Jack arrived at the Delver’s Inn and retrieved his book from the locked chest. After renting a shared room for another night, he headed upstairs. I hope the room’s empty.

When he entered the small room he saw it was indeed empty, much to his delight. Good, I have some privacy, he thought and opened his book of spells.

He set himself to review them all. Now that's what I need first, now that I finally have enough mana. With Jack’s 270 mana, he would have 9 seconds of invisibility at level 1. That’s plenty of time to get the hell out if I get jumped again.

According to the instructions, he would need to envision a haze surrounding himself. This haze would redirect the light around him while containing his sound and scent.

This is a lot stronger than I thought. No wonder it sucks up so much mana.

Jack imagined the haze around him, bending light, bouncing soundwaves back within, preventing scent particles from leaving. He created a conduit for the mana, to feed the spell. Now, he fed the spell mana.

You have learned the spell Invisibility.

Glancing down, he saw a fuzzy haze surrounding him. Uh, I thought it made me invisible. Does it only work on others? Jack stood up. Woah, I can't see my legs! Below his waist, he was completely invisible.

He extended his arms out in front of him. Haha, my hands are missing. He would only be invisible from two feet away. Ok, I gotta stay at least three feet away from people, just to be safe.

Jack released the spell and checked his mana. Uhg, I used over half my mana in just five seconds. It’s a lot less useful than I thought. Jack shook his head in disappointment. It better get stronger after I level it up.

After Jack’s mana was full, he opened the door to his room and looked around the corner. I bet I can level this up by hiding from people. He left his room and walked down the wooden hallway to the stairs. The planks creaked under his heavy footfalls. I bet I weigh over two hundred and fifty pounds with all of this armor on. I’m so strong now that I forgot how heavy the armor actually is.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he looked down into the full common room below. There has to be at least twenty people down there. Backing up a few steps to get out of view, he took a quick glance behind himself and then cast invisibility.

He walked down the steps, carefully keeping count of the time. At five seconds, turn around and run up the steps. The last thing I want is for people to see me become visible, then everyone will know I have magic.

As the count reached five, he turned and dashed up the steps. Reaching the top step, he saw a door opening down the hallway. He dropped invisibility just as a patron left their room.

The man barely glanced at Jack as he passed. Oh thank God, that was close. Did I get a level? He checked his status. Still level one, and I used all but sixty mana.

Almost ten minutes later, he tried again. This time however he didn’t fully descend the stairs, instead he stopped halfway down and stomped his foot loudly. Haha, no one’s reacting. This is awesome.

Five seconds later, he climbed the stairs and returned to the hallway. Please let it work outside of combat, he thought as he checked his status.

Invisibility is now level 2.

“Yes!” Jack yelled. He looked around himself, cheeks red with embarrassment. I’m not gonna wait till I'm full of mana. I'm casting it now.

While carefully watching his status, he cast Invisibility on himself and observed the mana consumption. He immediately lost 23 mana, and after a full second, another 23 mana. Ok, with two hundred and seventy mana, that means I have uh…

His thoughts trailed off as he tried to do the math in his head. Uh, lets try it this way. Twenty-three times ten is two-thirty, two-seventy minus two-thirty is forty. Forty divided by twenty-three is almost two. So, that is about eleven and three quarter seconds of invisibility.

Two more seconds ain’t bad. I was hoping for more. Sighing, he sat down in the middle of the hallway and waited for his mana to regenerate. At least I can level it up outside of combat.

Jack spent the next two hours training his spellwork when he finally reached level three.

Invisibility is now level 3.

Finally.

The next cast required 17 mana per second. Jack rubbed his head as he computed the time he could remain invisible. Ugh, I suck at doing math.

He would have almost 16 seconds of invisibility now. My head hurts, I need supper. Jack rose to his feet and descended the stairs.

At the bar, he ordered stew and asked, “Hey Bertrod, have you had time to talk with your niece and nephew yet?”

“Yeah, it seems you’re in luck. Not only do they have room tomorrow, they’re eating over in the corner right now.” Betrod pointed at a table with four teenagers, two of which were arguing amongst themselves. “Good luck,” he chuckled.

As Jack approached, he picked up some of the argument and inspected them.

“...wouldn’t have had to run if you would have killed three goblins like I did,” said Ayla.

“I was busy watching Hayes’ back. Not all of us ignore the rest just to get the most kills,” said Aiden.

“I wasn’t ignoring Hayes, he was fine. He didn’t need my help, those goblins weren’t gonna get through his armor,” said Ayla.

“Actually…” Hayes began.

“You can’t know that! What if they stabbed him in the face or the neck?” countered Aiden.

“That’s why I said he needs a helm!” said Ayla.

“With a helm, he won’t be able to see anything that’s not right in front of him. That’s why we decided he wouldn’t use one.” said Aiden.

“I never decided that, I’ve always said he doesn’t need to see anything, he just needs to let them beat on him.

The argument seemed old and rehashed. Before they could continue on, Jack cleared his throat. Four eyes turned to regard him.

“Uh, hi. Bertrod said you needed a fifth.” said Jack.

“Ah yes, we have an opening again after yesterday’s…. misunderstanding. I’m the group leader, take a seat,” Ecklan gestured toward the empty chair.

Ecklan was thin. He was probably the thinnest person Jack had seen in this world so far. He was also the only one in the group not wearing armor. Instead of the standard tunic and trousers, he had on long flowing robes of a deep green color. The hood to the robes was thrown back behind him. With the hood open, Jack was able to make out his long straight black hair.

Ecklan, like the rest of the group, was in his late teens. His face was cleanly shaven unlike Jack’s own week old stubble. Either that, or he’s younger than I thought.

“Wow, Bertrod didn’t say you were level twenty. Although, I’m sure you leveled many times after today’s duel. Well done by the way, I’d heard bad things about that group. Wish I could have seen the fight. Alas, we were slaying goblins in the dungeon.” Ecklan said.

Continuing on he added, “Where was I? Oh yes, as I was saying, I am this group’s leader and healer.”

“You know magic?” Jack asked. This’ll be the first person I’ve met so far that can use magic.

“Well… no, not exactly.” puffing up his chest, Ecklan proudly announced, “I am an alchemist.”

“Apprentice to an alchemist,” barked Ayla.

Purposefully ignoring the interruption, Ecklan said, “I brew healing potions for the group at no cost. Potions that save the group from the perils of death.”

“When they work,” muttered Aiden.

Ecklan whipped his head around and retorted, “That was ONE time, ONE time!”

Aiden raised his hands in defense, “Sure, sure…”

Ayla just snorted.

Returning his gaze to Jack, Ecklan continued, “So anyways, this fool here,” he gestured to Aiden, “and his twin sister,” he gestured to Ayla, “use double short swords.”

Ayla and Aiden both had curly blond hair and constant smirks on their faces. The twins wore leather armor dyed dark grey, and looked athletic.

Ecklan gestured to the last member of the group, who hadn’t gotten a chance to speak yet, “This here is Hayes. He normally wears heavy plate, but for some reason doesn’t like to wear it around town.”

“It’s hot and uncomfortable,” interjected Hayes defensively.

Hayes was a large man, muscle bulging under his padded gambeson underlayer. He was shorter than Ayla and seemed quite shy.

Eckland continued, “We send Hayes in first with a shield and short sword and let the goblins beat on him while Ayla and Aiden clean up. Our fifth usually fills in somewhere. So, I heard you’re an axe user?”

“Actually, I normally use a spear, but it was stolen and I never got it back. That crappy axe broke during the duel, so I bought a halberd. It’s up in my room right now.”

“Oh, you any good with polearms?” asked Ecklan.

“I dunno, I’ve never used one before. It’s like a spear, right?”

The twins moaned while Ecklan buried his face in his hands. “Every time...” he muttered. Ecklan lifted his hands to his temples, slowly massaging them. “Ok. If you’re still with us after tomorrow’s delve, I’ll send you to my uncle Axton. He’s a weapons expert that charges a few silver for training. It’s too late to train tonight, does that sound good?”

“Sure, I’d love some training. I’ve been having to learn on my own so far.” Then Jack added with pride in his voice, “I got spears up to level three already.”

Eckland narrowed his eyes, “I thought you said you normally use a spear. What level are you at axes?”

“Uh, level one.”

“You’re telling me you beat Bron with a rusty axe, and didn’t even have a clue in how to use it?” asked Eckland.

Jack looked around the table and saw incredulity on their faces. “Uh… yeah. I guess I got lucky.”

“I’ll say. That’s some luck.” Ayla added.

Jack winced internally. I shouldn’t be telling them this stuff. It would’ve been better if they assumed I was some badass, they’d be less likely to stab me in the back.

Jack stood up, “Actually, I’m gonna head to bed early, I wanna make sure I get plenty of sleep. Where and when do we meet tomorrow?”

Eckland looked back and forth between Ayla and Aiden before responding, “We’ll eat breakfast here tomorrow morning. You can join us.”

“Sounds good. See ya tomorrow.” Jack waved and headed to his room.

Stupid, so stupid. He shook his head and sighed. Well, what’s done is done. I better learn another spell tonight, just in case.

After closing the door to his empty room, Jack retrieved the book from his pack and sat on his bed. I essentially already told them I suck at combat and got lucky. They’re all level sixteen and I’m twenty. They don’t know I have magic, so from their point of view, it wouldn’t make sense to have points in intelligence. That’s a lot of points missing. Luckily, Jack thought with a smile, I have a spell for that.

Jack read off the title of the next spell he would learn. Quicken. The spell would boost agility for a constant cost of mana similar to Invisibility. Hopefully it’s not as expensive to cast. After reading further, Jack found that the first level would cost 5 mana per second and increase his agility by 5 while the spell was active.

Not bad, that’s... he paused to calculate the time, fifty-four seconds of higher agility. Wait, I forgot about my mana regeneration! Jack tried and failed to calculate how long he could keep the spell active. Well just say a little longer than fifty-five seconds.

Following the instructions, Jack pictured his muscles tightening and his nerve endings expanding around his joints. His pool of mana would funnel to all the joints of his body. After connecting the imagined conduit to his mana core, he was successful in casting the spell.

You have learned the spell Quicken.

Sweet, now let’s see if I can level it up.

Five times over the next hour, Jack went downstairs and cast Quicken. He walked between tables and even left the building once, yet the spell never leveled. I guess I need to use it in combat to level it up. People were starting to stare anyways, he thought as he climbed the stairs.

Well, time to work on leveling invisibility again.