Since leaving Sun Wind's Fall, the journey through the forest had gotten more interesting. Shiori had stopped riding on Jun's shoulder and began to tutor her in combat as a magic user, which made things both more interesting and more difficult. She was forced to randomly climb up trees and run through the forest, all while an elusive Shiori pelted her with sticks and leaves or tried to trip her into mud or rivers. She quickly learned to dodge and use her [Barrier] spell more efficiently, and the repeated practice had resulted in her leveling it up several times.

[Barrier] (Apprentice 4) (+3)

An upgraded variant of the basic [Shield] spell. This spell is composed of the aspects for Endurance, Adaptation, Redirection, and Negation. Blocks, absorbs, and redirects force.

Cost: 76 mana minimum, variable.

Each level had made the base spell more efficient as she grew familiar with it, especially as she learned to reduce the waste of the spell even more, which let her keep it up longer.

As they moved Shiori taught her the basics of navigation by the sun and moon, as well as the stars. The sun rose to the East and set in the West, which made things easier for Jun to remember as it was the same as on Earth, however learning to navigate by the stars proved too difficult for her to do reliably. She learned that the forest, called the Forest of Kresh, was truly massive, measuring several hundred miles wide at its narrowest points, and thousands of miles wide at its worse, taking up a full third of the continent they were on and split it into quarters. Shiori couldn't recall what the name of the continent was, only that it had changed several times in her lifetime and she wasn't sure what it was now. Sun Wind's Fall, the lake they had left, was near the middle of the forest, but through shortcuts Shiori refused to explain, they were able to shorten the trip by months, covering thousands of miles in a day.

All Jun knew for sure was that one moment, she had been following Shiori down through a valley seemingly surrounded by endless forest, and when they ascended out of it, she could see plains on the edge of the horizon. When she had turned around expecting to see the valley they had traveled through she had been shocked to see only a small mountain range that they stood at the summit of, the valley nowhere to be found.

After passing through Shiori's shortcut, that was when the monster attacks had begun. Shiori told her that the forest grew increasingly dangerous towards the center, but that they were now in the outskirts where monsters were more numerous but far less powerful. The first evidence Jun had of this was later that day as they hiked out of the mountains, only to be ambushed by rancid smelling small humanoid things with green ears, large bulging eyes, and wielding weapons that Shiori called goblins. Shiori froze them into place and told Jun to fight them one at a time as the horde shrieked and yelled at her in a harsh, guttural language. Jun had objected, something about killing something that could speak and use weapons felt different and wrong. She couldn't help but picture their families and loved ones, tiny goblin babies and goblin children playing in a village somewhere, going about their lives peacefully.

Shiori then reminded her of how brutal a place Merinthia was. She described how the goblins were created in an old war as a biological weapon, one meant to target civilians and noncombatants. What the goblins ate. How they reproduced. How they acquired their weapons. What they did for fun and kept as trinkets. The truth of her Master's words were hard to ignore, especially once she noticed the proof of the captured goblins predations.

Shiori released the first goblin as she ordered Jun to defend herself. It rushed her with drool dripping out of its mouth as it waved a sword. Jun instinctively cast her [Barrier] and pushed it out to block the goblin, but she pushed harder than thought it could move and the spell collided with the goblin's face, snapping its thin neck. She'd stared in shock as the goblin limply collapsed, its sword clanging to the ground. Poorly remembered first aid lessons from Earth kicked in and she'd ran to the goblin to look for a pulse, but that was when she'd found the bloodstained doll tucked in the goblin's shirt. Confronted with the evidence of the goblin's victims, Jun felt a naive innocence inside her shatter.

She had seen red, and the next thing she knew she had coalesced a dozen [Piercing Missile]s as two goblins were released. They only had time to scream before her anger fueled spells shredded them. Her head felt like it was going to split open as she used up all of her mana, and she nearly collapsed from the strain. Seeing Jun reach her limit, Shiori had simply executed the rest, and they piled and burned the bodies, including their gory trinkets and weapons.

They'd descended back into the forest after that. The oily black smoke from burning the bodies had been visible for hours as Jun often found herself looking over her shoulder to stare at the column of smoke, guilt at murdering sentient beings warring with her feeling justified in killing beings that could do such monstrous things for fun.

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It was the middle of the next morning when she heard the screams. She'd immediately run off, Shiori silently following after her, as she followed the sound of people fighting. Jun had climbed a tree, and what she saw was horrifying. What looked like a knight with a sword and shield was fighting against a group of goblins, separated from four others who were being attacked by another group. The woman with the bow hadn't noticed the goblins coming from her side until it was almost too late, and she'd had to block a swung axe with her bow, the weapon breaking as she dropped back. Without her arrows, the knight in front was quickly separated, and the warrior with the two handed sword struggled to hold the goblins off. She'd watched as a man wearing a red cloak and holding a staff formed several balls of fire that shot out and incinerated a group of goblins, but then he'd stopped casting spells.

As Jun watched the fight, wondering what she should do, she saw the knight finish off the goblins surrounding him and turn back to help his friends. Just as she thought they would be fine and she wouldn't have to get her hands and soul dirtier by killing more sentient beings, more goblins arrived.

Jun couldn't just stand by and watch people get killed. Even if she didn't know who had started the fight, the memory of the goblins' "trinkets" was fresh in her mind and sparked a new wave of anger that she barely controlled. Working quickly, she did her best to channel as many spells as she could, remembering what she'd done in anger. She began casting small [Piercing Missiles], as many as she could hold in place. She lost count of the small spells, and was soon surrounded with a small cloud of darts.

Jun knew she was out of time as the goblins howled and charged. Visions of the five people being slaughtered and the decision she was about to make brought the taste of acrid bile to her throat as she mentally released the swarm of [Piercing Missile]s into the goblin horde. The results made her sick. A dozen goblins nearly exploded as her spells flew through them, murdering them where they stood. The acidic burn of bile rose in her throat at the lives she reaped so easily. Even from her hidden perch a hundred feet, she could see the fine details, know that these goblins were not innocent beings, but it didn't help. The guilt ate at her even as she continued to cast, reaping more lives with a thought and a grimace.

She sent off several more spells, hoping that the remaining goblins would simply flee and she could stop killing, but they didn't. They charged. Jun, caught in the momentum of the battle, continued casting [Piercing Missile] to pick off the goblins as they continued their suicidal charge.

In just a few seconds, the battle had rapidly changed as the two armored warriors and the archer with her daggers were putting up a good fight, but the man in the cloak and staff was struggling. A goblin pressed him with its spear, the man barely avoiding or parrying the goblins thrusts. Jun checked her mana and was surprised and horrified to see how little mana it took to kill so many.

Mana: 95/200 [15/min (0.25*MIND + 0.5*SPR)/min]

Over a dozen lives for just over a hundred mana. She felt more bile rising in her throat at how cheap a life was as the cloaked man desperately parried another strike. She pulled her mana into her mind, preparing to cast another spell, take another life, when she froze. She could save him without taking another life! She had the mana. She knew the right spell. Desperately she redirected her mana, shoving it into her other spell form, willing it to coalesce in front of the man, to protect him. She didn't think about the distance, or about her limits.

The goblin's spear dived for the man's throat, his staff out of place for him to parry again. He desperately started to lean away from the blow, but he was too slow. The spear moved in slow motion to Jun's eyes, moments away from tearing a hole in the man's throat as her spell coalesced, stopping the blow at the last moment! The goblin snarled as thrust its weapon again, but Jun willed her spell to protect the man and stop the attack. Blow after frenzied blow was blocked as the goblin grew tired, and it over-extended in a desperate stab at the man! A well timed parry pushed the goblin off balance and he counterattacked, his staff cracking into the goblin's temple as it crumpled to the ground!

The glowing blue shield construct faded as Jun's concentration lapsed. Shaking, Jun climbed down and slumped against the trunk of the tree, her stomach and mind roiling. Images of the gore and horror she inflicted on the goblins with her spells flashed through her mind as she emptied her stomach in the grass. Shiori appeared and rubbed up against her side as she wiped her mouth, shuddering as visions of gore and carnage refused to leave her be.

Spitting out the last of the wretchedness from her mouth, she looked at Shiori, then at the bushes that led to the people she had saved. Shame and guilt at what she'd done warred with her desire to meet other people. Shiori was her Master and teacher, but something human inside of her yearned to meet other people. Plus, at least one of them was a woman who might be able to help with... that. Resolving to face her sins, Jun began pressing forward through the bushes, but the going was hard. Unsheathing her not-spear, she began to hack and slash at the stubborn vegetation, cutting a path forward as Shiori followed behind her.

As she got near the edge of the bushes Jun tried to rush forward, only to trip on a low hanging branch and tumble head over heels out of the bushes and landing on her butt in the mud!

Jun looked up as the jingle of armor and heavy footsteps pulled her attention to a large man covered in armor like a knight or paladin out of a medieval fantasy. It was the knight that had been fighting the goblins!

His armor was dented and scratched from abuse, and covered in mud and dark green goblin's blood. His sword was still stained with gore as he held it not quite pointed at her, but the message was clear. He would attack if provoked. Jun shook at the thought of being stabbed with his sword, and quietly hoped Shiori would appear by her side and ease everything over for her.

His voice was deep and commanding as he spoke, nearly growling a question at her. "Who are you?"

Jun opened her mouth to reply before her brain caught up to her mouth. Wait. English?!