"That. Is.a.lot.of.weapons..."

Following Emy 's indication, Maximilian was now standing in the middle of a rectangular room. Easily twice the volume of the one he was with Emy, this one was filled with weapons and armour of all sizes and forms.

"My god this is Christmas earlier... But first thing first. If what Emy told me is true, I can use water spell to clean myself"

Taking out the magic book, he sat and started looking through it. The Assimilation skill was doing wonder, Maximilian Was learning new spells (fire spell, earth, more wind spell). The elemental magic seemed to be quite simple in the process, an element for the energy infuse, and another word for the form it would take. The difference in spell power and energy required to use it resided more in the form than in the element. From what he read, the simplicity some mage had with an element came from the experience, the time spent using this particular element. That was why some mages would be very proficient with fire but quite disastrous with another element.

*well it seems to me I won't have this kind of problem. *

Keeping his “discovering child “ state of mind, he would, each time he learned a new kind of spell, put the book on the ground and tested it.

To be honest, the first attempt wasn't always the good one. The fireball, for example, gave him the fire magic: control skill... and the fact he burned his right foot gave him the fire resistance skill...and pain resistance skill... Three he maximized right away.

"Ouch... Well, I'm hurt...but more in my pride than my body. This pain resistance skill is a bless though. "

After the upgrade of his skills, it was another story. He could do anything, gave a fire form to any of his thoughts, it was fantastic.

Wanting to try something, he took an inspiration, lifted his head, and said.

"Fire...breaaaaaaath "

From his mouth came a cone of golden flame, reaching five meters high. Licking his lips afterwards, he smiled to himself.

*that doesn't go very far...but the awesomeness of a fire breath is just marvelous. Good lord I'm a kid in a candy store with free coupons. *

Laughing heartily, he continued experimenting elemental magic.

Some time later, he had read a good part of the magic book, and gained a skill about control and another one about resistance for wind (that he already had thanks to Emy), fire, earth and finally water.

The book had an apart chapter about “utility “magic. One spell in particular caught his eye, it was an invocation spell.

Using it would, if what the book said was true, allow him to make a contract with a creature used for loot.

Maximilian scratched his head, wondering.

"For loot? What, I'm supposed to kill it and take its stuff? Or maybe it will help me take the loot."

Looking around him, eyes passing on the numerous equipment pieces, he smiled.

"That would be useful as hell. Ho well, I'll try it later."

Being alone in the room, Maximilian had started talking out loud. Not that he was beginning to lose his sanity, but the silence was getting heavy on his mind.

"So, now that I have a way to clean and dry myself, thank you magic, I need something to dress with... "

Looking at the numerous armour pieces, mage robe and other leather pants, he took the most high peach tone he could manage and...

"...and I have nothing to put on!!!"

He laughed to himself a moment before sighing.

"HAHAHA...ha.... I'm so lonely.... So, where to start?"

For a long time, he looked through the different pieces. At first he found some complete sets of armour of different quality, size and forms. Thinking about it for a moment, he started by putting all the one not his size on the side, taking some sets apart when they were too big or to small to use. Among others, one seemed to be the size for a child.

"God I hope it's just a children's size race and not for a kid to go to battle. "

This sets were actually of a very good quality, thank you scan spell, but with his nearly two meters high, putting it on was out of question. Some more exotic pieces passed in his hand, sometimes of a strange form, clearly not humanoid one.

"What the hell is this supposed to be? A protection for something with six leg? I'm not sure I want to know what wears this sort of thing."

Some time later, he came in front of another set and stopped, taking his time to examine it.

It was a complete armour, from the feet to the head, principally made of a creamy white shinning metal, after a scan Maximilian learned it was actually mithril. The style in which was forge the metal made it looked like big bony scales covering the body of the wearer, as for the helmet, it was shaped like a dragon's head.

"Kinda silly looking helmet...but the rest is really sweet. Let's examine it further. "

Deciding to not wear the helmet if he chose the armour, he still examined the rest of it. On the outside, runes wrote in golden letters were placed on every section of the set, where a piece joined another one. It was written so the two pieces had to be put together for the runes to be completed. Reading them, Maximilian realized it was enchantment giving different regeneration properties to the protection.

Arcing an eyebrow, Maximilian was wondering if it would really work or not.

Always willing to test, he took a nearby axe, lifted it and, as strong as he could, hit the armour.

He knew right then that this was a seriously well made piece of art. First, even with his high strength, he only managed to give it a big notch, breaking the axe in the process. Second, when he touched it to verify the damage, the armour sucked a bit of his mana and, as the runes glowed a bit, the notch disappeared, letting the protection gear as good as new. In fact, the mana took from Maximilian seemed to make the mithril a little bit brighter.

"You, I keep you. But I need something to wear underneath."

Letting the mithril armour alone for a bit, Maximilian kept searching through the room. Some other armour looked well made, some looked even badass as hell or were more richly decorated, but Maximilian had made his choice.

He found, after some time, what he was looking for. In front of him were mages robes and coats. Looking one after the other, he finally opted for a burgundy colored one, made of some kind of red silk on the inside, darker red leather on the knees and shoulder, and finally a light chainmail, also made of mithril, covering the bust.

The coat was in maroon leather, double by a chainmail of mithril on the inside.

It seemed to Maximilian that, even though it was a Mage attire and logically much lighter than an armour, this seemed to be made for a war mage, the mithril put inside this coat and on the bust stopping blade or arrow while casting spell.

Only missing pieces here were some shoes, the head could be covered by the coat's hood.

"Hmm. The armour certainly is cool, but the wears here might be a better idea if I have to move a lot. I mean, I don't freaking know what await me out there. Armour for better protection or mobility wit the mage attire, and if I choose it I'll still need some sh...ho but wait a minute, I have an idea."

Taking the mage attire with him, he went back to the mithril armour. Looking at it for a moment, he smiled before taking the armour metallic boots and gauntlets.

Putting them and the mage attire together, he now had a complete set of battle mage / traveler armour. Proud of the result, he stepped back a bit.

"So, now that I have something to wear, let's wash myself. "

Putting away all his new found stuff, he undressed himself.

Using his new founds spell, he made a stone bathtub from the ground using the manipulation earth skill. With a water spell, he made a big drop of water appeared above the bath before dropping it in and, finally, he used a fire spell to lit a small fire under the tub.

Satisfied with the result, he got in and started washing himself while thinking about what to do next.

*So...what to do, what to do. Odds has sent me in a fantasy world, thank you god. With me killing Dragnïr, even if by accident, I gained a tremendous amount of power. I have an ability to discover skills and, thanks to my level, far enough skill points to maxed the ones I want to. With what I have already found in those rooms and, if I believe the description my new fairy friend has made of the two other one, I'll be equipped and well equipped at that. Now I have to get out of here, the magic book I found could have a spell of some kind or maybe I'll find something in the other rooms. I don't know, but I have a feeling that it's the key to get out, I'll look to it later. And when I'm out of here, I'll advise. *

Feeling clean, he got out of the bathtub and, with a gesture of the hand, made it disappeared inside the ground once again. Having nothing to dry himself, he simply made the fire bigger, letting himself dry as he combed his hairs back using his hands.

Once he was dried, he started putting on his new dress, having put the old ones in the Havenbag.

Once dressed, he took the time to make a water mirror appeared with a water spell, like Emy had done before, and looked at himself.

The burgundy dress and white mithril were making a good colour contrast, the armour boots and gauntlets were adding a certain warrior style to his appearance, and the coat's hood, if put on, hid his face in shadows. He opted for an uncovered face.

"I'm a warrior, a Mage, but certainly not a robber, I'll keep the shadow face away for now."

Being dressed, he was now more interested in the different weapons present in the room. The short moment he used an axe earlier gave him a new skill to maximize, weapon mastery: axes.

For a time, he decided to try every type of weapons he could find, and each time discovered a new skill appropriate to it, skill he maximized each time.

"You never know when you'll have to use a different type of weapon, it's better to be prepared. "

He came across bows and crossbows. At first he fought that the magic he had learned would be more than enough, but once again though against it.

"Better be cautious, imagine enemies who can't be hurt by magic, I'll be glad to know how to use those. "

And so he continued to maximize his skills in the numerous type of weapon inside the room. Sword, spear, knife, mace, even shield, more normal weapon and more

exotic

one.

After a while, he was glad to see he was done...before taping his head with his hand.

"Idiot, I almost forgot the Base."

Taking a fighting stance without any weapons, he executed a basic punch, receiving the bare hand fight skill. Then, mimicking a martial artist he remembered from a movie, he did an awkward imitation of a jet Li's style of fighting. He laughed a bit when he received the martial art mastery skill. After mastering it, he tried again, but this time he knew the movements he was doing were perfect.

"It really is amazing... Even though,I feel a bit like a cheater. Ho well, I have those skills points, might as well use them if I can. Now I know how to use those weapons ... But wich one will I have on me. Hard to choose, a lot of them are quite good. I mean, if I trust my scan spell, some of them have a legendary quality, imagine what I could defeat with that...not cool, I just thought about Dragnïr. "

He kept a moment of silence in respect of the old dragon.

"Alright, time to choose. My strength would allow me to use one of the two-handed sword or battle axe with ease, but it's a bit cumbersome to carry around. Bow, crossbow? Nah, I have magic, if needed I could always take them from the Havenbag. "

As he was talking to himself, he was walking in front of the different weapons racks.

"The logical choice would be a sword. If I want to be honest, back in my world, sword was my weapon of predilection. Ho, and look at what I found. "

Before him was a sword In his scabbard. The scabbard in itself, curved on one side and straight on the other, was made in ebonite metal, the two extremities covered by red scales. The grip of the sword, ivory white in colour, was made of a large tooth caped in a silver metal pommel. The size of the grip indicated to Max this was a weapon that could be used with one or two hands, depending of the user's style. Taking the scabbard, Maximilian couldn't help but noticed the weight of the weapon.

"That's kinda heavy. I can feel the high weight even with my strength, that's interesting. "

Left-handed, he used it to took out the sword from his scabbard in a metallic sound.

Similar to the scabbard, one side of the blade was straight, while the other, the cutting one, was curved. The form of the blade made Maximilian thought of a tree leave that someone would have cut in two.

"Maybe there's elves in this world. If I trust my fantasy knowledge, they are found of " nature" aesthetics. "

The straight side meant this weapon could be used to slash, but also to thrust, and the weight, still quite heavy even out of the scabbard, made Maximilian believed that he would be able to put power in movements without breaking the blade.

Turning it to examined it, he saw some blood red runes had been graved on the silver grey blade.

"What does it say... I am Falemgeril, I am the reminiscence of the light when darkness come. "

After reading the runes, he reached out his left arm, still handling the sword with it.

"Falemgeril... "

Maximilian could have sworn he saw the runes shined an instant when the sword's name echoed in the room.

"Okay, I've made my choice. You will be my sword. You and I, I feel like this is the beginning of a good partnership. "

He attached the scabbard on his right side, willing to use the weapon with his left hand. Looking around, he sighed a bit.

"And now I have to take the rest and put it in the Havenbag, this is going to take a while... I wonder if there is some kind of spell that could help me... Let's see. I saw earlier a spell who's suppose to summon a creature who will, and I quote, "help me with the loot ". But I still don't know in wich sense I'm supposed to understand that...ho well, let's try and we'll see."

The indications for the summoning were clear. An invocation circle composed of numerous runes had to be trace on the ground. With a manipulation of stones, Maximilian quickly use some rocks to trace it. After it was done, the summoner was supposed to chant the calling spell while letting mana enter the circle to catch the attention of the creature. There was a danger though, if the summoner wasn't powerful enough, he could die by having the creature summoned devouring him, figuratively or not, depending of the creature in question.

"Well, I shouldn't have too much trouble... I just wish this book explained what exactly I'm going to call here... I guess we'll see. So the summoning chant. Hum hum...

By the power of the circle, trace upon the ground.

By the chanting of this old spell, hear my words around..."

As the chanting goes on, the circle started to shine, Maximilian letting some mana in it. It seemed to him he managed to catch the attention of the creature. Taking the chanting very seriously, Maximilian couldn't help but speaking louder as it goes on.

"...by this mana I'm offering, I bet my own life.

With those three pillars I call you, who's named Asterife. "

As he finished the chant, a little whirlwind appeared in the circle. A screechy voice came from it.

"You who have summoned Asterife the great, speak your name. "

"Maximilian Baltazard Van Nilmerus. "

"Maximilian Baltazard Van Nilmerus... A long name to have... "

Hearing the voice with the sound the whirlwind was making was kinda hard.

"Could you please stopped the wind? I can barely hear you."

The wind stopped, showing what was inside.

"Indeed, discussion will be easier without it."

Maximilian looked at who he was talking and arced an eyebrow.

"A... I'm sorry but I wouldn't want to offend you, what are you exactly? "

"I'm an imp, Asterife of the imp spirit clan."

"Neat..."