Connor made his way to his room. He was about to take a shower and realized he hadn’t purchased any towels, which brought about an automatic verbal response, “Well, Shit!”
He created a spell to conjure food and water; could he create a spell to create simple items? He meditated for a minute and then activated his skill Malleable Spells while focusing on a spell that would allow him to create mundane items.
Unfettered Status Noted
SYSTEM Link established.
Searching Common Spell Database
Spell: “Create Item” meets the criteria of the requested spell.
Requirements to learn Spell:
100 Mana
One free Spell Slot.
Congratulations! You have learned the Spell “Create Item.”
Create Item
Rank: Common
Required Materials: None
Range: 10 Feet
Mana Cost: 10 per pound of material created. Maximum Size: 10 pounds
Upon casting this spell, you can create any basic nonmagical, nonmechanical, nontechnological item made with natural products.
Basic weapons, like swords, hammers, bows: Yes.
Guns, Beam Weapons, and Magical weapons: No.
This spell is very useful when creating simple tools and items.
Connor smiles as he created three five-pound bath towels and three Plush Turkish Robes. While he couldn’t put patterns on the towels or Bathrobes, he could change their colors. The Towels were all white, while the bath robes were dark blue and pink, respectively. He kept a dark blue bathrobe and one of the towels for himself and took one of each to Sam and Liza.
Once back in his room, he meditated again and looked for a spell that would let him create, and hopefully control, flames.
Unfettered Status Noted
SYSTEM Link established.
Searching Common Spell Database
Spell: “Create Flame” meets the criteria of the requested spell.
Searching Uncommon Spell Database.
Spell: “Control Fire” meets the first and second criteria of the requested spell.
Note: The Spell Control Fire requires that the spell caster learn “Create Flame” first.
Requirements to Learn
1100 Mana
Three free Spell Slots
Would you like to learn the spells “Create Flame” and “Control Fire,” Yes or No?
Connor chose “Yes.”
Congratulations! You have learned the Spell “Create Fire.”
Create Fire
Rank: Common
Required Materials: None
Range: 10 Feet
Mana Cost: 10 plus 1 mana per turn maintained.
Upon casting this spell, you can create a small flame at the target location. The flame cannot be moved and only lasts as long as the spell is maintained. Any material set on fire does not add to or help maintain this spell.
Congratulations! You have learned the Spell “Control Flame.”
Control Flame
Rank: Uncommon
Required Materials: None
Range: 100 Feet
Mana Cost: 100 plus 10 mana per turn maintained.
Like Create Fire, the caster creates a small flame within range. Unlike Create Fire, The flame created with Control Flame acts as a link between the caster and any flames it is in contact with up to the maximum range of the spell.
While Control Flame is active, you may cause the flame you control to propagate one foot in any direction as long as doing so does not exceed your range of 100 feet. The flame only grows if there is fuel to do so. Once the fuel runs out, the flame reverts to the size of the initial summoning.
Additionally, the controlled flame can be used to attack as follows:
Less than 1 foot in radius / Range 1 Foot / Damage: 1 Point per attack or turn in contact with the fire controlled by you / Radiant Damage: 1 < 1
1 – 5 feet in radius / Range 5 feet / Damage: 3 Points per attack or per turn in contact with the fire controlled by you / Radiant Damage: 3 < 2 < 1
5 – 10 feet in radius / Range 10 feet / Damage: 5 points of damage per attack or per turn in contact with the fire controlled by you / Radiant Damage: 5 < 3 < 1 < 1
10 – 20 feet in radius / Range 20 feet / Damage: 10 points of damage per attack or turn in contact with the fire controlled by you / Radiant Damage: 10 < 5 < 3 < 1 < 1
20 – 40 feet in radius / Range 40 feet / Damage: 20 points of damage per attack or turn in contact with the fire controlled by you / Radiant Damage: 20 < 10 < 5 < 3 < 1 < 1
40 – 80 feet in radius / Range 80 feet / Damage: 40 points of damage per attack or turn in contact with the fire controlled by you / Radiant Damage: 40 < 20 < 10 < 5 < 3 < 1 < 1
80 – 160 feet in radius / Range 100 feet / Damage: 80 points of damage per attack or turn in contact with the fire controlled by you / Radiant Damage: 80 < 40 < 20 < 10 < 5 < 3 < 1 < 1
Note: Radiant Damage Radius is as follows: 1’ < 2’ < 4’ < 8’ < 16 ‘ < 32’ < 64’ < 128’
Warning: Only the flame within your sphere of control, 100 feet, counts toward the damage generated. Flames outside that radius may or may not generate as much heat as the flame within your sphere of control.
Warning: You are not immune to Radiant Damage
Connor looked over the spells. Create Fire would be very useful for starting a fire. It seemed to cost a bit to cast, but then again, it didn’t require any materials, so if it cost 10 mana to create a simple flame that could be used to start a fire, so be it. Control Flame, on the other hand, was a spell that produced some possibilities. Of course, he wasn’t an idiot. If the source of the fire were more than 100 feet in radius, he would be in the fire, taking that 80 points of damage per turn. There was also the fact that he could move the flame, so he could use the spell to start a larger fire as he had the flame move around under the firewood.
Also, he could take control of a flame and have it reach out and touch someone or ignite something nearby. Oh, the possibilities. Connor was lost in thought as he thought about the various ways he could cause everyone in Juan Perez’s memories to have “accidents.” Of course, he couldn’t go around killing indiscriminately because of the whole grandfather paradox thing, but, damn, how he wished he could.
Connor focused on his last idea while they’d been shopping. He needed a spell or skill that would stop electronic devices from recording him. The spell would need to focus on electronic devices that made visual recordings and had a range of at least a mile. He meditated and then activated Malleable Spells.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Unfettered Status Noted
SYSTEM Link established.
The range requirement automatically sets this as an Advanced Spell
Searching Advanced Spell Database
Spell: “Surveillance Gap” meets the criteria of the requested spell.
Requirements to Learn
100,000 Mana
Four free spell slots.
Mana Cost has been taken from your Mana Reserve
Mana Reserve: 0 of 100,000
Congratulations! You have learned the Spell “Surveillance Gap.”
Surveillance Gap
Rank: Advanced
Required Materials: None
Range: 10,000 Feet
Mana Cost: 1,000 mana
When cast, a pulse of magic goes out, targeting all electronic camera-type devices within 10,000 feet. They are immediately shut down and do not automatically turn back on. It should be noted that the spell's magic does NOT keep the cameras shut down; it merely shuts them down once.
The cameras can be turned on manually or remotely immediately, though the outage usually takes a minute or two to be noticed. Therefore, the “Surveillance Gap” lasts at least one turn but may last longer.
Connor smiled; this spell was going to come in extremely handy. Connor looked at his zeroed-out Mana Reserve and realized it would be almost two hours before his Mana Regeneration of 160 a turn refilled the Mana Reserve. That was fine; he’d created the spells he needed. He could rest now. Connor crawled into his sleeping back and went to sleep.
A knock on his door brought him back to consciousness. A moment later, three more knocks sounded, “Connor, are you awake?” Liza called.
“I’m up, I’m up. Come on in.”
The door to his room opened, and Sam and Liza stepped inside. Before he could ask a question, Sam said, “The entry door vanished.”
“The entry door vanished?”
“That’s what I said,” same answered.
“How long was I asleep? Connor asked.
“Just over 10 hours,” Liza said.
“Ten hours? Shit,” Connor said as he remembered he had wanted to see what that ten-hour limit meant.
“Yep, the door just disappeared at the 10-hour mark. I didn’t receive a notification or anything,” Liza said.
“Me either,” Sam confirmed
“Let me check,” Connor said as he pulled up his notifications. Nope, there wasn’t any message there either, “I don’t have a notification either,” Connor said as he pulled himself out of the Sleeping bag. “Let me go see if I can open another door,” Connor said as he sighed mentally with relief that nothing happened to the internal structure he’d created or all the supplies he’d brought into his Astral Pocket.
A quick walk downstairs found him at the edge of the sphere where the outline of the door stood but nothing else. Where the door had been, there was just a flat pane of the edge of the Astral Pocket. The Marble wall that surrounded the door had an empty rectangle where the door had sat. Connor activated his skill Astral Pocket, and the door reappeared. He quickly opened the door and verified that the door still opened onto Deer Mountain; it did.
Connor closed the door and turned to Sam and Liza, who had followed him to the entryway. “So, the 10-hour limit is how long 1,000 mana will hold a portal open from this side to the material plane or wherever I opened it. After the 10-hour limit, it looks like I just need to spend another 1,000 mana to create another door that opens to the last fixed point we entered from. At least, that seems to be the way that it works now.
Liza looked intently at Connor before she asked, “How long will it take you to regenerate that 1,000 mana in here?”
“Just over a minute.”
“And if you were out of mana stuck on Earth and needed to get back in here,” Sam asked.
“Around 21 minutes, but I have the Mana Battery and another reserve to pull from, “Connor said.
“Okay then,” Liza said as she thought about what to ask next.
Sam asked, “What now?”
“Did you two get a chance to learn spells from the spell crystals?
“Sure did; even cast the Create Food spell just to see what I could make,” Liza said happily.
“And?” Connor asked.
“And I created an apple. And then tried a cupcake. Both came out exactly like I wanted. It can’t create a lot of food, but it can create whatever you want within the spell's weight limit. I made a cupcake the second time.”
“What did you use for the physical material?” Connor asked.
“That was the weird thing. It used one pound of stone from the floor, which immediately refilled with the substance that makes up the true walls of this place and then reformed into marble, almost immediately.”
“So, we have an unlimited supply of material in this Astral Pocket of yours. It's good to know,” Sam said with a smile.
“Did you try to make something that was cooked?” Conner asked.
“Not yet, but it’s on my list of things to do,” Liza offered.
“As for me, I only had six available Spell Slots. I picked up everything except for Hack, Magical Bolt, Wizard Hands, and Detect Magic,” Sam said.
“Why did you take Force Dagger instead of Magical Bolt?” Connor asked.
“Because using a practically invisible knife from stealth is a lot better than a flashy ranged magical spell.”
Connor nodded, “Yeah, I can see that. I guess it also ensures that you will always have a weapon so long as you have mana.”
“It does,” Sam agreed.
“Okay, well, now that we’re all awake, feel free to empty your inventories of anything you don’t want to lug around in your rooms and go through all the stuff we picked up and make sure you have survival gear. I would suggest grabbing at least one of the one-gallon water containers so you can refill it with Create Water. Also, you need one or two survival kits, a tent, one of the spare sleeping bags, and a pillow if you want one. There’s also a pallet of Beef Jerky and Granola Bars you can use to supplement the Create Food spell. Take as much as you want. If we need more, I’ll grab it later.”
“And after that,” Liza asked.
“After that, we make our way to the Forestry Department in the Redwood Forest.”
The three of them went through the supplies he’d dropped off and picked up what they thought they might need. Connor grabbed 20 pounds of Beef Jerky and 20 pounds worth of Granola Bars. He also grabbed two one-gallon bottles of water as well as four six-packs each of the Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, and Sprite he’d picked up. Once he had the food, he picked up a tent, sleeping bag, pillow, underwear, and a spare set of shoes. Lastly, he picked up a Swiss army knife, survival kits, and a spade. If they ended up in a new world this time, they’d be able to survive for a little while, even if he didn’t have access to his Astral Pocket.
While he walked around grabbing supplies, Connor verified that his Mana Reserve was full and that his Mana, Stamina, and Hit Points were all maxed out. He was ready to go.
“Have you two topped off all your resource pools?” Connor asked.
“I am,” Liza said.
“Me too,” Sam agreed.
“And your Mana Batteries?”
“Haven’t used it?” Liza said.
“I did, and I was able to recharge easily,” Sam said.
“Good. Then, if you are both ready, let's go check out where Agent Smith saw an Elf on Earth more than 20 years before The SYSTEM integrated this planet.”
Each of them activated Stealth before they stepped out of the portal and waited for Connor to create the Force Barrier Bubble they’d all be flying in. Once they were airborne, Connor rose above the low-hanging clouds and headed west at speed. Once they reached the west coast, he’d follow the coast north until he reached the Redwood National Forest, which was about 260 miles north of San Francisco, just south of Klamath, California.
***
“Sir, the bogey is back,” Airman Lewis said as he looked at his radar terminal at Travis Air Force Base.
Master Sergeant Rodriguez walked over and looked at the terminal, “Show me.”
“Radar detected the object rising above Deer Mountain and then accelerating west at an estimated 2,200 miles an hour,” Airman Lewis said.
“Estimated?”
“Yes, Sir. Whatever it is, it is relatively small, and the radar is having a hard time keeping track of it.”
“Do we still have the F-111’s here still?”
“Yes, Sir, the crews each got their eight hours of rest in the Alert facilities and are scheduled to take off in ten.”
“Scramble them. I want them in the air as fast as possible on an intercept course.”
“Sir, the object is accelerating; they probably won't catch it.”
“Scramble them now!” Master Sergeant Rodriguez declared with a hit of exasperation and irritation, which he clearly conveyed by the tone of his voice.
“Yes, Sir!”
***
Connor made it to the west coast without incident and then started following the coast to the north. As they passed over San Francisco heading north. A moment before the barrier was stuck, Connor detected something traveling incredibly fast as it streaked in toward the force bubble. One second was all he needed, though. Connor reached out with the Control Technological Device and shifted the control fins while also disabling the proximity fuse so the missile flew up and over the Bubble they were in.
“What the hell was that?” Liza asked as Connor shifted their vector and brought them closer to the ground.
“It was an air-to-air missile,” Connor said.
“And it caught us?” Sam asked.
“Yep. I read somewhere that missiles, on average, travel at about Mach 6. That’s a bit faster than I can move us.”
“So, what now?” Liza asked with a hint of anxiety in her voice.
“Now, I bring us closer to the forest, then I slow down and take us into the trees for a while. They shouldn’t be able to detect us, and once we’re below the radar, they shouldn’t be able to; you know what, I have a better plan,” Connor stated as he changed direction slightly and came to about 100 above the Pacific Ocean, without reducing speed.
A half mile off the coast, traveling at about 2,500 miles per hour, or just about Mach 3.5, Connor dropped down to less than 10 feet above the water. The shockwave shoots water into the air behind them and creates a wall where the next missile slams into it at six times the speed of sound. Have you ever been driving down a road at 70 miles per hour and then run into one of the cloud bursts that dumps buckets of water all at once? Connor had. The water created a considerable amount of resistance and slowed him right down, which is precisely what happened to the missile, which fell back and dropped into the water when the rocket ran out of fuel.
Four minutes later, they’re far enough up the coast that Connor can detect the Redwood Forest with Eyes of Eris. He slowed down rapidly, but not so fast that Sam and Liza couldn’t handle it, before he dropped them below the surface of the water. Once they’re about fifty feet deep, he moved them toward the coast.
“Alright, when we’re close to the coast, Shadow Step onto the beach and make your way into the trees. I’ll be right behind both of you,” Connor said.
Once they were within range, Liza went first, then Sam, and finally Connor followed as he ended Force Barrier. Once they were under the trees and had made their way further inland for about 15 minutes, they released Stealth and continued.
“Alright, you two hang out for a few minutes and rest. I’m going to go find out how far away from our target we are. I couldn’t really tell where we were underwater, but I know we were pretty close. I’ll be right back.” Connor said before he activated Stealth and Flight.
Through Eyes of Eris he’d noticed a creek just north of their position about a mile away. The creek flowed toward the coast from the east and had multiple signs planted along it, which named it Johnson Creek.
Unfortunately, cellphone service wasn’t up to the level it was 20 years from now, so he’d have to do this the old-fashioned way. He rose until he could see a reasonable distance in every direction. Up and to his north and a little east, he could see city lights with nothing to the south. He dropped down to about a mile above the ground so he could use Eyes of Eris to make sure he could still detect Liza and Sam and then moved toward the lights.
The city of Klamath was only four miles away, which told him he was really close to where he wanted to be. Using Agent Smith’s memories, he backtracked his way to the Foresty Depart and to the tree, which was now surrounded by camouflage netting. From there, he flew along the mountain paths back to where he had left Sam and Liza.
Fifteen minutes later, Connor landed and dropped both his Flight and Stealth skills.
“That took a little bit,” Liza said.
“Finding the place went quickly. What took so long was making sure I could get us there along the ground.”
“So, how far away are we,” Sam asked.
“About four miles.”
“That’s all?” Liza asked.
“Shoot, I can run a mile a minute. We should be able to make it there pretty quick,” Sam offered.
“We need to make it to a creek about a mile north of our position, and then we can follow that east until we reach a coastal road. From there, we head north and take the first right. It’ll lead us right where we want to go,” Connor explained.
“Sounds good,” Liza said as she looked north and then started jogging in that direction, Sam and Connor following behind her.
Four minutes later, they came to a spot where Connor called for them to halt. “About 500 feet down the road is the Forestry department. We’re not going there. Where we need to go is through these trees,” Connor said as he led them toward an area that seemed unnaturally shaded.
“Are those camo nets above us?” Liza asked.
“Yep,” Connor said distractedly as a guard he’d noticed stepped out. Before the guard could utter a word, Connor cast Sleep on the man. One second, he was stepping out. The next, he was falling face first into the ground.
“Why’d you do that?” Liza asked.
“I noticed him when I flew by before. He’s already called in to say that we’re here, so we’ll need to hurry. Come on, it's just over here.”
Connor led the other two around the trunk of one large Redwood tree until they were looking at the trunk of another tree, where a shimmering line of sparkling energy spread between the splint trunk of a giant redwood. A moment later a notification filled their vision.
Ambient Mana is 100%. Regeneration rates have normalized.
“That’s nice,” Sam said.
“Yes, it is,” Liza agreed.
Connor nodded as he said, “The Elf was on the other side of this portal. Be ready for anything. Let's go.
Connor led the other two through the portal. They emerged into a clearing where the portal they just stepped through sat with nothing around it. The Portal was in the center of a clearing covered in grass which was surrounded by what looked like pine trees. He couldn’t say what was different about the trees at first, but then he realized that they didn’t smell exactly like Pine trees. He hadn’t noticed that in Agent Smiths memories. As they looked around, a few Notifications appeared in his vision.
SYSTEM Connection Re-established.
WARNING! You are chronically misplaced.
Status “Unfettered” Noted.
Automatic relocation to the original time period has been halted.
Before they could consider the trees too deeply, he detected four individuals moving stealthily toward their position at speed. They were garbed in typical ranger garb as if they were playing a tabletop or computer game: green cloaks, leather armor, a bow, and what looked like a long sword and short sword at their waists. Also, they were moving very quietly.
“We have incoming,” Connor called out softly.
“How many,” Sam asked.
“Four that I can detect,” Connor said.
Connor watched as three took positions behind some trees and drew their bows. The fourth pulled back her cloak to reveal a young elven face. She had deep green eyes and light brown hair. A moment later, she stepped out with open hands and called out, “Halt,” in highly accented English.
Connor halted and looked at the elf, who was NOT Silvana. Sam and Liza waited patiently beside him.
“You are trespassing in our lands.”
“You’re an Elf,” Connor stated.
“I am. Specifically, I am a wood elf. You are a human, though I can’t get any more information about your identity or skills. Your two friends thought, a level 69 Claw Mother and a level 63 Rogue. How? Earth shouldn’t have the ability for humans to level yet.”
Connor looked thoughtfully before he said, “True. May I ask you a question?”
“Please.”
“Are you with the Sect?” Connor asked.
“Which Sect? There are many.”
“Malicore.”
“Malicore!” the female elf said with shock as the other three elves shifted slightly in agitation. “How do you know that Sects name?”
“I’m willing to answer your questions if you’ll answer a few of mine. First, though, I’d like to introduce myself. I am Connor Nash, and these are my friends, Liza Henley and Sam Wagner.”
“I am Brielle of the Lightfoot Clan,” Please follow me to a place where we can speak more freely.”
“Of Course,” Connor agreed as Brielle turned and led them deeper into the forest while the other three elves stayed close and followed.