As we walked along the road we eventually arrived at a crossroads, I had already analysed the path we needed to take so this wasn't a problem, but Lupus seemed to have other business.

* “I need to go this way.” He said as he went left instead of right

* “But the demi-human's home is this way.” I said pointing down the right road

* “I’ll be there a month before summer so don’t worry.” Lupus said as he started to leave

* “You better be there!” Jin shouted after him

* “We should probably pick up the pace if we are to make it to the next town before nightfall.” I said as I looked at the position of the sun

* “Then let’s get running!” Jin said as he began sprinting towards the town that was far in the distance

* “Remember your disguise.” I said as I began running beside him

* “I’m not you.” He said with a cocky smile

* “I will ignore that insult for now.” I said as I began running at full speed leaving Jin in the dust

As I made it to the town I slowed down just before entering waiting for Jin. When he arrived he had already activated his disguise and looked as human as I did, we entered the town and looked for a place to stay.

* “Hey, where is the nearest inn?” I asked an older man who was out buying food

* “If you're a traveler, I would recommend going to the guild house.” He said pointing to a decently sized building

* “Thank you.” I said as I went back to Jin

* “So where are we going?” He asked

* “To that building.” I said ponting the building over my shoulder

We entered and were greeted by the smell of alcohol and sweat. I went to the counter and asked if we could stay the night.

* “Sure, that would be four silver coins for two.” The girl at the counter said handing me a key

* “Thanks.” Jin said as he gave over the money

We entered the room and immediately went to sleep. When we woke up we immediately left for the road, but after barely making it a kilometer we encountered a little kid who was hurt.

* “What happened?” I asked as I tried to see the kids face from under the hood it was wearing

* “We aren't bad guys, we just want to help.” Jin said as he helped the kid stand

* “That’s not a good idea.” I said as the kid fell backwards

* “Oh no!” Jin shouted as he tried to catch the kid

* “I got you.” I said as I catched the kid mid fall, but as I did the hood fell of to reveal a little girl pitch black hair and cat ears

* “Ahh!” The girl screamed and put the hood back on

* “Don’t worry we won’t hurt you, look.” Jin said as he removed his disguise

* “Elf. You're an elf.” The girl said as she looked at Jin

* “Yes, I am.” Jin said as he gave as kind of a smile as he could

* “Ahh!” The girl screamed again hiding behind me

* “What?” Jin asked frozen in place

* “I think you're too scary.” I said giving of a little chuckle

* “Are you an elf too?” The girl asked while hugging my arm

* “No, but I’m better friends with them then I am with the humans.” I said while crouched on the ground petting the girls head

* “So you’re a kind human?” The little girl asked

* “Yep! And I’m really strong too!” I said while flexing my muscles

* “Says the guy who can’t even beat a high ranking foot soldier.” Jin said while holding in a laugh

* “Shut up!” I shouted at him. “What’s your name?” I asked the girl while trying to ignore Jin who was standing behind me

* “Luna.” She answered as I lifted her up onto my shoulders

* “That’s a nice name, do you live in the home land of the demi-human’s?” I asked as I started to walk down the road

* “I did until the humans came.” She said as I felt a tear fall down on my head

* “Don’t worry, I’m going there now to make sure no one attacks you for the entirety of the year.” I said as I began to speed up a little

* “I’ll come a little while after.” Jin said as he followed

* “About a week after, right?” I asked

* “If all goes according to plan.” Jin said as he split of from us

* “See you scary man!” Luna shouted as she waved him off

* “Ha ha!” I started to laugh at this

* “What’s your name big bro!?” Luna asked now a lot more joyful than earlier

* “Loki, and scary man's name is Sōzokujin, but you can call him Jin.” I said giving permission that I shouldn’t be allowed to give

* “Scary Jin and Big Brother Loki.” Luna said as she hugged my head

* “We will be moving for a while so get some sleep now.” I said as I adjusted the swords on my back to easier support her while still being accessible

* “I want to play with you!” Luna said as she pulled my head

* “We can play all summer when we arrive.” I said as I tried not to fall over

* “I wanna play now!” Luna said as she kept playing with my head

I kept walking for approximately four hours until she fell asleep, I kept walking until about six in the afternoon when I decided to camp out since I didn’t have a disguise for Luna. I laid her down in a tent near a campfire while I trained a little, but for some reason I felt uneasy as I practiced swinging my sword, the last time I had felt the same feeling was back when me and Jin was in the forest alone for the first time, but the magic emitted from this monster was so strong that I couldn’t make put an exact location, I closed my eyes and tried to look through the eyes of the forest but for some reason could I not absorb the nature magic in the plant life.

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I stayed up all night fearing that when I went to sleep that the monster would attack Luna. As morning came and the presence of the monster disappeared, so did the inability to absorb nature magic. As we traveled I used the nature magic I had absorbed to keep Luna asleep and boost my speed so I could move at my full speed without risking her falling off my shoulders. I held her in my arms to keep her safe. While running I surmised that the monster that had been following me ever since the first time I entered a forest in this world, perhaps longer, had an ability to manipulate nature magic in such a way that no one but the thing could absorb it.

As I ran I noticed that the sun was starting to set, despite this I kept running, absorbing nature magic as I went but as night fell again the nature magic was sucked out, exactly as what happened when I fought the light magic fairy during the stage two final test. But this time I didn’t fall face first into the ground, I managed to catch myself using my own magic in the form of thunder magic to increase my speed and reflexes, I jumped into the air and placed Luna on the ground as I landed.

I turned around while activating a light magic version of the nature mode, but since this was my own magic it wasn't nearly as efficient as the nature magic version only lasting about half an hour and if I activated the triple magic cloak it would only last five minutes since I didn’t have the near infinite supply of nature magic nor the magic that Jin would constantly be stealing, and even with the cloak that Dryadalis gave me increasing the time limit it would still only be seven minutes and thirty minutes.

* “It seems I have been found out.” I heard a deep cocky voice say

* “Who are you?” I asked the voice

* “I am, your greatest nightmare, my name is… well, I guess it doesn't matter.” The voice replied

* “Hmpf, I guess it doesn't.” I said as I tried to pinpoint his location

* “Trying to fight me? Bring it on, it's your funeral.” The voice said as I felt the magic of the voice in an exact location

* “There you are!” I shouted as I shot a fire bullet towards where the magic was coming from

* “That's all you got?” The voice asked as I saw a man in a white and black coat wearing an oni mask with green fire around him get hit by my attack

* “Impossible! It just bounced off?” I asked in confusion

* “I told you it would be your funeral, but I am curious about how you will grow so I will leave you be for now, but I will return.” The man said with an unsettling laugh as he disappeared

* “Where are you going!” I shouted

* “I think you should worry about the girl.” The voice said as it died out

* “What?” I asked in confusion looking towards Luna

As I turned I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, I looked down seeing a knife held by a muscular hand, I looked up again and saw three men carrying Luna into a van.

* “Luna.” I said weakly as all my strength left my body

* “Don’t worry, we will take this trash off your hands.” The man stabbing me said

* “You bastard!” I shouted before passing out

As I regained consciousness I found myself in a cave of sorts with my wound bandaged up. I tried to stand up to go after Luna but as I stood up I felt myself getting dizzy, and I fell back on the ground.

* “You shouldn’t move.” I heard an old man say

* “I need to go.” I replied as I tried to heal my wound with nature magic

* “No! If you go you could die!” The man shouted

* “But if I don’t go, the girl will become a slave!” I shouted back

* “And what if you die!? What will happen to the girl then!?” The man shouted at me

* “I won’t, I still have other things to do.” I said while failing to heal my wound

* “Then forget about the girl and do those things after you have healed.” The man said

* “I refuse!” I shouted at the man

* “You will die!” The man shouted back

* “I will save the girl and that’s that!” I shouted as I absorbed all the nature magic in the cave and ran of in the direction that I felt Luna's magic signature

* “Idiot.” The man sighed

I ran for what felt like an eternity before finally arriving in front of a large house, but as I arrived the nature magic I had absorbed started to diminish and reverted to the first stage that I unlocked during the final test, and the stage that I could replicate with my light magic. As I sat down in front of the house to try and replenish the nature magic I had lost I felt something odd, it was almost as if my dark magic was reacting to the magic in the air around the house, I didn’t know why but I realised that there was no nature magic around the house which meant that there were no living things near the house. I closed my eyes and tried to feel Luna's magic since I knew that all living things had nature magic, even if they couldn’t manipulate it. I searched for what felt like an hour until I felt the magic signature of the man who had stabbed me. I rushed off in the direction it was coming from but as I arrived at the location I found an identical building still with no nature magic near it.

This continued for a while until I ran out of patients. I knew that something was going on, with all the dark magic in the air and the repeating of the same thing over and over. I sat down and started to absorb the dark magic in an attempt to stop the weird illusion I was trapped in. As the dark magic was absorbed into my body I used thunder magic to keep a tight seal on it until all the dark magic was gone, I opened my eyes and saw the old man with his hand on my forehead.

* “How is this possible?” He asked as I opened my eyes

* “Simple, I’m not stupid.” I said as I planted my fist in his stomach

* “Agh!” The man fell on the ground unconscious

* “If you're smart you won’t come after me again.” I said as I activated my full power for a single second and appeared right outside the kidnappers front door. “This is it, their real base.” It looked exactly the same as in the illusion but this time it was real

I kicked the doors open as I absorbed all the nature magic in the area in an instant.