"What do you think?" I ask, and Aluci looks over for a moment before returning to napping. "Lazy dream beast. I know you spend a significant part of your time hanging out in people's dreams, but I also know you can do that while you're awake, Aluci."

The dream beast doesn't respond, so I roll my eyes at him knowing full well he's aware of the action.

What I was asking him about were my thoughts on what to do now. I've been here for just over a week now and my days have been largely the same. Wake up, eat breakfast, clear up more of the area around the camp, hunt something for lunch, then spend the afternoon working some more before hunting something for dinner, then heading to bed. For my afternoons, I either scout around to forage for materials and learn the area, work on preparing wood for my fires and adjusting my shelter, do more work clearing the area, or practice magic a little before resting for the remainder of the afternoon.

Well, that last one was only yesterday, and only because I was tired of doing so much physical work. I've built up a decent amount of mana capacity now thanks to my initial spell usage and still gain a little bit of Skill Level, such as the point into [Arcane Magic] I gained upon waking this morning, so it should probably be fine for me to use magic more casually.

The limiting factor on what I can do is now mainly how strong I am rather than how much mana I have.

Rowan Zovanzik HP: 100/100 HP Regen: 0.001/second MP: 1,637/1,900 MP Regen: 0.019/second Strength: 10 Constitution: 10 Dexterity: 10 Magic: 25 Mind: 13

While 25 Magic is actually a decent amount, I still need to spend a fair bit of Mana to perform acts which I could do with far less before Zolbiatz reset my Skills and sent me here.

At least I managed to clear a straight path to the stream, except it's overgrowing again already just as everything is. Things grow out between one and three feet over the course of a day so I need to stay on top of keeping things cleared up. The bigger a zone I've cleared, the more work it is to keep it so.

What I asked Aluci about was if I should start cutting down trees. That might help reduce the growth at least a little. An area as rich in mana as this one is also partially influenced by what's already present. The presence of trees probably encourages other plants to grow a little more.

Cutting some down won't create a massive change to the area but it should at least slow down the growth at the edges of my camp by a small amount. I'd need to cut down all of the ones in my camp and beyond, clear out everything in that range, and do the same for the path to the stream to really make a difference.

At least I have enough mana to use spells more often, as that'll enable me to continue to gain some of my magical Skill Levels back a little quickly. I'll probably reach Level 5 in them within a month, maybe even less.

For most of them.

Just like with [Time Magic], I have an innate mind magic – [Empathy]. It's passive at all times and allows me to feel any mind within its range, which is limited to 3 feet per 1 Mind. Since the magic is always active for me, it's constantly gaining Skill Experience, which is why it went up even without me having other people around.

Considering it was over Level 30 before the reset, and [Casting] also boosted Mind, I had a pretty decent range until just over a week ago.I was pretty young the last time my range was small, and it's not often I would ever have human minds not within it. Not having the minds of others within my range is a bit… disconcerting, to say the least. I'm not used to it and it's making me really think about interacting with some of the villagers.

I didn't realize until I was without contact with others for so long how much I like it.

Maybe I could pay a visit to the village today instead of doing my work?

Before I can ask Aluci about him turning into a horse for faster travel, a vision flashes through my mind. Another involuntary one, this one carrying with it a note of strain and stress.

The forest is still calm and quiet, winter only now beginning to end. It could be the current time period or it could be sometime in the future based on the view alone. The sun is high in the sky and the undergrowth and trees less dense than they are around my camp.

A boy who looks around eight or nine wanders the woods, carrying a bug in his hands. Returning home, unaware that he's being stalked by a wolf with a brown fur streaked with grey, a small grey horn protruding from the center of its head.

[Time Magic] is now Level 5! +100 MP +1 Magic

The moment the vision ends, I pull on my boots and tunic and look at Aluci.

"Urgent job," I tell him. "I'll be back soon."

Aluci gives me a curious look, then returns to his rest. I don't bother him with stuff like this unless speed is really of the essence. Based on what I could tell from the vision, it occurs a little after noon, and it's barely sunrise. I have plenty of time to track down that wolf and end its life.

The reason I know when the vision is stems from the very nature of involuntary [Foresight]. If it occurs close enough to the now, I can tell how far out it was. This didn't feel like more than a day out to me, so I know it's an event occurring today. A warning from my power that a boy will lose his life if one who knows about it doesn't take action.

Visions aren't always accurate, but they're more so the closer to the now they are when they occur.

The lighter amount of underbrush indicates that it's probably closer to the edge of the forest than where I'm now living. Since the boy is only about eight or nine, he's probably not too far away from the village, either.

While the maps I've seen of this region are no doubt out of date, they probably aren't so much so that I don't know where my camp actually is. I'm northwest of the village, so I head southeast.

I keep alert as I travel and once the forest has lightened up a little, I cast [Divine]. Divination magic works better with a focus to use on it, but I've gotten strong enough and I'm skilled enough that I can take some shortcuts.

The coloration of the wolf and the presence of its horn indicates that it's a stoneseeker wolf, capable of sensing vibrations in soil and stone to track its prey while leaving no tracks in the soil itself. A horn that's two inches in length means that it lacks the ability to conjure stone armor to protect its joints and more fleshy parts. Standing at nearly three and a half feet at its shoulders, it probably has around 20 Strength and Constitution, and close to that in Agility as well.

That last bit of detail will be important for taking it down, while the rest is important for shortcutting the divination. It's actually hard to use [Divine] for an animal of any kind, so I tailor it for where there are tracks in plants but not in soil.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Nothing happens, so I travel further south and cast it again. My range on the spell is the same as with [Track], so I can only detect the signs I'm looking for within 625 feet of me. After about twenty minutes of searching, I locate the traces of the wolf and head towards where the glow in my vision rests.

No paw prints in the soil, but there are some disturbances in the grass, where they were flattened as something walked across it. Slight shifts in some of the herbs and flowers. Small bits of damage. The lack of prints suggests the tracks are old, but [Divine] rarely fails me.

I cast [Track] this time and find a trail glowing in my vision, marks of the wolf's path visible only to me. Following it, I eventually locate the wolf… who stalks me before I see him. Unfortunately for him, he's also pretty close to me, allowing me to sense his mind.

He seems intent on watching me from close by while remaining just barely out of sight, using trees and bushes to conceal himself. Unfortunately for him, not only do I have a passive [Empathy] but I'm used to being hunted. I wouldn't even need my magic to notice him.

Once I feel the shift in his mind which suggests he's going to attack, I decide to act, casting a spell twice before even turning around. The wolf lets out a yelp as there's an impact to the ground, his mind filling with surprise, then anger as he begins to struggle.

I turn around to face the wolf, now held against the ground by an unseen force. [Bind], to be specific. A spell which conjures cords of magical force to hold an enemy in place. My aim was as precise as ever and I grabbed him while he was in the air after jumping at me.

Two [Bind]s keep him down but one was probably enough. The reason I wanted two was so that he'd realize he can't get free more quickly. The moment he does, he lifts his head to let out a howl, confirming to me that there's more than one of his kind in the area.

Not that he'll be able to alert them, as the moment he begins to lift his head, I perform a horizontal slash with two fingers. A deep cut forms in the wolf's neck and blood begins to flow out of it. The howl is cut off, my attack having cut all the way down to the spine.

The wolf's head drops to the ground as it gurgles on its own blood. I wasn't able to cut through the spine and sever its spinal cord, but at least it's no longer thrashing its head around. I point at the wolf's now-still head and its left eye bursts, fluid leaking out as the wolf's brain is battered by concussive force.

The only reason my [Magic Missile]s glow and look blue when I hunt the rabbits is so I don't completely destroy them. Perfect force-type spells are completely invisible to the naked eye and are stronger than imperfect ones.

Upon slaying the wolf, a vision flashes through my mind, a sign that I've altered fate with what I'd learned.

The boy appears in my mind again, this time showing off to his parents the same bug he'd carried in the last vision. With this wolf dead, the boy's life continues.

The last spell I used in the hunt finally pushes me over the threshold for a magic Skill which requires a lot more Skill Experience than the other magic Skills, too. Hunting down such a strong beast was also enough for another Skill to increase, even if the battle was easy for me.

[Casting] is now Level 1! +100 MP +1 Magic +1 Mind

[Hunting] is now Level 1! +1 Strength +1 Dexterity

Most mages only ever receive increases to their Mind stat through the [Casting] Skill, but it's also not important for most outside of resisting effects from certain creatures. Proper mind mages like me are pretty rare as it's a more complex school of magic. I can only use it at my age because I was born with it.

As for [Hunting]… it usually takes longer to boost that one up in Level. If I were hunting things more suitable to my Skill Level in it, it would probably take me a year. The wolf was a bit stronger than that, though, and by enough that it gave a lot of [Hunting] Skill Experience. When combined with my bonuses… that was probably enough to grant me a Level entirely on its own, before factoring in what the rabbits have given me.

Not that it matters, since leftover Skill Experience doesn't carry over after reaching a Level. I might gain enough while I sleep tonight to bump that up to Level 2, though.

For now, I should bring this beast home. There's no reason to leave it here when that might just cause alarm for the village. The second vision has let me know the danger has passed for now, and I'm sure I'll receive more if there's another immediate danger.

I don't know why I receive the visions I do, but when I receive one that's about a danger of a specific type near me, I tend to keep receiving warnings of it until the chance is gone.

Manipulating one of the [Bind]s, I bind the neck of the wolf so that it stops bleeding all over the ground. What's here will be absorbed soon enough and I doubt the other wolves in the pack will investigate too much or take revenge on the village for it. They'll more likely notice my scent and try to hunt me down, especially since I'm taking the corpse of their brother with me.

One good thing about [Bind] is that there's no mana cost for sustaining it – it lasts until either it runs out, it breaks, or it's canceled. I detach the [Bind]s from the ground and adjust them so that they're wrapped around the wolf, then lift the whole thing up into the air using the binds themselves.

This part does cost some mana, but it's more reasonable than if I were to do this while the spell already had a cost-over-time.

I'm able to make it back to my camp without dropping too low in mana, then I begin the process of butchering the beast and starting its pelt on curing. The air here is still cool enough I don't have to worry too much about leaving the meat out for a few hours, so I get the pelt taken care of, then stare at the meat. It's currently hanging from a branch at the edge of my camp so that it can drain into a small pit of stone I created the other day just for the purpose of hanging stuff to bleed out.

While it might not be guaranteed safe for people to eat without cooking all the way through normally, I can cleanse it of such issues with my magic. The problem is storing it long-term as there's more meat here than what I can eat in a couple of weeks. Things might warm up a bit before I finish it off, then I'll have to worry about spoilage.

Looks like I should make a cooling box. The question is… out of wood or stone? Crafting one out of wood will take physical labor and a little bit of mana, while making it out of stone will take a decent amount of mana but less physical labor.

When I set up camps before, I'd be able to create one in less than five minutes using my magic, either filled with ice or ready for enchanting.

"Oh, screw it," I mutter, then grab my axe and start chopping branches off of trees.

Each branch I remove is around 1.5" in thickness and at least four feet in length. The ones which are longer are cut down to that length once I have enough of them. Then, I begin binding them together with twine.

What Zolbiatz gave me wasn't enough, but I know how to make twine well enough and have done that a little over the past week during some of my more relaxed time. Most of it is low-quality but I'll be able to make some sturdier twine over the next week. What I did make before now however, is enough for what I'm crafting.

The branches are bound into five squares, on frames of branches 2.5" in thickness. Those frames are then bound together to form a cube with an open side and once I make sure everything is sturdy, I pull out a stick I prepared for enchanting yesterday.

This one is sturdier than the one I used my first night and can handle mana being channeled through it better. While it's no inscribing pen, it can handle more than three small rune sets before breaking. I did cut this stick down so that it resembles a pen in size, though, as that makes it easier to use for smaller details.

After thirty minutes of drawing magic runes onto the frame of the box, the thicker branches being on the inside, I examine the glowing markings. Almost done… I push forward with my hands to cast a spell into it and the runes flare up for a moment, then dim. The light from the runes remains consistent even if not as bright as they were before, and the air within the box becomes colder.

Perfect.

I use my magic to create a stone pad 2" thick with a completely smooth surface, its sides just barely long enough that the box will fit over it. A few adjustments are necessary to ensure it's a snug fit, mostly so the box won't pop off on its own. Additional runes are drawn onto the pad, then I cast a spell onto it.

This method costs more mana, but lasts longer. The cooling enchantment in the box and the vermin ward on the pad will last for weeks. If I had better materials, I could make ones that the magical society would consider "permanent", which means they can last for decades.

Now that I've taken care of the wolf and prepared a spot to store its meat, it's time to forage a little and hunt a rabbit, to prepare something for lunch. I'll need to make sure I minimize my mana usage, though… I used quite a lot to hunt the wolf, then create longer-lasting enchantments.

I am so looking forward to the day I have a lot more mana and don't need to worry about conserving it as much in case of an attack. Being so low is a pain.