I get up the next morning and decide instead of doing exercises this morning I will go do some mining after breakfast instead. So I get up and go to the mushroom area with my spear and quickly catch two fish.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Fishing has progressed to level 4!

Fishing

Level 4

Agi +4

You can attempt to catch fish.

When I go to get some mushrooms I realize there is only new growth left and none of them look mature so I return to my room with just the two fish. After grilling and eating the two fish I get my gear and the picks I have made and head down to the goblin nest to do a couple of hours of mining. During the two hours I get another one hundred pounds of iron ore.

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Mining has progressed to level 7!

Mining

Level 7

Str +7 End +3

You can attempt to mine normal ore.

By the time I have hauled the ore back to my room I figure I have done enough exercise and head back down to continue exploring. I head to the storeroom where I left off and continue up the main passage. About thirty-five feet further on I come to a crossroads, the main passage continues while there are smaller hallways to the left and right.

Keeping to my explore the outside first strategy I take the left hallway. The hallway is about fifteen feet long but the weird thing is as I walk down it the air becomes noticeably warmer. The room at the end of the hall looks like it is lit up by firelight so I approach cautiously.

When I take a look inside what I see surprises me, the room is empty except for one being, it looks like the figure of a woman made of fire. She is chained in place and seems to be either dead or asleep, but since the room is definitely warmer I am guessing she is asleep. I carefully look around the room which seems to be a natural cave that was expanded and seeing no other enemies I slowly enter the room.

As I come closer to her I notice the chains holding her are very thick and they run from her wrists to the walls. I also notice an odd square hole in the ceiling directly above her.

"Um hello?"

Elemental startles awake and yells "Die! Burn!! Huh?"

Elemental says "Oh, you aren't a ratman or a goblin. What are you?"

"I'm a Black Lion beastman. Are you a fire elemental? And how come I can understand you?"

Elemental says "Yes, I am a fire elemental. Elementals are magic beings, we can communicate in any language. I've never heard of a Black Lion beastman before, where did you come from? And how come I can sense mana in you?"

"That's a long story, and I have mana. Should I not?"

Elemental says "Beastmen as created beings are not supposed to have mana."

"Created beings? What do you mean by that?"

Elemental says "Beastmen are not natural, they were created by the Imperial Mages by taking the core of a mana beast and fusing it with a human."

"Mana beasts? Not natural? The more you talk the more questions I have."

Elemental says "Well since you are the first person I've seen since the Archmage left last, that I can talk to I don't mind."

"Okay I'd love to talk to you for a while then but first I think I should free you. As long as you are not going to attack me that is?"

Elemental says "I would love it if you could free me! And I promise not to attack you if you do, but these chains are spellforged steel so I doubt you can free me. Why would you want to free me anyway?"

"I don't like slavery! I'm not sure if I can free you but I intend to try."

I draw my sword and take a swing at the chains.

*CLANG*

The sword bounces off the chain without leaving a mark.

"Well, since you are a fire elemental the chains would surely be immune to fire so firebolt won't do anything. Guess I'll try the Black Razor."

The elemental watches as I pull out the dagger and step right next to her to try cutting the chain. The dagger slowly cuts through the chain as the elemental's eyes widen in disbelief.

"Ha, okay give me a minute and I'll have you free."

Elemental says "That is a very powerful dagger you have there."

"Yeah I got it as a quest reward."

Elemental says "??? A quest reward??"

As I cut through the chain on her right side the entire chain and the manacle on her wrist completely disappear.

"What?? Where did it go?"

Elemental says "You broke the spell so the chain was destroyed."

"Oh okay, I'll work on the other side then."

The elemental watches me start cutting the left chain as she moves her arm around. It takes me a few more minutes to cut through the chain and then it disappears as well.

Elemental says "Oh free at last! I never thought I would be free again! Thank you so much!"

"Your welcome."

The elemental walks around stretching and enjoying being free.

"Why were you chained up here anyway?"

Elemental says "It was my job to power the forge and incinerate any trash the town threw down the chute."

As she says this she points at the hole in the ceiling that I noticed earlier. I glance up at it and realize anything that fell out of it would have landed on the elemental while she was chained up.

"While that is a good way to dispose of trash, I can't believe someone enslaved you for something so simple."

Elemental says "The Archmage was very fond of finding ways to do even simple things using magic, and he didn't regard elementals and spirits as beings. He saw us as moving clumps of magic power."

"Okay, so I have a lot of questions to ask you but first I should probably tell you how I ended up here. As I said it's a long story so would you like to come to my base of operations?"

Elemental says "Sure, I don't mind, but just so you know I only have enough mana to remain here for about six hours."

"Alright, I should be able to get a lot of info in that amount of time. Follow me."

I turn and lead the way back through the sewers and up into the pit and then into my room.

"Umm, I don't have much but can I get you anything?"

Elemental laughs and says "No thank you. I consume mana to live."

"Right you mentioned you only have enough mana for six hours. Why is that?"

Elemental says "I was once a greater elemental, but having been stuck on this plane for eons my powers have greatly diminished over time. The chains were providing me enough mana to keep me here but now once my personal mana runs out I will return to the plane of fire."

"That doesn't mean you will die does it? If so I don't really know how but I can try to give you some of my mana!"

Elemental says "You are a sweet being, but no I will not die. I will simply return to my home plane to recover until I am summoned again."

"Oh I see. But the Archmage is long dead so no one will be summoning you back right? Oh by the way my name is Ash. What's yours?"

Elemental says "Ash? Ha ha I like that name! I like ash because it is all that is left when I burn my enemies! No, I don't have a name."

"Umm okay, then for right now is it okay if I call you Ele?"

Ele says "Sure, I don't mind that."

"Okay Ele. Now to start with let me tell you how I got here and what I know and then you can fill in the blanks?"

Ele says "Sure. I will tell you what I can, although my knowledge is fairly limited since I've been stuck down here for so long."

I start by telling her a little about my old life and how I died and was summoned here.

Ele says "Wait. You were summoned here recently?"

"Yes, a few weeks ago, I think?"

Ele says "That shouldn't be possible. It isn't the time of the summoning yet."

"The what?"

Ele says "Natural mana ebbs and flows over time. Every one hundred years or so it is at its peak and this period when its the strongest is called the time of summoning because only when magic is at its peak can another world be reached."

"So magic isn't at its peak right now so I shouldn't have been summoned yet?"

Ele says "Right. The peak time is still about a year away. To summon you before that time would have taken a great sacrifice."

"I wasn't the only one summoned, I didn't get a chance to look around but I feel like there were forty to fifty people around me when I appeared here."

Ele says "Are you sure you were summoned by a king and not an emperor? The reason I ask is that the maximum number of summons possible is fifty. And before you ask no I don't know why that is the limit, no one ever figured it out to my knowledge. The amount of power required to summon the full fifty during the time of summoning is immense. I can't even imagine how huge the amount would need to be to summon all fifty early!"

"I'm fairly sure he was just a king, but I know nothing of the kingdom or the current state of this world. Anyway, let me finish explaining so you know my situation."

I go on to tell her how I was attacked immediately after being summoned and how I was deemed worthless for being a level zero and tossed into the pit. I then explain how I survived and what I have managed since.

Ele says "Wow! That is quite the story! It is amazing that you have survived, not to mention surviving as a level zero. I'm sorry to say I don't know why you don't have a level. As I said, beastmen were created so I didn't think it was even possible for one to be summoned. Right, let me tell you the story of the fall of the empire first so you understand the origin of beastmen."

"Okay!"

Ele says "At the time of the fall the empire was ruled by Emperor Quintent and the fall was caused by his older brother Duke Daggun. You see at that point in time the empire was ruled by mages and magic power was everything. Daggun was the eldest but Quintent was a stronger mage so he became emperor. Daggun was sent to rule the far northern territory as a duke, he of course felt cheated and that the throne belonged to him. Ten years after the coronation of the emperor, Daggun raised the north in rebellion. Now rebellion was a fairly common thing in the history of the empire so no one thought much of it and expected the army to put it down quickly. At first they were right, the imperial army won several victories against Daggun in the beginning, but then Daggun started using a new type of beast and the war shifted."

Ele says "Now magically created beasts were fairly common in the empire, used for all sorts of things such as farming and guarding and arena matches. The main difference was that those beasts only lasted as long as the mana infused into them whereas Daggun's beasts were self-sustaining. They were real living beasts and could even breed, no one had any idea it was even possible before they appeared. They were also considerably stronger than expected and they destroyed two full imperial armies before anyone knew what was happening. Daggun had apparently been planning and preparing for a long time because he unleashed thousands of the new beasts against the empire. These beasts came to be known as mana beasts, and what let them live fully was the beast core. Now for the first time the empire was losing a civil war and so drastic measures were deemed necessary, the Archmage and the imperial mages came up with a process to infuse a beast core into a human being."

"Those were the first beastmen right? That's why you called them a created race?"

Ele says "Correct. Thousands of human soldiers of the empire were fused with beast cores taken from Daggun's mana beasts. Those that survived the process became the first beastmen. The process had about a thirty-five percent fatality rate."

"Wow, that is a lot of dead soldiers, isn't it?"

Ele says "Yes, hundreds died to create the beastmen. But we are talking about an empire, the imperial army before the war was numbered at over one hundred thousand so hundreds of losses were acceptable. Especially since tens of thousands had already died fighting Daggun's mana beasts. Now the tide turned again, with beastmen leading the army they were able to kill the mana beasts and push Daggun back. I believe it was an act of desperation on Daggun's part but he created a new type of mana beast. It was the only mana beast able to use magic, what's worse they could fly and breathe fire."

"That sounds like a dragon!"

Ele says "What is a dragon?"

"A mythical beast in my old world. Large, scaled, lizard-like, immensely powerful, able to fly, and can breathe fire."

Ele says "Sounds about right. Anyway these new creatures were beyond Daggun's ability to control and ran amok across the entire continent burning every city and village to the ground. Even the Archmage's castle which used to be above this basement was destroyed easily and he had spent a lot of time and power enchanting the castle. At the time it was considered only second to the imperial palace in terms of magical protections, yet one dragon destroyed it in a matter of minutes."

"So they destroyed the entire empire?"

Ele says "Yes, in about two weeks time, everything was burned to the ground. The war and the empire ended in flames. At least this is what the Archmage told me the last time I saw him. I think he only told me because he had no one else to tell."

"So the pit used to be the basement of the Archmage's castle and the sewers were from the city belonging to the castle?"

Ele says "Yes, and the Archmage liked to hide in the basement from his people so he could do research and write his book. That is the only reason he survived, but he was trapped down there. After a while he made his way to the sewers and talked to me for a few days. Then he left to look for a way out, saying something about the river, and that was the last I ever saw of him. Now I'm not entirely sure how long ago that was, I slept quite a lot over the centuries that passed, and that is the end of my knowledge of the world above."