I woke as rays of sunlight began to peak in through the wooden roof of the house that I was staying in. Much of it had been destroyed during the initial part of the battle. Whoever lived here would need to get it repaired, if they were still alive. After dressing in the leather armor I’d gotten, and securing everything I owned in my bag, I set off.

Now that it was morning, it was much easier to see the many bodies strewn about. They lied lifelessly in the streets, staining them with blood. The air now reeked of iron and hints decay.

It took me a long while to climb over the pile of marble rubble. It was hard to find good footing, but not impossible, with how much dexterity I had.

Climbing down had been significantly easier, and hardly took any time. In fact, I’d even started snacking on some of the jerky I’d packed. Hunger had set in, and there wasn’t anything nearby to hunt.

That was why I set my sights on the nearby mountains. There wasn’t much on the ground of the valley, but the mountains themselves would almost surely have had food. Even with just a quick glance, I’d been able to spot a bear lurking about. Not exactly what I wanted to eat for dinner, but if the bear was there, then there had to be a suitable food source nearby.

Perfect Memory was also a bit of a lifesaver here. The huge map that I’d seen indicated that there was an expansive forest on the other side of one of the mountains. Not the same forest as the one that had been right next to Cyril’s farm, though. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was willing to take my chances. I doubted anything dangerous would be too close to the city, even if they were separated by a mountain. Anyone with enough stats could cross it within a day, although I wasn’t there yet myself.

Once I managed to get over the mountain, I’d go into the forest, and figure things out in the meantime. I had quite a bit of thinking to do.

I left the city behind as quickly as I could. The legion was still there, and I didn’t want anything to do with them. Especially Victor, now that it was the next day. If he really meant what he said about being in a good mood, then I didn’t want to be around if he wasn’t. The sooner I left, the sooner I would truly be free.

While the ground of the valley was relatively level, the mountains soon grew steep. That said, they were a bit easier to climb than the marble ruins that now marred Belias. I had to rely quite a bit on my dexterity to move any quicker than a snail's pace, though. Having a single hand wasn’t helping me very much in the situation I was in.

Thankfully, the mountains of the valley had some places that I could stop to rest. There were also areas which were a bit easier to traverse, which was where most of the animals I’d seen so far were. They would actually slow my travel speed though, since I was mainly focused on just going as far up as I could for now. I didn’t want to spend much time on the mountain, where I’d be especially vulnerable.

The first stop had been at a small cave. I was cautious to listen and stay as quiet as I could, so that I could at least be sure nothing would sneak up on me while my back was turned. Then, I sat on the edge and let my feet dangle over a cliff. I wasn’t very bothered just by how high up I was. I was bothered by the fact that I was this high up with a claw for a hand to climb the mountain. There hadn’t been any close calls so far, but I still felt uneasy about the entire thing. The claw barely helped with the actual climbing process, which meant I’d been having to jump from place to place, relying on the structural integrity of whatever I landed on.

It was dangerous, but I was also quick enough to just hop to another place whenever I landed on something that was loose.

Just as I was contemplating what to do, I got the notification.

System Notification: New Skill!

Mana Prosthetic - Use mana to permanently conjure a physical body part made of mana, which can replace any limb, hand, or foot which has been lost. Does not work for self-inflicted amputations. (Decreased mana usage per level.)

A smile lit my face, and laughter soon followed. Finally, after everything, something good! Now, I just needed to activate the Skill! After taking off the hook-glove, I started funneling mana into Mana Prosthetic, focusing on restoring my hand.

System Notification: Not enough mana

You must expend 3500 mana to use this Skill.

Of course, only so many convenient things could happen in such a small amount of time. Victor letting me go had been a miracle itself. I hadn’t started this climb thinking I’d be doing so with a new hand, and I would finish it thinking the same thing. Of course, I still immediately regretted my decision to not put any of the free stats I had into mana. I didn’t even have 1000 mana, let alone how much was needed for the Skill. Now, I’d need to actually get there.

After doing a bit of quick math, I realized that I’d need 22 levels just to get there, assuming I put every free stat I had into mana. I needed levels. And I needed them as soon as possible. The longer I went around using this stupid hook, the more danger I was exposed to. For instance, I’d feel comfortable in a fight with a large bear if I had both my hands and a bow. I didn’t feel nearly the same in the physical state that I was in.

But now that I needed levels, I wasn’t sure how many bear fights I’d be able to avoid. Either way, I at least had a way to have two hands again. After a while, I’d just accepted that I would have to live my life with just the one. Though, essentially being kidnapped by Victor had given me much less time and energy to even address it entirely. I didn’t want to worry about something I’d already lost, when I was sure I could have gotten my freedom back.

Or at least, I’d been sure at the time. I’d had a few misconceptions cleared up recently, although I still didn’t have much time to focus on anything other than the current moment. And that meant surviving long enough to figure out what I’d even do with myself.

I got up from my resting area and began the climb once more. Thanks to stats, I’d been able to scale half the mountain by the time the sun started to set. The good thing about that was that there were trees this high up. They either didn’t grow at lower elevations, or just had been cut down by lumberjacks from Belias. There weren’t any trees around the city, so everything wooden had to have been sourced from the nearby mountains or forest beyond them.

I hadn’t seen any tree stumps, but for that matter, I hadn’t seen any in the forest near Cyril’s farm either. The logical assumption to make was that lumberjacks probably had some Skill for getting rid of tree stumps… But I just didn’t know, honestly.

I smiled as I pulled out my bow, and started searching for dinner. Not knowing something and having that not be a problem was a bit of a blessing, to be honest. It almost felt like I was back with Cyril and Lise, wondering about whatever new thing I’d seen for what was technically the first time.

Good times, those had been. And speaking of them, I’d tracked an animal that I wasn’t familiar with. It looked familiar and entirely new at the same time. The lack of light wasn’t helping. Identity to the rescue! The Skill would work so long as I could mostly see what I was trying to use it on.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

(SnakeDeer - Level 89)

I looked over the message three times. I’d never even heard of anything called a snakedeer. The System also didn’t usually give distinctions between specific animals. A wolf, no matter where it came from, would come up as a wolf.

So what the hell was a snakedeer?

I quietly backed away. It had a high level, and I just knew way too little to feel comfortable trying to hunt it. I’d be having jerky for dinner tonight.

I found a tall tree, used the last few rays of sunlight to make sure nothing had made its home there already, and laid myself across a few branches. Somehow, it was even more uncomfortable than the cot I’d used while I’d been staying with the legion. Plus, I was high up. It was less likely something would see me, but likelier that I’d hurt myself if I managed to fall during the night.

Still better than being eaten though, so I’d have to just deal with it for a while.

It took me a while to actually get to sleep. I’d been tired, sure, but branches didn’t make for a very good bed. A terrible one, actually. I’d be depending on my vitality to make sure that I didn’t wake up in all sorts of aching pains from having to sleep so terribly.

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I woke up in pain. Not all wishes went answered. I had freedom, a way to get a hand back, and some good supplies for however long it’d take for me to travel to the next place I would end up. Well, I was figuring that last part out, but still. An aching back, neck, and legs wouldn’t be enough to stop me, even though I felt the urge to just curl up in an empty cave for a while and wait until the next day. Chances were that I could scale the rest of the mountain before I found a cave that big though, and I wasn’t going to go down the mountain after how much effort it took to even go up.

I continued my ascent, continuing to look out for anything that looked close to tasty. There were plenty of trees and bushes with fruit, but Cyril had taught me early to be careful about eating wild berries. I wasn’t fond of vomiting to death. There weren’t many animals, however. Plenty of birds, but they flew quickly. Much faster than any arrow I could shoot.

My find of the snakedeer yesterday had been a lucky one, but its level had convinced me not to attack it. I was starting to regret that decision a bit. I was already running low on jerky, and really needed to find another source of food before I ran out. Crossing over a mountain was hungry work.

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I was given a few extra hours of sun as I reached the peak. Well, I was pretty sure I was actually technically between two peaks. I was at the lowest point between two very high ones, since going that far up would have taken a considerably longer amount of time.

Still, the view was breathtaking. Partially because it just felt harder to breathe up here, but also because it was beautiful. An endless forest stretched out into the horizon. It didn’t matter where I looked, so long as it wasn’t behind myself. Forest, forest, and more forest.

Most of the trees seemed to be similar to what I was used to, but I noticed a few very large ones in the distance that were… glowing? Either glowing, or something near them was causing them to glow.

Excitement rose throughout my body. I wasn’t a captive anymore. I was free to do whatever I wanted. And if I wanted to check out the mysterious glowing trees, then why shouldn’t I? I felt I personally deserved a break after everything that had happened. And a vacation sounded like a perfect way to give myself a break.

Part of me wanted to go right away, but the other part of me that was trying to be more logical noticed that I was too tired to go much further. That, and the glowing trees were much too far away. It’d take me at least a week to make the distance they were at, and that was with me being generous.

I descended the mountain a bit, so that I was now on the side of the valley that wasn’t facing Belias. In a way, I felt a bit more relaxed because of it. Anyone with enough perception could have seen me from the city. But it didn’t matter how good your eyesight was if I was hidden. I was one step closer to being away from everything, but I didn’t consider myself there just yet.

Not until I was far enough away that I was sure no one would follow or see me. A bit paranoid, sure, but I didn’t want to take any more chances. If I left everything up to chance, it was likely enough that the next Victor would come around and try to force me to be a soldier again.

The trees on this side were much denser. Enough so that I knew I’d be having a tough time going down the next day. In the end, I decided against sleeping in a tree that night. There weren’t many animals around that I could see, and I didn’t feel like waking up to all sorts of aches the next morning. The ground was very comfortable either, but it was still a big improvement from the night before.

Tonight, excitement kept me up as I looked out at the glowing trees that I’d seen earlier. It was a comforting, blue light. I couldn’t tell if it was the trees themselves that lit up like that, or if it was something else that just happened to be near them. Though, considering they were taller than any building I’d seen in Belias, I doubted the two didn’t at least have something to do with each other.

It briefly crossed my mind that I was wasting a lot of time sightseeing, while I should have been thinking about my future. Planning what was next. I liked hunting. Not because I enjoyed killing animals, but because there was something rewarding about all of it. If I did my job, I could bring in a nice meal for myself or others. Plus, so long as I made sure my arrows were accurate and never missed the target, I didn’t really cause any suffering either.

It was hard to suffer if you immediately died.

But I’d also sort of promised myself to atone for everything that I’d done in the past. Done while I was still “Luna the soldier.” No one else had heard it. I hadn’t even said it out loud. There was nothing binding me. I could have just decided to spend my life being a hunter and making whatever coin I could off of that, but it just didn’t sit right with me. I’d be betraying myself and anyone I’d ever hurt in doing so. But I’d also seen everything. I’d seen how many I had hurt. How could a single person ever make up for all of it?

At the very least, I had time to think about this. As Cyril had said, I was still young! I had plenty of time to figure everything out, and I’d need to take it. I didn’t need to rush this. Some decisions were too important to be made quickly, as I was beginning to learn.

System Notification: You have leveled up Wisdom! (Level 3 → 4)

Speaking of decisions, I still needed to replace some of my General Skills… But those were decisions for the next day. I switched sides, so that I was facing away from the trees. I had plenty of things to do, but they could wait. For now, it was better to just take things slowly. I had time.

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Victor sat at his desk, finishing his written report. The Battle of Belias had gone smoother than he had expected. He was eager to let those above him know exactly of his triumph. Conquering Belias had been Victor’s first major win, but he had plans for more. And if all of those plans went as well as he hoped they would… Victor would be a very powerful man in a year’s time.

Well, not everything had gone to plan, actually. Luna had defied all his expectations of how naive and immature someone could be. He gracefully looked past the fact that she had been a young girl with amnesia. But still, the audacity on that one! To think she would try to run away, after everything he had done for her! And with an entourage of four people who were clearly assassins no less. Anyone who even half-thought things through wouldn’t have done what Luna had in that situation.

And yet, he’d let her go.

That didn’t mean she was a complete loss. Victor knew from experience that not all things could be forced. Luna needed some time to herself, and he was generous enough to give it. But he would have his weapon back soon enough. He just needed to be patient. He hadn’t become the commander of this legion by rushing ahead of things.

“Where is she?” No one else was seemingly in the tent. But as soon as Victor spoke, a woman walked out from the shadows. Anyone who wished to kill Victor in his own tent would be met with a nasty surprise of a blade in their throat.

“On the other side of the mountain, commander. I suspect she will reach the Forest of Beasts tomorrow.” The assassin placed a piece of paper on Victor’s desk, but he didn’t open it.

“Good. I have a mission for you, Vauna. Do well, and I’ll make sure you’re rewarded after you return.”

The assassin simply nodded, awaiting her orders. Victor would have his weapon back soon enough. He would make sure of it.