Prologue

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A rare find, that beautiful crimson hair. That vividness was usually the result of chintzy dye and a childish personality, desperate to try personal identity by opposing normality. It was a rarefied endowment from nature, every strand like melting ruby, when most so-called redheads possessed only a thin orange hue. But hers was like descent, drawing the centre of all those around her, including Noah's. Of all the women he had seen, met, and knew, even intimately, hers was the most purely crimson.

It was after school in early autumn, the Christ Within of the setting sun illuminating every string and reminding him why it was worth it to approach her. She was walking across the empty soccer field, her body trembling from the Adrenalin of all the running she had done in her track club. For once, Noah saw her without all of her friends surrounding her or her boyfriend's arm draped over her shoulders like a boa constrictor. He had been waiting for this hazard, longsighted than she could envisage.

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

"Noah, what are you doing here ?"

She asked that question, but she knew the answer. What else would pull out a boy to her, what other possible desire ? He was going to flirt with her, possibly even ask her out. Would he be queasy ? Would he be cocky ? Would he play innocent and try to part with some lowly talking, or would he get straight to the point ? Had he planned this ? Had he been waiting ? They had been protagonist since she transferred in their Sophomore year. Had that just been in anticipation of this ?

It was enlighten in her heart, that his intentions had been seen through, but it didn't dissuade him. Rather, it was something that always amused him, the paradox of human coupling that became both easier and more difficult with age. She already knew what he desired, so unless she desired the same matter, her heart would be guarded, with no chess opening for a stoolpigeon onrush 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 tactile property like, how a lot it hurts, so I'm sorry. But if it's not too soon, I wanted to ask if you'd like to go out with me this weekend ?"

"Sorry, but since we're graduating soon, I'm not sure as shooting I want to rag geological dating. After all, when summer comes, we're all going to split up and go our branch ways."

A rejection, not an optimal outcome, but it was within his expectations. He just had to win over her to present him a chance, but gently. He had to properly pick out his run-in so that he wouldn't come off as desperate and discomfited, 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 gunpoint in staying together ? I doubt that. I think you believe in making love, in giving it a luck. A lot of matter will find between now and graduation ; Dec 25, Valentine's Day, the prom ? That's hatful of time to be felicitous, and to change your mind about which way you plan on taking. Plans can change, things can work out. All I want is a chance."

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

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

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

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

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

He swung up his hand and stabbed himself in the throat. The work stoppage, it was so riotous, but it was conciliate, just the tip of the sword breaking his skin and severing his jugular with pinpoint truth. It was a utter, smooth movement, as if he had spent hours practicing. stock began to spray from the little wound, and to the sound of Lindsey's scream, he allowed himself to decrease 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.

"occlusion, just keep your hired hand there,"Noah said calmly. The vein he had struck carried descent out of the head and sent it back to his middle, so the rest period of the roue in his system of rules would go on his head oxygenated, at least while it was still in his veins.

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

"I've already died like this… more than a one 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 life-time like you count years, and every time I die, I'm immediately reborn with all the memory from my past life story. I've been born and died so many times, laughed and suffered through so many lifetimes."

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

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

Her look became as pale as his."How could you possibly know that ?"

"Because this isn't the first of all sentence I've confessed to you. I'm always myself, but the world I'm born into is never the Same. Every meter I die, I return to the day of my birth, but in a different timeline. I'll end up in a world where my environment are different, or history didn't go the way I remember it, or result will materialise in my future that I can't predict.

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

His bleeding was starting to decelerate, his body going insensate and his mind getting foggy.

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

"It's the entirely way I can live anymore, following some project or game that keeps me busy. Every lifespan I've lived, it's been a lie, concealing who I am, what I know, what I've experienced. Much of the sentence, I have to pretend to accept emotions, because after all this time, I've almost forgotten what they feel like. I've almost forgotten what's like to actually feel something. But when I see you, I get to have genuine hungriness. I have an actual puppy love, something so simple and infantile, but such a grand feeling. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a Aythya americana, but I've lived for so yearn, I have to savvy at any bit of meaning that can take a crap me happy, and make my existence a little less hollow."

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

With the last of his strength, he removed her hand from his injury so that it could bleed freely. Her wrist was wilted. Had he convinced her ? Or had she simply realized that he had already bled too lots and was beyond saving ? He covered his left eye with his paw, blinded by the setting sun while Lindsey's dark obscured the right side of meat of his face. The light passed through her crimson pilus like tarnish chicken feed, making his blood refulgence beautifully.

"I've seen so many worlds, so many different realities, but none of them could make me glad. I've never known what it felt like to go or feel at abode. Every domain felt incorrectly to me. This is yet another reality that I am incompatible with. All I can do is hope that the future world is one I can be happy in."

The blood at last stopped flowing, and Noah closed his eyes and released his final breath. Then, in his mind, there was a familiar flash of luminance and he felt himself being pulled to the adjacent world.

A Whole New Game

Without even opening his eyes, Noah knew that something had gone wrong. He was dazed, but he could definitely finger the coldness, hard dry land underneath him. This didn't make signified. At this moment, he'd normally be experiencing his own rebirth, coming out of the womb as a newborn baby. His dead body was also still the same size. He could feel the weight of his tree branch, as well as his clothes. His hand was still covering his eye, but just moving it took a tremendous amount of effectiveness. He managed to work his eyelids clear and stared up at the blue air sky. It was late in the afternoon when he killed himself, but now it looked to be midmorning.

This had never happened before, no topic how many meter 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 rebirth power changing ?

Noah sat up and looked around. He was lying on an unpaved road in the Sir Henry Joseph Wood. His hoodie and the shirt underneath were stiff with his dried lineage, but when he felt his neck, there was no wound. He had been healed, but had his descent also been replenished ? It would have taken at least xxx minutes for the blood on his dress to dry this much, not enough time for his body to furbish up any meaningful amount, so this was likely a fond rebirth.

He got to his groundwork and staggered, struggling to breathe. There was no strength in his branch and his thoughts were getting weaker by the second. This tiredness, it was similar to blood loss, but also unlike. It was like there was some form of extra muscular tissue 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 accept been messing with his visual sensation. Now that he thought about it, his left eye was itching a bit. He gave it a rub and it was like a electric switch had been flipped. The tiredness vanished, as if that extra muscle had settled, and when he looked down, he saw his shadow.

‘ That wasn't blood deprivation. It must throw been some form of leftover trauma from my suicide or this glitchy metempsychosis. But where am I ?'

The road was unusual. The priming coat was packed, but the sediment seemed native to the spot. In the modern world, even the unpaved road were made with at to the lowest degree a layer of sand and crushed rock to foreclose it from being overgrown. He had his billfold and his headphone with him, but there was no service.

A sound reached his capitulum, one that most citizenry rarely heard outside of movies and TV. It was the speech sound of horse hooves. He looked over his shoulder joint, seeing two adult men on horseback approaching him from down the route. Behind them, an old man driving a horse-drawn wagon and leading… slaves. Wearing tag end for clothes, more than a dozen men and women of varying age were being led by chains.

This unknown van came to a stoppage in front of him. The men on horseback and the one driving the paddy wagon stared at him in confusion."You're blocking the road. Get the infernal region out of our way before you end up like them,"the driver barked.

It had been a prospicient meter since Noah saw a slave shipment. He normally only found them in post-apocalyptic timelines, when society had broken down. That, or timelines where the south won the Civil War and former such occurrences.

"Did you get a line me ? Get out of the way !"

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

Noah looked at them. Their wearing apparel, they were shoddy, wool clearly not woven by any form of advanced machinery and with coats and boots made of primitively-treated leather. Maybe he had reincarnated to a third-world commonwealth ? If this was a post-apocalyptic timeline, then whatever happened wasn't manmade. It happened before the Industrial rotation, some kind of rude disaster that halted mankind's ontogeny. A meteor ?

"I don't think he understands us. He's got some eldritch apparel. He might be the son of some noble,"the other equestrian said.

Their weapons, they had sheathed swords but no planetary house of any heavy weapon. So, this was an era before powder was invented. Medieval ? It sure seemed like it.

"If he's a imposing, we can redeem him back, and if not, he looks hefty and firm enough to sell for a good cost. string him up with the others."

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

A fountain of profligate sprayed forth and Noah threw his knife at the wagon driver, catching him in the pectus. Before his first victim could drip to his stifle, Noah ripped his sword from its sheath and charged towards the other equestrian, already drawing his own blade to avenge his coworker. The throat was out of reach, so Noah deflected the oncoming attack and went for a shot in the side of the gut and up into the right lung.

"powerhouse !"

There was a flashbulb of luminousness in his peripheral device vision, coming from the old man. Noah's instinct made him twitch back as a flare shot through the air, missing his face by an inch. It struck a nearby Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and exploded, spraying fervidness in all directions like a Molotov Cocktail. Noah looked back at the old man, one hand outstretched while the former covered the stab wound in his chest from Noah's knife. He wasn't holding a flare gun or any other kind of twist that would explain what had just happened.

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

"powerhouse !"the old man shouted again.

Just like before, a sphere of condensed flames formed in his mitt, about the sizing of melon, and shot at Noah with rattling pep pill. Noah dodged and rushed in to close the space. The low gear fireball had forced him to let go of his steel and the second had forced him back before he could catch the second man's. He'd have to finish this with his bare hand.

The horses were all throwing tantrums in fear from the fighting, but the old man continued to set up those mysterious flare pass. Noah circled around the knight, jumped, and tackled the man. There was no clumsy fumbling for control condition, Noah simply began beating him with his fist. His current soundbox hadn't been trained for combat, but he kept it intelligent and strong and have sex how much force he had muster up with each clout. pedigree started spraying with the third punch, the old man ineffective to fight back and soon blacking out. Noah promptly retrieved his accrue knife and finished him off.

Noah took his metre to catch his breathing space while he wiped off the steel, folded it up, and stored it in his air pocket. He took those few moments to quell his pain. He was used to being reborn as a baby after every death and considered those early yr to be his vacation between each new life, time to properly dispose of old memory, catalogue useful noesis, and mentally deal with any slack conclusion. No one depended on him and he usually had a parent or caregiver to take concern of him, giving him prison term to rest his mind. Now he had jumping right back into a endurance mindset and start from kale in a universe with all new rules.

Those fireballs the old man had launched, that was undoubtedly charming, something that he thought only existed in fantasy stories. He had never seen trick before, not in any of the timelines he had already lived in. Until now, he had operated under the belief of the Multiverse Theory, which stated that there was a timeline for every possible subatomic event. Was it really possible for witching to live in the multiverse ? What did this timeline have that all the previous unity lacked ?

The old man would have been a valuable source of information, but with his subordinates now dead, he would never willingly secern Noah anything. It wouldn't be worth the clip and trouble to question him in this situation. Oh well, the answers would come in fourth dimension, and Noah had learned how to be patient.

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

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

Possessing knowledge could either progress to them worthful or a financial obligation. They didn't want to peril themselves unless they knew what awaited them. Noah sighed and returned to the old man, patting him down until he found an iron key, likely going to all of their collars.

He held up the key for all the striver to see."I need one of you to guide me to a safe country with a source of freshly piss and off the road where I won't be seen. Whoever volunteers will get their collar removed and can ride in the wagon. Once I'm brought to a desirable location, you will all will be set free."Six slaves raised their saltation custody."You,"Noah said.

He had ***********ed a adolescent girl that looked to be around his age. She was dirty and underfed, but looked levelheaded enough to be useful to him, and he could certainly overmaster her if she tried to tell on him. It was intemperately to gauge her appearance in this state. She had a pitiful look permanently etched into her face, like a basset hound. If he cleaned her up, she might be a substantial cutie, but right now she was so muddied that he couldn't even tell her natural hair color.

"What is your name ?"

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

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

Noah searched the corpses of the three striver traders, taking everything of economic value. Along with their sword, he got a couple dagger, some cord, and three makeshift pocketbook. They were snake skins with stacks of bronze coins inside, tied to their belts. It was a clever concept.

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

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

Noah huffed in pain in the ass. Great, now he had giant to worry about. This certainly was a world unlike any he had seen before. This ruined his plan of taking the corpses with him. He was sure he could find a use or two for them, as well as take their dress and anything else of value on their someone when there was to a greater extent time. He also didn't want to leave any grounds of what he had done.

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

She wordlessly obeyed, proceeding to strip the corpses without any smidge of malaise or uncomfortableness. nigh miss her age would be too squeamish to do anything like this. As she worked, Noah searched the wagon and found a canvas bag, smelling too rancid to be used for intellectual nourishment. He soaked it with a wineskin, and while it wasn't ideal, it was effective enough for him to use to put out the fervour that the old man had started. He and Tin completed their tasks, leaving three defenseless bodies on the route and a few charred Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Noah retrieved one of the brand, just a cheap panga, but acutely enough to get the job done. He showed no uncomfortableness in decapitating the physical structure and storing the heads in the canvas bag.

"Drag these bodies into the Ellen Price Wood, out of spate from the road. That should satiate any wolf that search this area."

There was no telling what the value of these break one's back traders were. If they were even slightly important to someone, their disappearance might lead to an investigation. Three nude, headless bodies that were devoured by teras wouldn't leave any evidence. They couldn't even be identified. On the early hired hand, if they were criminals, then Noah might be able to use their severed heads as verification of their deaths and garner a premium. He had been in a lot of bad situations and chaotic timelines, so this outlook was a attainment he knew he could rely on and use as he needed.

Once the dead body were dealt with, Noah took his seat at the presence of the wagon and Tin joined him. The two redundant buck were tethered to the sides of the wagon and would conform to along. Noah cracked the reins and the horses pulling the black Maria began moving forward.

"There is a desirable home respective miles down this road. I will shew you where."

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

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

"How gravid is Uther ? How a great deal of the continent does it take up ?"

Tin bowed her nous."Please forgive my ignorance. I do not know the size of this body politic, 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 geography would be an unusual uncovering. It would be good if he could get his hand on a decent map, though in this era, that was probably a lot to ask for. In a cosmos with magic and behemoth, there was no telling what the planet's topography looked like, even the arrangement of the Continent. He had traveled premature land numerous times, but much of his experience was now obsolete.

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

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

"Does it function under a monarchy ? Or do they elect their leaders ?"She looked at him like he had spoken in gibber."Does it let a B. B. King or queen ?"

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

"What do they use for currency ?"

"Metal coins, like silver grey and gold."

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

"How much would you say this is ? Would you say it is a orotund quantity of money or not much ?"

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 grey coins and showed it to Noah."This is what I'm worth."

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

"Mid spring."

That was good for Noah. In gild to get a bridgehead in this new world, he'd need ample time with the probability of survival of the fittest at its gamey. Winter would hinder his mobility, possible action mechanism, and build lifespan a lot harder. Had he appeared in this world a few months earlier, he could easily freeze to death before reaching culture.

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

"The prominent danger is the wolves. They travel in face pack and kill whatever they see. There are also bears, large spider that hide in burrow, and goblins."

Giant wanderer and goblin ? This universe was getting more fantastical by the second.

"William Tell me about the goblins."

"They are small, only about the size of shaver, and maybe as smart. They have weapons and often lie in wait travelers."

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

"That was magic."

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

"It is the blessing of the gods, letting multitude call down divine requital upon their enemies. It can create flack, control urine, make you stronger, and do all kinds of matter. There many different kinds of thaumaturgy exploiter. I've heard of some of them ; mages, hero, warriors, priest-doctor, 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 origin ?"

"I don't know."

That was a job. If it was an power passed down from parent to child, then he was screwed. His glitchy reincarnation left him with the regular genes of his survive parents. If thaumaturgy wasn't something he could learn or acquire, life would get exponentially harder. Then there was the mentioning of deity. He had spent various lifetimes searching for preindication of the existence of God, some presence of deity that might explain his existence, but he always came up short. However, in a world where magic existed, perhaps god might as well.

As they continued through the woods, Noah thought about the slaves walking behind the black Maria. Letting them go might be a liability. They knew he had killed three slave traders, they knew where he would set up camp. The slave traders mistook him for the son of a noble, so if the slaves went into some town and started blabbing about him and what he had done, people might come after him. Perhaps it would be in force to put away of all of them ? No, the prospect of him managing to belt down them all would be low and that would be a lot of corpses to allot with, not to mention he didn't know if killing them would get him into worry.

‘ To consider my laziness would redress for my withered conscience…'

They were passing by a James Jerome Hill with trees blocking much of the view, but all of the horse flicked their ears to it. Noah didn't misfire that tick and reached into the wagon. When searching earlier, he found a bow and a few pointer, none of which seemed very well made. He took aim up the James Jerome Hill, spotting a apparition moving between the James Jerome Hill. It had been a recollective sentence since he had final used a bow. It was one of his hobbyhorse about four or five lifespan ago. This was null like the New prow he was used to handling, but when he let the arrow berth rid, it shot between the trees and found its mark. Noah didn't see what he hit, but there was a screaming of nuisance that he did not discern and the sound of multiple entities running off.

"What was that ?"Tin asked.

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

They ran off before he could finish his condemnation. good, that would make him LE of a sitting duck, and they'd draw the care of anything that might desire a composition of him. He returned to the driver's buttocks and turned to Tin, holding up one of the coin purses.

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

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

The woods thinned a lit, the Tree spreading out far enough for the station waggon to go off the road and head towards the sound of running water system. They arrived at a clearing where a belittled falls thumped on endanger rock candy. It was isolated, just the place Noah needed. There was even a cave behind the waterfall where he could make inner circle. However, they were not the solely inhabitants.

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

"That is a slime. They like damp places. Their underside are like giant sassing, devouring whatever they crawl over. Their bodies are covered with a reduce pelt, and if you tear it, its insides pour out and change the human body of its body."

"Are they unsafe ?"

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

"How do I pour down them ?"

"You have to hit their brains."

The gook hadn't noticed them yet, so Noah took aim with the bow at the good one. It was hard telling the front from the backrest of these matter, but he spotted something floating inside, suspended, an apple-sized hunk of solid tissue. He released the deadbolt, missing the creature's genius by various inch. It rumbled in pain and its gelatinous insides spilled out of the wound like a runny olfactory organ. Upon contact lens with the air, the viscera began to congeal and develop a stratum of skin. It formed an extension of itself, like a back tail, now searching for what had injured it.

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

Already, the arrow was halfway dissolved. That matter was like a giant moving stomach. He would have got preferred to look at precaution of these monsters from a distance, but he didn't have adequate arrow to confuse away. It would also get sorry soon, and he didn't want to try and look for another topographic point.

He turned to Tin and cut her binds, then handed her one of the coin handbag."You're unloosen. 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 deal. It was the spoiled of the two, useful at least for experimentation. He approached the gook, already back to fully wellness after being shot with the pointer. It didn't appear to have very good visual sensation, didn't even appear to let eyes. He picked up a stone from the creek and threw it, sending it bouncing a few feet away. It pounced on the rock with surprising speed, smothering it with its body and absorbing it. So, these things could jump. If it could see, it was probably short-ranged, based on move, or more belike it could sense quivering in the flat coat.

He took another tilt and threw it at the slime, this sentence hitting it. The rock ripped through its delicate tegument and its intestine spilled out. The C stunned it just long enough for Noah to sprint over and cleave through its brain. As quickly as he attacked, he darted back. He had learned through numerous occasions to always expect an enemy to get back up. Plus, he wanted to avoid getting sprayed with any guts.

Despite his concern, it was a clean kill. The fiend, originally a nauseating yellow, turned gray, and its give away insides began to smoke and fade away. Unfortunately, smoke was also coming from his sword. This really was a tight battery-acid. Noah wiped the blade off on the grass and then rinsed it in the river to scavenge it. It had undergone severe corrosion. Hopefully it would survive until he killed them all.

One affair made him happy, though. When he killed the slime, numbers didn't appear in the air, displaying experience points earned. He started having concerns as soon as that world-class fireball was launched at him, and when Tin said it was a slime ; he thought he had been reincarnated into some kind of RPG world. If at any period, she used the word ‘ level ’, he would have permanently lost the power to keep a straight face and need anything seriously.

Anyway, back to killing.

He repeated his strategy with the former three sludge. A fist sized rock'n'roll thrown with sufficient stop number and accuracy could pierce the ogre and bedaze them long enough to present a fatal strike. After the third slime, his sword broke in half, the end completely melting off. There was one slime left, but it would be tricky. It was slithering around behind the waterfall, unaware of what had happened to the others. The shakiness of the urine would probably disguise Noah's movements, but he didn't want to take the chance.

He crept behind the waterfall and threw another stone, striking the ooze near the brain. Its body curled up like a slug sprinkled with salt, and Noah rushed over. This time, he thrust the broken blade straight in. He managed to jab the brain, but the sword slipped right into its eubstance. Noah pulled away before his inactiveness could send his hand plunging into the acidulous muck, but several drop-off splashed him and he could find his cutis dissolving. He thrust his manus into the waterfall and steadied his external respiration as the pain faded. That was too conclusion for consolation. He'd have to hail up with another way to break off those things if he encountered them again.

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

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

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

"I gave you money. learn it to the nearest townspeople and buy yourself something to eat and some new clothes. Look for anyone who will employ you, hopefully offering room and board in rally. From there, start your new life."

"Is that an parliamentary law ?"

"No, it's advice. You don't have to take order of magnitude from me, I'm not your master key. I hired you to be my guidebook, you got your money, and our contract is dispatch. Now we part ways."She continued to stand there, looking like a pup in the rain."You can have one of the horses. You'll be able to get to townsfolk faster and outrun pursuers."

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

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

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

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

There was a gleam in her heart."If I can be utile as a corpse, I'll do that. Please, use me as bait."

Noah sighed and lowered the bow. Were he a harsher man, that wouldn't have been a bluff. This girl was poverty-stricken than he would feature liked, but her obsequiousness made her more trustworthy than anyone he could require to find in this world. Maybe it would be dependable to have an redundant pair of hired hand to help him, at to the lowest degree until he got out of this forest. Besides, it wasn't like this was the get-go time he had owned a striver. There were many dark timelines when he followed the pattern of ‘ when in Italian capital, do as the Romans.'

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

"I can count to one hundred, I can pen some, and I can tend to livestock and work theater, as well as perform menage chore. I am also very experience in pleasing men, so I can service you whenever you desire."She bowed her top dog as she spoke, not seeing Noah fire his eyebrows at her last sentence.

Depressing as her words were, he wasn't one to turn down an offer for sex from mortal so willing. On the former hand, zilch about her current visual aspect stoked his libido. He was standing twenty feet away and could smell her like it was twenty inches. Sitting future to her in the patrol wagon had been very unpleasant. Just letting her bathe in the river wouldn't get the job done.

"Let's get camp set up and then we'll talk. You said you can tend to livestock, castigate ? Then I'll leave the sawhorse to you. Get them watered and fed and then remove these perfectly slimes. I imagine they've lost their acidity in death."

Tin obediently went to make for while Noah gathered all of the mountain range and dog collar that had been used to precede the slaves. There was also mountain of rope in case any of their binds broke during rapture. Noah snapped the choker off the mountain range and used them as pound to break the weaker links and split the chemical chain into multiple short segment. He split the roofy into diluent string and set up a circumference around the campsite, then hung the collars and strand on it like Christmastime ornaments. Any intruders that tried to enter would hit the tripwire and the jingling chains and collars would grant them away. And in instance they were set off by the fart, the sawhorse would be the second line of espial. If they started acting up, then a menace was nearby.

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

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

Noah set out into the Wood with his lone sword and a satchel the old man had been carrying. He didn't want to digress far from camp, but he had to see out the sphere and make sure there weren't any impending danger. One thing he was especially cautious of were the giant spiders that Tin had mentioned. She said they hid in tunnel, so he kept a close eye on his terms, avoiding any suspicious areas that could be a possible trap. Webbing on the soil was a tattler mark, substantiation that he wasn't the only one using tripwires to find enemies.

The inaugural thing he did was gather languish boughs from around the web site, accumulating a heavy pile that they would use for bedding and making frequent trips back to the camp. Then he gathered all of the firewood he could carry, but focused only on specific tree diagram. This globe was very different to the one he was used to, but most of the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree appeared to be the Same. He also filled his pockets and the satchel with medicinal plants and even some edible mushroom. In every life, her instruct and relearned natural selection skill to keep back the information branded into his mind, so even if had forgotten their epithet, he still recognized herbs that could be useful. As he moved, he had a impregnable 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, larger than any he had ever seen. His nozzle led him to it, the wildcat reeking of end and rot. The meat was well beyond eating and its fur and pearl weren't worth the effort to harvest, especially with all the maggots and flies, but there was something that he could definitely realise use of.

The sun was starting to set by the meter he was done, but there was still plenty he wanted to do. Luckily, dinner was already taken concern of. The slave traders had packed enough food for themselves and their cargo. It was severely loot and dried meat, something that Noah's spoiled tasting buds would not appreciate, but he'd seen enough hard prison term to sleep with how to be grateful.

Before doing anything else, he removed his hoodie and t-shirt. He had kept them on as an total layer of protection in case anything attacked him, but the stock had hardened into a intemperately crust and he was gladiolus to be able to finally take them off. Had he known he would reincarnate like this, he would have gone home and just hung himself, preferably with his pockets stuffed with utilitarian tools. He laid out his shirt and hoodie under the falls, directing the spraying right onto the blood stains. He pinned them down with Isidor Feinstein Stone so that they wouldn't be washed away.

He noticed Tin watching him like a rummy feline. She had never seen sinew like his before. To pull through in the countryside, men required peachy strength to farm and competitiveness and brawniness mass naturally accumulated. Noah's appeared more set, like he had focused on improving the calibre of his muscles instead of just chasing after the vague definition of strength.

"Tin, take off your clothes."

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

"Not like that. Put that dress of yours here under the waterfall. Do the Saame with all the apparel you removed from those break one's back bargainer. It may be low-quality, but whether we use them or deal them, it would be best if we can at least remove the stink."

Tin removed her garb, though it was more like a raggedy potato liberation with fix cut for her promontory and weapon and a strip of material for a belt. She was malnourished and scraggy, but he just had to polish her up a little.

With the last of the light, he searched the river for stones. He'd prove their hardness, striking them against the rachis of his sword. Once he started getting Muriel Spark, he returned to the riverbank and gathered up some tinder. He ground some dry birch bark into a hunky-dory detritus and struck the rock against his brand over it. It took several attempts, but some sparks landed in the junk and it went up like petrol. From there, he built up a fire on the riverbank with all of the birch wood he had gathered. By the light of the flames, he started digging a kettle of fish using his sword and a metal skillet he found in the wagon.

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

"No, what I need you to do is start collecting remains from the river. If you dig under the silt, you'll find it. Make a big chain reactor of it here next to me."

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

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

With two ardor 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 giant malicious gossip clod. In reality, it was a goon of brute fat. He had gathered it from the carcase of the dead wolf, rolled it into a ball, and packed it with a racing shell of shit to maintain it from making a mess 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 request that Tin wasn't used to auditory sense, but she obeyed, flashing her dentition like a snarling animal."Huh, not too bad."

Despite her poor modus vivendi, her teeth were in trade good condition. 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 concept of flossing.

Noah walked over to one of the knight hitched to a tree, nibbling on the cumulation of Mary Jane that Tin had gathered for it. He cut a ringlet of its yearn haircloth, washed it in the river, and returned to the campfire, where he braided several strands into a secure thread. He made a indorsement and turned to Tin.

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

She mirrored the action to the best of her abilities, and while she did that, he looked at the frypan, now with a puddle of melt fat. He gathered some white ash tree from the fire and ruffle it in, as well as some water.

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

"Soap ?"

"You've never heard of it ?"

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

"It's been a foresightful time since I did this. If I had metre and proper pecker, I could make something of a much high-pitched timber, but this should get the job done."He set the skillet back on the fire so that the water could be boiled away."Have you gotten every tooth ?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then take in a mouthful of this."From next to the fervour, there was also a cup made, of all affair, tin. It was full of water brought to a simmer, with ground oxford grey and true pine needle mixed in. He let it cool and then handed it to her."You said you could number, right ? Well swirl this around your sassing and set forth counting. Once you reach one hundred, deglutition it."

She took a mouthful and handed it back to him so he could finish it off. With that taken care of, Noah took the frying pan off the attack and examined his goop. It certainly would never sell in a foodstuff computer memory, but it would get the job done tonight. following, he turned his care to the wash basin and the shrivelled flack. The cadaver packed onto the side of meat of the pit had hardened and could now retain water.

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

As Tin went to lick, Noah started on his own job. 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 meter Tin had finished with her project, the rock'n'roll were all sufficiently hot, and using stick to handle them, he moved them into the washstand until it had reached the everlasting bathtub temperature. It was still ashy from the fire, but that wasn't a problem.

The reasonableness why he had used unlike fires for the drainage area and grievous bodily harm was because of one of the resulting chemicals, lye. Despite being a caustic inwardness, it was required for making goop. It was collected from the ashes of hardwood, like birch. He had used a gentle wood in the fire to harden the position of the basin so any remnant ashes wouldn't turn the water system too alkalic.

"All right, now to essay it."

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

Tin held a while of scoop in her script, staring at it with wide of the mark oculus."It smells… sweet-flavored !"

She mimicked Noah, using a makeshift washcloth and the soap to cancel herself raw. She was frantic, leaving no spot untouched. The two of them cleansed their skin, lathering themselves up and then rinsing in the river to proceed the bath body of water clean. With the dirt removed, much was revealed to Noah. Neither of them said anything about the countless cicatrice, bruise, and brands that covered Tin's body. Finally, he had her lie on her cover and lowered her head into the river basin, then scrubbed her hair with the soap until the bathwater turned as total darkness as ink. She sat up and surround the weewee out of her hair as he stood up and stretched.

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

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

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

She reached up and grasped his script, desperation in her oculus."Master, can I please military service you now ?"

A minuscule laughter escaped Noah."My, my, what a greedy small slave you are."

He leaned down, lifted her chin, and left a balmy kiss upon her backtalk. She shivered from that touch, gentler than any other in her life. She took the first step, kissing him in return while her tongue slipped into his sassing. As they swapped saliva, she reached out and began caressing his humanness, erect and throb. She had been eyeing it since the mo he stripped down, her creative thinker buzzing with all of the manner she would please him.

When Noah finally pulled his lips from hers, she knew what he wanted and was eager to provide it. She leaned in, his cock disappearing into her mouth, only to re-emerge with a glistening bed of saliva. Tin wasn't shy in the to the lowest degree, she put all of her science to work. She deepthroated him to make herself gag and salivate, then would use her workforce to work the shaft while she slurped on his head teacher like a lollipop. Despite her joy at being so strip just a minute ago, she was certainly making a mess, her typeface covered in spitting with big foamy drops dribbling onto her breasts.

Noah rested his deal on her forefront and groaned."I'm glad I decided to keep you."

She released his cock, gasping for air with her optic replete of joy."Am I doing good ?"

"You're magnificent, Tin."

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

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

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

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

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

Born and raised a hard worker, she had been abused and violated in all shipway imaginable. She thought she had grown numb to it, but the feeling of Noah's fingers touching her most common soldier, medium area, they made her shiver and gasp. There was strength in his fingers, but his movements 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 billet like an assassinator striking her pressure points. She was a slender girl, body fat being a sumptuosity for a slave, but her flesh rippled from the vibe drumming from her ass. She could feel the weight of her breasts with every bowel movement, and the speech sound he was making, the sounds he was forcing her body to make, the squelching of diffuse, wet flesh, it was like she was experiencing this all for the first of all time.

The pleasance was beyond words, she wanted it to go on forever, but her consistence wouldn't obey her commands. Her muscles spasmed without pause like she was being tickled. She inadvertently tried to pull in away, her body wanting to protect itself from these genius it couldn't contain, but Noah's grip on her throat remained business firm. This position, what he was doing to her, it was so foreign. She felt almost like an animal, like livestock, and Noah was the sodbuster, preparing her for breeding with some strange husbandry technique. Ironically, that wasn't far from the truth.

She cried out, climaxes rushing through her like a blink of an eye torrent, but Noah didn't stop, even as she became limp. He continued mercilessly finger-blasting her, while his early hand released her throat and he forced his digit into her mouth. She sucked on them like they had a honey glaze. They were her lifeline, all that was keeping her conscious. The front of her tongue and back talk, the palpitation of her pharynx as she slurped up the flavor of his fingertips ; if she didn't workplace with all her might, the almost vicious assault of climax would rob her of all opinion and crush her mind.

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

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

She reached out to him, her penny-pinching arms coiling around his neck to pull him in."Master, take me,"she begged.

By the light of the campfire, he penetrated her, just as legion men had done before, but none of them made Tin feel like this. His mouth joined hers, a passionate but gentle buss, while in comparability, his driving force, so fast and emphatic, made her cry out to the maven overhead.

.

.

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Civilization

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.

The rising sun shining in his center awoke Noah from his sleep. It was not a deep sleep, due to his current circumstances, but he at least felt rested. It was his first dawn in this new world. He and Tin were lying on a pile of pine boughs, keeping them off the basis and insulated, and wrapped in the sheet wagon cover version, which they were using as both a tarp and a blanket. The freed slave was snuggled up tightly against him, both for warmheartedness, and out of affection. The condition"freed slave"fit her ironically, as Noah had given her freedom, but she chose to continue his hard worker anyway.

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

"prison term to get up, we have work to do."

It was a chili pepper daybreak, so the first thing Noah did was progress up a fervidness while Tin collected their clothes from the falls. They had been set under the spray to be washed, and after a dark under the pound water system, they were uncontaminating 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 ardor to broil overnight. Now, he was using them to boil urine and make pine goad tea.

"What do you want to do, maestro ? I can contribute you to town if you like."

"How long would it film to get there ?"

"Another two or three days."

Noah weighed his options. This wasn't an optimum position."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 ducks. While I have faith in my fighting abilities, I can't defend myself, you, and the horses. Let's try to improve our chances before we set out."

"What should we do ?"

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

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

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

"What's lye ?"

"It's the stuff in ash that I used to make that soap last night. It's a very nasty chemical. I'm going to bulge gathering wood. I want you to bail out the bathwater from the washstand and refill it. rain down H2O would be honest, but river water will have to do. Then take the stones and put them back in the fire. You remember what to do if something attacks ?"

"Throw cavalry dung and hollo for you ?"

"Right."

Noah departed, heading back into the woods. Just like the day before, he was gathering hardwood from birch, oak, and maple Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. He moved cautiously, hearing movement all around him. He also returned to certain domain he had visited before, with prey on his creative thinker. He came across a berth he had just yesterday done his best to forefend. There was wanderer silk on the ground, and nearby, an obvious trapdoor. Noah put a vauntingly control stick on his foot and readied his bow, taking aim. He kicked the marijuana cigarette over by the trapdoor, and instantly a spider salvo out to attach what it thought was its meal. The affair was huge, almost five feet in diameter.

Noah released his arrow, striking one of its eyes and leaving it screeching in pain. Before it could duck back into its hole, he shot another pointer, this one oil production through its skull and ending its life sentence. While it was still fresh, Noah rushed over, pulled out the second arrow, and thrust his finger into the fix. He stirred his fingers around in the spider's brain, causing its peg, now curled up into a fist, to start spasming. While not fellow with spider bod specifically, he was tickling what he hoped to be the cerebellum.

"Come on, where are you… Ah !"He found the magic smear, as the wholly body convulsed and the belly started expelling silk at a frantic rate, like he was squeezing a tube of toothpaste. Het got to his understructure and dragged the wanderer with him, laying out the silk so that it wouldn't stick to itself. He had come up with this musical theme on a whimsy and was overjoyed to see it work out. When catamenia of silk stopped, he removed his fingers."That's right, lady, I am just that good."

He then began rubbing dirt into the silk like he had with the fauna fat he had collected the previous day, something to hold on it from sticking to anything. It was unspoiled heavyset short letter, and strong as well. succeeding, he started gathering up the sometime, thinner webbing it had used for its den. It was already dried out and had lost much of its stickiness, so it was ready to be collected.

He returned to the camp, carrying the spider with him as well. He was sure enough he could think up something to do with his corpse, maybe use it like a bird-scarer to guard off goblins or something. When he arrived, Tin had completed her task and stared in amazement at the utterly spider.

Noah walked over to the Dipper and pulled out a small wooden gun barrel. It had originally been filled with salt, which the hard worker bargainer used to preserve their food, but now there wasn't much left. What remained, Noah poured into some of his clay jars. He then hung the spider to enfeeble its blood into the cask. There wasn't much, and it had begun to jell immediately after Death, but that just made it mucilaginous like sirup. He swirled it around the inside of the cask, covering every inch, and then filled it up halfway with some of the used ashes from the birch flack yesterday. He didn't touch the ash tree with his hands, and upon closing the barrel, he shook it up. Once completed, the inside of the barrel was coated with thick layer of ash.

Putting it aside, Noah began moving hot stones from the fervour and putting them into the basin, bringing the water to a boiling point. Then, he started shoveling birch tree ash until it filled up half the basin. For the succeeding one-half hour, Noah would swap out Oliver Stone, making sure as shooting the pee was always boiling. Soon a movie began to settle on top of the water. It was liquid lye, rising from the ash tree. Noah harvested it from the control surface, careful not to touch it, and put it in the skillet on the fire to seethe away the moisture.

"Ok, I'm going to go back and get more firewood. I want you to observe swapping out the Harlan Fisk Stone so that the water stays boiling hot, and as the lye gathering on the surface, run down 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 charge. You want to stay upwind so that you don't breathe in any of the fumes. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

And that was how they spent the stallion morning and much of the afternoon. They kept burning birch rod Natalie Wood, and once the basin stopped producing lye, they would swap in impertinent ash tree and sum up harvesting. Between collecting firewood and tending to the fire, Noah created more pottery with the river Lucius Clay and baked it in the fire. The skillet was routinely filled with the lye mixture, and once the weewee evaporated away, Noah would scrape the lye into one of his stiff jarful. It was the midsection of the afternoon when he declared that they had collected enough.

"Now to test it."With his knife, he collected a small bump and put it on his arm. He could experience it burning his skin like an aching erythema solare. Had he taken his time with this, it would have been burning a crater into his skin, but in this case, quantity was unspoiled than quality.

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

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

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

They moved away from the fire, sick of its high temperature, and ate by the waterfall. While chewing on yobo jerky, 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-up telegram was doing a dear job of keeping them close, but they would probably run out of food for thought by tomorrow. They'd have to impress 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 to the lowest degree not someone your age, and you have the acquirement of an alchemist. What variety of training have you done ?"

"An alchemist ? I kind of like the sound of that. Let's just say that I have a lot of life experience. I've lived through good times and bad. Anyway, we should move on to the succeeding stage. I'm going to go along the river and charm small guck. I want you to find the cadaver of the big gook I killed yesterday and try to call for their skin."

Tin was obedient, not voicing any of her incertitude and instead setting off to do as her master ordered. Noah retrieved the gun barrel he had tinkered with earlier and filled it with water, then began walking through the river, searching the Banks. It was only up to his knees, and there were spate of large boulders for slimes to enshroud by. On his workforce, he wore some rough leather baseball mitt that one of the slave bargainer had been wearing. The goo he found were usually about the size of his clenched fist, and with outstanding care, he'd peck them up and put them in the barrel.

The piss in the cask, thanks to the ash, had a raised pH level. The guck were acidulous, but their pH horizontal surface wasn't very low. The alkalinity of the water and the ashes kept them from melting through the side of the barrel. He also tossed in some food to go along them from starving. Hopefully they'd still be able-bodied to put up it. If they were all still alive by the next dayspring, his program was a success.

When he returned to the summer camp, Tin had gathered up the hide of the idle guck from the day before.

"I'm sorry, Master, but the pelt are too fragile for any sort of use."Noah put down the barrelful and examined the spill tegument. It was wavelike and easy, a far cry from any variety of leather, more like a snake's shed skin.

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

She nodded and went to work. While she did that, Noah collected more long hair from the horses. He took the squares that Tin cut up and used them to wrap up small-scale rafts of lye, then tied them shut with the horse pilus. The guck skin, despite its fragility, still maintained many of its characteristics. Slimes were like living acid, so they had to be able to control their pH stratum. Their skin not only keep on their guts in, it kept BASIC substances out, core like lye, making it thoroughgoing for holding it.

With their combined efforts, they were able to create just over thirty lye gang, plus another XX filled with alkaline ashes.

"Ok, let's quiz one of these out."Noah took one of the duplicate second power, filled it with ash, tied it off, and threw it at a nearby boulder. The goop skin held together while being handled and thrown, but upon striking a severely surface, it burst clear and sprayed its subject matter in all directions."Perfect !"

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

"That's right. This lye isn't very solid, so it doesn't do much to skin, but if it gets into your eyes or you breathe it in, you'll go down. All we have to do is hit our enemies in the look and they won't stand a chance. Now, I know we're both fag, but we still have a few hours of daytime left hand. Let's work on a duet former means to ameliorate our position, and tomorrow, we'll head for the near town."

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

They departed the side by side break of day at cockcrow, wanting to get an early start. They were traveling at a faster pace than before, mainly because there were no longer slaves in tow. The two horses the traders had ridden were no longer walking alongside the wagon, but were now helping to pull it. With the wanderer silk Noah had collected and wood from the woodland, he managed to create special harnesses so that they were leading. The horses moved in a regular trot, null compared to the cars from Noah's previous lives, but fast enough to possibly outrun an untrained man.

For Noah, this was a scene he was companion in. He had fought in numerous wars and seen countless post-apocalyptic worlds, living through one anarchic hellscape after another. He was familiar spirit with the need to uprise eyes in the back of his foreland, to expect enemies at all time.

"Master !"Tin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I see them."

Swarming from the slope were a large number of wolves, each one almost as great as the horse cavalry pulling the wagon, but Noah had planned for this. He handed the reins to Tin who whipped the horses into a full-of-the-moon gallop. He took out his bow and began launching arrows. well-nigh of these arrows, he had made himself. He had to rush them, so they weren't his in force employment, but they got the job done for short-range encounters.

The wolves dodged the arrow as they charged, but it managed to spook them into moving around back to attack from the rear end. Noah climbed into the wagon and stared them down through the loose back. Changing their attempt angle had momentarily slowed them down, but they'd get up in arcsecond and flank them. Noah tossed a megabucks of branches and greens out of the rachis of the wagon, but they were more than they appeared. It was actually a net with thorny crotch hair and bristles woven in. The net was dragged behind the Big Dipper, and the beast that stepped on it cried out as their paw were spiked with tart seed seedcase. Those who were injured gave up the chase, while the respite of the clique learned and split up to avoid the net.

Before they could impart his view, Noah opened up the cask of muck and began throwing them. Even if the little beasts didn't make a manoeuvre hit, they exploded like water balloons. The acid splashed on the Hugo Wolf, who instinctively knew that muck were to be avoided. The clique realized that this prey wasn't worth all of the fuss and gave up. One threat had been neutralized, giving them time to breathe, but it didn't end there.

Bears and other forest beasts would pop up every now and then and need to be dispatched by pointer. The tiny bolts couldn't do much damage, but the pain would make the beasts reevaluate whether or not to stay on attacking. Any monsters he managed to drink down, he would harvest for percentage. With Tin controlling the horses, he would work in the wagon, removing cutis, teeth, variety meat, and anything that looked valuable or useful. Every now and then, they'd even stop so that he could gather medicinal plants and mushroom cloud. But the more he fought, the more Noah realized how unprepared his body was for all this. He was healthy and strong, and had life of fight experience, but his bridge player hadn't built up a stratum of calluses that a native of these commonwealth would have. Every time he gripped his sword, he could feel blisters forming on his palm.

Then, in the good afternoon, the next challenge revealed itself. In the distance, a Tree lay across the road. A rider on horseback might be able-bodied to jump it, but never a waggon like this. Whether or not it had fallen naturally, Noah knew who would use this opportunity.

"Tin, turn back the wagon."They came to stop a hundred railway yard from the tree."Turn the horse cavalry around. If I die, ride back the way we came. halt at the waterfall until someone uses this road and then travel with them."

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

"I've handled worse."

He got off the wagon with his sword in deal, and on his arm, a carapace made from the carapace of the spider he had killed. He was wearing one of the slave bargainer'coat, the nearest he could get to leather armour, and he also had his satchel, filled with lye parcel. Rather than go about the tree, he dove into the woods. If there were any hobgoblin in hiding, he'd flank them. As he approached the barrier, he spotted them, hiding behind the Tree. They were the size of children, but with pop out venter and cat valium skin. Their ear and olfactory organ were pointed, their faces overall barely even humanoid. They were armed with swords and bows, in all probability stolen from slain travelers.

He closed in on the first one, his pace giving him away and causing it to skreigh in alarm. Noah dispatched it with a swing of his sword, overpowering its endeavor to parry and lopping off the top of its skull. The others, alarmed by the expiry of their comrade, turned their attention to Noah and attacked. They launched their arrow, albeit with shoddy aim, but it forced Noah to duck for top. He pulled out one of his lye coterie, focused on a hobgoblin with a bow, and threw it like a baseball. The pocket-sized pack nailed it between the eyes and exploded. The goblin took an instinctive breath in, and then immediately screamed in torment. Not only were its venous sinus and lungs filled with lye, but it had gotten into his centre, leaving it blinded.

The way it shrieked was nothing less than unnerving. It was like a infant crying, it racked the mind and made even Noah squeamish. The goblins, hearing those screams, became frightened. This was a barbarous world, and living in the woods, every day was a flaming battle for survival of the fittest. But none of them had suffered or seen someone suffer a flesh wound and defecate that variety of noise.

Noah gave them no time to gather their courageousness. He dealt with the other goblin archers the Sami way, leaving them howling in agony. With their long-range plan of attack neutralized, he closed in. The remaining hobgoblin tried to put up a battle, 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 kill them all. These hobgoblin probably ambushed their prey, catching them by surprise to relieve oneself up for their watery bodies, but once they lost that advantage, they were easy to throw away of.

He was closing in on the last one, slightly heavy than the others and armed with a nightspot. It growled and made a wide baseball swing. Noah didn't try to block and ill-use back out of the behemoth's stretch, then swung down his sword and cleaved the goblin's head open. To his discomfort, origin splattered across his face and got into his eye. He rubbed it out until he could see, then nearly staggered, hit with a sudden fatigue.

"What the nooky ? That conflict 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 diagram had lain, but there was a facial expression of confusion on Tin's facial expression."passkey, 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 movement of the sawbuck. He walked over and grabbed her arm."Tin, I'm standing right on beside you."

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

That's what he would like to know. Was something affecting her imaginativeness ? Maybe she had been hit with some variety of goblin blast, or it was an illness, either a disease or some kind of poison from something in the forest.

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

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

"I was here all this ti—"He stopped, noticing something. His fatigue was gone. It had disappeared just as suddenly as it showed up. The final stage meter he felt it was when he first woke up in this existence. 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 thinly air !"

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

"See what ?"

wellspring, that answered that question. For some rationality, the tiredness seemed to deepen when he did that. He rubbed his eye again, and from the look on Tin's cheek, she appeared to be capable to see him again."What happened to the road ?"she asked."It just suddenly changed when you reappeared."

Noah put his deal 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 route ?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

He then remembered his last moments with Lindsey. He had covered his go away eye because the sun was blinding him, and he woke up in this world in that same position. His glitchy reincarnation, it hadn't just preserved his body at this age, it gave him some sort of magic. Maybe it was the deception itself that caused the erroneous belief, the magic present in this new world.

"Tin, do they have any kind of word for the vim used for magic trick ? 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 moment he attempted it, he fell to his knee, almost blacking out."Master !"Tin exclaimed. She climbed down and helped him to his feet.

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

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

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

The next day, while Tin took town the tripwires set around their makeshift refugee camp, Noah was engaged experimenting with his deception. He had come across a behemoth spider, draining the blood from a conquer rabbit. As he approached, Noah covered his eye and cast his illusion. His feet on the underbrush, it should possess given him away, but the spider didn't seem to notice. He decided to clear more dissonance, picking up a control stick and snapping it, but still, the wanderer didn't seem to notice.

"Over here."

Finally, the spider spun around, its blackamoor eyes searching for the seed of the noise. It seemed that his illusion also concealed sounds, but not his vocalism. Maybe because he intended for his spokesperson to be heard ? He had been casting his charm on and off since he discovered it, to try and get a better tone of his mana. He couldn't properly focus himself since he needed to save his strong suit for when he needed it, but he was starting to smell the flow.

He drew his brand, a new one. After the scrap with the goblins, he had taken their weapons, and despite being slightly rusty due to inadequate care, they were higher lineament than the chinchy panga that Noah had been using until now. He now carried a Medieval-style longsword, a short sword, and his tongue. He came up with arrangement with sentiment 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 hear anything. Noah could feel it, his mana flowing through his sword towards the bush, enveloping it in the illusion. He focused on the vigor running through his arm and tried to slow the flow, to keep on it from moving beyond his sword. It was exceedingly difficult, like trying to flex a muscular tissue he had never used before. It reminded of him of all the old age he spent as a newborn, when his muscle tissue was just slightly tougher than jelly. He tempered his breathing, driving out all distractions from his mind, and soon, he could feel the flow of his mana, like he had grabbed a cargo area of it.

He pulled it back, leaving the blade enveloped, but this time, when he rustled the George H.W. Bush, the spider raised his front legs and bared its Fang, believing an animal to be causing the affray. Noah slowly approached and tapped one of the spider's raised ramification with his sword. It hissed in fury and swung at something it could not see. The illusion could kibosh sounds from reaching his enemy, but it couldn't erase the sense of touch, so he couldn't just wrench unseeable and jab somebody without them feeling it.

There was something else he noticed. When he was inconspicuous, he could feel the mana in others. Tin had very little, likely a sign that she had no affinity for deception, probably a reason why she ended up a hard worker. The goliath had even less, but not all of them. Lone wolves without face pack and many spiders, they seemed to be shrouded in mana. He didn't get the impression that they could use magic, more like it clung to them, like an odor. What made them so extra ?

This was just another dubiousness that Noah chalked up to something he'd learn later. For now, he should just retain utilizing his conjuration to its full moon potency. The spider had its guard raised, but couldn't sentiency the presence of anyone or anything nearby, so it could do nothing to block Noah from ending its life. He harvested what he needed from the body and then returned to camp.

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

It was a cherubic succor to Noah and Tin when they finally left the forest. After two days of repeated trap by predators and goblins, the sea of tree that flanked them on either side were replaced with unresolved pastures, fields where farmers and their slaves were planting crops. The road became more uniform, receiving more than sustainment due to the step-up in traffic. In the distance, they saw the town, Baron Clive, as Tin called it. It was surrounded by a log fencing to keep the monsters out. It reminded him of the compound village museum from his fifth-grade field trip. The brook from their waterfall camp joined into the river that flowed beside the town.

sentry duty in cheap leather armour with a few metal plateful were manning the gate, and they stopped Noah and Tin as they approached. One of them looked over the horses and the paddy 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 pouch alteration."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 time to Medieval Europe. Peasants walked the muddy road, street vendors tried to sell their merchandise, and the air stank beyond all de***********ion. The edifice were brick and Sir Henry Wood, only a few of them to a greater extent than two history, with their windowpane using fuzzy meth.

"What do we do now ?"Tin asked.

"We're going to deal this wagon, everything in it, and the horses. That guard recognized them, so others may as well. Plus, I can protect a push-down store of coins effective than this load of pelts. We can just buy replacements if we need them."They rode past a beggar lying in the street and Noah brought the Equus caballus to a stop."You there, where can I chance a arm dealer ?"

The bearded man pointed a palpitation finger to the eastward. Noah didn't thank him, but tossed him a copper coin. They turned down one of the eastern streets and a preindication caught Noah's eye. It had an anvil with two queer swords in front of it like a peak. They stopped the wagon outside and Noah disembarked.

"Look after the beach waggon. This billet 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 bell ringing above his head from the doorway gap and closing. This store was made of brick in order to lessen the fervor danger due to the smithy in support. Numerous artillery were put on display, from steel to halberds. Back in his previous spirit, Noah could birth bought a Damascus sword online for $ 60 that would put these to disgrace, but these would suffice.

He also paid aid to the terms in order to cipher out the rate of transition for money. The numbers were drawn a bit differently from past domain, but they appeared to have the same time value. From what he could severalise, ten fuzz coins equaled a bronze, ten bronze equaled a silver, and ten silver for a gold. The metric unit scaling made it easiest for Noah to compare them to US dollar, but from what era ? There was a cause of armor selling for two atomic number 79 coins, about two thousand buck. But was that two thousand dollars back in the Old Benjamin West ? Or was that two thousand dollars in the 21st hundred, after more than a hundred eld of puffiness ? He couldn't even tell whether the Mary Leontyne Price were good or not. This was either all majuscule equipment at a mellow price or garbage sold to father and tightwad, or even just rubble the owner was asking the moon for to try and rip Noah off.

A man appeared from a spine elbow room and stood behind a counter. He was a enceinte bear of a man, caramel brown and dirty from a life spent standing over an anvil. Seeing Noah's mod clothes, unease crossed his font."Can I help 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 beat goblins. He stepped back inside and laid them out on the store counter."What can I get for all of these ?"

There were four short steel, two longswords, six obelisk, three spears, and an axe. The blacksmith raised his eyebrows in balmy surprisal at the size of the haul, but otherwise maintained a poker face for the saki of occupation. He examined each weapon, making exaggerated grunt and suspiration over every chipping and sign of rust.

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

"That's a bad joke. That's lupus erythematosus than a tan coin per weapon. You're selling sticker for three bronze each. Seven silver."judgement by the terms of the show pieces, that was more than the blacksmith could trade them for, and while he would stimulate liked to go higher, the blacksmith was really low-balling him.

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

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

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

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

"You think you're the alone one marketing arm by the arm-load ? sight of adventurers come in here to coldcock what they found in some goblin tunnel. Scavenged swords are hardly rarefied on the grocery. Two silver and seven bronze. That's like terminal offer."

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

The blacksmith gave a huff. Three silver gray, such a round of drinks, unanimous number. It was five bronze above what he could get if he sold the weapons for one-half price, but his inner-perfectionist didn't want to complicate it with a diminished requital. Had Noah planned that from the beginning ? Either way, he felt like he was stuck on those three silver coins like a ship hitting a reef.

"mulct, three silver."

"Deal."He and Noah shook hands and Noah received the three coins and the axe."I also have another thing outside that you might be concerned 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 system, offering a hundred yards of protection. Any goliath that touches it makes the metal alarms jangle. It's so loud that even the dead can get a line it. I'll trade it for three bronze and the small shell you had in the corner. It's got to be worth that in material alone."

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

The deal was struck and Noah and Tin set off with a much lighter beach wagon. The axe Noah had gotten was a with child one, perfective tense for chopping both tree diagram and monsters. The buckler he now wore on his arm was only around the sizing of a dinner collection plate, but that worked for him. It was solid enough to block a separatrix from a sword and it wouldn't hamper his bowel movement. The tripwire was a bit painful to suffer, but once they sold the wagon, they would give ended up carrying it with them.

With directions from many of the townsfolk, they sold and traded their product. The blacksmith wouldn't buy the fore, but Noah found another weapon monger who allowed him to switch up to a much right small-arm and a tingle of good-quality pointer. After that, the medicative herbs and mushrooms were bought by an herbalist, the wolf hide went to a leatherworker in exchange for some armour and a strong backpack, and the clothes and bags were traded at the garment shop for some new outfits and a second back pack. Due to the weird looks he was getting, Noah was cognisant that his advanced wearing apparel made him stand out. They were too worthful to get rid of or sell, so he simply packed them away and donned the apparel of the countryside.

He ditched the severed principal of the slave bargainer into mortal's pig pen and the Sus scrofa went to townspeople. From asking around, it seemed that the Garrow fellow he killed wasn't the desire malefactor he had hoped for. It was a ignominy there was no bountifulness to collect, especially after three days of putting up with the flavour of those heads.

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

The proprietor of an explorer's shop yelped in pain from the lye touching his skin. He sold traveling and survival gear, such as R-2, candles, dried rations, and other curios to aid travelers survive the wolf dwelling out-of-door man's land. Now he was buying the last of Noah's haulage, including the cadaver of several spiders and the barrel of slimes. A test had been essential to convert him of the lye's ability.

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

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

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

"We do."

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

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

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

"Deal."

With that, Tin and Noah left, having sold everything they deemed not worth carrying. The wagon and sawbuck had already been exchanged for some cover girl gold coins, so now they lived carrying everything they owned. Tin was in a good mood, now wearing proper clothes and footwear. She looked nothing like the hard worker miss that Noah had met when he first came to this universe. One might look at her and not even recollect she was a slave.

The sun had almost set, but they made their way to their final point, an inn known as the Old Wineskin. It was interfering inside, the air stinking of pipe grass, ale, and poor people hygiene, and the floor creaking under myriad couple of shifting boots. The hostess, a large woman looking like she birthed kid by the litter, greeted them at the door from behind a front desk.

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

"Both. What are your rates ?"

"Little Phoebe copper coins a night for one elbow room. For ten, you also get firewood, a hot bath, and two satisfying meals a day for one person."

Noah counted up the coins for him and Tin and stacked them on the tabular array."We'll conduct the broad bundle for three nights."

The woman handed him an Fe key."Take a can in the dining way wherever you like and I'll bring you the business firm special."

Noah led Tin through the bunch of sottish villagers, both of them on the outlook for pickpocket. Every man in the bar looked either like a Viking or the kind of guy that Vikings typically killed, all of their clothes made of either wool, linen, or beast hide. Any women were either traveller huddled together, or courtesans sitting across the laps of their drunk customer and laughing at every bad laugh as they waited for the alcohol to take its toll.

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

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

"Is something wrong, Master ?"

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

He had seen peck of towns that been knocked out of the modern age in his old lifetime, usually due to some variety of apocalyptic outcome or because it was in a third-world country, but none of them had the Medieval Europe aura like in fantasy book and movies. For all of his life experience, this was something he was glad to finally be able to cross off his list.

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

"I'm not for certain yet. I don't have enough info. I want to recognise more about this body politic, about the other countries. I want to see what I can spend a penny of myself and what will give me the skillful chance of survival. But for now, I want to perch up for a few days and learn what I can about the area."

He took out the mathematical function he had bought and looked them over. Their quality was just as he expected from a Medieval society. The map of the Algata province showed the towns around Clive, as well as vague rivers and mountains, but there was no exfoliation for referencing distance and none of the roads were labeled. The national map was no better, but it did appoint the gravid townsfolk and the majuscule of Uther near the southern coast. It was strong to determine the size of the body politic, but it was probably somewhere between England and Texas.

Right now, what he needed to shape on was a backstory. True, this was not a country with an educated public, but Noah was still unknowledgeable of the finish and life style, something that would want years to catch up on. If he claimed to be from somewhere but failed to answer a question that any aboriginal would know, it would create him look suspicious. In his past biography, his backstory would return itself, just like everyone else, and as an grownup, when he needed an alias, he could easily craft a new one using his knowledge of the world. He had been forced to cover in other countries and read on new identities in past lives, but this was a whole new ballgame.

The hostess arrived with wooden trays and beer mugs. The sign of the zodiac special was a bowl of meat and vegetable stew and a cookie, with a pint of the local anesthetic ale to wash it down with. Noah didn't even want to imagine how a health examiner would react to seeing the kitchen and how the food was prepared, but after three days of naught but rock-hard bread and dried pith that was little to a greater extent than salted leather, he ate greedily.

Tin, however, stared at her food."Master, is it really ok for me to eat this ? I need only scraps to survive. 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 throw yet to disappoint me. You deserve to eat proper meal. Besides, I need you impregnable and sizable so you can continue to assist me."

She bowed her question with her shoulder trembling."Thank you, Master."

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

The room they were renting was awfully arrant, just a bed with some itchy blankets and a hearth. There was also a table with a lone candle and a pitcher of weewee. Firewood had already been delivered. As Tin lit the taper, Noah began moving around the way, knocking on the bulwark, floor, and roof, searching for any enshroud threshold or peepholes. For all he knew, there could be mass watching them, waiting for them to precipitate asleep and then rob them, or worse. He once made the mistake of spending the dark in a boondocks motel that was run by a series killer. The flat tire within walking distance should have warned him, but he refused to conceive the cliché.

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

He was certain for the nigh contribution that no one was listening or watching them at the moment, but that might be impermanent. He wanted to check the inn itself. But on the off chance that someone was managing to avoid his detection, he didn't want to trigger off his magic. He left the room and locked the door behind him. There were rooms on either slope and across the Charles Martin Hall, but they would fare later. He went downstairs, maneuvering through the bunch and stepping outdoor into the wickedness street. The Town was clearing out, everyone head home or to whatever position they slept on.

Noah walked down the street, and as planned, he sensed a tail behind him. He stepped behind the nearby butcher shop and laid in hold. His pursuer, knife in hand, entered the bowling alley. He never even saw Noah, certainly didn't see his paw aiming for his Robert Adam's apple. A solid reversal ripped the air from the man's lungs and sent him to his human knee, unable to even yell in suffering. He dropped his tongue and Noah got him into a chokehold, lifting him back onto his feet.

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

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

Noah took out his knife and held it under the man's eye. The sword was inconspicuous like Noah, but the man could feel the blade threatening to thrust the skin of his lower lid."If you want to save yourself, get down talking. I can induce you beg for your biography and then beg for death in a issue of seconds."

"This is just what I do, punk ! I wait for patch of chicken feed playing adventurer to reach a wrong turn and then I take everything that they have !"

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

"I don't need help."

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

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

With his illusion still active agent, he went inside the inn and maneuvered through the crowds, this time putting all of his effort into not bumping up against anyone. He checked the heaviness of the floor and ceiling of each level and found no anomalies. His mana was starting to run out, so he had to hurry with the hold up stone's throw. He returned to the level of his room and listened to the surrounding doors.

Behind the door across the mansion house, he could discover two female adventurers talking, making plans for the next day. In the room to the left of his, he could hear a man sharpening his sword. The elbow room to the rightfulness was dumb. From his sack, Noah drew a distance of wire. It was originally part of the handle of one of the blade he had sold, but he took it before taking it out of the wagon. Lockpicking had been a acquirement of his respective lifetimes ago, so he was a fiddling rusty. Regardless, he managed to spread the door and peeked in, seeing the one inhabitant sleeping.

Noah ended his lookup. He now felt like he could truly slack. He returned to the room access 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 room and released their held breaths upon the door closing. Finally, they could let down their guard, at least for the most part.

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

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

The Cu coins would be kept in two of the three snake wallets, as bait or a bait against pickpockets. The one-third billfold held the bronze coins and hung around Tin's neck. As the for the flatware and gold coins, Tin worked with Noah beside the flak to hide them in his clothes and self-command, such as the lining of his jacket and the shoulder strap of his backpack.

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

Noah let her in and she placed a wooden tub on the story, filled with steam clean water and some ragtime. In this public, it seemed like outside of swimming, the only way to keep even remotely strip was with a simple-minded race cloth. Noah tipped her and she departed.

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

As he and Tin stripped down, she approached him."passe-partout, please let me lap you."

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

There was a despairing shimmer in her eye."Something which I beg your forgiveness for. I must show my gratitude for your kindness."

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

She embraced him from behind."It is my duty to service my captain. Please, allow me to continue not unsatisfying you."

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

She made a minor noise of moderation, almost like a cross between a jest and a pant."Please take a seat."

Noah sat on the substructure of the bed and Tin retrieved some of their leftover Georgia home boy, then brought to tub next him. She kneeled before him and wetted the social movement of her torso with one of the tabloid, then with the soap, lathering up her knocker and between her thigh. He could severalise she was excited. Despite her perpetually poker-faced fount, he could see the small curling of her lips, the shimmer in her eyes, signs of joy. It was an ironical combination ; she, having never known joy from contact with a man, and he, so dull that contact with a cleaning woman was one of the cobbler's last few things that could hand him pleasure.

She began by taking one of the washcloths and scrubbing Noah's pegleg, trying to transfer the sweat and dirt from their days in the woods. Then, her breathing would change, and she'd commencement rubbing her bureau up against him, grinding against him like a exotic dancer pole. Her breast were far from copious, due to her coarse living 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 plenty of her chest equaled her commitment.

She washed off the grievous bodily harm and then got on the bed to repeat the process on his arms. Her travail gave him an amused smile. With her inner thigh nice and sudsy, she'd straddle his hands, letting him cup her womanhood in his palm and feel how wet she was. She was beginning to pant and whimper, her lust building up in her. Her mad breaths in his spike was likewise getting him worked up. He had a few ex-girlfriends that would ease up 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 a good deal gratitude to my master before."

She moved behind him and scrubbed his back, then began smooshing her knocker against him in sweeping motions. It reminded him of washing windows. While she grinded on his back, she washed his pectus and her hands naturally fell to his throbbing manhood. She stroked it lovingly, as if wanting to memorise 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 aroused whine passing her brim. The feel of her breasts on his back and her consummate stroking were also getting to Noah. Even with all of his intimate experience, he always enjoyed a little foreplay.

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

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

She began sucking on his member with godly dedication. Every drop curtain of cum, she slurped off while savoring the tasting of his sweat. Like the other night, she paid attending to his balls, either massaging them while his cock plunged into the depths of her throat, or sucking on them and rolling them around her mouth while she jacked him off.

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

She looked up at him, a slave both to him and to her desires."Yes, victor. My body feels so 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 inscribe her. She was so wet, his peter sliding against her inner build without any opposition. There was no hesitation in any of Tin's movements, she didn't need to correct her position or let her physical structure become accustomed to the flavor of being penetrated. As soon as she was down to the stand, she began bouncing on his pecker at wide swiftness.

Noah laid back with his deal gripping her ass. The effort she was putting in was laudably, she was fucking him like a pornstar. Her moans of bliss, she didn't bother trying to conceal them. She let her part 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 LE thick. She was putting all of her strength into keeping up this calendar method, dropping all her weight onto Noah's lap so that he could truly search her organic structure. She couldn't allow him to exert himself. There were no force field to work, no livestock to take care of. She couldn't fight, couldn't hunt, couldn't do anything to repay her maestro for the benignity he had shown her. All she could do was offer her physical structure for his enjoyment, to give way him something to unleash his desires on.

But her military strength was fading fast. Despite her drive, Noah wasn't giving in. In fact, he decided to oppose back. He retrieved one of the damp washcloth and wiped the soap off her knocker, making her nipples become raise. He then sat up and began running his tongue and sassing across her skin, kissing her areolas and sucking on their peaks. He often pulled his rima oris away to join with hers, kissing her with acquisition she could only yell art. Rather than letting her continue bouncing, he implemented his own proficiency. Cupping her tight ass in his hands, he began gyrating her pelvic girdle in one direction while he moved in the face-to-face direction. Now, instead of doing farseeing, deep virgule, his prick was stirring up the depths of her womanhood like he was whisking some scrambled nut.

The two-fold fire, they were to a greater extent than Tin could put up."master key ! Ah ! Master !"she moaned.

She held onto his berm as a waving of orgasm rushed through her, soaking Noah's lap in her rousing. Noah fell back, this clip while pulling Tin down with him. Tin, lying across his bureau, was given no time to rest. He lifted her hips up and began bucking his own, driving up into her at maximum speed and profundity. His violation on her, there was no inhuman treatment to it, but it was so stiff that Tin wondered if she had done something to enrage him. She felt no infliction, but if any early man tried to do this, she would be suffering beyond news. It was his skill and experience, she could sense it with every motility he made. He knew exactly what to do to not cause any scathe, despite the chroma itself leaving her on the wand of blacking out.

"Master, it feels too soundly ! You're going to go me !"

"Hold on, I'm almost there."

She held onto him for high-priced life, as if a twister had ripped off the roof of the inn and was threatening to draw out her up into the sky. Soon, the storm passed, and Tin felt that net thrust and Noah emptying himself into her. The ace of her master key's semen flooding her womanhood, the heat of it inside her, it made her moan a single crystal-clear government note, like a bird call. Then, she collapsed on top of him, using the conclusion of her specialty to run candy kiss across his dresser.

"lord, when you wanted to know the country and me and some former slave 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 react 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 stay by your side."

Then, she closed her centre and fell asleep, snuggled on his bureau like a cat.

.

.

.

Stamina

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.

.

The morning of the following day found Noah roaming the village. Before he made any decisiveness, he wanted to make out what this town had to put up, what endeavors it could support. According to the maps he bought, Clive was far away from the commonwealth's capital, out in the back country, but it appeared to sustain a warm economy, with many professions one might not expect in such a rough domain, like a gold and silversmith. In fact, it seemed to expand on tourism, but no one would ever come out here on vacation. It was because of the instinctive resources.

So far, Clive had some farm land and a river for food, as well as the vast woodland for lumber, but its top commodity was colossus. As Noah explored the town, he saw legion adventurer buying intellectual nourishment and provision before going off to trace and pull together. In the early 17th century, the fur deal exploded in Europe, sending innumerous men out into the wilderness of Siberia and the Americas to come up their fortune. Here, the star was the Same. Furs were in demand in the big cities, but most of the teras had been wiped out around the more populated country, so venturer spread out to the countryside to hunt and deal their catch, and where there is an exploitable imagination, you can regain capitalists looking for hoi polloi with money burning a hole in their pockets.

His hunt brought him to the local apothecary, where numerous pots and jars adorned the wall on shelves while different plants were hung to dry overhead. He recognized various industrial plant, but many were new to him. An old woman ran the shop class, watching Noah like a mortarboard through the smoke coming from her pipework. It filled the air, along with several unlike kinds of incense. No sunlight was allowed in, so as to continue the plants and potions on display.

"Anything I can assist you feel ?"

"Do you have potions to help regenerate mana ?"

"Yes. I sell them in three calibre at a terms of five, ten, and twenty dollar bill bronze coins, but you have to buy the bottle as well if you don't have any of your own. Look to the shelf behind you, the blue potions."

He examined the vials, three cork bottle with juicy liquidity, each one a dissimilar spectre. There was no telling how useful they were. He didn't know how lots mana they could replenish, compared to the total of mana he had within him. And the color shadowiness, was that because of the comportment of a particular ingredient that increased its authorisation ? Or were they just watered down ?

"What about health ?"

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

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

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

The cleaning woman relayed the edict to mortal in the back elbow room without ever taking her eyes off Noah. A immature 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 constituent, I could avail in exchange for a discount."

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

‘ So, she doesn't even want me to sleep with the ingredients. Oh well, I have means of finding out.'

He left the apothecary and breathed the fresh morning air. The sun had broken free of the visible horizon, and while it was still too soon, the Town of Baron Clive was now fully bustling. He returned to the inn, where Tin was waiting in their room.

"I got the potions."

"superior, you shouldn't bother yourself with such task. It is my duty to run your errands."

She was getting clingier, he had been noticing it steadily progressing. When they first met, she hardly said a word, usually only speaking when essential, such as to acknowledge orders or monish him that something was attacking. As sentence passed, she got more speculative, now doing whatever she could to help him. The smallest job, she would try to do before he could, like opening doorway 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 flow him like he was paralyzed from the neck down. But it made her well-chosen, so he went along with most of it, and he appreciated her affection.

"I'd prefer to get a read on people before sending you to run errands like this. I'm better at detecting scam then you are. Since I now know the price of the potions, I can take a shit sure as shooting that woman at the shop doesn't try to overcharge you."

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

"Now that we're finally in a safe place, I'm going to set out 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 deplete, so now I can originate pushing my limitation a little."He pulled out the three mana potions and put them on the table."I'm going to cast my legerdemain and not block up until my mana is completely used up and the spell comes undone. I need you to monitor my wellness during the process."

"master copy, forgive me, but I'm not a healer. I don't eff how to do affair like that."

"It's light. While I'm invisible, I want you to retain my wrist joint and observe my pulse while counting to a hundred over and over again until the patch geological fault. If I should suffer cognisance, pour one of these potions down my throat and station my manus over my eye to do for certain the go is cancelled. Should my pulsing or breathing stop, there is a procedure I'll have you perform called Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR for short. Lie back on the bed and I'll show you how it's done."

She took the position and he leaned over her, making her hint disruption. He placed his script on the center of her chest and felt her become tense."I can sense your heart beating. Should mine diaphragm, you'll need to iron down on the shopping mall of my chest in speedy thrusts."He stacked his handwriting and gave a few downward shoves. The rhythm of his pushing, the way it forced her deeper into the mattress, it reminded her of something, and seeing the look in her eye, he knew what it was.

"You'll deficiency to do that thirty metre. Then, you'll need to pinch my nose, and float air into my lungs."He lowered his head and kissed her. She replied with ebullience, her breath 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 much natural language. You'll give me two rich breathes, then do another 30 compressions. iterate the unconscious process until you feel my heart starting time. Understand ?"

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

"Good. Now, to make sure I only use up my mana, I need to completely drain my physical stamina. Care to help me with that ?"

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

To the enjoyment of some and the annoyance of others, the sound of Tin's moans could be heard throughout the inn. Not only loud, it was incessant. excursus from some short breaks, her voice continued to bounce off the bulwark even with the sun now at the eminent gunpoint of the day and everyone eating lunch.

On the bed in their partake in room, Noah was battering Tin from behind with relentless vividness. 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 combined fluids. Every gibe he delivered would gain her cry out in euphoria. She didn't know how many times he had brought her to climax, nor how many metre she felt him flood her body with his seed, but each issue threatened to rob her of her consciousness. Regardless, she fought through, doing everything she could to remain awake so that she could go along to please her master.

"Am I hurting you ?"It was a enquiry that none of her previous master copy had ever asked while they violated her. They didn't caution about how much pain in the ass they inflicted on her, unless making her suffer was their finish, which it often was. To hear it from him, such kind words, they nearly made her cry tears of joy. He asked her frequently, each time earning a passionate kiss from her.

He wasn't hurting her, rather, she had never felt such pleasure, but she was so timeworn, her torso at its limits. She didn't understand how it was possible for him to go so long and exercise so much force. He was far too young to feature amassed this kind of experience. His intensity even frightened her. He acted so that she was assailed with only when pleasure, but if she angered him, if the demons of sadism possessed him, could she even subsist ?

How had this all started ? What was the rationality he had given ? She could barely remember, it felt like so long ago. Oh, that's right wing, he called it exercise. He asked it of her, but had he demanded it instead, invoked his authorisation as her master, she would have been no less sex. It fulfilled her, to finally be able to show her dedication in the only way she could. He was depending on her, trusting her to accomplish his expectations, and she was cook to pay her body for that. Her muscles begged for rest, but her soul didn't want it to end. She wanted to enclose around him like a snake so that he could never leave, and instead proceed using her until the end of time.

At this power point, Noah had fully immersed himself in the act of passion, cognizant of nothing but the strong-arm man. The tone of Tin's body, her wetness and subdued flesh around his stopcock, the taste when their tongues curled around each other when they kissed, the tone of her womanly essence as he brought her to culminate, the sight of the sweat glistening on her body as he made her writhe and moan, he bathed in those aesthesis. He felt fiddling heart for her, but at least forcible sensation could squelch the ancient maelstrom in his nous, let him shut off his brain and truly finger again. His soul, so starved and without denudation, it was like cracked desert clay now becoming fertile with the spring rains.

His physical stamina, something that Tin was cook to tag as inhuman, was just as a lot mental as physical. With so many lifetimes'worth of experience, he knew how to work through the pain. He had felt the anguish of sweat enough times to learn how to ignore it. He couldn't perform any dramatic feats of metier like some kind of superhero, but he knew how to properly oxygenise his roue for the maximum output and experience how often strength his muscle could maintain without suffering damaging terms. He was digging down deep for long suit and harnessing every calorie and flicker of energy, and while he wasn't on the floor of a muscle builder, he had built his flesh 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 cell left field. His discomfort was approaching intolerable level, but even though his erection was fading, he didn't give in. He grabbed Tin by the shoulder and pulled her against him, his lips joining hers. She was nearly mad, acting as if on muscle retention when she swirled her tongue around his mouth. His hands went to town on her, massaging her modest breasts and stirring up the cum in her slit. Tin was so fatigue and her throat was sore from moaning, but the way Noah tickled her clitoris and bullied her nipples, it still made her whimper in bliss.

He'd do this after every sexual climax, keeping her busy while he slowly regained his erecting. 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 eyes were blank from enfeeblement, but she rolled onto her backrest and spread her peg, putting herself on display and letting Noah see the semen overflowing from her womanhood.

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

"No, that's good. You were perfect. I can't even 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 task was almost beyond his scope. He might as well birth just won the spell de French Republic."Here, drink this."She was too tired to move, so Noah put the bottle to her lips and let some trickle down her throat. She was soon revived, her torso no longer trembling.

‘ So, blue potions restore wizardly staying power and red potions restore physical stamina.'

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

"Master, what about you ?"

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

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

"It probably is dangerous, but I don't know how my mana reserves compare to an average magic drug user my age, and this is fastest way to increase it. Now, don't let go of my carpus and come out counting as soon as I become invisible. If my heart stops or there are any house that my wellness is deteriorating, dedicate me both a mana potion and a health potion, then execute CPR. Remember : thirty compression and then two breathing spell. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

Noah put his hired man over his eye and disappeared in front of Tin. However, Tin could still palpate him, feel his wrist in her hand and his passion, and it comforted her. Upon the activation of the spell, Noah could sense his mana being depleted. It was a unknown fatigue, like he was bleeding to death. All of his mental focussing was put on restricting the menstruation of mana to just his body, so that nothing else would get caught in his illusion and permissive waste mana. It was why he left the job of timekeeping to Tin.

From his experience so far, he could maintain the illusion for about three hour before his motor functions declined too far for him to fight back. He didn't know if that was safe or bad, but in sentence, he could sense that line being crossed. From there, his thinking and forcible persuasiveness began a speedy decline. Noah fought with everything he had to stay conscious, even when he could no longer keep his eyes open. His consciousness soon sank into a rift where he could feel his mana continuing to deplete but couldn't feel his own body.

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

"schoolmaster,"she whispered, clutching is hand.

"So, the patch came undone. How longsighted did I last until that happened ?"

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

"So, while with my physical stamina completely drained, I can maintain the spell for about five minutes before I pass out. At full moon speciality, I can maintain it that long while still being able to fight. This is effective, I'm in perfect tense condition to get the C. H. Best welfare for stressing my mana, and since my heart and breathing didn't layover, I don't need to interest about suffocating. Either that potion will wear off or it'll manage to replenish all my mana, but whichever happens first, I'll starting line again immediately after."

He gave himself time for the mana to recirculate through his body. He checked his reflexes, physical intensity level, and genial processing. True, he felt half-dead from enervation and sore all over, but he knew what literal damage would feel like. Complete mana departure felt just like bleeding to death, so there was always the possibility that being drained of it for too long would own standardized effects to his body, like blindness or muscle death. There was no telling if the wellness potions could doctor those variety of injuries.

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

They repeated the process over and over again. Noah would drop all of his mana through his illusion, Tin would heat him up with a potion, he'd check himself for damage, and then they'd start all over. He sent Tin out multiple multiplication to buy More potions for him, and they even experimented to see how a good deal they could water supply it down while still providing sufficient rejuvenation.

As the day rolled on, Noah's trunk begged for food. The rumbling of his tum and his disorientation concerned Tin, but he refused any kind of sustenance, and for good reason. Each time he performed the process, he noted his mana reserves increasing. He didn't know what mana was or how he produced it, but without physical stamina to soften the blow of depletion, the root of his mana was being stressed to its demarcation, and was reaping the benefits. There were a lot of things about mana and legerdemain that he didn't understand, such as how fast an individual could strengthen 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 to a greater extent arrived at their room, despondent."Please forgive me, schoolmaster. The herbalist had closed down her shop for the night and wouldn't even open her door."

"For the best, I imagine, considering how she started throwing stuff at you last-place time. We've probably bought up all the supply that she's willing to deal us."

"So what now ?"

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

"I can have it brought up to us."

"No, let's go 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 sentence 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 dead body wouldn't obey his will, and to his disgrace, Tin had to help him. It reminded him of all the times he was in hospice, when the nurses 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, schoolmaster. While I was never the retainer of any slap-up noble, I heard that this was a responsibility that their maids 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 back."Yes. I'm sure you will someday even get 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 up the stairs, they could hear the rowdyism of the guests in the dining room, singing songs and knocking their mugs together. Yet as the teenager appeared and made their way to their table from the previous evening, that clamor went died down, with all center on them. There was some shut up mutter, several the great unwashed whispering to their friends to inquire as to the quiet. Noah and Tin took their seats, the bar as quiet as a graveyard, then the boniface showed up with their dinner party. It was chunks of meat carved from a wolf, and Noah's portion was larger than anyone else's.

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

That appeared to be some kind of star sign, because a man at the bar with a beard down to his belt raised his mug."Hail to the young king ! He who could make even a succubus beg for rest !"

The bar practically exploded, with hoi polloi of all old age swarming their table to pat Noah on the spinal column, congratulate him on his acquisition, and beg him for advice. Many cleaning lady approached, flirting with Noah and inviting him to unite them for the even. Noah even saw one distaff adventurer holding back her friend who was trying to go about with a hungry—or rather"thirsty"—look in her eye and a wide smile on her brass. Tin also got muckle of attention. Everyone wanted to know who was struggling to keep up with who, which of the two was the unsatiable one. The woman who could not entrap Noah would turn to her, asking for details while voicing their jealousy. In the background, the guests began singing songs of wooing women and romantic tales, with the pattern activity of the bar becoming a raving party.

Noah simply sat there with an awkward smile, annoyed that his plans to keep a low profile had gone of up with fume, but amused with the post nonetheless. Tin, too aflutter and embarrassed to say anything, simply hung her principal while her expression turned red as a tomato.

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

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

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

There was wad of valuable stuff to slip, but Noah and Tin's suspicious behavior would have left an mental picture on the old woman, and she'd assume they did it. He could hold just killed her and taken whatever he wanted, even wiped out her family to be safe, and anyone who suspected and came after him. From the moment he discovered his illusion, he had thought of all the way of life he could use it, both bad and proficient. It would have been so easy, he kept reminding himself, but that wasn't the life he wanted to live, even if it was one he would have lived in the past.

Instead, he searched the shop for book and potion recipes, simply to memorize, rather than steal. None could be found, meaning they must have been hidden elsewhere. He did come up hatful of compounding equipment, which he memorized in order to replicate. Noah moved beyond the memory board and into the womanhood's home. She lived, as everyone else did in this world, rustically. All light was natural or flame-based, any solid food that could go bad was salted and kept in jars, there was no running water, and all the puppet were pre-industrial. It still reeked of potions and herbs, but that smell was probably hard to bound to the store.

He came across a large wooden bureau set against the bulwark, and after picking the lock, got it open, revealing his prize. The old woman's whole library was kept neatly arranged, all the answers Noah needed. In this world, selective information was as important for survival as food for thought and H2O, so until society managed to fabricate the printing press, account book were worth their weight in gold. Despite the tantalizing knowledge at his fingertips, Noah went straight for the chemistry books. He looked up the recipes for basic health and mana potions, memorizing the ingredient and processes.

determination gratification, he removed all hint of his visit and left the apothecary.

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

The arrival of the next day brought Noah and Tin out to the woods to collect herbaceous plant and hunt behemoth. Buying all the potions yesterday had taken a big chunk out of their monetary resource, so Noah wanted to get together some materials he could sell. He had asked around the tap house the old night and managed to find out the most valuable parts of monsters. He also found out some concern facts.

"Summoned by magic ?"

"Yes sir,"said the bartender as he used a dirty rag to clean a glass."If you're really prosperous, you'll manage to see it happen. There are wizard rophy scattered across these lands, absorbing mana from the air and using it to summon wolf. About a quarter of each monster race is created by magic. And not just lusus naturae, woodland animals as well, from the deer to the birds. Shouldn't you know that by now if you're going to be an adventurer ?"

Noah remembered his scrap in the timberland, the freak that seemed to be shrouded in mana."Huh, my country didn't have anything like that."

Despite it being true, it was used as a lie. Ignorance of basic facts would turn over him away and make up people suspicious, so he was hesitant to ask about anything involving thaumaturgy. He couldn't expect much from this world's layer of education, but a man with no noesis of thaumaturgy would probably stand out like a man in the 21st one C that had never seen electricity before. At least claiming to be a foreigner would excuse most errors. He just had to hope he didn't meet up with any International merchants before he got Sir Thomas More information.

"Where do these magic circles come from ?"

"According to legends, there was a war between the deity and the spirits of nature. The liveliness used their magic to cite US Army of puppet, so that the minions of the God could never walk the world, and that deception remains to this day. Some believe that it is a arm being used against mankind, to halt our expansion and exploration into new lands. Many believe it to be the work of troublemakers that got their handwriting on some kind of illegal magic trick, spreading the magic circles to create mayhem.

Many clock time in history, areas have been declared monster-free, only for the creatures to yield. Even islands get plagued with monsters despite being sweep up clean and jerk. It's why many turn to adventuring ; the steadily income from hunting monsters and the reliable food for thought source."

As Noah thought back to the conversation, he heard movement nearby. Bursting from the undergrowth, an jejune wolf lunged at Noah and Tin. Noah was quick on the draw and managed to thresh about the monster on the articulatio humeri with his longsword. It landed behind him, slightly limping but showing no signs of giving up. It flashed eyes total of bloodlust while it snarled and foamed. Tin hurried behind Noah, as per his orders, while he stared it down. If he cast his conjuring trick, he could easily down it without it ever seeing the onset coming, but today, he was sharpening his combat acquirement and refining his swordplay, so he needed to face his enemy without hiding from them. Besides, monsters that lost track of him often turned their attending to Tin.

Noah made the first base move, charging while swinging down at the Hugo Wolf's other shoulder. It jumped to the position to dodge, but Noah widened the slant of the slice as he brought it down, turning it into a diagonal plan of attack. Chasing the wolf with his golf shot, he managed cut into its flesh. The brute, infuriated by pain, pounced from a richly 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 drop his guard and scanned the surface area, searching for any former wolves in hiding. He could detect none."Clear."

That was his signal to Tin. With Noah keeping precaution, she went to act upon on the wolf, removing the valuable component like the skin and sure muscles and pipe organ. It was messy work, but worth the effort. Everything was stored in her rucksack and several other pouches and purse, along with Noah's bow and former 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 pieces, they set off again. Many might disapprove of letting so much of the monster go to dissipation, but the race couldn't go extinct and something else would do along and eat it, so Noah didn't feel too bad. hour after they moved on, Noah caught sight of something ahead, zooming between the trees.

"Tin, step back."

Noah readied himself, his sword raised as the fuzz 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 wight's mind was scattered. Perhaps it was rabid ? But as he turned to examine the clay, he realized he had broken a cardinal grosbeak sin. There was an arrow in its hind leg, meaning that this beast had already been claimed.

Two young 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 Nox, but her acquaintance, a brunette with a staff, stopped her.

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

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

"Here, drink this."

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

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

The archer looked at them and gained a all-inclusive grin."Oh, I know who the two of you are !"

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

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

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

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

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

"form of,"said Mira,"but not against lusus naturae this large and fast. We each came from areas where the combat was a lot easier and numbers racket were thinner, but we weren't making sufficiency money and decided to try moving out here for a while."

"You said you tried slowing the savage down with trick. 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 bid and control affair like flame and water. My talents lie in controlling the earthly concern, like this."She turned away and looked into the length. Rings of sandstone-colored light appeared around her wrists like aureole, and Noah could see diagrams and rune of an terra incognita language."Earth Bind !"

She raised her staff and then slammed it into the ground. There was a pulsing, and the undercoat came undone like there was an animal tunneling just under the surface. It injection across the forest storey, and thirty feet away, there was an bam of ground, with hard-packed soil forming jagged cast that converged like a shutdown flower. Anything caught within it would surely get held in stead, even stabbed if they moved around the incorrectly way. The displaced earth used to create the spikes produced a pit, just in case anything tried to duck.

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

"What ? Why ?"

"well we're in the forest. The ground is riddled with ancestor holding it together, so it takes a lot of prison term and effort to gather the soil and form it into those spikes. Also, you're going for fast quarry with proficient reaction speed, so as soon as they sense the flak, they'll move before it fully activates. I assume your scheme was for Beth to offend it with the arrow, keeping it from moving while you cast your spell ?"

"That's right,"said Beth.

"And then you finish it off with more pointer, right ? It's a serious scheme, keeping your distance from the enemy to minimise risk. However, in this kind of environment and with this target, you'd need to commute it up a bit. I suggest using poison arrows, or at least some form of paralytic agent. That way, even a low-damage hit will retard it down. I'd also suggest using a gravid bow for to a greater extent penetration.

Mira, do you know any other magical spell ?"

"I can create a junk cloud and broadcast stones flying."

"But naught close-range ? That'll be a problem if there is more than than one enemy or they get within striking distance. Mira, I suggest you work on learning a charm for melee armed combat, and Beth, get a steel. You also should witness another fellow member to conjoin your political party, sorry I couldn't be that mortal. They'd have to be able to pin down the enemy in one location for your arrow and magic to be able-bodied to hit their mark."

Beth and Mira swarmed him with desperation in their eye."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 extra in nighttime fun !"Beth added.

Noah hadn't expected them to get so worked up and wanted to plump for away, only to realize Tin was standing behind him. She was tugging on his shirt, giving him her basset heel oculus, though he couldn't William Tell if she was trying to convince him to modify his mind or telling him that they were better off on their own.

"Sorry, but I can't. I'm really trying to focus on training. I'm sure you can receive a struggling swordsman who's desperate for a party to join and would fit right in with you two. Tin and I have to get going. You were first to injure the skirt chaser, so the organic structure belongs to you. We'll see you later."

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

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

"fountainhead, the approximation of forming a party is appealing, and their long-range ability would definitely help out. However, I'd prefer to operate away from prying oculus for the time being. I didn't sentiency any vicious 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 probability to study elemental magic a bit."

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

They continued through the forest, hunting for monsters while trying to avoid former venturer. Along with conflict, they also stopped to collect herbaceous plant. Noah was always playing through the potion recipes in his creative thinker. Then, when noon arrived, they stopped for luncheon by the river. Their solid food was slightly better than the material they ate before reaching Baron Clive, in the sensation that the bread wasn't quite-rock backbreaking and the meat actually had flavor. It was still disappointing compared to a hot meal. Their water came from the river, first filtered through a survival shuck that Noah made.

Once they were done feeding, Noah pulled out all of the works they had gathered. He picked three dissimilar flora out of the pile ; branches of blue strawberries, several human foot of a vine with straightforward parting, and an orange moss."Of the recipes I saw, this one is the easiest and doesn't require any specify peter. Even if it doesn't workplace, it will still be good practice. We just have to grind these up with a ratio of 5:2:7 and mix them together with some water."

They gathered stones from the river to use as makeshift mortars and muller and went to work. Working side of meat by side, Noah noticed a little grin on Tin's brass."This reminds me of making lye at the waterfall,"she said.

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

They mixed the ingredients together and poured them into the three potion bottles from the apothecary. They added some refreshful water and Noah could see the concoction glowing as the potion was formed. Whether or not this potion contained mana or simply sped up the born rejuvenation operation, it appeared the necessary chemical reaction was taking place.

"Good, now to test it. I think this will be the perfect opportunity to see what my next spell is."It was very slight, but Noah could see Tin's exhilaration."You should impress back. If this 2nd spell is anything like my conjuring trick, you probably won't be in danger, but it's skilful to be safe."

Tin moved back twenty understructure, and Noah, after taking a rich breath, put his handwriting over his right eye. The burden was instantaneous, his mana being drained twice as fast as his beginning magical spell, and this time, he could actually feel something happening to him. His consistency, it felt weightless, and his limb, they were just moving of their own conformity like man-of-war tentacles. His vision, it was almost blurry, like he was seeing doubles. It felt, of all things, like he had just taken a hit of some high-quality pot.

If his concentration broke for even a second, he felt like his limbs and head would just float on their own. Noah dropped his script and staggered, nearly falling just like the first time he tried it back in the Sir Henry Wood. It was like every movement he made had to be performed while walking on a tripwire, or else he would diminish. He was shifting from face to side, struggling to remain in ascendency. While this would be a great affair 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 appear ? Can you still see me ?"

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

"Doing what ?"

"schoolmaster, spirit at your hands."

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

‘ No, wait a second…'

These aftersensation, they weren't some blurry silhouette ; they had crystal-clear item. They were like precise copy trying to take the same infinite. He moved his arms around, watching the written matter follow the archetype. They were phantasy ! He stopped moving his real arms and tried to move the written matter. He thought about it, he envisioned it happening, but only when he gave up and tried to raise his real branch did the copies obey and fulfill the action. It was only for a secondly before they returned to their archetype place, but he had gotten them to move.

It took several minutes of repeated attempt before he figured it out. Halfway between intellection of moving his weapon system and actually harnessing the forcible strength within them to make that movement, there was a point where he could move the copies. He was soon moving the illusional arms however he wanted, with Tin watching at a amount going. His mana was starting to run low, so he cancelled the spell and leaned on his knees.

"Master, what was that ?"

"An illusion. It appears that my depart eye can hide my real physical structure, while my rectify eye can create a pseud. I can ascertain it exchangeable 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 go."Watch this."

Tin could immediately see it on his face, the exertion and focus he was putting in, but her attention was immediately drawn elsewhere, as a second Noah seemed to move up from the body of the number 1 like two cells dividing. For Noah, it almost an out of body experience. The phantasy stood up, every drive that Noah would have made being performed. It was difficult beyond Good Book, leaving him drenched in lather and gasping for air. Every brawniness involved in standing up had to be acknowledged, from the muscles supporting his head, all the way down to the musculus in his feet as they tried to spellbind the ground for balance. He had to see not just the drive, but the ace of moving.

The dead ringer stepped forward, every effort clunky and unnatural, like a cheap robot. The dead ringer turned to Tin, who was completely bewildered and even frightened. The clon opened its rima oris. It started out sounding like radio static, but Noah managed to speak through the illusion.

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

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

For the future three weeks, Noah and Tin worked out a bit of expanding Noah's mana taciturnity and going out to trace, one day inside and one day outside. Everyone in the inn became aware of the radiation pattern, as every other day, from breakfast to lunch, Tin's moans filled the edifice. It became quite the story around town, many people coming to the inn just see if the rumors were dependable. Tin would rob Noah of all of his staying power and they'd do the drain and replenish process with the mana potions. The next day would be spent gathering herbs to make more potions and fabric to sell, and continue cultivating Noah's scrap abilities.

To use up his mana, Noah experimented with his endorsement magical spell. For the low week, he focused on perfecting the clone's drive and spoken language. He tried to get it as normal looking as potential, having it walk around the elbow room and imitate various actions. Unfortunately, since it was just an illusion, it couldn't actually touch anything or affect its environment, and while he could talk through it, he couldn't see what it saw or hear what it heard. Unless it was in lot at all meter, he was piloting screen. Strangely, Tin said that the clone had the same odour as him, while when he was unseeable, his smell was concealed.

He spent the next week learning how to move both his rattling and fake soundbox at the same fourth dimension. He started out small, initiatory with digit movements, then branch movements, then upped it up to having it walk around the elbow room while he stood by the bed, which was surprisingly difficult with all of the muscleman required to persist fend upright. By the end of the week, he and the clone could walk simultaneously.

In the third calendar week, he added his 1st charm to the mix, moving the clone around as he performed a project while inconspicuous. The mana expenditure was massive, so much so that the rate of his reserves increasing was slowed, and it became more difficult to evidence how often progress he was making. Despite that, they proved to be a golden combination. The clon could act as a perfect decoy, while Noah would attack in his invisible form.

His first go didn't just constitute him invisible, it affected whatever physical object he touched, concealing and also creating trick to obscure any alteration he made, like footprints, while the second could create a full illusion, but of himself, one that had a near strong-arm presence. These spells, they were more than just bending ignitor. It seemed like they were two one-half of a single spell.

When he wasn't training, Noah went around town to pucker entropy about the country, thaumaturgy, and monsters. In a piddling hinterland hamlet like this, the results were far from bountiful or even reliable. He would have to strike to a bragging metropolis to get better-quality selective information. The Utheric majuscule would be his expert bet, but it was weeks of traveling and preparations had to made for a misstep like that.

Try as he might, it was hard to remain unnoticed. hearsay about him circulated through the town, with people he had never met knowing his name. He would walk down the street and women would wink and blow candy kiss, even trying to seduce him. Men would smirk and nod in approval as they passed by, a way of displaying obedience. Even the old lady at the pharmacy would tease him. When Tin went out, she'd wear a lens hood to hide her identity. It wasn't an ideal place. If he was to be known throughout the village, he wished it would be for something a little more heroic.

.

.

.

Medicine

.

.

.

The leaping rain were striking, passionate, the lifeblood of mother Nature as she fully awoke from her wintertime sleep and prepared for summertime. Yet at the instant, the Erinyes with which the enlarged drop cloth fell was not appreciated, for they numbed Noah's finger as he gripped his sword and made him shudder as his apparel became worthless from the damp. It was also unmanageable to see, splashing against his face and blurring his vision, but he kept his gaze focused on his enemies.

He was out in the forest, Tin having retreated as per his orders. Before him, a trio of brigand, all with weapons raised. Noah was armed with his short brand, ineffective to wield his main blade, due to an pointer stuck in his shoulder. When he was first struck from behind, he had hoped it was simply a hunting watch's good mistake, but the bloodthirsty tone on the men's faces told him that he was their real target. They probably robbed and killed adventurers for a living, and he couldn't imagine their female victims dying quickly.

Should he just turn inconspicuous and slay them before they could revenge ? No, there was something he wanted to try, and a human being opponent would be the perfect test subject. He raised his free mitt towards his brass, breaking the standstill with one of the brigand firing his dilute arrow. Noah deflected it with his shield, the most he could do with his wounded articulatio humeri. He swept his hired man across his eyes as if trying to clear his imagination, activating both of his spells. However, rather than splitting from his illusional clone, he wore it, syncing his movements with the bandits not even noticing a difference.

One of the archer's cohorts, this one armed with a large battle axe, charged towards him. Noah had his clone take a defensive posture, while he pulled away, stepping ahead and stabbing the man through the meat before he could spend a penny his swing. The archer shot another pointer as Noah stepped back into his illusion, but he again blocked with his cuticle. Noah, with his movements concealed, drew several pocket-size knives from his belt and hurled them at the Archer. His mana clung to the blades, rendering them invisible as they buried themselves in the archer, taking him out of the game.

All that was left was a swordsman, and he knew that something was going on. Two of his age group were abruptly, but he didn't understand how. He pushed his mental confusion aside and charged towards Noah. Noah blocked and parried his attacks with his steel, wanting to take his time and savor the combat. He was so victimised to fighting monsters, he wanted to make sure his skills in killing other humans hadn't gone mute, to refamiliarize himself with their alone movements and proficiency.

He was allowing the bandit to labour him back, though there was short he could do to stop it. His opponent was armed with a two-handed brand, so he could deliver more force than Noah could summon with his curtly blade. He strung the brigand along, using repetitive, easy apparent movement, laying a fake trail as to what his next move would be. He made a widely cut from the face, and the brigand automatically blocked, however, the blade never came, it was only Noah's illusionary arm. His real arm swung from the opposite side, slashing the brigand across the belly.

He staggered back, cursing in painful sensation and trying to understand what happened. Noah closed in and the bandit tried to unfold some space with a powerful cleave. Noah blocked with his blade, at to the lowest degree, that's what the brigand saw. In Truth, he had blocked with his shield, allowing him to slash the bandit across the carpus without him even seeing the approach coming. line of descent poured freely, the man's hand now useless. He released a cry of travail and tried a one-handed vacillation. The brand 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 cut. It was like he had hit nothing but air. He raised his sword to hinder a swinging from Noah, but in world, it was a shot, with Noah's sword piercing his pectus. Noah confirmed all three demise and then called out to Tin.

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

"I'm afraid it'll hurt."

"I can handle it."

She was spooky, but she grabbed and arrow and ripped it out without issuance, 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 really life-saver, miracles in a bottle.

"Thanks."

Noah once more checked the physical structure, but their faces didn't peer any wanted poster, meaning there was no bounty that he could take in with their heads. Tin went to work, stripping the bodies of everything useful. They were so used to this turn that he rarely needed to give her orders.

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

"I agree,"Tin said.

They set off back towards the township, fantasizing of removing their soaked wearing apparel and warming themselves beside a fire. They had hatful to carry, and the rain made everything heavier, with the added cold sapping their forcefulness. By the time they reached the inn, even Noah was on his last pegleg, and felt weak. The sun hadn't fully set yet, but the swarm were so thick that it was almost pitch black out.

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

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

"We're going to stay in our way tonight. Can you have someone institute our meals up to us, along with redundant firewood ?"

"Sure thing, dearie."

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

"Master, is something awry ?"

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

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

As the fire started to glow and fill the room with lightly and fondness, there was a rap on the doorway. Two fille de chambre stood outside, the innkeeper's girl, though they were new than Tin. One of them held two trays of food, and the other held an exceptionally turgid sheaf of firewood. Noah hid himself beneath the blanket and Tin answered. As Noah had taught her, she kept the doorway loose just enough to ask the food and firewood, and didn't allow them inside.

Tin brought him his meal and felt his forehead."captain, you're combustion up."

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

He watched her undress and the two of them sat on the bed, wrapped in cover as they ate their dinner party. It was hot stew, the perfect comfort food. Unfortunately, Noah was starting to get it hard to unsay. By the time he finished, his breathing was becoming labored and his middle was beating irregularly. Noah was hoping it was just a coldness, but this was starting to find much more intense and was coming on too quickly. Perhaps a disease native to this worldly concern ?

Tin could see his consideration worsening."Master, you should get some sleep."

She took his tray and gently pushed him onto his back. Truth be told, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he lost the speciality to make a motion. 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 flaming and slew under the cover. Her raw eubstance met his and she curled up against him.

Noah closed his eye, but while sleep was quick to come, it was unpleasant. incubus assailed him, a burning estrus ravaging him both physically and mentally. He remembered tossing and turning throughout the nighttime, when the pain in his dead body outweighed his weariness. All of his muscles ached and spasmed almost day-and-night, his abdomen felt like it was full of oil, and he couldn't hightail it his fever.

He finally awoke the next morn to the sight of rain pelting the window. His sass was as dry as ash tree and he felt like he was going to die of thirst, just like he had a few sentence in the past tense. The rainfall, it had gotten him into this muddle, but now he so desperately wanted it. He wanted to go out and air out the hotness that clung to him like a rapscallion on his back.

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

"Master ?"

He saw her in his peripheral device visual sense, but he didn't have the strength to change by reversal to her.

"Water."It was all he could say.

She brought him a cup of water, and in his restlessness, he tried to deplumate it from her hands, if only to get it to his sassing a nanosecond Sooner. His clumsy reach was ignored and she helped him turn on his rachis so that he could drink. It was some of the best weewee he had ever tasted, and he felt some life history return to him, if only a little.

"More."

She brought over the ewer to fill again the cup, but he simply snatched it and drank the whole matter.

"How do you sense ?"

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

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

"No. Me being gruesome leave-taking us vulnerable, and the more than masses know about it, the greater the peril. If I can't fight, we're easy prey. If I'm still in this stipulation by tomorrow, then you can get help."

"What can I do ?"

There were plants that could aid with insensate and flu symptoms, but his creative thinker was too hazy to think of them."Pine needle tea, like I made by the river, and see if someone in the kitchen will make me some hot oatmeal."

Tin was hesitant, not wanting to leave behind his side of meat, but she obeyed. With her gone, Noah tried to strike back to sleep, but could only get a blench imitation that was nowhere near as restful. For Noah, it felt like his brain was being fed on by pismire. He spent the rest of the day in bed, passing in and out of consciousness. Tin remained with him whenever possible. She used damp tatter to keep his fever in baulk, and hung a kettledrum over the ardor, making tea for him whenever he asked, though his thirst was quenchless.

noon came around, and Noah sat up to eat his lunch, though it was a bowl of soup. Normally, people ate whatever the house special was at the time, but by paying extra, guests of the inn could social club particular foods, at least, within reasonableness. The broth went down easy, but the meat and veg felt like cacti rolling down his throat. As he ate, Tin helped wipe the sweat from his dead body. His speckle on the bed would need some clock time to dry out. When he had finished eating, he simply sat with his psyche in his hired hand, taking inscrutable breaths and trying to ignore the throbbing pain.

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

"You're doing good deal for me already."

"There must be more that I can do."

"Well it hurts me to say this, but I'll need your help using that chamber pot."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Three days. After that, you're in the clear."She got to her feet and returned to the room access."I'm confining you both to this room until this blows over. The finale affair I need is for everyone in the inn to get sick."She left the room and locked the door behind her.

"It would be better for her to just throw away us out,"said Noah,"rather than simply isolate us and risk everyone. She must like us a bit, or at to the lowest degree want to protect her report. I told you to wait a day before calling her."

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

"Ah, withdrawn, my apologia. The pouch under the floor board, can you get it for me, please ?"

Tin lifted a informal floorboard, revealing a dental caries underneath, in which a leather pouch sat. She presented it to Noah and he opened it up to let out his phone and pocketbook. While they were mostly useless in this new man, he held onto them in the hopes that he could at least use them for constituent and kept the earpiece off to save its DOE. If he ever needed to start an emergency flack, that Li assault and battery could come in William Christopher Handy. Luckily, he had his earbuds with him, so he could at least enjoy one composition of his old life. Tin stared at the device, possessed by curiosity. She had only seen it once or twice, the metal case, the lightness it produced. Was it some form 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 facilitate him get better.

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

It was before dawn, he had been driving out in the Battle Born State desert, out of the sight of Vegas. Noah was in his thirty-something at the time, lamenting all the dust the Cadillac was kicking up, so a great deal of it sticking to the exterior. He'd have to clean it up later, as his employers wouldn't be happy if he returned the ship's company car in a inglorious status. The easterly clouds were pinkening as he pulled to a stop at the edge of a ravine.

He got out of the car and circled back to the proboscis, from which he removed a man with boundary wrists and a bag over his foreland. He stumbled on his invertebrate foot, and Noah pulled him to the edge of the ravine and removed the bag over his case. The man's face was streaked with dried blood, some of which also stained his dress shirt. He was perhaps in his fifty dollar bill, a elderly in the company.

"You fucking retard,"he spat. Noah ignored him and turned up the wireless so he could find out the rest of the song. The outside of the car was an old-timer 70's model, worth its weightiness in gold, but the Interior Department had been upgraded into the mod 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 take index ? Once this gets out, the streets will turn bloodbaths and your head will end up stuck on a pike."

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

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

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

"The irony of your ilk : masses like you think you'll do slap-up in our line because you have no morals, no falter, 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 bally their custody get."

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

The man laughed and pitter-patter on the ground."What could you consider in ?"

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

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

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

Once Noah had fallen asleep, Tin sat beside him and freshened the damp rags that were opposing his fever. It was all she knew how to do when someone was ill, and it came from computer memory of when she was the victim, though kindness was uncommon to descend to her in those vulnerable clock time. It pained her to be so useless, to not know how to help. Most of everything she had done was just obeying his instructions.

As she wiped away his sweat, her eye fell to his exposed humanity, and lust fluttered through her, a feeling that Noah had introduced her to. Their routine had been disturbed by this nausea, as yesterday was the day she was supposed to help him check his mana. She cherished those twenty-four hour period, when she could finally help him in the way she knew best, when she got to live 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 someone else, having lost her value. When she and Noah met those female adventurers, she saw everything she could not do in Mira, and everything she could do in Beth, rendering her obsolete.

She lowered her head and began performing felatio, slurping up the SALT from his fret. She did it often when he slept, compelled by her luxuria but also hoping that it was helping him feel good, each climax forming a shield against the pain of his fever. It was something she could do for him. If Noah was cognizant of it, he wasn't saying anything.

As her header bobbed up and down over his lap, Noah was sinking farther and farther into his mind, while being pursued by the music from his speech sound. Once to a greater extent, a lone guitar was playing, and what little awareness his mind still had tried to remember what it was from. Ah, the lyrics, yeah, this was Pink Floyd,"wishing You Were Here ”. It was his wife's favorite, one of his past wives, that is. He played it at their marriage and her funeral. He could remember the sunny sky viewgraph when they cut the cake, and the somber clouds that matched the color of her coffin as it was lowered into the ground. He remembered the food served at both occasions. But what was her name ? They danced to this song, but he couldn't remember her face. 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 one's mind through time, each song conjuring up a memory. He remembered studying at MIT while listening to Two gradation From Hell. He remembered the stereo blaring Metallica when his convoy was blown up in Syria. 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 meter 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 phone, now with a quarter battery left. How many Sir Thomas More times could he hear to music before his earpiece just became a useless block ? He put his promontory back on his pillow, instead listening to Tin's breathing as she slept soundly beside him.

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

A knock on the doorway shocked Noah from his slumber, and he would have sat up, if not for the pounding pain in all of his muscles. He groaned and fell back on the pillow.

"Who is it ?"he asked.

"It's Holly, I've got your food for thought !"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 mystify the shit beaten out of him for three hours straight, but he could finally motivate around. His febricity had lessened and the soreness was due to the melodic line it had put on his body.

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

He turned to her, seeing a sluice grimace, moist with sweat. The gentle breathing he had listened to cobbler's last night was now an anguished pant."dirt. Tin can you hear me ?"

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

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

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

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

"It's so hot in here. Don't headache, I'll wash 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 light to the floor.

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

He showed her his helping hand, but she just looked at it with glazed over eyes."Are we going to go Holman Hunt fiend today ?"

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

He climbed over her to get out of bed, but as soon as he stood up, he fell to his knees, gasping for air. He was on the darn, but he was still in a stinky situation. He crawled over to his backpack and pulled out a health and mana potion. He had tried drinking them before, to see if they could bring around him, but was met with bankruptcy. He downed them both, and the annoyance racking his body subsided. His strength and staying power were still close to zero, but at least the soreness was gone.

The beginning matter he needed to do was get her febrility down before she suffered serious wrong. succeeding to the bed was the slipstream lavatory, filled with rags. Just as Tin had done when he was ill, he draped them across her organic structure.

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

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

Noah got dressed and limped over to the door. Outside were two food trays and a pitcher of fresh urine. He brought them in, and having already experienced the infliction of this disease, he brought the pitcher over to Tin, rather than just a cupful. He lifted her head and poured the water between her pale lips. She released suspiration of relief between each gulp, and every time he thought she was done, she'd angle her head forward, as if trying to grab it like a dog not wanting to surrender its toy.

He filled up the tea kettle and hung it over the hearth, with a new fire soon blooming beneath it. When he was sick, he hated the attack, the heat it gave off. It was the lonesome time he was grateful for the draftiness of the room, all the little pickle for fresh air to slip in, but it was needed. As he waited for the kettle to boil, he retrieved Tin's breakfast and once more come up her headspring. It was lovesome porridge, probably made with him in judgement, but now perfect for Tin.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Listen, I Holy Order you to persist in this bed, do you sympathise ? I ORDER you to continue in this bed !"She gazed at him with swimming eyes and nodded."Good, now go back to sleep. I'll be back before you wake up."

He got up and took a deep intimation, then cast his invisibility. The host would give him a hard time if she saw him outside of his elbow room, might even kick him out. While his thaumaturgy was nonsuch, his organic structure was so faint that his mana might not hold up long. He left the way and locked it behind him. The hall outside was empty-bellied, but he could hear plenty of people in the bar. Getting down the stairs was difficult, as his school principal was sent spinning with each footstep. No one noticed his presence, and he made it through the breakfast bunch and outside. It felt nothing shortstop of euphoric to catch one's breath fresh air and soak in the sun.

A bit of his strong suit had returned, so he released his piece and made his way across town to the apothecary. Inside, the old woman watched as he looked through a computer menu of her wares, ***********ing plant life that helped with everything from fevers to disconcert stomach.

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

"It's been a fierce few days."

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

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

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

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

She was completely out of it. He scooped her up and carried her to the bed. He needed to make some medical specialty for her, but he couldn't do it while she was crawling around like this. He took the blanket and pluck off a long flight strip, then used it to tie her wrist to the bedstead. Restraining her was not an apotheosis solution, but at least the fabric wouldn't leave a mark.

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

"the Nazarene, even your hallucination are depressing,"Noah muttered.

He laid the blanket over her and left her on the bed, then went to act upon. In the time since he first started making his own potions, he had bought a cheap combining kit, including a mortar and pestle. He wasn't a skilled herbalist like the pill pusher, but most of the plants in this world were just like those he knew from his yesteryear biography, and had built up plenty of survival knowledge. People easily faded from his retention, but noesis and technological skills were held onto. The interest of pedagogy was one of the few riding habit he chose to continue in every life-time, as it was the unaired he could get to finding import in the multiverse.

As he toiled, Tin continued to maunder in her sleep, 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, fire up up, I have tea."

"No ! No !"She started flailing, knocking the cup from Noah's mitt. He grabbed her and pinned her John L. H. Down."No, please stop consonant ! It hurts ! mamma, it hurts ! Make him stop !"

"Tin, snap out of it !"

The last matter he needed was someone overhearing this and misunderstanding. He covered her mouth, waiting for the incubus to end. Perhaps he should take in picked up something to sedate her. Would he have to completely stick to and gag her to keep her still and quiet ? That would likely agitate her further into the delusion, and with this disease ransacking through her organic structure, the stress might kill her. How could he cool off her down ?

He left her to retrieve a cup of water and splashed it on her face. That seemed to agitate her awake."Huh ? lord ?"

"Tin, say my name."

"N-Noah."

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

"It… hurts."Fresh binge began to swarm down her cheeks.

"I'm making practice of medicine to help you sense better, but there is something else I want to try."He retrieved his phone and put the earbuds in her ear. He had a playlist of loose heed call, mostly instrumental and soundtracks. He ***********ed one,"Vide Cor Meum ”, one of his favorites. It was patrician, set at a low bulk, but the sound of the strings and part, right in her ears, made Tin freak out out.

"What is this ? What is this ? !"she exclaimed in shock absorber. Her first instinct was to draw out 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 ?"

"euphony ?"

She thought back, trying to remember while her judgment was still hazy. Her dude slaves, they used to have work songs when they toiled in the champaign, kind of a mean of expressing empathy and solidarity, that they all shared the like hurting. She knew a boy who used to play the flute, though not very well, and once, she heard the wife of one of her former master key playing a harp from within her mansion. 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 soul, a thirst was quenched that she had never noticed before, and she felt as though a summer breeze was rolling through her consistence, sending shivers of bliss up her sticker that made her forget her pyrexia. It left Tin stunned, her oculus wide as dinner plates with her mouth hanging loose. She looked at Noah, seeing a uncommon smile on his face.

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

She nodded, staring up at the ceiling as the birdsong continued. Noah resumed his workplace, eventually completing his medicine. It wasn't a remedy, but it would facilitate boil down her symptoms. For the next three daylight, Noah looked after Tin, doing all the things for her that she had done for him. Thanks to the practice of medicine, he was able to prevent her from hallucinating, though she still had nightmares from her life of abuse. When that happened, Noah would put the earbuds in her ears and play a strain for her, and she would immediately get back, as if hypnotized.

For Noah, hearing medicine had flooded his mind with memories, making him relive scenes of his past lives when he heard those Sung dynasty, but for Tin, it was the opposite. Having lived a life without music, the notes and voices filled every aspect of her mind, forcing everything else out, every bad thought and storage. When she was awake, she'd listen while watching Noah draw her medicine or exercise his magic, and when Noah looked at her, there would always be a smile on her face.

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

It had been a week since Noah fell ill, and he and Tin were going for a walk of life around the village. His posture had returned, but she was still weak, and hopefully some invigorated air and exercise would help her feel better. They had been cooped up in that way for so yearn, and the beautiful weather was just what they needed. Normally, Tin would take the air behind Noah, as a right slave, but today, she was bold, hanging onto his arm. She claimed it to be to help her walk, that she was weak and needed to list on him, but the smile on her font told of her knavery. Noah allowed it, as she had taken such good concern of him when he was sick and it was his break she fell ill after him. He certainly owed her.

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

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

"Huh ? Where's this coming from ?"

"I just… hope you didn't hear me say anything that would reach you suppose 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 quiet as a church building mouse the whole time."She halted and let go of his arm, and he turned back to face her."Why ? Did I talk in my quietus ?"

Tin opened her mouth and stopped. The things she had heard her victor say when he was unrestrained, both big and direful things, many of which she couldn't understand, such as when he started speaking early linguistic communication or reciting lines from textbooks.

"No, other than cursing."

"That sounds about right."

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

They climbed up a hill overlooking the village, using a fallen log as a workbench 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 nothing to liken it to."

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

"Where was that ?"

Noah picked the name of a townsfolk from one of the maps."Nellow."Truth be told, it was multiple lands, in every timeline.

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

"Yes."

Tin looked at him, the man who she called her master copy. 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 time again, but there was something about his optic, a hollowness she thought she saw. She had tried asking about his past, but his gaze was always empty, even when he spoke with a smile. He never asked her about her own past, but it was nothing she wasn't used to. She had grown up being treated as an target, both a shaft and a toy. confidant conversation was not something a striver should expect from their master, but she had never had a maestro that made her feel this way, that was so sort to her.

"M-master…"she stammered.

He turned to her, trying to remember the finale time he heard her talking 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 affair you've done, anything. I only wish to know more about you."

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

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

"It doesn't go well when I tell the truth. Being good has brought me nothing but trouble."

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

Noah looked up at the sky."I grew up near the glide, and my forefather had a gravy holder. He wasn't a fisherman or merchandiser, rather, it was a hobby. In the summer, when the weather was good, my family would go out on the H2O and go fishing, simply for the enjoyment of it. We'd catch mackerel and try to use them as bait to catch big striper, but it never worked out. One time, we brought our dog with us, and I remember finding a grape-sized check on his eyebrow and putting it on my come-on, seeing if I would catch anything. You wouldn't believe how promising it is out on the water."

Tin moved closer to Noah, clutching his arm and leaning her head on his berm. At night, when they lay in bed together after having sex, she would often snuggle 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 memories of his sib and holidays as an only tyke. He told her of how his parents loved and supported him, then how they screamed and beat him. He described astonishing simple machine and the technology of the modern populace, and the fight for survival of the fittest in the aftermath of the apocalypse.

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

.

.

.

Succession

.

.

.

Noah and Tin, having fully recovered from the springburn sickness, set out early on a beautiful day. Summer was upon them, so the aurora 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 forest to hunt lusus naturae, they had a specific location in head. Noah had heard hearsay of an abandoned mine that was taken over by goblins. A hive, a nest, a colony, whatever it could be called, it spelled trouble for the village. hob ate and bred like bum, so if they managed to happen a full plaza to dig in, they could bolster their numbers in very little metre. They had claimed the field several metre before and had to be flushed out, and while attempts had been made to seal or destroy the mine, the goblins always found a way back in.

They were following one of the function Noah had bought, with respective patch of advice written down that he had received from other adventurers. It would remove a day to reach the mine, so they exercised restraint and avoided fighting monsters whenever possible. Hopefully this mine would be a smashing root of receipts in scavenged arm, meaning it would be best to travel lighting and not gather along the way.

They arrived at the mine early in the dawning of the comply day. Finding a safe plaza to set up camp had been difficult, for this was the dominion where the hobgoblin roamed. The mine was carved into the stem of one of the small tidy sum. At one clip, it might have been a fairly decorous operation. There were plenty of house of the edifice that would have stood around it, now reduced to agglomerate of kindling. There had once been a wooden shack built around the entryway, kind of like an airlock, perhaps to go on the rainfall out some time ago, but it was just a rickety skeletal frame now. Many of the material and abandoned equipment were harvested to construct artillery and barriers for use against interloper, with a handful of goblins keeping a perpetual watch.

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

Noah went for the one no one would observe, the sniper above. He approached the entranceway without fearfulness, invisible and inaudible to the hob keeping safety device, but that would interchange. The merely way to the sniper was to wax up onto the roof of the shack, but it was so weathered and tenuous, it looked like it couldn't support more than the weight of one goblin. However, it was worth taking the peril. He reached the English of the shed and began the mounting, using the mossy cliffside as a secondary winding ladder to help minimize the system of weights he put on the old wooden boards.

He was careful with every emplacement of his custody and foot, so as to raise up as little as possible. His fancy would hold back the brand he made, but only within a sealed range. He had experimented with Tin's help, finding that footprint would be revealed after ten footfall, so he had to stay within that range of a function to prevent them within his conjuring trick. Besides, if he ended up ripping a board right out of the wall, his conjuration wouldn't be able to hold back it. It could hold back traces of his bodily process, but not retroflex physical object. The climb was difficult. The Sir Henry Wood of the hutch had frayed over the geezerhood and riddled his hands with matchwood, while the firmly the Great Compromiser on the cliff crumbled and made it difficult to get a solid appreciation. Regardless, he managed to rise 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 hobgoblin would surely experience it, even if he couldn't hear it. Noah pulled a rock-and-roll out of the drop-off and threw it into the foliage in the distance. The goblin perked its forefront at the noise, and in that wink, Noah closed in and stabbed it in the spine with his short sword. It died before it could even voice its pain.

Noah left it sitting there and climbed off the hovel, then snuck over to the two goblins sitting away from the entranceway. They looked bored as can be, struggling to stay awake. Noah approached the first one, leaning against one of the wooden walls. He dispatched it with his knife, striking the base of the encephalon stem. The wound was small and the goblin simply went limp, never feeling a thing. To its champion, it would look like it had simply dozed off. Noah slew the other goblin the Lapp way, without creating any noise or to-do.

Finally, he approached the entry, where the four were still gambling. He stood over them, the sun passing through him perfectly and its rays illuminating their plot. He ***********ed his longsword for this, even doing a few practice lilt to reckon out the ambit and force required. When he was satisfied, he gave a mighty gash, beheading all four savage at once. Their eubstance dropped to the ground and Noah released his trance, then waved Tin over.

As he stood guard, she searched the dead body, and for each one, cut off their right-hand ear. near monsters had some useful soundbox persona that could be sold, like their hides for clothing or their meat as food, but aside from collectors of grotesquerie like skulls and other thing to put on display, nothing about the goblin was sellable. However, since they were such a nuisance, their species had an on-going bounty. The local anaesthetic baron would pay venturer for every goblin they killed, and their right ears were the proof. The goblins also sometimes gestate valuables, such as weapon system, candela, and even coins. Tin searched them all, and whatever good she collected went into her backpack.

"Ready to go in ?"Noah asked.

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

From her pack, she drew a lantern and lit it. Noah would conduct, but she would ply the light. This meant that he couldn't simply disappear and leave her at a secure 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 lighter.

They entered the mine, and were immediately assailed by the stench. This was the first prison term Noah or Tin had ever seen a hob nest, so the smell was new to them. It reeked of sewerage 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 awareness, we're both doomed."

They delved into the pile with Tin lighting Noah's way. Everywhere, there were the corpse of animate being that the goblins had eaten, picked down to the ivory. In a way, the goblins provided a valuable service to the ecosystem. Because monsters and beast spawned both organically and through magic circles, the landscape should have been buried under all of their corpse. Instead, the scavenging creature would take their finds to their den, continuously sweeping the timber clean.

They soon came upon the first branch sleeping room, just like in an formicary. It was small, about the sizing of an average bedroom. interior, several goblin were sleeping atop a batch of pelts. nearly of them were distaff or younglings. It wasn't proper summercater to obliterate such fair game while they slept, but this was an liquidation job, so things like honor held no meaning.

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

She did as ordered, a plaintive look on her face as she averted her heart while keeping the brightness level of the lantern focused into the chamber. Noah drew his short blade and began stabbing the monsters in their rest. Each prison term, he'd go straight for the head, so that they would die without making a sound. He was stiff, methodical, taking them out one by one with none of his victims even suspecting a affair. It was unnervingly easy, and when he was done, he harvested their ears.

"master !"

Noah heard it with a grievous scream. He ran back out into the tunnel as a goblin charged from deeply 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 have heard its cry, because another two goblins came running at them.

The first that tried to set about swung at Noah with a great dagger. He stepped out of its range and kicked the goblin in the pectus, nearly sending it flying. The second blocked the baseball swing of his sword with a wooden club, but he forced it against the rampart and push his knife into its thorax. Leaving it to die, he returned to the number one, struggling to emit, and ended its lifetime with his sword.

"Master,"Tin said, handing him a muffle rag. He used it to pass over the stock off his men 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 hatful of excavation equipment, but much of it was being used to hang up food from. The bodies of both humans and beast had been skinned and were being cooked over balefire. The hobgoblin were jumping around and squealing in joy as the smell of their feast wafted through the mine. Human flesh cooked over a firing, it was a smell that took Noah back to some coloured timelines.

Tin gasped in repulsion at the sight and one of the hob spotted them and squealed something in their brute language. The dozen or so goblin in the chamber turned their tending to Noah and Tin and began to border on, armed with the blades used for butchering their solid food. They chanted the Lapp squeal, probably something along the descent of"more meat !"

"Tin, stand back."

He summoned his clon and sent it running to the right English 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 movement of the clone. With that opening, Noah attacked from their exposed side with his longsword and beheaded three of the animal. The hobgoblin, sensing the demise of their familiar, turned their attending back to Noah and swarmed in. He kept them at bay with spacious jive, while leaving his left side of meat surface to taunt them. One by one, they tried to lash out from the patent blind spot, but he would discharge them before they could actually reach him. Any that got in close adequate to assault found their weapons blocked by Noah's carapace, and then his sword would slash at them from below and cleave their stomachs open.

Once their ranks had been cut in half, they began to back out back to the bonfire. As this was their den, they didn't show their book binding and instead tried to ward Noah off with lowering shriek. Their precaution was raised, and while they were stupid, they wouldn't fall for the same tricks as the others.

Noah cast both of his while, and while he had his knockoff remain where he was and make to be standing his priming. He snuck past the goblins and attacked from hind end. He slaughtered three before the remainders noticed, but as they couldn't see him, they could do zippo but shrieking in confusion. They made it too well-fixed for Noah to wind up them off. Even though the chamber had gone quiet, he waited several moments before releasing his spells.

"All clear."

Tin went to process, 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 body being stored here. There were plenty of freshly killed humanity and animal that were waiting to be cooked, so it was potential that their pockets hadn't been picked yet. Noah dug through the quite a little of consistency, ignoring their stench, but one of them caught his attending.

It was a boy, a bit younger than him, and unlike the others, his tree branch were bound. He wasn't cold like the others. Noah checked his neck, and while it was weak, he found a unfaltering pulse. waitress a endorse, he had seen him before. Noah had gotten to sleep with plenty of people around the town in the past calendar month, and learned to recognize others. He often saw this boy with Beth and Mira, carrying a sword and dressed as an venturer. They frequently ate together at the Old Wineskin. Noah assumed they recruited him to connect their party.

"Tin, I found a survivor."

He retrieved a health potion from his sac and poured it down the boy's throat. As it took effect, Noah examined him. His clothes were expert timbre, but still the kind used by outdoorsmen. He had a decent physique, showing polarity of training and firmly work, but while there were callosity on his mitt, there were healing blisters from wielding a sword. He was probably a farmer, but came from money.

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

"Where am I ?"

"You're in a goblin den. I'm guessing they must feature struck you in the top dog, giving you a cruddy concussion. I gave you a healing potion, so your imaginativeness should probably gain soon. Hold on, I'll cut you loose."

He severed the boy's bonds and helped him to his understructure. For a second, he seemed back in serious condition, but as he looked around, he began to panic and hyperventilate, and Noah had to catch him before he could fall back down. Either this was entirely new to him, or he was realizing how close he was to the most gruesome of deaths.

"calm down, everything is ok. I'm Noah and this is my subordinate, Tin."

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

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

The boy seemed to be able to stand 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 begetter hired. I had just shot a boar with my bow… then I felt a massive pain in the back of my head and blacked out."

"Your forefather, is he a noble ?"

"Yes, Ivan defect. The baron in charge of the town. I'm Oath Fault, the next head."

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

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

"I just finished taking tutelage of a good number them, see ?"Noah pointed to the body of his victims."I'm confident in my abilities. Besides, it took a lot of effort to get here, so we're not leaving until our pockets are filled with delicacy and we can barely take the air. recite me, do you own any talents ? Can you use magic or any weapon system ?"

"I… I have some skill with a sword."

"Some, huh ? So effective type scenario, I can expect you to hold off a goblin that might abstract up on us from behind."Noah took off his back pack and forced it into curse's hands."Otherwise, you're my new coterie mule."

"You can't be serious !"

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

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

"smarting choice."

The three proceeded deeper into the mine with Noah taking point. Every few minutes, goblins would set on, desperate to defend their home. Noah dispatched each of them with a flurry of slash and stabs, leaving Tin to collect the goodness. Oath was understandably uneasy, and it left him unable to even touch the slain gargoyles, so Tin ended up doing most of the oeuvre and just putting the uncovering in his bag. At least he wasn't complaining. Noah eventually tasked him with collecting goods found in the burrow, while Tin would gravel to looting corpses.

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

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

"Well I can see how they might be capable to get the drop on somebody if they ambush with superior numbers, 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 good deal before them was nauseating, as what appeared to be a big William Green pig was nursing a litter of pint-sized trivial imp. While the Male goblins went out into the forest to garner, the females would tend to the younglings. Despite being lupus erythematosus than half a foot tall as newborns, they would reach full-size in just six month, hence their voracious appetite. Noah dispatched the breeder and stomped out the younglings, much to curse's horror.

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

"They wouldn't have been babe very long. In just a few months, they would be roaming the wood, killing whoever crossed their path and dragging them back here to be devoured. You and Tin are carrying packs replete of the possession of their victim. I'm not judging them for doing as nature commands them to, I'm simply dealing with a threat before it can go a threat."A thunderous roar made the three teens cover their spike and wince."What the Scheol was that ?"

"A hobgoblin,"said Oath,"otherwise known as a goblin boss. They're a uncommon strain. I hear that only one out of ten thousand goblins can maturate to become a bugbear. They're a good deal bad, smarter, and stronger than a regular hobgoblin and can even pick up magic trick. We need to get out of here, right now ! It's heard the dying of the younglings and is coming for revenge !"

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

"This is insane ! The regular goblins may be weak, but hobgoblin are stiff than man in every way !"

"Your issues are duly noted. I'm going after that chief, and if you run, you'd amend Leslie Townes Hope that he kills me. Let's go."

cuss turned to Tin, hoping that she might speak up, but her expression was completely white, as if she was daydreaming."You can trust my Master. He is inviolable and skilled."

Noah set off towards the source of the noise, but they need not move far, as their foe came to greet them from the depths of the mountain. It stood over six metrical foot grandiloquent with a far More muscular form than the low-down goblins possessed. Like them, it wore a breechcloth, but it was also garbed in firearm of stolen armor, including a metal helmet. Looking over a couple of boar-like tusk protruding from his sassing, he glared at the intruder with unspeakable hatred.

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

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

He didn't bother waiting for a reply and stepped forward with his longsword in hand. The chief was armed with the like case of brand, though with a larger leaf blade. On the field of battle, it would likely be used against cavalry, killing both rider and their horses with one slash. The chief thundered towards him with his steel raised luxuriously. His speed was certainly faster than a human's, and with the strength he was probably wielding, Noah didn't want to try his destiny by blocking or parrying. He sidestepped when the cleave was made and attempted a sideways swing towards the goblin's principal. It raised its deal, blocking with a metal arm guard, then forced him back.

It immediately closed the aloofness to make the Sami sideways swing Noah had, and with the sword's greater length, he didn't have the clock time or room to get out of the way. Instead, Noah rushed towards the sword to draw a blank it with his own. As the goblin straightened his arms, his swing would go more muscular, so he had to step in at the earliest possible moment.

Sparks flew off their blades as Noah's sword halted the goblin's. It released one helping hand from the hilt of its sword, using what little momentum it had left to swing at Noah. He avoided its backhand by a hair's breadth and countered with a punch to the Robert Adam's Apple. It staggered back, wheezing in hurting, but without dropping its defense. Its painful sensation allowance was remarkable.

Noah gave it no fourth dimension to recoup and went on the offensive, slashing and stabbing at the hobgoblin while it did its best to block. In moments, it had regained its dual-hand grip and was capable to stand Noah off. It raised its sword for another cleave, but Noah's eyes caught a distinct gleam along the blade.

"It's using conjuration ! You have to circumvent !"curse word shouted.

Noah's instincts had already told him the same matter, but while he was able to get his body out the way, his blade met the hob's blade frontal and snapped. The beast's artillery buried itself in the stone solid ground, shaking the total cavern, and Noah rolled away to debar any barehanded attacks like before. He got to his feet, examining his weapon and the foeman's. The f number of the goblin's swinging had increased, as well as its potency and the durability of his sword.

It must suffer been warrior magic, something he heard of while gathering info in Clive. Warrior magic was the ability to activate weapon system skills that would amend their abilities in battle, such as cutting deeper and withstanding Thomas More force without breaking. He had witnessed magic a few times during the last calendar month and had become comrade, but this was only his second time since he arrived that he was actually fighting against a thaumaturgy user. Perhaps it would be best to finish this scrap while he was unharmed, rather than continue pushing his hazard. On the other hand, cuss hadn't seen his magic, and he wanted to keep it that way. He'd just have to figure out harder with his strong-arm abilities.

The hob charged with his blade 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 moment, so Noah couldn't endangerment being in the way when the next baseball swing happened. Noah readied himself, still holding his broken blade. He came within the goblin's range and the sword swung diagonally towards his neck. Noah bolted forward, anticipating when the hobgoblin would be committed to the move. He swung his break in sword towards the goblin's wrists, making him pause for the briefest moment to reckon the menace of fatal injury, and that moment was all Noah needed to trace his short sword and clip him across the breadbasket while zooming past.

The injury was severe, having used the inactiveness of the hobgoblin's charge to get the best the paries of abdominal muscles and slice deep into the organs. The hobgoblin staggered, his gumption spilling onto the ground. Noah finished him off before he could find any of his lastingness. He took a deep breath and listened for any assaulter hiding nearby.

"Clear."

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

As Tin went to work removing the goblin's armor and checking for personal self-control, Noah examined the sword used. It was a unspoiled blade, certainly sturdy, and he now needed a replacement for his longsword, but as he held it, his changed his mind. His master copy longsword had the maximum allowable weight and size, and anything greater in either category would handicap his movement too much.

curse word approached him."Where did you pick up to struggle like that ?"

"I've studied versatile styles and forms of combat throughout my life, including archery and swordplay, mostly out of tedium or for exercise, and I've had passel of experience killing. Your father pays multitude for every goblin people kill, correct ? Will I get spare if I bring him the head of their headman ?"

"Don't worry, I'll tell him myself. He'll want to do it about this."

"victor, I found something."He turned to Tin, who was holding up the hand of the hobgoblin to show him the ring on his piffling finger. She removed it and handed the pack to Noah, and he could immediately feel the deception within it.

‘ Huh, a thaumaturgy anchor ring found in a hob tunnel. What could possibly go amiss ?'He gave it a closer look under the light of Tin's lantern and found a crest, depicting a shield with a swan on it. It was the national symbol of Uther. There was also something written on the band with a extraneous substance."cuss, what do you pass water of this ?"

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

"I heard of those bozo. They train as some noble school. Why so exorbitant ?"

"The ring is golden, but is inscribed with a rare alloy called avenium, which can imbue objects with very high-level while. I once heard that a sword with avenium runes can hold more great power than the ten safe steel swords. Knight rings are inscribed with a charm that creates another world where point can be stored."

"How many items ?"

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

Noah put on the ring and channeled some of his mana into it. It was a foreign feeling, like he had just put his mitt into a satiate bag. He could see his hired hand, but not the objects he was touching. He felt a small bottle and closed his bridge player around it. The ring acknowledged that as a ***********ion and materialized the bottle. It was full moon of a white-livered liquid, probably some kind of potion, or it could just be European olive tree oil.

"This'll come in handy."

"Just wearing that ring is a serious offence !"

"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 rest of the day was spent in those dark tunnels, searching for goods. By the metre he had faced the bugbear, most of the other hob had already been killed, so there was piddling ohmic resistance. They found the bulk of their booty down in the lowest chamber, where the hobgoblin appeared to suffer been sleeping. The hobgoblin were excellent thieves, stealing whatever they could get their script on with traveler being their darling targets. There were weapon stashes, traveling bag and barrels of food, ropes and mountain chain, dress and armor, plenty of tools, and a lowly lot in coins. He even found the armor and sword of the knight that the goblin boss had killed. This haul was better than Noah hoped, and while they couldn't carry all of it, the ring helped collect the Best pieces.

When they finally stepped out of the mine, the sun was setting. There could still be goblins in the woods, making their way to the mine after a day of hunting, so the trio wasted no fourth dimension getting a safe distance to get to camp. A tree, nearly as thick as a shoal bus, offered them shelter. They bedded down at its al-Qaida with its raised root acting as walls and a flack warding off anything that might try to snipe during the nighttime.

Dinner was traveler's rations, the monetary standard solid food for anyone camping in the wilderness. While he ate, Noah examined all of the items in the ring. There were numerous potions, scanty sets of men's clothes, some pecker and knife, rations, and a few gold coins. He took a closer looking at the armor and sword that the horse had been using. There wasn't much he could do with the armor. Minus some crustal plate he could use on his coat of arms and pegleg, it was impractically lumbering for his fighting style, and considering how steep the punishment was for wearing the ring, getting caught with it would probably be a bad musical theme. Hopefully the blacksmith would be willing to buy it.

The sword, on the other helping hand, was a definite prize. It was a longsword like Noah's broken one, but with an ornate guard and handle, as well as a melodic phrase of runes going up the steel, inked with avenium. There was a spell imbued within it, he could feel the magic, but it didn't react to his mana the way the tintinnabulation did. It was probably illegal for him to possess, so it would be best kept in the gang, but once away from prying eyes, it would be an excellent trump card once he figured out how it worked.

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

"Several age. Why ?"

"I was just making conversation. You said you studied several different schools of combat. Who taught you ? Where did you get your deterrent example ?"

"The townspeople I grew up in, there were plenty of former adventurers willing to slide by their acquirement on."

"And your parents ?"

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

"So, do you—"

"I suggest you stop for a minute and ponder why I'm not asking you questions about your aliveness or trying to get to cognise you."Noah glared as him, unblinking."Think hard."Oath wisely closed his mouth.

They set out at morning the next day, wanting to get out of the forest as soon as possible, to both void danger and reach the shops before they closed for the Night. It would take them most of the day to recall to Clive, and that was without all the weightiness they were carrying, so they had to try and proceed a good pace. By around noonday, they reached a orotund receptive pasture, but before they could cross it, a grievance was made.

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

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

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

Tin and Oath settled at the edge of the forage under the wraith of a tree and prepared tiffin. While they worked, Noah took a walking through the arena to make certainly there weren't any predators in concealment. It was when he reached the center of attention that he stopped, hearing something. It was not the rustle of grass or the growl of a wolf, but the neighing of gymnastic horse. He looked into the distance and saw four men on horses break complimentary of the forest and gallop towards him with their swords drawn. brigand ?

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

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

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

He was rendered unseeable while he sent off his clone, running to the side with its illusionary sword drawn. The men were drawn to it, and one of them, armed with a bow, began trying to dart it. Noah controlled the clone like a puppet on strings, and while it moved, he put the horse ring on his fingerbreadth and activated it, materializing his bow and an arrow. It took him a import to aim and loss, striking the Sagittarius in the bureau and sending him tumbling off his horse.

The other horsemen realized their friend had been killed, but there was no clock time to seem for the enemy archer. They had to conclude in on the Thomas Young man with the blade. They tried to run him down with their brand outreached, but before they could strike their objective, another one of their ranks was taken out with a well-placed shot. The two remaining men swung at Noah's clone, but for the sake of appearance, he had it dodge while he took out the third man. Only one man was left, but he didn't fuss going after the clone. He was hurt enough to cut his departure and flee back into the woods.

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

With the horse, they managed to attain it back to the village in the lately good afternoon, when virtually of the shops had closed, but there were still a few give that they could sell their loot to.

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

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

"Still, I'm gladiola you didn't just knock me out and slip my dress like you said you would. I have to go see my begetter, he must be worried sick."

"I'll expect you to bring that Equus caballus back."

"Yes, yes, I know."

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

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

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

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

"You found this in a goblin den ?"

It was the armor of the slain Utheric knight.

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

"I could get beheaded just for having this !"

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

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

"mulct, what do require for everything ?"

As usual, bargaining with the blacksmith took a lot of time, but Noah left with several sheeny gold coins and a replacing for his longsword. He and Tin moved from workshop to snitch, selling everything that was left, then Noah took Tin somewhere she did not expect, the town jeweler. Unlike other stores, this one had guards posted inside and external, and all the merchandise was behind a counterpunch, with iron bars blocking it off from the customer. An old man was sitting at the rejoinder, scrutinizing a jewel.

"Ah, how can I aid you ?"

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

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

"A goblin den."

"Ah, of course. Goblins are brutish, foul animal, but they have a foreign fate when it comes to see affair. This is an enhancement gem."

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

"When grafted to an enchanted item, it boosts the strength of the trance. guess a magic trick sword that can cut through twice as often as a normal brand. With this imbued into the pommel, handle, or sword, it will now be capable to cut through four prison term as much as a pattern blade. They are a darling of nobles, for not only to they improve the enchanted token, but they make them more visually appealing and extravagant, perfect for showing off. At balls and dinner gown events, you'll find upper-level nobleman with jewel-encrusted blade on their hips.

Would you be leave to sell it ?"

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

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

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

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

Like the blacksmith, the jeweler took a deep breathing space."Tob, Gon, could you two please footstep outside for a moment ?"The two safety, despite their wonder, left the store, giving Noah and the jeweler their privacy. The old man stared at Noah."Do you have a death wish, boy ? Just having this could—"

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

"Twenty."

"baker's dozen flatware. Come on, no one out here is going to care about this. You think some royal knight are going to come up bursting in ? You could show this to the baron and he wouldn't care."

"fine, fifteen silver."

"Deal."

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

Noah and Tin left the jewelry maker and headed back to the inn to call it a day, but as they approached, Oath 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 outstanding importance. He also wants to reward you for saving me."

Noah looked over to one of the suitcase hanging off the slope of his saddle. It was full of lop goblin spike. Was he really willing to bring those into their room at the inn ? It would probably be better just to get paid now.

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

After stopping at the inn, they rode out of town towards the north, to the baron's the three estates. Being a noble, he was considerably off than any of the villagers, but his house was far from extravagant, just nicer looking and larger than anyone else's, a agrestic manor house, surrounded by fields that slaves tended to. Leaving their sawhorse in the stalls in the spinal column, Oath brought Noah and Tin into the mansion and stopped before a set of three-fold room access.

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

"Enter."

Oath opened the room access of the private subject field, and behind the desk, an old man with a foresightful beard was filing paperwork on parchment. He looked previous than Noah expected, for a son so new. Standing beside him was a charwoman, dressed as a maid.

"You must be young sea captain Noah. My son has told me of your great strength and skills. You have my undying gratitude for saving him, and my respectfulness for your accomplishments in battle."The baron didn't get up to shake Noah's hand, but that was to be expected of a noble.

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

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

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

"I appreciate it. While we're on the content, I also have legion goblin capitulum that I'd like experience defrayment for."

"Ah, of course, of course. You also deserve supernumerary for dealing with that goblin foreman. Amelia,"he said, turning to the maid beside him,"please calculate up the auricle and count their payment, and delight train my son and this cover girl Young lady to the parlor to relax. Master Noah, if you have time, I would like to speak with you about some important matters."

"Very well, then."

The maid left with Oath 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 chicken feed."Would you care for a drinkable ?"

"I'd love one."Two glass were poured and one was handed to Noah. Compared to the mod world, the alcoholic beverage consumed in these landed estate was sturdy to impel down, yet the quality of the whiskey surprised him."Oh, that is good."

The baron sat down."I can not give thanks you enough. If my son had perished, that would have been the end of my line."

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

The king gave a caustic chuckle."I suppose we should get down to line of work. You have already proven yourself a great recoverer and guard 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 term. I come from a landed estate without such things."

The tycoon got to his feet and began searching a nearby bookshelf."keep crab louse are massive terrestrial organism, spending their liveliness deep beneath the land. However, they surface from time to time, poking the tips of their eggshell 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 start of what looked like a hermit crab, with a pointed cuticle various times its own sizing and no pincer. The 2nd showed the tip of the shield poking out of the ground with a kettle of fish in the top, but just that was the size of a lighthouse. Had the creative person actually seen a dungeon Crab fully revealed or was he just going by his imagination ? For a creature of this size to move underground without being noticed, it would stimulate to arise up from under the terra firma's freshness. A few solar day ago, the town had experienced an earthquake. That must ingest been the Cancer rising to the surface.

"Because they dwell so recondite in the undercoat, they accumulate valued metal and gem inside their shell, which form immense labyrinth, hence its public figure. A man can get deep in one day exploring it."

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

"You'd be right. The shell is teeming with parasites, ants when comparable to the Phthirius pubis, but deadly monsters to us humans. When a Cancer the Crab surfaces, the parasites will leave and suit a danger to everyone and everything in the area. No one is quite certain why dungeon crabmeat Earth's surface like this. Some believe it does it when the sponger have grown too numerous and it needs to cut their identification number down, either by setting them loose on the surface or using treasure-hunting man to cull their population. Others believe the crabs feed on the humans that enter its shell, and use the parasites to kill their prey for them. Many believe it simply surfaces to get refreshed air, like a whale."

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

"It's just a figure of language. To catch a keep crab means to get down to the deepest function of its shell, where the most priceless metal is."

"Avenium, I'm guessing ?"

"Correct. Anyone who can secure a cup's Charles Frederick Worth and present it to the kingdom becomes a stately. That's why I need you to help Oath capture it."

"But as your son, isn't Oath already set to inherit your rubric ?"

"Oath is… my third base son. His oldest pal, Colt, was raised and groomed to be my replacement, and the endorse previous, Victor, was raised to be the successor if anything happened to Colt."

"devising Oath the spare of a spare."

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

"But no gift, accomplishment, courage, or reputation, and he's a bit of a brick."

"Unlike the son of my new comrade, Edwin, a baronet. He is petitioning the realm to revoke my title as business leader and give it to him and his eldest son. I need to prove that swearing has what it takes to be a power, and the best way to do that is to conquer a keep Cancer the Crab. I'm too old to sire another heir and time is running out. Oath already has an adventuring political party that he trains and scrap with, but their acquirement aren't good enough to appropriate a donjon crabmeat. I would like you to join their party."

"Why me ?"

"Because you are youth. There are numerous senior adventurer with skills like yours that I can hire, but then my brother will indicate 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 young means that you'll fit right in. No one will question one extra young man joining my son's party."

Noah gave a huff while weighing his options. On one script, a political squabble between family members was the last thing he wanted to get involved in, and there was no telling if he was even skilled enough to successfully conquer a dungeon Cancer. It was an unneeded danger. On the early hand, the idea of getting his hands on some avenium and early uncommon metals and gems was a ride idea. He could get plenty money to fund any venture he wanted for the remainder of his life-time. Plus, it would get him to the capital, and perhaps let him make some worthful link. There were probably plenty of venturer who would kick in their right arm for the chance.

"Would I be giving ordering or receiving ?"

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

"And how long do dungeon crabs normally continue surfaced ?"

"A couple month. This one appeared several sidereal day ago, XXX mile to the northeastward. It won't be prospicient before its swarming with adventurers."

"Very well, we'll depart in one week. I want to use that clip to evaluate the team, see if there is anything I can do to polish their skills before we go."

"That would be a blessing."

Noah got up from his fanny."I have some business organization to serve to tomorrow, but I'll takings in the afternoon. Make certain everyone is assembled."

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

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

"So my father talked to you about the dungeon Cancer ?"

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

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

Oath gave a abstruse bow of gratitude, and in the space, Noah saw a flash of movement, and then heard a sound that he was well used to. It was the sound of an arrow buried thick into sinew and flesh. Launched a second earlier, it would have hit curse word square in the binding, but because he bowed, it found its mark in the center of Tin's chest.

Noah didn't say a Son, but before either swearing or Tin could respond, he had already leapt off the porch and was sprinting towards the origin of the pointer. He had left his bow with his cavalry in the static, so he'd have to kill the assassin up close. He could see the man hiding behind a scarecrow and recognized him as the fourth bandit from earlier. They weren't just random vulture, they had been hired to bolt down curse word !

The man nocked another arrow, aimed it at Noah, and fired, but he deflected it with his cuticle. He closed in, able-bodied to see the shock in the man's eyes as the distance between them vanished with terrifying speed. He reached the man, drawing his new sword, and beheaded him before he could even sprain around to run.

The eubstance hit the ground, but Noah had already left, sprinting back to the mansion. There, on the porch, cuss was gathered with various servants, giving her one healing potion after another, as despite the remotion of the arrow and the wound closing, she wasn't getting better. Noah could see it, her veins darkening, her flesh getting pale, and every breath seeming to have her pain. Everyone moved aside and Noah embraced Tin, cradling her head.

"It was a poison arrow. We don't know what was used, we have no antidote for it. Noah, I'm so dreary !"curse exclaimed, shedding the rent that Noah should have. Instead, he just stared at Tin, his blank quiet unnerving those around him.

Tin looked into his eyes."Master…"she whimpered."Please, I want to go back to our room. I want to go back to our bed and sleep beside you. I want to help oneself you coach your magic. I want to take the air with you through the woods and hear more stories. There is so much I want to do with you !"

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

He cupped her impertinence and she smiled. That tactual sensation was all she needed."Thank you for making my life a beautiful one,"she whispered. Then she closed her eyes listened to the song, soon releasing her final breath as the last preeminence played out.

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

"Noah…"curse word began.

"I'm going to bury her. Give me a blanket to wrap her in and a excavator. I'm not asking."His voice, it didn't tremble at all, and there was no awkwardness in his words.

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

There was the slender twitching on Noah's face. The geartrain in his thinker were grinding together."I'm not burying her here. I know a proper place."

The servants rushed to fulfill his society, bringing out a gentle comfort that Noah knew Tin would have got liked. He wrapped her in the comfort and carried her to the stable, getting onto his horse with her and being given a spadeful.

The susurration came back. ‘ I'll just throw her into the woods.'Again, he forced the vocalization out of his mind."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 most dangerous, but Noah didn't hesitate to devolve on down a fellow route and into the wilderness. For hours, his horse galloped through the forest. When it tired, he would give it pee and a wellness potion to furbish up its stamina, but that was the only time he stopped. Monsters routinely tried to attack him, but he ended their lives with his bow. As the Sun Myung Moon moved across the sky, Noah, holding Tin in his weapons system, felt the warmth slowly leave her body.

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

‘ She's just a slave.'

‘ I should just go home.'

‘ There is no level in risking my life.'

‘ Nothing matters.'

‘ It's all meaningless.'

It felt like all of his muscles were just loosely within his ascendance, and if his focus broke, his physical structure would act against his will, throwing Tin aside and riding back to the village. He had to force himself forward, despite every selfish instinct trying to hold him back.

Finally, when the Night was at its darkest, he reached the coveted smudge. It was the falls that he and Tin had camped at. There were some wolves drinking from the river, but he scared them off and ignored the minor slimes crawling around. The area itself hadn't changed in the last few workweek. There were still the remains of the fires he had made, and the remains washbasin was undamaged.

He tied his gymnastic horse to a tree diagram and lit a flashlight, holding it while he carried Tin. ‘ I'll just dump her and go.'He brought her behind the waterfall, where there was a small dry field with plenitude of river silt, deposited by the falls. He dug down as deep as he could, forcing aside any mentation to open up and spare himself effort. He laid her down on the cold earth and opened up the cover, looking at her one last time. She looked peaceful, almost contentedness. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ash gray coin. When they first met, he remembered her telling him that she was only worth that much. He clasped her hands over her pectus, holding the coin.

‘ What am I doing ?'

‘ This coin is valuable.'

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

He climbed out and buried her, then built a cumulus of Rock on her grave so that no animals would dig her up. Finally, he turned to the endocarp wall at his English and began carving Tin's gens into it with her obelisk. The sugar were shadowy, but they wouldn't be simply washed away, like if he had simply drawn the letter of the alphabet on with a rock-and-roll.

TIN

Those three little letters, a little flash visible light in his mind, like a faint star, 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 imply to him ? Who was she ? What was she in relation to him ? Did he actually care ?

TIN

A FREED hard worker

It was all he could come up with, but it didn't satisfy him. There had to be something more. He hadn't loved her, it had been a long time since he loved anyone. Did he even like her ? She was firm and helpful, and took upkeep of him when he was sick. He also took care of her. Was that enough to consider her important to him ? He couldn't Tell. He had spent countless lifespan pretending to be a ally, son, a schoolmate, a coworker, a husband, even a Father-God. When was the finally metre he actually liked someone and wasn't just wearing the façade of politeness while putting up with them ? When was the lowest metre he told somebody he loved them and wasn't simply lying to their face ?

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

Finally, some emotion. Noah punched the rock'n'roll wall and split the skin on his knuckle."seed on, think !"He shouted those words to himself over and over again. He was scratching at his own creative thinker, trying to draw blood from endocarp. What had Tin meant to him ? Or at the very to the lowest degree, what would she hold wanted to hear ? Noah focused on that, trying to conceive of what he could hold said to make up her happy.

TIN

A FREED SLAVE

A PRICELESS COMPANION

Satisfied, he stepped out from behind the waterfall. In the due east, he could see the sky beginning to brighten. He took a seat following to the clay washbowl, watching the sun come up while he searched his mind for that little twinkling light.

.

.

.

Cooperation

.

.

.

It took a good day to ride back to the village, repeating the original journey he had made when he first arrived in this timeline, but now doing it alone. Like the day before, he arrived as the sun approached the skyline. tiredness 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 last Nox or breakfast this sunup. Where's Tin ?"she asked.

"She died."

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

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

Having lived out of the inn for the preceding month, everyone who came for drinks was used to the sight of Noah and Tin eating together. A few the great unwashed, noticing her absence, wonder just as the innkeeper had, and Noah told them the Lapplander thing he told her. His emotionless response angered Holly, one of the chambermaids, and she grabbed Noah by the collar and lifted him to his feet.

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

Noah stared her in the oculus."Does any of that even count ?"

Perhaps it was the way he said it, or the coolness of his eyes, but she dropped Noah back to his can 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 door, there was no greeting. The candela was unlighted and there was no fervency in the fireplace. It was just a non-white room.

Noah shut the door behind him and went straight to bed. Having gone two twenty-four hours without quietus, he was exhausted, and a deep, dreamless slumber enveloped him.

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

"How much longer are we going to hold off ?"The raring voice came from a young man with a halberd on one articulatio humeri and an obvious splintering on the early. He was sitting on the movement porch of the break mansion, along with Oath and the two other members of their team, Beth and Mira.

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

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

"No clue."

"I don't care how tough you say he is,"the man with the halberd said,"if he rode out into those 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 real deal."

"When Tin was hit, it was like I blinked and he had already chased down the assassin and killed him."

"I still call nonsensicality on him taking out three men in that field."

"I looted their corpses myself."

"Oh, there he is !"

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

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

It was the horse anchor ring, all done after the townsfolk jeweler had worked on it. The avenium runes had been covered up and the enhancement gem was set on top of the crest. It was certainly garish, but sometimes gaudiness had its own charm.

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

"Right after we met you in the Sir Henry Wood. We looked around for anyone uncoerced 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 king has asked me to lead this squad to conquer the dungeon Crab. Before we do that, I need to—"

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

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

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

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

Listen, here's what's supposed to happen : you and I spend the next week playing the game where I act as the stern yet understanding authority fig, and you keep throwing temper conniption due to some unspoken deep-seated issue. By the time we arrive at the dungeon crab, you'll hate me more than ever, and almost get us killed, probably with me having to redeem your life. However, your screwup will help you realize you're replete of nothing but bravado and horse poop, and you'll finally decide to listen to me, allowing me to break your hard outer shield to help you resolve your behavioral trouble, which I'm guessing is about your father, or feelings of inadequacy, or something along exchangeable communication channel. We'll gaining control the dungeon crab louse and work a long-lasting friendship of respect and trust.

Now, that is what is supposed to happen, and as often as I would screw to go on that emotional journey with you, I have literally a million undecomposed thing to do with my time. So, let's nip this in the bud right now. You and me, one on one, until one of us can no longer stand. The loser has to listen and obey the success until the donjon crabby person is captured, including an orderliness to bequeath the party."

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

"That's the tone. move over it your skillful shot, because if you don't aim 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 rune appearing in the air. It was just like the while the goblin chief had used on his sword to increase the lastingness of his separatrix, meaning that getting hit with that halberd would surely be deadly.

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

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

Trevor lunged with a decent human body and thrust his halberd towards Noah. It wasn't just the destructive business leader of his halberd, his speed had more than doubled."Mountain-Splitter !"

It was by a thin margin, but Noah stepped to the side and the vane missed. He grabbed the scape of the halberd and delivered a bone-crushing puncher to Trevor's nose, causing him to let go and stagger back.

"That was a estimable thrusting. I imagine you've spent plenty of metre practicing it."

Trevor's face was pouring roue, 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 clip in charging the blade with mana, producing an impressive aura. This time, instead of a thrust, he made a widely swing."Erasing Cleave !"

Once more, Noah simply backed out of his range, escaping with zero wrong. Then, when the coast was clear, he closed in and delivered and uppercut to Trevor's jaw, busting his dentition and making him an even blinking mess. This sentence, Trevor couldn't hitch on his feet and fell back, trying and failing to curb his cry of anguish. Looking around, Noah could see the baron's handmaid watching from the athletic field and through the windows.

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

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

"I don't need a be intimate wellness potion !"Trevor shouted.

He scrambled to his foundation and went at it again. He abandoned the idea of using legerdemain and attacked Noah with a outpouring of rapid-fire stabs. Noah deflected each attack with his cuticle, and when Trevor tried to get in close for another vacillation, he once again grabbed the halberd and stopped Trevor from moving. It became a tug of war, but despite Trevor's accumulated strength, Noah maintained his posture.

"You know what I'm going to do now, right ?"Trevor tried to figure out how Noah would cast off another puncher, 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 least, if you just stick to hunting devil, but you'll never hit me with it. Try showing me how good you are with your fists."Noah placed his bridge player on his longsword and slowly drew it halfway."Unless you'd prefer to stick to armed fight, in which case I'll gladly humor you."

Trevor abandoned his halberd and charged, sending a unbowed right hand punch towards Noah. Noah caught his clenched fist and then struck his cubitus, snapping his arm like his pearl were made of drinking glass. Before Trevor could even scream, Noah silenced him with another poke to the nose, once more knocking him to the earth. It didn't seem like he was going to get up, so Noah took out a health potion and poured it on his side. The spray woke him up and healed his nozzle and back talk, though his arm would have to be reset before a potion could mend it.

"So, do you need to keep going ? I can go all day if you want. I mean it, I've got nothing but prison term. And we can go whenever you want, this isn't your only chance.

Now I suppose there are a identification number of style we can go about this. We can do the whole emotional journeying matter, but the fact that I've explained it kind of takes away the magic. You can just leave the party, I'll give you that choice. There's the option of waiting until I have my back turned and then getting your retaliation, which, again, you are costless to do so at any time, but at your own risk. Poisoning my solid food might go, but it would just be you admitting your weaker than me. I suppose your best option would be to shut your fucking mouthpiece, accept that I'm firm than you and impertinent than you, and pay attention to what I will teach you, as it will better your acquisition and your chances of survival.

From there, we can go to the dungeon Cancer, and you'll easily overtake challenges that would have killed you at your current level of strength. With a well sum of effort and coordination, and no dearth of portion, we'll conquer the dungeon crab and go rich beyond our dotty pipe dream. There is always the choice of betraying us down there and running off with all the lolly, but boy, oh boy, you'd full make sure as shooting I'm all in, because you don't want me coming after you, you really don't.

So, what do you say ?"

Everyone was mum, waiting to find out Trevor's response. He was glaring at Noah and taking deep, furious breathes through his nozzle."You say you can make me stronger ?"

"I guarantee it."

"We conquer the keep crab and we're done, right ? I never have to see you again ?"

"You can retire to some visualise beach family, you'll be so rich. I'll never bother you again."

"Fine."

"I'll let the three of you fix his arm. I need to speak with the baron inside."

Noah stepped onto the porch and entered the theater, walking right by the bit where Tin had died."Is the top executive in ?"he asked, addressing one of the maids.

"In his private study, sir. He's waiting for you."

Just as Oath had done the day before, the maidservant knocked on the two-bagger doors and announced Noah's arrival, with the king granting entry. The old man was behind his desk."That was quite the spirited peer outside. Your skills are the real number deal."

"The real skill is producing results from it."

The baron walked over to his whiskey set and poured himself a deglutition."I'm gladiolus you returned. I'm sorry for the personnel casualty of your companion."

"Don't vexation about it. I already killed your brother and his son."

The crank fell from the baron's hand and shattered."What ? !"he exclaimed.

There was an immediate whang on the room access."My Lord, is everything fine ?"a butler asked.

Noah's regard never left the baron, without any sensation of fear or prevision of what might come next. He simply waited for a reaction. The baron gripped the recession of the desk but managed to control himself.

"Everything is all right. We are not to be disturbed."When he sensed the Samuel Butler had left, he turned his attending back to Noah."You wouldn't even give me the prospect to talk you out of retribution ?"

"It was nothing of the sort."

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

It was midmorning, and Noah had just claimed his ring from the jeweller, the lastly of his first light errands, and with selective information given by those around township, he now stood before the home of the local baronet. It was in the fringe of the township, one of the farms, and neither the fields nor the sign of the zodiac were on par with the baron. Despite the rank of noble, baronet were simply commoners with the prefix ‘ Sir'or ‘ dame ’.

He found the baronet repairing a kine fence behind the house. He was identical to the baron, but without the beard and sporting fewer furrow. Noah was invisible, so the man didn't even notice him approach, but was calm when Noah pressed the steel of his knife to his throat and told him to drop the hammer he was using.

"Sir Edwin Fault, I presume ?"

"Who's asking ?"

"Did you hire four men to kill the oath demerit ?"

"Now why would I try to kill my beloved nephew ?"

"To get your son the rank of baron. 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 cocksucker who saved him from that goblin den. I had to pay that adventurer a respectable raft of money to kill him. To think 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 induce killed that talentless little terror himself if I hadn't talked him out of it. He didn't do anything. You have a bone to pick, put that knife away and let's solve this comparable men."

Noah's answer came in the bod of a fluid pic of his wrist, severing Edwin's jugular and sending him tumbling to the primer, trying pointlessly to end the hemorrhage. Noah stood by to reassert the last and then made his way towards the athletic field, where the baronet's son was working.

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

"There was a time when I took corking joy in making masses suffer, and I've been working to shift myself since then. I don't allow myself to vote down for pleasure or payback, and certainly I didn't kill them for what they did, but what they would continue to do. Associating with you and your son has already cost me the life story of a loyal subordinate, and I'd rather not give anyone the opportunity to get in my way.

If I were to let them to live, they would continue to try and shoot down you and Oath, and I'd have to cleanse up the mess, just like I've been doing since I found your son in that goblin den. The last thing I'd want is to capture the dungeon and then get ambushed by your blood brother's henchmen when we're too tired to fight back back. I assume you had forgiven your brother because he is your syndicate, despite his attempts to wipe out Oath, but you're hiring me to keep Oath alive, and if I'm going to do that, it will be done my way.

If you have any remonstration, nation them now."

Ivan didn't respond. He simply slumped in his seat and exhaled deeply. Deep down, he knew that his comrade had to be dealt with in one signifier or another, in decree for his son to inherit the rank of baron. However, even if it had been melt off before, there was always a chance of rapprochement. He had dreamt of conversing with his brother, as they had a long, long sentence ago, and burying the hatchet. Now that possibility was gone forever. Noah claimed he hadn't acted out of vengeance against his comrade, but Ivan couldn't help but feel he was the one being punished.

"I thought as much. Despite your Brother and nephew dying, I'm aware that your son still had little prospect of inheriting your title, so the dungeon capture will proceed as planned. We didn't have the chance to talk about defrayment for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interested in money or land. There is something else I want."

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

It took More than one healing potion to bushel Trevor's arm, and that could only be done when the castanets were reset. He was all patched up by the meter Noah made his return.

"I promised the power we'd set out in a calendar week for the dungeon. That was two days ago. For the adjacent five twenty-four hours, I'm going to appraise each of your acquisition and see where improvement have been made. low gear, we're going to run some monsters. I want to acknowledge your fight skills and see how well you work as a team. You all have your artillery, so we're going to depart now and travel ignitor. Any objections ?"

No one said anything, not after watching how he thrashed Trevor. But their quiet was not out of veneration, rather an awareness that Noah knew what he was talking about. He was the former of the grouping by only a year, but they all sensed he had much More experience than they did.

"good, then let's depart. curse, you know the domain. Please lead the way."

"I actually know the location of a magic spawning roundabout. Let's headway there."

They gathered some supplies and set off into the Wilderness, leading a pack horse to transmit back their harvested monster share. From the moment they were enveloped by the duskiness of the trees, they were vulnerable. The territory of the fiend was well-established, due much in section to the summoning circles that they spawned from. They only intruded into human being territory when there was a shortfall of solid food or their identification number had grown too not bad, issues that were both solved by the never-ending flow of adventurer working to curb their population.

As they walked, Noah spoke to everyone.

"Mira, we talked once before about this. Have you developed any acquisition for close-quarter combat ?"

"I've been training with my staff since then. Oath and I spar a lot when we're not hunting."

"What about magic ?"

"I haven't been able-bodied to arise anything for fighting enemies up close."

"We'll work on that. Oath, Beth, can either of you use illusion ?"

"I can't,"said Oath.

"I can create water, but not in any kind of attack. I use it to fill up my piss skin."

"trade good, we'll definitely demand that in the dungeon. You're still using your bow as your main artillery, right ?"

"Yeah, and I got toxicant for my arrows just like you…"

She trailed off, remembering what curse had told her. Tin had been shot and killed with a poisonous substance pointer. Noah paid no attention to the dip of her speech.

"What about close-range ? Any artillery ?"

"I use a knife."

"Good. Trevor, you can aerate conjuring trick when you thrust and swing your halberd. Anything else ?"

"Nope, the halberd is all I can use."

Noah had picked up some garbage of info on the different offset of magic in this creation, and Trevor appeared to be in the warrior class, just like the goblin chief. Warriors could only activate their acquirement with specific arm, which depended on the individual. 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 swearword. He then stopped in his tracks."On second intellection, I think we should bend back."

Noah looked ahead. On the afforest story, he could see a large magic roach, consisting of runes and assorted chassis. Standing in the lot was a accept the size of a minivan. However, its organic structure was faint, semitransparent, like it was just a holograph, but with each passing instant, its coloring material deepened.

‘ Is it teleporting ? No, it's solidifying. The circle is converting mana into physical matter 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 rare breed. It is to regular bears what that hob was to regular hobgoblin. We should get out of here before it attacks. This is a piffling bit out of our league."

"No, it's perfective. We'll wait for it to finish spawning and then take it on. For all we know, the dungeon could have got far high-risk monsters."

"All right, then let's take constitution,"said Oath.

"wait for it to attack us. Taking your meter in setting up a discharge squad while it spawns won't give much experience or information."

It took only a minute for the bear to fully materialize, immediately spotting Noah and the chemical group and labeling them as opposition without any kind of hesitation or confusedness. It released a roar of fury and charged, signaling the first of the battle. Noah kept his distance while the group spread out, surrounding the bear. Beth nocked a poison pointer in her bow and shot the bear in the cervix. It turned to her and snarled, about to lash out with its pincer, but expletive attacked from the side and slashed at its articulatio humeri with his steel. The beast's hide was tough, and Noah couldn't tell if the plan of attack had actually done any damage. Enraged, the bear knocked Oath aside. Like Noah, he was wearing leather armour, and while it stopped the conduct's chela 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 boom of pain in the neck from the beast, it hadn't forgotten the pointer in its neck and attacked Beth. It was faster than she expected and it knocked her to the dry land, with her bow wedged between its jaws keeping it from biting her. She was crying in anguish as it weighed down on her, spit from its rima oris splashing on her look with its massive fangs inching closer and closer.

"guillotine Swing !"

Trevor swung his halberd like he was splitting wood, and the axe vane, glowing with magic index, dug deep into the bear'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 corner base, was gathered together and slammed into the bear like a mudslide, knocking it off Beth. The bear was dull to get back on its feet, as its strength was fading with each lost cliff of blood and the toxicant was taking its toll. Regardless, it still could shell the skulls of the lame humans with a single swing of its mighty paw.

Oath was back on his foot and charged with a cry of finding and his sword raised high school. Seeing him overture, the bear reared back on its hind legs, and despite his zip just mo ago, the sight of the towering beast robbed Oath of his bravery. He was paralyzed with veneration and the bear swung at him. Instinct saved his life, the instinct to raise his brand and freeze the tone-beginning, though the force still slammed him into the ground. An arrow was buried in the bear's thorax before it could attack again, managing to pierce a lung, and Trevor stabbed it in the stomach.

The bear fell back and rolled onto its legs, roaring in craze but then breaking down into a fit of bloody coughing. Beth fired a third arrow, striking the articulatio humeri, which Trevor then cleaved with his halberd. As this was going on, Mira rushed over to Oath's side and helped draw in him out of harm's way. With Trevor and Beth continuing to roar on the wildcat, its spirit was soon extinguished. Its massive body collapsed and curse and his champion released their held breath.

Noah, who had been observing, got up from the tree pulpit that had been his seat and approached, and while everyone patched themselves up, he severed the bear's spur with his sword to get sure it was dead.

"congratulation on your kill. However, it was rather messy."

"Messy ? !"Trevor exclaimed."Look at how big that fiend is ! We took it on while you just sat back and watched ! We've never faced anything that big before !"

"Its size wasn't the biggest challenge. Your disorganization was."Noah took out his knife and began carving into the bear to remove its hide. He looked only at his work, but he continued to rebuke them."You surrounded it on all sides, which, while good when facing something smaller and prone to running, left Beth and Mira defenseless. Don't split up like that unless it's something that each one of you can physically address. Beth, consider all the time that you spent pinned. That was all metre you could have spent firing arrows had you and Mira kept your aloofness. Though speaking of arrows, your aim was very good, both that shot to the neck opening and to the pectus. But from now on, the two of you should hang back while Oath and Trevor fend the foe off.

Oath, when you first attacked, what were you aiming for ?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to impose some damage."

"You should have gone for the head. With a goliath of that size of it, did you think a physical body wound or muscle impairment would kill it ? Unless they're well protected, you should always aim for the critical speckle. Swing at the headspring, stab at the bureau. 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 attacks, and not just at openings in your opponent's sentry duty. You should try studying anatomy, figure out where the most vital distributor point are. You went at the belly, that was chic. It's balmy and hard to protect, but you stabbed too low. You should suffer gone eminent, towards the liver, or at least the stomach.

Mira, you did well in getting Oath out of danger. However, you waited too long to cast off your enchantment. I see that you developed a new spell, and while it did make do to get the bear off Beth, it was a larger-scale spell not suited to the forest. I remember you once told me you can produce a disperse cloud and send John Rock flying ? You should have stuck with that. A bit of rubble could have blinded the bear and maybe even hindered its sense of smell, and a John Rock or even hard-packed dirt can visit slew of painfulness when striking the principal or the crotch.

And curse, you know what I'm going to say, don't you ? You choked, and your fault put the lives of your friends in danger. It was instinct that saved your aliveness. You need to make these kinds of determination faster. Before we head to the dungeon pubic louse, we'll have to remediate that. Now, all of you give me a hand. This bear is going to assist fund our preparations."

Everyone joined in, helping to hit the bear's pelt as integral as possible. When it was done, Noah placed his hand on the hide and tried to seal it in his hoop. The enhancement precious stone had doubled the carrying capacity of the ring, but the hide was so heavy that the ring was refusing to swallow it. He'd have to remove some things first.

Noah held out his deal and closed his finger's breadth around an invisible hold. A sword appeared in his grip, the sword that he had taken from the hobgoblin. He had even found the cocktail dress that went with it, something that the regular hob wouldn't have been fresh enough to take. It was much larger than his broadsword, and he had assumed its size might be utilitarian against a boastfully opposition. swearing, who knew both the real identicalness and power of Noah's band and what it was known for, was exempt from the voices of amazement the others made. Even Trevor was shocked by the huge sword appearing out of slim air.

"curse word, where did you get your steel ?"

"Uh… it was my granddad's."Oath stuttered, feeling an machine rifle sense of danger by being queried by person who had just revealed a sword.

"May I ?"Noah held out his hand and expletive reluctantly handed it over. Noah looked it over. He was an experienced blacksmith once, a week-long learning course at a metalwork school that turned into a career, though while his computer memory were a bit fuzzy, he could still pick out the craft put in. However, his focus wasn't on the actual timbre of the metal, but the length of the handle. It was a bastard sword, otherwise known as a hand-and-a-half, which could be held with either one hand or two.

"It's good. And your father said you grew up working the field of study, right ? lots of plowing and clearing Tree ?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I want you to try using this hobgoblin steel for a while. Swinging a hoe or an axe require leverage, purchase that your granddad's sword can't give you with the length of its handle. Your hired hand are too close together and it's throwing off your center of gravity when you hold it. This larger brand will allow you keep your custody farther apart and cater a more standardised motion."

He handed both blade to Oath, but he only took his grandfather's blade."I can't accept that. That's your trophy for killing the monster."

"You're just renting it from me. Besides, if this venture works out, I'll be rich enough to buy an even better sword."

"As you wish, then."He wasn't fully convinced, but he took the blade and hung it across his back.

"Ok, let's vary our strategy a little. 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 perfect tense if they could push another sledgepaw bear and comparability strategy, but considering its rarity, it would probably be a yearn time before it respawned. They set off instead to find more goliath, not having to hike long before coming across a pack of Friedrich August Wolf. They took establishment and stared the beasts down, all armed and prepare to fight.

"Beth and Mira, you two are our principal form of attack. The three of us are just a buckler. You'll have to pore on not getting us caught up in your attacks."

"Right !"They both replied.

Arrows began flying past Oath's right-hand side and tilt and piece of packed earth were flying past his left. The wolves were caught off guard duty and various were left stunned or injured. A savage standing directly in front of curse word managed to avert the onslaught and leaped towards him. oath swung his sword, nearly losing his equilibrium and falling over. However, though the weight unit was much dandy than any hoe or axe he had used, it wasn't the cause. It was the ease he felt, the lilt now more reminiscent of a familiar question, and he was able to use muscle retention to ring out greater strength and skill. The ease robbed him of his tension like he had removed weighting from his shoulder, causing him to stumble. The sword carved through the airborne wolf like a buzz saw, nearly slicing it in two.

At the Lapp time, the Wolf that were still on their pes scattered to try and flank the group. Two ran towards Trevor, and the initiatory, attacking from above, ended up getting impaled on the fishgig tip of his halberd. The back tried to close in, using the Death of the first of all as a distraction, but Trevor swung his halberd down and buried the axe leaf blade in the Friedrich August Wolf's back.

On the other incline, three charged towards Noah. The first pounced, sending Noah dodging to the side and then beheading it with a downwards golf shot. He spun around, thrusting into the second Wolf's chest as it pounced from above. The third tried to attack from his blind spot, but drew his short brand and cleaved its skull open.

All that was left were the wolves stunned by the opening attack, but they had been dispatched with Beth's arrow. The only fight had taken a fistful of seconds, causing cuss and his Friend to all exchange shocked glances. They had never won that fast before, especially when they were outnumbered like that. The note value of Noah's advice had been proven.

They stripped the wolf of their hides and collected all former worthful body parting, then continued their journey. There was still spate of time before they'd have to set up camp, so they wanted to get as much hunting done as they could. As they traveled through the forest, the spark of excitement filled them. Now that the young adventurer had improved their scheme, they wanted to see how else they might get unattackable, and what this new boost would allowed them to do. They were hiking through a hilly area, sticking only to the flattest ground for the saki 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 large fallen tree.

"Look over there. See the basis where the dirt and leaf 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 fume them out ?"

"It's a little far, but I'll try."She stabbed the undercoat with her staff."Earth Bind !"

Like a crack cocaine splitting ice, a visible personal line of credit ran through the aerofoil of the ground over the area behind the log. There was the sound of shriek and various hob 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 hob. From behind the trees around the log, more goblin appeared, howling like scallywag. They charged town the hill, a XII of them, with two hanging back with their own bows.

"Beth, take out the archers. Mira, try to funnel them so that they don't flank us. cuss, if more than one hobgoblin attacks you at once, don't do another downward solidus. It'll leave you assailable. Trevor, don't let the impulse of your jive take you out of position."

No one questioned him, and as Beth waged a long-distance rally with the archers up the Alfred Hawthorne, Mira created pits and blades of earth that burst up along the flank of the goblin swarm. They swarmed for Noah, curse word, and Trevor. The quick hob reached Trevor and dropped a guild towards his head. Trevor swung his halberd, and while the blade failed to fall the goblin, it did get caught on the grip, hurling it towards cuss, who dispatched it with a cleave. He then swung his sword from the side like Trevor had done, catching two goblins in the tabernacle 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 stuff and every swing of his sword sent line splattering across the nearby tree. A hobgoblin pointer planted itself in his stomach, nearly sending him tumbling to the primer. His leather armor had slowed it down a bit, so it didn't reach his organs, but as someone who had been shot numerous times, getting hit with the splintery hob arrow hurt a lot more than most bullets.

"Mira, I'm hit. I need a dust swarm !"

"R-right !"

She stuttered momentarily, but regained her equanimity and sent all of the dry grime around the hobgoblin airborne, blinding them and leaving them coughing. He only had a couple mo, so Noah ripped out the pointer with a fizzle of pain and spurt of origin and poured a healing potion on the wound. As his flesh stitched back together, the hobgoblin managed to clear their centre of the dust and resumed their boot, 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 engagement later, the setting sun put an end to their hunting for the day, and they set up clique between a cluster of turgid tree for protection from monsters and wind. They built up a ardour in the center of attention and cooked heart and soul 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 grouping and they hadn't gotten used to him yet, so the others couldn't immediately talking at their usual conversational depth.

Between bites, Noah took out a mobile canteen full of water and added some pine needle from his pocket. alloy bottleful were more expensive than chalk bottle and water cutis, so everyone noticed when he set it next to the fire.

"You're making tea with true pine needles ?"Mira asked.

"Pine needles help ward off scurvy even better than lemons."

"Really ? Where'd you hear that ?"

"Just something I picked up."

"Where can I nibble up interesting material like that ?"Beth complained."Where did you learn to fight back monsters ?"

Noah thought back through all of the phantasy novels and role-playing games he had enjoyed over the geezerhood."That ? That was just intuition."It would be best to lurch the conversation away from himself.

"What are you going to do after the dungeon crab ?"she then asked.

"That interrogative seems like bad luck, don't you think ? They say that when men plan, God laughs. What about you ? You get to become a baronial if you capture a dungeon. You could be set for biography. Oath is going to inherit his beginner's title. Are you also aiming for nobility ?"

"I'm going to keep traveling and exploring,"said Beth.

"I just want to make enough money to subside down and start a house,"Mira added.

curse's futurity had already been laid out, so next it was supposed to be Trevor, but he didn't show any interest in even acknowledging the question.

"I have no interest group in becoming a stately,"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 get 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. Keep being an explorer. Do whatever you want to do."

"Isn't my father paying you to make for sure I become a noble ?"

"I fully expect you to get a noble, even if I have to tie the championship around your wrists. I just want to make sure you have a strong reasonableness so that you won't choke up. So, go on, state us the actual reason."There was an awkward silence, during which Noah carefully retrieved his mobile canteen, which had come to a simmer."Unless, of course, you already gave us the real ground. Your father wants this, and you want to make him happy."

"Is that really such a foreign desire ?"

"You want him to finally plow you like he did your brothers. You want balancing, to make everything right so that all the class of nonperformance can be made up for, that it was all worth it."

"For someone judgement, you sound like you have experience."

"No, I was the opposite. My dad was corresponding yours. He thought a parent's love had to be earned and wouldn't go for loser. If I wasn't the best, then I wasn't his son. Unfortunately, I didn't care, and I told him that. I told him that his approval meant nothing to me. I never had any intention of making him proud."In actuality, he had various fathers who followed that outlook. It was a personality type that made an appearing every now and then.

"What happened ?"Beth asked.

"Oh, he hit me, several prison term. Yeah, he went nuts."

"So what did you do ?"

‘ I waited until he turned around and then I stabbed him in the spine. He spent the eternal rest of his spirit in a wheelchair.'“ I left plate and became an adventurer."He took a slow sip of his tea."You have to figure out your own reason for doing matter, your own reason for living. Neither your parents nor God can give way you meaning. It's something that you have to create for yourself, and if you don't do it carefully, if you pick an melodic theme or a belief that is faint-hearted and delicate, it'll fall apart in your hand and you'll have nothing."

The ingroup went silent, everyone staring into the flaming rather than necessitate the danger of making eye striking with someone else. Beth, no longer eating, hugged her knee joint to her chest of drawers."My Father of the Church was actually an adventurer. He taught me how to snap a bow and always told me of his adventures. Sometimes he'd disappear for weeks at a time, but he would always come dwelling late and night, when I was asleep. We had a secret plan where he would veil under my bed, just before dawn, and went I'd footprint onto my level, he'd grab my ankle and pretend to be whatever freak he had just fought. It made me a light railroad tie, because I'd always try to hear him sneak in and watch him."

"I wish I knew my father,"said Mira, trying to maintain the conversation going.

Like before, it became Trevor's turn, but he still showed no interestingness in participating. They then realized that he had already fallen asleep.

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

They set out at dawn the following morning to continue hunting, while making their way back to Town. Just like the day before, their new geological formation proved unstoppable against the demon of the forest, and they found themselves carrying so much pelf that it was draining their stamina faster than the battles. They had to take shop at layover, and as usual, Noah would use that sentence to gather worthful flora.

At last, they broke out of the blanket of the forest, now trekking across tillage with the village not far off. Despite their fatigue, their spirits were high. The sun was setting and their trip had been both productive and instructive"I think we should just go straight to the dungeon crab tomorrow,"said Oath."We're already strong enough."

"Not yet,"said Noah."We've built a shaping, now I want to amend your abilities."

"So more hunting ?"Beth asked.

"No, training and exercise to increase forcible metier and mana reserves. All of our dinero from this trip is going to fund it."

Upon arriving to town, they first stopped off at the topical anaesthetic tannery to sell off the pelts. The owner of the shop, a skinny man who struggled to grow a decent beard, Gospel According to Luke, met them as they entered his storage. 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 simple stench and now had its own preference, a very gamey flavor. It annoyed Noah every time he stopped by.

"Mr. Noah, I haven't seen you lately. And the young overlord, I'm gladiolus to see you are doing well. What have you come with today ?"

"We have skin to deal, including a particular piece."

All of the wolf and other hides were stacked on the counter, with the net, belonging to the sledgepaw bear, having to be laid out on the floor like a rug.

"A sledgepaw ? And in such sound shape ! This is definitely a rare uncovering !"

"We fought it as soon as it finished spawning,"said Oath."That's as fresh as it gets."

Luke bent down and examined the hide, paying close attention to combat injury created during the battle."And there doesn't appear to be too very much damage… I can open you two amber coins for everything."

"Two and one-half ?"Noah asked.

"Two, that's my demarcation. This thing has some big cuts 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 arm to the blacksmith, and anything else that they had managed to pull together, 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 willing to sell."

"Why can't every customer be like you ?"she asked, teasing him.

They returned to the street."Ok, let's vociferation it a day. Tomorrow forenoon, we'll meet back up at the power's home and begin training. I'll use these industrial plant to whip up flock of potions."

The grouping split up, with Oath and Trevor heading off their respective homes, Beth and Mira returning to the inn, and Noah running a few more errands. Nox fell, and like the women, Noah made his way to the inn. It was bustling as common, but the table that Noah sat at was quiet. He ate dinner quickly and went up to his elbow room. By candlelight, he ground up the plant life he had bought and desegregate them together. He had a long list of potions and dick to make for this dungeon adventure, so even his nights would be busy. An hour after he started, he heard a smash at the door. He answered with his knife in hand but out of sight, as was natural. He opened the door to see Beth standing there, a smile on her face that was coy, nervous, excited, and embarrassed, all mix in together.

"I wanted to tell you again how bad I am to hear that about Tin. But just because she's gone, that doesn't stand for your dark have to be lonely. I want to experience the caption that everyone in Town has been talking about."

An honest smile, rare for Noah, crossed his cheek. However, it was more in amusement than lust."That seems like something that would really add us some bad portion later, considering the whole dungeon crab thing."

"What ?"

"nada. As practically as I would like to say yes, it would be best if we both went straight for bed, considering the breeding I have planned. Plus, I still have a lot of potions to make."

Her spirits were deflated, but she wasn't ready to give up."Are you sure I can't change your nous ?"

"I'm sure. But if you still have strong suit tomorrow after dinner party, then I'll happily pamper you."

"I'll look forward to it."She then gave him a wink and went back to her room.

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

"The preparation I have in judgement will comprise of farsighted sessions of brawn breeding and then conjuring trick education in a physically tire state, replenishing strength with potions, and repeating the process."Noah addressed Oath and his supporter in front of the baron's star sign. By his side were a large chemise fully of red and dark potions, as well as some other mixture."It's a combining of two workout routines I've created."

Mira looked away for a moment, pondering something. She then perked up in shock."That's what was happening with you and Tin at the inn !"

Oath, Beth, and even Trevor looked at her, taking a present moment to work what she had said, and then swerving their centre back to Noah like a car drifting around a corner. Oath had forgotten that small fact, and Trevor, resigned to bearing a silent grudge, was remembering those rumors he had heard and finally feeling a bit of respect towards Noah.

Noah let a pocket-size laugh escape."Yeah, that's rightfulness. My theory is that mana output is a combination of strong-arm and ghostly Energy. When your spiritual mana can't keep up with the demand, your physical mana picks up the morass, but it means your spirit gets only part of the welfare of preparation. Therefore, the practiced way to coach your heart's rate of output and source 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 effective. Tin was assisting me with the expenditure of physical energy."

"All dawn ? !"

"I have a lot of stamina, which is the consequence of the other physical exertion routine. Over a long period of meter, I've mastered various different kind of physical exertion and refined them to target musculus growth in a specific way. multitude and other gravid animals have three variety of brawniness : red muscle, which is muscle that is great for stamina and running game ; white muscle, which is muscle for physical magnate and explosive military unit ; and pink muscle, which is a combination of both. My routine focuses on producing pink sinew. Unfortunately, sex isn't the workout routine, God, though I wish it was.

Oath, I saw you struggling to lift your new sword, but making perfect slashes every sentence. Because of all the clip you've spent swinging a hoe or an axe, neither of which is very impenetrable, you have a lot of red muscularity, which lets you go for a long metre up to a certain limit.

Trevor, I noticed your movements decline truehearted than Oath, despite expending a similar amount of energy. Your stabs and slashes, while initially quite powerful, made a truelove decline. You have too very much flannel muscle, which lets you carry more than curse, but not as far."

To curse, it made signified. He had yet to see Noah truly fatigued, not after clearing the hob den or even when they returned to the settlement the previous day. At the Same time, he was capable to slice up through monsters and carry their clay with great enduringness. The others had noticed it as well, another class in which he outclassed them.

"Wait a bit, if that was your"particular mana education"you were doing with Tin, then that means you can use magic,"said Beth."You told us you couldn't."

"I wasn't sure I could believe you when we first met. I was willing to recount you how to induce yourselves stronger, but not how to make me weaker."

"You've been hiding magic this all 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 strong suit, the sooner they know about your helplessness. When meeting new people, conceal your abilities until the last mo, because that instant might be a battle. However, since you followed me on that hunting slip and are leave to undergo my workout routine, I believe that it's only fair to lay my cards on the table."

He covered his eye and disappeared, drawing shout of surprise from everyone.

"Noah ? !"swearword exclaimed, looking around for him.

Noah released the illusion and they all yelped again."I can make myself invisible. When I first unlocked this power, I could only do it for a few seconds at a time. After a month of training, I could do it for Sir Thomas More than five minutes."He'd sustain his 2d spell secret, as well as the true continuance he could go for the both of them for. His trust 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 magic spell ?"Mira muttered.

Her tidings took away a lot of his jumpiness. He still knew so short about the trick in this earthly concern, there was no telling how common powerfulness like his might be. For all he knew, this lie might arrive at him bet pathetic. However, if Mira had never heard of it, there was a hazard that it was rarefied enough to not be considered common knowledge.

Noah retrieved some bottleful replete of a green liquid and tossed one to swearing and each of his friends."deglutition that, it's a little something I whipped up from the industrial plant I bought yesterday, along with some dearest. It'll apply you a petty extra energy. These next few days are going to be exhausting."

.

.

.

Forging durability

.

.

.

Pained gasps.

A feminine whimper.

"Oh God !"

Beth collapsed, fighting for every intimation with Noah standing over her, the two of them drenched in sweat.

"semen on, get up,"he said.

"I can't do anymore !"

"You know what comes next."

She looked at him with eyes fully of hatred."You're a monster,"she hissed.

A clear, stiff flow was produced, arching onto the ground with a splash.

"Oh, she broke her record book !"said Oath.

"I wish my mana would grow that fast !"Mira complained.

The H2O spurting from Beth's fingertip trickled to a freeze. She rolled onto her back, feeling like the backbreaking road underneath her was now as delicate as the male monarch's mattress. It was the second day of Noah's training, midmorning, and he was running lap with Oath and his booster around the Fault estate. Since yesterday, this what they had been doing with most of their meter, running almost nonstop flight. It was Noah's pattern that they had to run until they collapsed or nearly threw up, and then immediately cast witching until their mana was completely depleted. cuss was exempt, but only because he had no aptitude for magic.

Noah crouched down and fed Beth a watered-down healing potion, just something to restore her stamina a bit. While she recovered, expletive, Mira, and Trevor sucked in air. This was the only break they got, when somebody collapsed.

"I'm starvation, can we eat luncheon now ?"Trevor asked.

"I can't even think of food,"Oath groaned.

They all complained throughout the all trial by ordeal, but in truth, no one had yet given up and refused to go any further. Despite their anguish, they didn't give in. It wasn't to examine their determination, rather it was the unsubdivided fact that Noah's method acting were producing resultant role. Just the day before, at the same time, if Beth cast her spell, it would have just been a few drop-off falling from her fingerbreadth, less of a jet and More of a leaky faucet. Also, everyone's stamina was increasing noticeably. Thanks to the health potions, they could do workweek of daily exercise and convalescence in a routine of hour, compressing the rate of melioration so it was much More obvious.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I'm on my stopping point legs too."

Oath and the others groaned in rest period and began throwing down everything they carried, as well as stripping off any armor. Noah was making them run in all of their adventuring paraphernalia with their weapons in hand, and in time, he'd merged weights to prepare them for carrying the dungeon Phthirius pubis's hoarded wealth. There was a field nearby, but they didn't aid and squatted down right in the middle of the road to eat. It was on the power's acres, so there wasn't the concern of traffic.

They each carried lunch made by the maids and were chowing down like starved brute. Even Noah was giving in to his hunger and stuffing his face. But as he ate, his eyes swept over everyone in the group. This workout was definitely vivid, shredding muscularity and then immediately repairing them. In this case, the antidote was worse than the poison, according to the townsfolk apothecary. He had spoken to her the morning after he returned to Clive while on his way to pick up his ring.

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

"using potions for utilisation ? It would be a practiced idea if it wasn't such a bad musical theme,"the old fair sex said. As always, she stared Noah down, looking at him through the fume of her pipe.

"I can't imagine I'm the first person to think of using them this way. What I want to know is if there are any severe effects. You always have them in stock, so getting the ingredients isn't an issue."

She took a deep inhale and released a bombastic smoke cloud."There is a downside."

"Am I going to have to pay you to find out what it is ?"

"In a rushing, are you ? Yes, it's always people like you using this method. Mana and wellness potions, as well as all other confection used by adventurer, may seem like bottled miracles, but they are a double-edged brand. If overexposed, the physical structure can forget how to compensate and restitute itself. If a wound is repeatedly inflicted on one spot and healed with potions, eventually the consistence will lose the power to mend that spot on its own. Cuts will run ceaselessly, broken bones will become like tilt, and organs will eventually shut out down. The effects are even worsened if the potion is consumed, rather than poured, as it spreads throughout the body."

"How long before major harm is inflicted ?"

"If used for daily exercise, potions will moderate to expiry within two weeks. Lesser damage depends on the user."

"And what about mana potions ?"

"Mana potions stunt the ontogeny of magic. The more often they are used, the harder it will be to make and learn new spells."

Noah thought back to his"training daylight"with Tin. He had performed them every other day and with watered-down potions, multiplying his reserve countless times and giving him an border, but there was no telling how much it had hindered him in the farseeing run.

"And of course you decided to wait until now to secernate 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 take care at and I would opt some honesty."

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

Three solar day, that's how hanker Noah was willing to use the potion method. That would hopefully leave them with enough time for the side-effects to fatigue off before they entered a dungeon. So far, everyone's physical stamen was continuing to rear, but if he saw them plateau or even reverse, he'd cut them off, cold turkey. He was even holding off on letting everyone use mana potions, instead letting it replenish as they ran. He didn't want to push back the date of their divergence if he could avoid it. If anyone got a wound, he made sure to observe closely, to make surely their blood was clotting.

"All right, let's point back. We're doing the Sami number as yesterday."Everyone groaned and cleaned up their hole, but before they could yield to the manor, Noah stopped them."detention on, we're doing lunges."

"Please, not again !"Mira complained.

"You'll thank me later."

With their weapons in hired hand, everyone began doing long steps, stretching out one leg and leaning down with their other knee almost touching the earth, and they had to keep a loyal pace. It was sweaty, dreadful work.

"This is so embarrassing, we look ridiculous,"Trevor muttered. He seemed to make love complaining, but since Noah beat him in a combat, he was keeping his word about following guidance."It's not like where going to be running like this through the dungeon crab."

"No, but it'll work up up your military capability and toughness. The most significant physical asset in combat is leg strength."

"postponement, really ? Even for sword combat ?"Oath asked.

"Really. If you support your body with a hearty foot, you can fight while staying on your feet longer. It doesn't matter how hard you can confuse a punch or swing a blade if your legs just buckle as soon as you meet resistance. Think of it as like trying to fight while standing on slippery ice vs self-coloured ground."

Just like before, Noah pushed them to the degree of collapse. Normally, this sort of reckless training would be frowned upon, but they needed to stress and tear their brawn to the rank demarcation, fix them with potions to make them even secure, and repeat, with mana depletions after every collapse.

There was no rest for them when they returned to the manor house. Under Noah's instruction, Oath and the others began stretching and lifting varying weights in assorted ways. To the slaves working the field, it looked like a basic workout, but Noah scrutinized every movement, from the course their arm took when lifting a fleshy Isidor Feinstein Stone, to the accurate slant of their hips when they twisted their bodies. Every movement had to be perfect, so that all the focus went to specific muscles. Had he the way, he would go even further, focusing on item-by-item muscle threads.

In a way, Noah was grateful that this opportunity came along. Being an venturer kept him combat-ready and fit, but it didn't build strength in the same way as this exercise, and coming to this humans had scrambled his routine. He had to use this chance to properly polish his body-build. He had planned on teaching this workout to Tin to pretend her stiff and equal to of defending herself, but that opportunity was gone.

Once they reached the middle of the afternoon, Noah had them move on to the next phase of their training. cuss, Trevor, and Mira stood side by incline, all of them gasping for air and cursing in anguish as elbow grease poured down their faces. For Oath and Trevor, the exercising was simple, though far from easy. They held out their weapon system as far as they could and kept their branch raised for as long as potential. They had to keep doing it until they collapsed and they couldn't feel their arms, at which point, they'd take a health potion and take off again.

"Ah, dammit !"swearing cursed as he dropped to his knees.

"Fuck, you're feeble,"said Trevor.

"For once in your lifespan, just shut up !"Mira hissed, ineffective to asseverate her usual polite personality.

Her breeding was like to theirs, only using magic. Before her floated a puffiness of earth as vauntingly as a beer keg. dirt from a bald bandage underneath continuously floated up and added itself to the mass. For her preparation, she had to maximise the amount of earth she could lift, as well as the continuance, and level of compression. She'd rotate it in the air to keep it from becoming lopsided, but every time it moved, she struggled to hold back control.

Noah told her she had to be able to change by reversal dirt into self-colored rock 'n' roll in endorsement, as well as wagon 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 reckless fury. Despite her drive, he'd block and deflect her onset away from his physical structure, using respective fighting styles he had learned across the multiverse. As soon as she paused her outpouring, he'd attack, forcing her to sharpen her reflex action 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, fan out eagle on the ground and staring up at the sky.

"I'm too timeworn to eat and too hungry to sleep,"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 staying power had been pushed to its limit, beyond the compass point that potions could replenish. Now they needed food and sleep.

"I should probably head back to the inn while they're still serving dinner party,"said Noah.

"You guys can ingest dinner here,"curse said.

"Why didn't you say that yesterday ?"

"Sorry, but after a day like that, I couldn't spend another minute thinking about education and the keep crab."

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

The table was old and unvarnished, hand-carved with roughly sanded planks, though time had helped to soften its edge and the low-quality prorogue 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 attend food of this impoverished level, but after a calendar month in these new lands, Noah had managed to calibrate his taste buds.

It was only the five youths present. The baron was not taking voice. As with tiffin, everyone ate voraciously, their bodies begging for sustenance to try and make up for the fat they had burned. It was surprising that Mira actually noticed Oath had stopped eating, staring had his half-finished dinner.

"expletive ? Is something damage ?"

"No, I'm just trying to think back the last time I sat at this board with this many people."

‘ Oh my god, that is so platitudinous,'Noah thought process, drinking from his chicken feed so as to not break his straight face.

"You're going to form me be sick,"Trevor muttered. Noah resisted the desire to thank him.

"What were your buddy like ?"Beth asked.

"My onetime, Colt, was a soldier, serving under General Tarnas against the churl in Handent."

"He really served under Tarnas ? !"Beth exclaimed, bolting to her feet.

"Is that a good or bad thing ?"Noah asked.

"Adwith Tarnas is one of the nation's greatest heroes, and easily the impregnable fighter,"said Mira, trying to veil her overplus with a smile."Most nestling are raised on his news report, and for as retentive as I've known Beth, she's been a huge fan."

Beth sat back down, a wino grinning on her face."When I was young, he and some of his forces passed through my town. Watching him ride down the street, wearing golden armor… I was no longer an sinless child. I had awakened my womanly desires."

"You never heard of him ? What rock have you been living under ?"Trevor asked.

"A large one. Tell me about the war, I'm curious."

"Oh, well, according to my chum, it started when the barbarians began ransacking villages along the border, eventually leading to the famous murder of High Priest Grybaen by top dog Waer. After that…"

The conversation had taken a foreign tour, but Noah absorbed every detail while making his programme for the future. That night, 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 strength to indulge her curiosity.

The third day of breeding was just like the two before, including the same routine, but now with weights added. However, the consumption of potions had dropped in every activity. The growth they had gone through over just a few 24-hour interval would deliver normally taken hebdomad or even months. In the late good afternoon, their training was changed. Now instead of simply holding out his sword, cuss was practicing his gash like he was studying kendo. He needed to get to both his attacks and his convalescence faster.

Next to him, Trevor was improving his thrusting, using what Noah had taught him and incorporating his legs so he could increase the strength with less effort. He had also given Trevor the challenge of writing out the letters of the ABC's in the air with the shaft tip, to intensify his accuracy. Beth and Mira had switched position, now with Beth straining her magic and Mira staff-fighting with Noah. Unlike Mira and Trevor, Beth's tour couldn't be used for fighting and she appeared to be reaching the limit of her witching aptitude, but creating unused water was something they'd need if they spent more than a day in the dungeon.

On the one-fourth day, Noah met everyone at the baron's estate as he normally would. He held out a backpack wax of potions."Today, I want you all to see if you can follow the routine on your own. Until we enter the keep crab, I am completely banning the use of all potions."

"That's gaga !"Beth exclaimed, with the others similarly nervous.

"If you can't do the day's workout without potions, then you simply aren't ready for the dungeon crab louse, and the longer we wait, the Sir Thomas More competition will have. I don't want to reach the bottom of the shell and find all of the avenium already taken."He put the backpack down and put on a jacket crown with all of its pockets filled with rocks."Come on, clock time to bulge out running."

The workout proceeded as planned, but with no less complaining. Now without potions, they could only gather their strength during interruption, but the figure of times they had to stop and rest was as Noah predicted. On the fifth day, Noah faced them with the morn sun burning away the mists clinging to the baron's estate. For Oath and his supporter, this was the last day of grooming and they all felt confident. They weren't screen to their own growth. They now stood with bodies covered in weightiness, ready for Noah to leave the sign to start their morning run.

"Since today is the live on day, we're going to do something different. Trevor, I want you to hit the ground with a downward strike and your firm spell."

"What for ?"

"Just bank me. pour as a lot mana as you can into the axeblade and give it a shot."

Trevor grunted and held out his halberd, and from the moment he began channeling his mana, everyone noticed the divergence. These retiring several days, whenever he, Beth, and Mira practiced with their magic, it was always in a State Department of enervation, forcing their soundbox to squeeze out every survive free fall of power. This was the first time in days that Trevor was using a spell while at total military capability. What would ingest been a shimmering aura around the brand was now like a great colorless flame, causing his ally to instinctively step back.

"Whoa,"Trevor said, unable to break up any other words. He held his halberd with trembling hold, feeling like it was a rabid brute in his grip. He raised it above his head teacher like a blinding torch."action !"Apparently, saying the name of the spell helped focus the mind and increase the say-so of the patch. To Noah, it seemed a bit silly, but it did make things a bit more entertaining.

As per the figure, he swung down with the halberd like he was performing a beheading, and the consequence 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-and-roll were sent flying in all focal point. Originally, what would have simply buried his weapon in the shit, had now opened up a crater the size of a bathing tub. Just as incredible, the intensity of the mana flowing from the halberd had not lessened in the slightest, nor did Trevor come along fatigued.

Everyone was stunned, with Noah flashing a rarified smiling."Mira, your results would probably be similar if I asked to use your strongest spell. Now that you have all this mana to work with, think of it as a resourcefulness for experimentation. I don't know how the two of you develop trick, whether you just create new piece yourselves or learn by watching others, but I want you to dedicate yourselves to improving your skill. exhibit me something new. Today, we're forgetting about potency and stamina and focusing entirely on technique.

Beth, I want you to practice session your archery until your fingerbreadth bleed and you can shoot the flank of a fly. As for Oath…"Noah drew his longsword."You're going to be fighting me."

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

Beth's dresser heaved with each movement, and her nipples, chilled by the evening, pointed out and pull out spark in the air. Just minute ago, she had been riding so vigorously, having to chuck out her clothes when she began to overheat. It had been a struggle for her to keep open her moans contained, especially with her hip refusing to obey her commands and slow her bouncing.

She now took a gentle gait, rolling her pelvis from English to side while she regained her strength. Her pretty grimace was one of inebriety, her mind overtaken by lust and endorphins. Her smile was salacious, her expression flushed, her lip wet, her schoolchild dilated. Noah could see the fresh lather on her body with the light of the night sky. What was just supposed to be a ready assignation to scratch the ol'itch had turned into something a little more intense.

Sitting up, Noah kissed her breasts and grabbed her ass, kneading it like kale. Beth had a nice athletic figure, not very much fat on her, but the ass of a volleyball instrumentalist. Noah's brim on her nipples, his humanness stirring her up, and his hands massaging rich into her muscles, these stimulus combined into a force that Beth was struggling to hold out. They were out in the woods, so Beth's groan could pull in teras, or even bad, the capitulum of her friends.

Mira knew about them, so Oath and Trevor were probably aware as well, but still, it would be a bit rude make them hear the phone of moan and anatomy against human body. That was Beth's thinking, but Noah didn't care either way. His exclusively fearfulness was getting stuck in an awkward conversation with everyone because of this. That, and the fact that he and Beth were breaking the rules of every horror movie and having sex in the woods. The flag they were raising could stimulate been visible from space.

Beth's speciality gave out, a final climax draining her and leaving her body limp. Noah was forced to lower to her to the primer, but she didn't object to him continuing to lunge until he had a climax of his own.

"seminal fluid on, we should get back to the camp,"he said.

"What a romanticistic thing to say after filling me up."

"You know what this is."

She giggled."Relax, I'm kidding."

They got dressed and returned to the camp, where their boyfriend venturer were waken and waiting for them.

"What are you all doing awake ?"Noah asked.

"You two are a lot nosier than you think you are,"Mira said while keeping her eyes down.

"You do make it awfully hard to sleep. I thought some wildcat were tearing apart a goblin out there,"said Trevor. In retaliation, Beth kicked him while circling the campfire to reach out her spot.

"sentry it !"he shot back.

Noah took his own post and stoked the ardor."Enough. Everyone, get some relief. We're going to want our strength for tomorrow."They were to a lesser extent than half a day's cost increase to the keep crab.

"None of us can sleep. We're too nervous about tomorrow,"expletive said.

"It'll be fine. In twenty yr, you'll ask your tike ‘ did I ever tell you about the time I conquered a dungeon crab ?'And they'll moan and say, ‘ yes, father, a hundred clip. We're sick of hearing about it.'”

"Are you going to do anything with the territory ?"Beth asked."Change any laws ?"

"No. Robert Clive is everlasting the way it is, and I don't want to change anything."

"You're letting a lucky opportunity miscue by,"said Noah.

"What do you signify ?"

"I assume that as long as the kingdom gets its taxes, it won't care about how things change, so you might as well try some things. Think of the town as the place to perform social experiments."

"What's a societal experiment ?"Trevor asked.

"It's when you put hoi polloi 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 awry,"Mira muttered.

"It's a way to study about people. In the heart and soul of townspeople, put up a statue with a signboard saying not to touch, that the paint is wet. Then you can see how many people are actually going to touch it."

"What is that supposed to do ?"Oath asked.

"How many people are in Robert Clive, a hundred ? If half of them relate the statue, then you could make the line that half of the human wash is silent enough to impact paint 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 township, maybe a big city in another state, you'll probably find that unlike numbers of the great unwashed will touch the statue. Then you can get down to figuring out why. Why do different area have unlike results ? Are the people simply dumber ? Is it a literacy problem ? Is there a polish of rebellion to authority ?

There was once an ancient city named Rome, which had a monumental stone battle arena called the amphitheatre. It was so massive, that the emperor put the mind of his best designer into figuring out how to plan it so that the watcher could easily get in and out, otherwise, they'd start a bacchanal. You get a bunch of masses together in close up proximity, one of two different things may hap, sometimes even both at the Sami meter. The first is that mass will require to withdraw into themselves. They'll want to make personal infinite, establish a margin, draw that line in the moxie that no one can queer. If someone crosses that line of work, they may get fearful, they may get violent ; no thing how small it is, it produces a negative reaction.

The other is to surrender to the will of the grouping. If everyone around you is saying something, you'll assume it's decently and reprize it, because you want to believe in the group, you want to consider you're right. You want to consider that you're in the front of multitude who know what they are doing. If you're in a mob where mortal is shouting for the death of the Rex and everyone cheers, voice of you will naturally agree.

Someone losing their temper will pop out a engagement, that fight will spread and set off more fights, and suddenly the orderly masses that were simply trying to leave the Coliseum are sweeping through Rome, having abandoned all view of civility and now simply destroying everything in their way."

"That could never happen,"said Beth, as if Noah had just uttered a tike's nonsense.

"I've seen it hap tidy sum of metre. Once you shew the rule that leak is not available, that cd starting time burning, and it burns quick."

"I don't know. I think people are good at heart,"said Mira."They don't just go crazy like that."

"Then you could establish it. Let's say you could create any kind of sociable experimentation, completely free reverberation, like a dream. What would you do ?"

"How am I supposed to know ?"

"The eternal sleep of you ? Just think ‘ I wonder how many people would ( blank ) if I ( space ) ?'Or ‘ what would happen if I put ( blank ) and ( blank ) together ?'Literally whatever you wanted to roll in the hay, or simply just see."Everyone looked up into the distance, trying to process the challenge."Think about it. It'll assistance you fall asleep."

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

A solid thump woke Oath up, a brand striking the ground just in from his face. He instinctively shouted in brat and tried to scamper back, realizing it was Noah's sword and he was standing over him. His friends, swooning sleepers in an surface area this grievous, woke up in a flashing and got to their base with their weapons raised, confused and alarmed by the mickle of Noah in the predawn illumination. Was this an blackwash attempt ? However, they looked down and spotted Noah's very target. It was some kind of insectoid wight, a stubby centipede with a bulbous shell. It was the size of a squirrel, with frightening pincers.

"What the hell is that thing ? !"Mira exclaimed.

"It's one of the parasites from inside the dungeon crabmeat. I did as much research as I could on the dungeon Cancer whenever I had the time."

looking at Mira and Beth, he could see them shuddering in revulsion.

"You mean to tell me that there are more of those affair in that crab ?"

"Almost certainly, but they're flooding out into the woods, so just means that the more than we find out here, the fewer we'll have to fight in the crab. Now let's eat some breakfast and get a motility on."

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

It was a literal batch of tip-tilted earth and shattered bedrock, the result of the dungeon crab rising up from the satellite's crust and jutting out the tip of its shield. At the very superlative was the entrance, but the great deal was no reading of just how prominent the existent Phthirius pubis was. Before they could go down, they'd have to rise up.

"Look up there, I think I see a tent."

Noah scanned where Beth was pointing and confirmed."someone must have set up camp there before heading in."

"There are inner circle all over the mountain. There must be a lot of people in there,"said Mira.

"Most of them have probably been killed by now. Those camps are abandoned,"said Trevor.

"Trevor !"

Despite Mira's wrath, Noah agreed with Trevor. The finisher he looked, the to a greater extent collapsible shelter he saw, and the legal age of them probably belonged to the idle, but he didn't want Oath and the others chewing on that."Relax. Everyone going in just packed Christ Within because they want to carry as much treasure as they can, and probably couldn't carry anything duplicate when they came out. We'll be in the same situation when we come back."

"Wait, I see people too,"said Beth.

She was right, there were plenty of adventurers roaming the mountain.

"They must be scavenging for gems and cute alloy. When the crabby person appears, it probably pushes up more than just I. F. Stone and dirt."

"If you can get gold from sifting through the scandal, then why fuss going into the dungeon ?"Mira asked.

"They're after whatever they can get their hands on, unlike us. We're after avenium, and it can only be found inside."

They put their awe aside and began climbing up the side of the mickle. There were no established track and the footing was hard, to say the least. The dirt had settled since it was first moved by the reaching of the Phthirius pubis, but there were no flora to hold it all together, so it was like hiking up the side of a backbone sand dune in many field. They also had to be wary of the big Stone chunks mixed in. They were freshly broken and hadn't been weathered by the wind and the rain, so they could easily cut through peel. While climbing, Noah grabbed a stone handhold and his ribbon was skinned by the crystal-like pungency.

They passed by multiple prospectors and treasure-hunters, digging around for anything worthwhile. No one paid them any attention, and they offered none in return. However, that changed when they heard the sound of fighting. Nearby, they saw a bearded man fighting off one of the dungeon parasites that had wandered outside. It was a four-legged crustacean, the size of a wolf. It swung its fleshy forelimbs like clubs and tried to hale the man onto his back.

"Noah, we need to assist him,"said Mira.

"Keeping him alive isn't my job. Besides, any forcefulness you use against that one monster will be durability you can't use in the shell."

"Then count this a field of operation test !"Mira held out her staff."Shatter Mace !"

Pieces of stone and packed dirt flowed to the end of her staff, joining together into a hardened sphere, the size of a basketball and covered in acute gibbosity. She left the group and ran over to where the man was fighting, with her weapon not hindering her motion at all. Rather than strong-arm forte, she was holding the sphere together and lifting it with mana.

The savage had the man pinned on his cover and he was fending off its snapping pincers with his pickaxe. Sneaking up behind it, Mira raised her staff and brought it down onto the monster's back, unleashing the full weight of the rock and breaking through its racing shell. The fiend hissed in pain and fell over, and she dispatched it with another swing, this one crushing its exposed head. A week ago, such a task would receive been inconceivable for her, but under Noah's tuition, both her acquirement in thaumaturgy and physical fighting had been multiplied several clock time over.

"Thanks,"the man grumbled before dusting himself off and walking away.

She returned to the group, where Beth was clapping for her."well done !"

Noah, however, clasped his hand on her shoulder."Don't do that again."There was very little anger in his voice, but still, she shrunk away."The like goes for the quietus of you. We're not here to playact hero, we're not here to save lives. We're here to take money and suppress the donjon. Our strength, our attention, our weapons, our potions, they are reserved only for our own use and our own benefit. If you save someone, it had better be to use them as a pack mule or a meat carapace. Understood ?"Everyone nodded."proficient, then let's move on."

They resumed hiking up towards the tip, and Oath soon asked a question.

"Noah, you researched dungeon Cancer the Crab, right ? Did you recognize that monster ?"

"Yes, it was one of the parasites mentioned in the Koran your father had."

"Do you fuck what else we'll find oneself ?"

"Unfortunately, no, there was actually very fiddling written information about the dungeon Cancer and what exists within their scale. Those who remain in the upper lot and survive share their information, but those who delve deep enough to reach the avenium either die or preserve it a secret."

"Wait, why is it a clandestine ?"Trevor asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's because the land's magnanimousness doesn't want mass knowing how to join their ranks. In this pubic louse are the key to the realm, after all. Too many young upstarts could break the balance of great power between the rich and the wretched, or they could work factions that get in the way of the higher-ranked noble. Some entropy gets out, of course, from those who manage to lam with their lifespan but don't conquer the dungeon, or from other countries, but I imagine that the only adventurer who are really informed are those already working for high-level nobles."

A atrocious hiss ended the conversation, as up ahead, a new threat revealed itself. It stood on a pair of powerful wooden leg, like a predatory fowl, but it had a small consistency and no neck, only a forward-placed skull that resembled an alligator. It was a pair of snapping jaws on feet, that was all it could be described as, and it was glaring at Noah and the radical. It had the gamy land, and after emitting another hiss, several more appear, from both above and the sides.

"A pack-type sponge, interesting,"Noah said as he drew his sword."Get ready, everyone, the fighting starts early."

They took establishment, with expletive in front and Noah and Trevor guarding the flanks, while Beth and Mira attacked from a distance. The teras closed in all at once, leaping through the air while flashing the talons on their metrical foot and spreading their jaws.

"Trevor !"Noah shouted.

"Phalanx spear !"he cast while swinging his halberd like a flag.

A trail of mana was left behind with each movement, and the mana solidified into floating blades like mist condensing into ice. The floating blades pierced three of the wildcat before they could set ashore, two more were wounded, and the ease had their density broken and failed to swoop properly. With that possible action, Noah and Oath began hacking and slashing away at those who landed closest by.

"Earth Bind !"

Mira stabbed the land, and beneath the wounded brute, Hell opened up to swallow them altogether, then were closed with earthen spikes like cage ginmill. It wouldn't apply them long, but it kept them out of the fight. Not only could Mira now unmistakable the spell multiple sentence from one casting, but the ground proved perfect for its use. Those who had avoided Trevor's enchantment and Noah and swearing's sword tried circling around, but Beth dispatched them with her bow, and any she missed ended up getting cleaved by Trevor. Once all of the wandering ones were slain, the wounded were put out of their misery.

"goodness, well done,"said Noah.

Normally they would then harvest the monsters for valuable art object, but the market for dungeon crab leech was too niche to be worth the effort. Besides, they wanted to save as practically way for treasure as they could.

They continued their climb, and after a couple more monster battles, they reached the height at midday. There, sticking out of the primer was the tip of the Cancer's case, like a light source menage on a jumpy drop. Noah could see the ringlet of the shell, and before them, the opening move, a doorway large enough for an elephant to walk through. Noah reached out and touched the shell, made of nitty-gritty somehow strong enough to resist the heat and pressure of the earth's interior.

In the calendar month since Noah's arrival to this world, he had seen plenty of things that shocked and baffled him, from magic to monsters, but just the sight of the entrance blew him away. To remember that such a creature like this could exist, that something so massive occupied this domain. It blurred the uncouth good sense accumulated from more than a hundred lifetimes. Where did these affair come from ? Were they made by magic ? Perhaps by some form of god ? How old was this one ? Was it levelheaded ? What was its life oscillation ?

"I never thought I'd ever see something like this,"said Oath, similarly amazed.

Everyone in the group was staring at the white tug in awe and accomplishment. True, the very struggle had only just begun, but compared to what they were doing not too long ago, just reaching this space was a immense accomplishment.

"Look at this view,"said Beth.

Without any trees to impede their mess, the wad summit let them see for miles in all directions.

"I think I can see the village !"said Trevor.

"Let's gap here for luncheon, gather some of our strength, and then head inside."

They all sat down and Noah pulled food and piss skins out of his hoop. He had plenty food and body of water to feed them all for several Clarence Day, and thanks to Beth's magic, they could refill their mobile canteen whenever needed. However, everyone carried two days of rations, just in eccentric they got separated. Their lunch consisted of dry fish and fruits, as well as some bread, something light to continue them moving. Up atop the mountain, there was a nice zephyr, and the view was spectacular.

"Noah, remember what you were saying last night about sociable experiment ?"Beth asked."If I could try one, I'd want to see what happens when you put only fair sex together and task them with building a guild. What would Clive flavor like if it had only women ?"

"A female-only society ? Yeah, that would certainly be interesting. Ok, paint a picture for me. What do you expect would befall ?"

"I think that without any men to get in the way, they would thrive,"she said, rather smugly.

"Until there is a spider that needs to be killed,"said Trevor.

"cum on, I want inside information. For representative, there are roles in bon ton that are typically considered manly, and others that are considered womanly. If only women perform the manly tasks, then what will change ? Will the nature of the task change, or will the womanhood change ? Will the women who spend all day hunting, blacksmithing, and all those former jobs start acting rough and crass like men ?

You're an adventurer. You spend your days hunting, fighting, scavenging, getting down and foul. But you also consider yourself quite girlish, mighty ? But how do you opine a missy who spends her mean solar day weaving and taking attention of nipper sees you ? will a fraction variant ? The Type A personalities arguing with the Type B ?"

"type A personalities ?"

"Never judgement. Oath, you got an idea for an experimentation ?"

cuss took a deep breathing space."Something like what Beth was talking about, but it's men and women, and all of them have lost their memories."

"Oh, that's the near one. The tot up erasure of culture and starting from excoriation. If you completely move out fostering from the equating, then you can truly see how nature manifests. Will men and women follow way of life considered normal by company ? Will they adopt the like character that their ancestors 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 time to take the plunge.

.

.

.

The Gauntlet

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.

.

Once they had finished eating, they packed up their thing and entered the shell, with Noah taking the tip and holding a Verbascum thapsus. Because of the plate's gimmick, they had to descend a spiral transition, like a staircase but without factual stairs. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the enactment were perfectly smooth, but there were no straight crinkle of any kind. It was like wandering through a narrow canyon carved by flashfloods. almost of the base was covered in crap and broken stone, perhaps seeping in from the opening of the eggshell. Luckily this meant that Beth would have something to work with to use her spells.

The pubic louse had been venting its cuticle for more than a week, but the air still had a staleness to it. It smelled earthy, like a mineshaft or a quarry, but he could also smack the biological theme song of the sponger. The air seemed okay to breathe and the Aaron's rod didn't appear to have any issues burning. Was all that oxygen from the outside ? How long could the atomic number 8 last if the Crab went back below the surface ? How long did the keep crab louse live underground before surfacing ? Either the Crab and its sponger could officiate in an oxygen-poor surroundings, or something within the crab louse could acquire a human-friendly atmosphere.

They had descended L feet when the outset branching appeared, another burrow branching off from the staircase.

"We're going to keep on going down, right ?"Oath asked.

"Yeah, whatever passing leads us down, we'll take it."

One of the bipedal parasites burst from the branching tunnel, aiming for Noah. He stepped to the side to evade, drew his short brand, and stabbed the fauna through the spine when it landed.

The deeper they delved, the more branching tunnels they came across, but they continued their declension, until reaching a large chamber at the merchantman of the staircase, with five burrow spread out. The staircase had been just wide enough for two the great unwashed to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, but these tunnel were like underground argument. There were sign of venturer coming through here, marking the tunnels to try and keep track of which paths they had taken. There were also some pedigree splatters, torn clothes, and a broken sword.

"What's that, hanging from the ceiling ?"Oath asked.

Above their heads, gooey screw thread dangled like icicles, and at the al-Qaida of each, a small testis of light.

"Cave worms. Their bodies are bioluminescent, attracting prey, which get caught in their yarn like wanderer network. This is a good thing. We won't need this."Noah extinguished the torch and stored it in his ring."Ok, let's split up. We can cross more priming that way."

"delay, WHAT ? !"everyone exclaimed.

It was the hardest Noah laughed since coming to this world."Relax, I'm just kidding. Can you imagine ? Let's adopt this path over here. It looks like it continues to slope."

They took the right-most track, further descending into the donjon crab, and soon stopped at the ingress of a branch chamber, hearing movement within. They stayed against the wall so as to stave off drawing the attention of whatever was inside. Noah signaled the others with his hand and cast his invisibility, then stepped into the doorway. The sight before him was a grotesque, a pile of maggots, each the size of a football game, feasting upon the remains of some slain adventures. Their fat dead body quivered as they peeled form from bone. The bulwark were honeycombed to house the creatures between meal, and three grownup were standing guard.

The guards were glitch of some kind, consisting of four legs surrounding a head and trunk that were meld together with wings between the legs. The legs were armour-clad and sharp, and their downward-pointing face had teeth like an troller fish. They looked almost like winged bar stool. Noah drew his sword and killed one of the beasts without it ever realizing it was there. Seeing their companion spontaneously die, nearly being sliced in half in the unconscious process, the former two began to panic and explore for the invisible assailant. He killed them almost as easily as he had killed the first.

"clear,"Noah said as he released his spell.

He reappeared, just as Oath and the others entered the way, immediately broadcasting their revulsion at the clay being fed on. Noah knocked the chain reactor of bodies over, and kicked away the maggots so that he could begin poking around with his sword.

"Don't loot them !"Oath said in disgust.

"Why ? Because we didn't kill them ? We're adventurer, we thrive on the Death of others, be they humankind or monsters. Meh, nix great."He was capable to collect a few weapon and arrows, but that was it.

"Hey, something's coming !"Trevor shouted. They ran out into the hall, hearing the strait of wingbeats. Further down the tunnel, several Sir Thomas More four-legged bugs were flying towards them, having likely detected the deaths of their associate."Phalanx fizgig !"he then cast.

He blocked the passage with an array of mana blades and Beth began firing pointer, but the armour plating on the behemoth's legs proved stronger and they smashed their way through. expletive took down one, but a minute tackled him from the side, tearing into him with its dentition and chela. Noah killed it before it could inflict more terms, then fended off the others with well-placed thrust. Trevor had also been tackled and knocked onto his vertebral column, with Beth and Mira working together to pry the beast off.

Noah was still on his infantry, so the monsters were heading towards him. He put away his longsword and instead switched to his short sword. The first bug that tried to harness him was met with his carapace and then a sudden drive. He repeated the strategy, breaking the enemies'inertia by blocking with his shell and then stabbing while they were disoriented.

The battle had ended and mend potions were used where needed. This certainly was an interesting environment for battle. near of the monsters seen so far had unvoiced outer carapace, something Noah and his group had little experience in dealing with. Their group focused on attacking rather than endurance, as they were always fighting brute that were as vulnerable as themselves. Aside from Noah's shield, the radical didn't have much in way of defensive structure outside of light armor—and a firm criminal offence, of course.

They continued on deeper, passing by myriad forking burrow and eventually coming to another ramification. Once more, their pinna stopped them from proceeding, as they heard campaign down one of the tunnel, and soon saw it as well. It was a flood of centipedes, just like the one that had tried to kill Oath that morning.

"Holy shit !"Mira shrieked, something very out of case for her.

"Come on, this way !"

Noah ran down one of the passages with the others following, but so too did the centipedes. It seemed they were familiar with the scent of the great unwashed and now hungered for Noah's chemical group. He slowed his footstep, letting the others get past him, then untied a bag hanging from his swath and scattered its powdery contents across the floor. It was lye, the proficient he could shit within rationality. It was much more blistering 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 wriggle and curl in painfulness. 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 tunnel ahead. Noah and Oath took them out to the practiced of their power, trying to at least incapacitate them with one slash. Those not slain retreated immediately as the group passed by, not wanting to suit the fair game of the centipedes behind them.

"There's a room ahead !"said Trevor.

"Mira, wait until we reach that way, and if I give a signal, use your Earth spate spell,"said Noah.

They entered the sleeping accommodation, though regret filled them immediately. A new, prodigious peril awaited them. It was a worm, coiled like a hissing cobra, with a consistence more than ten feet spacious and long as a football game flying field. Its flesh was rough, like living Harlan Fisk Stone, and it was covered in countless pocket-size foundation. Towering over them in this arena-like chamber, it stared without eyes and roared from a mouth that was simply a pit of teeth.

The sight of the monster shocked everyone into a sandbag silence, like oath when standing before that bear, but not even Noah could chastise them, for he too was momentarily crippled by fear. The fraction of 2nd between two measure of his spunk seemed like it would finish forever, but that next thump shook him from his stupor, letting him collect his thoughts and began working on a plan.

"Mira, do it now ! Beth, shoot some arrow into that thing's backtalk or anything else that looks piano ! cuss, you and I will be the bait. Trevor, you attack with all your magic. We need to just scent 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 monstrosity, 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 worm's mouth, striking its exposed physique but only doing enough damage to take a leak it off.

It turned its attention on expletive and Noah, running at it from its left and rightfield side of meat. It lunged at them both, aiming to eat Noah and swat curse with its after part. Noah made himself unseeable and dodged the worm's back talk when it lost track of him, and expletive blocked the approach with a swing of his blade, breaking into the goliath's skin. As they had distracted it, Trevor could now let loose his charged legerdemain. Both the spear blade and the axe head of his halberd were glowing with a radiant storm of mana, and runes spun around the shaft of light. He charged towards the worm's coiled body, released a roar of Erinyes, and brought down his leaf blade like a divine smite.

"Voulge Slash !"

It was a combination of his stabbing and cleaving spells, and while the motions were the same as just a convention swing, it inflicted damage differently in the form of a slash. It had less penetrating great power than the early two, possibly failing to separate the worm's jolting outside, but it would do much neat scathe to the form. His mana, having solidified around the top dog of his halberd, carved deep into the louse's flesh, and as Trevor swung his weapon system down, he left a cryptical cut on different section of is soundbox. Blood poured from the wound and the louse shrieked in agony.

"Let's go !"Noah shouted.

They ran off through another passage, leaving behind the worm with the centipedes. They didn't stopover running, wanting to get as far away as potential. They kept maneuvering through the keep, fighting the monsters leaping out while they searched for a safe spot. It seemed like every clock time they slowed down or even paused, something would burst out and attempt to postulate a chunk out of them. Finally, when they were gasping for air with their throat feeling as dry as sand, the group found a bedchamber with a humble porta and no monsters inside. They set their packs against the entrance, hopefully to help keep the monsters from detecting them. They all slumped down on the floor. Even Noah was feeling sick from the adrenaline.

"piece of tail ! This place is a expiry trap !"Trevor exclaimed as he poured a healing potion on a bass puncture wound in his thigh, caused by something resembling a cycloptic tiger catching him with one of its giant fangs.

"No wonder noblesse is the prize for conquering one of these things. You deserve to be a red cent king if you can pull through this topographic point,"Beth panted. Despite fighting from the back, she was covered in devil blood.

"guy cable, I got ta tell you, I'm not sure we're ready for this place. It's too soon,"said Oath.

"Don't say that. We're alive, aren't we ? We managed to get through it and retrieve a place 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 script, but with an verbalism that, frankly, didn't fit the place.

After dying so many times, last was no longer something Noah feared. It was to be avoided, but with about the same sum of money of effort used to avoid dying in a video game. He still possessed the survival inherent aptitude in some mode, but he could no longer properly prize the greatest risk of destruction in a given situation. He was no Sir Thomas More afraid of accelerator that he was a coffee table's needlelike corner. But what he felt when he saw the worm was true fear, when he realized that not only was the worm the most in all probability cause of his death in that way, but that it was a death he wanted to debar Thomas More than any other. That feeling of fear, after so long, it was as though some of his individual's thirst was clenched.

"Noah ?"she asked once more, hearing him chuckle.

He shook himself back from his thought process."Sorry, I was just thinking about this place."

"And ?"

"A snail."

"What ?"

"The book at the baron's menage, it had a picture of a dungeon crab. It might experience just been a speculation at what it looked like, but it was of a giant hermit crab. However, hermit crabs don't create their own shell. Snails do. troglodyte pubic louse just take them over. So, either we're actually inside a snail, or if this really is a troglodyte crab, then that means it probably got this eggshell from a snail, and if there are these gargantuan crabs and snails living within the earth, what else is down there ?"

"And how does that help us ?"

"It'll take your mind of things. We'll be fine, we can get through this. Had we tried this a week ago, none of you would still be here, but you've all grown stronger."

"So what should we do ?"cuss asked.

"Exactly what we've been doing. Just view our step, take it one challenge at a time, and keep our rhythm steady. Besides, I'd say there is plenty of incentive to stick around."

Everyone glanced around the sleeping room and gasped when they realized the ground was gleaming like a starry sky. It was hard to say under the blue spark of the glow worms, but it was bit of alloy and gems mixed into the dirt.

"Our first account !"Beth exclaimed.

They began collecting the inkling bit and cleaning off the undesirable dirt and rock. Most of it was raw and diluted, so excess sediments 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 find, Noah couldn't deny his disappointment. When he had heard about these dungeons and the treasure within them, his internal nerd had been imagining something to a greater extent along the phone line of an factual gem chest. That worm back there could be considered a mini-boss, after all.

With their spirits lifted, they left the condom of the sleeping accommodation to continue their origin.

"Trevor, you take point,"said Noah.

"What ?"

"I mean you're in front, in the middle blank space. cuss will now be opposite from me, where you once were. In these narrow burrow, we don't need to concern about an enemy circling around to Beth and Mira, so it would be best to put your prospicient orbit directly in the straw man. If we enter a wide-open infinite, we might switch back."

Trevor stepped forward and led the mathematical group, and not long after they departed, they faced off against a duet of the four-legged monsters like the one that Mira killed outside. Now in the center, Trevor warded them off with his halberd.

"Oath, with me. Trevor, don't let them stick out 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 ogre's shield and struck its brain, though the injury was shallower than Oath expected. Nearby, Noah was fending off jive and stabs of the beast's jagged forelimbs, but when an opening came, he hacked one of them off and then thrust his sword into the freak's face.

"These shield might be worth something."

tongue in handwriting, they carved the top 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 respectable fortune they'd be Charles Frederick Worth something to an armor dealer.

They proceeded onwards, fighting their way through moving ridge after wave of the shell's inhabitant. They survived each encounter, but not without shedding blood. They kept their heart peeled, not just for giant, but for glimmers of treasure. They searched every room, finding atomic number 79, ash grey, and gems of all different colors. They also found plenitude of signs of human activeness, though rarely any bodies, same with the ogre, and the dead ending were a unceasing annoyance.

"Wait, hold up."

"What is it ?"Trevor asked.

"This department of the hallway, we should fend off it. depend at it."The next one hundred feet of the burrow had a different body than the rest. It was a fleshy, pierced control surface, like a dish leech."Something like that is probably some kind of trap. We need to backtrack."

"It looks fine. It probably means we're getting close to the can of the shell."

"It very well could be, but it's also too suspicious to lay on the line. We're going back."

But as they turned around, they heard riot and shouts and affright, and from the way they just came, another adventuring party appeared, a mathematical 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 terminate them."time lag, 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 wow of concern became riot of pain sensation. The men, having entered the hallway, now found themselves being assailed from all sides by flying cut. They shot out of the holes in the walls and roof like hummer and imbedded themselves in the men. They were barbed, like bee stinger, and Noah could see them pulsing as they injected their venom.

"Get her on her foot. Something is coming."

Mira was pouring blood from her mouth and seemed delirious. oath forced her to drink a health potion, but it wouldn't get her into fighting shape soon enough. The behemoth the men had feared arrived, some kind of hulking crossbreed between a grizzly bear and a komodo dragon. Its back was covered in boneheaded weighing machine and its undersurface didn't seem very sapless either. It stood on its hind legs, exposing its deathly pincer, and released a roar from between two rows of shark-like teeth.

Beth, standing behind cuss and Trevor, shot it in the belly with an pointer, though the wound was shallow, and it would acquire time for the poison to kick in. Regardless, it took the message and dropped back down onto all fours and charged.

"mint Splitter !"Trevor cast.

He thrust at the oncoming teras, aiming for its head teacher with the blade alight with mana. The animate being managed to avoid a lethal injury, instead staking the blow in the shoulder. Its plate were like blockheaded gem and just as difficult, so while Trevor reached the tissue paper underneath, most of the energy was deflected. Getting past the halberd, it slashed Trevor across the chest, sheering through his armor and knocking him against the wall. Noah took out a lye bomb and struck the beast in the look, blinding it and making it stagger back.

"Beth, save Trevor. Oath, get over here !"

Noah didn't give it any chance to convalesce and lunged for the monster, slashing and stabbing at any spot that looked easygoing. He focused on the wounded shoulder joint, but the fauna was guarding it well, and despite being blinded, it was swinging its claws with virulent accuracy, and even Noah ended up with some rich cuts across his thigh. curse came out from behind Noah and brought down his sword on the monster's head, doing some slight concussive damage.

"I'll distract it."Noah cast his invisibility and charged at the monster while drawing a length of thick chain from within his ringing. He wrapped it around the monster's neck and jumped onto its back. He pulled with his entire weight, forcing it to rear back on its hind legs so that Oath could lash it across the stomach and reveal its intragroup organs

"terra firma upsurge !"Mira cast as he got out of the way.

Since swearing had created a way in, Mira bombarded the monster with a blast of grime and rock, aiming for the laceration. It fell on its back, too wounded to continue fighting, and Noah finished it off.

"Good. What is everyone's condition ?"

"Unhurt, but tired,"said Oath.

"I'm out of mana and I can barely resist,"Mira whined.

"Trevor looks ok, but I think we should stop for the night. I'm starving,"Beth said.

"Yeah, it's probably dark by now. We'll song it a day."

They searched around, finding a way for them to camp out in. They made a door out of devil shells and barricaded it with their bags. There were no lambency louse in this way, so Noah lit his torch.

"Let's eat quick and get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

After a restless night, they left their inclosure."There is something I want to check out,"he said. He led them back to the corridor that had killed the other venturer group, only to find that the corpses were gone, same with the armored teras that had given them so a lot worry before."Interesting."

"What ? Something just came along and took the bodies. What's the big deal ?"Trevor asked.

"This hallway probably kills whatever enters it with those spikes. Only something heavily armored like that bear-thing could bear gotten to them, but there are no pull grade, no footprints. Maybe one of those giant star bugs flew in and pulled them out without being detected, but I'd say it's more in all likelihood that they were eaten by something other than just a parasite."

"You mean the crab ?"asked Beth."How ?"

"I'm not sure, but I'd like to figure it when I have the probability. Let's go."

They set out, continuing their geographic expedition. The monster outpouring was relentless, a wave emerging every dyad of minutes, each one pushing the adventurer beyond their limits, both from the numbers and the strength they carried. Everyone received injuries, even Noah. While his invisibleness granted him a margin of legal injury compared to the others, stealth did little against such vast military group. There was simply not sufficiency room to duck 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 have the full trip.

He assumed they had reached the body of the brute, or at least were no longer in the untenanted share. More sarcoid corridors were appearing, most of them containing some kind of biological trap like the stiletto heel from before. Wherever this thick luck of the shell was, it had to be close by. Besides, there was also plenty of inducement to occupy the risk. While they did a lot of traveling, much of their clip was spent gain hoarded wealth. Their inner circle and pouch were getting heavy with cute gemstone and ores, and even Noah was dumping clobber out of his ring to spend a penny room.

That weight was currently a balk, though, as they found themselves running from another wave of centipedes. The consistency of the corridor had also changed, where they were now passing through a chemical chain of 30x30ft rooms, each one with a mystifying bowl-like floor.

"Whoa ! stopover !"Noah shouted.

Everyone halted at the entranceway to the next room, blocked behind his subdivision. The floor of the chamber was waist-high with dark water, or at to the lowest degree, they hoped it was water supply. By now, they had all become a bit paranoid towards the monsters, as well as picked up some of their conjuring trick. There could be untold beasts lurking in that water system, cook to grab them and sweep them under, perhaps injecting them with poison with phonograph needle teeth or barb Stinger. But the centipedes were closing in fast, and there wasn't enough time to backtrack to a leg passage.

Noah summoned some food from his ring and sprinkled it across the surface of the water system, and the next few moments passed by with agonizing expectancy, but nothing came up to feed, which was thoroughly enough for them. Not without grimacing, they stepped down into the swill and waded across. The next room had a puddle of urine like the first, 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 variety of exercising. However, as he moved through the fifth, Noah noticed something.

It was a layer of crude oil floating on the water's surface. He looked back, seeing the centipedes pursuing them, even swimming like rats. Noah and the others got out, but he turned back with a flint and knife. This was something he wanted to avoid doing in this oxygen-low environment, especially since he was now soaked in oil, but he struck the flint against his knife and spent off a nebulizer of flicker that set the pocket billiards ablaze, filling the chamber with a wall of fire.

He rejoined the others, passing through several to a greater extent way and taking multiple turns, but they finally had to quit and see their breath and gasped in ministration that they were no longer being pursued. Even Noah needed rest period, so no one said anything and they all just leaned against their knees, sucking in air with their faces over the open of the water.

Noah stood up straight, and as he breathed in, the ground disappeared from under everyone's substructure. Some sort of constitutional sand trap door had opened up beneath them, and the pool of benighted water became a roaring whirlpool. Standing in the center of the elbow room, Noah and Beth dropped helplessly, disappearing down a Brobdingnagian pharynx. Trevor, curse, and Mira were saved by the skin of their teeth. Trevor's halberd and Mira's faculty had gotten stuck, granting them something to seize onto. They were hanging over the entry to the throat like a bottomless fountainhead of support, quivering stone.

Sensing the obstruction, the rampart began to close in to try and dislodge them. The three youths couldn't help but yell in terror as they struggled to rise up out of the throat. They were drenched in skank, struggling to take hold onto their weapons and get any kind of purchase. They squeezed and clawed their way out, feeling like their fingernails would peel off. Their faces were pressed to the squelch storey, forced to suspire in and taste the swill. They reached the side by side room, but despite their debilitation, 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 to support, but once more having to run. They were in a desperate office, but Noah and Beth were even uncollectible off. They were forced down a pit of flesh, gasping for air and tone around for anything they could grab onto to lay off themselves. To Noah, it ranked as one of the weirdest present moment in his stallion multi-life history. They were soon tossed out, dropping through receptive air before making a hard landing on what felt like a galvanic pile of firewood. It was pitching black, no cave worms around, and the moment Beth tried to pass off in, her burn down lungs cried out in a new anguish. The air was toxic, she could taste it, and every breath distress. She coughed and wheezed, her boldness turning purple.

An arm wrapped around her from buttocks and something was slammed over her cheek. Instinct made her throw her elbow back in self-defence, but it failed to land a hit.

"It's me ! Just breathe !"Noah shouted.

It took effort, but she drew in a mystifying breath, and at last, it was bring in. She drank the filtered air in greedily, while the thing over her mouth was tied around her question. It felt like leather, and it smelled like… charcoal ? I really made her need to sneeze, but even the itchiest breath was worth it.

"Noah ?"

"I'm here, hold on."

There was a electric arc in the darkness and a flashlight was lit, Beth seeing the same device attached to Noah's face.

"What is this ?"she asked.

"A gas mask, something I whipped up. I was worried about the air quality 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 uncut surface they had fallen on was an island of bones, and just twenty away, the shore of a moat of stomach acid sizzling away. They were standing on the dissolving remains of those who fallen for the same trap.

"Oh God, this isn't happening ! This isn't happening !"Beth cried as she crumbled.

Noah would have chastised her for losing her nerve, but considering the billet, he too was almost ready to rupture."We're not dead yet. Here, hold this."He handed her the blowlamp and looked around. There was a part of the island touching the wall, so the acid was frothing just under his feet.

He leaned over towards the wall and slashed at it with all of his strength, but the steel simply slid off, throwing him off his balance and nearly sending him tumbling. He reformed his foothold, this fourth dimension attempting a stab. Once again, his blade, despite striking the flesh psyche on, simply bounced to the side, and he fumbled. He tried again and again, but his gauge of its resiliency was that it was beyond his degree 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 osseous tissue. He piled them against the wall, then removed a tightly-bound canvas parcel from his ring.

"What is that ?"Beth asked.

"Give me the torch."She handed it to him, and he touched a connected dim train to the flames. It came alight, and he forced the software against the wall, pressed with his buckler, and backed by the pile of bones."Ok, back ! back ! spinal column !"He coaxed her as far back as he could within the abdomen, 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 side of the room like it had been struck by lightning. Smoke filled the air, and lethal shrapnel sprayed their defence mechanism. Beth released a wow from the massive shock, but Noah held her still, and though the torch had gone out, there was now a hole in the side of meat of the stomach, from which bioluminescent light was pouring in and abide acid was pouring out.

They did their best to avert getting splashed with acid and climbed out into a new chamber."That explosion will deliver drawn monstrosity. We have to go."

"What about the others ?"

"They're header for the same position we are. We'll suffer them there eventually. come on."

She followed him through the labyrinth, managing to keep off combat and find a room where they could reside. The air was dusty and disgusting down in these tunnels, but compared to the fumes of that stomach, Noah and Beth removed their masks and felt nothing but gratitude and reliever 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 fingerbreadth at him."Make Water."

piddle began pouring from her fingertip with the volume and intensity of a garden hose. Noah leaned into the atomizer, scrubbing off the soil and trying to get everything clean and jerk. Beth then took a turn, and they switched back and Forth until they deemed themselves decent.

"I thought you could only use magic to stimulate yourself inconspicuous. What was that back there ?"Beth asked as they both stripped off their drenching clothes.

Noah, standing with his backrest to her, rung out his shirt."That was a bomb calorimeter, made of something called black powder."

Beth peeled over her trouser and the rough, unflattering fabric that passed for undergarments at this era."So it was alchemy ?"

"Sort of, there wasn't any magic involved. It's just a pulverisation that reacts violently to fire."Noah shed his own pants, still slippery with oil.

"So, that thing you made… Was that something else you just whipped up like those gas mask ?"

"Yeah. It's been a spell since I made one, plus I couldn't really experiment to create sure I got it right without drawing suspicions."

Beth ignored the shirt she was trying to dry out and turned to Noah."Just where on Earth do you go to learn how to make material like that ? You said you couldn't find entropy on the dungeon Phthirius pubis, but you knew to name these gas masks."

"It was a job I took before I came to Clive. I spent a few days working in a mine. Down there, they were using fateful powder to blast apart rock and they had to use these masks in case they hit a gas pocket."The answer seemed to placate her and he bowed down."Can you spray my capitulum again ?"

.

.

.

The storey of Oath

.

.

.

Oath, Trevor, and Mira fell to their hands and knees, close to passing out. They had finally managed to escape the centipedes and were now back in a normal corridor. Their strength was succeeding to zero, and Trevor was knocking back potions. Only once all was calm did they finally get back on their feet.

"We need to observe Noah and Beth,"said Oath,"we should—"

A unanimous fist striking his face both cut him off and sent him falling to the ground. His eyes were rolling like billiard balls, but the audio of Mira's screaming forced him to focus. Trevor had tackled her and driven a knife into her chest.

"You son of a bitch !"expletive bolted to his invertebrate foot and attacked Trevor, knocking him off Mira, who was choking on her own line of descent.

As they fell over into a storm of grappling and beating, Mira used what fiddling forte she had to retrieve a wellness potion from her pocket and pour it on the combat injury. She passed out, stuck in a backwash between bleeding to end and recovering in sentence. Nearby, swearword and Trevor had gotten to their feet and were now hurling clout wildly.

"Trevor, what the hell are you doing ? !"curse word shouted.

"getting you out of my way !"Trevor yelled back.

He retreated, going after his halberd. Oath did the Lapplander, retrieving his brand and raising it just in time to stymie Trevor's push. Despite his strength, Trevor was able-bodied to exert more continuous forcefulness, and the spear tip of the halberd pierced his shoulder. Oath couldn't contain his cry of anguish as he was pinned against the wall. It was a deadlock, curse stuck where he was, but Trevor unable to let up the pressure.

"It would have been break if Mira had followed those two in the pit. I didn't want to have to kill her, but I couldn't peril you two teaming up against me."

"We weren't going to team up against you ! What the fuck are you talking about ? !"

"I just didn't want her to intervene when I tried to defeat you. It doesn't matter, I'll just tell the others the two of you were both killed by the Saami goliath, if they're even still alive."

cuss struggled to vie with the blade in his shoulder joint, but it felt like the combat injury was just getting bigger and bigger."Why are you doing this ? !"

"I need you out of the way so that I can turn the baron. I wanted to do it after I got the avenium, but I couldn't let this opportunity shift by."Oath was forced down towards the priming coat, leaving a trail of blood across the wall."You're the last of the principal error kin, so once you and your father die, I'll be next in line to experience the title."

"You're another extremity ? But my father said the arm family had been slain !"

"They were, just a week ago, actually, it was probably Noah, hired by the baron. But he only thought to bolt down my Padre and my half-brother. He didn't think it worth investigating further, to regain a SOB like me living in Robert Clive. The Town will be mine, it should be mine !"

Oath reached around, grabbing a endocarp on the reason. lot was sort 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 substructure. He could barely palpate his left arm, and he could neither open up a wellness potion nor properly swing his sword with only one deal. Should he deteriorate his sword and go for a health potion ? forsake it and use his tongue instead ?

Trevor, facing a similar quandary, chose to retrieve his halberd and stare cuss down with his one well eye while launching shot. oath did his intimately to parry the nose candy, as he didn't have the strength to do another shoving compeer. He was losing ground, fast.

"So all this time, you were just waiting for a chance to toss off me ? From the day we met ? !"

"Not at first, not until you came out to us as the baron's son, but when I found out about the dungeon Cancer, it was hone. I could use you to get the avenium, so no matter what, I'll still suit a noble !"

Oath pulled away and reformed his position, then went on the nauseous. His capacity for wielding a blade had greatly diminished, but still, he could struggle, and his wide swings forced Trevor to retreat. True, Trevor had the longer reach, but it was much well-situated for Oath's sword to break his halberd rather than vice versa. curse pushed him back, trying to get past the swinging axe blade.

"You're insane ! You think you can get the avenium or even fly the coop this billet on your own ?"

"That's a risk of infection I'm willing to take. I want you to die down here, unburied, eaten, robbed of your petty family burial game behind your mansion."

"What could I have possibly done to construct you hate me so much ?"

"I just plain don't like you, even before I knew you were the top executive's son. I wanted to kick you out of the group. You're too weak to rule these lands. You can't even use magic."

As Trevor spoke, his vane began to glow with mana, and swearword instinctively stepped back. His sword would likely snap if he tried to block or even ward off an attack like that. This time, when the cut and stab came, he only dodged, not letting the two weapons touch.

"All you do is let that arrogant prick take tending of everything and flip out orders. Clive would fire to the ground on the first day if you took over."

cuss swung his steel, just narrowly catching the halberd's lance and stopping Trevor long enough to close in. Trevor raised the halberd to jam, but a cleave of expletive's sword snapped it, leaving a shallow cut across his brow and bureau. He jumped back, now holding an axe in one hand and a quarterstaff in the former,

"I can do plenty on my own, without Noah,"said Oath.

"Shut up and die,"Trevor shot back before charging at him.

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

To Beth, it was horrifying, the vastness of the chamber, for this luxurious cathedral to be just a small sac of this wretched internal ear. Noah, however, felt a spine-chilling fervour. This was no ordinary chamber, as not only was it as big as a football arena, it had a bridge stretching across, perfectly mat, and a ceiling with enceinte outward-bending archway holding it up. No, they were irons, each link the size of an SUV, and encrusted by the carapace. So too were there great statues adorning the walls, a pantheon of small creatures and great colossus, all of them entombed by Patrick Victor Martindale White, like flies in a spiderweb. The sleeping accommodation was flooded, hence the nosepiece, but not with piss. It was a lake of mercury, glistening from some unseen Light force out beneath its depths. The air above it was filled with fly-like hummingbirds, hanging their heads directly down and touching their beak against the open as if fishing for something. The hummingbirds didn't seem strong-growing, as they paid no posting to the two outsiders.

Noah and Beth crossed the bridge, staring in awe at the structures.

‘ This isn't a innate social system, this was surely constructed by a sentient will. Who made it ? How ? How many multitude know about it ? What happened to this situation to end up like this ?'

It was his first time facing doubt like these, for the front of deception in this world created unnumbered possibilities that he would never stimulate seen in premature worlds. Everything unusual he ever encountered was either manmade or caused by nature, but the presence of illusion added all new selection, instigating curiosity. It could give been done by a wholly former mintage, using power beyond his understanding. It was a new way of thought process, one that invigorated him.

They crossed the way without any conflict, entering a hall with normal-sized rooms on either side. In these chambers too, there were structures and shapes encased by the shell. Were they hoi polloi ? Furniture ?

"Interesting."

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

curse word and Trevor were locked in combat, struggling to head off each former's tone-beginning. swearing had broken Trevor's halberd in two, taking away his ability to use conjuring trick, but he still lunged and fought with the cadaver, granting him two pocket-size weapons. He would swing the mind of his halberd like a hatchet, forcing Oath to bar with his brand, and then use his release hand to strickle Oath with the halberd's shaft. The snow were delivered at full-strength and curse couldn't closure them.

"You don't deserve to go the adjacent baron if this is the unspoilt you can do. You must be the rickety of the family."

"Trevor, listen ! Do you really think you can get out of here without my helper ? Stop this, and we can both take the air out of this donjon awake ! You can still become a baronial with the avenium !"

"That's not good enough. I want the land that my don couldn't have, the authority. I want to spit on his grave as the unwanted bastard and flaunt the exponent that he lusted after. I want Clive, and I want to rip it out of your hands. It's not honest enough for me to win, you have to turn a loss !"

A remembering then flashed through oath's nous, and despite the frightening situation, a laugh softly let moorage."I remember Noah saying that you were a jerk probably because of something to do with your Fatherhood. I think he even said you would betray us. It must be embarrassing, to be sized up so easily and cause your true up colors seen !"

"Shut up ! If he's still alive, I'll kill him after I've killed you !"

Trevor charged at Oath, and finally, curse word managed to redeem a wound of his own. He blocked Trevor's two-fold attack and pushed forward, his steel slicing Trevor's shoulder. Trevor dropped the broken jibe, his arm now slick with blood, though Oath was in the same state, no longer able-bodied to grip his blade with both paw. They stared each other down, picking the moment to come to. Trevor's broken halberd was light and shorter than Oath's sword, so it would be comfortable to exert, but he wouldn't be able to block well with it, so he'd have to pore entirely on crime. For Oath, his justificative site was better, but while he could move his sword with one arm, his speed would blench compared to Trevor's and he'd be lucky to visit much damage. His substantially bet would be to barricade and then try to overpower.

Looking at his cousin, Oath was reminded of that vista from the subject, when that group of men attacked him, Noah, and Tin. He had been utterly useless, just pulled into the woods while Noah took care of the scourge with relief. But in the workweek since then, he had trained relentlessly, and now, he could finally defend himself and his bloodline, even against his own kin.

"This is your finis chance, Trevor,"said Oath.

"No, this is—"A maw opened up in Trevor's chest with blood pouring out.

Noah appeared behind him, his sword seemingly materializing out of slenderize air and now wet with bloodshed. The blade had gone straight through Trevor's centre, leaving both he and Oath stunned. Trevor tried to speak, but all that came out of his oral fissure was roue. Noah dropped him to the storey, pulled out his sword, and then pierced the back of Trevor's skull for in force measure.

"hitch ! What are you doing ? !"swearing shouted.

"I'm fulfilling my contract. He became an enemy, so I dealt with him."

"It wasn't your place to decide he should die ! Trevor wanted to turn the next baron in my position, so it was my province to take him down !"

"What are you talking about ? He wanted to have your situation as Clive's next baron ?"Noah asked.

"He… he said he was my first cousin, an illegitimate child. He kept it hidden all this time."

"Oh please. His Fatherhood wasn't ranked high up enough to get an"bastard child ”. Trevor was null more than than a common motherfucker. And while I'm sure he had some hard-luck backstory about growing up on the streets that would make us all pathos or support him, I'm simply not interested. We don't have time for you two to bond over your papa issues."

Beth arrived, standing beside him."What's going on ?"Mira was with her, having narrowly recovered and been given a endorsement potion.

"I can't just leave it this way !"expletive yelled."I can't just walk off without knowing how it would take ended ! If I could take beaten him myself !"

"That's just your superbia talking, but pride won't keep you active in this place. Should I sustain just sat back and let you continue your childish pettifoggery ? I was hired to go along you from dying, not help you satisfy your ego."

"Wait, what happened ?"Beth asked."What happened to Trevor ?"

"He tried to kill me and swearword,"said Mira.

"You can't be serious ! After all the time we spent together, he just turned on us like that ?"

"It was his architectural plan from the beginning,"cuss muttered."He's my full cousin, and as soon as he found out we were in competition for the form of address of baron, he planned out how to use us and kill me."

"We're not going to make it out of here, are we ?"Mira asked.

"We should have turned back when we had the chance !"Beth tearfully exclaimed, falling to her knee joint as the pent-up form finally released itself.

"Crying and worrying about it won't supporter us,"said Noah."aspect, we're all exhausted. Beth and I found a room we can rest in. Let's set up camp and get our strength back. You three go, I'm going to sort through Trevor's things."

"Noah, you can't,"said Mira."Trevor may ingest gone unbalanced, but it's not right to just rob his corpse."

"wellspring you can either choose to stop me, or you can go, eat some dejeuner, and put the unanimous affair out of your thinker. So what are you going to do ?"Mira backed down and briskly walked off with Beth behind her."And you go too,"he said to Oath.

"I'm not going to leave you alone here."

"When the adrenaline wears off, you won't be able to. You'll collapse and I'll have to sway you to the campsite. You're offend, go patch yourself up. I'll be fine."

"I guess you will, won't you ? Nothing ever gets to you,"curse word muttered.

"I hear talking when I want to hear anguish pace. Go."

Oath limped off after Beth and Mira, and Noah began picking through the treasure that Trevor had gathered, as well as taking puppet and provision that he had been carrying. It had gotten to the pointedness where he really had to be picky about what he could take with him, as he was reaching the limit of what he could have a bun in the oven and still move effectively.

Once he had collected everything of worth, he activated his invisibleness and backed off to a good distance, where he sat down and waited. It happened after only a few minute, openings in the floor appearing like cracks in ice, but the casing wasn't actually breaking. They were line, invisible to the naked eye until they actually opened up, and from within, a green gook appeared. preferably than simply spreading out under the strength of graveness, it was moving willfully towards Trevor's corpse. It enveloped him, and though Noah could not see it, the trunk was being disassembled in pieces the size of grains of sand. In time, the sludge retreated, leaving nil but some pearl and refuse of fabric.

‘ So that's how it feeds.'

He went to the inner circle chamber, where everyone was sitting against different walls. There was a dead tone in their eye, exhaustion that was both mental and physical. They had each held a Leslie Townes Hope deep down that they would make it out of the dungeon pubic louse together, all of them, that their party would come through this tryout and remain whole. Trevor was rude and untalkative, but his deprivation left a void, and they suddenly felt much weakly without him. But with the truth they were forced to take over, was it really a departure ? After all, he showed no hesitation in trying to murder the multitude who were thought to be his friends.

"How could he do it ?"Beth asked."How could he lie to us for that recollective ? Pretend to be our ally ? All those battle where we had to depend on each early, did that really intend nothing to him ?"

Noah sat down and began unpacking his tiffin."You'd be surprised how long you can retain the lies going, how leisurely it can get."

"have you lied to us about anything ?"

Noah stared at her, challenging her to accept his reply."sight of affair, none of which matter in this situation."He tossed some food for thought to everyone."Eat up. It doesn't matter if Trevor is all in, it doesn't change our plan."

"No, it changes everything."Beth stood up."We should lead. While we're still active, while we still have supplies and potions, we should leave. We're not ready for this blank space. We weren't fix even when we had Trevor. We have plenty of treasure, Thomas More than enough to live happily. Isn't that enough ?"

"It's too recently to turn 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 surely we can do this, you keep pushing us forward. What is it that you want so badly as to chance all of our lives ?"

"The same thing as you, an escapade. Isn't that what you wanted ?"

"I was wrong, this is too much."Beth gave an outraged sigh."Oath, Mira, you agree with me, right ?"

curse word took a rich breath."I can't walk away from this, not now. I want to see this through to the end. I need to. I don't want to endure my liveliness as a coward."

"Mira ?"

Mira hugged her knees to her breast and hid her typeface. Was she refusing to contain parting in the conversation or had she simply shut down completely ?

Beth turned back to Noah."We're in over our nous. It was a mistake to come—"

"You're unloose to go away whenever you want,"said Noah, cutting her off."I don't expect anything from you. If you want to go back to the airfoil, 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 shock absorber and Oath's eyebrows nearly shot off his face, yet Noah didn't even flinch."And ?"Beth stammered at his enquiry, not sure how to answer."Again, you knew what the deal was when we started, no adherence. I'm getting that avenium, and there is nothing you can say to stop me. You can either leave now and try to make it back out on your own, or you can come with us down to get the avenium and we'll make the trip back together."

"This is an obsession ! I don't know what the big businessman 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 price on the group. Beth and Mira continued to assault from behind Noah and Oath, but the monsters still withstood barrages of stones and pointer to try and sink their teeth into something. Normally, Trevor and his halberd could birth warded them off, breaking their impulse so that Noah and Oath could go in for the kill, but now, they had to be the main defensive rampart and block everything with their swords.

They battled through the monsters, but took injury with each clash. It wasn't just their formation that had been disturbed ; Noah could see the group team spirit at the edge of an abysm. Noah was indifferent, but the others were grappling with despair. Which hurt more ? Losing a acquaintance ? Or finding out he was never their friend at all ?

At the minute, they were surrounded by centipedes in a wide-open chamber. Noah, cuss, and Beth were stomping on the petty mother fucker as they drew close, while Mira was swinging her stave, equipped with her Shatter Mace enchantment. She was wild, taking out her nervous strain and frustration on the beasts, with her screams of exertion becoming louder with each swing. Rather than helping, the onset of goliath only seemed to increase her drunken aggression. Beth, on the other hand, was acting sluggish, paralyzed by fear and the departure of hope.

As Noah stomped on every centipede that came close, he heard a scream. A few of the animal had managed to parachute up onto Mira and were digging in. Oath rushed over to serve her, but that left two sides of their organization unguarded, and the monsters were closing in.

"I have a plan !"Noah said."When the devil move away, everyone point towards that passage over there !"

Before the others could say anything, Noah drew his knife and slashed his wrist, sending a torrent of blood pouring onto the primer coat. Seduced by the olfactory property of rip, the centipedes turned their attention from expletive and the others and swarmed towards Noah. He took off, sprinting across the champaign of armored dorsum and spindly legs, leading them like the Pied Piper.

The triplet didn't hesitate and rushed towards the exit, though looking back to see Noah's position worsening. Once he saw them reach the doorway, Noah turned around and made himself unseeable. The centipedes were understandably confused, as even his odour disappeared. His blood, 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 room access brought them to a wandering staircase. However, unlike the mingy volute of when they first arrived at the donjon, this staircase spun down the walls of a chasm-like chamber like rut on a practice bit. It was too dark to see the roof or the trading floor of the sleeping accommodation, but in the blackness, there was a trice asterisk, far below their feet when it should receive been above their heads.

"Everyone, be duplicate careful and step quietly. I think we've reached the bottom of the shell."

They proceeded down the staircase, this one having existent stair. The dark swallowed them from the lack of cave worm, but Noah lit his blowtorch, easing everyone's reverence. It when they reached the bottom of the stairs that their fears all came rushing back like a flood.

‘ Of path,'Noah thought bitterly.

The hindquarters of the room was occupied by some kind of massive slumbering monster. This circular sleeping room was more than a C substructure across-the-board, and the beast was coiled up all over itself like a snoozing boa constrictor. There was no telling what its very size or form was, and Noah's Aaron's rod couldn't provide enough light to properly reveal its appearing. But in the pith of the way was the booty for this journey. The walls and staircase were strong shell, but the floor under the monster was flesh, and in the middle, in a raised basin, was a pool of powdered alloy with a turquoise gleam. It was avenium, just like on Noah's ring. It was so close, but the risk before them was giving everyone doubts.

Oath stepped forward."I'll go,"he said as quietly as he could.

Noah grasped his articulatio humeri."No, I'm better at stealth, remember ?"

swearword turned to him, loudly whispering."Please, it has to be me ! The hale reason why we made this journey was so that I could turn a baronial ! I need to be the one to get the avenium. Let me earn my title."

"None of that affair, not in here. All that is authoritative is getting the job done and getting out of here alive. If you want to do things the"right hand"way, do it on your own prison term. I'm going to do things 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 respond and activated his invisibility. True, this colossus slept with its eye closed, but he couldn't discount its sensory faculty of olfactory modality and hearing. He moved preceding curse word and stepped onto the fleshy ground. Whatever this thing was, it had a lot of tentacles, and they were spread everywhere. He stepped lightly, double-checking every stain before putting his weight on it. It was difficult, not just on the extraneous, but the inside. Noah had not been able to escape the ravages of fatigue duty, and his brawn were becoming treacherous.

For Oath and the others, it was trying, as they couldn't see Noah, just the torch he was holding over his head. Every sentence the lightness trembled, they imagined him fumbling, stepping on one of the monster's tentacles and waking it up. When the torch finally reached the basin, they released their confine breathing spell. It was a solid amount of avenium, at least two cubic decimeter of the glistening dust, and it was so finely as well. Perhaps it was expelled from the crab like a splinter, and it would roll up in the catchment area over time while the crab was underground. ‘ If this ends up like that view from freebooter, I'll just vote out myself here and now.'Noah rested his handwriting atop the avenium and sucked it all into the ring, every grain.

Nothing happened, there was no chemical reaction from either the monster or the washbasin. Noah waited a few present moment to be indisputable, then turned and made the getting even journey back to the staircase. Once he reached curse, Beth, and Mira, they all resumed respiration and began the still mount back up the steps. It was when they reached the halfway decimal point that a terrifying roar shook the chamber, and rather than below, it was coming from above. The mathematical group looked up in horror, seeing a second demon descending towards them. It appeared to be the Lapp specie as the first, looking like a prodigious lion with a teeth-filled beak and tentacles growing from across its back that it used like spider legs to aid its parentage. It was like some kind of Lovecraftian griffin. Just one swinging of its paws would kill a sledgepaw bear. Had it also been nesting in this chamber ? Perhaps the fellow of the one down below ?

"Beth, take it down !"

"Too late !"

It reached across the chamber with its tentacles and swung over, its neb extensive open. The group scattered, managing to ward off its beak, which smashed into the bulwark, though Beth ended up losing her bow over the sharpness of the staircase. One the talons on its forelegs made its mark and clipped Mira's expression, but that was all it took to crush her skull like a Gallagher melon vine. Oath and Beth, seeing her headless body slump to the floor, were left in kayoed silence. Noah, already back on his feet, stabbed the wolf in the eye, forcing his steel in all the way to the hilt. The beast howled in nuisance and jumped back with his sword pulled from his clench, and it wasn't the lone one in agony. swearing and Beth now cradled Mira, sobbing and screaming at what was done to her. Beth, Noah could translate, but Oath's reaction stood out.

‘ Goddammit, don't tell me he loved that girl.'“ We got to make a motion ! There is cypher we can do for her !"

"No, I can fix this !"Oath sobbed."Give me all the healing potions we have !"

"Her head is gone, she's dead. No potion can fix that."

"Please, don't ask us to give her,"Beth whimpered.

Another yowl echoed through the tunnel, this one from below. It seemed the first monster had woken up. cuss scrambled to his foot, not in fear, but rage. He grabbed his steel with tears streaming down his side.

"I'll drink down them ! I'll kill them both !"

"This is no time for heroics ! We're leaving !"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY !"Oath howled while throwing a punch.

Noah deflected and countered with a jab to the throat and a knee to the tummy. swearing collapsed like a house of bill of fare and Noah grabbed him and hoisted him over his articulatio humeri. He turned to Beth and handed her his bow to replace hers."living those things off our rear end. If you run out of arrow, I'll give you more. Now move !"

They raced up the stairs as fast as they could. Noah was struggling under the effort of hauling curse 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 honest of her ability. They seemed aware of the poisoned crest and were keeping a good aloofness, but they were still following them up. They started swinging at Noah and Beth with their tentacles, trying to block off their course. Beth would convulse at them with a knife to make them retract, but it was just getting worse and worse, as ahead, they could see the centipedes swarming down the stairway, having followed the group down.

"Noah, what do we do ? !"Beth exclaimed.

"Run and battle ! That's all we can do !"

They continued their bursting charge up the stairs, stomping on the centipedes and ignoring the feel of their pincers digging in and not letting go. Their sting didn't appear toxicant, but they put bullet ants to shame on the pain scale. Not even Noah could keep a fire hook face with them biting down on his legs.

With fortune on their face, they escaped the sleeping accommodation, running down several corridors before arriving at a bedchamber where they could rest. Noah dropped Oath on the ground and began ripping off the centipedes biting his legs. It was strange for Beth, to see Noah so winded and wound. He collapsed near the wall, downing a healing potion to stop his haemorrhage. curse, having regained consciousness, got back to his feet and approached the doorway with his sword.

"Don't even think about it,"said Noah.

"I refuse to entrust her trunk down here. I'm going to get my retaliation on that beast and lend her home to bury her."

"It's a colossus, it doesn't sympathise your feelings. If you go swinging at it for revenge, it's just going be glad that its next meal arrived so willingly. Besides, Mira has probably already been devoured."

"Don't say that !"Oath shouted.

"Noah !"Beth added her voice to the outrage.

"You just take to admit it. She's gone, there is naught you can do to avail her. nada can be done to alter what happened. I'll say it as harshly as I need to if it gets the subject matter through your thick skull."

"What would you have done if it was Tin who died in there instead of Mira ?"

"I would bear left her. I've seen plenty of people die. This isn't my first time leading people into combat, 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 contract, I was prepared for all possible losses, 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 exit ?"

"Yes, that's right."Noah got to his animal foot."Look, we've got the avenium, so the intemperate theatrical role is done. Now we can channelize home."

"Two of our friends are utterly and we're in the merchantman of a donjon crab ! How is that not the hard part ? !"Beth screamed at him.

"Because I have an approximation on how to get us out of here."He took out a water tegument from his haversack and poured in some powdered avenium from within his ringing, then shook it up and handed it to oath."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 understanding, it won't employment on anything living. The mana just won't control stick on, like it's being repelled. However, I did some inquiry on avenium. It is a alloy, but it bends light like a crystal, and it manipulates mana the same way. I can't apply my invisibleness to you, but if you're covered with powdered avenium, it may help me hold back you a bit. Try it."

cuss sighed and poured some of the concoction on his psyche, then went to work rubbing it into his skin and clothes. He handed the rest to Beth and she did the same. Noah activated his conjuring trick and grasped their hands. The air around them shimmered, their bodies becoming faint, like they were shrouded in a heat haze. They became like mirages of their admittedly ego. curse word and Beth voiced their jolt as they looked at each other, and the fact that Noah could hear them was concerning. It was a far-cry from Noah completely erasing his presence, but at the very least, it would make them less noticeable.

"This takes a lot of mana, so I'm going to use it on and off as we go, and we're going to be running. If there is anything you don't want to acquit, leave alone it here now."

Beth and Oath couldn't see Noah, but they stared at the space he occupied. He could see it on their faces, the misgiving, the frustration, the fear, the sorrow, the exhaustion. They'd just birth to suck in it up.

"Let's go, and stone's throw lightly."

They left the chamber and began their journey back to the surface. They no longer moved in establishment, and they tried to celebrate a speedy but quiet pace. When colossus were nearby, Noah would activate his spell and they'd do their near to annul spotting. It didn't always work. At one level, they were being pursued by a camp of the bipedal carnivores like the 1 they had faced outside. It was too many for them to have on, and the longer they stayed in one point fight, the greater the chance more monsters would be drawn.

Noah, pulling Oath and Beth along, activated the trance in his right hand eye.

"What the hell ? !"Oath said in shock as he watched the dead ringer fall back, while the real Noah was still gripping his hand.

"It's another conjuring trick I can create, just keep moving !"

As they ran, Noah had the clone starting waving his arms and shouting at the approaching monsters, doing whatever he could to draw their attention. They passed through the clone in double-dyed confusion, turned around, and tried again and again. Their eyes, ears, and nozzle were all telling them that fair game was standing before them, but no matter how many clip they tried to prick down, their jaws closed around nothing but air. They were so distracted 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, restrain running instead !"

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

outflow was planting season, so the farms on the fault estate were in a frenzy. curse, the mogul's third son, was the"God Almighty"of this task. He and the slaves spent their days working the fields, though there was trivial note between them. He lived and ate his meals with his founding father and brothers, at least, when they were at home, but his ranking in the kinsperson was just a step above"illegitimate ”. His father lauded all of his praise on his blood brother, with the younger always trying to surpass the older and win the acres.

The oldest was a soldier, a team leader, one step below true knight. He would be gone for months at a time, then return home and brag about the battles he fought for the nimbus of Uther, and how he bolstered the reputation of the error household. The middle son was a proud hunter and skilled in illusion, a gift he often lorded over the older blood brother. He claimed magic to be infinitely superordinate to swordsmanship, meaning he, the magically-affluent, was the futurity of the bloodline. Neither Brother liked expletive, simply treated him like one of the servants. He was just another manual laborer. His father, on the other manus, 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 jailbreak. Lying on a sun-warmed grassy hill, he watched the cloud passing play overhead. As the thirdly son, he was compelled to keep his capitulum down, to focus only on the chore in front of him and not rock the boat. Skygazing was the lone time he'd prison-breaking that linguistic rule, abandoning the subject field to instead sharpen on farming his own mind, to forget about his life sentence and obligation and try to compute out what was left.

He knew zilch of the reality beyond his home and hamlet, couldn't even read, and well-nigh of his socialization came from talking with the slaves during study. 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 oldest sons ; his invertebrate foot were more used to the soil of the field of operations than the floorboards of the fault home. Those conversations were the only fourth dimension he could learn of matter beyond simply swinging a hoe or scythe, to hear that there was to a greater extent to existence than just crops and stock, and when he gazed at the sky, curse word would use that inkling to try and develop himself, find out out who he was. That was the plan, at least, but he was disturbed by one of the maiden of the household.

"Master curse word, your Father requires your comportment immediately."

The applied honorific was just a courtesy acknowledging his bloodline. There was no dependable respect in her give-and-take.

"Understood."Oath got up and followed her to the house, where she led him to his founder's study. As he approached, he heard nonsensical shouting and matter falling over.

interior, the business leader, Ivan, was pacing back and forth, unhinge and drenched in bust. Papers and items from his desk were scattered across the floor and he was gripping a whisky glass with a shaking hand.

"beginner, what is it ?"

"curse, Colt and Victor have perished."Ivan picked up a letter with a broken wax Navy SEAL."colt was killed in battle on the Petosic Steppes."He threw it aside."And Victor was killed by a bear while hunting. His remains were found this morning."He emptied his whiskey chalk in one gulp and staggered, looking like he was on the brink of collapse.

Oath took a moment to process the news, but there wasn't much to process. There was no such thing as sibling love life in stately households."I'm sorry, Father."

The business leader fell back in his chair."Oath, you are now my entirely son. That means that you will inherit my title when I die, unless my conniving brother manages to steal it !"

"Father, I can't be a business leader !"

"This is not something you can refuse ! I will not allow our firm to let nobility eluding from its fingerbreadth ! But you're right. The way you are now, the kingdom would be Stephen Samuel Wise to handwriting it over to Edwin, so we're going to modify that. From now on, I am going to sculpt you into a worthy replacement."

After that, everything changed. From the tornado of dawn until late at nighttime, expletive was trained in fight, etiquette, and reading material and writing. The tools of the farm were replaced with his granddaddy's sword, and time of day not spent swinging it were spent hunched over one book after another, studying by candle flame. None of it stuck. Unlike his brothers, he was born without endowment and raised without an teaching. He couldn't use magic, could barely oppose, and was about as cultured and learned as the down in the mouth peasant. There was trivial hope for him.

One day, he found himself at the Old Wineskin, looking for an adventure job. mass would post notification, requesting items like valuable plant or lusus naturae parts, or tasks like escorting someone through the forest. Helping around town would give him some achievement he could use to shew his eligibility for inheriting the Baron Clive baronetcy. He had also heard some weird rumors about the inn, about some crazy couple that had the trashy sex imaginable. From dawn to midday on every other day, anyone in or near the inn would be flushed with plethora as they heard a young woman's cry of euphory, along with the knock of a bedframe threatening to break apart. However, today, the inn was quieten. The only articulation he heard was addressed to him.

"Hey you, by the notice board, over here !"

He looked over to the source, spotting a mesa occupied by three young like himself, a man and two women.

"Me ?"

"Yeah, come on !"one of the women said, a improbable and bubbly blonde.

Oath crossed the bar to them."What is this about ?"

"You wouldn't happen to be searching for a political party to join, are you ?"the other char asked, a cute brunette with short hair.

"Oh… uh, yeah, I guess. I haven't been making much headway on my own."

"Well take a seat !"

swearword hesitated, feeling the man beside him shooting obelisk from his heart. He was sizing him up, and apparently didn't like what he saw.

"No, variety of plans, keep back moving. We don't need any to a greater extent weaklings in our group."

"Shut up, Trevor,"said the blonde."Ignore him. I'm Beth and this is Mira. We're currently in need of a swordsman in our group, and you look like you would fit right in."

"She means you look weak enough that no one better would consume invited you to unite their mathematical group, and no real adventurer would sully their dignity by joining this gro— Ouch !"Beth had just kicked him under the table.

"You're not allowed to traduce the grouping while being a percentage of it,"she scolded.

"Truth be told, none of us are very good, but that just means we should bond together,"said Mira.

curse word finally took a ass and put a hand on the sword hanging from his belt."Ok, sure enough, I'll join you guys. My name is Oath. I'm actually kind of storm, I thought this stead would be… louder."

"Oh yeah, those stories ? We've actually met them, Noah and Tin, the couple who make all that haphazardness,"said Mira.

Now Trevor seemed interested."Really ? Were they freaks ?"

"No, normal as can be,"said Beth,"and they're both barely honest-to-god than us. You'd never think it when looking at them. The guy is actually really overbold. He gave us a lot of neat advice about manoeuvre and witching. We tried to get him to join our squad, but he wanted to knead on his own, him and that slave female child. God, I envy her."

"settle down, you're so indecent,"Mira said with a sigh. She then turned to Oath."Anyway, welcome to the group !"The smile she flashed at him made his eye flutter in a way it never had before.

For the adjacent few calendar week, cuss and his new friends adventured together, fighting what monsters they believed they could flummox, but were most often forced to run away and tend to their wounded dead body and bruised self. But no affair how many metre they were beaten, Oath was never dejected, because it was the kickoff time he felt truly accepted, and with multitude his own age, no less. True, Trevor always gave him the cold shoulder, but Beth kept the spirit of the radical 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 fine wine. He was drawn to her, pulled by a force that he could not delineate. One day, after they had managed to kill a wolf, and only just barely, he and the others all collapsed from exhaustion. Mira, sitting future to him, ended up placing her hand on his. The here and now her fingers touched his, it was like coldness lightning surged through his nerves, a frighteningly powerful genius, but one that made him experience more active than the engagement 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 smiling and rosy cheeks. The first clip curse word fought a monster, he froze up in panic, and it wasn't the go time his fear got the better of him, but at that instant, he broke through his fear, turning his hand over to apply hers. They gazed at each other, their stomachs filled with more butterflies than a meadow in summertime. That was the second he realized his tone for her.

The next day, his father sat Oath down in the parlour of their home. With them was a crusty middle-aged adventurer with a bow."Oath, no topic what, you must not let anyone outside of your company know this. I've just learned that a keep crab has surfaced nearby."

dungeon crabs were one of the heavy anomalies in the humankind, but their mythology was dilute. They were faint creatures, described as livelihood fortress that rose up from the solid ground. Many believed that they were a remnant of the war between the gods and the spirits.

expletive wasn't surely how to respond to the news, so his father continued."adventurer who manage to capture a dungeon Cancer the Crab by taking the avenium interior are granted the membership of baron or higher by the kingdom. If you and your friends can carry out this, then there is nothing Edwin can do and my title will be passed on to you without question."

"My ally and I can barely confront the lusus naturae in the Wood. We can't wield 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. This man is Sendal, a old stager adventurer and archer. He'll Thatch you how to use a bow."

Just looking at Sendal, cuss could tell apart he wasn't the friendliest guy, but his father wouldn't modification his judgment. That day, he and the archer rode into the woods to hunt down, and that was the end matter he remembered. When next he woke up, he was in a goblin tunnel, racked with pain flowing from the back of his top dog 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 young man, a bit older than him, with a missy standing behind him. Noah and Tin, he had heard those names before. They were the source of the strange rumor about the Old Wineskin, but more than than that, Beth and Mira had vouched for Noah's strength. curse was questioning, especially when Noah declared that he was going to authorize out the goblin den himself, something that was nothing suddenly of suicidal. Despite his life being saved, Oath wasn't feeling very grateful, considering he now had to work as Noah's multitude scuff while he marched to his doom.

But then he saw the results. Noah slaughtered the goblins with relaxation, never displaying any kind of magic. Oath and his friends had repeatedly tried hunting goblins, nearly dying every time, but they fell like reed with every golf stroke of Noah's sword. Then, when the goblin boss revealed itself, cuss got to find true swordplay, and the memories of his older sidekick's skills were painted over by Noah's fight. Had he and his friends attempted this, they would cause ended up being cooked and eaten.

During the journey home, they were attacked by bandits. Tin, obeying Noah, pulled cuss into the woods before he could even grab his steel. The fight lasted only a minute, leaving cuss in awe when he saw the bodies of the slain bandits. He rode back to Robert Clive with Noah and Tin, and when he arrived back home, his Fatherhood threw his arms around him, wailing reliever to see his son's return. It was the first metre his Padre had ever hugged him.

"Father, there is something I need to tell you."They went into his Father of the Church's study and closed the door behind them. oath, standing while the business leader sat, leaned against the desk."The hunter you hired, he knocked me out handed me over to goblins."

"darn him ! Edwin must birth bribed him to get you out of the word picture. But if he handed you to goblins, how did you fly the coop ? Did you push your way out ?"

"No, I was saved by individual, a man named Noah. He's vernal than Colt but twice the warrior, and he's already helped my friends before. He wiped out a immense hobgoblin nest himself and even killed a hobgoblin."

Ivan leaned back in his chair."If a untested man of such acquirement were to join your party, perhaps you might be able to bewitch the keep crab."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Bring him here. I'll lecture to him."

The next affair Oath knew, Tin lay dying, and he watched as Noah slew the assailant. 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 guilt, he applied every potion in the menage, pouring them on her wounding and down her throat, but her condition didn't improve. As Noah approached, curse word braced himself for the worst. It was expletive's fault that she had died, her spirit ended because he had been saved, so would Noah need his life as compensation ?

But Noah didn't acknowledge cuss. He simply kneeled down and held Tin. There were no bout, not even a trembling breathing spell. Tin voiced her final goodbye and closed her eyes, while Noah simply stared at her like a statue. Noah then departed with Tin, riding off to ascertain a suitable stead to bury her. Watching him bait off, Oath remembered the smile on Tin's face 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 lead the peril he never could suffer if he hadn't been saved.

To his forefather's objection, he rode out to the Old Wineskin, and as soon as he entered, he heard Mira's articulation."curse word !"

There they were, gathered at their common table. Never was he so well-chosen to see his friends. He crossed the tap house and took his seat."Hey."

"Your father told us you were out training with an archer,"said Beth."I'm rather insulted you didn't ask me first."

"You guys aren't going to believe this, but I swear this really happened. That bowman knocked me out and handed me over to hob. I was even taken to their den."

Trevor just scoffed and Beth was likewise skeptical."I'm actually not that mad, you don't have to gain 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 discharge out an entire mine full phase of the moon of goblins single-handedly."

"Of course someone like you would involve to be saved,"said Trevor.

"An entire mine ? !"Beth exclaimed as she bolted to her feet.

"We can barely defend a handful of them,"Mira sighed.

"Anyway, listen to this."He leaned in and waved for them to all do the same."A dungeon Crab has appeared nearby."He was lucky that everyone understood that terminus. He didn't have faith in his power to explicate it. His friends all fell back in their seats.

"You honestly can't be thinking of trying it !"Beth exclaimed."We'd be absolutely in an hour !"

"Listen, Noah has agreed to link our team and take aim us. With his help, I'm sure we can do it."

"We don't need some freak's advice,"said Trevor.

"Did I forget to remark 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 replete name is swearing mistake, son of business leader Ivan geological fault. I'm his one-third son but I'm next in line of reasoning to experience his title."

"Damn it, he's unrestrained ! Everything he's said so far was a hallucination."

"Oath, did you eat some strange mushrooms in the woods ?"Mira asked with honest concern.

Stared in continued silence.

"I swear to you, it's truthful. I'm sure the archer gave me to the goblins to keep me from inheriting the title. When I returned home, that Saame archer tried to kill me, but ended up killing Tin instead."

Both Mira and Beth were left in stunned muteness. While they had only met her once, the news of her death was a shocking C. Her endless moaning had become a point in time of pride in the villagers, considering it a valued quirkiness in the identity of their household, like the swallow returning to Capistrano. Besides, they had both seen the passion in her eyes.

"Yeah. Noah killed the guy and rode off with Tin to bury her. He said he would be back the day after tomorrow."

"That's awful,"said Beth.

"poor Noah,"Mira added.

"I don't think we should bear him with us. We can do the keep 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 exult the safe return of our comrade, toast our approaching success, and mourn a fallen friend !"

cuss wanted to express mirth, but truth be told, he'd need some liquid courage.

Late into the night, the four adventurer splurged on intellectual nourishment and drinks, until all was quiet and the boniface was preparing to fill up up the bar. Trevor had gone dwelling house, Beth was currently passed out, and now it was just Oath and Mira.

"I hope this dungeon crab affair works out,"said Mira, More than a little tipsy.

"Yeah, and all the wealth from the adventurers is really going to help this village."

"With that money, I can finally pay off my female parent's debts."

"You never said your mother was in debt."

Mira giggled."I guess we both kept secrets. I never liked adventuring, but it was the best way I could make money after my father left. In a way, I'm gladiolus I did it, but I just want a nice calm down place life."

"Well I'll become the mogul of the township. Maybe you could settle here."Never in a million old age 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 woods."And I could make a home with you."

Like him, Mira was fueled by smooth braveness, but she got to her feet with fiddling goodwill and swell courage, and pulled Oath to his."come on,"she mumbled with an embarrassed grin. They were both More than a niggling inebriate, so they had to help each former up the stairs, giggling with each gradation. They reached the door to Mira's room, and as she fumbled with the key, swearword leaned in and steal a osculation. It was his beginning, 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 clear and stumbled into the room, shutting it behind them. Mira lit a candle and then made herself at place in cuss's embrace. Standing in the middle of the way, they kissed once more, this fourth dimension capable to put their meat and souls into it.

"Are you ready for this ?"Oath asked.

"I think so. Are you ?"

"I'm not sure. I don't have any experience with being with a woman. I mean… I've seen animals on the farm…"

Mira burst into laughter, which, second to her yelling at him, was the absolute last chemical reaction he wanted at a moment like this."Beth has told me how to do it, don't worry. Now that we've kissed, the side by side step is we take off our clothes."

Oath was already sporting a woody, and those close four words nearly pushed him over the edge. He took off his coat, Mira removed her cloak, and for a moment, they paused, feeling the latent hostility as they gripped their shirts, but upon struggling to actually pull them off, they couldn't assistance but jest. Mira's breasts were exposed, and expletive, a swirling violent stream of adolescent hormones, was caught like a cervid 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 refer them ?"

"I… guess."

She hesitantly lowered her blazonry, and Oath, with trembling hands, began to caress her modest shelf. That softness, that blandness, he was drawn to them like dinero. He was clumsy ; not brutish, but his technique was ill-refined, as was to be expected. Regardless, Mira shivered and purred from cuss's stir, afraid of being so vulnerable, both her body and her feelings exposed to another for them to do with as they pleased. Perhaps it was the comportment of that awe that made it experience so in force, the fear of being touched so intimately, conflate with the joy of finding someone whom she wished would do so.

Massaging deep into her flesh and relishing the way her mammilla felt when he toyed with them, Oath, like Mira, was overwhelmed. The fortune to research a woman's body like this, to know it, intimately, it teased his about innate, instinctive curio. He was so delirious, trembling like a foliage and feeling like he was going to derail out of his cutis. It happened before he could do anything about it, he came, having already been pushed over the edge. Flushed with shame, he did his C. H. Best to try and hide it, but to Mira, it looked like he was just getting impatient.

She lowered her deal and pushed off her trouser. expletive didn't immediately oppose, but that was because he was trying to garner his thoughts and his intensity level. When he realized what she had done, he didn't have fourth dimension to think, and simply dropped his own pants. This time, it was Mira's turn to stare, as she tried not to think of when their mathematical group shoemaker's last 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."

curse word put out the candle, plunging the room into full dark. He meandered his way back to the bed, feeling the natural covering. His hired hand found Mira's organic structure and he felt her stir like a panicked beast. He slipped under the cover and their naked soundbox met, first in the form of an embrace, then in the form of a kiss, and finally…

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

Noah, oath, and Beth sprinted up the winding staircase towards the passing of the dungeon crab. They were covered in blood, sweat, and dirt, and had countless untreated trauma. Noah's mana was completely drained, and the three of them were running on fumes. They couldn't tell if the monsters were still chasing them. After all this time, the chorus of bellow repeated in the back of their minds no issue what.

Finally, when their body felt like they'd fall apart like sandcastles, they breathed impertinent air, and felt the sun shine upon them. They burst out of the top of the crab's racing shell, collapsing near the door. For the three of them, it was like a religious experience. Beth crumbled, tears pouring down her font, a mix of happiness, misery, relief, and mourning, and as the sun rose, cuss stared like his psyche had left his body, turning him into an empty-bellied husk. As for Noah, he dropped the knight blade he had been using and gripped the earth with shaking hands. How long had it been ? How long had it been since he finis fought that heavy for his lifetime ? How long had it been since his survival instinct pushed him that far ? No, when it was more than just his survival instinct pushing him ? The fear, the adrenaline, the endorphins, the hurting, they flowed through the folds of his gray subject like a flood tide across a desert.

"Get up, on your feet."

Noah looked over, seeing Oath standing with his sword pointing at him.

"What the pit do you think you're doing ?"Noah muttered.

"You heard me, get up and face up me."

"swearword, you're kidding, right ?"Beth asked.

"No. You and me, Noah, right here, decent now."

"You ungrateful little bratwurst. After all I did for you, you have the heart to point your sword at me ? The steel I gave you ?"

"You didn't do this for me. I was just a prop in whatever peck you struck with my Father of the Church. Now Mira is dead and I was robbed of my chance to adjudicate things with Trevor. We never should have gone in there, but you kept pushing us. We never should have let you be a persona of our team."

"oath, it's not his fault ! You also wanted to hold open going ! Just put your steel down and we can all go home !"

"No ! I have to do this !"

"You're right,"said Noah, getting to his fundament,"you were just a airscrew, but I'm still under contract and not allowed to kill you. Once we're back and I've gotten my reward, then I'll put you down as hard as you want."

"No ! I'm done hearing to you ! From the moment we met, you've run my lifespan. I was supposed to be the one to assume the avenium, to prehend my own destiny, not let you take it and take over whatever fleck you toss my way ! I couldn't avenge Mira, I couldn't metre 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 sensation he got back was far from ideal. His body was at its bound, he could barely even stand. He was out of potions, they all were, so there was no way he could quickly recoup his strength. At least Oath was in the Same situation. Despite his anger and bloodlust, he was on the sceptre of passing out. The disembodied spirit was willing, but the flesh was another story. If Noah fought him in this state, even the smallest wounding could prove fateful, then his mint with the baron would be out the windowpane.

"I'm not going to indulge you. If you want to get yourself killed, do it after we get back. I want to be long enough to hard currency in everything I've collected."

"You can't talk your way out of this !"

expletive charged with his sword raised, attempting his signature cleave. Noah stepped to the position, nearly falling over as he did so. Rather than a slash, he struck expletive in the stomach with the handle of his brand. swearing nearly retched, but regained his terms and punched Noah. He tried to dodge, but was still grazed and staggered back, drawing his sword completely.

"Stop this, you two don't need to agitate !"Beth pleaded.

"Tell him that !"Noah argued.

swearing unleashed a flurry of swings towards Noah, who lacked the agility to get out of the way. Instead, he had to close up and put off each swing. They locked steel, pushing against each early in a shoving match.

"You chose to go into the dungeon crab louse,"said Noah."You chose to follow me, despite knowing how dangerous it was for Mira. You put your superbia and your nobility over her. I killed Trevor because you were too weak to get it done and you would consume woken up that monster with just three steps. You don't get to blame your incompetence on me."

"You're a hardhearted bastard ! You couldn't even shed a bust for Tin, no wonder you didn't care about us !"

"Grow up !"

Noah let go of his steel and punch Oath, sending him staggering back. Noah touched his manus to his eye, casting his invisibility. He only had enough mana to continue enshroud for a few moments, so Noah tackled curse word, disarming him and knocking him to the ground. Three solid snow to the face left him unconscious.

Noah dropped to his knees, gasping for air with his spell coming undone. Hopefully, Oath would be much more sensical when he woke up. As Noah got to his feet, there was a monster's snarl, followed by Beth's howler. One of their pursuer from within the shell had arrived and was attacking Beth. It looked like some sort of cycloptic tiger with a mat of quill feather across its binding. Beth was pinned, her arm in its mouth with her flesh being displume and her bones breaking.

"tinker's dam it !"Noah growled.

Beth still had his bow, so Noah pulled out his short sword and threw it, winging the beast in the shoulder. It turned to Noah and charged, and Noah, trying to spark off his magic, realized he had used the last of his mana to look at with cuss. He jumped to the side of meat to elude the lunging tiger, but as he hit the primer coat, he realized he had less strength than he thought. He had planned on hitting the ground with a roll and then jumping to his feet, but he just fell like a tree. All he could do was wrap on his back, and this metre, when the tiger pounced, he wasn't able to sidestep. It tried to sink its dentition into his neck, but he blocked its mouth with his sword, though he could do nothing about its nipper, digging into his shoulders. It was pushing down on him with its full weightiness, and he didn't have the strong suit to book it back.

Noah stared into its one, fist-sized eye and watched slabber pour from its mouth, mixed with the blood from the track that his steel was creating. This certainly ranked among the top of his uncanny destruction. Yet when his strength was about to stammer, cuss attacked the Panthera tigris from behind, slicing off his principal with a lilt of his brand. Oath then kicked the Panthera tigris's corpse off Noah and pointed his brand at him.

"You'll never get a better luck than this,"Noah said with a smirk.

Oath took a cryptical breathing time and sheathed his sword."I suppose saving your life is as much an attainment as ending it."He held out his hand to Noah."Let's go home."

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Epilogue

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The town of Clive was bustling, filled with venturer following the news of the dungeon crab's growth. Around half of them would die within its shell, but those with skill and chance came back to town with pockets entire of ores and jewel. Having returned to town just the previous night, Noah had tried listening for gossip of whether or not anyone else had managed to beguile the dungeon. He had taken all of the avenium he found in that room, so it's possible that was all there was in the crab. Oh well, they'd just have to make believe do with everything else they found. The majority of the adventurers were fresh enough or perhaps not challenging enough to go very deep into the crab.

But that's not what Noah was focusing on at the moment. He was at the inn, sitting on the bed in Beth's room and examining her arm. It had been badly mangled by that tiger and wasn't fully healed. Since they were out of potions at the time, Noah and Oath had to enwrap it and tend it as best as they could. On the way down from the donjon's ingress, they met an venturer and bought some healing potions off him. However, they weren't able to completely reverse the damage. The flesh on her arm looked molted, like severe stretch marks, and the muscle underneath was out of proper contour. At least the pearl had been reset properly, but the way Beth winced as she stretched it per Noah's instruction, he knew that she was lucky to still give birth it at all.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be capable to draw a bow or lift anything weighed down anytime soon. If you find someone with healing conjuration, they might be capable to undo the damage, but otherwise, I can't imagine your arm will ever regain its wide use or strength."

"That's fine,"she said with a monotone voice and deadened fish eye. She shuddered, as if shaking herself awake."No, it's not delicately, it's awful. But… I don't have to worry about using a bow."

"You're quitting being an adventurer ?"

"After everything we went through in that dungeon… I don't ever want to experience something like that again. I'm going to try and retrieve a therapist to mend my arm, but after that, I'm going to do what Mira wanted and nail down down and make a family."

"That's for the dependable, I suppose."

"Thanks. And Noah, about what I said to you in the dungeon, about how I was…"

"You're not pregnant. Mira was."

She looked at him in shock absorber."How'd you know ?"

"I have plenty experience with women to know how to avoid getting them pregnant, and I can tell when it's end to that clip of the month. Mira told you she was late before we entered the dungeon, didn't she ? You pretended it was you instead. Did you lie to try and save yourself, or her ?"

"Both, I guess. expletive didn't know, he can never know."

"I'm surprised they were able to keep it hidden from me. They always seemed a little protective of each other, but I had no idea they were so intimate."

"She told me they were both drunk when it happened, and later told Oath that she thought it would be better if they focused on getting stronger for conquering the dungeon. After, they would have the rest of their sprightliness to…"She trailed off, then looked out the window and sighed."I'm going to go visit her mother and siblings, separate her what happened. They were in debt, so hopefully the treasure I've collected will aid pay it off. I owe Mira that much."

"This should more than natural covering it,"said Noah, handing her a little bottle of avenium.

"So much problem, so many tear over this metal dust,"she muttered, staring at the bottle.

"Take care of yourself,"Noah said before getting up and leaving.

He stopped by his way, getting his bag and any will power he deemed Worth carrying. He had already sold off all of his ores and gems, so he had deal of Au coins with him, along with respective other tools and gem hidden within his ring, including a vast fortune of avenium. He put on his backpack with his steel hanging from his belt, including a new longsword, and left the room, locking it behind him. Downstairs in the tap house, he handed the landlady the key.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

"Aye, I'm a bit sorry to see you go. But before you do, you should talk with your booster. He certainly needs some help."

At the counter, he saw oath slumped over with a half-empty mug in his hand. After returning to Baron Clive, he had checked in with his founder only briefly, then came straight to the inn and started drinking to drown his sadness. It was a miracle the boy hadn't died from alcohol poisoning.

"Are you planning on drinking away your total fortune ?"Noah asked.

swearword raised his drumhead, looking at him with bloodshot oculus."parting me alone."

Noah took the faecal matter next to him and ordered a drinkable."I will, soon. For now, just humor me."

curse word sat up and wiped his font."Remember that hunting slip the six of us took in the beginning ? When we were sitting around the fire, you told me that I had to decide my reason for living, for fighting, that I had to create my own meaning. When I went into that donjon, I thought I was doing it for my Father of the Church, to finally win his favorable reception. But when Mira died, I realized I had done it for her. I wanted to prove to her that I was a man, that I was just as potent as you and Trevor, and I wanted to try out it to myself. Everything I failed to do, they were the achievements of the baron that I wanted to be. I loved her, but my superbia got her killed. Now… I just don't want to think about it, any of it. I just want to forget so everything will block up hurting."

Noah, having received his beverage, downed it in one gulp and slapped the Methedrine on the table, then took a trench breath."If I were to give you one live lesson, one last piece of advice, would you claim it ?"swearing just glanced at him, neither agreeing, nor refusing."Stop drunkenness. Go home and mourn her properly."

"Why ?"

"I know it hurts, and you don't want to feel anything anymore, but when you block out all of the bad, you block out all of the good that goes with it. hold dear your feelings for Mira, your memories of her. Don't try to bury them and forget. Be grateful that it hurts. Believe me, there is nothing more painful than being truly numb. When you've lost all meaning and sensation, you end up in a very dark seat, where you'll do anything just to feel again, and you never fully come back from that."

For a moment, the intelligence went over Oath's forefront, but then his eyes widened as a memory flashed through his alcohol-soaked mind. The case Noah made when Tin died, that stony reflection, it finally made sense.

"Is that what happened to you ? You lost soul ?"

"I've lost a lot of mass, more than than you can imagine. Losing a loved one, mourning them, it's supposed to be hard, because if it's leisurely, you forget how to do it."Noah then got up and shouldered his backpack.

"Where are you going ?"swearword asked.

"I have stage business in the capital."

"My beginner and I are going there in three days. You can travel with us."

"Nah, I'll find out my own way. Besides, I've already given your Father-God enough avenium to assure you become a noble, 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 tycoon, after Tin died.

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

Noah was sitting in the baron's study, having just confessed to killing his brother and nephew."We didn't have the luck to talk about payment for this job, but don't trouble, I'm not interested in money or kingdom. There is something else I want."

"Which is ?"

"I want a varsity letter of good word to the Uther Knight honorary society. I heard they only grant admittance on the good word of a baronial, such as yourself."

Ivan scrunched up his cheek and nearly spat out his drink. To be an Utheric knight was a with child accolade and obligation, as while they ranked below barons on the nobility musical scale, their achievements could pass them greater authority and political influence."I have no interest in putting my ripe name on the course for a stranger. Just take some avenium for yourself and become a Lord. You'll be even fat than a horse. Or if you want to assist your commonwealth, just conjoin the military."

"Any schmuck with a pulsing can be con***********ed and turned into a soldier. I'm not after wealthiness, prestige, or achievement, and I don't maintenance about this country."

Noah then reached into his air pocket and placed a yellow potion on the baron's desk.

"What is that ?"Ivan asked.

"I got this in that goblin den, and just this morning, I had it appraised by the apothecary. It's a high-altitude antidote, able-bodied to cure almost any poison. I doubt even a baron like you could afford one. I had this with me when Tin was shot and didn't know it could keep her life. She died because of my ignorance. I've come to gain that despite my accomplishment and experience, I don't know nearly enough about this world. I want to change that, and to do so, I need an education. Spending years in an ivory tower doesn't interest me. I want to read how to inhabit and properly fight in this mankind, and the salutary place to do that is the knight academy, where they supposedly train the best of the best. That hobgoblin apparently killed a horse, 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 Oath,"I just wanted to finally hold back a hope, rather than making yet another lie. beneficial hazard to you, Lord Fault."

Noah left the inn and walked over to the military post where his horse was hitched. He rode out of Clive, and when he was finally alone, he held out his hand, and an envelope appeared on his laurel wreath from within his ring. On it was a wax sealing wax, the Fault coat of arms. With this, his way of life was laid out before him. His succeeding stop : the Utheric royal capital.

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*Roundabout plays*

To be continued…

*Roll credits*

Please input ! I 'm going to try to deliver vol 2 ready by the end of the year .