Patrick completed the inscription process on Garrick's bow just as Lucius finished explaining the situation with Magar in the south forest. Finally looking up from his work for the first time, he returned the bow to the bearded soldier before speaking up.

"I understand. I'll make sure everyone is aware of Magar. However, you've only just returned, and there are only a few hours of sunlight left in the day. At least spend the night and head out in the morning."

Lucius shook his head as he stepped away from the table, waving one hand behind him in the air as he headed toward the door.

"The darkness isn't a problem for me.", after responding to Patrick's concerns, Lucius said his last words to the soldiers on his way out, "Good luck on your journey home, all three of you. I expect to see you back here in one piece with your reinforcements when I return."

Tiber nodded silently in the direction of Lucius' retreating back, while Roland waved his large arm vigorously. Garrick was fully engrossed with inspecting his upgraded longbow, however, and remained quiet during the farewell.

Lucius stepped out of the front door and picked up his pace as soon as his feet passed from the wood floor of the front patio onto the soil of the surrounding yard. He could feel his new armor's 'Close to the Earth' attribute boosting his movement speed as he ran. The feeling of increased mobility was similar to how it felt to add points to Dexterity, just without the sudden rush of power that came from permanently raising an attribute.

The outside air was cool and clean as it blew against his face, the sun already starting to move from its peak towards the western side of the clear blue sky. The air just outside the farmhouse was thick with the smell of iron from the drying pelts set up around the area. Lucius figure quickly passed by the two men chopping wood in the front yard as he leaned into his forward momentum, steadily increasing his speed more and more with each step.

Between his highest attribute—the Dexterity he had invested so much in that it had bumped him up to D-Class—and the boost from his new armor, Lucius's speed had become surprising even to himself. He was excited for night to fall; then he could increase his speed even further through Mythification. When he reached the edge of the property, he was moving twice as fast as the top speed of even the swiftest of the spiders, which happened to be James's personal mount, Ellie.

He tried to wave to Scott and Helen as he passed by, but the two unsuspecting guards were barely able to perceive a blur of color and wind as he moved past. If they hadn't seen him leaving the farmhouse before he picked up so much speed, they would think they were under attack. Nevertheless, the movement startled the spiders beneath them, causing the frightened creatures to skitter around in circles as they searched for the perceived threat.

He considered stopping when he saw Helen tumble to the floor from the back of her spider, quietly mumbling an apology that was impossible for her to hear as he glanced back at her over is shoulder. However, the knowledge that Maryanne's mother was currently in the hands of murderous thugs came back into the forefront of his thoughts, and instead of slowing down, he pushed himself to move even faster.

A whirlwind of dust and leaves danced through the air in a long tail that grew larger as it spread out behind him. As he ran, Lucius pulled the mental image of Garrick's map up in his mind, double-checking the route as he passed from the long winding driveway onto the road. The boost in intelligence from his ring had granted him the ability to hold vivid images in his mind like never before. It used to be difficult for Lucius to see any image clearly in his mind for more than an instant, and pulling up something as detailed as a map would have been impossible for him before.

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In addition, his short-term and long-term memory had become more reliable than he ever imagined possible. Any trepidation he might have felt about allowing the system's magic to influence his mind had been pushed aside by the indisputable benefits.

As Lucius moved through the forest at top speed, he felt various threats appearing within the range of Sense Danger, popping up as messages from the system one after another. But, either because of his speed or his aspect, none of the creatures seemed capable of following him, and none of the threats were greater than F-Class. So even if they made their way to the farm while he was gone, the people there should be able to defend themselves without issue.

The journey from the cabin where he first met the soldiers to the farmhouse had taken around four hours. Lucius had been carrying Maryanne on his back at that time, moving at speed slow enough for Tiber, Roland, and Garrick to follow. Now, alone and moving with great haste, Lucius made the return journey in less than an hour. The cabin marked the halfway point between the farmhouse and the place they had spotted Maryanne's mother, Sarah.

He could reach the area in one additional hour of travel if he maintained his current speed, but Lucius chose not to. There was no guarantee that the large group of men he was searching for had remained in the same area. In fact, it was quite likely that they hadn't. Luckily, those men were his enemies, so he could use a combination of Sense Danger and Novice Tracker to hunt them down.

Lucius dropped his rate of movement to half of his top speed, beginning to focus his attention on the road ahead. His perception gained a massive boost from Novice Tracker the moment he started actively searching for tracks. Right away, he was able to follow the three sets of footprints that the soldiers must have left behind on their original journey; he was currently following the same route they took to reach the cabin after escaping from the group of men, just moving in the opposite direction.

Sense Danger has detected an F-Class threat!

He soon discovered that he was not the only one following the footprints of Tiber's group, and after over an hour of following the tracks through the dense forest, Lucius felt a unique sensation from Sense Danger that could only be coming from a large group of F-Class threats. When he focused his perception and sensed that the group was slowly moving down the road towards him, his eyes shot open wide as he came to the realization that he had found his target already.

Lucius glanced up towards the sun, noting that there was at least half an hour remaining until nightfall, and decided to step off the road into the forest and wait for the men to arrive. He took deep breaths to stabilize his heavy breathing from the long, intense run as he stood behind a pair of large evergreen trees, the strong smell of pine flooding into his nose as he took in air through his nostrils.

He waited silently after catching his breath, standing perfectly still as he rested his eyes and focused on the sensation being provided to him by Sense Danger. When the approaching threats he was sensing finally came close enough that he began to hear the unmistakable sounds of human speech off in the distance, he opened his eyes and caught his first sight of the group.

Lucius' brows rose, his eyes narrowing to slits as he focused his gaze on the large bearded man in a plaid-colored, long-sleeved shirt walking at the head of the distant group. His fingers clenched into fists as he glanced from the picture in his hand up towards the bearded man walking down the road towards him.

Inside the storage ring, Whisper could sense the turmoil rising up inside of Lucius. The tiny creature climbed out from the warm pile of blankets he was snuggled inside of, letting out a deep yawn before speaking.

"What's wrong, Father?"

Lucius glanced down at his ring, answering the mythical creature in a hushed tone.

"I'm not sure, but I plan to find out soon. Any guesses exactly why the hell Maryanne's father is leading the group of men that kidnapped his own wife?"