My name was Loid, and not what it said on the status screen. It got my age, height and weight correctly though. The strength stat looked about right too. That is, if one assumed 100 to be average. Spirit had to do with mana, I could see that from the amount of mana I had. A total of 1440 mana to the 144 in spirit.

Agility and constitution were obvious too, but Focus I wasn't too sure about. The active spells caught my eye. Six spells in total.

[t1][Backtrack]

[t1][Blink]

[t1][Burst of Clarity]

[t1][Animate Iron]

[t1][Ethereal Blades]

[t1][Shape Iron]

Given the Shape Iron spell at the bottom of the list, I realized what had happened when I touched the shield. I tried again, but kept my hand on the metal frame to evoke a sense of awareness. In my mind, the areas with rust felt like a rash on skin. I concentrated on them, and they melted away into flat mirror polished surface. The dings and scratches melded together.

I grinned from ear to ear. Maybe I'll make it out of this swamp after all. Next, I formed an intent of [Animate Iron] in my mind, and the shield floated upward out of the rubble. I jerked back, cursed and crashed back with my ass to the rocky ground. A sinister face was looking back at me in the polished surface of the shield.

I brought my hands to my face, aghast with what I saw. I touched the pair of horns jutting out the corners of my forehead. With a heavy sigh, I turned my head from side to side.

Bloody hell.

The face was mine with all the good features still present. But it had some … differences. It now came with short obsidian horns, shoulder length silver hair and eyes like fire opals. They stood out against my pale gray skin like burning embers in ash. I checked my teeth – white, and sharper than normal. Maybe it wasn't all that bad, the changes only made me look more intimidating.

I took off my wet clothes, wrung them out a couple of times. Moving the shield up and down, I was glad that the rest of my body wasn't any different. Especially the bits I was endowed with. I had the same muscular build I worked hard to get and maintain.

Whew.

It wasn't cold outside, so I put the damp clothes back on. A pair of sweat pants and a white t-shirt. I figured they'd dry faster on me. That's when I noticed a peculiar number on the back of my right hand. Seven digits, inked in orange.

9,397,162

What could the number mean? I looked to the status screen for clues, but couldn't find anything remotely similar. After some thought, I left the mystery aside and concentrated on the shield instead.

As if an extension of myself, I mentally ordered the shield to move in circles around me. Even as it passed behind me, I could feel its presence, and what it did. I flipped it, spun it up like a frisbee, maneuvered it about the keep. I was having so much fun that I forgot about my hunger. As soon as it left the three meter control range it stopped responding. I caught it before it could clatter to the ground.

The [Animate Iron] ability had a minion limit of 1, unless I upgraded it. I placed the shield aside and animated the chain wrapped around the skeleton. Like a snake, the two meter long chain slithered about in the air. I balled it up, unrolled it, extended it up right, hopped it up and down over the ground like a pogo-stick.

A sound of movement outside stopped me in my tracks. I set the chain aside and grabbed the round shield. I peeked out of the keep.

Frogs croaked in the swamp, yet the birds stopped chirping in the trees. The courtyard was crammed with trees, shrubs, crumbling sections of walls, and large stones. They made the ground uneven and hard to move on. It also created cover for any intruders.

Glancing about, I stayed still, and listened intently. Nothing stirred in the courtyard. Then I heard a distinct gurgling, hissing sound. It came from outside the wall to the east, in the direction of the ominous black wall.

Aside from the central entrance I used to get inside, the courtyard had two more. A narrow opening by the stairs near the keep, and at the corner through the wall.

Do I hide? Barricade the entrance with stone and hope it goes away, or do I act? Ambush it before it ambushes me? I needed to know what I'd be up against. Having the higher ground would be the best option.

Picking every step with care, I sneaked to the tree that I had climbed before. I went up as fast as I could, and breathed out in relief when I hopped over on top of the wall. I couldn't see over the east wall to where the sounds were coming from. So, I waited in silence.

Suddenly, a loud growl from below startled me. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Everything came into focus as a vicious looking face was staring up at me from the ground. Half fish, half lizard. The creature growled and barked with a nasty mouth full of sharp teeth. How the hell did it manage to sneak up on me?

Light glisten over its shinny green scales. Bulging eyes wobbled over the top of its head on twig-like stalks. It had to be them – the eyeballs I saw in the water. And I thought it was gators. It jumped up and down with its stubby arms raised high. Did it think it could reach me with its clawed hands?

It kept on barking, and soon, more emerged out of the water. They came in all sorts of sizes, one was as big as a bear. A dozen of them filled the courtyard. They growled and hissed at me.

Death awaited me below. They'd tear me to pieces in seconds. And if that wasn't bad enough, the bastards started throwing rocks. Thankfully, the thumbless brutes had terrible aim, but they made up for it in quantity. One tried to climb the same tree as I did, but didn't even get his feet off the ground. Their stubby legs and finned feet weren't made for walking, let alone climbing.

I wasn't going to take this abuse sitting down, not from these aquatic Neanderthals. I checked the spell list once again, focused in on [Ethereal Blades.]

[t1][Ethereal Blades]

Fires a barrage of ethereal blades over an area.

Cast time: 2 seconds

Duration: 5 seconds

Blade speed: 100 ft/s

Mana Cost: 150

Blade count: 25

Fire distance: 50 feet

Cast range: 20 feet

The description seemed simple enough. I pointed down at the brutes with my finger and mentally commanded for [Ethereal Blades] to cast. A couple of feet ahead of me a white point of light expanded out into a circle. Over two seconds it grew to the size of a garage door. Within it, intricate lines and symbols, glowed molten white.

The lizards hushed down, narrowed their eyes, looked up at me. They probably had never seen this circle of symbols before. They didn't know what was about to happen to them.

I chuckled. "Line right up boys. Enjoy the show."

With a whistle, the first hand-sized blade burst out of the circle. More and more followed, increased in rate. White ethereal blades rained down on them. They clanged against the ground, pierced their bodies.

After five seconds the blades vanished, but the damage remained. Blood poured out of their nasty gashes. A few that got a blade between the eyes keeled over and died right on the spot.

[Essence gained: 231; 248; 260]

I grinned. "Ho, ho. Now we're cooking with gas."

They wailed and they screamed, rushed about the area in a mad panic. Many tripped and fell. Many died, and I was happy for it. That'd teach them for trying to eat me. They were going to come to fear and respect me.

I used [Iron Shape] to sharpen the bottom of the round shield into a sharp edge. While many had fled back to the water, the ones that remained were either dead, or dying. I jumped to the tree and climbed down. Using the sharp edge of my shield I finished off the ones crawling away. These bastards picked a fight with the wrong man.

[Essence gained: 225; 236; 230; 341; 291]