[https://i.imgur.com/ugcITKs.png]

1 = Approximate Location of the land owned by Earl Logan Vazquez

2 = Cragian Mountain Ranges

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I spread out the map I had just bought on the table. Since it was a map publicly available for purchase, there were barely any details.

Julian and I were having lunch at a noisy tavern. We were in a small town that was part of Earl Logan's land in the eastern part of the Edrizoudia Kingdom. Our destination, the Trials of Tormented Souls, was hidden somewhere in the Cragian Mountain Ranges. The Cragian Mountain Ranges were not part of any nation. It wasn't because no nation wanted them. The Edrizoudia Kingdom had even tried to claim the mountains for themselves around a hundred years ago. However, the barbarian tribes living in the mountains had crushed the Edrizoudian army. Since then, no country has tried to claim the mountains for themselves.

Before we could reach the Eastern Border of the Kingdom and cross over to the Mountain Ranges, we would have to go through several regions owned by other lords of the Kingdom.

Nobles owned approximately half of all the land in Edrizoudia Kingdom. The royal family owned the rest. The size of the territory each noble ruled over largely depended on their rank. Dukes and marquesses ruled over whole regions that included multiple towns. As an Earl, Logan Vezquez only owned a few villages and a single town. Viscounts and Barons owned even less.

While I had been planning out our route on the map, Julian had been busy with something else.

"I think we didn't bring enough food," said Julian while looking through his bag. He was talking about preserved meat. We didn't need much of it while we were still in the Kingdom, but it would be different after we entered the mountains.

"We can buy more when we get to the border," I said.

"But we don't have many gold coins left."

"We'll be earning a lot soon enough." I reassured him.

"Seriously?"

"Mhm. Our next stop is the Clifsor Forest."

"Eh? What are we going to do there?"

"Well, you'll see. That's where we'll be earning our gold."

Julian looked confused after hearing that.

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I took note of the places I wanted to stop along the way to the Eastern Border. I needed real combat experience before I took on the trials, since it would greatly increase my chances of passing. I knew the perfect place where we could earn money and also encounter plenty of life-or-death battles. I didn't see a reason not to go.

Mana could create mutations in animals. The actual process was unknown, but after the transformation, the animals in question usually grew in size and became extremely aggressive.

This process only occurred in mana-dense areas, such as forests.

I was currently facing one such mana-corrupted monster deep in the Forest.

The large, mutated lion roared, producing bursts of mana from its mouth. It was twice the size of a regular lion and had red fur.

I held a short sword in my right hand. A few drops of sweat flowed down my neck.

The lion slowly closed in. In response, I directed the flow of mana to my eyes, making them glow light blue.

I had learned to enhance any part of my body with mana. As expected, the battles I had experienced these past few days in the forest had been very beneficial for me. My mana control had drastically improved. Even though full-body enhancement was still impossible for me, being able to enhance my vision was a huge help in combat.

The mana-corrupted lion raised one front leg and tried to swipe me with its claws. I quickly shifted my foot to dodge its attack and slashed with my sword.

With my mana-enhanced eyes, I could clearly see its movements. The lion roared once more, this time in pain and annoyance.

Its eyes seemed to glare at me with murderous intensity.

Noticing a slight movement of its muscles, I immediately dispelled the mana from my eyes and enhanced my legs. A split-second later, the creature pounced.

I dodged the lion by a hair's breadth and slashed into its body.

Too shallow.

BAM! The ground beneath the lion caved in from the force of its mana. I was blown away from the point of impact.

Before I could regain my balance, the creature pounced a second time. I couldn’t dodge in time. I enhanced my left hand with mana and used the creature's momentum to slam my fist into its eyes.

The impact slammed me into the ground. It felt like all the bones in my left arm had broken. I gritted my teeth and endured the pain.

I somehow managed to push myself back to my feet.

I could barely move my left arm now, but I had also managed to deal a major blow to the lion. The creature was howling in pain. Before it could recover its sight, I sliced into its side with my sword. This time, I managed to inflict a deeper wound.

A regular lion would have already died by now, but the mana-corrupted beast was a lot more resilient. I tried to slash at it again, but before I could, it suddenly lunged at me head-first.

I jammed my sword into its mouth, barely stopping it from biting off my shoulder.

It tried to bite off my arm along with the sword, but instead ended up plunging the blade deeper into its head.

Dark red blood dripped down from the creature's mouth.

After a moment of struggling, I managed to pry the creature off my body and onto the ground. It was finally dead.

I took a deep breath and sat down. It had been a close battle, but I had won against a medium-sized mana-corrupted beast by myself.

Julian came walking toward me. He was dragging the corpses of multiple mana beasts that were about the same size as the lion I had killed.

Julian had killed most of them. Since he could use magic more effectively than me, he had an easier time fighting against the beasts. In fact, the lion was the first monster I had hunted by myself without any help from Julian.

"We can really sell these, right?" Julian asked. It seemed that he still wasn't convinced of my method of earning money.

"Of course. We just need to start cutting them now."