Will experimented a lot after that, practicing his inscription on the page as well as in his body. The two were very different. While the basics were the same, the inscription taught by Old Morris was two dimensional, whereas what he practiced within his own spirit was three dimensional. It made Will realize one thing. The two dimensional runes they used were mere suggestions of the real things. When they were used in three dimensions, with the far more complex connective patterns he could use, they were several magnitudes more powerful.

Still, Will was hesitant to try these in combat until his skill leveled up. He could set an enchantment and leave it, but it seemed to Will that the greatest quality of Spirit Inscription was the fact that he could erase the enchantment and start over. With practice, he thought he could enact a strength enchantment while striking an enemy, and then switch to a hardening enchantment the next moment to resist a sword blow.

When they returned to the town, Will continued his studies. While he wanted to go adventuring, he felt that by mastering Spirit Inscription he would get far more powerful than straight leveling. He would have to level eventually however. Old Morris continuously reiterated that the strength of the enchantment was bound by the strength of the material. That was why he was so sad to lose the coat that Will had stolen. The wolf had been a particularly powerful specimen, which made Will glad it was injured when he found it.

It meant that while Will was low level, the ‘material’ he had to enchant could only endure so much without burning out. He had to gain levels to increase how much he could do with his self enchantments.

Will brought the idea of self enchantments up to Old Morris, but the man scoffed saying it couldn’t be done. The tattoos could only conduct so much magic before they burnt out. Will did not push the subject, choosing to work on his self enchantments alone.

Finally, after months of this and playing with his wolf, spring came around, and Will decided he had gotten enough from the old man. He had made a library within the compendium full of the runes and sigils that the old man had taught him. He made note that several books within his possession were books on enchanting which he would read later. None of them were beginner books, but he was no longer a beginner. Will said goodbye to Simon and the few people who had learned to not be insufferable, and headed south out of town with Koma by his side.

Koma was no longer a puppy. Rather he was still a puppy, and with a lot of growth still ahead, but he was also the size of a great dane, but with fur that was significantly fuller. Over the months they had worked together with the help of a couple of professional tamers that resided in the village. Will got a skill called Animal Companion, and had leveled it up to 13. It allowed a certain degree of nonvocal communication between him and Koma which made the training go a lot smoother. Koma listened to most of what he had to say, enough that Will felt comfortable bringing the wolf into civilized society. He wasn’t going to bite someone out of the blue.

Will hoped that when he got his Animal Companion skill up high enough he would be able to see a stat sheet for Koma in his interface. But for now, they walked down the path side by side. Will had been offered a horse, but every horse they met was spooked by Koma. Will would need a very well trained horse to be able to stand being by Koma. That said, Koma’s mother was the size of a draft horse, so maybe Koma would be able to carry Will when he grew up.

They traveled down the path for most of the day, and Will was in good spirits right up until he reached the next town.

“Sir, we don’t allow beasts into town. You will have to cage that creature or sleep outside the walls.” The man was wearing a conical metal helmet, a quilted cloth coat Will thought was called a gambeson, and was carrying a spear. It was a town guard. The town was barely big enough to have a guard, but here he was. Will glared at the guard, tapping his concept to make his eyes the same icy blue as Koma’s. Will let out a slight cold aura as well. He also felt at his Regal Bearing skill. It had been months since he had gotten it, but hadn’t seen any growth in it or even hardly any effect. He pulled at it, attempting to activate it. It was odd. He could feel what seemed like a thread coming from somewhere and dangling into his spirit. Will could pull on these threads to activate a skill, but this time Will connected the thread to the mana of the springtime star.

Will’s aura burst out from him with oppressive force. Suddenly, it seemed like the guard had hundreds of pounds of weight hanging from his shoulders. His legs quivered, and he stared at Will in fear as he finally fell to his knees. Will modulated the power going into the skill, and he could see relief on the guard’s face.

“This is no beast, master guard. This is my well trained companion, and I am sure that his presence will be of no problem. Will it?” Will loomed over the kneeling guard, Koma at his side, two pairs of icy blue eyes boring into the man.

“It will be no problem my lord, no problem at all.” The guard gulped. Will felt bad, slightly.

“I am glad to see we understand each other.” Will threw the man a small silver coin and walked away. In addition to the money he had gotten from killing the bandit leader, he had found a smattering of gold, silver, and copper in the desks he had looted from the repository room. He glanced back to see the guard staring at the silver coin in his hand. That small silver coin would be enough to feed a larger family for a month out here in the country. Of course, everything was cheaper here than it would be in the city, just like it was back on earth.

Will made his way to the town’s inn, which was really only a few rooms over the bar. He was lucky that there was that much in a town this small. He went to the bar, and paid for a meal and a room before setting up at a table in the corner where he could watch the room. Koma laid down under the table where people would be less afraid of him. The server approached timidly, and placed a bowl of stew in front of Will along with a small loaf of bread and a tankard of local ale. They added an extra empty plate at Will’s request which he filled with a hunk of bear meat and set on the floor for Koma.

Will finished his meal and went to bed.

The next couple of weeks went this way. Walk all day, intimidate the guard, eat a meal and sleep. The only major difference was that Will never gave out silver again. That was too expensive for rural Frostfell. He did meet a bard here and there and got the full story of Arken Silverwraith. The man was a real life storybook hero. Saved the kingdom, married the princess, became king. The story was actually rather harrowing when the bards got into the details, but overall it was a great story about a hero. Even here in Frostfell everyone liked the man.

Finally, after several weeks of travel, Will met his first god.

Will sat at a table in the corner with Koma lying beneath. In just a few more weeks he would no longer fit, as he was the size of a pony now. But for the moment he contented himself eating bear meat with Will eating the house specialty above him like they did every night. The rest of the inn’s common room was filled with raucous patrons of all kinds, though they were still mostly the local townfolk. For all the distance Will had traveled, the land did not seem to get more populated. He knew there was a large city another week's walk south, but there was surprisingly little otherwise.

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All that seemed to change when a large man burst through the inn’s door with a group of five people in tow. The man was armored, though lightly, wearing mostly quilted cloth armor with metal plates strapped on here and there. It was less than Will would have expected for someone his size, who could easily bear the weight of heavy plate armor. The man was bald, scarred, and wore a massive grin on his face. Like Simon said, Will knew the moment he looked at the man. The man seemed normal enough, at least for what Will expected from an adventurer, but he felt a distinct sense of, holiness, coming from the man. Like will should give obeisance. That immediately soured Will toward the man.

But he was not the only one. A slight person in enveloping robes gave off the same feeling. The other four in the group did not, and Will guessed they were normal individuals brought in to pad out the group.

“I am famished!” The large man yelled. “Good man and woman of this establishment, Please bring me three portions of today's fare.” He looked around and his eyes lit up when he saw Will’s table. He was not deterred by the growling wolf, and sat down across from Will. He immediately reached down to pet Koma, speaking in a cooing voice. Koma bit the man, grabbing his hand and shaking it back and forth with great gusto. The man was completely unfazed and kept on cooing at the wolf while he scratched Koma’s ears with his other hand. Will had stopped eating by this point and was just staring at the man before him. The man’s companions had all sat down at the table as well.

“Who are you?” Will asked. His voice was flat as he glared at the god before him. Will noticed that the other god had separated themselves slightly, with another member of their party in between the two. Will couldn’t make anything out about the individual with the robe and the hood, which completely obscured their form.

“I am Emerys! God of these northern climes!” He grinned at Will. “I protect these small towns here in the north of frostfell. It is a thankless job to be sure!” The adoring eyes of the villagers seemed to tell a different story. But nobody seemed to want to contradict him. Will thought for a moment before he spoke.

“Ahh, I see, so you must be the one who slew the monster north of Cirkun Village!” The man froze as he deflated. Cirkun Village had been where Will had stayed to learn enchanting. The monster had been the bear Will had slain and was now feeding to Koma.

“Ahh, no. Alas, that was another good samaritan.” He seemed to inflate again as he started into a story of a monster he had defeated. The man god thing was a complete blowhard, but at least he didn’t lie about killing the bear. Will would have, in his place, but this man seemed to have a reputation he was trying to protect.

Will disengaged from the conversation as he turned back to his meal. He started to eat quickly so he could get to bed when another voice pierced his reverie.

“You are no mere tamer, are you?” The voice was clear and feminine. It was a gorgeous voice which immediately got his attention.

“What makes you say that?” Will asked slowly. He turned to the cloaked individual. Her head was raised, allowing him to look in to see a masked face. Everything but her eyes were covered, but the slivers of skin he could see at the edges were horribly burned. Will flinched in surprise.

“You do not try to worship us, and you look at us with an air of confidence that few possess. Not even our companions will speak up against our will, though Emerys is quite friendly with all of them.” She lowered her head before removing her mask as the food was placed before her. Will only saw the edges of her face, but they were burned as well. “Are you planning on taking the trial?”

That caught Emerys’ attention. He looked at Will, squinting oddly.

“By the peak!” He shouted. “Level 13, but not approximated!” His voice lowered a huge amount, but it was still loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Do you have the system?” Will sighed at the question. He didn’t want his situation known, but this man obviously had a strong identification skill.

“Yes, I do.” Will said apprehensively.

“How do you turn off the luminous aura?” The man actually was whispering now, and he looked eager and a little bit desperate.

“I don’t know what you mean by luminous aura, but I don’t have it. I assume it is like any other aura though. Just reel it in.” The man slumped back in his chair.”

“You're not a high tier in disguise then?” He asked, returning to his previous volume.

“No, I am not.”

“How did you get the system?” The female god asked.

“Let's just say I found it laying around.”

“You don’t just find the system laying around.” Emerys said. “Come on, you got to tell me.” Emerys and the woman both leaned in to listen. Will leaned in, beckoning them both closer.

“The two of you have no idea what privacy is, do you?” The two sat back in their chairs with a start as Will glared at them.

Will started to get up from the table, but Emerys did so first. As soon as he stood, he was surrounded by women. They were all women from the village, from those barely of age to ones he had seen with their husbands and children. In fact Will thought he saw one of those husbands staring at Emerys hopefully. What the hell was going on here?

“Everybody!” Emerys shouted. He grinned wickedly at Will. “You are graced by not just two gods this day, but a third who came in in disguise! Please be sure to give him all the honors you give me!” And Will was swarmed by women just like Emerys.

The whole experience was both suffocating and oddly pleasant, as women of all kinds tried to seduce him all at once. He tried to object, but every objection was met with some explanation why it didn’t matter. He was sat down, and two women planted themselves on his lap. They fed him. He had already eaten and was mostly full, but it didn’t seem to matter to the women who seemed to be in competition with each other when he didn’t seem to respond to either woman, two more women took their place, until it seemed that every woman in the village had tried to feed him. He had taken to storing the food in his inventory as it was shoved in his mouth. He stood up, and the women pressed up against him, each vying for his attention. Koma, the traitor, was eating pieces of meat from the female god’s hand. Will could see wisps of mana around Koma’s head. He had been charmed. Will tried to send his panicked thoughts to Koma, but Koma sent back only lazy, tired thoughts in response.

Will was about to lash out with an empowered burst of his Regal Bearing, but two hands caught him and yanked him out of the group of women and into the hallway that led to the rooms. A young woman, likely barely of age, slammed the door behind him. Will collapsed onto a set of stairs that led to the upper rooms, breathing heavily.

“Thanks.” Will said, as the woman locked the door. She turned to Will and blushed, stepping away slightly. There wasn’t much room in the hallway, and Will had fallen with his legs splayed, his excitement easy to see. Will sat up, embarrassed now himself.

“I am sorry, I will go to my room. You have my thanks for saving me from those women.” Will turned to go, but felt a hand catch his sleeve.

“May I…” The woman paused for a moment. “May I accompany you to your room?” Will hadn’t noticed at first, too preoccupied by the situation he was just in. This woman was beautiful. Aside from the fact she was very well proportioned, her timid manner and blushing cheeks were quite alluring. Still this entire situation felt off to Will. All those women had been after this very thing, asking with whispers into his ear. Still this woman was beautiful, and there was something within Will that couldn’t say no.

“Umm, Sure.” Will said, and he led her across to his room where they stayed the night together.