Zack just... Wandered. It's what he was told to do, rewarded for doing, and frankly, what he wanted to do. After growing a bit more informed, Miller had one of the assistants in the town hall run a few tests with him. Few hours later, lo and behold, they had some guesses on how exactly Wanderlust worked.

Once you had a destination in mind, as long as you kept moving if you didn't intentionally divert from the path you would reach it. They'd hidden things around the town, told Zack to find them, and then a few hours later he was back with it.

Mind you not through sheer coincidence, no, as in they'd hide a small pebble that was just ever so slightly out of place near a fence. Yet still Zack would miraculously manage to find it. Bringing back results every single time. They tried it thrice before they were certain, Zack's skill was ludicrous.

He was literally invaluable, an unknown skill that had never been recorded, at least to the villagers knowledge. Which held incredibly powerful properties, all at a no EGO, tier 2 class. Absolutely nothing he set his mind to finding would be able to hide from him. And all he had to do... Was walk. It was frankly unbelievable, yet the proof stood right in front of them regardless.

Zack had rather quickly been wrapped up into a search party. turns out when you offee a service that quite literally nobody in the wider province can provide... You're treated fairly well regardless of your supposed amnesia. But there was one simple caveat to his ability...

"Zack, I don't mean to doubt your ability..." Kalee started slowly. "But we've been out here from just past midday to dusk. Are you sure it works, or at least in a timely manner?"

Kalee was one of those supposed "EGO" users. The three who had slaughtered their way through an entire horde of monsters on their own. Apparently, the monster he'd been sent to track down was just a troublesome beast type that had grown fairly powerful in the last flux. A test run of his skill, if you will.

The only reason they really cared was cause it had the good sense to run when the compulsion was gone. Supposedly monsters that had the brains to think like that turned out a bit stronger, more of a threat.

Nothing too major at the moment though. And certainly not something that demanded the attention of one of the three strongest humans in the town. And for that matter, fairly competent in the wider scheme of things. But she was supposedly sent to guarentee Zack's safety.

"Well, I'm fairly sure it works. No idea how I'd have found what I did if it didn't. But it did take me hours... in hindsight, I probably should've requested this wait till tomorrow morning. But regardless if we stop now we'll have to start from scratch."

"Well I'd rather not do that... There's always a chance something a bit more urgent will happen that needs me or the boys. So the less total time I need to spend out of town the better. But are you even sure it works on this scale?"

"No, I'm not. But to my knowledge that's pretty much exactly what this is. A field test to check if wanderlust works on this level- Oh, neat."

"Hm?"

"Ah, sorry, I leveled up."

"Again? Your class seems to level fairly quickly."

"Well i wouldn't really know, not much to compare it to."

"Well my own rate of growth was fairly similar, and people called me pretty good. Plus, if your skill works out well, I'd say you've got a pretty good future lined out for you when this whole rising flux buisness i-" Kalee stopped speaking and held a finger to her lips in a shushing motion.

She no longer held doubts about Zack's skill. Afterall, she was staring at their quarry. With an expert hand she drew her blade from it's sheath. Drawing the black blade silently, a thin red glow enveloped the sword. Dying it in the color of... Whatever the aura was.

Kalee slowly advanced as the rest of the party stayed back, speaking of the rest of the party. Zack hadn't caught all of their names, but they were mostly uniform in their attire. Wearing equipment similar to his own, he blended right in.

Back to the forefront, Kalee was nearly right on top of the monster. A grizzly thing, large in size with bloodstained claws and a red maw, the beast laid on the ground breathing in and out slowly, nestled into nearby foliage. The blood on it clearly not its own. It had likely just fed.

Kalee's attack came in one instant. A flash of red leaving only a fine line through the beasts torso... It was dead before it even realized it.

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Kalee sheathed her sword and stood up, holding a thumbs up for the rest of the group to see. With a few light steps, she returned to the group with an easy grace.

"Well Zack, let me apologize. You've probably just solved our greatest issue, besides the fluxes, anyways."

"And that'd be?" He asked a bit shocked at the efficiency of the kill. A clear difference between what he'd seen just earlier today.

"Dealing with the stronger monsters before they become a real problem. We didn't have anybody with the appropriate tracking skills beforehand, and now we have a tracker who is guarenteed to find his quarry. Basically, you've just saved us an unreal amount of trouble by, well, existing."

"Well then... Uh, glad to hear it?"

Kalee snorted in amusement as she sheathed her sword. "Oh you don't even get what you've been blessed with do you? Oh well, people rarely do anyways."

"What in the world is that supposed supposed to mean?" Zack asked a moment later

"Well, you've effectively been given a purpose by the gods themselves. People are rarely ever given initial classes with such clear cut abilities. And those who have almost always achieve higher levels of EGO class then most. Your path and purpose are practically laid out for you, and as long as you accept it your potential is frankly absurd."

"Uh... Huh..."

"Heh, don't worry about it. You should have time to figure it out, even if we're literally in the midst of a global crisis."

"Yeah I wanted to ask about that actually, what is up with everybody and this rising flux thing?"

"I'm honestly not sure if you're lying anymore, if you're acting, you are great at it."

"Well it's a shame that I'm not then isn't it?"

"Hah, alright. I'll tell you all about it on the way back. JAXON!"

One of the party members broke away from conversation with a friend to answer Kalee's call, standing at the ready as soon as he was in her presence. "Yes, Kalee?"

"Make sure we've got the right way back to town, much as Mr. Wanderer here is effective, he takes a long ass time to actually find the way. So if we didn't have to do that, it'd be great. Thanks jaxon."

"Right, I'll let the others know." He said before walking back to his previous conversationalists.

"Well then, shall we get going?"

...

"So, seriously though what's up with this rising flux thing?"

They were currently on their way back, and Kalee stayed true to her word.

"Think of it as a world wide flux that occurs once every few hundred years. But instead of ending the day after, it repeats every single day for years. And boom, that's the rising flux period pretty much. It's been especially nasty in comparison to the history books, and it's only been a few months since it started as well..."

"Right, and a flux is...?" Zack hesitantly asked his follow up question.

Kalee gave him a hefty dose of side eye before sighing and explaining anyways.

"Ok, think of it as a period of time that greatly increases the production rate of mana Leylines, like, a thousand times over. Normally this is a thing that happens like once every few months for a single day. And it's both good and bad. Good because the mana leylines produce a lot more valuable materials... Bad, because they make a lot more monsters too."

"...And a mana l-"

"Yeah, yeah, I thought so." Kalee sighed again. "Patches of the planet that infuse magic into everything nearby. Makes monsters but also makes valuable materials. They tend to get stronger the closer they are to the center of the planet as well. The smaller ones make less but they're generally more potent."

"Alright thanks, I just hear everybody mentioning the fluxes and I don't really know what they are you know?"

"It's fine, I'm starting to believe the amnesia bit a little more now. This is like the most basic of knowledge, it'd be embarrassing to just not know it."

"Ahah... Right... Well, would you mind indulging one last question?"

"Why not?" Kalee responded haphazardly.

"Miller basically just told me, kill everything in that general direction force when I asked. But uh... what exactly is an EGO user?"

She looked at Zack for a moment before shrugging. "That ones a bit difficult to explain, I'll tell you more when we're back in town. Deal?"

"I mean, sure, deal."