I decided to head north one more time to gather intel and then moved toward the West since less troublesome people would be there. Even though the border was also in that direction with the Iron Wrought Confederacy, the dwarven territory.
Knowing my luck, I could tell that something was bound to happen if I headed north, so I hesitated if I should press on. Still, if something were to happen, I figured out that it would be better to happen as soon as possible instead of letting the anxiety keep bothering me.
‘I am not that deep into their territory, so it is fine. Probably, hopefully.’
When I reached the next town, I was surprised since not many people were looking at me. They looked at me for a moment and then turned around and then began to talk about the same things as they were before. Thanks to my Enhanced Hearing magic implement, I could tell what they were talking about.
“Are they sure about that? It is something that we never did before. It is also something that our ancestors would find preposterous.”
“They can’t be ignored, so the silver bows are handling them and trying not to let them exercise their influence too much here. They are doing a lot of things recently, but at least it doesn’t look like they are plotting something against us.”
That talk seemed really interesting. I wanted to pay more attention to it, but I had to keep moving, otherwise, I would draw unnecessary attention to myself.
I checked some shops in the area, but aside from the Effects that increased the level of skills, I didn’t find anything else. I sighed and then turned to the side, only to see Glacien in a good mood while being patted in the head by some kids who were laughing. She seemed to be in a good mood.
‘Wait, are they even kids? For all that I know, they could be two hundred years old.’
They certainly were behaving like kids, even though I didn’t know how it worked the aging process of Elves. If they behaved like that, they were probably kids.
I decided to move to the next shop when I then noticed that the largest tree of the town even had an elevator made of wood. It was a bit rustic, but it seemed sturdy enough and it also moved pretty fast. I didn’t see those before, but perhaps it made sense since that tree was the largest one that I found so far.
‘Crap…’
I turned around and then headed to the closest shop in a hurry… I did that as soon as my eyes caught the sight of some humans in the elevators. Things were starting to make sense now…
I didn’t think that those guys saw me. They were too busy talking with some Elves in the elevator. The Elves were also wearing some fancy clothes, not the type people would wear for everyday activities… probably some of the top dogs of the town.
‘I guess that is why people aren’t fussing over me… humans are here, so a weird-looking elf wouldn’t draw much attention. Anyway, what are they doing here?’
I didn’t recognize the humans. One was pretty tall and thin while the other was short and chunky. When the elevator landed, I could see some armored knights waiting for them. Those two must have come here to negotiate something.
Based on what I heard earlier, it looked like the empire was already trying to exercise the influence that they gained after taking over the Skarnash Tribelands. They worked fast, but considering that they don’t live as long as the Elves, that made a lot of sense.
‘I guess that they don’t want to fight the Elves yet, so they are planning to turn them into allies and then use their forces to increase the influence of the empire even more. Still, what would they offer to the Elves in exchange for it?’
The labyrinth where I got the feathers seemed like something that they would want, but the labyrinth will probably not work for a while. It will require a lot of mana to restore the whole place back to normal, so the humans didn’t know what they could offer them yet. As far as I knew, I was pretty sure that this labyrinth wasn’t something the humans knew of. So, they definitely didn’t consider offering it as a bargaining chip.
In any case, knowing my luck, I imagined that those guys would come in my direction, but they headed toward the West instead. They soon got in a carriage and then headed further west.
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‘I was planning to go there first… I guess I will have to change my plans. Regardless, I didn’t see others like them in the south, so I guess from here on out, it is the territory of the big shot Elves.’
Those two were probably going to talk with other big shots. I was curious to know what they were planning, but I wasn’t foolish enough to get involved. I just shrugged and then decided to go on my merry way. I was still going to head toward the West, but I had to avoid those even more massive trees that should keep me in the clear.
“I think we should be ahead of them just in case to avoid trouble. What do you think, girl?”
“Awooo, awooo!”
“We can also slow down and then wait for them to leave the areas ahead of us. That seems a lot safer, right?”
“Grrrrr…”
“Don’t grrrr me. The smart man runs away from the trouble, or do you want to end up being chased by an abyssal worm again?”
Glacien didn’t complain after that. She had grown stronger, but not that strong to let it go to her head. Speaking of which, I had grown stronger too, but I still couldn’t feel it.
Name: Regulus Dawnshield
Race: Dhampir
Health: 310/310 (0/3200)
Regen: 1.3 per hour (0/1000) (1.3)
Mana: 330/330 (0/3100) (1.1)
Regen: 12.0 per minute (0/7600) (1.6)
Stamina: 380/380 (0/3500) (1.1)
Regen: 13.0 per minute (0/10.100) (1.3)
Strength: 100 + 180 (0/5100) (2.0)
Magic: 66 (0/6100) (1.1)
Dexterity: 253 (0/5600) (4.6x)
Spirit: 21 (0/2200)
Endurance: 30 (0/3100) (1.1)
Attack Speed: + 98% (0/7700) (1.3)
Movement Speed: 15.1 (0/7600) (1.3)
Stamina Conservation: 2.2 (0/20.000) (1.1)
Fire Affinity: 30 (0/3100)
Ice Affinity: 15 (0/1600)
Traits: Minor Weakness to Sunlight, Minor Sensitivity to Holy Magic, Minor Aversion to Silver
Classes: Ranger, Pathfinder, Dark Scrollmaker, Mystic Tattoist, Demon Hunter, Dreadful Enchanter, Shadow Assassin, Merchant, Poison Crafter, Smith, Weaponsmith, Sharpshooter, Pyromancer, Dark Paladin, Arcane Archer, Shadow Archer, Barbarian, Lord of War, Bowman, Warblade, Beastmaster, Pirate, Venom Mage Blood Mage, Cryomancer
Aptitudes: Wilderness Survival, Never Lost, Magical Scroll Creator, Arcane Artist, Hunter’s Resolve, Malevolent Artifice, Way of Shadows, Master of Trade, Venomous Engineer, Master of Forging, Master of Blades, Master of Precision, Heat Master, Silent Observation, Dark Retribution, Mystic Marksman, Shadow Archery, Rage Unleashed, Battlefield Presence, Ranged Skill, Relentless Assault, Animal Empathy, Captain of the High Seas, Toxic Knowledge, Blood Rain, Frost Wielder
Experience: 2388
The numbers certainly increased, but since all the crazy situations and the difficult battles that I faced until now, I couldn’t see myself as that strong yet.
I didn’t consider just defeating the enemies with a single attack being strong, but being able to press on no matter what on one’s path also showed a high level of mental strength. I didn’t have that much yet… I still complained a lot.
In any case, I decided to move very slowly to the next town. I even decided to camp for the first time since I began to move, just to kill time.
Some guys who didn’t know how to read the mood went to look for me, but I avoided them with my camouflage and new cloak. Glacien also helped by not making a lot of noise.
‘At least they look like ordinary guys, not the type who would look for a chance to stab you in the back. The fact that Glacien did not react to them is also proof enough.’
I decided to spend three days just relaxing and making some arrows… I could summon them with mana, sure, but having a stock that didn’t rely on my mana pool was still reassuring. This much free time would have been better spent making amulets, but I decided to draw the blueprints to make them as small as possible. I was also working on something that would be very useful for when I have the chance to do some actual blacksmithing.
“All right, let’s go.”
“Mew, mew, mew!”
I was starting to look pretty suspicious since I always decided to start moving again when it was night, but it was pretty calming to do things like that. Walking with Glacien at night where only the sound of grass could be heard or the wind. It was like I didn’t have to worry about anything else.
Glacien wasn’t as nocturnal as me, but she seemed fine moving at night as well. In any case, it seemed that I picked a bad night to move… I didn’t feel anything odd during the other nights, but there was a certain weird air in the area.
“Can you sense something, Glacien?”
“Awooo?”
“No? Is it my impression then? Maybe I developed some spidey senses for trouble while I wasn’t aware… in my case, they would be half-bat senses, right?”
“Awooo?”
“You should work on your sense of humor.”
I decided to equip my camouflage amulet and make Glacien equip one as well. The darkness of the night would serve as a cloak, so no one would be able to blame us with proof that we were acting shady.
Still, soon enough, Glacien bit my shirt slightly and began to pull me to a nearby tree. It looked like she noticed something. A few seconds later, I was able to hear the sound of steps coming from above. We hid behind the closest tree, and then the sound of footsteps approached.
Before long, we found some shadows jumping from tree branch to tree branch. They looked like certain types of ninja… Regardless, they smelled like blood.