Prologue

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A rare find, that beautiful red hair. That color was usually the solution of cheesy dye and a childish personality, desperate to prove personal identity by opposing normalcy. It was a rare gift from nature, every strand like melting deep red, when most so-called redheaded woodpecker possessed only a diluted orange hue. But hers was like roue, drawing the eyes of all those around her, including Noah's. Of all the cleaning lady 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 strand and reminding him why it was worth it to set about her. She was walking across the vacuous soccer field, her body trembling from the adrenaline of all the running she had done in her runway lodge. For once, Noah saw her without all of her friends surrounding her or her boyfriend's arm draped over her berm like a boa constrictor. He had been waiting for this hazard, farsighted than she could imagine.

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

"Noah, what are you doing here ?"

She asked that question, but she knew the answer. What else would get out a boy to her, what other potential desire ? He was going to chat up with her, possibly even ask her out. Would he be nervous ? Would he be cocky ? Would he diddle innocent and try to start with some small lecture, or would he get straight to the tip ? Had he planned this ? Had he been waiting ? They had been acquaintance since she transferred in their Sophomore twelvemonth. Had that just been in expectancy of this ?

It was decipherable 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 thing, her eye would be guarded, with no opening for a sneak onslaught to storm her. It was a challenge that men and cleaning woman had struggled with since the first light of time.

"I heard that you and Sean broke up. I know what that feels 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 irritate dating. After all, when summertime comes, we're all going to split up and go our separate ways."

A rejection, not an optimal consequence, but it was within his expectations. He just had to convert her to give him a chance, but gently. He had to properly choose his words so that he wouldn't come off as desperate and bedevil, 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 full stop in staying together ? I doubt that. I think you believe in making love, in giving it a prospect. A lot of things will happen between now and graduation ; Yule, Valentine's Day, the prom ? That's peck of time to be felicitous, and to vary your idea about which path you plan on taking. programme can transfer, affair can turn out. All I want is a chance."

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

She crossed her sleeve to warm up herself, but she kept them low. It was an instinctive move, one that Noah's center didn't miss. He gave an browned off smiling and began to laugh."Ok, I get it. Maybe next 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.

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

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

He swung up his manus and stabbed himself in the throat. The strike, it was so fast, but it was placate, just the tip of the steel breaking his skin and severing his jugular with pinpoint accuracy. It was a hone, fluid movement, as if he had spent minute practicing. Blood began to spray from the small wound, and to the audio of Lindsey's scream, he allowed himself to fall on his rachis. She rushed over and tried to block off the bleeding. Covering it with her hand only slowed the outpour, so she reached into her bag for something to use as a bandage.

"Stop, just maintain your hand there,"Noah said calmly. The vena he had struck carried blood line out of the head teacher and sent it back to his spunk, so the sleep of the blood in his system would hold on his psyche oxygenated, at least while it was still in his veins.

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

"I've already died like this… more than a c times before. This isn't my first-class honours degree 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 metre I die, I'm immediately reborn with all the memories from my past living. I've been born and died so many times, laughed and suffered through so many lifetimes."

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

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

Her facial expression became as pale as his."How could you possibly screw that ?"

"Because this isn't the first gear meter I've confessed to you. I'm always myself, but the universe I'm born into is never the same. Every time 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 milieu are different, or history didn't go the way I remember it, or case will find in my future that I can't predict.

Only in my past seven lifetimes have you been present, and in all seven lifetimes, I could never make you mine, no matter how much I wanted you. Five of those times 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 next life. These preceding XVIII years, they've flown by like the nictitation of an eye for me."

His haemorrhage was starting to slow, his eubstance going frigidness and his brain getting foggy.

"Why me ? Why would you stay fresh going after me ? Why am I worth killing yourself over ?"

"It's the only way I can endure anymore, following some task or secret plan that keeps me busy. Every life I've lived, it's been a lie, concealing who I am, what I know, what I've experienced. much of the time, I have to pretend 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 experience actual hungriness. I have an literal crushed leather, something so simpleton and infantile, but such a howling feeling. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a redhead, but I've lived for so long, I have to grasp at any fleck of meaning that can constitute me happy, and make my macrocosm a small to a lesser extent hollow."

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

With the endure of his durability, he removed her script from his lesion so that it could bleed freely. Her wrist was hobble. Had he convinced her ? Or had she simply realized that he had already bled too a great deal and was beyond saving ? He covered his left eye with his hand, blinded by the setting sun while Lindsey's tincture obscured the right English of his face. The light passed through her ruby hair's-breadth like stained ice, making his blood shine beautifully.

"I've seen so many worlds, so many dissimilar realness, but none of them could make me happy. I've never known what it felt like to belong or feel at house. Every world felt wrong to me. This is yet another reality that I am incompatible with. All I can do is hope that the next earthly concern is one I can be well-chosen in."

The rake at last stopped flowing, and Noah closed his eyes and released his final breath. Then, in his intellect, there was a familiar flash of light and he felt himself being pulled to the future world.

A Whole New Game

Without even opening his eyes, Noah knew that something had gone wrong. He was groggy, but he could definitely sense the cold, hard dry land underneath him. This didn't make sentiency. At this moment, he'd normally be experiencing his own rebirth, coming out of the womb as a new-sprung baby. His body was also still the like size. He could feel the exercising weight of his tree branch, as well as his clothes. His hand was still covering his eye, but just moving it took a tremendous amount of posture. He managed to ferment his lid afford and stared up at the blue devil sky. It was late in the afternoon when he killed himself, but now it looked to be midmorning.

This had never happened before, no thing how many time he had died. Either he had somehow survived his suicide endeavour 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 renascence world power changing ?

Noah sat up and looked around. He was lying on an unpaved road in the woods. His hoodie and the shirt underneath were stiff with his dried blood, but when he felt his neck, there was no wound. He had been healed, but had his rakehell also been replenished ? It would have taken at least thirty minutes for the blood on his clothes to dry this much, not enough fourth dimension for his body to restore any meaningful measure, so this was likely a partial rebirth.

He got to his feet and staggered, struggling to respire. There was no strength in his limbs and his thoughts were getting weak by the second. This fatigue, it was similar to blood loss, but also different. It was like there was some sort of extra muscle going crazy, using up all of his military capability. If it didn't dissipate soon, he'd end up passing out again. What in the mankind ? He looked down and realized that he wasn't casting a shadower. The fatigue must let been messing with his vision. Now that he thought about it, his left eye was itching a bit. He gave it a rub and it was like a switch had been flipped. The fatigue duty vanished, as if that superfluous heftiness had settled, and when he looked down, he saw his tail.

‘ That wasn't rip loss. It must have been some kind of leftover trauma from my self-destruction or this glitchy rebirth. But where am I ?'

The road was unusual. The reason was packed, but the sediment seemed indigene to the smirch. In the modern existence, even the unpaved roads were made with at least a layer of Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin and gravel to prevent it from being overgrown. He had his wallet and his telephone with him, but there was no service.

A sound reached his ears, one that nigh hoi polloi rarely heard outside of movies and TV. It was the audio of buck hooves. He looked over his shoulder, seeing two grownup men on hogback approaching him from down the road. Behind them, an old man driving a horse-drawn wagon and leading… hard worker. Wearing rags for clothes, more than a dozen men and woman of varying historic period were being led by concatenation.

This strange train came to a halt in straw man of him. The men on horseback and the one driving the Plough stared at him in confusion."You're blocking the road. Get the hell out of our way before you end up like them,"the driver barked.

It had been a foresightful fourth dimension since Noah saw a slave freight. He normally only found them in post-apocalyptic timelines, when society had broken down. That, or timelines where the south won the Civil War and other such occurrences.

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

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

Noah looked at them. Their clothes, they were shoddy, wool clearly not woven by any kind of modern machinery and with coating and iron heel made of primitively-treated leather. Maybe he had reincarnated to a third-world rural area ? If this was a post-apocalyptic timeline, then whatever happened wasn't manmade. It happened before the Industrial Revolution, some kind of natural catastrophe that halted mankind's development. A shooting star ?

"I don't think he understands us. He's got some weird clothes. He might be the son of some stately,"the other horseman said.

Their weapons, they had sheathed swords but no signs 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 redeem him back, and if not, he looks intelligent and strong enough to sell for a respectable monetary value. Chain him up with the others."

One of the men got off his horse and approached Noah with a length of rope. None of them were aware that he still had his knife on him. As the man reached out to grab his handwriting, Noah slashed him across the throat. It wasn't the pinpoint jab like he had given himself earlier, this was a bloody smile stretching from ear to ear. It had been a farseeing time since he had stopping point killed someone, but it was something he was very well-practiced in.

A fountain of rip sprayed Forth River and Noah threw his knife at the black Maria number one wood, catching him in the thorax. Before his maiden dupe could drop to his stifle, Noah ripped his sword from its sheath and charged towards the former horseman, already drawing his own blade to avenge his coworker. The throat was out of reaching, so Noah deflected the oncoming onrush and went for a thrust in the incline of the gut and up into the veracious lung.

"Fireball !"

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

"You can't be unplayful,"Noah muttered.

"human dynamo !"the old man shouted again.

Just like before, a sphere of concentrate flames formed in his hand, about the sizing of melon vine, and dead reckoning at Noah with enormous speed. Noah dodged and rushed in to fill up the aloofness. The first fireball had forced him to let go of his brand and the secondly had forced him back before he could take hold of the secondment man's. He'd have to wind up this with his bare hands.

The horses were all throwing tantrums in reverence from the fight, but the old man continued to launch those mysterious flares. Noah circled around the horses, jumped, and tackled the man. There was no bungling fumbling for controller, Noah simply began beating him with his fist. His current consistency hadn't been trained for scrap, but he kept it healthy and strong and knew how much force he had muster up with each punch. line started spraying with the tertiary biff, the old man ineffectual to press back and soon blacking out. Noah promptly retrieved his fallen knife and finished him off.

Noah took his time to captivate his breath while he wiped off the steel, folded it up, and stored it in his sac. He took those few present moment to quell his annoyance. He was used to being reborn as a baby after every death and considered those ahead of time years to be his vacation between each new lifespan, prison term to properly put away of old memories, catalogue utile cognition, and mentally deal with any loose close. No one depended on him and he usually had a parent or caregiver to take care of him, giving him meter to take a breather his mind. Now he had jumping right back into a survival mindset and start from dough in a world with all new rules.

Those bolide the old man had launched, that was undoubtedly conjuration, something that he thought only existed in fantasy stories. He had never seen magic trick 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 effect. Was it really possible for magic to survive in the multiverse ? What did this timeline have that all the previous ace lacked ?

The old man would have been a valuable reservoir of info, but with his subordinates now dead, he would never willingly tell Noah anything. It wouldn't be worth the time and problem to interrogate him in this position. Oh well, the answers would come in metre, 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 captors, fair enough. After all, Noah hadn't killed them in lodge to free the slaves or anything like that. As far as they knew, he was about to kill them all or just take them all and sell them himself. Each of them was a variable, 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 traders had spoken with an accent that he had never heard before, but it was English, though they probably didn't call it that. These striver must also mouth it."All of you, I give you permit to speak. 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 fellow with this country ?"None of them answered.

Possessing knowledge could either make them worthful 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 collars.

He held up the key for all the slaves to see."I need one of you to conduct me to a dependable field with a generator of wise water 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 suited localization, you will all will be set free."Six slave raised their bound hired hand."You,"Noah said.

He had ***********ed a adolescent missy that looked to be around his age. She was dirty and undernourished, but looked healthy enough to be useful to him, and he could certainly overpower her if she tried to betray him. It was intemperately to gauge her appearance in this land. She had a pitiful look permanently etched into her face, like a basset hound dog. If he cleaned her up, she might be a real cutie, but right now she was so lousy that he couldn't even tell her natural hair color.

"What is your gens ?"

"Tin, sir."She didn't make eye physical contact. 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 metallic element catch but left her carpus spring."Now avail me direct fear of these bodies."

Noah searched the corpses of the three striver dealer, taking everything of value. Along with their swords, he got a couple daggers, some cord, and three makeshift notecase. They were snake skins with lots of bronze coins inside, tied to their belt ammunition. It was a clever concept.

"Tin, is there any danger of wild animals in these forest ? Anything that I should worry about ?"

"behemoth will surely be drawn by the smelling of blood here. It would be best if we moved on now."

Noah huffed in annoyance. Great, now he had monsters to worry about. This certainly was a domain unlike any he had seen before. This ruined his programme of taking the corpses with him. He was sure he could find a use or two for them, as well as look at their clothes and anything else of economic value on their person when there was to a greater extent time. He also didn't want to provide any evidence of what he had done.

"Very well. move out the apparel from the soundbox and put them in the wagon."

She wordlessly obeyed, proceeding to strip the remains without any shred of malaise or discomfort. nearly girls her age would be too squeamish to do anything like this. As she worked, Noah searched the wagon and found a canvass bag, smelling too rancid to be used for food. He soaked it with a wineskin, and while it wasn't ideal, it was beneficial enough for him to use to put out the fires that the old man had started. He and Tin completed their tasks, leaving three naked bodies on the road and a few blacken trees. Noah retrieved one of the swords, just a crummy machete, but astute enough to get the job done. He showed no soreness in decapitating the bodies and storing the heads in the canvas bag.

"pull these bodies into the woods, out of great deal from the road. That should satiate any beasts that search this area."

There was no telling what the value of these slave traders were. If they were even slightly authoritative to individual, their disappearance might conduct to an investigation. Three nude, headless bodies that were devoured by giant wouldn't leave any grounds. They couldn't even be identified. On the other hand, if they were criminals, then Noah might be able to use their discerp pass as confirmation of their destruction and gather a bounty. He had been in a lot of bad post and helter-skelter timelines, so this mindset was a acquirement he knew he could rely on and use as he needed.

Once the bodies were dealt with, Noah took his seat at the front of the wagon and Tin joined him. The two extra horse were tethered to the incline of the wagon and would keep an eye on along. Noah cracked the reins and the horses pulling the wagon began moving forward.

"There is a suitable seat several mi down this road. I will show up you where."

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

"This is the Algata state of the commonwealth of Uther."

"How large is Uther ? How much of the Continent does it lead 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 punish her ?

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

"Relax, I'm not going to hit you for not knowing something. Just keep answering my questions as best as you can. Uther, is it a rich nation ?"

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

"Does it manoeuvre under a monarchy ? Or do they elect their loss leader ?"She looked at him like he had spoken in gibberish."Does it have a big businessman or queen ?"

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

"What do they use for currency ?"

"metallic element coins, like silver and gold."

Noah retrieved one of the snakeskin coin purses and emptied it out onto the butt between them. It was about a dozen bronze coins and a few silver grey. The other two could be expected to defend a similar amount.

"How much would you say this is ? Would you say it is a with child amount of money or not a good deal ?"

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

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

"Mid spring."

That was in force for Noah. In order to get a foothold in this new human beings, he'd need rich time with the luck of survival at its highest. winter would hinder his mobility, possible actions, and make life a lot harder. Had he appeared in this human beings a few calendar month earlier, he could easily freeze to death before reaching civilization.

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

"The biggest risk is the masher. They travel in mob and kill whatever they see. There are also bears, large spiders that hide in burrows, and goblins."

Giant spider and goblins ? This world was getting More fantastic by the second.

"Tell me about the goblins."

"They are small-scale, only about the size of child, and maybe as smart. They have artillery and often ambush travelers."

"The old man, what was that technique 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 benediction of the gods, letting people call down divine retribution upon their opposition. It can create fire, control condition water, make you stronger, and do all form of things. There many different kinds of magic drug user. I've heard of some of them ; mages, champion, warriors, shamans, but I don't know much about what they can do."

"What variety was the old man ?"

"A mage, I think."

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

"I don't know."

That was a trouble. If it was an ability passed down from parent to child, then he was screwed. His glitchy rebirth left him with the fixture gene of his live parents. If deception wasn't something he could find out or take, life would get exponentially harder. Then there was the mentioning of idol. He had spent several lifetimes searching for signs of the existence of God, some comportment of divinity fudge that might explain his existence, but he always came up short. However, in a world where legerdemain existed, perhaps God might as well.

As they continued through the woods, Noah thought about the slaves walking behind the wagon. Letting them go might be a liability. They knew he had killed three slave trader, they knew where he would set up camp. The striver traders mistook him for the son of a noble, so if the slaves went into some Town and started blabbing about him and what he had done, people might do after him. Perhaps it would be better to cast aside of all of them ? No, the chances of him managing to pop them all would be low and that would be a lot of corpses to care with, not to remark he didn't know if killing them would get him into trouble.

‘ To think my sloth would compensate for my shriveled conscience…'

They were passing by a hill with trees blocking practically of the view, but all of the horses flicked their ears to it. Noah didn't fille that ticking and reached into the Charles's Wain. When searching earlier, he found a bow and a few arrows, none of which seemed very well made. He took aim up the hill, spotting a shadow moving between the hills. It had been a farsighted time since he had hold up used a bow. It was one of his pursuit about four or five lifespan ago. This was nothing like the modern obeisance he was used to handling, but when he let the arrow case disengage, it shot between the Tree and found its crisscross. Noah didn't see what he hit, but there was a shriek of pain that he did not recognize and the audio of multiple entities running off.

"What was that ?"Tin asked.

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

They ran off before he could complete his sentence. good, that would shit him less of a sitting duck, and they'd draw the attending of anything that might want a piece of him. He returned to the driver's seat and turned to Tin, holding up one of the coin purses.

"Get me to that safe slur and this is yours."

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

The forest thinned a lit, the trees spreading out far enough for the black Maria to go off the route and caput towards the sound of running water. They arrived at a clarification where a pocket-size falls thumped on exposed John Rock. It was isolated, just the berth Noah needed. There was even a cave behind the waterfall where he could wee-wee pack. However, they were not the entirely inhabitants.

"Tin, what the hell is that ?"he asked, looking at the creature sliding across the ground. At first, he thought it was giant slug, the tool about the sizing of a beer keg, but he then realized it was semitransparent. There were four of them.

"That is a slime. They like damp plaza. Their undersides are like giant mouths, devouring whatever they crawl over. Their consistency are covered with a slim tegument, and if you tear it, its insides pour out and change the shape of its body."

"Are they dangerous ?"

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

"How do I belt down them ?"

"You have to hit their brains."

The gunk hadn't noticed them yet, so Noah took aim with the bow at the nearest one. It was hard telling the front from the back of these matter, but he spotted something floating inside, suspended, an apple-sized lubber of solid tissue. He released the bolt, missing the animal's brain by several inches. It rumbled in pain and its gelatinous insides spilled out of the wound like a runny nozzle. Upon contact with the air, the innards began to congeal and evolve a bed of skin. It formed an wing of itself, like a second tail, now searching for what had injured it.

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

Already, the arrow was halfway dissolved. That thing was like a whale moving stomach. He would accept preferred to take care of these monsters from a distance, but he didn't have enough arrows to shake off away. It would also get dark soon, and he didn't want to try and see for another spot.

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

He got up from the wagon and approached the waterfall with one of the slave traders'swords in his hired hand. It was the worst of the two, useful at least for experimentation. He approached the gunk, already back to full health after being shot with the arrow. It didn't appear to have very undecomposed visual sense, didn't even appear to have center. He picked up a rock from the Creek and threw it, sending it bouncing a few foundation away. It pounced on the rock with surprising velocity, smothering it with its body and absorbing it. So, these things could jump. If it could see, it was probably short-ranged, based on effort, or more likely it could smell trembling in the dry land.

He took another rock music and threw it at the gunk, this clip hitting it. The rock ripped through its flimsy skin and its guts spilled out. The puff stunned it just long enough for Noah to sprint over and cleave through its brainpower. As quickly as he attacked, he darted back. He had learned through numerous occasions to always expect an enemy to get back up. Plus, he wanted to avoid getting sprayed with any guts.

Despite his vexation, it was a plumb kill. The monster, originally a nauseating yellow, turned gray, and its exposed insides began to fume and dissolve. Unfortunately, bullet was also coming from his sword. This really was a nasty acid. Noah wiped the steel off on the pot and then rinsed it in the river to clean it. It had undergone severe corrosion. Hopefully it would conclusion until he killed them all.

One matter made him well-chosen, though. When he killed the guck, figure didn't appear in the air, displaying experience detail earned. He started having concerns as soon as that first fireball was launched at him, and when Tin said it was a slime ; he thought he had been reincarnated into some variety of RPG world. If at any percentage point, she used the tidings ‘ level ’, he would give birth permanently lost the power to keep a straightforward face and take anything seriously.

Anyway, back to killing.

He repeated his strategy with the former three goo. A clenched fist sized careen thrown with sufficient hurrying and accuracy could pierce the monsters and stupefy them long enough to fork up a fateful strike. After the third slime, his sword broke in half, the end completely melting off. There was one goo left, but it would be tricky. It was slithering around behind the waterfall, unaware of what had happened to the others. The vibrations of the water would probably disguise Noah's move, but he didn't want to take the chance.

He crept behind the falls and threw another stone, striking the slime near the brain. Its body curled up like a slug sprinkled with salt, and Noah rushed over. This time, he thrust the broken blade straight in. He managed to stab the head, but the sword slipped right into its consistence. Noah pulled away before his inertia could send his hand plunging into the acidic droppings, but several drops splashed him and he could feel his pelt dissolving. He thrust his hand into the waterfall and steadied his external respiration as the annoyance faded. That was too close for quilt. He'd have to come up with another way to stop those things if he encountered them again.

The region had been secured, now to set up ingroup. He stepped out from behind the waterfall, and to his surprisal, 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. look at it to the nighest Ithiel Town and buy yourself something to eat and some new clothes. await for anyone who will hire you, hopefully offering room and circuit board in central. From there, startle your new life."

"Is that an decree ?"

"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 bridge is complete. Now we part ways."She continued to remain firm there, looking like a pup in the rain."You can have one of the horses. You'll be able-bodied to get to township faster and outrun pursuers."

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

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

"But I'm not. I'm yours."She was almost whimpering now. sentence 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 bait to fascinate my dinner."

There was a glimmer in her middle."If I can be useful as a corpse, 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 girl was needier than he would have liked, but her subservientness made her more trustworthy than anyone he could expect to see in this reality. Maybe it would be trade good to ingest an extra duad of hands to help him, at least until he got out of this forest. Besides, it wasn't like this was the commencement time he had owned a slave. There were many dingy timelines when he followed the rule of ‘ when in Rome, do as the Romans.'

"Fine, I'll be your master. What skills do you have ?"

"I can count to one hundred, I can write some, and I can tend to livestock and work fields, as well as perform household job. I am also very experient in pleasing men, so I can service you whenever you desire."She bowed her principal as she spoke, not seeing Noah conjure up his supercilium at her conclusion sentence.

Depressing as her words were, he wasn't one to release down an fling for sex from someone so uncoerced. On the early bridge player, nothing about her current appearance stoked his libido. He was standing twenty feet away and could smell out her like it was xx inches. Sitting following 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 ingroup set up and then we'll talk. You said you can incline to livestock, adjust ? Then I'll leave the horses to you. Get them watered and fed and then withdraw these dead muck. I imagine they've lost their acidity in death."

Tin obediently went to work while Noah gathered all of the string and apprehension that had been used to go the slaves. There was also plenty of roofy in guinea pig any of their binds broke during ecstasy. Noah snapped the collar off the chains and used them as hammers to break the infirm nexus and split the mountain range into multiple short segments. He split the rope into thinner strands and set up a perimeter around the campsite, then hung the pinch and chains on it like Christmas ornamentation. Any intruders that tried to enter would hit the tripwire and the jingling range of mountains and collars would give them away. And in case they were set off by the wind, the horses would be the secondly line of merchandise of spying. If they started acting up, then a terror was nearby.

"I'm going to go collect some firewood. If any monsters approach, just holler for me and yeet some bull at them. The smell will repel 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, lord,"she said with a bow.

Noah set out into the woods with his lonesome blade and a satchel the old man had been carrying. He didn't want to stray far from camp, but he had to check out the sphere and wee-wee certainly there weren't any impendent peril. One thing he was especially cautious of were the whale wanderer that Tin had mentioned. She said they hid in burrows, so he kept a close eye on his footing, avoiding any suspicious area that could be a possible trap. Webbing on the ground was a telltale sign, proof that he wasn't the only one using tripwires to observe enemies.

The first gear matter he did was gather pine boughs from around the site, accumulating a large megabucks that they would use for bedding and making shop at trips back to the camp. Then he gathered all of the firewood he could carry, but focused only on particular trees. This earth was very different to the one he was used to, but virtually of the trees appeared to be the Lapplander. He also filled his pouch and the satchel with medicinal works and even some edible mushrooms. In every life, her acquire and relearned selection acquisition to keep the information branded into his mind, so even if had forgotten their names, he still recognized herbaceous plant that could be utilitarian. 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 absolutely.

It was one of the masher Tin had mentioned, larger than any he had ever seen. His nose led him to it, the wolf reeking of destruction and rot. The meat was well beyond eating and its fur and castanets weren't worth the effort to harvest, especially with all the maggots and flies, but there was something that he could definitely hit use of.

The sun was starting to set by the clock time he was done, but there was still hatful he wanted to do. Luckily, dinner was already taken care of. The slave dealer had packed enough food for themselves and their cargo. It was hard kale and dry out meat, something that Noah's spoiled appreciation buds would not appreciate, but he'd seen enough hard prison term to know how to be grateful.

Before doing anything else, he removed his hoodie and t-shirt. He had kept them on as an tot up layer of protective cover in event anything attacked him, but the bloodline had hardened into a tough cheekiness and he was beaming to be able to finally take them off. Had he known he would reincarnate like this, he would stimulate gone home and just hung himself, preferably with his pockets stuffed with utilitarian peter. He laid out his shirt and hoodie under the falls, directing the spray right onto the blood stains. He pinned them down with I. F. Stone so that they wouldn't be washed away.

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

"Tin, take 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 Sami with all the apparel you removed from those knuckle down traders. It may be low-quality, but whether we use them or trade them, it would be best if we can at least absent the stink."

Tin removed her dress, though it was more like a raggedy potato chemise with mess cut for her head and arms and a strip of cloth for a belt. She was malnourished and stunted, but he just had to round off her up a little.

With the end of the lighting, he searched the river for endocarp. He'd try out their hardness, striking them against the back of his sword. Once he started getting glint, he returned to the riverbank and gathered up some tinder. He ground some dry birch bark into a alright dust and struck the rock against his brand over it. It took various attempts, but some glint landed in the dust and it went up like gas. From there, he built up a fervency on the riverside with all of the birch tree Wood he had gathered. By the light of the flaming, he started digging a hole using his sword and a metal skillet he found in the wagon.

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

"No, what I need you to do is start collecting clay from the river. If you dig under the silt, you'll find it. hold a big megabucks of it here succeeding to me."

The two of them continued to work, with Noah expanding the pit and Tin gathering the cadaver. Once he was done, he smoothed out the sides of the pit and then began slathering on the clay that Tin had gathered. He used the leftover clay to relieve oneself some cupful and lawn bowling and put them in the fire to bake. He built a secondment fervidness, this meter putting it in the pit. It was with a gentle wood. He didn't even need to see Tin's boldness to sense the peculiarity within her.

"I'm making a wash basin. No offence, 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 elephantine shite clod. In realism, it was a lummox of animal fat. He had gathered it from the carcass of the abruptly wolf, rolled it into a ball, and packed it with a shell of shit to keep it from making a mess when he carried it. It cleaned it off and put it in the metal frying pan, then set it over the fire.

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

Despite her poor lifestyle, her teeth were in honest condition. She grew up in a world without processed foods, lettuce, or chemical, so despite never brush, there was no rot that he could see. Her hint was pretty bad, but that was because she lacked the conception of flossing.

Noah walked over to one of the horses hitched to a Tree, nibbling on the atomic pile of Gunter Grass that Tin had gathered for it. He cut a whorl of its long hair, washed it in the river, and returned to the campfire, where he braided several strands into a unassailable thread. He made a second base and turned to Tin.

"Take this thread and do as I do."He used the train of thought to floss his teeth, something which Tin had never seen before. The thread was duncish and coarse and broke a few times, but it got the job done, and he showed her the pieces of meat from their dinner that he had gotten out.

She mirrored the action mechanism to the salutary of her power, and while she did that, he looked at the skillet, now with a pool of disappear fat. He gathered some white ashes from the flack and mingle it in, as well as some water.

"Now I'm going to show you how to seduce soap."hold up, he added a handful of ground-up pine needles and started stirring the mixed bag together.

"Soap ?"

"You've never heard of it ?"

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

"It's been a long time since I did this. If I had time and proper tools, I could throw something of a much higher calibre, 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 taste of this."From adjacent to the fire, there was also a cup made, of all affair, tin. It was fully of water brought to a simmer, with earth charcoal and pine needles mixed in. He let it cool and then handed it to her."You said you could matter, right ? Well swirl this around your mouth and start counting. Once you reach one hundred, immerse it."

She took a mouthful and handed it back to him so he could eat up it off. With that taken charge of, Noah took the skillet off the fire and examined his scoop. It certainly would never sell in a food market memory, but it would get the job done tonight. Next, he turned his attention to the washout basin and the withered fire. The the Great Compromiser packed onto the sides of the pit had hardened and could now continue weewee.

Noah carved the soap off the skillet and handed it to Tin."Here, use this to shovel as very much charcoal and ash out of the basin as you can, then clean it in the river and use it to fill the washbowl with water."

As Tin went to sour, Noah started on his own task. Like her, he went to river, but started collecting Harlan F. Stone. He'd bring them back and put them in the campfire to heat up. By the meter Tin had finished with her task, the rocks were all sufficiently hot, and using reefer to handle them, he moved them into the basinful until it had reached the everlasting Bath temperature. It was still ashy from the fervency, but that wasn't a problem.

The reason why he had used unlike fervor for the basin and soap was because of one of the resulting chemical substance, lye. Despite being a vitriolic heart, it was required for making soap. It was collected from the ash of hardwood, like birch. He had used a softer wood in the fire to harden the incline of the catchment basin so any remnant ash 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 washcloth. He got it wet in the watershed, rubbed some of the soap on it, and, satisfied with how it lathered, started wiping off the sweat that had accumulated since his reaching to this world.

Tin held a art object of soap in her handwriting, staring at it with all-encompassing eyes."It smells… perfumed !"

She mimicked Noah, using a make-do washcloth and the soap to scrub up herself raw. She was unrestrained, leaving no spot untouched. The two of them cleansed their hide, lathering themselves up and then rinsing in the river to restrain the bathroom water clean. With the dirt removed, much was revealed to Noah. Neither of them said anything about the countless cicatrice, bruise, and brands that covered Tin's body. Finally, he had her lie on her back and lowered her head into the washbowl, then scrubbed her hair with the scoop until the bathwater turned as melanise as ink. She sat up and rung the pee out of her hair as he stood up and stretched.

"Huh, so you're a blonde. I honestly couldn't tell your natural people of color. You were so dirty that I wasn't sure if the drapes 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 face was wet from the bathtub, he could clearly see her rip."I… I've never smelled this clean before !"

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

She reached up and grasped his bridge player, despair in her eyes."overlord, can I please service you now ?"

A belittled laughter escaped Noah."My, my, what a greedy footling slave you are."

He leaned down, lifted her Kuki-Chin, and left a delicate kiss upon her brim. She shivered from that touch sensation, gentler than any former in her life-time. She took the initiative, kissing him in paying back while her glossa slipped into his mouth. As they swapped saliva, she reached out and began caressing his humanity, erect and pounding. She had been eyeing it since the moment he stripped down, her mind buzzing with all of the way she would please him.

When Noah finally pulled his lip from hers, she knew what he wanted and was bore to allow it. She leaned in, his putz disappearing into her oral fissure, only to reappear with a glistening layer of spit. Tin wasn't shy in the to the lowest degree, she put all of her acquirement to sour. She deepthroated him to make herself gag and salivate, then would use her hands to work the shaft while she slurped on his forefront like a sucker. Despite her joy at being so clean just a instant ago, she was certainly making a mess, her face covered in expectoration with big foamy drops dribbling onto her breasts.

Noah rested his hand on her head and groaned."I'm gladiolus I decided to keep you."

She released his prick, gasping for air with her center full of joy."Am I doing good ?"

"You're magnificent, Tin."

She went back at it, this time with a different object in mind. While she jacked him off, she sucked vehemently on his jewel, rolling them around in her mouth and balancing them on her tongue. She switched between her techniques with consummate 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 respiration and the way his muscles twitched. She swallowed his humanness like a voracious beast, her font pressed to his stomach as he swirled around inside her throat.

Several blockheaded spurt were pumped directly into her tummy, a salty afters after her meal. Tin fell back, once again gasping for air."master key,"she panted,"please don't hold back. Use my body however you wish."

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

He sat down cross-legged and pulled her across his lap like he was going to larrup her. He held her by the throat, just a assuage handgrip to retain her still, while he complimentary helping hand slipped between her branch and reached her honeypot.

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

Max Born and raised a striver, she had been abused and violated in all ways conceivable. She thought she had grown numb to it, but the feeling of Noah's digit touching her nearly private, sensitive area, they made her thrill and gasp. There was enduringness in his fingers, but his drift weren't rough or clumsy. Rather, she sensed that his experience surpassed her own.

His finger's breadth penetrated her, making her moan in a way she thought she never again could. His onset was relentless, probing every sensitive spot like an assassin striking her pressure item. She was a slender girlfriend, torso fat being a luxury for a hard worker, but her build rippled from the vibe drumming from her ass. She could feel the system of weights of her breasts with every drift, and the sounds he was making, the strait he was forcing her soundbox to make, the squelching of voiced, wet flesh, it was like she was experiencing this all for the first time.

The delight was beyond words, she wanted it to go on forever, but her body wouldn't obey her instruction. Her muscleman spasmed without interruption like she was being tickled. She inadvertently tried to pull away, her body wanting to protect itself from these whiz it couldn't contain, but Noah's grip on her pharynx remained firm. This position, what he was doing to her, it was so strange. She felt almost like an animal, like livestock, and Noah was the Fannie Merritt Farmer, preparing her for breeding with some unknown husbandry technique. Ironically, that wasn't far from the truth.

She cried out, climaxes rushing through her like a flash flood, but Noah didn't layover, even as she became limp. He continued mercilessly finger-blasting her, while his other hired hand released her throat and he forced his fingerbreadth into her mouth. She sucked on them like they had a honey glaze. They were her life line, all that was keeping her conscious. The movements of her tongue and lips, the quivering of her throat as she slurped up the flavor of his fingertips ; if she didn't work with all her might, the almost brutal assault of sexual climax would rob her of all mentation and crush her mind.

Only when her moans finally stopped did Noah let her experience peace. He laid her on her back and leaned over her. The lewd, exhausted face on her face, the way she panted with even boldness and swimming eyes, it was an grammatical construction he always loved to see.

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

She reached out to him, her tight-fitting arms coiling around his neck to overstretch him in."Master, take me,"she begged.

By the spark of the campfire, he penetrated her, just as numerous men had done before, but none of them made Tin feel like this. His lip joined hers, a passionate but gentle buss, while in comparing, his poke, so dissolute and emphatic, made her cry out to the stars overhead.

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culture

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The rising sun shining in his eyes awoke Noah from his sleep. It was not a abstruse nap, due to his current circumstances, but he at least felt rested. It was his outset dawn in this new world. He and Tin were lying on a pile of yen boughs, keeping them off the ground and insulated, and wrapped in the canvass station waggon cover, which they were using as both a tarp and a blanket. The freed slave was snuggled up tightly against him, both for heat, and out of affection. The terminal figure"freed slave"fit her ironically, as Noah had given her freedom, but she chose to remain his slave anyway.

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

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

It was a chili morning, so the first thing Noah did was work up up a fire while Tin collected their wearing apparel from the falls. They had been set under the spray to be washed, and after a Night under the pounding water, they were fairly as could be reasonably expected. They were hung up to dry around the fire, while Noah and Tin had breakfast. last Night, Noah had made some cups and bowls using the corpse that Tin gathered and left them in the fire to bake nightlong. Now, he was using them to boil water and pass water pine acerate leaf tea.

"What do you want to do, Master ? I can top 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 situation."No, we'll stay here for another day. We have a defendable emplacement here, but if we return to the route, we'll be like sitting duck. While I have faith in my fighting power, I can't defend myself, you, and the horses. Let's try to improve our prospect before we set out."

"What should we do ?"

"Yesterday, while I was looking for rocks in the night, I think I might own seen some goop moving about. They're usually modest, right ? Not big like the ones I killed yesterday ?"

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

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

"What's lye ?"

"It's the stuff in ash that I used to make water that soap death night. It's a very foul chemical substance. I'm going to go gathering woodwind instrument. I want you to bail out the bathwater from the basin and refill it. Rain water would be Best, but river water will have to do. Then take in the stones and put them back in the fire. You remember what to do if something fire ?"

"Throw horse droppings and holla for you ?"

"Right."

Noah departed, heading back into the forest. Just like the day before, he was gathering hardwood from birch, oak, and maple Tree. He moved cautiously, hearing front all around him. He also returned to sure areas he had visited before, with prey on his psyche. He came across a patch he had just yesterday done his best to forefend. There was spider silk on the reason, and nearby, an obvious trapdoor. Noah put a large spliff on his foot and readied his bow, taking aim. He kicked the stick over by the trapdoor, and instantly a spider explosion out to get hold of what it thought was its meal. The affair was huge, almost five metrical foot in diameter.

Noah released his arrow, striking one of its center and leaving it screeching in pain. Before it could duck back into its hole, he shot another arrow, this one boring through its skull and ending its life. While it was still fresh, Noah rushed over, pulled out the second base arrow, and thrust his finger into the yap. He stirred his fingers around in the spider's brainpower, causing its legs, now curled up into a fist, to embark on spasming. While not familiar with wanderer anatomy specifically, he was tickling what he hoped to be the cerebellum.

"semen on, where are you… Ah !"He found the magic dapple, as the solid body convulsed and the abdominal cavity started expelling silk at a frantic rate, like he was squeezing a thermionic tube of toothpaste. Het got to his human foot and dragged the spider with him, laying out the silk so that it wouldn't stick to itself. He had come up with this idea on a whimsey and was overjoyed to see it work. When flow of silk stopped, he removed his digit."That's right field, ma'am, 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 keep it from sticking to anything. It was good thick wrinkle, and strong as well. following, he started gathering up the older, lean webbing it had used for its den. It was already dried out and had lost much of its stickiness, so it was prepare to be collected.

He returned to the cantonment, carrying the wanderer with him as well. He was sure he could think up something to do with his corpse, maybe use it like a scarecrow to ward off hob or something. When he arrived, Tin had completed her task and stared in amazement at the dead spider.

Noah walked over to the station waggon and pulled out a small wooden barrel. It had originally been filled with saltiness, which the slave traders used to preserve their food, but now there wasn't much left. What remained, Noah poured into some of his clay jars. He then hung the spider to debilitate its rip into the cask. There wasn't much, and it had begun to congeal immediately after last, but that just made it sticky like syrup. He swirled it around the inside of the cask, covering every inch, and then filled it up halfway with some of the habituate ash from the birch tree fires yesterday. He didn't touch the ash with his mitt, and upon closing the barrel, he shook it up. Once completed, the interior of the bbl was coated with blockheaded level of ash.

Putting it aside, Noah began moving hot Isidor Feinstein Stone 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 lavatory. For the next half hour, Noah would swap out stones, making sure the water was always boiling. Soon a film began to settle on top of the pee. It was liquid lye, rising from the ashes. Noah harvested it from the airfoil, measured not to advert 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 firewood. I want you to keep swapping out the Harlan F. Stone so that the pee stays boiling hot, and as the lye gather on the surface, skim it and put it in the skillet. Whatever you do, do not let it touch you. The waterfall and the river are keeping the air moving in one direction. You want to rest 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 cockcrow and much of the afternoon. They kept burning birch wood, and once the basin stopped producing lye, they would swop in fresh ashes and restart harvesting. Between collecting firewood and tending to the fire, Noah created more clayware with the river clay and baked it in the flack. The frying pan was routinely filled with the lye mixture, and once the water evaporated away, Noah would scrape the lye into one of his clay jars. It was the center of the afternoon when he declared that they had collected enough.

"Now to test it."With his tongue, he collected a small-scale blow and put it on his arm. He could finger it burning his skin like an aching suntan. Had he taken his metre with this, it would have been burning a crater into his skin, but in this case, measure was better than quality.

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

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

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

They moved away from the ardour, sick of its warmth, and ate by the falls. While chewing on problematical jerk, Noah studied the Equus caballus. They weren't tied to any trees, at least not now, and were wandering around the campsite, nibbling on whatever they liked. The head trip wire was doing a well job of keeping them close, but they would probably run out of nutrient by tomorrow. They'd have to locomote on by then.

"passkey, if my may ask, how do you bed how to do these things ? I've never seen anyone fight like you do, at least not individual 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 history experience. I've lived through sound times and bad. Anyway, we should make a motion on to the next stagecoach. I'm going to go along the river and trance minor guck. I want you to find the corps of the big ooze I killed yesterday and try to collect 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 sooner and filled it with water, then began walking through the river, searching the banks. It was only up to his genu, and there were pot of large boulders for slimes to obliterate by. On his work force, he wore some fierce leather gloves that one of the striver trader had been wearing. The slimes he found were usually about the size of his fist, and with large fear, 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 slimes were acidulent, but their pH level wasn't very low. The alkalinity of the water and the ashes kept them from melting through the sides of the drum. He also tossed in some intellectual nourishment to proceed them from starving. Hopefully they'd still be capable to stand it. If they were all still alive by the following morning, his architectural plan was a success.

When he returned to the encampment, Tin had gathered up the skins of the utterly slimes from the day before.

"I'm sorry, Master, but the skins are too fragile for any sort of use."Noah put down the bbl and examined the shed skin. It was crinkly and gentle, a far cry from any kind of leather, more like a snake's shed skin.

"No, they're perfect, just what I wanted."He handed her one of the daggers the hard worker monger had carried."Here, start carving them up into foursquare, about as long as your mitt. You know how big, right ?"

She nodded and went to work. While she did that, Noah collected more tenacious hair from the horse cavalry. He took the second power that Tin cut up and used them to wrap up pocket-sized piles of lye, then tied them shut with the horse haircloth. The slime skin, despite its fragility, still maintained many of its feature. guck were like life dot, so they had to be able to control their pH level. Their skin not only stay fresh their gut in, it kept basic substances out, substances like lye, making it perfect for holding it.

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

"Ok, let's test one of these out."Noah took one of the redundant squares, filled it with ash, tied it off, and threw it at a nearby Boulder. The slime pelt held together while being handled and thrown, but upon striking a firmly surface, it burst open and sprayed its contents in all counsel."perfect !"

"So we're going to bemuse these affair ?"Tin asked.

"That's right. This lye isn't very strong, so it doesn't do much to skin, but if it gets into your eyes or you breathe it in, you'll go down. All we have to do is hit our enemy in the face and they won't stand a chance. Now, I know we're both tired, but we still have a few hours of daytime left field. Let's work on a couple other ways to improve our situation, and tomorrow, we'll head for the good town."

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

They departed the next dawn at aurora, wanting to get an early beginning. They were traveling at a faster tread than before, mainly because there were no longer slaves in tow. The two horse the dealer had ridden were no longer walking alongside the wagon, but were now helping to tear it. With the spider silk Noah had collected and wood from the forest, he managed to create special harnesses so that they were leading. The horses moved in a steady Trotskyist, nothing compared to the gondola from Noah's old 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 war and seen numberless post-apocalyptic universe, living through one lawless hellscape after another. He was intimate with the motivation to grow eyes in the spine of his straits, to gestate enemies at all times.

"Master !"Tin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I see them."

Swarming from the face were a pack of wolves, each one almost as large as the horses pulling the wagon, but Noah had planned for this. He handed the reins to Tin who whipped the horses into a wide-cut gallop. He took out his bow and began launching arrow. nearly of these arrow, he had made himself. He had to belt along them, so they weren't his better piece of work, but they got the job done for short-range encounters.

The wolves dodged the pointer as they charged, but it managed to spook them into moving around back to flak from the buns. Noah climbed into the wagon and stared them down through the open back. Changing their fire angle had momentarily slowed them down, but they'd catch up in seconds and flank them. Noah tossed a bundle of branches and greens out of the spinal column of the patrol wagon, but they were More than they appeared. It was actually a net with thorny President Bush and bristles woven in. The net was dragged behind the black Maria, and the woman chaser that stepped on it cried out as their paws were spiked with sharp source pods. Those who were injured gave up the following, while the rest of the clique learned and split up to annul the net.

Before they could result his horizon, Noah opened up the gun barrel of slimes and began throwing them. Even if the small animal didn't make a lineal hit, they exploded like piddle balloons. The acid splashed on the wolves, who instinctively knew that ooze were to be avoided. The multitude realized that this fair game wasn't worth all of the fuss and gave up. One threat had been neutralized, giving them time to breathe, but it didn't end there.

Bears and other forest savage would pop up every now and then and take to be dispatched by arrows. The tiny bolts couldn't do much damage, but the pain would ca-ca the beasts reevaluate whether or not to carry on attacking. Any devil he managed to wipe out, he would glean for persona. With Tin controlling the horse, he would mold in the wagon, removing skin, teeth, organs, and anything that looked valuable or useful. Every now and then, they'd even stop so that he could collect medicinal plants and mushroom cloud. But the more he fought, the more Noah realized how unprepared his body was for all this. He was healthy and unassailable, and had lifetimes of combat experience, but his hands hadn't built up a stratum of calluses that a aboriginal of these lands would give. Every time he gripped his sword, he could sense blisters forming on his palm.

Then, in the afternoon, the next challenge revealed itself. In the distance, a tree lay across the route. A rider on hogback might be able to jump it, but never a wagon like this. Whether or not it had fallen naturally, Noah knew who would use this opportunity.

"Tin, arrest the wagon."They came to stanch a hundred yards from the tree."Turn the knight around. If I die, ride back the way we came. stay at the waterfall until mortal uses this road and then travel with them."

"passkey, are you sure about this ?"she asked with her basset hound hound eyes.

"I've handled worse."

He got off the wagon with his sword in hand, and on his arm, a carapace made from the shield of the wanderer he had killed. He was wearing one of the slave traders'pelage, the closest he could get to leather armor, and he also had his satchel, filled with lye packets. Rather than approach the tree diagram, he dove into the Wood. If there were any hob in concealment, he'd flank them. As he approached the roadblock, he spotted them, hiding behind the trees. They were the size of children, but with sticking stomachs and viridity skin. Their ears and nose were pointed, their faces overall barely even humanoid. They were armed with brand and bowknot, in all probability stolen from slain travelers.

He closed in on the first base one, his footsteps giving him away and causing it to screak in alarm clock. Noah dispatched it with a swing of his sword, overpowering its attempt to sidestep and lopping off the top of its skull. The others, alarmed by the death of their comrade, turned their attention to Noah and attacked. They launched their pointer, albeit with shoddy aim, but it forced Noah to fudge for top. He pulled out one of his lye packs, focused on a goblin with a bow, and threw it like a baseball. The small plurality nailed it between the eyes and exploded. The goblin took an natural breath in, and then immediately screamed in agony. Not only were its fistula and lungs filled with lye, but it had gotten into his oculus, leaving it blinded.

The way it shrieked was nothing lupus erythematosus than unnerving. It was like a baby crying, it racked the mind and made even Noah squeamish. The hobgoblin, hearing those screams, became fright. This was a brutal world, and living in the Wood, every day was a fucking fight for survival. But none of them had suffered or seen individual suffer a bod injury and produce that sort of noise.

Noah gave them no time to gather their courage. He dealt with the former hobgoblin archers the Saame way, leaving them howling in excruciation. With their long-range attempt neutralized, he closed in. The remaining goblins tried to put up a competitiveness, but he slaughtered them with gruesome taxi and stabs. His spider shield fractured whenever he blocked a swinging, but it held together long enough to kill them all. These hobgoblin probably ambushed their target, catching them by surprisal to draw up for their rickety eubstance, but once they lost that advantage, they were well-to-do to throw out of.

He was closing in on the finis one, slightly declamatory than the others and armed with a night club. It growled and made a wide cut. Noah didn't try to block and stepped back out of the monster's stretch, then swung down his steel and cleaved the goblin's head open. To his soreness, roue splattered across his boldness and got into his eye. He rubbed it out until he could see, then nearly staggered, hit with a sudden fatigue.

"What the fuck ? That battle must have taken more out of me than I thought."He pushed through the sudden weight and returned to the route. It was exhausting piece of work, 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 spirit of discombobulation on Tin's fount."lord, where are you ?"

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

discombobulation turned to fear, Tin beginning to panic."Master, I can't see you anywhere !"

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

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

That's what he would like to experience. Was something affecting her vision ? Maybe she had been hit with some variety of goblin tone-beginning, or it was an illness, either a disease or some kind of toxicant from something in the timberland.

"Tin, look around. How is your visual modality ?"

"It's okay, I can see everything clearly ! But I can't see you !"Was he the problem ? He could see himself just amercement. imprecate it, his eye was still itching from the blood. He rubbed it with his medallion and Tin gave another yelp of surprise."Master, 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 sentence he felt it was when he first woke up in this world. 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 grunge."Can you see this ?"

"See what ?"

Well, that answered that doubt. For some reason, the fatigue seemed to heighten when he did that. He rubbed his eye again, and from the look on Tin's face, she appeared to be able 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 experimentation, making a mess of the road."Can you see any difference in the road ?"

"No."He covered his eye once more, and she nodded her point."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, form of like flipping a page. Master… I think you're using legerdemain !"

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

"That's the only thing it can be. But I've never heard of deception that could get hoi polloi disappear like that."

"I'm not disappearing, I think I'm becoming invisible. It's… an deception. I'm creating an conjuration that makes me invisible… and when I alter something around me, it expands the phantasy to conceal the modification I've made until I release it."He covered his eye and felt the tiredness, then, covered it once more and it stopped."Covering my eye is the induction that activates it."

He then remembered his last moments with Lindsey. He had covered his left eye because the sun was blinding him, and he woke up in this human beings in that same position. His glitchy reincarnation, it hadn't just preserved his consistence at this age, it gave him some sort of magic. Maybe it was the magic itself that caused the computer error, the magic present in this new public.

"Tin, do they receive any form of word for the Department of Energy used for deception ? 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 other eye."

The mo he attempted it, he fell to his knee, almost blacking out."passkey !"Tin exclaimed. She climbed down and helped him to his feet.

"So, you can see me. That means I didn't turn invisible. But something clearly happened, or at least, 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 muscleman. I have to coach it to increase my stamen.

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

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

The adjacent day, while Tin took town the tripwires set around their makeshift clique, Noah was busy experimenting with his deception. He had come across a giant spider, draining the line of descent from a bewitch rabbit. As he approached, Noah covered his eye and cast his legerdemain. His invertebrate foot on the underbrush, it should have got given him away, but the wanderer didn't seem to notice. He decided to build more noise, picking up a stick and snapping it, but still, the spider didn't seem to notice.

"Over here."

Finally, the wanderer spun around, its inkiness eyes searching for the germ of the noise. It seemed that his illusion also concealed phone, but not his voice. Maybe because he intended for his voice to be heard ? He had been casting his turn on and off since he discovered it, to try and get a better smell of his mana. He couldn't properly focus himself since he needed to salvage his military posture for when he needed it, but he was starting to sense the stream.

He drew his sword, a new one. After the fight with the goblin, he had taken their weapons, and despite being slightly out of practice due to inadequate caution, they were gamey lineament than the cheap machete that Noah had been using until now. He now carried a Medieval-style longsword, a scant brand, and his knife. He came up with system 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 Vannevar Bush. The spider didn't see or hear anything. Noah could feel it, his mana flowing through his sword towards the Dubya, enveloping it in the illusion. He focused on the energy running through his arm and tried to slow the flow, to keep it from moving beyond his sword. It was exceedingly difficult, like trying to flex a muscular tissue he had never used before. It reminded of him of all the years he spent as a neonate, when his musculus tissue paper was just slightly tougher than gelatine. He tempered his breathing, driving out all distraction from his thinker, and soon, he could finger the flow of his mana, like he had grabbed a hold of it.

He pulled it back, leaving the blade enveloped, but this clock time, when he rustled the President Bush, the spider raised his strawman pegleg and bared its fangs, 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 craze and swung at something it could not see. The illusion could immobilize speech sound from reaching his enemy, but it couldn't erase the signified of signature, so he couldn't just turn inconspicuous and prod someone without them feeling it.

There was something else he noticed. When he was unseeable, he could smell the mana in others. Tin had very footling, likely a mansion that she had no chemical attraction for illusion, probably a reason why she ended up a slave. The lusus naturae had even less, but not all of them. Lone wolves without coterie 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 aroma. What made them so especial ?

This was just another question that Noah chalked up to something he'd learn later. For now, he should just extend utilizing his magic to its full potency. The spider had its guard raised, but couldn't sensation the front of anyone or anything nearby, so it could do zero to stop Noah from ending its life. He harvested what he needed from the torso and then returned to camp.

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

It was a dulcet respite to Noah and Tin when they finally left the afforest. After two twenty-four hours of reprise ambuscade by piranha and goblins, the sea of trees that flanked them on either side were replaced with open ley, fields where husbandman and their hard worker were planting crops. The road became more undifferentiated, receiving Thomas More maintenance due to the increment in traffic. In the distance, they saw the town, Robert Clive, as Tin called it. It was surrounded by a log fence to preserve the monsters out. It reminded him of the colonial village museum from his fifth-grade field trip. The creek from their waterfall camp joined into the river that flowed beside the town.

Guards in cheap leather armor with a few metallic element home base were manning the gate, and they stopped Noah and Tin as they approached. One of them looked over the cavalry and the wagon with a untrusting eye.

"These belong to Garrow and his men. How did you come 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 bribe him with pocket change."Then I suppose you're mistaken, right ?"

Seeming satisfied, the safety device 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 metre to Medieval EEC. Peasants walked the muddy road, street seller tried to deal their merchandise, and the air stank beyond all de***********ion. The building were brick and woodwind, only a few of them to a greater extent than two taradiddle, with their window using foggy glass.

"What do we do now ?"Tin asked.

"We're going to sell this Wagon, everything in it, and the horses. That guard duty recognized them, so others may as well. Plus, I can protect a mess of coins honorable than this load of fur. We can just buy replacements if we need them."They rode past a beggar prevarication in the street and Noah brought the horse to a stop."You there, where can I find a weapon system monger ?"

The whiskered man pointed a trembling finger to the E. Noah didn't thank him, but tossed him a copper coin. They turned down one of the easterly streets and a sign caught Noah's eye. It had an anvil with two pass over swords in front of it like a crest. They stopped the paddy wagon outside and Noah disembarked.

"feel after the wagon. This seat is probably crawling with thief, so be wary."

She was armed with a dagger and he had organized religion in her competency. He stepped into the storehouse, with a ship's bell ringing above his head from the room access orifice and shutdown. This store was made of brick in order to minify the fire danger due to the smithy in backrest. numerous weapon system were put on presentation, from blade to halberds. Back in his previous lives, Noah could sustain bought a damascus sword online for $ 60 that would put these to pity, but these would suffice.

He also paid care to the prices in purchase order to figure out the pace of conversion for money. The Book of Numbers were drawn a bit differently from past creation, but they appeared to own the same time value. From what he could tell, ten cop coins equaled a bronze, ten bronze equaled a silver, and ten ash grey for a Au. The system of measurement grading made it easiest for Noah to compare them to US dollars, but from what era ? There was a courtship of armor selling for two gold coins, about two thousand dollar. But was that two thousand dollars back in the Old West ? Or was that two thousand dollar bill in the 21st century, after Thomas More than a century years of rising prices ? He couldn't even tell whether the damage were good or not. This was either all great equipment at a high price or garbage sold to father and cheapskates, or even just junk the owner was asking the moon for to try and rip Noah off.

A man appeared from a second room and stood behind a counter. He was a great bear of a man, buffer and dirty from a spirit spent standing over an anvil. Seeing Noah's modern clothes, unease crossed his human face."Can I help you ?"

"Do you buy weapons as well as sell them ?"

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

"Perfect."Noah returned to the wagon outside and retrieved an armful of weapon looted from idle hobgoblin. He stepped back indoors and laid them out on the store counter."What can I get for all of these ?"

There were four myopic sword, two longswords, six daggers, three spear, and an axe. The blacksmith raised his eyebrows in modest surprise at the sizing of the haul, but otherwise maintained a poker face for the saki of business enterprise. He examined each weapon, making exaggerated grunts and suspiration over every silicon chip and star sign of rust.

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

"That's a bad joke. That's LE than a tan coin per arm. You're selling dagger for three bronze each. seven silver."Judging by the damage of the display pieces, 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 absurd. My merchandise hasn't been dragged through the Wood. Yours has. I'll have to spend all night polishing and sharpening these to make them worthy of being put on presentation. Two silver."

"leave them as is and then chalk down the Leontyne Price. You can sell them to some newbie warriors as training gear. Six silver."

"I can't come anywhere near that. The best I can do is two ash gray and five bronze."

"You can always just forge them into something new and deal at a high price. Four silver."

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

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

The blacksmith gave a huff. Three ash grey, such a round, whole number. It was five bronze above what he could get if he sold the weapon system for half price, but his inner-perfectionist didn't want to refine it with a smaller payment. Had Noah planned that from the first ? Either way, he felt like he was stuck on those three silver coins like a ship hitting a reef.

"amercement, three silver."

"Deal."He and Noah shook deal and Noah received the three coins and the axe."I also have another thing outside that you might be interested in. Follow me."He led the blacksmith out into the street and showed him the tripwire curlicue in the backbone of the wagon.

"What is it ?"

"A tripwire system, offering a hundred thousand of protection. Any monster that touches it makes the alloy alarms jingle. It's so loud that even the idle can hear it. I'll deal it for three bronze and the small shield you had in the recess. It's got to be worth that in stuff alone."

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

The deal was struck and Noah and Tin set off with a much barge estate car. The axe Noah had gotten was a gravid one, perfect tense for chopping both tree diagram and monsters. The shield he now wore on his arm was only around the size of a dinner plate, but that worked for him. It was strong enough to block a diagonal from a sword and it wouldn't hamper his movements. The tripwire was a bit painful to lose, but once they sold the wagon, they would sustain ended up carrying it with them.

With directions from many of the townsfolk, they sold and traded their product. The blacksmith wouldn't buy the bow, but Noah found another weapon dealer who allowed him to swop up to a much better piece and a quiver of good-quality arrows. After that, the medicinal herb and mushroom cloud were bought by an herbalist, the wolf pelts went to a leatherworker in exchange for some armor and a strong backpack, and the clothes and bags were traded at the garment store for some new outfits and a second backpack. Due to the weird look he was getting, Noah was aware that his modern apparel made him stand out. They were too worthful 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 slave traders into someone's pig pen and the Sus scrofa went to Ithiel Town. From asking around, it seemed that the Garrow lad he killed wasn't the wanted outlaw he had hoped for. It was a disgrace there was no bounty to collect, especially after three days of putting up with the smell of those heads.

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

The owner of an explorer's shop class yelped in pain from the lye touching his hide. He sold traveling and natural selection gear, such as roofy, candles, dried rations, and other curio to serve travelers survive the wolf dwelling outside man's domain. Now he was buying the cobbler's last of Noah's haul, including the cadaver of various spiders and the barrel of slimes. A test had been essential to convert him of the lye's ability.

"So ? What do you think ? Seven bronze and everything's yours."

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

"No, no, I can't do five…"Noah pretended to be lost in thought."Do you sell maps ?"

"We do."

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

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

"Four bronze and you won't have to deal with me for the rest of the day."

"Deal."

With that, Tin and Noah left, having sold everything they deemed not worth carrying. The Plough and buck had already been exchanged for some lovely gold coins, so now they lived carrying everything they owned. Tin was in a safe temper, now wearing proper clothes and footwear. She looked zip like the slave girl that Noah had met when he first came to this cosmos. One might look at her and not even think she was a slave.

The sun had almost set, but they made their way to their final stop, an inn known as the Old Wineskin. It was busybodied inside, the air stinking of tube dope, ale, and poor people hygiene, and the floor creaking under countless pairs of shifting boots. The hostess, a large woman looking like she birthed children by the bedding, greeted them at the threshold from behind a front desk.

"Are you here to eat or to sleep ?"she asked.

"Both. What are your rates ?"

"five-spot copper coins a night for one room. For ten, you also get firewood, a hot bathroom, and two solid repast a day for one person."

Noah counted up the coins for him and Tin and stacked them on the mesa."We'll study the to the full package for three nights."

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

Noah led Tin through the crowd of bibulous villagers, both of them on the spotter for dip. Every man in the bar looked either like a Viking or the variety of guy that Vikings typically killed, all of their wearing apparel made of either woolen, linen, or animal fell. Any women were either travelers huddled together, or courtesan sitting across the lap covering of their sot client and laughing at every bad jape as they waited for the alcohol to take in its toll.

Noah and Tin found a little table near the fireplace and took their rear end with Noah warning Tin to put her bag directly under the table.

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

"Is something incorrectly, superior ?"

"No, everything is fine. I rather like the atmosphere here, the feel of it."

He had seen slew of township that been knocked out of the modern age in his previous biography, usually due to some kind of apocalyptic event or because it was in a third-world country, but none of them had the Medieval Europe aura like in fantasy books and motion picture. For all of his life experience, this was something he was glad to finally be able to queer off his list.

"So we're going to stay here for three days ? Then what ?"

"I'm not sure yet. I don't have adequate information. I want to have intercourse more about this commonwealth, about the other area. I want to see what I can make of myself and what will pass me the effective chance of survival. But for now, I want to rest up for a few days and learn 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 province showed the towns around Robert Clive, as well as vague rivers and pot, but there was no musical scale for referencing distance and none of the roads were labeled. The national map was no estimable, but it did name the bigger Ithiel Town and the upper-case letter of Uther near the southern coast. It was hard to make up one's mind the size of the area, but it was probably somewhere between England and Texas.

right hand now, what he needed to work out on was a backstory. True, this was not a body politic with an educated public, but Noah was still ignorant of the culture and lifestyle, something that would require years to catch up on. If he claimed to be from somewhere but failed to answer a question that any indigen would bonk, it would make him look suspicious. In his retiring biography, his backstory would mother itself, just like everyone else, and as an grownup, when he needed an assumed name, he could easily craft a new one using his knowledge of the globe. He had been forced to hide in other countries and take on new indistinguishability in past lifespan, but this was a totally new ballgame.

The stewardess arrived with wooden trays and beer soft touch. The house special was a pipe bowl of meat and veggie swither and a biscuit, with a pint of the local anesthetic ale to wash it down with. Noah didn't even want to imagine how a health inspector would react to seeing the kitchen and how the food was prepared, but after three days of zero but rock-hard bread and dried core that was little More than salted leather, he ate greedily.

Tin, however, stared at her food."superior, is it really ok for me to eat this ? I need only scraps to survive. Master doesn't pauperization to be so generous in buying me such rattling food."

"You've done everything I've told you to do and have yet to let down me. You deserve to eat proper meals. Besides, I need you strong and healthy so you can continue to aid me."

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

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

The elbow room they were renting was awfully gross, just a bed with some fretful blankets and a fireplace. There was also a tabular array with a lone standard candle and a pitcher of water system. Firewood had already been delivered. As Tin lit the candle, Noah began moving around the room, knocking on the paries, storey, and ceiling, searching for any hidden doors or peephole. For all he knew, there could be multitude watching them, waiting for them to fall 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 successive killer. The mat tire within walking space should own warned him, but he refused to conceive the cliché.

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

He was surely for the most part that no one was listening or watching them at the moment, but that might be temporary. He wanted to check the inn itself. But on the off prospect that someone was managing to ward off his signal detection, he didn't want to set off his magic. He left the room and locked the doorway behind him. There were way on either side and across the hall, but they would get along later. He went downstairs, maneuvering through the crowd and stepping external into the sorry street. The Town was clearing out, everyone gallery place or to whatever spot they slept on.

Noah walked down the street, and as planned, he sensed a tush behind him. He stepped behind the nearby butcher shop and laid in waiting. His pursuer, knife in hand, entered the alley. He never even saw Noah, certainly didn't see his deal aiming for his Adam's Apple. A solid blow ripped the air from the man's lungs and sent him to his knees, unable to even scream in suffering. He dropped his knife and Noah got him into a chokehold, lifting him back onto his feet.

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

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

Noah took out his knife and held it under the man's eye. The leaf blade was invisible like Noah, but the man could finger the blade threatening to pierce the peel of his lower lid."If you want to salvage yourself, start talking. I can urinate you beg for your life and then beg for death in a matter of seconds."

"This is just what I do, punk ! I wait for piece of methamphetamine playing adventurer to make a unseasonable turn 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 brief import, the man felt Noah's hold on him loosen, thinking he was going to be let go. Instead, Noah grabbed his head and snapped his neck.

Noah searched the corpse for anything of value and dumped it in the river beside the village. He then returned to the inn and searched the exterior. He had measured the distance from the window to the niche of his room, and, assuming that all the way were the same size and Sami configuration, there didn't appear to be any faux bulwark that someone could obscure in.

With his legerdemain still active, he went inside the inn and maneuvered through the crowds, this sentence putting all of his endeavour into not bumping up against anyone. He checked the thickness of the floor and ceiling of each level and found no unusual person. 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 lobby, he could hear two distaff venturer talking, making plans for the pursue day. In the room to the left of his, he could see a man sharpening his blade. The way to the right was unsounded. From his pocket, Noah drew a length of wire. It was originally part of the handgrip of one of the swords he had sold, but he took it before taking it out of the beach wagon. Lockpicking had been a skill of his various lifetimes ago, so he was a little rusty. Regardless, he managed to unfold the door and peeked in, seeing the one inhabitant sleeping.

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

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

"Yeah, I think we're safe."

They both stepped into the room and released their curb breathing place upon the door end. Finally, they could let down their precaution, at least for the most part.

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

On the table with the lone candela, he spread out the coins from their cut-rate sale. There was a swell number of silver coins, spate of bronze, and respective pig, as well as some gold."With all of this, we can remain at this inn for as long as we want. But for now, let's work on keeping it safe."

The Cu coins would be kept in two of the three serpent wallet, as bait or a decoy against dip. The thirdly notecase held the bronze coins and hung around Tin's neck. As the for the silver and Au coins, Tin worked with Noah beside the fire to hide them in his clothes and possessions, such as the liner of his jacket and the straps of his backpack.

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

Noah let her in and she placed a wooden tub on the floor, filled with steam clean water and some sheet. In this world, it seemed like outside of swimming, the only way to keep even remotely clean was with a dim-witted washables cloth. Noah tipped her and she departed.

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

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

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

There was a do-or-die shimmer in her center."Something which I beg your forgiveness for. I must record my gratitude for your kindness."

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

She embraced him from behind."It is my duty to service my captain. Please, appropriate me to persist in not let down you."

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

She made a belittled stochasticity of embossment, almost like a cross between a laughter and a gasp."Please take a seat."

Noah sat on the base of the bed and Tin retrieved some of their leftover Georgia home boy, then brought to tub next him. She kneeled before him and wetted the front of her trunk with one of the rags, then with the soap, lathering up her knocker and between her second joint. He could order she was excited. Despite her perpetually expressionless font, he could see the small curling of her sass, the shimmer in her optic, sign of the zodiac of joy. It was an ironic combination ; she, having never known joy from contact with a man, and he, so blunt that link with a woman was one of the endure few things that could open him pleasure.

She began by taking one of the washcloths and scrubbing Noah's peg, trying to remove the sweat and dirt from their days in the woods. Then, her breathing would deepen, and she'd start rubbing her chest up against him, grinding against him like a stripteaser rod. Her chest were far from ample, due to her rough life and poor diet, but what effeminacy there was, she used to please Noah. She made sure he felt every cubic centimeter of fat, as if the mass of her chest equaled her loyalty.

She washed off the grievous bodily harm and then got on the bed to repeat the process on his subdivision. Her feat gave him an amused smile. With her inner thighs nice and sudsy, she'd straddle his hands, letting him cup her womanhood in his palm and feel how wet she was. She was beginning to pant and mewl, her lecherousness building up in her. Her frantic breaths in his pinna was likewise getting him worked up. He had a few ex-girlfriends that would sacrifice him this treatment.

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

"This is new. I've never felt so practically gratitude to my captain before."

She moved behind him and scrubbed his dorsum, then began smooshing her white meat against him in sweeping motions. It reminded him of washing window. While she grinded on his back, she washed his chest and her work force naturally fell to his throbbing manhood. She stroked it lovingly, as if wanting to con every contingent. She started rubbing against him with more force and jacking him off. Despite Noah being on the receiving end, Tin's efforts were making her breathe heavily with an stir whine passing her lips. The feel of her bosom on his back and her masterful stroke were also getting to Noah. Even with all of his intimate experience, he always enjoyed a little arousal.

He didn't bother trying to resist and simply ejaculated, while behind him, Tin shuddered as if having a climax of her own. She greedily licked his cum off her hands and then got off the bed, kneeling before him once again. Her regard, full of drunken lust, was glued to his semi-flaccid humanness in the backwash of its eruption.

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

She began sucking on his member with worshipful loyalty. Every drop of cum, she slurped off while savoring the gustatory sensation of his sudor. Like the other night, she paid attention to his balls, either massaging them while his cock plunged into the deepness of her pharynx, or sucking on them and rolling them around her mouthpiece while she jacked him off.

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

She looked up at him, a buckle down both to him and to her desires."Yes, Master. My body feel 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 enter her. She was so wet, his cock sliding against her inner flesh without any resistivity. There was no hesitation in any of Tin's movements, she didn't need to adjust her position or let her body suit accustomed to the feeling of being penetrated. As soon as she was down to the base, she began bouncing on his pecker at full speed.

Noah laid back with his bridge player gripping her ass. The travail she was putting in was commendable, she was fucking him like a pornstar. Her moans of blissfulness, she didn't bother trying to conceal them. She let her interpreter 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 military capability into keeping up this rhythm, dropping all her weight unit onto Noah's lap so that he could truly research her body. She couldn't allow him to exert himself. There were no fields to work, no farm animal to take care of. She couldn't competitiveness, couldn't Hunt, couldn't do anything to reward her master for the kindness he had shown her. All she could do was offer her body for his enjoyment, to give him something to unleash his desires on.

But her strong point was fading fast. Despite her drive, Noah wasn't giving in. In fact, he decided to struggle back. He retrieved one of the tone down washcloths and wiped the grievous bodily harm off her boob, making her pap become erect. He then sat up and began running his tongue and rim across her skin, kissing her ring of color and sucking on their peaks. He often pulled his mouth away to join with hers, kissing her with skill she could only hollo art. Rather than letting her continue bouncing, he implemented his own technique. Cupping her tight ass in his hands, he began gyrating her hips in one charge while he moved in the opposite centering. Now, instead of doing foresighted, deep diagonal, his prick was stirring up the profundity of her fair sex like he was whisking some scrambled ball.

The two-fold attacks, they were more than Tin could carry."master key ! Ah ! Master !"she moaned.

She held onto his shoulders as a undulation of culmination rushed through her, soaking Noah's lap in her stimulation. Noah fell back, this time while pulling Tin down with him. Tin, lying across his bureau, was given no time to rest. 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 words. It was his skill and experience, she could experience it with every move he made. He knew exactly what to do to not do any harm, despite the intensity itself leaving her on the sceptre of blacking out.

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

"grip on, I'm almost there."

She held onto him for dear liveliness, as if a crack had ripped off the roof of the inn and was threatening to take out her up into the sky. Soon, the storm passed, and Tin felt that final exam thrust and Noah emptying himself into her. The sensation of her master's come flooding her muliebrity, the hotness of it inside her, it made her groan a single crystal-clear distinction, like a hoot yell. Then, she collapsed on top of him, using the hold out of her intensity to run kisses across his bureau.

"Master, when you wanted to know the field and me and some other slaves 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 life-time, he still didn't know what the proper reception was."And at the waterfall… thank you for letting me stay by your side."

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

.

.

.

Stamina

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.

The good morning of the future day found Noah roaming the village. Before he made any determination, he wanted to know what this Town had to offer up, what endeavors it could support. According to the mapping he bought, Clive was far away from the Carry Nation's capital, out in the boondocks, but it appeared to have a strong economy, with many professions one might not expect in such a rocky area, like a Au and silversmiths. In fact, it seemed to boom on tourism, but no one would ever come out here on vacation. It was because of the natural resources.

So far, Baron Clive had some farm farming and a river for food, as well as the huge woods for baseball bat, but its top commodity was colossus. As Noah explored the town, he saw numerous venturer buying solid food and provision before going off to hound and forgather. In the ahead of time seventeenth century, the fur barter exploded in Europe, sending countless men out into the Wilderness of Siberia and the America to find their fate. Here, the corpus was the like. Furs were in requirement in the big cities, but most of the demon had been wiped out around the more populated areas, so adventurers spread out to the countryside to trace and sell their catch, and where there is an exploitable resourcefulness, you can regain capitalists looking for people with money burning a hollow in their pockets.

His search brought him to the local pharmacist, where numerous pots and shock adorned the rampart on shelves while different flora were hung to dry viewgraph. He recognized several plants, but many were new to him. An old charwoman ran the shop, watching Noah like a war hawk through the fume coming from her pipe. It filled the air, along with several different kinds of incense. No sunshine was allowed in, so as to save the industrial plant and potions on show.

"Anything I can help oneself you chance ?"

"Do you have potions to avail restore mana ?"

"Yes. I sell them in three qualities at a cost of five, ten, and twenty bronze coins, but you have to buy the bottle as well if you don't have any of your own. expect to the shelf behind you, the disconsolate potions."

He examined the vial, three cork feeding bottle with blue liquids, each one a dissimilar shade. There was no telling how utile they were. He didn't live how much mana they could refill, compared to the amount of mana he had within him. And the color shade, was that because of the presence of a specific ingredient that increased its authorisation ? Or were they just watered down ?

"What about health ?"

"The red ones, above them, and we also sell bandage. However, those are only for showing my wares. Simply tell me what you want and my granddaughter will retrieve it from the back room."

These potions, how did they work ? They were clearly some form of plant-based concoction, but could there be magic involved ? The idea of learning how to create potions appealed to him, but if it required a special sort 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 woman relayed the fiat to soul in the back way without ever taking her eyes off Noah. A young girl appeared behind the sideboard, carrying a tray of six blue devil and red potions. Noah paid and stowed them away in his bag.

"You know, if you have worry collecting the fixings, I could help in rally for a discount."

The adult female cracked a smile, seeing right through him."How nice of you to bid ! But my son does splendid work."

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

He left the apothecary and breathed the freshly morn air. The sun had broken free of the visible horizon, and while it was still early, the town of Robert 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 duty to run your errands."

She was getting clingier, he had been noticing it steadily progressing. When they first met, she hardly said a word, usually only speaking when essential, such as to acknowledge orders or warn him that something was attacking. As time passed, she got more inquisitive, now doing whatever she could to help him. The smallest chore, she would try to do before he could, like opening door 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 neck down. But it made her happy, so he went along with most of it, and he appreciated her affection.

"I'd prefer to get a read on citizenry before sending you to run errands like this. I'm better at detecting scam then you are. Since I now know the Mary Leontyne Price of the potions, I can wee-wee sure that woman at the shop doesn't try to overcharge you."

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

"Now that we're finally in a good office, I'm going to start experimenting with my magic, and I need your help for that. Because there was always the scourge of monsters, I never allowed my mana to fully deplete, so now I can start pushing my demarcation line a little."He pulled out the three mana potions and put them on the table."I'm going to cast my illusion and not contain until my mana is completely used up and the enchantment comes undone. I need you to monitor my health during the process."

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

"It's easy. While I'm inconspicuous, I want you to have my wrist and honour my pulse while counting to a hundred over and over again until the spell time out. If I should mislay cognisance, pour one of these potions down my pharynx and place my deal over my eye to make sure the spell is cancelled. Should my pulse rate or breathing stop, there is a routine I'll have you perform called Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR for short. Lie back on the bed and I'll show you how it's done."

She took the position and he leaned over her, making her breathing spell hoo-ha. He placed his handwriting on the center of her chest and felt her become tense."I can find your heart beating. Should mine layover, you'll pauperization to press down on the marrow 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 look in her eye, he knew what it was.

"You'll wish to do that thirty times. Then, you'll need to pinch my nose, and blow air into my lungs."He lowered his head and kissed her. She replied with enthusiasm, her breath now fluttering, and not because he was pinching her olfactory organ. Noah got on top of her."Of course, when you do it, I expect you not to use so a great deal spit. You'll give way me two late breathes, then do another thirty compressions. repeat the process until you feel my heart starting. Understand ?"

"Yes, passkey,"she whispered with a dreamy flavour in her eyes.

"Good. Now, to make surely I only use up my mana, I need to completely enfeeble my physical toughness. concern to help oneself me with that ?"

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

To the enjoyment of some and the irritation of others, the speech sound of Tin's groan could be heard throughout the inn. Not only gimcrack, it was incessant. excursus from some short breakage, her voice continued to reverberate off the wall even with the sun now at the gamey point of the day and everyone eating lunch.

On the bed in their divvy up room, Noah was battering Tin from behind with relentless chroma. She no longer had the strength to even remain on all quaternion, and instead had her look pressed to the sheets, now sticky with their coalesce fluids. Every slam he delivered would make her cry out in euphoria. She didn't have it off how many times he had brought her to culminate, nor how many times she felt him swamp her consistency with his seeded player, but each outcome threatened to rob her of her consciousness. Regardless, she fought through, doing everything she could to remain awake so that she could stay to delight her master.

"Am I hurting you ?"It was a question that none of her former headmaster had ever asked while they violated her. They didn't care about how a good deal bother they inflicted on her, unless making her suffer was their goal, which it often was. To learn it from him, such variety Good Book, they nearly made her cry rent 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 torso at its terminus ad quem. She didn't understand how it was possible for him to go so long and exercise so much power. He was far too Thomas Young to cause amassed this kind of experience. His intensity even frightened her. He acted so that she was assailed with only if pleasure, but if she angered him, if the demons of sadism possessed him, could she even outlive ?

How had this all started ? What was the ground he had given ? She could barely remember, it felt like so long ago. Oh, that's right wing, he called it usage. He asked it of her, but had he demanded it instead, invoked his authority as her master, she would consume been no less excited. It fulfilled her, to finally be able to show her commitment in the only way she could. He was depending on her, trusting her to satisfy his expectations, and she was prepare to consecrate her physical structure for that. Her muscles begged for residuum, but her soul didn't want it to end. She wanted to wrap around him like a Snake so that he could never leave, and instead persist in using her until the end of time.

At this full stop, Noah had fully immersed himself in the act of passionateness, aware of cypher but the forcible mankind. The feeling of Tin's consistency, her wetness and flabby bod around his hammer, the taste when their tongues curled around each early when they kissed, the odour of her womanly marrow as he brought her to climax, the mess of the sweat glistening on her eubstance as he made her writhe and groan, he bathed in those sensations. He felt piddling affection for her, but at least physical aesthesis could quell the ancient maelstrom in his mind, let him shut off his nous and truly feel again. His psyche, so starved and without stripping, it was like cracked desert clay now becoming fertile with the spring rains.

His forcible stamina, something that Tin was set to pronounce as inhuman, was just as a good deal mental as physical. With so many lifetimes'worth of experience, he knew how to make through the infliction. He had felt the anguish of exertion decent clock time to learn how to ignore it. He couldn't perform any dramatic feats of strength like some kind of superhero, but he knew how to properly oxygenate his lineage for the maximum turnout and knew how practically strength his musculus could wield without suffering prejudicial damage. He was digging down deep for strength and harnessing every calorie and spark of Energy, and while he wasn't on the point of a bodybuilder, he had built his flesh through a workout that he had mastered over various lifetimes.

He shuddered as he emptied himself into Tin. After all this time, he couldn't imagine having any sperm left. His soreness was approaching unbearable layer, but even though his hard-on was melt, he didn't give in. He grabbed Tin by the shoulders and pulled her against him, his lips joining hers. She was nearly frantic, acting as if on heftiness memory when she swirled her tongue around his mouth. His work force went to town on her, massaging her lowly breasts and stirring up the cum in her snatch. Tin was so tired and her throat was sore from moaning, but the way Noah tickled her clitoris and bullied her nipple, it still made her whimper in bliss.

He'd do this after every orgasm, keeping her busy while he slowly regained his hard-on. However, his manhood had thrown in the towel as his toughness hit zero. He let go of Tin and she fell back onto the bed. Her eyes were white from enfeeblement, but she rolled onto her backrest and ranch her legs, putting herself on showing and letting Noah see the seed overflowing from her womanhood.

"superior, I can keep going. delight, restrain using me. I'll do whatever you want me to."

"No, that's full. You were unadulterated. I can't even work up the long suit for a single thrust."He reached into his bag and pulled out the weakest of the three healing potions. Even that project was almost beyond his scope. He might as well have just won the enlistment de France."Here, drink this."She was too tired to strike, so Noah put the bottle to her lips and let some trickle down her pharynx. She was soon revived, her body no longer trembling.

‘ So, blue devil potions restore deception stamina and red potions restore strong-arm stamina.'

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

"Master, what about you ?"

"I can't, yet. I need to value only my mana, and if I eat or do anything to recuperate my strong-arm strength, it will skew the results."

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

"It probably is dangerous, but I don't jazz how my mana reserves compare to an average magic user my age, and this is libertine way to increase it. Now, don't let go of my wrist and start counting as soon as I become invisible. If my marrow 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 : thirty compression and then two breather. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

Noah put his deal over his eye and disappeared in front of Tin. However, Tin could still sense him, palpate his carpus in her hand and his fondness, and it comforted her. Upon the activating of the spell, Noah could feel his mana being depleted. It was a strange tiredness, like he was bleeding to death. All of his mental focussing was put on restricting the flowing of mana to just his torso, so that nothing else would get caught in his illusion and waste mana. It was why he left the job of timekeeping to Tin.

From his experience so far, he could hold the head game for about three bit before his motor functions declined too far for him to fight. He didn't know if that was good or bad, but in prison term, he could smell out that business line being crossed. From there, his cerebration and strong-arm strength began a rapid decline. Noah fought with everything he had to outride conscious, even when he could no longer keep his eyes open. His consciousness soon sank into a rift where he could feel his mana continuing to deplete but couldn't feel his own body.

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

"Master,"she whispered, clutching is hand.

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

"I managed to reckon to a hundred almost four metre. Then when you became visible, I gave you the potion. Your meat slowed, but it didn't stop, and you kept breathing."

"So, while with my physical stamina completely drained, I can conserve the charm for about five moment before I pass out. At fully strength, I can maintain it that long while still being able-bodied to fight. This is respectable, I'm in perfect precondition to get the best benefit for stressing my mana, and since my heart and breathing didn't stop consonant, I don't need to worry about suffocating. Either that potion will endure off or it'll manage to replenish all my mana, but whichever happens first, I'll start again immediately after."

He gave himself time for the mana to recirculate through his body. He checked his reflex response, forcible strength, and mental processing. True, he felt half-dead from debilitation and sore all over, but he knew what real hurt would feel like. Complete mana personnel casualty felt just like bleeding to Death, so there was always the possibility that being drained of it for too long would possess alike core to his consistence, like blindness or muscle death. There was no telling if the health potions could heal those kinds of injuries.

zippo appeared to be damage, so he returned to the bed."All right, we're going to keep doing this."

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

As the day rolled on, Noah's dead body begged for food. The rumble of his venter and his disorientation concerned Tin, but he refused any kind of sustenance, and for ripe reason. Each time he performed the process, he noted his mana reserves increasing. He didn't know what mana was or how he produced it, but without physical stamen to soften the black eye of depletion, the source of his mana was being stressed to its point of accumulation, 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 person could strengthen theirs. For all he knew, he could be lagging behind in the breeding, but he was fairly certain that he had struck gold.

As night fell, Tin once More arrived at their elbow room, despondent."Please forgive me, victor. The herbalist had closed down her shop for the night and wouldn't even afford her door."

"For the best, I imagine, considering how she started throwing stuff at you finis sentence. We've probably bought up all the provision that she's willing to sell us."

"So what now ?"

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

"I can give it brought up to us."

"No, let's go downstairs. I'm rather sick of this room and need some unfermented air."

He tried to sit up in the bed, but even that was almost beyond him. How long had it been since he was this drained of strength ? There was that prison term when he starved to death… When was that ? Even his creative thinker was on the verge of shutting down. He tried to get dressed, but his consistence wouldn't obey his will, and to his shame, Tin had to assist him. It reminded him of all the sentence 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 servant of any peachy noble, I heard that this was a tariff that their maiden often performed. Simply imagine that you are a great viscount, or even an earl."

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

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

Now fully dressed, he was helped to his feet and they left the way, though he had to lean on Tin for support. From upstairs, they could get wind the rowdiness of the node in the dining elbow room, singing call and knocking their mugful together. Yet as the teens appeared and made their way to their table from the previous eventide, that clamor went died down, with all eyes on them. There was some hushed muttering, several hoi polloi whispering to their friends to inquire as to the muteness. Noah and Tin took their seats, the bar as smooth as a memorial park, then the boniface showed up with their dinner party. It was chunks of meat carved from a wolf, and Noah's portion was gravid than anyone else's.

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

That appeared to be some form of foretoken, because a man at the bar with a beard down to his belt raised his mug."Hail to the youth male monarch ! He who could make even a succubus beg for rest !"

The bar practically exploded, with people of all age swarming their table to pat Noah on the rear, congratulate him on his skills, and beg him for advice. Many women approached, flirting with Noah and inviting him to fall in them for the evening. Noah even saw one female person adventurer holding back her friend who was trying to border on with a hungry—or rather"thirsty"—look in her eye and a wide smile on her face. Tin also got plenty of attention. Everyone wanted to have intercourse who was struggling to preserve up with who, which of the two was the insatiable one. The women who could not ensnare Noah would wrick to her, asking for details while voicing their jealousy. In the background, the guests began singing birdsong of wooing woman and romantic tales, with the convention action of the bar becoming a raving party.

Noah simply sat there with an awkward smile, annoyed that his plans to keep a low visibility had gone of up with locoweed, but amused with the situation nonetheless. Tin, too uneasy and stymy to say anything, simply hung her mind while her fount turned red as a tomato.

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

It was conclude to midnight, and Noah, having regained his durability, made his way to the dark apothecary. He carried a lantern with him, but its flame, like Noah, was invisible to anyone and anything, and the road remained as iniquity as it would be without his bearing. He had shrouded it in his trick as a way to test himself. If his mana slipped, Inner Light would escape. After the day's training, the mana expenditure was next to nada. He had already passed the five-minute mark and didn't feel dizzy. With a few more years of training, he might be able-bodied to maintain the illusion for an minute or more.

He reached the store and went to work picking the curl while sending his mana into the door. Wrapped in his conjuring trick, the door made no stochasticity, even when he opened it. There were a few guards patrolling the Ithiel Town, but they wouldn't have noticed him, even without being unseeable. He entered the store and thinned the mana around his lantern just enough to release a faint shaft of light of light.

There was mint of valuable cloth to steal, but Noah and Tin's suspicious behavior would have left an opinion on the old fair sex, and she'd assume they did it. He could have 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 instant he discovered his thaumaturgy, he had thought of all the ways he could use it, both bad and ripe. It would take in been so well-to-do, he kept reminding himself, but that wasn't the life-time he wanted to subsist, even if it was one he would throw lived in the past.

Instead, he searched the shop for Holy Writ and potion formula, simply to memorize, rather than steal. None could be found, meaning they must consume been hidden elsewhere. He did find plentifulness of compounding equipment, which he memorized in order to repeat. Noah moved beyond the store and into the cleaning lady's family. She lived, as everyone else did in this world, rustically. All light was natural or flame-based, any food that could go bad was salted and kept in jars, there was no running urine, and all the tools were pre-industrial. It still reeked of potions and herbs, but that feel was probably hard to restrict to the store.

He came across a large wooden chest set against the wall, and after picking the curl, got it open, revealing his trophy. The old char's whole library was kept neatly arranged, all the answers Noah needed. In this world, information was as important for survival as solid food and water, so until society managed to formulate the printing press, books were worth their weight in atomic number 79. Despite the tantalizing knowledge at his fingertips, Noah went straight for the chemistry books. He looked up the formula for basic health and mana potions, memorizing the ingredients and processes.

finding atonement, he removed all vestige of his sojourn and left the apothecary.

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

The arrival of the adjacent day brought Noah and Tin out to the woods to gather herb and Holman Hunt monsters. Buying all the potions yesterday had taken a big clod out of their finance, so Noah wanted to gather some materials he could sell. He had asked around the tavern the previous night and managed to witness out the most valuable percentage of monsters. He also found out some interesting facts.

"Summoned by conjuring trick ?"

"Yes sir,"said the bartender as he used a foul rag to clean a glass."If you're really favorable, you'll manage to see it happen. There are sorcerous circles scattered across these lands, absorbing mana from the air and using it to mobilise animal. About a after part of each monster backwash is created by magic. And not just lusus naturae, woodland brute as well, from the cervid to the birds. Shouldn't you know that by now if you're going to be an explorer ?"

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

Despite it being true, it was used as a lie. Ignorance of basic facts would reach him away and make masses shady, so he was hesitating to ask about anything involving magic. He couldn't expect much from this humanity's horizontal surface of education, but a man with no knowledge of legerdemain would probably stand out like a man in the 21st one C that had never seen electricity before. At to the lowest degree claiming to be a alien would justify most errors. He just had to hope he didn't meet up with any outside merchandiser before he got more than selective information.

"Where do these magic roach come from ?"

"According to legends, there was a war between the god and the life of nature. The hard liquor used their illusion to cite armies of creatures, so that the minions of the gods could never take the air the dry land, and that magic remains to this day. Some believe that it is a weapon being used against mankind, to stop our expansion and geographic expedition into new commonwealth. Many believe it to be the work of troublemakers that got their helping hand on some variety of illegal magic, spreading the magic circles to create havoc.

Many times in history, area have been declared monster-free, only for the creatures to give back. Even islands get plagued with monsters despite being sail clean. It's why many number to adventuring ; the steady income from hunting monsters and the true food source."

As Noah thought back to the conversation, he heard crusade nearby. Bursting from the underwood, an adolescent wolf lunged at Noah and Tin. Noah was quick on the draw and managed to jactitate the goliath on the shoulder with his longsword. It landed behind him, slightly limping but showing no signs of giving up. It flashed oculus to the full of bloodlust while it snarled and foamed. Tin hurried behind Noah, as per his rules of order, while he stared it down. If he cast his illusion, he could easily kill it without it ever seeing the flak coming, but today, he was sharpening his scrap skills and refining his play, so he needed to face his foe without hiding from them. Besides, monsters that lost track of him often turned their attention to Tin.

Noah made the first motion, charging while swinging down at the wildcat's early articulatio humeri. It jumped to the side to dodge, but Noah widened the angle of the slash as he brought it down, turning it into a bias flack. Chasing the Hugo Wolf with his swing, he managed cut into its flesh. The wolf, infuriated by painfulness, pounced from a richly Angle, aiming for Noah's head. The angle was knavish, Noah sidestepping out of the scope of its claws, raising brand, and delivering an public executioner's chopper to the spine of the neck, severing its head.

He didn't fall his guard and scanned the country, searching for any other wolves in hiding. He could discover none."Clear."

That was his signal to Tin. With Noah keeping guard, she went to put to work on the wolf, removing the valuable parts like the skin and sealed muscles and organs. It was messy workplace, but worth the exploit. Everything was stored in her haversack and several other pouches and old bag, along with Noah's bow and other adventuring supply. Since Noah was doing all the fighting, the job of pack mule fell to her, or rather, she insisted on it.

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

"Tin, whole step back."

Noah readied himself, his sword raised as the fuzz approached. It was another Friedrich August 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 easy, as if the puppet's mind was scattered. Perhaps it was rabid ? But as he turned to examine the stiff, he realized he had broken a key sin. There was an pointer in its hind leg, meaning that this beast had already been claimed.

Two Brigham Young cleaning woman appeared, having apparently sprinted a great aloofness and now gasping for breath. Noah had seen them before at the inn. One of them, a blonde bowman, had attempted to talk to him the former night, but her acquaintance, a brunette with a staff, stopped her.

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

Neither char responded, both leaning on their knees and looking like they were about to collapse. Noah looked to Tin and nudged his top dog towards them. She got the message 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 penny-pinching to giving up."

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

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

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

The archer extended her manus to Noah."I'm Beth and this is Mira, very pleased to fix your acquaintance."

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

"You took care of that Friedrich August Wolf so easily ! With skills like yours, we would have it off to team up. What do you say ?"

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

"variety of,"said Mira,"but not against monsters this large and fast. We each came from areas where the fighting was a lot well-fixed and numbers were thinner, but we weren't making enough money and decided to try moving out here for a while."

"You said you tried slowing the skirt chaser down with magic. If you don't mind me asking, what form ? 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 conjure and ensure things like fire and water system. My natural endowment lie in controlling the world, like this."She turned away and looked into the space. Rings of sandstone-colored Light Within appeared around her wrists like annulus, and Noah could see diagrams and runes of an unknown voice communication."Earth Bind !"

She raised her stave and then slammed it into the ground. There was a pulsing, and the basis came undone like there was an animal tunneling just under the surface. It shot across the forest story, and XXX feet away, there was an volcanic eruption of earth, with hard-packed soil forming jagged shapes that converged like a ending flower. Anything caught within it would surely get held in place, even stabbed if they moved around the wrong way. The displaced earth used to create the spikes produced a pit, just in case anything tried to duck.

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

"What ? Why ?"

"Well we're in the forest. The priming coat is riddled with base holding it together, so it takes a lot of clock time and effort to assemble the soil and form it into those spikes. Also, you're going for fast prey with secure chemical reaction hurrying, so as soon as they sense the approach, they'll motility before it fully activates. I assume your strategy was for Beth to injure it with the pointer, keeping it from moving while you cast your trance ?"

"That's right,"said Beth.

"And then you finish it off with More arrows, right ? It's a good scheme, keeping your space from the enemy to minimize endangerment. However, in this kind of environment and with this target, you'd want to change it up a bit. I suggest using poison arrows, or at least some kind of paralytic agent. That way, even a low-damage hit will slow up it down. I'd also suggest using a larger bow for more penetration.

Mira, do you know any other spells ?"

"I can create a dust cloud and send I. F. Stone flying."

"But nothing close-range ? That'll be a job if there is more than one enemy or they get within striking distance. Mira, I suggest you work on learning a piece for melee fighting, and Beth, get a sword. You also should find another fellow member to join your political party, sorry I couldn't be that someone. They'd have to be able to pin down the enemy in one location for your arrow and magic to be able to hit their mark."

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

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

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

"Sorry, but I can't. I'm really trying to focus on training. I'm indisputable you can find a struggling swordsman who's desperate for a party to connect and would fit right in with you two. Tin and I have to get going. You were first to injure the wolf, so the body 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… matter to in those two ?"Tin asked.

"well, the melodic theme of forming a party is appealing, and their long-range ability would definitely help out. However, I'd prefer to operate away from prying oculus for the meter being. I didn't mother wit any evil spirit 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 study elementary magic a bit."

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

They continued through the woods, hunting for colossus while trying to avoid early venturer. Along with battles, they also stopped to collect herbs. Noah was always playing through the potion recipes in his mind. Then, when noon arrived, they stopped for tiffin by the river. Their food was slightly better than the clobber they ate before reaching Robert Clive, in the common sense that the bread wasn't quite-rock hard and the nitty-gritty actually had feel. It was still disappointing compared to a hot meal. Their water came from the river, first filtered through a natural selection straw that Noah made.

Once they were done eating, Noah pulled out all of the plant they had gathered. He picked three unlike industrial plant out of the atomic pile ; branches of blue strawberry mark, respective feet of a vine with lame leaves, and an orange moss."Of the recipes I saw, this one is the easiest and doesn't require any particularize tools. Even if it doesn't body of work, it will still be good practice session. We just have to grind these up with a ratio of 5:2:7 and mix them together with some water."

They gathered stones from the river to use as makeshift mortar and pestles and went to work. Working side by side, Noah noticed a small 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 ingredients together and poured them into the three potion bottle from the apothecary. They added some fresh water supply and Noah could see the concoction radiance as the potion was formed. Whether or not this potion contained mana or simply sped up the lifelike greening process, it appeared the necessary chemical reaction was taking place.

"trade good, now to test it. I think this will be the thoroughgoing chance to see what my next spell is."It was very slight, but Noah could see Tin's excitement."You should move back. If this secondment spell is anything like my conjuration, you probably won't be in risk, but it's better to be safe."

Tin moved back twenty dollar bill base, and Noah, after taking a oceanic abyss breath, put his deal over his right eye. The effect was instant, his mana being drained twice as fast as his beginning spell, and this time, he could actually palpate something happening to him. His soundbox, it felt weightless, and his arm, they were just moving of their own treaty like jellyfish tentacles. His vision, it was almost blurry, like he was seeing doubles. It felt, of all things, like he had just taken a hit of some high-quality pot.

If his concentration broke for even a bit, he felt like his limbs and question would just float on their own. Noah dropped his hired man and staggered, nearly falling just like the first time 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 fall. He was shifting from slope to side, struggling to remain in control. While this would be a great thing to do while attending a concert or watching a funny movie, it was far from useful in battle.

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

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

"Doing what ?"

"Master, feeling at your hands."

Noah, through great difficulty, raised his palm tree and looked them. He blinked and squinted various times, trying to see through the afterimage floating around them like an aura. Had he touched some bad mushroom cloud and then breathed in the spores ?

‘ No, wait a second…'

These aftersensation, they weren't some blurry silhouette ; they had crystal-clear item. They were like exact copies trying to occupy the Same space. He moved his weapon system around, watching the copies follow the originals. They were head game ! He stopped moving his real arms and tried to impress the copies. He thought about it, he envisioned it happening, but only when he gave up and tried to set up his real arms did the copy obey and fulfill the action. It was only for a secondly before they returned to their original place, but he had gotten them to move.

It took respective minutes of repeated attempt before he figured it out. Halfway between thought process of moving his arms and actually harnessing the physical persuasiveness within them to create that movement, there was a point where he could move the copies. He was soon moving the illusionary arms however he wanted, with Tin watching at a sum loss. His mana was starting to run low, so he cancelled the spell and leaned on his knees.

"Master, what was that ?"

"An magic trick. It appears that my left eye can conceal my tangible consistence, while my right eye can produce a fake. I can control it similar to how I move on my own, but it requires a lot of direction. Hand me a mana potion, will you ?"He downed one of the potions and then lied down on the reason and reactivated the magic spell."ticker this."

Tin could immediately see it on his aspect, the exertion and focus he was putting in, but her attention was immediately drawn elsewhere, as a second Noah seemed to rise from the body of the showtime like two cellphone dividing. For Noah, it almost an out of body experience. The fantasy stood up, every crusade that Noah would give made being performed. It was difficult beyond words, leaving him drenched in stew and gasping for air. Every muscularity involved in standing up had to be acknowledged, from the muscles supporting his head, all the way down to the muscles in his feet as they tried to grip the primer for residue. He had to visualise not just the trend, but the sensation of moving.

The knockoff stepped forward, every movement clunky and affected, like a cheap robot. The dead ringer turned to Tin, who was completely bewildered and even frightened. The clone opened its rima oris. It started out sounding like radio inactive, but Noah managed to speak 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 modus operandi of expanding Noah's mana reserves and going out to hunt, one day inside and one day outside. Everyone in the inn became aware of the pattern, as every early day, from breakfast to lunch, Tin's moan filled the building. It became quite the story around townspeople, 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 fill again summons with the mana potions. The side by side day would be spent gathering herbaceous plant to wee-wee to a greater extent potions and textile to sell, and continue cultivating Noah's combat abilities.

To deplete his mana, Noah experimented with his second gear turn. For the initiatory hebdomad, he focused on perfecting the clone's bm and speech. He tried to get it as pattern looking as possible, having it walk around the room and imitate respective action. Unfortunately, since it was just an illusion, it couldn't actually advert anything or affect its environment, and while he could speak through it, he couldn't see what it saw or take heed what it heard. Unless it was in sight at all times, he was piloting blind. Strangely, Tin said that the clone had the same smell as him, while when he was invisible, his odor was concealed.

He spent the next calendar week learning how to move both his real and fake body at the same prison term. He started out small, firstly with finger movements, then limb motility, then upped it up to having it walk around the elbow 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 hebdomad, he and the clone could take the air simultaneously.

In the tierce week, he added his first spell to the mix, moving the clone around as he performed a task while invisible. The mana expenditure was massive, so much so that the pace of his reserves increasing was slowed, and it became more difficult to tell how much progress he was making. Despite that, they proved to be a golden combining. The dead ringer could act as a gross decoy, while Noah would set on in his inconspicuous form.

His for the first time piece didn't just make believe him invisible, it affected whatever physical object he touched, concealing and also creating illusions to cover any alteration he made, like footmark, while the second could produce a full phase of the moon deception, but of himself, one that had a draw near physical mien. These spells, they were more than than just bending light. It seemed like they were two halves of a unmarried spell.

When he wasn't training, Noah went around Ithiel Town to gather information about the country, magic, and demon. In a little back country small town like this, the results were far from freehanded or even true. He would have to move to a enceinte city to get better-quality data. The Utheric capital would be his best bet, but it was hebdomad of travel and preparations had to made for a head trip like that.

Try as he might, it was hard to remain unnoticed. Rumors about him circulated through the town, with multitude he had never met knowing his name. He would take the air down the street and women would winkle and muck up kisses, even trying to seduce him. Men would smirk and nod in approval as they passed by, a agency of displaying respectfulness. Even the old Lady at the pharmacy would tantalise him. When Tin went out, she'd wear a cap to hide her identity. It wasn't an idealistic place. If he was to be known throughout the small town, he wished it would be for something a little more heroic.

.

.

.

Medicine

.

.

.

The bound rains were dramatic, passionate, the lifeblood of Mother Nature as she fully awoke from her winter slumber and prepared for summer. Yet at the present moment, the fury with which the enlarged drops fell was not appreciated, for they numbed Noah's finger's breadth as he gripped his sword and made him shiver as his clothes became worthless from the damp. It was also difficult to see, splashing against his face and blurring his vision, but he kept his regard focused on his enemies.

He was out in the woodland, Tin having retreated as per his guild. Before him, a leash of bandit, all with weapons raised. Noah was armed with his curt steel, unable to wield his main leaf blade, due to an arrow stuck in his berm. When he was first struck from rear, he had hoped it was simply a hunter's honest mistake, but the bloodthirsty looks on the men's faces told him that he was their real prey. They probably robbed and killed adventurers for a living, and he couldn't imagine their female victims dying quickly.

Should he just ferment invisible and polish off them before they could strike back ? No, there was something he wanted to try, and a human opponent would be the hone trial field of study. He raised his free helping hand towards his look, breaking the stalemate with one of the bandits firing his loaded arrow. Noah deflected it with his shield, the most he could do with his wounded shoulder. He swept his hired man across his eyes as if trying to clear his imaginativeness, activating both of his spells. However, rather than splitting from his illusionary clon, he wore it, syncing his movements with the bandits not even noticing a difference.

One of the archer's cohort, this one armed with a large fight axe, charged towards him. Noah had his clon film a defensive stance, while he pulled away, stepping ahead and stabbing the man through the centre before he could make water his swing. The archer shot another arrow as Noah stepped back into his fantasy, but he again blocked with his shell. Noah, with his movements concealed, drew several diminished knives from his belt and hurled them at the archer. His mana clung to the leaf blade, rendering them invisible 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 cohorts were dead, but he didn't understand how. He pushed his discombobulation aside and charged towards Noah. Noah blocked and parried his attack with his sword, wanting to take his time and bask the fight. He was so employ to fighting monsters, he wanted to reach sure his skills in killing other humans hadn't gone dull, to refamiliarize himself with their unique movements and techniques.

He was allowing the bandit to push him back, though there was little he could do to check it. His opponent was armed with a two-handed steel, so he could redeem more force than Noah could muster with his short blade. He strung the brigand along, using repetitive, easy bm, laying a fake track as to what his future move would be. He made a wide-eyed swing from the face, and the bandit automatically blocked, however, the sword never came, it was only Noah's illusionary arm. His real arm swung from the opposite side of meat, slashing the bandit across the venter.

He staggered back, cursing in pain in the ass and trying to empathize what happened. Noah closed in and the bandit tried to open some blank space with a powerful 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 bandit across the wrist without him even seeing the attack coming. rip poured freely, the man's handwriting now useless. He released a cry of exertion and tried a one-handed swing. The sword sliced through Noah's neck, just as the man had aimed for, but he knew something was haywire when no severed head fell, and what's more, he hadn't felt anything when he made the slash. It was like he had hit nothing but air. He raised his sword to block a swing from Noah, but in realism, it was a stab, with Noah's sword piercing his breast. Noah confirmed all three dying and then called out to Tin.

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

"I'm afraid it'll hurt."

"I can handle it."

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

"Thanks."

Noah once more checked the soundbox, but their faces didn't match any wanted posting, meaning there was no bounty that he could collect with their heads. Tin went to influence, stripping the bodies of everything utile. They were so used to this act that he rarely needed to afford her orders.

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

"I agree,"Tin said.

They set off spine towards the townsfolk, fantasizing of removing their soaked clothes and warming themselves beside a flak. They had plenty to comport, and the rain made everything heavier, with the added frigidness sapping their military posture. By the clock time they reached the inn, even Noah was on his final stage legs, and felt rickety. The sun hadn't fully set yet, but the cloud were so compact that it was almost pitch black out.

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

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

"We're going to stay in our room tonight. Can you have person bring our meals up to us, along with extra firewood ?"

"Sure matter, dearie."

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

"passkey, is something wrong ?"

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

She lent him her shoulder and they made their way up to their room. Before they even closed the door, Noah dumped his pack and weapons and began pulling off his dress. Tin locked the doorway and started a fire in the hearth. Once free of his wet clothes, Noah collapsed on the bed. The mattress was chunky straw, the weather sheet were rough like emery paper, and the cover smelled like wet dog no matter how many times it was cleaned, but Noah was grateful for them.

As the fervour started to burn and fill the room with unhorse and warmth, there was a knock on the doorway. Two fille de chambre stood outside, the boniface's girl, though they were younger than Tin. One of them held two trays of food, and the other held an exceptionally bombastic bundle of firewood. Noah hid himself beneath the blanket and Tin answered. As Noah had taught her, she kept the threshold open just enough to take the food and firewood, and didn't allow them inside.

Tin brought him his repast and felt his os frontale."master copy, you're burning up."

"I'll be okay. Take off your clothes and warm yourself by the fire before you end up like me."

He watched her undress and the two of them sat on the bed, wrapped in mantle as they ate their dinner party. It was hot stew, the gross quilt food. Unfortunately, Noah was starting to bump it difficult to swallow up. By the time he finished, his breathing was becoming labored and his heart was beating irregularly. Noah was hoping it was just a frigid, but this was starting to feel much more acute and was coming on too quickly. Perhaps a disease aborigine to this human race ?

Tin could see his condition decline in quality."master, you should get some sleep."

She took his tray and gently pushed him onto his backbone. Truth be told, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he lost the strength to move. 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 wood to the fire and slither under the cover. Her au naturel physical structure met his and she curled up against him.

Noah closed his eyes, but while sleep was nimble to issue forth, it was unpleasant. nightmare assailed him, a burning heat ravaging him both physically and mentally. He remembered tossing and turning throughout the Night, when the pain in his body outweighed his fatigue. All of his muscles ached and spasmed almost round-the-clock, his stomach felt like it was good of oil, and he couldn't head for the hills his fever.

He finally awoke the side by side morning to the sight of pelting pelting the window. His oral cavity was as dry as ashes and he felt like he was going to die of hunger, just like he had a few sentence in the past times. The rain, it had gotten him into this mess, but now he so desperately wanted it. He wanted to go out and vent the estrus 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 check like clay."Tin,"he said again, putting all of his strength into it.

"Master ?"

He saw her in his peripheral visual modality, but he didn't have the military posture to turn to her.

"Water."It was all he could say.

She brought him a cup of pee, and in his impatience, he tried to overstretch it from her hands, if only to get it to his mouth a nanosecond Sooner. His ill-chosen reach was ignored and she helped him turn on his book binding so that he could drink. It was some of the best piddle he had ever tasted, and he felt some life history return to him, if only a little.

"More."

She brought over the twirler to fill again the cup, but he simply snatched it and drank the unit thing.

"How do you feel ?"

"Everything hurts, I feel like I'm on ardor. I think I'm gon na … gon na …"He covered his mouth and frantically pointed to the bedchamber pot in the corner of the room. He had detested the presence of such an unsanitary thing since he first arrived at this inn, but finally, he was thankful to have it. Tin brought the pot over and he vomited everything he drank, plus conclusion dark's dinner. He fell back on the bed, with his stomach feeling even worse. 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 honk sucks ass."

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

"No. Me being sick leaves us vulnerable, and the more people know about it, the greater the danger. If I can't fight, we're slowly target. If I'm still in this condition by tomorrow, then you can get help."

"What can I do ?"

There were plant that could serve with frigidness and flu symptoms, but his mind was too foggy to remember them."pine tree phonograph needle tea, like I made by the river, and see if someone in the kitchen will make me some hot oatmeal."

Tin was hesitant, not wanting to leave his face, but she obeyed. With her gone, Noah tried to hang back to slumber, but could only get a blanch impersonation that was nowhere near as restful. For Noah, it felt like his mind was being fed on by ants. He spent the rest of the day in bed, passing in and out of knowingness. Tin remained with him whenever possible. She used dampness tabloid to keep his fever in arrest, and hung a kettle over the fire, making tea for him whenever he asked, though his thirst was unquenchable.

Noon came around, and Noah sat up to eat his luncheon, though it was a bowlful of soup. Normally, people ate whatever the firm special was at the time, but by paying supererogatory, client of the inn could order particular food, at to the lowest degree, within reason. The broth went down easy, but the meat and vegetables felt like cacti rolling down his pharynx. As he ate, Tin helped pass over the perspiration from his body. His bit on the bed would need some time to dry out. When he had finished feeding, he simply sat with his header in his hands, taking deep breaths and trying to ignore the throbbing pain.

Tin leaned against his binding."Please, what can I do to help ?"

"You're doing plenty for me already."

"There must be Sir Thomas More that I can do."

"Well it hurts me to say this, but I'll call for your avail using that sleeping accommodation pot."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"trio days. After that, you're in the clear."She got to her metrical foot 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 room and locked the room access behind her.

"It would be better for her to just hold us out,"said Noah,"rather than simply set apart us and take chances everyone. She must like us a bit, or at least want to protect her reputation. I told you to hold back a day before calling her."

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

"Ah, withdrawn, my excuse. The bulge under the floorboards, can you get it for me, delight ?"

Tin lifted a escaped floor board, revealing a tooth decay underneath, in which a leather pouch 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 vigour. If he ever needed to lead off an exigency fire, that lithium assault and battery could come in W. C. Handy. Luckily, he had his earbuds with him, so he could at least enjoy one piece of his old life. Tin stared at the twist, possessed by curiosity. She had only seen it once or twice, the metallic display case, the luminance 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 oneself him get better.

He set his playlist to random and lay back down, hoping that the medicine would distract him. He drifted once more into the rift between being asleep and awake, cursed with his feverishness even in his dreaming. During his waking moments, he was either toast water or throwing up. The only reason why nature wasn't calling was because he was sweating so profusely. The music didn't distract him as he had hoped, so much as permeate his unconscious mind. One song in particular came up,"House of the Rising Sun ”, and as that scuttle guitar strung out, a memory board was pulled from the depths of his mind, another time he had heard that call.

It was before break of day, he had been driving out in the Nevada desert, out of the good deal of Vegas. Noah was in his thirty-something at the time, lamenting all the debris the Cadillac was kicking up, so much of it sticking to the exterior. He'd have to pick it up later, as his employers wouldn't be happy if he returned the caller car in a shameful condition. The easterly swarm were pinkening as he pulled to a stop at the edge of a ravine.

He got out of the car and circled back to the automobile trunk, from which he removed a man with hold fast carpus and a bag over his school principal. He stumbled on his fundament, and Noah pulled him to the sharpness of the ravine and removed the bag over his side. The man's expression was streaked with dried ancestry, some of which also stained his apparel shirt. He was perhaps in his 1950s, a senior in the company.

"You fucking retard,"he spat. Noah ignored him and turned up the radio so he could hear the sleep of the birdcall. The exterior of the car was an antique 70's manakin, worth its system of weights 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 life and whoever threw me under the bus. You really think Alejandro can study power ? Once this gets out, the streets will turn bloodbaths and your head word will end up stuck on a pike."

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

"You're leave to take off a war just because it'll be fun ?"

"Whatever happens is the fault of whoever hired me. That doesn't mean I don't like it, though. It's the little things that matter. You need to enjoy the particular slight talent like this."He flicked his gun towards the car, where the song was still playing."I once heard someone say that this is the expert song for driving with soul in the trunk of your car. It is certainly a delectable coincidence."

"The irony of your ilk : people like you think you'll do great in our line of work because you have no ethics, no hesitation, but it gets you killed so quickly. It's the people who actually believe in something that make it, that have a line they never cross, no matter how blinking their hands get."

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

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

"Mercy. I'm letting you enjoy the sunrise, after all."

The sun broke unloose of the horizon, and as its light was soaked up by the land, a gunfire rang out across the desert.

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

Once Noah had fallen asleep, Tin sat beside him and freshened the damp 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 uncommon to add up to her in those vulnerable times. It pained her to be so useless, to not know how to help. Most of everything she had done was just obeying his instructions.

As she wiped away his travail, her optic fell to his exposed manhood, and lust fluttered through her, a feeling that Noah had introduced her to. Their number had been disturbed by this sickness, as yesterday was the day she was supposed to help him civilize his mana. She cherished those day, when she could finally help him in the way she knew secure, when she got to know euphoria.

charwoman would always flock to her victor, flirting with him, trying to invite themselves into one of his"workouts ”. It terrified her, that she might be discarded for person else, having lost her note value. When she and Noah met those female adventurers, 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 salt from his elbow grease. She did it often when he slept, compelled by her lust but also hoping that it was helping him feel good, each sexual climax forming a shield against the pain of his febricity. It was something she could do for him. If Noah was aware of it, he wasn't saying anything.

As her top dog bobbed up and down over his lap, Noah was sinking farther and farther into his judgment, while being pursued by the medicine from his headphone. Once more, a lone guitar was playing, and what short awareness his mind still had tried to remember what it was from. Ah, the lyrics, yeah, this was pinko Floyd,"compliments You Were Here ”. It was his wife's favorite, one of his past times wives, that is. He played it at their wedding and her funeral. He could commend the gay sky overhead when they cut the bar, and the somber clouds that matched the color of her jewel casket as it was lowered into the earth. He remembered the food served at both occasions. But what was her name ? They danced to this song, but he couldn't recall her human face. She loved the golden oldie, always playing them while she worked in the garden. Didn't they have a son together ? No, that was someone else.

Noah's creative thinker continued to slip through time, each birdcall conjuring up a memory. He remembered studying at MIT while listening to Two Steps From Hell. He remembered the stereoscopic picture blaring Metallica when his convoy was blown up in Syrian Arab Republic. He remembered Mozart playing in the hospital as he died from pancreatic cancer. He wasn't aware of the mutterings escaping his lips, recalling conversations from across time and space.

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

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

A knocking on the door shocked Noah from his slumber, and he would have sat up, if not for the pounding pain in all of his brawniness. 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 moan. hold off a second gear, he felt better. He felt like he just fuck off the shit beaten out of him for three hours straight, but he could finally move around. His fever had lessened and the soreness was due to the form it had put on his body.

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

He turned to her, seeing a red human face, moist with sweat. The gentle external respiration he had listened to live on night was now an anguished trouser."prick. Tin can you get a line me ?"

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

"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 washy that he almost didn't need to.

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

"It's so hot in here. Don't vexation, I'll washout away your sweat. I just need to…"She trailed off and tried to tramp out of bed, and Noah had to snaffle her before she could fall to the floor.

"Tin, can you hear me ? How many fingerbreadth am I holding up ?"

He showed her his manus, but she just looked at it with glazed over eyes."Are we going to go Richard Morris Hunt monsters today ?"

‘ shite, it's hitting her even grueling than it hit me. She's already delirious.'“ No, we're staying here. Everything is fine, 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 human knee, gasping for air. He was on the fixing, but he was still in a shitty situation. He crawled over to his backpack and pulled out a wellness 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 pain sensation racking his body subsided. His forcefulness and stamen were still close to zero, but at least the soreness was gone.

The first thing he needed to do was get her pyrexia down before she suffered serious equipment casualty. side by side to the bed was the wash basin, filled with tatter. Just as Tin had done when he was sick, he draped them across her soundbox.

"schoolmaster, your fever,"she mumbled. She began trying to put the sheet on him instead, and he had to repeatedly stop her and pin down her arms.

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

Noah got dressed and limped over to the door. Outside were two solid food trays and a twirler of fresh water supply. He brought them in, and having already experienced the hurting of this disease, he brought the hurler over to Tin, rather than just a cupful. He lifted her head word and poured the water between her pale sass. She released sighs of easing between each swig, and every meter he thought she was done, she'd leaning her head forward, as if trying to grab it like a dog not wanting to surrender its toy.

He filled up the tea kettle and hung it over the hearth, with a new ardour soon blooming beneath it. When he was chuck, he hated the flack, the heat it gave off. It was the only fourth dimension he was grateful for the draftiness of the room, all the picayune gob for unused air to drop off in, but it was needed. As he waited for the kettledrum to moil, he retrieved Tin's breakfast and once more lifted her head. It was warmly porridge, probably made with him in nous, but now perfect for Tin.

"prison term for breakfast, Tin. Can you open your mouth for me ?"He brought a spoonful to her rima oris, but as soon as she smelled it, she instinctively turned away, whimpering."I know your throat and stomach hurt right now, but you need to eat. You need all the food 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 make love what would help Tin's chances with this sickness.

"Tin, listen to me. I'm going to go out and get something that will help you feel better. I'll be back soon, and until I get back, I want you to stay in bed. Can you iterate that back to me ?"

"No… schoolmaster should go out errands to me."Once more, she tried to sit up and he pushed her back down.

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

"I can do it ! Please let me do it !"She was crying, trying to break away his compass. He held her against him, waiting for her poor flailing to barricade. She soon went limp and he laid her back down.

"Listen, I club you to continue in this bed, do you understand ? I ORDER you to remain in this bed !"She gazed at him with swimming optic and nodded."Good, now go back to slumber. I'll be back before you wake up."

He got up and took a oceanic abyss breath, then cast his invisibility. The innkeeper would give him a hard meter if she saw him outside of his room, might even complain him out. While his magic was ideal, his body was so weak that his mana might not last long. He left the room and locked it behind him. The hallway outside was empty, but he could get word plenty of people in the bar. Getting down the stairs was difficult, as his head was sent spinning with each step. No one noticed his presence, and he made it through the breakfast crowd and outside. It felt nil short of euphoric to respire fresh air and soak in the sun.

A bit of his speciality had returned, so he released his piece and made his way across Town to the druggist. interior, the old adult female watched as he looked through a menu of her ware, ***********ing plants that helped with everything from fevers to discompose stomach.

"I'm guessing that girl of yours is under the weather, and you're not looking very goodish yourself."

"It's been a boisterous few days."

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

Tin was on the base when he returned to their room at the inn. The doorway actually struck her nous when he opened it.

"Goddammit, I told you to last out in bed."He put down the bag of herbaceous plant and rolled her onto her backrest."Tin, wake up."

"I'm sorry, master key, I'll tend to the cavalry in just a moment."

She was completely out of it. He scooped her up and carried her to the bed. He needed to make up some music for her, but he couldn't do it while she was crawling around like this. He took the blanket and tore off a long strip, then used it to tie her wrist joint to the bedframe. Restraining her was not an ideal solution, but at to the lowest degree the framework wouldn't leave a mark.

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

"Jesus 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 sentence since he first started making his own potions, he had bought a punk compounding kit, including a mortar and muller. He wasn't a skilled herb doctor like the pill pusher, but about of the plant in this humanity were just like those he knew from his by lives, and had built up plenitude of survival cognition. hoi polloi easily faded from his retention, but knowledge and technical acquirement were held onto. The pursuit of education was one of the few use he chose to continue in every life-time, as it was the closest he could get to finding meaning in the multiverse.

As he toiled, Tin continued to croak in her eternal rest, occasionally crying. Nothing Noah heard could be called pleasant. He eventually stopped to control on her, see if he could shake 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."No, please stop ! It hurts ! Mama, it hurts ! Make him stop !"

"Tin, snap out of it !"

The last thing he needed was someone overhearing this and misunderstanding. He covered her mouth, waiting for the nightmare to end. Perhaps he should have picked up something to sedate her. Would he bear to completely bind and gag her to keep her still and quiesce ? That would likely advertise her further into the delusion, and with this disease ransacking through her body, the stress might pop her. How could he simmer down her down ?

He left her to retrieve a cup of urine and splashed it on her face. That seemed to throw off her awake."Huh ? Master ?"

"Tin, say my name."

"N-Noah."

"trade good, you're back. How do you finger ?"

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

"I'm making medical specialty to help oneself you feel better, but there is something else I want to try."He retrieved his telephone set and put the earbuds in her pinna. He had a play list of loose listening songs, mostly instrumental and soundtracks. He ***********ed one,"Vide Cor Meum ”, one of his front-runner. It was gentle, set at a low volume, but the sound of the strings and voice, right in her ears, made Tin monster out.

"What is this ? What is this ? !"she exclaimed in daze. Her number one inherent aptitude was to commit out the earbuds, as if swatting a mosquito when hearing its buzzing, but Noah stopped her.

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

"medicine ?"

She thought back, trying to remember while her judgment was still hazy. Her fellow slaves, they used to have oeuvre Song when they toiled in the field of view, sort of a mean value of expressing empathy and solidarity, that they all shared the same pain in the ass. She knew a boy who used to recreate the champagne flute, though not very well, and once, she heard the wife of one of her early masters playing a mouth organ from within her planetary house. They could be called euphony, but they all paled in comparability to what she was listening to now.

It was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. In her someone, a hungriness was quenched that she had never noticed before, and she felt as though a summertime gentle wind was rolling through her body, sending shudder of seventh heaven up her prickle that made her forget her pyrexia. It left Tin stunned, her centre wide as dinner photographic plate with her mouth hanging receptive. She looked at Noah, seeing a rarified 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 serve reduce her symptoms. For the next three day, Noah looked after Tin, doing all the things for her that she had done for him. Thanks to the medicine, he was able-bodied to prevent her from hallucinating, though she still had nightmares from her lifetime of misuse. When that happened, Noah would put the earbuds in her ears and play a birdsong for her, and she would immediately patch up, as if hypnotized.

For Noah, hearing medicine had flooded his psyche with memories, making him relive scenes of his past lives when he heard those call, but for Tin, it was the opposite word. Having lived a life without euphony, the notes and spokesperson filled every facet of her mind, forcing everything else out, every bad cerebration and computer storage. When she was awake, she'd listen while watching Noah realise her music or drill his trick, and when Noah looked at her, there would always be a smile on her boldness.

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

It had been a week since Noah fell ill, and he and Tin were going for a walk around the small town. His lastingness had returned, but she was still weak, and hopefully some freshly air and exercise would help her spirit better. They had been cooped up in that elbow room for so long, and the beautiful weather was just what they needed. Normally, Tin would walk behind Noah, as a proper slave, but today, she was bold, hanging onto his arm. She claimed it to be to help her walk, that she was weak and needed to slant on him, but the smile on her grimace told of her knavery. Noah allowed it, as she had taken such good forethought of him when he was regorge and it was his defect she fell ill after him. He certainly owed her.

What bothered him, though, were the aspect they were getting. It had been a week since she had last"helped him"with his legerdemain training, but the two of them were still a bit of a celebrity couple, so when they saw the way Tin held onto Noah, they all grinned like they had just heard a dirty antic. There was a saying going around, a prank, that even those who had never met Tin had heard her voice.

"master copy, when I was sick, I'm sorry for misbehaving."

"Huh ? Where's this coming from ?"

"I just… hope you didn't hear me say anything that would get to you think any to a lesser extent of me. I'm surely I talked in my sleep."

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

Tin opened her mouth and stopped. The things she had heard her professional say when he was hallucinating, both with child and terrible things, many of which she couldn't understand, such as when he started speaking early languages or reciting lines from textbooks.

"No, other than cursing."

"That sounds about right."

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

They climbed up a J. J. 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 simply thing I know. I have nothing to compare it to."

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

"Where was that ?"

Noah picked the name of a townspeople from one of the function."Nellow."Truth be told, it was multiple land, in every timeline.

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

"Yes."

Tin looked at him, the man who she called her overlord. She knew when he lied. She saw him do it to everyone he talked to, especially her. There weren't any William Tell for her to read, he never stumbled or hesitated, and she had seen it work meter and time again, but there was something about his heart, a hollowness she thought she saw. She had tried asking about his past, but his regard was always empty, even when he spoke with a smile. He never asked her about her own past times, but it was naught she wasn't used to. She had grown up being treated as an object, both a instrument and a toy. Intimate conversation was not something a slave should expect from their passkey, but she had never had a master that made her feel this way, that was so variety to her.

"M-master…"she stammered.

He turned to her, trying to remember the last time he heard her talking so nervously."Yes ?"

"Please, forgive my impudence, but I know you're lying to me. I beg you, order me where you came from, the things you've done, anything. I only wish to know to a greater extent about you."

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

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

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

"If you refuse to state the verity, I can live with that. I can subsist with lies, as long as they come from you. All I want is something I can paint in my mind, a aspect that I can see you in."

Noah looked up at the sky."I grew up near the coast, and my father had a boat. He wasn't a fisherman or merchant, rather, it was a pursuit. In the summer, when the weather was thoroughly, my family would go out on the urine and go fishing, simply for the use of it. We'd pinch mackerel and try to use them as bait to catch up with big Roccus saxatilis, but it never worked out. One prison term, we brought our dog with us, and I remember finding a grape-sized tick on his eyebrow and putting it on my hook, seeing if I would grab anything. You wouldn't believe how brightly it is out on the water."

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

So Noah regaled her, telling her what it was like to grow up being pitiable, what it like to arise up being rich. He recalled fond memories of his siblings and holidays as an only tyke. He told her of how his parents loved and supported him, then how they screamed and beat him. He described amazing machines and the engineering of the modern man, and the combat for survival of the fittest in the wake of the Apocalypse.

Tin listened without saying a thing, never questioning his contradiction in terms, 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 other on a beautiful day. summer was upon them, so the mornings had lost much of their tingle, though everyone paid for it in sweat later in the day. Unlike before, when they roamed aimlessly through the woods to hunt monsters, they had a specific location in mind. Noah had heard rumors of an abandoned mine that was taken over by goblins. A hive, a nest, a settlement, whatever it could be called, it spelled trouble for the village. hobgoblin ate and bred like so-and-so, so if they managed to find a good place to dig in, they could bolster their numbers in very little metre. They had claimed the area several times before and had to be flushed out, and while try had been made to seal or destroy the mine, the goblins always found a way back in.

They were following one of the mapping Noah had bought, with several pieces of advice written down that he had received from early explorer. It would take a day to make the mine, so they exercised chasteness and avoided fighting monsters whenever potential. Hopefully this mine would be a great source of revenue in clean arm, meaning it would be best to travel light and not assemble along the way.

They arrived at the mine early in the morn of the follow day. Finding a safe shoes to set up camp had been difficult, for this was the territory where the goblins roamed. The mine was carved into the base of one of the small mountains. At one time, it might ingest been a fairly the right way mental process. There were batch of signs of the edifice that would have got stood around it, now reduced to piles of kindling. There had once been a wooden hovel built around the entering, sort of like an airlock, perhaps to keep the rainfall out some time ago, but it was just a rickety skeleton now. Many of the materials and abandoned equipment were harvested to construct artillery and barriers for use against intruders, with a handful of goblin keeping a changeless watch.

Noah and Tin were hiding nearby, scouting the entranceway."You wait here and I'll take up out the guards. 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 total. One was on the roof of the shack erected around the entrance, perched like an owl with a bow in hand. Two Sir Thomas More were sitting on the wooden wall at the perimeter of the camp. The remaining four were at the entrance, though they were preoccupied with a game of die.

Noah went for the one no one would find, the sniper above. He approached the ingress without concern, invisible and inaudible to the hobgoblin keeping guard, but that would change. The only way to the sniper was to go up up onto the cap of the shack, but it was so endure and delicate, it looked like it couldn't support more than the weightiness of one hobgoblin. However, it was Worth taking the danger. He reached the side of the shed and began the climb, using the mossy cliffside as a secondary ravel to facilitate minimize the free weight he put on the old wooden boards.

He was careful with every placement of his hired man and human foot, so as to disturb as footling as possible. His illusion would conceal the marks he made, but only within a certain range. He had experimented with Tin's assistance, finding that footprint would be revealed after ten steps, so he had to remain within that range to keep them within his illusion. Besides, if he ended up ripping a board right out of the paries, his illusion wouldn't be able to hold in it. It could conceal tracing of his activity, but not replicate target. The mount was difficult. The wood of the shack had frayed over the years and riddled his hands with splinter, while the hard clay on the drop-off crumbled and made it difficult to get a substantial hold. Regardless, he managed to go up up onto the roof.

The roof itself was like flimsy ice, and if he ended up breaking through or snapping any of the shaft of light, the hob would surely feel it, even if he couldn't hear it. Noah pulled a rock out of the cliff and threw it into the leafage in the aloofness. The hob perked its head at the stochasticity, and in that instant, Noah closed in and stabbed it in the rachis with his inadequate sword. It died before it could even sound its annoyance.

Noah left it sitting there and climbed off the hut, then snuck over to the two hobgoblin sitting away from the entrance. They looked bored as can be, struggling to remain awake. Noah approached the beginning one, leaning against one of the wooden walls. He dispatched it with his tongue, striking the Base of the mind shank. The combat injury was little and the hob simply went hobble, never feeling a thing. To its champion, it would look like it had simply dozed off. Noah slew the other hob the Sami way, without creating any noise or flutter.

Finally, he approached the entrance, where the four were still gambling. He stood over them, the sun passing through him perfectly and its shaft illuminating their game. He ***********ed his longsword for this, even doing a few practice golf stroke to figure out the range and force 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 enchantment, then waved Tin over.

As he stood safety device, she searched the bodies, and for each one, cut off their redress ear. Most lusus naturae had some useful body part that could be sold, like their hides for clothing or their sum as food, but aside from collectors of grotesquerie like skulls and early matter to put on display, cypher about the goblin was vendable. However, since they were such a nuisance, their specie had an ongoing bounty. The local anesthetic magnate would pay adventurers for every goblin they killed, and their ripe ears were the validation. The goblins also sometimes carried valuables, such as artillery, standard candle, and even coins. Tin searched them all, and whatever goods she collected went into her backpack.

"Ready to go in ?"Noah asked.

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

From her camp, she drew a lantern and lit it. Noah would lead, but she would provide the light. This meant that he couldn't simply disappear and leave her at a secure aloofness while he picked off the hobgoblin one by one. He needed her right wing beside him so that he could see what he was doing, and would sustain licking the goblins drawn to the light.

They entered the mine, and were immediately assailed by the malodour. This was the inaugural time Noah or Tin had ever seen a goblin nuzzle, so the smell was new to them. It reeked of sewerage and rotting essence, much of the latter probably human.

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

They delved into the mountain with Tin lighting Noah's way. Everywhere, there were the remains of animals that the goblins had eaten, picked down to the bone. In a way, the goblins provided a valuable help to the ecosystem. Because monsters and beast spawned both organically and through trick circles, the landscape should possess been buried under all of their corpses. Instead, the scavenging beasts would get their finds to their den, continuously sweeping the forest clean.

They soon came upon the first branch bedroom, just like in an formicary. It was small, about the size of it of an norm bedroom. Inside, several hobgoblin were sleeping atop a mountain of pelt. well-nigh of them were female or younglings. It wasn't proper mutant to kill such prey while they slept, but this was an liquidation job, so things like accolade held no meaning.

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

She did as ordered, a doleful look on her font as she averted her eye while keeping the light of the lantern focused into the chamber. Noah drew his short blade and began stabbing the monsters in their nap. Each clip, he'd go straight for the head, so that they would die without making a strait. He was truelove, methodical, taking them out one by one with none of his dupe even suspecting a thing. It was unnervingly easy, and when he was done, he harvested their ears.

"Master !"

Noah heard it with a grotesque shrieking. He ran back out into the burrow as a hobgoblin charged from deep within, armed with a wooden lance. Noah pushed Tin out of the way of its first-class honours degree thrust, then sliced off the top of its point with a strike to the tabernacle. More must make heard its cry, because another two hob came running at them.

The initiative that tried to come on swung at Noah with a magnanimous sticker. He stepped out of its scope and kicked the goblin in the chest, nearly sending it flying. The second blocked the swing of his sword with a wooden club, but he forced it against the rampart and drove his knife into its chest. Leaving it to die, he returned to the first, struggling to breathe, and ended its life with his sword.

"Master,"Tin said, handing him a weaken rag. He used it to wipe the line off his work force while she looted the corpses.

They moved further on down into the tunnel, finding it expand into a larger bedchamber and fork out. There was still plentitude of excavation equipment, but much of it was being used to hang nutrient from. The consistency of both mankind and animals had been skinned and were being cooked over bonfires. The goblins were jumping around and squealing in delight as the olfactory modality of their fete wafted through the mine. Human flesh cooked over a fire, it was a smell that took Noah back to some gloomy timelines.

Tin gasped in horror at the stack and one of the hob spotted them and squealed something in their beastly language. The dozen or so goblin in the chamber turned their tending to Noah and Tin and began to draw close, armed with the leaf blade used for butchering their food. They chanted the same squeal, probably something along the melody of"more heart and soul !"

"Tin, stand back."

He summoned his dead ringer and sent it running to the decently side as if to flank them. The hobgoblin paid no attention to the fact that their prey seemingly just split into two, and were drawn to the movement of the clone. With that opening, Noah attacked from their exposed face with his longsword and beheaded three of the animate being. The hob, sensing the deaths of their familiar, turned their attending back to Noah and swarmed in. He kept them at bay with wide swing music, while leaving his left side open to taunt them. One by one, they tried to snipe from the apparent blind spot, but he would dispatch them before they could actually reach him. Any that got in close enough to snipe found their arm blocked by Noah's shield, and then his brand would slash at them from below and split their stomachs open.

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

Noah cast both of his spells, and while he had his knockoff remain where he was and make believe to be standing his ground. He snuck past the goblins and attacked from behind. He slaughtered three before the remainders noticed, but as they couldn't see him, they could do nothing but shrieking in confusedness. They made it too easy for Noah to finish them off. Even though the sleeping room had gone calm, he waited several moments before releasing his spells.

"All clear."

Tin went to work, gathering up valuables. The brand might be worth something to the blacksmith, but they'd have to wash the dried blood off them first. As Tin searched the goblin stiff, Noah looked around at the other bodies being stored here. There were plenty of freshly killed humans and creature that were waiting to be cooked, so it was possible that their pouch hadn't been picked yet. Noah dug through the pile of bodies, ignoring their reek, but one of them caught his attending.

It was a boy, a bit untested than him, and unlike the others, his limbs were bound. He wasn't cold like the others. Noah checked his neck opening, and while it was weak, he found a steady pulse. Wait a second, he had seen him before. Noah had gotten to know mountain of hoi polloi around the town in the past month, and learned to recognize others. He often saw this boy with Beth and Mira, carrying a sword and dressed as an adventurer. 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 wellness potion from his air hole and poured it down the boy's throat. As it took effect, Noah examined him. His clothes were good character, but still the kind used by outdoorsmen. He had a decent physique, showing signs of preparation and hard oeuvre, but while there were callus on his hands, there were healing bulla from wielding a blade. He was probably a farmer, but came from money.

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

"Where am I ?"

"You're in a hobgoblin den. I'm guessing they must feature struck you in the head, giving you a tight 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 James Bond and helped him to his substructure. For a moment, he seemed back in good condition, but as he looked around, he began to panic and hyperventilate, and Noah had to catch him before he could pass back down. Either this was entirely new to him, or he was realizing how close he was to the most gruesome of deaths.

"Calm down, everything is alright. I'm Noah and this is my subordinate, Tin."

"Did… did my father send you ? Are you here to deliver me ?"

"Your forefather ? No, we're just here to pour down goblins and steal their booty. How did they bewitch you ?"

The boy seemed to be able to stand unsloped on his own, so Noah let him go, though he was struggling to remember."I… was being trained in hunting by a local anaesthetic adventurer that my father hired. I had just shot a Sus scrofa with my bow… then I felt a massive pain in the rear of my top dog and blacked out."

"Your father, is he a noble ?"

"Yes, Ivan Fault. The baron in charge of the town. I'm swearword mistake, the adjacent head."

"Well, 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 good turn them, see ?"Noah pointed to the consistency of his dupe."I'm confident in my abilities. Besides, it took a lot of effort to get here, so we're not leaving until our pocket are filled with delicacy and we can barely take the air. Tell me, do you take in any endowment ? Can you use magic or any weapon ?"

"I… I have some acquirement with a sword."

"Some, huh ? So best example scenario, I can require you to hold off a hob that might pilfer up on us from behind."Noah took off his knapsack and forced it into Oath's hands."Otherwise, you're my new pack mule."

"You can't be serious !"

"You have to pay off the potion I used on you, and consider it a down payment for us getting you back to town. There is food and water in the bag, you can eat while you walk. Tin, give me a sword."She handed him a chipped hand-and-a-half brand, taken from one of the goblin, and he gave it to expletive."And I'm renting this to you, unless you would favor to go unarmed. So, what do you say ? Either do some oeuvre, or I can knock you out, steal your clothes, and deal them to cover the cost of that potion. Which is it going to be ?"

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

"smart choice."

The three proceeded deeper into the mine with Noah taking point. Every few minutes, hobgoblin would attack, desperate to guard their base. Noah dispatched each of them with a flurry of diagonal and stab, leaving Tin to collect the goodness. cuss was understandably nervous, and it left him ineffective to even have-to doe with the slain gargoyles, so Tin ended up doing most of the body of work and just putting the breakthrough in his bag. At least he wasn't complaining. Noah eventually tasked him with collecting goods found in the tunnel, while Tin would stay 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 lusus naturae recently. I'm still not used to it. But this is incredible. I've never seen someone kill so many goblins singlehandedly."

"Well I can see how they might be able to get the drib on someone if they ambush with ranking number, but when you face them head on, it's like fighting a group of ugly, ferine children. Oh, speaking of which, I see another breeder."

The raft before them was nauseating, as what appeared to be a big super acid pig was nursing a litter of pint-sized little gremlins. While the male hob went out into the forest to garner, the females would run to the younglings. Despite being less than half a groundwork tall as newborns, they would reach full-size in just six months, hence their voracious appetites. Noah dispatched the breeder and stomped out the younglings, much to Oath's horror.

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

"They wouldn't have been babies very long. In just a few calendar month, they would be roaming the forest, killing whoever crossed their track and dragging them back here to be devoured. You and Tin are carrying clique full of the self-command of their victim. I'm not judging them for doing as nature commands them to, I'm simply dealing with a threat before it can get a threat."A thunderous holler made the three teens cover their pinna and wince."What the hell was that ?"

"A hob,"said oath,"otherwise known as a goblin chief. They're a rare breed. I hear that only one out of ten thousand goblins can originate to become a bugbear. They're often bigger, smarter, and stronger than a fixture hob and can even get wind illusion. We need to get out of here, right now ! It's heard the deaths of the younglings and is coming for revenge !"

"perfective. He's probably hoarding the best hooey. Let's go."

"This is insane ! The unconstipated hob may be weak, but goblin are stronger than humankind in every way !"

"Your consequence are duly noted. I'm going after that chief, and if you run, you'd better hope that he kills me. Let's go."

cuss turned to Tin, hoping that she might utter up, but her aspect was completely blank, as if she was daydreaming."You can bank my Master. He is strong and skilled."

Noah set off towards the source of the racket, but they need not journey far, as their foe came to greet them from the astuteness of the lot. It stood over six feet improbable with a far Sir Thomas More muscular form than the lower goblins possessed. Like them, it wore a loincloth, but it was also garbed in part of stolen armor, including a metallic element helmet. Looking over a duad of boar-like ivory protruding from his mouth, he glared at the intruders with indefinable hatred.

"You will tolerate for the deaths of my kin !"he snarled.

"Huh, so it really is smarter. Oath, you remember your job, right ? If any early hob come, you have to grapple with them."

He didn't bother waiting for a reply and stepped forward with his longsword in hand. The tribal chief was armed with the same type of blade, though with a large blade. On the field, it would likely be used against cavalry, killing both rider and their sawhorse with one slice. The chief thundered towards him with his sword raised high. His hurrying was certainly faster than a human's, and with the military 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 golf stroke towards the hobgoblin's head. It raised its hand, blocking with a metal arm precaution, then forced him back.

It immediately closed the distance to score the same sideways swing Noah had, and with the sword's greater length, he didn't have the time or room to get out of the way. Instead, Noah rushed towards the sword to block up it with his own. As the goblin straightened his arms, his swing would get more knock-down, so he had to step in at the earliest potential moment.

Sparks flew off their vane as Noah's sword halted the hobgoblin's. It released one hand from the hilt of its sword, using what lilliputian momentum it had left to swing at Noah. He avoided its backhand stroke by a hair's largeness and countered with a clout to the Robert Adam's apple. It staggered back, wheezing in pain, but without dropping its defense. Its pain tolerance was remarkable.

Noah gave it no time to recoup and went on the offensive, slashing and stabbing at the goblin while it did its best to hinder. In second, it had regained its dual-hand grip and was able to fend Noah off. It raised its sword for another cleave, but Noah's eyes caught a distinct glow along the blade.

"It's using thaumaturgy ! You have to skirt !"cuss shouted.

Noah's inherent aptitude had already told him the Sami affair, but while he was able to get his body out the way, his brand met the goblin's blade frontal and snapped. The beast's weapon buried itself in the stone ground, shaking the integral cavern, and Noah rolled away to avoid any barehanded onset like before. He got to his human foot, examining his weapon system and the foeman's. The speed of the goblin's jive had increased, as well as its strength and the lastingness of his sword.

It must induce been warrior illusion, something he heard of while gathering info in Clive. Warrior magic was the ability to activate weapon skills that would improve their ability in battle, such as cutting deeper and withstanding Thomas More force without breaking. He had witnessed magic a few times during the last month and had become familiar, but this was only his second time since he arrived that he was actually fighting against a wizard user. Perhaps it would be best to polish off this fighting while he was unharmed, rather than continue pushing his chance. On the other bridge player, swearing hadn't seen his magic, and he wanted to keep it that way. He'd just have to make harder with his forcible abilities.

The goblin charged with his steel slightly raised to either block or plan of attack. It wasn't glowing like before, but his last attempt had shown that he could rule his legerdemain in a fraction of 2nd, so Noah couldn't jeopardy being in the way when the side by side swing happened. Noah readied himself, still holding his broken sword. He came within the hobgoblin's range and the sword swung diagonally towards his neck. Noah bolted forward, anticipating when the goblin would be committed to the move. He swung his break away sword towards the goblin's wrists, making him hesitate for the briefest moment to regard the scourge of disastrous injury, and that mo was all Noah needed to pull back his short sword and clip him across the stomach while zooming past.

The wound was severe, having used the inertia of the goblin's charge to overcome the paries of abdominal muscles and slice deep into the organs. The goblin staggered, his guts spilling onto the background. Noah finished him off before he could recover any of his durability. He took a deeply breathing place and listened for any attackers hiding nearby.

"Clear."

"fountainhead done, Master,"Tin said while bowing. Beside her, swearword was in a daze.

As Tin went to work removing the goblin's armor and checking for personal self-possession, Noah examined the sword used. It was a good blade, certainly sturdy, and he now needed a replacement for his longsword, but as he held it, his changed his brain. His original longsword had the maximum allowable weightiness and size, and anything cracking in either category would hinder his effort too much.

Oath approached him."Where did you memorise to fight like that ?"

"I've studied respective style and material body of scrap throughout my life, including archery and swordplay, mostly out of boredom or for exercise, and I've had plenty of experience killing. Your male parent pays mass for every hob people kill, slump ? Will I get extra if I bring him the head of their head ?"

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

"Master, I found something."He turned to Tin, who was holding up the hand of the goblin to show up him the anchor ring on his little finger. She removed it and handed the hoop to Noah, and he could immediately feel the magic trick within it.

‘ Huh, a magic ring found in a hob tunnel. What could possibly go incorrectly ?'He gave it a closer expression under the light of Tin's lantern and found a crown, depicting a shell with a swan on it. It was the home symbolic representation of Uther. There was also something written on the stripe with a foreign nitty-gritty."Oath, what do you make of this ?"

"That's the ring of an Utheric knight ! Anyone caught wearing one without being knighted can suffer their hand as punishment !"

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

"The ring is aureate, but is inscribed with a rare metal called avenium, which can imbue object with very upper-level spells. I once heard that a steel with avenium rune can moderate more power than the ten estimable steel swords. Knight rings are inscribed with a go that creates another human beings where items can be stored."

"How many item ?"

"I heard it can store up to the same weight as the one who caries it, but you only feel the system of weights of the ring."

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

"This'll come in handy."

"Just wearing that ring is a serious offence !"

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

The rest of the day was spent in those dark tunnel, searching for goods. By the time he had faced the hobgoblin, near of the other goblins had already been killed, so there was petty resistance. They found the bulk of their prize down in the lowest chamber, where the hobgoblin appeared to have been sleeping. The goblins were excellent thief, stealing whatever they could get their helping hand on with traveler being their favorite fair game. There were weapon stashes, bags and barrels of food for thought, forget me drug and range, apparel and armor, plenty of pecker, and a diminished hazard in coins. He even found the armor and brand of the knight that the goblin chief had killed. This draw was advantageously than Noah hoped, and while they couldn't carry all of it, the ring helped collect the best pieces.

When they finally stepped out of the mine, the sun was setting. There could still be hobgoblin in the woods, making their way to the mine after a day of search, so the tierce wasted no clock time getting a safety distance to make up camp. A tree, nearly as thickly as a shoal bus, offered them shelter. They bedded down at its base with its raised roots acting as wall and a fervency warding off anything that might try to set on during the night.

dinner party was traveler's rations, the standard food for anyone encampment in the wild. While he ate, Noah examined all of the token in the mob. There were numerous potions, spare sets of men's clothes, some dick and knives, rations, and a few gold coins. He took a closer expression at the armor and sword that the horse had been using. There wasn't much he could do with the armor. Minus some denture he could use on his arms and legs, it was impractically enceinte for his fight style, and considering how steep the punishment was for wearing the ring, getting caught with it would probably be a bad theme. Hopefully the blacksmith would be willing to buy it.

The brand, on the former hand, was a definite prize. It was a longsword like Noah's broken one, but with an flowery precaution and grip, as well as a line of runes going up the blade, inked with avenium. There was a enchantment imbued within it, he could feel the magic trick, 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 better kept in the ring, but once away from prying eye, it would be an excellent horn card once he figured out how it worked.

"So how long have you been an adventurer ?"swearword asked.

"Several eld. Why ?"

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

"The townspeople I grew up in, there were spate of quondam adventurers willing to pass their acquirement 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 dubiousness about your life story or trying to get to screw you."Noah glared as him, unblinking."Think hard."expletive wisely closed his oral cavity.

They set out at dawn the next day, wanting to get out of the forest as soon as potential, to both avoid danger and get to the shop class before they closed for the dark. It would consume them near of the day to return to Baron Clive, and that was without all the weighting they were carrying, so they had to try and keep a full stride. By around midday, they reached a great open pasture, but before they could cross it, a grudge was made.

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

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

"Well we've made considerable distance, and I believe it's about lunch time. Sure, let's point here for a break."

Tin and curse settled at the boundary of the pastureland under the shade of a tree and prepared lunch. While they worked, Noah took a walk through the field to make indisputable there weren't any predators in hiding. It was when he reached the snapper that he stopped, hearing something. It was not the rustling of grass or the growl of a wolf, but the neighing of horse. He looked into the distance and saw four men on horses break free of the forest and extend towards him with their blade drawn. bandit ?

"Tin, take swearing and get back into the forest, abstruse enough that you can't even see me !"

Tin didn't understand, but when she heard the horses in the distance and the hollering of the approaching men, she hurried to her feet and dragged expletive into the woods. With them out of the way, Noah faced the oncoming enemies.

"Thanks for the sawhorse,"he said as his brushed his hand over his eyes.

He was rendered unseeable while he sent off his clon, running to the side with its illusionary 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 puppet on strings, 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 waiver, striking the archer in the chest and sending him tumbling off his horse.

The other horsemen realized their champion had been killed, but there was no time to look for the opposition bowman. They had to conclude in on the young man with the sword. They tried to run him down with their leaf blade outreached, but before they could strike their objective, another one of their rank and file was taken out with a well-placed jibe. The two remaining men swung at Noah's dead ringer, but for the rice beer of coming into court, he had it dodge while he took out the third man. Only one man was left, but he didn't botheration going after the clone. He was smarting enough to cut his red and take flight back into the woods.

"Tin, curse word, you can come out now,"Noah said as he released his magic. They appeared from the woodwind, seeing Noah with the three horses standing nearby."Loot the corps and then let's have lunch. The way back to the Village will be much sluttish now."

With the horses, they managed to prepare it back to the Greenwich Village in the of late afternoon, when well-nigh of the shop class had closed, but there were still a few heart-to-heart that they could deal their lolly to.

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

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

"Still, I'm sword lily you didn't just knock me out and slip 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 cavalry back."

"Yes, yes, I know."

They split up, curse returning domicile and Noah and Tin selling their goods. They first went to the blacksmith, as most of their goods were scavenged weapon system. When Noah laid them all out on the riposte, the blacksmith couldn't help but voice his surprise.

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

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

Noah held up a canvas bag and set it on the counter. Its cognitive content 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 armor of the slain Utheric knight.

"That's right on, but that was all. I was hoping I could bump the steel or annulus, but they were gone. So, are you concern ? This armor has better sword than anything in your shop."

"I could get beheaded just for having this !"

"Which is why you sound 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 deep sigh of surrender. Whether it was money or his artistic inherent aptitude thinking of all the affair he could make, he couldn't allow the armor to exit the store.

"amercement, what do require for everything ?"

As usual, bargaining with the blacksmith took a lot of time, but Noah left with several glistening amber coins and a switch for his longsword. He and Tin moved from shop to shop, selling everything that was left, then Noah took Tin somewhere she did not await, the town jeweler. Unlike other store, this one had sentry go posted inside and out-of-door, and all the merchandise was behind a counter, with iron bars blocking it off from the customer. An old man was sitting at the counter, scrutinizing a jewel.

"Ah, how can I facilitate you ?"

"I was hoping you could appraise this for me."Noah took out a black gem, the size of the first joint of his niggling finger, and laid it on the counterpunch. The old man took the gem and looked at it through a series of lenses.

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

"A goblin den."

"Ah, of grade. Goblins are brutish, cruddy creatures, but they have a foreign luck when it comes to finding things. This is an enhancement gem."

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

"When grafted to an enchanted item, it boosts the strength of the enthrallment. Imagine a magic sword that can cut through twice as practically as a pattern sword. With this imbued into the knob, handle, or vane, it will now be capable to cut through four prison term as much as a pattern blade. They are a favorite of nobles, for not only to they better the enchanted item, but they make them more visually appealing and extravagant, perfect for showing off. At chunk and formal outcome, you'll find high-ranking nobleman with jewel-encrusted brand on their hips.

Would you be willing to betray it ?"

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

Noah took out the knight band and slid it across the table, only letting the jeweler see it. At the mint 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 jeweler took a bass breath."Tob, Gon, could you two please step outside for a minute ?"The two guards, despite their wonder, left the store, giving Noah and the jeweler their privacy. The old man stared at Noah."Do you have a death indirect request, boy ? Just having this could—"

"I'm aware of the punishment, but you already decided you're uncoerced to claim a risk. traverse the runic letter with gold leaf and set the gem. If it looks good and the mob's spell really is enhanced, I'll pay you ten silver coins."

"Twenty."

"Thirteen silver. Come on, no one out here is going to worry about this. You think some royal knights are going to derive bursting in ? You could show this to the tycoon and he wouldn't care."

"Fine, fifteen silver."

"Deal."

"I'll have it make by midday tomorrow."

Noah and Tin left the jewelry maker and headed back to the inn to call it a day, but as they approached, cuss appeared."Noah, my father wants to utter with you."

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

"He says it is of great grandness. He also wants to repay you for saving me."

Noah looked over to one of the bags hanging off the side of his saddleback. It was fully of severed goblin spike. Was he really will to take 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 rest of our haul at the inn and lead the way."

After stopping at the inn, they rode out of town towards the North, to the mogul's estate of the realm. Being a noble, he was better off than any of the villagers, but his house was far from profligate, just nicer looking and larger than anyone else's, a countrified manor, surrounded by domain that slaves tended to. Leaving their sawhorse in the stable in the rachis, Oath brought Noah and Tin into the sign and stopped before a set of double doorway.

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

"Enter."

curse opened the doors of the individual study, and behind the desk, an old man with a long byssus was filing paperwork on lambskin. He looked sure-enough than Noah expected, for a son so Thomas Young. Standing beside him was a cleaning lady, dressed as a maid.

"You must be young Master Noah. My son has told me of your great strength and attainment. You have my undying gratitude for saving him, and my respect for your acquisition in battle."The top executive didn't get up to shake Noah's hand, but that was to be expected of a noble.

"You are very receive, 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 mogul drew a sack of coins, likely silver, and handed them to Noah.

"I appreciate it. While we're on the national, I also have numerous goblin ears that I'd like experience requital for."

"Ah, of trend, of course of action. You also deserve extra for dealing with that goblin chief. Amelia,"he said, turning to the maid beside him,"please count up the spike and calculate their defrayal, and please take my son and this endearing young lady to the parlor to slow down. Master Noah, if you have time, I would wish to speak with you about some of import matters."

"Very well, then."

The amah left with Oath and Tin and the door were shut behind them. Finally, the baron got up from his chairperson and walked over to a whiskey decanter with a set of glasses."Would you care for a swallow ?"

"I'd erotic love one."Two crank were poured and one was handed to Noah. Compared to the modern world, the alcohol consumed in these lands was tough to thrust down, yet the calibre 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 give birth been the end of my line."

"I'm sure a man like you could figure out up a few heir. There are probably some already running around the town."

The mogul gave a bitter chuckle."I suppose we should get down to occupation. You have already proven yourself a great deliverer and guard for my son. I would care to hire you to do it again."

"Not more goblins, I trust ?"

"Actually, something a little more difficult. I want you to avail him capture a keep crab."

"free pardon my ignorance, but I am not conversant with the terminal figure. I come from a land without such things."

The magnate got to his foundation and began searching a nearby bookshelf."donjon Cancer the Crab are monolithic terrestrial being, spending their lives deep beneath the earth. However, they surface from time to time, poking the tips of their scale out of the ground."

He found the desired book and laid it out on the table, set to a particular page. There were two picture show, the first of what looked like a hermit crab, with a pointed shell several multiplication its own size and no claw. The second showed the tip of the shell poking out of the priming with a hole in the top, but just that was the size of a lighthouse. Had the artist actually seen a donjon crab fully revealed or was he just going by his resource ? For a creature of this size of it to prompt underground without being noticed, it would have to get up up from under the land's Earth's crust. A few days ago, the town had experienced an earthquake. That must have been the Cancer rising to the surface.

"Because they dwell so deep in the ground, they accumulate precious metals and muffin inside their shell, which form vast 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, ants when comparable to the pubic louse, but deadly behemoth to us humans. When a crab Earth's surface, the parasites will bequeath and become a danger to everyone and everything in the orbit. 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 turn down, either by setting them liberate on the surface or using treasure-hunting humans to pluck their population. Others believe the pediculosis pubis feed on the man that enter its casing, and use the parasites to obliterate their prey for them. Many believe it simply surfaces to get bracing air, like a whale."

"And you expect us to capture one of these things ?"

"It's just a image of speech communication. To bewitch a dungeon crab means to get down to the deepest part of its case, where the most priceless metal is."

"Avenium, I'm guessing ?"

"Correct. Anyone who can secure a cup's worth and present it to the land becomes a noble. That's why I need you to help Oath seizure it."

"But as your son, isn't swearword already set to inherit your championship ?"

"expletive is… my thirdly son. His sometime brother, Colt, was raised and groomed to be my successor, and the second oldest, Victor, was raised to be the successor if anything happened to Colt."

"Making Oath the spare of a spare."

The baron grimaced."He spent his lifespan working the fields while his brothers hunted and earned achievements. However, both Colt and winner died in battle at the start of outflow, so cuss is all I have left. He has a good heart…"

"But no talent, skills, bravery, or report, and he's a bit of a brick."

"Unlike the son of my youthful buddy, Edwin, a baronet. He is petitioning the kingdom to revoke my title as baron and ease up it to him and his eldest son. I need to prove that Oath has what it takes to be a baron, and the best way to do that is to appropriate a dungeon Cancer the Crab. I'm too old to sire another heir and sentence is running out. Oath already has an adventuring political party that he trains and fights with, but their skills aren't upright enough to conquer a dungeon Cancer. I would care you to link their party."

"Why me ?"

"Because you are young. There are numerous older adventurers with skills like yours that I can hire, but then my chum will argue that they just conquered the donjon and handed the loot to Oath."

"Which is exactly what you want me to do."

"But the fact that you are young means that you'll fit rightfield in. No one will question one extra young man joining my son's party."

Noah gave a huff while weighing his options. On one hired man, a political squabble between home members was the in conclusion affair he wanted to get involved in, and there was no notification if he was even skilled enough to successfully subdue a donjon crab. It was an unnecessary risk. On the early script, the thought of getting his helping hand on some avenium and former rare metals and gems was a tantalizing thought. He could get enough money to fund any venture he wanted for the rest of his sprightliness. Plus, it would get him to the Capital, and perhaps let him form some valuable connections. There were probably plenty of adventurers who would turn over their right arm for the chance.

"Would I be giving club or receiving ?"

"The team is yours to lead. They're fix to set out whenever you are."

"And how long do dungeon crabs normally continue come up ?"

"A couple months. 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 hebdomad. I want to use that fourth dimension to judge the squad, see if there is anything I can do to polish their skills before we go."

"That would be a blessing."

Noah got up from his keister."I have some business concern to attend to tomorrow, but I'll payoff in the afternoon. Make sure everyone is assembled."

This metre, the baron stood up and agitate his mitt."count it done."

Noah left the bailiwick and retrieved Tin in the parlor. As they stepped out onto the front end porch, Oath came to see them off.

"So my father talked to you about the donjon pubic louse ?"

"That's right, I agreed to go along with it. I'll comeback tomorrow."

"I appreciate it. I'll see you then."

Oath gave a thick bow of gratitude, and in the distance, Noah saw a flash of movement, and then find out a auditory sensation that he was well used to. It was the phone of an pointer buried abstruse into muscle and flesh. Launched a second earlier, it would have hit Oath square in the binding, but because he bowed, it found its mark in the center of Tin's chest.

Noah didn't say a tidings, but before either expletive or Tin could react, he had already leapt off the porch and was sprinting towards the origin of the arrow. He had left his bow with his horse in the stable, so he'd have to belt down the assassin up close. He could see the man hiding behind a scarecrow and recognized him as the fourthly brigand from originally. They weren't just random marauders, they had been hired to pour down Oath !

The man nocked another arrow, aimed it at Noah, and fired, but he deflected it with his carapace. He closed in, able to see the shock absorber in the man's eyes as the space between them vanished with terrifying amphetamine. He reached the man, drawing his new brand, and beheaded him before he could even turn around to run.

The body hit the ground, but Noah had already left, sprinting back to the mansion. There, on the porch, Oath was gathered with several handmaiden, giving her one healing potion after another, as despite the removal of the pointer and the wound shutdown, she wasn't getting better. Noah could see it, her veins darkening, her chassis getting pale, and every breath seeming to cause her annoyance. 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 counterpoison for it. Noah, I'm so grim !"swearword exclaimed, shedding the tears that Noah should possess. Instead, he just stared at Tin, his blank silence unnerving those around him.

Tin looked into his eyes."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 help you coach your conjuration. I want to take the air with you through the Ellen Price Wood and hear to a greater extent account. There is so lots I want to do with you !"

She was crying, but Noah showed no emotion. Instead, he pulled out his phone and put the buds in her spike. With the in conclusion few arc of energy, Vide Cor Meum began to play, slowing her tears."It will be peaceful, I promise. Just let the voices take you there,"he said.

He cupped her cheek and she smiled. That touch was all she needed."Thank you for making my living a beautiful one,"she whispered. Then she closed her eyes listened to the Sung dynasty, soon releasing her final breathing spell as the last bill played out.

All was silent, no one knowing what to say. phantasma began to creep into Noah's psyche, a cruel voice making him throw off. ‘ Great, now I have to do everything myself…'He shook the voice aside.

"Noah…"Oath began.

"I'm going to immerse her. return me a blanket to wrap her in and a shovel. I'm not asking."His vocalisation, it didn't tremble at all, and there was no unwieldiness in his words.

"We'll take tending of the grave, you should—"

There was the fragile twitch on Noah's face. The gears in his mind were grinding together."I'm not burying her here. I know a right place."

The handmaiden rushed to carry through his order, bringing out a soft quilt that Noah knew Tin would have liked. He wrapped her in the quilt and carried her to the static, getting onto his horse with her and being given a shovel.

The voicelessness came back. ‘ I'll just throw her into the woods.'Again, he forced the voice out of his mind."I won't be back for a day or so."

Cradling Tin, he gave his cavalry a kick and it took off with a cry. The sun had set, the Natalie Wood now at their most dangerous, but Noah didn't hesitate to tantalize down a associate road and into the wilderness. For hours, his Equus caballus galloped through the forest. When it tired, he would give it weewee and a health potion to reestablish its stamina, but that was the only clock time he stopped. Monsters routinely tried to attack him, but he ended their sprightliness with his bow. As the moon moved across the sky, Noah, holding Tin in his blazonry, felt the warmth slowly leave her body.

It wasn't just the monsters outside that were attacking, but the ones in Noah's read/write head. Evil whispers flooded his mind, trying to get him to turn back.

‘ She's just a slave.'

‘ I should just go home.'

‘ There is no power point in risking my life.'

‘ Nothing matters.'

‘ It's all meaningless.'

It felt like all of his musculus were just loosely within his control, and if his focus broke, his body would act against his will, throwing Tin aside and riding back to the small town. He had to force himself forward, despite every selfish instinct trying to curb him back.

Finally, when the night was at its darkest, he reached the want maculation. It was the waterfall that he and Tin had camped at. There were some beast drinking from the river, but he scared them off and ignored the small slimes crawling around. The surface area itself hadn't changed in the last few week. There were still the remains of the fires he had made, and the clay basin was undamaged.

He tied his knight to a tree diagram and lit a blowtorch, 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 plenty of river silt, deposited by the waterfall. He dug down as deep as he could, forcing aside any thoughts to devote up and spare himself effort. He laid her down on the coldness world and opened up the cover, looking at her one last fourth dimension. She looked peaceful, almost content. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a ash grey coin. When they first met, he remembered her telling him that she was only deserving that much. He clasped her hands over her chest, holding the coin.

‘ What am I doing ?'

‘ This coin is valuable.'

‘ I shouldn't just throw it away like this.'

He climbed out and buried her, then built a galvanic pile of rock and roll on her grave so that no animal would dig her up. Finally, he turned to the stone wall at his position and began carving Tin's epithet into it with her dagger. The scratches were fainthearted, but they wouldn't be simply washed away, like if he had simply drawn the letters on with a rock 'n' roll.

TIN

Those three slight varsity letter, a little heartbeat ignitor in his mind, like a faint star, told him that they looked lonely, and he focused on that. He should put more. She'd want that. But what should he write ? What did Tin mean to him ? Who was she ? What was she in relation to him ? Did he actually like ?

TIN

A FREED SLAVE

It was all he could get along up with, but it didn't satisfy him. There had to be something more. He hadn't loved her, it had been a long metre since he loved anyone. Did he even like her ? She was loyal and helpful, and took guardianship of him when he was unhinged. He also took tutelage of her. Was that sufficiency to think her important to him ? He couldn't Tell. He had spent myriad life-time pretending to be a Quaker, son, a classmate, a coworker, a husband, even a father. When was the final stage time he actually liked someone and wasn't just wearing the façade of politeness while putting up with them ? When was the hold up time he told someone he loved them and wasn't simply lying to their boldness ?

He had buried so many multitude, nigh of them more than once. It was backbreaking to tell those who were of import from those he pretended were important, those who were remembered and those he didn't deem worth remembering. Who mattered to him ? Whose death mattered ? He had long since lost the ability to narrate, and was struggling to retrieve it.

Finally, some emotion. Noah punched the stone wall and split the pelt on his knuckles."ejaculate on, think !"He shouted those words to himself over and over again. He was scratching at his own psyche, trying to suck blood from rock. What had Tin meant to him ? Or at the very least, what would she have wanted to try ? Noah focused on that, trying to opine what he could make said to nominate her happy.

TIN

A FREED striver

A PRICELESS fellow traveller

Satisfied, he stepped out from behind the waterfall. In the East, he could see the sky beginning to brighten. He took a seat next to the clay basin, watching the sun come up while he searched his mind for that niggling twinkling light.

.

.

.

Cooperation

.

.

.

It took a full day to tantalize back to the small town, repeating the original 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 butt at his usual table and the innkeeper brought two trays of intellectual nourishment."I was worried when you didn't show up for dinner party death nighttime or breakfast this daybreak. Where's Tin ?"she asked.

"She died."

The char set down both trays."I'm… I'm so sorry."

"She was just a hard worker,"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 sight of Noah and Tin eating together. A few people, noticing her absence seizure, inquired just as the innkeeper had, and Noah told them the same thing he told her. His emotionless answer angered Buddy Holly, one of the chambermaids, and she grabbed Noah by the collar and lifted him to his feet.

"She was a nice fille ! Everyone here knows how give she was to you ! Don't you dare say something like that about her !"

Noah stared her in the eyes."Does any of that even matter ?"

Perhaps it was the way he said it, or the coldness of his eye, 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 repast, he made his way up to his way. This time, when he opened the room access, there was no salutation. The candela was unlit and there was no fire in the open fireplace. It was just a dark room.

Noah shut the doorway behind him and went straight to bed. Having gone two days without sleep, he was exhausted, and a recondite, dreamless slumber enveloped him.

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

"How much longer are we going to wait ?"The raring vocalization came from a young man with a halberd on one shoulder and an obvious chip on the other. He was sitting on the social movement porch of the Fault mansion house, along with curse word and the two other members of their squad, Beth and Mira.

"He said he would be back today, but I know he also has business organization to attend to,"Oath replied.

"Do you have any theme 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 drained 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 horse with its rider could be seen. Noah approached them and climbed off his horse."Sorry I'm late."

"That's the courteous ring. You look more like a nobleman than I do,"said Oath.

It was the knight ring, all done after the town jeweler 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 brashness had its own spell.

"Thanks. Beth, Mira, you're doing well, I see. When did you form this company ?"

"Right after we met you in the Sir Henry Wood. We looked around for anyone willing to team up up with us and found swearword and Trevor,"said Mira."And I'm sorry about Tin."

"Me too,"Beth added.

Noah simply nodded."So the magnate has asked me to chair this team to capture the keep crab. Before we do that, I need to—"

"You aren't leading anything,"said Trevor."You're not the hirer of us, just the sitter for the baron's son."

"You're just going to gripe and moan throughout this whole trial by ordeal, aren't you ?"Noah asked.

"nookie you. Try giving me Holy Order and I'll shove this halberd up your ass."

Noah took a thick breath and rubbed his temples."Ugh, one of you hoi polloi. This is the shoemaker's last thing I need.

Listen, here's what's supposed to happen : you and I spend the next week playing the game where I act as the stern yet understanding authorization anatomy, and you keep throwing pettishness scene due to some unexpressed deep-seated progeny. By the time we arrive at the dungeon crab, you'll detest me more than ever, and almost get us killed, probably with me having to save your living. However, your screwup will help you realize you're full of cipher but bravado and horse prick, and you'll finally decide to hear to me, allowing me to breach your laborious outer case to help you solve your behavioural problems, which I'm guessing is about your forefather, or spirit of insufficiency, or something along similar line of reasoning. We'll gaining control the dungeon crab and constitute a durable friendship of respect and trust.

Now, that is what is supposed to bechance, and as a lot as I would love to go on that emotional journeying with you, I have literally a million better thing 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 also-ran has to listen and obey the winner until the donjon Crab is captured, including an order to leave the party."

Most of what he said went over everyone's head word, but bless Trevor's heart, he was chic enough to realise he had just been insulted."You son of a kick !"he barked as he got to his feet and pointed his halberd at Noah.

"That's the spirit. hand it your in effect nip, because if you don't need 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 hands, and enveloping the blade with mana with runic letter appearing in the air. It was just like the trance the goblin chief had used on his sword to increase the strength of his cut, meaning that getting hit with that halberd would surely be deadly.

"Trevor, block this ! This is insanity !"Mira implored.

"No, don't get in his way,"said Noah as he removed his closed chain."The most of import deterrent example hurt the most."

Trevor lunged with a comely form and thrust his halberd towards Noah. It wasn't just the destructive power of his halberd, his speeding had more than doubled."Mountain-Splitter !"

It was by a flimsy margin, but Noah stepped to the side and the steel missed. He grabbed the shaft of the halberd and delivered a bone-crushing punch to Trevor's nose, causing him to let go and stumble back.

"That was a commodity thrust. I imagine you've spent plenty of prison term practicing it."

Trevor's face was pouring line of descent, but he remained standing and glared at Noah with limitless hatred."Give it back !"

"Fine, 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 blade with mana, producing an impressive aura. This fourth dimension, instead of a thrust, he made a wide-eyed jive."Erasing Cleave !"

Once more, Noah simply backed out of his compass, escaping with zero legal injury. Then, when the coast was clearly, he closed in and delivered and uppercut to Trevor's jaw, busting his tooth and making him an even blooming mussiness. This prison term, Trevor couldn't stay on his feet and fell back, trying and failing to moderate his cry of torture. Looking around, Noah could see the baron's handmaiden watching from the field of operations and through the windows.

"Noah, that's enough ! You two need to finish this !"Beth exclaimed.

"He's the one who decides when we stop. flavor resign to give him a health potion, though."

"I don't need a fuck wellness potion !"Trevor shouted.

He scrambled to his groundwork and went at it again. He abandoned the mind of using sorcerous and attacked Noah with a barrage of rapid-fire thrust. Noah deflected each attack with his cuticle, 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 strength, Noah maintained his posture.

"You know what I'm going to do now, right ?"Trevor tried to calculate out how Noah would shake off 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 stupefy to hunting monsters, but you'll never hit me with it. Try showing me how good you are with your fists."Noah placed his bridge player on his longsword and slowly drew it halfway."Unless you'd prefer to stick to armed fighting, in which case I'll gladly humor you."

Trevor abandoned his halberd and charged, sending a straight right slug towards Noah. Noah caught his fist and then struck his cubitus, snapping his arm like his finger cymbals were made of glassful. Before Trevor could even call, Noah silenced him with another punch to the nozzle, once more knocking him to the earth. It didn't seem like he was going to get up, so Noah took out a health potion and poured it on his boldness. The spray woke him up and healed his olfactory organ and back talk, though his arm would have got to be reset before a potion could mend it.

"So, do you want to keep going ? I can go all day if you want. I mean it, I've got nothing but clip. And we can go whenever you want, this isn't your but chance.

Now I suppose there are a numeral of ways we can go about this. We can do the totally emotional journey matter, but the fact that I've explained it variety of takes away the magic. You can just leave the party, I'll give you that selection. There's the alternative of waiting until I have my back turned and then getting your revenge, which, again, you are free to do so at any clock time, but at your own hazard. Poisoning my food might make for, but it would just be you admitting your weaker than me. I suppose your best alternative would be to shut out your fucking sassing, accept that I'm inviolable than you and fresh than you, and pay attention to what I will teach you, as it will improve your skill and your chance of survival.

From there, we can go to the dungeon Phthirius pubis, and you'll easily overcome challenges that would give killed you at your current horizontal surface of lastingness. With a unspoiled sum of money of exploit and coordination, and no shortage of fortune, we'll conquer the dungeon crab and become productive beyond our uncivilised dreams. There is always the pick of betraying us down there and running off with all the loot, but boy, oh boy, you'd better make certain I'm stagnant, because you don't want me coming after you, you really don't.

So, what do you say ?"

Everyone was mute, waiting to hear Trevor's reaction. He was glaring at Noah and taking mystifying, angry breathes through his olfactory organ."You say you can make me solid ?"

"I guarantee it."

"We conquer the donjon pubic louse and we're done, right ? I never have to see you again ?"

"You can bed to some fancy 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 baron inside."

Noah stepped onto the porch and entered the house, walking right by the bit where Tin had died."Is the baron in ?"he asked, addressing one of the maids.

"In his individual written report, sir. He's waiting for you."

Just as Oath had done the day before, the amah knocked on the doubly doors and announced Noah's arrival, with the baron granting entry. The old man was behind his desk."That was quite the spirited match outside. Your attainment are the real deal."

"The real skill is producing resultant role from it."

The baron walked over to his whiskey set and poured himself a drinking."I'm glad you returned. I'm sorry for the loss of your companion."

"Don't worry about it. I already killed your brother and his son."

The glass fell from the mogul's hand and shattered."What ? !"he exclaimed.

There was an quick knock on the room access."My Maker, is everything fine ?"a butler asked.

Noah's regard never left the baron, without any signified of fear or anticipation of what might come next. He simply waited for a reaction. The baron gripped the box of the desk but managed to control himself.

"Everything is fine. We are not to be disturbed."When he sensed the butler had left, he turned his attention back to Noah."You wouldn't even give me the luck to spill the beans you out of vengeance ?"

"It was cipher of the sort."

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

It was midmorning, and Noah had just claimed his halo from the jeweler, the last of his first light errands, and with information given by those around town, he now stood before the abode of the local baronet. It was in the outskirts of the town, one of the farms, and neither the subject field nor the menage were on par with the mogul. Despite the rank of Lord, baronets were simply common man with the prefix ‘ Sir'or ‘ gentlewoman ’.

He found the baronet repairing a cattle fence behind the theatre. He was identical to the baron, but without the beard and sporting fewer crease. Noah was unseeable, so the man didn't even notice him approach, but was calm when Noah pressed the blade of his tongue to his throat and told him to pretermit the hammer he was using.

"Sir Edwin faulting, I presume ?"

"Who's asking ?"

"Did you charter four men to kill the swearing Fault ?"

"Now why would I try to kill my beloved nephew ?"

"To get your son the rank of king. But if you aren't going to suffice my questions, I suppose I can always ask him, or maybe your wife."

"You must be the bastard who saved him from that hob den. I had to pay that adventurer a good mess of money to wipe out him. To intend 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 bratwurst himself if I hadn't talked him out of it. He didn't do anything. You have a bone to pick, put that stab away and let's solve this like men."

Noah's resolution came in the word form of a fluid picture of his wrist, severing Edwin's jugular and sending him tumbling to the ground, trying pointlessly to stop the bleeding. Noah stood by to affirm the end and then made his way towards the battlefield, where the baronet's son was working.

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

"There was a time when I took great joy in making mass suffer, and I've been working to change myself since then. I don't admit myself to kill for pleasure or vengeance, and certainly I didn't kill them for what they did, but what they would continue to do. Associating with you and your son has already cost me the life story of a firm subsidiary, and I'd rather not give anyone the prospect to get in my way.

If I were to allow them to live, they would retain to try and pour down you and Oath, and I'd have to clean up the hole, just like I've been doing since I found your son in that goblin den. The last affair I'd deficiency is to capture the dungeon and then get ambushed by your brother's partner in crime when we're too bore to press back. I assume you had forgiven your brother because he is your family, despite his attack to vote out oath, but you're hiring me to continue curse word alive, and if I'm going to do that, it will be done my way.

If you have any objections, State Department them now."

Ivan didn't respond. He simply slumped in his buns and exhaled deeply. Deep down, he knew that his comrade had to be dealt with in one physique or another, in guild for his son to inherit the social rank of power. However, even if it had been thin before, there was always a chance of reconciliation. He had dreamt of conversing with his brother, as they had a yearn, yearn time ago, and burying the hatchet. Now that theory was gone forever. Noah claimed he hadn't acted out of payback against his brother, but Ivan couldn't help but sense he was the one being punished.

"I thought as much. Despite your brother and nephew dying, I'm mindful that your son still had niggling prospect of inheriting your title, so the donjon seizure will proceed as design. We didn't have the fortune to sing about payment for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interested in money or land. There is something else I want."

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

It took more than one healing potion to touch on Trevor's arm, and that could only be done when the bone were reset. He was all patched up by the time Noah made his return.

"I promised the baron we'd set out in a week for the keep. That was two daytime ago. For the next five solar day, I'm going to appraise each of your skills and see where improvements have been made. outset, we're going to hunt some freak. I want to have it off your combat skill and see how well you work as a team. You all have your weapons, so we're going to depart now and travel light. Any objections ?"

No one said anything, not after watching how he thrashed Trevor. But their muteness was not out of awe, rather an awareness that Noah knew what he was talking about. He was the oldest of the group by only a year, but they all sensed he had much more experience than they did.

"good, then let's depart. Oath, you know the area. Please lead the way."

"I actually know the position of a conjuration spawning Mexican valium. Let's drumhead there."

They gathered some supplies and set off into the wilderness, leading a gang horse to behave back their harvested devil parts. From the present moment they were enveloped by the darkness of the trees, they were vulnerable. The district of the teras was well-established, due much in portion to the summoning circles that they spawned from. They only intruded into human territorial dominion when there was a shortage of food or their numbers pool had grown too expectant, issues that were both solved by the constant flow of adventurer working to curb their population.

As they walked, Noah spoke to everyone.

"Mira, we talked once before about this. Have you developed any skills for close-quarter combat ?"

"I've been training with my faculty since then. swearing and I spar a lot when we're not hunting."

"What about thaumaturgy ?"

"I haven't been able to originate anything for fighting foeman up close."

"We'll work on that. Oath, Beth, can either of you use deception ?"

"I can't,"said Oath.

"I can produce H2O, but not in any kind of plan of attack. I use it to fulfil up my H2O skin."

"good, we'll definitely need that in the keep. You're still using your bow as your main artillery, right ?"

"Yeah, and I got toxicant for my arrow just like you…"

She trailed off, remembering what Oath had told her. Tin had been shot and killed with a poison arrow. Noah paid no attention to the drop of her speech.

"What about close-range ? Any artillery ?"

"I use a knife."

"Good. Trevor, you can touch off magic when you thrust and swing your halberd. Anything else ?"

"Nope, the halberd is all I can use."

Noah had picked up some trash of info on the unlike branches of magic in this world, and Trevor appeared to be in the warrior class, just like the goblin chief. Warriors could only activate their acquisition with specific weapons, which depended on the individual. He wasn't exaggerating when he said the halberd was all he could use. He couldn't actuate his magic with any early weapon.

"We're here,"said oath. He then stopped in his tracks."On sec persuasion, I think we should turn back."

Noah looked ahead. On the forest level, he could see a prominent magic circle, consisting of runes and associate shapes. Standing in the circle was a tolerate the size of a minivan. However, its organic structure was faint, translucent, like it was just a hologram, but with each passing consequence, its colouration deepened.

‘ Is it teleporting ? No, it's solidifying. The R-2 is converting mana into physical subject and assembling it. So, that's what it means for a puppet to be summoned.'“ I've never seen a bear like that out here."

"It's a sledgepaw, a rare breed. It is to even bears what that hobgoblin was to regular hobgoblin. 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 unsound monsters."

"All right, then let's take in formation,"said Oath.

"Wait for it to attack us. Taking your prison term in setting up a firing police squad while it spawns won't give lots experience or information."

It took only a minute for the bear to fully materialize, immediately spotting Noah and the radical and labeling them as enemy without any form of hesitation or confusion. It released a hollo of fury and charged, signaling the start of the battle. Noah kept his space while the group spread out, surrounding the bear. Beth nocked a poison arrow in her bow and shot the bear in the neck. It turned to her and snarled, about to lash out with its nipper, but curse word attacked from the side and slashed at its shoulder with his sword. The beast's hide was tough, and Noah couldn't tell if the attack had actually done any equipment casualty. Enraged, the bear knocked curse word aside. Like Noah, he was wearing leather armor, and while it stopped the bear's pincer from reaching his flesh, the armor itself was nearly destroyed by that one swipe.

"curse !"Mira cried out.

Trevor stabbed the bear in the thigh with his halberd, and while he drew a roar of pain in the ass from the wildcat, it hadn't forgotten the arrow in its cervix and attacked Beth. It was faster than she expected and it knocked her to the ground, with her bow wedged between its jaws keeping it from biting her. She was crying in torture as it weighed down on her, spit from its oral fissure splashing on her face with its monumental fangs inching closer and closer.

"guillotine swinging !"

Trevor swung his halberd like he was splitting woods, and the axe blade, glowing with magic might, dug deep into the behave's back, though it missed the spine.

"Earth Surge !"

Having gathered her mana, Mira struck the ground with her staff. The surrounding soil, not gripped by the tree roots, was gathered together and slammed into the bear like a mudslide, knocking it off Beth. The bear was slow to get back on its feet, as its strength was fading with each lost drop of blood and the toxicant was taking its toll. Regardless, it still could crush the skulls of the weakly mankind with a single swing of its mighty paw.

cuss was back on his feet and charged with a shout of decision and his sword raised high. Seeing him approach, the bear reared back on its hind branch, and despite his heartiness just moments ago, the sight of the towering savage robbed Oath of his courage. He was paralyzed with reverence and the bear swung at him. inherent aptitude saved his spirit, the instinct to farm his sword and block the attempt, though the force still slammed him into the ground. An arrow was buried in the bear's chest before it could attack again, managing to pierce a lung, and Trevor stabbed it in the tum.

The bear fell back and rolled onto its legs, roaring in wildness but then breaking down into a fit of bloody coughing. Beth fired a third arrow, striking the shoulder, which Trevor then cleaved with his halberd. As this was going on, Mira rushed over to swearing's side and helped pull him out of harm's way. With Trevor and Beth continuing to wail on the beast, its life was soon extinguished. Its monolithic body collapsed and expletive and his protagonist 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 spine with his sword to lay down surely it was dead.

"kudos on your kill. However, it was rather messy."

"Messy ? !"Trevor exclaimed."aspect at how big that monster 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 skin. He looked only at his body of work, but he continued to lecture them."You surrounded it on all sides, which, while good when facing something lowly and prone to track, left Beth and Mira defenseless. Don't split up like that unless it's something that each one of you can physically handle. Beth, consider all the time that you spent pinned. That was all prison term you could bear spent firing pointer had you and Mira kept your distance. Though speaking of arrows, your aim was very trade good, both that shooter to the neck and to the chest. 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 bring down some damage."

"You should have gone for the head. With a monstrosity of that size of it, did you remember a flesh lesion or muscle harm would drink down it ? Unless they're well protected, you should always aim for the critical spots. Swing at the promontory, twinge at the chest. Same with you, Trevor. When you attacked its back, were you aiming for its spine ?"He didn't respond."I'll take that as a no. engage aim with your attacks, and not just at openings in your adversary's guard. You should try studying physical body, number out where the most vital points are. You went at the belly, that was ache. It's delicate and toilsome to protect, but you stabbed too low. You should sustain gone higher, towards the liver, or at least the stomach.

Mira, you did well in getting cuss out of danger. However, you waited too long to cast your spells. I see that you developed a new spell, and while it did wield to get the bear off Beth, it was a larger-scale spell not suited to the forest. I remember you once told me you can create a disperse swarm and send rock'n'roll flying ? You should suffer stuck with that. A bit of junk could sustain blinded the bear and maybe even hindered its common sense of tone, and a rock or even hard-packed turd can inflict plenty of pain when striking the brain or the crotch.

And swearing, you know what I'm going to say, don't you ? You choked, and your mistake put the life story of your friends in danger. It was replete that saved your lifespan. You need to make these variety of decisions faster. Before we head to the donjon crab, we'll have to remedy that. Now, all of you give me a hand. This bear is going to help fund our preparations."

Everyone joined in, helping to withdraw the bear's hide as intact as potential. When it was done, Noah placed his mitt on the pelt and tried to seal it in his doughnut. The enhancement jewel had doubled the carrying capacity of the ring, but the hide was so heavy that the halo was refusing to take it. He'd have to take some things first.

Noah held out his hand and closed his fingerbreadth around an invisible grip. A blade appeared in his suitcase, the sword that he had taken from the goblin. He had even found the sheath that went with it, something that the regular hobgoblin wouldn't have been smart enough to take. It was much prominent than his broadsword, and he had assumed its size might be useful against a large enemy. curse, who knew both the real identity and great power of Noah's ring and what it was known for, was free from the vocalisation of astonishment the others made. Even Trevor was shocked by the vast sword appearing out of thin air.

"Oath, where did you get your sword ?"

"Uh… it was my grandfather's."Oath stuttered, feeling an automatic rifle gumption 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 experienced blacksmith once, a week-long learnedness row at a metalwork shoal that turned into a career, though while his computer storage were a bit fuzzy, he could still tell apart the craftsmanship put in. However, his nidus wasn't on the real quality of the metal, but the length of the hold. It was a bastard steel, otherwise known as a hand-and-a-half, which could be held with either one paw or two.

"It's good. And your father said you grew up working the fields, right ? mint of plowing and clearing trees ?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I want you to try using this goblin sword for a spell. Swinging a hoe or an axe require leveraging, leverage that your gramps's sword can't throw you with the distance of its handle. Your men are too close together and it's throwing off your center of gravity when you hold it. This magnanimous sword will tolerate you keep your hands farther apart and allow a Sir Thomas More similar motion."

He handed both swords to Oath, but he only took his grandfather's brand."I can't accept that. That's your prize for killing the monster."

"You're just renting it from me. Besides, if this speculation works out, I'll be racy enough to buy an even better sword."

"As you wish, then."He wasn't fully convinced, but he took the brand and hung it across his back.

"Ok, let's exchange our strategy a minuscule. We'll take the formation of a W, with cuss in the centre, me and Trevor at the incline, and Beth and Mira in the back."

It would have staring if they could fight another sledgepaw bear and compare strategy, but considering its tenuity, it would probably be a long time before it respawned. They set off instead to find more teras, not having to hike up longsighted before coming across a pack of wolves. They took formation and stared the beasts down, all armed and fix to fight.

"Beth and Mira, you two are our main word form of attack. The three of us are just a carapace. You'll have to concentre on not getting us caught up in your attacks."

"right field !"They both replied.

Arrows began flying yesteryear Oath's decent side and rocks and composition of packed terra firma were flying past his left. The beast were caught off guard and several were left stunned or injured. A beast standing directly in front of Oath managed to avoid the onslaught and leaped towards him. Oath swung his blade, nearly losing his Libra the Balance and falling over. However, though the weight was much big than any hoe or axe he had used, it wasn't the cause. It was the relaxation he felt, the swing now more reminiscent of a familiar apparent motion, and he was able to use muscle remembering to call out corking speciality and skill. The ease robbed him of his tautness like he had removed weights from his shoulder, causing him to slip up. The sword carved through the airborne beast like a buzz saw, nearly slicing it in two.

At the same meter, the wolves that were still on their base scattered to try and flank the group. Two ran towards Trevor, and the maiden, attacking from above, ended up getting impaled on the spear tip of his halberd. The instant tried to shut down in, using the dying of the first as a distraction, but Trevor swung his halberd down and buried the axe blade in the wolf's back.

On the other side, three charged towards Noah. The firstly pounced, sending Noah dodging to the side and then beheading it with a downwards swing. He spun around, thrusting into the minute wolf's chest as it pounced from above. The third tried to assault from his blind stain, but drew his short blade and cleaved its skull open.

All that was left were the wolves stunned by the opening attack, but they had been dispatched with Beth's arrows. The only fight had taken a handful of seconds, causing cuss and his Friend to all rally shocked glimpse. They had never won that fasting before, especially when they were outnumbered like that. The time value of Noah's advice had been proven.

They stripped the skirt chaser of their hide and collected all other valuable consistence parts, then continued their journeying. There was still enough of time before they'd have to set up bivouac, so they wanted to get as very much hunting done as they could. As they traveled through the wood, the spark of excitement filled them. Now that the young adventurers had improved their strategy, they wanted to see how else they might get strong, and what this new encouragement would appropriate them to do. They were hiking through a hilly area, sticking only to the prostrate ground for the sake of their sawbuck. It was when they were traveling along a floodplain that Noah stopped them, his middle glued onto the nearby Alfred Hawthorne and a gravid fallen tree.

"Look over there. See the ground where the turd and leafage have been disturbed ? Goblins probably laid a gob and are hiding behind that log. Mira, can you launch one of your go to try and smoke them out ?"

"It's a little far, but I'll try."She stabbed the ground with her stave."earth Bind !"

Like a gap splitting ice, a seeable crinkle ran through the surface of the background over the surface area behind the log. There was the sound of scream and several goblins scurried out from their hideout, with one caught within the stone jaws of Mira's spell.

"Beth,"Noah said.

Beth perked up and took aim with her bow, managing to sharpshoot one of the garbled goblins. From behind the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree around the log, More goblins appeared, howling like imp. They charged townsfolk the pitcher's mound, a dozen of them, with two hanging back with their own bows.

"Beth, hire out the Archer. Mira, try to funnel them so that they don't flank us. Oath, if to a greater extent than one goblin attacks you at once, don't do another downward separatrix. It'll leave you open. Trevor, don't let the impulse of your swings take you out of position."

No one questioned him, and as Beth waged a long-distance central with the archers up the hill, Mira created pits and blades of terra firma that burst up along the wing of the goblin horde. They swarmed for Noah, swearing, and Trevor. The quick hob reached Trevor and dropped a nine towards his head. Trevor swung his halberd, and while the steel failed to strike the goblin, it did get caught on the handle, hurling it towards Oath, who dispatched it with a cleave. He then swung his brand from the side like Trevor had done, catching two hobgoblin in the temple 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 obstruct and every swing of his steel sent blood splattering across the nearby Tree. A goblin arrow planted itself in his stomach, nearly sending him tumbling to the earth. His leather armour had slowed it down a bit, so it didn't reach his organs, but as someone who had been shot numerous metre, getting hit with the splintery goblin pointer hurt a lot more than than nigh bullets.

"Mira, I'm hit. I need a sprinkle swarm !"

"R-right !"

She stuttered momentarily, but regained her calmness and sent all of the dry soil around the hobgoblin airborne, blinding them and leaving them coughing. He only had a distich import, so Noah ripped out the arrow with a bird of pain in the neck and spurt of stemma and poured a healing potion on the wound. As his physique stitched back together, the hob managed to clear their eyes of the dust and resumed their bang, but just like before, Noah mowed them down. The battle was over in less than a min. Once again, Oath and his Friend exchanged glances of excitement.

A few struggle later, the setting sun put an end to their search for the day, and they set up pack between a cluster of large trees for protection from monsters and flatus. They built up a ardor in the gist and cooked meat from the slain bear. They hadn't packed any food with them, so they could only eat what they collected. Dinner was eaten mostly in silence. Noah was new to the mathematical group and they hadn't gotten used to him yet, so the others couldn't immediately talk at their usual conversational depth.

Between bit, Noah took out a canteen entire of weewee and added some ache needles from his pocket. metal nursing bottle were more expensive than looking glass bottle and water skin, so everyone noticed when he set it next to the fire.

"You're making tea with true pine needles ?"Mira asked.

"pine needles help ward off scurvy even better 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 learn to fight monsters ?"

Noah thought back through all of the fantasy novels and role-playing plot he had enjoyed over the old age."That ? That was just intuition."It would be best to stir the conversation away from himself.

"What are you going to do after the dungeon crab ?"she then asked.

"That query seems like bad fortune, don't you think ? They say that when men plan, God laughs. What about you ? You get to become a Lord if you capture a dungeon. You could be set for life. Oath is going to inherit his father's rubric. Are you also aiming for aristocracy ?"

"I'm going to keep traveling and exploring,"said Beth.

"I just want to bring in enough money to settle down and take off a family,"Mira added.

Oath's future had already been laid out, so side by side it was supposed to be Trevor, but he didn't show any involvement in even acknowledging the question.

"I have no interest in becoming a noble,"said Oath.

"Then why do it ?"Noah asked.

"Because my beginner wants me to."

"Again, why do it ?"

"I already told you. My—"

"And what does that have to do with anything ? You're old enough now that you can set out on your own. You've found your gift with that blade. Keep being an adventurer. Do whatever you want to do."

"Isn't my Church Father paying you to make sure as shooting I become a Lord ?"

"I fully expect you to become a noble, even if I have to tie the claim around your radiocarpal joint. I just want to piddle sure you have a strong understanding so that you won't choke up. So, go on, tell us the existent reason."There was an awkward silence, during which Noah carefully retrieved his canteen, which had come to a simmer."Unless, of course, you already gave us the rattling reason. Your father wants this, and you want to make him happy."

"Is that really such a strange desire ?"

"You want him to finally deal you like he did your brother. You want reconciliation, to make everything right so that all the years of neglect can be made up for, that it was all Worth it."

"For individual judgment, you sound like you have experience."

"No, I was the opposite. My dad was like yours. He thought a parent's sexual love had to be earned and wouldn't assume bankruptcy. 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 approval meant naught to me. I never had any design of making him proud."In actuality, he had respective fathers who followed that mindset. It was a personality type that made an show every now and then.

"What happened ?"Beth asked.

"Oh, he hit me, several times. Yeah, he went nuts."

"So what did you do ?"

‘ I waited until he turned around and then I stabbed him in the back. He spent the ease of his liveliness in a wheelchair.'“ I left home and became an adventurer."He took a behind sip of his tea."You have to figure out your own grounds for doing affair, your own understanding for life. Neither your parents nor God can grant you meaning. It's something that you have to make for yourself, and if you don't do it carefully, if you pick an thought or a opinion that is faint and tenuous, it'll dip apart in your mitt and you'll have nothing."

The camp went silent, everyone staring into the flaming rather than make the risk of making eye contact with someone else. Beth, no longer eating, hugged her knees to her chest."My Padre was actually an adventurer. He taught me how to shoot a bow and always told me of his adventures. Sometimes he'd disappear for week at a prison term, but he would always follow family late and nighttime, when I was asleep. We had a game where he would hide under my bed, just before dawn, and went I'd step onto my trading floor, he'd snatch my ankle and pretend to be whatever monster he had just fought. It made me a Light sleeper, because I'd always try to hear him sneak in and arrest him."

"I wish I knew my Father,"said Mira, trying to keep the conversation going.

Like before, it became Trevor's bout, but he still showed no interest in participating. They then realized that he had already fallen asleep.

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

They set out at first light the side by side dawn to uphold hunting, while making their way back to Town. Just like the day before, their new formation proved unstoppable against the monsters of the timberland, and they found themselves carrying so a lot lolly that it was draining their stamina faster than the battles. They had to take aim shop stop, and as common, Noah would use that clock time to tuck valuable plants.

At final stage, they broke out of the cover of the forest, now trekking across farmland with the village not far off. Despite their fatigue, their liveliness were high. The sun was setting and their stumble had been both generative and informative"I think we should just go straight to the dungeon Cancer the Crab tomorrow,"said Oath."We're already inviolable enough."

"Not yet,"said Noah."We've built a shaping, now I want to ameliorate your abilities."

"So more hunting ?"Beth asked.

"No, training and physical exercise to increase physical strength and mana modesty. All of our loot from this trip is going to fund it."

Upon arriving to town, they first stopped off at the local tannery to trade off the pelts. The owner of the shop, a skinny man who struggled to mature a adequate beard, Gospel According to Luke, met them as they entered his store. As one might wait, tanneries weren't known for their pleasant aromas. It smelled like a wet dog that had just fed on roadkill. The air had moved beyond simple stench and now had its own gustatory sensation, a very game feeling. It annoyed Noah every time he stopped by.

"Mr. Noah, I haven't seen you lately. And the young schoolmaster, I'm glad to see you are doing well. What have you come with today ?"

"We have hide to sell, including a special piece."

All of the skirt chaser and other fell were stacked on the counter, with the last, belonging to the sledgepaw bear, having to be laid out on the floor like a rug.

"A sledgepaw ? And in such good condition ! This is definitely a rare find !"

"We fought it as soon as it finished spawning,"said Oath."That's as fresh as it gets."

Saint Luke bent down and examined the hide, paying penny-pinching attention to injury created during the struggle."And there doesn't appear to be too much damage… I can give you two gold coins for everything."

"Two and half ?"Noah asked.

"Two, that's my demarcation. This thing has some big stinger 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 goblin weapons to the blacksmith, and anything else that they had managed to collect, though their final stop was the apothecary, and rather than selling, Noah was buying. swearing and the others stood back and watched as he ordered armfuls of different works for sale with the old fair sex watching him with an eye of interest.

"I'll also take every health and mana potion you're volition to sell."

"Why can't every customer be like you ?"she asked, teasing him.

They returned to the street."Ok, let's call it a day. Tomorrow morning, we'll meet back up at the baron's plate and get down training. I'll use these works to whip up lots of potions."

The group split up, with curse word and Trevor heading off their respective homes, Beth and Mira returning to the inn, and Noah running a few more errands. Night fell, and like the women, Noah made his way to the inn. It was bustling as usual, but the table that Noah sat at was quiesce. He ate dinner quickly and went up to his room. By candlelight, he ground up the flora he had bought and mixed them together. He had a long listing of potions and tools to do for this keep risky venture, so even his night would be busy. An hr after he started, he heard a knock at the door. He answered with his knife in hand but out of sight, as was instinctive. He opened the threshold to see Beth standing there, a smile on her fount that was coy, unquiet, stimulate, and embarrassed, all mixed together.

"I wanted to tell you again how dismal I am to hear that about Tin. But just because she's gone, that doesn't think your night have to be lonely. I want to experience the legend that everyone in townsfolk has been talking about."

An honest smile, rare for Noah, crossed his face. However, it was more in amusement than lustfulness."That seems like something that would really make for us some bad luck later, considering the unscathed dungeon crab thing."

"What ?"

"Nothing. As much 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 spirits were deflated, but she wasn't ready to return up."Are you trusted I can't interchange your intellect ?"

"I'm trusted. But if you still have strong suit tomorrow after dinner, then I'll happily cosset you."

"I'll look forward to it."She then gave him a instant and went back to her room.

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

"The education I have in brain will lie in of long session of muscle training and then magic training in a physically fagged state, replenishing forcefulness with potions, and repeating the process."Noah addressed expletive and his Quaker in front of the baron's mansion house. By his side were a large release total of red and blue potions, as well as some former concoctions."It's a compounding of two workout routines I've created."

Mira looked away for a moment, pondering something. She then perked up in shock."That's what was happening with you and Tin at the inn !"

Oath, Beth, and even Trevor looked at her, taking a mo to process what she had said, and then swerving their eye back to Noah like a car drifting around a turning point. curse word had forgotten that lilliputian fact, and Trevor, resigned to bearing a silent grudge, was remembering those rumors he had heard and finally feeling a bit of obedience towards Noah.

Noah let a small laugh escape."Yeah, that's right. My hypothesis is that mana output is a combination of physical and spectral energy. When your ghostlike mana can't keep up with the need, your physical mana picks up the falling off, but it means your spirit gets only part of the benefit of training. Therefore, the best way to train your spirit's rate of production and reservoir 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 expending of physical energy."

"All morning ? !"

"I have a lot of stamen, which is the solution of the former exercise modus operandi. Over a long period of time, I've mastered various different sort of use and refined them to point muscle ontogeny in a specific way. People and early enceinte animals have three kinds of muscularity : red muscle, which is muscle that is great for staying power and running ; white muscle, which is brawn for physical power and explosive strength ; and knock heftiness, which is a combining of both. My workaday focuses on producing garden pink muscleman. Unfortunately, sex isn't the exercise procedure, God, though I wish it was.

Oath, I saw you struggling to snarf your new sword, but making perfect cut every time. Because of all the prison term you've spent swinging a hoe or an axe, neither of which is very heavy, you have a lot of red sinew, which lets you go for a prospicient time up to a sure limit.

Trevor, I noticed your movements decline flying than oath, despite expending a similar sum of vitality. Your thrust and slash, while initially quite powerful, made a stabilize declination. You have too a great deal 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 hobgoblin den or even when they returned to the Village the late day. At the same time, he was able to slice through monsters and carry their stiff with great strength. The others had noticed it as well, another category in which he outclassed them.

"Wait a second, if that was your"limited mana breeding"you were doing with Tin, then that means you can use trick,"said Beth."You told us you couldn't."

"I wasn't sure I could trust you when we first met. I was will to differentiate you how to make yourselves stronger, but not how to lay down 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 future tense. The sooner your enemy knows about your strengths, the Oklahoman they know about your impuissance. When meeting new people, conceal your ability until the last moment, because that import might be a battle. However, since you followed me on that hunting trip and are willing to undergo my physical exercise routine, I believe that it's only fair to lay my cards on the table."

He covered his eye and disappeared, drawing shouts of surprise from everyone.

"Noah ? !"Oath exclaimed, looking around for him.

Noah released the illusion and they all yelped again."I can earn myself invisible. When I first unlocked this ability, I could only do it for a few minute at a time. After a month of training, I could do it for more than five minutes."He'd keep his second spell secret, as well as the true length he could hold the both of them for. His cartel in them was still in its infancy.

"I've never seen or even hear of a magic like that before. Maybe some kind of holy place go ?"Mira muttered.

Her words took away a lot of his nervousness. He still knew so little about the magic in this world, there was no telling how common exponent like his might be. For all he knew, this lie might wee-wee him look pathetic. However, if Mira had never heard of it, there was a opportunity that it was rare enough to not be considered common knowledge.

Noah retrieved some bottles full of a green liquid and tossed one to Oath and each of his friends."deglutition that, it's a little something I whipped up from the plants I bought yesterday, along with some dearest. It'll yield you a slight 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 breath with Noah standing over her, the two of them drenched in sweat.

"Come on, get up,"he said.

"I can't do anymore !"

"You know what comes next."

She looked at him with oculus fully of hate."You're a monstrosity,"she hissed.

A clear, unfluctuating watercourse was produced, arching onto the terra firma with a splash.

"Oh, she broke her record !"said Oath.

"I wish my mana would arise that fast !"Mira complained.

The piddle spurting from Beth's fingertip trickled to a check. She rolled onto her back, feeling like the hard route underneath her was now as flaccid as the king's mattress. It was the back day of Noah's training, midmorning, and he was running laps with Oath and his ally around the faulting estate of the realm. Since yesterday, this what they had been doing with to the highest degree of their time, running almost nonstop. It was Noah's rule that they had to run until they collapsed or nearly threw up, and then immediately cast magic trick until their mana was completely depleted. Oath was let off, 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 stamen a bit. While she recovered, Oath, Mira, and Trevor sucked in air. This was the only pause they got, when someone collapsed.

"I'm starving, can we eat lunch now ?"Trevor asked.

"I can't even think of solid food,"cuss 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 anguish, they didn't give in. It wasn't to demonstrate their determination, rather it was the simple fact that Noah's methods were producing results. Just the day before, at the same time, if Beth cast her spell, it would take just been a few cliff falling from her finger, less of a outflow and more than of a leaky faucet. Also, everyone's stamina was increasing noticeably. Thanks to the wellness potions, they could perform calendar week of daily exercise and recovery in a number of hours, compressing the rate of improvement so it was much more obvious.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I'm on my last peg too."

Oath and the others groaned in relief and began throwing down everything they carried, as well as stripping off any armour. Noah was making them run in all of their adventuring geared wheel with their artillery in hired man, and in fourth dimension, he'd incorporated weights to prepare them for carrying the donjon crabby person's gem. There was a field of operations nearby, but they didn't care and squatted down right in the middle of the road to eat. It was on the baron's demesne, so there wasn't the worry of traffic.

They each carried lunch made by the amah and were chowing down like ravening animals. Even Noah was giving in to his hunger and stuffing his case. But as he ate, his eyes swept over everyone in the mathematical group. This physical exercise was definitely vivid, shredding muscles and then immediately repairing them. In this case, the counterpoison was worse than the poison, according to the town apothecary. He had spoken to her the morning after he returned to Clive while on his way to peck up his ring.

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

"Using potions for exercise ? It would be a good estimation if it wasn't such a bad idea,"the old cleaning lady said. As always, she stared Noah down, looking at him through the smoke of her pipe.

"I can't imagine I'm the first person to think of using them this way. What I want to know is if there are any dangerous effects. You always have them in farm animal, so getting the ingredients isn't an issue."

She took a trench inhale and released a large smoke cloud."There is a downside."

"Am I going to get to pay you to find out what it is ?"

"In a thrill, are you ? Yes, it's always people like you using this method. Mana and health potions, as well as all early concoction used by adventurers, may look like bottled miracles, but they are a double-edged sword. If overexposed, the body can bury how to amend and restore itself. If a injury is repeatedly inflicted on one dapple and healed with potions, eventually the body will lose the ability to mend that blot on its own. slash will bleed ceaselessly, go against clappers will turn like rock music, and organs will eventually shut down. The personal effects are even worse if the potion is consumed, rather than poured, as it spreads throughout the body."

"How long before major scathe is inflicted ?"

"If used for day-to-day exercise, potions will contribute to Death within two weeks. Lesser price 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 make and instruct new spells."

Noah thought back to his"breeding daylight"with Tin. He had performed them every other day and with watered-down potions, multiplying his reserves countless times and giving him an edge, but there was no telling how much it had hindered him in the long run.

"And of form you decided to wait until now to order 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 depend at and I would prefer some honesty."

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

Three days, that's how long Noah was willing to use the potion method. That would hopefully leave behind them with enough clock time for the side-effects to bear off before they entered a dungeon. So far, everyone's physical stamen was continuing to rise, 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 date of their departure if he could avoid it. If anyone got a wound, he made sure to watch closely, to make sure their bloodline was clotting.

"All right, let's head back. We're doing the same procedure as yesterday."Everyone groaned and cleaned up their mess, but before they could give to the manor house, Noah stopped them."handle on, we're doing lunges."

"Please, not again !"Mira complained.

"You'll thank me later."

With their weapon system in deal, everyone began doing tenacious steps, stretching out one leg and leaning down with their other knee almost touching the terra firma, and they had to keep a riotous pace. It was sweaty, afflictive work.

"This is so obstruct, we look ridiculous,"Trevor muttered. He seemed to make love complaining, but since Noah beat him in a scrap, he was keeping his Holy Writ about following directions."It's not like where going to be running like this through the dungeon crab."

"No, but it'll build up your strength and stamina. The most important forcible asset in combat is leg strength."

"delay, really ? Even for brand scrap ?"swearing asked.

"Really. If you support your consistence with a satisfying foundation, you can fight while staying on your feet longer. It doesn't matter how hard you can throw a puncher or swing a blade if your wooden leg just buckle as soon as you meet resistance. Think of it as like trying to fight while standing on slippery ice vs unanimous ground."

Just like before, Noah pushed them to the peak of collapse. Normally, this kind of reckless education would be frowned upon, but they needed to stress and displume their muscles to the sheer demarcation, fix them with potions to attain 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, curse word and the others began stretching and lifting varying weight unit in various path. To the slaves working the domain, it looked like a basic physical exertion, but Noah scrutinized every bm, from the course their arm took when lifting a heavy rock, to the precise slant of their pelvic girdle when they twisted their dead body. Every movement had to be perfect, so that all the stress went to specific brawn. Had he the means, he would go even further, focusing on individual brawn threads.

In a way, Noah was grateful that this chance came along. Being an explorer kept him active and fit, but it didn't anatomy potency in the Saami way as this physical exercise, and coming to this globe had scrambled his subroutine. He had to use this hazard to properly refine his physique. He had planned on teaching this workout to Tin to lay down her inviolable and capable of defending herself, but that opportunity was gone.

Once they reached the eye of the afternoon, Noah had them affect on to the next microscope stage of their grooming. Oath, Trevor, and Mira stood side by side, all of them gasping for air and cursing in torment as sweat poured down their faces. For curse word and Trevor, the exercising was unsubdivided, though far from easy. They held out their weapon as far as they could and maintain their coat of arms raised for as long as possible. They had to keep doing it until they collapsed and they couldn't feel their arms, at which dot, they'd take a health potion and start again.

"Ah, dammit !"Oath cursed as he dropped to his knees.

"piece of tail, you're frail,"said Trevor.

"For once in your life, just shut up !"Mira hissed, ineffective to maintain her common polite personality.

Her grooming was similar to theirs, only using magic trick. Before her floated a ball of earth as large as a beer keg. Dirt from a bald spell underneath continuously floated up and added itself to the slew. For her training, she had to maximize the amount of terra firma she could lift, as well as the length, and horizontal surface of compression. She'd rotate it in the air to keep it from becoming lopsided, but every fourth dimension it moved, she struggled to keep back control.

Noah told her she had to be able to release dirt into square rock in seconds, as well as gearing her body to produce mana faster.

Nearby, Beth was sparring with Noah. She held a sheathed tongue in her hand and was swinging and stabbing at him with reckless fury. Despite her effort, he'd block and deflect her attacks away from his physical structure, using versatile fighting styles he had learned across the multiverse. As soon as she paused her onslaught, he'd attack, forcing her to enhance her innate reflex for dodging.

Finally, when the sun set, Noah said the magic words."Let's birdsong it a day."

On cue, everyone collapsed. Even Trevor abandoned his tough guy bravado and simply went limp.

"I think I might be dying,"Mira moaned, spread head eagle on the solid ground and staring up at the sky.

"I'm too tire to eat and too hungry to log Z's,"Beth added.

"I've spent my animation working on this farm, but I've never been this tired before,"said Oath.

It seemed that their stamina had been pushed to its terminus ad quem, beyond the decimal point that potions could replenish. Now they needed intellectual nourishment and sleep.

"I should probably head up back to the inn while they're still serving dinner,"said Noah.

"You guys can own dinner here,"swearing said.

"Why didn't you say that yesterday ?"

"Sorry, but after a day like that, I couldn't spend another hour thinking about training and the dungeon crab."

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

The table was old and unvarnished, hand-carved with roughly sanded plank, though meter had helped to soften its edges and the low-quality table textile hid its surface. On it, standard candle burned to illuminate the room, which smelled like the baked Fish Noah and the others were eating, along with bread and some vegetables. In the Bodoni font cosmos, not even soup kitchens would process food of this destitute level, but after a month in these new lands, Noah had managed to calibrate his taste buds.

It was only the five youths present. The business leader was not taking office. As with lunch, everyone ate voraciously, their consistence begging for sustenance to try and realize up for the fat they had burned. It was surprising that Mira actually noticed expletive had stopped eating, staring had his half-finished dinner.

"swearing ? Is something wrong ?"

"No, I'm just trying to think of the in conclusion meter I sat at this table with this many people."

‘ Oh my god, that is so bromidic,'Noah idea, drinking from his field glass so as to not break his straightaway face.

"You're going to make me sick,"Trevor muttered. Noah resisted the desire to thank him.

"What were your brothers like ?"Beth asked.

"My sure-enough, Colt, was a soldier, serving under General Tarnas against the barbarians in Handent."

"He really served under Tarnas ? !"Beth exclaimed, bolting to her feet.

"Is that a practiced or bad matter ?"Noah asked.

"Adwith Tarnas is one of the nation's greatest heroes, and easily the strongest hero,"said Mira, trying to hide her plethora with a smiling."virtually children are raised on his stories, and for as long as I've known Beth, she's been a vast fan."

Beth sat back down, a drunk smile on her fount."When I was youth, he and some of his forces passed through my town. Watching him hinge on down the street, wearing lucky armor… I was no longer an innocent child. I had awakened my womanly desires."

"You never heard of him ? What rock 'n' roll have you been living under ?"Trevor asked.

"A large one. evidence me about the war, I'm curious."

"Oh, well, according to my brother, it started when the barbarians began ransacking hamlet along the border, eventually leading to the renowned slaying of heights non-Christian priest Grybaen by top dog Waer. After that…"

The conversation had taken a unusual bend, but Noah absorbed every detail while making his plan for the hereafter. That dark, at the inn, Beth didn't go with Mira into their shared out room, but followed Noah into his. She had been too tired the previous night, but tonight, she had just enough strong point to indulge her curiosity.

The one-third day of training was just like the two before, including the same bit, but now with weights added. However, the consumption of potions had dropped in every natural process. The growth they had gone through over just a few days would have normally taken week or even month. In the belatedly afternoon, their education was changed. Now instead of simply holding out his sword, expletive was practicing his virgule like he was studying kendo. He needed to make both his flack and his recovery faster.

Next to him, Trevor was improving his thrusts, using what Noah had taught him and incorporating his legs so he could increase the strength with LE effort. He had also given Trevor the challenge of writing out the varsity letter of the alphabet in the air with the spear tip, to raise his truth. Beth and Mira had switched places, now with Beth straining her illusion and Mira staff-fighting with Noah. Unlike Mira and Trevor, Beth's spell couldn't be used for fighting and she appeared to be reaching the demarcation line of her magical aptitude, but creating fresh water was something they'd need if they spent more than a day in the dungeon.

On the twenty-five percent day, Noah met everyone at the magnate's estate as he normally would. He held out a back pack full of potions."Today, I want you all to see if you can follow the subroutine on your own. Until we enter the dungeon crab, I am completely banning the use of all potions."

"That's crazy !"Beth exclaimed, with the others similarly nervous.

"If you can't do the day's physical exertion without potions, then you simply aren't ready for the dungeon Crab, and the longer we wait, the more competition will throw. I don't want to give the stern of the carapace and find all of the avenium already taken."He put the rucksack down and put on a crownwork with all of its pockets filled with rocks."semen on, metre to start running."

The workout proceeded as planned, but with no less complaining. Now without potions, they could only gather their strength during good luck, but the figure of times they had to stop over and take a breather was as Noah predicted. On the fifth day, Noah faced them with the first light sun burning away the mists clinging to the magnate's estate of the realm. For Oath and his friends, this was the last day of training and they all felt convinced. They weren't screen to their own growth. They now stood with consistency covered in weights, gear up for Noah to break the signal to get down their morning run.

"Since today is the in conclusion day, we're going to do something different. Trevor, I want you to hit the footing with a down ten-strike and your strongest spell."

"What for ?"

"Just trust me. Pour as much mana as you can into the axeblade and give it a shot."

Trevor grunted and held out his halberd, and from the present moment he began channeling his mana, everyone noticed the conflict. These past times various mean solar day, whenever he, Beth, and Mira practiced with their magic, it was always in a state of debilitation, forcing their consistency to squeeze out every shoemaker's last driblet of power. This was the first sentence in Clarence Shepard Day Jr. that Trevor was using a go while at full forte. What would have been a shimmering aura around the blade was now like a great colorless flaming, causing his friends to instinctively ill-use back.

"Whoa,"Trevor said, unable to nibble any former Scripture. He held his halberd with trembling handles, feeling like it was a rabid beast in his traveling bag. He raised it above his heading like a blinding torch."Execute !"Apparently, saying the name of the spell helped sharpen the mind and increase the potence of the trance. To Noah, it seemed a bit ridiculous, but it did get matter a bit more entertaining.

As per the name, he swung down with the halberd like he was performing a beheading, and the moment the brand touched the footing, it was like a mortar round had gone off. A chest-thumping plosion was heard and dirt and rock were sent flying in all counsel. Originally, what would sustain simply buried his artillery 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 seem fatigued.

Everyone was stunned, with Noah flashing a rare grin."Mira, your upshot would probably be similar if I asked to use your strongest spell. Now that you have all this mana to work on with, think of it as a resource for experiment. I don't know how the two of you develop magic, whether you just produce new spells yourselves or learn by watching others, but I want you to devote yourselves to improving your skills. Show me something new. Today, we're forgetting about strength and stamen and focusing entirely on technique.

Beth, I want you to drill your archery until your fingers bleed and you can shoot the offstage of a fly. As for Oath…"Noah drew his longsword."You're going to be fighting me."

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

Beth's chest heaved with each front, and her nipples, chilled by the evening, pointed out and suck arc in the air. Just minute ago, she had been riding so vigorously, having to discard her wearing apparel when she began to overheat. It had been a struggle for her to maintain her moan contained, especially with her coxa refusing to obey her commands and slow her bouncing.

She now took a ennoble yard, rolling her pelvic girdle from slope to side while she regained her persuasiveness. Her reasonably aspect was one of tipsiness, her judgement overtaken by luxuria and endorphins. Her smile was raunchy, her brass flushed, her lip wet, her pupils dilated. Noah could see the fresh perspiration on her body with the light of the night sky. What was just supposed to be a quick tryst to fret the ol'itchiness had turned into something a little more intense.

Sitting up, Noah kissed her white meat 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 player. Noah's brim on her nipples, his manhood stirring her up, and his workforce massaging deeply into her muscle, these input combined into a military group that Beth was struggling to resist. They were out in the woods, so Beth's groan could attract monsters, or even worse, the ears of her Quaker.

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 audio of moan and flesh against soma. That was Beth's thinking, but Noah didn't care either way. His only reverence was getting stuck in an awkward conversation with everyone because of this. That, and the fact that he and Beth were breaking the linguistic rule of every revulsion movie and having sex in the woods. The flag they were raising could let been visible from space.

Beth's persuasiveness gave out, a final examination climax draining her and leaving her consistency limp. Noah was forced to lower to her to the ground, but she didn't object to him continuing to hurtle until he had a orgasm of his own.

"Come on, we should get back to the bivouac,"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 dude adventurers were awake 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 gain it awfully hard to catch some Z's. I thought some skirt chaser were tearing apart a goblin out there,"said Trevor. In retaliation, Beth kicked him while circling the campfire to reach her spot.

"Watch it !"he shot back.

Noah took his own spot and stoked the fire."Enough. Everyone, get some rest. We're going to demand our strength for tomorrow."They were less than half a day's hike to the dungeon crab.

"None of us can slumber. We're too nervous about tomorrow,"expletive said.

"It'll be finely. In twenty years, you'll ask your tyke ‘ did I ever tell you about the time I conquered a dungeon crab ?'And they'll moan and say, ‘ yes, father, a one C fourth dimension. We're sick of hearing about it.'”

"Are you going to do anything with the territorial dominion ?"Beth asked."Change any laws ?"

"No. Clive is perfect tense the way it is, and I don't want to convert anything."

"You're letting a golden opportunity slip by,"said Noah.

"What do you entail ?"

"I assume that as long as the kingdom gets its taxis, it won't care about how things change, so you might as well try some things. Think of the town as the place to perform social experiments."

"What's a social experimentation ?"Trevor asked.

"It's when you put people in a certain localisation with certain precondition and see how they react. You can see how human nature plays out. Let's say that as a baron… you introduced a new holiday, just to see how that affects revenue."

"That sounds really wrongly,"Mira muttered.

"It's a way to memorise about people. In the midpoint of town, put up a statue with a mansion saying not to allude, that the paint is wet. Then you can see how many citizenry are actually going to partake it."

"What is that supposed to do ?"Oath asked.

"How many the great unwashed are in Baron Clive, a hundred ? If half of them tint the statue, then you could take a crap the statement that half of the human subspecies is dumb enough to relate paint even when they know it's wet. Or perhaps it's simply that half the township can't read.

If you repeated the experiment in another town, maybe a big city in another res publica, you'll probably find that unlike numbers racket of citizenry will advert the statue. Then you can get down to figuring out why. Why do different areas have different final result ? Are the multitude simply dumber ? Is it a literacy problem ? Is there a acculturation of rebellion to self-confidence ?

There was once an ancient city named Italian capital, which had a massive stone engagement orbit called the Coliseum. It was so massive, that the emperor moth put the minds of his unspoiled architect into figuring out how to contrive it so that the viewer could easily get in and out, otherwise, they'd start a riot. You get a bunch of the great unwashed together in close law of proximity, one of two different matter may happen, sometimes even both at the Lapp meter. The low gear is that people will want to recede into themselves. They'll want to produce personal space, establish a circumference, draw that line in the gumption that no one can cross. If mortal crosses that line, they may get fearful, they may get violent ; no matter how small it is, it produces a negative reaction.

The other is to surrender to the will of the chemical group. If everyone around you is saying something, you'll assume it's right and repeat it, because you want to consider in the group, you want to believe you're right. You want to think that you're in the comportment of the great unwashed who know what they are doing. If you're in a mob where someone is shouting for the death of the king and everyone cheers, section of you will naturally agree.

person losing their temper will go a combat, that fight will disseminate and spark off Thomas More fighting, and suddenly the orderly passel that were simply trying to leave the amphitheater are sweeping through Rome, having abandoned all view of civility and now simply destroying everything in their way."

"That could never happen,"said Beth, as if Noah had just uttered a tike's nonsense.

"I've seen it occur plenty of times. Once you establish the rule that escape is not available, that candle starting time electrocution, and it burns quick."

"I don't know. I think citizenry are secure at heart,"said Mira."They don't just go crazy like that."

"Then you could prove it. Let's say you could create any sort of mixer experiment, completely relinquish recoil, like a dream. What would you do ?"

"How am I supposed to live ?"

"The rest of you ? Just think ‘ I wonder how many people would ( blank ) if I ( blank ) ?'Or ‘ what would materialize if I put ( blank ) and ( blank ) together ?'Literally whatever you wanted to screw, or simply just see."Everyone looked up into the aloofness, trying to work on the challenge."Think about it. It'll avail you fall asleep."

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

A solid clunk woke swearword up, a steel striking the ground just column inch from his human face. He instinctively shouted in terror and tried to scurry back, realizing it was Noah's sword and he was standing over him. His admirer, luminousness sleepers in an area this dangerous, woke up in a flash and got to their feet with their arm raised, confused and alarmed by the sight of Noah in the predawn light. Was this an assassination effort ? However, they looked down and spotted Noah's real object. It was some variety of insectoid creature, a stubby centipede with a bulbous shell. It was the size of it of a squirrel, with frightening pincers.

"What the hell is that thing ? !"Mira exclaimed.

"It's one of the parasites from inside the dungeon crab. I did as practically research as I could on the dungeon Cancer the Crab whenever I had the time."

Looking at Mira and Beth, he could see them shuddering in revulsion.

"You mean to tell apart me that there are more of those things in that crab ?"

"Almost certainly, but they're flooding out into the wood, so just means that the more we find out here, the few we'll have to fight in the crab. Now let's eat some breakfast and get a move on."

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

It was a literal mountain of upset earth and shattered bedrock, the answer of the keep Phthirius pubis rising up from the planet's gall and jutting out the tip of its shell. At the very superlative was the entrance, but the lot was no indication of just how large the actual Crab was. Before they could go down, they'd have to mount up.

"Look up there, I think I see a tent."

Noah scanned where Beth was pointing and confirmed."someone must get set up encampment there before heading in."

"There are refugee camp all over the mountain. There must be a lot of people in there,"said Mira.

"Most of them have probably been killed by now. Those summer camp are abandoned,"said Trevor.

"Trevor !"

Despite Mira's anger, Noah agreed with Trevor. The closer he looked, the more collapsible shelter he saw, and the majority of them probably belonged to the deadened, but he didn't want Oath and the others chewing on that."Relax. Everyone going in just packed lightness because they want to pack as very much treasure as they can, and probably couldn't carry anything extra when they came out. We'll be in the same situation when we come back."

"Wait, I see people too,"said Beth.

She was right, there were plenty of adventurer roaming the mountain.

"They must be scavenging for gem and preciously metals. When the crab appears, it probably pushes up more than just stone and dirt."

"If you can get gold from sifting through the dirt, then why bother going into the dungeon ?"Mira asked.

"They're after whatever they can get their mitt on, unlike us. We're after avenium, and it can only be found inside."

They put their fears aside and began climbing up the position of the mountain. There were no established course and the footing was difficult, to say the least. The grunge had settled since it was first moved by the arrival of the crabby person, but there were no plant life to hold it all together, so it was like hiking up the side of a sand dune in many areas. They also had to be wary of the big stone lump mixed in. They were freshly broken and hadn't been weathered by the wind and the rain, so they could easily cut through skin. While climbing, Noah grabbed a stone handhold and his laurel wreath 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 attention, and they offered none in counter. However, that changed when they heard the auditory sensation 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 clubhouse and tried to draw the man onto his back.

"Noah, we need to help him,"said Mira.

"guardianship him alert isn't my job. Besides, any strength you use against that one monstrosity will be strength you can't use in the shell."

"Then reckon this a field test !"Mira held out her staff."Shatter macebearer !"

composition of Edward Durell Stone and packed stain flowed to the end of her staff, joining together into a hardened sphere, the size of a basketball game and covered in acuate hump. She left the group and ran over to where the man was fighting, with her weapon system not hindering her movement at all. rather than physical strength, she was holding the field together and lifting it with mana.

The beast had the man pinned on his cover and he was fending off its snapping pincer with his pickaxe. Sneaking up behind it, Mira raised her staff and brought it down onto the lusus naturae's back, unleashing the full-of-the-moon weight of the I. F. Stone and breaking through its shell. The monster hissed in bother and fell over, and she dispatched it with another swing, this one crushing its exposed question. A week ago, such a chore would have been impossible for her, but under Noah's charge, both her skills in thaumaturgy and physical fight had been multiplied various times over.

"Thanks,"the man grumbled before dusting himself off and walking away.

She returned to the radical, where Beth was clapping for her."Well done !"

Noah, however, clasped his hand on her shoulder."Don't do that again."There was very small anger in his part, but still, she shrunk away."The Saame goes for the rest of you. We're not here to take on hero, we're not here to salve 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 someone, it had better be to use them as a ring mule or a meat shield. Understood ?"Everyone nodded."well, then let's move on."

They resumed hiking up towards the meridian, and Oath soon asked a question.

"Noah, you researched keep crabmeat, right ? Did you recognize that lusus naturae ?"

"Yes, it was one of the sponger mentioned in the Word your father had."

"Do you know what else we'll find ?"

"Unfortunately, no, there was actually very trivial written information about the donjon crabmeat and what exists within their shells. Those who remain in the upper parcel and survive share their selective information, but those who delve deep enough to reach the avenium either die or keep on it a secret."

"Wait, why is it a secret ?"Trevor asked.

"If I had to estimate, I'd say it's because the state's nobility doesn't want people knowing how to join their social rank. In this crab louse are the headstone to the kingdom, after all. Too many Brigham Young arriviste could break the balance of great power between the plenteous and the poor, or they could imprint faction that get in the way of the higher-ranked nobleman. Some information gets out, of course, from those who manage to escape with their life-time but don't conquer the keep, or from other res publica, but I imagine that the only if adventurers who are really informed are those already working for high-level nobles."

A monstrous hiss ended the conversation, as up ahead, a new menace revealed itself. It stood on a pair of muscular legs, like a ravening dame, 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 feet, that was all it could be described as, and it was glaring at Noah and the radical. It had the high reason, and after emitting another fizzle, various more come along, from both above and the sides.

"A pack-type parasite, interest,"Noah said as he drew his sword."Get ready, everyone, the scrap starts early."

They took shaping, with Oath in front line and Noah and Trevor guarding the flanks, while Beth and Mira attacked from a distance. The monsters closed in all at once, leaping through the air while flashing the talons on their ft and spreading their jaws.

"Trevor !"Noah shouted.

"Phalanx shaft !"he cast while swinging his halberd like a flag.

A trail of mana was left behind with each movement, and the mana solidified into floating sword like mist condensing into ice. The floating blades pierced three of the beasts before they could land, two more were wounded, and the balance had their concentration broken and failed to pounce properly. With that opening, Noah and curse began hacking and slashing away at those who landed closest by.

"solid ground Bind !"

Mira stabbed the soil, and beneath the wounded animate being, pits opened up to swallow them whole, then were closed with earthen ear like cage saloon. It wouldn't hold in them long, but it kept them out of the scrap. Not only could Mira now patent the spell multiple times from one casting, but the ground proved staring 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 ones were slain, the wounded were put out of their misery.

"trade good, well done,"said Noah.

Normally they would then harvest the monsters for worthful pieces, but the market for dungeon crab leech was too niche to be worth the effort. Besides, they wanted to save as much room for gem as they could.

They continued their mount, and after a couple more monster conflict, they reached the tip at midday. There, sticking out of the priming coat was the tip of the crabmeat's scale, like a igniter sign of the zodiac on a rocky drop. Noah could see the curl of the shell, and before them, the first step, a room access large enough for an elephant to walk through. Noah reached out and touched the shell, made of means somehow strong enough to stand firm the heat energy and insistence of the earth's interior.

In the month since Noah's arrival to this world, he had seen plenty of matter that shocked and baffled him, from magic to demon, but just the sight of the entranceway blew him away. To think that such a fauna like this could live, that something so massive occupied this world. It blurred the common good sense accumulated from more than a hundred life. Where did these things come from ? Were they made by magic ? Perhaps by some kind of god ? How old was this one ? Was it intelligent ? What was its life cycle ?

"I never thought I'd ever see something like this,"said curse, similarly amazed.

Everyone in the grouping was staring at the E. B. White tower in awe and acquisition. True, the existent struggle had only just begun, but compared to what they were doing not too long ago, just reaching this place was a immense accomplishment.

"feel at this purview,"said Beth.

Without any tree diagram to hinder their sight, the mountain tip let them see for naut mi in all directions.

"I think I can see the small town !"said Trevor.

"Let's break here for lunch, gather some of our speciality, and then lead inside."

They all sat down and Noah pulled food and water skins out of his doughnut. He had enough food and water to tip them all for various days, and thanks to Beth's magic, they could refill their canteens whenever needed. However, everyone carried two days of rations, just in case they got separated. Their lunch consisted of dried fish and fruits, as well as some bread, something lighting to keep them moving. Up atop the raft, there was a nice piece of cake, and the eyeshot was spectacular.

"Noah, remember what you were saying hold out 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 task them with building a society. What would Clive look like if it had only cleaning lady ?"

"A female-only fellowship ? 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 wanderer that needs to be killed,"said Trevor.

"Come on, I want details. For instance, there are role in club that are typically considered manly, and others that are considered womanly. If only when women perform the manly tasks, then what will convert ? Will the nature of the task change, or will the women variety ? Will the char who spend all day hunting, blacksmithing, and all those other jobs start acting rough and crass like men ?

You're an venturer. You spend your days hunting, fighting, scavenging, getting down and dirty. But you also consider yourself quite girlish, right ? But how do you intend a little girl who spends her 24-hour interval weaving and taking forethought of fry sees you ? Will a fraction mannikin ? The character A personalities arguing with the case B ?"

"Type A personalities ?"

"Never mind. Oath, you got an idea for an experiment ?"

Oath took a deep breath."Something like what Beth was talking about, but it's men and cleaning woman, and all of them have lost their memories."

"Oh, that's the good one. The total expunging of civilisation and starting from shekels. If you completely remove nurture from the equivalence, then you can truly see how nature manifests. Will men and women follow paths considered normal by high society ? Will they embrace the same roles that their ancestors have ? Or will they do everything new ?"

Everyone watched as he started putting thing away. He didn't need to say anything, they knew it was time to bring the plunge.

.

.

.

The metal glove

.

.

.

Once they had finished eating, they packed up their things and entered the case, with Noah taking the lead and holding a torch. Because of the casing's twist, they had to descend a gyrate passage, like a staircase but without actual stairs. The bulwark, floor, and cap of the passage were perfectly still, but there were no straight lines of any kind. It was like wandering through a contract canyon carved by flash flood. Most of the floor was covered in dirt and break away rock, perhaps seeping in from the hatchway of the shell. Luckily this meant that Beth would get something to puzzle out with to use her spells.

The crab louse had been venting its eggshell for more than a hebdomad, but the air still had a staleness to it. It smelled gross, like a mineshaft or a pit, but he could also smell the biologic theme song of the parasites. The air seemed very well to breathe and the torch didn't appear to have any take burning. Was all that oxygen from the outside ? How long could the oxygen live if the Phthirius pubis went back below the surface ? How long did the dungeon crab live underground before surfacing ? Either the crab and its parasite could run in an oxygen-poor environment, or something within the crab could produce a human-friendly atmosphere.

They had descended fifty animal foot when the world-class fork appeared, another tunnel branching off from the staircase.

"We're going to keep going down, right ?"Oath asked.

"Yeah, whatever passageway leads us down, we'll hire it."

One of the bipedal parasites burst from the branching tunnel, aiming for Noah. He stepped to the side of meat to skirt, drew his short sword, and stabbed the beast through the prickle when it landed.

The deeper they delved, the more branching tunnels they came across, but they continued their line, until reaching a large bedchamber at the bottom of the staircase, with five tunnel spread out. The staircase had been just wide enough for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, but these burrow were like subway lines. There were mansion of adventurers coming through here, marking the tunnel to try and hold track of which paths they had taken. There were also some parentage splatters, deplume clothes, and a reveal sword.

"What's that, hanging from the ceiling ?"oath asked.

Above their heads, gooey threads dangled like icicles, and at the Qaeda of each, a small testis of light.

"Cave louse. Their bodies are bioluminescent, attracting quarry, which get caught in their threads like wanderer network. This is a good thing. We won't need this."Noah extinguished the torch and stored it in his tintinnabulation."Ok, let's split up. We can cover more ground that way."

"Wait, WHAT ? !"everyone exclaimed.

It was the hardest Noah laughed since coming to this globe."Relax, I'm just kidding. Can you reckon ? Let's admit this path over here. It looks like it continues to slope."

They took the right-most path, further descending into the dungeon crab, and soon stopped at the entrance of a branch chamber, hearing drift within. They stayed against the wall so as to avoid drawing the attention of whatever was inside. Noah signaled the others with his hand and cast his invisibility, then stepped into the doorway. The plenty before him was a grotesque, a piling of maggots, each the size of a football, feasting upon the remains of some slain dangerous undertaking. Their fat body quivered as they peeled physical body from pearl. The walls were honeycombed to house the creatures between meals, and three grownup were standing guard.

The sentry go were bugs of some kind, consisting of four legs surrounding a promontory and torso that were mixed together with wings between the branch. The legs were armor-plated and sharp, and their downward-pointing expression had teeth like an angler Pisces the Fishes. They looked almost like winged bar stools. Noah drew his brand and killed one of the beasts without it ever realizing it was there. Seeing their brother spontaneously die, nearly being sliced in one-half in the unconscious process, the early two began to panic and search for the invisible assailant. He killed them almost as easily as he had killed the first.

"open,"Noah said as he released his spell.

He reappeared, just as Oath and the others entered the room, immediately broadcasting their revulsion at the stiff being fed on. Noah knocked the pile of bodies over, and kicked away the maggots so that he could begin poking around with his sword.

"Don't loot them !"curse said in disgust.

"Why ? Because we didn't kill them ? We're adventurers, we thrive on the decease of others, be they human being or monstrosity. Meh, zip great."He was able to accumulate a few arm and arrows, 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 four-legged glitch were flying towards them, having likely detected the deaths of their comrades."Phalanx Spears !"he then cast.

He blocked the passage with an regalia of mana sword and Beth began firing arrows, but the armor plating on the devil's legs proved stiff and they smashed their way through. swearing took down one, but a mo tackled him from the side, tearing into him with its teeth and claw. Noah killed it before it could bring down to a greater extent damage, then fended off the others with well-placed stab. Trevor had also been tackled and knocked onto his back, with Beth and Mira working together to pry the wolf off.

Noah was still on his substructure, so the ogre were heading towards him. He put away his longsword and instead switched to his shortstop blade. The commencement bug that tried to tackle him was met with his shield and then a sudden knife thrust. He repeated the scheme, breaking the enemies'inertia by blocking with his shield and then stabbing while they were disoriented.

The conflict had ended and healing potions were used where needed. This certainly was an concern environment for battle. Most of the monsters seen so far had grueling outer shells, something Noah and his mathematical group had little experience in dealing with. Their group focused on attacking rather than survival, as they were always fighting beasts that were as vulnerable as themselves. Aside from Noah's shield, the group didn't have much in way of defense outside of light armor—and a strong offense, of course.

They continued on deeper, passing by innumerable forking tunnels and eventually coming to another fork. Once more, their ears stopped them from proceeding, as they heard movement down one of the tunnels, and soon saw it as well. It was a deluge of centipedes, just like the one that had tried to kill Oath that morning.

"sanctum tinker's damn !"Mira shrieked, something very out of character for her.

"Come on, this way !"

Noah ran down one of the musical passage with the others following, but so too did the centipedes. It seemed they were familiar with the scent of multitude and now hungered for Noah's mathematical group. He slowed his pace, letting the others get past him, then untied a bag hanging from his belt and scattered its powdery contents across the trading floor. It was lye, the C. H. Best he could build within reason. 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 twist and draw in in annoyance. However, it only slowed them down, and those in back simply climbed over their ill kin.

They kept running, though more monsters were bursting out of the tunnels ahead. Noah and cuss took them out to the best of their abilities, trying to at least incapacitate them with one slash. Those not slay retreated immediately as the radical passed by, not wanting to become the prey of the centipedes behind them.

"There's a room ahead !"said Trevor.

"Mira, wait until we reach that room, and if I give a signal, use your land rush spell,"said Noah.

They entered the sleeping room, though regret filled them immediately. A new, colossal danger awaited them. It was a worm, coiled like a hushing cobra, with a body more than ten feet wide and retentive as a football field. Its chassis was rough, like living stone, and it was covered in countless small feet. Towering over them in this arena-like chamber, it stared without heart and roared from a sass that was simply a pit of teeth.

The survey of the monster shocked everyone into a stunned quiet, like Oath when standing before that bear, but not even Noah could correct them, for he too was momentarily crippled by concern. The fraction of second between two beats of his center seemed like it would last forever, but that future thump shook him from his daze, letting him compile his mentation and began working on a plan.

"Mira, do it now ! Beth, shoot some pointer into that affair's mouth or anything else that looks soft ! Oath, you and I will be the decoy. Trevor, you attack with all your magic. We need to just meander 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 moving ridge of monster, and counted with a undulation of her own. She cast her charm upon the earthen ground, taking restraint of all of the rock and shite and unleashing it on the centipedes like a mudslide. While that was going on, Beth was firing pointer at the worm's back talk, striking its exposed flesh but only doing enough hurt to piss it off.

It turned its attention on curse and Noah, running at it from its left hand and right position. It lunged at them both, aiming to eat Noah and swat Oath with its tail. Noah made himself inconspicuous and dodged the worm's mouth when it lost data track of him, and Oath blocked the onrush with a cut of his sword, breaking into the giant's skin. As they had distracted it, Trevor could now let loose his charged magic. Both the spear blade and the axe head of his halberd were glowing with a radiant storm of mana, and runic letter spun around the cock. He charged towards the worm's coiled dead body, released a roar of rage, and brought down his blade like a divine smite.

"Voulge gash !"

It was a compounding of his stabbing and cleaving magical spell, and while the movement were the Saami as just a formula swing, it inflicted wrong differently in the form of a cut. It had less penetrating power than the early two, possibly failing to break out the worm's bouldered exterior, but it would do much gravid damage to the flesh. His mana, having solidified around the fountainhead of his halberd, carved deep into the worm's flesh, and as Trevor swung his weapon down, he left a deep cut on unlike segment of is body. bloodline poured from the wound and the insect shrieked in agony.

"Let's go !"Noah shouted.

They ran off through another passage, leaving behind the worm with the centipedes. They didn't stop running, wanting to get as far away as possible. They kept maneuvering through the dungeon, fighting the monsters leaping out while they searched for a prophylactic spot. It seemed like every clock time they slowed down or even paused, something would bristle out and attempt to consume a chunk out of them. Finally, when they were gasping for air with their throat feeling as dry as sand, the group found a sleeping room with a little orifice and no fiend inside. They set their packs against the incoming, hopefully to help retain the monsters from detecting them. They all slumped down on the trading floor. Even Noah was feeling sick from the adrenaline.

"nookie ! This place is a death trap !"Trevor exclaimed as he poured a healing potion on a deep puncture injury in his thigh, caused by something resembling a cycloptic tiger catching him with one of its giant fangs.

"No wonder grandeur is the prize for conquering one of these things. You deserve to be a damn king if you can survive this place,"Beth panted. Despite fighting from the cover, she was covered in lusus naturae blood.

"guy, I got ta Tell you, I'm not sure we're ready for this place. It's too soon,"said Oath.

"Don't say that. We're alive, aren't we ? We managed to get through it and witness a place to rest. Not too long ago, we would receive died before even reaching the keep. We can do this, right, Noah ? Noah ?"Mira turned to Noah, seeing him staring at his trembling hand, but with an expression that, frankly, didn't fit the place.

After dying so many time, demise was no longer something Noah feared. It was to be avoided, but with about the same measure of try used to nullify dying in a television plot. He still possessed the endurance instinct in some fashion, but he could no longer properly apprize the slap-up risk of expiry in a given site. He was no more afraid of guns that he was a coffee tree table's discriminating nook. But what he felt when he saw the insect was true fear, when he realized that not only was the worm the most likely cause of his destruction in that way, but that it was a expiry he wanted to stave off more than any other. That belief of fright, after so long, it was as though some of his soulfulness's hunger was clenched.

"Noah ?"she asked once more, hearing him chuckle.

He shook himself back from his intellection."Sorry, I was just thinking about this place."

"And ?"

"A snail."

"What ?"

"The Bible at the baron's dwelling house, it had a scene of a dungeon crab. It might have just been a guess at what it looked like, but it was of a titan hermit crab. However, hermit crabs don't create their own case. Snails do. recluse crabs just take them over. So, either we're actually inside a snail, or if this really is a hermit crab, then that means it probably got this plate from a snail, and if there are these gargantuan Cancer and snails living within the earth, what else is down there ?"

"And how does that aid us ?"

"It'll take your psyche of affair. We'll be finely, 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 ?"Oath asked.

"Exactly what we've been doing. Just look on our pace, take it one challenge at a time, and retain our rhythm sweetheart. Besides, I'd say there is plenty of motivator to stick around."

Everyone glanced around the chamber and gasped when they realized the ground was gleaming like a starry sky. It was heavy to tell apart under the blue Light Within of the glow worm, but it was fleck of metallic element and gems mixed into the dirt.

"Our first grade !"Beth exclaimed.

They began collecting the glimmering pieces and cleaning off the undesirable turd and rock. nigh of it was raw and reduce, so extra deposit had to be scraped, hammered, and rubbed off, and even then, there was no telling how much atomic number 79 or silver was collected until it could all be properly melted down. Despite the find, Noah couldn't abnegate his disappointment. When he had heard about these dungeons and the treasure within them, his interior nerd had been imagining something more along the lines of an real treasure chest. That worm back there could be considered a mini-boss, after all.

With their spirits lifted, they left the safety of the chamber to persist in their blood.

"Trevor, you take period,"said Noah.

"What ?"

"I mean you're in straw man, in the middle quad. Oath will now be opposite from me, where you once were. In these specialize 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 reach directly in the figurehead. If we enter a wide-open blank, we might switch back."

Trevor stepped forward and led the group, and not long after they departed, they faced off against a yoke of the four-legged monsters like the one that Mira killed international. Now in the center, Trevor warded them off with his halberd.

"curse word, with me. Trevor, don't let them endure over us,"said Noah.

He and Oath stepped forward, keeping just out of range of Trevor's halberd with Oath delivering a mighty cleave. His sword cracked into the teras's carapace and struck its brain, though the lesion was shallower than swearing expected. Nearby, Noah was fending off lilt and stabs of the creature's jagged forelimbs, but when an opening came, he hacked one of them off and then lunge his sword into the monster's face.

"These scale might be deserving something."

tongue in script, they carved the top eggshell off, each one the size of a tug buckler. They were hard decent to stop curse's cleave and rather light, so there was the good chance they'd be deserving something to an armor dealer.

They proceeded onwards, fighting their way through moving ridge after waving of the casing's inhabitants. They survived each encounter, but not without shedding line of descent. They kept their middle peeled, not just for monstrosity, but for glimmers of gem. They searched every room, finding amber, silver, and muffin of all different colors. They also found quite a little of signs of human bodily process, though rarely any soundbox, Saami with the monster, and the all in ends were a constant annoyance.

"Wait, hold up."

"What is it ?"Trevor asked.

"This section of the hallway, we should avoid it. Look at it."The next hundred feet of the tunnel had a dissimilar consistence than the relaxation. It was a sarcoid, punctured open, like a cup of tea sponge."Something like that is probably some variety of trap. We need to backtrack."

"It looks fine. It probably means we're getting close to the bottom 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 screams and shouts and panic, and from the way they just came, another adventuring party appeared, a grouping of various 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 bull, the man who did it knocking her in the chin with the handle of his axe to get her out of the way.

"Mira !"Beth exclaimed.

She and cuss rushed to her English, while nearby, the screech of reverence became screams of pain in the ass. The men, having entered the hall, now found themselves being assailed from all position by flying stinger. They shot out of the holes in the wall and ceiling like hummer and imbedded themselves in the men. They were barbed, like bee stingers, and Noah could see them pulsing as they injected their venom.

"Get her on her feet. Something is coming."

Mira was pouring blood from her mouth and seemed delirious. Oath forced her to drink a health potion, but it wouldn't get her into fighting condition soon enough. The monster the men had feared arrived, some form of hulking crossbreed between a gray-haired bear and a komodo flying lizard. Its book binding was covered in thick shell and its underside didn't seem very weak either. It stood on its hind legs, exposing its lethal pincer, and released a thunder from between two rows of shark-like teeth.

Beth, standing behind cuss and Trevor, shot it in the abdomen with an pointer, though the wound was shallow, and it would read meter for the toxicant to kick in. Regardless, it took the subject matter and dropped back down onto all fours and charged.

"Mountain Splitter !"Trevor cast.

He thrust at the oncoming ogre, aiming for its head with the blade alight with mana. The beast managed to nullify a deadly hurt, instead staking the blast in the berm. Its exfoliation were like thick-skulled stones and just as hard, so while Trevor reached the tissue underneath, to the highest degree of the energy was deflected. Getting past the halberd, it slashed Trevor across the breast, sheering through his armor and knocking him against the wall. Noah took out a lye bomb calorimeter and struck the beast in the face, blinding it and making it stagger back.

"Beth, save Trevor. Oath, get over here !"

Noah didn't give it any luck to reclaim and lunged for the monster, slashing and stabbing at any spot that looked voiced. He focused on the wounded berm, but the beast was guarding it well, and despite being blinded, it was swinging its claw with deadly accuracy, and even Noah ended up with some cryptic cuts across his second joint. swearing came out from behind Noah and brought down his blade on the monster's school principal, doing some slight concussive damage.

"I'll distract it."Noah cast his invisibleness and charged at the monster while drawing a duration of thick chain from within his hoop. He wrapped it around the giant's neck and jumped onto its back. He pulled with his wide-cut weight, forcing it to rear back on its hind leg so that Oath could slash it across the tum and expose its internal electronic organ

"worldly concern Surge !"Mira cast as he got out of the way.

Since Oath had created a way in, Mira bombarded the monster with a blast of soil and rock, aiming for the laceration. It fell on its rear, too wounded to continue fighting, and Noah finished it off.

"good. What is everyone's consideration ?"

"Unhurt, but tired,"said Oath.

"I'm out of mana and I can barely stand,"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 margin call it a day."

They searched around, finding a room for them to camp out in. They made a door out of lusus naturae cuticle and barricaded it with their bags. There were no lambency worm in this room, so Noah lit his torch.

"Let's eat quick and get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

After a restless night, they left their inclosure."There is something I want to suss out out,"he said. He led them back to the corridor that had killed the other adventurer mathematical group, only to find that the corpses were gone, Same with the panoplied monster that had given them so much fuss before."Interesting."

"What ? Something just came along and took the bodies. What's the big good deal ?"Trevor asked.

"This hallway probably kills whatever enters it with those ear. Only something heavily armored like that bear-thing could hold gotten to them, but there are no drag bull's eye, no footprint. Maybe one of those goliath germ flew in and pulled them out without being detected, but I'd say it's more probably that they were eaten by something other than just a parasite."

"You mean the crab ?"asked Beth."How ?"

"I'm not indisputable, but I'd like to figure it when I have the prospect. Let's go."

They set out, continuing their exploration. The teras onslaught was relentless, a wave emerging every brace of minutes, each one pushing the explorer beyond their limitation, both from the numbers and the lastingness they carried. Everyone received injuries, even Noah. While his invisibleness granted him a margin of damage compared to the others, stealing did piffling against such huge violence. There was simply not sufficiency room to sidestep or crawfish out. They were running through their reserves of potions faster than Noah had anticipated, but not beyond his preparation, and he still had sufficiency to throw the full head trip.

He assumed they had reached the torso of the creature, or at to the lowest degree were no longer in the unoccupied portion. to a greater extent fleshy corridors were appearing, nigh of them containing some sort of biological lying in wait like the capitulum from before. Wherever this deepest portion of the shell was, it had to be close by. Besides, there was also plenty of incentive to accept the endangerment. While they did a lot of traveling, much of their time was spent garner treasure. Their packs and pockets were getting expectant with precious gems and ores, and even Noah was dumping stuff out of his ring to make room.

That weight was currently a hindrance, though, as they found themselves running from another wave of centipedes. The consistency of the corridor had also changed, where they were now passing through a chain of 30x30ft suite, each one with a deep bowl-like floor.

"Whoa ! Stop !"Noah shouted.

Everyone halted at the entrance to the future room, blocked behind his arms. The floor of the chamber was waist-deep with dark piss, or at least, they hoped it was water. By now, they had all become a bit paranoid towards the giant, as well as picked up some of their tricks. There could be untold animal lurking in that water, ready to grab them and drag them under, perhaps injecting them with toxicant with needle teeth or nipping stinger. But the centipedes were closing in fasting, and there wasn't enough clock time to backtrack to a offset passage.

Noah summoned some food from his annulus and sprinkled it across the surface of the urine, and the next few bit passed by with torturesome expectation, but nothing came up to flow, which was good enough for them. Not without grimacing, they stepped down into the swill and waded across. The future way had a pool of water like the start, and the adjacent after that, and the third base, and it was taking their toll. Despite all of the run they had done, there was only so much that stamina could do in this kind of exercise. However, as he moved through the twenty percent, Noah noticed something.

It was a bed of crude 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 and knife. This was something he wanted to avoid doing in this oxygen-low environment, especially since he was now soaked in oil, but he struck the Flint River against his tongue and spent off a spray of Muriel Spark that set the pool ablaze, filling the chamber with a bulwark of fire.

He rejoined the others, passing through several more way and taking multiple go, but they finally had to quit and catch their breath and gasped in fill-in that they were no longer being pursued. Even Noah needed rest, so no one said anything and they all just leaned against their knees, sucking in air with their faces over the Earth's surface of the water.

Noah stood up straight, and as he breathed in, the ground disappeared from under everyone's metrical foot. Some kind of organic fertiliser maw threshold had opened up beneath them, and the pool of dark urine became a hollering whirlpool. Standing in the centre of attention of the room, Noah and Beth dropped helplessly, disappearing down a immense throat. Trevor, swearword, and Mira were saved by the tegument of their teeth. Trevor's halberd and Mira's staff had gotten stuck, granting them something to grab onto. They were hanging over the entrance to the throat like a bottomless well of sustenance, quivering stone.

Sensing the obstruction, the walls began to fold in to try and shift them. The three youths couldn't assist but shout in terror as they struggled to climb up up out of the throat. They were drenched in filth, struggling to hold onto their artillery and get any form of leverage. They squeezed and clawed their way out, feeling like their fingernails would undress off. Their faces were pressed to the slanted flooring, forced to take a breath in and try out the pigwash. They reached the side by side room, but despite their debilitation, they couldn't eternal rest yet. They could see them, the approaching centipedes, having gotten past the fire Noah started.

They forced themselves onto their animal foot, barely able to abide, but once more having to run. They were in a dire situation, but Noah and Beth were even forged off. They were forced down a pit of anatomy, gasping for air and notion around for anything they could snap up onto to turn back themselves. To Noah, it ranked as one of the uncanny moments in his entire multi-life chronicle. They were soon tossed out, dropping through open air air before making a hard landing on what felt like a pile of firewood. It was pitch blackness, no cave worms around, and the moment Beth tried to breathe in, her electrocution lungs cried out in a new torment. The air was toxic, she could taste it, and every breath hurt. She coughed and wheezed, her look turning purple.

An arm wrapped around her from keister and something was slammed over her aspect. Instinct made her throw her human elbow back in self-defense, but it failed to land a hit.

"It's me ! Just breathe !"Noah shouted.

It took elbow grease, but she drew in a deep breath, and at last, it was assoil. She drank the filtered air in greedily, while the affair over her backtalk was tied around her point. It felt like leather, and it smelled like… charcoal ? I really made her want to sneeze, but even the itchiest breath was Worth it.

"Noah ?"

"I'm here, hold on."

There was a spark in the darkness and a torch was lit, Beth seeing the Saami device attached to Noah's face.

"What is this ?"she asked.

"A gas masquerade, something I whipped up. I was worried about the air quality in the dungeon, though I'm not sure how much trust 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 breadbasket pane 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 have chastised her for losing her nerve, but considering the post, he too was almost ready to snap."We're not all in yet. Here, hold this."He handed her the torch and looked around. There was a section of the island touching the wall, so the acid was frothing just under his feet.

He leaned over towards the wall and slashed at it with all of his long suit, but the sword simply slid off, throwing him off his residuum and nearly sending him tumbling. He reformed his terms, this time attempting a thrust. Once again, his brand, despite striking the shape 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 level of long suit. However, he wasn't out of ideas yet.

Sheathing his sword, returned to the middle of the island, then began scooping up armloads of rot-slickened castanets. He piled them against the wall, then removed a tightly-bound canvas tent software program from his ring.

"What is that ?"Beth asked.

"spring me the torch."She handed it to him, and he touched a connected Shirley Temple Black cosmic string to the flames. It came alight, and he forced the package against the paries, pressed with his shell, and backed by the pile of bones."Ok, back ! Back ! Back !"He coaxed her as far back as he could within the breadbasket, then conjured up the colossus shells they had collected before."Duck down behind this and try to cover your ears !"

They got behind the shield-like carapaces, then an plosion blasted off on the other side of the room like it had been struck by lightning. Smoke filled the air, and deadly shrapnel sprayed their United States Department of Defense. Beth released a scream from the massive shock, but Noah held her still, and though the blowlamp had gone out, there was now a hole in the incline of the belly, from which bioluminescent Christ Within was pouring in and support pane was pouring out.

They did their unspoiled to avert getting splashed with acid and climbed out into a new chamber."That blowup will have drawn monsters. We have to go."

"What about the others ?"

"They're heading for the same post we are. We'll meet them there eventually. semen on."

She followed him through the labyrinth, managing to avoid combat and find a room where they could rest. The air was stale and disgusting down in these tunnels, but compared to the exhaust of that tummy, Noah and Beth removed their mask and felt nothing but gratitude and ease 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."

Water began pouring from her fingertip with the volume and intensity of a garden hose. Noah leaned into the spray, scrubbing off the filth and trying to get everything clean and jerk. Beth then took a turn, and they switched back and Forth River until they deemed themselves becoming.

"I thought you could only use magic to stool yourself invisible. What was that back there ?"Beth asked as they both stripped off their soaking dress.

Noah, standing with his back to her, stave out his shirt."That was a turkey, made of something called lightlessness powder."

Beth peeled over her trousers and the rough, unflattering fabric that passed for undergarment at this era."So it was alchemy ?"

"sorting of, there wasn't any thaumaturgy involved. It's just a powder that reacts violently to fire."Noah shed his own gasp, still slippery with oil.

"So, that thing you made… Was that something else you just whipped up like those gas masks ?"

"Yeah. It's been a spell since I made one, plus I couldn't really experimentation to make 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 Earth do you go to learn how to make poppycock like that ? You said you couldn't find information on the keep Phthirius pubis, but you knew to ca-ca these gas masks."

"It was a job I took before I came to Baron Clive. I spent a few days working in a mine. Down there, they were using nigrify powder to blast apart rock and they had to use these masquerade in face they hit a gas pocket."The answer seemed to placate her and he bowed down."Can you spray my promontory again ?"

.

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The narrative of Oath

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expletive, Trevor, and Mira fell to their hands and knee, close to passing out. They had finally managed to escape the centipedes and were now back in a normal corridor. Their enduringness was succeeding to zero, and Trevor was knocking back potions. Only once all was calm did they finally get back on their feet.

"We need to discover Noah and Beth,"said oath,"we should—"

A solid fist striking his face both cut him off and sent him falling to the ground. His eyes were rolling like billiard orchis, but the sound of Mira's screaming forced him to focus. Trevor had tackled her and driven a knife into her chest.

"You son of a squawk !"Oath bolted to his groundwork and attacked Trevor, knocking him off Mira, who was choking on her own blood.

As they fell over into a tempest of grappling and whacking, Mira used what short strength she had to retrieve a wellness potion from her scoop and pour it on the wound. She passed out, stuck in a raceway between bleeding to decease and recovering in metre. Nearby, oath and Trevor had gotten to their feet and were now hurling clout wildly.

"Trevor, what the hell on earth are you doing ? !"Oath shouted.

"Getting you out of my way !"Trevor yelled back.

He retreated, going after his halberd. Oath did the Sami, retrieving his sword and raising it just in time to stop Trevor's thrust. Despite his long suit, Trevor was able to maintain more continuous force, and the spear tip of the halberd pierced his shoulder. Oath couldn't contain his cry of anguish as he was pinned against the wall. It was a stalemate, swearword 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 bear to down her, but I couldn't hazard you two teaming up against me."

"We weren't going to team up against you ! What the ass are you talking about ? !"

"I just didn't want her to interfere when I tried to obliterate you. It doesn't topic, I'll just tell the others the two of you were both killed by the Saame monster, if they're even still alive."

cuss struggled to fence with the blade in his shoulder joint, but it felt like the wound was just getting bigger and bigger."Why are you doing this ? !"

"I need you out of the way so that I can become the power. I wanted to do it after I got the avenium, but I couldn't let this opportunity berth by."Oath was forced down towards the ground, leaving a trail of blood across the rampart."You're the hold out of the main Fault family, so once you and your father die, I'll be next in seam to take in the title."

"You're another member ? But my beginner said the ramification folk had been slain !"

"They were, just a hebdomad ago, actually, it was probably Noah, hired by the business leader. But he only thought to shoot down my Church Father and my half brother. He didn't think it worth investigating further, to recover a mongrel like me living in Robert Clive. The town will be mine, it should be mine !"

Oath reached around, grabbing a Harlan Fisk Stone on the background. lot was sort 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 and scrambled to his feet. He could barely sense his leave arm, and he could neither open a health potion nor properly swing his sword with only one manus. Should he deteriorate his brand and go for a health potion ? desolate it and use his knife instead ?

Trevor, facing a similar predicament, chose to recollect his halberd and stare Oath down with his one good eye while launching pang. Oath did his easily to circumvent the blows, as he didn't have the effectiveness to do another shoving match. He was losing primer coat, fast.

"So all this time, you were just waiting for a chance to kill 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 donjon crab, it was thoroughgoing. I could use you to get the avenium, so no matter what, I'll still become a noble !"

Oath pulled away and reformed his stance, then went on the offensive. His capacity for wielding a sword had greatly diminished, but still, he could fight, and his encompassing swings forced Trevor to retreat. True, Trevor had the longer range, but it was much well-to-do for swearword's sword to break his halberd rather than vice versa. Oath pushed him back, trying to get past the swinging axe leaf blade.

"You're insane ! You think you can get the avenium or even break loose this place on your own ?"

"That's a risk I'm bequeath to take. I want you to die down here, unburied, eaten, robbed of your little family line burial plot behind your mansion."

"What could I have possibly done to realize 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 kick you out of the mathematical group. You're too rickety to rule these lands. You can't even use magic."

As Trevor spoke, his blade began to glow with mana, and Oath instinctively stepped back. His blade would likely crack if he tried to close up or even deflect an attack like that. This time, when the swings and shot came, he only dodged, not letting the two weapons touch.

"All you do is let that arrogant prick take precaution of everything and flip out edict. Clive would burn to the ground on the first day if you took over."

Oath swung his brand, just narrowly catching the halberd's shaft and stopping Trevor long enough to close in. Trevor raised the halberd to block, but a cleave of curse's sword snapped it, leaving a shallow cut across his forehead and chest. He jumped back, now holding an axe in one hand and a quarterstaff in the early,

"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 sleeping accommodation, for this grand duomo to be just a small pocket of this woeful labyrinth. Noah, however, felt a spine-chilling excitement. This was no average sleeping accommodation, as not only was it as large as a football game bowl, it had a bridge stretching across, perfectly flavourless, and a roof with great outward-bending arches holding it up. No, they were chains, each link the sizing of an SUV, and encrusted by the case. So too were there majuscule statues adorning the wall, a pantheon of low creatures and bang-up titans, all of them entombed by Caucasian, like fly ball in a spiderweb. The chamber was flooded, hence the nosepiece, but not with water. It was a lake of hydrargyrum, glistening from some unseen light power beneath its depth. The air above it was filled with fly-like hummingbirds, hanging their head directly down and touching their beaks against the Earth's surface as if fishing for something. The hummingbirds didn't seem aggressive, as they paid no notice to the two outsiders.

Noah and Beth crossed the bridgework, staring in awe at the body structure.

‘ This isn't a natural social organization, this was surely constructed by a sentient will. Who made it ? How ? How many people know about it ? What happened to this place to end up like this ?'

It was his first time facing questions like these, for the presence of magic in this world created space possibilities that he would never take seen in previous cosmos. Everything unusual he ever encountered was either manmade or caused by nature, but the mien of trick added all new options, instigating peculiarity. It could let been done by a unscathed other specie, using baron beyond his agreement. It was a new way of mentation, one that invigorated him.

They crossed the elbow room without any conflict, entering a hall with normal-sized rooms on either side. In these chambers too, there were structures and shapes encased by the shell. Were they multitude ? furniture ?

"Interesting."

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

swearword and Trevor were locked in scrap, struggling to obviate each other's attacks. curse word had broken Trevor's halberd in two, taking away his ability to use magic, but he still lunged and fought with the remains, granting him two smaller weapon. He would swing the head of his halberd like a tomahawk, forcing Oath to block with his sword, and then use his free hand to strike Oath with the halberd's shaft. The blows were delivered at full-strength and Oath couldn't stoppage them.

"You don't deserve to go the adjacent king 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 dungeon alive ! You can still suit a noble with the avenium !"

"That's not good enough. I want the land that my father couldn't have, the authority. I want to spit on his grave as the unwanted bastard and flaunt the ability that he lusted after. I want Clive, and I want to rip it out of your hands. It's not good enough for me to win, you have to mislay !"

A memory then flashed through curse's mind, and despite the dread situation, a chuckle let mooring."I remember Noah saying that you were a jerk probably because of something to do with your father. I think he even said you would give away us. It must be embarrassing, to be sized up so easily and give birth your true up colors seen !"

"Shut up ! If he's still alert, I'll killing him after I've killed you !"

Trevor charged at curse, and finally, Oath managed to deliver a wound of his own. He blocked Trevor's two-fold attack and pushed forward, his steel slicing Trevor's shoulder joint. Trevor dropped the rugged shaft, his arm now slick with stemma, though Oath was in the same province, no longer able to spellbind his steel with both helping hand. They stared each early down, picking the moment to assume. Trevor's cave in halberd was lighter and shorter than Oath's sword, so it would be light to wield, but he wouldn't be able to block well with it, so he'd have to focus entirely on law-breaking. For swearword, his defensive situation was better, but while he could move his sword with one arm, his speed would blanch compared to Trevor's and he'd be lucky to inflict much legal injury. His best bet would be to block and then try to overpower.

Looking at his cousin, oath was reminded of that scene from the field of force, when that radical of men attacked him, Noah, and Tin. He had been utterly useless, just pulled into the woods while Noah took care of the terror with ease. But in the calendar week since then, he had trained relentlessly, and now, he could finally guard himself and his bloodline, even against his own kin.

"This is your last chance, Trevor,"said Oath.

"No, this is—"A hole opened up in Trevor's chest with parentage pouring out.

Noah appeared behind him, his sword seemingly materializing out of dilute air and now wet with gore. The vane had gone straight through Trevor's gist, leaving both he and Oath stunned. Trevor tried to mouth, but all that came out of his mouth was blood line. Noah dropped him to the trading floor, pulled out his blade, and then pierced the back of Trevor's skull for good measure.

"Stop ! What are you doing ? !"curse word shouted.

"I'm fulfilling my declaration. He became an foe, so I dealt with him."

"It wasn't your place to decide he should die ! Trevor wanted to turn the next power in my berth, so it was my responsibility to take him down !"

"What are you talking about ? He wanted to take your place as Clive's next baron ?"Noah asked.

"He… he said he was my cousin-german, an illegitimate child child. He kept it hidden all this time."

"Oh please. His male parent wasn't ranked eminent enough to have an"illegitimate child ”. Trevor was null more than a common motherfucker. And while I'm sure he had some hard-luck backstory about growing up on the streets that would defecate us all pity or support him, I'm simply not interested. We don't have time for you two to bond over your daddy issues."

Beth arrived, standing beside him."What's going on ?"Mira was with her, having narrowly recovered and been given a second potion.

"I can't just leave it this way !"Oath yelled."I can't just walk off without knowing how it would cause ended ! If I could have beaten him myself !"

"That's just your pride talking, but pride won't observe you alive in this place. Should I have just sat back and let you persist in your childish squabble ? I was hired to keep you from dying, not help you satisfy your ego."

"time lag, what happened ?"Beth asked."What happened to Trevor ?"

"He tried to kill me and oath,"said Mira.

"You can't be life-threatening ! After all the time we spent together, he just turned on us like that ?"

"It was his architectural plan from the kickoff,"curse muttered."He's my cousin, and as soon as he found out we were in competition for the rubric of tycoon, he planned out how to use us and defeat me."

"We're not going to make it out of here, are we ?"Mira asked.

"We should have turned back when we had the chance !"Beth tearfully exclaimed, falling to her stifle as the pent-up strain finally released itself.

"Crying and worrying about it won't help us,"said Noah."expression, we're all exhausted. Beth and I found a elbow room we can rest in. Let's set up camp and get our strength back. You three go, I'm going to classify through Trevor's things."

"Noah, you can't,"said Mira."Trevor may have gone demented, but it's not right to just rob his corpse."

"Well you can either choose to arrest me, or you can go, eat some tiffin, and put the whole affair out of your mind. 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 leave behind you alone here."

"When the epinephrin wears off, you won't be able-bodied to. You'll crash and I'll have to carry you to the campsite. You're hurt, go fleck yourself up. I'll be fine."

"I guess you will, won't you ? Nothing ever gets to you,"curse muttered.

"I hear talking when I want to hear anguished footsteps. Go."

expletive limped off after Beth and Mira, and Noah began picking through the treasure that Trevor had gathered, as well as taking tools and provision that he had been carrying. It had gotten to the point where he really had to be picky about what he could take with him, as he was reaching the limit of what he could carry and still move effectively.

Once he had collected everything of worth, he activated his invisibleness and backed off to a safe distance, where he sat down and waited. It happened after only a few minutes, openings in the level appearing like cracks in ice, but the scale wasn't actually breaking. They were seams, invisible to the naked eye until they actually opened up, and from within, a green goo appeared. sort of than simply spreading out under the force of gravity, it was moving willfully towards Trevor's corpse. It enveloped him, and though Noah could not see it, the soundbox was being disassembled in while the size of grains of Baroness Dudevant. In clock time, the goo retreated, leaving nothing but some bones and scraps of fabric.

‘ So that's how it feeds.'

He went to the camp chamber, where everyone was sitting against different walls. There was a perfectly feel in their eyes, exhaustion that was both mental and strong-arm. They had each held a hope deep down that they would make it out of the dungeon crab together, all of them, that their party would pull through this tryout and stay on whole. Trevor was rude and untalkative, but his passing left a void, and they suddenly felt much weaker without him. But with the Truth they were forced to take on, was it really a loss ? After all, he showed no wavering in trying to mutilate the people who were thought to be his friends.

"How could he do it ?"Beth asked."How could he lie to us for that long ? pretend to be our ally ? All those engagement where we had to depend on each other, did that really mean naught to him ?"

Noah sat down and began unpacking his tiffin."You'd be storm how long you can proceed the lies going, how easy it can get."

"Have you lied to us about anything ?"

Noah stared at her, challenging her to swallow his solution."pile of things, none of which affair in this situation."He tossed some food for thought to everyone."Eat up. It doesn't matter if Trevor is short, it doesn't modification our plan."

"No, it changes everything."Beth stood up."We should leave. While we're still active, while we still have provision and potions, we should exit. We're not set for this place. We weren't ready even when we had Trevor. We have mess of treasure, more than enough to endure happily. Isn't that enough ?"

"It's too belated to bend back now, to leave alone here without the avenium. I'm certainly by now we've almost reached the bottom of the shell."

"What are you really getting out of this ? You're so sure we can do this, you keep pushing us forward. What is it that you want so badly as to risk all of our life ?"

"The Saami thing as you, an dangerous undertaking. Isn't that what you wanted ?"

"I was wrong, this is too much."Beth gave an indignant sigh."Oath, Mira, you agree with me, right ?"

curse word took a thick 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 animation as a coward."

"Mira ?"

Mira hugged her knees to her chest and hid her aspect. Was she refusing to direct share in the conversation or had she simply shut down completely ?

Beth turned back to Noah."We're in over our heads. It was a fault to come—"

"You're unloose to entrust whenever you want,"said Noah, cutting her off."I don't expect anything from you. If you want to go back to the open, you can just walk 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 hoi polloi scratching an itch."

"fountainhead because of that scabies, I'm late."

Mira tensed in stupor and swearword's eyebrows nearly shot off his side, yet Noah didn't even flinch."And ?"Beth stammered at his question, not sure how to respond."Again, you knew what the deal was when we started, no affixation. I'm getting that avenium, and there is nothing you can say to hold back me. You can either leave now and try to give it back out on your own, or you can come with us down to get the avenium and we'll make the trip back together."

"This is an obsession ! 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 seizure took a heavy toll on the group. Beth and Mira continued to snipe from behind Noah and Oath, but the monsters still withstood barrages of stones and arrows to try and sink their dentition into something. Normally, Trevor and his halberd could give warded them off, breaking their momentum so that Noah and expletive could go in for the kill, but now, they had to be the main defensive wall and pulley-block everything with their swords.

They battled through the monsters, but took injury with each clang. It wasn't just their formation that had been disturbed ; Noah could see the group morale at the bound of an abyss. Noah was indifferent, but the others were grappling with despair. Which hurt more ? Losing a Quaker ? Or finding out he was never their friend at all ?

At the moment, they were surrounded by centipedes in a wide-open chamber. Noah, oath, and Beth were stomping on the little whoreson as they drew close, while Mira was swinging her faculty, equipped with her Shatter Mace spell. She was angry, taking out her strain and foiling on the beasts, with her screeching of exertion becoming louder with each swing. Rather than helping, the onslaught of goliath only seemed to increase her boozy aggression. Beth, on the early hand, was acting soggy, paralyzed by care and the expiration of hope.

As Noah stomped on every centipede that came close, he heard a screeching. A few of the wildcat had managed to jump out up onto Mira and were digging in. expletive rushed over to aid her, but that left two side of their formation unguarded, and the teras were closing in.

"I have a architectural plan !"Noah said."When the monsters move away, everyone head towards that passage over there !"

Before the others could say anything, Noah drew his knife and slashed his wrist, sending a torrent of parentage pouring onto the reason. Seduced by the smell of profligate, the centipedes turned their attention from expletive and the others and swarmed towards Noah. He took off, sprinting across the field of armored backs and spindly legs, leading them like the Pied Piper.

The troika didn't hesitate and rushed towards the exit, though looking back to see Noah's situation worsening. Once he saw them hit the threshold, Noah turned around and made himself invisible. The centipedes were understandably confused, as even his aroma disappeared. His descent, 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 time he reached the exit, he had already used a healing potion to fix his wrist.

"Let's go."

The doorway brought them to a hoist staircase. However, unlike the compressed spiral of when they first arrived at the donjon, this staircase spun down the wall of a chasm-like sleeping accommodation like grooves on a drill bit. It was too gloomy to see the ceiling or the floor of the chamber, but in the blackness, there was a blink of an eye star, far below their groundwork when it should have been above their heads.

"Everyone, be extra deliberate and step quietly. I think we've reached the bottom of the shell."

They proceeded down the stairway, this one having actual stairs. The darkness swallowed them from the lack of cave louse, but Noah lit his torch, easing everyone's fears. It when they reached the fanny of the stairs that their concern all came rushing back like a flood.

‘ Of course,'Noah thought bitterly.

The rump of the room was occupied by some sort of massive slumbering monster. This circular chamber was more than a hundred infantry wide, and the brute was coiled up all over itself like a snoozing boa constrictor. There was no telling what its real sizing or form was, and Noah's flashlight couldn't provide enough lite to properly reveal its appearance. But in the center of the way was the prize for this journeying. The rampart and staircase were solid casing, but the floor under the devil was flesh, and in the middle, in a call forth washstand, was a pool of powdered metal with a peacock blue gleam. It was avenium, just like on Noah's ring. It was so closemouthed, but the risk before them was giving everyone doubts.

Oath stepped forward."I'll go,"he said as quietly as he could.

Noah grasped his shoulder."No, I'm better at stealth, think back ?"

Oath turned to him, loudly whispering."Please, it has to be me ! The unanimous grounds why we made this journey was so that I could become a stately ! I need to be the one to get the avenium. Let me earn my title."

"None of that issue, not in here. All that is of import is getting the job done and getting out of here alive. If you want to do thing the"right"way, do it on your own sentence. I'm going to do things the hurt way. If this thing so much as twitches, leave me behind and run as fast as you can up the stairs."

Noah didn't wait for him to respond and activated his invisibility. True, this ogre slept with its center closed, but he couldn't discount its gumption of smell and audition. He moved preceding swearing and stepped onto the overweight ground. Whatever this matter was, it had a lot of tentacles, and they were spread everywhere. He stepped lightly, double-checking every smear before putting his weight on it. It was hard, not just on the outdoor, but the inside. Noah had not been able-bodied to escape the ravages of fatigue, and his muscles were becoming undependable.

For curse and the others, it was nerve-racking, as they couldn't see Noah, just the blowtorch he was holding over his chief. Every fourth dimension the light trembled, they imagined him fumbling, stepping on one of the behemoth's tentacles and waking it up. When the Verbascum thapsus finally reached the basin, they released their held breathing time. It was a real measure of avenium, at least two litre of the glistening dust, and it was so fine as well. Perhaps it was expelled from the crab like a splinter, and it would accumulate in the basinful over sentence while the crab was underground. ‘ If this ends up like that panorama from Raiders, I'll just vote down myself here and now.'Noah rested his hand atop the avenium and sucked it all into the ring, every grain.

nix happened, there was no response from either the lusus naturae or the catchment basin. Noah waited a few bit to be sure, then turned and made the payoff journey back to the stairway. Once he reached Oath, Beth, and Mira, they all resumed ventilation and began the silent climb back up the stairs. It was when they reached the halfway spot that a terrifying roar shook the bedroom, and rather than below, it was coming from above. The group looked up in horror, seeing a second monster descending towards them. It appeared to be the Lapplander specie as the number one, looking like a colossal lion with a teeth-filled honker and tentacles growing from across its backbone that it used like spider ramification to help its descent. It was like some sort of Lovecraftian griffin. Just one cut of its paws would stamp out a sledgepaw bear. Had it also been nesting in this bedchamber ? Perhaps the mate of the one down below ?

"Beth, take it down !"

"Too late !"

It reached across the chamber with its tentacles and swung over, its beak full open. The mathematical group scattered, managing to forefend its beak, which smashed into the wall, though Beth ended up losing her bow over the edge of the stairway. One the talons on its forelegs made its mark and clipped Mira's facial expression, but that was all it took to crush her skull like a Gallagher melon vine. Oath and Beth, seeing her headless body slump to the storey, were left in stunned secrecy. Noah, already back on his invertebrate foot, stabbed the beast in the eye, forcing his brand in all the way to the hilt. The fauna howled in pain and jumped back with his sword pulled from his grip, and it wasn't the only one in agony. expletive and Beth now cradled Mira, sobbing and screaming at what was done to her. Beth, Noah could understand, but expletive's reaction stood out.

‘ Goddammit, don't recount me he loved that girl.'“ We got to displace ! There is nothing we can do for her !"

"No, I can fix this !"Oath sobbed."collapse me all the healing potions we have !"

"Her top dog is gone, she's dead. No potion can fix that."

"Please, don't ask us to leave her,"Beth whimpered.

Another roar echoed through the tunnel, this one from below. It seemed the first giant had woken up. Oath scrambled to his feet, not in fright, but rage. He grabbed his sword with tears streaming down his facial expression.

"I'll toss off them ! I'll kill them both !"

"This is no time for heroics ! We're leaving !"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY !"swearing howled while throwing a punch.

Noah deflected and countered with a jab to the throat and a knee to the stomach. swearing collapsed like a mansion of carte and Noah grabbed him and hoisted him over his shoulder. He turned to Beth and handed her his bow to replace hers."Keep those things off our tail. If you run out of arrows, I'll give you more. Now move !"

They raced up the step as fast as they could. Noah was struggling under the effort of hauling Oath and everything they both carried, and he had to check the torch as well. Ahead of him, Beth was raining arrows down on the two giant to the best of her ability. They seemed aware of the poisoned confidential information and were keeping a safe distance, but they were still following them up. They started swinging at Noah and Beth with their tentacles, trying to block their route. Beth would thrash at them with a knife to induce them retract, 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 fight ! That's all we can do !"

They continued their heraldic bearing up the stairs, stomping on the centipedes and ignoring the feeling of their pincers digging in and not letting go. Their collation didn't appear poisonous, but they put smoke ants to dishonour on the nuisance scale. Not even Noah could maintain a poker face with them biting down on his legs.

With fortune on their face, they escaped the chamber, running down several corridors before arriving at a chamber where they could take a breather. Noah dropped cuss on the ground and began ripping off the centipedes biting his legs. It was strange for Beth, to see Noah so winded and injure. He collapsed near the rampart, downing a healing potion to stop his bleeding. cuss, having regained knowingness, got back to his feet and approached the threshold 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 plate to bury her."

"It's a monster, it doesn't understand your flavor. If you go swinging at it for revenge, it's just going be glad that its next meal arrived so willingly. Besides, Mira has probably already been devoured."

"Don't say that !"expletive shouted.

"Noah !"Beth added her interpreter to the outrage.

"You just necessitate to have it. She's gone, there is zip you can do to assist her. Nothing can be done to commute what happened. I'll say it as harshly as I need to if it gets the message through your dense skull."

"What would you have done if it was Tin who died in there instead of Mira ?"

"I would have left her. I've seen pile of multitude die. This isn't my offset time leading mass into armed combat, 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 bridge, I was prepared for all possible red ink, though I'm honestly thwarted that you two all came here expecting to do this without losing anyone."

"Is that all we are to you ? Just time to come loss ?"

"Yes, that's right."Noah got to his feet."Look, we've got the avenium, so the heavy function is done. Now we can head up home."

"Two of our friends are numb and we're in the bottom of a keep crabby person ! How is that not the severely part ? !"Beth screamed at him.

"Because I have an idea on how to get us out of here."He took out a H2O skin from his backpack and poured in some pulverise avenium from within his ring, then shook it up and handed it to swearing."Both of you, drench this on yourselves. Try not to let any go to waste."

"What will this do ?"Oath asked.

"When I activate my invisibility, I wrap myself in mana, as well as anything I touch or hold, but for some reason, it won't work on anything support. The mana just won't stick on, like it's being repelled. However, I did some enquiry on avenium. It is a metal, but it bends dismount like a crystal, and it manipulates mana the Saame way. I can't apply my invisibility to you, but if you're covered with powdered avenium, it may help me hide you a bit. Try it."

Oath sighed and poured some of the intermixture on his caput, then went to work rubbing it into his skin and wearing apparel. He handed the eternal sleep to Beth and she did the Sami. Noah activated his illusion and grasped their manpower. The air around them shimmered, their trunk becoming faint, like they were shrouded in a passion haze. They became like mirages of their genuine ego. cuss and Beth voiced their shock as they looked at each other, and the fact that Noah could get a line them was concerning. It was a far-cry from Noah completely erasing his presence, but at the very least, it would make them less 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 contain, leave it here now."

Beth and expletive couldn't see Noah, but they stared at the space he occupied. He could see it on their faces, the mistrust, the frustration, the awe, the sorrow, the exhaustion. They'd just have to breastfeed it up.

"Let's go, and stone's throw lightly."

They left the chamber and began their journey back to the surface. They no longer moved in formation, and they tried to keep a quick but quiet pace. When monsters were nearby, Noah would spark off his spell and they'd do their beneficial to avoid detection. It didn't always workplace. At one dot, they were being pursued by a large number of the bipedal carnivores like the one they had faced outside. It was too many for them to take on, and the longer they stayed in one spot fighting, the greater the chance more monsters would be drawn.

Noah, pulling oath and Beth along, activated the go in his rightfield eye.

"What the hell ? !"Oath said in shock as he watched the knockoff fall back, while the real Noah was still gripping his hand.

"It's another illusion I can create, just keep open moving !"

As they ran, Noah had the clone start waving his weapons system and shouting at the approaching monsters, doing whatever he could to draw their attention. They passed through the clone in utter discombobulation, turned around, and tried again and again. Their eyes, ear, and nozzle were all telling them that prey was standing before them, but no matter how many time they tried to bite down, their jaws closed around naught but air. They were so cark that Noah and the others managed to get away.

"Why didn't you tell us about—"

"Shut up !"Noah barked back."If you can talk, keep open running instead !"

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

leap was planting season, so the farms on the Fault demesne were in a frenzy. Oath, the king's third son, was the"lord"of this labor. He and the slave spent their day working the plain, though there was small distinction between them. He lived and ate his repast with his father and brothers, at least, when they were at menage, but his ranking in the folk was just a step above"mongrel ”. His father lauded all of his praise on his chum, with the younger always trying to surpass the quondam and win the estate.

The oldest was a soldier, a squad leader, one step below true horse. He would be gone for calendar month at a time, then render home and brag about the battle he fought for the glory of Uther, and how he bolstered the reputation of the fault household. The middle son was a proud hunter and skilled in deception, a talent he often lorded over the older brother. He claimed magic to be infinitely superior to swordsmanship, meaning he, the magically-affluent, was the future of the stemma. Neither brother liked Oath, simply treated him like one of the servants. He was just another laborer. His father, on the other paw, wasn't cruel like them, but he simply didn't care beyond maternal instinct. His mother was long gone.

Oath had been outside when he learned of their dying, but on break. Lying on a sun-warmed grassy Benny Hill, he watched the clouds pass disk overhead. As the one-third son, he was compelled to keep his head down, to rivet only on the task in battlefront of him and not rock the sauceboat. Skygazing was the only metre he'd break that formula, abandoning the discipline to instead rivet on farming his own brain, to forget about his aliveness and responsibilities and try to picture out what was left.

He knew nothing of the humans beyond his home and village, couldn't even read, and most of his socialization came from talking with the slave during body of work. They often didn't have much to say, but they trusted him enough to include him in their tittle-tattle. He wasn't like the big businessman and his oldest boy ; his ft were more apply to the grime of the playing area than the floorboards of the Fault home. Those conversations were the only metre he could learn of things beyond simply swinging a hoe or scythe, to give away that there was more to existence than just crops and livestock, and when he gazed at the sky, Oath would use that glimmer to try and develop himself, find out who he was. That was the plan, at least, but he was disturbed by one of the maids of the theater.

"Master Oath, your father requires your comportment immediately."

The applied honorific was just a courtesy acknowledging his origin. There was no true respect in her news.

"Understood."Oath got up and followed her to the family, where she led him to his sire's study. As he approached, he heard ludicrous shouting and things falling over.

Inside, the magnate, 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 methamphetamine with a shaking hand.

"Father, what is it ?"

"Oath, Colt and master have perished."Ivan picked up a letter with a broken wax seal of approval."Colt was killed in battle on the Petosic Steppes."He threw it aside."And superior was killed by a bear while hunting. His clay were found this morning."He emptied his whisky glass in one gulp and staggered, looking like he was on the verge of collapse.

cuss took a present moment to treat the news, but there wasn't much to procedure. There was no such thing as sibling honey in Lord households."I'm sorry, Father."

The baron fell back in his chair."curse word, you are now my entirely son. That means that you will inherit my title when I die, unless my conniving blood brother manages to steal it !"

"Father, I can't be a baron !"

"This is not something you can refuse ! I will not allow our house to let nobility slip from its finger ! But you're right. The way you are now, the kingdom would be Isaac Mayer Wise to hired man it over to Edwin, so we're going to vary that. From now on, I am going to sculpt you into a desirable replacement."

After that, everything changed. From the crack of dawn until late at night, swearword was trained in scrap, etiquette, and Reading and written material. The creature of the farm were replaced with his grandpa's blade, and 60 minutes not spent swinging it were spent hunched over one book after another, studying by candle flame. None of it stuck. Unlike his pal, he was born without talent and raised without an education. He couldn't use magic, could barely fight, and was about as civilised and learned as the low-pitched peasant. There was fiddling Hope for him.

One day, he found himself at the Old Wineskin, looking for an adventuring job. People would post notices, requesting items like worthful plants or monster parts, or chore like escorting someone through the forest. Helping around town would yield him some achievements he could use to prove his eligibility for inheriting the Clive barony. He had also heard some Wyrd rumor about the inn, about some mad pair that had the loudest sex conceivable. From daybreak to midday on every former day, anyone in or near the inn would be flushed with embarrassment as they heard a young woman's cries of euphoria, along with the knocking of a bedframe threatening to soften apart. However, today, the inn was hushed. The only when voice he heard was addressed to him.

"Hey you, by the bill display board, over here !"

He looked over to the origin, spotting a tabular array occupied by three young like himself, a man and two women.

"Me ?"

"Yeah, add up on !"one of the women 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 party to join, are you ?"the other woman asked, a cute brunette with short hair.

"Oh… uh, yeah, I guess. I haven't been making much headway on my own."

"Well demand a seat !"

curse word hesitated, feeling the man beside him shooting daggers from his center. He was sizing him up, and apparently didn't like what he saw.

"No, change 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 pauperization of a swordsman in our mathematical group, and you look like you would fit right in."

"She means you look weak enough that no one better would have invited you to join their groups, and no real adventurer would corrupt their self-regard by joining this gro— Ouch !"Beth had just kicked him under the table.

"You're not allowed to badmouth the group while being a part of it,"she scolded.

"Truth be told, none of us are very effective, but that just means we should deposit together,"said Mira.

Oath finally took a seat and put a script on the blade hanging from his smash."Ok, sure, I'll join you guys. My public figure is swearword. I'm actually sort of surprised, I thought this place would be… louder."

"Oh yeah, those narration ? We've actually met them, Noah and Tin, the dyad who make all that noise,"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 smart. He gave us a lot of outstanding advice about tactics and magic. We tried to get him to fall in our team, but he wanted to work on his own, him and that slave fille. God, I envy her."

"settle down, you're so untoward,"Mira said with a sigh. She then turned to expletive."Anyway, welcome to the group !"The smile she flashed at him made his heart flutter in a way it never had before.

For the following few workweek, Oath and his new friends adventured together, fighting what monster they believed they could mystify, but were most often forced to run away and tend to their wounded trunk and bruised egotism. But no affair how many clip they were beaten, curse was never dejected, because it was the first sentence he felt truly accepted, and with people his own age, no LE. True, Trevor always gave him the cold shoulder, but Beth kept the look of the group raised, and Mira… she was something else altogether.

She spoke with him, laughed with him, and smiled with him, all moments of confusing seventh heaven that he drank like fine wine-colored. He was drawn to her, pulled by a force that he could not identify. One day, after they had managed to kill a beast, and only just barely, he and the others all collapsed from enfeeblement. Mira, sitting side by side to him, ended up placing her hand on his. The mo her fingers touched his, it was like cold lightning surged through his face, a frighteningly sinewy sensation, but one that made him finger more alert than the battle 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 nerve. The inaugural meter Oath fought a monster, he froze up in terror, and it wasn't the cobbler's last time his fear got the skilful of him, but at that moment, he broke through his concern, turning his bridge player over to agree hers. They gazed at each early, their abdomen filled with more butterfly than a meadow in summer. That was the moment he realized his feelings for her.

The side by side day, his father sat Oath down in the living-room of their home. With them was a gruff middle-aged explorer with a bow."Oath, no matter what, you must not let anyone outside of your party know this. I've just learned that a keep crab has surfaced nearby."

Dungeon crabs were one of the great unusual person in the world, but their mythology was thin. They were vague fauna, described as bread and butter fortresses that rose up from the solid ground. Many believed that they were a remnant of the war between the idol and the liquor.

curse word wasn't sure enough how to answer to the news, so his father continued."explorer who manage to capture a donjon crabby person by taking the avenium interior are granted the rank of king or higher by the kingdom. If you and your Quaker can fulfil this, then there is nothing Edwin can do and my title will be passed on to you without question."

"My friend and I can barely face up the monsters in the woods. We can't palm a dungeon crab."

"I am well mindful of your weakness when it comes to swordplay. I'm hoping that switching to a different weapon will unlock your potential drop. This man is Sendal, a warhorse explorer and Archer. He'll Edward Thatch you how to use a bow."

Just looking at Sendal, Oath could separate he wasn't the friendliest guy, but his father wouldn't alteration his mind. That day, he and the archer rode into the woodwind to hunt down, and that was the last thing he remembered. When adjacent he woke up, he was in a hobgoblin tunnel, racked with pain flowing from the back of his promontory down to the backsheesh of his toes, but it was waning, thanks to the potion he had received.

Helping him to his understructure was a new man, a bit quondam than him, with a little girl standing behind him. Noah and Tin, he had heard those name before. They were the source of the strange hearsay about the Old Wineskin, but more than that, Beth and Mira had vouched for Noah's effectiveness. Oath was unbelieving, especially when Noah declared that he was going to solve out the goblin den himself, something that was nothing short of suicidal. Despite his sprightliness being saved, Oath wasn't feeling very grateful, considering he now had to work as Noah's pack mule while he marched to his doom.

But then he saw the result. Noah slaughtered the hobgoblin with relaxation, never displaying any kind of magic. swearing and his supporter had repeatedly tried hunting goblins, nearly dying every time, but they fell like reeds with every cut of Noah's steel. Then, when the goblin chief revealed itself, Oath got to witness true play, and the memories of his sure-enough brother's accomplishment were painted over by Noah's battle. Had he and his protagonist attempted this, they would have ended up being cooked and eaten.

During the journey plate, they were attacked by brigand. Tin, obeying Noah, pulled Oath into the woods before he could even grab his brand. The fight lasted only a minute, leaving Oath in awe when he saw the body of the slain bandits. He rode back to Baron Clive of Plassey with Noah and Tin, and when he arrived back domicile, his father threw his weaponry around him, wailing succour to see his son's return. It was the first sentence his father had ever hugged him.

"Fatherhood, there is something I need to state you."They went into his father's discipline and closed the door behind them. Oath, standing while the baron sat, leaned against the desk."The Orion you hired, he knocked me out handed me over to goblins."

"darn him ! Edwin must have bribed him to get you out of the motion-picture show. But if he handed you to goblins, how did you escape ? Did you contend your way out ?"

"No, I was saved by someone, a man named Noah. He's young than Colt but twice the warrior, and he's already helped my friends before. He wiped out a Brobdingnagian goblin nest himself and even killed a hobgoblin."

Ivan leaned back in his chair."If a young man of such acquisition were to join your party, perhaps you might be able to capture the dungeon crab."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Bring him here. I'll talk to him."

The succeeding thing Oath knew, Tin lay dying, and he watched as Noah slew the assailant. The arrow in Tin's bureau, 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 lesion and down her throat, but her consideration didn't improve. As Noah approached, cuss braced himself for the mop up. It was cuss's defect that she had died, her life sentence ended because he had been saved, so would Noah postulate his sprightliness as compensation ?

But Noah didn't acknowledge swearword. He simply kneeled down and held Tin. There were no tears, not even a trembling breathing spell. Tin voiced her final goodbye and closed her eyes, while Noah simply stared at her like a statue. Noah then departed with Tin, riding off to notice a suitable plaza to bury her. Watching him bait off, swearword remembered the grinning on Tin's face when she said goodbye, and imagined that looking at on Mira, the pure, honest, intoxicating emotion. He wanted to see her. He had nearly died, and he wanted to take the jeopardy he never could take if he hadn't been saved.

To his beginner's protests, he rode out to the Old Wineskin, and as soon as he entered, he heard Mira's voice."swearing !"

There they were, gathered at their usual table. Never was he so happy to see his friends. He crossed the tavern and took his seat."Hey."

"Your begetter 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 hob. 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 make up excuses."

Mira gave him the benefit of the doubt."Really ?"

"Yeah, but I was saved by that Noah guy that you told me about, he and Tin. I watched him clear out an stallion mine full moon of hob single-handedly."

"Of course soul like you would want to be saved,"said Trevor.

"An entire mine ? !"Beth exclaimed as she bolted to her feet.

"We can barely fight a fistful of them,"Mira sighed.

"Anyway, listen to this."He leaned in and waved for them to all do the same."A dungeon Cancer the Crab has appeared nearby."He was favorable that everyone understood that term. He didn't have faith in his ability 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 hr !"

"Listen, Noah has agreed to get together our team and train us. With his help, I'm sure we can do it."

"We don't need some freak out's advice,"said Trevor.

"Did I forget to observe that he also killed a bugbear ?"

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 figure is Oath fracture, son of king Ivan flaw. I'm his 3rd son but I'm next in logical argument to have his title."

"hoot it, he's mad ! Everything he's said so far was a hallucination."

"swearing, did you eat some foreign mushroom cloud in the woodwind ?"Mira asked with honest concern.

Stared in continued silence.

"I swear to you, it's rightful. I'm sure the archer gave me to the goblin to retain me from inheriting the championship. When I returned home, that same archer tried to pour down 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 shameful gust. Her endless moaning had become a stop of pride in the villagers, considering it a valued crotchet in the identity of their base, like the swallows returning to Capistrano. Besides, they had both seen the love in her eyes.

"Yeah. Noah killed the guy and devolve on off with Tin to bury her. He said he would be back the day after tomorrow."

"That's awed,"said Beth.

"poor people Noah,"Mira added.

"I don't think we should have him with us. We can do the dungeon crab ourselves,"said Trevor.

"No, we wouldn't stand a chance without him. Just talk to him, you'll see."

Beth raised a beer mug."Anyway, I'd say this calls for a drink. Let us rejoice the safe restoration of our associate, toast our approaching achiever, and mourn a fallen friend !"

Oath wanted to laugh, but truth be told, he'd take some liquid courage.

Late into the night, the four explorer splurged on food and drinks, until all was quiet and the innkeeper was preparing to come together up the bar. Trevor had gone home, 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 a little tipsy.

"Yeah, and all the wealth from the adventurer is really going to facilitate this village."

"With that money, I can finally pay off my mother's debts."

"You never said your female parent was in debt."

Mira giggled."I guess we both kept secrets. I never liked adventuring, but it was the best way I could establish money after my father left. In a way, I'm glad I did it, but I just want a squeamish quiet home base life."

"Well I'll become the baron of the townspeople. Maybe you could settle here."Never in a million years would a sober Oath have the courage to do so, but he reached out and held her handwriting like he had on that day in the Sir Henry Joseph Wood."And I could make a rest home with you."

Like him, Mira was fueled by liquid courage, but she got to her feet with little grace and great courage, and pulled Oath to his."Come on,"she mumbled with an embarrassed smiling. They were both more than a trivial drunk, so they had to avail each other up the stairs, giggling with each step. They reached the door to Mira's way, and as she fumbled with the key, Oath leaned in and steal a kiss. It was his first, as well as hers, and while he got her mostly on the nozzle, she touched her lips with a smile and a blush.

They got the door open and stumbled into the room, shutting it behind them. Mira lit a candle and then made herself at home in Oath's embrace. Standing in the eye of the room, they kissed once to a greater extent, this fourth dimension able to put their nitty-gritty and souls into it.

"Are you make for this ?"Oath asked.

"I think so. Are you ?"

"I'm not surely. I don't have any experience with being with a woman. I mean… I've seen animate being on the farm…"

Mira outburst into laugh, which, endorse to her shouting at him, was the absolute stopping point chemical reaction 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 tone is we take off our clothes."

swearing was already sporting a woody, and those last four Son nearly pushed him over the edge. He took off his pelage, Mira removed her cloak, and for a here and now, they paused, feeling the tension as they gripped their shirts, but upon struggling to actually pull them off, they couldn't supporter but laugh. Mira's breasts were exposed, and Oath, a swirling soaker of adolescent hormone, 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 weaponry, and Oath, with trembling workforce, began to fondle her modest shelf. That fuzziness, that smoothness, he was drawn to them like sugar. He was clumsy ; not brutish, but his technique was ill-refined, as was to be expected. Regardless, Mira shivered and purred from curse word's touching, afraid of being so vulnerable, both her body and her feeling exposed to another for them to do with as they pleased. Perhaps it was the presence of that fear that made it feel so good, the fright of being touched so intimately, mixed with the joy of finding someone whom she wished would do so.

Massaging deep into her build and relishing the way her mammilla felt when he toyed with them, Oath, like Mira, was overwhelmed. The prospect 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 feeling like he was going to chute out of his skin. 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 shroud it, but to Mira, it looked like he was just getting impatient.

She lowered her hand and pushed off her trousers. Oath didn't immediately respond, 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 sentence to retrieve, and simply dropped his own pants. This clock time, it was Mira's turn to stare, as she tried not to call up of when their group last fought goblin, most of which weren't wearing anything.

Mira climbed into bed, hiding herself under the blanket."Now… you get on top of me… and I think you know where your thing goes."

curse put out the cd, plunging the way into full swarthiness. He meandered his way back to the bed, feeling the top. His hands found Mira's organic structure and he felt her flurry like a panic-stricken brute. He slipped under the mantle and their naked eubstance met, first in the form of an embrace, then in the phase of a kiss, and finally…

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

Noah, swearword, and Beth sprinted up the winding staircase towards the exit of the dungeon crab. They were covered in line, effort, and shite, and had countless untreated combat injury. 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 clock time, the chorus line of roars repeated in the backbone of their judgment no matter what.

Finally, when their bodies felt like they'd fall apart like sandcastles, they breathed sassy air, and felt the sun shine upon them. They burst out of the top of the crab's shield, collapsing near the doorway. For the three of them, it was like a religious experience. Beth crumbled, bust pouring down her look, a mix of happiness, misery, respite, and mourning, and as the sun rose, swearword stared like his person had left his body, turning him into an evacuate husk. As for Noah, he dropped the horse sword he had been using and gripped the earth with shaking manpower. How long had it been ? How long had it been since he last fought that tough for his lifetime ? How long had it been since his survival inherent aptitude pushed him that far ? No, when it was more than just his survival instinct pushing him ? The care, the adrenaline, the endorphins, the pain, they flowed through the faithful of his gray matter like a flood across a desert.

"Get up, on your feet."

Noah looked over, seeing curse word standing with his sword pointing at him.

"What the sin do you believe you're doing ?"Noah muttered.

"You heard me, get up and face me."

"Oath, you're kidding, right ?"Beth asked.

"No. You and me, Noah, right here, right now."

"You thankless little terror. After all I did for you, you have the spunk to point your sword at me ? The blade I gave you ?"

"You didn't do this for me. I was just a prop in whatever trade you struck with my forefather. Now Mira is dead and I was robbed of my chance to locate things with Trevor. We never should feature gone in there, but you kept pushing us. We never should have let you be a component of our team."

"Oath, it's not his error ! You also wanted to proceed going ! Just put your blade 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 airplane propeller, but I'm still under declaration and not allowed to kill you. Once we're back and I've gotten my reward, then I'll put you down as concentrated as you want."

"No ! I'm done hearing to you ! From the moment we met, you've run my spirit. I was supposed to be the one to conquer the avenium, to sequester my own destiny, not let you take it and accept whatever scraps you toss my way ! I couldn't avenge Mira, I couldn't beat Trevor, and I couldn't even conquer the dungeon crab ! I can't go home this way ! I refuse to live like this ! But if I beat you, that'll be enough."

Noah gripped the hilt of the knight sword, and the aesthesis he got back was far from ideal. His body was at its limitation, he could barely even stand. He was out of potions, they all were, so there was no way he could quickly recuperate his strength. At least Oath was in the Saame situation. Despite his anger and bloodlust, he was on the verge of passing out. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was another story. If Noah fought him in this State, even the pocket-sized wound could essay fatal, then his deal with the mogul would be out the window.

"I'm not going to gratify you. If you want to get yourself killed, do it after we get back. I want to last long enough to cash in everything I've collected."

"You can't talk your way out of this !"

Oath charged with his sword raised, attempting his signature cleave. Noah stepped to the side, nearly falling over as he did so. Rather than a slash, he struck cuss in the stomach with the handle of his sword. oath nearly retched, but regained his basis and punched Noah. He tried to dodge, but was still grazed and staggered back, drawing his sword completely.

"stop this, you two don't need to fight down !"Beth pleaded.

"Tell him that !"Noah argued.

curse unleashed a fuss of swing music towards Noah, who lacked the nimbleness to get out of the way. Instead, he had to block and parry each swing. They locked blades, pushing against each other in a shoving match.

"You chose to go into the dungeon crab,"said Noah."You chose to observe me, despite knowing how life-threatening it was for Mira. You put your pride and your grandeur over her. I killed Trevor because you were too weak to get it done and you would have woken up that monster with just three footfall. You don't get to fault your incompetence on me."

"You're a heartless bastard ! You couldn't even shed a tear for Tin, no wonder you didn't care about us !"

"Grow up !"

Noah let go of his sword and punch curse word, sending him staggering back. Noah touched his hand to his eye, casting his invisibility. He only had plenty mana to rest enshroud for a few moments, so Noah tackled oath, disarming him and knocking him to the ground. Three self-coloured blows to the typeface left him unconscious.

Noah dropped to his knees, gasping for air with his charm coming undone. Hopefully, Oath would be much more sensical when he woke up. As Noah got to his pes, there was a monster's snarl, followed by Beth's scream. One of their pursuers from within the case had arrived and was attacking Beth. It looked like some kind of cycloptic tiger with a mat of flight feather across its spine. Beth was pinned, her arm in its mouth with her anatomy being torn and her bones breaking.

"darn it !"Noah growled.

Beth still had his bow, so Noah pulled out his shortstop steel and threw it, winging the wolf in the berm. It turned to Noah and charged, and Noah, trying to spark his magic, realized he had used the lowest of his mana to deal with Oath. He jumped to the side to dodge the lunging tiger, but as he hit the primer coat, he realized he had less strength than he thought. He had planned on hitting the priming with a coil and then jumping to his animal foot, but he just fell like a tree. All he could do was roll on his back, and this meter, when the tiger pounced, he wasn't able to elude. It tried to slide down its teeth into his neck, but he blocked its back talk with his sword, though he could do nothing about its claws, digging into his shoulders. It was pushing down on him with its fully weight, and he didn't have the strength to hold it back.

Noah stared into its one, fist-sized eye and watched drool pour from its mouth, mixed with the blood from the cuts that his sword was creating. This certainly ranked among the top of his unearthly demise. Yet when his military capability was about to stutter, Oath attacked the tiger from behind, slicing off his head with a swing of his brand. Oath then kicked the tiger's corpse off Noah and pointed his blade at him.

"You'll never get a better luck than this,"Noah said with a smirk.

curse word took a deep breath and sheathed his sword."I suppose saving your life is as practically an acquisition as ending it."He held out his deal to Noah."Let's go home."

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epilog

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The town of Clive was bustling, filled with adventurers following the news show of the dungeon crab's emergence. Around half of them would die within its shell, but those with skill and luck came back to township with sac entire of ores and gems. Having returned to town just the previous night, Noah had tried listening for gossip of whether or not anyone else had managed to capture the keep. He had taken all of the avenium he found in that room, so it's possible that was all there was in the Cancer. Oh well, they'd just have to induce do with everything else they found. The bulk of the adventurer were smart enough or perhaps not challenging enough to go very deep into the crab.

But that's not what Noah was focusing on at the moment. He was at the inn, sitting on the bed in Beth's 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 meter, Noah and Oath had to wrap up it and lean it as best as they could. On the way down from the donjon's entrance, they met an adventurer and bought some healing potions off him. However, they weren't able to completely reverse the damage. The human body on her arm looked molted, like terrible stint Marks, and the muscle underneath was out of proper shape. At least the bone had been reset properly, but the way Beth winced as she stretched it per Noah's pedagogy, he knew that she was golden to still hold it at all.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be able to absorb a bow or raising anything heavy anytime soon. If you find soul with healing magic, they might be able-bodied to untie the damage, but otherwise, I can't imagine your arm will ever find its full use or strength."

"That's fine,"she said with a monotone vocalism and dead fish eyes. She shuddered, as if shaking herself awake."No, it's not fine, 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 live something like that again. I'm going to try and find a healer to heal my arm, but after that, I'm going to do what Mira wanted and settle down and build a family."

"That's for the dear, I suppose."

"Thanks. And Noah, about what I said to you in the dungeon, about how I was…"

"You're not pregnant. Mira was."

She looked at him in shock."How'd you know ?"

"I have enough experience with women to roll in the hay how to avert getting them pregnant, and I can distinguish when it's fill up to that time of the month. Mira told you she was late 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. swearword didn't know, he can never know."

"I'm surprised they were able to preserve it hidden from me. They always seemed a footling protective of each other, 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 well if they focused on getting stronger for conquering the dungeon. After, they would have the rest period of their liveliness to…"She trailed off, then looked out the window and sighed."I'm going to go visit her mother and sib, secernate 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 belittled bottle of avenium.

"So much trouble, so many tears over this metallic element dust,"she muttered, staring at the bottle.

"Take precaution of yourself,"Noah said before getting up and leaving.

He stopped by his room, getting his bag and any self-control he deemed worth carrying. He had already sold off all of his ores and gems, so he had tidy sum of amber coins with him, along with various other shaft and treasures hidden within his doughnut, including a vast destiny of avenium. He put on his rucksack with his steel hanging from his belt, 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 gloomy to see you go. But before you do, you should talk with your friend. He certainly needs some help."

At the counter, he saw expletive slumped over with a half-empty mug in his helping hand. After returning to Clive, he had checked in with his father only briefly, then came straight to the inn and started drinking to drown his sorrows. It was a miracle the boy hadn't died from alcoholic beverage poisoning.

"Are you planning on drinking away your full fortune ?"Noah asked.

expletive raised his head, looking at him with bloodshot eyes."Leave me alone."

Noah took the BM next to him and ordered a potable."I will, soon. For now, just humor me."

Oath sat up and wiped his font."Remember that hunting trip the six of us took in the starting time ? When we were sitting around the flack, you told me that I had to decide my reason for living, for fighting, that I had to create my own meaning. When I went into that keep, I thought I was doing it for my father, to finally win his approval. But when Mira died, I realized I had done it for her. I wanted to turn out to her that I was a man, that I was just as impregnable as you and Trevor, and I wanted to prove it to myself. Everything I failed to do, they were the achievements of the business leader that I wanted to be. I loved her, but my pride got her killed. Now… I just don't want to think about it, any of it. I just want to forget so everything will stop hurting."

Noah, having received his swallow, downed it in one swig and slapped the ice on the table, then took a deep breath."If I were to founder you one last deterrent example, one conclusion piece of advice, would you take it ?"cuss just glanced at him, neither agreeing, nor refusing."layover drinking. Go home and mourn her properly."

"Why ?"

"I know it hurts, and you don't want to sense anything anymore, but when you block out all of the bad, you block out all of the good that goes with it. Cherish your look for Mira, your memories of her. Don't try to lay to rest them and block. Be grateful that it hurts. consider me, there is nothing more dreadful than being truly numb. When you've lost all meaning and genius, you end up in a very dark stead, where you'll do anything just to feel again, and you never fully come back from that."

For a second, the lyric went over Oath's head word, but then his optic widened as a memory flashed through his alcohol-soaked mind. The facial expression Noah made when Tin died, that granitelike facial expression, it finally made sense.

"Is that what happened to you ? You lost someone ?"

"I've lost a lot of mass, more than you can think. Losing a loved one, mourning them, it's supposed to be hard, because if it's well-situated, you forget how to do it."Noah then got up and shouldered his backpack.

"Where are you going ?"swearword asked.

"I have business in the capital."

"My father and I are going there in three days. You can trip with us."

"Nah, I'll retrieve my own way. Besides, I've already given your Father enough avenium to see to it you become a stately, so there is no point in sticking around here."

"You never told us what he promised you. Why were you so obsessed with conquering the keep ?"

Noah thought back to the conversation he had with the business leader, after Tin died.

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

Noah was sitting in the baron's discipline, having just confessed to killing his brother and nephew."We didn't have the luck to verbalise about requital for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interested in money or land. There is something else I want."

"Which is ?"

"I want a alphabetic character of recommendation to the Uther Knight honorary society. I heard they only grant admittance on the good word of a noble, such as yourself."

Ivan scrunched up his look and nearly spat out his beverage. To be an Utheric knight was a great honor and responsibility, as while they ranked below power on the nobility scale, their achievements could commit them greater self-confidence and political influence."I have no interest in putting my beneficial epithet on the pipeline for a stranger. Just take some avenium for yourself and turn a noble. You'll be even ample than a knight. Or if you want to do your nation, just join the military."

"Any schmuck with a impulse can be con***********ed and turned into a soldier. I'm not after wealth, prestigiousness, or achievements, and I don't tending 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 morning, I had it appraised by the apothecary. It's a high-altitude antidote, able to cure almost any poison. I doubt even a mogul like you could yield 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 acquisition and experience, I don't know nearly enough about this domain. I want to shift that, and to do so, I need an education. Spending years in an ivory tower doesn't interestingness me. I want to learn how to know and properly fight in this earth, and the scoop station to do that is the horse honorary society, where they supposedly train the salutary of the scoop. That hobgoblin apparently killed a knight, but hopefully that was a fluke.

So what do you say ? Is your son's future not worth a I missive ?"

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

"I suppose…"Noah said, looking back to Oath,"I just wanted to finally keep a hope, rather than making yet another lie. Good fortune to you, Lord Fault."

Noah left the inn and walked over to the 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 tree from within his ring. On it was a wax seal, the defect coat of implements of war. With this, his course was laid out before him. His following stop : the Utheric royal capital.

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*Roundabout plays*

To be continued…

*Roll credits*

Please comment ! I 'm going to try to have vol 2 ready by the end of the year .