Zach looked at Grim, “And try gathering Golem Components? Come on Grim, I feel like this is one hell of a joke and I am the punch-line. I chose this class to make Golems that would do most of the fighting, now you are telling me I have to risk my life to gather components?” Zach bit back the anger that was coming out. He counted to ten and then thought about the problem before speaking to Grim again.

“Ok let’s try this,” Zach picked up a small branch and held it up for Grim to see, “why can’t I use my knife and make this into an arm or leg for my Golem?” Grim nodded and something inside Zach released behind his eyes, silvery lines appeared all over the landscape traveling up and down tree-lengths, looking like tiny veins in leaves. Even the fire seemed to have dancing silver lines at its base.

“What you are seeing are the strongest mana channels in an object; the fire’s mana is constantly ebbing and flowing, while a tree’s mana channels fits its life source. Once you're attuned to the different types mana, the color will change from silver to its respective color. Now if you focus on your own hand, you will see mana lines running up and down throughout it. If one of the mana lines in your hand was broken or severed, it would slowly kill off the surrounding tissue.” Grim walked over to the stick that Zach held.

“Just because this limb was severed doesn’t mean that its mana channels closed off. The element of Death is flowing through this branch, slowly breaking it down into the element of Earth. Since, we purchased The Seed Grows technique, you can attune yourself to Life mana. Allowing us to see the mana channels and line them up when we are building the Golem.”

“However, we don’t just want a Golem made of sticks that we have aligned mana channels into a working shape. We want that form to hunt and kill for us. So, the materials we choose can affect what type of offensive or defensive capabilities it will have. For instance, if we use bark or wood from the ironwood tree to build its body it will make a golem of living iron, able to withstand blows from everything below high steel. Should we make the golem with leaves from a fae mana tree, the golem will absorb mana from any light source to power its body. Golems should have a design in mind before we go foraging for components, making sure that the golem will stand up to the task we asked of it.”

“Now once we assemble the components, we can call a Life spirit to inhabit its body. Depending on the spirit, it will see the body and be interested or not. If interested, we can form a contract with the spirit to provide service to us for goods rendered. Once agreed upon, we power up the golem with mana.”

Zach stared at the fire as he thought over Grim’s lesson. -What I need are powerful components to make my golem. To get those components, I need to hunt and find them in the surrounding woods. In order to hunt and survive in the woods, I might need a powerful golem to protect my ass.- It was a circular argument, and it wasn’t helping him come up with anything other than a headache. Getting up, Zach threw more deadfall onto the fire, and then the glimmer of an idea hit him.

It had focused Zach’s mind on making a combat golem and having to get resources for them when he recalled the hundreds of strategy games he had played that allowed him to have a builder/gatherer type unit. ‘Why not build one of those units myself?’ he thought. That way he could have something working on building a better camp, getting firewood, foraging for food, or foraging for more golem components. With a plan in mind, Zach called Grim to bring up a piece of Mana Paper. On top of the page he wrote, ‘Builder v1.0’.

Grim took the hand-written letters and made them into a typed face. “Ok Grim, what we need is Golem to gather components and other materials for the camp while we wait to build a combat version. I am thinking of a gorilla type golem with a basket backpack.” A vague shaped golem appeared on the paper. It had the general shape of a Gorilla but the fine details were missing, like hair and a face. Finally, a basket appeared on its back.

“Ummm Grim, I might not have a great memory, but I am sure I can imagine a Gorilla better than this.” Zach said.

Grim groaned for a moment and walked over to Zach. “Listen, if you want me to be perfectly literal-minded I can be and draw a decent picture of a gorilla with a reed woven basket on its back for you. However, you aren’t listening. A golem should never come from a dead body unless you are making a bone golem… but I don’t think you want to deal with Death Magic. No, what we need to do is get off your ass and explore, or at the least cultivate your mana. Instead, we are sitting here, while you try to think of a way to build a golem with no real components. Name your fear Zach! State it and be done with it, what is holding you back?”

Zach looked up at Grim with surprise. He felt another burst within him and he spoke, “I am afraid that if I pick up the spear and go hunting, I’ll die. I am afraid that this new world will take my life so quickly that I won’t be able to do anything else. For the first time in my life, I feel healthy and filled with energy, but I have to risk that all for what? Becoming cultivation God? Becoming so strong that I can punch and destroy a mountain? What’s the point?” By the end of it Zach was shouting, but as soon as he stopped he realized that he felt lighter. That the fear he was holding back was still there, but it was nuisance instead of an all-consuming weight.

Grim spoke, “Feel better?” Zach nodded as Grim continued to talk. “I forced mana through some of your emotional centers to break open your channels. Needlessly to say, by speaking out your fears you let loose something that fear was holding back. Look at it this way, go out and forage, otherwise in two weeks you will run out of supplies. I now have the Automap upgrade, so you can’t get lost. If worst come to worst, you can run back to your camp and the boundary stones should stop anything you can’t hear beforehand.”

Zach picked up the spear and took a deep breath. Checking his dagger, he took one step beyond the boundary stones and walked out into the forest. Looking around, he felt silly for being so concerned. Sure, there were some small bushes and small trees that blocked his sight, but mostly the forest floor was covered with moss and small greenery. Taking a few more steps, he realized that he wasn’t the stealthiest of people. Twigs and branches cracked as he continued to walk around. He hadn’t been walking for a full minute before he felt a tug to go to his left. Realizing that this was like the feeling he had when setting up his campsite, he turned left and headed toward a bush. As he got closer, he saw white silvery leaves and finally a flash of light appeared over the bush.

“Grim, what was that?” Zach tighten his grip on the spear.

“Zach, it was just the Autoloot. The foraging skill identified the bush as Moonlace, which when boiled creates a nutritious tea.” Grim said. Zach relaxed and continued to walk. For perhaps another twenty minutes Zach walked around occasionally feeling a tug to a certain direction and seeing a flash of white light. It wasn’t till he saw a bush shaking that Zach tensed.

Carefully, Zach circled the bush and as he moved halfway around it he saw the large flurry hind end of a creature. It had to be six or seven inches wide with a fluffy tail. Zach focused on his spear and quietly prayed that Grim would activate his Spear skill. Slowly he moved up behind the animal as dirt continued to spray out of behind its thick hind legs. Zach was close enough to damage it with his spear, but a feeling told him another couple of steps would give him enough force to critically wound the animal. As he took one more step a loud crack sounded out of the forest.

With the noise, Zach saw the animal back up. Seeing no better opportunity, Zach rushed forward and jabbed his spear deep into the side of the animal. A high whining scream could be heard from the animal and without a thought Zach pulled back the spear. The largest rabbit he had ever seen came out from the bush. The first thing that Zach noticed were the large black antlers on its head. The second was its bloody mouth as its lips pulled back to reveal sharp fangs. Whatever the bunny rabbit had been eating it had been meat.

Even though the rabbit was moving poorly from the wound in its back, the growl from its throat told him it was still very much alive and ready to kill him. Zach could see the creature reared back. Unsure what to do Zach stepped back further from the rabbit. The monster jumped lowering its head so that the antler pointed forward.

If the [Foraging] skill was a small tug at his body, the [Spear] skill screamed at him as the rabbit leapt past the spear head. His reflexes took over and the end of the spear butt swung hard against the leaping rabbit. Zach felt his vision haze as he heard the loud crack of wood. Pain erupted from his right arm as the weight of 60 pounds of animal spun him around. He lost his footing and fell to the ground.

Blinking, Zach tried to focus his eyes. A brown blur was in front of him, moving slightly. Pulling his dagger, Zach moved forward with his right arm screaming. Shouting through the pain, Zach plunged his dagger into the moving mass repeatedly. The wild and painful screams of the rabbit could be heard echoing out into the woods. Zach saw the flash of a blue screen just as his eyes closed and he fell over unconscious.

It was the slow dull throb of Zach’s right arm that woke him up. His eyes cracked open to see the forest floor. Grunting, he heard Grim’s voice. “Zach get up! It’s been several hours! Wake up!”

“I’m up… I’m up.” Zach tried using his arms to get up when suddenly pain shot through his right arm dropping him to the floor once again. Carefully, Zach rolled over to his left and felt a moist object followed by a loud cracking-sound. Looking around, he saw that he rolled into what remained of the rabbit. Not caring he was in the viscera of his first kill, he laid there trying to manage the throbbing pain in his head. “Grim, why do I feel like I spent a night drinking? and I don’t suppose we have any aspirin… or a mildly addictive pain killer.”

“Zach, get up and move. I had to use all your mana to focus your Spear skill during the fight. You have recovered a point of mana since you passed out, but you need to close your wound.” Grim’s voice had enough urgency, that Zach moved upward making his head feel dizzy. His hand searched around for something when he heard Grim’s voice again. “Your spear is to the left. No! Your left! The other one!” Zach’s left hand fell on the shaft of the spear and with its help he could stand.

Feeling blood coming out of his nose, Zach tried to wipe it with his right hand but felt a stabbing pain at the movement. Keeping his eyes almost closed, Zach heard Grim’s voice again, “All right, I have used the Autolootto grab everything but the spear. Now just keep walking towards my voice.” For the next twenty minutes Zach stumbled and fought with every branch and root in his way. Finally, as he got near the camp, he smelled the light smoke that was still coming from the fire pit.

Crawling over to his pack, Zach opened the flap trying to find something to eat. Only through Grim’s guidance was he able to find the dry rations and feed himself. The food was dry, tough, and tasteless yet it took away his headache little by little. Finally, instead of every bit of light shooting pain through his head, Zach could fully open his eyes. Looking at his right arm, he could see a puncture wound the size of his pinky finger. Dirt and leaves had stuck to the hole and stopped him from bleeding out. Removing the debris, he grabbed waterskin and poured water over the wound, trying to wash it out.

Wincing as dirt and bits of blood ran down his arm, Zach washed the injury until fresh blood poured out of the wound. Grim told him there were bandages in the pack and he wrapped his arm keeping it straight to avoid further injury. Once he was finally done, Zach looked over at Grim. “So that’s what happens when you run out of mana? Please tell me it was worth it because all I want to do is sleep for a couple of days.”

Grim chuckled. “Yeah, I had to put everything you had into the Spear skill. You seemed frozen for a moment and I was worried that instead of the one hole you have, there would be a bunch in your chest. If you can hold off on sleeping, we can use your cultivation technique and infuse you with Life mana. It will help reduce the risk of infection and scarring. As for whether it was worth it, how about this?” A blue prompt came up.

Congratulations! You have risked life and limb in your journey to grow! Know your battle with the Horned Rabbit (Level 3) has brought you rewards!

You have gained +2 to your mana pool!

You have gained +25 points to your experience!

You have gained +1 to your Dexterity!

You have gained +1 to your [Skill: Spear]!

You have gained +1 to your [Skill: Foraging]!

You have looted a Mana Core containing Earth and Dark Mana!

You have looted 35 lbs of Rabbit Meat!

You have looted 2 Darkhorns!

You have looted 1 Large Rabbit Skin!

As you have killed your first Horned Rabbit, you have gained 5 mana points. Kill another 99 Horned Rabbits to receive another bonus!

“Well, that’s interesting. I have to almost die another ninety-nine more times and then I can receive another bonus.” Zach said. “But seriously, a Mana Core and the experience looks nice, the other stuff I can see why I got it, but what’s with me gaining two points to my mana pool? It’s not like I am performing some grand ritual.”

Grim snorted before answering, “On your previous world there were legends that if you killed an enemy, you would gain their power. Well, the same applies here but instead of granting you some undefined spiritual bonus, it gives you a chance to earn a skill, ability, or on rare chance impart character points. Alchemists will often take the hearts or other parts of the animal and try to distill their essence into a potion to increase the probability of earning one of those things. You should feel good about increasing your mana pool by 7 points that’s not bad for a walk in the woods.”

Zach grumbled for a moment that walk would have killed him if Grim hadn’t drained him of mana. He stoked the fire, coaxing it from a small plume of smoke and flame back to its original height. “While I am working on the fire could you explain the Darkhorn and Mana Core containing Earth and Dark mana? It seems strange that a rabbit is a dark beast.”

Grim shrugged as Zach pull the blanket from his bedroll over his shoulders. “The Darkhorns are a component from the natural evolution of Horned Rabbits containing dark mana. My guess is that as the rabbit was cultivating mana by going into heavily mana infused regions or feeding off mana infused plants, it picked up Dark Mana. Normally, Horned Rabbits have Life and Earth mana, the Earth mana transforms their skin and body to have antlers and Life mana makes them grow. At some point the rabbit ate food tainted with Dark Mana, and it became dominant. Here let me show you the Darkhorn’s item appraisal.”

Item Name:

Darkhorn

Appraised Value:

4 Silver?

Item Description:

A Darkhorn has grown from a Mana Beast that has been infused with Dark and Earth Mana. As this antler has already been infused with Mana, an Arcane Crafter can transform this into a Mana Wand that channels Dark or Earth Mana more efficiently. Additional skill levels in Appraisal, Herbalism, Alchemy, and Arcane Inscription are needed for more information.

Zach shook his head, the more he learned about this world the more he realized he needed more knowledge and power. He at least needed someone to help him out that wasn’t less than a day old. “All right Grim, let’s put the Darkhorn in the background. In order for any of this to be useful we need to find a town or city. Now, I remember that some cartoon I was watching when I was a kid said if I was lost in the woods I should follow a stream until I reached a village. It came from the idea that people settle close to water. What do you think?”

Grim laughed, “Well, even though your knowledge comes from a kid’s program, it’s actually helpful. So, tomorrow we will pack everything up and try to find a stream or river. For now, let’s cultivate using the technique we purchased. I need you to get into a comfortable sitting position and to hold the mana core in your hands.”

Instead of sitting on the stump which had become his de facto seat, he sat down on bottom sheet of his bedroll. Grim was nice enough to open the storage window with the Mana Core on top. Picking up the dark brown octahedral shaped crystal Zach saw small black specs floating in the gem, Zach made himself comfortable, mimicking the lottheirus position he had seen hipsters at yoga practice do. Grim spoke to him, asking him to focus on his voice and let everything else fade. It was strange at first listening to his Grimoire Companion, but as Grim talked, he felt increasingly at ease. Finally, Grim asked Zach to focus on sensations surrounding his skin, but it wasn’t till he felt a light buzzing feeling on the top of his skin that Grim told him to focus on that feeling.

Zach felt a swirling motion of energy and then Grim said to open his eyes, but as he did so he realized he wasn’t at the campsite anymore. Now he was sitting in a grand black void on top of a pad of dirt that was four feet in diameter. “Grim? Are you there?”

Softly a small light appeared in the black void around Zach, the light shifted to a small child and seemed to float. “Hello Zach.”

Looking around at the vast nothingness, he became slightly frightened. “Grim, where are we?”

The child-like image became better defined and Zach realized that the child was a boy wearing robes. He wanted to laugh because the child looked like that character from the cartoon series Avatar. “A bit much?” Grim said. “Sorry, I don’t get to look like much until your mana pool expands up to 100 or we somehow purchase more upgrades. Anyway, we are in the mystical place that stores your mana pool. The small pad of dirt you are on is a manifestation of your Mana pool, and the surrounding void is your potential. As you can see a lot of talent but no gas in the tank. The reason we are here, is so you can become familiar with this realm; so that if you are cursed, possessed, or mana poisoned you can come here and fight it. Now your first lesson is easy, cup your hands.”

Zach did as Grim told him, and a soft light glowed until it was so bright he couldn’t look at it any longer, then there was a sudden flash of light and a small marble seed filled with green light settled down in his hands. “This is a seed of Life. Plant it at the core of your pad and tend to it. As it grows, it will become the Tree of Life to which your mana pool will forever be anchored to, and eventually will evolve into the Tree of Worlds. That is the secret behind the cultivation technique, and while there are only two guided meditations to go through, once past them you can continue to grow in power.”

Zach stood up on the pad and slowly planted the seed in the middle of the island. Placing a small mound of dirt over the seed, Zach could feel Grim chanting. Softly, he closed his own eyes and whispered the words repeatedly. On the physical realm, light from the mana core spun and twirl around Zach, settling over him as it finally winked out. When Zach opened his eyes again in the real world, a blue prompt was waiting for him.

Congratulations! You’ve gained 2% in the Cultivation Technique: The Seed Grows! Due to your use of a Mana Core, you have attuned your soul to Dark, Earth, and Life Mana! You will be drawn closer to these elements as you gain in power. Through integrating more Mana Cores, you will become attuned to other elements and gain the ability to control them.

Through the practice of your technique you have regenerated 10 mana and because you have attuned yourself with Life Mana, you have regenerated 2 HP through cultivation.

Zach smiled at the prompt. His right arm didn’t quite feel like it was on fire and his headache was gone. Feeling like ten miles of bad road, Zach laid down on his bedroll and went to sleep.