“Wake up.”

The quiet voice woke James from his short slumber. Looking out of the windscreen, he saw a dark sun peeking over the edge of the quarry. The dark sun-sized disk wreathed in flames burned low in the sky. To his surprise, the flames seemed much shorter than when he had fallen asleep.

He checked the quarry for movement. Seeing that everything was quiet, he extracted himself from the heavy blanket. Groaning as he did, he stiffly got out of the cab with the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders. It was cold enough to see his breath as he slowly walked the stiffness out of his joints.

The quarry was as he left it, what was it? 2? Maybe 3? hours ago. Despite the long day before, the poor sleeping place he had, and the shortness of his rest, he felt very alert and energized as he patrolled the quarry. The creatures he had killed were where he had left them and that made him nervous. He didn’t know what kind of scavengers they might attract.

Looking up in the sky, the sun was rapidly reverting to normal as it rose higher in the sky. The flames were already burning low and some light was shining through whatever was blocking it.

“I don’t have much time to prepare for whatever is coming.”

Looking at the small shed he decided on a course of action. He started with the drake and began dragging its corpse towards the shed. After less than 10 feet of movement, he stopped to catch his breath and re-evaluate his plan. The creature seemed to be as heavy as the stones it was named after. If only he had a rope he could drag the drake with the truck.

“Doi!” He exclaimed while smacking himself in the head. He jogged over to the truck and jumped into the driver seat and turned the key in the ignition. After a worrying moment, while the truck struggled to start, it roared to life and he drove it around towards the drake on the ground.

“Sometimes I worry about you, James.” He said to himself as he lined the back of the truck up with the legs of the large beast. Looking in his rearview mirror, he visualized a heavy line of rope reaching from the hitch to the drakes legs and tying a knot around each foot. Putting some of his will and mana into the visualization, he weaved the rope into being. Once he thought it was secure, he began to drag the body towards the shed. Even with the strength of the truck, the load moved slowly. But, after a comparatively short time, the drake was sitting outside the doors of the shed.

With the hard part out of the way, he managed to get the other creatures into the shed quickly. The [Stone Toad] needed to be rolled like the boulder it appeared to be, and the [King Salamander] took more than a little elbow grease to move its close to 200-pound body, but soon enough all of the creatures were piled into a little over half of the space of the shed. The last creature to go onto the pile was the [Ice Beetle]. He had used the spade to move that one as it was still radiating a cold aura around it even after a night laying dead.

That out of the way, James looked for some other way he could prepare. He backed the still running truck up to the shed and unloaded and organized the tools into the other half of the shed.

If only there was a place to hide the truck I would feel even more secure. By this point, the sun was casting almost clear shadows on the ground and he was feeling anxious about whatever he felt creeping up on him. Wait, I saw something while going to bed last night that… Not even finishing the thought, he opened a screen.

Ability: [Nightmare] This spell is unique to [Dream Weavers] and relies on a certain mastery of illusion and creation magics that should come naturally to any of the [Dream Weaver] class. The spell is simple and effective. Whoever the effect takes hold of will have their greatest fear understood and reproduced before them via [Weave] magics. The apparition may be fully manifested and physical or simply mirage and illusion depending on the ability and desire of the [Dream Weaver]. This spell has a high chance of causing the [Terror] and/or [Lesser Insanity] status effects depending on the mental fortitude of the intended victim.

Illusion or mirage? Huh. Does that mean I can create something not solid? Holding out his hand, he imagined that the shed in front of him had a door. But instead of thinking of the door as a real construction made of wood and metal, he imagined it to only be made of light and appearance. With very little effort the door sprang into existence.

Walking forward with his hand still outstretched he had the extremely strange experience of watching his hand meld through the door as the substance of the door moved around where his wrist entered. It was an odd sight to see the solid-looking door warp and swirl around his flesh looking for all the world like eddies of colored smoke.

“Huh?” James pondered aloud. He didn’t realize it quite yet but he had just inadvertently discovered a fundamental aspect of his class. He still understood it backwards, but the truth of [Dream Weavers] is that they are in essence illusion mages that can make their illusions reality, not creation mages that can also make illusions.

“Well, I guess I can make illusions too!” He excitedly said as he dispelled the door in front of him.

It was at that exact moment that the last of the flames around the sun disappeared. Several other things happened so quickly that to the observer they happened simultaneously. Firstly, a strong earthquake shook the ground beneath James’ feet. Second, somewhere much too close for his comfort a bowel and teeth shaking roar echoed over the land. Thirdly, James wet himself.

In his defense, it was only a small amount of urine and he quickly composed himself after the incident. He also hadn’t taken the liberty of relieving himself yet during his hurried morning work so he had needed to go. But whatever the cause, it is true that the first thing the [Dreamer] did when the world awoke was piss his pants.

Cursing, he ran back to the truck as he heard rocks tumbling down the slopes of the quarry. As he ran, a strange low thumping filled the air around him. Just as he reached the door of the car the thumping grew immeasurably louder and another deafening roar was added to the cacophony of noise that had started less than 10 seconds ago. At that sound, some instinct in James made him look up. And as he did, he learned of a new type of fear.

Insurmountable. Awesome. God-like. Overwhelming. Crushing. Hopeless.

All these thoughts and their corresponding emotions went through his mind in a split second as he looked up at the form completely covering the sky above the pit.

“Dragon.” He whispered in reverence with none of the mocking humor he had felt last night looking at the drake. And yes it was a dragon. A [Queen Red Dragon] to be precise. But James had no way of knowing that. To him, it was simply death. Beautiful, grand, scaled, magical death. It was close to 100 feet over the top of the quarry but still, its body took up most of the mouth of the pit, and still, he couldn’t see most of the wings due to their span.

All of these thoughts flew through him in the time it took for the dragon to beat its wings again. When it did, the gust that filled the quarry threw him to the ground and rocked the car behind him. Before the beast could flap again it was gone from over the quarry.

Standing quickly but shakily James got into the still running truck and drove it as close to the edge of the shed as he could before turning the car off and throwing up an illusion of a boulder big enough to cover both the car and the shed around him. Immediately his whole world turned into pitch-black darkness. James, still in a state of shock, spent a frantic moment struggling to find the switch before turning on the truck's cab light.

Nothing happened. James was still in total darkness as he began to hyperventilate. Where was the light? He thought, reaching up and flipping the switch a couple more times before taking out his phone and attempting to use the screen to light up the cab. To his horror, this didn’t work either. As he panicked, his mind alighted on the only course of action left to him and he dispelled the boulder. Immediately, the light of the sun and the cab light overhead hit him. Once in the light, he calmed for a moment. That lasted until he saw a large green bird flying overhead.

What did I do wrong? He thought. I couldn’t see anything even when the light was on. It was almost like I was really inside a boulder. It clicked in his mind and he attempted to create the protective illusion again. But this time he made it as a single thin layer of stone leaving the interior hollow. It plunged the truck into darkness beside the small light given off by the cab light. It was still very dark, but he could see.

Taking a moment to breathe, he listened to the chaos all around the quarry. He could hear trees falling and beast roaring as well as what sounded like large boulders being thrown about. He wished he could see what was happening. Thinking about a pair of hobbits hiding under an elven cloak near the Gates of Mordor, an idea came to him. He tried to will the image in his mind into being. After a moment’s struggle, a low light shone through the shell around him, and with it came a fuzzy image of what was outside.

It appeared that the quarry was still empty despite the clamor that came from above. He needed to know if his creation worked as intended so he hazarded to leave the truck and poke his head out of the illusory stone to confirm his work. After checking a couple of times for movement outside the barrier before him, he quickly stuck his head out of the rock and looked back on it. Yupp, it looked like a completely normal giant boulder on an otherwise flat quarry bottom to him. He rushed back to the cab of the car and, as quietly as he was able, he reinterred the cab.

Cranking down his window a few inches, he spent a good 15 to 20 minutes just listening to the chaos around him. It wasn’t till his heart rate returned to normal that he considered what to do.

Ok, I think I’m safe for a while but I don’t know how long I can keep this up. I should figure that out. Even with me being kinda safe in here I can only barely make out the nearest wall of the quarry so I don’t have a lot of warning no matter what happens. And what should I do while I cower here? I could study the skill books or I could… No that’s about it I guess. Ok, one thing at a time. How long can I keep this up?

Thinking about it, he pulled his status screen up.

James Lvl. 3 [Dream Weaver]

HP 13/13

MP 39/48

EN 34/39

Ok, I’ve done a few weaves already today so I probably don’t use energy for that. And my energy is nearly full. Is that because the level up? In most games, you get a full heal and get stuff like MP back when you level. I guess that’s true here too. Ok, it looks like I’ve used 9 MP so far today. It would be super nice to know how much I’m using and how much each weave costs but I guess I’ll just have to pay attention and get a feeling for it as I use it more. For now, I’ll watch and see how much the illusion is draining.

After a short while, he decided to keep an eye on it while studying skills as his MP hadn’t dropped in the close to 10 minutes he’d been watching. Taking out his skill books he laid them out on the dash and the passenger seat as he thought through which to study.

“Merit badge books for first aid, archery, physical fitness, cooking, fishing, and leatherworking.”

“Masonry 101 - Simplified Masonry for a Simple Man”

“Practical Blacksmithing: An Ancient Craft in a Modern Setting (Vol. 1-4)”

“A Miners Guide to Prospecting”

“A Fighter's Sword: An Illustrated Technique Handbook”

I think it would be best to get some of the simple skills out of the way before I try to master anything more complex. I should also prioritize the ones that are more important like first aid. Cooking, fishing, and leatherworking are going to be important, but for right now I think the most important thing will be to be able to handle any injuries I may get. Ok, so first aid it is. But first, let's check them all like last time.

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (326/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Basic First Aid] (13/100)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (327/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Beginner Bow Proficiency] (1/250)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (328/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Basic Fitness] (1/75)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (329/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Basic Cooking] (22/50)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (330/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Basic Fishing] (1/75)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (331/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Simple Leatherworking] (1/250)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (332/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Basic Masonry] (1/500)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (333/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Simple Blacksmithing] (1/500)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (334/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Basic Mining] (2/250)

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (335/1,000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Beginner Sword Proficiency] (2/250)

Oof. Blacksmithing and masonry are pretty far away. I think I should focus on first aid then fitness. I can decide what to do from there.

During this time, he also learned about his mana points, or were they magic points? Something else maybe? Anyways, he learned that they were returning slowly. It was about one every 20 minutes or so but it meant that whatever it took to keep the barrier running was less than what he naturally regenerated. This was really good news. Especially right now, he thought, as he sat in the truck watching a pack of large white hawks tear the truck-sized boar that had wandered down into the quarry into bite-sized bits. The boar wasn’t even dead when the hawks flew off. It seems they ate their fill and saw no reason to put the giant beast out of its misery.

The boar was panting and drooling blood from its torn up face. It was missing both its eyes and a large portion of the meat around its mouth and tusks as it wandered blindly around the quarry. James had created a small hole in the barrier so he could see it better. What he saw was miserable. More skin than James had on his entire body was missing or hanging in strips off its back. Each step was full of pain as its mangled back legs struggled to hold up its massive weight. The animal was dying, and slowly.

James had to do something. Not only because it was a threat as it wandered blindly around the quarry, but also because James wasn’t comfortable watching an animal suffer that way. Knowing he had to do something didn’t get it done so he started thinking through a plan. He couldn’t help but see the ground shake and dust rise every time the creature took a pained step. It was still a huge threat. The cold logical part of his brain said to let the creature bleed some more before he had to fight it but he couldn’t give in to that voice.

He eventually decided to take a lesson from ancient boar hunting and fight it as people would have before gunpowder and lead. The hardest part would be getting the beast’s attention.

Close to a quarter-hour later, James was ready. He was about 60 feet away from the panting creature that was leaned up against a wall of the quarry. It was now or never.

“Hey, you! Yeah, you Mr. Baconator!” He shouted while throwing rocks its way. As soon as he made aggressive movements a screen appeared.

Lvl. 1 [King Halaboar]

“Ok then, Mr. Halaboar! Come here!” That last shout was accompanied by a small stone hitting the raw and bloody side of the creature as it roared in pain.

Turning towards the pain and the continued stream of shouting, the boar lowered its head and charged at its unseen opponent. If James didn’t have the skills he had it would have been a long fight. The boar, even with its keen hearing, wasn’t running straight at him due to his blindness. This meant the usual plan of raising a boar lance at the last second for the boar to impale itself on wouldn’t have worked. But as it was, as soon as the boar reached a galloping speed of nearly 20 miles an hour, a large boar spear weaved into existence some 5 feet from its chest. The spear was as thick and long as a large sapling and was crowned with a flat broadhead point. As the boar neared, the spear’s butt was firmly woven into a crevice in the quarry floor.

A sickening crunch followed as the spear sank more than half of its 12-foot length into the charging boar’s chest before the wood snapped inside its torso. The pig’s gallop turned quickly into a low trot then the beast stood still. As it attempted to roar nothing but blood came up out of its mouth. Blankly, it stared ahead with ruined eyes for a long moment before falling heavily to the ground. As a low bloody gurgle escaped it’s ruined lips, black smoke billowed from its chest where the spear used to be, leaving a sizable hole in its chest.

*Ding*

You defeated Lvl. 1 [King Halaboar]

+ 500 EXP (625 [EXP Boost])

James spent little time gloating in his victory as he was sure the sounds of their fight would have attracted undue attention. He was also feeling like he hadn’t achieved a fair victory here either. He quickly retreated to his illusory barrier and watched the outside world for a while before deciding no more creatures were coming. After a quick breakfast of power bar and bottled water, he settled into the rhythm of studying his skill books.

After close to 4 hours of study with little more excitement than James finding a place to relieve himself, his work paid off.

*Ding*

[Skill Transfer]: Skill Acquired [Basic First Aid]

[Student] +100 EXP (125 [EXP Boost]) (547/1000)

EXP + 100 (125 [EXP Boost])

Ability: [Basic First Aid] This skill will give an advantage when dealing with and basic mastery over simple first aid such as binding a wound, splinting a break, improvising bandages, dealing with shock, and other such skills. This skill is non-specific and will instead give an overall boost to one's abilities and understanding.

Honestly, these skills don’t seem to be much better than just learning how to do these things over time. But I can learn them so fast with this skill. And on top of that, I get EXP. Yummy, yummy, EXP.

EXP, glorious EXP!

We're anxious to try it!

Three million EXP a day!

Our favorite diet!

Ok, enough old show tunes roaming around my head making me question my sanity. I need to do something besides stare at books.

He decided on working out. It’s not something he would have done a week ago but in this new world, he didn’t see any other option besides hard work.

Not knowing what else to do, he took a 50-pound bag of concrete out of the shed and began to lift it and move it in different forms and fashions.

Panting as quietly as he could, James looked up at the screen in front of him.

[Quest Complete!] Daily quest: [Rigorous Exercise] has been completed.

[Strength LVL 16] +100 EXP (125 [EXP Boost]) (517,315/1,000,000)

[Dexterity LVL 9] +100 EXP (125 [EXP Boost]) (1,863/10,000)

[Constitution LVL 14] +100 EXP (125 [EXP Boost]) (5,312/10,000)

EXP +25 (31 [EXP Boost])

Damn, I guess I can’t expect to break my limit every day. Oh well, it was a good workout and helped me feel… Well not really less cooped up. Maybe I just feel more in control. It’s strange and oppressive trying to exercise without making any noise. Well, it’s around three or four PM I guess. Damn it really sucks that my phone’s dead.

Taking the useless piece of metal and plastic out of his bag, he shook it as if that would magically make the phone charge.

Wait a minute. My magic that’s it! With my magic I can create anything I need so I should be able to make a charger for my phone. Damn, this is going to be hard to get used to.

Getting back into the car, he turned the key in the ignition to on without making the engine turn over.

Wait damn. Why isn’t the radio turning on? Wait… DAMN! Why didn’t I check the radio this morning? Maybe someone would have been broadcasting and… Well, I don’t know what. They probably would have been in as bad of a spot as I am.

Leaning back in his seat he saw that none of the lights on the dash turned on. Flicking the headlights on didn’t change anything either.

The light was working earlier. Shit! Did I leave it on?

He checked the overhead light but it was in the off position he remembered putting it in after he made the barrier light-permeable.

Ok, so I’m not going to be able to charge my phone. That’s… Well, that’s what it is. Mom always told me I needed to spend less time on that thing.

The thought of family felt like a twisted knife in his gut so he quickly thought of different things.

What to do? What to do? Maybe I should leave the quarry and see what’s going on up top? Nope. That’s death. Should I practice with my weave to see how much mana it uses, what I can make, and figure out the extent of its powers? Too risky. If something attacks I need to be at full strength and I really didn’t like what it did to me last time I overextended. Ummmm… Dinner and a little walk? Sure that sounds nice.

Grabbing a bag of beef jerky and a bottle of water, he began to walk around the interior of his barrier. After the third time around, he decided that dying wasn’t so bad. After a quick scan, he left the barrier to walk around the perimeter of the bottom of the quarry.

This isn’t too bad. Wind in my hair. Sun on my skin. Sounds of something large screaming in pain from overhead. Brisk winter air… Ahh, I’m living the life.

At some point, his habit of talking to himself aloud became an internal monologue.

Strange to say but the threat of being eaten alive by monsters has much improved my apparent sanity. Isn’t that nice, shadow faces that mock me from the depths of my peripherals?

The dialogue continued as he walked along the outer edge of the bottom of the quarry with a smile on his face. Somehow despite all of the chaos and death he had experienced in the last 24 hours, he found himself more at peace and more joyful than he had in ages. As he walked, he contentedly enjoyed the experiences of the moment. That was until something caught his attention the second time around the quarry walls.

“What’s that?”

He hadn’t noticed it the first time because it was wedged between two large boulders but there was something carved into the side of the stone wall of the quarry. Approaching, he got a better look.

Carved directly into the stone stood two heavy doors. Each door was covered in images of flying wyverns or running drakes chasing down humanoid shapes that ran from their claws. When he was within arms range he noticed another larger piece that was carved between the two doors. One figure on one door, one on the other. On the left was a human with gauntleted arms wielding a spear. On the right was a drake laying on the ground. The image showed the moment that the spear was pulled from the mouth of the drake completed with a detailed carving of a splash of blood.

“Ok, what the fu…” His curse was left incomplete in confusion. As he placed his hand on the door and two boxes appeared hovering before him.

Congratulations! You have discovered your first dungeon.

Dungeons are a natural phenomenon created by the latent magics of the world. Each is a place of trial, adventure, rewards, and death. Beware, as the old saying goes “Never underestimate a dungeon.” When a dungeon is cleared you will have the option to fortify, destroy, or simply leave the dungeon. If you fortify it, in time, it will grow to a higher level. If you destroy it, you will receive a grand reward proportional to its level. If you simply leave it, with time, it will repopulate with monsters and loot.

WARNING: The level of the dungeon is not the maximum level of the creatures within.

Congratulations! You are the first one to discover this magic site. Would you like to name it? [Y/N]

This is a lvl. 1 [Mine] type dungeon

Loot? Dungeon? Can’t decide if that’s awesome or terrifying. Well, I DEFINITELY want to name it. Ummm… What should I name it? I mean I should just go with the motif, right? Drake Mines? The Drake Mines? The Draconian Mines? Sounds cool, doesn’t make much sense. Dragon Mines? Dragon Slayer Mines? Nope, we're going simple.

Making the decision, he accepted and named the mine. As soon as the name was picked, both screens disappeared and were replaced by a single small one that hovered in front of the stone doors.

WARNING:

[Drake Mines] lie ahead

Lvl. 1 Dungeon

Very cool. Going to have to check that out soon. But not tonight. He thought as he made his way back to the truck. Night arrives early when you live in a pit and it was getting very close to sunset in his.

Once he got back within the illusion it got dark quickly. Unfortunately for him, his internal clock couldn’t manage to fall asleep at 4 pm so he decided to do some more skill training before he went to sleep. With the last of the day's light, he dug around his backpack for the flashlight he had brought with him. Once he retrieved it he was discouraged to see that the tool was completely dead. He angrily shook it before he reached back into the pack and pulled out the lighter. It seemed like a good idea for a moment till he realized he didn’t have any wood to start a fire.

“FUCKING TECHNOLOGY NEVER WORKS!!!” He screamed into the night as he threw the flashlight as far as he could.

The response he heard sounded like a locomotive blowing its horn somewhere overhead.

“WHOOO!”

He recognized it as the kind of noise that a giant owl might have made and he shut his mouth with a click of teeth.

Who? Oh, no one really. Certainly not me Mr. Owl sir. Don’t you know I’m a mute Mr. Owl sir? Don’t mind me I’ll just be down here in my pit hiding under my rock.

He grew frustrated as he tried to find something to burn in the near pitch dark of the ground around the shack with only the light from the lighter.

Wait. If I have a fire I’ll have smoke and I’m sure something would notice that. How do you have a fire without smoke then? That would take magi...

Slapping himself again on the forehead he pointed towards a point on the ground and willed a small fire illusion into existence. The flames jumped merrily and gave off a good deal of light within the stone circle that hadn’t existed a moment ago. It looked like a fire, but otherwise was nothing like a fire at all. It didn’t give off smoke, sound, or heat. But it gave off enough light for him to read his books by. He carried both of the bags of cement towards the fire and stacked them before laying his blanket on top of them. He then sat and wrapped his legs with the blanket, wishing his illusion gave off heat as well.

He had brought the leatherworking book with him instead of the fitness one. He was worried his kills would soon rot and he wouldn’t be able to preserve their skins if he didn’t move fast enough. He was especially worried about the drake’s impressive hide. A low rolling noise echoed into the night as the young [Dreamer] sat by the fire.

*Ding*

*Ding*

*Ding*

[Student] +1 EXP (645/1000)

[Skill Transfer] - [Simple Leatherworking] (99/250)

Character Name: James

Character HP:13/13 | MP:48/48 | EN:39/39

Character Level: [3] EXP:(1,240/10,000)

EXP Pool: + 0

Character Title: [Dreamer] [Dragon Slayer]

Character Race: [Human]

Character Age: [22]

Character Stats: (1-20)

Strength: [15]

Dexterity: [8]

Constitution: [13]

Intellect: [16]

Wisdom: [11]

Charisma: [4]

Luck: ???

Character Class: [Dream Weaver]

Character Sub-Class: [Empty]

Character Professions:

[Student] Lvl. 2

(645/1,000)

[Steam Master] Lvl. 3 (322/10,000)

[Empty]

Character Skills:

[Weave]

[Dream Walker]

[Sleep]

[Nightmare]

[EXP Bonus] (X1.25)

[Skill Transfer]

[Study]

[Heat Resistance] (X1.3)

[Steam Release]

[Steam Powered]

[Basic Survival]

[Basic Carpentry]

[Basic Hand Combat]

[Basic First Aid]

Character Equipment:

[Gym Bag]

[Old Family Bible] [Skill Books] [Gym Clothes] [Bus Pass] [Beef Jerky] X3 [Protein Bar] X11 [Large Water Bottle] X1 (empty) X1

[Old Truck]

[Bottled Water Case] X2 [Canned Meal] X40 [Bulk Rice] X2 [Bulk Beans] X2 [Carpentry Tools] [Carpentry Gear] [Mason Tools] [Masonry Gear] [Leatherworking Tools] [Leatherworking Gear] [Spade] [Pickaxe] [Hammer]

[Hiking Backpack]

[Sleeping Bag] [Tent] [Rain Coat] [Camping Stove] [Camping Pots] [Flashlight] [Flint and Steel] [Lighter] [Water Purifying Tablets] [2 Liter Water Bladder] X4 (empty) [Hatchet] [Utility Knife] [Local Map]

[Work Clothes]

[Phone]

[Heavy Blanket]

[Dire Rat] X2 (dead)

[Ice Beetle] (dead)

[King Salamander] (dead)

[Muck Toad] (dead)

[Slime Bat] (dead)

[Stone Toad] (dead)

[Lesser Earth Drake] (dead)

[King Halaboar] (dead)

Character Domain:

[Drake Quarry]

[Drake Mine] Lvl. 1