Having been on the run for a while, Nick finally had a bed to sleep on. However, a quiet sleep was not in store for him. In his slumber, he had drifted off to a dream realm that he was completely unfamiliar with.
A small pond-shaped form had appeared in his dream, which, as Nick approached closer, changed into a florid portal. Nick pushed through this portal and was immediately met by a vigorous world.
He could hear water—lots and lots of it. Rivers roared and waterfalls tumbled down from towering mountains.
Life in this realm bore no resemblance to what Nick was used to—whether it was on Earth or in the new magical world. Magnificent colors, varied scents greeted him, all very pleasing to the eye and to the mind.
The landscape was astonishing, and Nick could not wait to explore more. This world was no picnic; he had caught but a glimpse of what it had to offer.
Far away, he heard growls and grunts of creatures, not too different from the ones he knew most likely to be this world’s monsters or magical creatures. While they seemed curious and amicable, Nick stayed on his guard, unwilling to take any chances. He could see crawling creatures, enormous creatures, and what one might think to be as thin creatures.
After a final check of his supplies, he readied himself, as he was about to set afoot upon uncharted terrain. But with perseverance, caution, and self-defense skills, he would be able to create the first foothold in this world as well, Nick was sure.
As the dream ended, he opened his eyes and looked around. He was in some sort of a room or a house. The room made from some kind of wood-like material. The size of the room was bigger than his previous slave room and was nicely decorated.
There was an empty bookshelf that lined one side of the room completely. There was also a blue-colored table and two black chairs, forming a harmonious set. After getting his bearings, Nick got up and stretched. The bed was comfortable. Most likely it too was made from wood or some wood-like material that Nick was not sure about.
Within his room, there was a side room that had no clear separation from the bedroom.
“This room should be used as the bathroom.”
Nick noticed a washbasin, a simple toilet, and a bucket of water for showering and cleaning purposes in this small room.
As he was thinking about it, there was a knock on his door, and a Werfur entered his room. Nick recognized this Werfur — it was Rabial.
Seeing that Nick was awake and that all was well, Rabial began talking.
“From now on, you can live here. Since we have a deal, you will have your missions and responsibilities but don’t take it the wrong way. You are free to go outside if you have nothing to do. We will give you food and water, protection, and a home place. There will also be your weekly payment that we agreed on in the magical contract.”
Nick nodded and made a request.
“I need magic books. Preferably, simple books with information about magic and magic control.”
Rabial gazed at the empty bookshelf and nodded. He did not find this request of Nick not ordinary. According to his story it is only natural that he needs some basic level magical books for knowledge. Thinking about these things made Radial even shocked then before. How a human could do these things in the matter of magic without even having the basic knowledge of magic.
“I will bring some low-leveled books to your room. Before that though, you need to choose your project that you will be working on with others.”
Nick tilted his head and looked at Rabial with expectant eyes.
Rabial smiled and touched a bag that was tied on his belt. He pulled out a document from it and handed it to Nick.
“In this document, there are three different projects that you can work on. These three projects already have other Werfur Race mages working on them. Once you choose, you will need to contribute to the project. This is the mission that you have agreed to.”
Nick had no problem with Rabial’s words. This, in fact, was his part of the deal. He started going through the information in the document.
“Project Magion Iron”
“Description”
“Improving ways of using magic with the material and element ‘iron’. Compared to creating other materials, and using different materials, iron is easier to find but harder to use with magic.”
“In Project Magion Iron, the mages are trying to find different and easy ways to integrate magical energy with iron, which will open up ways to make iron more powerful.”
“Project Passive Elemental Magical Shield Generation & Items or Individual”
“Description”
“Creating a magical shield in a material, a car, or any kind of item, or creating a magical shield that will protect the one who created it. The purpose of this project is to create a magical shield that will work well and consume less magical energy as well as integrate elemental powers to created ‘Magical Energy’.”
“The simple magical energy shield that protects items, and vehicles of Werfur Race is consuming too much ‘Magical Energy’, which means consuming too many Magical Stones and is yet not the best shield. The Werfur Race wants to improve the power of magical shield and decrease the consumed magical energy as well as adding elemental powers to the new shield created.”
“Project New Light”
“Description”
“Finding a way to heal natural or magic-related blindness.”
“The Werfur Race has magical spells to regenerate some part of lost eyes and vision of an individual but some of the natural problems that many Werfur Race individuals face cannot be treated by usual magical spells or medication. Project New Light is created to address this problem. The mages on this project will research ways to fix eye-related problems, be it naturally due to bloodline defects or curse-type attacks from enemy mages.”
Nick read each of the projects carefully, and in his mind, he already knew what to do with them. When he was in the wilderness, he lost his left arm because of one specific lacuna.
He did not have any defense against sneak or direct attacks from other mages and creatures.
