I pulled the dead rabbit off my spear as we made our way to the campsite. I had decided to practice my aim and launched spearbolts at any rabbit or slime we passed.

“Your aim sure has improved since the levicart.” Miko’s tail was swaying back and forth as she skipped in front of me.

Sighing, I replied. “There was nothing wrong with my aim.”

“Oh? So, you were wanting to scare the gnome?” She spun around to face me and continued to skip-hop backwards, a cheeky smile rested on her face.

“I hate gnomes, like really hate them. Garden gnomes especially.”

“Why?”

“They are little weird walking talking baby sized adults. Constantly watching you with their beady little eyes, thinking gnomish thoughts. God forbid you might pick one up that is naked on the side of the road. I mean, what kind of mother would abandon their baby like that? Turns out they are not a baby and they start screaming profanities before biting your arm. Then you start screaming, thinking they are some mimic spawn in the form of a baby, so you do what any good abiding adventure would do…”

“You apologized and put them down?”

“I may have drop kicked them over the city wall. Just in time for the, not a baby’s friends to step out of the bar and watch it happen.”

Miko fell onto her back laughing. She stayed like that long enough for me to kill two nearby slimes and a rabbit.

She managed to catch her breathing and pulled herself off the ground. She sighed and then asked “That was bullshit, right?”

I grinned towards her. “Turned out the gnome was celebrating hitting level sixty. Took us an hour to find him outside the walls.”

“Must have been a great game.” She dusted herself off and started walking again. “Dad would always talk about his three lost loves, he loved playing games with them. Tabletop games were his favorite. He said that Aruni is just like one of the games he used to play.”

“Jace, right? So that’s why you have been using so many gaming terms. You were raised by a nerd.”

Miko giggled “He prefers game enthusiast.” She started skipping again, gaining some distance from me. “So, a gnome in a game caused you to throw that dagger?”

I started jogging after her “There was a bump!”

Miko started running and her giggles turned into laughter.

The sky was almost completely dark by the time we reached the campsite. The tower had only one ring showing, glowing a deep red. Guess this would make the time red one.

It only took a few moments to set up camp. My tent was small for my size, and I had to crouch down to get inside, but fortunately, it was large enough to lay down in comfortably. Miko’s tent was twice as tall, a dark green, and looked to be able to fit four of my tents inside. The walls of Miko’s tent were transparent from the inside and allowed you to see your surroundings or stare up into the sky while laying down.

We set up our tents next to each other. I focused on the space in front of them and tried out what should have been a fireball spell.

A glass rock, about the size of a watermelon appeared where I was mentally indicating. The glass had a dull red colour to it and I could feel a warmth envelop me.

“Oh, that feels nice.” Miko walked out of her tent and sat down next to the rock. She reached out her hand and placed it on the smooth warped surface.

I sat down across from her “Is that a good idea?”

“I have some heat resistance from my blacksmithing profession. It’s about two hundred degrees Celsius. You could use this to cook.”

I reached my hand out but didn’t touch the rock, just feeling the warmth. “Everyone here uses the metric system?”

Miko pulled her hand off the rock and shook it a little. “Yeah, someone from Earth brought a bunch of measuring tools with them and we have been using it since.”

“That’s interesting. I thought everyone came through naked, but Ven said she had some clothes and now you are saying that this guy came through with his tools?”

“Yup. I don’t know why. Just one of those mysteries of Aruni.”

I placed my hands on the back of my head and laid down so I could look at the red sky. I could see a few stars twinkling.

“This tower is incredible. It doesn’t feel like I am inside at all. Never expected to see a sky.”

“They say that each floor is a connection to a different plane. Each floor is different to the one before it. I heard that if you kept walking directly away from the tower, you would eventually find yourself on the next floor, with the tower directly in front of you. Not many try it since it’s more dangerous the further away from the tower you go. Only the curious go since its way more profitable to just go to the next floor if you could survive the journey.”

“You mentioned that before, with the mazer holes. What makes it so dangerous?”

“It’s simple math to work out what level creatures should appear on each floor. You just need to add four to the current floor and that will give you the maximum level you will typically find.”

“So level one has creatures up to level five. Level two has creatures to level six and so on?”

“Yup, pretty simple. But levels are not everything. There are creatures that have the strength of something twice or even three times it’s level. The further out from the tower you go, the more common they become and the less you can rely on levels.”

Miko threw a small handful of grass onto the rock and I watched as it sizzled and blackened. “There are way more creatures too and they are often organized, following a leader. Sometimes, once every decade or so, they all rush towards the tower. That’s when then The Tower Knights come out in force and cull everything within a day’s run from the tower.”

“This happens on all the floors?”

“I think so. That’s what Dad told me. He was in the tower when it happened once and was asked to assist with a wave on the fourth floor.”

I gave a yawn “That’s pretty interesting.”

Miko gave a snort. “Ahuh, you can rest. I want to do some maintenance on my gear.”

Gear maintenance was something I did not need to do a lot now I could just summon what I need. Another perk to being a caster. I sighed contentedly. Magic really is the best.

We rested in silence, enjoying the ambient sounds of the tower floor.

Remembering I had six points left, I decided to add them to intelligence and wisdom. Four in intelligence for more mana and two in wisdom for some extra regen.

I looked at my status.

Name: Reigner

Race: Human

level: 3

Class: Summoner

Health: 1280/1280

HP Regen: 1.5/minute

Stamina: 2370/2370

SP Regen: 79/minute

Mana: 475/475 (+100)

MP Regen: 19/minute

Strength: 96

Constitution: 74

Dexterity: 89

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 11

Skills:

Appraise Item (4) +

Axe One-handed (5)

Axe Two-handed (5)

Blunt One-handed (7) +

Counter (22)

Dodge (10)

Parry (10)

Polearms (5)

Shield (5)

Small Blades (5)

Spear (6) +

Sword One-handed (27)

Sword two-handed (5)

Unarmed (12)

Weapon Throwing (15) +

Spells:

Identify (6) +

Mana Marble (2) +

Summon Campfire (0)

Summon Weapon (2) +

My Mana marble spell would now give 25 mana instead of 18 and cost 60 mana to summon. I was happy to see that summon weapon also increased. I did not notice any visual changes while leveling, but I have the feeling it will now do slightly more damage. Not that it mattered. Everything on this floor so far has only needed one cast. The first slime didn’t count.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the campfire and the coolness of the grass. I grinned to myself thinking of what spells I might gain in the future.

I woke up a few hours later and saw Miko sitting on a stool next to the fire. She noticed me and smiled. “Enjoy your nap?”

“I did. One sec. I want to check what spells I got for leveling up.”

Spells:

Identify (6)

Mana Marble (2)

Summon Campfire (0)

Summon Food (0)

Summon Water (0)

Summon Weapon (2)

I looked over the list of spells and felt my eye start twitching. My mind must be foggy from waking up. I close my status and re-open it. There has to be a mistake. Where is my summon golem? or demon? or anything that can fight for me?

“Are you okay?” Miko asked.

My breathing had increased, and I took a moment to calm myself. I ignored Miko’s question and focused on the new spells. Can’t be that bad. Just means when I do get that summon creature spell it is going to be amazing… Right?

Having access to an unlimited supply of food and drink does sound useful. So what if I don’t have a cool creature to fight for me yet. I still have seven more levels that are guaranteed to provide spells to look forward to. I’m sure I will get something dangerous or cool by then. From what I remember casters still learn spells after level 10 but much more sporadically.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and focused on the first spell.

Summon Drink

Rank: 0

Cost: 20 MP

Effect: Reduces Thirst

Description:

Summon any drink that you have knowledge and experience making or acquiring. Quality and taste of the summoned drink is based on your cooking skill and spell rank.

Summoned drink will last for 10 hours.

Reading the first part I started to get excited. If things like rum and cola count, then this just might be my favourite spell yet. Wait… No… Please no. Cooking skill? No no no. This is a joke right?

I looked to the next spell

Summon Food

Rank: 0

Cost: 20 MP

Effect: Reduces hunger

Description:

Summon any food that you have knowledge and experience of making. Quality and taste of the summoned food is based on your cooking skill and spell rank.

Summoned food will last for 10 hours.

It’s the same. Cooking… Why are my spells based on skills? I ran my fingers through my hair and balled them into fists. I needed to hit something.

I got to my feet and looked around for something to kick. Miko had a concerned look on her face, but I ignored her. My eyes land on the summoned glass rock.

I took a step towards it and stretch out my leg.

Miko yelled out “Don’t!” just as my foot connected with the camp stone, sending it flying over the next hill.

Miko jumped over to me and dropped to her knees to look at my foot. “You idiot! Just because I was able to touch it doesn’t mean it won’t burn your skin off!”

I never did any cooking as the support team never let me, claiming that I was too important for such things. But even before that, back on earth, the only cooking I did was out of necessity and that was mostly adding meat to rice and using a microwave. I didn’t actually cook anything from scratch.

I looked over the spells again. Maybe it won’t be so bad to level a cooking skill. I have some dead rabbits in my pouch. I could start with those. I mean I shouldn’t just ignore the spell, right? It’s still magic. I can’t not use my spells. That would be the same as rejecting magic, something I won’t do after spending so long without it.

I’ll try it first. I brought my hands up in front of me and closed my eyes.

Cup ramen, one of the staples of quick and easy cuisine came to mind. It was one of the snacks I would eat while spending hours in front of a computer. I thought really hard about the process of preparing it. Lifting the lid, boiling the water and adding it to the cup, adding the seasoning, and waiting for it to soak. I cast the spell while picturing myself stirring the noodles and adding extra garlic flakes.

I could feel the mana build in my palms and felt it change into something warm. I opened my eyes and looked down. In my hands was a colourful polystyrene cup with steam coming from a gap on the top. I pealed back the lid and looked inside to see a mixture of noodles and soup.

“Your foot seems okay, you must have some decent constitution. You need to stop kicking things though. What if that hit an-”

I started to chuckle my attention fully on the warm food my hands. It smelled just like I remembered.

Miko sniffed the air and stood joining me to stare at the cup between us. “Mmm… What’s that? It smells really good”. She leaned forward and breathed in the steam.

I started laughing. I couldn’t help it and I was unable to stop. If this counted, then there are so many things I could summon from Earth.

Miko took a few steps back “Uhh, Reigner, are you okay? You’re starting to freak me out.”

I managed to get control of my laughter and took a few deep breaths. “Sorry. This is an emotional moment for me. This is cup ramen, from earth. Want to try?” I offered out the cup towards her and she almost snatched it from me in her haste.

Now that my hands were free again, I focused on another food from home. After a moment a plate of corn chips, covered in salsa and cheese, appeared in my hands.

I gave out a yell “Hell yeah!” and Miko jumped, splashing her face with hot soup and noodles.

She glared at me, “Hey! You-“ and stopped whatever she was going to say as she noticed the plate of food. “You summoned nachos?”

I gave an affirmative noise “Ahuh. You know what this is?”

“Dad made it before but this smells different”

“I have another spell that can summon drinks from home too. Shall we have a little feast?”

Miko licked her lips, tasting the ramen that spilled on her and gave me a huge grin.

We spent the next few hours summoning every food and drink I could think of.

I couldn’t summon soft drink by itself, but if I thought about adding some whisky, rum, vodka, or any other number of alcohol drinks to it, that was somehow enough for the spell to work.

I cast the spells enough times to bring them both to level two. Which also increased my intelligence and wisdom by one. The increase in level improved the taste of the food only slightly. I’m still upset not getting a creature summon, but I must admit this is a good spell to have. Looks like I’ll have to start learning how to cook to get the most out of it.