Countdown to Leigh’s system unlock day

The day of Leigh’s system unlock came around faster than I expected, it went from several months away to suddenly being just around the corner. My perception of time had become muddled as I focused all my attention on my new skills, and constructing a gift for Leigh’s party. Gifts weren’t strictly a requirement on system unlock days, though they usually fell on birthdays and it was fairly expected for families to give gifts as normal. Leigh was part of my family now, and I wanted to give her something special.

Since I now had access to both [Tool Proficiency] and [Mana Crafting], I needed to get some practice time in to familiarize myself with the skills. The worst part was, if I wanted Leigh’s gift to be a surprise, I couldn’t ask her for help. She’s had tool proficiency for years now, but I’d have to figure it out on my own.

It took some rather creative begging to convince dad to take me with him on one of his delivery runs to the nearest city. I’d recently learned it was called Alberack. Dad agreed, though begrudgingly, and mother made him promise that nothing would happen while we were gone. He swore to protect me, and I swore to listen to his orders if we got into trouble. None of that was important. Alberack was my only chance to get my hands on some tools of my own without Leigh finding out. Anyone I asked back home could have potentially gotten word back to her eventually. I needed to keep things as segmented as possible to maintain the surprise.

Plus, a trip with dad for some Militia practice made the whole thing a win-win for me.

We packed up light, and dad made me leave bonewolf behind. I could understand not wanting to keep him hidden once we arrived, but the further I got from my only minion the more I felt uneasy. The trip to Alberack would only take three days if we kept a good pace, five at the latest, but even then that was plenty of time for something to go wrong and I would have just preferred to have some backup.

The trip was relatively safe though, and for the most part uneventful. After a few short jaunts like this, I started getting used to camping rough in the wilderness. Dad had me start taking a watch shift this time though, and only sleeping for a few hours at a time was brutal. The fatigue was certainly catching up to me by day three.

I’ll be the first to admit, I probably wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been. My focus was marred by growing fatigue as father and I slowly followed the forest trail westward. I nearly stumbled off my feet when Daniel grabbed my shoulder and brought me to an abrupt halt.

“Eyes up boy, look out just there” Dad whispered, pointing with the end of his spear to a small stream of smoke rising in the distance. “We’re too far from Alberack to be seeing chimney plumes already, and that’s far too concentrated. Someone’s made camp out here” He explained softly, making sure I knew what to look for.

“If this were a personal trip, I’d suggest we avoid them and just press on, but this is part of your training now. So, what do you think it is and what should we do about it? I want a full sitrep” Dad ordered, effortlessly slipping into his soldier persona over the course of a few sentences.

I thought about all the different possibilities, things dad had discussed with me, and things I remembered from my first life. A momentary silence drew out between us as I pondered, but eventually, I had all my thoughts organized.

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“I don’t think there’s any immediate danger. If the fire was being used as a signal, the smoke would be more irregular. Also, if combat was going on this close, we’d likely hear it by now.” I began to explain, watching father’s face for some kind of reaction that I was on the right track.

“It’s probably just a camp. The only problem is, while fire can scare off animals, it just serves as a beacon to more intelligent creatures.” Like Daniel and I for example. “I think whoever has made camp there is either very scared of wildlife, or confident in their ability to protect themselves from anything the fire might attract”

Daniel nodded silently for several moments, taking in my words.

“A good assessment, if vague. You didn’t assign any judgments to ‘who’ was making camp though. This far out, between towns, any traveler should be considered just as likely to be a bandit as a merchant until you know for certain otherwise” He instructed me when he finally spoke. A minor admonishment, so I’d count that as a win for now.

“We’re going to approach, scout out the situation, and decide if we need to intervene. Once we know everything’s clear, we’ll move on” Dad ordered, taking the lead as I fell into step behind him. It was a no-brainer for him to be the vanguard, and at this point, neither of us needed many directions on marching formation. He led us quietly away from the path, and we stalked towards the trail of smoke for more than a mile before I finally heard dad whistle out the signal to stop.

Daniel turned back to look at me and tapped his nose. I didn’t know what he was trying to signal, but I didn’t have to wonder for long, the smell hit me moments later. Carried on the wind, a thick, almost acrid, iron smell. Blood. Instantly I started shaping a spellform with my right hand. I didn’t have much mana to draw on without system access, but if I shaped them right I could hurl some basic spells without outpacing my regeneration. I cursed leaving bonewolf behind.

I only had a moment to decide which spells I should prepare before Daniel whistled to move and we started forward again. [Life Tap], the lower-tiered version of [Drain Life], I could probably maintain indefinitely. The spellform was efficient enough, by the time I finished casting I’d probably be back to full. If things get hectic, I could do a few [Poison Lance] before I’d need to fall back. Three at max power, maybe five if I cut corners on the magnitude.

I tied off the [Life Tap] humming in my right hand, feeding it a trickle of mana to keep it from flickering out, and followed Daniel forward. My head was on a swivel, looking out for any danger, and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Memories of the Drake attack flickered through my head, pounding a sense of panic into my mind. This time would be different, no one was around to get hurt, just me and dad. I’d protect him, he’d protect me. We’d be safe.

Dad and I continued, pressing forward until Daniel broke the edge of a small clearing and stopped. He didn’t whistle or signal in any way, so I crept up next to him and knelt down to hide in the bush. What I saw in the clearing made my breath catch in my throat.

Six men, armed with axes and swords and wrapped in leather armor, were milling between three overturned wagons. The smell of burning filled my lungs, and I could see ash falling down from the sky. The wagons were ransacked, and overturned, with no signs of the animals that had once pulled them. In the middle of the wreckage, a pile of smashed crates had been lit ablaze and stacked high with the bodies of the caravaneers. Eight men it looked like, mostly merchants, all long since dead. Burning irreverently in the middle of the wilderness with no final rites.

I gagged on the smell and looked up at dad, his face was a storm of anger.