Nathan woke in a daze covered in sweat, with waves of dull pain radiating throughout his body. The cave is pitch black the torch has gone out at some point while he was passed out.

Nathan lays on the floor thinking of the fight with the lizard and what he could have done better while he regains his senses. Without warning Nathans stomach twists with pain, he rolls to his side and pukes what little he has left in his stomach onto the floor. His mind and body are in disarray ‘I have a splitting headache and it feels like someone is sticking pins and needles in me’ he bemoans.

Nathan lays on his side catching his breath. ‘Not much I could have done about the lizard that I can think of, I am just not made for this shit. Best I can see doing is to not get distracted as I did by the popup. Might have saved me some pain and suffering’ he ruminates to himself.

Pushing himself up with his good arm he stands unsteady and tries to find his balance. Bringing his right palm face up he wills a small flame into existence lighting the cave up in a flash of bright orange light. Looking down at himself he can see his clothes are caked in dried blood, his blood.

He looks at his left arm ‘God that is a mess, not even sure that is an arm.’ “Hahahaha” he laughs in self-pity.

His bag of goods is still tied to his belt a miracle it did not come off during the fight. He looks over to the lizard’s body not far from him. Walking over to it he sees if maybe it dropped anything this is a dungeon after all right?

Nathan grunts in pain as he stumbles around for a few minutes looking for anything on or by the lizard. ‘I don’t want to cut into the thing to see if I find anything in it, so I am just got to leave it. I am not sure how long I was out but I don’t think I can face another lizard right now so I need to get back to the safe zone and figure out what I am going to do.’

Walking over to the wall to his left he leans on it as he starts to make his way back to the safe zone the fire of his own creation lighting the way in its dim orange glow. The trip back is ponderous with each step wearing down his stamina, he has to stop every few minutes to take a small rest. Hoping that another lizard does not show up while he is in a weakened state.

Nathan being tired and delirious he almost misses the door leading to the safe zone. Opening the door he collapses the moment he has the door shut behind him. ‘The room looks the same as the last time I was here so that is good.’ “Humm?” Nathan notices something odd, the torch he took early is back or has been replaced by a new one. ‘Now that is an interesting prospect to think about. Does this place just recreate everything? Wonder how it decides why and when it does that? I also noticed the lizard corpse had not despawned by the time I woke up? If it despawns them at all? Something to puzzle out later’ he thinks to himself.

“Guess I might as well get on it,” he says with a sigh. Pulling up his stats Nathan looks over the changes.

[Name: Nathan Vellenger]

[Age: 21]

[Class:Fire Mage Lvl:1]

[Health:86]

[Stamina:78]

[Mana:120]

[Strength:11]

[Endurance:10]

[Vitality:12]

[Agility:9]

[Dexterity:13]

[Wisdom:12]

[Intelligence:14]

[Skills:Inspect, Fire Affinity, Mana Sense, Mana Channeling, Spell Creation]

[Titles:Otherworlder]

Nathan focuses on his new skills to try and get a popup with Inspect first.

[Inspect Lvl:1 Allows the user to obtain information on living things by focusing on them. Range and information provided increases with level.]

‘Of course, the stereotypical skill to help identify creatures and other things. Suppose there is no surprise there. Next’ he thinks to himself.

[Fire Affinity Lvl:1 The ability to create and control fire with mana. Become one with fire to advance in ability.]

‘Cool, really, really, cool but still expected. Not sure what become one with fire means? Do I have to burn myself? Not going to be trying that, at least until my other options are used, whatever those are?’

[Mana Sense Lvl:1 With this skill you can sense the ebb and flow of mana around and in you with more clarity. More range and clarity come with mastery.]

‘Another fantasy world staple, but sweet nonetheless. The range of the sense right now does not go more than an inch away from my body. Can’t wait till I can sense the mana around me within a mile’ Nathan thinks of the future power he may at some point wield with a funny grin on his face.

[Mana Channeling Lvl:1 The ability to power spells with mana. Power and efficiency increase with Level.]

“Humm” ‘So if I level this up my spells will get more powerful and I will use less mana for each spell. This is one I am going to need to get as high as I can as fast as I can.’

[Spell Creation Lvl:1 Knowledge and skill of spell creation. The more complex and varied spells will become in higher levels]

‘This is my ticket out of this hell hole, fireballs galore here I come!’ he thinks with a smile.

‘Now how do I actually make a spell? Let’s see if I remember correctly I need to make the spell construct then channel mana through it to active the spell.’ “Okay, that is freaky this whole knowledge being implanted into your head thing is really unsavory,” he says as a cold chill runs down his spine and goosebumps down his arms. “I suppose it is helpful in learning what you need,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Time to get on with making that spell construct,” he says with gusto.

Nathan spends a few minutes working on building the spell construct. ‘Damn this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have to somehow embed my Fire affinity into the construct then build a command structure on how the spell is to operate around that. Then channel mana into the embedded fire affinity to active the spell. The hard part is the command structure, it seems to be based on some runic language with tons of variations and variables to achieve what you want and I only know a few runes. The really hard part is the fact I have to focus on the structure as I build it, almost like I am creating an imprint of the spell construct in my mind to then make and channel mana through. I was trying to go for a fireball but there are just too many variables I have to hold in my head to make it that is is just not feasible at my level’ he thinks to himself.

‘So I think I am going to have to start with something simpler. Maybe the candlelight spell? That more or less what I was doing with just my fire affinity, though I get the feeling a real spell will not cause nearly as much strain on my mind. Maybe I will not have to focus on it at all.’ he thinks to himself.

Nathan waits for his mana to regen then gets to work on the candlelight spell with far more success. ‘I have to whole spell made now but damn if this is not hard. I have to now channel mana through the spell while holding the structure in place. I almost have to split my mind and focus on doing two different things to get his done.’ “Ughh” he groans to himself. “Fifth times the charm I guess” he laughs to himself.

The progress is slow and aggravating, but with each try, Nathan slowly gets closer to the goal. With great willpower and concentration, he finally manages to active the spell on his thirtieth-sixth try. Joy floods Nathan as he jumps up and does a little gig. “The spell was executed with horrible efficiency, I spent far more mana than I needed to activate it. but I should get better at it as I go”

[Spell Learned: Candle Flame]

[Skill Learned: Concentration]

Nathan accidentally looks at the descriptions of the new skills.

[Candle Flame Lvl:1 Every young fire mages stepping stone onto the greater path of pyromancy. The spell creates a stationary small flickering flame. Spell Cost:10 Hold Cost:6 per minute]

‘Awesome this is exactly what I needed.’ Nathan tries out the spell again. The flame is created above wherever he makes the spell but then just sits there not moving. ‘Now only if I can get it to follow me’ he thinks to himself. ‘I will have to work on that later, let’s check out the next one.’

[Concentration Lvl:1 Focus more deeply while allowing fewer things to distract you. Deeper focus with level increase]

‘I noticed when I went to make the spell again I could hold the structure in my mind with far more ease. So this is a huge boon to me.’ Nathan thinks to himself.

‘All this work is making me parched and my stomach has been growling for the last minute. Which got in the way of making the spell. In fact, I was thirsty when I got back but I only have this one pop’ Nathan thinks as he pulls out the pop from the plastic bag tied to his waist. ‘Plus I will need some water to cook up the ramen. At Least I don’t have to worry about heating it up’ he laughs.

“I wonder when I am going to get out of here. I have only been here for a little bit but I almost died on my first excursion. I might starve or more likely die of dehydration if I can’t find water” he ponders with worry and apprehension.

“I am going to have to go back out there and hope I can find some water or I am dead one way or the other,” he says as he stares with a blank look at the walls of the stone room.

After a minute of rumination, he gets to work on making the candlelight follow him, or rather making a spell similar to candlelight that will follow him. The change to the spell does not seem to be a hard one but the extra commands needed in the structure are complex. He has to put in distance runes so it does not get too close or far away, follow runes that tell it to follow, and other safety runes and features to make sure he does not get burned. That is the one strange difference about fire made with spells verse affinity that Nathan noticed while making the spell. Flames made with affinity don’t burn unless willed to while flames made by spells do not matter what.

‘I am not sure why this is but it is something to look into later’ he ponders to himself.

Work on the spell is slow if not slower than Candle Light was. ‘If it was not for concentration I am not sure I could do this, but I am getting close just need a bit more to channel the mana through the construct.’

The grind of spell creation to waiting for his mana to regen then spell creation is slow but Nathan is persistent. While he waits for his mana to regen Nathan meditates attempting to get a related skill. ‘In almost all the stories there is a meditate skill that helps speed up mana regen so hopefully, this is not for nothing.’ Nathan is not the best at meditation he had never done it much before other than to see if he could. Needless to say, he sucked at it he keeps getting distracted by different things either his legs started cramping or his arms did not feel quite right in a certain position or he got an itch or had to sneeze, so problem always broke his concentration.

However, since he had got the skill concentration he was having a better go of it and could feel himself getting closer to true meditation. After many attempts, it finally paid off.

[Skill Learned: Meditation]

[Meditation Lvl:1 The ability to relax and clear your mind of thought. Mana regen increases the higher the level]

“YES!” Nathan clenches his fist and smiles happily as he finally got the skill. ‘Not sure by how much it increases my regen but it is better than nothing I guess?’

A few rotations of spell creation and mana regen later Nathan finally succeeds in executing the spell. “Ha!” He yells with happiness.

[Candle Flame Leveled Up]

[Candle Flame Leveled Up]

[Candle Flame Leveled Up]

[Candle Flame Leveled Up]

Surprised Nathan looks at the spell.

[Candle Flame Lvl:5 Every young fire mages stepping stone onto the greater path of pyromancy.

The spell creates a large safe following flame. Spell Cost:20 Hold Cost:8 per minute]

Overjoyed Nathan creates two flames the size of ping pong balls to follow him around. The spell came to him with more ease, and the power increase of the flames he added worked wonderfully. He stared at the two flames floating next to him, with one on each side. He also added a little command in the structure so he could move them around at will and they would stay at that distance from him. The spell was all and good but having to running at the same time was putting a large stain on his mind as he had to constantly keep one part of his mind channeling mana into them.

“I think I should just stick to one from now on, at least until I have better control,” he said to himself.

‘I did not expect the spell to just upgrade. I thought I was making a whole new spell. This is some good info to have. Also, I have probably spent about a day here but it is hard to tell when I can’t see the sun, but my parched throat and grumbling stomach are key hints it has been about that long’ he thinks to himself

Nathan done playing with Candle Light dismisses the flames. “Okay, time to work on that fireball now!” he says with hope and a bit more experience under his belt.

Nathan spends the next few hours or so he thinks to work on the fireball spell. The spell is difficult since getting the fire large enough takes many runes. He has to add more fuel runes to keep the fire going and power runes to make the ball large enough so it does some real damage whatever he throws it at. Making all the runes not interfere with each other is a real challenge and the spell has a tendency to explode when things go wrong, he almost burnt his hair off the first time that happened, so he has to add safety measures to prevent that.

Nathan does succeed after many tries though, but it is not quite what he hoped it would be.

[Spell Learned Fireball]

[Fireball Lvl:1 The true start of a Pyromancers spell repertoire. Creates a ball of fire that launches. Spell Cost:20]

“It is a lot smaller than I wanted and it is so inefficient. How does anybody use this thing? Plus the damn thing just goes flying off the moment it is made in whatever direction I point the spell construct in” Nathan grumbles to himself.

Nathan sighs as pinches the ridge of his nose and closes his eyes. “This will have to do I really need to find some water. My only hope is that the spell is effective against those damn spiky bastards and whatever else is in this place.”

_________

[Name: Nathan Vellenger]

[Age: 21]

[Class:Fire Mage Lvl:1]

[Health:86]

[Stamina:78]

[Mana:120]

[Strength:11]

[Endurance:10]

[Vitality:12]

[Agility:9]

[Dexterity:13]

[Wisdom:12]

[Intelligence:14]

[Skills:Inspect, Fire Affinity, Mana Sense, Mana Channeling, Spell Creation, Concentration, Meditation]

[Spells:Candle Light, Fireball]

[Titles:Otherworlder]