Chapter 5: Village

I stepped through the portal and into a large dense forest, there were two guards who seemed startled when I exited the portal.

[You have completed 'Escape the dungeon' and earned the title: 'The Deathless']

"Who are you!?" one guard asks, pointing his spear at me

"Calm down, it's just a kid" the other guard says "he probably wandered in here on accident while we were switching out patrols."

"Yeah.." the first guard says

I had completely forgotten I look just like a 10 year old boy, leading me to be confused for a moment "Oh right…"

"What?" One of the guards asks

I decided to play up the lost child. "My mommy and I were just walking around the forest when she told me to go into this big blue thing and when I came out you two were here and she's gone…"

The guards give each other strange looks before they collectively sigh "Do you remember what she looked like?"

I shake my head "No, I hit my head and now my memories are all fuzzy"

the second guard picks me up "alright, let's get you to the village, you must be scared and lonely huh? Maybe we'll even find your mother there" he says

I nod "Ok!" I gave a child-like smile, I was still holding my staff.

"What's that stick you got there?" the guard asks as he starts taking me down the beaten path down to the village

"This is my staff! I was told that mages have staves!" I exclaim as a child would 'My god this is so embarrassing'

The guard chuckles, "Is that so? You want to be a mage? Is that why you're wearing a robe as well?"

I nod "I even learned a spell!"

The guard chuckles "have you now? Well I'll have to see it another time, for now let's go find a place for you to stay"

The guard takes me inside the village and people greet him as we pass by, a few even ask about me and he explains the situation. I learned that his name is Frederick.

Soon he takes me into the Inn called 'Dead's rest' which was a funny coincidence.

"Hey Butch!" Frederick calls out

"Yeah? Who's the kid?" the innkeeper asked, apparently his name is Butch. He has red hair and a hulking build like he's some sort of body builder.

"His mom apparently abandoned him in the dungeon, can you take care of him? He can even be a friend for Diane" Frederick explains

Butch sighs "Sure I guess, If this kid breaks anything though it's your money on the line!"

Frederick smiles "of course" he says as he sets me down "Also, the kid thinks hes a mage so maybe play along?"

'I'm right here' I thought

"Yeah yeah" Butch waves him off "Now go away, I have a kid to deal with. Diane!" he calls out as Frederick leaves.

I hear some running before I'm face to face with a red haired girl who was simply beaming "Hi!" she said.

"Uhm… Hi?" I recoiled a bit, she seemed like a ball of energy I wanted nothing to do with. The girl seemed to be 8 or 9.

"Let's go!" she reaches for my hand and I quickly pull away leaving her confused.

"You lead, Ill follow" I said coldly

"Oh uhm.. Ok!" the girl goes back to beaming and leads the way where as I follow. She brought me to a spare bedroom that hasn't been rented out and said "This will be your room! It's bigger than mine but since you're a guest it should be fine!"

I nod and wait for her to leave… for a long while "why aren't you leaving?" I asked after a while of waiting.

She seems confused "Why? Do you not want to play?" she asks

"No." I tell her straight

"Aw.." she finally leaves with a sad look on her face.

I sigh and wait a bit after she leaves and closes the door. "System, I can get experience from quests, correct?"

[Yes.]

"Can you make me a repeatable quest that'll help me get stronger?"

[Generating Quest…]

[Quest Generated!]

[Meditation (Repeatable Daily)

Reward: 10 XP

Good for the soul.

Meditate for 1 hour [0/1]]

"Huh.. seems simple enough but it doesn't give much…" I get on the bed and begin my hour of meditation.

[Completed Quest: Meditation. You have gained 10 XP]

"Good" I say to myself "This'll be easy" I say "System, what are some basic spells that you're allowed to teach me without the shop?" I ask

[There are 5: [Telekinesis], [Gust], [Candlelight], [Water shot], and [Stone Bullet]]

"Good, teach them to me" I tell the system

[You must learn these spells organically, would you like the spellbooks for them?]

"Damn it, I knew it wouldn't be that easy" I sigh "alright, give me the spellbooks" and right before my eyes 5 books labeled with the associated names appear before me and I put all except Candlelight and Telekinesis into my inventory.

I go over to the desk that's in the room and bring out my infinite journal and infinite quill and begin my study of these spells into the night and come morning I could cast them both without trouble.

[You have learned [Candlelight] and gained 10 XP]

[You have learned [Telekinesis] and gained 10 XP]

I get on the bed and meditate to get at least a little bit of rest and to complete my daily quest.

[Completed Quest: Meditation. You have gained 10 XP]