(Day 105) Februarius 11th, 12th year of the Dragon, Age of Enlightenment

Through the months of Ianuarius and Februarius I continued to study the tomes I could and tried to start reviewing the spell books Eric showed me. There was a common entry on each page that I could make out but then the rest of the text was gibberish, and I couldn’t read it. Or a more important way to say it. I knew I could imprint the contents of the books into my spell slots because the option came up, but I wouldn’t know exactly what I was learning permanently. Something like what that dumbass politician once said back on Earth when the people were asking to see what was in a bill before it was signed. While talking to the press she’d, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." The people hired her dumb ass, they asked to see what she was working on, and she said something that arrogant. One of the most absolutely idiotic statements ever uttered. There was no way I was going to give up permanent spell slots until I knew exactly what I was going to get. Some entries looked like the names of spells from the RPGs I’d read before, but I was wary to assume they’d do exactly what I thought they’d do from a game. I did not have the knowledge to make informed decisions about what I should do so I held off on learning spells.

The other thing I’d done was try to utilize my Identify skill on the items I’d recovered from the Ranger Assassin. I found 3 Platinum 12 Gold, 15 Silver, and 8 copper. The items had been interesting but ultimately a letdown. My identify skill did notice the telltale magic incorporated in every coin I’d picked from Alberon’s coin pouch. After which I’d checked the coins in my treasury and noticed the same. It looked like Abi had been correct as neither opal had a magical fingerprint. The opal I created looked like the one I’d copied. I moved all coins and gems to my treasury and then used Identify on the rest of the gear. The bow was a Composite Longbow of Striking. It offered a +1 to attack and damage. I also found two more level 50 fireball arrows which once identified confirmed what Abi had surmised. On impact, they would do 10 to 100 x 50 points of damage to everything within a 20-foot radius. While the attack probably wouldn’t have hurt me too badly, those arrows could be quite dangerous. I moved the bow and arrows down to the armory and left them there.

The last item I found that was magical was a Belt of Holding that wasn’t soulbound to anyone, well not anymore anyway. I’d put it on and had been able to activate and use it. Inside the belt, I’d found the common supplies a Ranger might need to survive a trek through the wilderness. It looked like the belt had a 30 x 20 grid structure and reduced all carried weight by 90%. There were 3 waterskins, 7 days of food rations, a bedroll, and a tent as well as other items someone might need to climb a rock face or trees. The belt was a truly wonderful find, which I put on. I also had a set of Black Leather Armor and a Black Cloak and black clothes; Shirt, pants, and socks, to wear under the armor. Nothing special, but I moved the brown cloak I was wearing to the belt and put on the black cloak. I stored the leather armor and clothes in the armory.

Today wasn’t about thinking about what I’d done or thinking about what I’d studied or reminiscing over the items I’d found. Today, I was getting ready to head to the city to further my training. I’d learned just about everything I could here. As high as my Intelligence was, it didn’t matter if I had no frame of reference. I was sure that as soon as that happened, things would start falling into place. As the months had gone by, Adaline had come by around dinner, and we’d learned a lot about each other. She was eating breakfast with me this morning when I said, “Well, that’s it for now. Looks like I should be heading south tomorrow. If I’m remembering the maps correctly there is a large city just about 500 miles south and west of here along an inlet that leads out to the ocean. With that new ability to teleport, getting back here won’t be too much of a problem. I’d ask if you wanted to come along but I think for this first foray I’m going to need to go out on my own so I can judge the lay of the land.

“Probably for the best as some creatures will be able to discern my nature and alignment with a glance,” Adaline said.

Activating my interface, I set Adaline’s access to indefinite. When she received the notification, she looked at me questioningly. “Friends help friends. Just so you know, while there is only a very slim chance that I can permanently die in this Universe. Should that happen I am soul bound to return to my Universe. Which means I’ll be back. Giving you permanent access just seems like the proper thing for a friend to do for another friend. Free baths, a bed, and all that. Food-wise, I don’t know how long that will last as I haven’t made any effort to restock the treasury. Though if you come across…. hold on for a sec, Eric, please come here.”

Eric walked into the dining room “Yes master.”

“If I were to give you a command to take any money or treasure that Adaline drops off in the foyer, could you place it in the Treasury to be used to refill the Larder?”

Eric thought about it for a moment then responded. “Yes, though she will not be able to enter the library, treasury, armory, or second library without specific authorization by you.”

“Understood,” I said before continuing. “Second question, can you keep a running total of all donations that she drops off so that when I return, I know how much I owe her?

“Easily” Erik responded.

“Good then from this point on, if Adaline calls for you to make a deposit to the treasury please respond and do so while keeping an accurate list of all donations.”

“It will be done master” Eric responded.

Looking at me quizzically, Adaline asked, “I would donate treasure to your treasury why?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? gemology is one of the few skills I absolutely mastered back where I’m from and before I ever arrived here. I can do things like this.” Holding out my hand I ordered his nanites to create a fist-sized, flawlessly cut, diamond. Once the diamond was shaped and formed I withdrew the nanites from it and handed the diamond to Adaline. “For you”

Eyes sparkling, Adaline looked at me and said, “You know, you should have started with that trick back when we first met.” She looked at the diamond for a full minute before continuing. “So, I would surmise that you can create pretty much any gem, rock, or metal?”

“Not exactly, for example, I’m absolutely sure that I cannot create Adamantite or any other metal that has magic tied into it in some way. But Gold, Silver, Rubies, Diamonds, Emeralds, and any other normal common metals or gems. Sure. At will and unlimited.”

“Seriously, you should have started with that. Remember self-interest. Dragon. Dragon Hoard, you are getting what I’m selling here right Adam?” she asked

“I see your point,” I said smiling. “When I return if there’s something you would like please let me know. If you donate to the treasury, I will give you a return on your donation plus at least 10%. Not going to set a specific bonus because it costs me nothing to make the gems or precious metals. Also, I will probably spoil you more often than not” I said with a smile. “Maybe someday, you’ll even invite me to come see this Dragon Hoard you just hinted at?”

Adaline’s eyes grew wary then she smiled sly. “You’d try to make it bigger and drive this old girl crazy as she tried to figure out what you added to it”

“Guilty as charged,” I said laughing.

“Someday I may show my hoard to you. But I would have a vow from you that the only way you’d add something to my hoard is by showing it to me first. You have absolutely no idea how particular a girl can be about her treasures, especially girl dragons.” Lifting the first-sized diamond, she looked questionably at me “Mine, really?”

“Yes, yours, really. Thank you for spending time with me these last few months. I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversations. Now scoot, I can see the gleam in your eye and know that you have a specific spot you want to put that diamond. I’ll be leaving in the morning. If you stop by later, I’ll conjure up my music box and we can dance for a bit. I might even put on the AC/DC you seemed to like so much the last time we listened to my decadent music.

Adaline leaned over, pecked me on the cheek, and ran out the door calling over her shoulder, “I will be back later” as she turned into her black dragon form and flew off.

She might be an Ancient Black Dragon but sometimes, she reminded me of some of the excited teenage girls I’d grown up with. Priceless.

Adaline returned just after dark. We ate, danced, and listened to my ‘decadent’ music well into the night. Then we each went off to our own beds. In the morning I awoke to find Adaline already gone. I went down to the armory and equipped myself to look somewhat normal and placed most of the gear in the Belt of Holding. I went to the treasury and picked up a copper so that I was once again carrying 10 copper, 10 silver, 2 gold, a platinum, and both opals. I then moved the money pouch to the Belt of Holding. If I needed more wealth, I’d either create it or hope to find something salvageable that I could sell. I made sure that the doors to the secret Library, Treasury, and Armory were closed, then headed upstairs and ordered the stairway in the library to close. I noticed Eric sitting at a desk nearby and I called out.

“Eric, I’m about to leave for a while, please take care of our home?”

“Yes, Master. If I might ask, will you be gone long?”

“Honestly, no idea.”

With that, I walked out of the upstairs Library and headed out of the Abode. As I stepped outside into the early morning, I made my way to the trail the assassin had used to reach the abode and started making my way down the mountain. The trail wasn’t bad at all for someone on foot. As I made my way to the edge of the cliff I paused to take in the view. Forests off to the south. A mostly sheer cliff that went off to the east and the west and mountains to the North. I could just see the haze of what I expected to be the Ocean, barely visible along the eastern horizon.

The path led down the mountain in a switch-back pattern. I realized that the Abode sat at least a half, no, closer to a mile above a forest that spread out from the base of the cliff. Also, there were some hills right at the base of the cliff. Excited to finally be doing something I started down the trail. I realized that at a normal pace, without jumping or flying it would probably take me the whole day to get down. I wasn’t in any kind of hurry and truthfully. Besides, I needed work on blending in. So, I started down the trail. Slow and steady. Just a normal mortal man climbing down a mountain. Nothing to see here, really.

From her vantage high above me, Adaline watched as I began my trek down the mountain. Winging over and turning to the North she began flying for the frozen wastes. I watched her go then turned back and started down the mountain.