Congratulations! Wilderness Survival, Stealth, and Tracking, have all gone up 1 Rank!

Thanks to constant practice and use, your perceptions spells have become second nature to you! Perk retroactively chosen! You may use these at will, with minimal mana reserved for each spell!

Arcane Perception (Magesight) is now Journeyman Rank 1!

Infravision is now Journeyman Rank 1!

He shook his head in bemused surprise, wondering how many level-up notices he had received for his perception skills that he had completely ignored, simply because it would have distracted from the very skills that were his focus, though he conceded learning to incorporate heat and magical perception in tandem would have been the ideal perk for both skills.

But he allowed himself only a moment of fierce pride in his growth, before pouring his focus once more into tracking down the would-be hunters who dared to think travelers were acceptable prey. He tracked them down over half an hour, his burning determination to purge them tempered by a healthy dose of fear, knowing the tables could turn in an instant, should cloaked ambushers strike, and he be too foolish to look absolutely everywhere with eyes now exquisitely sensitive to heat and magic both.

So he did, even if it slowed him to a crawl.

Fortunately for him, his targets were motivated by pain and dismay, not calculated retreat or attempts at ambush, making no efforts to hide their movements.

And when he found them panting and licking their wounds in the depths of a cave, he felt a cold chill of apprehension, recalling again how easily the predators had become the prey.

Before slipping free of the cave mouth, doing his best not to make a sound while he made best use of the resources available and the admittedly mundane supplies he had pilfered from his foes before plopping it all in his soul pouch.

What could be more humble than a shovel for digging latrine trenches after all, he thought, putting that shovel to good use, as well as one of the hatchets he had claimed, setting up a surprise he hoped his hungry lupine friends wouldn't soon forget.

"Sagitta Acidum" he whispered for the tenth time, feeling the flow of mana trickle away, less than two points at his advanced Adept Rank, as he prepared his trap, frowning at how long it was taking, wondering if there wasn't a better way. A much, much better way.

He rubbed his now throbbing temples with a curse, imagining how much easier it would be if he could just fill his surprise with water...

Before standing stock still, chuckling softly, wondering if it could truly be that easy...and why he hadn't thought of it before.

Hands trembling with excitement, delaying only long enough to set up a small handful of alarm wards, the bare minimum of precautions, he proceeded to delve into all the similarities, all the links between an Enhancer's spells of dissolution, and what they could possibly have in common with the natural elements.

The answer, of course, was obvious. Oxidation & Corrosion. Whether it was done by magical or alchemical means, the liquid in his globes dissolved what it touched.

So how far an extension would it be if a compact liquid globule became a stream of a liquid other than water. Perhaps a stream of liquid compounds with just enough complexity to require an Earth element to the spell as well? He frowned in thought, in careful concentration, firing acid arrows, streams of water, even a few stones that cracked against the lip of his pit with increasing force as he finally achieved Apprentice Rank 1 with that much neglected spell, Stone Shot.

He was spending too much time obsessing over what was beyond him. He knew it.

Even when the wolves within started howling for no reason that he was aware, he refused to lose focus, finally feeling as if he was on the cusp of... something.

-There! There it was!-

His cheeks flushed with the rush of sudden sweet insight, feeling everything start to click together at last. It wasn't about forcing an enhancer's magic into elemental arts. It was about mirroring and emulating, using that natural chemical properties of what was available. And for one finding affinities with both water and earth, liquid and solid compounds both, the answer was quite a lot.

Which was a damn good thing, a panicked part of him thought when the pit finally began to fill with a far more diluted solvent than the one that worked so effectively for enhancers...

Because the howls were now coming from outside the cavern as well.

Congratulations! You have forged a new spell! Acid spray! Why use boring water when you can spray your opponents with caustic compounds? This Tier 2 Spell can cause Moderate to Critical Wounds to all exposed! Note. Advanced Elements in play (Earth Prerequisite!) Complexity of spell results in added mana per second cost!

Base cost to cast: 10 Mana per second. (Congratulations! Your underlying spell Water Spout is now Adept Rank 2! Adept perk in play: Arcane Genesis! Your increasing mastery of the Water Spout spell allows for the formation of higher tier Elemental Spells with appropriate Insight checks!)

Jack's eyes widened at the cost, immediately stopping the flow when he realized how depleted he already felt, and with a good chunk of his mana expended maintaining his Crimson Armor and Blood Shield as well, to say nothing of his thankfully intact blood bee.

For all that he felt a sense of wonder and awe at having forged a new spell... the mana cost to the spray meant he could only cast it for a handful of seconds before collapsing.

For actual combat, he knew that Acid Arrows were probably the better choice, being considerably more caustic than Acid Spray, now costing under 2 mana to cast before splitting 4-fold. And his fiercely potent Bloodflame spell would blaze through flesh at just over a single mana point per second, even boosted as it now was.

With that resolve, he embraced the spells he knew best once more, having practiced his newest Tier 2 spell for as long as he dared.

Because if the growing howls at his back were any indication, he had just become the prey once more.

Jack's heart began to race, a cold twist of fear piercing his gut. Whereas before he had been hunting a trio of wounded monsters, waiting to ambush them, eager to confront them on his terms, now he realized he'd have to force a confrontation immediately.

He couldn't wait for his prey to track him down.

He had to come to them.

Because only a novice or a fool left enemies at his back.

You have summoned Bloodshield! 20 additional Mana reserved!

Jack winced at the cost, for all that he was grateful his spell no longer tapped into his experience pool, still, there was always a cost to be paid. And he had no reserves left to lose, and only a single mana potion left to his name.

He spent only a second glaring at his own clay-lined pit trap, the liquid within bubbling almost guiltily as Jack skirted past and made his way deeper inside the cavern, shield raised to defend, right fist ready to lash out with arcane might as he cautiously took in the damp grey stone all around, his careful, quiet footsteps hardly making a sound.

And when he noticed the way the shadows hugged the corners of the limestone chamber he slowly entered, stalactites and stalagmites fusing into ancient water-slick columns in the center of what must have been an ancient cavern, he gave nothing away.

Finesse check made!

Not before multiple acid arrows were flying at his targets as wounded shadow wolves that failed to hide from Infravision and Magesight were suddenly screaming with pain as they were ambushed with globes of flesh-dissolving death.

One died with a horrific howl while the other two roared their defiance and charged, though one's stumbling gate was so bad he could do no more than limp toward the source of its pain.

Surprise attack successful! You have successfully ambushed 2 of your foes!

Acid Arrow is now Adept Rank 3!

Stealth is now Apprentice Rank 3!

You have successfully blocked Deadly Snap!

Of course, no plan survived first contact without a hitch, he thought, as he was rammed to the ground by the third wolf, taking desperate advantage of the two hundred or so pounds of savage beast upon him while doing his best to roll with the crashing blow, Blood Shield enduring the most savage of maulings as Jack's fist jabbed into the soft underside of the frenzied wolf. Which, in and of itself, did absolutely nothing to slow down the fearsome beast.

Though it did allow him to flood his foe with liquid flame.

"Ignis Sanguis!" he roared, incinerating flesh and bone as the beast's most vulnerable organs were flooded with fire, at point blank range.

Shadow Wolf has been critically struck! Shadow Wolf has perished from catastrophic internal damage!

Experience Earned!

Firestream (Bloodflame) is now Adept Rank 3!

You have suffered 1 Light Wound.

And Jack spared only a second for the surviving beast limping away with desperate yelps...

Before it was bombarded by balls of liquid corrosion, and it too collapsed in a pile of dissolving flesh.

Which gave Jack just enough time to race across the damp stone for the front entrance, desperate to meet his rapidly approaching guests. Ideally, before they could swarm into the cavern chambers and devour him alive.