I took a deep breath, held it while I pondered my options, then let it out as I pivoted in my desired direction with the navigational assistance of my dependable staff. “North! To the Empire of… shoot. Guess I’ll have to find out its name when I get there.”

Maybe I’ll even learn why Craig is called, well, just Craig, too. Since he’s an old general and presumably someone important and with status… Or he used to be at any rate.

The Wise Old Friend bid me adieu with a gentle rustling of its grape scented flowers and shimmering gold leaves. All in all, supporting the barrier didn’t seem to be taking too much of a toll on the friendly foliage, so I left any lingering worries about the village’s safety behind, nestled in the trustworthy branches of the ancient arbor. In fact the tree seems to be completely fine. I was afraid that the Ascendant’s attack might’ve done some serious damage to it, or at least weakened it in some way, but it seems I’ve got nothing to worry about at all.

I enjoyed my hike through the shielded valley, listening to the ever present hymns of the beautiful birds while I took in the sun dappled sights of the now somewhat familiar forest. I never got tired of all the colors, earthy scents, or the air of peace that seemed to exude from the very earth around me. And the ever moving critters that scurried about in search of whatever it was their little hearts desired proved a truly charming touch.

Some were like rabbits with four eyes and ears, black as night, and as large as a hen. While others appeared as squirrels with floppy donkey ears and monkey’s prehensile tails, colored a rich green so as to blend into the leaves of the canopies above.

“To think somebody would go and pull all this out of my head. And to think that somebody was God. I mean… I might’ve changed everything out of boredom or to test the limits of my dream, but clearly I’m not all that creative or courageous since everything is about the same if you take the magic out of it all.”

And I think I’d actually die of embarrassment if anyone found out all this was mostly my doing.

I sighed, and put those thoughts behind me as I set into a hearty run. Half the day later, I reached the edge of the barrier. The tall copper mountains that encircled this place were just up ahead, but as before, I had no intention of crossing over them. Dang! I got here fast! From what Craig told me it should take about a day and a half to reach the valley’s edge at a walk, though let’s be honest, I’m tireless, and with Witness I can just move the plants and trees to clear a path. Some might call it a flagrant misuse of magic, but now I know one thing for sure.

“I travel faster underground. Which I’m going to have to do anyway, assuming that the woman in white left a trace behind like I assume she did… I do feel a bit silly for literally running from the village, but I’d just turn around if I didn’t.”

I grimaced, and took a moment to examine the boundary of the barrier that ran along the ground behind me. The triangle wasn’t invisible like the dome that appeared over and beyond it, and it glowed ever so faintly with an incandescent blue light that I’d learned was all but synonymous with order magic. My mana sense revealed a literal torrent of mana flowing through that simple mark though, and I knew from the effort of casting it that it was strong, and liable to grow stronger still as the Wise Old Friend supported it. I guess I subconsciously made order magic that particular hue of blue since it’s the closest to the ‘arcane magic’ of so many fantasies. Which makes it just another reminder that I have a lot of growing to do.

As I watched the mana swirl, I turned my attention outside the barrier’s boundary, and glanced about for any sign of the Ascendant’s magic that she might’ve left to monitor me.

“Strange. I don’t see anything. Is the barrier blocking it? Is there really nothing there? Or do I just need to focus?”

I narrowed my eyes at, well, the air I guess, and after a while of inspecting nothing in particular, I got a strange feeling, sorta like queasiness only in my brain, and then I felt Uriel buzz several times but I got no notifications.

My vision blurred, my head ached, and then the bloody system of all things spoke, spooking me so badly I fell onto my butt.

Focus: An ability that allows the user to singlemindedly hone in on a task, greatly increasing efficiency, effectiveness, and granting a relief of tedium in exchange for losing track of time and sorroundings. V!&(^3: An ability that ??? @!#%!# !@$!$ %^#%# !$!#$ !@#!$$%

“Whoa! Hey, hold up! What the heck is that second one? It’s not even legible? … I guess that’s better than a bunch of question marks, but still!”

Uriel buzzed several more times without telling me anything again, and then, after yet another, albeit more intense wave of nausea–that had me retching for a solid minute–the system spoke again.

Detection: An ability that allows the user to locate, track, or otherwise become alert to others and their actions. Hostility is detected passively, specific items can be located when desired, and any creature that draws within a certain radius will be noticed, unless concealed with an ability. Awareness: An ability that allows the user to keep track of multiple things or creatures simultaneously. Works with detection to create a field around the user within which only specially concealed things can escape notice, though this creates a great burden on the mind. Mental Map: An ability that creates a map of the user's coordiantes, while storing all the places the user has been. Can combine with Awareness and Detection to create a detailed map of the user's immediate surroundings.

A highly sought ability for space magic users. Expansive Mind: A passive ability that increases the general mental facaulties of the user, improving memory, deduction, learning speed, insight, spell casting, innovation, multitasking, and endurance. Extremely rare, also boosts all mind magic effects.

I frowned. That’s a lot of new stuff that came from a lot of new stuff. I mean, abilities derived from abilities I already have? Broken text on titles? And what was that awful feeling I had while it happened? What the heck is going on?

Uriel buzzed, thankfully only once this time, and a side window appeared.

Notice: Due to the derivation of abilities, the ??? and ??? abilities have had their levels reduced and received a level cap. Levels can be regained and the cap lifted if reintegration takes place.

I blinked.

“So… If I were to go out on a limb here… then the awful feeling was me suffering because the system was tearing apart my abilities in order to give me new ones? But why? If they’re derived from the one I already have, what's the point?”

Again Uriel informed me.

Notice: Abilities and Titles with part or all of their names hidden cannot be used by the host at will. Certain conditions will permit their activation, and traces of their presence can still be detected, but they are otherwise locked.

I flopped back onto the soft grass, and blew out a hefty sigh. “Go figure.”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

After a moment, I shook off my doldrums, hopped up to my feet like some sorta martial artist, and put my new powers to the test.

Focus narrowed my will to the singular purpose of finding the Ascendant’s spell, while Detection, Mana Sense, and Expansive Mind harmonized to give me the actual ability to see what was hiding in front of me.

And there is something there… But I still don’t understand it! It’s a freakin’ mess!

Determined, I activated Awareness, and started to piece together the disparate parts of her spell, but there were too many, and they were too scattered for me to grasp them all even with the slew of abilities I’d already used.

That’s where Mental Map came in.

With it, I pinned down and marked the points in the map, which allowed me to literally picture what I was looking at. So instead of one big mess of scattered mana, I was actually able to paint the utterly massive magical ward in my mind as if it were written out on paper.

That said. I still didn’t have all the deets. I can’t see everything from here. I crossed my arms, and tapped my lower lip with a finger. Going around the edge of the whole valley would take forever, and I’m not too good at using ‘Far sight’... But what if I added in my new abilities? Would that compensate for my lack of experience with the spell?

Intrigued, I tapped Witness on the ground and many mighty roots sprouted beneath me and hoisted me into the sky. I activated the body magic spell that I was only barely familiar with, and as before my vision blurred along the edges. However, since I now had Focus helping me, I was able to grasp the spell’s function and zoom in on the distant parts of the barrier with greater clarity.

I couldn’t see everything as my ability with that spell was far from great, but I did glean enough to piece together that her ward would latch onto and mark anyone who passed outside the barrier, regardless of if they were above or below the ground.

I grumbled. “Which means she knows I can dig… Though I suppose Bunnyman told her after our first encounter so that makes sense I guess… Still sucks though.”

After a few more minutes, I was also able to deduce that her spell’s effective area wasn’t all that big, but was by no means small either, so if I could devise a way to shield myself, even for a little bit, I should be able to make it out safely.

And of course the answer to all my problems is obvious! ‘contain’!

Once more, just like the barrier I’d erected to protect this valley, I created one to keep her spell from detecting me. It was shockingly easy since I was so focused, and had gathered so much information about her spell. I suppose that expansive mind was to thank as well, but since I’d wasted enough time on this I lowered myself back to the ground, and noticed that it was getting dark, since the mountains were now blocking part of the sun.

“How long have I been fiddling around? I mean, goodness! A whole day, gone already!”

My new Detection ability also informed me that there was something large creeping up behind me. Since it was also on my Mental Map, I guess it’d been there for a while and I just didn’t notice because of Focus, but that doesn’t explain why it hasn’t moved yet. I mean, I was wide open!

Without another second of hesitation I dove into the ground and tunneled several feet down. Then I created a small cavity so I could turn around, and found the twilight lit silhouette of a familiar creature clawing at the entrance to my new burrow.

“Oh come on! Why the heck are you here?! Didn’t you learn your lesson the first time?”

But no. Apparently, the stupid Sekthalis did not, in fact, learn its lesson, because there it was, attempting to follow me, and to my shock, actually making progress with its wide bear-like paws and slender serpentine body.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, and muttered. “Did it follow me here to get payback? But why did it wait to pounce? Was it afraid of getting bonked again?” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m getting outta here!”

And with that I turned back around and tunneled my way away.

No sooner had I done that, a massive pressure bore down on me, or rather, onto the barrier I’d created to protect me from being detected. With my senses heightened I could practically feel her magic probing every inch of my defenses, trying to find any flaw or fault to exploit and worm closer to it’s target, me.

And let me tell you, my basic level spell was no match for her high tier one. Unlike the one over the valley I’d taken a whole day to construct with help, this one I’d literally just thrown together and I had to burn mana like there was no tomorrow to make up the difference. And let’s face it, there won’t be a tomorrow for me if I let her find me.

It got to the point that I was trying so hard that I almost stopped digging, but if I did that then I’d just be doing myself in, so I had to take the risk and effectively juggle my maintenance of different parts of my defenses, letting one area slip to protect another, then reversing my efforts at the last second to keep her trace at bay.

And just for comparison's sake, it was like trying to shore up a sand castle beset by a vindictive and eager tide.

Destroying Goldorath was easier for crying out loud!

But before my barrier could break, I finally, and do mean finally, made it out of the twenty foot wide area of effect of her spell. And I wasted no time slumping into a pile to rest.

Unsurprisingly, my mana recovered quickly, and my body actually wasn’t tired, it was just my mind, as I’d been over taxing it since around noon, and this last big push basically did me in.

At least I can let it rest now. Nothing like single mindedly digging a hole to calm the ol’ nerves and recover my senses.

And it was refreshing to burrow like this again. Nostalgic really. If one can feel nostalgia for something that happened only a handful of days ago that is.

I didn’t think about time, or distance, I had a whole mountain range to cover, and all the time I feasibly wanted to do it.

So I dug.

And dug and dug.

And dug some more.

I dug so much I eventually just popped straight out of the ground and wound up tumbling down a steep hill, in the dark, with nothing but the occasional bush or stone to give me some sense of where I was.

“Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.”

I came to a stop at the bottom of the slope. I sniffed, brushed myself off, and got up, using the light of the moon and my ability expanded senses to navigate the deep dark of night to find some solace beneath the canopy of a tree.

I set up a campfire using the twigs and rocks that were strewn about, along with any bits that were tangled in my clothes and cloak, then, carefully, ever so carefully, cast the ‘incinerate’ spell at about 0.001% of the actual mana needed.

Because God forbid I burn down the whole forest, let alone completely combust my little campsite, all in one go.

I felt the Double Standards ability activate alongside my Focus, Expansive Mind, and Mana Control abilities, and with great relief, I managed to create a shower of small flames that ignited my perfectly prepared fire pit.

With the threat of immolation out of the way, I reclined against the trunk of the tree, too lazy to get out my bedroll, so I made do by wrapping myself up tight with my cloak as a sort of makeshift blanket.

I gotta admit, today was more eventful than I’d expected. And now that I’m here I have to wonder about the topography? I mean, aren’t mountains supposed to be bare on one side and lush on the other? Because that totally isn’t the case here.

Unsurprisingly, Uriel buzzed.

Notice: Weather is heavily affected by the concentration and flow of mana so that they are and remain as the Creator envisioned. though this can be altered by the movements of mortals, I.E. There has never been a large scale war that wasn't drenched in rain.

“Huh. I guess that makes sense for a fantasy world.”

I shrugged off those thoughts, and listened to the various bugs chirp and whistle. I let the wind gently caress my cheek as it coursed casually though the grass and leaves, and stared up at the stars as they twinkled above.

Life. What a wonderful thing. Can’t believe I was so tired of it at one point. But then, adversity is the spice of life. I then looked out into the dark woods, in the direction that I felt a group of presences approaching. From their numbers, size, and movements I knew they were humanoid, and that only made me more intrigued. I wonder what they’re doing out here at this hour? Are they exotic hunters seeking some strange prey? Mages or alchemists in search of rare ingredients? Travelers lost to the wilds? Or perhaps Bandits? Because what journey would be complete without bandits? I smiled. Regardless of the who and why, it looks like they’ve seen my fire, so I’d best prepare for company.