I took a deep breath and cast Sphere of Light. I separated the sphere into three different spheres and spread two of them out. It wasn’t enough to illuminate the entire room, but it was enough to clear out a safe area. I kept the third sphere above my head. I gave what remained of the beast a kick. When it didn’t move, I went and placed my back against the wall. The last attack had taken a chunk of my health, but I would be fine. I closed my eyes until the adrenaline from the battle faded. Once I had control over myself, I focused on my notifications.

You have been awarded 400 experience for defeating level 8 Lesser Lamia

You have suffered the Acid Burned condition. Your agility is reduced by 10%

Thankfully, the condition was healed, but it meant I needed to find other healing methods. I couldn’t be sure that this potion would heal any and every issue. I might be in trouble if I ever face a disease or poison, and this potion doesn't work. I turned my focus to the next prompt before going down the rabbit hole.

You have leveled up! You have reached level 5! Hard work, dedication, and luck have guided your steps. Blood, sweat, and tears have forged your path. Grow and strive forward into the horizon. Through the completion of your trials and labors, you have taken another step into the future. Your hard work has earned you the following rewards.

Category Per level Unspent Points Attribute Points Because your Aetheric nature your per-level rewards have been modified. You have been awarded 7 Attribute Points to distribute however you like. 7 Skill Progression +25% Progress to any skill of your choice. 25%

I had a choice to make. I could continue with the current plan and put the skill progression into the Lumos magic. Lumos was leveling slower. Now that it had gone beyond level 10. The other option would be to boost Dual Casting. It was really close to level 10 and would no doubt reach it soon. The extra experience would be a substantial reward. I wafted back and forth before making my decision. I put the points into Lumos Magic. At the end of the day, Dual Casting would reach level 10 soon enough. The additional thousand experience points wouldn’t be bad, but it wouldn’t make a difference right now. The more serious question was what to do with the attribute points. Including Semere’s amulet another seven points to intelligence would bring me up to 300. It wouldn’t help me shore up any of my weaknesses. If I was going to be a leader, then boosting my Charisma would be important. Boosting my Endurance would improve my Stamina which was also good. Especially if I ever have to run away. After thinking about it for ten more minutes, I shook my head. It wasn’t going to do me any good to debate what could be important. Right now, I was in a temple of some kind underground. Unless I came across a bunch of people being Charismatic, wasn’t going to help me. I put the points into Endurance and promised myself to do Charisma soon. Charisma was always my second or third favorite stats in games. Once I confirmed my stats, I pulled up screen.

Name:Darterrius Solomon Maximillian Level:5,8% Age:26 Species:Altazian(Human) Alignment: Neutral(0/0) Languages: All Renown: Curiosity(1000) Characteristics Health:230 Magic:230Regen/min 12 Stamina:220Regen/min 10 Attributes Agility:10 Charisma:10 Endurance: 19 Intelligence:20 Luck:10 Perception: 10 Strength:10 Vitality:20 Wisdom:20 Skills

(Level,Experience,Affinity) Crafting Skills Cooking: 2,35%,92% Magic Skills Dual Casting: 9,85%,100% Lumos:11,71%,100% Pyro:4,80%,100% Martial Skills Riding: 1,80%,71 Tracking: 1,20%,70 Abilities Arcanum Infinitum:You always have 100% affinity with every magic. You are immune to the adverse effects of casting magic. You can teach any magic that you know.

Eidetic Memory:You have a have an enhanced memory.The effectiveness of this ability increases with the user's Intelligence attribute.

True Speak: The user can speak and understand any language. Emblems Emblem of the Suzerain

My stats were pretty rounding out pretty good. I should have asked the Shauriana what her stats looked like. She also didn’t tell me what level she was. Either way, it didn’t matter. I have to assume that I am weak. I have to assume that every monster I encounter could kill me because if I don’t, it will be that creature that does kill me. I waved the screen away and stood up. Now that the battle was over, the stench was making it hard to breathe. I cast Sphere of Light again, this time keeping it in its single sphere form and placing it above my head. The dull white light was a bit eerie and couldn’t help but feel like something was reaching out toward me from the shadows. The bones and carcasses of creatures decorated the chamber. I couldn’t tell how long the lesser lamia had been here, but assumed weeks at least. It took me a few minutes to find the doorway leading out of the makeshift nest.

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As soon as I exited the nest, the nasty air began to fade. I made a mental note to learn Air or Wind magic as soon as possible. Or get perfume I could carry around. I continued forward for another few minutes before I came across another staircase. I took a moment to recast my light spell. I headed downward first, but the staircase ended in a wall of rumble a few feet later. I considered using magic to cut through the dirt, but decided against it. I had no way of knowing what was on the other side, and there was a chance that the whole thing would fall down. Instead, I turned and made my way back up the stairs. Thankfully, this part of the staircase was still standing. I followed it upward until I entered the next chamber. This room was a small study. It had a stone bookcase on one wall, a window on another and a small pit I assumed was fires. Rock and stone blocked the window. The stone was the same color as the cave. There was a pair of a wooden door on the left side of the room. I made my way over to the stone book case. There weren’t any books on it, but there was a small torch holder next to it.

“I wonder,” I spoke aloud as a goofy grin spread across my face. I reached out and touched the torch holder. The stone was cold and dusty enough to coat my fingers. I rubbed along the handle and then over to where it met the wall. I was just about to give up when I found a slightly raised portion of the wall. I pressed against gently at first and then firmly. There was a soft click and then the book case shifted to the side. “I can’t believe that’s real. I should make one of these.” I pushed one of my lights into the newly revealed room. I had to duck in order to fit inside, and it was only large enough to stand inside. The room was empty except for a scroll sitting on a stand and a set of ceramic pots. I placed a finger on the brim of the pot and tipped it slightly. Inside was dried dirt and plant remnant. When no prompt came up, I turned my attention to the scroll. The paper was a charcoal grey color. I couldn’t tell if the paper was naturally that color or if it had faded with time. Either way, I decided to be as gentle as possible with it. I reached out with both hands and lifted it off of its stand. When I did, I received a notification.

You have found: Scroll of Twin Souls Activation Cost: 500mp

Details: This allows you to cast the spell Summon Twin Soul. This a one-time use item and will be destroyed upon casting.

Durability: 10/100

Item Quality: Superb

Item Rarity: Exotic

Requirements:

* Charisma 20

* Intelligence 20

Weight: 1.5lbs

It was a summoning spell? Or rather, it was a summoning scroll. I couldn’t help but get excited at the idea of getting my own familiar! Every mage in all of fantasy wanted a familiar. I couldn’t cast the spell yet, but that wasn’t too bad. I placed the scroll into the ring. I would need to look into meeting those requirements as soon as possible. I scanned the room one more time, but there was nothing else of note. I left the room, sealed it up and made myself to the wooden doors. It was time to continue exploring.

The doors creaked and groaned as they opened. I illuminated the hall and continued forward. The air was stale, for the lack of a better word. The hallway ended in another room. This was a bedroom. My eyes were drawn to the banner hanging on the far wall. It was obsidian black and emerald green with the image of a horned animal. It looked a bit like a stag if its horns were the size of spears and its head looked like an elephant’s. I spread my light throughout the room but kept one just in front of the flag. “Semere, was this your flag?” I knew he couldn’t answer the question, but saying it out loud felt more respectful. It felt wrong to move on without taking the flag. Assuming things worked the same here as it did on earth, this place was a forgotten ruin. I'm not sure if others discovered any other ruins, but if they didn't, these people's story would fade away.. The image of Semere and his knights riding to meet an impossible enemy filled my thoughts. I placed a hand on the flag and willed it into my ring. Assuming I lived long enough, I wanted to use it as the base for my banner. I chuckled and turned my attention to the rest of the room. “I would definitely not do black and green, though. That was a bad a choice my guy.”

The rest of the room was rather simple. People either slept on the stone or the bedding in the room had decayed over time. My guess was the former or my hope was. If not, I would be investing in research for mattresses ASAP. A waterbed would be a fun idea if not a practical one. I turned my attention to a chest at the foot of the bed. There was a small padlock on it, and I searched for a key but ultimately decided to use a ray of light and cut through the metal and a part of the chest. Inside, there were a few robes that had fallen apart. A couple of simple metal rings without enchantments and a necklace. The necklace was of higher quality than the rings. It was a band made of gold and a central ruby. The necklace was closer to a choker in size. I couldn’t be sure, but it was probably around a foot in size and had a broken band as if someone had ripped it off of the owner.

I placed the necklace into my ring and swept the room again. Unfortunately, there were no journals or letters or anything that would tell me who lived in this room. I couldn’t even be sure if they were a man or a woman. The necklace could belong to the owner or someone could have stolen. The lack of information caused my irritation to grow. I turned and made my way to the other door and left the room. I found a staircase that led me down and back into the room with the twenty-one statues. Only this time, I approached from a central balcony. Looking at them from up here, there was a clear division between the groups. There were three groups of seven. I assumed that all three groups had some central theme to them, but nothing made any sense. They didn’t look similar, some had horns,others had wings, others still had multiple arms and tails. I couldn’t piece together any meaning, but I committed the layout to memory. If possible, I would do some research and then return here. Once I was ready, I let the balcony and headed down amongst the statues. Finding my way back to the cave entrance didn’t take long. Part of me wanted to stay and try to find a path into the rest of the ruin, but that wouldn’t be for the best.

I entered the cave and made my way back to my salamander. I found him curled up in a corner. The sight was strangely cute. For an animal that could rip me apart if needed. I checked the entrance and saw the storm was still going strong. “Well, I guess I had better get some sleep.” I sat against the wall so I could keep an eye on both exits to the cave. Once I was sure that nothing had followed me out of the ruin, I closed my eyes. I was asleep within a few moments.

When I next awoke, the cave was completely dark. I illuminated the cave, earning a hiss of displeasure from my salamander. It was eating some creature, based on what remained of the creature’s body. It was some kind of bird. Only it was the size of a wolf with black feathers. I kind of felt bad for the poor bird, but that was the animal kingdom. I decided to leave the creature to its feast. I checked the entrance, and the desert was still. Outside of the scratch marks, there were no signs of the storm. The sand might have been a bit more turned up, but it was also black, so I couldn’t be sure. I gave Rex another few minutes to finish his meal before bringing him outside. The first thing we needed to do was hunt for food. Hopefully, I could get my cooking skill up a level but after that we would set off to my Place of power.

The hunt was quick and somewhat brutal. We came across a small group of creatures that were Komodo dragons. They had dark purple scales, no wings, and four limbs. Between being mounted and having ranged spells, killing all three of them was easy. Cooking them afterwards was anything but. I wasted half of the meat by turning it into inedible chunks that I gave to Rex. It wasn’t all bad, though. I managed to create three edible meals for myself. My hard work earned me a notification as well.

You have found: Lesser Drake Steak Details: Restores 5hp over 50s after eating.

Dish Quality: Average

Dish Rarity: Common

Congratulations! Your skill Cooking has leveled up. Cooking has reached level 3. The taste of all dishes you create are improved by 4%. Your success rate of creating a meal has improved by 4%

Altogether, the hunt was pretty successful. We gathered what remained of the corpses and left them for whatever scavengers existed in this place. I concentrated until I could feel the pull again, and then we set off. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but I assumed this world operated on the same twenty-four-hour clock as earth. It should be around early afternoon, which would give seven or eight hours of time for travel. I reached out for the sensation, drawing my to the seat of my power. It came to me almost effortlessly. I gently but firmly dug my heels into Rex and he took off. While he traveled, I decided to get some more practice with my magic. I used one hand to cast Sphere of Light repeatedly. The ball didn’t provide much actual lighting, but I figured waste not want not. The faster I could get my skill leveled up, the stronger I would be. We traveled for a couple of hours before we came across something strange. It was the largest tree I had ever seen. The tree was so big it could be mistaken for a skyscraper. Massive roots of the tree formed a complex labyrinth that vanished beneath the soil. The tree was ashen and looked like it was on the brink of death. Something beckoned me to go to it. The feeling wasn’t as strong as the one drawing me to my Place of Power but it was there all the same. I hesitated for only a moment before pulling Rex. So far, every stop has been a chance to improve myself or gain something valuable. There was no reason to pass up on something good now besides, didn’t big magic trees usually have some kind of sage or great teacher in them?