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The warrior barked out orders, much like he had in the dungeon. The ranger was the fastest of them, she was to grab Gurak and run. The others were going to hold the line as long as they could. Giving Gurak and the ranger as much time to escape as they could muster. The warrior knew Gurak was going to lead the orcs to a new, brighter future, and his life was a small price to pay, for the future of his whole race. The others likely knew that as well, and knew full well, that Gurak wasn't going to turn and run, he was still too young, too headstrong. The ranger was his beloved as well, he hated to send her away, but their daughter needed a parent, his armor was too heavy, and his movement too slow. She had a better chance of escape and survival in the forest. He had to do what was best for his daughter and his clan. So he made the hard choice.

They made it home, but, not without great cost. Gurak fought, he argued, he screamed at the ranger to go back, to save them. He could protect them, they weren't going to bury anyone today, he wasn't going to allow it! She didn't listen, and he was too small to offer proper resistance against her experience.

The rogue, shaman, and warrior had fallen trying to stop the others from getting to Gurak, the ranger took the young orc over her shoulder and ran into the forests. Tears stung her eyes as she made her way through the forest, using every trick she knew to throw anyone that would eventually follow, off their track. They'd found safety there, keeping out of sight and running further and further from the other groups. The last thing he saw was flashes of bright light like they'd used to fight the cyclops and unfamiliar screams before things got quieter.

The pair returned to their clan, not triumphant heroes, but scarred survivors. Gurak never expected the greatest threat to them would be after the dungeon. The jealousy, and greed of the other races for what little they had managed to earn for themselves.

Naguk took his son and carried the young orc to their hut. Murbol nursed him back to health. Gurak was fully prepared to kill every human, elf, and dwarf he'd seen. But he wasn't allowed to, such a thing was a crime. But, apparently slaying orcs weren't, or so the others made it seem. It was only a crime to be an orc, judged for merely existing in their periphery. Humans and their bigotry existed even in this fantasy world, far removed from the world he knew, but they were the same.

The ranger gave her report to the chieftain, as well as delivered what few things she could carry while fleeing. The other three hadn't returned, and the chieftain knew not to expect them home. It was a long night, guards were doubled for the following week.

The only sound that night was the wailing of the warrior's daughter, who knew her father would never come home.

While Gurak was able to heal his physical wounds, the trauma of watching those he considered his new friends, cut down as he was carried to safety burned in his thoughts.

He'd not put much thought into it, trying to change this world. But now, he'd been given a good reason to. He'd make the world better, orcs would no longer be victims of the 'civilized' races. He would do something about it, but, he'd have to do it as he got older, his body wasn't able to do what he wanted, and his magic wasn't where he needed it to be. But that gave him a goal now. A target to shoot for.

There would be justice for his companions. He couldn't save them, but he was going to avenge them. The next week was one of mourning. Gurak, the guilt of the loss of his companions, urged him to offer most of the gold he'd gathered to their families. He'd only kept a few things, the magical ones that had chosen him, such things weren't the sort that you could give away, after all. He'd only kept the axe and the double-sided shield. Both of these things were magical, but he wasn't quite sure what they were capable of. He'd focus on them eventually, but for now, he wanted to improve himself. The stronger he was innately, the better he'd be overall, or so he hoped.

A letter from the northern towns demanding monetary compensation for the losses incurred at the dungeon was delivered to the orc village. They'd lost many adventurers because of the orc's 'interference' and subsequent battle, which the other races instigated. The orcs had little choice but to comply, most of the riches brought home by the survivors had been lost due to the other races killing the party and stealing the treasure, and the remnants were stolen by written threats of harm to the village if they refused to comply.

The orcs sent a party to reclaim the bodies of their fallen party. There was little left of their gear. The ravenous, greedy 'civilized' races took everything of value. The bodies were brought back and given a proper funeral as was orcish tradition, set aflame in a bonfire. The letter was delivered by a traveling merchant, a minotaur. He had no part in any of it, he was simply paid to deliver the letter to the village as he passed through and obliged. The minotaur was a little odd and was trying to sell iron walls to replace stone and wood, such a strange concept, surely it wouldn't catch on.

Gurak spent the week mourning with the others. Pondering his weakness and deciding on a path for his future. The first thing he decided, was that he wanted to know what he was capable of. He asked the shaman to teach him how to use the appraisal glass. He wanted to appraise the objects he claimed from the dungeon as well, but he wanted to focus on himself for now. He needed to know what was at his disposal before he started messing with anything else.

Gurak was warned not to use it too extensively, as it took a significant toll on the mana of the user. That explained why the shaman was followed by a second. The first channeled his mana into the appraisal glass, and the second wrote the results as fast as possible, so they could be recorded. He also wasn't to take it from the shaman's hut. For some reason that Gurak didn't understand, the shaman never mentioned Gurak's stats, just his elemental blessings, the young orc found this odd back then, at least, until he used the appraisal glass on himself, his stats were...unknown....just blank. He didn't know what to make of it. He couldn't see his stats or abilities...his skills, nothing at all. Just his blessings, not even his name. It was all blank.

He decided to use the appraisal glass on others and realized it worked just fine. He could see their stats, their abilities, even their names, but his wasn't visible, why? What made him immune to appraisal?

When he looked at his status screen, calling it up with the word 'Status' he could see everything about himself, but using the appraisal glass, it wasn't. He could see his stats this way and used that in tandem with the appraisal glass to compare himself to the rest of the villagers he could see.

As he saw it, most others had fairly mediocre stats. Ranging between twelve and sixteen in most regards. HP was in the mid-twenties to thirties, and rarely a forty would pop up, like the chieftain, he was midrange forties. His parents, although kind, were also in the middle range, neither had a stat over fifteen. No one in the clan had a mana stat over thirty points, except for the shamans, but even then, it wasn't much higher, how were these things determined, he wondered?

Gurak saw his lowest stat was a twenty-one, and his highest twenty-nine. His HP was thirty-eight, and his mana was a hundred and sixteen, which was massive in comparison. Whatever the shaman saw, must not have been the whole picture, much like he couldn't see his stats, maybe others couldn't see his full stats either.

Regardless, the young orc realized he was significantly stronger than his kin, others his age, and his people in general. He wasn't sure what to do with this information, who could he talk to? Who would understand? He huffs in frustration, and using the broken mirror in the shaman's hut, the appraisal glass, and his status screen, as he regarded his stats, abilities, and attributes differently than his status showed him. This is how others could see him, IF they could see this information, at all.

He had a LOT of skills and....what was....(Obscure)? He thought to himself, and as if on command, a smaller window with a few words of explanation appeared.

'The ability to hide one's abilities from appraisal' - Obscure

Well, that explains why the shaman couldn't see his abilities and stats. His void blessing granted him protection from appraisals from others. No one could see what his abilities were, except for himself, it seems. Only the basest assessment of his abilities was shown to someone who appraised him.

He has....what the hell.... thirty-eight SP? Spendable points, stat points, or maybe skill points it looked like, were to be spent on his abilities. It was time to start experimenting, first, he closed the status window, by thinking about it. The window disappeared, good. His hand lifted and opened, palm flat, then with the command word "Status" the window from before re-opened. Just like in the dungeon. It seems his SP was determined by his race, well that's disappointing, only one point there, but also his intelligence and resistance bonuses, that'd be....eight and....nine together, that's seventeen, and his one for being an orc, eighteen, then there was...SP boost, because of his void blessing, that doubles his SP gain, that's why he has thirty-six.

It looked like he could level the skills manually, without using a skill point, but that required time and practice. What if he added a point to.....and Gurak tapped 'Weapon Master' an orc racial skill, where he can master any weapon he picks up, it's ranked F right now, so let's tap it. A 'confirm

SP spend' subscreen popped up, he confirmed, and then his 'Weapon Master' skill went from rank F to rank E, and all the weapons in the sub-menu showed his skill with them as an E as well, then they were all F's just moments before, fascinating.

He'd have to stay up later and research all these abilities and their greater ramifications. He had a....staggeringly long list of innate skills from all his blessings. It was probably a good thing he had a multitude of SP, he had a lot of options going forward.

He was especially interested in seeing what Taming, Summoning, and Enchanting could accomplish. But that'd have to be something he worked out later. He just wanted to see what he could do, not what each skill could do. He thanked the Shaman for letting him use the appraisal glass and returned it, before he left the hut and went out and about, pondering what he'd learned.

After some rest, and over the next few days, reading up on what his skills were, what they could do, or at least as much as the status screen explained. He pondered a bit and broached his father with a question when they had some free time.

"Father, I noticed we leveled up after the dungeon, how do I do that?" Naguk looked at his son and smiled. He had expected Gurak to level up in the dungeon, training could only take someone so far, after all, real experience was important no matter how much someone trained.

"Come," Naguk said simply, then the pair went out into the forest, a good few miles away to make sure they had the privacy to speak candidly. "I'm sure you saw the status glass appear." Gurak nodded, he called it something else, but, he understood what Naguk meant, to them it looked like a sheet of glass, which wasn't a common commodity in orc society. "All sentient beings are blessed with the ability to see their status glass" The father lifted his hand, palm flat, and spoke 'Status" And much like Gurak's own, a status window opened, but the stats were all illegible. He tilted his head and looked at Naguk.

"Father, I can see it, but I can't read it. Is that normal?" The older orc nodded his head.

"Yes, Gurak. It's so that your information remains private, no one can read another's status. Typically, you need an appraisal glass to see someone's stats and abilities. But yours, because of your void blessing were obscured. It's rare, but it's a known trait of void blessings. I wouldn't be able to read yours. Even with an appraisal glass." He says simply. "Was there something specific that you were curious about?"

Gurak nodded. "I have a lot...I mean a LOT of skills, and I don't know what I should pick." He mentions as he looks at his father. Hoping the older orc would have some wisdom to share with him about this. He was an adult in orc custom, but he still felt unprepared to handle this new level of responsibility.

Naguk chuckled. "You are young yet, you have many years and levels ahead of you, I'm sure. I focused on hunting and combat, so I could be useful to our clan. But you have many options. Pick that which suits you, or suits the situation you find yourself in. Did you get many skill points when you leveled?"

Gurak looked down, then nodded. "I did, many." Naguk looked surprised, but he nodded in understanding.

"I won't ask you to tell me, they are your secrets." Gurak furrowed his eyebrows and then shook his head.

"I do not wish to keep any secrets from you father. Or mother." Gurak said, before continuing. "Can I tell you...everything?" Naguk looked confused but nodded. Gurak continued once more. "I'm from another world. I was human there, reincarnated, given blessings of my choosing, race of my choosing, many things, I chose." He looks up at Naguk. "I did not choose you and mother, but I am happy. You are good parents. Loving, kind, but also strong and tough when I need it. I wanted to be able to do many things." Gurak told his father everything. His life on Earth, his death, and meeting the nine major gods. His magic, his skills, all of his skills, hoping his father would be able to explain better.

After speaking, a glow overtook Naguk, Gurak barely noticed it, but something in the older orc changed, his demeanor, the way he sat, and how he looked at Gurak, changed, ever so slightly. He couldn't discern what changed, he didn't have the appraisal glass. But Gurak saw 'something'!

Naguk did not disappoint. He listened, and he asked a question now and then, he was quite curious about Earth, but, he managed to keep his curiosity in check. After everything, Naguk explained what he could.

"Void magic is the all and nothing of our world. It can change the nature of things, but also negate things. Giving you incredible potential in combat, especially against opponents who are reliant on magic, which everyone is, to some degree. Void can also be used to...fuse magic, to blend two elements, by creating a magical binding between them, and empowering them to another level. I can't teach you how to do that, only that I've heard that is what it could do." Naguk explained void magic wasn't something he knew much about, but that was the best explanation he could muster.

"Being of orcish blood, we are innately able to learn to use any weapon or armor type, quickly. We gain weapon skills quickly. In just a few short months, you can go from no skill with a weapon to A rank, because of your orc blood. It takes humans a few years to master a new weapon, we can do it in a few months. We also innately learn any armor proficiency easily. The more we wear it, the faster we adjust to it. Our speed and strength are hampered less by the gear we wear."

Naguk continued with his explanation. "Summoning is just how it sounds, you call a being from another place, and it binds to you, in the form of a contract, some require components to summon them, and others require a specific goal to be met before their contract is sealed. For example, if you summoned a slime, and it wanted to devour a stone, it would stay with you, but it would not follow your commands until its contract was sealed by meeting its requirement. The reason summoning is lightning based, is because it's a form of teleportation. Teleportation magic is very rare. Summoning is a similar kind of magic. Although, it's one way. Now taming is different, you can tame most beasts you encounter if you are successful, the beast will be contracted to you. It's much like summoning, but it's a shorter-range form of the ability. Summoning pulls from another place. Taming, you form a contract with the beast in front of you. No requirements exist, nor components are needed, you simply have to overpower the beast till it can not resist your attempt. You can not tame creatures within a dungeon, however. They are unique and either blessed by the gods because they are in the dungeon or protected because of it."

Naguk taps his chin. "Enchanting is a complicated thing. Enchanters are quite rare in the world because it is a void skill. The fusion of magic and material is much like the skill of merging magical elements I mentioned earlier. You don't have to be blessed BY void to be an enchanter, anyone can do it. But it's very difficult to learn and become skilled in. That's the unique thing about void skills, is they are available to anyone who puts in the time and hard work for them. Agan loves someone who tries, it does not matter if you succeed. It matters that you try."

Naguk continued. "Typically enchanters are contracted by countries to create weapons for kingdoms. A weapon with a single enchantment is quite powerful on its own. I don't know if enchanters can put more than one enchantment on something, but I don't think it's likely. I've never heard of it, at least. Enchanting is a complicated skill though. Dungeons typically have items with two, three, or even four enchantment treasures. But a mortal can only imbue a single enchantment. Imagine the power one would wield if a mortal could imbue four enchantments per item and anyone could use them. That's a staggering, terrifying thought." Gurak looked confused and Naguk realized he hadn't explained why enchanted items were so sought after.

Naguk paused for a moment, thinking, before he spoke again. "Our shaman hasn't checked your items yet, but I'm sure they are magical since they chose you. There is a difference, however." Naguk said as he kept explaining. "Enchanted items have no...I don't know how to put it...requirements. If you enchant a weapon or armor, anyone could use it, regardless of who they are. That is why they are so precious. Dungeon treasures choose their user, enchanted items can be used by anyone. Do you understand?"

Gurak nodded his head slowly. He understood everything so far. So Naguk continued. "The rest, I'm unsure. You'd have to ask those blessed by their types for specific information about them. Charismatic is not an innate orcish skill, but it is a fire skill. So it's likely a fire skill that we orcs do not naturally gain. The rest sound fairly straightforward. The resistances seem obvious. Dark vision allows you to see in darkness, that's pretty common for light blessed. Tactical, I'd guess that means you can quickly formulate a tactical plan for whatever situation you are in. The ranger told me, when the warrior was down, you immediately had a plan of action to not only save him but fell the beast as well. I'd wager that's what that is. Adaptive is something our chieftain has, but because of his...less than ideal stats, he hasn't had much use of it. Adaptive lets him add any skill he observes, you simply select the skill and another glass opens detailing every skill you've seen that you do not possess. It doesn't allow you to create new skills or anything, but if you've seen it, you can use a skill point to obtain the skill and then it's yours. Then level it up like anything else."

"Lastly" Naguk spoke. "Is the circle of elemental magic, each element is strong to one and weak to another. Starting with our element, we are naturally weak to water. The flame is doused by water. But we are strong against ice. Ice is strong against wind because wind can't chip away at the ice, the wind only cools it more, wind strips away the earth though, and earth is strong against lightning, as it negates the lightning's spread, though I'm not exactly sure why. Finally, lightning is strong against water, water lets lightning travel through as fast as metal."

Gurak was about to ask, but Naguk spoke before he could. "Light and dark are unique, they are strong against one another. Depending on the time of day. The sunrise empowers light, as long as the sun is in the sky, light is stronger, but at sunset, when the moon has risen, that is when darkness is stronger. It doesn't matter if you are indoors or not. It is the time of day, not the location of the user that determines the power of light and dark magics. Remember that, for the future."

Naguk smiles to his son. "I...I'm surprised you were willing to share such a deep secret with me. I'm sure it must have been scary for you." He looks at the fire they'd started while chatting, they'd stay out in the woods tonight, hunt in the morning, and return home.

"But you shouldn't tell your mother." Naguk says after a few moments. "She would take it hard." He says softly. "We tried many times to have children. None made it to birth, except for you." Naguk smiles. "You were our blessing from Aethos. If she knew you were from another world. She'd...take it poorly." He says softly. "She would think her child died, and you were put in its place. She'd treat you differently. I don't think she'd love you any less. But, I also do not think she'd ever look at you the same. I know it's a heavy burden I ask of you. Some of our kind think this way. I'm glad you trusted me. But please do not tell others of this, at least, not of our clan. It is a difficult thing to understand."

Gurak nodded his head softly. "Okay father, I won't. But, thank you for telling me what you could. I'd like to practice taming and enchanting sometime, do you think you could help me?"

Naguk nodded his head softly, he was happy to spend time with his son and learn so much about the man he was, even if he was not quite the son he expected, Gurak was the son he had, and loved. He'd never give that up. It also explained why his son was so blessed, and such a powerful being at such a young age. Gurak was going to change the world, Naguk was sure of it, there was no question anymore.

They spent the rest of the night talking about Earth. Naguk was especially curious about much of the world without magic. Of books, technology, cars, phones, and long-distance communication, such things were wild and incredible to the older orc. Naguk was enraptured by the stories of Earth. Cars, planes, and machines of such complexity goblins would have been envious. They spoke, not as father and son this night, but as equals, he saw Gurak as a man this day.

The pair fell asleep as the fire dwindled and darkness overtook the forest.

They awoke a few hours later. The pair hunted a boar. Gurak attempted to tame it, and failed, thus angering the boar, but they had little trouble slaying it and bringing it back to camp. They skinned, stripped it down, and made a large dinner of it, sharing it with their friends and neighbors. The wounds of their clan's loss were still fresh, and while many were ready to move on, some would carry the wounds of that night till the day they died.

So it was that Gurak and Naguk began his secret training. They often went many miles from their home clan's village. Quite deep into the forest and mountains, sometimes into the mountain itself. This allowed Gurak to practice his fire magic, using it to heat the stone and melt it down to create paths into the mountain, where he would create pockets inside of the mountain, and once it was properly set up, Gurak would practice his magic training in secret. Under the guidance of his father, who, although knew very little, offered what support and aid he could, as often as he could.

It wasn't just Naguk who took to Gurak's training, however. Murbol was an accomplished blacksmith. While her husband hunted meals for the village, she taught Gurak how to bend metals with a hammer and fire. She wasn't the best in the village, but she was far from the worst too. So on days, he wasn't learning magic from the shamans, combat skills from the warriors, or hunting with his father, Gurak was in the forge, hammering iron and turning it into weapons, armor, shields, whatever was needed for the village

Days became weeks, which in turn bled into months and so on until years had elapsed. Gurak was no longer the slightly nervous young orc. He was a confident, adult orc man. Strong physically and mentally, and he'd grown over the last several years. His eighteenth year would soon approach. There had not been any other dungeons appearing near their village. Gurak had spent years honing his magic, and he'd managed to level up once more as well, hunting beasts, and working with his father had amounted to a lot of practical experience in his life.

Gurak had managed to improve his taming. He'd only used to calm beasts before they were hunted. A bit cruel perhaps, but he was looking for practical experience, not an animal companion. He'd developed most of his skills naturally, trying to avoid wasting SP if he could help it. He had plenty, sure, but that wasn't reason enough to waste them for a shortcut, he wanted to experience life here, not skirt it by taking a quick way out. Now that didn't mean he wouldn't use them. But, he was stingy with their use.

His father had been right too, the skill Adaptive let him learn any skill he'd seen. Even if he didn't realize he'd seen the skill used. But the cost of a new skill was 5 SP, not a lot to Gurak, but he understood why it was a skill the chieftain had but rarely used, it took a lot of SP, and orcs, naturally didn't get much SP at level up.

Stat gains, from his youth, were high, it was like he'd gotten a bonus to whatever his stat was supposed to be naturally. He was stronger than most of the orcs in his village as a child, now, an adult, he was almost twice as strong as any of them. Most of his stats had almost doubled since puberty. He could use SP to increase stats, of course, he'd learned that while messing around in the status window. But he hadn't done it. He wasn't sure when he might need it for something important. So he kept almost every point he'd accumulated in reserve, but he'd still managed to get most of the skills he'd been born with to at least a D rank in skill, it wasn't a bad bit of work in the 5 or so years since he'd been begun training with his father Naguk. Naguk had progressed, quite quickly. Sure he was an older man, but with his son's aid, he'd managed to learn much, and his stats showed considerable improvement. Aside from himself, Naguk was probably the strongest orc in the village now. He hadn't gained any new skills, but he'd certainly gotten stronger.

Gurak had taken to going hunting alone now. Traveled further from the village, seeking stronger beasts to test his skills against.

He had spent points on weapon mastery. 5 points for mastery of all weapons was a cheap cost in his opinion. He still trained with all of them, alternating what on which day, but he favored the magical axe he had gotten from the dungeon especially. It was unique. It had 4 blades on it, and they separated from the haft itself, leaving him with 2 axehead chakrams that could be thrown and returned to his hand, as well as a bo staff he could shrink and expand as needed. The extension shield gauntlets, he wore on both arms, each shield on the outside, acting as his gauntlets. They deflected low-level magic, any spell rank-F was reflected at the caster, rank-E was deflected off to the side, rank-D level spells were unaffected, so it wasn't the best shield, but it was strong against just about anything he'd encountered since acquiring it.

He'd also spent five points to get Obscure up to S rank, he tried to level it up past S, but it didn't seem to go past S rank. He desperately did not want anyone to see his skills. The less anyone knew about him, the better, he considered that, if someone had appraise high enough, it could bypass obscure and that wasn't a risk he wanted to take. Lastly, he'd felt it important to buy the appraise skill, since he'd seen it used, the shaman had appraised all the kids way back when, he didn't think items counted, but they did, so he got that skill to use as needed. He'd learned a lot from it.

He had learned in his experiments and training, that he needed to have a taming skill equal to the beast he faced, to tame it. A boar in his home area was an E-rank monster, he'd only had F-rank for the longest time. After some time taming and releasing creatures around where he'd preferred to train, he'd managed to muster it up to E, and tamed a boar, before releasing it as well. It was an arduous process, but he was excited to practice and learn.

It was all learning experiences, and he'd managed many others over the years, of course. Honing different magics, specifically healing, he hadn't managed to learn any resurrection spells but had hoped such existed. But he'd been given special permission to act as a secondary healer for the village. Not because the shaman was unable, but simply because he wanted the experience. It was his highest skill he hadn't spent skill points on, and he was proud of it. This gave him a constant influx of practical experience with healing magic.

He'd also acquired a skill, by teaching others the same magic he knew and had created through experimentation and practice. He'd managed to teach them how to heal and suture wounds with healing magic. They hadn't taken him seriously as a child, as was expected, but the more they saw him doing it, and both the recovery was improved, with less loss of innate movement, the more the shamans took notice of him.

Word of an orc savant in healing spread through the clans, and soon others came seeking healing. Wounds that had plagued them for years, were healed within the day they arrived. The day another orc shaman finally understood what it was to stitch a wound using healing magic, the trait (Teacher) appeared on his status window. He imagined it was something along the lines of showing others how to do new things. He hadn't given it much thought, but it was good to know that skills could also just be created like that, in the right circumstances.

Others in the tribe had naturally improved as well, and their small village was becoming a small town now. With other orcs coming not just to visit, but coming to live within their clan, it grew little by little, what was once a small village of roughly two hundred or so, had grown to almost a thousand orcs. Working together, building a home for themselves and their families. The huts were now sturdier, some were stone now. Homes looked more like homes, not just makeshift places to sleep. The village was taking shape and becoming a real center of orc culture.

Gurak had never known the feeling of community in his life on Earth, these orcs though, they'd shown him what a community was. They worked together, they protected one another. They fought for each other.

There was the occasional tragedy. A child would wander too far from the village. Humans would find their small village and antagonize them. They did their best to not kill, preferring to use the flash bomb magic that Gurak had created to fight the cyclops to drive them off. It wasn't ideal, but it was what they could do.

For the most part, they were left alone and, in turn, left other races alone.

Gurak felt it though, he'd learned all he really could from home, and he'd have to leave the village if he wanted to grow more than he had. He'd need to explore the world and learn from it.

It was going to be hard to tell his father this. They'd spent so much time together these last five years. Their bond was strengthened by the secret they shared. He'd tell Naguk soon. Just after his eighteenth birthday.

Most orcs didn't leave home. It was a rare thing for an orc to leave their village, the rumor of an orc prodigy who could heal an old wound. Or a new, bustling center of orc civilization, brought on by sudden changes in their society drew in others from other clans. They were content to live, hunt, and keep to themselves in this secluded village. But the village was growing, the size was increasing almost every month, and he was sure that others were starting to take notice. Orcs using new healing magic, new combat spells to dissuade trespassers, and a growing community, bode ill for what passed for the other civilized races.

He wasn't so naive as to believe these things were going unnoticed. So he'd decided to leave home and take his knowledge with him, hopefully, he'd find a way to be integrated into civilized society and make a name for himself, his appearance in a town, and his unique spells, were hopefully enough to take the attention off of his clan. Thus putting the target on himself and letting his people continue unmolested.

Weeks passed, and his life was normal as usual. Just a few days before his eighteenth birthday. He'd decided to speak to his mother and father when he turned 18, about going out into the world on his own and seeing what he could learn and experience outside of the borders of his home village.

Chores, hunting, cleaning the kill, then going off into the wilds to train. He'd managed to get a little skill with wind magic. He'd learned to hasten his steps, so only once every few feet he had to touch the ground. Though he still didn't have much skill. He could only manage about ten feet, give or take per stride. It'd made travel much faster though, he was sure with practice, he'd be able to fly, but for now, he could only widen his stride several feet. Still, it was handy and made him at least a little quicker.

On the way towards his usual training grounds, the forest shifted, several hundred feet in front of him, and he knew the look of what it was. An opened maw of a doorway, inky darkness behind it, a massive, twisted mass of stone and trees warped together unnaturally, it was much like the dungeon he'd entered, back in his youth.

There was no one else around, and while it was only a quick trip back home to his village, he could go back, tell the village, prepare a party, and come back. Gurak wanted to test himself, could he tackle a dungeon solo?

He was going to try. So rather than heading to his training grounds, he stepped forward, into the passageway, it tingled against his skin, and he almost felt like this dungeon, was for him, he couldn't prove it, just a gut feeling he had, but he felt this is where he was supposed to be, alone. He needed to be here.