“Come back to me ,please, SUMMON!”[Miria]

I was summoned by Miria. The last thing I remember was being killed by that Undead; so as I was summoned I was on high alert. Fortunately there was no danger. We were in Miria’s room with nothing out of the ordinary..

“Sephtis use the dark matter you got yesterday to WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM!!”[Miria]

I looked down to find my forearm missing. I wasn’t bothered by this since I held my knife in my other arm, but Miria seemed very concerned for me.

“...I’m fine...”[Sephtis]

“Are you sure? Maybe you just didn’t get enough mana to heal last night since I was exhausted. But what if it didn’t heal since it was eaten! muu”[Miria]

Miria went into deep thought over me. Ahh shes so cute when she’s concerned it makes you want to hug her.

“Ahh I’ve got it!”[Miria]

Miria came over to my broken arm and held the stump in her hands. She started to release a black mist from her hands. The mist wrapped around my bones and they started to grow back. After I noticed what she was doing something clicked in my mind as I focused on accepting the healing. The process speed up, but still took over five minutes to regrow my arm. When Miria finished she wiped some sweat from her brow.

“That took a bit more mana than I was expecting, but at least you're better now. Ok now that I know you’re safe I can {Re-wait. Sephtis take the dark matter you got last night and use it to strengthen your body. Do you understand?”

“..yes..”[Sephtis]

“good {Return}”[Miria]

I returned to the white space. I looked upon the dark matter I had collected there was so much of it; enough to fill a large room. I started to manipulate some of it before I came to a grim realization. It wasn’t the same. Some of it was very thick other parts were thin as air. I began separating the dark matter into three different groups. One was very sparse and was similar to the mist Miria used on me. This pile had the most volume, but it was so thin that it had far less mass than the other two. The second pile was of fairly thick dark matter. It was fairly similar the dark matter I started with, but I had much more of it than back then. The last pile interested me the most. It was a very small pile, but it seemed alive. I was positive that this was that clump of dark matter I absorbed, but since it still seemed to be alive it worried me.

I looked at the three piles while planning what to do. I wanted to leave the second pile for making a new weapon since I knew how to manipulate it. So that leave the mist and the living blob for absorption. I chose to try the mist first since it was similar to what Miria put into me, and the blob still freaked me out. I stepped into the middle of the mist and began willing it around my body. I learned that I didn’t actually have to touch the dark matter to move it while making the piles, but it proved less accurate than doing it myself. The dark mist started gathering around my body and then went into my bones. More and more entered my bones then it just started gathering against my bones. There was a large chunk of mist left, but I couldn’t fit any of it into my bones. I set the mist to the side, and decided to look into it latter. For now I had an Idea for that living blob.

I went over to the blob like one would approach a caged animal that could escape at any moment. I kneeled down next to it and extended my hand. In my other hand I held my knife ready to cut off my hand if anything went wrong. I dipped the tip of my middle finger into the blob and it didn't react. Next I willed it to move up my finger. Then I pulled my hand away. I had a small portion of it still stuck to my finger. I started willing to go in between my finger joints. I wanted the blob to hold my joints together and make them stronger. When I was done it was hard to see the dark blob in between my bones, and my finger had gotten much stronger.

After that I carefully fused the blob into all of my joints. My limbs have been flying around so often so I hope that this will pose some resistance from now on. After I was done there was a little extra blob so I reinforced my arm joints.

I smiled as I looked to the last pile. It was the dark matter that I was most familiar with. I think I’ll call it dark metal since that's what I use it as. First things first condensing. This process went by very fast since I learned how to use my will to shape the dark matter. When I was done I had a large block of dark metal.

The first thing I tried to make was a great sword. I based its design off my knife to give it a large size. The end result was a giant kitchen knife bigger than me. Big swords are justice, but then reality hit. The sword was awful. It was too lopsided and heavy to properly swing. I had to disassemble it.

My second try was to make a shield and mace like Boe had. I thought the mace would be easy to make, but it proved difficult. I make many prototypes that ended as failures one had terrible balance, one was too fragile, and one simply didn’t work as a weapon. The design I ended with had a short handle with a pommel, and a head with six vertical blades that curved in and out with points too cut into flesh. For the shield I wanted to base it on my previous design, and to my surprise the dark metal quickly formed into my old kite shield.

After a bit of testing I found that I could quickly form dark metal into my previously made weapons, but only the ones that I took out to the world with me. I had to remake my mace because of this. I started working on my shield by taking my old kite shield and adding my remaining dark metal. Just adding it around the edges gave the shield and odd shape. So I concentrated on making the shield taller to cover more of my body. I was conflicted on whether to round the shield so attacks could go around, or square it to stop the attacks. After considering I made the top much more square to stop attacks, but had to cut down the bottom of the shield to almost a point to add the extra defence to the top half. The last thing I did was make my arm fit into the shield rather than behind it. The end result was a bit smaller than a tower shield.

When I was finished I looked over to the remaining mist I had.

“Ah! I forgot about you.”[Sephtis]

I looked down to see my knife which was left out of my weapon making process. I picked it up thinking of what to do with it. I wouldn’t mind having a side arm, but I have no where to put it. While looking down at the knife in my hand I got an idea, but first an experiment. When I made this knife I compressed the dark metal as much as I could. Now I want to see if I can condense it more. I start to squeeze the knife to my surprise it starts to condense rather easily until a certain point. It becomes about two thirds of its original size before I can’t condense it any more. I try to condense part of my mace, but that doesn’t even budge.

“I thought it was a bit heavy. I got better at condensing. This is annoying though. I’ll have to pay closer and closer attention to just how heavy I make my dark metal from now on.”[Sephtis]

With the new up to par dark metal I continued with my original plan. I started making a gauntlet. I started with the palm making it go straight through my hand. Then I made links around each of my fingers, and made sure they didn’t hinder movement. When I finished the gauntlet I had a bit dark metal to spare so I added small claws to the fingertips and spikes to the knuckles. Satisfied by my work I took a peek at the blue box before taking some practice swings with my new mace.

SephisLv: 1Ancient Skeleton WarriorUn???Miria’s Familiar, ???StatsVIT: 17Light:Ultimate Weakness(-10)STR: 18Fire:Ultimate Weakness(-10)AGI: 13Earth:Ultimate Weakness(-10)END: 15Water:Ultimate Weakness(-10)DEX: 16Wind:Ultimate Weakness(-10)WSD: 6Nature:Ultimate Weakness(-10)INT: 5Dark:Ultimate Weakness(-10)

******************

About a week had past since the first Cemetery Cleaning. A few days ago Miria was surprised to see Sephtis’ new equipment. At first she was mad to see that he hadn't absorbed the dark matter, but Randall told her that he had and that he could only absorb so much and not to worry about it. Now Miria was sitting in her homeroom waiting for class to start while talking to Alexia.

“So how was cemetary cleaning yesterday?”[Alexia]

“Nothing interesting, especially compared to the first night. We saw a few Undead, but they were quickly killed.”[Miria]

“What about Sephtis? Did he get new armor?”[Alexia]

“No, apparently there is a dark matter pool just like a mana pool. So he won't have new armor until his pool grows.”[Miria]

“Oh, how disappointing I was hoping to paint his armor when it was done. What do you think about hot pink Miria?”[Alexia]

“Uhh”[Miria]

“Ok everyone class is starting get to your seats.”[Mr. Abgon]

Miria was relieved by Mr. Aegon's entrance. When Borick came running in late.

“Borick, I’m sure you have a wonderful excuse for being late.”[Mr. Abgon]

“I do. This morning I was checking my {Status} and I found out that I lost a level!”[Borick]

Many people in class gasped and were at shock at this. None of them have ever heard of losing a level.

“*sigh* Borick sit down. It looks like I’ll have to be the one to explain levels this year. Class we will be having a quick lesson on levels before class starts. So, does anyone know what a level is?”[Mr. Abgon]

“...A measure of your strength?”[Student]

“Better than most guesses, but no. If a level 50 slime fought a level 15 wolf who would win?”[Mr. Abgon]

“The slime.”[Entire Class]

“No, the wolf would win nine times out of ten. Any other guesses at what a level is?”[Mr. Abgon]

“...A measure of your experience?”[Josef]

“A good guess, but have any of you seen the level of a new born baby?”[Mr. Abgon]

Everyone shakes their heads no. Most of them have never seen anyone else's {Status}.

“I have several times. The highest I saw was level 95 and the lowest was level 75. Are there any other guesses?”[Mr. Abgon]

Everyone was in shock at this information. A level 95 baby how did that even happen. There was no one who spoke up so Mr. Abgon continued.

“A level is a measure of your potential. When you hit level 100 you can’t become any stronger unless you gain more potential. So Borick you lost a level because you gained potential.”[Mr. Abgon]

“Then what use are they if it's just a limit?”[Borick]

“What’s important isn’t your level. Its the monsters level that you need to worry about. The only way monsters can gain potential is by evolving and a few rare cases. Because of this finding the level of a monster is the easiest way to determine strength. If you know what the monster is.”[Mr. Abgon]

“Why didn’t we know this until now?”[Geordt]

“Simple, it doesn’t matter to most people for their entire lives. We wouldn’t even have you learn this until you learn identification magic, but if you ask about levels we will tell you the actual use of levels. Now we are running late. We have a double period today with your Mixed Combat Class. We will be walking down together.”[Mr. Abgon]

Miria and the rest of the class walked to the gymnasium while talking about levels, but that stopped as soon as they got to the gym. At the center of the gym was a cage with an imp in it around the cage was a big red circle about 40m in diameter that screamed danger.

“Today’s class will be all about defence against Nature magic. As you all know Nature is the most common affinity held by monsters, and the least common amongst humans. So you shall be training against that Nature Imp for practice.”[Mr. Abgon]

“Are you sure this is safe?”[Student]

“You have nothing to fear. Me and Mr. E are here to intervene if anything happens, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take this seriously”[Mr. Abgon]

“Every student will go into the read ring and have to spend as long as they can inside.”[Mr. E]

“Listen up these are the rules. Don’t {Summon} your {Familiar} this is your training. Stay in as long as you can and get as close as possible. You may use any method to stay inside, but leave the circle when you have to. The Imp’s magic can’t pass the circle so you’ll be safe as soon as you leave. If I determine it to be too dangerous I shall pull you out of the circle by force. If this happens it will be seen as you not knowing your limits and you will be docked points. After you leave the circle the next student may enter after Mr. E signals you, and I shall tell you wether to get back in line or sit to the side and wait for everyone else to finish.”[Mr. Abgon]

”Now get lined up and we can begin.”[Mr. E]

Everyone in the class got lined up Miria was in the middle just in front of Alexia. Borick ran to the front of the line, and was getting ready to enter the circle. Everyone in class was waiting to see Borick’s trial. They all wanted to know how hard this would be.

“Enter when ready.”[Mr. E]

Borick charged to the center only to trip when he was half way there. Many people in the lineup started laughing at Borick since he had tripped on flat ground, but as they looked down they stopped laughing. A small root had come from the ground, and it wasn’t the only one. Many roots started to come up to grab Borick who was still laying on the ground; some covered in thorns. As they were about to catch Borick he went flying out of the circle, and was caught by Mr. E.

“You got pretty far in, but didn’t stay there long enough. Get back in line.”[Mr. Abgon]

Borick still in shock walked towards the back of the line.

“Are you ok Borick?”[Miria]

“Yeah I’ll be fine. Just need to...just need to calm down.”[Borick]

Borick left looking like a ghost.

“I’m worried about Borick. I’m scared that he's hurt.”[Miria]

“Don’t worry about him Miria. The only thing that got hurt was his pride. From his point of view he had to run away from the Imp.”[Alexia]

“Are you sure? He looked really hurt.”[Miria]

“I’m sure. That muscle head just runs in swinging his sword and never thinking. All he cares about is winning. It will be good for him to learn how to lose.”[Alexia]

After that Miria and Alexia had idle chatter while watching other students. They had learned several things from watching. First it can only use the big vines when you're close to it; if you stick to the outside of the ring it can’t reach with big vines. Second, if you are far away it will throw various Nature spells at you while trying to trip you with small roots. Third, although you can burn the roots the Imp is protected inside of his cage, and can’t be hit. Fourth, the Imp seems to have unlimited mana.

Miria’s turn was next. She was watching the student in front of her; a fire mage. He was using a method established by the first fire mage that went up. Run around the outside until you get tired, and then step closser and use fire to burn all of the roots. Currently the only students to pass were those versed in fire magic. The fire mage ran out of mana, and the roots approached him as he ran to the safety of the red ring.

“You spent enough time in the middle and outer rings. You pass take a seat.”[Mr. Abgon]

Miria took a step forward. She looked at the Imp and arena. All of the roots had already sunk down into the ground. The floor was flat again without even a crack. Miria was so nervous she knew a little Fire magic, but not enough to fend off the roots. She wasn’t sure how she would pass.

“Enter when ready.”[Mr. E]

“Don’t let Borick’s sacrifice go to waste Miria!”[Alexia]

“Hey! I’m still alive!”[Borick]

Miria giggled at her friends exchange. At least she wasn’t nervous anymore as she stepped into the circle. Miria was concentrated on the Imp. The Imp fired a bolt of magic at her. Miria side stepped to narrowly dodge it. Miria had watched many people run around the outer edge of the circle before being tripped and failing. So her plan was to pay attention to the ground around her, and only take small steps to avoid tripping.

The Imp kept firing Nature magic at Miria who kept dodging, but after the third shot Miria noticed something odd under her foot and made a sprint to the side. Unfortunately, a wall of vines sprouted on both sides of Miria. Normally the Imp wouldn’t be able to make that many vines so far away, but since Miria stayed in one spot the Imp had plenty of time to prepare. The walls on either side of her were closing in as the Imp continued to fire magic.

“Pull her out of there!”[Alexia]

“Her exit isn’t blocked she can leave if she wants to.”[Mr. Abgon]

“But she’s going to get chru...where’d she go?”[Alexia]

(Author's note: if you have a 3 affinity for Light then you will get more healing from Light magic than someone with -3 affinity. However this is only a small difference.)