Burin charged towards me, his short body wading through the snow with ease. Just before reaching me, he dropped his weapon and shield and leaped towards me with his arms open wide.

Laughing, I caught the heavy dwarf in a hug before lowering him back to the ground.

“What are you doing here? I thought you would be with Torva, I was told she survived.”

Burin’s face screwed up. “Aye she survived but she won’t be climbing the tower.”

“What happened?”

Mac coughed, grabbing our attention. “Perhaps that’s something we can talk about once we are out of sight of the wall.”

“Ah before we go…” I reached out with my hand and my will towards my thrown… correction, launched spearbolt and tried to connect to it like I did with my shield earlier.

“What are ye doing?” Burin asked.

“Hold on… I almost got it.” Focusing I took a few steps, hoping a closer proximity would allow me to feel my mana in the summoned weapon.

Mac let out a sigh but said nothing.

I continued to walk closer and closer to the spear, focusing my will towards it to dissipate with no effect, until my hand handed on the shaft of the weapon. Soon as I made contact with the conjured weapon it broke up into motes of light. With a satisfied grin on my face, I turned back to the others.

They looked towards me with blank expressions.

Walking back to Burin, I gave him a friendly clap him on the shoulder. “Ahem… We are heading to some dungeon, Burin. like to join us?”

Burin eyed the corpse of the wolf before looking back towards me with a smile. “Aye, I came out looking for ye. Though I thought ye would be closer to floor ten by now.”

We started forwards, following Mac.

“Ah well I spent some time in secret training.” I gave him a wink. “Do you still have that party ring?”

Burin lifted his fist towards me where the ring Miko crafted was sitting on his finger. I pulled mine out of storage and slipped it onto my middle finger of my right hand.

Burin held out his fist towards me and said, “For power.”

Nodding, I met his fist with my own. “For magic power.”

The stout dwarf chuckled as we made our way through the rest of the field. “We must be blessed by the tower god to meet again so soon.”

“Yeah, he seemed alright.”

Mac stumbled ahead of us and glanced at me over his shoulder.

Burin moved closer to me and lowered his voice. “What are ye doing with one of the tower kin? Ye not planning to join them are ye?”

“It’s a bit complicated, but the short story is that they are helping me out. Something about politics and saving the lives of Elves that have been hounding me.”

“Bunch of bark lickers. They are all over the bloody city.”

“So I have heard. Tell me about Torva, how is she?”

We had just entered a small path between the hills and Burin looked at me as we walked. “Her body has been fully healed but her mind…” A sob escaped from his lips. “She can do simple things like eat and drink but the rest of the time she just stares off into space.” His fists were clenched, and I could hear the frustration in his voice. “The healers we could afford said they could do nothing for a broken mind.”

It was not the first time I have heard of people reacting like that after going through something horrible. During my early years in the city as the hero in training there were many like that. The healers called it tower shock and it was mostly adventurers or guardsmen that were affected. I Heard that some recovered but it took a long time.

“I’m sorry, she should not be suffering like that. Has the guild not been paying for her care?”

He spat to the side. “The Axe and arseholes abandoned her. Said that she was a disgrace for letting her team members die on the first floor and kicked her out. After everything she did for the guild, they treated her like that.” He let out a sigh before continuing. “Torva is staying in the slums with her sister. I hope to earn enough gold in the tower to help her recovery or at the very least get them out of the slums.”

Mac stopped walking ahead and turned back towards us. “Bring her to the tower knights.”

“W-what can the tower knights do?” Burin asked.

“Some of our members have gone through something similar, mostly on the higher floors. We have learned a thing or two when it comes to recovering from that kind of ailment. I can’t promise anything, but our healers should be able to help in her recovery. Ask for me or Elder Knight Torak. Just make sure to mention that it involves Reigner if you meet with Elder Torak.”

Hope filled Burin’s eyes as he looked between myself and then Mac. “Aye… I’ll do that… thanks.”

Burin was quiet for a moment before looking to me. “What makes you so important?”

Plodding forwards though the snow, I replied. ”Oh you know, they are just scared I might destroy the tower.”

Burin laughed and didn’t notice Mac stumble for the second time.

“That’s some good news at least. Want to turn back?” I owe a lot to Torva, she took the fireball that would have likely ended or severely injured me. If Burin wanted to grab her and bring her to the tower knights, then I would go with him. Consequences be damned.

He looked to me and shook his head. “Nay, I’ll send word to her sister. She can take her. Right now, I need power. Power enough to prevent that happening in front of me again.” His elbow knocked into the side of my leg, causing me to misstep. “And besides, ye need me around to stop ye from getting trampled by some troll or giant creature.”

I gave him a friendly push to the side. “Well, you might be surprised next time we encounter one.”

Once we reached the dungeon, Burin placed his hand over the wooden sign at the entrance. “This the dungeon? I heard this place is terrible for loot, and look here.” He pointed to a part of the sign that had a symbol that looked to be a combination of sword, shield, and bow with the number five next to it. “Do ye know what this means?” He did not give me time to answer and kept going. “It means that this dungeon should have at the very least, five climbers working together in order to clear it safely.”

Safely, that’s funny. Just a few hours ago I was lecturing how the tower was too safe. I waited to make sure that he finished with his complaint before shrugging. “More for us.”

Turning to Mac I asked, “So while we clear this place can you give me some tips on dismissing spells?”

“Sure, but I am not helping with the dun. If it looks like you are about to die, then I will help but the rest is on you two.” Mac smiled to himself as he pulled out a meat skewer.

Burin tugged on the dark grey robe I had on. “You want to do some magical training while also fighting. Are you mad?”

I grinned down at the dwarf. “I think it’s time you got to see my very first summon.”

Burins eyes got wide and he took a step back from me as I leaned over and supported myself against the dungeon entrance. Using my skill for the second time was not any more pleasant than the first. The feeling of so much vitality draining out of me at once, while not painful, felt weird and uncomfortable.

+1 to Materialise Shadow skill rank.

A moment later a shadowy version of myself arose from my own shadow.

“Oh no. What have ye done?” Burin rubbed his eyes with the back of his fists. “Ye summoned yourself? Gods… Just how self obsessed are you?”

My shadow leaned over and gave the dwarf a friendly pat on the back. “Once you reach a certain level of handsomeness the world just can’t be satisfied with only one of you.”

A second later my shadow shivered and looked over to Mac. “That was rude.”

“What in the tower.” Was all Mac said as his half eaten skewer started falling towards the snowy ground. The shadow reached out and snatched the skewer from the air and took a bite from it.

“Wait you can eat?” I asked my shadow.

“Well, I can’t not eat, you know?”

Actually, I have no ide…” I was interrupted as I felt Mac use an identify spell on me.

I raised my eyebrow towards him and gave him a moment to explain.

Mac was looking between me and my materialised shadow. “How is this possible?”

“Magic, I guess? I never asked if it wanted to eat something.”

“It? You can call me he. I mean I’m all here after all.” My shadow grabbed his crotch by explanation.

“That’s not something I needed to know and besides you’re like a reflection. Would you refer to your reflection as someone else?”

Mac pointed towards me “How can you conjure-” and then pointed towards my summoned shadow “something stronger than yourself?”

“It’s not stronger.” I said at the same time my shadow exclaimed “Finally! It’s good to have some recognition.”

I still felt like crap and since it looked like Mac was having a little crisis I summoned a campstone to help my health and mana regenerate.

“So, ye be Reigner too?” Asked Burin as he looked at the slightly shadowy version of myself.

“Are you saying I’m Reigner two? Or that I am also Reigner?”

“Uh, both now ye mention it.”

“I am a copy of Reigner, albeit more handsome and cleverer than the original.”

“Oh, how so?”

My shadow grinned as he flexed his arms above his head. “Can’t you tell just by looking?”

Burin looked to me and then back to my shadow. “Not particularly.”

“Ah… Well then, a demonstration is in order.” My shadow gestured for Mac and me to follow and took a step into the dungeon. “Come on. Levels to gain and loot to… well, loot.”

“Oh, I’m beginning to see a little bit of it now.” Burin commented.

Mac sighed like he either came to some conclusion or just decided to leave it alone. “Reigner, dismiss this before we go.”

He was pointing towards the campstone I just summoned. I reached out towards the stone with the same results as before. It only dissipated once I managed to make a physical connection with the stone. Mac just watched me without commenting.

As we walked into the dungeon I asked, “What am I doing wrong?”

“Hmm you seem to be on the right track. Dismissing spells that you are not directly in contact with can take a while. Have you been doing much meditation?”

“Only when I get a new spell or level up.”

Mac sighed “Listen. Meditation is just as important as-”

Experience gained

Experience gained

“By the sun!” Exclaimed Burin from ahead.

Looking forwards I could see my shadow cutting down some lanky looking wolves. They had white fur and alternated between attacking on all fours with their teeth or hopping on to their back legs to swipe with long claws. There were four of them standing in front of us. Two unmoving corpses between them.

My shadow glanced behind as he continued to fight the other creatures. “Oh, sorry Burin, here you go.” He kicked one of the creatures against the cave wall and stepped past it.

Looking at the creature he left for Burin I cast Identify.

[Rotten Wolf]

Health: 520 / 100%

Class: -

Level: 5

Race: Undead

Looking closely, I saw that patches of the wolf were rotted off and the long claws were actually skeletal paws with hide missing up to the knee or elbow joint.

I watched as Burin hammered his uh… hammer into the undead creature’s skull. It took him a number of swings until it stopped moving.

Experience gained

“Good work. Here is another!” My shadow said while laughing and kicking another creature towards Burin.

Seeing as they had everything under control I turned back to Mac. “What were you saying?”

Mac was watching the others and my words brought his focus back to what was important. Teaching me cool magical techniques.

Clearing his throat Mac continued “Just like training your body to get stronger. Meditation allows you to better sync your body, mind, and mana. I would recommend you start meditating for at least an hour in the morning. If you do it right, then you don’t need to sleep as much, so you won’t be missing out or feel fatigued.”

Not like I have been particularly enjoying my sleep lately. All the better if I can replace it with meditation.

He pulled out another skewer, this one looked like one of those dessert types made from slime bits. “With daily meditation and proper training an average person can learn to dismiss their spells from a distance in about a week or so. Luckily for you, I have learned a trick that can be used for ranged dismissal.”

Experience gained

Experience gained

Experience gained

Burin and my shadow move further into the cave tunnel, leaving the corpses of the undead creatures behind. Great! I eagerly rubbed my hands together. What lay before me was not just the bodies of creatures but the opportunity to test out my new spell. Grinning over the corpses I focused on my new spell and cast summon sprite.

A small glowing white orb appeared in front of me. I felt a connection from the mote of light that felt similar to the connection I had with my shadow, a link that I could push my will through. Looking down at the undead corpses I sent a thought of looting them into the wisp. The wisp zoomed down to one of the corpses and rapidly moved back and forth, giving off motes of light that floated towards me and then into my pouch.

Loot gained:

Wolf Skull

Wolf claw

Rotton Wolf fur

That’s interesting, not only did it automatically move items to my storage pouch, but it also notified me on what was looted. I could feel the drain of mana needed to sustain and allow the sprite to perform its task. It was minimal enough that my mana regen could easily keep up. With that in mind I decided to keep the spite out for now while clearing the dungeon.

Mac stood next to me to watch the sprite work as he munched on his breakfast dessert. “Interesting looting ability. Where did you pick that up?”

“It was a gift. Actually, it was two spell books, self clean and loot creature that somehow ended up like that.” More junk loot entered my storage pouch. I had a feeling I would need to dump out most of these items as they did not sound particularly valuable.

“Mmm, interesting.” Was all he said as he stepped over the last corpse the sprite was working on towards the others.”

+1 to Summon Sprite spell rank.

After the sprite had finished looting, I willed it to try its cleaning ability on myself. The small white orb flew over to me and started spinning around my body so quickly that it looked like a long strand of glowing string was wrapping around my body. Once it finished, I looked down to see that my clothes looked like they had been professionally laundered. They even had a fresh lemony smell to them and looked to have been ironed. I was very impressed.

As an added bonus the sprite gave off enough light that it could also act as a light source for exploring dark caves.

Mac continued to talk me though distance spell dismissal as we moved through the dungeon. He said that normally I would have to meditate until I became so familiar with my own mana that I could recognise it instinctively. His trick was to use another spell that could target objects as a link to dismiss the conjured items. It only worked for conjurers or other item creating classes but was a shortcut I could use until I learned the proper way.

By using my sparkle spell, I could target one of my summoned items from range and just as the spell hit, I could will the item to dissipate. It took a while to get the feel of it but by the end of an hour or two I managed to work it out.

The cave changed the deeper we went inside. The cave walls turned into stone bricks and started to look like the inside of a castle. I did not contribute into the clearing of the dungeon, if you didn’t count my shadow. Instead, I was playing with the sprite while practicing with sparkle to dismiss my conjured items.

My shadow quickly saw that I was learning something new and decided to help me along by leaving large numbers, way more than what was necessary, of conjured spears, swords, daggers, and even the occasional campstone laying around. Damn he was annoying. I don’t know why my shadow was not more like myself.

Anyway, I decided if he wanted to play games like that, I could do the same. I started to dismiss my shadow’s conjured weapons mid swing or throw. Causing him to miss or take the occasional hit. I could see that it was annoying him immensely and that made me happy. Sadly neither Burin or Mac saw the humour in our antics.

“Fool Reigner!” Yelled out Burin towards me. Ah, that title brought back some fond memories. “Why are you playing stupid games while fighting creatures?”

“Boredom.” My shadow and I said at the same time.

My shadow turned back to look at me and I couldn’t help but feel surprised myself. Could it be that my shadow really was a copy of myself?

Nah, no way was I that annoying. Flashing a grin to my shadow I dismissed the sword he was using to keep the undead wolf creature off him. His face screwed up in annoyance as the creature’s claws scratched into him. My laughter at his plight was interrupted as I tripped over a campstone that appeared directly in front of my feet.

“Bastard!” I yelled towards my shadow.

“Look in the mirror, asshole!” He replied. Hah, that was rich, coming from him.