Takazuchi and his family disappeared around the corner, and I felt chilly gaze.

  - So, you came here to get Primordial magic book, one of the Thirteen books of origin, not to save Takazuchi's family, - looked at me accusingly Nelly.

  - They were accidentally in the same pce, - I lowered my shoulders, under her gre: - But what are Thirteen books of origin?

  - How come you do not know that? Did you not go to the Magic academy?

  - I did skip basic lessons and only attended lessons, that were necessary for skill acquirement.

  - That's the downside of not receiving the proper education, - grumbled Nelly, like an old dy: - Thirteen books of origin, are magic books given to us by gods, so we could learn magic. At least that is what legends say. Among them are Primordial magic book, Book of Fire, Book of Air, Book of Light, Book of Darkness and others. Some of the spells were created ter, by the magicians, but those books contain most of the spells, that are known to mankind. Well, even more, since many spells were forgotten. Currently only whereabouts of four books are known, and others were lost in time. Not counting the Book of Light. Well, now location of five books are known.

  - Let us keep it to four. But where are others, and why have I never heard about them?

  - Book of Air is kept in Alven mage guild. Only master magicians, registered in Mage guild, can access it, and only if they have master level Wisdom and Air magic skills. Book of Fire is in Mage guild of Golden Town. Book of the Dead is kept by queen Elizabeth. And the Book of Darkness was hidden by queen Elizabeth, inside the Dark dungeon.

  - Not Darkness dungeon? - asked Luara.- No, Dark dungeon. It is another dungeon located in Gnome kingdom.- How come queen Elizabeth had two of those books? - I asked. That sounded unfair. Especially since queen Elizabeth was not known as a master magician.

  - Book of Darkness she got during the st war. To keep others from using the book and its dark spells, she hid it inside the dungeon after the war. Book of the dead is kept in the treasury of Holy griffin empire for many generations. Royal family got the book after they defeated the necromancers.

  - Are not necromancers alive, and don't they have their own kingdom in Dark continent? - objected Trevor.

  Nelly looked at him and sighed: - For someone who wants to be a hero-knight, you should know more about knight history. Don't you know, that originally necromancers came to power in our continent. They were magicians, who received blessings from gods who rule the nd of the dead, like Hel and Hades. Then one of the gods gave them Book of the Dead, which they used to create an army of undead. They tried to conquer the whole continent. War sted many generations, but finally necromancers were defeated by heroes, who received from other gods Book of Fire. Magicians burned the undead, using fire spells, which could melt even mountains, or so the legends say. Necromancers, who survived the war, fled to the Dark continent and created there their Necromancer kingdom. Demons helped them to ensve, or more precisely to kill and turn undead, humans, who lived there, and they promised to support demon armies during the war against human continent. But eventually, when necromancer armies grew stronger, they betrayed demons and established their own kingdom in Dark continent. Those nds, where demons allowed them to settle, are known as Necromancer kingdom. Also, mages who defeated necromancers created Mage guild and then settled in Golden Town, center of Mage guilds power and ruling council. I heard stories, that Book of Water is in hands of pirates from isnds called Twin brothers, but such rumors were never proven.

  - Sounds interesting. So, what if we go to Dark dungeon and get Book of Darkness? Will we be scolded or something?

  - That dungeon is too dangerous. There is a reason why queen Elizabeth hid the book in there. I heard that archangels helped her to hide the book. That dungeon has no floors with light in them, and most of monsters in there are immune to physical damage. Even we would not be able to survive in there.

  - So, we are not forbidden to try? - I made a mental note to myself. Get again master level in Wisdom and steal the book from the dungeon. Even better - liberate the book!

  - Unless you can use Dark magic, that book will be useless to you, - Nelly gred at me suspiciously.

  - No reason to think about it. Let us concentrate on getting out of the dungeon.

  * * *

  Using our maps, getting out of the dungeon was easier than getting to Prometheus cage. We had some troubles, since I again lost my ability to use high ranking Light magic spells and my night vision also worsened. But we already killed most of the monsters on our way down, and only few new ones occupied emptied caverns.

  I came out of the dungeon and breathed in fresh air. Still and stuffy air inside the dungeon was draining my strength, and I did not even noticed it, while being inside the dungeon. I looked around and started walking towards our abandoned camp.

  - So. How are we supposed to return now? - asked Luara: - Is that not a problem now, when Nelly can't use fifth level spells?

  I froze in pce, but then continued walking. Behind me Trevor sighed, and Luara continued speaking.

  - She forgot. She totally forgot about that.

  Well, who could bme me. It is not like anyone of them remembered it, when we ordered our improved skills.

  - What do those skills even do? - asked Nelly: - It does sound impressive, but I just registered as a master magician. Won't it will be very difficult for me to get all my skills to master level again?

  - It will. But if you wish to surpass other magicians, you need to go beyond abilities of master magicians. In order to do that, your spells need to be more powerful. Powerful enough to be useful against someone, who has master level Magic resistance skill. In your case there is only one way, how to do that. Your spell power stats need to be at least fifty. Sage's wisdom at master level, after you reach level ten, will increase you spell power stats not by one, but by three. It will also greatly increase your mana, and even at advance level increase your spell power by two.

  - Get my spell power beyond fifty? Oh, I see. That would make my spells like plus one level in terms of power. Amazing! What about other skills, are they also so impressive?

  - In a way. Staff master acts like Staff user, but at master level will also increase your speed by one. Bottomless mana will even more increase your mana, during every level up. Spellweaver at master level will allow you to use two spells at the same time. You will be able to do the thing that almost killed me. At lower levels it will let you cast spells faster, by improving your mana control, just like Intelligence skill.

  - Why didn't you chose it?

  - Because in order to use its full potential, one needs advance mage job. My skills will not be enough.

  - What about my skills, and Trevor's? - asked Luara.

  - Silent assassination will allow you to hide your presence. At master level you will be able to move silently, hide your scent and even mana. Also it improves your night vision. Not that you need it. It also has simir advances as Scouting skill. Apex hunter has the same benefits as hunting, but also, after level ten, once you get it to advanced level, increases your strength stats by two and three during level ups. And at master level also increases your speed by one. Shadow tracker, gives you the same benefits as tracking, but also at master level, lets you create shadows around you, to hide yourself. As you know it is especially useful in darkness. And Nightmare demon samurai skill allows you to use both dual wielding and single sword style more efficiently, and also has some benefits once you reach master level. But I don't really remember what they were. For Trevor - Sword master lets you use your sword more efficiently, but at master level increases speed by one. God's speed increases his speed, even better than Increased speed skill. Knight of Light improves the use of Light magic. Without Intelligence skill it would be impossible for Trevor to master level five Light magic spells, but Knight of Light skill will repce for him Intelligence skill. Just for his Light magic spells of course. Well he still won't be able to use level five Light magic spells, since they require thousand mana. But at least he will be able to cast other spells faster, and they will be more powerful and st longer.

  - I did not even know that they are level five Light magic spells. But why did you told him to change my Swordsmanship skill to Sword master? Not Master swordsman, like the one that you have?

  - Because in order to use Dimensional ssh, which Master swordsman skill user can use after reaching master level, you need to sacrifice ten Health points. And if you go below zero, you die. With your health stats, it would be not very useful to you. Unlike me, you need your health points to live longer, or you will age very fast. Well as fast as a normal human. I can afford to sacrifice them, since, as a high elf, I will forever stay young, even without Health points.

  - So what about your skills? - asked curious Nelly.

  I sighed. Well, no reason not to tell them:

  - Supreme demon-god mana control, gives me the same benefits as Intelligence skill, but at master level allows me to use mana, to make me stronger and faster. Spellsword Twin Bdes is a skill that improves dual wielding and lets use magic more easily during battle. In a way it is simir to Spellsword job.

  - Sounds great for you, since you use sword and magic, - added Nelly.

  - Yes.- And what about that forbidden skill? - asked Nelly: - And why not let Trevor have it as well? And also, what was that st skill that you asked for?

  - Trevor did not get forbidden skill, because he is less than skilled as a magician. That skill is magic oriented, and would be wasted on Trevor. But since Prometheus said that the skill is forbidden, make sure you tell no one about it. And about the st skill, it's a secret. Besides, I do not exactly know what its do. The expnation about it was encrypted. Whoever wrote the scroll, used several nguages to do it. Did you know that demons have their own nguage?

  - Of course, - answered Nelly.

  - Really? I did not, - shrugged Luara.

  - I thought that all creatures use the same nguage, - said surprised Trevor.

  - Of course not, - said angry Nelly: - Barbarians have their own nguage. Also, high elves, demons and angels, and even dwarves. Unlike other races, who use letters for writing, dwarves use runes. Fallen angels use the same nguage as angels. Gorgons from isnd of Gorgonar also have their own nguage and unique writing system. And then of course there are ancient nguages. Two of them, one that is used by fairies and another that is used by dragons. Did no one received a proper education?

  - No! - we all answered at the same time.

  I did not know that there were so many nguages. I was unable to read whole text, but I did read part of it, which was written in human and high elf nguages. I also was able to transte dwarf runes. And Lyndria was teaching me demon nguage. So that part I transted as well. So, there was barbarian and angel nguages as well. I did know about dragon or primordial nguage. So fairy nguage as well. That was so complicated.

  Luckily I did copied part of the text, that I could not read, hoping to transte it somehow. Suck it Prometheus - I grinned to myself. Well, if I do not like the transtion, I do not have to acquire the skill, but I really wanted it. It just sounded so cool.

  - By the way, I did not know that you have Dual wielding skill, - remembered Luara: - Just how many skills do you have?

  - Forget about it. Concentrate better on a way for us to get back.

  I looked around and tried to remember everything I knew about uninhabited nds. That was not much. East of us was Rakshasar Northern border, but that was long way to go. Supposedly there were towns with non-human creatures, but there exact location was shrouded in mystery. Maybe I could summon simurgh and bring back leveling crystal. We could stay here and level up, until Nelly could transport us to Grimsburg. Focusing on Nelly would increase her leveling speed. Crap. I remembered that summoning spell, was level four spell. And my Light magic skill was downgraded. Without it at maximum level, I will not be able to transform enough mana to holy power and use the spell. We were stranded here. We needed either leveling crystal, or some other means of transportation.

  There was one town, which location I knew.

  - We are going to the Town of the dead, - I decided.

  - What is Town of the dead? - asked Trevor.

  - That could be a bad idea, - added Luara, but I shook my head.

  - That's our best option. Town of the dead used to be greatest town in uninhabited nds. According to legends anyway. People who lived there, ruled over the uninhabited nds for thousands of years. They became powerful magicians and gathered thousands of artifacts, every one of which could be considered national treasure. But their immense magic power turned out to be there undoing. All the mana in the capitol turned out to be too great, and dungeon core manifested in there. Town people failed to destroy it, and whole town became a dungeon. It spread fast and monsters, who were killing thousands of people, evolved to quickly and became too powerful for town's forces to stop them. Since then many tried to conquer the town-dungeon, but no one succeeded. But that could be good for us. Especially if many powerful artifacts are still there. Besides, it does not matter where we go. Journey back will take us at least a year, or more. But if we get lucky, in the Town of the dead we could get something that will decrease time that we need to return.

  - What is it? - asked Trevor.

  - You will see. Do not worry, I have a pn. Let us rest and depart in morning.

  * * *

  I shot an antelope and animal fell on the ground. Between my hunting skills and Magic tablecloth, that provided food twice a day, we did not need to worry about provisions. Water also was not a problem, since I could use magic to create it and I also had my Endless bottle of water. Even with our decreased skill levels, we could kill any monster that we encountered in the wilderness. Our biggest problem was the fact that we got lost.

  We were moving south-west, but even several month ter we did not found the Town of the Dead.

  - We are lost, - said Nelly.

  - No, we are not, - I argued.- Town of the Dead is in the middle of rge forest. We would need more than a week to go through that forest, to reach Town of the Dead. There are no forests nearby.

  Dammit. Nelly saw the same maps that I did.

  - Fine. We took one wrong turn somewhere.

  We would have continued to argue, but we heard heavy steps. Steps came from behind the bushes, and we did not see the monster, or animal. We felt quiet and got ready. Nelly prepared one of her spells, while I prepared and arrow. Trevor and Luara stepped in front of us, as our first line of attack.

  Troll moved aside bushes and stared at us. We stared at him. I would have shot him, but two and a half meter tall monster was carrying a basket with apples. He also had sheep skin wrapped around his waist and did not attacked us first.

  - Humans! - he roared. Then troll turned around and run away. We looked at each other and followed him.

  Several hundred meters ter we saw something that resembled a vilge in the distance. Vilge was surrounded by a wall, made from earth, and had more than a dozen round houses. We stopped, looking at it, and saw dozen trolls coming out of the vilge.

  In front of them was walking old female troll. Her skin was dark and wrinkled, and she used a stick to help her walk. She was also short, only two meters high, which was short comparing to other trolls. She was surrounded by armed male trolls, but they did not seemed hostile. More cautious, than dangerous.

  We stopped and waited for them to approach. Old female stepped forward and looked us over.

  - I am Ruana. May I ask, what are you doing here, humans?

  Even from this distance, I felt an odor coming out of her mouth. All trolls smelled, but she did even more. I stepped behind Luara and pushed her forward. Panther-girl gred at me, but answered old woman.

  - We are travelers. We are searching for a big town, and do not mean you any harm.

  Old woman chewed her lips and nodded.

  - Town is not so far from here. Three days away.

  - See. I told you that we are not lost, - I whispered to Nelly.

  - Can you guide us there? - asked Luara.

  Old woman again chewed her lips and looked at her warriors.

  - We cannot spare anyone. All men are needed here. Giant snake appeared nearby. All men must protect vilge.

  - What if we kill that snake?

  Troll nodded several times and agreed.

  - Kill the snake and we believe that you mean no harm, and send someone to take you to big vilge.

  - Agreed, - sighed Luara: - Can you tell us where we could find that snake?

  - There, - old woman pointed direction with her stick, and Luara nodded.

  - We will return as soon as we kill that snake.

  Luara started walking towards direction that she was shown, and we followed her. As soon as we went little further, panther-girl rubbed her nose and looked at me with teary eyes.

  - Why did you forced me to talk to her?

  - Because she smelled. I mean that smell alone could kill any snake, right?

  Luara hit my head, and I massaged it. Look likes she was in a bad mood.

  - How are we supposed to find that snake? - asked Trevor.

  - Nelly, use View air spell. Find us strongest monster nearby.

  Our diligent mage nodded and casted her spell. We needed half a day, but we did managed to find the monster. It turned out to be a giant python. By giant I mean more than a dozen meters tall and fat as a barrel.

  I shot him three times, but it did not even slowed him. Nelly casted Slow spell, and Trevor attacked python head on. That turned out to be a mistake. Python spitted poison at him, and Trevor was too close to avoid the attack. He grabbed his face and screamed in pain.

  I cursed and prepared another arrow, but Luara got to Trevor just in time. She grabbed him and threw him back, and then rolled to the side, avoiding pythons attack.

  Next moment Nelly's lightning hit python, and he shivered. He was wounded and weakened, but still alive. With a single ssh Luara cut of his head and got back, avoiding snakes death throes.

  I used healing spell, while Nelly casted Cure. Between two of us, we managed to heal Trevor ,and then I gave him a scolding, for recklessly attacking snake head on. Just because we were not in a dungeon, does not meant that he could get careless.

  Python was big and as far as it went, it was a lot of meat. I used Purification spell, and we spend an hour cutting him in pieces and pcing meat pieces in our magic bags. Meat was meat, and we could not afford to be picky about it.

  Trevor had to carry snakes head to troll vilge. When we pced python's head in front of the gates, we heard loud cheers.

  Old troll female came outside. Her happy smile demonstrated wide mouth, half filled with sharp fangs, which was more scary than pleasant.

  - You did well. You must be stronger than you look. Tonight we celebrate. You are welcome to join us.

  - We gratefully accept your invitation, - said Luara to my horror. I should have never let her negotiate. We were shown a house, were we could rest, while trolls prepared for the feast.

  Celebration started after sundown. Trolls lighted big bonfire and cooked meat. They even had ale, and some of them pyed some cruel music instruments. At least there was no dancing.

  Trolls celebrated half a night. And after eating our fill and drinking some ale, we went back to our house. It was empty hut, but it had a roof and walls, which was more than we had during our journey.

  * * *

  - This is Mufta, - Ruana introduced to us teenage troll, He was prepared for the road. He had wooden spear in his hand and a bag with provision on his shoulder: - He take you to town.

  - Thank you, - bowed Luara: - We appreciate your hospitality and help.

  - Good road to you, - bowed her head Ruana.

  Mufta showed as the way. He was silent in the beginning, but after getting use to us and making sure that we will not eat him, he turned out to be a talkative boy. Or troll boy.

  - How do you know about humans? - asked him Luara.

  - Legends passed down by elders. About humans on rge animals, who come and kill trolls. Gd, you do not kill anyone.

  - We are gd too. So we are first humans, whom you saw?

  - Yes. First in several generations. Only troll vilgers nearby. And those from the big vilge. But we do not go close to big vilge.

  - That is probably wise, - Luara looked at me, but I shrugged. I had no ideas, what to ask him. Not that I really cared. Maybe there were some tourist spots nearby?

  Mufta stayed with us for two days. But refused to go too close to town.

  - Go that way and you found the town. Me, go back now.

  - Thank you for showing us the way, - Luara took out some python meat and gave it to boy: - Here so you have enough food for the way back.

  Troll happily grinned, demonstrating two dozen sharp teeth, and accepted the gift.

  - Good, - he nodded and run away, before Luara could change her mind.

  - Weird right? - I asked.

  - I imagined trolls differently, - agreed Nelly.

  - I was ready to fight, - added Trevor.

  We followed imagined road, that Mufta showed us, when dozen earth golems raised from the earth and surrounded us. We took out our weapons and got into circle.

  - Do not attack first, - I warned Nelly: - But get ready Slow spell.

  One of the figures stepped forward. He was armed with a club, made from stone. Others also had weapons, like shirt swords, daggers and clubs. All made from stone.

  - Who are you and what are you doing here? - he asked.

  - We are travelers, - I answered: - We got lost and were looking for a way home.

  Earth golems exchanged gnces, and then their leader looked back at us.

  - Follow us. We will take you to our queen. She will decide your fate.

  I considered fighting and running away, but we were surrounded. Aldo, I had no idea what they were capable of, and how many more golems were nearby. I casted Appraisal, and results surprised me.

  Earth Elemental LV 5

  Name - NoneJob: Commoner;

  Skills:

  Earth magic;

  Increased strength

  They were not golems, as I thought before. I did not even thought that elementals were real.

  They surrounded us, and I sheeted my sword. For now we had no choice, but to follow them. Elementals escorted us as prisoners, but did not took our weapons, which was a good sign. After half an hour we reached our destination. We were crossing a hill when a view on their city opened to us. It was a town. Huge town, with what was looking like ordinary houses. But most surprising were the inhabitants. Among then was not a single human. But there were all king of figures from fairy tales.