I kept up a steady pace, not stopping for more than half an hour's rest every four hours. I started moving out of the Obsidian Woods, and more normal vegetation appeared. I was constantly eating, although I had to change into my spare set of belts and pants.

I saw a small village and swung, so I went close to it. I went into full stealth mode. So I wasn’t seen. When I was within spitting distance, I raised my arch and went into my garden, leaving all but one Kai on guard.

There, I resummoned Ardisia. I figured my garden would muffle the surge of magic, and it would be further mixed with the mana signatures in the village. One of the villagers could have summoned a familiar. I was really pleased to have her back. I didn’t stop, and I collapsed the arch within a quarter hour of raising it. Then, we were on the move again.

I had no idea whether these precautions were working, but they hadn’t caught me yet. The fight with Black showed me how great the gulf is between bronze and silver. It was even more obvious than working beside the silver against the ants. I had no chance on my own, and Black was a rogue type, not a front-line fighter. Even a rogue with little in the way of defence could just take my attacks and ignore me as the lessor threat.

Why can’t these people just leave me alone? Do they think that I will help them after the way I have been treated? Not likely. I stopped moving. Nobody but a moron would expect me to help them after this, even if the whole country burned. What if that is the point?

How do I know the Temple of the Dark Moon put out the bounty? I have the testimony of a person who saw a piece of paper claiming that. Why would I trust anything these people produced? It could be faked. Maybe the temple didn’t put out the contract, but the people causing the disaster wanted to alienate me.

Why not just kill me? They had plenty of opportunity. I started moving again, trying to piece things together into a pattern that fits. It doesn’t fit that the Temple of the Dark Moon would do this if they wanted my help in this prophecy. Prince what’s-his-face turned his whole approach around when he realised who I was and that he had turned me against him.

Was that why he was killed? Because his new approach might have worked. It probably wouldn’t have, but people looking in from the outside would only see us teaming up to fulfil Adventure Society contacts.

Again, why not just kill me? There must be something in this prophecy about that. The mysterious prophecy that I have never seen. Would making me a martyr fulfil the prophecy or something? So they are trying to turn me against the country and the temple instead?

Possible. It's probably a little weak, but it's possible. I need some expert advice. I was not going to rock up to a temple and see if they issued a contract. If they did, then they had me.

The Deputy Director, Kinfe, is going to investigate, and she will start by identifying who issued the contract. I can contact her through the Adventure Society. If it wasn’t the temple who issued it, she might find out who did.

The other experts are Jabari and Nkwe. Olivia and Nkwe. I need to consult with them. They know the Princes’ mind more than anyone left alive as she was married to him. She also knows the culture and will have a lot of insights. She is also banned from the country and she is definitely wanted by the royals, and not in a good way.

I am also in the royal's bad books, but a lot less than Olivia.

Again, this is all speculation, but it fits more of the facts than anything else I have thought of. If this speculation has some merit, then the people causing the future disaster are already here and active. They know this prophecy and are working against the temple and the royals.

That is a sobering thought. Whatever this disaster is, years of preparation are taking place. If the goddess said the disaster is worldwide, then this preparation must be taking place worldwide. I am part of Death’s preparation against this.

That is a lot to mull over. How much of this can I verify? I will have to wait to get out of here and contact Kinfe.

I sped up. A little.

The map I bought didn’t have the astral gates marked. I assume that is restricted information, and they don’t want stupid people going to their deaths seeking their fortune in there. I only know of them because I spent time in this astral space with Professor Venter. The problem is I only know them from the other side. We didn’t come through most of them. We just took readings near the inside of the gate and moved on.

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I have vague memories of a map Venter had with the Pallimustus gates marked, but it was just a glimpse, and there was one somewhere near Steel Gorge. Steel Gorge is a large mining and smelting operation. Lots of iron, coal and other minerals. The main production is in the name. There are some good weapons and armour smiths there. But I would be avoiding people.

I was in a wooded area again, but the terrain was challenging—steep gorges with fast-flowing rivers. The Magic level was mid-bronze now, so there should only be a few silver-rank monsters. I had caught sight of a flying person, and I suspect it was Moon Girl, so I didn’t slow up.

While the magic had bronze density, the saturation was still weak, so there were not a lot of manifestations. My nose led me to a cache of iron quintessence, but I left most of the magic smells alone. I needed to avoid fights and displays of magic. The magic was developing a distinctly metallic smell.

I grabbed the gold quintessence in one creek but left the gold nuggets. It is magic-infused gold that is valuable, not plain ordinary gold.

I knew I was nearing Steel Gorge and wanted a longer break. The trouble with the Astral Space is that the Magic saturation is so high that you are encountering monster after monster. That might be fine in a team where you can switch out for a rest, but on my own, there is going to be no rest. I will have to keep moving to get to the next exit, and the closest exit is the one south of Boko, and then I head south to the nearest town. Hopefully, there is one before Greenstone.

I need a rest before I search for the gate.

My nose led me to a cave. I was getting vibes that there was a manifestation in there. It was a good place to hide for a short while, so I sent Kai in to find out what it was. If it was a monster, we would move on, although I was hitting the limit again.

There were bats in the cave, but they seemed to be ordinary bats, not monsters. There were a lot of bats in the cave. It was a large colony. I went in with Blend to investigate. If there were a monster, the bats would be dead or gone. I followed my nose, which was not the best idea with all the bat droppings in the cave. Kai couldn’t smell magic like me, so I found the source before he did. It was an awakening stone. It was either a bat or wing, maybe batwing. I couldn’t tell looking at it, and I was not going to get out the identification ritual now. I was too tired.

I reached down to pick it up and store it before looking for a place to set up my arch. A Kai darted out of my claws, grabbed the stone, and ate it. What the…?

I looked at him. He was twitching a bit, and then a dark area grew on his side. It was dark in the cave, and I had minimal light for my night vision, so it wasn’t clear. I grabbed him and made for the entrance. I got into the twilight and looked at him. He was still a rat, but his two front legs had morphed into wings, bat wings. This made running on the ground very difficult, and he spread his wings and flew a circuit around me.

“You clever lad,” I said. I got out my information on Kai’s bronze rank ability and re-read it. It was only based on what I could feel at the time.

* Devourer Rat Summons (Kai) {feast stone} Bronze 2

* Iron Rank: Summon four devourer rats. Chew and claw through any material of the same rank or less given time. Absorbed in summoners' claws and teeth, strengthening them. And enabling them to boost them up a level. They can breed to replenish numbers over time.

* Bronze Rank: Nine rats - They can attack the incorporeal. They have a chance to get small permanent boosts from what they eat. Each rat can only have one boost. They lose the effect on death.

They have a small chance of a permanent boost from what they eat. I assumed monster bodies, but apparently, I was thinking too small. Awakening stones are concentrated magic. Maybe the chances are a lot larger for awakening stones.

What about quintessence? Can they eat quintessence, which is less concentrated magic? There are a lot of studies on the difference between quintessence and Awakening Stones, and they are fundamentally different. Many, many people have tried and failed to turn quintessence into awakening stones. Intro to Magic had a whole session on it and the reasons it couldn’t be done. It is similar to trying to turn awakening stones into essences. They are fundamentally different.

I pulled out some quintessence and let the non-specialised Kai sniff them, but none showed interest in eating them. My Reaping Magic gives me Quintessence, but not awakening stones. At least not yet. Maybe when it gets to Silver, it might.

Did I have any more awakening stones? No. I sold all the ones I picked up as I didn’t have a use for them. Kai couldn’t do this at Iron, and the opportunity never came up. Should I go and buy some stones? Maybe let Kai browse them to see what he likes? No, it is too big of a risk to show myself in town. The contract might be displayed in towns they think I might go to. I am about to enter an astral space where I have found awakening stones. When I get out of the kingdom, I can let Kai browse.

I didn’t raise my arch as I was going to stay near the entrance now, and using skills in the open is a risk if I am still being tracked. I am sure my magic is being tracked somehow. The astral should stop the tracking from Pallimustus, and if they follow me into the astral the high magic saturation should confuse it. It is my only explanation, so I will continue to act on it, as I haven’t been caught yet.