20 Draco Nigrum

He woke up in a familiar room. It was the place where he stood in Elfheim. There was noone else in the room. He was in different clothes than the time he passed out.

'Seems like they took me back here. Also I got this again.'

Alert!

The God of Life doesn't tolerate your existence in their territory. If you don't leave until the end of the next day, you will be punished! What are you doing here again anyway?

'So it's really her writing these. She looks annoyed...'

His clothes were on the table next to the bed, so he got dressed up and went downstairs. Elder Bran was there sitting at the table and drinking tea. His eyes were filled with pain.

"Morning elder Bran!"

He waved at Joseph. Joseph walked closer and put his hand on the elder's shoulder.

"I'm really sorry about what happened."

"It is not your fault. That troll was in the worst place and time. But now it is dead."

Joseph nodded.

"We killed it. It won't cause harm to anyone else."

Elder Gran put his hand on Joseph's.

"Promise me that you won't waste the life she protected!"

Joseph looked at him with a serious look.

"I promise that!"

There was a sound of a big creature roaring in the distance. It was subtle, but strange that they heared it inside.

"What was that?"

Elder Bran wasn't supprised.

"It must've been a monster inside the forest."

Joseph was strangely nervous all of a sudden.

'This monster sounded dangerous.'

"I see. Where are the others anyway?"

"Hm? Oh! They are in the city. Elisa wanted to see the place. She never came here before. Her little knight wanted to go with her to "protect" her. Even though this city is pretty safe. The two guards went out to look for their relatives."

'Did they go on a date?... Wait! It doesn't seem like elder Bran in readin my thoughts. Maybe he is just too tired? After all he looks like a walking dead.'

"I'll go and look for them."

"Alright. See you soon!"

"See you soon as well, elder Bran!"

When he left the house he heard the roar again. It seemed somewhat closer.

'It sounds vaguely familiar. There must have been games where some monster had similar roars?'

He walked through the city, looked up and down everywhere. The place was just as lively as last time. Elfs walking all over the streets doing everyday things.

After a while he spotted Elisa and Eric. They were eating at a restaurant and chatting. He didn't want to disturbe them so he went to an other place he wanted to visit.

The smithy was in the same state as last time. Leo was working, just as the other two blacksmithes, so Joseph sit down at the table and waited for him. He opened his book and started to read the last pages.

Leo finished his work a little bit after he finished the book.

"So this kid is back after all that happened."

He looked sad and angry at the same time. He sit down at the otherside of the table.

"Yes. I came for an equipment."

"Equipment eh? That we got. But I don't think you have anything for it."

Joseph thought it through.

'That's true. I shouldn't have used the cores for experiences.'

"Can I help you for it?"

Leo measured him with his eyes.

"Hah! You help out here? You couldn't even lift the hammer."

"I can chop the firewood. Or do other things as well."

"Firewood you say? That might be a good idea. What do you need anyway?"

"Something that helps me with magic. Like a wand or staff."

Leo stroked his beard.

"We have some wand. You can take those. Than get to the firewood. I'll look at you later how are you doing. If you have enough I'll let you get it. You can find the axe and the wood if you go out through the backdoor."

On the otherside of the smithy was a backyard with a lot of firewood and an axe set into a piece of wood.

He started to chop woods. It was hard, but he did this sometimes when he lived at his parent's house and they were doing grill and stuff so he thought it won't be a problem.

After 10 minutes of chopping he got tired so he took break.

'Can I even cut up enough? Maybe I can do it differently?'

He looked at his stats.

Name: Joseph Smith

Race: Human

Age: 21 Gender: Male

Job: None

Level: 1

Experience: 50/100

Health: 80/80

Manna: 230/230

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 8

Constitution: 8

Intelligence: 23

Wisdom: 16

Charisma: 10

Corruption: 0

Abilities: Imaginative Magic D, Examination D, Survival F, Magic infusion B, Meditation D, Wood chopping F

Titles: Friend of the elfs, Beginner magician

'Wood chopping? Hahaha!'

Wood chopping F

You're a sloppy wood chopper.

'Thanks for noticing! But my Imaginative Magic is D now! Maybe I can dosomething with magic, to cut the wood faster.'

He heard the roar again. Now it was even closer.

'It doesn't sound to reassuring.'

He put a piece of wood down. Than he grabbed the top of it with his hands and imagined his manna cutting it in half.

'I hope it works.'

He heard crackling noises from the wood and than it fell on the ground in two pieces. It was cut in the middle with perfect precision, like he used a saw that cut it in an instant.

'Perfect! Let's try it in a different way!'

He held one half of the cut wood and than imagined it to be cut into three different places. He used his manna to do the same thing as he did when he cut it in half and the piece of wood now fell into three pieces.

He cut one after an other into smaller pieces. After 10 woods he looked at his manna.

xx

Manna: 180/230

xx

'It seems efficient. I can do around 30 more woods this way.'

After he finished with the 30 more he started to cut the wood with the axe again. After an hour Leo came out of the smithy.

"Let me see how much wood did you cu..."

He looked supprised.

"I can't belive it. How did you cut this much wood. Also they are perfectly cut into the same sized pieces!"

"It's magic!"

He almost laughed, because he remembered the time he heard someone say this to him.

"Ah yes. That make sense. Come in I'll give you a wand that will be usefull for you!"

They went inside. Leo gave him a wand. It was a piece of wood, that looked like a small cue. Except it had a handle from leather like stuff and gravings of a clambering plant.

"This is one of our best product. It will make using spells a lot easier. Or so the mages usually say."

"It looks really good. Thank you Leo! I expected nothing else!"

"Hahaha! Now go! I have work. Now that I got firewood I don't have to worry about that part for a few days!"

As he left the smithy he heard a loud bell's sound. Everyone on the streets looked afraid and they started to move in a direction as a unison. He walked up to a random dude.

"Excuse me! What is happening?"

"It's the alarm! The city is in danger. Everyone needs to go to..."

A loud roar cut his speach. A large shadow covered the place Joseph was standing. As he looked up he saw the giant creature that's roar rumbled through the city. His face lost it's color.

"A black dragon?!"