Zane woke up with a start, heart racing, and breathing quickly. The afternoon sun was peeking through the trees, and there was something heavy and still on his chest. He shoved it off and stood up, before he looked around and saw where he was. It looked like he was knocked out for a few hours, since it was about noon when he got here.

Zane took a deep breath and sighed. "Guess it wasn't a dream, what did I do?" Zane asked himself.

Zane glanced down at his hands, which were miraculously healed, but caked in blood which he assumed wasn't his own. He had torn the mouth off a wolf with his bare hands. Those same hands shook at the realization at what he had done. Looking back at the wolf he killed, there were the same sparks that danced above the first wolf's head on top of this one. Zane was about to walk over to the body, when the notification window caught his eye, flashing repeatedly. He opened the box and was greeted with a fleet of notifications.

[You have successfully crafted a new skill using Krisis Bolt and Basic Krisis Control to make: Krisis Construct (Common), experience earned, title earned: Skill Artisan]

*[Class Mage has reached level 3, stats earned, +1 free point]

[You have defeated: Flower Wolf Gatherer - lvl 5. Experience earned]

*[Class Mage has reached level 4, stats earned, +1 free point]

Zane's melancholy was replaced with elation when he saw he advanced a whole 2 levels from that interaction. Wanting to see his progress, Zane opened his full status.

Name: Zane Winters

Race: [Human (F) – lvl 4]

Class: Mage (Inferior) (Level up -> +2 Mind, +1 Body, +2 Soul, +1 Free points)

Subclass: N/A

Stats

Mind: 14

Body: 11

Soul: 12

Free Points: 3

Titles:

Spectral Walker

Reckless Advancement

Skill Artisan

Nodding at his progress, Zane took a look at the new skill he had acquired:

[Krisis Construct (Uncommon)]

Conjure a sturdy construct made of Krisis near your person which dissipates if taken too far from you. (Cost: Varies on size of construct.)

Zane looked at the skill and the elation he had felt before doubled. This was the kind of magic that would take creativity to work, and he would do his best to absolutely break this new skill. Zane looked down at his hands and attempted to make the "gauntlets" he had used to kill the wolf, and it came so easy he wondered how he struggled to make them in the first place. Next, Zane took a running start and jumped, at the same moment, he attempted to make a construct right under his foot to allow him to step midair. The construct formed under his foot, and he promptly fell on his face. Zane stood up and brushed himself off, annoyed that his idea didn't work. He looked down at his foot, sparkling pinpricks of light still there, and attempted to manipulate the construct with his control skill. He felt the push against his foot, but his weight was far too much for his inferior control skill to hold him upright. In that moment, Zane realized that the construct was stable enough to hold his own body weight. Zane formed a construct in his hand and formed it into the shape of a pole. Zane took both ends of it and attempted to bend it without his control skill. Zane could feel the muscles in his body contracting as he exerted himself, he recognized that he was exhibiting far more strength in this moment than he ever could back on Earth. Even with his enhanced body stat, the construct did not budge. The possibilities for this skill were nearly endless, but Zane chucked the rod, which started dissipating when it hit about 5 yards away from him.

Zane laughed, "A weakness that minimal is an incredible payoff for this incredible skill." Zane said, beaming.

All of this experimentation nearly caused him to forget the potential best part of this whole thing: the loot. Zane jogged back over to the body of the wolf which was still glittering with beads of Krisis that didn't seem to give off any light on the surroundings. Zane reached out his hand and the beads coalesced into his hand, but this time into something much smaller. A ring seemingly made of bone sat in Zane's hand.

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[Flower Wolf Bone Ring (Common): Grants wearer a 1/Day use of the skill "Flower Wolf Toxin"]

[Flower Wolf Toxin (Common)]

Unleash a cloud of pink fumes, causing anyone who inhales the fumes to shortly fall asleep for 3 hours, or until damaged. (Range: Very Close) (Cost: None)

Zane popped the ring onto his finger, where despite its jagged design fit perfectly on his finger. The ring was a bone ring, made of some of the smaller bones from the wolf, capped with a small yellow and purple flower, the same of which covered his furs now. Now that he had time to breathe, Zane realized just how drained he was before the end of the fight. Where now he felt energetic and full, he had felt hollow and weak. He supposed that must've been his total Krisis pool running low. From that, he learned a couple things, that he could run out of Krisis, and that he was restored to full after just a few hours of sleeping. Zane's eyes drifted to the soon to set sun, and he realized he really didn't want to be out here at nighttime. Zane glanced over at the jawless corpse of the wolf, shuddered, but had to consider using it for food. The idea almost immediately left his mind, since he had no confidence in starting a fire with the near indestructible trees. On top of that, Zane felt fine, not hungry, despite the fact that he had been here for an unknown amount of time. Zane sighed, determined to find what his quest was leading to before he starved.

Zane's trek towards his destination wasn't terribly smooth, running into and killing a few more younglings, and avoiding the level 5 wolves for the moment. Unfortunately, he had caught the attention of another level 5 wolf. Zane had been smarter with this fight this time, using his newly gained control over his bolts to use the max distance to his advantage, and kept the wolf from dodging his attacks by dragging them into the fleeing beast. Zane had nearly panicked when the wolf had gotten too close, so he decided to throw out a bolt, forcing the beast to lunge to the right, and at the same time, creating in his hands and throwing down a construct in front of the dodging wolf, where it promptly ran face first into a solid starry wall. The beast stumbled, clearly stunned by the full force impact from the construct. Zane nodded at the success of his experiment, and decided to perform another one. He held out his hand, and conjured another construct, a compact looking hunting knife, despite the fact that it was made of stars. Zane only hesitated a moment, before lunging at the fallen wolf, plunging the newly formed knife into the neck of the beast. The wolf's thrashing protests slowly died out, as it lay there, limp.

"I really need to stop doing this with my hands." Zane said, looking down at his shaking hands.

Zane hadn't really killed anything back home, so doing it now with real, living things makes his stomach twist. Zane knew he was doing what he had to do, but he still didn't like the feeling. He was really hoping he didn't have to kill any people while he was here. Zane shook his head, now wasn't the time to think about those things, and besides, he had a notification to read.

*[Class Mage has reached level 5, stats earned, +1 free point]

*Mage class skills available* (Any skill not chosen at this time can be picked at any future skill choice.)

Below this prompt followed three choices. Zane cleared his mind and looked at the skills.

[Krisis Weaponry (Common)]

Conjure a weapon made of pure Krisis that is of the same rarity of the rarity of this skill. You can conjure a number of weapons for every 10 Mind you have.

This skill seemed fairly promising, as Zane would be able to conjure multiple weapons for different forms of combat, and even give some to his allies if he gets enough Mind. That being said, he was already capable of creating weapons using his construct skill, and maybe that was even why he received the skill in the first place. That being said, he moved onto the next one.

[Wind Whisper (Common)]

Speak a message that is whispered faintly on the breeze and can only be heard by the intended recipient within a limited radius. (Cost: Very Low Krisis) (Range: Medium)

This skill seemed to be fairly useful in a stealthy way, like if you need to speak to someone without being overheard, or inform someone in a crowded room of confidential information. That being said, this wouldn't be particularly useful at the moment, and he could always come back to this skill in the future if he really wanted it, because there was no way he wasn't picking the next one.

[Krisis Bolt (Inferior)] upgrading to -> [Guiding Krisis Bolt (Uncommon)]

Conjure up beads of raw Krisis that will fly out and seek their target when instructed, causing medium magical explosions on their target. You have enhanced control over this bolt. (Cost: Low Krisis, Range: Medium)

Zane barely thought about picking the last skill, which immediately replaced his previous Krisis Bolt, and just making it better. Zane conjured up a bolt, and he could immediately feel the difference. The beads themselves felt more volatile, like their yield would be far bigger, corresponding with the damage increase the skill mentioned. His control over the beads was far greater too, as he had the beads zip around his body individually instead of as a mass. Each of the beads flew around him, looking like shooting stars across the night sky, leaving tails of light behind their body, whirring with a low, ethereal sound, sounding like if you threw a sheet of ice on a frozen lake. The beads condensed back down into a bolt in his hand with impressive speed. Zane mentally confirmed a target, a tree just at the edge of his range, and threw the beads way to the left of the tree. He let the bolt fly, until he directed the bolt to seek its target, where it immediately changed course, and slammed into the side of the tree. The ensuing explosion sounding off with a sharp crack that was far more pronounced, and unfortunately, loud. Zane winced, noting to leave the area before more Gatherers, or something bigger, came to investigate. Zane's eyes landed upon the tree, and the tree was covered in craters forming a perfectly circular pattern, about twice as deep as the last time he attacked a tree. He pumped a fist and could barely contain himself for what was coming in his near future. More than that, he was extremely curious to see what had pulled him through to void to this world. Zane resolved himself and decided to make his trek in earnest.