I pulled up my status screen just to see if there was something I was missing.

Current Experience: Held

Total Experience: Redacted

Level:0

——

Name: Arn

Race: Wild Human Shaman [5]

HP:40 (140 outside tower)

SP:60

MP:99 (199 outside tower)

Defense:4

Magical Defense: 10

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Titles

Dungeoneer (Team)

+1 Vitality every Primary Class level +1 Wisdom every 5th level of Secondary Class

Eternal Tower Keeper

Keeper access to the Eternal Tower. Use and adjustment of first 5 floors and levels for personal use. Keeper may not adjust levels below 50 or floors above 25 May adjust floors up to 25 and levels down to 50 Unaging in Tower Part of Dungeon Transportation network Plus 100 health points when outside Tower Plus 100 Mana points when outside Tower Plus 1 reaction for each floor climbed or level descended.

Dungeon Master XII

Owner access to owned dungeon. Unaging in all dungeons. Dungeon speed Passive: 50% speed increase of all movements inside all dungeons Active: Dungeon rush cost of 10 mana to rush forward the length of the hall Neutral standing in all other dungeons that are not owned. Dungeon sense Passive: feel a draw towards dungeons within 100 miles Active: See through dungeon misdirections 1 mana per hour

Marquess III of Westiral (hereditary noble 2)

You are a landed noble (Size of Landed X) of disputed territory. You rank just below that of a Barron. Ownership of Castle Westiral (occupied) Ownership of Outpost Kings highway. You may have a retinue of up to 15 +4 intermediation to all encounters with non-nobles (if they know) -3 social interactions with those who hold no land. (if they know) +3 Social interaction with nobles of equal or less land -1 Social Interaction with all landed who aren’t nobles Lordless You are a noble without a ruler. The land that you have is beyond the rule of others. +1 Social interaction with nobles You are not required to raise a levy for anyone You are not required to keep a retinue

Spell Crafter V

+5 social interactions with all spell based classes 20% more likely that an on the fly crafted spell will be successful 2% more mana per level of title 10% faster skill gain for all magic skills All racial negatives for magical skills are removed.,

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Primary Class: Enchanter*

Secondary Class: Linguist* (Ancient Languages)

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Strength: 17*

Dexterity: 17*

Intelligence: 8

Willpower: 26

Vigor: 20

Vitality: 20

Wild Humans have a plus 3 to strength Wild Humans have a plus 2 to dexterity Wild Humans have a plus 2 to all survivalist and warrior class skills Wild Humans have a negative 3 to all Language skills and can not start as the linguist class Wild Humans have a negative 1 to all Magic class skills due to low intelligence and cannot start as a enchanter class because of linguistic issues (Title Spell Crafter V removed this.) All wild human are illiterate

—

Abilities

Poison Resistance 0

Terror Resistance 45%

Compulsion Resistance 10%

Pain Resistance 60%

Redacted ?

Redacted ?

—

Racial skills

Spear** 7 Locked

Survivalist** 7 Locked

Tracking** 6 Locked

Goblin Death Dance 10

Gremlin Death Dance 17

Skeleton Death Dance 20

Zombie Death Dance 12

Primitive Runes 36

Ritualistic spell casting 27

Ritualistic healing 13

Animal empathy 20

Plant empathy 20

Ritual Cleansing 6

Ritual Prayer 9

Ritual Fire 6

Ritual Remembrance 10

Primary Class

Enchanting 31

Script* 0

Ink making 19

Etching 20

Power imbuing 26

Socketing 20

Secondary Class

Ancient languages* 0

Non class skills

Hiking** 20

Climbing** 20

Primitive tool** 14

Natural Shelter** 15

Earthen Construction 17

Spear Fishing 20

Primitive cooking 17

Herbalism 19

Stone Knapping 12

Staff 20

Taekwondo 20

Running 20

Fitness Training 20

Tumbling 20

Rope making 17

Basket weaving 10

Primitive Tailoring 8

Trap 20

Conditioning 20

Escrama 15

Iaido 9

Nunchaku 5

Mana (ki) Focus 27

Swimming 18

Pole fishing 2

Net fishing 2

Mathematics 23

Throwing Knife 20

Paddling 13

Archery 20

Over Imbueing 24

Short sword 20

Combat Acrobatics 20

Redacted 86

Redacted 86

Dungeon Lore 16

Spear throwing 15

Long Spear 15

Short Spear 15

Dual Wielding Dagger 20

Dagger 20

Off-Handed short sword 5

Living Runes 8

Tree Climbing 7

Close Quarters Combat 12

Cooking 17

Horsemanship 14

Split Focus 26

Spell Crafting 37

*due to Wild Human starting restrictions of being illiterate this skill can not advance until Intelligence is higher then 12

** Racial Bonus for Wild Human, effect levels of all Survivalist class and warrior class skills plus 2

Racial skills of Wild Human that are not part of your racial class are now locked. Further racial class change may unlock these skills for progression in the future.

Spell/Level/Mana cost/ Cast time

Communication spells

Beseech a greater knowledge** 1/70/45 seconds

**Once per day powered by sunlight

Healing spells

Minor healing 1/8/5 seconds

Redacted

Redacted ?/?/?

Fire Spells

Fire Fist 1/2-20/.5 seconds

Dark Spells

Dark bolt 1/10/1

Terror Spells

Dark bolt 1/10/1

Chilling touch 1/20/3

Shaman magic

Stone to dirt 1/20/5

Start fire 1/20/5

Call rain* 1/20/5

Growth 1/20/5

Lay to rest 1/?/5

Fire Fist 1/2-20/5

*works only if there are clouds in the sky. The closer the clouds the stronger the rain.

Necromancy Spell

Raise Skeleton 1/5 per 100 pounds/4 seconds

Turn Zombie 1/3 per 50 pounds/7 seconds

Steal Health 1/3 per health pt/3 second

Festering Wound 1/2-10/1 second

Drain Mana 1/2/3 second

Claim Undead 1/1 per level of target/4 seconds

Soul Anchor 1/40/2 minutes

Crafted Spells

Lay-To-Rest Virus 1/?/37.5

—

Faith

Order: 300

Chaos: 420

Bards and Summer Beer: 75

Treants and Dryads: 22

Redacted: Redacted

—

Familial Contracts

Lannah Dreamweaver

HP 89/90

MP 320/420

Familial Contract: (Lannah Dreamweaver) (West of current location)

Lannah Darkweaver offers access to her full mana pool and all duties of a Familial Contract per custom for the following:

Your Family name once found or earned to be hers and those of her children

Protection granted as able from all who wish her harm per custom

1 blank core from The Necklace of Cores per month of contract

4% of all earned experience until you reach level 10

.5% of all experience earned after you reach level 10

—

Retinue 1/9

Renfry (Revenant, Lancer (22), Oathbound)- Champion of house Redacted of Westiral

Kasidy (Human, Singing Barmaid (37))- Bard of house Redacted of Westiral

Irwin (Human, Drunkard’s Son (50))- Healer of house Redacted of Westiral

I gave a slight smile as I looked down at my status. I had picked up some skills when I almost died. A few even went higher than they should be able to. My stats also changed, but I couldn’t figure out the math right then. Sadly I wasn’t anywhere closer to being about to get out of the bind I was in. If I could just get my leg free, I would be able to get to the door and figure out what was going on. As it stood, however, I was stuck.

I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. I was bleeding out with nothing I could do about it—no way to just move the rock out of the way.

I smiled. “Well, there might be a way to move the stone. Maybe I can figure this mess out.”

I slowly started to spin up my stone to dirt. “If I am going to do this, I need to go big.”

I triggered the large casting of stone to dirt. I smiled as the dirt appeared, and as I tried to back up, I heard a loud crack, and even more rock fell. Dust went everywhere as my left leg was pierced through the metal and my left leg got caught.

I yelled out in surprise but not as much as pain. Things weren’t working how I wanted them to. I needed to get out of the bind I was in. My health had dropped in half, and I saw that I had a slow bleed now, 1 point every minute.

I worked my breathing as I tried to take inventory of what I had available. Armor - that might have been the problem to start with. A few potions but not enough to save me. Some magical rings but none of them were for this problem. Spells - I had some, and even one that could change what was going on. However, that was just for the worse.

I needed some way to get rid of all the falling stones. I needed to remove everything that was above me and loose. If it was connected to something, it could stay.

I smiled and then coughed. My chest had been hit with something, and while I didn’t have a debuff, I could swear that my ribs were bruised. I hadn’t even bothered figuring out the stone in my eye. I figured it was lost, but I didn’t know if it would cause more damage.

After a deep breath, I reached up and around the stone embedded in my thigh. I couldn’t see the top because of my angle and the dim light, but with my hands, I felt around. It seemed like it wasn’t holding anything up. But I couldn’t be sure as I was unable to reach everywhere. My hope was that the rock in my leg wasn’t connected to more. I took a deep breath and thought it would be what I tried my idea on.

I reached my hand down around my neck and pulled on the simple strap that held the necklace of cores. I pulled it off from around my neck and placed it on the stone in my thigh. I took a deep breath and fed the stone to the core.

As the stone turned in light and vanished into the necklace, I yanked the necklace away. The stone was only half gone. The rest of it was still there like a knife cut it in half. Then I placed the necklace back on the stone and waited. Nothing happened. It didn’t restart.

I nodded slowly and started it again. This time I let the necklace take all the stone. As the stone vanished from my leg, blood started to spurt up. My slow bleed debuff turned into a gushing wound as I poured healing potion into the wound.

The leg healed around bent metal as the magic forced the flesh to knit together. I had another sudden shot of pain as the nerves that should have been together were placed on both sides of my armor. The stone that impaled my leg punched a four-inch hole in the armor. That bent metal was now inside my healed leg.

I pulled myself up close to my right leg and sighed. This was going to suck, and there was no way around that. I looked where my leg was sticking in. It should have just been able to slide right out, but all of the weight above it meant the dirt was compressed around my leg. The seal had become even tighter after I tried to turn it all to topsoil.

I thought to Blink. “Sweetie, you there?”

Blink sent me thoughts of her waiting. “Where would I be.”

I smiled, and a tear ran down my face. “Hey, I am going to do something. I am hoping it works, but it might all go wrong. I want you to know I am working hard to get you out, okay?”

Blink sent me troubled feelings. “Daddy, what are you doing?”

I gulped and fought down my feeling. “Hey, I love you, okay? I am so glad I found your egg, and you chose to bond with me. If I don’t see you again, I want you to know. You are a great daughter, the best I could ever hope for.”

Blink sent smug feelings back to me. “Daddy, I know that you love me. I know I am the best. You don’t have to tell me that. You need to tell Kasidy that.”

My throat caught, and the tears rolled. I thought back to her, “You’re right, deary; I do need to tell Kasidy that I love her. She should know… Okay, I need to try this now. If something happens to me, you need to be the one to get them out of there. We never should have come here.”

Blink sent joy to me. “No, Daddy, good hunt. See you soon.”

I closed off my bond as tight as I could. I didn’t know if I could, but I didn’t want her to know what I was doing. I didn’t want her to feel this if I sent it. Blink didn’t need to know what it felt like to have your leg fed to the Necklace of Cores. And if I failed, she didn’t need to know what it felt to die that same way.

I pulled my belt off my waist and slid it through the necklace. Then, when I touched the belt to activate the necklace, the interface didn’t come up. I touched the chain, and it did. I placed the necklace on my right knee just as close to the rock as I could.

I laid my belt down beside me with my hand looped through it. Then I opened the interface with the necklace through my leg. I went over to feed and pulled up the options. When I first got the necklace, I thought Sam was trying to kill me when I found out how to feed it. I never thought that I would tell it to feed off of me.

I closed my one eye. I tried for both, but the stone kept it from closing. So after a moment, I opened my eye and looked at what I was about to do. There was no way around it. This was a bad idea, but it was the only one I had.

I triggered the necklace’s feeding. Up to that point, I thought that the pain that Sam put me through had been bad. I thought the fear and horror of spiders, ants, darkness, and falling was bad. I was wrong; whatever the necklace did to feed was true horror. I felt my knee breaking down as I watched it turn to light.

Every nerve was burning. Every part of my knee was on fire. No fire is too mild. Even the acid that had melted my feet off wasn’t as bad as this. Was what worse was I saw my mana draining as it happened too. It was like the necklace wasn’t just taking my physical knee but also more. I didn’t feel anything like the soul attack I had in the past, but I felt drawn to the necklace.

I watched as it took a few seconds to eat my knee. It licked up every drop of blood. The swirl of blood and bone turning into colored lights was amazing as it mixed and went in. The pain made me want to close my eye, but I was almost hypnotized watching the spinning. It was beautiful and terrifying all at once.

It had eaten halfway up my thigh when I realized I meant to stop it. I yanked hard on my belt, and the necklace went flying away from where my leg was. I watched in fascination as the parts of my leg that were already moving toward the necklace kept going, but the part that was light but hadn’t moved turned back into flesh.

I grabbed my last healing potion and went to pour it onto my leg when I noticed that nothing was coming out of it. My leg wasn’t healed, as I could see everything inside. It was just somehow sealed.

I took a deep breath and pulled the stopper from the health potion. I held it in my right hand right to my lips. Then with my left, I yanked the rock out of my eye socket. The pain was mild compared to what I had just been through. I tossed the potion back and then put it back on my shield.

I rolled over on my belly and looked at the blood-red door. “So, what’s behind you?”

* * *