"What do you want?" Lucas questioned as the young man approached.

Seeing his wary hostility, Harry stopped around six paces from Lucas and did his best to look non-threatening.

"I'm not looking to try anything here," Harry said as soon as he caught his breath. "I actually came to find you so I can apologize."

"You what?"

Harry's gaze fell to the ground just before Lucas's feet. "Look, I shouldn't have tried to get back at you after the trial. You aren't responsible for my mistakes..."

Lucas didn't relax upon seeing Harry's compromising expression--at least, not at first. Everything suggested he was being sincere, but this could just as easily be a trick. After soundly beating him last time, some creativity would be necessary on Harry's part if he still wanted to fight Lucas.

It didn't seem to bother the person in question, however. Harry continued talking seemingly without playing any heed too whether Lucas was listening. As if it were just as important for him to give this apology as it was for Lucas to hear it.

"...and I am sorry I tried to beat you up. Can you forgive me?" The [Hunter] finally looked up to meet Lucas's eyes in plea.

"Uh, sure..." Lucas trailed off dumbly, and started to relax. It didn't seem as if there was any trick hidden here. "I honestly don't care anymore. You're forgiven."

Harry let out a sigh in what was likely relief. "Thank you. But is there anything I can do to help make it up to you?"

"Not really," Lucas shook his head. "Like I said, I don't really care anymore. I've got things to do, so bye." Lucas turned away and continued toward the north gate, definitively ending the strange encounter.

Harry didn't call out or try to hold him up anymore, so Lucas took that to mean his feelings on the matter had been properly conveyed. He hadn't lied when he said he didn't care anymore--though the [Hunter]'s attempted ambush hadn't been a pleasant experience, it had also helped him get those last few levels. The boy clearly had some issues to work through following his association with Regan, and Lucas had clearly been just an arbitrary target of opportunity.

It was over with now, so Lucas wouldn't waste anymore energy on the matter.

However, as he got closer to the gate--moving off to one side so it wasn't clear where exactly he was going--he kept a certain measure of his attention on where he had left Harry. The spot was quickly moving out of Lucas's range of enhanced perception, but he could tell the boy had yet to leave and was likely still watching Lucas's back. He wasn't exactly making it easy for Lucas to sneak out.

With some irritation, he continued down the direction he'd picked and followed the curve of the wall west. Then Harry started to follow him.

[*ding Congratulations! [Vigilance] has reached level 14!]

Looks like I'll get a chance to try out [Accelerant Frame] sooner than I expected.

With no warning, and no sudden movements, Lucas took a turn down a small path leading back into the village, effectively cutting himself off from his would-be stalker's sight. He immediately activated his augmentation Skill and felt an energizing wave spread across his body in an instant. It felt just like whenever he had too much of his mother's tea, but more. Lucas suddenly felt stronger than he ever had in his entire life--not all that dissimilar to when he first increased his stats, actually.

The surprise was enough to halt and distract Lucas for a moment, but he started moving again with a muttered curse when he heard quiet footsteps hurrying in his direction. Lucas didn't know why Harry decided to follow him, but it was annoying and he was determined to lose the [Hunter]. So he stopped pointlessly burning mana and got a move on, shooting down the path to the next closest intersection.

Lucas wound a twisting trail through the paths and made use of [Stealth] whenever possible. A couple of times he nearly collided with one villager or another, as he was unused to the sheer speed [Accelerant Frame] afforded him. He continued on faster than it took for any of them to holler a complaint and made more of an effort to control his movements. Eventually, he deactivated his Skill and slunk into the cover of an open woodshed, where he pressed his back against the far wall and did his best to catch his breath.

[*ding Congratulations! [Accelerant Frame] has reached level 2!]

"Whoo...That was fast," Lucas panted. A curious thought struck him, and he quickly opened up his status. All was in order, of course, but one thing caught his eye.

[MP: 190/330]

Yeesh! It was only up for, what? A handful of minutes? That is excessively mana-hungry.

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There was nothing for it. Lucas could only hope the Skill got more efficient with more levels, or at least with later evolutions. For now, he paid close attention to all he could make out around the woodshed. There was certainly foot traffic in the area, but none of it hurried, so he took a look beyond the sheltering wall.

Sure enough, no annoying [Hunter] in sigh--just people going about their day. Too much time had already been wasted in dodging that boy, so Lucas ducked out of the shed and took the first path headed to the south gate. He set a brisk pace, but one well within the limits of his DEX and [Stealth]. It was an open question how effective that General Skill had been while Lucas was barreling through the village like a chicken with its tail caught on fire. Only so much it could do at level 13.

[*ding Congratulations! [Stealth] has reached level 14!]

Scratch that, level fourteen. That was weird, like the System gave me a level for improving my understanding. Have I been thinking of [Stealth] wrong this entire time?

That consideration occupied his mind while Lucas continued on. Ultimately, he didn't come to any epiphany, but he resolved to test if any of his other Skills might level with greater understanding as well. He'd always naturally divided certain Skills into 'knowledge' or 'performance' categories, and he'd never been told that was incorrect, but Lucas thought he might have accidentally held onto an impactful misunderstanding here.

The south gate was open for anyone to pass through, so Lucas wasn't held up any more. He did get a strange look from one of the guards posted nearby for wandering outside without a basket of clothes to wash. He clearly wasn't taking care of chores, but the guard didn't bother him. It would've been strange for Lucas to go around the rocky west side of the village, however, as there was nothing in that direction that would bring him over, so he did head toward the stream.

Once there, Lucas drew close to the wall to get relatively out of sight and kept going. His destination was the tree hollow, and though his journey was complicated, it would still end there. The guards had become a lot more fastidious in their surveillance lately, however. Even if he stuck to [Stealth], he would have to time his break from the wall to the tree cover well to avoid being stopped.

As luck would have it, getting to the tree cover didn't actually prove difficult at all. Lucas was huddled up beside the gate, paying attention to the guard above through every sound they made, as well as Lucas's more unusual methods of perception, when someone on the other side of the wall called out.

"Hey, Kiya! Come down here for a moment, you gotta see this!" Whoever it was said with a resounding laugh.

For her part, the guard atop the wall, Lucas heard her turn back toward the other person. "What is it? Don't you have things to do, Larry? Why are you bothering me?"

"Ah, don't be like that! Just come down here--it'll only take a moment and I swear you'll get a kick out of it," Larry said.

"Lazy ass," Kiya muttered just loud enough for Lucas to overhear. Despite her reluctance, the guard started climbing down to see whatever Larry was trying to show her.

Lucas wasted no time in dashing forward to the tree line. He even pulse-activated his augmentation for the extra acceleration it would give him. His mana was still regenerating, so the slight dip was unfortunate, but he wouldn't be able to effectively make use of what he had left in training his Skills if he didn't make it to his chosen training grounds. Besides, [Rapid Regeneration] should bring it back soon enough.

Lucas at some point needed to figure out just how soon that was, though. It hadn't really been necessary so far, but he could think of several reasons why knowing his precise regeneration rates would prove useful, particular in maximizing his leveling progress.

He covered the ground to the tree line a moment later, and he stopped a few trees in to take a look back. The guard was just now getting back to her post and hadn't seen him. Lucas didn't wait around in view for long enough to give her a chance to do so.

The remaining trip to the tree hollow was blessedly uneventful. Lucas hiked through the forest undergrowth within sight of the northern road, but some distance away, and he thought over the task before him. First thing, he wanted to try to get a few Skills to round out his slots, and the first of those was actually quite easy. He'd already received it earlier, and simply hadn't had time to do the full status check necessary to slot it.

[*ding You have received the General Skill [Running]!]

[*ding You have learned [Running}!]

[Running: Decreased strain on stamina per level.]

It was a simple Skill, but there was a reason Lucas wanted it after he first unlocked. He had hopes for it to eventually evolve into a movement Class Skill. It would take some time and experimentation to figure out how to make that happen, but he could wait.

And he would, because [Running] could be trained whenever. There was no point in coming outside the village just for this one Skill. The next he intended to acquire was an active combat Skill, like a lightning beam or something he could use with a weapon--Lucas wasn't exactly sure yet, but he had ideas. The point was, he didn't want to mess around with that sort of magic within the confines of the village.

Just then, Lucas came up on the tree hollow and was confronted with the aftereffects of the recent storms. What lay before him was what once was the clearing of his tree hollow, but the surrounding trees had all been knocked down to completely remove the ground from view. So too, had the old and gnarled husk that formed the hollow fallen. Lucas climbed over several logs to make his way toward the center. Funnily enough, exposed to the open air and framed by several trees' roots, the hollow itself was now the one clear spot in the clearing.

Lucas dropped nearly his full height down into the hole in the ground. Some rubble lay at the bottom, but it was the work of only a few moments to clear it and make space for him to sit.

It may not be the worst thing in the end, Lucas thought as he stared up at the sky. At least I will be able to keep track of the time better, and a little more fresh air is nothing to complain about. Ok, back to work.

Lucas got comfortable, then started pulling mana out from his right hand. He didn't have much to spare at the moment, so he kept careful control over it even outside his body. The mana manifested as a chaotic blue crackle, lightning in the palm of his hand, just like when he'd incapacitated Harry with a shock. This was no accomplishment, but still he was awarded with a notification.

[*ding New Class Skills available!]

Mission accomplished, technically, but he knew he could do better. Lucas shifted in his spot on the ground and his concentration redoubled.