Jessica looked about, they had traveled slowly towards the large hill Alex had pointed out.

They had been walking for about half an hour since Sarah came back from her spirit-dream-thing.

Along the way they had encountered only a herd of fleeing deer.

They saw a few wolves chasing the deer from behind and the wolves attacked them upon sight.

Alex killed one, Sarah killed two by burning them and Jessica also killed one.

They weren't so hard to kill alone, just aim at their throats or head as they jumped.

Injuring a limb was also good since it substantially made them easier to kill.

It was easy to spot where their trajectory when they jumped.

It was only when they came in larger packs that they became a danger.

Her body couldn't move fast enough to deal with many, even if she could see them easily.

It was easy to tell whom they were going for either way, a wolf's shoulder's were a clear tell.

Simple tactics for simple creatures.

Alex had to carve part of a wolf open with the knife Jessica carried around.

Sarah cooked it and they ate, they just needed some water now.

'I wish I had my spear, it was a lot easier with that. The longer reach was a godsend.' Jessica sighed as she though it, she was also not used to handling the sword well.

They kept going forward and as a precaution Jessica always looked behind them and to the sides.

She wanted no more surprises from this forest.

She was a little vex with Alex, he was supposed to be on her side, not that 'know-it-all' Sarah.

She forgave him though, she just had to prove herself to him and Sarah as well she supposed.

If nothing else Sarah was very strong with her fire attacks, though clearly it was double-edged for the rest of them.

'I'll have to convince them we should be looking for safety. Why can't they see Eian's dead?! A monster the size of an elephant carried him off. It could bite through metal. Even if he was strong, Eians skin isn't harder than metal. Is it?' Jessica thought.

Admittedly Eian had taken some very nasty hits, like that head-crack from that eight foot tall blind monster in the caves.

There was that bite from the bat too, but his flesh had been penetrated by that, proving to Jessica he wasn't as tough as Alex thought.

She was honest to them though, it's not that she wanted Eian dead, it's just that it was common sense!

Off the topic it had gotten dark, clouds had covered both suns and it was beginning to look as if it might rain.

The rain itself might not be such a bad thing, they all smelled somewhat, even though they had washed, bathed was too strong a word.

By now Jessica could clearly see the hill, it could be considered a mini-mountain, it had somewhat of a summit and was covered in trees.

She hoped no other monsters lived in the damn place, but she knew it was stupid even thinking that.

This was suicide, perhaps the city had been safer, at least during the day.

Maybe they could just hide during the night, like they had before.

Alex was right they had to hunt to get stronger and hopefully she would unlock teleportation to get out of this hell.

Sarah heard stomping and her heart stopped.

"BE READY!" Sarah shouted, as if they were morons.

"Roger." Alex.

"Right." Jessica answered just so that Sarah didn't scold her or something, she was getting rude.

"SQEE!!!" Wild boars.

"AH!" Jessica.

Wild boars emerged charging at them.

One was definitely larger by far and was the size of an adult bear.

The rest were about the size of regular adult boars and there were about six of those.

Jessica instantly knew two smaller one's were coming at her.

'This could be trouble.' Jessica thought.

Jessica instantly let a smaller one impale it's skull on her sword's tip, it's impact jolted her backwards.

She staggered unceremoniously to one knee, tightly holding her sword.

She saw Alex absorb the impact of another smaller one, but his shield deflected the impact and he got a kill.

Sarah had fire-balled the largest one twice and was now shooting a flamethrower around herself.

"Shit!" Sarah.

"SQEE!!!!" Wild boar.

Jessica quickly got up, pulled her sword from the boar skull, then instantly got tackled by another.

"AHH!!!!!" Jessica felt it's tusk scrap against her tasset and she breathed a mental sigh of relief.

"JESS!" Alex.

The boar's impact sent her to the floor, lying on her side.

The memory of impact hindered her, but Jessica knew she had to get up.

She quickly scrambled to a knee and realized the boar was now attempting to gorge her.

She held the sword at it, with both hands and she impaled its eye as it charged at her.

It's weight shoved and carried her backwards even as it died on her sword.

It's blood spluttered and soaked her.

Alex made it to her.

-'Ewww..' Jessica watched her bloody clothes.

"Are you alright?" Alex.

"Yes. I think so." Jessica.

"If you're done, let's go. Also Alex I needed more help than her this time too." Sarah frowned and glared at him.

"She got hit." Alex defended himself.

Jessica frowned at Sarah.

"Yes and she was fine, you have her life-linked, she even killed two by herself. I had to channel a flamethrower on two boars. I depleted a lot of my spirit to do that." Sarah folded her arms.

"I'm sorry Sarah, but you are stronger. I knew you could handle those two, after you got the big one. Jess still isn't used to this." Alex licked his lips.

"Let's go. I want to find Eian, before you both get me killed." Sarah huffed and turned away from them.

Jessica turned to look and saw three boars burnt on the floor, one was clearly the largest.

She was exaggerating, Sarah was clearly much more well-equipped to fight that she was, Alex made the right choice.

Alex had similarly killed two, before rushing to her aid.

He could be so thoughtful sometimes, Sarah was just jealous Alex liked her more.

"Alex. When was the last time you checked your attributes?" Sarah's voice was stiff and flat.

"Oh? A while back since before the vampires!" Alex's eye's widened.

Jessica noticed Alex check his attributes.

"It's blinking." Alex smiled.

"Wait! Ask your guide to teach you deeper magics, we can find somewhere to rest. The top of a tree will work and we can make sure you don't drop." Sarah suddenly turned to look at him.

"Deeper magics?" Alex tilted his head.

"Yes. My guide told me we can use those to find Eian, try to see if he can teach you invocation." Sarah nodded.

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" Alex's eyes widened, he sounded excited.

'Huh? So we can tell if he really is dead.' Jessica knew he most likely was.

"It didn't occur to me at the time." Sarah shrugged.

"Isn't it getting pretty late though?" Jessica looked up and saw the light had faded.

With the clouds it was impossible to tell what time of day it was.

"We have some time. Close to three hours for nightfall I think." Sarah looked up at the suns.

"You're not sure about that, are you?" Jessica frowned at her know it all attitude.

"It doesn't matter this could help us find Eian a lot faster than we normally could." Sarah frowned back at her.

"I agree, let's do that. We can immediately go after him and find him that way." Alex stepped inbetween them.

"......Alright, but let's be careful okay?" Jess looked at him with worry.

"Yeah, don't worry so much." Alex smiled and patted her shoulder lightly.

They found a tree similar to the previous one and took off their armor.

Jess and Sarah had trouble climbing to what they agreed was an acceptably safe height.

Jess felt like a monkey atop the tree, which was relatively awkward.

Alex found a comfortable spot among a few branches.

Alex selected something and Jess held him so he didn't drop, even though it would be pretty hard for that to happen.

Sarah kept watch as she had the strongest magic.

*******

Alex opened his eyes and was with Vita again.

"Hello M....Vita. It's good to see you." Alex smiled excited at learning something new.

"Hi. Thank you Alex, how are you?" Vita smiled at him too.

"I'm good thank-you, I really hate to be rude, but could I ask you something?" Alex tried to be as gentle speaking to not upset her.

"Of course." Vita smiled.

"My friend got separated from us." Alex gushed out.

"Oh? Which one?" Vita took a step back.

"Eian." Alex nodded quickly.

"Is that the same one that got hurt badly last time?" Vita tilted her head and frowned.

"Yes. Well he's lost and I want to find him. Can you help me?" Alex bit his lip.

"......Can you explain a little more please? I'm not sure I understand what you're asking." Vita tilted her head slightly.

Alex quickly detailed their experiences with the griffin and what Sarah said about deeper magics.

"Oh....I'm sorry, but I really can't help you with Invocation. My people don't practice it." Vita looked sadly at him.

"Is there anything else you can teach me to find him? Please?" Scratching the back his head Alex felt a bit desperate.

"I don't........Give me a moment to think." Vita looked up and held her chin.

Alex waited perhaps half a minute.

Vita sighed.

"I'm very sorry Alex. The only deeper magics I practice are: Alchemy, Beast magic, Naming and Elemental-diversity. I can't think of how those could help you find your friend. Perhaps if you had his true name, you could track him." Vita shook her head slowly.

"Are you sure?" Alex sighed, he was getting very desperate.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I haven't even mastered all of those. I'm really young for a dryad. Alchemy takes years to learn, you can't use Beast Magic right now and naming would be impossible for you without much higher Psi levels." Vita smiled sadly at him.

"What about elemental diversity?" Alex held on to hope.

"That involves transforming your energy to that of another type and using that element. I'm sorry, but I don't see how that could help you, it also requires a lot of practice and has to be regulated with stronger mental images. You probably need higher Psi to be much good at it as well." Vita smiled sadly at him.

"........Are you really sure? Please he could be injured out there alone." Alex pleaded.

"I'm very sorry Alex. I truly am, but I'm relatively new to all this. Perhaps if you had a more experienced guide. Like my mother or sister." Vita smiled sadly.

"I don't want to offend you. Really you've helped me a lot, but is there any chance they could help me?" Alex hoped she didn't get offended.

By her sad face, he could tell she was saddened.

"My sister made an exception to come here and scold me. She has other duties, I doubt she would be willing for someone she barely knows. I could ask, but it would be till your next journey and I don't want you to get your hopes up." Vita looked at the floor.

"I'm sorry I offended you. I just really want to help Eian. Thank you for explaining Vita." Alex tried to console her.

"I understand. I'm not offended, I just wish I could help you." Vita smiled sadly.

The mood for banter was dead and Alex knew he probably couldn't salvage it for now.

Hopefully she would cheer up later.

"It's fine, Vita don't worry. We will find another way." Alex tried to be more optimistic, hoping to cheer her up.

"Then I wish you luck on your endeavours. I suppose you are in a rush?" Vita.

"I....could answer some questions if you want me to. I'm relatively safe and a few seconds won't kill Eian." Alex didn't know if she was in the mood, but he didn't want her to stay saddened because of him.

"Are you sure? I understand you want to help your friend." Vita.

"I'm sure. Trust me. Sarah already has another plan lined up, I'm sure." Alex smiled attempting to cheer her up.

"If your sure...." Vita seemed a little reluctant.

"Positive!" Alex nodded cheerfully.

"Okay..." Vita's face blossomed into a radiant smile.

Alex answered a few of her human-related questions for about an hour.

Vita slowly became more optimistic and then told him perhaps he should return to his friends.

"Roger, you're probably right. Till next time then." Alex smiled, faking some cheer.

"Yes. Your next power is the ability to siphon off excess life energy around you." Vita.

"Wouldn't that kill things?" Alex found it strange such a thing would be included in the power of life, that sounded more like death's domain.

"No. Recently dead things are still partially alive, in a sense. They are no longer using that energy. Excess life energy is the energy living things naturally disperse into the environment. They don't use it and you don't harm their actual life." Vita shook her head correcting him.

"I don't really understand that." Alex frowned, confused.

"Think of it like the sun. It naturally gives off fire-energy no?" Vita.

"Yeah I guess." Alex shrugged.

"Similarly all living things give off life energy. You are not taking what they have, only what they give off and no longer use." Vita waved about enthusiatically.

"Roger I got it." Alex nodded.

"You can only siphon off places that are saturated with life. That forest you are in is perfect." Vita smiled.

"Roger. Thank-you." Alex was ready.

"You're Welcome. Here." Vita held out something.

Vita pulled out another token this one was the image of a tree giving off sparks.

Alex pulled power from the image.

He returned.