《The Summoner's Call》


 Prologue

    xxx


    In a time, long forgotten by Gods, a battle was fought.


    A man, on the brink of death, drags himself on the ground.


    A demon, once the man''s friend, stands at his front.


    A sea of corpses surrounds them both. The man''s loved ones.


    He was not strong enough, to save even one.


    The demon mocks him. Dares the man to retaliate again.


    For the demon of nothing is afraid of.


    As everyone he once knew, lies dead now. In despair, the man fell.


    His hesitation cost him everything. Of his mercy, this is the price.


    Pain floods his heart. And of primordial hatred is tainted his soul.


    The man cried. The man screamed.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The man Called.


    With his emotions, raw mana was unleashed.


    For the evilest of fates to befall his once friend.


    For endless torture to punish the demon.


    For his enemy to meet despair, to meet true fear.


    The man¡äs soul was shredded to pieces.


    But as it happened he smiled, for his Call, was answered.


    Eternal oblivion, the man embraced.


    For in life for him nothing is left.


    He died and the demon understood.


    Wild magic, as his last resort, used the man.


    This magic was never done before.


    A blinding blue light dimmed the stars.


    An infinite shadow darkened the sky.


    From the abyss, something crept out.


    And through reality itself, his way tore out.


    Standing between the corpse and the demon, a youth in black with his eyes closed stood.


    At shoulder level, the youth lifted his arms. A long breath he took.


    His eyes burst open and with a devilish smile, the youth greeted the world.


    ''A beautiful piece of magic I have to admit. I think I have fallen in love.''


    In a pleasant voice, Evil Incarnate spoke.


    Black eyes the demon saw, and he knew, for him, peace will never be found.


    From emotions, magic is created.


    From hatred and despair, Summoning was born.


    xxx


    - Indecipherable script written in an unknown language.


    Found inside a clay vase in a desert.

 Chapter 1 (Book 1: The Great Wild)

    "Ha! You don''t know anything about being pretentious, you damn drunkard!" Interrupted the also drunk and lively Harry. "I believe, there isn''t a more pretentious person than someone who calls himself a hero." Said Harry, earning a glare from his friend Ars in the process.


    This small talk had been going since early in the morning. Arguing non-stop about different things; from whether the planet is plane, till what is pretentious or what isn''t, with live side-commentaries from other drunks.


    I''m sure I can¡¯t talk for that long of a while. These guys must have endless stamina, that or something related, at least.


    Of course, I am no one to criticize what they are doing because I was the one that suggested talking about most of these topics in the first place. Listening attentively to their arguments is the least that I could do for them.


    Also, discussions like this happen very often in this place, and indeed, I am the cause of these every time.


    I can''t help it. I have lots of questions, and people willing to answer them are scarce in my life.


    These drunkards and the rare, few travelers that I meet in the tavern are the only people bored enough, or with really so many problems that are willing to talk and waste their time with an eight years old kid while getting lost in beer. Bad stuff, by the way. I don''t know how they can guzzle so many mugs of it. I have been coming here for about three years now, there have been plenty of opportunities to taste it.


    "Hey, Naaran!" Harry called at me. I faced him, trying to not seem puzzled because I haven''t been following the conversation since a while ago. "You believe me, right?" He asked hopefully.


    Not really, I don''t believe much of what they tell me anymore. Like some drunkard once said: experience is a harsh mistress.


    "I¡¯m not sure," I replied with a shrug.


    "Don''t believe that snake! I know a lot more! Hiccup." Shrieked Ars.


    Worry not, Ars, I don''t believe in either of you.


    "Shut up! I know because I was once a teacher!" Remarked Harry. "I have known a lot of pretentious individuals. Ha, these conceited people didn''t stop talking about themselves. All of them pretended that they were something that they weren''t. Accusing these people of their shittiness is useless, they only lie and lie and end up believing their own lies, and they do it only for the money! No wait, they do it to increase their self-confidence... I think? Yes." By the end of his tirade, Harry wasn''t so sure of himself anymore.


    But seriously Harry, I think that you are the only one that just thinks of making money all day. Can¡¯t blame him, though, for almost every adult I know is kinda similar. Doesn''t'' helps that most adults I know are drunkards.


    Like always at this point, the conversation has devolved so much that these drunks just start spouting pure nonsense.


    "Are you crazy dude?" Ars asked intensely, his gaze somewhat unhinged. "I don''t even know if we are still talking about the same thing?" He shook his head. "I know this because I learned it in the academy. Any nobody can''t go to an academy, you know? What. Do. You. Even. Know!"


    My experience lets me know that this is the end of the conversation, so I take the edges of the high chair I''m sitting on, and jump back closer to the bar a few times. I don''t want to get caught in what comes next.


    "Again with your ''I went to the academy'' rubbish!" Cried Harry while standing up.


    "Haaa! You are just jealous of my maaany achievements, stupid fool!" Ars laughed.


    Harry put down the drama and launched himself at Ars. Tackling him in a bear hug, both of them fell and started rolling on the floor while cursing and shouting at each other.


    The other drunkards in the group started cheering for their favorite.


    "Stand up Ars!", "He is almost yours, Harry!", "Kiss him!", "C''mon! I bet good money on you! Don''t let me down if you know what is good for you!", "Rent a room", and "Fight! Fight! Fight!" are a few examples of what was being shouted.


    I reckon that some of them come only to see the almost daily fights in here. I find it funny that this always happens in the morning, unlike in the stories I have read. As this happens almost every day, I suspect that they have everything choreographed! Maybe even someone controls the bets. If not, I feel like I should do it.


    While watching the fact, I idly wonder who will win this time. The score so far is 20 victories for Harry, 17 for Ars, and 32 draws. They are very even.


    This feels like it will be a good day. A nice talk and a tavern brawl to begin the day, it looks promising so far!


    Seeing them like that, I think that it''s interesting. They fight a lot more often than me and the kids of the neighborhood and for even pettier thin-


    A scream draws my attention back to the fight.


    "Don''t bite me, you damned cannibal! Fight like a man!" Harry shouted while kicking Ars between the legs.


    Ars stopped biting him in the shoulder to start pulling Harry''s hair with all his strength; all while getting his hand into a lower position to protect his manly weakness.


    Lovely pair, cursing while screaming in pain and kicking each other with the intent of inflicting maximum pain. Truly good friends.


    Both of them are skinny. Ars has white skin and black hair. What I think is called a rectangular face and light brown eyes. Harry instead has tanned skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes. Harry is missing the upper part of his left ear. He has never said why it''s missing, but Ars joked that an angry ex-girlfriend tore it with a bite. I wonder if bites are a common occurrence among adult relationships?The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    They are very good friends, best friends even, I guess. Harry is easily angered and Ars is conceited like hell. They share everything, nice moments, bad moments, food, pain, and brushes, like right now, and even women, according to the stories that they have told me.


    A wide man stepped between them to stop the fight. It seems that this one is a draw.


    I am ever in wonder, drunkards and travelers in this tavern never use weapons while fighting, even if it''s a more serious problem. Classical fistfights are the only type of fight here, doesn''t matter what you are or what your powers are, if you fight, you use your fists. I have never heard of a spoken rule like that here, but they sure do follow it. I wonder if it is what I have heard is called a ''man''s pride'' or maybe ''who is longer'', I am not clear on what either of these means, though.


    I throw a glance at my surroundings. The tavern is small. It''s always clean, the owner has never been seen standing idle. There are ten circular tables and 8 chairs at each of them. Here only comes the same drunks of always, and me, plus the occasional traveler guest. Right now, there are 9 men, all in the same group; Harry and Ars among them, they have occupied two tables. I am sitting closer to the bar in one of the eight high chairs put along the bar.


    A curious thing, some would say, to see a kid of fewer than ten years in a tavern talking with morning drunks every day. I don''t agree with that, this is normal to me. I''m actually more curious about why these guys drink in the morning instead of in the night, or at least past noon. I asked the owner and he said that some questions are better to remain unanswered. Meh.


    Still, this is a fun place, and one of the very few sites in the entirety of this small town where I can get a breath and find some peace in the day. Here is very welcoming to everyone, even to me. The owner always invites me to a drink of milk every day. I find it very difficult to say no to a free meal so I have perfect punctuality and am always here for a few hours every morning since I had five.


    My attention is directed again to the lively and bruised duo. It seems that they have made peace because they are toasting and laughing again, their problems now a thing of the past.


    I yawn and jump off of the chair, unfortunately getting the scrutiny of everybody with my actions. "Guys, I''m leaving, have a busy day ahead of me"


    "Busy day?" Asked Harry. "Aren''t you going to go steal some coins, little devil?"


    How did he know!?


    Everyone started laughing out loud after glancing at me, which must have answered the question without a need for words.


    I snorted and clenched my fists, turning around to walk to the door. My apparent indignation becomes the trigger for more laughter. No need to stay here any longer and keep feeding their laughs. A half-smile escaped me as I opened the door.


    Exiting the tavern I am greeted by the loud noise of a busy town, children''s laughs and cries, and sounds of conversations everywhere. The town is not that small but it has a high population density, over 7,000 people according to Claire, the librarian.


    The town is named Erandel, an unremarkable settlement except for its closeness to the Great Wild. However, everyone here just calls it ''The town''. The closest settlement to this one is very far, crossing a pass in the mountains. We are a little isolated. Surrounded by mountains north, east, and west; and the Great Wild to the south but here has always been peaceful.


    Beautiful buildings marry the landscape, some with two or three floors of height, almost all made of stone. Some painted white, blue, or red in their majority.


    I started walking towards my destination, skillfully avoiding bumping into the people who fill the streets and make it difficult to advance. Despite my great mastery at evading fools in the street, I end up colliding with a very round man.


    I couldn''t help but grab at his robe to avoid falling back.


    "Oh, I''m sorry mister." I quickly apologized along giving him a slight nod before trying to walk away.


    "Wait!" The man shouted, grabbing my shoulder and turning me back. "Sorry, you say? I won''t fall for it kid, let me make sure that you didn''t take anything that is not your business." Said the man while keeping a steely hold on my shoulder with one hand, and searching his pockets with the other.


    "I knew it!" He offered me his open palm after half a minute, waiting for something.


    I consider licking his hand to see his reaction but reconsider and put a pair of silver coins in his waiting hand with a defeated sigh.


    "Hmpf, I swear pickpocketers are becoming more daring as of late." He glares at me and I feel a pressure bear into me, fixing me to the spot while I find it hard to breathe. "In that brief moment, you managed to open my pocket, take the coins and close the pocket again." He mumbled and shook his head as he walked away.


    Suddenly I could breathe normally again. I lowered my head a little and stared at the ground.


    When the fat man was finally out of sight my lips broke into a malicious grin.


    I rushed to a nearby alley, where there is no one around, and took out an item from the hidden pocket on the right side of my shorts¡ª the pocket is well hidden between the folds of fabric; the fact that my clothes are a little too big for me also helps¡ª.


    It''s evident that the man had never encountered someone as skilled as I am in the ancient art of relieving people from their possessions. I took a look at my new prize. A curious artifact greeted me, but I know what it is. You wrap it around your wrist, and it tells you the exact time of the day.


    A clock. A very expensive artifact that was invented by some foreign genius some years ago. So expensive a luxury that only wealthy mages or outrageously rich merchants can afford it.


    For a second my expression fell a little. Something like this would bring me a lot of trouble. But then, my countenance shifted abruptly to one of pure glee at my heavenly luck.


    Like I would care about trouble, ha! This thing will be sold before anyone realizes anything, and if not, then I can always hide it and deny everything. I know nothing, sir.


    The clock is a dull gray in color, almost dark gray. Not fancy nor remarkable, it is as wide as a fist and with a strap to adjust the size. But I wonder how to open it.


    "Open?" I asked the device and was met with silence. Snorting, I examined the device more closely. There are no obvious buttons on it.


    Leaning the device against my ear; I hear something.


    Tick-tack, tick-tack, tick-tack... Extremely faint noises coming from the device. The clock has a type of round form with straps at each side to tie at the wrist, it has a circular metal surface surrounded by a bigger metallic ring.


    I put my fingers over this ring and tried to spin it. My eyes went wide in surprise when the circular surface lifted itself while still attached to one extreme, and let me gawk at its contents.


    A white background, small numbers around the edge, and other numbers and letters in different locations; and a black stick moving in the same direction constantly is what I saw in its interior.


    One of the sticks was faster, larger, and slimmer than the other two, the second one moved after a short while and the last and wider hadn''t moved all this while. I don¡¯t remember the name of the sticks but I know that they tell the seconds, minutes, and hours respectively. After all, even though different, there is also a clock in the library, which until now I thought was the only one in the whole town.


    Pushing the circular cover down, the metallic ring-spun back and closed with a faint clank.


    The clock is very light, I wonder how tough it is. Shrugging, I lifted the edge of my shirt. Beneath, was a strip of cloth around my back and belly, very tightly pressed. I use it to hide small items. The clock will be difficult to sell even for a small price, I always had to be careful of not getting scammed or just simply robbed in broad daylight.


    Emptying my belly of air the cloth loosens enough as to put the clock in there, coldly pressed against my skin. The only way to know for sure that you haven''t been robbed blind is with something like this.


    I wonder how much time will pass until that fat guy realizes that something is missing. Well, it doesn''t matter.


    I went back to the main street by a different route and resumed my way.

 Chapter 2

    I arrived at the market. It was buzzing with activity.


    Some vendors were shouting to attract customers to sell their products. Others were bargaining or offering discounts. Stalls on the ground and in wood counters a common sight. Some sellers invited people to enter stores, only a few of those, though. Generally, items from stores are a little more expensive but they don''t sell or buy anything of poor quality. Well, most of the time they don''t.


    I am ignored by everyone, as they think I don''t have a single coin. They are wrong, I have coins. I earned them honestly, of course. Sometimes I find a coin on the ground and so.


    Although stealing is my way of life, I mostly steal food, and sometimes a few coins to buy clothes or candies. Truth to be told, I didn''t expect that the prize of today''s heist would be a clock and even less for it to be real.


    At first, I was gifted with a good deal of beatings, but with practice, I was able to steal without being caught. So, now is a win-win situation for everyone. If they don''t know that they have been robbed then they don''t get angry!


    I feel like laughing ominously like the villains from tales but that would raise a few eyebrows if done in the middle of a crowd. Better if no one knows when you are plotting something.


    I quickly left the market after buying something to eat. There was nothing of interest for me there; as the town is very isolated from the rest of the world, we almost don''t get travelers or visitors; and although the market and bazaar have some rare weapons, magic items, or artifacts, they seldom have something new or actually useful for me. I could try selling the clock, but I think it would be better to go hide it and sell it in a couple of weeks.


    I reached the central square of the town and moved closer to a big fountain until I was in front of it. A stone sculpture of a person was in the middle of the fountain. The sculpture was more clothes than man, he had an orb in one hand and was rising it in defiance above his head. The plate below read ''Lauren The Great Arch-Mage, First Great Mage of Erandel'' It seemed imposing.


    Great Mage is the title of the leader or ruler of Erandel. This guy died long ago but the current Great Mage is just the Second Great Mage. History is kind of my weak point.


    Glancing below the sculpture in the fountain I caught sight of my pitiful reflection.


    My name is Naaran. No last name or family name, my parents didn''t have one. It''s rare to have last names in this town, I think


    If I am too dirty I should rinse myself off. I took a moment to get a mindful look at myself.


    Of all my features, my shorter than average height was the first to catch my attention. I am a little short for an eight-year-old kid, but in fact, it doesn''t trouble me, being small has as many advantages as disadvantages. It''s just a couple of centimeters. It doesn''t bother me at all.


    I am skinny, more bone than meat, and with a slightly unhealthy vibe. One could say I am in shape, not even a gram of fat to be found in this tantalizing figure. Unfortunately, pale skin doesn''t help to disperse that unhealthy feeling neither my dirty hands and disheveled hair does. Well, I don''t like to comb my hair. I like it as it is.


    I have gray eyes, like some sort of ghost but less scary. I have dark eye bags and black straight disheveled hair. Right now I am wearing blue shorts and a... white shirt. It was white when I bought it. And finally, dark blue shoes without socks, but that is not a problem, sometimes I don''t use shoes at all.


    After having a look at the good old myself I start washing my arms, face, and hair with the water of the fountain. I know that the system that feeds the water to the fountain isn''t connected to the sewers, but I still hesitate a little. If I can lie, who said that others can''t too?


    Actually, I could clean myself¡ª with a hundred times more efficiency¡ª with a spell I learned long ago but I wash in the fountain as a reminder of all I have gone through. It reminds me of that day last year I got fed up so much from the orphanage that I ran away from it too.


    Shaking my head to disperse my mind of thoughts, jokes, and conspirations against me I finished washing and left.


    Today is a free day so I don''t have to attend the Lessons, so I can just go to the library for the rest of the day. I would use the shortcut of always, the one that goes through the alleys. The sides of the alleys are free of junk but still doesn''t have a nice smell.


    Turning left in a corner of the alley I didn''t see the blow coming until it was too late to parry, dodge, or even block it, and it sent me to the ground.


    Except it didn''t. It would have taken down any other kid, but I am not so helpless.


    In reality, although I didn''t manage to block the punch, even without noticing it, by sheer instinct, my reflexes kicked in and I did some little actions. Time didn''t slow down and neither my mind fastened as some travelers and drunkards acclaim it happens to them when they fight. That, I have never experienced.


    My fast reflexes¡ª born from my exorbitant talent(Oh, I wish)¡ª are all that I have to depend on. I managed to move my head slightly in diagonal to my left and back, lifting a bit my head, avoiding a hit in my right eye in exchange for one in the cheek. Not only my head but also my body moved back, and to crown it all I even jumped backward. It was a short jump.


    Doing everything that would diminish the force of the hit.


    I could do this even before I started to read the science and manuals about fighting from books that just collect dust in the library. I often did those moves before starting to read those topics by sheer instinct but I have improved a lot since I know the works and whys behind every one of these instinctive movements.


    Without stopping for more than a breath I counted six other brats apart of my assailant. For an instant, I think of drawing my knife or launching a spell but quickly discard these options. Better to not escalate things more than necessary, this is not the first time I fight with those brats.


    The best would be to either run or stay and kick their asses. They just can''t accept that when no magic is involved they are not my match. Unfortunately for them, I am feeling a little ruthless at this time so I will go ahead and grant their wish by giving them a beating.


    Berers, I think that was the name of the brat in front of me, who had barely retracted his outstretched arm while the others moved to try to surround me.


    You don''t have to be a genius to know that letting them do that would be bad. According to the bits of advice I have received and stories from drunk travelers in the tavern; when fighting multiple opponents you need to keep moving every moment, thus you can avoid giving them your back or flanks longer than strictly necessary. Trying to flank them yourself instead would be best.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    I snort and stop wasting time. Lunging forward to the closer of them, good little Berers, with a ferocious punch to the face that he received as if a kiss from his mother.


    They aren''t good fighters at all. Every one of them doing better than me in the lessons all these years but they have never put up a good physical fight against me.


    But they keep insisting. Their reasons for hating me are unclear. But I think is better this way, I would never be friends with some brainless shit like them. I don''t know if I am the cause of the problem or if it''s them. I don''t really care, it''s the way of the world and I''m fine with it.


    Darting past the now fallen Berers I turn back, now standing from where they came. I turned around because the glare of the Sun was annoying, but now that is their problem and my advantage.


    For me, there are still two options I could take at this point. To run at the place that I am going to or to stay and fight a little more. They have very bad luck.


    The six brats whose names I have never cared to remember were coming at me from the front. I advanced while sidestepping to my right twice, before doing it again faster but in the opposite direction. Then I took one of them by surprise with a kick to the crotch.


    "Ouchh!" He fell to the ground, rolling and grabbing his thingy as he hissed in pain.


    I didn''t hold back at all. Why would I?


    I smiled. When that kid fell, they all stopped their charge. I can see hesitation clearly written across their faces. I don''t blame them for that, I am very vicious in fights. It''s fun.


    From the start of the fight until now, barely nine or ten seconds have passed. Slow for experienced warriors but insanely fast to a bunch of kids like us.


    The realization that they completely failed to do whatever they wanted to accomplish dawning on them just now.


    Harry and Ars weren''t the only ones who participate in the fights at the tavern. I have won a fair amount and, naturally, I have lost a lot more. I know that I can hold my ground with drunkards, they stopped going easy on me when they realized how much of a bastard I can be, after all.


    The children turned around and started running with all their might while shouting a varied sort of things as if they were running from the end of the world. They shouted very different things, expressing their girly inner emotions, I even made out an ''Amazing, you saw it?'' and an ''I saw nothing, he''s fast!''


    "I will spare your lives this once," I said casually.


    I will let them escape this time. I am feeling magnanimous today. Bet that they don''t know that word. I know uncommon words, but they? they know nothing!


    Ha, they will see, if I catch them alone I will give them such a beating that their brains will start working.


    "Hmm." I rub my cheek. It hurts a lot less than it should have been if I didn¡¯t jump back.


    I kept walking across the alleys for a while more before I stepped again into the main street.


    A little bit after and almost at my destination a sudden shout startled me out of my thoughts. "Naaran!" A cheerful voice called my name.


    I turned to the owner of the voice and saw a familiar face.


    "What''s up?" I replied, avoiding saying her name because I don''t recall it, and it would be awkward to ask for it yet another time.


    Funny. I remember asking her what was her name a week ago but don¡¯t remember her name itself. It''s not to be annoying, it''s merely that I am bad at remembering names.


    This girl is my age. She has blonde hair and green eyes. She is wearing a very colorful and pretty green and blue dress. You can tell with one glance that it''s very expensive. She isn''t unaccompanied. A taller girl followed after her, who I think is her sister. Her age must be between thirteen or fifteen years old and her appearance is similar to her sister.


    I wonder why is she shouting to draw my attention. I rarely talk to her.


    Upon reaching me she took a moment to catch her breath. Such pitiful stamina, there wasn''t even a need to run because I stopped walking when I heard her.


    "Hey! are you okay?" She asked me.


    "I am fine."


    "I just heard from the boys that they fought with you."


    I raised an eyebrow but nodded.


    "They said... that you were a pitiful sight."


    I shrugged. "Being a miserable sight is like my job."


    The girl giggled. "Well, you aren''t hurt, right?"


    I smiled and said with mock contempt. "As if these flies could do more than annoy me a little."


    The big sister stepped forward.


    "Mph! You are always talking big words, you little runt." Her big sister interrupts to share her unwelcome opinion. "Aren''t you just a thief? Didn''t you run away from the only orphanage in the town and have to live in the streets? Something is wrong with your head." ''Didn''t he kill someone too?'' She muttered so quietly that it was a miracle that I heard it over the street noise.


    I decided to kept silent. Arguing about that would gain me naught.


    "Leave him alone!" My classmate said angrily at her big sister.


    As if incested by my lack of reaction the big sister continued. "Won''t you ever behave like a normal kid? Do you even care about what others think of you?"


    "Well, yes, but also no," I replied snarkily. "It''s only natural for me to boast like that, how could a brute like you ever fathom to comprehend my awesomeness." I shook my head, staring sadly at a random spot in the street ahead.


    Big sister glared at me but the younger one nodded her head in agreement with a big smile on her face. "You are so funny, I think you are the awesomest!"


    Although I am almost sure that such a word doesn''t exist, I like her way of thinking. She gets it.


    "Of cou-"


    "We don''t have time for this Dalia." Big sister interrupted my reply while grabbing her sisters'' hand.


    Oh, that is it! Diala. That was her name.


    The sisters raised an eyebrow as if guessing what I just thought by reading my expression.


    She took Dalia by the hand and started to move away. "Let me go!" Although Dalia tried to resist, her attempt was useless as she was easily dragged away. Sill, her sister stopped leaving. "Naaran!" Dalia shouted and her expression turned sad immediately after. "We are leaving with Papa today." Her eyes watering. "And he don''t listen!" She wept a little. "I don''t wanna leave my friends."


    Huh, so she considers me her friend?


    Her sister rolled her eyes. "Not everybody needs to know, Dalia, let''s go." She started walking again. Delia waved at me goodbye. I waved back awkwardly.


    "Take care, then!" I babbled as a farewell.


    They soon left my sight.


    I can count the times that I remember talking to her with the fingers of my hand. I would say that much isn''t enough to make us friends but whatever.


    I have friends. Not the kind that I would trust with a secret, though. Not even a little one. Well, okay. I don''t have real friends. I wouldn''t even give these friends my back for a second but that is different. We are used to pranks and teasing, standing in the other''s back without his awareness and suddenly covering his head and face with a cloth to give him a beating between everyone. Boys'' normal stuff.


    Yet again I resumed my walk. This one has been a longer walk than usual.


    What should I read next once I get to the library? Yesterday I just finished reading a book that talked about some enchanted places that exist around the world. They have many names, called The Laberynths by the people around here, Dungeons in others, and even Sanctuaries in another continent.


    In these places are high concentrations of mana and creatures are created and born in there. Although people think that these places are the fruits of divine intervention, the book''s author thought otherwise. He theorized that these places are living creatures, maybe even sentient. There are a lot of different labyrinths, some don''t even resemble caves but completely different ecosystems. The forms that they are organized and the treasures found in there seem especially made to lure people inside, and if that is not scary enough there have been records of labyrinths suddenly trapping people inside.


    Why would someone go underground to such a place to kill monsters? According to the book, the treasures are difficult to find but danger is guaranteed in every one of them. If you want to sell the corpse or something wouldn''t be better to go kill monsters in a normal mountain or forest?


    We have the Great Wild just a few kilometers away. It has never been really explored, and there are lots of unknown creatures roaming inside. Its size is enormous though but at least it''s not underground. Entrances to labyrinths aren''t necessarily on the side of mountains. They just are found there more frequently. Now that I think about it I have never heard of a Laberynth being found inside the Great Wild by the few lucky survivors that have escaped it.


    The Great Wild is a mythical forest. In there, monsters don''t spawn and treasures are just natural resources. Its size when compared with a labyrinth is like a moon and an ant.


    So, it''s possible for there to be undiscovered laberynths inside the Great Wild. Even after thousands of years. But what if the Great Wild is a Labyrinth by itself? I pause my stride for a second but continue as if nothing happened.


    That line of thought I will leave for another time, for now, I have arrived at the library.

 Chapter 3

    The library was one of the biggest buildings in town. It wasn''t not painted but the material was a bright white color, like all of the buildings near the center of the town. The other buildings, if not white, were painted red or blue.


    The two huge doors seemed like what I imagine city gates look like. The only way to enter was by climbing a wide stair of twenty steps. With that size, it must be bothersome to open and close these doors, though. They always stayed open at this hour. Inside, it''s a very big place, and anyone can enter almost every part.


    The only section I couldn''t accede was the third floor. There was nothing interesting there, I checked. You need to be an adult to go up there. It''s not a problem for me because on the floors below there are plenty of books I have yet to read.


    Although it was normal for me to come here almost every day, sometimes I also play with other street boys to pass the time, it just happens that most of the time I like reading.


    The library is a quiet place, people often comes only when they need something and not for another reason. They could come to use the training grounds but for that exist better and bigger options elsewhere.


    Once inside the library, I moved directly to the left and into a hallway. When I reached it I exhaled in relief.


    "Not so fast." Claire''s voice greeted me from behind. I thought that she didn''t notice me since she was busy at the counter that faces the entrance and I was careful to make no sound.


    I turned back with a charming smile.


    "Morning Claire."


    Claire was a tall, dark-haired, olive-skinned woman. Her eyes light brown in color. She likes to wear black robes while working in the library.


    "That smile of yours. Filled with mischief." She shook her head and crossed her arms.


    I replied nothing. Sometimes silence is the best answer. A lesson learned after so many experiences in my short life.


    "Huh, you also smell awful." She commented.


    Part of my charms. I haven''t taken a real bath in a couple of days. Truth be told people avoids me more if I am smelly and in consequence, I have fewer problems. Also, I am not that dirty, you need to stand very close to me to get the smell.


    "Haven''t you already mastered Clean? It has been more than a year since I taught it to you. Why don''t you use it regularly? You really are a hopeless case." Claire sighed, exhasperated.


    Indeed I have mastered it, it''s been a while since I am able to instant-cast it.


    "Have you been practicing enough lately?" She asked me.


    "Yes, I have, Claire," I replied sheepishly.


    "I have heard that your grades in the lessons are still the worst among your class. How do you manage that If you are always reading? Hadn''t your teachers hit you enough already? I know you are intelligent but you need to fix your laziness, or else, you will be punished more."


    My mood darkened after hearing that. That is not something I like remembering. Claire isn''t a bad person. Not at all. She may be the person that most cares for me, but she is a little too strict. As strict as everyone else. Why do they need to be like that?


    "Yes, I know."


    "Very well, don''t cause trouble." She said and went back to her desk.


    I wasn''t in the mood to read anymore.


    I walked directly to the courtyard and to the practice fields. They are used to train in the use of new spells or to train known ones to master them. I had no other choice but to practice more if I wanted to avoid the fate that Claire talked about.


    The punishments were varied, but always unpleasant. Since exhausting chores, until very blows with canes or lashes.


    The town doesn''t care what you do after you complete the Lessons. As long as you remained in the town after their ending, of course. Getting permission to leave the town is a difficult thing, I have heard.


    We have neither king nor more settlements in this city-state. We are governed by a council of Elders and one Great Mage. And since the foundation of the city, magic has been fundamental in our development and education. Every child receives the same training in magic¡ª in the form of the Lessons¡ª since they are 3 years old. Doesn''t matter if they are rich or not or either if they will join the army or not at finalization. Training mages is difficult and really expensive, but the town spares no expenses on it.


    I have been told, that this is something very unusual and that mages are rarer to encounter in the outside world. Warriors outside focus more on training their inner mana rather than their external mana, therefore being considered Spiritual Warriors and not Mages.


    I still remember how everything started although it''s blurry at the beginning. First, the practice at meditation to reach attunement with the world; once achieved then training to learn to control the inner mana. The oath. Later came learning to form patterns, more training, the beatings, more and more beatings. If you weren''t good enough the beatings only got worse. Eventually, when deemed adequate enough I got taught some weak spells.


    I arrive at a far corner of the training field¡ª a quarter as big as the library itself¡ª and start practicing as usual.


    I train most days of the week before evening to late at night and some days even 12 hours straight. It''s not physical training, though it also improves my stamina. I go to the Lessons in the mornings and have a free day each week, like today.


    After a minute of having random thoughts about my schedule, I refocused on my training. However, I have done it so many times that before realizing I was already done with the first repetition and also out of mana. Sitting on the ground and putting my arms in a comfortable position between my legs, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.


    I quickly started meditating, sensing my mana pool and my mana regenerating and slowly filling it up. Taking manual control of the process, I started to siphon the mana from the environment quicker than naturally done by my body until my mana pool was full again. Even when your mana pool is full, the mana continues to be drawn into you, but it dissipates away, and only a tiny amount remains.


    Little by little that tiny amount increases the maximum capacity of the mana pool. Meditating and increasing the speed at which you draw in mana makes the mana pool grow in size faster than if left alone. Different people have different regeneration speeds.


    Faster means more talented, among the many things higher talent entails a few are: less time spent meditating and more mastering spells; faster growth of mana pool; and bigger maximum mana pool in the long run.


    I myself am in the low end of talent.


    While meditating reaching attunement can also be done. Doing so allows oneself to sense your whole body by even the tiniest detail, not just the mana pool. If driven to a high enough mastery, attunement permits you to sense the environment around you too.


    Being in attunement is relaxing and reinvigorating. I can feel my exhaustion fade away with each passing second. I could be doing this all day but I need to practice all my spells. Becoming familiar enough to them so that I could cast them as easily as breathing.


    While waiting for my mana to recover I think about the patterns too.


    First, mana is a form of energy that permeates the world around us. It has the strange capability of imitating matter and even laws of the world if forced into certain shapes. Once the mana is shaped into another form it changes into what is known as magic or magical effect.


    Patterns are these certain shapes that trigger the transformation of mana into magic.


    And there are several ways to manipulate patterns into shaping mana.


    Casting spells is one way of doing that, but even then, casting can be done in similar but different enough ways. I know chant casting, chantless casting, and instant casting. And also the combination of chantless and chant casting: half-chanting. But for now, I will explain a little more about the patterns and their relations to spells.


    Take the spell Clean, for example. A spell with an easy set of patterns. Every spell has patterns that determine the nature, the process, and the result of the magic. Clean is a spell that removes every foreign thing on the skin and transforms it into a mist that disperses into the ground. It has the side effect of removing odors. From what Claire told me when teaching it to me, that side effect wasn''t expected to be there when it was created but the spell is popular because of it.


    This spell starts with a set of patterns to detect the body and to not aim the magic against it. A standard pattern in almost every spell. Useful, but it won''t prevent you from burning yourself with the flames of your own fireball, just that you won''t be the primary target of the projectile.


    The second set of patterns is the way of channeling the spell. From my own understanding, this is to determine the part of the body from where the spell will be launched if it''s a spell that needs to be launched, of course. Normally, that is from the hands because it''s the most instinctive place but in the case of the Clean spell, it''s channeled from the entire body in equals parts, which is concerning the last set of patterns.


    The penultimate set determines what the mana will do and the actual actions of the magic. What Clean does is making the magic detect everything small and foreign on the body. Some patterns remove all of the detected stuff and the next one sends it to the ground.


    The last set of patterns indicates the time of activation of the spell, which in this example is: immediately after coming out of the body.


    The combination of all the patterns is the matrix of the spell, and once you use mana to form the matrix and activate it, the mana in the spell matrix transforms into something else and the magic effect is made.


    Except in rare circumstances, mana or spell matrixes that leave your body are almost immediately reabsorbed by the environmental mana. To avoid this is necessary to activate the spell before it leaves your body, as magic is far more resistant than untransformed mana. Still, almost always, magical effects also fade away eventually, differing from spell to spell.


    Some spells require certain patterns that can only be activated by certain magic affinities of the mage. Worth noting is that Clean is an affinity-less spell, meaning that it has no such requirement but is also not boosted by any affinity.


    The first round of my early training was with the spell Boulder. It consists of launching a hard rock at some target from the hand. I repeated the spell with slight variations in the mana invested until my mana was exhausted.


    Next in my regimen is the spell Flame. Basically, it transforms the mana into a yet of fire, fired with lacking speed but whose real propose is to extend flames everywhere it can reach. A pyromaniac skill almost useless unless you want to cause damage in a city or building. You can use it to make a campfire instead of using a more deadly Mini Fireball, though.


    There is no danger in using it here. The training camp is enchanted every day to make it magic resistant, to say nothing of the strength of my spells.


    After half an hour of meditating, I am ready to go again. Time to start. First I think of the matrix of Flame but I cast it without a chant. It''s like pushing the mana from the beginning of a labyrinth until the end of it; with the labyrinth being the matrix that I already know. According to the complexity of the matrix, the time of this process increases. It''s possible to push faster the mana thus forming it faster but doing this may decrease the power of the spell.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    The activation of the spell is just one centimeter away from the fingers of my hand since the farther the activation of the spell once it leaves your body the weaker it becomes. Your mana dissipates very fast while it isn''t transformed into a form of magic once outside.


    After less than three seconds a basic spell like this is easily cast and I raise my outstretched arm and hand.


    "Flame" I whisper in a voice that didn''t sound like a whisper at all.


    My voice sounded clear through everywhere in the training ground. The magic attack shot out to the ground five meters ahead of me and flames started to expand upon impact. The flames stopped expanding after they reached one meter in diameter.


    It seems like a little thing, but the resistance of the training grounds diminished the attack effectiveness. These are magic flames but they are mostly to ignite other stuff so the fire can keep going as long as there is combustible to burn even after the mana powering the spell is spent.


    I repeat the spell without waiting for the fire to go out, aiming slightly to the right. This time I don''t Speak at the time of firing and compare the results for the thousandth time in my life.


    The speed of launching was the same as the previous try. But the similitudes ends there. The flames are noticeable slower to expand, around 15 percent slower. And the flames stopped expanding before reaching a meter of diameter.


    Next, I outstretch my arm again. I insta-cast the spell and immediately after, the spell is launched.


    The speed is the same. The flames have a little over half the speed of expansion of the first and the expanding limit is also the same.


    Same conclusions of always.


    The first method, half-chanting is the strongest of the three.


    The second method was just chantless casting alone, it had less power than the first but was completely silent.


    The third method, instant casting, had even less power than the second but the casting time was the shortest, well, basically inexistent.


    I used the same amount of mana in each casting of the spell.


    It''s possible to use more mana in a spell than necessary but if you use too much as to break the matrix of the spell or not enough mana to power it, the spell will result in backlash and the result can be pretty dangerous. One can''t guess the result of a backlash, they vary every time. Almost always is painful, though.


    There are a lot of methods of casting magic. I just know four of them and truth to be told they are similar to each other.


    Chanting. Half-Chanting. Chantless Casting. Instant Casting.


    Chanting is the method that I left out of my training a moment ago. it''s the strongest method I know but it''s also the slower. It consists of Speaking.


    To Speak you need to use Words of Power. Which is one way to manipulate patterns, except you use sound to move your mana instead of your consciousness. To use these words you need to infuse your voice with mana, thus creating a Word of Power with every word you say. It''s difficult to use them at first but it becomes easier with practice. It''s also an extremely dangerous thing to do if you don''t exactly know what you are doing.


    The Words control your mana and form spells on their own, forming the patterns automatically. Originally they were used to cast spells only in the ancient language but has been long since proved that you can use random words and still successfully cast a spell, except it is like a hundred times as dangerous. The Words of Power depends more on your concentration and the mental image of what you want to accomplish than what you are really saying. The rate of backfire when doing so is so frighteningly high that no one does it, though.


    Chanted spells aren''t made in the ancient language. It''s the ancient language that was created from the Words of Power. Claire has been teaching it to me for two years now. It''s a dead tongue but necessary to know for any mage worth their salt, or so she says.


    Half-Chanting is almost the same as the Chantless method. When Chantless casting you push or slide the mana to form the patterns and when Half-Chanting you just Speak a Word or the words that represent the spell in your mind before activating the spell. In my case, that word is the name of the spell itself, just like I did a while ago.


    The fourth method is called Instant-Casting.


    It consists of filling the pattern with mana in an instant, without pushing or sliding the mana into a pattern. It sounds easier than it is. It''s extremely difficult, and when one is capable of doing it in the blink of an eye, we consider the spell mastered.


    Inta-casting is like throwing to the air fifty normal nails so when they fall to the ground they form the shape of a wolf. Or like resolving fifty mathematical operations at the same time. The more complex the matrix of the spell the more difficult to insta-cast it.


    Also, it isn''t possible to add a Word, as when half-chanting, when instant casting. I have tried but there isn''t enough time to do it, it''s instantaneous after all.


    Half-chanting and insta-casting are my preferred methods of using magic.


    I have been told chanting is the most common method of casting magic outside of the town. Out there those capable of chantless casting are the elite. Instant casting is a casting method unique to us. For that and taking into account that all our population is capable of casting spells to some degree, we are known in the outside world as the City of Mages.


    I continued to shot Flame until I ran out of mana.


    I am eight years old and can barely cast Flame eight times in a row. It''s pitiful when compared to my classmates, even the worst of them in this spell, apart from me of course, can do it about 12 times in a row. The growth speed of my mana pool is way slower than everyone else. Affinities are also to blame to some extent.


    Reaching attunement once more I start the process again.


    Some of my classmates are unable to cast the spell Flame entirely, but that is because they don''t have the affinity necessary to mold mana into magic fire. I have several affinities. However, I also know that my affinity in every one of them, except for one, is low. It means that the power of my spells is weak and their mana cost is high.


    Summoning Magic is the only branch of magic spells in which I don''t have either a low or non-existent affinity. I have a high affinity for summoning, so I am not a lost cause in the path of the mage.


    Once the people of the town complete the Lessons, and if they don''t feel like keep going down the path of magic or that they don''t feel strong enough for it, they choose to become professionals in their trade or they search for something else.


    I don''t know how to do another thing and I don''t want to know either so joining the army of the town or the guards are my best options once I finish the Lessons, but that is a problem for the future, in long seven years.


    I continued practicing my spells. I know a variety of spells that cast different magic effects. Since spells that transform mana into fire or air, to spells that move objects from place to place. Even one that can harden my skin by a bit. They are kind of weak, even if it weren''t me casting them but that is what I have available.


    The spell Earth Lance is my favored attack and the one that I am most accustomed to other than the summoning one.


    This spell launches hardened earth in the shape of a javelin that has a sharp protuberance at one end, like a spear not used to cut but to pierce. The spell is devised to be a one-use attack due that is meant to automatically launch and pierce whatever has in front of it. It also often breaks at the shaft part upon impact.


    "Summon Spirit"


    I half-chant cast the spell, with the boost of the Words of Power, as I like to do. My mana rapidly falls by five-sixths. From the point in space which I mentally chose, a sphere of faint blue light starts generating and growing. Out of my control, the sphere takes form on its own, becoming a three meters long spike-filled snake. The spirit snake floats, which is unusual. It has a ghostly transparent appearance and gives off a faint glow.


    I sigh. a result like this yet again.


    A striking sight, sure, but it''s not how it is supposed to be on many different levels. I should be able to choose the form that the summoned spirit takes, it shouldn''t be half-transparent either. It should obey my mental commands but just responds to verbal ones. Floating around must be a special ability of this form in particular; sometimes they have them. Normally I should be able to manipulate the form and to some extent the ability or abilities too.


    Summon Spirit is a complex spell, the more mana feed into it, the stronger it becomes. Different from the others I know, this spell has no upper threshold of mana it can manage, where others like the Mini Fireball or Flame break apart at some point, this one just strengthens more.


    My teachers believe that the cause of the inconsistencies in my use of the spell is due to barely being able to cast it in the first place, that with more mana the details will fill in by themselves.


    Perhaps in part is like that but I also feel that I just lack some sort of control. For now, It doesn''t matter either way.


    I grabbed the snake from the air and inspected it closely, noting it had no internal organs. It was just the jaws, fangs, skin, and the spikes all over it.


    The summon would last for around twelve minutes, as I didn''t cast the spell ''properly''. Properly being reciting the whole fifteen seconds long chant using the Words of Power. When I do it like that it lasts fifteen minutes, which is still half of what the spell should be supposed to last. This is a minor problem, though, because the summon''s time of life can be lengthened in two ways. The first is to use the second version of the spell that I was given, which makes the spell a sustained one. So, as long as I supply mana to it, the summoned spirit will remain around. The other way is to add more mana to a specific part of the spell matrix when casting it. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages.


    While the summon still has time I can order it to fight, use it as a decoy, or whatever I need or find useful. The spirit intelligence is limited, so ordering it something like to scout ahead would be useless. The spell can be my strongest move if used correctly.


    I have been told it is the most common of summoning spells but it uses so much mana that I can only cast it once before having to meditate again. And that is by taking into account that supposedly my high affinity with summoning magic makes the spell even easier and stronger to cast than otherwise. How affinity really works, I don''t know.


    For hours, I kept practicing every spell I know except Summon Spirit. I have cast the spell so many times since I was able to, that I need to make my mastery over the other spells catch up with it.


    "Oh." Suddenly, I felt drops of water in my head and interrupted my thoughts to look up. The sky had some dark clouds gathering. It seemed that it would rain soon, maybe it would be a downpour in a while.


    After a few seconds of contemplating the clouds, my brain started working again.


    "Damn it! It''s raining!"


    Cursing my stupidity and lack of foreboding I dropped my training and ran all the way to the entrance of the library, from where I could see that in the minute it took me to get there, it had started raining already. Luckily not very hard yet.


    Turning my head to see the wall at the counter, I saw the hour in the clock; the only clock I knew¡ª barring my new prize¡ª is on the town. A new feature that was put there a few weeks ago.


    It was 10:30 pm, half an hour before the library closed its gates. That meant that in a quarter of an hour someone, probably Claire, would have gone to the courtyard to interrupt my training. The hour also means that I got carried away, again.


    I started running through the same path I took to come, noticing the hurried people making their way too; and even some people walking as if nothing was happening. Those had a type of barrier above their heads, protecting them from the rain.


    "Horse shit!" Midway to my destination it started raining heavily. Wetting me completely in only a few seconds. The only joy that I had is that those cocky mages with the barriers were likely getting wet too as those spells surely consumed a lot of mana continuously.


    While cursing my luck I kept running without stopping, barely slowing down to not slip at some points.


    Almost at my destination, I slowed down a bit before turning at the corner to not fall.


    "Whoa!"


    *Splash*


    It was more slippery than I thought.


    It was painful. I fell directly on my back. While cursing a little more, I gazed at the sky and noticed that by now it was completely clouded.


    It seemed that it would continue to rain for a long while. Good thing that I thought of rushing here since I realized.


    "Uff." I got up from the wet floor, now more wet than ever. I hope I don''t catch the flu from this all. I still didn''t have a spell for that and neither the sheer resistance to just shrug it off


    I resumed running again, more carefully this time and after a minute I finally got to my short journey''s end.


    What welcomed me was an abandoned house. No door and no windows but just the hole for where they should be in there. Weed and shrubs growing in the excuse it had for a yard. It was in a very bad state but was also two stories tall.


    This house was on the outskirts of the town. It was a few streets away from the town''s Shield. Made of wood as are most of the older houses. Few of them were unoccupied like this one, though.


    Although I usually pass the night anywhere this house is my refuge on rainy nights. To say nothing that I have hidden a few things between the wooden planks of this old building.


    Stepping inside I went to the wall next to the stairs and lifted one of the said planks from its place, taking a bag that was in the space between the wood. I didn''t worry about insects because the bag''s material wasn''t animal hide neither was it tender.


    In the bag were a change of clothes and a single blanket.


    Leaving the first floor because there was, literally, nothing more for me in there, I climbed the stairs to the second floor that also had nothing more than a pair of empty rooms. These rooms have windows and doors, though. I entered the closest one to the stairs while still trembling cold and closed the door.


    "Another dinnerless night." I sighed, remembering this little side note in my life. Well, staying hungry for a short period of time wasn''t that bad once your body got used to it. The first time was horrible, now is just a night more.


    "Clean"


    I used the spell to free myself from the water and insta-cast a modified version of Flame that I learned from a theory book. It consisted of removing some patterns that the author identified as responsible for "launching" the spell and changing to another to cast the spell from all the body. With other minor modifications.


    What this modified spell achieves is to produce a weak and almost imperceptible flame from all my body, heating me little by little. It''s not an orthodox heat spell but it does the job just fine and also it didn''t start a fire. Good enough for me.


    I put the blanket in a corner on the floor and changed my clothes with the ones that I brought with the bag because they were still a little wet. I put my shoes face down at the side so that they could dry more properly.


    I wasn''t sleepy so I didn''t hurry to sleep; nevertheless, I didn''t have anything else to do.


    Lying down on an edge of my blanket I grabbed the closer edge and spun my body to the other end of it, being careful to not tight it much so I could still move my hands inside. Reaching for the bag with one hand I put it below my head.


    I idly thought about getting a new blanket because it was so damn cold tonight!


    It was very rare for the nights to be so cold in this town. The Shield supposedly regulated harsh temperatures.


    Suddenly feeling drowsy I yawned and embraced my knees while lying sideways to the window.


    "Until tomorrow. Maybe it will be a better day." I muttered while being lulled to sleep by the rhythm of the rain hitting the roof, the freezing cold, and the gaze of a moonless sky.

 Chapter 4

    I opened my eyes, awakened by a heart-wrenching scream.


    An amalgam of shouts and explosions were everything I could hear for a few seconds. I unrolled myself from the sheet and got up, moving to the window where I lifted the frame to open it. But I left it half-way opened as I stopped, frozen by what I was witnessing.


    Outside was still raining heavily. Despite the rain, there was mist all around as far as I could see. Explosions could be heard at different locations in the distance. And many other noises. Screams, and shouts; of women, men, and children. An eery howling of the wind, unlike in any other storm.


    In the street below me were people mounted on big horses. They were chasing and killing others with swords, spears, or other weapons. These being chased were fighting back though, mainly shooting spells. Some had staves or wands, and I snorted unwittingly. I could hear that some of them chanted spells. I listened to their Words of Power, clear as if whispering in my ears.


    Idly I wondered why I didn''t wake up before with all that was going on.


    There were limbs and corpses in the streets and I saw as soon more join the cold embrace of the ground deeper along the street. Then a man was decapitated. I felt he had a familiar face but I couldn''t be sure, his head rolling too fast, painting the street red along with the other corpses.


    "Don''t leave survivors!" A rider in the street shouted something in a tongue I didn''t recognize.


    It had been just over thirty seconds but at some point, my legs started shaking a little. No, my whole body was shaking. I was almost frozen in fear.


    I gulped. The realization just dawned on me as sweat started running down my back. This was an attack.


    I had no idea of what to do.


    At that moment, one of the raiders in the street looked up and met my gaze. Almost immediately my body froze. This time for real. I couldn''t move at all. I couldn''t breathe. Not even blink to close my eyes and feign that this wasn''t happening. I wanted to run and hide but my body didn''t respond.


    I started to recognize some sort of pressure. Like the one the fat man exerted this morning.


    But different. Stronger. Dangerous. Hungry.


    I saw the raider lifting a hand and start chanting a spell in the ancient language which I didn''t recognize.


    Suddenly, I knew it. If I did nothing, this was it. Death.


    A knot formed in my throat. Hopelessness. Despair. Powerlessness. Lack of confidence. Fear of death. A hymn of emotions invaded my mind all at once.


    I felt tears streaming down my face without interruption. Since when was I crying?


    My heart was beating like mad.


    Why? Why was I so useless? Why couldn''t move?


    Why...Why did I feel fear?


    What do I fear? Do I really fear death so much? I didn''t. Never did. For me, death just was. There was never a need to overthink it. This wasn''t the time either.


    Did I want to die?


    I felt my mind sharpening in an instant.


    Dying, I would prefer if I didn''t. But even if I die, so what?


    As long as I tried my damnest to live I would be fine with the result.


    If died like this I wouldn''t be satisfied. I needed to move. Remaining paralyzed was like letting my enemy decide my life or death. Unacceptable. Utterly unacceptable. If they want my life they will pay dearly for it.


    I felt anger. At my enemy. At myself.


    Frozen from fear. Was this me?


    No.


    This fear wasn''t me.


    This fear... wasn''t mine.


    The corners of my lips rose.


    Like a cornered dog that has nothing to lose, I would bite until the very end.


    My enemy finished his chant. Done in five seconds. It was pretty fast for such a long chant.


    The pressure didn''t feel greater than life now. I could move again.


    The mage raider already attacked, for a normal person, it would be too late to do anything. For me, too late was still enough. My inner cornered dog kicked into motion and I lifted both my arms. My right-hand hit the frame of the window, pushing me away as I insta-cast the first spell which crossed my mind as many times I could.


    Earth Lance!


    Five earth lances crumbled to dust after an extremely short existence, being annihilated by an invisible force.


    The window exploded. Shards of glass and wood went flying everywhere.


    I felt weightless for a second until I crashed to the floor and rolled sideways a few times until I stopped at the wall.


    I didn''t have time to feel the pain of my injuries as a heavy migraine assaulted my head; the effect of my massive expenditure of mana in a time so short.


    "Hey, don''t waste your energy like that, we need to get th..." Was the last thing I heard before blissful oblivion greeted me.


    ...


    A strong cough was the first thing I became aware of upon awakening.


    The second thing I became aware of was that the one coughing was me. My throat was dry. Everything was very hot and I was full of sweat too.


    I could feel that my mana was already full, so at least two hours must have passed since I fell unconscious.


    Ominous orange light and flickering shadows were coming from where the window used to be.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    I had a few cuts and aches but I could move just fine so it was nothing serious. I got up and came closer to the window just to have my suspicions confirmed.


    Everything was on fire. The town was burning. An orange and black fire licked at buildings and corpses in the street just half a block away from my location. That fire was definitely of magical nature. From here I was able to feel its threath and unbearable heat.


    It wasn''t raining anymore. The fire roaring down the road was the only sound to be heard.


    The fire seemed to extend through the buildings from the center of the town. I had no time, I needed to get out of there now. I quickly put on my shoes and went to a wooden plank on the floor as I thought of a plan.


    I needed to flee. The nearest town or city was too far away and I would have to go to the pass in the mountains first, but there was supposed to be a little village on the way that works big farmlands.


    Under this plank was hidden a backpack that I put there for emergencies. At the time I thought that I was being dumb and paranoid, now I just could curse that I didn''t put more useful things inside. There were only packed nuts, seeds, and dried fruits as yet another change of clothes and a second knife.


    I quickly put inside my clothes of yesterday, the bag, and the only bed sheet I had. All that was enough to fill the backpack and coincidentally was also almost everything I owned; except for the money that I had hidden elsewhere but I had no time for that.


    I climbed down the stairs and ran to the door when suddenly I heard the galloping of a horse among the sound of the raging fire. Coming to a halt, I quickly hid behind the wall at the side of the doorless entrance.


    I waited in trepidation until the raiders passed by without even slowing down.


    "Hah." I let go of a breath that I didn''t know I was holding. I was shaking a little so I started to breathe deeply to calm myself. Now that I thought about it again I had a destination in mind but not a way to get in there. My plan had another glaring flaw, one more so than the others. The fire was coming from the center of the town and the mountain pass is coincidentally just in that direction.


    I weighed my options.


    I could go around the town while hiding between buildings from the raiders. Very bad idea. The fire will likely consume the outskirts of the town in a matter of minutes, I would get trapped.


    Think.


    Easy. I could leave the town from this side and go around it from outside. Of course, that was just as risky, with fire consuming the city, likely the majority of the raiders were out of it too, and out there I would have nowhere to hide.


    Wait a moment. The Great Wild is less than a kilometer away from this side of the city. If I could roam that distance then I would be able to hide behind the trees and go around the edge of the forest without losing sight of the town and without being spotted. After that, I could decide if either wait until tomorrow or try to go around the town from afar in the darkness.


    I had never heard of sightings of animals or creatures on the edge of the forest anyway. You need to go very deep to even find something small, of course, that something will still likely kill you.


    Well, that was it. It was the best I could plan.


    Now with a real plan in mind, I carefully left the building and started darting between shadows as I made my way towards the outskirts.


    Meanwhile, I was wondering why all this happened. Where were the army and the divisions, what happened to the town''s Shield, and more relevant at this moment, why did I feel my head a little fuzzy but at the same time very awake, almost more awake than ever?


    After a few minutes of moving with only my thoughts and my frantic heartbeat to make me company, I arrived at the edge of this unwalled town.


    The forest was ahead of me and it seemed closer than ever, without even a raider within sight.


    Taking a breath to stabilize my shaking everything again, I lied on my knees and started crawling to the edge of the forest. All the soil was turned into mud and the grass was wet and cold but thankfully the grass became higher the closer I got to the forest. Also, the light of the fire illuminated less and less the closer I got.


    I traveled almost all the way there when I heard horses nearing again. I froze my movements and made myself seem as small as I could while praying to the heavens that they don''t notice me. I slowly turned my head to get a better look behind me.


    The same moment that I turned my head the raiders stopped and I cursed my luck. This course of events was so obvious that even I could make out their conversations in my head.


    ''Hey guys, I saw something moving there''


    ''There? I can only see the forest. Are you sure?''


    ''Yes, I am sure. Something is definitely there''


    ''Maybe is a salvage animal, captain. What we will do?''


    ''Well, we could enter the city and throw ourselves into the fire''


    ''Ah, sounds funny, let''s do it''


    I knew that my prayers weren''t heard when all of them started to ride in my direction.


    "Fuck my life," I whispered as I jumped up and started running the less than fifty meters left between the forest and me.


    I had never trained the inner mana, also known as spiritual energy before, but my body''s condition was good enough so I arrived at the forest in about fifteen seconds. Quickly stepping sideways while running to hide my frame behind the trees as I avoided shrubs, plants, and tree branches; making a lot of noise thanks to the wet ground, the sticks, and dead leaves on the floor.


    I continued to hear the stomps of the horses approaching at gallop until at some point they stopped.


    I didn''t stop, though. What if they just quickly dismounted and were chasing me on foot instead? I would just run a bit more until I could be sure that I wasn''t being followed anymore, and then I would start walking back while curving the path a bit.


    The minutes passed as I felt my mind lightening and my fuzziness banishing until I realized that I had been running for a very long while, so I stopped in a little clearing in the woods.


    I leaned and supported my arms on my knees. I was out of breath. Completely exhausted. I was injured and all my body ached. I was hungry too, I hadn''t eaten anything since the morning. I was all wet and covered in mud. I needed to piss and also take a shit.


    What the hell happened this night and also what was I thinking? Running through a dangerous forest without any direction like a headless chicken. It was so dark here I could barely make out the floor with the light of the moon. Also, my plan of escape and its execution were pitifully bad. I could have thought of something better like covering my clothes with mud to have a better camouflage at least.


    I am covered in mud now but it would be better to have been like that since the beginning thus likely avoiding being spotted. I could have been more careful. It could have been better, or well, maybe not.


    Damn! Everything is so wrong, I can''t help but let out a chuckle filled with despair. Everything until now feels a little surreal.


    Now that my little outburst was done I could only sigh and follow the plan I already had made as I really didn''t have anything better at this point.


    But before that, I need to do my body''s necessities.


    Before going to piss, the plant at my feet caught my attention. It had a beautiful and bright green color, almost yellow. It had round purple fruits of the size of my nails that not only look appetizing but also smelled really good. It was also freakishly poisonous, killing untrained people in seconds. That I know because I recognize the plant from a book I read.


    I also know that is very rare and expensive; if treated correctly the fruit''s odor can be separated from the poison and quality perfumes and fragrances can be made; as can be made an odorless poison. That depends on how much you love the lady.


    The poison can go through the skin so I better am careful. The woods must be full of things like this.


    I felt a shiver go through my back.


    I frowned.


    While still looking at the plant with my head down I took on my surroundings. There was nothing strange. The wind was the same. The noises of the insects hadn''t changed and even the atmosphere of the place was just the same as when I arrived.


    Then why I suddenly feel so uneasy?


    Lifting my head and looking ahead I reached the highest point in my life. For an instant, I am aware of nothing, but just that is enough.


    The secrets of the universe, of life and death, unraveled before my tiny eyes, and the realization that in a past life I must have killed the kindest person to ever exist hits me as the only viable explanation to being born under the light of the most hated and unlucky star under the heaven and earth.


    "Horse shit," I muttered.


    Before me, was a behemoth of a creature. One and a third of a meter tall. I could see its claws as it slowly made its way through a shrub. It had four legs. It had a gleaming dark purple and blue fur. It had a humongous snout. With a sharp maw that was bearing its large and deadly fangs at me.


    Slowly moving my eyes to scan my sides I started to make out the details of others of these creatures hidden and poking their heads off other shrubs. Many were even bigger than this one in front of me.


    I couldn''t help but let out a soundless chuckle at the hilariousness of my situation. How many times would I be at death''s doors today?


    Fuck my luck.


    I am doomed.

 Chapter 5

    Under the light of the moon. Amethyst eyes I saw. Our breaths were rough, our movements awkward. We couldn''t separate our gaze from each other. There was tension in the air.


    "Well, do we kiss?" I said a stupid line, one I often say to upset my opponents, as I started to channel my mana. I wasn''t in a good condition to fight but at least I still had all my mana as I saved it for an emergency.


    It seems that my pick up line worked as the creature started growling at me.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean it you know?" Now I apologized to a savage animal. "Best friendies?" Maybe I could get out of this without fighting. But seriously, I really wonder why the creature hadn''t attacked me when I was distracted; or why even until now, it or one of its friends hasn''t attacked me yet.


    Doomed or not, I didn''t care anymore. Nobody would save me, neither I did expect someone to do so. I remember being told years ago by a drunkard: ''In life, only you can help yourself. If you fall, never expect help, is up to you to get up again.'' Said drunkard had slipped in vomit and everyone refused to get close to him. Today, I was like that drunkard covered in vomit.


    If there was even a small chance for me to see the Sun tomorrow I could only reach it by doing something myself. So, I will do something; even if it doesn''t amount to anything in the end.


    At a snail pace, I drew my knife from my hidden pocket. The creature eyed the blade warily.


    All these few seconds I had been formulating a plan and chantless casting two spells, both ready to be launched from each hand. I deduced that my better chance is making my move before my opponent, as I don''t know how strong it is. Drawing out the fight for too long is an undesirable option due to my limited mana pool.


    Should I summon a spirit? It would get me an ally but it would also eat up almost all of my mana, making me useless. I could use my summon as a distraction but there were more of these monsters hidden around.


    Winning was impossible, I needed to bet everything into scaring them off. I had confidence in my plan so I would follow it.


    Attacking first, so be it.


    I waited until I saw it tensing its muscles and flexing its posture a little, readying to lunge. I acted as it readied itself, hoping to force the monster into action as a response; and that it did.


    "Gale"


    The creature was much faster than I expected would be. Charging at an astonishing speed.


    I was half an instant faster; barely avoiding its charge without any harm.


    I wisely decided to Speak the Gale spell to boost my dodge speed instead of using it to attack. I aimed the very strong, violent, and also sadly very mana consuming spell in diagonal to the ground at my left at the same time that I jumped to my right; launching myself several meters away in an instant with just a shake of my bones.


    The creature missed its charge at me but it was instead greeted by a chantless casted Earth Lance in the face. I launched it from my other hand at the same time that Gale.


    I am a mage not a knife fighter after all. Well, I am that too but a mage first.


    The fast magic attack hit the charging creature dead-on in its right eye. The shaft of the lance broke in half after the point pierced the eye and the creature crashed unceremoniously on the ground.


    As I was starting to feel relieved, the creature that I already considered impaled to death started to roll and thrash around while howling in agony until it managed to tear off the point of the lance from its right eye. All that in just a few seconds.


    It had a lot of energy. It charged again but this time against a tree, bringing it down with ease. A moment after, it clawed at the air randomly until it figured out that it couldn''t see because it had the uninjured eye closed. After opening its eye it growled furiously at me, awakening me from my stupefaction.


    I should have attacked again when it started thrashing but I was too shocked to see that my deadliest attack impaling a charging beast with neck-breaking speed in the eye was not enough to kill the creature. Maybe it didn''t reach the brain or maybe it wasn''t the right angle.


    Now I started to process that it ran against a really BIG tree, at least five times wider than me, and broke it in half, bringing it down without apparent injury.


    Ridiculous. And Insane too, it''s insanely strong. One hit and I will be done, no doubt about it.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Without leaving me time to think, moving very fast, it started to close distance to me. Without lunging this time, trying to get to my side while rounding me, forcing me to spin and face it continuously as I channeled spells again and as I retreated as fast as I could.


    When it was two meters away and we were still moving I launched another spell.


    "Fireball" A spherical projectile made of fire was launched from my pointing hand at the creature at a high speed, much faster than the Flame spell.


    Startled for an instant the creature barely dodged it, jumping to its right and leaving its left flank exposed to me.


    "Earth Lance!" An even stronger Earth Lance than the first that I fired, as I added a Word of Power, was shot to the creature even before landing. While it was still in the air robbed it of its opportunity to dodge my attack and hitting it dead on upon landing.


    Or that is how should have been. The magical lance broke into pieces just as it was about to hit, broken by the creature''s swung paw and doing no damage.


    A blur. I instinctively insta-cast Stone Skin. A sound of metal hitting metal. Feeling weightless. My breath was forced out of my lungs and I crashed on the ground. My vision changed to the night sky.


    Suddenly I was in a lot of pain. Pain in the back of my head. Searing pain was coming from my stomach too.


    I was a little dizzy.


    What happened? Did the creature land a blow on me? It hurts. My stomach hurt so much that I probably was cut in half. No, I can feel my feet. Unless it''s a phantom sensation, if it isn''t then it just opened me up and my guts must be spilling.


    Reaching with my left hand in a useless attempt to put everything inside again and stop the bleeding I noticed that I touched something smooth and hardy with my fingertips, apart from the blood when I put my hand on the place I felt was bleeding.


    Also, there were no guts spilling.


    Wondering what happened I gathered strength and lifted my upper body while supporting myself in my right arm; just enough so I could see the injury and what I was touching.


    Under my ruined shirt was my also ruined piece of cloth, barely clinging to me, and still pressed against my skin thanks to said cloth was a round piece of metal with two straps used to tie it around the wrist.


    The clock. The clock that I found yesterday. I had completely forgotten about it. As I touched it I realized that it wasn''t that cold upon touch like other metals. I didn''t put off the piece of cloth a few hours ago, which now feels like an eternity, when I changed clothes because this one wasn''t wet, to begin with.


    The events that had just transpired were being clarified in my head. The creature blocked my attack. It pounced at me, faster than ever, and hit me with its mighty claws. It cut me deeply in the side but the cut stopped when the claw met the clock, thus saving my life. Then I was sent flying backward by the strength of the blow and crashed into the ground.


    Very well. Between the creature''s attack and this moment just like 10 seconds had transpired, the creature had been watching me wearily and although I am bleeding and it hurts like hell, the battle was still going and I still could move. This still wasn''t as awful as it could be.


    I quickly lifted completely my upper body with my arms and flexed my knees, prepar-


    I was abruptly knocked down to the ground and an immense weight fell upon me. I couldn''t breathe. I heard my bones snapping. The monster was right above me. It had its right paw in my chest, pinning me to the ground. I stabbed it with my knife as fast as it put more weight on its paw. I hit its cheek and the knife broke.


    It lunged its head to my neck and I instinctively leaned to my left, making it bite my right shoulder instead. The pain was unbearable and waves of agony flooded my mind. I closed my crying eyes and screamed my lungs out all I could while my chest was still being compressed.


    Without thinking I reached to its injured eye with my left hand and insta-cast a spell with all the mana I had left.


    Fireball!


    An explosion. The world went white for a second, even with my closed eyes. I was crushed against the earth by the force of the attack and could hear the faint sound of the creature falling to the ground a few meters away behind the sound of the raging fire with my stunned hearing.


    Then I could feel pain again, more than before. From every part of my body, especially my left hand. I must have had burns everywhere. Luckily I wasn''t new to feeling pain, I could still think.


    I opened my eyes again.


    I brought my left hand to my range of vision and could see that I still had five fingers. My hand was severely burned though and it seemed that it didn''t have nails anymore. At least wasn''t burning as were the surrounding leaves and wood on the ground. Probably because I was covered in mud.


    In my mouth, all I could taste was blood.


    I could also hear the creature. It was making pitiful sounds of pain a few meters away in front of me.


    I had no strength left but I wanted to see its condition. Barely managing to support me with my right elbow I looked at the creature as it tried to stand up but failed. Lying down, it slowly closed its eyes as if it didn''t have more strength left and started to breathe slowly and deeply as it fell unconscious.


    It''s now that I noticed the blood all around the clearing and the creature''s head bathed in blood too. It was bleeding to death all this time. Had I managed to stall the fight long enough for it to fall unconscious due to blood loss after the first attack I could have saved a lot of mana.


    Now that I think more about it; I probably saved its life, cauterizing the injury with the fireball.


    The strength started to leave my body and I slowly lied down my head back on the ground. The moon started to seem blurry.


    My eyes started watering.


    I could feel that my side and my shoulder were still bleeding.


    Tears escaped from my eyes. I was crying. A silent, sobless, and wordless cry.


    Not because I was dying. I tried. I failed. But it was enough.


    I am alone.


    I thought I was smart but I am nothing more than a kid.


    I have no fear. I do not fear death. But so what? Death cares not for your fear.


    I could see big shadows enter my field of vision.


    I have no regrets.


    I am just...


    Disappointed.


    I am disappointed in myself. Disappointed I amounted to nothing at the end.


    My vision started to lose light.


    I wasn''t strong enough. I wasn''t good enough for anything.


    I could faintly feel one of the shadows as it neared my head.


    This... This shouldn''t have ended like this.


    All went black.

 Chapter 6

    Movement.


    I felt a staggering. Was I moving?


    Was this death? Did I die?


    Was I in some sort of river of souls or something? I feel like puking out.


    More precisely I think that I am on something that is moving. I don''t think that I am dead, more likely I am lying on a horse. Lying in an uncomfortable position, though; face down and perpendicular to its back.


    Regardless of the horse, I thought that I would die back then, I felt horrible. I wonder what happened, I don''t even sense any pain anymore and I can perceive that I have all my limbs. I can even feel that my head is wet.


    I am relieved. I thought that it was the end, my end.


    I can feel a lot of things. Like that I still need to piss and that my hunger is almost unbearable. I am thirsty too, I need water, my throat is drier than a dessert. Also, I don''t feel any pain.


    I could hear some noises too. The unhurried running of water at the distance, birds chirping, insects making a myriad of sounds, and even bigger creatures raising their roars from time to time.


    But something in the ambient was creeping me out. There was an eerie feeling but I couldn''t quite place it.


    I got it.


    What frightened me is what I didn''t hear. Although I could feel the horse''s steps, I can''t hear them. Not at all. I could hear faint steps but I am sure that these were away from this horse.


    Just when I realized something I got goosebumps. My mind thinking of many silly possible answers. Is this a ghost horse or does the horse has pillows attached to its hooves?


    Very well. I suppose that the only way of finding out what is happening is seeing it myself. I couldn''t avoid having a bad feeling about this though.


    I guess It''s time to stop pretending to be still sleeping. I would proceed slowly, first I opened my eyes.


    My vision was upside down, of course. I could see the side of the horse. A black horse, it must be very strong because my skin could feel its tough fur. As my eyes adapted to the light my body started to paralyze at the same rate.


    As I became completely accustomed to the light at the same time I couldn''t be more shocked. The horse was not black. As I feared, Its color is dark blue and it glimmers dark purple in the sunshine.


    What the hell was going on?


    I glanced up and can saw its paws and scary-looking claws.


    This... This wasn''t even a horse!


    I am in the back of one of the monsters I fought. My heart won''t be able to handle all of this someday.


    What happened? I have so many questions.


    I am sure that I am feeling like Harry that time he woke up in his bed, next to a man, one that he didn''t even know, naked. Ars always made sure that everyone heard of it, it was just a joke played against Harry, after all, he is married and he had fallen unconscious after drinking all day. He was horrified when he woke up.


    It was hilarious. This time wasn''t hilarious, though, it''s a nightmare.


    But. Could this also be a joke too? Oh how I would like it to be so, but my guts tell me otherwise. There is no way to orchestrate a so elaborate joke in a nobody like myself, that is just wishful thinking.


    I breathed slowly to stabilize my respiration for a couple of minutes to calm myself.


    At the apparent lack of aggressiveness of my captor, I glanced farther to my left and confirmed my suspicions. There were more creatures, all walking together in the same direction through the trees. The sound of the running water had been increasing so I could guess where were they going.


    I was not the only oddball around here, though. I could see other three animals in the group that weren''t of the same species as the creatures. Every single one of them were beasts that I had never heard of and had different colors and shapes. Apart from them, the creatures like the one I fought conformed like ninety percent of the group.


    At that moment, without letting me think anything else I felt one of the creatures moving towards me. It neared its head to mine. I channeled mana to cast Gale''s matrix without a chant and slightly point my hand to where I believe it was coming. I would shot if necessary but for now, I held back the spell.


    Then, to my horror, it started licking my hair and head. I was too scared as to even flinch but managed to abstain from shooting the spell in reflex. So, that is why I felt my head wet all this time. While the monster continued to thoroughly lick my head I canceled the casting, getting back almost all the mana. It''s a slow process but it''s better than letting it dissipate and get nothing. Maybe I will need it.


    Once the creature walked away I realized that its saliva has no odor. Smelling the creature whom I was still riding I noticed that their bodies didn''t smell of anything either.


    It didn''t matter. More importantly, I wondered why I wasn''t injured anymore.


    I looked at my left arm and to my complete surprise noticed that my burnings had healed, burning scars remained but seemed like years old, not so fresh. They weren''t pretty, though. At least I had nails in my left hand again and neither it hurts nor feels uncomfortable.


    Really, what happened? Was I hallucinating? I don''t know any healing magic. Did the creatures heal me?


    Are they magical beasts? If they are then why the one I fought didn''t use any type of spell?


    Now besides being confused and scared, I was starting to feel ill.


    With all this staggering gait of the beast I was riding I was getting dizzy and I would prefer to not puke on the creature. Now that I think about it I am glad that I didn''t shit myself while unconscious either, the monster may have ripped me to pieces. It would have been an unfortunate end for me. Surely one I wouldn''t want anyone else to know.


    I gathered my courage and started to grab the creature''s body to get in a better position. It noticed my movements and twitched its head to look at me. After a few seconds of staring it turned back and walked until being a few meters away from the edge of a current of water to lie down.


    I got down from it and up to my feet and glanced at the other creatures and animals resting at the edge too, some entered the water or just drank it.


    I still didn''t know why they weren''t attacking me but I was thirsty so I approached the current''s edge without making any harsh movements and proceeded to drink water using my hands as a glass. I could make permanent water that is safe to drink with magic but it''s a very mana consuming spell, I should save my mana for now.


    After that I went behind a tree not very far and did my necessities; then I sit down and leaned against a tree, not the one where I did my necessities of course.


    I still had my backpack and also the clock pressed against my stomach where I could see more claw scars. I put on the clock, my wrist was very small compared to it but it could be adjusted so the clock wouldn''t fall off of my hand.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    From the backpack, I took out the seeds and dried fruits. I put inside the backpack the cloth I had wrapped in my stomach to hold things, it was very damaged and it wasn''t necessary to have it there anymore but the cloth can be used for bandages or something.


    I let out a sigh. I was rested but I felt my head heavy and a sensation of danger at being in this place. Still, I needed to think. And meanwhile, I needed to eat too.


    If this was not an illusion or a hallucination and I were to guess what is happening, either I was accepted into the herd or I was being kept as a cattle or as a pet. Even though it sounds interesting the last two options aren''t probably right, they have seen me use magic, I am kind of dangerous. By simple elimination, the first one is the most likely to be correct. Or do they expect me to just get up and leave? If I did that how long until something else kills me? At least, for now, I am relatively safe around them.


    I glanced at one of the creatures, the one I awoke on the back of. I wondered what was passing through their heads, why were they cohabiting with their prey. The corners of the creature''s lips lifted upwards and it showed its teeth at me, these may as well not be teeth but sharpened knives instead. I didn''t know if it smiled or bared its teeth at me but it still scared the shit out of me so I glanced away and feigned nothing happened.


    If I were to be attacked I was ready to insta-cast a spell so I wasn''t that worried.


    The creature whom I fought with yesterday was half the size of the biggest around here. Yesterday, only if it was just a night which I passed unconsciously. I fought while being exhausted, injured, and in almost complete darkness and still, I managed to pull out something like a tie. Well, now that I''m miraculously healed and well-rested I can fight much better, take down a couple of them or even escape.


    Now that I think about it, during the fight with the creature my reflexes weren''t as fast as always. That is rare and I had felt fuzzy since I woke up after the raider mage injured me.


    And another thing, when the rider mage was attacking me I felt anger, real anger. In my life, before that moment, I have gotten a little angry sometimes but never so much as that time. That was the first time since I can remember that I felt really angered.


    The second time is right now and not at the mage.


    I feel so angry with my teachers, with my classmates, with the parents I never had, with my so called friends, with myself. Why I never felt like this?


    I was never before so upset with them and even so I can only feel emptiness and sadness because they are all dead now. I would never be able to talk or see them again. I could feel tears streaking down my face again. When was it that I started to cry so easily?


    I didn''t feel any guilt for their deaths. Why should I? I wasn''t responsible for them. I couldn''t have done anything even if I had tried to. I barely survived myself. Hell, if they could have saved me would they have done it? Although I wasn''t hated I was ignored and was glared at by many people. I was unwelcome on the majority of occasions. Almost no one was kind to me. I am not a saint but I didn''t deserve that treatment.


    There were Harry and Ars, they were good people and are probably dead now. Even Claire, she was strict and hit me often but that was her way to care for me, I now realize. That girl whom I talked with yesterday was nice too but there was only one way out of the valley, so probably her family didn''t make it out either.


    The raiders seemed intent on just killing everyone. I wonder from where they came from, who sent them? I think I heard some of them shouting in the empire''s common but the only ones I heard distinctively used tongues I didn''t recognize.


    All I can do now is hope that they somehow made it alive, that they are well. It''s not impossible, I am alive after all. I can''t be the only survivor. I can''t be, right?


    I am crying. Without making a sound. A soundless cry, as I learned because if I did a single sound the punishment would get worse. They were inhuman. I feel so angry at them. Now that I feel like this would I have tried to save anyone somehow if the attack wasn''t yesterday but today?


    Doesn''t matter. More than sad or angry now I only feel empty.


    I also feel dumbfounded that the thought of leaving the town never crossed my mind before. As I see it right now I would have left long ago or at least would have tried to. I never heard of anyone leaving without permission. It was heavily forbidden.


    I cleared my eyes with my hand. None of this was of any use now that the town was burned to the ground.


    Still, there are too many strange things.


    First of all why and who attacked us? The raiders had armor and weapons very different from each other. They didn''t wear a single color or insignia that I remember, not like I put any effort.


    The divisions of the army, the three thousand mages, likely were somehow defeated. Almost ridiculous. But if it happened, why the town never saw the attack coming?


    I feel so different today compared to how I felt all my life as if before yesterday I was being suppressed. It doesn''t take a genius to start to guess.


    I have never heard of spells to manipulate someone like that but it''s the only thing that comes to my head. If the leaders of the town were so merciless with kids, then it wasn''t below them to do something like that.


    The answers avoid me. There is only one thing that is very clear for me. I am pretty confused right now. I am a child, but I am sure that other kids don''t think the same way that I do, if they even ever think.


    However, I am going to nowhere thinking about these things right now. Later I will have time to reflect on this but for now, I have more important matters at hand.


    For instance, what should I do now? If I assume that the creatures took care of me and were walking all the time I was out then I may be very far from the edge of the Great Wild.


    I have to make a decision and I have time to think about it, unlike almost every other time that a decision needs to be made. I could follow my wits, which are telling me to strive in the Great Wild thus staying with the creatures would be the better choice. Or I could go my own way, separating from them now and hoping to find the way out before dying to something. The size of this forest defies imagination, by what I have been told and read. It''s not even a question about having luck in choosing a direction to walk randomly, it''s hard to be sure if you are moving the way you want in this place.


    Not to mention I know nothing about survival but what little I have read and remember.


    Suddenly I heard strong roars in the distance, Which startled me out of my thoughts. I glanced at the creatures but they didn''t seem bothered by it. It seems that something like that is a common occurrence.


    If I were alone in this place I wouldn''t be able to even relax for a moment to think.


    At this moment I saw movement at the edge of my vision and lifting my head to look I noticed one of the creatures approaching me slowly.


    I stand up and try to not insta-cast a spell when I notice that it has a burning scar all around its closed right eye. I tensed my muscles and readied my body to fight. This creature is the one who I fought yesterday.


    It stopped its approach when it saw my movements. It started to wave its tail from side to side and after a few seconds slowly threw its body to the side and turned its head to look at me while upside down.


    I gulped loudly.


    I am interpreting it as a form to say: ''I am not armed'' while raising the arms, and I don''t like it. After a minute more, it rolled again and stood up, approaching me again. Even slower this time. As if it were approaching a savage animal.


    I started to guess its behavior a while ago and against my better judgment of self-preservation, I started to approach it too. I also prepared myself mentally to insta-cast an Earth Lance from my pointing hand with half my mana if necessary. I am not taking any chances in this.


    Stopping a meter away from it, I wait for it to close by itself the rest of the distance.


    I won''t lie. My pulse couldn¡¯t be faster, I had goosebumps and was sweating a storm. It got near my head and I stiffened. It started to slowly lick my face. Thankfully without taking a bite.


    I chuckled when It stopped and pet it in the neck. Although it didn''t seem like it would attack me I still felt uneasy standing at its side. It must be young because I have seen many others here that are bigger, some are even two times bigger.


    "I understand little one. No ill feelings either."


    It was time to make a decision.


    I looked at my surroundings until I found the tallest tree around. I moved to it and started climbing it. It was easy at first as the tree had a lot of branches but the higher I got the fewer and more separated branches there were, and my arms weren''t long enough. After a few risky jumps and just under ten minutes, I was already at the top of the tree. It was only two meters taller than the second tallest but it will do.


    I glanced in every direction and I was surprised to see only trees filling the horizon, doesn''t matter where I gazed. No mountains either. I am pretty very much lost. I couldn¡¯t be more lost.


    It seems that I was unconscious more time than I thought. I wonder how I survived that much time.


    I sighed.


    I think that my decision is made. Although maybe there wasn''t a different option since the start. I have no chance to survive here alone.


    I understand that this wouldn''t be a walk in the park. I will have to sleep in the cold and dirty ground. No tasty food and probably no clothes either. Without other people. Alone.


    Truth to be told it sounds just like my life has been so far, isn''t it?


    But here is truly dangerous. Every moment I would be in danger.


    I will need to learn many things; it will be difficult but I won''t falter. I will train hard and I will become stronger. I can feel the dense mana in the air, after all, not taking advantage of it would be stupid. Training my magic in the Great Wild is a chance that I couldn''t let pass, even if I end in a path other than the magical.


    I will probably die regardless but what if I manage to pull it off and escape? If I didn''t train in the meantime in the place rumored to be the best in the world to train then I would regret it forever.


    Perhaps all not is bleak, maybe I have found luck in the unluckiest of events.


    My mind is sharper than ever. I feel free too. From what I have freed myself I don''t know, but I''m sure of this feeling.


    I won''t hesitate neither will I step back.


    I have lost everything and everyone.


    But I am alive.


    The least I can do for those that have died is keep living.


    Yes, I am alive.


    And I feel it too, more alive than ever before.


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ...Not for much, though, if I don''t find a way to climb down this damned tree without dying.


    I facepalmed. I should have thought about this before climbing. To die falling from a tree after having that resolve won''t do. Even if I don''t die in the fall I will just drop dead from embarrassment.


    Like a great drunkard once said: Such is life.


    Such is my life.

 Chapter 7

    There were a lot of noises everywhere. The ground was hard and uneven. There were too many plants and roots. Almost no space to walk before you had to go around a tree. Everything so green and dark. So many shadows and beams of light everywhere. I was sweating. It was very hot. My feet hurt.


    This place is so annoying. My thoughts are annoying. For God''s sake, I am annoying.


    I was upset like never before. Not even a day and I was already regretting everything and wanting to go back. Too bad there was no place where to go back.


    This place wasn''t only deadly but also a pain to travel through. Also, and not less important, it was boring. Just walking like this.


    I couldn''t help but scrutinize my surroundings trying to find something in which to focus my attention other than my thoughts, which weren''t even useful thoughts.


    The trees had become taller than in the outskirts of the forest, they from ten to fifteen or even twenty meters tall. I could recognize many different species, I didn''t know much about trees, though, so I only knew that they were different. The sight of small trees was rare. There were some exotic-looking trees in my sight from time to time. I could hear animals in the distance but I hadn''t seen any of them yet.


    I would say that at some point this place went from resembling more a forest to a jungle. Not that I had seen a jungle ever.


    Oh well, just under thirty minutes since we left the water stream and I was getting low on things to distract myself with. I don''t think that training my mana and spells would be a very good thing to do while wandering after all.


    Now, time to scrutinize the creatures. They seem very smart, from what I had seen so far. I was walking in the center of the group, where most of them were. Between the trees sometimes I caught some of the creatures melding in the shadows in the distance. Perhaps they were acting as scouts? The biggest of them was leading everyone through the jungle, clawing a tree every few minutes. Obviously, I didn''t know where were we moving, I only knew that we weren''t following that water stream anymore. I could only suppose that the creatures were like a nomadic species and not a territorial one.


    When I finally got down from the tree a while ago I counted a total of twenty-two creatures, which is a big group. Three of them were so small that they must be babies, just half a meter tall. I was walking right next to them, taking advantage of the protection that they surely receive from everyone else.


    A beautiful wonder of nature, that is what I thought of their color-changing fur. It was dark blue but glimmered dark purple with the light.


    The creatures had plain faces. A snout that wasn''t as pronounced or pointed as a wolf''s. Their jaws could open bafflingly wide and they had two rows of fangs, the ones behind were shorter and wouldn''t be seen with a casual glance. Their ears faced forward and were round. They had long tails too. The creatures'' claws were like ten centimeters long in the ones that were my height and almost double in the biggest. I hadn''t seen them retract their claws so I thought that they can''t do it like cats supposedly do.


    The creatures'' only distinct feature from each other was situated in their paws. Their paws were all black but the more you went up to their legs, strange lines started to form until the black fur changed abruptly to just dark blue. These black lines seemed very random but different from each other. One of these beasts had lines like flames and the other had spiraled lines. I had a few already identified.


    For their age, I had no idea. I knew that the older a beast that can use spiritual energy is, the stronger it likely was, as they used their inner-mana instinctually.


    I think that these weird companions of mine can definitely use their inner-mana as It is the only way to explain their strength and the bizarre lack of noise while walking. I read books about wildlife, stories, and journals and I had never found something as nightmarishly as these creatures'' maws and ridiculously long claws. I probably should name their species, more for my own commodity, to not just think of them as creatures or beasts all the time.


    So I needed to think of a good name.


    There was the one that had been grinning at me every time that our gazes meet. He had fine and long black spikes like-marks that went from the lower part of his paws to the middle of his legs. He will be Smiley.


    Then, there was the one that I fought yesterday. He had a lot of black spots everywhere on his legs. I shall name him... Carlos. Yeah, why not?


    For the others... I don''t know, I am not very good with names. I will leave it for later.


    I am still not sure as to how I managed to get on the creatures'' good side but I think that I will discover it later on as I''m not the only one here that has achieved that feat.


    There were other three beasts that weren''t related to the creatures in the group.


    A green wolf, its fur was like grass and had some type of dark-green horns with leaf-like scales. It was the only one I thought I have ever heard about. I didn''t remember right now.


    The second was a very strange one. It was very bulky and moved in a funny way, like a serpent. but it had six legs. At first glance, it looked like a lizard but had something like armor everywhere. It was over half a meter tall and a little more than one meter wide, but even much longer from head to tail, like four meters. Its skin and scales were all gray and I could see some scars in some parts of its body too. Well, almost every animal here had some visible scars. Very intimidating indeed.


    The third was also gray but walked on two legs instead. It had two arms that were bigger than its legs, it had tiny blue eyes that were half-closed. It had no claws and had a rather plain nose with just one nasal orifice but with similar characteristics to a human in the rest of its face. It appeared to have a ''serious'' expression.


    "Uff" I was getting exhausted from walking in this uneven place, and more so as I tried to make as few noises as possible. Living in the streets I thought that I had mastered the silent walk long ago but all of these animals prove me wrong. I needed to perfect it, even more, I have seen them not just walking but also running and jumping without a sound. If they were using inner-mana all the time to accomplish it then they must have staggeringly big inner-mana pools. I don''t believe so, though, even the babies make less noise than me when moving and there is no way they have any significant inner-mana to spare.


    Maybe I need to start to train my inner-mana, even without an instructor. In the town that training was supposed to start at the age of ten as it was less important than the magical one. Thanks to that I don''t know much about it apart from what I have read-


    Suddenly a creature stopped in front of me and lied down. Startled, I stared at it as it gazed back at me.


    "What?"


    The creature kept staring, but I felt that it was doing it in a meaningful way. Did it want me to ride it? I noticed all the group slowing down for us.


    I gulped. Better I''m not wrong.


    I lift my right leg and sit in the creature''s back, taking hold of its neck to not fall. It stands up and everyone else continues to walk but this time the walking speed is slower and stealthier than before. After half a minute all the creatures start separating and rounding some trees.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    I finally get it. They didn''t want me to ruin some type of ambush.


    My mount pokes its head from behind a tree and I lean forward to get a look at what is behind the tree too. Ahead is not a clearing but a slightly darker part of the forest with trees everywhere, a common sight around here.


    Then I sense something strange with the sight in front of me.


    There is some type of beast hidden in the shadows. At first, I couldn''t see it but after focusing my gaze I made out some details of it.


    In front of it stands one of the bigger creatures in the group but the beast doesn''t move.


    I can''t help but feel identified with it, after all, I was in its same position not long ago. But just one creature is in front of it, will no one interfere like was in my case? I wonder why the creatures fight in one on one with their prey.


    Is this some kind of fight club? Should I not talk about this?


    I focus my attention on the events that will come next, however, I also stay alert from whatever sound comes from behind me. I don''t want to be killed by something while I watch the fight.


    I open my mouth when I recognize the beast but manage to hold back a gasp. It has white eyes and black slit irises that stand out unnaturally from the darkness of the shadows as these eyes aren''t giving out any light.


    I feel a shudder as I realize that I couldn''t see it with my first glance even with these eyes gazing at this general direction all the time.


    Its skin is pitch black, it has no fur, no feathers, and not even scales, it has just soft black skin that blends in dark environments. I remember it having five tails, one longer than the others from where it shoots some sort of black liquid that melts everything it touches. It has four large limbs. And has four large fingers in each hand and foot too. Also, in its hands has a large blade that can be retracted above its fingers. Is squatting and I can feel that its eyes are smiling. It''s amused by its situation.


    Shadow Crawler. This monster is almost the stuff of legends, apparitions of them always include massacres until they are put down by strong martial experts or powerful mages.


    Everyone knows of them as they are often mentioned in stories for kids, telling them that they will be eaten by a Shadow Crawler if they don''t behave.


    My first reaction is thinking of getting out of here as fast as possible but I resist that impulse while starting to tremble a little. I only can be thankful that we encountered it in the middle of the day. In the night a Shadow Crawler is in its natural environment.


    However, even during the day, this monster is dangerous. It''s an ambush apex predator. This is not everything, it can not only subconsciously manipulate inner-mana like the majority of beasts but can use magic as well.


    No wonder it is not afraid. It''s fast as lightning after all if it wants to escape I doubt the creatures could stop it.


    Oh, yes. Is the creature really planning to deal with it alone?


    Before giving me any more time to think the battle starts. The Shadow Crawler spits its venom at the creature from its tail at a high speed. I thought that it would hit as the creature didn''t move until the last second.


    The attack was barely avoided as the creature jumped sideways with great nimbleness.


    Upon landing, the creature charges at the monster in an instant. A clashing sound is heard as the charge was parried by the monster with one arm. Then, the Shadow crawler becomes a black blur as it jumps back and starts darting between the trees faster than I can perceive. As it does it the creature starts chasing it at the same ridiculous speed.


    My mount and everyone else starts moving to avoid the clashes and the venom spilled from time to time that starts to melt trees and produce gas, which I bet is poisonous, in large quantities. I hear movements of plants and leaves everywhere as the fighting field starts changing place.


    I grip tightly on my mount to not fall and start to chantless cast a spell, just in case.


    I get glimpses of the fight between trees and shrubs as everyone keeps moving, trying to maintain the monster surrounded but with a good distance away from them.


    Then I see two blurs clashing near us. One of them is sent flying into a big rock in a clearing, once there I can see that it was the Shadow Crawler. Right after, the creature follows it into the clearing.


    My mount quickly nears the clearing and pokes its head from a shrub to see. The creature is bleeding from a lot of places but none of these injuries is serious. On the other hand, the Shadow Crawler, which quickly readied itself just a moment after crashing into the rock, isn''t in a better state. It has just one injury but it''s a big cut in its side that is starting to bleed heavily, probably the product of that last clash.


    It seems to me that it is furious now. It has its back against the rock as the creature approaches it slowly.


    The Shadow Crawler starts shooting everywhere, at all the creatures surrounding the clearing in its field of vision, and stops after a couple of seconds, probably out of more venom or saving it for later.


    Now, there is that poisonous gas everywhere, I think that the creatures managed to avoid being caught and as the monster didn''t attack my mount, it hasn''t moved yet. The gas doesn''t expand much so it stays out of our reach.


    Then, everything goes black. No, not black. Everything is much darker now. As if everything lost its color. There are no sounds. I can''t feel anything. I can''t even feel my heart beating.


    I can''t see my hands and neither feel them. I try to not fall into panic, barely succeeding thanks that I can still feel the spell that I have been casting this time. I think that I would have gone mad otherwise.


    It''s using magic. The Shadow Crawler is going seriously now.


    I feel disoriented, I know where the monster is but I can''t make my eyes gaze in its direction. My eyes refuse to do so and as I don''t feel them that only confuses me more.


    However, from the corner of my eye, I can make it out, even with everything so dark. I feel its gaze, I feel that is facing me and not the creature that injured it.


    It will attack me.


    Before I can launch my spell in reflex I see it charging at me from the corner of my eye. It becomes an invisible blur in this darkness, instantly after that nothing happens... I am still alive and I can see normally again.


    At the same time that my vision and the awareness of my own body return, I hear a crash a few meters to my left.


    Between the leaves I see a tree falling, the creature rolling and the Shadow Crawler''s neck held tightly between its jaws.


    The creature stands at the monster''s back and stabs its claws in the monster''s shoulders. The Shadow Crawler howls in pain, and for a second, black smoke leaves its body and melts the creature''s fur. Its tail shoots venom at the creature''s leg but the creature stands strong. A pressure falls upon the world and I find myself unable to breathe. Just for a second. After that second, the monster''s eyes became black and it dies.


    A few seconds pass as I keep staring at the monster''s lifeless body until I realize that I am grabbing my mount''s fur with all my might. I release my grip. I am shaking. It wasn''t a normal fight.


    My delusion is definitely broken now. Before, I thought that I could have killed a few of the creatures alone but now I see that I would be killed in an instant without any trouble.


    I get down from the creature''s back and after a couple of steps I throw up in a tree.


    I once killed someone and have killed animals during the Lessons for training too, but never before I had felt this shocked. I was underestimating the creatures too much, at every moment I could have committed a mistake. I thought that if they suddenly got too dangerous I could have dealt with them. I was so wrong that my stomach is going wild.


    They are definitely on another level. The entire battle was so short, I barely could see anything. So fast that I could only see the moments they clashed and their afterimages. There have been mages capable of bringing down the sky in fire to destroy cities, but, what can they do against a monster so fast with a spell so flashy and with a probably very long casting time?


    They would be dead before knowing it. No doubt.


    However, I am not unmotivated or afraid after witnessing this, if anything I am excited. If I could move like that then the things I could do would be limitless.


    After spitting all the vomit I turn around and see that the monster has been dragged at the clearing again. It seems that they are planning to eat it.


    I wonder if it isn''t poisonous. Nearing it I see that a pair of the creatures start to eat from its belly.


    Seeing a creature eating one hand in one bite I remember the blades that the Shadow Crawler can retract and draw at will above its hands. Reaching for the other hand I inspect it and the slit from where it comes. As I am inspecting the hand, suddenly something clicks and the blade is drawn.


    "Mm," I grunt in discomfort.


    When the blade got out it cut two of my fingers a little. Luckily they weren''t amputated but still are bleeding a lot.


    I need to find some herbs to hasten the healing and avoid infe-


    Before having the time of doing anything a creature turns to me and licks my hand.


    "Hey!" I quickly retract my right hand far from the creature, putting it high, above my left shoulder. Then I feel another lick in my hand.


    "Oy!"


    Another creature at my left licked me too. Taking a few steps back I frown as one of them follows me.


    Are they trying to attack me?


    I feel tickles in my hand and glance down, just to widen my eyes in dumbfounded. I can see as the injuries in my fingers are healing. Without any spell or herb.


    While I am in a stupor the creature reaches me and starts licking again.


    I look everywhere until I find it. The creature that fought a minute ago against the Shadow Crawler. It''s lying down while licking its own injuries. They are smaller now.


    So... That is why I am still alive?


    I suppose that it is a mystery less on my list, isn''t it?

 Chapter 8

    The knife cuts smoothly the Shadow Crawler''s skin around the black blade in its hand. The monster''s skin has a very low resistance to sharp objects, it seems. The tendons and flesh of the monster proved to be harder to cut but I still manage to do it. Without more troubles, I manage to separate the blade-like claw from the tendons in the hand, and then after cleaning it a little in my shorts I start wrapping it with a few bandages that I took out earlier.


    Then, I carefully put it in my shorts'' hidden pocket. I have to be careful with it or I would cut myself with it, again. The creatures'' healing saliva makes wonders, the cut in my fingers is non-existent by now. I want to figure it out later.


    "Very well."


    What to do now?


    Maybe I should eat a little bit of meat. I mean, the Shadow Crawler seems comestible enough for me. I will need to eat some meat soon anyway, I won''t be able to stay strong with only nuts and fruits. I glance at the monster''s corpse, a couple of creatures are eating directly from the monster''s belly and another one is munching an arm.


    The legs seem meaty enough and I don''t want to be bitten for being too nearby to an eating animal so I kneel at the side of a leg and grab it with my left hand. Then, I start cutting the skin with the knife on my other hand.


    It cuts deeply and a little more blood gets out than when cutting the hand. However, It has been bleeding since a while ago, It must not have much blood by now.


    I start to slice it vertically, not as easy as before, it seems the muscle wasn''t as soft as the skin.


    Clink.


    I stare dumbfounded at the handle in my hand. A handle without a blade. The knife broke, I can''t believe this. Never again I will buy cheap weapons... even though I didn''t buy it.


    It was my last knife, the other one broke during my fight the other night when everything started.


    Now what?


    It seems that I will be using the monster''s own blade to cut it, I haven''t expected to put it to use so soon.


    But as always happens with the creatures until now, one of them realizes my predicament, one of the couple eating the belly. He throws me a glance and then bites the leg and rips out a chunk of meat that a second later spits in my direction.


    "Uhh, thank you," I say awkwardly. Then the creature turns back to do his own thing.


    I look at the meat at my feet and wince a little at the thought of the animal''s saliva all over it, even knowing what that saliva is capable of.


    I shrug. Better to be done with this. I won''t say no to an easy meal.


    I start channeling a spell.


    Water.


    It has the simplest of the uses, make mana turn into water, without launching or shaping it. But it''s almost as complex as my summoning spell.


    The Lessons, along with magic also were taught some other subjects. Among them: languages, calligraphy, and mathematics. Some subjects would change or be replaced as you grew up. Later on, I would have learned music, poetry, painting, drawing, history, combat, warfare, geography, and some specialties at the end.


    The next thing we were going to learn in the magic subject was a lightning spell. Too bad it didn''t happen. It would have been useful against the fast monsters around here. Area of effect spells would be effective too, but I don''t know any of these either.


    However, since the beginning learning mathematics along with magic helped a lot to successfully start to insta-cast the spells, understanding better the patterns. Most of the spells have a straight set of patterns, and they are only two-dimensional. The complex spells have a range of three dimensions to arrange the mana in. Insta-casting them is several times more difficult than doing it normally.


    Water is so complicated because different from a common spell, the water cast won''t disappear after a while, you even can consume it and not suffer a poisoning, basically is permanent in the world but the availability is dependent on the ambient. The mana cost of casting it is very high too.


    There are so many theories and fears about the use of this type of spells everywhere, sadly every one of them is just baseless nonsense. I haven''t found anything that dives deeply into this topic yet, there wasn''t one in the library, and neither my teacher knew much about it.


    For now, I rinse the meat with the water flowing from the palm of my hand. After a few seconds, I notice the green wolf moving towards me, towards my hand more exactly. It then starts to drink from the little flow of water.


    The few other creatures around approach me too.


    A little annoyed at the inconvenience, I cut the flow of mana at the spell and stand up. I walk a few meters away as they follow me and kneel on the ground again.


    I start to dig and without much delay one of the creatures guess what I am doing and starts to help with my digging, cutting the ground with its claws with ease. Leaving it to do all the work I start chantless-casting the same spell again and wait until the hole has a good size to unleash it.


    "Water"


    I take advantage of a Word when activating the spell and start to fill the hole with water. When I feel that my mana pool is at half its current capacity, the amount of water filling the hole is barely four liters. I stop after adding two liters more.


    "I''m not a mobile water source." I decree in reprimand while they start to drink the water I made.


    My attention returns to my piece of monster meat, nobody ate it while I wasn''t looking.


    I have eaten raw rat''s meat before, since then I have never again eaten something raw, and I won''t while I have other options, at least.


    Also, I am not a savage, I will cook it.


    How should I start? Almost all of my spells are of the offensive type.


    I suppose that starting with a fire is as good of a start as any other. I start collecting leaves and sticks in a heap and cast Flame in it.


    After that, I cast another spell that I don''t use much but I should.


    "Ghost Hand."


    I will the semi-solidified mana to take the meat and levitate it in the fire, without making it fall into it.


    This spell is different from the common levitation ones I have read about. Making things float is not its main purpose. This one can be used offensively with more efficiency.


    Its principal use is in combat, used to trip your opponent or make it miss its aim.


    The spell matrix is relatively simple, the first patterns make the mana take an invisible but more physical form, other patterns manages the movement of the mana, this physical mana moves with mental commands.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The more force is applied against this physical mana the more consuming the spell becomes. As the meat is not that heavy I can continue to make it float for several minutes with my remaining mana.


    I need to become used to a bigger repertory of spells during combat. Casting just Fireball and Earth Lance won''t do, even less in this place. Maybe I will just take a little risk and experiment with my own spells.


    I sigh. This is just willful thinking, it''s dangerous and I will need more mana for all that, and by that time I will be able to use Summon Spirit effectively in combat. Hopefully, it will be in not much time.


    I think that the meat is ready, well, even if it''s half-cooked is better than nothing. I stop the spell and wait a moment for my meal to cool a little, then I start to eat.


    The taste is a little bland but it''s not bad, after all, it doesn''t even have condiments or something else to add to the flavor. Little after I finish eating, the creatures also finish feeding on the monster. And to my surprise, almost nothing of it is left, not even bones. Just some teeth and organs, probably the ones that process the food and the poison. Must be that because these leftovers smell horrible.


    Shortly after, we leave and start walking again, faster this time.


    This time during the walk, I notice some small animals in the distance and insects on the ground. Some of these animals are killed and eaten, these have luck, the smaller ones are just eaten, alive. And the birds that are not monstrously big fly out of our reach.


    Smiley goes out of the group often and after a while comes back and brings with him an animal or a monster that shares with everyone, some others do that too. I suppose that even they get bored.


    When I got bored of gawking at the trees and the insects I started to follow the green wolf, because he, or maybe she, seems like the less dangerous of the bunch, also I haven''t seen it eat anything except plants. I wonder if it is a herbivore, even if it has those sharp fangs that I imagine can pierce flesh as if it were paper.


    I picked up plants that it ate and keep far from those it ignored. I started to taste the plants that he ate just to see if they were comestible for me, and well, they weren''t bad, some even surprised me and I think some were vegetables or something like that. Others just tasted like grass. However, the green wolf also ate some fruits of trees but mostly avoided things like berries and when it finally acknowledged my presence or maybe it approved of me following around, it started clicking its tongue at some plants, probably meaning to avoid those. Obviously, I committed everything it avoided and ate to memory, being careful of not mixing these two categories.


    During the day we stopped a few times to rest, mostly when a big corpse was brought to eat and I used the Water spell each time my mana was full again. I decided to refrain from real training until I felt much safer in this place or I had a firm grasp of my situation.


    Along the rest of the day didn''t take place more of those one to one battles. I don''t know why these happen or why they fight like that yet.


    Right now, the night is arriving. Everyone is starting to lie down near each other in this clearing that the leader, the biggest and meaner looking one, choose.


    I walk to the big tree where the majority is gathered around and sit against it. I am exhausted. We were all day in the moving. I yawn and check the hour in the clock at my wrist. Spinning the metallic ring and the cover opens with a light sound. It''s eight o''clock.


    It seems that the creatures go to sleep just as the first signs of night falling starts appearing. I also wonder how much time I will be able to sleep. I lift my arms and bring my hands behind my head, making myself into a more comfortable position.


    It has been a long day and I am still not used to the thought of all this being my new life. My old one was taken away. Regardless of everything, I think I can manage this.


    Worth considering is that maybe I shouldn''t be too trusting of the creatures. For one side I think that if these animals had some evil intentions they would have already done something, I am basically helpless against them, after all. However, I am still acting too naively concerning this. Better I don''t drop my guard more than necessary.


    I casually distance myself a little from the creatures, but still standing among them in their center. I''m not that stupid as to trust more the forest than them.


    I will not sleep today, I need to at least keep an eye on the creatures'' behavior until I decide to trust them a little more so tonight I will just pretend to sleep.


    I squint my eyes lightly, just enough to hide that my eyes are still open and I can still see, without giving myself away.


    I continue to do so for a while, as the creatures get comfy among themselves, some snuggled on others, a few climb a tree, and others leaning against the same big tree like me.


    Four of them are sitting. It seems that they are doing something like keeping watch, maybe they are some sort of guards. I wonder if they even have shifts. They are of the biggest half of the pack, too. The other three animals are hidden around here too. The green wolf practically invisible among some bushes at the edge of the clearing. The others I don''t see from my current position.


    This place is dangerous, how much time the creatures invest into sleeping?


    I am glad that that... they aren''t... aren''t night animals...


    XXX


    I hear an inhumanly loud yawn.


    Huh. My bed is very hard. But it''s warm, at least. It moves too much, though. It seems that I am already awake. Too bad, I want to sleep a few minutes more.


    Wait a second. Now, I remember.


    I wasn''t supposed to sleep tonight. The toll on my body must have been higher than I thought. I yawn and stretch my arms with a groan, I feel my legs numbed, I need to stretch them too.


    Huh? I can''t. It seems like something heavy is above them.


    Also, the movement of my bed, although rhythmically lulling, is becoming uncomfortable. Stop there. Beds shouldn''t move. More important, I am in the Great Wild. I don''t have a bed.


    I open my eyes. The sight of a creature''s big head lying on my lap greets me. And with my hands, I identify what I think is another creature, on where I am lying against.


    Lifting my upper body I support my hands on the ground and slide off the creature''s head from my lap.


    These monsters are really sneaky, before this I considered myself to be a person with very light sleep and with very light feet too. Now I realize how na?ve I was


    As I wait for my legs to leave the unpleasant feeling of numbness due to less blood circulation I discretely clean the saliva from my mouth. I wasn''t drooling, a creature must have licked my face. That is it.


    Some creatures are already awake and are pacing around. Is still dark here. I glance at my clock. Is one o''clock in the morning. Is too early. The little illumination around here comes from the moonlight.


    Another yawn and my eyes watering as a result.


    "It seems that my schedule will change a lot," I murmur to myself while still being sleepy.


    Better to use well the time I have until we leave away to walk who knows where again.


    I take out the monster''s blade, which I retrieved from its body yesterday, from my hidden pocket.


    I want to turn this into a knife. With a handle and a sheath. I think I will do that with just wood. I don''t know much about making even the simplest of weapons.


    Well, first I need wood, cutting the bark of a tree seems very time consuming so a branch will do. I look at my surroundings.


    The big tree where I slept is very tall and different from the others has many leaves and branches that are near the ground level. Convenient as I don''t need to climb a tree to get a branch and those in the ground don''t have the right size.


    Next, I chose a branch with good width and size from the tree. I took the blade out from the backpack and unfold it from the bandages. This black blade that almost doesn''t reflect light is like twenty centimeters long and it''s double-edged but the sharpness decreases the farther you get from the tip. So I cut the branch a few centimeters larger than the blade itself.


    I start to slowly give the branch a more even exterior, craving it with the blade. The blade can cut easily with due pressure. The result is much better than I expected, even although it is my first time doing this. At least it won''t harm my skin when holding it. Next, I cut the branch in half at approximately eleven centimeters long which will be for the handle and fourteen for the sheath.


    Now comes the good part. I put the soon to be sheath in the ground and take the to be handle and the blade in different hands. Then I press the tip of the blade in the place where I cut the sheath from the handle. I do it very slowly, without applying too much strength. I don''t want to lose an eye after all. It isn''t worth it for a knife.


    I just push the blade inside the soon to be handle, being careful of not moving it to the sides. The point is so sharp that it''s not as difficult as it would appear. When it reaches around nine centimeters deep, like three-fourths through the way, I stop. That is enough, so I took the blade out and reintroduce it again, this time not the point first but the opposite side.


    After the first few centimeters, I need to hold it tightly so I press the point against the bark of the tree and slowly start to apply more strength, with utmost care. I do it until the blade can''t go through the opening that the point did before. The knife is basically ready but still need a sheath.


    I gather some thin roots and stems and tie them tightly around the handle. I would need to change them later, for ones more flexible, just in case.


    I took the soon to be sheath from the ground and start to pierce it with the blade for a while until it''s stopped by the handle. It''s done. A crude knife but it will do the job. As It is so poorly made I think that it will be better if I use it just for stabbing and not too much for slashing.


    The sheath could fall off so where should I put it in?


    Oh, I can fit it between my arm and the clock. I loosen the clock, move it to the middle of my arm, and fit the knife between my skin and the clock. Then I tie tightly the clock again.


    All ready.


    I unsheathe the knife and test it with some random strikes and light stabs to the tree. The blade stays still in the handle. Now the knife is really done. I sheathe it again.


    By now all the creatures are ready to go. A new day just started, even though it is just two in the morning.


    I sigh. Indeed, there is a long day ahead.

 Chapter 9

    I hum a random tune while walking to distract myself from the almost jog pace at what we are going. Lately, our daily walks have increased to a higher pace.


    I took out of my backpack a fruit and start eating it. I have accumulated a fair amount of them and now I know how to identify the comestible ones from the poisonous ones. I just need to show it to the green wolf, Vilkas, as I named her, I haven''t really checked but I think that she is a female. I have been following her around like a chick and mother hen and have been learning a lot from the Great Wild''s flora.


    Of course, all that I can decipher from her behavior.


    However, I was amazed when I realized that the trees around here tend to hide their fruits. Some are well hidden among the leaves, others are inside the bark of the tree itself and you even need to break it to get them.


    Now I am more accustomed to climb and walk through the forest. I have adapted very quickly as I needed to climb some trees to collect fruits. Even though I lost my shoes with so much mistreatment. Doesn''t matter, my feet are tough so it''s not a real problem.


    Since my first day as a member, I suppose, of the creatures'' tribe, two weeks have passed. Life is hard but I still linger around with all my energy.


    There have been more one to one fights, the opponents not as dangerous as the one on the first day but still not foes whom I could easily defeat alone.


    These spars aren''t uncommon and from what I have gathered so far they don''t occur when the opponents are two or more, the creatures avoid fights against numbers but if an encounter with numerous enemies evolves into a fight then it becomes something akin to a massacre. The creatures don''t mind attacking from every flank too, even from above.


    Also, I finally named the creatures, from now on they are the Mingan. I still don''t get used to calling them like that, though.


    At first, I thought that we only walked randomly but then I noticed that we tend to avoid some places or hills, I don''t know why but one can infer. And regarding this, today my mood is somewhat better than mos-


    Something burst out of the ground a few meters ahead of me.


    It''s big. It envelops a creature just after biting it with its humongous head and teeth like spikes. It is green and its arms are like vines, it must be something like a plant monster.


    However, without even thinking, the moment it appeared my right hand was already open in its direction.


    Gale.


    Dust is raised. Leaves are shoot flying. Pebbles rolls away.


    Everything ahead of me is pushed back by a strong mass of wind, the monster loses its balance and forgets to bite the creature to death for a moment.


    A second later an Earth Lance pierces the monster''s head and it grunts in pain. My attacks didn''t manage to free the creature or neither kill the monster but bought enough time for the other creatures to act.


    Immediately, two of them charge at the plant monster. And the monster dies.


    In no time it''s shredded to pieces and tore apart. It explodes. A green liquid-like bloodstain everywhere nearby. It doesn''t seem to be corrosive or poisonous but still, I avoided the blast as soon as it happened.


    The creature was freed of his restraints in the explosion. I recognize the creature as Dusk Walker, a Mingan that I named because he always goes away to adventure in the woods when the sky starts to get orange. I have already named some others. Dusk is injured but not very heavily, just some perforations in his legs and left side.


    I let go of a breath I was holding. He will recover. I am sure that his regenerative abilities can put him in good health in no time. In fact, I think that their special saliva can heal everything short of amputations or death with due time. Such a powerful feature they have.


    We start walking again, it would be dangerous to stay long in one place so narrow, fighting sounds tend to attract undesirable company. Dusk is carried on the back of another creature for the time being until we find a good place to rest.


    Truth be told I just can thank my luck that it wasn''t me the target of the ambush, maybe because I don''t have that much meat.


    I was quick to react this time. It wasn''t like this before, as this one is not the first time we were ambushed, it''s the third. I have been warier at all moments since then. Fortunately, there haven''t been causalities in these types of attacks so far. Although we have sustained one in another type of attack. A night raid. Reminds me of the past, a not very far past.


    That day was tiring. After the darkening of the sky and finding a good place to rest I was so exhausted that I remember falling asleep a little while after lying down.


    After some time I suddenly opened my eyes, fully awake. My body felt heavy and was completely soaked in sweat. My hair stood on end. I couldn''t see anything apart from the darkness of the night as moonlight was nowhere to be found.


    I could sense movement all around me, as if the creatures were also awakening, preparing for something.


    I knew it. Something was wrong. My guts told me and so the creatures'' behavior. I lifted my right hand and instant-casted a spell. I remember that I squinted, trying to half-protect my eyes of what was to come.


    Mage Light


    The Mingan weren''t surprised by my spell, as I have used this one and summoning in their presence one time before so when I needed to use these spells in an emergency I wouldn''t startle them.


    For a second, I couldn''t see anything, the bright light banished all darkness away. At the same time, I heard animals hissing in the distance. Then, my eyes adjusted and I could see what was wrong.


    Thanks to the orb of light that was floating above me I could see some monsters that were taken away from the cover of darkness. They were on the edge of the clearing, about twenty meters away from us. At first, there were only a few of them but those had their eyes closed, these were the ones that were looking in my direction when my spell activated and thus, blinded them.


    Then, there was mayhem. The monsters left the edge of the clearing and the creatures rushed forward to meet them. Dozens of monsters appeared from their hiding places too. The clash between them was brutal.


    The monsters had numerical superiority but the tide of the battle went clearly on the creatures'' side since the beginning, as the monsters were slaughtered mercilessly, not without injuring their foes, of course.


    That left me a moment to take on the monsters'' features. They were almost as tall as me. Majorly covered in black scales and white ones in other places. Their tails were as long as their bodies and their legs were weirdly getting out of their sides. They had three tongues. Their jaws were... In the wrong way, let''s say, their jaws didn''t snap vertically but horizontally. However, their most outstanding attribute was without any doubt their horrendous breath.


    Once they started hissing at the top of their lungs, the smell almost made me lost the grasp in the Magelight spell I was still holding. Luckily for me at the time, that didn''t seem to be an ability of theirs, they just smelled bad.


    I started channeling two Earth Lances too.


    The fight erupted everywhere but a clear line between the creatures and the monsters was drawn. I noticed one of the creatures going too deep into the monsters'' side. It was a mistake. Monsters that were still hidden rushed from the edge of the forest to attack it.


    They caught it fast. One of them bit a leg firmly between its jaws, then it twisted and spun its upper body, ripping apart the leg with the movement. The creature''s howls were heard just for a moment before it died shortly after.


    The creatures were immediately enraged, but they didn''t get reckless. They started to kill faster. The monsters'' pieces were sent flying everywhere. A carnage. The monsters tried to retreat a second after that, only a few managed.


    I suppose that some of the biggest creatures in the group weren''t satisfied with this because quickly after the monsters'' retreat they started to chase them through the forest, out of my sight.


    I wasn''t attacked that night. Maybe I wasn''t considered that big of a threat by the monsters and I was far from the edge too.


    I remember that all devolved to an eerie silence in just a few seconds. It was broken when the creatures got near the corpse of their fallen kin. The youngest ones were whimpering, mourning their fallen friend.


    Sometime later, those who left to chase the monsters came back, they had only minor injuries. That was a long night. Nobody slept. At some point, the creatures started digging and then introduced the dead body in the hole. After that, we started to walk again and ended sleeping for a couple of hours during the day.


    The next day all was back to normal, just that the creatures left the group to adventure in the woods less often and when a fight happened it was ended quickly.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    By now everything is normal again, just like in the beginning. The inhabitants of this place are accustomed to death.


    All the time that I have been here I have started to notice that we just don''t wander without reason or rhyme. The leader is often scratching trees, likely as a way of orientation and we tend to avoid places with a higher mana concentration than the normal one inside the forest. Some places around here are especially thick with mana, so much that I can sense it without even trying.


    Out of the Great Wild, to sense the mana in the environment you need to get into the state of attunement. There, when in the state of attunement I was able to only sense the immediate mana next to my body. Here, I can sense the same, without even entering attunement.


    Put in simple words, the grade of mana density in this place is mind-blowing. And not even mentioning those areas we avoid, those must be dangerous, though.


    After a ten minutes walk the leader decides to stop in a clearing. It considers the place good to rest. Now that I think about it, this was what I was thinking just before the plant-monster attacked us.


    My mood was better than normal because today we stop walking for a few days. I think that I already figured out part of the creatures'' transportation habits. I am fairly confident in my deduction, even if I have only experienced the cycle once.


    The cycle I am thinking about is a walk of five days, then a stop to rest five days more. And then it starts again. A ten days cycle. Very simple.


    These stops to rest, like the one just now, forces us to make a sort of temporal home, or base. I prefer base. Some creatures leave the security of the base and the safety in the numbers to adventure to the woods in small groups, of at least two individuals. Sometimes they don''t come back for some hours and sometimes for days. Of course, less than five days or the rest would have left by then.


    Regardless of that, at least half of the creatures are always in the main group.


    The place this time is some sort of clearing, it''s at the feet of a rocky hill and there is a stream nearby. I can even hear splashing water in the distance, maybe there is a waterfall nearby.


    The creatures start to sit and rest around and a couple of them even enters the forest again. The injured creature rests near the wall of rock that is the hill. The hill is very steep and almost seems like a small cliff. It would be very hard to climb.


    For me, is time to start to train my magic. I shouldn''t slack, not that I want, training is like a form of distraction for me from this beautiful and deadly place, almost as much as my inner monolog.


    Today I will start with the summoning spell. This time would be the second that I do it in the creatures'' presence. I need them to become used to it because once I thought it well enough if I were to have used it the night of our encounter they would have shredded me to pieces.


    The fight would have been stopped being one versus one. I have seen some fights like that around here. The last time was three days ago, a monster came to help its kin from the tyranny of the creatures, only for the both of them to be killed by all the creatures. Seems like they don''t like interferences in their weird battles.


    I suppress a shudder. It''s not a pretty sight to see when many animals attack one at the same time.


    Forgetting about dangerous possibilities for the sake of my mental health.


    For summoning, I only have a basic spell, which is a common one, which means that is not rare to see someone in possession of it. But one must not be fooled by its rarity, this spell is far from weak or useless. Moreover, mages capable of summoning magic are rare themselves.


    I would have been taught more summoning spells with time but now these spells are likely lost, at least to me.


    This is the more complex of my spells too, it has patterns that are present in many of my other spells and many others that are unique to it so I can''t even start to figure out what is the purpose of each of them.


    I begin to cast it and like each time before I am marveled by its design. A spell like this a wonder of magic.


    The chant of this spell is long, even at my best of times I can''t chant it in less than fifteen seconds. Instant-casting becomes a massive advantage with large chants like this one. Of course, you need to practice it to the point of crying blood and to sacrifice its potency for speed. It''s still worth it most of the time.


    This spell doesn''t have a name. Not in the chant, like all my other spells at least. These have a name in the ancient tongue that is mentioned in their chants, not this one.


    Regardless, it has a name in the Empire¡äs Common and also in the language of the town; it''s the same name to be precise.


    "-to serve."


    The spell is activated as I finish Speaking. I felt something, always is like this, like others minds trying to reach for my own, but only one manages it first, then the others vanish from my conscience.


    In the span of a second since the spell activation my mana becomes visible with an otherworldly blue hue and takes a shape and a solid form. It appears from thin air, without flashy lights like others summoning spells I have read of in books, just a faint glow. The only sound heard is that of air being displaced by the now tangible magic taking form.


    I feel a strange mental connection with the spirit. It''s faint but is there. I know that it''s my summon and it knows that it was summoned by me.


    Now, the spirit''s form is one I haven''t seen before. The shape seems to be one of a big and fat armored animal. It has three horns that go from its nose to its forehead. It has four short legs and a tiny tail behind it. Plate armor seems to cover its blue and ghostly body. Seems kind of funny to me.


    Summon Spirit is different from other spells of its kind. A normal summoning spell brings a creature and its body from somewhere. This spell brings a spirit and creates a body for it from my mana.


    As things for me are right now, the spirit is the one to chose the shape of the body, so sometimes the result is an awkward chimera or a strange shapeless mass. This shouldn''t happen but I''m still not strong enough to control the shape. I hope that I will just need more mana for that.


    If only I had more mana, it would resolve many of my problems.


    According to the Elder who taught me the spell, the spirits aren''t souls or dead people but strange creatures from a strange plane or dimension that is closer in reach than others. They don''t have thoughts or sentience and when they die here they just go back to the place where they came.


    Supposedly there are many of them in whatever plane they come from and they are just too happy to be summoned here and be given a body. It''s strange, why they would want that? But even so, when casting the spell I don''t feel any ill binding with them so maybe that is partially true.


    The Elder also said that there are so many of them that I probably will never summon the same one twice.


    Well, I disagree with that statement.


    I am almost entirely sure that the same four or five spirits always come when I use the spell. They almost always take different forms but their behaviors betray them.


    They obey every one of my voice commands but when I give them mental commands no one of them listens to me, however, one of them shudders and the other glances at me. The others just ignore me. I don''t know why they don''t follow mental commands, though. It would be more effective if your opponent doesn''t know what you will do.


    I will try. Attack the tree in front of you.


    The half-transparent ghostly spirit which gives off a light blue hue just turns its head to look at me. That is one of their behaviors, probably the behavior of only one of them. I could be wrong too.


    Also, doesn''t matter how cool the blue color and eerie hue are, these shouldn''t happen and are too eye-catching. What if I need sneakiness?


    Putting my hand in its armor-like skin, as my hand pets it a tiny bit of mist-like substance leaves its body. It''s mana and it''s leaking from its body, even with a slight touch. This is a rare side-effect, usually they are more resilient.


    Sigh. Because of these issues, I wasn''t taught another summoning spell yet. The Elder said I needed to master it before teaching me the next.


    I was told that most of the problem is the result of the spell adapting to the limited amount of mana I am barely capable of administrating to it. My summoned spirits shouldn''t have a ghost-like appearance and a mastered spell doesn''t work half-way so the mana wasn''t the whole problem.


    But he wasn''t a summoner and neither there was another in the town so he couldn¡¯t have known for sure about that, but he was adamant with his posture about the issue, treating me like an annoying child.


    If I remember correctly, in all the town the only person with the affinity to wield and manifest summoning spells was me. Summoning magic is rare, of course, but usually not that much, though. Regardless, some spells can somehow imitate other affinities so it becomes possible to use a summoning spell that doesn''t depend on the summoning affinity, so some mages are able to call forth a summon despite a lacking affinity. This is most commonly seen when summoning elementals.


    The spell is so complex that it adapts to the quantity of mana you put at it, without a necessity to change the patterns. So, theoretically, I only need enough mana to make it work properly.


    Thinking of that all is futile now, though.


    My summoned spirit will remain here for about fifteen minutes, and that if it doesn''t do anything. Meanwhile, if the spell worked the way it was meant to, the spirit would last half an hour and that whilst fighting.


    The spirits'' strength is mostly physical, sometimes they get other abilities but almost always that depends on the summoner shaping of the body. Of course, mine so far are mostly pure muscle-heads.


    Let''s see how strong it''s this time.


    "Charge at that tree." I point to its target.


    The spirit is almost as tall as me and seems pretty sturdy, that weight at least must add some damage.


    The spirit starts charging to the tree at the edge of the clearing. It''s not that fast, I have summoned much faster spirits.


    Thuck.


    Then, its charge ends anticlimactically. Hitting the tree and barely shaking it a little. Judging from the gas-like mana that leaves from its head it made more damage to itself than to the tree.


    I shake my head. It''s not too strong but I think it is big enough to be used as a good meat shield.


    A low growl is heard, coming from behind me. I turn my head. One of the Mingan. It''s moving near my spirit with an almost inaudible but very drawn out growl. I have seen this before. The creatures do that when they want to spar among themselves.


    This could be interesting. I walk to the rocks of the hill and sit on them. I will pause my training to enjoy the battle between my summon and this Mingan. My summon will lose, of course, but maybe it can stand a few hits.


    "Attack it," I say in their direction and the battle starts.


    My summon is not that dumb as even with my vague command it rushes to the correct opponent in the same manner that with the tree. The Mingan easily avoids the charge and jumps at my summon''s back, from where it starts biting the spirit. A large amount of gas-like mana starts to abandon the spirit.


    My summon tries to shake it off and after a few tries, it manages to do it. Then, it twists its neck to the side and hits the beast with the side of its head. It is sent flying away while frantically moving its limbs but still crashes on the trees in the forest.


    Well. That surprised me. Could it be that in this form the spirit''s strength is focalized in the muscles of its neck? It would explain its pitiful charges and pathetic speed. Those spirits come up with such strange ways to invest my mana.


    The Mingan jumps to the scene again. It surely must be annoyed. It charges my summon and my summon reacts quickly to meet it with a blow of its powerful neck but is still too slow; its opponent stops its charge and with the residual speed jumps to my summon''s side while rolling in mid-air, just to land standing and charges again right away, this time much faster and head-on.


    My summon is sent rolling away and a second after, it disappears in a blue mist that quickly disperses into the air.


    The creature''s attack was so fast that I had no time to cancel the summoning and save myself from a slight headache caused by the forceful unsummoning.


    The creature seems puzzled from its opponent''s disappearance but then it glances at me and sort of snorts before going back to whatever it was doing, laze around, probably.


    Letting this fight happen was a bad idea. Now I have to get back to training with a slight headache.


    Wonderful.


    There is not much sense in keeping to practice spells in what I am already very proficient on, like Summon Spirit and Earth Lance, better became accustomed to Water and Ghost hand, those will surely become very handy later.


    Thanks to the mana density in this place my mana regenerates much faster, I will keep casting spells and figure out ways to master them to a higher level but my priority right now will be getting a bigger mana pool.


    Yes, for now, getting more mana is my principal goal.

 Chapter 10

    I have survived the cold, haunting nights. Weathered the storms with nothing more than the shade of a tree and made my way through long, searing days without complaint. I have run with my all for my life and have escaped from the unending damned ants a handful of times.


    Even so, almost all my experience here can be summarized as me, being protected by the creatures most of the time. In front of their weird magic spit, all my injuries seem trivial.


    I have yet to go explore on my own a tiny part of this place. Of course, I know that doing so is paramount to suicide I am just not even a nuisance to most monsters here.


    So, because of this, I stand here now. Channeling spells ready to be activated through my hands. Walking around my opponent, at a considerable distance. Closing in.


    It eyes me warily, ready to pounce at me.


    I sought challenge, to prove myself. For my peace of mind. To assure me that in the case of the creatures'' demise I can keep going. That I won''t stop. That I can resist on my own because I am strong.


    Before anyone else could, I stepped forward. To claim this as my fight. As I have learned from observing the creatures. How many fights have I seen? A hundred? Two hundred? I don''t know.


    The creatures showed curiosity in their faces as soon as I stepped forward. They can talk.


    In their own way, of course. Took me long enough. It''s in their ears, mostly. They express basic things with the movement of their ears and even more when using their eyebrows, mouth, and tails too. If not for me trying to decipher the origin of their strength I wouldn''t have realized that these quick movements of their ears had any meaning.


    And right now they are curious about my actions, this would be the first time that I''m participating in a real fight since that time.


    The monster is aware of being fully surrounded, must be scared but it still growls. Standing in four it''s bigger than me and when it stands on two legs it towers even the tallest of the creatures.


    I keep walking closer to it and it turns its body to face me every moment. Strategies to defeat it have crossed my mind before and still fill some of my thoughts now. We are fighting in a patch of forest where trees are far in between. Its brown fur is coated in fresh mud. Around here doesn''t seem to be any mud, I wonder what it was doing before being trapped.


    The monster still eyes me as I slowly get closer to it, reducing the distance between us with my circular movement around it.


    Even with its size and strength, I am not at the disadvantage here. I have seen its kind before. Fighting the creatures. I have seen them crying. And I have seen them all die.


    The monster deems that I am close enough now and charges at me. It''s faster than me but it far slower than the creatures'' top speed. It''s slow in my eyes.


    I was ready for it. I sidestep to my right a few times and easily avoid the attack. It couldn''t turn enough in time. I hasten my steps and go to its back, barely avoiding its arm as it launched it sideways.


    I keep moving fast around it so close that I could stretch an arm and touch it, but not so fast as to reach its back. And the monster keeps trying to turn around and face me. So dumb.


    I need to be careful, though. It could just jump on its side and smash me on the ground. For now, I have limited its movements but it''s still dangerous I wonder who will get dizzy first, even though that is not my goal. However, I have practiced this kind of rounding movement while facing a direction before.


    After half a minute of doing so, I finally let its face catch up to me and it growls some more until I slap it in the snout with a quick movement. It stops for a second but resumes its pursuit with renewed vigor. Now I tread a dangerous thread.


    As I thought, its body is just too hard to punch it. Even with a slap my hand is hot and throbs with pain. However, I still keep slapping it and attracting its maw to my hands, barely avoiding it as it snaps at me each time. As I do so I unsheathe the knife discretely with my right hand. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Although just a mistake can cost me my life I don''t feel nervous. Neither do I feel the thrill of battle I have felt before. Nothing. I am aware that my movements are a bit strange, like forced but I do them like something I have done thousands of times.


    I slap it again with my left hand but instead of slapping it I quickly remove my hand. The monster immediately snaps at where my hand was, leaving itself plain open for an instant. I don''t waste the chance.


    My right-hand thrusts forward, the knife stabs its left eye deeply, almost without resistance. I knew it would happen like this, I have tested the knife many times before.


    As fast as I stabbed the eye with the knife I quickly retract my arm. The monster stays still for a moment. Perhaps it''s shocked or maybe its brain is trying to puzzle together what had just happened. When it ends, if it did, it lets go of a deafening roar of pain and anger to the heavens as it stands on its hind legs.


    I am so close to it that apart from feeling dwarfed by its sheer size I feel annoyed by its roars and cries of agony. So, after initially covering my ears I stab it in the leg after moving to its side again. The knife cuts smoothly and the half-blind monster turns to roar at me.


    I just keep moving to its back and it goes to stand in four again as it can''t move as fast standing on two legs. I keep moving to its back as it spins, standing on its blind side, the monster is still as dumb as before but now it is more vicious, saving no strength and just giving with its all to get a hit on me.


    I know that slapping it again is so bad of an idea that it would be impossible without losing a hand. I should end this now.


    I finally stop running in circles around it, I was starting to get dizzy anyway. I lower my own stance after jumping back, flexing my legs, and activate the two spells I was holding since the beginning of the battle. Ghost Hand, to trip the monster''s leg where it''s putting its weight as it''s turning to face me.


    My spells have become stronger but even so that one Ghost Hand alone cut off a third of my mana. I have trained a lot, without rest. Before, I switched between casting methods all the time. It was useless, except to remember the chants of the spells. But now I doubt I would ever forget them, they are my life and blood.


    I changed the approach in my training. Apart from starting to control inner-mana, I have started experimenting. Changing and controlling the output of mana I add to each spell has gotten me better results. Identifying what does each pattern that I can have gone well too.


    Ghost hand is a little more special, it activates with whatever quantity of mana and stays active as long as you supply it mana, consuming more the more strength is applied against it. And direct contact of the spell with the body increases the mana waste a lot more. The skin is a natural protection against foreign magic. You can''t activate a spell inside the body of someone else.


    "Earth Lance."


    My second spell struck its neck as the monster was falling headfirst to the ground, impaling it and piercing its skin, muscles, and fat all the way to the other side, getting stuck in the middle of its neck, piercing it completely.


    It started to make strengthless cries of pain, terrified of its demise. Pitiful too.


    It couldn''t even cry properly with the magic projectile still obstructing its throat. It died after a minute, probably it drowned with its own blood. It stinks. The monster pissed itself in its last moments. To spit in the face of destiny, or perhaps of pure terror of death.


    This mess is not pretty at all. The eye is still bleeding, staining the fur in all its head. The injury in the neck was cleaner. It seems I didn''t it an artery and it just bled internally, who knows. To check that it is still death I stab the other eye and it doesn''t move.


    I''m not a stranger to killing. Children back in the town were brought out to the plains and animals were used as targets of our spells so that we knew what those, and of what we, were capable of. To create and become aware of it. That our magic wasn''t to play.


    I have read many types of books. Some dwelled about the morality of killing, of the act, of the emotional load in the individual. Many stories did at some point and many did it at many. I don''t know if it''s the fact that I have read much or that I haven''t read enough or my education that caused that I didn''t feel any trouble at the time. I know that isn''t good but those, doing it or not, just doesn''t have any weight on my conscience.


    Even so, this time it feels especially wrong. I don''t regret it neither I am sad. I just feel strange. This was so void. So pointless.


    I have talked more to the creatures more often, out of fear of forgetting but also to practice the three languages I know. But also of fear to forget myself, what I know and Who I am.


    So, who I am right now? This just feels like a waste. I comprehend that it was just killing for killing. I didn''t fight for my life this time, I approached the problem myself. I didn''t escape from anything neither I thought of feeding the creatures. I just wanted to test my strength in an animal I knew had no chance against me. That I knew it would die anyway.


    Just mindless killing. Just because yes. Not even the creatures do that, not even once I have seen it here. They avoid as many fights as they fight. They eat everything they kill. I don''t even have hunger.


    I should stop doing this kind of thing, this kind of test. Not because is wrong or bad but because it somehow doesn''t sit right with me.


    This kind of thought isn''t something that someone my age should have, is it?. I half-smile thinking about it and leave the corpse behind for the creatures to deal with.

 Interlude 1

    50 years before.


    XXX


    The magnificent Sun in its highest point in the sky. Not a single cloud in sight.


    Lu Wei laughed ominously from his elevated position on a small hill as he waited for the armies to get into range and the battle to start. Everything is ready and accounted for. He wouldn''t mind getting a little fighting for himself at all, even though it would mean that his soldiers were in a precarious situation. Something ridiculous, taking to account the disparity in the numerical deployment. Just as his aides told him, the enemy brought a very low quantity of men.


    However, he already expected that. The city from where his enemies hail is small thus barely over a thousand men march today to meet his army in combat.


    Breaking into a full-blown laugh Lu Wei remembers the events that triggered this situation right now. Almost not believing that he is invading the cause of dread to many and admiration to some at this moment. Even his when he was young. It''s not his fault, though, it''s theirs.


    Mastan is a powerful nation, who Lu Wei rules. Mastan is not that prosperous, surviving for hundreds of years by warring against its neighbors. It shares borders with the Eternal Empire, a small dessert, and the conglomerate of small kingdoms of the plains. Facing economic problems and the petitions of some influential nobles, the country sought to improve its relations with its neighbors. It didn''t go well. Years of enmity can be forgotten so easily.


    It sounded so easy, though. To agree on trade routes and taxes, but it wasn''t. Lu Wei put his eyes on the auto-isolated city of Erendal. Apart from rumors from lost travelers that got there by luck, no one knows anything about it. Except that it was known that the Empire traded with them. If they trade with the Empire then why not with Mastan? The realm is at the same distance from Erendal that the Empire. It wouldn''t change much the realm''s economy. It''s a baby step, but it was a good first step as any.


    Historical facts tell about Erendal being nothing more than a village founded by a handful of rogue mages running away from the Empire a long time ago. The only path to the city has always been a pass among the mountains positioned in the same desert that shares borders with both the Empire and Mastan. Of course, you can hike the mountains themselves or go through the Wilderness at their back but that is just suicide.


    Without much thought, he sent messengers to the Pass but just as he expected their passage was negated. They don''t leave anyone to visit their city, they barely tolerate lost wanderers or skilled warriors that managed to cross the mountains or the woods. His men left a message at the pass for the guards to tell to their superiors and soon enough a representative of Erendal and his escorts arrived at Mastan a few days later.


    The representative didn''t wear a typical politic or merchant fancy clothes even though he had the face of one. Arriving in full black leather armor and a black cloak with heavily armored guards shadowing his every step. The representative walked with the grace of a Martial Warrior as every one of his guards did. Without following the courtesy rules he introduced himself as Ferio, with no family name. Lu Wei was enraged, apart from the lack of manners and the nod that the representative gave instead of a bow they sent a commoner to meet with Him.


    Lu Wei let those offenses pass and showed a kind attitude as his throne room is full of ears expecting him to do something shameful and drop his popularity with his people. Damned politics.


    The negotiations with the representative went as bad as they could go. His demands were outrageous. A plain robbery and formation of a monopoly in the hands of these savages that played the village and sent a commoner to play the ambassador. Lu Wei controlled his temper, offered him to renegotiate and for his merchants to make the man enter on reason. He refused. His terms or nothing. The bastard! So arrogant!


    He warned the representative, before so many indiscretions he would make them pay dearly. He sneered, turned around, and left as he replied: ''Then do it''. Lu Wei didn''t want to make a scene like killing the representative; so he just told them to wait for him, because he would come.


    Lu Wei is not a man who hesitates. He is not a man to cross lightly. He gathered most of his army, still leaving behind a formidable force just for if and marched to raze the savage city to the ground without delay, better not give them time to prepare for his arrival.


    When his army stood ready to take the fortifications in the Pass he was pleased when these were taken with few causalities. The few enemies protecting the walls running away in horses from fortification on fortifications after shooting a couple of magic projectiles.


    Admittedly, if the rumors were right and everyone in the city of mages were magicians then fighting them while they stood in a heavily defended position was unwise but after having taken the last of the fortress along the pass he couldn¡¯t keep a wicked smile from blossoming in his lips. Now that the enemy retreated so far back then they only had three scenarios to fight on, in the plains, in their military camp, or in the city itself and Lu Wei doubted that they would dare to fight him in the streets, risking so much their non-combatants. Even those savages couldn''t be so heartless, right?


    He left behind a garrison in the fortifications, to cover his retreat should the necessity arise.


    And he stood here now, in this small hill to overview the battle. At his left, his horse is resting and a little farther is his own son. Twelve years old and with a great talent in spiritual energy. He is here to witness the fall of the city of legends. Lu Wei wanted to siege the city and see for himself if that mythical shield surrounding it existed but when his scouts reported that the enemy was readying themselves to fight in the open field he marched without more than a pause to rest, leaving his artillery a couple of hours behind.


    Even so, the shield probably does not exist if it does then why not the Erendalians just hide behind it and shot magic at him? It probably was just exaggerations of traumatized adventurers who traveled the wilderness. People that get out of there don''t come back completely sane.


    His advisors were confident that the enemy would meet him in the open after they yielded the Pass in the mountains, of course, that if they didn¡¯t outright surrender after witnessing his military prowess. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "It seems that it''s true, his Majesty," the voice of one of his advisors, the unharmed one, brought Lu Wei out of his thoughts. "Just over a thousand men, all with the same equipment and judging by the little amount of metal in them probably each is a mage."


    Indeed. Lu Wei didn''t reply to his subordinate anymore as he engrossed himself studying his enemies. With just a little bit of spiritual energy, Lu Wei is capable of looking at the army a thousand meters away as if they stood a mere ten meters from him. The enemy mages march unhindered to meet his army. Their ranks organized in a scattered formation divided into two units of 500 men, all on foot, one fifty meters behind the other. Lu Wei''s army marches with the same formation, intending to reduce the damage made by magic projectiles.


    If they are all mages then it would be tricky fighting against all of them, mages are more difficult to train than martial warriors. The battle will probably be a long-range battle between his mages and the enemies as his troops rush to charge on melee.


    All in black leathers with metallic plates in vital spots. They wear black cloaks to cover their equipment but even so, Lu Wei could single it out. Each carrying two knives, a bag pack, and a main weapon like a sword or spear that doesn''t seem to be standard. The differences between normal soldiers and officers difficult to see, they just have some lines of different colors in their cloaks.


    But something about their equipment is bugging Lu Wei, something is off place. And then he realizes it. "They don''t have staves," The Ruler of Mastan voices his observation. It took him long enough, he himself bought the staves to arm his mages, all of them of decent quality that assists in casting and the power of the spells.


    "Not even a wand, unless they are hiding them in their sleeves." With a straight back and a firm voice, his other advisor, Han Bei, replied. His Warhammer''s head resting on the floor and his hands in the top of the shaft, looking every bit like a tiger ready to strike. Itching for the battle to start. "The purpose of such action evades me though, we already know they are mages and their actions say just as much as if a thousand of such could stand against fourteen times as many soldiers."


    "The rumors tell that each one of them is capable of chant-less casting, his Majesty," Long Tan says. "Maybe their technique impedes them from using a medium in their casting, after all, there are techniques documented where the use of a medium is strictly necessary."


    "Both are good points, it can also be that they just simply don''t have any. After all, if I were the Empire I wouldn''t strengthen these mages by selling them weapons. They are the Empire''s enemy." His son chimes in on the conversation, intelligent beyond his years, Lu Wei''s pride. He also found himself agreeing with his son''s statement, trading weapons with a potential enemy is never a good idea. Lu Wei wonders then, although true why does the Empire considers the savage town so? What is their hidden history?


    It doesn''t matter, the battle is about to begin. He cleared his mind from these thoughts.


    He never liked to give speeches to his soldiers that he left to the General''s duty. Lu Wei''s left grip on his spear tightens and he finds himself smiling again, his patience spent. The enemy wears open-faced helmets and he can see their uncertainty all over their faces, there is no fear though and some are even eager to fight. Their way of fighting, throwing spells around is honor-less, not true combat in Lu Wei''s eyes.


    Plans never go as planned. The enemy suddenly stopped, two hundred meters away from his archers and mages range, and started to chant in the ancient language. So they have that large of a range, it is unfavorable but not unexpected. Just like he would have done, his General gave the signal of full charge, indicating all his army to charge or get into position. A single horn was heard and his soldiers exploded into motion.


    The best strategy against mages is to attack them with everything without giving them time to zap away his numbers. Of course, the charge is a controlled one, every unit knowing its role beforehand. His cavalry, five hundred in each flank started moving in a wide arc towards the enemy. 3000 infantrymen started charging head one in three waves of a thousand men while the rest followed at a light pace from behind.


    His archers, two units of five hundred each, hidden behind the wings of cavalry quickly sought to get into range while his own mages charged just behind the first wave of infantry. A thousand mages, they will engage in magical combat as soon as they get into range and stall for time for the infantry or the knights to reach the enemy lines. Lu Wei doesn''t really expect them to win the magical exchange as they don''t have much training in the army but his mages will not fall easily either.


    Only the first five hundred enemy mages started to chant while the others stood quietly behind. A second after his forces started moving the mages finished their chant and hundreds of spells invaded the sky. Most of those were fireballs making their way through the air, those are fast but not enough as to not be able to avoid them. A weak starting movement.


    Lu Wei smiled at his good fortune. His enemies don''t live up to their fame after all. The world with know after this battle who conquered the famous and secretive city of mages, his name will be spoken in every corner of the world and stories, no, legends of this conquest will be told again and again.


    Lu Wei''s joy was short-lived, though. When the fireballs were starting to descend from the sky just about to fall upon his mages they sped up. In an instant they were ten times faster, falling in less than a second and catching his mages off-guard.


    The explosions were deafening. The flames beyond vicious, spreading out dozens of meters with a hell-like heat and burning everything within reach. The other spells, cast from those mages that don''t have a fire affinity, were just as vicious. Earth bombs exploding upon impact and sending shards flying everywhere, whirlwinds shooting blades of wind randomly in all directions. Those attacks aimed not to kill but to gravely injure and cripple his mages. Without the concentration necessary to cast even if they aren''t dead they are just as useless.


    And it was effective, less than a hundred came out unscathed. Most of his battalion out of combat in the first exchange. Cold sweat run down Lu Wei''s back for a moment before a burning rage invaded him. He gathered these mages from all the nation just for this moment. Damned savages, he will enslave them all and put them to good use to redeem their sins.


    A heartbeat after those attacks touched the ground the battlefield between them turned to a swamp, all in the transformation in the span of a second, distracting Lu Wei of his anger. His infantry''s charge was completely stopped for a moment but quickly continued their advance, albeit slowly after lightening themselves with their spiritual energy to not get trapped in the mud.


    Shocked by such a feat of magic Lu Wei wondered how they accomplished something like this, there is a spell to turn the ground to mud but on this grand scale? The enemy mages of the unit in the back didn''t even chant, they just raised their hands and it happened.


    "Chant-less casting, terrifying that all of them can use it and not only their most elite mages." One of his advisors shared his thoughts but Lu Wei didn''t hear him as he was still engrossed in grasping all the battle in his understanding.


    The cavalry moved unhindered by the mud thanks to their initial rounding approach in a wide arc towards the enemy. The cavalry''s left-wing turned to charge the enemy flank as the other wing kept going, to distract the enemy and charge from behind.


    At the same time, his archers in both flanks already in position, shot their first volley of arrows at the mages without delay just as the mages of the first half retaliated too, without chant, attacking the archers in both units just as the first arrows left their bows.


    The arrows did nothing much


    It was infuriating how the arrows were evaded so easily. Their causalities after exchanging shots with well-trained archers were of about a dozen, nimbly avoiding the projectiles or blocking them in a heartbeat with a spell while still retaliating to finish off the archers, who somehow fared better than his mages had but not by much. The enemy rate of fire outrageously high and their power doesn''t seem to decline at all.


    Mages capable of casting without chant can certainly reach this casting speed but the trade-off in power and speed is gigantic. Their attacks should struggle to take down his soldiers but instead, they fall like chickens to the butcher.


    Infuriating but Lu Wei will make them pay.

 Interlude 2

    It''s their scattered formation what will cost them the battle, his cavalry will charge unhindered all the way through them, slaughtering hundreds in seconds and routing everyone else in less than half a minute.


    His aides were arguing heatedly, though. They suggested telling the scattered elites on the infantry to break formation and rush ahead through the mud to fight in melee with the magicians, to disrupt the constant burst of spells that are raining down on them now that the surviving archers aren''t a worthy target. The cavalry still wasn''t just there and in the short time that took the cavalry to turn directly at them and start charging them, a lot of attacks decimated his first wave of infantry.


    The enemies'' right flank turned to face the cavalry wing charging them, about 150 mages shooting all sort of water affinity spells from their hands. Each of those mages attacked so many times in such a short amount of time, like an armadillo spins rolling down a hill, that at least each launched five spells before one of them stepped forward. His cavalry weathered the magical barrage heroically, holding true without stopping. Barely under 300 horses survived but they were already upon the enemy, the horses abandoning their scattered formation to build power with the proximity between them, barely a breath worth of time away.


    Lu Wei calculated twenty meters of distance between the two forces when the mage who stepped forward lifted his hands. Judging by his slightly fancier black cloak and blue lines along with it in comparison with others he must hold a higher rank among his military.


    Even over a kilometer away Lu Wei felt the temperature dropping several grades and his aides going silent at the same time. With a chill going up to his spine he watched as light blue flowers blossomed from thin air, from the ground below and ahead of his men and from the knights and horses themselves. He quickly made the connection, everything that was wet by the water magic.


    He observed incredulously as the charge with four lines of profundity was forcefully stopped as the cavalry crashed into the wall of ice flowers, cut and dismembered with the lightest of touches. Corpses, legs, and arms rained upon the mages'' lines along with a shower of blood as the charge was stopped but their momentum kept going, sending them flying or crashing on the ground where impossible sharp blades of ice awaited them, cutting men and armor alike. A gruesome picture of blue and red. Only a  handful of more or less unscathed knights survived and after a short internal deliberation turned around and fled.


    Cryomancer, Lu Wei thought.


    "Indeed his Majesty, one of those who rule over a magic affinity. This one is dangerously strong too," his advisor replied, so Lu Wei just didn''t think that but said it out loud, perhaps the years were catching up to him.


    And about the cryomancer, it is rare to find someone talented enough and willing to relinquish all but one of his magic affinities; much rarer than finding an ability user too.


    "Now the attacks with water magic make sense, these were to decrease the Cryomancer''s mana expenditure," said Han Bei while caressing his Warhammer.


    The Cryomancer wasn''t done yet, though. He seems spent but with a hand gesture, something materialized in front of him, a mist figure with arms, and darted away to finish off the dying knights trapped in Ice. Lu Wei sensed danger just at seeing the creature. The damned man can even summon an elemental.


    His gut told him to order a retreat, the threat of the enemy army rising by the second. So many losses aren''t a question of luck.  Maybe it would have been better to have brought the siege machines that they left behind even if that slowed them down or maybe to have waited in the security of the fortifications. But he can''t retreat, there are many things to lose now that he had risked so much. If it''s necessary, Lu Wei will win the battle himself with his own martial strength.


    Too late to regret now.


    In the center the melee with the mages started, the elite buying time for their compatriots and something similar happened with the enemies, some stepping forward with weapons ready and unsheathed to receive his soldiers.


    Some must be battle mages to be so confident to challenge true warriors. With so much mana those mages have they can''t be better than average martial warriors in strength and now those will fight his vanguard, who weren''t harassed by magic attacks all the way, those magicians preferring to hit where there are large amounts of his soldiers.


    And surely enough upon the clash of the two forces his men were pushing back the enemy while fighting on the artificial swamp. Shining more than his brothers in arms Rayan Growild, not born in Mastan, cut mages left and right with each swing of his greatsword. Even if they blocked his sword they still couldn¡¯t stop the power behind the blow and were cut anyway. The strength of this mercenary is famous over all the continent and it was exactly what his ability was. Not a born ability but one got through an ability crystal.


    Mastan doesn''t have either ability users or rulers of elements, always concentrating his resources in cultivating the martial strength of the spiritual energy in the young and talented.


    The enemy also had a strange soldier. Attacks directed at him were strangely redirected, deviated, parried away by an unseen force. He seems untouchable. Lu Wei has never heard of something like this. Is it magic? Or he has an ability too? Whatever the answer was Lu Wei noticed his General giving orders to focus the fire of the surviving mages and archers on him. It seems that the mage is attracting a lot of attention and not without reason he kills his opponents even faster than Rayan.


    Soon enough that particular mage, who wields two blue sabers, was being showered with spells'' bolts and arrows. He moved and avoided most attacks but those that were about to reach him always turned slightly to the sides. Swords, magic, and arrows alike. A soldier slashed at him, the swing was too high, stupidly high as it passed above the mage''s head without needing to even duck under the sword. The soldier''s face frozen in shock as the chopped head sank in the mud.


    The enemies were stronger than he expected. They probably don''t just use spiritual energy but also some sort of body buffing spell. As Lu Wei expected, Rayan and the bizarre mage met in combat and the General ordered the long-range units to change targets to avoid friendly fire. Better sure than sorry. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Both fighters were fierce. The mage holding the offensive, pushing Rayan back. Rayan''s attacks going strangely wide or off aim but he made for it with his high speed and back steps. His experience as a duelist showing, blocking, and evading the mage''s swings efficiently even at a disadvantage.


    Lu Wei''s soul ached for a battle. These two are strong, talented but not at Lu Wei''s level. Even with his prodigious strength, Rayan Growild wasn''t a rival for the Peerless Warrior Lu Wei. If Rayan had a better grasp of the control of his spiritual energy then he would have won already, that the match is dragging this much just shows how much he relies on his ability.


    And then, after twenty seconds of exchanges at high speed, the battle was decided.


    Rayan''s attack was too wide, just as it happened several times before but this time it was different. The mage didn''t follow up with a slash to take advantage of the opening. Rayan''s mistake was to get cocky and forget about who he is fighting against. He forgot that he isn''t fighting with a martial warrior. He is fighting with a mage.


    Without warning, a magic orb was shot from the mage''s left sword mid-thrust. Rayan blocked it and it exploded in light that pushed him back. It was just a distraction, the mage was upon him an instant later. His sword glowed bright orange and stabbed Rayan''s chest. The sword penetrated the armor like it wasn''t there. Lu Wei winced, what in hell was that spell? That full-body armor was enchanted and made of a resistant material so heavy that only someone with Rayan''s strength could casually wear it.


    The sword shattered in thousands of fragments after being removed, probably a side effect of such a monstrous spell. The mage quickly retreated to the back of the line. Rayan''s corpse fell sideways to the mud. His expression unknown thanks to his helmet.


    Anger boiling inside and eager to let loose himself in the frenzy of battle Lu Wei instructed his subordinates and personal guard, they are charging with him to battle, just leaving some elites behind with his son. He personally will salvage the situation, his army continuing to be slaughtered and on the border of routing. He will teach those puny magicians how strong a martial expert is.


    Lu Wei turned to his horse and put his hands above it, seeing his son on his mount looking at him and ready to go, Lu Wei smiled and started to tell him that he won''t go to the battle. But before he could open his mouth he saw the expression on his son''s face change to one of shock, his eyes quickly darting to look behind Lu Wei.


    Lu Wei''s elbow shot behind him before feeling it. Before his son could say a thing. His attack caught nothing. He turned around at the same time that he reached for his throat with his left hand. His beloved spear in the right one. He could feel the blood running down his neck and on his hand.


    In front of him, with the same sneer in his face, that hateful representative stood. Dagger in hand dripping with blood. His spiritual energy surging in a second at full power, Lu Wei charged at him. One-handed with his spear and his left in his throat as he tried to futilely stop the blood flow.


    In the two seconds that took his guards to dismount and get into arms reach of the assailant, Lu Wei had thrust and swung his spear a dozen times and the mage, who masterfully weathered Lu Wei''s superior spiritual energy with his own, survived the onslaught unscathed. He didn''t avoid or blocked the attacks, he disappeared before any attack could reach him. Disappearing from the front of a thrust just to reappear a step at the side or reappearing a step behind when Lu Wei swung his spear. All that without that sneer leaving the one called Ferio''s hateful face.


    As soon as his guards started attacking the mage, Lu Wei put all of his attention on the cut the mage made in his neck. Maybe he could manage to heal it before dying of blood loss. After a moment of self-inspection and to gather his spiritual energy to start the process of self-healing his expression turned grim. No wonder the mage wasn''t preoccupied at having failed the assassination attempt.


    He didn''t fail. Lu Wei is as good as dead. He has less than a minute of life. He already can''t hear much. All sounds now are in the background of his mind, maybe his brain is starting to fail. The injury will not heal, doesn''t matter what he does. It must have been the dagger. Some sort of artifact that temporally makes healing increasingly difficult. Unfortunately, Lu Wei doesn''t have the luxury of time or unparalleled healing skills; neither anyone on his retinue has them.


    Lu Wei observed the mage toy with his guards as his strength left him. A specialist on spatial magic? Another of those kinds of mages? It has to be, he teleports at the speed of thought.


    A moment later he was surprised to find out that Ferio wasn''t a spacemancer as the mage launched spells of other magical affinities to his guards. He is just a very skilled magician even though he doesn¡¯t seem to be over twenty-five. Such a skilled man, Lu Wei chuckled in anger and despair as much as his ravished throat let him. A formidable opponent fighting with such cowardly methods.


    Ferio managed to kill three of his guards before his royal magician finally attacked him. The attack was avoided with teleportation and Ferio counterattacked with a barrage of magic spells. The royal magician jumped to one side and neutralized them except one with a wind blade of his own. A dark green orb of fluctuating magical energy advanced unhindered towards the royal magician, hitting him on the chest, to the royal magician''s shock.


    The necklace that he was wearing burst into pieces and the green orb was dispelled upon impact. A life-saving artifact, it nullifies one spell until a certain threshold of power. He and his son also have one, the only three on Mastan. Sadly for Lu Wei, it doesn¡¯t work against daggers to the neck.


    Ferio snorted and teleported away one last time. His mana likely spent by now. Lu Wei''s legs failed him and he fell backward until a pair of hands caught him before reaching the floor. His head hanging to one side for a moment, and that allowed him to face the battlefield.


    Even at the doors of death with just a glance, he could understand that his army was routing. His right-wing of cavalry lying dead between the backs of the enemy and dozens of catapults, these weren''t there before, likely hidden with illusion magic. A giant whirlwind cutting in half his infantry annihilating and sending to fly everyone in its path. Less than half of his initial forces still alive. Worry creeping on him as he considered the enemy numbers, five hundred more than when this started. Where were they hiding? An overwhelming defeat.


    His head was turned to the front after just witnessing that glimpse of his monumental failure. His son''s, Lu Fung, tearful face greeting him. Lu Wei gave his guards, that are surrounding him now, the hand signal that signifies to protect his son with their lives. Then he gave another hand signal that means a global retreat. All the while his son was saying something but Lu Wei hears no more. Neither he has enough concentration to read his lips.


    He caressed his son''s face with the last ounce of his strength. At least he must get out of this mess. Thankfully he wasn''t targeted by the mage, maybe they didn''t know about him or wasn''t considered that great of a threat. All happened so fast that his son probably didn''t have time to move.


    He admits his stupidity and sees clearly now. He was too narrow-minded before. The world is a bigger place than he thought it was and now he is here dying in this backwater place, far from his home. Now that he thinks about it, it was too easy to get here and wonders if the garrison in the fortification is well, if not they would get trapped. Lu Wei gave the signals that mean that their retreat is compromised and regretted that no signal indicates to never attempt to attack an enemy again. Nothing good would come out of it.


    Lu Wei thought to see a fire in his son''s eyes as the darkness claimed him and Lu Wei feared it, for his son''s wellness. Lu Wei thought too that if he could talk right now he would tell his son how much he loves him and that he is proud of him. Lu Wei thought that as he closed his eyes one last time, to never open them again.


    XXX

 Chapter 11

    A sweep of a mighty paw. An elegant dodge. Several jumps to get into a better position. An exchange of hits. Dazzling speed and blurring motions. The figures before my eyes moving once and again, no care for stealth. Claws drawing blood. A pained roar and a rumbling growl.


    Growling all the time, those lazy monsters always playing around. Doing so much noise and distracting me out of meditation.


    A slow stomp signals the start of another round. A struggle on hind legs. A loss of balance. A victor, roaring to the heavens. A defeated foe, lying on its belly. Excitement is palpable in the air. The victor''s pride rising.


    I raise an eyebrow. But fail to do so. I raise both eyebrows instead.


    The victor jumps, landing over the defeated foe. Paws firmly on its back. A hostile rumbling leaving the defeated one, shaking me to the bones. The victor''s pride going dangerously near the defeated''s back. The victor''s pride going... inside?


    Wait, what?


    The creature starts to move his hips against the other creature''s. The sound, a rhythmical slap that fills the clearing, like drowning all other sounds in the background. Meanwhile, the other creature struggles half-heartedly to escape the predicament. This game is savage.


    I keep looking at them for a full minute, trying to puzzle what I am witnessing, to understand the cause for them to make so much noise as to kick me out of attunement. Then, understanding suddenly struck my head, as hard as an angry merchant when he catches you red-handed stealing his oranges.


    So this is it, eh? It''s just like Ars told me. To think that I didn''t believe him at the time. In my defense, there were too many drunkards'' laughs for it to be taken seriously or as trustworthy information. Maybe I should hold those pieces of advice he gave me in the past in a little higher regard from now on.


    I yawn. I have been rather tired lately.


    After entertaining the idea of throwing cold water to the creatures I leave them to their recreational activities and go back to what I was doing before. I close my eyes and try to get again the concentration that slipped away from me a couple of minutes ago. Easily reaching attunement with the world I take a hold of my mana, from my mana pool.


    Once in control of some mana, at this point, a magician would shape the mana into a matrix to chantless-cast a spell. That is not my purposive and thus not what I will do with it. After siphoning a certain amount of mana, enough as to not escape my mediocre control, from my mana pool I start to move it around my chest, once and again. As time pass I start to notice how the mana slowly takes another form, starting to change little by little.


    At some point, when the mana didn''t change anymore, I free it from my control. It started spinning on its own, around the center of my chest, more exactly from where I feel my mana comes when I bring it from my mana pool.


    I always perceive my mana as currents of a light blue shade. The new mana, that hovers out of my mana pool, has a yellow ''coloration'' to my senses. It''s named inner-mana but more commonly called qi or spiritual energy. Ironically, external-mana is the one inside the mana pool. There are many differences between them, the principal being that you can''t cast spells with it. I knew it already but still tried it out of curiosity. Nothing happened. I was a little apprehensive before trying, though. I thought that maybe I would trigger a backlash but fortunately, not even that happened in the end.


    Spiritual energy strengthens your body according to the amount that you have accumulated, it is over time, though. That is the passive effect. Also, I am not exactly sure of that but it is something between those lines. The active form of using it is to burst your strength temporally or other tricks that I am not aware of, even on serious writing about aura they are vague about it, as secretive as with spells. The more remotely similar to an aura manual that I found just had a few exercises. Sadly, I don''t remember those. I wasn''t very interested at the time, and less after not finding anything useful about it. After all, we were supposed to start learning it eventually under a teacher.


    It''s like another mana pool. That is how I feel it. It''s more accessible but it doesn''t grow on its own, unlike the normal mana pool. It''s easy to fill as long as it''s empty but when it''s full it becomes harder to grow but it''s the only way to do it.


    Back in the town, we were forbidden from training spiritual energy until a certain age. The elders wanted us to focus on magical arts and spells and once we got ten years old start with the other training, as support to our strength. Some people acclaim that training in both, magic and spiritual energy, harms our ability to use each other. There have been records of that happening but, in fact, those happened when they reached a very high mastery over one of them and in consequence making it harder to use the other. However, it was always dismissed by the people of the town. They believed that even if it wasn''t proved to be safe it was too good of a benefit in the short term to pass up, after all.


    I haven''t come up with a way to successfully use it yet but growing up my maximum capacity has been going well. Lately, I have been trying to identify as many patterns as I can, detecting the similarities between my spells. Doing that is more difficult than I thought and if it keeps going that bad I will need to experiment, and that will be dangerous. If I ever do it now is a good time, the stronger the mage the higher the possibility for the backlash to be nastier, even so, young mages aren''t exempt from dying by magic going wild it''s just that is more uncommon.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Different from expanding the mana pool or speeding up its gathering speed, training spiritual energy is awfully boring and I quickly grew bored of it; so I tried to do something I didn''t try before when in the state of attunement. What I mean is actually doing something else at the same time. Two things at a time. I didn''t try it before because I considered it unnecessary. Just reaching attunement and maintaining it let me feel great, safe, sharp, the time pass flying. Leaving it makes me feel refreshed as if I slept just the optimal amount of hours. But I still need to sleep.


    What I did is try to train both ways to use mana. Speeding up my natural mana ''regeneration'' and training aura at the same time. It worked. I was on ecstasy but when leaving attunement I found out that I was tired and not refreshed. Not really a problem taking into account that I was about to go to sleep anyway. And if two was possible then why not three? Well, I passed out after leaving attunement and didn''t wake after several hours.


    Better to not extenuate my body like that.


    I have been trying to copy something I noticed of the creatures too. First I thought they used their inner-mana all the time but I couldn''t be more wrong. In fact, they don''t, it''s very rare for them to use it for an extended time period. I know since now that I have a better grasp of my own inner-mana/spiritual energy I have started to feel theirs while I am meditating. I have noticed that they almost do not use spiritual energy when we rest and still have their incredible strength and speed. I think that the few times they actively use it is on hard fights, like that with the Shadow Crawler on my first day.


    I am pretty sure that other monsters really use spiritual energy every time they can: birds, the endless swarms, and even the freaking plants sometimes.


    Of course, the question nagged at my mind all the time; if the Mingan don''t use it then why are they so strong? A trait that every monster has? Not at all, I know that is rare for monsters to be so strong even here in the Great Wild since I have seen them. Maybe they have a lot of spiritual energy so their body is strong as a result, I thought that but then I noticed it, the cubs are really weak but their young ones are very strong. Quick growth in little time, not enough as to have so much aura, and neither enough time, I think.


    Spiritual energy nurtures the body. Some say that it purifies it. This nurturing is done over time but without actively using it the difference of strength between a spiritual warrior and a regular warrior who trains his body is actually not much.


    The difference between cubs and the older creatures is outstanding but between the young and the older not so much so whatever they do to increase their strengthening, as I theorized is how they get so strong. It starts to lose efficacy upon reaching a certain plateau. Unless they are just special or the exception I think that they somehow do that and I want to know If I can copy it. It''s worth trying to find out. If I succeed it would give me an edge to survive and leave this place.


    I haven''t advanced much in some of those and my search for answers has left me with little sleep.


    Monsters train their inner-mana by instinct, some for thousands of years. I doubt that any of the creatures here is that old but I have seen some monsters that may be very old get their ass kicked by the creatures.


    Also, I sense something strange going on with the creatures but I can''t point my finger at it, it''s just a weird feeling. And it''s easier to feel it in the cubs, like something happening all the time inside their bodies, maybe it can give me some answers because I think it''s related to their strength.


    It¡äs hard to try. Especially because my spiritual energy runs out pretty quickly for whatever I try to use it. I have tried to cover my hand with it to start experimenting with the theory but I just don''t notice any difference. I can''t cover my whole body without it running dry after a few seconds.


    After doing that for a while I felt silly. First, I sensed the strangeness inside the creatures'' bodies, not covering them, and second, like normal mana it dissipates fast when leaving my body. I guess that covering a body part with spiritual energy may work as a quick power up but it''s of no use in this situation.


    Sigh, I feel that I have been wasting so much time. Doing this would be easier with a teacher but out here I am alone, try and failure are my only teachers.


    I deduced that there may be one last thing which can help me with everything of that. An advanced skill, difficult to master. Mastering the state of attunement itself, reaching it without the need to meditate, or at least to not lose it each time I stop meditating. It''s an open secret that it''s a useful skill to have when you are in combat and it could be helpful with figuring out the creatures'' secrets, and if not, at least it won''t be detrimental to me.


    But I haven''t progressed with that at all and I have been practicing for months now. I have been in a rather bad mood, I am missing something but I don''t know what I am doing wrong. Each time I try it and open my eyes, attunement slips away from me and I feel like trying to remember a dream once you are awake, but the more you try the more you forget about it.


    Bah. To tell the truth, there is no point in being angry about it, I have known it since the beginning. Even if I don''t manage to do some things right now, I will get them eventually. There are other things where I have made and can make more progress.


    I will just focus on what I am good at. I shouldn''t slow down my pace but quicken it. My stamina is better and the Great Wild doesn''t seem that sinister anymore.


    Many things have happened but I have coped up with it relatively well.


    Failure is necessary, it''s there where I can find improvement.


    My worries dissipating, I open my eyes and stand up with a jump I feel well-rested and refreshed. I need to spend some energy maybe today will be the first time I go to the profundity of the woods beyond the clearing with the creatures. Sudden movement makes me snap my head to see at my back. A creature jumped over fifteen meters onto a tree with a little burst of energy.


    It was a pretty high jump. The more we go inside the Great Wild the higher and sturdier the trees have become. Naturally, the mana density in the air has thickened little by little.


    I start to walk, feeling eerily more aware of everything. Easily feeling the mana in the air and the strangeness of the creatures seems to be glaringly more noticeable.


    I stop and look again at the creature that jumped to the tree branches. Did I feel the spiritual energy the creature used on a short burst from this far?


    I couldn''t do that before.


    The realization hits me and suddenly everything feels normal again, kind of void and empty. I was still on attunement after leaving meditation. And I held onto it while moving.


    What? How?!


    Forget about focusing on what I am good, I need to try again or I will not die peacefully.

 Chapter 12

    Almost there! I am completely sure! Just a step away from unraveling it!


    A cute rumbling growl is heard as my test subject makes his displeasure known. The little dark blue cub already annoyed with my constant grip over him. The cub is playing with one of my summoned spirits, a one-meter long ghost-like serpent, but is already getting bored of it. That means that I don''t have much time anymore.


    My mana pool has grown a lot with all my training, I can summon several weak spirits at the same time now but their grade of obedience goes down the higher the number. For now, just one weak of them works just fine to distract the cub and give me more time than otherwise.


    Lately, the cubs have become harder and harder to lift, they grow so fast. In a month or so they would be too heavy as to carry them casually. Even so, I can''t let go of my grip on him. I think I need skin contact for this to work, furthermore, if I release him he will run away; interrupting this time''s attempt to seeing beyond the normal sense can.


    And... I succeeded!!


    After the first time that I managed to hold onto attunement once out of meditation, I have practiced several times. Trying once and again with renewed vigor, knowing that the reward is well worth it. Fortunately, each time I succeeded it become easier and easier.


    Right now I keep attunement after exiting meditation on almost every try. I finally understand the trick to do it. Once you blank your thoughts and are one with the world you shouldn''t try to hold onto that feeling but let it hold onto you. A stupid explanation, I am aware of that but there is no other way to say it. The majority of the workings behind magic still avoids my understanding but what little I know makes enough sense. Also, I have been too excited to care for the moment.


    Now that I can use attunement more freely, I can sense the mana in more depth and distance. Clearly feeling when spiritual energy is used but can''t manage anything when trying to feel the workings of the inner and external mana inside another living being. As if I couldn''t go beyond an invisible wall. I have thought hard about this. I have concluded that It''s the same thing that impedes magicians from activating spells inside another being''s body. Even though the sense of attunement is different from using mana or spiritual energy. There isn''t even an expenditure as far as I am aware.


    I thought that maybe making direct contact with the skin helps, I was not sure about that at all but it was worth a shot so I have been trying it. I can feel that I have been making progress after doing it in that way so I may be on the right track.


    The cub treats it as a game but also grows restless rather quickly after so much contact and petting. So, I have had to do it with little time on each occasion before he starts to try to escape. I noticed that my progress with trespassing a cub''s barrier doesn''t translate from one cub to the other. That didn''t leave me with another option but to use the same test subject each time.


    For the effort of beating the invisible wall, I send probes of my sense once and again. Sometimes fast, sometimes slowly but that doesn''t seem to make any difference. Sending a probe after a certain time each time seems to be more efficient as I feel that each gets a little deeper into the wall each time.


    I am excited. It''s just a question of time now. And that time is extremely near. I sense it on my gut.


    And as I predicted, suddenly, without more failures, my probe could sense it all. All the interior of the cub, his inner-system, state of his body, his mana pool plus his aura gathering around on its own. But more importantly, I could feel something else, what I was searching for. And search I did, looking for the strangeness.


    It was there. Mana everywhere, external-mana, not spiritual energy like I thought. Flowing constantly and with certain beauty to it from the cub''s mana pool, besides gathering to form spiritual energy. The flowing mana went to every part of the cub''s body, directly to the muscles, the skin, other organs, the bones, and even the nails and fur. Everything is infused with mana.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The same mana I use to cast spells. The same mana that is said can only be used to cast spells and activate/use magical items. There shouldn''t be another way to use it, I read it somewhere. The Mingan do, I am sure of that now.


    That is why that possibility never crossed my head. I thought that it was some sort of active manipulation of spiritual energy. Incredible.


    Regardless of that, now that I know the answer I can start to experiment on my own. To see if I can copy it for me. To see if I can learn this technique or if it''s exclusive of the Mingan.


    I continued sensing the phenomenon for a few minutes more, becoming accustomed to the feeling until the cub escaped my hold and ran away yet again.


    The day is young and there is work to be done. I dismiss my summoned spirit and search for a better place to meditate. I settle for the side of the current close to where we are camping. There are Mingan in my surroundings and the water isn''t deep so here must be safe. As safe as it can get in this savage neigborhood, at least.


    I sit and take a deep breath, preparing myself mentally. I know that every experiment related to mana and magic is dangerous, it would be foolish to think that what I am about to attempt is not dangerous. Many things hint at it. But I am at peace with that. Dying while seeking knowledge is not an ungraceful way to die. Not for me. Not if the mastery of magic is your goal at least. I have read many stories based on that mindset. No risk, no gain. I know that books are an unreliable example but it doesn''t matter.


    "No risk, no gain."


    If something goes wrong... Well, better not think about that, if it''s non-lethal the Mingan may be able to resolve it.


    I am betting my life on a chance. A chance for progress. A chance to get an advantage in a place where I need it most. I can''t ignore this.


    And what makes me think of all this... Imbuing the body with external mana. It''s so simple that I refuse to believe that nobody tried it before. I have never heard of someone trying it and it''s probably because the results weren''t pretty. But the Mingan make it work somehow and I won''t give up so easily. I want to know how they do it, even if it''s because of an ability of them or another different thing. And if I am honest with myself, that is not all, I want the power too.


    If I read it before, that there is not another way to use external mana but for magic and items then it must be because it was tried before. But as I said before; no risk, no gain. You can''t get power in a short amount of time without risk and danger.


    My resolve is made anyway. I start to meditate and reach attunement.


    I hold and withdraw mana from my pool. Just a small quantity, enough to cast a Boulder spell. I think it''s smarter to start small. I send the mana to my hand.


    Nothing happens, of course. How to fuse it with my hand?


    I imagine my mana going inside of my bones, my muscles, skin, everything. I imagine my mana being used, being useful, strengthening my body. And then, I will it into action.


    First, nothing happens as I feel my mana being expended. Then I notice my right hand getting warm. Hey, I think that is worki-


    I am distracted by an incredibly loud cry of pain that easily pierces the plethora of sounds that come from the woods. A few seconds pass before I notice that the cry is mine. I am on my back, still crying, my left hand holding my right wrist close to my chest, shaking uncontrollably. Then, I became aware of the pain, and my cry of agony was reinforced in magnitude. I can''t take it anymore. Everything else vanishes for me.


    The last thing I was aware of were several Mingan swarming me.


    xxx


    I shot up upright. I am completely soaked in sweat. I am shaking. A phantasmal pain remains on my hand. I still have a hand, at least. I barely can make out the creatures sleeping around me.


    It''s dark, already night. I was out for several hours, maybe days. I check my clock. Just hours.


    My experiment was a failure. I expected an explosion or wild magic if I failed, not that hell-crushing pain. At least I now know that I have to be more careful in subsequent experiments. I need to know why the Mingan don''t feel pain all the time because of the technique. Or maybe they do feel it. Then, they must immune or have learned to deal with the pain somehow. Maybe the pain is not necessary and I am doing something wrong or it will diminish with time as I become accustomed. Maybe I need to use less mana next time or fuse it slower, or faster, or on intervals.


    So many questions and too few answers. Something tells me that I will need to experiment a lot more.


    A groan escapes me. Surviving each day is already a struggle. I am surprised when there is a day where I had not a close encounter with death. And I don''t make things any easier for me with my training.


    Everything for just a little more.


    Hopefully, I will not become a masochist by the end of this ordeal.

 Chapter 13

    I thrust the knife at a different angle around the protuberance in the bark again. The blade slices without much effort through the hardwood and once it''s deep enough I lean it against one side to use the knife as a lever. Now that the bark is weak on some points it easily breaks and reveals the fruit I was after.


    The process to extract this kind of fruit is very time-consuming but this one is also the tastiest treat around here. It has a very hard exterior that is probably not edible ¡ªI checked¡ªlike a nut, with the interior being soft and fibrous. A mystery for me why is this tree like that, the shell of the bark is very hard to break too.


    Very interesting, this kind of tree. Hollow inside with just a cover of bark, branches, and leaves like any other tree for an exterior. It has a multitude of strange thin roots that reminds me of hair. More interesting yet is that is impossible to grow any kind of plant or tree taken from the Great Wild outside the forest itself. Many have tried and all of them failed. It is worth noting that many of the flora in here reproduces from its destruction and oh destructed it gets oh so often.


    I take out the fruit from its position, encrusted in the wood and after removing it, my movements come to a sudden halt as I stare into two little beady black eyes. The world stays still and silent for a full second that feels like an eternity for me. Even the wind and sounds in the background stopped momentarily as my mind processed the threat. Then, everything exploded into life at the same time again.


    I jump back, startled, falling on my back. I was just one meter above ground so nothing serious happens to me in the fall. The tree, though, isn''t that lucky and breaks apart into a thousand pieces. Burst away by constant movement, it appears to spawn an endless swarm from its hollowed inside.


    Damned ants, three times bigger than my hand each, rush at me even before I touch the ground and quickly climb and crawl over me. Drowning in so many of them, feeling their many legs, their hairy bodies rubbing against mine and their mandibles searching for flesh. I feel them bite me, drawing blood. I find a point of support with my hands among the ants crawling around and jump, my body getting into an upward position almost instantly. I start shaking my body and throwing them off with kicks and punches.


    I insta-cast the Gale spell but it results ineffective, as more ants fill the space the ones I blew away left behind. Many keep trying to climb onto me, drawing more and more blood, clinging onto me despite my attempts to break free but I don''t let the bastards get hold of any important part. Then, I try a different approach, insta-casting a Fireball two meters to my left, the general direction most of the ants are at.


    The Fireball hits dead center on many of them, incinerating some and blowing away many more. I don''t waste more time, shooting out into the flames as the way is momentarily cleared, ignoring the minor burns that I don''t even register under the pain of the many bites and the many ants still holding onto me.


    My surroundings blur as I run at breakneck speed, as fast as I have never run before. My legs move many times in the air before touching the ground but I quickly become accustomed to it, leaning forward, closer to the ground, and sped up even more.


    I move in nigh total silence through the changing scenery, noticing some inhabitants of the woods, avoiding trees, ducking under branches, and jumping over rocks without slowing down at all. I run straight through hard and unwelcome shrubs to throw off my undesirable passengers still clinging onto me, gaining several more cuts in the process, that ends being fruitless.


    After less than fifteen seconds of running, I finally hear the sound of flowing water and slightly adjust my direction. I take a deep breath, bracing myself for the impact.


    A second after I shot into a river, diving flexed legs first and going deep. The sound muffles as my body goes deep into the water. My body going cold and my injuries numbing. My eyes, which were open during the short time I remained underwater see shadows nearing me as the almost dozen of ants are washed away by the current. I finally got rid of them.


    I reach the surface and gasp, also become aware of the water being painted with a shade of red by my blood. Then something I learned a time ago strikes me. The waters aren''t safe.


    The shadows under the surface were going for me too. A little panicked, I start to swim for the safety of the shore like mad but it''s a tiny bit too late. I sense an acute pain in my leg and then my surroundings take a life of their own, intense activity follows. I scream. I am in real danger now, no time to hesitate. I insta-cast a spell and summon a spirit. Something materializes underwater but I don''t take notice, being too occupied with kicking the aquatic monster biting my leg, and clawing at the approaching ones on my surroundings. Luckily it seems it''s just small fishes this time.


    As a battle takes place around me I resume my swim to the edge of the river, insta-casting a barrage of Fireball to the depths. The temperature around me quickly rises as I shot one magical fire after another. Impressively, each fireball holding several seconds underwater until overwhelmed by the coldness of the water, their magic spent. The aquatic predators leave me alone until I reach the edge, scared of the flashy lights and barely steaming water.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    It was a shitty plan. Jumping into the water? Never again.


    I am completely wet but my clothes are fine because I practically don''t have them anymore. My bag pack is waterproof and I just have my shorts left. Can''t go around there with my birthday suit.


    I check my injuries. Nothing life-threatening but so many of them that I probably would bleed to death in no time. Doesn''t matter, I get up¡ªor at least try to¡ª and start to crawl to the nearest Mingan. I am starting to feel lightheaded but I will seek the Mingan''s healing. It''s a pity, though, their healing doesn''t leave scars unless the injury is severe.


    I remember how adventurers and soldiers told stories and anecdotes about each of their scars. It''s not like I will try to convince anyone of what I have accomplished here; it would be just a waste of time. Even I know, if a child tried to convince me that he survived a journey through the Great Wild I would be very skeptical, at best. No, I would certainly don''t believe it, the handful of adventurers that reached Town through the Great Wild were elites and they often started with powerful teams or big parties just to end their journey alone and damaged in the head. Still, having one or two stories with scars wouldn''t be too bad, I have one for the burn on my left hand already.


    I am digressing, I need to heal and restore my mana. As I come closer to the Mingan, one that wasn''t doing anything approaches me and starts to heal me via licking without further ado. I sit against a tree, exhausted, and close my eyes to meditate and reach attunement, which I lost hold of at some point. The injuries slowly close before my sight as the creature dutifully licks me clean and its saliva enters in contact with my injuries. So far there have not appeared to be any drawback to this method, the only I can''t think of is a possible addiction, but I don''t think that is the case.


    I hope not.


    I have identified the source of this strange ability too. It''s a plant. They ingest some plants constantly but they eat two of them more than the rest. Both plants fairly common around here. I have tried eating it myself but the results are discouraging, my body can''t support it, throwing up each time, even though the taste is not bad. I have ground it into a paste that I applied to cuts and have gotten better results. Probably a known recipe for herbalism or alchemy. Still better to know than not that their healing is an acquired skill and not an innate one.


    The other plant took me longer to realize what it did despite using it daily. Very stupid on my part, it could have been a special poison, or worse. Doesn''t matter now, that plant is the cause of the Mingan''s lack of smell. I have the Clean spell so I didn''t notice the difference until I realized that although I haven''t washed my teeth with anything for a while and still my breath didn''t smell, that is not something Clean does and neither the Mingan have smelly breathe despite eating raw meat so often. Now my breath smells like nothing. Well, at least not of something I am capable of picking up with my meager sense of smell. I will continue to consume it, considering that it doesn''t make me throw up like the other, and hope the effect becomes permanent.


    Right now, I need to refill my mana pool so I start to speed up the natural regeneration but to my dismay, I notice my spiritual energy is very spent too. Spiritual energy doesn''t regenerate on its own so I concentrate on it first. My mana pool will take care of itself on its own.


    It seems my little run in the woods depleted my spiritual energy in about fifteen seconds, admittedly I ran faster than ever during that short time. While I have had no luck with infusing mana on my body I have better results with the good old spiritual energy using the same principle, which must be the main use of spiritual energy. Infusing my muscles with spiritual energy makes them temporarily slightly harder and stronger.


    Maybe it''s a mental barrier of my own, if I were to crash with an obstacle while running as fast as I ran a while ago then the results won''t be pretty. So I can''t run so fast normally, just as fast as my reflex can manage, even if I am physically capable of running faster.


    It''s something I need to think about.


    After just half an hour I feel recovered and my Spiritual energy is at full capacity. I notice the creatures gathering so I leave meditation and see them getting ready to go. If I concentrate I can hear the distinctive sound of the swarm in the distance. It seems I agitated them more than I thought and we need to get away from them.


    It''s dangerous to sleep on the vicinities of one of the endless swarms, luckily I stumbled upon them while I searched for fruits before something on a large-scale happened. Considering prior experiences a couple of hours of travel to find another good camping spot would be enough. It''s the final day of rest of the 5 days cycle so it doesn''t matter much.


    A few minutes more of waiting and soon we are already jogging away. The scenery changing again, we move in the river''s water direction. The river has a big space on each side until the canopy of trees. The trees themselves are colossal this deep on the Great Wild, the majority over a hundred meters tall and several meters thick too. The quantity of monsters hidden among them is always frighteningly high but they aren''t as stupid as to attack a herd of dangerous monsters¡ªus¡ª and prefer to stay clear of our path.


    I suppose we will just follow the river for two or three hours until we get to a safe distance away from the swarm for the night but it depends on the leader.


    Movement far away among the trees at the other side of the river catches my attention. I turn just in time to witness a sight that gives me goosebumps and makes me sweat cold. At my left, as the Sun hides among the canopy I see a shadow popping behind one of the trees. The shadow resembles a humanoid upper body with arms and head. That doesn''t frighten me, humanoid monsters aren''t rare on the Great Wild. The shadow quickly hides behind the tree after I glance at it. The only issue is that considering the distance and the height of the tree the monster must have been over 20 meters tall.


    I look at the creatures around me. They look unconcerned even though they must be aware of the presence hidden there. Now I know better than to make a ruckus about this. If they deem the issue an unworthy threat then they are probably right. On my part, I better move further away from that part of the river.


    In the time of my stay on the Great Wild, I have witnessed my fair share of weird things and strange events, of rare beasts and illogical monsters, even some that behaved weirdly close to being sentient. This just serves to me as a reminder that I am yet to know for sure any shit going on in this place.

 Chapter 14

    Carlos and Little One follow me as I stroll at the tail of the group on the side of the river. Little One is slightly smaller than Carlos¡ªThe Mingan I fought against, the day that all of this started¡ª he took a liking to me for reasons I don''t fully comprehend, maybe he likes me because I am often his playmate to entertain him. The younger ones of them are the most attached to me, from the older ones all I can say is that they are kind but kinda cold, like most teachers and instructors were like back in Town. The leader scares me a little, though, seems like it''s always ready to fight. No, isn''t always ready, he always wants to fight.


    They are smart and silent, each with distinct behavior. They are that or it''s my mind playing tricks for my necessity of human contact. Sometimes I even talk to them, more often than I would like to admit, but it doesn''t matter how much they resemble people, I can''t think of them like that. They aren''t people. At least not to me. I am grateful to them but it''s different, I want to see real persons again. I am not fond of pets even though theoretically summoning is my strongest point and summons are like pets, I know, ironic. The spirits I can summon aren''t pets though, they are... weird.


    About that, I have felt it sometimes, my mana reacting to the younger Mingan but nothing has happened so far. I have read about it, the first summoning contracts were made with spontaneous and wild magic, not with a defined matrix spell. I hope it''s that and not the puberty I read about too, or worse, me having a thing for animals. Maybe my biggest chance to contract one of the Mingan is with the cubs, as it''s said, they are more impressionable, isn''t it?.


    I don''t know how to do it so no point in rushing it, I already have other important projects in hand.


    I use the idle time to toss sticks and rocks to both Carlos and Little One so they fetch them back like dogs are supposed to do. At first, Carlos was somewhat warier of me than the others but with the time I have stayed here he has reduced his wariness towards me by a lot. It''s difficult to be sure when talking about animals but I think that sometimes he displays his scar in the eye to the others with pride. Not sure of what he is proud of either but scars may be cool even among animals.


    The rest of the day passes fast and we arrive at a new spot to rest for the night. With only an hour of light left, the creatures start to sleep and rest. But I can''t, this morning''s events still fresh in my memory and maintaining me wide awake.


    I think it''s about time that I explore the mysterious woods a little more. I am strong enough to survive casual danger. My survival skills, although not at the level of the Mingan, aren''t too far behind. I have learned from them after all. How to reduce noise while moving is one of those and with that, I consider myself sneaky enough for the task, avoiding danger my greatest priority.


    Normally, I don''t go more than a couple of minutes of walking distance from the group. This time I will just go a little further away, five minutes. Starting small.


    Even though the skies are already painted orange the cacophony of sounds of the lively woods doesn''t decrease. The sounds the monsters make don''t bother me, I am used to it and they work just fine to make me even more undetectable.


    Under the cover of the noise, I start going in a random direction away from the group, being careful of being seen but not followed. I walk away but not without a plan as it appears at first sight. I have learned to navigate through here and I have a goal in mind. There are two ways to navigate in the Great Wild, both of which I learned from watching the Mingan. For the method I am using now, it''s fairly easy to guess if you put attention to your surroundings and can enter the state of attunement, you can avoid both the most dangers and the more treacherous situations. It''s as simple as to detect the subtle changes in the mana density and stay away from areas with the highest of it. Right now, though, I am doing the opposite. Approaching one of those areas deliberately. I just need to locate one of them so, this is just walking in one sole direction until I sense the change in the ambient mana.


    My plan turns out to be fructiferous and I enter one of those areas I talked about. I slide through the vegetation like a ghost, experience palpable in each step, seeing before being saw and taking the paths of the shadows to avoid encounters with simple-minded creatures. More often than not the sound of fighting draws more contenders to battle than it makes monsters run away from. I mostly need to be wary of ambush predators as they are good in the art of ''hide and wait'' and of some monsters that effectively camouflages as trees.


    I need to be especially careful of those trees that aren''t really trees. There are a surprisingly elevated number of monsters that try to pass as inanimate objects in the Great Wild. Either way, monsters that ambush are a headache.


    All around me, trees taller than I populate the canopy, they have different heights; the majority above a hundred meters. Pretty tall indeed, so much I can''t see their tops but I can still spot trees that range between ten to twenty meters and even more. However, even though the small trees are probably young ones that feed on the ambient mana, at the lack of solar light down here, I stick mainly to the highest of them because experience had thought me the lesson that the highest the tree the less the chance of it being a monster. Also, I have yet to see a monster of a hundred meters of height so, yes, I feel more confident walking in the vicinity of the biggest ones than at the side of their smaller cousins.


    As I get closer to whatever I am nearing I sense movement on the branches of some trees. It seems I am not alone around here anymore. I am being stalked now.


    I keep going at the same pace, regardless of the growing activity high on the trees. To say that I am always ready to fight¡ªapart from being arrogant¡ª is an understatement. I am the first to admit that I have survived many close calls only thanks to my capacity to launch barrages of magical attacks on a moment''s notice in the face of my opponents. Facts like that make them stop and reconsider the threat level I represent and if it''s worth it to take me down.


    Today''s encounter with the ants wasn''t different. If everything goes wrong, attacking blindly is not below me, not if it can guarantee my survival. Having spiritual energy to run faster and escape helps too.


    I can barely see anything beyond ten meters away from me. The Sun''s orange warm light that manages to pierce through the canopy is too dim, barely enough to let me make out figures in my proximity.


    And at this point, I finally stop my advance. I know that more than one monster is hidden, high on the branches; and they are about to make their move. The only sound present is that of the wind whistling through the woods, the place seemingly hollow and desolate in the night, though I know that is not the case. If I strain my hearing I can make out other monsters'' noise in the distance.


    I let my arms dangle at my sides, arching my back a little and flexing my legs, making myself look small. Two spells long ago chantlessly cast ready to be released. Were I on this moment the me of the past I would have chosen the spell Earth Lance as one of my reserves without a second thought, just to secure a fast instant kill and scare whatever other monsters are in the vicinity. So foolish, I have learned that once one of the monsters dies the others tend to go into a frenzy. Fortunately, time has made me wiser. Well, not just time but painful memories too; memories of distasteful encounters with weirdly skilled monsters in the arts of junk throwing. These rocks weren''t just thrown very hard but painfully accurate too.


    Yeah, I am pretty sure of what are these monsters up in the branches. I can more or less make out their shapes of those within my range of the state of attunement.


    The spell currently replacing my beloved Earth Lance is Ghost Hand, to protect me from long-range attacks. Blocking with it is just a waste of mana, of course, but using it to parry one attack results in a worthy investment. I have been practicing the parrying, with leaves falling, then branches thrown into the air, and finally tripping the cubs while they walk.


    The other spell is Fireball, certainly deadly but slow enough as to have good chances to avoid, would be good if I can make it as fast as my fastest spell. It''s excellent to distract and scare, though, it also would have been one of my elections in the past, when I was young¡ªfunny considering that not even a year has passed¡ª and is my election right now too.


    Earth Lance is not my first option either because I don''t plan to kill or slaughter my way out of this place of high mana density disturbances. Not plan A anyway. I am not planning to run away just like that either, I hoped to pass undetected all the while to the center of the place but that is not an option anymore.


    As I wait for them to do something I can try better to prepare all the stakes in my favor too so I close my eyes for a brief moment, to meditate and increase the range of the state of attunement.


    Regardless, in the case of things going awry, it''s not that much of a crisis, I can always insta-cast the summoning spell when things go shit and use it as a decoy as I leg it.


    I don''t even need to point with my hands to launch my spells in this particular instance, my arms are relaxed at my sides but I have been practicing a technique I saw one of my instructors use a lot to show off back in Town. Basically, it consists of launching spells from every angle you want, without a need to use your hands or arms.


    I figured out that it had to do with the matrix of the spell and fairly enough, it had. After a few painfully failed experiments including angry explosions, I realized that it was not just about replacing the pattern in charge of launching the spell from my hand but a whole bunch of patterns that determinate that the spell must leave where the caster wills it to, which I derived from comparing all my spells together. It''s a dangerous method though, just one mistake is necessary for everything to fuck up. If your thoughts betray you, you can end with the spell launched at your feet.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Pointing is not necessary for the use of the Ghost Hand spell but it''s necessary for the standard Fireball. With these and other deductions, I could infer a way to modify my spells. I could see that there is safety in the design of the standard spells too.


    Easily enough I identified the patterns to replace in the standard Fireball to make it launch like the Ghost Hand spell. It worked. Now I can will the direction my spell is launched. However, insta-casting a new spell¡ªeven a modified one¡ªis not an easy thing. I need a lot of practice to familiarize myself with it and truth to be told I still feel more comfortable just having to point with my hand to aim.


    Also, I feel confident enough to say that the monsters surrounding me at this moment aren''t especially strong. There seems to have a pattern of behavior on the monsters in the Great Wild. Typically lone monsters are the powerful and more dangerous and the ones that stay on large herds are relatively weak. This is definitely not the case with the creatures I travel with but it''s still far more common. Even so, I have seen many monsters, alone or in numbers, enter and leave these places with high mana density, maybe these places aren''t as dangerous as I think. Ha, fat chance. Everything is dangerous here, and better I don''t start to talk about poisonous plants.


    After almost fifteen seconds I get to the current limit of my attunement with the world and my eyes burst open again. I am completely ready now.


    Looking at all the places in movement on the trees I can''t help but think that maybe would be better to fight a lone, powerful monster. Numbers are difficult to deal with. My original plan has better chances of working with weak ones, though. They can be intimidated into inaction easier, and I can even convince them of me being inoffensive. One can dream.


    Rudely interrupting my idle thoughts, the monsters decide to act now. There is a lot of movement on the trees and I make out some shapes among the leaves. A head sticks out from a hiding place ahead of me and the other monsters went still.


    A humanoid creature, shorter than me, whose shape reminds me of one, that unfortunately died, of the monsters that traveled along with the Mingan and me, slowly walks towards me, as if careful to avoid upsetting me with an abrupt movement.


    This is good, some monsters would prefer to avoid combat as much as me, maybe I can make something work and pass through here without spilling blood, would be a waste otherwise. Understanding humanoid monsters seem to be slightly easier too.


    The monster''s height is barely more than half my own, it has brown colored fur, two legs, two arms and it''s hairy almost everywhere. A tail sways from side to side from behind it as its big eyes stare at me in a mix of wariness and curiosity. I stay motionless but ready to attack as we seize up each other for a few seconds.


    "Uuh hu uu uh," The monster makes sounds in what I guess is a language of their own, or maybe just random sounds, probably. I just stare at it as he stares back at me expectantly. I don''t know what to do now.


    "Hello...?" I try to sound friendly but it just came out slowly and as if talking to a baby. Hopefully, the monster takes no offense. It''s not like I planned for the situation to play out like this, didn''t think they would get so close to me and suddenly start ''talking''.


    For me it was simple, either they attack me or leave me alone.


    I pat myself on the chest and bet for the approach between a barbarian and a man of civilization I read a long time ago. "Me friend," I say while nodding. I am not insulting its intelligence, my social skills are a little bit rusted. Well, they weren¡¯t that good, to begin with. Also, I am not even completely sure if a fireball to the face qualifies as a warm greeting or not. But I smartly refrain from finding that out on this particular occasion.


    The monster makes more sounds in response to my words and start to change the support of the weight of its body from one leg to the other, once and again.


    I am completely confused by the monster''s antics but my face betrays no emotion. At least I hope it doesn''t, I haven''t had many opportunities to see my reflection, much less time to practice my poker face. It''s hard to find a reflective surface here, after all.


    I shrug and start imitating it because it became annoying after the first minutes as my words proved useless time and again to cause a different reaction to the monster. Swaying from side to side as I change my body''s weight from leg to leg as it does. We continue like that for a full minute as I watch incredulously how more and more of the monster''s kin go out of their hiding places and start to copy our movements until all of us are performing them.


    Is this some sort of ritual? I don''t know if it would be better to stop or try something else.


    There is no way of knowing except for trying so I add my own pace to the ritual, expecting the monsters to tag along. I clap once after swaying to the left and once again when tilting right. After a few seconds of silly display the monsters add my own move too and a short while after that they stop swaying and start to jump from leg to leg. Almost hypnotized by the strange movements I find myself unconsciously adding a step more, raising both arms and opening my hands to the sky between the clapping pauses.


    The monster adds this movement too and then... Then I realize this must be the silliest dance ever. I feel my head warming up, blushing in embarrassment.


    With hostility and weariness suddenly washed away from the monsters, they seem to enter a frenzy while shouting excitedly. I suppose they accomplished whatever they tried to accomplish because they stopped dancing, leaving me in an awkward position, and started leaving the place.


    They didn''t swarm me or invaded my personal space just one of them took me by the arm and tried to drag me along, directly deeper into the high-density mana area. I wanted to go there in the first place so I may as well glance at it now that I have ''permission''.


    I felt a little uneasy, of course, but I am still ready to rain down hell upon them at a moment''s notice, they don''t even seem that strong either. Their main method of defense must be a reproduction or something. Tree rabbits perhaps.


    We arrive at a large clearing where more of the monsters are gathered, doing their own things. However, what catches my attention is what lies behind the clearing. A very thick foliage of plants that must be difficult to pass through there and I can sense the mana density skyrocketed in that place.


    I move to the center of the clearing, following the monsters and even though they don''t pay me any heed I suddenly don''t feel that confident. What if they are doing a dark ritual to summon a dark god and I am a sacrifice or something like that?


    My worries turn out to be meaningless as the night passes with me in the company of the monsters. First, some climbed down from the trees with tools holding fruits with them. I noticed these were baskets, impressed. Then, something akin to a celebration started. Many shouts, food, and friendly fights erupted everywhere. I noticed, to my relief, that I wasn''t the focus of attention but just a guest more in all of this, I could leave whenever I wanted, probably.


    Since the beginning, as the monsters shouted, ate, danced, and played overly-friendly, as the Mingan do sometimes too, I started to move near the thick foliage little by little.


    And now my eyes dart left and right, to make sure that I am not being watched right now. I quickly sneak away towards the edge of the clearing.


    "Uuuuu uh uh!" A few shouts stop my advance and one of the monsters nears me after exiting a hiding place on the foliage. So, I was being watched after all or maybe this is a guard. Better luck next time.


    I move my arms trying to gesture that I want to get there to the monster that stopped me, maybe I can convince it to let me enter or confuse it enough as to slip away. Can I bribe him somehow? The monster just waits there ignoring all my attempts at charming its little mind and a minute later the same monster who I ''talked'' to first¡ªwho has a darker brown fur¡ª arrives and after repeating the gestures I showed to the monster ''guard'' he motions me to wait, or at least that is what I interpret its hands all extended to me. The monster turns around and goes through the foliage.


    I sigh. I didn''t consider it before but maybe, behind this are the young of this monsters'' tribe, here on the clearing are just a few of those small monsters. I just wait and glance around as the minutes run free. After a while, the prodigal son comes back and brings something with it. A bag, it has no lid.


    After walking to my front, the monster introduces its hand on it and takes out a rock from it. A rock with a glow of its own. It literally emits a dim light. I have been in attunement all this time since I started waiting here, I can hold it for very long once I am on it even if I can''t reach it without meditating first. By reflex, I sweep the rock with my sense. I find no mana on it. Nothing out of the ordinary. But my eyes don''t betray me, I have heard of special rocks and jewels but never of glowing ones before.


    The rock is white, produces a faint white light, and seems almost spherical. I can confidently say that it''s special. The skyrocket in mana density has not changed at all so this rock is probably not the cause of that. I doubt that the monsters will let me in and I don''t have enough time to waste investigating more, the Mingan and the others will be leaving in a few hours. My decision is made.


    The monster put the rock back on the bag and make a dismissing motion with its hand. I don''t understand but it seems to forget all related to the rock and walks back to the strange celebration. I follow it.


    I ate, danced foolishly some more, and even brawled friendlily with some of the monsters. A couple of hours passed quickly until this moment. I am ready to head back.


    Without being noticed this time I step behind the trees opposite to the foliage and make my way back stealthy. I travel unseen and unheard on my way back to the Mingan''s resting camp and cast Clean to get rid of the smells that got impregnated on me from the monsters.


    I reach the camp and Little One comes to greet me, hopping around excitedly. It seems everyone is awakening.


    This was a crazy day, more than normal. A very weird adventure. We will move again soon, likely in a few minutes. Thankfully, I decided to adventure away on the last day of resting, like this, I can avoid the monster''s retribution if there is any.


    I snort and reach for the hidden pocket on my shorts with my hand, taking out the rock. It briefly illuminates Little One''s head and my other surroundings with its faint light until I put it back again.


    That which is well learned is never forgotten.


    I hope they don''t get too angry when they realize what happened, maybe this rock is not that important. Those monsters didn''t notice when I used Ghost Hand for that short moment. Truly weird, monsters tend to detect my magic immediately. The only difference this time was that I activated the spell very slowly, maybe they couldn''t distinguish my mana from the ambient''s one, what with that crazy high density. Who knows.


    The monsters were kind and nice, and although I wish I could stay with them just to know more about them I am aware that doing so is impossible. My goal is to leave the Great Wild alive and the highest possibility of that happening is with me sticking close to the creatures I call Mingan and the other accompanying beasts.


    I have been remembering the dead and flames that happened that day more and more. I miss everyone, I miss talking with someone. To see a person again. This is not life, it''s just struggling to see the Sun''s light the next day and the one after that and again and again.


    I know the way to leave this place, though, there are two ways to travel through this forest. One, as I already did is to avoid most of the danger, sensing the mana in the air. The other way lets you effectively know the direction you have to go to leave the woods by using the trees. It''s still too early, though, I need to be stronger if I think of traveling for a long period alone, at least until I figure out the Mingan''s ability. Yes, at least until I get an edge like that.


    For a moment I remember the silly dance with the monsters and shake my head as I feel my face heating up.


    Thankfully, nobody knows about that. If I ever tell someone about this I will hold back the method I used to bewitch the horrifying and hairy monsters, two meters tall with four arms and six tails ending in spikes into letting me into their liar, how in its deepest part, surrounded by hundreds of these monsters I fought the powerful ten meters, Guardian, in a bloody battle and how I heroically slew it with my bare hands despite its black magics and curses, taking the legendary artifact encrusted on its still breathing and howling body.


    Yeah, definitely more believable than today''s events. Now I just need a scar for it.

 Chapter 15

    "Stupid rock," I complain to no one in particular while making my way back to the clearing. I haven''t been able to figure out much about it. So far, with so many attempts I did not manage to incite a reaction from it yet. Nothing has worked. Since hitting it with another rock or throwing it to the ground until making a tea of glowing rock with it. Not even poisonous. Willing the rock to do something gets no results apart from feeling silly, maybe I shouldn''t try every idea that pop-ups on my head.


    The only thing that worked so far in provoking a reaction is using the knife to cut it. I didn''t do it in the end, though, I felt an inexplicable and intense sense of danger when I was just about to do it and the same each time I try.


    Eating the rock would probably do something aside from indigestion and is now the last thing to try. Regardless, I am not going to do it, drinking a useless tea of glowing rock is different from actually eating the thing. Finding out is not that important so no way I am eating rocks of doubtful origin anytime soon.


    It''s not as if I have a lot of time each day to waste playing with rocks, I haven''t made advancements with the Mingan''s ability.


    "Stupid rock." All that effort I put into obtaining something like this and is useless.


    I stop in a free spot and put a hand on my chest. I wanted to complain more but I notice that the pain is increasing. With the moonlight illuminating the clearing well enough to see all around me, I lie down. Since ten days ago I have been having constant pain in the chest, so small that I thought at first that I was imagining it. Yesterday, it became noticeable higher.


    I am perplexed about this, of course, that it was well about time I got sick after eating so many strange things but I don''t know what to do about this. It''s not a physical injury as far as I can comprehend, their healing doesn''t work on it. It can even be a parasite inside me and the pain is just my body telling me of its presence. Whatever the case I might have to carve open my chest to see for myself if the pain doesn''t stop soon.


    I chuckle. As if it would stop alone with my luck.


    I look at the sky as I resist the pain. During all the time I have been harassed by this¡ªten days¡ª it never went away, neither it changed until yesterday. It was bothersome but constant, so barely noticeable that I even got used to it a bit. Yesterday, it reminded me of its presence with an increase of the, until then, constant level of pain and it seems that today is the same case as well.


    I wonder, will these become more frequent until my death? More likely until I can''t take it anymore and take my own short life? A little fatalist on my part but I can''t help but remember about some sickness that rots limbs and kill the patient, they can be saved with amputation if it''s still not too late and there is no healing magic available. If that is happening to me now and I cut a part of my chest would the healing be strong enough to patch it up? Can they even regenerate lost limbs? No, could I cut myself so casually? Maybe.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Gazing at the night sky washes away some of my doubts and preoccupations. What is the worst that could happen? Death? Not a big deal anymore.


    The night distracts me from my unwelcome trial, it''s completely clean, no fog or clouds on sight this night. A strange occurrence in this place, fog doesn''t let you see too far into the horizon, not even when looking from the top of a tree. Most of the time clouds paint the sky, rainy day or not.


    Looking at all the stars and the endless blackness behind I feel like being back in the town, the night sky is the same that back then. As if nothing has changed. As far as I can tell, at least, but it''s familiar enough for me.


    I feel very nostalgic, but not for memories of the town. I can''t point my finger completely over the reason. It''s just like I have seen the stars many times before, overly familiar, even although this must be the second or third time. Never was very interested in them, really.


    Now, I feel tears rolling down from my eyes. I feel sad and helpless. Just what is happening? I am not crying because of the still increasing pain, it''s an involuntary act.


    To my shock, a few seconds later the pain becomes unbearable, I put my hands on my chest, making pressure with my palms but to little result, failing to relieve me even a bit. As I thought before, the pain isn''t physical. But is not false either.


    I could sense a change. Something changing. Not in me but beyond me, beyond the night, beyond the stars.


    I feel my conscious slipping and I make a monumental effort to stay awake.


    What are the stars? Are they things? Of what are they made then? They are dispersed through a blanket of infinite darkness, like windows of light piercing the darkness to announce their existence. I read once that the stars were the souls of dead people, waiting for us to join them. A rather dark read but what if that is true? Does that mean that a new star appears up there each time someone dies or each time someone is born? Many new stars were born high there that day?


    Something I should know, that I should remember, hovers on the edges of my thoughts. Unreachable but yearning to be known.


    I can see the creatures surrounding me in the corner of my eyes. I can''t move. I can''t stop looking at the stars either. I feel a gaze, another one, the night sky staring back at me from above. I shudder. Not from above, from the past.


    I open my eyes wide, basking on a momentary awareness, gazing behind the stars, beyond them, recognizing the infinite, the boundless dark, almost feeling it as my own and sense an old, very old bind between us being tied back into place.


    I regain some of my conscience and admire the beautiful sight of the starry sky, more colorful than ever. Full of life, as if that life were all its own.


    At this moment, from the binding something crawls into my being, a conscience, and it wants to consume me, my soul, the world. But then, from the Great Wild, an infinitely fast blade of Intent shreds the binding to pieces.


    I open my eyes.


    The sky is covered in clouds and among their cover, I can make up the moon hidden behind.


    I freeze.


    From where did the clouds appear? The moon wasn''t in the sky a moment ago. I get up and look at my surroundings, the group is sleeping nearby, as always. Smiley, one of the older Mingan is sleeping right at my side.


    Then, I notice it. The pain is gone. Nothing more has changed. Except for one thing, I somehow feel rather empty. I think I forgot something and as I try to remember it the memory becomes hazier and hazier until I am unsure of why I started to remember something.


    I feel fine.


    Freaking woods. I don''t understand what happened. For a moment I lied down, the acute pain getting worse, I started to cry from pain and my thoughts started digressing then I blinked and suddenly all was as If I just woke up from a dream.


    Even so, I think I just had a dream. Or was it a nightmare?

 Chapter 16

    Never thought that I would be on the other side of a fight in this place. I am used to my fights being the ones who attract other monsters and not vice versa. I usually stay far away from fights that aren''t mine. Fights are the principal cause of death on the Great Wild, even ahead of ambushes and poisonous plants, and dying is not attractive, not for me at least, can''t talk for some of the monsters around here.


    As I am being drawn by not the sounds of a normal fight but one of epic proportions I make my way as silently as possible to the source. The day still young and the bright leaves of the trees glimmer with drops falling from them, reminding me of today''s short rain in the morning. The cold mud slows down my approach as I am extra careful to avoid stepping on something undesirable while traveling through it.


    Reaching a safe distance from my destination I can hear the battle still raging, the sounds echoing around as the small critters left the place in panic long ago. I position myself behind a tree and poke out my head to see the two contenders from their flank, far enough as to not be noticed but close enough for my meager sight to capture all important details. Before doing anything I scan the surroundings in search of opportunists and curious like me but find none. Either they are very good at hiding or smarter than me and didn''t approach this battle at all.


    I gaze upon the battle and something on my sight bothers me subconsciously but I forget about it as I feel a pressure wash over me, wait! I can feel two distinct of these ''pressures'', hindering my movements. It would be difficult to get closer to them even if I wanted.


    The contenders are very different from each other. For starters, one of them is a magical beast, not a simple-minded monster that uses spiritual energy unconsciously ¡ª like its opponent¡ª but a simple-minded monster that uses external mana, not unconsciously but close, by instinct, I suppose. Even so, it''s a little far fetched to think of them as being simple-minded after all I have seen in my stay here.


    The normal one has a body that reminds me of the Mingan. A quadrupedal monster with a tail but with slightly larger limbs and a smaller body. It''s over one and a half meters tall. Black fur with an unnatural tint of gold to it, calling the fur dark gold wouldn''t make it justice. This monster is completely bloodied, though, dozens of small cuts and slashes decorate its body.


    Despite its obvious injuries, it moves extremely fast, sometimes nothing but a blur that seems to disappear there and appear in another location. It avoids green spikes that bloom from the ground and thorny vines that crowd the space between the monsters, trying to trap and skewer it. Branches of the trees seem to suddenly take life and try to hit it when it gets too close to them.


    The monster runs and jumps twisting its body in mid-air, making one acrobatic after another to avoid or to cut down the vines, getting closer and closer to its opponent and gaining new injuries with every passing second.


    In contrast to its small opponent, the magical creature that wields the plant-like magic is humongous, around ten meters tall and twenty long. With a tail just as long as its body that ends on a rock-like protuberance that swings when its opponent gets too near. It has two strong looking legs and two strange arms; very thin and long in comparison with its body, with awkwardly positioned ''horns'', three fingers ending in claws on each hand. Its skin is both gray and green¡ªno, it''s brown and gray but it has vegetation growing on its back and upper body so it looks greener than anything.


    The magic beast is anchoring itself high against the trunk of a huge tree, sporting several injuries ¡ª not as many as the other but more nasty-looking ¡ª and bleeding, mostly on its tail and chest. It stays out of the reach of the black gold monster, controlling the battle with its magic from high in the distance.


    I can feel them actively using their spiritual energy as they give their all to slay each other, the magic beast''s spiritual energy feels calm and defensive. Meanwhile, I can feel the black gold monster''s spiritual energy is full of viciousness behind its attacks. I continue to watch, the combat back and forth, my eyes darting from one figure to the other. The movements of the black gold monster although fast also seem sluggish.


    The magic beast glares at its opponent, its eyes full of mockery. In the golden eyes of the normal monster can be seen defiance, conviction, and also resignation. It knows it is dead meat.


    As the fight progresses before me something starts bothering me again, and then, I become aware of what is it. The mana density here is staggering. We are inside one of these super dangerous zones. I walked too carelessly in my way here. So stupid. But, what is behind the abnormal peak of the mana density then? I can''t see anything out of the ordinary, aside from the beasts battling in a fight I can just dream of joining.


    To my surprise something still keeps bothering me, nagging at the back of my mind.


    It must be the fight between those two. Something in the fight seems off. I close my eyes for a brief moment to enter attunement with the world. After succeeding almost instantly I train my eyes on the fight again.


    I watch the fight closely, and then the fight itself slowly goes to the background. I start to make out a shape. Between the monsters, I can see it from my unfocused eyes, there is something. My gaze avoided it during all the battle so far, as if refusing to acknowledge its existence. Each time that my eyes passed over it there was a blank space in my memory. A jump, so small, almost unnoticeable.


    Suddenly, I can see what is there, whatever spell was taking effect, either broken or spent.


    A stone. A glimmering white sword lie encrusted upon it. Without wasting time I sense for it with the attunement of the world. I sense magic on it. It must be some sort of magic item.


    It doesn''t seem to be the source of the density of mana tho.


    Regardless, it''s about time I get a sword, isn''t it?. How to use a sword? Just stab with the pointy end, right?


    The battle is yet to end, I won''t be able to sneak there and take it without being seen or dying. Also, what if one of those monsters is some kind of guardian of the place?


    If one of them is something like that it probably is the magic beast, it seems to have home advantage after all.


    The black gold monster is panting heavily but still stands defiantly. It just retreated to the edge of the clearing but has its back to one of those hundreds of meters tall trees. Although thoroughly bloodied it still has no serious injuries but is clearly exhausted. A grim expression clouds its visage. At least that is what I make out of its animalistic features.


    Idly, a thought crosses my mind, perhaps I am getting a little too good at reading the cues of these savage creatures.


    It''s time for me to retreat. Better if the winner doesn''t get aware of my presence until the end. Better if it does not think that I am another contender. The black gold monster''s head snaps towards my direction, its eyes fixed on me. I halt my retreat, for now, damn it. The monster''s eyes go wide, from a defeated glimmer in them to a shine of hope in a moment. Next, it shot a pleading sound at me ¡ª it seemed pleading to me but maybe said: eat him instead! ¡ª.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The humongous magical beast''s eyes fell on my pitiful form as it becomes aware of my presence too. Of course, with my luck, something like this had to happen. It had to happen, right?


    I suddenly stagger and almost fall to the ground. Did I miss a step? Impossible, I wasn''t even moving! My head feels weirdly light. Some sort of link forms on my mind and feelings that aren''t my own assault me, trying to convey a message. I am overwhelmed by them but still manage to make sense out of them. It''s like a plea, a request, a trade. My help, in exchange for everything.


    A sigh escapes my nose. It''s not like I have a better option now, not one I can think of right now, anyway. It was the monster who warned the magical beast of my presence even if I came here on my own but I suppose that my chances of escaping are higher than alone.


    I accept. I will help this beast.


    I gasp as knowledge of a spell takes form in my mind.


    More than knowing I can instinctively feel what it is. A summoning spell.


    No more time to think about it, though, the magic beast started approaching me since the beginning. Should I use a spirit as a decoy? The opponent uses nature magic to control a lot of plants, that would just buy me a couple of seconds. Better than nothing.


    No risk no gain. I chantless cast a spell, one that I have yet to improve since I came here but is still ever-deadly.


    "Earth Lance."


    Without moving my hands or giving any clue of my intentions the magical beast had no warning, the spell too abruptly cast for it to meaningfully react. Startled, maybe more from the sound of my voice whispering on its ear thanks to the Words of Power, rather than from the projectile itself, the monster moved slightly its head in shock, making the attack miss its blue eye and hitting its snout instead. The lance, which actually resembles more a javelin broke upon impact, leaving a small scratch behind. Almost no damage, damn it.


    I didn''t really injure it but still managed to make it very mad. It squinted its eyes at me and started to take a deep breath. Then, the black and gold monster bolted towards it, catching it off guard with what appears to be a full-strength charge, and then clawing and biting the magic beast''s shoulder and neck, drawing blood with every strike.


    The magical beast panics and rolls on the ground, flailing around and backing away to throw it off. It succeeds and once the black gold monster is not there anymore I take the opportunity to insta-cast Fireballs at it.


    A new variation of Fireball, it reaches the speed of the Earth Lance spell. It''s really deadly but the additional patterns to speed up the attack make the spell almost twice as costly as the original. I added even more extra mana while channeling it too, to strengthen the flames more. I still can cast more of them as I have more than thrice as many mana than I had when I arrived here.


    Three projectiles made of magical fire make their way towards the beast. They are fast but not as fast as the Mingan or the black gold monster. Two of them miss it but hit the ground close enough for the small explosion to lick at it. The third one, though, hit it on the center of its back dead on. The monster lights up on fire, or at least the vegetation on its back does, and starts to roll on the ground again to extinguish the flames in the cold mud.


    Product of my attacks, a fire starts around us, burning trees and branches, shrubs and plants. Doesn''t really matter, it will not last long. The trees are very tough after absorbing so much mana over the years.


    As the magic beast growls in pain and deals with its fiery predicament, the black monster escapes to the trees behind me. I run in the opposite direction, can''t let this chance slip away. I make a run for the sword, as fast as I can move.


    I hear a warning yowl from behind me, shortly after something gets a hold of my right leg, forcefully stopping my mad rush and making me fall to the ground face first. Grumbling in pain I feel teeth on my leg as I am quickly dragged back.


    Just before I''m about to turn around and blast away the stupid animal that attacked me, it lets go and I turn around in time to see the black monster running away again.


    As I notice that my leg has no injuries too, I hear a terrifying roar. It deafens me and shakes me to the core. Trembling, I stand up and glance back at the clearing. The magic beast spits fire from its snout, green fire. The sole sight sends shivers down my back. The green fire sweeps over the flames I started and they wink out of existence in a heartbeat, burning trees and ground alike with a haunting green flame, but leaving them unharmed. They don''t produce even smoke, expending themselves shortly after.


    The opportunity to take the sword is utterly ruined now and I am not taking any chances with these green flames, even though the green fire doesn''t seem to burn plants I bet it will cook me well enough. As the monster deals with the fire I run as fast as I can manage, following the direction the black and gold monster took and hoping the magic beast doesn''t follow.


    Legs empowered by a generous amount of spiritual energy I catch up with the monster in just a couple of minutes. The poor animal beyond expended, no longer using its own spiritual energy. I take the lead and direct us in the direction of the group''s resting camp. There we will be safe.


    I hear a flutter of wings from behind us and prepare myself for another fight as I turn my head to glance at the newcomer. Flying monsters tend to have very nasty ways of hunting in the Great Wi-


    "No way," My voice comes out as a croaked whisper.


    The magical beast is flying towards us. That explains the weird thin and awkward limbs, these are wings with hands, not arms.


    Without a second thought, we sped up our pace. No way I am winning a fight against that, not with the black gold monster expended like that. Our path becomes erratic, putting as many trees between it and us as we can manage. Fortunately, it seems we managed to lose the magic beast rather quickly. For a minute I neither hear nor see it again.


    From nowhere, I suddenly hear air shifting place. I turn my head to look back and the world slows down to a crawl. A green Fireball of death right behind me. So close, less than half a meter away, it radiates no heat and produces almost no sound. Smaller than the barrage of flames the beast breathed before but still as big as me.


    There was no time left. Maybe not even enough time to insta-cast a spell. But casting anything is still the better option. Better to take the chan-


    The world shift around me. Trees, rocks, and clouds pass before my eyes for an instant. Then, comes an abrupt stop accompanied by the sound of crashing and breaking bones. My bones. I groan in pain but immediately forget all about it.


    My train of thoughts pause. My expression, frozen. Eyes wide and mouth hanging open.


    One of the Mingan stands in front of me. Proud and tall. An air of determination exudes from its very being. Baring its teeth at me. Grinning. Just like the first time I met it and every other occasion after it. Smiley. Green flames make their way through his back, turning his body black in an instant and into white dust in another. His amethyst eyes locked to mine every moment until the end. There were many things in them but I couldn''t even see a sliver of regret in them. It died in but a moment.


    I lied there, incapable of movement or even cry. Just staring at his ashes as they were blown away by the wind. I wasn''t even close with him like with some of the others.


    Why? Why do that?


    I just kept thinking of the same thing once and again.


    A soul-crushing roar snapped me out of my reverie. It didn''t have the same effect as the last one. I barely felt it this time. I register the pain from my broken bones but ignore it. The black and gold monster stands at my side as if guarding me, seated on its hind legs. Impassive.


    The magic beast fights the Mingan in a frenzy of motion, the creatures aren''t as fast as the monster at my side but make up for it with their ridiculously raw power and long claws, cutting whatever plant is sent in their way with ease. Wary of so many opponents the magic beast jumps high and flies away. The Mingan give chase for a short while before coming back.


    Then, everything goes eerily silent. One of the Mingan started to heal the weary black golden monster and another of them myself but I wasn''t aware of it until after the fact.


    I wanted to cry, to mourn, as the others were doing, mourning their loss but I can''t. I can''t even talk, words don''t come out of my throat. My chest feels heavy. My throat tied.


    Anger raised inside of me, a wave of anger directed to the magic beast, it killed him, but the anger was quickly washed away.


    I am not stupid, I can''t deceive myself so easily. The monster was defending its home, it''s not even the black gold monster''s fault either, it was me who decided to interfere in the battle. I was there because of me and only me. All my fault.


    Smiley saved me and died for it. It''s my fault.


    Why? Why did he do it? We weren''t even close, I wouldn''t even call him a friend much less a pet. Why die a meaningless death?


    No.


    Who decides what is a meaningless dead?


    I am sorry but I can''t spite on his sacrifice.


    I won''t let his death be meaningless.


    Don''t make promises you can''t keep; a whisper on the back of my head.


    At this point, I finally started crying. Tears fell without stopping.


    "I am sorry," I managed to say between sobs.


    "This... I can at least promise that something like this... I won''t let it happen ever again."


    "Goodbye, Smiley," I whispered powerlessly.


    I couldn''t understand it and I didn''t know what else to say. I could only cry.

 Chapter 17

    I exit meditation, the answer to my large decrease of mana regeneration speed clearer to me. I always wondered why Summoners in fairy tales didn''t summon a whole army of monsters and followers to do their bidding, I thought they weren''t greedy enough, of course, I was wrong. Having an unlimited number of summons is impossible as there is a price you have to pay for each of them. There is always a price. Nothing ever can be easy, right?


    The Summon Spirit spell can be considered as a different case, a contract is not implied in it. It''s a summoning and binding process that the spirits are too glad to take. Of what I can infer is that to summon a unique being that you have contracted will extract a price from you. Maybe the price is a loss of a portion of your mana pool or like in my case, a part of my natural mana regeneration speed. To my understanding, there are several types and ways to utilize summoning magic. Then again, my understanding is limited.


    The reason for my decreased regeneration of external mana is due to the summoning contract that was practically shoved into my face by Curite, Luxarch Curite, the name I gave to the black gold beast. Such a fancy-sounding name in the ancient language but with an equally silly meaning, The Glowing Darkness, literally.


    All laughs and smiles except that the decrease of mana regeneration was more than half, it was too much. I agreed without thinking. In retrospect, I was able to instinctively ''negotiate'' the price but I just accepted it outright. It seems I suck at bartering.


    This mistake will hinder my training as I will need more time to fill my mana pool. Fortunately, I think that I am entering the age where the growth starts to speed up more and more, and as the mana pool grows thus also grows the capacity of gathering mana naturally so I will get to that level again eventually.


    I would like to talk with another person with the summoning affinity to share knowledge, there is so much I would like to know and not be left in the dark. There weren''t any serious books about Summoners back on the town or well, they weren''t available for me. Likely that, there must have been, for a place so military-focused in magic. However, I am not sure but sadly that huge amount of information may be forever lost now.


    My new handicap is not alone, I am incapable of summoning my new and first summon to boot. I tried and almost passed out from mana deprivation. The necessary mana to manage the summoning is too much, still out of my league for now. The headache I gained from failing the spell was particularly bad too.


    About the spell itself, it''s very complex. It''s interesting too, how the entire matrix for the spell took form on my head, it felt as if it was something I already knew and was just remembering. Right now I ''can'' only chantless cast it as I haven''t immortalized the matrix as a reflex on my memory, and neither the strange phenomenon told me the Words of Power to chant it.


    To my knowledge mages outside the city of mages, Erandel, are rarely capable of chantless casting magic as it is a skill that they acquire after decades of training. therefore I wonder if a spell like the one I acquired would be useless in their hands or would they be able to cast it regardless of usually being incapable of chantless casting? No way to know for now.


    Even then, there are many things to be learned from this.


    I think I start to understand why the Mingan didn''t form a contract with me as Curite did. A summon benefits from the caster''s mana to strengthen themselves but they are strong enough. And that without mentioning that they are pack animals and are less likely to separate from the rest willingly. Maybe I have better chances of bewitching lone monsters to my side than those from herds.


    Even so, one summon like that is enough for now. More would just cripple the growth of my skills for a long time.


    Carlos scurries towards me and makes small hops when he gets close enough. The meaning of this well known to me as I have seen it being played out multiple times. He is challenging ¡ª maybe ¡ª me to a little spar, either that or he has an itch on his ass. His species surely enjoys fighting. I get up and stretch. I have nothing to lose with this so I will humor him, it''s not the first time we spar since that first bloody meeting of us.


    We move to a bigger space between the trees. Sweating from every place on my body as today''s temperature is not kind. I stare at my opponent as he walks around me as soon as the battle starts. I do the same and soon we find ourselves on a walking loop that demands a change. After fighting enough times with and against them they have learned that I prefer to avoid attacking from the front and prefer going for the sides so he is expecting me to move irregularly. I am doing nothing of that, though. I continue to walk as I chantless channel two spells and wait for my opponent to tire out of this silly movement we are locked on. I have patience and want him to move first.


    A full minute goes by until Carlos is having none of it anymore prepares to pounce, probably not at me but to my side. Nevertheless, I am ready for it. I unleash the spells I was holding back, two being my current limit. Ghost Hand makes one of his hinds legs trip, getting a false foothold and being unable to charge, costing me a lot of mana in the process.


    I was already upon him with an empowered jump and an Earth Lance, which I modified to not launch away, on hand, swinging it down like a club. The lance''s shaft hits on the top of his head and breaks upon impact. The creature growls in pain and frustration and gets up, just to walk away in displeasure, probably considering that I already won the battle since I could have roasted him alive instead of hitting him in that moment of distraction.


    Many battles are like that, no, almost all battles are as fast as that. Ending in the blink of an eye. It''s good to win from time to time, but I am sure that were he to use his spiritual energy since the beginning I would lose ten out of ten times.


    It took me long enough to identify the patterns that are responsible for launching the Earth Lance spell upon activation. Eliminating those patterns results in a still conjured javelin of hardened earth that lasts half a minute before the destabilization of the magic. The spell requires a lot less mana when modified that way. After identifying the ones responsible for the lasting time of the spell I can now increase the time to over several minutes or to make it so that it lasts as long as I feed mana into the spell, similar to Ghost Hand.


    I succeeded in modifying the Gale spell too, changing it in the same way that the variant version of Flame I learned does to heat my body.


    Now, what to do? The Mingan''s ability? I have kept doing experiments on using external mana to strengthen my body permanently even though each failure is as painful as the first. I am surprised at my own recklessness and of my resilience too.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Since the first time I tried, infusing just a hand, I have tried every possibility that came to my mind. Doing it very fast, very slow, with a lot of mana, with barely any mana, to infuse just the skin or just the bones. All of it ended with me gritting my teeth until bleeding and wishing I were dead.


    Now that I covered all the possibilities I finally thought that maybe my external mana and that of the Mingan are different so that is why I still can''t do it. That is something that I should have thought about before doing those several painful experiments. I guess it is the price for viewing the problem from just one angle.


    Fishing out a clueless cub from the group I sat and start to sense it after having reached attunement with the world. Right now I am not trying to detect the differences within the process as I already know it like the palm of my burned hand, but the differences between the cub''s mana and mine.


    Rather sooner than later I detect a difference and I can''t help but think how evident it was. The cub''s tendrils of mana are as half as tight as mine. How the heck did I miss it before?


    I keep searching for differences a while longer and notice that the source of the thin mana is the mana pool, there is no modification along the way, the mana is already like that.


    I let the cub go away and lie down, staying like that for a few minutes until I finally think of something coherent to say.


    "Well, fuck."


    xxx


    I was a little upset for a while after discovering that the anomaly on the Mingan''s mana comes from their mana pool but I couldn¡¯t help it. There is not much known about our mana pools and I myself know even less. They are almost untouchable, only something like forbidden rituals can do just as much as to change a little bit of them and the most they can do is expand the mana pool or increase certain magical affinities and rituals tend to end very badly. It''s practically uncharted territory, we have almost no control over them.


    Manipulations of the mana pool are well out of my reach so it''s fair to be mad at the world this time. All my effort, my time, and blood were for naught after all! It''s unnerving, so much waste. The most I won from this affair was a little pain resistance. That or masochism. I don''t know.


    So, this is the risk that all researchers have always had stalking behind their backs? The fact that total failure may be at the next corner because they have been following a dead end? That''s horseshit.


    All this thing makes me reconsider pursuing the path of magic. Or maybe I could still be a mage but just get comfortable with the current spells I know? How hard is farming by the way?


    With the orange sky of dusk illuminating me and my surroundings I lie on the ground, limbs spread all over the place, and sigh. It feels wrong to give up on my investigation of the ability this early. I need to at least try to make my mana thinner before continuing to whine more.


    I sit again and clap heavily once. Let''s do this, is just trying to do what can''t be done. Not hard at all. With my mood down I reach for attunement and let the fun begin.


    I start with taking control of my mana regeneration and continue from there. Trying to refine mana, or thin it out, or to will it to be different. To a smaller or thinner state and unsurprisingly, every time I am met with failure. I don''t feel more disappointed than before, everything is as it should be. Regardless of failure, I continue to try to manipulate, to transform, to create. I fail. No one can say that I didn''t try.


    Almost giving up I start to imagine. To imagine instead of ordering, of willing, of doing.


    I imagine small lines like blades that form a net just out of my imaginary mana pool to intercept the mana that is drawn naturally to it, one after the other, side by side and others too, crossing the firsts perpendicularly, leaving just enough space between them for a tendril of mana the size o the cub''s to pass through there.


    As never before while in attunement I start to feel weak, to feel hot, my head starts to hurt and my stomach feels empty. But I ignore it all as my attention is focused solely on my mana pool.


    I draw in a deep breath.


    To my disbelief, it seems I somehow managed to do it!


    As I draw mana from my mana pool it now feels thinner, as much as the cub''s mana.


    I start to draw mana to do the process of the ability, which I named mana-reinforced body, just like I did before in one of my hands. I send my mana there, willing it to infuse the entirety of my hand and expecting pain. The mana arrives there and I just feel a brief unconformity. It''s working!!!


    With my mind feeling light I wonder, If I managed to thin out the mana that much why not cut it even smaller?


    I start to imagine the blades forming the net that surrounds my imaginary mana pool getting closer and closer to each other, putting in it all the effort I can manage, and feeling more and more lightheadedness.


    And then my mind remains blank.


    Time passes. A second. A minute and several more.


    At some point, without my knowledge, a surge of Intent washes over me.


    I start to think again.


    ¡­


    What? What was I doing?


    ¡­


    Oh, I remember. I succeeded!


    But I feel weird. I feel many things.


    I have a faint sensation of many minds, like when summoning spirits, and I can vaguely make out a feeling of loss of control but also of gain in loss. I ruminate over it for a while but can''t make any more sense out of it.


    Putting that issue aside I put the ability to practice and feel as the mana starts to flow into my body, slowly, very slowly. I don''t feel discomfort this time, I feel nothing at all except a change, something slowly changing.


    Slumber tries to embrace me and I receive it, but I stop. If I am not around won''t the process stop? With an effort of will, I feel half of my mana regeneration being redirected to this new purpose and as the mana pool is full now, all the wasted mana which is not expanding it, as it has a limit, is redirected to the mana-reinforced body ability too.


    I chuckle mentally. I don''t know which is more amazing, the mana-reinforced body or being able to arbitrarily redirect the regenerated mana like that. I didn''t know I was capable of that.


    My thoughts feel very taxing, by now I just want sweet relief, to rest, peace.


    I had my eyes closed all the time now I just need to let myself be taken away to sleep.


    Ah, so tired, If I were to never open my eyes again... I wouldn''t mind.


    xxx


    But I do open my eyes right away, awakened by an immense pain in my head. A lot of emotions wash over me, mainly concern and panic. Right, this has happened before, those aren''t mine.


    I open my eyes. The Mingan and the others all around me, Curite too, I am lying on one of them as I hear the wind howling among the trees. It seems it''s a windy night.


    I don''t feel as weak as a moment ago but my head is almost burning. A severe fever or something. My throat is so dry that it hurts and my stomach rumbles as if starved. I glance at my arms and body. I am in the bones.


    I can feel my external mana still infusing my body without my intervention, so it worked.


    My throat is killing me so I chantless cast the Water spell. I almost forgot it, I can drink water from my hand. Right now it''s the best superpower ever. The spell feels relatively cheap on mana cost terms but I dismiss the thought, it must be that this night is very humid. After slowly drinking for a while I start to splash water over my face and wet my head. It''s just so damn hot here but the water is not cold enough to be of much help.


    Without another option I take a hold of my mana, willing it to cold down the water. It''s dangerous, no way I would forget something that has been repeated to me a thousand times. Using wild magic can easily backfire or rob you of your control over mana permanently but of what use is my mana if I die?


    Just from the simple task of purging the heat from the water without using a spell matrix, I feel my mana drain away to dangerously low levels as the water on my head cools down to a point where it becomes a thin layer of frost. A relieved sigh escapes my lips. Now I feel better and there were no side-effects, thankfully.


    Now that I can think straight again, I can see that the creatures brought game for me to eat and as the snow melts down on me, I can feel myself quickly recuperating my strength. After a while, I am strong enough to half-cook half-burn the meat, and eat voraciously.


    Just how much time has passed for me to have so much hungry hunger?


    I check the clock I appropriated long ago and freeze in stupefaction.


    Was I unconscious for two whole weeks?


    How can it be? How did I endure so much? And... Why the heck did I not realize?

 Chapter 18

    It''s so hot!


    Grunting, I change the position of my backpack to rearrange its weight on me again. The good old backpack is a very sorry sight by now; saying it is in a bad state would be putting it lightly. I have changed the straps that hold it to me many times, now just ugly strips of fur from a nameless animal are what is keeping it tied to me and that doesn''t help with the current heat. The fur shows a sticky resistance each time I change the position as I am covered in sweat from head to toes.


    The fur that I have used to patch the backpack reminds me of the fur cloak that I made and use most of the time, as most days aren''t as hot as today, of course. Right now, it is neatly folded inside the backpack, but were I wearing it at this moment I would be agonizing from dehydration. I am wearing just my shorts, both my shirts and shoes lost long ago. I have been trying to make some footwear out of plants and leaves but haven''t succeeded yet.


    Today''s temperature is not normal, much higher than usual. I have kept my eyes open for if I spot lava around the way but nothing so far. It seems that there is no volcano around here, I don''t think there is even a small mountain in dozens of kilometers from here. Except that it is the only thing that I can think of that gives off so much heat. The Great Wild is huge beyond belief, supposedly entire mountain ranges exist inside it but I am not sure, haven''t seen any. Maybe it is just a magical characteristic of this part of the forest.


    Whatever. Exhaustion and a slight headache fruit of over-casting of the Water spell do not help me in the slightest. Giving up on my crusade to spot a volcano and knowing the creatures always kept watch for other monsters constantly, I stop staring intently at the canopy around.


    After a few minutes of attempting to distract find a distraction and just tiring myself more, I resignedly go back to my thoughts. I am still a little skeletal, as only have passed a few days since I finally managed to grasp the Mingan''s ability to strengthen their bodies with inner-mana.


    How am I still alive? Although I never experienced it, surviving two weeks without food and water can be explained by the enhanced longevity of the body granted by the mana pool. Theoretically, mages live longer than normal people. I don''t know the relation between mana and longevity but am aware of its existence.


    Modifying the mana pool, however, is a completely different matter altogether. Something like that can usually only be achieved with a ritual of some sort. Teachers always stressed out about it and I read warnings on many books, even in some silly stories too, messing with one''s mana pool leads to the permanent loss of control, death, or at least mental illness or physical diseases.


    I am not dead so, I am alive... yes, I am such a genius. I may be mentally ill but is difficult to say on my own. Asking the creatures at my surroundings about it leads to no conclusive answers either.


    Now that I have established that I am most certainly not dead with around 80% of confidence, then it is possible that there were other drawbacks to my achievement, but so far, I have found none.


    Am I insane then? I think about it a little and then roll my eyes in hopelessness. How could I know for sure by myself if I am mad or not? Impossible.


    Maybe there were no drawbacks then? I will have to assume so if I can''t find a problem.


    Rituals that modify the mana pool and do not leave lasting damage can be counted on the fingers of one hand. They are rare and those who possess them super secretive about it. These have been researched for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Many other rituals have ended the lives of countless people. Could it be that I stumbled upon some sort of ritual that has no drawbacks? Unlikely.


    In the end, I can''t know if I have some sort of mental damage of the crazy kind without someone else''s opinion, and neither I would trust my brain to test if I am crazy or not in some way, on its own.


    I have already checked for any other type of damage I could think of. My reflexes are fine, my hunger is normal now, my thoughts are normal, I don''t have any voice in my head, my singing is as bad as always, and my magic didn''t weaken; actually, it even strengthened.


    At first, I didn''t know why my spells seemed stronger. Finding out if my bet was a success was the first thing I tried and Indeed, my body is getting stronger little by little. So, I managed to copy the natural skill of the Mingan, sending the now thinned out mana directly to my body without any pain. The next level would be sending it unconsciously like they do but I did it right away that day, it surprised me, must have been that the thinning out of the mana allows for more control.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Naturally, the thought of a secondary effect due to the change of my mana didn''t escape me, my spells could have weakened or have increased in mana cost to be successfully cast but it was the complete opposite, they become more efficient.


    It didn''t take me much experimentation to confirm it. After careful observation, I discovered that each of the patterns of my spells, when channeled, had changed. Each of the patterns, formed with now thinner mana tendrils than before had strange forms inside them. And then, It clicked inside my head, there were patterns inside the patterns themselves. They are automatically formed, without any intervention on my part.


    I will definitely try to understand these later.


    And about improved spells, I don''t know if it is related but in these few days, I have gained a great deal of better control over the spirits I summon, and that gives me a great deal of satisfaction. Even although they conserve their ethereal form, all of the improvement ranges on the level of commands they take from me, as all of them have started to obey my mental comma-


    From afar, or maybe right next to me, a sound as strong as thunders reaches me. My muscles'' reflexes kick in and I prepare for combat as I try to jump back but I find myself looking to the floor as it suddenly starts to get away from me, then, without warning the floor appears right in front of me and kisses my face.


    Ignoring the pain of my likely broken nose as my eyes start watering, I become aware that I can only hear a strange buzzing-like noise but nothing else. My head hurts and I feel that my ears are starting to bleed.


    Sensing the vibrations of steps approaching through the ground I try to push myself up.


    My head gets yanked back as something grabs and pulls back my hair.


    Managing to turn my head to see at my back despite being held with a strong grip on my hair, a humanoid figure wearing a black cloak is everything I see before a gray fist speeds up to meet my face.


    ...


    The stench of rottenness wakes me up as I gasp, disgusted by the smell, and then start a fit of coughing as both my tongue and dry throat taste the air.


    Awful. So much that the headache I had, turned to a migraine.


    My eyes hurt a lot, I think they are bloodied or something.


    Wait.


    When trying to move my arms to scratch my eyes off the blood I realize that they are tied by the wrists on my back and to the wall behind, where I am seated against. I feel the metallic coldness of the material.


    Ok, I am scared now. What happened? What is happening? My heart seems to burst apart from beating so fast. I try to calm myself and notice the heat here is like being right in front of an oven. I don''t think I will endure long around here without water, I can let the panic for later.


    By the strange wetness that I can feel in my neck and ears, plus the fact I still hear just the buzzing-like noise I think something happened to my sense of hearing. Still a little dizzy I resolve myself to open my eyes despite the dried blood covering them, and after doing so, I quickly get accustomed to the dim light coming from the only window. It seems like the only light source here and is also obstructed by half a cloth hanging in front of it.


    At first glance, I thought this was a cave but now I am sure this is some sort of room.


    It seems that there is no oven in the room. The floor and walls seem to be made of black wooden planks that don''t seem too strong, they give a weird sense of old and rottenness and I can already feel the splinters stuck on my feet. Frames are hanging on the walls but whatever was in there seems to have succumbed to time. There is some furniture in the room that makes me think this was some sort of living room or an office.


    My eyes stop on the back of a black-cloaked figure that so far didn''t stand out while blending in the unilluminated shadows like ten meters away from me, near the opposite wall of the room. It seems to be looking over his shoulder directly in my direction, hands supporting his weight over a desk in front of him. I don''t think that he had moved a centimeter in all the time I inspected the room, I would have noticed otherwise.


    I make eye contact with his shadowed features and without warning, he slowly turns around and starts walking towards me. I gulp and realize that I am trembling slightly, whatever this situation is I know it isn''t good.


    As the thing starts walking in front of the light that comes from the window I start to think of a way out of this, maybe I can break the wood of the wall behind me, or maybe I could just explode a fireball ahead of me and burn the room or building. I can deal with whatever injury I get later-


    Then the light illuminated its hands and I forgot to even breathe.


    The sleeves of the cloak not long enough to cover his wrists and hands. Dried skin that seems to have been eroded by time on nailless fingers. The decayed skin that had fallen off as if scraped off, let me see right up to eerie gray bone in some places. As it advanced and the light illuminated higher features of it I felt terror beginning to overwhelm me. An open throat and a bulb that may be a dried tongue hanging from a jawless face.


    At just a couple meters away from me, I am shaking completely but have no time to see more as it suddenly appears in front of me. A skeletal hand grabbing the top of my head and empty eye sockets staring at me as if they could gaze to the depths of my soul.

 Chapter 19

    As I stare into the two bottomless eye sockets my pains are washed away as if they were actually never there. My head felt light as my migraine simply banishes and the sound in my immediate surroundings and those of the forest outside the building made themselves present again.


    It took me only a moment to understand what had just happened as the living corpse retrieved its hand from my shaky head.


    It healed me.


    Not with miraculous saliva as these creatures do but with a genuine healing spell. My awe at this fact short-lived as I hear the corpse speak with the faint voice of an old man.


    "I inquire again... Your name is...?" It said with a short pause between phrases. Its voice rough, but clear enough to understand although with an eerie interference as if dampened by a thick piece of cloth. The words feel uncomfortably familiar but I failed to understand their meaning.


    "I- I don''t understand. W-What did you say?" I stutter in response.


    It waited for me to continue for a moment but I didn''t speak further.


    "I cannot recognize your language... No wonder... It has been a long time." It stood up and whispered to itself as it turned around. "I almost forgot... living organisms... need their bodies intact to live... I cannot let him die, yet." He walks back to the desk on the opposite side of the dusty room as I finish deciphering what it said.


    Now alone with my thoughts, I slowly start to understand the situation. It was talking in the ancient language, the same one in which many original chants of spells were written in. I have a certain understanding of it, even if I don''t speak it fluently. It is a dead tongue, after all.


    But, is that thing a Lich? An undead? It should be true but also it should be almost impossible. The ancient undead armies were all destroyed and eradicated long ago. The Liches, the immortal masters of death magic were all exterminated. Necromancy had been suppressed since then.


    So many stories and legends about them.


    Why is one of them here? What does it want from me?


    According to what I have read, it isn''t unheard of to see the undead wander around from time to time. They sometimes appear spontaneously due to a variety of reasons but all of that reported undead aren''t different from beasts, they do not show any sign of sentience. Being capable of speech, this monster seems pretty sentient to me. That can only mean one thing, it was a human at some point in the past. But here isn''t the outside world, did one of them escape by entering the forest?


    My internal musings are interrupted by a faint light and a hitting sound coming from the desk the Lich went back to. When the light came alive the Lich flinched and dropped something over the desk.


    Squinting my eyes, I make out my backpack over the desk, and at the side, the source of light lies. It is the glowing white rock that those strange monsters graciously gifted me weeks before. The Lich lets out a croaking and low laugh that discomforts me.


    "It is just one of those damned(?) rocks..." It says a word I don''t recognize, probably a curse. "I have not seen one... in millennia..."


    It seems to knows what the rock is and for a monster like that to know then it must be pretty valuable. I restrain my desire to ask right away what it knows about the rock and focus on listening to its muttering. It takes a few things from the desk, I caught a glance of my clock and the black blade I use as a knife. after a while, it put everything inside the backpack and walked to a different desk with two drawers. It slides one open and puts the backpack inside.


    "This thing will attract problems... these always do... I have to get rid of it... but now is not the time..." After muttering that the Lich closes the drawer but a moment later turns its head in my direction.


    "Where did you find it?... What were you doing... wandering this place with some beasts?" Right! I was with the Mingan when this guy attacked. What happened to them? Did... they die? I shuddered at the thought.


    The Lich stopped to study me for a moment.


    "You don''t seem more than a savage child... Has a human tribe settled in this old forest?... Impossible... Here should be relatively deep into the Wilderness." He walks a few paces closer to me.


    "Your mana regeneration is pitiful... but it will do..." It continues talking and I make my best to appear confused, as if not understanding its words. As long as it thinks I can''t understand it maybe it will slip something important. "Presumably... you did not receive any formal training on handling mana... but it will suffice..." Surprisingly, being told how little mana I have by a corpse actually hurt more than when said by my classmates but I kept the confused and fearful expression.


    "Light-colored eyes... they would hint to a high birth... but baseless beliefs... do not tend to last long... or does the irrational lasts the longest...?" The philosophical Lich reaches for its head as if patting its inexistent chin. The Lich is jawless, so the movement seems so oddly creepy that I do not need to feign my discomfort at watching it


    Also, nobles by eye color? I know that was not a thing back in Town and neither it is in the Ever Empire. Maybe in the two empires in the continent south of here, I don''t know much of them.


    The Lich turns around and walks to the door opposite me, leaving without saying any other word.


    Finally alone, I take my time to process its one-sided conversation.


    It mentioned the glowing rock and problems with it. What type of problems was it talking about and what exactly is the rock? If a Lich is wary about it then probably it''s not something safe. Thinking it better, an ancient being is surely knowledgeable, it would be good if I could manage to teach me things or spells, not the evil ones but the healing spell it used on me can surely come in handy. If I remember correctly I don''t have an affinity for healing magic, yet healing spells aren''t restricted to that affinity either. It depends. Having more spells would be good even if only for reference.


    It seems I am trapped here for the time being, at least until I figure out a plan to escape. Even if I escape how do I find my way back to the Mingan? I feel my chest tightening, I hope they are well. If they aren''t then I can only try my hardest to leave the forest.


    Still, better if I don''t think about it for now, my own survival is all that matters. I need to figure out why the Lich is keeping me alive. Would it want to eat me? No, without a jaw that is physically impossible, although I am not an expert on the undead.


    Oh no, maybe it wants to turn me into a zombie or a skeleton. Likely if it were to teach me something it would turn me on an undead first. I don''t want that, not at all.


    How to escape this place? I am tied to some type of handcuffs that lock both my hands behind my back and directly to the wall as well. I could wait until it goes to sleep and- wait, does the undead even sleep?


    I can feel despair starting to build up within me. The Lich probably is always awake so I don''t have a perfect time to attempt an escape, my spells ar- My spells! With them, my options are way more numerous.


    The whole building, or at least this room, seems to be made of wood, old good flammable wood. If things come to the worst scenario I can burn this place and try to make a run for it, though If I would survive that is questionable... I can jump through the window, this seems to be the first floor, and only a piece of glass separates the room from the exterior. Also, I don''t need to blow up my hands and back to fight back the Lich, I forgot it but I don''t need to use my hands to launch projectile spells anymore. I am not completely helpless and it seems I have some time to think, I need to come up with something good, a good plan, and the earlier I do, the better.


    Maybe the Lich will leave me alone for a few minutes or maybe for hours. Maybe I can find something useful in the room? If I use Ghost Hand I can eventually get my hands on everything not attached to the walls and roof. But, what if the Lich detects my usage of magic? Something like that surely is way within its capabilities as I can do it while in attunement.


    It said that I may have almost no training, if it assumes I can''t launch spells it would be for the best. Let the ancient corpse sub-estimate me. I feel like I shouldn''t drop the surprise card this early in the game, it can give me a great advantage in my escape and I better get all advantages I can gather to succeed.


    Without time pressing me down my thoughts become clearer. The magic that the Lich used to defeat me must have been sound-based, I can imagine that a very strong noise can damage your ears, like being shouted at zero distance. I need a counter-defense for that, if I can dampen the effect then next time things will not go the same way. I will need to bet that it will not detect my spiritual energy and even if it does, the use of external and internal mana is so different that it may not suspect my spells, which may be the only thing I have that can be a real threat to it. I send my spiritual energy to my ears, to try different ideas while thinking of a plan.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ...


    Time flows, minutes, then hours, the light coming from the window moved, then diminished until it flickered in defiance and finally disappeared. In the cover of the dark, I used my time the best I could. Training, thinking, planning, plotting, conspiring, and other synonyms. Also, I managed to isolate all sounds from my ears, blocking them out with spiritual energy.


    Then, the doorknob turned.


    The Lich stepped inside the room and walked towards me without even closing the door, so much to ask for some manners.


    "Do not move..." It whispered. "It will not hurt." And without having time to think about those words it moved so fast that it seemed to appear right in front of me in an instant. Left bony hand holding my head, the bony fingers of the right touching my chest.


    My brain just registering the disgusting smell of the corpse when it pushed its fingers against my chest. A scream slipped from my lungs as I struggle to move under the crushing pain.


    Its hand kept carving forward into my flesh and I instinctively tried to insta-cast spells, Fireball, Earth Lance, Summon Spirit, Gale. Once and again but nothing worked, the spell matrix failing as soon as I formed it, the mana dissipating each time. Even when my body went limp and I could feel my mana dwindling I kept trying to blast the bastard to pieces despite the pain increasing by the second.


    And after an undetermined amount of time passed, it stopped all at once. The hand was retrieved and I was barely awake, totally exhausted but still conscious out of pure spite at passing out too much lately. A point to my stubbornness, for sure.


    The moment the hand released my head I fell forward, almost hitting the floor, but was stopped by the hold of the handcuffs on the wall at my back.


    I can feel my mana pool is almost empty. The Lich must have drained it and used it to cast something. After a minute my strength starts coming back and I manage to sit with my back to the wall again. I ponder over this and my options while straining my ears to listen to the Lich muttering to itself, even while still dizzy.


    "A few more times of this and it will be enough... and then the enchantment... has to be deceived for it to work."


    A few more times? Is it a ritual done in parts? It can also be to make a spell or an enchantment like it says but... Why my mana and why not its own? Whatever the reason, I can''t let this happen again, I am not sure I will even survive next time. The Lich is using my own mana to cast the spell, is it because it is weakened or something? If it''s weak I have to act before it is strong enough to do whatever it is planning.


    I gaze at my chest and notice no injuries there, no blood. Just five black dots where it probably put its fingers. I hope it''s not rotten skin.


    Still thinking and sweating profusely I see the Lich leave the room again.


    Next time I will need to attack, it moves too fast so I can''t hesitate but if it is really weakened then it may be the only chance I get. I close my eyes and quickly reach attunement, drawing mana onto me and upping my natural regeneration. While counting the seconds that pass I bind my time, preparing my meager magic for a fight against an opponent whose capabilities I am not aware of but that surely outmatches beyond belief.


    ...


    I open my eyes while still in attunement. A few hours have passed, the light came again from the window a couple of hours ago. The Lich came into the room roughly an hour ago but it wasn''t a repeat of last time, it just walked up to the desk and started writing something in silence since then. My mana has been full for a long time by now but I can feel that the end of my short imprisonment is nigh.


    Putting the barrage of emotions that aren''t mine at the back of my mind I try to finally decide on one of the two best plans I could come up with in my limited time. The first is to simply burst the wall behind me, jump through the window and make a run for it. The speed at which the Lich has shown being capable of moving is the only thing that holds me back in that plan. The second plan is to wait for it to get close and then burn it alive(?) with everything I have.


    Of course, my chances of survival are a little higher with plan A but on the other side... If I defeat the Lich then I can not only get my things back but also rob anything it has.


    The pull of the loot is greater than what I had imagined.


    However, my life is more important so it takes priority in both scenarios. So, as soon as it leaves the room for a few minutes again I will bet everything at plan A, while quietly looting this room, of course. Also, I have to go to the bathroom and I doubt the living corpse will graciously untie me so I can satisfice my silly biological necessities.


    But, even as I resolve myself to follow the plan I feel the emotions at the back of my mind getting stronger and stronger. It seems that there will be a need for a change of plans... My summon Luxarch Curite is coming.


    Less than a minute later it started.


    There are no chairs in the room. The Lich stands in front of the desk, its back to the wall but its attention focused on a yellowed paper where it is writing something with what I guess is a piece of carbon.


    Suddenly, the wall at its right side exploded and something charged at it, both foes crashing on the opposite wall an instant later. Two shadows more sneaked in right after that as the leader of the Mingan started to claw and slash at the felled foe it charged blindly. The Lich''s cloak is in tatters now, strips of dead flesh flying everywhere but it recovers its footing and punches the beast away, sending it flying a few meters as the other two predators enter the fight.


    A loud, wordless cry echoes around the room, the Lich enraged, its voice doesn''t seem dampened anymore.


    "DAMNED! MINDLESS! BEASTS!!!" It cursed. "How did this happen?..."


    While the Lich starts to fend off the creatures'' attacks I strengthen my legs with spiritual energy and jump back against the wall. Pain on my back and arms make itself selfishly present as I hear the wooden planks on the wall snap. Still tied to the metal handcuffs I stand up and separate the handcuffs from the wood that is still encrusted on the wall. Before I could run at the desk to get my backpack Curite shows up at my side from nowhere, probably after slipping around the fight raging in front of me.


    Without prompting she starts to bite to pieces the metal handcuffs, inevitably slightly injuring me in the process. I watch the fight between the Lich and even more Mingan that joined the brawl. Too overwhelmed by numbers, the Lich''s left arm is cut off from its body and sails to the floor.


    Shaking in rage, it screams again, raises its right hand, and snaps its fingers.


    Everyone in the room flinches away from the thunderous noise. The building''s windows burst into a thousand pieces and all the dust in the room is raised in a fast cloud that rushes to us.


    Squinting my eyes at the dust I realize that this time I was only slightly stunned from this particular spell as I had prepared the dampening field of spiritual energy on my ears since the beginning. Even so, I failed to account for the sound that still reached my ears while traveling through my mouth, nose, and eyes, but that is an improvement to work on another occasion.


    Right after feeling the vibration of the sound shaking my bones, a sense of terror assaults me but is quickly washed away by several of the formless pressures exerted by the Mingan themselves. A skill I have noticed most of the monsters in the Great Wild possess to varying degrees of usefulness, but one I have failed to replicate since the first time I noticed it wasn''t my imagination.


    "You are out of luck beasts... I do not need to save mana anymore..." Whispers the Lich quickly, capitalizing a small lull in the fighting to point at its severed arm, which twitched and then flew back to its owner. Black tendrils of something tie it back into place and without warning, the Lich''s gray bones suddenly turn pitch black in color.


    The battle resumes in earnest as Curite continues to attempt to free me without severing my hands. A cacophony of sounds similar to metal meeting metal sounds as the black bones of the undead clash with the claws and fangs of the creatures and I feel the whole building tremble with each one.


    Several attacks are exchanged in the span of one second and I find myself in awe at the Lich''s resilience and speed. The Lich, like an immovable mountain in the middle of a storm, deflects, blocks, and avoids a barrage of attacks that come from every angle at every moment with its bare hands. Without moving its feet, it tries to grab one of the Mingan after avoiding that same one''s slash of its paw, its hand coming millimeters away from reaching it when the grabs turn itself on an elbow directed to its back and then ducking before the charge of another one.


    Although overwhelming them in battle the Lich seems unconcerned at being unable to follow up in any of its attacks and its blurring extremities continue to do battle.


    Judging by this it seems that indeed, the undead doesn''t tire themselves out. If the battle continues like this, won''t the Lich persevere at the end?


    Though still not freed from the handcuffs I walked close to the drawer where my things are but at that moment the Lich finally struck true, a Mingan was sent flying out of the building with a nasty injury on its side. Skeletal right hand dripping with blood, the Lich takes advantage of the short pause again, making a reaching motion with its hand. A staff appearing from nowhere on its raised hand.


    The Lich let loose a haunting laugh that makes me shiver, its voice seemingly coming from everywhere. "Enough playing around... Your corpses will serve me well!" It struck the floor with the back of the staff while cursing and cackling madly.


    Thanks to being in attunement I clearly see as the currents of magic make their way through the floor as the wood creaks and twitches. I can tell right away that shit is no good.


    "Don''t get close!" I shout and the creatures fall a few steps back and away from the expanding magic effect of the spell. At the same time, I insta-cast the strongest modified version of Fireball I can manage without making the spell matrix fall apart, not once but thrice.


    The Fireballs catch it unaware, striking dead on one after the other on its body. The reaction is several times more violent than I imagined would be. It caught fire so quickly that I had to shield my eyes from the sudden light. I could hear many things at the same time. The roaring fire, the handcuffs touching the ground after finally falling off my hands, the dropped staff of the Lich rolling away, the frightened roars of the Mingan, the Lich itself rolling on the floor, and its cries of agony- Does the undead feel pain then?


    The moment the Fireball ignited the flammable Lich it also immediately expanded to burn up to the magic currents of the Lich''s spell, and it didn''t stop there, growing more by the second. Almost by reflex, at the same time, I opened the drawers as the fire started to invade the furniture in the wall. I quickly slid up the backpack and took all the papers inside the other drawer in my hands.


    I ran behind Curite as she jumped through the window and heard the hatred-filled voice of the Lich as I jumped out myself.


    "YOU!" Its long cry of wrath aiding my legs to move at prodigious speed. Leaving the clearing behind and finding many creatures joining us in the way I remember the Lich''s true speed and peek a moment over my shoulder. The shrinking three stories building in the middle of nowhere already burning through the outside part of the facade but thankfully, no sign of any following moving corpse.


    I ran for a minute more when I noticed a Mingan leader carrying by the neck the heavily injured one. Then, I heard the sound of an explosion. It was different from the Lich''s sound-type spell. Whatever it was, it didn''t stop us from our fearful retreat. I ran until bordering exhaustion. When I stopped, all the beasts stopped to catch their breath along with me too.


    I am happy they came back to rescue me, even though they look as terrified as me.


    Everything was intense but ended quickly.


    Hopefully, this indeed ended and the bastard won''t follow us.

 Chapter 20 (End of Book 1)

    Somewhat nervous I finish filling up my backpack with comestible plants, seeds, and fruits. I cast a glance around, searching for something else to do to occupy my time with, but after finding none I give up.


    Everything is ready now, no point in further delays. I have been putting this off for five days now, and since the beginning, I knew that doing it for the sixth time would be bad.


    This vast forest has a mystical environment. Countless creatures and monsters thrive in this place. Plants and trees found inside can''t be grown in the outside world. The density of mana in the air is almost physically palpable. While inside, it is hard to walk in a straight line for long. The directions in which the Sun set and rises are fake.


    It''s like a labyrinth. I vaguely remember reading about labyrinths- also loosely called dungeons or caverns- over two years ago. In contrast to what I have seen here, in those places monsters tend to actually be born from just pure mana. I remember wondering if the Great Wild was one too. In that case, among them, this forest must be the hardest one to escape from. One can''t just simply leave by walking away as you will just go in circles endlessly. Supposedly, trying to escape this place by just flying away isn''t that simple either.


    Once you enter, getting out is easier said than done. Few ever managed.


    In my opinion, escaping the hold of the Great Wild is more of a question of luck.


    Five days ago, since I sighted an end to the forest I have been both dreading and eagerly waiting this moment. No, even before that I guessed I was close to the border as the trees lost their toughness with each week of travel, and the fact I haven''t felt any place of high mana density in weeks also pointed to it. These signs were evident, then I climbed a very tall tree to scout the landscape ahead and could clearly see an end to the interminable canopy in the distance.


    The group of creatures and beasts would stay five days to rest, like always. That is the travel routine they are cozy with. I decided to use those five days to think of all of that which needed to be thought.


    This could be my only and last chance of leaving, each second could be my last. I have always admitted to myself that without the creatures to have my back, this place would have made short work of me. Miserably killed in the first week, probably.


    I could stay here with them, instead of leaving.


    My time here has made me far stronger than I was when I fleed into the Great Wild that day, sure, but staying more is just tempting my luck. I enjoy the thrill of adventure, the rush of battle, but this forest is way out of my league.


    In the end, if I think that I can manage to stay longer in this place then I am just deceiving myself. Relying on my luck any more wouldn''t be wise.


    There is nothing more to think about, my decision was already made and it was made since the very beginning.


    I clap twice to get the creatures'' attention.


    "Everyone, please come here" I repress my feeling of silliness at hoping for them to really understand my words because I know they are way more intelligent than they seem at first sight and deserve more of my respect. Even if they don''t understand my words, they will understand my intentions.


    It''s not a surprise to me when all of them started to come.


    I am sure some realized I have been preparing to leave them these last few days.


    I watch them as they start to gather around me, Curite, the unnamed species, and the Mingan. The general mood gives me the vibe that they know this is serious.


    For a moment I want to laugh this off and pass everything as a joke but I can''t. I don''t want to abandon them but I know I must.


    I gather my courage which is strangely even more difficult to do now that when fighting for my life and look at each of them, the companions with who I have passed over two years and three months. After looking at them I realize that I am more attached to them than I thought, it doesn''t make this any easier. I gather my thoughts, then I speak.


    "You may have realized already... this is the last day we will be traveling together..." For a moment my voice is caught back but I gulp and will myself to continue. "This is my farewell, good luck and thank you, everyone, for everything... really, thank you." My voice croaked at the end as I struggle to hold back my tears.


    Some of the creatures rush to me, to lick my face or pat my legs, to headbutt me, or to impossibly try to pass between my legs and a plethora of other actions. The members of the group that aren''t Mingan like the herbivore wolf or the armored gray lizard also come.


    I named every single one of them. Mostly, out of boredom, going as far as imagining secret lives for each and silly conversations between them. The power of boredom is mighty but it still counts.


    Carlos, Little One, Dusk, all of them give their goodbyes in their own ways and I hope to see them again someday. I remember Smiley and can''t help but cry a little more for a short moment. Sacrifices were made too, and those will never be forgotten.


    After every one of them is done I turn to Curite and pat her, my first and for now, only contracted Summon.


    "Will you leave the place you have lived all your life in? Will you follow me?" I ask, not sure if the monsters of this forest need special mana to live or something, after all, they don''t tend to leave on their own.


    Different emotions invade me, agreement and denial, excitement and sorrow, duty and concern, and a few seconds pass as I decipher their meaning. Basically, a rejection but I understand why. I maintain the little disappointment I feel at this out of my face despite she probably being capable of feeling it.


    "I see, you still have something to do or find here, right?" I feel more emotions from her. "Very well, I hope you find what you are seeking, and yes, if the need ever arises I will be counting on you" Our farewell done, she licks my face one last time and we part ways.


    I am a little upset I still don''t have enough mana to summon her so it will take a while until I can see her again but now that I think about it, an exotic monster like she would attract all kinds of wrong attention anyway. It wouldn''t be safe if she is not in the state of being summoned when accompanying me, so I can unsummon her with a thought. I am not strong enough to even guarantee my own safety, be it in here or outside.


    When all farewells ended everyone walked to the outskirts of the clearing. The leader of the Mingan stood silently before me. I smile at the familiar movements of his ears.


    Yeah, I understand this well.


    You join them with a battle and you leave them with a battle.


    The leader¡ªwhom I named Leader¡ª rushed to me as soon as I took a battle stance. Fast, even without his spiritual energy, I lift my hand and a Fireball materializes to meet him but he suddenly disappears from my sight, causing the fireball to go straight through nothing.


    I insta-cast the modified Earth Lance that nullifies the original spell''s launching speed. I guess a direction to attack blindly at. I take the lance with my left hand, as I jump sideways to the right and slash to my left.


    The battle goes by so fast that I don''t have time for a chantless casting and even less for the more traditional but stronger chanting. I realize now why the Lich fought hand-to-hand for a few moments back there, it needed time to chantless cast its spells.


    Fortunately, as a mage of the city of mages, I don''t have the same handicap.


    Out of pure luck, the Mingan attacks right where I slashed. In an unnatural act of control, he stops his momentum with his legs on the ground, barely avoiding a glancing blow from my Earth Lance. Such modesty, had him continued his charge, my lance would have broken without even damaging his tough hide anyway, as the spell is originally meant to pierce and not slash. Furthermore, it''s not meant to be used on monsters as tough as steel.


    The battle continues, I keep throwing magic spells left and right. Spells like Water, Mage Light, and Clean aren''t meant for fighting; Stone Skin''s defense is way too weak relative to this forest, better to not get hit at all than to use it for a false sense of security; Gale, Boulder, and Flame are useful in just some certain circumstances; Ghost Hand is of limited use as closeness with living beings increases the cost of the spell exponentially; Earth Lance is better and a modification of it can decrease the mana cost by forming the javelin directly from the floor.


    Summon Spirit is much more useful since I thinned out my mana that time. The summoned spirits, although still oddly intelligent, now obey my commands, verbal and mental. And with the increased efficiency I can use it more often than before. The same seven spirits always come when I summon them at the same time, the eighth, ninth, and so are always different and I feel they are less intelligent too.


    I will not use it here because adding numbers to this farewell fight feels kinda wrong.


    So, Fireball is the only thing in my arsenal that can really injure Leader, the explosion is kind of weak compared to a real to god Fireball, pitiful enough as to be renamed Mini Fireball, even, but the fire wickedly sticks to the target so it is the most useful spell in this fight.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    I constantly retreat back and to the sides to have distance from him but being careful to not being led to a trap. And lead me to traps, he tried. I avoided being led to situations without exit or to the flames I myself started.


    In just twenty seconds I am already breathing heavily and with a fifth of my mana left. Leader stopped his attacks and roared in acknowledgment. An honor, to be roared at, as the Mingan rarely make noise with their voice other than to threaten enemies.


    I received no injuries apart from a few scratches, and the same for him. Of course, even without using his spiritual energy, he didn''t even try to defeat me. Otherwise, he would have just dismissed my attacks and killed me in one hit. On the other side, I went slightly seriously with my attacks and scaredly serious with my defense. Anyway, I suppose he was just checking if I would manage on my own from now on. Such concern almost brings a tear to my eye.


    All the group started to leave and some threw a glance at me one last time before starting to disappear one by one beyond the foliage and soon enough I was alone again.


    ...


    The walk to the edge of the forest would take about six hours, but the night arrived early so I decide to run the rest of the way and find a good spot at the very edge to pass the night rather than to walk in the gloom.


    After a while, I find a good spot, not a clearing but a long enough space between the trees.


    The sounds of the wind and the insects awakening and starting their nocturnal life fills the night. This place is almost always dark, even in the day. These trees can really project some impressive shadows, and the fog that sometimes appears doesn''t help to keep things illuminated either. I have grown used to walking with dim illumination and sleeping in the mantle of the darkness of the night skies.


    Still feeling the chill of the night through my cloak and without a Mingan to snuggle with and rob their warmth, I decided to start a campfire. Usually, I never make those, even less in the night. Campfires and the Mage Light spell tend to attract a lot of attention in a full of life forest like this one, especially when that life is all monsters. Those lights easily give away our position but right now, I don''t care. I am feeling nostalgic and not having a campfire would feel wrong. Also, here in the outskirts, it would be very unlikely to find dangerous monsters lurking about.


    Okay, I found dangerous monsters that last time but what is the possibility of that happening yet again?


    I really would like to leave as fast as possible but it may be better to do it with the light of the day on my side. Besides, I still need to give one more farewell.


    Covering my body is the dark gray fur cloak that I got from a particularly big monster a few months ago; it''s relatively warm and resilient. I practiced dozens of times on how to skin the animal until I finally got a barely useful hide. Inside the backpack, apart from food, I have quite the collection of rare(?) body parts of some monsters. The most important of them, though, is the first one I got, the black blade of the Shadow Crawler, it hadn''t lost any of its edge in all this time.


    I stretch my left arm and look at it flicker with the light of the fire. The burn scars that ran all the way from my elbow to my fingers are very difficult to distinguish now, a disgustingly obvious burn-scar no more. Since the incident with the Lich, it almost disappeared. Probably when it healed my ears it also vanished the old scars. But even as it was erased without my knowledge of it, a new one was marked on me.


    I gaze at my chest; the five black dots are still there. They seem like tattoos but I couldn¡¯t remove them no matter what I tried. I cut the skin from there¡ªPerhaps I am a little crazy?¡ª and healed through the miracle of the Mingan, however, despite healing the skin, the black dots healed with it. I am unsure whether healing magic does repair tattoos or not.


    I guess it is a special spell meant to let the Lich drain my mana, as spells that can be easily cast to deal damage to a mana pool are non-existent. At least as far as I know, which is not much. For now, these dots seem harmless.


    Not everything went bad from that encounter, the papers I got from the Lich''s drawer although most of them useless, resulted to be rather interesting.


    Like some kind of diary of some of its last days, the Lich wrote about some events with difficult to understand words, whose meaning I couldn¡¯t remember sometimes. More or less he wrote about how he couldn''t go far from the mansion because of the ''heart'' and that same heart scaring off all living things around. He wrote of random thoughts and happenings, about how he started to worry as he caught himself staring at nothing and zoning out for hours with more and more frequency. His frustration at not being able to use magic for fear of bringing closer the time of his demise. His normal magic mostly unusable, he strove to complete his research about a spell strong enough to be useful but very low on mana requirement.


    The research on that spell itself and the full spell-matrix are among the papers. It explains the theory and workings behind the spell. The spell is designed with a more scientific base. Many complicated words about the frequency and amplification but I understood the general idea. The spell focuses on the caster''s hand and for a few seconds increases the volume of whatever sound occurs in that area several times higher. Using it you can shout from behind your hand and your voice would get its volume raised by several times. The Lich seemed to prefer just snapping his fingers and amplify the snap.


    Such spell has no safety measures, though. It will damage the caster as much as anyone else in range but the Lich probably doesn''t hear by using his ears anyway. The spell has no chant either, as designing a chant for a spell is several orders of magnitude harder. It doesn''t matter, because the spell matrix is enough to chantless cast and eventually insta-cast it. However, that spell matrix could be tampered with, meant to deceive prying eyes and kill them from backlash if attempted to use without care.


    After carefully studying each pattern, those that I recognized had no obvious traps. The ones I didn''t recognize, seemed to be safe and logically well located too. After carefully activating it I found it to be fully safe from tampering. The spell had no name, so I named it; Sound Trap. I haven''t trained with it long enough and can''t insta-cast it yet.


    The Lich created and refined the spell matrix of Sound Trap for long decades but it was only a side project. His main focus seemed in getting freed from whatever imprisoned him there. Unfortunately the papers I got mentioned little about his efforts in that area.


    Anyway, I have already memorized the research and the notes so I don''t need the papers anymore. And I can''t keep the spell matrix around even if I wanted, I am bound to obstruct as much as I can any attempt of foreign acquisition of my magic, by the oaths I had to swear when I first attained control of my mana pool. I wasn''t even four years old then.


    The oaths are mostly about loyalty to Erandel but also forbids me from talking or giving away information about the town and any magic obtained from it to people not from Erandel too. The oaths are incredibly harsh, only after the last two years of traveling through the forest, I realized that. For example, if I were to be aware of my mind being compromised by mind reading or something I would have to give my utmost to obstruct it, and failing to do so for a while would result in death. Oaths to magic are unforgiving and unbreakable. They are beyond my understanding.


    I burned the research papers days ago. The spell matrix I have conserved until now to study to the last moment, and that last moment is now. From this point onwards it''s very probably I may come into contact with other people, the spell matrix drawings are no longer necessary, and hiding my knife and clock would be for the best too.


    I take them out of my barely functional backpack. I grab my clock and knife and hide them in my scarcely recognizable shorts'' hidden pockets.


    After gathering some branches from a nearby small tree I take out the papers related to the spell matrix and insta-cast Flame on the wood I gathered on the floor. Once activated it shot ahead and a fire started expanding on impact. I fed it little mana so the flames stayed mostly on the pile of branches.


    Then, without hesitation, I threw the papers to the fire.


    Before falling asleep I summoned a spirit and commanded it to hide among the bushes and wake me up if some monster gets close while I sleep.


    ...


    The following morning I resumed my walk to the outside of the forest.


    I more or less have an idea of what will I do once I leave. Walk away, of course. But before that, at a respectful distance from the forest, I will turn either left or right and walk parallel to the forest until I find a tall and close enough landmark to scout the terrain and decide on a direction to go.


    I wonder in which edge of the forest I am leaving from? Perhaps I am walking into the Empire, or could it be the Free City-States? I know it''s not the north as there are only Erendal and mountain chains. From above the trees, I saw a big grassland. It''s impossible to be in the south as it ends in the sea there. However, I will need to just pay attention to the movements of the Sun when it rises and then I will know.


    After walking for twenty minutes more, the scenery I saw from the treetops finally appears before me.


    High grass taller than me, starts to be a common scenery until I am pushing constantly through it as the trees become less and less in my field of sight. A few minutes later I walk¡ªor rather push my way¡ª past the last tree I can see. A sigh escapes my lips, a weight lifted from my shoulders.


    I am not sure if I will ever come back, but I know I shouldn''t stay any longer. I remember everything that brought me here, all the fights and hardships and all the dark paths and close brushes with death.


    Even with all those shadows and dangers, the forest was always beautiful, though, gifting me breathtaking sights with each one of my steps. What wasn''t beautiful were those damned ants, they are everywhere, like a plague. I always ran away from those ants and have run from many other fights, more than I would like to admit. At least it made me good at escaping. But I have learned, it''s fine to avoid most fights; fighting for the sake of fighting is a mistake.


    "Ah, stupid forest, with your stupid ants and your stupid tricks to disorient people," I remember several times in which I noticed the Sun setting in one direction, just to awake to dawn with the Sun coming out from the same place it set.


    "Your carnivorous fishes, your carnivorous insects, your carnivorous birds, your carnivorous plants, and your herbivores wolves." Well, to be fair food is abundant in this place, someone had to go eat it, I suppose.


    "To tell the truth, part of me actually wants to stay, to brave your depths and dangers, to discover your secrets, and to slay the powerful foes that lurk in your labyrinth-like forest. I got a few interesting things without even trying, I wonder what I would find if I really had the intent to adventure inside?"


    I let out an amused laugh and take a long breath. I could still see stars among the leaves, high beyond the trees'' canopy on the sky of dawn.


    "This is my last day here, farewell to you too Great Wild, the mysterious old forest of legend."


    I am not a superstitious person, not at all. I remember a time in which a thought crossed my mind, before coming here but I am not sure. Are labyrinths alive? Can''t say for certain but this place sure feels like that.


    "And thank you," I whispered. "For putting them there back then when I arrived." It''s just a feeling, but it feels right.


    With nothing more to say, I turn around and walk away.


    ...


    What now?


    The Sun is rising on the horizon, in the direction I am walking. This is the western edge of the Everlasting Empire.


    For now, I plan to reach a city.


    And then?


    Maybe get a job, maybe to be a worker, an apprentice of someone... or the boy that sweeps the street with a broom... Hahaha. No way.


    I am a mage. No, scratch that.


    I am beyond a simple mage.


    I am a Summoner.


    Yes, I could be the weakest Summoner of all times, and yes... I only know a basic summoning spell and another one that I can''t use yet... but everything must have a beginning, and this is mine and I wouldn''t change it for anything.


    I turn my head and shot a last glance at the forest behind.


    I am free, finally free from it, from what got me in there and from the prison I didn''t even know I was trapped in before this happened.


    I stare into the dark depths of the forest from where I just came from. A rush of wind makes a harsh and haunting sound as it passes through branches and leaves, through grass and trees.


    I feel the corners of my lips creep upwards into a half-smile.


    Beware, everyone.


    The Summoner is now free to roam the world.


    - END OF BOOK 1 -

 Epilogue

    xxx


    In a land, long forgotten by all but one, in a time of strife, a new age began.


    From its slumber, a great magic of old awoke.


    For a moment, the light of life, it stole.


    In an ancient tomb light and darkness, in an eternal struggle before, converged now.


    An old being, with new blood and flesh.


    From the light of the Sun and the darkness of his soul, was reborn.


    And with the will of war, he had come.


    xxx


    Mythical magic took form over a small plateau.


    The sky returned to normal as a naked, crawling man with closed eyes slowly appeared.


    The man blinked. Ever-changing eyes, that weren''t his, gazed at the world.


    He spoke. "I am alive?"


    "The last laugh is mine, then." His voice, overflowing with both mirth and scorn.


    The old king laughed madly for a moment but suddenly stopped, thinking, remembering. "But, how long has it been?..." He muttered.


    Looking at the horizon, he stood up, searching, but not finding.


    He sighed.


    "You are no more, Evil One. From the beginning, your fate was sealed. Your death inevitable, a foregone conclusion. But you still killed me, and in the end, I couldn''t even escape." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    His foe is gone, vengeance but a dream now.


    "I need to find out what happened after my death..." He muttered to himself.


    The old king felt weakened. But it didn''t matter, he could do as his old foe.


    Summoning.


    Even if not, I feel my strength still coming back, just a few years.


    "How much the world has changed?" he wondered.


    The man peered at the world. The stolen eyes shimmering.


    He was on the world''s largest continent. Not his home but where he was killed.


    Everything had changed, cities, rivers, mountains, everything but that forest.


    He peeked at its depths, powerful presences he felt, but saw nothing. He didn''t insist, it wouldn''t be wise to pick up a fight with these old magical creatures in his state.


    They are powerful indeed.


    He kept looking, seeking to find all the changes, all the new challengers, and many things did catch his attention.


    People, monsters, warriors, mages, ability users, warships, sanctuaries, ruins.


    He kept looking.


    On a small island at the east, between this and the southern continent. A little girl, killing a sea monster thirty times her height, her control over mana good to a terrifying degree.


    In the southern continent. A beautiful port-city, being taken by blue-clad soldiers.


    At the east of this continent, he saw a warrior, each of his steps bringing him dozens of meters away, his bearing, like a mountain.


    In the outskirts of that forest, a boy ran among the trees, beasts along with him.


    Intrigued, the old king observed him carefully. By glancing at his mana pool he saw his high summoning affinity, but that wouldn''t garner the old king''s attention. The boy had the same strange curse as his old foe. A coincidence? It didn''t matter, the curse would end him before even a decade.


    A pity.


    He kept gazing at other worthy opponents, ignoring the magical creatures that have taken human form.


    At the eastern side of the southern continent. A completely normal-looking man, carrying three powerful swords.


    The old being kept looking at all those worthy opponents, amused.


    An ogre invulnerable to all wounds.


    A pyromancer, prodigy of fire magic and with a fire ability.


    A giant monster in an underground labyrinth.


    A Magic Beast of several heads and long necks on a now uncivilized continent.


    "Oh!" The old king was stunned. A whole unpopulated continent was a surprise.


    Now on that continent, an army of the dead warred against eerie scaled creatures.


    A spatial distortion in a desert, where his old foe once first appeared.


    The ruins of a city in the middle of an ocean, which made him sigh in sorrow. That city was once his home and kingdom. The old king suppressed his feelings for now.


    Net, he gazed at a fortress that radiated magic and... he couldn¡¯t see further.


    The old being had a sad smile married on his face.


    "Long ago nothing could avoid these eyes, in this age, that is longer true"


    He kept looking, searching, observing.


    Eastern side of the Southern continent. In a mountain, the tallest of all mountains, something caught his attention.


    Shackled to the peak of the mountain, black chains chocked full-of-runes all over something, a... thing, a creature, a humanoid being was there, and it moved.


    The thing lifted its head and, while smiling, stared back at the old king.


    A shiver went down his back and the old king quickly looked away.


    Nothing is ever easy, he thought bitterly.


    "Hmm?" He said suddenly, glancing behind him.


    Someone was approaching fast.

 Prologue 2

    xxx


    Exhausted, in a soon to be named valley, the Fallen One stopped.


    His pursuer had reached him.


    Dreams and desires, put aside.


    As for him, of facing reality was time now.


    With a deafening explosion of wind and with a sword in hand, his pursuer arrived.


    Silver wings of life, feathers like knives.


    The Fallen One turned around, to slay his destiny, he was ready.


    With a grimace, his pursuer, the Bright One spoke.


    "You let yourself be tainted. You let the monster call you and bind you to its will." His visage steeled.


    "You betrayed us, death is your sentence and your release."


    The Fallen One shook his head sadly. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "You will never understand, right?" He replied.


    "The Master freed me from myself, I didn''t betray you, you all betray yourself by-"


    "SILENCE!" The Bright One howled, then attacked.


    From the Fallen One''s back, something sprung to life.


    Dark wings of rebellion, feathers like flames.


    Their swords met, once and again.


    In the air, the heavens rumbled.


    In the ground, the earth roared.


    Soon, powerful magic was unleashed.


    And a victor was decided.


    The Fallen One stood, kneeling.


    He had no regrets except not being able to serve longer.


    His life about to end, he gazed at the Bright One''s eyes.


    He felt his friend''s sadness, his reluctance.


    He saw himself, reflected in the dead-like silver eyes of his once friend.


    A pitiful, battered sight.


    But, his own eyes were still full of life, still free.


    And then, he had a stroke of inspiration, he understood what he had to do.


    He grinned madly.


    "You will not steal my freedom!"


    The Fallen One laughed with Power.


    With wrath and thirst for revenge, he unleashed his mana to the world.


    We will meet again, the betrayer thought, and the first curse was born.


    The Bright One quickly ended the betrayer''s life, but he knew he wasn''t fast enough.


    As forever the day of the unnamed valley, turned into night.


    xxx

 Chapter 21

    The sound of happy birds singing one last time as they prepared to sleep; the ruckus of the people on the busiest hour as they left their work and returned to their homes. The cool breeze of the night softly grazing the leaves of the trees; the King couldn¡¯t make out any of those.


    Were those people feeling as usual after a day of hard work or anxiousness and trepidation preyed on their thoughts?


    He couldn''t see any of that from where he stood, their facial expressions an enigma to him for now. The castle was too far from the busy streets; this room too high compared to the garden outside on the first floor. The big windows at the right side, from where he could see the setting Sun, nothing more than see-through walls as they were impossible to be opened too.


    Open windows would mean a breach of the defensive enchantments of the castle''s structure. The castle is the most heavily enchanted building in all the kingdom. Probably only the merchants'' building and the Army''s Headquarters could compare.


    The air in the room seemed stagnant and that mildly bothered the King, the magic ventilation being less effective the higher in the castle you were in. It''s not a secret that the King would often avoid the higher floors if it wasn''t necessary for him to be there, but then again, that is why he is here now. The meeting room is specially warded and is, without a doubt, the best place in the castle for the following meeting to take place.


    The king Erick Rendervious Altamad gazed at each of the other fifteen people in the room, it was a minute now since the last of them arrived. There are seven of his generals, his five advisors, and other three special people, all of them genuflecting to him in ceremony.


    Every one of them was called here by him to hold an emergency meeting. It would be no good if the King delayed them too much as a protest to their stuck up behavior; everyone here being busy people with important tasks to do.


    "Rise." The King commanded, and they complied.


    Straightening from his relaxed position on his fancy chair, the King motioned his subordinates to report anything they had to say. They were all facing a rectangular table and although there were chairs for them, they didn''t sit.


    A blonde man took a step forward from behind his own chair and bowed. "His Majesty, if you allow it, I may speak first." William Vor Attin, the Head of the Department of Intelligence said, and the King nodded slightly in acknowledgment while secretly resisting the impulse to roll his eyes at the unnecessary formality. With him controlling the net of spies of the kingdom, William was likely the only one to have to report something of real importance, after all. So the man would be the one to guide the conversation''s flow anyway.


    William, a man nearing his sixties but whose looks have almost not changed since he was thirty. Wearing his formal military uniform which is mostly of a dark blue color with red around the edges, unlike the Generals and the King himself that were all fitted on their respective armors.


    "His Majesty, first, about the events that took place three hours ago and the execution of the first phase of the plan. The Port City of Treo has been successfully subjugated. Causalities have been minimal and all enemy combatants have been dealt with. Diplomats and nobles have been either captured or put under house arrest. Everything of value is being transported to the capital as the population is being pacified. The warships in the port have been secured and according to the plan, our own ships are being transported there as of this moment."


    While William drowned about these points there wasn¡¯t any notable emotion in his voice, as if he were talking about a list of consumables he bought from the market.


    Nothing in the report was surprising, all those events were within the King''s expectations. Capturing the city was so carefully planned that they would have managed to do it even if everything went wrong.


    Without giving a formal declaration of war before the hostilities started, now, the relationships and trustworthiness of the Kingdom of Altamad with other countries have been damaged, but it was necessary to catch the opponent with the guard down. A calculated risk. The Port City of Treo being the staging point of all future military actions against the Alliance, too important for the plan as the be left to chance.


    It was twenty years ago when Altamad lost Treo to the island-states of the Alliance. It was Altamad''s only access to the sea. The last King, his father, found himself in a precarious situation before Altamad''s incapability of opposing the powerful navy of the Alliance. Under the huge pressure of near defeat, the city was sold to the Alliance in exchange for trading rights and a few other goods at the end. It was a foolish decision on his father''s part, the taxes imposed in the trade with the islands of the Alliance gives them a much larger benefit to them that even, hypothetically, giving them a monthly tribute product of being a vassal state.


    Even though Altamad''s history wasn''t old, the country is not a newcomer to war. Two hundred years ago, with the peaceful fragmentation of a bigger state, Altamad found itself with a geographically well-defended position and with a significant source of iron, but with not enough land to feed its population. Instead of selling ores to make money relatively fast, the kingdom started to craft weapons, refined their understanding of the arts of war through mercenary contracts, and raised permanent armies of professional soldiers in imitation of the Empire at the north of the sea. There were many things to learn from the now decadent power of the Empire, excluding their practice of slavery.


    Ever since then, Altamad had sold weapons to whoever could pay for them. A particular system was slowly created with time. To strengthen its armies without breaking into an all-out war, the kingdom started to lend its forces to join foreign conflicts in exchange for gold. It had been happening since back then, and centuries later is almost a tradition now.


    The Mercenary Kingdom is the nickname that has been given to Altamad by the common people of the world at large. Altamad''s armies take pride in their capabilities and efficiency, each of them having experience in the field as the kingdom''s strength has been requested to assist on numerous foreign conflicts.


    William the Head of Intelligence, kept going about the details of the captured people and details of the attack, and while the King''s face seemed unperturbed, he was giving his all to not laugh out loud and wave his hand saying: of course, of course. After all, with such a plan how anything could go awry so early?


    He listened as William talked about how the soldiers of the First Army made it until the gates without rising any significant alarm under the excuse of their service being contracted by the Alliance. Even though it sounds ridiculous, it''s something that has happened before. The elite warriors and officials in Treo were dealt with even before the attack started, due that it was relatively easy for Altamad to introduce individuals to the city before the attack. Some spies opened the city gates which were later quickly secured by the army as the city guards'' defense devolved into chaos. The army marched through the streets with just a few skirmishes breaking out, most of the guards and private forces of merchants and nobles gave up resistance before any confrontation.


    His subordinate next words made the King''s excitement die down and remember the reason why he ordered tomorrow''s morning meeting to be held right now.


    "However, not everything was within our expectations. As everyone already knows, the incident happened right at that moment, in the middle of the process of taking the city." William paused for a moment and continued:


    "To clarify for those not aware, or still skeptical of it, the incident consisted in the sky and light of the day to turn into night for a short period of time. It wasn''t exactly that, though. The light of the Sun suddenly vanished, leaving everything in gloom and darkness and revealing the normally hidden stars of a normal night." Everyone nodded in acknowledgment of the statement. "I have yet to discover the cause of the phenomenon."


    "Could it be a solar eclipse?" Asked one of the King''s advisors.


    "I consulted it with some scholars." William replied, "they are sure it wasn''t one, records of the apparition of solar eclipses mention a phenomenon named solar crown and blindness when directly witnessed, neither of those was present in today''s incident." More nodding ensued. Even the King had to admit that he sillily looked directly at the Sun when the incident happened, thankfully there isn''t any damage to his eyes. Eye injuries are a pain to heal.


    "In the span of three seconds the Sun''s light started to dim until reaching total darkness, this darkness lasted around twenty seconds and then the light started to gradually come back in the span of another three seconds for a total approximate of 26 seconds for the duration of the incident." After pausing for a short time again, William continued, his voice turning solemn:


    "Furthermore, my informants told me that the phenomenon was sighted not only In Altamad but also in most of the Alliance''s islands, in the Eternal and Sacred Empires, and even further west in the Land of The World''s End." The King grimaced internally, he was fully expecting that much information, but to get reports from such faraway places so fast means that certain artifacts had to be expended. "As the incident wasn''t sighted neither in the City-states of the Northern Continent nor in the Mirage Desert and the countries beyond it we can infer that the event was of a worldwide scale, and probably only sighted in the western countries because it was already night in the East."


    Money isn''t a problem for the Kingdom anymore, but the nation that sold these communication artifacts to the King wasn''t willing to sell more than just a limited number. The only other place that could produce a similar device that the King could think of would be Erendal, but they are difficult to reach and not to mention the rumor of their destruction that is yet to be confirmed.


    At least, the information obtained with the use of the artifacts eased some of the King''s worries about wasted equipment. "So it was a world-wide event and not an illusion or attack targeting just Altamad." He said with a relieved sigh.


    Though the possibility of it being an attack or an illusion couldn¡¯t be refuted with total certainty, the fact that it happened around all the world at once, and that there isn''t any obvious damage done to the kingdom yet, hints at the case that this being an unrelated incident to Altamad''s capture of the city.


    In either case, it wouldn''t be wise to let their guard down.


    Everyone started to talk about it and after a while, the King stroked his chin for a moment and then asked: "If it wasn''t an eclipse then I can''t think of anything about the source but old tales, like that of a giant beast devouring the Sun, isn''t there a similar phenomenon to a solar eclipse of natural origins?"


    The Head of the Department of Intelligence quickly replied: "His Majesty, there is only one barely similar event, the circumstances are significantly different in this case. In the Land of Perpetual Gloom, there is always night, it has been debated many times if it is really a natural effect or if it was caused by a spell."


    "If the probability of it being natural is low then it could have been a magical ritual, his Majesty, a country could have performed a ritual of titanic magnitude. With the information that we possess, I wouldn''t dare to make another guess." The Royal Magician said. He wore a robe ¡ª Why someone would choose a robe over pants? ¡ª and a very polished wooden black staff.


    The Royal Magician''s name is Rafael Oremodan and although he is of Altamadian blood he had the chance of studying magic abroad, in the Sacred Empire.


    It burdens the King the fact that the magic level in Altamad is so poor and their magicians so few. Rafael has explained to him before why magic is so difficult to learn and research, but the King doesn''t remember anymore. It was difficult, though, and the King knows that without being able to chantless cast at least one spell a mage can''t reach the upper ranks of magicians where you can start to research magic with a certain grade of success. Of course, Rafael can do that much, one of the few magicians in the Kingdom.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Oh, right." Rafael continued. "There is such an ultimate magic spell of destruction that changes the sky in legends, isn''t it? But these legends describe that spell''s effect as turning the sky red, so close but not so much, that same description says it is not a worldwide event..."


    "Royal Magician," Aaron Graeves, General of the Fifth Army, spoke, "it''s necessary for it to be a country? Couldn''t be it an organization or a single person? I remember that in the folklore of a small country neighboring the Sacred Empire, in one of their legends they mention a magician that could turn the day into night."


    "Could a simple magician even manage that feat?" One of the King''s advisors asked, and before the Royal Magician could reply, another of his advisors, the oldest person in the room, replied:


    "Well, there is the Undesirable One."


    For a few seconds, the mood in the room changed. Someone even gulped audibly but the King couldn¡¯t fault him as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat while everyone eyed each other silently.


    Although he would have preferred to avoid the topic, he knew that the best would be to touch upon it during the meeting. That person, who nobody was even sure whether he was a human or magical beast ¡ª while others even doubted his existence¡ª was actually the first thought that came to the King''s mind while witnessing the incident.


    "Indeed, he probably could do something like that, and there is a possibility that it may be really him who did it. If such was the case, what does each of you would think about it?" Whatever it was what they could come up with, concerning that person''s intervention, the King wouldn''t modify or delay his plan anyway. Some things are out of the scope of simply preparing for possible scenarios.


    His subordinates started to discuss their opinions about the matter, and then someone said something very simple but which didn''t seem to have passed through his subordinates'' heads for even a moment. He couldn''t blame them, after all, it happened in the middle of their attack.


    "If he did that maybe his timing for it was completely unrelated to our actions." The old advisor said.


    "I agree, but we have to prepare for the worst-case setting, if he shows up here then we wouldn''t have any other options but to yield to his demands..." The General who spoke seemed to have more to say but a young advisor, of around 25 years of age, spoke first:


    "It''s a joke, right?" He seemed sincerely dumbfounded. "That man must be truly powerful, but as it is in every book or tale about someone, his exploits aren''t anything but greatly exaggerated propaganda."


    The King almost snapped and shouted at him right there: You fool! But he didn''t. For the King, one of the most valuable skills of a ruler ¡ªeven more valuable than making decisions that could cost the lives of thousands¡ª is definitively acting.


    It''s good to be always a bit skeptical. The king greatly encourages such behavior in his subordinates, but if there is something that the King hates the most among all other things, is unrepentant ignorance.


    Especially when shown in his presence.


    "I see you are a little skeptical about it but that is irrelevant right now, I don''t think the Undesirable One will show up for anything, his apparitions are few and far in between." Another General interceded to try to end the topic.


    "Yes," The young advisor continued. "Were him to leave his hiding place and come here, then it would be our best chance of killing him, it would be good to someday send one of the armies to destroy his fortress too." He finished while nodding to himself.


    It seemed like they understood the records wrong. The Undesirable One is known for killing and joining conflicts for no reason. There are records of him obliterating armies alone and killing Heroes and Spiritual Experts as easy as a farmer killing chickens.


    Fighting him ¡ªwhose resources are nigh-unlimited and would likely cost thousands of lives of talented individuals¡ª knowing that his fortress has repelled the joint attacks of many forces before, even if you were to obtain victory, it''s nothing but the height of idiocy.


    It should be illegal to be so stupid.


    Well, it was the King himself who asked what they thought about it, so he will not punish him, it is probably just the hot-headiness that comes with youth. Really, to be spouting nonsense about what they should do, without telling them how to accomplish it. Ha!


    What he wouldn''t do to be as carefree as his ex-advisor.


    "It is a fact that we don''t know the real extent of his capabilities and sub-estimating him would be a crass error." The Royal Magician concluded.


    "He can''t be much stronger than the Sacred Empire''s God." But the young man insisted on the topic while shrugging.


    "Stop." The King said imposingly, maintaining a calm facade.


    This time the King congratulated himself for his tolerance and acting skills. He could even go to the theater of the City of Lights and teach the brightest stars there a couple of lessons.


    "Do not call him like that. That person has a name, we can''t play along with his twisted ideas by acknowledging his change of name to THAT name."


    Emperor Invictus Damasco Yendin, First of his name of the Sacred Empire. Nothing more than a half-mad moron and somewhat heretic to boot. A talented martial warrior and magician, sure, but even worse than fearing the Undesirable One would be that Altamad''s people started to believe Invictus being some sort of divinity. Not to mention, his empire his founded on the belief in angels, not gods.


    "Furthermore, a while ago by books and tales, did you mean to say the royal records?" The young man nodded, slightly confused at the King''s question.


    The King sighed. "Maybe you didn''t know that the records are written under an oath of truth and written by the hand of the current king of the kingdom at the time themselves." The young man''s face paled as he understood the implications of his words. To be so disrespectful at this instance...


    Was the man just unaware about it or it''s just boldness born from the moment? Weird, as the thorough reading of those records is a requisite to get the job.


    The King nodded meaningfully to the Royal Magician and Rafael led the man out of the room. He can''t be a spy but they have to be sure that the young man''s head hasn''t been magically messed with or something of the sort. Even if the King is worrying over nothing he still has to be sure. If anything, at least this will save them from the young man''s foolish interruptions.


    Right after they left the room the King continued speaking:


    "We don''t have enough information and neither our records are as old as those of the Empires, as the incident doesn''t seem to have immediate effects on us we will wait and see in respect to that. Tell the spies to collect information about this but otherwise stay away from his fortress."


    His subordinates expressed their acknowledgments with bows of their heads and then William took over giving the report again.


    "His Majesty, the moment the incident took place it was interpreted by the army and the citizens of Treo as Altamad receiving the wrath and disapproval of the gods regarding the conquest of the city, and as the army hesitated in panic, the citizens started to attack the soldiers. Even though there were few causalities on our side, all the assailants were quickly dealt with, over three thousand civilians and guards died until they realized their attacks were useless and dispersed."


    "Punish these soldiers." Disgraceful behavior for professional soldiers to have, hesitating is betraying their comrades. If their King tells them to raise their swords at an invincible enemy, then they must do it, no questions, no hesitation.


    "It will be done, his majesty." The General of the Fifth Army bowed.


    "What do our citizens think that happened?"


    "His majesty, the people thought it was an omen of the end of the world and I have already mobilized my own people to deny the rumors. The people of Treo think differently though, they mostly hold us responsible for the incident and the most popular rumor among them is that we contracted a demon to gain unholy powers."


    The King actually chuckled for a moment before steeling his features. He couldn''t help it, it just sounded too hilarious.


    "I see what you mean, tell everyone not present to not acknowledge any of those declarations but don''t deny them either unless explicitly asked about the veracity of them. The Alliance will think of us as the responsible for the incident too, and although by coincidence, it will be to our benefit if they fear us. Did you receive any report from Draklak?"


    "His Majesty, I did, they mobilized their navy shortly after our attack finished but their speed is much slower than expected." If William was tired of talking too much he didn''t show any of it, if anything he seemed eager to say more.


    By the time Draklak ¡ª the leader state of the Alliance of the Erzfeind Sea, which is situated between the two continents¡ª gathers all the other members and takes a decision about how to act, it would be far too late. The King wanted to start dancing on the spot, to go there himself and lead his soldiers to victory but he was needed here. Sad.


    He will have to trust his generals with those tasks in his stead.


    "Time until all our ships are in the open sea?"


    "The Third army will sail in 8 hours," the General of the Fifth army said, "the First and Second will sail even sooner to their respective targets."


    "Remember to avoid naval combat as much as you can, you should aim to reach firm land before taking the islands, protect well your ships to avoid getting trapped in the islands. Try to capture the enemy ships too. Prisoners are unnecessary, everyone who doesn''t take the oath gets disposed of." Now the King started to resemble his mother but he couldn¡¯t help himself, they already know everything he was saying because he had said it before the attack started. "If combat is unavoidable then utilize to the maximum effectivity the new weapons we bought, the cannons, the optimal result would be to sink the enemies before their magicians enter in range of attack." Almost all of Altamad''s magicians will participate in the attack to minimize casualties and to counter as much as possible the effectiveness of the enemies'' magicians and their superb control over water spells.


    The seven Generals genuflected, and everyone else did the same after them. Three of them will be sent as reinforcements as soon as possible after the three first armies sail to take over the Alliance.


    One could say that sixty thousand soldiers are too many for just that mission, as the Alliance would find it difficult to match that number of warriors even with their combined strength but speed is important for the plan, the faster that Altamad succeeds in taking down the Alliance, the better the second part of the plan will start off.


    The fall of the Alliance may take even less than the expected month. Draklak''s navy, whose a big part of it was captured in Treo, is just experienced at fighting with pirates, once the fight is taken to their cities they will fail faster than ever seen before. Their remaining enemies turning into piracy after the conquest is also contemplated in the plan.


    The King gazed to the General of the Ninth Army, Orel Rovarov, an old man and trusted friend of the King''s father. Orel''s armor was not bright or flashy, just a metallic grey with the blue of the Kingdom on it.


    "About my son, you know what to do." He will be one day his successor and the King will put him under Orel''s care, for the time being. There is no safer place from where to gain experience than in Orel''s side.


    "Yes, his highness." Orel smiled and bowed gracefully.


    "Was the special mission successful?" The King inquired but wasn''t particularly concerned, a failure would just mean higher causalities for Altamad in this war but that would be unavoidable then.


    "The task is already successful but hasn''t been completed yet, the Sorceress is still alive but has been lured away from the vicinity of the Alliance. She is already a week away at flying speed." Said Aztrael, Leader of the Shadow Hunters, who had kept silent until now. He wears a black cloak that covers his whole body; his hair and eyes black in color too. One could even say that he tries hard to look suspicious.


    "Is the ally who was tasked with that mission trustworthy? I heard she had a personal vendetta against the Sorceress." An adviser said.


    A General waved his hand as if to dissipate his worries. "She, the so-called Soul Eater, took an oath, so her loyalty during the mission isn''t in question. Also, the pay for the job is one of a kind, that vendetta ¡ªfor whatever reason it is¡ª is just a bonus for her. But more important is the question: can she even kill the Sorceress? She is said to be at the archmage level."


    "I understand your concerns General," Said Aztrael, smiling, "Some of my men are there to aid our ally on her task... or to finish it if she doesn''t manage."


    "Maybe the Royal Magician can give us an approximate of her power but he judged her to be dangerous from the beginning, that is why we took the trouble of separating the Sorceress from the Alliance before attacking."


    "The Soul Eater''s plans to deal with the Sorceress are unknown but she has already accomplished an important part of them by distracting her from the Alliance; the Sorceress belongings were stolen by my subordinates during this game of chasing too, so it is unlikely that the Alliance will have a method to contact her to bring her back in time. By the time the news of the war reaches her and comes back, the Alliance would have fallen long ago." Aztrael said, seemingly annoyed that they were still talking about this.


    "Now that we are already talking about mercenaries, if any mercenary shows up and ask to be contracted then accept them for the standard fees and basic oath; but it would be better to only deploy elite individuals among the mercenaries, like people from the Land of the Sword, for the conquest of the Alliance."


    The King thought for a moment and then asked:


    "Head of the Intelligence Department, what is the situation in the Eternal Empire right now?"


    Whatever help they could send to the Alliance would arrive too late but just in case better be sure.


    "His Highness, their actions these last weeks seem very anxious and everything seems to indicate they are rallying their forces north to defend their border against the Greens'' great mobilization. The common people in the Empire fears that soon the empire will even start with conscription. In resume, they have their hands already full of troubles in the northern continent. I doubt they will bother with our war with the alliance, it wouldn''t be wise for them."


    The King dismissed them shortly after.


    Many events happening at the same time, and his own plan to expand his kingdom just starting, it seems that the following years will just be the start of great changes taking place.


    Those caught unprepared shall be shallowed, meanwhile, those that seize the opportunity shall grow strong and find good fortune.


    The King smiled. Unexpected events may happen at any time, he could very now be leading his country to annihilation, but how boring would be life without the unexpected?

 Chapter 22

    With a rumbling stomach and tired legs, I glance down from the top of the hill and take in the view.


    A sea of golden, many fields of wheat fill the ground beyond the hill; between them are a few farms and farther to the center of them stand several two-story buildings, all of that surrounded by a fence.


    A village.


    Probably.


    I have never seen one before.


    I don''t know what to feel, though. Finding people is good, isn''t it? Finally, civilization.


    Back there I felt a lot of relief after finding this barely visible dirt road a couple of days ago. Now that I am so close to people I realize that I have no idea of what to do next, even although I thought a lot about it I didn''t come up with a plan.


    What to do next? How do I approach them? What do I even need of them? First, I want to get to a city. This isn''t one. But still, I need directions, just now I become aware of the weight of how little I know about the Empire, aside from their language.


    I lightly slap both of my cheeks at the same time. It doesn''t matter, I will not even pass much time here. I can get clothes and food from here. Something else? Become a farmer, maybe. No thanks.


    I will just approach them and improvise everything else. What is the worst that could happen? I can trade the monsters'' parts and the like, if that fails I will just keep my way to the city, whatever city is the closest, that is.


    Alright! Climbing down the hill I head directly to the fields of wheat following the road.


    Right after getting out of the Great Wild and finding a high place I looked for a road or a trace of human activity. I found none. Aimlessly wandering is just as dangerous as going through the forest. Were I to walk directly to the west I may have been traveling for months without finding anything, maybe even going past some towns or cities unaware. Walking diagonally as I looked for a road sounded more reasonable. It just left me with going north-west or south-west. Except for the north-west part of the Empire, all the western frontier of it collides with the Great Wild, roads leading to an unpassable place are few, I assumed.


    I considered that I had more chances of finding a road going north as the desert between the Empire and the Mastan Kingdom is frequently crossed.


    Anyways, it still took me two weeks to find a road, of course, I was relieved, at the time I was starting to think that maybe south-west was better.


    The travel through the plains wasn''t that interesting as I expected. There were days I didn''t spot any signs of life. I saw a few big monsters sometimes, too big for me to dare approach them. Smaller predators tended to run away at the sight of me. My reserves of food ran dry fast.


    Any small critter I found was exterminated, they weren''t difficult to kill but difficult to find. The difference in strength between these monsters and those in the forest was evident. Even to middle-sized animals, a Fireball is enough to severely calcinate them. Needless to say, after something like that, they became inedible. Somehow, using Earth Lance to pierce the smaller ones made them explode, a bloody, inedible mess ensued. It is cheating, how do they even explode?


    Surprisingly, the Boulder spell that back in the forest sometimes didn''t even serve as a distraction proved to be far more useful against these. If I aimed to the head, the small ones died in one hit, no explosions.


    Those explosions aren''t natural anyway, why couldn¡¯t they just obediently die and be eaten? Had I learned ways to preserve meat for longer times it wouldn''t be much of a problem but eating rotten meat is a big no.


    As I am not a tracker, getting out of my way to search for these rabbits wasn''t that effective so I haven''t eaten my fill in a while. I have drunk plenty of water, though. As I can conjure fresh water with ease, that was never a problem.


    Finally reaching the fields of wheat I stop before the wooden fence. It''s roughly my height, even though I can''t squeeze between the gaps in the wooden boards I can climb without difficulty and I do so after casting Clean to get rid of my smell, sadly that of the clothes remains.


    Now behind the fence, I look around. There doesn''t seem to be a way to announce my presence and I don''t know if someone spotted me on my way here from the hill so if needed, I will apologize for trespassing later.


    After a minute of walking, I see a couple of farmers working the land with some tools. As I am not doing anything to avoid being seen my presence is quickly noticed by them. They talk among themselves for a moment and then one starts running to the village, the other just stares at me warily.


    I keep walking at the same speed, not fast, as to not spook them but not slow either, to show the confidence of knowing where I am going to. Very feigned confidence, of course.


    Oh, someone is heading this way from the village now, just a moment has passed. Three men, a bearded man in the center, maybe in his forties. His two companions are younger, one of them the guy who ran earlier, he seems tired.


    Wait, what if after meeting me their intentions aren''t that good? How can I start thinking of this just now? Damn, this is called looking for it, isn''t it? This is the hunger''s fault.


    Relax, they are just farmers, probably.


    If things devolve to the worst then I will just defend myself, I am far from being helpless.


    I chuckle, dismissing those thoughts. Maybe they are kind people.


    Soon enough they arrive in front of me and the older man greets me without wasting time.


    "Hey there son, I am Ralph, Elder of Muna Village." He smiles at me. But he doesn''t look happy though. "What is your name?"


    "Uh?"


    For a moment I am nothing but confused, but I quickly catch on to what is going on. I was expecting him to talk the language of the town but of course, he talks the common of the Empire. After learning it I have had few chances to speak it, mostly in the Lessons and when an adventurer or traveler stumbled into town.


    But, village Elder, uh, of course, there should be one.


    "Oh, right, my name is..." What was it? "Ah! Naaran! Eh... Naaran, just that." I give him an awkward smile. I can feel my cheeks reddening. Surely today is hot.


    After not using my name for so long I almost forgot it. I can''t believe it, hopefully, it''s something normal.


    The Elder straightens his back and squints his eyes at me. Is he thinking that I gave a false name?


    Now that I think about it... should I have given a false one?


    Alright, next time I will think about everything thoroughly before rushing forward. With a bit of luck, there will be a second next time too.


    While promising that in my heart I take the chance to look at the Elder in more detail. He has dirty brown pants white a brown belt and brown boots. He is wearing a long-sleeved white shirt. No hat, his companions have one each, though.


    The Elder nods slowly. "Pleased to meet you, son." Then he nervously glances at our surroundings before asking: "Can I know the motive of your visit?"


    He surely is wary of me, but I have the habit of looking at my surroundings even when alone so I can''t fault him for it.


    "Yeah, I am not lost or anything, just traveling. I am on my way to the next city to trade, I am looking for clothes too." I say trying to sound honest.


    Maybe he will be less wary if he knows I am just passing.


    "You aren''t lost, I see." He stares at me for a few seconds. Thinking. He seems afraid. "Very well, follow me to my house, that is a better place to continue talking, son."


    "That would be great." I agree and walk alongside him the rest of the way, the other two behind us.


    All that went well, now I can raise other topics too. Like trading some of my animals'' parts for information, clothes, and food. I am dressed like a complete savage, with the fur cloak and no shirt. My shoes are just plants tied together.


    "We don''t get many visitors so sorry for the curious stares of the rest of the villagers, son."


    "I understand, there is no problem."


    The Elder then tells me that I arrived at the mealtime and he invites me to it. Great.


    We arrive at one of the buildings at the center, all of them two-stories tall. None is painted. After dismissing our escorts, the Elder turns to me: "This is my house, let''s go inside, son." Then he opens the door and shouts: "Dear! Bring the food, we have a guest!".


    I chuckle, was the shout necessary?


    After gesturing for me to enter and I comply, the Elder closes the door and guides me to sit on the chairs of the table nearby. We sit opposite each other. The atmosphere in the Elder''s house is very warm. There are curtainless windows, wooden stairs, a doorless way to another room, probably the kitchen, crudely made chairs and orange metallic plates and cutlery in the center of the table. Nothing else worthy of remark except for the cleanliness of the place.


    Even though it is so simple, it is still leagues above the old house I used to sleep in.


    "My wife must be finishing the food soon; do you mind listening to a request of this old man while we wait?"


    A request? I wonder what is it about.


    I should at least hear him out.


    "What is it?" I couldn''t keep out the weariness out of my voice.


    "Don''t worry son, is nothing much." He said with a reassuring smile and while showing the palms of his hands. "Here we have the tradition of testing our strength with people we just met, oh, don''t put that face, it''s easy, we just take each other right hand and push our arm to our right side, if you manage to make the back of my hand touch the table then it''s your win."Stolen novel; please report.


    "If you don''t want then there is no problem, no harm is done." He quickly adds.


    I stared at him for a while.


    A tradition? As if I were to believe that. But that game, I have played it before with other kids. We called it Strength back then.


    The difference in age and height, though... How do you expect me to win?


    "Very well, it makes no harm, as you said". Making contact with him can be dangerous so I start channeling an Earth Lance just for precaution. If he suddenly tries to do something and I die then I will only be able to blame myself.


    "Good, thanks for agreeing to my silly request."


    At least you admit that it''s is silly, you just had to say you wanted to play.


    After getting up from his chair the Elder moves to the chair to my left and sits down. Supporting his elbow on the table he opens his hand and waits for me. I do the same. Doesn''t matter how I see it, his hands are so much bigger than mine, the sight makes me want to laugh.


    This must be the graphical definition of the old bullying the young.


    At the count of three, we started.


    I feel like trying to move a wall, but still, somehow, I am slowly winning ground. Suddenly, it is reversed and I start to lose. I can feel inner-mana powering the muscles of the Elder.


    Hey referee, is this allowed?


    "Don''t hold back son, try to win." The Elder says between breaths, somehow, he seems to be struggling. What a joke.


    Fortunately for me, I haven''t'' slacked on my training of inner-mana since I started it. The amount I can use now must be enough for this. Just before my hand could be pushed all the way back I start to empower my arm with inner-mana and stops a bit before touching the table, saving me from losing.


    Brows furrowed, jaw clenched, unfocused eyes, and adding the weight of his upper body to his arm, the Elder makes it pretty well for a pitiful sight while sweating buckets.


    I am confused, though. Is this all fake?


    My inner-mana dwindling for each passing second, I decide to try to finish this now. Using all my strength I steadily push the Elder''s arm all the way back and soon the back of his hand touches the table, granting me the victory.


    "Ahhh" The Elder exclaims tired and breathing heavily.


    Aren''t you a little too weak? And aren''t you ashamed of losing to a ten years old boy, old man?


    Wait, I really said that, not just thought it.


    "Apologies for being so rude Elder Ralph, it wasn''t necessary to let me win," I hurry to say sorry.


    The Elder just shakes his head with a self-mocking smile on his face. "Letting you win? Haa... It''s just as just say, son, I am weak. Not everyone is talented."


    At this moment, a plump middle-aged woman enters the room with a casserole and a jar of ¡ªpossibly¡ª water. The smell coming from that casserole unleashes my stomach to rumble and my mouth to salivate.


    Wait, what if it is poisoned? Yeah, according to the stories I have read, strangers poisoning you isn''t a rare occurrence.


    Maybe that is why the Elder shouted before entering the house, to give his wife time to poison it?


    "Dear, this is our guest, Naaran. And Naaran, she is my wife Erin."


    We exchange pleasantries, my ''pleased to meet you'' a little subdued due to my thoughts on drugs and early demises but I didn''t fail to notice The Elder''s wife forced smile. The smiles of the Elder himself haven''t been full of happiness until now but at least these weren''t that forced.


    She takes the plates from the center of the table and puts them in front of us then mixes the contents of the casserole with a big spoon to rinse them with the juice, or whatever it is, and serves the food on both plates. The food is some kind of meat cut in tiny bits with vegetables. Then, she leaves for a moment and comes back with a basket of bread. Finally, the Elder says: "Than'' you dear, you can go." And she hurries to make her way out... of the house.


    Weird. Won''t she eat with us?


    But anyway, now that I think about it, the plates, cutlery, and glasses were already here since we entered the house. The only way to poison me would be through the food or water but the Elder will clearly eat from the same place as me. She even mixed it before serving so no way to put the poison on the top or something.


    Unless he doesn''t mind being poisoned for the sake of it? Maybe he has an antidote?


    But I am really hungry.


    I was poisoned in the forest several times... hopefully, I have developed some sort of resistance.


    Hopefully.


    Viewing it from another perspective, in stories, the characters would be wildly violated or tortured long before this point so being poisoned to death isn''t that bad. And if it is a sleeping or paralysis poison I don''t think they could take me out for long either, these were abundant from plants and insects in the forest too.


    Very well, I will eat. If I suddenly start feeling bad then I just pierce his head on the spot.


    The Elder suddenly talks after putting together the palms of his hands and closing his eyes: "Thanks for this meal." And then opens his eyes again.


    Looking at my raised eyebrows ¡ªbecause I can''t raise just one¡ª the Elder smiles without bothering to explain what was that. "Come on, let''s continue talking while we eat."


    I nod, even though I prefer to not talk while I am eating. Sigh. He takes the jar of water and pours some in his own glass while I take a look at the knife and fork.


    What were those manners of the table Claire taught me?


    Eh... Do not use your hands to eat, use the cutlery. Yes, that is a given... and... do not chew with your mouth open?... There is more?


    Alright, good enough. I start eating holding the fork with one hand, mostly copying the Elder, and taking bites at a piece of bread with the other hand. The flavor almost brings tears to my eyes, more than two years since I tasted something so good.


    Poisoned or not, it was worth it.


    I gave my praise to his wife''s cuisine and the Elder replies she will be happy to hear it.


    "Young m... Cough, cough... If you don''t mind me asking, how old are you, Naaran? What brings you to be traveling?"


    "I am ten. About why I travel...Well, many reasons." I try to think of a good answer but nothing comes to mind. In search of a better life? To get a job as a magician? In the Empire, magicians aren''t as common as water like back in town, even less of my age so, the fewer people know I am one, the better.


    "Many reasons, I see, if my questions incommode you, son, don''t hesitate in telling me. It''s not necessary to answer." He laughed. "Yes... This, it''s dangerous to travel alone, that is the point I was going to."


    "Ah, don''t worry about that," I nodded, "it''s dangerous but I have grown used to it."


    "Yes, I don''t doubt you can take care of yourself." He rubbed his right arm as if sore due to our game earlier. "You are heading to Arminium, right?"


    Arminium? The name of the closest city?


    I nod.


    "Of course, but going there dressed like that can naturally lead to some situations that could be originally avoided. Did you really made these..." He waves his hand at me. "Clothes?"


    Hearing that he is steering the conversation to my clothes now my eyes lit up. I was waiting to touch on the topic.


    "I made them, going through a forest really makes a number on your attire. Of my original set neither the shirts and shoes survived, they weren''t more than rags. It''s not to my pleasure to be running around naked, not most of the time at least."


    I lifted a foot a little to the side of the table. "These sandals are from plant steams, easy to make when I was bored and this furred cloak I carefully cut it from a powerful beast. And, by the way, I have parts of monsters in my backpack that I would like to trade to you for a set of clothes, I mean if your village has any spare-" Seeing the Elder shaking his head I quickly change my approach. "I can trade the cloak if you prefer, even though it''s poorly-made, it''s very tough." It really is, difficult to cut even with the black blade. Earth Lance is not nearly as sharp as I would like.


    "Oh no, no, we only trade goods for coins." The Elder laughed and my heart sank.


    "Don''t worry, I was going to gift you some clothes anyway."


    "What? Why?" I ask suspiciously, not expecting something like that.


    A strange offering you a free meal, I can accept it. Being gifted clothes even after I offered something in exchange? That is nonsense. I have lived long enough in the street to know to recognize fantasy from reality.


    He sighed. "Yes... how to say it? I will give you the clothes if you accede to resume your travel soon."


    "You are kicking me out of the village?" I said without thinking even though I was more at ease than with the clothes as just a gift. That is more natural, the clothes being gifted as a ''sorry for the inconvenience''.


    The Elder flinched. "No, no, you are welcome in my house son, but the other people here... they aren''t bad people, they just tend to feel uncomfortable with an outsider around and will only be at ease when you continue your way. Believe me, it is for the better, I don''t want them to offend you in any way, they will be rude if they think they can get away with it, at least. Little villages like ours aren''t used to strangers."


    "That is not a problem Elder, I wasn''t planning on staying more than a couple hours anyway and I don''t want to make my hosts uncomfortable either."


    After that the Elder apologized repeatedly for his lack of tact in bringing up the issue ¡ªwell, it must be rather awkward for him to talk like this with a boy¡ª and allowed me a second serving of food. I am still hungry but there isn''t much left and I don''t want to leave the Elder''s wife without eating. I wonder where she went, and if they have children.


    Maybe they are working the fields and eat at different hours.


    Anyway, after finishing the meal we leave the house without delay and the Elder instructs a young man that was nearby, maybe eavesdropping on us, to fetch a bag full of bread, pants, a shirt, and shoes of my size.


    "Do you have money, son? There is a fee of one small silver coin for passing the gate of the city."


    Why does the city need a gate?


    Oh, it must have a wall, of course.


    More importantly, a small silver coin? We used the Empire''s currency back in town and there wasn''t something like that. I don''t have a single coin and after I tell as much to the Elder he quickly produces and gives me a tiny and thin coin with an eagle-like relief.


    "Elder has made much for me already, "I reach for a pocket in my backpack, "permit me to give you one of the-" But he stops me.


    "It isn''t much, you can find these lying on the floor often and although there are other ways to enter the city, just paying the fee is the easiest and least problematic."


    The young man soon came back with my new set of second-hand clothes. The Elder hurried me to try them out to see if they fit well while the Elder held my cloak, after giving it back he said while stroking his barbed chin: "This fur seems to be of good quality..." He hummed for a moment. "Right, if your other goods are like this then you should ask the city guards for the direction of the Merchant''s Guild. Selling to specialized stores could give you a higher price but..." He threw me a glance." Considering your age then these stores will attempt to rip you off too much, the strict rules of the guild will play in your favor there."


    We walked to the edge of the other side of the village and to the fence surrounding the fields. Several minutes passed and the Elder continued to tell me things about the city, too many for me to remember immediately as to how to search for an inn and to what people ask what questions.


    Once the young man opened the fence unlocking some planks of wood I turned around and looked at the Elder in the eyes.


    Then told him:


    "I love you."


    Of course, I didn''t. What I said was: "Thank you for everything Elder Ralph." And gave him a slight nod.


    He nodded in turn, in that unique way only men understand. "It was interesting to meet you Naaran, I hope you find whatever you are looking for."


    And then I left, I kept walking through the road for a while, wondering what I am looking for.


    Everything went so well that I wouldn''t be surprised if all this is a dream and right now I am still on the table, face planted on my food.


    I chuckled. I can''t be that unlucky, right?


    xxx


    Seeing the boy walking away in the distance Ralph let out a relieved sigh.


    Earlier, when he almost called him that, Young Master, Ralph was completely drenched in sweat.


    He thought these were just tales for little girls, of saving princesses and dashing heroes, of the epic proportions of the tantrums of nobles, and those of their children too. Ralph realized it with a single glance, the boy was more than what he appeared. A weird metallic wristband, dirtied clothes but extremely clean skin and hair. Definitively the effect of some Art or Technique.


    A Young Master, maybe of a Martial Family, running away from home for some reason.


    No way they could have let him do so unsupervised and for the boy to be uninjured after going through a forest, probably to the south, even if small then it was obvious he had caretakers. More than a month away from going through the same road the boy arrived is just a military fortress overseeing the desert. All in between are plains with scarce trees.


    The boy seemed unaware of being followed, for those caretakers to remain hidden so long despite the boy''s habit of constantly glancing at his surroundings... It terrified Ralph.


    They must have deemed the village unthreatening to the boy and guided him here. Ralph still invited the boy to his house. It wouldn''t do to anger those hidden experts. There was something wrong with the boy, the way he walked disturbed Ralph. It wasn''t his confident gait, neither it was the sharpness of his movements, Ralph couldn¡¯t pinpoint what it was even until now.


    The boy''s arm strength proved all of Ralph''s assumptions, though. When he was younger Ralph cultivated every free time without rest with the hope of achieving a breakthrough, of becoming something more. But to no avail, he just was never talented.


    The boy was stronger than him even without using spiritual energy. He wouldn''t have believed it if he had not tested him himself.


    Nobles are given all kinds of resources to train since childhood. They don''t give thanks to God before a meal, those who have abundance forget to be grateful for it. The boy even speaks better than Ralph himself!


    Everything fitted.


    Getting him out of the village as fast as possible was a bit rash of him but was for the best. The less attention they drew for themselves the safer they will be.


    Ralph played along with the boy''s cover of being traveling and trading. He gifted him clothes to please the caretakers with his performance.


    Mentally exhausted, Ralph took a glance at the now-empty road before turning to the neighbors'' son at his side.


    "Go tell the girls th-" Ralph froze. "No, forget it, just get back to work."


    He can''t be sure if the boy''s caretakers are still around or not. Better for the females to remain hidden a few hours more. Ralph knew it in his heart, though. There is no place to hide from an expert and if they decide to have their fun nothing will stop them.


    While scanning every corner and jumping at every shadow Ralph silently prayed to God for nothing bad to happen to his village.


    Fortunately for him, nothing happened.

 Chapter 23

    A faint sound from nearby awakes me.


    Without a trace of sleepiness in me I open my eyes while lying still against the tree''s trunk, scanning my surroundings. It is dark around me, but not for much more time. A hint of the Sun''s light can be seen leaving the mountains on the horizon in front of me. There is nothing abnormal in my field of vision compared to when I went to sleep.


    Suddenly, among the nocturnal noise of some insects I hear a strangely muffled step, a little far to my right side. I silently get up from my sitting position and start chantlessly channeling Earth Lance and Fireball almost at the same time. After carefully peeking around the tree I search for the cause of the noise. I don''t see anyone but then I hear it again, and more important, this time I saw what was it.


    Not step but a hop. A small and fat creature with long ears and short legs hopping around is the origin of the strange sound. A smile escapes my lips.


    Breakfast.


    I uncast the prepared spells, the lost mana will regenerate in like half an hour and furthermore, they will be of no use right now.


    The exploding bunnies are cheaters, after all. They have highly flammable hides; if they catch fire they become nothing but charcoal and ashes. Makes cooking them a little tricky, the meat is cooked very fast so it''s easy to overcook it and end with a burned meal. Another characteristic of the exploding bunnies ¡ªas I call them¡ª and that they share with a few other small animals from around here is that after being pierced in the stomach they suddenly explode. Probably because reasons. Maybe their farts are dangerous too.


    Exploding, highly flammable, cheaters.


    I wouldn''t be surprised that if after being drowned or asphyxiated they somehow liberate something to poison their own meat out of pure spite.


    The bunny is currently dumbly hopping around after short pauses, I have seen them run before, they are fast so, maybe it is hoping to scare insects out of hiding. Breakfast searching for breakfast. The natural law of the world.


    After making sure that I am not the unaware breakfast of another creature I point to the bunny''s head. As I haven''t made any move until now, it hadn''t seen me yet. It will not have any time to see me anyway, I insta-cast Boulder.


    Without delay, a small, round rock materializes about four or five centimeters away of my finger and is shot at a relatively high speed; as fast as I could throw it with my arm, I think.


    The rock hits the bunny squarely on the head and immediately drops to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut.


    Success!


    It seems I never fail a spell as long as I aim with my arms or hands. My shots are deadly precise if aimed like that but on the other hand, if I aim only with my will, as I can do with the modified spells, the precision varies greatly. I should practice more the spells'' aim without moving at all.


    I don''t need to use my arms at all because I think that the spell matrix''s mana is channeled and formed in the mind and not physically in the body. Like that the use of arms isn''t necessary even though they facilitate the use of mana. Another way to see it is why I can simultaneously channel two spells at the same time, not because I have only two arms, but because that is the current limit my mind can manage.


    The body could also potentially interfere with inactivated magic spells as clothes do to a certain degree, and in more extreme cases, as they are stopped or dispelled by metal. That is something I don''t know much about, though.


    After stretching my body to cast away my reluctance to move after just waking up I take the black bladed knife from where it''s fastened between my clock and my left arm, taking it by the handle and leaving the sheath still fastened there.


    Mm, I will need to hide both the clock and knife when I enter the city.


    I walk to the bunny''s corpse and with practiced ease ¡ªbecause I did practice a lot¡ª I cut its fur with the tip of my humbly made knife.


    Although I can skin it fairly good, at least in my opinion, I don''t know much about the insides of an animal. I can recognize some things like the stomach or the heart but I just mostly salvage whatever seems edible enough and leave everything else behind.


    I am aware that I might have been leaving good parts behind, especially when harvesting monsters for valuable parts, but there is nothing I can do about it now but to cry bitterly about the losses and learn to make it right in the future.


    I sigh, then go to grab some tree branches to burn and cook the meat using a stick.


    Oh, how I miss the food that the Elder''s wife made. Now I know why anyone would want one of those.


    After eating I prepare everything to head out and start to think of how to approach the city with a calm mind and full belly. I can''t rush inside and hope for the best like back in that Village. And I won''t always have the time to think everything carefully like right now.


    Let''s see. I arrived at the city, Arminum, according to the Elder, like ten hours ago. I was awed by the sight of the city walls. It was my first time seeing ones and I wasn''t really expecting to see ones there, it''s something I wouldn''t have expected unless someone warned me beforehand. Of course, that the walls being there makes sense, I have read about walled cities many times but in my mind, they were like fantasy. Back in town, there weren''t walls because the Shield more than made up for them.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Arminium''s walls have the height of two-story-tall buildings. The Sun had started to set when I first saw them at the distance. The road goes around the north side of the city because there isn''t any gate on the eastern side. After an hour of following the road around the city, I finally got to a gate. It was closed. A couple of carriages and a dozen persons were camping a distance away from the gate at one side of the road.


    I didn''t approach them. I supposed that the gates are closed at night and opened again in the morning. As every other night, I walked an hour away from the road before going to sleep at the base of some tree.


    The Elder said that the city was about two weeks away on foot but I arrived in five days. I have become aware that I walk faster and for longer times than before. I was stronger than the Elder too. The only explanation that comes to me is the skill I copied from the Minga finally having a noticeable effect. Without using inner-mana their strength and resilience were higher than many others monsters using it. They were even almost as fast as Curite.


    Right. I need to hide some things before entering the city. Wouldn''t be good to be robbed blind as I enter for the first time by some pick-pocketer. I take off the clock and knife and hide them in my cloth stash, fastened around my stomach and back. There is something else to hide. I open the backpack and retrieve a little bag-like piece of animal hide, tied closed by some roots. Inside is the glowing rock, something like that would draw tons of attention, even if it is anything but a decoration. I hide it in the stash too.


    The fur cloak now, should I enter the city while wearing it? It seems like it will attract unnecessary stares. I Better carry it around folded under one arm, it doesn''t fits in the backpack and the bags the Elder gave me with the bread are too small.


    I am wearing the outfit that the elder Ralph gave me, I dropped my old shorts a few days ago and put on these brown pants. I have a white shirt with short sleeves, brown shoes, and no sockets. I look the village boy part. There is a little problem though, they are badly made, after a few days of use the fabric is starting to get loose. I will need to get a new change soon.


    What else? Keeping the fact that I am a mage hidden as long as possible is a given, even I know what ''keeping an ace under the sleeve'' means. I need a place where to sleep in the city, a safe one too. The Elder told me to ask the merchants for a recommendation for an inn after selling them the monsters'' parts.


    They will ask other kinds of questions too. Like how I did get all those parts or if I am alone or not. I don''t think that revealing that I am alone is a good idea. Better safe than sorry. I will bluff my way there. Now, to get there I will ask for directions to the guards at the gate themselves.


    They probably will ask for the fee to enter the city. If they ask for it I will give it, if they don''t then all good. If they ask for more then I will naturally head to another gate.


    I think that now I am ready, or at least as ready as I can be. My ultimate objective, for now, is to get a safe place to sleep, I will think of the following after achieving that.


    I take off the cloak and put on my backpack, after instant-casting a Clean spell a single time I head in the direction of the road and city.


    An hour later the gate appears in my vision again. It''s open now and last night''s camp is gone. I walk directly to the gate and at the same time that I arrive, a carriage that was leaving being pulled by a pair of horses stops in the middle of the entrance. A well-dressed man is driving it, he starts to talk about something with a guard but I don''t stop to listen, I keep walking my way around the other side of the carriage, through the gate and enter the city. I keep walking, as naturally as I can manage, expecting to be stopped by a guard at any moment to pay the entrance fee but I reach the first buildings without anything happening. I didn''t see any other guard after I passed the gate and I am sure the guard and the driver of the carriage glanced at me as I walked over to the gate.


    It seems I just saved a coin.


    In front of me, there are people going about, walking fast and with purpose behind their strides, and there are others, walking with their heads down by the sides, they are all along the main road, that goes in a straight line. There is something different to back in town, something that reminds me more of the forest.


    Oh, I know. It''s the noise, there is an abundance of strange but harmonious sounds in the background. So many people talking and shouting, steps of feet and hooves in the pavemented main road and in the ground in the secondary ones. But even so, it doesn''t seem to be cramped at all.


    I step forward and then realize that I don''t know where to go. I forgot to ask the guard at the gate for directions.


    Should I go back?


    I glance back and see that there isn''t anyone there anymore. Ugh, whatever, I will get someone else to ask while I look around.


    I start to walk, sightseeing. I wonder if there is a magic shop here? It will be good to learn new spells now that I don''t have anyone to teach me anymore. The spells I know are pretty basic, after all. Finding a normal library would be good too, reading a book about the rules and laws of the Empire could come in handy. I don''t want to commit a crime without even knowing what I did wrong.


    "Get out of the way brat!" An angry shout wakes me from my thoughts as I walked and quickly jump to one side to avoid a horse-drawn cart from trampling me. The rider continued its way without stopping after just dropping a glare at me.


    A strained smile appears on my face as I quickly resume my own way too. Maybe I should keep to the sides of the road like most people are doing. I look carefully at the buildings that I pass by. Some have big, transparent, windows that show goods in display, making it easy to figure out in what specializes each store. Most of them are workshops of some kind. Among them some are shoe stores, others sell tools, furniture, and a moment ago I even saw a jewelry.


    One of the shoe shops has a price list written on paper stuck to the window from inside. I stop and read through it. Shoes of my size are listed as Boy standard shoe and priced as 5 s. Decim.


    Decim? Is that the name of a currency? I thought it was just named Empire''s coin. And if the ''s.'' stands for silver then those shoes must be very expensive. According to the Elder of the village, I only have a small silver coin.


    Leaving the shopping for after I get some money I continue my way, this time looking for a guard or something similar to ask for the Merchants Guild. Soon enough I catch sight of three guards.


    As I start making my way towards them, I suddenly feel something pulling the folded fur cloak that I am hugging under my left arm. I turn around and find a smiling man, tall and slender, black-haired and brown-eyed, with both of his hands firmly grabbing my cloak. I frown and ready myself to snatch it back as I change my grip on it but the words that escape his mouth leave me dumbfounded.


    "Guards! Help! A rat is trying to steal my cloak!" Filled with righteous anger, his words puts a pause at the people going around in our surroundings. I turn my head to look at the guards I was heading to and see them rushing in our- no, in my direction.


    The fuck?

 Chapter 24

    My first reaction was to almost run away by instinct but I managed to suppress it. It''s not the first time I am in a similar situation, although it''s the first time I am being framed for doing it and I am actually innocent. I know that running away would be the worst way to resolve this, of course, if I could easily escape then it would be a good option. I can overrun the Elder of the village but those guards may be different.


    And just a few minutes ago I was saying that I wanted to avoid committing any crime without knowing what I did. Now I know what my crime is. Just the fact of possessing a treasure is a crime in itself. People will naturally want it for themselves, people like this man trying to take the cloak. And they will be willing to do whatever is necessary if they think they will get away with it.


    I am just a kid, and my childish voice won''t add anything to my credibility, considering that I don''t want to use magic to deal with this, then, if I don''t play my cards well things will not go nicely.


    His height alone doubles mine but he still can''t snatch the cloak from me as I grab it firmly.


    The guards arrive and rush directly at me. I move left, putting the disgusting man between me and them.


    "Stop! This is MY cloak, he is lying-" I say but I am cut short by the man bellowing:


    "The brat is the one lying! Apprehend him! Quick! Release my cloak!" He tries to kick me but I easily move to the side.


    The guards seize each one, the man, the cloak, and me a moment later.


    They are wearing metallic breastplates and helmets above dark green uniforms with sheathed swords hanging from their waist. One of them grabbed me by one arm, an iron grip to make sure I don''t try to run away. The framer was restrained too even though he continues to cling to the cloak as if his life depended on it, just as I am doing as well. While the third guard tries to take away the cloak from us, unsuccessfully thus far. Soon enough we all are struggling and shouting.


    "Release it! Release it! Release!!!" The framer crazily barked, "we will take it until this is resolved!" A guard said. "Liar!" I shouted to the framer. "Stop struggling boy!" The guard holding my arm pleaded.


    People started to gather around to see what was happening. Then, the guard trying to take the cloak started pushing my face away with one hand while pulling with the other. His hand blocking my mouth.


    I bit him.


    Hard, but not enough as to draw blood.


    "Waaaaa!" The guard roared in pain while retracting his hand to his chest. "He bit me!"


    "You asked for it brat." The one holding my arms said that and then started to move his hands under my arms, around my sides. An urge to laugh suddenly invaded me, shortly after I started laughing.


    He is tickling me!


    "Stop! Hahaha." I started twitching around while laughing.I will not let go of the cloak until I am sure I would be able to get it back!


    While the guard tickles me the other two started to pull with renewed vigor.


    "Hahaha, stop! Haha, stop!" With tears in my eyes and about to piss myself I decided I had enough. I quickly released the cloak with my left hand and elbowed back.


    "Ouh!" The guard fell forward, his hands between his legs, and started to roll around.


    The pulling continued, by now quite a big crowd formed around us.


    "Are you the children here, or am I?" "You brat!!" "Release! Release!!"


    I mentally shook my head. Bunch of clowns, all of them.


    The guard grabbing the cloak had enough too. "Wait! Wait!!" He shouted and we all stopped struggling¡ªfooling around¡ª for a moment.


    "Alright! Both of you, explain what happened." Immediately after he said that the framer and I started talking.


    "Shut up! Do not talk at the same time! You go first." He gestured to the framer.


    He didn''t hesitate to talk. "I was walking around here with the cloak in my arms when suddenly this rat tried to snatch it from my arms and run away but luckily I was holding it firmly and immediately requested help from the guards." The man glared at them, looking genuinely offended.


    "What a liar!" I cried, genuinely offended.


    "It''s your turn, boy."


    "This cloak is mine, I was walking with it under my arm when suddenly this man grabbed it and shouted for the guards saying that I was trying to steal it. He is framing me."


    "Nonsense!" The framer shouted. We started discussing. But not only us, also the crowd started to voice their opinions.


    "I saw the boy carrying the cloak around before!" "No, he must have tried to steal it." "Of course, where would he have gotten it from then?" "He tried to steal it!" "You weren''t even here." "Shut up!"


    Neither the framer nor I had released it yet, just when I was considering letting go to finish this quicker I suddenly felt movement from the guard that was rolling around on the floor.


    "Release it at once, delinquent!" The guard roared, then lifted me off the ground and started pulling me away strongly while I still held the cloak.


    I could feel cold sweat running down my head. If the guard realizes I have some things hidden in the stash and wants to inspect me then everything could go sourly. I have a knife there and so far, I haven''t seen anyone armed here apart from the guards, it may be illegal.


    "Release this cloth already, both of you or we will do it by force." A guard warned. I could tell that they have been going easy on us, they could have just beaten us to submission since the beginning.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    I reluctantly released my grip on it, however, the guard behind me didn''t expect it and was accidentally launched back to the floor along with me, I may or may not elbowed him again while we fell. I got up while the guard rolled around.


    "SHUT UP!" A very angry and loud shout come from the crowd, silencing everyone. An old man was breathing heavily while rubbing his glabella in exasperation. "This is ridiculous. I saw the boy walk all the way from the wall with that thing under his arm. Stop fooling around!" He sighed. "Fuckers," he added in a lower tone.


    Finally, some sense in this folly.


    "Hoaxes! I swear I saw the man walking around with it!" Another man replied.


    How could have you seen something that didn''t happen? Are you crazy? Do you need your sight checked by a physician?


    No, more like he is on it with the framer.


    The crowd started to discuss if either I was trying to steal it or not. "Sigh, we will resolve this in the office." The guard, who finally managed to get the cloak under custody ¡ªafter the framer very reluctantly released it¡ªsaid, more guards arrived right away to disperse the crowd and those two witnesses were called over too. The guard that I elbowed was replaced by another and just five of them escorted us four to the guards'' office, allocated back in the wall.


    Once we entered we were left standing in line, a guard between us, while the one with the cloak in custody, that now seemed like the Captain or something, spoke:


    "It''s not often that a thief claims to be being framed for robbing something he already had."


    He then interrogated the witnesses, warning clearly that the liar would be dealt with harshly. Both of them spoke confidently, the old man obviously speaking the truth but the other man seemed sure of himself.


    They must think, that man and the framer, that I don''t have any proof that this cloak is mine.


    The guard Captain asked for our names, residences and other things. My residence was in a village, they didn''t ask more. The framer''s name is Nicola, it seems.


    Then it was my turn to give my versionof the facts, I told everything that happened since I crossed the wall. And finally, it was the framer''s turn:


    "I was walking peacefully on my way to my aunt''s house, that is near the wall. I was very happy as just this morning arrived the request I ordered brought, a fur cloak to gift my aunt today that is her birthday, I left my house so excited that I forgot to wrap the gift nicely. On my way after leaving the food market, I saw Lady Judy, Hello Lady Judy, I said to her, then I felt that my aunt''s fur cloak was being pulled away. I quickly reacted and gripped it strongly, then I saw this rat there trying to snatch it from me, immediately after that I requested for the guards'' help like every citizen should do were they in my situation." He said that in a single go, barely stopping to breathe, no hesitation, no doubt apparent on his face. I wish I could lie with such a straight face like him. However, lying is not necessary this time.


    In my way here, I thought of a good way to get out of this. Weren''t I thought of a plan I may be considering killing all eight people in this small office and leaving the city. With my mana pool now, casting eight Earth Lance is an easy feat.


    Such drastic measures aren''t necessary right now, though.


    "Both stories seem plausible, if we don''t determinate the truth right now then we will make an investigation to corroborate the truth of all statements and by then the punishment to the liar will be a lot harsher." The guard Captain said as he seated on the chair facing us behind the only desk in the room.


    The framer seemed confident even after the guard said that.


    "I can prove that the cloak is mine right now," I told the guard Captain.


    After gesturing me to go on with his chin, I turned to the framer.


    "Mister Nicola, you claim that this cloak is yours, right?" I didn''t wait for him to reply. "Well, then could you be as kind as to telling me if this backpack is yours as well?" I asked while putting my backpack on the desk. It is heavy.


    The backpack has accompanied me for more than two years, needless to say, it was a sorry sight. The straps used to hold it to your shoulders weren''t there anymore, instead, it was a creativelymade ¡ªif I may say it myself¡ª amalgam of plant stems and roots tied together to replace the two straps.


    This backpack is not something a normal person would use, but something they would treat as trash right away.


    "Of course not, that backpack isn''t mine." He replied.


    I asked if the contents of the backpack were his too, he replied that how he would know what was even there.


    "Alright let me show you all what is inside." I opened the buttons and untied a cord. Inside were just two empty little bags, that used to have bread, and a big animal hide crudely tied closed to hold something there like a normal bag would. I took it out and put it on the side of the backpack then moved it carefully as to not spill its contents and show just the top of the inside.


    Inside the ''bag'' is an assortment of claws, teeth, fangs, horns, scales, and many other kinds of animals'' parts. They couldn¡¯t see them.


    The important thing right now weren''t those parts, though.


    "Do you all see it, right?" I gestured to the interior part of the animal hide, it was the same fur than the exterior of the cloak has. This piece of fur is way smaller than the cloak, that is long enough as to get to my ankle, you could even say that the cloakis too big for me.


    The guard Captain stood up and compared the fur at the top of the bag with the cloak in his hands, he returned it to me and glared at the framer.


    He visibly paled and then said: "Uh, I suddenly don''t feel very well."


    I couldn¡¯t help but roll my eyes.


    "Throw him to prison, one month." The guard Captain said. "Jim, make the report." He ordered to another guard.


    "Just a month?" I said before thinking.


    The guard Captain chuckled. "Aren''t you a little ruthless? You wouldn''t endure even a couple of days there, even though we are a little bland in punishing small crimes don''t underestimate the prison, did you know that in Mastan the penalty for stealing is having your hands amputated?"


    His eyes moved to my bag "Anyway boy, what is in the bag?" He raised an eyebrow. What envy.


    I have no reason to lie. "Animals'' parts." The guards exchanged glances, even the guard Captain eyes lit up.


    "Show us." He said.


    "Something like that is irrelevant," I shook my head, "I am going to sell them to the Merchants Guild on behalf of a friend."


    The guard Captain went back to his seat. "Is that so? All that is yours friend property? The cloak too?"


    I nodded. "Yes, he hunted all those animals himself, told me to sell them to the Merchants Guild at whatever price they offer and that later he looks for me." This is the story I was going to tell in the Merchant Guild but I suppose it works here too.


    "I see..." He was thinking, then he glanced at the witness that swore he saw the man walking with the cloak in his hands. "Right, you go to prison too, shut up, I don''t care you may have seen it wrong, five days in prison, that is it, Jim, you make the report."


    "I can go then?" I asked.


    "Yes, you two can go now. Just don''t cause any more problems." The guard Captain sighed and I left the office with the old man.


    After leaving I turned to him and thanked him for talking in my behalf. He just laughed it off.


    "This... I am going to the Merchants Guild but I actually still don''t know where it is located."


    "I see, I see. I will tell, just keep going the same way you were heading, right before arriving at the food market there is a red-bricked building, that is the one." He said, bade me farewells, and left. Just like that.


    What a strange old man, definitively different to the old people back in town. They all were alwaysdeadly serious.


    I made my way back to the main road, this time with a frown on my face and with purpose behind my strides. This time, I felt like I fitted pretty well in the atmosphere of the place.


    Soon enough after walking a while through the road I started to hear some shouts:


    "Fresh cabbages! Fresh cabbages!" "Pork stew, cheap and hot!" "Come! Come to eat!" "Cooked Boom rabbit''s meat!" "Fresher cabbages here!!"


    Quickly enough the shops and workshops changed to stalls of food, then a building at my right side caught my attention. A red-bricked building that stands out a lot among all the wooden buildings around.


    I walked to its front and gave a relieved sigh. Not because I was closer to achieving my ultimate goal but because the gates were open. Were they closed and I knocked when I was supposed to just push them open, I would be really embarrassed.


    Now I realize how tired I feel after the incident a while ago. I glance up to see the position of the Sun, had I not hidden my clock I would have checked it instead.


    It still isn''t mid-day and I already feel tired, what a joke.


    I step into the Merchants Guild.