Once full Nathan continues down the tunnels staying hidden when he could and fighting if a lizard came upon him. He could hear another lizard approaching ‘I wonder if I can get it to just pass by me so I don’t have to fight it?’ thinking this he moved to the side of the cave and dismissed the Candle Light spell. Nathan prepared a Fireball spell while the lizard comes down the tunnel. He waits in the darkness for the lizard to pass by but rather than doing that the lizard seems to slow down. Nathan is not sure since he could not see but the rumbling stopped and he could hear a sniffing sound which he assumed to be the lizard.

‘I can’t sit here any longer and let it just eat me in the dark’ he thought as he casts Candle Light to see what is going on and expecting the lizard to attack the moment it could see him. With the Candle Light spell going he can see the lizard about twenty feet down the tunnel, it back away from the light before it snarls at him. Preparing another Fireball he watches the lizard closely waiting for it to attack. The lizard seems to hesitate for a moment before having made up its mind and charges with its mouth open in a growl at Nathan.

Ready for the sudden attack Nathan unleashes his Fireball at the lizard. The Fireball hits the lizard in the mouth and as it is reeling from the pain Nathan sends another attack at its eyes hoping to blind it. Distracted by the pain the lizard does not see the next attack before it is hitting its eye. Irate and in pain the lizard charges Nathan.

‘Well, that is new. Usually, they are in too much pain to do anything other than scream in pain as I hit them with Fireballs.’ Nathan ponders over the odd actions of the lizard as he dodges out of the way. So irate the lizard does not notice the wall behind Nathan before it is too late and it barrels headfirst into the wall. While the Lizard is dazed Nathan launches a Fireball at its right hind leg. Hit in the leg, the pain brings the lizard back to its senses, it looks at Nathan growls turns around and runs away.

Nathan stands eyes wind and jaw slaked “Well I did not see that happening. Should I just let it run off? Well to late now I can’t even see it anymore.” He sighs shaking his head in disbelief. “They seems so bloodthirsty? Oh! I guess the second one I ran into tried to run.” he chuckles having forgotten about that. ‘Guess I have been killing them so quick they never had a chance to get away? Or was this one just an odd duck out?’ He ponders as he continues down the tunnel.

‘The first couple encounters I had with the lizards seems like a dream now. I was so scared of the first one I almost pissed myself might have had I not been bleeding to death. It has only been a couple of days but I already feel more confident about getting through this. Though I would not want to fight two lizards at the same time. No thank you!’ thinking of how much he has changed in the past couple of days.

Nathan spends the rest of the day avoiding the lizards where he can and only fighting if he has to. Trying to find a place to sleep he sees a light up ahead. Having spent time in the tunnels has tempered him and he does not immediately go charging into the light, though he is still excited by what could be ahead. Turning off the Candle Light spell he approaches the light slowly, once close enough he can see a large opening with glowing stalactites and stalagmites, with more glowing stones in the walls of the cave with pools of shallow water here and there on the floor.

‘There is just one tiny problem with this picture. ALL THE DAMN LIZARDS!’ he screams in his mind. Nathan can see lizards fighting each other over the pools of water with others feasting on their dead brethren and others sleeping in the corners of the cave having marked out their area and swatting at anyone that comes nearby. ‘There must be a good dozen of them in here! AH! I find water in this horrible place for the first time and it is filled with Lizards!’ he hangs his head in defeat and self-pity. Nathan lets out a sigh ‘How am I going to get rid of them all so I can get to the water? Is it even possible to get rid of them all? Maybe I can somehow draw them off one at a time? Ha! Fat chance of that!’ he thinks as he backs away from the entrance.

‘There was a junction not far back. I need to find a place to sit down and think this over.’ Walking back to the junction he takes the right tunnel having come from the left tunnel on his way here. Not far down the tunnel, he finds an indent in the wall just large enough for him to crouch down in. The opening goes ten to fifteen feet into the wall, with the back portion of the ceiling raised a few inches more than where the opening is.

‘This looks like a good place to stay.’ He thinks as the crawls in, Nathan had seen these holes in the wall every so often while he had been walking and was where he had spent the last two nights sleeping.

Sitting down in the lotus position Nathan thinks over his options. ‘Luring them all out one at a time will probably not work. So what if I lure them all out at once? I would need something to distract them, something I can active remotely. What about the Candle Light spell? I could send it in and lure the lizards away down another passage. How long is its range anyway?’ needed to test it out he crawls back out and moves the Candle Light spell down the tunnel as far as he can.

As the ball moves further away he notices that it is getting harder to keep it from winking out. About twenty feet out he can’t hold it any longer and Nathan is plunged into darkness the spell having winked out when his connection with it broke.

‘Humm that is not going to be enough distance to draw them off.’ he thinks as he looks at the Candle Light spell description.

[Candle Light Lvl:5 Every young fire mages stepping stone onto the greater path of pyromancy.

The spell creates a large safe following flame. Spell Cost:30 Hold Cost:8 per minute]

‘I don’t see anything about range? Is there not a range?’ pondering this he recasts Candle Light then sends it out again. When it gets close to his limit he focuses on keeping the connection as the ball inches ahead before blinking out. ‘I think it went further this time. Though, it is hard to tell.’ not satisfied he picks up a rock and places where he stands then picks up another rock and walks over to where he thinks the spell disappeared and places it down. He walks back over to the first rock and tries again. He repeats this twice more, placing a rock each time.

‘It seems to be getting further, though admittedly it is hard to tell without a proper way to measure it. I will do it until I am out of mana twice before I reevaluate.’ he thinks before doing just that.

At the end of the second cycle, he checks out his handy work with a smile. The length between the first rock and his latest are about ten inches apart. ‘The progress is slow but I am making headway.’ he thinks with a goofy smirk. ‘It will have to wait until I have slept.’ yawning he crawls back into the hole in the wall and goes to sleep.

Waking up the next day Nathan sets about increasing the distance he can move the spell from him. Slowly but surely as the hours pass the distance increases, he learns a couple of tricks here and there that massively improve the distance he can move the spell. The latest attempt reaches fifty feet when Nathan gets a message.

[Skill Learned: Mana Control]

Pleasantly surprised by the notification Nathan pulls up his stats to check out the description of the Skill.

[Name: Nathan Vellenger]

[Age: 21]

[Class:Fire Mage Lvl:1]

[Health:86]

[Stamina:13]

[Mana:120]

[Strength:11]

[Endurance:10]

[Vitality:12]

[Agility:9]

[Dexterity:13]

[Wisdom:12]

[Intelligence:14]

[Skills:Inspect, Fire Affinity, Mana Sense, Mana Channeling, Spell Creation, Concentration, Meditation, Mana Control]

[Spells:Candle Light, Fireball, Flawed Heat Transfer]

[Titles:Otherworlder]

[Mana Control Lvl:1 The Level of ability and skill with which you control mana. Higher levels have increased mana efficiency, range, and finesse]

‘That is handy to have.’ he thinks as he tests out the increased range with the skill. The new spell reaches about sixty feet before blinking out. ‘Not a huge increase, comparatively, but it will help.’

Working for the rest of the day Nathan gets to range up to about one hundred and twenty feet from him. ‘The cave room was about three hundred feet across. Humm, I guess I could send in the flame then start to lead the lizards away down one of the tunnels while I walk in and grab some water. That might work!’ He thinks with joy.”I am so glad I saved the pop can” he says while pulling out the empty pop bottle from the plastic bag with a smile. Looking back at his little hidey-hole “One more night here and I can get some fresh water. I am so thirsty at this point I could drink a whole lake dry and still have room for more” he says laughing to himself as he crawls back into the hole to settle down for the night. Come morning he is going to head out and steal some water from some lizards.