“I can’t believe you stole that monster’s knife!” Zara grumped, glaring at a filthy Zelda. “It’s not even made of anything good. I know you have been wanting something bigger lately, but couldn’t you have gone for something sharper and less rusty?”

Zack swallowed some water and passed the bottle to Tessa. “I think she was desperate at this point. We’ve been here for what, a week and a half without seeing anyone or anything besides monsters wanting to kill us? She took what she could get, and she wasn’t the only one.”

George, who had already gone through the crystal’s strengthening process inside him, after Aisha was done with it, had also picked up some weapons of choice. With the help of Zara’s modification spell, a pair of deadly punching gloves had been shaped to his paws.

Aisha had it easier since she just picked up a random bow and decided she liked it. Not that she could hit anything with it in the beginning, but after a week of practice, she was getting better.

The main problem lay with where they were. The group had been following a stream of water they had found in the woods that first day. Yet despite seeing monsters and animals aplenty, they hadn’t seen any other intelligent beings.

There was another problem as well, though it had taken them a while to understand it. The amount of experience they were getting here was odd. It was almost as though it suddenly had no idea how much each kill was actually worth. Sometimes, they would get a lot, and other times, nothing.

It was infuriating, and more than a little disturbing.

So, while their physical levels weren’t progressing like they should have been. The same couldn’t be said for their spell and ability levels. Those depended more on use, not experience. Each of their spells and abilities had gained at least one level, while some, like their attack spells, had gotten two.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Zelda strutted forward with the giant, to her, knife in tow. Imagining all the things, she would be able to poke and stab more efficiently with the larger, if somewhat dull and rusty blade. She pushed past a few trees beside the stream and then broke into a run.

Zara’s breath hitched in surprise. “Hurry up, Zelda says she can see a clearing with buildings ahead!”

The group broke into a tired run, winding their way past the trees and coming to an abrupt stop once they reached the clearing. It was true that there were buildings ahead of them, but they all looked broken and had been left to the elements. Tufts of grass and trees could be seen poking through the cracked brickwork.

Whatever the place might have once been, it was abandoned now.

They sat there for a few minutes, feeling helpless and alone. When abruptly Zara stood up and pointed at the abandoned town.

“Come on, we’ve finally found signs of people… We can’t give up now! We just have to follow the roads out of this place once we find it and go to the next one. Surely, they can’t all be deserted!”

Zack came to his knees as the ground appeared to ripple out from the middle of the town and extended towards them. Everywhere the ripple touched vanished into particles of light and was replaced with verdant green grass.

In a second, before any of them could react, the ripple had eaten everything in sight, revealing a single dark building. There were easily dozens or more people surrounding it during the brief glance they got. Where the ripples ended, a wall grew from the ground and extended high into the air.

“Let’s look for the gate,” Tessa said, coming out of her shocked state first. “Whoever has the power to do something like this might be able to help us!”

The gate was easy enough to find and thankfully open when they ran through it a few minutes later.

They pushed their way through the gathered people and stopped in front of the building everyone was looking at. The closed-door opened a moment later, revealing a woman with purple streaks in her hair and a man with glowing golden eyes and silver runes on the back of one hand by her side.

The man opened his mouth to speak, and then stopped when he saw the bears and the three newcomers. “Well, this is unexpectedly interesting. The two of you have an affinity for spatial magic, and all three of you have already opened your wells.” He tilted his head and smiled at them. “I wonder who taught you three magic? No, I guess that doesn't matter. Welcome, otherworlders. My name is Charles, and this is my fiancé, Kira. What might your names be?”

End Book 2