"Ronan, thank goodness!" I grab his arm.

Yes, I confess, I arrived at the first class 10 minutes early just to talk to him and I'm waiting at the door. It's almost time when I see him hurrying over. Without a second thought, I grab him and pull him towards the lockers in the hallway, away from the classroom. We're going to be late, but I don't care.

"My lady, are you alright? You have dark circles," he says with what seems like concern and something more.

Uh, I don't like that something more. Only I would think to ambush him like a stalker. Who knows what he might be thinking? I drop his arm like it's on fire.

"Yes, I've been wanting to talk to you since yesterday, but I haven't seen you at meals, not even at breakfast today."

"That's because I took it with me while training."

"Okay." I'm not going to ask. I just saw the professor enter the classroom. I lower my voice to a whisper. "Why do you say the seed caused the dungeon incident? What do you know that I don't?"

"My lady," he begins.

"Shh... keep your voice down."

"My lady," he corrects in a whisper, "it's a divine beast of darkness. Among its properties is enhancing dungeons attuned to the element."

"Properties? You mean it didn't do it on purpose?"

"No."

I feel relieved for my little pup. As I don't say anything, he continues:

"My lady, did you really not know that?"

"What I don't understand is how you know," I reply, suddenly somewhat frustrated. It's evident in my tone.

"Well, I have spent my whole life locked up studying and reading books."

"Okay, sorry. You have a knack for putting me on the defensive. Tell me, is there anything else you think I should know?"

"Nothing I am allowed to tell you, my lady. But don't worry, I'm here to help and serve you. I would never do anything to harm or betray you."

And he says it with that adoring look in his huge eyes. I can't handle this.

"One thing. You have to be careful. The headmaster doesn't know about my pet, but he does know I have some additional magic that wasn't mentioned when my chart was read."

"Really?" His face lights up. "It could not be any other way. My lady has to be powerful to have been chosen."

"Yes, but you have to keep my secret. Suffice it to say I have the four elements and light." And something else, but that's enough loose talk. "The thing is, they believe I'm some kind of avatar of light and that you could be my nemesis and have caused the dungeon incident."

He bursts out laughing. In my face. Just like that, all of a sudden. He has to bring his hands to his still scrawny stomach because of the laughter spasms. Good thing there's no one in the hallway, or they would look at us very strangely. I highly doubt Ronan has ever laughed at this school, no, in his life.

"This is serious, okay?" I get annoyed. "I was about to confess so they wouldn't blame you."

He stops laughing, wipes the tears from his eyes, and reaches out one of those damp-fingered hands to take mine.

"Seriously?" he says.

I pull away. It's instinctive.

"Forgive me, my lady. I am moved that you care about me. It must be because of that light magic affinity you mentioned, which makes you think of others before yourself. You are very innocent. The thing is, you cannot tell them. If you do, they will lock you up and torture you. And then execute you."

What? I go pale.

Well, I hadn't thought about that... And it's pretty obvious. I feel stupid.

In any case, Ronan knows more than I thought. That black ink on the stone chart spoke of my bond with the seed of darkness; it said nothing about becoming the next dark lord.

"I haven't told you the type of contract I signed with the little wolf."

"No need, he told me that one day he would find you. I know who you are."

The wolf? The seed talks?

I'm not going to ask who he thinks I am. Much less who he is, because if it's not the wolf, I don't want to know. If I put two and two together, I can imagine, and I really can't handle it. This is getting too complicated.

I breathe.

I still can't deal with this, and it's late.

"Okay, thanks," I opt for the easy way out. "Let's get to class before they punish us for being late."

The rest of the day and the next one pass without anything relevant. Just a few calculating and malicious looks from Sol and my two former friends. Plus, my meals are less lonely now that I sit with Vincent's group. There's also no sign of Ronan except in classes. And, above all, there's a lot of studying and a lot of training. I ask one of the soldiers for details about the village. It's called Clearhaven and is more than two hours by horse from the nearest town. At the academy, I snoop around the library. On a map of the kingdom, I see that it is indeed near one of its borders, in this case adjacent to a neighboring kingdom. The border is a rugged mountain range that is usually snow-covered most of the year. The village is on the edge of a forest that abuts the base of the peaks. Due to the scarcity and narrowness of the mountain passes, there is practically no contact with the neighboring kingdom. I agree with the headmaster, as I assume it is he who has decided to send me there: it is a good place for secret training.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I've planned to go out on my own on Friday after dinner to see if I can find any wolves in the forest and do something to avoid getting stuck at level 6. In the game, you didn't go around killing animals, but I've asked and you can get experience from them, although it's very little compared to what dungeon creatures give. Since there are no nearby dungeons in the Clearhaven area, wolves are better than nothing. Plus, this way I keep practicing with the sword.

When the time comes, I teleport. It's night. The moon and the lights coming from the windows of the houses dimly illuminate the square. I see some villagers on the street, not many. I head to the village exit, a wooden gate in the palisade next to the barracks.

"Who goes there?" asks one of the two soldiers on guard, controlling access.

"It's Bianca, the academy student."

I step a little closer to be under the torchlight, so they can easily see my face.

"Yes, I've seen you training. What do you want to go out at this hour for?"

"I want to test what I've learned with the sword against some wolves," I tell him honestly, "to put it into practice in real combat."

"What enthusiasm you young people have!" his companion exclaims. "There are a few wolves in the forest. I don't think they'll give you any trouble. Be careful not to get close to the mountains, bears have been sighted there."

"Yes, thank you very much."

They open the gate for me and I continue on my way. Soon the village and the torchlight on its palisade are left behind. My eyes readjust to the gloom as I enter the forest. I have only two mana points, as I have spent the rest this afternoon in air magic training. Enough for one channeling. The puppy is, as other times, in the side pocket of my backpack. If I need more mana I'll use his lick. I walk for a good while and don't manage to find any wolves. Maybe I should have brought a pot and a ladle to make noise and attract them. I'm already thinking of turning back, disappointed, when I hear sounds that seem to be from a fight. I approach and begin to distinguish growls and cries of pain. I slow down and walk carefully so as not to make noise, in addition to covering myself behind the trees and undergrowth. I arrive in time to see the end: a goblin and a wolf kill each other. They're not the only ones there. It's a small forest clearing. There are a total of five wolf corpses and three goblins. The latter are shorter than me and have green skin. They're dressed in leather and fur armor and were armed with short swords and shields. I squint to search for their levels.

Wolf, level 3.

Goblin, level 4.

I recognize the goblins' toughness in defeating the five wolves. Too bad I didn't arrive sooner to finish them off and gain the experience. Goblins, as creatures, grant the same XP as in a dungeon, far more than animals. I wasn't expecting to find them here, and I imagine the guards weren't either, or they would have already sent a patrol to exterminate them. Creatures usually spawn in dungeons and sometimes venture out, severing their link. But with no nearby dungeons, the goblins' origins are a mystery.

I approach closer to see if I can loot any items from the goblins. Not from the wolves. I have no desire to take out my dagger and start skinning them to later sell the hides or fangs. I don't know their worth and I don't care because I've no idea how to skin animals. Nor is it a mastery I'm interested in acquiring. If it were a game, fine; but this is now the real world for me and the mere thought of handling the corpses disgusts me. Blood, guts... ugh, I'd rather not.

The goblins' swords seem to be of poor quality and inventories don't exist here, so I have to carry them back to the village. I don't think they'll give me much for them, but I collect them anyway and into the backpack. The shields are too bulky, so I leave them behind. I'm searching the last creature when I realize it's breathing. I jump back, startled, and place my hand on the hilt of my sword. It seems I'm going to get some experience after all. The creature opens its eyes and looks at me. It's the look of someone without hope, until it notices a little head sticking out of certain pocket. Then it brightens a little.

"Heeelp," it pleads.

What do you mean by help? He's a monster and if there were guilds in this world, I would be an aspiring adventurer. (There are mercenaries, which is similar, but not guilds).

The puppy jumps out of my pocket and stands next to the creature, sniffing it.

Damn it, what do I do?

I raise my sword; but the thing is, the creature is looking at me and apart from being ugly and having green skin, well... it looks human. It has expressions, it shows fear and hope.

I let my arm drop limply and the weapon ends up pointing towards the ground. I can't, I really can't. It's one thing to kill a dehumanized monster that wants to murder me, but this... I'm not a butcher. If I have light magic, it's for a reason, right?

I know I'm going to regret it, more than anything because it goes against all logic: I use minor healing on him. I would do it twice, but the spell has a 24-hour cooldown. It only restores one health point but it seems to stabilize him, he's even able to sit up. I return his sword to him, it doesn’t feel right to take it.

"Thank you. Please, save my people!" he asks hopefully.

"Hey, you're a goblin and I'm human."

"Save them like you saved me."

But I only did it out of pity!

Mission. Difficulty F. Save the goblin settlement.

Reward: 500 XP.

I stand there like an idiot staring at the pop-up screen for almost a minute, still and with my mouth half open.

A mission? There were missions in the game but this is the first time I've seen one here. NPCs certainly don't have them. I still need a lot of experience for the next level, more than three thousand points, and I don't know the exact experience I gained from the octopuses, the spider and the zombies, but the bar went up so little that it didn't reach five hundred. I'm tempted.

"Please."

He looks at me the way a desperate person who has just been saved by the legendary heroine would. Someone should explain to him that he's a monster, that if someone saves him it shouldn't be me but... Oh. Okay. Shit. The seed of darkness. Maybe he recognized it somehow.

"Can you walk?"

"I think so."

He tries to get up, I help him.

"What's wrong with your people?"

"We were more than two hundred. We lived on the other side of the mountains but we had to flee when the human soldiers discovered us. Less than thirty of us are left. We're in a cave. We need a place to form a new home, as well as food and resources."

They don't seem to be asking for anything outrageous, they just want to survive. I raise my hand and touch the letters that only I see, where it says "accept."

I crouch down to pick up the puppy, who has clung to my boots, and then let the goblin lean on me. We start walking towards his cave. This wasn't my idea for tonight's training. What I wanted was to hunt. Wait a minute, didn't the guard say there were bears in the mountains? Maybe we'll even run into one. The idea cheers me up.