees and feeling my ability to think slowly but surely sink away.

No. This was not like acid. This was how I was going to die. That was the last clear thought I remembered having.