Well, so much for a carefree stroll. I only got about 40 good minutes of walking before I got a rather rude interruption.

Here I am, minding my own business, when two angry looking, mostly naked green dudes jumped out at me from the right. It freaked me out, thinking I was about to get robbed. Then I realized these are probably goblins, and will probably do more than just rob me.

I decided to bolt for it. Pun intended. They were only two feet from me when I finished charging the first mana bolt. I was genuinely surprised at how quickly I was able to react and get it going. I guess the enhanced memory works with magic too.

I got lucky and shot the closest goblin in the chest before it could reach me. Hopefully that’ll make taking the second one out a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, the second goblin reached me before I had time to start charging up another bolt. It scratched at the left side of my stomach and got a small slice of skin before I could kick it away. Hagrid, that stung like a bitch.

Thankfully enhanced body gave me a decent strength boost. The kick I gave shoved it back a good 6 feet, almost to the tree line. That gave me enough time to charge a mana bolt and shoot it straight through its head, almost center of the eyes.

After I made sure the second goblin was dead, I went back to the first one to check for signs of life. I decided not to risk it and shot another bolt through its left eye. I was getting pretty fast at activating the spell already. That last shot only took me about a second from deciding to fire it to it leaving my hand.

After that fight, I felt extremely light headed and had to sit down. I went back to the side of the road and found a good tree to sit under for a bit while I took a breather. I had to favor my left side while getting down. It still majorly stung and was bleeding more than it should. I should probably wait until regeneration does enough to close the wound. I didn’t want it to get infected and deal with a serious wound on my first day here.

I lost the mana regen speed multiplier when regeneration switched from mana to health after I got that scratch. My head is going to be cloudy for a bit until I can regenerate some. I pulled up my status screen to see how much health I lost and how much mana I had left.

User: Claff:

Health 105/120

Stamina 95/120

Mana 8/120

SKILLS

PASSIVE

Enhanced Body Lv 1 [10%]

Increased Mental Capacity Lv1 [45%]

Regeneration Lv1 [90%]

ACTIVE

Arcane Magic Lv2 [5%]

Barrier MagicLv1 [0%]

Game-like Storage Lv1 [30%]

“Oh! That’s why mana bolt got so much easier to cast. It leveled up! Wow, Hagrid wasn’t kidding when he said using the skill gets you exp. And I’m guessing the percentages are how far along in the skill I am? I probably got a first time bonus with the mana bolt too, given how quickly it shot up.” I contemplated on learning whatever new pattern I got with the skill increase, but decided against it. With how bad my head hurt at the moment, and remembering how badly the feeling was when learning the simple mana bolt skill, I didn't want to risk passing out.

Regeneration is also surprisingly close to leveling too. I guess it makes sense, since I've basically been regenerating some sort of pool since I got here. I wonder if arcane magic leveled so fast since it requires so much mana to cast a single spell? I estimated that each bolt cost probably 10 mana. I could probably shove more mana into the pattern to make it stronger too. That’s an experiment for another time though.

I should probably check out barrier magic soon too. That definitely would have helped with the fight. I probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt if I had a spell to block attacks. That was the whole reason for getting the skill anyways.

I sat there for almost an hour and a half before I got the courage to look at my stomach again. I could still see a bit of blood on my otherwise white shirt, but other than that, I could barely tell I was hurt at all. I pulled up my status again and saw that I was at full health and that my mana was starting to tick back up at a decent pace. I figured since my health hit max, that means that regen is on mana again. Thankfully Regeneration also hit level two, so the multiplier increased as well. I'm now recharging at about 30 mana per hour. That’ll make life so much easier.

My head wasn’t nearly as cloudy as it was earlier, so I decided to learn the first barrier spell. I concentrated on the skill name and got a familiar blinding headache. It continued to be extremely painful for a solid 15 seconds before it gradually got less and less intense. After a good minute of careful breathing, I looked at the notification that popped up.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Basic barrier pattern has been learned.

I wasn’t going to use it until I had more mana in my pool, but it was nice to have the annoying part out of the way. Since I was sitting on around 30 mana and back at full health, I figured it was time to hit the road again. I stood back up and that’s when I looked at the goblin corpses. At least, what should have been corpses.

Where the bodies were laying just 90 minutes ago was now two dirty looking linens and a single long claw. I assume this is the loot from the fight. I should've asked Hagrid how this was supposed to go, but I guess this answers my question of what happens to monster corpses after they die.

I picked up the claw but left the linens. I know exactly where those have been, and I had no interest in touching that. I called up my bag and put the claw in the second spot. I figured there was no reason to keep the grass in my storage, but I also didn’t want to waste the mana at the moment, so it's staying in there for now.

I kicked the two linens out of the way and started back heading east, this time a lot more cautious and aware of my surroundings. I refused to be ambushed again by what should be starter monsters. I'm so ready to get started on hunting the big guys, but I know I have to go through the low level stuff first. A proper game play doesn’t get rushed. I will not be the newbie who rushed through the trash mobs only to die in what could have been a relatively easy fight if done properly.

I should get to the city’s adventure guild and maybe form a group for now. I figure after a few quests and getting the hang on what exactly I can do, I should be able to solo, but until then, I need proper practice with the safety of a group. Speaking of practice, with the higher regeneration rate, I'll be able to practice my magic a lot more frequently now.

I walked for another 3 hours before I checked my status again. I still had 81 stamina, so I've got a decent pace set up for myself. However, I had a full mana pool, so it was time to figure out how to use the barrier magic. I concentrated on the skill name again and it brought the basic barrier spell pattern to the front of my mind. I was so glad that I only had to deal with the hammering sensation once before I could just look at the skill name and instantly recall all the spells I had available for that specific skill. It feels like a non tangible spell book, almost.

With the basic barrier pattern at the front of my mind, I pushed my mana to follow the shape and see what would happen. I’m glad I stopped walking for the first test, because the barrier formed right in front of me. There was barely an inch of room between it and myself. The odd part of this spell was that I could push more and more mana into it before I had to let it go. There didn't seem to be a cap on how much mana I could throw at it. I was confused until I remembered the skill description. The more mana I pumped into the barrier, the stronger it became. I only put the bare minimum into this one just to see what it felt like, so it probably wasn’t very strong.

I took a step back to get a better look at my creation. It looked to be about an inch taller than my 5’11” self. I did a lap around the barrier to see how the light reflected off of it. If I hadn’t known that it was there, I probably would have missed it entirely. This’ll be pretty interesting to use in fights. A quick status check shows that the weakest barrier only costs 5 mana, so I theoretically could surround an opponent in barriers and trap them. Oh this has so much potential to be fun.

While the barrier was still up, I fired a mana bolt to see how much damage it could take. It cracked a good bit, which made me think that the base form can only handle about 2 hits before it’s destroyed. I fired another just to confirm, and it was as I thought. When the bolt hit the barrier, a loud crackling sound could be heard as it shattered into tiny pieces and disappeared before it hit the dirt. It’s good to know the limits of my abilities out of combat so I don't get any surprises in an actual fight.

I still had 97 mana in my pool, 2 having regenerated while I was observing the barrier. I cast another barrier, aiming for a few feet in front of me. This time, I poured what felt like 10 mana points into the pattern and watched it form. I could already tell that this one was much stronger than the last. For starters, I could actually see some light reflecting off the thing. It had a strange blue tint to it, as if I were looking through a water wall. I took a couple steps forward and swung my fist at the wall. Surprisingly, my hand went right through it with no resistance. I submitted a moment before I saw that a notification had popped up in the top left corner of my eye.

Caster and party members can pass through barriers unless specifically ordered otherwise. Setting can be changed on already cast barriers through concentration and additional mana.

Well that explains it. That also makes it all the more awesome. I think in the next experiment, I'll try making my spells be able to pass through the barrier too. But that’s for next time. I still had 3 more castings of mana bolt before I saved the rest for another emergency. I throw those out at the barrier and decide to wait until I get enough mana to fully destroy the barrier and still have my safety cushion of 50 mana. It only took a few minutes of relaxing on the side of the road before I got that magical number 60 and wasted 10 more on another bolt. My magic proficiencies got a nice boost due to this little experiment.

At this point in my journey, the trees around the road have started to thin out a good bit. A few minutes later, farm lands started popping up. I got a curious few looks from some farmers tending their fields. I just smiled and waved.

It’s been 5 hours since I first came to this world and I haven't eaten a thing. I was tempted a few times to stop and ask to buy some food from someone, but I decided to have my first meal here in a proper tavern. At the rate I was going, I should reach the city in around an hour, with no distractions at least.

After about 40 more minutes of walking, I could see a city wall. Since I was so close and had about 70 mana in my pool, I shot 2 mana bolts, aiming for the ground beside the road. I didn't want to waste any regeneration time while in the city after all, and I don't plan on doing any self harm to give me that leeway when I can do magic instead.

As I got closer to the city gate, I could see more traffic approaching. I found it odd that I haven't met anyone on the road during my little stroll, but I attributed that to mere luck. The guards around the gate didn't give me any trouble when I passed through, but I did get a few odd looks, probably because I was talking to myself.

“So this is my first fantasy city. Pretty impressive, to be honest. There seems to be plenty of shops. Not that I care much for shopping. I'll head straight to an inn since it's starting to get dark now. I'll grab some food and a room for the night and see about signing up with a guild in the morning.”

Oh what an eventful day it has been. I look forward to many more.