I cast the line from the sandy shore. Was this correct? I turned to my companion, who was glowing a radiant white, seated on the dock beside me. Or perhaps it was yellow. I couldn’t tell.

No words were spoken, but my friend nodded all the same. Silence was the natural state. The water was still and flat, and no ripples echoed upon the splash of the hook. It was time to wait.

There was no rush. Standing on the bow of a luminous ship, the tranquility of the setting was relaxing. I was serene. Vaguely, in the recesses of my mind, an emotion stirred.

Feelings were unnecessary, communicated my comrade from behind me. They only detracted from the steady state.

So I complied.

After all, it was the natural order of things to obey those trying to help you.

Except, why did I need help at all?

I floated in the crimson sea, clinging to an ornate slab of wood. The beautiful patterning carved into it was familiar. It called to me.

Descending from above, an ethereal line. Hanging from it was a candy cane dripping with nectar. It looked delectable.

Eat, instructed my partner, floating amongst the clouds.

I approached the ambrosia on the opulent table, positioned atop a circle of silver ice. The same designs from the wood extended to the surface beneath my feet, shining.

My hand reached forward, but then the ice cracked. The light from the runes faded and burst, scattering clouds of brilliant dust into the black.

The cracks rapidly spread and shattered the platform. Help! a voice cried out.

But it was not mine.

Help us!

The silence was broken. I floated in the whirlpool, spiraling down toward its center. I drew no breath but did not drown.

Beware the Sun, a new presence warned.

I sank, plummeting deep underwater. Only now did certain sensations return to me. A cool wetness upon my skin. A growing heat from within.

Arise, Micah.

I gasped for air, rising to the sight of Kiria kneeling over me. She grabbed my shoulder to halt my sudden motion, and said, “Easy, now. You’ve lost a lot of blood. I’ve healed what I can, but you need to rest.”

My memories gradually returned, pushing away the disorientation I’d felt. Though I still had the strangest feeling nagging me in the back of my mind, as if I’d forgotten to lock my door or turn the light off. Neither of which was relevant now. “Thanks, Kiria. That’s the second time today you’ve saved me. I clearly need to get my act together.”

“Don’t worry about it, that’s what friends are for,” she replied. Her smile then disappeared. She plopped down next to me and continued, “I’m sorry about the chi—I mean, my father. I promised he’d help you, but then he sent you out here to die.”

Kiria’s ears drooped, leaving me conflicted. I’d be lying if I said I was totally fine with it all, but I had long since grown accustomed to powerlessness. What can you say to people who have the authority to decide where you can and can’t live? Where you can and can’t learn or work? Nothing. Because no matter you say, the decision will have already been made. All you could do was smile and accept it, praying that the next time would be better.

“It’s okay, Kiria,” I assured her. “It’s not your fault, and I’m sure he had his reasons. He didn’t seem like a bad man.”

Kiria’s ears rose, and hopeful eyes looked at me. “Really?” I nodded, and she said, “Thank you.”

“Besides, he didn’t ‘send’ me here, I chose to go on this journey as opposed to remaining in the settlement under guard. If I can get the Oracle to vouch for me, he says I can join the settlement without restriction,” I added. “So that’s my goal right now. To find this Oracle at the peak of the mountain and ask for her help.”

“Ah! You’re looking for Lysh?” Kiria perked up. “She’s amazing. She’s the only one of us who can safely explore the archipelago without any stealth skills. And knowing her, there’s a good chance she already knows you’re coming and is waiting for you at the summit.”

“Really?” If true, that would be incredible. But that would be, dare I say it, almost too easy. “The Oracle can see the future?”

“Yeah, pretty much?” Kiria’s head tilted to the side. “She’ll say she can’t, but a lot of what she says comes true. Lysh has the [Oracle] class and the Oracle title. In fact, she’s the one who led us here to the archipelago last year!”

“You mean you didn’t know how to find the archipelago?” I asked, wondering if this Lysh’s abilities could substitute for an expert sailor.

“No,” Kiria shook her head. “I mean, we didn’t know the archipelago was here in the first place. When we left the mainland, we were just sailing without a particular destination in mind. But one night, Lysh had us adjust our heading and the next day, we found the islands.”

My eyes widened. “You were sailing without a destination?”

Kiria shrugged with a wry smile. “We didn’t really have anywhere we could go. So we went west and hoped for the best.”

“If you couldn’t resupply, what did you do for food?” I asked.

“There’s plenty to eat in the ocean,” Kiria explained. “And water magic can filter out contaminants, so it’s always safe to drink. Unless you leave it on purpose, of course.”

“Wow, magic sure can do a lot,” I remarked, recalling my convoluted efforts to get potable water the previous day. Auto-filtration water magic sure sounded nice.

“What are you saying?” Kiria asked, looking around at the clearing. “Magic’s what helped you do all of this, right? I can tell from the shape that those neck wounds were done by the ironclaws’ own paws. And the impression on the ground shows that you dragged one rat around. The ironclaws don’t have enough scratches to have fought each other, so it wasn’t a turf war or the result of mind magic. That means you had to have stunned them somehow, right?”

I blinked. “You got all that from just from looking around?”

“But of course!” Kiria straightened her back and tilted her head up, smiling. “A true [Scout] has a keen eye to discern the conditions of their environment. Knowledge is power, after all.”

“Knowledge is power…” I repeated under my breath. Something about that rang true, but I could contemplate it later. “To answer your question, yes, I stunned them, although I’m not sure how. My [Electrolysis] skill only sends a weak electric current, so it shouldn’t have been that effective.”

“Oh! That’s explains it!” Kiria exclaimed and clapped her hands together. “Ironclaw rats aren’t just called that because their claws are sharp. Their claws are literally made of iron, which is weak to lightning magic. Though I’ve never seen ironclaws this big before. Usually they’re just the size of, well, rats. These are more like wolves.”

So the giant rats weren’t normal in this world. Somehow, that made me relieved. Although that their claws being iron explained a couple things. My blood has plenty of salt ions to conduct electricity, and since they were standing in it, my final [Electrolysis] would’ve traveled straight into their bodies. “I didn’t know monsters could have metal in them.”

“Hm? These aren’t monsters,” corrected Kiria. “They’re bigger than normal, but these ironclaws are just normal animals.”

What? These oversized metal-clawed, fur-faced monstrosities weren’t monsters? “They seemed pretty monstrous to me. How can you tell they aren’t?”

“Well, the easiest way is with a skill like [Identify] or [Analysis],” Kiria began. “You’d be able to see their status. The next easiest, and the one I use, is the [Mana Sense] skill. Any of the magic classes can learn it. It lets you feel where mana is located and how much.”

“So animals and monsters have different amounts of mana?” I asked.

“Right!” Kiria replied. “Animals can’t use skills, so they don’t really need mana. Any mana they seem to have would be from the food they ate. Monsters can use skills, so their bodies store lots of mana in them.”

“Would monsters still retain their mana upon death?”

“Yeah,” Kiria nodded. “If you left the bodies alone long enough, the mana would dissipate after a few days or weeks, depending on the size and the environment. Most of the time, monsters are killed by other monsters or by adventurers. Their bodies are then eaten or dismantled for materials.”

Adventurers. That’s a profession I’d never heard of before. I wondered if they were primarily travelers or functioned as fantasy-world hunters. “Do adventurers hunt a lot of monsters?”

“It depends on where you are,” said Kiria. “Mana-rich places give birth to larger monster populations. If they’re distant enough from populated areas, it’s fine to leave them be, mostly. Cities have less mana, so there are fewer monsters near them. Villages, towns, and roads are the most susceptible to monster raids, so adventurers usually take on hunting quests around there.”

“How much stronger are monsters than animals?” I asked. “Have you ever seen a monster version of these rats?”

“That’s hard to say.” Kiria’s brow furrowed. “There are lots of animals stronger than monsters, and lots of monsters stronger than animals. I think the major difference is that animals of the same species all have around the same strength. If you encountered another ironclaw, it would be just as strong as the ones you fought here. But if you had encountered its evolved form, the steelclaw rat, then a second monster of that species could be substantially stronger or wildly weaker, depending on its level.”

“Monsters have levels?”

“Yeah,” answered Kiria, her head tilting to the side. “You really don’t know very much. Do you not learn about monsters in the city of something?”

Ah, and here it was. I had talked around it so far, but I was tiring of keeping it secret. I wasn’t great at secrets, anyway. Not my own, at least. “Actually, where I come from, monsters don’t exist.” I recounted the events of the previous day, from my life in a magic-less city to the tornado that (with help) killed me. “When I awoke, I was suddenly floating on that piece of driftwood with only the clothes on my back. My wounds were gone, and I accessed my status for the first time.”

Kiria’s mouth was stuck in a small ‘o,’ and her tail laid limp on the grass. After a few seconds, she asked, “No magic?”

I shook my head. “No magic.”

Her brow furrowed. “No skills?”

“Nope.”

Her head leaned to the side. “No status?”

“None,” I responded.

“So you’re, like, level 1?” Kiria asked.

“I started at level 1 yesterday,” I confirmed. “It’s gone up since then, though. Actually, let me check my notifications. I’ve got some pending.”

Skill Advanced: Electrolysis Lv. 1 → Lv. 2

Skill Advanced: Mana Charge Lv. 1 → Lv. 2

Electrolysis Lv. 2 — Apply an electric potential of 125 volts through a target in direct contact or connected via any path of up to two conductive materials.

Mana Charge Lv. 2 — Charge a skill with mana to increase its effect. The mana cost is 9 times the value of the enhancement multiplier.

Level Up:

Strength +2

Vitality +3

Dexterity +3

Intelligence +1

Wisdom +1

Name: Micah Cedano

Race: Human

Age: 18

Level: 3

Class: Materials Scientist

Job: None

Titles: World Traveler

Blessings: Nature, Voyager

Health: 180/180

Mana: 632/1597

Strength: 22

Vitality: 25

Dexterity: 25

Intelligence: 27

Wisdom: 22

General Skills:

• Throw Lv. 3

• Mana Manipulation Lv. 2

• Mana Charge Lv. 2

Class Skills:

• Heat Transfer Lv. 3

• Electrolysis Lv. 2

Job Skills:

• Accelerated Comprehension [LOCKED]

Divine Skills:

• Bounty of Mana (Nature)

• Omnilingual (Voyager)

• Omniliterate (Voyager)

The skill advancement box told me how I had managed to win the fight earlier. A bump from 5 volts to 125 volts in a single level felt absurd, but given the dangers I’d faced already, I definitely wouldn’t be complaining. And [Mana Charge] was proving to be incredibly useful. If only it didn’t burn so much of my mana. Once I had time to relax, I needed to test just how much mana each of my skills used. I couldn’t keep carelessly spending mana with no notion of how long it’d last in a fight.

“I just hit level 3,” I said after skimming through my status. The stat changes were interesting but still meaningless to me.

“Level 3?!” Kiria exclaimed and leaned forward so quickly I nearly fell backwards, planting my arms on the ground behind me. “You’re human, right?! How do you have so much mana?”

“W-what?” I stammered, blinking in confusion. “Yes, I’m human. And I don’t know what you mean. What’s wrong with my mana?”

“My [Mana Sense] is telling me you have twice as much mana as I do, even after that fight,” Kiria said. “If you’re a full human, you can’t be much older than me, which means your class level should be a lot higher than mine. But level 3? I’m level 15! And my mana caps at 320!”

Oh. I double-checked my mana value and saw the distinct 632/1597. I thought that looked high, but assumed maybe mana was just easier to come by. It seems I was mistaken. “Er, sorry—“

“That’s so cool!” Kiria leaped up exuberantly. “If you keep leveling up, maybe you’ll even be able to cast a level 10 skill someday!”

“Are those hard to do?” I asked, slowly rising to my feet to stretch.

“Mhm,” Kiria nodded. “The last person to use a level 10 skill was King Lionis Ⅰ when he defeated the dark dragon, purifying the land and creating a haven for all beastkin. The Kingdom has prospered for a thousand years because of his heroism and leadership.”

“A thousand years?” I asked, eyes wide. “You mean no one has advanced a skill to level 10 in a millennium?”

“I don’t know about advancing the skill, but certainly not using it,” Kiria corrected. “If you practice a skill enough and understand how it works, it’ll advance in level. The first two advancements are easy to come by, while the next two are harder. Most adventurers will reach level 5 or 6 in their favorite skill. Levels 7 through 9 are very difficult to learn and costly to use. It’s common for mages in particular to use lower levels of their skills on purpose to avoid the mana cost of the higher levels, since they’re mostly overkill, anyway.”

“But if someone constantly used their level 9 skill, they’d eventually advance it to level 10, right?”

“Exactly,” Kiria said. “There are several people who claim to have reached level 10, but when they try to use the skill, it drains all of their mana and fails. Not even elves, with their thousands of mana points, can cast them.”

“Wow,” I managed, trying to imagine what kind of skill would need that much mana. “What was King Lionis’ level 10 skill?”

Kiria grinned. “[Earthquake]. It’s told that he and his army fought for six days and six nights to bring the dark dragon to the ground. As it landed, King Lionis split the ground, so the dragon fell another ten selles, and collapsed entire mountains to prevent it from flying back up. Finally, on the night of the first Double Moon, he sealed the earth to trap the dragon’s body beneath the land.”

“That sounds…incredible,” I said. The scale of that skill, assuming it hadn’t been overly exaggerated over time, was simply astonishing. “Somehow, I don’t think I’ll manage to get anywhere close to that.”

“Who knows?” Kiria shrugged. “You’re still at level 3. There’s no telling how far you’ll go.”

“I suppose not,” I halfheartedly agreed. It wasn’t really my goal to wield such a powerful skill. Though I couldn’t deny that in the day I’d been here, I’d already been in three fights. And while I’d just barely won this last one, it was close.

Fortunately, it seemed that [Electrolysis] would become one of my key combat skills. [Heat Transfer] was good if I had a lot of time to prepare, but its slow ramp rate and close range limited its utility.

The sling was supposed to help me use my [Throw] skill to greater effect, but it was only good for a single target at a distance. And I would need a lot more practice to use it on the run.

In the meantime, I needed something to deal with melee attacks. And after that battle, I think I had just the idea.

“Kiria, would you mind helping me with something?” I asked.

“Sure! What do you need?” Kiria asked.

“I need a vine about as long as I am tall,” I said. “It should be strong enough so it doesn’t stretch or tear when pulled, but not too so thick that you couldn’t tie it like a rope.”

“Got it,” Kiria nodded. “A vine about five to six seppes long. Feels like a rope. Shouldn’t be too hard to find. I’ll cut one off for you.”

“Thanks,” I replied, and she leaped off into the trees.

I turned to the first rat that I’d killed with my last remaining stone. That’s when I noticed the bag that I’d dropped earlier laying a few feet away. Kiria must have found it and followed our tracks here to this den. I really was fortunate that she had come to my aid. She hadn’t mentioned it, but I was almost certain my wounds would have been fatal if left untreated.

Ignoring the bag for now, I approached the rat and braced myself for what was sure to be a most unpleasant experience. Still, it had to be done for what I had planned next. I shut my eyes and, in a single motion, shoved my hand into the rat’s throat.

It was wet and disgusting, but I extended my fingers in search of my quarry. A moment later, I brushed against a hard, smooth surface and grasped it. I rapidly withdrew my arm, groaning at the fluids now coating it. I gave my arm a good shake and rubbed it against the grass to wipe as much off as I could.

The stone was still in good condition, all things considered. I could probably use it as ammunition again if I wanted, but I had another idea I wanted to try first.

Kiria returned before long, bearing a vine looped over her shoulder. “I brought a vine of the right length, but I’m not sure if it’s quite like rope. I couldn’t find any you could call flexible.”

She handed me the vine, and I had to agree. It was long and curved, but it also had a layer of bark covering its surface. It seemed I had the wrong impression of what vines were from movies. I thought they’d be smooth and green, but this was basically just a really long branch. “Thanks for finding this for me. It’s not quite what I had in mind, but maybe I can make it work?”

“What are you trying to do with it?” Kiria asked.

“Craft a new type of weapon,” I told her. “One that will allow me to continue using my [Throw] skill but without losing the projectile every time. If I can fasten this stone to the end of a rope, I should be able to [Throw] the stone and pull it back with the other end.”

“Ohh, interesting,” Kiria considered the dilemma. “I don’t think this vine is flexible enough for what you want. Maybe you could repurpose the rope from your sling?”

“I thought about that, but I’d rather still be able to use it as a sling,” I replied. “It’s also not quite long enough how I’m imagining it.”

“Well in that case, I’ll just go and grab some rope from the camp!” Kiria exclaimed, turning to leave.

“Huh? Hold on a second,” I rose my arm.

“Don’t worry about it!” Kiria ignored my protest. “We’re just borrowing it for a bit. We can give it back after we meet with the Oracle! Besides, they have way too much; they make rope all the time. It’s not good to keep an unnecessary surplus, so we’ll be doing them a favor!”

“I don’t think that’s how it works!”

“I’ll be back in a bit,” Kiria called from the edge of the clearing. “Oh! Here, take one of my chakrams! You can use it to butcher the ironclaws in the meantime. Don’t overexert yourself though — water magic can’t fix blood loss. See ya!”

And with that, after floating one of her bladed discs over to me, Kiria vanished into the jungle.

I sighed as I retrieved the weapon, wishing I’d had least had a knife for this or something. I should’ve asked for one from the chief. He may not have granted it, but at least I wouldn’t regret not asking.

Well, no use fretting over it now. If Kiria intended for these rats to become dinner, I’d need to start now. Although I was not looking forward to it.

Kneeling next to the first ironclaw, I positioned the chakram at its neck and steeled my nerves. Alright, Micah. You work or you starve, same as always. Time to stop grumbling and get to it.

And so, I started cutting.