Chapter 7

The rain was sizzling against the melted stones of the alley, while I was looking at the aftermath of my spell. There wasn’t much left of the giant lizards, only a few charred bones. I was going to have to wait for the red hot stones to cool down before I could move back to the main street. I needed to find some kind of a shelter, where I could hole up in and wait for the storm to pass. I really wanted to take a look at the lightning with my Arcane manipulation, to see what kind of mana it was made out of. I figured it would be a good idea to study lightning before trying to create it myself. After all lightning and electricity has a tendency to go to the nearest conductive source in their path, so I wanted to get more information before trying lightning magic myself.

It looked like the stones were going to take a while before they would get cold enough to move through. So I turned around and kept following the alley to the opposite direction. As I was walking, I tried to keep my eyes open for any kind of structure, that would rise above the tree canopy. It took me a good half an hour or so of running through the narrow alleyways before, I got a glimpse tall tower in the distance. The tower was hard to spot through the rain and the trees growing amidst the ruins. So far it has been the only building I’ve seen in a relatively good condition, and from here it looked to be a vast structure compared to the other houses around it. If I can climb the tower, it would be a great place to get above the tree canopy, so I started to head towards it.

It took me a while to reach the base of the tower, but once I was there, I could see that it was build in the middle of a large circular courtyard. The courtyard used to be surrounded by a wall, that now lay in ruins around it. What was also strange was the fact that no trees were growing in this courtyard. So far it has been only the second place in this forest that I have seen, that wasn’t covered by the tree canopy, the first one being the clearing where I woke up. I activated my Arcana manipulation, and once it was turned on, I saw that this whole courtyard was utterly void of any kind mana. Even the brown mist from the ground that seemed to be everywhere was gone. I looked up to the storm and saw a bolt of lightning hit the tower, what took me by surprise was that the sound of thunder that usually follows lightning strikes, was almost inaudible, nor were there any mark left where it had struck. It was like the tower was sucking in the lightning strikes and the sound of the thunder.

I couldn’t see a door that would have led inside, so I started to walk around it. After a couple of minutes of walking, I was back where I began, and I hadn’t seen any doors. Deciding that I need to get a closer look at what I was dealing with, I head towards the base of the tower. As I got closer, I could see with my Arcane Manipulation, small white runes encircling whole tower base, they seemed to pulsate with more mana every time the tower was hit by a lightning strike. I didn’t recognise any of the runes, so I reach my hand towards them, trying to see if I could feel them or the mana they held. As my hand touched the stone of the tower wall, I could feel it had a massive amount of mana stored within it. My own mana seemed to be only a small drop of water next to a vast ocean. A vast ocean that started to suck away my own mana into it, at a rapid pace.

Quickly I tried to pull my hand away, but it wouldn’t budge. I could feel myself getting a week as the runes kept sucking me dry, I was trying to pull my hand away with all my strength, but it still wouldn’t budge. And as I was running out of mana, I yelled in a panic “STOP! YOU ARE GOING TO KILL ME!”. To my surprise, I fell to the ground, as all of a sudden my hand was free. I was lying on the ground when I heard a monotone voice saying “Guest. Title. Recognised.”.

It was the first spoken word I've heard since I got here and it was clearly speaking English. ”What? Who is there?” I tried to ask the voice but got no reply. I shakily got back up to my feet and took a look around, but saw no one around me.

The runes, on the other hand, had changed, I could read a few of them. They didn’t make out any sentences, it was more like each specific rune had a meaning behind it. The clearest rune that I could make out had the essence of fire behind it, or maybe the rune was the fire in itself. The rune felt like knowledge, knowledge on how to bypass the normal chemical reaction for creating fire, it showed how to create fire with just mana, thus avoiding the need for oxygen, fuel and the heat for the process of combustion. It was the formula for creating magical fire. I could make out a few other runes as well, there was one for cold, healing and one for what felt like force, these once I felt like I could barely grasp the meaning of. But I couldn't understand the majority of what the rules were saying.

While I was still looking at the runes and trying to make sense of them, a window appeared in front of me.

Congratulation! You have learned a new skill! Language of Magic.

Language of Magic: Language of Magic allows the user to imbue objects with Magic.

1 / 100

Once again the skill window didn’t give me much of an explanation on how the skill was used, just what it would allow me to do. The lack of information on these things was starting to get irritating, but if I understood this one right, it would probably let me create magic items. I really needed to find someplace safe, where I can take my time and experiment with my magic.

If I can get inside the tower, I could use it as my base of operation. And something did say that my title was recognized, once I yelled for the tower to stop. Could it be as simple as asking it to open? I might as well try it.

I looked at the tower and said “Open,” and after a few seconds, I could see the stones starting to move, opening a portcullis in front of me. I could see no light coming from inside, the opening was completely black, it looked like no light went in or came out “Well I hope this goes better than touching the wall did.” I murmured as I stepped inside.

As I stepped through the portcullis, I felt an invisible force pulling me inside and lifting me off my feet. After a few seconds of weightlessness, I felt my feet touch a furry carpet, there was no source of light here, no window, no nothing, it was pitch black. I could no longer feel or hear the rain, nor the wind from outside. I quickly conjured a small flame on top of my palm.

As the flame appeared, I could see that I was standing in a small library. The walls of this room were covered in books of all shapes and sizes. There was a small table and a comfortable, but old looking lounge chair sitting next to an unlit fireplace. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, clearly announcing the fact that no has entered this room in a long time. As I turned around, I could see a thick looking wooden door behind me.

I walked towards the fireplace, it was supplied by a generous amount of firewood. As I didn’t want to keep burning my little flame on forever I decided to light it, and wood easily caught on fire, immediately giving off warmth and light.

Now that I had a better source of light, I went to take a look at the books on the bookshelves. But alas, just like the runes I saw during my walk through the city, I couldn’t understand any of it. Planning to come back here later and having a more thorough look around, I walked up to the only door leading out of the room.

As I approached the door, I noticed it lacked a handle or hinges, figuring that it might work like the portcullis outside I said “Open.” and the door started to move. The room behind the door was also dark, only a little bit of light from the fireplace reached here. I sighed and conjured my ball of flame again as I stepped into the room.

There was a large wooden writing desk, and a chair directly to me left as I walked in the room, on the desk, there were quills, parchment, and an inkwell. Directly opposite of the doorway, from where I was standing, was a large four-poster bed, with red drapes inlaid with silver hanging between the post. To my right, there was a large armoire and next to it another door. This room was also completely covered in dust.

As I walked deeper into the room, I could see through the drapes, a figure lying on the bed. Cautiously moving closer, I pushed the curtains aside. And saw the figure lying on the bed was a skeleton. I wasn’t too shocked by this sight, I have seen dead bodies before after all. The skeleton was lying on its back, half covered by the bed sheets. On its chest, was a large ruby inlaid in a gold setting.

Without really thinking about, I reached my hand towards the gem, and as my fingers touched it, I could hear the same monotone voice, I heard previously outside, echoing throughout the bedchamber.