After I got a little way away from the rest of my party, I tried to bring up the party info to see what everyone's power was, and I got a bit of a surprise.

Party Power Levels

Bwyd - 95

Scria - 89

Lily - 63

Marcus - 57

Bjorn - 45

I felt slightly used, I mean, Scria and I were both higher power levels and we were recruited later. Then I remembered that I was only 20 before I got my class. Besides, I had no idea what power levels actually meant. For all I knew being a dragon with a class gave me 70 points, and the rest was just my spells which would mean that I was a lot weaker than everyone else. Except Bjorn, he was kind of low.

Anyway, once I saw the power levels, I continued down the tunnel. It looked pretty much identical to the last tunnel, and it even ended in a room that looked like the last room. However, the room did not have a giant rat. Instead there were five giant rats. Being the brave, adventurous person I was, I immediately turned around and went back to everyone else.

"Hey guys, there's five rats ahead."

Marcus jumped a little, "I didn't even see you, can you give a little warning next time? Scuff your feet or whistle or something?"

"Just learn a telepathy spell, and I won't have to sneak up on you."

Bjorn silenced us both with a wave of his hand, "Five rats should be easy enough. I'll charge them to draw their attention. Scria, Marcus, and Bwyd each take a rat and kill it, then help me out. Lilly do your thing. Any questions?"

We all agreed with his plan, so we followed Bjorn down the tunnel. We did try to sneak, but between all of Scria's weapons, and Bjorn's armor we made a lot of noise. So much that the rats decided to derail our plan before we could even get to them. All five rats charged down the tunnel before we even got to their room.

Bjorn slammed his massive tower shield into the ground and said, "Change of plans, we hold them here. I will be your wall."

The rats started screeching, and they charged. Not a single one touched Bjorn, or his shield. The just went right past him and attacked the rest of us. Since Scria was directly behind Bjorn she took several hits from the rats before she could react. It looked like they bit and scratched her, but there was no blood, and they only left red marks where they hit. I was slightly shocked, this was the first time I had ever been attacked, and so I stood there for a moment as the rats struck Scria a couple more times.

Luckily, Scria was not shocked, but she started dancing. It was kind of cool to watch. There was a lot of stomping, and spinning, and I almost thought I could hear a drum beat. It reminded me of tribal dances, but with swords. The rats seemed to only care about her, but everytime they tried to hit her, she either dodged, or the rat missed. It was impressive to watch.

"Yo... somebody... wanna...kill a rat?" Scria was breathing so heavily that it took some effort for her to talk.

Marcus almost immediately hit a rat with some kind of air whip, and even though it looked like it hurt, the rat completely ignored him. Lily made bell noises, and dark glowing balls appeared around the rats, and I decided to burn all the rats.

Burn. Burn. Burn. Burn. Burn.

Alert!

You have used all your mana

You are unconscious

So, everything went black. I also felt a little lightheaded, and nauseous, but I couldn't see anything, or hear anything. I was stuck in a world of nothingness. It would have been peaceful if I didn't know that at that moment my friends were fighting for their lives against a pack of giant rats. Well that and the nausea. I wasn't sure how long I was stuck in the unconscious zone, but eventually I heard some bells ringing, and I could see again. I was laying in the tunnel, and everyone was around me. They all looked worried, but the moment I openned my eyes Bjorn's expression changed to a more stern look.

"Bwyd, do not use all your mana at one time ever again. It is one of the most dangerous things that you can do, and we may not always be able to protect you if you pass out. You will meditate here, until your mana is full, then we will continue on." He walked away once he was done talking, and Scria followed him.

Marcus kind of half heartedly smilled at me, "Don't worry about Bjorn, he's just worried about you. But he does bring up a good point. Using all you mana makes you vulnerable, but you did it in the best way possible." He gave me a thumbs up.

"Uh, I had no idea that would happen. I've never run out of mana before."

"Have you ever left the city before?"

"Not really."

"Well, that explains it. In the city you basically have unlimited mana, as long as you are in good standing with the city. So if you're a wanted criminal then you get limited, but other than that you can cast spells as much as you want. Well, unless a spell costs more than your maximum mana."

Lily sat down in front of me, "Ok, let's get this meditation over with. I used a bit of mana in that fight too, so I'll join you."

"This might sound like a stupid question, but how do you meditate?"

They both stared at me like I had two heads, then Marcus said, "It should be a class skill. You just have to activate it and sit for a while. Usually it's about five minutes if your empty."

So I did check my skills, and found that I did in fact have a meditation skill which basically doubled my mana regen rate. So I activated it while I was comfortably laying on the ground.

Alert!

You have activated Meditaiton

You will lose the effect if you move too much or talk

So I closed my eyes and brought up my mana notification to watch my mana slowly trickle in. After about five minutes I was back up to 37/37 mana, so I openned my eyes and realized that Lily was already done and was just waiting there for me.

"Everyone else is already in the next room. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, and now that I know about mana, maybe I can avoid passing out again. At least meditation is nice."

"You looked really comfortable, though I have never seen anyone meditate while laying on their back before. I might try it next time." She laughed. "Let's get going."

When we got to the room the rats had been in everyone looked a little bored, but they perked up as soon as we entered. We got quickly reorganized, then set off once again.