A level I spell, even a complex one, could be manipulated to some extent by the human consciousness, unfortunately in future levels, the need for some kind of enhancement in the processing capacity of one's own consciousness would have to be developed somehow, and he had no doubt that this knowledge was somewhere in the library.

Finally, after nearly ten minutes, Dante, without much preparation or the aid of a potion or magical item, was finally able to write his first spell in his mind.

The advantage of this was that he now wouldn't need to invoke hundreds of phrases with complex meanings to release a single lightning arrow, but could instead define a simple command for this action, which would then activate the entire complex spell in his mind.

This activation command was, obviously, defined as Lightning Arrow, and he didn't think it would need to be changed, as besides the simple phrase, a correct movement of aether in his body was required for the spell to actually work.

This movement of aether, in the end, was the biggest challenge because unlike the spell, which only required a good memory and focus, this part was entirely relative to the individual, as every being possessed their own aether and body, with almost entirely distinct sensations.

The initially planned fifteen minutes had already been exceeded, and Amelia, however, didn't want to disturb Dante as she realized he was doing something important, but he finally got up, and they resumed their journey.

Both of them thought they might be able to reach their destination in two or three hours, well before nightfall, which in this season shouldn't occur before seven-thirty.

During this time, Dante was constantly expending and replenishing his aether as he tried every possible way to invoke that damn spell.

He didn't know if it was supposed to be so difficult, but due to not having any more experienced masters to assist him, he had no choice but to be almost like a giant wandering magical beacon in the middle of that dense forest.

However, this didn't happen without consequences, as at various moments, some monsters, or more precisely, wild animals, tried in various ways to take hold of Dante, who didn't even need to do anything. After the first encounters, he simply gave up caring about it, as sometimes even before he noticed those creatures, Amelia was easily able to turn their bodies into unrecognizable masses of flesh, bones, and viscera.

Finally, after numerous attempts, he began to realize that something was starting to work. He didn't know exactly what it was, but if he felt it, then it was better to try to continue this way.

The best part of it was that this long process was only happening because it was his first spell; the next ones should be much simpler when he finally understood how aether moved through his body and mind.

However, nothing like a problematic day turning even more problematic.

Right after they reached a larger part of the river, they finally began to find signs of civilization.

A beautiful mill could be seen a few hundred meters away, and they started to enter an area that was supposed to be sparsely populated.

Even closer, they ended up finding what could be a rustic cabin, which Dante had no doubt could be the home of an entire family, depending on the economic situation of this country.

Their curiosity about that structure was so great that they didn't care at all and went to look for some human soul to at least have a chance to converse.

But they were strongly surprised when they finally got as close as possible, and the only thing they were able to sense was an extreme foul smell, most likely coming from a corpse that had been there for at least a few days.

When they finally entered the cabin, this smell became even more intense, and when they looked more closely, they were able to see that indeed some family had lived there, but certainly no longer lived.

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In front of them were the bodies, already in an advanced stage of decomposition, of what would have been four people.

Two adults, a man and a woman, whose faces seemed to have merged with the wooden floor, and worms and insects seemed to gather between them, and what appeared to be two young girls, perhaps less than eleven years old.

Contrary to what he really wanted, Dante didn't feel absolutely anything about it. He still had some sense of morality, but he didn't necessarily feel the need to express it in the actions of other people.

Amelia went toward the bodies, and after a little observation, finally came to the most obvious conclusion for that situation.

"It seems like some kind of execution, with tied hands and clear signs of physical assault to confirm it," she said.

Dante logically agreed with this statement. Their hands and feet were tied, and they shouldn't have been anything more than ordinary commoners. Moreover, clear signs of abuse on the female body made it even clearer. However, he couldn't figure out what had really happened here.

Amelia added, "If they were bandits, could they have taken over the village? Isolated as it is, I wouldn't be surprised if we only find some burnt house ruins and many bodies decomposing for a long time."

But Dante, due to the distance between the cabin and the village, couldn't see this possibility as the most likely.

"The villagers might not have liked them very much," he suggested.

After looking around, Dante said, "Finding anything of real value here would be impossible. If your assumption is correct, it's better for us to return to our house for the night. I just hope some bandits might still be nearby."

Dante was really starting to feel hungry and empty inside, and he simply didn't want to start eating rotten brains, at least not now, and if he wasn't lucky, never.

Amelia seemed disturbed by those young and innocent bodies, and Dante could really understand that. He could only feel something about it.

However, Amelia mostly blamed this situation on the kingdom's actions rather than the bandits themselves because to her, they could only exist due to their absolute ineffectiveness, and being so close to one of the academy's properties, this would never have happened before.

And while she silently hated those who brought her to this moment even more, she mostly ignored what Dante was saying. But when he finally put his hands on her shoulders, as some kind of emotional reaction to comfort the girl, she finally snapped back to reality. She realized that they shouldn't stay in that place for too long. Besides not knowing who the attackers were, they still had a short but crucial journey ahead. Now that she believed Dante was probably hungry, there was nothing more humiliating for her than leaving the one who lit up her future in such a deplorable condition.

"Do you think we should at least burn the bodies? They probably weren't expecting that when they started their day, but here they are," she said.

But Dante quickly replied, "Definitely not. The fire would attract whoever did this, or even something worse. Let's just see what happened to the village. It's not far; if there are still some citizens, they can handle this later."

"Still, this is awful," Dante said.

After that, finding nothing to take from the house, they simply left and resumed their usual path. Unfortunately, it seemed that it would still take some time for Dante to learn how to manipulate his own aether. And even though he knew that each body was unique, it was strange that there were no good guides in this book. It only covered the formation of the spell and extremely disposable tips, which were basically summaries of what he had already learned.

Perhaps it would be interesting to start reading other books as soon as possible, as Dante thought. Magic, even though it seemed like an absolutely technical area, required an absurd amount of theory to start working. He had the talent, but without effort, even with all this library at his disposal, he certainly wouldn't progress much beyond where he was now.

After walking for several more minutes, Amelia and Dante finally began to hear some rather strange, but for them, expected noises in addition to the natural sounds of the forest.

In a few hundred meters, it seemed that some great turmoil was happening in a completely widespread manner. And when they finally got a full view of this event, they saw something that Dante had never seen in his past world.

In a village, which from a distance could be considered ugly or poor, but merely small, it seemed to be living what could be considered hell. Numerous people, whom Dante simply classified as thieves, were committing pure atrocities in that place.

However, Dante believed that he would only find the village in ruins, mainly because Amelia repeatedly claimed it was a small and poor place.

But this conflict was happening right now, right in front of them