The next day was much the same: I got up with the sun and set off into the woods. As I walked, I practiced compressing my Mana bolts, but made sure to keep my Mana above three quarters full, just in case I ran into trouble. I wasn’t sure how effective a weapon it would be, but I wasn’t about to give away a possible advantage.

One of the snares I set the day before seemed to have fallen apart, another had been tripped but was empty, and the rest were undisturbed. I reset as necessary and even added a few more.

My empty traps left me in a bit of a conundrum. What am I going to do for food? If I eat my venison I won’t have any emergency rations. I don’t want to try living off just mushrooms and berries. Gah, I’m going to have to go back to the river, aren’t I? I suppose I might have overreacted yesterday. Plus I can go farther downriver.

A short while later found me creeping through the bushes on the bank of the river, putting all my walking practice with Marnie to use. Poking my head through the bushes, I surveyed the area. No bears were in sight. With a sigh of relief, I walked right up to the edge of the water.

There were plenty of fish still in the river, but rather than immediately going at them with my spear, I wanted to try my new Mana bolts. I summoned the bolt with no issue and sent it barreling toward a fish. Alas, when it hit the water it slowed considerably while growing several times larger. As it grew, it lost its luster to the point where it dissipated completely a couple feet into the water, only managing to spook the fish.

Well, that was a bust. Is it a property of the spell or the water that caused that? What would happen if I cast it while underwater? No, if I start experimenting now I won’t catch lunch; back to the spear for now.

I grabbed my spear from the bank and waded back into the river. However, there was still a little room for improvement, so I tried infusing my body with Health. After a bit of concentration, I was able to infuse my arms. I steadied myself, spear poised in the air, and waited for a fish to come by.

The minutes dragged by. My feet started to go numb in the cold mountain runoff while sun and warm, humid air made sweat accumulate on the rest of my body. I dared not move though, for fear of spooking the fish. Just as a particularly annoying bead of sweat was about to drip into my eye, a fish swam into range and I stabbed at it as hard as I could. This turned out to be quite hard; so hard, in fact, that the rest of my body followed the spear into the water.

After that I stuck to infusing my whole body at once or not at all.

About thirty minutes later, I managed to spear a fish. This time I even remembered to meditate after I killed it. I made a fire, cooked the fish, and ate half of it, saving the other half for dinner. All the while, I practiced Mana Bolt, getting comfortable with compressing it before launch. Just as I was finishing lunch, I was rewarded:

Mana Bolt advanced to Level 3!

After my meal, I was at a bit of a loss as for what to do. At some point I wanted to build a pit trap or something else to capture large game. However, I lacked the storage and processing facilities that Marnie had and building those was too large an undertaking to commit to at the moment. Furthermore, my current house was clearly not suitable for long-term use, so I wouldn’t even know where to put them.

Without any better idea, I spent the first part of the afternoon gathering edible plants. I did spot some deer, so I launched some Mana bolts at them, in as quick succession as I could. The first one missed, spooking the deer, making all the following bolts miss, too. I guess I need to work on projectile speed and accuracy next.

That evening, after returning home and eating dinner, I stuck a bunch of sticks in the ground to use for target practice. Cassie had said I could spin the bolts before launching, but I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I started to experiment. First, I tried spinning the ball itself, but that had no effect.

Next, I tried spinning it in a small arc around my hand before releasing it, allowing it to build up some momentum, although I wasn’t even sure momentum applied to spells. Does Mana have mass? And how do I know what momentum is, anyway? It turned out this did speed up the bolt, although whether that was because of momentum or just a mental trick while casting the spell, I didn’t know.

I hadn’t spent the previous night practicing casting with random parts of my body for nothing, though, so I didn’t stop there. No, next I spun the bolt around my entire body and then launched it. This only made it marginally faster than spinning it by my hand, but it did have the added benefit of freeing up my hands. That way I could use my spear at the same time, or some other weapon.

The rest of the evening I spent spinning bolts around my body and sending them at the makeshift targets. By the end of the evening, I was even running around with my spear during my target practice. This yielded yet another level:

Mana Bolt advanced to Level 4!

The next day followed the same pattern. This time I did manage to catch a rabbit for lunch in addition to a fish for dinner. The rabbit took three Mana bolts to the face to kill. Good thing I didn’t try using it to defend myself, or I’d have wound up dead. I guess I need to charge them more somehow to do more damage if I can barely kill rabbits.

Since my Mana Bolt was currently useless in combat, the end of the afternoon found me knocking on Griff’s door. When he answered, I said, “Hello. I brought this fish for dinner. I was hoping you could give me another lesson with the spear.”

“Ha. I knew there was something I liked about you lad,” he slapped me on the shoulder, making me stumble. “Normally people are too scared to come back for more, but not you!”

An hour later, I was wondering why I, too, hadn’t been too scared to return, and whether the booking process had somehow dulled my memory of the first training session with Griff. He started me off with his target and dodging training, then added a running component to it. To round the night off, we sparred using untipped spear shafts (also known as big sticks). It was a bit embarrassing being knocked to the ground repeatedly by a one-armed man getting into his dotage. Still though, I couldn’t deny the results of his training:

Spear Skill advanced to Level 3! Dodging Skill advanced to Level 1!

After we finished, I asked Griff if he knew of any opportunities for gathering from the wilderness.

“Well,” he said, scratching his beard, “there’s a shortage of metal, so Rupert and Fabian —he’s the smith, case you forgot—are offering a reward for finding a location for a mine. Rupert’ll give you stuff from his store, and Fabian’s offering to smith personal items for free afterward. You can use Identify on rocks and it’ll tell you if they have high metal content, in case you didn’t know.” So, I guess he knows I have Identify then. Marnie probably told him.

“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll keep an eye out.” It certainly would be nice to have free access to metal stuff.

On my way back home, I ran into Marcus and company as they were leaving the tavern. “Hey, it’s that braindead guy again!” shouted Marcus. “And he’s got a spear! Guess he’s playing at being a soldier. How about it, boy, you want to be a soldier when you grow up?” He guffawed, and a couple of his companions gave weak chuckles.

Not wanting to antagonize them—or have any interaction with them at all, for that matter—I started to walk around them. They had other ideas though, so something snagged my foot. I had purposely given them a wide berth, but apparently one of them had some magic. Or perhaps they just moved fast and quietly. Either way, I was sent sprawling and, once again, found myself on the ground.

“He doesn’t even know how to walk,” one of them said, causing them all to double over in laughter. Well, except for the small one in back who was doubled over vomiting.

I took the opportunity to get up and hurry away, trying not to look like I was hurrying, of course. I might not have had much of a sense of dignity, but there was no need to give them anything else to mock. The encounter was rather worrisome, to be honest. Not the tripping, that was more tiresome and seemed rather childish. No, what bothered me was that I was being set up as a target for harassment. A distinct sense of foreboding was growing that even if I eventually managed to prove myself able, Marcus would have already poisoned the town against me. And in a virtually lawless town, that could prove deadly.

There wasn’t anything I could do about that at the moment though, so I headed to bed. It rained that night, and I learned that my roof had more than a few holes in it. All the more reason to move out.

The following day was rainy and cold, but I still set out into the forest—hunger was a powerful motivator. Alas, all my traps were empty and I didn’t find any fish in the river. I was left scrounging for mushrooms and other edible plants. I contemplated eating some grubs I found, but decided I wasn’t that desperate, especially considering I still had some cured venison at home. It wasn’t all bad news though:

Foraging Skill advanced to Level 2! Wilderness Survival Skill advanced to Level 2!

Of course, I was keeping up with my Mana Bolt target practice and infusing my body with Health whenever I could. I even tried channeling Health and Mana at the same time but, while I could tell it was possible, my concentration slipped too easily. Predictably, the one time I managed it while moving, I tripped, so I returned to practicing them individually.

That evening, I returned to Griff for more training, although I traveled around town instead of through it. While we were taking a break, I brought up my concerns about Marcus and his group.

“Well,” he said, tugging at his beard. “I wish I could say you’re wrong. But Marcus and his friends’ve been making trouble for several people and no one contradicts them. Probably ‘cause they feed most o’ the town. That, an’ the fact the last person to confront him went into the woods a couple days later and wasn’t heard from again. Was mighty suspicious, but with no evidence there was nothing to do ‘bout it. Anyway, enough sitting around, let’s get back to it.”

That night, I lay awake on my straw bed, trying to come up with a plan for dealing with Marcus and his lackeys. I can’t just let them harass me indefinitely because they’ll probably escalate. Even if they don’t, that’s no way to live. I can’t confront them; they could easily beat me in a fight and I don’t want to be vanished in the woods. I won’t even be able to find people to help me because no one wants to starve. Or vanish.

That just leaves avoiding them. Is that viable long term though? The town is too small; encounters are nigh on inevitable if I stay. Maybe I can just avoid the village as much as possible, perhaps even settle elsewhere. There’s not really anything tying me here, after all. Eventually I drifted off to sleep, still trying to brainstorm solutions.

After I awoke the following morning, I packed up all of my meagre possessions in preparation for a multi-day trek into the wilderness. The weather was nice enough to sleep outside and staying away longer would keep me away from Marcus. Plus a longer trip would let me cover more ground in search of a site for the mine. The only worry I had was wild animals, but I deemed them an acceptable risk.

As I walked, I kept practicing Mana Bolt, now trying to have multiple spheres orbiting me at the same time. At first, I was releasing them in succession at a single target, but later I started aiming at multiple targets. This yielded a level:

Mana Bolt advanced to Level 5!

For lunch, I had a rabbit from my snares, after which I headed further northeast, parallel to the mountains. I was wary of getting closer to them. They were unfamiliar and might contain dangerous predators, after all. The late afternoon and early evening I spent setting more snares and ate the last of my cured venison at dinner. Having nothing to cook, I forwent a fire that night—no reason to potentially attract predators.

The forest floor was not any less comfortable than my straw cot and it didn’t rain that night, so I slept well. The only thing to disturb my rest was the distant howling of wolves, which sent a shiver down my spine but didn’t keep me awake for long.

The next day, I decided to turn around. I was out of meat and given my inability to catch game without a trap, heading further north would lead to a vegetarian diet. Luckily, one of the traps I set the previous day had captured something, only it was a Level 2 coyote instead of a rabbit. Killing it gave me significantly more essence than the rabbits did, pushing me close to Level 7. The meat wasn’t great, but it did fill my stomach.

On the return trip, I kept my eye out for any potential ingredients to trade with Cassie, mostly in an effort to keep the trip from being a complete wash. I filled my bag up with Common plants, but I wasn’t sure if they were all useful. There was also some hanging moss that I was unable to Identify. I didn’t dare touch it, remembering the iphre berries, so I made a mental note of the location for later.

The village came into sight in the early evening, so I spent the night in the dubious comfort of my home. The following morning, after practicing Mana Bolt some more, I headed to the apothecary. There, I traded my harvest from the previous day for a Health potion, some antiseptic poultices, and bandages. Hopefully they would give my longer trips into the wilderness a degree of safety. After I left, I realized I hadn’t asked about the hanging moss. Oh well, there’s no need to turn around to ask about it now. It’s not like the moss is going to run away.

While I was walking back home, I noticed Marnie and Griff having an animated discussion by the edge of town. Huh, that’s weird. Neither of them live on this side of town. I wonder what they’re up to? I didn’t pause or snoop though, since it probably wouldn’t affect me. I waved at them, but they didn’t respond.

By that point, it was getting to be late morning, so I ran to my traps, infusing Health as I went. More of my snares were undisturbed than usual, so I would probably have to find new places for them soon. Luckily, one did have a rabbit, which served as both lunch and dinner. Clouds had been rolling in over the course of the day, so rather than spend the night exposed to the elements, I headed back home to reevaluate my exploration strategies. Traveling in what amounted to a random direction hadn’t been successful, which I probably could have guessed beforehand.

I hadn’t found very many exposed rocks wandering through the forest, so if I wanted a real chance of locating a mine, I would need to go elsewhere. I suppose I can brave the mountains, since only the fear of the unknown made me avoid them. I can run and stay away if I find actual danger there.

The only places besides the mountains where I can find a lot of rocks are the rivers, and you can’t exactly tell where the rocks in the river came from. Well, I guess they have to come from upriver. Huh, that could work—find a river with ore-rich rocks and then follow it into the mountains. That way I won’t trade wandering the forest aimlessly for wandering the mountains aimlessly. Plus I won’t get lost.

The other problem was my reliance on traps for food. I either need to get better at actively hunting or set up some sort of base camp. Although, if I’m setting up a camp elsewhere and my current home is unsuitable, wouldn’t it make more sense to permanently move? Something to think about, anyway.

The next morning proceeded as usual. There were no rabbits, or coyotes for that matter, but I did manage to spear a small fish in the river for lunch. While there, I Identified as many rocks as I could. Several of them turned out to have high iron content, so I decided that it was as good as any stream to follow.

After lunch, I stuck around for a bit to try getting another fish for dinner. Not too much later, though, I heard loud crashing coming from the forest, instantly reminding of the spined bear. Not wasting any time, I grabbed up my gear and started heading upriver.

Just then, I heard someone shouting in pain. I paused, frozen in indecision. Did I flee to safety or go investigate?

Apparently my legs had minds of their own, and no sense of self-preservation, because I found myself hurrying toward the noise, against my better judgment.