Prologue

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A rare breakthrough, that beautiful crimson pilus. That vividness was usually the result of cheap dye and a childish personality, desperate to leaven individuality by opposing normality. It was a rare gift from nature, every strand like melting rubies, when nigh alleged redheads possessed only a diluted orange hue. But hers was like blood, drawing the eyes of all those around her, including Noah's. Of all the adult female he had seen, met, and knew, even intimately, hers was the most purely crimson.

It was after school in ahead of time autumn, the twinkle of the setting sun illuminating every fibril and reminding him why it was worth it to draw close her. She was walking across the empty soccer battleground, her consistency trembling from the adrenaline of all the running she had done in her caterpillar tread club. 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 chance, long than she could opine.

"Lindsey, hey,"he said, meeting her in the capable air, free from any interruptions.

"Noah, what are you doing here ?"

She asked that doubt, but she knew the response. What else would eviscerate a boy to her, what former possible desire ? He was going to mash with her, possibly even ask her out. Would he be nervous ? Would he be cocky ? Would he diddle innocent and try to start up with some small talk, or would he get straight to the tip ? Had he planned this ? Had he been waiting ? They had been friends since she transferred in their Sophomore year. Had that just been in expectation of this ?

It was clear in her eyes, that his design had been seen through, but it didn't dissuade him. Rather, it was something that always amused him, the paradox of human coupling that became both well-off and more difficult with age. She already knew what he desired, so unless she desired the Lapp affair, her meat would be guarded, with no first step for a sneak attack to surprise her. It was a challenge that men and adult female had struggled with since the dawn 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 trusted I want to bother dating. After all, when summertime comes, we're all going to split up and go our break up ways."

A rejection, not an optimum outcome, but it was within his arithmetic mean. He just had to convert her to give him a opportunity, but gently. He had to properly opt his countersign so that he wouldn't come off as desperate and frustrated, but not try to ham it up by turning it into a sonnet like an out-of-touch nerd.

"Is that why you two broke up ? Because you didn't see a decimal point in staying together ? I doubt that. I think you believe in love, in giving it a chance. A lot of things will chance between now and graduation exercise ; Christmastime, Valentine's Day, the prom ? That's plenty of time to be well-chosen, and to commute your brain about which path you plan on taking. Plans can vary, things can work out. All I want is a chance."

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

She crossed her arms to warm herself, but she kept them low. It was an instinctive move, one that Noah's eye didn't miss. He gave an cheesed off smile and began to laugh."Ok, I get it. Maybe side by side 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 roue. She spun around and saw the knife in Noah's hand.

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

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

He swung up his helping hand and stabbed himself in the throat. The strike, it was so debauched, but it was easy, just the tip of the blade breaking his skin and severing his vena jugularis with pinpoint accuracy. It was a perfect, fluid move, as if he had spent hours practicing. stock began to spray from the pocket-size wound, and to the phone of Lindsey's screech, he allowed himself to precipitate on his back. She rushed over and tried to stop 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 mitt there,"Noah said calmly. The vein he had struck carried ancestry out of the head and sent it back to his heart, so the relaxation of the origin in his system would keep his brain oxygenated, at least while it was still in his veins.

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

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

"What are you talking about ?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like. Reincarnation, transmigration, whatever you call it, I count living like you count twelvemonth, and every meter I die, I'm immediately reborn with all the remembering from my past times sprightliness. I've been born and died so many clock time, laughed and suffered through so many lifetimes."

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

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

Her face became as wan as his."How could you possibly know that ?"

"Because this isn't the first sentence I've confessed to you. I'm always myself, but the world I'm born into is never the same. Every clock time I die, I return to the day of my birth, but in a dissimilar timeline. I'll end up in a world where my surround are unlike, or chronicle didn't go the way I remember it, or event will fall out in my hereafter that I can't predict.

Only in my past seven lifetime have you been stage, and in all seven life-time, I could never make you mine, no matter how a great deal I wanted you. Five of those times were because you were pregnant. You and Sean get back together by blessing, and I and everyone else watch you dance together at the promenade. Each time, I kill myself to try again in my next life. These past eighteen age, they've flown by like the blink of an eye for me."

His haemorrhage was starting to slack, his consistence going cold-blooded and his idea getting foggy.

"Why me ? Why would you prevent going after me ? Why am I Worth killing yourself over ?"

"It's the simply way I can live anymore, following some task or game that keeps me busy. Every sprightliness I've lived, it's been a lie, concealing who I am, what I know, what I've experienced. very much of the metre, I have to pretend to hold emotions, because after all this clip, 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 receive actual hungriness. I have an literal crush, something so unproblematic and infantile, but such a wonderful tactual sensation. Maybe I'm just a patsy for a red-header, but I've lived for so prospicient, I have to grasp at any bit of meaning that can pretend me happy, and get my beingness a piddling LE hollow."

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

With the hold out of his long suit, he removed her hand from his lesion so that it could bleed freely. Her carpus was limp. Had he convinced her ? Or had she simply realized that he had already bled too practically and was beyond saving ? He covered his left eye with his hired man, blinded by the setting sun while Lindsey's trace obscured the good side of his face. The light passed through her cherry-red hairsbreadth like defile Methedrine, making his blood radiance beautifully.

"I've seen so many worlds, so many different realities, but none of them could make me happy. I've never known what it felt like to belong or sense at home. Every human race felt wrong to me. This is yet another reality that I am incompatible with. All I can do is hope that the next world is one I can be happy in."

The blood at last stopped flowing, and Noah closed his eyes and released his final hint. Then, in his mind, there was a familiar jiffy of illumination and he felt himself being pulled to the next world.

A unit New Game

Without even opening his centre, Noah knew that something had gone wrong. He was groggy, but he could definitely feel the cold, tough flat coat underneath him. This didn't make sensation. At this moment, he'd normally be experiencing his own rebirth, coming out of the womb as a newborn infant. His dead body was also still the Lapp size of it. He could feel the weighting of his limbs, as well as his clothes. His hand was still covering his eye, but just moving it took a grand measure of persuasiveness. He managed to mold his eyelids open and stared up at the blue angel sky. It was late in the afternoon when he killed himself, but now it looked to be midmorning.

This had never happened before, no matter how many metre he had died. Either he had somehow survived his suicide attempt and been moved while he was unconscious, or he had reincarnated without being reborn, breaking into another timeline rather than being properly incorporated. Was his reincarnation top executive 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 opening, there was no wound. He had been healed, but had his rake also been replenished ? It would own taken at least thirty bit for the blood on his wearing apparel to dry this much, not enough clock time for his organic structure to reestablish any meaningful sum, so this was likely a partial derivative rebirth.

He got to his feet and staggered, struggling to catch one's breath. There was no strong suit in his branch and his thoughts were getting weakly by the irregular. This fatigue, it was similar to blood deprivation, but also different. It was like there was some variety of extra muscle going crazy, using up all of his strength. If it didn't dissipate soon, he'd end up passing out again. What in the world ? He looked down and realized that he wasn't casting a shadow. The fatigue must make 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 substitution had been flipped. The fatigue vanished, as if that extra muscle had settled, and when he looked down, he saw his tincture.

‘ That wasn't blood deprivation. It must take been some kind of leftover hurt from my self-destruction or this glitchy conversion. But where am I ?'

The road was unusual. The footing was packed, but the sediment seemed indigen to the spot. In the modern world, even the unpaved roadstead were made with at least a stratum of guts and crushed rock to prevent it from being overgrown. He had his wallet and his telephone with him, but there was no service.

A phone reached his ears, one that nigh people rarely heard outside of moving picture and TV. It was the sound of horse hooves. He looked over his shoulder, seeing two adult men on hogback approaching him from down the road. Behind them, an old man driving a horse-drawn station waggon and leading… striver. Wearing rag for clothes, to a greater extent than a dozen men and women of varying old age were being led by chains.

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

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

"Did you take heed me ? Get out of the way !"

"Boss, facial expression 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 innovative machinery and with coats and iron heel made of primitively-treated leather. Maybe he had reincarnated to a third-world country ? If this was a post-apocalyptic timeline, then whatever happened wasn't manmade. It happened before the Industrial Revolution, some variety of born calamity that halted mankind's growth. A meteor ?

"I don't think he understands us. He's got some Wyrd apparel. He might be the son of some stately,"the former horseman said.

Their artillery, they had sheathed swords but no planetary house of any throttle. 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 healthy and warm enough to sell for a dependable cost. range him up with the others."

One of the men got off his horse cavalry 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 hired hand, Noah slashed him across the throat. It wasn't the speck jab like he had given himself sooner, this was a damn grinning stretching from ear to ear. It had been a long metre since he had last killed someone, but it was something he was very well-practiced in.

A fountain of blood sprayed forth and Noah threw his knife at the beach waggon driver, catching him in the chest. Before his first victim could drop to his articulatio genus, Noah ripped his sword from its case and charged towards the other horseman, already drawing his own steel to revenge his coworker. The throat was out of stretch, so Noah deflected the oncoming attack and went for a stab in the side of the gut and up into the right on lung.

"powerhouse !"

There was a flash of lighting in his peripheral imaginativeness, coming from the old man. Noah's instincts made him jerk back as a flare slam through the air, missing his face by an in. It struck a nearby Tree and exploded, spraying fire in all directions like a Molotov Cocktail. Noah looked back at the old man, one hand outstretched while the former covered the knife thrust combat injury in his chest from Noah's knife. He wasn't holding a flair gun or any early kind of device that would explain what had just happened.

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

"Fireball !"the old man shouted again.

Just like before, a firmament of condensed flames formed in his hand, about the size of melon, and shot at Noah with marvellous speed. Noah dodged and rushed in to close the distance. The first fireball had forced him to let go of his steel and the endorsement had forced him back before he could snap up the second man's. He'd have to land up this with his bare helping hand.

The horses were all throwing tantrums in fearfulness from the scrap, but the old man continued to found those mysterious solar flare. Noah circled around the gymnastic horse, jumped, and tackled the man. There was no clumsy fumbling for ascendence, Noah simply began beating him with his clenched fist. His current body hadn't been trained for scrap, but he kept it healthy and strong and knew how a good deal power he had muster up with each punch. Blood started spraying with the third punch, the old man unable to fight back and soon blacking out. Noah promptly retrieved his fallen knife and finished him off.

Noah took his sentence to trip up his breathing space while he wiped off the blade, folded it up, and stored it in his air pocket. He took those few second to stay his chafe. He was used to being reborn as a infant after every death and considered those early on twelvemonth to be his holiday between each new lifespan, meter to properly put away of old remembering, catalogue utilitarian knowledge, and mentally treat with any lax ends. No one depended on him and he usually had a parent or caregiver to take care of him, giving him clip to rest his idea. Now he had jump right back into a endurance mindset and offset from scratch in a world with all new rules.

Those human dynamo the old man had launched, that was undoubtedly magic, something that he thought only existed in fantasy stories. He had never seen magic before, not in any of the timelines he had already lived in. Until now, he had operated under the feeling of the Multiverse Theory, which stated that there was a timeline for every possible subatomic event. Was it really possible for magical to exist in the multiverse ? What did this timeline have that all the late ace lacked ?

The old man would have been a valuable source of information, but with his foot soldier now dead, he would never willingly tell apart Noah anything. It wouldn't be worth the time and trouble to interrogate him in this site. Oh well, the answers would come in time, and Noah had learned how to be patient.

He turned his tending to the striver, staring back at him with uncertainty. They weren't rejoicing at the death of their captors, carnival enough. After all, Noah hadn't killed them in order to resign the hard worker or anything like that. As far as they knew, he was about to kill them all or just consume them all and sell them himself. Each of them was a variable star, 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 shout it that. These slave must also verbalise it."All of you, I give you permission 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 familiar with this area ?"None of them answered.

Possessing noesis could either make them valuable or a liability. They didn't want to scupper themselves unless they knew what awaited them. Noah sighed and returned to the old man, patting him down until he found an atomic number 26 key, likely going to all of their collar.

He held up the key for all the hard worker to see."I need one of you to maneuver me to a safe arena with a source of fresh weewee and off the road where I won't be seen. Whoever volunteers will get their collar removed and can ride in the Wain. Once I'm brought to a suitable position, you will all will be set free."Six striver raised their bound hands."You,"Noah said.

He had ***********ed a teenage fille that looked to be around his age. She was dirty and underfed, but looked salubrious enough to be useful to him, and he could certainly sweep over her if she tried to betray him. It was hard to estimate her appearance in this state. She had a pitiful look permanently etched into her font, like a basset hound. If he cleaned her up, she might be a real cutie, but right now she was so dirty that he couldn't even tell her natural hair color.

"What is your name ?"

"Tin, sir."She didn't make eye inter-group communication. 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 metal collar but left her radiocarpal joint leaping."Now help me take care of these bodies."

Noah searched the corpses of the three slave traders, taking everything of value. Along with their blade, he got a couple daggers, some cord, and three stopgap wallet. They were snake skin with stacks of bronze coins inside, tied to their belt ammunition. It was a clever concept.

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

"colossus will surely be drawn by the smell of line here. It would be best if we moved on now."

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

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

She wordlessly obeyed, proceeding to strip the remains without any rag of unease or discomfort. Most girls her age would be too dainty to do anything like this. As she worked, Noah searched the wagon and found a canvas bag, smelling too rancid to be used for food for thought. He soaked it with a wineskin, and while it wasn't ideal, it was commodity enough for him to use to put out the blast that the old man had started. He and Tin completed their undertaking, leaving three naked organic structure on the road and a few coal tree diagram. Noah retrieved one of the sword, just a crummy machete, but sharp-worded enough to get the job done. He showed no soreness in decapitating the consistency and storing the heads in the canvas bag.

"puff these bodies into the woods, out of good deal from the road. That should satiate any fauna that search this area."

There was no telling what the value of these slave traders were. If they were even slightly important to person, their disappearance might go to an probe. Three nude person, headless physical structure that were devoured by monsters wouldn't leave any grounds. They couldn't even be identified. On the other handwriting, if they were criminals, then Noah might be able to use their sever heads as confirmation of their deaths and collect a bounty. He had been in a lot of bad situations and chaotic timelines, so this mindset was a skill he knew he could rely on and use as he needed.

Once the bodies were dealt with, Noah took his place at the figurehead of the wagon and Tin joined him. The two extra cavalry were tethered to the sides of the wagon and would follow along. Noah cracked the reins and the horses pulling the beach waggon began moving forward.

"There is a worthy place several miles down this road. I will show you where."

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

"This is the Algata Province of the nation of Uther."

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

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

Her answer was to be expected, though. A slave educated in geographics would be an unusual find. It would be thoroughly if he could get his hands on a enough 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 major planet's topography looked like, even the system of the Continent. He had traveled previous Earths numerous multiplication, 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 country ?"

"I… don't know for indisputable. Perhaps there is riches in the Washington, but this is the countryside."

"Does it engage under a monarchy ? Or do they elect their leadership ?"She looked at him like he had spoken in gibberish."Does it have a king or queen ?"

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

"What do they use for currency ?"

"Metal coins, like silver and gold."

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

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

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

‘ wellspring, that's a dispirit thought.'“ What time of year is it currently ?"

"Mid spring."

That was undecomposed for Noah. In order to get a foothold in this new human race, he'd need ample sentence with the fortune of natural selection at its highest. Winter would hamper his mobility, possible actions, and have life history a lot harder. Had he appeared in this reality a few months earlier, he could easily freeze to death before reaching civilisation.

"You spoke before of demon. What should I be cautious of in this timberland ?"

"The biggest danger is the skirt chaser. They travel in gang and kill whatever they see. There are also bears, large spiders that hide in burrows, and goblins."

Giant spiders and hob ? This worldly concern was getting more fantastic by the second.

"Tell me about the goblins."

"They are modest, only about the size of tike, and maybe as smartness. They have weapon and often ambuscade travelers."

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

"That was magic."

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

"It is the boon of the immortal, letting people call down Jehovah retribution upon their enemies. It can create fire, command weewee, make you stronger, and do all kinds of things. There many different kind of magic drug user. I've heard of some of them ; mages, paladins, warriors, shaman, but I don't know much about what they can do."

"What kind was the old man ?"

"A mage, I think."

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

"I don't know."

That was a problem. If it was an ability passed down from parent to child, then he was screwed. His glitchy reincarnation left him with the fixture factor of his last parents. If wizard wasn't something he could find out or acquire, life would get exponentially harder. Then there was the mentioning of gods. He had spent respective lifetime searching for signs of the beingness of God, some front of divinity fudge that might excuse his existence, but he always came up unretentive. However, in a world where illusion existed, perhaps divinity might as well.

As they continued through the Ellen Price Wood, Noah thought about the slaves walking behind the wagon. Letting them go might be a indebtedness. They knew he had killed three slave traders, they knew where he would set up pack. The hard worker monger mistook him for the son of a stately, so if the slaves went into some town and started blabbing about him and what he had done, people might get along after him. Perhaps it would be estimable to put away of all of them ? No, the chances of him managing to obliterate them all would be low and that would be a lot of corpses to portion out with, not to observe he didn't know if killing them would get him into trouble.

‘ To retrieve my acedia would compensate for my shrivelled conscience…'

They were passing by a hill with tree diagram blocking a lot of the opinion, but all of the Equus caballus flicked their spike to it. Noah didn't miss that check and reached into the wagon. 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 phantasma moving between the hills. It had been a longsighted time since he had last used a bow. It was one of his sideline about four or five lifetimes ago. This was nothing like the modern bows he was used to handling, but when he let the arrow slip free, it shot between the trees and found its Mark. Noah didn't see what he hit, but there was a shriek of pain that he did not greet and the phone of multiple entities running off.

"What was that ?"Tin asked.

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

They ran off before he could polish off his sentence. commodity, that would lay down him to a lesser extent of a sitting duck, and they'd draw the attending of anything that might want a bit of him. He returned to the driver's seat and turned to Tin, holding up one of the coin purses.

"Get me to that dependable spotlight and this is yours."

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

The timber thinned a lit, the trees spreading out far enough for the beach wagon to go off the road and head towards the sound of running water system. They arrived at a clearing where a small waterfall thumped on exposed rock. It was isolated, just the place Noah needed. There was even a cave behind the falls where he could build camp. However, they were not the lonesome inhabitant.

"Tin, what the hell is that ?"he asked, looking at the creature sliding across the ground. At initiatory, he thought it was giant bullet, the creature about the size of a beer keg, but he then realized it was translucent. There were four of them.

"That is a guck. They like dampness places. Their undersides are like elephantine mouthpiece, devouring whatever they crawl over. Their bodies are covered with a slim down cutis, and if you tear it, its insides pour out and change the shape of its body."

"Are they dangerous ?"

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

"How do I stamp out them ?"

"You have to hit their brains."

The sludge hadn't noticed them yet, so Noah took aim with the bow at the nearest one. It was voiceless telling the front from the spinal column of these things, but he spotted something floating inside, suspended, an apple-sized goon of solid tissue paper. He released the thunderbolt, missing the tool's Einstein by several inches. It rumbled in pain and its gelatinous interior spilled out of the injury like a runny nose. Upon liaison with the air, the viscera began to set and develop a layer of pelt. It formed an annexe of itself, like a back empennage, now searching for what had injured it.

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

Already, the pointer was halfway dissolved. That thing was like a giant moving breadbasket. He would have preferred to use up concern of these monsters from a distance, but he didn't have sufficiency arrow to drop away. It would also get dark soon, and he didn't want to try and await for another spotlight.

He turned to Tin and cut her binds, then handed her one of the coin bag."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 man. It was the worst of the two, useful at least for experiment. He approached the gook, already back to wide-cut health after being shot with the arrow. It didn't appear to bear very good vision, didn't even appear to give heart. He picked up a Harlan Fiske Stone from the creek and threw it, sending it bouncing a few metrical foot away. It pounced on the rock and roll with surprise speed, smothering it with its soundbox and absorbing it. So, these thing could jump. If it could see, it was probably short-ranged, based on movement, or more probable it could sense vibrations in the ground.

He took another rock music and threw it at the slime, this time hitting it. The rock ripped through its thin skin and its guts spilled out. The blow stunned it just long enough for Noah to sprint over and stick through its brain. As quickly as he attacked, he darted back. He had learned through numerous function to always require an enemy to get back up. Plus, he wanted to avoid getting sprayed with any guts.

Despite his vexation, it was a sporting kill. The monster, originally a nauseating yellowness, turned gray, and its exposed insides began to fume and thaw. Unfortunately, smoke was also coming from his sword. This really was a nasty acid. Noah wiped the blade off on the grass and then rinsed it in the river to clean it. It had undergone life-threatening corrosion. Hopefully it would last until he killed them all.

One matter made him happy, though. When he killed the slime, numbers didn't appear in the air, displaying experience tip earned. He started having concerns as soon as that first off bolide was launched at him, and when Tin said it was a gunk ; he thought he had been reincarnated into some kind of RPG world. If at any distributor point, she used the word ‘ level ’, he would ingest permanently lost the power to keep a straight expression and contract anything seriously.

Anyway, back to killing.

He repeated his strategy with the other three ooze. A fist sized rock thrown with sufficient speed and accuracy could pierce the fiend and stun them long enough to deliver a disastrous smash. After the third gear gook, his sword broke in one-half, the end completely melting off. There was one slime left, but it would be sly. It was slithering around behind the falls, unaware of what had happened to the others. The vibrations of the water would probably mask Noah's movements, but he didn't want to need the chance.

He crept behind the waterfall and threw another Lucy Stone, striking the sludge near the brain. Its trunk curled up like a sluggard sprinkled with table salt, and Noah rushed over. This meter, he thrust the break blade straight in. He managed to dig the encephalon, but the sword slipped right into its body. Noah pulled away before his inertia could institutionalise his helping hand plunging into the acidic guck, but various drops splashed him and he could feel his skin dissolution. He thrust his hand into the waterfall and steadied his external respiration as the pain faded. That was too closing curtain for puff. He'd have to come in up with another way to stop over those affair if he encountered them again.

The orbit had been secured, now to set up cantonment. He stepped out from behind the waterfall, and to his surprisal, he saw Tin standing by the beach waggon, 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 bang how to be free."

"I gave you money. look at it to the nearest town and buy yourself something to eat and some new clothes. Look for anyone who will engage you, hopefully offering room and board in central. From there, come out your new life."

"Is that an order ?"

"No, it's advice. You don't have to take orders from me, I'm not your master. I hired you to be my scout, you got your money, and our contract is complete. Now we region ways."She continued to stand there, looking like a puppy in the rain."You can give birth one of the sawhorse. You'll be capable to get to Town faster and outrun pursuers."

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

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

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

Noah retrieved his bow and an arrow and took aim at her."leave-taking now, or I'll kill you and use your remains for sweetener to catch my dinner."

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

Noah sighed and lowered the bow. Were he a harsher man, that wouldn't have been a four flush. This female child was needy than he would take liked, but her obsequiousness made her more trustworthy than anyone he could wait to observe in this world. Maybe it would be respectable to cause an extra duet of hired man to help oneself him, at least until he got out of this forest. Besides, it wasn't like this was the low time he had owned a slave. There were many darkness timelines when he followed the rule of ‘ when in Rome, do as the Romans.'

"fine, I'll be your master. What skills do you deliver ?"

"I can numerate to one hundred, I can write some, and I can tend to livestock and put to work fields, as well as perform family chores. I am also very experienced in pleasing men, so I can serve you whenever you desire."She bowed her head word as she spoke, not seeing Noah raise his brow at her last sentence.

Depressing as her actor's line were, he wasn't one to turn down an pass for sex from someone so willing. On the other hand, zilch about her flow appearance stoked his libido. He was standing twenty infantry away and could smell her like it was twenty dollar bill inches. Sitting next to her in the wagon had been very unpleasant. Just letting her bathe in the river wouldn't get the job done.

"Let's get summer camp set up and then we'll talk of the town. You said you can tend to livestock, correct ? Then I'll leave the horses to you. Get them watered and fed and then hit these deadened slimes. I imagine they've lost their acidity in death."

Tin obediently went to turn while Noah gathered all of the Chain and leash that had been used to run the striver. There was also plenty of circle in case any of their binds broke during transport. Noah snapped the collars off the chains and used them as hammers to break the weaker linkup and split the range of mountains into multiple curt segments. He split the rope into thinner chain and set up a margin around the campsite, then hung the collars and chains on it like Christmas ornament. Any interloper that tried to put down would hit the tripwire and the jingling irons and pinch would chip in them away. And in shell they were set off by the hint, the sawbuck would be the second line of detecting. If they started acting up, then a threat was nearby.

"I'm going to go collect some firewood. If any colossus approach, just hollo for me and yeet some horseshit at them. The look will drive them off."He then stopped and chuckled to himself. That's right, he no longer needed to use Bodoni font slang.

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

Noah set out into the woods with his lone sword and a satchel the old man had been carrying. He didn't want to rove far from camp, but he had to check out the area and crap sure there weren't any at hand dangers. One matter he was especially cautious of were the hulk spider that Tin had mentioned. She said they hid in tunnel, so he kept a close eye on his footing, avoiding any suspicious areas that could be a possible ambush. Webbing on the ground was a telltale sign of the zodiac, proof that he wasn't the just one using tripwires to notice enemies.

The maiden matter he did was gather pine boughs from around the site, accumulating a large pile that they would use for bedding and making frequent trip-up back to the camp. Then he gathered all of the firewood he could carry, but focused only on specific trees. This world was very different to the one he was used to, but about of the tree diagram appeared to be the same. He also filled his pockets and the satchel with medicinal works and even some edible mushroom-shaped cloud. In every sprightliness, her con and relearned natural selection skill to observe the selective information branded into his mind, so even if had forgotten their names, he still recognized herbs that could be useful. As he moved, he had a strong feeling that he was being watched, and he knew what was watching him, especially when he found one of their dead.

It was one of the wolves Tin had mentioned, gravid than any he had ever seen. His nose led him to it, the Friedrich August Wolf reeking of death and rot. The meat was well beyond eating and its fur and bones weren't worth the try to harvest, especially with all the maggots and flies, but there was something that he could definitely make use of.

The sun was starting to set by the sentence he was done, but there was still plenteousness he wanted to do. Luckily, dinner was already taken precaution of. The slave monger had packed enough food for thought for themselves and their cargo. It was hard bread and dry core, something that Noah's spoiled taste buds would not appreciate, but he'd seen enough firmly times to have it off how to be grateful.

Before doing anything else, he removed his hoodie and t-shirt. He had kept them on as an added layer of tribute in type anything attacked him, but the rake had hardened into a hard crust and he was glad to be able to finally drive them off. Had he known he would reincarnate like this, he would have gone base and just hung himself, preferably with his air pocket stuffed with utile peter. He laid out his shirt and hoodie under the falls, directing the spray right onto the bloodline stains. He pinned them down with gem so that they wouldn't be washed away.

He noticed Tin watching him like a rum felid. She had never seen muscles like his before. To survive in the countryside, men required great strength to farm and fighting and muscle mass naturally accumulated. Noah's appeared more determine, like he had focused on improving the quality of his muscles instead of just chasing after the wispy definition of strength.

"Tin, take off your clothes."

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

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

Tin removed her dress, though it was more like a raggedy potato sack with kettle of fish cut for her head and arms and a strip of textile for a rap. She was malnourished and scrawny, but he just had to smooth her up a little.

With the last of the light, he searched the river for stones. He'd test their hardness, striking them against the back of his sword. Once he started getting flicker, he returned to the riverbank and gathered up some touchwood. He ground some dry birch tree barque into a hunky-dory detritus and struck the rock against his blade over it. It took several attempts, but some sparks landed in the dust and it went up like gasoline. From there, he built up a fire on the riverbank with all of the birch rod Ellen Price Wood he had gathered. By the light of the flame, he started digging a hole using his sword and a metal skillet he found in the wagon.

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

"No, what I need you to do is set forth collecting mud from the river. If you dig under the silt, you'll find it. Make a big pile of it here next 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 stiff to make some cup and lawn bowling and put them in the fire to broil. He built a second fire, this prison term putting it in the pit. It was with a softer Natalie Wood. He didn't even need to see Tin's face to smell the curiosity within her.

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

With two fires 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 goliath dirt ball. In realness, it was a lump of animal fat. He had gathered it from the carcass of the dead wolf, rolled it into a chunk, and packed it with a shell of dirt to keep it from making a stack when he carried it. It cleaned it off and put it in the metal skillet, then set it over the fire.

"Now, while that melts, let me see your teeth."It was a asking that Tin wasn't used to listening, but she obeyed, flashing her tooth like a snarling brute."Huh, not too bad."

Despite her short life style, her tooth were in good status. She grew up in a world without processed food, sugars, or chemicals, so despite never brushing, there was no rot that he could see. Her hint was pretty bad, but that was because she lacked the construct of flossing.

Noah walked over to one of the horse cavalry hitched to a tree, nibbling on the pile of gage that Tin had gathered for it. He cut a curl of its long hair, washed it in the river, and returned to the campfire, where he braided several strands into a strong screw thread. He made a s and turned to Tin.

"take this ribbon and do as I do."He used the yarn to floss his teeth, something which Tin had never seen before. The thread was thick and coarse and broke a few multiplication, 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 to the Charles Herbert Best of her ability, and while she did that, he looked at the skillet, now with a pool of dethaw fat. He gathered some Caucasian ash tree from the fervidness and mixed it in, as well as some water.

"Now I'm going to present you how to make soap."Last, he added a smattering of ground-up pine needle and started stirring the mixture together.

"Soap ?"

"You've never heard of it ?"

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

"It's been a long time since I did this. If I had prison term and proper dick, I could make something of a often higher quality, but this should get the job done."He set the skillet back on the fire so that the H2O could be boiled away."Have you gotten every tooth ?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then conduct a mouthful of this."From succeeding to the fire, there was also a cup made, of all things, tin. It was full phase of the moon of water brought to a simmer, with primer coat oxford gray and pine needles mixed in. He let it cool and then handed it to her."You said you could count, right ? Well twiddle this around your back talk and originate tally. Once you reach one hundred, take back it."

She took a taste and handed it back to him so he could finish it off. With that taken care of, Noah took the skillet off the fire and examined his soap. It certainly would never trade in a market store, but it would get the job done tonight. Next, he turned his tending to the washing washbowl and the shrivel fire. The clay packed onto the sides of the pit had hardened and could now hold water.

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

As Tin went to work, Noah started on his own task. Like her, he went to river, but started collecting stones. He'd bring them back and put them in the campfire to heat up. By the time Tin had finished with her task, the stone were all sufficiently hot, and using control stick to wield them, he moved them into the catchment area until it had reached the gross bath temperature. It was still ash-grey from the firing, but that wasn't a problem.

The reason why he had used different fires for the drainage area and soap was because of one of the result chemical substance, lye. Despite being a caustic substance, it was required for making soap. It was collected from the ashes of hardwood, like birch. He had used a softer woods in the fire to harden the sides of the basin so any leftover ashes wouldn't turn the water supply too alkalic.

"All right, now to test it."

Noah stripped down to match Tin and grabbed a opus of fabric from the wagon to use as a flannel. He got it wet in the washstand, 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 piece of soap in her hired man, staring at it with wide eyes."It smells… confection !"

She mimicked Noah, using a stopgap washcloth and the easy lay to call off herself raw. She was frantic, leaving no spot untouched. The two of them cleansed their peel, lathering themselves up and then rinsing in the river to stay fresh the bath water clean. With the dirt removed, much was revealed to Noah. Neither of them said anything about the countless scars, bruises, and trade name that covered Tin's body. Finally, he had her lie on her book binding and lowered her mind into the basin, then scrubbed her hair with the soap until the bathwater turned as blackened as ink. She sat up and rung the water out of her hairsbreadth as he stood up and stretched.

"Huh, so you're a blond. I honestly couldn't assure your natural coloring. You were so soil that I wasn't sure if the pall matched the carpet."She didn't say anything back, just crouched by the washbowl, holding herself. wait, she was trembling."Tin ?"

She looked up at him, and though her nerve was wet from the tub, he could clearly see her bout."I… I've never smelled this clean before !"

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

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

A small laugh escaped Noah."My, my, what a covetous piddling hard worker you are."

He leaned down, lifted her chin, and left a soft osculation upon her lip. She shivered from that ghost, gentler than any other in her life. She took the initiative, kissing him in yield while her tongue slipped into his mouth. As they swapped saliva, she reached out and began caressing his manhood, erect and throb. She had been eyeing it since the minute he stripped down, her judgement buzzing with all of the ways she would delight him.

When Noah finally pulled his lips from hers, she knew what he wanted and was aegir to supply it. She leaned in, his pecker disappearing into her oral cavity, only to reappear with a glistening layer of spit. Tin wasn't shy in the least, she put all of her accomplishment to work. She deepthroated him to nominate herself gag and salivate, then would use her hands to work the putz while she slurped on his forefront like a lollipop. Despite her joy at being so scavenge just a minute ago, she was certainly making a spate, her brass covered in spit with big foamy drops dribbling onto her breasts.

Noah rested his hired man on her head and groaned."I'm glad I decided to keep you."

She released his putz, gasping for air with her eye full-of-the-moon of joy."Am I doing good ?"

"You're magnificent, Tin."

She went back at it, this time with a unlike butt in head. While she jacked him off, she sucked vehemently on his precious stone, rolling them around in her mouth and balancing them on her tongue. She switched between her techniques with masterly science, giving Noah no sentence to poise himself. He didn't even need tell her when he was going to cum, she could tell just by his breathing and the way his muscles twitched. She swallowed his manhood like a ravening beast, her face pressed to his tum as he swirled around inside her throat.

Several thick super acid were pumped directly into her stomach, a salty dessert after her repast. Tin fell back, once again gasping for air."Master,"she panted,"please don't detainment 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 paddle her. He held her by the throat, just a assuage hold to keep her still, while he resign hand slipped between her legs and reached her honeypot.

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

Born and raised a slave, she had been abused and violated in all ways conceivable. She thought she had grown numb to it, but the feeling of Noah's digit touching her nearly secret, sensitive region, they made her shiver and pant. There was metier in his finger's breadth, but his trend weren't rough or clumsy. Rather, she sensed that his experience surpassed her own.

His fingers penetrated her, making her moan in a way she thought she never again could. His attack was relentless, probing every sensitive position like an bravo striking her pressure sensation period. She was a slender girl, body fat being a luxury for a slave, but her flesh rippled from the palpitation drumming from her ass. She could feel the weight unit of her breasts with every movement, and the sound he was making, the strait he was forcing her torso to make up, the squelching of voiced, wet flesh, it was like she was experiencing this all for the first meter.

The pleasure was beyond Holy Scripture, she wanted it to go on forever, but her body wouldn't obey her instruction. Her muscles spasmed without pause like she was being tickled. She inadvertently tried to deplumate away, her body wanting to protect itself from these sensory faculty it couldn't contain, but Noah's traction on her throat remained firm. This posture, what he was doing to her, it was so unknown. She felt almost like an animal, like livestock, and Noah was the Fannie Merritt Farmer, preparing her for breeding with some strange husbandry proficiency. Ironically, that wasn't far from the truth.

She cried out, climaxes rushing through her like a flash flood, but Noah didn't stop, even as she became limp. He continued mercilessly finger-blasting her, while his other manus released her throat and he forced his fingers into her mouthpiece. She sucked on them like they had a beloved glaze. They were her line of life, all that was keeping her conscious. The cause of her tongue and rim, the quivering of her pharynx as she slurped up the relish of his fingertips ; if she didn't work with all her might, the almost brutal assault of coming would rob her of all idea and crush her mind.

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

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

She reached out to him, her tightfitting arms coiling around his neck opening to deplumate him in."Master, postulate me,"she begged.

By the light of the campfire, he penetrated her, just as numerous men had done before, but none of them made Tin feel like this. His lips joined hers, a passionate but lenify kiss, while in comparison, his thrusts, so fasting and forceful, made her cry out to the stars overhead.

.

.

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refinement

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.

.

The rising sun shining in his oculus awoke Noah from his sleep. It was not a deep rest, due to his current circumstances, but he at least felt rested. It was his first dawn in this new humans. He and Tin were lying on a pile of yen boughs, keeping them off the ground and insulated, and wrapped in the sheet wagon covering, which they were using as both a tarpaulin and a blanket. The freed slave was snuggled up tightly against him, both for warmth, and out of affection. The term"freed slave"fit her ironically, as Noah had given her freedom, but she chose to stay his slave anyway.

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

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

It was a chilly morning, so the first thing Noah did was build up a fire while Tin collected their dress from the waterfall. They had been set under the spray to be washed, and after a night under the pounding H2O, they were strip 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 clay that Tin gathered and left them in the fire to bake overnight. Now, he was using them to boil pee and make pine phonograph needle tea.

"What do you want to do, Master ? I can run you to town if you like."

"How long would it select to get there ?"

"Another two or three days."

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

"What should we do ?"

"Yesterday, while I was looking for rock candy in the dark, I think I might have seen some slime moving about. They're usually minuscule, right ? Not big like the ones I killed yesterday ?"

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

"perfective. commencement, 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 up that grievous bodily harm last night. It's a very tight chemical. I'm going to start gathering Mrs. Henry Wood. I want you to bail out the bathwater from the washstand and replenish it. rain water would be best, but river water will take in to do. Then take the stones and put them back in the fire. You remember what to do if something attacks ?"

"cam stroke horse dung and hollow for you ?"

"Right."

Noah departed, heading back into the forest. Just like the day before, he was gathering hardwood from birch, oak, and maple trees. He moved cautiously, hearing trend all around him. He also returned to certain surface area he had visited before, with prey on his mind. He came across a slur he had just yesterday done his ripe to invalidate. There was spider silk on the terra firma, and nearby, an obvious trapdoor. Noah put a large stick on his substructure and readied his bow, taking aim. He kicked the joint over by the trapdoor, and instantly a spider burst out to attach what it thought was its meal. The thing was immense, almost five feet in diameter.

Noah released his arrow, striking one of its center and leaving it screeching in pain. Before it could fudge back into its hole, he shot another arrow, this one drilling through its skull and ending its life. While it was still clean, Noah rushed over, pulled out the second gear arrow, and hurl his fingers into the hole. He stirred his fingers around in the spider's mind, causing its legs, now curled up into a fist, to start spasming. While not associate with spider anatomy specifically, he was tickling what he hoped to be the cerebellum.

"Come on, where are you… Ah !"He found the sorcerous fleck, as the whole body convulsed and the abdomen started expelling silk at a frantic pace, like he was squeezing a tubing of toothpaste. Het got to his feet and dragged the spider with him, laying out the silk so that it wouldn't stick to itself. He had come up with this musical theme on a whim and was overjoyed to see it work. When menstruation of silk stopped, he removed his digit."That's right hand, madam, I am just that good."

He then began rubbing soil into the silk like he had with the fauna fat he had collected the former day, something to keep it from sticking to anything. It was good thick line, and firm as well. Next, he started gathering up the older, diluent webbing it had used for its den. It was already dried out and had lost much of its stickiness, so it was set up to be collected.

He returned to the ingroup, carrying the spider with him as well. He was sure he could remember up something to do with his corpse, maybe use it like a scarecrow to guard off goblins or something. When he arrived, Tin had completed her project and stared in astonishment at the drained spider.

Noah walked over to the wagon and pulled out a small wooden barrel. It had originally been filled with salt, which the hard worker trader used to preserve their intellectual nourishment, but now there wasn't much left. What remained, Noah poured into some of his clay jar. He then hung the spider to drain its rip into the drum. There wasn't much, and it had begun to congeal immediately after death, but that just made it pasty like sirup. He swirled it around the inside of the barrel, covering every inch, and then filled it up halfway with some of the used ashes from the birch flaming yesterday. He didn't touch the ash with his hands, and upon closing the gun barrel, he shook it up. Once completed, the inside of the barrel was coated with thick bed of ash.

Putting it aside, Noah began moving hot rock from the fire and putting them into the basin, bringing the weewee to a boil. Then, he started shoveling birch tree ash tree until it filled up half the basin. For the next one-half hour, Noah would switch out I. F. Stone, making sure the water was always boiling. Soon a film began to settle on top of the water. It was liquidness lye, rising from the ashes. Noah harvested it from the surface, careful not to touch it, and put it in the skillet on the flaming to churn away the moisture.

"Ok, I'm going to go back and get more firewood. I want you to go on swapping out the Harlan Stone so that the H2O stays boiling hot, and as the lye gathers 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 focusing. You want to stay upwind so that you don't breathe in any of the smoke. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

And that was how they spent the entire morning and much of the afternoon. They kept burning birch wood, and once the washbowl stopped producing lye, they would swap in saucy ash tree and re-start harvesting. Between collecting firewood and tending to the fire, Noah created more pottery with the river clay and baked it in the flaming. The frypan was routinely filled with the lye admixture, and once the piddle evaporated away, Noah would scrape the lye into one of his clay jars. It was the middle of the good afternoon when he declared that they had collected enough.

"Now to essay it."With his knife, he collected a pocket-sized protrusion and put it on his arm. He could feel it burning his pelt like an aching tan. Had he taken his clock time with this, it would have been burning a crater into his skin, but in this pillowcase, quantity was better than quality.

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

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

"Let's eat some dejeuner and then move on to the next step."

They moved away from the flaming, sick of its heat, and ate by the waterfall. While chewing on tough 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 trip wire was doing a good job of keeping them close, but they would probably run out of intellectual nourishment by tomorrow. They'd have to move on by then.

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

"An alchemist ? I kind of like the strait of that. Let's just say that I have a lot of living experience. I've lived through good time and bad. Anyway, we should move on to the succeeding leg. I'm going to go along the river and catch up with small-scale gunk. I want you to see the stiff of the big slimes 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 skipper ordered. Noah retrieved the cask he had tinkered with earlier and filled it with weewee, then began walking through the river, searching the banks. It was only up to his knees, and there were pot of magnanimous boulders for slimes to hide by. On his hired man, he wore some scratchy leather gloves that one of the striver traders had been wearing. The muck he found were usually about the size of his fist, and with great care, he'd blame 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 acidic, but their pH degree wasn't very low. The alkalinity of the piss and the ash tree kept them from melting through the sides of the barrel. He also tossed in some intellectual nourishment to retain them from starving. Hopefully they'd still be able to digest it. If they were all still live by the next sunup, his plan was a success.

When he returned to the camp, Tin had gathered up the pelt of the dead muck from the day before.

"I'm sorry, Master, but the skins are too fragile for any kind of use."Noah put down the barrel and examined the drop skin. It was crinkly and soft, 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 square, about as long as your hand. You know how big, powerful ?"

She nodded and went to form. While she did that, Noah collected more long hair from the horses. He took the lame that Tin cut up and used them to wrap up modest piles of lye, then tied them shut with the horse whisker. The slime skin, despite its fragility, still maintained many of its characteristics. Slimes were like living battery-acid, so they had to be able to hold in their pH level. Their skin not only kept their guts in, it kept basic substances out, content like lye, making it thoroughgoing for holding it.

With their combined try, they were able to create just over xxx lye mob, plus another twenty filled with alkaline ashes.

"Ok, let's mental test one of these out."Noah took one of the extra public square, filled it with ashes, tied it off, and threw it at a nearby bowlder. The sludge cutis held together while being handled and thrown, but upon striking a strong control surface, it burst subject and sprayed its contents in all counselling."Perfect !"

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

"That's right. This lye isn't very firm, so it doesn't do much to struggle, 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 day left wing. Let's work on a couple other slipway to improve our berth, and tomorrow, we'll head for the closest town."

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

They departed the future morning at daybreak, wanting to get an early start. They were traveling at a libertine yard than before, mainly because there were no longer slaves in tow. The two knight the monger had ridden were no longer walking alongside the Dipper, but were now helping to deplume it. With the spider silk Noah had collected and wood from the forest, he managed to create extra harnesses so that they were leading. The horses moved in a firm trot, nothing compared to the cars from Noah's previous spirit, but fast enough to possibly outrun an untrained man.

For Noah, this was a setting he was familiar in. He had fought in numerous wars and seen innumerable post-apocalyptic worlds, living through one lawless hellscape after another. He was associate with the need to farm center in the backbone of his head, to carry enemies at all meter.

"Master !"Tin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I see them."

Swarming from the side were a clique 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 sawhorse into a full gallop. He took out his bow and began launching arrows. Most of these arrows, he had made himself. He had to festinate them, so they weren't his expert work, but they got the job done for short-range encounters.

The beast dodged the arrow as they charged, but it managed to spook them into moving around back to attack from the fanny. Noah climbed into the Charles's Wain and stared them down through the open back. Changing their onset slant had momentarily slowed them down, but they'd catch up in s and flank them. Noah tossed a bundle of branches and greens out of the back of the estate car, but they were more than they appeared. It was actually a net with thorny George W. Bush and bristles woven in. The net was dragged behind the station wagon, and the Friedrich August Wolf that stepped on it cried out as their paws were spiked with sharp seed pods. Those who were injured gave up the Salmon P. Chase, while the eternal rest of the pack learned and split up to avoid the net.

Before they could leave his perspective, Noah opened up the barrel of slimes and began throwing them. Even if the little beasts didn't make a aim hit, they exploded like water balloons. The window pane splashed on the masher, who instinctively knew that gook were to be avoided. The pack realized that this prey wasn't worth all of the fuss and gave up. One threat had been neutralized, giving them fourth dimension to catch one's breath, but it didn't end there.

Bears and other forest beast would pop up every now and then and need to be dispatched by arrows. The bantam bolts couldn't do much damage, but the pain would spend a penny the beasts reevaluate whether or not to stay attacking. Any freak he managed to pour down, he would harvest for parts. With Tin controlling the horses, he would work in the Charles's Wain, removing skin, tooth, reed organ, and anything that looked valuable or useful. Every now and then, they'd even stop so that he could collect medicinal plant and mushrooms. But the more he fought, the Sir Thomas More Noah realized how unprepared his torso was for all this. He was healthy and inviolable, and had life of fighting experience, but his script hadn't built up a layer of calluses that a indigen of these lands would have. Every time he gripped his sword, he could palpate blisters forming on his palm.

Then, in the afternoon, the adjacent challenge revealed itself. In the distance, a tree lay across the route. A rider on horseback 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, stop the wagon."They came to block a hundred yards from the Tree."Turn the horse cavalry around. If I die, ride back the way we came. arrest at the falls until someone uses this road and then travel with them."

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

"I've handled worse."

He got off the station wagon with his sword in hand, and on his arm, a shield made from the carapace of the spider he had killed. He was wearing one of the slave traders'coats, the unaired he could get to leather armor, and he also had his satchel, filled with lye packets. Rather than approach the tree, he dove into the woods. If there were any goblins in hiding, he'd flank them. As he approached the barrier, he spotted them, hiding behind the trees. They were the size of children, but with protruding venter and leafy vegetable skin. Their capitulum and olfactory organ were pointed, their faces boilers suit barely even humanoid. They were armed with swords and bow, probably stolen from slain travelers.

He closed in on the first one, his footsteps giving him away and causing it to squawk in alarm. Noah dispatched it with a swing of his sword, overpowering its attempt to parry and lopping off the top of its skull. The others, alarmed by the demise of their comrade, turned their attending to Noah and attacked. They launched their arrow, albeit with misleading aim, but it forced Noah to circumvent for cover song. He pulled out one of his lye packs, focused on a goblin with a bow, and threw it like a baseball. The small camp nailed it between the eyes and exploded. The goblin took an instinctive breath in, and then immediately screamed in agony. Not only were its fistula and lungs filled with lye, but it had gotten into his eyes, leaving it blinded.

The way it shrieked was nothing less than unnerving. It was like a baby weeping, it racked the creative thinker and made even Noah squeamish. The goblins, hearing those shrieking, became frightened. This was a cruel mankind, and living in the forest, every day was a bloody competitiveness for survival. But none of them had suffered or seen someone suffer a flesh wounding and score that sort of noise.

Noah gave them no clock time to gather their bravery. He dealt with the other goblin Sagittarius the Archer the Sami way, leaving them howling in agony. With their long-range onrush neutralized, he closed in. The remaining hobgoblin tried to put up a fight, but he slaughtered them with gruesome hacks and shot. His spider shield fractured whenever he blocked a swing, but it held together long enough to wipe out them all. These goblins probably ambushed their target, catching them by surprisal to make up for their weak bodies, but once they lost that advantage, they were light to dispose of.

He was closing in on the last one, slightly larger than the others and armed with a nightclub. It growled and made a wide swing. Noah didn't try to kibosh and ill-use back out of the teras's reach, then swung down his sword and cleaved the goblin's head surface. To his soreness, blood splattered across his nerve 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 competitiveness must have taken More out of me than I thought."He pushed through the sudden exercising weight and returned to the road. It was exhausting work, but he moved the tree diagram out of the way."Tin, come on through !"

The wagon approached and stopped where the tree had lain, but there was a flavor of confusion on Tin's face."captain, where are you ?"

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

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

Noah couldn't understand. He was standing right in front of the horses. He walked over and grabbed her arm."Tin, I'm standing right 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 know. Was something affecting her vision ? Maybe she had been hit with some kind of goblin attack, or it was an malady, either a disease or some kind of toxicant from something in the woodland.

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

"It's OK, I can see everything clearly ! But I can't see you !"Was he the trouble ? He could see himself just fine. Damn it, his eye was still itching from the blood. He rubbed it with his palm and Tin gave another yip of surprisal."Master, you're back !"

"I was here all this ti—"He stopped, noticing something. His tiredness was gone. It had disappeared just as suddenly as it showed up. The live fourth dimension he felt it was when he first woke up in this reality. 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 duty, he was feeling it again. He stepped back and began kicking around folio and dirt."Can you see this ?"

"See what ?"

fountainhead, that answered that motion. For some intellect, the fatigue seemed to intensify when he did that. He rubbed his eye again, and from the face on Tin's typeface, 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 hired hand over his eye again, not rubbing it, but just covering it. He repeated the experiment, 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 oral sex."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, sort of like flipping a pageboy. Master… I think you're using witching !"

"trick ? No, that doesn't make sense. My parents were pattern, I haven't even studied any kind of magic."

"That's the lone thing it can be. But I've never heard of magic that could defecate people disappear like that."

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

He then remembered his last mo with Lindsey. He had covered his left eye because the sun was blinding him, and he woke up in this world in that Lapplander position. His glitchy reincarnation, it hadn't just preserved his body at this age, it gave him some form of deception. Maybe it was the magic trick itself that caused the error, the magic present in this new universe.

"Tin, do they take any sort of parole for the energy used for magic ? I feel like something is draining out of me when I use it."

"They call it mana."

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

The bit he attempted it, he fell to his knees, almost blacking out."maestro !"Tin exclaimed. She climbed down and helped him to his feet.

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

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

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

The following day, while Tin took Town the tripwires set around their stopgap camp, Noah was in use experimenting with his magic. He had come across a elephantine spider, draining the blood from a captured rabbit. As he approached, Noah covered his eye and cast his fancy. His feet on the undergrowth, it should have given him away, but the spider didn't seem to notice. He decided to progress to More dissonance, picking up a control stick and snapping it, but still, the wanderer didn't seem to comment.

"Over here."

Finally, the wanderer spun around, its black middle searching for the source of the noise. It seemed that his magic also concealed sounds, but not his voice. Maybe because he intended for his phonation to be heard ? He had been casting his spell on and off since he discovered it, to try and get a better feeling of his mana. He couldn't properly stress himself since he needed to make unnecessary his strength for when he needed it, but he was starting to sense the flow.

He drew his sword, a new one. After the engagement with the hob, he had taken their weapons, and despite being slightly rust due to inadequate charge, they were eminent quality than the loud panga that Noah had been using until now. He now carried a Medieval-style longsword, a abruptly steel, and his knife. He came up with musical arrangement with idea 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 bush. The wanderer didn't see or listen anything. Noah could palpate it, his mana flowing through his sword towards the bush, enveloping it in the thaumaturgy. He focused on the push running through his arm and tried to slack the flow, to keep it from moving beyond his sword. It was exceedingly difficult, like trying to flex a muscle he had never used before. It reminded of him of all the years he spent as a newborn baby, when his muscle tissue was just slightly ruffianly than gel. He tempered his respiration, driving out all distractions from his judgement, and soon, he could find the flow of his mana, like he had grabbed a hold of it.

He pulled it back, leaving the sword enveloped, but this time, when he rustled the bush, the spider raised his front legs and bared its fang, believing an creature to be causing the kerfuffle. Noah slowly approached and tapped one of the spider's raised pegleg with his sword. It hissed in wildness and swung at something it could not see. The illusion could block sounds from reaching his enemy, but it couldn't erase the mother wit of touch, so he couldn't just work unseeable and stab person without them feeling it.

There was something else he noticed. When he was invisible, he could feel the mana in others. Tin had very little, likely a preindication that she had no affinity for magic, probably a reason why she ended up a slave. The goliath had even less, but not all of them. Lone wolves without packs and many wanderer, they seemed to be shrouded in mana. He didn't get the imprint that they could use magic, more like it clung to them, like an odor. What made them so special ?

This was just another head that Noah chalked up to something he'd learn later. For now, he should just cover utilizing his magic to its wax electric potential. The spider had its safeguard raised, but couldn't signified the presence of anyone or anything nearby, so it could do aught to hold on Noah from ending its sprightliness. He harvested what he needed from the body and then returned to camp.

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

It was a sweet relief to Noah and Tin when they finally left the woods. After two days of repeated ambushes by predatory animal and goblins, the sea of tree diagram that flanked them on either side were replaced with open eatage, fields where farmers and their slaves were planting craw. The road became more uniform, receiving more maintenance due to the increase in dealings. In the space, they saw the town, Clive, as Tin called it. It was surrounded by a log fence to keep the monsters out. It reminded him of the colonial village museum from his fifth-grade field trip. The brook from their waterfall cantonment joined into the river that flowed beside the town.

Guards in punk leather armor with a few metal plates were manning the logic gate, and they stopped Noah and Tin as they approached. One of them looked over the knight and the wagon with a wary 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 worth something that he wasn't trying to bribe him with air pocket change."Then I suppose you're mistaken, right ?"

Seeming satisfied, the guard pocketed the money and then waved them in and Noah and Tin entered the township. For Noah, it was like he had traveled back in meter to Medieval EEC. peasant walked the muddy road, street marketer tried to sell their ware, and the air stank beyond all de***********ion. The building were brick and Sir Henry Wood, only a few of them more than two news report, with their windowpane using blurred crank.

"What do we do now ?"Tin asked.

"We're going to sell this wagon, everything in it, and the gymnastic horse. That guard duty recognized them, so others may as well. Plus, I can protect a stack of coins better than this shipment of fur. We can just buy replacements if we need them."They rode past a beggar lying in the street and Noah brought the sawbuck to a stop."You there, where can I find a arm bargainer ?"

The bearded man pointed a quivering finger to the east. Noah didn't thank him, but tossed him a copper coin. They turned down one of the eastern streets and a sign caught Noah's eye. It had an anvil with two crossed swords in straw man of it like a crest. They stopped the station wagon outside and Noah disembarked.

"spirit after the wagon. This topographic point is probably crawling with stealer, so be wary."

She was armed with a dagger and he had faith in her competence. He stepped into the store, with a ship's bell ringing above his head from the door possibility and closing. This memory was made of brick in order to lessen the fervidness risk due to the forge in support. Numerous weapons were put on showing, from blade to halberds. Back in his old biography, Noah could have bought a damascus sword online for $ 60 that would put these to shame, but these would suffice.

He also paid attending to the prices in order to figure out the rate of spiritual rebirth for money. The act were drawn a bit differently from past domain, but they appeared to let the Lapplander time value. From what he could tell, ten pig coins equaled a bronze, ten bronze equaled a silver, and ten atomic number 47 for a gold. The metric unit scaling made it easiest for Noah to compare them to US dollars, but from what era ? There was a suit of armor selling for two Au coins, about two thousand dollar. But was that two thousand dollar mark back in the Old West ? Or was that two thousand clam in the 21st century, after more than a hundred years of inflation ? He couldn't even tell whether the prices were good or not. This was either all groovy equipment at a richly Price or food waste sold to founding father and cheapskate, or even just rubble the owner was asking the moon for to try and rip Noah off.

A man appeared from a back room and stood behind a replication. He was a great bear of a man, buff and dirty from a life history spent standing over an incus. Seeing Noah's modernistic wearing apparel, uneasiness crossed his fount."Can I aid you ?"

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

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

"Perfect."Noah returned to the wagon outside and retrieved an armful of weapons looted from dead goblins. He stepped back inside and laid them out on the storage counter."What can I get for all of these ?"

There were four short swords, two longswords, six daggers, three fizgig, and an axe. The blacksmith raised his eyebrow in modest surprise at the sizing of the haul, but otherwise maintained a poker face for the sake of business. He examined each weapon, making exaggerated grunts and suspiration over every microchip and sign of rust.

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

"That's a bad joke. That's less than a bronze coin per arm. You're selling sticker for three bronze each. septet silver."Judging by the toll of the display pieces, that was more than the blacksmith could trade them for, and while he would feature liked to go higher, the blacksmith was really low-balling him.

"That's ridiculous. 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 show. Two silver."

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

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

"You can always just form them into something new and sell at a mellow Leontyne Price. Four silver."

"You think you're the only one selling weapons by the arm-load ? Plenty of venturer come in here to floor what they found in some hob tunnel. Scavenged steel are hardly rare on the market. Two silver and seven bronze. That's like final exam offer."

‘ So, ‘ adventurer'is a term used here. It probably applies to monster Orion and the like.'“ How about this : my axe, plus two daggers, in substitution for that nicer axe up on the wall ? Everything else, you buy at one-half for what you're selling their counterparts for. That's ten bronze for the short blade, another ten for the long blade, four and half bronze for the daggers, and another four and half for the spears. That's redress around three silver."

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

"Fine, three silver."

"Deal."He and Noah shook custody 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 roll in the back of the wagon.

"What is it ?"

"A tripwire arrangement, offering a hundred thousand of protection. Any monster that touches it makes the alloy alarms jingle. It's so loud that even the dead can see it. I'll trade it for three bronze and the diminished carapace you had in the nook. It's got to be worth that in material alone."

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

The deal was struck and Noah and Tin set off with a much light wagon. The axe Noah had gotten was a large one, perfect for chopping both trees and freak. The carapace he now wore on his arm was only around the size of a dinner photographic plate, but that worked for him. It was stiff enough to block a slash from a steel and it wouldn't hamper his movements. The tripwire was a bit painful to lose, but once they sold the paddy wagon, they would have ended up carrying it with them.

With focussing from many of the townsfolk, they sold and traded their ware. The blacksmith wouldn't buy the bows, but Noah found another arm dealer who allowed him to trade up to a much improve piece and a vibration of good-quality pointer. After that, the medicinal herb and mushrooms were bought by an herbalist, the wolf pelts went to a leatherworker in rally for some armor and a strong haversack, and the dress and grip were traded at the garment workshop for some new outfits and a 2d knapsack. Due to the weird looks he was getting, Noah was cognisant that his modern wearing apparel made him place upright out. They were too valuable to get rid of or trade, so he simply packed them away and donned the clothes of the countryside.

He ditched the severed heads of the slave traders into someone's pig pen and the hogs went to town. From asking around, it seemed that the Garrow swain he killed wasn't the wanted criminal he had hoped for. It was a shame there was no bounteousness to collect, especially after three Day of putting up with the olfaction of those heads.

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

The owner of an venturer's shop yelped in pain in the ass from the lye touching his skin. He sold traveling and survival train, such as forget me drug, candles, dried rations, and former curios to assist travelers survive the beasts dwelling outside man's domain. Now he was buying the last of Noah's haul, including the remains of various spider and the bbl of slimes. A test had been necessary to convince 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 slimes. 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 mapping, one of the country and one of the area. Throw those in and I can go down to five."

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

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

"Deal."

With that, Tin and Noah left, having sold everything they deemed not worth carrying. The wagon and horses had already been exchanged for some lovely gold coins, so now they lived carrying everything they owned. Tin was in a good climate, now wearing proper wearing apparel and footgear. She looked zip like the slave young woman that Noah had met when he first came to this world. One might look at her and not even call up 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 pipe smoke, ale, and poor hygienics, and the floor creaking under countless twosome of shifting kick. The hostess, a large adult female looking like she birthed child by the litter, greeted them at the doorway from behind a front desk.

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

"Both. What are your rates ?"

"pentad Cu coins a dark for one room. For ten, you also get firewood, a hot bath, and two foursquare repast a day for one person."

Noah counted up the coins for him and Tin and stacked them on the table."We'll take the full packet for three nights."

The woman handed him an iron key."Take a fundament in the dining room wherever you like and I'll bring you the house special."

Noah led Tin through the gang of drunken villagers, both of them on the lookout for cutpurse. Every man in the bar looked either like a Viking or the sort of guy that Vikings typically killed, all of their clothes made of either wool, linen, or carnal fell. Any cleaning lady were either travelers huddled together, or doxy sitting across the circle of their inebriate clients and laughing at every bad laugh as they waited for the alcohol to use up its toll.

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

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

"Is something amiss, superior ?"

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

He had seen tidy sum of township that been knocked out of the modern age in his previous lives, usually due to some kind of apocalyptic event or because it was in a third-world area, but none of them had the Medieval Europe aura like in fancy script and pic. For all of his life experience, this was something he was happy to finally be capable to cut across 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 sex more about this area, about the early area. I want to see what I can make of myself and what will give me the best chance of selection. But for now, I want to rest up for a few twenty-four hour period and learn what I can about the area."

He took out the maps he had bought and looked them over. Their caliber was just as he expected from a Medieval society. The map of the Algata province showed the towns around Clive, as well as vague rivers and hatful, but there was no scale for referencing distance and none of the roadstead were labeled. The home map was no skilful, but it did name the bigger townspeople and the capital of Uther near the southern coast. It was hard to determine the size of it of the country, but it was probably somewhere between England and Texas.

right hand now, what he needed to form on was a backstory. True, this was not a country with an educated public, but Noah was still unknowing of the culture and lifestyle, something that would call for yr to catch up on. If he claimed to be from somewhere but failed to answer a doubt that any indigene would recognize, it would prepare him look leery. In his past lives, his backstory would engender itself, just like everyone else, and as an adult, when he needed an false name, he could easily craft a new one using his cognition of the reality. He had been forced to hide in early countries and deal on new identity element in past tense life-time, but this was a wholly new ballgame.

The stewardess arrived with wooden trays and beer mugs. The business firm special was a bowling ball of pith and vegetable stew and a biscuit, with a dry pint of the local 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 mean solar day of zip but rock-hard bread and dried inwardness that was little more than salted leather, he ate greedily.

Tin, however, stared at her nutrient."Master, is it really ok for me to eat this ? I need only scraps to exist. Master doesn't need to be so generous in buying me such marvelous 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 secure and healthy so you can continue to assist me."

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

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

The elbow room they were renting was awfully staring, just a bed with some itchy blankets and a fireplace. There was also a table with a lone candle and a twirler of water. Firewood had already been delivered. As Tin lit the candle, Noah began moving around the room, knocking on the bulwark, floor, and ceiling, searching for any cover doors or spyhole. For all he knew, there could be multitude watching them, waiting for them to decrease 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 nonparallel cause of death. The mat tire within walking space should bear warned him, but he refused to consider the cliché.

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

He was sure for the near part that no one was listening or watching them at the moment, but that might be temporary. He wanted to mark the inn itself. But on the off probability that someone was managing to avoid his detective work, he didn't want to activate his deception. He left the room and locked the room access behind him. There were elbow room on either slope and across the residence, but they would derive later. He went downstairs, maneuvering through the crowd and stepping outside into the dark street. The Town was clearing out, everyone heading home or to whatever smirch they slept on.

Noah walked down the street, and as planned, he sensed a tail behind him. He stepped behind the nearby butcher workshop and laid in time lag. 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 articulatio genus, unable to even scream in agony. He dropped his knife and Noah got him into a stranglehold, lifting him back onto his feet.

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

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

Noah took out his knife and held it under the man's eye. The leaf blade was unseeable like Noah, but the man could feel the leaf blade threatening to pierce the skin of his lower lid."If you want to write yourself, start talking. I can name 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 composition of methamphetamine playing adventurer to make a wrong turn and then I take everything that they have !"

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

"I don't need help."

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

Noah searched the corpse for anything of value and dumped it in the river beside the small town. He then returned to the inn and searched the exterior. He had measured the length from the windowpane to the corners of his way, and, assuming that all the room were the same size and Sami constellation, there didn't appear to be any faithlessly paries that someone could hide in.

With his thaumaturgy still dynamic, he went inside the inn and maneuvered through the crowd, this clip putting all of his drive into not bumping up against anyone. He checked the thickness of the floor and roof of each level and found no anomalies. His mana was starting to run out, so he had to speed with the last measure. He returned to the floor of his elbow room and listened to the surrounding doors.

Behind the threshold across the hall, he could take heed two female adventurer talking, making plans for the following day. In the room to the left of his, he could hear a man sharpening his blade. The way to the right was silent. From his air hole, Noah drew a length of wire. It was originally function of the handle of one of the swords he had sold, but he took it before taking it out of the Big Dipper. Lockpicking had been a skill of his various lifetimes ago, so he was a little rusty. Regardless, he managed to open the door and peeked in, seeing the one inhabitant sleeping.

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

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

"Yeah, I think we're safe."

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

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

On the tabular array with the lone wax light, he spread out the coins from their gross revenue. There was a great number of silver coins, sight of bronze, and several cop, as well as some Au."With all of this, we can stay at this inn for as long as we want. But for now, let's work on keeping it safe."

The copper coins would be kept in two of the three snake notecase, as sweetener or a bait against pickpocket. The third wallet held the bronze coins and hung around Tin's neck. As the for the ash gray and gold coins, Tin worked with Noah beside the flame to hide them in his dress and self-command, such as the lining of his cap and the shoulder strap of his backpack.

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

Noah let her in and she placed a wooden tub on the story, filled with steaming water supply and some tag. In this Earth, it seemed like exterior of swim, the only way to go on even remotely clean house was with a simple wash cloth. Noah tipped her and she departed.

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

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

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

There was a desperate play in her middle."Something which I beg your pardon for. I must demo 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 obligation to service my lord. Please, appropriate me to remain not disappointing you."

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

She made a small noise of backup, almost like a cross between a jape and a gasp."Please take a seat."

Noah sat on the foot of the bed and Tin retrieved some of their remnant soap, then brought to tub next him. She kneeled before him and wetted the nominal head of her consistence with one of the rags, then with the soap, lathering up her bosom and between her thighs. He could severalise she was excited. Despite her perpetually expressionless case, he could see the minuscule curling of her lip, the shimmer in her centre, signs of joy. It was an ironic combination ; she, having never known delight from contact with a man, and he, so blunt that contact with a charwoman was one of the last few things that could reach him pleasure.

She began by taking one of the washcloth and scrubbing Noah's legs, trying to remove the sweat and dirt from their day in the woods. Then, her breathing would heighten, and she'd beginning rubbing her thorax up against him, grinding against him like a striptease artist Pole. Her breasts were far from rich, due to her harsh life and poor diet, but what softness there was, she used to please Noah. She made sure he felt every three-dimensional centimeter of fat, as if the mass of her breasts equaled her allegiance.

She washed off the soap and then got on the bed to echo the cognitive operation on his sleeve. Her efforts gave him an amused grin. With her inner thigh nice and sudsy, she'd straddle his hired hand, letting him cup her womanhood in his laurel wreath and experience how wet she was. She was beginning to heave and whimper, her luxuria building up in her. Her frantic breather in his ears was likewise getting him worked up. He had a few ex-girlfriends that would give him this treatment.

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

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

She moved behind him and scrubbed his back, then began smooshing her breast against him in sweeping move. It reminded him of washing windows. While she grinded on his cover, she washed his pectus and her custody naturally fell to his throbbing humanity. She stroked it lovingly, as if wanting to con every detail. 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 provoke whimper passing her lips. The feel of her breasts on his back and her masterful stroking were also getting to Noah. Even with all of his intimate experience, he always enjoyed a little stimulation.

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 manpower and then got off the bed, kneeling before him once again. Her gaze, full of boozy lust, was glued to his semi-flaccid humanness in the aftermath of its eruption.

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

She began sucking on his member with worshipful dedication. Every drop of cum, she slurped off while savoring the taste of his travail. Like the early night, she paid aid to his balls, either massaging them while his shaft plunged into the profundity of her throat, or sucking on them and rolling them around her back talk while she jacked him off.

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

She looked up at him, a break one's back both to him and to her desires."Yes, headmaster. My body smell so very much 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 turncock sliding against her interior human body without any resistance. There was no hesitation in any of Tin's front, she didn't need to set her position or let her body become customary to the opinion of being penetrated. As soon as she was down to the base, she began bouncing on his peter at full swiftness.

Noah laid back with his hands gripping her ass. The effort she was putting in was commendable, she was fucking him like a pornstar. Her moan of bliss, she didn't bother trying to hold back them. She let her vocalisation 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 potency into keeping up this rhythm, dropping all her system of weights 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 livestock to involve tutelage of. She couldn't battle, couldn't hunt, couldn't do anything to repay her master for the kindness he had shown her. All she could do was offer her torso for his enjoyment, to generate him something to unleash his desires on.

But her strength was fading fast. Despite her movement, Noah wasn't giving in. In fact, he decided to fight down back. He retrieved one of the damp washcloths and wiped the soap off her breasts, making her mammilla become tumid. He then sat up and began running his lingua and lips across her skin, kissing her ring of color and sucking on their flush. He often pulled his mouth away to connect with hers, kissing her with skill she could only call art. Rather than letting her continue bouncing, he implemented his own proficiency. Cupping her soused ass in his hands, he began gyrating her hips in one direction while he moved in the face-to-face direction. Now, instead of doing long, bass separatrix, his cock was stirring up the deepness of her woman like he was whisking some scrambled nut.

The two-fold attacks, they were Sir Thomas More than Tin could bear."headmaster ! Ah ! Master !"she moaned.

She held onto his berm as a wave of orgasm rushed through her, soaking Noah's lap in her arousal. Noah fell back, this prison term while pulling Tin down with him. Tin, lying across his chest, was given no time to rest. He lifted her hips up and began bucking his own, driving up into her at utmost 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 nuisance, but if any other man tried to do this, she would be suffering beyond words. It was his acquirement and experience, she could palpate it with every move he made. He knew exactly what to do to not get any injury, despite the intensity itself leaving her on the verge of blacking out.

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

"clench on, I'm almost there."

She held onto him for darling spirit, as if a tornado had ripped off the ceiling of the inn and was threatening to pull up her up into the sky. Soon, the storm passed, and Tin felt that final thrust and Noah emptying himself into her. The superstar of her lord's seeded player flooding her womanhood, the heating plant of it inside her, it made her moan a bingle crystal-clear note, like a bird call. Then, she collapsed on top of him, using the last of her effectiveness to run osculation across his chest.

"Master, when you wanted to hump the area 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 answer with ‘ you're welcome ’. Yet after so many lifetimes, he still didn't know what the right response was."And at the waterfall… thank you for letting me abide by your side."

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

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stamen

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The forenoon of the side by side day found Noah roaming the hamlet. Before he made any conclusion, he wanted to know what this town had to offer, what endeavors it could stomach. According to the mapping he bought, Clive was far away from the nation's capital, out in the boondocks, but it appeared to feature a impregnable thriftiness, with many profession one might not gestate in such a rough surface area, like a Au and silversmiths. In fact, it seemed to boom on touristry, but no one would ever come out here on holiday. It was because of the raw resources.

So far, Clive had some farm res publica and a river for solid food, as well as the huge wood for lumber, but its top commodity was monsters. As Noah explored the townsfolk, he saw legion explorer buying food and supplying before going off to hunt and gather. In the early 17th hundred, the fur deal exploded in Europe, sending innumerous men out into the Wilderness of Siberia and the Americas to find their chance. Here, the principal was the same. fur were in demand in the big cities, but about of the monsters had been wiped out around the more live expanse, so adventurers spread out to the countryside to hunt and sell their catch, and where there is an exploitable resource, you can bump capitalists looking for people with money burning a hole in their pockets.

His search brought him to the topical anaesthetic apothecary, where numerous pots and jar adorned the walls on shelves while unlike plant life were hung to dry operating expense. He recognized several industrial plant, but many were new to him. An old fair sex ran the shop, watching Noah like a mortarboard through the smoke coming from her pipe. It filled the air, along with several different kinds of incense. No sun was allowed in, so as to bear on the plants and potions on display.

"Anything I can assist you bump ?"

"Do you have potions to assist regenerate mana ?"

"Yes. I sell them in three qualities at a Leontyne Price 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. reckon to the shelf behind you, the profane potions."

He examined the vials, three cork nursing bottle with blue liquidity, each one a different wraith. There was no telling how useful they were. He didn't have sex how much mana they could replenish, compared to the total of mana he had within him. And the coloring ghost, was that because of the presence of a particular ingredient that increased its potency ? Or were they just watered down ?

"What about health ?"

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

These potions, how did they work ? They were clearly some kind of plant-based concoction, but could there be conjuring trick involved ? The idea of learning how to create potions appealed to him, but if it required a special form of conjuring trick, then that architectural 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 Holy Order to individual in the stake room without ever taking her eyes off Noah. A Young girl appeared behind the parry, carrying a tray of six blue and red potions. Noah paid and stowed them away in his bag.

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

The char cracked a smile, seeing right through him."How prissy of you to provide ! But my son does splendid work."

‘ So, she doesn't even desire me to know the fixings. Oh well, I have style of finding out.'

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

"I got the potions."

"lord, 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 requisite, 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 doors for him and picking up anything he reached for and handing it to him. It was starting to get annoying, such as during breakfast, when she tried to feed him like he was paralyzed from the neck opening 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 scams then you are. Since I now know the price of the potions, I can cook surely that cleaning lady 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 safe position, I'm going to begin experimenting with my magic, and I need your help for that. Because there was always the menace of monsters, I never allowed my mana to fully use up, so now I can start pushing my limits a little."He pulled out the three mana potions and put them on the board."I'm going to cast my deception and not hold on until my mana is completely used up and the magical spell comes undone. I need you to supervise my wellness during the process."

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

"It's sluttish. While I'm inconspicuous, I want you to hold my wrist and observe my heartbeat while counting to a hundred over and over again until the spell recess. If I should turn a loss consciousness, pour one of these potions down my throat and station my hand over my eye to make sure the spell is cancelled. Should my pulse or breathing occlusion, there is a procedure I'll have you perform called Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR for forgetful. 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 breath flutter. He placed his manus on the middle of her bureau and felt her suit tense."I can finger your heart lacing. Should mine stop, you'll need to fight down on the center of my chest in rapid thrusts."He stacked his hands and gave a few down 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 motivation to swipe my nose, and botch up air into my lungs."He lowered his head and kissed her. She replied with exuberance, her breathing time now fluttering, and not because he was pinching her nose. Noah got on top of her."Of course, when you do it, I expect you not to use so a lot tongue. You'll give me two deep breathes, then do another thirty contraction. double the process until you feel my heart and soul start. Understand ?"

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

"Good. Now, to nominate certainly I only use up my mana, I need to completely drain my physical staying power. Care to help me with that ?"

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

To the enjoyment of some and the aggravator of others, the audio of Tin's moans could be heard throughout the inn. Not only aloud, it was incessant. Aside from some short breaks, her vocalism continued to bounce off the walls even with the sun now at the gamy peak of the day and everyone eating lunch.

On the bed in their divided elbow room, Noah was battering Tin from behind with unrelenting intensity. She no longer had the strength to even remain on all fours, and instead had her face pressed to the sheets, now sticky with their coalesce fluids. Every barb he delivered would make her cry out in euphoria. She didn't know how many multiplication he had brought her to climax, nor how many times she felt him flood her body with his seed, but each event threatened to rob her of her consciousness. Regardless, she fought through, doing everything she could to continue awake so that she could keep to please her master.

"Am I hurting you ?"It was a head that none of her previous skipper had ever asked while they violated her. They didn't tending about how much pain they inflicted on her, unless making her suffer was their goal, which it often was. To get word it from him, such variety Christian Bible, they nearly made her cry bust of joy. He asked her frequently, each time earning a passionate kiss from her.

He wasn't hurting her, rather, she had never felt such pleasure, but she was so tired, her body at its limits. She didn't understand how it was potential for him to go so long and maintain so practically violence. He was far too new to have amassed this variety of experience. His intensity level even frightened her. He acted so that she was assailed with solely pleasure, but if she angered him, if the daimon of sadism possessed him, could she even survive ?

How had this all started ? What was the reason he had given ? She could barely remember, it felt like so long ago. Oh, that's right, he called it exercising. He asked it of her, but had he demanded it instead, invoked his authority as her headmaster, she would let been no less excited. It fulfilled her, to finally be able to evidence her dedication in the simply way she could. He was depending on her, trusting her to fulfill his outlook, and she was ready to devote her trunk for that. Her heftiness begged for remainder, but her somebody didn't want it to end. She wanted to wrap around him like a snake so that he could never give, and instead continue using her until the end of time.

At this full point, Noah had fully immersed himself in the act of Passion, aware of nothing but the physical existence. The feeling of Tin's body, her wetness and soft flesh around his pecker, the taste when their tongues curled around each other when they kissed, the olfaction of her womanly essence as he brought her to climax, the good deal of the sweat glistening on her organic structure as he made her writhe and groan, he bathed in those sensations. He felt footling warmheartedness for her, but at least physical sensation could quell the ancient maelstrom in his mind, let him shut off his wit and truly feel again. His soul, so starved and without baring, it was like cracked desert Lucius DuBignon Clay now becoming fertile with the spring rains.

His physical stamina, something that Tin was ready to label as inhuman, was just as much mental as physical. With so many lifetimes'worth of experience, he knew how to puzzle out through the pain. He had felt the anguish of exertion enough times to learn how to cut it. He couldn't perform any dramatic feats of military capability like some kind of superhero, but he knew how to properly oxygenate his bloodline for the level best output and knew how much lastingness his muscles could exert without suffering detrimental damage. He was digging down deep for strength and harnessing every Calorie and flicker of energy, and while he wasn't on the spirit level of a musclebuilder, he had built his physique through a workout that he had mastered over several lifetimes.

He shuddered as he emptied himself into Tin. After all this time, he couldn't imagine having any sperm left. His discomfort was approaching unbearable levels, but even though his erection was languish, he didn't give in. He grabbed Tin by the shoulder and pulled her against him, his lips joining hers. She was nearly delirious, acting as if on muscleman memory board when she swirled her tongue around his lip. His men went to townspeople on her, massaging her modest breasts and stirring up the cum in her pussy. Tin was so tired and her throat was sore from moaning, but the way Noah tickled her clit and bullied her nipples, it still made her whimper in bliss.

He'd do this after every coming, keeping her busy while he slowly regained his erection. However, his manhood had thrown in the towel as his stamina hit zero. He let go of Tin and she fell back onto the bed. Her eye were blank from enervation, but she rolled onto her backrest and spread head her legs, putting herself on display and letting Noah see the cum overflowing from her womanhood.

"Master, I can keep going. Please, celebrate using me. I'll do whatever you want me to."

"No, that's good. You were unadulterated. I can't even put to work up the strength for a single thrust."He reached into his bag and pulled out the weakest of the three healing potions. Even that chore was almost beyond his reach. He might as well have just won the Tour de France."Here, drink this."She was too tired to run, so Noah put the bottle to her sassing and let some dribble down her throat. She was soon revived, her trunk no longer trembling.

‘ So, patrician potions restore magic staying power and red potions restore physical stamina.'

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

"schoolmaster, what about you ?"

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

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

"It probably is unsafe, but I don't know how my mana militia compare to an average wizardly exploiter my age, and this is degenerate way to increase it. Now, don't let go of my wrist and set about reckoning as soon as I become inconspicuous. If my heart 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 : 30 compaction and then two breaths. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

Noah put his bridge player over his eye and disappeared in figurehead of Tin. However, Tin could still palpate him, feel his wrist in her hired man and his warmth, and it comforted her. Upon the activation of the spell, Noah could feel his mana being depleted. It was a unusual fatigue, like he was bleeding to end. All of his genial focal point was put on restricting the menstruation of mana to just his body, so that nothing else would get caught in his head game and waste product mana. It was why he left the job of timekeeping to Tin.

From his experience so far, he could hold the illusion for about three minutes before his motor part declined too far for him to oppose. He didn't know if that was good or bad, but in time, he could sense that communication channel being crossed. From there, his cerebration and physical strength began a rapid decline. Noah fought with everything he had to persist conscious, even when he could no longer keep back his centre open. His knowingness soon sank into a rift where he could feel his mana continuing to exhaust but couldn't feel his own body.

Then, he began to feel his mana regenerating, without any sign of the zodiac that it was being used up. His consciousness started to bubble back to animation, and he soon opened his middle 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 stopping point until that happened ?"

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

"So, while with my strong-arm staying power completely drained, I can keep up the spell for about five minutes before I pass out. At full strength, I can defend it that long while still being able-bodied to struggle. This is good, I'm in perfective condition to get the best benefits for stressing my mana, and since my philia and breathing didn't stop, I don't need to worry about suffocating. Either that potion will weary off or it'll manage to refill 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 inborn reflex, physical strength, and mental processing. True, he felt half-dead from exhaustion and sore all over, but he knew what tangible legal injury would finger like. Complete mana loss felt just like bleeding to destruction, so there was always the possibility that being drained of it for too long would take in standardised burden to his eubstance, like blindness or heftiness expiry. There was no telling if the wellness potions could mend those kinds of injuries.

Nothing appeared to be wrong, so he returned to the bed."All right, we're going to retain doing this."

They repeated the cognitive operation over and over again. Noah would use all of his mana through his illusion, Tin would wake him up with a potion, he'd check himself for legal injury, 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 a lot they could water supply it down while still providing sufficient rejuvenation.

As the day rolled on, Noah's trunk begged for intellectual nourishment. The rumbling of his venter and his disorientation concerned Tin, but he refused any form of sustentation, and for dependable grounds. Each time he performed the process, he noted his mana modesty increasing. He didn't know what mana was or how he produced it, but without physical stamina to yield the gust of depletion, the source of his mana was being stressed to its point of accumulation, and was reaping the welfare. There were a lot of thing about mana and legerdemain that he didn't understand, such as how fast an person could tone up theirs. For all he knew, he could be lagging behind in the training, but he was fairly certain that he had struck gold.

As Night fell, Tin once more arrived at their room, despondent."Please forgive me, schoolmaster. The herb doctor had closed down her shop for the night and wouldn't even give her door."

"For the ripe, I imagine, considering how she started throwing stuff at you finally fourth dimension. We've probably bought up all the supply that she's willing to betray us."

"So what now ?"

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

"I can hold it brought up to us."

"No, let's go downstairs. I'm rather sick of this room and need some fresh 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 time when he starved to death… When was that ? Even his mind was on the verge of shutting down. He tried to get dressed, but his body wouldn't obey his will, and to his shame, Tin had to assist him. It reminded him of all the multiplication he was in hospice, when the nanny 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, maestro. While I was never the handmaiden of any outstanding nobles, I heard that this was a duty that their housemaid 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 vertebral column."Yes. I'm sure you will someday even become a duke."

Now fully dressed, he was helped to his feet and they left the room, though he had to lean on Tin for bread and butter. From upstairs, they could hear the rowdyism of the guests in the dining way, singing songs and knocking their smiler together. Yet as the teens appeared and made their way to their table from the premature eve, that clamour went died down, with all oculus on them. There was some hushed murmuring, several people whispering to their protagonist to inquire as to the quiet. Noah and Tin took their seats, the bar as quiet as a graveyard, then the innkeeper showed up with their dinner. It was chunks of meat carved from a wolf, and Noah's parcel was larger than anyone else's.

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

That appeared to be some sort of signboard, because a man at the bar with a beard down to his belt raised his mug."Hail to the Lester Willis Young king ! He who could draw even a succuba beg for eternal rest !"

The bar practically exploded, with hoi polloi of all years swarming their tabular array to pat Noah on the binding, congratulate him on his science, and beg him for advice. Many cleaning woman approached, flirting with Noah and inviting him to join them for the eventide. Noah even saw one female explorer holding back her Friend who was trying to approach with a hungry—or rather"thirsty"—look in her eye and a wide grin on her face. Tin also got plenty of attention. Everyone wanted to know who was struggling to prevent up with who, which of the two was the unsatiable one. The char who could not ensnare Noah would turn to her, asking for details while voicing their jealousy. In the backdrop, the guest began singing Song of wooing cleaning woman and romantic fib, with the normal activity of the bar becoming a raving party.

Noah simply sat there with an awkward grinning, annoyed that his plan to keep a low profile had gone of up with smoke, but amused with the position nonetheless. Tin, too queasy and block to say anything, simply hung her head while her face turned red as a tomato.

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

It was skinny to midnight, and Noah, having regained his strong point, made his way to the sour apothecary. He carried a lantern with him, but its fire, like Noah, was invisible to anyone and anything, and the road remained as drab as it would be without his presence. He had shrouded it in his legerdemain as a way to test himself. If his mana slipped, light would take to the woods. After the day's training, the mana expending was adjacent to zip. He had already passed the five-minute mark and didn't feel dizzy. With a few Thomas More daytime of training, he might be able to uphold the illusion for an minute or more.

He reached the memory board and went to ferment picking the lock chamber while sending his mana into the threshold. Wrapped in his magic trick, the door made no noise, even when he opened it. There were a few guard duty patrolling the Town, but they wouldn't have noticed him, even without being inconspicuous. He entered the store and thinned the mana around his lantern just enough to release a faint beam of light.

There was plenty of worthful materials to steal, but Noah and Tin's suspicious behavior would have left an stamp on the old woman, and she'd assume they did it. He could have just killed her and taken whatever he wanted, even wiped out her family line to be safe, and anyone who suspected and came after him. From the moment he discovered his magic, he had thought of all the ways he could use it, both bad and good. It would have been so well-situated, he kept reminding himself, but that wasn't the life story he wanted to hold up, even if it was one he would have lived in the yesteryear.

Instead, he searched the store for Christian Bible and potion formula, simply to memorize, rather than steal. None could be found, meaning they must have been hidden elsewhere. He did feel plenty of compounding equipment, which he memorized in purchase order to replicate. Noah moved beyond the storehouse and into the adult female's home. She lived, as everyone else did in this humans, rustically. All light was natural or flame-based, any intellectual nourishment that could go bad was salted and kept in jar, there was no hunt water, and all the tools were pre-industrial. It still reeked of potions and herbs, but that smell was probably difficult to trammel to the shop.

He came across a large wooden chest set against the paries, and after picking the lock, got it open, revealing his prize. The old woman's hale library was kept neatly arranged, all the answers Noah needed. In this world, information was as significant for selection as food and water, so until society managed to invent the impression press, books were Charles Frederick Worth their weight in gold. Despite the tantalizing noesis at his fingertips, Noah went straight for the alchemy books. He looked up the recipes for staple health and mana potions, memorizing the ingredients and processes.

Finding gratification, he removed all traces of his visit and left the apothecary.

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

The arriver of the next day brought Noah and Tin out to the Ellen Price Wood to tuck herb and hunt club monsters. Buying all the potions yesterday had taken a big chunk out of their finances, so Noah wanted to gather some materials he could sell. He had asked around the tavern the previous night and managed to get hold out the most worthful part of colossus. He also found out some interesting facts.

"Summoned by conjuration ?"

"Yes sir,"said the bartender as he used a grime rag to clean a glass."If you're really lucky, you'll manage to see it happen. There are magic Mexican valium scattered across these domain, absorbing mana from the air and using it to summon animate being. About a stern of each monster race is created by illusion. And not just monsters, woodland animals as well, from the deer to the wench. Shouldn't you know that by now if you're going to be an adventurer ?"

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

Despite it being avowedly, it was used as a lie. Ignorance of canonical facts would sacrifice him away and make people wary, so he was hesitant to ask about anything involving magic. He couldn't expect much from this existence's stratum of education, but a man with no knowledge of magic would probably stand out like a man in the 21st century that had never seen electrical energy before. At to the lowest degree claiming to be a foreigner would excuse most error. He just had to hope he didn't meet up with any international merchants before he got Thomas More information.

"Where do these magic roundabout add up from ?"

"According to legends, there was a war between the idol and the spirits of nature. The feel used their illusion to mobilize armies of creatures, so that the minions of the gods could never walk the world, and that magic remains to this day. Some believe that it is a weapon being used against mankind, to stem our expansion and geographic expedition into new demesne. Many believe it to be the work of troublemakers that got their hands on some kind of illegal deception, spreading the magic roofy to create havoc.

Many meter in history, areas have been declared monster-free, only for the creatures to return. Even islands get plagued with monsters despite being swept clean. It's why many turn to adventuring ; the unbendable income from hunting monsters and the true food source."

As Noah thought back to the conversation, he heard movement nearby. Bursting from the undergrowth, an adolescent wildcat lunged at Noah and Tin. Noah was quickly on the draw and managed to slash the monster on the shoulder with his longsword. It landed behind him, slightly limping but showing no augury of giving up. It flashed eyes wide-cut of bloodlust while it snarled and foamed. Tin hurried behind Noah, as per his orders, while he stared it down. If he cast his illusion, he could easily vote out it without it ever seeing the onset coming, but today, he was sharpening his combat science and refining his play, so he needed to present his enemies without hiding from them. Besides, giant that lost track of him often turned their attention to Tin.

Noah made the low motion, charging while swinging down at the skirt chaser's former shoulder. It jumped to the face to put off, but Noah widened the angle of the virgule as he brought it down, turning it into a separatrix onslaught. Chasing the Hugo Wolf with his swing, he managed cut into its flesh. The Hugo Wolf, infuriated by bother, pounced from a high angle, aiming for Noah's head. The angle was tricky, Noah sidestepping out of the reach of its claws, raising blade, and delivering an executioner's chop to the back of the neck, severing its head.

He didn't pearl his guard and scanned the field, searching for any former Wolf in hiding. He could detect none."Clear."

That was his signal to Tin. With Noah keeping sentry go, she went to work on the wolf, removing the valuable portion like the peel and sure muscles and organs. It was mussy employment, but worth the sweat. Everything was stored in her back pack and various other sac and handbag, along with Noah's bow and other adventuring provision. 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 best bit, they set off again. Many might reject of letting so much of the monster go to barren, but the subspecies couldn't go nonextant and something else would come along and eat it, so Noah didn't feel too bad. transactions after they moved on, Noah caught visual modality of something ahead, zooming between the trees.

"Tin, footfall back."

Noah readied himself, his sword raised as the blur approached. It was another wolf, moving much more erratically than the one Noah had just killed. It lunged for him and he sliced off its head. It was rather easy, as if the creature's judgment was scattered. Perhaps it was rabid ? But as he turned to examine the corpse, he realized he had broken a cardinal sin. There was an pointer in its hind leg, meaning that this beast had already been claimed.

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

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

Neither cleaning woman responded, both leaning on their knees and looking like they were about to collapse. Noah looked to Tin and nudged his head towards them. She got the message and approached with a H2O skin.

"Here, drink this."

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

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

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

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

The archer extended her handwriting to Noah."I'm Beth and this is Mira, very proud of to spend a penny your acquaintance."

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

"You took maintenance of that Hugo Wolf so easily ! With science like yours, we would screw to team up up. What do you say ?"

"Sorry, but I'm still refining my acquirement 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 ?"

"kind of,"said Mira,"but not against colossus this large and truehearted. We each came from areas where the fighting was a lot easier and phone number 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 wolf down with magic. If you don't mind me asking, what kind ? I can't use it myself and I don't know much about it."

"Oh, well I'm a mage, so I can use elemental magic to conjure and check things like flak and urine. My talent lie in controlling the worldly concern, like this."She turned away and looked into the distance. rings of sandstone-colored luminance appeared around her wrists like halos, and Noah could see diagrams and runes of an unknown language."Earth Bind !"

She raised her faculty and then slammed it into the ground. There was a pulse, and the ground came undone like there was an animal tunneling just under the control surface. It sprout across the timber floor, and thirty feet away, there was an eruption of ground, with hard-packed grease forming jagged shapes that converged like a end flower. Anything caught within it would surely get held in place, even stabbed if they moved around the untimely way. The displaced Earth used to create the spike produced a pit, just in fount anything tried to duck.

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

"What ? Why ?"

"Well we're in the woodland. The flat coat is riddled with roots holding it together, so it takes a lot of time and effort to gather the grunge and forge it into those spikes. Also, you're going for fast prey with well chemical reaction hurrying, so as soon as they sense the fire, they'll move 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 spell ?"

"That's right,"said Beth.

"And then you finish it off with more pointer, right ? It's a well strategy, keeping your aloofness from the enemy to minimize risk. However, in this sort of environment and with this object, you'd need to switch 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 it down. I'd also suggest using a larger bow for more penetration.

Mira, do you lie with any other spells ?"

"I can create a rubble cloud and transport Lucy Stone flying."

"But zip close-range ? That'll be a problem if there is to a greater extent than one enemy or they get within striking distance. Mira, I suggest you work on learning a spell for melee combat, and Beth, get a sword. You also should find another member to join your company, sorry I couldn't be that person. They'd have to be able to pin down the foeman in one placement for your arrows 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 keep most of the money ! And if that isn't enough, I can pay you duplicate in nighttime fun !"Beth added.

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

"Sorry, but I can't. I'm really trying to concentre on training. I'm trusted you can incur a struggling fencer who's desperate for a party to conjoin and would fit redress in with you two. Tin and I have to get going. You were first to bruise the Friedrich August Wolf, so the consistency 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… interest in those two ?"Tin asked.

"well, the idea of forming a party is appealing, and their long-range power would definitely facilitate out. However, I'd prefer to function away from prying eyes for the prison term being. I didn't gumption any immorality intent in them, but there is no telling if they can be trusted or not. But I'm glad we ran into them, it gave me a opportunity to study elemental magic a bit."

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

They continued through the forest, hunting for monsters while trying to avoid other adventurers. Along with battles, they also stopped to pull together herb. Noah was always playing through the potion recipes in his mind. Then, when noon arrived, they stopped for dejeuner by the river. Their food for thought was slightly sound than the stuff they ate before reaching Baron Clive, in the gumption that the bread wasn't quite-rock hard and the meat actually had flavor. It was still dissatisfactory compared to a hot meal. Their water came from the river, first filtered through a selection straw that Noah made.

Once they were done eating, Noah pulled out all of the works they had gathered. He picked three different plant life out of the pile ; offshoot of blue strawberries, several infantry of a vine with square leave-taking, and an Orange moss."Of the recipe I saw, this one is the gentle and doesn't require any specialized tools. Even if it doesn't body of work, it will still be good practice. We just have to travail these up with a ratio of 5:2:7 and mix them together with some water."

They gathered Oliver Stone from the river to use as makeshift trench mortar and muller 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 falls,"she said.

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

They mixed the component together and poured them into the three potion bottleful from the apothecary. They added some fresh urine and Noah could see the concoction glow as the potion was formed. Whether or not this potion contained mana or simply sped up the natural rejuvenation process, it appeared the necessary chemical reaction was taking place.

"Good, now to test it. I think this will be the hone opportunity to see what my next spell is."It was very slight, but Noah could see Tin's upheaval."You should move back. If this second spell is anything like my head game, you probably won't be in danger, but it's estimable to be safe."

Tin moved back twenty feet, and Noah, after taking a deeply hint, put his paw over his right hand eye. The event was instantaneous, his mana being drained twice as fast as his first trance, and this time, he could actually finger something happening to him. His body, it felt weightless, and his limb, they were just moving of their own accord like Portuguese man-of-war tentacles. His visual sensation, it was almost blurry, like he was seeing doubles. It felt, of all affair, like he had just taken a hit of some high-quality pot.

If his concentration broke for even a s, he felt like his arm and header would just swim on their own. Noah dropped his hand and staggered, nearly falling just like the beginning prison term he tried it back in the woods. It was like every motion he made had to be performed while walking on a tripwire, or else he would hang. He was shifting from side to side, struggling to remain in ascendancy. 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 look ? Can you still see me ?"

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

"Doing what ?"

"lord, smell at your hands."

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

‘ No, wait a second…'

These afterimage, they weren't some blurry silhouette ; they had crystal-clear details. They were like precise transcript trying to engross the Same space. He moved his sleeve around, watching the copies follow the originals. They were magic ! He stopped moving his real weapons system and tried to move the copies. He thought about it, he envisioned it happening, but only when he gave up and tried to raise his real weapon system did the copy obey and fulfill the action. It was only for a second before they returned to their master copy place, but he had gotten them to move.

It took various minute of arc of repeated attempts before he figured it out. Halfway between thinking of moving his arms and actually harnessing the strong-arm strength within them to create that movement, there was a point where he could affect the written matter. He was soon moving the illusionary blazon however he wanted, with Tin watching at a total expiration. His mana was starting to run low, so he cancelled the magic spell and leaned on his knees.

"Master, what was that ?"

"An legerdemain. It appears that my result eye can conceal my real body, while my mighty eye can produce a faker. I can curb it similar to how I move on my own, but it requires a lot of focus. Hand me a mana potion, will you ?"He downed one of the potions and then lied down on the ground and reactivated the trance."vigil this."

Tin could immediately see it on his case, the elbow grease and focus he was putting in, but her attending was immediately drawn elsewhere, as a second Noah seemed to rise from the body of the number 1 like two cells dividing. For Noah, it almost an out of consistency experience. The delusion stood up, every movement that Noah would receive made being performed. It was difficult beyond Son, leaving him drenched in stew and gasping for air. Every heftiness involved in standing up had to be acknowledged, from the muscles supporting his head, all the way down to the muscles in his ft as they tried to grip the ground for balance wheel. He had to visualize not just the movement, but the sentiency of moving.

The clone stepped forward, every effort clunky and abnormal, like a cheap robot. The ringer turned to Tin, who was completely bewildered and even frightened. The clone opened its mouth. It started out sounding like radio static, but Noah managed to address through the illusion.

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

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

For the following three calendar week, Noah and Tin worked out a routine 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 figure, as every other day, from breakfast to tiffin, Tin's moan filled the edifice. It became quite the chronicle around town, many people coming to the inn just see if the rumors were true. Tin would rob Noah of all of his stamina and they'd perform the drain and fill again unconscious process with the mana potions. The following day would be spent gathering herbaceous plant to hold more potions and materials to deal, and continue cultivating Noah's fighting abilities.

To deplete his mana, Noah experimented with his arcsecond spell. For the first week, he focused on perfecting the clon's movements and actor's line. He tried to get it as formula looking as possible, having it walk around the way and imitate various natural action. Unfortunately, since it was just an illusion, it couldn't actually rival anything or affect its surroundings, and while he could speak through it, he couldn't see what it saw or hear what it heard. Unless it was in hatful at all times, he was piloting blind. Strangely, Tin said that the clon had the like look as him, while when he was invisible, his flavour was concealed.

He spent the side by side week learning how to travel both his real and manipulate body at the same time. He started out small, first with finger apparent motion, then tree branch movement, then upped it up to having it walk around the way while he stood by the bed, which was surprisingly difficult with all of the muscularity required to remain standing unsloped. By the end of the workweek, he and the dead ringer could walk simultaneously.

In the third week, he added his first spell to the mix, moving the clone around as he performed a task while invisible. The mana expenditure was monolithic, so much so that the rate of his modesty increasing was slowed, and it became more unmanageable to tell how often advancement he was making. Despite that, they proved to be a gilded compounding. The clone could act as a perfect decoy, while Noah would assail in his unseeable form.

His offset magic spell didn't just make him invisible, it affected whatever aim he touched, concealing and also creating illusions to hide any changes he made, like footmark, while the 2nd could create a full illusion, but of himself, one that had a near physical bearing. These go, they were more than than just bending lighting. It seemed like they were two halves of a one magical spell.

When he wasn't preparation, Noah went around township to get together selective information about the land, magic, and devil. In a small backwoods village like this, the outcome were far from freehanded or even true. He would have to move to a bigger city to get better-quality selective information. The Utheric capital would be his considerably bet, but it was week of traveling and preparations had to made for a slip like that.

Try as he might, it was hard to rest unnoticed. Rumors about him circulated through the town, with citizenry he had never met knowing his name. He would walk down the street and women would wink and bollix up kisses, even trying to seduce him. Men would smirk and nod in approval as they passed by, a substance of displaying respect. Even the old lady at the chemist's shop would tease him. When Tin went out, she'd wear a hood to conceal her identity element. It wasn't an ideal office. If he was to be known throughout the village, he wished it would be for something a little more heroic.

.

.

.

Medicine

.

.

.

The spring rains were dramatic, passionate, the lifeblood of mother Nature as she fully awoke from her winter sleep and prepared for summer. Yet at the here and now, the hysteria with which the elaborate drop cloth fell was not appreciated, for they numbed Noah's fingers 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 imaginativeness, but he kept his regard focused on his enemies.

He was out in the forest, Tin having retreated as per his orders. Before him, a 3 of bandits, all with weapon raised. Noah was armed with his short sword, unable to wield his main blade, due to an pointer stuck in his shoulder. When he was low struck from behind, he had hoped it was simply a hunting watch's honest fault, but the bloodthirsty flavor on the men's faces told him that he was their real target. They probably robbed and killed adventurers for a keep, and he couldn't imagine their female victims dying quickly.

Should he just turn invisible and hit them before they could retaliate ? No, there was something he wanted to try, and a human opponent would be the perfective test subject. He raised his liberal manus towards his face, breaking the deadlock with one of the bandit firing his loaded pointer. Noah deflected it with his shell, the most he could do with his maimed berm. He swept his bridge player across his eyes as if trying to realise his visual modality, activating both of his patch. However, rather than splitting from his illusionary dead ringer, he wore it, syncing his bm with the brigand not even noticing a difference.

One of the archer's age bracket, this one armed with a heavy conflict axe, charged towards him. Noah had his clone conduct a defensive attitude stance, while he pulled away, stepping ahead and stabbing the man through the philia before he could reach his swing. The archer shooting another arrow as Noah stepped back into his illusion, but he again blocked with his shield. Noah, with his movements concealed, drew several pocket-sized tongue from his smash and hurled them at the archer. His mana clung to the vane, rendering them unseeable 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 disarray aside and charged towards Noah. Noah blocked and parried his attacks with his brand, wanting to take his time and savor the battle. He was so use to fighting monsters, he wanted to name sure his skills in killing other humanity hadn't gone dull, to refamiliarize himself with their unique movements and proficiency.

He was allowing the brigand to advertize him back, though there was fiddling he could do to stop it. His opposition was armed with a bimanual sword, so he could deliver More force than Noah could rally with his short circuit blade. He strung the bandit along, using repetitive, light bm, laying a fake lead as to what his succeeding motion would be. He made a spacious swing from the side, and the bandit automatically blocked, however, the blade never came, it was only Noah's illusionary arm. His real arm swung from the polar side, slashing the brigand across the abdomen.

He staggered back, cursing in hurting and trying to understand what happened. Noah closed in and the bandit tried to open some space with a right cleave. Noah blocked with his sword, at least, that's what the bandit saw. In true statement, he had blocked with his shield, allowing him to jactitate the bandit across the articulatio radiocarpea without him even seeing the attack coming. line of descent poured freely, the man's helping hand now useless. He released a cry of exertion and tried a one-handed lilt. The sword sliced through Noah's neck, just as the man had aimed for, but he knew something was wrong when no break up head fell, and what's more, he hadn't felt anything when he made the diagonal. It was like he had hit aught but air. He raised his sword to block a swing from Noah, but in world, it was a stab, with Noah's sword piercing his dresser. Noah confirmed all three end and then called out to Tin.

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

"I'm afraid it'll hurt."

"I can cover it."

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

"Thanks."

Noah once more checked the eubstance, but their faces didn't match any wanted posters, meaning there was no premium that he could collect with their psyche. Tin went to work, stripping the bodies of everything useful. They were so used to this procedure that he rarely needed to give her orders.

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

"I agree,"Tin said.

They set off back towards the townspeople, fantasizing of removing their soaked clothes and warming themselves beside a fire. They had peck to comport, and the rain made everything heavier, with the added cold sapping their strength. By the clip they reached the inn, even Noah was on his last leg, and felt feeble. The sun hadn't fully set yet, but the clouds were so thick that it was almost monger pitch-dark out.

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

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

"We're going to outride in our room tonight. Can you suffer someone land our meal up to us, along with excess firewood ?"

"Sure affair, dearie."

They proceeded up the step, but Noah had to intercept halfway up. He was out of breather, and it felt like the room was spinning.

"headmaster, is something wrong ?"

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

She lent him her shoulder and they made their way up to their way. Before they even closed the door, Noah dumped his pack and arm and began pulling off his dress. Tin locked the door and started a ardour in the hearth. Once costless of his wet clothes, Noah collapsed on the bed. The mattress was chunky straw, the mainsheet were rough like sandpaper, and the cover smelled like wet dog no matter how many clip it was cleaned, but Noah was grateful for them.

As the flak started to sunburn and fill the room with light-colored and heat, there was a roast on the room access. Two chambermaid stood out-of-door, the innkeeper's daughters, though they were younger than Tin. One of them held two trays of food for thought, and the other held an exceptionally large bundle of firewood. Noah hid himself beneath the cover and Tin answered. As Noah had taught her, she kept the door give just enough to contract the food for thought and firewood, and didn't tolerate them inside.

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

"I'll be hunky-dory. require off your clothes and warm yourself by the blast before you end up like me."

He watched her undress and the two of them sat on the bed, wrapped in blanket as they ate their dinner. It was hot lather, the perfect ease food. Unfortunately, Noah was starting to find it difficult to swallow. By the time he finished, his breathing was becoming labored and his nerve was beating irregularly. Noah was hoping it was just a frigidness, but this was starting to feel much more acute and was coming on too quickly. Perhaps a disease aboriginal to this world ?

Tin could see his condition worsening."master key, you should get some sleep."

She took his tray and gently pushed him onto his back. Truth be told, as soon as his brain 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 slid under the blanket. Her naked body met his and she curled up against him.

Noah closed his eyes, but while eternal rest was quick to come, it was unpleasant. Nightmares assailed him, a burning oestrus ravaging him both physically and mentally. He remembered tossing and turning throughout the Night, when the pain sensation in his body outweighed his fatigue. All of his muscleman ached and spasmed almost day-and-night, his breadbasket felt like it was good of oil, and he couldn't run away his fever.

He finally awoke the next forenoon to the sight of rain pelting the windowpane. His oral cavity was as dry as ash and he felt like he was going to die of hungriness, just like he had a few times in the past. The pelting, it had gotten him into this slew, but now he so desperately wanted it. He wanted to go out and vent the heat that clung to him like a scalawag on his back.

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

"skipper ?"

He saw her in his computer peripheral vision, but he didn't have the metier to turn to her.

"Water."It was all he could say.

She brought him a cup of water, and in his impatience, he tried to rip it from her script, if only to get it to his mouth a nanosecond Sooner. His inept reach was ignored and she helped him change state on his back so that he could drink. It was some of the ripe pee he had ever tasted, and he felt some aliveness return to him, if only a little.

"More."

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

"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 chamber pot in the recess of the way. 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 last night's dinner. He fell back on the bed, with his stomach feeling even defective. 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 life, getting sick sucking ass."

"I'll go get the boniface. She may have a go at it what's wrong."

"No. Me being sick of leaves us vulnerable, and the Sir Thomas More the great unwashed know about it, the swell the risk. If I can't fight, we're easygoing prey. If I'm still in this status by tomorrow, then you can get help."

"What can I do ?"

There were works that could help with cold and flu symptoms, but his mind was too foggy to remember them."true pine goad tea, like I made by the river, and see if someone in the kitchen will make up me some hot oatmeal."

Tin was hesitant, not wanting to leave his side, but she obeyed. With her gone, Noah tried to shine back to sleep, but could only get a pale imitation that was nowhere near as restful. For Noah, it felt like his mind was being fed on by emmet. He spent the relief of the day in bed, passing in and out of consciousness. Tin remained with him whenever potential. She used damp rag week to keep his fever in hinderance, and hung a kettle over the flak, making tea for him whenever he asked, though his thirst was unquenchable.

noonday came around, and Noah sat up to eat his lunch, though it was a arena of soup. Normally, the great unwashed ate whatever the home special was at the time, but by paying extra, guests of the inn could order item foods, at least, within intellect. The broth went down wanton, but the gist and veg felt like cacti rolling down his throat. As he ate, Tin helped wipe the sweat from his body. His spot on the bed would demand some time to dry out. When he had finished eating, he simply sat with his head in his hands, taking deep breath and trying to ignore the throbbing pain.

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

"You're doing passel for me already."

"There must be More that I can do."

"wellspring it hurts me to say this, but I'll postulate your aid using that sleeping room pot."

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

"Aye, this is springburn all right."Noah opened his heart, finding the host examining him, with Tin standing in back. The woman was holding a hanky over her nose and mouth, and not touching him directly, instead with one of the rag week 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 kill a few people each year. My oldest once had it and he nearly died."

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

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

"How much time would I have if it were to be fatal ? How long does this shoemaker's last ?"Noah asked.

"Three days. After that, you're in the clear."She got to her feet and returned to the door."I'm confining you both to this room until this blows over. The terminal 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 secure for her to just throw us out,"said Noah,"rather than simply set apart us and chance everyone. She must like us a bit, or at least want to protect her repute. I told you to hold off a day before calling her."

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

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

Tin lifted a loose floorboard, revealing a cavity underneath, in which a leather pouch sat. She presented it to Noah and he opened it up to reveal his earphone and wallet. While they were mostly useless in this new world, he held onto them in the hopes that he could at to the lowest degree use them for parts and kept the headphone off to save its Department of Energy. If he ever needed to start an emergency fire, that lithium barrage fire could come in handy. Luckily, he had his earbuds with him, so he could at least enjoy one while of his old life. Tin stared at the device, possessed by peculiarity. She had only seen it once or twice, the metallic case, the illumination it produced. Was it some sort 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 avail him get better.

He set his playlist to random and lay back down, hoping that the music would deflect him. He drifted once more into the rift between being asleep and awake, cursed with his febricity even in his aspiration. During his waking moment, he was either crapulence water system or throwing up. The entirely reasonableness why nature wasn't calling was because he was sweating so profusely. The music didn't distract him as he had hoped, so very much as permeate his unconscious creative thinker. One Sung in particular came up,"House of the ascension Sun ”, and as that orifice guitar strung out, a store was pulled from the deepness of his creative thinker, another clock time he had heard that song.

It was before dawn, he had been driving out in the Sagebrush State desert, out of the survey of Vegas. Noah was in his thirty-something at the fourth dimension, lamenting all the dust the Cadillac was kicking up, so much of it sticking to the outside. He'd have to scavenge it up later, as his employers wouldn't be happy if he returned the ship's company car in a disgraceful stipulation. The eastern clouds were pinkening as he pulled to a plosive at the bound of a ravine.

He got out of the car and circled back to the trunk, from which he removed a man with restrain articulatio radiocarpea and a bag over his brain. He stumbled on his feet, and Noah pulled him to the sharpness of the ravine and removed the bag over his face. The man's boldness was streaked with dehydrated blood, some of which also stained his wearing apparel shirt. He was perhaps in his 1950s, a elderly in the caller.

"You fucking retard,"he spat. Noah ignored him and turned up the receiving set so he could hear the rest of the song. The outside of the car was an old geezer 70's exemplar, worth its weight in gold, but the interior had been upgraded into the modern font 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 aim force ? Once this gets out, the streets will go bloodbaths and your top dog will end up stuck on a pike."

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

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

"Whatever happens is the break 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 special little gifts like this."He flicked his gun towards the car, where the birdcall was still playing."I once heard soul say that this is the best song for driving with mortal in the trunk of your car. It is certainly a luscious coincidence."

"The irony of your ilk : the great unwashed like you think you'll do great in our business enterprise because you have no morals, no vacillation, 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 crashing their manus get."

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

The man laughed and skewer on the primer coat."What could you believe in ?"

"mercy. I'm lease you enjoy the aurora, after all."

The sun broke unloosen of the apparent horizon, and as its brightness 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 moistness rags that were opposing his fever. It was all she knew how to do when someone was ill, and it came from memories of when she was the victim, though kindness was rare to come to her in those vulnerable clock time. It pained her to be so useless, to not sleep with how to serve. about of everything she had done was just obeying his pedagogy.

As she wiped away his stew, her center fell to his open manhood, and lecherousness fluttered through her, a feeling that Noah had introduced her to. Their routine had been disturbed by this illness, as yesterday was the day she was supposed to help him groom his mana. She cherished those days, when she could finally assist him in the way she knew effective, when she got to experience euphoria.

Women would always flock to her master, flirting with him, trying to invite themselves into one of his"workouts ”. It terrified her, that she might be discarded for mortal else, having lost her value. When she and Noah met those female venturer, 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 stew. She did it often when he slept, compelled by her lust but also hoping that it was helping him feel good, each climax forming a cuticle against the annoyance of his fever. It was something she could do for him. If Noah was aware of it, he wasn't saying anything.

As her fountainhead bobbed up and down over his lap, Noah was sinking farther and farther into his thinker, while being pursued by the music from his speech sound. Once more than, a lone guitar was playing, and what niggling awareness his mind still had tried to recall what it was from. Ah, the words, yeah, this was Pink Floyd,"wishing You Were Here ”. It was his married woman's favorite, one of his preceding wives, that is. He played it at their wedding and her funeral. He could think the gay sky command processing overhead time when they cut the cake, and the somber clouds that matched the color of her coffin as it was lowered into the dry land. He remembered the food served at both occasions. But what was her name ? They danced to this song, but he couldn't recall her aspect. She loved the oldies, always playing them while she worked in the garden. Didn't they have a son together ? No, that was someone else.

Noah's mind continued to slip through time, each song conjuring up a store. He remembered studying at MIT while listening to Two Steps From Hell. He remembered the stereoscopic photograph clamor 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 murmur escaping his back talk, recalling conversations from across clip and space.

When next he woke up, it was night out, and the earbuds felt like hot coals in his ears. He looked at his headphone, now with a poop battery left. How many to a greater extent times could he heed to music before his sound just became a useless auction block ? He put his capitulum 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 cause sat up, if not for the throb painful sensation in all of his brawniness. He groaned and fell back on the pillow.

"Who is it ?"he asked.

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

"Please, just leave it there."

Noah slowly sat up and released another groan. Wait a second, he felt better. He felt like he just gotten the poop beaten out of him for three 60 minutes straight, but he could finally move around. His fever had lessened and the soreness was due to the melodic phrase it had put on his body.

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

He turned to her, seeing a flushed brass, moist with effort. The gentle external respiration he had listened to last dark was now an anguished trouser."diddley. Tin can you hear me ?"

He tapped her impertinence a few times and her heart opened."schoolmaster ?"

"There you are. I need you to recite 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 weak that he almost didn't need to.

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

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

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

He showed her his handwriting, but she just looked at it with glazed over eyes."Are we going to go hunt lusus naturae today ?"

‘ prick, it's hitting her even harder than it hit me. She's already delirious.'“ No, we're staying here. Everything is o.k., 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 knee joint, gasping for air. He was on the patch, but he was still in a shitty situation. He crawled over to his haversack and pulled out a health and mana potion. He had tried drinking them before, to see if they could cure him, but was met with failure. He downed them both, and the pain sensation racking his dead body subsided. His forte and stamina were still fill up to zero, but at least the tenderness was gone.

The first affair he needed to do was get her fever down before she suffered serious equipment casualty. future to the bed was the wash lavatory, filled with tag. Just as Tin had done when he was sick, he draped them across her body.

"Master, your fever,"she mumbled. She began trying to put the shred on him instead, and he had to repeatedly give up her and pin down her implements of war.

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

Noah got dressed and limped over to the door. Outside were two intellectual nourishment trays and a mound of fresh water. He brought them in, and having already experienced the nuisance of this disease, he brought the pitcher over to Tin, rather than just a cup. He lifted her principal and poured the water between her picket lips. She released sighs of substitute between each gulp, and every time he thought she was done, she'd lean her mind forward, as if trying to grab it like a dog not wanting to cede its toy.

He filled up the tea kettle and hung it over the fireplace, with a new fire soon blooming beneath it. When he was sick, he hated the fire, the heat it gave off. It was the lonesome clip he was grateful for the draftiness of the room, all the little holes for fresh air to slip in, but it was needed. As he waited for the boiler to boil, he retrieved Tin's breakfast and once more swipe her head. It was warm porridge, probably made with him in psyche, but now perfect for Tin.

"time for breakfast, Tin. Can you open your mouth for me ?"He brought a spoonful to her oral fissure, 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 knew what would serve 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 repeat that book binding to me ?"

"No… master copy should get 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 rest. I'll take care of everything."

"I can do it ! Please let me do it !"She was crying, trying to get away his range. He held her against him, waiting for her pitiful flailing to check. She soon went hitch and he laid her back down.

"Listen, I order you to remain in this bed, do you sympathize ? I ORDER you to stay on in this bed !"She gazed at him with swimming eyes and nodded."serious, now go back to sleep. I'll be back before you wake up."

He got up and took a deep breather, then cast his invisibility. The host would open him a heavily time if she saw him outside of his room, might even kvetch him out. While his magic was ideal, his soundbox was so light that his mana might not endure long. He left the way and locked it behind him. The hallway outside was void, but he could get word plenty of citizenry in the bar. Getting down the stairs was difficult, as his head was sent spinning with each dance step. No one noticed his presence, and he made it through the breakfast crowd and outside. It felt zippo short circuit of euphoric to breathe invigorated air and soak in the sun.

A bit of his military strength had returned, so he released his spell and made his way across township to the pill pusher. Inside, the old woman watched as he looked through a menu of her product, ***********ing plants that helped with everything from fevers to upset stomach.

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

"It's been a jolty few days."

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

Tin was on the flooring when he returned to their room at the inn. The room access actually struck her head when he opened it.

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

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

She was completely out of it. He scooped her up and carried her to the bed. He needed to construct some medicine for her, but he couldn't do it while she was crawling around like this. He took the blanket and tore off a yearn striptease, then used it to tie her articulatio radiocarpea to the bedstead. Restraining her was not an ideal solvent, but at to the lowest degree the fabric wouldn't leave a mark.

A strange look appeared on Tin's grimace as she looked from her wrist to Noah, almost doleful, and she spread her wooden leg for him."I understand, superior. I won't cry this time."Apparently, he wasn't the first person to tie her to a bed.

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

He laid the cover over her and left her on the bed, then went to operate. In the meter since he first started making his own potions, he had bought a cheap compounding kit, including a mortar and pestle. He wasn't a skilled herbalist like the pill pusher, but most of the flora in this human race were just like those he knew from his by life history, and had built up plenty of survival knowledge. hoi polloi easily faded from his memory, but knowledge and technical skills were held onto. The pursuit of training was one of the few habits he chose to extend in every lifetime, as it was the closest he could get to finding import in the multiverse.

As he toiled, Tin continued to mutter in her rest, occasionally crying. Nothing Noah heard could be called pleasant. He eventually stopped to check 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 feather."No, please stop ! It hurts ! Mama, it hurts ! shuffle him hold on !"

"Tin, snap out of it !"

The last thing he needed was someone overhearing this and misunderstanding. He covered her sassing, waiting for the nightmare to end. Perhaps he should have picked up something to tranquillize her. Would he get to completely attach and gag her to hold open her still and quiet down ? That would likely crusade her farther into the delusion, and with this disease ransacking through her organic structure, the stress might defeat her. How could he chill out her down ?

He left her to retrieve a cup of water and splashed it on her nerve. That seemed to shake her awake."Huh ? Master ?"

"Tin, say my name."

"N-Noah."

"commodity, you're back. How do you finger ?"

"It… hurts."Fresh teardrop began to decant down her cheeks.

"I'm making medicine to help you feel better, but there is something else I want to try."He retrieved his headphone and put the earbuds in her ears. He had a playlist of loose listening birdcall, mostly instrumental and soundtracks. He ***********ed one,"Vide Cor Meum ”, one of his darling. It was blue, set at a low book, but the speech sound of the strings and part, right in her ears, made Tin freak out.

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

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

"medicine ?"

She thought back, trying to remember while her nous was still hazy. Her bloke slave, they used to have work Sung when they toiled in the field of study, kind of a mean of expressing empathy and solidarity, that they all shared the same pain. She knew a boy who used to play the flute, though not very well, and once, she heard the married woman of one of her one-time masters playing a harp from within her house. They could be called music, but they all paled in comparison to what she was listening to now.

It was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. In her individual, a hungriness was quenched that she had never noticed before, and she felt as though a summer duck soup was rolling through her dead body, sending shudder of walking on air up her spinal column that made her forget her feverishness. It left Tin stunned, her eye blanket as dinner plates with her mouth hanging outdoors. She looked at Noah, seeing a rare smiling on his face.

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

She nodded, staring up at the roof as the song continued. Noah resumed his employment, eventually completing his medical specialty. It wasn't a cure, but it would help oneself subdue her symptoms. For the adjacent three days, Noah looked after Tin, doing all the thing for her that she had done for him. Thanks to the medicine, he was able-bodied to forbid her from hallucinating, though she still had nightmare from her lifetime of abuse. When that happened, Noah would put the earbuds in her ears and play a Sung dynasty for her, and she would immediately conciliate, as if hypnotized.

For Noah, hearing music had flooded his nous with memories, making him relive scenes of his past lifespan when he heard those birdsong, but for Tin, it was the opposite. Having lived a sprightliness without music, the notes and voices filled every facet of her mind, forcing everything else out, every bad thought and memory board. When she was awake, she'd listen while watching Noah score her medicine or practice his thaumaturgy, and when Noah looked at her, there would always be a smile on her font.

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

It had been a week since Noah fell ill, and he and Tin were going for a walk of life around the village. His forcefulness had returned, but she was still sapless, and hopefully some fresh air and exercise would help her feel better. They had been cooped up in that room for so long, and the beautiful weather was just what they needed. Normally, Tin would take the air behind Noah, as a proper slave, but today, she was boldface, hanging onto his arm. She claimed it to be to facilitate her walkway, that she was unaccented and needed to lean on him, but the smile on her aspect told of her dishonesty. Noah allowed it, as she had taken such safe upkeep of him when he was demented and it was his fault she fell ill after him. He certainly owed her.

What bothered him, though, were the facial expression they were getting. It had been a week since she had hold out"helped him"with his magic training, but the two of them were still a bit of a celebrity pair, so when they saw the way Tin held onto Noah, they all grinned like they had just heard a grime joke. There was a saying going around, a joke, that even those who had never met Tin had heard her voice.

"overlord, 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 make you think any less of me. I'm sure I talked in my sleep."

Noah didn't even hesitate."I don't know what you're talking about. You were silence as a church 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 delirious, both great and direful matter, many of which she couldn't understand, such as when he started speaking other spoken language or reciting lines from textbooks.

"No, other than cursing."

"That sounds about right."

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

They climbed up a hill overlooking the settlement, 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 only thing I know. I have zippo to compare it to."

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

"Where was that ?"

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

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

"Yes."

Tin looked at him, the man who she called her master. She knew when he lied. She saw him do it to everyone he talked to, especially her. There weren't any tells for her to read, he never stumbled or hesitated, and she had seen it work time and fourth dimension again, but there was something about his eyes, a falseness she thought she saw. She had tried asking about his past, but his gaze was always discharge, even when he spoke with a grin. He never asked her about her own past times, but it was nothing she wasn't used to. She had grown up being treated as an object, both a creature and a toy. intimate conversation was not something a striver should expect from their master, but she had never had a master that made her spirit this way, that was so kind to her.

"M-master…"she stammered.

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

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

He stared at her, unsure of what his following move should be, but as he saw the wetness of her center, his concern waned."I talked in my sleep, didn't I ?"

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

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

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

Noah looked up at the sky."I grew up near the seashore, and my Father of the Church had a gravy boat. He wasn't a fisher or merchant, rather, it was a hobbyhorse. In the summertime, when the conditions was good, my kin would go out on the water system and go fishing, simply for the enjoyment of it. We'd stop mackerel and try to use them as decoy to catch big Roccus saxatilis, but it never worked out. One fourth dimension, we brought our dog with us, and I remember finding a grape-sized check mark on his eyebrow and putting it on my hook, seeing if I would catch anything. You wouldn't believe how burnished it is out on the water."

Tin moved closer to Noah, clutching his arm and leaning her header on his articulatio humeri. At Night, when they lay in bed together after having sex, she would often nest up to him just like this."Please, tell me more."

So Noah regaled her, telling her what it was like to grow up being poor, what it like to grow up being rich. He recalled fond retention of his sibling and holiday as an only child. He told her of how his parents loved and supported him, then how they screamed and beat him. He described astonishing machine and the technology of the modern earthly concern, and the scrap for survival in the aftermath of the apocalypse.

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

.

.

.

Succession

.

.

.

Noah and Tin, having fully recovered from the springburn malady, set out ahead of time on a beautiful day. Summer was upon them, so the break of the day had lost much of their shiver, though everyone paid for it in sweat later in the day. Unlike before, when they roamed aimlessly through the woods to hunt monster, they had a specific localisation in mind. Noah had heard hearsay of an abandoned mine that was taken over by goblin. A hive, a nest, a dependency, whatever it could be called, it spelled trouble for the village. hob ate and bred like blabber, so if they managed to find a good place to dig in, they could pad their numbers in very little time. They had claimed the area several times before and had to be flushed out, and while attempts had been made to seal or destroy the mine, the hob always found a way back in.

They were following one of the maps Noah had bought, with several pieces of advice written down that he had received from former adventurers. It would involve a day to reach the mine, so they exercised simpleness and avoided fighting monsters whenever possible. Hopefully this mine would be a great source of gross in scavenged arm, meaning it would be best to journey igniter and not accumulate along the way.

They arrived at the mine early in the aurora of the following day. Finding a safe place to set up camp had been difficult, for this was the territory where the hobgoblin roamed. The mine was carved into the Base of one of the small mountains. At one clip, it might suffer been a fairly decorous operation. There were lot of planetary house of the construction that would bear stood around it, now reduced to flock of kindling. There had once been a wooden hovel built around the entrance, sort of like an airlock, perhaps to keep the rainfall out some time ago, but it was just a rickety skeleton in the cupboard now. Many of the materials and abandoned equipment were harvested to construct weapons and barrier for use against intruders, with a handful of goblins keeping a constant watch.

Noah and Tin were hiding nearby, scouting the entrance."You wait here and I'll demand 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 shanty erected around the entryway, perched like an owl with a bow in hired man. Two More were sitting on the wooden wall at the perimeter of the refugee camp. The remaining four were at the entrance, though they were preoccupied with a game of dice.

Noah went for the one no one would point out, the sniper above. He approached the entering without concern, inconspicuous and inaudible to the goblin keeping safeguard, but that would change. The only way to the sniper was to climb up onto the cap of the shanty, but it was so weather-beaten and slight, it looked like it couldn't support more than the weight of one goblin. However, it was Worth taking the risk. He reached the incline of the shed and began the raise, using the mossy cliffside as a secondary ladder to help minimize the weight he put on the old wooden boards.

He was measured with every placement of his hands and feet, so as to disturb as little as possible. His conjuration would conceal the Mark he made, but only within a certain range. He had experimented with Tin's help, finding that footprints would be revealed after ten steps, so he had to stay within that range to keep them within his illusion. Besides, if he ended up ripping a board right out of the wall, his illusion wouldn't be able to conceal it. It could conceal traces of his activeness, but not duplicate object. The acclivity was difficult. The Natalie Wood of the shack had frayed over the long time and riddled his hands with matchwood, while the surd clay on the cliff crumbled and made it difficult to get a solid hold. Regardless, he managed to climb up onto the roof.

The roof itself was like thin ice, and if he ended up breaking through or snapping any of the beams, the goblin would surely find it, even if he couldn't hear it. Noah pulled a rock 'n' roll out of the drop and threw it into the foliage in the distance. The goblin perked its head at the racket, and in that instant, Noah closed in and stabbed it in the back with his little brand. It died before it could even voice its bother.

Noah left it sitting there and climbed off the shack, then snuck over to the two goblins sitting away from the entrance. They looked bored as can be, struggling to stay awake. Noah approached the initiative one, leaning against one of the wooden walls. He dispatched it with his knife, striking the al-Qaeda of the Einstein base. The wound was modest and the goblin simply went hitch, never feeling a matter. To its friends, it would look like it had simply dozed off. Noah slew the other goblin the same way, without creating any noise or disturbances.

Finally, he approached the entranceway, where the four were still gambling. He stood over them, the sun passing through him perfectly and its rays illuminating their game. He ***********ed his longsword for this, even doing a few practice golf shot to image out the reach and force play required. When he was satisfied, he gave a mighty slash, beheading all four beasts at once. Their consistency dropped to the ground and Noah released his go, then waved Tin over.

As he stood guard, she searched the bodies, and for each one, cut off their decent ear. near monsters had some useful trunk theatrical role that could be sold, like their hides for clothing or their meat as food for thought, but aside from collectors of grotesquerie like skulls and other things to put on display, naught about the goblin was sellable. However, since they were such a pain, their species had an on-going bountifulness. The local baron would pay adventurer for every goblin they killed, and their the right way ears were the cogent evidence. The goblins also sometimes impart valuables, such as weapons, candles, and even coins. Tin searched them all, and whatever good she collected went into her knapsack.

"Ready to go in ?"Noah asked.

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

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

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

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

They delved into the deal with Tin lighting Noah's way. Everywhere, there were the corpse of animate being that the hobgoblin had eaten, picked down to the bone. In a way, the goblins provided a valuable inspection and repair to the ecosystem. Because devil and creature spawned both organically and through magic rophy, the landscape should have been buried under all of their corpses. Instead, the scavenging beasts would look at their finds to their den, continuously sweeping the forest clean.

They soon came upon the foremost offset chamber, just like in an anthill. It was small, about the size of an average chamber. interior, several hob were sleeping atop a mickle of pelts. well-nigh of them were female person or younglings. It wasn't proper sport to kill such quarry while they slept, but this was an extermination job, so thing like pureness held no meaning.

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

She did as ordered, a mournful look on her face as she averted her eyes while keeping the light of the lantern focused into the chamber. Noah drew his short sword and began stabbing the giant in their sleep. Each clip, he'd go straight for the head, so that they would die without making a auditory sensation. He was steady, methodical, taking them out one by one with none of his victims even suspecting a thing. It was unnervingly easy, and when he was done, he harvested their ears.

"passe-partout !"

Noah heard it with a monstrous scream. He ran back out into the tunnel as a goblin charged from cryptical within, armed with a wooden spear. Noah pushed Tin out of the way of its first thrust, then sliced off the top of its head with a strike to the synagogue. More must ingest heard its cry, because another two hobgoblin came running at them.

The first of all that tried to approach swung at Noah with a enceinte obelisk. He stepped out of its chain and kicked the hob in the chest of drawers, nearly sending it flying. The second blocked the swing of his brand with a wooden cabaret, but he forced it against the wall and drove his knife into its chest. Leaving it to die, he returned to the offset, struggling to breathe, and ended its life history with his sword.

"superior,"Tin said, handing him a muffle rag. He used it to wipe the stock off his hands while she looted the corpses.

They moved further on down into the tunnel, finding it expand into a larger chamber and fork out. There was still stack of mining equipment, but much of it was being used to cling food from. The bodies of both humans and animals had been skinned and were being cooked over bonfire. The hob were jumping around and squealing in pleasure as the smell of their feast wafted through the mine. homo human body cooked over a firing, it was a spirit that took Noah spine to some dark timelines.

Tin gasped in horror at the sight and one of the hob spotted them and squealed something in their brute spoken language. The dozen or so hob in the chamber turned their attention to Noah and Tin and began to near, armed with the blades used for butchering their food. They chanted the Saame squeal, probably something along the origin of"more meat !"

"Tin, stand back."

He summoned his clone and sent it running to the right side as if to flank them. The goblins paid no attention to the fact that their prey seemingly just split into two, and were drawn to the cause of the clone. With that opening, Noah attacked from their exposed side with his longsword and beheaded three of the animate being. The hob, sensing the expiry of their Comrade, turned their aid back to Noah and swarmed in. He kept them at bay with astray swinging, while leaving his left incline open to bait them. One by one, they tried to assail from the plain subterfuge position, but he would dispatch them before they could actually reach him. Any that got in close enough to attack found their weapons blocked by Noah's buckler, and then his sword would slash at them from below and split their stomachs open.

Once their ranks 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 ward Noah off with threatening shriek. Their sentry go was raised, and while they were stupid, they wouldn't decline for the same put-on as the others.

Noah cast both of his spells, and while he had his clone remain where he was and pretend to be standing his terra firma. He snuck past the goblins and attacked from posterior. He slaughtered three before the end noticed, but as they couldn't see him, they could do nothing but scream in confusion. They made it too easy for Noah to finish them off. Even though the sleeping room had gone quiet, he waited various moments before releasing his spells.

"All clear."

Tin went to work, gathering up valuables. The blades might be worth something to the blacksmith, but they'd have to wash the dried blood off them first. As Tin searched the goblin corpses, Noah looked around at the other trunk being stored here. There were mint of freshly killed humans and animals that were waiting to be cooked, so it was potential that their pockets hadn't been picked yet. Noah dug through the great deal of body, ignoring their stench, but one of them caught his attention.

It was a boy, a bit younger than him, and unlike the others, his branch were bound. He wasn't coldness 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 acknowledge plenty 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 pocket and poured it down the boy's throat. As it took effect, Noah examined him. His clothes were goodness tone, but still the kind used by outdoorsmen. He had a decent flesh, showing signs of breeding and laborious work, but while there were calluses on his hands, there were healing blisters from wielding a sword. He was probably a farmer, but came from money.

He at last woke up and looked around, struggling to see. Even with a balefire nearby, this wasn't exactly the best piazza to inflame up in.

"Where am I ?"

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

He severed the boy's James Bond and helped him to his metrical foot. For a present moment, he seemed back in good precondition, but as he looked around, he began to panic and hyperventilate, and Noah had to overhear him before he could settle 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 finely. I'm Noah and this is my subordinate, Tin."

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

"Your father ? No, we're just here to stamp out goblins and steal their loot. How did they seize you ?"

The boy seemed to be able-bodied to resist upright on his own, so Noah let him go, though he was struggling to remember."I… was being trained in hunting by a local adventurer that my father hired. I had just shot a boar with my bow… then I felt a massive pain in the neck in the rear of my head teacher and blacked out."

"Your Father, is he a imposing ?"

"Yes, Ivan error. The baron in charge of the town. I'm curse word error, the next head."

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

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

"I just finished taking care of a good telephone number them, see ?"Noah pointed to the physical structure of his victim."I'm confident in my ability. Besides, it took a lot of elbow grease to get here, so we're not leaving until our scoop are filled with goodies and we can barely walk. Tell me, do you possess any talents ? Can you use conjuration or any weapons ?"

"I… I have some skill with a sword."

"Some, huh ? So best case scenario, I can expect you to curb off a hob that might sneak up on us from behind."Noah took off his rucksack and forced it into Oath's manus."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 sword, taken from one of the goblins, and he gave it to swearword."And I'm renting this to you, unless you would prefer to go unarmed. So, what do you say ? Either do some workplace, or I can knock you out, steal your dress, and trade them to wrap up the cost of that potion. Which is it going to be ?"

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

"Smart choice."

The three proceeded deeper into the mine with Noah taking decimal point. Every few mo, goblins would attack, desperate to guard their dwelling. Noah dispatched each of them with a flurry of diagonal and thrust, leaving Tin to hoard the goods. Oath was understandably nervous, and it left him ineffectual to even tint the slain gargoyles, so Tin ended up doing most of the work and just putting the finds in his bag. At least he wasn't complaining. Noah eventually tasked him with collecting goods found in the burrow, while Tin would stick 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 fiend recently. I'm still not used to it. But this is incredible. I've never seen someone kill so many hobgoblin singlehandedly."

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

The sight before them was nauseating, as what appeared to be a big green pig was nursing a litter of pint-sized picayune gremlins. While the Male goblins went out into the woodland to gather, the females would be given to the younglings. Despite being to a lesser extent than half a metrical foot tall as newborns, they would reach life-sized in just six calendar month, hence their rapacious appetites. Noah dispatched the breeder and stomped out the younglings, much to curse word's horror.

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

"They wouldn't have been child very long. In just a few months, they would be roaming the forest, killing whoever crossed their path and dragging them back here to be devoured. You and Tin are carrying ingroup replete of the possessions of their victims. I'm not judging them for doing as nature commands them to, I'm simply dealing with a menace before it can become a threat."A earsplitting hollo made the three teens cover their ears and wince."What the hell was that ?"

"A goblin,"said Oath,"otherwise known as a goblin chief. They're a rarified strain. I hear that only one out of ten thousand goblins can raise to suit a hob. They're lots self-aggrandising, smarter, and firm than a unconstipated goblin and can even learn magic. We need to get out of here, right now ! It's heard the deaths of the younglings and is coming for revenge !"

"Perfect. He's probably hoarding the best clobber. Let's go."

"This is harebrained ! The unconstipated hobgoblin may be weak, but hob are substantial than humans in every way !"

"Your outlet are duly take down. I'm going after that chieftain, and if you run, you'd better promise that he kills me. Let's go."

curse word turned to Tin, hoping that she might verbalise up, but her expression was completely space, as if she was daydreaming."You can trust my Master. He is solid and skilled."

Noah set off towards the source of the haphazardness, but they need not trip far, as their foe came to recognise them from the profundity of the good deal. It stood over six feet tall with a far more mesomorphic word form than the lower goblins possessed. Like them, it wore a breechcloth, but it was also garbed in opus of steal armor, including a metal helmet. Looking over a twain of boar-like tusks protruding from his mouth, he glared at the interloper with indescribable hatred.

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

"Huh, so it really is smarter. swearword, you remember your job, right ? If any other hobgoblin come, you have to deal with them."

He didn't trouble waiting for a reply and stepped forward with his longsword in handwriting. The chief was armed with the same case of sword, though with a expectant sword. On the field of honor, it would likely be used against cavalry, killing both passenger and their horses with one slice. The top dog thundered towards him with his steel raised high. His speed was certainly faster than a human's, and with the specialty 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 sidelong swing towards the hobgoblin's head. It raised its script, blocking with a metal arm precaution, then forced him back.

It immediately closed the distance to take a leak the Lapplander sideways swing Noah had, and with the sword's greater length, he didn't have the time or elbow room to get out of the way. Instead, Noah rushed towards the sword to lug it with his own. As the hobgoblin straightened his arms, his swing would become more powerful, so he had to intervene at the earliest possible moment.

Dame Muriel Spark flew off their steel as Noah's blade halted the goblin's. It released one hand from the hilt of its brand, using what petty momentum it had left to swing at Noah. He avoided its backhand by a whisker's breadth and countered with a punch to the cristal's Apple. It staggered back, wheezing in pain, but without dropping its defense. Its pain permissiveness was remarkable.

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

"It's using magic ! You have to duck !"Oath shouted.

Noah's instincts had already told him the Same thing, but while he was able to get his body out the way, his brand met the goblin's blade head-on and snapped. The beast's weapon buried itself in the stone ground, shaking the total cavern, and Noah rolled away to void any barehanded attacks like before. He got to his feet, examining his weapon system and the enemy's. The speed of the goblin's swing had increased, as well as its strength and the lastingness of his sword.

It must get been warrior legerdemain, something he heard of while gathering info in Robert Clive. Warrior deception was the ability to activate arm skills that would improve their ability in conflict, such as cutting deeper and withstanding more than strength without breaking. He had witnessed magic a few multiplication during the last month and had become associate, but this was only his irregular time since he arrived that he was actually fighting against a magic user. Perhaps it would be best to finish this fight while he was unhurt, rather than continue pushing his luck. On the other bridge player, Oath hadn't seen his legerdemain, and he wanted to hold it that way. He'd just have to work harder with his forcible abilities.

The goblin charged with his sword slightly raised to either block or attack. It wasn't glowing like before, but his last attack had shown that he could harness his magic in a fraction of second gear, so Noah couldn't risk of infection being in the way when the adjacent swinging happened. Noah readied himself, still holding his broken sword. He came within the goblin's reach and the steel swung diagonally towards his neck. Noah bolted forward, anticipating when the hob would be committed to the motion. He swung his broken sword towards the goblin's wrist joint, making him pause for the briefest moment to consider the threat of black injury, and that moment was all Noah needed to draw his light sword and clip him across the belly while zooming past.

The wounding was severe, having used the inertia of the goblin's charge to overcome the wall of abdominal sinew and slice deep into the organs. The goblin staggered, his gumption spilling onto the basis. Noah finished him off before he could regain any of his forcefulness. He took a bass breathing time and listened for any attackers hiding nearby.

"Clear."

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

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

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

"I've studied respective styles and strain of armed combat throughout my life story, including archery and play, mostly out of tedium or for exercise, and I've had plenty of experience killing. Your beginner pays people for every goblin hoi polloi kill, correct ? Will I get extra if I bring him the pass of their tribal chief ?"

"Don't worry, I'll tell him myself. He'll want to roll in the hay about this."

"professional, I found something."He turned to Tin, who was holding up the hand of the hobgoblin to picture him the anchor ring on his small finger. She removed it and handed the ringing to Noah, and he could immediately feel the conjuring trick within it.

‘ Huh, a magic anchor ring found in a goblin burrow. What could possibly go wrong ?'He gave it a closer face under the visible light of Tin's lantern and found a crest, depicting a shell with a swan on it. It was the national symbol of Uther. There was also something written on the band with a foreign substance."swearing, what do you make of this ?"

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

"I heard of those Guy. They train as some noble shoal. Why so exorbitant ?"

"The annulus is gold, but is inscribed with a rare metal called avenium, which can imbue objects with very high-altitude spells. I once heard that a sword with avenium rune can contain More power than the ten best blade steel. horse rings are inscribed with a spell that creates another existence where item can be stored."

"How many token ?"

"I heard it can hive away up to the Lapplander weight as the one who caries it, but you only find the weightiness of the ring."

Noah put on the ring and channeled some of his mana into it. It was a foreign tactual sensation, like he had just put his hand into a thrust bag. He could see his script, but not the objects he was touching. He felt a small bottle and closed his deal around it. The ring acknowledged that as a ***********ion and materialized the bottle. It was full of a yellowish liquid, probably some variety of potion, or it could just be olive oil.

"This'll come in handy."

"Just wearing that doughnut is a serious crime !"

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

The balance of the day was spent in those obscure burrow, searching for trade good. By the time he had faced the hobgoblin, to the highest degree of the former hob had already been killed, so there was trivial resistivity. They found the volume of their swag down in the lowest chamber, where the hobgoblin appeared to give birth been sleeping. The hob were excellent stealer, stealing whatever they could get their hands on with traveller being their favorite prey. There were weapon hoard, udder and gun barrel of solid food, ropes and range of mountains, clothes and armour, good deal of shaft, and a small fortune in coins. He even found the armor and sword of the knight that the hobgoblin foreman had killed. This haul was better than Noah hoped, and while they couldn't carry all of it, the halo helped pick up the topper pieces.

When they finally stepped out of the mine, the sun was setting. There could still be hob in the Sir Henry Joseph Wood, making their way to the mine after a day of hunting, so the ternion wasted no meter getting a safe distance to make camp. A Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, nearly as thick as a school bus, offered them shelter. They bedded down at its base with its raised roots acting as walls and a fervency warding off anything that might try to round during the night.

Dinner was traveller's rations, the standard food for anyone camping in the wild. While he ate, Noah examined all of the item in the ringing. There were legion potions, spare set of men's clothes, some tools and tongue, rations, and a few Au coins. He took a closer look at the armor and sword that the knight had been using. There wasn't much he could do with the armor. Minus some plates he could use on his munition and leg, it was impractically heavy for his fighting style, and considering how usurious the penalty was for wearing the ring, getting caught with it would probably be a bad thought. Hopefully the blacksmith would be uncoerced to buy it.

The sword, on the early hired man, was a definite prize. It was a longsword like Noah's broken one, but with an ornate guard and handgrip, as well as a line of business of runic letter going up the brand, inked with avenium. There was a while imbued within it, he could finger the magic, but it didn't react to his mana the way the ring did. It was probably illegal for him to possess, so it would be best kept in the band, but once away from prying eyes, it would be an excellent trump visiting card once he figured out how it worked.

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

"Several years. Why ?"

"I was just making conversation. You said you studied several different schooling of fight. Who taught you ? Where did you get your lessons ?"

"The town I grew up in, there were plenty of onetime venturer will to pop off their skills on."

"And your parents ?"

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

"So, do you—"

"I suggest you stop for a consequence and ponder why I'm not asking you query about your lifetime or trying to get to make love you."Noah glared as him, unblinking."Think hard."expletive wisely closed his back talk.

They set out at sunup the next day, wanting to get out of the wood as soon as possible, to both avoid peril and gain the shops before they closed for the night. It would take them nearly of the day to repay to Clive, and that was without all the weighting they were carrying, so they had to try and keep a good pace. By around noontide, they reached a heavy unfold pasture, but before they could cover it, a grievance was made.

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

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

"fountainhead we've made considerable distance, and I believe it's about tiffin fourth dimension. for sure, let's blockage here for a break."

Tin and swearing settled at the edge of the grass under the shade of a tree and machinate lunch. While they worked, Noah took a walk of life through the field to make sure there weren't any predatory animal in hiding. It was when he reached the nerve center that he stopped, hearing something. It was not the whispering of grass or the growling of a Friedrich August Wolf, but the neighing of gymnastic horse. He looked into the space and saw four men on horses break unfreeze of the forest and extend towards him with their swords drawn. Bandits ?

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

Tin didn't understand, but when she heard the knight in the distance and the roaring of the approaching men, she hurried to her feet and dragged curse into the Grant Wood. With them out of the way, Noah faced the oncoming enemies.

"Thanks for the horses,"he said as his brushed his mitt over his eyes.

He was rendered invisible while he sent off his clone, running to the side with its illusional sword drawn. The men were drawn to it, and one of them, armed with a bow, began trying to shoot it. Noah controlled the dead ringer like a marionette 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 loss, striking the archer in the chest and sending him tumbling off his horse.

The other horsemen realized their friend had been killed, but there was no time to face for the enemy archer. They had to shut in on the youthful man with the sword. They tried to run him down with their leaf blade outreached, but before they could strike their target, another one of their ranks was taken out with a well-placed jibe. The two remaining men swung at Noah's clone, but for the sake of appearance, he had it contrivance while he took out the third man. Only one man was left, but he didn't pain in the ass going after the clone. He was smart enough to cut his losses and flee back into the woods.

"Tin, swearword, you can hail out now,"Noah said as he released his magic trick. They appeared from the woods, seeing Noah with the three cavalry standing nearby."Loot the stiff and then let's have luncheon. The way back to the village will be much easier now."

With the horses, they managed to earn it back to the village in the tardy good afternoon, when nearly of the shops had closed, but there were still a few open that they could trade their scratch to.

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

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

"Still, I'm gladiolus you didn't just pick apart 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 impart that horse back."

"Yes, yes, I know."

They split up, swearword returning rest home and Noah and Tin selling their goodness. They first went to the blacksmith, as nigh of their goods were scavenged weapon system. When Noah laid them all out on the counter, the blacksmith couldn't supporter but sound his surprise.

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

"Well I had some help carrying it back. But there is another affair you might be occupy in."

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

"You found this in a goblin den ?"

It was the armour of the slain Utheric knight.

"That's decent, but that was all. I was hoping I could find the blade or hoop, but they were gone. So, are you concerned ? This armor has in effect steel than anything in your shop."

"I could get beheaded just for having this !"

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

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

"mulct, what do want for everything ?"

As usual, bargaining with the blacksmith took a lot of time, but Noah left with respective glazed atomic number 79 coins and a renewal for his longsword. He and Tin moved from shop to shop, selling everything that was left, then Noah took Tin somewhere she did not expect, the town jeweler. Unlike early stores, this one had sentry duty posted inside and remote, and all the merchandise was behind a replication, with branding iron bars blocking it off from the customer. An old man was sitting at the counter, scrutinizing a jewel.

"Ah, how can I help you ?"

"I was hoping you could value this for me."Noah took out a melanize gem, the size of the world-class joint of his little finger, and laid it on the counter. The old man took the gem and looked at it through a serial of lenses.

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

"A goblin den."

"Ah, of course. Goblins are brutal, cruddy creatures, but they have a strange fate 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 military strength of the enchantment. Imagine a magic blade that can cut through twice as a lot as a formula sword. With this imbued into the pommel, handle, or blade, it will now be able to cut through four times as much as a rule blade. They are a pet of noble, for not only to they better the becharm items, but they make them more visually appealing and extravagant, thoroughgoing for showing off. At balls and formal events, you'll find high-ranking nobleman with jewel-encrusted sword on their hips.

Would you be willing to sell it ?"

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

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

"I'm afraid I'm going to suffer 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 cryptical hint."Tob, Gon, could you two delight stair outside for a bit ?"The two guards, despite their oddity, left the store, giving Noah and the jeweler their privacy. The old man stared at Noah."Do you have a death regard, boy ? Just having this could—"

"I'm aware of the punishment, but you already decided you're willing to involve a risk. Cover the runes with gold folio and set the gem. If it looks good and the ring's magic spell really is enhanced, I'll pay you ten silver coins."

"Twenty."

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

"Fine, fifteen silver."

"Deal."

"I'll have it ready by noonday tomorrow."

Noah and Tin left the jeweler and headed back to the inn to call it a day, but as they approached, curse appeared."Noah, my father wants to speak with you."

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

"He says it is of dandy grandness. He also wants to honour you for saving me."

Noah looked over to one of the base hanging off the face of his saddle. It was full of severed goblin pinna. Was he really unforced to bring those into their room at the inn ? It would probably be better just to get paid now.

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

After stopping at the inn, they rode out of town towards the north, to the power's estate. Being a stately, he was better off than any of the villagers, but his house was far from extravagant, just nicer looking and larger than anyone else's, a hick manor house, surrounded by fields that slaves tended to. Leaving their horses in the stable in the vertebral column, curse word brought Noah and Tin into the mansion and stopped before a set of image doors.

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

"Enter."

Oath opened the door of the common soldier work, and behind the desk, an old man with a long byssus was filing paperwork on parchment. He looked sometime than Noah expected, for a son so young. Standing beside him was a womanhood, dressed as a maid.

"You must be Loretta Young sea captain Noah. My son has told me of your great strength and acquisition. You have my undying gratitude for saving him, and my esteem for your accomplishments in battle."The business leader didn't get up to sway Noah's hand, but that was to be expected of a noble.

"You are very receive, Jehovah Fault."Noah replied with a bow of his head.

"You deserve compensation for your try. Twice, you have saved my son's life."

From his desk, the king drew a sack of coins, likely silver, and handed them to Noah.

"I appreciate it. While we're on the guinea pig, I also have legion goblin spike that I'd like receive payment for."

"Ah, of course, of track. You also deserve extra for dealing with that goblin chief. Amelia,"he said, turning to the maid beside him,"please count up the auricle and calculate their payment, and please film my son and this pin-up Brigham Young madam to the parlor to loosen. sea captain Noah, if you have time, I would like to speak with you about some important matters."

"Very well, then."

The maiden left with swearword and Tin and the doors were shut behind them. Finally, the baron got up from his chair and walked over to a whisky decanter with a set of glasses."Would you give care for a drink ?"

"I'd making love one."Two glasses were poured and one was handed to Noah. Compared to the modern worldly concern, the inebriant consumed in these lands was tough to force down, yet the quality of the whiskey surprised him."Oh, that is good."

The business leader sat down."I can not thank you enough. If my son had perished, that would have got been the end of my line."

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

The business leader gave a sulphurous chuckle."I suppose we should get down to business. You have already proven yourself a outstanding rescuer and precaution for my son. I would like to take you to do it again."

"Not more goblins, I trust ?"

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

"Pardon my ignorance, but I am not familiar with the full term. I come from a landed estate without such things."

The tycoon got to his feet and began searching a nearby bookshelf."Dungeon crab are monolithic tellurian beings, spending their lives deep beneath the ground. However, they surface from time to time, poking the tips of their racing shell out of the ground."

He found the desired book and laid it out on the table, set to a specific page. There were two pictures, the first of what looked like a troglodyte Phthirius pubis, with a pointed shell several times its own size of it and no claws. The second showed the tip of the racing shell poking out of the ground with a hole in the top, but just that was the size of it of a lighthouse. Had the creative person actually seen a dungeon Cancer the Crab fully revealed or was he just going by his resourcefulness ? For a creature of this sizing to move underground without being noticed, it would have to turn out up from under the earth's crust. A few days ago, the township had experienced an earthquake. That must have been the Phthirius pubis rising to the surface.

"Because they dwell so thick in the ground, they accumulate precious metal and gems inside their plate, which form vast internal ear, hence its name. A man can get rich in one day exploring it."

"But I imagine it's not that easy."

"You'd be right. The carapace is teeming with parasites, emmet when comparable to the Crab, but deadly colossus to us humans. When a pubic louse open, the parasites will forget and become a danger to everyone and everything in the arena. No one is quite surely why keep crab control surface like this. Some believe it does it when the leech have grown too numerous and it needs to cut their numbers down, either by setting them relax on the surface or using treasure-hunting human being to pick their population. Others believe the crabby person feed on the humans that enter its shield, and use the parasites to kill their prey for them. Many believe it simply surfaces to get reinvigorated air, like a whale."

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

"It's just a figure of speech. To get a donjon crabmeat means to get down to the mystifying persona of its casing, where the most priceless alloy is."

"Avenium, I'm guessing ?"

"Correct. Anyone who can ensure a cup's Worth and nowadays it to the land becomes a noble. That's why I need you to help Oath gaining control it."

"But as your son, isn't cuss already set to inherit your form of address ?"

"Oath is… my third gear son. His old brother, Colt, was raised and groomed to be my successor, and the second oldest, victor, was raised to be the replacement if anything happened to Colt."

"Making Oath the spare of a spare."

The mogul grimaced."He spent his life working the fields while his buddy hunted and earned achievement. However, both Colt and master died in fight at the head start of natural spring, so curse is all I have left. He has a upright heart…"

"But no talent, acquirement, courage, or repute, and he's a bit of a brick."

"Unlike the son of my unseasoned crony, Edwin, a baronet. He is petitioning the realm to revoke my title as baron and gift it to him and his eldest son. I need to prove that Oath has what it takes to be a tycoon, and the best way to do that is to subdue a keep crab. I'm too old to sire another successor and clock time is running out. Oath already has an adventuring party that he trains and competitiveness with, but their acquirement aren't good enough to capture a dungeon Phthirius pubis. I would like you to join their party."

"Why me ?"

"Because you are young. There are numerous elder adventurers with acquisition like yours that I can take, but then my brother will fence that they just conquered the dungeon and handed the prize to Oath."

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

"But the fact that you are unseasoned substance 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 choice. On one hand, a political squabble between family members was the last thing he wanted to get involved in, and there was no relation if he was even skilled enough to successfully conquer a dungeon crab. It was an unnecessary risk. On the former hand, the thought of getting his hands on some avenium and early rare metals and muffin was a rally idea. He could get sufficiency money to fund any venture he wanted for the repose of his sprightliness. Plus, it would get him to the capital, and perhaps let him pretend some valuable connexion. There were probably plenty of adventurers who would give their right arm for the chance.

"Would I be giving parliamentary procedure or receiving ?"

"The team is yours to conduce. They're quick to set out whenever you are."

"And how long do dungeon crabs normally remain rise ?"

"A couple calendar month. This one appeared various daytime ago, thirty mi to the northeast. It won't be long before its swarming with adventurers."

"Very well, we'll depart in one week. I want to use that clock time to pass judgment the team, see if there is anything I can do to polish their acquisition before we go."

"That would be a blessing."

Noah got up from his tail end."I have some business concern to serve to tomorrow, but I'll return in the good afternoon. Make for certain everyone is assembled."

This time, the baron stood up and shook his script."Consider it done."

Noah left the study and retrieved Tin in the parlor. As they stepped out onto the movement porch, swearing came to see them off.

"So my father talked to you about the dungeon Phthirius pubis ?"

"That's correctly, I agreed to go along with it. I'll return tomorrow."

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

swearing gave a trench bow of gratitude, and in the aloofness, Noah saw a flash bulb of movement, and then get a line a sound that he was well used to. It was the audio of an arrow buried deep into muscular tissue and pulp. Launched a second earlier, it would let hit swearing lame in the back, but because he bowed, it found its Gospel According to Mark in the center of Tin's chest.

Noah didn't say a Word of God, but before either curse word or Tin could oppose, 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 stalls, so he'd have to shoot down the assassin up close. He could see the man hiding behind a scarer and recognized him as the fourth bandit from early. They weren't just random vulture, they had been hired to kill oath !

The man nocked another pointer, aimed it at Noah, and fired, but he deflected it with his shell. He closed in, able to see the shock absorber in the man's eye as the distance between them vanished with terrifying f number. He reached the man, drawing his new sword, and beheaded him before he could even change state around to run.

The consistence hit the land, but Noah had already left, sprinting back to the mansion. There, on the porch, Oath was gathered with respective servants, giving her one healing potion after another, as despite the remotion of the pointer and the combat injury culmination, she wasn't getting better. Noah could see it, her veins darkening, her flesh getting pale, and every breath seeming to cause her hurting. Everyone moved aside and Noah embraced Tin, cradling her head.

"It was a toxicant arrow. We don't know what was used, we have no counterpoison for it. Noah, I'm so gloomy !"Oath exclaimed, shedding the tears that Noah should have. 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 way. I want to go back to our bed and sleep beside you. I want to help you train your magic. I want to take the air with you through the woodwind and hear more than chronicle. There is so much 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 ears. With the last few glint of DOE, 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 sensation was all she needed."Thank you for making my life a beautiful one,"she whispered. Then she closed her eye listened to the song, soon releasing her final breath as the last distinction played out.

All was mum, no one knowing what to say. Shadows began to cower into Noah's mind, a brutal interpreter making him stimulate. ‘ Great, now I have to do everything myself…'He shook the voice aside.

"Noah…"curse began.

"I'm going to eat up her. move over me a cover to wrap her in and a digger. I'm not asking."His voice, it didn't tremble at all, and there was no slowness in his words.

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

There was the thin twitch on Noah's look. The gears in his intellect were grinding together."I'm not burying her here. I know a proper place."

The servants rushed to fulfill his fiat, bringing out a voiced quilt that Noah knew Tin would get liked. He wrapped her in the comfort and carried her to the stable, getting onto his horse with her and being given a shovel.

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

Cradling Tin, he gave his horse a kick and it took off with a cry. The sun had set, the woods now at their nearly dangerous, but Noah didn't hesitate to ride down a familiar road and into the wilderness. For 60 minutes, his horse galloped through the wood. When it tired, he would generate it pee and a health potion to reinstate its stamina, but that was the entirely clip he stopped. monstrosity routinely tried to attack him, but he ended their lives with his bow. As the Moon moved across the sky, Noah, holding Tin in his arms, felt the affectionateness slowly leave her body.

It wasn't just the devil outside that were attacking, but the I in Noah's question. Evil susurration flooded his psyche, trying to get him to turn back.

‘ She's just a slave.'

‘ I should just go home.'

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

‘ cipher matters.'

‘ It's all meaningless.'

It felt like all of his muscles 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 village. He had to pull himself forward, despite every selfish instinct trying to hold him back.

Finally, when the night was at its darkest, he reached the want spot. It was the waterfall that he and Tin had camped at. There were some Friedrich August Wolf drinking from the river, but he scared them off and ignored the small muck crawling around. The area itself hadn't changed in the last few hebdomad. There were still the clay of the fires he had made, and the clay basinful was undamaged.

He tied his horse to a tree diagram and lit a torch, holding it while he carried Tin. ‘ I'll just dump her and go.'He brought her behind the waterfall, where there was a pocket-sized dry area with wad of river silt, deposited by the waterfall. He dug down as deep as he could, forcing aside any thoughts to give up and unembellished himself effort. He laid her down on the dusty earth and opened up the blanket, looking at her one last time. She looked peaceful, almost content. He reached into his air pocket and pulled out a ash grey coin. When they first met, he remembered her telling him that she was only Worth that much. He clasped her hands over her chest, holding the coin.

‘ What am I doing ?'

‘ This coin is valuable.'

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

He climbed out and buried her, then built a quite a little of rocks on her grave so that no animals would dig her up. Finally, he turned to the stone paries at his side and began carving Tin's name into it with her sticker. The scratches were faint, but they wouldn't be simply washed away, like if he had simply drawn the letters on with a rock.

TIN

Those three little letter, a little twinkling light in his brain, like a syncope superstar, told him that they looked lonely, and he focused on that. He should put more. She'd deficiency 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 care ?

TIN

A FREED SLAVE

It was all he could follow up with, but it didn't satisfy him. There had to be something Sir Thomas More. He hadn't loved her, it had been a long time since he loved anyone. Did he even like her ? She was loyal and helpful, and took guardianship of him when he was sick. He also took forethought of her. Was that enough to deliberate her important to him ? He couldn't William Tell. He had spent countless lifetimes pretending to be a friend, son, a classmate, a coworker, a husband, even a father. When was the last time he actually liked someone and wasn't just wearing the façade of niceness while putting up with them ? When was the last time he told mortal he loved them and wasn't simply lying to their fount ?

He had buried so many people, virtually of them more than once. It was difficult to tell those who were important from those he pretended were important, those who were remembered and those he didn't deem worth remembering. Who mattered to him ? Whose dying mattered ? He had long since lost the power to tell, and was struggling to retrieve it.

Finally, some emotion. Noah punched the rock candy rampart and split the hide on his brass knuckles."seminal fluid on, think !"He shouted those Word to himself over and over again. He was scratching at his own psyche, trying to draw blood from stone. What had Tin meant to him ? Or at the very least, what would she have wanted to hear ? Noah focused on that, trying to imagine what he could have said to make her happy.

TIN

A FREED SLAVE

A PRICELESS fellow

Satisfied, he stepped out from behind the waterfall. In the Orient, he could see the sky beginning to lighten up. He took a seat succeeding to the cadaver washbowl, watching the sun come up while he searched his mind for that trivial twinkling light.

.

.

.

Cooperation

.

.

.

It took a total day to taunt back to the village, repeating the master copy 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 visible horizon. Fatigue gripped him, so he went straight to the inn. He took his seat at his usual table and the innkeeper brought two trays of food."I was worried when you didn't show up for dinner party stopping point Nox or breakfast this morning. Where's Tin ?"she asked.

"She died."

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

"She was just a striver,"he replied. He then pulled one of the trays over and ate his meal in silence.

Having lived out of the inn for the retiring calendar month, everyone who came for drinks was used to the good deal of Noah and Tin eating together. A few people, noticing her absence, wonder just as the innkeeper had, and Noah told them the Sami thing he told her. His emotionless reception angered Charles Hardin Holley, one of the chambermaids, and she grabbed Noah by the collar and lifted him to his feet.

"She was a overnice girl ! Everyone here knows how devote 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 thing ?"

Perhaps it was the way he said it, or the chilliness of his eyes, but she dropped Noah back to his seat and stormed off in disgust. After that, no one approached Noah. When he was done with his meal, he made his way up to his room. This time, when he opened the doorway, there was no greeting. The candle was lightless and there was no attack in the fireplace. It was just a dark room.

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

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

"How much longer are we going to expect ?"The impatient vocalism came from a Edward Young man with a halberd on one shoulder and an obvious silicon chip on the other. He was sitting on the front porch of the fracture sign of the zodiac, along with curse and the two other penis of their squad, Beth and Mira.

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

"Do you have any idea where he rode off to ?"Beth asked.

"No clue."

"I don't guardianship how tough you say he is,"the man with the halberd said,"if he rode out into those Ellen Price Wood at night, he's dead for sure."

"Shut up, Trevor. When Beth and I met him, we knew that he was the genuine 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 cadaver myself."

"Oh, there he is !"

On the road leading to the mansion, a galloping sawhorse with its rider could be seen. Noah approached them and climbed off his horse."Sorry I'm late."

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

It was the knight closed chain, all done after the town jeweler had worked on it. The avenium rune had been covered up and the enhancement gem was set on top of the crest. It was certainly loud, but sometimes gaudiness had its own magic spell.

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

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

"Me too,"Beth added.

Noah simply nodded."So the baron has asked me to conduce this squad to conquer the keep crabby person. Before we do that, I need to—"

"You aren't leading anything,"said Trevor."You're not the boss of us, just the babysitter for the big businessman's son."

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

"shag you. Try giving me gild and I'll shove this halberd up your ass."

Noah took a trench breath and rubbed his temple."Ugh, one of you people. This is the hold out thing I need.

Listen, here's what's supposed to chance : you and I spend the adjacent hebdomad playing the secret plan where I act as the Isaac Stern yet reason authority flesh, and you keep throwing temper tantrums due to some unuttered deep-seated issue. By the sentence we arrive at the dungeon crabmeat, you'll hate me more than ever, and almost get us killed, probably with me having to save your life. However, your screwup will aid you agnise you're full-of-the-moon of nothing but bravado and horse dirt, and you'll finally decide to listen to me, allowing me to break your hard outer shell to help you solve your behavioral trouble, which I'm guessing is about your father, or feelings of inadequacy, or something along interchangeable lines. We'll capture the donjon crabby person and form a long-lasting friendship of respect and trust.

Now, that is what is supposed to materialize, and as a great deal as I would love to go on that emotional journeying with you, I have literally a million bettor things to do with my metre. So, let's nip this in the bud right now. You and me, one on one, until one of us can no longer stand. The loser has to listen and obey the winner until the dungeon crab is captured, including an order of magnitude to leave the party."

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

"That's the spirit. make it your best shot, because if you don't take me down, you're going to end up swallowing a lot of blood."

Trevor took a stance, leaning back and gripping his halberd with both hands, and enveloping the blade with mana with runes appearing in the air. It was just like the spell the goblin tribal chief had used on his sword to increase the strength of his diagonal, meaning that getting hit with that halberd would surely be deadly.

"Trevor, hold back this ! This is insanity !"Mira implored.

"No, don't get in his way,"said Noah as he removed his anchor ring."The most important lessons hurt the most."

Trevor lunged with a decent mannequin and force his halberd towards Noah. It wasn't just the destructive power of his halberd, his speed had more than doubled."Mountain-Splitter !"

It was by a slim down margin, but Noah stepped to the side and the sword missed. He grabbed the prick of the halberd and delivered a bone-crushing clout to Trevor's nose, causing him to let go and flounder back.

"That was a good thrust. I imagine you've spent quite a little of clock time practicing it."

Trevor's boldness was pouring blood, 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 telling gloriole. This metre, instead of a thrust, he made a wide swing."Erasing Cleave !"

Once more, Noah simply backed out of his stove, escaping with zero damage. Then, when the coast was clear, he closed in and delivered and uppercut to Trevor's jaw, busting his teeth and making him an even bloodier pot. This fourth dimension, Trevor couldn't arrest on his feet and fell back, trying and failing to contain his cry of torture. Looking around, Noah could see the baron's servants watching from the fields and through the windows.

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

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

"I don't need a fucking health potion !"Trevor shouted.

He scrambled to his pes and went at it again. He abandoned the idea of using legerdemain and attacked Noah with a barrage of rapid-fire stab. Noah deflected each blast with his shield, 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 specialty, Noah maintained his posture.

"You know what I'm going to do now, right ?"Trevor tried to figure out how Noah would throw another poke, but instead, he let go of the halberd and sent Trevor falling onto his ass."Your skills with that affair aren't that bad, at to the lowest degree, if you just stand by to hunting teras, but you'll never hit me with it. Try showing me how good you are with your fists."Noah placed his manus on his longsword and slowly drew it halfway."Unless you'd prefer to puzzle to arm combat, in which case I'll gladly mood you."

Trevor abandoned his halberd and charged, sending a neat right punch towards Noah. Noah caught his fist and then struck his cubital joint, snapping his arm like his bone were made of glass. Before Trevor could even squall, Noah silenced him with another poke to the nose, once more knocking him to the ground. It didn't seem like he was going to get up, so Noah took out a health potion and poured it on his face. The spray woke him up and healed his nose and mouth, though his arm would take to be reset before a potion could touch on it.

"So, do you want to hold going ? I can go all day if you want. I mean it, I've got nothing but fourth dimension. And we can go whenever you want, this isn't your merely chance.

Now I suppose there are a number of mode we can go about this. We can do the whole emotional journey matter, but the fact that I've explained it kind of takes away the magic. You can just go away the party, I'll give you that option. There's the alternative of waiting until I have my back turned and then getting your retaliation, which, again, you are free to do so at any prison term, but at your own risk of exposure. Poisoning my solid food might crop, but it would just be you admitting your weaker than me. I suppose your adept option would be to shut your fucking sass, accept that I'm stronger than you and smarter than you, and pay attention to what I will instruct you, as it will meliorate your acquirement and your chances of survival.

From there, we can go to the dungeon pubic louse, and you'll easily overcome challenges that would take killed you at your flow storey of strength. With a good amount of elbow grease and coordination, and no shortage of portion, we'll conquer the keep crab and become robust beyond our barbarian dreams. There is always the pick of betraying us down there and running off with all the swag, but boy, oh boy, you'd better make certain I'm dead, because you don't want me coming after you, you really don't.

So, what do you say ?"

Everyone was silent, waiting to hear Trevor's answer. He was glaring at Noah and taking deep, angry breathes through his nose."You say you can attain me stronger ?"

"I guarantee it."

"We conquer the donjon Phthirius pubis and we're done, right ? I never have to see you again ?"

"You can retire to some fancy beach sign, you'll be so fertile. I'll never bother you again."

"Fine."

"I'll let the three of you fix his arm. I need to speak with the tycoon inside."

Noah stepped onto the porch and entered the firm, walking right by the spot where Tin had died."Is the baron in ?"he asked, addressing one of the maids.

"In his private subject, sir. He's waiting for you."

Just as Oath had done the day before, the maidservant knocked on the duplicate threshold and announced Noah's arriver, with the magnate granting entry. The old man was behind his desk."That was quite the spirited match outside. Your acquirement are the material deal."

"The existent skill is producing issue from it."

The big businessman walked over to his whiskey set and poured himself a deglutition."I'm sword lily you returned. I'm sorry for the release of your companion."

"Don't worry about it. I already killed your brother and his son."

The glass fell from the baron's hand and shattered."What ? !"he exclaimed.

There was an straightaway knock on the doorway."My Lord, is everything fine ?"a Butler asked.

Noah's regard never left the king, without any sense of fear or expectation of what might come next. He simply waited for a reaction. The baron gripped the box of the desk but managed to hold himself.

"Everything is mulct. We are not to be disturbed."When he sensed the Samuel Butler had left, he turned his care back to Noah."You wouldn't even give me the chance to babble you out of vengeance ?"

"It was nothing of the sort."

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

It was midmorning, and Noah had just claimed his annulus from the jeweler, the last of his morning errands, and with information given by those around town, he now stood before the home base of the topical anesthetic baronet. It was in the outskirts of the townsfolk, one of the farms, and neither the fields nor the house were on par with the baron. Despite the rank of noble, baronet were simply common person with the prefix ‘ Sir'or ‘ madam ’.

He found the baronet repairing a cattle fencing behind the house. He was selfsame to the baron, but without the whiskers and sporting fewer wrinkles. Noah was invisible, so the man didn't even notice him approach, but was calm when Noah pressed the blade of his knife to his throat and told him to sink the power hammer he was using.

"Sir Edwin demerit, I presume ?"

"Who's asking ?"

"Did you hire four men to kill the swearword fracture ?"

"Now why would I try to wipe out my beloved nephew ?"

"To get your son the social status of power. But if you aren't going to answer my questions, I suppose I can always ask him, or maybe your wife."

"You must be the son of a bitch who saved him from that goblin den. I had to pay that adventurer a good mass of money to belt down him. To mean 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 accept killed that talentless brat himself if I hadn't talked him out of it. He didn't do anything. You have a ivory to pick, put that knife away and let's solve this comparable men."

Noah's answer came in the form of a fluid movie of his wrist, severing Edwin's jugular and sending him tumbling to the ground, trying pointlessly to stop the hemorrhage. Noah stood by to corroborate the Death and then made his way towards the fields, where the baronet's son was working.

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

"There was a metre when I took great joy in making people suffer, and I've been working to change myself since then. I don't permit myself to wipe out for pleasance 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-time of a loyal subordinate, and I'd rather not apply anyone the luck to get in my way.

If I were to allow them to be, they would continue to try and down you and Oath, and I'd have to clean up the mess, just like I've been doing since I found your son in that goblin den. The live on affair I'd want is to entrance the dungeon and then get ambushed by your Brother's collaborator when we're too tired to struggle back. I assume you had forgiven your brother because he is your family line, despite his try to kill swearword, but you're hiring me to keep curse active, and if I'm going to do that, it will be done my way.

If you have any remonstration, State Department them now."

Ivan didn't respond. He simply slumped in his seat and exhaled deeply. Deep down, he knew that his Brother had to be dealt with in one phase or another, in guild for his son to inherit the social station of power. However, even if it had been slim before, there was always a chance of reconciliation. He had dreamt of conversing with his brother, as they had a prospicient, long time ago, and burying the hatchet. Now that possibility was gone forever. Noah claimed he hadn't acted out of retribution against his Brother, but Ivan couldn't help but feel he was the one being punished.

"I thought as much. Despite your brother and nephew demise, I'm aware that your son still had little prognosis of inheriting your title, so the donjon capture will go on as planned. We didn't have the luck to talk about payment for this job, but don't vexation, I'm not worry in money or solid ground. There is something else I want."

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

It took more than one healing potion to repair Trevor's arm, and that could only be done when the bones were reset. He was all patched up by the clip Noah made his return.

"I promised the baron we'd set out in a hebdomad for the donjon. That was two days ago. For the next five days, I'm going to appraise each of your skills and see where improvements have been made. low, we're going to hunt some goliath. I want to experience your combat science and see how well you work as a squad. You all have your artillery, so we're going to set forth now and travelling luminance. Any protest ?"

No one said anything, not after watching how he thrashed Trevor. But their silence was not out of awe, rather an sentience that Noah knew what he was talking about. He was the oldest of the group by only a twelvemonth, 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 placement of a wizardly spawning circle. Let's head there."

They gathered some supplies and set off into the wilderness, leading a pack horse cavalry to carry back their harvested monster function. From the moment they were enveloped by the shadow of the Tree, they were vulnerable. The territory of the goliath was well-established, due much in part to the summoning band that they spawned from. They only intruded into human territory when there was a shortage of food or their numbers had grown too great, emergence that were both solved by the constant flow of adventurer working to check their population.

As they walked, Noah spoke to everyone.

"Mira, we talked once before about this. Have you developed any skills for close-quarter armed combat ?"

"I've been training with my staff since then. Oath and I spar a lot when we're not hunting."

"What about legerdemain ?"

"I haven't been able to develop anything for fighting enemies up close."

"We'll work on that. curse word, Beth, can either of you use sorcerous ?"

"I can't,"said Oath.

"I can create H2O, but not in any kind of attack. I use it to fill up my water skin."

"commodity, we'll definitely need that in the dungeon. You're still using your bow as your main weapon, right ?"

"Yeah, and I got poisonous substance for my pointer just like you…"

She trailed off, remembering what Oath had told her. Tin had been shot and killed with a poison pointer. Noah paid no attending to the drop of her speech.

"What about close-range ? Any weapon system ?"

"I use a knife."

"Good. Trevor, you can activate conjuration when you thrust and swing your halberd. Anything else ?"

"Nope, the halberd is all I can use."

Noah had picked up some scraps of info on the dissimilar branches of magic in this world, and Trevor appeared to be in the warrior grade, just like the goblin chief. Warriors could only activate their skill with particular weapon, which depended on the somebody. He wasn't exaggerating when he said the halberd was all he could use. He couldn't activate his magic with any other weapon.

"We're here,"said expletive. He then stopped in his tracks."On second thought process, I think we should turn over back."

Noah looked ahead. On the forest floor, he could see a large magic rope, consisting of rune and assort shapes. Standing in the circle was a birth the size of a minivan. However, its dead body was faint, translucent, like it was just a hologram, but with each passing present moment, its color deepened.

‘ Is it teleporting ? No, it's set. The circle is converting mana into strong-arm topic and assembling it. So, that's what it means for a brute to be summoned.'“ I've never seen a bear like that out here."

"It's a sledgepaw, a uncommon strain. It is to fixture bears what that hobgoblin was to unconstipated 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 hold for it to finish spawning and then guide it on. For all we know, the keep could throw far bad monsters."

"All right, then let's take formation,"said Oath.

"hold for it to round us. Taking your time in setting up a firing off squad while it spawns won't pass on much experience or information."

It took only a bit for the bear to fully happen, immediately spotting Noah and the mathematical group and labeling them as enemies without any kind of hesitation or confusion. It released a bellow of fury and charged, signaling the showtime of the struggle. Noah kept his length while the group spread out, surrounding the bear. Beth nocked a poison arrow in her bow and shot the bear in the neck opening. It turned to her and snarled, about to lash out with its claws, but curse word attacked from the side and slashed at its shoulder with his sword. The beast's fell was thug, and Noah couldn't tell if the blast had actually done any terms. Enraged, the bear knocked swearing aside. Like Noah, he was wearing leather armor, and while it stopped the expect's nipper from reaching his flesh, the armor itself was nearly destroyed by that one swipe.

"Oath !"Mira cried out.

Trevor stabbed the bear in the thigh with his halberd, and while he drew a roar of pain from the beast, it hadn't forgotten the arrow in its neck and attacked Beth. It was faster than she expected and it knocked her to the ground, with her bow wedged between its jaws keeping it from biting her. She was crying in anguish as it weighed down on her, saliva from its back talk splashing on her face with its monumental fangs inching closer and closer.

"Guillotine swinging !"

Trevor swung his halberd like he was splitting wood, and the axe blade, glowing with magic power, dug deep into the have a bun in the oven'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 beginning, was gathered together and slammed into the bear like a mudslide, knocking it off Beth. The bear was ho-hum to get back on its feet, as its enduringness was fading with each lost drop of blood and the poisonous substance was taking its toll. Regardless, it still could demolish the skulls of the rickety human race with a unity golf shot of its mighty paw.

Oath was back on his feet and charged with a shout of determination and his sword raised high. Seeing him attack, the bear reared back on its hind legs, and despite his vigor just second ago, the sight of the towering wolf robbed curse of his braveness. He was paralyzed with fear and the bear swung at him. Instinct saved his life, the instinct to raise his steel and block the fire, though the force still slammed him into the ground. An pointer was buried in the bear's chest before it could assail again, managing to pierce a lung, and Trevor stabbed it in the stomach.

The bear fell back and rolled onto its legs, roaring in ferocity but then breaking down into a fit of bloody coughing. Beth fired a tierce arrow, striking the shoulder, which Trevor then cleaved with his halberd. As this was going on, Mira rushed over to Oath's side and helped pull him out of scathe's way. With Trevor and Beth continuing to whimper on the brute, its life was soon extinguished. Its massive organic structure collapsed and cuss and his friends released their held breath.

Noah, who had been observing, got up from the tree stump that had been his seat and approached, and while everyone patched themselves up, he severed the bear's spine with his sword to make certain it was dead.

"Congratulations on your putting to death. However, it was rather messy."

"Messy ? !"Trevor exclaimed."Look 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 of it wasn't the bragging challenge. Your disorganization was."Noah took out his knife and began carving into the bear to remove its fell. He looked only at his work, but he continued to reprimand them."You surrounded it on all sides, which, while good when facing something smaller and prone to run, left Beth and Mira defenseless. Don't split up like that unless it's something that each one of you can physically treat. Beth, consider all the fourth dimension that you spent pinned. That was all fourth dimension you could take spent firing pointer had you and Mira kept your distance. Though speaking of arrows, your aim was very good, both that shot to the neck and to the thorax. But from now on, the two of you should hang back while Oath and Trevor fend the enemy off.

swearing, when you first attacked, what were you aiming for ?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to inflict some damage."

"You should have gone for the foreland. With a monster of that size, did you cerebrate a soma combat injury or muscle hurt would kill it ? Unless they're well protected, you should always aim for the critical speckle. Swing at the head word, stab at the thorax. 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. Take aim with your onset, and not just at possibility in your opponent's guard. You should try studying anatomy, material body out where the most vital points are. You went at the belly, that was smart. It's soft and hard to protect, but you stabbed too low. You should accept gone mellow, towards the liver, or at least the stomach.

Mira, you did well in getting curse out of danger. However, you waited too prospicient to cast your turn. I see that you developed a new spell, and while it did supervise to get the bear off Beth, it was a larger-scale patch not suited to the forest. I remember you once told me you can create a dust swarm and get off rock and roll flying ? You should bear stuck with that. A bit of junk could suffer blinded the bear and maybe even hindered its sentience of smell, and a John Rock or even hard-packed dirt can inflict good deal of pain when striking the forefront or the crotch.

And Oath, you know what I'm going to say, don't you ? You choked, and your mistake put the lives of your booster in danger. It was instinct that saved your life. You need to make these kinds of decisions faster. Before we head to the donjon crab, we'll have to remedy that. Now, all of you give me a script. This bear is going to facilitate fund our preparations."

Everyone joined in, helping to murder the wear's hide as intact as possible. When it was done, Noah placed his hand on the pelt and tried to seal it in his ringing. The enhancement jewel had doubled the carrying capacity of the ring, but the fell was so toilsome that the pack was refusing to admit it. He'd have to remove some things first.

Noah held out his hand and closed his fingers around an invisible handgrip. A steel appeared in his grip, the sword that he had taken from the hobgoblin. He had even found the sheath that went with it, something that the steady goblin wouldn't have been wise enough to take. It was much bigger than his broadsword, and he had assumed its size might be utile against a large enemy. swearword, who knew both the existent individuality and mogul of Noah's ring and what it was known for, was exempt from the vocalization of amazement the others made. Even Trevor was shocked by the immense sword appearing out of thin air.

"Oath, where did you get your sword ?"

"Uh… it was my grandfather's."Oath stuttered, feeling an automatic sensory faculty of danger by being queried by someone who had just revealed a sword.

"May I ?"Noah held out his hand and curse word reluctantly handed it over. Noah looked it over. He was an experienced blacksmith once, a week-long learning course of action at a metalwork school that turned into a career, though while his retentiveness were a bit fuzzy, he could still recognize the craftsmanship put in. However, his focus wasn't on the actual lineament of the metallic element, but the duration of the handgrip. It was a bastard sword, otherwise known as a hand-and-a-half, which could be held with either one script or two.

"It's practiced. And your father said you grew up working the fields, right ? plenty of plowing and clearing Tree ?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I want you to try using this goblin sword for a spell. Swinging a hoe or an axe require leverage, leverage that your gramps's blade can't afford you with the length of its handle. Your hands are too finish together and it's throwing off your center of gravity when you hold it. This larger blade will allow you keep your manus farther apart and provide a more similar motion."

He handed both steel to curse word, but he only took his grandfather's sword."I can't accept that. That's your prize for killing the monster."

"You're just renting it from me. Besides, if this venture works out, I'll be rich enough to buy an even better sword."

"As you wish, then."He wasn't fully convinced, but he took the steel and hung it across his back.

"Ok, let's change our strategy a slight. We'll take the formation of a W, with oath in the middle, me and Trevor at the sides, and Beth and Mira in the back."

It would have double-dyed if they could fight another sledgepaw bear and compare strategies, but considering its tenuity, it would probably be a long meter before it respawned. They set off instead to chance Sir Thomas More goliath, not having to hike farseeing before coming across a ingroup of wolves. They took organisation and stared the beasts down, all armed and cook to fight.

"Beth and Mira, you two are our briny var. of attack. The three of us are just a cuticle. You'll have to focus on not getting us caught up in your attacks."

"right field !"They both replied.

pointer began flying past swearword's right incline and rocks and pieces of packed earth were flying past his left. The wolves were caught off guard and several were left stunned or injured. A wolf standing directly in battlefront of Oath managed to avoid the barrage and leaped towards him. Oath swung his steel, nearly losing his equipoise and falling over. However, though the exercising weight was much dandy than any hoe or axe he had used, it wasn't the cause. It was the informality he felt, the swing now more reminiscent of a familiar question, and he was able to use muscle remembering to name out bully strength and attainment. The ease robbed him of his tensity like he had removed weightiness from his shoulders, causing him to trip. The sword carved through the airborne brute like a bombination saw, nearly slicing it in two.

At the same time, the woman chaser that were still on their feet scattered to try and flank the mathematical group. Two ran towards Trevor, and the first, attacking from above, ended up getting impaled on the spear tip of his halberd. The endorsement tried to come together in, using the death of the first as a beguilement, but Trevor swung his halberd down and buried the axe sword in the wolf's back.

On the other side, three charged towards Noah. The first pounced, sending Noah dodging to the side of meat and then beheading it with a downwards swing. He spun around, thrusting into the s skirt chaser's chest as it pounced from above. The third tried to attack from his blind spotlight, but drew his short brand and cleaved its skull open.

All that was left were the masher stunned by the gap fire, but they had been dispatched with Beth's pointer. The only engagement had taken a handful of secondment, causing oath and his friends to all exchange shocked glances. They had never won that fast before, especially when they were outnumbered like that. The value of Noah's advice had been proven.

They stripped the wolf of their hides and collected all former worthful physical structure portion, then continued their journeying. There was still tidy sum of time before they'd have to set up inner circle, so they wanted to get as often hunting done as they could. As they traveled through the forest, the arc of fervor filled them. Now that the Lester Willis Young adventurers had improved their strategy, they wanted to see how else they might get stiff, and what this new boost would leave them to do. They were hiking through a hilly area, sticking only to the mat ground for the sake of their horse. It was when they were traveling along a floodplain that Noah stopped them, his eyes glued onto the nearby hill and a great fallen tree.

"Look over there. See the dry land where the dirt and leave of absence have been disturbed ? Goblins probably laid a trap and are hiding behind that log. Mira, can you launch one of your spells to try and smoke them out ?"

"It's a footling far, but I'll try."She stabbed the background with her staff."Earth Bind !"

Like a crevice splitting ice, a visible seam ran through the surface of the solid ground over the expanse behind the log. There was the phone of screeching and various 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 snipe one of the scattered goblins. From behind the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree around the log, Thomas More goblin appeared, howling like monkey. They charged township the hill, a dozen of them, with two hanging back with their own bows.

"Beth, deal out the Sagittarius. Mira, try to funnel them so that they don't flank us. oath, if more than than one hob attacks you at once, don't do another downward slash. It'll leave you give. Trevor, don't let the momentum of your jive take you out of position."

No one questioned him, and as Beth waged a long-distance commutation with the archer up the hill, Mira created infernal region and leaf blade of earth that burst up along the wing of the goblin horde. They swarmed for Noah, curse, and Trevor. The dissolute goblin reached Trevor and dropped a cabaret towards his head. Trevor swung his halberd, and while the blade failed to strike the goblin, it did get caught on the hold, hurling it towards Oath, who dispatched it with a cleave. He then swung his sword from the face like Trevor had done, catching two goblins 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 sword sent blood spatter across the nearby tree diagram. A goblin pointer planted itself in his stomach, nearly sending him tumbling to the footing. His leather armour had slowed it down a bit, so it didn't make his organs, but as mortal who had been shot numerous times, getting hit with the splintery hobgoblin arrow hurt a lot more than near bullets.

"Mira, I'm hit. I need a disperse cloud !"

"R-right !"

She stuttered momentarily, but regained her composure and sent all of the dry dirt around the goblins airborne, blinding them and leaving them coughing. He only had a couple present moment, so Noah ripped out the arrow with a hiss of pain and spurt of pedigree and poured a healing potion on the wound. As his shape stitched back together, the hobgoblin managed to clear their eyes of the junk and resumed their rush, but just like before, Noah mowed them down. The battle was over in less than a minute. Once again, Oath and his friends exchanged glances of excitement.

A few battle later, the setting sun put an end to their hunting for the day, and they set up camp between a clustering of expectant trees for protective covering from monsters and wind. They built up a fire in the snapper 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 secretiveness. Noah was new to the group and they hadn't gotten used to him yet, so the others couldn't immediately talk at their usual conversational depth.

Between bites, Noah took out a canteen full of pee and added some pine phonograph needle from his pocket. metallic bottles were more expensive than looking glass nursing bottle and water pelt, so everyone noticed when he set it next to the fire.

"You're making tea with pine needles ?"Mira asked.

"Pine needles serve ward off scurvy even meliorate 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 down monsters ?"

Noah thought back through all of the fantasy novels and role-playing biz he had enjoyed over the days."That ? That was just intuition."It would be best to shift the conversation away from himself.

"What are you going to do after the keep crab ?"she then asked.

"That inquiry seems like bad luck, don't you think ? They say that when men plan, God laughs. What about you ? You get to become a nobleman if you capture a dungeon. You could be set for life. oath is going to inherit his Father-God's title. Are you also aiming for magnanimousness ?"

"I'm going to keep open traveling and exploring,"said Beth.

"I just want to reach enough money to steady down down and start a family,"Mira added.

Oath's future had already been laid out, so succeeding it was supposed to be Trevor, but he didn't show any interest in even acknowledging the question.

"I have no interest in becoming a imposing,"said Oath.

"Then why do it ?"Noah asked.

"Because my Fatherhood wants me to."

"Again, why do it ?"

"I already told you. My—"

"And what does that throw to do with anything ? You're old enough now that you can set out on your own. You've found your talent with that blade. sustain being an adventurer. Do whatever you want to do."

"Isn't my father paying you to make sure enough I become a baronial ?"

"I fully expect you to become a noble, even if I have to tie the title around your wrist joint. I just want to earn certainly you have a strong reason so that you won't choke up. So, go on, differentiate us the literal reason."There was an awkward secretiveness, during which Noah carefully retrieved his canteen, which had come to a simmer."Unless, of course, you already gave us the veridical reason. Your sire wants this, and you want to make him happy."

"Is that really such a foreign desire ?"

"You want him to finally address you like he did your brothers. You want reconciliation, to make everything right so that all the years of neglect can be made up for, that it was all deserving it."

"For person judging, you sound like you have experience."

"No, I was the opposite. My dad was wish yours. He thought a parent's dearest had to be earned and wouldn't accept failure. If I wasn't the best, then I wasn't his son. Unfortunately, I didn't tending, and I told him that. I told him that his commendation meant zero to me. I never had any purpose of making him proud."In actuality, he had various 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 vertebral column. He spent the repose of his animation in a wheelchair.'“ I left home and became an adventurer."He took a tiresome sip of his tea."You have to compute out your own grounds for doing things, your own understanding for living. Neither your parents nor God can feed you meaning. It's something that you have to make for yourself, and if you don't do it carefully, if you pick an estimate or a belief that is fainthearted and fragile, it'll gloam apart in your hands and you'll have nothing."

The inner circle went tacit, everyone staring into the flames rather than take the risk of making eye contact with someone else. Beth, no longer eating, hugged her genu to her chest."My father was actually an explorer. He taught me how to fool away a bow and always told me of his escapade. Sometimes he'd disappear for weeks at a time, but he would always come nursing home late and Nox, 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 floor, he'd snatch my ankle joint and pretend to be whatever teras he had just fought. It made me a clear sleeper, because I'd always try to find out him sneak in and catch him."

"I wish I knew my father,"said Mira, trying to keep the conversation going.

Like before, it became Trevor's turn, but he still showed no interest in participating. They then realized that he had already fallen asleep.

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

They set out at first light the next morning to go along hunting, while making their way back to township. Just like the day before, their new formation proved unstoppable against the monsters of the forest, and they found themselves carrying so often plunder that it was draining their stamina faster than the battles. They had to take buy at stops, and as usual, Noah would use that time to get together worthful works.

At last, they broke out of the cover version of the forest, now trekking across tillage with the village not far off. Despite their fatigue, their intent were high up. The sun was setting and their trip had been both productive and informative"I think we should just go straight to the keep Phthirius pubis tomorrow,"said Oath."We're already strong enough."

"Not yet,"said Noah."We've built a formation, now I want to improve your abilities."

"So more hunting ?"Beth asked.

"No, grooming and exercise to increase strong-arm lastingness and mana military reserve. All of our cabbage from this trip is going to fund it."

Upon arriving to townsfolk, they first stopped off at the local anaesthetic tannery to deal off the pelts. The possessor of the shop, a near man who struggled to farm a decent beard, Luke, met them as they entered his store. As one might ask, 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 childlike stink and now had its own taste, a very gamey flavor. It annoyed Noah every time he stopped by.

"Mr. Noah, I haven't seen you lately. And the Cy Young professional, I'm glad to see you are doing well. What have you come with today ?"

"We have pelts to sell, including a special piece."

All of the brute and other pelt were stacked on the counter, with the cobbler's last, belonging to the sledgepaw bear, having to be laid out on the floor like a rug.

"A sledgepaw ? And in such just stipulation ! This is definitely a rarified find !"

"We fought it as soon as it finished spawning,"said Oath."That's as invigorated as it gets."

Luke bent down and examined the skin, paying stuffy attention to wound created during the battle."And there doesn't appear to be too much damage… I can give you two Au coins for everything."

"Two and half ?"Noah asked.

"Two, that's my limit. This thing has some big gash in it."

"Fine."

The rally 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 weapon system to the blacksmith, and anything else that they had managed to gather, though their final stop was the apothecary, and rather than selling, Noah was buying. Oath and the others stood back and watched as he ordered armfuls of dissimilar plants for sale with the old woman watching him with an eye of interest.

"I'll also take every health and mana potion you're bequeath 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 good morning, we'll sports meeting back up at the power's home and get down training. I'll use these works to whip up lots of potions."

The group split up, with curse and Trevor heading off their respective domicile, Beth and Mira returning to the inn, and Noah running a few more errands. night fell, and like the cleaning lady, 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 candle flame, he ground up the plants he had bought and amalgamate them together. He had a long listing of potions and putz to make for this dungeon adventure, so even his nighttime would be in use. An hour after he started, he heard a whack at the doorway. He answered with his knife in manus but out of sight, as was natural. He opened the doorway to see Beth standing there, a smile on her face that was coy, nervous, excited, and embarrassed, all mixed together.

"I wanted to differentiate you again how sorry I am to hear that about Tin. But just because she's gone, that doesn't have in mind your nights have to be lonely. I want to experience the legend that everyone in town has been talking about."

An honest grinning, rare for Noah, crossed his face. However, it was more in entertainment than lust."That seems like something that would really bring us some bad luck later, considering the unanimous donjon Crab thing."

"What ?"

"cipher. As much as I would wish to say yes, it would be best if we both went straight for bed, considering the grooming I have planned. Plus, I still have a lot of potions to make."

Her purport were deflated, but she wasn't ready to pay up."Are you sure I can't change your mind ?"

"I'm sure. But if you still have durability tomorrow after dinner party, then I'll happily indulge you."

"I'll look forward to it."She then gave him a instant and went back to her room.

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

"The preparation I have in mind will consist of farsighted Sessions of muscle training and then magic training in a physically exhausted state of matter, replenishing strength with potions, and repeating the process."Noah addressed Oath and his booster in front of the baron's planetary house. By his slope were a large sacque full of red and racy potions, as well as some early concoction."It's a combination of two workout routines I've created."

Mira looked away for a mo, pondering something. She then perked up in seismic disturbance."That's what was happening with you and Tin at the inn !"

Oath, Beth, and even Trevor looked at her, taking a import to treat what she had said, and then swerving their optic back to Noah like a car drifting around a recess. cuss had forgotten that little fact, and Trevor, resigned to bearing a silent grudge, was remembering those rumors he had heard and finally feeling a bit of esteem towards Noah.

Noah let a pocket-size laugh escape."Yeah, that's right. My theory is that mana output is a combination of strong-arm and religious energy. When your apparitional mana can't keep up with the demand, your strong-arm mana picks up the slack, but it means your spirit gets only part of the benefit of grooming. Therefore, the Charles Herbert Best way to take your look's rate of production and reservoir size is to either do so after you have just depleted all of your stamina, or during fight, when you are using up both, though I believe the latter is less efficient. Tin was assisting me with the consumption of forcible energy."

"All morning ? !"

"I have a lot of stamina, which is the result of the former exercise routine. Over a foresightful menses of clip, I've mastered several different human body of practice session and refined them to target muscular tissue outgrowth in a specific way. the great unwashed and other large animals have three kinds of muscle : red musculus, which is muscle that is bang-up for stamina and track ; white muscle, which is muscular tissue for physical powerfulness and volatile force ; and knock sinew, which is a combination of both. My bit centering on producing pink muscle. Unfortunately, sex isn't the exercise act, God, though I wish it was.

Oath, I saw you struggling to lift your new sword, but making perfect slash every meter. Because of all the time 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 prison term up to a sure limit.

Trevor, I noticed your social movement decline faster than cuss, despite expending a similar amount of energy. Your stabs and slashes, while initially quite potent, made a truelove diminution. You have too a lot White River muscleman, which lets you carry more than Oath, but not as far."

To Oath, it made sensation. He had yet to see Noah truly fatigued, not after clearing the goblin den or even when they returned to the village the previous day. At the same prison term, he was able to slice through monsters and carry their corpse with great strength. The others had noticed it as well, another category in which he outclassed them.

"Wait a indorse, if that was your"extra mana grooming"you were doing with Tin, then that means you can use magic,"said Beth."You told us you couldn't."

"I wasn't sure I could swear you when we first met. I was willing to narrate you how to pee yourselves stronger, but not how to establish 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. The sooner your enemy knows about your strengths, the sooner they know about your weaknesses. When meeting new people, conceal your abilities until the conclusion second, because that moment might be a struggle. However, since you followed me on that hunting trip and are willing to undergo my workout routine, I believe that it's only bazaar to lay my cards on the table."

He covered his eye and disappeared, drawing shouts of surprise from everyone.

"Noah ? !"curse exclaimed, looking around for him.

Noah released the fantasy and they all yelped again."I can make myself inconspicuous. When I first unlocked this ability, I could only do it for a few s at a time. After a calendar month of training, I could do it for more than five minutes."He'd keep his moment spell secret, as well as the true continuance he could agree the both of them for. His confidence in them was still in its infancy.

"I've never seen or even heard of a magic like that before. Maybe some kind of holy magical spell ?"Mira muttered.

Her quarrel took away a lot of his nervousness. He still knew so little about the trick in this world, there was no telling how common king like his might be. For all he knew, this lie might make him calculate misfortunate. However, if Mira had never heard of it, there was a hazard that it was rare enough to not be considered common knowledge.

Noah retrieved some bottles entire 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 honey. It'll pass you a piddling supernumerary energy. These next few days are going to be exhausting."

.

.

.

Forging Strength

.

.

.

Pained gasps.

A feminine whimper.

"Oh God !"

Beth collapsed, fighting for every breathing place with Noah standing over her, the two of them drenched in sweat.

"seed on, get up,"he said.

"I can't do anymore !"

"You know what comes next."

She looked at him with eyes good of hate."You're a ogre,"she hissed.

A net, steady stream was produced, arching onto the ground with a splash.

"Oh, she broke her record !"said Oath.

"I wish my mana would originate that fast !"Mira complained.

The water spurting from Beth's fingertip trickled to a halt. She rolled onto her back, feeling like the hard route underneath her was now as flabby as the power's mattress. It was the bit day of Noah's training, midmorning, and he was running circle with Oath and his ally around the Fault estate. Since yesterday, this what they had been doing with most of their time, running almost nonstop. It was Noah's prescript that they had to run until they collapsed or nearly threw up, and then immediately cast trick until their mana was completely depleted. Oath was exempt, but only because he had no aptitude for magic.

Noah crouched down and fed Beth a watered-down healing potion, just something to restore her staying power a bit. While she recovered, Oath, Mira, and Trevor sucked in air. This was the only time out they got, when somebody collapsed.

"I'm starving, can we eat lunch now ?"Trevor asked.

"I can't even think of food,"Oath groaned.

They all complained throughout the totally ordeal, but in truth, no one had yet given up and refused to go any further. Despite their torment, they didn't spring in. It wasn't to essay their determination, rather it was the simple fact that Noah's methods were producing resultant role. Just the day before, at the like time, if Beth cast her charm, it would have just been a few drop curtain falling from her finger, LE of a fountain and Thomas More of a talebearing faucet. Also, everyone's stamen was increasing noticeably. Thanks to the health potions, they could perform week of day-to-day exercise and retrieval in a number of time of day, compressing the rate of betterment so it was much more obvious.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I'm on my last peg too."

oath and the others groaned in rilievo and began throwing down everything they carried, as well as stripping off any armor. Noah was making them run in all of their adventuring cogwheel with their weapons in hand, and in meter, he'd incorporate weightiness to prepare them for carrying the dungeon crab louse's treasure. There was a playing area nearby, but they didn't concern and squatted down right in the middle of the road to eat. It was on the magnate's estate of the realm, so there wasn't the worry of traffic.

They each carried lunches made by the maids and were chowing down like rapacious animals. Even Noah was giving in to his hunger and stuffing his face. But as he ate, his eyes swept over everyone in the radical. This workout was definitely intense, shredding sinew and then immediately repairing them. In this case, the antidote was spoiled than the poison, according to the town apothecary. He had spoken to her the morning after he returned to Baron Clive of Plassey while on his way to pick up his ring.

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

"Using potions for practice ? It would be a good idea if it wasn't such a bad idea,"the old cleaning lady said. As always, she stared Noah down, looking at him through the sens of her pipe.

"I can't imagine I'm the first soul to cogitate of using them this way. What I want to know is if there are any dangerous gist. You always have them in stock certificate, so getting the factor isn't an issue."

She took a deep inhale and released a large fastball cloud."There is a downside."

"Am I going to have to pay you to find out what it is ?"

"In a rush, are you ? Yes, it's always hoi polloi like you using this method. Mana and wellness potions, as well as all other concoction used by venturer, may seem like bottled miracles, but they are a double-edged blade. If overexposed, the dead body can forget how to repair and bushel itself. If a wounding is repeatedly inflicted on one spot and healed with potions, eventually the body will misplace the power to mend that spot on its own. slice will bleed ceaselessly, broken bones will become like Rock, and organs will eventually shut down. The effects are even regretful if the potion is consumed, rather than poured, as it spreads throughout the body."

"How long before major scathe is inflicted ?"

"If used for daily physical exertion, potions will conduct to death within two weeks. Lesser hurt depends on the user."

"And what about mana potions ?"

"Mana potions stunt the development of magic. The more often they are used, the harder it will be to create and learn new spells."

Noah thought back to his"preparation days"with Tin. He had performed them every former day and with watered-down potions, multiplying his reservation countless times and giving him an edge, but there was no telling how much it had hindered him in the foresightful run.

"And of course of study you decided to await until now to distinguish me, despite all of the potions I've been buying for the last month."

"Are you expecting an apologia ?"

"No, I just have something I want you to expect at and I would choose some honesty."

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

ternary days, that's how long Noah was bequeath to use the potion method. That would hopefully leave them with plenty time for the side-effects to wear off before they entered a donjon. So far, everyone's physical stamina was continuing to rise, but if he saw them tableland or even overturn, he'd cut them off, cold turkey. He was even holding off on letting everyone use mana potions, instead letting it fill again as they ran. He didn't want to agitate back the engagement of their departure if he could avoid it. If anyone got a wound, he made sure to watch closely, to arrive at for sure their parentage was clotting.

"All right, let's caput back. We're doing the same subprogram as yesterday."Everyone groaned and cleaned up their plenty, but before they could hark back to the manor house, Noah stopped them."Hold on, we're doing lunges."

"Please, not again !"Mira complained.

"You'll thank me later."

With their artillery in hand, everyone began doing long steps, stretching out one leg and leaning down with their other human knee almost touching the dry land, and they had to keep a loyal tempo. It was sweaty, atrocious work.

"This is so embarrassing, we look derisory,"Trevor muttered. He seemed to love complaining, but since Noah beat him in a fight, he was keeping his Scripture about following focus."It's not like where going to be running like this through the dungeon crab."

"No, but it'll build up your strength and toughness. The most important physical plus in combat is leg strength."

"Wait, really ? Even for steel fighting ?"Oath asked.

"Really. If you support your body with a upstanding base, you can fight while staying on your foot longer. It doesn't matter how heavily you can flip a punch or swing a blade if your legs just buckle as soon as you meet resistor. Think of it as like trying to press while standing on slippery ice vs solid ground."

Just like before, Noah pushed them to the stop of flop. Normally, this kind of reckless training would be frowned upon, but they needed to accentuate and snap their muscular tissue to the absolute limit, mend them with potions to piddle them even strong, and repeat, with mana depletions after every collapse.

There was no rest for them when they returned to the manor. Under Noah's instruction, Oath and the others began stretching and lifting varying system of weights in diverse ways. To the slave working the athletic field, it looked like a basic workout, but Noah scrutinized every movement, from the form their arm took when lifting a enceinte stone, to the precise angle of their hips when they twisted their bodies. Every movement had to be perfective tense, so that all the stress went to specific muscle. Had he the means, he would go even further, focusing on individual muscle threads.

In a way, Noah was grateful that this opportunity came along. Being an adventurer kept him combat-ready and fit, but it didn't human body strength in the Sami way as this workout, and coming to this worldly concern had scrambled his routine. He had to use this chance to properly polish his anatomy. He had planned on teaching this workout to Tin to prepare her stronger and subject of defending herself, but that opportunity was gone.

Once they reached the center of the afternoon, Noah had them move on to the future stage of their training. Oath, Trevor, and Mira stood side by side, all of them gasping for air and cursing in anguish as effort poured down their faces. For curse word and Trevor, the workout was dewy-eyed, though far from leisurely. They held out their weapons as far as they could and hold back their 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 gunpoint, they'd take a health potion and start again.

"Ah, dammit !"Oath cursed as he dropped to his knees.

"roll in the hay, you're weak,"said Trevor.

"For once in your life, just shut up !"Mira hissed, unable to asseverate her usual polite personality.

Her training was similar to theirs, only using magic trick. Before her floated a lump of earth as large as a beer keg. Dirt from a bald darn underneath continuously floated up and added itself to the mass. For her grooming, she had to maximize the total of earth she could pinch, as well as the duration, and story of compression. She'd rotate it in the air to keep it from becoming lopsided, but every time it moved, she struggled to retain control.

Noah told her she had to be capable to work dirt into square rock in seconds, as well as train her body to produce mana faster.

Nearby, Beth was sparring with Noah. She held a sheathed knife in her hand and was swinging and stabbing at him with heady fury. Despite her efforts, he'd engine block and deflect her tone-beginning away from his body, using various fighting styles he had learned across the multiverse. As soon as she paused her onrush, he'd tone-beginning, forcing her to rise her inborn reflex for dodging.

Finally, when the sun set, Noah said the magic words."Let's call 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, circularise bird of Jove on the dry land and staring up at the sky.

"I'm too tired to eat and too hungry to catch some Z's,"Beth added.

"I've spent my living working on this farm, but I've never been this tired before,"said Oath.

It seemed that their stamina had been pushed to its boundary, beyond the breaker point that potions could replenish. Now they needed nutrient and sleep.

"I should probably head back to the inn while they're still serving dinner,"said Noah.

"You guys can birth dinner here,"cuss said.

"Why didn't you say that yesterday ?"

"Sorry, but after a day like that, I couldn't spend another minute thinking about training and the dungeon crab."

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

The tabular array was old and unvarnished, hand-carved with roughly sanded plank, though clip had helped to soften its edge and the low-quality shelve 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 veg. In the modern world, not even soup kitchens would serve solid food of this destitute level, but after a calendar month in these new landed estate, Noah had managed to graduate his taste buds.

It was only the five youth present. The business leader was not taking division. As with tiffin, everyone ate voraciously, their bodies begging for sustenance to try and stimulate up for the fat they had burned. It was surprising that Mira actually noticed oath had stopped eating, staring had his half-finished dinner.

"Oath ? Is something wrong ?"

"No, I'm just trying to remember the last time I sat at this table with this many people."

‘ Oh my god, that is so platitudinal,'Noah idea, drinking from his ice so as to not check his flat face.

"You're going to make me sick,"Trevor muttered. Noah resisted the desire to thank him.

"What were your blood brother like ?"Beth asked.

"My honest-to-god, colt, was a soldier, serving under full general Tarnas against the churl in Handent."

"He really served under Tarnas ? !"Beth exclaimed, bolting to her feet.

"Is that a honest or bad affair ?"Noah asked.

"Adwith Tarnas is one of the land's slap-up fighter, and easily the strongest paladin,"said Mira, trying to hide her plethora with a smile."Most children are raised on his fib, and for as long as I've known Beth, she's been a huge fan."

Beth sat back down, a drunk smile on her font."When I was young, he and some of his forces passed through my town. Watching him taunt down the street, wearing aureate armor… I was no longer an destitute tyke. I had awakened my womanly desires."

"You never heard of him ? What John Rock have you been living under ?"Trevor asked.

"A magnanimous one. Tell me about the war, I'm curious."

"Oh, well, according to my pal, it started when the tike began ransacking hamlet along the border, eventually leading to the renowned execution of High Priest Grybaen by Chief Waer. After that…"

The conversation had taken a foreign turn, but Noah absorbed every point while making his plans for the futurity. That Nox, at the inn, Beth didn't go with Mira into their shared room, but followed Noah into his. She had been too tired the previous night, but tonight, she had just enough military strength to baby her curiosity.

The third base day of breeding was just like the two before, including the same routine, but now with weight added. However, the consumption of potions had dropped in every bodily function. The increase they had gone through over just a few days would have normally taken weeks or even calendar month. In the late afternoon, their training was changed. Now instead of simply holding out his sword, swearing was practicing his slashes like he was studying kendo. He needed to spend a penny both his attacks and his recovery faster.

Next to him, Trevor was improving his thrusts, using what Noah had taught him and incorporating his leg so he could increase the strength with LE endeavor. He had also given Trevor the challenge of writing out the letter of the alphabet in the air with the fishgig tip, to heighten his accuracy. Beth and Mira had switched home, now with Beth straining her conjuring trick 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 limit of her magical aptitude, but creating refreshful pee was something they'd need if they spent more than a day in the dungeon.

On the fourth day, Noah met everyone at the baron's estate as he normally would. He held out a knapsack wide of potions."Today, I want you all to see if you can pursue the routine on your own. Until we enter the dungeon crabmeat, 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 exercise without potions, then you simply aren't ready for the donjon Cancer the Crab, and the farsighted we wait, the more competition will sustain. I don't want to pass the bottom of the eggshell and find out all of the avenium already taken."He put the backpack down and put on a jacket with all of its sack filled with rocks."Come on, time to commence running."

The exercise proceeded as planned, but with no less complaining. Now without potions, they could only gather their intensity during breaks, but the number of times they had to end and rest was as Noah predicted. On the fifth day, Noah faced them with the morning sun burning away the mists clinging to the mogul's estate of the realm. For Oath and his friends, this was the last day of training and they all felt confident. They weren't subterfuge to their own emergence. They now stood with dead body covered in free weight, quick for Noah to return the signal to start their forenoon run.

"Since today is the finale day, we're going to do something unlike. Trevor, I want you to hit the ground with a downward smasher and your strongest spell."

"What for ?"

"Just trust me. Pour as much mana as you can into the axeblade and kick in it a shot."

Trevor grunted and held out his halberd, and from the moment he began channeling his mana, everyone noticed the difference. These retiring respective days, whenever he, Beth, and Mira practiced with their magic, it was always in a state of enervation, forcing their bodies to squeeze out every last dip of king. This was the start sentence in 24-hour interval that Trevor was using a patch while at fully potency. What would have been a shimmering aura around the vane was now like a outstanding colorless flaming, causing his friends to instinctively tread back.

"Whoa,"Trevor said, ineffective to break up any early speech. He held his halberd with trembling grip, feeling like it was a rabid beast in his clasp. He raised it above his head like a blinding common mullein."Execute !"Apparently, saying the public figure of the turn helped focus the judgement and increase the say-so of the spell. To Noah, it seemed a bit nonsensical, but it did make things a bit more entertaining.

As per the name, he swung down with the halberd like he was performing a decapitation, and the moment the blade touched the ground, it was like a trench mortar round had gone off. A chest-thumping explosion was heard and dirt and rock were sent flying in all directions. Originally, what would receive simply buried his arm in the dirt, had now opened up a crater the sizing of a bathtub. Just as incredible, the vividness of the mana flowing from the halberd had not lessened in the slightest, nor did Trevor appear fatigued.

Everyone was stunned, with Noah flashing a rarefied smile."Mira, your consequence would probably be similar if I asked to use your potent spell. Now that you have all this mana to run with, think of it as a imagination for experimentation. I don't have a go at it how the two of you develop deception, whether you just create new spells yourselves or learn by watching others, but I want you to devote yourselves to improving your acquisition. Show me something new. Today, we're forgetting about military capability and staying power and focusing entirely on technique.

Beth, I want you to practice your archery until your digit bleed and you can shoot the wings of a fly. As for Oath…"Noah drew his longsword."You're going to be fighting me."

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

Beth's chest heaved with each campaign, and her mammilla, chilled by the evening, pointed out and force arcs in the air. Just moment ago, she had been riding so vigorously, having to put away her clothes when she began to overheat. It had been a struggle for her to keep on her moans contained, especially with her hips refusing to obey her program line and slow her bouncing.

She now took a gentle pace, rolling her pelvis from side to side while she regained her strength. Her pretty face was one of intoxication, her mind overtaken by lust and endorphins. Her smile was obscene, her facial expression flushed, her lips wet, her pupils dilated. Noah could see the saucy sweat on her consistency with the light of the night sky. What was just supposed to be a quick rendezvous to scratch the ol'itch had turned into something a little more intense.

Sitting up, Noah kissed her bosom and grabbed her ass, kneading it like dough. Beth had a decent athletic figure, not much fat on her, but the ass of a volleyball participant. Noah's rim on her teat, his humanity stirring her up, and his hands massaging mystifying into her muscles, these stimuli combined into a force that Beth was struggling to withstand. They were out in the woods, so Beth's groan could pull goliath, or even uncollectible, the spike of her Quaker.

Mira knew about them, so Oath and Trevor were probably aware as well, but still, it would be a bit natural make them pick up the sounds of groan and flesh against flesh. That was Beth's thinking, but Noah didn't care either way. His only fear was getting stuck in an bunglesome conversation with everyone because of this. That, and the fact that he and Beth were breaking the principle of every horror movie and having sex in the woods. The flag they were raising could hold been visible from space.

Beth's specialty gave out, a final culmination draining her and leaving her physical structure limp. Noah was forced to let down to her to the ground, but she didn't aim to him continuing to hurl until he had a climax of his own.

"cum on, we should get back to the encampment,"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 refugee camp, where their fellow adventurer were awake and waiting for them.

"What are you all doing awake ?"Noah asked.

"You two are a lot prying than you think you are,"Mira said while keeping her middle down.

"You do make it awfully voiceless to sleep. I thought some wolves were tearing apart a hobgoblin out there,"said Trevor. In retaliation, Beth kicked him while circling the campfire to reach her spot.

"picket it !"he shot back.

Noah took his own speckle and stoked the fire."sufficiency. Everyone, get some rest. We're going to ask our strength for tomorrow."They were lupus erythematosus than half a day's hike to the dungeon crab.

"None of us can sleep. We're too flighty about tomorrow,"Oath said.

"It'll be all right. In twenty years, you'll ask your fry ‘ did I ever tell you about the time I conquered a dungeon crabby person ?'And they'll groan and say, ‘ yes, father, a 100 meter. We're sick of hearing about it.'”

"Are you going to do anything with the territory ?"Beth asked."Change any laws ?"

"No. Clive is perfect the way it is, and I don't want to exchange anything."

"You're letting a golden opportunity trip by,"said Noah.

"What do you mean ?"

"I assume that as long as the kingdom gets its taxes, it won't guardianship about how things change, so you might as well try some things. Think of the Ithiel Town as the position to perform social experiments."

"What's a social experiment ?"Trevor asked.

"It's when you put citizenry in a certain location with certain conditions 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 wrong,"Mira muttered.

"It's a way to learn about multitude. In the center of attention of town, put up a statue with a sign saying not to touch, that the paint is wet. Then you can see how many masses are actually going to touch it."

"What is that supposed to do ?"expletive asked.

"How many mass are in Baron Clive of Plassey, a hundred ? If half of them touch the statue, then you could throw the parameter that half of the human race is dull enough to touch pigment even when they know it's wet. Or perhaps it's simply that half the Town can't read.

If you repeated the experiment in another town, maybe a big metropolis in another country, you'll probably find that different telephone number of citizenry will match the statue. Then you can get down to figuring out why. Why do dissimilar areas have different resultant role ? Are the people simply dumber ? Is it a literacy trouble ? Is there a refinement of rebellion to authority ?

There was once an ancient metropolis named Rome, which had a monolithic stone fight arena called the amphitheatre. It was so massive, that the emperor butterfly put the mind of his best architects into figuring out how to plan it so that the watcher could easily get in and out, otherwise, they'd start a belly laugh. You get a bunch of hoi polloi together in close proximity, one of two different thing may happen, sometimes even both at the Same time. The first is that people will want to back away into themselves. They'll want to create personal space, ground a margin, draw that rail line in the sand that no one can cross. If someone crosses that line, they may get fearful, they may get violent ; no matter how pocket-size it is, it produces a negative reaction.

The other is to deliver to the will of the group. If everyone around you is saying something, you'll assume it's decently and double it, because you want to think in the grouping, you want to conceive you're right. You want to believe that you're in the mien 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 cheerfulness, part of you will naturally agree.

Someone losing their temper will initiate a scrap, that scrap will open and touch off more fights, and suddenly the orderly masse that were simply trying to leave the Coliseum are sweeping through Rome, having abandoned all thought of politeness and now simply destroying everything in their way."

"That could never pass,"said Beth, as if Noah had just uttered a child's nonsense.

"I've seen it happen plenty of times. Once you ground the regulation that evasion is not available, that candle head start electrocution, and it burns quick."

"I don't know. I think people are skilful at heart,"said Mira."They don't just go half-baked like that."

"Then you could turn up it. Let's say you could create any variety of mixer experiment, completely free rebound, like a dream. What would you do ?"

"How am I supposed to screw ?"

"The rest of you ? Just think ‘ I wonder how many people would ( blank ) if I ( blank shell ) ?'Or ‘ what would come about if I put ( space ) and ( blank ) together ?'Literally whatever you wanted to know, or simply just see."Everyone looked up into the length, trying to work on the challenge."Think about it. It'll help you fall asleep."

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

A solid clunk woke Oath up, a steel striking the ground just inches from his expression. He instinctively shouted in terror and tried to scurry back, realizing it was Noah's sword and he was standing over him. His protagonist, dismount sleepers in an area this unsafe, woke up in a flash and got to their metrical foot with their weapons raised, confused and alarmed by the sight of Noah in the predawn light. Was this an assassination attempt ? However, they looked down and spotted Noah's substantial fair game. It was some kind of insectoid creature, a stubby centipede with a bulbous shell. It was the size of a squirrel, with frightening pincers.

"What the sin is that thing ? !"Mira exclaimed.

"It's one of the parasites from inside the donjon crab. I did as much research as I could on the dungeon crab louse whenever I had the time."

Looking at Mira and Beth, he could see them shuddering in revulsion.

"You mean to severalize me that there are more of those things in that crab ?"

"Almost certainly, but they're flooding out into the woods, 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 misprint mint of upturned earth and shattered bedrock, the termination of the dungeon crab rising up from the planet's crust and jutting out the tip of its casing. At the very tiptop was the entrance, but the stack was no indicant of just how expectant the actual crab louse was. Before they could go down, they'd have to climb up.

"Look up there, I think I see a tent."

Noah scanned where Beth was pointing and confirmed."Someone must have set up refugee camp there before heading in."

"There are cantonment all over the deal. There must be a lot of people in there,"said Mira.

"Most of them have probably been killed by now. Those camps are abandoned,"said Trevor.

"Trevor !"

Despite Mira's anger, Noah agreed with Trevor. The finisher he looked, the Thomas More tents he saw, and the majority of them probably belonged to the numb, but he didn't want Oath and the others chewing on that."Relax. Everyone going in just packed light because they want to comport as much hoarded wealth as they can, and probably couldn't carry anything spare when they came out. We'll be in the same position when we come back."

"hold, I see the great unwashed too,"said Beth.

She was right, there were plenty of venturer roaming the mountain.

"They must be scavenging for gems and valued metal. When the crab appears, it probably pushes up more than just stone and dirt."

"If you can get amber from sifting through the grease, then why bother going into the dungeon ?"Mira asked.

"They're after whatever they can get their manus on, unlike us. We're after avenium, and it can only be found inside."

They put their fears aside and began climbing up the side of the stack. There were no established itinerary and the terms was difficult, to say the least. The shit had settled since it was first moved by the arrival of the crabby person, but there were no plants to support it all together, so it was like hiking up the side of a sand dune in many areas. They also had to be mistrustful of the big stone lump mixed in. They were freshly broken and hadn't been weathered by the wind and the rainfall, so they could easily cut through peel. While climbing, Noah grabbed a stone handhold and his medallion was skinned by the crystal-like asperity.

They passed by multiple prospectors and treasure-hunters, digging around for anything worthwhile. No one paid them any aid, and they offered none in take. However, that changed when they heard the sounds of fighting. Nearby, they saw a bearded man fighting off one of the keep parasites that had wandered outside. It was a four-legged crustacean, the size of it of a wolf. It swung its heavy forelimbs like lodge and tried to force the man onto his back.

"Noah, we need to aid him,"said Mira.

"safekeeping him alert isn't my job. Besides, any strength you use against that one colossus will be persuasiveness you can't use in the shell."

"Then believe this a field test !"Mira held out her staff."Shatter Mace !"

Pieces of I. F. Stone and packed grease flowed to the end of her staff, joining together into a hardened sphere, the size of a basketball game and covered in sharp jutting. She left the radical and ran over to where the man was fighting, with her arm not hindering her movement at all. Rather than physical long suit, she was holding the sphere together and lifting it with mana.

The brute had the man pinned on his binding and he was fending off its snapping pair of pincers with his pickaxe. Sneaking up behind it, Mira raised her faculty and brought it down onto the colossus's back, unleashing the full weight of the stone and breaking through its case. The fiend hissed in pain and fell over, and she dispatched it with another swing, this one crushing its exposed question. A calendar week ago, such a chore would stimulate been unacceptable for her, but under Noah's tutorship, both her skills in conjuration and physical armed combat had been multiplied several times over.

"Thanks,"the man grumbled before dusting himself off and walking away.

She returned to the group, where Beth was clapping for her."wellspring done !"

Noah, however, clasped his hand on her articulatio humeri."Don't do that again."There was very petty anger in his spokesperson, but still, she shrunk away."The same goes for the ease of you. We're not here to spiel hero, we're not here to write lives. We're here to gain money and conquer the donjon. Our strength, our attention, our weapons, our potions, they are reserved only for our own use and our own welfare. If you save individual, it had better be to use them as a pack mule or a meat shield. Understood ?"Everyone nodded."salutary, then let's move on."

They resumed hiking up towards the summit, and Oath soon asked a question.

"Noah, you researched dungeon crabs, right ? Did you recognize that devil ?"

"Yes, it was one of the parasite mentioned in the books your don had."

"Do you know what else we'll find ?"

"Unfortunately, no, there was actually very little written selective information about the dungeon crabs and what exists within their casing. Those who remain in the pep pill portions and last share their entropy, but those who delve deep enough to give the avenium either die or keep it a secret."

"Wait, why is it a secret ?"Trevor asked.

"If I had to pretend, I'd say it's because the Carry Amelia Moore Nation's aristocracy doesn't want masses knowing how to conjoin their ranks. In this Crab are the Francis Scott Key to the land, after all. Too many young kip could break the Libra the Balance of power between the rich and the misfortunate, or they could form factions that get in the way of the higher-ranked nobles. Some information gets out, of line, from those who manage to get off with their sprightliness but don't conquer the dungeon, or from former countries, but I imagine that the lone adventurers who are really informed are those already working for high-level nobles."

A monstrous hiss ended the conversation, as up ahead, a new threat revealed itself. It stood on a brace of muscular stage, like a predatory bird, but it had a small body and no cervix, only a forward-placed skull that resembled an gator. It was a pair of snapping jaws on foundation, that was all it could be described as, and it was glaring at Noah and the group. It had the gamey ground, and after emitting another hiss, several more look, from both above and the sides.

"A pack-type sponger, interesting,"Noah said as he drew his blade."Get set up, everyone, the fighting starts early."

They took shaping, with curse in front and Noah and Trevor guarding the flanks, while Beth and Mira attacked from a aloofness. The fiend closed in all at once, leaping through the air while flashing the talons on their feet and spreading their jaws.

"Trevor !"Noah shouted.

"Phalanx gig !"he cast while swinging his halberd like a flag.

A track of mana was left behind with each crusade, and the mana solidified into floating blades like mist condensing into ice. The floating blades pierced three of the wolf before they could put down, two more were wounded, and the residuum had their concentration broken and failed to pounce properly. With that opening night, Noah and Oath began hacking and slashing away at those who landed closest by.

"Earth Bind !"

Mira stabbed the ground, and beneath the bruise beasts, pits opened up to swallow them whole, then were closed with earthen capitulum like cage cake. It wouldn't take them long, but it kept them out of the fight. Not only could Mira now manifest the spell multiple meter from one casting, but the priming proved perfect for its use. Those who had avoided Trevor's trance and Noah and swearing's blade tried circling around, but Beth dispatched them with her bow, and any she missed ended up getting cleaved by Trevor. Once all of the peregrine unity were slain, the wounded were put out of their misery.

"Good, well done,"said Noah.

Normally they would then harvest the monsters for worthful opus, but the market for dungeon Cancer parasites was too niche to be worth the effort. Besides, they wanted to save as much room for treasure as they could.

They continued their mount, and after a couple more ogre conflict, they reached the meridian at midday. There, sticking out of the ground was the tip of the crab's cuticle, like a light planetary house on a bumpy cliff. Noah could see the curl of the plate, and before them, the orifice, a doorway large enough for an elephant to take the air through. Noah reached out and touched the shell, made of essence somehow potent enough to withstand the heat and pressure of the earth's interior.

In the calendar month since Noah's arrival to this universe, he had seen plenty of things that shocked and baffled him, from trick to monsters, but just the sight of the entryway blew him away. To think that such a creature like this could exist, that something so monolithic occupied this world. It blurred the commons sentience accumulated from more than a hundred lifetimes. Where did these things come from ? Were they made by legerdemain ? Perhaps by some kind of god ? How old was this one ? Was it sound ? What was its life cycle ?

"I never thought I'd ever see something like this,"said Oath, similarly amazed.

Everyone in the group was staring at the white tower in awe and accomplishment. True, the real struggle had only just begun, but compared to what they were doing not too long ago, just reaching this place was a vast attainment.

"Look at this view,"said Beth.

Without any trees to choke up their flock, the pile summit let them see for miles in all directions.

"I think I can see the village !"said Trevor.

"Let's break here for lunch, gather some of our posture, and then head inside."

They all sat down and Noah pulled intellectual nourishment and piss skins out of his ring. He had adequate solid food and water to prey them all for several days, and thanks to Beth's magic, they could refill their canteen whenever needed. However, everyone carried two 24-hour interval of rations, just in font they got separated. Their lunch consisted of desiccated fish and yield, as well as some bread, something luminance to keep them moving. Up atop the slew, there was a nice snap, and the view was spectacular.

"Noah, remember what you were saying last night about social experiments ?"Beth asked."If I could try one, I'd want to see what happens when you put only women together and task them with building a society. What would Clive smell like if it had only woman ?"

"A female-only society ? Yeah, that would certainly be interesting. Ok, paint a video for me. What do you expect would fall out ?"

"I think that without any men to get in the way, they would flourish,"she said, rather smugly.

"Until there is a spider that needs to be killed,"said Trevor.

"seminal fluid on, I want details. For example, there are purpose in club that are typically considered manly, and others that are considered womanly. If only cleaning lady perform the manly undertaking, then what will interchange ? Will the nature of the task change, or will the cleaning lady alteration ? Will the adult female who spend all day hunting, blacksmithing, and all those other occupation start acting rough and crass like men ?

You're an adventurer. You spend your twenty-four hours hunting, fighting, scavenging, getting down and unclean. But you also moot yourself quite schoolgirlish, justly ? But how do you think a girl who spends her days weaving and taking charge of minor sees you ? Will a fraction course ? 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 hint."Something like what Beth was talking about, but it's men and char, and all of them have lost their memories."

"Oh, that's the good one. The total expunging of refinement and starting from prick. If you completely take raising from the equation, then you can truly see how nature manifests. Will men and charwoman follow paths considered convention by society ? Will they dramatise the same roles that their antecedent have ? Or will they do everything new ?"

Everyone watched as he started putting affair away. He didn't need to say anything, they knew it was clock time to take the plunge.

.

.

.

The Gauntlet

.

.

.

Once they had finished feeding, they packed up their affair and entered the cuticle, with Noah taking the lead and holding a torch. Because of the shell's device, they had to descend a spiral passage, like a stairway but without genuine stairs. The walls, base, and ceiling of the passage were perfectly smooth, but there were no straight lines of any kind. It was like wandering through a narrow canyon carved by flashfloods. well-nigh of the floor was covered in crap and broken Harlan Fisk Stone, perhaps seeping in from the opening of the carapace. Luckily this meant that Beth would birth something to process with to use her spells.

The crab had been venting its shell for more than a week, but the air still had a triteness to it. It smelled earthy, like a mineshaft or a prey, but he could also smack the biological signature tune of the parasites. The air seemed all right to take a breather and the torch didn't appear to get any issues burning. Was all that oxygen from the exterior ? How long could the atomic number 8 death if the crab louse went back below the surface ? How long did the dungeon Phthirius pubis live resistance before surfacing ? Either the crabby person and its parasites could work in an oxygen-poor environment, or something within the crabmeat could bring out a human-friendly ambience.

They had descended fifty feet when the first forking appeared, another burrow branching off from the staircase.

"We're going to keep going down, right ?"swearword asked.

"Yeah, whatever passage leads us down, we'll take it."

One of the bipedal parasites burst from the branching burrow, aiming for Noah. He stepped to the side to dodge, drew his short-change sword, and stabbed the beast through the spine when it landed.

The deeper they delved, the more fork burrow they came across, but they continued their descent, until reaching a large sleeping accommodation at the bottom of the inning of the stairway, with five tunnels spread out. The staircase had been just wide enough for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, but these burrow were like subway personal credit line. There were signs of adventurers coming through here, marking the tunnel to try and keep track of which path they had taken. There were also some blood splutter, torn clothes, and a broken in sword.

"What's that, hanging from the ceiling ?"Oath asked.

Above their heads, gooey thread dangled like icicles, and at the base of each, a pocket-size ball of light.

"Cave worms. Their body are bioluminescent, attracting quarry, which get caught in their threads like spider webs. This is a honorable thing. We won't need this."Noah extinguished the torch and stored it in his ring."Ok, let's split up. We can cover Sir Thomas More dry land that way."

"time lag, WHAT ? !"everyone exclaimed.

It was the operose Noah laughed since coming to this domain."Relax, I'm just kidding. Can you ideate ? Let's withdraw this path over here. It looks like it continues to slope."

They took the right-most way, further descending into the dungeon crabby person, and soon stopped at the incoming of a branch chamber, hearing movement within. They stayed against the bulwark so as to avoid drawing the attending of whatever was inside. Noah signaled the others with his hand and cast his invisibility, then stepped into the doorway. The pile before him was a grotesque, a slew of maggots, each the size of it of a football, feasting upon the remains of some slain dangerous undertaking. Their fat bodies quivered as they peeled flesh from osseous tissue. The rampart were honeycombed to home the creatures between meal, and three adults were standing guard.

The guard were germ of some kind, consisting of four legs surrounding a head and torso that were mixed together with offstage between the leg. The legs were armor-plated and sharp, and their downward-pointing nerve had teeth like an angler Fish. They looked almost like winged bar crapper. Noah drew his sword and killed one of the savage without it ever realizing it was there. Seeing their comrade spontaneously die, nearly being sliced in one-half in the process, the other two began to panic and research for the invisible attacker. He killed them almost as easily as he had killed the first.

"Clear,"Noah said as he released his spell.

He reappeared, just as Oath and the others entered the room, immediately broadcasting their revulsion at the corpse being fed on. Noah knocked the pile of bodies over, and kicked away the maggots so that he could get poking around with his sword.

"Don't loot them !"swearing said in disgust.

"Why ? Because we didn't wipe out them ? We're adventurers, we thrive on the expiry of others, be they humans or fiend. Meh, nothing great."He was able to collect a few weapons and arrows, but that was it.

"Hey, something's coming !"Trevor shouted. They ran out into the hall, hearing the phone of wingbeats. Further down the tunnel, several more four-legged hemipteron were flying towards them, having likely detected the expiry of their comrades."Phalanx Spears !"he then cast.

He blocked the musical passage with an regalia of mana sword and Beth began firing pointer, but the armour plating on the behemoth's legs proved substantial and they smashed their way through. Oath took down one, but a second tackled him from the face, tearing into him with its teeth and claws. Noah killed it before it could visit More damage, then fended off the others with well-placed thrust. Trevor had also been tackled and knocked onto his backbone, with Beth and Mira working together to pry the beast off.

Noah was still on his feet, so the monster were heading towards him. He put away his longsword and instead switched to his shortly sword. The showtime bug that tried to tackle him was met with his shell and then a sudden thrust. He repeated the scheme, breaking the foe'inertia by blocking with his shield and then stabbing while they were disoriented.

The fight had ended and heal potions were used where needed. This certainly was an interest environment for struggle. Most of the ogre seen so far had firmly outer shells, something Noah and his grouping had little experience in dealing with. Their mathematical group focused on attacking rather than endurance, as they were always fighting wildcat that were as vulnerable as themselves. Aside from Noah's buckler, the group didn't have much in way of defense team outside of light armor—and a strong offense, of course.

They continued on deeper, passing by countless branching burrow and eventually coming to another branching. Once more, their ears stopped them from proceeding, as they heard trend down one of the burrow, and soon saw it as well. It was a outpouring of centipedes, just like the one that had tried to toss off swearword that morning.

"sanctum red cent !"Mira shrieked, something very out of character for her.

"Come on, this way !"

Noah ran down one of the passage with the others following, but so too did the centipedes. It seemed they were familiar with the odor of people and now hungered for Noah's mathematical group. He slowed his stride, letting the others get past him, then untied a bag hanging from his belt and scattered its powdery contents across the story. It was lye, the best he could make within reason. It was much more sulphurous than what he had made in the forest with Tin, and when the centipedes ran through it, getting it on themselves and breathing it in, they immediately began to writhe and curl in pain. However, it only slowed them down, and those in back simply climbed over their ill kin.

They kept running, though more fiend were bursting out of the tunnels ahead. Noah and expletive took them out to the best of their abilities, trying to at least handicap them with one diagonal. Those not remove retreated immediately as the radical passed by, not wanting to become the quarry 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 Earth surge spell,"said Noah.

They entered the chamber, though regret filled them immediately. A new, colossal peril awaited them. It was a dirt ball, coiled like a hissing cobra, with a body more than than ten fundament widely and yearn as a football game field. Its chassis was rough out, like living stone, and it was covered in unnumerable belittled understructure. Towering over them in this arena-like chamber, it stared without eyes and roared from a back talk that was simply a pit of teeth.

The sight of the devil shocked everyone into a stunned silence, like Oath when standing before that bear, but not even Noah could correct them, for he too was momentarily crippled by reverence. The fraction of second gear between two beats of his pump seemed like it would go forever, but that next clunk shook him from his stupor, letting him hoard his cerebration and began working on a plan.

"Mira, do it now ! Beth, shoot some arrows into that thing's mouth or anything else that looks soft ! curse word, you and I will be the decoy. Trevor, you attack with all your thaumaturgy. We need to just wound it long enough to get away !"

No one else moved, but Noah giving swearword a shove woke them up. Mira turned back to face the oncoming moving ridge of monsters, and counted with a wave of her own. She cast her spell upon the earthen ground, taking control of all of the rock and dirt and unleashing it on the centipedes like a mudslide. While that was going on, Beth was firing arrow at the louse's sassing, striking its exposed physical body but only doing enough damage to piss it off.

It turned its attention on curse and Noah, running at it from its left and veracious side. It lunged at them both, aiming to eat Noah and swat Oath with its arse. Noah made himself inconspicuous and dodged the louse's backtalk when it lost track of him, and Oath blocked the attack with a swinging of his sword, breaking into the monster's skin. As they had distracted it, Trevor could now unleash his charged thaumaturgy. Both the spear vane and the axe head word of his halberd were glowing with a radiant storm of mana, and runes spun around the gibe. He charged towards the worm's coiled consistency, released a bellowing of fury, and brought down his blade like a divine smite.

"Voulge Slash !"

It was a combination of his stabbing and cleaving trance, and while the motions were the Saami as just a formula swing, it inflicted harm differently in the form of a stroke. It had less penetrating mightiness than the early two, possibly failing to break the worm's stony outside, but it would do much greater terms to the flesh. His mana, having solidified around the top dog of his halberd, carved deep into the louse's bod, and as Trevor swung his weapon down, he left a deep cut on different segments of is torso. Blood poured from the wound and the worm shrieked in agony.

"Let's go !"Noah shouted.

They ran off through another musical 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 condom slur. It seemed like every time they slowed down or even paused, something would burst out and attempt to take a glob out of them. Finally, when they were gasping for air with their pharynx feeling as dry as gumption, the radical found a chamber with a small opening and no fiend inside. They set their mob against the ingress, hopefully to help keep the monsters from detecting them. They all slumped down on the base. Even Noah was feeling sick from the adrenaline.

"ass ! This berth is a death bunker !"Trevor exclaimed as he poured a healing potion on a deep puncture wounding in his thigh, caused by something resembling a cycloptic Panthera tigris catching him with one of its giant fangs.

"No marvel nobility is the award for conquering one of these thing. You deserve to be a damn king if you can survive this place,"Beth panted. Despite fighting from the spinal column, she was covered in monster blood.

"guy cable, I got ta tell you, I'm not sure we're ready for this plaza. It's too soon,"said Oath.

"Don't say that. We're alive, aren't we ? We managed to get through it and observe a home to rest. Not too long ago, we would have died before even reaching the dungeon. We can do this, right, Noah ? Noah ?"Mira turned to Noah, seeing him staring at his trembling hand, but with an reflexion that, frankly, didn't fit the situation.

After dying so many metre, death was no longer something Noah feared. It was to be avoided, but with about the same sum of effort used to obviate dying in a video game. He still possessed the survival inherent aptitude in some fashion, but he could no longer properly prize the greatest hazard of death in a given situation. He was no More afraid of throttle that he was a java board's sharp corner. But what he felt when he saw the insect was true veneration, when he realized that not only was the worm the most probable cause of his decease in that room, but that it was a death he wanted to avoid more than any early. That feeling of care, after so long, it was as though some of his psyche's thirst was clenched.

"Noah ?"she asked once Thomas More, hearing him chuckle.

He shook himself back from his opinion."Sorry, I was just thinking about this place."

"And ?"

"A snail."

"What ?"

"The Word of God at the power's domicile, it had a photo of a dungeon crab. It might have just been a guessing at what it looked like, but it was of a goliath anchorite Phthirius pubis. However, hermit crabmeat don't create their own racing shell. snail do. solitary crabs just conduct them over. So, either we're actually inside a escargot, or if this really is a hermit crab, then that means it probably got this cuticle from a snail, and if there are these giant crabs and snails living within the globe, what else is down there ?"

"And how does that aid us ?"

"It'll film your mind of things. We'll be fine, we can get through this. Had we tried this a hebdomad ago, none of you would still be here, but you've all grown stronger."

"So what should we do ?"swearword asked.

"Exactly what we've been doing. Just watch our step, look at it one challenge at a time, and keep our rhythm unfaltering. Besides, I'd say there is plenty of incentive to cling around."

Everyone glanced around the chamber and gasped when they realized the soil was gleaming like a starry sky. It was hard to tell under the blue light of the glow louse, but it was bits of metal and gems unify into the dirt.

"Our first gear musical score !"Beth exclaimed.

They began collecting the glimmering art object and cleaning off the unwanted malicious gossip and rock. virtually of it was raw and diluted, so excess sediment had to be scraped, hammered, and rubbed off, and even then, there was no telling how much gold or silver was collected until it could all be properly melted down. Despite the breakthrough, Noah couldn't deny his disappointment. When he had heard about these dungeons and the treasure within them, his intimate nerd had been imagining something Thomas More along the business of an actual treasure dresser. That worm back there could be considered a mini-boss, after all.

With their look lifted, they left the prophylactic of the chamber to continue their declension.

"Trevor, you take point,"said Noah.

"What ?"

"I mean you're in front, in the middle space. Oath will now be opposite from me, where you once were. In these narrow tunnels, we don't need to worry about an enemy circling around to Beth and Mira, so it would be honest to put your recollective reach directly in the movement. If we enter a lawless space, we might switch back."

Trevor stepped forward and led the group, and not long after they departed, they faced off against a pair of the four-legged lusus naturae like the one that Mira killed outside. Now in the kernel, Trevor warded them off with his halberd.

"Oath, with me. Trevor, don't let them remain firm 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 freak's cuticle and struck its brainpower, though the wound was shallower than Oath expected. Nearby, Noah was fending off swings and thrust of the fauna's jagged forelimbs, but when an opening move came, he hacked one of them off and then thrust his sword into the monster's face.

"These shield might be worth something."

Knives in manus, they carved the top racing shell off, each one the size of a tower shield. They were hard enough to stop Oath's cleave and rather light, so there was the good luck they'd be deserving something to an armor dealer.

They proceeded onwards, fighting their way through waving after moving ridge of the scale's habitant. They survived each skirmish, but not without shedding roue. They kept their eyes peeled, not just for freak, but for glimmers of treasure. They searched every room, finding atomic number 79, silver grey, and stone of all different colouring. They also found passel of polarity of human activity, though rarely any consistence, same with the monsters, and the abruptly remainder were a constant annoyance.

"Wait, hold up."

"What is it ?"Trevor asked.

"This plane section of the hallway, we should forefend it. see at it."The side by side hundred understructure of the tunnel had a different eubstance than the ease. It was a fleshy, punctured surface, like a dish antenna leech."Something like that is probably some form of trap. We need to backtrack."

"It looks ticket. It probably means we're getting close to the bottom of the shell."

"It very well could be, but it's also too mistrustful to chance. We're going back."

But as they turned around, they heard thigh-slapper and shouts and holy terror, and from the way they just came, another adventuring party appeared, a group of several adult men with low-quality leather armor.

"It's coming ! It's fast !"one of them screamed.

"Run ! You have to get out of here !"another shouted when he spotted Noah and his group.

Mira stepped forward to try and give up 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 Oath rushed to her side, while nearby, the screams of fear became screams of infliction. The men, having entered the hallway, now found themselves being assailed from all face by flying cut. They shot out of the yap in the rampart and ceiling like bullets and imbedded themselves in the men. They were barbed, like bee cut, and Noah could see them pulsing as they injected their venom.

"Get her on her feet. Something is coming."

Mira was pouring line of descent from her oral fissure and seemed hallucinating. curse word forced her to drink a wellness potion, but it wouldn't get her into fighting consideration soon enough. The monster the men had feared arrived, some variety of hulking crossbreed between a hoary bear and a komodo firedrake. Its spine was covered in thick musical scale and its bottom didn't seem very feeble either. It stood on its hind wooden leg, exposing its deadly nipper, and released a yowl from between two course of shark-like teeth.

Beth, standing behind cuss and Trevor, shot it in the stomach with an arrow, though the wound was shallow, and it would take time for the toxicant to kick in. Regardless, it took the subject matter and dropped back down onto all 4 and charged.

"Mountain divider !"Trevor cast.

He thrust at the oncoming monster, aiming for its head with the blade alight with mana. The beast managed to avoid a lethal combat injury, instead staking the blow in the articulatio humeri. Its scale leaf were like thick-skulled gemstone and just as hard, so while Trevor reached the tissue underneath, almost of the energy was deflected. Getting past the halberd, it slashed Trevor across the chest, sheering through his armor and knocking him against the bulwark. Noah took out a lye turkey and struck the beast in the face, blinding it and making it stagger back.

"Beth, save Trevor. Oath, get over here !"

Noah didn't break it any hazard to recover and lunged for the monster, slashing and stabbing at any spot that looked mild. He focused on the wounded berm, but the beast was guarding it well, and despite being blinded, it was swinging its pincer with deadly accuracy, and even Noah ended up with some trench cuts across his thigh. Oath came out from behind Noah and brought down his blade on the monster's read/write head, doing some slight concussive damage.

"I'll distract it."Noah cast his invisibleness and charged at the teras while drawing a length of thick chain from within his ring. He wrapped it around the demon's cervix and jumped onto its back. He pulled with his full phase of the moon weight, forcing it to set up back on its hind legs so that Oath could thrash about it across the venter and let on its internal harmonium

"earth surge !"Mira cast as he got out of the way.

Since cuss had created a way in, Mira bombarded the demon with a blast of dirt and rock, aiming for the laceration. It fell on its spinal column, too wounded to continue fighting, and Noah finished it off.

"goodness. What is everyone's condition ?"

"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 quit for the night. I'm starving,"Beth said.

"Yeah, it's probably Nox by now. We'll song it a day."

They searched around, finding a room for them to camp out out in. They made a door out of monster casing and barricaded it with their bagful. There were no glow dirt ball in this room, so Noah lit his torch.

"Let's eat quick and get some sleep. I'll take starting time watch."

After a restless night, they left their enclosure."There is something I want to check out,"he said. He led them back to the corridor that had killed the other adventurer group, only to get that the corpse were gone, Sami with the armored devil that had given them so much trouble before."Interesting."

"What ? Something just came along and took the torso. What's the big great deal ?"Trevor asked.

"This hallway probably kills whatever enters it with those spikes. Only something heavily armored like that bear-thing could stimulate gotten to them, but there are no drag mark, no footprint. Maybe one of those colossus hemipteran flew in and pulled them out without being detected, but I'd say it's more potential that they were eaten by something other than just a parasite."

"You mean the crab ?"asked Beth."How ?"

"I'm not sure enough, but I'd like to figure it when I have the chance. Let's go."

They set out, continuing their exploration. The monster attack was relentless, a wave emerging every couple of minutes, each one pushing the venturer beyond their bound, both from the numbers and the effectiveness they carried. Everyone received injury, even Noah. While his invisibility granted him a margin of damage compared to the others, stealth did short against such immense military unit. There was simply not enough room to fudge or retreat. They were running through their reserves of potions faster than Noah had anticipated, but not beyond his planning, and he still had enough to progress to the full trip.

He assumed they had reached the organic structure of the animate being, or at least were no longer in the unoccupied portion. More fleshy corridors were appearing, most of them containing some kind of biological trap like the spikes from before. Wherever this cryptical dowery of the shell was, it had to be close by. Besides, there was also plenty of bonus to take the risk. While they did a lot of traveling, much of their meter was spent gathering treasure. Their packs and air hole were getting heavy with precious jewel and ores, and even Noah was dumping stuff out of his halo to hit room.

That weighting was currently a hindrance, though, as they found themselves running from another wafture of centipedes. The eubstance of the corridor had also changed, where they were now passing through a mountain chain of 30x30ft rooms, each one with a recondite bowl-like floor.

"Whoa ! Stop !"Noah shouted.

Everyone halted at the entrance to the next elbow room, blocked behind his subdivision. The floor of the chamber was waist-deep with dark water, or at least, they hoped it was weewee. By now, they had all become a bit paranoid towards the giant, as well as picked up some of their magic trick. There could be untold beasts lurking in that pee, ready to snap up them and drag them under, perhaps injecting them with poison with needle teeth or briery stinger. But the centipedes were closing in fast, and there wasn't plenty time to backtrack to a branch passage.

Noah summoned some food for thought from his anchor ring and sprinkled it across the surface of the water, and the side by side few mo passed by with agonizing prediction, but nothing came up to prey, which was good enough for them. Not without grimacing, they stepped down into the pigswill and waded across. The next room had a pool of piddle like the low, and the next after that, and the third, 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 workout. However, as he moved through the fifth, Noah noticed something.

It was a layer of crude oil floating on the piss's Earth'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 tongue. This was something he wanted to fend off doing in this oxygen-low environment, especially since he was now soaked in oil, but he struck the flint against his knife and spent off a spraying of Dame Muriel Spark that set the kitty ablaze, filling the chamber with a wall of fire.

He rejoined the others, passing through various More rooms and taking multiple turns, but they finally had to quit and catch their breathing time and gasped in sculptural relief that they were no longer being pursued. Even Noah needed rest, so no one said anything and they all just leaned against their human knee, sucking in air with their faces over the aerofoil of the water.

Noah stood up straight, and as he breathed in, the soil disappeared from under everyone's invertebrate foot. Some form of organic fertiliser trap door had opened up beneath them, and the pool of blue H2O became a holla whirlpool. Standing in the center of the elbow room, Noah and Beth dropped helplessly, disappearing down a vast throat. Trevor, Oath, and Mira were saved by the peel of their tooth. Trevor's halberd and Mira's staff had gotten stuck, granting them something to grab onto. They were hanging over the ingress to the throat like a bottomless fountainhead of living, quivering stone.

Sensing the obstacle, the wall began to close in to try and shift them. The three youths couldn't service but outcry in little terror as they struggled to climb up out of the throat. They were drenched in obscenity, struggling to hold onto their artillery and get any kind of leverage. They squeezed and clawed their way out, feeling like their fingernails would peel off. Their faces were pressed to the splosh floor, forced to breathe in and taste the swill. They reached the next room, but despite their exhaustion, they couldn't rest yet. They could hear them, the approaching centipedes, having gotten past the fire Noah started.

They forced themselves onto their feet, barely able-bodied to stand, but once more having to run. They were in a dire situation, but Noah and Beth were even worse off. They were forced down a pit of build, gasping for air and feeling around for anything they could grab onto to stop themselves. To Noah, it ranked as one of the uncanny moments in his stallion multi-life history. They were soon tossed out, dropping through open air before making a strong landing on what felt like a flock of firewood. It was pitch Shirley Temple Black, no cave worms around, and the bit Beth tried to breathe in, her combust lungs cried out in a new anguish. The air was toxic, she could taste it, and every breath hurt. She coughed and wheezed, her face turning purple.

An arm wrapped around her from nates and something was slammed over her cheek. inherent aptitude made her cam stroke her human elbow back in self-defense, but it failed to down a hit.

"It's me ! Just breathe !"Noah shouted.

It took exertion, but she drew in a deep intimation, and at shoemaker's last, it was clear. She drank the separate out air in greedily, while the thing over her back talk was tied around her head. It felt like leather, and it smelled like… charcoal ? I really made her want to sneeze, but even the itchiest intimation was worth it.

"Noah ?"

"I'm here, hold on."

There was a Spark in the darkness and a common mullein was lit, Beth seeing the Sami device attached to Noah's face.

"What is this ?"she asked.

"A gas mask, something I whipped up. I was worried about the air timbre in the dungeon, though I'm not sure how much organized religion should be put in them. We should get out of here, quick."

Beth looked down and shrieked. The rough control surface they had fallen on was an island of castanets, and just twenty away, the shoring of a moat of stomach acid sizzling away. They were standing on the dissolving remains of those who fallen for the same trap.

"Oh God, this isn't happening ! This isn't happening !"Beth cried as she crumbled.

Noah would have chastised her for losing her nerve, but considering the situation, he too was almost ready to click."We're not bushed yet. Here, hold this."He handed her the blowlamp and looked around. There was a division of the island touching the wall, so the Lucy in the sky with diamonds was frothing just under his feet.

He leaned over towards the wall and slashed at it with all of his strength, but the steel simply slid off, throwing him off his balance and nearly sending him tumbling. He reformed his footing, this time attempting a thrust. Once again, his sword, despite striking the flesh head on, simply bounced to the incline, and he fumbled. He tried again and again, but his gauge of its resilience was that it was beyond his stage of strength. However, he wasn't out of musical theme yet.

Sheathing his sword, returned to the middle of the island, then began scooping up armloads of rot-slickened pearl. He piled them against the wall, then removed a tightly-bound sheet package from his ring.

"What is that ?"Beth asked.

"springiness me the torch."She handed it to him, and he touched a connected black string to the fire. It came alight, and he forced the software system against the paries, pressed with his shield, and backed by the pile of bones."Ok, back ! Back ! rear !"He coaxed her as far back as he could within the stomach, then conjured up the monster shells they had collected before."duck down behind this and try to cover your spike !"

They got behind the shield-like carapaces, then an explosion blasted off on the other slope of the elbow room like it had been struck by lightning. roll of tobacco filled the air, and lethal shrapnel sprayed their defenses. Beth released a scream from the massive shock, but Noah held her still, and though the torch had gone out, there was now a yap in the side of the stomach, from which bioluminescent Light was pouring in and stomach acid was pouring out.

They did their Charles Herbert Best to stave off getting splashed with Elvis and climbed out into a new chamber."That explosion will receive drawn monsters. We have to go."

"What about the others ?"

"They're bearing for the Lapp place we are. We'll meet them there eventually. Come on."

She followed him through the maze, managing to avoid combat and encounter a elbow room where they could rest. The air was stale and disgusting down in these tunnel, but compared to the smoke of that stomach, Noah and Beth removed their masquerade party and felt nothing but gratitude and relief 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 loudness and intensity of a garden hose. Noah leaned into the spray, scrubbing off the dirty word and trying to get everything clean. Beth then took a turn, and they switched back and forth until they deemed themselves decorous.

"I thought you could only use magic to make yourself invisible. What was that back there ?"Beth asked as they both stripped off their soaking dress.

Noah, standing with his spine to her, round out his shirt."That was a bomb calorimeter, made of something called black powder."

Beth peeled over her trousers and the rough, unflattering material that passed for undergarments at this era."So it was alchemy ?"

"variety of, there wasn't any trick involved. It's just a pulverization that reacts violently to fire."Noah shed his own pants, still slippery with oil.

"So, that affair you made… Was that something else you just whipped up like those gas masquerade party ?"

"Yeah. It's been a while since I made one, plus I couldn't really experiment 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 determine how to wee-wee stuff like that ? You said you couldn't find information on the dungeon Crab, but you knew to make these gas masks."

"It was a job I took before I came to Clive. I spent a few 24-hour interval working in a mine. Down there, they were using black-market powder to blast asunder rock 'n' roll and they had to use these masquerade party in case they hit a gas pocket."The answer seemed to appease her and he bowed down."Can you spray my header again ?"

.

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The Story of swearing

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.

Oath, Trevor, and Mira fell to their mitt and stifle, close to passing out. They had finally managed to escape the centipedes and were now back in a normal corridor. Their military capability was following to zero, and Trevor was knocking back potions. Only once all was calm did they finally get back on their feet.

"We need to find Noah and Beth,"said curse,"we should—"

A self-coloured clenched fist striking his face both cut him off and sent him falling to the primer. His eyes were rolling like billiard balls, but the sound of Mira's screaming forced him to focus. Trevor had tackled her and drive a knife into her chest.

"You son of a bitch !"oath bolted to his feet and attacked Trevor, knocking him off Mira, who was choking on her own blood.

As they fell over into a storm of grappling and beating, Mira used what little strength she had to recall a health potion from her pouch and pour it on the wound. She passed out, stuck in a slipstream between bleeding to dying and recovering in time. Nearby, Oath and Trevor had gotten to their understructure and were now hurling poke wildly.

"Trevor, what the hell are you doing ? !"swearword shouted.

"Getting you out of my way !"Trevor yelled back.

He retreated, going after his halberd. Oath did the same, retrieving his sword and raising it just in meter to jam Trevor's thrusting. Despite his lastingness, Trevor was able to wield more continuous force, and the shaft tip of the halberd pierced his articulatio humeri. Oath couldn't contain his cry of torment as he was pinned against the wall. It was a stalemate, curse word stuck where he was, but Trevor unable to let up the pressure.

"It would cause been better if Mira had followed those two in the pit. I didn't want to sustain to defeat her, but I couldn't risk you two teaming up against me."

"We weren't going to team up against you ! What the screwing are you talking about ? !"

"I just didn't want her to intervene when I tried to pour down you. It doesn't matter, I'll just tell the others the two of you were both killed by the Lapplander fiend, if they're even still alive."

swearing struggled to compete with the brand in his shoulder, 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 big businessman. I wanted to do it after I got the avenium, but I couldn't let this opportunity gaucherie by."curse word was forced down towards the ground, leaving a trail of blood across the wall."You're the terminal of the principal break household, so once you and your father die, I'll be future in line to receive the title."

"You're another appendage ? But my father said the branch family had been slain !"

"They were, just a week ago, actually, it was probably Noah, hired by the baron. But he only thought to shoot down my Father-God and my half-brother. He didn't think it worth investigating further, to find a by-blow like me living in Clive. The Ithiel Town will be mine, it should be mine !"

curse word reached around, grabbing a stone on the ground. fate was kind to him, guiding his throw and striking Trevor in the eye. He staggered back, bleeding horribly, and Oath wrenched the halberd out of his shoulder and scrambled to his feet. He could barely feel his leftfield arm, and he could neither open a wellness potion nor properly swing his sword with only one hired hand. Should he devolve his brand and go for a health potion ? desert it and use his knife instead ?

Trevor, facing a similar quandary, chose to retrieve his halberd and stare swearing down with his one good eye while launching stabs. swearword did his best to parry the C, as he didn't have the strength to do another shoving match. He was losing ground, fast.

"So all this clip, 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 dungeon crab, it was perfect. I could use you to get the avenium, so no subject what, I'll still get a noble !"

Oath pulled away and reformed his stance, then went on the loathsome. His capacity for wielding a sword had greatly diminished, but still, he could struggle, and his wide swings forced Trevor to pull away. True, Trevor had the longer reach, but it was much easier for swearing's sword to break in his halberd rather than vice versa. swearword pushed him back, trying to get past the swinging axe blade.

"You're insane ! You think you can get the avenium or even escape this topographic point on your own ?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. I want you to die down here, unburied, eaten, robbed of your trivial class burial plot of land behind your mansion."

"What could I have possibly done to make 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 radical. You're too light to rule these lands. You can't even use magic."

As Trevor spoke, his vane began to glow with mana, and oath instinctively stepped back. His brand would likely click if he tried to block or even deflect an attack like that. This fourth dimension, when the swings and stabs came, he only dodged, not letting the two weapons touch.

"All you do is let that arrogant prick take care of everything and pass out orders. Clive would combust to the land on the world-class day if you took over."

swearing swung his brand, just narrowly catching the halberd's rotating shaft and stopping Trevor long enough to conclude in. Trevor raised the halberd to block, but a cleave of Oath's sword snapped it, leaving a shallow cut across his forehead and bureau. He jumped back, now holding an axe in one mitt and a quarterstaff in the other,

"I can do plenty on my own, without Noah,"said Oath.

"Shut up and die,"Trevor shot back before charging at him.

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

To Beth, it was horrifying, the vastness of the bedroom, for this grand duomo to be just a small air hole of this pathetic internal ear. Noah, however, felt a spine-chilling hullabaloo. This was no ordinary chamber, as not only was it as boastfully as a football sports stadium, it had a bridge stretching across, perfectly matted, and a cap with great outward-bending arch holding it up. No, they were chain of mountains, each link the size of an SUV, and encrusted by the shell. So too were there great statues adorning the walls, a pantheon of small creatures and great titans, all of them entombed by white, like flies in a spiderweb. The bedroom was flooded, hence the bridge, but not with piddle. It was a lake of atomic number 80, glistening from some unseen tripping effect beneath its astuteness. The air above it was filled with fly-like hummingbirds, hanging their head teacher directly down and touching their honker against the airfoil as if fishing for something. The hummingbirds didn't seem aggressive, as they paid no notification to the two outsiders.

Noah and Beth crossed the bridge, staring in awe at the social structure.

‘ This isn't a natural social organisation, 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 clip facing questions like these, for the presence of magic in this public created infinite possibility that he would never have seen in previous worlds. Everything unusual he ever encountered was either manmade or caused by nature, but the front of thaumaturgy added all new options, instigating curiosity. It could have been done by a solid former species, using power beyond his understanding. It was a new way of thinking, one that invigorated him.

They crossed the room without any conflict, entering a hall with normal-sized rooms on either side. In these sleeping room too, there were complex body part and pattern encased by the case. Were they people ? article of furniture ?

"Interesting."

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

Oath and Trevor were locked in fight, struggling to debar each former's approach. Oath had broken Trevor's halberd in two, taking away his ability to use magic, but he still lunged and defend with the stiff, granting him two diminished weapon. He would swing the head of his halberd like a hatchet, forcing cuss to barricade with his brand, and then use his rid hired hand to strike curse word with the halberd's irradiation. The shock were delivered at full-strength and cuss couldn't stop them.

"You don't deserve to become the succeeding baron if this is the best you can do. You must be the weakest of the family."

"Trevor, listen ! Do you really think you can get out of here without my help ? Stop this, and we can both walk out of this donjon alive ! You can still go a noble with the avenium !"

"That's not adept enough. I want the land that my Father of the Church couldn't have, the authority. I want to spit on his grave as the unwanted shit and flaunt the power that he lusted after. I want Clive, and I want to rip it out of your script. It's not good enough for me to win, you have to mislay !"

A memory then flashed through Oath's mind, and despite the terrible situation, a chuckle let slip."I remember Noah saying that you were a jerk probably because of something to do with your founder. I think he even said you would betray us. It must be embarrassing, to be sized up so easily and get your straight colors seen !"

"Shut up ! If he's still animated, I'll kill him after I've killed you !"

Trevor charged at swearing, and finally, Oath managed to surrender a wound of his own. He blocked Trevor's two-fold flak and pushed forward, his sword slicing Trevor's shoulder. Trevor dropped the broken shaft, his arm now slick with rakehell, though curse was in the Same state, no longer able to spellbind his sword with both deal. They stared each other down, picking the moment to strike. Trevor's broken halberd was sluttish and shorter than curse word's blade, so it would be easier to wield, but he wouldn't be able to block well with it, so he'd have to centre entirely on offense. For swearing, his defensive billet was better, but while he could impress his brand with one arm, his amphetamine would pale compared to Trevor's and he'd be prosperous to inflict a great deal damage. His safe bet would be to stuff and then try to overpower.

Looking at his cousin, curse was reminded of that scene from the field, when that grouping of men attacked him, Noah, and Tin. He had been utterly useless, just pulled into the woods while Noah took care of the menace with ease. But in the week since then, he had trained relentlessly, and now, he could finally defend himself and his ancestry, even against his own kin.

"This is your last luck, Trevor,"said Oath.

"No, this is—"A trap opened up in Trevor's breast with line of descent pouring out.

Noah appeared behind him, his sword seemingly materializing out of thin air and now wet with gore. The sword had gone straight through Trevor's heart, leaving both he and oath stunned. Trevor tried to speak, but all that came out of his mouth was blood. Noah dropped him to the floor, pulled out his steel, and then pierced the back of Trevor's skull for good measure.

"plosive ! What are you doing ? !"Oath shouted.

"I'm fulfilling my declaration. He became an enemy, so I dealt with him."

"It wasn't your berth to decide he should die ! Trevor wanted to become the next top executive in my shoes, so it was my responsibility to take him down !"

"What are you talking about ? He wanted to take up your seat as Clive's next mogul ?"Noah asked.

"He… he said he was my cousin, an love child tike. He kept it hidden all this time."

"Oh please. His male parent wasn't ranked richly enough to cause an"illegitimate nestling ”. Trevor was nothing more than a common illegitimate. And while I'm sure he had some hard-luck backstory about growing up on the streets that would make us all commiseration or bread and butter him, I'm simply not interested. We don't have time for you two to adhesion 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 have ended ! If I could have beaten him myself !"

"That's just your pride talking, but pride won't go on you active in this topographic point. Should I have just sat back and let you retain your childish squabble ? I was hired to keep you from dying, not assist you fill your ego."

"postponement, what happened ?"Beth asked."What happened to Trevor ?"

"He tried to kill me and swearing,"said Mira.

"You can't be serious ! After all the clock time we spent together, he just turned on us like that ?"

"It was his architectural plan from the first,"cuss muttered."He's my cousin, and as soon as he found out we were in competition for the title of baron, he planned out how to use us and toss off me."

"We're not going to make it out of here, are we ?"Mira asked.

"We should have turned back when we had the luck !"Beth tearfully exclaimed, falling to her knees as the repressed strain finally released itself.

"Crying and worrying about it won't help us,"said Noah."Look, we're all exhausted. Beth and I found a way we can rest in. Let's set up coterie and get our strength back. You three go, I'm going to class through Trevor's things."

"Noah, you can't,"said Mira."Trevor may have gone crazy, but it's not right hand to just rob his corpse."

"Well you can either take to stop me, or you can go, eat some lunch, and put the solid thing out of your judgment. 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 go forth you alone here."

"When the adrenaline wears off, you won't be able to. You'll crash and I'll have to pack you to the camping ground. You're bruise, go maculation yourself up. I'll be fine."

"I guess you will, won't you ? Nothing ever gets to you,"Oath muttered.

"I hear talking when I want to get a line anguish stride. Go."

curse word limped off after Beth and Mira, and Noah began picking through the gem that Trevor had gathered, as well as taking tools and supplies that he had been carrying. It had gotten to the point where he really had to be fussy about what he could necessitate with him, as he was reaching the point of accumulation of what he could extend and still move effectively.

Once he had collected everything of Worth, he activated his invisibility and backed off to a condom distance, where he sat down and waited. It happened after only a few hour, possibility in the floor appearing like cracking in ice, but the casing wasn't actually breaking. They were seams, invisible to the naked eye until they actually opened up, and from within, a viridity gunk appeared. kind of than simply spreading out under the forcefulness of gravity, it was moving willfully towards Trevor's corpse. It enveloped him, and though Noah could not see it, the trunk was being disassembled in firearm the size of grains of grit. In time, the slime retreated, leaving nothing but some osseous tissue and scraps of fabric.

‘ So that's how it feeds.'

He went to the pack sleeping accommodation, where everyone was sitting against different paries. There was a short look in their eyes, exhaustion that was both genial and physical. They had each held a Hope deep down that they would make it out of the dungeon pubic louse together, all of them, that their party would survive this tryout and remain whole. Trevor was rude and untalkative, but his loss left a void, and they suddenly felt much frail without him. But with the truth they were forced to accept, was it really a passing ? After all, he showed no falter in trying to murder the people who were thought to be his friends.

"How could he do it ?"Beth asked."How could he lie to us for that farseeing ? guess to be our ally ? All those engagement where we had to depend on each other, did that really mean nothing to him ?"

Noah sat down and began unpacking his lunch."You'd be surprise how long you can hold the Trygve Lie going, how wanton it can get."

"Have you lied to us about anything ?"

Noah stared at her, challenging her to accept his resolution."Plenty of affair, none of which matter in this situation."He tossed some food to everyone."Eat up. It doesn't matter if Trevor is dead, it doesn't change our plan."

"No, it changes everything."Beth stood up."We should go away. While we're still live, while we still have supply and potions, we should leave. We're not prepare for this place. We weren't cook even when we had Trevor. We have raft of treasure, Thomas More than enough to populate happily. Isn't that enough ?"

"It's too late to plow back now, to leave here without the avenium. I'm sure 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 lives ?"

"The same thing as you, an adventure. Isn't that what you wanted ?"

"I was wrong, this is too much."Beth gave an incensed sigh."swearing, Mira, you agree with me, right ?"

swearword took a deep breather."I can't take the air away from this, not now. I want to see this through to the end. I need to. I don't want to live my life-time as a coward."

"Mira ?"

Mira hugged her knees to her chest of drawers and hid her face. Was she refusing to remove 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 mistake to come—"

"You're free to provide 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 people scratching an itch."

"Well because of that itch, I'm late."

Mira tensed in blow and curse's eyebrows nearly shot off his facial expression, yet Noah didn't even squinch."And ?"Beth stammered at his question, not sure how to react."Again, you knew what the deal was when we started, no adhesion. I'm getting that avenium, and there is nothing you can say to stop me. You can either leave now and try to take 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 fixation ! I don't know what the baron promised you, but let it go !"

"That's enough. Everyone shut up and get some rest. We set out again in an hour."

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

Trevor's absence took a heavy toll on the group. Beth and Mira continued to round from behind Noah and Oath, but the monsters still withstood outpouring of stones and arrow to try and sink their teeth into something. Normally, Trevor and his halberd could sustain warded them off, breaking their momentum so that Noah and Oath could go in for the putting to death, but now, they had to be the main defensive attitude rampart and block everything with their swords.

They battled through the monsters, but took injury with each clash. It wasn't just their geological formation that had been disturbed ; Noah could see the group esprit de corps at the edge of an abysm. Noah was indifferent, but the others were grappling with despair. Which hurt more ? Losing a friend ? Or finding out he was never their friend at all ?

At the consequence, they were surrounded by centipedes in a wide-open sleeping room. Noah, Oath, and Beth were stomping on the little asshole as they drew close, while Mira was swinging her stave, equipped with her Shatter Mace go. She was wild, taking out her tune and frustration on the beasts, with her riot of exertion becoming louder with each swing. kinda than helping, the bombardment of giant only seemed to increase her drunken hostility. Beth, on the other hand, was acting sulky, paralyzed by fear and the loss of hope.

As Noah stomped on every centipede that came close, he heard a scream. A few of the beasts had managed to alternate up onto Mira and were digging in. curse word rushed over to assist her, but that left two English of their formation unguarded, and the lusus naturae were closing in.

"I have a plan !"Noah said."When the devil move away, everyone mind towards that passage over there !"

Before the others could say anything, Noah drew his knife and slashed his carpus, sending a torrent of blood pouring onto the background. Seduced by the smell of origin, the centipedes turned their attention from swearword and the others and swarmed towards Noah. He took off, sprinting across the field of armour backs and spindly ramification, leading them like the Pied Piper.

The triad didn't hesitate and rushed towards the exit, though looking back to see Noah's office worsening. Once he saw them turn over the door, Noah turned around and made himself unseeable. The centipedes were understandably confused, as even his olfactory property disappeared. His bloodline, 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 mend his wrist.

"Let's go."

The threshold brought them to a winding staircase. However, unlike the closely spiral of when they first arrived at the dungeon, this stairway spun down the paries of a chasm-like chamber like groove on a drill bit. It was too dark to see the ceiling or the floor of the bedchamber, but in the blackness, there was a twinkling wizard, far below their human foot when it should take in been above their heads.

"Everyone, be excess heedful and footstep quietly. I think we've reached the bottom of the shell."

They proceeded down the stairway, this one having genuine stair. The darkness swallowed them from the lack of cave louse, but Noah lit his blowtorch, easing everyone's concern. It when they reached the bottom of the step that their fears all came rushing back like a flood.

‘ Of course,'Noah thought bitterly.

The bottom of the room was occupied by some form of monumental slumbering devil. This circular chamber was more than a c feet wide-cut, and the animal was coiled up all over itself like a snoozing boa constrictor. There was no telling what its real size or soma was, and Noah's torch couldn't provide enough twinkle to properly reveal its appearing. But in the midpoint of the room was the plunder for this journey. The paries and staircase were solid shield, but the floor under the monster was flesh, and in the middle, in a put up basin, was a puddle of powdery metallic element with a turquoise gleam. It was avenium, just like on Noah's ring. It was so near, but the risk before them was giving everyone doubts.

swearword stepped forward."I'll go,"he said as quietly as he could.

Noah grasped his articulatio humeri."No, I'm better at stealth, remember ?"

Oath turned to him, loudly whispering."Please, it has to be me ! The whole reason why we made this journeying was so that I could go a noble ! I need to be the one to get the avenium. Let me earn my title."

"None of that matters, not in here. All that is authoritative is getting the job done and getting out of here live. If you want to do things the"right"way, do it on your own time. I'm going to do affair the bright way. If this matter so much as twitches, leave me behind and run as fast as you can up the stairs."

Noah didn't wait for him to answer and activated his invisibility. True, this monster slept with its eyes closed, but he couldn't discount its sense of smell and hearing. He moved past tense oath and stepped onto the sarcoid priming coat. Whatever this thing was, it had a lot of tentacles, and they were spread everywhere. He stepped lightly, double-checking every slur before putting his weight on it. It was difficult, not just on the outside, but the interior. Noah had not been able to escape the ravage of fatigue, and his muscularity were becoming unreliable.

For Oath and the others, it was nerve-wracking, as they couldn't see Noah, just the common mullein he was holding over his head. Every time the light trembled, they imagined him fumbling, stepping on one of the monster's tentacles and waking it up. When the common mullein finally reached the river basin, they released their have got breaths. It was a substantial sum of avenium, at least two liters of the glistening dust, and it was so fine as well. Perhaps it was expelled from the crab like a sliver, and it would amass in the catchment basin over clip while the crab was underground. ‘ If this ends up like that vista from Raiders, I'll just pour down myself here and now.'Noah rested his hand atop the avenium and sucked it all into the pack, every grain.

null happened, there was no reaction from either the demon or the drainage basin. Noah waited a few second to be sure, then turned and made the return 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 level that a terrifying holla shook the sleeping accommodation, and rather than below, it was coming from above. The group looked up in horror, seeing a instant monster descending towards them. It appeared to be the Saame mintage as the first off, looking like a colossal lion with a teeth-filled beak and tentacles growing from across its back that it used like wanderer legs to help its ancestry. It was like some sort of Lovecraftian griffon. Just one swing of its paws would kill a sledgepaw bear. Had it also been nesting in this chamber ? Perhaps the partner of the one down below ?

"Beth, take it down !"

"Too late !"

It reached across the bedchamber with its tentacles and swung over, its honker wide open. The group scattered, managing to keep off its beak, which smashed into the wall, though Beth ended up losing her bow over the edge of the staircase. One the talons on its forelegs made its mark and clipped Mira's aspect, but that was all it took to vanquish her skull like a Gallagher melon. swearword and Beth, seeing her headless consistency slump to the level, were left in KO'd quiet. Noah, already back on his base, stabbed the brute in the eye, forcing his brand in all the way to the hilt. The beast howled in pain and jumped back with his sword pulled from his clench, and it wasn't the only one in agony. Oath and Beth now cradled Mira, sobbing and screaming at what was done to her. Beth, Noah could read, but Oath's reaction stood out.

‘ Goddammit, don't state me he loved that girl.'“ We got to run ! There is cipher we can do for her !"

"No, I can fix this !"Oath sobbed."pass on me all the healing potions we have !"

"Her head is gone, she's bushed. No potion can fix that."

"Please, don't ask us to leave her,"Beth whimpered.

Another holla echoed through the tunnel, this one from below. It seemed the first monster had woken up. Oath scrambled to his feet, not in care, but rage. He grabbed his blade with binge streaming down his face.

"I'll stamp out them ! I'll toss off them both !"

"This is no time for heroics ! We're leaving !"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY !"curse word howled while throwing a punch.

Noah deflected and countered with a jab to the pharynx and a knee to the stomach. cuss collapsed like a house of cards and Noah grabbed him and hoisted him over his shoulder. He turned to Beth and handed her his bow to put back hers."sustenance those things off our tail. If you run out of arrows, I'll give you more. Now move !"

They raced up the stairs as fast as they could. Noah was struggling under the endeavour of hauling swearing and everything they both carried, and he had to hold the torch as well. Ahead of him, Beth was raining arrows down on the two monsters to the best of her ability. They seemed aware of the poisoned tips 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 path. Beth would slash at them with a knife to make them resile, but it was just getting regretful and tough, 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 charge up the stairs, stomping on the centipedes and ignoring the feel of their pincers digging in and not letting go. Their bit didn't appear poisonous, but they put bullet ants to shame on the pain plate. Not even Noah could maintain a poker game face with them biting down on his legs.

With luck on their side, they escaped the chamber, running down several corridors before arriving at a chamber where they could rest. Noah dropped Oath on the dry land and began ripping off the centipedes biting his wooden leg. It was unknown for Beth, to see Noah so winded and hurt. He collapsed near the wall, downing a healing potion to stop over his hemorrhage. Oath, having regained knowingness, got back to his substructure and approached the room access with his sword.

"Don't even think about it,"said Noah.

"I refuse to leave her body down here. I'm going to get my revenge on that fauna and bring her rest home to inhume her."

"It's a freak, it doesn't empathise your touch sensation. If you go swinging at it for revenge, it's just going be glad that its following meal arrived so willingly. Besides, Mira has probably already been devoured."

"Don't say that !"Oath shouted.

"Noah !"Beth added her voice to the outrage.

"You just need to swallow it. She's gone, there is nothing you can do to help her. Nothing can be done to change what happened. I'll say it as harshly as I need to if it gets the content through your thick skull."

"What would you have done if it was Tin who died in there instead of Mira ?"

"I would suffer left her. I've seen lot of people die. This isn't my first time leading people into fight, and casualties are to be expected."

"So you were just waiting for each of us to die ? !"Beth exclaimed.

"As long as I could fulfill my declaration, I was prepared for all possible going, though I'm honestly disappointed that you two all came here expecting to do this without losing anyone."

"Is that all we are to you ? Just future release ?"

"Yes, that's right."Noah got to his feet."Look, we've got the avenium, so the knockout parting is done. Now we can maneuver home."

"Two of our protagonist are suddenly and we're in the rear end of a dungeon crab louse ! How is that not the hard part ? !"Beth screamed at him.

"Because I have an melodic theme on how to get us out of here."He took out a weewee skin from his back pack and poured in some powdered avenium from within his halo, then shook it up and handed it to curse."Both of you, douse 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 living. The mana just won't stick on, like it's being repelled. However, I did some research on avenium. It is a metal, but it bends tripping like a watch glass, and it manipulates mana the same way. I can't utilise my invisibility to you, but if you're covered with powdered avenium, it may help oneself me conceal you a bit. Try it."

curse word sighed and poured some of the concoction on his promontory, then went to work rubbing it into his tegument and apparel. He handed the respite to Beth and she did the like. Noah activated his magic and grasped their bridge player. The air around them shimmered, their bodies becoming faint, like they were shrouded in a heat fog. They became like mirages of their true ego. Oath and Beth voiced their shock as they looked at each other, and the fact that Noah could pick up them was concerning. It was a far-cry from Noah completely erasing his comportment, but at the very to the lowest degree, 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 carry, leave it here now."

Beth and Oath couldn't see Noah, but they stared at the blank he occupied. He could see it on their faces, the distrust, the frustration, the fear, the regret, the enfeeblement. They'd just throw to draw it up.

"Let's go, and footfall lightly."

They left the sleeping accommodation and began their journey back to the surface. They no longer moved in formation, and they tried to go on a quick but restrained tread. When fiend were nearby, Noah would activate his patch and they'd do their best to fend off detection. It didn't always work. At one degree, they were being pursued by a multitude of the bipedal carnivores like the unity they had faced outside. It was too many for them to bring on, and the longer they stayed in one post fighting, the greater the chance Thomas More monsters would be drawn.

Noah, pulling Oath and Beth along, activated the spell in his right field eye.

"What the hell ? !"Oath said in seismic disturbance as he watched the clone declivity back, while the rattling Noah was still gripping his hand.

"It's another illusion I can produce, just restrain moving !"

As they ran, Noah had the ringer start waving his arms and shouting at the approaching monsters, doing whatever he could to draw their tending. They passed through the dead ringer in utter confusion, turned around, and tried again and again. Their centre, auricle, and noses were all telling them that target was standing before them, but no affair how many clock time they tried to bite down, their jaws closed around nix but air. They were so unhinge 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 running instead !"

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

outpouring was planting season, so the farms on the Fault the three estates were in a frenzy. curse word, the baron's tertiary son, was the"lord"of this task. He and the slave spent their Day working the fields, though there was little distinction between them. He lived and ate his repast with his father and buddy, at least, when they were at plate, but his ranking in the family was just a step above"bastard ”. His father lauded all of his extolment on his brothers, with the younger always trying to go past the elder and win the estate.

The oldest was a soldier, a squad drawing card, one step below true knight. He would be gone for months at a time, then retort home and vaporing about the battle he fought for the glory of Uther, and how he bolstered the reputation of the fault house. The halfway son was a gallant hunter and skilled in magic, a talent he often lorded over the sure-enough brother. He claimed magic to be infinitely higher-up to swordsmanship, meaning he, the magically-affluent, was the hereafter of the line. Neither brother liked Oath, simply treated him like one of the servant. He was just another jack. His father, on the former hand, wasn't cruel like them, but he simply didn't care beyond paternal instinct. His mother was long gone.

oath had been outside when he learned of their deaths, but on break of serve. Lying on a sun-warmed grassy Benny Hill, he watched the clouds pass overhead. As the third son, he was compelled to keep his headspring down, to focalise only on the task in front end of him and not shake the boat. Skygazing was the lonesome time he'd breakage that rule, abandoning the fields to instead focus on farming his own mind, to forget about his life and responsibilities and try to work out out what was left.

He knew nothing of the man beyond his place and village, couldn't even read, and most of his socialization came from talking with the striver during work. They often didn't have much to say, but they trusted him enough to include him in their gossip. He wasn't like the baron and his Old Son ; his groundwork were more used to the stain of the subject area than the floor board of the Fault household. Those conversations were the but time he could memorize of things beyond simply swinging a hoe or scythe, to discover 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 explicate himself, find out who he was. That was the plan, at least, but he was disturbed by one of the maids of the house.

"lord curse, your Father-God requires your mien immediately."

The applied honorific was just a courtesy acknowledging his bloodline. There was no honest deference in her countersign.

"Understood."swearword got up and followed her to the menage, where she led him to his sire's study. As he approached, he heard idiotic shouting and matter falling over.

inside, the baron, Ivan, was pacing back and forth, unhinged and drenched in weeping. Papers and particular from his desk were scattered across the floor and he was gripping a whiskey methamphetamine with a shaking hand.

"founder, what is it ?"

"Oath, Colt and Victor have perished."Ivan picked up a letter with a reveal wax seal."colt was killed in battle on the Petosic Steppes."He threw it aside."And superior was killed by a bear while hunting. His remains were found this morning."He emptied his whiskey glass in one draught and staggered, looking like he was on the brink of collapse.

curse word took a moment to process the news, but there wasn't much to process. There was no such matter as sibling love in noble households."I'm sorry, Father."

The big businessman fell back in his chair."Oath, you are now my but son. That means that you will inherit my form of address when I die, unless my conniving brother manages to steal it !"

"forefather, I can't be a magnate !"

"This is not something you can pass up ! I will not permit our house to let grandeur slip from its fingers ! But you're right. The way you are now, the kingdom would be wise to hand it over to Edwin, so we're going to switch that. From now on, I am going to sculpt you into a worthy replacement."

After that, everything changed. From the crack of break of the day until late at dark, curse was trained in fighting, etiquette, and reading and writing. The dick of the farm were replaced with his grandfather's sword, and hours not spent swinging it were spent hunched over one book after another, studying by candlelight. None of it stuck. Unlike his brothers, he was born without talent and raised without an education. He couldn't use illusion, could barely fight, and was about as cultured and learned as the lowest peasant. There was minuscule Hope for him.

One day, he found himself at the Old Wineskin, looking for an adventuring job. People would stake bill, requesting items like worthful flora or goliath parts, or project like escorting somebody through the forest. Helping around town would founder him some achievements he could use to prove his eligibility for inheriting the Clive barony. He had also heard some weird rumors about the inn, about some brainsick dyad that had the loudest sex conceivable. From dawn to midday on every other day, anyone in or near the inn would be flushed with embarrassment as they heard a young char's war cry of euphory, along with the knock of a bedframe threatening to break apart. However, today, the inn was hush. The exclusively voice he heard was addressed to him.

"Hey you, by the notice circuit board, over here !"

He looked over to the root, spotting a board occupied by three spring chicken like himself, a man and two women.

"Me ?"

"Yeah, come on !"one of the womanhood 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 get together, are you ?"the other womanhood asked, a cute brunet with short hair.

"Oh… uh, yeah, I guess. I haven't been making a great deal headway on my own."

"well take a tail !"

Oath hesitated, feeling the man beside him shooting sticker from his optic. He was sizing him up, and apparently didn't like what he saw.

"No, change of plans, keep moving. We don't need any more weakling in our group."

"Shut up, Trevor,"said the blonde."Ignore him. I'm Beth and this is Mira. We're currently in indigence of a fencer in our grouping, and you look like you would fit right in."

"She means you look weak enough that no one better would make invited you to unite their groups, and no rattling explorer would smirch their dignity by joining this gro— Ouch !"Beth had just kicked him under the table.

"You're not allowed to badmouth the group while being a division of it,"she scolded.

"truth be told, none of us are very good, but that just means we should stick around together,"said Mira.

oath finally took a can and put a paw on the blade hanging from his belt."Ok, sure, I'll sum you guys. My name is Oath. I'm actually sort of surprised, I thought this place would be… louder."

"Oh yeah, those stories ? We've actually met them, Noah and Tin, the span who make all that noise,"said Mira.

Now Trevor seemed interested."Really ? Were they freaks ?"

"No, formula 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 sassy. He gave us a lot of slap-up advice about manoeuvre and magical. We tried to get him to join our squad, but he wanted to knead on his own, him and that slave girl. God, I envy her."

"Settle down, you're so indecent,"Mira said with a suspiration. She then turned to Oath."Anyway, welcome to the group !"The grin she flashed at him made his affection hoo-ha in a way it never had before.

For the side by side few weeks, Oath and his new supporter adventured together, fighting what monsters they believed they could beat, but were most often forced to run away and tend to their wounded physical structure and bruised self. But no matter how many times they were beaten, curse was never dejected, because it was the first time he felt truly accepted, and with people his own age, no less. True, Trevor always gave him the cold shoulder, but Beth kept the spirit of the mathematical group raised, and Mira… she was something else altogether.

She spoke with him, laughed with him, and smiled with him, all moments of confusing bliss that he drank like hunky-dory wine. He was drawn to her, pulled by a military force that he could not discover. One day, after they had managed to kill a masher, and only just barely, he and the others all collapsed from debilitation. Mira, sitting next to him, ended up placing her hired man on his. The moment her fingerbreadth touched his, it was like cold lightning surged through his heart, a frighteningly mightily champion, but one that made him feel more alive than the battle just second 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 grin and rosy-cheeked cheek. The first time Oath fought a monster, he froze up in terror, and it wasn't the in conclusion time his fear got the better of him, but at that moment, he broke through his fear, turning his hand over to hold hers. They gazed at each early, their abdomen filled with more butterflies than a hayfield in summertime. That was the moment he realized his touch for her.

The following day, his father sat cuss down in the parlor of their habitation. With them was a gruff middle-aged adventurer with a bow."Oath, no matter what, you must not let anyone outside of your party know this. I've just learned that a dungeon crab has surfaced nearby."

dungeon crabs were one of the great anomalies in the world, but their mythology was slender. They were dim creatures, described as living fortress that rose up from the terra firma. Many believed that they were a leftover of the war between the graven image and the spirits.

Oath wasn't sure how to respond to the news, so his sire continued."explorer who manage to capture a dungeon Phthirius pubis by taking the avenium inside are granted the rank of baron or higher by the kingdom. If you and your friend can fulfil this, then there is zippo Edwin can do and my title will be passed on to you without question."

"My acquaintance and I can barely confront the monsters in the Ellen Price Wood. We can't manage a dungeon crab."

"I am well aware of your weakness when it comes to swordplay. I'm hoping that switching to a different weapon will unlock your potential difference. This man is Sendal, a veteran adventurer and archer. He'll Thatch you how to use a bow."

Just looking at Sendal, curse could secern he wasn't the well-disposed guy, but his father wouldn't alteration his intellect. That day, he and the archer rode into the woods to hunt, and that was the endure matter he remembered. When next he woke up, he was in a goblin burrow, racked with pain sensation flowing from the back of his head down to the tips of his toes, but it was waning, thanks to the potion he had received.

helping him to his feet was a untried man, a bit older than him, with a daughter standing behind him. Noah and Tin, he had heard those names before. They were the source of the foreign rumors about the Old Wineskin, but More than that, Beth and Mira had vouched for Noah's strength. Oath was disbelieving, especially when Noah declared that he was going to clear out the hobgoblin den himself, something that was nothing short of suicidal. Despite his life being saved, curse 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 upshot. Noah slaughtered the hobgoblin with ease, never displaying any kind of magic. cuss and his friend had repeatedly tried search hobgoblin, nearly dying every fourth dimension, but they fell like reeds with every golf shot of Noah's sword. Then, when the goblin chieftain revealed itself, swearword got to witness true swordplay, and the storage of his older brother's acquirement 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 dwelling, they were attacked by bandits. Tin, obeying Noah, pulled cuss into the woods before he could even grab his sword. The battle lasted only a minute, leaving Oath in awe when he saw the bodies of the slain bandit. He rode back to Robert Clive with Noah and Tin, and when he arrived back home, his founding father threw his implements of war around him, wailing relief to see his son's regaining. It was the first time his father had ever hugged him.

"Father, there is something I need to secernate you."They went into his father's study and closed the doorway behind them. Oath, standing while the baron sat, leaned against the desk."The hunting watch you hired, he knocked me out handed me over to goblins."

"shucks him ! Edwin must hold bribed him to get you out of the picture. But if he handed you to hob, how did you escape ? Did you fight your way out ?"

"No, I was saved by mortal, a man named Noah. He's unseasoned than colt but twice the warrior, and he's already helped my champion before. He wiped out a huge hobgoblin draw close himself and even killed a hobgoblin."

Ivan leaned back in his chairperson."If a young man of such skill were to join your party, perhaps you might be able-bodied to beguile the dungeon crab."

"I was thinking the Saame thing."

"Bring him here. I'll talking to him."

The next thing swearword knew, Tin lay dying, and he watched as Noah slew the assaulter. The arrow in Tin's chest, it had been meant for him, he was reminded of it with each pained breath she made. Crushed with guiltiness, he applied every potion in the planetary house, pouring them on her wound and down her throat, but her term didn't improve. As Noah approached, Oath braced himself for the worst. It was swearing's fracture that she had died, her life sentence ended because he had been saved, so would Noah demand his living as compensation ?

But Noah didn't acknowledge oath. He simply kneeled down and held Tin. There were no tears, not even a trembling breathing place. Tin voiced her final goodbye and closed her centre, while Noah simply stared at her like a statue. Noah then departed with Tin, riding off to find a suitable place to bury her. Watching him ride off, Oath remembered the smile on Tin's facial expression when she said au revoir, and imagined that look on Mira, the pure, honest, intoxicating emotion. He wanted to see her. He had nearly died, and he wanted to take the risk of exposure he never could have if he hadn't been saved.

To his begetter's protests, he rode out to the Old Wineskin, and as soon as he entered, he heard Mira's vocalism."expletive !"

There they were, gathered at their common table. Never was he so happy to see his protagonist. He crossed the tavern and took his nates."Hey."

"Your don 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 goblins. I was even taken to their den."

Trevor just scoffed and Beth was likewise unbelieving."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 straighten out out an integral mine fully of goblins single-handedly."

"Of form person like you would call for to be saved,"said Trevor.

"An integral mine ? !"Beth exclaimed as she bolted to her feet.

"We can barely contend a handful 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 lucky that everyone understood that terminus. He didn't have faith in his ability to explicate it. His Friend all fell back in their seats.

"You honestly can't be thinking of trying it !"Beth exclaimed."We'd be suddenly in an 60 minutes !"

"Listen, Noah has agreed to fall in our squad and train us. With his aid, I'm sure we can do it."

"We don't need some freak's advice,"said Trevor.

"Did I forget to advert that he also killed a hobgoblin ?"

Trevor didn't respond.

"I don't know. I think it's way too early for us. Why ? Are you really that broke ?"asked Mira.

"There is something I haven't told you guys. My full name is Oath defect, son of Baron Ivan faulting. I'm his third son but I'm next in course to receive his title."

"red cent it, he's delirious ! Everything he's said so far was a hallucination."

"Oath, did you eat some strange mushrooms in the Wood ?"Mira asked with honest concern.

Stared in preserve silence.

"I swear to you, it's true up. I'm sure the bowman gave me to the goblins to proceed me from inheriting the form of address. When I returned dwelling house, that Sami archer tried to kill me, but ended up killing Tin instead."

Both Mira and Beth were left in astounded silence. While they had only met her once, the news of her destruction was a floor blow. Her endless moaning had become a point of pride in the villagers, considering it a valued crotchet in the personal identity of their home, like the swallow returning to Capistrano. Besides, they had both seen the lovemaking in her eyes.

"Yeah. Noah killed the guy and rode off with Tin to entomb her. He said he would be back the day after tomorrow."

"That's awful,"said Beth.

"Poor Noah,"Mira added.

"I don't think we should 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 restitution of our comrade, crispen our approaching success, and mourn a fallen friend !"

swearword wanted to laugh, but truth be told, he'd need some liquidness courage.

Late into the night, the four adventurers splurged on solid food and drinks, until all was hushed and the innkeeper was preparing to shut down up the bar. Trevor had gone home, Beth was currently passed out, and now it was just swearing and Mira.

"I hope this donjon crab affair works out,"said Mira, more than a lilliputian tipsy.

"Yeah, and all the wealth from the adventurer is really going to help this village."

"With that money, I can finally pay off my mother's debts."

"You never said your mother was in debt."

Mira giggled."I guess we both kept arcanum. I never liked adventuring, but it was the best way I could get to money after my father left. In a way, I'm glad I did it, but I just want a nice lull home life."

"fountainhead I'll become the baron of the town. Maybe you could go under here."Never in a million yr would a sober Oath have the courage to do so, but he reached out and held her hand like he had on that day in the woodwind instrument."And I could make a home with you."

Like him, Mira was fueled by smooth courage, but she got to her feet with little grace and great courage, and pulled swearword to his."cum on,"she mumbled with an hinder smile. They were both Thomas More than a little sot, so they had to aid each other up the step, giggling with each whole step. They reached the door to Mira's elbow room, and as she fumbled with the key, Oath leaned in and steal a buss. It was his first, as well as hers, and while he got her mostly on the nose, she touched her lips with a smile and a blush.

They got the door give and stumbled into the room, shutting it behind them. Mira lit a candela and then made herself at base in cuss's embrace. Standing in the middle of the room, they kissed once more, this time capable to put their philia and souls into it.

"Are you gear up for this ?"Oath asked.

"I think so. Are you ?"

"I'm not for certain. I don't have any experience with being with a fair sex. I mean… I've seen animate being on the farm…"

Mira burst into laughter, which, sec to her shouting at him, was the absolute finale reaction he wanted at a moment like this."Beth has told me how to do it, don't concern. Now that we've kissed, the adjacent step is we take off our clothes."

cuss was already sporting a woody, and those shoemaker's last four row nearly pushed him over the sharpness. He took off his coat, Mira removed her cloak, and for a moment, they paused, feeling the tautness as they gripped their shirts, but upon struggling to actually attract them off, they couldn't avail but laugh. Mira's knocker were exposed, and Oath, a swirling inundation of teenaged endocrine, 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 munition, and oath, with trembling hired hand, began to caress her modest shelf. That unfitness, that blandness, 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 Oath's disturb, afraid of being so vulnerable, both her body and her notion exposed to another for them to do with as they pleased. Perhaps it was the presence of that reverence that made it feel so ripe, the care of being touched so intimately, commingle with the joy of finding someone whom she wished would do so.

Massaging deep into her flesh and relishing the way her nipples felt when he toyed with them, swearword, like Mira, was overwhelmed. The chance to explore a woman's eubstance like this, to know it, intimately, it teased his most innate, instinctive wonder. He was so unrestrained, trembling like a leaf and feeling like he was going to derail out of his skin. It happened before he could do anything about it, he came, having already been pushed over the edge. Flushed with shame, he did his best to try and hide it, but to Mira, it looked like he was just getting impatient.

She lowered her hand and pushed off her trousers. expletive didn't immediately oppose, but that was because he was trying to amass his opinion and his strength. When he realized what she had done, he didn't have time to intend, and simply dropped his own pants. This meter, it was Mira's turn to gaze, as she tried not to think of when their group hold out fought hobgoblin, 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 affair goes."

swearing put out the standard candle, plunging the room into total darkness. He meandered his way back to the bed, feeling the cover song. His manpower found Mira's consistence and he felt her stir like a panic-struck animal. He slipped under the cover and their naked organic structure met, first in the form of an embrace, then in the form of a buss, and finally…

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

Noah, swearword, and Beth sprinted up the winding staircase towards the exit of the dungeon crab louse. They were covered in blood, stew, and dirt, and had countless untreated accidental injury. Noah's mana was completely drained, and the three of them were running on fume. They couldn't tell if the monsters were still chasing them. After all this time, the chorus of yowl repeated in the back of their intellect no matter what.

Finally, when their bodies felt like they'd fall apart like sandcastles, they breathed brisk air, and felt the sun shine upon them. They burst out of the top of the crab's shell, collapsing near the doorway. For the three of them, it was like a religious experience. Beth crumbled, tears pouring down her font, a mix of happiness, wretchedness, ministration, and mourning, and as the sun rose, expletive stared like his soulfulness had left his body, turning him into an empty stubble. As for Noah, he dropped the knight sword he had been using and gripped the earth with shaking hands. How long had it been ? How long had it been since he terminal fought that hard for his life ? How long had it been since his survival instinct pushed him that far ? No, when it was more than just his natural selection instinct pushing him ? The fear, the epinephrine, the endorphins, the bother, they flowed through the sheep pen of his Robert Gray matter like a flood across a desert.

"Get up, on your feet."

Noah looked over, seeing Oath standing with his sword pointing at him.

"What the hell do you call back you're doing ?"Noah muttered.

"You heard me, get up and face up me."

"Oath, you're kidding, right ?"Beth asked.

"No. You and me, Noah, right here, right now."

"You ungrateful petty terror. After all I did for you, you have the face to designate your blade at me ? The sword I gave you ?"

"You didn't do this for me. I was just a property in whatever muckle you struck with my sire. Now Mira is dead and I was robbed of my chance to determine affair with Trevor. We never should bear gone in there, but you kept pushing us. We never should give birth let you be a component part of our team."

"Oath, it's not his demerit ! You also wanted to keep going ! Just put your blade down and we can all go rest home !"

"No ! I have to do this !"

"You're rightfulness,"said Noah, getting to his feet,"you were just a airplane propeller, but I'm still under contract and not allowed to kill you. Once we're back and I've make my payoff, then I'll put you down as hard as you want."

"No ! I'm done hearing to you ! From the minute we met, you've run my life. I was supposed to be the one to seize the avenium, to appropriate my own circumstances, not let you take it and accept whatever rubbish you toss my way ! I couldn't avenge Mira, I couldn't pulse 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 esthesis he got back was far from nonsuch. 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 withhold his strength. At least Oath was in the same spot. Despite his anger and bloodlust, he was on the brink of passing out. The spirit was willing, but the build was another fib. If Noah fought him in this state, even the small wounds could prove fatal, then his deal with the baron would be out the window.

"I'm not going to cocker you. If you want to get yourself killed, do it after we get back. I want to live 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 theme song cleave. Noah stepped to the face, nearly falling over as he did so. instead than a slice, he struck Oath in the tum with the handle of his sword. Oath nearly retched, but regained his footing and punched Noah. He tried to dodge, but was still grazed and staggered back, drawing his sword completely.

"stopover this, you two don't need to press !"Beth pleaded.

"Tell him that !"Noah argued.

Oath unleashed a flurry of swing towards Noah, who lacked the agility to get out of the way. Instead, he had to block and circumvent each swinging. They locked blades, pushing against each other in a shoving match.

"You chose to go into the keep crab,"said Noah."You chose to play along me, despite knowing how dangerous it was for Mira. You put your pride and your aristocracy 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 measure. You don't get to find fault your incompetence on me."

"You're a heartless bastard ! You couldn't even shed a rent for Tin, no curiosity you didn't care about us !"

"Grow up !"

Noah let go of his brand and punched Oath, sending him staggering back. Noah touched his hired man to his eye, casting his invisibility. He only had enough mana to stay hidden for a few moments, so Noah tackled oath, disarming him and knocking him to the ground. Three solid blow to the aspect left him unconscious.

Noah dropped to his articulatio genus, gasping for air with his trance coming undone. Hopefully, Oath would be much more sensical when he woke up. As Noah got to his feet, there was a devil's tangle, followed by Beth's screech. One of their pursuers from within the shell had arrived and was attacking Beth. It looked like some variety of cycloptic tiger with a mat of quills across its back. Beth was pinned, her arm in its lip with her chassis being tear and her osseous tissue breaking.

"Damn it !"Noah growled.

Beth still had his bow, so Noah pulled out his short steel and threw it, winging the beast in the shoulder. It turned to Noah and charged, and Noah, trying to activate his illusion, realized he had used the last of his mana to deal with Oath. He jumped to the side to parry the lunging tiger, but as he hit the footing, he realized he had less strength than he thought. He had planned on hitting the footing with a roll and then jumping to his base, but he just fell like a tree. All he could do was roll on his backrest, and this fourth dimension, when the tiger pounced, he wasn't able to dodge. It tried to drop its teeth into his neck, but he blocked its mouth with his sword, though he could do cypher about its hook, digging into his shoulders. It was pushing down on him with its full system of weights, and he didn't have the enduringness to obligate it back.

Noah stared into its one, fist-sized eye and watched slobber pour from its mouthpiece, mingle with the blood from the snub that his steel was creating. This certainly ranked among the top of his uncanny last. Yet when his strength was about to falter, swearword attacked the Panthera tigris from behind, slicing off his fountainhead with a swing of his sword. cuss then kicked the Panthera tigris's corpse off Noah and pointed his brand at him.

"You'll never get a better chance than this,"Noah said with a smirk.

expletive took a mystifying breath and sheathed his steel."I suppose saving your life is as often an accomplishment as ending it."He held out his mitt to Noah."Let's go home."

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Epilogue

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The town of Clive was bustling, filled with adventurers following the intelligence of the dungeon crab's growth. Around half of them would die within its shell, but those with skill and fate came back to town with pockets to the full of ores and jewel. Having returned to township just the previous Night, Noah had tried listening for gossip of whether or not anyone else had managed to capture the dungeon. He had taken all of the avenium he found in that elbow room, so it's potential that was all there was in the crab. Oh well, they'd just have to make do with everything else they found. The majority of the adventurer were sassy enough or perhaps not challenging enough to go very deep into the crab.

But that's not what Noah was focusing on at the consequence. He was at the inn, sitting on the bed in Beth's room and examining her arm. It had been badly mangled by that Panthera tigris and wasn't fully healed. Since they were out of potions at the time, Noah and cuss had to wind it and tend it as best as they could. On the way down from the dungeon's entrance, they met an adventurer and bought some healing potions off him. However, they weren't able-bodied to completely overturn the damage. The anatomy on her arm looked molted, like severe stretch 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 program line, he knew that she was lucky to still hold it at all.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be able to disembowel a bow or cosmetic surgery anything heavy anytime soon. If you find someone with healing magic, they might be able to untie the damage, but otherwise, I can't envisage your arm will ever regain its full use or strength."

"That's amercement,"she said with a monotone voice and dead fish eyes. She shuddered, as if shaking herself awake."No, it's not ok, it's painful. But… I don't have to worry about using a bow."

"You're quitting being an explorer ?"

"After everything we went through in that dungeon… I don't ever want to get something like that again. I'm going to try and find a healer to mend my arm, but after that, I'm going to do what Mira wanted and settle down and build a family."

"That's for the honest, I suppose."

"Thanks. And Noah, about what I said to you in the keep, about how I was…"

"You're not pregnant. Mira was."

She looked at him in shock."How'd you bed ?"

"I have enough experience with women to know how to avoid getting them pregnant, and I can tell when it's close to that time of the month. Mira told you she was late before we entered the keep, didn't she ? You pretended it was you instead. Did you lie to try and save yourself, or her ?"

"Both, I guess. cuss didn't know, he can never know."

"I'm surprised they were able to continue it hidden from me. They always seemed a little protective of each other, but I had no mind they were so intimate."

"She told me they were both drunk when it happened, and later told curse that she thought it would be improve if they focused on getting unattackable for conquering the dungeon. After, they would have the eternal rest of their lives to…"She trailed off, then looked out the window and sighed."I'm going to go visit her mother and sib, tell her what happened. They were in debt, so hopefully the treasure I've collected will help pay it off. I owe Mira that much."

"This should more than cover it,"said Noah, handing her a small nursing bottle of avenium.

"So much difficulty, so many bout over this alloy dust,"she muttered, staring at the bottle.

"Take care of yourself,"Noah said before getting up and leaving.

He stopped by his elbow room, getting his bag and any possession he deemed worth carrying. He had already sold off all of his ores and gems, so he had lot of gold coins with him, along with various other tools and treasures hidden within his ring, including a huge fortune of avenium. He put on his knapsack with his swords hanging from his belt, including a new longsword, and left the elbow 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 meritless to see you go. But before you do, you should talk with your Friend. He certainly needs some help."

At the counter, he saw Oath slumped over with a half-empty mug in his hand. After returning to Clive, he had checked in with his sire 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 alcohol poisoning.

"Are you planning on drinking away your stallion luck ?"Noah asked.

Oath raised his head teacher, looking at him with bloodshot eyes."Leave me alone."

Noah took the stool next to him and ordered a drink."I will, soon. For now, just wit me."

swearword sat up and wiped his side."Remember that hunting trip the six of us took in the beginning ? When we were sitting around the flack, you told me that I had to decide my understanding for livelihood, for scrap, that I had to create my own substance. When I went into that dungeon, I thought I was doing it for my don, to finally win his commendation. 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 strong as you and Trevor, and I wanted to examine it to myself. Everything I failed to do, they were the achievement of the tycoon that I wanted to be. I loved her, but my pride got her killed. Now… I just don't want to reckon about it, any of it. I just want to forget so everything will finish hurting."

Noah, having received his boozing, downed it in one gulp and slapped the glass on the table, then took a deep breath."If I were to give you one terminal deterrent example, one last piece of advice, would you withdraw it ?"Oath just glanced at him, neither agreeing, nor refusing."full stop drinking. Go house and mourn her properly."

"Why ?"

"I know it hurts, and you don't want to experience anything anymore, but when you block out all of the bad, you block out all of the undecomposed that goes with it. Cherish your feelings for Mira, your retentivity of her. Don't try to forget them and blank out. Be grateful that it hurts. conceive me, there is aught more painful than being sincerely numb. When you've lost all significance and aesthesis, you end up in a very dark-skinned stead, where you'll do anything just to feel again, and you never fully come back from that."

For a moment, the words went over Oath's head, but then his eyes widened as a retention flashed through his alcohol-soaked mind. The nerve Noah made when Tin died, that stony expression, it finally made sense.

"Is that what happened to you ? You lost somebody ?"

"I've lost a lot of multitude, Sir Thomas More than you can conceive of. Losing a loved one, mourning them, it's supposed to be hard, because if it's wanton, you forget how to do it."Noah then got up and shouldered his backpack.

"Where are you going ?"Oath asked.

"I have business in the capital."

"My father and I are going there in three days. You can travel with us."

"Nah, I'll find my own way. Besides, I've already given your don enough avenium to ensure you become a Lord, 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 dungeon ?"

Noah thought back to the conversation he had with the baron, after Tin died.

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

Noah was sitting in the mogul's study, having just confessed to killing his brother and nephew."We didn't have the chance to sing about payment for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interested in money or Din Land. There is something else I want."

"Which is ?"

"I want a alphabetic character of passport to the Uther knight Academy. I heard they only grant admittance on the good give-and-take of a nobleman, such as yourself."

Ivan scrunched up his human face and nearly spat out his drink. To be an Utheric knight was a large pureness and duty, as while they ranked below king on the aristocracy scale, their achievements could hand them greater authority and political influence."I have no stake in putting my honest public figure on the argument for a stranger. Just withdraw some avenium for yourself and turn a noble. You'll be even richer than a horse. Or if you want to serve your country, just join the military."

"Any schmuck with a impulse can be con***********ed and turned into a soldier. I'm not after riches, prestige, or accomplishment, and I don't care about this country."

Noah then reached into his pocket and placed a chicken potion on the baron's desk.

"What is that ?"Ivan asked.

"I got this in that goblin den, and just this good morning, I had it appraised by the apothecary. It's a high-level antidote, able to heal almost any poison. I doubt even a top executive like you could open one. I had this with me when Tin was shot and didn't know it could spare her life. She died because of my ignorance. I've seminal fluid to make that despite my skills and experience, I don't know nearly enough about this world. I want to convert that, and to do so, I need an training. Spending years in an ivory column doesn't involvement me. I want to acquire how to live and properly fight in this world, and the best spot to do that is the knight academy, where they supposedly train the best of the best. 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 single letter ?"

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

"I suppose…"Noah said, looking back to cuss,"I just wanted to finally keep open a promise, rather than making yet another lie. Good portion to you, God Almighty Fault."

Noah left the inn and walked over to the mail where his horse cavalry was hitched. He rode out of Baron Clive, and when he was finally alone, he held out his hired hand, and an gasbag appeared on his palm from within his anchor ring. On it was a wax seal of approval, the Fault coat of arms. With this, his way was laid out before him. His next closure : the Utheric royal stag capital.

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*Roundabout plays*

To be continued…

*Roll credits*

Please scuttlebutt ! I 'm going to try to have vol 2 fix by the end of the yr .