Alexander knocked on the open door to Susan's office.

  “Come in Alexander. Close the door and have a seat."

  He did so and Susan smiled up at him and asked, “So tell me, do we have some new recruits?”

  “We do, two so far and maybe a third later this week. We will go ahead and start training tomorrow to get them integrated.”

  “That’s good! Though not quite good enough to avoid our current looming situation as you know.”

  “Of course.”

  “So tell me about our new hires and how the interviews went.”

  Alexander briefly went over Jerry and his mediocre qualities that perfectly matched the profile for entry level employees that would stick around for approximately one year. Susan nodded her head along and then he moved to Ridley's interview. He didn’t realize how genuinely concerned he became as he talked about needing to educate her about the cost of living and establishing work history for her future career.

  “Color me impressed. You have found a mentee, and it seems like a role you might very well thrive in. This is exactly the development I have been looking for in you.”

  “Well, thank you. That means a lot to me.”

  “A quick question Alexander. Has there been anything going on in your personal life outside of work?”

  He hesitated before answering, “A few things… why do you ask?”

  “Your composure is different. You seem... less tense."

  Alexander stiffened at the compliment.

  "It seems like a good thing." Susan continued. "I was worried at first that adding to your plate would make you more rigid and stressed, but I have been pleasantly surprised. Is it a hobby? A girl? A... prescription?”

  “I would say a hobby…” He sifted his mind to provide an answer that wasn’t geeky sounding. “I have taken up scavenger hunting of sorts. For example I went to the state park yesterday and found a crystal rock formation. Later today I am going to a river to find more types of rocks. It’s been a unique kind of challenge that, as a side benefit, gets me outdoors a bit more often. Which I have missed.” As he said it he realized everything was quite conveniently true.

  “Well the results are obvious enough for me to see. I think you have found something to invest your downtime in and recharge. I hope you keep finding joy in it.”

  Alexander froze. Was he enjoying this… hobby, so much so that it had changed his disposition at work? Or was it just his change to his charisma?

  Susan interrupted his introspection, “Alexander, I’d say you are well on your way to your promotion. I’m actually going to submit the paperwork.” She stood up and reached out her hand with a smile. “Congratulations.”

  Alexander stood up mirroring her. He felt dumbfounded. He grabbed her offered hand and shook it. “Thank you, I will do my best to live up to your expectations.”

  “See that you do, as I have a feeling it’s about to become quite the headache.”

  Alexander clocked out of work that day in high spirits. That morning he woke up energized and only had a few uncomfortable bruises. To his shock and relief, he had thought a hospital visit would have been necessary.

  He really had enjoyed talking to Ridley and helping her find focus. Seeing as he had even been encouraged by his boss to continue his pursuit of… not Wizardry, but metaphysical energy, he happily moved on to his next scheduled adventure... chore.

  He got into his car and pulled out his notepad. He flipped to the coordinates… and they were gone. He flipped through his notepad again and realized he had torn out a page… a page he had handed to Ridley.

  He flipped to her basic information and called the number, which he just recalled was in fact her mother's phone number. It rang once and went to voicemail. He proceeded to leave a message in a rather stiff tone of voice. More like he was authoring a letter than asking her if her daughter could in fact not pay attention to the numbers on the back of a piece of paper.

  “Drats.” He swore.

  He felt terrible at the prospect of sending Ridley into harm's way should she be curious enough to investigate. The answer was unfortunately simple, he needed to clear out any hazards he found at the locations of interest.

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  Alexander pulled up to the side of the road and parked with his emergency lights on. Popping his trunk he grabbed a pack of clothes and proceeded to put on his camouflage shirt and pants before stomping towards the Malatow River. He was just downstream from the city and he knew this might get messy. Also he wanted the option to hide as the evening sun started setting. He had black gloves on, but restrained himself from picking up any trash he found washed onto the riverbed. Maybe he could submit this area as a prime location for volunteer work to a local Boy Scout troop.

  Alexander hadn’t been able to spy any street signs or defining landmarks on the zoomed location the podium had shown him. Instead he had needed to use a recent topographical map to identify a portion of the river from a very distinctive cut bank, it was attached to what was the beginnings of a small river peninsula. As he approached he made out the cliff formed by erosion, the lowest part of which hung outwards making a little half dome that would erode further every time the water level would rise. Alexander stared at the location to try and make out anything unusual in the dimming light. There was an area that felt… unpleasant as he surveyed the river bed. As he did a quest appeared.

  ^

  New Quest!

  Where Evil Grows

  Objective: Find 3 sources of dark energy in the surrounding area.

  Quest rewards:

  -750 xp

  -5 silver

  -Novice Wizard’s Cape

  If Alexander was a betting man—which he very distinctly was not—he would bet that the area he was scrutinizing was the best place to start his search.

  They light of the day was fading fast so if there was a man-made trail he was unable to find it. A small game trail was the best he could do trying and make decent time down to the river. As he approached he moved as quietly as possible remembering the hazards of the day before.

  ^

  You have gained a level in the skill stealth!

  Stealth level 3

  You have 3 points to distribute to your stealth skill tree.

  He wondered if the fact he was wearing camouflage affected the likelihood of the level up. Alexander felt like he was a military veteran as he moved stealthily through the overgrowth like a soldier.

  Pop! pop! pop!

  “Ow!” Alexander yelled grabbing his neck where he was hit by several plastic bullets.

  He looked around and spotted a kid across the Creek waving at him.

  “Sorry mister, I thought you were a friend I was playing with!”

  Alexander didn’t get a good look at the kid before he ran off. Well, maybe I’m more amateurish than I thought.

  Remembering his commitment to looking at this skill while in relevant circumstances—Alexander paused his sneaking for a second—then looked at his stealth skill tree. He chose the option to be 5% more silent when walking bringing up his stealth while walking to 15.76%

  Not bad, not bad.

  He also really needed to look at the Tier 2 spells in Spell-casting, but the skill tree options were a bit more complex, so he couldn’t use it with half hearted instincts. Not only could you affect your overall spell-casting, there was also a sub-menu for each spell he knew. The more seriously he took this the more he hesitated on what to improve. Maybe he would call Ben and get his advice again before taking those steps.

  The advice of someone with video game experience will prove invaluable in the long run.

  Alexander shivered as he played that thought back in his mind.

  The woods approached the river peninsula. The steep sides would have proved impossible to climb down if not for a small section that had a slope down to the river bank with some vines for support. He navigated his way down with the confidence of one who has done a fair amount of bushwhacking. Despite most people's first impressions of Alexander, he was an experienced outdoorsmen. Some would even dare to say he had an adventurous spirit. In his subconscious Alexander knew he was suited to this work, but unfortunately his upbringing had conditioned him to put this set of skills in a far less valuable category.

  As he hit the riverbank he scanned his perimeter. It was growing dark and he didn’t want any surprises. The dry river peninsula had an odd give to it. It was thoroughly damp so he sunk with each step, but the surface was dry. He stalked forward to the center almost soundlessly. He knew he was close to the source he had been looking at from up hill.

  Alexander didn’t like the idea of it, but he tried to extend his senses in a similar way that he had first stretched his shield—or a more palatable way for Alexander to think of it—he tuned in to his instincts to locate the source of the unpleasant feeling. As he did so he could feel a warmth in his chest beating to the same rhythm as his heart. Trying something based on this feeling, he tried to flick out his mana at the same rhythm. As he matched pace with his heart he felt not one, but three nearby energies. One was especially unpleasant, but the first source was but twenty-five feet to his left.

  ^

  You have taught yourself a spell without the need of a spell book.

  You have learned: Detect Magic

  Reward:

  -500 xp

  Well now, here was an interesting turn of events. If he could think of other creative ways to use his magic he essentially was without limit to what he might be able to learn. He trudged through the damp earth beside the creek toward the massive source of energy and found a boulder. A little icon appeared over it that read one forward-slash three. It likely meant one of three rather than one-third. So that meant that source number one was found. Alexander took pleasure in the fact that he effectively now had both a wide range and short range radar for his much needed magical resources.

  That feeling quickly abated as he approached—what appeared to be—a corpse.