The air was crisp when Dallion left Nerosal. The sun had yet to rise, making it the perfect time to leave the capital unseen. The guards were vaguely aware of his task, so they let him out without issue. From there on, it was a long trip to the area of the crackling sighting.

You could have stayed a bit longer, the armadil shield said. At least enough to say goodbye.

To a degree, Dallion agreed. Faint traces of guilt lingered that he had left while the gorgon was asleep. Technically, she had the habit of doing just that, especially after a night of fun. However, she’d mostly go to assist with guard errands, not leave the city for a hunt.

She did that the first time we were together, Dallion replied. Besides, no one can sneak out without Eury letting them.

Let’s hope you’re right.

From the scant information Dallion had managed to obtain, the first request for help had come from a small village called Vadle. The place was quite insignificant, located close to the border with the wilderness. Similar to Dherma, it was technically part of the county, although lacked any threat of strategic significance to the point that it—like the other villages in the area—was left to its own accord. The only thing different was that unlike Dallion’s own village, it hadn’t self-isolated itself, at least to the point that it would take the destruction of an avian crackling to send someone to a larger city for help.

Thinking back, Dallion still wasn’t certain whether the former village chief of Dherma had known about the chainling or not. Without a doubt, the mess had been a big enough deal to get the Archduke of the province involved.

As he walked, Dallion instinctively touched the new pendant hanging from his neck. While he had obtained the power to bless it into an emblem, he had preferred to wait a bit until he knew more on the matter. A visit to a temple of the Order was going to be necessary, after all. Hopefully, there would be one in the area where he was going. After everything that had happened with the Vermillion rings, Dallion didn’t trust the members of the Order in Nerosal.

Nox, will you be able to sense the avian if it’s close? Dallion asked.

Mrow? the crackling replied. In the realms, he could pretty much guarantee it. The real world was a different matter entirely.

Try your best.

It was going to be at least a day until Dallion had to worry about that, anyway. The creatures of the wilderness didn’t like being close to cities—the bigger the settlement, the further away they kept from it, and at present Nerosal shared the spot for largest city in the province. From what Dallion had found out, there were less than a dozen of equal size and only three larger, including the capital of the province itself.

Time flowed on. The sun appeared on the horizon, marking the official start of the day. Morning began, giving way to noon, then evening. And all the time, Dalion kept walking. He wasn’t particularly fast, but managed to maintain a constant pace, making him in effect more efficient than nearly all creatures—all non-magical ones, at least. At his present rate, it was looking like he’d reach Vadle in three days, which was much faster than doing so by horse.

Come to think about it, that was the reason Dame Vesuvia was the only one on horseback during the chainling hunt. The horse was nothing more than a status symbol. With all the soldiers being double-digits or possibly seers, it was more efficient to have them walk, even if the volunteers like Dallion brought the pace down significantly.

By evening, Dallion stopped to take a quick break and have a bite. As far as he could sense, there weren’t any dangerous creatures in the vicinity, but even so, Dallion didn’t make a fire. From what Eury had told him, the creatures that were cautious of fire weren’t a threat, anyway. It was the rest that he had to worry about and provoking them by making himself obvious was best avoided.

Easy for you to say, Dallion thought. He still only had a traveler’s emblem. Normally that would be enough to provide protection, but now that he had joined the ranks of the initiates, the Moons weren’t going to intervene if he ventured into something’s domain.

You’ll be fine, Gleam said from Dallion’s domain. This area is useless, so nothing will bother you here. Nothing I can’t handle.

That was somewhat confusing. In the last few months Dallion had traveled a fair bit throughout the wilderness. While it was described with a single word, the place was quite different. There were barren areas, just as there were lush areas—forests, lakes, mountains. The only thing that connected them was the absence of guardians. In this case, the area resembled a steppe mixed with the occasional small forest. The area wasn’t particularly fertile, but food wasn’t lacking either.

It's not bad enough for a nest and not rich enough to be claimed, the shardfly explained. Not to mention still pretty close to a city. Trust me, where you’re going the people haven’t seen anything remotely scary. That’s why they panicked upon seeing a single chick.

In Dallion’s realm, Lux chirped, confused.

Glad to see someone is taking this as a vacation. Dallion sighed.

It might be a bit tough for you, but compared to the actual monsters, the thing you’re facing is just that—a chick that leaves a huge mess behind it. Before I got captured, I used to deal with them all the time.

The way she said it implied that she had destroyed them. So much for the creatures of the wilderness working together. It really was a beast-eat-beast world out there. As disturbing as it was, Dallion could see her point of view. The thing about avian cracklings was that they remained constantly on the move since they destroyed their nesting and perching spots. That would be extremely annoying for creatures whose established lairs suffered as a result.

Keep an eye out, Dallion said as he drew the whip blade from his sheath.

I’m not your girlfriend, you know? Gleam grumbled, though extended the blade of the weapon nonetheless.

I just need a few minutes. Dallion closed his eyes. Sleeping in the real world this early in his trip wasn’t advisable. A few minutes of meditation, though, were. It was a trick Dallion had learned from Largo. Back on Earth, some would call the method power napping. From what Dallion remembered, it was still argued whether it was actually a thing or not. In this world, especially for awakened with a body trait over twenty, it definitely was. Several minutes per day, combined with realm-sleep, were enough to get a person to last over a month without an actual real-world rest.

After he was done with the nap, and the far longer snooze in his awakened realm, Dallion continued with his trip.

Naturally, Gen had taken the opportunity to have Dallion skim through his new design of the realm. There was no doubt about it, that it was far better than a corridor of rooms. It took dedication to arrange forty different spaces, not mentioning the domains of the linked items, into one homogenous whole. As much as Dallion would have loved to go through all that, though, at the moment, that was of lesser significance and thus a distraction. Using his new ability, he transformed his realm into a large-scale copy of Gen’s creation, then exited back into the real world.

Nothing of particular interest occurred during the night. The highlight was a misguided attack by a small pack of plain-wolves. The creatures had mistaken Dallion for a misguided traveler, and had charged at him, hoping to get some fresh grub. Instead, Dallion had ended up procuring himself a few pelts, and an increase of his zoology skills.

The following days were no different. Most of the time was spent walking, with short intervals for Dallion to rest, eat, and relieve himself. Now and again, some night predator would attempt to attack, and bitterly regret it. This suggested that Gleam was right, and the avian wasn’t going to be too big a threat—any place that had normal creatures roaming about freely meant that they were on the top of the food chain.

On the fourth day, Dallion sensed the faint smell of smoke in the air. With autumn approaching, it was normal for people to start burning more wood. This year, the cold was starting much sooner than last. In truth, in a few months Dallion was going to experience his very first winter. Based on his memories, that was something he didn’t look forward to.

Sense anything? Dallion asked.

If the avian had been anywhere nearby, you’d have seen traces by now, Nil said before Nox had a chance to respond. More than likely, the effects were noticed by someone from the village making their way to somewhere else.

That doesn’t make sense.

When dealing with creatures of the wilderness, little makes sense. All you have to go by are the things they leave behind.

Dallion couldn’t disagree more. Everything Eury and the other had taught him had to do with predicting the behavior of wilderness creatures. While initially illogical, all of them had their own pattern—mostly a reaction to stimuli. Nil, however, continued to insist that as long as there wasn’t a well-defined logical explanation, their behavior could be nothing but chaotic. Listening to him was like listening to an academic that knew everything about the world, despite never setting a foot outside of his home.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Dallion walked on in the direction of the smoke.

After another few hours of walking, the village came into view. It was a small thing, composed of some fifty structures all huddled behind a shoulder-high wall of stones. The condition of the wall suggested that an awakened had taken care of it. As he got closer, however, Dallion saw that the wall was the only thing that remained maintained. Several of the other structures, including the village mill, were in a considerably worse state. It didn’t take any detective work to tell that the focus was on keeping the town secure than anything else.

I guess we know why they complained about the avian, Dallion said to himself.

Going to the village reminded him of the way Dame Vesuvia had entered his own village. The difference was that the dame was an official envoy and had the troops to prove it. On his part, Dallion had the skills of an initiate, which was good enough.

Out of habit, Dallion split into instances as he approached the village gate. Normally, villages of this size didn’t have dedicated guards. The fact that there were several people at the gate, not to mention something that, based on the roughly made lookout tower, suggested that there had been a number of unpleasant instances lately.

“There’s no need for that,” a small woman at the gate said.

At first glance, she looked quite unimpressive, wearing the standard village clothes: simple leather boots, beige trousers, a simple blouse covered by a thick fur coat, and most of all not a single weapon to be seen. Thanks to Dallion’s high perception, though, he could see that she was an awakened. While crude in design, the clothes were flawless and made of fine cotton.

“Double digit?” Dallion asked.

“Enough to be noticed,” the woman replied. Dallion could feel suspicion oozing from her. “Banra, first awakened of Vadle.”

“Dal,” he introduced himself. “I’ve come from Nerosal regarding your avian issue.”

“The city actually sent someone?” Barna sounded surprised. “Wonders never cease. Maybe that whole mess was useful after all.”

Dallion didn’t say a word. Clearly, the Star’s attempt to destroy the city had become known throughout the empire. At least the woman didn’t recognize him.

“Maybe it was.” Dallion nodded. “So, what’s the issue with the avian.”

“Well, that’s the thing.” The woman sighed. “It’s not just one.”