Nikolai held the wand in a slightly loose grip as instructed, and pointed it at the pigbird. It was locked in a cage and he felt pretty damn shitty about the whole situation, but Simi had been sent to catch it for him.

  There were three of them in total, each in their separate cages, and each snarling at him in their grunting way. With a thought he activated minor essence drain on the first of them, and felt the rush of energy enter his body, coming through the wand, his hand, then up his arm to his chest.

  As always the energy seemed to know where to go on its own, and it suffused his still aching body. The monster crumbled to the floor, its feathers and leathery skin grey, and it whimpered miserably. It took a few minutes of continuous use of the spell, before the creature died.. The sounds it made as it did made him want to retch.

  Nikolai wanted to stop, but Vitzer had ordered him to finish each of them off in no uncertain terms. The monsters were a menace apparently, and would attack anything but their own kind on sight, they were a danger to especially farmers, and culling the population was a permanent job on the adventurer’s guild’s job boards.

  After draining the pig he felt a lot better, not perfect, but he barely felt the ache any longer.

  Vitzer nodded, from the side and pointed to the next creature, ‘’continue!’’

  Nikolai took a deep breath, then swallowed to push down the bile, before he pointed the wand at the next Pigbird.

  Once the third and final monster succumbed, Nikolai felt mostly back to normal. His mana ran freely through him, and he felt strength in his limbs that had been lacking for the last few days while he recovered.

  He felt something else as well, something warm, almost hot was welling up from his chest. It felt almost like he was being expanded, like a balloon getting inflated. That was the closest comparison he could imagine.

  Vitzer noticed his discomfort and nodded, ‘’you are ready, sit!’’

  Nikolai did as he was told, the sensation spreading to his limbs, then his fingers, toes, even his bloody ears.

  Moulin sat down in front of him, her face serious. ‘’Alright dear, you have hit the threshold. Going from one stage to the next can be uncomfortable, but it will not kill you. It is temporary, and you will simply have to endure it.’’

  Nikolai managed a nod, but was struggling to keep calm.

  Moulin smiled, ‘’alright, close your eyes, and focus inwardly. Your body is changing dear, taking the first step towards the pinnacle. Focus on your breathing, deep breaths. Good, now calm your mind, and simply accept the process. It will hurt a lot more if you fight it. The first time is by far the worst, it will get easier.’’

  Nikolai felt a jolt of fear butdid as he was told, while the sensation of being stretched beyond his limit just grew. Had he actually felt able to move, he was sure he could have reached the ceiling from his sitting position. Sweat poured off him in buckets, and he trembled like a leaf.

  That went on for, well, he wasn’t sure how long, but it felt like an eternity to Nikolai. Eventually though things started cooling down, literally in this case, and he collapsed onto the floor panting.

  Moulin put a hand on his leg, and the exhaustion was gently washed away in a few moments.

  ‘’Thank you!’’ He sighed, but stayed in his lying position.

  ‘’Use the ring dear.’’ Moulin said.

  Nikolai had all but forgotten about the ring on his finger, but couldn’t help but smile in anticipation. He channelled a wisp of mana into it, and an illusion appeared before him.

  Moulin had explained, that how the information was delivered was unique to each person. Some would would have floating symbols, others simple sound. In Nikolai’s case it looked mostly like a character sheet from a game, and held all the general information one might find in one.

  He couldn’t lie, it felt pretty damn good to have a visual representation of himself, even if his stats seemed pretty underwhelming. All of them had gotten a bump since the first time he checked them a few days ago, and he felt stronger, or rather just better in general was perhaps a better way to put it.

  It just wasn’t the big leap he had hoped for, he had thought reaching the next stage was some huge thing, but he didn’t really see it like that. He was already looking towards the next, because maybe that would net him greater gains from the way Moulin had explained it.

  Not only that, he had been told that was where the path of most people was revealed, and where things really began to get interesting. He wanted to get there, he wanted more, simply more!

  It was funny really, he had no real thoughts on what he would use any power he attained for, it was simply that he wanted the power, for the sake of power. It might seem shallow, but the ambition to become as powerful as possible burned like a bonfire inside him, and just seeing these minor gains put another huge log on that fire.

  It was amusing how similar it was to the games he had enjoyed, and how easily he accepted the absurdity at this point. So, he had a magical ring, to show him his magical abilities, in a magical land, in a house with huge walking rodents. It wasn’t that strange was it? It didn’t feel all that strange to him, and that in and of itself was a bit worrying. It had been about six weeks, but still..

  He stood and dusted himself off, ‘’so, what now?’’ he asked Moulin.

  She smiled, ‘’well dear, now you go back to work. The first few stages are fairly quick, and you are quicker than most it would seem. You need experience, so that is what we will give you. Come upstairs, and we can discuss things.’’

  Nikolai followed Moulin through the winding hallways, ‘’you know, I have a mountain of questions, could you clarify a few things for me?’’

  ‘’Oh, but of course dear, but over tea yes? I made biscuits aswell, enough that even that old grumpy stinkyfur won’t have reason to complain about sharing.’’ she said with a small giggle.

  Soon after tea was served, a mountain of cookies was loaded onto a plate in the middle of the table, and they were all four of them gathered around the table.

  ‘’I have a skill called Universal Polyglot, what is that? Actually, what are skills in the first place, and how did I get it? Do they do something, or is it simply an indication of something I am good at?’’ Nikolai asked.

  Moulin smiled, ‘’my, you weren’t lying about having questions, did you? Well, that particular skill is a good one, excellent for diplomats. You will be able to speak just about any language out there, simply hear a few words and it will be like you spoke it from birth.’’

  Nikolai frowned, ‘’that makes no sense to me.. Sorry, but how exactly?’’

  Simi scoffed, ‘’it is simply how it works, there is no one who knows the exact details. You will sometimes obtain skills, but there is no guaranteed route to obtain them. There are certain agreed upon guidelines, but no guarantees.’’

  Nikolai nodded slowly, ‘’okay, and what are these guidelines then?’’

  Moulin gestured to Simi to continue, and she nodded. ‘’Well, take a swordmaster. If you train with the sword, it is the common assumption that the chances of getting a skill related to that is higher. Some become masters without ever getting a skill for it though, so like I said, there are no guarantees. Some people obtain skills when they reach certain stages, though, but that itself varies a great deal. There is for lack of a better explanation, a certain amount of luck involved. Honestly your polyglot skill is disgustingly useful, and I kind of want to punch you right now.’’

  Vitzer nodded in agreement, his disgust plain on his face. Moulin just smiled however, ‘’that is as good an explanation as any I have heard dear. Skills will improve you in specific ways, impart knowledge, ability, things like that. Did you have other questions before we discuss your training?’’

  Nikolai mulled over the information for a few seconds, then purposefully put it to the side. He looked at Moulin, ‘’I feel a bit stronger after reaching the second stage, but not in a significant way. How many stages are there, and is the increase in strength linear?’’

  Vitzer chuckled mockingly, ‘’you are only stage two boy, so of course you won’t feel a large difference. There are, as far as we know, no real limit. I have heard stories of individuals getting close to the hundredth stage, but no one actually knows. Each stage gives more than the last, but it is again dependent on the person. A supremely talented individual grows stronger faster. It is not unusual for a talented person to be stronger, than an average one at a higher stage.’’

  ‘’I see, something to look forward to then.’’ Nikolai said.

  Vitzer sneered, ‘’don’t get your hopes up boy, you might have picked up mana control fast, but don’t start getting cocky.’’

  Moulin threw a cookie at Vitzer, but for once he caught it out of the air, and popped it into his mouth with a self satisfied grin. Simi seemed to agree with her father, at least judging from her mocking grin.

  Moulin shook her head and turned back to Nikolai, ‘’I am sure you have more questions dear, but let’s move on shall we?’’

  ‘’Sorry, one last question, what is essence excactly? When I used mine it left me weakened, but is there a way to recover it without a spell?’’ Nikolai asked. The question had been at the back of his mind for a while now, and he wanted to know.

  Vitzer took a sip of his tea, but still managed to start talking before Moulin. ‘’It is called many things depending on culture and region, but it is essentially lifeforce as you no doubt know already. What you might not know, is that It is everything you are, all that keeps you alive. The spell we so graciously gave you is rare boy, and very powerful. It will drain mana, stamina and vitality all at once, and your body will convert it to whatever you need most.’’

  Nikolai remembered how the spell had revitalized him, but also felt a bit disgusted at it to be honest. He had converted another beings lifeforce into his own, taking their very life for himself. On the flip side, he had given his own lifeforce to that woman when he healed her, which felt more than a little weird.

  ‘’Don’t make that face!’’ Vitzer growled. ‘’Dark magic is not kind, and it is not gentle. But neither is it evil! All magic can cause incredible harm, fire burns, water drowns, and earth crushes. It is simply magic, and how you use it that defines you. Dark magic is simply not wasteful, we don’t simply incinerate our foes, we honor their death by making use of their energy instead of letting it be wasted.’’

  Nikolai smiled weakly, ‘’I suppose you’re right, in a twisted kind of way.’’ Honestly, Vitzer’s argument made sense to him. Like a hunter simply killing an animal for fun, and leaving the carcass to rot. A good hunter used every part of the animal, the meat, the skin, the antlers and whatnot. In that sense, he supposed it was more, well, honorable to use Vitzer’s words.

  ‘’I see, well.. I will need a bit of time to get used to that I think.. Sorry, what did you want to talk about?’’ He asked, forcefully changing the subject.

  Moulin refilled Nikolai’s cup, and put a cookie into his hand with a gentle smile. ‘’Well, we have a job for you. We want you go with Simi..’’