The section of tunnel I was resting in had started to flood with water and I was awoken by the freezing cold liquid touching my legs. Looking up, I watched as the water leaked through small cracks in the wall that started flowing faster. Deciding it was a good idea to move, I got to my feet and trudged forwards. My health was at 342 which meant I had only rested for only a handful of minutes.

Walking away from the campstone meant walking away from the only light source, so I experimented with sparkle to guide my way forward. The spell gave off small sparks of light enough to see by. Somehow using the silly sparkle spell on bits of rock and wall in front of me cheered me up enough that I stopped dwelling on how vulnerable I felt.

Even though I managed to knock the elf to the ground that did not prevent him from almost killing me with his burning domain. Having access to a domain meant that he was above level 50, and from his words it sounded like he was quite a bit higher still.

Kel mentioned that they knew of my past from some seer. I don’t know why that would give them reason to spend so much energy on my capture. Seers in my eyes were just some old folks that would say something and expect everyone else to do the work. Guess that’s the same over here too.

At least I had a clue now. I needed to come up with a plan to deal with Zelphar. All my spells seemed ineffectual against his defence. The only thing that managed to get through his shield was a physical sword and statue. It’s possible that my summoned weapons just don’t have the durability to survive an impact against his barrier.

The water was now reaching up to my knees and I felt the need to increase my pace. The tunnel looked quite magical with my sparkle spell reflecting off the water’s surface, it reminded me of a time long ago. Walking through a hall filled with Christmas lights on the way to visit Santa, asking for the new handheld gaming device that came out a few months before.

Gaming was my life as a kid. I played on that device for so long that I still remember the 8bit music that would play constantly in my dreams. I smiled at the memory. I wondered what kid me would say if he could see me now. Probably ask why I was not wearing clothes. Unfortunately, there just was not enough time for pants right now. They would just get soaked anyway. The water had reached my waist.

The current of the water was becoming stronger, threating to pull my legs from under me. I continued down the mazer hole as the water pulled me along. After a while I started to hear a constant roaring behind me that increased in volume. The sound motivated me to push forward faster but I was not fast enough. A wall of water slammed into me from behind and I lost my footing completely. I read somewhere that it was better to relax your body when falling so I reasoned that held true here. I relaxed my body as much as possible until my leg slammed against something and pain shot through my body. I curled up, protecting my head, and held my breath as the water carried me through the mazer hole.

Every now and then I was able to break the surface of the water and gasp a lung full of air. Being stuck in a strong rush of water in a tunnel with no light was slightly terrifying so I cast sparkle at any and everything around me. The light from the sparking walls and rocks only gave an indication of just how quickly I was moving. Fast, scary fast. The light from my spell lasted for a split second before I was back in complete darkness. One flash of light showed a tight turn in front of me a second before bouncing against the stone wall, the impact made me gasp and I swallowed some of the rushing water. In the back of my mind, I noted that the water was some of the best I had tasted.

In front of me I could see a small light that was quickly growing in size as I approached at what felt like Mach speed. A moment later I was free falling. Looking behind me I saw that I was just blasted out of a waterfall and was falling into a canyon with high cliffs and a river running between them below. I had no control of my fall but fortunately I landed at the centre of the river. The water was deep enough to somewhat dull the impact of my fall, it still hurt but was better than landing on the rocks. Swimming to the edge of the river I pulled myself onto the bank and flopped on to my back. My health had reduced back under 200 from that little adventure ride.

The sky was pink with a few clouds that casted long shadows which must mean it was close to sunset. I lifted my hands up in front of me to look over. My skin was not too badly damaged just red like I had been out in the sun too long. The hair on my arms was gone, completely burned off. In a panic I reached for my face and ran my hands over my face and hair. I let out a sigh of relief to feel my beard and hair had not burned away. Every merchant or salesperson says that having a brand icon is important. To me my beard was my brand, a source of my confidence. After seeing myself in a mirror after shaving once I swore to never again let my chin feel the chill of the cold air.

Summoning another campstone to help with my regeneration I couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony of my situation. Magic, the one thing I have always wanted was now also my biggest weakness. I have no protection against Zelphar’s domain. I remember Miko mentioning she had some kind of heat resistance as part of her metal smithing. Maybe there was a skill I could acquire through drop or purchase that would increase my own resistance. I really don’t want to get into crafting.

My boots were ruined, the soles were melted, and the leather was burnt to a crisp. I was thankful that they had provided some protection to my feet during the battle. I’m sure that if I was wearing summoned boots they would have dissipated into motes of mana like all my other summoned clothes. All my summon spells felt too weak to contend with someone like Zelphar. With each increase in spell rank the quality and durability of my summoned items would also increase. That will be my current priority, to get good. Gooder than I am now. Better even. I summoned myself some clothes, including a new pair of boots, and went to check the surrounding area

+1 to Summon Armour Spell rank.

The ground next to the river had some long grass and small bushes growing. The land near the river was flat for a few metres before sloping upwards and connecting with the cliff face of the canyon. I estimated that the height of the canyon was at least 600 metres. The view from there would be impressive and would offer a good view of this floor, but that’s something to leave for later. There were no creatures in my surrounding area, apart from the fish in the river, so decided that here was as good as anywhere to set up camp.

I patted my side but couldn’t feel the familiar touch of my pouch and belt. I looked to confirm and sure enough the enchanted pouch that could hold up to 20 kilograms without weighing me down was missing from my side. The memory of ripping my burning pants off flashed through my mind. I let out a breath of frustration. It’s just not my day today. Likely the pouch was pushed out with me from the waterfall and could be somewhere nearby. It was too dark to search, and I still felt weak with my reduced stats from the death of my shadow. Searching for the pouch can be a done tomorrow morning when there was more light. I summoned a campstone and some clothes that I arranged into a makeshift bedroll. The small pile of clothing made for a decently comfortable bed.

As I lay there, I kept thinking about Zelphar. All I could do in my first encounter with him was run away. Running. I have been here for just a few days and I seem to be always running. They say trying new things can be fun, but I was sick of fleeing from people. With the help of my shadow and a random statue I was able to Injure the bloody elf. It shows that my current stats are much stronger than my class spells. A smile formed on my face. Zelphar, you father obsessed freak. You will be what I use to measure the growth of my magical abilities. I never thought that after defeating the guardian I would be fighting against other adventurers. It’s not something I want to do but Zelphar is someone that I really want to punch in the throat. However, I won’t use my impressive physical strength against him. This world is a new chance for me, a new build, a new me. It won’t be forged steel that breaks your shield next time but my own summoned weaponbolt. I fell asleep wondering about what spell rank was needed to do just that.

Name: Reigner

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Race: Human

level: 7

Class: Summoner

Health: 680/680 (Reduced from 1360)

HP Regen: 1.6/minute

Stamina: 1185/1185 (Reduced from 2370)

SP Regen: 82/minute

Mana: 370/370 (Reduced from 740)

MP Regen: 34.5/minute

Strength: 96

Constitution: 74

Dexterity: 89

Intelligence: 22

Wisdom: 20

Skills:

Appraise Item (9)

Axe One-handed (5)

Axe Two-handed (5)

Blunt One-handed (12)

Counter (22)

Dodge (15) +

Materialise Shadow (0)

Parry (10)

Polearms (5)

Shield (19)

Small Blades (5)

Spear (6)

Sword One-handed (29) +

Sword two-handed (5)

Unarmed (12)

Weapon Throwing (19) +

Spells:

Identify (8)

Mana Marble (2)

Sparkle (3) +

Summon Armour (1) +

Summon Bag (0) +

Summon Bandage (0) +

Summon Campfire (6)

Summon Drink (3)

Summon Food (3)

Summon Weapon (4)

Still had a few hours until my stats returned to full. Once they did, I could resummon my shadow. I had gained another level from killing the elves and decided to place the three stat points into wisdom. I thought it would be best to keep my wisdom and intelligence near to each other. My new spells turned out not to be summon creature like I wanted but instead were Summon Bag and Summon Bandages. Sighing inwardly at the injustice I focused on each of the spells.

Summon Bag

Rank: 0

Cost: 40MP

Effect: 25kg capacity (20base) / 0 weight reduction

Description:

Summon a bag that can store items. Weight reduction is determined by rank.

Summon Bandage

Rank: 0

Cost: 70MP

Effect: 75hp over 60seconds (60base)

Description:

Summon a bandage that will heal over time after it has been applied. Also acts as a normal bandage and can be used to stop bleeding. Apply to injury for best results.

Great. More utility spells. I felt like I have just been given a pair of socks for Christmas. I can see why summon bandages would be useful, especially if I did not already have summon campfire to help with healing. Summon bag felt like a small slap in the face though. Is this because I lost the pouch? Getting to my feet I cast each spell and looked over the items. The bandage was off white, in a roll, and fit in my hand comfortably. The bag was a tall leather rucksack with two straps on the back. It could hold more that my currently missing pouch but provided no reduced carry weight, for now.

Looking between the two items I placed the bandage into the bag. Feeling the bag become slightly heavier I let it drop to the ground. Frowning, I thought about my lost pouch and balled my hands into fists. That was a gift. Time to go searching.

My plan was to increase the spell rank of all my spells to match my level before continuing further up the tower. Before I had access to magic, I trained diligently to master my body each day. I learned early on that if I did not dedicate time to practice my movements after a level increase, I became an uncoordinated mess. The increase in stats, even minor, was enough to cause me to occasionally step slightly too far than intended or strike with a bit too much force. I did feel comfortable in my body, however I lacked the complete mastery I had less than a week ago. If a few stats can make such a big difference with my physical movements, it must be the same for magic. My shadow was right, I was going to have to dedicate time each day to practice both my physical and magical ability. I let out a sigh, my dream of sitting back and letting my magic do all the work for me was moving further and further away.

The cold spray of water from the fall felt refreshing as it splashed against my face and clothes. Looking around the bank of the river by the waterfall did not provide any sign of my pouch. I walked into the water to peer into the deeper parts but could not see anything that might resemble a pouch. Yelling out in frustration, I kicked at the water and sent a large sheet of water into the air with a few fish included. I watched the fish flail in the air until they dropped back into the river downstream. One of the fish leapt out of the water and spat some water towards me before swimming off. As I watched the fish, I noticed some cloth caught on a branch downstream.

Recognising the cloth as my ruined pants, I untangled from the branch and looked it over. Ruined burnt pants and belt were attached to each other but there was no sign of my pouch. Giving a sigh I took the now broken belt and tossed the soaked pants against a nearby rock. Maybe I could repair the belt or use it for something else. What did I lose exactly? Some bits of loot, coin, the welcome pack from the tower, and the chip Jace gave me… Well, hopefully whoever comes to track me down can hold onto the pouch for me. In the meantime, I had some spells to grind.

Spending the day casting all my spells was an enjoyable experience for me. Magic was still new for me and messing around with my spells just for the sake of it was exhilarating. Whenever I ran out of mana, I would practice my physical skills. After a while of just casting the spells I decided to make a fence around my bedroll with all the summoned weapons, campstones, marbles, amour, and bags. I used the bandages like rope and bound everything together. It was all going to vanish after 10 hours but to me it was entertaining.

By the end of the day I had made decent improvements to my spell and skill ranks, and had an impressive looking fence surrounding my not so impressive looking camp. Walking up to the fence, I placed my hands on the top rail made from summoned staves and gave the whole thing a little shake. I was impressed by how well the bandage held everything together and smiled at my handywork. Maybe there was a small spark of a crafter inside me after all.

There was one skill I had yet to use and there was good reason for it. For the first time in a while I had time to myself and could just enjoy the sound of nature around me, without other people nagging me for food or bothering me with mindless babble. No, I had not yet resummoned my shadow. I don’t know why but there was something about his personality that annoyed me to no end. You would think that if my shadow was a copy of myself, it would have been as charming and sophisticated as I was. Sadly, that was not the case… I could only hope that would improve with the skills rank.

Getting a whiff of myself I decided to rinse myself in the river as the last of the sun’s light vanished from the canyon.

My fence looked even more incredible at night since campstones made up part of the foundation and gave off warm light that reflected off the river and bounced off the rocks and wall.

Deciding to go with a spicy curry tonight I conjured a meal and an alcoholic drink mixed with cola to go with it. I sat down, leaned back against my makeshift seat made from a large rock, some staves, and lots of bandages, and let out a contented sigh.

“Smells good. Is there enough for two?” A melodic voice reached my ears, and I looked over to see Sera standing just outside my fence with a grin on her face. Dangling from her hand was my missing pouch.