I knocked on the door leading to where Crow and Leo were bunked together. “I haven't talked to them since we first got here.” I realized as the door opened and Leo was standing inside.

“Hey Mathew, you okay? I heard what happened during your scouting mission, and was worried. Madison and Crow are finishing their training and we were going to find you this evening, but since you are here now come on in.” Leo opened the door a bit more and let me step in.

Their room was similar to mine, just a bit bigger and enough stuff for two people. “So Leo, have you guys made level 2 yet?”

“No, we spent the day training. I got pulled for special training actually. Madison has been training her martial arts more with a few others. Crow however has been wailing on people with a club. Last I heard he got it up to Novice 3.” Leo gestured to some chairs and we sat down.

“Special training for what?” That got me curious.

“You know how the system doesn't allow guns? Well guess who is the exception?” He handed me his gun, Lucky, to examine.

Luck the Shotgun

A weapon accepted by The System for you to use.

Deals 20 + Wis Fire damage in a cone. Damage is spread evenly across all targets.

Range: 20 meters

Note: Damage is lessened with distance.

Requires reloading via mana infusion.

Current shots: 1/1

“Leo this is great! You can use guns now.” I handed Lucky back to him, his news almost better than mine.

“Yup, I even got a skill associated with it. Firearms | Novice 2 currently. Also, don’t think I didn’t see your new level. Spill the beans, what do you get?”

I told him all that I learned about level 2. Then I informed him about my spell list. He was insistent to take a look.

“That isn’t too bad, you can only pick 1 though, right?”

I nodded, “I wanted to have Crow look them over, see if he has any insight. I probably will stick with the summoner tree for my first spell. I doubt anyone else can use it here.”

Leo nodded in agreement, “Now I want a rare profession. Wonder if I can get something like Guner or Cowboy.” Leo smiled thinking of possibilities.

“Just almost die and kill some wolves. You will have an easy time with Lucky, what was Captain Franks expression when he found out?”

“Oh it was great. I get special training from some firearm experts, and I don’t have to be in a room full of people swinging knives and clubs like Crow.” Leo leaned forward deep in thought after that. “Mathew, can you make me a promise?”

“What kind?” Leo rarely got this serious, unless it was important.

“I want to go back to where my sister died. I want to beat that dungeon for revenge. The System took her from me, and I want to keep an oath I made.” He pulled out the necklace he had from that first night.

Promise Forever

Bound Object.

You, Leo, have made an oath for revenge. Keep your promise and you shall be rewarded. Fail, and divine punishment will occur.

“I got this that first night. Sorry for keeping it a secret, but I didn’t know what to expect till I talked to Crow. He mentioned Paladins from the Mimics and Mazes game he played. I know what I want in this new world.” He put the necklace away. “I want to become a Paladin. Crow has told me all about them, and with Lucky, I can do it. I plan to eventually leave here after I get my class. When that happens, I am going to that Dungeon and killing everything inside. Will you join me?”

I looked at my friend. “Leo I will. However until I get more information myself, I can’t promise how useful I will be. Just promise me in return we will only do the Dungeon if we are sure we won’t die.”

He nodded and stuck out his hand, “Deal.”

I shook it and felt a bit of a spark between our hands.

You have made a magically bound promise. Failure to uphold your promise will revoke your Profession.

“What? Leo look at this.” I gave Leo permission to look at the box that popped up.

“Weird, it’s like my oath prompt that showed back then. Wonder if it has to do with your profession? Contracts are legal binding documents. Can you do it with magic now?”

I look at my hands in wonder, “We will need Crow for more information, when should he get here?”

---

“Hmmm okay let me see the spell list now.” Crow listened to what I had to say and all that was left was the spell list. Madison was laying down on Leo’s bed tired and covered with bruises.

Spell Trees:

Ice Magic: A tree of magic specialised in Cryomancy.

Summoning: A tree of magic that allows you to summon creatures to fight for you.

Ritual Magic: A tree of magic specialized in turning spells into rituals.

I opened each tree taking a look at the available spells

Ice magic:

Tier 1:

Ice Bolt

A bolt of Ice that leaves a cold sting on your opponents

Damage: 5-10 + Int

Range: 10 Meters

Cost: 30 Mana

Casting Time: 1 Second

--

Frozen Touch

A layer of ice remains where you touch your enemy, slowing them.

Damage: 2-5 + Int

Effect: 5% decrease in movement

Range: Touch

Cost: 20 Mana

Casting Time: 2 Seconds

---

Control Ice

This spell allows you to turn water into ice, and vice versa

Effect: Turn Ice into Water, or Water into Ice.

Range: Touch

Cost: 15 Mana

Casting Time: Channel

Summoning:

Tier 1:

Bind Familiar

Bind a creature into your service via Contract. Requires Ritual Magic.

Cost: 250 Mana

---

Summon Wisp

Wisps are physical manifestations of mana that can fight for you. They also make great lights.

Cost: 75 Mana

Range: 5 Meters

---

Summon Object

Bind an Object via touch and you can summon it back to your hand so long as it is within sight.

Cost: 10 Mana

Range: Sight

---

Create Contract

A spell that lets you automatically create a contract with a snap of your fingers. Writing depends upon Writing Skill.

Cost: 5 mana

Ritual Magic:

Tier 1:

Ritual of Mana

Increases the regeneration of mana by 10%

Cost: 75 Mana

Range: 1 Meter

Lasts till dispelled or a new Ritual is created.

---

Ritual of Learning

Increases the speed of abilities or spells increase in rank.

Cost: 65 Mana

Range: 5 Meters

Lasts till dispelled or a new Ritual is created.

---

Ritual of Trapping

The first creature that steps into the Ritual area will become trapped for 10 seconds.

Cost: 100 Mana

Range: 1 Meter

Lasts till dispelled, a new Ritual is created, or a creature is trapped.

“Mathew, I think you are a very unique person and I envy you so much!” Crow almost shouted, grabbing me.

“Do you realize how lucky you are! A Summoner!” He dropped me pacing around the room, “If these are only Tier 1 Spells, that means you can unlock more over time. So should we start with an offensive spell to gain levels quicker? No! We need to get those rituals up to snuff quickly! If we start now, he could become a powerful ritual caster.” He stopped looking back at me. “No, his class has to be a summoner, not a ritual caster. Plus rituals are lame and only get stuck in one area.”

I stood up a bit worried for my nerdy friend. “Crow, calm down. Can you explain for us who has no clue what's going on?”

He deeply sighed and sat down in a chair. “Summoners are a niche class. They rely on summoning creatures to fight for them and lack real fighting powers themselves. There are two types of Summoners. The first are Mass Summoners. They summon a bunch of little guys to swarm their enemy. Typically able to summon different kinds to better fight certain enemies. A great example are Elemental Summoners. They rely upon elemental based wisps or other creatures to defeat their enemy.

The other are Solo Summoners. They can summon one or two big guys to fight for them. Really powerful. A great example is actually a Healer Summoner. They summon creatures such as Unicorns to heal allies in an area that can double as a mount.

Unfortunately for us, the spell lists are nothing like any game I ever played, this is where things get different. Most beginner casters get a couple spells at low levels, and there are no spell trees. Spells are broken up into tiers and the types of magic, but are still grouped under those tiers.”

I nodded listening to him, looking at my spells. I excluded Ritual Magic for now. None of those can help me in combat, but would be great to pick up next time. That narrowed it down to Summon Wisp, Summon Object, or Ice Bolt.

“So what do you think I should get Crow?”

“In all honesty either Summon Wisp or Ice Bolt. Both are good for combat and will become your staple way to fight. I wish I had more information on the wisp you can summon. It would make it easier to pick between.”

The uncertainty of Summon Wisp almost made me not pick it before Madison spoke up. “You two are idiots, pick the Wisp one Mathew. Remember your Profession? It said Contract Scribe is for Summoners.”

She was right, and I had almost forgotten about that. I selected Summon Wisp.

Summon Wisp | Novice 1

Summon a Wisp to fight for you in combat. Wisp level and prowess is related to spell level.

Wisps are fragile creatures and stay near their summoner for protection. They also shed a bit of light.

Health: 25

Damage: 6-8 + Int

Range: 5 Meters

Casting time: 10 Minutes

Remains within 1 meter of Summoner

Information flooded my head as I realized how to cast the spell. It was invigorating. The ability to use magic! I began the long casting to summoned it.

“Summon Wisp!” I shouted. I could feel mana leave my body and form to create a floating blue ball of light. It floated near my head slowly orbiting me.

“Oooooo it’s kinda cute.” Madison was sitting up observing my new spell. Leo and Crow were also amazed.

“Well guess we won’t need to use the lights at work anymore, right Mat?” Leo jabbed at me.

“Haha yea, so how about we head to the training area and test it out?” I went to open the door when I saw Captain Franks about to knock.

He looked at me, then to the Wisp, then back to me. “What the fuck is that?”

“Oh hello sir, I was about to come and find you.” I lied casually.

“Is that magic? When did you get that!” Franks’ attitude changed from annoyed to bewilderment.

“Yes sir, it’s called a Wisp. It can fight for me shooting magic at any I target.” I recited from the spell information I gained.

He nodded, “Good, then you can join the new magic training program starting tomorrow. You are the third to learn magic. Thomas is now in charge of you, congratulations.”

He then stuck his head in and looked at Leo, “Leo you also are assigned to a new program. Some others with ranged combat like yourself have been discovered. I came to inform you that you are no longer training alone and will be under a very special person. He is an Ex Marine Sniper and will be in charge of you. Report at the same place at 0800 hours. Same with you Mat. Leo can show you the place, you all will be using the shooting range.”

With that he left. I looked over to Leo, “Want to get some extra practice in before tomorrow?”

---

The next morning Leo and I headed to the Range. Yesterday I figured out how to get my Wisp to attack. It isn’t as fast as bullets, but the attack can move in the air. If I had this against the wolves, maybe we could have killed more of them.

I saw a man wearing a uniform with the name Thomas on it and headed over to him leaving Leo to his new hell. Even I knew that Marines were crazy people and Leo would have a hard time.

As I walked over I saw Thomas talking to a familiar face. Judge Jerry. “Yes Sergeant Thomas, it is a pleasure to have you watch over us. I am surprised to have unlocked magic as well. I do hope my abilities better serve the great military.” He saw me walk over and I could see a flash of annoyance wash over his face before his mask was put back on. “Ahh Mathew! What are you doing here?”

“Hello Jerry, I am here for the new Magic class or whatever this is. Captain Franks directed me to show up here when he saw I could cast magic.” My Wisp floated around my head as I directed it to show off a bit.

An older woman walked up, “Oh isn’t that fancy. I’m Gloria, I was a Doctor before all this stuff happened.” She stuck her hand out to shake, and I did so.

“Nice to meet you Gloria. I am Mathew. So what magic can you two do?” Jeffery sneered but Gloria rolled her eyes at him.

“I can cast a spell that increases the rate of healing on others. My son used to love all this nerdy stuff before he moved out for college. So I know a little bit myself.” She seemed a bit proud of that fact.

“Yes, well Mathew, I can cast a fire based spell. What can you do? Have a ball of light float around your head?” Jerry was already trying to prove he was better than everyone else. Typical.

“Well if you must know, it can attack with magic. It’s a summoned creature and has its own mana and health. The downside is if it dies I have to resummon one if it dies.” I walked over to Thomas and shook his hand. He was a bit on the fatter side of most in the military. He gave off a vibe of a nerd, and his hand was clammy when I shook it.

“Ahhh yes, the esteemed Mr. Mathew. I am in charge because I am the biggest nerd the military has at their disposal at this base. Years of games, table tops, and countless books on such subjects of fantasy.” He seemed a bit too proud of those claims.

“Now I ask you two, Mr. Jerry and Mr. Mathew, to demonstrate your spells on those targets over there.” He walked over to a camera and stood behind it.

“Why are you recording us?” It seemed a bit odd.

“For record keeping, this is a baseline of spells and the top dogs want evidence of magic. This way we can document your spells now and compare later to see how you progress!” He hit the record button.

Jerry went first. He summoned a small flame in his hand and threw it like a baseball. It hit the target 20 meters out leaving a scorch mark. “I can cast the spell rapidly, but the mana cost is great. It eats 30 mana per cast. Plus I have to physically hurl the spell, but I have yet to miss a target.”

I just stood at the same spot Jerry did and commanded my Wisp to attack the target. I saw a damage notification pop up.

Wisp dealt 13 Cold Damage to Target.

“My Wisp attacks any target on my mental command. I can attack up to 5 meters, but other than the summoning, it does not use my own mana.” I directed my Wisp to attack three more times showing off slightly.

Thomas stopped the recording and walked back to us. “Excellent, both of you. Starting today I am requesting you practice until your mana runs out, or in your case Mathew, you feel like you can’t go on anymore. I don’t want anything bad happening to either of you. In a week you both will start hunting to acquire Level 3. We want to tackle that Dungeon with a full team with you two including Gloria. We have a couple more candidates who are currently training to be the first to attempt the Dungeon.”

With that Jerry and I shot targets till he ran out of Mana. After which he left and went who knows where. Gloria had a hard time training, only able to use her spell on wounded people. Luckily some people who were doing hand to hand combat were ready targets.

Before I knew it a week had gone by. I spent my day time with Wispy, who is now what I called it. Sometimes I was pulled for knife training, which I was not against. In the evenings I worked on my Writing skill. I planned to eventually get rituals, and it said to help with that.

My skills and Spell are all improving. I opened all my menus to look over everything at its fullest.

Name: Mathew

Level: 2 | 215 / 250 Exp

Age: 27

Race: Human [Grade G]

Class: Unknown [Grade Unknown]

Profession: Contract Scribe

Titles: Lawyer

Achievements: Professional Profession, Survivor

Health: 175/175

Mana: 240/240

Strength: 10

Vitality: 11

Dexterity: 10

Endurance: 11

Intelligence: 16

Wisdom: 17

Unallotted Stat Points: 0

Submenus: Abilities, Inventory, Terms and Conditions, Quests, Skills, Spell List

Skills:

Knives | Novice 3

Your ability to wield small bladed weapons has improved through combat. 3% increase to damage with these weapons.

Writing | Novice 2

Ink Stains, hand cramps, and long nights are something you are used to. This skill helps alleviate those things. Improved writing by 6%

Spells:

Summon Wisp | Novice 3

Summon a Wisp to fight for you in combat. Wisp level and prowess is related to spell level.

Wisps are fragile creatures and stay near their summoner for protection. They also shed a bit of light.

Health: 27

Damage: 7-9 + Int

Range: 5 Meters

Casting time: 10 Minutes

Remains within 1 meter of Summoner

I was proud of the improvements I made. Plus I wasn’t the only one. Leo, Madison, and Crow all gained level 2. None of them got spells, but they each got something unique for their ‘builds’ as Crow would say.

Leo got an ability that improved his melee fighting called ‘Empowered Strike’. Crow got a skill called ‘Block’. Madison was the most excited for her skill. It was called ‘Dodge’. Pretty self explanatory, plus she was the second highest ‘Unarmed’ skill holder.

I was put on a new scouting team to hunt for wildlife to fight. I wasn’t too keen on hunting down normal creatures to fight, but then I quickly remembered people did it normally but with guns.

On my new scouting team was Brown, Henderson, Steev-O, Myself, and a new person named Sophia. Sophia was another tank build like Crow. She was a very large and buff woman who I would never piss off in fear for my life.

Henderson looked great albeit a few scars on her face. Amazing how much healing can be done in a week now compared to the old world. She nodded at us all.

“Most of you know what is going on, Sophia since you are new I will lay out what is going to happen today. We are practicing adapting gaming party mechanics into the real world. We currently have a 5 man party. You are the tank. Your job is to try and block attacks from enemies and keep everyone else safe. If you have to pick one person to keep alive, pick Brown. He is our healer. He doesn't have a spell, but his First Aid skill is Novice 6.

Myself and Steve-O are DPS or Damage Per Second roles. Our job is to kill things in melee. Steve-O is going for a roguish build. While I am going for a Fighter build. Steve-O unlocked the Stealth skill for his Profession. So he is doubling as our Scout. Mathew here is our Mage. His job is to attack from afar on top of keeping an eye on the battle. If he gives a call out, you are to follow it as if I gave the order myself.

Mathew, you are in charge during battle. Don’t fuck it up. Brown you are second in charge in battle. Those of us in melee can’t keep up with fights and need back liners to call the shots. Any questions?”

It was a lot of information, but still better summarized than what I was told. All groups now followed RPG party mechanics. No fewer than five, but no more than seven. It was smart since our new way of life was exactly like an RPG.

Steve-O scouted ahead of us and we went searching for things to kill and level up on.

---

It wasn’t long before we found our first target

Wolf, Level 1

The fight went so much better this time around. Not only was there only one this time, but my Wisp was able to keep attacking it without hurting my allies.

Wisp dealt 14 Cold Damage to Wolf

Wisp dealt 13 Cold Damage to Wolf

Wisp dealt 13 Cold Damage to Wolf

Combat Summary:

Wolf slain: 10 Experience

Drop: Wolf Fang [common]

Sophia was able to keep it back with her riot shield. Meanwhile Henderson and Steve-O were poking it from the sides and back. Brown and I stayed back keeping an eye for more Wolves.

Brown quickly patched up any damage and we pressed on. The Combat Summary reminded me of the drops from last time. “Hey Henderson, what happened to those drops last time?”

“Captain Henderson. They were sent to the guys in white coats to study. From what I heard some crafting related professions could prove useful to them. However all those gaining levels currently are getting combat related professions.”

Huh, I didn’t think Contract Scribe was combat related. Then again, she didn’t know what mine was. “I still expect a rug for my fireplace.” I chuckled referencing our last fight.

“Me too, now hush we don’t want to scare away our prey.” We set off looking for more wolves to kill.