Rydr didn't know how, but he was at the top of the stone tower, sitting in a wooden chair with tea in front of him. The mid-twenties, exhausted-looking man in front of him bounced in his seat. His apparent energy was at odds with his disheveled appearance, and it gave Rydr a sense of vertigo.

"So that you know, I have no intention of pursuing magic. I want to swing the biggest weapon I can get my hands on and hit harder than anyone else. That's all." Rydr wanted to erase the 25's in his mental stats and dump them into strength. He had no intention of humoring this mage. Magic is cool, but not what I'm into.

The unnamed mage cackled, "There is more than one path to magic. At the Mage's College, if you pursue the limits of your path," he lightly coughed something that sounded like and passed classes, "then the college will support you!" His nasal voice rasped across Rydr's senses.

"What was that about classes?" Rydr wasn't going to let that comment slip.

"Nothing." The ragged mage turned to stare out the window.

A long silence stretched between them as Rydr stared at the skinny man.

"Okay...I'm gonna leave then. The tea smelled good." Rydr started to get up, but the mage was suddenly behind him, hands on his shoulders. The sudden shift made the young man jump. Rydr started to see a future where the whole game was him trying to escape from this tower.

"I'm certain there is something in magic that interests you." If Rydr were not so focused on leaving, he would have heard the desperation in the other man's voice.

"There isn't." Rydr started to get frustrated with his eccentric conversation partner, heat building in his chest and head.

"Please don't say that. I've never seen anyone at level 1 with magical strength like yours since myself. The only way to lose stats is under curses or level penalties, so you should use every tool you have at your disposal." The mage walked around the table- at a visible speed this time- and sat down. "My name is Izor. I'm a licensed Mana Savant stationed here to study the wellspring of mana that has caused rampant growth in the local plants."

Rydr didn't know how to get out of here yet, so he throttled his frustration and humored Izor. "Mana Savant? You're not a mage?"

Izor leaned forward on the table, almost in Rydr's face. "I am, but it's a variant. All classes have variants, and mine is technically a tier two mage. I focus more on the manipulation of Mana itself rather than casting set spells." He spoke so passionately that he was spitting all over the tea on the table. Rydr leaned away from the splash zone.

"That really does sound interesting, but I have a timed quest to fulfill. May I leave now?" If I can't leave via force, diplomacy is my only option. I'm also open to outright begging. Rydr was at his wit's end, listening to Izor try to recruit him.

Izor deflated, and his energy finally matched his appearance. "I believe you will pursue magic someday," he reached into his dirty blue bathrobe and pulled out a sealed letter and three crumpled scrolls, "so take this as an offer and an incentive." He morosely pushed the items across the wooden table. He weirdly stared at Rydr as he waited. Too determined for just a moment.

Is...is he trying to give me puppy dog eyes? He's glancing away...he looked back. Stop it, dude. The immense, dark bags under Izor's eyes deformed the classic expression too much for it to work.

Rydr sighed and, thinking it was the only way out of the tower, picked up the four parchment pieces. As soon as he accepted them, a storm of notifications sounded off in his head. With existential dread, he opened them.

[Rare Feat! Diamond in the Rough]

-Your natural talent for the Arcane Arts has caught the attention of the Mage's College! Rather than hard work, you can rest on your laurels because they want you there.-

+10 Intelligence

+10 Wisdom

[Uncommon Feat! Ahead of the Game]

-Congratulations! You are the first diver to be recruited to an Elite Organization! No one can keep their hands off you!-

+5 Intelligence

+5 Wisdom

+20 Fame

*Paragon Triggered*

"FUCK!" Rydr wanted to strangle the wiry mage for what he had done. Not only did he have to play catch-up on his strength again, but Paragon went off! Even with the five points from Rydr's Stone-Guard Vambraces, his strength score was only forty-five compared to the forty-sevens in his intelligence and wisdom.

"Is there a problem?" Izor was the picture of smug confidence that was oh-so punch-able. The mage seemed unperturbed by Rydr's outburst.

Of all things, Izor's smug face knocked Rydr out of his anger. The mage's face reminded him of something—the look of someone who got exactly what they wanted.

Then something Izor said earlier came back to Rydr, and he had to ask, "Since you mentioned my level, are feats part of your world too?" The NPC was uncanny. Rydr genuinely failed to distinguish between this mage and the divers who cornered him in the market.

Plus, no markers. The game didn't hold the diver's hand by putting helpful tags over everyone's heads. Monte, the game's programmer, warned the audience in his interview that the divers wouldn't be able to distinguish them.

Izor considered how to answer Rydr before he said, "They are. In our world, achieving a great feat is rewarded by the gods. What you call feats, we think of as Blessings acknowledging strength or ingenuity." Then the spindly man stopped speaking. Izor took a sip of his tea as he watched Rydr's reaction.

Rydr considered the information for a while. The "gods" Izor mentioned could be literal deities in this world. On the other hand, the "gods" might refer to Eve and the game moderators. Since Rydr wasn't an NPC, there was no way to confirm the locals' message.

"Does a screen, like a translucent scroll, appear when people of this world achieve a feat?" Rydr needed to confirm a few details for his idea.

Izor nodded at the youth, still sipping his tea.

"Then you knew that I would receive a 'Blessing,'" Rydr used air-quotes, "before you gave these to me." Rydr gestured at the scrolls and letter still on the table.

Izor held up a finger, "I suspected that you would. The gods informed us that a race of immortal Travellers was coming to our world in great numbers, for better or worse. The gods value innovation of any kind. Therefore, I suspected you would receive a Blessing for being the first Traveller acknowledged by the Mage's College. " Izor failed to mention that some locals hailed the Travellers as prophesied heroes. To him, people were people immortal or otherwise.

"Travellers..." Rydr tested the name. If he was honest about it, the name felt pretty generic. How would people differentiate between divers and traveling NPC merchants?

Rydr quickly tabled that mental tangent and refocused on the smug mage.

"Why?" Rydr saw no reason to expand on his question.

Izor's smile faded, and the atmosphere turned grim. Gooseflesh rose all over Rydr as pressure built against his senses. Rydr grabbed his head and bent over, almost dunking into the teacup while he groaned in pain.

Then, as quickly as it came, the pressure vanished. Rydr sagged in relief and tentatively looked up at Izor. The mage's smile returned, but Rydr couldn't look him in the eye. The goosebumps on Rydr's arms tamped down as he relaxed.

"You haven't earned that information." Izor's cheery, eccentric attitude seemed an afterthought in the wake of his frosty glare.

Uncomfortable, Rydr changed the subject back, "So what I'm hearing is that there is functionally no difference between residents of this world and us Travellers." Obviously, immortality is a difference, but that's a known factor.

"Essentially correct." Izor shrugged nonchalantly. Then he looked at Rydr, catching his eyes, "I won't keep you here any longer, but I want you to know what you have first." The mage tapped his forefinger on the table, indicating the four pieces of parchment.

Once Rydr heard that he could leave after a little more proselytizing, the giant settled back in his chair. Ominous creaking voiced objections from underneath him, but it was a normal sound for him in reality as well- so Rydr ignored it.

Izor watched Rydr settle in before he pointed at the first scroll, "This one is [Empower]. It's less of a spell and more of a skill. You can use it to overload spells- pump more mana in than needed to cast it for a larger effect." Then he pointed at the next one, "This here is [Reinforcement]. You can think of it as an all-purpose buff spell. Need some more armor? Cast it on your armor. More damage? You get the concept." The mage rolled his hand like, "you get it."

Then Izor shifted his chair around the table, closer to Rydr, "This last one also counts as more of a skill than a spell." He delicately picked up the scroll, like an old phone salesman. "[Consume] is a spell-slash-skill used to increase a mage's mana regeneration. Big whoop, right?" Izor's elbow dug painfully into Rydr's side as he cajoled him.

"Well, big whoop is exactly right!" Izor's eyes started to bulge from his face again as his previous passion returned. "Every magic-user in the world ends up with this little beauty. You 'increase' your mana regen by consuming the ambient mana around you, using it to fuel your reserves instead of digging into your mana pool."

"Certainly useful for a caster..." Rydr agreed with the dirty mage. Where is he going with this?

Izor stared at the giant kid's face before he rocked back in his chair, groaning. "You're thinking too small! Every magic-user will have this ability. High-level fights are a battle for resources as much as dominance." He leaned forward hard, slamming the chair legs into the stone floor. "If you can rob them of those resources, what better way for a melee fighter to counter magic?"

That idea took root in Rydr's mind. He started to imagine fighting his way through a crowd of enemies while engaged in a mental tug-of-war with the enemy mage, preventing them from casting anything big.

While Rydr was lost in his imagination for the moment, Izor kept an eye on him. To the mage's left, his hand groped for the three scrolls on the table. With all three in his hand, the mage furtively crushed them. As the parchment crumpled in his hand, blue energy sparked around them, coalescing into a blue ball of plasma that consumed the rest of the scrolls.

"Okay," Rydr finally agreed, "I admit that removing mana from a battlefield to 'starve' mages is cool-"

Like that was some agreed-upon signal, Izor's hand blurred forward as he jumped from his chair. The blue ball of plasma cupped in his hand was slapped into Rydr's forehead, blue energy sparking out.

That done, Izor jumped away from Rydr and watched as the giant grabbed his head, his eyes rolling up as new information shoved itself into his frontal cortex.

The new spells imprinted themselves in Rydr's mind, concepts and theory settling in like he'd learned them himself. The data flow strain eased after a minute, but during that minute, Rydr was helpless. The experience felt like an intrusive negative thought but magnified a hundredfold. While the spells downloaded, the giant had no choice but to think about them, his mind obsessing like studying for exams with his eyes taped open.

Soon it was over, but Rydr felt exhausted. Another system notice announced itself in his head, but Rydr shoved everything away. Minutes passed, and the fatigue began to fade, allowing Rydr to look up at Izor. The mage was back across the table, sipping what looked like a fresh, steaming cup of tea.

[Monumental Feat! First Mage]

-Somehow the impossible comes naturally to you. Congratulations on not only being the first Traveler to learn a magic spell but three at once! (Feat Tier Upgrade- Elite to Monumental)-

~Qualifying spell(s) Mastery Upgraded 1 Tier

~~Beginner Mastery to Journeyman Mastery

~~[Reinforcement] [Empower] [Consume]

"You..." Rydr was too upset to say anything and stormed out of the room. He stuffed the letter into his inventory without looking at it. Out of sight, out of mind. He thought to himself. Izor never tried to stop the angry giant this time.

After all, he'd gotten what he wanted. All Rydr needed to do was be open to magic, even for just a moment, and Izor was able to force the spells into him. A map appeared on the table in front of him, showing a glowing dot moving around in circles as Rydr descended the tower. Izor leaned back in his chair and sighed, letting the map disappear.

*****

Rydr's first trip through the tower happened at light speed, but a winding staircase was a winding staircase. Several rooms were visible on each of the four floors he passed through, but Rydr didn't want to snoop around in a mage's tower while the mage was home. He found his way out easily.

The red giant paused at the entrance to appreciate the destruction Izor had wrought in his rapid exodus from the tower. The thick wooden door was still embedded in the wall across the street, but the stones around the inside of the entrance were cracked. Spots, where the door hinges used to be, were ripped from their moorings.

Despite the headache that Izor had caused him, Rydr had to admire the man's raw power. Rydr still didn't have a frame of reference for what a 45 in strength would do, but he doubted he was anywhere close to shattering stone moorings just to open a door a little faster.

Then Rydr shook his head to dispel thoughts of the willful mage. How did he even do that? How can an NPC force something into my mind?

Without further ado, Rydr fled the tower and walked out of town as fast as he could. Once outside the plant-covered gatehouse, he started to search for Iron Clan goblins as he made his way further into the woods, as Lynn suggested earlier.

There were faint traces of a road that existed, but the local plantlife's rampant growth obscured or totally erased most of it. Rydr shrugged and abandoned the "road" altogether. Ostensibly merchants and city planners wouldn't have put the road anywhere near the goblin caves, so he didn't think he would encounter any goblins near it.

Izor said that a hidden wellspring of mana caused the plant growth. Someone will probably find it at some point and reverse the effects. Rydr tried to distract himself from how difficult it was to make it through the woods. Undergrowth like thorny bushes and grasping vines made it more akin to trudging through the snow- really painful snow. The pickaxe he had was utterly useless when it came to clearing a path, so Rydr stored it in his inventory to keep it out of his way.

Rydr could hear the faint sounds of fighting somewhere in the woods, but the trees distorted the sound so that he couldn't find its source. Still, he tried to focus on it so he could follow the sound. Maybe some players are already fighting goblins. Lynn said I was too weak for the caves by myself, so they might be willing to let me join their party if I can make them some weapons in the future?

Something seemed off to him, though. Rydr slowly ground to a halt as he concentrated on what bothered him. He looked around himself, but Rydr couldn't place his finger on the issue. He could still hear the fight in the distance, but the ambient noise...had stopped. Rydr froze as his heart dropped into his shoes. Nature documentaries flashed through his mind as he thought of the only real reason woods would go totally silent like this. A large predator had to be nearby. Maybe I should have tried for a party before I stormed out of town...

Rydr started towards the sound of fighting again. The players may not know him, but more experience was always welcome, right? As he walked, he strained his senses for any sign of what made the little woodland animals suddenly clam up. He even started to pull that diaphanous material from the edge of his vision, activating his [Third Eye] skill.

Mana glowed deep inside the plants when he concentrated on them, whether from innate lifeforce or from the wild mana he didn't know. Still, the sight was beautiful and fascinating, almost like a built-in microscope for the magical world.

The only time he didn't see the mana pulse into view when magic was used was when Izor cast his spells and whatever it was that let him move so fast. Rydr refused to believe that the mage's strength and speed were natural.

However, Rydr noticed that as he kept the mana in his field of view, a blue bar cropped up in the corner of his vision. Once he was cognizant of it, he was able to see that his mana pool was drained by using his Third Eye skill.

He officially received the ability when he first landed outside of Grotto. It made sense that the ability would drain his mana pool. He did some quick mental math and discovered that Third Eye drained his mana at a rate of 30 points of mana per second. His mana regenerated 14 points, but the deficit of 16 points every second would quickly drain him. He would last 30 seconds at most if he used it without a break.

Rydr felt closer to the fighting than earlier, but he still didn't know if he was going in the right direction. The giant had a small minimap that he could pull into view if he focused on it, so he didn't concern himself too much with getting lost. Most games would fill out your map as you travel, and he saw that [Frontier Online] had a similar function. Rydr's exploration progress so far filled in the "fog of war" on his minimap.

Without warning, Rydr was knocked to the ground, and his shoulder burned like fire, something hard forcing his head to the side. Panicked, he reached back and felt stiff, bristly fur under his hands. Rydr grabbed with both hands and squeezed as hard as he could. With a massive heave, he ripped the creature off his shoulder. His eyesight spun with pain as the creature's teeth were ripped out of his shoulder.

* CRIT -50 hp*

*-10 hp*

For a brief moment, Rydr was shocked that the pain didn't incapacitate him. After the first flare, the pain dulled to an intense burning sensation. There was no way he could fight in the real world with a chunk taken out of his shoulder.

His health bar appeared beside his mana bar and began to blink red, warning him that he'd taken damage. Rydr hadn't placed any of his free attribute points into Constitution, so his health was unnaturally high for a level one diver. A loss of 60 health points was a bit under a third of his 220 total.

Ahead of him, the creature, a large tawny wolf, slammed into a tree. Red damage counts floated over the creature.

*30 damage*

He didn't have a moment to rest as the wolf flipped onto its paws and threw itself at him. It snarled and bared its teeth as it rushed him, its stealth abandoned now that its ambush had failed.

Rydr cried out and raised his arms to protect himself. The wolf leaped through the air, and Rydr shoved his right arm into the back of its maw to stop its charge. Rydr's Stone-Guard Vambraces proved their worth when the wolf's teeth chipped themselves on the stony exterior of his forearm.

Rydr endured great violence for most of his life without resisting, but the wolf's threat of death brought out his primal need to survive.

Rydr twisted and rolled on top of the wolf. Its claws raked his chest, but he was beyond keeping track of his health. With a shout, Rydr started to hammer fierce blows onto the beast's neck and skull. His arm was no longer trapped in its jaws; instead, he used it to pin the wolf to the ground and beat it to death with his free hand.

*10 damage*

*15 damage*

*CRIT 25 damage*

Strike after strike, Rydr pummeled the wolf into the ground. Red bled into his vision as his health dropped, and his strikes became harder as adrenaline and desperation fueled his punches. Inarticulate roars issued from his mouth as he and the wolf struggled against each other. Rydr's strength was too great for the wolf to free itself.

In a last-ditch effort, Rydr abandoned punching and grabbed the wolf's jaw. He stepped on the roof of its mouth and pulled with his left hand. With wet popping, the wolf's pained whines mixed into Rydr's roars. He ripped the wolf's lower jaw off along with most of its lower neck.

*Fatal CRIT 85 damage*