Exploring is... [Open]

Mason was tired of being trapped in the town with all the people around, granted they weren't actual players they were still as annoying as actual people. With his book under his armor he just wandered for a while until he happened upon the ruins.

He decided this would be a good spot to practice without much interruption. He sat down on a rather flat piece of ruin, and opened his book up. He looked at the words trying to figure out what he wanted to do first. It seemed he could use different elements at his disposal. What would be the easiest for him to use first?

After a moment he settled on something simple as creating a small flame. The boy read the words softly, using a long quiet moment to prepare and cast the spell. A small flame appearing before him, nothing bigger than a candle flame. Well that was a start, but the process seemed to take a while. Maybe with more practice it wouldn't take such a long time.

Olive had no idea why she had returned to the first level. It wasn't as if she missed the place, nor did she want to talk to anyone in particular, but she girl still returned for a visit through the lush forest. It felt odd to have to squeake between trunks and almost trip on vines, when the second level was an open expense of hills. The mage wakled through a narrow path, wondering where it would take her. Despite having already advanced, Olive hadn't exlored the whole level fully and wanted to see what else it would reveal.

Hah, irony, sweet, sweet irony. The path took her to yet another entrance to the ruins. By now, the girl despised everything linked to this place, the crumbling structures, the dark tunnels and the vicious Wickens, but she had no choice other than to pas throuh it as quiclky as possible. Olive walked inside, spinning through the twisted tunnels and pathways, crossing large expanses of greenery or squeezing through tight places. It was a challenging landscape and Olive wandered what the ruins must have looked like from above.

Something attracted her attention. In the back of her head she could hear the bubbling feeling of mana. She was paraniod and turned around, eyes wide, loading a fire spell and ready for a fight, but she couldn't see any Wicken near her. The mage advanced stealthily, expecting a surprise attack before she saw the creator of the spell her senses had showed. A boy, roughly and the same age as her, thought looking a lot taller, was resting himself on a flat rock, what Olive suspected to be remain of a staircase.

She appraoched silently and crouched next to him, adding her flame to his and making it brighter. The fire felt pretty hot on her hand, and she wondered how the other mage felt, since she had gotten to wearing leather gloves to help her sustain stronger spells. "Hey." she smiled and lit off her fire then sat down in the grass in front of him.

Mason jumped as soon as the girl joined him and added to his fire. So she was a mage to... He didn't really like that this person managed to sneak up on him. As soon as she lifted her fire, he put his out. He didn't feel like being shown up at this point in time. He could tell that she was stronger with her magic than he was.

"Hi.." He said kind of flatly. He wasn't one that people would approach to often. "What do you want?" He asked, he didn't really care if he was being rude. He didn't have to be nice to anyone, and it wasn't in him to be nice to anyone unless he had an interest in someone.

Olive let out a silent hmph. Maybe she had been fishing for too much attention, but she couldn't help feel a sort of indignation that the mage hadn't even tried to present himself. She shrugged, thinking about abandonning her intention to prevent the boy about the dangers of the ruins. It was clear to her that if this guy was a jerk, he deserved to lose a life in the ruins. She pulled her knees to her chest rocking on the grass and looking around absently.

"Well, I couldn't help but feel some mana nearby. Fire magic, it's good to start with it." she said, examining hernalis. It had been the first type of element she had used, and she had kept on using it through many imortant battles, including fighting the gatekeeper.

"Well it seemed simple enough." He really didn't want this girl telling him what to do. He wasn't fond of anyone telling him what to do in general. Fire meant a lot to him even before he got sucked into this game. Though he didn't know if he would use it all the time. He would probably explore some of the elements. It seemed he had plenty of magic skill so it shouldn't be too hard for him to do.

Olive nodded and conjured a small fire to dance of the tip of her fingers. "But it's weird... how does this fire not burn a mage, but burns others? I mean, it's not like conjuring a stone or water. It should hurt, but it doesn't. When I'll get home I'll be fooled to think I can make fire dance of my palm again." she chuckled. Crossing the first level had given her confidence that maybe it wouldn' be so hard to reach the end.

"But you won't be able to do anything with that little flame." she observed. Her magic had nearly been useless against Ritcher, even if she had had a good opening when she used her flame. Still, loading a spell took time that in the midst of battle, no one had to spare.

"My guess is cause it's not true fire, it's magic. And this is a game half the stuff doesn't make sense." He crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't really like this girl. His eyes narrowed at her comment. "I know that." He snapped lightly. He wasn't trying to be a show off, he knew he could do something bigger but this was just practice after all. He seemed to have plenty of mana in him. "Sorry for not wanting to set something on fire every time I practice." He said coldly.

Olive crossed her hands over her chest and smiled. "I never said you shouldn't. After all, this place is a ruin." she grinned. It was basicaly an invite for Mason to try out his skill, the best he could do. She got up, reaching a hand to him. "Yo, what do you say we duel?" she asked with a sunny expression on her face. She wanted to try out her skills, and she wanted the other mage to not just stand there. She brushed a few locks from her face, examining the open space, perfect for a practice fight.

"I don't think that is a good idea." Mason said flatly, rejecting her hand. He didn't want to fight her. While she may have been a stronger Mage he still liked to believe his still had his really good hand to hand skills. Not to mention if his magic failed him, he would just use the book as his weapon and that wouldn't end well for her in his mind.

Olive arched an eyebrow, slightly disappointed. Was this guy just going to sit there and try to memorize the whole tome? From what she had seen, this guy deserved to get scared by the Wickens. She sat back down, picking at a few stray strands of grass. "Whatever you say." she shrugged, chewwing on the tip of a strand she had pulled out of the ground. "Are you planning on crossing the first level soon?" she asked, looking up at him. Olive was wandering whether this guy was going to try to fight Ritcher on his own. She had, but she definitely won't try again.

"I plan to at some point soon, I just want to make sure I'm prepared for it." He knew how battles worked, even if the fights he had been in before were just street fights. He never really went into one without some sort of plan or preparedness. He wasn't an idiot when it came to big battles. This girl seemed impatient with him. If she didn't like being here then she could leave. He knew of the monsters here, he was well aware of this risk he was taking by being here, but he didn't mind.

Olive looked around the shadowy corners, wondering whether there were any Wickens lurking nearby. It seemed she was lucky and there was nothing to be afraid of. Still, she was careful. She nodded at Mason, tapping her fingers on her knees. "I can't tell you anything about the gatekeeper, but I'm sure you'll be fine." she shrugged, thinking about the 'thing' that guarded the first level gate. Ritcher had been a scary sight, at least for her.

"I think I will be too, seeing how a few people beat him already." Mason responded plainly. If she could beat him, then he could too. He wouldn't doubt his skills any time soon even if he didn't practice as much as others have. He looked down at his book, and flipped through the pages more. A lot of these seemed basic in his opinion. "How many of these have you actually used?"

Olive shrugged with a smile. "Hardly many. Loading spells in combat is a bad idea. I've used many fire spells." she said, remembering the times she had fought Wickens by Lilian's side and he battle with the gatekeeper. Those were the reasons she had started wearing protective gloves all the time. Fiddling with the tips of her gloves, she looked but at Mason. "I bought a quarterstaff, a while back. That was handy."