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Today I decided it was time to use the stone to unlock my fire element.

With the help of my mysticism skill, I had found several places of power in the camp and was currently in one of them. I was slowly drawing the intricate formation that would aid me in unlocking my power. Beside me stood five warriors who would guard me and not let anyone disturb the ritual.

When I was ready, I stood in the center of the formation, which was in a large tent that George lent to me, and after making myself comfortable with my legs crossed, I slowly pulled out the stone and placed it in front of me.

I knew that the procedure was going to take a long time and I had prepared myself well. When it started, one of the soldiers closed the tent and during the following 14 hours, all sorts of strange sounds could be heard from there. The waves of mana attracted quite a few curious onlookers, but they were all turned back by the warriors who were guarding me.

However, many found out about the existence of such stones and George had to assure a lot of people that in time, when we start to find such stones, they will be available for purchase with contribution points to the government.

In the meantime, many changes were happening in my body. In addition to the awakening of the fire element, the stone also increased my affinity for it. It was an extremely heavy and ... fiery experience. The reason I do not tell you more about it is not out of false modesty, but rather because I didn't even want to remember my long hours of suffering filled with misery.

In the end, however, the result was there. Just minutes after finishing the process, guided by my intuition, I hurried to summon my bear. And indeed, when I summoned it, I was pleasantly surprised.

My bear's fur was red, its eyes glowed like rubies, and steam rose from its skin. After checking its memories through my link, I realized that it came from the volcanic islands of its planet, on another plane of existence. The new summon possessed an extremely high resistance to the fire element and its strength was significantly higher than normal.

The next thing I tried was to "ignite" the balls of unstable mana I was using as combat spells. I picked a suitable target and started to try out my new skills. Much to my delight, my spells had become twice as destructive, but their cost had also increased by 50%. However, I was very pleased with their efficacy, and wasted no time in sprinting towards the ruined zombie town.

Behind me I could hear the shouts of the warriors guarding my tent, but the euphoria that enveloped me was too overpowering.

"How shameful, he didn even say a thank you. Besides, who is supposed to pack his tent now? And what about these scribbles on the ground? What if they are dangerous?" The soldiers talked among themselves.

And they were right to worry. I was later going to apologize to them, and add a bonus to their payment: a generous serving from the first batches of alcohol and manna-rich roasted meat at my new restaurant.

As I ran, I could feel the fiery mana coursing through my veins. I felt a strong intoxication and laughing loudly, shooted spells at the zombies. When my mana ran out, I ran after my bear as it delivered terrifying blows on the zombies on the outskirts of the city.

Gradually my head began to clear and I became more cautious. I found a suitable spot and stopped to recover my mana and summon the rest of my creatures. Like the bear, they were also influenced by my new fire element.

Seeing that I opened the Book of Solomon and after finding the appropriate ritual, I resummoned my familiar. He had to pass through the portal of life and death and thus lost some of its powers, but that way he would also be able to benefit from my new element.

So, I slowly walked around the periphery of the city, getting pretty far away. Maybe an hour or so from the camp, I came across a group of nine orcs, which I spotted with the help of my ever vigilant familiar.

Their group was made up of ordinary orcs, with none of the large, heavily armed individuals, or shamans, among them. They were fighting with the weaker zombies on the periphery, and after a brief hesitation, I charged towards them and took them by surprise.

I approached with a loaded crossbow and after quickly finding a suitable position I immediately started shooting my bolts. I had chosen among my most toxic munitions, treated with the various venoms of the snakes from the swamp island.

At the same time, my bear appeared from around the corner and charged the orcs. It didn't make any fighting noises, nor did it stop to challenge them as most wild animals would. Instead, it just accelerated towards them and in a few short seconds, before they had time to react properly, it reached them and cut into their ranks.

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Before the orcs had time to regroup I managed to kill three orcs with my arrows and spells, and three more with my bear. However, the last orcs managed to inflict several deep wounds on my summon.

None of them were fatal, however, and despite the loss of blood, speed, and strength, my bear and I managed to finish off the surviving orcs. Once the battle was over, I had my bear sit down and I walked over and inspected its wounds.

I noticed that my bear's fur protected it from the weaker blows, but strong strikes with heavier weapons were not to be underestimated. Several blows had penetrated deep into my monster's body, and I had no way to heal those wounds.

In a prolonged battle against physically strong, armed opponents, my bear didn't stand a chance.

Only our good cooperation and surprising attack brought an easy victory against these weaker opponents. The orcs we had fought in the city center were much larger and stronger individuals.

Still, I was quite pleased with the results. My new skills gave me confidence and I approached and collected the orcs' weapons and valuables, then continued my hunt. I chose to head in the direction of our camp, but at the same time went further into the city.

And so, intoxicated by my power, I reached places I had never seen before. The zombies I faced were getting stronger and more numerous, and I lost my bear several times.

Twice I lost my encounters with zombies and my bear had to stay and sacrifice its life to allow me to escape.

The second such case made me sober up and I decided it was time to head to safer places and be considerably more careful.

So, gradually the day progressed and in the late afternoon I found a magic chest! It was guarded by a group of hard to beat zombies who inflicted multiple grievous wounds on my bear. I spared no arrows or spells however, and even my imp, whom I rarely used, showered them with fire spells. My little fairies did not stop flying perilously around them, strengthening my bear and distracting the zombies. At one point I even sent my magic rats to sacrifice their lives and help a little in the battle.

So, after a tough battle, I managed to win my second magic chest!

"It's a good thing I have so many potions to fortify my bear with, it may be expensive, but it's worth it. Without them I would never have won this battle," I thought to myself.

Without lingering, I hurried to open the chest and was pleasantly surprised. I found a large number of crossbow bolts made of a special, very strong material, that allowed the bolts to be used many times. Their tips were quite sharp, and after several tests on nearby zombie corpses, I was impressed by their penetrating power.

Shortly before dark, I headed for the camp, but on the way, my familiars found fresh orc tracks. "I think I have time to investigate. Or if their group is small, I might even attack them. It would be good to learn more about what the orcs are doing here."

With the help of my new fire element, my imp could more easily read the tracks on the ground. The fact that the orc tracks were different from the zombie tracks helped considerably, as they wore large and heavy boots made of animal skin.

Imps were forest predators, used to stalking game, and so, relying on the expertise of my familiars, I quickly managed to find the orcs.

Their group was smaller than the one I had fought with in the morning. "From our battle with the elite orcs and the zombie boss, I know I'm faster than most orcs. That's why I don't think there's much danger" I thought to myself and decided to attack them.

This time I used my new arrows and the fight was a bit easier, but still, my bear took some heavy wounds again and I had to resummon it.

After analyzing the battle, however, I noticed that the fire element made my bear significantly more durable. Furthermore, from my battles during the day, I had noticed that it could go into a sort of battle frenzy. This usually happened when it took more serious wounds. The bear would become more ferocious this way, and new strength would flow into its body. During this battle trance, it did not feel the damage to its body and was able to fight even after very severe wounds.

"Apparently, in this tower, it's better to look for various bosses and mysterious dungeons," I wisely concluded and continued on to the city, pondering my adventures.

Along the way I encountered several groups patrolling the area close to camp and had to explain why I wasn't hunting in the designated hunting area. I showed them the orc heads I had in my ring.

“This is Marquis Zlodar,” I heard someone speak quietly. “He must have been on some secret mission for the government.”

I smiled slightly and after a brief consideration pulled out five vouchers for my new restaurant.

"The service in the evening is heavier. Here, boys, treat yourselves at my expense."

The soldiers' eyes lit up and they hurried to thank me. After a short conversation, I continued on my way. Shortly before it was completely dark, I reached the camp and found out that the tent I had so recklessly abandoned that morning was still in place and was being guarded by one of the soldiers I abandoned that morning.

I walked over and hastened to apologize, as well as bribe them with healing potions, poison, and restaurant vouchers.

"I'm sorry I left without an explanation like that. However, the fire element in my body filled my head with steam and made me lose my brains for a moment. It took about an hour to clear my mind and then I was on the trail of a group of orcs. Thanks for the good work. Here take this stuff to the others and pass on my thanks."

The surprised soldier collected my gifts and thanked me nodding his head.

"It's a good thing I have wealth again that I can turn into political dividends," I thought to myself while checking the contents of my ring.

After the soldier and I stowed the tent, I neutralized the formation as described in the instruction scroll and one by one carefully disabled its magical nodes and then finally erased it.

When I finished, I decided to see George Bristol.