I was broken out of my funk by the Scribe repeating his question.

"So, are you a Mage now?"

I stared at him, eyes wide as I shook my head, and his eyebrows shot up.

"You learned the spell but you did not end up a Mage?"

As his question sunk in I realized I had made a mistake by answering him with anything other than a yes. My only excuse, was the shock at whatever was going on, I scrambled to my feet and fumbled at the door. I could sense something gathering behind me, a flowing of power.

I could feel that something inside me had changed and now I could sense a spell forming nearby. The power was gaining structure, step by step, but still too swiftly for my peace of mind.

I fumbled the door open after what seemed far too long and half-stumbled, half-fell through it. Though I would have liked to call it an intentional dive to the ground, that would have been a lie. I rolled to the side and started to get to my feet as a ghostly claw grasped into the empty air, where I would have been had I just run out.

"Thief!"

The shout rang far too loudly from inside and I instantly had the attention of merchants and nobles alike. But far more hazardous was the fact that there were several Guards about. I cursed under my breath as I completed my roll to my feet and started running down the street back to where I had come from not very long ago.

Once more I could feel something, a gathering, but this one was far less ordered and structured, more like a whirlpool of force. I once more dove, rolled to the side and got to my feet. I could hear a surprised grunt behind me as well as a whooshing of air as something missed me by little more than a hair. Nothing was visible to the eye though, and the lack of something tangible made me more fearful than I had been at seeing the ghostly claw earlier.

I ran as fast as I could until I reached the alley, which had carried me to Merchant's Lane to begin with. I took the turn at speeds that made me scrape my shoulder against the far wall. Moments later I could feel the same whirlpool of power once more, this time it was directed at my legs. My heart beat like a drum in my ears as I tried my best to time a jump to avoid the oncoming force.

Stone exploded under me as I sailed through the air. While I managed to dodge the attack, I still got pelted by stone fragments from the eruption. Now fear gripped me in truth, an attack that made stone explode like this could have taken my legs off. I took the next turn even harder than the last, jumping to the wall in order to conserve momentum. I sprang from wall to wall in the narrow alley, until I reached the edge of the roof and scrambled up.

I was not stupid enough to look down to see what my pursuer was up to, rather I leapt to the central beam of the roof, and then ran along it for all I was worth until I could jump to the next building and keep running.

**

Charles stood for a moment, looking up at where the small thief had just disappeared. He could not help but feel a bit conflicted about letting the street-rat get away, tinged by a bit of shame at the thought that he had tried to strike what could have been a lethal blow. His first attack had been modulated and weak, enough to only do moderate damage and stun. But the split second dodge from the thief had angered him, along with the mounting frustrations over the Bressling case, it all added up to him losing control. He had sent a full powered blast at the thief's legs, and missed. He could not help but feel relieved that his second strike had been dodged as well, even though it had let the thief go free.

He shook himself out of his musings and walked swiftly back to the Scribe's shop to find out what had been stolen. The chances of catching the thief at this point where slim to none unless the Scribe knew the child, which should not be the case. But he had seen enough strange things over the years, and a Scribe knowing a street-rat would not have been the strangest by any stretch.

A few minutes brought him back to the shop where an irate Scribe was waiting for him.

"You did not catch her!?" The mans words came out far more like a banshee's screech that words, but the meaning was loud and clear. Charles ignored the outraged manner of the man, and began his questioning while activating Truth Sense. It was seldom needed in a cut and dried case like this, but he had learned early on as a Guard that everyone lied about something. It was what was lied about, that was often so very interesting.

"What did the thief steal?"

The Scribe seemed to be taken aback by the question, but shook himself.

"A spell book, Fire Burst to be precise."

Lie

The chill of a lie swept over Charles, but he kept his face impassive and continued.

"Have you ever seen the thief before?"

"No!"

Truth

Charles hesitated for a moment, uncertain as to what direction to take his questioning in. It was clear by the fact that the Scribe did not know the thief that she would never be caught. But it was also in doubt whether anything had actually been stolen at all. Charles sighed to himself and admitted that he would not upset a taxpaying citizen, to find out if the honor of a street-rat had been besmirched. The child was still free and alive, that was often far more than what could be expected in circumstances like these.

**

I leaned back against the wall, back slick with sweat as I panted, trying to get my racing heart to stop beating so hard it hurt. I had lost the Guard at some point, probably as soon as I took to the roof. At that point though, I had been far more ruled by panic than reason and I had just run for it. Trying to put as much distance as I could between me and the murderous Guard. I picked up one of the stones that lay on the scrap-littered ground and threw it across the expanse in front of me, to hit the building at the far side. I had gained my class, and what I had to show for it was an Ability that seemed to only be useful against opponents far more powerful than me. Being able to sense when others used power or gathered Mana did not seem all that useful in a fight at this point. Though it had admittedly done wonders when running away, like I had just been. The problem was, it would not do much when cornered, against even a plain dagger.

I tried to cheer myself up with the thought that Enchant might not be quite as bad, I picked up another stone, frowning as I tried to figure out how to get the Ability to work.

It took me most of the remaining daylight to figure out how to get Enchant to activate. I focused hard on the stone in my hand only to have it explode into a fine white powder. I spat out some that had gotten into my mouth and then wiped my face off, with little success, judging from the smear on my sleeve. I would need a bath to get rid of the mess that covered my face and hair. Something the slums did not have an abundance of.

"Mana."

Mana: 150/230

I did not spend any time considering the implications of the Mana used, maybe I needed to use more, maybe I needed to use less. I had no idea what the recipe for success was here.

My second attempt did not explode, it shimmered sideways in a way that eluded my eyes somehow, and was just gone.

"Mana."

Mana: 50/230

The cost of disappearing a rock, rather than blowing it up, was apparently higher. I relaxed against the wall and closed my eyes, it would take a few minutes to regain my Mana to resume my experimentation.

Explosion.

Mana: 190/230

Explosion.

Mana: 100/230

The fifth attempt ended up with something that looked like glowing horse manure.

Mana: 60/230

I once more rested and waited. I repeated my attempts over and over as the day turned to evening and the evening to night. My attempts broken up only by waiting for Mana and scrambling across the ground for stones. I had lost track of the number of attempts by the time I succeeded.

Holding the stone let me perceive its information.

Stone of Fire Burst

Will explode with a burst of fire when hitting a target.

Damage: 12

Quality: Average

Some quick calculation told me that the successful attempt had cost me 35 Mana and did twice the damage the spell would do if I had just cast it. Unfortunately it took close to a minute to make, not counting the possibility of failure, so not an option during a fight. On the other hand, nothing kept me from filling my pockets.

I shook my head as it felt like it itched on the inside. The sensation was very strange and refused to go away. As I sat there frustrated with the feeling, the itch changed and new information came to my mind.

You have made a discovery!

You have discovered how to create a Stone of Fire Burst!

Experience gained: 52

I took that in for a time, before making another Stone of Fire Burst. This time it only took me seven tries to succeed, and then do the mental shift afterward.

You have created a Stone of Fire Burst!

Experience gained: 3

As my initial excitement died down somewhat, I was still elated by the fact that I could make a decent weapon and gain experience from it. Even if the experience stayed constant it would eventually be too small an amount to care about, but for now it was both a lot and safe.

I spent the rest of the night making stones glow and explode, leaving myself looking quite a mess.

**

As light hit me from the rising sun, outshining the single torch that was puttering at some distance, I shoved yet another enchanted stone into my pocket and yawned widely. I was nowhere near succeeding on every enchant I tried, but I had gradually been getting better. To the point that in my last few tries I had only failed four to every success. Which was considerable progress. My guess at this point was that the stones were different enough in their makeup that each one required a different amount of Mana and the flow of the enchantment changed. But that was still guesswork, it would probably take me hundreds if not thousands of attempts to find out exactly how it worked. I might have to use something better than stones picked up off the ground for any reliability.

I had only gotten three experience per success, for ten tries, before it had dropped down to two. This made me suspect that the better I got at this, the smaller my experience gain would be. But it had still been enough to gain a level worth of experience in a single night. Which raised the next question.

"Status."

Ewynne

Age: 18

Level: 1

Experience: 125/100

Race: Half-blood

Class: Enchantress

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 14

Agility: 12

Constitution: 7

Endurance: 8

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 11

Willpower: 12

Perfection: 14

Charisma: 12

Health: 64/70

Mana: 42/230 (19/minute)

Stamina: 73/80 (15/minute)

I had no idea how to level up. I had expected there to be an itch like with previous information gain, but there had been nothing. Going back over everything I could remember, I had never actually seen or heard any mention about how people gained their levels. Which probably meant that it was something obvious that everyone knew but never felt a need to mention. Though frustrated at not knowing what to do, I finally had to admit defeat. I noted in passing that I had turned eighteen some time during the night.

I stood up and stretched as my thighs cramped in complaint, apparently mostly sitting on the ground for half a day and all night was not recommended, as my loss of Health and stamina also attested to. That thought brought a painful reminder that I not only needed to relieve myself but also find something to eat.

Some time later I walked through the slums with far more confidence than I had felt before, except possibly when mother was alive. That thought made me frown, my past still did not make sense to me. The things my mother had left me and the things I had been be taught by her, did not add up with where we had lived. Being a half-blood made it all even more bizarre. Why were we in the slums to begin with? Mother obviously had coin enough to go elsewhere.

At thirteen I had been far more naive than now, having mother around kept me from many of the harsher lessons of the slums, while I learned others from her treatment of me. I had lost almost all she left me, shortly after her passing. The only reason I had kept what I had, was that it was mostly unimpressive enough not to mean much to even the street-rats.

I smiled slightly as it sunk in that I could actually defend myself at this point, rather than just flee from everything. Probably. I was still not quite sure how the Stones of Fire Burst worked. I assumed they needed to hit a target with some force, or I would have put my own legs on fire by now. The thought made me decidedly uncomfortable, maybe carrying around dozens of fire summoning rocks in your pockets was not the most brilliant of ideas after all.