Mature Content Warning: Maybe a little foul language.

Author's Note: This is most of the rest of the first chapter. The remaining portion did not end cleanly enough, so I will add more to it and post it up either later today or tomorrow. The first five chapters I plan to write for this will be 'getting to know Blackthorne and the world.' chapters. Grinding a little, fighting, some backstory, characterization... and then after around chapter 6 we'll become more adventurous. So, expect the first 12-20 updates to mostly be about finding his rhythm in the world and training to become as badass as he would like.

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Chapter 1.2: Blackthorne Begins

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He ran toward the road with a wide grin. A road meant that civilization could be reached. It would not matter which direction he traveled. Eventually, he would find something.

“Hmm, a smooth stone road.” It was not a dirt path, and it was well maintained. That meant that it would be used frequently.

Blackthorne looked both ways in the road then turned to his right. It was as good of a direction as any. He had no idea where he was, after all.

The day wore on as he walked that lonesome road. Despite its well-maintained appearance, no one had passed him. No monsters had appeared, either. Perhaps the road was protected? He did not know.

Night slowly crept up on the man as he walked his solitary path. The sun set and the moon began to rise. He was tired and hungry, but he had to keep moving. He needed a base of operations, or at least a place to get his bearings. He would find neither while sitting still.

The moons, two of them, filled the night sky by the time something broke the monotony of his journey. He saw firelight in the distance. Blackthorne grew both interested and cautious. Who or what would he find there?

He approached the light in the distance and tried to avoid making extraneous noise. It would be important to see them, before they saw him.

Once he was closer, voices reached him. He stopped a listened attentively.

“So, do you think the mine is really cursed?” asked a masculine voice.

“That’s what they say. Either way, we aren’t going inside. Let those miners deal with the monsters and the curses. We’ll haul freight like always.” said another man.

Blackthorne’s lower lip quirked a bit. So, they were not bandits at least. Well, if they were they were polite and professional in their banditry. He moved forward while he listened to their conversation. When he was close enough he called out, “Hello, I hope that I am not disturbing anyone.”

Immediately, there was a flurry of activity. The rustle of clothes and the tell-tale sound of weapons being unsheathed reached his ears.

“Who are you?” called one of the men.

“A traveler who saw your fire. I just wanted to ask a few questions.” replied Blackthorne.

“If it is questions then ask and be on your way...” replied the man.

“That’s fair. Fine, how far is it to civilization on this road? Is there a town nearby?” he hated to sound clueless, but his need to get directions outweighed his desire to sound knowledgeable. These men really could be bandits, for all he knew. They would make out poorly if they robbed him, however.

“You just want to know where the next town is?” asked the man suspiciously.

“Yes.” replied Blackthorne.

“Right, there’s a town up the way a bit. If you keep moving, you should see it by dawn.” said the man.

“Up the way? If I faced your camp would I have to turn left or right to go toward town?” The answer that the man had given was ambiguous. Though, he had certainly not seen a town along the way here, who knew how fast these people traveled.

“You... would need to turn toward the right.” said the man.

“Thank you. Sorry to have disturbed you.” said Blackthorne. If this had been a poorly scripted fantasy movie, he would have been invited in by the travelers and learned of the world. However, this was real life. Normal people did not tell random voices in the dark to sit and share their fire.

“Right, be on your way then...” replied the voice.

“I’m off then, enjoy your evening.” Blackthorne took the dismissal for what it was; a reminder that he was unwelcome.

However, after he had walked for a few brief minutes he could hear someone running behind him. He turned back and the running man called out, “Wait, traveler...”

“Ah, yes?” asked Blackthorne.

The man stopped short of him and took several deep breaths before he spoke. “Sorry, about earlier. We had to be sure you weren’t a bandit.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better I had to do the same with you.” said the mage.

The man laughed a little. “Well, that does make sense. Look, there’s something we need to tell you.”

“Yes?” Blackthorne’s fingers curled slightly. He hoped that he did not have to fight these men. He knew little of this world, but just like everyone else on Earth he was forced to spend a large chunk of his time here.

“We lied about the town. There’s nothing down this way but a mine camp for another six days in this direction, and that’s with a cart.” said the man.

“Why tell me a lie then?” He would have been in a seriously bad situation.

“This is a well-traveled road, so we figured you would turn back toward Argent or signal for your friends if you were lying.” The man rubbed the back of his head and looked a little ashamed.

Blackthorne understood their reasoning, even if they had almost caused him great hardship. “How far away is Argent?”

“Well, it depends on how you travel. If you use the road, it’s about a day and a half by foot if you turn back.” the man said.

“How else would I get there if not for the road?” asked the mage.

“Well, you can cut across country. The demons near here are all weak, mostly those annoying onions and the occasional rat fiend.” said the man.

“Sounds good, but what then?”

“If you head back the way you came you’ll eventually see a large rock off to your right. You can’t miss it, the thing looks like a pillar.”

Blackthorne nodded. “Right, so where do I go after the pillar?”

“Walk over to it and you should be able to see a forest in the far distance. Walk in that direction for a few hours and you’ll eventually see farms on your left. Go toward any of them and you’ll be able to find the road into Argent. Knock half a day off your walk if you do.” said the man.

The mage nodded then granted the man a smile. “I appreciate the help. I hate to admit it, but I was a bit lost.”

“Ah, no problem. This part of the road has to be cleared of bandits now and then since it takes several days to travel between Argent and the next town over.”

“Thanks for taking the time to send me in the right direction then!” said Blackthorne.

“Don’t mention it.” said the man.

They walked back toward the camp, but once they reached it, Blackthorne kept walking. He wanted to find that pillar before he woke up.

Several hours passed before he saw what the man had mentioned. He had not noticed it before, mostly because he had been focused more on the road. The rock protruded from the earth in a rather obvious way. It was not huge, but it did break up the monotony of the grassland.

Blackthorne jogged toward it and then smiled upon arriving at his destination. He had completed the first task!

Unfortunately, it was still dark and he could not see far in the distance. He thought that he could make out a line of trees on the horizon, but he could have been mistaken. He had no choice but to wait until there was more light to use for navigation.

He sat down near the pillar then sighed. He did not want to leave the pillar until after he woke up, but he knew that he would probably be asleep a few more hours. “It’s about four hours here for one there, so... probably ten hours or less.”

Blackthorne might have woken up back on Earth at any minute or it could be another few hours. There was no way to know. At least there was no way that he knew of at the moment. Though, he had heard that going to sleep here would cause you to wake up in the real world.

A few minutes passed while he rested. Boredom settled in quickly. He did not want to waste time just sitting around. Maybe he should go to sleep and come back later? He was tired after all.

After he considered his options, he shook his head. “No... This would be a good time to try out my other skills, maybe.”

The mage stood up then gathered a few dozen long blades of grass then sat back down. He spent a little time weaving them together. He had done such things as a child out of boredom. Eventually, he had a fairly decent looking bracelet made of grass.

The grass was lengthy enough that he was able to make several of the bracelets before he ran out of materials. He picked one up and looked at it carefully. Just like before, information was provided next to the item.

<<< Item >>>

Accessory: Grass Bracelet

Quality: 1

Durability: 3

Defense: +1

Value: 0

>>

“Not bad for a few pieces of grass woven together.” He checked the others and found similar information. One had slightly higher durability, so he decided to wear it. The others were taken apart so he could recreate them.

He worked and reworked the grass bracelets for over an hour until a superior version appeared. “Defense plus two and a durability of six? I’ll take it.”

He wore the new bracelet on his other arm then tossed the others to the side. He gathered up brand new blades of grass and repeated the process from before. He worked and reworked them until he managed to create another one similar to the plus two defense version. Blackthorne removed the lesser bracelet that he was wearing and equipped the new one.

“So, that works pretty well. Let’s try something else.” said the mage.

He took off his bracelets and held one in each hand. Slowly he moved them together so that they touched. “Combine.”

A single point of vitality was expended, but a brief light show was his reward. The two bracelets merged into one, much smaller item. “What... It should have been a bracelet.”

He frowned at the tiny ring in his hand. The durability had increased to nine, but the defense had dropped to one. From a purely defensive standpoint the item was weaker than before.

Blackthorne blinked. “Wait... Maybe, I can use this.”

He held the ring in his hand and concentrated. One of his skills was ring mastery, a useful skill for any mage. It allowed for the creation of a mystical link with a piece of jewelry.

It took a moment, but he did feel like he was somehow closer to the ring on some level. This was important, because the link that he forged would allow him a bit more freedom when it came to enchanting or something far more useful, charging his new bonded item.

Blackthorne concentrated on the ring for a moment and activated his ability to charge accessories with his vital essence. It felt like his body had been set on fire while he streamed his energies into the ring. In the end, he expended two points of his precious life force, and stored it within the ring.

He took out an onion and ate it. There was nothing else to eat at the moment, but he wanted to restore at least a little of his vitality. “Synergy costs vitality, and so does charging a ring. I should probably only use those abilities when I’m in a safe place, or when I am a bit more advanced.”

The mage equipped his ring once more then checked his status. “Right, let’s give it a try.”

He chanted the basic litany of dark magic then cried out, “Jolt!”

The ring blazed brightly as the power stored within was unleashed. Tiny sparks of black lightning skittered out of his fingertips. He felt the weakness that accompanied the use of magic, but he did not think that it was as draining as the last time that he had used that spell. He checked his status and grinned. “Only lost one point. Good, it works...”

That solved the problem of limited vitality. However, when he checked his ring the durability had dropped by seven points. One cast had nearly destroyed it.

“Ah well, can’t be helped I guess. It is just a bunch of grass.” he said.

He rubbed his chin. “What else can I try?”

“Alchemy is out, I need ingredients and recipes.”

Blackthorne did have one other thing he could try besides fiddling with grass. He took out his sword and looked at it. “The most basic form of enchanting...”

He shook his head, however. He would need to eat a few onions first. Even if he managed to imbue the sword with magic, it would cost him three times the vitality cost of the spell to imbue it.

The onions made his stomach turn, but he forced himself to eat three more of them. He felt slightly nauseated but his vitality did increase by three points. Unfortunately, he felt a little full now. He would need to wait a little while before he was able to eat more of little monster carcasses.

Blackthorne spent the time while digesting screaming onions, weave grass into bracelets. He had made over a dozen of them before he felt like he could handle eating more of his limited stock of supplies. He went ahead and ate two more then tried to keep himself from vomiting them up. His stomach settled after a moment and he went back to weaving.