Mannat was inside the hut, sitting on his chair and looking at the untitled book. It was not a work of fiction, but a record of reality, past, and future. On the page he had opened was a sketch of the corrupted rabbit. It looked different, slightly bigger, meaner, and vicious. Mannat saw the resemblance. They were the same thing. Only, the beast in the sketch had a much higher level than the one he had faced. The Witch told him: The beasts, monsters, and demons, were real and threatening. The book in front of him was a real surviving record of ancient history before the spread of mana.

He had been sitting there for quite some time and was deep in thoughts. A distant memory echoed in his mind. It was from three years ago when he had just received the skill ‘Inspect’. His father was teaching him the words of the status. Raesh taught him the meaning of the words and the numbers in front of them. That was the day Mannat learned how to write his name.

Raesh taught him the difference between strength and constitution and taught him why the latter had far more important than the former.

His father taught him all these things, but he never talked about the level column that had no value to its name.

Mannat had asked the man, only for him to laugh and rub his head. He hadn’t forgotten his father’s laugh; It was bright and filling.

He had pestered his father a few times for him to say, “The whole world would know my name if I knew the answer, son. Nobody knows what levels are and how to improve them.”

Mannat hadn’t believed him then. “But the world is so big. How can you be sure that no one knows?” He perfectly remembered how quickly his father’s smile turned into a frown in the face of his question. The world really was boundless and needless; especially for a boy like him who had only ever been to the town next doors.

“You are right,” His father had admitted. “Maybe there are people who know what levels are and what they do.”

“So they are keeping it secret?”

“Looks like it,” Raesh had answered quietly.

Mannat had stared at his face and said with extreme longing. “Father, I really want to know,”

“So do I, boy,” Raesh had quietly said, “So do I.”

That was the memory of their conversation. Three years later, he was one of those few who knew how to improve levels. If only he knew their purpose. The Witch hadn’t told him whether they would be of any use or not.

He was also wondering why anyone sane would go out of their way to hunt scary, life-threatening monsters. The whole deal was stupid. Perhaps, other masters were also forcing their students to chase monsters.

After all, not everyone could be a hunter. Their village had a good healthy population, but only a handful of actual hunters. Someone frail and defenseless like him, who couldn’t even wield a sword or aim an arrow, had no place in the trades of heroes and villains.

Mannat reluctantly closed the record. He sealed it again and replaced it with another book. This time, he chose the history of the kingdoms.

According to the book, once there were two very powerful Empires in the world, and one independent kingdom. The stronger of the two was the Ameer Empire. It occupied the west and a large part of the southern region. They had flat plains, fertile land, and the highest population. The Ragaestan Empire in the east was largely desert and had a much smaller population in comparison, but they were rich in resources. In the north, there were the Devil Peak Mountains and the Pahhadi Kingdom. It was a kingdom formed from small vessel states whose people were all refugees.

Besides these three sovereign states, there was another piece of free land occupied by none of the three governing bodies.

They called it no man’s land because none of them occupied it. Covered in a fog all year round, it was a complete mystery to everyone. The region had always been a cause of concern and greed for the two empires because of its strategic importance. The circular land shared its boundary with three kingdoms on the eastern side and loomed over the western empire’s neck like a guillotine. Only the Mountain kingdom was uninterested, as it was for the rest of the worldly affairs.

Then the war occurred to occupy the no man’s land.

Mannat tried finding the reason, but it wasn’t given in the book. He gave up and continued reading.

The two Empires fought fiercely in the south since that was the only region where their boundaries clashed with one another. At first, the Ragaestan Empire proved stronger with its stronger weapons, and resources. Ameer Empire tried to circumvent the gap by bridging the distance between the two Empires. They tried to occupy the region at the foot of the devil Peak Mountains. The eastern Empire noticed their approach and the battlefield shifted from the south to the north. Though the region belonged to the Pahadi kingdom, no one expected them to act. However, something went wrong. A third force acted. It took on the two kingdoms and ended the war.

The two kingdoms quickly retreated from there to save their necks.

The tidal retreat of soldiers from both sides gave the southern region an opportunity to gain independence, which it did under the leadership of their local military commander, Ra-ul --where Ra described his status, and ul was the name of his tribe.

In the west, people called south the land of laborers; since, most of their field workers were from the south. In the east, they called it the land of slaves. The southern people after independence named themselves Free and called their country freedom.

The war lasted for less than five years, but it caused the Ameer Empire to break into two, while the kingdom in the east directly collapsed. All of its regions declared independence under the local leaders, and the once giant Empire became 11 separate nations.

In the two hundred years since, the kingdoms of East reduced from eleven to six, and banded together under a democratic truce. Today, they call themselves the allied nations. The Ameer Kingdom, on the other hand, retained much of its lost land, but the southern nation persists their control under the support of the eastern hegemony.

Meanwhile, a neutral trade city grew at the foot of the devil Peak Mountain under the control of the Pahhadi Kingdom.

Later, the book went into details about the war, but Mannat wasn’t very interested in them. He already had too many questions and doubts. He couldn’t digest why two of the most powerful nations would go to war over a small piece of land. How did they lose so badly that one of them actually dissembled?

He wondered if there were any books related to the ‘No man’s land’ on the shelves. It would have to wait for a while though. He had read enough for one day. Outside, darkness had taken over the world; night had fallen.

Mannat collected his notes, bundled them together inside a leather cover that he had asked from his father, and went out.

The tree was glowing, the sky was twinkling with stars, the wind was cold, and his surroundings were quiet. Mannat exhaled a deep breath to calm his heart and empty his mind. The place was starting to grow on him.

The garden looked bare with a few patches of green here and there. He had picked the roots that were ripe and planted seeds in their place. His father had already taken the day’s harvest; the little he had kept for himself was inside the hut, in a crate by the corner. He wasn’t worried about not having anything to practice the next day, because the garden would be green and dazzling once again in the morning. Mannat had seen the shoots growing at a visible pace with his own eyes. It was a magical experience, but also scary at the same time. Who knows what an endless supply of mana could do to the forest ecosystem?

The wind was blowing, the night was drifting and Mannat was not worried about the future. He had a job to do and he was going to stick with it. The future was too distant and volatile for him to worry about. For now, he just wanted to save his mother. The rest he would see as it comes.

He ignored the Witch’s staff that was still standing in the same place she had stuck it. He passed by it and sat in the tree’s warm glow with his legs crossed and closed eyes. He saw facing the tree trunk for a change. He was slowly growing and not just mentally. His temperament was changing and becoming calmer. His focus had improved since he started meditating. He was starting to feel it, the world inside the flow of mana. At least he could say it was there, though he had no idea what it looked like. He could see himself getting there soon. He had a long road ahead of him, but it was no longer a steep hill. He was confident that his effort would not be in vain.

In the garden behind him, a carrot shoot slowly pushed out of the crust. It raised its leafy head and started growing toward the sky. There was nothing stopping it, but itself. It was still young, but soon it would be time for it to flower and spread its fragrance in the world.