Chapter 4

*SIGH*

I will overcome this somehow and take care of choosing what to do after counting the amount of these "Essences".

...

When I finished counting I saw that I had about 150 "Essences" of fire and about 200 of earth. At least I'll be able to heal myself if I fight again. I don't know what to do with the fire ones, but for now I'll leave them in storage.

Well, now that I'm done with that, it's time to choose what to do. I guess I'll start with the pros and cons of staying and then the pros and cons of leaving.

Pros of staying: 1) I have a place to store my stuff. 2) I don't have to waste the time I could spend training, having to look for somewhere else. 3) I know more or less where I am and from what I've seen, I know what to expect. 4) I have all my stuff here and I like it here.

Cons of staying: 1) I don't really know what to expect from my surroundings. 2) With so many conflicts nearby I'm likely to end up involved in one that I can't escape from, at least not alive. 3) It's probably not a safe place. 4) I may need to upgrade my home defenses.

With that, they're all "stay" ones. Now, I need to do the "go" ones.

Pros of leaving: 1) To find a safer place away from conflicts. 2) To know the location of my surroundings and to be able to estimate more precisely where I am. And I can't think of anything else about leaving

Cons of leaving: 1) I must move what I have with me making it possible that if enemies find me I must flee with nothing. In which case there are several of them. 2) Have to spend time looking for somewhere useful as a home. 3) I'm likely to encounter some conflict considering I know nothing about this area. 4) End up even more lost than I already am.

Now my results, which in a nutshell are: "I'm staying".

I remember when I lived in my previous world they used to say that if you got lost, stay where you got lost and don't move. Not only would you get even more lost if you moved, but you would also likely increase the difficulty of rescue. Because of this and because I got attached to the place I decided to stay.

Now that I know I will stay, I will start training in my meditation and mana circulation.

...

As soon as I finished what I will call my "daily control practice", I started thinking about going out again. I must do reconnaissance of everything around this place and the mountains that compose it. Thinking about it, it occurred to me to make a map.

I set out to make the map, or at least an attempt at one. I started with my house. IN FRONT of my house, meaning, where I enter, is the hill where I was born and beyond is a plain with a few more hills. TO THE RIGHT SIDE of my house, using myself as an example leaving my house, so it is my right out and left in. As I was going, ON THE RIGHT SIDE, is a plain with some mountains and hills sprinkled in. It's also where the large scale elemental fight happened. ON THE LEFT SIDE, is the place where I killed the two elementals I first encountered. Finally, to the BACK, there are a few mountains.

I quickly finished my map. As far as I understood from my surroundings, except for my back, I had enemies on all sides...

I will have to make another entrance to my house that is not obvious and hide or block the one I currently use. Also, I must either expand my house depending on where the new entrance will be or search this mountain for other caves.

I decided to look for more caves and maybe connect them, so I would have other exits in case I needed to flee.

...

It took me what I think, is a week, to find another cave on this mountain. I found it at the back of the mountain and in what I guess would be behind my house. It points towards the rest of the mountains behind me on my map, so it looks like a good place to escape or get in.

It took me a while to find it, because the entrance was covered and you couldn't tell. It just so happened that when I was digging where I thought it was behind my house, I found a natural space inside. It was a large space and it seemed useful that it was.

I figured it would be something in the center of the mountain itself, so I decided to go back to my house and try to open the hole from there. It didn't take me long to get from the side of my house to the new cave that would be my home from now on.

I went back to where I had everything stored and decided to move most of my stuff to the big natural space. Since I liked the place, I decided to call it "Stony Core", mostly because I like the name and because it makes sense for me to name it, since I'm an earth elemental.

I left about 10 "Essences" of dirt where my old house used to be and decided to use it for now as an entrance. I would bring a stone to block the view of the entrance and another one to close it when I go to train or "sleep".

...

When I finished doing everything I wanted to do with my house I decided to go look for more elementals. I have to accomplish my first short-term goal and I hope that by observing how the earth elementals attack with their elemental spells, I can learn something.

...

I started searching from my left, which is where I saw only 2 elementals fighting the first time. My hope is to find myself again a reduced number of elementals in combat, this is of course, to take advantage once they are both wounded. I have nothing against elementals of any kind, at least not for now, but I need their "Cores" to feed me and the earth elemental's "Essences" to heal me in case of wounds, so it's a pity I'm not joining any elemental faction for now.

It took some time before I encountered some elementals again. This time there were 5 of them, with 3 earth and 2 fire elementals. The fire elementals were retreating while throwing their fireballs to try to slow down the earth elementals. The earth elementals advanced while ignoring the fireballs that randomly hit parts of their body, but since the fire elementals were a little faster than the earth elementals they ended up escaping. The earth elementals after a bit of chasing, gave up and went back the way they came.

I find it unbelievable that none of them attack each other... So WHY DO I GET ATTACKED, this is an injustice. I would demand an explanation, but I won't approach those 3 just to ask....

While I monologued I followed the 3 earth elementals that were returning to who knows where and I was surprised to see how they separated. I followed the one that was closest to me and saw how after walking for a while he stopped little by little, until he stopped in a plain... There was literally nothing there. I watched him for a while, but he was just there, sometimes he would move to the front and sometimes he would stay still and then repeat and go back...

This strange game logic.

*sigh*

Anyway, I'll go over and try to talk to him.

"Hey buddy, how are you?"

[STOP, LEAVE]

A deep, echoing voice rang out. But I was momentarily stunned.

Unbelievable, I can understand that. I was hoping we could understand each other and apparently I was right.

Snapping out of my thoughts again and keeping my distance, I spoke.

"Dude, I'll go, but I want to know something."

[WHAT?]

In his voice I could hear clear annoyance and aggression.

"I want to know how to cast magic."

The elemental stared at me momentarily, I guess it was thinking and then from one moment to the next the earth began to vibrate. As I looked down I noticed that the earth was beginning to crack a little, but it didn't cause me any problems.

I'm not sure if he's looking to hurt me or show me how to cast magic, but the truth is that they don't buy... Maybe.

[THAT'S THE MAGIC, NOW GO AWAY]

"Thank you."

I turned and walked away. I don't know how to fight well enough to beat him, he knows how to cast his magic and I don't. I don't know if he has any more spells either, but he gave me a decent idea of how to use earth elemental magic. I'm going to have to try it when he's home first. I hope what I'm thinking works.

...

As soon as I got home, the first thing I did was practice outside. It would be very stupid to use earth elemental magic inside my house. If just like that elemental I create a small earthquake and somehow cause part of the mountain to collapse on top of me... Seeee, no thanks. I'll practice outside and a bit away from the entrance.

I started by concentrating on feeling my mana flowing and then imagined a small earthquake underneath me, with the ground cracking from the shaking. I finished the process by pouring the mana into my "legs", "feet" and finally releasing it directly onto the ground.

And... for a moment nothing happened, but suddenly the ground began to vibrate and just as I imagined it happened. I felt a sense of accomplishment. Now I understood why I couldn't make an earth ball. It turns out that I have to use the earth itself, something like an avatar, but with magic.

With the door to magic open a myriad of ideas began to spring from my imagination. So many possibilities, so many ways to use my power to attack or defend. I felt intoxicated with the hope of power and excitement coursing through my earthen body.

*SIGH*

I was happy and if I had a mouth with lips I'd probably be grinning like a fool. And while I was, VERY stunned with myself and my delusions of power, I ran out of mana and the spell stopped working. The trembling ended and with it a void was present.

That sensation and the lack of activity beneath me woke me from my reverie and revealed a series of truths. Magic is powerful, the possibilities are endless BUT it is as long as you HAVE MANA. I don't know if the spell should last for such a short time, if the mana I possess is too little, or if all elementals have the same amount when they are at this level of power but the truth is that I hope we all have the same amount and I also hope that I can increase the amount of mana I possess. I hope you can do it like they do in the novels, where a mage spends all his mana, meditates and repeats, gradually expanding his mana pool... I just hope it's possible.

I also just realized that I now understand why the blood elves and nato-night elves suffer so much from their mana addiction. If I feel empty now that I'm out of it, how will they feel... Poor elves, maybe I can solve that problem in the future. It would be a good research what I achieve in myself regarding mana. I just hope I don't get addicted... I need to control my powers. They are my way to the top and above all my survival...