Chapter 6 - Adventure

10 days after venturing forth from Vuta we trudge forward moodily, both of us reflective on recent events and feeling sombre, we passed the main bit of farmland surrounding the city after a few days, now, as the lands gradually become more untamed the farms grow also sparser. I crouch among shrubs, my vision fully focused as I see a small pheasant trudge along, unaware of its impending doom, I bounce forward with [Hashasin’s dodge], my dagger piercing through my prey. Returning to the campfire that Mila prepared, I get to skinning, well if you could call my shoddy work skinning, after that’s done, I let Mila cook it, not trusting myself to not burn it. Feeling bored I inquire, “What do you think we should do?”

Her expression grows thoughtful as she says, “I’m really not quite sure, I suppose I could try get a job like my old one, maybe a cleaner? Though if I could get a job as a maid that’d be wonderful.”

Surprised at her lacklustre repsonse, I passionately say, “Wouldn’t you want a job that’s more interesting, this is an opportunity to start over after all, you could be so many different things! Be so many different people, why not become an adventurer? Or maybe join that merchant’s guild I’ve heard about, there’s even that guild for scholars the, the...”

“The association of freethinkers,” she finishes as her expression lifts excitedly.

I bob my head, “Yeah, that one, there’s so many opportunities, things to learn and see, how could you be content as a bloody cleaner!?”

Her excited expression dims, dejectedly saying, “Alas, it’s fine to talk about these things, but reality is far too unforgiving, I’m not talented enough, and even if I was, I don’t have the money to begin training for any of those respective fields.”

I can’t help but try encouraging her, “Money shouldn’t be an issue, we’ve got my few gold coins, and the ones you managed to grab from your father’s stash, that’s more money than I’ve ever seen.”

She shakes her head, twirling the makeshift spit, explaining, “You underestimate the outside world, I’ve been to a few nearby cities in this county, our money is nothing in the rich cities, you must understand that our city is one of the poorer cities in the county of Farok, Vuta doesn’t even have any guilds except the merchant’s guild. If you saw the guildhalls at one of the larger cities, by the gods they are magnificent, but that magnificence is accompanied by immense financial burden!”

Her cynicism doesn’t yet abate my enthusiasm, I say simply, “Then I’ll become an adventurer! It seems like a rather easy way to make money.”

She looks at me befuddled, “Do you even understand how difficult it is to make a living off adventuring? Most are destitute, barely scraping by for a living, my father hammered this point into my head when I was younger and wished to become an adventurer. Not to mention the incredibly high rate of death, most successful adventurers are children of already accomplished adventurers, as they can teach them the skills most effective for monster hunting, and purchase equipment that ensures survival, we have none of that.”

I open my mouth to retort, but my tongue catches in my mouth, I wanted to tell her that I’m strong so it wouldn’t matter, yet I'm not, yesterday proved that, against a true adventurer I’m nothing, a weakling scrambling around in the dark, and my weakness got Shadow killed, oh no, oh no no no no. Everyone has left me, Shadow, oh Shadow... being tugged I snap out of my maddening reverie, Mila looking at me worriedly, Mila brings me in for a hug, I thought I could cut myself off from Vuta, literally and emotionally, yet I can’t, I simply can’t....

We continue on our own little adventure for a few more days, it’s great, if you can ignore the fear of sleeping out in the open, and the perpetual concern of wondering if you’ll find food or not. Towards the end of the day, we come across an inn, likely the last bit of humanity before we cross into the true untamed lands, looking forward to my first inn experience we enter. It's exterior looks run down with its tasteless dark wood, the inside is not that much better, with a few plain tables, and dark dingy corners where the sunlight from the small windows can’t quite seem to illuminate. Walking to the empty counter I excitedly knock for the owner, this is my first time at a motel after all, well inn. A loud grunt comes from somewhere out back, a short burly man appears, asking, “watcha girl’s want?”

Leaning against the counter I bellow, “Room for two, and two hearty meals!”

The man looks at me incredulously, then just shakes his head while muttering something to himself, walking over to the counter he states, “15 copper.”

Nodding I ruffle through my knapsack, but notice that Mila’s face is scrunched up, I ask, “What’s wrong?”

Turning to me she quietly utters, “It’s a bit expensive don’t you think.”

Thinking about it, indeed you could buy quite a lot in the city with that, a rip off? I wouldn’t know, well it doesn’t matter, I turn back towards the man and say, “How much is it really?”

His face remains deadpanned as he just stares at me like a dead fish, simply stating, “16 copper.”

Ok he is asking for it! Time to use my trick, I look him in the eyes and apply a little mental force, his eyes widen slightly as his body freezes, I grin, “5 copper.”

He quickly nods, and immediately retreats to start preparing food, unless he decides to run off, hah!

We take a seat by the window and Mila looks at me inquisitively, “What’d you just do?”

“I don’t actually know, recently, when I focus intently on people much weaker than me it seems to freak them out.” I lean back comfortably in my chair, kicking my feet onto the table, acting like I own the place, continuing, “Anyway I think we really do need a general plan for the future.”

Mila rests her chin on her hand, tilting her head to appreciate the view outside, agreeing she says, “I suppose, but I doubt we will come to a consensus.”

Leaning my chair back while trying to balance it, I say, “Hmmm I guess so, well we could at least decide where we’ll be going, I haven’t even seen a map of our area and I’m clueless about our ‘county’.”

“Maps are very expensive, of course you haven’t seen them, the only people who have them are people who make it themselves or wealthy people, in both cases adventurers and merchants, as for where we could go.” She stops for a moment, a thoughtful expression dons her face, “It depends on what you intend on doing, we could go to a city with guildhalls, you’re still young so if you’re skilled enough it’s possible you could be picked up for specialised training in a craft, otherwise if you’re more interested in adventuring, well a town is where you’d eventually end up, most cities have little adventuring work.”

Now I grow pensive, feeling conflicted over danger and safety I ask, “So I should go to a town?”

Amused, she laughs, “Oh not yet, you would have to go to a city beforehand regardless. You're still too low levelled to do any real work.”

Confused, I say, “But isn’t that counter intuitive, how would I get levels if all I’m doing is hanging about at some fancy city, also I’m much stronger than my level suggests as you know.”

She lightly slaps her forehead then sighs, “Your perspective’s too isolated, which is not your fault, you’re still a child. Compared to properly trained individuals, people with legacies, with proper tutors and expensive potions, you’re average at best, the people in Vuta have mundane skills, if any at all, along with poor training, skilled people are simply not required at a safe city. So, you’re very likely to lose your life if you were to adventure out at a town. Most people train for many years before signing up to the adventurer’s guild, they require a test for entrance too I believe.”

I feel a little downcast at the reality pointed out to me and can’t help but feel a little envious at people who were born in better circumstances. Dinner is brought over, and it looks quite nice, just a regular beef stew with some bread, common here but it works, while eating I say, “So, I suppose a large city is our best shot?”

She nods, but too hungry to respond as she eats eagerly, I then ask, “Where exactly should we go then, any place you have in mind?”

Mila’s face goes red, her mouth open as she tries to suck in air, when she finally swallows her food, she yells “Ugh hot!”

I chuckle, she feign glares at me then digs back in, blowing this time, saying, “The greatest opportunities will definitely be at the county capital, Belra, I’m really keen on seeing it in person as well, we may even see some nobles.”

She eats another spoonful of stew, gushing, “Ah I can just imagine it, a dashing count’s son, picking me out from a crowd and taking me to his castle, that would be a dream.”

My mouth drops open, I sputter, “That sound’s awful, you literally just explained a kidnapping!”

She giggles, downing yet another mouthful, goodness is she already on her 5th bite, I’ve yet to even start! Later we return to our room, since we’re no longer on the road I decide to do some light reading, grabbing the magic book ‘Pre-fundamentals of Magic, A Sense for Magic’, instantly I’m transfixed,

‘Pre-fundamentals of Magic, A Sense for Magic’

All things have mana, one way or another, so what distinguishes powerful mages from your regular mortal man, it’s a mages ability to harness that magic power and manipulate it into runic structures, casting what most call ‘spells’. But that is not the purpose of this book, before even touching mana, it must be felt, seen. Doing so relies heavily on inherent talent, some have it at birth or gain it naturally however most of you will require hard work and some talent, the methods in this book will improve your probability of obtaining mana sense. The most effective way is to take two steps forward and one step back, as in you, must learn a magic cultivation technique before even being able to cultivate. There are many renditions on the classic cultivation technique, some with detriments, some with benefits, and some with both. This technique is a mix of both, it will decrease the speed at which you gain mana but will also increase intelligence growth.

Magical cultivation requires you to manipulate mana and draw it into yourself, or more specifically your mana pool, storing the mana in a pure form, ready for future use. This differs from consolidation which is simply the process of accelerating the speed of mana in your body, passively drawing in any external mana, moreover there are techniques that alter such a pattern to be more favourable for the user. Both techniques have their place, and neither are better than each other, it merely depends on the wielder and skills they use, a warrior at the same level as a mage, while rare can best them in battle should circumstances permit. Back onto magical cultivation, the technique I included in this book deviates from the traditional method on drawing as much mana as possible. This technique includes an additional step, rather than directly drawing the mana into your mana pool, you will first hold the mana at your brain and circulate it, after some time you will then draw it into your mana pool, this is slower, but the benefits are tangible. A traditional cultivation technique will still passively increase intelligence, however not to the level of this technique. I will now go into the technical aspects of this technique…

Translated by Mage Juren

Written by High Mage Felingrad in year 729 imperial

Enamoured by the allure of magic, I stay up all night, lighting up a candle as I awkwardly read on a small desk. It was a short read, however conceptually it was quite difficult, it’s rather similar to my Hashashin cultivation except I have to actively pull the mana into myself, which is obviously impossible without even seeing it. However, to learn mana sense, I must sort of imagine that I really am pulling mana inwards, similar to how it was when I first learnt consolidation. My dailing training now consists of [Hashashin’s cultivation], attempted mage cultivation and the skill Shadow taught me.

A few days after the inn we notice the increased density in trees, and I can’t help but feel uneasy, indeed not too long later, we come across a wrecked wooden sign.

E-grade territory

Proceed with caution

Tilting my head, I ask, “What’s does E-grade mean?”

Clearly fearful Mila shakingly explains, “It’s a grade given by the adventurer’s guild to determine how strong monsters are, adventurers are also graded in the same way, I wasn’t aware of there being a graded territory here, we will have to turn back! maybe wait for a caravan.”

Staring at her with disbelief, I adamantly state, “Nope! We definitely not going back.”

She turns to me and pleadingly says, “Please! It’s too dangerous, we could die!”

My brows furrow, “Wow, Mila, we’ll be fine! I’ve yet to meet a monster but I doubt they’re worse than humans.”

I trudge off further into the monster zone, after a few seconds I hear the pitter patter of Mila’s steps as she runs to catch up. The further we descend, the more mystifying the place becomes, there is something different about the air here, but I just can’t quite put my finger on it. A few hours later I hear ruffling from some trees, I instantly draw my dagger, Mila jumps at my action. A low growl hums from the bush, it sounds odd, the bush parts and a wolf emerges, except this thing is enlarged, it’s fur rugged and eyes insane, the growl growing rowdy as it raises in volume becoming a rumble, this thing is dangerous. I go on full alert, body tensing, wolves hunt in packs so I should expect more, I briefly glance back on Mila to make sure she’s not doing anything stupid, her face a mask of terror. I turn my head back, the beast already upon me, wah? Thankfully I kept my combat stance, so with a slight tilt of my dagger I try to stab through its rough fur, but it’s body too tough for my meagre weapon, dealing only a light wound. I get whacked to the floor, the beast clawing at my arms marking them bloody, fumbling with my blade I try to stab it in the eyes, but my arms are in too awkward a position to go for a proper stab. Mila saves the day, weakly kicking the beast, it reacts on instinct, jumping off me, I use this opportunity, using [Hashashin’s dodge] I bolt through the air, flying next to it and getting my dagger through its eyes. The beast wails in pain and staggers, taking advantage I continue my onslaught of dagger attacks, eventually downing it. Collapsing and rolling onto my back, heaving as I withstand the pain of my shredded body, popping a health potion open I spill some on myself and drink the rest. Interestingly it wasn’t in a pack even though it was clearly a wolf, maybe monsters have different behaviours? I jokingly say, “See, I told you I would keep you safe.”

Mila after collecting herself walks over to me and looks me over disapprovingly noting my ragged state, she berates me, “By the gods, we’ve already encountered a monster! What have you gotten us into…!”

Just ignoring her as she rambles on, I get myself into a meditative state to take advantage of the potions healing, after a couple hours I feel well enough, and so we resume our adventure. A few hours later we come a couple more of those wolves, they seem far weaker than that last one we fought as they’re smaller, they are skulking about, searching for prey I imagine, testing [Hashashin’s eyes].

? level 4

? level 6

They’re quite low levelled, but a level only tells so much, moreover my skill doesn’t seem to activate properly, I should be able to see their stats but clearly that’s reserved for humans. I silently approach and when I deem them close enough, I dash through the air my knife already stabbing into its eyes, it howls and its buddy jumps at me, I twist my body, positioning my blade so it runs straight into the dagger. Killing two blind wolves is no different from killing pups. It was nearing dawn so I suggest, “Let’s make camp, I doubt we’ll find any pheasants in these forests, heh.”

As Mila makes camp I amateurly skin the beast, it’s monster meat on the menu tonight! Mila starts cooking it, and it smells surprisingly tasty. Mila has been frowning at me ever since we entered this forest, so instead of talking I just sit there trying to sense mana, I’ve been doing it at any free opportunity hoping to become a mage overnight, which was obviously unrealistic, but I’m a genius in more ways than one, what’s adding magical genius to the list? I notice that my mana cultivation technique tingles a little bit, which is unusual as I shouldn’t feel anything. Maybe it’s the forest, was that mana I vaguely felt when we entered the forest? The book did say that there is mana in every being, so it’d make sense if areas with greater mana helped produced monsters, maybe like magical mutations, I don’t know. The meat is cooked, and even in her sour mood Mila can’t help drooling, biting in I indulge the taste, excitedly commenting, “This is by far the best thing I’ve ever eaten!”

Mila completely disregards me, not out of rudeness, but pleasure, I can literally see her eyes drift off as she mentally goes to another world, sure, she’s a foodie, but that’s just weird. We eat in silence until we absolutely devour the lavish meal, Mila simply says, “Wow.”

As we continue forward the next day I notice two bear like monsters, except their arms are abnormally pronounced with long claws.

? level ?

? level ?

They feel incredibly dangerous, and their level suggests so, I put a finger to mouth to signal silence to Mila, and we quietly skim around them. If this was a signal encounter it would be manageable, however every as we progress forward, immensely strong beings such as those bears show up, requiring constant vigilance, over that time my movement has becomes slightly sluggish, and alertness fuzzy.

We power on for next two weeks, avoiding most fights to preserve our lives, Mila was right I'm not ready, advancing through swathes of those giant wolves, and some of the other local wildlife, such as those bear monsters and savage owls that torment us during the night, always ruining my cultivation. We come across some demonic looking black ball with long spindly legs sticking out, yeah, I’m just going to ignore that one, but it starts crawling over to us, making abominable slurping sounds.

? level 9

Well shit, it’s doable, I motion Mila back and perform [Hashashin’s dodge] slicing at the monster’s leg, but my attack is repelled off its chitinous hide, strong defence, one of it’s other legs extends stabbing toward me, smoothly rotating my body, I move along the extended leg and stab towards it’s ‘head’. There are eyes but they’re difficult to discern as it's full black, like its carapace, I aim for those as has been my usual tactic lately, but it’s barely effective. Just before I stab the eyes the monster jumps upward with sudden prowess, bumping me backwards with surprising force and flinging me into a tree, coughing blood, I jump up among the trees, escaping the monster’s senses, I lurk around to its rear, then dash out with [Hashashin’s dodge] flying over its hide, landing atop its head and striking at its eyes with absolute precision, it shrieks, pulling the old trick and jumping, but I was already gone. I repeatedly jump in and out of the trees, performing critical hits on the monster until it eventually collapses, such an exhausting fight… Ohhh, already levelled up!

Level up!

We continue on for a few more days the trees start parting, the path becoming less of a general guideline and more of an actual road, the monster forest is clearly not the way the merchants pass if I had to guess. As we wearily trod on, we eventually find ourselves at a crossroads, two arrowed signs point in different directions, I read aloud, “Grokon township... and Lishon, you know these places?”

Mila, looks down thinking deeply, suddenly she jolts, shouting beamingly, “I remember! Grokon’s on the way to Belra, I think.”

As we walk down the road, we pass by our first group of travellers, a typical merchant caravan, as we walk past, they all stare at me, then look away to act as if they saw nothing, what the hell, is there something on my face? When the merchant caravan is gone, I notice that Mila’s face is bright red, exasperated she says, “I can’t believe you just walked past them looking like that, yet you act like nothing happened!”

Oh my god, I’m a complete moron, my clothes are so torn at the moment that I may as well as not wear anything at all, how on earth am I going to enter the town looking like this?

A few more days on the road, we finally reach Grokon, the settlement looks peaceful from the distance, but as we approach, there is more bustle than expected, I hide among the shadows due to my shameful clothing and Mila runs off to fetch me something new, returning after quite a while, I take the clothes and question, “What the hell is this?”

A simple brown dress, it’d be suitable if I wore dresses however I’m just annoyed, I say, “You know I don’t like wearing dresses, what happens if we get into combat!”

Mila shoves the dress into my hands, smiling while saying, “It’ll be fine, we’re out of danger, and I thought it’d look cute on you. Now we just got to find a place to get you changed.”

Ugh she’s so irritating sometimes, well whatever.

After getting changed, we happen across a large wooden building that draws my attention, the adventurer’s guild, intrigued I walk over and peer inside, looking rather sparse of people, I note a few people who seem to be in a group gazing at the quest board, they’re armed. Chuckling with disdain I say to Mila, “Y’know I expected my first experience with the adventurer’s guild to be awe inspiring, talk about subverting expectations.”

Mila just smiles wryly, which switches to an uncertain frown when one of the adventurer’s turns around to face us, he honestly looks quite handsome being tall with a strong jaw, he looks down to me, displeasure apparent he says, “An adventurer isn’t all about looking noble young missy.”

Young missy, what, does he think I’m some arrogant kid? My anger flares, his eyebrows perk up as I snarl, “Oh yeah? What is it about then, because the last adventurer I came across was getting paid to kill others, is that your job, murderers?”

He smirks at me, amused, then turns to his associates saying, “We’re done here.”

As they walk off, I curiously analyse him.

Warrior level ?

Oh shit, did I almost fuck myself over, and for what? God what’s wrong with me lately. Mila studies my face with a look of worry and says, “You ok?”

“ah, yeah.” I reply hastily.

“Ok, well if you need anything just tell me. Anyway, let’s not make the same mistake as last time, let’s tag along with a merchant caravan.” She suggests as we leave the guild, I lightly nod my head in agreement. We walk to the town square and Mila inquires around and hears of a caravan departing tomorrow, this leads us to a group of people that seem to be packing supplies into carriages, preparing for a long venture. They don’t look like merchants though, but soldiers in their stock medium steel armour. I break out of my brooding and become alert as we hesitantly approach, a few of the men noticing us, when we get close enough a soldiers yell, “Halt! What business do you have?”

Mila obviously too scared to speak, I answer, “We wish for safe passage to Belra, we’ve heard you may be going that way.”

He shakes his head, “We cannot escort strangers I’m afraid.”

“I can pay,” I insist.

Before he speaks, that adventurer I saw in the guild yesterday appears, saying, “Leave us be soldier, I know these people.”

The soldier salutes then walking off. Feeling embarrassed over our last encounter, I nervously say, “Ah, thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it,” smiling broadly he asks, “so you wish to come along? That can be arranged.”

I cough awkwardly, saying, “I appreciate it, but uhhh, what’s the payment?”

He laughs, “I can assure we don’t need your money, I’m simply allowing you along for the ride.”

Sighing I just say simply, “Very well then, when do we leave?”

A couple days later we’re getting ready to set off, this journey is apparently long and could be rather treacherous, I notice a large carriage guarded by quite a few guards, no doubt carrying an important personage. Someone shouts out and the caravan begins moving, Fila and myself walk alongside one of the carriages, well looks like we’re beginning the second leg of our journey to what I hope is a second start to life, my life has been too shitty so far, it’s time for some good.