It had been three days since the battle with what Mary called a Dire Wolf. The Merchant had been slowly selling the corpses and random junk that was stored in the pocket forge, and Cole himself had been reading more of the enchanting books in hopes of accelerating his progress to two-rune enchantments.

The normal runes, no matter how complex that single word was, were just patterns. Very intricate and delicate patterns, but patterns nonetheless. They were carved into the weapon, be it a sword, spear, or catalyst, and only affected the surface of the material. Mana was channeled up the weapon through the material, and the pattern in which it flowed elicited a response from the world.

Anything more than a single rune was far more complex. Not only was the surface-level rune much harder, a mix of however many runes you were using, but you also had to twist the mana of the weapon. All metal had a counterpart 'specter' of metal mana. They were reflections of each other, the physical housing that which the magical empowered. The enchanting process required you to twist the mana of the specter without affecting the physical weapon, a herculean task that required the utmost focus.

And once runic phrases started getting to the length of multiple sentences, it got even worse. Mana specters didn't exactly need to follow the laws of physics or geometry, and any enchantment that got too strong became shapes that were literally impossible in a three-dimensional space.

And even that was just for a single enchantment on the item. Ideally, you would have at least three. A storage jem, with a phrase for 'gather and hold the mana of 'whatever affinity you wanted to use''. The actual combat enchantment, which could be anything from 'reinforcement' to 'suffer the cold of a hundred Voids and the wrath of a thousand suns'. Finally, the Soulbond, which would use a phrase to ensure that only one person could use it.

Cole had only managed one-rune combat enchantments so far, and even that was only because of the pocket forge's library. He pitied whichever poor soul just had to draw random symbols until something worked.

The smith and the Merchant had also talked about the portal and the hand that had come out of it. They had seen it once more, grabbing a handful of berries about a day after the fight, when the dou was getting a breath of fresh air. This time, Cole didn't have a fight to the death to focus on and noticed the massive quantity of mana that had gone into the portal. Even if the person who was creating them had an amazing capacity, those could not be cheap.

And Mary had told him just how strange his regeneration was. Apparently, mana recovery was supposed to restore a small amount of mana purely through the collection of ambient energy. Unaffinitied mana was slowly converted and drawn in from the air around them, just as it happened to drift through their mana specter. Cole was more like a siphon. The power of forcefire, and the fact that most of his affinities centered around creation, made ambient mana just throw itself at him.

Whoever had summoned the portal would have to wait hours instead of minutes for their mana to recover, just to spend it all for a handful of berries. The smith conjured a bowl and filled it with some berries and summoned bread, leaving it out to be taken. The bushes that grew the fruits had thorns, and with how quickly the portals closed the one summoning them had to be rather quick. Just grabbing a bowl would be easier.

And besides, the smith still needed to repay the stranger for helping in the fight against the dire wolf. He would never say he was a perfect person but he did repay his debts.

Mary was having a lucrative time as well. Monster parts sold very well, especially fresh ones. The mutated wolf that was hit with a forcefire blast, as mangled as it was, still sold for a hundred fifty Credits. The dire wolf sold for almost six hundred. With all the corpses and the random junk she sold, the Merchant profited about fifteen hundred Credits. With two-thirds of that, she purchased a low-quality spatial gem, and the rest was saved to eventually buy another.

"Read faster," she said. "Once I have a storage space of my own, the profits really start. I already have my eye on some alchemical gear."

The deal was simple. He made her storage spaces, one for plants and one for whatever alchemy equipment she ended up purchasing, and he got a portion of whatever potions she made. Yes, potions were real. There were healing potions, strength potions, mana potions, and so, so many poisons. Seriously, half of the list of potions was poison. There was every kind imaginable. Honestly, who woke up and decided, 'Ah yes, today I shall brew 'you always feel like there is a hair in the back of your mouth even though there's nothing actually there' poison'? Lunatics, that's who.

Now that Mary's corpse-selling spree was over, they decided to head deeper into the forest. Mary wanted more Monster parts to sell, and Cole would never pass up the chance to use his creations. The claymore would need to be replaced with some mana-metal weapon eventually, but in his hands, it was enough to deal with the wolves. He would have to keep an eye out for any more of the dire variety, but there shouldn't be anything worse than that.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

----------------------------------------

Somewhere outside of the universe this story takes place in, beyond the reach of even Revalor-Algarium-Oxis, the Mother of All Light, or the System, a being sits hunched at its desk, looming over the words before it. It turns its head, staring into a random point in the air. Staring into you. A devious and cruel grin splits its face, and the being feared by all who make their home within stories speaks. The words of The Author ring through the air.

"That's called foreshadowing kids."

----------------------------------------

The Merchant and the smith set off into the woods in the early morning. Cole noticed that the food he had left out for the stranger with portals was gone. There were no tracks around it and the bowl was gone, so the gift had very likely been received. Perhaps they would find that stranger, whoever he or she was.

The treasures and challenges of the forest called, and the duo answered.

----------------------------------------

Jace was rather glad that he knew how to throw a good sucker punch. His Overbearing Gaze had been floating around as usual, searching for a way out of this hellhole while his mana recharged. And as usual, he had found nothing.

The massive wolf and bear had gone at it a few more times. Both seemed to want to hold the center of the forest, and for good reason. His viewpoint had observed what was there, and it was incredible.

A massive growth of crystals, at least as tall as a cell tower and as wide as some houses, broke the canopy at what Jace thought was the exact center of the forest. It tapered off as it got higher, but even the tip was as thick as a car.

And it was full to bursting with life mana. The trees in that area were even taller than redwoods, the undergrowth had swelled into a veritable ocean of thorns and vines, and any creature that wasn't one of the big two started to mutate even further when it stayed in contact with the pillar for too long.

The battles that took place there were almost pointless. The sheer amount of life mana meant that just a touch to the pillar was enough to heal any and all wounds. The bear could claw out the wolf's eyes, a single touch to the crystal and they were back. The wolf could use its light constructs to sever one of the bear's legs, a single touch to the crystal and it was back.

Obviously, this was a highly valued territory. Jace had tried to conjure a portal in the clearing surrounding the pillar, but the sheer amount of life mana tore it apart before the spatial mana even fully formed. Even now the two massive beasts were at an impasse, as neither could hold the territory well enough to stop the other from reaching the pillar. And once the pillar was in reach for both of them, yet another pointless clash started.

Once he had checked out the crystal situation, Jace had piloted his viewpoint back to the lake. His mana had recharged by then and he was starting to get hungry. His tree was still in the middle of wolf territory, specifically the smaller white ones with the single horns, so the lake berries were his only source of food.

When his gaze got there, it had been in the middle of a fight. One of the single-horned wolves was dashing around madly, trying to kill two people.

One, he immediately recognized as Mary. He hadn't seen her since they last closed up their stores at the same time, and it was a relief to see she was still alive. She was holding a spear made out of oddly uniform-looking wood and a deep gray metal that seemed like something innately magical. The strange glowing symbol on the side of the spearhead helped that observation along, and the bolts of mist she shot from her hand didn't help convince him that anything normal was happening either.

The other was a big man. Big in size and in character, if you knew what he meant. He looked like the kind of man to bring down a hammer on bone just as easily as steel. He had broad muscles, a rough face, calloused hands, and a beard to make a Greek god jealous. This must be the smith that Mary worked for. He was a terrifying man. He swung a massive sword through the air with deadly precision, only missing due the the Monster's absurd speed.

And even then, he shot out a tendril of what looked like silvery lava that held the wolf in place. It bit through, but not without hurting itself. Jace had seen those things bite through solid rock without even grimacing. What the hell was this guy doing?

Mary's spear cut through its hide like a hot knife through butter. The symbol on its blade glowed with mana and Jace was very happy that he was(hopefully) on the woman's side. The wolf darted away, retreating to the shallows. One of Mary's mist blasts actually hit this time, and it toppled over in a daze. The smith ran across the lakeside at a speed that nothing that big should, but he wasn't going to be fast enough.

Jace wanted to help Mary, and getting on the good side of that monster of a man couldn't hurt either. So, he did the first thing that came to mind, opened a portal, and gave the Monster the best sucker punch he had ever thrown. It fell back into the water, and the smith arrived. Mr. Vance, as Mary called him, dismantled the beast with eerie precision. It didn't stand a chance once he got close enough, and his last attack shattered its entire goddamn skull.

"A good fight."

The man was smiling. Smiling, after fighting for his life against a beast far stronger than most any pre-mana creature.

That same monster of a man, a few hours later, left out a bowl of berries and strangely tasteless bread.

"So you don't cut your hands on the thorns. I've thrown a punch with hurt hands before. Not fun. Anyway, I pay my debts. Thank you, mysterious stranger."

The smith looked a little strange talking to the air, but Jace's viewpoint had still been watching. And even with how strange or ridiculous he looked walking around with a massive sword and the blandest clothes the Overseer had ever seen, Jace got the impression that Mr. Vance wasn't someone to make an enemy of.

He would keep an eye on them. Maybe they could help each other out again.