Two hundred and twentyAlicethree. That was how many bolts I could fire before I ran out of mana. I had been using dozens. I could have been using two hundred. The trees had been right, the rabbit really did have the strength of a rank 3. If I had known how to control my mana, or had known that I had it, I would have stood a chance.


    Or not. The rabbit had been controlling multiple types of mana, and I didn’t know how to control this many bolts. Could I just use them the same way as before? That seemed a waste. So many bolts just to deal with a single enemy seemed…impractical.


    Then there was the fact that bolts could combine into a single better bolt. The bolts I had conjured when I was fighting the fish had been stronger and faster. And it only had like three bolts worth of mana inside it. That seemed like a weapon more suited to a Rank 3.


    Perhaps that comrade of Oak’s would not have been injured if I had used it. If I had not used a shield and instead fired a bolt at the fish. I couldn’t even blame my lack of knowledge. I had known that I could conjure stronger bolts.


    But when the moment came for me to actually use my mana, I had used it to conjure a shield. That had been my first response. To protect instead of kill. But if I had just killed the enemy, I would not have had to protect. Looking at the amount of mana I had, I could confidently say that I could have killed the big fish before it could have killed the man.


    That man would still have his leg.


    I knew I wasn’t to blame. That much was obvious even to me. But that did not mean that I had no fault in the matter. The spell that failed was mine. The decision to protect instead of kill had been mine too. I should not have tried to use his suffering as base. A battle was not a place to try out a new spell.


    I had failed because I wasn’t prepared enough and because I didn’t know enough.


    The time for staying back and hoping that things would pass had gone. Story magic had made it clear that it wouldn’t leave me alone. I would have to cope with that. I needed to prepare, and I needed to change how it had worked.


    Waiting for things to happen wouldn’t work. I would have to seek them out. Even if it pained me to put myself at risk like this. But it would be better if I sought the Adventurer’s Guild out instead of randomly encountering the head unprepared.


    The lights in the room flickered. A strange thing since there weren’t any lights in the room. The office was lit by the same barely present light that was common under this lake. I looked around, a bit alarmed as I wondered what had occurred.


    I had just been thinking of Story magic. That couldn’t have gotten it to do something, right?


    The lights in the room flickered again. Oh, shit. I was right. What was the magic up to now? Did it like me taking charge or was it against it?


    The lights flickered again. This time, it came with a notification.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Story Magic is interested.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I gulped. Story magic was interested. That was…something. Was it a good thing? Would it support it? Or would I find myself in very strange situations because it wanted to make things even more interesting.


    Still, it was the first time it had actually responded to my thoughts. What had the Monarch of Justice said?


    I needed to make a goal. A goal the magic would support, something I could accept it supporting. For it would force me towards it for the rest of my life. But otherwise it would just make me encounter random things it thought were interesting.


    I was already overwhelmed with what I had. If Story magic added even more, I would not be able to keep. And yet it did not seem like something that it would understand. The Monarch had already warned me that it would do something like this. I had little choice but to follow his instructions.


    And now it had actually shown an interest in something. In me taking charge and getting involved in the local politics before it forced me to do so. I still didn’t have a goal in mind. I didn’t even know where to start.


    But now I knew what to do next. The Adventurer’s Guild had a quest to kill some fish. I had just completed it. Should I not go collect my reward?


    Wait. Did I collect proof? Oh fuck, I had not thought of proving that I had killed it. Perhaps Oak had?


    I stepped out of the office, heading back into the room. Finding Oak was easy. Getting to him was not. There was a crowd of people surrounding him, looking eager to get to him. As soon as I began approaching him, the crowd reduced.


    Or rather, most of it turned around and approached me.


    “Can I help you?” I asked them. The words were enough for the entire crowd to pay attention to me.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    “Is it true?” one of them asked. A girl with all of her arms and legs, though she seemed to have plenty of scars running across her skin.


    “What is?” I asked, though I had a pretty good idea. The people gathered seemed to all have scars and injuries of some sort. And were carrying weapons. This was the group of people that had been hunting for the fish.


    “Did you kill the fish?” Another man asked. This one was a giant, towering over us as he stared down at me. I stared back.


    “Yes, I did. Is there a problem?” I asked, calling on my mana. That action alone was enough for them to take a step back. The eyes of the crowd were glued to my mana cloak, as if they could not believe what they were seeing.


    “Rank 3?” the girl exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock. I was surprised she could tell, though I suppose a hunter would have sharp senses. That sounded like something that would help out there.


    “Yes.” I replied. “I had an acquaintance with Oak and decided to help him out.” That should get them off his back. And make it seem like I did not need money. A Rank 3 not having money in a place like this would be considered strange.


    A person with power was supposed to be rich. That was expected by the common people. And if said person wasn’t rich, then was their power actually real?


    The girl shared a look with the giant man. Then she turned to me. “I thank you for your service, my lord. Could you perhaps tell us where you killed them? The things are a menace. If even one remains they may become a threat to us again.”


    That was polite. I wasn’t sure if she was being sincere, or she wanted to confirm my power.


    “A good idea, miss…?” I replied.


    “Alice,” she replied.


    “Well Miss Alice, it so happens that I did forget to collect proof of my killing. I am not used to such things you see.” I replied.


    Oak’s eyes widened behind the crowd, and he looked like he wanted to say something.


    Miss Alice beat him to it. “Well then, I am sure we shall all feel very safe with you among us, my lord.”


    “Yes. Yes, very safe.” the giant agreed. Alice threw him an annoyed glance. The giant was apparently not welcome to speak around here. I wondered why.


    Oak looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut. The group moved to leave. I followed. A part of me wondered if just leaving like this was a good idea, but it was literally just ten minutes away. And I still had my knife.


    What else was there to even take?


    The journey was short. The group moved even faster than Oak’s, and I noticed that they were quite a bit more powerful. The girl and the giant were both Rank 2, if I hadn’t guessed wrong. Had they awakened their mana too?


    That seemed likely. Increasing your power without awakening mana was possible, but very difficult. After all, you had to fight and kill beasts with mana to do it.


    But if they were hunters, it was possible they could manage it. Well, I would find out eventually.


    The seaweed area was the same. The fish had not returned yet. At least there did not seem to be any poison fish in sight. Perhaps I had killed the mother?


    Did fish have fathers? I wasn’t sure how fish reproduce. Hmm, they laid eggs, didn’t they?


    The group reached the place where the battle had taken place, and then stopped. Not just because of the giant body that lay on the ground. That was not the only thing that drew attention.


    Another fish, even larger, stood beside it, whining sadly. The giant fish hadn’t noticed us yet. I took my chance. Calling on my mana, I conjured a bolt. And then poured mana into it. Five, no, ten times what I usually did. Then I told it to track the fish.


    The bolt shot through the water faster than any shaping I had used before. The fish did not have time to react. Even I didn’t. The bolt went right through it, the fish’s body literally dissolving into the darkness as it passed through. And then it hit the seabed, turned around and headed back to the fish.


    I had told it to track it, I suppose. And it clearly wasn’t out of mana yet. I had put too much in. I sent a bit of mana towards it, telling it to come back. Then I turned towards the girl.


    “Well, Miss Alice, it would seem that you were right. There were more of these bloody fish around.”


    The girl looked at the fish and gulped. “Yes, my lord, it would seem so. Thank you for dealing with it. I am sure we are all very grateful.”


    “Hmm, fish big but not that strong.” the giant said. The girl kicked his ankles. The giant looked down as if wondering what had struck him.


    I could barely contain my laughter. But I did notice things. I hadn’t really been paying as much attention to stuff before, too busy trying to deal with my own troubles.


    But if I was going to participate in the local politics, then that would have to change. I would have to get to know the people around here. Oak wasn’t very useful when it came to the Guilds. What about this girl?


    I needed to find out how much they would know, and if they were the kind to give real information. Or use me to gain some points with whatever Guild paid them.


    The girl was intelligent, and clearly the leader. The giant was another leader, and I could see that their groups were separate. But not enemies. The two were cooperating too much for that to be so. If I were to bet, I would say that the girl was the one that took the initiative and dragged the giant into it.


    The big guy wasn’t unintelligent either. Oh, his way of speaking made him out to be an idiot. But he had been able to tell that the fish wasn’t that strong. I had to agree with him. That bolt had less than a tenth of my mana. Yes, I had caught the fish unprepared, but that should not have let me kill it so easily. The thing was slow too.


    The fish was weak without its poison to rely on.


    “Tell me,” I began. “Would you be so kind as to help me get these to the Adventurer’s Guild? I hear that they have a reward on these things and I would like to claim it..”


    This gave me a chance to get information out of them.


    Asking about the Guild I was walking towards would be expected. This was just free information that would not raise suspicions. And if the Head of the Adventurer’s Guild did appear, well I would deal with it then.


    And there really was a lot to carry. There were two giant fish now.