I took one step off the main road, and the path wrenched between aged wooden buildings to triangular shaped stands that fit snugly between the sharp edges of bordering alleys. Heck, some stands even went halfway into the street as barrels and people filled every other gap variable.

“Three buns for 5 copper. Come get your food!” A man behind a trapezoidal stand yelled out, in between two three-story buildings. He leaned forward, sticking his head out as far into the street as possible, waving his hand at anyone who would give him a lick of attention.

“Half off the next drink if you order one!” Another vendor yelled out. This one was in the corner of a building that stuck awkwardly out into the street. Everyone looked straight ahead, weaving and twisting their body, missing obstacles by a hair’s breadth.

A mess, to be sure, but one that worked surprisingly well.

I tripped and stuttered a bit, but kept some resemblance to those around me. The blur of a crowd continued without end. Each step brought me somewhere, but focusing on anything but the people whooshing past was impossible. The rush of the surroundings was infectious, distracting at every instance.

“HUH, come on.” Frustrated, I dipped into a small opening between two stands and leaned against the wall.

Shops, shops, and more yarking shops! Where… the yark… is an inn?! I couldn't focus on anything but those around me, let alone finding anything useful. “Hah.” Focus Ayla, focus. Find somewhere first. I have magical vision, use it.

Greycott was far more spacious, with evenly spaced buildings in all directions. But this place… this place, was hectic, in every sense of the word. No space, no time, no room for everything and anything. “I guess this is what you get when you don’t plan a city’s layout.”

Greycott was built with the sole purpose of being a border city, keeping a hold of the Kingdom’s land. It didn’t grow slowly, but was built with that purpose in mind, not whatever hack job this place is. Even the buildings were practically built on top of one another, let alone planning for anything sensible.

I took a breath and pushed [Sensing Sight] outward. Sensing all the people, things, and buildings.

Ok… Just focus on the buildings, Ayla. The flow of mana outlined every aspect, from the dents and dings into the wood to shelves and weapons inside the buildings. I walked my senses along the path, going building by building, looking for one thing: rooms and beds.

I passed the 5th shop selling wood made goods of some sort, roped up into a guild, if I remember correctly. Signaled by a nail and hammer symbol on the bottom of the shop’s sign. All of them had different names and sold different products, like furniture or mugs, but were all under the same banner.

[Sensing Sight] continued. Food, armor, weapons, travel supplies, general goods, jews, resale… Ah, finally, there we go, an inn, down 18 shops and to the left. Now, I just gotta get through this crowd. I let out a puff of air as someone called out. “You alrigh’ there?”

I turned to the stand beside me and sensed the aged woman. “It can certainly be a lot, but you’ll get used to it. First time?” She said with a smile, organizing some leather goods on her stand.

“Ya, lived in a border city. It was a bit more… more organized.”

“You can certainly say that, but we have things set to a tea over here. Not much room for expansion, but the city planners are working on a ‘solution’. Underground, they say, making better use of the land on the surface. A butch of bullshit, if you ask me. How do you expect people to be cooped up underground?”

I sensed her stand; leather bands, guards, straps, shoes, a few different fabrics and… and helms. She turned back to face a customer approaching the stand. “Hey Charlie, need more straps?”

“Mie grandma is making more of her ‘gifts’ to the rest of the family, as always.” Charlie said.

She moved her hand across, snatching up a group of 10 straps and tying them together with a piece of twine. The man dropped 2 silver in her opened hand. “A pleasure. Tell her I said thanks and asked if she would like to take lunch together.” With a smile.

“Not a chance. You’ll entice her to spend her whole wallet. Have a go’ day.” Charlie said, disappearing into the crowd a moment later. “Tch, so close.” She said with her teeth clenched, dropping the coins into her waist bag.

Wow! Must be some competition around here if that’s the length you need to go through.

Hmmmm, might as well since I’m here. “How much for the helm?” I said beneath my hooded cloak, hiding my face.

Her clenched face went back to a blatant smile, followed by a twitch of the surrounding mana and holding her clasped hands together. “Yes, that would be 5 silver. Took great care to lace together the layered sections.”

Hm… doesn’t seem too expensive and I need a bare minimum disguise for now. “Throw in a small chunk of this?” I asked, holding up a small piece of thinly weaved fabric.

“Deal!”

I tossed the five silver over, snatching up the helm and putting it on underneath my cloak. With a small slit facing downwards being the only opening, the plan was to attach the thinly weaved fabric over the opening, acting as a veil. Not the best, but good enough in my books.

I swiftly made my way through the crowd, taking care to not lose track of the inn. A few minutes later I arrived, the Westward Inn, as the sign read, only readable due to the engraving distinguishing itself with [Sensing Sight]. I passed right through the lobby and went right to my room after paying.

With a thump, I flopped onto the straw bed.

“Haaaaaa.” Everything I’ve done has been a mess. The trip to Bellmare was uneventful, but I needed to keep my guard up the whole time. Always keeping my ring turned and not acting too suspicious.

Just need a few days of normalcy to get used to everything. “Hah, just relax. I have time to take it all in.” I’m taking things slowly for the time being and hopefully no one with magical turbulent mana shows up to ruin my day.

Regardless, I’ve had enough of being thrown around against my will, and I need a solution if another one shows up. I don’t have anyone to rely on but myself, so I needed to train my body, mind, and abilities.

Also need a way to make some coin since I can't live off the 24 gold forever, so if those two intersect, even better.

“Hmmmm, something I could use my abilities on… Ah, didn’t the lady at the Sandy Elixir mention something about monster hunting? Is that even a profession here? I know there are guilds for merchants and stuff, but is there something for monster hunters? Couldn’t I just sell the corpses if I’d manage to hunt something? Not sure how much they’re worth.”

It might be dangerous, but it tick’s all the boxes. Chances to improve [Mana Bolt], my physical capabilities, and get used to the dangers of the world. I have a knife, armor, [Mana Bolt], and [Mana gathering]. It’s not perfect, but it should get me through the easier monsters… maybe?

I’ve only run away and killed [Evil Myconids] in anything resembling combat, but there should be weak monsters out there, right? I haven’t really seen any besides the Myconids and the Staine Garnot hunted for food, so I'm not sure the best place to start.

With the thoughts ahead of me, I did something long overdue, changing my displayed class. I’ve thought about this for quite some time on the three-day journey to Bellmare.

Chose class, name, race, and age

[Alysia]

[Human Factotum]

[Age: 20]

What better class than nothing exact at all, someone who does all kinds of work. Everything under a single umbrella should cover most ends, as long as my luck doesn’t yark me over again.

“We’re almost there, Hurack… you can do this…. Come on…. Almost there…” Laira said to her brother, accompanied by dark bags underneath her eyes. A difficult trip, especially with no supplies. They skipped sleep last night to push all the way to the next city, but the lack of food made it all the more…. arduous.

Laira clenched her fists. And those fucking Ulines. Why couldn’t they just accept becoming our food! Escaping my blade at the last second with their short ass legs… Fuck.

She closed her eyes. Hunting without concentrates never fucking works out, but at least we’re getting close to Bellmare, hopefully before the day’s end.

Greycott went to shit real fast, and they escaped quickly. It would be a real shit show for a while and they wanted nothing to do with it. “Hah.” She sighed. All I wanted was a simple life with him, and just look at us, running away once again. The memories flashed once again, making her stop, eyes dazed.

They ran away back then, not because they wanted to, but because they had to. Everything was going to be destroyed, themselves included if not for Huracks' quick reaction.

“Sister?” Hurack asked, stopping as well.

Her eyes flashed, returning a second later. “It’s nothing, don’t worry. We have somewhere to head, let’s continue.” One step at a time, one step at a time, Laira

He was born different, but if anything, that made their bond stronger. Everything was simple, and she liked it that way.

I can almost see the town. She shook the bag bound around her waist. The lack of coins clinking together meant the next few days were going to be quite… interesting, with just enough a meal and a night’s stay at an inn. Only if that fucking guard didn’t rip us off on a stupid bribe, but it was better than staying.

“Tired.” Hurack complained, and each step was a struggle. His strength was one of his good points, and yet it was betraying him at this moment. His enormous taking a lot to power it, and this journey kept ongoing with without end, without food.

Hurack couldn’t regret the decision to skip the night's rest, but it would be worth it to not starve for yet another day. They tried to kill some Ulines, but the lack of Concentrates as [Entity Hunter] made it arduous at best.

They crested the next hill and their destination appeared on the horizon. The thought of food and a night’s rest laid before him. It was an encouraging sight compared to the same old dirt beneath their feet for the past couple days.

“Food.” Hurack voiced.

“Ya, I know. We won’t be able to get much, but first thing tomorrow, we need to earn coin. I don’t care how, so keep your eyes open, brother.”

He took a second to think about the words, difficult to fully understand, but he’s earned money before, so how bad could it be? “Yes, sister.”

They sludged their way along, picking up the pace as each step brought them closer to their glorious food as the sun rose once again.

It wasn’t the best job, but it was good enough. I had to crudely cut the cloth with a knife and wrap it around the pin features on the leather helm from yesterday. With a tight pull, I tied the cloth around itself. “That oughta do it. Maybe not enough for rough combat, but sufficient for now.” I put it on, and the cloth waved in front of the helm’s slit, blocking prying eyes from seeing something they shouldn’t.

Soon enough, my feet hit the ground right outside the inn, just as light peaked up from over the wall.

I had a single task for today, killing a monster.

If I remember correctly, there was a place named Monsters near the wall, bringing in corpses and skins. They should be able to point me in the right direction of the whole hunting monsters thing.

I’m probably going to look like an idiot, but it’s worth the awkwardness if this works out. The city had yet to flow into the chaos I saw yesterday, but the streets were getting fuller by the second. Best to leave as soon as possible, avoid getting caught up in the mess I saw yesterday.

“Here it is.” I didn’t see corpses moving in and out like yesterday, probably too early, but I saw movement inside through the window. I pushed open the door, making my way to the butcher desk front counter.

A man was cleaning up a tan hide’s rough edges by trimming along the edge’s length. He was quick in his work, switching to the other side of the hide without wasted movement, taking but a few seconds to finish.

He gathered the cut scraps with both hands, tossing them into a large bin at the table’s side before looking up a moment later, finally noticing my presence at the front desk. A wipe across his hands later, he walked over, swaying side to side.

“What can I do for ya?” He stood weighted to one leg and folded his arms. Gruff and coarse were the thoughts coming to mind.

“I’m new around here and, honestly, know nothing about the area. I’m wondering if you’d have a good idea of the monsters around here?”

With the squint of his eyes, he shifted his weight to the other leg. I didn’t know how weird I looked, but a homemade addition on a leather helm beneath a black cloak probably wasn’t the best. [Identify Soul].

[Human Butcher]

“Hmmmm, it’s normally a guild that handles that question, but if you want it from me, I can show you the map we have.”

“Prefect.” I smiled, didn't know what guild handles that, but it’s all the same if I have the information.

He nodded and brought a rolled up parchment from another room, laying it on the counter.

“We deal with the more normal monsters, so if you want to do something unique, talk to someone else. But besides that, there are 6ish common ones we deal with.”

The drawn lines were indented into the parchment, heavy in the center and lightening up at the end of each stroke of the pen that drew it. I could just barely sense the ink spreading into the parchment, traveling out like a spiderweb at a fine level, but only if I focused enough on a particular area.

Taking in the entire picture was a different story, almost blurry, but I could get a basic idea with just the indentations into the parchment. Just like the indented wooden sign outside.

A set of trees were drawn around a circular structure that I assumed to be Bellmare, depicting the forest’s shape from the town. I couldn’t quite tell the orientation of the city on the map, but the uniquely shaped treeline would be enough to orient myself once I've made my way outside the walls.

“That includes Flying Snakes, vortiexens, Ulines, Ivese, Bulbs, and silverwolfs. We don’t deal with stinae skins because of an over-hunting problem a while back, so if you see any, don’t kill them. And be careful of the Silverwolfs. Their meat and blood is poisonous.” He brushed his finger along the map. Outlining the area as he named each creature.

Over-hunting? Wow, with this much wilderness, I’d never expect that to be a problem. Then again, we didn’t run into anything on my way in, unless the Barron Moons group somehow kept the monsters away.

“Look at the map as long as you want. Just bring anything here that you catch. As payment for showing you the map. We have standard rates for everything, so I won’t cheap out on you.” He placed a small piece of paper on the desk, showing said standard rates. They varied between 1 and 40 silver depending on the monster and hide condition.

“Perfect, thanks.” Make some money and get in better shape. I might try to go to a more friendly kingdom afterward, but that might take a while.

“No problem.” He finished the statement and immediately went back to cleaning the leather hide on the other table.

With him gone. I practically hovered over the map, improving my senses just enough to get rid of the uncertainty in the tree outline. The monsters came with a name, brief description, and a picture labeled on the area inhabited. Luckily there were only six, so I quickly memorized the shape and location on the map.

It seemed clear now, but I’d probably start losing the picture in my head within a few minutes if I wasn’t careful. The actual tree line probably wasn’t going to match perfectly, so even more so.

With the picture burned into my mind, I left with a wave to the man. I was at the wall before long, passing the multiple guards at the entrance. The main path was filled with incoming patrons and carriages, but I noticed something familiar about two particular people.

They were walking in on their last breath. His enormous form sludged along with his eyes constantly jutting open after closing for a few seconds. His stomach grumbling with each step. A smaller form accompanied him, but she was more composed than the latter. “Just a bit more Hurack…”

Wow… Never thought I’d run into them again. And man, they don’t look good. I’m even more glad that I left when I did. I don’t know what happened after I left, but at least they're still alive.

I passed them by, looking the other direction as I approached the tree line. Recalling the map, the forest matched well enough, with the flying snakes being the closest monster labeled on the map.

They looked to be a minute walk on the map, directly into the forest. Hmmmm, they should be quite small based on the description, the length of my arm. As long as I'm careful about the first few…

At the forest ridge, a little off the main path, I put everything I had into [Sensing Sight]. Focusing on the region and looking for my targets. I felt the trees swaying in the wind and a few worms wiggling into the dirt below, but no flying snakes. With flying in their name, I’d expect them to be quite obvious, but nothing immediately proved that. “Well, are they further into the forest?”

I made my way further in, taking care to head directly straight, keeping my orientation in case I walked far enough to lose focus of Bellmare’s wall in the distance.

“Hmmm, if I was a snake, where would I hide? … in the trees?” The branches of the twisting root trees were curvy, just like that of a snake. I didn’t know if they hid up in the branches, but it seemed like a good hiding place, if anything.

Each step took me further in, but to no apparent success, everything but the worms and grubs beneath my feet evaded my senses. The forest was silent as ever as I made each step lighter, attempting to minimize the noise.

Hmmmmm, Nothing. Where the yark are they? I should be way past the markings on the map, and it’s not like I’m making a ruckus, scaring everything away.

Are the creatures just sensitive? Something to do with their abilities? Since I had no better idea, I sat down at the nearest tree and remained still, letting the time pass.

The trees shadowed most of the forest, allowing the moisture in the ground to stay despite the rain already a few days recessed. I rested my hand on the dirt, feeling the coldness transfer to my palm.

Although it didn’t look the same, with the world essentially just a bunch of single colored lines and blackness, it felt more than before. The touch felt realer than rear, as it seemed to carry more information. The individual grains crumbled within my hand and my fingers went damp as the dirt spread.

It contained so much, yet it was so simple. My new eyesight… felt fulfilling with my connection to mana only growing, but it was different, almost as if everything was too real. Interacting directly with mana, to reveal the world around me in a way I never thought possible.

In a way, I was almost glad I lost my eyesight.

A few more upgrades to the ability would make it even better. I doubt another Feat would be in my future, so I had a long way to go. But the better it got, the longer I was going to live.

My only protection against this crazy world.

With my focus on the ground, I noticed something for the first time. The dirt was parting a few feet beneath the soil as a creature slithered its way through, heading directly towards me.

It took a sharp turn, surfacing just a few lengths away. Prepared, I already activated [Mana Bolt].

Its head was almost rock-like in texture and weirdly, I didn’t see any wings.

[Flying Snake Digger]

[Age: 2]

Just as its body left the ground, darting right toward me, I shifted over to dodge the incoming headbutt. It slammed into the tree just and I shot [Mana Bolt]. The incoming bright grape-sized projectile launched, but the snake gracefully slithered around it.

Before I could fire the next [Mana Bolt], its body disappeared within the ground.

I kept my senses focused on the form as it escaped, running away after only one attempt.

With my target locked, I ran atop of the creature, waiting for it to surface again.

We continued for a while, but it showed no intent to resurface, only burrowing deeper.

“Well, yark, I’ll run out of stamina before this thing ever thinks of popping its head out.” I stopped, giving up, and let it slither away. “Take two.” I sat against another tree, waiting once again for a target.

If it worked once, then it should work again. The worst part of my strategy was the delayed shot of the [Mana Bolt]. It wasn’t quick enough for the small squirming form, but I had another method of attack.

My dagger.

I gripped it, intending to draw the blade’s first blood. I waited for tens of minutes, focusing on the ground beneath me. And before long, I sensed another wave of dirt parting, and I smiled. “Take two, squirmer.”

It left the ground with speed, flying towards me with its jaw already open. I shifted to the side once again, swinging the dagger immediately toward its head. Unfortunately, its form was quite slippery as I only stabbed the bark. It moved right around the sharp object and disappeared back into the ground.

“Yark! Ha.” I sighed. “Welp, not quite, but I’m not far off.” I removed the dagger from the bark and moved to the next tree. “At least I know this works, just need to act helpless and let them approach.”