For a second Wichita feared that she had scared Rose too much. The girl looked like she was about to run for the hills.

“That—what—that -” the girl repeated like a broken record, looking like she was about to have a mental breakdown. Or perhaps she was having one.

“Are you sure?” Jace asked her, his face pale. The boy was not breaking down, but he looked positively terrified. Tully seemed to be the least affected, though she had expected that. The girl had benefited the most from coming to this world, and had not truly faced challenges.

Jace and Rose were the ones who hadn’t been as lucky, especially the former. Wichita had expected Jace to be the most affected, but Rose had taken his place.

Then the trees started moving.

“I suppose we should move.” she said, handing the chip to Jace. “Keep it, perhaps someday you might encounter a crack that leads back to your world. I can teach how to detect it when the chip senses its counterpart. Even if it can’t build a bridge, it can identify a crack that leads back to your world. With sufficient preparations, you could use it to return. I cannot speak to what time you will return to, however. The crack may lead somewhere hundreds of years later.”

Rose was looking at the forest like it was her worst enemy. Or perhaps it was the entire world she was glaring at. The revelation had really upset her, huh? Wichita was not sure what to think of it. On one hand it did explain some of their nonchalance regarding things. Like how they had agreed to serve her so easily. The binding would naturally disappear when they left this world.

Now, though, they were stuck. In this world and with her as a liege…at least until they decided it was better to leave her.

“How about we talk as we run?” she asked, trying to prompt them into running.

“Yes.” Rose answered quickly, drawing deep breaths as she started running far quicker than before.

Wichita did not truly know what to say. What was she supposed to do? Console them? Tell them it would be fine? That was a lie. The four of them were at the mercy of the forest, and she knew very little about whether they would be ok. For all she knew, the next challenge would prove too much for them.

“So, you meant it when you said that we could leave after we escape the forest, right?” Rose asked, her voice quivering.

Wichita threw her an irritated glance. Was she really that bad? Why was it that everyone wanted to escape from her?! “Yes, of course, though I would suggest we focus on escaping the forest first.”

Rose took another deep breath. “Yes. Do you have any plans for that? The forest seems to be leading us somewhere, what if it's deeper into itself?”

The girl seemed to grow calmer the more she planned. Or rather, have someone else plan.

“That is a distinct possibility.” she admitted. “I have no idea where it's going. I didn’t know which direction leads outside to begin with, and this is a spacial forest. Even if we walk in a straight line, we might not be able to exit. The forest could easily twist space around us to make us walk in the wrong direction.”

“The only way I see us getting out is by finishing whatever tests the forest puts us through. There is usually a reward at the end of such tests. Perhaps the reward is leaving the forest. Perhaps it is something else. I can only hope that it will allow us to leave after we are done.”

“What if it doesn’t?” Jace asked.

“Then we’re dead.” she stated. “The forest is far more powerful than us. Perhaps if the trials go on for years then we might grow enough to face it. But I have not heard of any such thing. If at any point, the forest decides that it does not want to be fair with us anymore, then we will likely die.”

The three’s faces paled. Wichita rolled her eyes at them. This was hardly new information. In fact, she was very sure she had said the exact same thing before. But apparently the transmigrators with an escape route hadn’t paid much attention to it.

“What do we do?” Rose asked, her voice suddenly desperate. “The only way we can keep up with the challenges is if we continue growing stronger, right? So how do we do that?”

“If it was so easy to grow stronger then I wouldn’t even need to bother with this forest.” she huffed. “I have been trying my very best to get you stronger already. If you really want to help, though, then maybe you could push your Skills.”

“Putting more effort tends to increase the strength of your Story, and that might be helpful. The effect is pretty minor in most circumstances, but it's still something.”

Wichita looked at Jace. “Jace could let me poke him, though. That might help.”

“I already learned magic!” the boy protested, huffing from the exertion they were going through. At least he wasn’t already out of breath. The rest of them had already leveled enough that this level of exertion wasn’t even a problem for them.

“No, Jace, you did not learn magic. What you learned was a basic infusion of your mana into something else that you have physical contact with. An infusion that you have barely any control over.” she drawled, unable to keep her disdain to herself. The boy had the chance to learn magic, and he was not taking it just to avoid a little pain.

“More than that, consider your Story. What do you think will be more powerful: the boy that decided to prove himself worthy regardless of how much pain he has to bear? Or the boy who only does what won’t bring him too much pain or take too much effort?”

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Jace grimaced, though he did not immediately say no. That was progress at least.

“Ok, fine!” he yelled, raising his hands for some reason.

“Keep your hands down, they’re liable to get cut off.” she warned. “The forest has been pretty lenient with us, but we have got to stop underestimating it.”

In truth, she was also guilty of it. The forest was following rules, only threatening them when they slowed down or stopped. The attacks had been very easy to anticipate, and they had plenty of time to react to it. Heck, she had spent a large amount of time she should have been watching for beasts just wasting time looking at the sky. Even challenging the forest. What if it had decided to attack her companions at that time?

“The forest hadn’t used a surprise attack on us yet.” she said. “But that doesn’t mean it won’t do that anymore.”

“Rose startled, looking around as if expecting a beast to pop out of the trees. That was quite probable, several beasts had come out of there.

“Can you detect any?” Rose asked. “I am pretty sure you’re better at this than me.”

“No.” Wichita shook her head. “And I would object to that. Perhaps you are better right now, but there is a fundamental difference between us. The power you use comes from a perception Skill that will only grow stronger as you grow. I am sure you’re detecting way more than you did a few hours ago?”

“Oh, yeah.” Rose nodded slowly.

“Well, what I can detect hasn’t changed…much.” she said, realizing that it had changed a bit. “Mana sense is an innate ability of mine that is unlikely to grow, and can only detect mana. I couldn't detect the drake, but you could, couldn't you? Give it a few more levels, and I am sure you will outpace me easily.”

Wichita really wanted to know how far her enhanced mana sense went. And why and how it had been enhanced in the first place. That kind of thing just wasn't supposed to happen. That was the stuff of legends. The Arcana had no ways of reliably enhancing mana sense outside certain Skills that the System rarely gave their species.

There was clearly more to whatever she had experienced with her Skill. But this wasn’t the time to do a deep analysis of herself and try to see what had changed. That could wait till they had some time to rest.

“There’s something!” Rose said as an arrow headed straight for Jace. The boy's eyes widened as it passed right in front of his eyes, missing him narrowly. Wichita doubted it was due to luck.

“The two of you had better be careful.” she told Rose and Jace. “The forest may target you since - “

Wichita blinked as she felt something pass through her body, looking down as she found an arrow dissolving within her.

“Or it might target me. Of course, it will target me, I am the weaker one.” she murmured, suddenly remembering that she was indeed the weaker one. And quite easy to target with arrows that did not have magic.

“Can you see what is shooting the arrows at us?” she asked, looking around with her mana sense. Of course, there was nothing she could sense.

“Yes.” Rose said. “That thing right there.”

Wichita looked at where she was pointing. There was nothing—and then there was.

“Jace, duck!” she yelled as the humanoid creature loosened an arrow in his direction. Then it reappeared again in another place, loosening an arrow in her direction. Wichita only saw the arrow coming, barely having time to process the figure’s reappearance. The needle emerged from her dress, clashing with the arrow and halting it in its place.

But it was clear to her that she could not sense the beast.

“Rose, tell me where it is, I will shoot it.” Tully said as the thing disappeared again, loosening an arrow in Jace’s direction. Wichita ducked and rolled, expecting an arrow to head towards her at any second. And it did.

“Don’t do it.” she warned. “The thing is too fast for you to hit.”

As much as she wanted to deny it, it was true. Tully’s Sword Qi was not meant to be shot at things, and was painfully slow. Even if it just took a few seconds to hit, those seconds were more than enough for this creature to dodge. The needle couldn’t detect it either. Even if it looked unlikely, the creature was actually moving from place to place, not just teleporting.

“Jace is the only one that can deal with this.” she said, rolling on the ground and then standing up. The second arrow had come far too close. The creature was clearly trying to predict their movements, just as they predicted its actions.

‘What?!” Jace yelled as he barely dodged the arrow. The boy was far from nimble enough to do any of the dodging. And yet he was the only one that could harm the creature.

“The needle can’t harm it, and it's too fast for Tully. Rose can tell you where it is, you have to intercept it. As long as you can touch it, I am sure it will die.” she said, then realized that the same was true for her. The mana that made up her body was probably deadly to the creature.

“Rose, I need you to tell me where the creature is. Jace and I will try to corner it.”

“Oh, ok.” Rose answered, sounding very nervous. “To your right, a bit -”

Wichita ducked as an arrow flew over her head, but she had been able to see it coming. Rose’s warning seemed to have made the creature appear to her. Was it an unknown part of Rose’s Skill, or was the forest doing something?

“Rose.” she said as the creature disappeared. “Just tell me the direction.”

“Left!” the girl yelled as the creature reappeared. Wichita jumped in the direction, twisting her body to avoid the arrow. Jace was far less graceful and simply ducked, raising an arm as if that would protect him.

For some reason it did. The arrow buried itself into the boy’s flesh, much to her surprise. Wichita did not waste the chance, extending her hand as far as it could go. A fair bit longer than a human could. The creature must not have expected her extra range because she was able to touch its bow before it withdrew. Ten points of mana funneled into the non-magical bow as the creature's featureless face looked at her.

Wichita found it a bit freaky. For some reason, seeing a face without any eyes, nose, or mouth was horrifying. A shriek split the air as the needle burrowed into the creature's skin, making it let out a screech of pain even with its…deficiencies.

“Jace.” she called and was somewhat surprised to see the boy having approached them. For some reason he was still crouching, his injured hand shaking as he whimpered in pain. Extending his other hand hesitantly, as if he expected the creature to bite him, he touched it.

Wichita was not sure why the creature did not move away, but it let Jace touch it, continuing to let out its scream.

A second later, it was dead. And she had her last level before Tier 2.

The [Forgotten Queen] has reached level 11

Tier 2 class options available.