Lee walked out of his home a few hours later. He had only slept for a measly two extra hours and decided that it was all he was ever going to get. He wasn’t going to try, sleep fifteen more minutes, wake, then try again. He’d done that too many times in his life, and he knew his sleep patterns all too well.

As he strolled down the small tunnel, which held most of the homes of all the residents of Neldam, and thought about what supplies he needed for his expedition to head toward the Kingdom of Thexis.

While Neia and Ruven seemed to be used to living in the wilderness, Lee was not. On Earth, he went camping very, very rarely. Camping was fun for the most part on Earth. He had gone with his parents when he was younger and once with some friends in high school, but camping on Earth was very different than some wilderness survival.

On Earth, you had comfortable tents and insulated sleeping bags, you didn't have to hunt for food, and you had all the tools needed to make it comfortable. A lighter would probably be revolutionary in Pallesia. He had seen Neia create and start fires using her fire magic and didn’t ever recall seeing Ruven create any of the fires on their small trek through the Shadowgrove.

He was going to have to start his own fires with what Lee presumed was the classic flint and steel, something he had never attempted.

Food was going to be an easy fix. His Hidden Cache was much larger now, as he had leveled significantly from the monster siege.

To see how much larger his Hidden Cache truly was, Lee brought up its information.

Hidden Cache: The Hidden Cache ability allows the user to access a hidden pocket dimension or storage space where they can store items and equipment. Unable to be accessed by others.

Current Space - 21x21x21 Feet. Scales with Level.

That… was a lot of space.

Peering into the space within his mind, he could see a vague representation of what was inside. A small number of coins were within one corner of the cube, neatly stacked and with the small leather coin pouch Elder Sono had just given him. His sheaves of papers about the notes on his lecture were beside the coins, sitting in a delicately placed, if small, stack of papers.

There were some furs from his original escapades through the Shadowgrove, and he would probably keep those forever just as a reminder of his arrival. They were soft and quite comfortable, after all. He wouldn't mind using them together to make some sort of blanket or sleeping bag for his travels. But… maybe different furs. These ones had a bit of sentiment attached.

There wasn’t much else inside his cache, the Pearl of Permanence was there, as well as his Robe of the Genesis, but one thing caught his eye. There was a small wooden knot laid off to the side, an item that Lee had completely forgotten about.

He slowed in his walking and withdrew the wooden knot from his cache in interest, and then he used Identify.

Knot of Notoriety - Rare

This wooden knot indicates the notoriety of the wearer, highlighting what the bearer is known for. Others viewing this knot will have an instinctual knowledge of your significance. Be it for good or ill.

Attuned: Klob - Merciless.

Lee nearly dropped the small wooden knot as a wave of instinctual mercilessness oozed from the knot. For a moment, Lee had thought about the large Hob blasting through his frozen counterparts on the battlefield.

He didn’t know what attuned meant, but he could find out. He wasn’t sure if he would ever use this item, but he might be able to sell it for a nice amount of silver. However, he would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t interested in what the knot indicated he was notorious for. Well, it was probably for creating healing magic, if he had to guess.

Lee stored the Knot of Notoriety in his Hidden Cache as he found his favorite bakery. Wasting little to no time, he quickly entered, got in line behind another customer, and waited his turn. After a minute, he was next. He quickly ordered more strudles from the attendant, from strawberry to some berry he never heard of before. He ordered at least one of every type. Salivating from the thought of the delicious baked goods, he ordered some freshly baked bread as well.

Leaving the bakery with his goods stored, he realized he may have splurged a bit. Each item in the bakery was on the cheaper side, ranging from one or two coppers for some bread or five for a strudel. It was cheap indeed, but that was only the case if you didn’t buy one of each thing and several loaves of freshly baked bread.

He had spent a whole two silver inside…

Looking back into the bakery from over his shoulder, he could spot the beaming female elf showing an older co-worker the shiny silver coins while pointing toward Lee.

He probably had an addiction to these pastries… Oh well.

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Grabbing one of his coveted strawberry strudels, Lee began to eat. It was still warm from being freshly made, flakey, and sweet. His first bite caused the strawberry filling to ooze from the flakey crust, as a small amount of steamy air left the now open pocket.

He took his time eating his breakfast as he made his way through the ever-filled streets of Neldam.

While he was thinking of things to purchase for his trip, he worked his way toward the clinic. Hopefully, Anya would be there, as he had told her anybody could learn from his spellbook before he left.

It only took a few minutes of casually eating his breakfast before he eventually arrived at the clinic. As he strode towards the entrance, he spotted a familiar group entering just ahead of him.

Kaylith Springs and her daughter, Nymie.

They weren’t in a hurry and appeared to be physically fine. So Lee assumed it was some sort of checkup that they were here for.

Still, he was hesitant to enter if they were inside. While he didn’t know Kaylith that well, he most definitely knew Nymie. She was a child, and while Lee was neither bad nor great at dealing with children, this specific one ate his damn hamburger.

Nevertheless, Lee made his way inside. If he could fight on a battlefield and take down monsters, he could deal with a small elven child. She was pretty adorable if you didn’t count the food incident.

Making his way to Anya’s office, he spotted Anya as she was leaving it. Her back was turned as she was locking her office door as Lee approached.

“Do you ever sleep, Anya? I feel like I’m the only one in this city that ever does.”

Anya turned to him with an exasperated look.

“I wish I could sleep more. I’ve been getting a measly hour and a half a night. It isn’t doing much for me. I’m way too busy.”

Oh, how Lee wished he could sleep an hour and a half and still be alive after a week. He would be a zombie—Speaking of…

“Weird question, Anya. Are there perhaps undead monsters? Things like skeletons or zombies?”

She looked at him like a complete idiot as she responded.

“First of all. Do I look like I have a compendium of monsters? Secondly, yes, those exist.”

Sighing and turning to walk away, Lee spoke over his shoulder.

“Ah, well, it seems I am not wanted here at this moment. I shall let the others learn from MY spellbook if I happen to have any free time before I leave, which seems unlikely.”

A hand clamped down on Lee’s shoulder and rooted him into place as Anya’s face crested into his peripheral vision from over his shoulder. In an overly friendly, obviously fake voice, Anya spoke.

“Whatever do you mean, great Genesis of Healing? You are always welcome within these halls. In fact, I just so happen to have those very same individuals who would be honored to learn from YOUR! Spellbook.”

She really didn’t need to shout so close to his ear, Lee thought.

Rubbing his ear and turning to face Anya, Lee gave up the little game.

“Well, I wasn’t sure when you would be ready for me to come by, so I actually wasn’t expecting to have many people learn. Will I need to give them a small recap of my lesson? I feel like it would be wise.”

She shook her head and smirked.

“No, they were there during the lesson. Come, follow me.”

She started walking down past her office doors into an area of the clinic that Lee had never been to. He walked past a number of small rooms containing a small table and chairs; they seemed to be small check-up rooms if Lee had to guess.

They eventually arrived at a smaller meeting room, probably for some of the staff to have meetings. Inside, there were a few elves sitting at a long table. Some were in robes, a few in casual wear, and at the far end, a pair that must be deceiving his eyes. The pair at the end of the table was none other than Kaylith and Nymie Springs.

Nymie gave a ginormous smile and began pulling on her mother's sleeve while pointing at Lee. Kaylith smiled and tried to calm Nymie down but was failing that momentous task.

Lee nearly tripped over himself in surprise as he entered the room, much to Anya’s chagrin. She didn’t give Lee even a moment to gather himself before she started a small speech.

“Thank you all for coming. Lee has graciously offered anyone, and everyone, the use of his spellbook of healing magic. Since all of you have learned the advanced life element, you are all capable of benefiting. Lee, would you be so kind as to start? You can make your way down the table.”

Lee, barely having got ahold of his surprise, awkwardly shuffled forth and withdrew his spellbook, grasping it by its chain. He walked over to the first elf, who wore a robe similar to the consortium but much less detailed. Lee held the spellbook aloft with one hand and opened it with another, revealing the gilded pages within.

The elf, who was filled with an expression of disbelief, placed his hand upon the gilded pages of the spellbook in trepidation—causing the silvery aura of life mana to coat his palm and spread up his arm. He grimaced slightly, and after around ten seconds, the silvery life mana receded back into the spellbook. The elf shook his hand as if he had just poked something sharp and winced.

“Well, that wasn’t too pleasant.”

As soon as those words left his lips, he instantly and nervously spoke again.

“N.. Not that it wasn’t worth it! Thank you very much for this Sir Genesis.”

He began an awkward bow as Lee grabbed his shoulder and spoke.

“Let’s not do that, shall we? I just let you touch a book. Do not bow or… be embarrassing.”

A blushing Dark Elf was a sight to see, as their skin was grey. The bright and very noticeable spread of red was a sight to behold. The elf quickly sat back down in his chair with his hand on his head. Probably, inwardly praying that he would die on the spot.

The rest of the elves were still thankful but much more straightforward.

Eventually, he wound his way to the end of the table. To Kaylith and Nymie.

He smiled at Kaylith and held the book aloft by the chain once more as he waited for her to learn from the spellbook. After a few seconds, nothing was happening. Lee looked around the dangling spellbook to see Kaylith cringing a tad, and he felt a tug on his pants leg.

He looked down to see the starry-eyed Nymie trying to reach for the spellbook.

Lee’s jaw could have hit the floor.