Awakening before dawn as usual, I followed my morning routine of practicing my magic a few dozen times. My eyes were getting accustomed to seeing in starlight, as well as the spontaneous bursts of lights that had at first burned my eyes. My efficiency with placing the mana into spell shapes had greatly increased, and I believed I was hitting the limit of repeated practice; a bottleneck, if you will.

The fact that my growth was beginning to taper off was unsettling. If I couldn’t experience growth after leaving the village, that meant anything dangerous I encountered would remain dangerous forever; any enmities with powerful forces would have to be resolved with external power.

There are many stories of heroes who can't make it on their own. Leaning on others to overcome and defeat things beyond their own ability. I hate those kinds of tales.

I've nothing against friendship. The supporting cast can off outshine the lead, and they need not be bumbling sidekicks. But those so impotent that it is not just temporary aid, but a permanent reliance on others, leads me to grind my teeth.

Perhaps one can grin and bear it in a reality that can't be altered by mere thoughts, but I had stepped into a realm with magic. It awakened the lust for power within me that had always slumbered under the weight of physics. I suppose I was a bit of a megalomaniac even back then.

In those wee hours, unable to make my strikes any more efficient, I returned to long range target practice. While running and jumping, shooting dozens of meters away, and behind the back shots. I had a tendency to work harder any time I suddenly felt limited. Although it usually applied to a game patch, in that case it was much more real.

Even dedicating myself so, I knew my physical abilities and talents would hit a peak at some point. The only way around this that I could think of was to find a way to level up or improve my undead. Other methods were unknown at the moment.

Of course, I couldn't very well chop up Pan for experience and minions. At the moment, I had no idea where the monsters were and neither could I leave Ria unattended. Nothing for it but to wait for another turn of fortune.

In a slightly foul mood, I exhausted my mana. Collecting and tossing aside the targets I'd set up, I then prepared Ria's gruel. Lightly rapping knuckles on her head but avoiding the horns, I roused her for breakfast.

*We hates nasty elf breads, don’t we precious?*

“Doc’or whyah you talkin’ funny?” Well isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black. I gave her a few more spoons of the gruel, which had evolved into porridge over time.

“I’m not talking funny. How are you feeling?”

“Tired an’ itchy.” Same as usual then. At least she wasn’t getting any worse. It was strange how even though she said she was itchy, she never scratched while I was away. Her efforts were feeble in my presence as well, but they would tear away some of her remaining normal skin. There were no signs she did so when I wasn’t present.

I couldn’t be sure I was the cause, because no one else ever came into the shack. Pan’s visits only occurred when I was present and those were dwindling as well. I guessed he had placed his trust in me.

“‘Mma go sleep.”

“Hey, try to stay awake a little longer this time. Don’t just say the same things over and over again.” I complained to no avail and Ria returned to slumbering. I really needed to expand my knowledge of this plane of existence. I had no idea as to what was happening.

Then I remembered what you should do if you ever get stuck on a quest. After picking up every item, talk to every NPC. Recalling back to two days ago, I had a conversation with Ralph and he said his grandfather had told him a story about someone with the same disease! I was practically running out of the hut to go find him. I needed to exhaust his dialogue tree.

Ralph was angling about 10 minutes downstream, near a slight bend in the creek. Focused on the river, he was unaware of his surroundings.

“Hey Ralph, can we talk for a bit?”

“Sure thing! How are ya Audrick?” Looking over his shoulder, he gestured towards a stone nearby I could sit on. I didn’t bother correcting my name.

“Doing pretty well. Went out with Ross and Troy to help them haul lumber around the other day. They were very...enthusiastic about their jobs.”

“That’s because with ya along they could bring back a lot more timber. They’re thinking about patching up their house now.”

I was a bit surprised that was all it took. All that really happened was they brought back a few more logs than usual. No matter the quantity returned, there still had to be the limiting factor of skilled labor. I thought of peeking around the village to see exactly how they ended up improving their huts.

“I was almost crushed by the whole trees they passed along. They could tone it down at least a little. Anyhow, I came to ask you about Ria’s affliction, you said that you heard a story about something similar?”

“So your here ta learn about that.” Ralph seemed a bit saddened that I hadn’t just come to chat. “Well, I always love telling my grandpappy’s stories.”

In the name of decent storytelling, I omit the abominable word salad that spewed forth from Ralph’s mouth. To this day, I wonder if his grandpappy was just as bad, or if it was an epic tale unjustly mangled. It was hard enough trying to pick out clues relevant to the situation, let alone a cohesive narrative. I may be sparing you of the ear-grating jumble of sentences, but what’s left is a bit of an infodump. It may sound like bare bones exposition, but trust me, it’s more palatable this way.

The gist of the tale centered around Ralph’s grandpappy(no name given). An adventurer from Kallahall, a country to the east of Derriad, he came in search of a holy artifact. It had been suggested by previous conversations, but I learned explicitly in this tale that the country of Derriad was a theocracy. Founded by the prophet Levaius, but named Derriad after the then current archbishop of another religion, I didn’t question too long lest I reveal my ignorance of what were apparently continent-spanning religions.

One of the most important things I learned was Derriad was apparently considered small country. Apparently, because the world was wuxia sized. For those of you who don’t live on the internet, that means anything smaller than the entire surface area of the earth is probably only fit to be a pinprick size island in the grand scheme of things. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but Derriad was considered small and from what I reckoned was twice the size of Russia.

So the Old Grandpappy was setting off on a long quest across Derriad to find a holy relic for some Knights of the Fang, Fang Knights, Order of the Fang, Ralph kept using different terms for them. Or maybe there was a larger Fang Coalition in play, who knows. They were preparing for the coming of the beastly days, when creatures with weak willpower become tainted by demonic essence.

Don’t worry if you’re wondering what this has to do with Ria. It is totally unrelated and I had to sit through it anyway, like a good listener. In better news, it turns out they Fang Coalition planned for Old Grandpappy and their other glorified couriers to take a few decades. This means that the timing worked out so that I got wrapped up in the beastly days, but that occurs some years later on.

OGP encountered the afflicted person about two years into his journey. Being a proper adventurer, OGP and his companion, Buddy Faern(A point-ear, and his name is pronounced like the plant.), recognized the man as simply being under a magical disease and not a curse or possession. OGP found him isolated in a cave(probably while Fern was off fondling trees), almost catatonic. Much like the state Ria was currently in.

From the tale it sounded like Fern used some sort of accidental magic to awaken the comatose man. By the heckling of the leaf-licker that OGP included in his story, it was clear that it definitely wasn’t on purpose. Fern was also incredibly drained for a long time afterwards, if it wasn’t just an embellished put-down.

So it turned out all that could be gathered from that hack job of a bard was to be careful. I suspected whatever it was had been triggered by touching the horns of the patient. Further experimentation along that line of inquiry would be halted for the moment. OGP and Fern didn’t follow their patient around long enough to test for a full recovery, so I wasn’t going to risk my mana on something that might not even be a permanent solution.

Even though all I asked for was about the red-skin affliction, Ralph continued the story to my dismay. Again, even if it may have been painful, there was some information that would help later on.

For example, 17 Chapters headed by an archbishop and high priestess were the foundation of Derriad, under the rule of the Grand Cathedral. While they vied for power amongst themselves, compared to larger nations Derriad was monolithic in its loyalties. This along with a high conscription rate and mandatory military service had kept it from being subsumed into one of the neighboring lands. Being friends with Kallahall and bordering an ocean also helped reduce the number of predators.

I learned that the church was the state and the law. Every governmental position was filled with someone directly affiliated with the church. Ralph wasn’t speaking too badly of them, but I suspected that was due to the fact that he’d lived in Nowheresville, Derriad for his whole life. It wasn’t impossible for them to be good, but I wasn’t planning on putting my faith in them.

Hehehe. Unintentional puns.

I suppose I can stop regaling you with the absolutely thrilling information that Ralph shared with me. This all took place over the span of an hour and some minutes, including a break or two when he caught a fish. As thanks, I stored and carried his catch back to his house when lunch rolled around.

After feeding Ria again, I made sure that there wasn’t any need for me around the village. Around a week had passed and it seemed some of the townsfolk were beginning to warm up to me, but I wasn’t really close to any of them. They definitely wouldn’t care or notice if I headed off into the woods for a few hours. Besides I could always just say I was looking for medicinal herbs, or somesuch nonsense.

The sun was high in the sky, and I made sure my flasks were filled with water. I stepped out of my hut and surveyed the surroundings. In front, to the south was the rest of the village. As usual, nobody could really be seen among the buildings at this time of day. To the west was the road I came from. Travellers occasionally passed through, but I didn’t ever recall seeing any stop. Troy did mention dealings with a merchant at some point, but I missed them somehow. To the east was the stream where most of the village was working, fishing and whatnot. They were weighted more south, since that was downstream and so they wouldn’t kick up as much grime for those collecting water upstream.

And to the north was the forest. Sparse and deciduous, it wouldn't provide much visual cover for a ways in. If I strode over into the forest confidently, it would arouse less suspicion if I was seen, but that would have been no fun.

*Na nana Na na, na Na nana na na* Crouching down through the tall grasses, I hummed and did some rolls across the ground. The grassy plain between the house and the forest was free of obstruction, but if anyone saw me they must have assumed I was up to my usual shenanigans. Calling it high stakes would be quite the exaggeration, but I was having a good time acting in that way.

I made it into the forest and disappeared into the trees unmolested. Standing straight up, I kept walking deeper into the forest to ensure privacy. The familiar smell of the wilderness was refreshing after the constant aura of fish in the town.

After a few minutes of walking and stopped to listen. Only the noise of a few woodland critters, no human voices or footsteps. All alone in the woods. Opening my inventory I pulled out Hans. Time to begin working out the limits of my specialty.