What Milo wanted the most is to get back to experimenting with the runes. But he hadn't had any food or water since arriving into this world, and he suspected that starving to death might impede his studies. Also, he needed to explore his surroundings and turn the creepy abandoned tower into something habitable.
Looking around the room, Milo found a small dusty cauldron next to the fireplace, and a few intact kitchen utensils scattered among the trash on the floor. There was a moldy block of cheese on the otherwise empty food shelves, and Milo felt hungry enough to reach for it, but then a mouse poked its head out of the hole in the middle, hissing threateningly. Not willing to take his chances with the fearsome beast, he continued exploring the room.
The room showed signs of an old battle. Milo picked up an overturned chair with several arrows stuck in its back. He pulled out the arrows and moved the chair next to the fireplace - cozy. He examined the claw marks that left deep cuts in the stones of the wall and the ceiling - no way an ordinary animal has left those. An abnormally large round shield was broken into three pieces, and he collected them in case he can figure out how to repair it later. He found a rusty dagger wedged between the bricks, pinning a piece of bloody cloth to the wall. A skeletal hand was still grasping its handle.
"Hey, Chuck, did you drop something?" asked Milo, pointing at the hand.
"Nah, mate, this ain't mine," said Chuck with sadness in his voice. "I actually haven't seen the rest of my body since the day of the attack. I miss my old bones."
"Aww. Don't worry, buddy, we'll find you your bones, how far away can they be." Milo mentally added that to his todo list.
He cleaned up the room until it started to feel pretty comfortable. The trash went into a heap next to the fireplace, to feed the fire. He placed a wooden bowl and the utencils next to the food shelves, where he decided will be his kitchen area. He moved a large old barrel next to the chair, it would serve as his table for now. He unloaded the journals and textbooks from his backpack onto a windowsill - a makeshift bookshelf. He cleaned up most of the spider webs, except for one in the corner, which he kept for ambiance.
He looked at his new living room in satisfaction, packed the dagger into his backpack, grabbed the cauldron, took his staff, and went outside.
He walked a few steps away from the tower, surveying the new world he was in. Given how his first day went, he didn't expect he would have a lot of time for staring at things in wonder, so he took the opportunity to enjoy it while he could.
The tower stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. A small stream ran past the tower, cascading over the edge. The clearing around the tower was surrounded by dense jungle, snowy mountain peaks rose on the horizon beyond the trees. A narrow, overgrown path led from the tower deeper into the jungle. Looking down the shore, Milo saw a small coastal town in the distance, with several ships docked in the bay.
Several goblin tents were set up at the edge clearing, and Milo watched goblins frolicking around them - swimming in the stream, wrestling, dancing around the fire, a few formed a hunting party and chased something that looked like an oversized raccoon covered in colorful feathers. He noticed a lot more goblins than the group he initially met, apparently not everyone participated in the summoning ritual. An elderly couple observed a bunch of adorable kids - a goblin kindergarten?
Milo headed towards the stream, where he cleaned his cauldron (upstream from the swimming goblins, of course), and filled it with water. Through the crystal clear water, Milo saw several large fish, and started thinking of a way to capture them.
He could turn to the goblins for help, but why deplete the uncertain amount of goodwill he had with his new minions, if he could solve the problem himself?
He thought about attempting to fashion his shirt into a net, or making a primitive spear by attaching a stick to one of the arrows he found. That's what a rugged adventurer would do. But who was he kidding, he was never an outdoorsy survivalist-type. In fact, he studiously avoided all the places that weren't within reach of a good cup of coffee and a strong wifi signal. Now he was beginning to regret it.
"No!" muttered Milo. "It doesn't matter. I'm a wizard now! If I play my cards right, I'll never have to use any manual labor for the rest of my life."
He lifted his staff, and activated the momentum rune, concentrating on the fish. He attempted to angle the spell such that the fish would fly out of the stream right into his hands, but, instead, it propelled a rock from the bottom of the stream right at Milo's head, barely missing him. Aiming at the fast moving targets turned out to be much more difficult than he expected.
"What's the matter, dark overlord?" he heard Climon's voice behind him. "Can't catch a fish? Yet I clearly recall you raising a horde of undead orcs just to catch you a chicken for breakfast. Because, and I quote, 'you weren't going to debase yourself by touching any bird less noble than a bald eagle'."
"Well, I did't say anything about the fish, did I?" grumbled Milo, "As far as I'm concerned, that particular fish is sufficiently noble for my purposes."
He lowered the tip of his staff into the water, and activated the force rune, expanding the orb of intangible force around it. As soon as a few fish entered the area of effect, he immediately solidified the force field, trapping them in place. Now, he could take his time to aim the momentum rune at each fish, and apply the desired velocity to them. It was difficult and draining to control two runes at the same time, but the result was worth the effort - Milo deactivated the force field, and the fish rocketed from the stream right into his hands.
He didn't even attempt to hide his triumphant grin from Climon.
"Overlord is making fish fall from the sky!" a goblin child was pointing at him, mouth agape in wonder. Other kids have quickly joined Milo's audience.
"He's making it rain fish!"
"Grandma Willow, Grandma Willow! Look, a miracle! Can I eat it?"
"Yeah! We want to eat a miracle, Grandma!"
An elderly goblin slowly stood up and trudged past the kids towards Milo.
"Ah, I see, I see. Overlord has defeated the fish!" said grandma, smiling approvingly. "Glorious battle, milord, as always. Does Overlord wish to trade?"
"Trade?" Milo looked at her curiously.
"Trade!" she confirmed. "You give us fish, we give you shinies!" Grandma Willow has opened a small pouch hanging around her neck, and showed the contents to Milo.
Inside, Milo saw several small, angular crystals, glowing with faint blue color. They looked like miniature versions of the crystal embedded into the top of his staff. As he reached to pick one up, he felt it emanate the same energy that coursed through the staff.
"Wow. What do these crystals do?"
"The shinies? Oh, they glow in the dark, of course! Brave young goblins go deep into the caves to gather them, so we can trade!"
Milo spent the next several minutes catching as much fish as he could, until he started running out of mana and feeling woozy again. He put a couple of fish into his cauldron, for breakfast. He traded the rest for two mysterious crystals, each about the size of a paperclip.
"Thank you, Dark Overlord!" said Grandma Willow. "Trade more tomorrow?"
"Definitely," said Milo.
He examined the crystals on his way back to the tower. Trying to manipulate the mana inside had no effect, he felt no control over it. When he tried pushing more mana into the crystal, it vibrated slightly, shined with a bright blue light, and instantly got very hot, burning his hand.
"Ouch!" He dropped the crystal onto the ground. He waited several minutes, hoping the glow and the heat will subside enough for him to be able to pick it up again. But that was happening very slowly, he thought it would take several hours for the crystal to radiate the energy he just put into it. "Gotta be careful with overcharging the crystals, got it."
To cool down the crystal, he attempted to do the opposite of what he just done. He carefully drew mana from the crystal, and sensed the energy pour into his body, refilling a large portion of what he just spent capturing fish. The glow quickly diminished, and, when the last drop of mana has left the crystal, it shattered, crumbling into dust.
Huh. Mana batteries! That will be useful.
He returned to the tower, and cooked the most delicious fish stew he ever ate in his life.
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