I need to find something to do with it, if I let go of the spell now the room will explode. Maybe I can use the rest to upgrade my core some more.

'Core Status!'

Core Upgrade Progress: 0%

'What? It reset? All that work wasted!'

Starting over is really frustrating but I guess I don't have a choice. But as I try to pull the mana into myself to work on my core I find I can't do it. The mana won't enter my body.

I try to think of something else to do with the mana, as I am wracking my brain the spell is starting to fray. I start pulling more mana to keep the spell from going haywire, to buy myself some time I feed it into the forge to improve the existing enchants. But that won't last long, if I try to feed too much into the forge it will explode.

I feed a little mana to Ruby but she is at full capacity so I can't overload her too much. This is starting to feel really familiar, it is almost the same as when the ice broke. Wait, that's it! When the ice broke I channeled a lot of the mana into Blitz!

I quickly shove the mana I am holding towards Blitz, and it disappears instantly. I begin pulling mana from the time spell as fast as I can and feeding it all to Blitz. I manage to unravel the entire spell without any explosions, and Blitz absorbs all of it.

It felt like I was dumping buckets of water into a dry lakebed. It makes me wonder just what I did when I made Blitz. Whatever, it worked, that is all that matters. I bring myself out of my meditation to see Drog staring at me from inches away.

"Hey! Back off! What's wrong with you?"

Drog says "What did you just do? The sword went crazy."

"I fed some mana into it. What do you mean crazy?"

Drog says "It glowed and hummed. I am glad I was manifested, I don't want to know what that would have felt like!"

I push Drog away and stand up and stretch. Ruby is just watching me as I walk over to the forge and say the command word. The forge instantly shrinks down to the size of a toy. I pick it up and it easily fits in the palm of my hand.

Ruby says "So, I see it worked."

"Yep, seems so."

Ruby says "Were there any problems?"

"Just a minor one. There was some leftover mana I had to dispose of quickly."

Ruby gives me a look like she doesn't believe me but she lets it go. I put the shrunken forge into my bag along with the metal ingots that I had left here. Then I head back to camp to finish cleaning up, then I catch some fish for dinner, and after eating I climb into my hammock to get some sleep.

When I wake up I take down the hammock and put it in my bag, then I catch some fish for breakfast. After I eat I clean everything and put it all in my bag. Now there is nothing left to do but go for a swim.

"Drog? Drog!"

After a minute I see him come running towards me and jump the river. If he is going to wander off I should set some rules in place.

"Drog, can you swim?"

Drog looks at the river and says "I can, but no thank you."

"Alright, then you will have to return to the sword for the trip out. But before that I have some rules for you to follow."

Drog says "What rules?"

"You are only allowed to attack my enemies unless I say otherwise. You are not to kill innocents no matter what."

Drog says "Aww, but innocents taste the best!"

"Are you capable of fighting in that form?"

Drog says "Yes, master. I may not look it but my combat abilities are not much less now than when I fought you."

"Well, in that case you will have plenty of opportunities for killing without going after innocents. So obey my rules."

Drog says "Yes, master."

As his physical form fades away I walk towards the river. If all goes as planned I will never see this place again and I don't regret it at all. Without a second thought I jump into the river.

I take a deep breath and duck under the water and start swimming with the current. I am hoping it will only take me an hour or so to get out, I can hold my breath for almost four times that long. Unless something goes really wrong I should be fine.

I let the current do most of the work, only swimming to keep myself under control and avoid the rocks. The new armor doesn't weigh me down at all, it even feels like it makes swimming easier. Although, I guess that makes sense since it was made from an aquatic creature.

The miles flow by fairly quickly, but only a half hour has passed when I see light above the water ahead. I quickly swim to the side and up and grab the rocks to hold onto as I look around. I am disappointed to see it is just another cavern lit up by glowing crystals.

I am about to dive back under and resume my journey when a straight line catches my attention. I pull myself up higher for a better look and see worked stone. Deep underground, stonework, my first thought is dwarves.

So I climb out of the river and take a good look around. There are four tunnels leading out of the cavern and it appears to be the ruins of several buildings. I head towards the ruins for a closer look but stop when I smell something familiar.

The smell is one I will never forget, the bird thing was too delicious to forget. This must be where it came from, but the smell isn't an old smell. So there must be another one here, and if I can smell it then it is close.

My hand is on the hilt of Blitz as I look around. As I spot the creature it is already charging at me so I draw Blitz and turn to face it. For some reason it doesn't seem as fast as the first one. But as it leaps into the air I spot two more close behind it.

This is going to be trouble, Ruby was no match for their speed and Drog takes too long to manifest. Looks like it is going to be three on one. As the first one flies towards me I tighten my grip on Blitz and wait till the last second before moving.