As time went on, Michael found himself relying on past knowledge less and less. When Gaia had reformed the planet she had kept the terrain pretty much the same. Time, however, laughed at the idea. As Mana continued to integrate with the planet the landscape continued to change, sometimes in very drastic ways. Plains became forests, deserts became lakes. In what used to be India a mountain stood up, turned around a few times, and settled back down as if the spot was now somehow comfier.

The Monks in the monastery say they prefer the new view.

The wetlands Michael and Hazel were currently traversing over was another example of an altered geography. The last time Michael had travelled through here there hadn’t been a river within miles and now the entire area was basically a river.

After leaving the Vitr Heimr dungeon a week ago they had travelled through fields of multicolored grass, a regular looking forest containing no less than 53 different types of trees and past a fifty meter cliff. 50 meters wide, that is, not high. The feature looked like the worlds biggest ski jump, only without any snow.

His least favorite of the terrains, by far, was the wetlands. The ground clung to his feet, the humidity was off the charts and the bugs rivalled telemarketers in their annoyingness. Most of the flies, mosquitos and other assorted bugs were low level tier ones that Michael could kill with a slap but the sheer volume of them made travelling difficult. Worst of all, they only counted towards Michaels quest counter in groups of ten.

Michael would have long decided to detour if not for two reasons. One, in the day and a half he had been travelling over the wetlands he had killed over two thousand bugs, adding a nice 213 to his counter, and two, the Dungeon.

When Michael first approached the wetlands he spied the Dungeon entrance straight away, the entrance standing proud at the apex of a hill that rose above the boggy marsh.

The dungeon was easy to spot, getting to it was a trial though. Travel was slow enough with the mud but they also had to detour around various waterways. The water contained various Tier 2 Monsters and even a few Tier 3. The abundance of wildlife would have made Michael happy if they weren’t underwater. The water neutralized most of his spells as well as his arrows. Hazel enjoyed taking down the various aquatic adversaries, her inner bear like nature conjuring images of gleaming salmon.

It was slow going, but they eventually got to the dungeon. The duo took a moment to rest, Michael using his cleansing soap a half dozen times to make sure they were both clean. On several occasions one or both of them had stepped into what they thought was a puddle but turned out to be closer to a well. By the time they reached the dungeon they were both somewhat caked.

The journey may have been arduous, but the destination was surprisingly beautiful. Standing beside the swirling portal that was the dungeon the view was strangely peaceful. The surrounding wetlands provided a sense of peace and beauty that could only come from wilderness untouched by human hands.

The lack of bugs on the hill helped.

After they’d had their fill of the scenery, they entered the dungeon named Princess of the Hill. The inside of the dungeon was so similar to the outside that, for a moment Michael wondered if he had pressed no instead of yes. There were two key differences though. The swampy wetlands, though still plenty swampy and wet, had far more trees than before, to the point that Michael couldn’t see the ground surrounding the hill.

The other difference was the flower. Standing where the portal used to be was a large flower bud, a meter in height. The flower practically glowed with Mana, its stem and leaves a bright vibrant green while the bud actually did glow with an inner light.

Michael was busy studying the flower, entranced by the feeling of vitality (little v) that came off it when a roar sounded out from within the swamp. The roar was quickly followed by a cacophony of roars, hisses and croaks, as if the entire swamp was rioting. At the same time as the noise exploded a notification pinged into Michaels thoughts.

Dungeon Quest

The Princess Bloom is about to ripen, protect it at all costs.

Quest Duration: 1:00:00

Rewards: Sprite Blessing

Penalties for failure: None

If Michael had time he would have been surprised. He would have remarked about the lack of choice in taking the quest. He would likely have lamented about the hour-long duration. If he had taken a bit more time the annoyance would have turned to delight as he realized that, unlike the previous dungeons he had faced this one would last no longer than an hour and would involve none of the travelling the others had, the monsters would come to him.

Michael did not have time. Moments after he had read the quest notification the first monster appeared, along with a half-dozen others. Two snakes, both ten times bigger than their pre-Manapocalypse variants, along with three bullfrogs the size of bulldogs and what looked like fungal turtle the size of a car.

With their Soul Bond Michael and Hazel’s communication was such that they didn’t even need to speak, they simply acted. Michael started taking out the frogs and snakes, his arrows striking their heads with pinpoint accuracy, while Hazel took out the turtle by placing a Stone Spears spell underneath it.

The Monsters died quickly, the arrows and spells wiping them out like a missile wiping out an ant. Since the creatures ranged from T2L1 to T2L10 Michael and Hazel were massively overpowered for the Dungeon. On the flip side, since there was essentially an unlimited amount of Monsters they were very much outnumbered.

Case in point, before the last monster died another seven monsters came storming out of the tree line. The next hour was a haze to Michael, the constant fighting blurring together. Thanks to Michaels massive Mana Regen, as well as his assortment of control type spells Vine Field and Gletser Aura, they managed to keep the Princess Bloom safe, though there were far too many close calls for comfort.

When the timer finally hit zero the flower finally opened and, much like the opening of the Olympics, it opened with a bang. A wave of energy burst from the flower, rolling down the hill and erasing all the monsters in its path, living and dead.

The flower, as it turned out, wasn’t actually a flower. Within what they had thought was a bud a small sprite, identified as a Princess Sprite, crouched. The Princess Sprite was a small lady with a dress made from golden orange petals. As the sprite stood it unfurled two delicate wings that looked like they were made from spider silk.

The delicate looking wings were apparently vestigial since the Sprite drifted through the air without so much as a flutter. Wandering through the air as if it had not a care in the world the Sprite floated over to Michael. With a gentle smile on its face the Princess Sprite placed its tiny hand on Michaels forehead, the touch lasting only a second before the sprite withdrew. After doing the same to Hazel the sprite drifted back over to the flower before vanishing in a flash of light, taking the flower with it but leaving behind the Dungeons exit portal.

Pulling up his Status Michael looked to see what was different but couldn’t see anything new. Looking through his blessings also turned up nothing. He finally found the blessing in his inventory, the reward apparently being physical rather than metaphysical. Pulling out the reward, a tiny purple flower the size of is thumb, Michael inspected it.

Sprite Blessing

Consume to increase Luck by a random number of points.

The blessing was amazing, especially for someone who had a luck increasing Profession, but Michael wasn’t paying attention to that, he was paying attention to Herbalism.

His Herbalism skill had always been more of an instinctual thing, allowing him to know without knowing rather than simply giving him the information on a herb. Usually, he had absolutely no problem sussing out what the skill was telling him, but this time it was like the skill was being purposefully obtuse.

When Michael finally figured it out his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. If he was reading it right, and considering he wasn’t technically reading anything it was a big if, the blessing could be added to any luck-based potion in order to remove possible negative effects. Ergo, if he added it to the Anything potion currently collecting dust in his inventory, he could ensure a positive outcome when he drank it. He still wouldn’t know what it would do, but at least it wouldn’t outright kill him.

Excited, he quickly whipped out the potion, the bane of his ever curious existence, and popped the cork. Taking the Sprite Blessing, he ever so gently slipped it into the potion, careful not to damage a single petal. As the small flower submerged into the potion it began dissolving into the ever swirling mix of colors that made up the potion.

Michael immediately took out his Mana burner, the magical equivalent to a Bunsen burner, and started to heat the potion under a low flame, this time at the behest of his Alchemy skill. Without a recipe the skill rarely gave more than hints about what he should do yet it was being surprisingly specific this time.

After he had heated the potion for five minutes he turned off the heat and swirled the potion seven times. As he did so the Mana surrounding the potion … shifted. Even with a gun to his head Michael wouldn’t be able to describe it any differently. His Mana sense very clearly told him that there wasn’t a lick of difference in the Mana and yet he was absolutely sure that something had changed.

The moment he finished swirling the potion he immediately slammed it back, making sure that he swallowed every drop. What his Herbalism failed to inform him but his Alchemy delightfully did was that, after adding the Sprite Blessing, the potion had to be consumed within 30 seconds or else it would be rendered inert, useless as anything else other than really expensive paint.

As the potion hit his tongue Michael promptly fainted from the overload of pleasure his tastebuds reported. It was probably a good thing the effect knocked him out, both because of what was about to come, and because if he lasted more than a second experiencing the taste of the potion everything else would end up tasting like mud.

--------------------------------

When Michael finally woke up, two hours later, he found himself face to face with a nose. It was, to be fair, a rather impressive nose, one the size of his palm. A sneeze from a nose that big could blow the helmet off a dwarf, and Michael should know as he had seen it happen.

Michael tried to very gently slide out from under Hazel, the owner of the nose, in case he accidentally spooked her and she ended up sneezing and removing his eyebrows. Unfortunately, both his arms were pinned and no amount of wiggling produced any sort of movement, so instead he pulled up his notifications, eager to see what had changed.

Congratulations!

You have succeeded in changing your race from Mana-Attuned Human to Half-Elf (Wood Elf).

Half-Elf (Wood Elf)

Wood Elves are widely known as masters of Nature Magic, capable of embodying the raw power of Nature. As a Half-Elf you have a limited grasp of their power but at the same time keep the adaptability of the Humans.

Racial Bonuses:

All Nature Spells cost 20% less and have 20% greater effect

All other spells cost 20% more and have 20% less effect

Nature Spells are easier to attain.

“Huh, cool.” Michael said, both surprised and annoyed by the change. Enhanced Nature spells were nice, given his class, but having all his other spells nerfed was kind of mean. And he really wished someone would explain how to ‘attain’ spells. He assumed it wasn’t talking about skill books but he had no idea how to do it otherwise.

[Hazel, do you mind getting off me so that I can have a proper rant? Without the arm movements and obscene gestures it’s not worth it.]

Hazel cracked one eye and looked at him briefly before going back to sleep.

[No no, Hazel, no, don’t go back to sleep! Oh, come on, why now? And why am I a pillow? Why am I always the pillow? See, this is why I need more friends, so you’ll find a comfier pillow.]

Michael lay his head back own, letting his adopted daughter use his body as a pillow. He had managed to explain what was going on before quaffing the potion but he still felt her worry, as well as her relief when he woke up. If using his body as a literal body pillow made her happy then it was worth it. With nothing better to do Michael pulled up his Status sheet.

Status

Name

Michael Volker

Age

33

Class

Ranger lvl 16

Class Experience

12,450 / 159,700

Profession

Treasure Hunter lvl 14

Profession Experience

11,450 / 61,000

Path

Boundless Adventure

Race

Mana Attuned Human

System Credits

3,458

Tier

2

Health

535 / 535

Mana

1472 / 1472

Health Regen

53.1 per min

Mana Regen

145.5 per min

Attributes

Unassigned Attribute points : 0

Strength 36 (+5) Agility 38 (+15) Vitality 36 (+15) Dexterity 38 (+5) Perception 68 (+20) Magic 75 (+20) Luck 34 (+10)

Affinities

Nature 71% Water 32% Ice 26% Fire 24% Light 19% Life 15% Skills Utility Beginner Camping lvl 10 Beginner Cleaning lvl 5 Beginner Climbing lvl 5 Basic Cooking lvl 8 Intermediate Exploration lvl 1 Beginner Herbalism lvl 7 First Aid lvl 5 Basic Fishing lvl 4 Identify lvl 5 Beginner Mana Manipulation lvl 10 Basic Skinning lvl 7 Mana Tracking lvl 1 Beginner Trading lvl 4 Mana Sense lvl 2 Crafting Basic Alchemy lvl 7 Basic Construction lvl 2 Basic Leatherworking lvl 2 Basic Trap Making lvl 3 Basic Woodworking lvl 7 Fighting Dupli-Cast lvl 8 Novice Dodge lvl 7 Novice Stealth lvl 10 Novice Throwing Weapons lvl 7 Novice Unarmed Combat lvl 4 Aura Gletser Aura lvl 1 Spell Boulder Throw lvl 6 Chilling Touch lvl 4 Intermediate Regeneration lvl 2 Wizard Arrow (Upgraded skill) lvl 5 Class Maglavin Archery (Upgraded skill) lvl 1 Soul Bond lvl 3 Vine Field lvl 3 Poison Spores lvl 4 Spell Arsenal (Upgraded skill) lvl 5 Power Shot lvl 5 Healing Sap lvl 2 Executioners Mark lvl 4 Power Draw lvl 1 Profession Treasure Scan II lvl 6 Analyse Treasure lvl 4 Magical Dismantle lvl 3 Magical Restore lvl 1 Lockpicking lvl 1 Treasure Map lvl 2

Thanks to the near constant fighting his skills had been increasing by leaps and bounds, with Exploration and Tracking even evolving to the next Tier. Intermediate Exploration gave a nice little bonus of adding nearby locations of interest on to his map and Mana Tracking gave a really nice bonus of making Mana trails more discernible which comboed nicely with his Mana Sense skill. He had several skills about to evolve but the skill he was most excited about was Beginner Mana Manipulation. He still had no idea how to attain spells but if he were to hazard a guess then it would involve Mana Manipulation and somehow creating a spell manually. He'd already given it the ol' college try but it would seem that he was either missing an important aspect or the skill wasn't strong enough.

After he had pumped up his pride over his lovely skills he brought himself back to earth by looking over his equipment.

Equipment

Armor

Rangers Jazerant: 150 Armor, +10 Magic and Perception, +5 Vitality, +25% Total Armor, 500/500 Durability. (3 Hel's Approval Patches applied, recover 1 Durability per hour)

Chilly Breeches: 30 Armor, +5 Agility and Magic, 143/150 Durability

Titan Belt: 15 Armor, +5 Strength, 49/50 Durability

Eagle Cloak: 20 Armor, +5 Agility and Perception, 35/50 Durability

Caster Gloves: 10 Armor, +5 Dexterity, 43/50 Durability

Frostwalker Boots: 25 Armor, +5 Agility and Magic, 98/100 Durability

Speedy Bracers: 20 Armor, +5 Agility and Perception, 138/150 Durability

Ring of the Elements: +10 Vitality, 100/100 Durability. (3 Hel's Approval Patches applied, recover 1 Durability per hour)

No-Choke Choker: +10 Luck, 99/100 Durability

Weapons

Endless Storm: 20-30 Damage, Soul Bound.

Dreki Knife: 25 Damage, 238/250 Durability

Frostwood Arrows x 450: 20 Damage, 20 Durability each

Frostbite Arrows x 120: 30 Damage, 15 Durability each

Hulgnir Throwing Axes x 5: 50 Damage, 25 Durability each

Granted, it wasn't the worst, he'd picked up a few decent items over his many battles, but comparing items like his caster gloves to his Rangers Jazerant made him all too aware that only a few of his items were even close to top of the line. In fact, other than his Jazerant, his ring, his throwing axes and his bow, everything practically screamed factory made. The No-Choke Choker, an item he would very much have liked to dismantle if not for its stats, almost made the list but he kept it out purely of spite. The choker would have made a goth half-heartedly say it's okay, their version of squealing with joy, with its black leather and large angry looking studs. Michael had zero idea why the item would give +10 luck but he would very much like to have a quiet word with the possibly insane person who designed it. On the bright side, it was really rather comfortable to wear, despite the bloodied spikes masquerading as studs.

Closing all his windows Michael took a quick peek at Hazel, finding her peacefully snoring, and settled down to wait.