《Avaria: A Pay To Win Adventure》


 Chapter One (Rewrite)

    Adam found himself in a hole. A regular hole in the ground, surrounding him with dirt. Well not exactly a regular hole, as it seemed too unnaturally round. The top of the pit he was in was at least twice his height of five foot ten and he could almost reach from side to side with his arms stretched out.


    Adam had come home after a long day of work to his small single bedroom apartment. After eating a quick dinner and grabbing a shower, he got into his favourite penguin pajamas and went to sleep as usual. During the night he suddenly awoke with a sense of falling. A feeling he had felt many times before as many have. Except this time the falling continued as he was prepared to go back to sleep, not having even opened his eyes. Slamming into the ground, a surge of pain went through his back, causing him to open his eyes, putting him in an alert state.


    In very dim lighting he saw a few people standing around him, looking down at him from a short distance away. As he felt the grass under his fingers, he began to quickly get up, only to have two people grab his arms from behind. Being pulled the rest of the way to his feet, Adam was really starting to get concerned at his situation.


    All the people around him were wearing cloaks with hoods hiding their faces. He could only assume he had been drugged and kidnapped. ¡°I won¡¯t tell you anything¡± he said reluctantly, assuming they wanted his knowledge as the head researcher for Black Sphere. Even though there should be no way they knew who he was. Only his two co-researchers, and a few others in the company knew his identity.


    With no response from anyone, a figure stepped directly in front of him, placing a hand on his head. Adam felt an odd sensation pulse through his head and down through his body. It didn¡¯t seem to have any effect on him other than a slight tingling as if a small current of electricity passed through him. Confused at not seeing anything in the person''s hand that could have done it, he didn''t know where it had come from.


    After a good few seconds the person spoke softly, with a deep voice making Adam assume it was a man. He clearly heard what was said but could not understand what language it was. He knew only one language, English, but had a good ear for recognizing many languages. The words spoken sounded like nothing he had heard before. The only thing he could make out was slight confusion in the words.


    The man turned around and began speaking with another cloaked figure. Adam took this moment to check out his surroundings. He saw he was in a small field with the silhouettes of trees around them. Though he couldn''t see much in the dim lighting nor what was behind him as the two figures still held him tightly. Around him were five people, including the two to either side of him. Adam realized he didn''t see any of the people holding any sources of light, yet there was clearly some source of light shining in a radius around them.


    Looking up he saw more stars than he had ever seen in his life. Adam was puzzled at his situation, and increasingly so at the light around them that appeared to have no source. To make matters worse, he didn''t recognize the stars at all. Since he was a kid he had studied the stars frequently and he could name many of the stars and constellations. Yet they were all gone, completely different and unfamiliar to his eyes. Shaking his head, he focused back on the situation around him.


    Adam¡¯s concern escalated to fear as he saw a dozen feet away were three more people. One was in the same hooded cloak as the rest holding the end of a chain in their hand. The chain led to the other two with collars around their necks. The first was a man who looked to be in his thirties, wearing what adam would describe as casual clothes, jeans and a black t-shirt forming tightly to his muscled torso. He was surprised the man had even ended up chained, as he was easily over six feet tall and clearly went to the gym, no doubt a bodybuilder with arms over twice his own. The second was a young woman in what Adam thought was a high school uniform. Both had tears in their eyes yet stood still as they waited.


    The man who had been conversing motioned behind adam with another unfamiliar phrase, which caused the two people holding him to begin dragging him away. Of course Adam wasn''t going to let them have their way. Panicking he began to try to escape their grip, putting all his strength into pulling away from them, only to have no effect on his two captures. Adam knew he wasn''t exactly strong but to have no effect whatsoever made him feel like a small child.


    After being dragged a short ways he was lifted off the ground and thrown into a hole, hitting the side and falling to the bottom. Absorbing the approximately eleven foot fall as best he could, he landed on his feet and continued down into a sitting position. The force he felt from the fall was more than he expected as pain reverberated through his legs. Though it hurt, it only lasted a couple of minutes and he knew there was no real damage. The pain helped him focus and calm down, intentionally breathing in long slow breaths. Alas, here he was sitting in a perfectly round hole in the ground.


    After a good half hour, Adam calmed down somewhat and was sure the group of people were gone. There were many things that happened Adam couldn''t explain and this bothered him greatly. Apart from the weird situation, what stayed on his mind was the unexplainable things that shouldn''t be possible.


    Two new events came to his attention, the first being a feeling of becoming slightly sluggish. After doing a few tests he was certain his arms and body required more strength to move, while jumping required noticeably more effort. He considered the stars and his only conclusion was that he was on a different planet which has stronger gravity. Though only by a small amount, maybe ten to twenty percent more if he had to guess.


    Ignoring the frustration at not knowing how he could have possibly went to sleep and woke up on another planet, Adam sat back down and focused on the second thing wanting his attention.


    Similar to when the man had sent a pulse of energy through his body, Adam could feel that same energy circulating through his body. He couldn''t tell exactly where, only that it was there. Focusing inward, he tried to follow the flow of energy. Within a few minutes he could sense that the energy was everywhere in his body at once, constantly moving. Once he sensed the energy was in his head as well, he realized he had a feeling that was demanding his attention. Focusing on the first one a screen appeared in front of him.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Sense I Unlocked


    AP + 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam stared at the blue box in front of him. It was easily visible in the dark yet didn''t seem to emit any light.


    ¡°And I thought things couldn''t get weirder.¡± He said staring at the window in front of him.


    Poking it, he found he could touch it. It was a weird sensation, as it didn''t register to his sense of touch but it responded to it. As he poked it, it moved away from him. Grabbing it he could move it around anywhere he wanted. It was similar to the virtual reality menus he had interacted with.


    Reading the text he couldn''t help but think of a video game. He had tried playing some video games but never took interest for very long, as he was always interested in strategy games, chess being one of his favorites. He always seemed to have one or more projects he was focused on, not giving him much time for games anyway.


    ¡°Mana Sense eh¡±


    Was that the energy he felt in his body. This was the first unexplainable thing that made him excited. If he could do magic, he would forgive whatever forces brought him here, almost. If he didn''t die in this hole first. Mana Sense seems straight forward, it gives him the ability to sense mana. AP though he wasn''t sure what that was. He tried tapping on AP to see if he could get more information and a new screen appeared.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Attribute Point</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Points used to Increase a physical or mental attribute by one</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    If this was like a game, would that mean he had attributes like strength and intelligence. Strength would be useful as he already felt weaker than normal, and the people that had thrown him in this hole obviously have much higher strength. He didn''t like being so powerless, so weak. Leaving his AP for another time he checked the next alert wanting his attention.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>HP - 3</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    HP he was pretty sure he knew, or at least that it was usually a players health points in games. Tapping on the HP confirmed this.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Health Points</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Represents the state of the body</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    He must have lost some health from being thrown in the hole. It¡¯s probably fair to assume that if a person''s HP hits zero, they die. Adam couldn''t help but feel he was in some kind of VR simulation, but it seemed way to real. Technology wasn''t anywhere this advanced yet to be a valid conclusion for what was happening to him. He decided to just play along for now until he could figure out more. Thus, he checked the last notification.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Sense II Unlocked


    AP + 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Another AP, did that mean he would get an AP for every skill he unlocked or increased. Did that mean he wouldn¡¯t get points from leveling up, assuming he even had a level. Maybe he didn''t. He decided to tap on Mana Sense this time to see what he could learn from it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Sense II</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Sense mana in and around the body.


    Range: 1 Meter


    Precision: 4%


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam had only tried to sense the energy, or mana, inside his body, not around it. Sure enough, trying to feel the mana he could sense it within a one meter radius around himself. It wasn''t anything specific, the same as inside his body, he could just tell that it was there, only much fainter. He found this skill interesting, but he wasn¡¯t exactly sure what the point of sensing mana was, or what he could do with it.


    This new world he was in continued to make no sense to him. If he couldn''t find a way back home, he would have to change that. Nothing he hated more than not understanding, well, anything.


    With a big yawn, Adam realized he was still in a pit and it was much darker than it was earlier. He couldn''t see anything but the stars above him. Knowing there wasn''t much he could do right now, he laid down to get as comfortable as possible. Sleep was the best thing he could do. He was worried he''d have a hard time falling asleep on the ground, or in it but Within minutes he was asleep for a second time in one night.


    Waking up after what Adam assumed to be at least a few hours, his back and muscles were stiff and sore. Feeling less tired he stood up and stretched. He noticed it was still moderately dark in his hole but he could see some light above him. The sky a dark blue with the occasional star still visible, a light breeze passing over the hole.


    Adam decided to see if he could find out what attributes he had and other information about himself. It didn¡¯t take long until he had a menu in front of him.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Name: Adam Ward</td>


    <td style="text-align: left">Level 0: Exp 0/100</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Age: 21


    </td>


    <td style="text-align: left">Weight: 195.5 lbs</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Height: 5¡¯ 10¡±</td>


    <td style="text-align: left">Race: Human (Earthling)</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Attributes</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Health: 100/100 [+]</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Stamina: 100/100 [+]</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana: 100/100 [+]</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Physical:</td>


    <td>Mental:</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Attribute Points: </td>


    <td>2</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Skills


    </td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Sense II: 0%</td>


    <td>Level Up: 400 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Absorption (Locked)</td>


    <td>Unlock: 100 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Manipulation (Locked)</td>


    <td>Unlock: 100 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Materialization (Locked)</td>


    <td>Unlock: 100 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Spells</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    So he did have a level, but was level zero. What ever happened to starting at level one. He noticed his weight was significantly higher. Last time he checked, he was about one hundred and seventy pounds. His age was also different, he was twenty seven, not twenty one. At least his height was correct.


    ¡°Why are so many things locked?¡± he questioned to himself.


    Did he have to level up to unlock more attributes, even though he unlocked mana sense without leveling. There was too much he didn''t know. He had two AP but didn''t see any gain from adding them to his health, stamina or mana right now so dismissed the menu.


    Adam began to dig his way out of the pit, hoping to pile dirt underneath him at the bottom of the hole while building a ramp up and out. He was able to dig but with much less effect than expected, as the dirt was hard and compacted significantly.


    Three hours of digging later along with many breaks to recover his new found stamina, he was able to climb out of the hole. His fingers numb with dirt nearly covering every part of him. Resting on his back for a few minutes, Adam saw the bright blue sky above him, a large yellow sun twice the size of the one he was used to on earth. This helped reinforce his idea that he was on a different planet. He still didn''t know how but he couldn''t deny the evidence.


    Paying attention to his stamina increasing for a while, he learned it recovered by four points every minute. Standing up with his stamina almost full, he looked around once again. The small field he was in was surrounded by trees, nothing special as far as he could tell, though he didn''t know much about trees. They were tall and had green leaves. In the distance he could see the occasional tree that was much taller and more unique even to him. They were thrice the height of the surrounding trees, while the branches curved up and outward in a one hundred eighty degree range. It appeared like the tree was trying to hug the trees it surrounded and shelter them from the skies.


    Noticing all the trampled grass where the events occurred last night, he walked over and continued to follow the obvious pathway into the forest. He did not want to find the people from last night but he did want to find civilization. Wilderness survival was not something he had bothered to learn, thinking he would never be in such a situation. Especially since the only places he ever went was his apartment, work and the occasional restaurant. Maybe even to visit his family sometimes but he never left the city and wasn''t one for traveling.


    Luckily the path that was traveled was very easy to follow. Unfortunately it was covered in sticks and rocks that poked at his bare feet as he walked. After half an hour of walking, Adam realized he didn''t see or hear any wildlife. No small creatures, birds, or insects. Even better, he hadn''t run into anything dangerous with all the noise he was making with every step breaking small branches and rustling leaves in the absolute quiet forest.


    Starting to get hungry and a little bored, Adam tried to see what else he could figure out besides his health, stamina and mana sense. He had four skills all categorized under mana. First was his mana sense at level two which he already knew gave him the ability to sense mana. The next three skills were locked and all he could see was their names. Absorption probably let him absorb the mana around him into his body while manipulation would let him control mana. You would have to be able to control mana to use it in a spell he thought seemed practical. Not that he had any spells. Materialization he wasn''t quite sure about, how would he materialize mana if it was already there. Unless his body could create mana, though he was doubtful. Even if there was a lot of new things he couldn''t explain, he still strongly believed in the laws of physics he knew, including not being able to create something from nothing.


    Adam continued walking down the path for another twenty minutes before he saw the trees clear and the path leading to a dirt road. A short distance to his left was a man and woman pulling a small cart behind them, heading away from him. A bit farther down the road was a large ten foot wooden wall with the road leading to a slightly larger wooden gateway.


    Looking down at his dirt covered pajamas, he was an unusual sight. He thought he might as well try to see what happens. So he began walking towards the gate. After ten minutes he caught up to the two people pulling the cart. Passing them he saw they noticed him and were giving him weird looks, whispering to each other. He wouldn''t be able to communicate with them anyway so he continued on, arriving at the gate a few minutes later. A guard stood to each side of the gate, until he got closer and both of them stood in front of the gate blocking his way. They both wore chainmail armor over their chest along with a partially rusted sword at their waist. Nothing more but simple clothing.


    The guard to Adam''s right said something to him, then both guards began to laugh. Adam just continued to stand their with a blank look on his face. After a few seconds the guards stopped laughing and the right one gave a heavy sigh, speaking again with a hand held out. He could enter with an entrance fee, Adam thought. That was better than simply getting turned away or worse. Not that he had any form of money or knew how much to give them even if he did.


    He heard the people with the cart coming up behind him, and stepped aside to let them pass. With a quick conversation, the woman reached into a pouch at her side and pulled out two small rectangles and passed them to the guard. Then the guards stepped aside to let them pass. As far as he could tell the two rectangular coins appeared to be copper, and the cost of entry was one copper per person.


    Nothing on him but his pajamas, he couldn''t even offer them something of value. He turned around and headed into the forest, with a shout heard behind him. Not being pursued he began working his way around the walls, hoping to find a way inside. After an hour of walking and finding nothing but a wooden wall that he knew he couldn''t climb, he gave up for now. The sun was getting high in the sky now and he was getting hungry and thirsty. Worst of all his feet were getting sore, with a couple small cuts he had received on sharp rocks.


    He began walking back the way he came while keeping hidden further in the trees. Fifteen minutes before he would arrive back to the gate he found one of the larger trees he wanted to call a hugging tree. It was even more unusual than he expected now that he was up close. The trunk of the tree wasn''t one giant cylindrical shape but curved around a large area in a crescent moon like shape, allowing Adam to enter inside. The trunk was still extremely thick, more so than most trees he had seen on earth. The area inside the tree was similar to the size of his apartment, except with circular walls.


    Adam knew he found his new temporary living quarters. He couldn''t get into the city right now, and didn''t want to sleep out in the open. He could block off the six foot entrance to the tree and setup something more comfortable to sleep on. With that decided he now only needed to figure out food and water.


    He headed out searching for what best to make a door and bed, while keeping an eye out for food and a source of water. The first thing he found was a large gathering of giant fern like plants. He touched the leaves and was surprised at how soft they felt. It was perfect for his bed. The problem was each leaf was twice his size, with a stem three centimeters thick. He tried breaking it off but found it very resilient. Bending the leaf over, he tried breaking it farther up where the stem was much thinner. Success happened only once he tried breaking it off half way up where it broke with great effort even though the stem was only half a centimeter thick. Adam couldn''t help but feel increasingly weak, even the plants were stronger here.


    Now knowing where he could break them, he spent the next hour breaking the giant leaves off and bringing them back to his tree. He set them up near the back of the space, lining them up one way then the other, alternating back and forth. He made his new bed to be a six by six foot square, and piled the leaves up as high as he needed to feel comfortable.


    With his bed made, Adam went out into the forest again. He was starting to get too hungry to focus on much else but food. After what felt like hours to Adam, though he knew it had barely been twenty minutes, he was getting frustrated at the complete lack of anything edible. Finally he found a bush with large red berries, or maybe fruit with them being larger than he could fit in his hand. Grabbing one with both hands, he pulled it free. With only a small hesitation over worrying if it was poisonous, he bit into it.


    It was extremely juicy but tasteless. not exactly gross, but definitely didn''t taste good either. After waiting a minute to see if there was any negative effects with no response, he continued eating. Eating three of them, he finally felt full and his thirst quenched. Each one had a plum sized pit in the center, which was perfectly round. He had tossed each away as he finished. The Bush was still full of the fruits, so he removed his shirt and created a bag of sorts to carry the fruit back with him. He managed to fit eight of them inside the shirt, then headed back.


    Once back, he placed the fruit on the ground near his bed and put his shirt back on, as he considered what to do about a door. Then he dismissed it. With the forest fairly dense there wasn''t much wind, nor was it cold. He hadn''t even seen or heard a single animal.


    Adam sat down on his bed of leaves and concentrated on his skills. He considered mana absorption first but didn''t see the point in trying to absorb mana when his mana was already full. So he thought about mana manipulation. He knew he had mana inside his body thanks to his new ability to sense it, but how would he manipulate it. Feeling the mana in his body, he simply tried to will it to move. Nothing happened.


    After two hours he was making little progress. How was he supposed to move the mana inside his body when it was clearly moving already. He had even tried manipulating the mana around his body with no success. Taking a deep breath Adam considered what other options he had to manipulate mana. He was pretty sure he had to be able to control the mana inside his body, otherwise why was it even there. Clearly that wasn''t working though. After the first hour he began to feel like he could get a hold on the mana for a fraction of a second, but since it was already in motion it just continued to move out of his grasp.


    With a new idea, and a little bit of hope he once again began to grasp at his mana, and the moment he felt the hold, he tried pulling on it as hard as he could. Except this time he tried pulling it outside his body. He smiled as a faint line of golden light came out of his chest, only to lose control in that instant. The mana disappeared from his sight in a small wisp of particles that floated down into the ground.


    Checking his mana, it had only dropped by one. With a few more attempts he was able to draw out a single mana from his body and maintain it. Though it took effort, he was able to keep it from disappearing and even move it around to his thoughts. After moving it around for a few seconds, a new notification appeared.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Manipulation I Unlocked


    AP + 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Mentally drained and his muscles stiff, Adam got up to stretch and eat another fruit. Peeking outside, the sun was getting closer to the horizon, shining directly through the trees, a few rays making it into his eyes. Flinching away he retreated back to his bed to lay down.


    Falling asleep proved difficult as it sometimes did, even if he was more than tired enough to fall asleep. He couldn''t help thinking about the new world he was in, and that there were people who could so casually throw him in a hole, presumably to die. He wanted to get back at them somehow but knew it was impossible. They were clearly much stronger than him and would make sure he was dead next time. After a few more hours of thinking, Adam finally drifted off to sleep with his skills on his mind.

 Chapter Two (Rewrite)

    Though it was still dark with the sun shining behind his tree, Adam had been up for a couple hours. After eating yet another of the bland fruit, he began trying to unlock one of his skills. Mana absorption he was sure would refill his mana when used, once it was no longer full anyway. He pulled and released a few mana from his body to lower the amount he had, then used mana sense to feel the mana around him. He first tried to mentally grab onto the mana floating around, drawing it to his body. He could feel his mental grasp on the mana succeed but no matter how hard he tried pulling the magical energy into his body, there was simply too much resistance.


    Eventually He realized he was trying to draw in all the mana around him rather than a small portion. Refocusing his mana sense, he could feel the mana all around his body. He tried to narrow it down by isolating the mana he focused on, to around his hand, then his index finger and finally to the tip of his finger. With a small tug, he felt the smallest sliver of energy enter the tip of his finger with a slight tingle. After about thirty seconds of repeatedly drawing in small amounts he felt his mana increase by one.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Absorption I Unlocked


    AP + 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam never felt the joy of leveling up a character, increasing skills and getting stronger as everyone around him seemed to. This was probably why he was never interested in those kinds of games. Now however there was something different about figuring out and unlocking skills when it was his skills. Not just some avatar on a monitor. There was a challenge to it and it was his accomplishment. After taking note of his new attribute point from unlocking mana absorption, he reviewed the new information from his two recently unlocked skills.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Manipulation I


    Shape and Manipulate mana drawn from one''s body


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Control: 1/100</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Absorption I


    Draw in excess mana to replenish the mana in one¡¯s body


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Maximum Rate: 0.05/second</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    To increase the skill level further, he figured he had to be able to absorb higher amounts of mana. Testing the absorption rate himself, he was able to absorb one point of mana in about thirty seconds, which was less than the max rate the skill allowed. Which he still thought was pretty good until he realized if he did have any spells that could rapidly consume all his mana, it would take him fifty minutes of repeatedly pulling tiny pieces of mana into him to replenish his full one hundred mana. Fudge that, he didn''t have that kind of patience.


    Now back to ninety nine mana, he continued to practice his manipulation of the golden energy. This was something he found much more stimulating akin to fidgeting. After an hour of adding one strand of mana at a time, Adam found it increasingly easier to control each mana individually. He now had twenty mana swirling around his hand as one, then scattering in different directions like fireworks going off only to reform into a sphere. Occasionally he would lose his hold on one of the golden strands, which would descend in a scattering of glowing dust into the ground.


    He wasn''t able to do anything about the lost mana, but he did discover that he could bring the mana still under his control back into his body with no resistance. He figured since it was already his mana, it could be absorbed much more quickly.


    Drawing his mana back into the palm of his hand, Adam took the last of his fruit and began eating as he walked towards the town gates. Upon approaching, the same two guards were standing on either side of the gate. As he started getting close, one of the guards pointed past him drawing the attention of the other with a few words. Looking down the road Adam saw a carriage being pulled by a beast the size of a horse but with much larger legs and body similar to a rhino. At first glance, Adam thought the creature was fully covered in armor, until it got closer and he could see it had dark green scales covering its entire body. Its head rose up a bit higher than its body, which made it reach the height of the carriage it was pulling with little effort. Though its body looked similar to a rhino, it had no horn on its head and its face was shaped more like a scaled lion with small ears to each side of its head.


    Making sure he stayed to the side of the road but close to the gate, he continued to watch as the carriage stopped in front of the gate. A man wearing simple brown clothes underneath leather armor was at the head of the carriage holding very large bulky reins. With nothing but a glance from the man, Adam was ignored by the driver. He saw a large lizard like tail that followed the beast, dragging along the ground and underneath the carriage.


    The two guards approached the door to the carriage, one of them shoving Adam out of the way, causing him to trip backwards. With a quick laugh, the guards turned back to the door of the carriage as it began to open.


    A young green haired woman wearing a black dress with silver edging stepped out. Looking at Adam on the ground she gave him a sad look. He couldn''t help but feel embarrassed as he knew he must look an absolute mess, covered in dirt and not having cleaned himself since his arrival to this world. Not that he really cared about his appearance, but couldn''t help it under her pitying gaze.


    After he looked away, she approached him and bent down. Speaking she offered her hand to help him up. After a slight hesitation he grabbed her hand. She firmly grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet, as a mother would her child. Here he was again, feeling like the weakest person to exist in this world. Was everyone here so strong he wondered. What surprised him more was how soft the skin of her hand was, yet tough. Now on his feet, he realized she was a good few inches taller than him. She was staring at him expectantly. All he could think to do was take a step back, and give her a slight bow in thanks, hoping she would understand his meaning.


    With a smile she turned back to converse with the guards. When paying her entrance fee Adam noticed she gave the guard four copper coins. As she headed into the carriage, she turned towards him again and with a smile tossed something small, which he surprisingly caught. Looking in his hand it was a silver version of the copper coin. He wasn''t sure how much it was worth, but he returned her smile thanking her with a slightly deeper bow then previously.


    The door to the carriage closed and headed into the city. The two guards looked at him, obviously not happy with what happened nor he assumed with him receiving a silver coin. Doubting anything good was going to happen at this moment in time, Adam turned and headed back to his tree.


    Taking a roundabout way back in search for more food, he found a tree with green fruit on the edge of a small river. The juiciness of the first fruit he found was enough to sustain him but having a source of water was a source of joy. He took a long drink from the river using his hands, one scoop at a time. The water was perfectly clear and tasted wonderful. Sadly the fruit were not as easily accessible. Looking around, he found a decently long and sturdy stick which he used to knock the fruit down. They were very large, around the size of a watermelon but more elongated with the crispness of an apple. Not able to carry more than two, he found his way back as he ate.


    Sitting on his bed once more, Adam examined the silver coin he received more closely. It was small and rectangular with softened edges, and it had what he assumed was writing on both sides. Putting it back in his pocket he focused on the last skill he had locked. Mana materialization. Until he unlocked a skill, he couldn''t get any information on it besides its name. He thought that to materialize something was to bring it into being. After drawing and releasing two mana from his body, he tried to focus and use his will to materialize one of the missing mana. since willing things seemed to have worked so far, he kept trying. When it didn''t work, he tried to manifest smaller and smaller amounts of mana less than one point. Again without success he tried the same strategy but outside his body, hoping to have it materialize in his open hand.


    After fifteen minutes of failure and getting nowhere closer to figuring it out, he knew he must be thinking about it the wrong way. Instead of materializing mana, what if he flipped it around and used mana to materialize¡­ something. Mana appeared to him as a form of energy. Since he hadn''t seen much magic while being here, the only reference he could use was the light that had no source when he first arrived in this world. Okay so could he materialize light.


    Bringing a single mana outside his body he began swirling it around just above the palm of his hand. Then he imagined and tried to will the mana changing to the photons that make up light. He thought it was pointless since the golden mana already had a faint glow to it but after a few seconds, the mana condenses into a single point and began to shine a brilliant white, blinding him. Focusing, he was able to decrease the intensity of the light to a more manageable level.


    He started moving the point of light around just as he could with his mana, able to suspend it anywhere around his body with little effort. This would be useful at night. He wondered how long the one mana would last as a light source and if he could continue to add mana to it or would he have to create a new source of light with more mana. Putting his thoughts aside he paid attention to the new notification.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Materialization I Unlocked


    AP + 1</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Now that it was unlocked he could get more information from the skill.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Materialization I


    Materialize mana into matter and energy.


    Must have come into contact or have understanding of composition.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    From his understanding, It told him that he could essentially convert mana into basically anything so long as he understood it¡¯s composition or had touched the item before. With a smile Adam wondered if that mana, a source of energy as far as he knew, could be converted into solid matter? He couldn''t help but think about how awesome that would be, though he was doubtful.


    Adam took the silver coin out of his pocket, holding it in his left hand. Then he drew one mana above his right hand. Focusing on materializing it into the coin, he pictured the structural makeup of silver and forming the mana into the shape of the coin. The single golden thread of mana started converting into an exact copy of the coin, forming one end and expanding towards the other. After making one sixth of the coin, it stopped and the partial coin fell to his hand. Adam couldn''t help but feel excited at the fact that it worked, yet stupid for thinking one mana would be enough.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Trying again with seven mana this time, he repeated the process. Six of the threads formed into a full silver coin, identical to the one in his hand, except much shinier. The original coin having been tarnished over time with its use.


    Adam thought about all the money in his bank account from his job back on earth. He had continued to donate to various charities as he didn''t have much need for the money apart from his basic needs and hobbies. He knew he didn''t have a high standard of living. After living outside and eating nothing but tasteless fruit, he felt he definitely had some use for some more money in this world.


    He made eight more of the silver coins, bringing his total to ten silver and his mana below half. After pocketing the coins and moving the light source away from him so it would dissipate, he headed back towards the town, hoping he could get in and buy some food. Meat specifically, along with some better clothes and a pair of shoes.


    Arriving in front of the guards, he walked up to them blocking his path with a stern look on their faces. They began talking to him but stopped when he held out the silver coin given to him. Both guards quickly tried to be the first to snatch it from his hand, with the left guard being slightly faster and the right guard giving him a disapproving look. With only a moment the two guards stepped aside to allow him to pass.


    Finally he was able to enter the town. As he passed through the gate, he heard what sounded like bickering coming from behind him. He saw many wooden buildings ahead to the sides of the road. Many of them looked like they could fall over at any moment, holes and gaps in the walls with plants and moss growing all over them. Walking straight ahead past the houses, he came to a large stone building surrounded by a large open area. There were dozens of people walking around with basic wooden stalls on the exterior or blankets laid out with various items. Scattered about in between buildings and around the marketplace he saw many people who were just as dirty as he was, if not worse. They were sitting against walls, or laying down in areas away from the people who were walking around. With how scrawny many of them were he wasn''t even sure how they were still alive.


    He wished he could help them but there were more people that looked on the verge of death than people walking around. First he wanted to find out about the value of money in this world. He saw two stalls which appeared to be selling food. The first had an array of colorful fruits and vegetables which he had never seen before. The second was closer to a small open shop that had smoke coming from it and the sound of sizzling meat. Walking up to the fruit stand he received a smile from the salesman who said something unknown to him. Pointing to a large basket of red pear shaped fruit Adam then took a silver from his pocket and handed it to the man. With a bigger smile, he seemed to be asking Adam a question but not knowing what he said, he just pointed to the basket again. The man looked at him a little confused but picked up the basket and handed the entire thing to Adam. Then after reaching into his pouch, he pulled out and returned five copper. With a smile and nod, he turned and took the basket with him towards the largest group of people that were sitting around with glazed over eyes.


    He started placing one of the fruits in front of each man, woman and child he saw. Each of them quickly took and started devouring it before looking after Adam who had moved on to the next person. There had been two dozen fruit in the basket and he made it through about half the people that were directly in the market area but he could see many more people who were in the alleyways between buildings. One silver had gotten him two dozen fruit with five copper in change. He now knew silver was worth a decent amount for the amount of food he had received but without knowing the conversion rate of copper to silver he had no way to know the value of a copper coin.


    He returned once again to the fruit stand, and repeated the same thing as last time with a different and much larger basket of plum sized fruits. This time he handed a single copper over. The man had seen him pass the fruit around and didn¡¯t say anything this time but still looked confused. Adam understood he must seem strange as a man as dirty as any of the people he was giving fruit to, buying and giving away food when he apparently couldn''t afford clean clothes or a bath. Clothes and a bath would have to be his next goal for sure. This time he had been handed three of the small fruits. Again he pointed to the same basket and handed a silver coin over. Holding out the basket Adam had received the first time the man started counting out and placing one after another into the basket. After placing thrity into the basket the man stopped and smiled saying something unknown to him. This told him that one silver was worth ten copper.


    After handing over one more silver to receive another thirty of the same fruit into his basket, Adam heading back to where he had stopped handing out fruit. This time however, many of the people had gathered in the area watching and waiting for him. Many of the people must have seen and come out of the alleys as there was now at least fifty people. Knowing he had sixty three fruit in his basket he would only be able to give out one to each of them. Rather than handing the fruit to each of them, he held out the basket to them in turn. Soon enough he had stopped walking to them as they had begun to form a line to him. He was astonished that every single one of the people that came to him, barely clothed and ribs clearly visible beneath their skin, took a single fruit each and moved away to allow the next person in line to step forward. Many of them saying something to him before moving on. He had feared the large group of people swarming him, all trying to get as much of the food for themselves. Yet they all patiently waited in line, receiving a small single piece of food.


    After the basket was emptied Adam realized he was crying. The tears flowing freely from his eyes. Occasionally he had seen homeless people in the streets, as he lived in a large city with a population in the millions. Every time he gave them what money he had on him. He didn''t care what they used the money for, whether it was food, clothes and other necessities or what people always seemed to assume, drugs and alcohol. He just hoped to help them even a little.


    The scene before him though hit him much harder. On earth he had seen one homeless person from time to time, but here there were more people near death than the people who had been walking around, leisurely shopping and paying no attention to the bodies on the ground all around them. He didn''t blame the people, as they did look cleaner and with better clothes, but they definitely didn''t look like they had large sums of money to go about feeding all these people, day after day. He was sure they had gotten used to ignoring the starved people and just trying to make it in life themselves.


    Wiping the tears from his eyes, Adam marched over to the same stand and handed the man the seven silver and four copper he had left, motioning to the eight baskets of fruit that were left. Then pointed to the group of people. Were there more people again, he wondered. The man let out a large hearty laugh with a big smile on his face. With a nod to Adam he motioned towards the baskets in return and picked up one himself and began walking to the large group of people. Adam followed suit, each of them placing the basket on the ground in front of the group, only to return and grab another basket. Adam doubted the coins were enough to cover the total amount of food, but the man had helped him bring every basket over to the people and watched as they all were passing the fruit around to each other and making sure everyone had something to eat.


    Adam noticed many of the people walking around the market were now looking on, whispering to each other. Many had slight smiles on their faces, while a few he thought looked almost angry. Leaving the groups of people behind, Adam started walking around the market himself. With his mana back up to sixty, he put his hand in his pocket and focused on creating eight more silver coins, one by one, bringing his mana down to twelve.


    On the other side of the stone building he saw many more buildings except these were in better condition. Being made of much sturdier wood with stone in a few locations they didn''t look to be falling over and rotting. Glancing back at the larger stone building he saw the entrance with a sign above it depicting four coins with writing to their left. He recognized the first two coins as copper and silver, the third looked to be gold. The last one he didn''t know, an electric blue colour. Guess he knew where the bank was now, but wasn''t sure how he''d use it with the language barrier. He really wished there was a way for him to communicate without having to learn a whole new language, with no one to even teach him. He knew he''d have to figure something out if he couldn''t get back to Earth. Pointing and gesturing to things wasn''t going to get him very far.


    As he continued to look around he came upon a woman who looked to be in her forties sitting behind a blanket laid out with various clothing. The variety was very limited, with three sets of shirts and pants which only varied with their size. Along with two simple dresses and a single cloak. All of the clothing was brown with some of the trimming in black, except for the cloak which was entirely black.


    The woman was wearing one of the brown dresses herself, which had black trim along the neckline and around the waist. She simply watched him as he approached to inspect the clothes. Adam pointed to a pair of pants and a shirt which looked closest to his size. Holding up her left hand she raised two fingers. Adam held up two silver in which she nodded. Passing the two silver to her she placed them into a small pouch on her waist, then again using only her left hand passed the pants and shirt to him each in turn. This made Adam glance at her right arm, or lack of arm as he now saw.


    Adam was about to leave when he stopped and pointed to the black cloak. He hadn''t been cold at all since arriving here, even when he slept in a hole in the ground but he couldn''t be sure how the temperature fluctuated here from night to night. He also thought it looked a lot better quality than the brown fabric of the other clothes. The woman held up four fingers this time. Twice the price of his shirt and pants combined, he wasn''t surprised now feeling the rough texture of the clothing he bought. Handing her the silver, he took the cloak and continued on his way. As expected the cloak was noticeably softer and felt smooth to his touch.


    To his relief with a bit more searching he found someone selling a variety of shoes and boots. They were all simple designs made of the same brown leather, tied using a crude piece of string. The bottoms were meade of a harder and thicker piece, with a decently soft leather for the rest. Finding only one pair of boots that fit his feet comfortably, he paid the two silver for them.


    Adam was heading back to his tree, holding the basket he had purchased with the first lot of fruit under his left arm with his clothes. In his right hand he held a stick with a decent sized piece of meat that had been grilled for him, costing him one more silver. It tasted gamy and didn''t have much to it apart from its natural flavors, but he was delighted to finally have some meat again in his diet.


    On his way back he made a stop at the river, removing his pajamas and walking into the water that barely came to his knees. The water isn''t as warm as he was used to but not frigid either so felt he couldn''t complain. He began forming a bar of soap in his hand after drawing out his limit of twenty mana that he could successfully control, leaving him with five. After the swirl of mana began forming into a white bar of soap it stopped with only a sixth of the bar materializing successfully.


    With a shrug, he began using the chunk of soap to wash himself and his pajamas the best he could in the shallow waters. Finally clean he gathered his belongings and continued his way back to his tree, allowing his body to dry off before putting on his new clothes. After hanging his pajama shirt and pants on a branch of a smaller tree to dry he placed his stuff inside. He put on his brown pants and shirt which he found almost as itchy as wool. He found the pants had a small pouch tied to the inside of the waist, which could be removed and reattached on another loop of material on the outside.


    Adam practised his mana sense and absorption with only slight improvements in each. He found it difficult to keep his attention on just feeling the energy around him and repeatedly drawing it into his body a small sliver at a time. Once his mana had reached forty he began practicing his manipulation of it. He had no difficulty with this task as he had more flexibility in what he could do. He found he could pull the mana from any part of his body and what he could do with the mana was only limited by his imagination, forming it into all kinds of shapes and having each strand of golden light move around in various ways similar to a light show.


    Practicing his manipulation for the rest of the day, his mana had refilled to its maximum at some point and he increased the amount of mana he was able to control to thirty at one time. Feeling mentally drained and ready for sleep Adam made sure to use up his mana, creating sixteen silver coins bringing his total to sixteen silver, then promptly fell asleep.

 Chapter Three (Rewrite)

    It was Thursday, nearly midnight when Lianna was walking home late from school. She had been working on a group project they had to finish, as it was due the next day. Though honestly none of her group had even started it until they met up that day after classes. Her grades weren¡¯t bad, but neither were they great. She didn''t care too much for studying and only put in the minimal effort to get by without people needing to bother her to do better, mainly her parents. The only course she really enjoyed was physical education which she always had a nearly perfect grade.


    After finishing the project one of the guys in her group offered to walk her home, as she didn''t live far from the school. That was precisely why she had declined. What could possibly happen walking home a measly two blocks.


    How wrong she was, though she wasn''t sure if being accompanied home would have saved her from her fate, or simply put him in the same situation. She had been half way home, without paying much attention to her surroundings as she had made the walk more times than she could count, when her surroundings lit up with a faint glow. Then she appeared in a field surrounded by cloaked figures. She began to scream, as she had been taught in self defense. Not that she needed to be taught to scream when appearing out of nowhere surrounded by a group of people who clearly didn''t intend to give her a puppy and send her on her way.


    Her screaming stopped abruptly as one of the figures stepped in front of her and casually smacked her across the face, sending her tripping backwards to the ground. She clenched her jaw as she forced the tears down that wanted to erupt at the pain. She was suddenly grabbed by her arms and pulled to her feet. She flinched back trying to pull away from the hands holding her, as the person that had slapped her reached towards her again, placing a hand on her head. After a few seconds, the hand dropped, and a male voice spoke a weird language, pointing to another of them.


    Lianna was dragged away as she tried squirming and kicking the whole way trying to free herself, with no success. When arriving in front of the figure, she was handed off and abruptly a cold metal collar placed around her neck attached to a chain.


    ¡°You can¡¯t do this.¡± She screamed. ¡°People will look for me. I have family. They won''t stop...¡±


    A punch to her stomach stopped her as the wind was knocked out of her, causing her to crumple to the ground gasping for breath. She played a lot of sports, and accidents happened, so she got the wind knocked out of her enough times to be familiar with it. However, that didn¡¯t mean it sucks any less.


    Barely time to catch her breath she was pulled to her feet again, a feminine voice telling her something while pointing at a spot on the ground. Lianna didn''t even have time to glare at the woman for a second before receiving another smack across the face, sending her back to the ground. Lianna screamed in frustration as she got to her feet herself this time and stood in the spot the woman had pointed to.


    Lianna took a few breaths and looked over to the area she had first appeared at to see a large man, muscles barely contained in his tight black shirt standing amidst the same figures she had. Oh hell ya, she thought. He was easily half a foot taller than anyone here. Lianna could appreciate a man with some muscles, but the key word was some. Not the obnoxious amount the man who had taken her place possessed. Now if he could save her with those muscles that was a completely different story. Even if they were surrounded by five people, she was sure this man could do some serious damage.


    A smile appeared on her lips as Lianna saw the large man get grabbed by two sets of hands. He began to shout at them angrily. Her smile quickly disappeared as he saw him struggling to break free from their grip, with no more success than she had. The man who had slapped her first stepped in front of her failure of a hero and went to place his hand on his head. Before making contact, the man freed his right hand, and with a loud thud, punched the other figure holding him square in the face. ¡®Ouch¡¯ Lianna thought, until the figure barely staggered back, and showed little result to the punch. The hell? How could someone take a punch to the face like that and barely even flinch. That should have broken his nose and probably have knocked most people unconscious at the very least.


    She noticed the big guy was clutching his fist to his chest, clearly in pain. She figured he probably broke a few fingers. Thinking of his pain brought her attention back to the stinging in her cheeks, which were now throbbing, as well as the ache in her stomach. She was definitely going to bruise.


    With the man back in their grasp, a hand was placed on his head, and to her amazement a slight blue glow came from underneath the hand. She couldn''t help but wonder if that had happened for her as well. With a similar process to herself, he was promptly dragged over to be chained up behind her. He struggled less than she had on the way over but he was clearly ready to fight at any moment. He had looked at her the entire way over with anger in his eyes.


    She watched again as the fifth person that she had yet see do anything walked up and placed a hand on the ground. A large circle of blue light appeared on the ground and after a few seconds another person appeared out of nowhere. Unfortunately for him he seemed to have been sleeping as he appeared a foot above the ground in a pair of pajamas, falling with his back slamming into the ground. The figure who had summoned him quickly stepped back out of the way, as this new man was brought to his feet. Things played out a little differently for this man as he struggled much less than they had. After having a hand placed on his head, there was a full blown conversation amongst their captors this time, while they had only gotten a few words before being chained.


    Lianna saw his eyes open wider in fear when he looked at her. Then with a wave of the leader''s hand, pj boy was dragged and thrown into a hole she hadn''t noticed was there before. She wasn''t sure what was worse, being left in a hole to die or enslaved to do whatever it is they would want her for. Like hell she would make it easy on them, she thought, as she internally groaned at the many more bruises she was gonna have. Shortly after throwing that man into the hole, they started leaving, dragging her with them.


    She was supposed to have a simple short walk home and go straight to bed. Now she was walking through a forest for who knows how long, as she continuously tripped and fell to her knees, only to be pulled back up and punched in the side. Each punch to the side made her want to fall back down. She quickly learned to endure the punches and remain on her feet after the first two times had gotten her a kick to the gut after she remained gasping on the ground, while they yelled at her in a language she didn''t understand.


    Eventually they made it out of the trees and found their way to a road. At least there were less things to trip over, she grumbled in her head. Her entire body ached and she remained standing through will power alone, with the fear of being beaten again if she fell. Walking down the road she eventually stopped paying attention to her surroundings as it took all her focus to walk, one step at a time. Lianna had some slight hope as they came to a wooden gate with two guards standing to either side. Neither of them looked in their direction but simply remained in place staring forward.


    Passing through the gate they continued walking until they came upon a sizable stone building. The chain was removed from her collar and she was thrown into a room. Unable to gather the strength to catch herself, her body slammed heavily into the wooden floor, the pain barely registering. She heard a click as she assumed the door was locked, before she finally lost consciousness.


    Lianna awoke screaming to the pain all over her body. She laid there crying and trying to focus on breathing for what felt like ages before she heard the door unlock and someone enter. She didn''t have the capability to even turn to look at them, even if it meant a potential punishment. A tall, slender woman with dark green hair came into her view as she knelt down beside her. She was saying something unknown in a soothing voice and held up an item in front of her face. It looked to be a small spherical pill with a red liquid inside with a transparent outer layer.


    The woman pushed it between Lianna¡¯s lips, and into her mouth. Lianna was debating on if she should resist swallowing it when the outer layer seemed to dissolve and the red liquid fell into her throat, causing her to react and swallow. This caused her to start coughing, sending waves of new pain raking through her body.


    Within a few seconds she stopped coughing and noticed the pain was quickly lessening. The woman stood and left, locking the door behind her. Lianna continued to lie on the wooden floor as her body continued to heal until there was no longer any pain. Standing up she stretched her body out, feeling like she had just stepped out of some kind of magical spa, completely rejuvenated.


    She looked around to see the room she was in. It was a room with stone walls and ceiling along with the wooden floor she had slept on. Nothing was in the room, with no windows and only the single wooden door. The door opened again and a large, rough looking man entered. He had multiple scars along his face and arms, and she noticed he was missing the upper portion of his left ear. He stepped aside motioning for her to exit the room. So she did, she wasn''t ready for any punishment just yet so she figured she would see what he wanted. If he just wanted her to clean his house or something, she could manage that. At least until an opportunity for her to escape presented itself.


    He walked past her and she assumed he wanted her to follow. She followed him to a door, which he opened and motioned for her to go through. She entered the medium sized room, with nothing but another door on the opposite side. She turned to look at him as a dagger was tossed in her direction. Dodging out of the way she watched as it clattered along the stone floor. She turned back again to see the door slammed closed. Feeling a little apprehensive, she picked up the dagger. She wasn''t going to pass up a weapon, but why was her captor giving her a weapon. That seemed like the last thing she''d want to give to someone who would most likely try to use it against her.


    Her curiosity was soon answered as the opposite door opened and a creature was shoved through the door. She would have thought it was a fairly large cat, coming up slightly past her knees, if it wasn''t for the blue fur and two horns that curved up over its head. Even with the horns she thought it was adorable. She wanted to go over to start petting it but didn''t as it bared its teeth at her, growling as it began circling her.


    Lianna gripped the dagger tightly in her hand as she thought about the fact that she should be in class presenting her group project about now. The blue cat suddenly jumped at her much quicker than she expected, slashing its claws across her right arm, causing her to drop the dagger. Five claws had ripped through her shirt sleeve and into her skin. The scratches weren''t deep but bright blood still began dripping down her arm.


    She grabbed her arm wincing in pain as she looked down to the dagger at her feet. She looked up just in time to see the creature dig it''s two sets of claws into her leg, then bolt away before her knees hit the ground as she screamed.


    The creature was circling her again watching closely. Trying to ignore the pain, Lianna knew she had to get the dagger. The cat wasn''t doing significant damage as its claws appeared to be fairly short, but it was fast and with time would be deadly.


    She lunged for the dagger and her fingers wrapped around the hilt as ten tiny, razor claws dug into her hand to rip through the flesh. The dagger was dropped again as the cat retreated a safe distance away, watching warily as Lianna released her pain and frustration with a yell. She saw the cat coiling its body before swiftly pouncing towards her neck, and bringing her arms up to block, a mouth of sharp teeth bit into her forearm.


    ¡°Enough!¡± she shouted as she knocked it away, its teeth removing a small chunk of skin.


    Grabbing the dagger as the cat landed back on its feet she charged towards it and tried to stab. Before she was even within striking distance though, the cat bounded backwards out of her reach.


    Lianna¡¯s hand trembled as she gripped the blade, the pain from the various wounds growing just as much as her fear. She was going to die. The horned cat was just too fast. It continued to circle around her, occasionally reversing its direction. She stared back. After a long minute of circling and staring, she realized it was afraid of the dagger as its eyes occasionally glanced at it then back to her.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    She had to figure out what to do. She was in a waiting game she couldn''t win, as it was in perfect health while she had multiple bleeding wounds. She could feel herself getting weaker as the blood pulsed from her wounds. The cat was smart she could tell, but she felt she was smarter. Or had to hope that she was anyway. Hoping to trick the creature, Lianna glanced away from its gaze as she pretended to stumble. The cat instantly took the bait, jumping towards her at an astounding speed. This time however she was ready and just before having claws enter her stomach she stabbed downward into the cats neck.


    Seconds passed, Lianna watching as the blue horned cat shuddered, the blade still embedded deeply, the limp body starting to sag against her as it stopped breathing, blood spreading across the floor. After the creature seemed to stop breathing and was really dead, she found something in her head had demanded her attention, something she realized had been there for a while. She decided to focus on it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience + 11</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°What the¡­?¡±


    This made her realize there was quite a few things wanting her attention. Still standing over the poor creature¡¯s body, she began sorting through the strange windows that kept appearing. There were many telling her she had lost health. Most recently her cat fight, making her lose a combination of forty six health. With a thought she found she could bring up something like a character sheet.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Name: Lianna</td>


    <td>Level 0: Exp 11/100</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Age: 13</td>


    <td>Weight: 126 lbs</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Height: 5¡¯ 5¡±</td>


    <td>Race: Human (Earthling)</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Attributes</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Health: 54/100 [+] </td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Stamina: 82/100 [+]</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana: 100/100 [+]</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Physical:</td>


    <td>Mental:</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>AP: 0


    </td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Skills</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Sense (Locked)</td>


    <td>Unlock: 100 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Absorption (Locked)</td>


    <td>Unlock: 100 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Manipulation(Locked)</td>


    <td>Unlock: 100 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Spells</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Void Flame Manipulation (Locked)</td>


    <td>Unlock: 200 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    No way was she in a game. Not after all the pain she''d gone through, and was still in. She was not thirteen years old, nor did she weight one hundred and twenty six pounds. She was nearly eighteen and only one hundred and ten pounds, she even checked her weight that morning.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>You are bleeding


    -1 HP/min


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    She looked at all the cuts and scratches to see the bleeding had slowed, but hadn''t stopped. The bite on her forearm was the worst, keeping up a steady flow of bright red. Ripping her sleeve off where it was cut, she wrapped it around the bite to stop the flow of blood the best she could.


    The door opened, the same man looked at her and said something in his deep voice. He seemed pleased. He tossed her another of the pills she had been given earlier, which she considered a health potion since she was apparently in a game now. This time however the transparent outer layer surrounding a nearly clear liquid that only had a hint of pink to it. Tired of the pain she quickly consumed it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Consumed Poor Health Capsule


    +10 HP


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    All her injuries stopped bleeding and were healed slightly. As she was lead out of the room, she saw another woman that was a bit older than herself, being led into it. She resisted and had to be shoved in, a sword tossed in after her.


    ¡°Please not again, I''ll die this time.¡± she heard the woman scream in english, fear and frustration clear in her voice, as the door was shut.


    Lianna was brought back to her... cell, she supposed with an angry huff. She could still see and feel the wounds as they healed just enough to close but nothing more. How tired she was getting of the amount of pain she had gone through in less than twenty four hours. Her body shook as she suspected there would be more in her near future.


    With a groan, she put her current situation to the back of her mind and focused again on the weird stuff she saw in her information. If she had mana, that meant magic. The skills they were listed as mana sense, mana manipulation and mana absorption. Nothing more was given to her apart from the names but they seemed fairly self explanatory. Kind of. She had one spell under void flame. Void Flame Manipulation was less clear, as she knew what flame was, but void flame? She had no clue. Looking closer, she saw each of the mana skills required one hundred experience to unlock, while her void spell required two hundred.


    After nearly dying and killing that cat, she had received eleven experience. That was ¡­ well a lot of creatures she would have to kill to simply unlock everything. She didn''t like the idea of killing the blue cat, but knew she¡¯d had to in order to not be killed herself. Would she have to do it again.


    Awhile later she was brought back to the same room, she knew what was waiting for her this time and hesitated to enter. This caused her to be shoved ungraciously into the room. Guess she had no choice. The next creature put in the room with her had six thick legs sticking out a hard brown shell that surrounded its body. Its head stuck out of its shell just enough for it to see and a sharp horn protruded from the top of its shell just above its head. Not much taller than the cat creature, it began its charge at her with its horn heading straight towards her, while its feet made clicking noises against the stone floor with each step. Lianna jumped out of the way in anticipation only to see the beasts charge was very slow. By the time she turned back to look at it, it had only taken a handful of steps as it covered a quarter of the distance to her.


    Cautiously getting closer to it herself, its head retreated into its shell while it continued to scamper towards her, its horn swaying back and forth with each step. Jumping to its side, Lianna tried jabbing her dagger into its back leg only to have the blade bounce off. Taking a few steps backwards she inspected the six legged turtle thing, not seeing anywhere she might be able to harm it besides its head that looked to be covered in only skin. So that¡¯s what she would do. She walked around behind it as it tried to circle around to face her again. Then she jumped on the back of its shell and while reaching around its horn shoved the dagger into the space for its head. Feeling the dagger enter flesh, she knew she did damage.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 16</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The horned turtle creature instantly started freaking out, thrashing, trying to get her off its back. While easily hanging on, she stabbed a few more times as blood started gushing from the hole and it slowly stopped moving, then slumped to the floor.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 19</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 13</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 16</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Recieved: 23</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Surprisingly she received twenty three experience this time, for a much easier fight. Her day was filled with continuous fighting with various small beasts, including more of the blue horned cats. Those she found didn''t get any easier, as they never acted the same and require different methods to trick into making a fatal mistake. Unfortunately, she only encountered one more of the six legged horned turtle beasts. Each kill she received ten to thirty experience. After each fight, she was never given anything better than the poor health potion which did no more than to stop any bleeding and recover a small amount of health.


    After her fourth fight her clothes had become completely shredded and she was given what amounted to a small blanket with a hole in the center for her head. It covered the front and back of her body and came down to her knees.


    Once she achieved one hundred experience, which was apparently her maximum, A Level Up button appeared next to her level. She considered leveling up but noticed the Unlock option light up next to the mana sense skill. None of the other skills lit up yet. She guessed she must have to be able to sense mana before she can absorb or manipulate it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Sense I Unlocked


    AP + 1</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    With the skill unlocked she was able to get a vague sense that her body contained mana inside it and sense the mana existing around her. She also received an attribute point which she could put into health, stamina or mana. A small plus sign appearing next to each. She decided to leave it alone for now.


    How long had it been? Realistically she knew it couldn''t have been more than a day of this grueling routine. But it already felt like an eternity of fighting and work. Occasionally she was given simple food and water. Not that she felt she could really call it food, being tasteless and bland at best, but she ate it anyway. She was going to take whatever she could to help survive. Before her last meal she was taken out into the town, while chained to her apparent owner¡¯s waist.


    She couldn''t help but feel completely degraded and angry at the fact she could be out in public on display for many to see. Yet no one did or said anything to help her. Well, except for those that leered at her, clearly looking at her in places they shouldn''t.


    She was forced to carry various items that the man purchased like a pack mule. Anytime she hesitated even for a second to pick up what he bought earned her a slap across the face or a sharp punch to the stomach, causing her to collapse to the ground in agony.


    Once back to the house she was expected to put what was purchased on a table in the kitchen. She learned this the hard way, receiving a beating while she was yelled at. By the end of the day, she was covered in even more bruises for not following commands she didn''t understand.


    Back to her room for the night she was too exhausted and sore to do much more than lay on the floor. She ended the day with sixty five experience while having unlocking mana manipulation earlier in the day. She was thinking about how games were supposed to allow the player to rapidly get stronger with experience. Yet after killing enough monsters to receive two hundred and sixty five experience, all she could do was sense and manipulate mana. Which she realized sounded cool but didn¡¯t see how it actually helped her. She didn''t like that she needed the same experience to level up as the skills required. It was one or the other, not both.


    The following day contained much of the same as she received a second red capsule which healed her to one hundred health. Then she was forced to fight, receiving twenty to forty experience with every kill. Hitting one hundred experience two more times she unlocked mana absorption with the first lot of experience. She had noticed earlier that she wouldn¡¯t be able to unlock her void flame skill until she increased her level high enough that her maximum experience was at least two hundred. Thus, she used her experience to hit level one which gave her one additional attribute point, bringing her total to four. She still wasn¡¯t sure what to do with them. Increasing her health she considered, but she would rather not get hurt in the first place.


    Increasing her level raised her maximum experience to one hundred fourteen. She wouldn''t be unlocking her Void Flame spells anytime soon, she just hoped it would actually be useful in a fight.


    She defeated another one of the blue horned cats which had been noticeably slower than any she had fought previously yet she found it hard to pierce its skin with the dagger. It had taken her much longer to do enough damage to finally end its life. She received the largest amount of experience yet at eighty nine. Unfortunately she was already at fifty six experience, so it put her to the limit at one hundred fourteen, while the rest seemed to be lost.


    This fight had cost her greatly as she was down to three health with fresh cuts covering every part of her body. Used to the routine, she received the health capsule which stopped the bleeding and brought her health to Thirteen. She found it harder and harder to keep her health above zero as after each battle she had only an increase of ten health from the weak capsule. Coming out of the room she was doused in a bucket of cold water to somewhat clean off the blood covering her. Then she was chained to the man''s waist once again, which she knew meant it was time to go out again.

 Chapter Four (Rewrite)

    Adam was inside the town wearing his new clothes along with the black cloak with the hood up, though not so much as to hide his face. He used up his mana when he awoke making another sixteen silver coins, bringing his total to thirty two. This time upon entering the town he had given a silver to each of the guards hoping to get on their good sides. By the much happier smiles on their faces he thought it was working. When he entered the market area he saw that he had been noticed by the various people living on the streets.


    He walked up to the fruit salesman at his stall again with a new batch of fruit, though only six baskets this time. The man had taken a moment to recognize him in his new clean state, but a smile spread across his face once he did. While the man was speaking to him, Adam reached into his pocket and counted out twenty silver handing it to the man. The man''s eyes opened wider in surprise at the much larger increase in silver from yesterday, but happily took it. He made the same motions as yesterday, though the man barely paid him any attention as he started bringing the food over to a spacious area to the side of the market area. The people around instantly began gathering around to get the free food. Grabbing a basket himself and following, Adam smiled. Not only at the fact that he was able to help the people around them but at how happy the man seemed to be at the task, walking with almost a skip in his step.


    Bringing the last basket to the group of people, the man had looked at Adam for a long moment. Seeming to have made some kind of decision, he watched as the salesman walked over to the meat stand. Chatting with the two people there, he saw a small handful of silver exchange hands and ten decently sized chunks of meat similar in size to the piece he had received, be placed on the grill. The stall was owned by a young man and woman, both about the same height and similar dark brown hair and hazel coloured eyes. The man was wearing similar clothing to what Adam now wore, apart from the cloak. The woman wore the same brown pants except with a white blouse. He had seen she was missing half of her right index and middle finger.


    Looking at all the people around him, Adam began to notice many more injuries and scars. Not just the homeless people but everyone. A missing eye, scars on different areas of their bodies, missing fingers, hands or entire arms. Very few people he could see appeared to have no form of injury. Thinking about the wooden wall that surrounded the town, he found all the injuries strange as he had not once seen or heard any animals. Nothing dangerous. Yet if there really was no animals in the forests around the city, why would they need a wall and where did the meat stand get what they were grilling right now.


    Adam was now very apprehensive about sleeping in the forest, in a tree that would allow anything to easily walk in and rip his throat out as he slept. Had he somehow just gotten extremely lucky this entire time. He knew he couldn''t be considered stealthy with all the noise he made walking through the forest.


    Eventually the meat finished cooking and was brought over to the group of people who had finished eating the fruit. The meat was cut up into many thin slices to make it possible to share with so many people. He doubted if these people have had meat in a long time, as he watched them savor every bite. The fruit salesman walked up to him and gave a large slap on the back with a hearty laugh. Adam was sent sprawling forward, barely able to catch himself before his face would have smacked straight into the ground. He turned to look at the man, wanting to ask what the fudge he did that for, but saw astonishment on the mans face. He was quickly helped up and patted down to clean the dirt off his clothes. He figured the slap was more of a friendly gesture rather than anything intended to knock him to the ground. So he let it go, giving the man a smile to show he understood. The man gave a sigh of relief and offered his hand to Adam instead. He may not know the language here but at least they seemed to have many of the same gestures and similar body language. Returning the handshake he smiled. Did he just make a friend?


    Leaving the group of people behind, Adam decided to go into the stone building which he assumed to be a bank. He only had ten silver on him but hoped the same conversion rate applied and would allow him to get one gold for ten silver. His mana was back up to seventy five since he used it up first thing in the morning so he could make twelve more coins if needed.


    Upon passing through the metal doors, he saw five people standing behind five separate counters lined up beside each other. Three of them occupied with customers, he walked up to the right most counter and looked at the woman behind it. She looked odd to him as her skin was noticeably tinged with blue, close to his aquamarine birthstone. she was a head taller than him as she looked down at him and unknown to him was speaking. Her eyes stood out just as much as her skin as they pierced his with brilliantly pink irises. He was staring, he probably shouldn''t do that.


    He quickly looked away from her as he glanced around and saw a chart of images on the desk which displayed a list of coins, including more than the four on the building. It also showed a list of various materials and gemstones. He looked up while pointing to the gold coin and held out a silver coin and waited. The woman stared at him with a blank expression. Adam tried again. This time after pointing to the image of the gold coin, then the silver coin he had placed on the counter, he held up ten fingers. Annoyance clearly started to appear on her face, she started talking again. When she stopped it was his turn to stare at her with a blank expression on his face. She closed her eyes and pinched her nose with her thumb and index finger. Looking back to him, she held up ten of her long slender fingers, then closed both hands, holding all her fingers up again and repeated this until she had done it ten times. He couldn''t help but give a mental curse, One gold was worth one hundred silver. That was a much higher conversion rate than he would have expected.


    Thinking for a moment, his mind went back to the colour of her skin which reminded him of the Aquamarine gemstone his mother had gotten him on his twentieth birthday. It was much larger than the one he had purchased for his collection and much higher clearity. The tear shaped gem had come with certification telling him it was seven point three carats. With his hand in his pocket he withdrew ten mana and pictured the exact gem he had received over eight years ago, along with the crystalline structure of the gem. Something formed and fell in his pocket consuming two of the ten mana he was prepared to spend. Returning the eight mana back to his body he pulled out the gem and looked at it. As far as he could tell is was an identical copy. He realized then how world breaking this skill was. If everyone had this ability, then an economy would be impossible to have, and money would be worthless. Obviously this wasn''t true so he began to wonder if he was one of few or the only one with this mana materialization skill. If so, why?


    Looking back to the similarly skinned lady, she was staring at the gemstone in his hand with all the annoyance in her face gone and a large smile on her turquoise tinged lips as she looked back up to him. He placed the gemstone on the table and pointed to the gold coin. She picked up the aquamarine stone and inspected it. Then holding it between her two hands, a faint blue glow appeared between her hands. Taking the gem with her she retreated to a back room past a very large door that looked to be made of a bluish metal that was at least ten centimeters thick. A minute later she returned with a small pouch and placed it on the counter in front of him. He looked inside to see two gold coins. Well fudge and brownies, he definitely wouldn''t have a money problem as long as he had this skill. He felt like he was a huge cheat, robbing this bank with a fake gem. He wasn''t sure why two gold coins needed to be put in the small bag but he would take it anyway.


    Adam slid one of the gold coins across the counter to her and pointed to the image of the silver coin. Taking the gold coin she promptly returned with a slightly larger bag which looked hefty. Handing it to him he glanced inside to see a pile of silver coins. He didn''t want to stand there and count out each one in front of her so he closed it up after removing two silver. There was probably less than one hundred silver coins he assumed if there was any kind of exchange fee. After placing the gold coin in his small pouch inside his waist, he attached the pouch of silver coins to the outside of his waist. Placing the empty pouch in his pocket, he then put the two silver coins in front of the woman, smiled and walked away. He figured she deserved something for her troubles.


    With the equivalent of over two hundred silver on him he decided to see if he could purchase some things he couldn''t just make. Making a small portion of soap had used up a fifth of his mana, so he knew he couldn''t make anything with much size to it. Besides he needed to be able to manipulate the mana outside his body to materialize it, and his current limit was thirty. Luckily the coins were quite small and didn''t consume much mana. So he would have to buy the things he needed like everyone else, and wouldn''t be popping entire buildings fully furnished into existence. Well maybe not quite like everyone else since he didn''t exactly have to earn the money.


    Walking into the area with the sturdier buildings, he eventually found what appeared to be a street with actual shops, noticing what he assumed to be an inn and tavern with a sign that depicted a bed and what he figured was a glass of some kind of alcoholic beverage. He thought he would have to see if he could start staying there for the night, as he was honestly afraid of going back out into the forest, the more he thought about it.


    The next shop he noticed had an image of a black circle with text on it. He would have originally thought it was money if he didn''t know the coins they used here were rectangular rather than round. He decided to check it out, his curiosity peaked. The shop was completely empty of people except for a sleeping man, head resting on the counter he sat at in the center of the room. The shop itself was also nearly as empty, shelves lined the walls with only the occasional item placed upon them.


    Only one shelf had more than a single item on it. Five black coins sat on the shelf which looked identical, including the dark gold writing on them. Unlike the coins in his pocket, the text on these black coins didn¡¯t appear to be engraved but completely flush. As he was about to pick up one of the coins he heard an angry shout from behind him. He spun around to look at the previously sleeping man glaring at him. Adam put his hands up defensively, hoping to convey he didn''t intend to steal anything.


    Taking a seat his eyes remained vigilant, not leaving Adam for a second. Then he asked a question. With no response he repeated his question more loudly. Adam gave him a confused look and a shrug to convey an ¡®I don''t know¡¯ gesture to the man. The man looked at the five coins on the shelf and something seemed to click in his eyes as he stood back up. Stepping around the counter, he walked over to the shelf and grabbed one of the black coins. He placed the coin on the counter, followed by a silver coin, then held up five fingers on one hand and zero on the other. After the action was repeated another time, Adam figured he was saying it costed five zero, or fifty silver.


    Fifty silver he thought, that was a lot of food, for a simple black coin which he didn''t know what it was. He walked up to the counter but didn''t see why he should buy the coin. He had no clue at the value of anything and would not doubt if he was ripped off previously. Something worth fifty silver had to be worth that much for a reason but without knowing that reason it was worthless to him. Adam began to turn to walk away when the man grabbed his arm and placed the edge of the black coin against the back of his hand for a second then placed it back on the counter.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    That short second was more than enough to tell Adam he needed this coin. It would solve his biggest current problem. Well maybe the second as being stranded in a new unknown world with no way to get back home was probably his first. When the coin touched him a window appeared in front of him.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Skill: Language


    Learn one language of choice.


    Would you like to use this skill coin to learn one language?


    [Yes][No]


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    As the coin was touching his skin, then removed, the option to select yes or no faded away. It was a skill coin which gave him the skill pertaining to the coin. This made him assume all the coins in the room were probably various skills. This particular skill coin allowed him to learn one language of his choice. Would it somehow allow him to speak and comprehend the language he chose. That¡¯s what he hoped anyway.


    Overjoyed at a way to talk with the people around him without having to spend years to learn the language, he thought it was worth much more than fifty silver. He placed fifty silver on the counter and picked up the skill coin. As he touched the coin again, the window flashed in front of him again, the yes and no options lighting up.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Skill: Language


    Learn one language of choice.


    Would you like to use this skill coin to learn one language?


    [Yes][No]</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Clicking Yes, A large list appeared in front of him in english, which he presumed was all the languages he could learn. Fudge and crackers, how was he supposed to know which language was the correct one, there had to be hundreds of choices.


    Looking at the man he heard him repeating a single word over and over again. Was he telling him which language to choose? Listening closely to what is being said, he repeated the word in his head and searched through the list, after scrolling down a ways, he found that it was one of the options.


    With another tap and confirmation he chose the language. For three seconds Adam had the most agonizing headache he ever had in his life. An enormous amount of information was shoved into his brain all at once, causing him to nearly black out but once it was finished the pain was completely gone. He realized he had collapsed to the floor. No longer feeling the coin in his hand he started Looking around for the coin he assumed he dropped on the floor. As he is searching on his hands and knees, he hears the skill coin salesman speak. Except this time he can comprehend the words that are said as if he had known the language since birth.


    ¡°Well? can you understand me now? The skill coin disappears upon use.¡± Adam heard.


    ¡°Thank you. not being able to speak to anyone has been rather challenging.¡± Adam said standing back up, responding in his new language with natural ease.


    ¡°Just be glad you could afford it. Not many can. Even if it is one of the cheapest skill coins.¡± The salesman told him.


    ¡°I see. How much are rare skill coins and what can they do?¡± Adam couldn''t help his curiosity.


    He had been in university until he graduated for a second time at twenty four years old. He had spent ridiculous amounts of time studying to learn all the content in his physics, chemistry, material science, computer science and many other classes. A small black coin having the capability of downloading an entire language into his brain and giving him the capacity to use it perfectly was staggering.


    Learning of magic in this world made him think of throwing fireballs around, freezing large areas and other common displays of magic shown in media. If these black coins could be used to impart any information in large amounts along with how to truly use the information, anyone could be exactly what they wanted. It would be more realistic for parents to tell their children they could be anything they wanted. Of course this was only if the coins could be mass produced and sold cheaply enough for the average citizen to afford them.


    ¡°Some of the most rare skill coins I couldn''t tell you what they do, as I have never seen one. Most people use them rather than sell them. Not that I would be able to afford it anyway. They are reserved for the wealthiest and most powerful of people. Usually royalty, upper nobility, along with those strong and lucky enough to acquire one themselves.¡± he explained to Adam.


    ¡°Well what is the most rare coin you have here?¡± he returned.


    ¡°I have a spell coin in stock right now that is an invisibility spell, which I would sell no less than two hundred gold. Some skills and many spells can easily cost large quantities of mithril however¡±


    ¡°Mithril?¡± Adam questioned.


    ¡°Yes¡± Was his only response


    ¡°No, what is mithril?¡± Adam clarified.


    ¡°Oh, well mithril coins are the highest tier of coin. Its value can vary depending on where you are but typically one mithril is equivalent to one thousand gold.¡±


    ¡°One thousand. Damn. Is there anything in between gold and mithril?¡± he wondered


    ¡°Not for coins. There are gems and metals that are worth more than gold but less than mithril.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± is all he said.


    ¡°My name is Adam by the way¡± he said after a second, holding out his hand.


    ¡°Evond¡± he responded, shaking hands.


    ¡°Mind if I look around at the rest of the skill coins?¡± Adam enquired. There were many more questions he wanted to ask but didn''t want to bother Evond as he could continue asking questions all day.


    Evond simply nodded. Upon inspection, Adam noticed each of the coins had writing on the shelf in front of them, giving the name of the skill and its price. There were six coins apart from the invisibility coin that was nowhere in sight.


    The first one he came to said Basic Water Creation. That would be useful, he thought, though he figured he could already do that, at least in small quantities. This Basic Water Creation skill might not be any better. The next four were what Adam considered crafting skills, Alchemy: Poison , Construction: Wood, Forging: Iron, and Cooking: Meat. He assumed they would give the user the knowledge to use the specified skill with the material listed in the skill. The cooking one was by far the cheapest at five silver with the other three priced at thirty silver each. The last skill coin he came to was a skill labeled as Sword (Beginner) priced at one gold.


    ¡°How many slots do you have? If you don''t mind me asking.¡± Evond Spoke up.


    ¡°What?¡± He asked, Not sure what slots were.


    ¡°How many slots do you have available for skills and spells?¡± He tried to clarify.


    ¡°Umm..¡±


    ¡°Check your Skills and Spells Menu¡± He told Adam.


    Adam focused and found there was such a menu he could bring up.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Skills</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Sense II: 0%</td>


    <td>Increase Level: 400 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Absorption I: 0%</td>


    <td>Increase Level: 200 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Manipulation I: 30%</td>


    <td>Increase Level: 200 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Materialization I: 0%</td>


    <td>Increase Level: 200 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Language: 1</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Spells</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td></td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Slots Available: 3/4</td>


    <td></td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°Four. With three available.¡± he told Evond.


    ¡°Not bad. I have four myself, with one still empty. So you have no skills then apart from your mana skills and the new language skill you just used.¡± Evond said.


    Adam Nodded. Curious he asked ¡°What are the mana skills, do you have them as well?¡±


    ¡°Of course, everyone is born with the basic mana skills, as everyone is born with the potential to use mana. Not that everyone is capable of unlocking the skills, as it is difficult and time consuming for most people or dangerous otherwise.¡±


    ¡®Interesting¡¯ Adam thought. Once he had figured out exactly what the skill did he had found it very easy to unlock each of the skills.


    ¡°Would you mind listing the mana skills for me?¡±


    ¡°Sure¡­ The first is mana sense which allows you to sense mana, the first and most basic skill. Next is Mana Absorption which allows you to actively absorb mana faster than your passive regeneration allows. This can only be done once you have learned to sense the mana around you. Lastly is Mana manipulation, which allows you to use the mana inside your body, drawing it out and using it for other skills and spells. This skill is important to get as high as possible because if you can''t control the required mana to use a skill or spell, then it is rendered useless.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± As he suspected, most people probably didn''t have mana materialization.


    He had been considering the sword skill for one gold. Now knowing he had a limited number of coins he could use to learn skills and spells, he changed his mind. He also understood why the cooking skill for meat was so cheap, relatively. For someone to use up a limited number of slots on the knowledge to cook meat seemed silly. Especially when they could just experiment and learn it themselves or be taught by someone who already had the knowledge.


    Adam thanked Evond again for all his help and left the shop. Looking around he could now read the signs on buildings. The Inn and tavern was of course, just that. The shop he was just in said Skills and Spells. A few other shops that were within sight were Bob¡¯s Butcher, Alchemist, and General Shop.


    As he was looking at the Butcher, he saw a fairly large muscular man leaving the shop with a young woman following behind him, carrying a bundle in her arms. A metal collar around her neck attached to a chain extended to the man''s waist hooked to his belt. What concerned him most was that he recognized her, she was the woman wearing the school uniform he saw the first night with tears running from her eyes as she stood motionless.


    The girl wore a simple piece of fabric with a hole in it to go over her head, draped down her front and back. She had short brown hair, similar in length to his own. Adam couldn''t help but stare at all the barely healed cuts and bruises covering her face and all down the side of her body. Standing about five and a half feet tall, her body was fit and fairly muscular. Looking closely, he could see her legs trembling. He knew she had been through much worse than he could handle himself.


    Suddenly she looked at him with fierce hazel eyes, and he could tell she recognized him as well. Glancing at the man she was attached to and seeing him turn to head in the other direction, away from Adam, she mouthed two words to him in english which he understood clearly. ¡®Help Me.¡¯


    The pleading in her pained eyes was more than he could handle. Then she was pulled away by the chain attached to the man''s waist. He wanted to help her more than anything, but how? The man was easily twice his size and could probably kill him in a single hit. The man deserved death for what he did to her, but he knew It was Impossible for him to do it. Even if he was willing to kill another human, he would undoubtedly die first, especially without any form of weapon.

 Chapter Five (Rewrite)

    Adam was scrambling to find a solution as the young woman was dragged further away from him. Wait. She was a slave he realized. Slaves had value, meaning they could be bought. Adam began creating gold coins in his hand, surprised that they only cost him four more mana than silver did. Forming nine gold coins, he used up all his mana, leaving him with one point left. He quickly put all the money he had into a single pouch, ten gold and the many silver coins made the pouch weigh a noticeable amount on his waist. He ran after them.


    ¡°Wait.¡± he yelled as he approached the man.


    When the man turned to face him, Adam realized this could be a mistake. What if this man was there that night. What if he recognized Adam and made him a slave. Well, it was too late now.


    ¡°What do you want?¡± The man asked him annoyed at being interrupted.


    ¡°I want your slave.¡± Adam spoke up as confidently as he could, with only a slight hesitation.


    The man laughed, a long laugh that Adam was beginning to think wouldn''t stop.


    ¡°As if you could afford her,¡± he continued to chuckle to himself.


    ¡°How much?¡± Adam held up the pouch, sticking his hand in.


    ¡°Ten gold.¡± He told Adam a huge smirk on his face.


    Adam did not doubt it was an amount much more than she would be sold anywhere else, but Adam was pleased, it was an amount he had. An amount he considered nothing over the value of a person''s life. Adam took his hand out of the pouch and tied it up. The man laughed again and began to turn away, assuming Adam obviously didn''t have such a sum.


    Adam tossed the pouch towards the man, it being snatched out of the air with ease. Feeling the weight he pulled the bag open and looked inside. With a grunt the man seemed happy yet disappointed to be proven wrong. Removing the Chain from his waist he simply dropped it on the ground and snatched the package from her arms and walked away, muttering ¡®fool¡¯.


    The girl dropped to the ground and began crying. Adam wanted to go up to comfort her, but never felt comfortable with contact with people, especially strangers. Yet he just wanted to hold her and hug her, tell her everything was alright now. He didn''t though, with her cuts and bruises all over her body he thought he would just cause her more suffering. So he just stood near her awkwardly, and waited, letting her cry as much as she needed. After a long while, he saw her wiping away her tears and began to stand on shaky legs.


    ¡°Thank you. Thank you so much.¡± She told him, looking into his eyes with a fierce expression.


    ¡°I thought¡­¡± She paused, barely able to hold back from breaking down into tears again.


    ¡°It¡¯s ok now.¡± Adam told her. ¡°Come with me. I promise I won''t do anything to you. I can help get you more.... situated.¡±


    Adam paused. ¡®Not that I probably know much more than you do.¡¯ he thought. At least he had access to money, and money seemed to be just as important here as it was on Earth.


    ¡°What''s your name?¡± he asked her.


    ¡°Lianna.¡± she told him with a nod.


    ¡°My name is Adam. let''s make a quick stop, then we¡¯ll go get you some clothes and food.¡±


    She nodded again and waited for him. While she had been crying, Adam had been focusing on absorbing more mana. He had gotten up to thirty in the time she was sobbing on the ground. Adam took the empty pouch he had in his pocket and formed one gold coin inside it. Leaving himself with twenty mana. He didn''t see the point in materializing silver any more as one gold was worth one hundred silver, yet the cost only went from six to ten mana per coin. A completely unfair difference he thought. Before Adam began heading to the bank to exchange the gold coin for silver, he paused.


    ¡°Wait. Can you understand the language of the people around here?¡± he wondered.


    ¡°No,¡± she said hesitantly.


    ¡°Right,¡± Adam said, turning back to the shop he had just come from.


    ¡°Back alrea...¡± Evond started seeing him enter, but stopped upon seeing Lianna.


    ¡°This is Lianna¡± Adam told him. ¡°She cannot speak the language around here either so I thought I would change that for her.¡±


    ¡°Also if you know how I can get the collar removed it would be much appreciated.¡± he said after looking at the metal collar and chain hanging from her neck.


    ¡°Of course. Of course.¡± Evond told him with a wave of his hand as if it were no matter.


    He walked over to the Language Skill Coins and brought one back to the counter. Adam placed the gold coin in front of it and received his fifty silver in change. Then handed the black coin to Lianna telling her how it worked and which language to choose. He also warned her hesitantly of the head pain that would last a few seconds. He didn''t want her to go through any more pain but thought it necessary, but she deserved to make the choice herself.


    After exhaling a breath she had held for a couple seconds, the coin began to shine and disappear from her hand. Just as Adam had, she fell to the ground with a scream as she clutched her head. After the few seconds passed she got back to her feet and looked at them.


    ¡°Wow. That is a lot of information,¡± she said in awe in their new language.


    ¡°Indeed it is young miss,¡± Evond told her smiling warmly.


    ¡°I believe I forgot to mention last time, but in case you didn¡¯t know. The language skill takes up only a single slot. No matter how many languages you decide to learn.¡± Evond said turning to Adam


    ¡°That is good to know. Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Try the blacksmith down the road to get that collar removed,¡± Evond added.


    Adam thanked him again and placed two silver on the counter in thanks for all the help Evond had been. Then left the shop.


    ¡°I''ve seen how much ¡®tall dark and ugly¡¯ spent on food and other items. I know the amount of money you spent on me couldn''t have been cheap by the sound of coins in that bag. As well as the gold coin you used to buy me this new language. Yet you¡¯ll pay to get this collar removed as well?.¡± Lianna spoke up after they began walking to the blacksmith.


    ¡°Yes. The bag contained over ten gold and the language coin was fifty silver.¡± Adam told her. ¡°It doesn''t matter. Besides do you really want to leave that chain hanging around your neck?.¡±


    ¡°Well, obviously not,¡± she mumbled, ¡°but I can still be curious about how you can afford all this.¡±


    ¡°Don''t worry about the money I spend. It is not an issue.¡± He wanted to tell her he could literally just create money but kept silent for now, not wanting anyone to overhear him, just in case.


    ¡°Why? How did you get so much money after such a short time here?¡± she asked.


    ¡°I''ll tell you later,¡± Adam responded with a cheeky smile and a telling sweep of the other people on the street around them.


    It wasn''t far to the blacksmiths, but it took longer to reach the smithy as Lianna was struggling to walk at a normal pace, limping with each step. Adam offered to help her walk but she refused. Arriving inside, there is no noise apart from two people speaking. Adam and Lianna waited just inside the stone building for their turn. While waiting Adam used his mana absorption skill, something he figured was a good use of his time while waiting around. With his mana hitting thirty five, some coins exchanged hands between the two people and the person left. Adam saw Lianna looking around the shop at the few weapons and single set of armor that were in the shop.


    ¡°Welcome to my smithy. What can I do for you.¡± The man said in a deep yet overly jovial voice.


    He was heavily muscled as Adam would expect of a smith. Salespeople that oversold their pitch with too much enthusiasm annoyed the hell out of Adam. If he was there, it was for a reason, and he was already going to buy what he came for.


    ¡°I wish to have her collar removed,¡± Adam said motioning to Lianna.


    ¡°Not a problem. No problem at all,¡± he said without missing a beat. ¡°That¡¯ll cost you one silver. As long as I get to keep the metal from the collar and chain.¡±


    Adam tossed him the silver and watched as the smith walked over to Lianna and placed his hand on the collar. He noticed Lianna flinch slightly at his touch but didn''t move away. The metal underneath the smiths fingers began to morph and pull apart where he touched, then fell to the ground. A skill that allows him to manipulate metal Adam thought. That would be extremely useful for a smith. Lianna stretched her neck, cracking it one way then the other as she let out a sigh of relief.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°Thank the heavens,¡± Lianna said


    ¡°The what?¡± the smith asked with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°Is there a clothing shop around here?¡± Adam asked cutting in.


    ¡°That there is,¡± the Smith said, smiling a little too much. ¡°My brother Geld has a fine shop, just over in the market district.¡±


    ¡°What about a place to get health capsules?¡± Lianna asked.


    ¡°The dungeoneers shop would have the best selection, but not the cheapest. Unfortunately you''ll have to go to a larger city for that. So you''ll have to try the general store.¡± He said after thinking for a few seconds.


    Waiting until they left the blacksmith behind, Adam asked Lianna what the health capsules were, to be told that they were health potions in the form of a small capsule. That was something she definitely needed. He wondered how effective they were and the amount of time required to heal. Many of her cuts would likely scar in normal circumstances.


    ¡°I don''t know how much they cost, but if it''s not too unreasonable I would really appreciate if you could get me a decent health capsule. I''ll pay you back somehow, I promise.¡± Lianna told Adam as they were walking.


    ¡°No need,¡± was all Adam said.


    ¡°I will pay you back anyway,¡± she said with finality.


    Going back the way they came, they headed to the general store Adam had seen before. The shop stocked a much larger supply of items than previous shops with an extremely wide variety being sold.


    They found a single Moderate Health Capsule for nine silver, and three Weak Health Capsule''s for one silver each. They walked out of the shop each holding a decently sized leather bag with various pockets. The bags contained an additional set of clothing for Adam, and two sets of clothes for Lianna. She had chosen two shirts with decently soft material along with a pair of pants and shorts. Adam had wanted to purchase the last Weak Health Capsule for sale, but was informed a capsule pouch was required to store it safely, since it was likely to burst with little protection inside someone''s pocket or bag. Unfortunately they didn''t have any for sale. A sizable blanket, metal canteen, and a few useful items were purchased for each of them as well, leaving Adam with ten silver.


    Once outside the store, Lianna popped each of the capsules in her mouth, and to Adam¡¯s amazement all her injuries quickly began to heal, appearing to never have been there in the first place after a short time. He was staring at her body seeing absolutely no cuts, scars or injuries remaining. He was more impressed than he expected to be when hearing about the health capsules. He had inspected the Moderate Health Capsule closely before giving it to Lianna, the red liquid inside simply looking like dyed water with a glow to it.


    Suddenly Lianna covered her body where Adam was staring, anger and embarrassment obvious in her face.


    ¡°Sorry, sorry, I um didn''t mean to look, I mean I did cause that''s what I was doing, but I didn''t mean to look, and I¡­¡± Adam trailed off realizing his hands had been flailing in his embarrassed stupor. Coughing and looking away politely he tried again. ¡°I was just impressed with how well you healed from the capsule. This world keeps showing me things that would be considered impossible back on Earth.¡± he said as he further averted his gaze.


    ¡°It''s alright, but let''s get somewhere I can change right away. And thank you again. I feel so much better now.¡± she responded, feeling safer in his presence after his reaction.


    ¡°How about we get rooms at the Inn there?¡± he said pointing.


    ¡°Don''t you already have a room?¡±


    ¡°Not exactly, I slept in the hole I was thrown in the first night, then in a large tree outside the town after that.¡± he explained.


    ¡°Bummer. Well let''s go then,¡± she began heading towards the inn.


    The inn and tavern was spacious inside, with a stone fireplace and chimney on one side surrounded by wooden tables and chairs. The place was nearly empty with two people sitting at separate tables, each with a mug in front on them. Adam was beginning to wonder why all the places he went were so lacking of people. He knew the town was quite large, as he had walked around the perimeter of the wall a long ways. A woman standing behind the counter greets them as they approached.


    The rooms cost one copper a night each, with no food provided. Handing over his remaining ten silver gave them a decent number of days. The rooms contained a bed, with a small wooden chest at the bottom as well as a small wooden table and two chairs in the corner.


    After Lianna got dressed she came over to Adam''s room as he requested. Sitting at the table across from Lianna, hr drew out ten of his fifty five mana and after some swirling around formed the golden mana into a gold coin.


    ¡°No way! How did you do that?¡± she exclaimed nearly yelling at Adam.


    He told her about his materialization skill, along with the limitations after she asked what the point of creating money was if he could just create what he wanted in the first place.


    ¡°That''s so OP,¡± she told him. ¡°Wait, can you make health capsules then? They''re not much larger than a coin.¡±


    ¡°I''m not sure, but I have been wondering that as well.¡± Withdrawing thirty Mana, he pictured the capsule in his mind and the golden mana swirled around then simply dispersed.


    ¡°Guess not.¡± Adam sighed


    ¡°Well maybe it''s not completely OP.¡± Lianna stated


    Grunting in confirmation, he couldn''t believe it had just caused his mana to disappear. It was a complete waste of thirty mana. He would have to be careful in the future. He used ten more mana to create another gold coin, giving it to Lianna.


    Adam and Lianna chatted about their time since being brought to this world. Discussing what they understood about the new aspects of their lives, their level and skills. They agreed on how useless attribute points were when they seemingly couldn''t be used in anything but health, stamina and mana right now. Both of them are surprised by how the other unlocked their skills, Adam figuring out how to use the skill while Lianna used experience. One large difference Adam was disappointed with is that Lianna could manipulate her entire one hundred mana outside her body almost instinctively while he could manage thirty with great concentration required for each mana. At least he didn''t have to risk his life killing creatures to get experience.


    ***


    Hours later they are getting hungry and returned to the market area around the bank. Adam saw the fruit salesman at his stall with two additional people along with his stall now having thrice the amount of fruit. Adam approached the smiling man who was now watching him.


    He wasn''t sure how to talk to the man after using only gestures until then. So Adam decided to give him a gold coin with a nod. After the shock of so much money entering his hands, the salesman began his new routine, bringing the many baskets of fruit to the people that needed it in the square.


    Lianna just watched on already having been told of the many starving people Adam had seen living on the streets. The group was now much larger, exceeding four hundred people. The spacious area around the bank didn''t seem nearly as large with such a crowd gathered. Adam and Lianna watched the line of people accepting the fruit and eventually a large amount of grilled meat made it''s way over.


    Suddenly Lianna stepped behind Adam as she pointed at a group of guards wearing full plate armor holding a variety of swords, spears, axes and other weapons. They followed in four lines of five guards behind the large man who had ¡®sold¡¯ Lianna to him. With a shout from their leader, the guards began spreading out stabbing, slashing, and killing any of the people who had been receiving free food as Adam and Lianna watch in shocked horror.


    Screaming and running in every direction, the people fled for their lives. Dozens are already killed by the time Adam snapped out of his daze when Lianna slapped him across the face, struggling to push him away from the slaughter. Away from the commander who was heading directly for them.


    Adam quickly turned to run, barely taking a few steps before the large man was past them, grabbing them around their throats with a single large hand each. They were lifted in the air for a short adrenaline filled moment before being slammed into the ground as immense pain shot through their bodies, causing them to black out.


    Water gushed over Adam as he was abruptly woken up. The back of his head throbbed as he opened his eyes. Adam had never hated anyone in his life, disliked of course but never hated. This now changed with the man in front of him staring calmly, holding a now empty bucket over his head. Adams hands were chained over his head, holding him just high enough to reach the floor with his toes.


    ¡°My name is Gerald Enalt, the owner of Enalt City,¡± he told Adam in a commanding voice after dropping the bucket on the stone floor.


    ¡°What I want to know, is who you are? And where did you steal the money?¡± Gerald continued.


    A few seconds passed without Adam responding.


    ¡°Well? I''m waiting. I do not like to be kept waiting. No commoner could be walking around with a pouch of freshly acquired gold. Not a peasant as weak as you, not without stealing it. So I ask one last time. Where did you steal the money?¡± Anger broke into his voice by the end.


    ¡°I didn''t steal it,¡± Adam told him through clenched teeth.


    ¡°Of course not. You know I did some asking around and I heard you recently appeared outside the city, covered in filth with absolutely nothing in your possession. Then shortly after my wife gives you a single silver coin, you enter my city. Once inside you somehow acquire more money, enough to give it away feeding the rats in the street. No, noone who would give away money like it was worthless could have possibly stolen it.¡±


    Adam could do nothing but curse to himself as he knew that was exactly what it would look like. He would have to be more careful in the future. If he somehow got out of this. He just wanted to help, how could he not.


    ¡°Where is the girl that was with me?¡± Adam asked a question instead.


    This got him a punch to the face followed by two to the stomach in rapid succession, causing him to vomit, the stomach acid burning his throat and splattering to the floor. He could only think about how much he hated pain as he cursed himself for getting in this situation.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>HP - 4</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>HP - 2</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>HP - 2</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Time passed while Adam continued to expel the contents of his stomach as Gerald threw punches, hitting him in the gut and face, effortlessly avoiding any puke that came his way. The punches kept coming causing the damage notifications to pile up, no questions asked, nothing more being said until unconsciousness took him once more.


    Waking up this time on his own, Adam gasped, his ribs burning with pain. After getting himself to focus, he looked around the room. Lianna hung from chains from the ceiling by her wrists to his left. She was awake looking his way.


    ¡°Morning sleepy head,¡± she said sarcastically with pain audible in her voice. She looked just as bad as he felt.


    ¡°I''m... sorry. This is all my fault.¡± Adam said as tears began falling down his face.


    ¡°No, its ¡­¡± she began


    ¡°So many dead. So many people killed because of me. So many ¡­ children ¡­ for nothing,¡± he continued through his sobbing.


    ¡°You were trying to help, you couldn''t have known...¡± she told him. Knowing no matter what she said it wouldn''t make him feel any better.


    He continued to cry until he couldn''t any longer, finally resolving himself. He would fix this, he would make it up to the people that lost their lives. They had to escape. He couldn''t die here. He would not let Lianna die because of him.


    ¡°So, how do we get out of here?¡± Adam asked quietly.

 Chapter Six (Rewrite)

    Adam heard Lianna sigh for the third time in the past thirty minutes.


    ¡°I''m working on it, it''s not that easy.¡± he told her, frustrated.


    He had been trying, for over an hour now to determine the inner workings of the lock on his right wrist. At first he wasn''t sure if he could make a key for it as he wouldn''t know what shape the key would need to be. With an idea, he tried manipulating his mana into the lock. The first challenge was simply finding the hole for the lock, as it was above his head and out of sight.


    Once inside the lock, he was able to use his mana sense while moving the mana around. His sense was able to give him a basic idea of when and where the mana met resistance as it swirled around inside the hole. Slowly, so very slowly he was able to determine the location and position of the pins inside. It was a pretty crude lock with only three pins, but determining that much took all his concentration. Finally sure of it, he materialized the mana in what he hoped was the correct positions, forming a basic iron key inside the hole.


    The shackle around his wrist clicked open, then fell to the ground as Adam''s weight shifted to his left arm. Fortunately the shift allowed him to reach the floor with his feet, taking his weight off his wrists for the first time in hours. As much pain as he was in, the relief felt great.


    ¡°Ok Houdini, good job, now hurry up and get me down too,¡± Lianna spoke up.


    ¡°Right, sorry.¡±


    The chain that fell to the floor with the key was connected to the same chain around his left wrist. Pulling the key within his reach, he removed it from the keyhole and inserted it into the left shackle. With another click, he was free. His full weight back on his feet, he felt a little unsteady but remained in control.


    Making his way over with noticeable effort, his luck continued as the same key worked for Lianna''s shackles as well. They both collapsed to the ground.


    ¡°Damn, I hate pain,¡± Adam grumbled


    ¡°You kinda get used to it after awhile,¡± she told Adam with a resigned yet sardonic tone.


    ¡°I''d rather not, thanks.¡±


    Rubbing their wrists they stood back up knowing they had to escape before anyone came back to see them. It had been hours since they were left alone, though Adam was pretty sure it was late into the night at this point. The door to the room didn''t appear to even have a lock so Adam opened it slowly, and noisily as the metal hinges squeaked.


    ¡°Fudge. I''m sure nobody heard that.¡± Adam whispered as Lianna stared at him with contempt.


    Lianna forced her way ahead of Adam, as she looked out the door. The hallway was much darker than the room they were in, making Adam notice the room was lit up with an area of sourceless light that was centered on the ceiling.


    Adam created a small point of light and had it shine as dim as possible, just enough for them to see within their direct area. He had to actively control the location of the light to make it move with them but at least they could see, kind of.


    Making their way down the hallway, Lianna stayed in the lead. Coming to an intersection, they heard faint footsteps coming from around the corner not far away. Quickly finding the closest door, Lianna opened it, much more quietly then Adam had previously, and stepped inside the room. Adam followed, leaving the door open just a crack.


    The footsteps approached the intersection and began heading down the hallway in the opposite direction from them. Adam gave a sigh of relief. Looking around the room they were in, he saw a few tables against the walls. Turning up the light he was able to see six tables along the three walls surrounding the door. Each was piled with various clothing, armor, weapons, bags, and items all thrown on the tables randomly. What caught his attention was various items that were obviously from Earth such as cell phones, watches, a few wallets and purses.


    ¡°How many people are here from earth?¡± Adam asked as quietly as he could.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ve seen at least three while I was here.¡± Lianna told him.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we save them?¡± Adam asked her.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know where they are, nor how many. What if there''s dozens or many more than we¡¯d be able to sneak out of here successfully with. I know there is no way we would be able to fight our way out of here.¡± Lianna told him.


    Adam knew she was right. If she had seen others apart from those brought into this world the same night as they were, then there could be more than just a few. He didn¡¯t like it, but It was too risky right now.


    ¡°I will come back for them eventually. I¡¯ll find a way to save them.¡± Adam told her resolutely.


    ¡°We will.¡± Lianna agreed.


    He quickly noticed his black cloak that had been removed from him and pulled it around his shoulders. Lianna found a dagger, and a small multicoulloured wallet she found after rooting around a bit.


    ¡°You should get one of the weapons too.¡± Lianna quietly told him.


    Looking through the weapons he tried picking up a small sword as it would have better reach than a dagger and he didn''t really want to be getting too close to anyone or anything. Well to be fair, he didn''t exactly want to be killing in the first place. The sword appeared to be a basic iron short sword with a blade a foot in length, and didn''t weight much, maybe one to two kilograms.


    There were various pieces of leather armor but they didn''t want to waste too much time. After Adam lowered the brightness of his light, Lianna exited through the door and they continued down the hallway, making a right down the path the footsteps had come from. They neared a large set of double doors, which Adam assumed was the exit. As they exited the hallway, so did someone else.


    A man wearing full leather armor and a sword on his waist looked at them in surprise. Before he was able to draw his sword Lianna quickly put the point of her dagger to his throat. The guard moved his hand away from the hilt of his sword and both hands into the air. Adam didn''t want to get caught again, he knew he couldn''t handle another round of torture. He was still aching from the first. He also didn''t want the guard to die, especially not for doing his job.


    Simultaneously Adam put his left hand on Lianna''s with the dagger and his right hand in his pocket. He could feel her hand shaking slightly and knew she was a lot more afraid than she let on. Looking at the man in the eyes, Adam showed him a gold coin he pulled from his pocket, holding it in front of his face, Letting his light increase enough to reflect off the coin.


    The guard slowly looked behind and around him, then gave a nod, a large grin on his face. Adam placed the coin in his hand as he pushed Lianna''s hand down, removing the dagger from his neck. The guard turned around and slowly walked back the way he came, as he pocketed the coin.


    ¡°Quickly let''s go,¡± Adam said motioning to the double doors.


    Lianna carefully unlocked the doors which had a simple latch locking the two doors to each other, then quietly opened one of them. They both slipped through and out into the street, then they ran, or quickly hobbled away.


    ***


    Adam and Lianna were standing outside the Inn after retrieving their bags.


    ¡°Where to now?¡± Lianna asked him, as he was trying to figure out just that.


    Adam considered staying at the Inn for the night but didn''t doubt Gerald had found out where they were staying, since he seemed to know enough about his time spent in this town.


    ¡°Ultimately, I think we have to leave town. It''s too dangerous to stay. We need to know where we can go, which means we need a map of the surrounding area and as much information as we can get.¡± Adam told her his thoughts.


    ¡°Right. Ok. The general store I think I saw some maps, though it looks closed,¡± Lianna said as she looked across the street at the dark building.


    Looking around Adam saw all the buildings were dark except for the Inn and one other shop. The skill shop owned by Evond had faint light coming from the windows.


    ¡°Let''s see what we can find out there,¡± Adam pointed.


    The door was unlocked and Evond looked to be sleeping at the desk just as he was last time. Adam took the moment to create six gold coins, and place them in his pocket, before walking up to Evond.With no response from the man, Adam decided to go pick up one of the skill coins. Before he was able to touch it, Evond was awake and standing with a stern look on his face, which quickly turned to a smile.


    ¡°Oh it''s you, I thought you''d be dead.¡± Evond grinned.


    ¡°Why would you think I was dead?¡± he asked in response.


    ¡°Well I heard what happened with the guards slaughtering the people in the bank square and two people with your descriptions being captured and dragged off to the Enault estate. Haven''t heard of anyone coming back out alive before. Was I wrong in assuming it was you?¡±


    ¡°Well, no. You were correct. We escaped and came here. I was hoping you could help us out?¡± Adam added with a tentative smile.


    ¡°I don''t mind helping you out if I can do so, but tell me, any chance you were followed here?¡± He asked a bit worried.


    ¡°I don''t believe so, but I''m not entirely sure to be honest.¡± He decided to be straightforward with the guy. He seemed to be genuine and trustworthy. Not that Adam was overly good at judging people. In fact he was specifically bad at understanding people, but he still wanted to trust his gut.


    ¡°Alright, just to be safe, follow me.¡± he said leading them into a back room after locking the shop door and shutting off the lanterns that were emitting light.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Adam sat down at a small wooden table wincing in pain as he did so, making him think something was broken. He wanted to think many things were broken but he was probably just being a wimp. He knew Lianna was probably in just as bad a state but she seemed to handle it better.


    ¡°Ok what do you think I can help with?¡± Evond spoke first.


    ¡°What do you know about what''s going on with this Gerald Enault guy? What do you mean people don¡¯t usually come back out alive?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°There have been rumors that he has been gathering people from other worlds, apparently trying to create an army of them. It¡¯s been noticed more when a few have managed to escape somehow, trying to get help, speaking in some unknown language. They were always caught though and never seen again. People just assumed they were killed I guess. The last one to temporarily escape was about six months ago.¡± Evond explained.


    ¡°I see. We''re leaving town as soon as we can, before we''re found and captured again. Sounds like we won¡¯t escape a second time. I''d like as much information as you can provide to my questions. A map of the area if you have one, and any health capsules you might have would be nice.¡± Adam got straight to it.


    ¡°I see, well I can definitely do my best to answer your questions. I have some health capsules, but can''t give them up for free of course. As for a map, I have one but I''m reluctant to depart with it. I''ve had it for a long time and it wasn''t easy to acquire.¡±


    ¡°Mind if we start with the health capsules? I could use the healing now. My health is only down twenty three points but the pain is ¡­ well painful as fudge.¡± Adam insisted.


    ¡°Fudge? What''s that?¡± he asked confused.


    ¡°Umm¡­ a dessert from where I''m from,¡± Adam responded reluctantly.


    ¡°You have a dessert you eat that''s painful? That seems unwise,¡± Evond continued even more confused.


    Lianna started openly laughing at him, only to abruptly stop and wince, her laughs hurting her abused ribs.


    ¡°Never mind. Do you have at least two capsules for us?¡± He asked.


    Evond went over to a large chest in the corner and after rooting through for a minute he pulled out a small case. Bringing it over to them, he opened it and placed it on the table.


    ¡°I have four weak health capsules, two moderate and one average. Both of you look completely beaten but your injuries don''t look too severe, so a moderate would probably do. I can give them both to you for eighteen silver.¡±


    ¡°How much for all of them? Including the container to hold them?¡± Adam asked seeing the capsule box. It was a simple rectangular case with a hard outside and padded inside with slots for ten capsules. Which included two capsules that had a slight blue tint to them inside two of the slots.


    ¡°one gold twenty five silver I could do it for, and I''ll include the two poor mana capsules ¡± he said after some thought.


    Adam placed two gold on the table, sliding them to Evond and pulling the case towards him. He quickly passed the first moderate health capsule to Lianna, which she gratefully took, then consumed the second one himself.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Consumed Moderate Health Capsule


    Health + 15


    Health + 1/second for 10 seconds.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After ten seconds he was back to full health and felt no pain. Lianna also appeared to be good as new. These things really were amazing.With the healing completed, Evond returned with a bag of what Adam assumed to be seventy five silver in change, placing it on the table in front of Adam.Ignoring the bag, Adam continued with his questions now that he was no longer in agony.


    ¡°Would you mind telling me about why there are so many living in poverty, and who are injured in this town?.¡±


    Evond stared at Adam as if he had asked a stupid question with an obvious answer. When Adam didn''t say anything, Evond answered.


    ¡°All people are born with one skill or spell apart from the three mana skills. The skill you''re born with can have a huge impact on having a good life, if it can be unlocked. It can provide people with strength to help grow even stronger, or provide a crafting skill that can be used to make a living. Unfortunately many are unable to unlock it themselves, especially without proper guidance, as every skill and spell can require different and more difficult criteria to unlock. They can be unlocked using experience from killing monsters, but many require a lot of experience which involves being able to kill a large quantity of creatures without any skills or spells to begin with.


    Skills and spells learned from coins are unlocked to begin with and give a huge advantage to being able to fight and more easily kill for experience. They are rare and obtained from killing strong monsters and bosses in dungeons, or purchased for a price that most people can¡¯t afford. This allows for those who are already rich to easily increase their strength and wealth, while the poor remain without any power or ability to get stronger. Wealthy families, nobles, and royalty continue to grow stronger while the rest of the people are left to make it in the world on their own with little hope to get stronger. Sadly, that is how the world works.¡± Evond finished looking genuinely sad.


    ¡°Why don''t kings and the leaders of cities help their citizens prosper, to grow stronger as a whole?¡± Adam asked


    ¡°Why would they? The weaker their people are, the easier it is to control them. Besides, skill coins, the more powerful capsules and all the useful items are already difficult enough to get, if the demand was higher, they would have to share.¡±


    ¡°But¡­¡± Adam started but didn''t continue. It would be pointless to argue that if more people had the strength to fight the powerful bosses, then that would also increase the supply of items, making them less rare. Even if Evond agreed, he couldn''t do anything about it.


    ¡°I have been in the forest surrounding this town and not seen a single animal or beast. Why is that?¡± He asked instead.


    ¡°You¡¯re level zero?¡± he simply asked


    ¡°Yes?¡± Adam questioning.


    ¡°Your really not from this world are you?¡± He asked them.


    ¡°No we¡¯re not.¡± Adam admitted.


    ¡±Are people all being pulled from different worlds or just ours?¡± Lianna asked.


    ¡°Well I can¡¯t be sure, but typically, from what I know of summoning magic, the caster has no control over where the person is summoned from, so likely various worlds. I could be wrong¡± He answered.


    ¡°I see.¡± Adam said.


    ¡°To get back to your question, what do any animals, any monsters need to get stronger? Experience. What does anyone at level zero have little to none of? They avoid anyone at level zero as it isn''t worth the effort for no experience¡± Evond answered.


    ¡°That makes sense I guess.¡± Adam said hesitantly.


    ¡°What about me then? I¡¯m level two, will I get attacked when we leave the town?¡± Lianna spoke up clearly weary.


    ¡°Yes, but if you have managed to get to level two, you should be alright as long as you''re careful. Don''t be loud and try not to get surrounded or attacked by too many at once. Experience is gained from killing but the lower the opponents level the less experience received. If the creature is more than five levels higher than you, they will receive no experience. Therefore nothing five levels above you should attack. Most of the monsters that will attack you around here are solo hunters anyway,¡± Evond reassured her.


    ¡°We have to kill monsters to gain experience so we can increase our level, but what exactly does increasing level do?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Each level increase gives you one point to increase your attributes. Allows for a larger experience pool thus allowing for higher increase in skill and spell levels. Some skills and spells have level requirements to use or increase their level as well. Some highly rare and powerful ones can require hundreds to millions of experience to do so, which you need to have the required amount in your experience pool all at once.¡± Evond continued


    ¡°Something I seem to be missing is that I have some attribute points myself but can''t figure out how to use them or even check what my attributes are. All I know is my health, stamina and mana.¡±


    ¡°That''s another reason to level up. As you increase in level you unlock your attribute points at specific levels. Physical attributes unlock first followed by mental. There are rumors of other things like lifespan being unlocked at very high levels but I can''t be sure if it''s true or not. This makes leveling up required to increase in power, even for those who receive attribute points by unlocking and increase their skills and spells without experience.¡±


    ¡°Is there no way to gain experience and level up without having to kill?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Completing a dungeon grants all members in a group experience for defeating the boss, which is how those with healing and non combat abilities gain levels but they are desired in a party. If you don''t have a use to help complete the dungeon, I doubt anyone will let you join them.¡±


    ¡°Good to know.¡± Adam said.


    ¡°Alright, so we need to escape from here somewhere we can grow stronger and increase our skills. Have any recommendations?¡±


    ¡°Hunt monsters along the way to Karhu city, then if you can afford it get a useful combat spell or skill. Karhu city is close to a dungeon obelisk with high amounts of traffic. This gives a larger selection of skill and spell coins than my shop. Once you feel confident enough in your abilities, find a group to attempt a level one dungeon and continue to grow stronger. Just don''t try anything beyond your capability.¡± Evond offered.


    ¡°Dungeon Obelisk?¡± Lianna asked


    ¡°It''s a tall monument that allows for the instant transportation to a large amount of dungeons, as well as the four closest obelisks. It also allows for those who have previously completed dungeons to access the Avaria Dungeon up to an equal level. I would suggest against that any time soon, it has a higher difficulty even if it offers the best rewards, including items that can only be acquired from it.¡±


    ¡°Teleportation, interesting,¡± Adam said excitedly. ¡°How far are other obelisks?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure the distance but from one obelisk to another is about half a year¡¯s travel if i remember correctly.¡± He told Adam.


    ¡°That is very far, I can see why most people would teleport if that¡¯s an option. So how much for your map if you were to part with it? I will do my best to return it to you for free when I see you again.¡± Adam enquired wanting the map.


    ¡°Good maps are expensive and hard to come by, especially ones that cover a large scale. I will lend it to you for fifty silver, but you better bring it back.¡± Evond said.


    Adam accepted the map Evond pulled from his chest, handing it over in a cylindrical case. They went over the map which covered a very large distance, encompassing dozens of cities and towns within it, along with many hand written notes put on the map by Evond himself. Once they established the best route to their destination, Adam gave the fifty silver for the map along with an additional ten for all the help.


    Lianna and Adam headed out of the city after acquiring some food and a few additional supplies from Evond. It was still extremely dark at night when they came to the gate with two new guards standing to either side. With not a word from the guards, they left and started heading to their first destination.


    They took the road leading directly away from the city, with trees along both sides. Adam created a light to help them see slightly in the darkness.


    ¡°There''s no moon.¡± Lianna commented after looking up at the sky for a while.


    ¡°No, I''ve never seen one, so I don''t think this planet has a moon. Only the amazing amount of stars to light up the night. With heavy cloud cover it would be completely black though.¡±


    They were an hour down the road when Adam heard the noises of a creature for the first time since coming here. A small cat like creature with two horns protruding from its head stepped out of the trees. Though it wasn''t overly large for an animal, it was big for cats he was used to. Its eyes were locked on Lianna as it approached. She had her dagger in her hand before it finished stepping out of the trees.


    Adam''s heart jumped when he saw the feline pounce towards her after she stumbled, tripping over nothing. He was surprised at how quickly it moved. Just before the cat made contact with her, she regained her footing and brought the dagger down on its neck, digging the blade all the way to the hilt. The creature fell to the ground dead, blood covering the ground and spraying over Lianna¡¯s clothes.


    ¡°Ew. Not the first time I''ve been covered in blood in the past few days, but still so gross,¡±she said turning towards Adam. ¡°These horned cats are fast and smart, but quickly act on their opponents mistakes, which makes it easy to trick them.¡±


    ¡°Even so, it moved so quickly I doubt I would have time to react.¡± Adam was still shocked that she was able to handle it so easily. ¡°We''ll have to get you cleaned up.¡±


    Adam kept lookout while she cleaned the blood off herself using a little bit of their drinking water,and changed into a second set of clothes. She still had streaks of blood on her face and in her hair but he was sure it wasn''t easy with minimal water to use.


    After a couple of hours walking and two more encounters with horned cats, they were quite exhausted and made a simple camp near a river that ran along the road. The trees had begun to thin out and eventually stop as open fields appeared around them. Not that they could see anything but flat ground in the distance. Lianna used the opportunity to clean herself and her two sets of bloody clothes in the water. Then they went to sleep, both too exhausted to think about keeping watch.

 Chapter Seven (Rewrite)

    Travelling for over a day Adam and Lianna talked, learning more about each other. He told her about his position at Black Sphere, developing and implementing advanced security systems around the world. Of course he didn''t do the traveling himself but whenever the installation team had any technical trouble, he''d be the one to walk them through it.


    His job involved designing every aspect of the system, with the help of his two assistants. This included the material composition of vaults, to developing the best facial recognition,eye scanners, fingerprint scanners, and many systems to make sure the person given access was the correct person. Black Sphere was specialized in high security settings such as banks, museums, and places with extremely valuable items. They did occasionally work with people on housing security as well and some unique requests.


    Lianna as expected was a high school student in grade twelve. She told him how much she disliked school but loved to play sports. She apparently played basically any and all sports. She had been focusing on volleyball most recently but still played basketball, football, soccer, and anything she could get people to play with her in her free time. If she couldn''t find people to play with she would go hiking through the forests and mountains around her city.


    This was very evident to Adam how fit she was after the day of walking. His feet and legs were so sore he contemplated using one of the capsules to heal himself. Yet she seemed in perfect condition, ready to run a marathon. He also knew being so active with the various sports made her extremely agile, giving her the edge she needed to defeat the horned cats that kept appearing. Every time they burst into action to attack her, it would be dead before Adam had looked away from its initial location.


    Taking a break, as Adam couldn''t continue walking, they set up camp near a tree that had grown in the open fields, fairly close to the road. They hadn''t seen any horned cats in hours or anything beyond the grassy fields. Adam had been focusing on increasing his mana skills while they walked, but only made little progress as Lianna liked to keep some form of conversation going. He managed to increase his manipulation maximum up to forty, while his mana sense and absorption improved only slightly.


    Lianna was laying on her blanket while Adam was trying to concentrate on increasing his mana manipulation further. Increasing this skill he found fairly straight forward though not necessarily easy. It involved manipulating his current maximum while drawing out and adding one more without losing control, then simply maintaining the new maximum. This didn''t always go smoothly as he would lose control of one or more mana, letting it disperse. Fortunately each increase was simply a matter of time and repetition. His mind seemed to need to adjust to controlling so many mana at one time.


    As the large sun was approaching the horizon, Adam was able to achieve another ten mana to his control, bringing his manipulation maximum up to fifty. He was also very low on mana from continually losing control. Just after hitting fifty, he heard Lianna sit up excitedly.


    ¡°What is it?¡± He asked her.


    ¡°So you know how I hit level three earlier today? Well I just noticed I have two attributes unlocked I can place my points into. At level two I was able to do physical strength, and now I can increase my physical speed as well.¡±


    ¡°So Evond was correct that we need to level up to increase our attributes. How many points do you have? What will you do with them?¡± Adam said with complete interest.


    ¡°Now that I have the attributes available, I know that both my strength and speed are five. Is that good? We should have asked about that. Umm let me put one point in each first,¡± she said after standing.


    ¡°Oh..tingly¡± she said with a shiver.


    ¡°What?¡± Adam asked


    ¡°After I put each point into strength then speed, I felt a tingly sensation go through my body. It only lasted a second each but was weird.¡± she explained.


    After moving around a bit, running jumping and to Adam''s surprise she even did a couple flips she came back over to Adam.


    ¡°Impressive.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ve done gymnastics since I was young. Anyway this is pretty sweet. My body feels lighter, faster, easier to move around. Not anything crazy but a noticeable difference for sure.¡±


    ¡°I don''t understand how that''s possible, I know this world has mana and magic but I still feel that there has to be a logical reason how it works.¡± Adam questioned.


    ¡°Wasn''t there a saying that magic is simply science that isn''t understood yet or something?¡± She asked Adam.


    ¡°You''re right. So I just have to learn more about how everything works until it is science to me and no longer magic,¡± Adam said with excitement in his voice.


    ¡°Sure, you do that,¡± she told him as she walked a good distance away from the tree and marked a line in the ground with her foot.


    ¡°Ok Mr Scientist, time how long it takes me to run to the tree!¡± she yelled at him.


    ¡°Ok,¡± he shouted back.


    With a nod, she began running. With his best attempt to count the seconds he got to sixteen when she placed her hand on the tree.


    ¡°Sixteen seconds,¡± he told her.


    ¡°Again. I''ve put my last four points all into speed. Lets see the difference,¡± she told him then jogged back to her starting line.


    This time Adam could see the difference in her speed. Her hand hit the tree when his counting stopped at twelve.


    ¡°Twelve seconds,¡± he told her also excited at the large increase to her speed.


    ¡°Hell ya!¡± she shouted jumping in the air, then continued to run around, testing out her new speed.


    Lianna spent the rest of the day running and jumping around, testing out the new limits of her body. Adam wasn''t sure how she could just run so much but she seemed happy.


    Adam knew he was going to have to work on leveling up if he wanted to get stronger. He didn''t like the idea of killing anything but if he didn''t get strong enough to survive in this dangerous world, he was going to be the one dead. He knew he had not been as lucky as he thought with avoiding the monsters in the forest since they avoided him instead because of his level. He also knew animals needed to eat, and eventually he would get attacked by something and become their dinner.


    ¡°Lianna?¡± Adam got her attention when she ran back to her blanket area, completely drenched in sweat.


    He estimated the temperature to be around twenty five degrees celsius. So far the temperature ranged between twenty and thirty degrees, so not too different from many places on Earth.


    ¡°Ya?¡±


    ¡°Could you help me ¡­ level up? I doubt I could handle something as fast as those feline creatures but if anything shows up that I could possibly¡­ deal with, then¡­. I can handle raising my skills on my own without experience but I''ll never get stronger or be able to increase any of my attributes without leveling up.¡± Adam asked a little awkwardly. He wasn''t used to asking for help, since he usually could do most things himself, or simply didn''t do the things he couldn''t.


    ¡°Sure,¡± was her only response as she laid down on the blanket.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    His first opportunity arrived the next day when a very small creature wandered into their path. It was what Adam thought simply looked like a really fat squirrel. It had four legs and a tail with fur covering its body except much rounder. It was also very slow, even for Adam. It did have a large spike at the tip of its tail that he figured was like a scorpion stinger, most likely venomous. With the length of his shortsword he was easily able to stay out of its reach. He hesitated greatly but with some resolve and a quick stab the sword went through its body, killing it instantly.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 30</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Recieved: 11</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam quickly felt guilty and regretted that he felt forced to kill the fat scorpion squirrel for a whole eleven experience. He knew he had to do it but didn''t like it. Pulling out his blade, red blood pooled around its body along with streaks of dark purple liquid he assumed was probably the things venom.


    They should probably be more careful when they slept. They had both kept watch for some of the previous night but inevitably fell asleep. Adam was used to getting only a few hours of sleep some nights from working to finish a task at work but it was different when he had been walking for hours, becoming sore and physically tired. He struggled to stay awake. Lianna seemed better off than him but she needed at least six hours of sleep to function.


    ¡°Adam! Head out of the clouds.¡±


    Adam looked up to see five more of the scorpion squirrels coming out of the tall grass. They varied slightly but were all still very chubby. They must use their venom to take down much larger creatures then gorge themselves, eating more than they should.


    All five sets of eyes were focused on Lianna, he assumed since he was still level zero and not worth killing. He swung his sword to remove some of the blood dripping from it, then approached the closest squirrel to him. He easily stabbed it from behind as it continued to walk slowly towards Lianna. His sword went through the creature''s body like the first but took him a little more effort to initially pierce its skin.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 40</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Recieved: 22</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam continued to follow behind them as Lianna kept just enough distance to keep their attention on her. He was better to fight such an opponent with his longer sword anyway. Her short dagger would require her to be at risk of getting stung. He stabbed three more times.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 40</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Recieved: 22</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 30</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Recieved: 14


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 30</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Recieved: 14</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Now at eighty three experience, he looked at the final scorpion squirrel that finally realized the threat and was coming towards Adam. This one seemed slightly faster than the others, though it didn''t really matter when they were moving at a turtles walk. Adam lunged for it with the blade hitting it in the side causing the blade to cut deeply but didn''t pierce fully through its body like the others.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 12


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Before Adam pulled back, the stinger hit the blade with a loud clang, nearly causing him to drop it. Taking a step back, he noticed the sword had a small dent where it was hit. Guess this was the boss squirrel he thought with a nervous chuckle to himself.


    Lianna continued to watch him calmly, appearing to think he could handle it. Trying again, he swung the sword this time aiming for its neck, rather than stabbing at its body. Hitting his mark, with only a bit of resistance, the shortsword cut halfway through its neck. Which was easily enough for it to slump to the ground dead. This one must have been a decent level Adam thought.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 28</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Recieved:46</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    His blade and him this time were soaked in blood. He dropped the sword on the ground, slightly in shock killing so many animals. Six deaths to get him to the hundred experience he needed to get to level one. Was it worth it. He needed to learn more how experience worked at least to minimize the amount he would need to kill. That last one had given him forty six experience but he only needed seventeen, so twenty nine was wasted, and that was more than he had received for the two squirrels giving him fourteen each. He could have just run away after that or leveled up and not let the experience go to waste. Lianna had picked up his sword and cleaned it off with her already blood stained shirt.


    ¡°Here. Did you get enough experience at least?¡± she said handing him back his shortsword.


    ¡°Ya. Thanks.¡± he took back his sword and used his now removed shirt to wipe off his arms.


    Luckily the creatures were small and no blood made it up to his face. Then he put on his cleaner shirt. He knew it wouldn''t be long until he was covered in blood again if he was going to continue leveling but wanted to be clean for now.


    Adam was hesitant to level up. If he did, he would be a target for any monster that came near, while they actually avoided him for the moment. No he needed to do it. He needed to get stronger and return to Enault City. Gerald was enslaving people from Earth, ripping them away from their lives. He slaughtered people in the streets like they meant nothing. Someone had to do something. He wasn''t exactly sure how he would do it, but he would. Bringing up his menu, he tapped the new level up button that appeared. Then he was level one.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Level Up


    AP + 1</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°You did well. I know it''s not easy at first. I still don''t like the killing any more than you do, but I can''t go back to being a slave. If we have any chance of getting back home, we need to be strong.¡± Lianna reassured him.


    ¡°I know, you''re right.¡± Adam walked over to the dead bodies. ¡°Can I see your dagger¡±


    ¡°Sure. What are you doing?¡± she asked.


    He materialized a small glass vial. Using the dagger he cut into the last scorpion squirrel he killed with great effort until he found a small transparent sack with dark purple liquid inside. Carefully he poked it with the dagger while placing the vial underneath. Once the five milliliter vial was full, he materialized a lid and screwed it on.


    ¡°Uhg, definitely have never dissected something before, but their venom might be useful,¡± he told her and placed it in his bag.


    ¡°I really wish your magic let you create bigger and better things, like clean clothes for starters,¡± she told him ignoring his disgust.


    ¡°Well I definitely don''t disagree with you there.¡± He told her smiling. ¡°Let''s continue.¡±


    After walking for only a few minutes, another of the chubby squirrels appeared. This one was somehow even bigger and slower than average.


    ¡°Can you keep its attention for a moment, I want to try something?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°I guess.¡± She got its attention on her and lured it around in a circle, a very slow circle.


    Adam removed the vial from his bag and poured a small amount of the venom on the tip of his shortsword. Then he put the lid back on and returned the vial to his bag.


    ¡°Ok, I''m ready,¡± he said walking closer to the circling pair. Then poked the squirrel with the blade, pushing just hard enough to wound it and get the venom in its system. Then he backed away to watch the result.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 5</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°I''m no scientist but shouldn''t they be immune to their own venom?¡± She asked him.


    ¡°Possibly, but that might not be the case.¡±


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Paralysis Inflicted: 20 seconds</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Poison Inflicted: -10 hp/s for 20 seconds</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The creature stopped moving, falling to the ground parylized.


    ¡°Guess it''s not,¡± he said smiling.


    After a few more seconds, the experience notification appeared, signalling its death.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Recieved: 22</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°So it paralyzes and poisons. Scary.¡± Adam was surprised at its effect. ¡°But also much less bloody.¡±


    ¡°Ten damage per second over twenty seconds, thats two hundred damage. We would be dead for sure if we got stung.¡± Adam told Lianna


    ¡°I wonder how effective it would be on something larger, and much higher level,¡± Lianna contemplated.


    ¡°I just hope it isn''t too painful,¡± Adam said quietly.


    Continuing on, they finally saw their first destination in sight, a small town similar to Enault City in size. They had traveled a few more hours and Adam killed enough of the chubby scorpion squirrels to get to level two. The creatures continued to be slow and plentiful up until an hour before seeing the town.


    Adam was able to know his first attribute, physical strength. Which was the same as Lianna¡¯s had been at five. He decided to put two points into strength and leave the other four points for later. Just as Lianna had said, each point caused a tingle of energy to flow through his body, more specifically his muscles. He didn''t seem to have more muscle, the bit of muscle he did have just felt stronger.


    He focused less on training his skills for the walk and instead using his mana to create gold coins, using his mana absorption occasionally for as long as he could stand. Which amounted to ten to fifteen minute intervals. It was just too tedious. He managed to reach thirty gold coins in his pouch along with the fifteen silver.


    The city was apparently similar in size to Enault, but the first thing he noticed was that the large gate and walls were made of stone instead of wood. Which made sense with the sparse amount of trees in the area. There must be a mine nearby for the large quantity of stone to build such a wall. He could see figures moving along the top of the walls as well.


    Reaching the gate, two guards stood on each side. One guard was significantly shorter and heavily muscled with a large beard coming from his helmet. Both of them wore full metal plate armor. The guard standing beside what he was going to assume was a dwarf, stepped forward and spoke with a commanding feminine voice.


    ¡°What is your purpose in Kettu City? The cost of entry will be two copper each, can you pay that?¡± she asked them.


    ¡°We are just passing through, here to stay for the night and yes we can pay.¡± Adam handed her a silver coin.


    ¡°You don''t have copper?¡± she asked clearly a little suspicious at someone having silver but no copper.


    ¡°We were robbed, but luckily they only got our copper, not knowing we had some silver stashed away,¡± Lianna spoke up.


    ¡°I see. Very well, here''s your six copper. Enjoy your time here in Kettu. I recommend the Kettu Inn, it''s to the left there and two streets down,¡± she said handing over the copper and stepping aside.


    ¡°Thank you. We will take the recommendation.¡° Adam said.


    As they walked through the city looking for the mentioned Inn, Adam noticed that all the buildings were also made of stone with wood for the windows and various areas. Though the houses were in decent shape, they still had missing stones in some locations, moss growing in dark areas and clearly not maintained. This town also appeared much more lively, numerous people walking in the streets, chatting with one another.


    He noticed less starved people living on the streets, though they were there. What appeared much worse here was the number of slaves following their owners around. Very few of the slaves were human. As far as he could tell the majority were what looked like elves, with various colored skin reminding him of different gems. They had pointed ears, with colorful eyes and matching hair. They all stood a foot or more taller than the humans around them even with their slouched postures.


    They reminded him of the aquamarine coloured lady at the bank. Though he wasn''t able to talk with her at the time she clearly was intelligent and he didn''t know how anyone could make slaves of them. With the little he knew of this world, he didn''t doubt there was also an Elven city somewhere with humans as slaves. It seemed to be a world with many races, where each race made slaves of the others, yet each individual only looked out for themselves, not caring about others no matter the race. Adam gritted his teeth, knowing he couldn''t help everyone, and he couldn''t just go around buying up slaves to free them. Someone would notice and he would probably end up dead this time. He didn''t have the power or any form of influence to prevent it. So he would continue working to get it.


    He knew he wasn''t going to be strong, not strong enough for people to fear his strength, especially not anytime soon. So the next best thing was allies. If he could find people who agreed with him and had the strength to change things, he could support them. Money wasn''t everything, but it was significant, and could even be the deciding factor to wars. He knew there had to be good people, he had already seen it. He just needed to find these good people who were also strong. If that doesn''t work, then he''ll make the good people strong, it would just take more time.


    They found a large two story building with a sign out front depicting what Adam thought looked like the head of a fennec fox. Adam was about to go through the door when a small figure ran past him, grabbing the pouch of silver on the outside of his waist, ripping the loop that kept it attached. Lianna reacted quickly, tripping the thief as he ran past her and snatching the pouch back.


    It was a young boy that didn''t quite look human with slightly pointed ears and a very slight amount of pink to his skin. Not the same as the elves but more like a human with dyed skin. His eyes were a deep blue with long matching hair.


    The boy looked up at them from the ground clearly angry with tears forming. Adam took the silver bag back from Lianna, thanking her. Then tossed a silver to the boy as he finished standing. He was wearing rags for clothes.


    ¡°I''d rather you ask me for money than try to steal it,¡± he told him.


    ¡°I.. I''m sorry. Asking for money never works, and ¡­ I''m so hungry. You''re giving me a whole silver even though I tried to steal from you? I''ve seen people killed on the spot for stealing from the wrong person,¡± the boy said, clearly suspicious.


    ¡°How about I do even better. I''m hungry myself. Care to join us for a meal? My treat.¡±


    The boy seemed even more surprised. He didn''t answer right away, something clearly bothering him. After awhile he finally spoke up.


    ¡°Umm would it be too much to ask... if my sister could come as well?¡± he said hesitantly


    ¡°Your sister? Sure why not.¡±


    ¡°Umm¡­¡± the boy said clearly confused. Trying to figure something out.


    ¡°He means yes. Your sister is more than welcome to join us.¡± Lianna told him. Then whispered to Adam. ¡°He was probably trying to answer your question of ¡®why not?¡¯¡±


    ¡°Oh. Fudge,¡± he said to himself before continuing. ¡°Yes, she''s welcome. Is she nearby?¡±


    ¡°Y..yes. I can bring her,¡± he said about to run off.


    ¡°Would you be able to meet us back here in a little while? We would like to do a couple things before going out to eat,¡± Lianna asked the kid.


    ¡°I can do that.¡± He answered


    ¡°Okay, see you in a bit then,¡± Adam said with a smile.


    ¡°What do we need to do?¡± he asked after the kid ran off.


    ¡°Don''t you think it might be a good idea to clean up and get some new clean clothes before going to eat at a restaurant?¡± she said gesturing to their blood stained clothes.


    ¡°Oh. Yeah. Good thinking,¡± he said sheepishly.


    Finding a clothing shop didn''t take long, both getting decent clothing this time that had better style and much softer material. Then they checked into the Inn, dropping off their bags and used the public baths available to paying customers. Properly clean, they dressed into their new clothes and headed out front of the Inn.


    ¡°Are you planning something with them?¡± Lianna asked


    ¡°No. I might ask them some questions, but that''s about it. I can hopefully treat a couple kids to a meal without soldiers eventually slaughtering a bunch of people and kidnapping us. I just have to be more discreet with helping.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Well I''m so hungry, and we haven''t had much in terms of an actual meal.¡±


    ¡°Agreed.¡±


    The young boy returned with a young girl that looked to be the same age and height as her brother with similar features, following behind. She had the same bright blue eyes and hair as well that stood out against the pink skin. One main difference was her skin which was less faded looking than her brother''s.


    ¡°Welcome back,¡± he said smiling at the two nervous kids. ¡°Do you have names?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Ceru,¡± the boy spoke up first, clearly less worried than his sister.


    ¡°My name is Roux,¡± the girl spoke up after a bit of urging from Ceru.


    ¡°Ok Ceru and Roux, as I don''t know this town very well, do either of you know a good place to eat? With lots of food. Though we''ll have to make a quick stop first to get you some new clothes as well,¡± Adam said.


    Both of them looked at each other smiling before saying the same thing. ¡°Liah¡¯s Restaurant,¡± clearly excited.


    ¡°Guess it''s decided then.¡± Lianna said smiling.


    After stopping in at the same clothing store, which didn''t take very long as neither of the siblings cared about the style of the new clothes they got, but with some help from Lianna, they both looked much better, though still quite dirty. Lianna picked out a nice stormy grey dress for Roux and a nice pair of pants and shirt to match the theme for Ceru.


    Once out of the store, they were led to a very busy area, the kids easily slipping through the crowd of people going unnoticed. Then having to wait impatiently for Adam and Lianna to catch up. The area was a collection of buildings around a large grassy area with a few trees in the middle. A park. The smell of delicious food filled the air, coming from every direction. They were brought to the largest and only two story building in the area.


    They waited in a small line of finely dressed people just outside the large double doors. Jewelry, frilly dresses and quality fabric worn by them all. He wore a buttoned shirt of soft cotton, plain but for some simple embroidery on the collar and cuff, and straight legged trousers under a black cloak similar to his own except thinner with a silk lining. Lianna seemed uncomfortable yet pretty in her pale green dress that sported little golden buttons on the bodice and sleeves. Both outfits were made up of quality material at the very least, but neither had wanted anything flashy that would draw unwanted attention.


    Adam saw Lianna staring down the line of people. He looked the way she was facing to see a plump woman sitting in the line upon the back of an Elven man. He was kneeling on his hands and knees, obviously struggling to hold up her significant weight. What frustrated Adam most was that no one in the area paid it any attention, though it was probably not an unusual sight for them.


    Adam and Lianna both turned away, accepting that they shouldn¡¯t do anything. Fifteen minutes later, it was their turn to be led into the restaurant. A well dressed man led them to a small private room with a table in the center, surrounded by finely crafted dark wood chairs with fancy designs carved into them. The table was covered with a black tablecloth with gold stitched edging. They each took a seat, including Ceru and Roux, who received a quickly hidden look of confusion from the waiter.


    ¡°So, Ceru, Roux what would you like?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Meat,¡± Ceru said with agreement from Roux.


    ¡°Meat it is. Three of your finest meat dishes please,¡± Adam told the waiter.


    ¡°Make that four, and ice cold water as well please.¡± Lianna added.


    The waiter nodded and without a word left them alone in the room.


    ¡°So Ceru and Roux, do you have parents?¡± Lianna spoke up first.


    ¡°No.¡± Roux said


    ¡°They died,¡± Ceru added in. ¡°Killed by monsters outside the city. ¡°


    ¡°That''s why we never leave the city. It''s dangerous¡± Roux continued.


    ¡°How long have you been in the city without your parents?¡± Adam asked.


    Ceru looked thoughtful but Roux spoke first.


    ¡°At least two years I think.¡±


    ¡°You''ve survived here on your own for over two years?¡± Lianna asked surprised.


    ¡°No. We did it together.¡± Ceru told her.


    ¡°Mind if I ask if you are Elves?¡± Adam couldn''t help his curiosity.


    ¡°Yes, and human. Both. Dad was human and mom was Elf, they said we were both.¡± Roux said happily.


    ¡°Very nice. So I take it if you have been here awhile, you know the city pretty well?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Most of it, ya,¡± Ceru answered.


    ¡°We won''t be in the city long but have a few things we could use. Would you mind showing us where to go? We''ll pay you well,¡± Adam smiled to them both.


    ¡°Okay!¡± they both said together.


    Adam and Lianna continued to chat with them, asking questions until the door opened, and the waiter returned with their meals. Each plate contained an assortment of meat, each with its own sauce or flavoring. A sizable portion of some kind of yellow mashed vegetables and a few small portions of tiny vegetables accompanied the dishes.


    After a plate was placed in front of each of them, four metal cups with intricate designs in them were placed in the center of the table with a large jug of water with similar designs on it. There were no ice cubes inside but the water looked on the verge of freezing as a cold mist emanated from the top of the jug.


    The waiter placed a knife and what was essentially a fork, with two prongs beside their plates then retreated out the door again. The waiter barely had time to leave before the siblings each had a chunk if meat in their hands, held by the bone protruding from it.


    No more talking occurred while they each enjoyed their meal to its fullest. Adam finished everything on his plate, having loved each bite of the three different types of meat that he had never had before. He enjoyed the yellow mashed vegetables that had a sweetness to it. The small assortment of vegetables were slightly acidic and sour like a lemon, which he wasn''t keen on but ate them anyway.


    Giving the waiter a gold coin, he returned with eighty silver in change. Leaving a tip on the table of four silver, they took their leave from the restaurant. They left full and satisfied, especially Ceru and Roux, who had devoured their meals in half the time he had.


    The siblings had agreed to take them to the best place to buy weapons and armour. Adam was excited, since the description they gave, some of the armour and weapons they saw leaving the shop had a glow to them. Adam and Lianna both couldn''t help hoping that it was enchanted or some kind of magical weapons and armour.

 Chapter Eight (rewrite)

    ¡°Adam, If we''re going to be buying more stuff, including armour and weapons that are heavy. Shouldn''t we get some kind of transportation. Like that?¡± Lianna asked pointing to a sizable wooden carriage that was passing them in the street. It was pulled by one of the scaled lion rhino creatures he had seen before.


    ¡°That is probably a better idea than I had¡± he admitted


    ¡°Oh? What was your idea?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ I didn''t exactly have one.¡±


    ¡°I thought not.¡± Lianna smirked


    ¡°Roux, Ciru¡± Lianna got the attention of the two half elves walking ahead of them. ¡°Small change of plans. Do you know where we could get a carriage?¡±


    They both looked thoughtful before changing direction.


    ¡°This way.¡± they said in unison.


    They didn''t have to go far before arriving to an area with different sized carriages displayed in a line along one side of the road. There wasn''t a huge selection. Each of the carriages were completely different in size, design and wood to metal ratio. The first was made of mostly wood with no designs put into it but was for basic function for the cheapest price. The last was noticeably larger, made with sturdier looking wood carved with designs and steel in many areas reinforcing it heavily. The thing must weigh a ridiculous amount.


    Across the street was a fenced in area with a selection of creatures that looked capable of pulling the carriages, a few were smaller and probably intended to pull smaller carts.


    ¡°Welcome travellers to Andrid¡¯s travelling shop, we have all your traveling needs. What can I help you with on this fine day?¡± A man approached them from seemingly nowhere.


    ¡°Lianna, tell the man what we want.¡± Adam said stepping behind her and slightly pushing her towards the excitable man.


    ¡°Ok¡­ Well I guess we need a decent sized carriage that is moderately sturdy and well made. One made to last preferably and of course it has to be comfortable and able to handle the bumpy roads.¡± she told the salesman who''s excitement continued to grow.


    Of course his first suggestion is the last cart and likely the most expensive. Not that Adam cared about the price but didn''t want to buy the most expensive one simply out of principle to the salesman. He hated exaggerated salesmen.


    ¡°How about this one?¡± Lianna pointed down the line. It appeared to be made of sturdy wood, with steel used on the wheels, lower frame, and most critical areas. The seat at the front had a long thick leather covered cushion on it.


    Shown inside there was a window opposite the door with seating for two on one side and open space on the other. Happy with it they moved on to picking out a beast to pull it.


    ¡°Do we have any idea how to control the creature?¡± Lianna asked.


    ¡°umm¡­ no?¡± Adam said.


    ¡°I can help with that.¡± the salesman spoke up ¡°for a small price I can cast a spell on you and the chosen creature. It will allow you to guide it in the right direction mentally.¡±


    ¡°That would be great, thank you.¡± Lianna told him.


    They decided on the large scaled beast Adam had seen pulling carriages previously, which was called a Scaled Sarvijona apparently. The one they chose had deep forest green scales.


    The magic the salesman cast simply involved being in contact with the Sarvijona and Adam at the same time. As far as he could tell, nothing happened during the spell but afterwards could feel a slight mental connection. The Spell was repeated again with Lianna with a warning for only one of them to give commands at a time or conflicting orders could cause the spell to be broken.


    The entire thing had cost them twenty five gold and twenty silver. Ten for the carriage, fifteen for the Sarvi and ten silver each for the spell. The salesman had tried charging them twenty eight gold, but Lianna was a decent negotiator apparently.


    Back on their way with the four of them sitting on the front seat, which normally would fit three adults. Adam guided the Sarvi as Ceru and Roux told him which direction to go. The large beast was slow, moving at a walking pace similar to their own. Fortunately it took his guidance with ease and pulled them all on the cart with no noticeable effort.


    Along the way Adam used up most of his mana to add eight more gold coins to his hidden pouch. Bringing him back up to thirteen. He decided to keep adding gold coins as he had the mana without using up all of it incase of an emergency.


    Arriving to their next destination, they parked along the side of the road, telling Basil to remain there. Basil was what Lianna decided they needed to name their Sarvijona. Adam hadn''t considered naming it so it was okay with him.


    The weapon and armor shop they were in was split into two sides, one for weapons, the other for armour. Each side had its own salesman, or saleswoman in case of the weapons. Which is of course where they went first. Adam decided to look at the spears, thinking he would prefer to keep his distance from the opponent, in theory reducing the danger to him as well as minimizing the amount of blood that would get on him. He saw Lianna go to the daggers. Which he thought made sense if she was gonna focus on speed.


    Hung on the wall were a variety of spears made of many materials. From basic wooden spears, which were basically a pointy stick he thought, to full metallic spears with scary looking heads. Two caught his attention which were made of entirely metal with pure black spear heads and intricate blue lines running through the entire spear. The second one was increasingly more complex than the first.


    ¡°Interested?¡± the saleswoman asked him calmly


    ¡°Maybe.¡± he looked at her.


    She was barely four feet tall and significantly more muscular than him. She had a darker complexion, making her look like she was covered in dirt, but looking closely he could tell she was perfectly clean.


    ¡°Have any questions?¡± she asked him after a short pause.


    He already liked her, she wasn''t pushy and simply was there to help if he needed it.


    ¡°Could you tell me about these two spears?¡± he said pointing to the two fancy metal spears.


    ¡°No problem. The first one here is carefully crafted from high quality steel with a Kovarium head. Making it extremely sharp and strong, with the Kovarium head providing the strength to withstand many battles with not even a nick to the edges. It is also highly heat resistant. The head surrounds a Naquidite sphere increasing its enchant effectiveness by one and a half percent, and increasing the weight of the head and balance of the spear as a whole. The Spear has an increased durability enchantment with Eularium, increasing the strength of the metals by twenty five percent, making it a very durable weapon. The Enchantment requires only one mana per minute to remain active, with an initial five mana cost to activate. A small amount of Manasilver has been included at the end of the shaft to allow for one hundred mana to be stored in the spear itself.¡± she paused letting Adam take in all the information.


    There was so many things he didn''t understand but the fact that it was enchanted interested him, and the idea that it could store mana itself was intriguing. Metals which he hadn''t heard of as well. So much to learn.


    ¡°The second one?¡± he asked


    ¡°It is similar except the shaft is made from manasteel with a second enchantment, a larger amount of manasilver giving it two hundred mana storage and a Naquidite sphere increasing both enchantments by two percent. The first enchantment is the same with a durability increase of thirty eight percent. The second enchantment is one very desired for spears and many weapons. A weight enchantment, which allows for the increase or decrease in the weight by up to fifty percent. The larger the change the more expensive the mana cost.¡±


    ¡°Amazing¡± he told her honestly. ¡°What do they cost?¡±


    ¡°The first one we¡¯re asking ten mithril, the second sixty mithril¡± she told him with a neutral expression.


    Ouch. He could tell they were impressive but damn, that was a lot of money. He bought a carriage and beast for less than one percent of the cheaper weapon. He looked over to see Lianna inspecting a dagger with Ceru and Roux. He would have to see if he could make mithril coins first, once he gets his hands on one. Deciding his shortsword was fine for now he would see if they could get a decent dagger for Lianna.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    ¡°What dagger would you recommend for her for around ten gold?¡± Adam asked while looking at Lianna.


    ¡°Ten gold. I have just the candidate.¡± she said as they walked over to the daggers.


    Picking up a steel dagger with a black tip, a slight curve to the blade and leather wrapped handle, she passed it to Lianna.


    ¡°This dagger is made with a small amount of Kovarium at the tip, and the rest high quality steel. I could sell it to you for ten gold.¡± she told them.


    ¡°Its nice, what is Kovarium?¡± Lianna asked


    ¡°Kovarium is the hardest metal known. It is only found in one location. Very few have the skill to work with it as it is extremely heat resistant and requires the assistance of magic to work with. Dwarves only export a small amount of it for a high price. It can withstand an extreme amount of damage but when it is damaged it will completely shatter as if made of glass.¡± she answered.


    ¡°We''ll take it.¡± Lianna said


    Adam handed over ten gold and thanked the saleswoman. Assuming armour could probably get just as expensive if not even more, they didn''t look at anything extravagant. They each ended up with a set of leather armour for three gold total. It definitely wasn''t the strongest of armour but Lianna¡¯s allowed for easy movement while his focused more on protection but still gave him decent mobility.


    After being shown how to equip the armor, they loaded it into the carriage and continued on. Focusing on creating more gold they continued doing some shopping for the rest of the day. They acquired sets of basic clothes, and supplies that they could carry in the carriage, including barrels of clean water, food and cooking supplies with a bunch of preserved meat.


    The two siblings did a perfect job guiding them around. With a last stop to a bank, Adam made a few more gems, trying a sapphire, ruby and emerald and exchanged them for gold, receiving silver and copper coins worth a surprising sixty gold. After getting the twins a room at the inn, he gave them five gold worth of silver and copper each, telling them to keep it safe in their room, and not to draw too much attention to themselves. It would be enough to sustain them for a long time. He also got them to promise not to mention anything about himself or Lianna to anyone.


    Alone in his room, Adam held Lianna¡¯s new dagger in his hand. Inspecting the black tip, it was matte black with no shine to it like many metals had. Running it along the leather at the bottom of his grieves it easily made a cut mark with little force applied. Pushing the tip it dug into the leather, passing through easily until the Kovarium tip ended and the steel started. He was impressed with how sharp it was. If it retained its sharpness and was as hard as the dwarf made it sound, he wondered how it compared to diamond. He would have to test it at some point.


    To start he wanted to see if he could materialize the valuable metal. After using his Absorption skill to get back to sixty mana, he drew fifty out from his right hand. Then he held the tip of the blade between his finger and thumb with his left hand. Fifty of his golden mana swirling around at once definitely was flashy. He felt like people could put on light shows at night. He focused on making a cube, starting at a single point and materializing outwards. The golden mana continued to solidify until the fifty mana was converted, leaving a black cube of Kovarium slightly less than one cubic inch in size. It was a surprisingly light metal, only slightly heavier than aluminum he figured.


    The kovarium cube definitely contained much more than the tip of the dagger, which had cost them ten gold. He would have to see what this amount was worth. He was sure it would be worth more than simply making gold coins but what about gemstones?


    With the dagger returned to its owner, Adam painstakingly spent a half hour with his absorption skill, trying to increase how much he could absorb at one time. This was much more difficult since he felt like it took great mental effort to draw in a small sliver of a single mana. Then he was trying to push that further and draw in more at a time. It was still extremely small but he felt like he had made some progress. Hitting sixty mana again he continued practicing his mana manipulation, raising the maximum to fifty five before falling asleep.


    A few hours after sunrise, their carriage was packed with their stuff and they were ready to continue on. After saying goodbye to Ceru and Roux, they headed to the weapon shop to see if Adam could sell the Kovarium cube, which he made a second identical one that morning. He considered selling it at their next destination but he rather liked the dwarven saleswoman. Entering the shop, it was empty with the saleswoman sitting behind the counter looking ready to fall back to sleep.


    ¡°Good morning.¡± Adam said as he walked up to the counter.


    ¡°yes?¡± was all she said without looking his way


    ¡°Not a lover of mornings I take it?¡±


    All he got was an affirmative grunt this time.


    ¡°I was here yesterday and bought a kovarium tipped dagger if you remember. After looking at the metal more closely, I realized it looked familiar. I have these two metal cubes and was never sure what they were. Until now at least, I could be wrong but they might be Kovarium?¡± he asked with the two cubes being placed on the counter.


    She looked at the Cubes, then became more alert picking one up.


    ¡°Yes, it is.¡± she said a little confused. ¡°Though I''m not sure why someone would go through the effort of forming such perfect cubes with it.¡±


    ¡°How is it formed for transportation? Into some form of ingot?¡± he asked her


    ¡°No, it is usually left in its natural form since little of it is exported and the difficulty of forging it makes it not worth it.¡±


    ¡°I see, you seem to have a decent variety of weapons containing Kovarium.¡± he commented looking around.


    ¡°Yes, I have a trade agreement getting me a small delivery of it once every season. Though it costs me double what it would inside Kelvar.¡±


    ¡°Kelvar is where it comes from?¡±


    ¡°Yes, It is the largest and most prosperous Dwarven city thanks to it being the only known source of Kovarium. It also has many of the best Smith''s in the world, capable of forging highly pure manasilver.¡±


    ¡°Manasilver you mentioned was in the two spears yesterday. What exactly is it?¡±


    ¡°Manasilver is a special metal capable of holding mana within it. The higher the purity the more mana it can contain. It¡¯s a very difficult to create metal alloy of silver and mithril that requires a specific forging process and extremely precise mana control. It has never been found naturally and only created or acquired in the Avaria Dungeon.¡±


    ¡°How welcoming is it for humans in Kelvar?¡±


    ¡°That can vary honestly. If you''re planning to go, your best bet would be to hire a dwarven guide.¡±


    ¡°Alright, Thank you. So would you be willing to buy this Kovarium from me?¡±


    She took both cubes into a back area of the shop and returned a moment later.


    ¡°For this amount I''ll give you a hundred and fifty gold.¡± she told him.


    ¡°Sounds good.¡± it had cost him one hundred mana to make the two cubes, being able to sell it for that much gold was definitely a step up.


    ¡°Any spear you could substitute for one hundred of the gold?¡± he asked


    Walking over and grabbing a spear off the wall she handed it to him.


    ¡°It has a steel head with ten percent Kovarium at the tip and along the edges. The shaft is made from a strong and flexible wood wrapped in soft leather for excellent grip. I''ll give it to you for eighty five gold, which is mostly for the Kovarium.¡±


    ¡°Perfect. Thank you.¡±


    It was a little heavy he found but not more than he could handle. Especially if he increased his strength. Accepting the sixty five gold, he left the shop after bidding her farewell.


    On the road again, Adam was quite happy with not having to walk this time. He still had to pay attention to keep Basil on course but didn''t require too much focus and he could take turns with Lianna.


    This was their final stretch to reach their current destination, Karhu City. According to Evond it was a three day travel by foot from here, and even though they weren''t walking, Basil moved at a similar speed. They had made sure to get lots of feed for him and water to last them the trip. Adam decided to put his remaining attribute points into his physical strength, bringing it up to eleven. Making him feel noticeably stronger and his spear felt lighter.


    An hour of travel away from the city trees started to appear again as they encountered their first monster. This one was noticeably larger than anything they had faced before. It was half their height on four legs, green fur with intense eyes staring at them. Adam''s best comparison would be a wolf type creature except it didn''t have any form of tail nor did he see any ears.


    Both Adam and Lianna got down off the carriage holding their weapons and already wearing their leather armor. It was warmer then they liked with the armor on but they wanted to remain alive.


    The forest green wolf tried to remain focused on them both as they circled around to opposite sides of it. It charged at Adam first. It wasn''t exceptionally fast but clearly was powerful. Adam tried to thrust his spear into the wolf''s head, missing, the spear sunk into the side of its shoulder, cutting straight through with only a little resistance. The cut was deep and clean, a flap of flesh and fur hanging from its shoulder with blood starting to flow. The beast howled out in pain as it backed off, reevaluating its opponents.


    Distracted by Adam it wasn''t paying attention to Lianna who quickly came up behind it, slashing across it''s back legs with the point of her dagger before jumping back out of range again. Blood sprayed on the ground, something important clearly being hit as it struggled to even remain standing. Lianna circled around it staying out of sight. Adam approached again stabbing the spear through its side, hitting ribs before the spear slides in between them and sinks deeper. Lianna jumped in stabbing deep into its neck, causing it to stop its cries of pain and fall to the ground unmoving.


    ¡°Wow.¡± She said pulling the dagger out from its neck and cleaning it off. ¡°I got a hundred and fifty six experience.¡±


    ¡°I wonder if it''s from being a larger creature or if it was just a higher level. I didn''t get any experience so only the one who makes the kill must get it I guess.¡± Adam questioned


    Out of curiosity, Adam grabbed his shortsword from the carriage and tried using it on the beasts hide. The sword was able to pierce through but he had to put a much larger amount if strength into it, for a lot less of a result. This showed how the Kovarium made a huge difference in piercing the tough hide easily.


    After dragging its body to the side of the road they gave some food and water to Basil who was calmly watching them, completely unphased. After cleaning their weapons they continued.


    Over the next couple hours Adam used his mana to create small ingots of Kovarium, and worked on improving his absorption skill, having Lianna guide Basils direction. Along the way they encountered three more creatures that tried to attack them. Lianna killed them herself bringing her experience to two hundred five of her three hundred twenty five Maximum.

 Chapter Nine (Rewrite)

    Lianna finally had enough experience to unlock her Void Flame Manipulation. Sitting on the carriage, she used the two hundred experience required to unlock it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Void Flame Manipulation I Unlocked


    AP + 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    She tapped on her new spell to get more information.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Void Flame Manipulation I


    Create void flame from mana outside the body and manipulate it


    Minimum Conversion: 50


    Maximum Conversion: 50


    Manipulation Range: 1 meter


    Maintenance Cost: 0.1 mana/second


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    So she could convert and withdraw fifty mana into whatever void flame was and it would cost her one mana every ten seconds to maintain it. Knowing how to use the spell already she drew out the maximum fifty mana worth of void flame above the palm of her hand. An intensely black golf ball sized flame appeared. It looked like a small black hole hovering above her hand with the flames shifting around.


    Focusing on moving it, the black ball of flame moved easily to her thoughts. The flames continued to flicker and shift, seemingly irrelevant to it''s slow movement.


    ¡°What is that!?¡± Adam asked her seeing the black flame in her hand.


    ¡°I unlocked my void flame manipulation skill just now.¡±


    ¡°Void flame¡­¡± adam said ¡°Its a spell?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I know how to use the spell but not sure what to do with it.¡±


    She watched as Adam grabbed his shortsword and put the tip of it into the flames. The flames grew in intensity moving around more wildly for a second then reverted back. He pulled the blade out, the area inserted into the flame was completely gone.


    ¡°Damn.¡± they said together.


    ¡°Void flame.¡± she heard Adam say again.


    ¡°If it can burn metal away within a second, that''s gotta be a pretty powerful spell, right?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Can you use it like a fireball spell for a ranged attack or something?¡± Adam asked her.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I can''t move it very quickly so it would be really easy to avoid.¡± she said moving it slowly in a circle around her hand.


    ¡°You said the spell was called void flame manipulation? So can you change its shape, control more than just its position?¡± Adam asked


    Focusing she tried to change the shape of the ball, trying to elongate it. Instantly to her thoughts it stretched out just as she had wanted it to. Then she had it swirling around her hand similar to how she had seen Adam doing with his mana, except as one entity and much slower.


    ¡°Cool. Still not sure how to use this though. Even if I got really close to a monster I''d have to create it then somehow get it to make contact with its body. I doubt anything is going to stand still long enough to let me hit it with this spell.¡±


    ¡°Can you touch it?¡± Adam asked her after thinking for a minute.


    ¡°What!? Why on earth would I do that?¡±


    ¡°I don''t know, I was thinking about the shows I''ve seen with magic and sometimes magic doesn''t harm the caster. Plus your not on earth.¡± he said with a cheeky smile.


    ¡°I''m not sure, with what it did to your sword¡­¡± she said.


    ¡°Hold still¡± he told her. Reaching out and pulling one of the short dark brown hairs from her head.


    ¡°Ouch.¡± she said rubbing her head with her left hand.


    She watched as Adam stuck the hair into the flame she had reformed into a ball. The flame flickers slightly before it was pulled back out. The part inserted into the flame was gone just like the sword.


    ¡°Hmm I so wanted that to work.¡± Adam said


    ¡°and you wanted me to touch it!¡± she nearly yelled at him.


    ¡°Wait. Let''s try one more time without disconnecting the hair from your head.¡±


    ¡°Excuse me? Are you crazy? What if it catches my hair on fire? It''s magical fire!!¡± she was yelling at this point. Until she realized Adam was flinching away from her.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± she said clearing her throat. ¡°Ok fine but if I die and get brought back by some freaky necromancer magic in the future, I''ll be coming for you.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡±


    Holding out a section of her hair she moved the flame just in front of it. With only a moment of hesitation she moved her hair into the black void flames, pulling back as quickly as she could.


    ¡°It worked!¡± Adam said excitedly.


    ¡°Really?¡± she questioned.


    Feeling her hair it didn''t seem to have changed.


    ¡°Now the real test. Poke it¡± He told her.


    ¡°Uhg.¡±


    Preparing to poke it she felt like the time she went skydiving. Except worse, because she at least knew she had a parachute. If she lost her finger she doubted the healing capsule would regrow it.


    ¡°uhhh¡±.


    She shoved her finger into the flame. She neither lost her finger nor did it actually go into the black fire but instead pushed it away as her finger made contact with it.


    ¡°Oh thank god¡± she said relieved.


    After her finger had made contact, it began to move away and fall downwards, causing her to react and catch it. She wrapped her fingers around the black fireball, holding it in her hand. Her sense of touch told her she was holding something but it didn''t have a texture to it nor feel hot or cold. It was just there.


    Holding it in her hand she could move it around much quicker than she could mentally. Maybe the speed she could move it would increase with more levels. Tossing it between her two hands it acted just like a regular ball, but she could cause it to halt mid toss and remain in place with a thought. It was like if she was touching and moving it around with her body it acted as any physical object would, yet the moment she acted upon it with her mind it only obeyed what she wanted it to do, even ignoring gravity.


    After having the spell active now for a few minutes, her mana had continued to drop to thirty two. So it was a spell she couldn''t have active for too long.


    ¡°This is pretty cool but what am I supposed to do with it? Throw it at the monsters? Wait would that work?¡± she said to her own question.


    ¡°Only one way to find out.¡± Adam told her


    As they passed a large tree she tried throwing the small ball of void flame at the trunk. It flew from her hand quickly and accurately until suddenly it seemed to hit some kind of invisible barrier simply curving sharply downwards into the ground a short distance away from the carriage. Once it hit the ground, or should have, it simply kept falling creating a golf ball sized hole for a couple seconds until she could feel the spell fizzle out.


    ¡°Well guess I won''t be some powerful wizard throwing overpowered black fireballs from a distance.¡± she said a little disappointed


    ¡°Guess not.¡±


    ¡°Well what''s the point of that? Am I supposed to throw it at them from right in their face. I could just stab them with my dagger at that point, and I could do it more than once. That one fireball cost me half my mana to create, then continued to drain just to maintain the spell.¡± she said a little angrily.


    ¡°hmm..¡± Adam said obviously thinking.


    ¡°Well since you seem to like daggers, can you form it into a dagger. A small pointy dagger of black fiery death.¡± he asked


    ¡°Actually that sounds pretty cool when you put it that way.¡° she said smiling.


    A couple hours later they were stopped to take a break. Adam was feeding Basil and giving him some water. She had kept control of Basil for most of the way while he created whatever metal their weapons were made of. It was apparently really valuable and he needed to stock up a decent amount.


    Her mana had been full again after less than thirty minutes once she activated her mana absorption. Adam seemed to dislike the skill for some reason but as long as she didn''t do any intensive movement it would stay active with little effort on her part.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Standing in front of a tree, she used her spell again, instantly draining fifty mana as the ball of void flame appeared in her hand. It took a few minutes but eventually she held a very small black dagger in her hand. It was closer to a pocket knife, having to use most of it to give her a decent handle to grip. At least she was able to make the handle hollow or there would be no blade. The blade itself was as flat and sharp as she could manage to maintain. It extended out eight centimeters but was only about one centimeter deep. It looked rather pathetic to her and if it was made of metal would never hold up. Most likely breaking on its first use.


    Gripping it firmly in her hand she slashed it across the tree. Meeting no resistance, she stumbled forward falling into the tree. Standing up quickly she looked at Adam to see if he had been watching. He was busy practicing his own skills. Good.


    Looking at the tree it had a clean cut where she had slashed it. She was impressed. It was a small dagger but she felt like it could be very powerful, able to cut through anything like some legendary sword. What she noticed as well was that it didn''t have any weight as she held it. So her speed wasn''t limited by it at all.


    Slashing at the tree repeatedly until her mana ran out and the blade dispersed, she had completely shredded the area of the trunk. She made it halfway through the large tree, with tiny cuts. It gave her a bit of familiarity with swinging the weightless blade around. Unfortunately she could only maintain the blade for a little over eight minutes after using half her mana to make it. This meant in an extended battle situation she would have to choose when to use it carefully. As she wouldn''t get a second chance.


    They soon continued on their way. Lianna didn''t mind guiding Basil as it didn''t actually take much concentration. She only had to correct his direction occasionally since he naturally followed the roads. As they continue on, Adam kept making his black metal, and occasionally practiced his mana manipulation.


    She found herself getting bored despite the nice scenery and lack of school when a very large creature came out of the trees blocking their path and causing Basil to come to a stop. It gave a deafening roar with its large mouth filled with extremely large and pointy teeth. She was getting a little confident in her fighting ability, but she was definitely far from an expert with a dagger. This was much larger than anything they had fought so far, and it was covered In tough looking scales.


    The beast was similar to Basil except a bit larger and definitely not a herbivore with a large mouth of sharp teeth and fangs. Adam jumped off just as she did, keeping with the tactic they had previously. She noticed Adam looked extremely afraid. The monster was heading towards them already as they each went opposite directions off the road. It hesitated only a moment before it decided to go for her. Charging straight for her she jumped out of the way, its jaws snapping closed where she was a moment ago. She hit it with a quick strike at its neck but her dagger bounced off its scales, only leaving a small scratch. After failing to damage it, she retreated, wanting to keep her distance.


    The beast roared loudly again, turning to face Adam who stabbed it in the side of its large tail from the look of the small bleeding wound she now saw. He was able to get past its defensive scales but not very deeply.


    She thought it was time to test her new spell. This scaly beast that proved strong enough to withstand against their new weapons would be a perfect test. Using the spell, the void flame appeared above her hand which she quickly formed into a dagger. As her dagger finished forming she heard Adam scream. Looking over towards him, she saw him flying away from the beast, tumbling through the grass and hitting hard against a lone tree. His spear was no longer in his hand. She had taken too long.


    She rushed towards the monster facing away from her and stabbed and dragged her blade along the side of the creature.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 36


    Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 20 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    As she expected there was no resistance as the blade sank in the entire eight centimeters before she started cutting along its side. She only managed to slice half a foot before its large tail swept her off her feet then slammed her into the ground. The air was knocked out of her lungs and she was sure she took serious damage by the pain in her chest.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>HP - 20</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Its tail came down a second time looking to finish her off, but she barely rolled out of the way in time, slashing her dagger across the incoming tail as she did so.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 3


    Bleeding Inflicted: -1 HP/sec for 10 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Ignoring the pain she stood to her feet, breathing in a large breath as she backed away. She was in pain but didn''t think anything was broken nor did her lungs collapse from the impact as she feared.


    It roared at her from the second cut she was able to Inflict on it. It charged at her again in a rage. It was a fast moving creature for its size, but her new found speed gave her the ability to avoid its charge and mouth full of pointy teeth without too much effort. Dodging out of the way at the last second she was able to cut along the side of its head.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 42


    Bleeding Inflicted: -3 HP/sec for 40 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    While it screamed in pain she took the opportunity to cut it twice on its front leg, once behind the knee and again at the ankle before retreating again.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 10


    Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 15 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 13


    Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 20 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Its large muscular legs didn''t allow for her small blade to come close to cutting significantly deep, but it was enough to effectively disable the full use of it, making it bleed more and unable to charge at her.


    This time it went berserk, and started swinging wildly with its tail as it thrashed about. There was no way for her to get close. Looking over at Adam he was still near the tree, attempting to stand up. By the pain evident in his face, it wasn''t going well. She was hurting, but nothing was broken and she could handle it.


    After keeping her distance and avoiding any oncoming attacks, the beast began to slow down its crazed attacks and seem to have difficulty focusing. It had lost a lot of blood from her attacks. She focused on circling around out of its sight, but away from its tail and continuously darted in and out stabbing and slashing at its sides. After the third time the creature dropped to the ground on its injured leg, letting her hack away at its other front leg with three more critical cuts.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 14


    Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 10 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 12


    Bleeding Inflicted: -1 HP/sec for 20 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 20


    Bleeding Inflicted: -4 HP/sec for 50 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 6


    Bleeding Inflicted: -1 HP/sec for 10 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 8


    Bleeding Inflicted: -1 HP/sec for 20 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 14


    Bleeding Inflicted: -3 HP/sec for 10 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It was now grounded with only the use of it''s two back legs. It wasn''t difficult to finish it off at this point. She continued to avoid its occasional tail swing as she cut away at it until it stopped moving all together just before her mana ran out and her dagger dispersed.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 24


    Bleeding Inflicted: -5 HP/sec for 10 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 43


    Bleeding Inflicted: -10 HP/sec for 60 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 14


    Bleeding Inflicted: -2 HP/sec for 12 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 21


    Bleeding Inflicted: -4 HP/sec for 15 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Received: 526</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Dropping her void flame dagger, she quickly ran to the carriage. She grabbed the capsule case from the back, bringing it to Adam who had given up on standing, and was leaning back against the tree.


    ¡°Anything broken?¡± She asked


    ¡°Uhg no, I don''t think so but fudging hell it hurts to move.¡± he said gritting his teeth.


    She gave him the average health potion, while taking a weak one herself.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Consumed Weak Health Capsule


    +10 HP


    +1 HP/S for 5 seconds


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    It was enough to get her to ninety five and the pain was mostly unnoticeable. After a little while, Adam looked good as new as he got back to his feet.


    ¡°Thank you. That spell dagger of yours is definitely effective against something so tanky¡± Adam said


    ¡°Ya, I wasn''t able to do more than scratch its scales with my actual dagger.¡± She agreed.


    ¡°Not surprised since my spear barely managed to penetrate with all my strength put into it. These scales would be good to make armor, but I would have no idea how to harvest them, nor willing to.¡±


    ¡°Don''t worry moneybags, You can just buy us something better when we get to the big city and you sell off all that black stuff.¡±


    ¡°True¡± he responded seriously.


    They continued on their way. Lianna kept her attention around them as she guided Basil. She didn''t want to be attacked unprepared. The large amount of experience brought her to the maximum again, allowing her to hit level four and gain another skill point.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Level Up


    AP + 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Hitting level four unlocked her third physical attribute, which she checked the description for.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Physical Toughness


    Reduces damage received and raises the threshold of damage needed to harm one¡¯s body.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    She put the AP from unlocking her spell into strength, and this one into toughness. The point into toughness made the tingling sensation move throughout her skin this time, making all her hairs stand up. She poked her skin once it was done, but didn''t think anything was different.


    She had checked to see if she could level her void flame spell again but it required two thousand experience this time. She wasn''t sure what the level increase would do but she didn''t see it being bad. Sitting back in her seat, she continued to watch the scenery slowly pass by. She really missed her car.


    The large city walls of Karhu could be seen in the distance after they had traveled for two and a half days. Evond told them it would take three by foot and even though Basil moved at a similar pace, he was able to continue on for much longer periods of time without stopping. Only needing to be fed and kept hydrated. They thought they had brought plenty of water but would have run out if it wasn''t for the occasional river or stream they had passed.


    They had to fight only a few more times along the way, Lianna only killing one additional creature giving her thirty two exp. She let Adam have the other two kills as they were fairly small and easy to handle. The trip became extremely boring with few fights and Adam not wanting to talk much, as he wanted to practice his skills. She did get him to talk occasionally when she asked him about his job or something he found interesting. Unfortunately it was never interesting to her. She found it like trying to talk to a nerdy father that she had nothing in common with. He knew absolutely nothing about sports. She didn''t think there was anyone who wouldn''t know something about at least one sport, yet she had found him.


    As they got closer to the city they could see the large body of water Karhu was built beside. The water stretched to the horizon and looked significantly larger than the lake she frequently visited in the summer months, which was large enough to have significant waves form. Her boredom would finally be put to an end.

 Chapter Ten

    Adam felt he had a fruitful few days traveling. He didn''t make much progress in his mana sense but he wasn''t entirely sure how to improve the skill. It felt like he was trying to do the equivalent of trying to improve his eyesight to see better. Wasn''t going to work. His Mana Absorption he was able to improve by a small amount. Normally he was able to increase his mana by an additional eighteen in six minutes. Now he could manage nineteen.


    His biggest accomplishment was getting his mana manipulation maximum to one hundred. This let him use his entire mana reserves at one time. Allowing him to create Kovarium ingots that were six centimeters long by two and a half wide and a little under two tall. Given that his mana was full.


    He continued to use his Absorption skill periodically for fifteen minutes at a time. Along with his natural mana regeneration, he managed to make twenty five smaller ingots using fifty mana, which came out at five centimeters long by two wide and a little over one high. Once he maxed out his mana manipulation he made five ingots of the larger size, using one hundred mana each. If he was able to sell it all for the same price, that would be over two thousand six hundred gold. Enough for two mithril coins.


    If people knew what he was doing they would think he was like most people. Wanting to be rich and live the easy life with delicious foods, beautiful women, fancy parties and living life however he wanted. They would be wrong, of course. He didn''t care about money all that much. It was just the tool he would need to accomplish his goals. He wanted to get stronger yes, but he liked fighting just as little as he did parties and social events. If not more since he had to kill something by the end of the fight or be dead himself.


    He had been shown some of the cruelties of this world, and someone who created them. Gerald Enault. He wasn''t exactly sure how yet, but he would return and free the city from his grasp. He didn''t know how many people from Earth were there, or how many more would be in the future to be enslaved. There were unknown hundreds if not thousands of people starving and dying in the streets. Someone had to help them, and he couldn''t do it alone. He knew he wasn''t a fighter at heart, so he would use what he had. He would use the money he could create to make allies, and bring an army back if that''s what he had to do.


    Of course he would have to be careful not to make friends or get noticed by the wrong people. So how does one make friends, powerful friends, without getting people who simply want to use him for his money instead. This was a big challenge for Adam as he didn''t even know how to make friends in the first place. Back on earth he had zero friends growing up, and as an adult he continued to entertain himself. He was ok with that though, as he was content on his own and found he never felt lonely like his family expected him to be. Unfortunately he was left without the capacity of making friends nor did he understand people in the slightest.


    He needed to focus on leveling up, no matter how little he liked the process. While getting a decent foothold in Karhu City. So like always, he needed information. The strong breeze coming off the water was exceptionally warm as they approached the large metallic gateway to the city. The walls were made with a combination of stone and metal, rising fifty feet into the air.


    Two guards were positioned inside the large gateway, one giving entrance to the long line that stood out front. A second line of carts and carriages were being handled by the other guard alongside the first. So they got in the appropriate one. As they moved along he could see people staring at them and Basil, clearly bored from waiting in line. By the time they reached the front of the line, the sun was beginning to set.


    ¡°Purpose?¡± The tired looking guard asked him.


    He was wearing plate armour but had his helmet removed and placed to the side.


    ¡°Selling goods and settling down here for a while.¡± Adam told him


    ¡°What goods?¡±


    ¡°I have some Kovarium ingots.¡±


    ¡°Kovarium, Really? We could really use that here. Mind if I take a look?¡± he said looking more interested.


    ¡°Sure thing, its stacked in the back beside the door.¡±


    The guard nodded and walked around, opening the door and peeking inside, then coming back.


    ¡°I don''t know how you got your hands on that much of it, only dwarves from Kelvar come through here with it as far as I know. It''s in high demand. Are you selling it all or using some yourself?¡± The guard asked.


    ¡°Selling it all once I get inside the city.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. Go on through then.¡± he waved them by.


    ¡°This is my first time here, would you mind directing me to where I can sell the Kovarium?¡± Adam asked.


    As it was starting to get dark, Adam wanted to sell the Kovarium then check into an Inn and sleep in a bed. He missed his bed, and couch, both were great for sleeping on.


    As they passed through the city streets, they had to wait and work their way through crowds of people. As it was a human city, the majority of people he could see walking around were human, but there were many who weren''t. Elves, Dwarves, and some he wasn''t sure what their race would be, with horns and various animalistic features. The colour of their skin, hair, eyes, horns, and every feature varied widely. Some he noticed had scales and looked reptilian. Adam would be curious how bad racism was in this world but he was pretty sure he had a good idea already.


    Everywhere had shops and housing intermixed in this area, all the shop buildings looked busy with people inside, coming and going. Clothing styles and colours varied extravagantly. Adam still noticed a variety of slaves following behind a portion of the people in the streets but some looked a little less beaten and broken to him. Not that it made the slavery any better.


    Using the directions given to him, they managed to find a tall circular metal building with many large windows and smoke coming from all eight chimneys extending past the roof. The metal of the building looked to be thick steel which was polished to a mirror like shine. He could literally see the reflection of everything around them on the walls. A metal sign hung above the door by chains, with a hammer and anvil depicted and Sul¡¯s written underneath.


    The place looked to be completely packed with people. After finding somewhere to park the carriage, Adam grabbed the one and a half kilograms of Kovarium ingots, wrapping them in one of his shirts. With Lianna locking the carriage door, they made their way inside. The building was massive, reminding him of a stadium as the center of the roof was open to the starry sky.


    All kinds of weapons, armor, tools, and different contraptions were being sold by various people throughout the building. Adam noticed that none of the weapons, armour or anything being sold looked to contain any kovarium whatsoever.  Underneath each of the chimneys was a sizable forge and workstation with people working at them. The temperature was significantly higher inside, making them instantly start sweating.


    Adam saw a large iron desk at the center of the building managed by a young looking dwarf who appeared to have only started growing a beard. Only two people were in line. He headed over as he saw Lianna go her own way to look around. His turn came  quickly as the young dwarven man greeted him.


    ¡°What can I do for you?¡± he asked in a much deeper voice than was expected.


    ¡°I''m looking to sell some Kovarium.¡± Adam said.


    Which he quickly regretted as three of the people working at the Forges somehow heard him and instantly stopped what they were doing, running to him. The two dwarves were easily outpaced by the much taller elf woman who got to him first.


    ¡°I''ll buy it all!¡± she said before reaching him, nearly running into him before coming to a stop.


    ¡°umm..¡±


    ¡°No I''ll buy it all and I''ll pay more.¡±


    ¡°I''ll pay double!¡± The two dwarves came up next, demanding his attention.


    Adam wasn''t sure what to do, he didn''t like the situation but knew having high interest by multiple parties would drive up the price. The three of them were bickering who should get his Kovarium and why. One needed it more than the others. He wanted to end this quickly.  Slamming his metal filled shirt on the counter to get their attention, he then opened it to show how much he had.


    ¡°Four mithril coins and it''s yours¡± he told them.


    ¡°Done¡± The elf was first, placing four blue metallic coins in front of him.


    Did she already have exactly four mithril in her hand he wondered, as he wasn''t sure where she got them. She hadn''t reached into any pouch or pockets but simply placed her hand on the table. She quickly inspected the Kovarium ingots, and after only raising a single eyebrow at him, she took the metal along with the shirt back to her workstation.


    Grabbing the four coins, Adam retreated back to the carriage after finding Lianna. They made their way to an Inn called the slumbering giant and found their way to bed after eating a quick meal and washing up.


    Sitting in his bed Adam finally had a Mithril coin. It had cost him fifteen hundred mana to make the Kovarium over days. Now he hoped he could make the mithril coins himself for little mana like the rest of the coins. Gold has been the most expensive at ten mana per gold.


    One hundred mana was drawn out of his body, hovering above the palm of his hand. He began to form the coin and once it was complete it fell into his hand and he reabsorbed the remaining mana. He was left with seventy one mana. The mithril coin used twenty nine mana to make. This was almost three times the cost of gold but when it was worth one thousand times the value, it was a completely unfair cost.


    Forming two more he now had seven mithril coins. Then he went to sleep, mentally preparing for the next day. It would be a day of shopping and preparing for the upcoming days. He needed to find out more about the dungeon obelisk and become stronger with its use, once he found people to party with him and Lianna. While dungeon diving he needed to work on making allies, and learn how exactly to take over a city.


    Creating three more mithril coins upon waking up, Adam got ready for the day wearing his best clothes. Lianna had to be woken up but didn''t take long to get ready when he told her they were going shopping for skill coins, and better gear.  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    After asking around, they found out the best place to go was the dungeoneers shop. It required registering with them to be able to buy and sell anything but they had the largest and best selection around for anything related to dungeons. Getting directions and told it was impossible to miss, they made the thirty minute journey in the carriage, having to work their way through throngs of people in the streets.


    The dungeoneers shop was enormous, much bigger than the term ¡®shop¡¯ would indicate. It was a three story white marble building with large windows and magnificently designed doorways. Tall circular pillars surrounded the building, with steps extending upwards and a grand water fountain at the top before the entrance. It was beautiful but Adam thought the number of steps was unnecessary as he stopped to catch his breath after reaching the top of the stairs.


    The many people around them going up and down the stairway had no trouble traversing the steps even those wearing heavy looking armour and weapons hanging on their sides and from their backs. All the people looked very much like warriors, and magic users Adam would expect to fight in the dungeons.


    Inside the building was just as extravagant as the outside would suggest with fancily carved pillars, and every opportunity to show off wealth, various gems used in the ceilings, and statues. The entrance area was fairly large but much smaller than the building itself, many doors leading to other areas, and a large stairway leading up to the second floor across from the entrance.


    To each side of the stairway stood many people wearing the same black uniform, busy helping those who need it. Adam and Lianna walked up to one of the uniformed people who was quite tall and featured cheetah like features. After hesitating on what exactly to ask, the man spoke up first.


    ¡°First time here I take it. Do you both need to register?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Umm yes, we do.¡±


    ¡°Follow me.¡± He said leading them through one of the doors, down a wide hallway and into a small private room.


    The room had a rectangular wooden table with cushioned chairs surrounding it. Paintings hung on the marble walls showing different scenery, including one of the dungeoneer shop itself on the wall opposite the door.


    ¡°Please wait here.¡± he told them before leaving further down the hallway.


    ¡°Geezus this place is fancy¡± Lianna spoke up first.


    ¡°Indeed. I guess these dungeons are a very good source of income.¡±


    Their assistant returned with papers and pencils in hand. Getting them to sit at the table.


    ¡°My name is Thierry. I will assist you with registering and help you with anything you may need. If you could each fill out this form.¡± He said in a professional tone, placing a sheet of paper and pencil in front of them.


    The form simply got their basic information for identification purposes along with skill info and their levels. A section asked for expected uses of the dungeoneers shop with a large list of options to check off. He checked the buying, selling, information, and a few options that caught his attention like being paired with other fighters interested in attempting the same dungeon. It also had an optional area to fill out completed dungeons, but as that amounted to zero it was left blank.


    Handing the forms back, Thierry placed a hand on each of the pages and a slight glow passed through all the lines of writing on the page,  turning the text black.


    ¡°Thank you Adam and Lianna. Now what business can I help you with today?¡±


    ¡°First I''d like to know, once a person''s skill slots are filled, is it no longer possible to learn a different skill?¡± Adam asked


    ¡°It is possible to replace a skill with a new one but you lose all progress in it, and would have to find the same skill coin and start from the beginning to learn it again.¡± Thierry answered


    ¡°Good to know. Alright can we see what you have available for skill and spell coins, as well as weapons and armor?¡±


    It took a couple hours to sort through the large lists of products they offered, but was largely narrowed down with Thierry''s help. Adam was looking for something more defensive for a skill or spell. As he couldn''t handle the pain and wanted to reduce the risk of dying. What he found which was affordable was a skill that increased his physical toughness by 2. Apparently this was a static skill that couldn''t be leveled and existed in various degrees.


    Lianna decided on a static skill coin that increased her mana by two levels, since she needed more mana to maintain her void flame dagger longer. This gave her twenty additional mana.


    Adam kept his current spear, but got a full set of plate armor that was manageable with his strength and only limited his movement a bit. It was made of steel with no enchantments or anything special. Lianna didn''t hold back, getting a new dagger that had Kovarium at the tip and along the blade as well. Her new armor was made of a very durable leather with thin and light metal plates in vital areas. The metal pieces were enchanted, giving them a two percent increase to their hardness.


    ¡°Thank you for your business. Is that everything I can help you with?¡± Thierry asked them.


    ¡°Actually, what would you recommend for us entering a dungeon, which we have never done before?¡± Adam asked


    ¡°Well I¡¯d advise you to get additional party members that are at least a little experienced. I can put in a request for you. Party member requests are free for all customers.¡±


    ¡°That would be great, thank you. How many party members would we need?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°That would depend on the dungeon of course, but the minimum is usually four for beginner dungeons. When are you looking to go?¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow morning would work for us.¡± Adam said looking at Lianna and getting a nod of approval.


    ¡°One moment please.¡± He told them leaving once again.


    Upon returning he handed them a sheet of paper.


    ¡°This group of three is leaving tomorrow morning to do a level one dungeon. They put in a request for one to two party members to join them. This is the information on the dungeon as well as the party.¡± Thierry told them.


    Adam and Lianna looked at the paper. It listed three People. Two men and a woman. The First Man named Gen was listed as a healer at Level two. The second man named Felix was listed as a fighter, using a sword and shield at level five. The woman was named Diane and listed as a fire mage at level 3.


    ¡°Seems like it could be a decently balanced party with us.¡± Lianna said, with a nod from Adam.


    The Dungeon they were going to was a Level one dungeon as Thierry stated, A list of monsters was included which were Kissa, and Koira. They weren''t sure the name of any of the creatures of this world so didn¡¯t know what they were but figured they could ask before entering the dungeon.


    ¡°Sign us up.¡± Adam said, handing the paper back to Theirry.


    ¡°It will be done.¡± He told them with a smile. ¡°If there is nothing else, your cost today will be seven hundred and seventy three gold.¡±


    Paying for their new equipment, they made their way out of the room, following Thierry. Thierry explained to them the standard meeting rooms for parties to gather together and told them they were to meet their new party members at meeting room thirty seven at sunrise. After being shown its location, they left the grand building.


    ¡°So, Now what?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Well maybe we should practice with our new gear if we¡¯re going to be using it in a dungeon tomorrow.¡± Lianna suggested.


    ¡°That sounds like a good plan.¡± Adam agreed.


    With a bit of asking around, they found a training yard that could be used for one copper an hour. It was a large open area that had various sized areas zoned off for people to fight against each other. As well as basic dummies to be used along one wall. A small building had all kinds of basic wooden weapons that could be rented for people to practice with.


    Adam and Lianna decided to spar against each other with wooden weapons. Adam put on his full set of armor and rented a wooden spear. While Lianna wore her armor and grabbed a wooden dagger. The plate armor did not weight as much as he would have expected, or at least not with his new strength. Unfortunately it still limited his movement more than he expected. He faced Lianna in one of the circular sparing rings.


    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m ready.¡± he told her, readying his spear.


    Lianna stood at the ready as well and gave her confirmation. Adam charged at her, thrust his spear towards her chest, only holding back his strength slightly. Without even seeing her react, his spear was knocked aside by her dagger. She quickly circled around him and gave him a gentle shove on the back with her hand, continuing his momentum and causing him to trip and fall forwards hitting the ground hard.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>HP - 1</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam heard Lianna laughing. Standing back up with some difficulty, he looked at her, seeing a big grin on her face.


    ¡°Are you sure full plate armor is a good idea?¡± She asked him


    ¡°Well no, I''m not sure about anything being a good idea. I do know that im not as agile and quick to react as you and figured it would be better to protect my body.¡± He said.


    ¡°I suppose. Well I don''t know much about fighting with armor like that but I¡¯m sure you need to work on your ability to stay standing.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Ok let''s try again.¡± Adam said, readying himself again.


    After an hour of practising, Adam had learned a few things. To let his opponent come to him, and give himself a wider stance, bracing for his enemy, keeping his center of gravity a bit lower than usual. He wouldn¡¯t say he was good at it yet, but understood the idea behind it and wasn¡¯t being knocked over as often. He also learned to trust his armor, at least against a wooden dagger. Lianna wasn''t able to actually penetrate his armor so he didn''t have much to worry about.


    At least until she managed to knock him over with a few quick movements and somehow had managed to get his helmet off, holding the dagger point in front of his eyes.


    ¡°I win again.¡± She stated.


    ¡°Yes. You''re just too fast. No matter how strong or well protected, I can''t keep up with your movements.¡±


    Adam saw Lianna looking past him, so turned around to see two men approaching them.


    ¡°Care to fight someone else?¡± One of them asked, looking at Adam.


    He was a fairly muscular man with short blonde hair, standing a few inches above his own height. He wore chainmail armor with a wooden sword in one hand and a shield in the other. The other man was about the same height as Adam with long black hair to his shoulders. He was similar in physique as well, and held two swords, wearing leather armor. Adam and Lianna looked at eachother.


    ¡°Ya, Maybe I can have a challenge then.¡± Lianna said, smiling at Adam.


    ¡°Ha ha.¡± was all he said.


    ¡°My name is Trevor.¡± the larger man said to Adam ¡°Lets go over here.¡±


    ¡°Adam.¡± he said, following Trevor to another sparring area.


    Glancing back, he saw the other man shaking hands with Lianna and face off against each other. Turning back towards Trevor, the man stood at the ready.


    ¡°You both have some expensive looking armour for newbies.¡± Trevor told him. ¡°I hope you have the skill to go along with it.¡±


    ¡°Sorry to disappoint, but no.¡± Adam told him honestly, readying himself as well.


    Trevor took a few steps forward, swinging his sword at Adam. He was noticeably slower than Lianna was, but that didn''t mean he was slow. Adam barely managed to block the sword with his spear, but smiled upon doing so. Only to receive a blow to the side of the head with the small wooden shield. It didn''t knock him over but did cause him to take a few steps to the side.


    ¡°Ouch.¡± Adam said, his ears ringing a bit.


    Trevor smiled at him, still ready but giving Adam a chance to collect himself. Adam decided to try to go on the offensive this time, Stabbing his spear for Trevor''s sword side. It was knocked aside easily by his sword and Adam was pushed back by the shield again, much harder this time causing him to fall backwards.


    Sitting up, Adam looked over at Lianna to see if she was at least doing better than him. His eyes widened as he saw the two figures moving quickly, attacking and blocking faster than he thought was possible. Lianna only had one dagger but she kept pace with the two swords attacking her in a flurry of motion. She was doing well but she was completely on the defensive. He could see she was struggling to keep up. With a strong swing, the man knocked the dagger from her hand with one sword, then brought the other to her throat. Adam heard Lianna curse at the loss.


    ¡°Your fast, and have good reflexes. Fortunately for me, you have little training. If you did, I doubt I would stand a chance.¡± He told Lianna


    ¡°Thanks Liam. I doubt that though. You were going easy on me.¡±  She retorted.


    ¡°True.¡± He said with a smile.


    Lianna walked over and got another wooden dagger. Then stood in front of Liam again with two daggers.


    ¡°Lets go again.¡± Lianna said, clearly motivated to do better.


    Adam focused back on his own opponent. He clearly had to get a lot better.

 Chapter Eleven

    Adam woke up to heavy knocking on his door. He had requested to be woken up early so they could get to their meeting location with their soon to be new party members for sunrise. Hearing footsteps continuing down the hallway, he groaned at the early hour and stretched his sore muscles from all the sparring yesterday. He hated getting up early.


    Adam and Lianna were dressed and ready to head out. Leaving the Inn, it was raining for the first time since they had come here. The rain coming down at a drizzle. From the puddles and wetness of everything, it had rained heavily that night. Stepping out into the rain, he felt the water droplets hitting his skin. The raindrops were oddly warmer than he expected, warmer than the air around them.


    Their cart was brought to them from the stable by a young man. They loaded up their gear and set off after leaving a tip. The sun wasn¡¯t above the horizon yet but it wasn''t completely dark. Enough to make their way.


    The sun was peeking over the horizon when they arrived. Parking the carriage in a large area designated for carts, they made their way to the meeting room. Opening the door, they saw that it was empty and they were the first ones there. They sat down on the benches to wait. Adam considered making something with his mana as it was full but decided to save his mana in case it was needed in the dungeon. It didn''t have much combat ability, but never being in a dungeon before, he wasn''t sure what to expect.


    They didn''t have to wait long as the three people entered five minutes later. Adam was surprised as he expected all of them to be human for some reason, however, only one was human. The woman was Elven with emerald coloured skin and deep blue hair and eyes. She easily stood over six feet tall. She held a simple wooden staff in her hand and wore an intricate blue robe with silver designs throughout. She must be the Fire mage.


    A man holding a sword and shield was Dwarven, standing under five feet tall with deep brown skin and short black hair, excluding his beard which came down to his waist. He wore a metal chest plate, with simple leather armor for the rest.


    The healer was human, wearing full leather armor. He was the same height as Adam, with long brown hair. He also held a wooden staff in his hand with a dagger at his waist. All three of them appeared around his age, give or take a few years.


    ¡°You guys must be our new party members.¡± The dwarven man said.


    ¡°Yes. My name is Adam. This is Lianna. We will be in your care.¡± He introduced them.


    ¡°I''m Felix, this is Gen and Diane. We were informed this will be your first dungeon. We aren''t exactly experts ourselves but have completed a few successfully.¡± Felix told them.


    ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± Lianna spoke up.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, we don''t know anything about your fighting capabilities so I would like to know what you can do. I use a sword and shield as you can see. Gen is our healer, and Diane is a fire mage.¡± Felix began.


    ¡°I use two daggers,¡± Lianna said, gesturing to the two daggers on her waist. ¡°Adam here uses a spear and though he isn''t wearing it yet, has a full set of plate armor. Neither of us have much experience fighting, but will do our best.¡±


    ¡°Good, then shall we get going. It will take some time to walk to the Obelisk. We can speak more on the way.¡± Gen said standing up again.


    ¡°We have a carriage we can take if no one has a problem with that.¡± Adam offered as he stood up as well.


    ¡°That¡¯s great, lead the way,¡± Felix said stepping aside.


    Adam and Lianna sat in the front with Felix beside them while Diane and Gen sat inside the carriage. After a couple of hours of traveling through the city, they exited through the northern gate. After another hour of traveling, they could see what Felix pointed out as the obelisk. It appeared to be very far away still but looked to raise high into the sky, far above the dark clouds in the sky.


    Chatting with Felix along the way they learned that the dungeon they were doing contained the blue horned cat creatures Lianna had fought, which were called Kissa. Koira from what Adam could gather was similar to a dog or wolf. They were much slower than the Kissa but also much stronger. Kissa tended to prefer speed, while Koira preferred physical strength. As Adam knew the Kissa was too fast for him, he hoped the Kiora was an easier opponent for him.


    After a few more hours of travel, they were getting close to the obelisk. Adam and Lianna were astonished at its size. It was larger and taller than any building they had seen on earth. The entire obelisk was an intense deep black.


    ¡°Now that we''re getting close, we should party up,¡± Felix told them.


    ¡°What? I thought we were?¡± Adam said confused.


    ¡°Never been in a party before then. Here¡± Felix said with a small laugh.


    Adam saw Felix tapping something in the air a few times, then a screen appeared in front of him.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>You have been invited to a party by Felix


    Do you accept?


    [Yes][No]</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°Oh,¡± he heard Lianna say quietly.


    Tapping Yes, four new screens appeared in Adam''s vision.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Felix


    Health: 100%


    Stamina: 100%


    Mana: 100%


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Diane


    Health: 100%


    Stamina: 100%


    Mana: 100%


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Gen


    Health: 100%


    Stamina: 100%


    Mana: 100%</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Lianna


    Health: 100%


    Stamina: 100%


    Mana: 100%


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Each person was displayed on their screen. Adam moved each screen to the side of his vision where he could still see them if needed but wasn¡¯t blocking his vision.


    ¡°That¡¯s useful,¡± Lianna said after appearing to move her screens around.


    ¡°Very.¡± Felix agreed.


    ¡°What does being in a party do, besides allow us to see each other''s health and stuff?¡± Adam asked curiously.


    ¡°Once we complete the dungeon, its completion will be credited to the party rather than just to who killed the boss. Which will split the rewards and experience equally as well instead of all going to whoever killed the boss. This is especially helpful to low level fighters, and people who have less combat oriented classes like Gen.¡± Felix explained.


    ¡°That makes sense,¡± Adam said.


    Arriving at the base of the Obelisk, there were many carts, and carriages scattered about along with various beasts to pull them. The area was packed with all kinds of people, numbering in the thousands. There were even some races he had not seen before. Adam watched as people would touch the obelisk, then making gestures in the air, going through what he assumed was some kind of screen that appeared. Then after making a final tap, they would disappear along with people around them after they tapped something in front of them with a finger as well.


    ¡°Park there,¡± Felix said pointing to an empty area.


    Looking away, He had Basil stop where Felix had pointed. Hopping down from the carriage, Adam made sure Basil had food and water, before putting on his armor.


    ¡°So now what?¡± Adam asked after he finished suiting up.


    Felix walked towards the obelisk, with everyone following behind. He placed his hand on the obelisk and then began swiping and tapping on an invisible screen just as he had seen others do. After a few moments, Felix disappeared as a screen appeared in front of Adam.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Your party wishes to enter dungeon [Kissa Den]. Do you wish to follow?


    [Yes][No]


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam looked at Lianna and shrugged. It was what they were here to do, so he tapped yes. The moment he chose yes, his surroundings changed to darkness. He felt the ground change to a much harder surface.


    A small flame flickered into existence to his right. He saw the source of light was a small flame hovering above Diane¡¯s hand, emitting just enough light to see that they were in a small cave with only one way to go from there, a dark tunnel leading slightly downwards.


    Adam wasn''t normally afraid of the dark, but he also had never been in the dark in a cave system that had monsters lurking in the shadowy corners ready to kill him. He began to feel a little panicked, beginning to think this was a mistake. He knew he had to get stronger, but dying would not accomplish that.


    ¡°Keep quiet and let¡¯s go,¡± Felix whispered, taking the lead.


    After a few seconds and a deep breath, he forced his rising fears down and followed behind Lianna who had continued with the group.


    Apart from learning that he wasn¡¯t as brave as he thought, he also learned that being quiet while wearing a full suit of armor was very difficult. Impossible he would say. With all the clattering noise he was making, It didn''t take long before they found their first enemy. A single Kissa quietly approached them in the dim light. The first thing Adam noticed was that once he spotted the blue feline, white text appeared above its head.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Kissa Level 2</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°Huh.¡± He heard Lianna say.


    Before the creature could pounce at Felix, Diane shot at it with a small fireball that lit up the cave more brightly for a second. The Kissa nimbly dodged out of the way of the fireball, hissing at them, then running away further down the tunnel.


    ¡°They¡¯re smart and cautious,¡± Lianna spoke up quietly.


    ¡°You¡¯ve fought them before?¡± Felix asked her.


    ¡°Yes. Many times. They are fast and smart. Fortunately, they are also impulsive. They like to study their opponents and wait for an opening to take advantage of. So If you bait them, they seem to always take the bait.¡± She told everyone.


    ¡°Good to know,¡± Felix said with a smile.Stolen novel; please report.


    Walking down the tunnel further, they came to another small area. Upon entering the room, five of the Kissa¡¯s waited for them. Text appearing above their heads once seen.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Kissa Level 2</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Kissa Level 4</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Kissa Level 3</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Kissa Level 2</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Kissa Level 5</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam noticed the test was more yellow as the level of the Kissa increased above his. The five enemies watched them carefully, as Felix gestured for them to back up into the tunnel. Once inside, he blocked the tunnel with his body.


    ¡°Let''s try to fight them one at a time,¡± Felix told them. ¡°Adam you watch behind us.¡±


    Adam was already at the back so he turned around and peered into the darkness. The little light from the fire wasn''t enough to see very far, and if anything approached them from behind, there wouldn''t be much warning. He waited to hear the sounds of them fighting, but nothing happened.


    ¡°They¡¯re not approaching,¡± Lianna said. ¡°Their too smart to fall for this. Felix, keep them from swarming me and I''ll take them out.¡±


    Adam turned to see Lianna entering the room beside Felix. The moment the two of them entered, all five cats charged at them. Felix put himself between Lianna and four of the Kissa, leaving one to go after her. Felix knocked them back with his shield as they jumped at him and swung his sword, barely missing them with each strike. Baited, the single Kissa jumped at Lianna to be met with a dagger in the side of its neck. Falling to the ground, it turned into a golden light and began to dissolve into the ground. Felix knocked one of the Felines towards Lianna who slashed her dagger through its neck before it could recover.


    Adam saw Diane charging up a fireball that slowly grew in size. Once it was about the size of a baseball, it shot towards the group of three Kissas grouped in front of Felix. Just before the fireball hit, Felix braced himself and protected his face. The fireball exploded in a wave of heat that threw the three enemies away, burning their fur and doing damage. The closest one had died instantly as it dissolves into the ground. Felix and Lianna each finished off one of the other two that were on the ground struggling to stand.


    Adam suddenly realized he wasn''t watching behind them and turned around quickly. Luckily there didn''t seem to be anything there.


    ¡°Is there any reason things have to be so dark?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Diane could create a brighter flame but it would burn through her mana too quickly. This is a sustainable level.¡± Felix told him.


    ¡°So there''s no reason I shouldn''t create a brighter light source?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You didn''t tell us you had light magic,¡± Felix said questioningly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t, but I can create a light source.¡± He said, drawing out five mana into the palm of his hand and materializing them into a single light source. He made sure to lower the intensity so it didn''t blind them, but the small room was completely lit up.


    ¡°Well, that''s much better,¡± Lianna said. ¡°It was kinda difficult to fight in the dim lighting.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s clearly light magic,¡± Felix said.


    ¡°It¡¯s the only thing I can do with light,¡± Adam said defensively.


    ¡°Alright well, it is useful,¡± Felix admitted after a few seconds. ¡°Let''s continue.¡±


    Continuing further into the dungeon brought them to a larger cave room that had three paths to go. One to each side and one straight ahead of them. The tunnel that continued straight was larger and appeared to be more of an actual tunnel. The two tunnels to either side of them were smaller and more of an irregular opening.


    ¡°These two side paths are important to clear out before continuing on. The biggest reason people fail this dungeon is not doing so and having the enemies come up behind them. Even worse, the left one has the only Koira in the dungeon which can almost be considered a boss itself.¡± Gen spoke up.


    Felix nodded and headed to the left tunnel first. A short tunnel connected to a small room. A single Wolf-like creature was curled up on the floor, appearing to be asleep. It had black fur with two horns on its head similar to the Kissa. It was much larger and more muscular though, with two tails adorned with a sharp spike at the end of each.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Koira Level 7</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Its name and level appeared above its head in orange text. Felix motioned to Diane. She nodded and began charging up another fireball. After a few seconds, it launched at the Koira, Hitting it directly in the head with a small explosion of fire. The beast stood to its feet and roared at them, the fireball doning no more than burning some of its fur. It stared at them with an intense gaze.


    Felix braced himself as the Koira charged at him, slamming into his shield and sending him stumbling backward. He barely managed to bring his shield up to block one of its tails that was aimed directly for his head, bouncing off and hitting the stone floor. Lianna circled to the side of it, managing to get a few quick hits on its side. Each strike causing a shallow cut. Before it could strike her with one of its tails, she backed off.


    Adam shook himself out of his daze and tried to help as well. He stood beside Felix and waited for the beast to attack again. When it charged them, He used all his strength to thrust his spear into the beast. The Spear hit it directly in the chest, sinking in a few inches.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 25</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The Koira roared in pain and jumped backward, ripping the spear from his grip as it remained stuck in its chest. The spear was gripped by its two tails and pulled free. To his surprise, it used its two tails to throw the spear directly at Adam. Stepping in front of Adam, Felix managed to block the spear with his shield just in time. The force of the spear still caused Felix to get thrown into Adam, causing them both to get knocked backward.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>HP - 2</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam glanced at Felix''s health.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Felix


    Health: 75%


    Stamina: 80%


    Mana: 100%


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam saw as Felix began to glow slightly and his health began to increase by about one percent every second. Adam looked over to Gen who was concentrating on using a healing spell.


    Lianna jumped into the fight, taking the beast''s attention away from Adam and Felix. quickly dodging all its attacks, and slashing at every opportunity. Each hit from her dagger causing small cuts in the tough hide.


    Adam took the chance to get his spear back, running over to the wall where it had landed after bouncing off the shield. Adam looked back at the Koira just as Lianna jumped back as a much larger fireball than previously slammed into its side. The resulting explosion was much larger as well, throwing the beast against the back wall of the cave. The heat from the explosion could be felt by himself who was the furthest from it. He noticed that there was no smoke from the explosion, which he was glad for, as that would have made things difficult in such a small confined space.


    The Koira stood back up with some difficulty this time, a huge area in its side had been burned through its flesh. Adam saw it stumble slightly and decided to take a chance, throwing his spear with his increased strength, somehow managing to hit it in the burned area. The spear sunk in deeply, causing significant damage this time.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 67</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>You have killed Koira Level 7


    Exp + 318</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Wow, that was a lot of experience. Adam dropped to the floor, sitting down against the wall. Taking off his gauntlets, he looked at his hands. They were visibly shaking. He held his hands together, trying to stop the shaking and calm down. He saw Felix standing beside Gen, continuing to get healed.


    ¡°Nice throw,¡± Felix said when he saw Adam looking his way.


    Adam didn¡¯t respond but looked towards Lianna who had sat down beside him.


    ¡°You alright?¡± She asked him.


    ¡°Just a little shaken. That was fudging terrifying. Why do you seem ok?¡± he asked


    ¡°I''ve had more than a couple close calls already since coming to this world. I''m a little more used to it I guess. Not that I can say that wasn''t scary.¡± She agreed with him.


    ¡°Everyone take time to recover, that was a difficult fight,¡± Felix announced to everyone.


    Adam thought about it and realized that it wasn''t exactly a close call for him, as he didn''t take any significant damage. What frightened him was the lack of control they seemed to have over the situation. Things hadn''t gone very well from the beginning, making him feel like they could all be killed in an instant. If it wasn''t for Felix saving him he probably would be dead though.


    ¡°Thank you, Felix. For saving me. I owe you big time.¡± Adam told Felix once he had calmed down.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Keeping you all alive is my job.¡± He told Adam seriously.


    ¡°It is?¡± Adam questioned.


    ¡°Of course. I''m the highest level here and the one with the shield. Shields are meant to block attacks are they not?¡± He responded.


    ¡°True,¡± Adam said.


    Adam opened up his menu. He had gotten a significant amount of experience and should use it.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Name: Adam Ward</td>


    <td style="text-align: left"> Level 2: Exp 38/172</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Age: 21


    </td>


    <td style="text-align: left">Weight: 194.6 lbs</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Height: 5¡¯ 10¡±</td>


    <td style="text-align: left">Race: Human (Earthling)</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Attributes</td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Health: 100/100


    </td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Stamina: 100/100 </td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana: 100/100


    </td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Physical:  </td>


    <td>Mental:</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Strength: 11</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    <td>[Locked]: ?</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Attribute Points: </td>


    <td>0</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Skills


    </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Sense II: 0%</td>


    <td>Level Up: 400 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Absorption: 5%</td>


    <td>Level Up: 200 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Manipulation 100%</td>


    <td>Level Up: 200 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Mana Materialization 0%</td>


    <td>Level Up: 200 Exp</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Spells</td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td> </td>


    <td> </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam was confused. It said he got experience from the kill, but his experience hadn¡¯t increased.


    ¡°Umm¡­ Why didn''t I get experience?¡± Adam asked out loud to no one specific.


    ¡°Experience received in a dungeon isn''t usable until you leave the dungeon. Open the dungeon menu if you wish to see how much experience you have.¡± Felix informed him.


    Another menu he didn''t know about. He was going to need to get a list of menus he could access at some point. Once he knew about it, it was easy enough to open.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Kissa Den</td>


    <td>Level 1


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Monsters Killed</td>


    <td>1</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Exp Earned</td>


    <td>318</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Bosses</td>


    <td>1</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Boss Status</td>


    <td>Alive</td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>Boss Health</td>


    <td> 100%</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    ¡°Do we know what the boss is?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°This boss is a Kissa, so strong yes, but physically weaker than the Koira we just fought. It is extremely fast thought.¡± Gen added. ¡°It also has health on the lower side for a boss, so as long as we can do damage, we should be able to handle it.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Adam said.


    He realized since Gen was a healer, and didn¡¯t do any of the fighting, he seemed to also be knowledgeable about the dungeon. He could see how that would make him more desirable to a party.


    ¡°Then shall we continue?¡± Felix asked.


    Adam felt a bit better and put his gauntlets back on and stood back up. Looking at the party member''s information, he saw that everyone was at full health. They all had full stamina and mana as well, except for Diane whose mana was at eighty percent. She had used a significant amount of mana on that last fireball and hadn''t had much time to fully recover.


    Ready to continue, they headed towards the other sideroom.

 Chapter Twelve

    The Party continued down the main tunnel. The second room had been easier, with only two Kissa¡¯s inside. Lianna took care of one while Felix managed the other. The fight ending in seconds. This last tunnel continued downwards, getting larger as they walked. Adam remained in the back of the group, with his light behind him as to not blind anyone. As bright as his light was it didn''t reach very far down the pathway, being more of a ball of light that scattered everywhere rather than a beam of light.


    Approaching what appeared to be an exit into another room to the cave system, they could see light up ahead this time. The tunnel opened up to a vastly larger room with dense trees and vegetation all around. It reminded him of a jungle, vines, and plants growing everywhere amongst the large trees. The light they were seeing was coming from all the vines along the ground and climbing their way through the trees. They had a soft green glow radiating from them. He wasn¡¯t able to see how high the ceiling was, as the trees blocked their view above completely.


    ¡°How is this possible?¡± Lianna asked


    ¡°How is what possible?¡± Felix asked her


    ¡°This.¡± she gestured to all the plant life around them. ¡°All these trees and plants growing underground like this.¡±


    ¡°Why wouldn''t it be?¡± Felix asked in confusion.


    ¡°They should die without having proper sunlight. Something to do with photosynthesis, I think. Right, Adam?¡± Lianna turned towards him.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Adam thought for a few seconds. ¡°This world seems to play by different rules. Maybe these glowing vines are providing the proper light they need or they can somehow sustain themselves with mana.¡±


    ¡°Right¡­ anyway, we have company.¡± Felix said pointing towards a dozen glowing eyes heading towards them through the trees.


    ¡°Fudge.¡± Adam prepared himself.


    With this many enemies, he would have to pull his weight in this fight.


    All of the glowing eyes turned out to be Kissa¡¯s, and from Adam''s quick count as they exited the trees, there were fifteen of them. Each with there name and level appearing above them as they came into view. The lowest one being level one, and the highest level six, most were around level three and four.


    ¡°Anyone have any bright ideas?¡± Felix asked, knowing they were significantly outnumbered and that it was useless to lure them into the tunnel. As they had already tried that before.


    ¡°Actually I do,¡± Adam spoke up. ¡°Close your eyes on three.¡±


    Sending his small orb of light out ahead of them towards the group of Kissa¡¯s he began to count down.


    ¡°One.¡±


    ¡°Two.¡±


    ¡°Three.¡±


    After three, he dialed the brightness up to its maximum, consuming the rest of his mana he had put into the light all in a single moment. This caused an intense flash of light, blinding all who had their eyes open. Adam heard the group of Kissa cry out in surprise and pain. Opening his eyes he could still see fairly well from all the glowing vines.


    ¡°Attack now!¡± Adam yelled, charging towards a group of three.


    Two of them were pawing at there eyes on the ground while the other was clawing around randomly. His makeshift flash bomb worked perfectly he thought. Adam managed to stab the two on the ground, ending their lives quickly. The last one was flailing around and made it more difficult but the reach of his spear still made it easy. His biggest issue with the Kissa was their speed, he couldn''t kill what he couldn''t hit. Once he was able to hit them, his spear easily pierced their skin and made easy work of them.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Received: 6.8</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Received: 13.8


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Experience Received: 13.8</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Looking around he saw his party dealing with the rest, even Gen had taken one out with his dagger. Lianna had managed the most with seven bodies lying around her.


    ¡°That was effective. What spell was that?¡± Gen asked Adam.


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a spell, I just made the light I already had really bright all at once, hoping to blind them,¡± he answered.


    ¡°Smart. I didn¡¯t know that was possible other than with more advanced spells.¡± Gen said.


    Adam just shrugged.


    ¡°Now what? That looks like a large forest that would be easy to get lost in,¡± he said, looking to Gen for an answer.


    ¡°Well, that is actually the next biggest reason for death in this dungeon. The secret to this room is actually to not go into the forest but to follow the wall along the left until we reach the tunnel that leads to the boss room. Wasn¡¯t a cheap secret either.¡± Gen answered.


    Felix nodded and followed Gen¡¯s directions, Continuing on.


    ¡°Makes sense. Wait, you paid for the information on this dungeon?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Gen answered.


    ¡°I suppose that makes sense, Information can be the difference between life and death I would imagine. How much did you pay if you don''t mind me asking?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°Very true, twenty five silver. Which will be worth it when we complete the dungeon successfully.¡± Gen answered. ¡°The experience earned will be the biggest reason it''s worth it.¡±


    ¡°I see. Where did you buy the information?¡± Adam was curious.


    Information was extremely important he knew. Knowledge really is power, and information was what he was lacking most in this strange new world. Though he lacked power as well he knew, both physically and socially.


    ¡°The dungeoneers Shop. It can be bought for cheaper from outside sources or other people who have completed the dungeon, but might not be real information or as accurate. Information from the dungeoneers shop is verified and always accurate or they won''t sell it.¡±


    ¡°Good to know. So the boss room is next?¡±


    ¡°Technically no, there''s a small resting area before the boss room, but the boss is all that''s left as long as we don¡¯t get attacked along the way.¡± Gen continued.


    ¡°I thought we had to worry about the Kissa coming to attack us while fighting the boss? Shouldn''t we make sure to clear out the forest as well?¡± Lianna spoke up from in front of them.


    ¡°No. For some reason the Kissa don''t go into the boss''s room, they stay in the forest. The Koira was the exception to that. Which is why we dealt with it.¡± Gen answered.


    ¡°Then why did we kill the two Kissa in the other side room?¡± Lianna asked.


    ¡°Two Kissa''s are easy to deal with so simply for the experience,¡± Gen told her.


    ¡°Oh,¡± Lianna said.


    Adam found the conversation made him feel better so he leaned closer to Gen and quietly asked him something that he had been curious about.


    ¡°I hope this isn¡¯t too rude but is there a reason Diane hasn''t talked at all?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s mute, lost her tongue when she was younger. I won''t go into details as it is not for me to share.¡± Gen Whispered back.


    ¡°I see.¡± was all Adam said, leaving the eerie silence of the forest to press in on him once again.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    They continued on in the light of the vines along the wall. Adam had created another light source but was quickly told to put it out, as to avoid attracting any attention to themselves. After a fifteen minute walk, they arrived at a tunnel that leads them slightly upwards. It was a short tunnel that almost immediately turned sharply to the right leading to a small set of stairs.


    With the party''s consent, Adam created a source of light as it got very dark once they turned the corner of the tunnel. Up the stairs, they were presented with a closed door. Felix went to open it but had his hand knocked away by Gen.


    ¡°It¡¯s trapped,¡± Gen told him with a look.


    Felix cursed before stepping aside to let Gen handle it. Gen reached above the door and disconnected what Adam now saw was an almost invisible wire connecting to the door handle. Above the door was some kind of small red orb.


    ¡°Fire essence. Set to explode when the handle is turned.¡± Gen told Adam when he came closer to inspect it.


    ¡°What is fire essence?¡± Adam asked.


    ¡°That is not something I can explain very well. You¡¯d have to ask a mage for that. All I know is that it¡¯s powerful and would have killed anyone close to the door. Well except maybe Diane. She might be resistant enough to fire damage to survive.¡± Gen answered.


    Gen didn¡¯t wait for Adam to respond, opening the now untrapped door and going through it. Adam followed. It was a small room with stone walls. Except this time it was a square room with smooth almost polished stone walls. The floor was flat and smooth for the first time upon entering the dungeon.


    On the other side of the room was a large metal door. Oddly there were no handles on the door, nor any indication on how to open it, as far as Adam could tell.


    ¡°Normally people would wait to recover here before going into the boss room, but as we didn¡¯t have much of a fight in the forest thanks to Adam, were all decently prepared,¡± Felix said.


    Both Felix and Diane looked towards Gen, waiting for him to speak. This prompted Adam and Lianna to as well. Once everyone''s attention was on Gen he began to speak.


    ¡°This boss is fast and can be tough. Most groups find a way to limit its movement then can take it out more easily. As we don''t have anyone here that can immobilize it, we¡¯ll have to figure out another way. From what I¡¯ve seen, Lianna may be fast enough to hit it but can¡¯t hit very hard. This Kissa is much larger than the ones we have fought so far, and daggers won''t be as deadly to it. Adam, can you do that flash of light again?¡± Gen looked towards Adam.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Adam said with a nod of his head.


    Then if you can do that, and we can get enough hits off before it recovers, just maybe this will go smoothly. Otherwise, If Felix can focus on defending while Diane, Adam, and Lianna can try to keep up the damage and slowly take it down.¡± Gen explained his thoughts.


    ¡°Actually. We may have a way to immobilize it.¡± Lianna said. ¡°Adam, do you still have that paralysis poison stuff?¡±


    ¡°Oh ya I do actually. Though I don''t know if ill be able to hit it easily.¡± He told her.


    ¡°Well you won''t have to, Give it to me and I''ll do it obviously,¡± Lianna said smiling at him.


    Adam reached into the pouch on his side and handed her the small vial. He was surprised it hadn¡¯t broken in the fight with the Koira. Lianna poured the liquid along the edge of each of her daggers, emptying the vial.


    ¡°We can stick with Gen¡¯s plan, but in case this works, be ready as well to take it down quickly,¡± Lianna told them.


    With a nod from each of them, Felix walked to the door and placed his hand on it. A Prompt appears in front of Adam.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>[Kissa Den] Boss


    Do you wish to enter the boss room?


    Note: The door will only open once all party members have selected yes.


    [Yes][No]


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam hesitated, he really didn''t want to die. He had difficulty with the normal Kissa¡¯s speed. He did feel a bit better having a plan, as well as a backup plan. He also knew Lianna¡¯s void flame dagger would probably be able to help, which he figured she had been saving for the boss. Breathing deeply, he let out a long breath and selected yes. The door swung inwards, and they stepped into the room.


    Inside was completely lit by bright torches along the walls of the circular room. They crossed a bridge that led from the door over a ring of water that surrounded the perimeter of the walls. Looking over the bridge into the water, Adam could see only darkness below. The Floor of the room was some kind of patterned green stone. In the center stood a large decorated pillar of the green stone with what Adam thought were gemstones embedded within it at the top.


    The Boss monster stood up on the Pillar and looked down upon them with a calm gaze.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Kissa Level 10 [Boss]</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The text above its head indicated that it was a boss, and appeared a deep orange color. Adam regretted hitting yes instantly as it jumped down from the column. They said it was going to be larger, but he didn''t expect it to be nearly as tall as him.


    ¡°Adam. Focus.¡± Lianna shouted at him ¡°Flash it.¡±


    Adam looked back at the Kissa boss and sent his light out in front of them. Felix had taken the lead ahead of them along with Lianna. Diane stood back charging up one of her fireballs. As the light got close enough he began his count.


    ¡°Three.¡±


    ¡°Two.¡±


    He didn''t get any further as the Kissa disappeared from his sight and Adam turned to see Felix barely managing to bring his shield up in time to block a clawed strike. Adam was relieved to not see him fly across the room but manage to hold firmly against the attack.


    The light was now past the Kissa and using it would be useless unless he could get it to look towards it. So he ran towards it and past it, preparing to use it when the beast looked his way.


    Turning to look at his party he no longer saw the Kissa near Felix but fighting Lianna. She was struggling to dodge its attacks. It was much faster than she was used to with the regular versions. The Kissa managed to land a hit on her side, claws cutting through her armor and into her flesh. He watched as her health dropped by twelve percent.


    Just as the Kissa managed to land a hit, a fireball exploded into the side of its head, causing it to turn and hiss at Diane. The fireball had done damage but it was far from being seriously injured. It disappeared from Adam''s sight again and he knew it was going after Diane. Felix managed to get there first and blocked two of its attacks but was a little too slow on the third and took a hit to the head, knocking him aside and to the ground, blood dripping from his head.


    He stood frozen, unsure of what to do. He saw Felix¡¯s health had dropped by over half, and wouldn''t be able to take another hit like that. Before the Boss could attack Felix again or Diane, Lianna came from behind it, slashing across it rear with one of her daggers, only managing a single hit before the Kissa spun around and caused Lianna to dodge back out of the way of its claws.


    Adam noticed her health had increased back up to ninety one percent. Gen must have healed her a bit. Looking for Gen, he found him off to the side of the fight, now healing Felix. Who¡¯s health was slowly increasing. Adam knew he had to give Gen time to heal Felix to get him back in the fight.


    Lianna ran towards Adam leading the Kissa his way. Adam knew what she was thinking, and the moment Lianna passed him, he set off his flash, blinding the Kissa. It reared back from the explosion of light.


    He noticed he had blinded Diane as well as he did not announce what he was doing. Lianna quickly ran past Adam again towards the thrashing Boss with her small void flame dagger in her right hand. Adam finally managed to spring into action and followed after her.


    Lianna ducked under one of its blind clawed swipes and tried to slash at its neck with her spell dagger but the Kissa moved back out of the way as it continued to move around wildly. She chased after it, keeping away from its sharp claws. She managed to cut along its side with her void flame dagger, the magical dagger slicing through its side easily, causing it to bleed heavily. Lianna had tried to hit it in the same spot with her poisoned dagger but missed as it moved, hitting beside it with a shallow cut.


    The Beast jumped to the side away from her once again and blinking its eyes focused on her. Adam managed to catch up and stood beside her. It ran towards them, though quick, Adam was surprised that he was able to track it as it bolted for them. The poison must be slowing it down he thought.


    Lianna ran to its right, drawing its attention on her, letting Adam thrust his spear into its side as it turned towards her, his spear sinking in much less than he expected.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 5</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Well at least he did some damage he thought before the Kissa turned to him and smashed its claw into his side, sending him sprawling to the ground. Its claws had luckily not managed to pierce his armor, but it hurt more than he¡¯d like.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>HP - 6</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Adam lay on the ground dazed from the hit for what was probably too long. Adam felt like the fight had been going on a long time yet he didn¡¯t think they had done much damage to the boss. Adam finally sat up to see Felix heading to join the fight with Lianna. With the Kissa¡¯s speed reduced, Lianna was managing to avoid its attacks more easily and land more hits as well. He saw a few deep cuts on its side and one just below its neck.


    Just before Felix arrived, Diane managed to hit it with another fireball causing it to nearly fall over from the explosion. It somehow managed to keep its footing as Felix lunged for it, slashing at its throat. Unfortunately, the blade didn''t cut deep enough to do significant damage. The Kissa managed to grab onto Felix¡¯s sword arm with its teeth, piercing through his armor. He screamed out in pain, sending shivers through Adam. It began fighting with Felix, trying to rip his arm off. Felix continued to scream in pain but fought against it.


    Adam Stood up and decided to throw his spear while it was a stationary target, aiming for its side. He briefly considered its head but didn''t want to miss and hit Felix instead. His spear hit, managing to sink into it once again, though still not as deep as he had hoped.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Damage Inflicted: 15</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Just as his spear hit, Lianna jumped into the air, jamming her dagger of void flame into the top of its neck, slicing across its throat as she fell back to the ground. The Kissa let go of Felix¡¯s Arm, letting out a final and almost silent growl as it fell to the ground dead. After a couple of seconds, it began to glow and dissolve into the ground like all the previous monsters in the dungeon. This time however a small sphere appeared in its place.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>Congratulations


    Kissa Level 10 [Boss] has been defeated.


    Experience Received: 1653


    Reward granted


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>