Coming out of the cave Savani took a deep breath. Around his neck were the bodies of four different Giant Centipedes. Savani also had a large gash on one of his sleeves.

Shortly after going deeper into the cave Savani came across another Giant Centipede. Just like before he took it out with a single Acid Shot however the commotion brought from the battle caused another two cenitpedes to race toward his location.

Savani was able to take one down with an Acid Shot just like the previous two. However that gave the other time to get close and lunge at him. Savani was lucky that he managed to dodge part of the attack but in the process one of the mandables of the Giant Centipede cut his outstretched arm. Luckily it only cut his robe so Savani flung the centipede against the wall and backed up as quickly as he could. When the creature started charging towards him for a second time Savani managed to fire another Acid Shot at its torso. Once that was done Savani simply dodged and ran until the creature used up its Vitality and died. After killing three such creatures in a row, along with his splitting headache from the low Spirit thanks to the constant spell use, Savani decided it was time to head back to the tower. However first he needed to meditate to gain back some Spirit.

"Chip let me know the second anything dangerous comes within 100 feet of me."

Savani went back into the mouth of the cave and found an alchove near the enterance. Fitting his body into the alchove he began meditating. Over the next fifteen to twenty minutes Savani absorbed as much Darkness and Space element as he could. When the throbbing in his head went away Savani figured he would be ok to get back to the road.

Quickly Savani headed back to the road, only stopping to pick a few of the alchemical ingredients he found along the way. Just as his foot hit the safety of the cobblestone he heard a shriek behind him. Looking at where he came from Savani saw a women made out of vines and bark yet at the same time her body seemed to have been lit on fire. The bark was a dark black and the vines were burnt and smoking. Her mouth was far wider than a normal mouth and filled with thorns making several rows of small sharp teeth. Her eyes were black with a ghostly white in its center. But the most worrying thing is that this women was only 30 feet away from the road!

"Chip what happened! I thought that you had a range of 100 feet?"

[Affirmitive. The range of the scan is 100 feet.]

"Then how did she get so close!"

[Reviewing scan data. Judging from data compiled from sensor the creature emerged from a nearby tree.]

Hearing the data presented Savani felt a cold feeling run down his spine. If he had even been a fraction of a second late then this creature would have been able to get him! "Scan it!"

[Species name: Corrupted Dryad

Affinities: Darkness

Attributes: Strength: 15 Physique:15 Vitality: 20 Agility: 18 Spirit: 16

Abilities: Forest Merging, Animal Control, Poisonous Vines]

Looking at the Corrupted Dryads status Savani felt even more scared than before. If this creature had managed to grab him there would be nothing he could do. Quickly Savani ran back down the road toward the tower, all the while the Dryad was screaming behind him.

Once he got closer to the tower Savani began to slow down. Looking around the road he saw other apprentices coming and going, sometimes in a group but most were alone like he was. Savani waved to a few but after several times not getting any response beyond a glare he started to mind his own business. After another 10 minutes Savani arrived back at the tower. Quickly Savani went back to the quest board area and got in line to submit his results.

Reaching the front of the line Savani took the Giant Centipede bodies and placed them on the table in front of him. "Hello I'm here to turn in the quest for hunting Giant Cenitpedes. My name is Savani if it helps."

The attendant at the desk, this time a girl with a strange third eye placed in the middle of her forhead, looked up at Savani. " One moment please." After that she grabbed the crystal next to her and placed it on her forhead. Once several seconds passed she took the crystal off and placed it back in its origional place. "Alright Savani that will total 4 contribution points. I just need your tower badge to register the points."

Savani took out his badge and handed it over. The three-eyed girl took it and held it to the crystal which glowed once more before handing the badge back. "There you go. Now you badge will act as the counter for your points. You can take it to any of the obsidian pillars in the corner of the hall to use them as well as check on your account. These pillars can also be used to instigate a trade of points between two parties. You can also give it to any apprentice assigned at different places throguhout the tower like the library or the alchemy rooms. Just hand it to them and they will take off the appropriate amount of points."

Taking back the badge Savani thanked the girl before walking quickly over to the nearest pillar. Watching a few other apprentices place their badges on the large obsidian pillar Savani found an unoccupied corner and placed his badge on its surface. Suddenly a shocking sensation went up his arm to his head as a list of various posts appeared in his mind. "Chip scan and catalogue all requests."

Savani figured even if he couldn't complete any of them now, with the help of the chip he could at least get a general trend of what was needed. If it led to an easier form of points then there was no reason to not do it.

[Copying and cataloguing requests. Several trends found. Points are used to purchase ingredients, the aquasition of kowledge, increasing your living standards in various ways, borrowing various labs that the tower possesses, and hiring guards to accompany you on missions. Points can be earned through tasks such as tower quests, trade, tutoring other apprentices, taking posts throughout the tower, or magical duels where two parties put points on the line. The tower also keeps tab on point acclimation, affinity tendancies, and overall standing in the tower.]

Looking at the variety of functions the tower gave Savani got the impression that he was back on Earth looking at a chatroom. He really had to hand it to the Sages, even though they were in different worlds some ideas still managed to be shared. "Chip save the data for later. It could be useful."

After retrieving his badge Savani headed over to the library. It was time to learn some magic.