Along one of the many tributaries of the mighty Gelum River sits Stolas, currently resting atop a boulder with a makeshift fishing pole in hand. The small creature could easily pass for a human child, if not for his “horns,” two bluish nubs sticking out from his forehead. These blue horns distinguish him as an imp, and a rare sub-species at that, creatively called blue horned imps. While dressed in rags that covered his lower body but left his upper half and feet bare, he doesn’t seem too bothered by chilly evening air.

*Guuuu~*

Placing a hand on his stomach he sinks lower, nearly placing his head against the rock under him. Looking around with a faint hope that some wild animal is just stupid enough to wander over he searches the surroundings. This area he currently calls home is known as Limus Hollow, a lightly forested valley known for being overrun with slimes.

Across the stream the imp notices a curious slime wobbling up to the water. Unfortunately for him slimes are not edible. Picking up a rock from the neatly stacked pile nearby he chucks it across the river scaring it away before it does the same to the fish.

“That’s right get out of here.” Keeping his voice low he watches the slime scurry off into the bushes. Slouching back down he holds the rod in a loose grip when…

*Tug*

“Hmm?” Noticing the subtle pulls traveling through the rod he focuses on his line watching…

*Tug*

A stronger pull signals a fish has taken the bait. Springing into action he yanks the rod with all his malnourished might. Struggling against the hooked fish he quickly pulls the line to its limit and with a final flick the fish is sent airborne.  

“Haha!” His light voice is full of triumph as he grabs the struggling fish. While barely bigger than his hand the unlucky fish more than enough for his meal tonight. With a bit of drool hanging from his mouth Stolas leans in, “You thought you could get away~”

Interrupting his celebration something taps against his leg.

“Huh?” tearing his eyes away from the fish he sees a single green slime excitedly bouncing and jiggling in place.

The slime is about the size of a large watermelon with a fist sized core that can barely be seen in its translucent green body. Stretching out a tendril towards him it stops and hangs the pseudopod in the air, before it starts to wobble and has to retract back to the main body.

“What is it Jade?” He gives the slime a curious look. It stretches out again this time pointing towards the fish. “…You didn’t have much luck, huh?”

With one last look at the still gasping fish Stolas unhooks it and tosses meager meal at Jade. With surprising dexterity, the slime snatches the fish out of the air and engulfs with its main body.

With a wry smile Stolas watches the slime bob around happily as the fish slowly dissolves inside it.

“At least it’s quiet tonight…” With a sigh Stolas leans back.

“Did you at least find out where we are?!”

Hearing a woman’s harsh shout, Stolas immediately jumped down from the boulder crouching as low as possible and grabbing his fishing pole.

“Keep your voice down, we don’t want to attract monsters.” A male voice this time, sounding a bit older than the first.

He couldn’t see them yet, but from the sounds of it there at least two possibly three humans approaching his side of the river. And from that clanging sound they were probably armored.

“What? You afraid of a bunch of slimes?” the woman from before spoke again not bothering to listen to her companion’s advice, if anything her voice was louder than before. “The mighty Ignatz, scared of moving balls of jelly.”

As they emerged from the edge of the forest Stolas peeked out from his hiding place. He spotted about three humans making their way past him. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to notice Stolas or Jade.

“Daria!” A tall man decked out from head to toe in plate mail, turned on his heel facing a woman dressed in leather armor with a series of knives strapped to her belt. “Do not take your anger out on me.”

The two stared daggers at each other, hands on the hilts of their respective blades.

“Guys let’s not fight right now… Okay?” With a meek and timid voice, the third human spoke up. Dressed in scholarly robes he perfectly played the role of magic caster. Silently pleading with the other two as he hugged a large book to his chest.

“Tch!” The woman loudly clicks her tongue before conceding and looking away.

With a loud sigh rattling out his helmet, the armored man relaxes slightly and looks up at the sky. “It’s getting too dark. We should set up camp.”

Stolas remained where he was watching the group, his curiosity piqued. Despite being so close a human city it is rare to see adventures wandering about. Especially this far into the valley. Outside of a yearly slime culling nobody ventured this far out.

Straining his ears Stolas tried to listen in on what they were saying.

With their tents set up the woman sat down next to the robed boy, while the armored man tried to light a fire.

“Hey, Milo?” Her voice was noticeably softer when speaking to him than the Ignatz person. “Did you figure out what was so special about that book yet?”

“Yeah, somewhat. It’s written in an ancient demonic language, so I still need more time to translate it,” the boy’s voice grows more excited as he speaks, “but from the sounds of it, this book is an in depth look into the structure of elemental mana!”

“So… it’s a textbook?” the woman clearly didn’t share his enthusiasm.

“No, I don’t think so, it’s just the preamble so far…” Noticing that he is losing her, he quickly blurts out, “But I think I can use it make my spells stronger, and other useful stuff!”

“I certainly hope so.” Finally done with the fire the armored man stands up, having removed his helmet at some point Stolas gets a chance to look at his face. With his cold steely gaze and handsome features, he certainly had an air of nobility to him. “I doubt a simple textbook would be so deep and well-guarded inside the Archive.”

Archive? The Primordial Archive? The imp looks over at the book in a new light. If that’s true, then that book might be pretty useful…

The Primordial Archive was an ancient and long since abandoned dungeon that houses some of the most powerful magic items in its depths, unfortunately while its lower floors are well guarded the upper levels had been picked clean over the hundreds of years since its discovery. Leaving only the true treasures for the strong, lucky, or insane.

As tempting as it is to try and take the book Stolas ultimately just shakes his head and focuses on what is more important. Between the robed boy and the loud woman is his true prize, an open bag filled with preserved food. Audibly gulping Stolas keeps his eyes locked on his prize, waiting to strike.

It might be a foolish decision on his part, but it was either steal from a bunch of adventurers or starve. Gripping his “Fishing pole” in his hands he slowly removes the line on it as quietly as possibly, replacing it with the sharpened stone point it originally had.

“Are you taking first watch?” the armored man directed his gaze at the woman.

“…Yeah.”

“…I’ll,” for once the man broke eye contact and appeared almost awkward, “I’ll cover Isaac’s watch.”

“You don’t have to…” the woman appeared equally uncomfortable and shook her head.

The two of them quibble back and forth until finally deciding to split the time, or something. Stolas stopped listening halfway through.

Stolas took a deep breath to calm himself, deciding it would be best to wait for the boy’s watch he settled down into a comfortable position.

…

A few tense hours later, the woman can barely keep her eyes open. Heading into one of the tents she switches with the boy. Waiting an extra thirty minutes just to be safe Stolas gets up and starts sneaking towards the camp with Jade close behind.

As luck would have it the boy was just too excited about reading the book, seizing the opportunity Stolas grips his spear and rushes in stealthily.  

Quietly, the little imp gingerly approaches the boy from behind his sight bouncing from Milo’s hunched over figure to the open sack of food.

…

Milo sighs to himself, he knew he shouldn’t be so focused on the book, but it was too enthralling. It will open up so many opportunities for him. That and it helped distract him from thinking about his friend.

Finally tearing himself away from the pages he looks around the perimeter of the camp. Seeing nothing, he is about to continue reading when he hears the soft step of something behind him.

…

Stolas can feel his heart beating faster the closer he gets to the camp. With his goal mere inches away from his grasp the boy unexpectedly whips around as if startled.

Both stare at each other in shock for a moment before they each react. Milo begins to stand drawing in a breath to shout, and the imp leaps from his spot tackling the boy. Toppling him Stolas ends up sitting on top of Milo.

Milo stares into the imp’s panic-stricken eyes, a sharp searing pain lances from the left side of his chest dragging his eyes down he is confronted with the sight of a spear buried in him as red blood begins to stain his robes.

Before the boy can scream Stolas quickly covers his mouth with one hand and twist the spear with his other attempting to pry the tip free. He grips Milo’s mouth tighter willing him to be silent as Milo feebly struggles against him.

Out of the corner of his eye Stolas notices the magic tome Milo was reading before getting knocked down. Glancing between the book, the dying boy and the bag of food, Stolas can feel the creep of temptation.

“Hey Milo, I’m going to step behind that rock for a…” The loud woman peeks out from her tent rubbing her eyes. Stopping mid-sentence, it only takes her a moment to process the scene in front of her. “Milo!?”

Drawing her daggers, the woman rushes Stolas covering the ground in a split second. Reacting faster than he had ever before the imp ducks as the woman’s blades cut a lock of his hair. Rolling off the prone Milo leaving the spear still lodged in the boy’s chest, Stolas has a split second to make his next move.

Snatching the book off the ground he turns tail and sprints towards the forest. He feels the wind from the woman’s swing while running past her. To his right he can hear the clanking of armor as the man emerges from his tent in a panic. Stolas scrambles and skids trying to shift his inertia, and just barely dodges Ignatz’ downward slash.

The imp sprints away from this new threat as the armored man yanks his sword from the ground. Stolas stumbles from a sharp pain impacting into his back but manages to stay on his feet. Glancing over his shoulder he quickly dodges a throwing knife that barely grazes his cheek. The woman throws a few more knives but the imp is too far, and they fall harmlessly to the ground. The last thing Stolas sees before hitting the tree line is the woman collapsing to her knees and the man glaring at the imp’s retreating back.

…

The pounding of his feet matched the pounding in his chest, his heart beats loudly as exhaustion burned his lungs. Slowly coming to a halt, he listened for signs of pursuers while resting his hands on trembling legs.

“Hey, Jade I think we lost them. …Jade?” checking behind him, Stolas doesn’t see the green slime anywhere. He wants to shout and call for her but that would just attract others slimes as well. Worried thoughts enter his mind, where did he last see it? Those adventures… His stomach twists in fear and regret.

A sharp pang erupts from his shoulder, glancing back he notices a throwing knife buried in his back. “Shit…”

Reaching around at an awkward angle the imp pries the knife out of his back. With the knife in his free hand and the book clutched to his chest in the other, he examines the knife. Just as he’s getting ready to throw the blade something soft impacts into his back staggering the imp.

In a panic he starts to thrash and attempt to pull whatever it is off him but stops when he notices the familiar green tendril.

“Jade!” Stolas can’t help but call out, forgetting briefly about his prior reluctance. His elation is cut short by a strange licking sensation traveling up his side. “Hey! What are you doing? Stop that tickles!”

Trying to keep his laughter in check he shucks the slime from his back. Getting a good look at Jade he notices a bit red sticking to its surface and getting dissolved. I don’t think that’s something I should encourage… Craning his neck back he notices that the slime not only cleaned the blood from his back, but also left a patch of itself acting like a bandage over his knife wound.

“Oh, uh, thank you Jade.” Hearing his surprised gratitude, the slime vibrates in what the imp assumes is a happy gesture. Looking at their surroundings and trying to get a bearing on where they are Stolas mentions, “We should go home and get some rest. I don’t want stay here any longer than necessary.”

Following one of the animal trails that spread through the forest Stolas and Jade move from the deeper section towards the cave they call home. Located near the river, thankfully further upriver than where they encountered the adventurers, the small cave was situated at the foot of the Bruma mountain range at the very edge of Limus Hallow.

The small cave consisted of two chambers, the long main entrance and second smaller chamber further back and up a slight slope. The first chamber contained a pool of water fed by a small waterfall in the back, a stream flowed from the pool into hole adjacent to the entrance. The second chamber was mostly unremarkable, except for containing the entirety of Stolas’ worldly possessions, a bed roll and small crate filled with junk.

Stealthily peering to make sure nothing else had moved in while they were gone, Stolas held out his new knife before him as they made their way inside.

It must have been safe since Jade rushes past him and crawls towards the pond. With a shrug the imp leaves Jade to do whatever it’s doing and heads up to the second chamber. Plopping down on the ratty bedroll he had stolen from an inattentive adventurer and begins to read the tome. Like all imps Stolas has excellent night vision alloying him to read the contents of the tome without the need of anything brighter than the glowing fungus on the wall.

Whatever language the tome was written in must have been one of the roots of his own native tongue unfortunately it contains more than a few words and phrases he doesn’t understand. But between the ones he did know and the grammatical structure he was able to piece together enough to comprehend what it was saying.

“He was right…” The blue horned imp thought back on what the young adventurer was saying about the tome, “It does talk about how mana can be formed and structured.”

Getting lost in the passages, Stolas didn’t notice when Jade crawled up beside him, he didn’t even notice when the slime started poking his shoulder. Vibrating in discontent it stuck out a slimy green tendril poking the imp in the cheek, and that finally got his attention.

“What?! …ugh you got my face all slimy…” Stolas groaned dragging a wrist across his face, he faces Jade to see what it wants.

Happy to final get his attention Jade extends two tendrils holding out a pair of wriggling things. He immediately recognizes that they are two of the weird bug-like crustaceans living in the cave pond. With a bit of apprehension, he asks, “Are those for me?”

Obviously, Jade can’t verbally respond, so it just pushes the two creatures closer to his face.

“…Thank you…” He hesitantly accepts the offer, remembering what happened the last time he one. The long grueling night of fighting against his own stomach’s rejection of the meal. With a deep breath he holds down the pincers on one and bites into its head. The taste is a revolting mix of gooey fish and bitter/sour something. With grimace he resolves to finish the rest later. Much later.

Reading through the aged pages, he gets a summary of what this introduction is about. It explains that mana in its raw form is prevalent everywhere and permeates everything in the world, but elemental mana nearly impossible to find requiring mages to gather raw mana and structure it to form elemental mana. This process is known as spell crafting. Something Stolas was aware of, but due to a lack of training has little talent for.

“Hmm,” Looking around his own natural abilities as an imp allows him to always be aware of the presence of mana around him. His half-hearted search does confirm what the book says about elemental mana, well at least its true for his cave. A long-forgotten sense of loss and sorrow returned to the surface, turning his mood melancholy.  

Curious Jade crawls up beside him looks at the pages as well, or at least Stolas assumes it is.

“What you want to read it too?” Jade vibrates and jiggles in a happy affirmative. “Alright, come here.”

Lifting the green up he sets Jade into his lap, and the pair continue to read.

The next passage talks about the authors glorious research into the process of shaping mana. Filled with technical terms that go way above the imp’s head no matter how much he tries to puzzle them out, he only manages wear out his brain. From what he did understand, it was possible to collect a large amount of elemental magic produced by spell crafting and condense it into an “elemental core.” That can be used in a variety of ways that the book promises to go into later.

As interesting as that is, the information is completely useless to Stolas since he can perform spell crafting. Skimming the next few pages Stolas passes over the process of using spell crafting to form cores, until something catches his eye.

“For those without talent and magical knowledge…” Jolting upright from his slouched position, and starting the dozing slime in his lap, Stolas carefully reads the next pages.

For those without talent and magical knowledge it still possible to create a core through the use of a ritual.

The passage continues on describing the ritual, his eyes run though the next couple pages hungry to know more. He has to test it. He must.