Level 6. Finally. I leveled up twice as soon as I set foot back down on Earth. I dumped all of the points into Magic again, and wince as my core burns. The rain had continued its intense assault on the earth, and thus covered the thirty minutes of work I put into moving all of the items I had brought out of Efra back to Earth. With these boxes, my completion for Looter II went up to 60/200. Another 140 items and I’ll have even better eyesight? Good.

Once everything was in and set in a sloppy pile on the ground, I pulled off my soaked hoodie and tossed it to the ground. My side ached still; I could still feel a little bit of a dip where the blade had gone in. Would 770 dollars be enough to buy the basics? No. I sigh and head to the bathroom. Luckily, there were a few spare painter’s clothes lying around that I could use to scrub the blood from my face. But my favorite hoodie, now, was forever ruined.

I put on my wet clothes, and take a seat down on the steps. The rain had picked up in intensity. It was only 3 in the morning, so there was still more than enough time before the stores would open. I should go out again, but before that, I should purchase a skill. In the Fire tree, there was a promising spell called, “Fire Bolt,” that seemed like I would be able to finally act as a true mage, if only a little bit. On the other hand, I could expand into other elements to really embrace the identity of an Elementalist that I wanted to become.

Why are you so dedicated to becoming a mage?

“It’s cool,” I answered.

That’s all?

“That’s all.”

You have great potential as a fighter.

“I think I’ll have great potential as a mage as well.”

I haven’t seen anything to support that.

“Look. If I wanted to, I could have just picked up a sword and started swinging it before all of this. What other chance would I be given to become a wizard? If my life’s genre is being changed into fantasy, why not embrace that?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

This isn’t a game. This isn’t some fantasy, this is happening right now, and the sooner you get that through your head, the less pain you’ll experience later.

“Yeah, yeah.” I stretched my back against the step as I lowered the Shard. “Fire Bolt.” I made my decision. Right now, getting things I can actually do damage with as a spell.

The incantation of the spell seared itself into my brain, and once the momentary discomfort faded

“Wait, that’s it?”

What do you mean?

I pushed myself up and scratched Clio’s head before picking up the shield leaning against the wall, one of the khopeshes, and heading back out in the rain. The rest of the doors seemed to be inside of my people’s homes, so I’ll ignore those for now and head to the street.

Where the complex connected to the street, there was a single door embedded into a street lamp. It was a level 3, and after casting Repel I pushed in without hesitation.

“The wall again, huh?”

Looks like.

I glanced down and to either side. I could see a stream of black smoke in the distance through the fog. I wonder if that’s the location of the altar that I had recently set on fire. I looked up and down the wall, and once more I stood in front of a tower.

“What’s the quest?”

Kill the enemy 0/1

I glanced around; perched on top of the tower in front of me was a figure. It turned to me, lifted a bow, and fired an arrow. It slammed against my Repel and I raised my shield to protect my face. Another arrow slammed into it, as I rushed for the door. I pushed open the door, and held my wand up toward the staircase, waiting for whatever it was to step down so I could ambush it.

Instead, I hear the rush of wind come from my right. I glanced, and standing on the wall where I had come from, was a creature with the wings of a monarch butterfly. It had a human-like body, save for its insectoid legs, and the chitin growing up its arms, and its large, bulbous eyes. Its torso was covered with a torn tunic colored black, with thin blue stripes. I brought up my shield, and an arrow slammed into it.

I keep my shield up as I point my wand out from behind it and I speak the incantation to Fire Bolt as quickly as possible.

“I allow the breath of the Salamanders to flow through me.”

A bolt of fire curled out and slammed into the oncoming arrow. The arrow turned to ash and fell to the ground in a heap of flame. It hurriedly nocked an arrow, and I incant quickly as well. Once my spell fired off, I backed away

“Seriously? One word difference is all it takes to make one spell into another?”

Yes?

The butterfly-like creature chased in after me and fired another arrow. As soon as I saw it, I ducked behind the curve on the staircase. The arrow smashed against the stone and pointed my wand over the top.

“I allow the breath of the Salamanders to flow through me.”

This time, the firebolt slammed against the creature. It hissed as the flame caught the torn tunic on fire. It howled in pain as the fire scorched its body, and leaped up to begin eating away at its orange and black wings. That...that was more effective than I thought.

The creature fell to the ground, and rolled around; screeching. Its wings were ash, and its body, beneath the tunic, was scorched. It was still alive, however. It pushed itself up off the ground: its arms shaking.

“Gnomes, servants of Gob the Magnanimous, I beseech thee to bombard my enemies.”

A loose stone brick ripped out of the staircase and slammed into the creature’s head. It collapsed once more, as its black blood began to pool on the ground.

“Is it dead?”

Yes.

Finally. Finally, I killed something with magic. I sat down on the step, after my short celebration.

It would have been quicker to stab it.