Okay~ so some of you may be upset for the late update, you may have been planning some nefarious plan of abducting me, duct taping my to a chair and forcing me to write the next chapter. HOWEVA!

I had my reasons, and those reasons are:

But seriously, aside from life crap going on, this chapter was a doosey to write, so much information! [th_085_.gif]

ENJOY! :)

~~~WG~~~

It has been three whole days since I met Arumarra. I’ve not been idle in that time… First I went to the base of my hill which took me about fifteen minutes. I had to carefully pick my way down in some areas, which was a bit annoying.

When I reached the bottom I found a few trees, they weren’t huge but they were mature enough to produce that fruit and that’s all I required.

I also noticed a convenient spring nearby; it seemed to well up from the earth. Not surprising with the amount of water I found down there.

After collecting the seeds from the fruit and having a nice long drink I made my way down to Arumarra’s area. I was careful not to go any further than the cavern I discovered the day before.

Gathering up my improvised bag full of Suerte Dolorosa, yellow algae, mold, lichen and crab meat that I planned on preserving I added the seeds to the mix.

It didn’t take long for Arumarra to notice my presence, in fact she probably knew before I reached the caverns. She was far more perceptive than me. Especially with her powerful Telepathy ability, which unlike mine didn’t need eye contact to function.

It was only strengthened by eye contact.

We spoke for some time; she began explaining to me the principles of magic in this world and how to progress as a magic user. Unfortunately she couldn’t teach me much about its use for my race.

Draconic magic is all about instinct and emotion, whereas most other races had a different method of controlling it.

I seem to use what’s known as Magic Weaving as opposed to Magic Casting. Weaving is the act of stimulating the Magical Essence in the surroundings, creating an effect through inspiring growth or reduction in energies.

I can guide those energies on the paths I want them to take. Later on I should be capable of crossing energies to get a different result, like adding air and fire to increase fire effectiveness. Or taking away impurities in metal to only have the metal remaining.

Using complex guidance and exciting the right energies I should be able to do things that a Caster can’t do no matter how much Magical Power they use.

Honestly I liked this kind of magic, it was creative and inspiring… truly something tailored to my own way of doing things.

Arumarra is technically a magic Caster, she is capable of getting immediate results from her magic and didn’t need to go through any complicated rituals. However the price for this was increased energy consumption… then again she’s a World Dragon and has a magic capacity large enough to destroy a planet… scary.

As a result there was very little she could teach me, thankfully though she was able to teach me the basics regarding elemental magic. Fire, Earth, Water and Air were all Elemental Magic and in order to use them, you had to be in tuned with said element.

In smaller words, I had to meditate while getting burned, soaked, blasted with air and taking a dirt bath. A lot of it was Arumarra simply guessing at how I would attain Elemental Magic. But surprisingly I actually did get some results.

[Congratulations! You have gained a new Affinity: Lesser Earth Affinity!]

[Congratulations! You have gained a new Affinity: Lesser Water Affinity!]

HA! One small step for man, one giant leap toward killing a Raptor! Interestingly enough Earth and Water were only Lesser Affinities… in other words they allowed the most basic of control over the elements.

When I asked Arumarra why they were Lesser Affinities her explanation was this.

“Hruum… Those not born or gifted with magic cannot train in magic… you were granted the Natural Affinity. Earth and Water are the closest two Affinities to Nature, it does not surprise me that you are gifted in their use. However due to not being born with them… you must slowly attune yourself to them over time.”

So basically if you aren’t gifted from birth or lucky enough to find a resonance cave you were shit out of luck? That sucks! Well… at least there’s a way to remedy the issue, and I wasn’t forced to live my life without magic. That would just be way too inconvenient.

I was however a little surprised when Arumarra told me that staying in a Resonance Chamber… that is the cave with all the Resonance Crystals in case you forgot. Can sometimes lead to death from brain hemorrhaging… yikes.

It was rare for a creature to be born without Inherent Magic, but apparently my Inheritance came in the form of my Racial Abilities like Temperature Adaptation, Iron Scales and Infrared Sight.

These abilities if trained could combat even magic. Due to these Abilities it would be rare for anyone in my race to be born with Magic Affinities.

Bogus I say! Although my Racial Abilities are kick ass I must admit.

Oh well, on to more interesting things. My Earth affinity allowed me to harden or soften the earth around me… unfortunately I couldn’t throw pebbles like a gun shot, that would apparently require a more developed affinity… grrr.

However the uses for this magic were many, I could use it to augment my Nature Magic or I could mix it with Water Affinity to make a quagmire! I can also shape stone and metals… oh I’m going to have fun with this later kuhuhu.

Water Affinity is a bit more interesting, unlike Earth it can be moved freely through the air, only a little sluggishly. I can purify it and even create mini geysers. Although on a world with little water this might be seen as a bad combat magic… it is never the less indispensable for obvious reasons.

I can literally separate water from the earth or plants around me! Though this may be bad for the world, if I’m dehydrated I will definitely use it kuhuhu.

New toys aside I had another reason for seeing Arumarra today. When I explained what I wanted she agreed rather quickly which I was a bit surprised about but chalked it up to her being a good friend.

What I wanted was a path, there was a slope down my hillside but it was uneven and a bit annoying so I asked the mighty World Dragon Arumarra to… pave it for me. Yeah I know call me lazy but that powerful breathe of hers is just way too convenient!

It only took her a half hour to complete and when it was finished I had a smooth path that spiraled around my hill all the way to the top! That made going up and down easier and lets be honest, it looked awesome.

After that we talked about magic a bit more. Mainly about how magic is separated into many groups and forms, honestly it is all rather complex. There are three main groups of magic; Magical Essence, Magical Energy and Magical Power.

Magical Essence was the most basic of the basic; I guess you could call them the Atoms of a Magical World. They make up all non-organic and organic matter. Every element in the world is made of Essence. There are Additive Essence, Negative Essence and Neutral Essence. Everything has just the right balance of all three.

Additive Essence is what can be seen as the source of all life, it can also be seen as cancerous, too much can pollute the world making it unbalanced.

Negative Essence is the hard working clean up guy! It attacks Additive Essence and feeds off of it. Thus life will age and eventually die. Too much of this fella and lets just say you end up with a whole lot of nothing!

Neutral Essence is between the two; it is also the densest of the three. Earth and stones have dense Neutral Essence, it attracts both additive and Negative Essence to itself, this allows for new forms of elements to be created. Basically it’s a core building block for all new elements and even life.

Understand? Even Magic has a system that it is built upon.

Magical Energy is a bit different… Basically all living things create it, it’s what powers out minds and bodies, feeding cells and creating new ones under the right conditions.

It is also seen as the Soul or Spirit, deep within the core of every living thing, Magical Energy resides that is extremely dense, this is where Essence is refined into Energy. This Energy is affected by the living creature it resides in… the mental stability of the creature can affect the nature of the energy produced.

In simple terms… some people are bad, thus their outward appearance and aura gives off a feeling of danger, while good people can make others comfortable.

Last but not least is Magical Power, or as my Status likes to call it, MP.

MP is a byproduct from Magical Energy that normally would leak out naturally and dissipate or be consumed by things that crave it… like the undead. Yeah I wanted to ask more about them too, but this was more important.

Anyway, MP can sometimes be stored within the body and controlled by those who have developed a connection with elements or magic in general. This Affinity forms a Magic Power Stone just beneath the sternum for most races. This allows the storing of MP and it’s use.

Weavers like myself use MP to excite and guide magic into creating a specific affect. Whereas Casters use the MP within them and convert it into elements or pure power, this drains the MP faster but produces immediate results.

There was a lot of information to take in, and my head was starting to hurt from it all. However she eventually left to go warm her eggs. She seems to have a telepathic connection with them, and knows what they want or if they’re in danger.

By that time though I no longer needed her help, she really did do a lot for me so I should think of a way to repay her later. Anyway, I set about tilling the earth on my hilltop, making it soft but not too soft. I thought about using it for the path before but in the end Arumarra was just way faster.

Once the earth was softened and moistened with my magic I went about growing my various plants! First were the trees, they were planted close to the Man Cave for shade and easy access to fruits. I named the trees Kiwood Trees and the melon sized kiwi fruits Meloki melons.

My awesome naming sense strikes again Kahahahaha!

Using my Nature Magic I was able to accelerate their growth, they grew about as tall as my Man Cave. I then went about trying to grow other things; the results were not what I had hoped. The Suerte Dolorosa couldn’t grow without Resonance Crystals and the others save for the Lichen wouldn’t grow at all.

I surmised that they needed a dimly lit environment to thrive. Even the mold withered in the sun. And the yellow algae needed water, but seemed to wither in the heat. I decided to take a few Resonance Crystals from the caverns and make a garden border out of them. The result was satisfactory… my shrooms were ALIVE!

Muahahahahaha!

…

Moving on.

I had an idea from my previous conversation with Arumarra. Weaving magic was the process of guiding magic to take a certain effect. I noticed that sometimes I would use Nature Magic and I would think.

“Hmm I want it to go this way.”

Surprisingly enough, when I thought that while really concentrating it would follow my directions! After some trial and error I finally made a tree with a spiraling trunk! Looked awesome! But the thing that really got to me was.

[Congratulations! You have unlocked the Ability: Guided Growth!

Using your sheer willpower and imagination you can coerce nature into any form you choose!]

Also my Mind stat went up by one point!

After gaining this awesome new ability I immediately pla- I mean put it to good use~ by designing a door! My Man Cave is a superb example of finer cave man living, however the entrance was pretty needlessly huge.

Using Nature Magic I grew two trees, one on each side. I guided them into a perfect arch with branches outside the opening to gather the needed sunlight. I then had arm thick branches grow from each side intersecting in the center.

Then I used my magic to open and close it! Haha I’m a genius! Now I had a good deterrent from the weather and possible predators that were courageous or stupid enough to approach Arumarras nest area.

After all that I had a nice dinner of crabmeat and melons, simple but it did the job right. I used water magic to gather enough water and boiled it over a fire. Boiled crabmeat is indeed my favorite so far!

Thanks to magic I had an unlimited supply of firewood! Nature Affinity rocks!

After that it started to get darker, I think the hours in the day are shorter on this world. I made an improvised sundial once I flattened the land with earth magic. And sure enough the minute hand represented by the shadow moved a little faster than I’m used to.

I’m no mathematician but I think the days are about eighteen hours long. And the nights are shorter too. Not that it matters though; I basically just go to sleep when I’m tired.

~v~

On the second day I furnished my new home, using my magic I formed chairs, a table, a desk, bed and even a book shelf… though that was more for décor seeing as I don’t have paper.

Oddly enough I couldn’t use Earth Magic on the obsidian walls… maybe I need a higher affinity? Oh well… I guess windows will have to wait.

It’s important to note that this all took me a long time. Forming things with magic consumes MP, after about fifteen minutes my MP went dry and a slight sense of loss could be felt, like phantom limb syndrome where you know it should be there but its gone.

Honestly it’s a crappy feeling.

Creating one chair took a long time, about half an hour. Imagine making a table and bed… uhg.

Nine hours later I exited the cave and collected some more crabmeat and shells. I love the meat but I know I’ll get sick of it soon. Hope I can find some diversity soon. I’m NOT eating a Meterpede or a Quattro Bat, who knows where they’ve been!

Okay I would if I was desperate but I’m not there yet.

After that long day of building (more like growing) and resting to recuperate my magic power I was completely beat and fell asleep on my new leaf covered bed, which wasn’t perfect but also wasn’t the floor.

~v~

On the third day I was rather refreshed, my Mind stat had risen by two yesterday and my maximum MP was a little higher. This made me rather energetic even though it took hours for any progress to show.

I decided to devote the day to a very important thing. Equipment!

Yeah, I was tired of always being naked and weaponless, even with my claws in Iron Scales activation I still preferred a longer reach.

So the first thing I made was one of the simplest, but most deadly inventions of my old world… a Spear. Two meters long and freshly grown from a nearby tree, I shaped it as perfectly as I could. The finished product was less than perfect.

The long pole bent too much and was not nearly as accurate as I imagined it should be. The spike at the end would blunt the moment it hit something hard. In other words…

FAILURE!

After moping around for a while and mulling it over in my mind I came up with a solution.

Basically my Spear failed because this wood is too flexible, making it two meters was especially problematic due to this fact. So instead I shortened the next one to a meter and a half long. This time I took it slow, allowing the wood to mature as it grew and condensed it.

The whole thing took me quite a while but the end result was a three finger thick meter and a half pole that was tough yet slightly flexible when pressured. I used Earth Magic to form a spear tip and attached it to the pole by shrinking the opening under the blade and tightly squeezing it onto the wood.

I made two of these; one was only an arm length though, more akin to a javelin. I needed a backup in case my first one failed to make the cut… hehe get it?

After these I attempted to make a bow, however I was stumped on how to make string… I think they used intestines for bows in the old days of earth… but I’ve yet find a creature with intestines that would serve this purpose… so I regrettably had to put that on hold.

I made a nicely formed stone dagger using Earth Magic and wrapped the hilt in wood.

Last but not least I needed clothing… or at least armour of some sort. This one stumped me for a while since although I had plenty of crab shells they were not really suited for what I needed. And I had no leather or fabric of any sort.

When I was about to make stone armour I remembered something, a bit of trivia from my old world. Samurai used to wear wooden armour!

Just knowing it’s been done before made me really want to try my hand at it. They would usually make the armour out of wooden plates or scales. I didn’t have fabrics so I couldn’t make it as comfortable or protective, but it would still help a lot.

Utilizing my magic I went to work forming scale shaped planks about two index fingers side by side long and wide. I would then create thin roots and branches to tie them all together. The result after a few hours was a vest made of connected wooden plate scales.

I then made a skir- I mean Kilt using the same method, the Kilt was longer in the center of the legs on both sides to protect my sensitive parts. I made a clasp out of thin branches, which I melded together.

I also used some of the smaller crab shells to make shoulder guards connected by braided thin branches that created a belt.

When I wore it, no Defense boost was activated, like in a game, yet I knew I was more protected than without it. This world really is quite real… there may be a status screen and notifications but a stab to the heart is fatal just like anywhere else.

I didn’t have to worry about splinters either; I made the wood smooth and durable.

By the end of the day I had armour and two weapons. My spear was simplistic sure but despite what sword buffs might think, staffs and spears are extremely versatile weapons capable of killing or subduing enemies without killing. Swords might be more deadly overall, but a skilled spear wielder can dominate a fight with reach and complex maneuvers.

The next day… I would practice and plan for my fight against a Raptor, there are no Level Systems in place here, so killing something is all about planning ahead, utilizing strategy, or just being really freakishly strong.

I practiced into the night, under the moons and stars. My focus was clear on my goal… stronger… I have to be stronger.

I slept after tiring myself out.

I dreamt of adventure and danger… my excitement and anxiety boiling in my veins.

~W~

[table=#004C00]Name:AdamTitles:Progenitor, Reckless OneAge:10Race:SecropsianSex:MaleMagic Power (MP): 670/670Strength:36/100%Agility:68/100%Perception:60/100%Endurance:75/100%Dexterity:41/100%Mind:67/100%Skills/AbilitiesTemperature Adaptation (Active/Passive)

Iron Scales (Active)

Infrared Sight (Active/Passive)

Critical Bite (Active)

Outdoor Survival (Passive)

Cooking (Passive)

Telepathy (Psychic/Active)Magic Affinities: Nature, Lesser Earth, Lesser WaterMagic Abilities:

Growth Acceleration (Nature)

Guided Growth (Nature)

Earth Alteration (Earth)

Water Manipulation (Water)[/table]

Next chapter we find out which way he chooses to go first!