“Arcane can be anything as long as you really know your stuff.” I explain matter of factly.

“Kid, people far wiser than you have tried to solve the mystery of the Arcane since the dawn of time. Are you telling me that you, a nine-year-old girl, came up with the method to use it?” The disbelief written on Benett’s face is a bit insulting but realistically it wasn’t really me who solved it.

“I just asked the right question, that’s all I can say.” That is really all I can say, even this almost upsetting the prohibition on sharing the skill's secrets.

Even so, I’m still standing proud with hands on my hips, head held high. It might not have been my head the knowledge popped out of, however it's mine it sits in right now. Win.

“So a knowledge type Blessing. One with information as significant as this and we can’t even learn it… Bollocks, no wonder it demands secrecy." He seems upset, except there’s nothing we can do about it. “Can’t you just show it to us?”

“Nope, can’t share it in any way.” I shake my head.

He sighs and continues walking a few steps before noticing that I’m unable to keep up the tempo. “What’s up with you? Does the skill have some kind of drawback?”

Should I tell him? Well, this secret is much less significant than the one about my blessing so whatever.

“My mana is completely spent and my kind doesn’t operate well when that happens.” My proud stance deflates immediately.

After some thinking, he lifts an eyebrow and asks. “A celestial? No, half, your father is an elf. Not a bad mix. Your birth alone is a miracle. None of your parents' blood is known to mix well with any other.” He nods and waits for me to get up.

“Wow, you really know a lot. Is this all basic information amongst you sellswords?” Now it's my turn to be surprised.

He knows almost everything about the Crimson Comet and even knows mom’s species. It's not like these secrets are that well kept by the looks of it, just sure as hell are not common knowledge.

“Not really. I was sent to find and…” The word you’re looking for is abduct. "save kids like you, so I reviewed the archives. This is not the first time the Comet has passed Aelion, the hundredth maybe, so we have scriptures about it. Also while celestials are extremely rare about a hundred years ago I served with one as brothers in arms. May Malor guide him in the afterlife.” Damn, he must be old, like really old.

“Huh, cool I guess. You happy now? You basically know everything about me. I feel kinda… vulnerable.” It doesn't feel good to share every aspect of your being with someone out of necessity.

“Don’t worry Elyssia, we don’t betray one of our own. As long as we consider you a part of our loose family your secrets are safe with me.” He places a hand reassuringly on my shoulder. Damn, his arm is heavy. “Now move, I told you I won’t be carrying your luggage, think of this as stamina training.” He snickers.

I curse under my breath, which makes his smile even wider. It doesn’t come as a surprise that he heard that, the damn monster.

I drag myself onward for now, with great difficulty. It'll take around two hours for the effects of my racial weakness to disappear. As useful as my trait is with spellcasting, the side effects make me question its value.

I hate this trip already.

However, it's not all bad and terrible. I haven't been this far out from Meliorport before, so now’s the time to study the landscape. We have long left the city and its surrounding farmlands behind and now are walking alongside the Walderk forest. It feels almost weird to be so far from any sign of civilization, besides the road that is.

“Nature is so…”

“Beautiful, majestic?” Bennett helps out.

“Not exactly my words but you could say that. It feels… soothing.”

Then it dawns on me again that we left my home far behind and I won’t see my parents for years to come. My mood instantly hits rock bottom and stays like that for Gods know how long.

***

I only notice time’s passage once the old man stops in front of me. “We'll camp here for tonight. Come, I’ll show you how to make a temporary shelter.” I drop my backpack, finally able to rest. Not that I noticed the fatigue with depression taking up my mind. “Your mother must’ve been an adventurer for some time, she packed you a bedroll expecting this situation, lucky you.” Yeah, lucky me. I love you mom.

So, camping. Bennett starts spewing his wisdom and I mostly tune it out, trying to solve this with what I know. Screw him.

Starting a campfire should be child's play for me, it's just that gathering the firewood is still a hassle. I have no idea which sticks are suitable for firewood.

Finding shelter is a lot more difficult. Bennett tells me that caves are usually occupied yet still a good option. Climbing onto trees is an OK choice since it provides no cover but a big portion of predators can't climb and lastly just laying on the ground makes no difference. The clear winner would be to build something with earth magic or draw inscriptions to ward the campsite if only I was strong enough or knew how to do inscriptions. If you're not alone you can just arrange shifts for nightwatch and I'm clearly not alone so that's it for shelter.

Now food. Mom packed me some lunch…

“Being stranded in the wilderness without supplies is more common than you’d think, so it doesn’t hurt if you can take care of yourself.” He truly must have an argument-based Class, nobody could tell me otherwise at this point.

He leads me into the forest seemingly knowing exactly where he’s headed. Five minutes later he holds up his hand.

“What?” I whisper.

He just sighs tiredly. “This is a hand sign, it means hold position.”

“Then why didn’t you just say that?”

“Because sometimes, like right now, staying quiet is essential.” He lectures and continues walking. “There was a rabbit not too far away from us and you scared it away with your yapping.”

Oops. I mean, I'm not taking the whole blame for that. How was I supposed to know? Any weird jerking motions could be called a hand sign, nobody taught me those.

Two minutes later and deeper into the forest he stops again and I follow suit. He nods and points toward something. I squint my eyes and see a small brownish rabbit.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

[Rabbit]

Identify shows no level so the thing is either too weak or too young to have the Journey Guide. Bennett then points at me then back to the rabbit and strikes his palm with a fist without making a noise.

I don't have to be the genius I am to understand that he wants me to kill the thing.

I hesitate for a second. A seemingly long and difficult second. This is a kill-or-be-killed world and I'd have to take down my first prey sooner or later, so let's get this over with.

I try using ice this time and release my mana commanding it to become water then define its shape and lastly, force the vibration of its particles down significantly. Freeze. The result is an ice shard similar to mom's just uglier, smaller and way more fragile looking. It'll have to do, and so I squint, take aim and accelerate the shard.

It glides through the air and hits the target in the side, not killing it instantly.

Bennett pushes a knife into my hand. "Not a bad shot lassie. Now don't let it suffer, finish it off." I just stare at the knife for a few seconds before the pained cries drive me to act. To put the poor thing out of its misery.

Dinner is secured I guess, and I learned something new. Taking a life is not my favorite feeling. It leaves a kind of… emptiness; a sour taste.

[You have triumphed over the enemy [Forest Rabbit].]

No level, no affinity, just a regular animal. Not much of a triumph if you ask me. The greatest enemy of the living indeed. The mighty brown rabbit.

We take it back to the fire and the old man prepares the carcass. I have to turn away, unable to watch him tear the poor thing apart. The sound of the cutting through flesh and fur, as joints are torn apart, the sound and smell of blood leaving our soon-to-be meal.

“You’ll have to learn to accept death as part of life, a part of this world, sooner or later.” Later, way later it is.

In just minutes the most desired parts of the rabbit are placed over the fire giving off an inviting smell. It's not the first time I've smelled meat being grilled and still somehow this is different, less mouthwatering and more… calling.

***

The meat is a little chewy and unseasoned. Still edible I guess, just incapable of more than soothing a restless stomach.

"Where are we headed?" I start the conversation. I'm not used to being quiet for such a long time.

"We have one more stop before returning to Granhall. I got intel on another Blessed child, this one a bit more precarious." He's not a man of many words as the conversation stops there.

So I just play with my magic.

I try changing the state of mana to fire and then back to wind which fails miserably. Looks like only Arcane mana is malleable enough to change its attunement and once converted it cannot be changed again.

Forming different and more complicated shapes is not that easy either as they usually just break apart due to my bottom-feeder stats. Even my mana is about to run dry, so I just call it a day and settle myself into my bedroll.

It's uncomfortable as hell and a bit too warm. Still better than sleeping on the bare ground.

----------------------------------------

Bennett stares into the smoldering remnants of the campfire, ruminating over the day's events.

I fucking hate this mission. I’m basically acting as the bad guy. Walk up to a random person's home, knock on the door, take their child... What a disgusting thing to do. If only everyone could stick to the rules of the convention… Even so, we could make great use of special combatants like this one here.

He looks at the poor little girl sleeping peacefully near him. Such a little thing, already forced to mature and learn the cruelty of the world.

Sorry little one, I truly believe our actions will be beneficial to you in the future but I’m still sorry for what had to be done. I’d like to believe, even just a little bit, that you’ll realize later in your years that coming with me was not a bad choice, just a difficult one.

While the kid is small and weak as a squirrel, she’s fierce and her build is already scary at a modest level 11.

What madness did she ask to be able to wield Arcane mana as it was always meant to be? While she may never be as strong with a single element as a mage class dedicated to a single one, she won’t have any elemental counters. Her General Skills are a mess and she has no idea what she’s doing. Still, she has the guts. She’s willing to stand up for herself and is not the kind to back down easily, we can work with that.

----------------------------------------

Every part of my body is stiff after basically sleeping on the ground. Worst sleep ever. I feel like there’ll be plenty of chances in the upcoming years for this honorable position to be snatched away.

I sit up, rubbing the rest of the sleepiness of my eyes.

“Huh, where did the old man go?” I look around the camp.

Well, he’ll be back… or I hope so. I wash my face and eat the food mom packed while waiting for Gods know how long.

Ok, probably not that long, it's just that I hate wasting time, it's boring.

“Where are you Bennett? Shouldn’t we be on our way?” As I shout I finally hear movement from the nearby bushes. “Finally, what took so long?” Then the footfalls turn into huffing and squeals.

Shit, this does not sound like a Bennett.

I jump to my feet and reach for my mana, just in case. Lo and behold I was right, it really wasn’t the old fart making those noises.

[Boar lvl 17]

The beast is only a little shorter than me but its weight should be like three times mine. Reddish brown fur, muscular build and big deadly tusks. Ugly ass pig.

It bursts into our campsite in distress as if agitated by something. As it sweeps the clearing, its eyes land on… me. What a surprise. It stomps its hooves on the ground and charges towards me, head lowered and aimed tusks forward to impale its target.

Apparently, my previous conflict over taking a life evaporates into thin air as soon as my own skin is on the line . With the help of Quick Witted, I reach for the element most would associate with death right away. Fire. A ball of flames, barely the size of an apple manifests in my palm and flies out to hit the boar head-on. Its Endurance is too high.

Besides singing its fur the attack doesn't do much, just piss the animal off. Reflexes yanks me to the side and Dodging ensures I don’t break anything with my clumsy leap.

Think Eli, think. You could protect yourself with Mana Shield, except it’s way stronger than you and you need all the mana to win. This one is quite beefy so I need something with a bit more stopping power.

As I continue roughing up a plan the boar charges again and almost the same situation plays out, only this time I don't throw any feeble fire at the thing. We arrive at our third standoff and an idea forms in my mind. It is extremely risky however the boar's fur and skin are too thick for anything else I have cooked up.

I start compressing earth mana at my feet, trying to turn it into stone. As I can’t really change the composition of matter, or not yet at least, I add some groundwater and freeze the compressed dirt to make it even harder.

Slow and steady, there’s no room for mistakes.

The beast charges for a third time, throwing itself at me with all its might, going for the kill. Just as it enters my mana control radius I raise the earthen spike I’ve been making in front of me. It juts out of the ground at a sharp angle only a bit longer than my arm but pointy and deadly.

The boar notices its impending death a moment too late, yet does something drastic as a last hurrah. It sprints even faster and right before being impaled, it jumps. The deadly pointed weapon drives itself deep into its chest, although a bit lower than I hoped for. Blood spews from its wound and it squeals in pain.

What I did not expect was for the rock spear to break under the momentum of the beast. As if the boar was hoping for this it slams into me carried by its weight, trying to bite into anything in reach.

I yelp in surprise and try to pull up a Mana Shield with my remaining reserves. It slows the soaring boar a bit but still, the porcine bullet breaks nontheless.

The heavy beast slams into me, making a cry of pain escape my mouth. The impact dislocates my shoulder and throws me away. After two bounces I come to a stop by slamming into a tree. My head is dizzy, my vision blurry and pain is piercing through my body mainly on the left side, on which I bounced. Reflexes and Dodge couldn’t save me this time. I had no idea I was gonna get hit.

As my vision clears I see the boar lying in a puddle of its own blood, barely breathing. Thankfully it's on death's door, already bleeding out by the second. I push myself up, leaning against the tree, and stumble over to the dying boar.

“Well fought you bastard,” I mumble between pained grunts. “you wanted to take me down with you didn’t ya? “ We look into each other's eyes “I’m sorry but only you’ll be dying here today.” With that, I create another shard of ice, compress it as much as I can then plunge it into the boar's neck.

As the last breath leaves its body, I collapse next to it. I’m dog-tired and hurting like after the worst brawls I had with the gang back in the day.

[You have triumphed over the enemy [Savage Boar - Earth lvl 17].]

Now that was a triumph.