It was another three days of work to finish rooting out all the grass in the first quarter, and by the end of it he’d gained another four points in strength, constitution, intelligence, and wisdom. In addition Font (which he’d been using to refill his water skin, and occasionally douse himself clean) increased to its apprentice rank.

[Name: Create Font]

[Description: Create a wellspring of water or similar liquid dependent upon environment. If cast into a container, such as a well, bucket, or barrel, the spell will never overfill the container

[Current Rank: Novice]

[Current Amount: V = (2*L)3 ft3]

[Mana Cost: 10/CF/second]

In addition he gained another nice surprise.

[Congratulations on increasing your level! 0 to 1]

[You have received 100 Leveling Points, please distribute them now]

John threw the clump of grass he was holding onto the nearby pile, one of many which now dotted his land. Running a hand through his dirty beard he considered. One hundred points was enough for a single skill or spell. Or enough to raise his dexterity by one with 50 points left over.

As he pondered, he realized he’d be doing himself a disservice by raising a stat. Over the last nine days he’d gotten 10 points in constitution, strength, intelligence, and wisdom, just by working hard. Odds were good, however, that this wouldn’t continue very long. There was probably only so much effort that could raise stats, and eventually it’d peter off. Until then however it was like gaining free points.

Resolutely he discarded the idea of upping a stat and considered instead what skills or spells might be useful. As he did so he looked around his currently bare plot, and the large piles of grass that dotted it. He’d need to work them back into the soil, and he was just thinking that it was likely they wouldn’t have time to properly decay, when an idea struck him. He hesitated as he ran through the possible names, and then started guessing.

“Purchase spell Decay for 100 points.”

[Error: Decay not found.]

“Speed Decay?”

[Error: Speed Decay not found.]

“Instant Decay?”

[Error: Instant Decay not found.]

“Swift Decay?”

[Error: Swift Decay not found.]

“Hasten Decay?”

[Hasten Decay purchased: 100 points.]

“I am going to have to find a list of what spells exist… maybe Grandma Loren will have one. Or at least I could ask her for spell names, I bet she knows a bunch,” He muttered as he reviewed his newest spell.

[Name: Hasten Decay]

[Description: This spell speeds the aging process of all things, dealing time based damage to whatever it is targeted at.]

[Current Rank: Apprentice]

[Current Amount: 1 creature, or V = (1*L)3 ft3]

[Current Rate: 1 day per second]

[Mana Cost: 15/CF/second]

“Well, there’s my first combat spell I guess,” He said as he looked around at the land he’d cleared, judging it to be a bit more than an acre. He shook his head as he considered all the work he was going to have to do.

With a resigned sigh, and a reminder that he’d chosen this path, he began staking out the field with twine. After about 30 minutes he had a plot that was roughly a square acre, and was pleased when the system provided him with another message.

[Skill Gained: Measuring]

He looked back to his plot and, with his new insight, judged it was actually slightly smaller than an acre, but he decided to accept it rather than re-work the layout. Next he began moving slowly down the length of the plot, using Move earth to further loosen the soil and till the grass into it. A little under half a minute later he’d tilled 220 feet and had to stop for his mana to regenerate.

After 30 minutes of waiting (and a food bar) his mana was almost full again, and he tilled another 220 feet. By the time night rolled around he had finished about a sixth of the field. It took him another five days to fully till the new field, and he wondered more than once if it might not be faster just to use the hoe and muscle power. The results of the magical way had, however, netted him another six points in each intelligence and wisdom.

The next day John set in on decaying the field and found it to be unbearably slow going. A day per second seemed pretty fast, but spread across only one foot wasn’t a lot, and it was quite mana intensive. On a whim he had activated Mana Sight (only then remembering that he should be using it constantly) and had realized that it consisted of three runes. So he’d spent the day slowly aging the plot, one foot and 30 seconds at a time. According to Google one to four months was the standard for composting grass under ideal conditions. Unfortunately, he could only hold Hasten Decay for about 18 seconds before he ran out of mana.

So he took breaks. Lots of breaks. Breaks in which he at first did nothing. But then, struck by an idea, he went and sat watching the megalith in the corner. The strain it put on his eyes was immense, but he was certain it was doing good for his Mana Sight, and by the end of the day he was rewarded by another increase in the skill. And as a bonus, another point each in Wisdom and Intelligence.

[Mana Sight has Ranked Up due to continued use. Apprentice à Journeyman]

[Due to pushing your mana to its limits you have gained +1 Intelligence]

[Due to constant use of your mana you have gained +1 Wisdom]

He smiled as he reviewed the gains, and then cast Create Font into his water skin again. With mana sight active he could now see the two runes clearly. Next he cast Move Earth and considered its runes as well, as Loren had indicated the second rune was actually two smaller runes together, Dirt and Stone. Carefully he committed the Create and Earth runes to memory. And then he began to draw them in the air with Mana Manipulation.

It was a difficult task, as it felt like the mana was squirming in his grip, and several times it slipped out of his mental grasp. When he finally managed the first rune it was sloppy and imprecise, almost completely unrecognizable, but he pressed on.

Almost a minute later he had the second rune drawn, and the two clicked together, creating a small cascade of dirt in front of him.

[Spell Gained: Create Earth]

John did a fist pump and then pulled up the new spell.

[Name: Create Earth]

[Description: Create a brick, pile, or mound of dirt/stone/clay/sand/gravel of a type dependent upon the environment. Amount depends on the rank of the spell.]

[Current Rank: Novice]

[Current Amount: V = (1*L)3 ft3]

[Mana Cost: 10/CF/second]

“Perfect,” he said with a grin. He then cast both Move Earth and Create Font again, this time focusing on the Move and Water runes. Five minutes later he had another spell.

[Spell Gained: Move Water]

[Name: Move water]

[Description: A simple spell used to move Water.]

[Current Rank: Novice]

[Current Amount: V = (1*L)3 ft3]

[Mana Cost: 10/CF/second]

Still grinning to himself, he went to bed.

The next morning he got up and looked at the field in despair. He’d worked all day with Hasten Decay on it, and he’d managed to cast Hasten decay 34 times… that was only 17 feet, and there were 43,560 feet in an acre, at this rate he’d be dead before he finished. With a sigh, he admitted to himself that this wasn’t going to work. He needed more Mana. He could just give up and not decay the field, but he didn’t know how long it’d take the grass to naturally decompose. If only there was something that could power his spells… Hadn’t Theodore mentioned something? Mana Stones! Nodding to himself John started the long walk back to town.

The town was much as he left it, bustling with people, though this time he noticed new stalls set up, hawking all sorts of goods, though most of it clearly was poor quality. Pieces of battered armor, tattered clothes, lumps of unprocessed ore, even some cracked and occluded gems. John slowed down to take it all in, and found that several of the stalls were also selling Mana Stones of different varieties. He was tempted to stop and purchase them right then, but he decided he’d check the price at the general store first.

Once more he entered the well-lit interior, and this time skirted around the other shoppers to make his way to the back of the store. Once there he found large baskets each with a little card that said they were Mana Stones and then listed their particular element. There were six large baskets labeled Air, earth, Fire, Water, Light, and Dark, and then five smaller baskets labeled Time, Death, Life, Space, and Raw. The Life basket was empty, and the fire basket was only a quarter full. Air was about half full, and water and earth were each at three quarters capacity. The rest of the baskets were filled to the brim.

John checked the prices and found that the major elemental stones were going for only a couple coppers each, while the minor elemental ones (Time, Space, Life, and Death) were five coppers each. The Raw stones were most expensive at 10 coppers each.

Given that there were elemental types, John deduced that using the correct elemental type must have some kind of benefit, and he further guessed that Raw was pure, unaspected mana, which he supposed could be used for anything.

Unsure how many he would need, John grabbed a handful of the thumb-sized Death stones and poured them into one of the nearby pouches (which he assumed had been placed there for just that purpose), and then put five of the thumbnail sized Raw mana stones into another, smaller pouch. Ten minutes of waiting in line later he found himself a silver poorer but also the proud owner of ten death mana stones and five raw mana stones.

Walking out into the bustling square he made a beeline toward the rock and checked its bench. Sure enough here was Grandma Loren talking with a tiny Ursine. “Grandma Loren!” he called out in greeting as he made his way over.

She looked up and smiled at him, then gave the kid some candy. The little bear-child giggled and ran off clutching its prize.

“Hello again John. I’ll confess, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. What brings you into town today?” she asked.

John took a seat next to her, and willed one of the raw mana shards out of his inventory. “These,” he said simply.

Loren plucked it out of his hand and examined it. “Raw Mana Shards? Why do you need… oh you’re working with spells instead of tools, yes I suppose that makes sense.” She then handed the shard back to him. “Do you know how to use it?”

John shook his head and grinned.

“Cheeky boy,” Loren admonished him. “I suppose I can spare time for another lesson, though this one is pretty common knowledge. Mana shards, or stones, can be used to supplement or replace mana costs in spells. The more closely related the type of mana used, the more efficient the spell, and thus the more you’ll get out of your stone. Using a Raw stone like that one will be just like using your own mana, making it fairly inefficient. With me so far?”

John nodded to show he was listening, even as he put the shard back into his inventory.

“Good, so in most cases you’re going to want an Attuned mana stone to draw from, as they’ll last longer for a spell that shares their mana type. The big difference show up when you try to recharge a mana stone. Recharging a Raw stone is a one for one ratio. That is to say you can put one mana into the stone, and it’ll hold one mana. Recharging an aspected stone is different. Unless you know how to aspect your mana, it’s a ten to one ratio. That is to say, every ten points of unaspected mana will net you only a single point of aspected mana. Given that aspected mana is only five times more efficient than regular mana, this is usually considered less efficient than just getting a new stone,” she explained.

“Alright, that seems straight forward enough. How do I get mana out? Or put it back in for that matter?” John asked.

“You need an implement. That’d be a wand, stave, or even piece of jewelry that you set the stone into, and the implement needs to have skin contact with you. For the raw shards you showed me, I’d suggest a ring, or maybe several of them in an amulet or a bracelet. If you’ve got something bigger like an earth stone I’d suggest a wand, unless it’s truly massive, then you’d want a stave.”

“Why a wand?” John puzzled.

“Because it’s easier to point with. Most people, especially those just learning magic, use their gestures to define the area they’re working with, or their target. A stave is unwieldy, and can only be moved so much. Rings, bracelets, amulets, even crowns and some pieces of armor don’t require that you hold them at all, making them an almost perfect choice. The middle ground is a wand, or short rod. They can hold larger stones, are light weight, easy to store on your person, and easy to point with,” Loren explained.

“What about some kind of wrist armor, like a bracer? Couldn’t that hold larger stones and leave your hands free?”

John turned to look at the owner of the new voice, it was a Draconid who’d stopped to listen.

“A bracer could work, yes, but usually you don’t find any with sockets in them, not if you intend to use them as armor anyway,” Loren considered. “I’m Grandma Loren, and this is John.”

“Ah, sorry, I’m Sally.” The Draconid, Sally, said. “I couldn’t help but overhear, I knew you could use Mana Stones for your magic, I didn’t realize you could recharge them though!”

Grandma Loren nodded. “If you’ve got the time and the inclination it can save you more than a few coppers. Especially once you reach the higher levels.”

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind. Thanks for the tips!”

“It’s no trouble dears. Now, it’s about time for my nap, so you two run along. Ah, I know, you’ve probably been in the dungeon Sally, perhaps you’ve got some implements you could sell John?” Loren asked, even as she stood.

“Do I ever!” Sally said enthusiastically. “I can hardly get rid of these things, most of them are junk.”

“Good, then I’ll leave you two to it,” the elderly woman said as she shuffled off.

John watched her go and then looked at Sally awkwardly. “Uh… I guess show me what you’ve got?” he said uncertainly.

“Come on! My friend Ex has a stall set up where he’s selling our things,” Sally said, and then grabbed John by the arm, dragging him toward the one of the nearby stalls.

“EX! I’VE GOT A CUSTOMER!” Sally yelled over the crowd.

A thin elven man looked up from where he’d been staring into space. His look of interest became one of bemusement when he saw Sally all but dragging John his way.

“Look,” he said in a high voice. “I know business has been slow, but you don’t need to kidnap new customers for us.”

“Grandma Loren told me to sell him some implements, and then he asked to see them! I’ve kidnapped no one!” Sally said with mirth.

Ex looked at John. “Are you okay? Do you need an adult?”

John choked on a laugh. “No, I’m fine. I’m John.”

“Excelsior, at your service. Sally says you’re looking for Implements? What kind?”

“Jewelry and wands or rods!” Sally said and John nodded in bemusement. “Show him the good stuff!”

Ex raised a brow. “We have good stuff?”

“You know what I mean!” Sally all but shouted.

With a grin Ex started clearing a section of the makeshift stall, putting pieces of mismatched armor into his inventory. Once cleared he started pulling out items instead. Soon there were five items on the counter. Two bracelets, an amulet, a ring, and a short, stubby wand.

“And the other thing!” Sally said excitedly.

“There’s no way he wants that.” Excelsior said.

“You don’t know! He might!”

With a sigh and rolled eyes Ex put a tiara on the counter as well.

“Happy?” He asked.

“Verry!” She responded.

John looked over the items. They were all clearly pretty poor quality, dented, chipped and scratched, but still serviceable. The Bracelets had three empty sockets each, the ring had one, the amulet had a full five, the wand looked like it could hold one larger mana crystal at the end, and the tiara looked like it could hold eight, three of which could be larger.

“Are these all from the dungeon?” John asked as he examined them.

“Yep! We’ve run it several times now! I’m level five already!” Sally said with an enthusiastic grin.

“Run is a bit of misnomer, we’ve not gotten past the second floor, and it’s currently a five floor dungeon,” Ex explained.

“Level five huh? I guess adventuring does level you faster.” John muttered.

“Better than what?” Sally asked.

“Crafting… well, farming in my case,” John replied.

“Farming? Like planting things in the dirt farming?” Ex asked, looking intrigued.

“Yep, food gives buffs, better food gives better buffs, food is made from ingredients and if I grow those ingredients, I can sell them to people who want to make food,” John explained.

“Nice!” Sally exclaimed.

“Well, that’s currently a better business plan than we’ve got, dungeon running isn’t bringing in the cash like we’d hoped. No one is buying because we’re all getting the same stuff. Except the tiara, we’re the only ones that’ve found a tiara,” Ex commented.

“Well, I do need some implements, and that Amulet and the Wand look about right for my needs. How much do they cost?” John asked.

“Well, the smith offered to buy them off us as scrap for a few coppers each, so let’s call it… two coppers per socket for the jewelry, and ten coppers for the wand,” Ex replied hopefully.

John mulled it over for a few moments and then nodded. “Alright,” John said as he deposited twenty coppers on the counter. “I’ll take the amulet and the wand.”

“WOOOO WE MADE A SALE!” Sally cried, several of the other nearby vendors gave her the stink eye. She didn’t seem to care.

“Yes, yes, simmer down.” Ex said as he passed the two objects to John. “You know, if you want levels we wouldn’t be opposed to having you join us in the dungeon.”

John shook his head. “Not combat oriented, it’d basically be an escort mission.”

“Eh, we could work something out. Let us know if you change your mind,” Ex said, and then John received a prompt.

[Excelsior would like to add you as a friend.]

[Y/N]

With a mental nudge John accepted the request, then did the same again when Sally’s prompt came up.

“Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind. Oh… hey, do you have any Earth Stones? I just realized I’m probably going to need some.” John said.

“Sure, we’ve got about ten. No one is buying earth, and Theodore refuses to purchase any more. I can give them to you at a copper each,” Ex said.

“Perfect. I’ll take all of them,” John replied.