《Becoming a God》


 Prologue: A new beginning

    He had been trap in the dungeon for what had seemed like for ever.  Though he had no way of telling time, no one ever came to feed him and he never seemed to get hungry.  There were no windows or even a door, just him and his chains.  His crime was doing the impossible, killing a god.


    As soon as he had killed her, a pillar of light had burst through the ceiling of the temple and surrounded him.  It should have been instant death, but you do not go to kill a goddess without some protection against the divine.  It was then that the other god''s avatars had arrived and captured him.  Since then he had been in this prison.


    He had expected torture or even death.  Any would have been a price he would have paid willingly, but nothing, absolutely nothing.  The boredom was driving him crazy, already he had daily conversations with himself, going so far as to even beg to be torture.  Anything would be preferable to the boredom.


    Eventually he was surrounded by light.  He tried to look around but after being without light for what seemed like decades, the light burned his eyes.  After his eyes cleared up and he was able to see again, he noticed that he was no longer in his cell and that he was in what looked like a courtroom.  As he looked around he saw that it was filled with people and that he recognized some from the descriptions of the gods.  As he looked to the front, he saw an old man sitting in the judge''s stand.  He could only Tyr, the god of justice.


    As the confusion cleared, he could begin to understand the voices all around him.  Most called for his death, while others demanded that he be sent to hell to be tortured in lowest level for all eternity.  Finally, after a few minutes of him showing up, the judge bang his gavel, silencing the courtroom.


    Tyr "The accused stands charged with the forbidden act of slaying a god!  We will hear the words of the accused and then I will perform the sentencing.  Now speak mortal"


    "What the hell is going on here?  How long have I been imprisoned"


    Tyr"Accused make your statement or else we will commence with the sentencing!"


    "She caused me to lose all my teammates and I got my revenge, end of story."


    Someone shouts from the back"A mere mortal thinks that he has the right to get revenge on us, he must be made an example of!!!"


    Tyr"Silence!  You already know that we are limited in what we can do to him.  Accused, if you have nothing left to said, I will pass the sentencing now."


    [What?  Limited in what they can do to me, what does he mean by that?]


    "I have nothing more"


    Tyr"Very well.  The accused has admitted to his crime and as thus must be punished.


    First the accused will be stripped of all his bodies abilities.


    Second the accused will take the place of the goddess of magic.


    Third the accused will have their divinity restricted until they have restored the name of the goddess of magic."


    [What did he mean by me taking the goddess of magic''s place?]


    My thoughts are interrupting by the crowd shouting behind me in anger.


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    Tyr"Silence!  We all know that her divinity went to him after he slayed her.  There is nothing we can do if we want to maintain the balance of the world.  Now we must decide who shall sponsor him and show him what must be done."


    ???"I will sponsor him.  It will be hilarious to see what he does."


    Tyr"Does anyone have a problem with Tymora being the sponsor"


    He was answered with murmurs of agreement.


    Tyr"Then it shall be so.  Tymora will guide the new god in the beginning of their journey."


    Suddenly there was a bright light and when it cleared I was standing in a dim room.  Looking around I notice that it appears I am in some old ruins.  There was crumbled old tables and papers strewn about.  Then he noticed her, the one who could only be Tymora, the goddess of skill, victory, and adventures.


    Tymora"Welcome back to realm of the mortals, Mystra.  Just to warn you, much has changed in the century that you were imprisoned"


    Mystra"Wait, what did you call me?"


    Tymora"Mystra the goddes of magic.  You have taken her place, but you are closer to what would be referred to as a fallen god, until you can restore your divinity."


    I look down and notice for the first time that I have taken on the form of goddess that I had killed.


    "How is this possible. . "I stammer.


    Tymora"Well, when you killed Mystra before, her divinity was passed on to you.  Normally that would just bestow her power on you, but we cannot let mortals know that it is possible to kill the greater gods and gain their power.  The balance of the world would be broken."


    Mystra"So I am stuck like this forever?"  Looking down at my unfamiliar body in shock.  It looks so much weaker than my old body and instead of the armor that I am accustomed to, I see a sleek black dress.


    Tymora"Well, once you have full use of your divinity, you can change your body back to what it was before, the choice will then be up to you.  For now, I would recommend getting familiar with your new body and testing out your new abilities.  As the goddess of magic you have affinity for all types of magic and being the source of magic, you would normally have unlimited ability to cast any spell with no worry of mana.  But as your divinity is sealed, you will have to be careful."


    Mystra"You expect me to  go out looking like this.  I will be attacked in no time."


    Tymora"Good point.  With the little bit of your divinity you have access to you should be able to change your clothes at will.   Well with that I will leave you for now.  To get to the nearest city, just leave the main entrance and head in a straight line.  In about half a day, you will arrive at a road, heading right for a day will lead you to a medium size village and heading left for 2-3 days will lead you to a city.  I recommend the city, so that you can register as an adventurer and get some experience.  Good bye for now"


    With that she vanished into a bright blue light and I was alone, again.

 Chapter 1: Start of a new life

    Well first things first, I should figure out what I have to work with.  So I cast ¡®Status¡¯ a beginning spell that every adventurer is taught before their first adventure.  Before I can even begin to say the words of the spell, suddenly the status window appears before my eyes.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Name</td><td>Mystra</td><td>Class</td><td>Fallen God</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Level</td><td colspan=''2''>1</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>100/100</td><td>Mana</td><td>499/500</td></tr><tr><td>Stamina</td><td>50/50</td><td>Divinity</td><td>1/1</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>10</td><td>Constitution</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>50</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>Dexterity</td><td>10</td><td>Luck</td><td>10</td></tr></tbody></table>


    This is new, only the most capable wizards were able to cast spells without words and those usually had to cast the spells an untold amount of times before they were able to do that.  I had never heard of any adventurer being able to cast status without words and we use it all the time.  I will have to look into that more later.  I then focus my attention on my status screen and notice my pitiful stats.  I had spent years raising them through training and now they were all reduced to average with the exception of intelligence and wisdom.  I even had a new stat, Divinity, that I would have to look into.  Though, I assume it is something similar to mana or stamina, but for gods.


    Well now to try to change my clothes into some armor, so that I can at least fight comfortably and not immediately be killed.  I close my eyes and imagine myself wearing a full suit of black plate armor with a black cloak and hood.  I open my eyes and look down and see that I am still wearing the same black dress as before, nothing changed.  She said I should be able to change my clothing with my divinity, am I trying for too much for what I have?  I close my eyes again and imagine myself wearing a black shirt and pants with a black cloak and hood.  After imagining it in my head for a few minutes I open my eyes and look down.  Damn, still no change.


    She told I should be able to do this and that it would take my divinity which is currently 1/1.  I assume divinity is similar in effect to mana and stamina.  I know for a fact that stamina is based on physical endurance of my body and mana is based on my ability to use the magical energy of my body.  Then what is divinity based on?  The gods told me that when I killed Mystra that her divinity was transferred to me and I have the divinity stat.  What am I missing?  So I know that you use spells to actually use your mana.  So breaking down the process for that, we get a caster reciting a spell to form the mana into a distinct form and at the end the spell is cast and you get the end result.  Maybe my problem is that I am only focusing on the end result, instead of the process for accomplishing it.


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    I close my eyes again and this time I imagine a glowing light emitting from my body slowly transforming my clothes into black plate armor with a hooded cloak, starting from my feet and working my way up.  After I complete the process, I open my eyes and look down to see a suit of the dullest armor that I have ever seen.  I have seen knights guarding frontier villages with better armor.  Is this the limit of 1 divinity?  Well anything is better than a dress to travel in and at least with this I can pass off as a teenager at least, to minimize my embarrassment.


    I decide that it is now time to look around the ruins and see if I can find a weapon of some sort to defend myself with.  As I head into the next room, I notice that the ruins seem to have been some type of library at one point.  Though, after I look around a little bit, it looks like the library was ransacked and what books were left are decayed beyond use.  After looking through several rooms that appeared to be studies, I eventually find one that appears to have been an office.  Inside I find a long sword that appears to have been designed more for decoration than for practical use.  I figure it will suffice for now or at least until I can get to the city and earn some more from quests at the adventurer¡¯s guild.  I take another quick look around the ruins searching for anything else that might be useful on my trip to the city, but find nothing of value.


    I finally give up the search and head to one of the bigger rooms that is the least cluttered.  After clearing a wide space in the room, I begin to practice my sword forms.  I can barely get through the first three before my arms begin to shake and I am out of breath.  Well so much for being able to fight for extended period of time, I will have a hard enough time making 3 good strikes in a fight.  Well with a little training, I should be able to use all seven forms of the blade.  That will have to wait until I actually have located a source of water and food.  With that thought in mind, I head to the entrance of the ruins.  Upon exiting the ruins, I notice that it is surrounded by a dense forest with no trial in sight.  I begin to look around to see if I can find a well or creek to secure a source of water.  After looking around the temple and in the general area for about an hour, I am unable to find any kind of water source at all.  Looks like I will have no choice but to head toward the city or village.  With that I begin my trek toward the road.

 Chapter 2: Becoming an Adventurer.

    After half a day trek through the woods, I finally arrive at a well traveled road.  I head left of the road to head toward the city following the suggestion of Tymora.  After traveling for a few hours, I begin to look for a place to camp preferably with easy access to some water.  As the sun begins to set and it gets darker, I notice a wagon in the distance.  As I get closer, I notice that it is parked alongside the road and it looks like two people are setting up camp for the night.


    As I get closer to the wagon, I call out the travelers "Good evening, travelers.  How goes the road?"


    The larger of the two travelers call back "Greetings.  The road has been good, but what brings you to traveling by yourself so late with no supplies?"


    I quickly make up a story and reply back "I was heading to the city to become an adventurer.  I decided it would be good practice to  explore the woods nearby.  After looking around for most of the day. I set up camp for the night.  I went to look around for some game and water to restock and ended up getting lost.  After spending all day lost in the woods, I ended up finding the road and now I am heading to the city to restock and finish my journey."


    ? "Another kid trying to become an adventurer, do you at least know how to use that sword at your side?"


    Mystra "I might not be the best, but I can handle myself well enough."


    ? "Well the name is Redrick and this is my son, Richard.  If you are willing to help with some chores and the not.  We have some food and water that we can share on the way to Caldwell."


    Mystra "Well I have no choice, so I will take you up on your offer."


    Redrick "Well you can start by helping Richard gather firewood and if your a decent cook, we would all appreciate it if you cooked."


    Mystra "I can help with the firewood, but I have never cooked besides for just putting meat on the fire til it was done."


    Redrick " Well guess I will be in charge of food again"


    With that I follow Richard into the forest to gather the firewood.


    Richard "Have you killed any monsters?"


    Mystra "I have killed a few of them in my travels."


    Richard "Was it hard?  Father says that it takes a lot of skill to kill one and that most people train for years and still fail."


    Mystra "It is not that hard, but if you are not careful, you could mess up and get killed."


    The entire trip to gather firewood was a slew of questions about monsters, adventuring, and sword fighting, giving the strong impression that he wants to be an adventurer and the father is strongly against it.  After half an hour we return to the campsite.  Redrick starts a fire and cooks the food.  We eat the food around the fire and Richard spends most of the meal talking about the adventures him and his friends had back home.  The father seems a little displeased but doesn''t say anything.  After a while, he tells his son to go to sleep and that he would have the second watch.  He then turns to me.


    Redrick "No offense but until I can trust you or we get closer to the city.  We will stand the watches" and withe that he walks off.


    I take that as my cue to sleep and I curl up near the fire and go to sleep.  The next day I wake up early enough that Redrick is stilling sleeping.  I wave to Richard who is standing watch by the wagon and head off a little way and begin practicing my sword forms.  After a while of practicing, I finally notice that Redrick is up and packing up camp.  I sheathe  my sword and head back to camp and help him finish stowing the camp.


    Redrick "You look pretty good with that sword, but it looks like it is too heavy for you."


    Mystra "It was something that I was able to pick up before heading out on my journey, still getting use to it."


    Redrick "I would recommend getting something lighter before you got adventuring and what style was that?  I have seen quiet a few swordsman, but that was the first time I have seen those forms."


    That''s weird.  The Sword of the Black Claw was pretty famous and most of the elite adventurers and guards practiced it.  Even people that didn''t practice it, always recognized me as the blademaster when I practiced my forms.


    Mystra "It''s from the school of the Sword of the Black Claw."


    Redrick "Never heard of it, must not be from around here."


    In my time, every human city had a few practitioners of the school as trainers for the rest of the guards.  While not masters, they were still considered good enough to pass on most of the beginning forms.  I will have to look into it more when I get to the city.  With that, the rest of the packing was done in silence and we were shortly beginning our journey.


    We spent the day riding in the wagon and for lunch we ate some dried meat that they had.  As the day went on the woods begin to thin and finally ended and farmland began.  After a couple of hours of traveling through farmland, Redrick pulls the wagon off the road and we begin to set up camp.  After eating dinner, he tells me to take the first watch and to wake him in a couple of hours.  Him and his son go to sleep and I am left with my thoughts.  It is an uneventful watch and I get a lot of time to think over my plans for when I arrive in the city.  After a couple of hours, I wake up Redrick and go to sleep myself.


    I wake up early again in the morning.  It definitely seems like this new body requires less food and rest than my old one, maybe a bonus from being a god, even if a fallen god.  I repeat my routine from the previous morning and it seems like I am able to perform more of the forms than in the ruins.  With this much I should be able to defend myself in a decent fight as long as it is not for too long.  Just as I am finishing up the fourth form, I notice Redrick waking and conclude my training for the morning.  We pack up the camp and begin traveling again.  It is not long before we begin to see the walls of the city ahead.  We soon arrive at a short line at the gate.  After noticing the line is only for wagons, I give my regards to Redrick and Richard and depart.


    As I arrive at the gate, I am stopped by one of the guards.


    Guard "Are you an adventurer or applying to become an adventurer?"


    Mystera "I am applying to become an adventurer."


    Guard "You are at the wrong gate.  The south  gate is for commerce only.  Adventurers or potential adventurers need to enter from the east gate.  Just follow the wall and you should be there soon."


    I thank the guard and follow the wall until I seem the gate and a medium size tent outside of it.  I head towards the gate and tell them I am here to become an adventurer.  They tell me that I need to apply first at the tent.  I head to the tent where I see two old men half asleep at a table.


    I clear my throat, waking them up.  "I am here to apply to become an adventurer."


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    The more scrawny of the two "Do you have a letter of recommendation or do you need to take a test?"


    Mystera "I don''t have a letter of recommendation and I didn''t know there was a test to become an adventurer."


    Same old man sighs "The guildmaster got tired of all the failed request by adventurer''s that were weak.  So he started a testing process to become and adventurer to minimize this.  So would you like to take the magic or weapons test?"


    Mystera "What do I need to do for the weapons test?"


    Other old man "Fight a short duel with me, so that I can access you skills.  If you impress me, then I give you my recommendation and the guards will let you in and then you can go to the guild and join.  So, do you want to take the test?"


    Mystera " Well, I have no choice, so let''s do this."


    He brings out two practice swords and tosses one to me.  He escort me to a small clearing that looks like a makeshift dueling ring.


    Old man "The name is Robert.  What style do you use?"


    Mystera "The Sword of the Black Claw."


    Old man "That''s an old style, haven''t seen it since I was a young adventurer."


    Mystera "I was told it was a famous school.  What happened to it?"


    Robert "Well, there was no blademaster to teach it and eventually it just died off.  I am surprised you had anyone to teach you.  Let''s begin!"


    With that, he quickly closes the distance between us and makes the first strike.  I can tell he is holding back to test me, but at the same time deflecting it still causes my arms to shake.  He continues the attack for a few strikes and then backs off as if giving me a chance to attack and prove myself.  I take him up on the offer and start a combo of the first three forms.  Though I am not able to put much strength behind my attacks, he soon takes on a look of concentration as he focuses on parrying my attack.  Before I can finish the attack, I can see what appears to be mana begin to concentrate around his legs and then he disappears.  I look around in confusion not seeing him and the fact that it was strong enough for it to emit mana when charging.


    Robert speaks from about 10 feet behind me "Wow, first applicant to make me actually concentrate in a long time."


    Mystera "What was that at the end?"


    Robert "Oh, that.  That little missy was an instantaneous movement technique I picked up a long time ago."


    I grimace at the ''little missy'' but reply "Wow, it was strong enough to emit mana when you charged it."


    Robert stares at men in surprise and even the other old man looks surprised.


    Other old man "You saw him charging mana when he performed his technique"


    Mystera "Yeah, it was pretty obvious"


    Old man "How much magic do you know and of what circle?"


    Mystera "I know the status spells and that is it."


    Old man "That''s it!  Come over here and read this."


    With that he pulls a book out from under the table and opens it to a page at the beginning.


    I read the line from the book that he was pointing out and suddenly a blinding light appears before me.


    Old man "This much potential and she practices the sword.  Would you be interested in learning some magic after you become an adventurer?  You have a lot of potential and it is useful in situations where a sword is useful."


    I think over his offer.  I know I should look into magic, especially now that I am the goddess of magic, but it feels like I would be betraying all the people that taught me the sword and the people I taught if I completely give up the sword.


    Mystera "I am interested in learning some magic, but I do not want to give up the sword."


    Old man "Well, some sword masters use magic to boost themselves before battle and while some people have styled themselves arcane warriors.  You are the first that I have seen with the actual potential to master magic and Robert''s reaction shows that you have a lot of potential with the sword.  So if you are interested, come find me here after you sign up at the guild."


    With that I return the practice sword and Robert gives a small placard with just the words ''Approved-Robert''.  I head to the gate and show the guards, who then direct me to a large building just inside the gate.  I enter the building where I am greeted by a receptionist at the door.


    Receptionist "How may I help you?"


    I show her the placard and reply "I am here to become an adventurer."


    Receptionist "Head down the hall to the right and enter the door at the end that says adventurer administration."


    I thank her and follow her directions and find myself outside the door saying ''Adventurer Administration''.   I enter the door and  see a young man sitting behind a desk , filling out what appears to be forms.


    Young man "What can I help  you with today?"


    Mystera "I was told to come here to become an adventurer."


    Young man "Ok.  Do you have the placard?"


    I hand him the placard and looks it over and places it in a drawer in his desk.  He stands up and tells me to follow him.  He then leads me to a familiar machine in the back of the office.  He instructs me to prick my finger on a needle on the device.  After I prick my finger, I notice the glow of mana from it and then it stops as a  small placard slides into the tray on the front.  The young man picks up the placard and hands it to me.


    Young man "This is your adventurer license.  Do not lose it.  If you lose it, you have to start from scratch and lose access to any storage in the guild coffers.  It allows you to accept and turn in request at any adventurer''s guild.  It will display your current adventurer rank, which is currently ''F'' and if you depress any corner it will display you name, level, class, and any groups you are affiliated with.  To accept request, go to the Request Room.  To display information on your current class, got to one of the machines in the library.  For forming groups or receiving mail, go to the machines in the adventurer bar next door.  Any questions?"


    I reply in the negative and exit the office.  I decide that this would be a good opportunity to go to the library and get a private room with access to a machine to research my class.  So I head back to the receptionist and get directions to the library.  I follow her directions and head toward the library.  There I request access to a private room with a machine.  After checking my license, she directs me to a small room and tells me F-ranked adventurers can only use this room and only for 30 minutes per visit and then leaves me alone.


    A/N:Sorry to leave it here, but late and I am tired and due to work haven''t had a chance to post a chapter.  With next chapter should start to answer some questions.

 Chapter 3: First adventure

    After the librarian leaves me alone, I place my licenses into the slot on the machine and a blue screen appears on it.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Name:</td><td>Mystera</td></tr><tr><td>Level:</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Class:</td><td>Fallen God</td></tr><tr><td>Groups:</td><td>None</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I select my class ¡®Fallen God¡¯ on the screen to get more information.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Class:</td><td>Fallen God</td></tr><tr><td>Description:</td><td><Unique class> A god that has fallen from grace, either from committing a grievous crime


    against the balance or from straying too far from their duties.</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Abilities</td></tr><tr><td>Minor Realm Power(Magic)</td><td>Due to connection to realm of magic and being the source of all mana and magic in the world,


    able to cast any spell up to third circle with no incantation after first use of incantation.</td></tr><tr><td>Minor Realm Attunement(Magic)</td><td>Due to connection to realm of magic and being the source of all mana and magic in the world,


    able to see the flow of mana when spells or abilities are used.


    Once see a spell or ability being used, able to more easily learn that ability.</td></tr><tr><td>Minor Blessing(Magic)</td><td>Due to connection to realm of magic and being the source of all mana and magic in the world,


    able to allow someone raw access to the realm of magic.


    Allows beneficiary the ability to cast more powerful spells or craft magical items.</td></tr><tr><td>Special Stat(Divinity)</td><td>Allows ability to call upon a God¡¯s Realm to perform god-like actions.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Well that explains a lot more about what I can do, but doesn¡¯t explain anything about the balance that I am suppose to restore.  I need to research more about it and the realm of magic.  Though being able to steal abilities like the instant movement technique will come in handy.  I remove my license and verify that the screen clears and exit the room.  I then ask the librarian if there are any books about the gods, particularly the god of magic.  She tells me to wait and leaves for a few minutes, returning with a large book.  She tells me that if I would like more than this, then I should go to one of the major temples.  I take the book and go to one of the tables.


    I open the book and skim for any chapters related to Mystra or the balance.  I do not find much on balance except for the obvious balance between good and evil.  This is not helpful because Mystra was a neutral god that did not care about good or evil.  The closest that I am able to get to the questions I had was general descriptions of the major gods and their normal activities.  I skip to the section dealing specifically with Mystra.  It does not go into much detail but to talk about how she was the incarnation of magic and a muse to magic development.  Not much to go on.  I return the book to the counter and leave the library.  Though I have gotten some more information, it is no where near enough to answer my questions.  Though now I have to handle a more pressing matter, the day is almost half over and I do not have any money, food, or water.  So I decide to go check for request.


    I head back to the receptionist and ask for directions to the request room.  I follow her directions and enter a room with a handful of people, a counter and bulletin boards with letters over them, going from ¡®F¡¯ to ¡®B¡¯.  I go over to the ¡®F¡¯ and ¡®E¡¯ boards and look for something that I can do quickly to earn money.  The ¡®F¡¯ board has fairly simple requests from search quest to doing work for the city guard.  Though the ¡®E¡¯ board has some suppression request, most of them though are far away.  Though there is one from a party leader named ¡®Ben¡¯ requesting assistance with a suppression request for a mine right outside the city.  I take the request and head to the counter.  Once I hand the request and my license to the counter, after a few minutes, the receptionist at the counter returns my license and the request form and instructs me to meet the requestor at the adventurer bar in an hour.  I then exit the guild and head next door to the bar to wait on the group I will be joining for the request.


    After waiting an hour, I see a group of three people enter the bar. The leader is a young man that seems more comfortable in the woods than in a city wearing leather armor and has a bow and quiver making me assume he is an archer of some type.  Behind him is a beautiful young woman wearing robes and carrying a wooden staff with a blue crystal on top and middle aged man wearing chainmail armor with the holy symbol of Tyr over his heart.   I assume that these are the ones that I will meet and walk over.


    Mystera ¡°Are you Ben?¡±


    Ben ¡°Yes, are you the one who accepted the quest?¡±


    Mystera ¡°Yes, the name is Mystera, a swordsman.¡±


    Ben ¡°Well, to introduce ourselves, I am Ben, an archer, and these are Milva, a mage and Cole, a healer.  Are you ready to head out now or do you need more time to get ready?¡±


    The two both nod in acknowledgement.


    Mystera ¡° I am ready now. ¡°


    With that we head to a counter and register me to their party.  With that completed, we leave the bar and head out the gate.  We follow the road out the gate and after 30 minutes of traveling, we turn left onto another road.  We soon pass signs warning about monsters ahead in the mine, but we ignore them since the monsters are the reason for us being here in the first place.  We soon arrive at the entrance to the mine.  There are large steel doors barring the entrance to the mine.  Ben steps forward and pulls a key out from one of the pouches on his belt and unlocks the doors.


    Milva casts a light spell to lead the way and we enter the mine and close the doors behind us.  After walking a short distance into the mine, we hear a noise in the distance, followed shortly by four small figures approaching us.  As they get closer, I finally recognized them for what they are, goblins.  Goblins are the weakest of the monsters; they only become a problem when they gather in numbers, such as is the case with this mine.


    I take up a stance and wait for the goblins to approach.  Over my shoulder an arrow flies and hits one of the goblins, dropping it to the ground.  I look over my shoulder to see Milva chanting some words and mana gathering into the crystal on her staff.  Soon a bolt of blue light flies from the crystal and strikes one of the goblins causing frost to spread over its body before it collapses.  Ben is able to shoot another one and kill it before they close the distance to me.  With only one remaining, it takes nothing for me to eliminate it.   I begin checking out the corpse of the goblins for anything of value.  I see nothing of value on them; even the weapons they were carrying are worthless.  I look over at the approaching party members to ask them if we need to gather any proof of kills from the bodies, I notice a large figure approaching them from behind.   I call out to them, but the creature is too close for them to be able to avoid it.  As it gets closer, it finally steps into the light and I recognize it as a hobgoblin.  This is a monster much too strong for an ¡®E¡¯ level request.  As I call out, they turn around and finally notice the approaching hobgoblin.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    They make ready to defend themselves, but there is no chance for them to defend against it.  I stand up and start running toward them, but I will not make it in time.  If only I knew that instant move technique.  I try to at least imitate what I saw him doing and concentrate on sending mana to my legs.  I suddenly feel a burst of energy into my legs and I fly forward towards the hobgoblin.  I close the distance to the hobgoblin as he axe swings down.  Its not the same as the one Robert used earlier, but just before it can hit Cole, I am able to parry it to the side.  It is a heavy blow and makes my arms tremble almost as much as when I was parrying the blows during the test earlier.  I continue to parry the hobgoblins blows, waiting for the opportunity to strike back.  After a few strikes a blue bolt of energy and an arrow strike the monster.  As it stumbles, I take the chance and use the first form to strike at his arm holding the axe causing him to grimace, but he holds onto his weapon.  He quickly regains his balance and attacks me with his axe and I am able to block the blow, but it pushes me back a couple of feet.


    I am about to drop my sword when suddenly a white glow envelopes me and I feel stronger.  The hobgoblin charges at me and swings his axe at me.  I parry it and this time my arms do not tremble from his strike.  The next time he strikes, I parry the blow and strike his wrist holding the axe.  This time I am able to disarm him and the axe drops to the ground.  He stumbles back grabbing his wounded wrist and turns to run.  I quickly charge forward, though as I move forward I feel a tug on my cloak, pulling it off, but it doesn''t slow me down much and I attack the hobgoblin with the fourth form, cutting off his head.  As I turn to check on my party, they are staring at me in amazement.


    Mystera ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    Ben ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t realize you were a girl.¡±


    Cole ¡°More importantly, how were you able to do that?  I just cast a minor enhancement on you and it took much greater effect than what it should have.¡±


    I grimace at Ben¡¯s comment, but am startled upon hearing Cole¡¯s remark.  All that power came from a minor enhancement spell.  Is this an effect of me being the goddess of magic and having it cast on me?  What would happen if an attack spell was cast at me?


    Mystra ¡°I have never had magic cast on me before, I thought that was normal effect of the spell.¡±


    Cole ¡°I cast it as I normally do but it had the effect of a master mage casting it on you.¡±


    Milva ¡°Now that you mention that, my frost bolt spell seemed to be a lot stronger than it normally is.  Maybe magic is naturally stronger in this mine.  My teacher did mention that there are some places in the world that mana is more concentrated and makes spells easier to cast and more powerful.¡±


    Cole ¡°That would definitely explain it.  That should make this a lot easier, though I don¡¯t know about this request any more, it was only suppose to be goblins, but we found a hobgoblin this close to the entrance.  There are definitely more here.¡±


    Ben ¡°As long as we can keep them in front of us, we should be able to handle them as long as the hobgoblins do not group up.  Are you all good for it, or should we head back to town and upgrade the request?¡±


    We all confirm our willingness to continue and commence looting the corpses.  While I go to retrieve and put my cloak back on, Ben goes to all the corpses and cut off the left ear off and places them in a pouch on his belt.  He notices me watching and explains that we can get a separate bounty for any goblin kills.  We set the axe aside to pick up on the way out of the mine and continue on into the dungeon.  This time we proceed with a lot more caution to prevent any of the monsters from circling around us.  We run into a couple more groups of three to five goblins, but have no problems dispatching them.  We soon come to a fork in the mine with tunnels going left and right.


    Ben ¡°Well this is a dilemma.  Anyone have any ideas on what to do now?¡±


    We all look at each other, but no one offers up an idea.


    Cole ¡°We could try going down one and just watch our backs more, we haven¡¯t run into any more hobgoblins so we should be good.¡±


    Ben ¡°This might be just the place they were waiting on to surround us and there is no way we can handle them coming from both directions at once.¡±


    Mystra ¡°Can we trap one entrance and slow them down or kill them to give us enough time to handle whatever is in front of us?¡±


    Ben ¡°I didn¡¯t bring actual trap gear, but I could rig up something to at least slow them down a little.  Though not enough to actually help us.¡±


    Milva ¡°What if I cast a warning spell on the trap to give us a heads up when they trip it?¡±


    Ben ¡°So a heads up when they start to surround us?  That might give us a chance to circle back to this spot before they can surround us if we put the trap inside the tunnel a little bit.  What is the range of the spell?¡±


    Milva ¡°Normally only 20 feet but with the boosted magic here it might be able to warn us from further away.¡±


    Ben ¡°Okay let¡¯s go with that.¡±


    Ben and Milva head into the tunnel on the right and set the trap and spell, while Cole and I stand guard on the other tunnel.  After a few minutes they are done and we regroup and head down the left tunnel.  We are in the tunnel for a few minutes when suddenly a horn sounds.


    Milva ¡°The alarm spell just went off.¡±


    Ben ¡°Hurry back to the fork before they surround us!¡±


    We rush out of the tunnel and back to the fork just in time to see a hobgoblin and 3 goblins exiting the right tunnel.

 Chapter 4:A hard truth

    We quickly get into formation and I stand ready to block their approach and the others make ready to attack.  I hear Cole casting a spell behind me and I can only hope that it is the same buff he cast earlier, it will be my only chance against the hobgoblin.  Before they can close half the distance to us, already an arrows and frost bolt are taking down two of the goblins,  Shortly there after Cole finishes his spell and glow surrounds me, I take that as my queue and rush forward to engage the goblin and hobgoblin.  Just as I reach him , another group of three goblins and a hobgoblin come rushing out of the tunnel we had exited.  I shout back for them to focus on the second hobgoblin.  I quickly slash the goblin, decapitating it and with the same motion I parry the hobgoblin''s strike.  i quickly regain my stance and immediately flow into a combo of the first three forms, disarming and killing the hobgoblin.  Starting the fight buffed definitely helps a lot, I had forgotten how much easier it is fighting with a party.  I turn around and notice that Ben is now engaging a weaken hobgoblin and 2 goblins.  I immediately charge at the hobgoblin''s back, using mana to increase my charge speed and immediately use the third form to kill the hobgoblin.  We are quickly able to finish the goblins and Cole commences to healing Ben from his injuries.  We go around to all the corpse to loot and retrieve the proof of our kills.


    Afterwards, I turn to Cole and Milva and ask "Is there any chance that you have a spellbook with any other buffs or useful spells we can use in here?"


    Cole "Sorry, I don''t have a spellbook.  I am a cleric and we mainly learn prayers from a church, but most clerics also learn a few buff spells to help out, so far I just have the one."


    Milva "I have a few buff spells in my spellbook, but I haven''t learned them yet, so I would have to read to use them and that is a bad idea in a fight."


    Mystera "Mind if I look at them, I have been told I have affinity for magic and I want to see if I can learn one?"


    Milva "It takes a little more than just reading a spell to learn it.  You also have to be able to understand the spell and what the mana is doing for it.  Though I see no reason to not let you try, we need to take a short break to rest after that last battle anyway."


    With that she searches in her bag and brings out a medium size book and after looking through it for a minute finds a page and hands me the book.  I take the book from her and begin reading the page.  It describes the spell for enchanting a weapon temporarily with elemental damage.  It gives the spell and includes the different elements that can be included in the spell.  I quickly take out my sword and begin reading the spell for fire out loud.  I feel the mana building up and when I finish the spell it flows into my sword and it begins to glow red.


    Milva "How did you do that?  It takes most people a couple of hours of study before they can cast a spell for the first time, even reading it from a scroll or book!"


    Mystra "I just recently found out that I had an affinity for magic and that I chose the wrong profession."


    Milva "You should really look into changing professions, there are not many mages around and they are always in high demand for parties."


    Mystra "What do you mean not many mages around?  I grew up away from society so I only know of them from books and it made it seem like they were common."


    Milva "Supposedly, they use to be fairly common and the rare ones were the ones with potential to become archmages and the like.  The story goes that a long time ago, an archmage did something to anger the goddess of magic and she turned her back on us, so now magic is harder to learn and normal mages are uncommon and master mages are rare, with no true archmages around."


    Mystra "Once this is done, I might look into it."


    With that, Ben calls out to us  as he exits the tunnel that he set traps in before.  "Traps are set, let''s give it another go."


    We gather up our belongings and head into the same tunnel as before.  We are able to quickly reach the end of the tunnel with no problems and turn around and head back to the fork.  We then head down the other tunnel.  After a few minutes of walking, we reach a natural cavern, there are signs that the miners had used this as a staging area based on the mining supplies propped against the wall.  On the other walls we see several alcoves where it looked like the miners had started to mine, but had stopped after a few feet.  With the exception of one on the far side of the cavern that seems to go much further in.  As we approach it we can hear noises coming from it.  We stop to listen to the noises and as we are listening, they start to get louder.  We quickly get into formation and wait for the cause of the noise.  Suddenly ten goblins charge out of the tunnel towards us.  I quickly cast the fire enchantment onto my sword and watch as arrows and frost bolts begin flying over my shouldering to kill the goblins.  They are able to take down 5 before the goblins reach us.  I quickly engage the remaining five, trying to kill them, but focusing more on preventing them from getting behind me.  Due to the number of goblins, I am unable to do anything else besides parry or dodge their attacks.  After a minute of doing this, I notice that their hands are starting to smoke from holding their weapons, I take advantage of that and focus more on parrying then before.  After another minute of this, the goblins drop their weapons and turn to flee.  Ben and Milva take advantage of this and finish off the goblins.


    Just as the final goblin is being killed, we notice more monsters arriving from the tunnel.  This time, it is a large hobgoblin that seems to be twice as muscular as the ones we killed earlier and on top of that he is wearing plate armor and carrying a greattsword.  On his left is a much smaller hobgoblin wearing robes and carrying a staff with a skull and feathers on the top and on his right is a giant lizard-like creature with small spikes all over it''s body and small unusable wings on its back.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Ben "Damn its a Chieftain, shaman, and an earth drake!  Run away!"


    As we turn to run, the shaman begins to cast a spell and just as we reach the exit of the cavern, spikes shoot out of the ground forming a wall inside the tunnel blocking our way out.    We turn around as the Chieftain begins to approach us.


    Chieftain "Did you really think that I would let you leave after killing so many of  my warriors foolish humans?"


    Ben "Did anyone understand what he said, I can only assume he said something along the lines of I''m going to kill all of you slowly or torture us , not that it makes much of a difference?"


    I realize that he must of been speaking the goblin language and even though I don''t know it, I understood him.  I would reveal that I knew what he said, but I am unsure if I could reply back, so to keep from having to answer question I keep silent.


    Ben  "Nobody, oh well.  Stay in formation and hopefully we can all make it out of here alive."


    With that he begins to  shoot arrows at the shaman, while Milva and Cole begin casting their spells.  I take my stance and wait for the Chieftain to approach.  As I keep my eyes on the Chieftain, I notice the drake begin to charge at us, I begin to worry about how to handle it when suddenly white chains burst from the ground and wrap around the drake.  I look back and notice that Cole is pointing toward the drake and is in deep concentration which can only mean the bind spell came from him, it also means I will not be able to count on his buff for this fight.  Noticing my slight distraction, the chieftain charges forwards and takes a horizontal swing right out my neck.  It is so fast that I have to dive to ground to dodge it, I quickly go into a roll as I hit the ground and spin around taking a slash at the back of his knees.  In an amazing feat of strength and dexterity. he is able to pull out of the swing and block my attack.  the sheer force of his block sends me flying back.  As I am recovering. he charges at me and attacks me with an overhead swing.  I do not have the footing yet to dodge it, so I quickly parry it to the side.  As I parry it, his attack pulls my sword from my arms with the sheer strength and when it hits the ground the shockwave sends me flying again.  As I am recovering again, this time I am ready for his charge and as he gets ready to attack I dive past him and roll back to my feet.  Though I am now a little sluggish due to weight of the armor slowing me down, I am able to dodge his attack.  I quickly run to where I can see the hilt of my sword next to the crater of his last attack.  I quickly grab it and spin around and get ready for his next attack, as I take my stance I notice my fatal flaw. . . I never replaced the sword I found in the ruins and it has failed me.  There is only a few inches of broken blade attached to the hilt.  I only have one choice, I have to attempt to use my divinity to make a blade for the sword.  I close my eyes and begin to focus.


    Ben''s POV:


    Milva and I had just finished killing the shaman and were preparing to help Mystera with the Chieftain while Cole held down the drake, but as we turn to her fight we notice that her sword had broken.  Just as I was about to yell for her to run, she closes her eyes and then the most amazing thing I have ever seen happens.  Her armor begins to flow from her body up her arms and into the sword forming a black blade leaving her wearing a black robe that matches the design of most mages.  If that wasn''t amazing enough, her black hair is flowing back like it is being blown by the wind, but I don''t don''t even feel a breeze, on top of that its glittering like looking at the night sky and seeing nothing but stars.   As her hair settles, she opens her eyes and looks at her sword, as if checking to make sure it was there.  She then looks at the Chieftain, who just like me is just staring at her in amazement.


    She again closes her eyes and relaxes her arms at her sides.  Its like she is relaxing and performing some meditation technique.  The Chieftain notices as well and charges forward roaring something that I can''t understand.  As he get a few steps away, she opens her eyes and charges forward.  Right as they are about to reach each other, suddenly large black claws form on both sides of her and slash at the Chieftain.  As the black claws disappear, they are now a few steps away from each other facing away.  The Chieftain looks like he is about to turn and then collapses,.  I quickly turn to Mystera and see her cough blood before collapsing to the ground as well.  I go to run to her but luckily Milva calls out to me, reminding me of the drake that we still need to kill.  Between the two of us, we are able to make quick work of it and then all three of us run to check on Mystera.  We are able to verify she is alive, but her breathing is ragged and she is unconscious.  Cole immediately begins casting healing on her and after a few minutes, her breathing begins to steady out.


    A/N:  So trying to decide which style of writing I prefer for fights.  Either the ''used this technique and killed the opponent'' or ''slash by slash with the occasional technique thrown in''.  Next chapter I plan to show her POV to explain what happend(cliff hanger muahaha) and then go into a short time skip and begin the real adventure.  I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far.

 Chapter 5: Learning Magic

    Mystra''s POV:


    As I close my eyes, I imagine my armor flowing into the hilt of my sword and forming a blade.  I focus on all the times that I had sharpened my blade , getting an edge that was sharp, but not so much as to dull after the first hit.  I open my eyes and I look at my hands, success, the sword is there.


    I look at the Chieftain and notice the shock on his face.  I know that I do not have the strength, speed, or stamina to beat him now.  I have only one option, I most use the final combo, the culmination of all the forms.  It is mastering this combo that earn me the title of blademaster in my former life.


    I close my eyes and begin to relax the muscles in my body, I must be as agile as possible for this.  I hear the Chieftain roaring about me being a fool and charging at me.  I wait til he is just a few steps away from me and open my eyes.


    I quickly charge forward beginning the combo.  As I pass him, I can feel my body beginning to fail, but I have succeeded in the combo.  Though even as I succeed, I can feel the muscles in my body ripping.


    As I finish the combo, I know I did a massive amount of damage, but was it enough.  My body is in so much pain right now that I can not even control it any more.  I try to move, but all that resulted in was me coughing up blood, right before I pass out.


    As my vision fades to black, a bright light suddenly flashes before my eyes and when I open them, I notice that I am somewhere else.  I appear to be in some kind of trophy room or museum, every direction I look I see various creature''s heads mounted on the walls and random artifacts in display cases.


    As I am turning around looking, I finally notice Tymora standing off to the side watching me look around.


    Tymora "When I suggested becoming an adventurer, I did not mean to go and almost get yourself killed on your first adventure."


    Mystra "Well I did not expect to have this much trouble with this new body and what happened to me?"


    Tymora "First off, when you collapsed I pulled your consciousness to my domain to have a little chat with you, so right now you are in my domain.  Secondly, you are the GODDESS OF MAGIC!!  You just tried to pull of a technique that only those that destined to be a blademaster because they were blessed by the god of warriors, Tempus."


    Mystra "So I have the knowledge and understanding of the technique, but my body will never be able to perform it.  Are you saying that I have no choice but to rely on magic?"


    Tymora "Now you are getting it.  No matter what you do, your body will never be able to handle the higher level techniques without damaging you."


    Mystra "Hmm, well while I have you here, can you explain divinity to me?"


    Tymora "Divinity is a god''s ability to be a god, to simplify it.  It allows a god to perform miracles, to provide aid to their followers, to change reality around them, and to access their domain.  Once you get stronger as a god, you should be able to travel to and from your domain.  Anything else before I return you?"


    Mystra "Last question for now, Is there a way for me to contact you to answer questions?"


    Tymora "Hmm, I try to watch you as much as possible, but I still have to watch my followers as well.  So the best way would be to take your adventurer''s license and call out to me, I will respond as soon as can.  With that answered, I have to return you to your body."


    As she finishes speaking, everything fades to black and the next thing I know I hear people calling out to me.  I open my eyes and see my party all standing around me, with Cole performing healing on me.


    They all sigh with relief and after a few more minutes of healing help me to my feet.  Even though Col.e healed me, I can still feel the internal damage that my body suffered unleashing that combo.  They quickly begin asking me what that final attack was and how I did that with my armor and sword.


    I make up so vague answer about the armor and sword being a magical item gift from my teacher and the attack being a forbidden final technique that I should not use except as a last result and that I am not suppose to talk about to people outside of the school.


    They buy the answer, but I can still see a questioning look in their eyes.


    We quickly loot the corpse and take proof of our kills.  After a quick search of the last bit of the mine reveals nothing but a small camp for the goblins, we start to head out, grabbing the loot that we left behind on the way out.


    After exiting the mine, we head back to the city and guild to turn in our quest.  When we get to the guild, we inform them of the completion and turn in the proof of our kills.  They take our license and update them for our quest completion and then hand Ben a bag containing the reward.


    Apparently, we are getting more of a reward than originally expected due to getting a bonus for the shaman and Chieftain.


    After we sell the loot, my share of the loot is 5 gold.  Everyone seems to be amazed that we made so much from the quest, until Ben reminds everyone how close we came to dying and that this should have been a ''D'' level quest.


    We then head to adventurer bar and celebrate over a meal.  After the meal, I split up from the party to get a room.


    As I am leaving them, Ben calls out to me and tells me that they would love to party with me again, but I should take a few days to recover.  Even they are going to take a few days to rest and prepare for the next adventure and if I want they are going to try for another quest in three days and if I want to join them, to meet them here for breakfast then.


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    I thank him for the offer and promise that if I am able, I will join them then.  I then head to counter and rent a room for the week.  Since I am rank ''F'' the room is fairly cheap and when I get to it, I can see why.


    It is a barren room with a small bed with a small chest at the end of it.  I take off my gear and place it in the chest and then get in bed and quickly go to sleep.


    The next morning, I head down to the bar to get some breakfast.  It is fairly busy and after sitting down to order, I finally notice why.  I was so exhausted and my body needed to recover so much that I slept in clear til lunch.


    When the waitress shows up, I order lunch instead of breakfast and when it arrives I quickly eat it.  I then exit the bar and head to the front gate to talk to the mage there.


    Once there, I see that yet again the two old men are fast asleep.  I approach the tent and wake them.


    Robert "Back again so soon and I see you got rid of that useless armor from before."


    Mystra "Yes, and I have come to take him up on his offer to teach me magic."


    Old man "That was quicker than I expected, I figured it would be a lot longer before you realized the wonders of magic,.  Though I realize that I forgot to introduce myself last time.  The name is Andre and I am an elemantalist of the fourth circle."


    He then goes on to explain that there are two types of magic-divine and arcane.  From those we have the three principals of magic-Attack, Support, and Recovery.  These are more finely divided by scale and characteristics into circles.


    He follows the school of elementalist and therefore specializes in elemental attack and support magic.


    Andre "First things first, you need a spellbook.  There are two ways of getting one, creating your own spellbook or by using someone else, either through buying, inheriting, or finding it.  Luckily for you, I happen to have a beginner''s spellbook, but it only contains the first circle level of spells, so you will have to replace it fairly soon."


    He searches in the tent for a few minutes and then hands me a small book.  He then begins another explanation of what he is going to teach me.


    Andre "There are five levels to mastering a spell. One-Casting from a book, Two-Casting without a book, Three-Controlling the power level of the spell, Four-Controlling the quantity or size of the spell, and Five-Reducing or removing the cast time.  For the first lesson, I want you to learn the Firebolt spell and be able to cast it without the book, next you will need to learn to control the mana flow to the spell and increase and decrease it to make it bigger or smaller.  Come back when you accomplish that."


    I go over to the side, while Robert and Andre go back to sleep.  After looking through the book, I find the firebolt spell.  Same as before, I succeed on my first try.


    I quickly verify that I can cast the spell without the incantation and after a few cast, I figure out how to control the output.  When I cast the spell, I just focus on how big I want it and send just enough mana to make it that size,  So if I want a small one, I just imagine a firebolt the size of a pebble and allow only a small amount of mana to flow to it and for large, I found out that when imagining a firebolt, it fails if you try for anything bigger than about the size of a person''s head.


    After practicing a few more times, I go and wake up Andre.  He quickly wakes up and is surprised that not only have I completed the first two tasks in such a short period of time, but that I do not an incantation.


    After a few test to verify my mastery, he gives me my next task.  I need to take ten candles and simultaneously cast firebolt for each of them and light them.


    I head into the city and buy a small box of candles, I then head back out to the same spot as before and arrange ten candles in a semicircle in front of me.


    I try a couple of tricks for increasing the quantity, such as imagining multiple firebolts when casting, but it just makes the firebolt bigger.


    It was not the next morning when I was eating breakfast with a fork, that I figured out the trick.  I just imagine casting a firebolt from the tips of each of my fingers and when the mana flows, I have it get separated by my arms and finally by my fingers.


    It takes most of the morning to work on increasing the number, it actually became fairly easy after increasing the number to four, but then I ran into the problem of aiming.


    After spending most of the afternoon working on it, I had yet to work out aiming more than a few at a time.  As I wrap up for the day, I decide that I will take a short break and go on the quest with Ben''s group tomorrow.  Maybe if I use it in combat, I might figure something out.  Worse case I will have my sword with me to fight in case I have problems in combat.


    A/N:  Thanks for the comments from last time.  I had not realized that I was swapping back and forth from Mystra and Mystera.  I will be going back and fixing it to Mystra.  Thanks for pointing that out.  I did not mean for the magic lessons to take so much.  In my notes, it looks so small but actually writing about it takes a lot.  The next chapter will have her using it in combat and finishing up the lessons and beginning the journey into becoming a god.

 Chapter 6: Testing out Magic

    The next morning I wake up and grab my gear from the chest and for the first time in a while, I decide to check my status.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Name</td><td>Mystra</td><td>Class</td><td>Fallen God</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Level</td><td colspan=''2''>4</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>130/130</td><td>Mana</td><td>900/900</td></tr><tr><td>Stamina</td><td>50/50</td><td>Divinity</td><td>5/5</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>20</td><td>Constitution</td><td>(18)20</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>100</td><td>Wisdom</td><td>80</td></tr><tr><td>Dexterity</td><td>25</td><td>Luck</td><td>15</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Due to my training and the quest the other day, my level had gone up to 4.  My stats have not gone up as I would hope, but based on my constitution and my soreness my body is still recovering from the other day.  Though my divinity has gone up, I will have to experiment with that later and see what I can do.


    I head to the bar to meet up with Ben''s party, I take a few moments and then locate their table.  As I approach, Ben notices me and calls out a greeting to me.


    Ben "So did you decide to join us on our quest today?"


    Mystra "Yeah, I need to go stretch my muscles and nothing like making money while doing it."


    Cole "How are you doing, has your body recovered?


    Mystra "I still have some soreness, but I should be okay."


    Ben "Well with you going with us, we should be able to take a more profitable quest."


    Ben finishes up his breakfast and leaves the bar, while the rest of the party tells me about some of their more recent adventures.  After half an hour, Ben returns with a quest to hunt a small group of gnolls near a group of farms near the outskirts of the city.


    We gather our gear and exit the city heading toward the farms.  After walking for a few miles, we arrive at the first farm.  We quickly find the farmer in the fields and get more details on the gnolls.  Apparently they have attacked the farm next to his the day before and afterwards returned to the forest nearby.


    We head to the next farm and Ben is able to locate the tracks for the gnolls.  We decide to follow the tracks back into the forest and hopefully to their base.  Before entering the forest, we get into formation and have Ben lead us into the forest, with the rest of us watching our surroundings to prevent an ambush.


    Due to it being the edge of the forest where the local farmers would come searching for game or firewood, we have a slow time of tracking the gnolls because of all the tracks here.  But after a little over an hour, Ben gets our attention and points ahead to where we see a group of about seven gnolls eating around a fire.


    We pull back a little to come up with a plan out of their hearing.  After revealing that I am able to cast firebolt, we come up with a plan where I will attack first to get there attention and while they are rushing me, the rest will attack them from the sides.


    We head back to the camp and take up positions and when I get the signal I draw my sword and cast a large firebolt at the closest gnoll from my offhand.  Ad the firebolt hits the target, the rest of the gnolls quickly jump to there feet and begin charging at me.


    As they charge at me, I begin casting firebolts at them.  It takes about two large firebolts to kill a gnoll and once I realize this I try casting two firebolts, one from my offhand and the other from my sword hand.  I then notice that the firebolt coming from my sword hand went through the sword and actually took the shape of the sword.  On top of that, the gnoll hit with the girebolt-sword went down in one hit.


    By the time they have crossed have the distance to me, the others begin to attack and we quickly wipe out the group of gnolls.   We regroup and begin looting and collecting proof of our kills.


    We are in the middle of collecting when suddenly a group of three gnolls arrive at the campsite.  Upon seeing us and the corpses of their group, they flee into the woods.


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    We quickly give chase to the gnolls and they are able to outpace us, but Ben is able to pick up their trail.  We follow their trail until  we arrive at a small cave.  We decide to follow them inside.


    A short distance into the cave we see fresh signs of a struggle and blood splatters on the cave walls.  A little bit more and we can see evidence that something attacked the gnolls and whatever it was won.


    As the cave darkens, Milva cast a light spell and as the spell lights up the cave, we see what killed the gnolls, a giant grizzly bear.


    The bear roars at us and charges.  We turn and run out of the cave, barely jumping out of the way as the bear takes a swipe at us.


    We quickly get into a formation surrounding the bear.  I attack the bear with a firebolt from my offhand to get his attention.


    The firebolt barely singed his fur and seem to do nothing but piss him off.  As he charges at me Ben and Milva begin attacking him.  It is quickly evident that their attacks are doing nothing but making him more angry.


    As he takes a swipe at me, I duck under the swipe and then I attack his exposed flank.  I am able to cut him, but it is just a shallow cut.


    We keep attacking it in the same way, but it is evident to us all that we should come up with a way to flee.  We do not have the strength to take it on.


    I keep dodging the bear''s swipes knowing that if they even graze me, I will probably not be able to recover.  While dodging, I come up with a possible plan, what would happen if while I was slashing the bear, I cast firebolt at the same time?


    The next time I dodge the bear''s swipe, I slash at his exposed flank and as the sword cuts the bear I cast firebolt.  I watch in amazement as the firebolt shoots out in the form of the sword stabbing into the bear going deeper then I have be able to so far.


    The bear roars in pain and quickly turns on me and takes a swipe.  I quickly dodge back out of the range of his swipe.


    Now that I have a way to damage him, it is just a matter of slowly taking down his health while dodging his attacks.  After another ten minutes of battle, we finally bring him down.


    After the bear falls to ground and stops moving the party lets out a cheer and runs over to me asking me how I did that.


    Maybe, I have been looking at this the wrong way this whole time, maybe I can create a sword style around using magic.  I am the goddess of magic, I should be able to do something like that.


    I explain to them that I do not know how it happened, but maybe because the sword is able to change forms,that it can affect magic cast through it as well.


    While we gather the loot, Ben heads back to the farms to get people to help with the bear''s corpse.  It takes a while but he soon returns with a small group of people  and a small wagon .


    We all work together and are barely able to roll the bear into the wagon.  We use the wagon and return to the farms and come to an agreement to sell the bear meat to the farmers.   While we rest, they quickly skin the bear for us and it is late afternoon before we head back to the city.


    When we arrive at the city, we head to the guild and turn in the quest and sell the loot.  The bear hide fetches a high price and my share of loot this time is 20 gold.  After making plans to party again in a few days, I head back to my room.


    Tomorrow I plan on discussing my plan with Andre before looking for a spellbook with any spells that would be useful to developing my new magic.


    A/N:  I have a little time right now so I am planning on getting the story to the point of her going on the journey to create her on magic/sword school.  Based on how I have my notes/story set up, I should transition to that in a couple of chapters.  At that point, I will slowly introduce more of the world and conflicts going on.  I hope everyone is enjoying it so far.