The carcass of the boar had been turned into an assortment of items, from salted meats to crude hides, all of which were boxed and loaded onto wagons. The villagers had returned to fix the damages done by the beast. A little less than half the village was in rubble, with buildings toppled and mills completely trampled. Some of the fields had also been razed, but overall the damages were manageable. There were more geckos that had traveled to the village to aid the repairing process, so the settlement was recovering at a quick pace. Savo gazed about, surveying the remaining mills which were now running in double-time. He sighed, then proceeded into the barracks.

“Kilik, how are you today?” Savo asked, addressing the gecko captain.

“I am alright, shure enough.” the captain responded. “How ish the magic going?”

Savo brought to memory the futile attempts to replicate the glow onto the blade as Kilik had done. It seemed simple enough in explanation, but perhaps he had missed some part of it.

“Not so well. I haven’t been able to do anything yet.” Savo admitted.

“Hmm…” the captain raised his hands to his head. “Perhapsh it ish your ushe of mana.”

Savo recalled Kilik’s advice: envision the sword which you held grow sharper, envision it being able to pierce the thickest barriers, then draw your focus into your body center. This was supposed to draw mana into your body, then siphon it to the blade, finally amplifying its impact. Yet in all his attempts. Savo had not even managed to draw in mana. It seemed that there should have been a surge of energy almost like a strong gust of wind sweeping internally when this occurred, but Savo had experienced no such thing. This was, as Kilik had added, the most basic form of magic.

“I don’t believe I’ve even been able to draw in mana,” Savo spoke, defeated.

“I guessh it cannot be helped.” Kilik lamented, “It may be better then, for you to train in shome bashic combat shkillsh if you want to join our raid on the mountain.” He pointed to the armory where several blades, shields, and bows hung. Savo marched over and scanned all of the armaments. None appealed to him too greatly, and as he went to grasp the hilt of the blade, he immediately felt the weight sink his arm. While he managed to swing with a damaging force, Savo could only sustain a few minutes of combat before becoming exhausted. Holding both a shield and blade was something that was more physically taxing than anything he’d previously done. Savo noticed that the shields were only slightly smaller than the gecko’s torsos, and the blades were equally as large. They were unwieldy for him, and eventually, he opted to try his aim with the bow.

“Not bad,” Kilik addressed Savo, watching as the latter made a penetrating shot to the inner ring of the target.

“I have some experience with these things, but still, I’m not exactly versed in combat.” Savo hated to admit that he may be a liability during the raid, but he wanted to now, at least, provide some contribution if anything to learn more about this world.

“You can take point with the archersh we will have with ush.” Kilik stated at last.

Savo nodded and drew another arrow from his quiver. By the time it was empty, he had made a fair amount of shots with only several missing. Guess random archery classes and days at the range weren’t all for waste.

Although the village needed heavy focus on the repairs, the raid still had to happen soon. This was because of the beasts’ breeding season: once it began, they became far more fierce and aggressive. Thus it was decided that the best time to hunt and control the population would be before the breeding began. Kilik began to route and organize scouts, marking new territories on the center map in the barracks. Savo had helped with the positioning, giving slight suggestions with the distribution of troops and supplies. If anything, Kilik had taken note of this as a strength.

Savo still continued with several attempts at using magic: he was also taught an incantation which would help to lighten the armaments. His attempts still bore no fruit. The final day before the raid had drawn in, and Savo had only managed to polish his aim with a bow. He still had his handgun holstered at his waist but convinced himself to only use it as a last resort. Savo questioned himself at times in his failures to use magic: Why am I joining this raid with these geckos? Why am I still in this village? Don’t I need to go somewhere? While he could choose to leave, it seemed that the village would be too busy to escort him anywhere, despite his reputation now being helpful leverage. Savo planned then, to gain some knowledge about Mythron from Kilik and the villagers, helping them with the raid in return, then find a way to efficiently travel Westward.

Savo was finishing his meal when he overheard Kilik discussing the route of the raid. It seemed that the goal was to find packs of beasts which were aggressive and eliminate them. Doing so would control the population and secure the safety of the village for the season. Attacks were frequent if this was not done. Savo envisioned the expedition: he would have to act rationally and simply play his role. And… If worse comes to worst, he still had his own little trump card: his handgun which now only held three shots. So long as the beasts were not the size of the boar, the bullets were likely to be enough to put them down.

This will be an experience to help me… I can’t just avoid all combat it seems.

Savo shifted his gaze to the outdoors, where torchlight illuminated the entrance to the barracks. Past this brightness, dusk shrouded the landscape. It was dark all over Mythron, in the forests and the mountains, in the villages and across the farmlands. Night fell over the half-repaired village of Arro. Savo didn’t know his place in this world, but at the very least, he knew that he had to keep going, to keep chasing his light which led through this darkness, home-bound.