My sleep was relatively peaceful; for the first time I heard birds and other animals as they finally came within the treeline that is now a distance away. I do not know why so many animals avoid me, as I almost wish I could see a monster just to experience it. However, the sounds of nature or the light reflected off the moon low in the sky: signifying it was either late night or the sun has just barely set, aren't the things that woke me up.

The sounds of a carriage and horse hooves impacting the frozen earth was loud, obnoxious and most importantly, new. From about maybe 400 meters away, I could hear the sounds either because of the sheer volume or excellent hearing. So I, of course, wake up and take my sweet time getting up and was in the process of patting myself down when I hear the sound of hooves coming much closer.

Looking up, I can see a wooden simple carriage in the distance with a lone, silver armoured person riding on a horse lacking said armour is coming towards my direction at an evident, I know you are there pace.

Behind them are two more horse riders with different armour along with someone in a dark brown cloak on foot walking near the relatively mundane looking coach carriage, all seem on guard against something, most likely me.

Where is the good first impression I promised myself? Damn it.

I sigh loudly while unconsciously putting my hands on my hips, mentally preparing myself for the chance of being sent into some strange void again as the armoured person loudly approaches.

Once they arrive, they take a long appraising stare, do a double-take for some reason and hop off their horse, where I can just barely see their eyes and a part of their face where it appears they are definitely, most likely someone male in their twenties with a strand of dirty blond hair sneaking out of their silver helmet as the moon reflects off it.

They finish appraising my lack of anything defensive, then finally break the silence with the most authority a mercenary could muster, "Identify yourself, why are you here?"

"I am Arthur, and to be honest with you, I think I may be lost. In fact, I only just came out of that forest after doing some exploring and happened to be resting when you came by. So, by chance, are you heading towards that town over the ridge?" To finish my explanation, I first point towards the gigantic forest behind me and then point towards the town over the cliff.

In response, he shrugs and grunts affirmatively, "I'm Lance, and since I'm on a mission for some nobles I had to come check on you. You understand nobles are very particular about these things." So he says with emphasis on the last part, not very keen on nobles, it appears, but he speaks so dryly it is hard to tell.

"I guess, could you tell me about the town over the ridge first? I am a bit of a newcomer." I say with a shrug.

Maybe if it isn't too bad I can visit after all, who knows, perhaps I can learn more about, well, pretty much everything. Learning more about magic would be very interesting.

Suddenly intrigued, I eagerly await the famed response from Lance, which is yet another shrug, "Sure, you've been cooperative enough. The town is called Wildfold Station, one of the more popular frontier towns known for peaceful low-levellers, expansive forests, and being surprisingly prosperous. Anything else is hearsay; I don't live here personally."

Responding with a glance at the ridge, the carriage, then Lance again as I consider an important question with my hand to my chin.

"If this is a frontier town, why is it known for 'low-levellers' as you call them." Low-levellers are probably self-explanatory; I will have to check at the town, though.

Lance squints his eyes and crosses his arms, "Hmm, you must have literally no clue where you are. You aren't one of those damn reincarnated people, are you?"

"...The hell is a reincarnated person?" I take my hand off my chin and look at him incredulously.

My worry is eased as Lance immediately calms and crosses their arms. "Well, if you were on an adventure it is only fair you get lost; gods know I have done that myself. Heh, alright, I just had to make sure, so if you want to follow us back into town to get caught up, you are welcome to."

He holds out his hand, which I accept with a grin and my own hand, giving each other a firm handshake. He backs up slightly and gives a glance at my short sword, "Don't think I didn't see that sword by the way; I recommend you don't use it." He warns sternly and continues back to the carriage.

Thinking back to Eden, I wave him off. "I got to do something first, Lance; I will catch up." Once finished with a slightly wry smile and a wink, I teleport away to the tree line and internally call Eden over while walking further into the forest so they can't see.

I manage to get a good distance away into the forest before Eden sneaks out of the corner of a tree, terrifying me only slightly at the silence they can project even with the faint snow that should be making it impossible. Seeing my friend, I toss out the thought of me hiding them again; they have been loyal and as good a friend as a silent monster could be, I decided just to send them back to the swarm they left behind; that way, they can be with their own kind where they belong.

This time I try to be more silent when breaking through space, trying to remember where exactly their swarm was. Luckily mana responds to my will and thoughts so well because otherwise, I would probably have to do some actual calculations to teleport to places or do something more than want to be there. Combined with my complex magic runes, it turns out I am very good at magic, so when I create the portal I am surprised when it still makes horrific ripping and tearing sounds.

It turns out just being good at brute-forcing my way through space isn't the same as if I was to do it with finesse; I will probably have to actually create a proper rune for these portals someday.

When Eden looks at me with reluctance at the sound of space grinding against itself, it only solidifies my plan. However, when I finally realise that Eden won't be with me anymore, I don't really know how to feel; deciding to push those feelings down for later I finally give Eden an awkward pat and smile before sending them through the wide portal.

Finally, after the first time in way too long, I will visit a proper town, read a book and probably find something interesting. With these thoughts in mind, I give myself an approving nod and head back towards Lance while trying to ignore this new feeling, a feeling of excitement, anxiousness and sadness.

I exit the forest and quickly catch up with the carriage, preparing to go down the winding path down the cliff towards the town. People scramble about on muddy roads as the once thick snow had turned into a thin cover that barely makes a footprint, marking the passage of time from when I first arrived.

I see Lance and the two other similar armoured people gathered around a rock outcrop near the edge, talking with some important looking guy wearing fancy blue clothing with simple oak brown hair. In contrast, the robed person from before appears to be watching the small group of what appears to be servants check the carriage and horses, doing some weird preparations so they don't slide when traversing the cliff.

Ignoring the suspicious robed person, I walk towards Lance and his group, who appear to be in a mix of rough silver and leather armour that seems to be light and cheap but also fairly protective.

They seem to be very engrossed in their frankly boring but enlightening conversation about mud and something called physics; it is only when I am literally only a meter away when my cough catches their attention.

"Hey, Lance here somewhere?" I say simply, ignoring the surprised faces of all but one with a strand of dirty blond hair sticking out of their helmet. The fancy guy with brown hair and blue clothing is furthest away with Lance and his group of three close by.

"Good timing, this is Audri Eudon, our employer. Right now we are figuring out a way down the hill, so if you have any suggestions feel free to suggest; if not, could you go keep an eye on things since the way you snuck up on all of us is not foreboding well." He said dryly, also completely ignoring everyone.

"Well..." I being, scratching my chin, "I could just, y'know... Open a portal down there..."

"...Ok, go do it then. Tell Isabell about it beforehand though, she is the girl in the hood," He says, pointing at the suspicious person watching the servants work on the carriage, the carriages wheels and the horses instead of helping.

"Oi Lance, this the guy? Why's he look like a noble?" One of the other armoured people says with a mix of shock, excitement and apprehension.

The other armoured person comes closer with a few steps, a wry smile on his face as he throws his arm around me.

"He's fine; look at him. He is probably just some eccentric mage with too much money and skill to care about armour. You've all seen a mage before; guys come on, y'know what I mean."

He takes his arm off me, throws his arms out wide for emphasis. Then, when no one reacts, he shrugs and takes off his slightly dirty helmet, letting me see their face clearly.

Similar brown hair to Audri matched a set of boring brown eyes along with a small scar on his forehead greets me with a wide smirk, "I'm Roger, make sure to put on a show when you get that portal up because god's know I don't want to hike down a muddy cliff with these guys."

For emphasis, he waves his hand in the general direction of the rest of the adventures while Lance faces palms; meanwhile, the other armoured guy gives a faint sigh with a smirk on his face signifying that his care factor is not much.

"That stickler is Lance, as you know, and the other is my good friend Nick; careful, they are all dodgy, I am telling you." He says with a fake serious tone while his good "friend" Nick faintly complains about actually being his brother.

The feeling that this guy could probably talk all day is confirmed when Lance quite plainly tells him to shut up, and I take my leave, turning on my heel towards the hooded Isabell, who turned to watch us instead with a look somewhere between confused and concerned.

Taking a long glance at me, Isabell doesn't say much as I approach. So, finally, when a short distance away, I take action before an awkward silence can begin, opting to say instead, "I'm opening a portal down, bye." And swiftly continuing past the servants to the front of the carriage.

Good move, my experience with girls isn't the best; Claire, that weird demon and that other person from the misfit group in the demon realm all gave me serious suspicious; I don't want you here vibes.

A breeze flows through, brushing against my hair as I summon my rune cube. Isabell takes a few steps towards me as I begin calculating and imprinting the rune formations using the rune cube as it floats, looking for possible improvements and changes so I can improve my spacial control to throwing an expensive plate on a sidewalk and calling it magic to actually doing something other than shattering space itself the rune cube helps focus and aid the calculations, formations and mana as these things get stupidly complicated, saving me time and effort.

After taking note of a few sections of the rune, I work on using my magic to control the newly formed rune, switching it from a pretty artwork on a cube to a functional portal; the rune cube takes a few seconds to switch a few seemingly random faces like a Rubik's cube as a portal opens, again with a formidable tear, a good few meters away that is large enough to fit the carriage with plenty of free room on the side.

Basically, what I normally do, but it is more complicated and fancy looking but surprisingly less mentally taxing as it has a physical representation this time.

Looking down the cliff, I can see the other side of the portal; satisfied with some new findings and successfully putting on a show; I turn to get the group and travel into town.