The goblin foreman strode briskly through the main cavern and into a tunnel, and Rainer followed. The young arcanist still didn't quite trust that this was going so well, and kept on alert for any sign of danger. Nothing went this well. Except his first fight since he got here, against the goblin. And his second fight, when one of his armed arcane bolts killed a goblin while he was asleep. Or his third fight, when he killed 7 goblins in seconds in a surprise attack. Then finding a mage's work room full of notes and scrolls on fire magic, as well as furs and enchanted items, that had been good too. The ambush that killed said fire mage went well, as did the fight against the orc martial artist and his retainers. Finding Luna and 4 useful enchanted items after killing the fire mage was incredibly fortunate. Taking out the group of 5 orcs that had charged him just moments ago so easily also went better than could be expected. Sleep learning allowing him to rapidly increase his proficiency with arcane spells had been a life saver. Looking back on the last few days, everything had gone insanely well. Why? He wasn't sure.
A ridiculous thought passed through his mind. It was almost as if he were in the tutorial level of an RPG, where the threats were all low level and the entire thing was designed to teach and equip the player to face the real game. Though given the game-like mechanics of this world, maybe that wasn't such a crazy idea? Thinking again, it may not be such a fluke that his bluff worked. He had killed the goblin tribe's Chief Shaman, the Orc Martial Artist who apparently was in charge of the mine along with his 7 goblin retainers, and the 5 orc SWAT team that had just charged him. While hundreds of goblins remained, it was plausible that he'd killed their 14 most capable combatants. From the goblins' point of view, a negotiated solution to his presence had to look pretty good, especially when he asked for so little. Rainer mentally kicked himself for not asking for a few of the human slaves as servants. The thought that he could save all of them had never even crossed his mind. He felt pity for them, but there was no way he could solve all this world's problems. There was also a chance they'd be better off in the mine than following him around, given that he had no clue where to find food. Maybe when he was stronger and could ensure the safety of a large group of refugees he would return.
Soon the tunnel ahead was lit by day light. There were no forks in the tunnel between the main cavern of the mine and the exit. Unless there were secondary exits somewhere, it would not have been possible to sneak past hundreds of goblins to escape. It looked like Rainer's plan to bluff his way out had been not just the best plan, but the only one that realistically could have worked. As they came to the exit, the goblin turned to him.
"The nearest human city is Grimlar's Pass. That's also your nearest way back to the human lands south of the mountain range. Grimlar's Pass is 70 miles east of here. If that's all, I'm going back to work." The old miner was strangely nonchalant about the entire situation. He had pointed to what was apparently the east as he spoke, which was helpful as the sun was high in the sky. It would have been tough to tell east from west.
"Uh, thanks."
Rainer was fairly sure there was something he should say, or something he should ask, but whatever that was didn't come to mind. For the last 2 days he'd been almost obsessively focused on how to get out of this mine. Now that all he had to do was walk forward a few meters, his brain apparently refused to consider any thought other than getting outside as soon as he could. As he walked out of the tunnel and into softly falling snow and sunshine, he mostly felt relief. His breath frosted as the snow fell, but the clothing Luna had magically fabricated was surprisingly warm, and he felt only a slight chill. Almost on autopilot, Rainer walked east for several minutes. The mine exit was at the base of a mountain. The mountain range dominated the sky to both the east and the west, and stretched as far as he could see in either direction. A dense evergreen forest rose to the immediate north. The forest started abruptly about 20 meters from the mine exit, almost as if the trees had been intentionally planted.
Rainer was in pretty good shape, but had never hiked 70 miles before. As the relief of his escape from the mine gradually dissipated, his hunger grew. It gnawed at his gut with each step he took. His family was well off. He'd never wanted for any necessity of life, or known true danger. It had been less than 2 days since his last meal, but he was still more hungry than he had ever been. As a biology major, Rainer knew that he was not at medical risk due to calorie deprivation in the short term. Ghandi had survived a 3 week fast in his mid-seventies. A well hydrated 19 year old in good physical condition should not experience any long term problems from going even as long as a week without food. It complicated things that he had to hike a significant distance through snow, however. His best estimate was that the temperature was only slightly below freezing, but his body would still need to burn fuel to maintain core temperature. And, in what was in truth the more pressing issue for him, being this hungry sucked. Going much longer without food would be utter misery.
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Luna had somehow slept the entire time since she made him clothes out of magic and flew into the pocket she made for herself inside of his overcoat. Rainer thought that just might be the most impressive thing she'd done yet. Even with his purchased knowledge of fairy anatomy, he wasn't sure if it would be safe to wake her. She may well need rest to heal fully from such severe injuries, even if she seemed to be OK after he'd fed her his mana. He had a lot of questions for her, with those related to food rising rapidly in his rankings, but for now he decided to let her sleep.
His situation, all things considered, was not that bad. Even if dying within the next week remained soberingly realistic, he felt fairly sure he would survive at least that long. If somehow forced to bet one way or the other yesterday, he'd have had to bet against him living a full week. Now? He had warm clothes, a familiar who could heal and magically produce water, the means to defend himself against any normal predator or kill any prey he happened upon, and he could make fire. The only real threats to his survival were lack of food and the cold. It wasn't hard to keep warm while moving, but it could become an issue when he went to sleep. But he was next to a massive forest, and Arcane Blade should make cutting down trees a piece of cake. He could use the wood as fuel for fire and the smaller limbs full of needles to make a crude shelter. Magic fire should be able to ignite even green wood. At least, he hoped that was true.
Food was the biggest problem. He vaguely remembered that the inner bark of some pine trees was edible, but the bark of others was poisonous. He had no clue if the trees in this forest were safe. Ideally he would happen across an animal of some kind that he could kill and eat. His mana had fully regenerated. Back in the mine, he had made use of every opportunity he had to increase his magical abilities, and that had saved his life. It only made sense to push himself just as hard now. Not that he needed much prodding - what he wanted most in life was to learn more magic. One soft, runic chant later, a candle flame blossomed from his right index finger. His right glove was safely tucked between his arm and torso. Even if the glove was just a magical construct, there was no need to be careless. It was a great glove. Rainer watched the flame play as he walked, and infused just enough of his mana to keep the little fire alive. He didn't try to manipulate or grow the candle fire yet - just to get to know it.
What did his little fire want? What would make it happy? You want to grow, don't you, little flame?
Rainer focused not just his mind but his emotions on the flickering flame. He tied all 3 of his manipulation skills together as he willed arcane infused mana into the fire. As he did, he spoke. "Grow, my little fire. Grow!" Rainer put all of his will and emotion into the whispered words. The tiny flame flared brilliantly, and he was rewarded with a string of system messages.
[Spell Gained: Arcane Candle Fire Lvl 1/10]
[Skill Gained: Arcane Sound Infusion lvl 1/10]
[Title Gained: Arcane Elementalist]
[Experience Gained: 773%]
[Calculating Excess Experience]
[Arcanist has leveled up to lvl 6/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed.1 Attribute and skill point have been rewarded]
[Arcanist has leveled up to lvl 7/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed.1 Attribute and skill point have been rewarded]
[Arcanist has leveled up to lvl 8/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed.1 Attribute and skill point have been rewarded]
Rainer almost fell over out of shock. One small change to a level one spell gained him a title worth 3 levels of experience! Show Status!
[Primary Classes: Arcanist Lvl 8/25]
[Titles: Arcane Scholar, Fae Contractor, Arcane Elementalist]
[Exp: 13%]
[Sub-classes: None]
[Race: Human]
[Skills: Sleep Learning lvl 9/10, Appraisal lvl 2/10, Fae Anatomy lvl 4/10, Long Jumping lvl 1/10, Sprinting lvl 1/10, Speed Walking lvl 1/10, Dagger Master lvl 2/10, General Blade Mastery lvl 5/10, Weightless Blade Mastery lvl 2/10, Footwork lvl 6/10, Dodge lvl 6/10, Faaran Runic Language lvl 3/10, Fae Language lvl 1/10, Mana Manipulation lvl 2/10, Arcane Energy Manipulation lvl 4/10, Fire Manipulation lvl 1/10]
[Toggled On Skills: Pain Resistance lvl 1/10, Burn Resistance lvl 1/10, Fire Resistance lvl 1/10]
[Toggled Off Skills: None]
[Skill Points: 12]
[Talents: Excellent Arcane Affinity, Human Growth, Gift of the Fae(Luna)]
[Stamina: 10/12]
[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]
[Mana: 21/27]
[Mana Regen: .004 per second]
[Spellbook: Arcane]
[Tier One: Arcane Bolt lvl 10/10, Arcane Bolt Armament lvl 10/10, Arcane Candle Flame lvl 1/10]
[Tier Two: Arcane Blade lvl 8/15]
[Spellbook: Fire]
[Tier One: Candle Flame lvl 1/10]
[Constitution: 11]
[Affinity: 27]
[Vitality: 10]
[Endurance: 12]
[Strength: 11]
[Dexterity: 13]
[Intelligence: 28]
[Willpower: 18(+2)]
[Attribute points: 3].
He took a moment to inspect his new title.
[Arcane Elementalist: To mix the unleashed power of the Arcane with the elemental magics is to advance leagues above ordinary elemental magic. 5% Experience bonus. 5% Decreased Mana Cost of Arcane-Elemental Spells and Skills.]
Awesome! This is just awesome! I love this world!
A wave of euphoria moved Rainer's feet and carried him to the nearest pine tree. He formed an arcane blade and cut it down, careful to stand away from the direction the tree slanted. It fell with a mighty crash. Said crash woke up an irritated fairy, who quickly flew out of his pocket to begin her interrogation.