We settled our deal with a handshake and Elincia guided me across the valley just as the sun hid beneath the western mountains. Despite her early warnings, we cut through the forest instead of sticking to the mountain. Elincia shushed me and mentioned that the ravines were faster and safe enough given that she knew perfectly well where we were going. I didn’t push back because I thought she was in a hurry for her kid. We quickened our pace and reached deep into the path as the day died.

“There shouldn’t be any monsters beyond this valley but better safe than sorry.” Elincia said before climbing a rock with nimble jumps. The evening sun casted red shadows on her pale skin as she inspected the path ahead.

My suspicion about Elincia having a skill to survey the surroundings increased when I noted the mana swirling around her eyes. She wasn’t just beautiful, there was a certain elegance in her feline movements that I haven’t seen in any woman before. After a minute during which I couldn’t take my eyes off Elincia, she descended from the boulder and left her satchel on the ground.

“We should be safe here.” Elincia gave me the thumbs up.

A weird gesture considering she lived in a completely different world.

“Were you using a skill up there?” I asked curiously as I left my backpack on the ground and sat down on the carpet of dried leaves with my back against an old tree. My feet thanked me.

“Maybe.” Elincia mysteriously replied, sitting in front of me. “That’s not a thing you ask a lady.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to...” Was the only thing I managed to say but I felt my face blushing.

Different worlds, different customs. I was wondering if character sheets were considered something private when Elincia started giggling under her breath.

“You are a bit gullible. Even for a Scholar.” Elincia gave me one of her signature smartass glances.

I rolled my eyes, not that sure if I liked her ‘blunt’ style anymore. She might have been an Alchemist but she surely loved to banter like my father’s hunter friends. Elincia opened her mouth to continue with the Scholar banter when a sudden distant howl echoed through the hills.

“On second thought, we should keep going a bit more. There is something disturbing the pack.” Elincia bit her tongue.

“The thing that killed those wolves at the ravine?” I asked, putting my blanket inside my backpack and standing up. My feet complained.

“Maybe. Monsters from the Inner Farlands sometimes stumble into the outer valleys.” Elincia retrieved her satchel and resumed our march.

The path meandered around the boulders that had found their resting spots on the bottom of the valley. Elincia said there were Stone Giants living in these mountains and they liked to roll boulders down the slope, but once again, I couldn’t tell if she was making a joke or not.

The evergreen canopy darkened the last sun rays, making it hard to walk without tripping on loose rocks and protruding roots. In less than a hundred meters, I almost ended up on the ground two times. Elincia helped me to get up every time, mumbling about how clumsy Scholars were but a quick glance at her eyes told me she had a skill to see in darkness.

By the third time I fell, Elincia stopped the march for good. When she turned around to help me stand, I saw her eyes shining like a cat in the night.

“You can see in the darkness?” I asked, rubbing my knee.

I had landed on a particularly pointy pebble.

“Perks of having mixed blood.” Elincia said, pulling back her cloak for the first time since I met her.

Amidst the bright silvery cascade that was her hair, two delicate and pointy ears jutted out. I must’ve been staring because Elincia blushed and covered them.

“You are an elf!” I exclaimed.

“Half elf, you deaf piece of Scholar. I just said my blood is mixed!” Elincia replied, still flustered. She put her satchel down and sat against a rock.

“That also explains why you can jump like a cat. I thought I was the sluggish one.” I pointed out, scratching my chin. In hindsight it made sense, normal people weren't that good at moving around.

“You are a bit sluggish though.” Elincia said with a shit-eating grin as she drank her waterskin dry. As much as she wanted to annoy me, she had a point. It had been a long while since I was in shape.

“Yeah, I’ve been sitting on my ass for a few years now.” I conceded, putting my backpack down and pulling my shoes off. My feet were killing me.

“Just bear with me a month or two and I’ll make a ranger out of you.” Elincia grinned.

Our dinner time was silent. And dark. Elincia urged me to not light a campfire so we ate a few Hermit Gold’s fruit each. Corrupted Black Wolves had keen eyes that could spot a point of light from miles away. And there was the other thing, whatever was disturbing the wolf pack was in the same valley as us.

“You don’t loot monsters around here?” I asked, remembering that Elincia had just ignored the corpses.

“The meat is bad and the skin is tainted with corrupted mana but if you want a souvenir from this adventure we can always make you a wolf tooth necklace.” Elincia shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m good, thanks.” I replied trying to not sound like the absolute noob I was. A wolf tooth necklace didn’t sound that bad. Laura, my ex-girlfriend, would’ve hated it, but I have always been a bit of a geek. My old katana replica could bear witness to that.

“I guess a Glutton class could make a meal out of a corrupted Black Wolf, or a Chef class could cook it into something edible.” Elincia pointed out after a moment of silence. “I guess a Hexmage or a System Zealot could technically ‘uncorrupt’ it, but having such powerful classes is a hassle sometimes.”

Elincia cleaned up the juice of a Hermit’s Gold fruit from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and asked for another one. I obliged.

“Entering cities without a guild invitation is a pain for combat classes. You know, a high level Fire Mage or Assassin could cause quite a havoc unlike an Alchemist or a Scholar.” Elincia sighed.

As a teacher I had missed a lot of work opportunities because I was a dude. Lots of job offers asked for female teachers and a large number of principals still found a man who worked with children suspicious. In the end I had pursued a different career entirely, but I doubted a combat class could do the same in this world.

“You will not have trouble entering Firecrest as a Scholar but you will have to appear before the Marquis as you are not a subject of the king.” Elincia said as she kept a watchful eye on the animal trail.

“I’ll be in trouble?” I asked. In this world I was a low level peasant. If the social hierarchy in this world was any similar to medieval europe, then I could count my civil rights with a single hand. And most of them would be tied to a noble’s whims.

“Don’t you have nobility in the City of Light? I mean, you are a Scholar. Weren’t you employed by some local lord?” Elincia’s confused facial expression was cute.

“We had nobility long ago, but then we put them through the guillotine or turned them into powerless tourist attractions with excellent salaries.” I explained, trying to be vague enough to not arouse suspicion. “When I was a teacher, I wasn’t employed by a lord but by the Depart… the Ministry of Education.”

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Elincia’s shocked expression was even cuter than her confused expression.

“The City of Light sounds like an interesting place.” Elincia managed to say.

“Do you think I could find work in Farcrest? I’m not a fan of starving to death.” I asked.

Now that I had Elincia escorting me to Farcrest, I was starting to plan my next steps to settle in this world. Unfortunately, adventuring didn’t seem to be a Scholar’s ‘thing’, so I couldn’t rely on my monster slaying skills to pay the bills. Elincia thoughtfully tapped on her lips as she usually did when she was deep in thought.

“I don’t know if there is a lot of demand for Scholars in Farcrest, we are lacking Farmers, Anglers, Lumberjacks and Blacksmiths. Even a couple of extra Stonemasons and Herbalists would be nice.” Elincia finally said. “The Marquis already has a dozen Scholars and Scribes leaching from Farcrest’s treasury but I know for a fact Scholars are always welcome at the Imperial Library of Ebros. You might want to go there, maybe you will find a way to return to your homeland or someone who knows how.”

I could tell Elincia didn’t have Scholars in a particularly high regard but I decided to overlook it for the time being. The fact there was an Imperial Library was an exciting piece of news. Even if I couldn’t fight my way through the continent like an adventurer, I might be able to study its secrets from the safety of the Imperial Library.

Returning to Earth was not in my plans.

I rubbed my hands like a plotting fly while my mind ran wild through the world of possibilities the Imperial Library might offer. The amount of knowledge I could offer wasn’t as exciting as the things I could learn there. Learning how to cast spells without an elemental affinity would be a nice middle finger to the System. If there was even the slimmest chance of turning [Mana Manipulation] into a fake spellcasting skill I was going to find out how.

“You are not thinking about finding a way back home, are you?” Elincia interrupted my train of thought. “You are thinking about going to the Imperial Library to study this continent!”

I raised my hands in defeat. Did Elincia have an [Awareness] skill like me or was I being transparent as day? The woman sighed and shook her head, muttering something about reckless Scholars and people forgetting their roots.

The last trace of sun faded away and night closed around the ravine. The wind swayed the tree branches producing a soothing melody that numbed my consciousness. I have rarely been so physically tired during the last few years. My legs hurt and the sole of my shoes felt like red iron against my feet. As much as I wanted to keep talking to Elincia but my eyelids were getting heavy.

“Is being so comfortable in the Farlands an Alchemist thing or an Elincia thing?” I made conversation, trying to remain awake.

“I chose to become an Alchemist but in reality I wanted to be a Hunter.” Elincia admitted, letting her guard down for an instant. “I always liked to spend time here in the woods when I was a kid, alone, far from the city. Just me, my skills, and my bow…” Her emerald eyes got lost into the horizon as if she was reminiscing scenes from the past.

“What happened then?” I asked and for a moment I thought she wasn’t going to answer.

“Life happened I guess.” The woman shrugged her shoulders, avoiding the topic. “I'm sorry. I didn’t want to sound like an ungrateful bitch. Being an Alchemist is also great. Having an Advanced class from the beginning is really helpful plus I can brew useful potions and I get to spend a lot of time in the woods gathering materials.”

As much as she sounded confident, I noticed there was a lot more Elincia wasn’t telling me. I wondered if it had something to do with her child or with her own story.

“What about you? Did you choose to be a Scholar or did the System bestow it on you?” The woman asked.

“It was given to me, and I’m not going to complain, it has some nifty skills.” I said, drinking from my own water bottle. “But fireballs would probably be more fun though.”

Hearing my words, Elincia genuinely smiled for the first time since we met. Her smile was charming, a bit shy considering her outgoing personality, and she was absolutely out of my league.

“So, you are one of those adventure-junkies?” Elincia’s mischievous grin returned to her face. Support classes yearning for adventure had to be a common occurrence in this world.

“I guess adventure-junkies can detect each other.” I returned the jab.

Elincia laughed again, this time harder and more genuinely than before. I praised myself for defusing the situation, going from threats with bow and arrow to charming laughter was quite a step in the right direction. I had to remind myself that she had a kid and maybe a husband.

“You are not too bad for a Scholar, Robert Clarke. I’ll take the first watch, you go to sleep.” Elincia said.

Her words were like a lullaby, or maybe it was the fact that I had company for the first time since I arrived in this world. I instantly fell asleep with the certainty Elincia would wake me up if any monster roamed nearby.

My rest didn’t last long because I suddenly woke up to the sound of a howling wolf. It was still night time and the forest was shrouded in complete darkness except for a pair of glowing yellow eyes down the trail. I felt Elincia’s soft hand pressed against my mouth and I saw her eyes shining by my side. I wished I had a night vision skill because the wolf's yellow eyes disappeared and I completely lost sight of the beast.

By my side, Elincia nocked an arrow and waited in silence for the creature to make a move. The Black Wolf was really close but our best bet was the creature not seeing us. Which was unlikely considering the glowing yellow eyes veered off the trail and stalked us in silence. I shouldered my shotgun, hoping that it was the only Black Wolf nearby.

I wanted to hide the true nature of the shotgun from Elincia, or from every inhabitant of this world for that matter, but if it came down to surviving until reaching Firecrest then I didn’t have a choice but to use it.

Elincia shot and the arrow dug deep into the creature’s flesh just over the neck. The Black Wolf faltered but didn’t fall. Elincia cursed under her breath as she masterfully nocked a second arrow but the creature leaped, crossing half the distance that separated it from us.

Elincia shot again but this time the arrow was lost in the darkness.

I saw a glimpse of the creature’s eyes just a few meters from us but it wasn’t near enough to aim my shotgun. Elincia nocked a third arrow and I saw the tip emitting a white gleam. Then, a sudden idea popped into my brain. Before Elincia could shoot, I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back, then, deaf because of the blood rushing through my ears, I activated [Mana Manipulation].

A blue flare lit up the forest for an instant, just enough for me to aim at the wolf. As the afterglow of my skill vanished, I pulled the trigger. The sound was deafening and the darkness of the night impeded me from seeing if my aim was true. However, a System prompt popped up in front of my eyes.

Black Wolf (corrupted) slain.

Level up!

Level up!

You have obtained a new skill.

[Stun Gaze] acquired.

The system message floated brightly before my eyes, only visible for me. My brain was again suddenly turned into dough as the information about [Stun Gaze] was imprinted directly into my mind. Just like during the previous level ups, I felt a wave of relief washing through me, however, the sensation fell short when the screeching roar of a second broke the silence of the night. This time it wasn’t a wolf but an unnatural shiver-inducing sound. And it was close.

“We have to get out of here.” Elincia said with a panicked voice.

The woman grabbed me by the arm and dragged me through the wilderness. I stumbled behind her, unable to see where my feet were going as branches wiped my face and brambles trapped my feet like skeletal hands of the undead. Even if I couldn’t see, I heard the sound of trees being torn apart behind us. The creature was near.

Suddenly, a deafening howling chorus of Black Wolves filled the night and a dozen bright yellow eyes shone in the darkness. We were surrounded. Elincia pushed me behind a rock and covered my mouth with her hand.

“What’s that?” I muttered as I loaded another shell into the shotgun.

“Danger.”

Elincia listened to the night. Silence only broke by the sudden growl in the distance. Whatever the new creature was, it didn’t have trouble keeping the Black Wolves at bay. Elincia drew her bow and put an arrow on the string without tensing it. A gust of wind swayed the canopy and for a moment I was sure the trees were extending their branches toward us.

I peeked over the boulder we were using as cover and saw a figure moving behind the trees lit by a stray moonbeam.

Wendigo Lv.39. Magical Abomination. Man eater. Monster eater. [Identify] Wendigos live deep in the Farlands. Once a powerful shaman, high concentrations of magic corrupted its body and mind turning it into a monster. Weakness: Magic. Holy Magic.

Elincia grabbed my jacket and dragged me back. The sheer level of the creature startled me. I wasn’t used to the measurements of the System but the Wendigo’s level was more than five times mine. That was obviously not good news. Even if levels weren’t absolute, a level 39 had a clear advantage against a level 24 and a level 7.

“I think we can slay it. Your call.” I said looking at Elincia dead in the eye. I was not going to die in the Farlands when there was an entire library of magical knowledge waiting for me in the heart of the kingdom.

“Are you crazy? Wendigos are high level monsters, we can’t fight nor flight.” Elincia hushed. “We stay down and hope the Black Wolves attract it down the ravine. If the Wendigo sees us it's over.”

We squeezed behind the rock while we heard the Wendigo fighting against a group of Black Wolves. The sound of flesh tearing and bone splintering sent a shiver through my spine as [Awareness] informed me it wasn’t the Wendigo that was getting hurt.

Elincia trembled like a leaf but I couldn’t help but wonder about how many levels I’d get if I managed to gun the Wendigo down.