When I next woke up, the room was still dark due to the lack of any windows, but what was more interesting was that Cellestra was no longer in her bed. When I turned around, I saw the door was already open, too.

I made my way through it and into the living room, of which the door was open too. Cellestra was seated at the table sipping on a cup of tea, while her eyes were fixated upon the unmoving tarantula in its enclosure.

I climbed up the table and waved one of my legs in front of her eyes.

What was up with this elf?

“Oh, hey Kealyna. How are you doing?” She asked after I snapped her attention back to this world.

I took the paper in front of her and started spelling. “Am doing fine. What happened last night?”

“I… I’m sorry about that,” She said softly.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m… fine. I just need some time to think about a few things.”

Poor Cellestra. Something seemed to be weighing heavily on her shoulders. I wanted to help her, but it seemed she wanted some time for herself. I wouldn’t pry.

I cast healing light on her arm again, hoping it would at least help in cheering her up a bit. It seemed to more or less have the desired effect as she smiled after I cast my spell.

“Thanks, Kealyna,” She said again, softly, before taking another sip of her tea.

I wanted to get this achievement before doing anything, but with the state she was in… it would be better to leave her alone for a bit… I think.

“Outside?” I wrote.

“Yeah, I’ll open the door. If you don’t mind, I’ll stay in the house for a bit.”

“No problem,” I spelled.

She did as she said and opened the door to the outside world. I instantly made my way over to the stream and climbed in the same tree in which I had created my web. The web, apparently, was still there. I hadn’t taken it down. I was surprised nothing got itself stuck in it.

I was going to try to take on a wolf from here. I knew they visited this stream regularly. I kept watch for any approaching animals while I looked at my enhancement options.

Name: Kealyna

Race: Large Green Resica

Level: 1/10

Experience: 0/60

Evolution Points: 85

Enhancement

Cost in EP

Advanced Venom

20

Strong Venom

35

Very Strong Venom

50

Improved Paralytic Venom

10

Advanced Paralytic Venom

20

Strong Paralytic Venom

35

Very Strong Paralytic Venom

50

Jaws and Teeth

5

Improved Jaws and Teeth

10

Weak Toxin Resistance

3

Toxin Resistance

5

Improved Toxin Resistance

10

Advanced Toxin Resistance

20

Strong Toxin Resistance

35

Very Strong Toxin Resistance

50

Language Comprehension - Human

5

Language Comprehension - Dwarven

5

Language Comprehension - Orcish

5

Language Comprehension - Demonic

10

Language Comprehension - Goblin

5

I decided to increase my venom skill first, acquiring Advanced and then Strong, bringing my points down to thirty. I kind of wanted to get it to Very Strong as soon as possible.

I felt warmth flow to my fangs and then to my abdomen as I leveled the skill twice. I then looked at my personal information.

Hmmm, I would only need 60 experience for the next level.

Elysa, how many Evolution Points will I get when I get level 2?

You will acquire 20 Evolution Points per level.

Oh, that was just perfect.

I was going to get a level first, then take the highest level of venom I could get, and then take on a wolf!

I would have to hurry, though. From my observations these past few days, it seemed at least one wolf came here sometime in the morning to drink.

Where was I going to get sixty experience from?

From nearby, I imagined I would have to either take on one of those gulls, or simply kill reaperfish again. Gulls would be too random, so reaperfish it was!

I climbed down and started fishing with a thread. As soon as one of the fish came too close, I cast an ice lance at it, instantly killing it.

You have killed a Small Red Reaperfish: No experience was awarded.

Crap. They stopped giving me experience.

But I wasn’t done yet!

I saw reaperfish approach the bleeding corpse and start eating it. I waited until there were a bunch of them together, before throwing another ice lance into the water.

You have killed a Small Red Reaperfish: No experience was awarded.

You have killed a Small Red Reaperfish: No experience was awarded.

The additional corpses seemed to have the desired effect. It didn’t take too long before a larger variant of the fish showed up. That was just what I needed.

I waited until it was impossible to miss… and cast an ice lance at it… and another. These bigger fish seemed to be quite a lot more resilient as this one could still swim away, but a message popped up confirming its death.

You have killed a Red Reaperfish: EXP+78

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 2!

You have been awarded 20 EP.

There we go.

I made my way back into the tree and selected the Very Strong Venom upgrade. Once more, I felt the warmth flow to my fangs and then to my abdomen.

And now we wait…

I sat in position, ready to strike with my spells from above. I even cast a venom bolt aimed at the ground, just to get a feel for the spell. The cast formed a small, green spear that shot forward. It pierced the grass until half the spear’s length was embedded in the ground before the projectile lost form and simply collapsed into a small puddle of venom.

As the blessing had said, the spell used hardly any mana. I felt my venom reserves lose some of their contents, but with an abdomen this large, I had plenty left.

Observing the venom caused my mind to wander off to Cellestra. I got distracted by the part of herself that she’d shown last night.

What was wrong?

I heaved a mental sigh.

I didn’t want to observe that again. It pained me…

I snapped my attention back to the world below me and continued observing the area. Yet, I felt my mind wander off on its own time and time again. When a wolf finally showed up, I fired a venom bolt… and completely missed.

My focus wasn’t here.

The wolf in question was surprised by the attack and quickly ran off, shattering my hopes of an easy kill.

I waited for what felt like several more hours, but no other wolves showed up. I had botched the one chance I had.

What a mess…

I gave up hope and made my way down again. I moved back to Cellestra’s home and noticed that the door was still open. The elf was outside, cleaning the window.

I was not going to be able to fight in this state. She was obviously suffering alone. I wanted to know what was going on, and if there might be some way I could help, even a little. My heart would not allow me peace otherwise.

I waved at her and went inside while wondering how I should ask this without upsetting her. She had shown hesitancy to talk about this. I hoped she was okay.

Was it because of her curse or anything?

Cellestra gave me a quick nod as I entered the building. I climbed up to the table and watched her finish cleaning the window before she finally joined me.

“How did things go?” She asked as she sat down.

“Bad,” I wrote. “Could not concentrate. Worried about you.”

“I’m so sorry,” She said as I saw her mood worsen once more.

Cellestra placed an elbow on the table and ran her hand over her forehead. “I don’t know how to put this...”

She took a deep breath and sighed.

“Are you sure you want me to tell you…?”

Well… yes.

I nodded with my limbs.

“I’m scared, Kealyna.” She sighed again. “These past few days… I don’t know… I was finally able to get some distraction from whatever my life has become...”

“Scared, why?” I wrote.

“Because… I...” She started, then paused before continuing softly. “Because I don’t want to go back…”

Crap…

I should have known. Cellestra had been nothing but nice.

“Do you see why I didn’t want to tell you? I don’t want you to worry about this...”

I saw.

“Will not leave for while,” I wrote, hoping to cheer her up.

“You’re a nice person, you know that? But I don’t want to hold you back. You will have to leave sooner or later.”

I saw the elf try to speak with confidence, but she wasn’t doing a good job at it. It was clear she had been lonely.

To think she held out for years with no one to speak with besides this peddler that visited her every now and then. I was already having difficulties after what? Two days?

I also didn’t want to state the option of her coming with me. Not when she was in this state. That would simply feel like abusing the situation. When I saw her like this, I was almost certain she’d say yes.

She clearly needed time.

I would need time to think about this, too.