While the effects of the siphon spell were still running, a spell that temporarily supplements the user’s body with energy taken from another, and the thug leader paralysed now was a perfect time to punish the monster and practice one of my former signature spells. I pushed the leader and his rigid body crashed to the floor. Behind his eyes, I could see the terror set in and I felt a dormant piece of me smile. I knelt and placed my hands over his heart and began the ritual. I concentrated on pulling every ounce of his energy to a single point. The blood, the mana, the bioelectricity of the nervous system and brain, all to the centre point of his chest and began the crystallisation process. The leader’s skin grew pale, his eyes lost their sheen and his breathing came to a slow stop. A small lump began to form in the leader’s chest as the crystal grew, eventually piercing through the skin, its green murky sheen visible between the leader’s open vest. My first ‘Soul Stone’ of this new world. Not a particular habit I would like to indulge in often anymore but one perfect to help repurpose trash like this scumbag. Technically speaking it isn’t his soul, not like his consciousness or anything. The man is now dead, this merely contains his energy, experience and knowledge everything that made him up minus the personality and sentience. Finishing the ritual took around a minute due to the man’s less than stellar mana. He may have beaten me to near death but there was a reason he was only leading a small band of thugs with his skills rather than anything more prestigious. I plucked the finished stone from the man’s chest, wiped any residue off onto his vest and began walking towards the exit to go check on mother. On my way I realised that should she see the stone she would undoubtedly have even more questions and most likely take it from me so despite the idea being truly detestable I placed the stone in my mouth, closed my eyes and swallowed it whole, washing it down with a handful of snow to try and cleanse my pallet. Rounding the tent I could see a thin figure hobbling towards me, both of us freezing upon sight of the other and then breaking into as fast a run as we could upon recognition. Mother! Before I could feel her embrace however my siphon spell ran its course and all of the pain and agony hit me at once. As I fell forward and my vision faded I heard my mother shout “Gwynedd! Hold on!”.