"That was a nice battle." I heard the tower spirit's voice in my head.

"Hello spirit. Glad that you liked it. " I replied to him while trying not to get distracted from my work.

"I enjoyed it a lot actually. Twice the leadership increased the number of orcs that were to attack you. But you did an excellent job and showed the enviable strategic skills of your race."

"What if I had lost?"

"I don't think it's that easy. And orcs love killing elves. You could always escape or something. Don't worry, it wouldn't be the first deadly danger in this game by any means. That's what you're here for, to be tested again and again, to see exactly where your limits are and how you handle the difficulties. Your ingenuity in the game is especially important to the evaluation of your race. And that assessment can bring you a variety of different bonuses and rewards."

"And help some individuals who have placed bets on us," I added with a smile.

"That too" smiled the tower ghost mental projection in my mind.

"Spirit, why didn't you show me that telepathy trick?"

"You know I can't do things like that. If I get caught helping, we'll both be in big trouble."

"Yeah, but that's going to demonstrate our creativity and give a positive assessment of my race, isn't it?" smiled I.

"Ha ha, very funny. Let's be more serious, Meridin. I'm here to warn you. Your race has been through the first trial. And you survived despite the dangers."

"Have all 1,000 human camps survived to this point?" I asked.

"I can't tell you the exact number, but far from all of them managed to organize well enough. In many towers, people were forced to hide in the forests and fight for their survival. In addition, several races did so poorly that they dropped out of the game and their participants were brought back. Their future will not be bright in your far-flung corner of the galaxy. You have passed the first test, but it is not enough."

"What does it mean Spirit? What can I do."

"I can't tell you anything specific. But at least you're doing well. Just be yourself and move forward. But be careful. You're here to be tested again and again. Find your sources of strength and get to know yourself. Don't stop in one place. Train hard, like your life.. and the future of your race depends on it."

The spirit of the tower stayed for a while and we talked quite a bit. Over an hour passed and the elves were ready to hit the road again. Many of the wounded lay on stretchers or stepped slowly leaning on sturdy branches like crutches.

I helped with what I could and called on my bear to clear a path for us through the forest as we progressed.

"Agradela, we may not make it on our own. Perhaps it would be better to send a small group of healthy elves forwards to seek help."

"You're right Meridin. I'll send people." the tired elf agreed.

"I will stay to guard you. So everything will be alright. If we are lucky and get help in time, we might not even face any more orcs." I hastened to add.

"Let's hope you're right." said Agradela and lost herself among the elves.

Agradela chose five of the strongest elves, and I have given her a few of my potions and supplies. After that, they bade farewell to their fellows and marched on.

"May the moon be their guide, in this dangerous journey," said Agradela.

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"Let's hope it leads them, whatever that means," I added.

******

We really didn't encounter any other orcs during the day. But we did get attacked by goblins a few times. The first time they managed to surprise me, since my bear doesn't have the keen sense of smell of my hellhounds, and besides, they approached from downwind.

We lost four elven lives in that clash. Immediately afterwards I summoned my hounds, and it was not long before I found that the little creatures had remained nearby and were following us. I attacked them with my pack and eliminated them ruthlessly. I had seen what they were capable of and showed no mercy to them.

Over the next few hours we were attacked several more times, but the hounds patrolling around our group always warned me in time and I was prepared for the goblin ambushes. I would send my hound to sneak up and surprise the goblins, and thus foil their traps.

After multiple rest stops, our slow exhausted group finally found a suitable place to spend the night, and I was forced to stay awake most of the night, as there were many dangers in the region. This wasn't a problem though, as I needed to practice my skills. My summoning skills were going well, and soon I would be able to summon several new creatures. My mana control and my new fire element needed a lot of work, though.

From seven p.m in the evening, until three in the morning, I stayed and trained hard. It was a full eight hours of hard training, and finally I went to bed exhausted for a few short hours, with my special creatures.

The next morning, I woke up surprisingly fresh. It turned out that Agradela hadn't woken me up early, because the camp pick-up had been delayed by about an hour. During the night some of the wounded had deteriorated and had to be stabilized.

"Everyone needed a break, Meridin. Don't be angry."

I sighed and tried to soften my gaze.

"I know we can't afford to waste time Meridin, but we killed all those orcs. It might be days before the news reaches the orc camps. And just as much until another hunt is organized. If there ever is one."

"What about the goblins?"

"That's why I decided to delay our departure a bit. We need to rebuild our strength so we can get out of these thrice cursed goblin territories."

I disagreed with Agradela, but there was no point in arguing. Instead, I insisted that we leave as quickly as possible and soon we were on our way again.

And so the following days passed both quickly and slowly. The hours rolled slowly and we often had to fight off attacks from goblins and predators. We were even attacked by a huge forest troll, which we brought down with the help of my bear, multiple arrows, and my fire spells. We were then chased by strange creatures resembling large magical foxes that followed us for hours. I summoned my imps and after attacking them several times, they gave up.

We took more casualties, but luckily for us, no other orcs attacked us. Towards the end of the third day, we were greeted by a group of Elven warriors riding large horned stags! The group we had sent ahead had traveled a considerably greater distance, and although they too had gone through various tribulations, they had made it to their territory and brought help.

Instead of stopping for the night, we drank a few times of a strange tea, with an effect similar to strong coffee, and continued on our way. And so, the next day, hours after the sun rose we reached the border territory of the elves and a small fortified village.

According to the maps I drew, the distance to the human camp wasn't that far and if I ran for about two days, I could come back without a problem.

Agradela was greeted rather more formally than the other elves, and turned out she was one of several high-ranking captives taken in the last major orc raid. Turns out that the orcs had managed to penetrate the first line of the elves' defenses, and during the following desperate battle, a large group of orcs had managed to break through and had kidnaped numerous captives.

In our group were two such captives. Agradela and Leylin. The elves spoke at length among themselves, but I did not understand their language. After the conversations ended, Agradela approached me:

"Meridin, everyone is very grateful for the help you gave us and for the orcs you have killed in our rescue and flight. You once asked about the telepathy spell, and for more information on the orc forces. I think we can repay you by providing you with that information."

"Thank you, Lady Agradela," I said, bowing slightly.

"I'm not a 'Lady', I'm one of the Goddess' priests in training."

“One of the high ranking priestess in training” I added, to which Agradela blushed slightly.

As we were talking, food was brought to us and my eyes were drawn to the warm meal. We hadn't eaten since the night before and I hungrily attacked it, barely able to keep my manners.

After about an hour, we were on the road again. We were going to a nearby town where there was a big temple of the Goddess. There, Agradela would take care of my reward and arrange for me to meet with some high-ranking elfs.

On the way, however, we started to meet different military units. After questioning some of them, we found out that an army of orcs had been intercepted at the border.