Chapter 40
“Purifying the forest. Part 1”
Two hours later, night had fallen, and they were both completely lost.
Despite the light of the two moons shining high in the sky, the dense branches of the huge trees blocked out all the light. So neither Tsuki nor Kalysto could see much of what was around them, although Kalysto was definitely the more impaired of the two. So she checked her skill window and checked that after the 100 slimes they had hunted, she now possessed 0.514% of the regeneration skill.
At least that’s something. She consoled herself.
“Ezhil Purification!” She whispered, stretching her arms out to her sides and watching as the golden light pouring from her body purified everything within ten meters around her, illuminating her path.
At least it will serve me to level up the skill a bit, purify the forest and find a way back.
“Come on, Tsuki! Help me find my way back to where we found those first slimes, and I gave you the cupcakes!” She was sure it was the mention of the cupcakes that encouraged him to try to find the way.
She simply followed him.
Two minutes later the golden light of her ability went out, and Kalysto activated it again, trying to see if she could use it without having to raise her arms sideways to her sides.
At first, it didn’t work.
It was after the twenty-fifth try, that she was able to activate the ability while keeping her arms relaxed at her sides, but she still had to move her hands.
That’s a start. She tried to cheer herself up.
A few minutes later three windows appeared before her, two violet and one blue.
[Warning: the user has only 10 MP left. Please wait a few minutes before attempting to use any skill again or your health will be severely affected.]
[The skill Ezhil Purification has leveled up!]
Kalysto immediately closed them and took out one of the potions Artemis had given her and took a sip. And opening her status window, she was able to verify something she had noticed while she was healing the sick.
Elven mana potions, even with a single sip, could give her more mana than she had. Like in that instant, where she had 500/254 MP.
Which was simply absurd.
Being forced to burn the excess mana before it evaporated, she began to conjure.
“Dispel! Jhil! Dispel! Jhil! Ezhil Purification!” Then she started to run, taking the small wolf by surprise as she overtook him. “Come quick, Tsuki! Before I run out of mana!”
“Arff!” cheered the little one, running beside her. Happy with the new game they were playing.
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“Dispel! Jhil! Dispel! Jhil! Ezhil Purification!” Kalysto continued, hoping to level up Jhil, so she could get it to level 10 and test her theory.
She really hoped it would come true.
“Dispel! Jhil! Dispel! Jhil! Ezhil Purification!” The strong golden glow illuminated the forest, allowing her to see the path ahead of her and assuring her that no strange creature would attack them again while they were unsuspecting.
Kalysto ran through the forest, illuminating the trees and bushes and branches that crossed her path as a smile lit her face. She might be tired and the soles of her feet already hurt, but it had been years since she had felt free to run as she pleased through a forest, without the fear of her stepfather finding her clouding her world, or having to worry about winning another race and making sure she got first place.
And so, forgetting all worries, Kalysto ran as if she were one with the wind, jumping over bushes as if they were mere obstacles, while laughing at how much work it took Tsuki to jump the last one.
“If you don’t hurry, you’re going to be left behind, Tsuki!” She shouted at him with a huge smile on her lips.
“Arff!” The little boy seemed to complain, but quickly circled the thorny bush, just as the golden glow of her skills began to fade.
Kalysto immediately corrected it.
“Dispel! Jhil! Dispel! Jhil! Ezhil Purification!... Come on Tsuki, don’t lag behind!” And her new pet barked, running beside her, wagging his tail from one side to the other, happy to enjoy this moment of freedom with his master "Jhil! Jhil!" sang Kalysto, as Tsuki brushed against her, making sure that any mistreatment he might have suffered from the bush was healed.
Then she kept running.
“Dispel! Jhil! Dispel! Jhil! Ezhil Purification!” She exclaimed and continued with the games, until beyond the light of the golden glow, a shadow moved.
She immediately stopped and pulled out her bow from her inventory and an arrow with penetration stats and readied herself to shoot.
“Who’s there?” she shouted. “If you don’t identify yourself in the next two seconds, I’ll shoot at your head.”
Next to the shadowy figure she had seen, another one appeared and Kalysto immediately drew her bow.
“Tsuki, prepare to attack," she whispered to her pet, which laid its ears back and began to growl at the new enemies. “One!” she warned. But before she got to two, a female voice echoed in the dark forest.
“It’s me, champion of the fairies! It’s Galatea!” One of the shadows raised both hands, trying to show that she was no danger to them. And Kalysto, recognizing her voice, whispered.
“Dispel! Jhil! Dispel! Jhil! Purification Ezhil!” Wanting to check if it was her and not some illusion created by another fairy.
In front of her was Galatea, with her coffee with milk-colored skin and dark green hair, next to her was a fairy with pink hair she had never seen before, much shorter than Galatea, but also wearing an armor.
“This is Hanna. She usually keeps watch in the woods. I asked her to help me look for you in case you were lost.”
However, I have no way of combating the skills that the illusionism profession awakens. She reminded herself, thinking about what Artemis had told her.
Come on, Kalysto, concentrate! Concentrate! She scolded herself. Having noticed that, it activated the skill that had helped her with the white-clad woman who had entered her mind.
And just as she had expected, two windows opened to her left.
[The passive skill Mental Defense has been activated.]
Seeing that neither of the two changed form after that, nor seemed willing to attack them, Kalysto lowered her bow.
Then Galatea, with her face loaded with surprise, pointed at Tsuki.
“Saintess, that beast is...”
“You mean Tsuki? That’s my pet! Tsuki, introduce yourself!” The puppy immediately stopped growling and sat up on its hind legs.
“Arff! Arff!” However, Galatea’s attitude didn’t change.
“Do you have a problem with my pet?” Kalysto asked, drawing the bow again.
“Of course not, Saintess,” she hastened to answer. "But we got worried when you didn’t arrive after the agreed two hours. So we came looking for you."
“All right," she commented, pretending nothing had happened, and put the bow down along with the arrow, but did not put them in her inventory. “Lead the way back, please.”