I pulled out the vitality potion first. It was as good a place to start as any.

The potion itself resembled a thin, tall shot glass. Inside was a liquid that was bright yellow. Not neon yellow, more slushy yellow from a convenience store. When I looked closer, I was surprised to find that it was clear and had the same viscosity as water. How it looked the way it did, didn’t matter to me as much, I just needed it to work.

Immediately and without thinking too much about it, I pulled the top off, and downed it. If I kept staring at it I might have gotten too nervous to drink it. So it was best to chug it like medicine and not think too much about it, and oh boy am I glad I did.

Burnt oranges and lemon. That’s what I tasted going down my throat. I almost pushed it back up in my surprise and disgust. Thankfully, I was able to keep it down though.

The vial now empty, I waited. I knew it was going to hurt. Every time I did something in this system it brought pain. This time, as I thought, was no different. Baptism by fire.

I wasn’t on fire physically, but from the pain I was feeling, I was being burned alive. Every pore, bone, and muscle contracted. I watched as my skin flaked away in pieces from my body exposing the muscles underneath. I felt my bones crack like a log in a bonfire. I could feel my organs burn in my body as my blood boiled.

I couldn’t even scream. I wasn’t as bad as when my cells were re-written, but it was the closest to that so far.

Sweat was pouring down my body as I suffered through the agony and thankfully, what seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes, passed before it ended. As the pain passed, cooling sensations filled my body and pleasure rolled through me. It felt like I was floating in a cool lake. My entire body felt refreshed and new. My skin was brand new, my bones felt far sturdier than before, and the blood from my veins brought a cooling end to the fires that burned it.

Sitting in the pleasurable sensations for a moment longer, I opened my status screen.

[Name: John Phoenix

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title(s): Survivor

Level: 6(80%)

HP: 80->180

MP: 340

Vitality: 8->18

Strength: 7

Agility: 7

Intelligence: 34(mana brain)

Wisdom: 46(mana heart)

Unused Status point: 4

Skills:

Spells:

Mana Manipulation Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 1, Chanting Lvl 1, Runic Language Lvl 1, Sense Mana Lvl 1, Extract Mana Lvl 1, Empower Spell Lvl 2, Inspect Lvl 1, Mana Shield Lvl 1, Mana Bolt Lvl 3, Telekinesis Lvl 1, Spell Break Lvl 1, Interrupt Spell Lvl 1, Clean Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1,

Fire Spells:

Flame Control Lvl 1, Burn Lvl 1, Firewall Lvl 1

Water Spells:

Water Manipulation Lvl 1, Fog Lvl 1, Breath of Water Lvl 1

Ice Spells:

Freeze Lvl 1, Frozen Dagger Lvl 1, Ice Wall Lvl 1

Earth Spells:

Earth Manipulation Lvl 1, Earth Wall Lvl 1, Dirt to Mud Lvl 1, Mud to Stone Lvl 1, Quicksand Lvl 1, Mud Shot Lvl 1

Nature Spells:

Plant Control Lvl 1, Growth Lvl 1, Wall of Thorns Lvl 1

Wind Spells:

Gale Lvl 1, Gust Lvl 1, Feather-Fall Lvl 1, Wind Arrow Lvl 1, Air Dome Lvl 1

Lightning Spells:

Spark Lvl 1, Chain Lightning Lvl 1

Light Spells:

Light Lvl 1, Flash Lvl 1, Cure Lvl 1, Mend Lvl 1, Purify Lvl 1, Heal Lvl 2,

Mind Spells:

Mind Shield Lvl 1

Shadow Spells:

Night Vision Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1, Poison Cloud Lvl 1, Shadow Crows Lvl 1

Arts:

Dagger Arts Lvl 1, Bow Arts Lvl 1, Pugilist Arts Lvl 1, Siege Weapon Arts Lvl 1

Skills:

Tracking Lvl 1, Identify Trap Lvl 1, Danger Sense Lvl 4, Stealth Lvl 2, Running Lvl 1, Steady Hands Lvl 1, Precise Strike Lvl 1, Pain Resistance Lvl 2, Mental Resistance Lvl 1, Fear Resistance Lvl 2, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Cold Resistance Lvl 1, Lightning Resistance Lvl 1, Poison Resistance Lvl 2, Soul Manipulation Resistance Lvl 1, Acting Lvl 1, Light Armor Lvl 1, Heavy Armor Lvl 1, Writing Lvl 1, Cooking Lvl 1, Herbalism Lvl 1, Architect Lvl 1, Mathematics Lvl 2, Measurement Lvl 1, Farmer Lvl 1, Hoe Arts Lvl 1, Sickle Arts Lvl 1, Hammer Arts Lvl 1, Cartography Lvl 1, Trapmaking Lvl 1, Cleaning Lvl 1, Trading Lvl 1, Appraisal Lvl 1, Decrease Price Lvl 1]

‘It worked! Now I have double my health. Nice!’

I then pulled out the others. I knew it was going to be painful, but it would be so much better on the other side. With a sigh, I downed the next one.

----

‘Uhhhhhh….I’m so glad those things are one use only! Gaaaahhhhh! Who combines avocado, hotdogs, and peaches?! Ahhhhhhhh!’

After recovering from the last potion, I opened back up my status screen.

[Name: John Phoenix

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title(s): Survivor

Level: 6->7(12%)

HP: 80->180

MP: 340->440

Vitality: 8->18

Strength: 7->17

Agility: 7->17

Intelligence: 34->44(mana brain)

Wisdom: 46->56(mana heart)

Unused Status point: 5

Skills:

Spells:

Mana Manipulation Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 1, Chanting Lvl 1, Runic Language Lvl 1, Sense Mana Lvl 1, Extract Mana Lvl 1, Empower Spell Lvl 2, Inspect Lvl 1, Mana Shield Lvl 1, Mana Bolt Lvl 3, Telekinesis Lvl 1, Spell Break Lvl 1, Interrupt Spell Lvl 1, Clean Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1,

Fire Spells:

Flame Control Lvl 1, Burn Lvl 1, Firewall Lvl 1

Water Spells:

Water Manipulation Lvl 1, Fog Lvl 1, Breath of Water Lvl 1

Ice Spells:

Freeze Lvl 1, Frozen Dagger Lvl 1, Ice Wall Lvl 1

Earth Spells:

Earth Manipulation Lvl 1, Earth Wall Lvl 1, Dirt to Mud Lvl 1, Mud to Stone Lvl 1, Quicksand Lvl 1, Mud Shot Lvl 1

Nature Spells:

Plant Control Lvl 1, Growth Lvl 1, Wall of Thorns Lvl 1

Wind Spells:

Gale Lvl 1, Gust Lvl 1, Feather-Fall Lvl 1, Wind Arrow Lvl 1, Air Dome Lvl 1

Lightning Spells:

Spark Lvl 1, Chain Lightning Lvl 1

Light Spells:

Light Lvl 1, Flash Lvl 1, Cure Lvl 1, Mend Lvl 1, Purify Lvl 1, Heal Lvl 2,

Mind Spells:

Mind Shield Lvl 1

Shadow Spells:

Night Vision Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1, Poison Cloud Lvl 1, Shadow Crows Lvl 1

Arts:

Dagger Arts Lvl 1, Bow Arts Lvl 1, Pugilist Arts Lvl 1, Siege Weapon Arts Lvl 1

Skills:

Tracking Lvl 1, Identify Trap Lvl 1, Danger Sense Lvl 4, Stealth Lvl 2, Running Lvl 1, Steady Hands Lvl 1, Precise Strike Lvl 1, Pain Resistance Lvl 2->4, Mental Resistance Lvl 1, Fear Resistance Lvl 2, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Cold Resistance Lvl 1, Lightning Resistance Lvl 1, Poison Resistance Lvl 2, Soul Manipulation Resistance Lvl 1, Acting Lvl 1, Light Armor Lvl 1, Heavy Armor Lvl 1, Writing Lvl 1, Cooking Lvl 1, Herbalism Lvl 1, Architect Lvl 1, Mathematics Lvl 2, Measurement Lvl 1, Farmer Lvl 1, Hoe Arts Lvl 1, Sickle Arts Lvl 1, Hammer Arts Lvl 1, Cartography Lvl 1, Trapmaking Lvl 1, Cleaning Lvl 1, Trading Lvl 1, Appraisal Lvl 1, Decrease Price Lvl 1]

Besides the status boost, all of the pain from the potions increased my pain resistance skill by two, pushing me to level up again. I took one look at that information before focusing on my jump in stats.

Yes, it was painful. Really, really painful. But it was so worth it.

My eyes were much sharper, my ears could hear farther and with better clarity, I could feel my mana moving much faster in my body and in a much bigger quantity. I could feel the strength increase in my hands. Not anything superpowered or anything, but I was strong now. Stronger than I had ever been on earth.

I cast the clean spell again to wipe away the grime and sweat and found that it was much easier to cast it with my increased intelligence. The pace that I used to draw every rune in my head before casting the spell had changed. Instead of being slow and thought out, I found myself being able to draw the runes twice as fast as before and with less concentration.

I was unsure if this was for all spells, but for the clean spell, that took me roughly 10 seconds to cast silently beforehand, that spell had now been reduced to about 5 seconds to cast silently. Such a drastic change in my casting made me ecstatic.

I looked down at my hands and legs and realized that I would need to experiment with my new strength and agility. Yes, I was faster and stronger, but one needs to master their body to be able to master anything else. Now I was twice as strong and fast. What if I made a mistake and overexposed myself. I would have to take the rest of the day to relearn my body again. It was bad enough that I was back in my younger body, but now I was also twice as strong and fast. It’s like I was learning to crawl again as a baby.

I smiled and shook my head. It was good to have this strength and speed. Anything that can help me forward. Now though, I realized, I could focus on something else, namely the extra stat points I got from leveling up. I wasn’t quite done yet after all.

‘Hmmm……Since I was able to increase all my stats by 10 with the potions, where I put the status points now won’t be too detrimental if I end up needing to change how I allocate them in the future.

So, I’ll split them going forward. I’ll put half into agility and the other half into intelligence. Going back and forth every level. At least until my intelligence stat gets to my wisdom stat, then I’ll focus solely on agility. Strength is helpful, and so is vitality, especially since that is my HP. However, I don’t want to be a punching bag that can take hundreds of hits. Nor do I want to be someone that is super strong and can fight a hundred people with my bare hands.

No. My main strength should be spotting and dodging any enemy or threat so that I can cast my magic and kill them or be able to cast magic and run away. After experiencing what an extra 10 status points to my agility does to my senses and perceptions, I knew that it would be my most important stat going forward.

Especially considering the fact that I saw how fast that snake was. It was only dangerous because I couldn’t see it and I couldn’t react to its speed. I never want to be in a situation going forward where my enemy is too fast for me to react. My life is too important for that.’

Nodding my head at my decisions, I added the stat points, felt the pain and the pleasure from adding the points, and then opened back up the status screen.

[Name: John Phoenix

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title(s): Survivor

Level: 7(12%)

HP: 180

MP: 440->460

Vitality: 18

Strength: 17

Agility: 17->20

Intelligence: 44->46(mana brain)

Wisdom: 56(mana heart)

Skills:

Spells:

Mana Manipulation Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 1, Chanting Lvl 1, Runic Language Lvl 1, Sense Mana Lvl 1, Extract Mana Lvl 1, Empower Spell Lvl 2, Inspect Lvl 1, Mana Shield Lvl 1, Mana Bolt Lvl 3, Telekinesis Lvl 1, Spell Break Lvl 1, Interrupt Spell Lvl 1, Clean Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1,

Fire Spells:

Flame Control Lvl 1, Burn Lvl 1, Firewall Lvl 1

Water Spells:

Water Manipulation Lvl 1, Fog Lvl 1, Breath of Water Lvl 1

Ice Spells:

Freeze Lvl 1, Frozen Dagger Lvl 1, Ice Wall Lvl 1

Earth Spells:

Earth Manipulation Lvl 1, Earth Wall Lvl 1, Dirt to Mud Lvl 1, Mud to Stone Lvl 1, Quicksand Lvl 1, Mud Shot Lvl 1

Nature Spells:

Plant Control Lvl 1, Growth Lvl 1, Wall of Thorns Lvl 1

Wind Spells:

Gale Lvl 1, Gust Lvl 1, Feather-Fall Lvl 1, Wind Arrow Lvl 1, Air Dome Lvl 1

Lightning Spells:

Spark Lvl 1, Chain Lightning Lvl 1

Light Spells:

Light Lvl 1, Flash Lvl 1, Cure Lvl 1, Mend Lvl 1, Purify Lvl 1, Heal Lvl 2,

Mind Spells:

Mind Shield Lvl 1

Shadow Spells:

Night Vision Lvl 1, Silence Lvl 1, Poison Cloud Lvl 1, Shadow Crows Lvl 1

Arts:

Dagger Arts Lvl 1, Bow Arts Lvl 1, Pugilist Arts Lvl 1, Siege Weapon Arts Lvl 1

Skills:

Tracking Lvl 1, Identify Trap Lvl 1, Danger Sense Lvl 4, Stealth Lvl 2, Running Lvl 1, Steady Hands Lvl 1, Precise Strike Lvl 1, Pain Resistance Lvl 4, Mental Resistance Lvl 1, Fear Resistance Lvl 2, Heat Resistance Lvl 1, Cold Resistance Lvl 1, Lightning Resistance Lvl 1, Poison Resistance Lvl 2, Soul Manipulation Resistance Lvl 1, Acting Lvl 1, Light Armor Lvl 1, Heavy Armor Lvl 1, Writing Lvl 1, Cooking Lvl 1, Herbalism Lvl 1, Architect Lvl 1, Mathematics Lvl 2, Measurement Lvl 1, Farmer Lvl 1, Hoe Arts Lvl 1, Sickle Arts Lvl 1, Hammer Arts Lvl 1, Cartography Lvl 1, Trapmaking Lvl 1, Cleaning Lvl 1, Trading Lvl 1, Appraisal Lvl 1, Decrease Price Lvl 1]

Satisfied with my choices, I decided to end my rest and continue to move alongside the river.

I had to be careful though. My body had changed dramatically after the potions. So I slowly got up, tested myself, and tried to get used to my increased speed and flexibility.

One of the improvements I noticed was that the crouch walk that was straining me before after just a few minutes, doubled its time. As I was still accustoming myself, I decided to slow myself even further. Every placement of my feet was deliberate and methodical, and my eyes scanned the trees and fauna looking for snakes or other creatures in hiding.

Step by step I improved my control over my improved stats. Once I was comfortable, I increased my speed slowly until I was back at the speed that I used to walk.

As I walked through the forest, my eyes spotted small animals moving through the trees, a few ant hills, and even a few bird nests perched in the treetops. These were things that I hadn’t seen before. I even spotted another snake after another hour of crouch walking! My sixth sense warned me right as I saw it in the distance too.

It was a few tree branches away, its body was long and completely still. I smiled after finding it. It’s brown scaled body made one think it was just another branch in the tree, but I could spot it now.

With care, I gave the snake a wide birth before moving on. I was not going to risk my life again. I got lucky last time, and even with my increased agility, I wasn’t going to test myself in such a dangerous environment. I wasn’t going to bet my life on luck. That’s just not who I was.

As I moved throughout the day, the sun was not idle. I could see it cresting on the horizon in the late afternoon. Soon it would be night, the time of the predators.

Making a decision, I moved towards the riverbed again. This time I was incredibly slow and methodical, checking every step, every tree, and every rock as I got closer to the river.

There I found myself, looking at the clear riverbed with rocks all around it. From what I could see though, they were just rocks, not alligators.

This part of the river was lower than the forest, giving a small drop in the earth before the riverbed started by about 4 or 5 feet. I could even see the large roots of the trees weaving about below me on the wall of raised earth.

After calculating some things in my head, I stepped back a bit and began to cast a new spell, earth manipulation. This spell was different in that my will shaped what I wanted the spell to do. It wasn’t predetermined like clean. This is what I wanted though. I couldn’t do much for now, but that’s why I allowed myself time before the setting sun.

I turned my gaze downward and pushed. The earth responded to my will and descended. However, only a small amount, around the size of a baseball or softball. Undeterred, I cast the spell again and again. Thankfully, it cost very little, about 5 mana to cast each time and it was relatively quiet. I had plenty of mana for what I wanted to do, so I continued.

I worked the earth downward until I was in a small hole about 6 feet deep and about three feet wide. Not satisfied, I continued to push the dirt around me and downward until I had gone about 8 feet into the ground and the hole was about 5 feet wide.

The sun was fading from the sky now, I had maybe an hour left of light. So I began to cover the top of the hole with earth manipulation until it was almost covered. I then pushed towards the riverbed, opening up holes and paths for air to come in.

So that the cave wouldn’t, well, cave in on me, I pushed pillars up of hard earth to stabilize the ceiling. I continued my work well past the decline of the sun. But I was now in a safe space to work away from the eyes of predators.

I continued to work because I wasn’t satisfied yet. Plus, I had another spell to help me, Night vision. The spell was fairly easy to use and thankfully was a spell I could continue over time without having to recast. It cost around 8 mana to initially cast and about 3 to maintain a minute, below my regeneration.

When I cast the spell, mana gathered into my eyes, and I could see within the makeshift cave like it was daytime. I couldn’t test how far I could see because I was in a cave, but it worked for now.

Nodding my head, I continued to move the earth to my will until I got another prompt.

[Congratulations! Earth manipulation has leveled up!]

Looking at all the earth I had moved before seeing the prompt, I realized that it would be one of the spells that would be more difficult to level. Since I didn’t see a level-up notice, I looked at my status screen to see the percentage that I gained of experience.

‘Nice. It moved up from 12% to 63%. If it levels up again I should level up myself.’

Energized, I continued to work until I had made a cave about 10 feet deep and 8 feet wide allowing me to put two feet back above the cave so that it could handle the weight of normal creatures running over it. I also had an entrance to the riverbed now.

The roots of the tree made a net over the hole I put in the wall towards the river. I made the hole small enough that nothing big could get in, but big enough for me to get out of it if I needed to. I then made two small 3ft walls in front of the entrance about two feet apart with small spikes of earth on top to cut anything that tried to come in. Then behind the second small wall, I took out an adamantium shield and placed it beside the wall for added protection.

The shield was a tower shield that was about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide and solid metal. It looked heavy. Even with my increased strength I couldn’t lift it. Thankfully, I had the inventory which allowed me to pull it out and back in with ease.

I used the inventory to help me maneuver the shield and earth manipulation to maneuver the earth to stabilize it so that it wouldn’t just fall over while I slept. I needed it to be firmly in the ground.

Once all that was done, I covered myself in a cotton cloak and finally leaned on the shield to rest. I pulled out some water to drink and a bite to eat from the bar as I cooled down. It was peaceful in my cave and safe. I almost fell asleep immediately; however, only a few minutes later I realized a problem. I had nowhere to go to use the restroom, and I couldn’t just go in my cave.

‘Or could I?...’

I quickly took care of myself and then called upon the clean spell. First for myself. Then I tried to push the clean spell onto where the mess was. I felt some resistance at first like a wall was in my way, but I pushed through it and the spell worked! The mess was cleaned up and looked like regular dirt again. Except for the smell, which I thought of using another spell to help with that, but before I could I was bombarded by screens.

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! Clean spell has leveled up!]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

‘The hell?!? Why did it level up so much?!’

I opened up my status screen to see that the clean spell had jumped from level 1 to level 10! I had even gained 2 levels!

‘But why did it level up so much!? What was I doing that caused it to do that?’

Then my eyes lit up.

‘When I made it clean up after me! That resistance I felt…..I hadn’t felt it when I cast any other spells before……I mean I was planning on stopping when I felt the resistance, but I broke through the resistance so quickly that I didn’t think anything of it. But to jump to level 10? There has to be something I’m missing about leveling spells.

Was it because I used the spell on something other than me? What about my other spells?......Hmmm……I’ll have to look out for resistance in any of my spells going forward. I would think about it more, but I’m too tired and I want to put the status points in before bed.’

I put the two as I wanted and suffered through the pain and pleasure before opening up my status screen again.

[Name: John Phoenix

Age: 18

Race: Human

Title(s): Survivor

Level: 9(4%)

HP: 180

MP: 460->470

Vitality: 18

Strength: 17

Agility: 20->21

Intelligence: 46->47(mana brain)

Wisdom: 56(mana heart)

......]

Nodding my head at my growth, I pulled up the next spell I wanted to experiment with to get rid of the smell leftover from my restroom break, gust.

I pulled open the information inside of me and began to silently cast it. This time I carefully watched for any resistance in my casting off the new spell. But since I didn’t feel any, I decided to focus on the new spell instead.

Gust itself was a simple spell that cost around the same as the clean spell mana-wise. Interestingly enough though, it was faster to cast than any other spell I had cast before. I didn’t know if that was just the nature of the gust spell or if it was for all wind-based spells. I would have to experiment with that later.

As I focused on it, the mana gathered in the palm of my hand and a strong breeze began to blow. It fluttered my cloak and circulated the air in the cave quite well. I also found that I could have the breeze come from any part of my body. It also was another continuous spell that I could maintain for 6 mana a min. Over my regeneration, but still good to know.

I canceled the spell after a minute or so and sat back down in the fresh air. I was tired. Almost dying, twice, getting stabbed in the leg, being on high alert all the time. My younger body wasn’t used to this kind of stress and was slowly crashing, and I let it.

As I drifted off to sleep, I wondered if my night vision spell would continue as I slept or if it would cancel itself. I was subconsciously keeping it active, so I was curious.

Those were my last thoughts before I drifted off to nothingness.