Zach got up from the wood stump to stretch his back and legs after dismissing the prompts about the Enchanter class. For a moment it felt good to get his blood flowing again before he realized that he was hungry and that he hadn’t even tried to unpack his belongings. Going to his backpack, Zach made camp. Looking at the canvas tent and rope Zach realized that no real knowledge was coming to him about how to set up the tent.

  “Grim, I am staring at my tent and haven’t a clue what I need to do to start a camp. Please tell me I didn’t waste 13 points of DP on a skill that won’t tell me how to set up a camp?” Zach said with a hint of annoyance. Suddenly Zach felt something inside of him release, and he knew before he could set up the tent he needed to work around the area and clear away a few things.

  For an hour, Zach used his dagger to cut away some brush and created a makeshift bedding. Just as the brush bedding got to be as thick as a couple of fingers, he understood it was enough to insulate his body from the cold hard ground. Throwing his blanket down on the leaves and pine needles, he wasn’t sure why certain things kept coming to his mind. He didn’t know how he knew that this spot was better for his tent and that one was better for a fire, or how he knew picking up branches and bits and pieces of dead tree-fall would help him start a fire and keep it going throughout the night. In fact, it wasn’t until he placed stones around his camp site in a circle, that Zach finally questioned what he was doing.

  “Ok Grim, I understand why I needed to clear the brush and set up some things like I did, but why am I putting stones around my camp in a circle?” Zach said as he continued to follow his gut instinct.

  Grim appeared beside him as he placed one of the last few stones. “Zach, there are several things that go into a true camp creation, but first let me explain what a skill is. A skill is an action that spends mana to influence the world around it. You are setting up a boundary that will keep bugs and low-level monsters out.”

  Zach looked at Grim in surprise as he set down the last stone. Walking over to the fire pit he threw in some dry leaves and some pine needles that had dried out. “Wait, so you’re saying I am casting a spell?”

  Grim shook his head, “Not quite. Let me try to use one of your memories as an example. Remember when you tried cooking spaghetti for your first girlfriend?” Zach shuddered at the memory. “Well, Zach you went out, found a recipe and from the advice on the web you could tell that cooking the dinner was supposed to be easy. However, you overcooked the noodles until they turned into a mash. You burnt the meat and instead of throwing it away, you thought the store-bought sauce would cover it up. So where did you go wrong? You had the knowledge from a recipe and had watched several VR videos on how to do it, but the simple fact was that you didn’t put your concentration and being into cooking that meal.”

  Zach struck the fire starter creating a cascade of sparks onto hair-like dry fiber from weeds he had pulled apart. As a spark caught, Zach felt the urge to blow air over the spark and help the fire spread. “However, instead of just knowing the steps and trying to do something, you are putting mana into the action and having the universe help you. Every action you are taking is the universe helping you understand what is needed and how to do it. As you continue to use the skill and become able do things like starting fires without help, the universe helps you in finding more things that would make you comfortable or powering up the camp boundary to protect you. So back to the memory, if you had used mana to help you, the universe would have given you feelings and sensations on when to take off the food from the stove and perhaps even told you to add new spices.”

  The fire caught on the dry tinder and Zach kept feeding it small dry leaves until a flame the size of a quarter of an inch came to life. Zach could feel his hand go to the dry twigs next to the leaves and throw a few in. “However, that doesn’t mean you can just add mana to anything you do, and the universe will help you. When learning a new skill, people of this world spend mana through their grimoires and hope that the universe understands what they are trying to do.”

  “You, however, have one major advantages they don’t. You have me! Yes, I know that sounds egotistical, but I am controlling the release of your mana and keeping it focused on a task. Most people would have focused on their grimoire and pushed through a thought like, ‘how do I build a fire?’ They would have pushed as much mana through it and hoped for the best. I, however, direct the mana much more efficiently. You have only used about five points of mana setting up this camp and recovered two in that time.” Zach sat there watching the fire for a moment, thinking about what Grim had said. The fire had been built up high enough that he could feed some bigger branches that were maybe as thick as his little finger. He was waiting for the fire to get a little hotter, before adding more branches of that size, so he placed a little more of leaves to keep the flame going.

  “So, if I tell you I want to learn the skill for daggers, and wave this the thing around while you release my mana, I will gain a new skill?” Zach said as he pulled out his dagger.

  Grim shook his head, “If you tell me, that you want to learn the skill Small Blades. I would release mana focusing on the question on how to strike with your dagger. Maybe you will get the skill, or maybe not. It depends a great deal on many things, and I don’t even know a tenth of them. What I can tell you is that as you gain knowledge, I can pass that on to your children. For example, any child born from you will be able to learn Camp Creation relatively easily, as I will pass on that knowledge to their Grimoire Companions on how to direct their mana.”

  Suddenly, Zach imagined his fifth generation grandchildren being able to have thousands of skills. “So, Kings and Queens of this world must be near unstoppable with everything they can do thanks to their parents.”

  Grim shrugged, “I won’t deny that Kings and Queens probably have Grimoires with knowledge of thousands of skills, spells, cultivation techniques, and other things. However there are a couple of things that limit their progenies, like the 100 DP limit, another is that they still must use the knowledge and increase their skill level at it. Just because your children will have an edge on learning Camp Creation, maybe they will never need to learn it as they want to be librarians. Here’s an example, the God of Dwarves gave his people the inheritable skill of Blacksmithing. Every dwarven child born will have the ability to quickly learn blacksmithing. Does that mean every dwarf is a blacksmith? No, that’s just racists thinking. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that some dwarves choose to become blacksmiths and some don’t because they want to be something else. In either case, the person has to choose what to learn and grow in. Your many times grandchildren will have the same choice, it just might be easier for them to become certain things.” Grim seemed to stop talking as a prompt came up.

  Zach leaned back from the fire and dismissed the prompt. Though he hadn’t setup his tent he had a fire, a place to sleep, and a boundary; it was finally safe enough for him to sit back down on the stump and consider his choices. “Grim, can you show me the other two packages?”

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  Zach got up to feed the fire and organize his thoughts. On the one hand Earth Mage is cheaper and is a common class, allowing me to progress quickly. On the other, everything I have read in my previous life has said ‘don’t be common'. Of course, being an Artificer is a slow build and I have no idea how long it will take me to create my first golem, but then again having a magical creature fight for you is bad ass! Additionally, gaining access to the element of Life could lead me to Healing, and since I am solo right now, I can’t take any chances. Hell, just admit it! You want to be an Artificer and create a mecha like Transformers or Tetsujin 28-go.

  Zach admitted it to himself, he really did want to create a Mecha. Shaking his head, he decided, and his decision was based on feelings instead of logic. “Grim, please purchase the Artificer Package.” A blue prompt appeared asking if he wanted to confirm the purchase of the Artificer package and he pressed yes. The blue prompt he was waiting for appeared.

  “What the Fuck! Grim what just happened?” Zach shouted as he looked at the prompt.

  “It seems that one of your items has been upgraded. This is surprising, normally one out of a million people might receive this notification. Your lucky to have been given this.” Grim said in a calm voice.

  “Well damn… let’s roll the dice again Grim. Show me the most valuable skills for adventurers that can be purchased for 105 DP.” It had been Zach’s original thought to buy the map upgrade and save the rest of his points for emergencies. However, the little pig in his mind squealing for more was riding his thoughts, and so Zach pressed his luck as another prompt appeared.

  When Zach saw [Auto-Loot] and [Map Making], he couldn’t resist the animal inside and said. “Ok Grim, purchase it all.” One last blue prompt appeared before him asking if he wanted to confirm the purchase and he pressed yes.

  Zach was a little bummed out that he didn’t receive another Divine Luck bonus, on top of which he was now out of points for anything else. Light flashed, and a spear rested near a tree trunk. Feeling depressed at having spent everything on the hope for more Divine Luck, Zach looked at Grim and spoke, “What now?”

  Grim said one thing, “Now we hunt and try gathering Golem components.”