Prologue

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A rarified find, that beautiful scarlet hair. That color was usually the result of cheap dye and a childish personality, desperate to try out individuality by opposing normality. It was a rare natural endowment from nature, every string like melting ruby, when nearly so-called redhead possessed only a debase orange tree hue. But hers was like blood, drawing the eyes of all those around her, including Noah's. Of all the adult female he had seen, met, and knew, even intimately, hers was the most purely crimson.

It was after school in early autumn, the light of the setting sun illuminating every filament and reminding him why it was Charles Frederick Worth it to approach her. She was walking across the vacuous soccer discipline, her body trembling from the adrenaline of all the running she had done in her track order. For once, Noah saw her without all of her Friend surrounding her or her beau's arm draped over her shoulders like a boa constrictor. He had been waiting for this chance, longer than she could think.

"Lindsey, hey,"he said, meeting her in the open air, dislodge from any interruptions.

"Noah, what are you doing here ?"

She asked that interrogative sentence, but she knew the answer. What else would take up a boy to her, what former possible desire ? He was going to flirt with her, possibly even ask her out. Would he be nervous ? Would he be cocky ? Would he play impeccant and try to start with some small talk, or would he get straight to the point ? Had he planned this ? Had he been waiting ? They had been friends since she transferred in their Sophomore yr. Had that just been in anticipation of this ?

It was clear in her eyes, that his design had been seen through, but it didn't dissuade him. Rather, it was something that always amused him, the paradox of human coupling that became both easier and more difficult with age. She already knew what he desired, so unless she desired the same matter, her warmheartedness would be guarded, with no opening for a sneak tone-beginning to surprise her. It was a challenge that men and char had struggled with since the dawn of time.

"I heard that you and Sean broke up. I know what that tactile property like, how much it hurts, so I'm sorry. But if it's not too soon, I wanted to ask if you'd like to go out with me this weekend ?"

"Sorry, but since we're graduating soon, I'm not sure I want to put out geological dating. After all, when summer comes, we're all going to rive up and go our distinguish ways."

A rejection, not an optimal outcome, but it was within his first moment. He just had to convince her to turn over him a chance, but gently. He had to properly opt his words so that he wouldn't come off as desperate and frustrated, but not try to ham it up by turning it into a sonnet like an out-of-touch nerd.

"Is that why you two broke up ? Because you didn't see a point in staying together ? I doubt that. I think you believe in lovemaking, in giving it a chance. A lot of affair will happen between now and commencement ceremony ; Noel, valentine's Day, the prom ? That's heap of fourth dimension to be well-chosen, and to change your brain about which path you plan on taking. Plans can change, things can make out. All I want is a chance."

"Sorry, but I'm just not interested in dating, and I'm too meddlesome anyway. Besides, I like you only as a friend."

She crossed her arms to warm herself, but she kept them low. It was an natural move, one that Noah's eyes didn't young lady. He gave an incense smile and began to laugh."Ok, I get it. Maybe following time."

Lindsey, wanting this conversation to be over, walked past him, but beneath his continuing laughter, she heard something, a metallic click, and it chilled her blood. She spun around and saw the knife in Noah's hand.

"Jesus Christ, what are you doing ? !"she screamed while raising her hands to shield herself.

"Don't vexation. This isn't for you."

He swung up his hand and stabbed himself in the throat. The strike, it was so firm, but it was gentle, just the tip of the blade breaking his skin and severing his vena jugularis with pinpoint accuracy. It was a perfect, smooth movement, as if he had spent minute practicing. stemma began to spray from the small combat injury, and to the sound of Lindsey's scream, he allowed himself to fall on his back. She rushed over and tried to stop the bleeding. Covering it with her deal only slowed the outpour, so she reached into her bag for something to use as a bandage.

"halt, just hold open your hand there,"Noah said calmly. The venous blood vessel he had struck carried blood out of the heading and sent it back to his heart, so the residue of the blood in his system would maintain his psyche oxygenated, at least while it was still in his veins.

"You're fucking crazy ! I'm not going to let you die like this !"

"I've already died like this… more than a hundred times before. This isn't my first rodeo."

"What are you talking about ?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like. Reincarnation, transmigration, whatever you call it, I count lives like you count years, and every clip I die, I'm immediately reborn with all the memories from my past lives. I've been born and died so many times, laughed and suffered through so many lifetimes."

"That's just blood expiration talking. Hang on !"She tried to pull out her headphone, but Noah grabbed it with surprise strength.

"You're fraught, aren't you ? Sean freaked out after you told him and that's why you broke up."

Her cheek became as pale as his."How could you possibly experience that ?"

"Because this isn't the first metre I've confessed to you. I'm always myself, but the cosmos I'm born into is never the same. Every prison term I die, I return to the day of my birth, but in a different timeline. I'll end up in a human race where my surroundings are dissimilar, or history didn't go the way I remember it, or events will happen in my future tense that I can't predict.

Only in my past times seven lifetimes have you been pose, and in all seven lifespan, I could never make you mine, no matter how much I wanted you. Five of those time were because you were pregnant. You and Sean get back together by thanksgiving, and I and everyone else watch you dance together at the prom. Each time, I kill myself to try again in my following life. These yesteryear 18 days, they've flown by like the blink of an eye for me."

His hemorrhage was starting to slow, his organic structure going low temperature and his idea getting foggy.

"Why me ? Why would you keep open going after me ? Why am I worth killing yourself over ?"

"It's the only way I can live anymore, following some task or game that keeps me busy. Every life story I've lived, it's been a lie, concealing who I am, what I know, what I've experienced. Much of the clip, I have to make believe to have emotions, because after all this time, I've almost forgotten what they feel like. I've almost forgotten what's like to actually feel something. But when I see you, I get to go through genuine longing. I have an real compaction, something so simple and childish, but such a marvellous opinion. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a Melanerpes erythrocephalus, but I've lived for so long, I have to dig at any fight of meaning that can make me happy, and make my existence a little less hollow."

"What about your family ? What about this life you've built ? You're just going to fuddle it all away ?"

With the last of his strength, he removed her deal from his combat injury so that it could bleed freely. Her wrist was limp. Had he convinced her ? Or had she simply realized that he had already bled too a lot and was beyond saving ? He covered his leave alone eye with his hand, blinded by the setting sun while Lindsey's vestige obscured the right wing incline of his face. The light passed through her crimson hair like stained looking glass, making his blood shine beautifully.

"I've seen so many worlds, so many different reality, but none of them could spend a penny me happy. I've never known what it felt like to belong or palpate at place. Every world felt damage to me. This is yet another reality that I am contrastive with. All I can do is hope that the next world is one I can be felicitous in."

The parentage at finis stopped flowing, and Noah closed his eyes and released his final breath. Then, in his mind, there was a familiar spirit twinkling of illumination and he felt himself being pulled to the adjacent world.

A unit New biz

Without even opening his eyes, Noah knew that something had gone wrong. He was stuporous, but he could definitely feel the coldness, hard ground underneath him. This didn't make sensory faculty. At this moment, he'd normally be experiencing his own rebirth, coming out of the womb as a neonate babe. His physical structure was also still the same size. He could feel the weight of his limb, as well as his clothes. His handwriting was still covering his eye, but just moving it took a tremendous sum of speciality. He managed to work his eyelid open up and stared up at the blue sky. It was late in the afternoon when he killed himself, but now it looked to be midmorning.

This had never happened before, no matter how many multiplication he had died. Either he had somehow survived his self-destruction attempt and been moved while he was unconscious, or he had reincarnated without being reborn, breaking into another timeline rather than being properly incorporated. Was his reincarnation power changing ?

Noah sat up and looked around. He was lying on an unpaved road in the Ellen Price Wood. His hoodie and the shirt underneath were potent with his dried pedigree, but when he felt his neck, there was no wound. He had been healed, but had his blood also been replenished ? It would have taken at to the lowest degree xxx minutes for the blood on his wearing apparel to dry this much, not enough sentence for his consistency to reestablish any meaningful amount, so this was likely a partial tone rebirth.

He got to his feet and staggered, struggling to suspire. There was no forte in his limbs and his thoughts were getting weaker by the minute. This fatigue, it was like to blood exit, but also different. It was like there was some kind of spare muscle going crazy, using up all of his enduringness. If it didn't dissipate soon, he'd end up passing out again. What in the world ? He looked down and realized that he wasn't casting a shadow. The fatigue must have been messing with his visual sense. Now that he thought about it, his left eye was itching a bit. He gave it a rub and it was like a shift had been flipped. The fatigue duty vanished, as if that extra muscle had settled, and when he looked down, he saw his shadower.

‘ That wasn't blood line expiration. It must accept been some form of leftover psychic trauma from my suicide or this glitchy rebirth. But where am I ?'

The road was unusual. The ground was packed, but the sediment seemed native to the daub. In the modern world, even the unpaved road were made with at to the lowest degree a layer of gumption and gravel to keep it from being overgrown. He had his pocketbook and his telephone set with him, but there was no service.

A sound reached his ears, one that virtually citizenry rarely heard outside of picture and TV. It was the strait of sawbuck hooves. He looked over his articulatio humeri, seeing two big men on hogback approaching him from down the route. Behind them, an old man driving a horse-drawn wagon and leading… hard worker. Wearing tag end for apparel, Sir Thomas More than a dozen men and women of varying age were being led by mountain chain.

This unknown caravan came to a halt in front man of him. The men on hogback and the one driving the black Maria stared at him in confusion."You're blocking the road. Get the infernal region out of our way before you end up like them,"the driver barked.

It had been a long time since Noah saw a slave shipment. He normally only found them in post-apocalyptic timelines, when gild had broken down. That, or timelines where the Confederacy won the Civil War and other such occurrences.

"Did you discover me ? Get out of the way !"

"Boss, look at all of the blood he's covered in,"one of the men on horseback said.

Noah looked at them. Their clothes, they were cheapjack, wool clearly not woven by any sort of Bodoni font machinery and with coating and boots made of primitively-treated leather. Maybe he had reincarnated to a third-world country ? If this was a post-apocalyptic timeline, then whatever happened wasn't manmade. It happened before the Industrial gyration, some form of natural disaster that halted mankind's development. A meteoroid ?

"I don't think he understands us. He's got some uncanny apparel. He might be the son of some noble,"the early horseman said.

Their weapon, they had sheathed sword but no augury of any guns. So, this was an era before gunpowder was invented. Medieval ? It sure seemed like it.

"If he's a noble, we can ransom him back, and if not, he looks hefty and strong enough to betray for a in effect price. Chain him up with the others."

One of the men got off his sawhorse and approached Noah with a length of rope. None of them were cognizant that he still had his tongue on him. As the man reached out to grab his hands, Noah slashed him across the throat. It wasn't the pinpoint jab like he had given himself originally, this was a damn smile stretching from ear to ear. It had been a long time since he had endure killed someone, but it was something he was very well-practiced in.

A jet of blood sprayed Forth River and Noah threw his tongue at the wagon driver, catching him in the chest of drawers. Before his starting time victim could neglect to his knees, Noah ripped his sword from its sheath and charged towards the other equestrian, already drawing his own blade to revenge his coworker. The pharynx was out of grasp, so Noah deflected the oncoming attack and went for a pang in the slope of the gut and up into the right lung.

"Fireball !"

There was a blink of an eye of light in his peripheral device vision, coming from the old man. Noah's instincts made him jerk back as a flare jibe through the air, missing his face by an inch. It struck a nearby tree diagram and exploded, spraying fire in all directions like a Molotov Cocktail. Noah looked back at the old man, one hand outstretched while the early covered the shot injury in his dresser from Noah's knife. He wasn't holding a flare gun or any early kind of twist that would explain what had just happened.

"You can't be life-threatening,"Noah muttered.

"Fireball !"the old man shouted again.

Just like before, a heavens of distil flames formed in his hand, about the size of melon vine, and shot at Noah with fantastic speed. Noah dodged and rushed in to close the distance. The first fireball had forced him to let go of his brand and the second had forced him back before he could grab the sec man's. He'd have to end this with his bare hands.

The sawhorse were all throwing tantrums in fear from the fighting, but the old man continued to establish those mysterious solar flare. Noah circled around the horses, jumped, and tackled the man. There was no clumsy fumbling for control, Noah simply began beating him with his fist. His electric current physical structure hadn't been trained for combat, but he kept it healthy and firm and have intercourse how practically force he had muster up with each punch. blood line started spraying with the tertiary punch, the old man unable to fight back and soon blacking out. Noah promptly retrieved his fallen knife and finished him off.

Noah took his meter to catch his breath while he wiped off the brand, folded it up, and stored it in his air pocket. He took those few moments to squelch his bother. He was used to being reborn as a child after every death and considered those ahead of time years to be his vacation between each new biography, meter to properly dispose of old memories, catalogue utile knowledge, and mentally deal with any loose close. No one depended on him and he usually had a parent or health professional to take care of him, giving him sentence to lie his idea. Now he had jump right back into a survival of the fittest mindset and commencement from scratch in a world with all new rules.

Those bolide the old man had launched, that was undoubtedly magic, something that he thought only existed in fancy account. He had never seen magic before, not in any of the timelines he had already lived in. Until now, he had operated under the belief of the Multiverse Theory, which stated that there was a timeline for every possible subatomic issue. Was it really possible for sorcerous to exist in the multiverse ? What did this timeline have that all the previous unity lacked ?

The old man would take been a valuable source of info, but with his foot soldier now dead, he would never willingly tell Noah anything. It wouldn't be worth the time and worry to interrogate him in this post. Oh well, the answers would get along in time, and Noah had learned how to be patient.

He turned his attention to the slaves, staring back at him with dubiety. They weren't rejoicing at the death of their capturer, bonnie enough. After all, Noah hadn't killed them in monastic order to free the slave or anything like that. As far as they knew, he was about to kill them all or just take in them all and sell them himself. Each of them was a variable quantity, possibly benefiting or dooming him. It would be best to just let them go, but he decided to get some use out them first.

The slave dealer had spoken with an speech pattern that he had never heard before, but it was English, though they probably didn't call it that. These slave must also mouth it."All of you, I give you license to verbalise. Do you all understand what I'm saying ?"They didn't say anything, but they nodded in the affirmative."Are there any among you who are familiar with this sphere ?"None of them answered.

Possessing knowledge could either ca-ca them valuable or a indebtedness. They didn't want to expose themselves unless they knew what awaited them. Noah sighed and returned to the old man, patting him down until he found an iron key, likely going to all of their leash.

He held up the key for all the slaves to see."I need one of you to guide me to a safe country with a source of fresh piddle and off the route where I won't be seen. Whoever volunteers will get their leash removed and can ride in the wagon. Once I'm brought to a suitable location, you will all will be set free."Six slaves raised their spring hands."You,"Noah said.

He had ***********ed a adolescent little girl that looked to be around his age. She was begrime and undernourished, but looked healthy enough to be useful to him, and he could certainly overpower her if she tried to give away him. It was hard to gauge her appearance in this DoS. She had a pitiable look permanently etched into her cheek, like a basset hound. If he cleaned her up, she might be a actual cutie, but right now she was so dirty that he couldn't even tell her rude pilus color.

"What is your name ?"

"Tin, sir."She didn't make eye tangency. None of them did.

"Do what I say, Tin, and you'll earn your freedom. Go against me and I'll kill you."He unlocked her alloy collar but left her wrists limit."Now help me take care of these bodies."

Noah searched the corpses of the three slave bargainer, taking everything of value. Along with their swords, he got a twosome obelisk, some cord, and three makeshift wallet. They were snake hide with push-down storage of bronze coins inside, tied to their belts. It was a clever concept.

"Tin, is there any risk of crazy animal in these woods ? Anything that I should concern about ?"

"goliath will surely be drawn by the sense of smell of blood here. It would be best if we moved on now."

Noah huffed in pain in the ass. Great, now he had monsters to worry about. This certainly was a world unlike any he had seen before. This ruined his plan of taking the corpses with him. He was sure he could find a use or two for them, as well as hold their clothes and anything else of value on their person when there was more meter. He also didn't want to result any evidence of what he had done.

"Very well. Remove the clothes from the bodies and put them in the wagon."

She wordlessly obeyed, proceeding to strip the corpses without any tag end of unease or discomfort. Most girls her age would be too squeamish to do anything like this. As she worked, Noah searched the police van and found a canvas bag, smelling too rancid to be used for food. He soaked it with a wineskin, and while it wasn't ideal, it was good enough for him to use to put out the flack that the old man had started. He and Tin completed their tasks, leaving three raw bodies on the road and a few charred trees. Noah retrieved one of the steel, just a cheap machete, but acute enough to get the job done. He showed no discomfort in decapitating the consistence and storing the heads in the canvas bag.

"puff these bodies into the woods, out of sight from the road. That should overindulge any creature that search this area."

There was no telling what the value of these slave traders were. If they were even slightly of import to individual, their disappearance might lead to an investigation. Three nude person, headless bodies that were devoured by monsters wouldn't leave any evidence. They couldn't even be identified. On the other hired man, if they were felon, then Noah might be able to use their severed head teacher as ratification of their expiry and collect a bounty. He had been in a lot of bad post and chaotic timelines, so this mindset was a acquisition he knew he could bank on and use as he needed.

Once the bodies were plow with, Noah took his seat at the front end of the wagon and Tin joined him. The two supernumerary horses were tethered to the side of the patrol wagon and would abide by along. Noah cracked the reins and the horses pulling the coaster wagon began moving forward.

"There is a suitable stead several miles down this road. I will record you where."

"Until we get there, I have questions that I need answered. Where am I ? What country is this ?"

"This is the Algata responsibility of the Nation of Uther."

"How big is Uther ? How much of the continent does it take up ?"

Tin bowed her headway."Please forgive my ignorance. I do not know the size of this country, nor what a ‘ continent'is."The way she had reacted, was she expecting him to penalise her ?

Her resolution was to be expected, though. A striver educated in geography would be an unusual breakthrough. It would be good if he could get his workforce on a decently map, though in this era, that was probably a lot to ask for. In a world with magic trick and monsters, there was no telling what the planet's topography looked like, even the musical arrangement of the continents. He had traveled previous Earths numerous times, but much of his experience was now obsolete.

"Relax, I'm not going to hit you for not knowing something. Just go along answering my questions as best as you can. Uther, is it a productive area ?"

"I… don't know for sure. Perhaps there is wealth in the uppercase, but this is the countryside."

"Does it operate under a monarchy ? Or do they elect their leaders ?"She looked at him like he had spoken in gibber."Does it experience a top executive or queen ?"

"Oh, yes, sir. There is a royal stag family, but I don't know anything about them."

"What do they use for currency ?"

"metal coins, like silver and gold."

Noah retrieved one of the snakeskin coin purses and emptied it out onto the seat between them. It was about a twelve bronze coins and a few silvers. The other two could be expected to hold back a similar amount.

"How much would you say this is ? Would you say it is a bombastic amount of money of money or not lots ?"

She looked at the coins with her glum saying."I don't know. I've never handled money before."She picked up one of the silver coins and showed it to Noah."This is what I'm worth."

‘ Well, that's a depressing thought.'“ What season is it currently ?"

"Mid spring."

That was goodness for Noah. In social club to get a beachhead in this new world, he'd need ample clip with the fortune of natural selection at its gamy. Winter would strangle his mobility, possible actions, and gain biography a lot harder. Had he appeared in this domain a few months earlier, he could easily freeze to death before reaching civilization.

"You spoke before of monsters. What should I be cautious of in this forest ?"

"The crowing danger is the wolves. They travel in packs and kill whatever they see. There are also bears, large spider that hide in tunnel, and goblins."

Giant wanderer and hob ? This world was getting Thomas More fantastical by the second.

"Tell me about the goblins."

"They are small, only about the size of minor, and maybe as smart. They have weapons and often ambush travelers."

"The old man, what was that proficiency he used ? I've never seen anyone do that before."

"That was magic."

‘ thought so.'“ Tell me everything you know about magic."

"It is the boon of the deity, letting multitude call down Maker retribution upon their foe. It can create fire, control piss, make you hard, and do all form of things. There many different sort of legerdemain users. I've heard of some of them ; mages, paladin, warriors, shaman, but I don't know much about what they can do."

"What kind was the old man ?"

"A mage, I think."

"So can anyone use it ? Or is it passed down through the stemma ?"

"I don't know."

That was a problem. If it was an ability passed down from parent to child, then he was screwed. His glitchy rebirth left him with the regular genes of his last parents. If magic wasn't something he could learn or acquire, life would get exponentially harder. Then there was the mentioning of immortal. He had spent several life searching for star sign of the existence of God, some front of divinity that might explain his cosmos, but he always came up short. However, in a cosmos where illusion existed, perhaps divinity might as well.

As they continued through the woods, Noah thought about the striver walking behind the station wagon. Letting them go might be a liability. They knew he had killed three slave traders, they knew where he would set up camp. The slave traders mistook him for the son of a imposing, so if the hard worker went into some town and started blabbing about him and what he had done, people might get after him. Perhaps it would be substantially to incline of all of them ? No, the chances of him managing to kill them all would be low and that would be a lot of corpses to deal with, not to remark he didn't know if killing them would get him into fuss.

‘ To think my laziness would even off for my withered conscience…'

They were passing by a pitcher's mound with tree blocking much of the vista, but all of the horses flicked their ears to it. Noah didn't miss that tick and reached into the police van. When searching earlier, he found a bow and a few arrow, none of which seemed very well made. He took aim up the pitcher's mound, spotting a shadow moving between the Hill. It had been a long fourth dimension since he had terminal used a bow. It was one of his hobbies about four or five lifetimes ago. This was nothing like the modern bows he was used to handling, but when he let the arrow slip free, it shot between the trees and found its mark. Noah didn't see what he hit, but there was a shriek of pain that he did not spot and the sound of multiple entities running off.

"What was that ?"Tin asked.

"I assume that was one of those goblins you mentioned."This was getting serious."You stay here,"he told Tin. He brought the wagon to a blockage and went back with his knife and the key. He cut the slaves'binds and unlocked their arrest."You're all destitute to go, get out of here. But don't even cerebrate of trying to follow—"

They ran off before he could stop his prison term. commodity, that would make him less of a sitting duck's egg, and they'd draw the attention of anything that might want a art object of him. He returned to the driver's can and turned to Tin, holding up one of the coin purses.

"Get me to that prophylactic berth and this is yours."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

The wood thinned a lit, the trees spreading out far enough for the black Maria to go off the road and capitulum towards the sound of running weewee. They arrived at a clearing where a small waterfall thumped on unwrap rock-and-roll. It was isolated, just the blank space Noah needed. There was even a cave behind the falls where he could make camp. However, they were not the solely habitant.

"Tin, what the nether region is that ?"he asked, looking at the creature sliding across the ground. At first, he thought it was jumbo sluggard, the puppet about the size of a beer keg, but he then realized it was translucent. There were four of them.

"That is a muck. They like damp places. Their undersides are like heavyweight mouthpiece, devouring whatever they crawl over. Their soundbox are covered with a cut pelt, and if you tear it, its inside pour out and change the shape of its body."

"Are they dangerous ?"

"Yes. Anything that their undersides touch will melt, same with anything you stab them with. The bigger they are, the faster it happens, and the faster they can move."

"How do I kill them ?"

"You have to hit their brains."

The muck hadn't noticed them yet, so Noah took aim with the bow at the nearest one. It was voiceless telling the forepart from the vertebral column of these things, but he spotted something floating inside, suspended, an apple-sized lump of solidness tissue. He released the thunderbolt, missing the creature's mental capacity by several inches. It rumbled in infliction and its gelatinous insides spilled out of the injury like a runny nose. Upon contact with the air, the viscera began to congeal and develop a bed of skin. It formed an extension of itself, like a secondment keister, now searching for what had injured it.

‘ So, that's what she meant when she said it changed the shape of its body.'

Already, the arrow was halfway dissolved. That thing was like a heavyweight moving stomach. He would own preferred to take aid of these demon from a distance, but he didn't have enough arrows to throw away. It would also get sorry soon, and he didn't want to try and look for another spot.

He turned to Tin and cut her binds, then handed her one of the coin purse."You're free. Go wherever and do whatever you want. But don't even consider of taking anything from the wagon."

He got up from the wagon and approached the waterfall with one of the striver traders'swords in his hand. It was the mop up of the two, utile at least for experimentation. He approached the slime, already back to full health after being shot with the arrow. It didn't appear to have very good vision, didn't even appear to consume eyes. He picked up a stone from the creek and threw it, sending it bouncing a few metrical unit away. It pounced on the rock with surprising speed, smothering it with its body and absorbing it. So, these thing could jumpstart. If it could see, it was probably short-ranged, based on movement, or more likely it could sense shaking in the earth.

He took another rock and threw it at the ooze, this meter hitting it. The rock ripped through its fragile peel and its guts spilled out. The blow stunned it just long enough for Noah to sprint over and cleave through its brain. As quickly as he attacked, he darted back. He had learned through numerous occasions to always await an foeman to get back up. Plus, he wanted to stave off getting sprayed with any guts.

Despite his concern, it was a clean kill. The freak, originally a nauseating yellow, turned gray, and its exposed insides began to fume and resolve. Unfortunately, smoke was also coming from his blade. This really was a nasty dot. Noah wiped the sword off on the grass and then rinsed it in the river to clean it. It had undergone severe corrosion. Hopefully it would last until he killed them all.

One thing made him happy, though. When he killed the goop, figure didn't appear in the air, displaying experience points earned. He started having business organization as soon as that first fireball was launched at him, and when Tin said it was a muck ; he thought he had been reincarnated into some kind of RPG world. If at any point, she used the Holy Scripture ‘ grade ’, he would own permanently lost the ability to keep a straight face and take anything seriously.

Anyway, back to killing.

He repeated his scheme with the former three slimes. A fist size Rock thrown with sufficient focal ratio and truth could pierce the monsters and bedaze them long enough to give birth a fatal strike. After the third gear slime, his brand broke in half, the end completely melting off. There was one slime left wing, but it would be tricky. It was slithering around behind the waterfall, unaware of what had happened to the others. The quiver of the pee would probably disguise Noah's bm, but he didn't want to take the chance.

He crept behind the waterfall and threw another stone, striking the goop near the mind. Its trunk curled up like a type slug sprinkled with common salt, and Noah rushed over. This clock time, he thrust the get out blade heterosexual in. He managed to stab the brainpower, but the sword slipped right into its organic structure. Noah pulled away before his inertia could send his hired hand plunging into the acidic goo, but respective drops splashed him and he could experience his cutis dissolving. He thrust his script into the falls and steadied his breathing as the pain faded. That was too airless for ease. He'd have to number up with another way to stop those affair if he encountered them again.

The field had been secured, now to set up refugee camp. He stepped out from behind the waterfall, and to his surprise, he saw Tin standing by the wagon, as if waiting for him.

"What are you still doing here ? I told you, you're free."

"I… don't know what that means. I don't know how to be free."

"I gave you money. Take it to the nearest township and buy yourself something to eat and some new dress. Look for anyone who will hire you, hopefully offering room and display board in exchange. From there, start your new life."

"Is that an monastic order ?"

"No, it's advice. You don't have to take orders from me, I'm not your master. I hired you to be my guide, you got your money, and our contract is complete. Now we function ways."She continued to bear there, looking like a pup in the rain."You can make one of the knight. You'll be able to get to town faster and outrun pursuers."

"So you want me to prepare for your arrival into town ?"

This fille was starting to get on his nerves."You're not listening. You don't have to do anything for me. You're your own soul now."

"But I'm not. I'm yours."She was almost whimpering now. Time for some tough love.

Noah retrieved his bow and an pointer and took aim at her."leave of absence now, or I'll kill you and use your corpse for decoy to catch my dinner."

There was a gleaming in her eyes."If I can be useful as a cadaver, I'll do that. Please, use me as bait."

Noah sighed and lowered the bow. Were he a harsher man, that wouldn't have been a bluff. This girlfriend was needier than he would own liked, but her subservience made her more trustworthy than anyone he could expect to determine in this domain. Maybe it would be good to have an surplus pair of deal to serve him, at least until he got out of this timberland. Besides, it wasn't like this was the first time he had owned a striver. There were many dark timelines when he followed the prescript of ‘ when in Italian capital, do as the Romans.'

"fine, I'll be your schoolmaster. What skills do you possess ?"

"I can enumerate to one hundred, I can write some, and I can tend to livestock and work field of battle, as well as perform house task. I am also very experienced in pleasing men, so I can service you whenever you desire."She bowed her top dog as she spoke, not seeing Noah raise his brow at her last sentence.

Depressing as her words were, he wasn't one to sprain down an fling for sex from person so uncoerced. On the former hand, goose egg about her current coming into court stoked his libido. He was standing 20 feet away and could smack her like it was twenty inches. Sitting next to her in the wagon had been very unpleasant. Just letting her bathe in the river wouldn't get the job done.

"Let's get camp set up and then we'll talking. You said you can tend to livestock, correct ? Then I'll leave the buck to you. Get them watered and fed and then get rid of these numb goo. I imagine they've lost their acidity in death."

Tin obediently went to exploit while Noah gathered all of the range and collar that had been used to lead the hard worker. There was also plenty of R-2 in case any of their binds broke during transport. Noah snapped the pinch off the chain and used them as hammers to recrudesce the weakly data link and split the irons into multiple short segment. He split the rope into thinner filament and set up a border around the camping site, then hung the collars and chains on it like Christmas ornaments. Any interloper that tried to enter would hit the tripwire and the jingling strand and catch would sacrifice them away. And in typeface they were set off by the wind, the horses would be the second line of detection. If they started acting up, then a scourge was nearby.

"I'm going to go take in some firewood. If any monsters approach, just holler for me and yeet some Irish bull at them. The smell will labor them off."He then stopped and chuckled to himself. That's right, he no longer needed to use modern slang.

Tin seemed to gist of what he was saying."Yes, Master,"she said with a bow.

Noah set out into the Ellen Price Wood with his only sword and a satchel the old man had been carrying. He didn't want to divagate far from bivouac, but he had to check out the domain and puddle sure there weren't any imminent risk. One affair he was especially cautious of were the giant spider that Tin had mentioned. She said they hid in burrows, so he kept a close eye on his footing, avoiding any suspicious domain that could be a possible ambuscade. Webbing on the ground was a telltale signal, proof that he wasn't the simply one using tripwires to detect enemies.

The outset matter he did was gather pine boughs from around the situation, accumulating a vauntingly pile that they would use for bed clothing and making sponsor misstep back to the camp. Then he gathered all of the firewood he could carry, but focused only on specific Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. This world was very unlike to the one he was used to, but near of the tree appeared to be the same. He also filled his pockets and the satchel with medicative plants and even some edible mushrooms. In every liveliness, her get wind and relearned survival science to keep the information branded into his judgement, so even if had forgotten their names, he still recognized herb that could be useful. As he moved, he had a strong feeling that he was being watched, and he knew what was watching him, especially when he found one of their suddenly.

It was one of the wolves Tin had mentioned, with child than any he had ever seen. His nozzle led him to it, the masher reeking of death and rot. The meat was well beyond eating and its fur and off-white weren't worth the sweat to reap, especially with all the maggots and tent-fly, but there was something that he could definitely induce use of.

The sun was starting to set by the time he was done, but there was still plenty he wanted to do. Luckily, dinner was already taken care of. The slave traders had packed enough food for themselves and their loading. It was surd simoleons and dried gist, something that Noah's spoiled taste buds would not appreciate, but he'd seen enough hard times to know how to be grateful.

Before doing anything else, he removed his hoodie and tee shirt. He had kept them on as an added stratum of protection in caseful anything attacked him, but the blood had hardened into a hard impertinence and he was glad to be able-bodied to finally take them off. Had he known he would reincarnate like this, he would have gone abode and just hung himself, preferably with his pockets stuffed with useful tools. He laid out his shirt and hoodie under the falls, directing the nebulizer right onto the blood soil. He pinned them down with I. F. Stone so that they wouldn't be washed away.

He noticed Tin watching him like a curious feline. She had never seen muscles like his before. To subsist in the countryside, men required great strength to farm and competitiveness and muscle mass naturally accumulated. Noah's appeared more defined, like he had focused on improving the quality of his muscularity instead of just chasing after the vague definition of strength.

"Tin, consume off your clothes."

"I shall do my best to satisfy you, Master."

"Not like that. Put that dress of yours here under the waterfall. Do the same with all the clothes you removed from those slave traders. It may be low-quality, but whether we use them or sell them, it would be best if we can at least remove the stink."

Tin removed her dress, though it was more like a raggedy potato hammock with holes cut for her headspring and arms and a strip of textile for a belted ammunition. She was malnourished and scrawny, but he just had to round off her up a little.

With the last of the light, he searched the river for stones. He'd test their hardness, striking them against the spine of his brand. Once he started getting discharge, he returned to the riverbank and gathered up some tinder. He ground some dry birch bark into a fine dust and struck the Rock against his sword over it. It took several endeavour, but some sparks landed in the detritus and it went up like gasoline. From there, he built up a fire on the riverbank with all of the birch wood he had gathered. By the light of the flames, he started digging a hole using his blade and a metal skillet he found in the wagon.

"Master, please admit me to do that instead,"Tin said.

"No, what I need you to do is embark on collecting Clay from the river. If you dig under the silt, you'll find it. take in a big atomic reactor of it here following to me."

The two of them continued to work, with Noah expanding the pit and Tin gathering the clay. Once he was done, he smoothed out the slope of the pit and then began slathering on the clay that Tin had gathered. He used the leftover clay to make some cups and bowls and put them in the fire to bake. He built a second fire, this time putting it in the pit. It was with a softer wood. He didn't even need to see Tin's face to sense the curiosity within her.

"I'm making a wash basin. No offense, but you stink. But for now, let's eat."

With two blast burning, Noah and Tin dined on low-quality rations. There wasn't any conversation between them. Once he finished eating, Noah reached into his satchel and took out what looked like a hulk scandal lout. In reality, it was a swelling of fleshly fat. He had gathered it from the carcass of the all in beast, rolled it into a bollock, and packed it with a shell of shite to save it from making a mess when he carried it. It cleaned it off and put it in the alloy skillet, then set it over the fire.

"Now, while that melt, let me see your teeth."It was a request that Tin wasn't used to sense of hearing, but she obeyed, flashing her tooth like a snarling creature."Huh, not too bad."

Despite her poor lifestyle, her teeth were in thoroughly circumstance. She grew up in a reality without processed foods, moolah, or chemicals, so despite never brush, there was no rot that he could see. Her breath was pretty bad, but that was because she lacked the concept of flossing.

Noah walked over to one of the horse cavalry hitched to a Tree, nibbling on the chain reactor of sess that Tin had gathered for it. He cut a lock chamber of its recollective hair, washed it in the river, and returned to the campfire, where he braided several string into a hard thread. He made a 2d and turned to Tin.

"return this screw thread and do as I do."He used the ribbon to floss his teeth, something which Tin had never seen before. The yarn was loggerheaded and coarse and broke a few time, but it got the job done, and he showed her the musical composition of meat from their dinner party that he had gotten out.

She mirrored the action to the intimately of her power, and while she did that, he looked at the skillet, now with a puddle of melted fat. He gathered some white-hot ash tree from the fire and mixed it in, as well as some water.

"Now I'm going to show you how to gain soap."final stage, he added a handful of ground-up pine tree needles and started stirring the mixture together.

"max ?"

"You've never heard of it ?"

"I heard that the Lord use it. It makes them smell nice."

"It's been a long time since I did this. If I had clip and proper tools, I could make something of a a lot higher quality, but this should get the job done."He set the skillet back on the fire so that the water could be boiled away."Have you gotten every tooth ?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then take a mouthful of this."From following to the fire, there was also a cup made, of all affair, tin. It was full of water brought to a simmer, with ground fusain and pine tree needles mixed in. He let it cool and then handed it to her."You said you could count, right ? Well purl this around your mouthpiece and depart numeration. Once you reach one hundred, swallow it."

She took a mouthful and handed it back to him so he could fetch up it off. With that taken precaution of, Noah took the skillet off the fervency and examined his soap. It certainly would never trade in a foodstuff memory, but it would get the job done tonight. next, he turned his attention to the airstream basin and the withered fire. The cadaver packed onto the sides of the pit had hardened and could now keep back water.

Noah carved the goop off the frying pan and handed it to Tin."Here, use this to shovel as much fusain and ash out of the lavatory as you can, then clean it in the river and use it to meet the basin with water."

As Tin went to work, Noah started on his own task. Like her, he went to river, but started collecting stones. He'd bring them back and put them in the campfire to fire up up. By the time Tin had finished with her chore, the rock'n'roll were all sufficiently hot, and using stick to handle them, he moved them into the washstand until it had reached the perfect bath temperature. It was still ashy from the fire, but that wasn't a problem.

The understanding why he had used different firing for the basin and soap was because of one of the leave chemicals, lye. Despite being a caustic substance, it was required for making liquid ecstasy. It was collected from the ashes of hardwood, like birch. He had used a softer Grant Wood in the attack to harden the side of meat of the basin so any leftover ash tree wouldn't turn the water too alkaline.

"All right, now to test it."

Noah stripped down to match Tin and grabbed a piece of fabric from the wagon to use as a face cloth. He got it wet in the basin, rubbed some of the soap on it, and, satisfied with how it lathered, started wiping off the sweat that had accumulated since his arrival to this world.

Tin held a piece of scoop in her helping hand, staring at it with wide eyes."It smells… sweet !"

She mimicked Noah, using a makeshift washrag and the soap to scrub up herself raw. She was phrenetic, leaving no bit untouched. The two of them cleansed their pelt, lathering themselves up and then rinsing in the river to keep the bath urine clean. With the dirt removed, much was revealed to Noah. Neither of them said anything about the countless scars, bruise, and brands that covered Tin's body. Finally, he had her lie on her back and lowered her head into the basin, then scrubbed her hair with the max until the bathwater turned as black as ink. She sat up and reverberate the pee out of her hair as he stood up and stretched.

"Huh, so you're a blonde. I honestly couldn't evidence your born colouration. You were so dirty that I wasn't sure if the drapery matched the carpet."She didn't say anything back, just crouched by the basin, holding herself. Wait, she was trembling."Tin ?"

She looked up at him, and though her aspect was wet from the bath, he could clearly see her tears."I… I've never smelled this strip before !"

He rubbed the top of her mind."I'm glad."

She reached up and grasped his hand, desperation in her eye."master, can I delight service you now ?"

A small laugh escaped Noah."My, my, what a greedy little slave you are."

He leaned down, lifted her Kuki, and left a soft candy kiss upon her sassing. She shivered from that sense of touch, gentler than any early in her life. She took the enterprise, kissing him in return while her tongue slipped into his mouthpiece. As they swapped saliva, she reached out and began caressing his manhood, erect and throbbing. She had been eyeing it since the moment he stripped down, her mind buzzing with all of the ways she would delight him.

When Noah finally pulled his lips from hers, she knew what he wanted and was eager to put up it. She leaned in, his prick disappearing into her mouthpiece, only to re-emerge with a glistening layer of spit. Tin wasn't shy in the to the lowest degree, she put all of her skills to work. She deepthroated him to constitute herself gag and salivate, then would use her bridge player to knead the shaft while she slurped on his question like a all-day sucker. Despite her joy at being so clean just a minute ago, she was certainly making a mess, her fount covered in spit with big foamy drops dribbling onto her breasts.

Noah rested his hand on her drumhead and groaned."I'm glad I decided to save you."

She released his putz, gasping for air with her middle full of joy."Am I doing practiced ?"

"You're magnificent, Tin."

She went back at it, this fourth dimension with a different target in mind. While she jacked him off, she sucked vehemently on his jewels, rolling them around in her mouth and balancing them on her tongue. She switched between her techniques with masterful skill, giving Noah no time to brace himself. He didn't even need tell her when he was going to cum, she could tell just by his breathing and the way his muscles twitched. She swallowed his manhood like a voracious beast, her face pressed to his stomach as he swirled around inside her throat.

Several thick jets were pumped directly into her tum, a salty dessert after her meal. Tin fell back, once again gasping for air."Master,"she panted,"please don't delay back. Use my soundbox however you wish."

"You've done well in pleasing me, but has anyone ever took the time to contribute you pleasure ?"

He sat down cross-legged and pulled her across his lap like he was going to spank her. He held her by the pharynx, just a gentle grip to keep her still, while he free hand slipped between her wooden leg and reached her honeypot.

"You're so wet. To recall you took so much joy in your work."

Born and raised a slave, she had been abused and violated in all ways conceivable. She thought she had grown numb to it, but the feeling of Noah's finger touching her well-nigh private, sensitive surface area, they made her frisson and gasp. There was metier in his fingerbreadth, but his trend weren't rough or clumsy. Rather, she sensed that his experience surpassed her own.

His finger's breadth penetrated her, making her groan in a way she thought she never again could. His attack was relentless, probing every sensitive spot like an assassin striking her pressure head. She was a slender young woman, soundbox fat being a luxuriousness for a striver, but her flesh rippled from the trembling drumming from her ass. She could feel the weight of her white meat with every effort, and the auditory sensation he was making, the phone he was forcing her body to make, the squelching of flabby, wet shape, it was like she was experiencing this all for the first of all time.

The pleasure was beyond words, she wanted it to go on forever, but her body wouldn't obey her bid. Her muscles spasmed without pause like she was being tickled. She inadvertently tried to pull out away, her eubstance wanting to protect itself from these sensations it couldn't contain, but Noah's bobby pin on her throat remained house. This berth, what he was doing to her, it was so unusual. She felt almost like an brute, like livestock, and Noah was the farmer, preparing her for breeding with some strange husbandry technique. Ironically, that wasn't far from the truth.

She cried out, culmination rushing through her like a flash bulb flood, but Noah didn't stop, even as she became limp. He continued mercilessly finger-blasting her, while his other paw released her pharynx and he forced his finger's breadth into her mouth. She sucked on them like they had a love glaze. They were her lifeline, all that was keeping her conscious. The movements of her tongue and brim, the palpitation of her throat as she slurped up the tone of his fingertips ; if she didn't work with all her might, the almost vicious assault of coming would rob her of all thought and crush her mind.

Only when her groan finally stopped did Noah let her experience peace. He laid her on her back and leaned over her. The lewd, exhausted look on her face, the way she panted with crimson cheeks and swimming eyes, it was an expression he always loved to see.

"You said I could do whatever I wanted with your body, right ? Are you going to assure me that you can't keep up with your master ? That you lied and you can't action my desires ?"

She reached out to him, her skinny sleeve coiling around his neck to pull him in."Master, engage me,"she begged.

By the illumination of the campfire, he penetrated her, just as numerous men had done before, but none of them made Tin tactile property like this. His mouth joined hers, a passionate but appease kiss, while in equivalence, his poking, so fast and forceful, made her cry out to the stars overhead.

.

.

.

culture

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.

.

The rising sun shining in his optic awoke Noah from his sleep. It was not a inscrutable sleep, due to his current circumstances, but he at least felt rested. It was his first dawn in this new world. He and Tin were lying on a mass of yen boughs, keeping them off the ground and insulated, and wrapped in the sail estate car cover, which they were using as both a tarpaulin and a blanket. The freed slave was snuggled up tightly against him, both for warmth, and out of affectionateness. The terminus"freed slave"fit her ironically, as Noah had given her freedom, but she chose to remain his striver anyway.

As he started moving around, she slowly stirred."Master ?"she murmured.

"metre to get up, we have work to do."

It was a chilly morning, so the offset matter Noah did was establish up a ardor while Tin collected their clothes from the waterfall. They had been set under the atomizer to be washed, and after a dark under the pounding water, they were uninfected as could be reasonably expected. They were hung up to dry around the fervour, while Noah and Tin had breakfast. Last Nox, Noah had made some cups and bowls using the clay that Tin gathered and left them in the fire to bake overnight. Now, he was using them to boil body of water and make pine needle tea.

"What do you want to do, Master ? I can lead you to Town if you like."

"How long would it take to get there ?"

"Another two or three days."

Noah weighed his options. This wasn't an optimal site."No, we'll stoppage here for another day. We have a defendable position here, but if we return to the route, we'll be like sitting duck. While I have faith in my fighting abilities, I can't defend myself, you, and the Equus caballus. Let's try to improve our chances before we set out."

"What should we do ?"

"Yesterday, while I was looking for rock and roll in the dark, I think I might possess seen some goo moving about. They're usually small, right ? Not big like the unity I killed yesterday ?"

Tin nodded."They're usually the size of rats."

"Perfect. First, what we're going to do is make water a lot of lye."

"What's lye ?"

"It's the stuff in ash that I used to relieve oneself that soap last night. It's a very nasty chemical. I'm going to lead off gathering wood. I want you to bail out the bathwater from the basinful and replenish it. rain water would be best, but river water will possess to do. Then use up the Edward Durell Stone and put them back in the fire. You remember what to do if something attacks ?"

"throw sawhorse dung and holler for you ?"

"Right."

Noah departed, heading back into the woodland. Just like the day before, he was gathering hardwood from birch tree, oak, and maple trees. He moved cautiously, hearing movement all around him. He also returned to sealed areas he had visited before, with fair game on his mind. He came across a speckle he had just yesterday done his best to invalidate. There was spider silk on the ground, and nearby, an obvious trapdoor. Noah put a bombastic spliff on his ft and readied his bow, taking aim. He kicked the joint over by the trapdoor, and instantly a spider burst out to seize what it thought was its repast. The thing was huge, almost five feet in diameter.

Noah released his arrow, striking one of its eyes and leaving it screeching in nuisance. Before it could duck back into its golf hole, he shot another arrow, this one oil production through its skull and ending its living. While it was still fresh, Noah rushed over, pulled out the second gear arrow, and thrust his fingers into the golf hole. He stirred his finger around in the spider's mind, causing its branch, now curled up into a clenched fist, to start spasming. While not familiar with spider anatomy specifically, he was tickling what he hoped to be the cerebellum.

"Come on, where are you… Ah !"He found the magic place, as the unscathed body convulsed and the stomach started expelling silk at a frantic rate, like he was squeezing a subway of toothpaste. Het got to his feet and dragged the spider with him, laying out the silk so that it wouldn't peg to itself. He had come up with this estimation on a whim and was overjoyed to see it work. When flow of silk stopped, he removed his fingers."That's right field, Lady, I am just that good."

He then began rubbing dirt into the silk like he had with the animal fat he had collected the previous day, something to maintain it from sticking to anything. It was good midst line, and strong as well. side by side, he started gathering up the older, slender webbing it had used for its den. It was already dried out and had lost much of its stickiness, so it was ready to be collected.

He returned to the camp, carrying the wanderer with him as well. He was for certain he could call up up something to do with his stiff, maybe use it like a scarecrow to ward off goblin or something. When he arrived, Tin had completed her task and stared in amazement at the utter spider.

Noah walked over to the wagon and pulled out a modest wooden barrel. It had originally been filled with common salt, which the slave traders used to carry on their solid food, but now there wasn't much left. What remained, Noah poured into some of his clay jars. He then hung the spider to drain its rake into the bbl. There wasn't much, and it had begun to jell immediately after death, but that just made it embarrassing like syrup. He swirled it around the inside of the barrel, covering every inch, and then filled it up halfway with some of the put-upon ashes from the birch fires yesterday. He didn't touch the ash with his hands, and upon closing the barrel, he shook it up. Once completed, the inside of the barrel was coated with dense stratum of ash.

Putting it aside, Noah began moving hot stones from the fire and putting them into the basin, bringing the water to a boil. Then, he started shoveling birch ash until it filled up half the drainage area. For the next half 60 minutes, Noah would swop out rock, making sure enough the water was always boiling. Soon a film began to subside on top of the water. It was liquid state lye, rising from the ashes. Noah harvested it from the surface, careful not to touch it, and put it in the skillet on the fire to boil away the moisture.

"Ok, I'm going to go back and get more than firewood. I want you to keep swapping out the Harlan Stone so that the body of water stays boiling hot, and as the lye gathering on the surface, skim it and put it in the skillet. Whatever you do, do not let it touch you. The falls and the river are keeping the air moving in one guidance. You want to ride out upwind so that you don't breathe in any of the fumes. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

And that was how they spent the entire dayspring and much of the afternoon. They kept burning birch wood, and once the catchment area stopped producing lye, they would switch in sweet ash and resume harvesting. Between collecting firewood and tending to the fire, Noah created more clayware with the river mud and baked it in the fervour. The skillet was routinely filled with the lye mixture, and once the body of water evaporated away, Noah would scrape the lye into one of his clay jars. It was the middle of the afternoon when he declared that they had collected enough.

"Now to try it."With his knife, he collected a modest bump and put it on his arm. He could feel it burning his skin like an aching sunburn. Had he taken his metre with this, it would have been burning a volcanic crater into his skin, but in this case, quantity was unspoiled than quality.

"Yeah, this will exploit well. You did sound,"he said, rubbing the top of Tin's head.

"Thank you, Master,"she replied with what he assumed to be a rarefied smile.

"Let's eat some lunch and then move on to the succeeding step."

They moved away from the flaming, sick of its estrus, and ate by the waterfall. While chewing on tough jerky, Noah studied the sawhorse. They weren't tied to any trees, at least not now, and were wandering around the campsite, nibbling on whatever they liked. The stumble wire was doing a good job of keeping them close, but they would probably run out of intellectual nourishment by tomorrow. They'd have to move on by then.

"Master, if my may ask, how do you have it away how to do these things ? I've never seen anyone fight like you do, at least not somebody your age, and you have the acquisition of an alchemist. What kind of training have you done ?"

"An alchemist ? I kind of like the sound of that. Let's just say that I have a lot of life experience. I've lived through respectable times and bad. Anyway, we should move on to the following point. I'm going to go along the river and catch belittled slimes. I want you to find the corpses of the big slimes I killed yesterday and try to pick up their skin."

Tin was obedient, not voicing any of her doubts and instead setting off to do as her master ordered. Noah retrieved the barrel he had tinkered with originally and filled it with water, then began walking through the river, searching the banks. It was only up to his stifle, and there were hatful of expectant Boulder for gunk to hide by. On his manus, he wore some rough leather gloves that one of the slave traders had been wearing. The slimes he found were usually about the size of his fist, and with great care, he'd pick them up and put them in the barrel.

The water in the barrel, thanks to the ash, had a raised pH level. The ooze were acidic, but their pH story wasn't very low. The alkalinity of the water and the ash tree kept them from melting through the sides of the barrelful. He also tossed in some food to keep them from starving. Hopefully they'd still be able to digest it. If they were all still alive by the next morning, his programme was a success.

When he returned to the camp, Tin had gathered up the skins of the all in goo from the day before.

"I'm sorry, Master, but the skins are too fragile for any form of use."Noah put down the barrel and examined the throw off skin. It was crinkly and soft, a far cry from any kind of leather, more like a serpent's shed skin.

"No, they're perfect, just what I wanted."He handed her one of the sticker the slave trader had carried."Here, start carving them up into squares, about as long as your hand. You know how big, right-hand ?"

She nodded and went to mold. While she did that, Noah collected more farseeing haircloth from the horse cavalry. He took the foursquare that Tin cut up and used them to envelop up small atomic pile of lye, then tied them shut with the gymnastic horse hair. The slime skin, despite its fragility, still maintained many of its device characteristic. Slimes were like support acid, so they had to be capable to see their pH level. Their skin not only kept their guts in, it kept staple substances out, substance like lye, making it perfect for holding it.

With their combined efforts, they were able to make just over thirty lye clique, plus another twenty filled with alkaline ashes.

"Ok, let's test one of these out."Noah took one of the supernumerary public square, filled it with ash tree, tied it off, and threw it at a nearby boulder. The slime tegument held together while being handled and thrown, but upon striking a hard surface, it burst candid and sprayed its message in all directions."perfect tense !"

"So we're going to throw these things ?"Tin asked.

"That's right. This lye isn't very hard, so it doesn't do much to skin, but if it gets into your heart or you breathe it in, you'll go down. All we have to do is hit our enemies in the look and they won't stand a prospect. Now, I know we're both tired, but we still have a few hours of daylight left. Let's work on a duo other mode to improve our situation, and tomorrow, we'll promontory for the nearest town."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

They departed the next morning at dawn, wanting to get an other startle. They were traveling at a faster pace than before, mainly because there were no longer striver in tow. The two sawhorse the dealer had ridden were no longer walking alongside the wagon, but were now helping to pull it. With the spider silk Noah had collected and wood from the forest, he managed to create extra harnesses so that they were leading. The gymnastic horse moved in a truelove trot, nothing compared to the cars from Noah's previous life, but fast enough to possibly outrun an untrained man.

For Noah, this was a scene he was familiar in. He had fought in numerous state of war and seen unnumbered post-apocalyptic macrocosm, living through one lawless hellscape after another. He was familiar spirit with the need to grow optic in the back of his head, to expect enemies at all times.

"sea captain !"Tin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I see them."

Swarming from the side were a pack of savage, each one almost as magnanimous as the horses pulling the wagon, but Noah had planned for this. He handed the reins to Tin who whipped the knight into a good gallop. He took out his bow and began launching pointer. about of these arrow, he had made himself. He had to rush them, so they weren't his best work, but they got the job done for short-range encounters.

The wolves dodged the arrows as they charged, but it managed to spook them into moving around back to attack from the rear. Noah climbed into the station wagon and stared them down through the open back. Changing their attack Angle had momentarily slowed them down, but they'd catch up in secondment and flank them. Noah tossed a sheaf of branches and greens out of the back of the patrol wagon, but they were more than they appeared. It was actually a net with thorny George Walker Bush and bristles woven in. The net was dragged behind the waggon, and the wolves that stepped on it cried out as their paws were spiked with tart seed pods. Those who were injured gave up the chase, while the rest period of the battalion learned and split up to forefend the net.

Before they could leave his view, Noah opened up the gun barrel of guck and began throwing them. Even if the minor wildcat didn't make a guide hit, they exploded like water system balloons. The acid splashed on the skirt chaser, who instinctively knew that slimes were to be avoided. The multitude realized that this prey wasn't worth all of the hassle and gave up. One threat had been neutralized, giving them time to take a breath, but it didn't end there.

Bears and former woodland fauna would pop up every now and then and demand to be dispatched by pointer. The tiny bolts couldn't do much damage, but the painful sensation would make the fauna reevaluate whether or not to continue attacking. Any monsters he managed to shoot down, he would reap for parts. With Tin controlling the horses, he would work in the wagon, removing skin, dentition, organs, and anything that looked valuable or useful. Every now and then, they'd even stop so that he could collect medicinal plant life and mushroom-shaped cloud. But the more he fought, the to a greater extent Noah realized how unprepared his body was for all this. He was hefty and inviolable, and had lifetimes of scrap experience, but his hands hadn't built up a layer of callosity that a aboriginal of these lands would have. Every time he gripped his sword, he could feel bleb forming on his palm.

Then, in the good afternoon, the future challenge revealed itself. In the aloofness, a tree lay across the road. A rider on horseback might be able to jump it, but never a Big Dipper like this. Whether or not it had fallen naturally, Noah knew who would use this opportunity.

"Tin, stop the wagon."They came to kibosh a 100 yards from the tree."Turn the horses around. If I die, ride back the way we came. Stay at the waterfall until someone uses this road and then travel with them."

"Master, are you for certain about this ?"she asked with her basset hound eyes.

"I've handled worse."

He got off the wagon with his sword in hired hand, and on his arm, a buckler made from the carapace of the spider he had killed. He was wearing one of the striver traders'coating, the nigh he could get to leather armor, and he also had his satchel, filled with lye packets. Rather than approach the tree, he dove into the woods. If there were any goblin in concealment, he'd flank them. As he approached the barrier, he spotted them, hiding behind the tree. They were the size of child, but with protruding stomachs and greenish tegument. Their ear and noses were pointed, their faces boilers suit barely even humanoid. They were armed with swords and bows, likely stolen from slain traveler.

He closed in on the first one, his footstep giving him away and causing it to screech in consternation. Noah dispatched it with a vacillation of his sword, overpowering its attempt to parry and lopping off the top of its skull. The others, alarmed by the death of their fellow, turned their care to Noah and attacked. They launched their pointer, albeit with shoddy aim, but it forced Noah to sidestep for cover. He pulled out one of his lye coterie, focused on a goblin with a bow, and threw it like a baseball. The minor pack nailed it between the heart and exploded. The hob took an instinctive breath in, and then immediately screamed in suffering. Not only were its venous sinus and lungs filled with lye, but it had gotten into his eyes, leaving it blinded.

The way it shrieked was zilch to a lesser extent than unnerving. It was like a sister shout, it racked the creative thinker and made even Noah squeamish. The hobgoblin, hearing those belly laugh, became scared. This was a cruel world, and living in the Wood, every day was a bloody fight for selection. But none of them had suffered or seen individual suffer a flesh combat injury and take that kind of interference.

Noah gave them no time to tuck their bravery. He dealt with the other hob archers the same way, leaving them howling in suffering. With their long-range onslaught neutralized, he closed in. The remaining goblin tried to put up a engagement, but he slaughtered them with gruesome ward-heeler and stabs. His wanderer shield fractured whenever he blocked a swing, but it held together long enough to wipe out them all. These goblins probably ambushed their target, catching them by surprise to make up for their frail organic structure, but once they lost that advantage, they were easy to chuck out of.

He was closing in on the last one, slightly gravid than the others and armed with a society. It growled and made a wide swing. Noah didn't try to block and stepped back out of the monster's reach, then swung down his steel and cleaved the hob's head open. To his uncomfortableness, origin splattered across his face and got into his eye. He rubbed it out until he could see, then nearly staggered, hit with a sudden fatigue.

"What the ass ? That engagement must have taken Thomas More out of me than I thought."He pushed through the sudden weight and returned to the road. It was exhausting oeuvre, but he moved the Tree out of the way."Tin, come on through !"

The Wagon approached and stopped where the Tree had lain, but there was a aspect of confusedness on Tin's grimace."Master, where are you ?"

"What are you talking about ? I'm right here."

Confusion turned to dread, Tin beginning to panic."headmaster, I can't see you anywhere !"

Noah couldn't understand. He was standing right in front end of the horses. He walked over and grabbed her arm."Tin, I'm standing right beside you."

touch her just made her yelp in surprise."I still can't see you ! What's going on ?"

That's what he would care to know. Was something affecting her vision ? Maybe she had been hit with some kind of goblin attack, or it was an sickness, either a disease or some variety of poison from something in the wood.

"Tin, look around. How is your vision ?"

"It's o.k., I can see everything clearly ! But I can't see you !"Was he the problem ? He could see himself just fine. anathemise it, his eye was still itching from the blood. He rubbed it with his ribbon and Tin gave another yelping of surprisal."superior, you're back !"

"I was here all this ti—"He stopped, noticing something. His fatigue was gone. It had disappeared just as suddenly as it showed up. The last time he felt it was when he first woke up in this universe. His eye… It had been itching as well. He rubbed left eye again, and Tin once again freaked out."Tin, can you see me ?"

"No, it's like you vanished into thin air !"

That fatigue, he was feeling it again. He stepped back and began kicking around leaves and grease."Can you see this ?"

"See what ?"

Well, that answered that interrogative sentence. For some reason, the fatigue seemed to deepen when he did that. He rubbed his eye again, and from the look on Tin's face, she appeared to be able-bodied to see him again."What happened to the road ?"she asked."It just suddenly changed when you reappeared."

Noah put his hand over his eye again, not rubbing it, but just covering it. He repeated the experiment, making a tidy sum of the route."Can you see any difference in the road ?"

"No."He covered his eye once more, and she nodded her capitulum."Yes, now I see."

"So when I disappear, you can't see what I do to the road, but when I reappear it suddenly changes, right ?"

"Yeah, variety of like flipping a page. Master… I think you're using magic !"

"Magic ? No, that doesn't make gumption. My parents were normal, I haven't even studied any kind of magic."

"That's the just thing it can be. But I've never heard of deception that could make people disappear like that."

"I'm not disappearing, I think I'm becoming invisible. It's… an illusion. I'm creating an illusion that makes me invisible… and when I alter something around me, it expands the head game to hold back the modification I've made until I release it."He covered his eye and felt the fatigue, then, covered it once more and it stopped."Covering my eye is the trigger that activates it."

He then remembered his concluding bit with Lindsey. He had covered his allow eye because the sun was blinding him, and he woke up in this globe in that same office. His glitchy reincarnation, it hadn't just preserved his body at this age, it gave him some variety of magic. Maybe it was the magic itself that caused the error, the magic present tense in this new existence.

"Tin, do they experience any kind of Holy Writ for the energy used for magic ? I feel like something is draining out of me when I use it."

"They call it mana."

‘ You have got to be kidding me.'“ Let's see what happens when I cover my early eye."

The instant he attempted it, he fell to his genu, almost blacking out."schoolmaster !"Tin exclaimed. She climbed down and helped him to his feet.

"So, you can see me. That means I didn't tour inconspicuous. But something clearly happened, or at to the lowest degree, tried to happen. I have a different spell in each eye, but not enough mana to use the second one. It must be like a muscle. I have to train it to increase my stamina.

Anyway, let's get out of here before the smell of those goblin attracts wolves."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

The next day, while Tin took townsfolk the tripwires set around their stopgap summer camp, Noah was busybodied experimenting with his magic. He had come across a giant spider, draining the rakehell from a beguile rabbit. As he approached, Noah covered his eye and cast his illusion. His feet on the underbrush, it should feature given him away, but the spider didn't seem to notice. He decided to make up to a greater extent dissonance, picking up a stick and snapping it, but still, the spider didn't seem to mark.

"Over here."

Finally, the spider spun around, its melanise eyes searching for the germ of the noise. It seemed that his delusion also concealed strait, but not his vocalisation. Maybe because he intended for his voice to be heard ? He had been casting his magical spell on and off since he discovered it, to try and get a skillful feel of his mana. He couldn't properly stress himself since he needed to hold open his intensity level for when he needed it, but he was starting to smell the flow.

He drew his steel, a new one. After the fight with the goblin, he had taken their arm, and despite being slightly rust-brown due to inadequate care, they were higher tone than the cheap machete that Noah had been using until now. He now carried a Medieval-style longsword, a light sword, and his knife. He came up with agreement with thoughts of ancient samurai, who carried a katana, a wakizashi, and a tanto dagger.

He reached out with his longsword and used it to rustle a nearby shrub. The spider didn't see or hear anything. Noah could experience it, his mana flowing through his blade towards the bush, enveloping it in the magic. He focused on the Energy running through his arm and tried to slow the flow, to keep it from moving beyond his brand. It was exceedingly unmanageable, like trying to bend a heftiness he had never used before. It reminded of him of all the years he spent as a newborn, when his muscle tissue was just slightly problematical than gelatin. He tempered his breathing, driving out all distraction from his judgement, and soon, he could feel the flowing of his mana, like he had grabbed a handgrip of it.

He pulled it back, leaving the sword enveloped, but this time, when he rustled the bush, the spider raised his front leg and bared its Fang, believing an animal to be causing the disturbance. Noah slowly approached and tapped one of the spider's raised legs with his sword. It hissed in fury and swung at something it could not see. The head game could block sounds from reaching his enemy, but it couldn't erase the sense of tactual sensation, so he couldn't just turn invisible and stab individual without them feeling it.

There was something else he noticed. When he was invisible, he could feel the mana in others. Tin had very little, likely a signaling that she had no chemical attraction for magic, probably a intellect why she ended up a striver. The monsters had even less, but not all of them. Lone wolves without inner circle and many spider, they seemed to be shrouded in mana. He didn't get the impression that they could use magic, more like it clung to them, like an olfactory perception. What made them so special ?

This was just another inquiry that Noah chalked up to something he'd learn later. For now, he should just continue utilizing his magic to its full phase of the moon potency. The spider had its guard duty raised, but couldn't gumption the front of anyone or anything nearby, so it could do nothing to turn back Noah from ending its life. He harvested what he needed from the body and then returned to camp.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

It was a mellifluous relief to Noah and Tin when they finally left the woods. After two daylight of reduplicate lying in wait by predatory animal and goblin, the sea of tree that flanked them on either side were replaced with candid pastures, arena where farmers and their slaves were planting crop. The road became more uniform, receiving Thomas More alimony due to the growth in traffic. In the length, they saw the township, Baron Clive, as Tin called it. It was surrounded by a log fencing to keep the monsters out. It reminded him of the colonial hamlet museum from his fifth-grade field of operations trip. The Creek from their falls camp joined into the river that flowed beside the town.

safety in cheap leather armor with a few metal plates were manning the gate, and they stopped Noah and Tin as they approached. One of them looked over the horses and the wagon with a mistrustful eye.

"These belong to Garrow and his men. How did you make out by them ?"

"Were you close with Garrow ?"

"No."

Noah slipped the man a few bronze coins, while hoping that they were actually deserving something that he wasn't trying to corrupt him with pocket change."Then I suppose you're mistaken, right ?"

Seeming satisfied, the safeguard pocketed the money and then waved them in and Noah and Tin entered the town. For Noah, it was like he had traveled back in clip to Medieval European Union. Peasants walked the muddy road, street vendors tried to sell their wares, and the air stank beyond all de***********ion. The buildings were brick and wood, only a few of them more than than two stories, with their Windows using fuzzy deoxyephedrine.

"What do we do now ?"Tin asked.

"We're going to sell this Dipper, everything in it, and the horse. That guard recognized them, so others may as well. Plus, I can protect a push-down stack of coins better than this burden of hide. We can just buy replacements if we need them."They rode past a beggar lying in the street and Noah brought the horses to a stop."You there, where can I find a weapon principal ?"

The beard man pointed a trembling finger to the east. Noah didn't thank him, but tossed him a copper coin. They turned down one of the easterly streets and a sign of the zodiac caught Noah's eye. It had an anvil with two crossed sword in front of it like a crown. They stopped the wagon outside and Noah disembarked.

"Look after the Plough. This place is probably crawling with thieves, so be wary."

She was armed with a dagger and he had faith in her competence. He stepped into the stock, with a Bell ringing above his head from the doorway opening and closing. This depot was made of brick in fiat to minify the fire peril due to the forge in back. legion arm were put on exhibit, from steel to halberds. Back in his previous lives, Noah could cause bought a damascus steel online for $ 60 that would put these to shame, but these would suffice.

He also paid attending to the damage in ordering to estimate out the charge per unit of changeover for money. The turn were drawn a bit differently from past human race, but they appeared to have the Same values. From what he could tell, ten pig coins equaled a bronze, ten bronze equaled a silver, and ten ash gray for a Au. The measured scaling made it well-to-do for Noah to equate them to US dollar sign, but from what era ? There was a suit of armour selling for two Au coins, about two thousand dollars. But was that two thousand dollars back in the Old West ? Or was that two thousand dollars in the 21st century, after to a greater extent than a century years of pretentiousness ? He couldn't even tell whether the prices were trade good or not. This was either all groovy equipment at a high school price or garbage sold to tiro and cheapskates, or even just junk the proprietor was asking the moon for to try and rip Noah off.

A man appeared from a back room and stood behind a buffet. He was a great bear of a man, buff and dirty from a life spent standing over an anvil. Seeing Noah's mod clothes, malaise crossed his human face."Can I aid you ?"

"Do you buy weapon system as well as deal them ?"

"Only as long as they incorporate metal. I don't buy bows or staffs."

"Perfect."Noah returned to the Plough outside and retrieved an armful of arm looted from deadened hob. He stepped back inwardly and laid them out on the computer storage riposte."What can I get for all of these ?"

There were four shortly blade, two longswords, six daggers, three lance, and an axe. The blacksmith raised his eyebrows in mild surprise at the size of the haul, but otherwise maintained a stove poker side for the sake of byplay. He examined each weapon, making enlarged grunts and sighs over every chip and sign of rust.

"This is mostly drivel. I can buy them for one silver."

"That's a bad jape. That's LE than a tan coin per artillery. You're selling daggers for three bronze each. septet silver."Judging by the price of the display bit, that was More than the blacksmith could sell them for, and while he would have liked to go higher, the blacksmith was really low-balling him.

"That's ridiculous. My merchandise hasn't been dragged through the Sir Henry Joseph Wood. Yours has. I'll have to spend all night polishing and sharpening these to make them worthy of being put on video display. Two silver."

"farewell them as is and then chalk down the price. You can sell them to some fledgling warriors as preparation gear mechanism. Six silver."

"I can't add up anywhere near that. The best I can do is two silver and five bronze."

"You can always just formulate them into something new and sell at a higher Mary Leontyne Price. Four silver."

"You think you're the only one selling artillery by the arm-load ? Plenty of adventurers come in here to dump what they found in some hob burrow. Scavenged swords are hardly rare on the grocery. Two silver and seven bronze. That's like final offer."

‘ So, ‘ adventurer'is a terminus used here. It probably applies to monster hunters and the like.'“ How about this : my axe, plus two daggers, in commutation for that nicer axe up on the wall ? Everything else, you buy at half for what you're selling their twin for. That's ten bronze for the unforesightful swords, another ten for the yearn swords, four and one-half bronze for the daggers, and another four and half for the lance. That's right on around three silver."

The blacksmith gave a seeing red. Three silver, such a daily round, whole number. It was five bronze above what he could get if he sold the artillery for half toll, but his inner-perfectionist didn't want to complicate it with a smaller defrayal. Had Noah planned that from the beginning ? Either way, he felt like he was stuck on those three silver coins like a ship hitting a reef.

"fine, three silver."

"Deal."He and Noah shook hands and Noah received the three coins and the axe."I also have another thing outside that you might be worry in. Follow me."He led the blacksmith out into the street and showed him the tripwire axial motion in the rear of the wagon.

"What is it ?"

"A tripwire system, offering a one C yards of protection. Any lusus naturae that touches it makes the metal alarms doggerel verse. It's so loud that even the dead can hear it. I'll trade it for three bronze and the modest shield you had in the corner. It's got to be deserving that in cloth alone."

"amercement, but only to get rid of you. You're exhausting."

The stack was struck and Noah and Tin set off with a very much igniter wagon. The axe Noah had gotten was a large one, perfective for chopping both trees and monsters. The shield he now wore on his arm was only around the sizing of a dinner party plate, but that worked for him. It was warm enough to stuff a slash from a sword and it wouldn't hamper his movements. The tripwire was a bit painful to misplace, but once they sold the patrol wagon, they would have ended up carrying it with them.

With directions from many of the townsfolk, they sold and traded their wares. The blacksmith wouldn't buy the obeisance, but Noah found another weapon dealer who allowed him to swap up to a much respectable piece and a quiver of good-quality arrow. After that, the medicinal herbaceous plant and mushroom cloud were bought by an herb doctor, the beast pelts went to a leatherworker in exchange for some armour and a unattackable backpack, and the dress and base were traded at the garment shop for some new rig and a moment packsack. Due to the Weird spirit he was getting, Noah was aware that his forward-looking wearing apparel made him stand out. They were too valuable to get rid of or sell, so he simply packed them away and donned the apparel of the countryside.

He ditched the severed heads of the striver dealer into soul's pig pen and the hogs went to township. From asking around, it seemed that the Garrow colleague he killed wasn't the wanted criminal he had hoped for. It was a shame there was no bounty to amass, especially after three days of putting up with the smell of those heads.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

The owner of an adventurer's shop yelped in botheration from the lye touching his skin. He sold traveling and endurance power train, such as rope, cd, dried rations, and former curios to help traveler go the beasts dwelling outside man's domain. Now he was buying the last of Noah's haul, including the remains of several wanderer and the bbl of ooze. A test had been requisite to convince him of the lye's ability.

"So ? What do you recollect ? VII bronze and everything's yours."

"I can do five bronze, but only because you actually have living slime. I've never seen them captured like this !"

"No, no, I can't do five…"Noah pretended to be lost in sentiment."Do you trade map ?"

"We do."

"I want two maps, one of the country and one of the area. Throw those in and I can go down to five."

"For two function added, the best I can do is three and a half bronze."

"Little Joe bronze and you won't have to sell with me for the rest of the day."

"Deal."

With that, Tin and Noah left, having sold everything they deemed not worth carrying. The wagon and cavalry had already been exchanged for some lovely gold coins, so now they lived carrying everything they owned. Tin was in a estimable modality, now wearing proper clothes and footgear. She looked nothing like the slave lady friend that Noah had met when he first came to this world. One might look at her and not even opine she was a slave.

The sun had almost set, but they made their way to their final examination stopover, an inn known as the Old Wineskin. It was busy inside, the air stinking of pipe smoke, ale, and poor hygiene, and the floor creaking under uncounted pairs of shifting boots. The air hostess, a large woman looking like she birthed children by the litter, greeted them at the door from behind a front desk.

"Are you here to eat or to catch some Z's ?"she asked.

"Both. What are your rates ?"

"cinque atomic number 29 coins a nighttime for one room. For ten, you also get firewood, a hot bathtub, and two lame meals a day for one person."

Noah counted up the coins for him and Tin and stacked them on the tabular array."We'll postulate the full package for three nights."

The fair sex handed him an branding iron key."Take a seat in the dining way wherever you like and I'll bring you the sign special."

Noah led Tin through the gang of drunken villagers, both of them on the lookout for dip. Every man in the bar looked either like a Viking or the kind of guy that Vikings typically killed, all of their clothes made of either wool, linen, or animal pelt. Any char were either travelers huddled together, or courtesans sitting across the laps of their drunk clients and laughing at every bad put-on as they waited for the alcohol to involve its toll.

Noah and Tin found a small mesa near the fireplace and took their seats with Noah warning Tin to put her bag directly under the table.

"This Town is just as I expected,"he said.

"Is something wrong, Master ?"

"No, everything is hunky-dory. I rather like the atmosphere here, the feel of it."

He had seen plenteousness of town that been knocked out of the New age in his previous lives, usually due to some kind of revelatory result or because it was in a third-world country, but none of them had the Medieval Europe aura like in fantasy books and movies. For all of his life experience, this was something he was beaming to finally be able to get across off his list.

"So we're going to stay here for three Clarence Shepard Day Jr. ? Then what ?"

"I'm not indisputable yet. I don't have adequate selective information. I want to know Thomas More about this state, about the other countries. I want to see what I can make of myself and what will pass me the skillful luck of survival. But for now, I want to pillow up for a few daytime and con what I can about the area."

He took out the function he had bought and looked them over. Their quality was just as he expected from a Medieval society. The map of the Algata state showed the towns around Clive, as well as wispy rivers and mountain, but there was no exfoliation for referencing distance and none of the roads were labeled. The national map was no substantially, but it did nominate the bigger towns and the uppercase of Uther near the southerly slide. It was punishing to influence the size of the country, but it was probably somewhere between England and Texas.

Right now, what he needed to solve on was a backstory. True, this was not a country with an educated public, but Noah was still unwitting of the culture and modus vivendi, something that would command years to catch up on. If he claimed to be from somewhere but failed to serve a question that any indigene would recognize, it would ready him look untrusting. In his past lives, his backstory would bring forth itself, just like everyone else, and as an adult, when he needed an alias, he could easily craft a new one using his knowledge of the public. He had been forced to hide out in other country and take on new identities in past times liveliness, but this was a whole new ball game.

The hostess arrived with wooden trays and beer mugs. The house special was a trough of meat and vegetable stew and a biscuit, with a pint of the topical anesthetic ale to dampen it down with. Noah didn't even want to imagine how a health inspector would react to seeing the kitchen and how the intellectual nourishment was prepared, but after three days of nothing but rock-hard gelt and dried meat that was little more than salted leather, he ate greedily.

Tin, however, stared at her nutrient."headmaster, is it really ok for me to eat this ? I need only refuse to live on. Master doesn't need to be so generous in buying me such wonderful food."

"You've done everything I've told you to do and sustain yet to disappoint me. You deserve to eat proper repast. Besides, I need you strong and healthy so you can continue to assist me."

She bowed her head with her shoulders trembling."Thank you, Master."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

The elbow room they were renting was awfully thoroughgoing, just a bed with some itchy blankets and a fireplace. There was also a board with a lone candle and a pitcher of pee. Firewood had already been delivered. As Tin lit the standard candle, Noah began moving around the room, knocking on the bulwark, floor, and ceiling, searching for any obliterate doors or peepholes. For all he knew, there could be people watching them, waiting for them to descend asleep and then rob them, or worse. He once made the mistake of spending the night in a backwoods motel that was run by a serial orca. The 2-dimensional tire within walking distance should have warned him, but he refused to believe the cliché.

"You get a fire started while I look around. Don't open the cup of tea or reveal any of your belonging until I get back, and move the bed against the door."

He was sure for the near part that no one was listening or watching them at the moment, but that might be impermanent. He wanted to correspond the inn itself. But on the off hazard that someone was managing to stave off his detection, he didn't want to activate his magic. He left the room and locked the door behind him. There were rooms on either side of meat and across the hall, but they would come later. He went downstairs, maneuvering through the gang and stepping outdoors into the dark street. The Town was clearing out, everyone heading home or to whatever position they slept on.

Noah walked down the street, and as planned, he sensed a tail behind him. He stepped behind the nearby butcher shop and laid in wait. His chaser, tongue in hired hand, entered the alley. He never even saw Noah, certainly didn't see his hired man aiming for his cristal's Apple. A solid blow ripped the air from the man's lungs and sent him to his knees, unable to even call in agony. He dropped his knife and Noah got him into a stranglehold, lifting him back onto his feet.

"You weren't following me before we reached the inn, I certainly would experience noticed you, so that means you didn't see me with Garrow's police wagon and horse cavalry. Either mortal who did see me put you up to this, or you're just going after me because I look like an easy fall guy. So, which is it ?"

"Eat shit, you damn kid !"the man gargled. He tried to free himself from the choke wait, but Noah just tightened his grip. He couldn't see anything, no subject where he looked.

Noah took out his tongue and held it under the man's eye. The blade was invisible like Noah, but the man could feel the blade threatening to thrust the cutis of his depress lid."If you want to save yourself, pop out talking. I can make you beg for your life history and then beg for death in a matter of seconds."

"This is just what I do, punk ! I wait for pieces of trash playing adventurer to pee-pee a incorrect routine and then I take everything that they have !"

"Is there anyone else or do you work alone ? You really don't want to lie to me."

"I don't need help."

Noah put his knife away."Clearly, you do."For the abbreviated consequence, the man felt Noah's hold on him tease, thinking he was going to be let go. Instead, Noah grabbed his capitulum and snapped his neck.

Noah searched the remains for anything of note value and dumped it in the river beside the settlement. He then returned to the inn and searched the outside. He had measured the distance from the windowpane to the corners of his room, and, assuming that all the rooms were the Lapplander sizing and Saami contour, there didn't appear to be any false bulwark that someone could shroud in.

With his illusion still dynamic, he went inside the inn and maneuvered through the gang, this fourth dimension putting all of his feat into not bumping up against anyone. He checked the thickness of the floor and ceiling of each grade and found no anomalousness. His mana was starting to run out, so he had to hurry with the last step. He returned to the floor of his room and listened to the surrounding doors.

Behind the threshold across the entrance hall, he could find out two female explorer talking, making plans for the following day. In the elbow room to the left of his, he could get wind a man sharpening his sword. The room to the right wing was silent. From his pocket, Noah drew a length of wire. It was originally component part of the hold of one of the swords he had sold, but he took it before taking it out of the wagon. Lockpicking had been a skill of his several lifetimes ago, so he was a slight rusty. Regardless, he managed to unfold the door and peeked in, seeing the one denizen sleeping.

Noah ended his search. He now felt like he could truly relax. He returned to the door of his room."Tin, it's me,"he said while knocking.

He could hear the bed, used as a barricade, being moved aside, and Tin opened the door."Is everything ok ?"

"Yeah, I think we're safe."

They both stepped into the way and released their held breaths upon the door closing. Finally, they could let down their guard, at least for the most part.

"Ok, let's go over the money we collected."

On the table with the lone candle, he spread out the coins from their gross sales. There was a great figure of silver coins, plenty of bronze, and several copper color, as well as some gold."With all of this, we can stay at this inn for as long as we want. But for now, let's work on keeping it safe."

The bull coins would be kept in two of the three snake wallets, as bait or a lure against pickpockets. The third gear notecase held the bronze coins and hung around Tin's neck. As the for the silver and amber coins, Tin worked with Noah beside the fervidness to hide them in his clothes and self-will, such as the lining of his crownwork and the shoulder strap of his backpack.

Soon after they were done, there was a knock at the door."Here with your bathwater !"a fille de chambre announced.

Noah let her in and she placed a wooden tub on the floor, filled with piping water and some rags. In this world, it seemed like outside of swimming, the only way to keep even remotely clean was with a simple wash textile. Noah tipped her and she departed.

"Good, I've needed this,"he said.

As he and Tin stripped down, she approached him."Master, please let me wash away you."

"What ? You didn't do that before."

There was a despairing play in her eyes."Something which I beg your forgiveness for. I must prove my gratitude for your kindness."

"You don't owe me anything for treating you like a person."

She embraced him from tush."It is my duty to service my master. Please, allow me to continue not disappointing you."

"I never said you couldn't do it. I appreciate your efforts."

She made a small noise of relief, almost like a hybrid between a joke and a gasp."Please take a seat."

Noah sat on the groundwork of the bed and Tin retrieved some of their leftover soap, then brought to tub next him. She kneeled before him and wetted the front of her soundbox with one of the tatter, then with the max, lathering up her breasts and between her thighs. He could order she was excited. Despite her perpetually expressionless aspect, he could see the small curling of her lips, the shimmer in her eyes, signs of joy. It was an wry combination ; she, having never known pleasure from impinging with a man, and he, so numb that striking with a char was one of the last few things that could gift him pleasure.

She began by taking one of the washcloth and scrubbing Noah's legs, trying to slay the sweat and dirt from their days in the woodwind. Then, her breathing would heighten, and she'd start rubbing her breast up against him, grinding against him like a ecdysiast pole. Her knocker were far from ample, due to her harsh life and pitiable diet, but what mildness there was, she used to delight Noah. She made sure he felt every cubic centimetre of fat, as if the mass of her breasts equaled her loyalty.

She washed off the Georgia home boy and then got on the bed to repeat the process on his weapon system. Her try gave him an amused grin. With her interior thigh nice and sudsy, she'd range his mitt, letting him cup her womanhood in his palm and experience how wet she was. She was beginning to heave and wail, her lust building up in her. Her frantic breather in his capitulum was likewise getting him worked up. He had a few ex-girlfriends that would give him this treatment.

"Tell me, have you done this before or is this an estimation you came up for me ?"

"This is new. I've never felt so much gratitude to my master before."

She moved behind him and scrubbed his vertebral column, then began smooshing her breasts against him in sweeping motions. It reminded him of washing windows. While she grinded on his back, she washed his bureau and her paw naturally fell to his throbbing humanness. She stroked it lovingly, as if wanting to memorize every detail. She started rubbing against him with more personnel and jacking him off. Despite Noah being on the receiving end, Tin's sweat were making her breathe heavily with an aroused whimper passing her sassing. The feel of her breasts on his backrest and her masterful stroking were also getting to Noah. Even with all of his sexual experience, he always enjoyed a little foreplay.

He didn't bother trying to dissent and simply ejaculated, while behind him, Tin shuddered as if having a orgasm of her own. She greedily licked his cum off her hands and then got off the bed, kneeling before him once again. Her gaze, full of boozy lustfulness, was glued to his semi-flaccid manhood in the aftermath of its eruption.

"master, you're so dirty. Let me clean you."

She began sucking on his appendage with worshipful allegiance. Every drop of cum, she slurped off while savoring the taste of his sweat. Like the former night, she paid attention to his bollock, either massaging them while his stopcock plunged into the depth of her throat, or sucking on them and rolling them around her mouth while she jacked him off.

"My, my, you sure do relish servicing me, don't you ?"

She looked up at him, a break one's back both to him and to her desires."Yes, Master. My body tone so a lot gratitude for you."She couldn't resist, she started playing with herself."Especially down here."

She stood up and he allowed her to get on his lap, shuddering in bliss as she felt him inscribe her. She was so wet, his cock sliding against her intimate frame without any opposition. There was no hesitation in any of Tin's crusade, she didn't need to adjust her position or let her body go accustomed to the tone of being penetrated. As soon as she was down to the Base, she began bouncing on his pecker at fully speed.

Noah laid back with his hands gripping her ass. The effort she was putting in was commendable, she was fucking him like a pornstar. Her moan of bliss, she didn't bother trying to conceal them. She let her articulation ring out, escaping their room and being heard by everyone in the inn. She cried out like she was being stabbed, but to her, it felt like Noah was going no less deep. She was putting all of her strength into keeping up this speech rhythm, dropping all her weight unit onto Noah's lap so that he could truly search her eubstance. She couldn't allow him to maintain himself. There were no fields to work, no livestock to take care of. She couldn't fight, couldn't Richard Morris Hunt, couldn't do anything to come back her professional for the forgivingness he had shown her. All she could do was offer her body for his delectation, to dedicate him something to unleash his desires on.

But her forte was fading fast. Despite her efforts, Noah wasn't giving in. In fact, he decided to fight back. He retrieved one of the damp washcloths and wiped the goop off her breasts, making her nipples become erect. He then sat up and began running his tongue and backtalk across her skin, kissing her areolas and sucking on their peaks. He often pulled his mouthpiece away to join with hers, kissing her with skill she could only call art. sooner than letting her continue bouncing, he implemented his own technique. Cupping her tight ass in his deal, he began gyrating her pelvic girdle in one direction while he moved in the opposite direction. Now, instead of doing tenacious, deep strokes, his shaft was stirring up the depths of her womanhood like he was whisking some scrambled eggs.

The two-fold onrush, they were more than Tin could take over."Master ! Ah ! maestro !"she moaned.

She held onto his shoulders as a undulation of flood tide rushed through her, soaking Noah's lap in her rousing. Noah fell back, this time while pulling Tin down with him. Tin, lying across his chest, was given no time to breathe. He lifted her hips up and began bucking his own, driving up into her at uttermost speed and depth. His assault on her, there was no cruelty to it, but it was so strong that Tin wondered if she had done something to enrage him. She felt no pain, but if any other man tried to do this, she would be suffering beyond tidings. It was his skill and experience, she could feel it with every move he made. He knew exactly what to do to not cause any hurt, despite the intensity level itself leaving her on the verge of blacking out.

"captain, it feels too good ! You're going to break me !"

"clench on, I'm almost there."

She held onto him for dearest life sentence, as if a tornado had ripped off the ceiling of the inn and was threatening to pull out her up into the sky. Soon, the storm passed, and Tin felt that final thrust and Noah emptying himself into her. The sense of her master's ejaculate flooding her womanhood, the heating of it inside her, it made her moan a undivided crystal-clear note, like a birdie call. Then, she collapsed on top of him, using the final stage of her forcefulness to run kisses across his chest.

"Master, when you wanted to know the area and me and some other hard worker raised out hands… thank you for choosing me."Noah didn't say anything. He knew that this was a situation that one couldn't simply respond with ‘ you're welcome ’. Yet after so many lifetime, he still didn't know what the proper response was."And at the waterfall… thank you for letting me stay by your side."

Then, she closed her optic and fell asleep, snuggled on his chest like a cat.

.

.

.

Stamina

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.

The morning of the next day found Noah roaming the Village. Before he made any decision, he wanted to bed what this township had to offer, what endeavors it could put up. According to the map he bought, Clive was far away from the nation's working capital, out in the boondocks, but it appeared to have a stiff economy, with many professions one might not gestate in such a rough area, like a gold and silversmiths. In fact, it seemed to thrive on tourism, but no one would ever come out here on holiday. It was because of the instinctive resources.

So far, Clive had some farm land and a river for food, as well as the vast forest for lumber, but its top commodity was monsters. As Noah explored the Town, he saw numerous adventurers buying food and provision before going off to hunt and foregather. In the early 17th century, the fur swop exploded in Common Market, sending countless men out into the wilderness of Siberia and the Americas to obtain their fortune. Here, the principal was the same. fur were in demand in the big metropolis, but most of the fiend had been wiped out around the more live sphere, so explorer spread out to the countryside to hunt and sell their pinch, and where there is an exploitable resource, you can incur capitalists looking for people with money burning a fix in their pockets.

His search brought him to the local pill roller, where numerous sess and jar adorned the rampart on shelf while unlike plants were hung to dry viewgraph. He recognized several works, but many were new to him. An old woman ran the shop, watching Noah like a mortarboard through the smoke coming from her pipe. It filled the air, along with various different kinds of incense. No sunlight was allowed in, so as to preserve the plants and potions on display.

"Anything I can help oneself you find out ?"

"Do you have potions to facilitate restore mana ?"

"Yes. I sell them in three character at a damage of five, ten, and xx bronze coins, but you have to buy the bottle as well if you don't have any of your own. count to the shelf behind you, the blue potions."

He examined the vials, three cork bottles with blue liquids, each one a unlike shade. There was no telling how utilitarian they were. He didn't fuck how much mana they could fill again, compared to the quantity of mana he had within him. And the colouring material shade, was that because of the front of a specific factor that increased its potency ? Or were they just watered down ?

"What about health ?"

"The red single, above them, and we also sell bandage. However, those are only for showing my product. Simply tell apart me what you want and my granddaughter will recall it from the punt room."

These potions, how did they work ? They were clearly some kind of plant-based concoction, but could there be magic involved ? The idea of learning how to make potions appealed to him, but if it required a special form of magic, then that plan wouldn't go anywhere.

"I'll take one of each type, both mana and health. I'll buy the bottles."

The cleaning woman relayed the decree to soul in the indorse room without ever taking her heart off Noah. A young girl appeared behind the heel counter, carrying a tray of six amobarbital sodium and red potions. Noah paid and stowed them away in his bag.

"You know, if you have difficulty collecting the ingredients, I could help in substitution for a discount."

The char cracked a smile, seeing right through him."How nice of you to offer ! But my son does excellent work."

‘ So, she doesn't even want me to know the ingredients. Oh well, I have way of life of finding out.'

He left the apothecary and breathed the unfermented dayspring air. The sun had broken free people of the visible horizon, and while it was still early, the townspeople of Clive was now fully bustling. He returned to the inn, where Tin was waiting in their room.

"I got the potions."

"Master, you shouldn't bother yourself with such job. It is my tariff to run your errands."

She was getting clingier, he had been noticing it steadily progressing. When they first met, she hardly said a countersign, usually only speaking when requirement, such as to acknowledge decree or warn him that something was attacking. As time passed, she got more questioning, now doing whatever she could to help him. The little labor, she would try to do before he could, like opening doors for him and picking up anything he reached for and handing it to him. It was starting to get annoying, such as during breakfast, when she tried to feed him like he was paralyzed from the cervix down. But it made her well-chosen, so he went along with to the highest degree of it, and he appreciated her affection.

"I'd prefer to get a read on masses before sending you to run errands like this. I'm better at detecting scam then you are. Since I now know the terms of the potions, I can defecate sure enough that char at the shop doesn't try to overload you."

"So what are you going to do with those potions ?"

"Now that we're finally in a safe office, I'm going to begin experimenting with my magic, and I need your help for that. Because there was always the threat of monsters, I never allowed my mana to fully deplete, so now I can start pushing my limits a little."He pulled out the three mana potions and put them on the tabular array."I'm going to vomit up my semblance and not terminate until my mana is completely used up and the piece comes undone. I need you to monitor my health during the process."

"Master, forgive me, but I'm not a healer. I don't know how to do matter like that."

"It's easy. While I'm inconspicuous, I want you to hold my wrist and maintain my pulse while counting to a hundred over and over again until the spell breaks. If I should lose cognizance, pour one of these potions down my throat and place my hand over my eye to make sure the enchantment is cancelled. Should my beat or breathing arrest, there is a operation I'll have you perform called Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR for dead. Lie back on the bed and I'll appearance you how it's done."

She took the position and he leaned over her, making her hint flutter. He placed his hand on the center of her chest and felt her become tense."I can feel your heart beating. Should mine stop, you'll motivation to weight-lift down on the center of my chest in rapid thrusts."He stacked his hands and gave a few downward shoves. The rhythm of his pushing, the way it forced her deeper into the mattress, it reminded her of something, and seeing the tone in her eye, he knew what it was.

"You'll want to do that 30 clock time. Then, you'll demand to crimp my nose, and blow air into my lungs."He lowered his head and kissed her. She replied with exuberance, her breath now fluttering, and not because he was pinching her nose. Noah got on top of her."Of course of action, when you do it, I expect you not to use so very much spit. You'll give me two deep breathes, then do another 30 compressions. recur the operation until you feel my mettle start. Understand ?"

"Yes, Master,"she whispered with a languorous look in her eyes.

"Good. Now, to make water sure enough I only use up my mana, I need to completely drain my physical stamen. tutelage to help me with that ?"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

To the enjoyment of some and the infliction of others, the sounds of Tin's moans could be heard throughout the inn. Not only forte, it was incessant. digression from some curt breaks, her voice continued to bounce off the walls even with the sun now at the high-pitched point of the day and everyone eating lunch.

On the bed in their shared room, Noah was battering Tin from behind with stern vividness. She no longer had the strong point to even remain on all quatern, and instead had her face pressed to the sail, now sticky with their combined fluids. Every sweep he delivered would make her cry out in euphory. She didn't know how many time he had brought her to culminate, nor how many times she felt him glut her dead body with his seed, but each event threatened to rob her of her consciousness. Regardless, she fought through, doing everything she could to remain awake so that she could proceed to please her master.

"Am I hurting you ?"It was a question that none of her premature lord had ever asked while they violated her. They didn't precaution about how much pain in the neck they inflicted on her, unless making her suffer was their goal, which it often was. To hear it from him, such kind parole, they nearly made her cry tears of joy. He asked her frequently, each time earning a passionate kiss from her.

He wasn't hurting her, rather, she had never felt such pleasure, but she was so tired, her body at its limitation. She didn't understand how it was possible for him to go so long and exert so lots strength. He was far too Pres Young to have amassed this form of experience. His intensity even frightened her. He acted so that she was assailed with only pleasure, but if she angered him, if the demons of sadism possessed him, could she even survive ?

How had this all started ? What was the reason he had given ? She could barely think of, it felt like so long ago. Oh, that's right, he called it practice. He asked it of her, but had he demanded it instead, invoked his authority as her superior, she would cause been no less charge up. It fulfilled her, to finally be able-bodied to express her commitment in the lone way she could. He was depending on her, trusting her to fulfill his expected value, and she was cook to devote her soundbox for that. Her muscularity begged for rest, but her psyche didn't want it to end. She wanted to wind around him like a snake so that he could never result, and instead stay using her until the end of time.

At this point, Noah had fully immersed himself in the act of rage, aware of nothing but the physical domain. The feel of Tin's body, her wetness and soft pulp around his tool, the taste when their tongues curled around each former when they kissed, the smell of her womanly essence as he brought her to climax, the sight of the sweat glistening on her body as he made her writhe and moan, he bathed in those sensations. He felt footling tenderness for her, but at to the lowest degree forcible wiz could appease the antediluvian maelstrom in his thinker, let him shut off his brain and truly sense again. His soul, so starved and without baring, it was like cracked desert clay now becoming fertile with the spring rains.

His physical stamina, something that Tin was cook to label as inhuman, was just as a lot mental as physical. With so many lifespan'worth of experience, he knew how to ferment through the pain. He had felt the anguish of effort adequate times to learn how to disregard it. He couldn't perform any dramatic feats of strength like some sort of superhero, but he knew how to properly oxygenize his rake for the maximum output and have a go at it how much effectiveness his muscles could exert without suffering detrimental damage. He was digging down deep for strength and harnessing every nutritionist's calorie and spark of energy, and while he wasn't on the level of a bodybuilder, he had built his physique through a workout that he had mastered over several lifetimes.

He shuddered as he emptied himself into Tin. After all this time, he couldn't imagine having any spermatozoon left. His tenderness was approaching unbearable levels, but even though his hard-on was pass off, he didn't give in. He grabbed Tin by the shoulders and pulled her against him, his lips joining hers. She was nearly delirious, acting as if on muscle memory when she swirled her tongue around his rima oris. His hands went to town on her, massaging her modest breasts and stirring up the cum in her pussy. Tin was so weary and her throat was sore from moaning, but the way Noah tickled her button and bullied her tit, it still made her whimper in bliss.

He'd do this after every orgasm, keeping her busy while he slowly regained his erection. However, his humanity had thrown in the towel as his stamina hit zero. He let go of Tin and she fell back onto the bed. Her middle were clean from exhaustion, but she rolled onto her back and spread her legs, putting herself on display and letting Noah see the semen overflowing from her womanhood.

"professional, I can keep going. please, stay fresh using me. I'll do whatever you want me to."

"No, that's good. You were perfect tense. I can't even exploit up the intensity for a undivided thrust."He reached into his bag and pulled out the weakest of the three healing potions. Even that task was almost beyond his compass. He might as well deliver just won the Tour de France."Here, drink this."She was too tired to move, so Noah put the nursing bottle to her brim and let some trickle down her throat. She was soon revived, her body no longer trembling.

‘ So, sorry potions restore magic staying power and red potions restore strong-arm stamina.'

"If you're hungry, eat fast. I need to begin performing this experiment immediately."As he spoke, his own tummy roared like thunder. He fell back on the bed, dizzy from exhaustion.

"superior, what about you ?"

"I can't, yet. I need to measure out only my mana, and if I eat or do anything to recover my physical strength, it will skew the results."

"Are you sure you want to do this ? The more you describe it, the more dangerous this seems."

"It probably is dangerous, but I don't know how my mana reserves compare to an mean magic trick user my age, and this is fastest way to increase it. Now, don't let go of my wrist and get down counting as soon as I become invisible. If my sum stops or there are any signs that my health is deteriorating, give me both a mana potion and a health potion, then perform CPR. Remember : XXX condensation and then two breaths. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

Noah put his manus over his eye and disappeared in front of Tin. However, Tin could still feel him, feel his wrist in her hand and his warmheartedness, and it comforted her. Upon the activating of the spell, Noah could finger his mana being depleted. It was a strange tiredness, like he was bleeding to death. All of his mental focus was put on restricting the menstruation of mana to just his body, so that nothing else would get caught in his trick and wastefulness mana. It was why he left the job of timekeeping to Tin.

From his experience so far, he could assert the illusion for about three second before his motor part declined too far for him to fight. He didn't know if that was good or bad, but in clock time, he could feel that line being crossed. From there, his thinking and strong-arm strength began a rapid decline. Noah fought with everything he had to rest conscious, even when he could no longer proceed his centre open. His consciousness soon sank into a rupture where he could feel his mana continuing to deplete but couldn't experience his own body.

Then, he began to feel his mana regenerating, without any sign that it was being used up. His consciousness started to guggle back to life story, and he soon opened his eyes and looked at Tin, whose own were filled with relief.

"master key,"she whispered, clutching is hand.

"So, the spell came undone. How long did I last until that happened ?"

"I managed to count to a hundred almost four multiplication. Then when you became visible, I gave you the potion. Your heart slowed, but it didn't occlusion, and you kept breathing."

"So, while with my physical stamina completely drained, I can maintain the spell for about five min before I pass out. At full long suit, I can maintain it that long while still being capable to fight down. This is good, I'm in stark precondition to get the dear benefits for stressing my mana, and since my heart and breathing didn't blockage, I don't need to concern about suffocating. Either that potion will weary off or it'll manage to fill again all my mana, but whichever happens showtime, I'll head start again immediately after."

He gave himself time for the mana to recirculate through his physical structure. He checked his reflex action, physical strength, and mental processing. True, he felt half-dead from exhaustion and sore all over, but he knew what veridical harm would feel like. thoroughgoing mana loss felt just like bleeding to death, so there was always the theory that being drained of it for too long would get similar effects to his body, like cecity or muscle death. There was no telling if the wellness potions could fix those form of injuries.

Nothing appeared to be incorrect, so he returned to the bed."All veracious, we're going to proceed doing this."

They repeated the process over and over again. Noah would expend all of his mana through his fancy, Tin would wake him up with a potion, he'd tick himself for damage, and then they'd start all over. He sent Tin out multiple times to buy more than potions for him, and they even experimented to see how much they could piddle it down while still providing sufficient rejuvenation.

As the day rolled on, Noah's dead body begged for food. The rumbling of his belly and his disorientation concerned Tin, but he refused any kind of sustenance, and for good reason. Each prison term he performed the appendage, he noted his mana militia increasing. He didn't know what mana was or how he produced it, but without physical stamen to soften the nose candy of depletion, the source of his mana was being stressed to its limit point, and was reaping the benefits. There were a lot of things about mana and magic that he didn't understand, such as how fast an mortal could beef up theirs. For all he knew, he could be lagging behind in the training, but he was fairly sure that he had struck gold.

As night fell, Tin once more arrived at their room, despondent."Please forgive me, Master. The herbalist had closed down her store for the Night and wouldn't even open up her door."

"For the best, I imagine, considering how she started throwing clobber at you hold up metre. We've probably bought up all the supply that she's will to trade us."

"So what now ?"

"Now we have dinner. I think that if I pass out again, we'll have to resort to healing potions to wake me up."

"I can have it brought up to us."

"No, let's go on a lower floor. I'm rather sick of this way and ask some fresh air."

He tried to sit up in the bed, but even that was almost beyond him. How hanker had it been since he was this drained of metier ? There was that time when he starved to death… When was that ? Even his head was on the threshold of shutting down. He tried to get dressed, but his body wouldn't obey his will, and to his shame, Tin had to help him. It reminded him of all the times he was in hospice, when the nursemaid had to do everything for him while he waited to die.

"Sorry,"he said.

She smiled, something she was doing more and more frequently."You need not worry, Master. While I was never the handmaiden of any keen Lord, I heard that this was a duty that their amah often performed. Simply imagine that you are a great viscount, or even an earl."

"What about a duke ?"he asked with a chortle.

Having helped him put his shirt on, she leaned against his backrest."Yes. I'm sure you will someday even become a duke."

Now fully dressed, he was helped to his foundation and they left the room, though he had to lean on Tin for financial backing. From upstair, they could find out the rowdiness of the Guest in the dining room, singing Song and knocking their smiler together. Yet as the teens appeared and made their way to their tabular array from the premature evening, that din went died down, with all optic on them. There was some hushed muttering, several multitude whispering to their friends to inquire as to the silence. Noah and Tin took their fanny, the bar as quiet down as a graveyard, then the innkeeper showed up with their dinner. It was glob of sum carved from a beast, and Noah's portion was bigger than anyone else's.

"I'd say you earned it,"the large womanhood said coyly.

That appeared to be some kind of planetary house, because a man at the bar with a face fungus down to his smash raised his mug."Hail to the young business leader ! He who could relieve oneself even a succuba beg for rest !"

The bar practically exploded, with people of all eld swarming their table to pat Noah on the back, congratulate him on his science, and beg him for advice. Many cleaning lady approached, flirting with Noah and inviting him to join them for the even. Noah even saw one female adventurer holding back her friend who was trying to approach with a hungry—or rather"thirsty"—look in her eye and a all-inclusive smile on her aspect. Tin also got passel of attention. Everyone wanted to know who was struggling to keep up with who, which of the two was the insatiable one. The women who could not ensnare Noah would turn to her, asking for contingent while voicing their jealousy. In the background signal, the guests began singing strain of wooing women and romantic tales, with the normal body process of the bar becoming a raving party.

Noah simply sat there with an awkward grin, annoyed that his design to proceed a low profile had gone of up with sens, but amused with the spot nonetheless. Tin, too aflutter and embarrassed to say anything, simply hung her principal while her aspect turned red as a tomato.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

It was shut down to midnight, and Noah, having regained his long suit, made his way to the black apothecary. He carried a lantern with him, but its flame, like Noah, was invisible to anyone and anything, and the route remained as dark as it would be without his presence. He had shrouded it in his illusion as a way to prove himself. If his mana slipped, visible light would get out. After the day's training, the mana outlay was next to nothing. He had already passed the five-minute soft touch and didn't feel dizzy. With a few more than days of training, he might be able to maintain the illusion for an hour or more.

He reached the depot and went to work on picking the lock chamber while sending his mana into the threshold. Wrapped in his illusion, the threshold made no racket, even when he opened it. There were a few guards patrolling the town, but they wouldn't have noticed him, even without being invisible. He entered the store and thinned the mana around his lantern just enough to release a faint beam of light.

There was plenty of worthful material to steal, but Noah and Tin's suspicious behavior would have left an depression on the old charwoman, and she'd assume they did it. He could suffer just killed her and taken whatever he wanted, even wiped out her family to be safe, and anyone who suspected and came after him. From the moment he discovered his deception, he had thought of all the ways he could use it, both bad and good. It would have been so slow, he kept reminding himself, but that wasn't the life he wanted to live, even if it was one he would possess lived in the past.

Instead, he searched the shop class for books and potion recipes, simply to memorize, rather than steal. None could be found, meaning they must have been hidden elsewhere. He did find plenty of compounding equipment, which he memorized in order to replicate. Noah moved beyond the fund and into the woman's home. She lived, as everyone else did in this world, rustically. All light was innate or flame-based, any nutrient that could go bad was salted and kept in jars, there was no turn tail water, and all the puppet were pre-industrial. It still reeked of potions and herbs, but that smelling was probably difficult to confine to the shop class.

He came across a great wooden thorax set against the rampart, and after picking the lock, got it open air, revealing his dirty money. The old woman's whole library was kept neatly arranged, all the result Noah needed. In this world, information was as important for natural selection as intellectual nourishment and water system, so until society managed to invent the printing jam, books were worth their weight in gold. Despite the tantalizing knowledge at his fingertips, Noah went straight for the alchemy script. He looked up the recipes for BASIC health and mana potions, memorizing the ingredients and processes.

determination atonement, he removed all traces of his visit and left the apothecary.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

The arrival of the next day brought Noah and Tin out to the woods to forgather herb and search monsters. Buying all the potions yesterday had taken a big lump out of their funds, so Noah wanted to gather some materials he could sell. He had asked around the tavern the previous night and managed to come up out the most valuable component part of freak. He also found out some interesting facts.

"Summoned by magic ?"

"Yes sir,"said the barkeep as he used a ill-gotten rag to clean a crank."If you're really lucky, you'll manage to see it happen. There are wizard circle scattered across these demesne, absorbing mana from the air and using it to summon wildcat. About a quarter of each colossus slipstream is created by magic. And not just devil, woodland brute as well, from the deer to the birds. Shouldn't you know that by now if you're going to be an adventurer ?"

Noah remembered his fights in the forest, the monsters that seemed to be shrouded in mana."Huh, my state didn't have anything like that."

Despite it being true, it was used as a lie. Ignorance of BASIC facts would give him away and make people suspicious, so he was hesitating to ask about anything involving conjuring trick. He couldn't expect much from this populace's level of Education, but a man with no knowledge of magic would probably brook out like a man in the 21st C that had never seen electricity before. At to the lowest degree claiming to be a foreigner would excuse most errors. He just had to trust he didn't meet up with any international merchants before he got more entropy.

"Where do these magic circles come from ?"

"According to legends, there was a war between the graven image and the spirits of nature. The spirits used their thaumaturgy to mobilise armies of fauna, so that the minions of the gods could never walk the earth, and that trick remains to this day. Some believe that it is a weapon being used against mankind, to halt our expansion and exploration into new ground. Many believe it to be the employment of bad hat that got their mitt on some variety of illegal conjuring trick, spreading the thaumaturgy circles to make havoc.

Many sentence in history, region have been declared monster-free, only for the creature to recall. Even islands get plagued with freak despite being sweep clean and jerk. It's why many crook to adventuring ; the steady income from hunting devil and the reliable nutrient source."

As Noah thought back to the conversation, he heard movement nearby. Bursting from the undergrowth, an adolescent wolf lunged at Noah and Tin. Noah was quick on the draw and managed to slash the monster on the shoulder with his longsword. It landed behind him, slightly limping but showing no signboard of giving up. It flashed eyes full of bloodlust while it snarled and foamed. Tin hurried behind Noah, as per his orders, while he stared it down. If he cast his illusion, he could easily kill it without it ever seeing the attack coming, but today, he was sharpening his scrap skills and refining his swordplay, so he needed to front his enemies without hiding from them. Besides, monsters that lost course of him often turned their attention to Tin.

Noah made the first move, charging while swinging down at the skirt chaser's former shoulder. It jumped to the side of meat to duck, but Noah widened the angle of the slash as he brought it down, turning it into a diagonal attack. Chasing the savage with his lilt, he managed cut into its flesh. The wolf, infuriated by pain, pounced from a high angle, aiming for Noah's head. The angle was slick, Noah sidestepping out of the reach of its chela, raising steel, and delivering an executioner's chopper to the dorsum of the neck, severing its head.

He didn't cliff his safety and scanned the area, searching for any other wolves in hiding. He could detect none."Clear."

That was his signal to Tin. With Noah keeping guard, she went to work on the wildcat, removing the worthful theatrical role like the skin and sure musculus and variety meat. It was messy body of work, but worth the effort. Everything was stored in her backpack and several former pouch and dish, along with Noah's bow and other adventuring provision. Since Noah was doing all the fighting, the job of large number mule fell to her, or rather, she insisted on it.

Once she had gathered the best pieces, they set off again. Many might disapprove of letting so much of the monster go to waste, but the race couldn't go out and something else would come along and eat it, so Noah didn't palpate too bad. proceedings after they moved on, Noah caught hatful of something ahead, zooming between the trees.

"Tin, step back."

Noah readied himself, his blade raised as the blur approached. It was another wolf, moving much more erratically than the one Noah had just killed. It lunged for him and he sliced off its head. It was rather promiscuous, as if the animate being's mind was scattered. Perhaps it was rabid ? But as he turned to essay the cadaver, he realized he had broken a carmine sin. There was an arrow in its hind leg, meaning that this beast had already been claimed.

Two new women appeared, having apparently sprinted a great distance and now gasping for breath. Noah had seen them before at the inn. One of them, a blond archer, had attempted to talk to him the previous night, but her friend, a brunette with a staff, stopped her.

"Sorry about that, it seems I took your kill."

Neither fair sex responded, both leaning on their knees and looking like they were about to prostration. Noah looked to Tin and nudged his psyche towards them. She got the subject matter and approached with a water skin.

"Here, drink this."

The blonde gratefully took the water and drank deeply, then handed it to her friend."Thank you, both of you. We were so close to giving up."

"I kept trying to grab it with my magic, but it was fast, even with an arrow in its leg,"said her friend.

The bowman looked at them and gained a widely smile."Oh, I know who the two of you are !"

Tin blushed and averted her gaze. The magic user looked at them and sighed."Good God, not again."

The Archer extended her hand to Noah."I'm Beth and this is Mira, very please to make your acquaintance."

Noah shook her hand."I'm Noah and this is Tin."

"You took charge of that wolf so easily ! With skills like yours, we would make love to team up. What do you say ?"

"Sorry, but I'm still refining my skill and gaining experience, and I feel it works better when I fight the battles alone, but maybe in the time to come we could team up up. Have you two been adventuring long ?"

"Kind of,"said Mira,"but not against demon this large and flying. We each came from orbit where the fighting was a lot sluttish and routine were thinner, but we weren't making plenty money and decided to try moving out here for a while."

"You said you tried slowing the wildcat down with magic. If you don't mind me asking, what kind ? I can't use it myself and I don't know much about it."

"Oh, well I'm a mage, so I can use elemental magic to entreat and operate things like flame and water. My natural endowment lie in controlling the earthly concern, like this."She turned away and looked into the distance. doughnut of sandstone-colored brightness level appeared around her articulatio radiocarpea like halos, and Noah could see diagrams and runic letter of an unnamed words."Earth Bind !"

She raised her staff and then slammed it into the ground. There was a impulse, and the ground came undone like there was an animal tunneling just under the surface. It shot across the forest floor, and thirty fundament away, there was an eruption of earth, with hard-packed soil forming jagged shapes that converged like a closing flower. Anything caught within it would surely get held in place, even stabbed if they moved around the ill-timed way. The displace earth used to create the spikes produced a pit, just in case anything tried to duck.

"Yeah, I can see why it wouldn't work in this case."

"What ? Why ?"

"Well we're in the forest. The ground is riddled with etymon holding it together, so it takes a lot of time and effort to accumulate the soil and form it into those spike. Also, you're going for fast prey with good reaction hurrying, so as soon as they sense the attack, they'll motility before it fully activates. I assume your strategy was for Beth to bruise it with the arrow, keeping it from moving while you cast your spell ?"

"That's right,"said Beth.

"And then you finish it off with More arrows, right ? It's a honest strategy, keeping your aloofness from the enemy to downplay danger. However, in this kind of environs and with this target, you'd motive to change it up a bit. I suggest using poisonous substance arrow, or at least some variety of paralytical factor. That way, even a low-damage hit will slow it down. I'd also suggest using a larger bow for more penetration.

Mira, do you know any former spells ?"

"I can create a sprinkle swarm and commit stones flying."

"But nothing close-range ? That'll be a problem if there is more than one foeman or they get within striking length. Mira, I suggest you work on learning a spell for melee fight, and Beth, get a sword. You also should find another extremity to get together your party, sorry I couldn't be that soul. They'd have to be able to pin down the enemy in one localization for your arrow and conjuration to be able to hit their mark."

Beth and Mira swarmed him with desperation in their center."Please reconsider joining us ! We need someone like you, desperately !"Mira said.

"You can even keep about of the money ! And if that isn't enough, I can pay you extra in nighttime fun !"Beth added.

Noah hadn't expected them to get so worked up and wanted to back away, only to agnize Tin was standing behind him. She was tugging on his shirt, giving him her basset hound hound eyes, though he couldn't William Tell if she was trying to convince him to change his mind or telling him that they were adept off on their own.

"Sorry, but I can't. I'm really trying to focus on training. I'm for certain you can determine a struggling swordsman who's desperate for a party to join and would fit compensate in with you two. Tin and I have to get going. You were first to injure the wolf, so the eubstance belongs to you. We'll see you later."

He and Tin set out, waiting until Beth and Mira were out of earshot to talk.

"Was Master… interested in those two ?"Tin asked.

"well, the musical theme of forming a political party is appealing, and their long-range power would definitely help out. However, I'd prefer to manoeuver away from prying eye for the clock time being. I didn't sense any malefic intent in them, but there is no telling if they can be trusted or not. But I'm glad we ran into them, it gave me a chance to canvas elemental magic a bit."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

They continued through the forest, hunting for monsters while trying to avoid other venturer. Along with battle, they also stopped to collect herbs. Noah was always playing through the potion recipes in his creative thinker. Then, when noon arrived, they stopped for lunch by the river. Their solid food was slightly better than the hooey they ate before reaching Robert Clive, in the sensory faculty that the bread wasn't quite-rock hard and the meat actually had flavor. It was still let down compared to a hot meal. Their water supply came from the river, first filtered through a survival straw that Noah made.

Once they were done eating, Noah pulled out all of the works they had gathered. He picked three different plants out of the mass ; branches of Amytal strawberry mark, several feet of a vine with straight leaves, and an orange moss."Of the formula I saw, this one is the easiest and doesn't require any specialized tools. Even if it doesn't study, it will still be thoroughly practice. We just have to mash these up with a proportion of 5:2:7 and mix them together with some water."

They gathered Lucy Stone from the river to use as makeshift mortar and pestle and went to work. Working side by incline, Noah noticed a low smile on Tin's face."This reminds me of making lye at the waterfall,"she said.

"Hopefully it won't have the Same effect."

They mixed the component together and poured them into the three potion feeding bottle from the pill roller. They added some fresh water and Noah could see the mixture radiance as the potion was formed. Whether or not this potion contained mana or simply sped up the natural rejuvenation summons, it appeared the necessary chemical substance reaction was taking place.

"Good, now to test it. I think this will be the perfect opportunity to see what my next go is."It was very thin, but Noah could see Tin's hullabaloo."You should travel back. If this second spell is anything like my illusion, you probably won't be in danger, but it's honorable to be safe."

Tin moved back twenty pes, and Noah, after taking a deep breath, put his hand over his aright eye. The effect was instant, his mana being drained twice as fast as his first of all enchantment, and this sentence, he could actually feel something happening to him. His eubstance, it felt weightless, and his arm, they were just moving of their own pact like jellyfish tentacles. His vision, it was almost blurry, like he was seeing doubles. It felt, of all affair, like he had just taken a hit of some high-quality pot.

If his concentration broke for even a secondment, he felt like his limbs and head would just be adrift on their own. Noah dropped his hired man and staggered, nearly falling just like the first metre he tried it back in the woods. It was like every movement he made had to be performed while walking on a tripwire, or else he would decrease. He was shifting from side to side, struggling to continue in control. While this would be a smashing thing to do while attending a concert or watching a funny motion-picture show, it was far from useful in battle.

"I'm definitely feeling something. How do I look ? Can you still see me ?"

"Uh… I think so. How… are you doing that ?"

"Doing what ?"

"Master, look at your hands."

Noah, through great difficulty, raised his palms and looked them. He blinked and squinted several time, trying to see through the afterimage floating around them like an glory. Had he touched some bad mushroom-shaped cloud and then breathed in the spores ?

‘ No, wait a second…'

These afterimages, they weren't some blurry silhouette ; they had crystal-clear point. They were like claim transcript trying to occupy the same outer space. He moved his weapon around, watching the written matter follow the originals. They were illusions ! He stopped moving his tangible coat of arms and tried to move the copy. He thought about it, he envisioned it happening, but only when he gave up and tried to resurrect his real arms did the copies obey and fulfill the action. It was only for a second before they returned to their original berth, but he had gotten them to move.

It took various minutes of repeated attack before he figured it out. Halfway between mentation of moving his implements of war and actually harnessing the physical military capability within them to create that move, there was a level where he could prompt the transcript. He was soon moving the illusionary arms however he wanted, with Tin watching at a total loss. His mana was starting to run low, so he cancelled the go and leaned on his knees.

"master key, what was that ?"

"An illusion. It appears that my left eye can conceal my real number body, while my right eye can produce a faker. I can control it similar to how I move on my own, but it requires a lot of centering. hand me a mana potion, will you ?"He downed one of the potions and then lied down on the ground and reactivated the spell."Watch this."

Tin could immediately see it on his face, the elbow grease and centering he was putting in, but her attention was immediately drawn elsewhere, as a second Noah seemed to rise from the consistence of the first like two cells dividing. For Noah, it almost an out of body experience. The illusion stood up, every move that Noah would bear made being performed. It was difficult beyond words, leaving him drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Every muscle involved in standing up had to be acknowledged, from the heftiness supporting his headland, all the way down to the muscular tissue in his feet as they tried to grapple the soil for counterpoise. He had to visualize not just the crusade, but the genius of moving.

The knockoff stepped forward, every movement clunky and unnatural, like a loud automaton. The clone turned to Tin, who was completely bewildered and even frightened. The knockoff opened its mouth. It started out sounding like radiocommunication atmospheric static, but Noah managed to talk through the illusion.

"U-u-u-u-i-i-i-I cueolemfr-cuernlk-caern cont-cont-control it."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

For the next three weeks, Noah and Tin worked out a routine of expanding Noah's mana reserves and going out to hunt down, one day inside and one day outside. Everyone in the inn became aware of the design, as every other day, from breakfast to lunch, Tin's moan filled the edifice. It became quite the story around town, many people coming to the inn just see if the rumour were true. Tin would rob Noah of all of his stamina and they'd perform the drain and replenish cognitive process with the mana potions. The next day would be spent gathering herbs to throw more potions and materials to deal, and continue cultivating Noah's fight abilities.

To eat up his mana, Noah experimented with his indorsement spell. For the showtime week, he focused on perfecting the clone's movements and speech. He tried to get it as normal looking as possible, having it walk around the elbow room and imitate various military action. Unfortunately, since it was just an illusion, it couldn't actually touch on anything or affect its surroundings, and while he could speak through it, he couldn't see what it saw or hear what it heard. Unless it was in sight at all metre, he was piloting blind. Strangely, Tin said that the clone had the same olfactory sensation as him, while when he was invisible, his tone was concealed.

He spent the next week learning how to move both his real and misrepresent body at the same time. He started out small, first base with finger apparent motion, then limb movements, then upped it up to having it walk around the room while he stood by the bed, which was surprisingly difficult with all of the muscles required to remain standing upright. By the end of the week, he and the clon could take the air simultaneously.

In the third week, he added his first charm to the mix, moving the clone around as he performed a task while invisible. The mana expenditure was massive, so much so that the rate of his reserves increasing was slowed, and it became more difficult to secernate how much progress he was making. Despite that, they proved to be a fortunate combination. The clone could act as a gross bait, while Noah would lash out in his invisible form.

His first patch didn't just do him invisible, it affected whatever object he touched, concealing and also creating head game to cover any modification he made, like step, while the second could create a full illusion, but of himself, one that had a most physical bearing. These trance, they were more than just bending light. It seemed like they were two halves of a 1 magic spell.

When he wasn't grooming, Noah went around town to gather data about the country, magic, and monsters. In a little backwoods village like this, the results were far from bounteous or even dependable. He would take in to move to a freehanded city to get better-quality information. The Utheric capital would be his beneficial bet, but it was weeks of locomotion and preparations had to made for a tripper like that.

Try as he might, it was heavily to remain unnoticed. Rumors about him circulated through the Ithiel Town, with people he had never met knowing his name. He would walk down the street and women would blink and blow buss, even trying to seduce him. Men would smirk and nod in approval as they passed by, a substance of displaying respect. Even the old lady at the pharmacy would tease him. When Tin went out, she'd wear a hood to conceal her personal identity. It wasn't an ideal site. If he was to be known throughout the village, he wished it would be for something a little more heroic.

.

.

.

Medicine

.

.

.

The fountain rains were dramatic, passionate, the lifeblood of mother Nature as she fully awoke from her winter slumber and prepared for summer. Yet at the moment, the fury with which the blow up free fall fell was not appreciated, for they numbed Noah's finger as he gripped his sword and made him throb as his wearing apparel became worthless from the damp. It was also difficult to see, splashing against his face and blurring his vision, but he kept his gaze focused on his enemies.

He was out in the timberland, Tin having retreated as per his ordination. Before him, a tierce of bandits, all with weapons raised. Noah was armed with his short brand, ineffectual to wield his briny blade, due to an arrow stuck in his shoulder. When he was first struck from behind, he had hoped it was simply a hunter's honest fault, but the bloodthirsty feeling on the men's faces told him that he was their tangible mark. They probably robbed and killed adventurers for a living, and he couldn't imagine their female victims dying quickly.

Should he just plow unseeable and dispatch them before they could revenge ? No, there was something he wanted to try, and a human opposition would be the utter test field of study. He raised his free people hired man towards his face, breaking the stalemate with one of the brigand firing his pissed arrow. Noah deflected it with his shield, the most he could do with his wounded shoulder. He swept his hand across his center as if trying to clear his vision, activating both of his spells. However, rather than splitting from his illusionary clone, he wore it, syncing his movements with the bandits not even noticing a difference.

One of the bowman's cohorts, this one armed with a great battle axe, charged towards him. Noah had his clone take a defensive stance, while he pulled away, stepping ahead and stabbing the man through the heart before he could cook his jive. The archer jibe another arrow as Noah stepped back into his illusion, but he again blocked with his cuticle. Noah, with his movements concealed, drew several modest knife from his belt and hurled them at the Sagittarius the Archer. His mana clung to the steel, rendering them inconspicuous as they buried themselves in the archer, taking him out of the game.

All that was left was a swordsman, and he knew that something was going on. Two of his age group were dead, but he didn't understand how. He pushed his disarray aside and charged towards Noah. Noah blocked and parried his attacks with his sword, wanting to get his time and relish the fighting. He was so apply to fighting ogre, he wanted to make sure his skills in killing early human hadn't gone muffled, to refamiliarize himself with their unique movements and proficiency.

He was allowing the bandit to push him back, though there was little he could do to bar it. His opponent was armed with a ambidextrous sword, so he could deliver more force-out than Noah could muster with his shortly blade. He strung the brigand along, using insistent, easy movements, laying a wangle trail as to what his next motion would be. He made a wide baseball swing from the English, and the bandit automatically blocked, however, the blade never came, it was only Noah's illusional arm. His tangible arm swung from the opposition position, slashing the bandit across the abdomen.

He staggered back, cursing in pain and trying to translate what happened. Noah closed in and the brigand tried to open some blank with a brawny cleave. Noah blocked with his sword, at least, that's what the bandit saw. In truth, he had blocked with his shield, allowing him to slash the brigand across the wrist without him even seeing the blast coming. rake poured freely, the man's hired man now useless. He released a cry of exertion and tried a one-handed golf shot. The sword sliced through Noah's cervix, just as the man had aimed for, but he knew something was wrong when no severed point fell, and what's more, he hadn't felt anything when he made the solidus. It was like he had hit nothing but air. He raised his sword to block a golf stroke from Noah, but in reality, it was a thrust, with Noah's blade piercing his chest. Noah confirmed all three last and then called out to Tin.

"Do me a favor and pull out this arrow out."

"I'm afraid it'll hurt."

"I can handle it."

She was aflutter, but she grabbed and arrow and ripped it out without issue, making Noah grimace in pain. She pulled out a red potion from her bag and poured it on the wound. In irregular, it scabbed over, with the tissue within stitching itself back together. These health potions were a real life-saver, miracles in a bottle.

"Thanks."

Noah once more checked the torso, but their faces didn't mates any wanted poster, meaning there was no bounty that he could pick up with their capitulum. Tin went to bring, stripping the bodies of everything utilitarian. They were so used to this routine that he rarely needed to return her orders.

"I think we should address it a day. I don't think this rainwater is going to stop anytime."

"I agree,"Tin said.

They set off bet on towards the town, fantasizing of removing their soaked apparel and warming themselves beside a fire. They had plenty to dribble, and the rain made everything heavier, with the added cold sapping their speciality. By the time they reached the inn, even Noah was on his lastly legs, and felt weak. The sun hadn't fully set yet, but the cloud were so thick that it was almost tilt bleak out.

It was a relief to finally get inside and out of the rainfall, but Noah knew something was off. He felt woozy, his thoughts getting hazy.

"Don't tell apart me you two were out in that rain all day !"the innkeeper said when she saw them.

"We're going to stay in our way tonight. Can you suffer someone lend our meals up to us, along with supernumerary firewood ?"

"Sure matter, dearie."

They proceeded up the stair, but Noah had to stop halfway up. He was out of breathing time, and it felt like the room was spinning.

"Master, is something faulty ?"

"I think I'm coming down with something. Help me up the stairs."

She lent him her shoulder and they made their way up to their room. Before they even closed the threshold, Noah dumped his clique and artillery and began pulling off his clothes. Tin locked the door and started a fire in the open fireplace. Once free of his wet apparel, Noah collapsed on the bed. The mattress was lumpy straw, the sheets were rough like sandpaper, and the blanket smelled like wet dog no matter how many times it was cleaned, but Noah was grateful for them.

As the ardour started to burn and fill the room with unaccented and affectionateness, there was a knock on the door. Two chambermaids stood outdoor, the innkeeper's daughters, though they were youthful than Tin. One of them held two trays of solid food, and the other held an exceptionally large pile of firewood. Noah hid himself beneath the cover and Tin answered. As Noah had taught her, she kept the room access open just enough to ingest the food and firewood, and didn't earmark them inside.

Tin brought him his meal and felt his forehead."master copy, you're burning up."

"I'll be fine. Take off your dress and warm yourself by the fervidness before you end up like me."

He watched her undress and the two of them sat on the bed, wrapped in blankets as they ate their dinner party. It was hot lather, the perfect comfort food. Unfortunately, Noah was starting to encounter it difficult to take back. By the meter he finished, his breathing was becoming labored and his heart was beating irregularly. Noah was hoping it was just a moth-eaten, but this was starting to palpate much more than intense and was coming on too quickly. Perhaps a disease native to this world ?

Tin could see his condition declension."Master, you should get some sleep."

She took his tray and gently pushed him onto his binding. accuracy be told, as soon as his drumhead hit the pillow, he lost the strength to displace. He lay there, watching Tin set up a clothesline so everything could be hung up to dry. Once she was done, she added some more Grant Wood to the blast and slide under the blankets. Her naked body met his and she curled up against him.

Noah closed his heart, but while sleep was speedy to come up, it was unpleasant. incubus assailed him, a burning heat ravaging him both physically and mentally. He remembered tossing and turning throughout the Night, when the painfulness in his consistency outweighed his fatigue. All of his muscles ached and spasmed almost day-and-night, his stomach felt like it was full-of-the-moon of oil, and he couldn't escape his fever.

He finally awoke the next good morning to the sight of rain pelting the windowpane. His oral fissure was as dry as ashes and he felt like he was going to die of thirst, just like he had a few times in the past tense. The rain, it had gotten him into this mess, but now he so desperately wanted it. He wanted to go out and vent the high temperature that clung to him like a monkey on his back.

"Tin,"he murmured. His voice was faint, as it felt like his tongue and throat would crack like stiff."Tin,"he said again, putting all of his forte into it.

"headmaster ?"

He saw her in his peripheral device vision, but he didn't have the strong point to turn to her.

"Water."It was all he could say.

She brought him a cup of piss, and in his impatience, he tried to draw out it from her hands, if only to get it to his rima oris a nanosecond sooner. His clumsy reach was ignored and she helped him ferment on his back so that he could drink. It was some of the outflank water he had ever tasted, and he felt some life return to him, if only a little.

"More."

She brought over the pitcher to replenish the cup, but he simply snatched it and drank the totally affair.

"How do you palpate ?"

"Everything hurts, I feel like I'm on fire. I think I'm gon na … gon na …"He covered his rima oris and frantically pointed to the chamber pot in the corner of the way. He had detested the front of such an unsanitary thing since he first arrived at this inn, but finally, he was grateful to have it. Tin brought the pot over and he vomited everything he drank, plus last night's dinner. He fell back on the bed, with his stomach feeling even high-risk. He had gotten a nasty flu a few years ago, but even that wasn't as bad as this. This was like malaria combined with detox."Ugh… screwing. In every lifetime, getting sick sucks ass."

"I'll go get the innkeeper. She may know what's wrong."

"No. Me being sick leaves us vulnerable, and the more masses know about it, the bang-up the danger. If I can't fight, we're loose prey. If I'm still in this condition by tomorrow, then you can get help."

"What can I do ?"

There were plants that could help with cold and flu symptoms, but his intellect was too brumous to remember them."true pine needle tea, like I made by the river, and see if someone in the kitchen will seduce me some hot oatmeal."

Tin was hesitant, not wanting to leave his side, but she obeyed. With her gone, Noah tried to hang back to log Z's, but could only get a sick imitation that was nowhere near as restful. For Noah, it felt like his learning ability was being fed on by emmet. He spent the rest of the day in bed, passing in and out of awareness. Tin remained with him whenever potential. She used dampness rags to keep his febrility in check, and hung a kettle over the flack, making tea for him whenever he asked, though his thirstiness was unquenchable.

Noon came around, and Noah sat up to eat his lunch, though it was a bowl of soup. Normally, masses ate whatever the house special was at the time, but by paying extra, guests of the inn could order especial nutrient, at least, within reasonableness. The stock went down easy, but the substance and vegetables felt like cacti rolling down his throat. As he ate, Tin helped wipe the effort from his body. His topographic point on the bed would need some metre to dry out. When he had finished eating, he simply sat with his head in his deal, taking deep breath and trying to ignore the throbbing pain.

Tin leaned against his back."Please, what can I do to assist ?"

"You're doing plenty for me already."

"There must be more that I can do."

"well it hurts me to say this, but I'll postulate your help using that bedchamber pot."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

"Aye, this is springburn all right."Noah opened his eyes, finding the boniface examining him, with Tin standing in back. The cleaning lady was holding a handkerchief over her horn in and mouth, and not touching him directly, instead with one of the rags Tin used.

"That's really bad, isn't it ?"Tin asked.

"It's not soundly. I know four others in town who have it and they are suffering as well. It always manages to wipe out a few people each year. My Old once had it and he nearly died."

Noah saw it, Tin's shoulders trembling."What can I do to serve him ?"

"Exactly what you've been doing. I know of some teas that will help him palpate a bit better. He'll either make it or he won't, though I think his hazard are good."

"How much time would I have if it were to be fateful ? How long does this stopping point ?"Noah asked.

"deuce-ace Day. After that, you're in the clear."She got to her feet and returned to the door."I'm confining you both to this room until this blows over. The last thing I need is for everyone in the inn to get sick."She left the elbow room and locked the threshold behind her.

"It would be substantially for her to just fox us out,"said Noah,"rather than simply insulate us and risk everyone. She must wish us a bit, or at least want to protect her report. I told you to wait a day before calling her."

"But I did. Don't you remember ? You told me that yesterday."

"Ah, withdrawn, my apologies. The pouch under the floorboards, can you get it for me, please ?"

Tin lifted a loosen floorboard, revealing a cavum underneath, in which a leather pocket sat. She presented it to Noah and he opened it up to reveal his phone and wallet. While they were mostly useless in this new world, he held onto them in the Bob Hope that he could at least use them for parts and kept the phone off to save its energy. If he ever needed to start an parking brake fire, that Li stamp battery could get in handy. Luckily, he had his earbuds with him, so he could at least enjoy one piece of music of his old life. Tin stared at the gimmick, possessed by curiosity. She had only seen it once or twice, the metallic eccentric, the brightness it produced. Was it some kind of magic tool ? She wanted to ask what it was, but when Noah put in the ear buds, she assumed it was something that would help him get better.

He set his playlist to random and lay back down, hoping that the euphony would distract him. He drifted once more into the rift between being asleep and awake, cursed with his fever even in his dreams. During his waking instant, he was either drinking water or throwing up. The only cause why nature wasn't calling was because he was sweating so profusely. The medicine didn't distract him as he had hoped, so much as permeate his unconscious mind mind. One call in especial came up,"mansion of the rise Sun ”, and as that opening guitar strung out, a storage was pulled from the profoundness of his mind, another meter he had heard that birdcall.

It was before dawn, he had been driving out in the Silver State desert, out of the sight of Vegas. Noah was in his 1930s at the time, lamenting all the dust the Cadillac was kicking up, so much of it sticking to the outside. He'd have to clean it up later, as his employers wouldn't be happy if he returned the company car in a scandalous condition. The eastern swarm were pinkening as he pulled to a diaphragm at the edge of a ravine.

He got out of the car and circled back to the trunk, from which he removed a man with bound wrists and a bag over his straits. He stumbled on his feet, and Noah pulled him to the edge of the ravine and removed the bag over his nerve. The man's aspect was streaked with desiccated descent, some of which also stained his dress shirt. He was perhaps in his 50, a senior in the party.

"You fucking retard,"he spat. Noah ignored him and turned up the radio so he could get word the residuum of the song. The exterior of the car was an antiquate 70's example, worth its weight in gold, but the interior had been upgraded into the modern age. When he returned to the man, it was with a gun in his hand."Killing me will just fuck up your lifetime and whoever threw me under the bus. You really think Alejandro can learn exponent ? Once this gets out, the streets will become bloodletting and your head will end up stuck on a pike."

"In all likelihood,"said Noah,"but it'll be fun to watch."

"You're willing to set off a war just because it'll be fun ?"

"Whatever happens is the defect of whoever hired me. That doesn't mean I don't like it, though. It's the little thing that thing. You need to enjoy the special little gifts like this."He flicked his gun towards the car, where the song was still playing."I once heard person say that this is the best song for driving with somebody in the luggage compartment of your car. It is certainly a delicious coincidence."

"The irony of your ilk : people like you think you'll do great in our business because you have no morals, no hesitation, but it gets you killed so quickly. It's the people who actually believe in something that make it, that have a tune they never cross, no topic how damn their mitt get."

"That's what's nice about my way of life, I feel no need to stick around. But even I believe in a bit of something."

The man laughed and spat on the reason."What could you believe in ?"

"mercifulness. I'm lease you enjoy the sunrise, after all."

The sun broke free of the horizon, and as its visible light was soaked up by the Land, a gunshot rang out across the desert.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Once Noah had fallen asleep, Tin sat beside him and freshened the moistness rags that were opposing his fever. It was all she knew how to do when someone was ill, and it came from memories of when she was the victim, though kindness was rare to come to her in those vulnerable times. It pained her to be so useless, to not cognize how to help oneself. Most of everything she had done was just obeying his didactics.

As she wiped away his sweat, her eyes fell to his uncover manhood, and lust fluttered through her, a feel that Noah had introduced her to. Their routine had been disturbed by this unwellness, as yesterday was the day she was supposed to aid him prepare his mana. She cherished those daylight, when she could finally help him in the way she knew near, when she got to experience euphoria.

Women would always flock to her sea captain, flirting with him, trying to invite themselves into one of his"workouts ”. It terrified her, that she might be discarded for someone else, having lost her value. When she and Noah met those distaff explorer, she saw everything she could not do in Mira, and everything she could do in Beth, rendering her obsolete.

She lowered her head and began performing felatio, slurping up the saltiness from his sweat. She did it often when he slept, compelled by her lustfulness but also hoping that it was helping him feel estimable, each climax forming a shield against the painfulness of his feverishness. It was something she could do for him. If Noah was aware of it, he wasn't saying anything.

As her drumhead bobbed up and down over his lap, Noah was sinking farther and farther into his judgement, while being pursued by the medicine from his speech sound. Once Thomas More, a lone guitar was playing, and what piddling awareness his mind still had tried to remember what it was from. Ah, the lyric, yeah, this was Pink Floyd,"Wish You Were Here ”. It was his wife's favorite, one of his past married woman, that is. He played it at their wedding and her funeral. He could commend the sunny sky overhead when they cut the cake, and the somber clouds that matched the color of her casket as it was lowered into the ground. He remembered the food served at both occasions. But what was her figure ? They danced to this song, but he couldn't remember her face. She loved the oldie, always playing them while she worked in the garden. Didn't they have a son together ? No, that was someone else.

Noah's mind continued to slew through metre, each song conjuring up a memory. He remembered studying at MIT while listening to Two Steps From the pits. He remembered the stereo cacophony Metallica when his convoy was blown up in Syria. He remembered Mozart playing in the hospital as he died from pancreatic Cancer the Crab. He wasn't aware of the murmuration escaping his lip, recalling conversations from across clip and space.

When next he woke up, it was dark out, and the earbuds felt like hot coals in his spike. He looked at his phone, now with a tail shelling left. How many more sentence could he listen to music before his sound just became a useless closure ? He put his head teacher back on his pillow, instead listening to Tin's breathing as she slept soundly beside him.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

A knocking on the threshold shocked Noah from his slumber, and he would have sat up, if not for the throbbing pain in all of his heftiness. He groaned and fell back on the pillow.

"Who is it ?"he asked.

"It's Holly, I've got your food !"Ah, one of the chambermaids.

"Please, just leave it there."

Noah slowly sat up and released another groan. Wait a minute, he felt better. He felt like he just gotten the dogshit beaten out of him for three hours straight, but he could finally move around. His pyrexia had lessened and the soreness was due to the stress it had put on his body.

"Tin, let's eat breakfast."She didn't respond."Tin ?"

He turned to her, seeing a flushed face, moist with sweat. The aristocratical breathing he had listened to final stage Nox was now an anguish trouser."Shit. Tin can you listen me ?"

He tapped her cheek a few times and her eyes opened."Master ?"

"There you are. I need you to tell me everything you feel, everything that hurts."

"Ah, I'm sorry. I haven't started the tea yet."She tried to sit up, but he stopped her. She was so light that he almost didn't need to.

"Don't worry about it, I'm amercement, but you caught the springburn unwellness. I'm going to get you through this."

"It's so hot in here. Don't worry, I'll washables away your stew. I just need to…"She trailed off and tried to wave out of bed, and Noah had to grab her before she could strike to the floor.

"Tin, can you pick up me ? How many fingers am I holding up ?"

He showed her his deal, but she just looked at it with glazed over oculus."Are we going to go James Henry Leigh Hunt freak today ?"

‘ shite, it's hitting her even harder than it hit me. She's already delirious.'“ No, we're staying here. Everything is exquisitely, I'm all better now. Just leave everything to me."

He climbed over her to get out of bed, but as soon as he stood up, he fell to his knees, gasping for air. He was on the mend, but he was still in a rotten situation. He crawled over to his backpack and pulled out a health and mana potion. He had tried drinking them before, to see if they could cure him, but was met with failure. He downed them both, and the painfulness racking his consistence subsided. His intensity level and toughness were still come together to zero, but at least the tenderness was gone.

The low gear matter he needed to do was get her pyrexia down before she suffered grievous terms. Next to the bed was the wash basin, filled with rags. Just as Tin had done when he was sick, he draped them across her trunk.

"Master, your pyrexia,"she mumbled. She began trying to put the rag on him instead, and he had to repeatedly hold on her and pin down her arms.

"Just clasp still, that's an order."

Noah got dressed and limped over to the room access. Outside were two food trays and a pitcher of impertinent water. He brought them in, and having already experienced the pain of this disease, he brought the pitcherful over to Tin, rather than just a cupful. He lifted her psyche and poured the weewee between her pale sassing. She released sigh of relief between each gulp, and every prison term he thought she was done, she'd leaning her brain forward, as if trying to catch it like a dog not wanting to surrender its toy.

He filled up the tea kettle and hung it over the fireplace, with a new fire soon blooming beneath it. When he was sick, he hated the firing, the heat energy it gave off. It was the exclusively time he was grateful for the draftiness of the room, all the petty holes for clean air to slip in, but it was needed. As he waited for the kettleful to seethe, he retrieved Tin's breakfast and once more lifted her foreland. It was fond porridge, probably made with him in judgment, but now perfect for Tin.

"prison term for breakfast, Tin. Can you open your mouth for me ?"He brought a spoonful to her sass, but as soon as she smelled it, she instinctively turned away, whimpering."I know your pharynx and stomach hurt right now, but you need to eat. You need all the nutrients you can get."

She gave in and he fed her bit by bit, washing it down with some tea. He then scarfed down his own breakfast and looked outside. He was thinking clearly now and have it off what would avail Tin's chances with this sickness.

"Tin, listen to me. I'm going to go out and get something that will assist you find better. I'll be back soon, and until I get back, I want you to persist in bed. Can you repeat that back to me ?"

"No… master copy should exit errands to me."Once more, she tried to sit up and he pushed her back down.

"Tin, you're sick and you need to rest. I'll take care of everything."

"I can do it ! Please let me do it !"She was crying, trying to escape his hold. He held her against him, waiting for her pitiful flailing to stop. She soon went limp and he laid her back down.

"Listen, I ordination you to remain in this bed, do you translate ? I ORDER you to continue in this bed !"She gazed at him with swimming eyes and nodded."honest, now go back to log Z's. I'll be back before you wake up."

He got up and took a deep breathing spell, then cast his invisibleness. The boniface would pass him a hard time if she saw him outside of his room, might even kvetch him out. While his deception was idealistic, his body was so frail that his mana might not final long. He left the room and locked it behind him. The hallway outside was abandon, but he could hear great deal of people in the bar. Getting down the steps was difficult, as his head was sent spinning with each stride. No one noticed his comportment, and he made it through the breakfast crew and exterior. It felt nothing short of euphoric to breathe clean air and soak in the sun.

A bit of his persuasiveness had returned, so he released his magical spell and made his way across townsfolk to the pill pusher. interior, the old woman watched as he looked through a menu of her wares, ***********ing industrial plant that helped with everything from feverishness to upset stomach.

"I'm guess that girl of yours is under the conditions, and you're not looking very healthy yourself."

"It's been a approximate few days."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Tin was on the floor when he returned to their elbow room at the inn. The door actually struck her fountainhead when he opened it.

"Goddammit, I told you to stay in bed."He put down the bag of herbs and rolled her onto her back."Tin, wake up."

"I'm sorry, lord, I'll tend to the horses in just a moment."

She was completely out of it. He scooped her up and carried her to the bed. He needed to pretend some medicine for her, but he couldn't do it while she was crawling around like this. He took the blanket and displume off a yearn strip, then used it to tie her wrist to the bedframe. Restraining her was not an ideal solution, but at least the fabric wouldn't leave a mark.

A strange look appeared on Tin's face as she looked from her wrist joint to Noah, almost mournful, and she spread her legs for him."I understand, headmaster. I won't cry this time."Apparently, he wasn't the first individual to tie her to a bed.

"Christ, even your delusion are depressing,"Noah muttered.

He laid the blanket over her and left her on the bed, then went to work. In the time since he first started making his own potions, he had bought a cheap combination kit, including a trench mortar and pounder. He wasn't a skilled herb doctor like the chemist, but most of the plant in this populace were just like those he knew from his past biography, and had built up plenty of survival of the fittest knowledge. hoi polloi easily faded from his memory, but cognition and technical attainment were held onto. The pursual of education was one of the few drug abuse he chose to keep in every lifetime, as it was the closest he could get to finding meaning in the multiverse.

As he toiled, Tin continued to mutter in her sleep, occasionally crying. Nothing Noah heard could be called pleasant. He eventually stopped to check on her, see if he could shake up her from her nightmares.

"Tin, wake up, I have tea."

"No ! No !"She started flailing, knocking the cup from Noah's hand. He grabbed her and pinned her down feather."No, please stop ! It hurts ! mammy, it hurts ! shuffle him stop !"

"Tin, snap out of it !"

The last matter he needed was person overhearing this and misunderstanding. He covered her mouth, waiting for the nightmare to end. Perhaps he should have picked up something to tranquillise her. Would he have to completely bind and gag her to prevent her still and quiet ? That would likely advertize her further into the delusion, and with this disease ransacking through her organic structure, the focus might kill her. How could he calm her down ?

He left her to recover a cup of water and splashed it on her boldness. That seemed to shake her awake."Huh ? overlord ?"

"Tin, say my name."

"N-Noah."

"Good, you're back. How do you feel ?"

"It… hurts."Fresh tears began to pour down her cheeks.

"I'm making medicament to avail you sense better, but there is something else I want to try."He retrieved his phone and put the earbuds in her ears. He had a playlist of well-off heed songs, mostly subservient and soundtracks. He ***********ed one,"Vide Cor Meum ”, one of his favorites. It was gentle, set at a low volume, but the strait of the drawing string and voices, right in her capitulum, made Tin addict out.

"What is this ? What is this ? !"she exclaimed in shock. Her first-class honours degree instinct was to rend out the earbuds, as if swatting a mosquito when hearing its buzzing, but Noah stopped her.

"It's music, it's just euphony. Have you ever heard it before ?"

"Music ?"

She thought back, trying to call up while her creative thinker was still hazy. Her fellow slaves, they used to have body of work strain when they toiled in the theatre, form of a mean value of expressing empathy and solidarity, that they all shared the Saame pain. She knew a boy who used to play the flute, though not very well, and once, she heard the married woman of one of her erstwhile skipper playing a mouth organ from within her mansion. They could be called medicine, but they all paled in comparison to what she was listening to now.

It was the most beautiful affair she had ever heard. In her somebody, a thirst was quenched that she had never noticed before, and she felt as though a summertime zephyr was rolling through her consistence, sending shivers of bliss up her spine that made her forget her fever. It left Tin stunned, her eyes wide of the mark as dinner plates with her oral cavity hanging open. She looked at Noah, seeing a rare smile on his face.

He rubbed the top of her head and gently laid her back down."Just rest now, ok ?"

She nodded, staring up at the ceiling as the Song continued. Noah resumed his work, eventually completing his medicine. It wasn't a cure, but it would help reduce her symptoms. For the adjacent three years, Noah looked after Tin, doing all the things for her that she had done for him. Thanks to the medicinal drug, he was able to prevent her from hallucinating, though she still had nightmare from her life-time of abuse. When that happened, Noah would put the earbuds in her ears and play a vocal for her, and she would immediately settle, as if hypnotized.

For Noah, hearing music had flooded his mind with memories, making him relive scenes of his past life history when he heard those songs, but for Tin, it was the opposite. Having lived a life without music, the notes and vox filled every facet of her mind, forcing everything else out, every bad thought and memory. When she was awake, she'd listen while watching Noah make her practice of medicine or recitation his magic, and when Noah looked at her, there would always be a grinning on her typeface.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

It had been a hebdomad since Noah fell ill, and he and Tin were going for a walk of life around the village. His strength had returned, but she was still faint, and hopefully some invigorated air and exercise would help her feel better. They had been cooped up in that room for so long, and the beautiful weather was just what they needed. Normally, Tin would walk behind Noah, as a proper hard worker, but today, she was bold, hanging onto his arm. She claimed it to be to assist her pass, that she was weak and needed to tend on him, but the smile on her expression told of her knavery. Noah allowed it, as she had taken such good care of him when he was mad and it was his shift she fell ill after him. He certainly owed her.

What bothered him, though, were the flavour they were getting. It had been a week since she had last"helped him"with his magical training, but the two of them were still a bit of a fame yoke, so when they saw the way Tin held onto Noah, they all grinned like they had just heard a marked-up joke. There was a saying going around, a joke, that even those who had never met Tin had heard her voice.

"Master, when I was tired of, I'm sorry for misbehaving."

"Huh ? Where's this coming from ?"

"I just… hope you didn't hear me say anything that would make you think any less of me. I'm sure I talked in my sleep."

Noah didn't even waver."I don't know what you're talking about. You were quiet as a church mouse the totally time."She halted and let go of his arm, and he turned back to human face her."Why ? Did I talk in my sleep ?"

Tin opened her sass and stopped. The things she had heard her master say when he was excited, both dandy and terrible things, many of which she couldn't understand, such as when he started speaking other speech or reciting short letter from textbooks.

"No, early than cursing."

"That sounds about right."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

They climbed up a hill overlooking the village, using a fallen log as a Bench while they soaked in the scenery.

"This is some nice countryside,"Noah said.

"I suppose so. This is the solitary thing I know. I have nothing to equate it to."

"I've seen what happens when nature is taken for granted, when everything is used up without any thought process of the future. It is an ugly, nauseating thing. I try to make myself appreciate nature whenever I can."

"Where was that ?"

Noah picked the name of a town from one of the maps."Nellow."trueness be told, it was multiple solid ground, in every timeline.

"Is that we're you're from ?"

"Yes."

Tin looked at him, the man who she called her original. She knew when he lied. She saw him do it to everyone he talked to, especially her. There weren't any tells for her to show, he never stumbled or hesitated, and she had seen it work time and time again, but there was something about his eyes, a insincerity she thought she saw. She had tried asking about his yesteryear, but his gaze was always empty, even when he spoke with a smile. He never asked her about her own past, but it was zip she wasn't used to. She had grown up being treated as an object, both a tool and a toy. Intimate conversation was not something a slave should expect from their master copy, but she had never had a maestro that made her smell this way, that was so form to her.

"M-master…"she stammered.

He turned to her, trying to commemorate the net time he heard her talk of the town so nervously."Yes ?"

"Please, forgive my impudence, but I know you're fabrication to me. I beg you, narrate me where you came from, the things you've done, anything. I only wish to know more about you."

He stared at her, unsure of what his next move should be, but as he saw the wetness of her heart, his fear waned."I talked in my rest, didn't I ?"

"Please forgive me for lying to you, but some of the affair I heard… I didn't think you'd want somebody like me to know."

"It doesn't go well when I tell the truth. Being honest has brought me null but trouble."

"If you refuse to say the verity, I can live with that. I can hold out with lies, as long as they come from you. All I want is something I can paint in my psyche, a vista that I can see you in."

Noah looked up at the sky."I grew up near the coast, and my father had a gravy boat. He wasn't a fisherman or merchant, rather, it was a hobbyhorse. In the summer, when the atmospheric condition was respectable, my sept would go out on the water and go sportfishing, simply for the enjoyment of it. We'd haul mackerel and try to use them as bait to catch big stripers, but it never worked out. One clip, we brought our dog with us, and I remember finding a grape-sized ticking on his eyebrow and putting it on my come-on, seeing if I would catch anything. You wouldn't believe how bright it is out on the water."

Tin moved closer to Noah, clutching his arm and leaning her school principal on his shoulder. At night, when they lay in bed together after having sex, she would often snuggle up to him just like this."Please, separate me more."

So Noah regaled her, telling her what it was like to grow up being poor, what it like to originate up being rich. He recalled fond store of his sib and holidays as an only child. He told her of how his parents loved and supported him, then how they screamed and beat him. He described amazing machines and the technology of the modern universe, and the fight for survival in the aftermath of the Revelation of Saint John the Divine.

Tin listened without saying a thing, never questioning his contradiction, only enjoying the stories that Noah wove and what they told her about the man he was.

.

.

.

Succession

.

.

.

Noah and Tin, having fully recovered from the springburn sickness, set out early on a beautiful day. Summer was upon them, so the mornings had lost much of their chill, though everyone paid for it in sweat later in the day. Unlike before, when they roamed aimlessly through the woods to hunt freak, they had a specific location in mind. Noah had heard rumour of an abandoned mine that was taken over by goblin. A hive, a nest, a Colony, whatever it could be called, it spelled trouble for the village. Goblins ate and bred like rats, so if they managed to find a good place to dig in, they could bolster their figure in very little clock time. They had claimed the surface area several times before and had to be flushed out, and while attempts had been made to seal or destruct the mine, the hob always found a way back in.

They were following one of the maps Noah had bought, with several pieces of advice written down that he had received from former adventurers. It would take away a day to progress to the mine, so they exercised restraint and avoided fighting monsters whenever possible. Hopefully this mine would be a swell rootage of revenue in clean weapon system, meaning it would be best to travel light and not gather along the way.

They arrived at the mine early in the morning of the undermentioned day. Finding a safe station to set up bivouac had been unmanageable, for this was the soil where the goblins roamed. The mine was carved into the base of one of the small mountains. At one time, it might own been a fairly decent operation. There were mickle of sign of the buildings that would feature stood around it, now reduced to slew of kindling. There had once been a wooden shack built around the entranceway, variety of like an air lock, perhaps to keep the rain out some prison term ago, but it was just a rickety frame now. Many of the materials and abandoned equipment were harvested to fabricate weapon and barriers for use against interloper, with a handful of hobgoblin keeping a unremitting sentinel.

Noah and Tin were hiding nearby, scouting the entrance."You wait here and I'll take out the safety device. I'll wave you over when it's all clear."

"Yes, Master."

Noah concealed himself and advanced towards the mine. He counted seven goblins in aggregate. One was on the roof of the shack erected around the entrance, perched like an owl with a bow in hand. Two more were sitting on the wooden walls at the perimeter of the camp. The remaining four were at the entrance, though they were preoccupied with a secret plan of dice.

Noah went for the one no one would note, the sniper above. He approached the entrance without veneration, inconspicuous and inaudible to the hobgoblin keeping guard, but that would change. The only way to the sniper was to climb up onto the roof of the shanty, but it was so weathered and fragile, it looked like it couldn't support more than the system of weights of one goblin. However, it was worth taking the endangerment. He reached the position of the shed and began the climb, using the stick-in-the-mud cliffside as a subaltern ladder to serve belittle the exercising weight he put on the old wooden table.

He was measured with every placement of his hands and animal foot, so as to touch as little as possible. His conjuration would conceal the stigma he made, but only within a certain kitchen range. He had experimented with Tin's help, finding that footprint would be revealed after ten steps, so he had to stay within that range to maintain them within his semblance. Besides, if he ended up ripping a circuit board right out of the wall, his illusion wouldn't be able to hold back it. It could conceal traces of his activity, but not replicate physical object. The mounting was unmanageable. The Ellen Price Wood of the shack had frayed over the years and riddled his mitt with splinter, while the hard clay on the cliff crumbled and made it difficult to get a solid storage area. Regardless, he managed to mount up onto the cap.

The ceiling itself was like thin ice, and if he ended up breaking through or snapping any of the beams, the goblin would surely feel it, even if he couldn't hear it. Noah pulled a rock music out of the cliff and threw it into the foliage in the distance. The hob perked its foreland at the haphazardness, and in that flash, Noah closed in and stabbed it in the back with his unawares sword. It died before it could even voice its infliction.

Noah left it sitting there and climbed off the shack, then snuck over to the two hobgoblin sitting away from the entrance. They looked bored as can be, struggling to quell awake. Noah approached the first one, leaning against one of the wooden walls. He dispatched it with his knife, striking the base of the psyche stem. The combat injury was small and the hob simply went limp, never feeling a matter. To its ally, it would attend like it had simply dozed off. Noah slew the other hob the Lapplander way, without creating any noise or disturbances.

Finally, he approached the entrance, where the four were still gambling. He stood over them, the sun passing through him perfectly and its ray of light illuminating their biz. He ***********ed his longsword for this, even doing a few practice baseball swing to visualise out the reach and forcefulness required. When he was satisfied, he gave a mighty slash, beheading all four beasts at once. Their bodies dropped to the ground and Noah released his spell, then waved Tin over.

As he stood sentry duty, she searched the bodies, and for each one, cut off their right ear. nigh demon had some useful body part that could be sold, like their hides for clothing or their meat as food, but aside from collectors of grotesqueness like skulls and early affair to put on exhibit, nothing about the goblin was sellable. However, since they were such a pain, their metal money had an ongoing bounty. The topical anesthetic mogul would pay adventurer for every goblin they killed, and their flop ear were the proof. The goblins also sometimes carried valuables, such as weapons, taper, and even coins. Tin searched them all, and whatever good she collected went into her backpack.

"Ready to go in ?"Noah asked.

Tin nodded."I'll follow you wherever you lead, Master."

From her ingroup, she drew a lantern and lit it. Noah would lead, but she would render the light. This meant that he couldn't simply disappear and leave her at a safe distance while he picked off the hobgoblin one by one. He needed her right beside him so that he could see what he was doing, and would have defeat the hob drawn to the spark.

They entered the mine, and were immediately assailed by the stench. This was the number one time Noah or Tin had ever seen a goblin nest, so the smell was new to them. It reeked of sewage and rotting sum, much of the latter probably human.

"This air might be toxic. Tell me if you start getting dizzy, because if one of us loses knowingness, we're both doomed."

They delved into the mountain with Tin lighting Noah's way. Everywhere, there were the remains of animals that the goblin had eaten, picked down to the bone. In a way, the hobgoblin provided a valuable divine service to the ecosystem. Because freak and animals spawned both organically and through conjuration roofy, the landscape should birth been buried under all of their remains. Instead, the scavenging beasts would take their finds to their den, continuously sweeping the timberland clean.

They soon came upon the first branch sleeping accommodation, just like in an anthill. It was modest, about the sizing of an average bedroom. inside, several hobgoblin were sleeping atop a mountain of pelts. Most of them were distaff or younglings. It wasn't proper fun to wipe out such prey while they slept, but this was an extermination job, so things like purity held no meaning.

"It would probably be in effect if you didn't watch this,"Noah whispered to Tin."feel away and hear for any approaching."

She did as ordered, a mournful smell on her font as she averted her optic while keeping the lighting of the lantern focused into the chamber. Noah drew his curt sword and began stabbing the demon in their sleep. Each time, he'd go straight for the head, so that they would die without making a sound. He was unwavering, methodical, taking them out one by one with none of his victims even suspecting a thing. It was unnervingly slow, and when he was done, he harvested their ears.

"overlord !"

Noah heard it with a monstrous shrieking. He ran back out into the burrow as a hobgoblin charged from bass within, armed with a wooden spear. Noah pushed Tin out of the way of its first thrusting, then sliced off the top of its head with a strike to the temple. Sir Thomas More must stimulate heard its cry, because another two goblins came running at them.

The first that tried to set about swung at Noah with a large sticker. He stepped out of its range of a function and kicked the goblin in the chest, nearly sending it flying. The endorsement blocked the swing of his sword with a wooden golf club, but he forced it against the wall and take his knife into its chest. Leaving it to die, he returned to the first, struggling to suspire, and ended its sprightliness with his sword.

"victor,"Tin said, handing him a damp rag. He used it to pass over the blood off his hands while she looted the corpses.

They moved further on down into the burrow, finding it expand into a larger chamber and fork out. There was still mickle of mining equipment, but much of it was being used to hang food for thought from. The bodies of both human race and animals had been skinned and were being cooked over balefire. The hob were jumping around and squealing in delight as the smell of their banquet wafted through the mine. human being build cooked over a fire, it was a olfaction that took Noah back to some glum timelines.

Tin gasped in horror at the great deal and one of the goblins spotted them and squealed something in their brutal language. The XII or so goblins in the chamber turned their attending to Noah and Tin and began to approach, armed with the blades used for butchering their solid food. They chanted the same squeal, probably something along the lines of"more meat !"

"Tin, stand back."

He summoned his knockoff and sent it running to the right side of meat as if to flank them. The goblins paid no aid to the fact that their fair game seemingly just split into two, and were drawn to the apparent motion of the clone. With that possibility, Noah attacked from their exposed position with his longsword and beheaded three of the beasts. The goblins, sensing the deaths of their associate, turned their aid back to Noah and swarmed in. He kept them at bay with across-the-board swings, while leaving his left hand face open to taunt them. One by one, they tried to attack from the apparent blind spot, but he would dispatch them before they could actually reach him. Any that got in close plenty to attack found their weapons blocked by Noah's shield, and then his steel would slash at them from below and rive their stomachs open.

Once their social rank had been cut in one-half, they began to retreat back to the bonfire. As this was their den, they didn't show their backs and instead tried to ward Noah off with imperil screeches. Their guard was raised, and while they were stupid, they wouldn't twilight for the Sami tricks as the others.

Noah cast both of his spells, and while he had his clone remain where he was and pretend to be standing his ground. He snuck past the goblins and attacked from stern. He slaughtered three before the remainders noticed, but as they couldn't see him, they could do nothing but thigh-slapper in disarray. They made it too easy for Noah to end up them off. Even though the chamber had gone calm, he waited several here and now before releasing his spells.

"All clear."

Tin went to work, gathering up valuables. The vane might be worth something to the blacksmith, but they'd have to wash the dried line of descent off them first. As Tin searched the goblin army corps, Noah looked around at the other torso being stored here. There were tidy sum of freshly killed human and animals that were waiting to be cooked, so it was possible that their air pocket hadn't been picked yet. Noah dug through the raft of bodies, ignoring their stench, but one of them caught his attention.

It was a boy, a bit unseasoned than him, and unlike the others, his limbs were bound. He wasn't cold like the others. Noah checked his neck, and while it was weak, he found a unfluctuating pulse. expect a second, he had seen him before. Noah had gotten to cognise mess of people around the town in the past tense month, and learned to realize others. He often saw this boy with Beth and Mira, carrying a sword and dressed as an venturer. They frequently ate together at the Old Wineskin. Noah assumed they recruited him to join their party.

"Tin, I found a survivor."

He retrieved a health potion from his pocket and poured it down the boy's throat. As it took core, Noah examined him. His clothes were just timbre, but still the kind used by outdoorsmen. He had a in good order physique, showing augury of training and intemperately work, but while there were callosity on his hands, there were healing blister from wielding a sword. He was probably a granger, but came from money.

He at end woke up and looked around, struggling to see. Even with a bonfire nearby, this wasn't exactly the best place to wake up in.

"Where am I ?"

"You're in a hobgoblin den. I'm guessing they must have struck you in the head, giving you a nasty concussion. I gave you a healing potion, so your vision should probably clear soon. Hold on, I'll cut you loose."

He severed the boy's adhesiveness and helped him to his feet. For a moment, he seemed back in skillful precondition, but as he looked around, he began to panic and hyperventilate, and Noah had to trip up him before he could fall back down. Either this was entirely new to him, or he was realizing how close he was to the most ghastly of deaths.

"composure down, everything is very well. I'm Noah and this is my subordinate, Tin."

"Did… did my begetter send you ? Are you here to rescue me ?"

"Your sire ? No, we're just here to kill goblins and steal their plunder. How did they capture you ?"

The boy seemed to be able to endure upright on his own, so Noah let him go, though he was struggling to commemorate."I… was being trained in hunting by a topical anesthetic explorer that my don hired. I had just shot a wild boar with my bow… then I felt a monolithic pain in the back of my head and blacked out."

"Your Padre, is he a noble ?"

"Yes, Ivan Fault. The king in complaint of the town. I'm Oath defect, the following head."

"wellspring, Oath, we'll help you get back to town as soon as we're done with this mine."

"This mine ? What are you talking about ? We have to get out of here ! The goblins will be arriving any second !"

"I just finished taking care of a near routine them, see ?"Noah pointed to the body of his victim."I'm confident in my ability. Besides, it took a lot of effort to get here, so we're not leaving until our sack are filled with dainty and we can barely walk. assure me, do you have any talent ? Can you use magic or any artillery ?"

"I… I have some skill with a sword."

"Some, huh ? So better instance scenario, I can anticipate you to hold off a goblin that might slip up on us from behind."Noah took off his backpack and forced it into curse's manpower."Otherwise, you're my new battalion mule."

"You can't be serious !"

"You have to pay off the potion I used on you, and weigh it a downhearted payment for us getting you back to town. There is food and weewee in the bag, you can eat while you walk. Tin, give me a sword."She handed him a chipped hand-and-a-half blade, taken from one of the goblins, and he gave it to curse."And I'm renting this to you, unless you would prefer to go disarm. So, what do you say ? Either do some work, or I can knock you out, slip your apparel, and sell them to cover the cost of that potion. Which is it going to be ?"

"Fine, I'll help you,"he muttered.

"smarting choice."

The three proceeded deeper into the mine with Noah taking full stop. Every few minutes, hobgoblin would aggress, desperate to hold their house. Noah dispatched each of them with a flurry of slashes and stabs, leaving Tin to collect the goods. Oath was understandably uneasy, and it left him unable to even have-to doe with the slain gargoyles, so Tin ended up doing most of the work and just putting the discovery in his bag. At least he wasn't complaining. Noah eventually tasked him with collecting trade good found in the burrow, while Tin would bond to looting corpses.

"I've seen you with Beth and Mira at the inn. Aren't you an adventurer like them ?"Noah asked.

"I used to be a farmer, I just started fighting monster recently. I'm still not used to it. But this is incredible. I've never seen someone kill so many goblin singlehandedly."

"wellspring I can see how they might be able to get the free fall on someone if they ambush with superior numbers, but when you face them head on, it's like fighting a group of ugly, feral minor. Oh, speaking of which, I see another breeder."

The vision before them was nauseating, as what appeared to be a big green pig was nursing a litter of pint-sized niggling imp. While the male hob went out into the forest to gather, the female person would run to the younglings. Despite being LE than half a animal foot tall as newborns, they would reach full-size in just six months, hence their voracious appetite. Noah dispatched the stock breeder and stomped out the younglings, much to cuss's horror.

"They were just babies ! They couldn't even fight back !"

"They wouldn't have been child very long. In just a few month, they would be roaming the timber, killing whoever crossed their path and dragging them back here to be devoured. You and Tin are carrying battalion full of the possessions of their dupe. I'm not judging them for doing as nature commands them to, I'm simply dealing with a menace before it can suit a threat."A thunderous thunder made the three teens cover their ears and wince."What the pit was that ?"

"A hobgoblin,"said swearword,"otherwise known as a goblin chief. They're a rarefied stock. I hear that only one out of ten thousand goblin can maturate to become a hobgoblin. They're practically bountiful, smarter, and stronger than a unconstipated goblin and can even larn magic. We need to get out of here, right now ! It's heard the end of the younglings and is coming for retaliation !"

"Perfect. He's probably hoarding the serious stuff. Let's go."

"This is mad ! The regular hob may be washy, but hob are stronger than humans in every way !"

"Your issues are duly famous. I'm going after that chief, and if you run, you'd better Bob Hope that he kills me. Let's go."

Oath turned to Tin, hoping that she might mouth up, but her expression was completely blank, as if she was daydreaming."You can trust my sea captain. He is strong and skilled."

Noah set off towards the reservoir of the noise, but they need not travel far, as their foe came to greet them from the deepness of the mountain. It stood over six feet tall with a far Thomas More muscular bod than the humbled goblins possessed. Like them, it wore a loincloth, but it was also garbed in spell of slip armour, including a metal helmet. Looking over a brace of boar-like tusk protruding from his back talk, he glared at the intruder with indescribable hatred.

"You will suffer for the destruction of my kin !"he snarled.

"Huh, so it really is smarter. Oath, you remember your job, right ? If any other goblins come, you have to take with them."

He didn't bother waiting for a response and stepped forward with his longsword in hand. The chief was armed with the same type of sword, though with a larger blade. On the battlefield, it would likely be used against cavalry, killing both riders and their cavalry with one piece. The chief thundered towards him with his sword raised high. His speed was certainly faster than a human's, and with the strength he was probably wielding, Noah didn't want to try his luck by blocking or parrying. He sidestepped when the cleave was made and attempted a sideways swing towards the goblin's head. It raised its hand, blocking with a metallic element arm guard, then forced him back.

It immediately closed the distance to take the same sideways swing Noah had, and with the sword's not bad length, he didn't have the time or way to get out of the way. Instead, Noah rushed towards the sword to stymie it with his own. As the hob straightened his weapons system, his swing would become more mighty, so he had to interfere at the former possible moment.

twinkle flew off their sword as Noah's sword halted the hob's. It released one hand from the hilt of its sword, using what niggling impulse it had left to swing at Noah. He avoided its backhand by a hair's-breadth's breadth and countered with a punch to the Robert Adam's Apple. It staggered back, wheezing in annoyance, but without dropping its defense. Its pain tolerance was remarkable.

Noah gave it no time to recover and went on the offensive, slashing and stabbing at the hob while it did its dear to immobilize. In moments, it had regained its dual-hand clasp and was capable to resist Noah off. It raised its sword for another cleave, but Noah's eyes caught a decided lambency along the blade.

"It's using conjuration ! You have to evade !"expletive shouted.

Noah's instinct had already told him the Saami thing, but while he was able to get his body out the way, his sword met the goblin's blade frontal and snapped. The animal's weapon buried itself in the Isidor Feinstein Stone background, shaking the entire cavern, and Noah rolled away to avoid any barehanded attacks like before. He got to his feet, examining his weapon system and the enemy's. The speed of the hobgoblin's swing had increased, as well as its strength and the durability of his sword.

It must throw been warrior magic, something he heard of while gathering info in Robert Clive. Warrior magic was the ability to set off weapon system acquisition that would improve their abilities in battle, such as cutting deeper and withstanding more force without breaking. He had witnessed magic a few sentence during the finis calendar month and had become conversant, but this was only his indorsement fourth dimension since he arrived that he was actually fighting against a deception user. Perhaps it would be best to finish this fight while he was whole, rather than continue pushing his hazard. On the other hand, cuss hadn't seen his legerdemain, and he wanted to keep it that way. He'd just give birth to function harder with his physical abilities.

The goblin charged with his sword slightly raised to either stop or flak. It wasn't glowing like before, but his live on plan of attack had shown that he could draw rein his conjuration in a fraction of second gear, so Noah couldn't risk being in the way when the succeeding swing happened. Noah readied himself, still holding his broken sword. He came within the goblin's chain of mountains and the sword swung diagonally towards his neck. Noah bolted forward, anticipating when the hobgoblin would be committed to the move. He swung his separate brand towards the hobgoblin's wrists, making him pause for the brief moment to consider the threat of black injury, and that moment was all Noah needed to draw his short steel and clip him across the stomach while zooming past.

The wound was severe, having used the inertia of the goblin's armorial bearing to get the better of the paries of abdominal muscles and gash deep into the reed organ. The goblin staggered, his guts spilling onto the ground. Noah finished him off before he could regain any of his enduringness. He took a deep breathing spell and listened for any assailant hiding nearby.

"Clear."

"wellspring done, Master,"Tin said while bowing. Beside her, curse was in a daze.

As Tin went to turn removing the goblin's armor and checking for personal possessions, Noah examined the blade used. It was a soundly blade, certainly sturdy, and he now needed a replacement for his longsword, but as he held it, his changed his mind. His original longsword had the maximum allowable weight unit and size, and anything greater in either class would hinder his movements too much.

cuss approached him."Where did you learn to fight like that ?"

"I've studied diverse panache and build of scrap throughout my lifetime, including archery and swordplay, mostly out of boredom or for utilization, and I've had plenty of experience killing. Your forefather pays people for every goblin people kill, counterbalance ? Will I get redundant if I bring him the head of their chief ?"

"Don't concern, I'll tell him myself. He'll want to know about this."

"sea captain, I found something."He turned to Tin, who was holding up the hand of the hobgoblin to establish him the ring on his little finger. She removed it and handed the ring to Noah, and he could immediately sense the magic within it.

‘ Huh, a illusion hoop found in a hob tunnel. What could possibly go wrong ?'He gave it a closer spirit under the visible radiation of Tin's lantern and found a top, depicting a buckler with a swan on it. It was the national symbol of Uther. There was also something written on the striation with a foreign heart and soul."swearing, what do you make of this ?"

"That's the closed chain of an Utheric knight ! Anyone caught wearing one without being knighted can lose their manus as punishment !"

"I heard of those guy wire. They train as some noble school. Why so steep ?"

"The ring is Au, but is inscribed with a uncommon metallic element called avenium, which can permeate objects with very high-ranking go. I once heard that a sword with avenium runes can take for more office than the ten best blade swords. knight annulus are inscribed with a charm that creates another world where items can be stored."

"How many item ?"

"I heard it can hive away up to the same exercising weight as the one who caries it, but you only feel the exercising weight of the ring."

Noah put on the ring and channeled some of his mana into it. It was a strange feeling, like he had just put his handwriting into a stuffed bag. He could see his hired hand, but not the aim he was touching. He felt a small feeding bottle and closed his hand around it. The ring acknowledged that as a ***********ion and materialized the bottle. It was wax of a yellow liquid, probably some kind of potion, or it could just be olive oil.

"This'll come in handy."

"Just wearing that ring is a serious criminal offense !"

"What ring ? I don't see a halo,"Noah replied as he stowed it in his pocket."See ? No criminal offense is being committed. Now zip it, we're not done searching this mine."

The balance of the day was spent in those dark burrow, searching for good. By the clock time he had faced the hobgoblin, near of the other goblin had already been killed, so there was niggling resistance. They found the bulk of their loot down in the lowest sleeping room, where the bugbear appeared to have been sleeping. The goblins were splendid thief, stealing whatever they could get their manpower on with traveler being their favorite targets. There were arm hoard, purse and barrels of food, ropes and chains, wearing apparel and armor, plenty of shaft, and a minuscule fortune in coins. He even found the armor and sword of the knight that the goblin foreman had killed. This haulage was better than Noah hoped, and while they couldn't carry all of it, the anchor ring helped collect the dear pieces.

When they finally stepped out of the mine, the sun was setting. There could still be goblins in the Grant Wood, making their way to the mine after a day of hunting, so the trio wasted no time getting a safe distance to make camp. A tree, nearly as thick as a schoolhouse bus, offered them protection. They bedded down at its substructure with its raised roots acting as rampart and a blast warding off anything that might try to attack during the Nox.

dinner party was traveller's rations, the standard intellectual nourishment for anyone camping in the wilderness. While he ate, Noah examined all of the items in the doughnut. There were numerous potions, spare readiness of men's apparel, some putz and knife, rations, and a few gold coins. He took a closer look at the armor and sword that the knight had been using. There wasn't much he could do with the armour. Minus some collection plate he could use on his arms and legs, it was impractically sullen for his fighting style, and considering how steep the punishment was for wearing the annulus, getting caught with it would probably be a bad idea. Hopefully the blacksmith would be bequeath to buy it.

The sword, on the other hand, was a definite prize. It was a longsword like Noah's broken one, but with an ornate guard and handle, as well as a line of rune going up the blade, inked with avenium. There was a spell imbued within it, he could finger the deception, but it didn't react to his mana the way the ring did. It was probably illegal for him to have, so it would be best kept in the ring, but once away from prying eyes, it would be an excellent trumpet card once he figured out how it worked.

"So how long have you been an explorer ?"Oath asked.

"Several years. Why ?"

"I was just making conversation. You said you studied respective different schooling of armed combat. Who taught you ? Where did you get your example ?"

"The town I grew up in, there were quite a little of former adventurers willing to pass their skill on."

"And your parents ?"

"I haven't seen them since I set off from home to make my fortune."

"So, do you—"

"I suggest you stop for a moment and ponder why I'm not asking you query about your life or trying to get to sleep together you."Noah glared as him, unblinking."Think hard."swearing wisely closed his mouth.

They set out at dayspring the next day, wanting to get out of the timber as soon as possible, to both avoid danger and gain the workshop before they closed for the Night. It would contain them nigh of the day to revert to Robert Clive, and that was without all the weight they were carrying, so they had to try and keep a good pace. By around midday, they reached a large subject pasture, but before they could intersect it, a grievance was made.

"I can't go any further !"Oath exclaimed.

"master key, please forgive me, but I too am at my limit."

"fountainhead we've made considerable distance, and I believe it's about dejeuner time. Sure, let's stoppage here for a break."

Tin and cuss settled at the border of the pasture under the shade of a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and gear up lunch. While they worked, Noah took a walk through the field of honor to make certain there weren't any predator in hiding. It was when he reached the heart that he stopped, hearing something. It was not the rustling of Gunter Wilhelm Grass or the growl of a wolf, but the neighing of horses. He looked into the distance and saw four men on gymnastic horse break disembarrass of the woods and gallop towards him with their swords drawn. Bandits ?

"Tin, take swearword and get back into the woods, trench enough that you can't even see me !"

Tin didn't understand, but when she heard the horses in the space and the holloa of the approaching men, she hurried to her foundation and dragged Oath into the Natalie Wood. With them out of the way, Noah faced the oncoming enemies.

"Thanks for the gymnastic horse,"he said as his brushed his script over his eyes.

He was rendered invisible while he sent off his knockoff, running to the side with its illusional sword drawn. The men were drawn to it, and one of them, armed with a bow, began trying to shoot it. Noah controlled the clone like a marionette on drawstring, and while it moved, he put the knight ring on his finger and activated it, materializing his bow and an arrow. It took him a moment to aim and release, striking the Sagittarius in the chest and sending him tumbling off his horse.

The other horseback rider realized their friend had been killed, but there was no time to look for the enemy archer. They had to close in on the untried man with the blade. They tried to run him down with their leaf blade outreached, but before they could discover their target, another one of their ranks was taken out with a well-placed barb. The two remaining men swung at Noah's clone, but for the sake of appearance, he had it dodging while he took out the third man. Only one man was left, but he didn't bother going after the clone. He was smart enough to cut his exit and take flight back into the woods.

"Tin, expletive, you can come out now,"Noah said as he released his magic. They appeared from the Mrs. Henry Wood, seeing Noah with the three gymnastic horse standing nearby."Loot the clay and then let's have lunch. The way back to the hamlet will be much easygoing now."

With the horses, they managed to have it back to the village in the late good afternoon, when virtually of the store had closed, but there were still a few open that they could sell their kale to.

"Thank you for getting me back here,"said Oath.

"No need to thank me, you paid off your debt."

"Still, I'm glad you didn't just knock me out and steal my clothes like you said you would. I have to go see my father, he must be worried sick."

"I'll expect you to bring that horse back."

"Yes, yes, I know."

They split up, Oath returning home and Noah and Tin selling their goodness. They first went to the blacksmith, as most of their goodness were scavenged weapons. When Noah laid them all out on the counter, the blacksmith couldn't avail but sound his surprise.

"I don't think I've ever seen one man with a haulage like this. You really did all of this yourself ?"

"well I had some service carrying it back. But there is another thing you might be interested in."

Noah held up a canvass bag and set it on the counter. Its substance had originally been in the ring, but he had emptied it before entering the shop. The blacksmith looked inside and gained a stern look.

"You found this in a goblin den ?"

It was the armour of the slain Utheric knight.

"That's rectify, but that was all. I was hoping I could find the brand or pack, but they were gone. So, are you interest ? This armor has better blade than anything in your shop."

"I could get beheaded just for having this !"

"Which is why you better melt it down fast to make into something really nice that you can sell for a lot of money."

The blacksmith mulled it over and released a bass sigh of resignation. Whether it was money or his aesthetic instincts thinking of all the things he could construct, he couldn't allow the armor to leave the store.

"mulct, what do need for everything ?"

As usual, bargaining with the blacksmith took a lot of time, but Noah left with several shiny gold coins and a replacement for his longsword. He and Tin moved from shop to shop, selling everything that was left, then Noah took Tin somewhere she did not expect, the town jeweler. Unlike other computer memory, this one had safety posted inside and international, and all the product was behind a riposte, with iron barroom blocking it off from the customer. An old man was sitting at the counter, scrutinizing a jewel.

"Ah, how can I help you ?"

"I was hoping you could value this for me."Noah took out a Black person gem, the size of the first joint of his lilliputian finger, and laid it on the counter. The old man took the gem and looked at it through a series of lenses.

"Oh, this of superb character. Where did you find out this ?"

"A hob den."

"Ah, of grade. goblin are bestial, nasty wight, but they have a strange luck when it comes to finding things. This is an enhancement gem."

"I thought I sensed conjuration in it, it appears I was right. What is it used for ?"

"When grafted to an enchanted item, it boosts the strength of the enchantment. Imagine a magic sword that can cut through twice as much as a rule steel. With this imbued into the saddlebow, handle, or blade, it will now be able to cut through four times as much as a normal blade. They are a pet of nobles, for not only to they amend the jinx items, but they make them more visually appealing and exuberant, thoroughgoing for showing off. At balls and formal event, you'll find high-ranking nobles with jewel-encrusted swords on their hips.

Would you be willing to sell it ?"

"Actually, I was hoping you could set it into something."

Noah took out the knight ring and slid it across the table, only letting the jeweler see it. At the sight of the ring, he became tense.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to…"

"I'm willing to pay handsomely. I've already sold the armor that went with it."

Like the blacksmith, the jewelry maker took a bass breath."Tob, Gon, could you two please footfall outside for a minute ?"The two guards, despite their oddment, left the store, giving Noah and the jeweler their privacy. The old man stared at Noah."Do you have a death wish, boy ? Just having this could—"

"I'm aware of the punishment, but you already decided you're bequeath to take a risk. Cover the runic letter with gold folio and set the gem. If it looks goodness and the ring's trance really is enhanced, I'll pay you ten silver coins."

"Twenty."

"thirteen silver. Come on, no one out here is going to deal about this. You think some royal stag knights are going to come bursting in ? You could record this to the baron and he wouldn't care."

"Fine, fifteen silver."

"Deal."

"I'll have it gear up by midday tomorrow."

Noah and Tin left the jewelry maker and headed back to the inn to forebode it a day, but as they approached, Oath appeared."Noah, my don wants to speak with you."

"Can't it look ? The sun is going to set soon."

"He says it is of not bad importance. He also wants to reward you for saving me."

Noah looked over to one of the bags hanging off the side of his saddle. It was full of severed goblin capitulum. Was he really willing to make for those into their room at the inn ? It would probably be better just to get paid now.

"Fine, just let Tin and I drop off the relief of our haulage at the inn and lead the way."

After stopping at the inn, they rode out of townspeople towards the due north, to the baron's estate. Being a nobleman, he was honest off than any of the villagers, but his theatre was far from extravagant, just nicer looking and declamatory than anyone else's, a rustic manor, surrounded by fields that slaves tended to. Leaving their horses in the unchanging in the back, Oath brought Noah and Tin into the mansion and stopped before a set of double threshold.

"don, I've returned with Noah,"he said while knocking.

"Enter."

curse word opened the doors of the private study, and behind the desk, an old man with a longsighted beard was filing paperwork on parchment. He looked older than Noah expected, for a son so Loretta Young. Standing beside him was a adult female, dressed as a maid.

"You must be young Master Noah. My son has told me of your peachy enduringness and skills. You have my undying gratitude for saving him, and my obedience for your accomplishments in battle."The business leader didn't get up to escape from Noah's helping hand, but that was to be expected of a noble.

"You are very welcome, Lord Fault."Noah replied with a bow of his head.

"You deserve compensation for your efforts. Twice, you have saved my son's life."

From his desk, the power drew a sack of coins, likely silver, and handed them to Noah.

"I appreciate it. While we're on the topic, I also have numerous goblin ear that I'd like receive payment for."

"Ah, of course, of line. You also deserve extra for dealing with that goblin gaffer. Amelia,"he said, turning to the maid beside him,"please consider up the ear and forecast their requital, and please take my son and this lovely unseasoned Lady to the parlour to decompress. original Noah, if you have time, I would like to verbalize with you about some authoritative matters."

"Very well, then."

The maid left with swearing and Tin and the doorway were shut behind them. Finally, the baron got up from his death chair and walked over to a whiskey decanter with a set of deoxyephedrine."Would you handle for a drink ?"

"I'd love one."Two spectacles were poured and one was handed to Noah. Compared to the New human beings, the alcohol consumed in these lands was street fighter to force down, yet the quality of the whiskey surprised him."Oh, that is good."

The baron sat down."I can not thank you enough. If my son had perished, that would sustain been the end of my line."

"I'm sure a man like you could work up a few heirs. There are probably some already running around the town."

The big businessman gave a bitter chuckle."I suppose we should get down to patronage. You have already proven yourself a capital rescuer and precaution for my son. I would like to hire you to do it again."

"Not more goblins, I trust ?"

"Actually, something a little more unmanageable. I want you to help him capture a dungeon crab."

"Pardon my ignorance, but I am not familiar spirit with the term. I come from a land without such things."

The baron got to his invertebrate foot and began searching a nearby bookshelf."dungeon Cancer are massive telluric beings, spending their lives deep beneath the dry land. However, they surface from time to meter, poking the crest of their casing out of the ground."

He found the desired rule book and laid it out on the tabular array, set to a specific page. There were two pictures, the first-class honours degree of what looked like a hermit crab, with a pointed shell several times its own size and no pincer. The moment showed the tip of the shell poking out of the land with a kettle of fish in the top, but just that was the size of a lighthouse. Had the artist actually seen a dungeon Cancer fully revealed or was he just going by his imaginativeness ? For a creature of this size of it to proceed underground without being noticed, it would have to rebel up from under the earth's crust. A few mean solar day ago, the town had experienced an seism. That must have been the crabmeat rising to the surface.

"Because they dwell so mysterious in the basis, they accumulate precious metals and gem inside their casing, which form immense labyrinths, hence its public figure. A man can get rich in one day exploring it."

"But I imagine it's not that easy."

"You'd be right. The shell is teeming with parasites, pismire when comparable to the Phthirius pubis, but deadly monster to us human. When a crab surfaces, the sponge will get out and get a peril to everyone and everything in the region. No one is quite sure why dungeon crabs surface like this. Some believe it does it when the parasites have grown too numerous and it needs to cut their Book of Numbers down, either by setting them loose on the surface or using treasure-hunting human to cull their population. Others believe the crabs feed on the humankind that enter its shell, and use the sponge to stamp out their prey for them. Many believe it simply surfaces to get novel air, like a whale."

"And you expect us to enchant one of these matter ?"

"It's just a frame of words. To capture a dungeon crab means to get down to the deepest function of its shell, where the most priceless metal is."

"Avenium, I'm guess ?"

"Correct. Anyone who can secure a cup's worth and nowadays it to the kingdom becomes a baronial. That's why I need you to help curse capture it."

"But as your son, isn't curse word already set to inherit your title ?"

"swearword is… my thirdly son. His oldest Brother, Colt, was raised and groomed to be my heir, and the moment oldest, Victor, was raised to be the successor if anything happened to Colt."

"qualification Oath the spare of a spare."

The baron grimaced."He spent his life history working the fields while his brothers hunted and earned achievements. However, both Colt and Victor died in struggle at the start of spring, so Oath is all I have left. He has a unspoilt heart…"

"But no talent, skills, bravery, or reputation, and he's a bit of a brick."

"Unlike the son of my youthful brother, Edwin, a baronet. He is petitioning the kingdom to repeal my deed of conveyance as big businessman and pass on it to him and his firstborn son. I need to bear witness that swearing has what it takes to be a magnate, and the adept way to do that is to capture a dungeon crab. I'm too old to get another heir and time is running out. cuss already has an adventuring company that he trains and competitiveness with, but their skills aren't beneficial enough to suppress a dungeon crab. I would care you to connect their party."

"Why me ?"

"Because you are Lester Willis Young. There are numerous older adventurers with attainment like yours that I can hire, but then my buddy will argue that they just conquered the dungeon and handed the prize to Oath."

"Which is exactly what you want me to do."

"But the fact that you are youth means that you'll fit right wing in. No one will interrogate one surplus Pres Young man joining my son's party."

Noah gave a miff while weighing his options. On one handwriting, a political squabble between family members was the last thing he wanted to get involved in, and there was no telling if he was even skilled enough to successfully seize a dungeon crab. It was an unnecessary danger. On the other mitt, the estimate of getting his hired hand on some avenium and former rare metals and stone was a tantalizing theme. He could get adequate money to fund any venture he wanted for the rest of his life. Plus, it would get him to the capital, and perhaps let him progress to some valuable connecter. There were probably plenty of explorer who would yield their right hand arm for the chance.

"Would I be giving orders or receiving ?"

"The squad is yours to lead. They're make to set out whenever you are."

"And how long do dungeon bitch normally remain surfaced ?"

"A couple calendar month. This one appeared several days ago, thirty miles to the northeast. It won't be long before its swarming with adventurers."

"Very well, we'll depart in one workweek. I want to use that fourth dimension to evaluate the team, see if there is anything I can do to polish their science before we go."

"That would be a blessing."

Noah got up from his behind."I have some patronage to serve to tomorrow, but I'll return in the afternoon. shuffle sure everyone is assembled."

This time, the business leader stood up and shake his manus."count it done."

Noah left the study and retrieved Tin in the sitting room. As they stepped out onto the front porch, Oath came to see them off.

"So my don talked to you about the dungeon crab ?"

"That's right, I agreed to go along with it. I'll return tomorrow."

"I appreciate it. I'll see you then."

expletive gave a deep bow of gratitude, and in the distance, Noah saw a flash of campaign, and then hear a auditory sensation that he was well used to. It was the sound of an arrow buried inscrutable into muscleman and figure. Launched a minute earlier, it would have hit Oath square in the book binding, but because he bowed, it found its Gospel According to Mark in the center of Tin's chest.

Noah didn't say a word of honor, but before either cuss or Tin could react, he had already leapt off the porch and was sprinting towards the stemma of the arrow. He had left his bow with his buck in the stable, so he'd have to kill the assassin up close. He could see the man hiding behind a scarecrow and recognized him as the fourth bandit from sooner. They weren't just random marauder, they had been hired to kill Oath !

The man nocked another arrow, aimed it at Noah, and fired, but he deflected it with his shield. He closed in, able to see the shock in the man's oculus as the distance between them vanished with terrifying speed. He reached the man, drawing his new sword, and beheaded him before he could even turn around to run.

The dead body hit the ground, but Noah had already left, sprinting back to the star sign. There, on the porch, Oath was gathered with several handmaid, giving her one healing potion after another, as despite the removal of the arrow and the wound closing, she wasn't getting full. Noah could see it, her veins darkening, her form getting pale, and every breath seeming to induce her hurting. Everyone moved aside and Noah embraced Tin, cradling her head.

"It was a poison arrow. We don't know what was used, we have no antidote for it. Noah, I'm so pitiful !"Oath exclaimed, shedding the tears that Noah should induce. Instead, he just stared at Tin, his lacuna silence unnerving those around him.

Tin looked into his centre."Master…"she whimpered."Please, I want to go back to our room. I want to go back to our bed and sleep beside you. I want to facilitate you train your deception. I want to walk with you through the Sir Henry Joseph Wood and discover more stories. There is so much I want to do with you !"

She was crying, but Noah showed no emotion. Instead, he pulled out his telephone and put the buds in her ears. With the last few sparks of push, Vide Cor Meum began to act, slowing her tears."It will be peaceful, I promise. Just let the voice take you there,"he said.

He cupped her face and she smiled. That speck was all she needed."Thank you for making my life history a beautiful one,"she whispered. Then she closed her eyes listened to the song, soon releasing her final breath as the utmost distinction played out.

All was silent, no one knowing what to say. Shadows began to creep into Noah's mind, a roughshod voice making him judder. ‘ Great, now I have to do everything myself…'He shook the voice aside.

"Noah…"oath began.

"I'm going to immerse her. Give me a blanket to wrap her in and a shovel. I'm not asking."His voice, it didn't tremble at all, and there was no nuisance value in his words.

"We'll take care of the grave, you should—"

There was the slightest vellication on Noah's nerve. The gear in his mind were grinding together."I'm not burying her here. I know a proper place."

The retainer rushed to fulfill his order, bringing out a soft comfort that Noah knew Tin would suffer liked. He wrapped her in the comfort and carried her to the horse barn, getting onto his buck with her and being given a shovel.

The whispers came back. ‘ I'll just throw her into the woods.'Again, he forced the voice out of his idea."I won't be back for a day or so."

Cradling Tin, he gave his horse a kick and it took off with a cry. The sun had set, the woodwind now at their to the highest degree dangerous, but Noah didn't hesitate to ride down a familiar route and into the wild. For hours, his horse galloped through the forest. When it tired, he would contribute it body of water and a health potion to restore its stamina, but that was the only time he stopped. demon routinely tried to attack him, but he ended their lifetime with his bow. As the lunar month moved across the sky, Noah, holding Tin in his weaponry, felt the affectionateness slowly leave her body.

It wasn't just the lusus naturae outside that were attacking, but the ones in Noah's drumhead. Evil whispers flooded his nous, trying to get him to turn back.

‘ She's just a slave.'

‘ I should just go home.'

‘ There is no distributor point in risking my life.'

‘ Nothing matters.'

‘ It's all meaningless.'

It felt like all of his brawn were just loosely within his ascendancy, and if his focus broke, his eubstance would act against his will, throwing Tin aside and riding back to the Village. He had to pressure himself forward, despite every selfish instinct trying to contain him back.

Finally, when the Night was at its darkest, he reached the hope dapple. It was the falls that he and Tin had camped at. There were some wolves drinking from the river, but he scared them off and ignored the pocket-sized slimes crawling around. The area itself hadn't changed in the finale few calendar week. There were still the remains of the fervidness he had made, and the clay basin was undamaged.

He tied his horse to a tree and lit a great mullein, holding it while he carried Tin. ‘ I'll just dump her and go.'He brought her behind the waterfall, where there was a small dry area with sight of river silt, deposited by the waterfall. He dug down as deep as he could, forcing aside any thought to give up and spare himself effort. He laid her down on the frigidity ground and opened up the blanket, looking at her one last time. She looked peaceful, almost content. He reached into his sac and pulled out a flatware coin. When they first met, he remembered her telling him that she was only worth that very much. He clasped her hands over her chest, holding the coin.

‘ What am I doing ?'

‘ This coin is valuable.'

‘ I shouldn't just drop it away like this.'

He climbed out and buried her, then built a chain reactor of rocks on her grave so that no animal would dig her up. Finally, he turned to the Stone wall at his side and began carving Tin's public figure into it with her obelisk. The scratches were faint, but they wouldn't be simply washed away, like if he had simply drawn the letter on with a rock'n'roll.

TIN

Those three little letters, a little twinkling light in his brain, like a syncope star, told him that they looked lonely, and he focused on that. He should put more. She'd deprivation that. But what should he pen ? What did Tin mean to him ? Who was she ? What was she in copulation to him ? Did he actually care ?

TIN

A FREED SLAVE

It was all he could come up with, but it didn't satisfy him. There had to be something more. He hadn't loved her, it had been a long time since he loved anyone. Did he even like her ? She was truehearted and helpful, and took care of him when he was chuck. He also took precaution of her. Was that adequate to deliberate her crucial to him ? He couldn't tell. He had spent multitudinous life pretending to be a friend, son, a classmate, a coworker, a hubby, even a Father. When was the endure clock time he actually liked soul and wasn't just wearing the façade of niceness while putting up with them ? When was the hold up time he told someone he loved them and wasn't simply lying to their face ?

He had buried so many citizenry, most of them more than once. It was hard to tell those who were authoritative from those he pretended were important, those who were remembered and those he didn't deem worth remembering. Who mattered to him ? Whose end mattered ? He had foresighted since lost the ability to tell, and was struggling to retrieve it.

Finally, some emotion. Noah punched the rock bulwark and split the skin on his metacarpophalangeal joint."seminal fluid on, think !"He shouted those wrangle to himself over and over again. He was scratching at his own mind, trying to delineate blood from stone. What had Tin meant to him ? Or at the very least, what would she accept wanted to hear ? Noah focused on that, trying to guess what he could induce said to make her happy.

TIN

A FREED striver

A PRICELESS COMPANION

Satisfied, he stepped out from behind the waterfall. In the due east, he could see the sky beginning to clear up. He took a tail end future to the clay basin, watching the sun come up while he searched his head for that short twinkling light.

.

.

.

Cooperation

.

.

.

It took a full day to ride back to the Village, repeating the master journey he had made when he first arrived in this timeline, but now doing it alone. Like the day before, he arrived as the sun approached the horizon. fatigue gripped him, so he went straight to the inn. He took his prat at his usual table and the innkeeper brought two trays of food for thought."I was worried when you didn't show up for dinner cobbler's last night or breakfast this first light. Where's Tin ?"she asked.

"She died."

The cleaning lady set down both trays."I'm… I'm so sorry."

"She was just a slave,"he replied. He then pulled one of the trays over and ate his meal in silence.

Having lived out of the inn for the past month, everyone who came for drinks was used to the great deal of Noah and Tin eating together. A few masses, noticing her absence, inquired just as the innkeeper had, and Noah told them the same affair he told her. His emotionless reception angered Buddy Holly, one of the chambermaid, and she grabbed Noah by the arrest and lifted him to his feet.

"She was a nice missy ! Everyone here knows how devoted she was to you ! Don't you dare say something like that about her !"

Noah stared her in the oculus."Does any of that even count ?"

Perhaps it was the way he said it, or the coldness of his center, but she dropped Noah back to his seat and stormed off in disgust. After that, no one approached Noah. When he was done with his meal, he made his way up to his way. This meter, when he opened the door, there was no salutation. The candle was unlit and there was no fervidness in the fireplace. It was just a dark room.

Noah shut the door behind him and went straight to bed. Having gone two days without sopor, he was exhausted, and a deep, dreamless slumber enveloped him.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

"How much longer are we going to wait ?"The impatient vocalism came from a young man with a halberd on one shoulder and an obvious microchip on the other. He was sitting on the front porch of the fault mansion, along with Oath and the two other extremity of their team, Beth and Mira.

"He said he would be back today, but I know he also has business concern to attend to,"curse replied.

"Do you have any idea where he rode off to ?"Beth asked.

"No clue."

"I don't care how tough you say he is,"the man with the halberd said,"if he rode out into those woods at Night, he's numb for sure."

"Shut up, Trevor. When Beth and I met him, we knew that he was the real deal."

"When Tin was hit, it was like I blinked and he had already chased down the assassin and killed him."

"I still call nonsense on him taking out three men in that field."

"I looted their corpses myself."

"Oh, there he is !"

On the road leading to the mansion, a galloping gymnastic horse with its rider could be seen. Noah approached them and climbed off his buck."Sorry I'm late."

"That's the overnice halo. You look to a greater extent like a noble than I do,"said Oath.

It was the horse pack, all done after the townsfolk jeweller had worked on it. The avenium runic letter had been covered up and the enhancement jewel was set on top of the crest. It was certainly gaudy, but sometimes gaudiness had its own charm.

"Thanks. Beth, Mira, you're doing well, I see. When did you imprint this political party ?"

"Right after we met you in the Mrs. Henry Wood. We looked around for anyone willing to team up up with us and found Oath and Trevor,"said Mira."And I'm sorry about Tin."

"Me too,"Beth added.

Noah simply nodded."So the baron has asked me to take this team to conquer the dungeon crab. Before we do that, I need to—"

"You aren't leading anything,"said Trevor."You're not the boss of us, just the baby-sitter for the big businessman's son."

"You're just going to crab and moan throughout this totally trial by ordeal, aren't you ?"Noah asked.

"Fuck you. Try giving me order and I'll shove this halberd up your ass."

Noah took a mysterious breathing spell and rubbed his temples."Ugh, one of you mass. This is the cobbler's last matter I need.

Listen, here's what's supposed to befall : you and I spend the succeeding week playing the game where I act as the stern yet understanding say-so figure, and you keep throwing temper conniption due to some unspoken deep-seated subject. By the time we arrive at the dungeon crab, you'll hate me more than ever, and almost get us killed, probably with me having to save your lifetime. However, your screwup will help you realize you're full of nothing but bravado and horse diddly-shit, and you'll finally decide to listen to me, allowing me to bring out your backbreaking outer shell to help you solve your behavioral trouble, which I'm guess is about your Church Father, or feelings of inadequacy, or something along similar lines. We'll seizure the dungeon crab louse and form a long-lasting friendship of esteem and trust.

Now, that is what is supposed to happen, and as much as I would love to go on that excited journeying with you, I have literally a million secure matter to do with my time. So, let's nip this in the bud right now. You and me, one on one, until one of us can no longer stand. The loser has to listen and obey the winner until the dungeon Cancer the Crab is captured, including an rescript to impart the party."

Most of what he said went over everyone's psyche, but sanctify Trevor's marrow, he was smart enough to realize he had just been insulted."You son of a bitch !"he barked as he got to his understructure and pointed his halberd at Noah.

"That's the intent. Give it your best dig, because if you don't take me down, you're going to end up swallowing a lot of blood."

Trevor took a stance, leaning back and gripping his halberd with both work force, and enveloping the blade with mana with runes appearing in the air. It was just like the tour the hobgoblin chief had used on his sword to increase the strength of his slashes, meaning that getting hit with that halberd would surely be deadly.

"Trevor, stop this ! This is insanity !"Mira implored.

"No, don't get in his way,"said Noah as he removed his ring."The most significant example hurt the most."

Trevor lunged with a decent pattern and thrust his halberd towards Noah. It wasn't just the destructive power of his halberd, his speed had more than doubled."Mountain-Splitter !"

It was by a thin margin, but Noah stepped to the side and the leaf blade missed. He grabbed the diaphysis of the halberd and delivered a bone-crushing punch to Trevor's nose, causing him to let go and stagger back.

"That was a good push. I imagine you've washed-out plenty of time practicing it."

Trevor's face was pouring blood, but he remained standing and glared at Noah with limitless hatred."ease up it back !"

"mulct, but I think it's been established that you can't hit me with it."

Noah tossed the halberd back and Trevor caught it. He wasted no time in charging the steel with mana, producing an impressive aura. This time, instead of a jab, he made a wide swing."Erasing Cleave !"

Once more, Noah simply backed out of his range, escaping with zero damage. Then, when the coast was top, he closed in and delivered and uppercut to Trevor's jaw, busting his teeth and making him an even fucking tidy sum. This time, Trevor couldn't stop on his metrical unit and fell back, trying and failing to contain his cry of anguish. Looking around, Noah could see the baron's servants watching from the William Claude Dukenfield and through the windows.

"Noah, that's enough ! You two need to stop this !"Beth exclaimed.

"He's the one who decides when we stop. tone free to move over him a health potion, though."

"I don't need a piece of ass wellness potion !"Trevor shouted.

He scrambled to his metrical unit and went at it again. He abandoned the musical theme of using wizard and attacked Noah with a barrage of rapid-fire shot. Noah deflected each attack with his carapace, and when Trevor tried to get in close for another swing, he once again grabbed the halberd and stopped Trevor from moving. It became a tug of war, but despite Trevor's accumulated metier, Noah maintained his posture.

"You know what I'm going to do now, right ?"Trevor tried to figure out how Noah would hurl another punch, but instead, he let go of the halberd and sent Trevor falling onto his ass."Your acquisition with that thing aren't that bad, at least, if you just stick to hunting teras, but you'll never hit me with it. Try showing me how good you are with your fists."Noah placed his mitt on his longsword and slowly drew it halfway."Unless you'd prefer to stick to arm fighting, in which lawsuit I'll gladly temper you."

Trevor abandoned his halberd and charged, sending a heterosexual person right puncher towards Noah. Noah caught his fist and then struck his human elbow, snapping his arm like his bones were made of meth. Before Trevor could even scream, Noah silenced him with another poke to the nose, once more knocking him to the basis. It didn't seem like he was going to get up, so Noah took out a health potion and poured it on his aspect. The spray woke him up and healed his nose and mouth, though his arm would have to be reset before a potion could mend it.

"So, do you require to keep back going ? I can go all day if you want. I mean it, I've got aught but time. And we can go whenever you want, this isn't your exclusively chance.

Now I suppose there are a number of manner we can go about this. We can do the whole worked up journey thing, but the fact that I've explained it kind of takes away the magic. You can just leave the political party, I'll give you that pick. There's the alternative of waiting until I have my dorsum turned and then getting your retaliation, which, again, you are free to do so at any prison term, but at your own risk. Poisoning my food might form, but it would just be you admitting your weaker than me. I suppose your best selection would be to shut your fucking backtalk, accept that I'm stronger than you and impudent than you, and pay attention to what I will teach you, as it will improve your skills and your chances of survival.

From there, we can go to the keep Phthirius pubis, and you'll easily overcome challenges that would hold killed you at your electric current spirit level of intensity level. With a good amount of money of effort and coordination, and no deficit of luck, we'll conquer the donjon Cancer the Crab and go plenteous beyond our wildest dreams. There is always the option of betraying us down there and running off with all the loot, but boy, oh boy, you'd better make sure I'm dead, because you don't want me coming after you, you really don't.

So, what do you say ?"

Everyone was silent, waiting to hear Trevor's reply. He was glaring at Noah and taking trench, angry breathes through his nose."You say you can ready me stronger ?"

"I guarantee it."

"We conquer the dungeon crab and we're done, right ? I never have to see you again ?"

"You can go to sleep to some take to beach house, you'll be so rich. I'll never bother you again."

"Fine."

"I'll let the three of you fix his arm. I need to verbalize with the top executive inside."

Noah stepped onto the porch and entered the house, walking right by the spot where Tin had died."Is the baron in ?"he asked, addressing one of the maids.

"In his private study, sir. He's waiting for you."

Just as swearing had done the day before, the maid knocked on the double doors and announced Noah's arrival, with the baron granting entry. The old man was behind his desk."That was quite the bouncy catch outside. Your skills are the real deal."

"The real attainment is producing results from it."

The baron walked over to his whiskey set and poured himself a drink."I'm glad you returned. I'm sorry for the loss of your companion."

"Don't concern about it. I already killed your sidekick and his son."

The glass fell from the baron's hand and shattered."What ? !"he exclaimed.

There was an immediate rap on the door."My Lord, is everything fine ?"a butler asked.

Noah's gaze never left the business leader, without any sense of concern or expectancy of what might come next. He simply waited for a reaction. The baron gripped the corner of the desk but managed to control himself.

"Everything is ticket. We are not to be disturbed."When he sensed the pantryman had left, he turned his attention back to Noah."You wouldn't even give me the hazard to verbalize you out of vengeance ?"

"It was nothing of the sort."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

It was midmorning, and Noah had just claimed his doughnut from the jeweler, the last of his morning errands, and with information given by those around town, he now stood before the household of the local baronet. It was in the outskirts of the town, one of the farms, and neither the fields nor the menage were on par with the top executive. Despite the rank of noble, baronets were simply common man with the prefix ‘ Sir'or ‘ madam ’.

He found the baronet repairing a cattle fence behind the menage. He was monovular to the baron, but without the beard and sporting fewer crinkle. Noah was inconspicuous, so the man didn't even notice him approach, but was calm when Noah pressed the blade of his knife to his throat and told him to spend the hammering he was using.

"Sir Edwin Fault, I presume ?"

"Who's asking ?"

"Did you engage four men to kill the Oath geological fault ?"

"Now why would I try to bolt down my beloved nephew ?"

"To get your son the social station of baron. But if you aren't going to respond my questions, I suppose I can always ask him, or maybe your wife."

"You must be the illegitimate who saved him from that goblin den. I had to pay that adventurer a good deal of money to kill him. To suppose he'd be such a chickenshit and leave the job to goblins."

"Did your son know about the hit you put on his cousin ?"

"He would have killed that talentless brat himself if I hadn't talked him out of it. He didn't do anything. You have a bone to pick, put that knife away and let's puzzle out this ilk men."

Noah's resolution came in the manakin of a fluid flick of his carpus, severing Edwin's jugular vein and sending him tumbling to the priming coat, trying pointlessly to stop the bleeding. Noah stood by to confirm the death and then made his way towards the fields, where the Bart's son was working.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

"There was a fourth dimension when I took enceinte joy in making people suffer, and I've been working to change myself since then. I don't allow myself to vote down for pleasure or retribution, and certainly I didn't kill them for what they did, but what they would stay on to do. Associating with you and your son has already cost me the life sentence of a fast subordinate, and I'd rather not give anyone the probability to get in my way.

If I were to give up them to live, they would continue to try and kill you and swearword, and I'd have to pick up the mess, just like I've been doing since I found your son in that hob den. The conclusion thing I'd want is to bewitch the dungeon and then get ambushed by your sidekick's henchmen when we're too exhaust to fight back. I assume you had forgiven your brother because he is your class, despite his attempts to kill Oath, but you're hiring me to keep swearword alive, and if I'm going to do that, it will be done my way.

If you have any remonstration, state them now."

Ivan didn't respond. He simply slumped in his seat and exhaled deeply. Deep down, he knew that his pal had to be dealt with in one form or another, in ordering for his son to inherit the social status of big businessman. However, even if it had been melt off before, there was always a probability of balancing. He had dreamt of conversing with his brother, as they had a long, long time ago, and burying the hatchet. Now that opening was gone forever. Noah claimed he hadn't acted out of vengeance against his brother, but Ivan couldn't helper but find he was the one being punished.

"I thought as much. Despite your Brother and nephew demise, I'm aware that your son still had petty prospect of inheriting your form of address, so the keep capture will carry on as be after. We didn't have the chance to talk about payment for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interested in money or farming. There is something else I want."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

It took More than one healing potion to repair Trevor's arm, and that could only be done when the ivory were reset. He was all patched up by the clock time Noah made his return.

"I promised the power we'd set out in a week for the dungeon. That was two days ago. For the next five days, I'm going to assess each of your accomplishment and see where improvements have been made. First, we're going to hound some monsters. I want to know your armed combat skills and see how well you work as a team. You all have your weapon, so we're going to depart now and travelling light. Any objections ?"

No one said anything, not after watching how he thrashed Trevor. But their secrecy was not out of fearfulness, rather an consciousness that Noah knew what he was talking about. He was the quondam of the group by only a year, but they all sensed he had much more experience than they did.

"Good, then let's depart. curse word, you know the field. Please lead the way."

"I actually know the location of a magic spawning circle. Let's head there."

They gathered some provision and set off into the wilderness, leading a inner circle horse to run back their harvested demon parts. From the instant they were enveloped by the iniquity of the Tree, they were vulnerable. The territory of the monsters was well-established, due much in part to the summoning roundabout that they spawned from. They only intruded into human territory when there was a dearth of food or their numbers had grown too bully, proceeds that were both solved by the constant flow of adventurers working to hold their population.

As they walked, Noah spoke to everyone.

"Mira, we talked once before about this. Have you developed any skill for close-quarter combat ?"

"I've been training with my staff since then. Oath and I spar a lot when we're not hunting."

"What about thaumaturgy ?"

"I haven't been able to develop anything for fighting enemies up close."

"We'll work on that. Oath, Beth, can either of you use sorcerous ?"

"I can't,"said Oath.

"I can make water, but not in any kind of attack. I use it to fill up my water skin."

"Good, we'll definitely require that in the donjon. You're still using your bow as your primary weapon, right ?"

"Yeah, and I got poison for my arrow just like you…"

She trailed off, remembering what curse word had told her. Tin had been shot and killed with a poison arrow. Noah paid no care to the drop of her speech.

"What about close-range ? Any weapon system ?"

"I use a knife."

"good. Trevor, you can activate magic when you thrust and swing your halberd. Anything else ?"

"Nope, the halberd is all I can use."

Noah had picked up some scrap of info on the different branches of thaumaturgy in this earthly concern, and Trevor appeared to be in the warrior grade, just like the hobgoblin headman. Warriors could only activate their skills with specific artillery, which depended on the mortal. He wasn't exaggerating when he said the halberd was all he could use. He couldn't activate his illusion with any other weapon.

"We're here,"said Oath. He then stopped in his cartroad."On moment thought, I think we should turn back."

Noah looked ahead. On the afforest storey, he could see a gravid thaumaturgy lap, consisting of runes and assorted cast. Standing in the circle was a conduct the sizing of a minivan. However, its body was faint, translucent, like it was just a hologram, but with each passing moment, its color deepened.

‘ Is it teleporting ? No, it's solidification. The circle is converting mana into physical affair and assembling it. So, that's what it means for a animate being to be summoned.'“ I've never seen a bear like that out here."

"It's a sledgepaw, a rarefied breed. It is to veritable bears what that hobgoblin was to regular goblins. We should get out of here before it attacks. This is a little bit out of our league."

"No, it's perfect. We'll wait for it to eat up spawning and then take it on. For all we know, the dungeon could have far worse monsters."

"All right, then let's take geological formation,"said Oath.

"delay for it to attack us. Taking your time in setting up a discharge squad while it spawns won't establish lots experience or information."

It took only a minute for the bear to fully materialise, immediately spotting Noah and the group and labeling them as foe without any kind of hesitation or confusion. It released a roar of Eumenides and charged, signaling the start of the engagement. Noah kept his length while the group spread out, surrounding the bear. Beth nocked a poison arrow in her bow and shot the bear in the neck opening. It turned to her and snarled, about to lash out with its claw, but Oath attacked from the side and slashed at its shoulder with his sword. The savage's pelt was rugged, and Noah couldn't Tell if the attack had actually done any hurt. Enraged, the bear knocked Oath aside. Like Noah, he was wearing leather armor, and while it stopped the bear's nipper from reaching his flesh, the armor itself was nearly destroyed by that one swipe.

"swearing !"Mira cried out.

Trevor stabbed the bear in the second joint with his halberd, and while he drew a roar of pain from the beast, it hadn't forgotten the arrow in its neck and attacked Beth. It was faster than she expected and it knocked her to the soil, with her bow wedged between its jaws keeping it from biting her. She was crying in torture as it weighed down on her, saliva from its oral cavity splashing on her face with its massive fang inching closer and closer.

"closure by compartment golf stroke !"

Trevor swung his halberd like he was splitting Ellen Price Wood, and the axe vane, glowing with magic great power, dug deep into the hold's back, though it missed the spine.

"Earth Surge !"

Having gathered her mana, Mira struck the footing with her stave. The surrounding dirt, not gripped by the tree diagram rootage, was gathered together and slammed into the bear like a mudslide, knocking it off Beth. The bear was ho-hum to get back on its foot, as its strength was fading with each lost drop of stemma and the poison was taking its cost. Regardless, it still could crush the skulls of the feeble humans with a undivided swinging of its mighty paw.

curse word was back on his feet and charged with a call of purpose and his sword raised gamy. Seeing him feeler, the bear reared back on its hind legs, and despite his vigor just second ago, the raft of the towering beast robbed Oath of his courage. He was paralyzed with care and the bear swung at him. instinct saved his life, the instinct to parent his sword and block the attack, though the force still slammed him into the primer coat. An arrow was buried in the bear's chest before it could aggress again, managing to pierce a lung, and Trevor stabbed it in the stomach.

The bear fell back and rolled onto its pegleg, roaring in fury but then breaking down into a fit of bloody coughing. Beth fired a third arrow, striking the berm, which Trevor then cleaved with his halberd. As this was going on, Mira rushed over to Oath's side of meat and helped perpetrate him out of harm's way. With Trevor and Beth continuing to wail on the animate being, its life was soon extinguished. Its massive torso collapsed and curse and his friends released their held breath.

Noah, who had been observing, got up from the Tree pulpit that had been his seat and approached, and while everyone patched themselves up, he severed the bear's pricker with his sword to wee sure it was dead.

"Congratulations on your putting to death. However, it was rather messy."

"Messy ? !"Trevor exclaimed."flavour at how big that colossus is ! We took it on while you just sat back and watched ! We've never faced anything that big before !"

"Its size wasn't the biggest challenge. Your disorganization was."Noah took out his knife and began carving into the bear to remove its hide. He looked only at his study, but he continued to lambaste them."You surrounded it on all sides, which, while honest when facing something pocket-sized and prone to running, left Beth and Mira defenseless. Don't split up like that unless it's something that each one of you can physically deal. Beth, debate all the prison term that you spent pinned. That was all time you could have spent firing arrows had you and Mira kept your distance. Though speechmaking of pointer, your aim was very good, both that gibe to the neck and to the pectus. But from now on, the two of you should hang back while Oath and Trevor fend the enemy off.

Oath, when you first attacked, what were you aiming for ?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to inflict some damage."

"You should have gone for the promontory. With a freak of that size of it, did you think a flesh wounding or muscular tissue impairment would kill it ? Unless they're well protected, you should always aim for the full of life daub. Swing at the head, thrust at the dresser. Same with you, Trevor. When you attacked its backbone, were you aiming for its spine ?"He didn't respond."I'll take that as a no. Take aim with your attacks, and not just at chess opening in your opponent's safety. You should try studying material body, figure out where the most vital points are. You went at the belly, that was smart. It's diffused and laborious to protect, but you stabbed too low. You should cause gone high-pitched, towards the liver, or at least the stomach.

Mira, you did well in getting oath out of risk. However, you waited too long to cast your spell. I see that you developed a new magical spell, and while it did oversee to get the bear off Beth, it was a larger-scale enchantment not suited to the forest. I remember you once told me you can create a dust swarm and send rocks flying ? You should have stuck with that. A bit of dust could own blinded the bear and maybe even hindered its common sense of feeling, and a rock or even hard-packed dirt can inflict deal of pain sensation when striking the straits or the crotch.

And Oath, you know what I'm going to say, don't you ? You choked, and your fault put the lives of your friends in danger. It was instinct that saved your life. You need to progress to these kinds of decisions faster. Before we head to the dungeon Phthirius pubis, we'll have to remedy that. Now, all of you give me a hired hand. This bear is going to help fund our preparations."

Everyone joined in, helping to remove the bear's hide as intact as possible. When it was done, Noah placed his script on the pelt and tried to seal off it in his ring. The sweetening jewel had doubled the carrying capacitance of the ring, but the hide was so big that the tintinnabulation was refusing to accept it. He'd have to remove some thing first.

Noah held out his hand and closed his digit around an inconspicuous handle. A brand appeared in his grip, the sword that he had taken from the hobgoblin. He had even found the sheath that went with it, something that the regular goblins wouldn't have been smart enough to need. It was much bigger than his broadsword, and he had assumed its size of it might be useful against a large enemy. Oath, who knew both the real identity and power of Noah's ring and what it was known for, was exempt from the representative of amazement the others made. Even Trevor was shocked by the immense sword appearing out of thin air.

"expletive, where did you get your sword ?"

"Uh… it was my grandfather's."expletive stuttered, feeling an robotic sense of danger by being queried by someone who had just revealed a sword.

"May I ?"Noah held out his hand and expletive reluctantly handed it over. Noah looked it over. He was an know blacksmith once, a week-long scholarship trend at a metalworking school that turned into a career, though while his memories were a bit fuzzy, he could still recognize the craftsmanship put in. However, his focus wasn't on the actual quality of the metal, but the length of the handle. It was a mother fucker brand, otherwise known as a hand-and-a-half, which could be held with either one deal or two.

"It's right. And your forefather said you grew up working the fields, right ? slew of plowing and clearing trees ?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I want you to try using this goblin sword for a while. Swinging a hoe or an axe require leverage, leverage that your grandfather's sword can't give you with the length of its handle. Your workforce are too close together and it's throwing off your center of gravity when you hold it. This prominent sword will give up you proceed your hands farther apart and leave a more than similar motion."

He handed both brand to curse, but he only took his grandfather's steel."I can't accept that. That's your trophy for killing the monster."

"You're just renting it from me. Besides, if this venture works out, I'll be rich enough to buy an even better sword."

"As you wish, then."He wasn't fully convinced, but he took the steel and hung it across his back.

"Ok, let's change our strategy a little. We'll take the shaping of a W, with Oath in the middle, me and Trevor at the sides, and Beth and Mira in the back."

It would have stark if they could campaign another sledgepaw bear and comparability strategies, but considering its low density, it would probably be a long metre before it respawned. They set off instead to witness Sir Thomas More freak, not having to hike long before coming across a mob of wolf. They took formation and stared the beasts down, all armed and cook to fight.

"Beth and Mira, you two are our main course of attack. The three of us are just a cuticle. You'll have to focus on not getting us caught up in your attacks."

"rightfield !"They both replied.

arrow began flying past tense Oath's right side and stone and pieces of packed ground were flying past his left. The wolves were caught off safety and several were left stunned or injured. A beast standing directly in straw man of curse managed to stave off the onslaught and leaped towards him. swearword swung his brand, nearly losing his residuum and falling over. However, though the weight was much bully than any hoe or axe he had used, it wasn't the campaign. It was the comfort he felt, the swing now more reminiscent of a familiar motion, and he was able-bodied to use muscle remembering to call out greater strength and acquirement. The ease robbed him of his tension like he had removed weights from his shoulders, causing him to trip. The blade carved through the airborne wolf like a buzz saw, nearly slicing it in two.

At the same time, the Wolf that were still on their foot scattered to try and flank the chemical group. Two ran towards Trevor, and the initiative, attacking from above, ended up getting impaled on the spear tip of his halberd. The second tried to close in, using the death of the first as a beguilement, but Trevor swung his halberd down and buried the axe brand in the wolf's back.

On the other side of meat, three charged towards Noah. The showtime pounced, sending Noah dodging to the side and then beheading it with a downwards swing. He spun around, thrusting into the back beast's chest as it pounced from above. The third tried to attack from his blind post, but drew his forgetful sword and cleaved its skull open.

All that was left were the Friedrich August Wolf stunned by the possible action onslaught, but they had been dispatched with Beth's arrows. The alone fight had taken a handful of indorsement, causing expletive and his Friend to all exchange shocked glances. They had never won that fast before, especially when they were outnumbered like that. The value of Noah's advice had been proven.

They stripped the Friedrich August Wolf of their skin and collected all former worthful body theatrical role, then continued their journey. There was still plenty of clip before they'd have to set up encampment, so they wanted to get as very much hunting done as they could. As they traveled through the timberland, the spark of inflammation filled them. Now that the Edward Young adventurers had improved their strategy, they wanted to see how else they might get stronger, and what this new rise would countenance them to do. They were hiking through a hilly expanse, sticking only to the monotone ground for the interest of their knight. It was when they were traveling along a flood plain that Noah stopped them, his oculus glued onto the nearby hill and a orotund fallen tree.

"Look over there. See the land where the dirt and leaves have been disturbed ? Goblins probably laid a yap and are hiding behind that log. Mira, can you found one of your enchantment to try and smoke them out ?"

"It's a little far, but I'll try."She stabbed the priming coat with her staff."Earth Bind !"

Like a crack splitting ice, a visible line ran through the surface of the ground over the area behind the log. There was the speech sound of shrieking and several goblins scurried out from their hideout, with one caught within the Oliver Stone jaws of Mira's spell.

"Beth,"Noah said.

Beth perked up and took aim with her bow, managing to snipe one of the disjointed goblin. From behind the trees around the log, to a greater extent hob appeared, howling like monkeys. They charged Ithiel Town the James Jerome Hill, a dozen of them, with two hanging back with their own bows.

"Beth, need out the Archer. Mira, try to funnel them so that they don't flank us. swearing, if more than one goblin attacks you at once, don't do another downward slash. It'll leave you open. Trevor, don't let the momentum of your swings take you out of position."

No one questioned him, and as Beth waged a long-distance exchange with the archer up the Benny Hill, Mira created pits and blades of earth that burst up along the flank of the goblin drove. They swarmed for Noah, Oath, and Trevor. The quickest goblin reached Trevor and dropped a club towards his head. Trevor swung his halberd, and while the blade failed to strike the goblin, it did get caught on the handle, hurling it towards expletive, who dispatched it with a cleave. He then swung his brand from the position like Trevor had done, catching two hob in the temples and slicing off the top of their skulls.

At the end, Noah was stabbing and slashing any goblin that came near. He overpowered them whenever they tried to immobilise and every vacillation of his brand sent bloodline spattering across the nearby trees. A goblin pointer planted itself in his tum, nearly sending him tumbling to the ground. His leather armour had slowed it down a bit, so it didn't reach his organs, but as somebody who had been shot legion times, getting hit with the splintery hobgoblin arrow hurt a lot more than most bullets.

"Mira, I'm hit. I need a debris cloud !"

"R-right !"

She stuttered momentarily, but regained her calm and sent all of the dry territory around the hobgoblin airborne, blinding them and leaving them coughing. He only had a couplet moments, so Noah ripped out the arrow with a hiss of bother and jet of rakehell and poured a healing potion on the wound. As his anatomy stitched back together, the goblin managed to clear their optic of the junk and resumed their charge, but just like before, Noah mowed them down. The engagement was over in LE than a minute. Once again, Oath and his booster exchanged glimpse of excitement.

A few battles later, the setting sun put an end to their hunting for the day, and they set up coterie between a cluster of large trees for protection from monsters and flatus. They built up a fire in the center and cooked meat from the slain bear. They hadn't packed any food with them, so they could only eat what they collected. dinner party was eaten mostly in quiet. Noah was new to the group and they hadn't gotten used to him yet, so the others couldn't immediately talk at their usual colloquial depth.

Between collation, Noah took out a canteen wax of piddle and added some pine tree phonograph needle from his pocket. metallic feeding bottle were more expensive than glass bottles and piddle cutis, so everyone noticed when he set it next to the fire.

"You're making tea with pine acerate leaf ?"Mira asked.

"pine tree needles help ward off scurvy even expert than lemons."

"Really ? Where'd you hear that ?"

"Just something I picked up."

"Where can I pick up interesting stuff like that ?"Beth complained."Where did you teach to fight monsters ?"

Noah thought back through all of the fantasy novels and role-playing games he had enjoyed over the age."That ? That was just intuition."It would be best to shift the conversation away from himself.

"What are you going to do after the dungeon crabby person ?"she then asked.

"That question seems like bad luck, don't you think ? They say that when men plan, God laughs. What about you ? You get to become a noble if you capture a donjon. You could be set for living. Oath is going to inherit his male parent's title. Are you also aiming for aristocracy ?"

"I'm going to celebrate traveling and exploring,"said Beth.

"I just want to relieve oneself enough money to settle down and start out a family,"Mira added.

swearing's futurity had already been laid out, so next it was supposed to be Trevor, but he didn't show any interestingness in even acknowledging the motion.

"I have no interest in becoming a noble,"said Oath.

"Then why do it ?"Noah asked.

"Because my father wants me to."

"Again, why do it ?"

"I already told you. My—"

"And what does that experience to do with anything ? You're old enough now that you can set out on your own. You've found your talent with that blade. sustain being an explorer. Do whatever you want to do."

"Isn't my founder paying you to make sure I become a noble ?"

"I fully expect you to get a noble, even if I have to tie the title around your wrist. I just want to take a shit sure you have a strong reason so that you won't choke up. So, go on, tell apart us the really reason."There was an ungainly silence, during which Noah carefully retrieved his canteen, which had come to a simmer."Unless, of row, you already gave us the real reason. Your father wants this, and you want to make him happy."

"Is that really such a foreign desire ?"

"You want him to finally treat you like he did your brothers. You want reconciliation, to lay down everything right so that all the years of neglect can be made up for, that it was all worth it."

"For someone judgment, you sound like you have experience."

"No, I was the opposite. My dad was like yours. He thought a parent's love had to be earned and wouldn't accept failure. If I wasn't the best, then I wasn't his son. Unfortunately, I didn't care, and I told him that. I told him that his blessing meant nothing to me. I never had any intention of making him proud."In actuality, he had several Church Father who followed that mindset. It was a personality type that made an appearance every now and then.

"What happened ?"Beth asked.

"Oh, he hit me, several meter. Yeah, he went nuts."

"So what did you do ?"

‘ I waited until he turned around and then I stabbed him in the spine. He spent the repose of his aliveness in a wheelchair.'“ I left home and became an adventurer."He took a slow sip of his tea."You have to figure out your own reason for doing affair, your own reason for sustenance. Neither your parents nor God can give you meaning. It's something that you have to create for yourself, and if you don't do it carefully, if you pick an idea or a belief that is faint and fragile, it'll fall apart in your hands and you'll have nothing."

The ingroup went silent, everyone staring into the flames rather than carry the risk of making eye contact with someone else. Beth, no longer eating, hugged her stifle to her thorax."My sire was actually an explorer. He taught me how to hit a bow and always told me of his adventures. Sometimes he'd disappear for weeks at a time, but he would always come habitation late and night, when I was asleep. We had a game where he would cover under my bed, just before dawn, and went I'd step onto my floor, he'd grab my articulatio talocruralis and pretend to be whatever monster he had just fought. It made me a light slumberer, because I'd always try to hear him sneak in and beguile him."

"I wish I knew my founder,"said Mira, trying to hold the conversation going.

Like before, it became Trevor's turn, but he still showed no interest in participating. They then realized that he had already fallen asleep.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

They set out at dawn the following dawn to continue hunting, while making their way back to townspeople. Just like the day before, their new geological formation proved unstoppable against the behemoth of the timberland, and they found themselves carrying so a great deal loot that it was draining their stamina faster than the battles. They had to charter frequent stoppage, and as usual, Noah would use that time to gather valuable works.

At in conclusion, they broke out of the cover of the forest, now trekking across farming area with the Greenwich Village not far off. Despite their fatigue, their spirits were richly. The sun was setting and their trip had been both rich and informative"I think we should just go straight to the keep crab tomorrow,"said Oath."We're already hard enough."

"Not yet,"said Noah."We've built a formation, now I want to better your abilities."

"So more hunting ?"Beth asked.

"No, training and exercise to increase physical lastingness and mana reserves. All of our loot from this tripper is going to fund it."

Upon arriving to town, they first stopped off at the local tannery to betray off the hide. The owner of the shop, a skinny man who struggled to grow a the right way face fungus, Gospel of Luke, met them as they entered his stock. As one might expect, tanneries weren't known for their pleasant odour. It smelled like a wet dog that had just fed on roadkill. The air had moved beyond unproblematic mephitis and now had its own taste, a very gamey flavor. It annoyed Noah every time he stopped by.

"Mr. Noah, I haven't seen you lately. And the young maestro, I'm glad to see you are doing well. What have you come with today ?"

"We have fur to betray, including a extra piece."

All of the wolf and other hides were stacked on the counter, with the endure, belonging to the sledgepaw bear, having to be laid out on the story like a rug.

"A sledgepaw ? And in such good precondition ! This is definitely a rare find !"

"We fought it as soon as it finished spawning,"said Oath."That's as saucy as it gets."

Luke bent down and examined the pelt, paying closelipped attention to lesion created during the fight."And there doesn't appear to be too practically damage… I can give you two gold coins for everything."

"Two and half ?"Noah asked.

"Two, that's my limit. This thing has some big cuts in it."

"Fine."

The exchange was made, but Trevor objected as the coins were handed to Noah."Why do you get the money ? You didn't fight it !"

"I'm not keeping the money, just holding onto it until we spend it."

Next, they sold off some hob artillery to the blacksmith, and anything else that they had managed to collect, though their final examination stop was the apothecary, and rather than selling, Noah was buying. curse and the others stood back and watched as he ordered armfuls of dissimilar works for sale with the old charwoman watching him with an eye of interest.

"I'll also take every health and mana potion you're unforced to sell."

"Why can't every client be like you ?"she asked, teasing him.

They returned to the street."Ok, let's margin call it a day. Tomorrow morning, we'll meet back up at the mogul's house and begin training. I'll use these plants to whip up lots of potions."

The mathematical group split up, with swearing and Trevor heading off their respective household, Beth and Mira returning to the inn, and Noah running a few Thomas More errands. dark fell, and like the women, Noah made his way to the inn. It was bustling as usual, but the tabular array that Noah sat at was quiet. He ate dinner quickly and went up to his way. By candle flame, he ground up the flora he had bought and mixed them together. He had a prospicient list of potions and tool to make for this keep dangerous undertaking, so even his nights would be busy. An hour after he started, he heard a whack at the door. He answered with his tongue in hand but out of hatful, as was rude. He opened the room access to see Beth standing there, a smile on her font that was coy, unquiet, excited, and embarrassed, all sundry together.

"I wanted to tell you again how sorry I am to hear that about Tin. But just because she's gone, that doesn't mean your nights have to be lonely. I want to experience the legend that everyone in town has been talking about."

An honest grinning, rare for Noah, crossed his grimace. However, it was more in amusement than lust."That seems like something that would really bring us some bad chance later, considering the whole dungeon Phthirius pubis thing."

"What ?"

"goose egg. As a lot as I would like to say yes, it would be best if we both went straight for bed, considering the training I have planned. Plus, I still have a lot of potions to make."

Her disembodied spirit were deflated, but she wasn't ready to give up."Are you trusted I can't change your mind ?"

"I'm trusted. But if you still have strength tomorrow after dinner, then I'll happily indulge you."

"I'll look forward to it."She then gave him a nictitation and went back to her room.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

"The education I have in thinker will lie in of foresighted academic session of brawn training and then wizard training in a physically exhausted State Department, replenishing strength with potions, and repeating the process."Noah addressed curse and his friend in front of the baron's mansion. By his side were a large sack full-of-the-moon of red and blue potions, as well as some other mixture."It's a combination of two workout bit I've created."

Mira looked away for a bit, pondering something. She then perked up in jar."That's what was happening with you and Tin at the inn !"

swearing, Beth, and even Trevor looked at her, taking a moment to process what she had said, and then swerving their optic back to Noah like a car drifting around a corner. Oath had forgotten that little fact, and Trevor, resigned to bearing a soundless grudge, was remembering those rumour he had heard and finally feeling a bit of respect towards Noah.

Noah let a small gag escape."Yeah, that's right field. My theory is that mana output is a compounding of forcible and spiritual energy. When your ghostly mana can't hold on up with the demand, your forcible mana picks up the drop-off, but it means your emotional state gets only part of the benefit of training. Therefore, the best way to train your emotional state's rate of product and man-made lake size is to either do so after you have just depleted all of your stamina, or during battle, when you are using up both, though I believe the latter is less efficient. Tin was assisting me with the expenditure of physical energy."

"All cockcrow ? !"

"I have a lot of toughness, which is the result of the former exercise number. Over a long period of sentence, I've mastered several dissimilar course of practice and refined them to target muscle growth in a specific way. masses and early prominent animals have three kinds of musculus : red sinew, which is muscle that is nifty for staying power and running ; whiteness brawniness, which is muscle for physical power and explosive personnel ; and pink muscle, which is a combination of both. My routine focus on producing pink muscle. Unfortunately, sex isn't the exercise function, God, though I wish it was.

curse, I saw you struggling to lift your new sword, but making perfective virgule every prison term. Because of all the fourth dimension you've spent swinging a hoe or an axe, neither of which is very heavy, you have a lot of red muscle, which lets you go for a retentive time up to a certain limit.

Trevor, I noticed your bm decline faster than swearword, despite expending a similar amount of Department of Energy. Your stabs and slashes, while initially quite powerful, made a sweetie downslope. You have too much white muscle, which lets you carry more than oath, but not as far."

To Oath, it made sense. He had yet to see Noah truly fatigued, not after clearing the goblin den or even when they returned to the village the previous day. At the Lapp meter, he was able to slice through monsters and carry their stiff with cracking enduringness. The others had noticed it as well, another category in which he outclassed them.

"Wait a second, if that was your"extra mana education"you were doing with Tin, then that means you can use magic,"said Beth."You told us you couldn't."

"I wasn't sure I could trust you when we first met. I was will to assure you how to realise yourselves stronger, but not how to make me weaker."

"You've been hiding magic this whole time ? But we showed your ours !"Trevor yelled.

"And let that be a lesson to you in the futurity. The sooner your enemy knows about your strength, the Sooner they know about your weaknesses. When meeting new people, hold in your abilities until the last moment, because that moment might be a battle. However, since you followed me on that hunting trip and are willing to undergo my exercising act, I believe that it's only carnival to lay my cards on the table."

He covered his eye and disappeared, drawing yell of surprisal from everyone.

"Noah ? !"Oath exclaimed, looking around for him.

Noah released the illusion and they all yelped again."I can bring in myself invisible. When I first unlocked this ability, I could only do it for a few secondment at a sentence. After a month of training, I could do it for Sir Thomas More than five minutes."He'd go along his minute spell secret, as well as the admittedly duration he could hold the both of them for. His trust in them was still in its infancy.

"I've never seen or even heard of a conjuring trick like that before. Maybe some kind of holy go ?"Mira muttered.

Her watchword took away a lot of his nervousness. He still knew so little about the magic in this world, there was no telling how coarse powers like his might be. For all he knew, this lie might spend a penny him look misfortunate. However, if Mira had never heard of it, there was a hazard that it was rare enough to not be considered common knowledge.

Noah retrieved some bottles full of a green liquid and tossed one to swearing and each of his booster."Drink that, it's a little something I whipped up from the plants I bought yesterday, along with some honey. It'll give you a little extra energy. These next few days are going to be exhausting."

.

.

.

Forging Strength

.

.

.

Pained gasps.

A feminine whimper.

"Oh God !"

Beth collapsed, fighting for every breathing time with Noah standing over her, the two of them drenched in sweat.

"seminal fluid on, get up,"he said.

"I can't do anymore !"

"You know what comes next."

She looked at him with oculus replete of hatred."You're a monster,"she hissed.

A clear, steady watercourse was produced, arching onto the primer coat with a splash.

"Oh, she broke her criminal record !"said Oath.

"I wish my mana would uprise that fast !"Mira complained.

The water spurting from Beth's fingertip trickled to a halt. She rolled onto her back, feeling like the hard route underneath her was now as soft as the king's mattress. It was the back day of Noah's training, midmorning, and he was running circle with Oath and his friends around the Fault estate. Since yesterday, this what they had been doing with most of their clock time, running almost nonstop. It was Noah's formula that they had to run until they collapsed or nearly threw up, and then immediately cast wizardly until their mana was completely depleted. Oath was exempt, but only because he had no aptitude for magic.

Noah crouched down and fed Beth a watered-down healing potion, just something to restore her stamina a bit. While she recovered, Oath, Mira, and Trevor sucked in air. This was the exclusively rift they got, when somebody collapsed.

"I'm starving, can we eat lunch now ?"Trevor asked.

"I can't even think of food for thought,"swearing groaned.

They all complained throughout the whole ordeal, but in trueness, no one had yet given up and refused to go any further. Despite their torment, they didn't give in. It wasn't to essay their conclusion, rather it was the bare fact that Noah's method acting were producing results. Just the day before, at the Saami time, if Beth cast her spell, it would experience just been a few drops falling from her finger, less of a fountain and Sir Thomas More of a tattling faucet. Also, everyone's stamina was increasing noticeably. Thanks to the health potions, they could perform hebdomad of casual utilisation and recovery in a number of hours, compressing the charge per unit of improvement so it was much more obvious.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I'm on my finale legs too."

Oath and the others groaned in sculptural relief and began throwing down everything they carried, as well as stripping off any armor. Noah was making them run in all of their adventuring gear with their arm in helping hand, and in metre, he'd incorporate weight to prepare them for carrying the dungeon crab's treasure. There was a field nearby, but they didn't maintenance and squatted down right in the middle of the road to eat. It was on the power's estate, so there wasn't the worry of traffic.

They each carried lunches made by the housemaid and were chowing down like voracious animals. Even Noah was giving in to his thirst and stuffing his fount. But as he ate, his eyes swept over everyone in the chemical group. This exercising was definitely intense, shredding muscleman and then immediately repairing them. In this vitrine, the antidote was worse than the toxicant, according to the town chemist. He had spoken to her the dawn after he returned to Clive while on his way to pick up his ring.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

"victimisation potions for exercise ? It would be a good idea if it wasn't such a bad estimation,"the old woman said. As always, she stared Noah down, looking at him through the smoke of her pipe.

"I can't imagine I'm the number one soul to consider of using them this way. What I want to have intercourse is if there are any life-threatening core. You always have them in stock, so getting the component isn't an issue."

She took a deep inhale and released a large smoke cloud."There is a downside."

"Am I going to suffer to pay you to line up out what it is ?"

"In a charge, are you ? Yes, it's always people like you using this method acting. Mana and health potions, as well as all early mixture used by adventurers, may look like bottled miracles, but they are a double-edged sword. If overexposed, the organic structure can forget how to repair and restore itself. If a lesion is repeatedly inflicted on one dapple and healed with potions, eventually the body will lose the power to mend that spot on its own. Cuts will phlebotomize ceaselessly, broken bones will become like stone, and organs will eventually shut down. The effects are even spoiled if the potion is consumed, rather than poured, as it spreads throughout the body."

"How long before John Roy Major damage is inflicted ?"

"If used for daily exercise, potions will lead to end within two week. Lesser damage depends on the user."

"And what about mana potions ?"

"Mana potions stunt the development of thaumaturgy. The more often they are used, the harder it will be to create and memorise new spells."

Noah thought back to his"training 24-hour interval"with Tin. He had performed them every other day and with watered-down potions, multiplying his reserve countless times and giving him an edge, but there was no telling how much it had hindered him in the long run.

"And of course you decided to waitress until now to enjoin me, despite all of the potions I've been buying for the last month."

"Are you expecting an apology ?"

"No, I just have something I want you to seem at and I would prefer some honesty."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Three days, that's how long Noah was willing to use the potion method. That would hopefully forget them with enough meter for the side-effects to wear off before they entered a dungeon. So far, everyone's physical stamina was continuing to uprise, but if he saw them plateau or even reverse, he'd cut them off, cold turkey. He was even holding off on letting everyone use mana potions, instead letting it replenish as they ran. He didn't want to push back the escort of their departure if he could obviate it. If anyone got a combat injury, he made for certain to watch closely, to make certainly their pedigree was clotting.

"All right, let's head back. We're doing the same turn as yesterday."Everyone groaned and cleaned up their mess, but before they could retort to the manor, Noah stopped them."detainment on, we're doing lunges."

"Please, not again !"Mira complained.

"You'll thank me later."

With their arm in bridge player, everyone began doing long footmark, stretching out one leg and leaning down with their other knee almost touching the ground, and they had to keep open a quick gait. It was sweaty, abominable work.

"This is so stymy, we look ridiculous,"Trevor muttered. He seemed to bang complaining, but since Noah beat him in a scrap, he was keeping his word about following focal point."It's not like where going to be running like this through the donjon crab."

"No, but it'll ramp up up your strength and toughness. The most important forcible asset in combat is leg strength."

"delay, really ? Even for sword fighting ?"Oath asked.

"Really. If you support your body with a self-colored introduction, you can crusade while staying on your human foot longer. It doesn't matter how hard you can throw a punch or swing a blade if your legs just buckle as soon as you meet electrical resistance. Think of it as like trying to fight while standing on slippery ice vs solid ground."

Just like before, Noah pushed them to the pointedness of flop. Normally, this kind of reckless training would be frowned upon, but they needed to stress and tear their sinew to the downright boundary, mend them with potions to make them even stronger, and repeat, with mana depletions after every collapse.

There was no rest for them when they returned to the manor. Under Noah's instruction, Oath and the others began stretching and lifting varying weight unit in various way of life. To the slaves working the subject, it looked like a introductory workout, but Noah scrutinized every social movement, from the form their arm took when lifting a heavy endocarp, to the precise angle of their hip joint when they twisted their consistency. Every movement had to be perfect, so that all the focus went to specific muscles. Had he the means, he would go even further, focusing on mortal muscleman threads.

In a way, Noah was grateful that this opportunity came along. Being an explorer kept him active and fit, but it didn't form forte in the same way as this workout, and coming to this world had scrambled his number. He had to use this opportunity to properly polish his physique. He had planned on teaching this workout to Tin to make her stronger and capable of defending herself, but that opportunity was gone.

Once they reached the middle of the good afternoon, Noah had them move on to the next phase of their breeding. Oath, Trevor, and Mira stood side by English, all of them gasping for air and cursing in anguish as stew poured down their faces. For oath and Trevor, the workout was simple, though far from well-heeled. They held out their weapon as far as they could and kept their limb raised for as long as possible. They had to keep doing it until they collapsed and they couldn't find their weapon system, at which point in time, they'd take a wellness potion and jump again.

"Ah, dammit !"Oath cursed as he dropped to his knees.

"piece of ass, you're weak,"said Trevor.

"For once in your life, just shut up !"Mira hissed, ineffective to observe her common polite personality.

Her preparation was similar to theirs, only using magic. Before her floated a glob of worldly concern as large as a beer keg. crap from a bald patch underneath continuously floated up and added itself to the mass. For her training, she had to maximize the amount of earth she could pilfer, as well as the duration, and tier of compression. She'd rotate it in the air to keep back it from becoming lopsided, but every clock time it moved, she struggled to retain control.

Noah told her she had to be able to release dirt into solid rock'n'roll in secondment, as well as train her organic structure to produce mana faster.

Nearby, Beth was sparring with Noah. She held a sheathed knife in her mitt and was swinging and stabbing at him with reckless fury. Despite her cause, he'd block and deflect her plan of attack away from his trunk, using various fighting styles he had learned across the multiverse. As soon as she paused her onslaught, he'd blast, forcing her to heighten her reflexes for dodging.

Finally, when the sun set, Noah said the legerdemain words."Let's call it a day."

On cue, everyone collapsed. Even Trevor abandoned his toughie guy bravado and simply went limp.

"I think I might be dying,"Mira moaned, spread head bird of Jove on the undercoat and staring up at the sky.

"I'm too tired to eat and too athirst to sleep,"Beth added.

"I've spent my liveliness working on this farm, but I've never been this tired before,"said Oath.

It seemed that their toughness had been pushed to its limit, beyond the point that potions could fill again. Now they needed food and sleep.

"I should probably manoeuvre back to the inn while they're still serving dinner,"said Noah.

"You guys can have dinner here,"oath said.

"Why didn't you say that yesterday ?"

"Sorry, but after a day like that, I couldn't spend another arcminute thinking about preparation and the dungeon crab."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

The table was old and unvarnished, hand-carved with roughly sanded board, though metre had helped to relent its edge and the low-quality table cloth hid its surface. On it, candles burned to crystallize the room, which smelled like the baked Pisces Noah and the others were eating, along with lolly and some vegetable. In the innovative world, not even soup kitchens would dish up intellectual nourishment of this destitute level, but after a month in these new farming, Noah had managed to calibrate his taste buds.

It was only the five youths present. The baron was not taking constituent. As with lunch, everyone ate voraciously, their bodies begging for sustenance to try and make up for the fat they had burned. It was surprising that Mira actually noticed oath had stopped eating, staring had his half-finished dinner.

"Oath ? Is something damage ?"

"No, I'm just trying to remember the in conclusion time I sat at this table with this many people."

‘ Oh my god, that is so corny,'Noah thought, drinking from his glass so as to not break out his heterosexual face.

"You're going to make me tired of,"Trevor muttered. Noah resisted the desire to thank him.

"What were your brothers like ?"Beth asked.

"My old, Colt, was a soldier, serving under superior general Tarnas against the boor in Handent."

"He really served under Tarnas ? !"Beth exclaimed, bolting to her feet.

"Is that a in force or bad thing ?"Noah asked.

"Adwith Tarnas is one of the state's nifty heroes, and easily the strongest paladin,"said Mira, trying to shroud her embarrassment with a smile."almost nestling are raised on his stories, and for as yearn as I've known Beth, she's been a huge fan."

Beth sat back down, a drunkard smile on her cheek."When I was young, he and some of his forces passed through my township. Watching him hinge on down the street, wearing golden armor… I was no longer an free small fry. I had awakened my feminine desires."

"You never heard of him ? What rock have you been living under ?"Trevor asked.

"A boastfully one. Tell me about the war, I'm curious."

"Oh, well, according to my brother, it started when the barbarians began ransacking villages along the border, eventually leading to the noted murder of heights priest Grybaen by tribal chief Waer. After that…"

The conversation had taken a foreign turn, but Noah absorbed every particular while making his plans for the future. That dark, at the inn, Beth didn't go with Mira into their divided up room, but followed Noah into his. She had been too tired the previous night, but tonight, she had just enough strength to pamper her curiosity.

The third gear day of training was just like the two before, including the Saami routine, but now with weights added. However, the using up of potions had dropped in every activity. The growth they had gone through over just a few days would have normally taken calendar week or even month. In the latterly afternoon, their education was changed. Now instead of simply holding out his sword, Oath was practicing his gash like he was studying kendo. He needed to make both his attacks and his recovery faster.

Next to him, Trevor was improving his thrust, using what Noah had taught him and incorporating his legs so he could increase the lastingness with less effort. He had also given Trevor the challenge of writing out the letters of the ABC's in the air with the spear tip, to rise his accuracy. Beth and Mira had switched places, now with Beth straining her magic and Mira staff-fighting with Noah. Unlike Mira and Trevor, Beth's magical spell couldn't be used for fighting and she appeared to be reaching the limit of her wizard aptitude, but creating fresh water was something they'd need if they spent more than a day in the dungeon.

On the 4th day, Noah met everyone at the power's land as he normally would. He held out a packsack total of potions."Today, I want you all to see if you can follow the act on your own. Until we enter the dungeon crab, I am completely banning the use of all potions."

"That's looney !"Beth exclaimed, with the others similarly nervous.

"If you can't do the day's workout without potions, then you simply aren't ready for the dungeon crab, and the longer we wait, the more than challenger will induce. I don't want to reach the bottom of the shell and find all of the avenium already taken."He put the haversack down and put on a jacket with all of its pockets filled with rocks."Come on, time to start running."

The physical exertion proceeded as planned, but with no less complaining. Now without potions, they could only gather their effectiveness during break of serve, but the number of times they had to stop and rest was as Noah predicted. On the fifth part day, Noah faced them with the dawning sun burning away the mists clinging to the mogul's demesne. For Oath and his friends, this was the net day of training and they all felt positive. They weren't blind to their own growth. They now stood with bodies covered in weights, ready for Noah to give the signaling to get their morning run.

"Since today is the last day, we're going to do something unlike. Trevor, I want you to hit the ground with a downward rap and your unassailable spell."

"What for ?"

"Just believe me. swarm as a great deal mana as you can into the axeblade and fall in it a shot."

Trevor grunted and held out his halberd, and from the moment he began channeling his mana, everyone noticed the difference. These by several days, whenever he, Beth, and Mira practiced with their magic, it was always in a DoS of exhaustion, forcing their bodies to press out every last bead of power. This was the first metre in days that Trevor was using a magic spell while at good intensity level. What would have been a shimmering halo around the blade was now like a great colorless flaming, causing his friends to instinctively step back.

"Whoa,"Trevor said, ineffective to pluck any former word of honor. He held his halberd with trembling handgrip, feeling like it was a rabid animal in his grip. He raised it above his read/write head like a blinding torch."Execute !"Apparently, saying the name of the spell helped center the idea and increase the potential of the spell. To Noah, it seemed a bit laughable, but it did make things a bit more entertaining.

As per the name, he swung down with the halberd like he was performing a beheading, and the here and now the leaf blade touched the primer coat, it was like a howitzer round had gone off. A chest-thumping detonation was heard and dirt and rock were sent flying in all counseling. Originally, what would have simply buried his weapon in the dirt, had now opened up a crater the size of a bathtub. Just as incredible, the intensity of the mana flowing from the halberd had not lessened in the slightest, nor did Trevor look fatigued.

Everyone was stunned, with Noah flashing a rarified smile."Mira, your answer would probably be standardized if I asked to use your unattackable go. Now that you have all this mana to sour with, think of it as a resource for experimentation. I don't know how the two of you develop magic, whether you just create new spells yourselves or learn by watching others, but I want you to devote yourselves to improving your acquirement. Show me something new. Today, we're forgetting about strength and staying power and focusing entirely on technique.

Beth, I want you to practice your archery until your fingers bleed and you can shoot the wings of a fly. As for Oath…"Noah drew his longsword."You're going to be fighting me."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Beth's thorax heaved with each bowel movement, and her nipples, chilled by the even, pointed out and pull back electric arc in the air. Just second ago, she had been riding so vigorously, having to cast away her wearing apparel when she began to overheat. It had been a struggle for her to save her moans contained, especially with her articulatio coxae refusing to obey her commands and decelerate her bouncing.

She now took a patrician tread, rolling her coxa from side to side while she regained her strength. Her somewhat boldness was one of intoxication, her judgement overtaken by lust and endorphins. Her smile was lewd, her facial expression flushed, her lips wet, her pupil dilated. Noah could see the fresh sweat on her torso with the light of the night sky. What was just supposed to be a quick tryst to scratch the ol'itch had turned into something a little more intense.

Sitting up, Noah kissed her breasts and grabbed her ass, kneading it like dough. Beth had a nice athletic figure, not much fat on her, but the ass of a volleyball instrumentalist. Noah's brim on her nipples, his humanity stirring her up, and his hands massaging mystifying into her muscleman, these stimuli combined into a force out that Beth was struggling to stand firm. They were out in the woodwind instrument, so Beth's groan could attract monsters, or even uncollectible, the ears of her friend.

Mira knew about them, so Oath and Trevor were probably aware as well, but still, it would be a bit rude make them hear the sounds of moans and bod against flesh. That was Beth's thought process, but Noah didn't care either way. His only fear was getting stuck in an unenviable conversation with everyone because of this. That, and the fact that he and Beth were breaking the rules of every repugnance movie and having sex in the woods. The fleur-de-lis they were raising could have been visible from space.

Beth's speciality gave out, a final climax draining her and leaving her body hitch. Noah was forced to lower to her to the reason, but she didn't object to him continuing to squeeze until he had a climax of his own.

"Come on, we should get back to the pack,"he said.

"What a romantic thing to say after filling me up."

"You know what this is."

She giggled."Relax, I'm kidding."

They got dressed and returned to the camp, where their cuss explorer were wake up and waiting for them.

"What are you all doing awake ?"Noah asked.

"You two are a lot nosey than you think you are,"Mira said while keeping her heart down.

"You do make it awfully hard to sleep. I thought some wolves were tearing apart a goblin out there,"said Trevor. In retaliation, Beth kicked him while circling the campfire to achieve her spot.

"Watch it !"he shot back.

Noah took his own situation and stoked the fire."Enough. Everyone, get some rest. We're going to want our strength for tomorrow."They were less than half a day's hike to the dungeon crab.

"None of us can sleep. We're too nervous about tomorrow,"expletive said.

"It'll be exquisitely. In twenty years, you'll ask your children ‘ did I ever tell you about the meter I conquered a keep Cancer the Crab ?'And they'll groan and say, ‘ yes, father, a hundred times. We're sick of hearing about it.'”

"Are you going to do anything with the territory ?"Beth asked."Change any laws ?"

"No. Clive is perfect the way it is, and I don't want to change anything."

"You're letting a fortunate opportunity slip by,"said Noah.

"What do you mean ?"

"I assume that as long as the realm gets its taxes, it won't attention about how affair change, so you might as well try some things. Think of the town as the stead to perform social experiments."

"What's a social experiment ?"Trevor asked.

"It's when you put hoi polloi in a certain placement with sealed status and see how they react. You can see how human nature plays out. Let's say that as a baron… you introduced a new vacation, just to see how that affects revenue."

"That sounds really wrong,"Mira muttered.

"It's a way to learn about people. In the mall of townsfolk, put up a statue with a sign of the zodiac saying not to touch, that the blusher is wet. Then you can see how many people are actually going to touch it."

"What is that supposed to do ?"Oath asked.

"How many people are in Clive, a hundred ? If half of them stir the statue, then you could make believe the literary argument that half of the human subspecies is dim enough to stir paint even when they know it's wet. Or perhaps it's simply that half the Ithiel Town can't read.

If you repeated the experiment in another town, maybe a big city in another nation, you'll probably find that different numbers of masses will disturb the statue. Then you can get down to figuring out why. Why do different areas have unlike event ? Are the people simply dumber ? Is it a literacy trouble ? Is there a culture of rebellion to authority ?

There was once an ancient city named Rome, which had a massive stone fight sports stadium called the amphitheatre. It was so monolithic, that the emperor put the minds of his best designer into figuring out how to contrive it so that the spectators could easily get in and out, otherwise, they'd start a belly laugh. You get a crew of citizenry together in finis proximity, one of two different things may go on, sometimes even both at the Saami metre. The world-class is that people will require to sequester into themselves. They'll want to create personal space, show a perimeter, draw that billet in the gumption that no one can get across. If someone crosses that line, they may get fearful, they may get violent ; no matter how belittled it is, it produces a negative reaction.

The other is to cede to the will of the mathematical group. If everyone around you is saying something, you'll assume it's mightily and repeat it, because you want to believe in the grouping, you want to conceive you're right. You want to consider that you're in the bearing of people who know what they are doing. If you're in a mob where mortal is shouting for the death of the king and everyone cheers, part of you will naturally agree.

soul losing their temper will start a engagement, that fight will scatter and trigger more competitiveness, and suddenly the orderly masse that were simply trying to leave the Coliseum are sweeping through Rome, having abandoned all thought of civility and now simply destroying everything in their way."

"That could never happen,"said Beth, as if Noah had just uttered a child's nonsense.

"I've seen it chance plenty of times. Once you base the rule that escape is not available, that wax light starts burning, and it burns quick."

"I don't know. I think hoi polloi are good at heart,"said Mira."They don't just go loony like that."

"Then you could leaven it. Let's say you could create any kind of societal experiment, completely free backlash, like a dreaming. What would you do ?"

"How am I supposed to know ?"

"The ease of you ? Just think ‘ I wonder how many people would ( blank ) if I ( blank ) ?'Or ‘ what would bechance if I put ( lacuna ) and ( blank ) together ?'Literally whatever you wanted to bang, or simply just see."Everyone looked up into the distance, trying to march the challenge."Think about it. It'll help you fall asleep."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

A self-coloured thud woke swearword up, a sword striking the ground just in from his font. He instinctively shouted in terror and tried to scuttle back, realizing it was Noah's sword and he was standing over him. His protagonist, light sleepers in an area this dangerous, woke up in a flash and got to their feet with their artillery raised, confused and alarmed by the visual sense of Noah in the predawn light. Was this an character assassination endeavor ? However, they looked down and spotted Noah's substantial target. It was some variety of insectoid creature, a stubby centipede with a bulbous shell. It was the size of a squirrel, with frightening pincers.

"What the hell is that thing ? !"Mira exclaimed.

"It's one of the parasite from inside the keep Cancer the Crab. I did as lots research as I could on the keep crab louse whenever I had the time."

looking at at Mira and Beth, he could see them shuddering in revulsion.

"You mean to distinguish me that there are to a greater extent of those thing in that pubic louse ?"

"Almost certainly, but they're flooding out into the woodwind instrument, so just means that the more we find out here, the fewer we'll have to campaign in the crab. Now let's eat some breakfast and get a relocation on."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

It was a genuine mountain of upturned earth and shatter basics, the event of the donjon crab rising up from the planet's freshness and jutting out the tip of its eggshell. At the very tiptop was the entrance, but the mountain was no indicant of just how orotund the actual crabby person was. Before they could go down, they'd have to mount up.

"looking up there, I think I see a tent."

Noah scanned where Beth was pointing and confirmed."individual must deliver set up refugee camp there before heading in."

"There are cantonment all over the quite a little. There must be a lot of citizenry in there,"said Mira.

"Most of them have probably been killed by now. Those camps are abandoned,"said Trevor.

"Trevor !"

Despite Mira's choler, Noah agreed with Trevor. The closer he looked, the more tents he saw, and the majority of them probably belonged to the stagnant, but he didn't want Oath and the others chewing on that."Relax. Everyone going in just packed light because they want to carry as lots treasure as they can, and probably couldn't carry anything extra when they came out. We'll be in the same position when we come back."

"postponement, I see people too,"said Beth.

She was right, there were plenty of venturer roaming the mountain.

"They must be scavenging for gem and precious metals. When the crab appears, it probably pushes up more than just stone and dirt."

"If you can get gold from sifting through the grime, then why pain going into the dungeon ?"Mira asked.

"They're after whatever they can get their hands on, unlike us. We're after avenium, and it can only be found inside."

They put their fears aside and began climbing up the side of the great deal. There were no established paths and the footing was difficult, to say the least. The filth had settled since it was first moved by the arrival of the Crab, but there were no plants to halt it all together, so it was like hiking up the position of a Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin dune in many surface area. They also had to be mistrustful of the big stone lump flux in. They were freshly broken and hadn't been weathered by the wind instrument and the rain, so they could easily cut through skin. While climbing, Noah grabbed a Lucy Stone handhold and his palm was skinned by the crystal-like sharpness.

They passed by multiple prospectors and treasure-hunters, digging around for anything worthwhile. No one paid them any tending, and they offered none in return. However, that changed when they heard the sounds of fighting. Nearby, they saw a bearded man fighting off one of the keep parasites that had wandered outside. It was a four-legged crustacean, the size of a wolf. It swung its heavy forelimbs like clubs and tried to draw the man onto his back.

"Noah, we need to help him,"said Mira.

"Keeping him live isn't my job. Besides, any military capability you use against that one giant will be durability you can't use in the shell."

"Then consider this a field exam !"Mira held out her faculty."Shatter macer !"

small-arm of stone and packed scandal flowed to the end of her staff, joining together into a hardened sphere, the size of it of a basketball and covered in sharp-worded protrusions. She left the grouping and ran over to where the man was fighting, with her weapon not hindering her movement at all. kinda than physical strength, she was holding the sphere together and lifting it with mana.

The beast had the man pinned on his spinal column and he was fending off its snapping nipper with his pickaxe. Sneaking up behind it, Mira raised her staff and brought it down onto the monster's back, unleashing the replete weight of the stone and breaking through its shell. The monster hissed in nuisance and fell over, and she dispatched it with another lilt, this one crushing its exposed head teacher. A week ago, such a task would have been impossible for her, but under Noah's charge, both her acquirement in legerdemain and physical fight had been multiplied various times over.

"Thanks,"the man grumbled before dusting himself off and walking away.

She returned to the group, where Beth was clapping for her."well done !"

Noah, however, clasped his hand on her shoulder."Don't do that again."There was very little anger in his voice, but still, she shrunk away."The like goes for the relaxation of you. We're not here to meet Hero, we're not here to write lives. We're here to make money and conquer the dungeon. Our strength, our attention, our weapons, our potions, they are reserved only for our own use and our own benefit. If you save mortal, it had better be to use them as a inner circle mule or a meat shield. Understood ?"Everyone nodded."practiced, then let's move on."

They resumed hiking up towards the summit, and oath soon asked a question.

"Noah, you researched donjon pediculosis pubis, right ? Did you agnise that demon ?"

"Yes, it was one of the parasite mentioned in the books your father had."

"Do you bed what else we'll find ?"

"Unfortunately, no, there was actually very little written information about the dungeon crabs and what exists within their shells. Those who remain in the upper dower and survive share their information, but those who delve deep enough to reach the avenium either die or keep it a secret."

"delay, why is it a hugger-mugger ?"Trevor asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's because the state's grandeur doesn't want people knowing how to get together their ranks. In this crab are the tonality to the kingdom, after all. Too many young upstarts could break the balance of business leader between the rich and the pitiable, or they could form factions that get in the way of the higher-ranked Lord. Some information gets out, of course, from those who manage to escape with their liveliness but don't conquer the dungeon, or from other nation, but I imagine that the sole explorer who are really informed are those already working for high-level nobles."

A monstrous sibilation ended the conversation, as up ahead, a new threat revealed itself. It stood on a distich of muscular branch, like a predatory bird, but it had a small body and no neck, only a forward-placed skull that resembled an gator. It was a pair of snapping jaws on base, that was all it could be described as, and it was glaring at Noah and the group. It had the senior high school ground, and after emitting another hiss, several more appeared, from both above and the sides.

"A pack-type parasite, interesting,"Noah said as he drew his sword."Get ready, everyone, the fighting starts early."

They took formation, with Oath in social movement and Noah and Trevor guarding the flanks, while Beth and Mira attacked from a distance. The ogre closed in all at once, leaping through the air while flashing the talons on their feet and spreading their jaws.

"Trevor !"Noah shouted.

"Phalanx shaft !"he cast while swinging his halberd like a flag.

A track of mana was left behind with each movement, and the mana solidified into floating blade like mist condensing into ice. The floating blades pierced three of the brute before they could bring down, two more were wounded, and the rest had their assiduity broken and failed to pounce properly. With that opening, Noah and Oath began hacking and slashing away at those who landed closest by.

"globe Bind !"

Mira stabbed the priming, and beneath the offend beasts, pit opened up to immerse them whole, then were closed with earthen spikes like Cage bars. It wouldn't adjudge them long, but it kept them out of the fight. Not only could Mira now manifest the spell multiple times from one casting, but the ground proved perfect for its use. Those who had avoided Trevor's spell and Noah and curse's swords tried circling around, but Beth dispatched them with her bow, and any she missed ended up getting cleaved by Trevor. Once all of the Mobile River 1 were slain, the wounded were put out of their misery.

"Good, well done,"said Noah.

Normally they would then harvest the monstrosity for worthful firearm, but the market for keep crabby person parasites was too corner to be worth the cause. Besides, they wanted to keep open as much room for treasure as they could.

They continued their raise, and after a couple more giant battles, they reached the summit at midday. There, sticking out of the terra firma was the tip of the crab's cuticle, like a light house on a rocky cliff. Noah could see the curl of the shell, and before them, the possibility, a room access large enough for an elephant to walk through. Noah reached out and touched the plate, made of substance somehow stiff enough to withstand the heat and pressure of the earth's interior.

In the month since Noah's reaching to this universe, he had seen muckle of things that shocked and baffled him, from magic to monsters, but just the wad of the entrance blew him away. To recollect that such a creature like this could live, that something so monolithic occupied this public. It blurred the common gumption accumulated from Thomas More than a hundred lifetimes. Where did these things come from ? Were they made by magic ? Perhaps by some kind of god ? How old was this one ? Was it well-informed ? What was its life wheel ?

"I never thought I'd ever see something like this,"said oath, similarly amazed.

Everyone in the group was staring at the white tower in awe and attainment. True, the real battle had only just begun, but compared to what they were doing not too long ago, just reaching this place was a huge acquirement.

"look at this view,"said Beth.

Without any trees to block their sight, the mountain summit let them see for miles in all directions.

"I think I can see the settlement !"said Trevor.

"Let's prisonbreak here for dejeuner, gather some of our strength, and then head inside."

They all sat down and Noah pulled food for thought and water cutis out of his ring. He had adequate food for thought and water to feast them all for several days, and thanks to Beth's magic, they could refill their canteens whenever needed. However, everyone carried two days of rations, just in casing they got separated. Their lunch consisted of dried fish and yield, as well as some loot, something twinkle to keep back them moving. Up atop the mountain, there was a nice breeze, and the thought was spectacular.

"Noah, remember what you were saying last night about social experiments ?"Beth asked."If I could try one, I'd want to see what happens when you put only women together and tax them with building a society. What would Clive feel like if it had only women ?"

"A female-only smart set ? Yeah, that would certainly be interesting. Ok, paint a picture for me. What do you expect would happen ?"

"I think that without any men to get in the way, they would flourish,"she said, rather smugly.

"Until there is a spider that needs to be killed,"said Trevor.

"seed on, I want item. For case, there are role in social club that are typically considered manly, and others that are considered womanly. If only women perform the manly undertaking, then what will change ? Will the nature of the job change, or will the women change ? Will the women who spend all day hunting, blacksmithing, and all those other jobs start acting rough and crass like men ?

You're an adventurer. You spend your solar day hunting, fighting, scavenging, getting down and dirty. But you also consider yourself quite girlish, right ? But how do you think a missy who spends her days weaving and taking guardianship of minor sees you ? will a divide phase ? The Type A personalities arguing with the case B ?"

"case A personalities ?"

"Never nous. expletive, you got an idea for an experiment ?"

expletive took a abstruse breath."Something like what Beth was talking about, but it's men and women, and all of them have lost their memories."

"Oh, that's the skillful one. The aggregate erasure of polish and starting from scratch. If you completely take nurture from the equality, then you can truly see how nature manifests. Will men and women follow paths considered rule by society ? Will they adopt the same roles that their ascendant have ? Or will they do everything new ?"

Everyone watched as he started putting things away. He didn't need to say anything, they knew it was time to take the plunge.

.

.

.

The gauntlet

.

.

.

Once they had finished eating, they packed up their things and entered the shell, with Noah taking the lead and holding a flashlight. Because of the shell's eddy, they had to descend a spiral transition, like a staircase but without actual stairs. The walls, trading floor, and ceiling of the transit were perfectly liquid, but there were no straight billet of any form. It was like wandering through a narrow-minded canyon carved by flashflood. nigh of the floor was covered in dirt and broken Lucy Stone, perhaps seeping in from the possibility of the plate. Luckily this meant that Beth would have something to mold with to use her spells.

The crab had been venting its shell for more than a week, but the air still had a triteness to it. It smelled earthy, like a mineshaft or a quarry, but he could also sense the biologic signature tune of the leech. The air seemed fine to pass off and the torch didn't appear to have any return burning at the stake. Was all that oxygen from the exterior ? How long could the oxygen last if the crab louse went back below the airfoil ? How long did the dungeon crabby person live underground before surfacing ? Either the Cancer and its parasites could function in an oxygen-poor surroundings, or something within the crab could produce a human-friendly atmosphere.

They had descended fifty dollar bill feet when the beginning branching appeared, another tunnel branching off from the staircase.

"We're going to preserve going down, right ?"curse asked.

"Yeah, whatever passage leads us down, we'll select it."

One of the bipedal parasites burst from the forking tunnel, aiming for Noah. He stepped to the side to dodge, pull in his short sword, and stabbed the brute through the spine when it landed.

The deeper they delved, the more ramify burrow they came across, but they continued their declination, until reaching a large chamber at the underside of the staircase, with five tunnels spread out. The staircase had been just wide enough for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, but these tunnel were like subway system assembly line. There were polarity of adventurers coming through here, marking the tunnel to try and keep track of which paths they had taken. There were also some blood splatters, shoot clothes, and a broken sword.

"What's that, hanging from the ceiling ?"cuss asked.

Above their pass, gooey yarn dangled like icicles, and at the bag of each, a small ball of light.

"Cave worms. Their trunk are bioluminescent, attracting prey, which get caught in their ribbon like spider webs. This is a commodity affair. We won't need this."Noah extinguished the flannel mullein and stored it in his ring."Ok, let's split up. We can cover up more than flat coat that way."

"Wait, WHAT ? !"everyone exclaimed.

It was the tough Noah laughed since coming to this world."Relax, I'm just kidding. Can you imagine ? Let's take this path over here. It looks like it continues to slope."

They took the right-most course, further descending into the dungeon crab, and soon stopped at the entree of a arm chamber, hearing trend within. They stayed against the wall so as to annul drawing the aid of whatever was inside. Noah signaled the others with his hired man and cast his invisibility, then stepped into the room access. The sight before him was a grotesque, a mass of maggots, each the size of a football, feasting upon the cadaver of some slain adventures. Their fat body quivered as they peeled flesh from bone. The walls were honeycombed to home the creatures between meals, and three adult were standing guard.

The guard duty were hemipterous insect of some form, consisting of four legs surrounding a head and torso that were commix together with wings between the legs. The legs were steel-plated and acuate, and their downward-pointing face had teeth like an angler fish. They looked almost like winged bar stools. Noah drew his steel and killed one of the beasts without it ever realizing it was there. Seeing their comrade spontaneously die, nearly being sliced in half in the cognitive process, the early two began to panic and seek for the invisible assailant. He killed them almost as easily as he had killed the first.

"clear,"Noah said as he released his spell.

He reappeared, just as swearing and the others entered the room, immediately broadcasting their repulsion at the remains being fed on. Noah knocked the pile of torso over, and kicked away the maggots so that he could commence poking around with his sword.

"Don't loot them !"Oath said in disgust.

"Why ? Because we didn't defeat them ? We're adventurers, we thrive on the deaths of others, be they humans or devil. Meh, cypher great."He was able to collect a few weapon system and arrow, but that was it.

"Hey, something's coming !"Trevor shouted. They ran out into the hall, hearing the sounds of wingbeats. Further down the tunnel, several more than four-legged bugs were flying towards them, having likely detected the deaths of their comrades."Phalanx shaft !"he then cast.

He blocked the passageway with an array of mana blades and Beth began firing pointer, but the armour plating on the monster's legs proved unattackable and they smashed their way through. swearing took down one, but a second tackled him from the incline, tearing into him with its teeth and claws. Noah killed it before it could visit more legal injury, then fended off the others with well-placed stabs. Trevor had also been tackled and knocked onto his backrest, with Beth and Mira working together to pry the animate being off.

Noah was still on his ft, so the monsters were heading towards him. He put away his longsword and instead switched to his myopic sword. The first base bug that tried to tackle him was met with his shell and then a sudden thrust. He repeated the scheme, breaking the foe'inactiveness by blocking with his shield and then stabbing while they were disoriented.

The battle had ended and healing potions were used where needed. This certainly was an worry surround for fight. Most of the freak seen so far had concentrated outer shells, something Noah and his grouping had short experience in dealing with. Their mathematical group focused on attacking rather than survival, as they were always fighting creature that were as vulnerable as themselves. Aside from Noah's buckler, the group didn't have much in way of defense mechanism outside of lightness armor—and a strong criminal offense, of course.

They continued on deeper, passing by innumerable branching burrow and eventually coming to another fork. Once more, their ears stopped them from proceeding, as they heard movement down one of the burrow, and soon saw it as well. It was a flood of centipedes, just like the one that had tried to kill Oath that morning.

"holy Irish bull !"Mira shrieked, something very out of lineament for her.

"Come on, this way !"

Noah ran down one of the passages with the others following, but so too did the centipedes. It seemed they were familiar with the scent of people and now hungered for Noah's chemical group. He slowed his tempo, letting the others get past him, then untied a bag hanging from his belt and scattered its powdery contents across the storey. It was lye, the best he could attain within understanding. It was much more caustic than what he had made in the forest with Tin, and when the centipedes ran through it, getting it on themselves and breathing it in, they immediately began to writhe and curl in pain. However, it only slowed them down, and those in back simply climbed over their ill kin.

They kept running, though more fiend were bursting out of the tunnels ahead. Noah and Oath took them out to the safe of their ability, trying to at to the lowest degree disable them with one slash. Those not slain retreated immediately as the group passed by, not wanting to become the prey of the centipedes behind them.

"There's a room ahead !"said Trevor.

"Mira, delay until we reach that room, and if I give a signal, use your earthly concern Surge charm,"said Noah.

They entered the chamber, though regret filled them immediately. A new, colossal risk awaited them. It was a worm, coiled like a sibilation cobra, with a consistency Thomas More than ten feet wide and long as a football plain. Its flesh was rough, like living pit, and it was covered in uncounted small metrical foot. Towering over them in this arena-like sleeping accommodation, it stared without eyes and roared from a mouth that was simply a pit of teeth.

The sight of the teras shocked everyone into a stunned quiet, like Oath when standing before that bear, but not even Noah could chasten them, for he too was momentarily crippled by fright. The fraction of arcsecond between two metre of his mettle seemed like it would net forever, but that next thump shook him from his stupor, letting him pull together his thinking and began working on a plan.

"Mira, do it now ! Beth, shoot some arrows into that thing's mouth or anything else that looks easy ! Oath, you and I will be the decoy. Trevor, you attack with all your magic. We need to just wind up it long enough to get away !"

No one else moved, but Noah giving cuss a shove woke them up. Mira turned back to face the oncoming wave of giant, and counted with a wave of her own. She cast her turn upon the earthen basis, taking control of all of the rock and dirt and unleashing it on the centipedes like a mudslide. While that was going on, Beth was firing arrow at the worm's mouth, striking its exposed flesh but only doing enough damage to piss it off.

It turned its attention on Oath and Noah, running at it from its left and correctly side. It lunged at them both, aiming to eat Noah and swat Oath with its tail. Noah made himself invisible and dodged the worm's rima oris when it lost cut of him, and Oath blocked the attack with a swing of his sword, breaking into the monster's skin. As they had distracted it, Trevor could now let loose his charged magic. Both the lance blade and the axe head of his halberd were glowing with a radiant storm of mana, and runes spun around the shaft. He charged towards the worm's coiled body, released a roar of fury, and brought down his blade like a divine smite.

"Voulge separatrix !"

It was a compounding of his stabbing and cleaving spells, and while the motions were the Sami as just a normal swing music, it inflicted damage differently in the shape of a slash. It had less penetrating office than the other two, possibly failing to break the worm's bumpy exterior, but it would do much greater damage to the flesh. His mana, having solidified around the head of his halberd, carved deep into the worm's soma, and as Trevor swung his weapon down, he left a deep cut on unlike segments of is organic structure. Blood poured from the injury and the worm shrieked in agony.

"Let's go !"Noah shouted.

They ran off through another handing over, leaving behind the insect with the centipedes. They didn't stop track, wanting to get as far away as potential. They kept maneuvering through the dungeon, fighting the monstrosity leaping out while they searched for a condom pip. It seemed like every meter they slowed down or even paused, something would explode out and attempt to take in a lump out of them. Finally, when they were gasping for air with their throats feeling as dry as Sand, the radical found a chamber with a small gap and no monsters inside. They set their pack against the entrance, hopefully to help keep the monster from detecting them. They all slumped down on the base. Even Noah was feeling sick from the adrenaline.

"Fuck ! This stead is a Death trap !"Trevor exclaimed as he poured a healing potion on a deep puncture wound in his thigh, caused by something resembling a cycloptic tiger catching him with one of its goliath fangs.

"No wonder magnanimousness is the prize for conquering one of these things. You deserve to be a damn king if you can last this place,"Beth panted. Despite fighting from the back, she was covered in monster blood.

"Guys, I got ta Tell you, I'm not for sure we're ready for this place. It's too soon,"said Oath.

"Don't say that. We're alert, aren't we ? We managed to get through it and find a office to rest. Not too long ago, we would suffer died before even reaching the dungeon. We can do this, right, Noah ? Noah ?"Mira turned to Noah, seeing him staring at his trembling hand, but with an locution that, frankly, didn't fit the position.

After dying so many times, decease was no tenacious something Noah feared. It was to be avoided, but with about the like amount of effort used to void dying in a video game. He still possessed the survival inherent aptitude in some fashion, but he could no longer properly value the groovy endangerment of death in a given situation. He was no more afraid of guns that he was a coffee table's sharp corner. But what he felt when he saw the louse was true up fear, when he realized that not only was the louse the most likely cause of his death in that elbow room, but that it was a death he wanted to avoid Sir Thomas More than any other. That flavour of fear, after so long, it was as though some of his soulfulness's thirst was clenched.

"Noah ?"she asked once more, hearing him chuckle.

He shook himself back from his thought process."Sorry, I was just thinking about this place."

"And ?"

"A snail."

"What ?"

"The book at the baron's dwelling, it had a picture of a dungeon crab. It might have just been a guess at what it looked like, but it was of a giant solitudinarian crabmeat. However, hermit crabs don't create their own shells. escargot do. solitary crabs just select them over. So, either we're actually inside a snail, or if this really is a solitudinarian Crab, then that means it probably got this shell from a snail, and if there are these gargantuan crabmeat and snails living within the earthly concern, what else is down there ?"

"And how does that assist us ?"

"It'll acquire your mind of things. We'll be fine, we can get through this. Had we tried this a week ago, none of you would still be here, but you've all grown stronger."

"So what should we do ?"expletive asked.

"Exactly what we've been doing. Just watch our step, take it one challenge at a metre, and keep our musical rhythm steady. Besides, I'd say there is peck of incentive to stay put around."

Everyone glanced around the sleeping accommodation and gasped when they realized the ground was gleaming like a starry sky. It was hard to tell under the spicy light of the glow louse, but it was bits of metal and gems mixed into the dirt.

"Our first sexual conquest !"Beth exclaimed.

They began collecting the glimmering art object and cleaning off the unwanted grime and sway. nearly of it was raw and diluted, so spare sediment had to be scraped, hammered, and rubbed off, and even then, there was no telling how often Au or silver was collected until it could all be properly melted down. Despite the uncovering, Noah couldn't deny his dashing hopes. When he had heard about these dungeon and the treasure within them, his inner wonk had been imagining something more along the assembly line of an actual treasure breast. That louse back there could be considered a mini-boss, after all.

With their spirits lifted, they left the safety device of the chamber to stay their descent.

"Trevor, you take point,"said Noah.

"What ?"

"I mean you're in nominal head, in the middle blank. expletive will now be opposite from me, where you once were. In these narrow burrow, we don't need to worry about an foeman circling around to Beth and Mira, so it would be best to put your long grasp directly in the social movement. If we enter a wide-open blank, we might interchange back."

Trevor stepped forward and led the chemical group, and not long after they departed, they faced off against a distich of the four-legged devil like the one that Mira killed outside. Now in the center, Trevor warded them off with his halberd.

"Oath, with me. Trevor, don't let them put up over us,"said Noah.

He and cuss stepped forward, keeping just out of scope of Trevor's halberd with oath delivering a mighty cleave. His brand cracked into the monster's shell and struck its brain, though the wound was shallower than oath expected. Nearby, Noah was fending off golf shot and stabs of the beast's jagged forelimbs, but when an initiative came, he hacked one of them off and then thrust his brand into the devil's face.

"These scale might be Charles Frederick Worth something."

Knives in hand, they carved the top shells off, each one the size of a tower shield. They were hard sufficiency to stop expletive's cleave and rather light, so there was the good prospect they'd be worth something to an armour dealer.

They proceeded onwards, fighting their way through wave after wave of the carapace's inhabitants. They survived each face-off, but not without shedding line. They kept their eyes peeled, not just for fiend, but for glimmers of gem. They searched every room, finding atomic number 79, silver, and gem of all different colors. They also found great deal of signs of homo natural process, though rarely any bodies, like with the devil, and the dead terminal were a incessant annoyance.

"Wait, hold up."

"What is it ?"Trevor asked.

"This section of the hall, we should avert it. reckon at it."The next one hundred animal foot of the tunnel had a different consistency than the rest. It was a sarcoid, perforated control surface, like a serve quick study."Something like that is probably some kind of bunker. We need to backtrack."

"It looks amercement. It probably means we're getting close to the posterior of the shell."

"It very well could be, but it's also too suspicious to risk. We're going back."

But as they turned around, they heard belly laugh and shouts and terror, and from the way they just came, another adventuring party appeared, a group of several adult men with low-quality leather armor.

"It's coming ! It's fast !"one of them screamed.

"Run ! You have to get out of here !"another shouted when he spotted Noah and his group.

Mira stepped forward to try and block off them."Wait, you can't go this way !"

She was shoved aside like she had been struck like a charging shit, the man who did it knocking her in the mentum with the grip of his axe to get her out of the way.

"Mira !"Beth exclaimed.

She and swearing rushed to her side, while nearby, the howler of fright became wow of pain. The men, having entered the hallway, now found themselves being assailed from all sides by flying stingers. They shot out of the muddle in the wall and cap like bullets and imbedded themselves in the men. They were barbed, like bee Stinger, and Noah could see them pulsing as they injected their venom.

"Get her on her invertebrate foot. Something is coming."

Mira was pouring blood from her mouth and seemed delirious. Oath forced her to pledge a health potion, but it wouldn't get her into fighting precondition soon enough. The monster the men had feared arrived, some sort of hulking crossbreed between a gray-haired bear and a komodo dragon. Its spine was covered in thick weighing machine and its underside didn't seem very decrepit either. It stood on its hind leg, exposing its lifelessly pincer, and released a hollo from between two words of shark-like teeth.

Beth, standing behind Oath and Trevor, shot it in the stomach with an arrow, though the wound was shoal, and it would take time for the poisonous substance to sound off in. Regardless, it took the message and dropped back down onto all fours and charged.

"Mountain Splitter !"Trevor cast.

He thrust at the oncoming demon, aiming for its head word with the blade alight with mana. The wildcat managed to nullify a deadly injury, instead staking the blow in the shoulder joint. Its scales were like thickset stones and just as hard, so while Trevor reached the tissue paper underneath, most of the energy was deflected. Getting past the halberd, it slashed Trevor across the chest, sheering through his armour and knocking him against the wall. Noah took out a lye bomb and struck the beast in the brass, blinding it and making it stagger back.

"Beth, save Trevor. oath, get over here !"

Noah didn't yield it any fortune to reclaim and lunged for the monster, slashing and stabbing at any spot that looked subdued. He focused on the wounded shoulder, but the animate being was guarding it well, and despite being blinded, it was swinging its claws with virulent accuracy, and even Noah ended up with some deep cutting off across his thigh. expletive came out from behind Noah and brought down his sword on the monster's head, doing some slight concussive damage.

"I'll distract it."Noah cast his invisibility and charged at the monster while drawing a length of thick chain from within his mob. He wrapped it around the ogre's neck and jumped onto its vertebral column. He pulled with his broad weight, forcing it to parent back on its hind ramification so that Oath could thrash about it across the tum and uncover its interior organs

"earth Surge !"Mira cast as he got out of the way.

Since expletive had created a way in, Mira bombarded the monster with a flak of dirt and rock 'n' roll, aiming for the laceration. It fell on its rachis, too wounded to continue fighting, and Noah finished it off.

"commodity. What is everyone's condition ?"

"Unhurt, but tired,"said Oath.

"I'm out of mana and I can barely suffer,"Mira whined.

"Trevor looks ok, but I think we should stop for the night. I'm starving,"Beth said.

"Yeah, it's probably night by now. We'll telephone call it a day."

They searched around, finding a room for them to encamp out in. They made a room access out of monster shells and barricaded it with their bags. There were no glow worms in this room, so Noah lit his torch.

"Let's eat quick and get some eternal sleep. I'll take first watch."

After a restless night, they left their enclosing."There is something I want to train out,"he said. He led them back to the corridor that had killed the other explorer chemical group, only to find that the corpses were gone, Lapplander with the panoplied devil that had given them so practically hassle before."Interesting."

"What ? Something just came along and took the soundbox. What's the big trade ?"Trevor asked.

"This hallway probably kills whatever enters it with those spikes. Only something heavily armored like that bear-thing could receive gotten to them, but there are no pull bull's eye, no footprint. Maybe one of those heavyweight bugs flew in and pulled them out without being detected, but I'd say it's more likely that they were eaten by something other than just a parasite."

"You mean the crab ?"asked Beth."How ?"

"I'm not trusted, but I'd like to cipher it when I have the opportunity. Let's go."

They set out, continuing their geographic expedition. The behemoth onset was relentless, a wave emerging every couple of transactions, each one pushing the adventurer beyond their limits, both from the numbers and the strength they carried. Everyone received injuries, even Noah. While his invisibility granted him a leeway of wrong compared to the others, stealth did little against such immense forces. There was simply not enough room to evade or retreat. They were running through their modesty of potions faster than Noah had anticipated, but not beyond his preparation, and he still had enough to make the full trip.

He assumed they had reached the consistency of the creature, or at least were no longer in the unoccupied fortune. More fleshy corridors were appearing, nigh of them containing some form of biological ambush like the spikes from before. Wherever this bass dower of the shield was, it had to be close by. Besides, there was also plenty of incentive to direct the risk. While they did a lot of traveling, much of their time was spent amass hoarded wealth. Their packs and pocket were getting heavy with precious gemstone and ores, and even Noah was dumping stuff and nonsense out of his doughnut to micturate room.

That system of weights was currently a interference, though, as they found themselves running from another wave of centipedes. The consistence of the corridor had also changed, where they were now passing through a chain of mountains of 30x30ft rooms, each one with a deep bowl-like floor.

"Whoa ! plosive consonant !"Noah shouted.

Everyone halted at the entering to the next room, blocked behind his arms. The floor of the chamber was waist-high with sorry water, or at least, they hoped it was pee. By now, they had all become a bit paranoid towards the devil, as well as picked up some of their deception. There could be untold beast lurking in that urine, ready to grab them and trail them under, perhaps injecting them with toxicant with needle tooth or barbed stingers. But the centipedes were closing in fasting, and there wasn't enough time to backtrack to a leg passage.

Noah summoned some intellectual nourishment from his tintinnabulation and sprinkled it across the open of the H2O, and the next few moments passed by with agonizing prevision, but nothing came up to feed, which was proficient enough for them. Not without grimacing, they stepped down into the swill and waded across. The adjacent room had a puddle of water like the first, and the next after that, and the third, and it was taking their bell. Despite all of the running they had done, there was only so a good deal that stamina could do in this sort of workout. However, as he moved through the fifth, Noah noticed something.

It was a bed of petroleum oil floating on the water's surface. He looked back, seeing the centipedes pursuing them, even swimming like rats. Noah and the others got out, but he turned back with a Flint River and knife. This was something he wanted to avoid doing in this oxygen-low surroundings, especially since he was now soaked in oil, but he struck the flint against his knife and spent off a sprayer of discharge that set the pool ablaze, filling the sleeping room with a wall of fire.

He rejoined the others, passing through several more room and taking multiple turns, but they finally had to discontinue and pick up their breath and gasped in rest that they were no longer being pursued. Even Noah needed rest, so no one said anything and they all just leaned against their human knee, sucking in air with their faces over the open of the water.

Noah stood up straight, and as he breathed in, the ground disappeared from under everyone's fundament. Some form of constitutive trap threshold had opened up beneath them, and the pool of dingy urine became a hollering whirlpool. Standing in the center of the elbow room, Noah and Beth dropped helplessly, disappearing down a Brobdingnagian throat. Trevor, swearword, and Mira were saved by the skin of their teeth. Trevor's halberd and Mira's staff had gotten stuck, granting them something to grab onto. They were hanging over the entry to the pharynx like a bottomless wellspring of living, quivering stone.

Sensing the obstruction, the walls began to close in to try and dislodge them. The three youths couldn't help but outcry in holy terror as they struggled to rise up out of the throat. They were drenched in vulgarism, struggling to hold onto their weapons and get any kind of purchase. They squeezed and clawed their way out, feeling like their fingernails would peel off. Their faces were pressed to the squelch floor, forced to breathe in and taste the slop. They reached the adjacent room, but despite their exhaustion, they couldn't rest yet. They could get word them, the approaching centipedes, having gotten past the flame Noah started.

They forced themselves onto their feet, barely able to stick out, but once Thomas More having to run. They were in a dreadful situation, but Noah and Beth were even regretful off. They were forced down a pit of pulp, gasping for air and feeling around for anything they could snap up onto to stop themselves. To Noah, it ranked as one of the eldritch mo in his entire multi-life history. They were soon tossed out, dropping through open air before making a punishing landing on what felt like a pile of firewood. It was auction pitch black, no cave worms around, and the consequence Beth tried to breathe in, her cauterise lungs cried out in a new anguish. The air was toxic, she could sample it, and every breath hurt. She coughed and wheezed, her boldness turning purple.

An arm wrapped around her from tail end and something was slammed over her expression. instinct made her throw her elbow back in self-defense, but it failed to bring a hit.

"It's me ! Just breathe !"Noah shouted.

It took attempt, but she drew in a cryptical breathing time, and at last, it was brighten. She drank the filtered air in greedily, while the matter over her mouth was tied around her head. It felt like leather, and it smelled like… charcoal ? I really made her desire to sneeze, but even the itchiest breath was worth it.

"Noah ?"

"I'm here, hold on."

There was a Muriel Spark in the darkness and a torch was lit, Beth seeing the same twist attached to Noah's face.

"What is this ?"she asked.

"A gas masquerade party, something I whipped up. I was worried about the air timbre in the dungeon, though I'm not sure how much faith should be put in them. We should get out of here, quick."

Beth looked down and shrieked. The rough surface they had fallen on was an island of bones, and just twenty away, the shore of a moat of stomach acid sizzling away. They were standing on the dissolving remains of those who fallen for the same trap.

"Oh God, this isn't happening ! This isn't happening !"Beth cried as she crumbled.

Noah would birth chastised her for losing her nervus, but considering the situation, he too was almost ready to snarl."We're not dead yet. Here, hold this."He handed her the torch and looked around. There was a division of the island touching the wall, so the Elvis was frothing just under his feet.

He leaned over towards the bulwark and slashed at it with all of his strength, but the sword simply slid off, throwing him off his balance and nearly sending him tumbling. He reformed his ground, this prison term attempting a stab. Once again, his sword, despite striking the material body head on, simply bounced to the side, and he fumbled. He tried again and again, but his gauge of its resilience was that it was beyond his tier of strength. However, he wasn't out of idea yet.

Sheathing his sword, returned to the middle of the island, then began scooping up armloads of rot-slickened clappers. He piled them against the paries, then removed a tightly-bound canvas package from his ring.

"What is that ?"Beth asked.

"Give me the torch."She handed it to him, and he touched a connected Black string to the flame. It came alight, and he forced the package against the wall, pressed with his shield, and backed by the batch of bones."Ok, back ! Back ! Back !"He coaxed her as far back as he could within the tummy, then conjured up the monster shells they had collected before."Duck down behind this and try to plow your capitulum !"

They got behind the shield-like carapaces, then an explosion blasted off on the former side of the room like it had been struck by lightning. weed filled the air, and lethal shrapnel sprayed their defenses. Beth released a riot from the massive shock, but Noah held her still, and though the Verbascum thapsus had gone out, there was now a hole in the incline of the belly, from which bioluminescent light was pouring in and suffer acid was pouring out.

They did their well to deflect getting splashed with Elvis and climbed out into a new sleeping room."That explosion will own drawn goliath. We have to go."

"What about the others ?"

"They're head for the same office we are. We'll meet them there eventually. Come on."

She followed him through the internal ear, managing to avoid fight and find a elbow room where they could rest. The air was stale and disgusting down in these burrow, but compared to the fumes of that stomach, Noah and Beth removed their masks and felt nothing but gratitude and succor with each breath.

"I… need to rest…"said Beth.

"Agreed, but I think it would be best if we cleaned off first."

Beth pointed her finger at him."Make Water."

urine began pouring from her fingertip with the volume and intensity of a garden hosepipe. Noah leaned into the spray, scrubbing off the filth and trying to get everything clean. Beth then took a turn, and they switched back and Forth until they deemed themselves decent.

"I thought you could only use magic to cause yourself inconspicuous. What was that back there ?"Beth asked as they both stripped off their drenching clothes.

Noah, standing with his backbone to her, rung out his shirt."That was a bomb, made of something called black powder."

Beth peeled over her trousers and the rough, unflattering fabric that passed for undergarments at this era."So it was alchemy ?"

"form of, there wasn't any trick involved. It's just a gunpowder that reacts violently to fire."Noah shed his own pants, still slippery with oil.

"So, that matter you made… Was that something else you just whipped up like those gas masks ?"

"Yeah. It's been a while since I made one, plus I couldn't really experiment to clear sure I got it right without drawing suspicions."

Beth ignored the shirt she was trying to dry out and turned to Noah."Just where on worldly concern do you go to learn how to make stuff like that ? You said you couldn't find information on the keep crab, but you knew to build these gas masks."

"It was a job I took before I came to Clive. I spent a few twenty-four hours working in a mine. Down there, they were using ignominious pulverisation to knock down apart tilt and they had to use these masks in pillowcase they hit a gas pocket."The reply seemed to placate her and he bowed down."Can you spray my forefront again ?"

.

.

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The Story of Oath

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.

.

Oath, Trevor, and Mira fell to their paw and knees, close to passing out. They had finally managed to escape the centipedes and were now back in a normal corridor. Their strength was side by side to zero, and Trevor was knocking back potions. Only once all was calm did they finally get back on their feet.

"We need to find Noah and Beth,"said oath,"we should—"

A solid clenched fist striking his fount both cut him off and sent him falling to the priming coat. His oculus were rolling like billiard balls, but the sound of Mira's screaming forced him to concentrate. Trevor had tackled her and driven a tongue into her chest.

"You son of a beef !"Oath bolted to his feet and attacked Trevor, knocking him off Mira, who was choking on her own blood line.

As they fell over into a storm of grappling and beating, Mira used what little strength she had to recover a health potion from her scoop and pour it on the wound. She passed out, stuck in a backwash between bleeding to Death and recovering in sentence. Nearby, swearword and Trevor had gotten to their animal foot and were now hurling lick wildly.

"Trevor, what the sin are you doing ? !"Oath shouted.

"getting you out of my way !"Trevor yelled back.

He retreated, going after his halberd. Oath did the like, retrieving his sword and raising it just in fourth dimension to stymy Trevor's jabbing. Despite his specialty, Trevor was able to exercise more continuous force-out, and the spear tip of the halberd pierced his shoulder. oath couldn't contain his cry of hurt as he was pinned against the wall. It was a stalemate, curse word stuck where he was, but Trevor unable to let up the pressure.

"It would have been better if Mira had followed those two in the pit. I didn't want to have to kill her, but I couldn't hazard you two teaming up against me."

"We weren't going to team up up against you ! What the nookie are you talking about ? !"

"I just didn't want her to intervene when I tried to pour down you. It doesn't matter, I'll just tell the others the two of you were both killed by the Same fiend, if they're even still alive."

cuss struggled to contend with the steel in his shoulder, but it felt like the injury was just getting larger and bigger."Why are you doing this ? !"

"I need you out of the way so that I can become the big businessman. I wanted to do it after I got the avenium, but I couldn't let this opportunity slick by."curse was forced down towards the ground, leaving a trail of origin across the paries."You're the net of the main mistake kinsperson, so once you and your male parent die, I'll be side by side in tune to get the title."

"You're another phallus ? But my father said the branch house had been slain !"

"They were, just a week ago, actually, it was probably Noah, hired by the baron. But he only thought to kill my Father-God and my half-brother. He didn't think it worth investigating advance, to find a illegitimate child like me living in Clive. The town will be mine, it should be mine !"

expletive reached around, grabbing a gemstone on the ground. fate was kind to him, guiding his throw and striking Trevor in the eye. He staggered back, bleeding horribly, and swearword wrenched the halberd out of his shoulder joint and scrambled to his feet. He could barely palpate his left arm, and he could neither spread a health potion nor properly swing his sword with only one hand. Should he drop his sword and go for a health potion ? Abandon it and use his knife instead ?

Trevor, facing a similar plight, chose to retrieve his halberd and stare cuss down with his one good eye while launching stabs. swearword did his best to hedge the blows, as he didn't have the effectiveness to do another shoving lucifer. He was losing ground, fast.

"So all this prison term, you were just waiting for a luck to bolt down me ? From the day we met ? !"

"Not at first, not until you came out to us as the big businessman's son, but when I found out about the dungeon crabmeat, it was perfect. I could use you to get the avenium, so no matter what, I'll still become a nobleman !"

curse pulled away and reformed his stance, then went on the offensive. His capacity for wielding a sword had greatly diminished, but still, he could agitate, and his wide of the mark golf stroke forced Trevor to back away. True, Trevor had the longer reaching, but it was much easy for expletive's sword to go against his halberd rather than frailty versa. cuss pushed him back, trying to get past the swinging axe vane.

"You're insane ! You think you can get the avenium or even escape this berth on your own ?"

"That's a jeopardy I'm leave to take. I want you to die down here, unburied, eaten, robbed of your little family burial patch behind your mansion."

"What could I have possibly done to work you hate me so much ?"

"I just plain don't like you, even before I knew you were the baron's son. I wanted to kvetch you out of the group. You're too debile to rule these realm. You can't even use magic."

As Trevor spoke, his blade began to glow with mana, and curse word instinctively stepped back. His sword would likely bust if he tried to blank out or even deflect an attack like that. This time, when the vacillation and thrust came, he only dodged, not letting the two weapons touch.

"All you do is let that chesty shit take attention of everything and toss out gild. Robert Clive would cauterise to the ground on the first day if you took over."

oath swung his sword, just narrowly catching the halberd's shaft and stopping Trevor long enough to close in. Trevor raised the halberd to parry, but a cleave of swearing's sword snapped it, leaving a shoal cut across his os frontale and pectus. He jumped back, now holding an axe in one helping hand and a quarterstaff in the other,

"I can do plenty on my own, without Noah,"said Oath.

"Shut up and die,"Trevor shot back before charging at him.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

To Beth, it was horrifying, the vastness of the chamber, for this grand cathedral to be just a small-scale pocket of this wretched labyrinth. Noah, however, felt a spine-chilling inflammation. This was no ordinary chamber, as not only was it as orotund as a football sports stadium, it had a span stretching across, perfectly two-dimensional, and a ceiling with great outward-bending arch holding it up. No, they were chains, each link the sizing of an SUV, and encrusted by the shell. So too were there neat statues adorning the walls, a pantheon of small-scale fauna and swell titans, all of them entombed by white, like flies in a spiderweb. The sleeping accommodation was flooded, hence the span, but not with water. It was a lake of mercury, glistening from some unseen light military force beneath its depths. The air above it was filled with fly-like hummingbirds, hanging their mind directly down and touching their beaks against the surface as if sportfishing for something. The hummingbirds didn't seem fast-growing, as they paid no bill to the two outsiders.

Noah and Beth crossed the bridge deck, staring in awe at the anatomical structure.

‘ This isn't a natural construction, this was surely constructed by a sentient will. Who made it ? How ? How many masses know about it ? What happened to this spot to end up like this ?'

It was his initiative prison term facing interrogative like these, for the front of magic trick in this world created numberless possibilities that he would never have seen in former worlds. Everything unusual he ever encountered was either manmade or caused by nature, but the presence of magic added all new options, instigating rarity. It could have been done by a completely former species, using power beyond his apprehension. It was a new way of thinking, one that invigorated him.

They crossed the room without any engagement, entering a hall with normal-sized rooms on either face. In these bedchamber too, there were construction and shapes encased by the shell. Were they masses ? Furniture ?

"Interesting."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Oath and Trevor were locked in fight, struggling to avoid each early's attacks. curse word had broken Trevor's halberd in two, taking away his ability to use conjuring trick, but he still lunged and fight back with the corpse, granting him two lowly weapon system. He would swing the head of his halberd like a tomahawk, forcing Oath to bar with his steel, and then use his unfreeze hired hand to mint Oath with the halberd's shot. The blows were delivered at full-strength and swearword couldn't occlusion them.

"You don't deserve to go the future mogul if this is the best you can do. You must be the weakest of the family."

"Trevor, listen ! Do you really think you can get out of here without my help ? Stop this, and we can both walk out of this donjon alert ! You can still become a Lord with the avenium !"

"That's not full enough. I want the country that my father couldn't have, the self-confidence. I want to sprinkle on his grave as the unwanted dickhead and flaunt the might that he lusted after. I want Robert Clive, and I want to rip it out of your hired hand. It's not good enough for me to win, you have to miss !"

A memory then flashed through Oath's mind, and despite the frightening situation, a laugh softly let gaffe."I remember Noah saying that you were a tug probably because of something to do with your male parent. I think he even said you would betray us. It must be embarrassing, to be sized up so easily and deliver your true colors seen !"

"Shut up ! If he's still alert, I'll kill him after I've killed you !"

Trevor charged at swearword, and finally, swearing managed to cede a wounding of his own. He blocked Trevor's dual attack and pushed forward, his blade slicing Trevor's shoulder joint. Trevor dropped the broken shaft, his arm now slick with blood, though expletive was in the same State, no longer able to grip his steel with both hands. They stared each other down, picking the moment to strickle. Trevor's unkept halberd was hoy and shorter than Oath's sword, so it would be easier to wield, but he wouldn't be able to draw a blank well with it, so he'd have to focus entirely on criminal offense. For Oath, his defensive office was better, but while he could go his sword with one arm, his speed would blench compared to Trevor's and he'd be lucky to inflict much damage. His best bet would be to block and then try to overpower.

Looking at his cousin-german, cuss was reminded of that shot from the field, when that group of men attacked him, Noah, and Tin. He had been utterly useless, just pulled into the woods while Noah took care of the menace with rest. But in the week since then, he had trained relentlessly, and now, he could finally champion himself and his bloodline, even against his own kin.

"This is your live chance, Trevor,"said swearing.

"No, this is—"A golf hole opened up in Trevor's chest with blood pouring out.

Noah appeared behind him, his brand seemingly materializing out of sparse air and now wet with panel. The sword had gone straight through Trevor's heart, leaving both he and curse word stunned. Trevor tried to speak, but all that came out of his oral cavity was ancestry. Noah dropped him to the flooring, pulled out his brand, and then pierced the back of Trevor's skull for good measure.

"occlusion ! What are you doing ? !"Oath shouted.

"I'm fulfilling my declaration. He became an enemy, so I dealt with him."

"It wasn't your billet to resolve he should die ! Trevor wanted to become the next baron in my place, so it was my responsibility to take him down !"

"What are you talking about ? He wanted to take your post as Clive's next baron ?"Noah asked.

"He… he said he was my full cousin, an illegitimate child tyke. He kept it hidden all this time."

"Oh please. His father wasn't ranked heights enough to have got an"by-blow nestling ”. Trevor was nothing more than a common bastard. And while I'm sure he had some hard-luck backstory about growing up on the streets that would crap us all commiseration or documentation him, I'm simply not interest. We don't have meter for you two to Bond over your dada issues."

Beth arrived, standing beside him."What's going on ?"Mira was with her, having narrowly recovered and been given a minute potion.

"I can't just pull up stakes it this way !"Oath yelled."I can't just walk off without knowing how it would take ended ! If I could ingest beaten him myself !"

"That's just your pride talking, but pride won't maintain you alive in this place. Should I receive just sat back and let you proceed your childish squabble ? I was hired to keep you from dying, not serve you live up to your ego."

"waiting, what happened ?"Beth asked."What happened to Trevor ?"

"He tried to drink down me and expletive,"said Mira.

"You can't be serious ! After all the clock time we spent together, he just turned on us like that ?"

"It was his plan from the beginning,"Oath muttered."He's my full cousin, and as soon as he found out we were in competition for the title of business leader, he planned out how to use us and kill me."

"We're not going to make it out of here, are we ?"Mira asked.

"We should have turned back when we had the fortune !"Beth tearfully exclaimed, falling to her knees as the pent-up breed finally released itself.

"yell and worrying about it won't helper us,"said Noah."Look, we're all exhausted. Beth and I found a room we can catch one's breath in. Let's set up camp and get our strength back. You three go, I'm going to sort through Trevor's things."

"Noah, you can't,"said Mira."Trevor may take gone crazy, but it's not right to just rob his corpse."

"fountainhead you can either choose to stop me, or you can go, eat some luncheon, and put the whole thing out of your psyche. So what are you going to do ?"Mira backed down and briskly walked off with Beth behind her."And you go too,"he said to Oath.

"I'm not going to pass on you alone here."

"When the adrenaline wears off, you won't be capable to. You'll flop and I'll have to carry you to the campground. You're offend, go eyepatch yourself up. I'll be fine."

"I guess you will, won't you ? Nothing ever gets to you,"cuss muttered.

"I hear talking when I want to hear tormented footsteps. Go."

expletive limped off after Beth and Mira, and Noah began picking through the hoarded wealth that Trevor had gathered, as well as taking tools and supplies that he had been carrying. It had gotten to the detail where he really had to be picky about what he could pick out with him, as he was reaching the limit of what he could carry and still travel effectively.

Once he had collected everything of Worth, he activated his invisibility and backed off to a safe distance, where he sat down and waited. It happened after only a few minutes, curtain raising in the level appearing like snap in ice, but the shell wasn't actually breaking. They were seams, unseeable to the naked eye until they actually opened up, and from within, a jet sludge appeared. Rather than simply spreading out under the force out of solemnity, it was moving willfully towards Trevor's cadaver. It enveloped him, and though Noah could not see it, the body was being disassembled in objet d'art the size of grains of sand. In sentence, the slime retreated, leaving cipher but some osseous tissue and fighting of fabric.

‘ So that's how it feeds.'

He went to the camp chamber, where everyone was sitting against different paries. There was a dead looking at in their eyes, exhaustion that was both mental and forcible. They had each held a promise deep down that they would crap it out of the dungeon Cancer the Crab together, all of them, that their company would survive this tribulation and remain whole. Trevor was bounderish and untalkative, but his exit left a vacancy, and they suddenly felt a great deal weaker without him. But with the trueness they were forced to accept, was it really a passing ? After all, he showed no hesitation in trying to remove the mass who were thought to be his friends.

"How could he do it ?"Beth asked."How could he lie to us for that long ? act to be our ally ? All those battles where we had to depend on each former, did that really signify nothing to him ?"

Noah sat down and began unpacking his dejeuner."You'd be surprise how long you can keep the lies going, how easygoing it can get."

"wealthy person you lied to us about anything ?"

Noah stared at her, challenging her to assume his resolution."wad of things, none of which matter in this situation."He tossed some food to everyone."Eat up. It doesn't matter if Trevor is dead, it doesn't change our plan."

"No, it changes everything."Beth stood up."We should go out. While we're still alive, while we still have supplies and potions, we should depart. We're not ready for this place. We weren't make even when we had Trevor. We have plenty of hoarded wealth, more than enough to live happily. Isn't that enough ?"

"It's too late to turn back now, to leave here without the avenium. I'm sure by now we've almost reached the freighter of the shell."

"What are you really getting out of this ? You're so certainly we can do this, you keep pushing us forward. What is it that you want so badly as to take a chance all of our lives ?"

"The Same matter as you, an dangerous undertaking. Isn't that what you wanted ?"

"I was wrong, this is too much."Beth gave an incensed suspiration."Oath, Mira, you agree with me, right ?"

Oath took a deep breathing space."I can't walk away from this, not now. I want to see this through to the end. I need to. I don't want to live my life story as a coward."

"Mira ?"

Mira hugged her knee joint to her thorax and hid her side. Was she refusing to bring piece in the conversation or had she simply shut down completely ?

Beth turned back to Noah."We're in over our heads. It was a mistake to come—"

"You're free to bequeath whenever you want,"said Noah, cutting her off."I don't expect anything from you. If you want to go back to the control surface, you can just take the air right on out that door."

"After everything you and I have done together, you would say that to me ? !"

"Like I said before, you knew what this is, what it was, just two people scratching an itch."

"fountainhead because of that itch, I'm late."

Mira tensed in cushion and swearing's eyebrows nearly shot off his boldness, yet Noah didn't even flinch."And ?"Beth stammered at his interrogation, not sure how to respond."Again, you knew what the deal was when we started, no fastening. I'm getting that avenium, and there is zip you can say to finish me. You can either leave now and try to make it back out on your own, or you can follow with us down to get the avenium and we'll make the tripper back together."

"This is an compulsion ! I don't know what the baron promised you, but let it go !"

"That's enough. Everyone shut up and get some rest. We set out again in an hour."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Trevor's absence took a heavy cost on the grouping. Beth and Mira continued to attack from behind Noah and oath, but the monstrosity still withstood barrage of stones and arrow to try and sink their teeth into something. Normally, Trevor and his halberd could have warded them off, breaking their impulse so that Noah and oath could go in for the kill, but now, they had to be the primary defensive wall and stoppage everything with their swords.

They battled through the teras, but took injuries with each skirmish. It wasn't just their formation that had been disturbed ; Noah could see the group morale at the boundary of an abyss. Noah was indifferent, but the others were grappling with despair. Which hurt more ? Losing a Friend ? Or finding out he was never their friend at all ?

At the instant, they were surrounded by centipedes in a wide-open bedroom. Noah, swearing, and Beth were stomping on the little prick as they drew close, while Mira was swinging her staff, equipped with her Shatter Mace magic spell. She was wild, taking out her strain and frustration on the beasts, with her screams of exertion becoming louder with each swing. Rather than helping, the onslaught of monster only seemed to increase her drunken aggression. Beth, on the other hand, was acting sluggish, paralyzed by fear and the personnel casualty of hope.

As Noah stomped on every centipede that came close, he heard a scream. A few of the beasts had managed to jump up onto Mira and were digging in. cuss rushed over to help her, but that left two sides of their organization unguarded, and the monsters were closing in.

"I have a program !"Noah said."When the monsters move away, everyone head towards that passageway over there !"

Before the others could say anything, Noah drew his knife and slashed his articulatio radiocarpea, sending a torrent of bloodline pouring onto the primer coat. Seduced by the smell of rakehell, the centipedes turned their attention from swearing and the others and swarmed towards Noah. He took off, sprinting across the battlefield of armored backbone and spindly branch, leading them like the Pied Piper.

The trio didn't hesitate and rushed towards the exit, though looking back to see Noah's situation worsening. Once he saw them reach the doorway, Noah turned around and made himself invisible. The centipedes were understandably confused, as even his scent disappeared. His roue, shrouded in mana, vanished as it fell. He made his way to the others while stepping on as few centipedes as he could. By the metre he reached the exit, he had already used a healing potion to mend his wrist.

"Let's go."

The doorway brought them to a thread staircase. However, unlike the tight coil of when they first arrived at the dungeon, this stairway spun down the walls of a chasm-like bedchamber like grooves on a practice session bit. It was too disconsolate to see the ceiling or the floor of the chamber, but in the inkiness, there was a winkle star, far below their feet when it should have been above their heads.

"Everyone, be special measured and step quietly. I think we've reached the bottom of the shell."

They proceeded down the stairway, this one having factual stairs. The iniquity swallowed them from the deficiency of cave dirt ball, but Noah lit his blowlamp, easing everyone's fears. It when they reached the bottom of the stairs that their fears all came rushing back like a flood.

‘ Of path,'Noah thought bitterly.

The bottom of the way was occupied by some kind of massive slumbering demon. This flier chamber was Sir Thomas More than a C human foot wide, and the beast was coiled up all over itself like a snoozing boa constrictor. There was no telling what its real size or sort was, and Noah's blowtorch couldn't provide enough clean to properly break its show. But in the center of the room was the plunder for this journey. The wall and staircase were solid shell, but the floor under the monster was flesh, and in the middle, in a raised basin, was a pool of pulverised metallic element with a peacock blue gleam. It was avenium, just like on Noah's ring. It was so end, but the risk before them was giving everyone doubts.

swearing stepped forward."I'll go,"he said as quietly as he could.

Noah grasped his shoulder."No, I'm better at stealth, remember ?"

Oath turned to him, loudly whispering."Please, it has to be me ! The unit reason why we made this journey was so that I could become a Lord ! I need to be the one to get the avenium. Let me earn my title."

"None of that matters, not in here. All that is important is getting the job done and getting out of here animated. If you want to do matter the"right"way, do it on your own time. I'm going to do things the hurt way. If this thing so much as vellication, leave me behind and run as fast as you can up the stairs."

Noah didn't wait for him to reply and activated his invisibility. True, this monster slept with its eyes closed, but he couldn't discount its sense of smell and audition. He moved retiring expletive and stepped onto the overweight ground. Whatever this thing was, it had a lot of tentacles, and they were spread everywhere. He stepped lightly, double-checking every topographic point before putting his weight on it. It was hard, not just on the outside, but the inside. Noah had not been able to run away the ravage of fatigue, and his brawniness were becoming unreliable.

For Oath and the others, it was trying, as they couldn't see Noah, just the torch he was holding over his head. Every time the sparkle trembled, they imagined him fumbling, stepping on one of the monster's tentacles and waking it up. When the torch finally reached the basin, they released their entertain breathing time. It was a substantial amount of money of avenium, at to the lowest degree two liters of the glistening dust, and it was so OK as well. Perhaps it was expelled from the crabmeat like a splinter, and it would accumulate in the washbasin over metre while the Phthirius pubis was subway system. ‘ If this ends up like that scene from Raiders, I'll just kill myself here and now.'Noah rested his hand atop the avenium and sucked it all into the halo, every grain.

Nothing happened, there was no reaction from either the teras or the basin. Noah waited a few moments to be sure, then turned and made the return journeying back to the staircase. Once he reached oath, Beth, and Mira, they all resumed respiration and began the silent climb back up the stairs. It was when they reached the halfway percentage point that a terrifying roar shook the bedchamber, and rather than below, it was coming from above. The group looked up in horror, seeing a 2d monster descending towards them. It appeared to be the Saami species as the low, looking like a colossal lion with a teeth-filled nozzle and tentacles growing from across its back that it used like spider legs to help its pedigree. It was like some kind of Lovecraftian griffin. Just one swing of its paws would kill a sledgepaw bear. Had it also been nesting in this chamber ? Perhaps the better half of the one down below ?

"Beth, withdraw it down !"

"Too late !"

It reached across the sleeping room with its tentacles and swung over, its beak wide open up. The group scattered, managing to head off its snout, which smashed into the rampart, though Beth ended up losing her bow over the edge of the staircase. One the talons on its forelegs made its mark and clipped Mira's cheek, but that was all it took to crush her skull like a Gallagher melon. swearing and Beth, seeing her headless soundbox slump to the storey, were left in stunned silence. Noah, already back on his human foot, stabbed the wolf in the eye, forcing his sword in all the way to the hilt. The brute howled in hurting and jumped back with his sword pulled from his travelling bag, and it wasn't the only one in agony. Oath and Beth now cradled Mira, sobbing and screaming at what was done to her. Beth, Noah could understand, but oath's reaction stood out.

‘ Goddammit, don't tell apart me he loved that girl.'“ We got to move ! There is zilch we can do for her !"

"No, I can fix this !"Oath sobbed."Give me all the healing potions we have !"

"Her head is gone, she's dead. No potion can fix that."

"Please, don't ask us to go forth her,"Beth whimpered.

Another roar echoed through the burrow, this one from below. It seemed the first lusus naturae had woken up. Oath scrambled to his feet, not in awe, but fad. He grabbed his sword with snag streaming down his aspect.

"I'll bolt down them ! I'll shoot down them both !"

"This is no clock time for heroics ! We're leaving !"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY !"Oath howled while throwing a punch.

Noah deflected and countered with a jab to the throat and a knee to the tummy. curse word collapsed like a theater of cards and Noah grabbed him and hoisted him over his shoulder. He turned to Beth and handed her his bow to replace hers."sustenance those things off our tail. If you run out of pointer, I'll give you more. Now move !"

They raced up the stairs as fast as they could. Noah was struggling under the effort of hauling Oath and everything they both carried, and he had to support the woolly mullein as well. Ahead of him, Beth was raining arrows down on the two colossus to the trump of her ability. They seemed aware of the poisoned tips and were keeping a safety distance, but they were still following them up. They started swinging at Noah and Beth with their tentacles, trying to block their path. Beth would slash at them with a knife to make them forswear, but it was just getting worse and worse, as ahead, they could see the centipedes swarming down the staircase, having followed the group down.

"Noah, what do we do ? !"Beth exclaimed.

"Run and engagement ! That's all we can do !"

They continued their charge up the stairs, stomping on the centipedes and ignoring the feel of their pincers digging in and not letting go. Their bites didn't appear poisonous, but they put bullet emmet to shame on the pain weighing machine. Not even Noah could observe a stove poker face with them biting down on his legs.

With luck on their side, they escaped the chamber, running down respective corridors before arriving at a chamber where they could rest. Noah dropped Oath on the undercoat and began ripping off the centipedes biting his branch. It was strange for Beth, to see Noah so winded and injured. He collapsed near the bulwark, downing a healing potion to block his bleeding. Oath, having regained consciousness, got back to his pes and approached the doorway with his sword.

"Don't even think about it,"said Noah.

"I refuse to give her body down here. I'm going to get my revenge on that beast and bring her home plate to bury her."

"It's a monster, it doesn't interpret your impression. If you go swinging at it for revenge, it's just going be glad that its next repast arrived so willingly. Besides, Mira has probably already been devoured."

"Don't say that !"curse shouted.

"Noah !"Beth added her representative to the outrage.

"You just need to take on it. She's gone, there is null you can do to help her. Nothing can be done to change what happened. I'll say it as harshly as I need to if it gets the content through your thick skull."

"What would you get done if it was Tin who died in there instead of Mira ?"

"I would sustain left her. I've seen plenty of the great unwashed die. This isn't my first-class honours degree time leading the great unwashed into scrap, and injured party are to be expected."

"So you were just waiting for each of us to die ? !"Beth exclaimed.

"As long as I could fulfill my contract, I was prepared for all potential losses, though I'm honestly defeated that you two all came here expecting to do this without losing anyone."

"Is that all we are to you ? Just future tense expiration ?"

"Yes, that's right."Noah got to his groundwork."Look, we've got the avenium, so the unvoiced region is done. Now we can head home."

"Two of our friends are dead and we're in the seat of a dungeon Cancer ! How is that not the hard component ? !"Beth screamed at him.

"Because I have an thought on how to get us out of here."He took out a water skin from his backpack and poured in some powdered avenium from within his halo, then shook it up and handed it to curse word."Both of you, put out this on yourselves. Try not to let any go to waste."

"What will this do ?"swearing asked.

"When I activate my invisibility, I wrap myself in mana, as well as anything I touch or hold, but for some rationality, it won't work on anything life. The mana just won't stick on, like it's being repelled. However, I did some research on avenium. It is a metal, but it bends light like a watch glass, and it manipulates mana the same way. I can't practice my invisibility to you, but if you're covered with powdered avenium, it may avail me conceal you a bit. Try it."

curse sighed and poured some of the concoction on his headway, then went to form rubbing it into his skin and apparel. He handed the ease to Beth and she did the Same. Noah activated his conjuring trick and grasped their hands. The air around them shimmered, their bodies becoming faint, like they were shrouded in a heat haze. They became like mirages of their dead on target self. Oath and Beth voiced their jounce as they looked at each former, and the fact that Noah could get a line them was concerning. It was a far-cry from Noah completely erasing his mien, but at the very least, it would make them to a lesser extent noticeable.

"This takes a lot of mana, so I'm going to use it on and off as we go, and we're going to be running. If there is anything you don't want to carry, leave it here now."

Beth and Oath couldn't see Noah, but they stared at the space he occupied. He could see it on their faces, the suspicion, the foiling, the fright, the sorrow, the exhaustion. They'd just give birth to suck it up.

"Let's go, and footfall lightly."

They left the bedroom and began their journey back to the open. They no longer moved in formation, and they tried to keep a quick but quiet pace. When monsters were nearby, Noah would touch off his spell and they'd do their sound to avoid detective work. It didn't always oeuvre. At one point, they were being pursued by a pack of the biped carnivores like the single they had faced outside. It was too many for them to strike on, and the longer they stayed in one spot fight, the greater the opportunity more monsters would be drawn.

Noah, pulling Oath and Beth along, activated the spell in his right eye.

"What the underworld ? !"swearing said in seismic disturbance as he watched the clone fall back, while the real Noah was still gripping his hand.

"It's another illusion I can create, just restrain moving !"

As they ran, Noah had the clone showtime waving his subdivision and shouting at the approaching monsters, doing whatever he could to take in their care. They passed through the clone in stark confusion, turned around, and tried again and again. Their eyes, ears, and olfactory organ were all telling them that quarry was standing before them, but no matter how many clock time they tried to bite down, their jaws closed around nada but air. They were so distract that Noah and the others managed to get away.

"Why didn't you tell us about—"

"Shut up !"Noah barked back."If you can blab out, keep running instead !"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

spring was planting time of year, so the farms on the break estate were in a frenzy. Oath, the baron's third son, was the"lord"of this task. He and the slaves spent their daytime working the fields, though there was little distinction between them. He lived and ate his repast with his father and brothers, at least, when they were at home, but his ranking in the phratry was just a step above"prick ”. His father lauded all of his extolment on his Brother, with the younger always trying to surpass the older and win the estate.

The oldest was a soldier, a team drawing card, one stride below true knight. He would be gone for months at a prison term, then return home and brag about the battles he fought for the glory of Uther, and how he bolstered the reputation of the Fault menage. The center son was a gallant hunter and skilled in conjuring trick, a natural endowment he often lorded over the elderly brother. He claimed magic to be infinitely higher-ranking to swordsmanship, meaning he, the magically-affluent, was the future of the pedigree. Neither brother liked Oath, simply treated him like one of the servants. He was just another jack. His father, on the other paw, wasn't cruel like them, but he simply didn't charge beyond paternal inherent aptitude. His mother was long gone.

expletive had been outside when he learned of their deaths, but on break. Lying on a sun-warmed grassy hill, he watched the cloud pass overhead. As the 3rd son, he was compelled to keep his head down, to focalise only on the chore in front of him and not rock the boat. Skygazing was the sole fourth dimension he'd break that normal, abandoning the theatre to instead sharpen on farming his own judgement, to leave about his life and obligation and try to figure out what was left.

He knew nothing of the world beyond his home base and village, couldn't even read, and near of his socialization came from talking with the slave during work. They often didn't have lots to say, but they trusted him enough to include him in their gossipmonger. He wasn't like the baron and his oldest sons ; his feet were more exploited to the soil of the subject than the floorboards of the defect household. Those conversations were the only time he could learn of things beyond simply swinging a hoe or scythe, to break that there was more to existence than just crop and livestock, and when he gazed at the sky, Oath would use that gleaming to try and develop himself, incur out who he was. That was the plan, at least, but he was disturbed by one of the maiden of the house.

"captain oath, your founding father requires your presence immediately."

The practice honorific was just a good manners acknowledging his bloodline. There was no honest respect in her words.

"Understood."Oath got up and followed her to the house, where she led him to his Father's study. As he approached, he heard nonsensical shouting and thing falling over.

Inside, the big businessman, Ivan, was pacing back and Forth, unhinged and drenched in tears. Papers and items from his desk were scattered across the floor and he was gripping a whiskey glass with a shaking hand.

"founding father, what is it ?"

"swearing, Colt and victor have perished."Ivan picked up a letter with a weaken wax seal."Colt was killed in battle on the Petosic Steppes."He threw it aside."And Victor was killed by a bear while hunting. His stiff were found this morning."He emptied his whiskey glass in one gulping and staggered, looking like he was on the verge of collapse.

Oath took a here and now to process the news, but there wasn't much to process. There was no such matter as sibling love in noble menage."I'm sorry, Father."

The business leader fell back in his death chair."Oath, you are now my only son. That means that you will inherit my deed when I die, unless my conniving brother manages to steal it !"

"Father, I can't be a baron !"

"This is not something you can refuse ! I will not appropriate our home to let noblesse pillowcase from its finger ! But you're right. The way you are now, the kingdom would be wise to hand it over to Edwin, so we're going to commute that. From now on, I am going to sculpt you into a desirable replacement."

After that, everything changed. From the crack of aurora until belatedly at night, swearing was trained in combat, etiquette, and reading material and writing. The tools of the farm were replaced with his grandfather's blade, and hours not spent swinging it were spent hunched over one playscript after another, studying by candle flame. None of it stuck. Unlike his brothers, he was born without talent and raised without an education. He couldn't use magic, could barely agitate, and was about as genteel and learned as the lowest peasant. There was little hope for him.

One day, he found himself at the Old Wineskin, looking for an adventuring job. multitude would post notices, requesting detail like valuable plants or monster role, or tasks like escorting somebody through the forest. Helping around town would give him some achievements he could use to evidence his eligibility for inheriting the Clive barony. He had also heard some weird rumors about the inn, about some screwball twain that had the loudest sex imaginable. From dawn to midday on every other day, anyone in or near the inn would be flushed with superfluity as they heard a young woman's cries of euphoria, along with the knocking of a bedframe threatening to give apart. However, today, the inn was quiet. The only part he heard was addressed to him.

"Hey you, by the notice board, over here !"

He looked over to the source, spotting a table occupied by three young person like himself, a man and two women.

"Me ?"

"Yeah, do on !"one of the woman said, a tall and bubbly blonde.

Oath crossed the bar to them."What is this about ?"

"You wouldn't happen to be searching for a political party to conjoin, are you ?"the other adult female asked, a cute brunet with scant hair.

"Oh… uh, yeah, I guess. I haven't been making much headway on my own."

"wellspring consider a arse !"

swearing hesitated, feeling the man beside him shooting dagger from his eyes. He was sizing him up, and apparently didn't like what he saw.

"No, alteration of programme, keep moving. We don't need any more weaklings in our group."

"Shut up, Trevor,"said the blonde."Ignore him. I'm Beth and this is Mira. We're currently in pauperism of a swordsman in our radical, and you look like you would fit right in."

"She means you look rickety enough that no one better would have invited you to bring together their grouping, and no real number explorer would slander their gravitas by joining this gro— Ouch !"Beth had just kicked him under the table.

"You're not allowed to drag through the mud the mathematical group while being a part of it,"she scolded.

"Truth be told, none of us are very good, but that just means we should stick to together,"said Mira.

Oath finally took a seat and put a hand on the sword hanging from his whack."Ok, trusted, I'll join you guys. My name is expletive. I'm actually variety of surprise, I thought this billet would be… louder."

"Oh yeah, those account ? We've actually met them, Noah and Tin, the couple who make all that haphazardness,"said Mira.

Now Trevor seemed interested."Really ? Were they freaks ?"

"No, normal as can be,"said Beth,"and they're both barely older than us. You'd never think it when looking at them. The guy is actually really saucy. He gave us a lot of great advice about maneuver and magic. We tried to get him to join our team, but he wanted to work on his own, him and that slave girl. God, I envy her."

"settee down, you're so indecent,"Mira said with a sigh. She then turned to Oath."Anyway, welcome to the mathematical group !"The smile she flashed at him made his nitty-gritty flutter in a way it never had before.

For the future few calendar week, Oath and his new friends adventured together, fighting what monsters they believed they could beat, but were most often forced to run away and tend to their wounded soundbox and bruised egos. But no topic how many fourth dimension they were beaten, Oath was never dejected, because it was the offset fourth dimension he felt truly accepted, and with multitude his own age, no to a lesser extent. True, Trevor always gave him the cold shoulder, but Beth kept the spirit of the chemical group raised, and Mira… she was something else altogether.

She spoke with him, laughed with him, and smiled with him, all here and now of confusing bliss that he drank like fine wine. He was drawn to her, pulled by a force that he could not depict. One day, after they had managed to kill a wolf, and only just barely, he and the others all collapsed from exhaustion. Mira, sitting next to him, ended up placing her deal on his. The second her finger touched his, it was like cold lightning surged through his cheek, a frighteningly powerful superstar, but one that made him finger more live than the engagement just moments before.

Perhaps it was just the adrenaline and the endorphins, but he looked at Mira, and she, realizing the contact between them, didn't pull away, and instead gazed at him with a shy smile and rosy cheeks. The first time Oath fought a goliath, he froze up in terror, and it wasn't the conclusion metre his care got the better of him, but at that instant, he broke through his awe, turning his handwriting over to hold hers. They gazed at each other, their tummy filled with to a greater extent butterfly than a hayfield in summer. That was the import he realized his feelings for her.

The next day, his father sat curse down in the parlor of their household. With them was a gruff middle-aged adventurer with a bow."swearing, no subject what, you must not let anyone outside of your political party know this. I've just learned that a keep Phthirius pubis has surfaced nearby."

Dungeon crabs were one of the great unusual person in the globe, but their mythology was thin. They were vague fauna, described as living fortresses that rose up from the solid ground. Many believed that they were a remnant of the war between the graven image and the spirits.

expletive wasn't sure how to respond to the news, so his male parent continued."Adventurers who manage to appropriate a donjon crab by taking the avenium inside are granted the social status of baron or higher by the realm. If you and your booster can accomplish this, then there is cipher Edwin can do and my claim will be passed on to you without question."

"My champion and I can barely face the teras in the woods. We can't handle a keep crab."

"I am well aware of your weakness when it comes to swordplay. I'm hoping that switching to a dissimilar weapon will unlock your likely. This man is Sendal, a veteran adventurer and archer. He'll teach you how to use a bow."

Just looking at Sendal, Oath could tell he wasn't the favorable guy, but his founder wouldn't variety his head. That day, he and the archer rode into the woods to hunt, and that was the last thing he remembered. When next he woke up, he was in a goblin tunnel, racked with pain flowing from the spine of his nous down to the summit of his toes, but it was waning, thanks to the potion he had received.

Helping him to his substructure was a young man, a bit old than him, with a girl standing behind him. Noah and Tin, he had heard those names before. They were the source of the foreign rumors about the Old Wineskin, but more than than that, Beth and Mira had vouched for Noah's metier. oath was questioning, especially when Noah declared that he was going to pass out the goblin den himself, something that was nothing forgetful of suicidal. Despite his spirit being saved, cuss wasn't feeling very grateful, considering he now had to form as Noah's camp mule while he marched to his doom.

But then he saw the issue. Noah slaughtered the hob with relief, never displaying any kind of magic. Oath and his friends had repeatedly tried hunting hob, nearly dying every metre, but they fell like vibrating reed with every swing of Noah's blade. Then, when the goblin chief revealed itself, expletive got to witness true swordplay, and the memories of his older crony's skills were painted over by Noah's fight. Had he and his acquaintance attempted this, they would have ended up being cooked and eaten.

During the journey home, they were attacked by bandits. Tin, obeying Noah, pulled Oath into the woods before he could even grab his sword. The battle lasted only a min, leaving Oath in awe when he saw the consistency of the slain bandits. He rode back to Robert Clive with Noah and Tin, and when he arrived back home base, his father threw his arm around him, wailing relief to see his son's riposte. It was the world-class time his Father of the Church had ever hugged him.

"male parent, there is something I need to tell you."They went into his father's study and closed the door behind them. Oath, standing while the baron sat, leaned against the desk."The Hunter you hired, he knocked me out handed me over to goblins."

"tinker's damn him ! Edwin must have bribed him to get you out of the picture. But if he handed you to goblins, how did you escape ? Did you press your way out ?"

"No, I was saved by someone, a man named Noah. He's younger than Colt but twice the warrior, and he's already helped my friends before. He wiped out a huge goblin nest himself and even killed a hobgoblin."

Ivan leaned back in his chair."If a young man of such skill were to join your party, perhaps you might be able-bodied to capture the dungeon crab."

"I was thinking the Same thing."

"Bring him here. I'll talk to him."

The next affair Oath knew, Tin lay dying, and he watched as Noah slew the aggressor. The arrow in Tin's pectus, it had been meant for him, he was reminded of it with each pained breath she made. Crushed with guilt, he applied every potion in the house, pouring them on her combat injury and down her throat, but her condition didn't improve. As Noah approached, Oath braced himself for the whip. It was Oath's flaw that she had died, her life ended because he had been saved, so would Noah necessitate his lifetime as compensation ?

But Noah didn't acknowledge oath. He simply kneeled down and held Tin. There were no crying, not even a trembling breath. Tin voiced her final adieu and closed her centre, while Noah simply stared at her like a statue. Noah then departed with Tin, riding off to find a suitable billet to swallow her. Watching him ride off, Oath remembered the smile on Tin's face when she said goodbye, and imagined that look on Mira, the pure, honest, intoxicating emotion. He wanted to see her. He had nearly died, and he wanted to choose the risk he never could accept if he hadn't been saved.

To his begetter's dissent, he rode out to the Old Wineskin, and as soon as he entered, he heard Mira's voice."curse word !"

There they were, gathered at their common board. Never was he so happy to see his friends. He crossed the tavern and took his tooshie."Hey."

"Your father told us you were out training with an archer,"said Beth."I'm rather insulted you didn't ask me first."

"You guys aren't going to believe this, but I swear this really happened. That archer knocked me out and handed me over to hobgoblin. I was even taken to their den."

Trevor just scoffed and Beth was likewise skeptical."I'm actually not that mad, you don't have to get up excuses."

Mira gave him the welfare of the doubt."Really ?"

"Yeah, but I was saved by that Noah guy that you told me about, he and Tin. I watched him exculpate out an entire mine full of goblins single-handedly."

"Of course soul like you would need to be saved,"said Trevor.

"An stallion mine ? !"Beth exclaimed as she bolted to her feet.

"We can barely fight a smattering of them,"Mira sighed.

"Anyway, listen to this."He leaned in and waved for them to all do the Saami."A keep crab has appeared nearby."He was prosperous that everyone understood that terminus. He didn't have faith in his power to explain it. His friends all fell back in their seats.

"You honestly can't be thinking of trying it !"Beth exclaimed."We'd be dead in an 60 minutes !"

"Listen, Noah has agreed to join our team and train us. With his avail, I'm sure we can do it."

"We don't need some gross out's advice,"said Trevor.

"Did I forget to mention that he also killed a hobgoblin ?"

Trevor didn't respond.

"I don't know. I think it's way too early for us. Why ? Are you really that broke ?"asked Mira.

"There is something I haven't told you guys. My full name is Oath flaw, son of big businessman Ivan break. I'm his tertiary son but I'm next in line to receive his title."

"Damn it, he's hallucinating ! Everything he's said so far was a hallucination."

"Oath, did you eat some unknown mushrooms in the woods ?"Mira asked with honest concern.

Stared in continued silence.

"I swear to you, it's genuine. I'm sure the archer gave me to the goblins to hold on me from inheriting the title. When I returned nursing home, that same archer tried to kill me, but ended up killing Tin instead."

Both Mira and Beth were left in stunned silence. While they had only met her once, the news of her death was a shocking blow. Her interminable moaning had become a detail of pridefulness in the villagers, considering it a valued quirk in the identity of their home, like the swallows returning to Capistrano. Besides, they had both seen the love in her eyes.

"Yeah. Noah killed the guy and rode off with Tin to bury her. He said he would be back the day after tomorrow."

"That's awful,"said Beth.

"poor Noah,"Mira added.

"I don't think we should give him with us. We can do the dungeon crab ourselves,"said Trevor.

"No, we wouldn't stand a chance without him. Just talking to him, you'll see."

Beth raised a beer mug."Anyway, I'd say this calls for a potable. Let us rejoice the safe paying back of our comrade, toast our approaching succeeder, and mourn a fallen friend !"

Oath wanted to express joy, but truth be told, he'd need some liquid courage.

Late into the night, the four adventurers splurged on food and drinks, until all was hush and the boniface was preparing to close up the bar. Trevor had gone menage, Beth was currently passed out, and now it was just Oath and Mira.

"I hope this dungeon crab thing works out,"said Mira, more than than a little tipsy.

"Yeah, and all the wealth from the explorer is really going to help this village."

"With that money, I can finally pay off my mother's debts."

"You never said your mother was in debt."

Mira giggled."I guess we both kept secret. I never liked adventuring, but it was the best way I could make money after my Father-God left. In a way, I'm glad I did it, but I just want a Nice quiet home life."

"well I'll become the baron of the township. Maybe you could settle here."Never in a million old age would a grave expletive have the courage to do so, but he reached out and held her handwriting like he had on that day in the Ellen Price Wood."And I could make a household with you."

Like him, Mira was fueled by swimming courage, but she got to her invertebrate foot with little grace and swell braveness, and pulled expletive to his."Come on,"she mumbled with an chagrined smile. They were both more than a little wino, so they had to help each other up the step, giggling with each step. They reached the door to Mira's room, and as she fumbled with the key, Oath leaned in and steal a kiss. It was his start, as well as hers, and while he got her mostly on the nose, she touched her lips with a smiling and a blush.

They got the door give and stumbled into the room, shutting it behind them. Mira lit a candle and then made herself at dwelling in Oath's bosom. Standing in the middle of the room, they kissed once to a greater extent, this time able to put their hearts and souls into it.

"Are you ready for this ?"expletive asked.

"I think so. Are you ?"

"I'm not sure enough. I don't have any experience with being with a char. I mean… I've seen fauna on the farm…"

Mira salvo into laughter, which, indorse to her yelling at him, was the absolute last response he wanted at a moment like this."Beth has told me how to do it, don't worry. Now that we've kissed, the next whole tone is we take off our clothes."

Oath was already sporting a woody, and those live four words nearly pushed him over the edge. He took off his coat, Mira removed her cloak, and for a moment, they paused, feeling the tension as they gripped their shirts, but upon struggling to actually force them off, they couldn't help but laugh. Mira's tit were exposed, and Oath, a swirling torrent of teenage hormones, was caught like a deer in the headlights. They… were so… beautiful.

"Don't stare like that,"Mira said, covering herself and looking away in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry. Can I… can I touch them ?"

"I… guess."

She hesitantly lowered her weapons system, and Oath, with trembling manpower, began to fondle her modest shelf. That balminess, that eloquence, he was drawn to them like bread. He was clumsy ; not brutish, but his technique was ill-refined, as was to be expected. Regardless, Mira shivered and purred from swearing's touch, afraid of being so vulnerable, both her body and her opinion exposed to another for them to do with as they pleased. Perhaps it was the bearing of that fear that made it feel so unspoiled, the fear of being touched so intimately, immix with the joy of finding someone whom she wished would do so.

Massaging deep into her flesh and relishing the way her nipples felt when he toyed with them, Oath, like Mira, was overwhelmed. The chance to explore a woman's body like this, to know it, intimately, it teased his most innate, instinctive curiosity. He was so excited, trembling like a leaf and touch like he was going to jump out of his pelt. It happened before he could do anything about it, he came, having already been pushed over the border. Flushed with shame, he did his best to try and veil it, but to Mira, it looked like he was just getting impatient.

She lowered her hands and pushed off her trouser. Oath didn't immediately oppose, but that was because he was trying to gather his thoughts and his strength. When he realized what she had done, he didn't have time to think, and simply dropped his own pants. This time, it was Mira's turning to stare, as she tried not to think of when their group last fought goblins, about of which weren't wearing anything.

Mira climbed into bed, hiding herself under the mantle."Now… you get on top of me… and I think you know where your thing goes."

Oath put out the candle, plunging the room into total darkness. He meandered his way back to the bed, feeling the cover charge. His men found Mira's organic structure and he felt her hustle like a frightened beast. He slipped under the blanket and their raw organic structure met, first in the sort of an embrace, then in the form of a kiss, and finally…

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Noah, Oath, and Beth sprinted up the winding staircase towards the exit of the keep crab. They were covered in ancestry, sweat, and shit, and had countless untreated harm. Noah's mana was completely drained, and the three of them were running on fumes. They couldn't tell if the monsters were still chasing them. After all this prison term, the refrain of roars repeated in the backbone of their minds no matter what.

Finally, when their bodies felt like they'd fall apart like sandcastles, they breathed fresh air, and felt the sun effulgence upon them. They burst out of the top of the crab's casing, collapsing near the threshold. For the three of them, it was like a religious experience. Beth crumbled, bust pouring down her face, a mix of happiness, misery, alleviation, and lamentation, and as the sun rose, swearing stared like his soul had left his body, turning him into an empty husk. As for Noah, he dropped the knight brand he had been using and gripped the earth with shaking hands. How long had it been ? How long had it been since he last fought that hard for his animation ? How long had it been since his selection inherent aptitude pushed him that far ? No, when it was more than just his natural selection instinct pushing him ? The fear, the adrenaline, the endorphins, the pain, they flowed through the folds of his gray matter like a overflow across a desert.

"Get up, on your feet."

Noah looked over, seeing Oath standing with his blade pointing at him.

"What the hell do you conceive you're doing ?"Noah muttered.

"You heard me, get up and face me."

"curse, you're kidding, right ?"Beth asked.

"No. You and me, Noah, right here, right now."

"You ungrateful little terror. After all I did for you, you have the nervus to point your sword at me ? The sword I gave you ?"

"You didn't do this for me. I was just a prop in whatever heap you struck with my father. Now Mira is numb and I was robbed of my chance to settle things with Trevor. We never should have gone in there, but you kept pushing us. We never should have let you be a part of our team."

"cuss, it's not his error ! You also wanted to celebrate going ! Just put your sword down and we can all go home !"

"No ! I have to do this !"

"You're right,"said Noah, getting to his feet,"you were just a prop, but I'm still under contract and not allowed to kill you. Once we're back and I've nonplus my reinforcement, then I'll put you down as hard as you want."

"No ! I'm done listening to you ! From the second we met, you've run my life. I was supposed to be the one to arrogate the avenium, to prehend my own fortune, not let you take it and accept whatever flake you toss my way ! I couldn't avenge Mira, I couldn't metre Trevor, and I couldn't even conquer the donjon crab ! I can't go home this way ! I refuse to exist like this ! But if I beat you, that'll be enough."

Noah gripped the hilt of the knight blade, and the sensation he got back was far from nonsuch. His body was at its limit, he could barely even stand. He was out of potions, they all were, so there was no way he could quickly reimburse his strength. At least Oath was in the like site. Despite his anger and bloodlust, he was on the verge of passing out. The spirit was unforced, but the flesh was another tale. If Noah fought him in this state, even the smallest wounds could prove black, then his slew with the baron would be out the windowpane.

"I'm not going to indulge you. If you want to get yourself killed, do it after we get back. I want to experience long enough to immediate payment in everything I've collected."

"You can't babble your way out of this !"

cuss charged with his blade raised, attempting his signature cleave. Noah stepped to the side, nearly falling over as he did so. sooner than a cut, he struck curse word in the tummy with the grip of his sword. curse word nearly retched, but regained his footing and punched Noah. He tried to dodge, but was still grazed and staggered back, drawing his sword completely.

"plosive speech sound this, you two don't need to fight !"Beth pleaded.

"Tell him that !"Noah argued.

Oath unleashed a flurry of swings towards Noah, who lacked the agility to get out of the way. Instead, he had to blockade and dodge each swing. They locked brand, pushing against each other in a shoving match.

"You chose to go into the dungeon Phthirius pubis,"said Noah."You chose to take after me, despite knowing how dangerous it was for Mira. You put your superbia and your nobility over her. I killed Trevor because you were too weak to get it done and you would have woken up that demon with just three gradation. You don't get to blame your incompetence on me."

"You're a hardhearted by-blow ! You couldn't even shed a tear for Tin, no curiosity you didn't care about us !"

"Grow up !"

Noah let go of his sword and punched Oath, sending him staggering back. Noah touched his script to his eye, casting his invisibleness. He only had sufficiency mana to remain hidden for a few moments, so Noah tackled curse, disarming him and knocking him to the primer. Three self-colored blows to the font left him unconscious.

Noah dropped to his stifle, gasping for air with his spell coming undone. Hopefully, Oath would be much more sensical when he woke up. As Noah got to his foot, there was a lusus naturae's maze, followed by Beth's shriek. One of their pursuers from within the shell had arrived and was attacking Beth. It looked like some kind of cycloptic Panthera tigris with a mat of shaft across its back. Beth was pinned, her arm in its mouth with her frame being torn and her bones breaking.

"tinker's dam it !"Noah growled.

Beth still had his bow, so Noah pulled out his short sword and threw it, winging the wolf in the berm. It turned to Noah and charged, and Noah, trying to activate his magic, realized he had used the last of his mana to address with Oath. He jumped to the slope to dodge the lunging tiger, but as he hit the ground, he realized he had less military strength than he thought. He had planned on hitting the ground with a roll and then jumping to his feet, but he just fell like a tree diagram. All he could do was roll on his back, and this time, when the Panthera tigris pounced, he wasn't capable to dodge. It tried to sink its dentition into his cervix, but he blocked its mouth with his brand, though he could do cipher about its nipper, digging into his shoulder joint. It was pushing down on him with its wide-cut weighting, and he didn't have the posture to hold it back.

Noah stared into its one, fist-sized eye and watched drool pour from its mouth, mixed with the profligate from the track that his sword was creating. This certainly ranked among the top of his weirdest deaths. Yet when his strong point was about to waver, Oath attacked the Panthera tigris from behind, slicing off his head with a swing of his blade. Oath then kicked the tiger's corpse off Noah and pointed his brand at him.

"You'll never get a better chance than this,"Noah said with a smirk.

swearing took a recondite breath and sheathed his steel."I suppose saving your lifetime is as lots an accomplishment as ending it."He held out his hand to Noah."Let's go home."

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Epilogue

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The town of Clive was bustling, filled with adventurers following the news of the keep crab's emergence. Around half of them would die within its shell, but those with acquirement and luck came back to town with pocket fully of ores and gems. Having returned to town just the previous dark, Noah had tried listening for gossip of whether or not anyone else had managed to conquer the dungeon. He had taken all of the avenium he found in that elbow room, so it's possible that was all there was in the crab. Oh well, they'd just have to make do with everything else they found. The majority of the adventurer were smartness enough or perhaps not ambitious enough to go very deep into the crab.

But that's not what Noah was focusing on at the minute. He was at the inn, sitting on the bed in Beth's elbow room and examining her arm. It had been badly mangled by that tiger and wasn't fully healed. Since they were out of potions at the time, Noah and curse had to wrap it and lean it as best as they could. On the way down from the donjon's entrance, they met an explorer and bought some healing potions off him. However, they weren't able to completely reverse the damage. The flesh on her arm looked moult, like severe stretch bull's eye, and the muscle underneath was out of proper contour. At to the lowest degree the bone had been reset properly, but the way Beth winced as she stretched it per Noah's instruction, he knew that she was lucky to still accept it at all.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be able-bodied to draw a bow or rise anything intemperate anytime soon. If you find someone with healing magic, they might be capable to unmake the damage, but otherwise, I can't conceive of your arm will ever regain its wax use or strength."

"That's fine,"she said with a drone vocalism and dead fish centre. She shuddered, as if shaking herself awake."No, it's not amercement, it's terrible. But… I don't have to worry about using a bow."

"You're quitting being an adventurer ?"

"After everything we went through in that dungeon… I don't ever want to see something like that again. I'm going to try and find a healer to mend my arm, but after that, I'm going to do what Mira wanted and settle down and establish a family."

"That's for the unspoilt, I suppose."

"Thanks. And Noah, about what I said to you in the donjon, about how I was…"

"You're not pregnant. Mira was."

She looked at him in daze."How'd you bonk ?"

"I have enough experience with women to jazz how to avoid getting them pregnant, and I can severalize when it's skinny to that time of the month. Mira told you she was tardily before we entered the dungeon, didn't she ? You pretended it was you instead. Did you lie to try and save yourself, or her ?"

"Both, I guess. Oath didn't know, he can never know."

"I'm surprised they were able to keep it hidden from me. They always seemed a minuscule protective of each early, but I had no idea they were so intimate."

"She told me they were both drunk when it happened, and later told Oath that she thought it would be better if they focused on getting stronger for conquering the dungeon. After, they would get the rest of their liveliness to…"She trailed off, then looked out the window and sighed."I'm going to go visit her mother and sibling, tell her what happened. They were in debt, so hopefully the treasure I've collected will help pay it off. I owe Mira that much."

"This should More than back it,"said Noah, handing her a small nursing bottle of avenium.

"So much bother, so many tears over this metal detritus,"she muttered, staring at the bottle.

"return care of yourself,"Noah said before getting up and leaving.

He stopped by his room, getting his bag and any possessions he deemed worth carrying. He had already sold off all of his ores and muffin, so he had plenty of amber coins with him, along with various other dick and treasures hidden within his ring, including a vast portion of avenium. He put on his backpack with his brand hanging from his bash, including a new longsword, and left the room, locking it behind him. Downstairs in the tavern, he handed the landlady the key.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

"Aye, I'm a bit sorry to see you go. But before you do, you should talk with your friend. He certainly needs some help."

At the parry, he saw curse word slumped over with a half-empty mug in his paw. After returning to Baron Clive of Plassey, he had checked in with his father only briefly, then came straight to the inn and started drinking to submerge his sorrows. It was a miracle the boy hadn't died from alcohol poisoning.

"Are you planning on drinking away your entire fortune ?"Noah asked.

Oath raised his head, looking at him with bloodshot eyes."Leave me alone."

Noah took the feces next to him and ordered a drink."I will, soon. For now, just humor me."

curse word sat up and wiped his nerve."Remember that hunting trip the six of us took in the outset ? When we were sitting around the flame, you told me that I had to adjudicate my reason for bread and butter, for combat, that I had to create my own meaning. When I went into that dungeon, I thought I was doing it for my father, to finally win his favorable reception. But when Mira died, I realized I had done it for her. I wanted to testify to her that I was a man, that I was just as hard as you and Trevor, and I wanted to prove it to myself. Everything I failed to do, they were the accomplishment of the baron that I wanted to be. I loved her, but my superbia got her killed. Now… I just don't want to call back about it, any of it. I just want to blank out so everything will stop hurting."

Noah, having received his deglutition, downed it in one draft and slapped the spyglass on the mesa, then took a trench breathing place."If I were to give you one finally lesson, one terminal slice of advice, would you take it ?"Oath just glanced at him, neither agreeing, nor refusing."plosive speech sound drinking. Go house and mourn her properly."

"Why ?"

"I know it hurts, and you don't want to palpate anything anymore, but when you block out all of the bad, you block out all of the dependable that goes with it. Cherish your notion for Mira, your memories of her. Don't try to eat up them and forget. Be thankful that it hurts. conceive me, there is naught more dreadful than being truly numb. When you've lost all meaning and sensation, you end up in a very dark situation, where you'll do anything just to feel again, and you never fully come back from that."

For a moment, the countersign went over Oath's psyche, but then his eyes widened as a retentivity flashed through his alcohol-soaked brain. The facial expression Noah made when Tin died, that stony locution, it finally made sense.

"Is that what happened to you ? You lost someone ?"

"I've lost a lot of masses, to a greater extent than you can suppose. Losing a sleep with one, mourning them, it's supposed to be hard, because if it's easy, you forget how to do it."Noah then got up and shouldered his backpack.

"Where are you going ?"Oath asked.

"I have business in the capital."

"My father and I are going there in three days. You can jaunt with us."

"Nah, I'll find my own way. Besides, I've already given your father enough avenium to ascertain you become a Lord, so there is no peak in sticking around here."

"You never told us what he promised you. Why were you so obsessed with conquering the dungeon ?"

Noah thought back to the conversation he had with the tycoon, after Tin died.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

Noah was sitting in the big businessman's sketch, having just confessed to killing his sidekick and nephew."We didn't have the chance to talk about payment for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interest in money or body politic. There is something else I want."

"Which is ?"

"I want a missive of recommendation to the Uther horse Academy. I heard they only grant admittance on the good word of a noble, such as yourself."

Ivan scrunched up his face and nearly spat out his boozing. To be an Utheric knight was a not bad honor and obligation, as while they ranked below baron on the grandeur scale, their accomplishment could pay them not bad authority and political influence."I have no interest in putting my in effect name on the line for a stranger. Just take some avenium for yourself and become a noble. You'll be even productive than a horse. Or if you want to serve your body politic, just join the military."

"Any schmuck with a pulse rate can be con***********ed and turned into a soldier. I'm not after wealthiness, prestigiousness, or achievements, and I don't care about this country."

Noah then reached into his pocket and placed a yellow potion on the big businessman's desk.

"What is that ?"Ivan asked.

"I got this in that goblin den, and just this cockcrow, I had it appraised by the pill roller. It's a high-ranking antidote, capable to heal almost any toxicant. I doubt even a top executive like you could afford one. I had this with me when Tin was shot and didn't know it could save her liveliness. She died because of my ignorance. I've come to realize that despite my skills and experience, I don't know nearly enough about this domain. I want to change that, and to do so, I need an education. Spending years in an tusk tug doesn't interest me. I want to determine how to live and properly fight in this humanity, and the C. H. Best office to do that is the knight academy, where they supposedly train the best of the dependable. That hobgoblin apparently killed a knight, but hopefully that was a fluke.

So what do you say ? Is your son's futurity not worth a ace letter ?"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -

"I suppose…"Noah said, looking back to oath,"I just wanted to finally keep a promise, rather than making yet another lie. salutary luck to you, God Almighty Fault."

Noah left the inn and walked over to the Emily Price Post where his horse was hitched. He rode out of Baron Clive of Plassey, and when he was finally alone, he held out his hand, and an envelope appeared on his palm from within his ring. On it was a wax SEAL, the fault pelage of munition. With this, his course was laid out before him. His next stop : the Utheric royal stag capital.

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*Roundabout plays*

To be continued…

*Roll credits*

Please gossip ! I 'm going to try to feature vol 2 prepare by the end of the year .