Becoming more accustomed to the surroundings, I noticed several things. The place we fell into was a giant cavern with many tunnels. Each one seemed to lead to different places. For obvious reasons, there was not any natural light. The only discernible source of light was a glowing moss that was growing pretty much everywhere. Lastly, this place might not have been the safest place, because ever since we landed, Rurika had been staying low to the floor and trying to access the situation.

“Get down you idiot. You don’t want to get spotted do you?”

Yup that confirmed my theory, this place is dangerous. Plus I couldn’t ignore her previous words.

Lowering myself next to Rurika and shot her a glance, “Where the hell are we?”

Shooting me an impatient glance, Rurika responded, “This is the first of five underground levels of the Slip. The beings that mostly dwell here are some gnomes and goblins, along with some weak monsters.”

“What? There are magical creatures here?” I asked in shock. Sure I knew that they had to exist if magic did, but I never expected to run into them so soon. “Why are we hiding? Are gnomes that scary?”

“We are hiding because this zone is not meant for humans. While other parts of this layer have good inter-racial relations, this place is home to some of the more radical of the races. The gnomes are one thing, but those goblins are who we will be looking out for.”

"Why?”

“Let’s just say they have a taste for human flesh, and no woman would want to end up in their hands.” Rurika had a dark look as she stood up from her cover and dusted herself off. “No more questions for the time being, we need to get to a more secure location.”

I merely nodded my head in response. The fact that she chose to come here over staying on the surface spoke volumes of the danger that her grandfather was facing. If we stayed, death would have been the only outcome. 

As we walked down one of the tunnels, I noticed how low the ceilings were. Most of tunnels seemed too short for a fully grown person to stand straight. Based on Rurika’s decisive choice in pathing, this was not the first time that she has been down here.

The end of the tunnel brought us to another open cavern. This one was much smaller than the one that we were originally in. Maybe the size of a movie theater. However, there was only two tunnel openings besides the one that we came from. With less entrances, it was easier to keep watch for any possible enemies.

Rurika continued to walk to the center of the cavern, where she pressed her palm against a large boulder. A strange light began to originate from where she touched the stone.

It did not take long for the boulder to be completely glowing, but the strange glow did not stop there. Soon it began to spread to the floor and move towards the tunnel entrances.

Once it reached the tunnels, the light stopped spreading. A deep rumbling sound shook the ground as walls of stone began to spring up from the ground, completely sealing the cavern. The lights began to fade once the new walls reached the ceiling, but some light lingered as it formed similar magical symbols that were in the books that Mr. Suzuki gave to me.

“We should be safe for now.” Weezed Rurika as she rested her back against the boulder and slid down to the floor. It was clear that activating that spell cost a lot of mana.

“How long are we going to stay here?” I asked, a bit afraid that I would not like the answer.

Rurika closed her eyes in exhaustion, but she did not ignore my question. “We will wait here for two days. If gramps hasn’t come for us by then, we are to make our way to one of the neutral zones. From there we should be able to find a way back to Japan.”

Wait here for two whole days? What about school? Where were we supposed to sleep, eat, and wash? Even worse, where were we supposed to go to the washroom?

Well there was no use stressing over this for the time being. All those things felt distant, like they were problems that didn't even belong to me. I can only pray that The old man will be okay. Yet, it was probably best to focus on powering myself up. If we ended up having to continue our travels with just the two of us, I had to make sure that I was ready.

Finding a secluded corner of the cavern, I began to practice my breathing technique to restore my mana. With each inhale I sensed the mana that saturated the air. 

Maybe being stuck here might be a blessing in disguise. The amount of mana in the Slip was superior in both quantity and quality when compared to the mana on Earth. 

It did not take long to recover my mana. After about fifteen minute of meditation, I felt like I was back in top condition.

“Okay time to learn another spell,” I said with clenched fists.

Taking out the Water Bullet spell from my backpack, I began to study it intensely. From the name it was a pure offensive spell, something that I really needed at the moment. I was a little disappointed at how plain Confusion Palm was. If I was going to learn magic, I wanted my spells to be flashy.

However, a couple of hours passed and I was nowhere near close to forming the initial rune for the spell. Why was it turning out like this?

DON’T BE DOWN ON YOURSELF BOY. YOUR COMPREHENSION IS TRULY NOT BAD.

“Mr. Book?” The sudden interruption by the djinn almost caused me to yelp in surprise. I was in a highly tense situation after all.

THE REASON YOU WERE ABLE TO LEARN CONFUSION PALM SO QUICKLY WAS DUE TO MY INFLUENCE.

“Really? I thought you were trying to keep a low profile around the Suzukis.”

I AM, BUT I DIDN’T DIRECTLY HELP YOU. DJINNS HAVE AN AFFINITY TOWARDS ILLUSION MAGIC YOU SEE.

“I get it, since we basically fused to a certain degree, a lot of your natural talent with illusion magic was passed onto me?” I responded after mulling over Mr. Book’s words.

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“How long does it take to normally learn a spell?”

IT CAN RANGE FROM A FEW DAYS TO A FEW MONTHS. IT DEPENDS ON THE USER’S TALENT, CURRENT ABILITIES, AND TYPE OF SPELL THEY ARE TRYING TO LEARN.

“So are you saying I should stick with illusion magic?”

That would kind of suck. Sure I could learn the spells easier, but illusion magic seemed to be more of a supplementary or support style of magic. Not that I found anything wrong with it. It is just that I would struggle with finishing off an opponent if all i knew was how to create illusions.

DON’T LOOK DOWN ON ILLUSIONS BOY. IF YOU’RE STRONG ENOUGH, YOU COULD CREATE AN ILLUSION SO POWERFUL THAT IT COULD KILL A PERSON.

I had almost forgot that Mr. Book was good at reading my mind. Even when I am not directly talking to him he is able to sense my general thoughts.

ANYWAYS, I’M NOT SAYING YOU CAN’T LEARN WATER BULLET. YOU NEED PATIENCE.

Mr. Book made a good point. I don’t think someone as experienced as the old man would have given me spells that I would struggle to learn.

Given the current circumstances I should focus on learning how to better use Confusion Palm and maybe even learn Drunkard’s Breath. Plus I could not neglect my breathing technique. I would need more mana if I wanted to be useful.

HEY BOY, DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE OVER YOUR BODY TEMPORARILY SO THAT YOU CAN ABSORB MORE MANA?

Back at the Suzuki residence, Mr. Book had helped me a lot to understand the basics. Also, I noticed that the amount of improvement was more apparent when I was possessed by Mr.Book

“Okay, sounds like a plan. Would you also be able to learn Drunkard’s Breath for me as well?”

HAHA, DON’T ASK FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE. I CAN ONLY POSSESS YOU FOR SO LONG.

“True, I had forgotten.” I said embarrassingly as I rubbed the back of my head.

Being possessed was definitely a weird sensation. It was kind of like watching someone else play a first person game. The only difference was that it was reality and not a game.

I could observe Mr. Book’s every action, and if I wanted to, I could take back control. As he initiated the breathing technique I could sense the vast quantities of mana entering my body. The amount was a lot more than when I used the technique. I tried my best to learn from his actions before it was time to end the possession.

At most, Mr. Book had been able to maintain the possession for three minutes the first time. But it seemed that he was regaining strength, because he was able to hold the possession for five minutes.

Within that span of time, he was able to absorb a large quantity of mana. He even finished the purification process and laced my veins. If I had to compare our work speeds, what would take me at least half a day, Mr. Book completed in five minutes.

What a complete cheat. If I can do this once a day, then I would be able to add double to triple the amount of mana to my veins than the average magician. That is not even taking into account the probable increase in possession time as Mr. Book gets stronger.

Opening the Drunkard’s Breath spell book, I began to memorize it. It was way easier to learn than Water Bullet. The way the information was retained made it seem like this spell was designed for me.

In the end, forming the rune for the spell only took three hours. My previous experience in learning an illusion spell and my increased mana pool had helped to make the process easier.

Unlike Confusion Palm, Drunkard’s Breath had a bit more flair in its appearance. Mana flows to the lungs where it is turned into a toxin similar to alcohol with a high proof.The castor than breathes out the toxin in a purple mist.

Feeling confident in my basic comprehension, I stood up and walked to a more secluded part of the cavern that had a tunnel opening, giving myself some space from Rurika. I took a bit of time to focus on my taget, and the distance between the blocked opening and myself. Touching on the rune in my mind, I inhaled sharply and held my breath for a second before exhaling ith enough force to empty my lungs. 

Just like the description said, purple mist swirled out of my gaping mouth in a narrow cone of gas that spread out the further it traveled. With a triumphant look on my face, I turned to Rurika who was staring at me with wide eyes. 

"Be careful when you use that spell. If the scent somehow leaks and travels too far down, it might attract unwanted attention. Although I'm confident in my grandfather's spell, it is on the older side. Better safe than sorry. It's okay if you want to practice it in here, I have decent resistance to spells like that."

I could feel the seed of confidence developing within me shrivel up at her words. Not only was she not shocked by my comprehension speed, but she pointed out how dumb my actions were. I had to turn away as I could feel the heat radiating from my cheeks. However, no matter how embarressed I was, I didn't dare stop.

Based on my tests, I can make it spread as far as eleven feet before it starts to dissipate and lose effectiveness. Now I have ways to attack at close range and at a distance, in theory anyways. At the end of the day, I have no idea how effective any of my spells are. Given this intense situation, there is little chance Rurika would be willing to help me test out my abilities.

By the time I had learned Drunkard’s Breath, it was around eleven at night. Exhaustion was washing over me, and my eyelids were losing a battle against gravity. It had been a long day with a lot of twists and turns, but I must say I could not help but be excited with the new developments in my life.

I stood up and walked back over to Rurika to see what we should do for sleeping arrangements. However, I did not get very far before I noticed that she was in meditation. With every breath she inhaled I could feel the flow of mana go towards her.

How long has she been doing this? From what I remembered, I had just started trying to learn my second spell when she finished resting and started her breathing technique. I guess she is not all attitude. She puts in lots of hours of hard work on top of being born into a magic clan.

“Alright! A few more hours of meditation couldn’t hurt.” I said as I slapped my face to force myself awake.

Growing up I was never really one of the competitive types, but I could tell I was far behind Rurika in both talent and abilities. The only way to close the gap was with hard work.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME NOW.

How could I? You are like my golden ticket.

GLAD TO HEAR. LISTEN, IT IS ABOUT YOUR WISH.

What about it? I had almost forgotten that along with becoming a magician, Mr. Book granted my deepest darkest wish. To be a “main character” of sorts. I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment again.

I WANTED TO WARN YOU. WHEN A DJINN GRANTS A WISH IT IS NEVER EXACTLY AS HOW ONE ENVISIONED.

That part I understood. There were plenty of lore on how tricky and evil djinn can be when they grant a wish. Some legends even state that they do not even grant wishes, only trapping you in an illusion while sucking the soul from your body.

So are you trying to say I’m in danger?

IN A WAY. SINCE I AM NOW A PART OF YOU I WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING TO SCREW YOU OVER, BUT BEING A “MAIN CHARACTER” ISN’T AS SIMPLE AS YOU THINK.

Mr. Book had a point. Most main characters always had an uphill battle in order to obtain respect and recognition. I had hoped I could have been one of those MC’s that were gifted a god like weapon or ability. While Mr. Book possessing me is a pretty big cheat, compared to some anime main characters, I was like an uninteresting side character at best.

This meant that my wish made me into a type of protagonist that had to start from the bottom. It would have been ideal if I could have been overpowered, but I am rather grateful for what I have. I just hope that I dont mirror main characters with a tragic backstory. If something bad happened to my friends and family because of my wish, I am not sure what I would do.

LONG STORY SHORT, YOU WILL FACE MANY TRIAL BY FIRE SITUATIONS. JUST REMEMBER, WHERE THERE IS DANGER THERE IS ALSO OPPORTUNITY.