Andric traveled with the merchant caravan for thirty-two days and saw three towns. When the merchant caravan stopped at the third town, Andric was invited by one of the travelers in his wagon to drink wine at a local tavern. At that time, Andric realised he didn’t have any money. The lack of funds was an oversight on his part, and it needed to be dealt with.

Staring up into the night sky, Andric contemplated leaving the merchant caravan. If he stayed with the merchant caravan, he could only follow along as it slowly made its way to Mahtzig. Then, he would need to navigate the city to find Uncle Raban and hope he would support him. On the other hand, if Andric separated from the merchant caravan, he would be able to seclude himself in a nearby forest and continue the slow process of opening his meridians. Without anyone nearby to see him using magic, he could provide for himself much better than he could inside a crowded city.

Andric’s options were to either take his destiny into his own hands, or to allow his family members to control where he went and what he did. He had never received a letter directly from one of his relatives, and he could safely assume that they shared a similar viewpoint of him as his grandparents. They kept their attitudes pleasant in the letters they address to Alda, but Andric could only truly know when he met them face to face.

Andric had other reasons for going on his own, but some of them would be difficult to realize. After he thought of a few good reasons and excuses, he abruptly stood up and walked over to where the wagon driver was resting.

“Hello, I think, instead of going all the way to Mahtzig, I’m going to stop here,” Andric said, and the wagon driver raised his head. “I paid fifteen silver coins to travel to Mahtzig, and we’re around two-thirds of the way through. I reckon I’ll take back the last one-thirds worth and stay here.”

The wagon driver thought for a moment, then replied, “Nope. You paid for a full trip to Mahtzig, so you’re gonna get a full trip to Mahtzig.”

“But, I don’t want to go to Mahtzig,” Andric said, feeling that the wagon driver was being troublesome.

“Well, have fun. You paid for a full trip to Mahtzig, and I’m obligated to give you one. If you don’t want to go, that’s on you,” the wagon driver said, completely unabashed.

Andric’s face tightened. To him, five silver coins was a lot of money. With it, he could buy food for several weeks, lodging in a town, and various traveling supplies he might need. Because he wouldn’t be taking up anymore space on the wagon driver’s wagon or eating anymore of his food, Andric thought he was entitled to having some of his fair refunded. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything he could do about the wagon driver who didn’t want to refund him.

Andric turned his head to his roll of clothes, then back to the wagon driver. He thought for a few seconds and decided to leave peacefully. He retrieved his baggage and walked away, toward the small maintained forest that was next to the particular town the merchant caravan had stopped at for that night.

The town of Handmund was closer to Mahtzig than Einburg, and it had a population of around three thousand residents. The maintained forest for such a large town needed to be quite large, and it was easy to get lost inside it. Coupled with the fact that it was nighttime, Andric easily hid among the sparse trees and minimal undergrowth. He walked several miles out, then sat against the trunk of a large tree.

Andric’s planned to leave the area around Handmund, but only before leaving a little gift for the wagon driver. But, first, he needed to wait until everyone in the merchant caravan fell asleep. He sat in the forest for a few minutes, then crafted a spell in his hand. For the effect he wanted, he needed to imbue it with a large amount of mana. After charging it for nearly twenty seconds, he tossed it into the air, and it automatically zoomed toward where Andric’s thought energy indicated it should activate at.

The spell flew back to the merchant caravan, rose a few dozen feet above the wagons, and then detonated. Nearly-invisible specs of mana fell onto the wagons, the passengers, and the horses, and the spell’s effects appeared a few seconds later. Rapidly, over the course of less than ten seconds, all the people inside the area of the merchant caravan fell asleep.

Martialists were unable to defend against magicians, and magicians were unable to defend against martialists. Only a magician could use Mana Sense to detect a spell being used near them, and only a magician could use a blast of pure mana to counteract a spell. Without any magicians in the merchant caravan, they could do nothing to stop Andric’s spell from activating above their heads. Whether they were inside a closed tent or in the open air, everyone in the vicinity of the merchant caravan was forced to sleep by Andric’s spell.

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Next, Andric launched a second spell. He wasn’t sure how much a wagon cost, but he estimated it to be worth quite a lot. His second spell was targeted at the wagon driver’s wagon, and it burst into the side of the wooden frame without showing any effect. Of course, this way by design. Andric intended for the spell to wait twenty-one days, then to quickly decompose the wood that the wagon was made from. If it was timed correctly, it would activate when the merchant caravan was only a day or two away from reaching Mahtzig. With that, Andric considered his business with the wagon driver to be finished.

The maintained forest outside Handmund was large, but it wasn’t large enough to hide inside during the day, and it was maintained, meaning people would regularly come in to harvest plants. For Andric to have peace and solitude while meditating and opening his meridians, he needed an untamed forest at the border of the kingdom.

Andric cast a spell on himself to help him stay awake, then cast a second spell on himself to make him fly. In order to fly, Andric cast a continuous-type spell, which would constantly be supplied mana and thought energy. The only downside to a continuous-type spell was that he needed to have his thoughts concentrated on it and have one hand open at all times. He held his roll of clothes with one hand, wore his straw hat on his head, and held his right hand forward. Using his left hand, he cast a spell to block wind resistance, then ascended. He kept low to the ground and quickly flew away.

Using magic to fly was one of the main methods that magicians used to travel. Similarly, martialists also using flying for their main method of transportation, but they used highly advanced martial techniques to do it. Once a martialist reached the Adept realm, the martial techniques they could use became much more diverse, including ones that allowed their users to fly. Andric heard about such martial techniques in Einburg, but nobody in Einburg had ever reached the Apprentice realm, not to mention the next higher realm. Even among the travelers who came to Einburg for one reason or another, none of them were in the Adept realm or higher.

Several minutes of flying later, Andric emerged from the forest. He only flew about five feet up from the ground when he was in the forest, and he moved even closer to the ground when he exited it. The plains around Handmund were extensive, but there was always the possibility of some farmer watching their fields at night, or even a random traveler being nearby. The entire way toward his destination, Andric was constantly vigilant.

Andric’s biggest worry was encountering a martialist who could fly. In his current state, Andric could flee from low-realm martialists who couldn’t keep up with his flying speed. Andric had never seen a flying martialist, so he didn’t know how fast they would be. He had didn’t know the power level of an Adept realm martialist, so he couldn’t know how his spells compared to their martial techniques. At the present, the safest thing to do was to simply stay hidden.

Andric had something he needed to to before going into seclusion. He flew parallel to the road the merchant caravan used, but he went back the way they came. His target was the area where the bandits attacked. He hoped that the bandits would be nearby, and he would be able to steal whatever valuable items they had.

Standard trinkets like jewelry were of no interest to Andric. He didn’t have time to find a buyer for jewels or metals, even if they were worth a high price. If anything, he would trade them for the goods he needed. Andric wanted the coins that citizens in Hochland traded with, which he was unable to replicate with magic. Although he could transmute any mass into any other kind of mass, he couldn’t create spirit energy with magic. Coins used in Hochland had spirit energy inside them, making counterfeits impossible to create.

In addition to wanting to find money, Andric wanted spirit weapons, spirit armor, and spirit plants. He had heard about many of these things from Instructor Hubert, but he had only seen a few examples of each. Because they were imbued with spirit energy - like the kingdom’s coins - they were much more durable than normal metal. Spirit plants were valuable in another fashion, and he could be used to create pills that increased the spirit energy inside a martialist’s body.

There were many things Andric wanted to explore, but his resources were too limited. He had no martial techniques or pill recipes, and he didn’t know how spirit tools were made or how spirit plants were grown. He didn’t have a single coin to his name, and he had no backers who could fund his research.

Andric had many ways to earn money, but most of them would earn him the attention of martialists. He could use his magic to create gold, but someone would eventually investigate him. His only safe method was to earn money through legitimate means where nobody would see him use magic - or survive long enough to tell anyone about it. Massacring a bandit troupe and stealing their loot was the best option Andric could think of.

At daybreak, Andric touched down and stopped flying. He couldn’t risk being seen, and the chances of being seen were much higher during the day. He walked against the side of the road, hoping someone would see him and try to rob him. He wouldn’t break his morals by robbing innocent civilians, but he had no problem against killing and stealing from someone who wanted to rob him.

To sweeten the bait, Andric used magic to create a shiny golden ring for his finger. He hoped the ring would catch the attention of bandits hiding in the forest, and they would be more likely to attack him despite his overall poor appearance.

After a short period of time, Andric subconsciously grinned, looking forward to the moment when he would bring bloodshed to the world once again.