Van woke up early in the morning, planning to make use of the early hours to prepare and leave as soon as possible to make use of every minute he has on his free day. But just as he was about to go, he heard Luna whisper something. At first, he thought she was trying to talk to him, but it was just her sleep talking. Something she had never done before.

Curious, he leaned over to hear her better.

“S-sorry… wi-will fix up… why did she have to do that…” she muttered, tears slowly forming at the rim of her eyes, almost as if she was having a nightmare. “I’ll… put you back together… your broken heart…” then she began to spasm a little. “N-No! Don’t do it! Exhal! Betrayer! N-not you too… Ve...” now sounding broken-hearted.

“All… I wanted to do… was dance… and for you to watch… why didn’t you ever look at me… so faithful… to someone who never loved you as I do…” she then began to sob a little. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she continued for some time. “I… had no choice… Had to break them… change them… to fix you up again… Va… please forgive me…”

Van had no idea what she was talking about, but for some reason, his heartfelt like they were being twisted into knots, and unbeknownst to him, unshed tears also pooled on the rim of his eyes. All the while he felt an uncompromising fear.

Slowly, he leaned forward and gently whispered into her ear. “I love you.” in a gentle and loving manner.

Which seemed to work, for almost immediately she relaxed and started to sleep more soundly.

Van did not know what she was talking about, or what kind of dream she was having. But for some reason it affected him on a fundamental level he was just not prepared for. So much so that he even had to second guess his act of kindness. Did he say that because he truly wanted her to sleep well? Or because he wanted to shut her up…

“Why do I feel this way… it almost feels like a traumatic memory from the past… I don’t understand…” he thought as his eyes became unfocused and half-lidded and an empty feeling slowly formed in the center of his brain. Almost as if his subconscious was doing its best to make sure he didn’t recall anything for his own good.

Van pushed aside everything and made his last-minute preparations in a haze. Just moving his body automatically and forcing himself to move and get out. Least he was forced to stay with his empty thoughts…

Just as he was exiting his tent and walking out in the open, he was smacked in the face for the second time by Amie who ran right into him.

“Ow,” they both said.

Van rubbed his face, “you gotta watch where you're going, Amie.”

“Oh shush you,” Amie replied, rubbing her forehead. “You know you love it, My body all pressed up on your face.” she tried to tease like Lyn, but it fell a little flat. Though it still surprised Van enough to make him chuckle at the attempted comparison.

“So, what are you doing here so early?” he smiled, now in a bit of a better mood thanks to the distraction and Amie’s attempted joke.

“I’m here because of you! You fucked my friend!” Amie accused, looking him in the eye, now serious and filled with a little anger.

“Wha-? Who!?” Van’s eyes creased in confusion and worried about that glint in Amie’s eyes.

“The fairy you just fucked yesterday! Ella!” crossing her arms under her breasts and giving him a bit of a glare. “Seriously, what’s gotten into you, are you sure you have this new…” hesitating a bit, she quickly moved near his ear and whispered. “Incubi thing…” then zipped back to her previous position. “Under control!”

“Ell-who?” now very confused, until he then remembered a little of what was said yesterday with one of the last fairy he saw and the only one he actually had sex with. “Oh…”

“Ya, oh!” Amie glared at him. “Well… congratulations! Elena’s mom was so happy about her baby girl finally snagging herself a man, she insisted that she come visit in a few days to make it official that her daughter become your concubine! What’s worse, the rank-up was supposed to be free! I was supposed to come see you and pay on her behalf, but…” she sighed, “those two can be really stubborn sometimes…”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know…” he said, feeling really bad about the whole situation.

Amie gave another glare, but it quickly melted away when she saw that Van was genuinely sorry. In the end, she just sighed again. “Well… I suppose I can’t really blame you… and what women wouldn’t want their male to be as active as you when it comes to seeking sex…”

“But you have to understand… you can’t just sleep with just anyone you want. You also have to take into consideration your wives’ feelings on the matter. Sure you can get away with screwing a lot of girls with no consequences. But when you start messing with women from noble families, unless you make it clear beforehand that you aren’t looking for more concubines and you already have multiple wives, sleeping with such women can cause things to get… politically messy real quick…”

“Do you understand?” she gently asked, but the way she put her hands on her hips and looked at him was like a mother to her child. A bit demeaning, but it made the message clear.

“Yes, and I’m sorry again. I promise to be a little more careful in the future of who I take to bed.” Van said seriously.

“Well… don’t take it too seriously. We honestly don’t mind that much who you fuck, so long as it's no one important, okay?” smiling a bit in good mirth.

Van rolled his eyes, fully understanding. “Women can be so contradictory…” he thought. “Yes, I understand,” saying it in such a way to make it clear he really did understand what she meant.

“Good, and now that is out of the way…” her smile became full-blown and she suddenly became very giddy. “Hehehe! Elena is a concubine! Yes!” she couldn’t help but pump her arms. She then rushed to give Van a hug on the face. “You have no idea what this means! She was one of the very few friends I had growing up! Thanks to you, she and I can stay together! Thank you very much!”

Van was taken aback a little by her new giddy attitude. “Umm… your welcome?” was all he could really reply with, letting her rub herself all over him. Something that normally he wouldn’t be too comfortable with, now something he kinda enjoyed for some reason. As her soft body gently caressed his face…

Finally, she pulled away. “Anyway, that's all I wanted to talk to you about for now. I have a million things to take care of, and you have your break to enjoy, so I’ll leave that to you. Speaking of which, what are you going to do with your free time?”

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“Well… I was planning to set a few things up before I left. But other than that, all I really planned for today is to go out and explore and… you know… really enjoy what nature has to offer…” he said.

Amie looked a little worried. “Well… so long as you're careful…” She then gave him a little kiss on the lips. “Be sure to take care of yourself, okay?”

Van was very touched by Amie’s action. It was very clear by her expression that she actually didn’t want him to leave. But did her best to keep that hidden and wish him well instead, despite the reservations she had.

“Don’t worry…” I'll be careful, and I can take care of myself. I promise.” saying it seriously so as to help curb any of her worries.

“You better,” she said with a pointed look, but then it softened. She then gave him another kiss for luck and the two said their last goodbyes and separated. But then she immediately turned back, “oh! Before I forget, I convinced something like a doctor to come visit, she will be here in a few days to check out your soul realm. Bye!” she then waved and zipped away towards wherever she was going.

Leaving Van a little worried at the word… doctor… but in the end, he went towards the magic circle in the center to make one last-minute preparation before he left camp to explore. Pushing off what Amie said as something to be worried about later.

Going through the large tent that now covered the circle, he was surprised to see Gwen already there. She seemed to have a book out and was studying the magic circle in her free time, perhaps in hopes of one day understanding it and using it to improve her own magical skill.

Van watched her for a minute as she was solely focused on the lines and runes in front of her. After a while he finally interrupted her, making her jump as he asked if she needed any help with what she was doing.

Gwen blushed, a little embarrassed to be caught in the act, and so focused that she didn’t even realize that her master had entered. She stammered an apology and got up, brushing herself off, as she was on her knees, and gave a proper morning greeting to him.

“Morning to you too, and you don’t have to apologize.” Van said, “instead, why don’t I help you out for a bit. I need to use the circle, but I could spend some time answering a few of your questions before I leave.”

Immediately Gwen tried to refuse, not wanting to be a bother to her master. But then hesitated as something came to mind. “Well… there is one thing I would like to know…” she admitted. “if you don’t mind that is!” she said quickly after.

“Of course, what would you like to know?” he asked, walking over to her side so that he could see her angle of view.

“Well… I was just wondering… I know that those lines are for connecting the smaller circles together and that those runes mean transference and change. But what do those ones do?” pointing at another sequence of runes and lines.

“Ah… you see how that line connects to the circle for power and transfers that power through another line to this circle? See those lines that shoot off the power line? Those are in case too much energy is used. Using a magic circle requires precise control, so you can think of those lines shooting off into empty circles as a method to capture overflow, in case too much energy is used. It can even be used as a battery, the energy stored from previous uses can be recycled for later use.”

“Now, do you see these circle runes that you were pointing at towards the end of the line? Right before they reached some of the main circles? Those gauge the energy flow, if too much, they will shunt the power into the empty circles, if too little, they will take from the empty circles whatever energy was stored. Depending on the energy intake or lack thereof, it will send off a signal to the counterpart on the opposite side of the line, which will regulate whether the main circle is attached and ready to receive the energy and how.”

“In a way… you can think of a magic circle as a mix between a powerline and a computer…” he then paused, “sorry, I’m not entirely sure what those are, but think of a powerline as that network of rune lines we have in the castle to help transfer energy to the castle lights. And a computer as something similar to a Vespera bangle. If that helps…” he said

Gwen slowly nodded in thought, “thanks… I think I understand what you're trying to say…” she then looked up at him and smiled. “Really, thank you! I would love to ask you a few more questions, but I shouldn’t take any more of your time. I’ll use what I learned and study some more.” and with a quick kiss to his cheek, she left with her book, writing in it as she walked away with a happy step.

Now that Gwen was gone, Van got to work with what he planned to do in the first place. Taking out some leaves and sticks and a bunch of other things he gathered the day before when he had some free time. He began to dump them in the center of the circle with a few crushed mana orbs.

“I hope I got this right…” Van then began to use the magic circle to infuse the debris with mana. Doing his best to remember what Ren taught him before when he felt like it, before their connection was cut. Slowly, the small twigs and leaves began to clump together and form into over a dozen different masses. Fifteen minutes later, twenty butterflies made of leaves and twigs were born before him.

“These should help me keep an eye on my surroundings. Though they can’t see, they can sense things around them. Which means they will help me sense things around myself, as they are connected to me.” He then ordered them to rise and gave a few a command to fly out the tent and make themselves at home within a few places in camp. “I’ll leave a few of them behind to keep an eye on the base in case something happens while I'm away.”

With that done he walked out the tent with a small posse of leafy butterflies that followed around him. He probably looked a little silly, but at least he had some pride in how well made the butterflies were.

Walking out of camp and into the forest, he spread them out in front of him, and a few behind him. While it was true they wouldn't last long, at most a few days, he was going to get the most use of them as much as possible.

Or so he thought as he walked deeper into the forest, for he was almost instantly reminded that they were not perfect by any means. As he was still taken by surprise by something the butterflies simply couldn’t predict. And something he admitted even he would have a hard time detecting with his own power and ability.

For an hour in, he found himself in a small clearing, and at first, what he thought were nothing but shrubbery, turned out to be anything but.

He found himself surrounded by a pack of forest wolves. One second he was in the middle of a bunch of plants, the next, wolves.

They were a mix of flesh and wood. Their leafy blue bodies, matching the leafy blue leaves of some of the trees. They had glowing blue eyes, and every so often one could see an electric charge flow through their bodies. Their legs looked like it was made of wood, their fur like leaves. One seemed to have a pair of horns on its head, with glowing blueberries that jingled as it swayed. Their muzzle, and main body though, seemed more fleshy, with a hint of blue fur, deep underneath.

They moved around him. But Van was not afraid, oddly enough, he was more fascinated and in wonder. Forest wolves were very friendly creatures, so long as you did not hurt them, or the forest too badly, they were not your enemy.

More importantly, forest wolves took on the aspects of the forest they belonged to. And acted as guardians of the forest. A good adventuring party would do well to make sure to stay on their good side. Thinking that Van took out a mana core he just so happened to have on him, and presented it to the wolf pack.

One of the wolves slowly approached him a little warily, and with the softest of touches, moved in and ate the mana core from his hands so gently and softly, it felt like he was barely touched at all.

After the forest wolf was done with its meal, it gently head-butted him in the stomach, almost like a cat would. And continuing its cat-like demeanor, it continued on to rub its body on Van as it passed by.

As the wolf moved by, Van couldn’t help but let his hand caress the leafy fur of the wolf. Surprised by how soft it was, and how much it felt like real fur. Once the wolf that approached him made its pass, the other wolves began to follow. The largest one with the horns then approached him, stared in his eyes, and gave a small nod.

And with that, it too left with the rest of its pack

Van was left in wonder at what he just experienced, he very much hoped one day to see them again as he watched the forest wolves disappear into the foliage, right before his eyes.

Slowly, he turned away, jumping on a few branches to get to the high ground and see further. But now with more clear eyes. At first, if he had to admit it, he wasn’t really feeling it when he first left camp. But now… his spark of wonder was lit, and he was prepared to see, and enjoy, everything this amazing forest had to offer…