Ike followed Wisp into the forest. He checked over his shoulder, gazing in the general direction of Abyssal. Hopefully Ket and Tana have the rest of that handled. I’ve done my part. Took out half of the strongest fighters, destroyed the puppet army, and dismantled the spirit rings. The city lord is soundly ruined, if he tries to activate that puppet army in Abyssal. At this point, it’s just a matter of dealing with Lord Gerund, Abyssal’s king’s, men, and I think Ket has that in hand. Assuming they even decide to go after him. After all, I’m the one who attacked their men and did all the sabotage. It’s more reasonable for them to come after me.

Ike sighed. He looked over his shoulder again.

“If you keep looking back, I’m going to jump you,” Wisp said.

“Sorry. I’m just worried.”

She scoffed. “Of what? They won’t come after you today. Give them another day or two, and then start looking over your shoulder. Crazy boy.”

Ike clicked his tongue. “Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel better.”

Wisp laughed. “For the record, I’m not fighting them if they come after you in the deep Abyss, either.”

“What if they come after me while I’m training?” Ike asked, concerned.

Wisp frowned. “How would they do that?”

“Huh?”

“They’re tracking you through your mana signature. Mages find one another through the unique mana signatures their cores give off. Because everyone has unique skills and a unique shape to their core, the signature they give off is completely different. Most mages eventually find a tracking skill, or develop their own homebrewed technique.”

“Oh,” Ike muttered.

“Since they’re tracking your mana, if you have no mana, you’ll become virtually impossible to find. You’ll be the safest while you’re weakest.” Wisp paused, then shrugged. “If they come after you while you’re actively training, I’ll fight for you. But don’t count on it. Or strategize around it.” She narrowed her eyes and pointed at him. At a whisper, she said, “I’ll know.”

Ike laughed. “I wouldn’t do that.”

She cocked a brow at him.

“…Because I respect you, not because I wouldn’t do it in general.”

She nodded. “Good.”

Ahead of them, the forest grew thicker. The trees stood so close to one another that they grew on top of each other, blocking out the ground. Wisp crawled up into the nooks between the trees, not at all bothered.

Ike glanced back one last time, then followed her. His feet slipped slightly on the smooth bark. He clambered after her, hopping from tree to tree. Loup hesitated, then followed him up, climbing up into the tree.

They walked on, deeper and deeper. The sun dropped below the horizon. The silvery light of the moon poured down. Leaves feathered the light, dappling Wisp’s dark hair and pale skin. He expected to feel tired, but didn’t at all. He frowned, rubbing his face. “Do we not need to sleep, either?”

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“Hmm? No. That only kicks in at Rank 2, though. Oh, but if we get very injured or need to recover, we can fall into a deep sleep. Like you did after fighting that Rank 2. Sometimes it even lasts for decades or centuries. However long our bodies need to recover.”

“Oh,” Ike said.

Wisp glanced back. “You missed a lot of the basics, didn’t you?”

“Yeah…” Ike shrugged. He didn’t have a lot of opportunity to learn the basics. Silver had hyper-focused on the sword skill and taught him the basics of sword fighting, but had entirely left out mage basics, maybe assuming that he already knew them, maybe simply because he didn’t care to teach them. Cara and Orin hadn’t been interested in actively teaching him, just giving him a helping hand now and again. Ket and Tana had assumed he already knew most basic knowledge. It simply hadn’t come to be.

“That’s okay. I can teach you.”

Ike glanced at her, startled. He nodded. “Thank you, Wisp.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thank me after the training.”

Ike chuckled. “It’s that bad, huh?”

“It can be.”

Strange cries echoed around them as they clambered deeper into the Abyss. The ground sloped down, though Ike didn’t realize it at first, what with the tree trunks blocking his view of the ground. The trees grew even thicker, literally growing on top of one another. Sometimes, massive trees larger around than Ike was tall would block their way, and they’d be forced to climb around them. Eventually, Wisp simply took to the branches. The branches were so large and so intertwined that they could easily hop from one to the next.

Loup hesitated to follow them. She balked, backing away and looping back around, feinting the jump only to back away. She whined.

“It’s okay, girl. Wait for me out there. I’ll meet you on the other side,” Ike promised her.

Loup lowered her head. She backed away, then sat on the large root of a tree. She watched Ike until he vanished, waiting there for him.

Ike’s heart ached. He paused, looking back. “I’m so sorry, girl.”

“She can’t take this route, but there’s another way. If she goes to the west… it’ll take longer, but she’ll be able to meet us in the depths,” Wisp said.

Ike nodded. “Did you hear that, Loup? Go west!” He pointed, indicating the right direction.

Loup stood. She looked him in the eye, then walked in a circle. Slowly, she headed off toward the west.

“That way. That’s a good girl! I’ll see you soon,” Ike promised her.

Loup vanished into the trees. Ike watched her until she was gone, and only then turned to go.

Wisp laughed. “She’s a monster. What are you worried about?”

“She’s only Rank 1,” Ike said.

“Most monsters to the west are Rank 1. Think of it as a chance for her to Rank up,” Wisp said.

Ike frowned, confused. “Don’t monsters only Rank up through age?”

“Huh? Who said that?” Wisp asked. She shook her head. “Sure, monsters can live long enough to Rank up through age and passive mana absorption alone, but that’s not the only way we can Rank up. We can Rank up like human mages, as long as we have the intelligence to try for it. And Loup seemed pretty intelligent to me.”

“Huh,” Ike said. He nodded. “Like how you can harvest skill orbs from mages, but mages tell you that you can only get skill orbs from monsters.”

“That’s right. There’s a lot of fake information out there, you know? Especially for a low-Rank mage who isn’t part of a city or school or any of those organizations. I’ve had to cut through the crap myself, but I’ve had a few hundred years to figure it out. Not saying I know everything, but I know a little more than a youngin like you,” Wisp said.

“Damn, you’re old,” Ike commented.

“Yeah, yeah. Young for a monster, you know? Relatively, I have more of my life ahead than you do. And outright, too.”

Ike pressed his lips together. “Now you’re just making me depressed.”

She laughed. “It’s alright. You’ve already got a few hundred years added to your lifespan by now. No need to be too worried about it.”

“Oh, really?”

She considered. “Maybe more like one hundred? Which is still good for a human.”

Ike laughed. “Right, right.”

In the distance, a wolf howled. Ike glanced back one last time. In his heart, he promised, I’ll see you again soon, Loup. And with that, he followed Wisp into the depths.