Masta' Rhasta'

Rhasta shrugs at Michael's words, seemingly nonplussed by his situation. "I used to help spirits to their final destination! So It's quite ironic to find myself. Like this! Heh-hahaha-Heh!" he laughs, finding the situation comical for some reason.

"Like this? Do you even feel your body right now? Or are you just a voice in the book?" Michael asks.

Rhasta's animated form looks around the page for a moment before looking back up at Michael, "Well... I am sitting in a large forested clearing. It'd quite peaceful, and all the spirits seem quite happy here... Aha! Even my favourite Serpents are here... Though, they seem a bit tired." he shakes his head, "From your words, my spirit seems to be inside a book of some sort? One of those odd grimoires perhaps!?"

Michael crooks a brow, "Er, if you see yourself in a clearing, how are you looking at me right now?" he asks, his curiosity of the origins of the strange book only increasing the more he learns of it.

Rhasta grins a crooked smile, "Well, Youngster... To me, you are a giant face in the sky! It might be one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed!" he explains. (Just imagine that creepy-ass Baby-face sun from the Tellytubbies)

Michael shakes his head at the thought of it, wondering if his action just now had created hurricane-level winds where Rhasta was residing. He coughs into his hand as he looks down at the book sitting in his lap, "Earlier, you said 'We are the messengers of those gone by'... What does that even mean?"

Rhasta laughs, "Do you not feel it Young one!? You have inherited my power!" he exclaims while pointing at Michael.

Michael nods in response, finds one thing strange... "You say I've inherited your power, but I'm only able to cast a few of your spells... I doubt that was all you could do in your lifetime, right?"

Rhasta looks contemplative for a moment before slowly nodding, "Indeed! During my life, I communed with the spirits, both of human and not! Are you not able to do this!?" he asks.

Michael shrugs, "Er, I've never met a spirit, so I don't know..."

Rhasta shakes his head, "Spirits are everywhere Young one! You simply don't have the mindset to understand them! You may have my affinity! But you lack my understanding!" he explains after putting two and two together.

Michael slowly nods, somewhat understanding Rhasta's words... "Well, you will teach me, right? Ah! I'm Michael by the way. Nice to meet you!"

Rhasta nods with folded arms, "I will teach you! But the path of a Shaman is a long and arduous one! It may take you many years to learn even the basics!... Even I, one of the most famous known Shaman's still hadn't learned everything, Even with a lifetime of study! Some do not even commune with a single spirit before they reach the end of their lifespan!"

Michael frowns, that was a problem. He didn't have time to sit around communing with the spirits, he doubted he'd be able to stay in this town much longer after killing Anais and setting fire to it. Furthermore, he still had that world-destroying Ancient Dragon to worry about!

He sheepishly scratches the back of his head, "Erm, could we hold off on those studies and focus on my current abilities actually? I'm not in a good situation here, I need to get as strong as possible, as quickly as possible..."

Rhasta nods as one of his Serpent Ward's slither onto his lap, allowing him to pet it. "If you wish... I can see you are relying on our connection to use magic..." he snorts, "You even have to say the name of the spell to use it! Amateurish!"

Michael smiles at Rhasta's words, "I'll be in your care then, Master Rhasta. Before that though, I have other things that need my attention."

Rhasta nods and waves him off with a smug expression... It seems that calling him Master might've be overdoing it. "Hah! It's not like I am going anywhere! Be off with you Youngster!"

Michael grins and is about to turn the page, but notices a flickering symbol at the corner of the page... He presses it, and another bright flash obscures his vision, causing him to blink a couple times.

Once his vision returns to him, he finds some kind of see-through roulette wheels floating in front of him. There were thousands of items that it could presumably land on once spun, and he was overjoyed to find items he recognised.

"Tangos!? Clarity's? Even Town Portal Scrolls!?" he mutters, scanning the rest of the items and finding many that he did and didn't recognise.

There were many artifacts from the game, such as Pig Poles, Keen Optics, and Even Arcane Rings. But he noticed that the wheel was missing most of the higher-end items you could purchase in the game.

In Dota, if you had enough Gold you could purchase things like 'Divine Rapiers' which massively increased the damage you dealt, or a Heart of Tarrasque, which gives you massive strength and health, while also providing a passive healing ability akin to the mortal creature it was named after. (Tarrasque's are incredibly OP creatures in DND, which is probably where Dota got the name from.)

Still, Michael could see many items that he would love to have... Floating above the roulette wheel was the number '3', probably meaning the number of spins he had. Did this mean that every Spirit he mastered would provide him with three new items?... Nice!

Not waiting another moment, Michael grips the side of the strangely soft roulette wheel and gives a spin. Causing the wheel to rapidly rotate and release a satisfying click sound as it does so.

Michael's eyes trail the various items that pass by... Gauntlets of Strength, Magic Wands, Tomes of Knowledge, Smokes of Deceit, and even Observer wards...

Finally though, the wheel crawls to a halt... Landing on... An Iron Branch!...

"An Iron Branch..." He mutters as his excited expression slowly fades the stick dropping into hand. This was one of the cheapest items you could buy from the shop... All it did was give one point to each of your stats, while also having the ability to instantly summon a tree. Keep in mind that summoning a tree would use up the Iron Branch as well... So it was a consumable item that didn't really have a purpose...

...

"Iron Branch... FUCK!" he exclaims, tossing the hard, throwing the wooden stick at the ground and angrily spinning the wheel again.