The days passed in a blur, a painful, repetitive, and annoying blur. I quickly lost track of day and night, neither of which was determinable in the library, deciding to just sleep when I felt like it. When I woke, I mixed practicing the ax-forms Haltir had taught me with learning the first spell.

A stack of wood, large enough to fuel a fireplace for weeks, lay below one table. I had moved three other tables, placing them together on their sides, with a fourth a top in what looked like a cozy little shelter. The bags of food lay beside it and my blanket inside.

After four days, I could form five of the gestures one at a time with each of my hands. I was starting to get really good at moving all four independently, and I could barely imagine life with just two arms anymore. Scratching my back and jaw while holding a piece of dried vegetable and practicing the gestures never got old.

On the fifth day, while sitting at the table, I finally managed to produce the sixth and final gesture. Looking at my lower right hand with satisfaction, I grinned as the other three were still busy forming the gestures. I stopped when all of them were ready and placed the hands on the table. I could make all five of the gestures in succession now, and it was time to attempt chaining them all together for the first time.

I grabbed a piece of a snapped branch that still had some dry leaves attached, and closed my eyes to focus. As I opened them, my hand flashed and formed the first three gestures. They were the ones I had done most and the easiest. The fourth was alright, just a little uncertain, but the fifth was choppy at best. Still, I persevered and tried to add the sixth. Although wooden and awkward, I managed it.

In ecstasy, I watched as a green glow emanated from my hand and flowed into the branch. Ignoring the pings from my status, I felt something drain from me, leaving me a little bit more tired.

Magic! I had done it! All jittery from excitement, I got up and paced around. If anybody had told me I would be able to do magic a year ago, I would have scoffed at him and told him I did that daily in the same VR games they played. Now I had actually done it. Wait, what had I done? I blinked and looked at the branch. It seemed the same as before.

Sitting back at the table, I grabbed the knife Egilla had given me and sliced it into the branch. With ease, the knife cut a whole chunk of, my eyes widening. It felt like cutting through cardboard instead of through something dozens of times more massive and hard. Wondering how long the magic would last, I had an idea, and with a grin, I began carving something from the wood. A minute later, the wood had changed into letters that read 'Halomiumani.'

I didn't know who the guy had been, but without him, I would never have gotten as far as I was now. All of the trouble and pain from the first few days were cast from my mind as I placed the wooden nametag upright on the table.

I summoned my status, and my eyes began to sparkle as I read the lines and changes.

> Learned: Soften wood

> Having learned your first spell, your magical affinity has been set to:

> 'Life', specialisation: 'Vegetation'

> For reaching learning the first spell in record time, you are awarded:

> A learning rate increase of one for a week

Active attributes: (Easily changed)

> 23/23: Muscle mass

> 05/80: Fat

> 25/27: Coordination

> 20/20: Stamina

> 05/10: Learning rate

> 200/220: Knowledge

> 03/20: Beauty

> 04/99: Grooming

> 03/40: Well spoken

Spells (Learned)

> 1/10

> Soften wood

Chosen magical affinity - Life

Specialization - Vegetations

A temporary increase to my learning rate? I could barely hold back, starting right away. This would allow me to perfect this spell and learn the other spell as fast as I could. Besides, with some luck, I could get another point soon. But first, I needed to do something else. I had another twenty points of knowledge, probably due to gaining my magical affinity in life and vegetation specialization. I was a bit in the woods on how good that would be. If I had had any real choice at the start, I would have picked fire or one of the more obscure looking affinities. Then again, I didn't know that learning one spell would lock my affinity.

Walking to the table, I flipped through the pages of the initial book, taking care only to read the title. There were hundreds of pages with spells in just this book. The first dozen or so had a page per spell, but when I reached the end, there was a spell called Forest Leaf Trap that had twenty pages filled with hand gestures. Just looking at the pages as I flipped them made my skin crawl.

I had found the one I was looking for, though, and flipping back to the first part of the book, I stopped at 'Harden Wood.'

Harden wood is a useful but dangerous spell. It has the potential to make almost any wood as hard as the hardest metal. The danger lies in the fact that for every Chom level it is increased energy is drained from the caster. Without proper knowledge of the wood's starting hardness, one might end up draining every drop of energy and killing oneself.

I sniffed in annoyance, staring at the wooden name tag as if it was responsible. These spells were annoying. Everything had a cost and an associated danger. Why couldn't it just be simple?

Flipping through the book for something else, I ended up back at Harden Wood. It was just too necessary. There was a big chance that Soften Wood wouldn't actually revert. If that was true, I needed a way to turn the softened wood back to harder and useful wood.

Looking at my Winding Weed ax, chipped and scratched from overuse, I resolved myself to learn Harden Wood. If I could make the ax harder, that meant I could use it longer, and it would do more damage.

Seeing the nine hand gestures I would need, I began memorizing them. Fifteen minutes later, I was back to eleven knowledge leftover but now knew three spells. Flipping to the first pages, I learned the seven hand gestures of Sprout Life. This way, no matter what happened, I had three spells to help increase my Wood crafting. My hope that these spells wouldn't count towards my knowledge had been shattered, though.

Standing and stretching, I got my Ax, and with the bottom two hands busy with the first gestures of Sprout Life, I began walking the forms Haltir had taught me.

A few hours later, when my movements were becoming sluggish, and even switching the hands that made the gestures failed to relieve the pain in them, I stopped. Throwing my ax on the table, I wondered how long it would take to increase Ax mastery another level. I had been practicing for days; it couldn't be that much longer, could it?

Moving to my small cozy sleeping quarters, I picked up a block of wood and the knife on the way. Lying down, I relaxed as much as I could. Then I cast Soften Wood on the block. I succeeded in a single go, and the flow of green light into the wood caused a grin on my face.

Staring at the wood, I wondered what I should make. I hadn't done any Wood crafting, except for the nametag, since coming here, and it was time I stopped neglecting it. Many possibilities came to mind when an image popped up in my mind. Staring at the wood, I began gently slicing away wood, marveling at the ease of it. With less of my attention spent making sure I didn't cut off a finger, my mind quickly drifted away as my hands mechanically turned the wood. The soft slicing and scraping sound of the knife brought me in a trancelike state, as my overburdened mind took this moment to turn off.

A ping woke me from my mindless, meditative state. Blinking, I looked at the sculpture in my hands. A beautifully carved, intricate carving of the Demon dog looked up at me. Feeling goosebumps, I examined it. It was better than anything I had ever made, from the small ears to the muscled flanks and piercing eyes. Staring at it, I had a sudden urge to leave my mark on it, and with a gentle flourish, I etched Est on the inside of one of the legs.

Putting it away, careful so the soft wood wouldn't scratch, I summoned my status window.

> Inspired and awed by a mighty beast, you managed to put these feelings in your crafting. You have created a unique mediocre-grade piece of art.

> Wood crafting increased by 1

> Wood crafting 3/10

"Yes," I muttered with a wide grin. I was elated that not only my wood crafting haven increased, but I also gained two points of knowledge! Was that because I leveled wood crafting or because I had made a unique piece, something I had only done once before. The whale had been my first unique low-grade piece, and I had gained both a level of wood crafting and knowledge for it. I didn't recall if it was one or two.

Motivated and suddenly less tired, I reached outside and grabbed two more pieces of wood. Far more focused than before, I thought of a thing to carve and began.

--

Another four days passed, and slowly the joy of increasing my skills and not having to run for my life had faded. Staring at the table with the books, my hands still and a piece of ration forgotten on the table, I shook myself awake.

It was time to go to the exit again. Being alone for almost a week wasn't something I was cut out for. The prospect of conversation, with something besides books or wood, perked me up right away. Grabbing the dried fruit, I stuffed it in my mouth and took a look around if I needed to bring anything.

The table beside me was filled with wooden statues. They ranged from small as a finger to large as a skull, and I had put them in order of how good they were. Almost at the far end stood the Demon dog, still one of the best things I had made, and only three pieces stood behind it. They were all unique-mediocre pieces, but I liked them more, so I had placed them in that order.

I thought for a moment, then moved to the last statue in the line and took it. It was an almost perfect copy of an owl statue that Sandra had loved. Well, Eliandra would probably still like it. Shaking my head at the difficulty of using her new name, I got my ax and jogged towards the exit.

Three hours later, and almost at the last part of the track, I stopped. My hand around the ax tightened, and I put the owl statue on a shelf beside me. Holding my breath, I heard it again: a faint shuffling off feet. It came from one of the side paths and was coming closer. Staring through the four-meter long corridor of books, I felt my hairs rise. I wasn't alone here! From what Rathica had said, only Prime followers could enter, so that meant-

A tall, gangly man turned around the corner. Long red hair stuck up as if he had been electrocuted, and he wore an ashen colored robe. As soon as he turned around the corner, he saw me and stopped. Eyes like burning embers stared at me.

"Found you? That was easy…" the man said in a high-pitched lisp. He raised a hand, and his fingers moved with a speed that was not from this world. Without a thought, I jumped sideways into the passage I had just exited from. A torrent of flame two meters high and wide enough to fill the corridor scorched the ground and books behind me. I felt the heat waft over me.

I needed to get out of here as fast as I could. That guy was a full-blown mage or something, and I had no idea how to deal with him right now. In any VR game, I'd have jumped him and duked it out in melee range, but here? I had no idea what he was capable of.

"A slippery one? No matter! I have time."

The lispy voice came from behind me as I heard him move forward. The flames were still there! Was he walking through them? Thinking of the routes I knew, I ran towards the door with the spiders. Whatever I did, I couldn't lead him to the center because there was too much open ground there. Any ranged fireball would take me out with ease.

As I raced through the maze of books, my mind calmed. I knew that I should have run the other way, but it was too late now. Deviating from the path I knew, praying I could deduce my way around the mage was far too dangerous. So that meant I had to trick him somehow. He was surprised to find me, so that meant he couldn't track me.

I shook my head. No. I didn't know that. Assumption had, and would always be, the mother of all fuckups. I couldn't assume anything.

He knew nothing of me, just that I had an ax, wore leather armor, and was running from him. I knew nothing of him besides that he could cast fire, wore a robe, and appeared able to move through it. Most likely, he had some information about me, probably knowing that I was the weakest of the Prime followers. He could deduce I only used melee attacks. That meant I needed to do something so unlikely he wouldn't imagine it. Casting magic at him was out of the question, so what did that leave? Something he wouldn't expect of a large, muscular Grablon with a massive two-handed ax. A nasty grin formed on my face as I thought of something. If I failed, it would put me in a bind and leave me without a weapon.

When I arrived at the door that led to the spiders, I waited and listened. I heard soft padding from far away. Grabbing the handle, I shoved the door open a bit and then slammed it shut as hard as I could. Then I turned around and snuck as quietly as I could to the other side of the corridor I had just exited from. I climbed up the shelves, noticing that they didn't bend or wobble in the slightest. The top of the library's bookcase was over six meters high, and when I reached it, I could hear the padding close in fast. Heavy, ragged breathing came with it.

Sticking my head over the edge, I saw I could now look across this entire section of the library. The bookcase was half a meter wide, and I quietly lay down on it. Flat on my back, I snuck a peak across the edge. The red-haired man was jogging through the corridor, his eyes scanning every side entrance before passing it. He was afraid I would jump him.

He was right, I thought. Just not exactly as he imagined probably. The door was only two meters from me, and the man quickened his pace as soon as he saw it. I couldn't see his face from this angle, and as he passed me, I wondered what he would do. Not that it mattered. I pushed myself up, trying to coincide my motions with his footsteps.

When I stood, he was at the door. Seven meters down and two forward. Holding the ax up in two hands, I held my breath.

"Does he think he can hide inside with the women? Hah, what a surprise he will get!" The man's words made my skin crawl as worry for Eliandra washed over me.

The man opened the door and swung it inside. I didn't wait for his reaction but threw the ax down in a single smooth motion. At the same time, I jumped after it.

"Bleedspiders," he screamed at the same moment my ax handle slammed into his back.

I had hoped it would be the blade, but without any knowledge of throwing axes, I had reasoned I would probably miss. The handle was enough to make him stumble forward, and my feet slamming into his back, finished the job, shoving him into the room beyond. I slammed on my back and felt a white-hot pain from my shoulders. Ignoring it, I scrambled up and reached inside to grab the doorknob.

What I saw almost made me scream. Hundreds of spiders were surging in the ruined corridor at the other side. There was no sign of the man. I pulled the door closed as fast and hard as I could, feeling something try and hold it open. Luckily, I was stronger, and with a loud slam, the door shut.

Just in time, as a massive explosion struck the door. I felt the doorknob heat up and let go with a yelp. Grabbing my ax, I stepped to the side of the door, my back against the wall, the ax raised, shivering slightly.

A second explosion rattled the door, then the door froze, and all sound from behind it vanished. My ragged breathing was the only sound for a moment. Wondering what would happen now, a soft chime from the door spooked me. Jumping back, I saw it shimmer like a heat mirage and then disappear.

Looking at the place the door had been, I only saw a flat wooden square, similar to that beside it.

"He broke the door?" I muttered. It was the only thing I could think of. Then I remembered what he had said about hiding with the women. Had something happened to Dursic?

With ax in hand, I sprinted towards the door that led to Dursic and Eliandra.