Sissy sat guard while Hugh sweated and groaned as the poison worked its way through his muscles.

“Tell me about yourself,” He said to her as the sun set over the golden grassland, seeking a distraction from the pain.

“What’s to tell,” she shrugged, watching the lazy summer breeze play with the yellow stalks. “You know everything about me.”

“That’s not true,” he said. “This world and the game are different. There’s got to be a million things I don’t know about you. Your favourite colour, food. Things you like or dislike. Like, I know that you were adopted by Charlie and earned his respect and trust by doing a certain two jobs. I wrote that background. I don’t know a thing about your life with him, other than he thinks of you as a daughter.”

Sissy looked down at him, her face an unreadable mask. “Is that how you think of me?”

“What?” Hugh said, confused for a minute before he parsed the question. “No. Charlie. The way I wrote you into his background.”

She nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. “I like the colour yellow, because it reminds me of the sunflowers that mum grew in our little garden. And I think my favourite thing to eat in the whole world is gooseberry pie. I stole one from Delsarte’s manor after I slit his throat. I’d never had anything like it before, sweet and sour wrapped in a flakey, buttery crust. I’m not fond of children, but they say funny things…”

Sissy continued to talk as Hugh listened, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as waves of pain washed over him.

The poison wore off a few hours after sundown, part of the experience he’d gathered from the defeated monsters spent countering it. Rising on shaky legs, he summoned his club from where he’d dropped it in the dungeon and shambled back to the inn with her help.

He levelled up later that night, gaining access to the third door in the arena and its infinitely long hall of second level spells. He still had no clue how fast he regenerated mana, but his pool should now be somewhere around five hundred, enough for five first level spells, or two second level spells with some change left over. Or a whole bunch of cantrips.

Each new level gave him an additional cantrip, so he added [Breeze] as a slotted cantrip, since manually casting it cost the same mana as a first level spell and air conditioning obviously wasn’t a thing here.

He swapped out the first level [Arcane Smite] for [Thunderwave], which would allow him both damage and pushback enemies. Then he spent an eternity wandering the new passage, touching each door before picking out his second level spells, adding [Web], [Vengeful Roots], and [Lightning Surge] for crowd control. While seeking a familiar spell, [Find Steed], he stumbled upon [Conjure Zora]. After weighing the benefits and detriments, he added it to his slotted spells, smiling as he imagined Sissy’s reaction.

Stepping back into the arena, he was met by Moarti.

“I FORGOT TO GIVE YOU THIS,” he said, handing Hugh the yellowed ticket that would allow him to return from the dead.

“Thanks,” Hugh said, grabbing the card from the slender fingers of the god of death. He noticed it still had three punches left and didn't say anything. “I didn’t even realise that it was missing.”

Moarti shrugged. “I APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.”

“None at all, don’t even worry about it!” Hugh grinned, clapping the god of death on his bony shoulder. “Mind doing me a favour?”

“I’M NOT CERTAIN,” Morati said, looking uncomfortably at Hugh's hand on his shoulder. “MORTALS ASK FOR STRANGE THINGS, LIKE PLAYING A GAME BEFORE I ESCORT THEM TO THE AFTERLIFE. I’M NOT VERY GOOD AT CHESS.”

“No, nothing like that,” Hugh assured him. “Just tell Celeste that I preferred the Akashic Records from the game. It was a huge library of spells and knowledge instead of this stuff with the doors. I’m supposed to be an Arcanist, not some… whatever this was supposed to be.”

“I’LL MENTION IT TO HER,” Moarti said. “ENJOY YOUR LIFE.”

“Sure thing pal,” Hugh laughed. “Nothing personal, but I hope I don’t ever see you again outside a social gathering.”

Moarti snorted, a hollow sound. “NOTHING PERSONAL, HE SAYS.”

Hugh gave a final wave to the Little Gods who were assembled in the arena, then stepped through the 11th door and back into his body.

Sunlight filtered into the tiny room through the open shutters. It was well past dawn and probably approaching noon. He gave a tremendous stretch, groaning with the pleasure of an ache-free body. Levelling up was wonderful stuff.

“You were glowing,” Sissy accused. “And you wouldn’t wake up.”

“Sorry,” Hugh smiled, popping a [Clean] and hopping from the bed. “I levelled up and got new toys to play with. Any chance of breakfast? I’m starved.”

“Not at this hour,” Sissy said. “We’ll have to find a place for lunch. What’s a ‘level up’?”

“Obviously something that doesn’t exist in this world,” he replied, pulling on his clothes. “We have a lot to accomplish today, so street food?”

“I’ve already turned in the venom glands at the guild,” she said. “You get better prices the fresher they are. They’re holding the reward for you.”

“Good enough, let’s get started.”

The day passed swiftly from that point. Munching a walking brunch of meat and veg skewers from a street vendor in lieu of a real lunch, they visited the guild first, turning in the cores and claiming the fee for the three venom glands. Hugh’s purse swelled to nearly 75 gold and a new confidence filled him. There was always a thrill in starting a new character, struggling up from nothing, building a firm foundation to stand upon. He walked with a jaunty step to a leather worker Sissy recommended and bought an oilskin cloak, armour, and boots. The rangy shop owner outfitted him with off the rack pieces and used the cantrip [Resize] to fit it perfectly for a few extra coin.

Ointments were bought, rations secured, and other preparations were made, including the purchase of a tent and a lockable chest. “There’s no point of being able to summon items if I don’t have anywhere to store them securely,” he told Sissy, who questioned the purchase. He paid Wenne to keep it safe in her storeroom, soothing her misgivings about keeping a “wizard’s chest” on her property.

And just like that, his purse depleted, night fell, and Second-Monday came all too quickly.

“Is there a reason we’re going to Morgan town?” Sissy asked as they walked towards the six wagons gathered outside the east gate. “If you need coin and experience, you should be farming the dungeon.”

“I didn’t mention it?” Hugh frowned, looking for Stans in the crowd of people around the caravan. “I thought I had explained. Max and Aubin, two of my other characters are in Morgan town. When Markaus opened this opportunity, I took it as a sign to head there sooner rather than later.”

“You mentioned the other people,” Sissy said, stressing the word. “But no details to the plan.”

“Not much of a plan right now. Gather up support, head to Urliens, take out Daemon Wyrm and stop the flow of enchanted items to Moggalic and his army.”

The pair found Stans giving directions to the other wagoners and guards. “And here’s our battlemage and scout,” He said, sweeping his arms towards them causing heads to turn.

“Not a battlemage,” Hugh said, waving at the gathered men and women. “Just a magic user with a lot of offensive spells. If you need it sliced up, call me. If you need it blown up, hire an expert.”

“I pray to Celeste that I never need an expert,” Stans chuckled, slapping a hand on the beefy shoulder of the guard next to him. “This is Ziti Dorronsoro, captain of these guards. He’ll let you know what’s needed.”

Hugh stepped up and greeted the older man, clasping his calloused hand in his own. “I’m Hugh and this is Savannah,” he said. “She’s a capable scout, and I’m good for ranged support.”

“Ziti,” The captain said, his Dothiki thick and accented. “You and the halfling have escort experience?”

“I do,” Hugh said. “How far ahead you want us to run point, fifty or a hundred yards?

“Hundred yards is good. Fall back to the caravan when you spot trouble. We’ll break for lunch in Helloenu, and set up camp for the night at Datuff,” Ziti said, then indicated the road with his chin. “Start walking, we’re moving out.”

“I’ll be conjuring a mount once I’m away from the horses,” Hugh said.

“What type?” Ziti asked.

“Wolf type,” Hugh said.

“Arright. Keep it away from the caravan.”

“A wolf mount?” Sissy squealed, bouncing on her feet and tugging his arm as they walked into the rising sun. “Show me! Show me the puppy!”

“Okay, okay. Wait a minute,” Hugh said, laughing at her antics. Grabbing the weave in both hands, he pushed mana through it and and focused on the metas of [Conjure Zora]. Indicating a point on the ground ahead of him, Arcane script appeared, rotated, and flared with power. Magic surged as he chanted the verbal component of the spell, conjuring the spirit from the Fae realm into the Material.

A pony-sized Dire wolf appeared, complete with wide saddle, lantern, and two smaller cubs the size of large dogs.

Sissy clutched her hands to her chest, overwhelmed at the cuteness. “Oh. My. Goddess,” She whispered. “Puppies.”

Surging forward, she buried her face in the thick fur of Zora. “Biiig puppy,” she said, her voice muffled by the dense fur. Hugh climbed awkwardly into the saddle and Sissy scrambled in front of him a moment later, aggressively scratching Zora between his ears.

Hugh directed his attention to the wolf pups. “You two scout ahead and howl if you find anyone hiding along the road.” The two spirits dashed ahead, running through the grass alongside the road.

They rode ahead of the caravan, passing small villages surrounded by crop fields every mile or so. Their passage attracted attention as they rode through, causing the inhabitants to stop work and watch the dire wolf as it carried Hugh and Sissy along the road. “I never expected so many villages,” Hugh said after they passed the third one in an hour.

“How do you think New Arcadia gets fed?” Sissy answered. “There’s a hundred little villages that supply all the food to the city.”

“It makes sense that you’d have satellite villages feeding the city,” he admitted. “But I never really thought about it. I certainly didn’t expect so many.”

“It takes five to ten farmers without magic to feed each person in the city,” Sissy said. “There’s thousands and thousands of people in the countryside around New Arcadia, along with the Greendale Commune that employs people who have enough mana to cast nature spells. So bandits and other trouble won’t be a real concern until after we pass Helloenu because the governor sends patrols out that far.”

Sissy settled back against his chest as Zora paced ahead of the caravan and the two cubs ranged further ahead sniffing out trouble. Hugh had never considered how many low-tech farmers that would be required to feed a city, but it made sense that they would gather into large commercial farms and use spells to increase harvests.

It was just after noon when the caravan rolled into the tiny village of Helloenu. Nothing more than a collection of huts and a small blacksmith's shop that serviced other nearby villages.

They stayed long enough to eat lunch and water the animals, with Stans and the other merchants doing a bit of business with the locals before continuing the journey.

Hugh had dismissed Zora shortly after they arrived and spent time in meditation after lunch trying to gauge his mana. As a 2nd level spell, Zora had drained nearly half of his reserves, which had slowly climbed as the hours passed. When Sissy interrupted his meditation, his reserves were nearly full again. At this level, he was at a break even point with the mana usage while summoning Zora.

"Why did you dismiss Zora?" Sissy pouted as he made preparations to conjure the mount again. It was obvious that she had fallen in love with the Fey beast and had expected to play during lunch.

"Zora is a compromise spell," he explained. "Unlike [Find Mount], Zora has some detriments to offset the benefits. In exchange for the two cubs that scout and the oil lantern, Zora doesn't have a telepathic link, will not fight, and only lasts for six hours. I'll have to cast it twice a day, but the spirit has a faster speed and a greater variety of terrain it can handle. It all balances out."

He cast [Conjure Zora] and Sissy showered the cubs with affection before he sent them scouting ahead. Scrambling into the saddle, she settled back against his chest as they headed towards Datuff, a minor town 20 miles away.

Hugh kept his head on a swivel as they moved along the road. The mostly open farmland they had moved through for the last several hours had given way to dense pockets of forest as they got further from civilisation. An hour outside Helloenu the road vanished into deep woods.

Zita walked up alongside them as they plodded along. "This where Cezar Tarus was last reported," he said. "He charged the last caravan a toll to pass through."

"Sounds like that would come out of our bonus," Sissy joked.

"It most certainly would," Zita deadpanned. "Cezar Tarus was reported to have a dozen men with him, but trouble attracts trouble so he may have gained a few more followers."

Hugh digested that information and nodded. "I have the cubs scouting ahead. They'll howl if they sniff out anything."

Zita sniffed loudly and fell back to the caravan.

The shade from the trees was a welcome relief from the summer heat, but all too soon they had pushed through the wooded area and into the stiffling heat of more grassland. The sun was just a couple fingers above the horizon when they arrived at the town of Datuff.

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