Jason woke on the floor of his room. It was cold and hard. Groaning he pushed himself up and looked out the window. The sun was high in the sky, he had missed his sword training.

“Awake at last, I feared you wouldn’t wake again”. Jason shook his head, what had happened. When he replied he didn’t bother talking mentally. “What happened?” “You got collapsed and I couldn’t wake you”. Jason grunted, “I had a vision” “Tell me”. Jason described the vision of war and the two men fighting at the end.

“Maybe you can see a future”. Jason snorted, him, looking into the future like a priest. “A future?”. “Yes, the future is unstable, every action changes it, sure, some things are set in stone, but most is up to chance”. Jason nodded, the more he was awake the better he felt, “So, what was it?”. The ring didn’t answer. “We will see, but now that you’re up, you can finally learn the things I meant to teach you”. Jason sighed; he wanted a day off. “Can you a lest teach me another lightning spell as well, I haven’t learned a new one in a while”. “Fine, thought the lightning Imbruing is technically a spell”. Jason got up and made his way to the training field.

He sat on the ground, in a meditation pose. “Now remember the circle you made”. Jason did, as the ring had made his make it every time he had meditated. “Form a second circle connected to it”. Jason opened his mana and drifted into the rush. Focusing, he made the first circle, this was easy. The next part, not so much.

He was so used to making the circle, that his mana didn’t move when he tried. He pushed it out of the circle. But the flow brought it back into the circle. He would have to make them both at once. Shutting off his mana, he formed an image in his head.

Mana channelled and flowed in the pattern. It was a sideways eight, no an infinity symbol. His mana flowed faster than ever before. His body bursting with energy. The mana consistently flowed; he didn’t have to try. He opened his eyes and stood up. Still the mana surged. he walked around, his feet felt lighter, in fact his whole body felt lighter. He looked around; the world seemed to have gotten more colourful.

“Now try dimming and increasing the flow”. He did so. The mana was easy to increase but hard to slow. He turned it off. The symbol was still there, like a pathway forged into his soul.

“You’ve done it, made the pathway, now we can start”. Jason grinned and the symbol was filled with mana. It took only a thought and mana rushed through him. “I do it how my master taught me, prepare yourself”. That was the only warning that Jason got as his limbs turned to lightning. Not literally, but it felt like it.

“Now you do it”. Jason could barely understand what just happened, but he would try. Walking over to a wall. He looked in, he felt his mana circulating around his body, pulsing in time with his heart as did the symbol. He thought of lightning, of thunder and storms. Nothing happened. Sensing the rings impatience’s, he hurried to try something else.

He tried to cast sparks within his body. Something happened, but not the right thing. He knew he was close and finally it clicked; his mana was turned to lightning. Punching his hand forward, the wall shook with the force of the blow. Almost instantly after that he was unable to hold his concentration.

After several tries, he could sometimes do it. His fists were covered in bruises from his failed attempts.

“Know that you have an idea, even though it’s only in your fists, link it to your mana heart”. Jason guessed the symbol was his ‘mana heart’, whatever that meant. He fumbled with it. It was like casting a spell and not. But ultimately, he succeeded. He could link his mana to his arms reliably.

“Good, good, do this every day, if you do it enough you should be able to make a mana line to your arms. Which will make it instant, instead of a minute”. Jason nodded. He went over to a dummy. Charging his arms, he took a swing. His fist connected and dung into the dummy’s face. It bent over and there was a load crack as the base snapped.

His eyes popped. He would be able to do that instantly. Grinning he looked at his knuckles. It did hurt, but about the same as when you normally punched someone. “What’s the next part?”. He guessed he would eventually do it to his whole body, but he wanted to know the next area.

“Your feet, to increase your speed which is sorely lacking”. Jason knew this was true, so no back chat from him. “Ok the lightning spell and the other one, the shadow surge one”. He had spent a good chunk of the morning learning the lightning Imbruing.

“Let’s see what lightning spell, show me your Volt Wyrm”. Jason raised his hands and fired off three small bolts of lightning. He had improved. He hand managed three, now he was trying to make them more substance, he wanted them to be able to physically interfere with the world. But he wasn’t up to that yet, the three bolts had started looking more real, but that had done nothing.

Seeing the results, the ring came to a decision. “I see, I’ll teach you, lightning ring. It will create a ring of lightning around you, near chest height, it will follow your movements as well”. Jason nodded, it would be good for swarming enemies, he waited for the chant.

“The chant is this, lightning heed my call, come guard me from foes, Lightning Ring”. Jason grunted; the spell was simpler than he thought it would be. Casting the spell, lightning burst into existence. Jason felt a drain of his mana, not a huge amount, but more than any other spell. He told the ring this.

“Yes, it does require more mana then any of the other spells, the amount should lessen the more you practise”. Jason knew this. The mana cost of Sparks had dropped to almost nothing. “But the amount is necessary, the spell will stay for an hour, or until you dispel it. Sure, if lots and lots of monsters though themselves on it will drain the spell, feel how much it has left”

Jason reached with his mind and felt the ring. He could feel the amount of energy left. It was true that it would last for a while. Practising for a while he went to the next spell. “Ok, the Shadow surge”. The ring didn’t immediately tell him the words.

“This is the last darkness type spell that I can teach you, here is the first half. Darkness rise forth, make the foolish enough to anger me feel my ire, shadows my power beckons, come forth”. The rings shuddered, even though it was not the whole chant Jason could feel the power in the words. The day light seemed to soften, and a soft wind made goose bumps appear on Jason’s arms “Wow”. Jason needed a drink after that.

The tavern had become a popular. The mana music had enthralled the crowd and the tales of the music had spread like a wildfire. The tavern was not so filled, this early in the day that the owner couldn’t find him a seat.

He sat drink in front of him, it was untouched. He had been practising the Imbruing, just sitting and getting use to the feeling. Then he just trained his mana sense, feeling the ambient mana being pushed by movement.

He had been there for a while when he felt someone sit down opposite him. He stopped and opened his eyes. It was the bard. He grinned at Jason, “I thought you might be asleep”, Jason moved his stiff body from sitting still for hours.

“No, just practising my mana sight”. He didn’t know if the bard knew what that was. The bard raised an eyebrow, “You’re a mage then?”. Jason didn’t answer, but rather put his hand forward and making some sparks. The bard nodded.

“I’m only a first year, but I know some things”. Jason neglected to mention that he was not even past his first term of the year.

The bard’s eyes gleamed, he looked around seeing if anyone could hear them over the loud crowd. “Have you been in the Dungeon then?”. Jason blinked; this was not the question he had been expecting. “Yes, why?”. The bard’s smile grew wider. “How far down?”. “Only to the bottom of the first floor” “Good”, the man rubbed his hands together. “The reason I ask is because” he paused, “I am part of a group who, let’s say doesn’t like the sale tax”. Jason got it. Dungeon smugglers, people who sold thing from the Dungeon without the tax, or licence. Jason raised an eyebrow. “And?”. While Jason wasn’t the type to break the law, he was eager to see the type of things sold from deeper in the Dungeon.

The man didn’t answer his question, but instead he stood up and beckoned Jason to follow him. He took Jason through several doors and down some stairs. Once Jason felt a dispelling come over him. It did nothing as he had no disguise. After that he allowed his mana to flow and prepared bolts.

But nothing else happened the bard finally finished taking him through the maze of tunnels and into a large cave like room. Lining the walls were tables with strange artifacts and gizmos. The man took him into a room off to the side

There were several people sitting in lounge chairs, they were relaxed when the two of them entered but three guards jumped and placed their hands on their waist. The bard waved his hands, they stopped and returned to their places.

Jason sat down. Muttering to a person, who scurried off, the bard sat down as well. “So, this is the place where you can sell and buy items from the Dungeon without the tax, not to mention that there are some items that are more dangerous”. Jason knew this meant weapons. “I don’t have anything on me to sell” he began but the man waved him to silence.

“No matter, I didn’t expect you too, what I want to do is show you this place and make you aware of it”. The person he had to talked to before returned with something in his hands, a belt.

“Perfect timing, I want to give you a gift” the bard slide the belt across the table. “A belt of minor sustenance, great for first time Dungeon runners”. Jason took it, it looked ordinary, but looking at it with his mana sight, it glowed. The bard then handed him a small note. “That has some instructions on finding us. But I’m usually at the tavern”. Jason was overwhelmed. “I haven’t decided anything yet, I might not want to break the law”. The bard shook his hand. Rising he opened the door.

“No, that’s right, you can choose to do whatever you want, I’m merely giving you the option”. That was the end of the conversation. Jason left, being guided by someone else.

Strolling on the school grounds he thought about his options. He could do nothing, he had the belt, but that might be some tracker or something. So, he went to get it checked. It was what the bard had said. It made it so that the wearer would feel less hungry or thirsty and take some fatigue away.

He would think about it. Maybe he would take the man’s offer, but for now he had to prepare, the final Dungeon run of the term was less than a week away, and he had several different things to practise.

Hopefully, nothing went wrong during the Dungeon run. It would be fine, right?

Jason didn’t know how wrong he was.