Laura sandwiched her father with her armpit while carrying Tenur on her other shoulder. Both of them were likely asleep, one due to performing the exhausting ritual, while the other due to being performed on. The current situation left her vulnerable to external attacks, but if anything, her echoing footsteps already discouraged most would-be aggressors from coming into her immediate vicinity. As her surroundings darkened, her view became clearer as the mana she harvested allowed her to see through the dark. There was a shade of blue in everything she saw, unlike how everything usually looked to anyone. The logic behind it would be that Tenur's mana was potent enough to boost her perception, if not outright give her a new view of the world. She could smell the stillness in the air, but even more so, prey. She sniffed the air a few times, before deciding to hunt in the dark. It was more advantageous for her now, since she could see, hear and smell better than before. The mana affected her more than just her perception, but she was likely not to notice the other boosts unless someone pointed it out. Staring into what everyone would consider to be darkness, she could see humanoid figures moving around in squads. In total, there were around 30 of them, and the one in the head of the group was most likely the commander of the expedition. Sure do hope they won't be nearing the prey I caught scent of, Laura muttered as she quieted her footsteps. She placed Tenur on a nearby tree branch, making sure he hung on it without risk of falling if he were to twist and turn a little. She then placed her father on top of Tenur's chest so as to not obstruct her stealthy mission. After that, Laura started following the prey she had caught scent of. The trail it left behind was still fresh, and the slight sweat it left behind indicated that it was in a hurry. Thus, so she would not lose it, she started running silently, trying as much as possible to not stomp on the ground, however tempting it may have seemed. Finally, after about a few minutes of running, trekking and dodging under branches, she saw it. It was an impala, chewing on the grass around it when suddenly, it looked towards Laura's direction. Its nose twitched visibly before running away from the bush Laura was behind. With no intention of losing it, Laura ran after it. All the while, the ground shook as she stomped through the forest the impala had headed towards since she had already given up on being stealthy, creating footprints that were similar to craters in the partially soft ground. The surroundings vibrated vigorously, and the previously slumbering animals received a rude awakening, forcing them to run away from their homes while bounding for safety and cover. She was about to catch it when she her foot into particularly soft spot on the ground, causing it to sink as the mud covered it hold. In order to avoid falling face first, her other foot was forced into the mud, balancing her weight but sacrificing her mobility. She watched as the impala's figure get smaller and smaller until eventually disappearing from her view. To that, she cursed. In fact, she cursed with words that would make even her father surprised, especially at her overly large and burdening body that had caused so much trouble instead of helping. She struck the mud as her feet sank deeper, causing some to splash onto her body. She thought she was going to be buried alive in quick'mud', but her feet touched the bottom of the mud pit before the mud even swallowed her hip deep. At that, she was glad that her body at least had some advantages. She sighed a breath of relief, only to hear footsteps approaching. Marching footsteps, not exactly stealthy, but intimidating for weaker hostiles. Then, she remembered the expedition she had seen not long ago. They must've noticed me stomping through the forest just now! she thought to herself. She sighed again, this time with a fed up tone. Secretly in her heart, she wished everything could go back to how it was, before he came. Tenur's arrival had caused a lot of problems, to the point of actually upsetting her and her village's entire peaceful life. With regret and blame, she tried turning a little to get a grip on her surrounding captor. Due to the mud disallowing it, her escape was unlikely, and when she took her strength into account, she wasn't even sure she would be able to overcome the mud's adhesive force. Sighing again, she noticed this was her third time sighing, and it may even be her last. At least I'll die happy, she thought as she began laughing at herself sarcastically. She reminiscied the past, and found she was always an abomination for being a manaborne. Manabornes weren't even meant to exist, only present when a fertility mage was supporting it. She was just a mere creature made by sentient beings, one who shouldn't even have a will to live at all. She should've resigned to fate the moment she was born, but foolishly, she had tried fighting against it by just existing. "Fuck," she said as she realised how idiotic and naive she had been before. And then, she remembered her father. The one who gave birth to her. He was the one who had fought against fate, not her. He was the one who defied it, not her. He was the one who would be sad if she were to die, not her. As the sudden realisation set in, she didn't know whether to feel relieved or happy, or even troubled at that. But one thing for sure, she was conflicted internally, and to resolve the conflict, there was only one way. "I," she struggled against the mud, "need to get out of," she tried reaching for the side, to get a hold, "THIS!" There was a moment of excitedness as her hand held onto something solid just outside the mud's boundary. Relief flooded her as she thought she was saved from the mud, yet to her horror, the solid thing came loose and ended being dragged into the mud. It turned out it was just a loose rock that was stuck there. With her hand now being swallowed along the rock, she could no longer move enough to take away her focus from lingering on the incoming footsteps. "This is the area!" "Be careful, there may be trolls!" Racist af, she thought as she sneered. Her hand was touching the bottom now, and her only hope of not drowning in the mud came through. She breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if drowning would've been a better choice. But no, her previous revelation had made it clear that that wasn't the answer. She wondered what fate had in store for her, when a voice came through. "Fertility bomb!" the voice sounded familiar. Accompanying it was the drop of a compressed mana ball that contained raging sperms swimming around it inside. Instinctively, she knew who it was above. The sperms attacked the outershell as they swam with all their might, and in turn, the shell didn't feel and look like it was going to hold. Fortunately, that was what was intended anyway as the bomb sank into the mud pit. When she looked up, she wasn't surprised at all to see Tenur lying on a thick branch with her father in hand, pants down. His dong was, luckily, covered by the branch. He had a smug grin that made her want to punch him, but for now, she was glad he actually woke up and came to save her. For a moment, as their eyes met, time paused a moment, before a bluish-white light exploded from underneath the mud. The mud wasn't able to suppress it and in the end, it got splattered everywhere as Tenur's angry sperms burst out from below. They were likely the same sperms she had felt intense emotions from, and some of them entered her, invigorating and refreshing her mind and body with the emotions and mana they contained. "Come on, there's an expedition team coming towards us," Tenur spoke as he climbed down the tree trunk, albeit slowly. Once he reached solid ground, he pulled his pants up with his shaky hands. She guessed he was afraid of heights, and that was probably true considering he did nothing else before arriving to her rescue. With a little beckoning from Tenur, she followed him. Although her instincts told her the humans would gladly kill her on the spot, something else told her that fate had something else in store for her.