Rey had been talking to the mercenary for more than an hour now, she mostly spoke, so the guy wasn't tired at all, which couldn't be said about Tessa.

“…so we will enter the capital in about a week, but we will arrive in Rondal territory in four days.” They, like your people, built a capital near the border of the forest, consider ourselves lucky - we do not have to travel across the country.

What's wrong with traveling around the country? Isn't it more convenient than, for example, on the same plain.

Hearing his question, Tessa sighed heavily.

- You'll see for yourself.

The answer was none, but Ray understood that she was just tired, therefore, he decided to give the interlocutor some time to rest.

The silence dragged on for a long half hour, until Ray's eyes caught on a strange detail - the girl was riding her tiger without any aids. The coat of this cat was a little longer than that of Cess, but not so much that it could be grasped normally. Plus, it didn't look like Tessa was exerting herself too much, holding on to a beast that was galloping at a fairly high speed. The panther was much larger, so for her, the pace of their movement was only a leisurely trot, but even so, several hours of continuous riding had exhausted Ray very much. He had to sit in an uncomfortable position, besides, he had already broken two large souls in order to restore energy in his legs that were numb from fatigue.

Without thinking about it anymore, he simply asked the question that interested him:

"How do you manage to be so dexterous on horseback?"

At this, the girl just laughed quite sincerely. Allowing himself to give a second of slack, Ray stared. But just for a second.

“I also wanted to ask you how you haven’t broken your legs yet, but since you’re fine, then forget it. Reassured, she answered anyway. - I used a saddle for almost two years, but then I learned to ride without it.

“But I can clearly see that you are not doing anything special. Your hips are relaxed, and you almost don't grab the cat's fur with your hands. Ray did not notice the impudence of the remark, but Tessa noticed it. True, in a short time of conversation, she was able to quite well understand the character of the guy, so she only flashed her eyes in evil.

“In time, you will be able to repeat this too, but for now, just take a saddle ... Although we don’t have such big ones. The anger in the girl's eyes instantly disappeared, replaced by warm sparks when she looked at Cess. The cat just moved its paws measuredly, but did it with the grace inherent in every cat. It was not strange that Tessa stared at the way the boulders of heavy muscles rolled under the velvet of black wool.

Ray ignored her gaze. But the guy was interested in the words, which almost exactly repeated the phrase of his former teacher, who described one of the skills in the same way.

"So here's the thing..." Ray nodded in understanding as he sank into thought.

“So I’ll have to ride it for two years to get the right skill ... And given that she was almost always on horseback when traveling, then I’ll need to spend even more time.”

Thinking about this, Rey visibly gloomed, but after a moment he completely fell into despondency, because there was another problem that he had noticed while still in the forest.

The fact was that with the growth of the number of specializations, the rate of their development fell. What is very significant. This was also reflected in the difficulty of obtaining a new specialization. For example, after Trickster, he couldn't get any more. Ray understood the reason for this limitation, because players lost a random specialization when they died, and if they were too easy to get, everyone could gain several tens, or even hundreds, thus reducing the likelihood of losing the main one upon death.

As for increasing the levels of specializations, the last thing he remembered was a little less than a month ago. Of course, it was also their level, because with his growth, the complexity of subsequent development also increased, but even low-level specializations, like the Rider, almost stopped developing, although Rei spent quite a lot of time riding.

The guy's face didn't change at all, but it seemed to Tessa that his eyes were very dull. Thinking that the problem was in the saddle, she, not understanding why, decided to cheer him up:

“Don't worry, we have someone in the squad who can fit the saddle to your panther. I'll ask you to do it tonight.

Hearing the girl's words, Rei nodded gratefully in response, noting to himself that she was not as arrogant as he first thought.

- What's his name? Tessa pointed her head at the panther.

— Cess.

Hearing the answer, the girl did not say anything, continuing to stare at the torso and face of the cat. At that moment, the tigress she was riding purred in displeasure, turning her head towards her mistress. Noticing this, Tessa ruffled her fur:

- Sorry. But do you like him too?

Ray noticed how the tigress snorted in displeasure at the words of the mistress, defiantly turning away.

"They are somewhat similar." - with this thought, the guy plunged into thoughts about the upcoming war, in which he was undoubtedly going to participate.

The procession moved at a moderate pace so as not to drive the horses, while time seemed to stop for a while, due to the fact that nothing was happening and even the landscape of a steadily swaying sea of grass could no longer distract Ray. He just broke another soul, feeding his legs and lower back with energy.

Right now, there were not much more than a hundred large souls in his inner space, which he had reserved especially for such an occasion. Among these souls there were many strong beasts, some even exceeded the size of Cess several times, but he did not perceive them as potential bodies, rather just as food, and there was a very good reason for that…

Ray's thoughts were interrupted by the cry of a bird. Only a quiet echo reached him, but nevertheless, there was simply nothing to confuse this sound with. He and Cess turned their heads at the same time, looking up at the sky. About two kilometers ahead, a large two-headed condor flew through the air. Or at least something similar to this type of bird.

A light flashed in the guy's eyes and he already pulled his hand behind his back, but, finding nothing, turned his head towards Tessa. She also saw the bird, but did not understand what the guy was going to do, so she asked:

“You can't hit from that distance, don't waste your arrows.

“Those are my arrows, what do you want?”

The girl wrinkled her nose in displeasure at such a cold attitude:

- And my bow. Why would I give it to such a brute?

Rey just frowned slightly at her words.

"I'll give it to you when I'm dead."

Muttering something, the girl nevertheless took off her bow from her back and, with a sly smile, handed it to Ray:

“Just to look at your displeased face when you return empty-handed.

Ray didn't answer. Retrieving his bow, he tightened his grip on the rope reins and tightened his grip on his legs. Immediately after that, Cess, crouching a little, rushed forward. Huge paws left shallow ruts in the ground, and the roar that the cat emitted caused several horses to recoil in fright. The mercenaries yelled something at the back of the guy, who in these few seconds had already moved away a hundred meters.

Tessa watched as the panther gracefully covered a huge distance and stopped, about two hundred meters ahead.

"What is he doing?"

She figured Rey would try to catch up with the bird, but he only moved forward a little, barely getting close to her. There were soft chuckles coming from nearby mercenaries. At that moment, the guy raised his bow. Two hundred meters was quite a distance for the human eye, but Tessa could clearly see the cocked arrow glowing green.

“Oh, he really knows something. An ironic remark was heard from one of the strongest warriors in the squad, who apparently also noticed the glow.

The guy fired the arrow. The mercenaries could only see the green trail left by her in the air, so everyone turned their gaze to the bird, which, not paying attention to what was happening, calmly flew in the direction it knew alone. The Faroese could only get in by an incredibly happy coincidence, so no one believed in the presumptuous boy.

The eyes of people practically did not distinguish anything at such a distance, they could barely even make out a bird, not to mention an arrow flying at a speed of hundreds of meters per second.

But the eyes of the forest saw everything quite clearly, and since the arrow was also shining, Rei could easily understand that it would fly about two meters from the bird, but did not even think that it would return with nothing.

After adjusting its trajectory a little, Rei carefully followed the bird, whose wings twitched, helping the condor to get out of the line of attack, and he succeeded. There were several tens of meters left to the bird, and it was obvious to Ray that if nothing was done, he would miss. But the guy was completely calm. Choosing the moment, he activated another skill with a mental command.

"Shower".

At the same moment, the arrow flashed and next to it, several dozen more of the same, shining with green light, appeared in the air. The fright reflected in the eyes of the bird was the last in her life - one of the arrows pierced her head, instantly killing her.