Even as we leave the vicinity of Sonea I don’t feel like complaining about not spending a single night in a tavern. I did help out like we agreed on and still I don’t feel like I deserve any reward for what happened. I feel horrible for my mistake, mix that with the standard homesickness and you get a little ball of melancholy trudging after the old grumpy mercenary.

Yep, me.

We continue on our journey towards the southwest, to deliver me to Granhall.

All in all, I do feel bad for what happened nonetheless there’s some sense in what Bennett told me. Was this really my fault? No. Did I kill him? No. Could I have changed things? YES, most definitely. I acted unreasonably, looking for a way to prove myself but to whom? The kidnapper was more than thirty times my level. I had no place interfering in that fight and the old man was probably holding back because William was so close.

Me acting up didn’t change the outcome of their duel, Bennett would’ve won sooner or later. This... this is all due to my inexperience, I found myself in an unfamiliar situation and made the wrong decision. I’m I still partially at fault? Yes. Is something especially wrong with me, beyond average? No, or I hope so.

Sigh.

Enough self-pity, make sure this doesn’t happen again, that should be the best repentance. In the mercenary business, something like death might be more common than I can imagine. Their job is to fight and if someone fights they might very well lose their life while constantly making life-or-death decisions. They can’t all be correct ones. Thinking about it… I almost feel sorry for the old man. Just looking at his estimated age and the brutality of the fight, he must’ve lost hundreds if not more comrades in battle.

Can someone even get used to it?

“You will never get used to it. Death will be a close friend of yours however seeing someone die due to your own mistake never gets easy, just more bearable.”

Now he reads minds as well, nice. Although I guess, looking at my expression, it's not too hard to guess my thoughts. Let’s see, do a backflip, you old goat.

He turns his head towards me. “We’ll arrive in two days if we keep a good pace, don’t clown around.”

What the hell? Did he actually… or just a coincidence? This requires further testing.

***

The journey towards Granhall took us through endless green fields and farmlands, the heartlands of humanity, the granary of Eborden. There were very few forests in our path, which meant less hunting duty for me. I didn’t really need the progress for my class anymore, just a lot of skill practice. Both my parents and Bennett told me to max out my skills before taking the class up and repeating the same thing in my ear doesn’t make it any faster.

Slow and steady wins the race. Although…isn’t a race all about speed? Whatever…

Since we couldn't really hunt for food, we had to make a few stops in some scattered villages and buy the bare minimum.

Why even get me used to these barbaric living standards when I’ll live in a city for the coming years anyway? I really can’t decide whether Bennett is just cruel or inherently stupid… We sleep out in the open when we could just spend a night in an inn, in a real bed, eating real food, without howls or random winds waking me up in the middle of the night.

During these two days, I constantly fiddled with my skills and mana, making Mana Shields of different elements and sending bolts with mixed elemental compositions.

Surprisingly, Space, Time, Gravity, Nature, Void, and Life aren’t in my repertoire. The last four I can understand, they aren’t really elements and thus weren’t included in my question. I also won’t complain about not getting the whole package deal, nine elements are still plenty. Gravity is a force that does something while being basically nothing, Nature is plant life while Life is more like some kind of vitality, lastly Void is the antithesis of literally ‘something’. Space and Time on the other hand should work and yet they don’t.

I attempt to imagine my atoms, my being changing place in an instant or my cluster of time moving backward on its path... Yet nothing happens. Well, not entirely nothing. My mana does feel a bit agitated and does almost move to do stuff…

It’s like I’m missing something, besides stats that is.

Combining elements can have some interesting effects. Obviously, the combination of wind and water is not the most potent for attacking if not weaker than the elements individually. Earth and metal magic kinda work together but don't really make a difference. Fire and lightning could be superbly devastating yet my mana control is too meager to even try an attack like that. Unlimited combinations… okay, not unlimited, just a lot.

A few hours before arriving at Granhall Bennett stops us in a nearby forest.

“Listen well Elyssia.” Uhum. “We’ll have to approach Granhall, and more importantly the headquarters, separately. If a child looking nine arrives escorted by someone of my capabilities just around the ninth anniversary of the Comet’s passing, that would look suspicious. I know I said we can defend you, however, it's best to keep your whereabouts a secret as long as possible.” Uhum? “So you’ll stay in the forest for the next two days,” Say what? “then enter the city. A child alone, especially with your looks… is a perfect match for wandering orphans who usually make their way here to join us.”

What does he mean by my looks? I might be dirty, sleep-deprived and wearing piss poor-looking clothes, nonetheless, beauty can’t be repressed by such measly factors. And what is he getting at? Are we gonna camp in the forest…

“You mean to leave me…

“Use what I taught you wisely and eat well, that is taken care of. Just try to stay clear of danger and follow this road when the time is up.” He doesn’t leave me time to argue, “See you soon lassie.” and he blurs away.

I’m just left here, alone, dumbfounded. With nothing on me besides my half-empty backpack with some clothes and trinkets, the stuff I wear and a small knife.

How do I even get inside of the city? Where is it exactly? And what fucked up person leaves a child alone in the forest for two days? Two days alone in the wilds, are you kidding me?

“Ahhh.” I groan instead of complaining.

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I was abandoned next to the road leading to Granhall, right? Since we were headed there originally. That means I could theoretically just ignore the old bastard and go to the city right away or beg some nearby travelers for help… except I think there’s more to this little solo outdoor camping than the cover story. This has to be a test. A test to see what I’ve learned throughout on our way here.

You’re on.

With that, I tie up my hair in a high ponytail and walk further into the woods.

Why? Because there’s no cover next to the road from beasts and someone might just kidnap me while sleeping nearby to sell me as a slave. I got told enough scary stories, back when we were young and wandered Meliorport constantly, about how evil adults who take away unruly children.

So, the forest it is.

First off, let's find something to eat. I know water and shelter should come first however, it's only two days and I gather water with magic so that’s off the list automatically and I can find shelter after dinner has been secured.

If the only thing I find are berries, that’s fine, a bit hungry is still better than an utterly empty stomach. If I manage to hunt something then great. Theoretically… things sound simple, the execution… we’ll see.

Without Bennett, finding any animals seems like an impossible task. No tracks, no excrement, no signs of passage. Nothing.

Smart damn beasts, why can you just let yourself be hunted? The other awkward problem is that I have no clue which berries are edible and which are poisonous. Yes, the old man held a crash course on our way here, but c’mon there were like fifty species listed. Who can memorize so many? So I just gave up on paying attention to those lessons, looking back right now… bad idea.

I just keep wandering the forest up and down, hopefully not walking in circles, and find no sign of life. Some birds were chirping and a few squirrels and mice albeit nothing meal-worthy. I’m also not too sure anymore where the road was… Food first.

“Maybe deeper into the woods?” Again talking to myself… maybe I am going insane. “More likely to find prey and more likely to find predators. Hmmm, let's settle with going just a little bit deeper. If still nothing then I might have to sleep without eating tonight however irritating that’ll be.”

***

I remained hungry. Food just refused to show up so I hunkered down between two trees and covered myself with some dirt. It's stiff and uncomfortable while providing almost no protection but hopefully, just a head is a lot less attractive prey than a whole Elyssia. Without anything else to do, I just lay there and practiced my magic as usual. Solair slowly sunk towards the horizon and I had nothing better to do than quietly complain to myself and listen to my grumbling belly.

Even as darkness fell no sleep came to my eyes. My mana was just above half so I didn’t dare mess around some more. If the tank is empty I’m basically defenseless.

Boredom, hunger and discomfort. I even sent a quick prayer to the Gods to have a peaceful night.

…

In ten minutes something finds me.

Are prayers worth nothing? Like, if I prayed for something to eat me would I be left alone?

The four paws sneaking around in the underbrush don’t sound like a human to me and neither is it something too big. As I slowly and quietly stand up to search around, looking for movement, a greenish fox leaves the nearby bush.

[Fox lvl 30]

The beast is about a head shorter than me, quite lean, its fur looks super fluffy and its color theme is light green with vibrant amber eyes. Unlike people the body of creatures changes along with their class. Based on what I can see, this thing should be quite fast and probably just as squishy. Should be wind-attuned.

That's bad news since neither am I really fast nor durable, the perfect prey for the fox. Quick Witted takes the helm and draws up plans. Attritional combat? My mana is too low for that. Decisive strike? The thing is most likely too agile. A trap? Well obviously, but how?

The fox breaks the standoff, leaving me no more time to cook up a way of becoming out on top. It snarls and starts running around me in an irregular pattern, feeling me out for a blind spot. It doesn’t have a hard time finding it as I’m a walking blind spot. The only things saving my life are Reflexes and Dodging. As I jump out of the way and dampen my fall with a roll the fox comes around again for a strike. This time Mana Shield snaps up with wind attunement as that’s the fastest one to make with enough stopping power.

As I seem to have forgotten, the fox is also of the wind element which makes the wind barrier almost useless. The beast forces its way through the chaotic gale I was trying to defend myself with. It does get slowed down, but only a little. I manage to throw myself out of its way… mostly, as only my arm receives a few scratches.

I whimper in pain. The wound isn’t deep even though it's still painful, nothing worse than tripping during a race as a kid. We both stop in place and just stare at each other, waiting for the opponent to make a move.

I’m not known for my patience so sneakingly an ice shard begins to form behind my back. The fox doesn’t seem to take notice, except it's also not one to sit around. It sprints with staggering speed right towards me and leaps at my shoulder.

Why the shoulder I have no idea, all the better for me.

I duck down and the ice shard bolts towards the fox. I caught it off guard but only for a second. The thing jumps mid-leap, seemingly using thin air as a platform, dodging the projectile. If it was surprised by my attack then I’m absolutely flabbergasted by the witchcraft it just pulled off.

It lands next to me and true close quarters commences, my skills and speed are doing everything they can to keep me alive while I blast fire, wind, and pebbles around to keep the beast away.

The fox is incredibly agile. It dodges like it has the skill at level 100 thus my area of effect skills only manage to annoy it, both of us doing our utmost to outwit the other.

Soon the deadly flaw of my race comes into play. Running low on mana. I begin to feel sluggish, weak, and unable to keep up the tempo. The fox also notices the change and decides to end this once and for all. It dodges another of my flame puffs and uses the wind to propel itself at me. I fall flat on my back with the fox standing on my chest. It bites towards my face and I hold my arm up to block it.

I’m not stupid enough to sacrifice anything here. I’m terrified and desperate yet not without a head to use.

I covered my arm with a layer of earth the moment I hit the ground to shield me. The move mostly dried up my remaining mana but at least I can defend myself. The beast bites onto the earth-armor-covered arm, its teeth hardly puncturing through the dirt defensive layer.

I have one last resort. I pull out the knife Bennet gave me and stab it into the fox's eye. The thing immediately releases my arm, yips in pain, exhales one last time and then collapses onto me.

[You have triumphed over the enemy [Whirlwind Fox - Wind lvl 30].]

[Your class Skill [Arcane Magic] has reached lvl 16 ->17.]

[Your class Skill [Elemental Influence] has reached lvl 15 ->16.]

[Your class Skill [Mana Shield] has reached lvl 13.]

[Your class Skill [Mana Bolt] has reached lvl 8 ->10.]

[The general Skill [Savant] has reached lvl 15.]

[The general Skill [Quick Witted] has reached lvl 13.]

[The general Skill [Pain Tolerance] has reached lvl 3.]

[The general Skill [Dodging] has reached lvl 10.]

[The general Skill [Multitasking] has reached lvl 9.]

[The general Skill [Reflexes] has reached lvl 9.]

I quickly get up to avoid being soaked in fox blood and get one of my dirtier shirts out. Quickly cleaning off myself and stopping the blood dripping from my arm, I pull the knife out with a disgusting ripping sound. I’m panting and even more famished after the fight than before. And just as I’m about to get excited with my gains and new very late lunch, howls break the quiet of the night.

One, two, four, seven. A whole wolfpack.

“Fuck!” I start sprinting away, back towards the main road. “Damn nighttime, damn forest. Not a single living creature for the entire day then it gets dark and poof. Predators all around!” My stamina feels like it ran dry an hour ago so after three more minutes of running I fall over and gasp for air.

Then I realize, no stamina, fleeing… Mom and dad were right, this feels like a completely standard situation. I love them so much for forcing me to run those laps, but running is no longer an option.

As I stare upwards and an idea hits me. Wolves can’t climb. So with all my remaining strength I climb up halfway onto a nearby tree and sit down on a thicker branch.

I remain quiet as a mouse and soon a few animals pass under me. After that… nothing, dead quiet. I keep my guard up for a minute, then two and a few more… Before leaning back with a sigh of relief, blinking heavily… yawning wide… tired.