Thorin yelled out triumphantly, finally after meditating and absorbing mana from the world for two days he made some progress. He managed to seal some of the cracks in is mana pool and was able to retain a tenth of his mana. Any more than that would just trickle away through the numerous other cracks he didn’t seal yet. He was extremely frustrated, but promised Cynar he wouldn’t do anything rash.

While he was out of commission, Lauros and Roland were performing admirably. The first day they were able to bring back seven goblin corpses. Lauros was very effective at ambushing lone goblins and was able to kill six before the goblins even noticed. After that though the goblins were more wary and started to only leave the war camp in pairs or groups.

The only goblins were naturally cowardly and were using their numbers to protect themselves. They also began to move slower through the forest wary of attacks as whole to insure there weren't any stragglers Due to that their haul the second day was less impressive they to kill four and then even had to leave behind one of their corpses to escape. On the other hand their caution bought Thorin time to defeat them before they got to the village. The only problem was that still wasn't enough time.

‘At this rate it will take a month before I am back at full power.’ He thought depressed. Suddenly he had an idea. Was the cracks in his mana pool considered an injury. If it was perhaps life siphon could heal it. He was sick of the constant headaches and feeling ill. At this point he was will to do anything just to feel normal again. That and the goblin corpses gathered in the cave began to decompose making him even sicker. I had an idea but it was risky. He had Roland and Lauros come to him and gave them a new challenge.

“I want you two to bring me a goblin alive. I don’t care how you do it, but I just need one that is still breathing.” Thorin commanded.

Lauros quick to respond, chuckled and exclaimed. “A challenging request but anything for you master.”

“It will be done my Lord.” Roland respond like usual.

“It might be difficult, but I don't need the goblin to be healthy either. Do what you must, break his bones or knock him unconscious. I don't care also long as he is still alive.” Thorin clarified.

Roland and Lauros nodded before leaving the cave to accomplish their new mission.

Thorin wished them good luck in his mind, before turning back to his meditation hoping to seal another crack before they returned.

{Pov Change to Roland}

Master once again dismissed me and the crazy one. This time we had a new more difficult task. I realize he has a plan and will listen to every command he gives without a doubt, but I don’t approve of my partner. I would much rather work with Talon or be master’s guardian. Talon and I are much more like minded. We were efficient and didn’t waste time. Lauros on the other hand is much more irritating. He continually tries to talk and fool around. I believe it is a waste for him to be doing this. Couldn’t he spend his time improving himself or helping master rather than bug me. Even now while we walk to capture a live goblin he finds the energy to throw small pebbles at me. I don't give him the satisfaction of a response though.

The way I see it is that master created me and because of that my entire life must be devoted to him. My every sentence, move and thought need to be in service to him. When I am ordered to do something it gets done as efficiently as I can. He is the reason I exist metaphorically and physically.

Lauros on the other hand seems different from Talon and I. He often waste time and plays around when he can. I noticed in our previous fights that he would toy with lone goblins and inflict non-fatal wounds. I chalked this up to incompetence, but it seemed like he was enjoying himself. I don't understand how though. My only happiness was when I accomplished something for my lord. I would bring his behavior up to master, but worry it is a trivial matter that would bother him.

As much as I dislike Lauros’s methods and quirks, I must admit he is affective. In no way he is stronger than me but he speed is useful when dealing with the small cowardly goblins.

My train of thought breaks when a particularly large rock hits the back of my skull. I couldn’t feel any pain and it only served to irritate me. I turned to stop Lauros for continuing. I turn to see him pointing to his left. Confused I looked out into the forest where he motioned to see a group of five goblins carrying back a dead deer. Normally I would discourage Lauros from attacking this group seeing that I would be able to carry all of their bodies back for master, but this time was different. Only needing to bring back one live goblin, Roland would be able to help fight.

I nodded to Lauros who began to swiftly move towards the goblins while still remaining unnoticed. I went and positioned myself between the goblins and the war camp. I noticed during my skirmishes with the goblins they always ran towards the camp and that if I was there to stop them it would allow us to avoid a chase. I hid behind a tree large enough to hide my body and waited.

As expected Lauros struck out and kill the goblin that was in the back of the group. He had a nasty habit of stabbing the victim in the stomach. It was effective at killing them, but allowed the dying goblin to scream out in pain. Normally I opt for a fast killing blow to the head or neck.

The goblins began to panic and threw away the deer. One, most likely the leader made an unpleasant sound and began to run way towards me. He commanded the other goblins to stop Lauros and allow him to escape. He sprinted my way while looking over his shoulder at the battle. I step out from behind the tree and swung the flat side of my battle axe at his head. He didn’t even know what happened to him before he was knocked unconscious. I quickly pick him up and started to head back to master. I completed the order that was all that mattered. Lauros could make his own way back when finished.

I made my way back to the cave and noticed master was still mediating. Not wanting to bother him I stood there waiting for him to open his eyes. Ten minutes passed before Lauros swiftly entered the cave. He said some meaningless sentence to me about a job well done and walked up to our master.

He reached out and grabbed the master's shoulder! His action made me feel extremely angry how he dare disturb the master. I would have cut him down if he wasn’t the master’s property.

Thorin opened his eyes and I quickly suppressed my thoughts in his presence.

The audacious bastard, Lauros spoke to him first.

“We have completed the task my lord.” Lauros spoke proudly while pointing to the unconscious goblin on my shoulder.

I quickly corrected him by saying. “I subdued the goblin while Lauros distracted the others.”

I quickly placed the goblin down in front of him before walking away to a respectable distance.

“Good job you two, I will continue to entrust you with hassling the goblin army.” Thorin said.

His praise quickly replaced my irritation with Lauros and made it more bearable for me to continue to work with him. We both left back out into the forest to continue our attacks on the goblins.

{Pov Change Thorin}

Thorin quickly dismissed the two skeletons eager to see if the spell would work with healing him. He got himself ready and made sure he had enough of his mana to even cast the spell before proceeding. After chanting the short spell the mana left his close to empty core and entered the goblins body. After a second the goblin started to leak blood out its mouth and ears before flowing over to Thorin. It was quickly absorbed into his body and gave him a boost of energy. The wound on his left arm sealed up and left a small scar while the rest of the energy gave him a rush.

Quickly Thorin looked at his mana pool to see if there was any change. He frowned as he noticed that there was absolutely no difference.

He lashed out at a rock in anger. Thorin realized he wasn’t going to be able to use this spell to recover faster. Sighing Thorin decided just to go back to meditating and just use the captive goblin as an experiment tool.

He once again went back to clearing his mind and focusing on absorbing mana into the cracks of his mana pool. While he was sitting there, Thorin could help but feel Life Siphon was the answer not this endless mediation. He contemplated what was wrong with the spell and letting himself meld with the world, unlike before he felt himself slip into a deeper trance. The mana absorption pickup into a large stream. Thorin felt this once before. He was currently entering a state of enlightenment. This time the amount of mana he was absorbing wasn’t burning through him because he wasn’t even able to retain it in his broken mana pool.

Knowing what was going on Thorin continued to focus on the Life Siphon spell hoping to find a breakthrough while he was enlightened. In this state he thought much faster and grew closer to magic's natural purpose. Using this he had an epiphany. Life Siphon drained the targets health, if he wanted to heal his mana pool he would need their mana along with the health.

Knowing this he began to look closer at the Life Siphon spell and how it worked. Went over the two times he casted it hundreds of times and noticed the main misconception he had with the spell. He originally believed that it was just the process of stealing the targets health in the form of blood, but actually his mana directed by the spell bonded with the affected party’s life force. This was just another form of energy closely related to vitality.

The spell wasn’t used to steal health, but to steal energy! It just used blood as a medium to transfer it!

“Ah Ha!” Thorin shouted as he bursts out of his seated position and eagerly walked back over to the unconscious goblin. He casted the spell again, but this time paid close attention to his mana in the goblin. He had the mana combine with the goblins life force, and its mana. This time when the blood left the goblin it was a purplish color.

It was absorbed into Thorin just as easily as before, but this time the energy which was a fusion of mana and life force traveled directly to his mana pool. Thorin's head ache was lifted and he instantly felt much better. He quickly checked his mana pool before crying out with victory. His mana pool was fixed. No longer would he have to sit in this awful cave.

He quickly checked his status to be sure he was recovered and if there was any changes to the life siphon spell. Just like he thought he received an additional pop up.

Skill Rank Up

Life Siphion D-> Energy Siphion D+

Now able to steal enemies mana and life force restoring mana and healing wounds.

Thorin looked at the blue screen and excitedly called Cynar back from his mission. The spell ranked up and now allowed him another source of mana to use. With this he was back to fighting conditions and could start to rebuild his forces. This time things would be different he thought before he turned to looked at the eleven goblins corpses stacked inside the cave. Name: Thorin Black Class: Necromancer Lv 9 65/90 XP Health 260/260 Mana 65/1580 Stats: Strength: 28 Vitality: 26 Stamina: 16 Endurance: 9 Intelligence: 58 Willpower: 68 Agility: 12 Dexterity: 11 Skills Summon Familar Rank S Skeletal Fusion Rank C Energy Siphon Rank D+ Summon Skeleton Rank D Blood Lust Rank D Talents Affinity with Death Dimensional Storage Head Start Magic Reserves Strong Soul Blood Lord Thorin's Forces Skeleton 0 Crimson Skeleton 3