I had just finished putting on my armor in the morning when I heard a tentative knock on the door. I opened it up to see a visibly nervous Elendria standing there.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” She said back.

“Do you, want to come in for a minute?” I asked after an uncomfortably short silence.

“Sure.” She said, brushing past me and giving me the barest hint of a floral scent. Where the heck did she get scented soap out here? I turned and saw her nervously shuffling from foot to foot before sitting down on the one chair. I shrugged and shut the door before heading and sitting down on the bed.

“Sean I-“ She started but I interrupted her.

“Wait.” I said, holding up a hand. “I’ll let you finish, but there are a few things I need to say first, is that ok?” She nodded, and I continued, “I know emotions were running high last night, and through your life you haven’t had the best examples of how to deal with conflict. For all of that, and because we haven’t really had any issues before to talk about it, I am willing to cut you one break, and only one break.” I paused to stare at her, waiting for her to look me in the eyes. “As much as I care about you, and even with as much as you have helped me adapt to this world, I won’t tolerate abuse. Hit me again in anger like that, and I’m gone. Understand?”

She nodded, rather than try and speak through the tears already streaming from her eyes. As she fought back a few sniffles, I continued, “It hurts me to think about it too, but it isn’t something I can tolerate. If you have an issue with me or something I do, you need to talk to me about it.”

“I’m sorry.” She sniffed. “I know I shouldn’t have hit you, I just. I felt like I could only lash out.”

“And that’s a problem.” I said. “But think back. Have there been any times where I haven’t really listened to you?”

“No.”

“So why do you think I would start over that? You can talk to me Elendria, and I will listen. That I can promise. I know we won’t always agree, but I can listen. Can you promise me that you will try talking first?” She nodded. “Ok. Now there are a few other things I feel we need to talk about as well. First, I’m sorry for basically ignoring you for a week. That was a shitty thing to do, especially after we both lost a friend. I know that had to hurt you.”

“It did.” She nodded. “It hurt, and I felt so alone.”

“I know, and I shouldn’t have done that.” I said. “But that brings me to my next issue. Have you been stalking me this week?”

“I was just checking up on you.” She said, then added, “But how did you know?”

“It was something you said.” I answered. “When you mentioned the wolf thing. Only the people turning in materials at the guild should have known.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were safe.” She explained, stopping when I held up a hand.

“I can understand that, but the way you are doing it makes me uncomfortable. Tell me, did you ever check the marker the guildmaster gave us to let us know if the other person is alive? No, I can tell by how you paled that you didn’t. Instead you went around asking about what I was turning in. Checking that could have let you know that I wasn’t dead in the dungeon, and saved us this massive fight. I’m not blameless either, I should have found you and mentioned something, or sent a message from the guildhall, but I didn’t. I don’t want you to think the fight was all your fault or all mine, but something we need to work on.”

“I’m so sorry Sean.” She said. “I completely forgot about that marker.”

“I know, and its’ fine. It isn’t something we are used to having. But there is one other thing that is bothering me, and it is your reaction towards me. I know you love me, and you know how deeply I care for you. But you are trying to rebuild your life, and so far it is only being rebuilt around me. That’s not healthy hun. You need things that you care about besides me, or you will start to obsess and the relationship can turn from a good thing to something very, very bad. Besides, I don’t even know for sure I can stay in this world. There is still my family to think of.”

“You could bring them here, or I could go with you.” She started.

“Each of those would have problems as well.” I said. “Think, my original world doesn’t have magic. Can you live in a world with no magic? Can I live there anymore? And what if they don’t want to come here? It would be asking a lot to have them give up everyone in their lives, forever.” This hurt to say, and I was feeling an ache in my heart. Elendria was going through a lot of the same, and I could see her start to think of a few things before stopping. “I’m sorry it feels like I am trying to dump a bunch of negative things on you, and that isn’t my intention. Now, what was it you wanted to say?”

“I just. I dunno.” She stammered. “I’m sorry I overreacted and hit you, and I’m sorry for stalking you. I just feel so lost without you. Through all of this, you’ve been there for me, you helped free me. You haven’t held my past against me, even though damn near every human I have ever met would.” She paused there for a moment, and I let the silence hang while she searched for words. “I. I think there’s something you need to know about elves, and I’ve taken for granted that you would know it.”

“Go on.” I urged when she paused again to look at me.

“Elves are a lot like plants.” She started, lowering her head to watch her hands as she twiddled her thumbs. “Some grow as tall and strong as an oak, while others require the strength of companions to rise to their fullest. The relationship isn’t as one sided as it is with most natural plants though. Most noble houses started out as an incredibly strong tree that brought out the best in several of the vines. The vines became their ardent supporters, helping them spread their influence. In return, the central pillar helped their supporters thrive and grow, and to reach heights they never thought reachable.”

“And you have selected me to be your oak?” I asked when she looked up at me with pleading eyes.

“Yes.” She nodded, tears just beginning to form.

“But I thought you were a royal?” I asked.

“I am. That doesn’t mean I am not a vine. If every royal born was an oak, then the line of succession would be bloody indeed.” I sank down into the bed for a moment, trying to think through all of what this could imply. Even if she had been born an oak, decades of slavery could easily have worn down her confidence to the point where she was a vine. In her culture, it sounded a lot like how the nobility was supposed to work in human lands, before it inevitably got corrupted. Hell, who’s to say in this world there isn’t a magical vine that helps its own tree grow? The tree focuses on strength and height, while the vine uses its superior transfer ability to bring nutrients up from the ground and feed both the vine and the tree. That still didn’t excuse what Elendria did, but what if she was afraid she had lost her tree in a forest of strangers? Panic does terrible things to people.

“I think I see what happened.” I said eventually. “But are you sure you want a human for your oak? Gods, that sounds so weird saying that.” I added on in a mutter.

“Of course I do.” She said with a hint of a laugh. “You have already brought me to new heights, and improved my magic. Did I tell you? I managed that absolute zero thingy you were talking about.”

“Really?” I immediately perked up.

“Indeed. How about I tell you over breakfast?”

“That sounds wonderful.” I said, standing up. “After that, I’m going to take out the yeti chieftan.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Roughly an hour later, I was deep in the dungeon. I had avoided most of the packs of wolves, and instead headed straight to the base of the mountain. As I neared, I did slow down enough to take care of the roving groups of yeti. The usual tactic of ice comets to take out the yeti before dealing with the far less dangerous wolves served me well, and netted me five of their throwing axes. A grin lit up my face as the beginnings of a plan came to me.

Soon enough, I was sitting across the clearing from one of the yeti’s hunting camps. This one had at least ten huts, and I could see five wards set up to drive back the worst of the biting cold. Maybe it was something left-over from my love of dogs back on Earth, but the way they set the wards irked me. The skulls of ice wolves topped each of them, and was likely the link they needed to repel the cold. While I was almost certain the shaman who erected it had done it in a respectful manner, I was still going to kill them all.

Now, before taking out a camp where you are outnumbered you had better have a great plan. I could use the meteor spell to wipe them out, but I wanted to keep my trump card. Instead I set about improving my claymore spell. Mana springs were well and good, but it took too much concentration to maintain it and it lacked some of the power of a true explosion. I didn’t think the original would kill a yeti unless it was close. So for my first step, I took those axes and heated them up. Once they were near the melting point, telekinesis ripped them apart and formed spheres. Each axe gave me just enough material to make one slightly larger than normal claymore, each packed with the equivalent of half inch ball bearings.

Once they were packed in the front of the claymore, it was time to test my ability to create compounds. Start with a six carbon ring, and attach to the carbon a nitrogen that is connected to two oxygen atoms. To finish it off, add in one methyl group. The resulting yellowish solid that formed is TNT, and I must say that making it with magic was a much easier bit of synthesis. Before I packed everything in, I had a thought. TNT was explosive, but I was looking to improve it. Why stop halfway? “Go big, or go home.” I muttered, and started making another compound. Thanking my lucky stars for the blizzard winds, as they got rid of the stench I started adding ammonium nitrate to give it a boost. At the base of each claymore was a single ball bearing, left so that I could detonate the construct. Now, how do I get their attention?

I started by placing the claymores in a semicircle in front of me. I then sent out a targeted dispelling, smashing through the wards on the camp. The protective field immediately fell, and the camp burst to life as everyone tried to find the source of the attack. There was only one that looked like a shaman, but there were almost 20 yetis and almost twice that in wolves. I was very glad for my preparations, but I needed to get their attention. I backed up so that I was behind my defensive line, and used a bit of magic to boost my voice.

“Cuz I’m T.N.T. I’M DYNAMITE! I’M T.N.T. And I’ll win the fight! T.N.T. I’m a powerlode! T.N.T. watch me explode!” While the yeti had no idea what I was singing, they had no trouble turning to attack me. I hit the first wave of wolves with a bit of gravity magic to slow them down, keeping them at the same speed as their yeti partners. I let them get almost all the way across the killing field. “Heat metal.” I muttered, immediately heating those targeted ball bearings until they were red hot, and letting the resulting explosions speak for themselves.

“Maybe the ammonium nitrate was a bit much.” I muttered through the ringing in my ears. I could feel my eardrums trying to repair themselves, as I was far too close to the explosions. In the seconds it took me to catalogue all of that, the wind had dispersed the sooty clouds from the explosions. “Oh god.” I immediately turned and started gagging, as the results were horrendous. Nothing was spared. Instead of a small fighting force of wolves and yeti, there was a thirty foot diameter stain in the snow. It was as if someone has plopped down a massive pile of yeti sausage, only they left the bones and organs in when they were grinding things, and it was still steaming.

It took me nearly ten minutes to get ahold of myself, and I had to circle around so that I was upwind of the carnage before I could move on. The thought of loot didn’t even cross my mind, though I did search through the huts in the camp. I found a handful of weapons, as well as an altar to an unknown god in the shaman’s hut. The only thing I was sure of was that it wasn’t a shrine to Apophis, so I left it alone. No sense in bringing down divine retribution. At the far edge of the camp, I took a look at what the next portion of the mountain would be throwing at me.

“Great. Take the slow, winding trail up the mountain. There’s no chance of ambush there, none at all.” I mocked, shaking my head. I had two choices, and neither of them were perfect. The first would be to attempt to fly up, but with the swirling winds I didn’t think it would be that great of an idea. The second option was to walk up, and deal with the ambushes as they came. The downside to this approach was the amount of snow in the air would greatly hamper my mana sense. I still decided this was the best option, but I would move slowly and thoroughly explore each ledge and the switchback above it for ambush with an extended mana tentacle before I attempted the climb. Any yeti trying an ambush from further away would have too hard of a time trying to hit me and would give away their ambush.

The process went fairly well. The mana tendril didn’t affect the snow, so the yeti hiding in it didn’t stand a chance. Rather than deal with a prolonged battle on an icy ledge with the wind swirling around me, I went with the expedient method of grabbing the yeti’s ankle with telekinesis and throwing them off the side of the mountain. The first time confirmed that the Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer children’s movie was wrong, and yeti’s do not bounce. They splat. Thanks to the road the yeti left, I managed the climb up the mountain in three hours. Once I climbed over the rim of the mountain, I had to stop and bask in the view.

The ridge I had just climbed over acted like a wind block, allowing the volcano to heat and maintain a bubble of warm air. Oh sure, it was still cold enough for snow, but it was far warmer than it should have been. Off in the distance, I could see a much larger camp of yeti’s, with young ones darting about in play. To the other side of the crater was a black spire with an ominous orange glow coming from inside, obviously the path down to the next levels of the dungeon. Standing in front of it was a phalanx of yeti warriors, these were a cut above the hunters from below. Four ranks of five, each with some laminated armor of beast hide. They were armed with glaives, and each one was from a much higher quality of steel than what the hunters below used. Behind them were four shamans, and towering above them was the chief. He had the same armor as his underlings, but his was a bit more ornate. He also had a kite shield on one hand, and the bulging muscles on his arm let me know that he wasn’t going to have any trouble wielding that glaive with one hand. As I made my way forward, he did as well. I stopped when there was about a fifty yards between us.

“A bold one has come.” The chief bellowed, magic from one shaman making sure I heard his words. “It has been far too long since one has dared challenge the mountain on their own. Or is it that you are the only survivor?”

“I wouldn’t call it much of a challenge, but I did indeed come alone.”

“The dungeon whispers to us.” The chief said, closing his eyes and leaning his head back. I felt a sort of strange presence, but it was gone too fast for me to determine what it was. “Ah, you are the one who pushed our goblin friends to the brink. Are you here to do the same to us?”

“No.” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve learned what I feel I need to, and now I need to see how far I might push myself. I will fight you once, then move on to the next section of the dungeon.”

“So I see. Very well. We shall give you the testing you crave.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Yeti Chieftan’s POV

“So I see. Very well. We shall give you the testing you crave.” I said in challenge to the adventurer. My phalanx moved to surround me, unsure of what tactics this one would use. He had the armor of a rogue, but lacked weapons. Maybe some sort of spellsword? It wouldn’t do him any good. We were resistant to magics, and with our healers spreading out it would be nearly impossible to take them all down without fighting through the phalanx several times. Just as we were set to charge, I heard the fool start chanting a spell.

Great Salamander, embodiment of flame

I call forth your power from the elemental planes.

A fiery sphere, burning with hunger

Burst forth and strike down the enemy.

GRAND FIREBALL!

“Fool!” I immediately taunted as he started his chant. “You dare to call the fire to challenge the masters of ice? ICY RAMPART!” I immediately summoned a wall of ice as I felt four shields spring up and merge from each of our shamans.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sean’s POV

I inwardly smiled as I heard the chief fall for my ploy. I was always leery of chanted spells, as it gives your enemy a chance to prepare. So I did a little misdirection. They heard a warped voice of mine chanting some simple spell for a grand fireball. They bunched together behind their icy fortifications, confident that they could easily overpower it. The real chant I had done was, “Lonely traveler, remnant of a planet that never was. End now your ceaseless wandering. Scorch the skies and shake the very bones of this world, cataclysm mark your tomb.” Nearly three quarters of my mana was spent on creating an iron meteor the size of a basketball travelling at nearly 10 kilometers per second. The bastards never stood a chance.

The meteor tore through their shields like they were paper, and airburst just above the icy rampart the chief erected. I instinctively dropped to the ground and summoned a mana shield with everything I had left, and I was glad I did. The heat was intense, but it was over in seconds. I stood up to look at the devastation, and it was impressive. The enemy’s formation was shattered, as were their bodies. I kept a bit of a shield to keep the smell out, as they were all badly burned. There wasn’t much to loot, and I didn’t feel like combing through those bodies anyway. Instead I headed to the opening in the obsidian rock and headed down the set of stairs into the orange glow.

As I descended, I thought about that meteor spell. It was incredibly powerful, but the drawbacks were huge. The only time I could safely release it would likely be in dungeons, and even then when I was alone. It would also basically take all my mana, though I highly doubted anything would remain after taking one head on. Even at half a football field away with the majority of the kinetic energy heading away from me I had to shield myself. “Pity life can’t be like a video game sometimes.” I muttered.

After about five minutes of heading down the spiral staircase, I was beginning to feel the heat. It was easily the equal of a hot summer day back on Earth, and the humidity was rising too. Luckily I had reached the bottom of the stairs, and off to one side was the teleportation circle. Straight ahead was a pair of peaked obsidian doors with lava and flame motifs decorating them. Perhaps the dungeon was warning us of what was ahead? No matter, I headed to the teleporter and exited the dungeon.

“Hello Sean.” The guild representative said as I walked up. I vaguely recognized him, but couldn’t quite place his name. “What have you got for me today?”

“Just a few axes.” I said, laying out the meager gains I had gotten.

“This is it?” He asked, confused.

“Had to use some powerful spells that ended up destroying the loot.” I explained, getting a knowing nod from him. “Hey, while you tally this up, do you mind if I take a look at possible evolutions? I managed to get past the yeti chief today.”

“No worries, I’ve got it here. A quarter day’s ration is your haul for today.” He said, tapping my slip and transferring the credits.

“Thanks. Hopefully the loot in the deepest part is better.”

“Oh it will be, and I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that problem. There’s a lot of things that are resistant to magic down there, so be careful, ok?”

“Sure thing.” I said, waving as I headed over to the dungeon wall. My jaw dropped at the possibilities when the table of evolutions came up.

Evolution

Description

Bonuses

Requirements

High Human

A stronger form of human, high humans have twice the lifespan

+4 attributes per level

Clear level five of the dungeon or max out a profession

Elevated one

Midway between a tier two and tier three evolution, elevated ones are deceptively strong.

+5 attributes per level

Clear level five of a dungeon without any help and without clearing it with a group beforehand.

Devout

The devout have dedicated themselves to mastering the spirit

+4 attributes per level, +5 spirit every even level

Clear level five of the dungeon or max out a profession; have 25 spirit

Disciple

Midway between tier two and tier three, the Disciples are a half step above Devout

+5 attributes per level, +5 spirit per level

Clear level five of a dungeon without any help and without clearing it with a group beforehand; have 25 spirit

Tier 3

Elemental human

These beings have surpassed mastery of an element. They now embody the element.

+5 attributes per level, mana cost for chosen element reduced by 75%

Max out the corresponding elemental class, clear level 10 of the dungeon

Mana touched

Mana touched are those who have displayed a mastery over magic.

+3 int per level, +3 wis per level, +2 free attributes per level. Mana cost reduced by 10%

Master mana manipulation, know at least 1 grandmaster spell, clear level 10 of the dungeon

Adherent

Adherents have further advanced their mastery of spirit.

+7 attributes per level, +5 spirit per level

Have 50 spirit, clear level 10 of the dungeon.

Elemental knight

Elemental knights are a half step above their elemental hybrid counterparts.

+7 attributes per level, mana cost for chosen elements reduced by 75%

Max out the corresponding elementalist classes for 2 to 4 elements, clear level 10 of the dungeon without any help and without clearing it with a group beforehand

Acolyte

Acolytes are a half step above the Adherent

+9 attributes per level, +15 spirit every even level

Have 50 spirit, clear level 10 of the dungeon without any help and without clearing it with a group beforehand

Locked

Locked

Locked

Clear higher levels of the dungeon to unlock