Gregory had found out a new feature on his Gamer’s Gift system, a world map menu. He checked it every day, finding out how much space he had covered and to check that he was still heading the right way. Even better, he had been the first to discover a few islands in the area. They were totally uninhabited except by animals, and were mostly quite small. A few of them were large enough, but none of the size that they could hold anything larger than a large township.

His attempts at transformation were always close to success, but never completely there. No matter how hard he tried to use the mana to convert his body, it took mana until he ran out and even then did not keep shape. Gregory had to find a way to convert his actual genetic code using magic, remove the dragon from the outside layer, but find a way to “memorize” his current genetic code.

’Wait, I use mana to remember times for temporal magic, perhaps I can store genetic code the same way. My only question is, how do I get access to purely human DNA for the transformation magic? Should I try using the DNA in the skin covering most of my body? That might just work.’

Channeling magic once more, he used his mana as a sort of “memory” for the DNA signatures in his entire body. He then took what he guessed was the human DNA, and applied those cells to his scaled body parts. It seemed to work, though not entirely. He still had a tail, and his eyes still had irises like slits. He tried again, removing the excess DNA for his tail and eye changes. He left his muscle and bone the same though, as those were unnoticeable unless he was in surgery.

Having finally found out what he needed to do for the transformation to full human, he decided to try a full dragon transformation. He manipulated his cells to create wings as well, which were lined with bones and powerful muscles, both sides of the leathery skin covering in scales. Once the full transformation had taken place, he was still about the size of a human, but was almost entirely dragon in appearance. The only exception being that his eyes retained their white human border. He then tried to bring the wings back in, making himself look like a giant lizard instead.

Successfully finishing the spell, he noticed that the system dinged with the acceptance of his work as completing a spell. Deciding to check the notification, Gregory saw that it could be used in quite the number of ways.

SKILLTRANSFORMATIONACTIVEThe user can transform their body using DNA that their body has previously, or does currently have. These genes are stored in the magic, and can be pulled out to the active body form after learning the spell. The spell is near instant, but does have restrictions. Altering total mass is doable, but takes more time and added mana to facilitate.LEVEL = 1COST = 3000First to discover a transformation ability, gain of 20 in INT and WIS for the brilliant and hard work.SKILLSPELL MASTERPASSIVEFor gaining 200 INT, all active skills requiring mana have been granted an added bonus of 1% power/1 INT. Also grants the ability to perform active abilities for just 50% of standard mana costs.LEVEL = 1COST = N/A[/tr]

Now finished with a way to fit in to European society, Gregory just wanted to get done with the journey as quickly as possible. In order to do that though, he would still need to almost double the current distance he had travelled. Already, he had spent a half a month and was barely half-way there. He decided to begin using the oars he had made, paddling to make better time. As he paddled, he could feel his muscles getting gradually stronger, able to notice very slight differences over every four hours going by.

He was also using his transformation skill’s ability to give him wings, flapping them as much as possible to create stronger winds for the sails.

’I wonder if I could use mana on the wings to create a stronger funnel of wind. It would allow me to definitely get there even faster, and could possibly be used to help me fly easier if I ever wanted to. It could create stronger currents of air beneath me, giving me more air for every flap.’

He would try, but Gregory wouldn’t finish any spell for helping push the air with his wings. The problem with the spell, was that the dragon’s scales are resistant to magic, pushing mana off of them and making it hard to put an active spell on a dragon’s body. There was one thing he discovered on another currently undiscovered island though, he could actually achieve flight with the wings. It was definitely not like a true dragon’s flight, but with enough strength it should reach that point.

His time was getting gradually better, saving a day and a half over a week of paddling. Using the currents and winds to push him along was the fastest way, but he was training his strength and agility this way as well. Over the next three days, he saved another full day, and then was got there after 25 total days on the Atlantic Ocean. He was a little sore, but his body’s powers made it almost non-existent in comparison to a normal person’s body.

’So much to be grateful for, hardly sore and I have been paddling for 10 days almost straight. I need to check my status window to see what kind of gains I have gotten from the paddling, it probably really helped my strength.’

NAMEGREGORY NEAL FROSTCLASS/CLASSESTHE LEGENDARY GAMER, LEGENDARY GREAT SAGE, LEGENDARY LUCK MASTERRACE/RACESANCIENT ICE DRAGON, HUMANTITLENOVICEAGE19(16 APPEARANCE)LEVEL10HEALTH267/270MANA4140/4140STAMINA152/470STR49END25VIT27AGI47DEX37INT207WIS250LUK517UNSPENT STATUS POINTS45

’It seems that I have grown far stronger through practice, but I am still very low leveled. My strength is definitely at a reasonable level now though, just one level away from what will probably be a new passive ability. AGI is also very close to a new passive ability, just three levels away. This makes it so tempting, but using these points this way will put me at a disadvantage when I really need them to grow stronger. I can still gain physical strength with some training, and AGI can be gained from running, which will also improve DEX. VIT seems to harder to train now, but it does go up a little bit whenever I take damage. That includes converting the 10 health points into more stamina points.’

Once he reached the land of Europe, the island of Great Britain to be precise, a status window opened before Gregory.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:CARTOGRAPHERYou have become a cartographer, a map maker, for discovering previously undiscovered islands. You gain the equip-able TITLE of CARTOGRAPHER, as well as 10,000 EXP for accomplishing this task. The CARTOGRAPHER TITLE grants the ability to update your map with all maps currently in existence, as well as being able to discover hidden rooms in dungeons and make a through map of them.

Gregory looked at his titles, wanting to see just what both of them did for him. He thought it strange that his current title would be NOVICE, instead of N/A. Most games had a title of N/A when starting, he had had NOVICE ever since the start. It had been something that he didn’t think about until now, why bother checking the title. He did check them now however, and did only see the two titles. What he found interesting though, is that NOVICE was far more useful than it sounded. It gave a 2% boost to EXP gain, and not a specific type of EXP, but all EXP. This meant that he could get stronger 2% faster, no matter what he was doing.

’Best to keep it NOVICE, there is probably some feature making this TITLE system weaker. Well, most games require a “herald” of sorts to change the title. They are NPCs in nearly every village whose sole purpose is to change the title of adventurers. Assuming I am the character, and this is the game, there would probably be a type of magic for granting or changing proficiencies. In my case, they’d probably be locked to proficiencies in the TITLE list, but I need to find such a person first. Unless I activate the tutorial, but that is too risky, I don’t know how much I haven’t found out yet. It can’t be too much anymore, but I don’t need the random pop-up screens either.’

Gregory knew of one thing he needed to do before he could move to his timeline. He also found that he could travel forward in time again, but not quite up to his current time yet. It seemed that the issue was coming from him not fulfilling his role in the past. He had hypothesized, but now was almost certain of his role here.

Gregory needed to become the man of whom was said to possess both temporal and spatial magics. The question was though, how to do it without Aetius recognizing him in the future.

’That’s it, Aetius never said he saw the mage that did it, only that there was one. He never did see him, only heard of him from others. This will give me a chance to gain some fame as a sage in this time, perhaps I will even be able to learn some magic from this time to improve my arsenal.’

Being a native of North America from the time 2016, Gregory had a very European appearance. Especially considering both of his families were almost entirely from Europe. Gregory’s father’s line was only from England, where his family line started. His mother’s family on the other hand started in France, but had roots in Italy as well. This made it very easy for Greg to fit in here. His appearance matched perfectly to those around him, and all he needed to do was make clothing for himself.

Heading into the land, Gregory grabbed some flax from one of the larger farms, as well as shearing some of their sheep. He needed to make clothes for himself, and there was only one good way to do it. Beginning to work on these clothes, Gregory spun the flax and wool into the cloth he needed first. Completing this, he began to sew the clothes together. Having intermediate sewing, and at the level of 73 in the intermediate bracket, Gregory had very high skill at tailoring compared to the average person. He found out that NOVICE was a level that most apprentices had, and beginner a level that people who have been working for a long time would be satisfied with. Only the very best could be considered what his system called intermediate. At least, that is as far as he knew.

Having finished the garments after working on them in his protected space, Gregory heads outside of the protected space and toward the city. What he finds on his way to the city though, makes him quiver. He sees two people fighting out in the open, but not just fighting. They are fighting with high level magic; this magic made the lava mage he saw look weak. These people had covered the area in a field of lava, and were using magic as a sort of platform to stay in the air. The spells one was using were of an element Gregory did not know about. It looked to be a sort of flowing lightning, probably by mixing water and lightning. The other was definitely using the lava. However, the one using the flowing lightning, was able to use his water magic to protect himself form the lava.

As the fight continued, one of them used a spell that was making a heat near that of the sun, and was only saved by the one using the flowing lightning using an ice spell. The ice spell was a blizzard type of spell that super-cooled the atmosphere to the point that the heat was completely gone. It then froze the sun, and cracked leaving nothing left of the sun.

’He must be incredibly powerful to prevent lava with water, it must be a water spell above even GRAND level. How is that even possible, I thought the lava mage I saw was strong. He also shut down the sun with a blizzard and ice, that is unbelievable. These people make the mage I fought look like a child compared to monsters, and he beat me without putting forth much effort. At my current level, even with my skills, I would die to these people if I got involved.’

Gregory quickly used his blink, getting back to one of the islands he had discovered. He couldn’t afford to get involved in that fight, and he wanted to be at least mostly safe.

’I can’t even hope to stand up against these people, and I am supposed to be a powerful sage. I need to train, but I need to get to London first. I need to be able to learn some of this magic, and definitely grow stronger around other mages. They will think I am weak, especially if I can’t even fight a person a tenth as strong as those people.’

Yes, Gregory is vastly outperformed by these people, and will be for quite some time. Be prepared for more than doubling the story before he comes even close to these people.