Davis sat on the trunk of a fallen tree and stared at his bloodied, trembling palms. It had been a week since they started training— at least, that was what Veles said since he himself still couldn’t figure out the passage of time inside this dark forest, his inner clock had been messed up for quite some time.

And Davis truthfully had no idea how to describe this week-long experience. It was valuable beyond his wildest imagination. He’d honestly learned more than the previous years he spent honing his skill.

Everything Veles showed him perfectly worked with his gifts. For someone who previously could use mana only to enchant the parts of his body. The moment Veles explained to him how he could—without much effort—manipulate the earth in a certain area, Davis felt like the whole new world was open to him.

He could shape the earth in a radius of three meters around him with ease. Just a tiny foot tap on the ground with mana was enough for him to have a lump of earth floating in front of him to serve as a shield. However, it took a lot of work to maintain it floating. But if timed perfectly, Davis was sure he could block attacks with greater ease. He couldn’t even imagine all the attacks he could launch. Hurling a lump of dirt at someone’s head would be quite deadly or even provide a decent opening.

That was also when Davis truly noticed Veles’s genius. The tricks and sneaky attacks he showed left Davis in awe. The one that mainly stuck with Davis was a very interesting concept of pitfall. Veles explained how to create a very small ‘room’ below his feet that would be supported with a small pillar in the middle to hold the top. This pillar would hold the patch of the earth that served as a lid of pitfall. The only problem with this was that while Davis stood on it, he needed to constantly channel the mana to prevent it from collapsing. But when he, for example, dodged an attack backward. His opponent would step on it and have his leg sunk into the ground, creating a perfect opening.

Unfortunately, this pitfall move and how to create small protrusions on the ground to disturb the enemy’s footwork proved very hard to master. Davis had a hard time fine-tuning his mana to perform such moves, and most of the time, it would be visible what he was doing, giving his opponent an idea of how to react.

For this exact reason, Veles forced him to focus mainly on practicing how to improve his body enchantment skills with a focus on experimenting with how the two of his Mana Cores affected him. And well, the result was surprising…

When he used the Earth Mana type from his heart to enchant his forearm, Davis could feel his muscles and even bones becoming sturdy. But somehow, moving a muscle felt weird, almost painful. And when he tried with Magma Mana type—as Veles called it—he could only feel enormous heat that would turn unbearable after a few seconds. So, he had to focus mainly on normal mana enchantment.

And here he was, forced for three days straight to practice only one move, a classic frontal spear stab. Davis first wondered why Veles told him to do something absurd like this. But the result was apparent. Now even without thinking, he could subconsciously enchant a specific set of muscles to perform the best possible stab his current ability allowed.

However, now came the bad part. Veles’s way of teaching, which was extremely brutal…

The way Davis worked on his stab was crazy. Veles especially said he needed to train it by continuously stabbing the tree until it was chopped down. And warned not to play stupid tricks like stabbing and then moving a spear to the side to remove tiny pieces of wood. No, he had to stab and then pull back with no extra movement. Of course, when he tried to play smart about it, Veles would attack him out of nowhere, and those attacks were not just for the sake of punishment. They were intended to hurt him badly— after experiencing a few, Davis gave out on the idea of being a smartass and did as he was told. The only saving grace in the end was that Veles didn’t point at the thickest tree in the vicinity…

Now Davis was looking at his palms, especially the lack of flesh on them. There were a few places where the bone was clearly visible, but he was not allowed to stop despite that. He must say, when he finally managed to bring that hateful tree down, it brought him an enormous wave of satisfaction…

“You did a good job for a human.” A jolly voice broke him out of his stupor.

Haring it, Davis stiffened. He then looked next to him and watched as a small squirrel nibbled on some acorns.

“Thank you, Esteemed Overlord. Your praise means a lot,” replied Davis. Giving his best to show respect to the small talking squirrel that was actually the Tenth Stage beast disguised as a small cute animal.

The critter smiled at him. His every action and feature appeared extremely human-like. “How unexpected for someone following that bastard to show some respect. I’m much pleased, young man.”

At this moment, Veles chimed in from the distance. “I told you not to stoke the ego of that little furry rat. The other beasts would hear no end of it later. This little gossiper cannot keep his mouth shut.”

The squirrel sat next to Davis, crossing its small legs and arms. Displaying clear annoyance. “I already apologized, old man. No need to be grumpy. It’s unbecoming of your age.”

And Veles sure didn’t like being called the old man. Davis noted this, for future’s sake…

“Tch,” Veles clicked his tongue. “If I had known they would send you to fulfill the deal. I would’ve taken some extra precautions. After all, what good could an annoying rat that knows only how to talk do.”

Davis wanted to rub his forehead. Unfortunately, his fingers were all messed up. Heated arguments between Veles and the talking Squirrel had been an everyday occurrence ever since the small Overlord revealed himself.

Apparently, the Nimble Overlord of the South was supposed to watch over them and keep quiet. But he grew bored and decided to join them, which irritated Veles greatly. Then it was nonstop back and forth between the two. Davis honestly never expected Veles to behave like this. It would seem like the Squirrel rubbed him the wrong way.

“I’m done,” Olivia said out of a sudden. She moved the plate she ate from to the side and expectedly looked at Veles. “Can we continue our practice?”

Davis noticed Veles blankly staring at her, and even he himself couldn’t come to terms with how someone could change this much in a short period of time—even the Squirrel gave her a weird eye.

She proved to be a lot more talkative while giving almost zero care for anything that was happening around her. She would interrupt serious talks to ask questions that had nothing to do with the current topic or sometimes rudely ignore something that was of no interest to her.

Anyhow this wasn’t the biggest problem… It was her passion for getting stronger. She was eager to face anything Veles threw her way… very eager in fact. Her excited expression was impossible to miss, while her whole physical appearance screamed that she needed a serious rest.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

It was no wonder why Veles wisely kept a safe distance away from her. Even with her left hand unresponsive—probably broken as far as Davis could tell—she displayed no discomfort at all. Like all the injuries she sustained while sparring meant nothing. Her behavior was disturbingly weird.

“This can’t go on,” said Veles. He shared the same thought as Davis. “You girl need to calm down. If you push yourself any more, you will end up broken. And honestly, even if I want to continue, I can’t handle it anymore. Not just physically but mentally too.”

Davis couldn’t agree more. Of the three of them, Veles was undoubtedly the one who suffered the most. His whole upper torso was riddled with nasty bruises, while his posture and how he moved showed how much pain he was in.

“Understood, Teacher,” Olivia gave in. “Should I start opening my Mana Pathways then?”

Davis decided to ignore how Olivia addressed Veles. Instead, he was more interested in the second part.

“That is the plan, yes,” confirmed Veles. “We’ve spent enough time lingering in the Second Stage. However, can you two absorb mana through your skin now?”

This part was probably the most annoying part during their week-long training… They had an organized schedule for when to spar with each other, when to replenish mana, and when to practice their own moves—where the replenishing mana part wasn’t how Davis expected it to be. He was hoping they would spend an hour in meditative rest. But no, Veles had to spice it up.

Because Veles could easily absorb mana while walking, he decided to harass them on every occasion he found convenient. So, the ‘rest’ part was out of the question. Davis had to be on edge all of the time. But, in the end, he miraculously grasped what Veles was urging them to achieve.

“I can, but it takes much of my concentration,” Davis replied.

“Same for me,” added Olivia.

“That’s great,” Veles nodded. “Truth be told, I didn’t expect you to succeed in achieving even that.”

“You are teaching them how to build their Spirit this early?” Squirrel asked out of a sudden. And Davis could swear the little thing made a one-eyebrow-rise gesture.

“Of course, having strong enough Will to shape your mana is crucial,” Veles pointed out. “I can even argue it’s more important than advancing stages. After all, having strong control over mana lowers its consumption and gives you a wider arsenal of spells you could perform. It’s much better than a brute forcing everything.”

“Fair enough,” Squirrel agreed, “Just make sure not to push them too much. You know this was reserved for later stages.”

“I know. Your rat ass doesn’t need to worry about that. Now, be useful and heal us.”

And, yes. The Squirrel just rolled its eyes. But the next moment, Davis felt a light touch on his leg. Then an unbelievable amount of brownish mana assaulted his whole body—not in an oppressive way. It carefully searched his body for any possible injuries, and when found, it skillfully mended them.

“This is great,” mumbled Davis as he stared at the flesh reforming on his palm.

“See, that’s how to show some appreciation,” said the Squirrel as it touched Veles.

“Maybe I would if you had offered it yourself without the need for me to remind you,” Veles rebuked. Then stood up and stretched. “Enough joking, little guy. It’s time to tell me about the situation inside the forest.”

Having finished healing Olivia, Squirrel turned serious—as much as its features allowed it to do. “It was exactly as you predicted. The eastern border experienced a great influx of activity. And the ones that suffered your little skit are furiously rushing east, mowing anything that stands in their way.”

“Interesting…” Veles rubbed his chin. “How many survived?”

“Two-thirds,” replied Squirrel, “they are strong and organized. You were right when you told us that the eastern part of the world was vastly different.”

“Meaning you know details. Explain,” said Veles. He then went around their small camp and started storing all the stuff inside his Storage ring.

Like their previous banter didn’t even exist, Squirrel started explaining. “Their way of using magic is vastly different than those Osvalenians. They are drawing those ‘runes’ in the air and shouting magical words, or sometimes even extracting various letters from books and then unleashing strong attacks. Even the swordsmen will have runes on their swords or around them, increasing their strength. The weirder is the way they classify themselves, like Mages, Paladins, Knights, Sages, Wizards, or Enchanters. From what I’ve seen, each of those names displays the different ways of utilizing mana…”

“Um, sorry for interrupting,” Olivia added herself in conversation. This time politely. “The way you are saying it sounds like you never knew about this before. From what I’ve heard so far, you have been inside this forest for a very long time. And yet, you have no idea what lies east?”

Davis must admit this was a good point he missed.

Squirrel and Veles looked at each other, and like they had some silent agreement, Squirrel started explaining. “You should already know that this forest has its own hierarchy. We the Overlords on the top have a specific job to keep the ecosystem and nature of the forest running. So, we don’t meddle in the affairs of lesser beasts and their packs. We only interfere when events that are out of order happen.”

The squirrel kept quiet for a moment, thinking about something. “For example, we never forbid you people from the west—the Osvalenians—to venture inside and partake in the riches the forest has to offer, nor did we forbid our young to face you and possibly lose their lives. That is the path of nature we support. However, we never allowed any army that wished to conquer or destroy us to take a step inside.”

“But,” Squirrel continued. “The east part of the forest never had a single visitor for thousands of years, not even one! Obviously, we sent our own to scout. Yet the moment they left the forest’s boundary, they got bombarded mercilessly out of nowhere. After that, we grew wary and never really approached further east again.”

The Squirrel then accusingly looked at Veles. But he just shrugged. “I told your kind years ago that the day I get released is that day when the veil covering this forest would be removed. You’ve been sheltered long enough.”

“More importantly,” added Veles, “you said something about Mages and Paladins, huh? Interesting they have classes here. Maybe that’s the part I’ve been missing…”

Veles then placed his palm upwards. Davis knew he did it whenever he took stuff from his storage ring. And the two silverish rings adorned with small purple crystals appeared. He took each in one of his hands and tossed it to him and Olivia.

Once they grabbed them. Veles started explaining. “Those are the storage rings your oh-so-great Emperor Kristos has ‘gifted’ me. About how to use them, just pour some mana into the crystal, and you will get the vague feeling of space inside. You take items out by focusing on that item inside the crystal and store them by making a mana connection between the ring and the object you previously coated with your mana.”

Davis followed instructions and checked inside the ring, only to see it almost filled to the brim. Unfortunately, he had trouble discerning what those items were. It would take some time to get used to it, probably…

“We will be moving nonstop,” said Veles. “I’m already sick of this forest, and to reach the edge will take a good amount of time. We will take our time and hone our skills on the way while also keeping a check on the situation inside the forest. And depending on that, we will make a significant move.”

“I doubt you will have to wait long,” commented Squirrel. “If I’m right about your plan, you should just head straight for it.”

“Hmm, maybe you are right.” Veles pointed in a seemingly random direction. “Let’s go.”

Davis stood up and followed along. He looked at his storage ring. If he had to be honest, he never even dreamed of seeing one.

Barely two weeks ago, his life took a complete turnover. Signing a strange contract with the sketchy individual, seeing the clouds representing Heaven, learning about his gifts, people from the east, talking squirrel…

If someone had told him all this, he would scoff at them. But now, his wish to experience a whole new world wasn’t just a dream but a possibility. But on the other side, he also knew many dangers and challenges would await him…

During this week, he had talks with Veles. Not the overly serious ones, but just a couple of topics to lessen the pressure he felt on his shoulders. And one of the main topics was about Olgled and Melinda. The words that Veles said about nobody being able to die inside his prison haunted him for days, but when Veles confirmed they were true, he was truly relieved.

Regrettably, Veles also told him that he would only let them out once he found the materials to forge two more contracts for them. For Davis, this was enough. It might sound wrong, but he always felt like those two sacrificed themselves so he could fulfill his dream of adventure.

Even then, he still couldn’t trust Veles completely. But there was this nagging feeling that everything would be alright. For now, he would steel himself, because the dream he had of exploring the vast world was ahead of him.