Liam gathered the map and searched the gingerbread man for more loot. He found a packed away sweet-hard tack, along with a flask filled with water. His suspicions were confirmed—though the water was laced with sugar, it was still drinkable. Things here still required good old water. Thank the lord. Additionally, there was a fire starting kit—Liam was surprised to see the familiar sight of flint and a chunk of some sort of strange sugar cube. When struck together, they sparked. It seemed that somehow, there were minerals. Liam reverently pocketed the flint, a hidden treasure.

Additionally, the old man carried a bedroll made of the same licorice material as his armor. And a small cooking pot, composed of treated sugar. All of it marked a good start to his new life here. Something to help him keep going for a little longer.

He took a long gulp of the flask, checking the empty road either way.

A closer look at the map made him believe he’d taken a rather circuitous route winding near the Great Candy Cane forest, which confirmed a couple of things for him. One, if he followed this road in his current direction, he’d be headed closer to the heart of the Ginger Empire. That meant running across a denser population of these psychopathic candy men. But, there were also more stable sources of water.

Interestingly, there was a section of the map labeled as ‘Stay away,’ along with a vaguely human-like face drawn near it. Though, the depicted human face had pointed teeth bared in a snarl. It looked more like an orc from a fantasy movie than someone like himself.

This seemed the most promising place to check for another human. If he followed his current path in the opposite direction than the one he’d been going, he would reach a chocolate stream. From there, he could follow the stream north to a chocolate river that ran by the fudge volcano range. After passing that zone, he’d finally reach the area the gingerbread men marked as ‘Stay away’

It was a risky gamble, but staying in the Ginger Empire held even more risk. At any moment he might run across more of these things—and if any of the gingerbread men spotted him and reported him to their guards, or knights, or whatever patrolled the road, the word might get out a human was in their territory, and lord knows what else they would send his way to track him down and murder him. Better to take the gamble, and hope for the best.

If he reached the chocolate river, he’d be able to survive on that. Milk had a decent percentage of water, enough to stave off dehydration. He wasn’t as concerned about food; at least short-term. Long-term proper nutrition would likely become a massive issue. But maybe, if there were other humans, they’d devised a solution.

Funny how hope has a way of shining in the darkest places.

With that thought, Liam looked at the gingerbread man’s corpse, and his expression grew grim. Its heart contained a spell. Which required a weird occult ritual.

And there was only one way to get it.

Liam stared at the sword in his hand, then at the corpse. Its viscous blood hardened on the chocolate-dirt path, and he shuddered. This wasn’t his world, nor did he know all the rules of survival here, hell, he’d died once already and didn’t intend to go out again. Even if it was a prison, a punishment for some sin he committed in life, how many lines would he cross just for survival? What was this place going to do to him? If he did manage to get out, would he be able to live with himself?

He crouched near the corpse, digging the blade into the chest of the gingerbread man. This was survival. Anything that might give him an edge he needed to take.

No matter the cost to his soul.

⬽ — ~ ☼ ~ — ⤘

Most of the day was spent on travel. He’d wrapped the gummy-shelled heart in a piece of pink fabric harvested from the gingerbread man’s cloak, and pushed it somewhere deep in the pack he’d taken.

Heading back in the same direction he’d been going was frustrating, and by the time it transformed into night, he’d at least passed where he’d discovered the road before.

Liam didn’t risk a fire, instead, he ate the cold sugar-hardtack in the dark, and worked himself up to the Binding Ritual later that night. He didn’t know what to expect and held a lot of reservations. But there was no letting the chance slip by. If he understood how magic worked better, he might survive. That gingerbread man’s rock throw caught him by surprise, and almost got him killed. Liam didn’t intend to leave things to chance.

Not when everything seemed out to get him, and the fact he was potentially headed into an even more dangerous area on the bare hope of seeing another human being.

The moon rose into the sky—some of the smooth shell obscured now, but still unnaturally bright. With shaking hands, Liam withdrew the hot-pink package and unwrapped the heart. It smelled awfully sweet—as if it’d begun to go a bit bad being stuck in his pack all day, and no longer beating in the cavity of an old gingerbread man. While the spell didn’t specify if it would work cooked—Liam didn’t want to risk the fire or ruin his chance to gain the spell.

Oh Christ, please forgive me.

Liam watched as the moon took the center of the sky above, before bringing the cold lump of candy flesh to his mouth.

Congealed corn syrup glittered in the light of the moon. Liam closed his eyes and bit into the too-chewy flesh, his mouth filled with sickly sweetness that nearly made him gag.

He forced it down his throat, finishing the heart in as few bites as possible. His mind went blank as he set himself away from the horror he committed. As he finished the heart, barely keeping it down, his hair began to stand up. Everything thrummed with energy, and a small purple glow wrapped around his body, Liam stood—legs shaking as the glow condensed into purple tendrils swirling around him. climbing higher up his body.

Then they pierced his eyes.

Liam screamed in agony, sinking to his knees and pawing at his face. A few seconds later the intense burning subsided, leaving him gasping for breath. A blue box greeted him, once his vision cleared.

Ritual Of Binding Complete!

Congratulations Liam! You have obtained your first spell! Excellent job!

Spell Gained: Sugar Crystal Disruption

Rank: Beginner [1]

Mana Cost: 75 Mana per 1 Cubic Inch of Sucrose Crystal

Description: Through the consumption of mana, the user applies energy to sever all the chemical bonds in a suitably sized sucrose crystalline structure—and instantly causes the sugar to fuse into a finer particulate. Excess energy produced by the bond reformation, and mana input into the spell, is output to the environment in the form of heat.

He went silent as he reread the description of the spell. That was why the rock candy exploded. It was just one large bundle of sucrose crystals. When that gingerbread man had used the spell, the crystal broke down and reformed into a fine sugar powder. Which combined with the heat output by both the mana and chemical bonds forming, resulting in the fine particles combusting in a short-range but violent explosion.

Liam just obtained a new ranged weapon—including the rock candy leftover in the pouch. Though the vague terminology of what qualified as a ‘suitably sized sucrose crystalline structure’ left some to be desired. Did the component have to at least be a square inch? Or was it possible to target individual grains of sugar?

He doubted the latter. But he’d be a poor scientist if he didn’t do any testing. Even if it did do something— he wasn’t sure how explosive the results would be.

But, he began to understand a bit more about how magic worked in this world. By directing your mana you allowed it to interact and press its will on things. Though, the occult-like aspects of ‘binding a spell’ still evaded him. Why was it necessary he eat that old gingerbread man’s heart for it? Conversely, if something killed him and ate his heart, would they gain the spell? A sobering thought. Liam rubbed the back of his neck.

It felt like something was watching him.

You have gained +1 Willpower

You have gained +1 Intelligence

Gastromancy has advanced to rank: Beginner [3]

You’ve consumed you’ve consumed you’ve consumed. Like us.

His eyes went wide open at the message, his gut feeling sick. Either from eating the raw gingerbread man heart or the fact the creepy voices in his head were approving of his most recent act. He didn’t like it, didn’t like it one bit.

It took him a good few hours to fall asleep. Shifting and turning, every sound in the night caused his heart to go into overdrive.

Liam needed to find someone else. Soon. He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to keep going by himself in this place. Alone.