Damon touched the earth wall of the dungeon. He felt a vague presence, a quiet, but constant flow of mana which was to be expected when you considered this was a beast’s stomach. Five minutes later he saw a goblin in the distance, however, this goblin had the slimy skin of a salamander and held a wooden club in its right hand. Damon cast his smog and sandstorm spells; he wouldn’t take any risks.

Next, he launched a stone spear into the goblin’s head. The goblin, startled, screamed and ran towards him, brandishing its wooden bat. When the goblin entered the earth spike’s range, Damon skewered it. Although he wanted to study its body and find out if they had any kind of special organs, especially of the poisonous variety. If they did, he’d run away the next instant.

Yet before he could even crouch down eight more goblins appeared wielding wooden bats. Damon created an earth wall in the passage only giving them a small space from which to squeeze through. When they filed through, he cut them one at a time with his enchanted blade. Finally dealt with, Damon made another earth wall to completely seal off his section of the cavern and took out his dissection tools.

Starting with the skin, then the muscles, the glands, and the organs. He discovered that these hybrid beasts were no different than regular old goblins except with the skin of salamanders. As such, he continued deeper into the dungeon. Further along he found more goblins, but now they held iron swords. Damon stepped back. He didn’t know if the four goblins in front of him might have ranged support. Since they were partially salamander, he couldn’t rule out an ambush. Damon shot a rock spear to provoke them. Thankfully, they were just as stupid as before and he killed them using the same earth wall trick.

Dungeons in this world did not reabsorb their creations. All weapons, armours, or beasts created would remain in the material world to encourage adventurers to delve into its depths. The dungeons own mana would naturally recuperate with time like any other living being. This would permit it to generate new beasts or repair its structure. However, one thing which was unknown about them was why they wanted to encourage adventurers to delve into their depths. Of course, it was to consume them, however, what they consumed was still a mystery.

Damon continued down the cavern and there he found a small door made of black steel. It was engraved with caricatures of a swamp. Behind it laid the true dungeon. Damon looked behind him to the silent cavern and back at the door. He decided to at least peek through the dungeon’s door. There wasn’t any locking mechanism, and one could leave whenever.

Damon turned the knob and pulled open the door. A strong gust of humid air rushed out, it seemed to be humid and dense. Peaking inside, he saw what looked like a carbon copy of the swamps; however, there were fewer trees, and Damon saw a bright moon floating in a dark purple sky. Ravens, vultures with contorted necks, and crows flew in the sky or stood watch on tree branches. Damon took a step inside and felt an overwhelming force press down on his shoulders. The birds turned to him in unison and giant, partially scaled, and spiked salamanders emerged from their beds of leaves.

This wasn’t somewhere a level three mage could wander willy-nilly. Whomever said a dungeon’s difficulty reflected the surrounding area lied or had skewed senses. He’d come back when he became a level five or six mages. Perhaps this was why one needed to be a level five mages to become an adventurer.

Damon stepped out of the dungeon and closed the door. Once outside he rested his back against the cold metal door, his heart furiously beating, and sweat forming almost as if his reaction had been delayed. After a few minutes, he walked away. Although boring he could hunt in the swamps for a few more weeks.

#

Damon hunted and used his magic skills for another seven months. On a cold morning, while he used his shadow agility to climb a tree his control over the spell and its agility enhancement suddenly increased, causing him to lose control and topple down the branch into the muddy ground. Checking his status screen, he saw that his shadow magic had finally reached a level 4. It had taken him an entire year of constant magic use; however, it had finally increased.

Since he had nearly reached the halfway point to the max level of ten. It felt like the time it took him to reach the fourth level was rather quick. However, he knew that this wasn’t the case, up to level 5 the amount of time needed wasn’t great. It usually took three years to reach level five in a skill if that was the only one you practiced, however, to go from level five to six it took about four years. But that was if one constantly used magic. Most people couldn’t use magic where they lived. For example, fire magic could burn down a town and going out to train meant not working. Plus, the use of dark magic might lead people to assume you were an assassin or robber. In a world where someone could create a pillar of flame without a word, anyone who activated magic did so at their own risk.

Damon decided to head back to the Tree, his earth magic should level up on the way. He also made sure not to pass by any tribes and reached his destination in four months.

#

Even though a year had passed it didn’t seem to be the case here. The Tree was just as somber and majestic as before and Stolas could be seen flying over to him while Gargano carried a bucket filled with water out of the Tree.

“You’ve levelled up your two magic skills?”

Damon nodded, “I’m ready to study black magic, I don’t want to go out for another year.”

Stolas let out a wry laugh, “And yet just a year ago you were dying to leave.”

“Yes, but that was one year ago, I’ve gone on my adventure.”

“An adventure which lasts one year is nothing to an elf. If you convert it to human time, it’s no more than two months.”

“Time doesn’t flow differently for elves. A year’s still a year.”

“That’s true, well, for now go in the bath. We can still talk while you clean yourself.”

Damon removed his clothes and entered the tub.

Stolas looked at his chest. “New scars.”

Damon touched his scar. He’d forgotten about all of it in the past few months. “Yes. So, do you have the new books for dark and earth magic.”

“Yes, but not now, I can’t have you slacking on your black magic, you haven’t used it in a year, no?”

Damon let his head hang off the side of the bucket. His dark purple hair which hadn’t been cut in a year sprawled on the earth. “Well, it shouldn’t take me more than half a year if it’s just black magic.”

Stolas nodded, “After that, you’ll soon be able to repay what I invested in you.”

“Level four is enough?” asked Damon.

“Well, the fifth level is when you can start making significant contributions. To be able to work for upper-level nobles you need to be at least level six and level seven is suitable for the position of royal court mage. The eighth level grants you the title of arch mage and a position second only to a king. Of course, this only applies to humans. For elves each one of those requirements are bumped up two levels.”

“Then how do humans compete with elves?” Damon started to wipe down his body with the towel on the side of the bucket.

“How do trolls compete with humans?”

Damon thought about it for a second but couldn’t think of anything.

“They don’t.” Answered Stolas, “But they still exist because they stay out of their way.”

“But isn’t the human population much larger than the elves.”

Stolas looked at him with an inquisitive look. “Why would you think that?”

Damon remembered not to graft fantasy tropes onto this world.

“Although elves reproduce slower than humans, humans are locked on two small continents. Whenever they try to expand to the other continents, they are soon reminded of the difference between level eight and level ten spells. Ants will never trample on humans and humans will never trample on elves. That’s the way of life.”

“Then why don’t the elves conquer this land and make humans their slaves.”

“Because the dwarves, living dead, fairies, and all the other races would take the opportunity to start wars against them. The same goes for everyone else. If the major powers are in a stalemate, the humans will be spared and ignored. They may think that their military power is the reason for their survival, they may think that they are the masters of their own will and destiny. However, demons control their desires, angels control their laws, and the other races control their future. They aren’t anything more than glorified beasts.”

Damon confirmed for good that this wasn’t a fair world, although there were some checks and balances there wasn’t any check for the intrinsic power of time.

Stolas continued speaking, “That’s why I want you to stay here for a while longer. Even though you may not think this continent is pleasant, it is heaven compared to the others. In the elvish continent, you wouldn’t be able to do much more than clean dishes, and even then, they wouldn’t hire you since you can’t use water magic. However, if you stay here for a few years you could work as a mage for a duke which would bring you much more wealth and experience. Look, I’m working on a way to grant you the appearance of a human. When I find one, you’ll be able to head to the human’s main continent. There you might encounter the other races of this world and get a sense for their strength. When you sense that you’re ready you could take a boat to the elvish continent. However, for now you’ll stay here and learn black magic.”

Damon didn’t mind the prospects of becoming a duke's court mage. He could probably afford a few enchanted items that way. He left the bath and put on a new set of clothes. His room in the underground labyrinth of the tree hadn’t changed a bit and the alchemical items were already set up on his table. It seemed that he’d join the assembly line once again. And to be honest he didn’t mind it that much. He could sleep in a warm room, without rain nor beasts. He could take a shower and wear clean clothes. As such, Damon went ahead and got to work.