Selene walked beside Meelara as they made their way along the slope. Loose rocks crunched under their feet, as birds sang from the now-distant, forest. The sun carried on its journey across the sky. There were only a few clouds in sight, creating an idyllic vista of the sun-dipped mountains, and the forest.

“Should I ask now?” Selene pondered. She looked at Meelara but noticed her vigilant eyes scanning their surroundings. “I mean… Maybe? No, I shouldn’t… But, I really want to know!”

Selene took a deep breath, shook her head, and slapped her cheeks.

“How do I shield my Spirituality?” She asked finally.

“We’ll cover that later,” Meelara responded absentmindedly. “We need a calm area. At least at first. You’ll eventually manage to keep it shielded while doing other things, even low-intensity combat.”

“Oh, alright,” Selene grimaced and looked at her feet. “Sorry, it’s just… It’s all so exciting!”

“Oh, I know,” Meelara smirked as she looked at Selene. “But, for now, we need to keep vigilant. We’ve left the patrolled area, so we could encounter enemies at any moment. Fortunately, we’re unlikely to be followed. A simple tracking squad wouldn’t dare venture too deep outside.”

“I see,” Selene sighed and tried to keep an eye out.

She saw birds flying around above the forest, and a few around the mountain tops around them. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but according to Meelara, there were plenty of monsters who’d grown proficient at camouflage. With that in mind, Selene activated Spirit Echoes, which might give her a heads-up.

The world gained a pale blue tint, and Selene saw the blaze of colours around Meelara.

“Aren’t you shielding your aura?” Selene asked as she inspected the deep red, brown, and blue colours that seemed to swirl in complex patterns around Meelara. She glanced over and quirked an eyebrow.

“You can see my aura?” Meelara said before she nodded. “Keep that skill active. To answer your question, I’m not. My aura will act as a deterrent for certain monsters, meaning we won’t have to fight every other step. The strong ones will still come, but they would have done that either way. This way, we’ll only have to deal with the threatening ones.”

“I see,” Selene frowned and refocused her attention on the surroundings. “How did you know it was a skill, by the way?”

“Pff,” Meelara laughed and shook her head. “Learning to see, and read auras is a difficult thing to learn. The only way for you to be able to see mine means you’ve either been an ascended for years, or you got a skill for it from your Path.”

“Right,” Selene muttered, slightly red-faced. They kept trudging along, as Selene scanned the area around her.

“The only issue with this skill is the range,” she thought. “If only I could extend it somehow.”

As they walked, she listened to the quiet sounds of nature. The crunching under their feet, the birdsong, and the wind in their ears. As they walked, Selene sensed several auras enter her range, but they didn’t move. Meelara glanced at her and smirked.

“Don’t bother them,” she said calmly. “They’re weak, and they won't attack. Not unless they’re provoked.”

“Alright,” Selene nodded, but kept glancing around, trying to find the monsters that hid in their surroundings. She walked tensely, with her fists clenched, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

“Calm down,” Meelara muttered. “You’ll wear yourself out in minutes if you keep being that tense.”

“Easy for you to say,” Selene grumbled. “It’s you they’re afraid of, not me…”

“Heh,” Meelara laughed. “Yeah, but they still won’t do anything. If they reveal themselves and appear threatening in any way, I’ll deal with them. Their instincts are finely honed, or they’d be dead.”

Selene fell into silence but eventually managed to calm herself. She remained alert, but not to the point of constant tension.

They hadn’t walked for more than fifteen minutes after that when Selene heard the sound of falling rocks. She and Meelara turned around and found themselves face-to-face with a large, lizard-like monster.

It had grey and black scales, a long, spined tail, four strong legs, and a maw filled with sharp teeth. A hiss escaped its mouth, and Meelara wasted no time. Her large sword was drawn in moments, and she launched herself at it.

Fire erupted along the sword, as the lizard scrambled back.

Selene looked on with wide eyes, rooted to the spot.

“Holy…,” she thought. “That’s awesome! Alright. I need to do something. I can learn from this, right?”

Selene started bouncing on her feet, and taking several deep breaths, fully focused on the battle ahead. Meelara had reached the monster and carved a deep groove into its scales. Selene took a step forward, covered her hand in shadows, and prepared to look for an opening when she was suddenly struck from behind.

She was sent flying a few metres forward, landing hard on the rocky ground. She lost concentration on her skills and groaned as the rocks dug into her body.

“Gah!” she tried to exclaim but struggled to get enough air into her lungs. She scrambled to her feet and turned toward her attacker.

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It was another lizard, glaring at her with drips of liquid dripping from its mouth. A shiver ran down Selene’s spine, and she stood, momentarily rooted, as the beast launched at her.

“Move, Selene!” she shouted in her mind and just managed to jump to the side, avoiding the beast’s teeth, though its claws raked across her back in passing.

“Fuck!” she screamed but didn’t allow herself to be distracted this time. Selene rolled and got to her feet quickly, activating Shadow Strike, and Chill of the Grave, before she dashed at the beast. It was turning to face her again, its large, lumbering form not made for rapid twists.

Selene jumped onto its back, formed the Shadows into claws, and started slashing wildly. There was a strong resistance in the scale, so she hadn’t made much progress before it started thrashing.

She failed to retain her balance and was tossed off, but she’d expected it and managed to land on her feet, running forward to make some distance.

“Fucking stupid, Selene,” she reprimanded herself and drew the sword. “Stop forgetting about the sword, dumbass!”

She transferred the Shadows to the sword. She glared at the beast and prepared for another attack, but the lizard appeared more cautious than before.

“It’s learning,” she realised. “The longer this fight goes on, the more it’ll learn about me. It’s worried about the shadows, and maybe the Chill. I’ll have to be aggressive.”

She dashed forward but attempted to stay out of range from its claws, and mouth. Unfortunately, it had greater range than her sword, so she was forced to get closer.

“Right,” she focused and channelled her Spirituality. The pleasant cold spread through her, calming her mind. “I need to break through the scales if I want to get any healing, I think.”

She darted in, slashing horizontally across the lizard’s eyes, but she only left a small white line across the scales. She was forced to dive back to avoid the counter, which left her unbalanced.

The lizard took advantage and rushed forward, but a fire-covered Meelara crashed into it, diverting it to the side.

When Selene regained her balance, she saw Meelara pull her sword out of the lizard’s neck, drenched in crimson. Her hair seemed to move on its own as if made from real flame, and she had a wide smile on her face.

“How did it sneak up on you?” Meelara asked as she turned to face Selene. “Did you deactivate that skill?”

“No…” Selene looked down and shook her head. “I was too focused on your fight… I missed it.”

“Haah,” Meelara closed her eyes, leaned her head back, and sighed. “Right. Ok. Don’t do that. For now, unless I tell you to join, you keep watch, alright? It went alright this time, but by the look of you, it was a close call.”

“Uhh,” Selene grimaced and looked to her feet before checking the cloak. Large tears had formed on the back of it. “Yeah… Sorry. I’ll keep an eye out in the future. Sorry, about your cloak.”

“Bah,” Meelara waved her hand and shook her head before she approached and placed the hand on Selene’s shoulder. Selene felt a wave of warmth emanate from the hand, and the tears in the cloak started repairing itself. “No worries. As you can see, the cloak has a minor self-repair enchantment. Provide it with energy, and it will fix itself. I’ll teach you how sometime.”

Selene looked at the cloak in wonder as the last tear disappeared, and then she glanced at the remnants of the uniform she wore.

“Could the uniform do that?” she asked looking up at Meelara.

“No, I’m sorry,” Meelara shook her head. “Lon Thrast was a miser. He wouldn’t spend credits on that for his guards.”

“Right,” Selene’s expression fell, and she sighed. She reached a hand behind her, which came back bloody. “Do you have anything to bind a wound?”

“Ah, right,” Meelara walked around Selene and lifted the cloak. “Let me see. Hmm.”

Selene felt her poke and prod before she let the cloak fall back down.

“It’s not deep,” she said. “It’ll heal fine. Let’s carry on.”

“Carry on?” Selene exclaimed. “I’m bleeding here!”

“The bleeding has stopped,” Meelara shook her head and gave Selene a crooked grin. “Vitality is one of the most powerful improvements to a newly ascended, girl. Your body’s natural healing has increased severalfold compared to before. Don’t worry. So long as your body isn’t screaming in pain, you’re fine. Get used to it. Now, let’s go. Their bodies will draw in scavengers, and I want to be long gone by that time.”

She started walking, and Selene followed behind with a furrowed brow.

“We’re not going to gather any materials from them?” she asked as she fell in beside Meelara.

“No,” the red-haired woman shook her head. “It’ll take too long, we don’t have any packs to carry them in, and they’ll go bad before we reach our destination. Better to use it as bait for the scavengers. We should be able to move uninterrupted for quite a while.”

“Alright,” Selene frowned and fell silent.

“So, Vitality has made my body much better at healing… Well, that makes sense, I guess? I barely feel any discomfort from the wound, and recalling the state of my wounds after the Unbear fight, I shouldn’t have been able to move at all, not to mention walking for hours… There’s a lot of changes that I need to consider and understand,” Selene was lost in thought for a while, as she pondered. After around thirty minutes, she spoke up.

“Why is it that Vitality and natural healing have improved so much?” Selene asked. “Is it the System?”

“Yes, and no,” Meelara responded. She kept a vigilant eye on the area as she answered. “That’s a bit difficult to explain since I don’t really know all of it. Not good with that kind of theory stuff. Ehm, let me think… Alright, so. In ancient times, before the System, some people managed to cultivate, and ascend, but it was far slower, and only the extremely lucky, or talented few managed it. Back then, what improvements you got, was based on what you chose to improve. When the System arrived, it enforced Vitality and natural healing as the first improvement, to increase the ascendeds’ chances at survival. It doesn’t matter how strong, or skilled you are. You will take a hit at some point, and if you’ve got the healing of a normal human, then you’re pretty much screwed.”

“Oh,” Selene frowned. “So the System wants us to survive? Then why has it been so cruel to us?”

“Ehm…,” Meelara furrowed her brows and glanced at Selene with a complicated expression. “It’s not that it’s cruel, I think. It’s that it doesn’t think, or act as a human, so it’s perceived as cruel. That's what I’ve been told, at least. You failed the Integration, so the System kind of gave up on you. It left a lifeline, a small chance, which you managed to grab, but beyond that, it left you at the mercy of the Invaders.”

Selene didn’t respond, and they walked on in silence.

The sun was setting by the time they reached the forest line on the other side of the mountain. They approached a valley that seemed to wind into the distance, between the mountains further into the range.

“Let’s find a place to camp,” Meelara said. “And, I’ll teach you a bit about shielding your Spirituality.”