I should have gotten some new clothes.

Indeed, everything they were wearing was tattered and blood-soaked, whatever colour previously there caked in blood and dust. Not to mention the tears, their jumper was essentially a vest. Not very good clothing for hiking through a forest, which is also what they were currently doing.

From the mountain the town seemed to only be fifteen, maybe twenty minutes away, but Reto discovered that they were far worse at estimations than they thought they were, as already thirty minutes had passed with no sign of it.

I thought I’d be at the very least hearing something by now. The roads only been going in a straight line, so it’s not like I could be lost. And where are the carts anyway? What’s the point of building a road that you aren’t even going to use.

For the entire period, the road had been completely empty, and the only sounds that could be heard were the ambient noises of the forest. In spite of their annoyance at how badly they misjudged the distance, they continued without break for another 20 minutes before deciding something weird must be happening.

That’s it, I’m going to try to climb a tree and see how far away it is, I think I saw a decently tall one somewhere further back.

They immediately turned 180 degrees, but their foot hadn’t even hit the ground when something they saw made them pause. Behind them, there was no road whatsoever.

What!

When they turned around, they saw again that the road was gone in the direction they were heading, and all of the trees seemed to be completely different to the ones that they saw earlier.

What the fuck! What even is this? And why didn’t {Riven Spell} stop it from activating? It worked on the people from the military town. Unless, that was a spell effect stored directly on their person, maybe it’s just that this is a ranged effect from a spell farther away? Like expecting to stop a bullet with the ability to melt guns. How can I counter this then? It seems like it’s literally impossible, right?

And why target me?

----

Nobleheart had been waiting by the road at the entrance to town for over half an hour now, with nothing to show for it. He’d been hoping to thank the man that had saved all those people, and, well, something else, had even seen him heading down this exact road, and yet nothing.

No signs of a monster attack, even to his more esoteric senses, and no-one had been seen entering the town. The only thing that could make him take longer than a quarter hour to get here would be injury or the towns wards, but those only activate on anything not of a registered race. That man… was human, right?

---

From the top of a tree, there was no sign of a town, or even a building, in any direction. Reto even managed to figure out to use Cursebreaker to try and find people’s mana storage, and found nothing. There were quite a few that were somewhat small, but after managing to pinpoint a collection of three of them to a birds nest they realised there was nothing big enough.

How far away am I? I sincerely do not believe that a spell that wasn’t even close enough to be destroyed by {Riven Spell} was able to send me to the middle of nowhere, but I really have no scale on these sorts of effects. The military town didn’t have these sorts of defences, but there are hosts of reasons that could be the case, so it doesn’t tell me the difficulty at all, or much of anything.

After spending this time to think about it, they felt their anger fade and give way to despondency. They were in the middle of the wilderness, couldn’t figure out how to get to town, and were probably only still able to get anywhere by the whims of some random person of however much power.

…

This is my personal hell.

I don’t have a choice but to at least try though. All right. Let’s do this

And then they walked.

Thanks to their skill, they can almost entirely ignore the idea of getting food or water, and sleep is less of a concern, though they don’t know exactly how much less as of right now. So even if someone tried to keep them in this forest forever, they may be able to outlast them, certainly if they don’t have reason to try and keep them forever.

As they walked, thin branches and nettled bushes poked at their exposed skin, made all the worse by the harm they took that, whilst certainly having recovered faster, are still yet to heal to the point of avoiding pain at slight touches. As they put their hand on a tree to assist in stepping over a log their finger brushed against some moss, and they could have sworn that it imparted a stinging sensation that spread as they touched it. By the time they removed their hand, it had already started spreading along their forearm before completely disappearing. They assumed it was unimportant because Riven Spell failed to destroy it, so it must not be magical.

The forest was more mundane than they expected at first, the plants and trees all looked the same as normal to them, apart from the rare few that aren’t of course. During an hour of walking they only encountered one definitively magical plant, one which looked somewhat like the organs that store mana, only a lot more plant like. It was growing on a dying tree, with yellowed leaves and cracked bark.

At some point, however, they started to feel strange. They noticed that their aura seemed to be flickering, as if unable to sustain itself. The most worrying thing, however, was what they saw on their stats screen.

Reto Mason – Mage Adept – Lv.3

Health – 5/20

Will – 29/30

Mana – 53/55

Power

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.05

: Magical – 1.35

Durability

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.25

: Magical – 1.20

Speed

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.30

: Magical – 1.55

{Desolate Survivalism} – {Mana Feeding} – {Riven Spell}

{Anti-hero}

{Cursebreaker*}

{Adept Mage}

{Army of One}

{Dungeoneer}

Their mana had drained by a single point. As they watched, it decreased by another point, and the flickering started to get worse. Even still, it doesn’t make sense for her aura to be flickering, unless something is taking mana from it directly.

Why is everything going wrong today? I need to hurry and figure out how to get this to stop. So, if my aura’s flickering, then maybe I should compress it so it needs to cover a smaller area.

They were only able to compress it to half, anything further causing a mental pressure similar to trying to put your hand in fire only multiplied a dozen times over. For a second their aura stopped flickering, and when it stopped for a full ten seconds they thought that they had already dealt with the issue. Instead, it flickered again after fifteen seconds, substantially slower but still not stopping.

Okay, so that’s not enough. The important question is what effected it, the surface area or the power within a set area. In order to test this I would mainly need to compress it or make it larger, and then measure the difference.

Having already measured for the greater compression, and steadily becoming more and more tired as time went on. They couldn’t recall ever testing if it could be expanded, but thankfully it seems they can. As the aura expanded, the flickering got slightly faster, and it continued to increase in speed in small increments even past the point at which it’s range would ordinarily be. As it got to it’s full size it was flickering ever half a second or so, somewhere around eight times faster than the default of three and a half.

Their final test was to use the enchanted spaulders blacklist to remove everything nearby, hopefully meaning that they won’t be able to interact with it. This caused a flicker every few seconds and, paired with the smaller range, was only an actual improvement of a single second, hijacking a connection to drain it is more efficient but not by too much.

Here’s the plan. I’m going to make my aura as small as possible, and then sprint directly through the forest. Hopefully this isn’t where whoever caused this interferes because if they do then I am close to dead.

Their small increases to physical speed and power aren’t much compared to their other stats, but they are still something, and even work off of each other for a more powerful effect. Sure, they can run faster, but each step also goes further because they has more power pushing them forward. This together with the possible effects Mana is having means they were quite a bit more than just ten percent faster than before.

After ten minutes of running, their pace began to flag, much longer than they expected in complete honesty, but far less than would be ideal. After a further five minutes they decided that continuing the pace was not ideal. Not only does it make it harder to navigate the forest, but they also will not be able to keep it up forever. They were so focused on how long they have until their Mana runs out that they never considered their stamina, just because there isn’t a bar for it.

It was lucky, then that they noticed a plume of smoke somewhere inn the distance off to their right, not a massive one that would indicate a danger but a small one, that could come out a chimney or campfire. They had actually been coming closer to it for some amount of time already, but in their exhaustion from the running and the low but persistent fear from the Mana drain they didn’t notice it.

Finally! Maybe I can finally get away from these trees. How come {Riven Spell} didn’t work on them anyway?

As the got closer, they came across a camp. Their was a tent made of the furs of a collection of animals stitched together, though on the inside it was line with cloth, and a currently lit campfire, which was strange because it was both day and honestly quite warm.

There was nothing besides these, no blankets, nothing to lay on, not even any food. In an attempt to get the best view of the area, and avoid the trees, they took position in the centre of the clearing and looked around.

They could barely feel Riven Spell destroying something before a bag was pulled over their head and a rope tie it to their neck, unfortunately also restricting their breathing. They immediately started soundlessly swinging their left arm out as their right started towards their dagger. Before they could grab it however, an odourless liquid was splashed onto the bag.

At first, nothing happened except for the bag getting stuck to their face, making them think it was water, but then they were suddenly somewhere else, bag off their head. They also had thick metal handcuffs on their wrists, which had glowing runes carved into them.

Seriously, it’s just one thing after another ever since I got here. At least I know that I didn’t have to worry about the teleporter now, if these are fine. The runes must be to teleport them onto me after I myself was teleported here.

They then checked their status, more to take stock of their mana than anything, only to yet again see something unexpected from it.

Reto Mason – Mage Adept – Lv.3

Health – 20/20

Will – 30/30

Mana – 39/55

Power

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.05

: Magical – 1.35

Durability

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.25

: Magical – 1.20

Speed

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.30

: Magical – 1.55

{Desolate Survivalism} – {Mana Feeding} – {Riven Spell}

{Anti-hero}

{Cursebreaker*}

{Adept Mage}

{Army of One}

{Dungeoneer}

Their Health and Will had recovered, whilst Mana had worsened. Rather than teleportation as they first thought, that potion or chemical had caused them to seamlessly lose and then gain consciousness, without even noticing anything amiss. So rather than being teleported as they assumed, they were brought here manually and had the cuffs put on manually.

It must have been a while for my health to have recovered so much, I’ve been waiting for that to fully recover since it first increased. Why is my mana so low though? If these shackles are supposed to block mana somehow, then maybe what I lost was from my walk through the forest and I haven’t recovered any since. Priority number one is getting these off then.

They first attempted to find something to break them with, as futile as they expected it to be. When they looked down to check for their dagger, but there was a sharp twinge of pain in a circle around their neck. Gingerly reaching to touch it, they felt small complex shapes had been carved into their neck somehow, possibly to supplement that of the shackles. Some of the shapes felt that they could match anyway. They also had the items on their belt confiscated upon being kidnapped, though not the belt itself, meaning the loss of all their items. It goes without saying the badge and spaulder were taken too.

Failing in their attempt to find a dagger, they finally paid attention to the room surrounding them. They were in a prison made out of a light blue stone or metal, bars included. There were no visible grooves and, feeling along, they discovered it to be perfectly smooth.

Where have I seen this before?

Outside the bars, was a dungeon made of regular stone bricks, and they noticed in the ceiling was a thin blue bar that terminated where a round bottle was attached to the ceiling.

Ah! That looks like the bottle from the lair, although, it’s rounded instead of being more like a pyramid. Could I have used it for this sort of thing if I took it? I feel cheated. The only thing making me feel better about this is the possibility that the shapes denote different effectiveness, and round is better than the one I left behind.

If this effect is sustained by a magic item, then it should be possible to stop it by either breaking or stealing it. Now if they could just break out of these handcuffs and then fight or sneak through an entire dungeon of maybe-bandits, and they’re home free. Should be easy.

----

[For capturing a level 3 Mage Adept from another world, you get to pick between three skills.]

An entire accomplishment for one capture? And what’s this about ‘another world’? I thought that those things were myths, but here it is, in the flesh. It’ll certainly make a pretty penny on the market, maybe I’ll even be able to sell it to those so-called ‘Noblehearts’ that have been looking at our offers. Certainly better than what we’ve been getting lately, what with all the paranoia about Vermillion General’s for whatever reason.

People really believe anything between those rumours and that family. Nobody noble would buy slaves, and I would know. Suppose I shan’t complain though, it’ll pro’lly be what’ll make me rich.

Speaking of, I should use one of those, what’re they called? Crystal Errant maybe. I should use one o’ those to keep it contained, doubt just anyone could break out. Just a shame that it’s a mage, I really don’t want to risk a {Sealing Rune Circle} on it, but I don’t see much choice. {Endless quiver}

The last thought was timed with her reaching into a quiver, and pulling out an arrow with a set of hand cuffs tied to it. She started clasping them to the Mage with practiced motions, calling over a nervous robed teenager.

“Hey! Need a {Sealing Rune Circle} over here! This is literally the only thing you’re good for, why are you so far away? No! Don’t answer that. I don’t care”

That {Endless Quiver} trick really gets me every time though, who even thought of that? They need a damn beer, that’s for sure.

This small distraction was just enough for them to forget about the presence of Adept altogether.

----

The second attempt started about as fruitless as the first. They tried to use Cursebreaker to bring themselves to the other dimension, but felt something around their neck, ankles, and wrists pull them back almost immediately. Lifting up the leg of their trousers that are barely holding together already, they could just make out runes wrapping around each ankle, though no shackles.

That complicates things substantially. If I can’t just phase out that way, then there isn’t much I could do except bash the cuffs against the wall and try to get rid of the runes somehow, though it seems risky.

They prepared themselves for a night of arduous work before coming to a realisation.

Could I phase only a single part of my body? The effect doesn’t pull everything back directly, only at five specific locations. What if I phase a different one?

Experimentally, they attempted to push the tip of their left pinkie inwards, into their own Mana. After a few seconds of concentration, it slowly started to almost get further away without actually moving anywhere. Soon, it seemed to have travelled the entire distance, leaving only a clean stump that looks to have been a distantly healed injury.

Grinning at their success, they brought their pinkie back and got rid of their thumb in it’s place. When it had gone completely, they were able to slip of the shackle on their right hand, leaving it dangling uselessly from their other arm. As they watched, it seemed to create little blue sparks that collected in the centre of the band before dissipating.

In short order they were able to remove the second shackle in the same manner, leaving them physically unbound, though still unable to move their whole body as the wish they could. With the shackles that contained most of the runes now off and hanging on their belt by the connecting chain, they were able to freely use their magic. Their aura was already working on the walls of the cell, but though it was destroying the spell it was reinstating itself too quickly to be able to get out. It would be more important to get at the vial directly.

{Riven Spell}

Though it wasn’t required, they thought the name of the skill as it’s focus turned fully to the crystalline item, causing it to fall to the ground and shatter. It wasn’t quite within their range normally, but thankfully they have enough control to be able to extend it in one direction at the cost of others. The second it lost contact with the ceiling the structure around them vanished, as if a bubble that was popped. The main strength of the vial was the fact it can put itself back immediately, rather than actually being strong.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the item in question itself. As soon as it got damaged each piece started to collapse further until it wasn’t even a pile of dust, as if it was never even their in the first place. The only evidence left that it was ever there was the section carved out of the dungeon which it previously filled.

They cell which Reto previously occupied was at the end of a corridor lined with cells, a total of 12 still visible, including two on a corner at the end of the corridor and excluding the one that got destroyed. What little light available was coming from a torch attached to that corner, which would make it difficult to tell whether anyone was coming based off of shadows alone.

They looked into each cell as they passed them, taking note of the fact that every single one was empty. As they rounded the corner, there was another hallway, this one with ten cells and a staircase going up at the end. To the right of the staircase there was an indentation in the wall that, though it was hard to tell from where they were, they assumed that it was another corridor.

Seeing what could eventually lead to an exit, they picked up their pace somewhat and stopped checking the cells on either side, in a hurry to leave, though their desire was tempered somewhat with the realisation that they don’t know where they would go after the fact. As they crossed the indentation they checked to see that it was in fact another corridor. Rather than being empty however, there was a group of guards playing a card game around a table, though not all of them were sitting down.

For a second they froze in shock. Then, they dove into action.

Reto Mason – Mage Adept – Lv.3

Health – 20/20

Will – 30/30

Mana – 51/55

Power

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.05

: Magical – 1.35

Durability

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.25

: Magical – 1.20

Speed

: Physical – 1.10

: Mental – 1.30

: Magical – 1.55

{Desolate Survivalism} – {Mana Feeding} – {Riven Spell}

{Anti-hero}

{Cursebreaker*}

{Adept Mage}

{Army of One}

{Dungeoneer}