I was once again inside the dark cave where I first awoke. It was deep in the final chamber, the mage's quarters which felt so foreboding not long ago. The eeriness of the chamber itself was offset by the sight of a kobold joyfully jumping on a bed.

“It's so springy, my knight. I adore this secret base of yours.”

Instead of renting out a room at the inn, I decided this was a much safer alternative. This was an imposing dungeon which only I was apparently able to clear, and it had its own built-in defenses. Well, they required some fixing, but once they are running they should prove quite a deterrence for any intruders. The bed was added in by me, as the mage didn't have one. Skeletons don't sleep.

“But how did you bring a bed here? It is far too large to fit into a bottomless bag, and there are all those stairs in the way.”

“18 strength,” I answered.

“Sorry?”

“I carried it by hand, I mean to say.”

As Lacerta mentioned, some objects are too large to fit into bottomless bags. After some experimentation I found several limitations. The most obvious one is that one cannot stuff an item if it physically cannot fit through the sack's opening. The second limitation is that although the space inside the bag is large, it is not infinite. Even if you could fit a bed in there you would quickly run out of space. The third and most important limitation is that weight is conserved. Meaning if you put a 100 pound iron weight into the bag, then the bag itself becomes 100 pounds heavier. A person struggling to lift such a small object is a comical sight.

I introduced Lacerta to the mage's library. The books proved too complex for me, but I hoped she would be able to comprehend them and then teach me their contents second hand. I wasn't sure if I wanted to specialize in spellcraft, but having more spells available never hurt. Lacerta scanned through the shelves containing the magical tomes.

“I saw some of these books before back in the fortress. They described beginner to intermediate magical theories. But there are several here that are new to me. They seem to be about... necromancy? It's very interesting. That's not a type of magic I'm familiar with.”

She picked one of the books and flipped it with intrigue.

“This one looks the most beginner friendly. With this, I might be able to learn the basics in a few days. Do you mind if I take it, brave knight? It would make for an interesting read on my down time.”

It appears learning these spells will take a while even with Lacera's aid.

“Of course. While we are on the subject, do you mind teaching me the spell you used before, Mana Missile? I would like to improve upon the basic bolt spells I already know,” I said.

“Of course, brave knight. As is customary, let me begin with an introduction. Mana Missile was developed centuries ago in what was called the golden age of sorcery. Previously based on the staple of the time, mana bolt, its main principles inclu-”

“I don't care. Just teach me the runes.”

The kobold gave me a disgruntled look.

“But how can you expect to truly attune yourself to the spell without understanding its principles? Any mage worth her salt must understa-”

“I really don't care. Just the runes, please.”

The eager kobold gave up and frustratingly opened her spellbook. I wrote down the contents of the spell and then carefully memorized the sequence. The rune sequence for everything besides the most basic spells was simply to complex to remember from just playing the game. Mana Missle takes takes two spell slots, so normally I wouldn't have enough intelligence to memorize it. My magical ring, however, let me do so.

Just like in the game, taking the ring off would make me forget memorized spells, with the most recently memorized ones being lost first. The most powerful spells in Spirit of Darkness took up 3 spell slots, so to achieve that I would require an intelligence score of 16. Of course, that assumed this new world didn't have spells more complex than that.

“Lacerta, what is the most complex spell you know of?”

“Well, I haven't learned it myself, but that would likely be Mana Storm. Are you interested in it, my knight? I must apologize, as I cannot teach it.”

That is a third rank SoD spell. It was comforting to know that at least as far as Lacerta's spell knowledge went, it didn't differ much from the game. That meant an intelligence of 16 would indeed give me access to the most powerful of spells. Of course, if that was only it, then there would never be a reason to go above 16 or 20 in the game. The catch was that a competent adventurer needed to have multiple spells available at once. Any change required opening one's spellbook and spending the time to re-memorize the spell you needed, so you couldn't do it during combat. Intelligence also determined the player's mana, so a low-leveled mage would not be able to spam spells nearly as much. In short, to be an effective mage I would need to put a lot of aether into intelligence.

The lizard took a look at Calvar, who was sitting (standing?) on the floor.

“Sir skeleton, would you like to learn some spells as well? You must be eager to provide my knight support in combat.”

The skull dismissed the offer.

“No thanks. Fighting is Eren's thing, not mine.”

“But sir skeleton, what is there to lose? Magecraft is one of the wonders of the world. Even as a head, you could achieve so much.”

Calvar began getting annoyed.

“I said no! Even if I wanted to, I can't. That stuff will kill me.”

Lacerta took the statement with curiosity, which exactly matched my own reaction.

“Calvar, what do you mean? I'm not aware of any negative consequence to learning spells.”

The skull sighed.

“Listen, I'm not an expert in magic, but I understand the basics of how it works. Spells require mana to cast, right? It's that energy which all living things and undead use. Well, I can't cast spells. I would run out of mana.”

“I don't understand. Even if you run out, can't you wait for it to regenerate?”

The skull sighed once again.

“Eren, look at me. Do I look like a flesh and blood being like you two? Do I eat, breath, and sleep? No. I'm an undead. Mortals think it's an advantage to not require those things, but it comes at a cost. I can't get energy from food like you. My mana doesn't regenerate, so if it runs out, I'll die. The only way for an undead like me to replenish is to receive mana from my master.”

As I began to understand Calvar's predicament, I couldn't help but feel his own anguish.

“Calvar, is that the reason why you want to find your master? Because without him, you will die?”

The skeleton stared in silence.

“Yes, Eren, you finally get it. Undead like me can survive for several years without replenishing our mana, but that depends on how much effort we exert and how much stress we're under. At my current state, I probably have less than a week left. Are you happy now, Eren? Did that information make you feel more comfortable?”

That was likely the first time I could truly understand Calvar. I thought him to be an eccentric scullion with an unusual sense of loyalty, but I realized it was far more simple and ordinary than that. Just like me or anybody else, he didn't want to pass away before his time. He didn't want to die.

“But don't get too bent over it. You are my arms and legs, remember? I'm counting on you, kid.”

With this information in hand, we made our way back through the dungeon. We passed through the trapped hallway, containing the huge boulder and the corpse of the skeleton mage. Wondering if my strength was sufficient to move the boulder, I gave it a shove. It was very close, but I just wasn't strong enough to displace it.

“If you wish to get rid of the boulder, why not blast it with spells, brave knight?”

“No, I need it to stay intact. Don't worry, I can move it.”

I didn't want to increase my strength score too quickly, but this gave me a good excuse to do so. Since it was so close, I judged a strength of 20 would probably be enough. After leveling up, I gave it another heave.

Using all my strength, I managed to move the boulder. I pushed it all the way back through the hallway, so it could serve as a trap once more. That's something I'll have to set up later.

I could now clearly see the body of the skeleton mage. It was no different from before. Its head was cracked from the blunt strike I gave while it was trapped, and half the robe was missing from my embarrassing attempt to scavenge it. Now that it was unobstructed, however, I could fully search through its corpse.

I wonder if things would have turned out differently if I didn't do so. What if I chose elsewhere as my base? What if I ignored the boulder? What if I wasn't so meticulous when searching the corpse? Things might have turned out differently. However, I couldn't help myself. After searching through the body, I found an unfamiliar object hung around the skeleton's neck. From there fate was sealed.