After leaving the herd of moose behind her, Kali continued her dash along the rocky riverbank, this helped in keeping her trail as hard to follow as possible though she guessed following along a river was such a basic way of doing it that it'd be predictable.

She'd need to reach the end of the snow-covered landscape unfortunately to have any better options, while she was light on her feet walking over the soft snow without leaving footprints wasn't something she could imagine how to do.

The spotty forest was still all around her, an evergreen popping out from under the white blanket of snow every fifty or so meters. By now she stopped inspecting every second tree in her way, she was familiar with all of the species of trees popping up around here so she only gave her time for interesting sub-species like the crimson-leaved one a day prior.

She had a harder time figuring out the properties of these plants and with each hour she spent without moving she felt herself grow increasingly twitchy. She was taking peaks over her shoulder every few minutes in between the tests she made the poor tree go through.

She had to leave the puzzle unsolved as she couldn't keep herself focused for too long, paranoia was a bitch. She wasn't sure why just now was it that the feeling reared its ugly head and not in the two previous days but she thought she might have been too tired, hungry or focused before or a combination of all of those.

She noticed a small black bear drinking from the now five meters wide river on the same side she was running on, she was only a few hundred meters from it but it hasn't noticed her. It had no visual sign of being magical in any way so she didn't bother to sneak around it.

She came closer and she thought about when did she start considering 2 meters tall bears that probably weighed a ton 'small'. Must have been the damned moose or the feathered serpent, the moose was larger than her carriage by a good margin and the serpent could have swallowed it whole.

Magical gigantism was weird, she was glad elves didn't experience it. The thought reminded her of one of Zadkiels lectures about magical mutations in humans, the old elf was somewhat fascinated by that as only humans could interbreed with nearly all elvenoid species.

Elves found it hard to even have children with other races within their species but even if they managed to get a 'mixed' child it wouldn't be a real mix. The child would either be the same race as its father or mother with no chance for a half-Autumn half-Winter Elf to be born or something like that.

That was another thing her teacher couldn't figure out the reason for beyond 'their genome must be more versatile than ours'. Humans also tended to have weird mutations in their Cores that bordered on malfunction, one of which was when a human also experienced magical gigantism as they gained essence which was how giants became a thing.

It's not too good of a thing though as the essence is diluted through the larger body.

She leapt over the bear, deciding to do a graceful spin in the air mid-jump which landed her a few meters on the other side of the beast. She gave the animal a bow, fighting down a smirk as the bear finally managed to spin around and growl at her.

"You have no taste," she admonished the animal, giving it a push with a Kinetic Hammer.

She nodded to herself, looking towards the bear trying to crawl its way out of the frigid water. That's what should happen when she used that spell, satisfied with annoying the animal she turned around and continued her travel before the enraged animal could avenge her prank.

Not that she felt like it could do much to her but staying here for long without reason would grate on her nerves and leaving the meat and fur left by the bear behind after their clash would be a waste.

May you prove to be a fine meal for someone else bear.

She felt around her reserves and noted that she was at around 82% now, the few spells she cast along her travel brought her down to this. The size of her new mana reserve was still astonishing to her but she was still used to not wasting it needlessly, it'd take some time to get used to not being so frugal with her Spells.

Not that my regeneration went up, but I still only have that shitty Mana Gathering Rune that barely qualifies as a Cultivation technique...no I don't think it'd qualify as one, it's just a single Rune.

Kali was a bit annoyed at her lacking knowledge about magic, especially when compared to her extensive information about all the stuff Zadkiel talked about, he always sneaked in a few lectures that could give her insights into magic but never straight-up lectures about it.

Mentioning the breakthroughs while talking about how a random soldier managed to fight off hundreds of others in a historic battle, he also liked talking about the achievements of arch-mages and the difference between magical spices while comparing special talents each had to know Spells.

That was where most of her magical knowledge came from aside from her secret stash of basic books, she was somewhat embarrassed having them but they were helpful even now if only for revision. Who wouldn't be if they treasured books like 'Guide to Basic Runes for Dummies' or 'How to Craft Spells (children's edition)'? She was sure the annoying old man had books that weren't like that but she didn't dare ask, lest he takes away even these.

She didn't know why her father didn't take them away either, he was supposed to see and know everything that happens in the Castle and well beyond.

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She went on and on without stopping, paranoia plaguing her and constantly urging her onward. She ran as fast as she could while conserving the most energy, from seeking to have fun while leaping along she now went for practicality.

She hoped this wasn't going to be her future from now on, it would be far too miserable.

She glanced behind, seeing mountains extending towards the sky, the river was running through a valley and she was still following it, so far it'd proven to be a great guide. Neither side of the valley was too steep with the sparse trees dotting each side she couldn't help but imagine monsters or worse, humans behind each.

It'd been three days since she absorbed the frost wolf Core and she felt like she could go on for another 7 at least. She would have too if she hadn't spotted something far behind her at the mouth of the valley. Just for a moment it flickered, the sunlight hitting it at just the right angle to reflect it straight towards her.

She could recognize the glow of Elven Mythril everywhere, she couldn't make out the figure but it was floating there, overlooking the whole valley. It was a beautiful shade of silver, mixed with just a hint of each color of the rainbow, a more poetic person would say that one could barely catch a glimpse of the iridescence hiding beneath its silver exterior. Kali didn't care though.

Shit, shit, sh-, I need to hide.

She was lucky she was barely peaking out from behind a tree to glance back, maybe her by-now toxic levels of paranoia helped her for once. The backdrop of snow would hide her white-maned head or so she hoped.

She quickly ducked behind the tree, she'd made sure to only step on the top of protruding rocks on her way here from the riverbank so it should do for a hiding spot. She crawled under its low-hanging branches that touched the ground in places, the tree didn't have any snow under its low canopy so she didn't have to worry about that.

Her heartbeat quickened, she felt it in her ears as the blood poured through her in waves, she felt it in her neck as her artery pulsed on the side of it. An uncomfortable feeling settled into the pit of her stomach as she huddled close to the trunk of the tree.

This wasn't one of those giants, it was just a normal pine with deep green leaves reminiscent of needles but its branches were so dense that she could barely peak through a few gaps in them. That would be more than enough for her pursuers though, they wouldn't even need to see her to find her.

She flooded the illusion Ring with her mana, half of her remaining reserves went into it but they still seemed paltry in comparison to what was already in the ring, ah she's forgotten that didn't she? No, I should leave that alone, Zadkiel wouldn't have sent it here if it didn't have a purpose, my mana will have to be enough.

Hide me, please!!

She thought in desperation, hoping for the artifact to fulfill her wishes despite knowing it couldn't read her thoughts. Her ears were so focused that she just now realized that she couldn't feel the Illusion snap into place, it was seamless and while she could see herself she could also tell that the thing has perfectly concealed her inside a cocoon of illusion.

That can wait.

She took a deep breath, let it out, and focused on her body. Her body was already cold but it went frigid, just like the temperature around her, her heartbeat slowed to a crawl along with it. Her muscles were flexed and coiled, carefully kept motionless to not make even a single sound.

Just before she was ready to sink into semi-hibernation she heard a voice speak, it was still hundreds of meters away, "Search around here," she recognized Mythral's voice without effort and barely caught herself from relaxing.

The voice sounded far and she couldn't tell its exact location and distance aside from the direction, he was still more than half a kilometer away then, and with his voice echoing through the valley, he could be much further too.

Kali was wracked with indecision and felt her stomach churn in nervousness, she bit her lips and began to think about it, holing the mental switch to sink into hibernation between her fingers. She could reveal herself and let Mythral take her back into the Winter Castle, the place she grew up in, her home if you could call it that. It would be safe, she could see her siblings again, Rhy'Lanor's sour face was hard to miss but he was good to her nonetheless and she knew Ly'Riel would be wracked with worry.

A single decision right now and she could leave eating spiceless meat, sleeping in the wilds, running through freezing temperatures and fighting for her life behind. All she had to do was not activate her hibernation, let them find her magical signature that her still-roiling Core was probably radiating. She could be safe, she could be fed, and have her needs cared for by an army of maids.

Kali had a wistful look on her face, giving a hug to her sobbing sister in her mind and trying to make her tsundere older brother show a facial expression different than the one right after biting into a lemon.

She closed her eyes and heard a few forms cutting through the air just at the edge of her 500-meter hearing range, she should give that a better name, it was confusing as hell.

Sorry you two, I can't give this up.

After setting the parameters for her hibernation with a mental command, complex thoughts fled her mind and her core calmed into a stasis.

She didn't want safety, she only wanted freedom and a fate forged with her own two hands and not by her father. She knew she was being selfish in the back of her mind, she realized this might not have been the optimal decision or even the right one but it was right for her, it felt right.

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??

As Kali's Core stabilized and the ambient mana calmed into a serene lake a sub-function hidden inside her core activated, it took a bit of the stable mana from the core and forged itself an energy body.

The newborn arcane construct took in all the instructions left to it.

[Hide until they leave, and stay hidden for a day afterward.]

It calculated and possible scenarios flashed through its logical mana circuits, it spread a thin film of mana all over the body it was tasked with hiding. It'd prevent even a single particle of mana from leaving the body to disturb the ambient mana, alerting nearby mages to its charge's presence.

That task done it next calmed each slight disturbance in the mana inside the body of its charge, some very powerful mages could invade the bodies of other people with their magical senses while not being able to sense a place with their senses would also alert nearby mages.

It held mana under its grasp and made it mimic ambient mana, the mana held in stasis inside the slumbering core would be imperceptible even to the most proficient mages. The ability known as mana sense was far from omniscience.

The construct marked its first instruction, — hide — as completed.

For the other, it tapped into the hearing of its charge while feeding most of its mana to the ambient mana-sphere. It noted noises that its database associated with sentient being communicating, it waited.

It didn't sense nor count the time until the moment it couldn't 'hear' anything signifying the presence of other sentients that its charge referred to as they in her commands. Then its countdown started with 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59.9 seconds remaining or a day based on the database housed in the core.

It was still tapped into the hearing of its charge, ready to reset the timer should any being its charge categorize as they in this circumstance reappear.

The seconds ticked by slowly but the construct cared not, thought not and bothered not with anything outside of its tasks.

Wait

That was its current task so that's what it did.

The arcane clock ticked and the construct launched its final function.

It sent back a brief information package to the Core, and at exactly 0 seconds it terminated itself, its purpose fulfilled.

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Kali felt her core raring back to life inside her as her heartbeat quickened, at first it sent jolts of pain through her but that subsided. Having her heart suddenly go from a handful of beats a day to the normal rate was an uncomfortable experience but one she'd have to get used to.

Blurry memories swam around in her mind as she made an effort to reorient herself.

Right, the illusion, is it still holding?

She found out that it was, the 41% of her mana proved to be enough for holding it in place for another day. Compared to her Shadow Cloak spell which acted similarly this Spell was oddly efficient while also being much more complicated, this made her frown in thought but she attributed that to her master being an Arch-Mage, did he make this ring for her especially? Mages of his caliber wouldn't care about the efficiency of all things with the monstrous amounts of mana she assumed they had.

She withdrew her mana from it and let the illusion dissolve, she crawled out from under the tree on her hands and knees with the branches scraping against her back. When she got out she couldn't help but look around warily despite not hearing anything suspicious for miles.

Once she made sure her hearing wasn't playing a trick on her she sighed in relief, for all she knew Mythral was just flying right above her position but her hibernation-addled mind couldn't notice him. She glanced up just to make sure that he hasn't appeared there magically since the first time she checked.

Ugh, that was nerve-wracking, I need a drink...ah, fuck, all I have is water.

Some of her paranoia remained in the back of her mind and she could tell she would be looking above her shoulder for a while yet she wasn't as twitchy as before. She could hide from Mythral, an honest to gods Royal Guard captain.

Her natural abilities did most of the work for her but that wasn't the point, that was still her at the end of the day wasn't it?

She smiled and stretched like a cat, her spine extended and popped along and she let out a soft moan. She twisted her torso around a good 180 degrees and felt her vertebra slacken and flex in her back. Elves were damned flexible, especially female ones, her sister could fold herself into a small ball where Kali could hardly tell where her limbs began and where the rest of her started.

She went through relaxing each of her joints one after the other with well-practiced exercises, this was one of the few physical activities she always enjoyed. After a night spent pouring over books, nothing felt better than a long session of stretching, it relaxed her mind just as much as it did her body and muscles.

It's called yoga or something like that, isn't it?

She tried remembering but wasn't sure, it was mostly just her sister teaching her how to stretch and relax her body.

Her mood grew a bit sombre at the thought of her sister but she shook her head.

"Hope you'll forgive me Ly'Riel," she whispered into the wind, staring over the cold landscape stretching out in all directions, "I can't, I just can't do it," she grew a bit teary, feeling like she was giving up in a way, "I can't bear the thought of being an object, an afterthought to my husband, I can't live like that."

Even if Ly'Riel bent over backward to please their father she was still the one Kali felt the closest to, the woman was a bundle of energy and wore her feelings on her sleeves which was a breath of fresh air among the stoic elves. She made sure that Kali felt loved and cared for even if she always obeyed their father to the letter.

Her mood was dour but it had an undercurrent of hope.

This was the life she chose so she'd make the most of it or die trying.