"So you'll be heading out today?" Isabella asks as I start strapping my gear on.

"That's the plan. I want to explore what's out there. But this morning I decided that I also wanted to figure out why our town was attacked." No need to explain about that being the next mission on my list. I actually have two missions now, apparently I picked up a side mission when I decided that I wanted to fix up the town.

"I have a homemade meal ready if you want to take it." She says holding up a nicely wrapped loaf of fruit bread. She's so kind.

I smile at her and take it, putting it in my bag. "Thank you very much. Will you be alright here on your own?" I ask with concern.

"I will be. There are others in the town now too and I'm not entirely defenseless." She says confidently but I still feel nervous leaving her. I nod though, wave goodbye, and head out the door.

The town is quiet today, I hear the others in the distance and it sounds like they are working on rebuilding. That's good. I start heading south, out of the town gate. There are no mission markers but that's okay, I just feel like exploring. It's a new world, a new life, and I feel elated. I'll have to stop by and see Isabella often, it's not like a video game in that aspect as I have gotten very much attached to her.

The path was well laid out and I occasionally stop to pick flowers or other interesting plants and stuff them in my bag. There might be potion making here and if there is then I plan to learn. If there isn't then I can always sell these to an herbalist. I feel content with that as I continue walking down the road, this world was beautiful, untouched by technological advancements. Although it was bound to have some drawbacks, I might be able to help advance this place, hopefully without the pollution.

The trees reached for the sky and the foliage was overgrown yet beautiful. It was so green here and I hear the trickle of a nearby creek. Birds chirped overhead and small woodland creatures were rustling the grass as they went about their lives. Up ahead I see a fallen carriage and I approach to investigate. The horse is dead and there is a burnt corpse nearby. Not good.

"Aha! Another!" I hear a creaky old woman's voice call out. She runs out of the nearby woods; hunched back, long silver hair, one eye permanently closed, and knobby knees; her one arm extended and she starts shooting a stream of fire at me. My eyes are wide in shock before I realize what's going on. I jump and roll out of the way, managing to only feel the intense heat of the flames before springing back to my feet and pulling out my mace.

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I run around to get behind her before she could turn to face me and swing with my weapon. I smack her in the back and blood starts gushing down, she screams out before turning and casting more fire spells at me. I dash out of the way again and swing, smacking her in the side before crouching to avoid more fire. She whips out a dagger though and manages to stab me in the thigh as I try to dodge again.

I hiss in pain but use the opportunity to grab her hand, keeping the dagger firmly in place, and swinging my mace one finally time into her head. It's a clumsy swing from the angle I was at but her health is low enough that it was the final blow to bring her down. I kick her dead body away from me and lean against a fallen tree, breathing heavily, I rest there with the dagger in my leg. What do I do? Think.

Finally I reach into my bag and pull out a medical kit I threw together before leaving. This wound needs stitches though and I'm not sure I can do that to myself. I sigh, I'll have to figure this out, I can't make it very far if I don't fix this. I make sure everything is ready and I remove the blade as gently as I can. I was making faces and noises of pain the entire time but managed to do it without passing out.

I quickly bring the needle and thread to the wound but hesitate as I realize what I'm about to attempt. I take a few quick breaths to get up my nerves before beginning to painfully sow the wound shut. This was so unsanitary. Now that I know for a fact magic exists here I am going to figure out how to learn some healing spells.

Once I finally am able to get my wound taken care of and bandaged to the best of my ability I have to sit there for a moment, tears staining my face and my vision dotted with large black spots. I felt warm and light headed, a fainting spell, the nausea started to creep up on me too. Hold it together, I got this, come on. I try giving myself a pep talk. It is hard though, my head is so fuzzy.

When my vision starts to clear up, I finally start feeling normal again. I take a drink from my water skin and crawl over to the witches corpse. She has to have at least something good on her. I am going to be so upset if she doesn't have anything on her. But I'm worried for nothing, she has a few gold on her, a mana potion, enchanted robes and circlet, and a magic spell book for Firebolt. Even though I'm still in pain I can't help but grin as I see all the stuff. The robes and circlet have similar enchantments, both having to do with magic. I stuff the robe into my bag, maybe there will be a way to disenchant it otherwise I'll sell it. I put on the circlet. No armor rating but it's enchanted to have my spells cost 25% less mana to cast.

I put the potion in my bag and then finally lift the book. I'm excited to learn this. It will be so cool if I can learn magic. I go to open the book and it disappears into thin air but a warm sensation fills me for a fleeting moment. I open my menu and a new tab appears under abilities. Now I can view the spells I have, Firebolt is added to the list.