“Well.. talk about convenient. I do not think I could hold many more of those orbs in my pocket. Another bonus was that I do not need to carry this weird rat tail anymore." Auron said to himself while slipping the ring on his bony finger. He squinted at it. Looking down at himself, he sighed as he realized he was just like skin and bones as he had ever been. The Algae and water had no real effect on his overall constitution, even though they made a slight difference. Moving his hand around, he was relieved to see that it would not fall off that easily.

Auron set the contents of his pockets on the ground. In the process, he pinched the tail between two fingers as his face curled in disgust.

Remembering that mana was an integral part of this world, he tries to push some of his mana toward it, taking it off and holding it between his thumb and forefinger on each hand.

Claim this ring? Y/N

With a thought to the affirmative, he claimed the ring. Excited by his success, he slid the ring on. With it placed on his finger, he gained the ability to sense what it was holding. Intrigued by the contents, he emptied the ring in front of him with a thought.

- Onyx rod. A rod made of mana conductive ore. It can be used as a tool.

-Black Pants. These pants made of an unidentified fabric can be used to cover knees and other parts of the legs.

-Blue socket body gemstone. Gemstone from the body of an Enfield spirit.

Hoping to get the new pants on right away, he imagined the ring emptying to try and get the items out. To his chagrin, it did not work that easily.

When he brought the items out, the pants appeared in place on his body. Auron wondered if he was now better than everyone else because he no longer had to put his pants on one leg at a time. With a stupid chuckle, he remembered the idiom commonly used on earth. Thinking back, he failed to remember who he heard ever saying it.

Noticing that there were no stat changes from the pants left him a little disappointed, but he was better off with these. The rags that were once called pants he was wearing before this all were in horrible shape. Auron made a mental note that his old pants swapped places with the new ones and were currently stored in the ring. Picking up the Clear blue gemstone and rod, he takes a closer look.

Auron spun the gemstone around to view it from different angles. The Perfectly cut lines in the jewel reminded him of the exact shape of the sockets carved into his body. He hoped all of that pain, getting the holes carved into his body will prove useful. The name Enfield's spirit rang a bell in his mind. He vaguely remembered that as some sort of fox hawk hybrid. Irish mythology. His mother taught him about this and several other legendary creatures of myth. Auron grabbed the stone and held it over the back of his left hand. As he moved it closer to the socket, before he could set it in, the gemstone was pulled into place by some unseen force. With a satisfying click, it locked into the socket. Auron tried giving it a firm tug, but no matter how much force he uses, it would not move. Just as he began to panic slightly, a message popped up.

Congratulations! Blue socket gemstone (Low tier) attached. Benefits are as followed.

-Mana regeneration(Wisdom) +10

-The natural connection to the Blue concentration of mana increases. If in the appropriate environment, skill creation increased. -Through this connection with the arcane all Limited magic gain one extra use per day and magical prowess is increased (+25% to magical damage) -Increase in the connection between your Head socket and the concentration of blue. No head socket found.

Auron felt overwhelmed by the information. Narrowing it down to what he understood, he was pleased that his mana would regenerate faster. The increase for wind blast and healing wind from two to three with a boost in damage also made him smile wide. Reading over the list one more time, he made it his goal to try and understand the colors of the mana system and ability acquisition. Finding some sort of civilization and gaining more knowledge will be among his first goals in this new world.

He removed his cowl and used it as a makeshift pillow. The leather material he wore constantly was starting to become a little hot and sticky with no undershirt. Slipping off his boots too, he looked over the odd dark red leather armor set. If you ignored the random patches of yellow fur, it looked pretty cool. Regardless of the material sometimes being uncomfortable, he was happy that with the bracers and the cowl together most of his upper body was covered. As he contemplated this new world, how crazy his day had been, and the implications of the magic system, he drifted off into a feverish sleep.

Auron’s dreams were filled with nightmares.

An endless sea of darkness surrounded him. Terror filled his every thought as his strength and consciousness drained away. He looked down and could see he was younger than his current age. His tiny arms and legs quickly losing muscle and fat as if being vacuumed away. Just as he began to feel he had nothing left that could be taken, he felt arms wrap around him in a loving embrace. His mother was there and replacing the void feeling his stomach was infused with a warmth that spread out to the rest of his body. A gigantic red veil surrounded the two of them, and he drifted into a long and easier sleep.

Jolting awake, Auron was confused and terrified by the realistic dream. The dull ache he always kept with him reminded him that his mother was gone. Trying to think back to his time with her, he found his memories of earth were fuzzy. It was as if he could almost grasp them with his mind, but never fully remembering locations or a timeline. As an involuntary shiver ran through his body, he sat up and noticed Zander was no longer in his tattoo.

[Good morning, Auron. I see you haven't been wasting any time. Congratulations on your new class.]

“Zander! I am glad you are back. You have no idea how scared I was fighting without you. I managed, but I really have no idea what I am doing when it comes to magic.” Auron spoke quickly, shrugging his shoulders. He was exasperated from remembering how he felt after killing.

[You did well. I was able to see through your eyes for most of it, but I could not come back out due to my state of mana deprivation. Everything you did was necessary to gain strength and improve your chances of survival. As for the magic, I can not really help you. The images you bring to your mind are working well, but as for controlling the power, you must grasp it alone. The way my mana control works is different than yours. Could you explain how to breathe to someone? Anything I could tell you about my concentration of magic, I am sure you already know. Wind magic and healing properties through an increase in your natural cellular process. As for the other concentrations, we will have to learn as we go.] Zander spoke calmly through their link his tone understanding.

Auron slightly frustrated knowing Zander was withholding some information, just nodded and changed the subject. “Sleeping here must be messing with my head. I had a pretty messed up dream. I was in this void or empty space, and it was terrible.” Auron spoke while rubbing his temples, trying to relieve the headache he was beginning to feel. If Zander had eyebrows, they would have shot up at the mention of this dream. Auron pressed him about his reaction, but his familiar oddly refused to speak another word on the subject.

Auron took the contents out of his pocket and set them down next to where he had left the stone rod he took out of the ring before he slept. When setting down the three orbs and rat tail, the rod, and tail touched.

Combination possible due to your lateral thinking special ability. Combine rat tail with Onyx rod? Y/N

“Who thinks up this stuff? Is the rat tail combining with this wand really something I even want to see? Zander, what do you think?”

[Although it may sound weird, both of those items are classified as tools. You should be grateful and use any opportunity given to us.]

“Yeah, I guess you are right. It just gives me the creeps. Well, here goes nothing. Combine.” As Auron speaks the words, a pinprick forms in the center of his chest. Flowing out of that spot a flash of blinding light causing Auron, and Zander to shut their eyes. When they open them, the tail and rod float toward each other as if controlled by an invisible puppeteer. All flesh melts away from the tail leaving just the pale white bone underneath. As if reanimated, the tail wraps around the Shiny ore and sinks partially in. Once combined, the newly formed rod falls to the ground.

As Auron recovered from the bright light and subsequent magical puppet show, he slowly moved toward the rod. Tapping it with his finger to he checked to see if it was dangerous or hot from the combination. Picking it up activated his message screen. *Bing*

Congratulations! Rattail and Onyx rod have combined to form an Onyx bone wand. Onyx is a natural conductor of black mana. While it absorbs ambient black mana, the rod can be used to channel any type of mana. The mana that then passes through this rod is condensed and can be transferred. Through the functions provided by this ore combined with the organic material from the bone inside of the rat tail, you have formed a tool that can condense and transfer mana provided into a suitable container.

Auron picked up the rod. “Expelliarmus!” He shouts and points the rod at an imaginary snake faced foe. When Zander ignored the joke, Auron blushed and appraised the bone rod. What was left of the tail wrapped around the shiny black stone, the thick part of the bone at the base of the rod going around all the way to the tip of the tail sunk into the top of it. Reading the description, he was a little confused, but it seemed like the rod had its own properties, and those properties allowed him to use it to move his magic into something.

"I bet I can use these empty gemstones as a container! Magic grenades here we come! This is going to be awesome."

Warning 10 minutes left until space closure. We hope you enjoyed your stay at the cozy dungeon inn. Please exit promptly at the checkout time to avoid death or loss of limb.

Auron looked up to see that the XII above the door was replaced with a blinking I and realized that those symbols must have represented the amount of time left. “Crap! I guess I will have to play with this stuff later. You don’t have to tell us twice.” Auron gathered his things. Adding the rod and three gemstones into his new ring, showing it off in front of Zander.

[If you are done playing with your new toy, let us push on and beat this dungeon.] Zander said and jumped up onto Auron's shoulder aided by a small blast of wind from his tail.

“You know I should start charging you for being your personal steed,” Auron said in jest as he activated the exit button. Sliding through the opening, they were again back in the cavern with the steady stream flowing through the center.

[If you were a horse you wouldn't talk as much, maybe I will upgrade to something quieter.] Zander sent back sarcastically.

“Alright, alright. You win that exchange. You are getting better at sarcasm there, Zan,” Auron said cheerily.

After He drank some water and ate some of the algae, he grabbed a large handful and stored it in his ring. Auron walked over to the tunnel leading down to the depths of the dungeon.

“I am not sure I can handle anything stronger than those rats alone,” He said, attempting to suppress a shiver running through his body.

[Well, it is a good thing you are not alone.]

Swallowing his fear, Auron began the descent into the dark tunnel once again, forced to use the wall as a crutch as he traveled forward. After a hundred slow steps through the pitch-black hall, one of his steps forward caught nothing but air. Cursing the lack of light, the two plummeted downward. Auron fell quickly, and unexpectedly he did not even have time to scream or wonder how far the drop was. Zander activated some form of wind magic just in time to slightly slow their velocity. Unfortunately, they were still falling fast enough for Auron to hear his left ankle crack as they landed. Howling in pain, he fell backward, clutching his leg.

“I really need to up my durability stat. Every other minute I am breaking or straining something. I do not see a defense stat anywhere.” He squeezed out the words through gritted teeth as Zander activated healing wind the last word being muffled by his hands as he failed to stifle a little shout.

After a taking few minutes that they needed to heal Auron's ankle, the two pressed onward, noticing a light coming from the next room. A soft glowing orb of something passed by Auron's face as he raised his arms and shut his eyes defensively in alarm.

[It is okay I don't think they mean us any harm.] Zander sent over softly his voice oddly melancholy.

Auron opened his eyes to see the light was joined by others. Activating inspection, he was able to see more information.

Wisp. These harmless beings are found all over the world. Some cultures believe they are the souls of monsters. Floating lanterns forever wandering without a destination. Non-hostile. Not edible.

“Okay, I have had just about enough of that edible business. I am not going to try and eat the floating balls of light, thank you.” Auron did not stay frustrated for long because the lights multiplied again. Hundreds of the orbs appeared in all different primary colors. They began to swarm and spin. Their light cascading around the room, sending shadows and colors along the walls. Every so often, one of the balls of light would bounce away from the group and slightly tap Auron. With each tap, he was assaulted with memories, emotions, and flashes of senses that came and went so fast he was left feeling confused, his body tingling with joy and various other positive emotions. Whatever these beings were, Auron was happy for the experience. Finishing their combination ballet and light show, the orbs rose to the ceiling and floated lazily. The beautiful sight and slew of feelings left Auron feeling refreshed. He was happy to know that this world was not only pain and suffering, maybe he could find something other than endless monsters and dungeons.

Passing through an oddly symmetrical opening, they happened upon a giant square cavern, The walls all were straight, and the ceiling was flat as if carved into the stone. The wisps flowed into this room slowly as well. Seeing the right angles for the first time in the dungeon threw Auron off slightly. He could believe someone carved out the rest of what he had seen, but this was near perfection. Thanks to the light provided, Auron was able to make out what looked like holes carved into the walls and makeshift stone hovels surrounded by pieces of metal clearly used as tools.

“Finally, some sort of civilization. Zander come on. Let's go see if there are people!” Auron whooped and began to jog over toward the structures, forgetting his architectural wonderings at the huts' sight. At the noise, he made four little heads popped out of different homes, and a fifth peered out and went right back. A soft lavender glow appearing from the location of the fifth.

Small humanoid creatures clambered out all except for the one that glowed. They all were about half of Auron's height standing around 3 feet. Their heads made up about 1/3 of that height. Auron wondered how they even managed to support their heads on the tiny thin necks they all had.

Walking almost bashfully and shyly toward the two, the creatures all had their hands behind their backs as if they were paying some sort of respect to the man and his familiar. Auron should have wondered why his inspection did not work, but he assumed it did not activate on friendly living creatures. In fact, he remembered having to make it activate to view Zander.

“Look at those little things!” Auron said. The small bipedal creatures walked forward with their hands behind their backs, faces looking shy. “Way too cute to be dangerous right Zan?” Auron's voice came out in a slow drawl, his eyes covered by a thin mist of light purple.

[Guard you fool!] Zander sent through their link as Auron walks up to greet the creatures.

As the two groups close the distance to mere steps from each other, something in their faces changed. They began to laugh in a warbling tone faces crinkled with an expression of ecstasy.

*shu-she-shu*. The closest one then took out a dagger from behind his back and leaped forward.