What am I saying-, get yourself together, me!

It’s just a couple rats!

Oversized for sure, but a rat is a rat!

...Do we have any rat poison on hand?

Allan?

Twoey?

No…?

Well, then, there is only one thing left to do!

Burnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Holding out both my arms in the general direction of the humongous rats, two pillars of flame shot out. It hurt like a bastard, but it’s worth it.

“SQUEEEEEEEEEE”

I couldn’t see how Allan was taking this since he was behind me and all, but I’m sure he appreciates not having to stab rats.

“Good god…”

Yes, Allan, I know. Disgusting creatures.

After a couple seconds of burning everything I could, and couldn’t, see, I eventually let my flames dwindle out.

Before us was just a whole bunch of small piles of ash.

Nice.

- You have lost 13 mana due to continuous use of - Fire Lv.1 -. - Fire Lv.1 - has leveled up to Lv.2. You have gained 36 exp from defeating 16 Fat Rats. -

Also nice.

Hm.

Did they have orbs or not?...

I don’t really remember seeing any orbs on them…

Brr.

A chill came over me suddenly-, hey, don’t walk through me, Allan!

“‘Scuse me-, lord, you really burnt them to a crisp, didn’t you? I know I panicked too, but I’ve read that when entering a catacomb, you should try to kill any animals gently so you can eat them later, since you’ll often be there for a while.”

Ah, yes, I see.

I’ll remember that for next time.

Until then…

Why didn’t I gain any mana from killing these?

I gained a fair bit of exp, so, maybe…

Maybe the mana is stored in the orb?...

Good god-, of course it is! I’m stored in the orb!

Aaah, I’m stupid-, but this is quite valuable.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Alright.

Kill animals gently.

Like stabbing.

And burn the ones with orbs?

Sounds good!

Let’s go!

At the very end of the little cave, there was an opening, about as large as Allan.

Aka, a little to small for me.

But fret not!

If I so desire, I can simply phase through walls, like this!

Hnnng-,

- You have lost the ability of - Phase - due to compression. -

Ah, yes, I see.

It seems I shall have to hunch my back to get inside.

Very well!

But this isn’t the last you’ve heard of me, Dr. Magnus Madman!!

“Why are you shaking your fist at me, did I do something wrong?...”

Hm? Oh, no, sorry, that wasn’t for you-,

But come on, let’s continue!

The next room remained dark despite the both of us being inside.

Hey, Allan? How ‘bout you go grab one ‘o those handy torches from the room right on over?

Just kidding, I can literally put myself on fire.

My index-finger quickly lit up in a brilliant little blue flame, illuminating the very much empty room.

Empty?

Yes, yes, very empty.

- As you have set your finger on fire, you will now lose 1 mana per 2 seconds. You have 124/80(+80) mana left. -

The room was small and perfectly circular, like being in a very small dome, with no door in sight.

Very interesting.

Allan, what the fuck is going on?

“I-, I’m not sure, maybe we went the wrong way?”

This was the ONLY way, fella.

Well, let’s go back and see if there’s any other way we didn’t see-,

Wait.

Where did the door go?

Allan?...

What did you do?...

“What is it now-, oh. I-, I think I may have heard of this. It’s a type of room where you have to figure the trick out/learn a moral lesson before you can leave, and you have to do so quickly, since the air can run out at any second. But, then again, this isn’t much of an issue since you can just create air to keep us alive.”

Create air?

“...What, didn’t you understand?”

Nope. I know I can set myself on fire, but air?... That’s a bit far-fetched, isn’t it?

“...You can do that, right?”

I don’t think so?...

“Make air. Right?”

Nope.

“Good lord. Alright, uh… You can make fire, right? I see you can, so… Well, making air out of mana is surprisingly easy. Firstly, you really need to understand what you are and what you want to make, and then you need to-, what are you doing?”

Hm? Ah, yes, I’m making air. Atleast, I think I am… I haven’t taken a breath in a real long time, but I think I know how air is done.

- You have gained the ability - Air Lv.1 -. - Air Lv.1 - uses 1 mana per sec. -

There we go!

Easy peasy!

“What are you-,”

I shot the fresh air in his face.

Pssshhhhh.

“I-, you-, hm. You’re quite versatile, aren’t you? Well, we still need to get out, but…”

My mana is running out, like, really fast.

I’m just worried that the fire will eat up all the air…

“Oh, the fire? Don’t worry about that, magical fires only need mana as sustenance.”

Convenient!

Damn, you’re like a little walking encyklopedia!

“Well, I’m assuming you’re wondering why I’m so knowledgeable on this stuff, and that is, well… Grandma believed that once I “unlocked” my mana, I would go on exploring the world and stuff, and since she wanted her memory and everything she had learnt to live on, she taught me everything she knew. Well, not everything, but almost everything.”

Oho! Nice!

So, can all that good knowledge get us out of this situation?

“Well, I… I’m not sure. Could you shine a bit brighter so that I can see the walls more closely?”

Huh? Oh, sure.

This is going to cost even more mana/sec I can tell…

My entire hand was quickly consumed by flames, making the whole room brighten up so much that once could see every little detail.

Hm.

The walls of the room were covered in strange symbols, going from the horizon to the very roof. The colour of these was a dusty, bleak beige, and the symbols, having the same colours themselves and only barely protruding from the walls, were near invisible.

“Aha!”

What’s it now, dear?

“Look! Here, at the very bottom, it just cuts off!”

Cuts off?

“Yeah, I think we may just be standing in one half of a larger sphere, and this is where it cuts off!

I see…

“These symbols must be Fanfandera… I can’t read it, but, could you come a bit closer? I think there may be some Yan mixed in there, and that I can actually read. Not fluently, but…”

Right right, I’m coming.

As I stepped closer, my hand stretched out towards the wall, some of the smaller, much more elegant and smooth than the others, started shining brightly.

Oh!

“Oh!! Look, I think I can read what it says! Let’s see, huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh… Something about light? I’m not sure, I kind of sucked at Yan since I didn’t think I would ever need it… But try shining a bit brighter, will you? And maybe like, if you do it in the middle of the room, I can see the rest too?”

Right, sure.

I’m just not going to tell him that it hurts like a motherfucker, even if he asks-,

Alright, here we go.

Middle of the cave.

Everything’s shining brightly.

But I’m sure it can shine more!

What little mana is around Allan will protect him, so…

Here we go-,

The flames enveloping my hand quickly spread to the rest of my body, and the second I was entirely lit, I could see the whole room light up in a brilliant flash of red, and I could only just see-,

- You are now losing 100 mana/second due to overexerting the - Fire Lv.2 - skill. -

Oh shi-,

I think I might have exploded just before I passed out.