Rick woke up with a start, sitting up on the bed.

‘Where is this?’ he sat up on the bed. His eyes look around but it was too dark to see anything around.

He checked his hands, they were free and not shackled, and he was still in his clothes, that was good news. The last thing he recalled was going unconscious on the road. He walked out of the bed, fumbling for the wall, but found the curtain instead. Holding onto it, he pulled the curtain open. Light streaked through the window, blinding him. He had his first answer, it was morning.

Rick looked around the room squinting his eyes to try and figure where he was. A bed, an old T.V., a wardrobe to be side, they were all familiar sites for him. He was back at the safehouse.

‘Is Jay alright?’ his mind immediately ratcheted as he rushed out the room although he was fairly certain he made it alright.

“Jay! Sam!” he called out as he walked into the kitchen. Instead of the voice of a human, he instead heard a bird sniffle.

He looked around to see Pip on the sofa, snugly sitting between two cushions of the sofa.

“What’s up Pip, did you get stuck in there?” he asked walking over.

“Peep! Pee peep peep!” (She left me1!) Pip wailed.

“Who Samira? Did she say if she will be back for lunch?” Rick asked sitting beside Pip. He did not realize that his sister and Pip had developed such a close relation.

‘Maybe I should ask Sam to take her as well,’ he wondered.

“Peep! Peep pep peep!” (No! She went away! The other one too! She said bye -bye) Pip cawed.

The smile disappeared off his face. Samira and Jay were supposed to leave today morning. But he did not expect his sister to leave without even a goodbye!

Rick took out the Word Transmission Scroll from his Storage Ring. Surely enough there was a message from Samira asking him to check the letter on the coffee table.

‘She did leave!’ Rick looked up. On top of the pile of old magazines was a sheet of paper folded neatly in half. He reached over and opened the letter.

“Dear Rick,

I am sorry for leaving without even wishing you goodbye, but I have to reach the Salamander City right away. There is a hunt that everyone has to gather for.

All this while I was away, a little part of me would always worry about my little brother. But after watching you save Jay yesterday, I realized I was worried about nothing. Even though you are an idiot you will scamper by.

Jay is doing well. Apart from a bruised ego, he is back to his normal self and says thanks for saving him. He has left the corpses in the room upstairs in his room. I found a couple of metallic toolboxes and some syringes and they are there as well. The kitchen is stocked with food and water for a while, but it won't last you forever, so you will have to scavenge. Be careful.

This will be quite a long time away, so the next time I see you maybe three or four months later. I will try to contact you as often as I can through the Talisman but don’t get worried if you don’t hear from me.

Stay safe and take care of Pip. She is an adorable little thing.

Love Samira”

Rick felt goose bumps on his arm. He didn’t know why, but letters left a foreboding sense of farewell on him.

“She said you are adorable,” he said poking the depressed Pip still whining.

“Peppepepep!” her sobs got louder instead.

At least Jay was doing well, he took consolation on that fact. He folded the letter and put it in the storage ring and sent Samira a message,

“Take care, be safe.”

Just as he was about to withdraw his consciousness out from the Storage-ring, he saw another Word-Transmission Scroll glowing, it was the one he had given Azer, the leader from Library Settlement.

‘I don’t have enough golems for myself, much less for you,’ he muttered angrily, his mood already sore. He tossed it back into the Storage Ring without another glance.

“Pip, there is some food upstairs, you wanna go have them?” he said, pulling the bird out.

“Pep peep!” she sat upright at the sound of food.

“Yup, Sam left them for you,” he replied.

“Peep peep peep…” she jumped off the couch and waddled off to the stairs without sparing a second glance. He smiled as Pip trotted up the stairs.

The house fell silent again. Alone, he leaned back and closed his eyes, he needed to think what to do now. But the only thing on his mind was the when the Treants emerged and hit Jay Treant while he stood by uselessly. The only way he had managed to make it this far was through sheer good luck and he needed to change that fast. He was weaker than everyone he had crossed paths with.

“Fuck, I cannot keep relying on cheap tricks all the time” he made a low grunt. A minute later Rick let out a deep sigh, relaxing his fists, as it deep marks on his palms.

‘Think this with a clear mind,’ he repeated to himself.

He could make golems, but without better beast cores and higher-level runes, it was a waste. He had planned to learn to use the bow, but Sam and Jay had left before he got the chance to even ask.

‘Oh, yeah,’ it suddenly struck him. Rick touched his temple to check the notifications he had ignored.

He opened the first one.

[Your Concentration has increased.]

The next few notifications were the same as well. His concentration had shot up to 32 points from 29!

It was the next notification that truly piqued his interest.

[New Spells discovered. Refer to the Lemegeton]

Rick was slowly understanding how God’s Lesser System Worked. It did not really give you skills and stats. Rather it informed you that you have it, after-the-fact. He instead opened the Lemegeton.

“What new spell did you discover buddy?” he asked.

[Fire Elemental Control]

The mana that can be accumulated in the host’s body acts as the fuel for the spells and its potency. Mana, when flown through the fire-path, converts it into inner-Fire-Elemental.

This Fire-Elemental can be used in “Magi-Martial Arts Techniques” and train to become a Magi-Warrior that can inflict additional injury due to the Fire-Element aspect. Magi-martial arts in its initial stages is restricted to body attacks only, but in higher levels can be extended to using weapons as well as a physical manifestation of the host’s will.

Although the acquisition of the Fire-path and the ability to control inner-mana is recognized as the first step to becoming a Mage, such a Mage is not a “True-Mage”. The inner-Fire-Element becomes the fuel to casting true-spells through which you manipulate the fire outside…

‘I am proficient enough with the spear,’ he pondered if should become this Magical warrior. But then scenes of Jay fighting the beasts and then being hit by the Treant flashed by and he immediately gave up the idea.

‘I am avoiding close combat unless I am dying,’ he decided.

So, the next option was to become this “true-mage”. This felt more up to his liking as well. A long-range fight where he could overlook and strategize his moves rather than close-quarter combat any day.

“A weapon engulfed in flames conjured up by fire manipulation, this looks just like what a Magi-martial artist would do,” he discovered.

As he read further, he realized that the difference between a Magi-martial Artist and True-Mage would be equivalent to getting punched by a hot fist versus getting punched by a burning fist.

The basic fact was that if he was able to control a single element, it was like a tiny spark. The greater the number of fire element he could control, the bigger the fire. Once he was done with that, the next page had the treasure he was searching for. It was a list of five spells!

[FIRE-ELEMENT MANIPULATION SPELLS]

[Lumite]

[Web (Fire)]

[Heat Aura]

[Fire Sealing]

[Teleportation (Fire)]

The end of the list had a line that read,

Other sills require physical manifestation of fire and are beyond fire-element manipulation.

“So, there is another level when I will be able to produce flames,” Rick grinned.

Eager to learn, he opened up the description to the first spell.

[Lumite]

It is a simple spell to illuminate the immediate vicinity near the casters channel. The spell consumes little mana but risks igniting flammable items if the caster is not careful.

Although many have claimed to be the inventor of the spell, the first Mage to perform the spell in public record was grave-keeper Rita Keplin who publicized the spell as being able to ward off spirits…

It has negligible attacking potential.

It requires the caster to control of nine fire-elements and chant the spell Lumite.

“It could come in handy at night,” Rick nod. But the spell required him to control nine fire-elements while he could only control two. He skipped over to check the other spells. The spell Web would let him create a perimeter to detect any intruders; Heat Aura would surround him with a layer of fire-elements; the Fire Sealing would let him seal fire elements in things and then release it later. But it was the Teleportation spell that caught his eye. The spell, if done right, would let him travel great distances in seconds, no different from the Teleportation Portal!

But his excitement was short-lived once he saw the number of fire-elements he would need for it.

[Teleportation (Fire)]

…

It requires the caster to control 2.3 billion fire elements per kilometre.

His heart skipped a beat. The requirement of elemental control was becoming atrociously larger by the minute. The requirement for Fire-teleportation of 2.3 billion looked like an impossibility compared to the two he could control.

“Lumite only needs nine fire-elements” he planned out, “and Fire-sealing requires at least twenty to activate the spell and then any amount that I want to seal.”

‘It’s the best time to start,’ he closed the Lemegeton and walked out of the house for a fresh breath of air. The sky was a deep orange and the houses cast a deep shade. It was uncanny how the beeline of people rushing back home was now a scene of quiet stillness. The world had become a lonely place.

A few minutes later he turned back home, his heart yearning for company.

“Peep! Peepep peep!” he saw Pip coming down the stairs, almost tumbling over in her rush.

“Hey hey! Calm down, calm down. I am right here. I haven’t gone anywhere,” he got down on his knees to stop Pip from pecking his skin again.

“Peep pep pep?” she asked in an accusatory torn, but thankfully slowing her march.

“I had just gone out for a breath of fresh air Pip, I will never leave you and go,” Rick said. Reaching over to her, he put Pip in his palm and scratched her head.

“Peep Peep,” she let out a low incoherent sound of satisfaction.

With Pip on his shoulder, he prepared a quick dinner for the two and ate his while Pip pecked herself.

“Okay Pip, will you be a good girl and protect me while I do something important?” he asked her. She immediately nodded yes. Rick chuckled at the small bird acting all brave, “Such a brave little girl. Okay then, don’t go out of the house and don’t disturb me for a while, okay?”

Pip replied yes immediately. Rick took the cue and walked back to his room, leaving Pip in the living room.

“First I will need to control three of them,” he told himself sitting down of the floor cross-legged.