Zeke read the notification a few times over before he began to internalize what it really meant. But even then, he wasn’t entire sure.

Artisan Path: Runes – Novice (Early): You have taken the first steps toward mastering one of the most versatile professions in the world. Runes are the gateway to true understanding. +15 Wis, 5% Wis.

The upgraded statistics were nice, even if some of the efficacy was wasted on him due to his low mana usage. Wisdom, and the mana regeneration it provided, wasn’t really one of his top priorities, but perhaps that would change in the future. After all, his martial path had given him statistics very relevant to swinging his mace; it only stood to reason that the artisan path would do the same for its usage.

Still, he hadn’t experienced a mid-battle epiphany like he had with the mace, so it was difficult to understand just what the discovery of the artisan path truly did. However, it only took one look at the runes on his hands for him to understand just how powerful the new path really was.

Zeke shook his head in wonder as he studied the swirling glyphs and symbols that made up the rune’s many layers. How could he have ever thought he was close to understanding even the tiniest bit of the runes before? They were more complex than he could truly perceive, but now, he had a hint at just how much he didn’t know. More, he could instinctually understand what some of the symbols meant and how they interacted with their fellows. It wasn’t even close to the point where he would be comfortable reading them, but that wasn’t surprising. If rune mastery was akin to writing a book, his new artisan path was like he’d just memorized the first few letters of the alphabet. It was a miniscule but very necessary step, like getting his foot in the door.

For the next few days, Zeke acclimated himself to being out of the cave system. There wasn’t a lot of sunlight that made it through the marsh’s thick canopy, but even that left his eyes stinging. So, not wanting to wander off before he felt comfortable, he spent quite a bit of time sitting in the hut provided by his new tattoo while he studied his runes. Slowly, even as he began to grow more comfortable without a rocky ceiling over his head, Zeke felt like he was starting to understand the runes a little better.

During this time, he also thought about his next steps. While he was in the Caracoa caves, it had felt pointless to make too many plans. He didn’t know if he’d survive the next day, much less long enough to escape. So, he’d focused wholly on survival, eschewing any thoughts of what might come next. But now that he was out of the cave system, he needed to decide what to do.

Oberon had explicitly told him that there would be other people, so it stood to reason that there might be some primitive form of civilization by now. After all, he’d spent more than two years in the caves. Surely, others had escaped their tutorials more quickly. And those people would’ve probably begun to rebuild some sort of society. At the very least, they’d have a camp somewhere.

But how would he find them?

That was a valid question, and Zeke had no real answers. More, he wasn’t so naïve that he didn’t expect that the challenges would end just because he’d escaped the dungeon. In fact, he fully anticipated things getting much more difficult. He had been strong within the caves, but the open world would likely prove much different. But he’d survived so far, hadn’t he?

Eventually, after a few days, Zeke decided that he was only stalling. And besides, his stock of fish was running dry, and if he wanted to maintain his strength, he knew he’d have to find food and clean water. Regardless, it was still with some trepidation that he dismissed his hut, hefted his club, and started walking.

The plan was simple. He’d pick a direction and go that way. It didn’t matter which way he went, because he had no idea where he was going. He only knew that he had to move, if for no other reason than to find a better location to make his base camp. Somewhere with water. Somewhere close to a source of food. And hopefully, other people.

Zeke had never really considered himself the most social of people. He had plenty friends, but most of them were friendships of convenience. Teammates. Guys he worked out with. Classmates. A few neighbors He didn’t have any real connections, other than what he’d shared with his brother and mother. But after two years alone, he desperately wanted to see another face. He wanted to hear someone else’s voice. Even monsters like the trolls needed some sort of social interaction, and Zeke was no different in that respect.

For the next few days, Zeke slowly picked through the swamp. It was more difficult than he thought it would be, mostly because there was very little dry land. And what there was usually ended up being comprised of soft, smelly mud. In addition, the water seemed to vary between ankle and hip deep, which made traversal slow and frustrating.

And then there was the wildlife to worry about.

He saw a couple of troll villages in the distance, but the denizens were smaller and less aggressive than the ones in the cave, so Zeke left them alone. If they attacked him, he had no qualms about murdering every single one of them – such was his hatred of trolls – but these lower-level creatures just weren’t worth the time or effort. Some of them caught sight of him, but they quickly scurried away, instinctively knowing that he was far more powerful than they were. It wasn’t just a function of levels, either. Most were at least level ten, so they had an advantage over him there. But after escaping the dungeon, Zeke had begun to emit something like an aura that told the swamp natives that he was far more dangerous than his levels might indicate.

However, that didn’t stop him from being attacked once or twice an hour. As he crossed the swamp, Zeke was forced to defend himself from rats the size of German shepherds, enormous alligators, and even a nest of spiders whose webs spanned hundreds of yards in every direction. The arachnids themselves were the size of a car tire, and judging by how much it burned when they bit him, they were incredibly venomous. Thankfully, his high vitality proved equal to the task, and he managed to kill the creatures before they could overwhelm him.

Through it all, his martial path had proven increasingly valuable, adding weight and speed to his every attack. It was like a passive buff that made him that much more dangerous. Because of that, he spent a portion of each day pondering how it did so. He didn’t make any headway, but such was the power of the newly gained path that he wasn’t deterred by his failure. He knew that if he could find a way to progress down that path, it would be exponentially more powerful.

He also continued his study of the runes, both at night when he summoned his hut and while trudging through the swamp. He’d gotten to the point where he didn’t even need to look at the runes for [Leech Strike] in order to visualize the first couple of layers. There were hundreds more, but it gave him some hope that he could one day understand the entire rune.

Or much more. It seemed a far off goal, but as far as he could ascertain, runes were the basis of everything. The descriptive text accompanying his new artisan path seemed to support that assertion, as well. So, what were the limits? What else could he do? Would he one day be capable of creating his own skills? Maybe, but he knew that going down that path, even if it was possible, would be incredibly long. He was eager to start the journey, though, so he was more than willing to devote his mind to it.

Besides, his earlier fears about the swamp’s denizens hadn’t yet proven to be true. After the troll warlord, none of the various animals that had attacked him had seemed terribly challenging.

Except the bugs. Those, he could conclude, unequivocally sucked.

Zeke had grown up in the south, so he was no stranger to mosquitoes. However, this new world’s version of the pests were the size of hummingbirds, and he suspected that they could’ve sucked a level one human dry in a matter of minutes. And while they weren’t that much of a threat alone, the things were ubiquitous. Still, they were quick enough that they made for excellent practice targets for his mace work. The only solace he got from the things was when he summoned his hut.

If Zeke’s aura was a warning, the hut’s aura was downright oppressive to the wildlife. Once he summoned it, the swamp’s denizens fled, often without regard for Zeke himself. That gave him peace during the nights. In addition, he also discovered that it had an old-school, manual pump that he could use to obtain fresh water. That was lucky, because without it, he’d have died of thirst. After all, the swamp’s fetid water certainly wasn’t safe to drink, even with his high vitality.

In addition to the pump, the hut contained a small sleeping pallet, a couple of chairs, and a long table running along one of the walls. He’d also found that it was equipped with a couple of wooden bowls, which made gathering his drinking water that much easier. Aside from those features, it was entirely empty. But Zeke was thankful for the few amenities it had, especially after spending more than two years sleeping on bare rock.

Eventually, after more than a week, Zeke escaped the bog. For two days, the dry patches of land had become more frequent, and the cypress trees began to give way to the more expansive oaks and pine trees of a typical forest. Another week passed, and he left the swamp entirely behind. The forest became thicker, and the terrain hillier.

Like a lot of southern boys, Zeke had spent plenty of time out of doors – especially in his youth. However, when it became clear to his father that he had talent as a baseball player, most of that time had disappeared onto the baseball diamond or in batting cages. It was ironic, considering that the game was typically played outdoors, that as he got older, he’d begun to spend more time in indoor batting cages and training facilities than outside. But he’d never forgotten how peaceful nature could be.

In another life, he might’ve become the kind of guy who enjoyed camping and hunting and that sort of thing. But he’d never really had that chance. So, being confronted with pristine wilderness, Zeke was understandably a little awestruck.

Back in the old world, even if you managed to put yourself in the middle of nowhere, there were still subtle signs of civilization. Whether it was someone’s discarded trash washing up on a lakeshore or an airplane passing overhead, humanity was always in the background. But here, in this new world, there was nothing but unabridged nature. And as Zeke walked, it became easier and easier for him to lose himself in it.

Inevitably, his mind wandered. He forcibly stopped himself from thinking about his abusive father. In fact, he didn’t want to think about the old world at all. Instead, he continued to focus on the infinite complexity of the runes. He was so deep into his study that he almost didn’t notice the subtly changing landscape as the ruins of manmade structures began to pop up. Even so, when he crested a hill, he would have had to have been completely out of it not to see the ruined city stretching out before him.

Taken aback by the sight, Zeke stood there as he tried to understand the scene before him. It had once been a sizable city, but it had clearly been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The forest had long since reclaimed it, with trees sprouting in the middle of what had once been wide avenues between buildings. However, from his vantage point, Zeke could clearly see the city’s layout as well as the remains of the stone buildings. But as interesting as the city’s form was, it also precipitated a slew of questions in Zeke’s mind. This was supposed to be a new world, so how did it have the ruins of a long-abandoned city? Had he misunderstood Oberon? Or had someone come before? The trolls in the dungeon had developed a rudimentary society, so it was entirely possible that some other monsters might have progressed even further.

As he stood there, Zeke wondered if it was smarter to explore the ruins or to simply bypass it and come back later once he’d made contact with the rest of humanity. Both options were viable, and for different reasons. On the one hand, he’d had quite a bit of luck with leaving no stone unturned. He’d explored every nook and cranny of the troll caves, and he’d reaped the benefits. The same kinds of rewards were probably available in this new world as well. But he wasn’t so naïve as to think there wouldn’t be any dangers associated with such exploration, either. He’d barely survived the Caracoa caves, and despite traversing the swamp unchallenged, he still expected a sharp increase in danger – especially in a location like abandoned and ancient ruins. Going down there would be gambling with his life.

But was that any different than what he’d done in the troll caves? Or when he combined the blue-spotted mushrooms with the mana water? It had nearly killed him, but he’d come out of it all the stronger. Maybe that was the lesson the dungeon was supposed to teach. No great reward comes without significant risk. If he wanted power, he’d have to put himself in real danger.

That realization made the decision that much easier. So, without further hesitation, Zeke started forward down the slope and into the ruined city. All the while, his sense of unease mounted. Pushing that aside, he continued onward into the abandoned city.