Chapter 23: The Lone Wanderer

Plague Rat Lvl. 1

Ah… The change of scenery was palpable. Pasig City was definitely a significant change in the environment; Fresher air, magical clean river, more human skeletons, even more city ruins and what not. There were literally thousands of plague rats everywhere. No wonder why the army was avoiding this place like the Black Death. Get it? Black Death? Plague rats? Ba dum tss.

Just imagine a sewer rat that’s a size of an adult cat. They’re not cute nor do they purr. They stink, they’re dirty and they squeak. The skeletons of humans, dogs and cats in the area were the only evidence they left. Yeah, they’re just level 1. These critters are no match for the powers of my magic. Why not just burn the shit out of them and go ‘Ahhh’?

Tempting, but I’m getting there. I actually tried a test run and cast [Chain Hellfire] to the mob of plague rats. I didn’t get much EXP even though I was sure I killed at least 50 of them at the same time. But when I attacked them, thousands of rats came at me and chased me like they were dogs. Of course, I ran as fast as I can because there’s no way I would let myself get nibbled by those fuckers.

They were called ‘plague’ rats for a reason and I don’t think a bat caused the outbreak in Camp Aguinaldo. I could probably cure myself of whatever disease, they may inflict on me, but getting sick wasn’t a part of my plan. Plus, I’m afraid of rats. Not cockroaches, worms or snakes, but rats.

Technically, I was just a few meters from the bridge. There’s something on the bridge like an invisible barrier that kept the monsters of Pasig City from Quezon City. I couldn’t explain it, but I guess, like every unexplainable thing in this world: It must be magic.

I haven’t come up with a good plan that could keep me safe from harm. I got an idea which could lessen the population of rats significantly. I could try to make the loud sound that could attract all of them and drown them into the river. Just like the Pied Piper. The problem with that plan was it would waste good potential source of water. These corpses of these plague rats will probably contaminate the water.

After a few minutes of thinking while meditating, I come up with a solution. Since [Chain Hellfire] didn’t produce a much satisfactory result as an AoE skill. I thought of inventing a new spell that could easily kill multiple enemies in one cast.

I summoned a wall made of flames that stretched to both sides of the highway. My idea was to lure those rats into my fire wall and let them burn as they pass through it. After a few seconds, the fire wall was dispersed into nothing as my mana was depleted. I realized that I couldn’t keep the spell up for a long time because I was using my mana as a fuel. I sat again and grabbed my notebook and think of another plan.

“Aha!” I muttered to myself.

I had formulated a perfect plan to remove these rats. The plan was simple. Using [Earth Manipulation], I dug up a hole deep enough so that the rats won’t be able to jump its way back to the surface but shallow enough that my spell could reach them. The hole I made was wide enough so that the rats couldn’t jump on my side. Basically, my plan was to be bait and lure these rats into the hole and burn them to death. I looked at my notebook to see the sketch of my plan.

“Close enough…”

There’s a reason why I didn’t choose an Art course in college. Though I looked like Jesus in my drawing, the real me looked more terrible. At least I got my beard right and I didn’t include my man boobs and tummy. Anyway, time to execute my master plan.

“YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” I shouted.

I could really use a signature line, but I didn’t have the creativity. As I successfully grabbed their attention, the plague rats rushed towards me and as expected, they all fell in the hole. I laughed hard at their stupidity. Seriously, I didn’t expect that would work.

“Oh shit!”

Okay, maybe I’m the stupid. As soon as they fell, the rats used their claws and the others to climb on the surface. I almost panicked. But before the rats could reach me, I cast [Chain Hellfire], burning everything in the hole. Wave after wave, the rats didn’t surrender as they continued to rush at me and fall into the hole.

I used [Tailwind], so that the smoke wouldn’t suffocate me as they burned. The EXP rate was very slow due to their level, but their numbers made it possible for me to level up once. I continued to cast [Chain Hellfire], but the rat population seemed to be endless.

Level Up!

After almost an hour of resting, shouting and casting of fire spell, I noticed that there were lesser number of rats coming in waves. Finally, I couldn’t see any plague rats in the highway. I finished off the remaining rats in the hole and snuffed out the fire.

Level Up!

I lifted up the earth inside the hole so that I could loot the corpses. Even though I killed thousands of them, the amount of loot wasn’t impressive. I only got a few hundreds of Copper Coins and small mana stones. It’s surprising to find that these items weren’t affected by my fire spell. I opened my character screen and distributed 10 points to WIS.

Name:Miguel ArevaloRace:HumanLevel:21HP:531/531MP:1150/1150SP:130/130EXP:47.70%STR:19WIS:58AGI:20INT:70VIT:42LUK:13DEX:12CHA:21Satiety:FineStatusNormalUndistributed Attribute Points:0Title(s):Masochist: +10% Pain Tolerance and HPPerk(s):Leadership: +10 Charisma and increased follower loyaltyTactician: Tactics and Strategies have higher chance of successMana Affinity: Increase in Mana Control and +10% MP

I moved on and continued with my journey. There were still a few plague rats around, but they were scattered as I walked through the highway. One by one, they rushed at me, but I made a quick work with them with my fire spell and didn’t waste my time looting their corpse.

There was a ruined building nearby that’s used to be a bookstore. Finally, I could really use some good read. After, I removed the rubbles, I grabbed the books that were still in good condition and stored them in a bag. I grabbed a book about physics, geology, anatomy and some elementary science book.There were also men’s magazines near the counter. I grabbed one of every edition of FHM and Maxim magazines I could find. I figured that I needed them for the night and for research purposes, of course.

A few hours later, I felt like a zombie walking on the road. I wasn’t sick or anything, but I was extremely bored with just fighting plague rats. I didn’t expect the journey to be less adventurous when traveling alone. It didn’t have a Final Fantasy feeling off of it, nor did I felt like the Sole Survivor in Fallout 4. There were just less conversations and there weren’t enough events to make it more adventurous so to speak.

Pasig city is surrounded by three rivers: Marikina river in the north and west, Pasig river and Ilugin river in the south. I lived in the southern part of the city and unfortunately, it’s too far for a journey on foot and I would have to cross Ilugin river to reach our barangay. [1]

Wild Mushroom Boar Lvl. 17

Horned Rabbit Lvl. 12

Herbovine Lvl. 15

As I’ve encountered different monsters, I noticed, just now, that I’ve been stepping on grass and there was a thick forest of trees and wild plants on the way. Just imagine an abandoned city for thousands of years, and a forest grew in the middle of it. How did it happen? Most probably magic. The monsters I saw were passive and they ran as soon as they saw me.

Actually, they’re more like animals or beasts than monsters. I’ve been to a zoo when I was a kid, but I didn’t recognize any of these beasts. Wild mushroom boars were just like ordinary boars, but they have orange mushrooms growing on their back and Horned rabbit was just a rabbit with a unicorn horn. Herbovines looked like a carabao with four horns and extremely dense and long fur that hangs down lower than the belly.

It’s tempting to kill these beasts, but they seemed to be harmless. I realized that I was entering a thicker part of the forest, so I took out a map in my inventory. As I read the map, I realized that I was near Pasig city Rainforest park. Well, it’s not a forest. It’s a waterpark and a zoo.

I know that it doesn’t make sense, but I guess the ‘rainforest’ grew in this area because of magic and thus spawned these beasts. I took out my book about beastiary to see if I could pass the forest safely. Crossing the forest would be the shortest route, but I needed to be sure if it’s worth the risk.

According to the book, all forests and jungles, actually any place where there’s an abundant wildlife, are considered as dungeons. Beasts/animals are also classified as monsters, but unlike the usual dungeon monsters, they reproduce and do not spawn.

The only control these forests have on the beasts is keeping the equilibrium. For example, everyone can hunt freely in the forest, be it monsters or intelligent beings, so long as the balance is kept. These mystical dungeons can control the birth rate of a species in their domain to keep the balance.

However, if the balance was disturbed, the forest itself will come alive and remove the cause of the disturbance. The dungeon will take form as a boss monster known as Treants. It was said that Treants were so powerful that the wood elves worshipped them as gods.

Obviously, with my fire magic, I could disturb the balance in the forest and I might accidentally burn the whole forest. It’s better to respect these types of dungeons. As I stood up and prepared to leave, I heard a growl in my back.

Dire Wolf Lvl. 18

The dire wolf lowered its head and showed off its sharp fangs as it growled. It was large and almost as tall as a horse. The wolf jerked its body back and barked. I pointed my staff and prepared to cast my fire spell. Before I could release my spell, I noticed that there were three wolf pups whimpering behind the dire wolf.

I took out a piece of chimera steak from my inventory and threw it to the ground as I slowly stepped back. The dire wolf sniffed the scent of the meat and lifted it with its mouth. As soon as the dire wolf backed off, I walked slowly in the opposite direction and ran. Though I could probably kill the beast with my magic, I didn’t want those wolf pups to lose their mother.

I walked outside the forest looking for another way without going directly to the forest. After a few hours of trekking, I found a clearing that extends up to the inner city. The ruins of the city were covered with vines and strange plants as if the city was abandoned for many years. I looked up to the sky and the sun was already setting.

I picked up some branches along the road and decided to make camp in a nearby ruins with a roof over my head. The night was cold and I could hear the wolf’s howl in the distance. I made a small campfire with the branches I picked up and read some books. But then, I remembered that I gained a new skill last night. I opened the skill screen and read the skill information.

Living Matter Manipulation[Active] Beginner Lvl. 1

Effect: The user can shape and manipulate everything and anything organic, both organisms and organic matter. This spell does not allow a user to bestow life or resurrect a dead organism nor it can create life out of nothing.

Requirements: The user must be in touch with the target.

MP Cost: ???

This skill was OP as I could think of many possible use of it. I could probably enhance my physical strength by strengthening my muscles, bones and joints. Not only that, I could enhance my physical appearance just like getting plastic surgery and most importantly, a magical liposuction. I remembered reading something about Alteration spells. I grabbed my notebook to review what I learned about it.

As I remembered it, Alteration school is the manipulation of an organic body and [Living Matter Manipulation] is included in this school. As such, it can be used to harden skin, reinforce muscles, regenerate cells and etc. But of course, it has limitations as to the enhancement of an organic body.

If this limit was reached, it’s forbidden for a user to use it further as it would have terrible consequences. One of the best examples is Jormund the Mad.

According to the book, Jormund the Mad was once a great elven king of the Kingdom of Elswood. Obviously, this kingdom was from the other world and not from Earth. He belonged to a bloodline of mages that specialized in alteration school and by the young age of 16, the young prince already mastered alteration.

Jormund became king at the age of 38 and his research on alteration school revolutionized the medicine and drastically improved the kingdom’s health. He used the condemned criminals for his research, so nobody batted an eye. It was said that the king became obsessed with the creation of a perfect race similar to the Ancients through the use of magic.

He began to conduct a series of secret experiments. One by one, his subjects became his experimental subjects including the queen, his children, the herald, advisors and many loyal men. The people of Elswood revolted when the monsters he created were unleashed on the kingdom and thus ended a dynasty.

He’s like an Elven version of Adolf Hitler because he also attempted a genocide against the dark elves in the kingdom. It was said that before King Jormund the Mad was killed, he turned into a monster that he himself had created. The result of the experiment gave birth to another race of monsters called Abominations.

You see, abominations were different from homunculi and familiars. Unlike homunculi which are result from necromancy, alchemy and alteration and familiar from the Spirit Realm, abominations are purely created using alteration schools.

What does it look like? It depends on how it was created. Actually, the appearance of an abomination is unpredictable like its behavior. When Jormund became an abomination, he turned into a giant with massive muscles and bones. All of the abominations became mad because of the effect of alteration in the mind.

I haven’t mentioned it before, but the book said that the greatest taboo in magic wasn’t its destructive capabilities and its capability to end lives nor the summoning of demonic creatures from the Spirit Realm. The greatest taboo was the creation of artificial life through magic because it was a direct violation of nature’s gift to the mortals.

That’s why necromancy, which involves the summoning of the dead and creation of homunculi were forbidden. As much as I wanted to use [Living Matter Manipulation] on myself, there’s a possibility for me to screw it up and it might have a permanent effect on my mind and body.

I didn’t want to become an abomination. One of the reasons why these types of alteration spells were used alongside with runes was to make sure that the amount of change can be limited and to make sure the spell was stable. Not only that, my knowledge of anatomy was severely lacking and using this skill would definitely fail.

Anyway, I’m happy with how I looked and my body fat wasn’t that bad. My fat can help me survive longer without food and I’ll just try to learn rune magic or perhaps I could find a rune specialist so that I could use my skill without worry.

Or maybe I should study the corpses of dead monsters. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do tomorrow. I stored my book and my notebook in my inventory and placed more wood on the fire. I laid down on my bed as I focused on the dark voices in my head. It’s still there, but I didn’t care if I have a nightmare again.

As I woke up, I noticed that the flame of my campfire was extinguished. I focused on the voices again to see if I was dreaming and fortunately, I wasn’t. It’s the first peaceful sleep, I had for the past few days since I met the Dark Lord. I looked at my wrist and the mark was darker than the last time. I shrugged as I tried not to worry and focused on my mission to find my family.

I stood up and stored my stuff in my inventory. I ate a cup of instant ramen and a cup of instant coffee for breakfast. I wanted to eat more, but I wanted to save my food supplies as much as I could. I did some warm up and stretching before I continued my journey.

The sun wasn’t up yet when I continued to walk through the streets of Pasig. Since I was in the forest clearing, the monsters I encountered were harmless beasts.

Dire Wolf Lvl. 18

Dire Wolf Alpha Lvl. 22

Suddenly, a pack of dire wolves blocked my way as they snarled at me. There were 12 of them and I grinned as I found my experiment subjects. I backed away slowly as I cast [Rock Bullet] on the Dire Wolf Alpha.

-201 HP! Critical Hit!

Target is Bleeding!

The rock was only a size of a bullet and I maximized the speed of the projectile. The alpha wolf was hit on its head and it whimpered in pain. The other dire wolves rushed at me and I cast [Earth Wall] in an effort to block them. Before I could completely raise the wall, the dire wolves jumped over the wall like a fence and one of them pounced on me.

“AHHHH! FUCK!!!!”

-154 HP!

Debuff: Bleeding

-141 HP!

The dire wolf bit my arm when I tried to desperately block its bite. The wolf pulled back as its teeth crushed the bones and flesh of my hand. My left hand was cut and the wolf dragged it back to eat it. The other wolves tried to have a bite at me, but before I could be eaten alive, I cast [Earth Wall] again and raised the ground below me.

-162 HP!

The wolf bit my leg as the ground below me rose up. I used my skill [Power Kick] and the dire wolf fell to the ground. I was lying of a column of rock as the dire wolves tried to reach me. I immediately used [Heal] on myself.

+457 HP!

I looked at my severed left hand and its stump was completely healed like the rest of my wounds. The wolves tried to leap and reach me, but the column was too high. As I recovered my mana, I stood up and pointed my staff at the wolves.

“FUCK YOU!” I shouted as I bombarded them with [Rock Bullet]. “DIE! DIE! DIE!”

-158 HP!

-142 HP!

-161 HP!

My staff cast [Rock Bullet] repeatedly like a machine gun continuously spewing rocks at the dire wolves. Seeing that I wasn’t worth it, the dire wolves ran away back to the forest. I killed five of them, including the alpha and I gained another level. I immediately distributed the rest of the points to INT.

Level Up!

Name:Miguel ArevaloRace:HumanLevel:22HP:531/531MP:1205/1205SP:130/130EXP:91.71%STR:19WIS:58AGI:20INT:75VIT:42LUK:13DEX:12CHA:21Satiety:FineStatusNormalUndistributed Attribute Points:0Title(s):Masochist: +10% Pain Tolerance and HPPerk(s):Leadership: +10 Charisma and increased follower loyaltyTactician: Tactics and Strategies have higher chance of successMana Affinity: Increase in Mana Control and +10% MP

I looked again at the thump of my severed hand and I couldn’t help, but to feel angry at myself for being too stupid.

I calmed myself down and jumped off from the column and collected the wolf’s corpses. I didn’t loot those fuckers except for the alpha, which gave me 15 silver coins, 22 copper coins and 1 mana stone. I regretted the fact that I didn’t kill the mother wolf and her pups when I had the chance.

Fortunately, I found out that the dire wolf corpses can be stored in the inventory and it can stack. I planned to dissect their corpses and experiment with them for a bit before I use [Living Matter Manipulation] to restore my hand.

I continued my journey with rage and I finally left the forest. I was in the city urban again and there were another kind of monsters on the way. I hid behind a wrecked SUV car to observe the monsters.

Slime Lvl. 28

From what I read from the book, slimes are one of the most dangerous monsters in existence. Their bodies were made of a toxic and acidic substance that could melt flesh in a matter of seconds. Although they’re just three feet tall, they could disguise themselves with the environment. They can take disguise such as a harmless puddle of water. They can also spit on their enemies and melt their faces.

I stayed behind the car as I think of my next move. Suddenly, I felt a drop of water on my face. The thunder roared on the skies as the rain fell heavily.

“Damn it! GODDAMMIT!”

I screamed in rage because the timing of the rain was off. Why does it have to rain when I’m in the middle of a slime party? I scanned the surroundings and the slimes were almost invisible in the rain. This must be the worst day ever. Fuck me.

I was thinking of going back to the forest and perhaps I could find another way home, but it would be a total waste of time with the same amount of risk. Perhaps I can beat these slimes with my magic. According to the book, slimes were immune to physical attacks, but they were very vulnerable to magic. I was thinking of fire, but I didn’t think that would be effective because of the rain. Obviously, water magic would also be ineffective.

After a few minutes, I got a brilliant idea. Since I didn’t need to summon water vapor because of the heavy rain, [Chilling Wind] would shine it’s brilliance in this situation.

Target is Frozen!

I cast the spell at the nearest slime and instead of the usual chill effect, the slime was frozen solid. I was surprised to learn that the slime’s body could freeze easily. I cast [Rock Bullet] on the frozen slime to finish it off.

-524 HP!

Target Died

Level Up!

The slime instantly died when the rock shattered its frozen crystalline body. The slime dropped a few copper coins and a small mana stone. I continued to walk through the streets with a grin on my face. I cast [Chilling Wind] without restrain and froze every slime that got in my way. I was thinking of grinding my level for the day and I needed to release some steam after losing my hand.

Like Elsa in Frozen, I caused the raindrops to freeze and it was snowing. I got plenty of loot, including a skill book [Water Manipulation]. I didn’t know how many I’ve killed but I killed everything until I couldn’t see a single slime alive on the street. It was already night when I finished grinding.

Even though I lost a limb, at least something good happened today. I levelled up 9 more times and I found an empty ruined house nearby. Everything’s going to be alright. Get it? All right because I only got my right hand? Ba dum tss.

As I opened my character screen, I got 50 undistributed points. I wanted to see what would happen if my INT reached 100 so I put 25 points on INT. I also put 8 points in VIT, 5 points in AGI and the rest of the points in WIS.

*DING!*

Your Title [Mana Affinity] was upgraded to [Mana Affinity II] for reaching 100 INT

Interesting. So does that mean that something would also happen if I reached 100 WIS? Anyway, I opened my character screen again to check my stats.

Name:Miguel ArevaloRace:HumanLevel:32HP:628/628MP:1686/1686SP:250/250EXP:83.18%STR:19WIS:70AGI:25INT:100VIT:50LUK:13DEX:12CHA:21Satiety:HungryStatusTired: -10% EXPUndistributed Attribute Points:0Title(s):Masochist: +10% Pain Tolerance and HPPerk(s):Leadership: +10 Charisma and increased follower loyaltyTactician: Tactics and Strategies have higher chance of successMana Affinity II: Increase in Mana Control and +20% MP

I lit up a candle and I dried myself using my magic. It was still raining outside and I was exhausted with the level grinding earlier. Of course, I made sure that the place was clear and I sealed off the doors and windows with [Earth Wall].

I opened a can of tuna with three slices of bread and prepared a tuna sandwich for dinner. I found it hard doing stuff with only one hand. It took me forever just to prepare my dinner. I was still lucky since I was right-handed, but I needed to do something with my left hand.

After I rested for a bit, I took out a wolf corpse from my inventory and proceeded to dissect it using [Living Matter Manipulation]. I spread out my mana throughout the body and tried to analyze it as much as possible. I didn’t know what I was doing since I wasn’t familiar with a wolf’s anatomy.

My goal was to see if I could grow my left hand using this skill. I cut off the dire wolf’s leg using my sword and tried to restore it using [Living Matter Manipulation]. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as I expected. I tried to regenerate its limb by analyzing and copying the other leg. What the skill meant by it couldn’t create life out of nothing was that, it won’t just create something out of nothing.

That means I wouldn’t be able to create my own hand by multiplying my cells and hope for the best. I mean, even in the old world, growing a hand was just impossible. I may be wrong and that’s just my hypothesis. Anyway, I grabbed its severed limb and tried to reattach it as much as I could. Though I was successful to reattach the limb, I wasn’t sure if it’s functional since the wolf was already dead.

I could do the same with my hand, but I didn’t have my severed hand because the dire wolves already ate it. Perhaps I can do a hand transplant. That would probably work, but where could I get one? And if I ever got a new hand, what would happen if my body rejects it? Shit. I realized that my hand could be a lost cause.

I continued to experiment with the wolf’s corpse with my magic. I sealed its wounds and tried to revive it by pumping the heart. Being true to its word, my skill has failed at reviving the dire wolf. I gave up and stored the wolf’s corpse in my inventory. I took out the book about anatomy that I picked up yesterday and tried to learn what I could.

After a few hours of reading, I was determined to restore my hand with my original idea of growing it. I analyzed my right hand’s structure with my mana and after I memorized it, I focused my mana on the left hand’s stump.

Whenever I tried to regrow the bone of my hand, the pain was almost unbearable as if my hand was being crushed over and over again. In the end, I only regrew a small amount of bone tissue, even after hours of effort. Well, it could take me weeks or perhaps a year to restore my hand, but at least, now I knew it’s possible. I just have to deal with the pain.

I was exhausted from the day and I decided to call it a night and rest. As I laid down on the bed, I’ve been thinking about a few things about the past. It’s only been two days since I left Camp Aguinaldo and yet I already missed talking with someone. Even though I enjoyed some private time with no one bothering me, I really missed socializing.

I missed Claire and I just hope that she’ll forgive me if I ever come back. I admit. I am in love with her. I still find it hard to believe that I wasn’t a virgin anymore and I was glad that Claire was my first even though I wasn’t hers. Now that I think about it, how many men did… *Sigh*

But still, there were some questions that lingered in my mind. Did I satisfy her? Or was she just faking those moans? Nah… It doesn’t matter. I saw; I came; Had sex. [2]

Author's Notes:

I need a new cover for this novel. Need help.

[1] Barangay refers to a village or ward.

[2] Reference to Julius Caesar’s phrase “Veni, vidi, vici” (I came; I saw; I conquered)