The Arcane Emperor

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Within the entirety of Earth existed only two Arcanists, at least if you took Rainer's word for it. With such a supposed circumstance, it did not take long for him to grow bored with his current state of life.

Perhaps, being someone who could wield magic at his fingertips should make him feel special. Add to that the feeling of being almost alone in this power and special is not enough to describe the situation.

Perhaps, he should have been content with the few abilities he had that no other human could wield. Yet, it was the very fact he had those abilities that became the issue. Rainer had no reason to be unhappy. But that was precisely where his unhappiness stemmed from.

Had he been completely normal, Rainer could have accepted his current life. There was little to complain about. He had a supporting family that paid for him to go to college across the country, his own apartment as a college sophomore, and magical abilities that let him learn in his sleep. He also took up lifting weights early on. So, despite having hobbies that often kept people from thriving in society, he didn’t suffer.

He felt his entire life was being wasted and that he could be casting powerful magic, comprehending the true mysteries of the universe, and soaring above his normality.

The man who could be king desires it far more than the man who never had a chance.

He had grown more and more disillusioned with his future. All his magic had accomplished thus far was allow him to be lazy; he would obtain more. He had to. And so came about Rainer’s current situation of depending on sleep learning to get through his classes while he focused on his first original spell, wall-walking. Such a task consumed him.

He came up with the idea for wall-walking after a magically charged finger slipped through a piece of paper. Of course, he ignored the fact it didn’t pass through the paper but burned through it. That didn’t matter to him. He simply sought what he sought. And after months of work, he began his first practice run.

Right in front of him hung a large piece of cardboard that covered up a doorway in his apartment. He would try to pass his hand through the cardboard and then his whole body. The reverse engineering of the spells taught by his grandfather combined with modern knowledge of molecules led him to this point. At the very least he created a spell that did something. Whether it did the right thing or catastrophically failed had yet to be seen.

He paused for a moment before deciding to write something down in case of said catastrophic failure. Yes, he was at a point where he was willing to risk his life learning a new magic.

To all those who may be concerned, yadda yadda yadda, grandpa I screwed up, you know how, blah blah blah, tell my family what you want, blah blah blah.

Sincerely, Rainer

It was a note that lacked any seriousness. Life threatening? That was just drama in an otherwise calm reality. He may at most hurt his hand and be unable to write such a note while it healed.

With but a thought, the spell activated...yet nothing seemed to happen. Though that was only how it seemed. The world turned into a black nothingness, causing Rainer to temporarily lose consciousness. And now, in a different time and a different place, a young man stood alone in a dark cave on the precipice of what would become his new life or his grave.

---

Rubbing his head in confusion Rainer could only show a stunned look to the scenery around him. He was supposed to have just put his hand through a wall. And not even a real wall. Just a large piece of cardboard.

It was to be his first achievement in magic, a spell that went beyond the ability to make mundane life less boring. What value did being able to singe a paper cup with a small ball of energy have in a world where a little laser pointer could do more? And while the sleep learning spells were useful for daily life, they only made doing tasks less tedious and gave the day a few extra hours.

Now all that surrounded him was darkness with but a bit of light peeking in. Futilely brushing away his black hair from his eyes didn’t accomplish much of an improvement in his vision.

“What the fu….”

But his words were quickly interrupted by the pitter-patter of feet on stone. The cave had been illuminated by way of an ugly green creature holding a torch.

The creature stood at just under 5 feet in height, about a foot shorter than the man he was now looking at. As soon as the torchlight revealed a strange human in what would seem to the creature an odd pair of black pants alongside a black tunic, a guttural snarl roared out.

Clearly, negotiation was not on the table.

Immediately, the creature drew a dagger from its waist and charged Rainer at speed equal to an Olympic athlete. Stunned at the utterly strange sight Rainer acted almost on instinct and released a single spell. Yes, the very same that would only annoy a mouse. However, what came out was not a small ball of white and violet light, but a large bolt.

With the speed of a fast pitch, the arcane bolt slammed into the chest of the Goblin, staggering his entire body. Utterly shocked at the newfound power of his spell Rainer paused for a moment before he cast, again and again, still filled with adrenaline. While stumbling backward, Rainer managed to get off two more bolts. They slammed into the Goblin before it fell lifelessly to the ground, just a few feet away from Rainer. The dropped torch echoed as it hit the ground but still burned at the fallen Goblin’s side.

[Experience Gained: 5%]

Such a message appeared on the bottom right of Rainer’s vision before fading. The shock of killing another living thing hadn’t set in, for all of his current focus was on the message icon that had just appeared.

A hud message, the fuck?

However, as someone who was an Arcanist, Rainer didn’t take long to accept his current reality. Or to imagine what exactly this reality was. Somehow his wall-walking spell teleported him here. Somehow, he had gained experience no different than if he was in a game. More importantly, the fallen corpse of a creature that represented a stronger version of the classic goblin was right in front of him.

Slightly gagging at the distorted face and leaking drool of the now-corpse, Rainer instead focused on this whole experience business and immediately started chanting out various words.

“Show Level.”

“Show Skills.”

“Show Character.”

“Show Stats.”

“Show Status.”

Instead of anything happening Rainer instead was met with a slight echoing and a tinge of embarrassment.

Show me my fucking Status you cunt…please.

He cried out in his head to no one in particular as the seriousness of his current situation sank in. Thoughts that dealt with hallucinating the message in the corner of his view and how he was now trapped in who knows where with who knows what. That unhelpful train of thoughts was halted by a particular message screen.

[Name: Rainer Nvos]

[Age: 19]

[Titles: None]

[Primary Classes: Arcanist lvl 1]

[Sub-Classes: None]

[Exp: 5%]

[Race: Human]

[Skills: Sleep Learning lvl 9/10]

[Skill Points: 0]

[Talents: Excellent Arcane Affinity, Human Growth]

[Stamina: 11/12]

[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]

[Mana: 7/13]

[Mana Regen: .001 per second]

The regen rates left Rainer slightly distressed. Stamina was fine, assuming it didn’t decrease too much, as was logical the more one acted without sleep or real rest. No, wait, it was a status screen!

He began trying to figure out how pitiful his mana was, opting to temporarily ignore the issue of any of this even existing. One mana point took 1000 seconds to regenerate, or roughly 16 minutes. One arcane bolt cost 2 mana. One goblin could be killed with 3 arcane bolts. That meant for about every 1 and a half hours he could kill a single goblin. More importantly, he could only kill 2 goblins at full strength. 2 goblins are 10%, and that was only for level 1.

30 hours.

A minimum of 30 hours to reach level 2.

What bastard set the difficulty setting for this world?

[Constitution: 11]

[Affinity: 13]

[Vitality: 10]

[Endurance: 12]

[Strength: 12]

[Dexterity: 12]

[Intelligence: 14]

[Willpower: 10]

[Attribute points: 0]

Understanding that it was a command of thought rather than an out loud declaration Rainer became deeply interested in the information before him. The amount of unknown information was slightly overwhelming but he began inspecting it and much to his delight, information about anything he thought of in his status was revealed before him.

[Excellent Arcane Affinity: 200% general improvement and growth to Arcane Spells and Arcane related skills. 50% improvement and growth to all magic spells and magic-related skills.]

[Human Growth: Lacking any innate abilities or attribute bonuses, humans instead garner an increased growth rate of 10% in all subjects and general leveling.]

[Arcanist lvl 1/25: As a seeker of the Arcane, the true origin of magic, all secrets of the universe await thee. 100% general improvement and growth to Arcane spells and Arcane related skills. 25% improvement and growth to all magic spells and magic-related skills. Allows the initial learning of any skill far easier than normal. +2 Intelligence, +2 Affinity, +.5 Willpower, +.1 All Attributes per Level past Level 1.]

This combined with the affinity, he understood, was what gave his formerly useless spell such an impact. However, an issue was still at hand; even a possible 300% or larger increase wouldn’t explain the changes to his [Arcane Bolt], as it was now called.

For now, he decided to shelve the issue and instead thank whoever created this system for not letting his end be at the hands of a mere goblin. This, of course, ignored the fact the Goblin was certainly far too fast and coordinated to be called a mere goblin.

[Human: Denotes one as a member of the human race giving them the Talent: Human Growth and the base attributes of a human of their age and ability.]

[Arcanist Sub-class Bonus: 25% general improvement and growth to Arcane spells and skills]

Sub-class bonus he assumed was the only bonus he got when a class was a sub-class. Though how that happened, and more importantly whether it could be easily changed afterward, was not something he was willing to try at the moment.

Next, it was time to look at what each attribute did. Though he was confused by the actual values. His bench at 275 pounds was roughly two times that of the average male. This didn’t mean he was two times as strong in general as a human male, but it certainly didn’t seem right only to be at 12 when he didn’t just bench press.

Though assuming 10 represents average may be at fault here.

There was also the adaptation of the nervous system that significantly improves strength, so then wouldn’t the attribute strength only be referencing muscular strength? Isn’t that faulty...In the first place, even the fastest Olympic sprinter didn’t even reach twice as fast as an average human so perhaps it was accurate.

There was nothing he could truly glean from the numbers of his stats apart from obvious conclusions until he had a larger sample size. Some of the exact effects of Affinity, Stamina, and Willpower had numerical representations.

[Constitution: Improves the durability and defense of one’s body.]

[Affinity: Improves one’s casting and learning ability while increasing total mana.]

[Vitality: Improves the healing ability and disease resistances of one’s body.]

[Endurance: Increases stamina and reduces its consumption.]

[Strength: Improves the power of one’s body.]

[Dexterity: Improves the control and speed of one’s body.]

[Intelligence: Improves the power of magic and the processing speed of the brain.]

[Willpower: Improves the resistance against magical/mental ailments and the regeneration of mana.]

[Attributes may contain other hidden effects.]

Finally, he looked at his one spell.

[Spellbook: Arcane]

[Tier One: Arcane Bolt lvl 2/10]

[Arcane Bolt lvl 2/10: Fires a bolt of concentrated Arcane energy.]

Nothing there to explain why the increase was so significant. Understanding that held by far the most importance, lest that increase returned back to normal and he died to whatever companions this single Goblin had without being able to cause even an annoyance.

Forgetting, or rather ignoring, the spell that had become a skill, [Sleep Learning], Rainer decided to take a real look at his surroundings. A cave it could be simply called, though the carved out tunnel the Goblin came from had several wooden beams as support so maybe an abandoned mine.

Well, occupied mine I suppose. Can these goblins mine, or even speak?

Rainer looked back down at the corpse he created. Apart from the slightly darker skin created from his attacks, the Goblin lacked any real damage to its body. It seemed [Arcane Bolt] dealt internal or magical damage more than anything else.

After a moment of inspection, a surprising message appeared. Though, considering the bonus of his [Arcanist] class, not too surprising.

[Skill Gained: Appraisal lvl 1/10]

Now the Goblin displayed a small message whenever he invoked [Appraisal] on its body.

[Goblin, Male, Deceased]

Nothing I wasn’t aware of...how useful.

He cringed for a moment before taking the Goblin’s dagger, deciding to try to open up the head of the creature’s head. If games or anything else were correct, the goblin would have some loot. He stabbed the dagger straight into the Goblin's head but seeing the blood pour out was already more than he could handle.

Removing what lunch he had, he went back to his bloody work. In the end, after finally cracking open the skull and hacking up what little food he had left, he finally found what he had been looking for...or not. There was nothing but a brain and disappointment. Though, gaining the skill [Goblin Anatomy lvl 1/10] had to have some value.

Probably…

Pausing for a moment at the still burning torch he quickly put it out on the rock floor, once more plunging himself into darkness. The element of surprise was his only ally in a place like this. At the very least, the fact that the Goblin carried a torch at all meant they couldn't see either. Besides, his [Arcanist] class might let him gain a skill for seeing the dark. Or so he thought...

There in the dark sat a man, wasting his time away, squinting his blue eyes at the darkness. He lacked any complicated thoughts beyond unbridled excitement at the situation he was in. He had just arrived and already his magic had reached a new height. He could truly consider himself an [Arcanist] and on the path to greater magics.

Chapter 2: I'm Sorry I Doubted you Grandfather!

After 3 hours of squinting all he accomplished was slightly, and quite slightly, adjusting his eyes to the darkness. A minor headache added on to that.

Even with his ability to learn skills easily, it seemed that transcending human limits was not included, at least in such a short period of time. He was stuck.

And so his thoughts became darker than even the cave around him. Was he going to die after finally reaching his life’s dream of being a true mage? Would he ever see his parents again? His little sister? His grandfather?

He had already not seen them for close to 3 months after going across the country to college. There was also the guilt of him being so excited from his current situation that he didn’t even consider what his family might think. Not to mention the note he wrote down as a joke, was that going to be the last memory they had of him?

His sister and mother didn’t even know about his abilities in the first place as he was the only one to inherit them from his grandfather. In all, such thoughts left him stunted and unable to think of his next goal.

But in the end, he pushed such thoughts down, temporarily sure, but it was enough. What could he do beyond trying to wall-walk again, but that could be an even more dangerous result. What kind of worlds existed out there, and was his wall-walk alone responsible in the first place?

It definitely lacked the kind of juice needed to cross space and time to such a degree, maybe. How the hell would he know? At the very least the system didn’t even consider him as knowing the spell so leaving this world likely wasn’t even an option.

Though speaking of other worlds, not even his current world was exactly ideal…

He could kill 2 goblins at once, and that wasn’t even guaranteed. If they dodged even once or started too close he’d be dead, or worse, they’d take him alive.

Take the dagger and fight it out? What a joke!

Even if he got incredibly lucky, he’d probably just facilitate a double murder-suicide, and that was most certainly the best case scenario. A trained knife fighter wouldn’t necessarily be able even to do that much better; sure he could kill the goblin. Then the knife fighter would probably just end up bleeding out a few hours later from the wound he’d almost positively take from a dying, desperate unintelligent opponent.

One hit instant kill on a moving target with a knife like in movies? What is this, a movie? Swords existed for a reason even before proper armor.

For now, he’d try and get the entry level of as many skills as he could. His ability to learn them quickly didn’t affect leveling them up faster as well unless they were magic related, but just learning [Goblin Anatomy] gave him a familiar feeling with the body. And there was no clear way to gain skill points as of yet; the tooltip certainly wasn’t helpful in that regard.

[Skill points: Increase the level of a chosen skill or spell. More powerful and higher level skills and spells require more points.]

At least the place he was in only had one exit and a decent amount of space. Whether or not he could avoid tripping in the darkness was another story.

And so began the game of a madman punching the air, running back and forth between the cave walls, and jumping in all manner of directions. Mix in a few dodge rolls and you have a man appearing at the cusp of insanity.

Rather, mix in a few dodge rolls, and you have an avid gamer questioning the decision of every developer who ever let their character perform a dodge roll. He could only think that it hurt and it required athleticism that would be better served elsewhere.

The combination of the blood and sweat filled his nose and slightly stung his eyes but the happiness from his three new skills negated that, if only ever so slightly. After exhausting nearly all his stamina, Rainer sat down on the ground and looked over the skills he learned.

[Skill Gained: Long Jumping lvl 1/10]

[Skill Gained: Bare-Fist Fighting lvl 1/10]

[Skill Gained: Sprinting lvl 1/10]

It was a fantastic feeling, learning a skill. It likely required a knowledgeable trainer or true practice to learn a skill normally. And while it wouldn’t be any easier for Rainer to increase them, at least the non-magic ones, having only a single level of a skill improved him. His sprinting speed noticeably went up, he had a basic instinct on punching forms, and his long jump distance increased by over a foot.

Setting a noise trap in the form of broken torch pieces in front of the only entrance, Rainer moved back about 60 feet to a corner of the cave. Importantly, now out of direct line of sight of the entrance. Here he would use sleep learning and see if it could help him improve [Arcane Bolt] by even a little.

[Sleep Learning lvl 9/10: The ability to practice and improve skills or spells while sleeping. Cannot acquire new knowledge.]

It was the primary magic he had inherited from his grandfather and finally learned to use at the age of 16. Though it was most certainly a spell back on Earth and not a skill, not that he was complaining.

Back on Earth, it was useful, but it wasn’t a logic-defying ability. For example, he could read a few pieces of music and then practice them for all 8 hours while sleeping. It was with this that over three years he had approached a master level ability in piano and guitar playing.

It was convenient and felt like a cheat, but it didn’t exceed the limit of a human. Sure finding someone willing to play, or capable of playing, piano almost 8 hours a day was extremely rare, but it wasn’t impossible. And while sleeping, Rainer didn’t gain the ability to, say, play a whole concert. His fingers would freeze up long before that, and they’d be in so much pain he wouldn’t be able to even hold a pencil.

But now it was far different. He would be able to directly increase a skill or spell and get the subsequent bonuses. Even Rainer didn’t realize what activating this skill for improving his [Arcane Bolt] would truly do, and how powerful of an ability it was. His eyes gently closed. Perhaps due to the lack of sleep he had the night before, even in a situation like this, he fell right asleep.

As he slept he did something no other mage was capable of; at least without a very high level, one so high they wouldn’t be practicing a basic spell to this point. Or, a mana potion treasury equaling a royal vault, of which the owner wouldn’t use that amount even if it were for themselves. His sleep learning essentially allowed him to cast one [Arcane Bolt] per second and gradually improve it over the course of his nap.

So while it would take some time for Rainer to realize just how powerful his sleep learning ability was, for now, his only focus was the Goblin who had just walked in carrying a torch and broken several of the wooden pieces he left at the entranceway. Perhaps it was the effects of his skill, but he could tell the difference between this Goblin and the previous one. He was slightly shorter, and his skin was tinged a bit gray among other facial differences. Concerning strength, there was no difference.

With a smooth and practiced motion, an [Arcane Bolt] of similar size to before but with an unmatched radiance formed in front of Rainer. With the speed of an arrow, the magic slammed into the Goblin, hurling its body into the ground. The Goblin would not stand again.

Completely surprised at the new strength of the bolt, Rainer now finally had a chance to look at the messages that appeared after he woke up.

[Arcane Bolt has reached level 10]

[Reached the maximum proficiency of a Tier 1 spell for the first time: Rewarding 5 skill points.]

In only two hours it reached lvl 10…

Rainer was stunned for a moment, but it didn’t take long for him to understand and to become giddy with the possibilities. What did that mean, one [Arcane Bolt] per second for 2 hours? Was it the equivalent of 2 hours of training? Not even close. After firing 6 [Arcane Bolt]s, Rainer would need to wait roughly 3 hours to do it again.

So his real rate of practice, at least relative to a normal mage, was beyond anything seen before, especially when adding on his increases to learning arcane magic. 6 bolts per 6 seconds versus 6 bolts per 3 hours. An increase of 1800 times! 5400, or perhaps more, with his bonuses, and while he was sleeping for only two hours he practiced the equivalent of 10800 hours.

I’m sorry for not appreciating your ability as a mage grandpa!

He couldn’t help but have yelled that in his head. Quickly he went to look at his mana and Exp.

[Primary Classes: Arcanist lvl 1]

[Exp: 10%]

[Sub-classes: None]

[Race: Human]

[Skills: Sleep Learning lvl 9/10, Appraisal lvl 1/10, Goblin Anatomy lvl 1/10, Long Jumping lvl 1/10, Sprinting lvl 1/10, Bare-Fist Fighting lvl 1/10]

[Skill Points: 5]

[Talents: Excellent Arcane Affinity, Human Growth]

[Stamina: 10/10(12)]

[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]

[Mana: 12/13]

[Mana Regen: .001 per second]

He guessed the lower stamina was from his still lack of sleep but the fact the bolt not only demolished the same strength goblin in one hit but also only cost 1 mana gave him some hope of making it out of wherever he was alive.

No experience gained from leveling up his [Arcane Bolt] spell, however, left him confused. Though, perhaps the fact he himself didn’t physically level it was the reason. He didn’t think it would make sense to be able to level up just by spending skill points or doing a similar action to that like sleep learning.

On top of that, he began wondering why there were no other skills. He knew how to play piano and guitar among other normal modern Earth skills.

Maybe I have to do it once but in the first place should my sprinting have only been level 1? That's almost kind of insulting. Can some skills only increase through use whereas others are knowledge dependent?

However, there wasn’t anything capable of dampening his good mood…Except the realization that he could now kill only 13 goblins and while it was a night and day difference it was hardly impressive if there was a whole tribe of them or even more dangerous creatures within this mine. And the reminder of having left behind his family, his grandfather especially, didn’t help in this case..

There were more pressing matters than his emotional difficulties.

Two patrols going missing, I can’t stay here anymore.

Rainer had taken a look at the Goblin before he decided to take its torch for himself. At least now he could reasonably defend himself or scare off the goblins if there were too many. Walking down the tunnel with a torch in hand Rainer played around with his now high leveled [Arcane Bolt]. Forming the bolt in his hand he now could keep it there without firing it. Though it seemed to use up mana to just hold it there the amount was so small it likely didn’t even equal his equally small regeneration rate.

Staring at the slowly moving bolt, he suddenly stopped walking. Getting a moment of inspiration, he slowly willed the bolt over to his left side, careful not to touch himself with it, though he had a feeling it wouldn’t hurt him. As if locking it in place Rainer willed the floating bolt to stay near his left and soon was met with a much-anticipated message.

[Spell Gained: Arcane Bolt Armament lvl 1/10]

Alongside the new spell, Rainer got a sudden influx of information.

The spell formula...this..is...incredible!

He had just managed to barely stop himself from shouting out. He couldn’t help but be excited. Magic was not supposed to be this intuitive. It was a long, arduous process of testing and creating formulae. Adjusting mana inputs and outputs. Messing with ancient symbols that had a logic to them far beyond what a normal human mind could understand. This was shown quite clearly by his grandfather creating only two working spells after 80+ years of work, though he did start from almost nothing. One of them was also, until Rainer came to this world, barely stronger than a laser pointer.

Immediately Rainer inspected his new spell.

[Arcane Bolt Armament lvl 1/10: Forms an armed [Arcane Bolt] at the desired place near the user. The [Arcane Bolt] may be set to release automatically at hostile presences and/or at the users will. Bolt damage and mana cost are improved by the level of the spell [Arcane Bolt]. Current Max: 4]

Right away Rainer cast the spell four times. Each time took roughly three times as long as firing an [Arcane Bolt] normally. None of the bolts drew on his mana beyond the initial cost, but he noticed upon opening his status that, similar to stamina, the max amount of mana was partially lowered by .5 per bolt. Really an unfair spell, there was little downside to it besides the longer cast time.

Right after, seeing as his new light source was sufficient, Rainer snuffed out the torch and left it behind. For the first time in life, he felt like he was actually using real magic. And so a figure standing at just under 6 feet tall, though Rainer wouldn’t mention the just under part, walked further into the unknown.

Four radiant lights of violet arcane energy surrounded his figure in an arch. Black track pants matched with a shirt stained with blood and sweat were all he had on his person.

Time to go and see just what this mine, and what this world, has in store for me.

Chapter 3: The Arcane Scholar

After walking for close to three hours, he had noticed a stronger light shining around a corner. He pressed himself against the wall. The bolts around him conformed to avoid touching. Silently he peered out.

Seven goblins huddled around a fire eating...well, Rainer decided to ignore what they were eating for now. An occasional guttural voice leaked out. It seemed to form a language though up until a message appeared in the bottom right, Rainer couldn’t be sure it had any logical form.

[Skill Gained: Muknar Language lvl 1/10]

The message accompanied a small burst of information. It was like he knew it all along. Of course, the amount of information likely equaled someone who watched subtitled anime for years, tried to watch it without any subtitles and then, only catching a few scattered/common vocabulary plus context clues, realized years of their life had amounted to little more than any other consumer of media.

Hesitantly, Rainer placed 3 skill points into it. He already knew he couldn’t learn it with sleep learning and it wasn’t like they were going to teach him. It cost 1 point to raise to level 2, and another 2 points to raise to level 3. Now, it felt like an elementary school student's level of knowledge. He began catching their conversation.

“Why Grum long. Grum slow.”

“Even Magpie long. Magpie slow.”

The one who seemed to be the leader of the group as well as the only Goblin that wasn’t level 1 called out. He wanted another Goblin to go next.

Rather what the fuck? It's been who knows how many hours and they don’t think something is wrong? Maybe they just don’t care?

[Goblin, Male, Warrior lvl 3]

“Pigtongue you go next. Find good ore place, good Be’tar Huktar get.”

Judging by the strange laughs that followed he assumed Be’tar was slang for a female, probably similar to bitch, though he hadn’t recognized the word until now. The thought of said female combined with the content of their current meal set a deep revulsion in Rainer’s stomach. Huktar, he didn’t know, but the context made it seem like a race. He understood enough about the language to make this prediction even if his vocabulary was lacking.

Rainer needed to act now while they were all sitting and distracted. If he surprised them, getting off another 2 bolts after and finishing off all 7 wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility. Just as he moved to turn the corner, he stuttered his steps for a second. Guilt racked him for a moment. In the first place, the earlier two Goblins appeared mindless, yet these ones clearly had a language.

Am I killing...people?

But one reminder of what they were eating was enough to push down any guilt, for now. He was, however, a firm believer in the survival of the fittest. Raising and breeding pigs may be no different, logically speaking, than what these goblins were doing with the possible human they were eating. To eat meat in any capacity was to Rainer no different, not that he refrained from that, though of course the thought of someone eating a human still displeased him.

He was human after all.

But the stutter in his step had caused him to move around the corner ever so slightly. The merry goblins became alerted.

The leader instantly stood up, grabbing his club and screaming out, before rushing towards Rainer at a speed far greater than any of the previous goblins. His metal boots making sparks at his speed.

“HukTar!”

“Kill!!”

Rainer was unable to even react before the Goblin was in front of him, but he was saved by all four of his armed [Arcane Bolt]s firing off at once. They obliterated the Goblin leader in front of him. An arm tore off the Goblin, his head became partially caved in from the sheer force of the bolts and he was catapulted straight past the fire that was cooking their meal.

The remaining 6 of the Goblins were shocked for a moment before they ran completely in the other direction screaming the Muknar word for mage.

Reacting slowly, but quick enough to still be within range, Rainer fired off [Arcane Bolt]s towards them, managing to hit and kill three before the rest fled around the corner. Even though the attack was “successful” Rainer paled at what could have been. If the bolts hadn’t automatically fired in time, death. If the goblins attacked instead of fled he wouldn’t have returned to reality quick enough to kill more than 1 or 2, death. And what was the reality? The fact they’d likely come back with an army.

The general shortness of the tunnels in height gave some relief. At least nothing big could come for him. Though that hope was shot down by the idea of some sort of troll crawling on all fours and chasing him down like a rabid animal. Now that, was unpleasant.

Collecting himself Rainer took a quick look at the messages that appeared before casting [Arcane Bolt Armament] another four times. His mana lowered to 4 from 11(13).

[Experience Gained: 16%]

[Experience Gained: 5%]

[Experience Gained: 5%]

[Experience Gained: 5%]

He managed to get an entire 16% added on from killing this level three Goblin. Whether it was the class the Goblin had or the level, Rainer didn’t know. The other goblins originally sitting with the leader were all Level 1 and their class was listed as none. It seemed even without a class everyone was simply level 1 rather than a 0.

Looking at the direction the Goblins fled, Rainer had no intentions of pursuing. Even if he could sprint at full speed for several minutes, what did it matter? He might not even come close.

Rainer looked at the corpse of the person he killed. Hideous and grotesque it was. It hadn’t been much better even before he caused such damage. He didn’t know if he could continue doing this and still remain the same. Did he even want to keep his past self? Would humans be just as easy to kill now? Was he on the path to becoming such an individual? Even now his happiness with the experience gain exceeded the weight of taking that Goblin’s life.

He sighed, understanding that no matter what guilt he had or decision he came to he still valued his life more than anything else. He headed in the direction that the goblins had run to—not, however, before noticing the lack of a ceiling above his head. The night sky was clearly visible shining down where the still burning fire pit roasted whatever poor individual had become the goblin’s meal. Rainer didn’t have the heart to look, staring instead at the 2 bright moons shining down. The walls were far too high to climb reaching a height of 5 or more stories.

One moon shone with a slight gold tint while the other glistened with a violet blue. Both gently blended in amidst the stars in the sky.

I’m really not on Earth anymore, am I?

Rainer walked forward and was soon met with another dilemma, a split in the tunnels. 6 different tunnels appeared and almost all showed clear signs of recent travels. One did not and made the choice for him obvious.

His mana was low after arming another 4 [Arcane Bolts], as well as the 3 he shot off towards the fleeing goblins, so meeting anyone anytime soon wasn’t a part of the plan. At least if they came back here to search for him they’d struggle as well. Or not. A dog of any variety and likely some monstrous version these goblins might have could track him quite easily. Even a complete idiot would notice his steps in a formerly unvisited tunnel.

So his lack of mana made time a priority. He could try to level a melee combat ability with sleep learning but it wouldn’t be the same as before. While training for 8 hours straight, if he could even sleep that long, was impressive, it stayed well within the realms of possibilities for a melee combatant. Especially normal for someone of say, level 10.

Rainer noticed that the path in front of him gently sloped upwards. He knew not what that could mean. He could be getting closer to an exit, a dead end, or even deeper in the mine. If the mine was a mountain, he’d only be heading deeper into that mountain. If it was underground he may be reaching towards an exit, but the lack of traffic could mean it was a dead end. Or a place even these monsters feared to tread…

Yet he carried his feet forward. The fear of death from the return of even more goblins or whoever their master was, constantly filled his thoughts. He figured they had a master from how they didn’t seem intelligent enough to properly conduct a mining operation. They were searching for ores. Such a goal made their desires clear.

The path in front of him gradually felt as if it was getting steeper and seemed to snake in a spiral formation with a few cornered tunnels. He wasn’t exactly an expert on mine construction so what did this mean? He hadn’t a clue. Even if he did, this was a mine within a fantasy world. The original constructors could be avoiding who knows what, or even worse, a who.

After what felt like nearly an hour of walking, Rainer finally began to see a light coming from the top. Reaching a second wind from the prospect of freedom he rushed forward, forgetting the fact that at night the light wouldn’t be so bright or so resembling of fire. He gazed into a well-constructed room lit by a strange light. He was behind a boarded up doorway peeking in towards said room.

The room engaged him to the point where all his previous fears and troubles took a back seat. A mage’s experiment room. There was no doubt about that. While he didn't understand their purpose he could see several objects in the room that had the magic language inscribed within them. Scrolls lined the far wall and what looked to be a staff leaned against the desk. The room itself was lit by a glowing orange orb hanging from the ceiling. All these enchantments and uses of the magic language Rainer had never seen before. Notes were also sprawled all over the desk giving a chaotic feeling similar to Rainer's own room for magic.

He appraised a few of the objects that interested him.

[Enchanted Oak Staff: When magic is channeled through this staff effectiveness increases by 5 intelligence.]

[Scroll of Fireball: Upon injection of mana releases a fireball at desired target.]

[Enchanted FlameLit Orb: Radiates a light similar to a natural fire.]

[Skill Gained: Faaran Runic Language: lvl 3/10]

The message that had just appeared confirmed his original thought on skills that were knowledge based. They would rise to whatever level they were prior to coming here.

So Faaran Runic language this place call it? The 3 makes sense. The only thing I can understand about the runes in the room is a couple of symbols relating to mana flow. The actual running of the tool? Clueless. I’ve never even seen a magic tool, who knew runes could be used in such a way.

Thinking about using a bolt to break down the obstacle in front of him, Rainer stepped back before he heard yelling and someone entering the room. He regretfully ordered his armed bolts to dissipate and crouched down.

“You damned thing, you’ll give me what I want or you’ll wish to be given back to your captors.”

It seemed whoever that dark voice belonged to spoke the same Muknar language as the goblins. It was more reminiscent of an actual language. It seemed the growling version belonged to the voices of those lesser goblins rather than as a method of speaking it.

“No please, Luna will do, Luna will do, please don’t send Luna back.”

A sweet but panicked voice in the same language responded. The voice seemed a bit too quiet. And the sight entering Rainer’s vision would explain that.

Carried into the room was a tattered and injured figure of resplendent beauty. She had long brown hair that reached to her waist and green crystal clear eyes. Yet the injuries on her were truly severe. She wore a slightly tattered green dress with burn marks all over her.

Yet amid all this what truly was angered Rainer were her wings. They were heavily damaged and even with that damage their radiant blue luminance shone through. She had four in total in a similar pattern to butterfly wings but instead with pointed forms and a small bone-like structure reminiscent of bat wings. At least that would be original appearance. Now they were pointed in strange directions and one even hung loosely. He couldn’t even imagine the pain of having one’s appendages in such a state.

The Goblin, some sort of shaman-like figure, carried her within a small cage only a foot in height. She herself was not even 6 inches tall; an equally small piece of rope tied to her leg connected her to the cage.

“Gihihihi, good, good. Wait here quietly and I’ll return shortly. I expect you to make good on your side of the bargain little fairy.”

“Luna will...Luna will…”

Rainer had previously still held some guilt over the deaths he caused even after seeing what exactly the goblins had been eating. Yet now that guilt was gone. Such torture went beyond simple survival of the fittest. Even if they were humans he might not have felt any different.

Waiting a few minutes after the Goblin had left and painfully listening to the sounds of the fairy sobbing, Rainer tried to construct another variation of an [Arcane Bolt] in order to, as quietly as possible, get through the boarded up doorway. He had no idea how far the mage went or even if there were guards outside of the door the mage entered from.

He had 8 mana to work with. At worst he’d save 2 mana to blow up the boards directly and just run with her. Oddly he couldn’t sense any sort of barrier or see any runic defenses, though that could simply be a difference between their abilities. At very least he would try. Frankly put, the Goblin had little to actually defend against within this mine if it was as Rainer thought that goblins covered the entirety of it. Adding on that the Goblin simply left his staff in this room meant he had little reason to be cautious.

He cast an [Arcane Bolt] and kept it within his palm. With a slow pace, he began moving it to the tip of his fingers. He wasn’t sure if it would even create a blade and actually cut. The very nature of the [Arcane Bolt] spell that he knew was to self-contain the arcane energy and only release its true nature upon impact. He may just be creating a melee range bolt. In other words, useless.

Reaching the end of his hands as if it was being held by the tips of his fingers he tries to flatten out the bolt into the blade pictured in his mind. It was at this point Rainer finally understood what having a level 10 [Arcane Bolt] truly meant. He didn’t only reach the peak of that spell but his control over the arcane energies had reached a point where it was incomparable to before.

The blade flattened and began increasing in length, yet in the end, this blade was still just an oddly shaped bolt. Gently Rainer willed away the containment of the bolt while focusing the rest of his will in keeping the blade intact.

It took everything he had to keep the unrestrained arcane energy in this form. It showed in his constantly decreasing mana and the seemingly desperate attempts in the fluctuating arcane energy to escape his control. The moment he felt he could ease up his focus even a little he acted. Immediately he stabbed the blade into the boards and, no different than as if he was cutting air, he began slicing through the boarded up door to the wonderful appearance of numerous messages.

[New Arcane Spell Gained: Arcane Blade lvl 1/15]

Which solidified the violet arcane blade within his hand and eased up the concentration and mana required.

[Created original Tier 2 spell: Rewarding experience, 5 skill points, and the title: Arcane Scholar]

[Experience gained: 212%]

[Calculating Excess Experience]

[Arcanist has been leveled up to lvl 2/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 1 Attribute and skill point have been rewarded.]

With a fervent haste, as his mana dropped quickly, Rainer left the messages aside. He cut through the boards. Any pieces were carefully stopped from falling and soon he created a hole roughly larger than himself. Rushing straight into the room, he ignored the messages and went to grab everything he needed.

Chapter 4: A Fairy and a Broken Seal

In another time and another place, within a messy room that had strange runic drawings plastered all over the walls and a spreading crack on its wooden floor, stood a single man. He looked to be roughly 30 years of age. Rainer would recognize him as a younger looking version of his grandfather. Rainer shared this man's black hair and blue eyes though he stood at 6'4”, almost half a foot taller.

He could only frown deeply looking at the note Rainer left behind.

The boy had always been careless, hence the existence of the seal that held the majority of his magic in the first place. He was not the type that could survive in our world, not like his mother and sister. His mana talent and work ethic had been simply too low even if he was the only other one to have the power of the arcanist. In fact, he would be an easy target had the council and various guilds not agreed to ignore him so long as he was sealed. Now, not only did the seal disappear along with him, there are massive signs of spatial fluctuations!

I can sense the magic, he clearly did this by himself, but how?

And what the hell was he doing in the first place?! I need to figure this out before others realize that the seal has been removed…

“And this note! Of course, he would leave behind such a thing...You were sealed for a reason!”

He couldn’t help but exclaim the rest of his thoughts aloud. Frederick Nvos spent the next few hours trying to figure out what spell Rainer had cast from the mess that was his great-great-grandson’s notes. He couldn’t help but bury his palm in his face when he found the journal Rainer kept.

A wall-walking spell...How did he even get towards that from what I gave him? None of his calculations or any of his runes make sense. It should have just fizzled out after making him go unconscious from mana loss.

Frederick decided to cast the spell himself just in case. And the result truly surprised him. It was only for a moment and by the slightest degree, certainly not enough to pass through an object, but his body truly phased outside of this dimension. In a crazy fever, he started going through all of Rainer’s notes again trying to see what he missed.

To think my apprentice created such a magnificent spell!

Whether he was still searching for what happened to Rainer or just more interested in his apprentice’s spell, who knew? Rather, was it really okay for someone who stunted Rainer’s power and growth to consider him their apprentice all of a sudden?

-- --

Back in the present time and within the world of the so-called “apprentice”…

The moment Rainer had entered the Goblin mage’s room he went to grab the [Enchanted Oak Staff] and the [Scroll of Fireball].

At least now if I need to run he won’t be as strong.

He went right after to apprise the fairy and to get her attention.

[Fairy, Female, Fae Enchantress lvl 2]

“Hey little one, you wouldn’t perhaps kno…”

Before Rainer could get another word out the originally sobbing fairy’s face lit up and she started speaking at the speed of light.

“You appraised Luna! Luna is so happy. Hero has come to save Luna!”

Rainer felt a strange feeling come over him like a pair of eyes were boring into him from somewhere beyond, for just a moment, and then the feeling quickly vanished.

“A-raa-caa-naa-ist? Elera mai yu tai Luna.”

Yet the smile quickly disappeared and she continued to keep mumbling in that almost ethereal language.

[Skill Gained: Fae Language lvl 1/10]

“Elera not Hero, Elera come for Luna’s fairy dust too. But if Elera not hero how..”

Not wanting to waste skill points that, based on only receiving 1 for a level up, were likely rarer than he believed, he did his best to piece together something in her language.

“Me here...to...help?”

“Elera speak Fae yani!”

“No wait, wait, I’d rather speak in this language, I’m not too good at...Fae.”

“You say you are here to help Luna but why do speak language of dumb ones. Luna doesn’t believe you.”

Luna took the confused looked on his face to mean he was angry.

“Wait please don’t hurt Luna, Luna will give you dust. Luna will work very hard to make lots and lots of dust, please.”

“I used skill points to learn it okay? And you! You know it too. Now come on, we don’t have much time, where is the key to your cage?”

“You wasted precious skill points to learn the dumb one's language…” she muttered to herself.

Rainer couldn’t help but blush a bit at that comment that he very much heard. Really there was no need to know what the goblins were saying. And looking at the notes on the table it didn’t give him any reading ability either.

“Hehe, mom always said humans were very dumb.”

He got a little annoyed at the constant subject changes, but more so at the fact that he wasted skill points.

“Hey, do you want me to help you or not. It's fine, I’ll just leave…”

She, in a panic, waved her arm but winced soon after from the pain.

“Ah...please don’t leave Luna.”

Feeling guilty, Rainer abandoned any initial plans of teasing her, just now reminded of how bad of a state she truly was in.

“Sorry...Alright, we can talk later, for now, tell me where the key is.”

But before she could tell him the door swung open and in came the Goblin mage from earlier. While he talked Rainer appraised him. The Goblin mage wore animal furs that were feathered at their sleeves and waist along with a hood over the top of his head. On his neck and fingers were an assortment of rings and jewelry.

[Goblin, Male, Fire Mage lvl 12]

“Damned human mage, you think you can steal my prize?!”

Immediately Rainer grabbed the cage and sprinted towards the way he came, staff in hand and scroll stuffed into his pocket.

Flames soon erupted. The hand of the [Fire Mage] shone brightly. A torrent of fire and flame threw itself towards Rainer, just as he heard the noise and jumped for all his skill was worth. He had just barely avoided the fireball yet he could still feel as if a stove was lit upon his back and landed awkwardly on his left foot.

Ignoring any pain, he ran even faster out of the room. Just before Rainer exited the room he activated the [Fireball Scroll] and immediately fired an [Arcane Bolt] behind it, empowered by the staff.

“A child masquerading as a mage!”

The Goblin yelled out as he easily dispatched the incoming fireball. Yet right after, the Arcane Bolt slammed into a blue ethereal shield and a large cracking noise could be heard as the Goblin's necklace shattered. The Goblin stuttered back for a moment wondering if he should give chase, but the greed of owning his own fairy propelled him forward against the better judgment to seek reinforcements.

Running down the tunnel Rainer began to panic for a moment.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! When the hell did I become such a hero!?

Still running Rainer looked down at the staff seeing cracks all along it.

What is this, a three use item or some shit? Fucking [Appraisal], tell me these things!

He ran and he ran. But soon, he remembered. There was nowhere to go. Not only that, the Goblin, even as a mage, was faster and was probably gaining on him at this very moment.

Rainer turned around one last corner before setting down Luna's cage. He gripped the staff with both hands. His mana already dangerously low and his stamina no better, the build up from the lack of sleep and hours of walking had taken its toll. Gripping so tightly his knuckles turned white, he formulated a plan.

Hearing footsteps, Rainer made ready. The staff began cracking from the pressure as his mana quickly approached zero. And so, came about an angry goblin that ran past the corner, a flame about to gush from his hand.

Rainer charged as the staff displayed an [Arcane Blade] at its tip extending over a foot out, the enchanted wooden form barely holding together. He stabbed forward with the Arcane Bladed-Staff and the violet luminescent blade penetrated through layers of blue magical shields and, along with the sound of the cracking and breaking of enchanted items, entered straight into the chest of the Goblin.

The Goblin had done everything right. He activated all his defenses. He had a spell prepared to counter-attack. He had inherited every enchanted item from the previous Goblin pyromancer and chief shaman. Yet, what should have been a weak mage had destroyed all those artifact’s defenses instantly.

Before the might of the Arcane, such preparations fell to nothingness…

Yet he was still not defeated. As the Goblin reached to unleash the spell in his right hand Rainer channeled the last of his mana into the staff and jumped backward as it exploded from within the Goblin.

Shards of enchanted wood tore apart the insides of the Goblin, dealing the final blow. Rainer himself managed to get far enough away but in the end, several splinters stabbed into his back as he huddled around the small cage.

[10 Primary Level Difference, Experience Bonus added]

[Experience Gained: 68%]

[Calculating Excess Experience]

[Arcanist has leveled up to lvl 3/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 1 Attribute and skill point have been rewarded.]

Rainer wordlessly picked up Luna’s cage and limped over to look and make sure the Goblin mage had truly died. A nasty gash in his chest and eyes wide open, the Goblin was most assuredly dead.

Rainer’s feeling on the subject had changed from the past. Maybe because it was the first time he had been in a true fight rather than acting as little more than a poor assassin, or perhaps it was the actions of these goblins, but his view had truly changed.

He felt exalted as he gazed upon his fallen foe.

Other than his initial apprehension when he first came here this was what he felt he had searched for all these years. The thrill as powerful magic rushed through his body and was unstoppable as it killed the enemy before him.

He squatted down and searched through the Goblin's belongings, but as he used [Appraisal] all over him he only found broken enchantments and simple items apart from two.

[Ring of Fae Transference: Allows a fae wielder of the ring to return to the Fae-City of Laeria. Conforms to user’s size.]

[Malgor’s Fae Cage Key: Opens the runic seals on cage created by the pyromancer Malgor.]

Rainer grabbed both the key and ring and looked over to a still silent Luna before opening up the cage.

“Hey? You coming out or what?”

Rainer remembered the rope still attached to her leg but before he had a chance to do anything the rope burned heatlessly with a green fire at the snap of Luna’s fingers. She tried to walk out of the cage but her small form immediately stumbled.

Gently Rainer reached over to carry her out, himself in a decent amount of pain from what was likely a sprained ankle and the numerous splinters in his back.

“Are you okay, can you heal yourself or something?”

“If...you...could...give...Luna mana...Luna better.”

Rainer thought for a moment before he opened up his status screen.

[Primary Classes: Arcanist lvl 3/25]

[Titles: Arcane Scholar]

[Exp: 8%]

[Sub-classes: None]

[Race: Human]

[Skills: Sleep Learning lvl 9/10, Appraisal lvl 1/10, Goblin Anatomy lvl 1/10, Long Jumping lvl 1/10, Sprinting lvl 1/10, Bare-Fist Fighting lvl 1/10, Muknar Language 3/10, Faaran Runic Language lvl 3/10, Fae Language lvl 1/10, Arcane Energy Manipulation lvl 1/10]]

[Skill Points: 9]

[Talents: Excellent Arcane Affinity, Human Growth]

[Stamina: 1/6(12)]

[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]

[Mana: 0/17]

[Mana Regen: .0011 per second]

He knew it without checking, but he was completely spent. But, before he could ask Luna anything she had already fallen unconscious. He looked down at the little fairy in his hands and saw a strange scene. Her body shimmered for a moment as her originally green eyes became a brighter emerald and her hair transformed from brown to the same color.

Aha! I've seen through your disguise...Is what this moment feels like, but I've learned absolutely nothing.

Though, in the first place, why did I even help her? Well, I would gladly help a hurt puppy but I wouldn't risk my life for it. Besides, not only did she have that ring, she had that weird flame ability. How did she get caught in the first place?

Checking over the Goblin one last time Rainer limped back to the room, hoping to find something similar to a mana potion and to see if he could fix this little thing up.

On his way back he looked over everything he gained recently. He, however, decided not to spend any attribute or skill points. His first instinct was to min-max himself, focusing only on magic related attributes and skills, but even though that would likely make him powerful, this definitely wasn’t a game.

If he died, he would stay dead. He didn't know where he got that feeling from but it was strong. Min-max builds often depended on a person becoming good enough to never get hit or abuse the game’s system. Neither of which he had any confidence in doing at the moment.

And then with skill points. He already regretted spending points on the “dumb one's” language. He could've swung his [Arcane Blade] around a few times and used the skill points to get a high level of swordsmanship.

For now, everything he had a choice on, he’d save…

Probably.

[Arcane Scholar: One who walks the path of the arcane and can create his own roads through innovation, study, and experimentation. 5% experience bonus. Gives skill: [Arcane Energy Manipulation]]

Isn’t this a little too amazing for what I did? Grandpa, the cheat you gave me, I’ll treasure it forever.

Though, seeing his experience level left him confused. He had 72% when he was level 2 and he gained 68% from killing that Goblin mage. So that meant that leftover 40% Exp had become only 8%.

A degree of 5? I need 5 times the amount of experience to reach level 4? No wonder that Goblin was so arrogant in chasing me. He probably felt my mana thinking I was low leveled and wasn’t even comparable to him…

[Arcane Energy Manipulation lvl 1/10: Allows the user to directly manipulate his own Arcane Energy and pull on Arcane Energy that exists beyond this dimension. Mastery will improve all Arcane skills and spells.]

Well, there's what my next sleep learning session will consist off. Learning how to manipulate mana was insanely hard and here I'm just granted whatever this is. Perfection.

[Spellbook: Arcane]

[Tier One: Arcane Bolt lvl 10/10, Arcane Bolt Armament lvl 1/10]

[Tier Two: Arcane Blade lvl 1/15]

[Arcane Blade lvl 1/15: Creates a blade of unleashed Arcane Energy. Can become an extension of any body part or magic catalyst.]

He understood that being a tier 2 spell is likely what caused it to have 15 levels but that still didn’t make sense to him. The levels from 1-10 could just be made to take longer, so why did this spell have specifically 15? There had to be something truly unique about it, beyond the Tier 2 designation. He turned back to the road before noticing just how much his ankle hurt.

The path back felt far longer than the first time. Every step on his left ankle elicited pain and soon he understood that the damage to his back was worse than he thought. The stinging of burns filled his mind. He decided to continue distracting himself with the status screen.

[Constitution: 11]

[Affinity: 17]

[Vitality: 10]

[Endurance: 12]

[Strength: 12]

[Dexterity: 12]

[Intelligence: 18]

[Willpower: 11]

[Attribute points: 2]

Now he looked at his attributes. He guessed the lack of decimals meant that, in reality, every stat was a massive decimal. There may be improvement through training, but it wouldn’t necessarily increase it a whole attribute.

Begrudgingly, he now had nothing to do but walk. Though, he hoped the splinters in his back were only skin deep and that his ankle wasn’t truly broken. He didn’t even want to think about the burns, not that such a thing stopped them from hurting.

Finally making it back to the room he looked over the damage and could not be more thankful he had dodged the main portion of that fireball. The stone had not only been scorched completely black but there was some structural damage.

Though the important parts of the room had been spared much to Rainer’s enjoyment. With the desk containing notes on one wall, a series of shelves to the left and right of the door on the adjacent wall, and a bed across from the desk, this room was quite perfect.

The only question was when, rather than if, someone would come looking for the now dead Goblin mage or track Rainer's path through the tunnel.

He set the fairy down on the bed, surprised on how comfortable it looked, plus covered in furs that would probably sell for thousands of dollars back home. Going over to the shelves he started using [Appraisal] on everything; thankfully the skill didn’t seem to cost anything.

Soon after, not only did his skill level up to 2, he found what he had been looking for, though it was only a single mana potion.

[Evergrass Mana Potion: Increases mana recovery rate by 400%.]

It was an impressive number, but to Rainer’s .0011 regeneration it didn’t make much of an addition. He could only do his best to stay awake and alert, lest the Fairy’s condition turns worse. He looked over at her resting on the bed that was clearly far too large for her. Her breathing seemed rough and she was curled up in pain.

For now, he’d save her; that was what he had decided, so that's what he’d do. Afterwards? He wasn’t sure. At the very least he had no intention of keeping her as a captive and gaining whatever advantage the Goblin mage sought.

Trudging along in an attempt to keep himself distracted Rainer first locked the door and then tugged at the shelves on the left in order to move them in front of the door.

For once, his physique served a greater purpose than simply looking good, as Rainer loathed sports in general. The shelves weren't particularly hard to move, even with an injured ankle.

He looked back at the half cut open entrance to the tunnel. While simply moving the one shelf a bit in front of the door wasn’t bad, moving the other across the room and positioning it properly might be out of his reach.

He sat down on the bed planning to fully regenerate his stamina lest he collapse and they both die. He was not in fact completely altruistic. There was hope that whatever a [Fae Enchantress] was that it had some healing ability to use on him.

He did his best trying to keep his eyes open as he stared intently at his status screen. His stamina maximum was even lower than before at a 4. He feared what would happen if it reached 0.

At a rate of about 1 mana per every four minutes, Rainer used his mana to track the time. After about 30 minutes he heard a rough cough from where Luna was Rainer could see her condition had certainly gotten worse.

Having regenerated 7 points of mana Rainer decided he might as well start now, though he had no idea what to even do.

“Hey, hey little fairy, wake up.” He said as he tried to shake her awake.

But the minor shaking seemed to only cause discomfort. Not knowing what else to do Rainer took her into his hands and similar to a training exercise his grandfather had taught him when he was younger. He tried to put his mana into her. The original exercise, however, didn't involve a living thing.

[Skill Gained: Mana Manipulation lvl 2/10]

[Skill Gained: Fae Anatomy lvl 1/10]

He attempted to level up [Mana Manipulation] right away, grimacing as he remembered how tough it was to learn back on Earth, but was met with a surprising, perhaps fitting, message.

[Skill points insufficient. Mana Manipulation lvl 3/10 requires 20 skill points]

It made sense different skills would have different difficulty levels, but this much? Though, now remembering when he first learned this, back when it wasn’t a skill, it was extremely difficult and took many months just to get the mana to leave his body at all.

He gritted his teeth a little before he leveled up [Fae Anatomy] to four, deciding that letting the fairy die would likely mean his death. His body would get worse and the only conclusion would end with him encircled by goblins. Even if the fairy couldn't heal him maybe she could do something useful with that fire of hers, or take him with her when she used that ring.

The points cost a similar amount to when he learned the language. 1 point, 2 points, and 3 points for a total of 6, Rainer gained a new understanding of a fairy’s body.

He couldn’t help but be amazed, and actually had no more apprehensions about learning this skill. He would ask the questions he had later as with the assistance of the [Mana Manipulation] skill and the now [Fae Anatomy lvl 4/10] the mana flowed quite easily. Rainer was able to guide it into her body. Slowly her body began to repair and it did not take long for her to recover a healthy appearance.

Yet, following a surprising message the little fairy began to seize up.

[Arcane Energy Manipulation has reached level 2]

[Experience Gained: 18%]

Her wings transformed, the lines changing to a black void of night and the wings themselves taking on a deep violet color. Her hair slowly shifted to a glistening silver and behind her closed eyelids a violet light shone through.

Rainer didn’t panic, as he knew enough about her now to see she was mostly fine and was instead curious at the changes. It took but a few moments for the changes to finish and soon she started moving in her sleep no different than someone waking up in the morning.

Seeing the fairy waking up Rainer set her down and, using the small amount of his stamina he filled up, carefully took everything off the desk and pushed it towards the tunnel entrance. With a herculean effort, he managed to flip it so it blocked the door completely before weakly limping back to the bed.

He lay flat on his stomach before speaking to a strange, but perhaps better looking, Luna, that was still staring at her new hair color.

“Luna, I’m really tired, make sure to stand guard while I’m asleep okay? Wake me up if you hear anything.”

In a trance, she answered half-heartedly.

“Luna will, Luna will…”

Too exhausted to stay up any longer Rainer closed his eyes. For some reason, he trusted her to watch over him. To the point where he just left her ring on his finger and didn't even question if he should put it outside of her reach. That, and the locked door with a large shelf in front of it combined with the boarded up passageway with a desk blocking it didn't hurt.

He, however, had missed one final message that appeared as she finished her transformation.

[Familiar contract initiated, Make Fae Princess Luna Emralira-Igna your Familiar? Y/N]

And soon watching over his sleeping form was a changed Luna. She looked at the new color of her hair and she was truly confused. But when she looked at her wings, she was instead beyond surprised.

Mana wasn’t supposed to change her to such a degree, at least not the mana from a mage. An ancient true dragon’s mana or the mana of a powerful Fae Queen, maybe, but from a mage, and a low-leveled one? And to such an extreme degree? Not to mention she had already been altered by the Fae Queen’s mana at birth and his overrode it!

And the magic he used…

“When was an [Arcane Bolt] so strong...Luna is confused…Even high-level mage couldn’t cast such a strong [Arcane Bolt]. It’s just a training spell, Luna thought.“

“And stabbing with an Arcane bolt. So silly!”

“And look at Luna! Look at Luna’s fire.”

She said as she produced a small flame in her hand that now, rather than its previous emerald green, was a blackish violet with tints of silver, matching her now black-lined violet wings alongside her silver hair and violet eyes.

“To override mother’s mana...Is Luna even a princess anymore?”

“Who ever heard of a fairy having such a flame, Luna says.”

And so she talked to herself as she got used to the changes. If Rainer ever asked why she talked to herself she’d probably just tell him it was a fairy thing. He would have no idea that fairies would be embarrassed by such a statement.

Seeing his back that had splinters sticking out of it Luna burned away each, one by one, leaving not a mark on Rainer’s skin. And not only that but as the flame burned in the wound itself, it did not cause pain but instead healed.

Exaggeratingly Luna waved her hands and plugged her nose before continuing her work.

“Eww, he smells soooo bad, Luna get rid of it,” she said, slightly nasally.

Over the course of a few hours, Luna burned away all of his clothes alongside any burns on his skin, before finally healing his ankle with the same flame. She decided to take a nap on his head soon after…

And in doing so, completely ignored the fact that then there would be no one standing guard and that she didn’t actually need to take a nap in the first place. Both of them now rested peacefully, a nude, slightly shivering man, and an oblivious fairy in a violet and silver dress nestled comfortably in his now cleaned hair.

Chapter 5: Fae Contractor

[Sleep Learning] had always had the ability to be customized in how the learning happened, rather it was required. Rainer back on Earth would read over various pieces of music and could control to a degree which pieces were practiced, how they were practiced, and on what instrument. Though, back on Earth, he had been unable to use it to practice magic.

Prior to falling asleep and after making sure Luna was alive, Rainer had set up conditions for how he would practice [Arcane Energy Manipulation].

These conditions involved creating a perfect sphere, similar to [Arcane Bolt] but without the field containing the energy and magical commands that made it a proper spell, then spinning said sphere around him once the energy inside could be controlled. Afterward, the condition was set to duplicate the sphere and create as many at the same time as possible.

This was similar to what his grandfather had tried to teach him to do with mana, but he never could properly form a sphere. Not only that, but he’d been spent quite quickly.

He chose this skill in particular to level because he needed to fully know whether or not [Sleep Learning] would give him Exp like leveling [Arcane Energy Manipulation] naturally had. From then on he’d make sure to think about what exactly he leveled without actual work before he wasted a significant opportunity to become stronger.

Whether it was out of respect for the formerly living Goblin mage or the fear of him no goblin had tried to enter the room as both man and fairy slept comfortably.

So ended what was likely the longest Rainer had slept for in months due to the work he had been doing in order to wall-walk. He gently opened his eyes, melodramatically wondering if he was still alive, and soon he couldn’t help but feel excited at how great he felt. Right away he jumped up, sending a certain fairy flying.

“Ahh! What are you doing to Luna! Luna was having good dream!” the fairy said as she stopped herself mid launch.

“Having a good dream? While you were supposed to be on guard?” Rainer simply felt too good to really be angry, but this was more fun.

“Dream? Yes Dream, Luna Day-Dream all the time. Luna carefully watch while sitting on human’s head. Human sleep a long time, Luna can’t help but Day-Dream. Human taking advantage of Luna’s good work. Accusing Luna of sleeping,” she replied, speaking far quicker than normal.

Rainer ignored the still continually stammering fairy and instead looked at the messages that appeared when he awoke. He started to notice that the message system was intuitive and generally reacted in the way he pleased.

For example, if he tried to actually look at something where a message was without trying to look at the message itself, it would automatically disappear. Just a thought brought any recent messages back right after.

[Arcane Energy Manipulation Leveled up to lvl 4]

No experience? As I thought. I’ll have to test out if training a spell gives experience. If it does I’ll have to switch to sleep learning something I wouldn’t practice anyways or that won’t give experience when leveled. Speaking of which, [Appraisal] didn’t give me experience when it reached level 2 but can I even train it in my sleep?

What is this…Familiar?

[Familiar contract initiated, Make Fae Princess Luna Emralira-Igna your Familiar? Y/N]

He was about to hit yes immediately before he paused and looked over at Luna. Yes, she was most likely responsible for healing him and certainly having her around would be convenient. Not to mention whatever the Goblin had wanted her for may be on the table. But, Princess?

As of now, he saved a princess from torture and imprisonment.

That means hot Fae women who are hopefully my size, gold and who knows what else...probably. But if I make her my familiar? I might become the man who kidnapped a princess of Fae. That's a pretty big target on my back. I should just ask her.

Rainer turned back to the still stammering Fairy.

“And another thing, Luna had moved hair perfectly to form bed, and yet now it's ruined. You ruined Luna’s hard work and yet Luna is the villain!”

“It's my bad, my bad, you guarded properly and I blamed you. I’m just a terrible person.” Rainer did his best to look depressed. And it was quite effective.

“No, no, no, no, human help and save Luna and now Luna lied to human after human so nice. Luna fell asleep, Luna bad fairy,” she said quietly while she stood on his shoulder.

“Good, I forgive you,” Rainer said while he held out his palm, "And it’s Rainer, not human.”

She nodded before fluttering to his hand.

Now that he looked closely she seemed to have grown an inch or two after her transformation. Contemplating for a moment Rainer decided to just ask some general questions before asking about the familiar contract.

In the end, forcing a Fae Princess into some sort of contract didn’t sound like the best idea. Also when they had appraised each other earlier something about him being a hero was brought up. It could be a hint about how he ended up here, not that he planned on playing the role.

There were a lot of other questions he wanted to ask but he was starving and thirsty and he didn't doubt that unless he was at his breaking point he would never eat what he saw the goblins eat.

Hero, Contract, and then let's get the fuck out here and get some food. No just water. Really need water. Where do they even get water from in this mine?

“So earlier you mentioned that I might be a hero or something? You want to explain that?”

“Hmm Luna is confused too. All heroes should be heroes but you’re not a hero but you have the blessing, but don’t have the blessing.”

She nodded as if he was supposed to perfectly understand what she said.

Blessing…? No rather, what the hell did any of that mean?!

“And this blessing would be?” he asked.

“The blessing.”

“Yes, the blessing,” Rainer said, listening intently.

“Hmmhmm the blessing.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“The blessing!”

“Yes, the blessing,” Luna responded with an innocent look.

““No I mean what is the blessing? What does it do? What does it look like? Why do I have it but don’t have it? Where does it like go for walks? What does it taste like? The blessing!” he blurted, his hunger reducing his patience.

“Oh Luna forgot, If Rainer hero but not hero but maybe hero Rainer wouldn’t know about the blessing. But Luna isn’t sure what the blessing tastes like…”

“No, that's fine, that's completely fine, just tell me what it does.”

“Luna can do. The blessing allows those favored by the World Tree to access the World Tree’s Information. All Fae like Luna can use [Appraisal] at the very least. Other than Fae, only Heroes,” she said proudly with her hands on her hips.

“So I have to be a hero?” Rainer started to understand that thankfully he was most likely not a hero, and not expected to do any related tasks such a grandiose class would require. His [Arcanist] Class covered why he was able to initially learn abilities quickly. He could only then assume the barrier of entry to learning [Appraisal] was so high that no one other than those who were given it could learn it. Besides himself of course.

“Yes, but you also not hero. All Heroes have to have Hero class. Hero Mage, Hero King, Great Hero, Hero Mouse. You just Ara-a-acanist. But you have to be hero. But not a hero….”

Why does she even have trouble saying it? Is she doing it on purpose...I mean my messages are all in English so hers should be in whatever language she’s most comfortable with. Wait...we’ve been speaking in English this whole time! What the hell? Oh whatever I don’t even care, who knows how long that explanation might take.

“And it's impossible to have [Appraisal] otherwise?”

“Hmm, completely impossible Luna says.”

“And Luna can’t be wrong?”

“Luna is never wrong.” The amount of confidence brimming from this statement was too bright for him to even look at.

Sighing Rainer decided that finding another human to answer his questions might be better before he did anything irreversible. He wanted to ask her about changing classes but if she says something confusing…

I’ll be a damned farmer or something in the middle of a goblin mine.

“Alright, then I have another question.”

“Luna answered perfectly, of course, you would ask more.”

Did he even wish to ask anymore? Should he just hit no and be done with it? But the idea of having a personal healer had enticed him. Even if she was a little strange he wasn’t actually that bothered by someone who would happily talk while he didn’t even have to pay attention.

Anyone else would just get offended, but she had enough confidence to know that he was hanging on to every word. Plus, he had an odd amount of sympathy and attachment for her, like she was a lost puppy who couldn’t stop happily barking and crying when he was around.

Rainer had experience in the past of being against getting a dog. And then happily letting it sleep in his bed a few days after he loudly declared the dog wouldn’t even be allowed in his room nor would he ever help take care of the dog. Which he did anyway, almost exclusively, like some dad in a sitcom. He got a bit misty eyed with the reminder of Lucy...

He also had no idea if the mine was right next to some at least more civilized races, or if it was dead set in the middle of nowhere. Having even a companion that was a little too talkative wouldn’t be a bad thing.

He decided to go for it in the end...

“So do you know anything about familiar contracts?”

“Oh you mean the contract Luna accepted. Luna knows. But Luna not happy. Why hasn’t Rainer accepted yet.” The angry look on her face caused Rainer to stifle a laugh.

So she got the same message. Was it really so easy for a Princess to accept such a thing? It says she’ll be MY familiar right?

[Familiar contract initiated, Make Fae Princess Luna Emralira-Igna your Familiar? Y/N]

“And you’re okay with being my familiar?”

Luna’s eyes turned wistful as she stared up at particularly nowhere.

“Luna was very scared, goblins do mean things poking Luna with heated up sticks and hurting wings. And the strong Goblin...Producing dust is very hard for fairies. Yet hero saved Luna and not ask for dust that all humans want and even healed Luna. It is like Luna is in story of The First Hero.”

I’m very curious about this fairy dust now...but it would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I tried to get any from her.

“But you said I might not be a hero?”

She rubbed her head for a moment, clearly confused. Rainer thought that perhaps this World Tree was like a god to them, or perhaps an actual living breathing god. The fact that Rainer had [Appraisal] without a hero class must have been like he was challenging her very fundamental beliefs.

“Luna doesn’t mind.”

“Can the contract be broken?”

“Yes….” she responded a bit sadly.

“It was just a question, I’ll accept.”

Rainer hit yes on the message prompt, figuring even if she lied about some aspects, intentionally or not, the message clearly stated she was his familiar. He became a bit nervous that if the so-called World Tree was responsible for this game system, couldn’t have he just been fooled? Though then it would just switch yes and no or do a trick message of something else entirely. There were numerous far easier ways of fooling him.

A new status type window appeared in his face after a few messages.

[Familiar Gained: Fae Princess Luna Emralira-Igna]

[Title Gained: Fae Contractor]

[Change visible title from [Arcane Scholar] to [Fae Contractor]? All effects still persist Y/N]

[Familiar: Fae Princess Luna Emralira-Igna]

[Fae Enchantress lvl 6]

[Current Shared Skill: None]

[Familiar Skills: Summon]

Already another title, thank you...World...Tree?

He thought to himself before hitting no and keeping the shown title the same.

Wait...lvl 6? Did my mana do that?

“Hey, Lu…”

Before he finished speaking Luna had flown in front of him and kissed him on the cheek and he received another message right after. Luna had taken his surprised look to have been embarrassment and was quite pleased with herself.

He was of course instead intently looking at the new message. Why would an 7-inch tall fairy make him embarrassed? He was just comfortably sitting nude in front of her in the first place, not that he noticed.

[Talent Gained: Gift of the Fae, Luna Emralira-Igna]

[Gift of the Fae, Luna Emralira-Igna: The Gift of the Fae Princess Luna Emralira-Igna. Grants 100% total increased mana regeneration.]

Compared to a potion it may not seem like too much but to Rainer, the word total was absolutely unmatched. It answered his questions about how the percentages listed stacked as well. He thought now it was likely the 200% and 100% from his class and affinity were additive. Whereas this bonus was multiplicative with all other bonuses!

He took a quick look at his new title before he stood up.

[Title: Fae Contractor: One who has entered into a rare and powerful contract with a member of the Fae. 5% experience bonus. Gives Familiar Skill: Summon]

Though the moment he stood up he noticed the mine was a lot colder than before. Looking down he now finally noticed the lack of his clothes. He looked over at Luna who was now covering her eyes and decided to appraise her dress to see if an earlier thought was correct.

[Magical Construct: An object made out of pure mana. Type: Fae Dress]

“Hey Luna, you mind making me some clothes?”

“Ah, I’m sorry Rainer but Luna can only make clothes for Luna,“ she said, still hiding her face behind her hands. Though, even through her tiny hands, Rainer could see that they were slightly separated and she was clearly peeking.

Wait why are you even getting embarrassed now, you did this!

Rainer palmed his face with his left hand for a moment before he shook his head and focused on more important matters, like leaving this place.

“Luna you wouldn’t happen to remember where the exit to this place is?”

“Not a clue!” she said a bit too proudly.

What is there to be so confident about?!

“How about using this ring and taking me with you?”

“I don’t want to go home. If Rainer really wants to I can but I...do not want to…”

A for once serious tone coming out of Luna, who didn’t even refer to herself in the third person. Rainer sighed for a moment and decided he’d keep the ring as a last resort. He didn’t mind honoring one serious thing she’d said the whole time, so long as he wasn’t dying or at risk.

Dropping the conversation, Rainer walked over to where he carefully set down all the notes of the Goblin.

“Can you read these Luna?”

Back to her usual self, due to seeing Rainer didn’t plan on making her use the ring, she fluttered over.

“Of course Luna is special. Ah, But Rainer can too you know?”

“So I can spend even more skill points on a skill you’ll make fun of me for.”

“No silly, I can share the skill since you are Luna’s master now.”

Rainer recalled the skill sharing ability and he had become ecstatic at the thought of reading this mage’s notes, though even a little more depressed at the wasted points.

“Hmm, done!”

Receiving no information, Rainer just managed to stop himself from speaking out before he saw the message that appeared.

[Current Shared Skill: All Language Translation]

[All Language Translation: All non-runic Languages shall be translated to the one you are most knowledgeable in.]

He had been speaking English as an afterthought but it didn’t really matter to Luna at all.

“So how could you tell I was speaking the “dumb one’s” language?”

“It's the noise. Even if it comes out Fae, Luna can still understand what language it's in.”

“Alright Luna I’m going to spend some time reading over these notes, could you check the cabinets and surrounding area for any clothes I could wear? No, more importantly, shoes, I need shoes and some water.”

Seeing her look a bit uncomfortable Rainer amended what he said a bit.

“You can just look in this room if you don’t find anything you just relax. Oh, you don’t happen to be able to read these runes?”

“Nope, sorry Rainer,” she said, still feeling a little guilty at not wanting to leave the room.

“Hey, it's okay, here, as soon as you check the room you can lay down in my hair again,” he said, brushing his hair.

“Hehe, Luna would anyways. And when Luna is done checking Luna will make water for the weak pitiful human who needs it.”

Regaining some of her spirit, she flew away while Rainer looked down at the notes, not before being a little confused at the pitiful human part. Did she always have such a view?

Organizing the notes as best he could, right away he could tell that the Goblin himself hadn’t written them. If he had, Rainer was positive he’d be dead without a chance. The notes were written in almost a teaching way, it seems this Goblin mage that was here was an inheritor or, hopefully not, but an apprentice of a seriously strong mage.

The spells were summarized and decently put together, and while he could just easily read what each one did, actually using them was a different story. But Rainer had a plan. He’d learn the easiest possible spell he could find out of all these notes. Not only would it give him more spell variety, it would give him something he could use [Sleep Learning] on without losing Exp. At least, if his prediction on the skills and spells needing to be directly related to Arcane Magic to give him Experience was correct.

The easiest spell combined with sleep learning meant that just like with [Arcane Bolt] his general control over fire should multiply.

Learning that Luna could make water, at least what he hoped was actual water and not a euphemism for something else, all he needed now were clothes and food. He had the dead Goblin mage in the hallway, though it had already been sitting out for 8 hours. It also looked a bit too human. He could survive for a while without food, he’d spare his sanity for now.

But all thoughts faded before the idea of learning a new spell. It didn’t even matter to Rainer if it would be useful in the end. He wanted, no needed, to learn it. He carefully memorized the spell for lighting a flame equivalent to a match, even one of the runes he didn’t understand. It wouldn’t be too hard to experiment and get the missing piece working.

He moved on to memorizing some of the harder spells soon after, already decently practiced in memorization techniques, with the improved intelligence from leveling up certainly not hurting his cause.

But such happy thoughts were interrupted by a loud growling yell coming from the tunnel that had been covered with a desk.

Rainer checked his status screen for a moment before he got up and started walking over. He immediately armed 4 [Arcane Bolts] as he made his way closer.

[Primary Classes: Arcanist lvl 3/25]

[Titles: Arcane Scholar, Fae Contractor]

[Exp: 34%]

[Sub-classes: None]

[Race: Human]

[Skills: Sleep Learning lvl 9/10, Appraisal lvl 2/10, Goblin Anatomy lvl 1/10, Fae Anatomy lvl 4/10, Long Jumping lvl 1/10, Sprinting lvl 1/10, Bare-Fist Fighting lvl 1/10, Muknar Language 3/10, Faaran Runic Language lvl 3/10, Fae Language lvl 1/10, Mana Manipulation lvl 2/10, Arcane Energy Manipulation lvl 4/10]

[Skill Points: 3]

[Talents: Excellent Arcane Affinity, Human Growth]

[Stamina: 12/12]

[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]

[Mana: 13/15(17)]

[Mana Regen: .0022 per second]

He gently twisted the ring on his finger a few times, before he decided to call over Luna and make sure they were ready to run for it.

“Here Luna, take your ring back. If we're about to be killed you’ll use the ring and take us both right? No, wait can it even take us both?”

“It can but…”

“Then it's fine, you wouldn’t rather die than go back home would you?”

“No Luna wouldn’t want Rainer to die…”

“Then good, take it,” Rainer said as he threw the ring to Luna and turned back towards the tunnel.

“But I would rather die...” she muttered out of earshot as she put on the now shrunken ring.

Luna flew over and hovered behind Rainer just as he spoke to her.

“So what kind of combat abilities you got?” He wasn’t hoping for much. She was captured in the first place.

“Luna’s Flame isn’t very strong for attacking. It wasn’t…”

“Yeah, it could be different now that you’ve changed and leveled up 4 times.”

“What! Luna leveled up! And 4 times! How can such an occurrence even be explained?” she exclaimed before her pitch slightly shifted towards the end.

“You didn’t notice?” Her speech changed again...

“Luna didn’t notice, didn’t notice. Hehehe, Luna is so strong. Thank you, Rainer,” she said as she nestled herself into his hair.

“So you can help?” he said while becoming a bit more hopeful.

“Nope. Have fun, Rainer!” she blurted out without a bit of shame.

He was just about to swat at her before he heard a roar that was most certainly not from a goblin.

He started to gather the Arcane energy around him as it rumbled in fury coalescing within his palms. It formed two powerful [Arcane Bolts]. He grinned, readily awaiting whatever came rushing through the tunnel.

Chapter 6: Run with the Wind!

Rainer stared down at the two masses of Arcane energy in his palms. The bolts truly felt different than in the past. All the Arcane magic he had learned since he came here combined with regaining [Mana Manipulation] and leveling [Arcane Energy Manipulation] formed a new strength.

The energy had become but an extension of himself. It cost him a fraction of the mana it should have. He continued to draw more and more Arcane Energy into the bolts as a large fist slammed into the desk that blocked the tunnel.

Rainer brought his hands together merging the two torrents of arcane energy. All became calm as time seemed to slow. The desk shattered, wooden splinters floating in the air, as a large fist traveled forward. The original chaotic energy of the bolts formed into a single controlled [Arcane Bolt], vibrating with a hidden power.

[Orc, Male, Martial Artist lvl 14]

A hideous looking head ducked into the doorway, its single arm reached the now collapsed desk and its other pushed against the part of the entrance that had been still boarded up. Thick and leathery brown skin covered the monster. Red eyes stared out into the room. Large tusks protruded from its lower jaw, its hulking figure crouching in the now-cleared doorway.

And so was unleashed an unstoppable force of Arcane. The [Arcane Bolt] flew from Rainer’s hand whistling like an arrow, yet far deadlier. The bolt blasted past the Orc’s outstretched arm, resounding with a sharp bone cracking sound, and slammed into his chest, thrusting him through the air back from whence he came.

The goblins that had flowed in the moment the Orc broke through the barricade had yet to even realize what had occurred. They blindly charged forward. They lacked the intelligence of a goblin who had been touched by mana.

Rainer fired two more [Arcane Bolts], each finding their target in the first two goblins who had rushed through. Their chests caved in and their hearts beat no more as they were sent in varying directions. Rainer jumped back before he unleashed two of his armed [Arcane Bolts] unto the remaining goblins. They both fell, unable to even comprehend how they failed with an Orc by their side.

Several messages that indicated experience gained flashed in Rainer’s view. It did not take long for him to realize the Orc was still alive, having only gained a total of 2%. Immediately he ran back toward the locked door that was blocked by the shelf, Luna holding on tightly to his hair.

As fast as he could manage he moved the shelf and opened the door before turning around. He slammed the door shut and, having heard the angry cries of the Orc, made his preparations.

While the bolt he fired earlier had certainly cost less mana than Rainer thought it would that didn’t mean it was cheap. He had roughly 4 mana remaining and 2 [Arcane Bolt]s still armed, a spell that had previously leveled up. It had cost 2 mana for the extra 2 bolts he fired and 7 mana for the powerful [Arcane Bolt].

[Arcane Bolt Armament has reached level 2]

[Experience Gained: 6%]

He flinched a bit at how little the experience was. Sure 6% wasn’t bad for a few hours of work, but that was 6% at level 3. He could only hope the experience increased enough as the spell leveled up further to offset the experience required at higher levels.

[Spellbook: Arcane]

[Tier One: Arcane Bolt lvl 10/10, Arcane Bolt Armament lvl 2/10]

[Tier Two: Arcane Blade lvl 1/15]

Shaking himself out of his distraction he focused on his next goal. This thick door was the best place to make his stand. In the moment it would take for the Orc to break through, he would strike.

Placing one palm on top of another in front of him Rainer began using [Arcane Energy Manipulation] once more, instead this time to form a different spell, [Arcane Blade].

He could feel the blade’s massive power when it had penetrated through the Goblin [Fire Mage]’s numerous shields. Rainer couldn’t help but think that the spell had to be powerful enough, it gave him a title, it would work.

Losing focus for a moment he remembered the ring in Luna’s possession.

“Hey Luna, how fast can you use the Ring?”

“Luna tried to tell Rainer earlier but it takes at least 10 minutes.”

His face paled a bit, putting away the question of how Luna had a sense of time for later. Rainer looked down at his palms; he had been struggling to form the loose arcane energy into a blade. It was different than simply calling on the spell and forming it from within. Far more difficult than drawing the energy into an [Arcane Bolt]. A tier 2 spell the blade truly was. But his newfound lack of an easy escape brought him to a laser-like focus as the pounding of feet and roar of an injured Orc entered his ears.

He crouched down and slowly spread his palms apart to opposite directions. The arcane energy stretched and formed between his fingers and with a quick flash of his left a longer and super-charged [Arcane Blade] had formed extending from Rainer’s right hand. He gripped his right arm with his left and knelt, waiting for the Orc to burst through the door.

But the footsteps slowed…

“Fuck!”

Rainer immediately canceled the spell and sprinted away with all he had. His instinct had proven correct as a large piece of the desk smashed through and tumbled past where he had been kneeling. Moments later Rainer heard the Orc barrelling through.

“You better run boy, I like my meals on an empty stomach,” the Orc growled out as he looked down the tunnel towards a running away Rainer. The Orc at full height stood a few feet higher than Rainer, and doubled his 200-pound frame.

Rainer heard the Orc getting closer. It would be seconds before he was caught. He prepared a last-ditch effort to form an [Arcane Blade] and simply hope it would stab through the Orc before he died. Just as he was ready to turn around and attack Rainer finally heard the quiet chanting that was happening on his head. It ended with a surge of mana and a voice that entered his very being. He felt a strange feeling coming over him.

“Gift of the Wind!”

[Buff Received: Gift of the Wind: Running Speed increased by 62%]

[Gift of the Wind has Arcane Energy Infused within. Compatible with buff recipient. Gift of the Wind speed increase changed to 147%]

Feeling the magical and arcane energy surge around him Rainer ran at a speed over twice as fast as before, outpacing the Orc completely. Still being chased he exited the tunnel system and was met with the true face of the mine. On top of the scaffolding, he could look down and see hundreds of an assorted goblin and human workforce mining under the careful watch of overseers.

Rainer, however, held amazement for only a brief moment as he continued running forward. He came up to a minor fork in the scaffolding, one path leading down and the other continuing along the same level. Choosing the high road, he was soon met with a significant problem. The platform ended in a few hundred feet and all that would be left was a large gap between the scaffold and an open cave several feet lower.

Looking down to his right, the scaffolding had to be at least 6 stories high.

“Nowhere to run pretty Human, I think I’ll take my time eating you,” the Orc said as he viciously laughed behind Rainer. His speed as a level 14 Martial Artist surpassed Rainer’s expectations. Even now there was only so much distance between them, too little to go back and head downwards instead.

“Luna!” Rainer said amidst his labored breath, “You wouldn’t happen to be able to make me fly as well?”

“Nope,” she said with a carefree tone.

Putting one point into [Long Jumping] to raise it to Level 2, Rainer increased his speed to the maximum and with the boost he received from Luna he truly reached a blazing pace. Just as he reached the end of the scaffold he jumped straight towards the cave on the other side; the wooden platform creaked beneath his feet. Yet he could tell right away he wouldn’t make it.

Spinning mid-air Rainer unleashed the last of his mana into an [Arcane Bolt] and stopped the portion of the magical formula that protected him from the force of his own magic.

The small boost was just enough as Rainer managed to make a jump over 30 feet in distance and land, hard, right in the open cave. The Orc did not stop. Rainer could only watch in shock as the massive Orc followed his jumping maneuver yet the scaffolding beneath his feet crumbled completely. Rainer’s leap had already damaged it. The Orc plummeted down below.

He used his still-healthy left arm to stunt his fall as he continued slamming into the wooden support beams before he landed heavily on the ground. His constitution was truly massive, explaining how he survived Rainer’s first attack, though it did injure the Orc’s arm.

Rainer just stared at the still living Orc in amazement. Was this the effect of whatever the Orc’s race bonus was? The difference between Rainer and this inhuman monster was huge.

Contrary to expectations the Orc was no longer enraged, or perhaps it had been a ruse all along? He simply looked up towards Rainer and spoke loudly.

“Have fun in the caves little mage, you won't be waiting for me long. Gognar I am, you have earned my name. You may scream it as you beg for mercy.” The Orc laughed to himself as he stood, popped his shoulder back in place, and walked away calling out at what seemed to be his subordinates. What he said was out of earshot for Rainer.

Lying down he breathed heavily before calling out to Luna, “Luna...water...I...need...water.”

Luna fluttered straight over his mouth and he was frightened for a moment. Luckily, his fears were unfounded as after a short chant a floating orb of water, a little larger than the size of his fist, appeared above his head.

Having slightly gotten up it was oddly easy to drink from it. Finished with his drink, he couldn’t help but wince as he felt pain in his feet. He could handle being unclothed, at least before that Orc had been gazing at him, but the lack of shoes was killing him. Before he could complain, Luna had already flown over and began using her violet fire on his damaged feet. The comfort was immense and for a brief moment of bliss, Rainer had shelved the situation he was in.

Talking while the ethereal violet flames healed Rainer’s feet Luna gave him some good news.

“It turns out Luna can make clothes for Rainer. Luna noticed that since Luna got stronger Luna can do it.”

Excited to be able to wear some clean clothes, Rainer’s face visibly brightened up as if he wasn’t currently endangered by a ferocious Orc, in more ways than one…

“Luna you are absolutely amazing!” he said after he hugged her to his face. She pretended to try and struggle out.

“Yes Luna is the best, but don’t squeeze Luna so much.”

“So what exactly are you going to make?”

“Luna will make them like the first hero! Ah but Luna can’t make armor, so don’t be mad at Luna.”

“I won’t,” he replied while sincerely hoping it would at the very least not be uncomfortable.

Luna flew back down to his feet and soon, following her flame, socks began forming around Rainer’s feet covered by dark brown leather boots. From there a blackish gray cotton-like material crawled up his leg and to his waist. He noticed Luna blushing for a moment before something similar to a pair of boxers formed underneath those pants.

Rainer was completely amazed at how well everything fit. A black tunic soon appeared on his torso wrapped around by a dark brown belt and finally a black overcoat burned into existence by violet flames, gently floating down to his sides.

Looking down at his hands it took but a moment before black leather-like gloves covered that as well.

A little strange but damn...I’ve never worn something so comfortable in my life.

“Well, are you impressed by the great Luna?” She asked it as a question but she certainly didn't feel like there was any possibility of Rainer being unhappy.

Standing up, 2 [Arcane Bolt]s still armed to his left and right, Rainer ecstatically thanked Luna.

“I am beyond impressed, I’ve never worn something that felt so fantastic in my life.”

“Good, then it’s nap time for Luna,” she stated before she flew straight inside his coat and into a prebuilt pouch within it. An overly exaggerated yawn could be heard before she nestled in.

He let out a pretty loud laugh before the moment was interrupted by the sounds of yelling and stomping of feet. Rainer looked back out into the mine and saw a major problem along with a burst of hope. First, a group of goblins with bows and ragged humans carrying bundles of wood climbed up the ramps of the scaffolding.

And directly below him, Gognar ordered goblins and orcs to build something likely intended as either support or another route.

And so came hope. Not from the fact he could stop them—the archers prevented that—but from seeing they had to build at all to reach him. It simply meant they had or knew no other way into this cave.

While it was a possibility that the cave was a dead end, or that the other entrance had such danger it wasn't an option, Rainer wasn't worried. Worse case scenario, he'd wake up Luna and have them start running long before the goblins were even close. Certainly, long before whatever they were constructing was able to support a massive Orc’s weight.

Rainer looked a moment at all the human slaves currently in the mine. Rather than feeling pity, he only determined that a settlement may be nearby.

When I reach the peak of this Arcanist class I’ll come back…

Rainer's thoughts focused on vengeance more than anything else.

He only decided to save Luna because of his soft spot for small animals. He didn’t have any misgivings, though. Even without her abilities, he thought of her as a pleasant companion.

She’s my familiar now. If I ever find whoever captured and tortured her…

Looking out into the seemingly endless cave, Rainer opened up his Status screen before arming another [Arcane Bolt], bringing the total to three and his recently regenerated mana to 0.

[Primary Classes: Arcanist lvl 3/25]

[Titles: Arcane Scholar, Fae Contractor]

[Exp: 34%]

[Sub-classes: None]

[Race: Human]

[Skills: Sleep Learning lvl 9/10, Appraisal lvl 2/10, Goblin Anatomy lvl 1/10, Fae Anatomy lvl 4/10, Long Jumping lvl 2/10, Sprinting lvl 1/10, Bare-Fist Fighting lvl 1/10, Muknar Language lvl 3/10, Faaran Runic Language lvl 3/10, Fae Language lvl 1/10, Mana Manipulation lvl 2/10, Arcane Energy Manipulation lvl 4/10]

[Skill Points: 1]

[Talents: Excellent Arcane Affinity, Human Growth, Gift of the Fae(Luna)]

[Stamina: 5/12]

[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]

[Mana: 0/17.5(19)]

[Mana Regen: .0022 per second]

Looking over it while he walked deeper into the cave, only his armed [Arcane Bolts] lighting the way, he noticed something he never had before.

Primary classes...Does that mean I can have more than one? Maybe I should just ask Luna about how classes work and just avoid doing anything with it till I can confirm the information.

And what exactly happens when Arcanist reaches lvl 25? Does it get an upgrade? Do I get something above the class of Arcanist? Or do I have to switch to a new class? Where’s my manual on this…

He opened up the left side of his overcoat and looked into the large and decadent pocket that was Luna’s new bed. Seeing her sleeping peacefully he decided to leave it alone for now. It wasn’t as if he planned on changing his Arcanist Class any time before lvl 25.

And having more than one Primary Class was likely not a simple affair as Rainer noticed neither Gognar nor the Goblin [Fire Mage] had a second Primary Class. The same with Luna, who with her connection to the World Tree, Rainer thought was the most likely among them to have a second Primary Class.

Looking at the cave walls around him and the long pathway ahead, he noticed that this place certainly wasn’t a part of the mine. Even with his bolts illuminating down the cave he couldn’t see anything to suggest otherwise.

With a small tweak to his bolts, the light brightened and he could see far down the cave, nothing to suggest a dead-end. He walked on as the pounding of nails and the shouting of orders slowly faded into the background.

Chapter 7: Resistance

Rainer walked further away from the mine in the cave he landed in. Looking down the long dark passageway he hadn’t a clue how far it actually went, but, a minor draft could most certainly be felt. Though, there was little temperature difference from before. An exit could still be quite far, and may not be exactly what you could call an exit.

While he walked his thoughts focused on the small fire spell he memorized. His Arcane magic was special, if it wasn’t, that goblin mage wouldn’t have been so arrogant, nor would those strange shields of his broken so easily. Luna had as well been unable to recognize the class [Arcanist], so for now, Rainer wanted to have a backup.

If being an [Arcanist] turned out to be something he shouldn’t reveal easily, he may be stifled from acting in the future. Or rather, it was never a disadvantage to be underestimated by those trying to kill you, which most of the world he'd met so far wanted to do.

If his guess was completely wrong? Then he’d hope to get a secondary primary class as a [Fire Mage] or something of a similar nature. Even at the failure of that, he’d have something to cook food with or to use [Sleep Learning] on without wasting possible Exp. A part of said fire spell lacked something Rainer always used when he cast magic: Mana inputs and outputs.

Instead, there was a chant. As was written within the notes were several methods to internalize the chant and eventually learn how to naturally flow the mana the same way the chant does, similar to the goblin mage. A completely different experience for Rainer. In the first place, his most recently learned Arcane spells weren't learned at all. They were intuitively created by a combination of his high leveled [Arcane Bolt] and the system’s influence. This would be to Rainer the first real magic he learned in this world.

In preparation for his first attempt, as his mana had been fully recharged, he internalized and created the runes within his mind, struggling with the one he didn’t understand. A rune was little different in a logical sense from a character or letter of language.

Even if you knew the appearance, the history, and the meaning of a character, it didn’t mean you could pronounce it or use it to form a word. In this case, Rainer could use context clues. He knew what the final word was to be, and he knew almost all the other characters, it was just a question of a few experiments before he understood the missing piece.

Rainer checked for a moment that Luna was still sleeping before he began his chanting. He was not happy with it in the slightest. He declared his first task for this world’s system of magic would be to introduce runes for controlling mana and make it mandatory for every mage to only create spells with them and not chants. Where would he get the authority to do that? He didn’t care nor did he even consider it as, to him, it had already become an inevitable future.

He, however, was thankful that so long as he cast it a few times it wouldn’t be difficult for him to add runes to the spell formula to handle the mana control portion.

With a slight hum, he quietly said the words after preparing the other parts of the spell. Chants were based on a combination of sound and meaning. Rainer was seriously impressed by the system, The World Tree in actuality, as it translated the words so they still worked and made sense in English. Rather, if there was a World Tree to physically meet and talk to, he'd join a religion for the first time or create one.

“I walk alone in the darkness. I walk alone without fear. I walk alone without loneliness for I always carry with me but the tiniest of flames.”

He lost a bit of mana, but the result ended with a fizzled spell. Adjusting, he tried over and over taking 52 times before the merciful World Tree, as he put it, granted him salvation. The spell was rightfully quite cheap.

[Spell Gained: Candle Flame lvl 1/10]

[New Spellbook Created: Fire]

[Spellbook: Fire]

[Tier One: Candle Flame lvl 1/10]

Looking at the tiny fluttering flame on top of his index finger brought him a moment of satisfaction. Maintaining the flame, he went back to walking at a quicker pace.

There may have been more than one path ahead of him and if he didn’t move quickly enough backtracking would no longer be an option when meeting a dead-end. If there was only said dead-end? He had no choice but to get Luna to activate her ring. Without an element of surprise or a proper advantage, it didn’t matter how strong Rainer’s magic was if he couldn’t use it in time or, more importantly in this case, use enough of it before being swarmed by goblins.

The [Arcanist] class clearly surpassed most others he’d seen, but even at level 25, he would only have 63 maximum mana. He needed to create spells that either did more or cost less. Yet time had always been against him since he came here. With his enemies at his back and the unknown that blocked the way forward, using up too much mana was not a possibility.

He kept up a quick pace, still keeping a part of his attention on the [Candle Flame] over his finger. Slowly he infused mana into the small flame in an attempt to gain a skill related to manipulating fire. Yet lacking any experience in fire magic he lost control.

In reality, he was doing something he wouldn't attempt at all without the [Arcanist] Class effects. Pouring more mana into a spell in most cases ended with failure and consequences. [Arcane Energy Manipulation] combined with other synergistic effects alongside his high level [Arcane Bolt] is what made adding mana and energy to the spells possible. The flame jutted out in all directions and slightly hurt his hand before snuffing out.

Yet, for seemingly no reason the pain partially receded, becoming little more than a dull ache with no visible damage other than a bit of redness.

[Skill Gained: Burn Resistance lvl 1/10]

He sucked in a breath of air as he contemplated the potential of such a skill. While [Burn Resistance] itself would have limited application, what did this mean for Rainer? With a bit of effort, he could gain a baseline resistance to nearly everything.

He had only been burnt twice since coming here, once when he received minor burns on his back from the Goblin [Fire Mage], and just now. With Luna’s healing flame, would it even be difficult to gain a resistance to practically anything?

He still had only a minor advantage in leveling skills from his human race and [Arcanist] Class but even just level 1 of any skill had shown to be significant.

He stopped walking and stared down at his stomach. He couldn’t help but think he should just repeatedly punch himself until he gained some form of physical resistance. Mocking his own hesitation he continued to walk forward. The pounding of a fist into flesh resounded in the cave.

- - -

Sometime after Rainer walked out of eyesight an unexpected change occurred. Unexpected for Rainer if he was aware of it.

“Stop and return to your posts,” Gognar called out to the working goblins and human slaves.

Gognar couldn’t help but frown as he felt pain in his still broken arm and partially cracked sternum. The mage had felt weak to him, far weaker than the Head Shaman. A fledgling at best. Yet not only had he killed the chief shaman he had nearly killed Gognar himself. Had he not protected himself with the entirety of his Aura in time, he would have most assuredly died.

He had only ordered his men to threaten him with pursuit. He had no plans of connecting the mine directly to the spider caverns, having a deal with their queen not to intrude into each other’s territory in exchange for leaving the tunnel open and offering human sacrifices. Even if that weren't the case, there was no benefit to going after that deceiving mage as of yet. He’d end up on the wrong side of the mountain. There would be little threat for now.

Maybe he’ll kill that troublesome queen…

“Chief, letting puny human getaway. We say no,” an Orc to the left of Gognar spoke up.

How lacking my tribe is…

Before the Orc at his side had a chance to even react Gognar had gripped his head and with an unstoppable grip lifted him straight in the air. It took but a moment before his fingers penetrated the screaming Orc’s head.

“Get Back...Now!” Gognar growled out.

Gognar himself walked away still angry at coming so close to death. Ever since he had been trained in Aura and was able to set his Primary Class as Martial Artist none of his tribe could even stand before him.

He would be taking a trip out of the mine, he needed to go find their Head shaman’s successors in any case back at their city. He’d kill and get stronger along the way.

Then I'll head north, find that mage, and tear him in half.

- - -

[Skill Gained: Physical Resistance lvl 1/10]

Rainer sat down and leaned against a large stalagmite. He had grown frustrated after hitting himself for what he thought had been almost a thousand times and in a fit of anger he picked up a loose stone and slammed it into his leg. It wasn’t broken, but the thigh contained numerous nerve endings. Not even the satisfaction of a message helped Rainer.

He opened up the left side of his coat and gently poked Luna awake.

“Ah, no, Luna won’t eat it, Luna can’t eat anymore,” she mumbled out in her sleep.

“I’m not asking you to eat anything hurry up and heal me,” he winced a bit and retorted back.

“hmm...Rainer? You don’t have any food?”

“Thanks for reminding me that I haven’t eaten in almost 2 days, now can you heal me?”

“Heal...Ah! Rainer, why so many bruises?” she said lifting up his shirt.

“Luna, you can tell where I’m hurt? Is it a part of the familiar connection?” he asked a bit surprised.

“Yep Luna always knows when Rainer seriously hurt, even if Luna sleeping Luna will know,” she said proudly, not yet realizing she had thrown guilt on herself.

“So you knew when I got burnt earlier…”

Luna tried to fly away, but Rainer grabbed her before she could even take off and lightly poked her in the head.

She grabbed her head and looked sadly towards Rainer. He ignored her act completely and just spoke again.

“Well come heal me now, and you’ll be forgiven for having such a good nap while I was in pain.”

While Luna’s flame burned heatlessly on Rainer, she mumbled out her discontent, “Hmm, taking advantage of Luna, because Luna so small and nice and beautiful and perfect, one day Luna will get big and she will take advantage of Rainer.”

“Take all the advantage you want,” Rainer said with a grin as he leaned back and enjoyed the healing.

“Mocking Luna, thinking Luna can’t, well Luna will.”

After Luna finished healing his leg, he decided that this was a good as time as any to see if fire resistance existed, though he might as well ask her about it before he put himself through the pain.

“Hey, Luna what do you know about resistance Skills?”

“What about them, of course, Luna knows.”

“For example, how would you go about getting a [Physical Resistance] type skill?”

“Hehe don’t even try. Unless you get lucky from a skill orb or receive it from leveling up your class, you could spend all your life getting hit and not gain it. Most resistances are like this says Luna. Luna will be happy to try though.”

She added on the last part while giving Rainer a toothy smile and with her long pointed ears twitching slightly.

“And [Burn Resistance]?”

“Hmm, soak yourself in scalding water for several years. Fire Fae sometimes train like that. Luna doesn’t get it though. And it doesn’t always work. Silly fire people."

Rainer couldn’t keep his happiness down at how powerful the [Arcanist] Class truly was. Every time he discovered more about the world his Class had only gotten better and better.

“How about fire resistance?” Rainer asked as it was his next course of action if such a skill existed.

“Drink the blood of a Fire Dragon.”

That one sounded a bit easier to Rainer.

“But it has to be alive. 100 Rainers couldn't even tickle one.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Alright well. I’m gonna burn my hand with a flame so keep healing me constantly. Tell me when you can’t go on,” he said as he placed one hand above the other.

“Stop says Luna! Luna just explain and yet Rainer didn’t listen.”

Rainer paused for a moment, before smiling and asking a question that could solve this.

“Luna, can we show other people our status screens?”

“Rainer only needs to think of showing Luna his status screen and Luna will be asked if Luna wants to see. Luna doesn't understand how this help.”

He did exactly as she said and looked for her reaction as she stared at what was likely his status screen. She stared blankly for quite a while before even a peep came out of her.

“What...How is this even possible, what is this [Arcanist] class that it can do such thing? He hits himself for hours like an idiot and gains such a powerful skill?” Luna quietly said to herself completely oblivious that Rainer was in fact not deaf. Without pause, Luna fluttered over to Rainer’s hand and spoke impatiently.

“Well come on, start burning yourself, I want to see how this works.”

It wasn’t difficult for Rainer to see that when she became serious her personality shifted. Whether Luna was aware of this herself, he wasn’t sure, but when they had some real downtime he decided to see what was going on.

Rainer composed himself and focused on the task at hand. He planned on gaining some form of fire manipulation at the same time as fire resistance. He had altered the magical formula of [Candle Flame] earlier and the system had seemed to acknowledge his actions. Activating the spell became no different than his Arcane ones. Manipulating the fire with his mana, however, would still prove a challenge.

“Come on Rainer, how’s that little flame going to do anything to you, heat it up!” she said as she kneeled on top of his hand and then slapped it a few times.

Ignoring the overly-excited and slightly mean Fairy, Rainer, with as much control as possible, put his mana into the flame. Luna watched as Rainer concentrated, wanting to retort that you can’t just put more mana into spells whenever you want unless you were a truly powerful mage, not a level 3 one.

She had wanted to yell the same thing when he cast those ridiculously powerful [Arcane Bolts]. Luna didn't understand how the Orc could survive that nor how Rainer could do that. Though seeing his skills for a brief moment gave her some insight. She'd ask to look closer at them in the near future as her shock at seeing the [Physical Resistance] skill prevented that. She immediately focused on healing after she felt some more mana leaving Rainer.

The [Candle Flame] increased in size as Rainer attempted to keep both hands steady. His hand already felt the heat and pain though it seemed as if the [Burn Resistance] skill lowered the actual damage being done and with Luna’s constant healing he could manage, at least for a little while.

Soon he lost control over the flame. The flame burst out in size and with Rainer gritting his teeth and focusing on keeping the spell going, he managed to stay steady. He had a feeling that if the spell went out he wouldn't gain any sort of fire manipulation skill.

His desire for power outweighed the scorching pain. And to him, such power meant more opportunities to further his magic. The pain was immense as the fire burned but it settled down and with a final effort Rainer managed to keep the spell going.

[Skill Gained: Pain Resistance lvl 1/10]

Seeing the message the task became noticeably easier, though the pain still existed. After a few more flare ups and with Rainer still managing to keep the flame under control despite the three messages that soon appeared one after the other.

[Skill Gained: Fire Resistance lvl 1/10]

[Candle Flame has reached level 2]

[Experience Gained: 3%]

[Skill Gained: Fire Manipulation lvl 1/10]

Rainer canceled the [Candle Flame] the moment he gained [Fire Manipulation] and waited for Luna to heal him up completely. He relaxed as the dark violet flame tended to him. The contentment from his accomplishment visible on his face.

“To think Rainer was so incredible, Hehehe Luna got rescued by someone much better than silly hero.”

It wasn’t difficult for her to discern that Rainer had succeeded.

Rainer opened his eyes to look over his messages while Luna finished up healing him.

So half the exp gain I received for leveling up [Arcane Bolt Armament]? Is it because the spell is so weak? Or because I only receive half equivalent experience for non-Arcane tier one spells? Well, looks like I can in the end only train physical skills in my sleep, or if I gain enough levels and tier one spells become useless for leveling. The level up for the [Candle Flame] seemed a bit too quick too. There must be other factors at play other than my leveling bonuses.

Right after Rainer inspected all his resistance skills, curious what exactly the difference between fire and burn resistance were, though he had a basic idea.

[Physical Resistance lvl 1/10: Increases one’s resistance against all physical effects. Can be toggled on or off.]

[Pain Resistance lvl 1/10: Increases one’s resistance against pain. Can be toggled on or off.]

[Burn Resistance lvl 1/10: Increases one’s resistance against burns. Can be toggled on or off.]

[Fire Resistance lvl 1/10: Increases one’s resistance against heat and flame. Can be toggled on or off.]

So with only [Fire Resistance] the heat that affects me is lowered, but I burn at the same threshold...and with only [Burn Resistance] my heat threshold at which I burn is increased? There may be fire spells which have a status effect that [Fire Resistance] will help me defend against. Well, either way, they seem to stack, I’ll just accept it. Though, will this make me colder? At least not enough to significantly tell as of yet. Perhaps that's why it can be disabled.

Rainer looked at his mana and noted he consumed about 3 for the whole training session leaving him with 14, 2 having been taken up by his 4 armed [Arcane Bolts].

Yet when he was about to stand up he noticed small glowing red orbs approaching from every direction. Momentarily he was quite frightened by the possibility of ghosts. Yet those fears at least would be dissuaded. Whether the reality of them being 8 little beady eyes would be much better for him, only time would tell.

Chapter 8: The Arcane Elementalist

Seeing the glowing red eyes hone in on him from the darkness, Rainer prepared at a moment’s notice to unleash his 4 armed [Arcane Bolts]. Two [Arcane Bolts] were formed into his hands, ready at any moment to strike. The moment he could see them clearly, he nearly released all his [Arcane Bolts] at the first one he saw. Spiders...and large ones at that.

He, however, wasn’t afraid of spiders. To the point where if one was too high up to reach in his room he’d just ignore it.

Though, the spiders having a size slightly larger than a dog startled him. His only hope was that the size reduced their abilities as spiders. For in terms of a size-to-speed ratio a spider this big could kill him before he realized what happened. He used [Appraisal] on several of them keeping as much attention as he could on any movement. Though, he already set his armed [Arcane Bolts] to fire one the moment they got within 10 feet of him.

[Naramien Spider, Male, Young Arachnoid lvl 4]

[Naramien Spider, Male, Young Arachnoid lvl 1]

[Naramien Spider, Male, Young Arachnoid lvl 5]

[Naramien Spider, Male, Young Arachnoid lvl 3]

“Luna,” Rainer whispered, “Start casting [Gift of the Wind].”

The spiders reacted to the outflow of mana. The closest of them launched towards Rainer. Fast the spider was, but not fast enough. An armed bolt of Arcane slammed into the first one sending it back, though most certainly not in the state it came as a message filled Rainer’s view. Pandemonium ensued.

All the spiders rushed in towards Rainer. The remaining 3 of his armed bolts jutted out in different directions as Rainer released the two already prepared in his hands. One after another a total of 6 spiders had fallen yet compared to those at the ready it was just a drop in an ocean.

They did not have the full abilities of spiders nor could they stand before his Arcane magic, but even if he killed more would he have the mana to survive? Yet there was no panic in Rainer’s eyes as he stared out. After the first wave had died more spiders took their place and charged in towards him. He slowly raised his palm containing nothing but a [Candle Flame]. And then, it erupted.

Arcane energy pulled out of thin air into the flame and melded into one as all his manipulation abilities synergized. While Rainer had not yet reached the point where he could easily pour mana into the [Candle Flame] he only needed to point it in the right direction.

The flame changed from a timid orange to a radiant white and violet flame, as if a vengeful sun formed within the cavern. A cone of fire released itself outward as Arcane-Flames spread amidst the spider’s ranks.

The moment the Arcane-Flames landed on a spider it combusted in a fury sending a burnt spider back in pieces and damaging those around it. As messages flashed by Rainer 3 spell formulae entered Rainer’s head. The magic improved in every way. He unleashed the Arcane-Flame continuously now as he moved forward. Another wave could not be allowed; he would be the next wave.

Luna just now reaching the end of her chant only waited for Rainer’s cue to release the spell. The flames scorched the charging spiders into unrecognizable forms almost instantly. Sounds of combustion radiated throughout the air. Rainer himself could feel the massive heat and without his resistance, he was not sure he could bear to keep focus.

Soon Rainer noticed the spiders became frantic running in the opposite direction, rightfully fearing the destruction upon them. Rainer canceled the spell, his mana had been quickly consumed and now he saved as much as he could.

In a show of bravado, he kept a small [Arcane Candle Flame] lit in front of his outstretched hand as he unwaveringly walked forward. He positioned himself in a way as to head deeper into the cave. The spiders themselves seemed to have come from a higher cave entrance in the nearly 100-foot tall cavern.

Rainer noticed recently that the temperature had been getting colder. At first, that worried him that, he was in fact, getting deeper into the cave. But when Luna had told him that the mine was in the far north and that it was the middle of winter, he had become alight with hope.

The spiders who had remained nearby and had not yet retreated slowly backed away as Rainer moved forward. He needed to get as close to where he planned on making a break for it as possible. The spiders may have had the intelligence to understand the concept of fire and fear, but mana pools, most likely not.

Rainer stopped in the perfect spot and merely looked towards the still retreating spiders. They moved back slowly, their long legs clacking on the rock floor. Rainer took this moment to look through his messages.

[Spell Gained: Arcane Candle Flame lvl 1/10]

[Spell Gained: Cone of Fire lvl 1/10]

[Spell Gained: Cone of Arcane-Fire lvl 1/10]

[Title Gained: Arcane Elementalist]

[Experience Gained: 1374%]

Rainer couldn’t help but look on in shock at seeing the amount of experience gained from the title this time. Though Luna herself wouldn’t be surprised. Manipulating mana and elements in such a manner was not something a lvl 3 mage class could do in the first place. Let alone even some higher level ones. Who could learn a skill like [Fire Manipulation] from using a basic fire spell in a single afternoon like Rainer could? She might even complain the reward was slightly too low were she aware.

Even Rainer who had been unknowingly trained by a powerful and ancient mage struggled to learn [Mana Manipulation]. How would a normal mage compare? And now three different types of manipulations at that. Adding on to this was his [Arcane Bolt] which had reached a level of absolute mastery.

Rainer added up all the experience gained from killing 31 Spiders. Most were killed by the combustion effect from [Cone of Arcane-Fire], though using that spell for even a few moments had drained his mana by nearly 10 points. Most had been less than 1% of experience though the few that were higher leveled than him gave nearly 5% each. The system had automatically added them at his thought of wishing it to be so.

[Experience Gained: 51%]

[Calculating Excess Experience]

[Arcanist has leveled up to lvl 4/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 1 Attribute and skill point have been rewarded]

[Arcanist has leveled up to lvl 5/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 1 Attribute and skill point have been rewarded]

[Arcanist has leveled up to lvl 6/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 1 Attribute and skill point have been rewarded]

The exp had been large but given the nature of the exp increase per level wasn’t three too many? Rainer couldn’t help but ask that to himself. He could only conclude that certain level gaps had barriers to entry. Meaning most would be stuck at say level 3, which required 5 times as much exp to get to level 4 than going from level 2 to 3. Assuming they even get that far…

In the first place, how would a normal person kill even a single goblin let alone even come close to killing that many goblins? Arrows perhaps? Skill training sure...but other than the first couple initial levels how long would it take to actually master said skill when using normal means?

Titles? Maybe, but I don’t think there are more than a handful on this planet that could gain a title like the [Arcane Elementalist] at a low level if any. The whole premise relies on my ability to learn skills quickly, though perhaps if there are more Arcanists out there then I’m not as special as I’m assuming. I’ve got a long list of questions for Luna now…

Rainer gave a small prayer to the World Tree, as he had grown used to doing, for letting him be an [Arcanist] in this world. Soon after he told Luna to be completely ready to finish her cast of [Gift of the Wind] at a moment’s notice. It cost a bit of mana to stay right before the completion of a spell, but Rainer could get a general sense of her mana pool and wasn’t worried. Now that he paid attention, hers seemed to be decently larger than his.

He looked at the spiders crawling back up the wall for a moment before turning and with as much poise as he could muster confidently walking further down into the cave, and hopefully to an exit.

If they had concepts of fear perhaps they could tell when someone wasn’t afraid of them. Rainer only had some assurance in scaring them one more time as he could only maintain a [Cone of Arcane-Flame] for half as long as before at most with his low mana. Though the increase in his stats would increase the damage.

[Primary Classes: Arcanist lvl 6/25]

[Titles: Arcane Scholar, Fae Contractor, Arcane Elementalist]

[Exp: 65%]

[Sub-classes: None]

[Race: Human]

[Skills: Sleep Learning lvl 9/10, Appraisal lvl 2/10, Goblin Anatomy lvl 1/10, Fae Anatomy lvl 4/10, Long Jumping lvl 2/10, Sprinting lvl 1/10, Bare-Fist Fighting lvl 1/10, Muknar Language 3/10, Faaran Runic Language lvl 3/10, Fae Language lvl 1/10, Mana Manipulation lvl 2/10, Arcane Energy Manipulation lvl 4/10, Fire Manipulation lvl 1/10]

[Toggled On Skills: Pain Resistance lvl 1/10, Physical Resistance lvl 1/10, Burn Resistance lvl 1/10, Fire Resistance lvl 1/10]

[Toggled Off Skills: None]

[Skill Points: 4]

[Talents: Excellent Arcane Affinity, Human Growth, Gift of the Fae(Luna)]

[Stamina: 10/12]

[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]

[Mana: 5/23]

[Mana Regen: .0026 per second]

[Spellbook: Arcane]

[Tier One: Arcane Bolt lvl 10/10, Arcane Bolt Armament lvl 2/10, Arcane Candle Flame lvl 1/10]

[Tier Two: Arcane Blade lvl 1/15, Cone of Arcane-Fire lvl 1/10]

[Spellbook: Fire]

[Tier One: Candle Flame lvl 2/10, Cone of Fire lvl 1/10]

[Constitution: 11]

[Affinity: 23]

[Vitality: 10]

[Endurance: 12]

[Strength: 12]

[Dexterity: 12]

[Intelligence: 24]

[Willpower: 13]

[Attribute points: 5]

He found looking at his stat screen helped keep himself from showing weakness, so he put most of his attention on that. The spiders weren't exactly the silent types with their large legs making noise on the ground.

He contemplated what he would use his skill points and attribute points on. For skill points, he had already determined exactly what he would do with them: increase his resistances. But which one? He hadn’t decided on that exactly yet but given Luna’s explanations and how he couldn’t exactly use sleep learning to train them meant they were the best candidates.

He’d still wait for now until he and Luna had some downtime for him to learn more.

Attribute Points? Almost certainly they were going to go into Dexterity. Being twice as tough as an ordinary human, that didn’t mean too much. But twice as fast? Combined with Luna’s buffs that was a difference between life and death. More importantly, even if he could cast spells instantly he was still limited by say if an enemy was behind him. Could he turn around fast enough without enough Dexterity? He still needed to ask Luna’s input on too many things to finalize his decision.

Finally, he inspected all his new acquirements.

[Arcane Candle Flame lvl 1/10: Creates a small flame of the size and heat of a candle.]

[Cone of Arcane-Fire lvl 1/10: Generates a Cone of Arcane-Fire that combusts violently to all it touches.]

[Cone of Fire lvl 1/10: Generates a Cone of Fire.]

[Arcane Elementalist: To mix the unleashed power of the Arcane with the elemental magics is to advance leagues above ordinary elemental magic. 5% Experience bonus. 5% Decreased Mana Cost of Arcane-Elemental Spells and Skills.]

Rainer continued to walk farther and farther away from the spiders that had not retreated fully back into their caves. Once he was a bit away he had Luna cancel the casting of the buff.

“Phew, Rainer makes Luna work too hard,” she complained while playfully wiping away non-existent sweat from her forehead.

“Oh that made you tired, I think I’ve been too lax in not having you train. From now on instead of sitting on me you should fly instead.”

“Rainer is so silly, Luna only make joke, Luna has so much energy that Luna doesn’t know what to do with it!” she exclaimed with a bit of nervousness.

“Good you can answer some questions of mine…”

- - -

A different set of red eyes watched the departing Rainer. He had not been entirely correct in saying that the spiders had feared his flame. At their low evolution stage, they lacked such a capacity. Instead, it was the fear of the one leading them.

Her top half had a mostly human appearance and the bottom half the legs and body of a spider. She was the “Queen” Gognar had referred to, though in actuality she was merely one of the outer leaders of her Colony.

Two eyes with red pupils and black irises, along with gray sclera. Long black hair flowed from her head all the way down her back. Red silk partially covered her body, wrapping around her torso, crossing at her back, and then hanging down in front of her.

She looked angrily at the human that had just left her eyesight. There were few who did not understand that this was not a place to tread. Humans especially understood this. The last time an army had entered the Naramien Colony in the name of leveling their soldiers an entire kingdom collapsed in a wave of venom and the spiders who unleashed it.

What irritated her even further was that a human who barely had the mana to be called a mage had killed nearly half of all the spiders she had in her outpost. Spiders already had an innate weakness to fire, yet that blinding white-violet flame of his had caused utter destruction. Several promising males had died: she would not be let off scot-free.

Yet even though she knew her strength technically surpassed this low mana mage, she had been unable to move. The sight of that deadly flame had seared into her mind.

Left with no choice, she needed to go and report the intrusion of a human to the colony and accept punishment for her failure.

Rather, such a talented yet likely low-level mage, she couldn’t understand what guild or country would allow him to walk alone in such a place.

She hoped to instill as much fear of this mage as feasible when she made her report, partially negating any punishment on the basis she "avoided" antagonizing a possibly powerful Mages Guild. Noting that the Naramien’s had long ago only been so successful in their retaliation after bribing the country’s strongest Mages Guild.

- - -

Before Rainer questioned Luna anymore he asked her to take a thorough look through his Status Screen. The assortment of reactions that appeared on Luna’s face throughout the experience proved remarkably entertaining for Rainer. Combined with her mumbling he wished it would go on for hours.

“What does this even mean….”

“This is stupid, how is this even fair…”

“Why the hell does such a class exist…”

“Hehe to think I picked someone like this as my master…”

“To defy the World Tree in such a manner, no he is loved then?”

“Ah...Luna’s head hurts, she doesn’t want to look anymore…oooh what’s this?”

“.1 to all, .1 to all, .1 to all. Luna says life isn’t fair.”

“Though if Rainer’s life is unfair then Luna gets to be unfair…”

“Hmm, this is good for Luna. Rainer lets Luna sleep all day and keeps Luna safe, Luna stay here forever.”

Her range of emotions ended with a smile as she looked towards Rainer with bright eyes as if he was a prized horse. Rainer was a little annoyed but seeing the ring still on her finger and her willingness to go home if he were in danger was enough not to have too much apprehension. He didn't doubt that part of her strangeness was a result of whatever she was avoiding back home.

“So...where should we start?” he said as he turned a corner. A bright light shone in on him along with an icy wind.