The following week flew by like a blur. I worked on the lightning rod part of the day and studied with Ann for the rest. With more people around I didn’t feel the need to put a door back on the tower anymore so removed that from the list. Lux and Lin explored the neighborhood, scouring the other mansions for useful items. My loot room was definitely filling up and they even found more books. By the end of the week, I had finally chipped enough stone away that Lux was able to rip the lightning rod off the tower, taking a huge weight off my shoulders.

We added the rod to the loot room since none of us knew what it was made of. Hauling the heavy piece of metal out of the city was probably unrealistic however. When the food supplies started getting low, we would return to the docks for more fishing. I finished the introductory book and could do some simple spells. In addition to the small flame, I could produce a small stream of drinkable water or ice cubes, and small stone pebbles. This world seemed to have the standard magical spells for each element I was used to in games consisting of fire, water, earth, and air. There was another category that encompassed healing, space, and any other magic that wasn’t one of the main four.

Ann thought my mana pool was larger than usual, especially for just starting out. The book indicated that the more you use your mana the bigger it will get. There wasn’t any side effects from using all your mana like I was expecting, you just couldn’t cast any more spells until your mana pool recharged. The book mentioned high mana areas that could recharge your mana faster which the city was apparently one. Ann told me it took twice as long to recharge her mana outside of the city.

Most people could do a few simple spells to help them in their everyday life, like the fire spell. That was where I was at right now. Next would come the more complex spells and I had already decided on my first real spell. I picked healing since it would be essential for my survival, especially if something happened to Ann. Since she already knew it, she could also help me out. Ann had spent the week learning the stone arrow spell she had found in one of the books. At first, she had wanted to learn the flashy fireball spell, the staple of most offensive mages. I talked her into stone arrow first since fireball might be a little too dangerous in the city or jungle. There was a lightning spell in one of the books Lin and Lux had found which she had her eye on as well.

During the week I had also started my language lessons with Ann. It was going better than I expected, maybe due to the changes to my mind or because I already knew old empire. There were some similarities between the two languages. I could already speak a few simple phrases and Lin seemed particularly pleased at my progress. There had been no more storms during the week, but I had still woken up to find Ann in my bed a couple times. I think Lin had started to suspect something but as usual I hadn’t woken up to notice so was totally innocent.

I wasn’t against a relationship with Ann but didn’t want to cause problems between the sisters and for sure wanted to avoid getting on Lux’s bad side. He rarely spoke but we had trained a few more times together where he showed me how to wield the spear and sword. He was as impressed as the girls with the magical sword and had helped test it out. When it was activated, it could cut through anything. It had sliced through one of the dead trees in the yard with no resistance. The wielder had to keep supplying it with mana which was a struggle for Lux and Lin who didn’t have much mana to begin with. Ann and I could use it longer but still had to take it easy or we would run out of mana in no time. If it had any other effects, we hadn’t found them yet.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Now that Lux and Lin had finished searching the wealthy district, they were antsy to continue exploring other parts of the city. Today was going to be the start of our group exploration. Our target was the high end shop area I had noticed while searching for Lin’s family. Specifically, we wanted to find another weapon/armor shop to finish outfitting everyone. I had showed them the other weapon shop which they were able to patch together some armor and equipment, but it wasn’t ideal. Several of the fancy shops had been boarded up so I was hopeful we would find something good.

We got an early start with Shadow in the lead. She had continued to sleep with Lin and had gotten up early like the rest of us for a change. I think Ann was jealous that Shadow wouldn’t sleep in her bed. All the family members spoiled Shadow rotten, even Lux. I had caught him more than once petting Shadow and giving her scraps of food when he didn’t think anyone was watching.

As usual, we used the small gate to get into the city proper and made our way toward the shopping district. Lin acted as a scout and carried a bow across her back and short sword along with some knives. Lux was more of a tank although we didn’t have a shield for him. The poor selection in the weapon shop were all too small for him and he opted to go without for now. Instead, he used the biggest sword we could find and stayed toward the front. It was a long, two handed sword that was plain but sharp.

I took up position in the back next to Ann, ready to protect her. She had a short sword as well but kept her hands free for now to cast spells. This would be the first true test of her stone arrow spell. It produced a sharp, narrow piece of rock which was about the size of my spear head that she could shoot off like a bullet. She was still getting used to aiming it, but it packed a punch and should easily be able to penetrate most monsters we would encounter.

Up ahead Lin waved for us to stop as she was peering around the corner of a brick wall. Shadow was with her and just sat down and started licking her paws so it must not be anything too dangerous. She motioned us to come up so we all cautiously approached, trying not to make any noise. We each took turns looking around the corner and could see one of the large boars trying to dig through the rubble along the street. Lin wanted to see if Ann could hit it with her spell.

It might make a decent meal if we could kill it without causing too much damage. We had been eating nothing but fish for a while so the thought of boar meat made my mouth water. Ann started chanting and soon the rock formed in front of her and then sped off toward the unsuspecting boar. Her aim was a little off and she only managed to hit one of its legs. The leg in question was blown off however and the boar fell down squealing in pain. The rest of us jumped out and charged the wounded beast.

It tried getting back up but was having trouble and we were able to reach it first. Lux and Lin were the first to arrive and it didn’t take them long to finish it off. Now came the problem of what to do with it. We had just started our exploration so didn’t want to haul the body all the way back to the mansion. It was decided to tie it up in one of the nearby buildings to let the blood drain out while we continued on our way. We picked one with an intact door and blocked it so hopefully nothing would bother it until we grabbed it on the way back.

We started seeing shops and split up to cover more ground. Ann and I went into one while Lux and Lin another. Both of them were missing doors and as expected there wasn’t much to see. The shop we went into seemed like it had been a clothing store but there was nothing usable besides some scissors and needles that Ann found in a drawer. Anything made out of cloth had not survived. Lux and Lin came out of a shop that looked like a general store without finding much either. From then on, we stuck to buildings that had been boarded up to save time. I was still hopeful that we would hit the jackpot.