As it turned out, Nightmare Steak tastes terrible. Most predators did, due to their diet consisting of a whole bunch of other diets. I, unfortunately, didn't have much of a choice, so I ate the meat, staunchly ignoring the taste of melting car tires. I probably would've had some very interesting nightmares if I weren't so tired, but I did faintly feel the fluid sac in my head grow in size, almost doubling. I had too much to do the next morning, though, and promptly put it aside for when I wasn't at constant risk of becoming cat food. I start dragging the corpse of the Nightmare Cat with me, hoping the missing chunk from the previous night would render it light enough to bring with, but it was no use. The feline was simply too bulky to carry with me. I did bring the bones from the leg I was eating, hoping to use them for some sort of tool. Once I had all of my affairs in order, I walked over to the river, intent to follow it to either shelter or civilization, whichever I found first. I left a little pile of stones on the ground as a landmark in case I forgot something necessary for survival. Once I had double checked everything, I headed off. The first hour was rather uneventful, but provided me with a number of insights about the world. For one, most things seemed a lot bigger, from mangoes the size of my head to a scourge of mosquitos flying just under the canopy, with each being about the size of my hand. I shuddered, intent to avoid those at all costs.

The second hour, I decided to test the limits of my magic. Using magic appeared to use up the fluids, which I had decided to call Mana and Dark Mana respectively. Originally, I could only make about 3 orbs of magic with the Mana I had, but my capacity appeared to have gone up overnight, making me think I could pull off 6 this time. My Dark Mana sac remained at 3, most likely due to less usage. My theory was, Mana capacity increases when you sleep, once you use all of your Mana, similar to working out a muscle to make it stronger. In addition, Mana seems to refill overnight, though where it came from was still a mystery to me. If my theory was accurate, then it would be in my best interest to run down my Mana before going to sleep every night. I wanted to keep some in reserve, in case I was attacked, but I was willing to part with three orbs, or "points" of Mana for testing purposes. I would leave Dark Mana alone for now. I valued the ability to hide over the ability to throw a magical softball at my foes. Once I decided that, I cast my first orb. I wanted to give the spell a name, but if I gave it a bad one, I wouldn't be able to blame panic this time. I was also already thinking of it as "orb" so, orb it is. I was a little curious as to why I could make an orb at all, but my father taught me never to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I was just going to roll with it. I decided to test what I could do with the orb. It was magic, I refused to believe that an orb was all I could do with it. The first thing I tried was stretching it. I thought very hard about it bending, squishing, sharpening, expanding, anything I could think of, but I came up empty. Then I tried molding it with my hands, but it was very rigid, refusing to bend at all. I tried hand movements, magic words, even chanting, but nothing worked. Eventually I just practiced dispelling it, trying to deconstruct it through sheer will. After about 20 minutes, I got the hang of it, dispelling it with ease once I figured out the method.

When I conjured my next orb, I tried changing the shape I had in my mind before pushing out the Mana, aiming to create a square. "Keep it simple." I muttered to myself, thinking about the dimensions of the shape, the size of it, the sharpness of the edges and corners. I thought about how it would radiate a soft blue glow, and gently hover above my hand. When I released the Mana, my hand shone, the Mana seeming twice as efficient as any time before. As I watched, the cube materialized above my right hand, spinning slowly. I realized suddenly, the knowledge of how to make an orb came to me along with the Mana, but this is the first spell I made from the ground up, and it felt somehow more, like it was mine. I didn't really know what that meant, but I felt much more comfortable using this cube than I ever did using the orbs. I reached up and gripped the cube, trying to gauge if it was stronger, and cut my hand on the edges. "Ow, shit, I really have to stop bleeding so much. I'm forming bad habits. Wait, what if I just-" I used my last free point of Mana and formed a knife in my mind, similar to the ones I saw on my father's bodyguards. I took 20 minutes going over every inch of it, making sure it would was exactly how I wanted it. Then when releasing the Mana, I made a snap decision and tried to pour 2 points into the design instead of one. There was a much brighter light, dissipating to reveal a glimmering combat knife, which i grabbed ahold of.

I had a few things about this new object that I wanted to test. The first, and most pressing, was if this knife could stand up to multiple attacks. When I fired an orb last, it had vanished after impact. I was hoping that it being my own image, and using two points of mana instead of one would both help with that. In order to test, I turned and swung my knife at the nearest tree. I was half expecting the knife to snap in my hand, but it cleaved into the tree as if it was made of metal. " Oh, that's so cool, maybe I can get some actual boots." I started swinging at the same tree, trying to get a feel for the knife, but after a minute of practice the knife burst into motes of blue light. "Aw, that was gonna be so useful. Why would you do this to me specifically?" I questioned of my hands, receiving no answer. My next test, seeing how long the objects would last without damage, would have to wait until I found shelter. Seeing as I was down to just 2 points of Mana, I decided to pick up the pace a little.

During the third hour I found a cave that looked perfect, but as I got ready to cast an orb, I heard a loud roar from inside. "Nope. Nope nope nope. Absolutely not, have a good day sir, I hope I never see you again goodbye." I rambled, sprinting until I couldn't see the cave. Unfortunately, in my blind panic, I had ran straight through the tree line and had no idea where the river was. "Ugh. Guess I'll check around this area before trying to back track." I moaned, mapping out the area I could see. I had apparently stopped in the middle of a glade, something rather common in this forest, apparently. There was a ring of shrubbery lining the trees, making the area look suspiciously manmade if not for the total lack of anything artificial. I rummaged around in the bushes, hoping for any evidence that people I could talk to were on this planet. While I was making due just talking to myself, I was starting to feel a little lonely. Scratch that, a lot lonely, the closest thing to a conversation I'd had in the past three days was with a mountain lion powered by the souls of the innocent or something. After getting through most of the glade and finding nothing, I was ready to give up, but a glint of something shiny caught my eye. Immediately excited, I pounced on the metal, pulling it up to the sunlight where I could see it.

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It was a coin. A small, round, disk of metal about the size of a bottle cap. There was nothing printed on it, just a hole through the middle. The most useless thing I could've asked for, but I broke down crying looking at it. I had been staunchly refusing to address the idea, but until now, I'd had no proof other people were on this planet. For all I knew, the whole planet was just one big forest full of Nightmare Cats and mosquitos far bigger than they had any right to be. But now that I had this coin, I had proof that there was enough of a civilization to warrant currency, and I felt one of my biggest worries slough off of me. Once I had calmed down a little, I realized something. "If someone can drop a coin here, someone had to be here to drop the coin. That means there's probably a way to civilization from this glade!" I deduced, immediately leaping up and searching the trees ringing the glade for any signs of entry. after about 15 minutes of frenzied hunting, I noticed a little notch on one of the trees, right above where I found the coin, forming an arrow pointing right at me. Excited at the find, I followed where the arrow was pointing, put just seeing another arrow pointing the same direction. Then I realized, I had no idea which end of the arrows people would be at. I decided on a tried and true method. "Flip a coin! Wait, both sides are the same. Whatever, if I can't find something I'll just backtrack. We go the opposite of the arrows! Anarchy reigns!" My mind made up, I turned to my chosen path, only to hear a very loud buzzing coming from that path. I flooded my hand with Mana, preparing to launch an orb, before I caught sight of red eyes. Far too many red eyes. "Hmmmm, I think not." I said, doing an about face and following the arrows at a rapid clip.

I followed the path for about an hour before coming up on a ivy covered temple, with a staircase leading deep into the earth, farther and I could see. There were sconces along the walls, but all the torches were either missing or reduced to charcoal. Some slightly discoloured tiles immediately jumped out at me. "Soooo, this is one hundred percent a dungeon and one hundred percent filled with traps. I mean, beggars can't be choosers and all that, but this is quite possibly the most dangerous place for a nap I've seen yet. I'm not going beddy byes in this place until I can bench press a Nightmare Cat. On the other hand though, juicy loot. If I can get a sword for wandering around an obviously trapped temple, I'll take that any day of the week." I stepped into the temple - and immediately heard the door slam shut. "You know, you'd think I'd have seen this coming. Welp, when in Rome, try not to die." I said, taking a step towards the staircase before thinking better of it. I looked at my hands, prepped a Mana Orb, and noticed the glow flooding my hands once again. Then, I tried moving the Mana up my arm, noting that I obviously had much better control of the mana while inside of my body. I tried to split the Mana flow, dragging half to my feet, and half to my eyes, hoping for some kind of night vision. Unfortunately, I didn't get my wish, but my eyes did light up like headlights, which I kept in mind for the intimidation factor. "Note to self; figure out eye lasers." I said, before taking my shoes off. They were on their last legs as it was, and would only make it harder to see the Mana glow.

Once I was as prepared as I could be, I slowly headed down the stairs, dodging any tiles with mismatched colours, and noting some very alarming holes in the walls. After 20 minutes of painfully slow descent, I finally hit the bottom, seeing the tiles become almost identical in colour. Really wishing I had save more of my Mana, and noticing it decline at a slow, but steady trickle, I picked up the pace just a bit. At the end of the hall way were two doorways, one with a sword emblazoned above it, and the other with a spiral of magic. The paths seemed to reject all light, preventing me from seeing inside. "Well that's boring, what if I want to do both?" I asked, not expecting answer. Unfortunately, I received one as the floor fell away, and I collapsed in a heap, inexplicably unharmed. "Alright, lesson learned, don't sass the dungeon." I said once I was done screaming. I turned around, letting the light from my eyes bathe the room. At the far end, there was a door, marked with a both of the sigils from above combined. Seeing as there was no way back up, it seemed I was forced into this room. Taking a step forward, I immediately felt words flow into my brain.

For you Traveler, who refuses to conform to a single archetype, I have a unique trial. To succeed, you must fully embody the ideals of the spellsword. Power. Versatility. Balance. I bid you good luck, Traveler.

"What the FUCK. Why is there a voice in my head, and why is it calling me Traveler? And I have to do what to pass the trial? Embody the ideals of the spellsword? Do I have to go kill something? This is a very strong argument against sassing beings or locations of unknown power." I said, only panicking a little. I double checked to make sure I couldn't get back up, and then headed towards the door of the challenge.

"This had better be worth it." I intoned, not wanting to get tossed down another hole.