I roused myself up. My wavy, black hair had fallen in front of my face; that was something I hadn't noticed at first: my hair had changed color and, honestly, I missed being a blonde.

I blinked the sleep from my eyes and took in a deep breath. Gwyneth's wild scent filled my nose; that was the panther's name apparently. I hadn't given it to her, or at least, I didn't think I had, but she claimed that had always been her name.

It was weird and hard to really grasp when the panther tried to explain where she'd come from.

She'd been created from my mana, a fully matured being, with her own personality and strong opinions--despite having no life experience or memories to draw from.

Maybe that was in part possible because she was just as animalistic as she was human-like; I figured her reliance on her instinct perhaps allowed her to simply get how to exist as she wanted to, without needing too much of a point of reference for where she fit into the world to do so.

I had no fucking idea, honestly. Magic was weird.

I pulled my arm off of the white-furred panther and pushed myself up to my knees.

The panther did have some funny takes on my recountings of my life before the System though.

To my unending surprise, my new friend seemed especially interested when I talked about my favorite television dramas.

She'd even tried to get me to talk about my adoptive mom's favorite soap operas, but I'd been forced to disappoint the massive cat when I'd quickly run out of material to talk about in that regard.

I hated soap operas, only watching them when I'd wanted to spend time with my mother, but the stoic panther had taken it well-enough on the surface--though I swear she'd brooded somewhat before going out to hunt for the day.

The comfortable furs that we now laid on were a product of Gwyneth's daily patrollings of the area. The many stacked and cooked corpses were also a part of her contribution; of course, I'd provided the fire to char them with.

Meanwhile, I'd spent the last week getting my bearings and figuring out just how the System functioned in detail.

Try as I might, I hadn't been able to create another spell without the use of Spell-Forging.

It really did seem like the System would only allow you to create spells for free when your emotions were running extremely high and the stakes were just as up there; though, to be honest, I still hadn't really figured out why that was.

I suspected there might be further, undiscovered, work arounds to the issue.

Eventually, though, I'd broken down and sacrificed a greater mana shard to create a first level spell for the sake of convivence and experimentation, if nothing else.

[Shape Earth] had allowed me to create various stone pots, jugs, and pans; though it had taken some trial and error to figure out how to infuse rocks and clay with just the right concentration of mana to make sure they retained a shape after I'd ended the spell.

That process of discovery, and the following six days of training, had granted with the skill of [Earth Manipulation] to mirror my [Fire Manipulation] skill.

Once I'd gotten the whole thing down, I found that I could make all the pottery that I needed to store water and cook proper meals. I'd even managed to create a stone canteen of sorts for easy hydration on the go.

With my [Earth Manipulation] at only about sixty points, even after daily training, however, I found it somewhat difficult to use [Shape Earth] to pull off anything too crazy.

I'd tried to create spikes from the ground and walls of rock to various levels of my own frustration. I could pull some of it off, sure, but it was very mana intensive.

I suspected I would either have to invest in more dedicated spells for combat and defense, or that I'd have to raise my affinity for the earth element to a much higher skill level to avoid doing so.

The other downside was that [Shape Earth] couldn't create earth, only reshape the rock and stone that already existed.

Additionally, the further away from me that the rock was the harder it was to make the spell work. Honestly, it pretty much worked best with just touch.

I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised, though; [Fireball] was my only long-range fire creation spell and it was a third tier casting versus [Shape Earth] existing as only a first tier one.

[Mana Flicker] had proven to be a lot more promising. It took a good bit of mana to use, but the amount was definitely manageable with my respectable pool of mystical energy.

I suspected that if I could get my [Spell Efficiency] up to an solid level that I'd be able to use the teleportation spell just as effectively as the Western Ruler had. It was something to work towards.

"Lady Clarissa," Gwyneth's rumbling, beautiful voice echoed through my mind, "did you sleep well?"

I smiled and rest my hand on the panther's snow-white head. The majestic and powerful looking beast purred into my touch as I stroked her soft pelt. "I did, Gwen. What about you?"

I knew that the cat slept pretty lightly, but she always seemed to enjoy her snoozings.

Even though we hadn't seen any sign of serious threats since the Western Ruler had been put down, I, for one, felt much more comfortable knowing that Gwen was watching over me as I slept.

"I dreamed of my last hunt," the cat admitted, "and of your stories."

I smiled. I wondered which secondhand supernatural drama she had been imagining in her dreams.

The cat rose suddenly and stretched her long body.

"Are you going out again now?" I asked.

I knew from experience that when Gwen wasn't sleeping, or chatting with me, that she liked to be out prowling. It seemed to be a fundamental part of her nature.

"If you would permit me, my lady," the panther bowed her head.

"Just be back for dinner," I told her.

The cat approached me and licked my face. "I will bring back dinner."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at the many animal corpses all about. "We kinda have enough."

"That's not the point, my lady," the cat said sassily as she turned to walk towards the mouth of the cave.

Well, I guess we could always use more jerky. It'd taken me a while to figure out how to keep the meat that Gwen kept bringing back with from spoiling; turns out the secret was a long, slow cook to dehydrate only the most thinly sliced strips of flesh.

I couldn't really fault the panther's prey drive. We'd have to leave this cave eventually and it'd be good to have ample provisions when we did.

Gwen also didn't seem to fear the forests of the dungeon, but I did wonder how she would fare in a fight against a real threat.

Regardless, as Gwen left the cave, I rose to my feet.

Slow-boiling over one of the multiple fire pits I'd constructed throughout the cave was a singular pot of glowing water.

The concoction was thicker than the normal river water I'd been hauling back for the past few days, in between bouts of exploring both the System and my own magic.

I'd originally hoped I could dilute the mana-restoring water of the dungeon to make some sort of mana potion. Unfortunately, I'd found out that this wasn't exactly possible.

Sure, the water restored a very small amount of mystical energy on its own, but it didn't seem like it could be concentrated in order to do more.

The bubbling liquid that was currently in the pot, however, was glowing a much deeper shade of blue than was normal.

In fact, I could barely even see the half-dissolved mana shard that I'd placed into the boiling water a few hours prior.

[Congratulations! You have created a potion!]

[As the first soul from Earth to do so, you have earned a reward.]

[+50 Alchemy, +5 Lesser Mana Shards, +5 Lesser Physical Shards, +5 Lesser Bestial Shards.]

[Finalize your potion: y/n?]

---

Gwyneth loved the stalking most of all. The hunt was everything that wasn't protecting her master and everything that wasn't the hunt was protecting her master.

She'd been tracking a particularly potent smell of game, that of a fatty mountain hare that she suspected herself and Clarissa would quite enjoy.

But now her ears were laid back on her head. Something wasn't right. There was the smell of something else on the air.

It was a wrongess. A corruption. A filth.

But it was not, unfortunately, weak. She could sense a wild and chaotic power suffusing throughout the particles of the scent; it was a power that seemed diametrically opposed to her own ordered and structured mana core.

What concerned her the most, however, was that the nearly silent hunters had gotten so close before she'd even realized they were nearby.

A bush rustled. Then a massive, ugly form lunged out towards her.

Gwyneth flickered from existence.

She reappeared in the air, directly in front of one of the Skulkers, and did not even hesitate to bite deep into its disgusting-tasting flesh.

The large, troll-like monster did not collapse under the weight of the snow-white panther's tackle, however.

The beast did stumble, but it remained standing as Gwyneth tore and rended into its upper right clavicle's flesh.

The monster tensed in pain as it placed a heavy, clawed hand upon the panther and, with a violent and self-preserving force it ripped and tossed the mighty cat a dozen feet through the air.

Gwen landed directly onto her feet as six of the creatures slowly began to enclose around her.

The cunning panther could see ill and focused intent in the eyes of the skulkers. These weren't creatures that were acting on pure whims alone.

The cat released a mighty roar of rage.

Whatever their plans, these monsters would not find their way back to her master!

---

I selected yes to the option of finalizing my potion.

As I did so, the last of the greater mana shard dissolved into the brew.

[Congratulations! You have created [Greater Mana Potion (Poor)] x 5.]

The glowing liquid in the clay pot flashed a bright light and then disappeared into my inventory.

The statbox of the potions I'd created then entered my view.

[Greater Mana Potion (Poor): Brewed inefficiently and without much skill, this potion still brims with a greater aura of magical energy. Restores 50 mana. Quantity: 5.]

I held out my hand and summoned the stackable item.

A filled and cork topped bottle materialized into my palm. I could see faintly-glowing, blue liquid sloshing around within the thick glass of the container.

Out of curiosity, I removed the cork and smelled the contents. The scent of blueberries and spear-mint filled my nose--an odd combination honestly.

I returned the bottle to my inventory.

Five greater potions of even a poor quality didn't really seem like a bad haul to be honest. I could get back two-thirds of my mana just with those potions alone.

I'd also gained some more shards to experiment with as a reward from the System.

I wasn't sure I wanted to use them on just more potions, however.

Rather, I opened the spell-forging menu instead.

[Spell-Forging]

Available Elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Force, Radiant, Necrotic, Mystic, Psychic.

Available Ranges: Self, Touch, Ranged.

Available Effects: Buff, Damage, Debuff, Enchantment, Summoning, Manipulation.

Available Shards: Greater Bestial Shard x1, Greater Mana Shard x1, Lesser Mana Shard x5, Lesser Physical Shards x5, Lesser Bestial Shards x5.

I selected the earth option.

[Earth Manipulation Skill: 60.]

[Please envision your desired spell effects. Then you will be able to decide the level of your desired spell.]

I imagined a spell that would allow me to create a wall of earth that would erupt from the ground.

[Select Spell Level: 1st, 2nd.]

It seemed that a skill level of sixty in [Earth Manipulation] only allowed for me to create a 2nd level spell.

I didn't figure a lesser mana shard could do much for me in terms of creating a 2nd level spell, however.

So, I selected 1st level.

[Envisioned Spell]

Earth Spike [1st]: Create a single spike of earth to spear enemies with. Mana cost dependent on size and power of spike.

Spell Cost: 1 Soul Shard of at least Mundane quality.

Select Shard: Greater Bestial Shard, Greater Mana Shard, Combine x3 Lesser Physical Shards, Combine x3 Lesser Mana Shards.

My eyes stuck on the option to combine the three lesser mana shards. I'd almost forgotten that the item descriptions had said that was possible.

"System, what happens when I combine three of the same soul shards?" I asked.

[Combining three soul shards of the same type creates a magic gem of the same type that is one level higher than the combined shards. Magic gems can be socketed into items and then programmed to create powerful enchantments or used in place of soul shards to create spells. Magic gems, unlike soul shards, can not be combined.]

"What happens if I combine different soul shards?" I asked.

[Different variations of magic gems will be created based on the combined shards and their levels.]

This whole System kept getting more and more complicated, but, really, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Versatility in my options meant that I could further lean into my strengths.

The more I looked at the suggested Earth Spike spell, however, the more I doubted whether it was the best choice.

I already had damaging spells. What I needed was healing, but I'd already toyed around with the idea in the previous week and found that I couldn't really produce anything of worth with my current earth and fire affinities alone.

Staring at the spell-forge menu, and seeing the presence of more shards to expend, gave me an idea.

Maybe damage resistance would be the next best thing to healing?

I backed out of the current spell creation window and restarted the process.

I once again selected earth as my element of choice, but this time imagined my mana flowing into my skin and strengthening it.

When prompted, I once again selected the option to create a 1st level spell.

In response, the System obliged me with another text-window.

[Envisioned Spell]

Stone Skin [1st]: Harden your skin with your mana, turning it nearly as hard as mundane stone. Costs 60 mana per minute.

Spell Cost: 1 Soul Shard of at least Mundane quality.

Select Shard: Greater Bestial Shard, Greater Mana Shard, Combine x3 Lesser Mana Shards.

This time, I went ahead and selected the option to combine the three lesser mana shards.

The system then recognized my selection and produced a new spell description based on my choice of shard; as was normal when selecting to use a mana shard, the casting cost was then reduced for the envisioned spell.

[Envisioned Spell]

Stone Skin [1st]: Harden your skin with your mana, turning it nearly as hard as mundane stone. Costs 30 mana per minute.

Spell Cost: 1 Soul Shard of at least Mundane quality.

Create Spell: y/n?

Yeah, this time it was a no-brainer. I could use the lesser shards to make more mana potions, sure, but I honestly didn't think they'd be all that impressive.

If it took three of the lesser shards just to make a single first level spell, they couldn't really be capable of creating potions that were anywhere near as good as what I'd already gotten my hands on a moment ago.

Five mana potions wasn't really enough, but this spell seemed to offer the chance to greatly increase my durability, meaning I would need fewer health potions when I finally got around to figuring out how to make them.

I selected yes.

The text box of the spell-forge menu flashed and I was given a new prompt:

[Stone Skin [1st] added to spell list.]

Then another notification that I'd actually not really expected, since I'd already been rewarded for making a spell so many levels ago, also popped up:

[Congratulations! As the first soul from earth to forge a spell, you have earned a reward.]

It seemed that creating a spell and using spell-forging to make one was enough of a difference in the System's eyes.

[+50 Spell-Forging, +10 Lesser Physical Shards.]

The reward menu closed and, instead, another notification was shown to me overlaying the still-open spell-forging menu.

[For reaching fifty skill points in Spell-Forging, the potency of all future forged spells has increased.]

Well, that filled in a gap in my knowledge. I had been wondering what the spell-forging skill actually did as it leveled.

After all, I'd gained access to the spell-forging menu with only ten skill points devoted to it.

It also seemed like the level of spell you were able to create was entirely dependent on your [Spell Control] and elemental affinities.

But now I was getting a better idea of what advancing spell-forging might offer: bonuses to the created spells themselves, regardless of tier or type, and perhaps, I suspected, more options in what you could create at higher levels.

Nevertheless, I closed the spell-forging menu for now.

Having gotten my hands on the damage reduction spell I'd wanted, I had some experimenting with [Alchemy] to do.

With my successfully brewed mana potions having emptied my clay pot of fluid, I rose to my feet to collect a nearby jug of water.

I spent the next few hours toying with my new shards and playing with the heat of the fire I was using to dissolve them.

The System-granted increase in my [Alchemy] skill seemed to give me some instinctual hints as to what to do to best brew potions, but in the end it was my own eye that did most of the work.

It seemed that the lesser mana shards were much more fragile than their stronger brethren. Because of this, I actually managed to waste an hour on 'overcooking' a few physical shards.

What I had hoped would become a health potion instead became useless goo that the System didn't even deign to create a statblock for, though it did inform me that I had fucked up enough to waste a few of my shards.

My next attempts were somewhat more successful, however.

I used a low, careful heat to melt the mystical crystals down, and in the end I was rewarded with a successful notification:

[Finalize your potion: y/n?]

A familiar flash followed my confirmation.

[Lesser Health Potion (Average) (x 5) added to inventory.]

I summoned the bottle as I observed its stats.

[Lesser Health Potion (Average): Brewed adequately this potion hums with a noticeable, but faint aura of restoration. Restores 25 Health.]

Uncorking the health potion, as I had done with its mana-restoring counterpart, I noticed that the red fluid instead smelled of heated cinnamon and pine sap.

What was it with these potions and weird combinations of smells?

Regardless, as it turned out, lesser shards were not only harder to work with in some ways than stronger shards but produced weaker products as well.

That said, the designated quality tag of the lesser potion was actually higher than the one on the greater potion had been, likely due to it being more appropriate to my current [Alchemy] skill.

All in all, I'd lost about three of my lesser physical shards to the useless potion and it had taken around five of them to then successfully create the lesser health potions that now filled a slot in my inventory.

The cost of the lesser potions was in stark comparison to the singular greater shard that I'd needed to make the greater mana potion.

I hadn't been willing to risk combining the lesser shards into a magical gem to try and create stronger potions, in case gems weren't compatible with my level of [Alchemy] or just with potion making at all, but it was definitely something to either ask the System about later or to test outright myself when resources allowed.

I dismissed the health potion back to my inventory.

For now, though, I needed to stop hunching over the fire. My back ached and I had the strange scents of dissolving magic crystals still filling my nose.

As I stood, however, a burst of telepathic intrusion entered into my mind like a barreling train.

"Enemies!" Gwen's voice, sounding more savage than I had ever heard it before, crashed into my thoughts; I could, however, tell that the cat wasn't nearby as the link between us felt extremely faint, as if she had exerted a lot of effort to send the singular word to me from a distance.

Shocked from the sudden, unexpected shout into my very mind itself, I glanced up and scanned the room instinctively. Just in time, actually, to see a familiar and lumbering form enter the cave mouth.

"Very much food here," the Skulker said as it sniffed the air, before its eyes then fell on me, "best food still breathing though."

My right foot fell back into a combative stance. My eyes slowly licked with fire.

It seemed like the peace that me and Gwen had enjoyed was now over.

I had more pressing concerns than the one enemy in front of me however.

Namely, where the fuck was my cat?

Flames wisped into existence and spiraled around my arm and down into my palm.

"You picked the wrong fucking person, asshole," I said to the creature as I summoned a [Fireball] into being between my fingers.